The Fox and the Phoenix Ch. 6

Chapter 6: Ol' Sticky

"Listen to orders the first time." Vulpes commented in an icy tone to the recruit just before they met up with the rest of the small squad.  

"How did you know that she wasn't going to kill you?" he asked.

"She is the Phoenix." He replied. "If she wanted to, she would've done so already." He commented, using her words. "Do not question my orders again. Understand?"

The recruit cowered slightly at the cold glare his superior gave him, nodding his head. "Understood."

***

Aime sighed as she returned to the building, and descended back into the bowels of the basement. Narrowly missing several nightkin, she crept into the next room, one that held one that was specifically hostile. She didn't know that she was detected until she felt a burning sensation on her leg, which had been hit and caught on fire. A clip worth of rounds was emptied into the shadowy figure as she dodged fire blasts from the source. Her arm also was burned badly from the blasts as the gun was reloaded. She carefully aimed, sending a bullet singing through the air, and through the skull of the nightkin. The body crashed to the floor, as she skidded around a corner, keeping an eye on the door for any other shadowy figures.

Carefully she watched as she jammed a stimpack into her system, feeling some of the pain relieved. She also took out of Sunset Sarsaparilla, and drank it down quickly before she rounded the corner again, picking through the pockets of the nightkin cadaver. It was not long before she came across the stomach-sinking truth that Harland's friend did not make it, and lay dead on the floor. Carefully, somberly she returned to him to confirm his fear.

"I'll miss her crooked smile…" he said thoughtfully as he agreed to leave. Once he was out of sight, she took a step as the toe of her boot hit something. She looked down, staring at a bear trap. Carefully, she made her way to the second floor and came across a computer that was still running. Scouring the files, she came across an entry that stated that the stealth boys that the nightkin were after weren't there either. 'This is going to get interesting…' She thought of the events a few hours previous, as she returned to Davison. Repairing the shoulder of the man she had deemed heartless. Thinking about the injury, the bullet had narrowly missed several arteries. He was lucky; otherwise it would've been a much more delicate procedure, one she wasn't certain if she could complete without killing him in the process. Not to mention, that she was there to repair the damage she had done, and felt it the right thing to do regardless.

***

Vulpes sat down, reclining on the ground as he stretched, stitches pulling in his chest. He postponed the reconnaissance of REPCONN for the moment, allowing the Aime deal with the ghouls, thinking 'Why make more work when someone else is doing it for you,' and to keep an eye on her.  

His attention was called by the young recruit as he peered through binoculars. "Nightkin...?"

"What?" Vulpes' voice sneered, as snatched the binoculars from the insolent recruit and watched some odd shadows move out from the building. Shaking his head, only one word escaped his lips as a surge of pain came from his stitches. "Phoenix." Some time later, as he saw her walk out of the building. However, the ghouls had not left yet. With a swift movement of his right arm, a veteran nodded and went down to her.

"Where are you going?" the Veteran questioned, gruff voice calling out in the darkness. Gun ready to fire at her if needed, though she would make better breed stock than corpse in his mind.

"Town." She wearily remarked, though surprised there were still Legion hanging around. "I'll finish the ghouls in the morning, as they need me to find parts." Knowing that the information would more than likely get back to Vulpes, she allowed herself to tell him the plan.

The answer seemed to satisfy the veteran as he peered off into the cliffs beside them. A shadowy figure, who listened intently to the short conversation, as he peered through the binoculars, he nodded once. The Veteran nodded and let her pass.

She shook her head as she walked back down the road to the neighboring town, with a feeling that she was still being watched. The dinosaur reminded her that she agreed to find the gloomy sniper's wife's seller. Sighing, she thought 'We all have our sob stories…' She started asking around town. In doing so, she learned the other sniper's name was Boone, and tid-bits about his wife, Carla.

Vulpes followed at a distance, as a mix of curiosity and his orders to keep an eye out for her, holding tightly to the binoculars in his hand, keeping quite a distance between them. He lost sight of her as she went into town. He figured that she had probably checked into the motel for the night, and turned back to his squad up the road, periodically looking through the binoculars.  

The picture Aime was piecing together was as clear as mud. All of the answers she received seemed conflicting, though it was clear that no one in town was very impressed with her. The oddest story that didn't seem to match was Jeannie May's who told her that Carla left Boone. Not buying the story for a second, she decided that she would seek out No-bark, who sounded out of his mind. 'Sometimes it's the ones we deem insane to be the most sane…' she thought as she went to his residence, knocking on the door.

"Who sent you? I ain't talking. They tried to get me to talk before, but I didn't say nothing'. And I don't aim to now by gum." An older gentleman informed her.

"I don't mean any harm." She said quietly, assuming the man before her was No-Bark.

"We'll just see about that. You come any closer and I'm liable to stick you with my sticking knife. Ol' sticky is feeling mighty ornery this day." He commented, taking a few steps back from her.

She raised an eyebrow. "We can talk at this distance." She commented in a reassuring tone.

"You sure now? It's kind of hard to hear you." He responded, cupping his hand to his ear.

She sighed. "You said you'd stab me with that dirty knife." She said, wondering if the old man had lost his mind somewhere out on the wastes.

"Okay, okay just speak up a little. But not so much that they will hear you. They've got people everywhere, always listening." His eyes shifted from side to side and placed a finger to his lips.

"What do you know about the abduction of Boone's wife?" she asked, wondering if the answer he gave would actually get her anywhere.

"Seen it all." He said confidently. "Seen shadowy folk come to his room and leave again in the middle of the night. Thought one might've gone into the Lobby for a spell. Could be that person went in to get something. Or use the john maybe. Mighty interesting either way if you ask me."

Aime slightly laughed, as she continued to listen to the man's tale, thinking, 'Senility seems wonderful. I just wish I could live that long...' she brushed her bangs behind her ear, tracing the healing scar from her trauma with her finger. The information he was giving her was the best clues that she had, and it started to point towards Jeannie May. 'Figures…' She knew the woman was off, but now was nearly certain as to why she attempted to be so genuine when she arrived. If she could find some proof of this, it would make sense that she was a slave dealer, and would more than likely sell others to the Legion if they didn't pay for their room. She shuddered at the thought.

"I thought it was cannibals, come to eat us all for sure, so I kept out of sight. But now I know better." He finished.

"Who was it?" she asked, wondering what kind of crazy answer she would get from the man.

"Molrat men…"

Aime suppressed the urge to laugh hysterically aloud, though she knew that he was referring to the Legion.

"…come up from underneath to steal young women with promises of riches and fancy mud mansions with all the latest designer appliances. They covet our lady folk's long hair for wigs; it's said, being either bald or balding themselves." He told her, completely confident in what he was saying.

She nodded, completely amused by his tales. She talked to him at some length about the man in the checkered suit that was running from aliens, and about the strange occurrences at the McBride Ranch.

She looked down at her pipboy, as it was continually getting later, though she decided she wanted to check out this issue at the McBride ranch. She bid him farewell, as he reminded her with shifting eyes, that they had never spoke.

Aime couldn't help but smile at the man's crazy stories. 'McBride Ranch, Eh?' She thought. In talking with them, she learned that their cattle had been riddled with holes around midnight. Looking down at her clock, she had about an hour before the strikes were happening. In that time, she could check the Dino-Dee-Lite motel for clues on the sniper's wife.