the pier.

[doubletap]

Let him just say it now--the kid had a lot of problems.

I mean, not really a surprise or anything--Alex had found him dried out in a desert, for crying out loud--but god damn.

Let’s recap.

Alex Seattle Geer found himself in love with a Vault brat from the Capital Wasteland with a daddy complex the size of Hoover Dam. Said kid loves him back--sometimes. Said kid would probably rather put another bullet between Alex’s eyes rather than spend time with him, and didn’t this just go to show it. Neil leaves to check up a rumor, said he’d be back shortly--shortly became two days and by then Dogmeat was back, meaning Neil took off somewhere he was worried the dog would get hurt at. Two days turn into two weeks and counting, and by then, Alex has tracked Neil’s steps, found the fucking pier, the fucking tool of a woman looking for her child, and all of the pieces are too easily placed.

Neil left for Point Lookout. And Alex, ED-E, and Dogmeat are left hanging in the wind.

Alex has been fucking camping on the dirty sand and shit next to that pier, waiting for that stupid kid to come back on that stupid ferry the woman told him about. Tobar the fucking Ferryman, and Alex feels like shooting the asshole just for submitting to Neil’s request. Probably not the guy’s fault, but-- Hell. Yeah. He didn’t traipse all over the goddamn country just to be left in the dust. Is the kid even coming back? Who fucking knows.

Alex will just.

Wait here.

Until Neil comes back.

Yeah, that’s not pathetic at all.

Comments

[vacuus]

Stand down apparently means to be shot into ashes, which spooks Johannson and Luis into action. They aim their rifles, intending to shoot the pair of wastelanders into oblivion, when Tanks again barks out an order.

Whether out of obligation or pure elation, no one can say.

"Enough!" he yells angrily, prompting the two men to still. He then turns his attention to the one responsible. No, not the giant oaf. "Park, we're even after this. And I'm still reporting you."

[doubletap]

The aspect of reporting isn't something that Alex finds a delight in, but at the moment, he remains steady and waiting, peripheral vision locked on the two with guns ready. Neil's weight is heavy at Alex's back, and he needs to get the kid back to bed. Silent, he waits for something to shift further, perception stretched to his limits for the first sign of attack--

Perception stretched, he realizes there's a dog right behind Neil, silent and watchful. Further, Alex realizes the door to the room is now open. Finally, Alex looks away from the confrontation, wrenching his gaze back over Neil's head. "...Shit."

ED-E stays in the room, as Alex commanded, but Neil and Dogmeat leaving, coupled with the sounds of fighting and Alex yelling made the eyebot lean out nervously, wanting desperately to help his friends. At Alex's look, he beeps in question, wanting to come out. The muscles in Alex's jaw work, and he rips his gaze away, turning back to the group in question.

If nothing is started, nothing needs to be finished.

[goodfight]

It takes a beat to realize his mistake. A careless slip of the broken mind, but Neil's kicking himself in an instant. He's throwing his head back to see Dogmeat. More importantly, to clearly see the form of ED-E gazing desperately from the open door.

Alex curses, and Neil furiously signals both dog and eyebot to go back into the room, hoping to whatever deity above that Tanks is still too stupid to notice.

Dogmeat instantly understands and turns to go, toward the friend waiting anxiously at the door.

[vacuus]

Wait. Wait a motherfucking moment.

Tanks looks from the shadow at the far door before settling on Park's unknown friend. For once, his mind works out the kinks it's been harboring, and suddenly giddy at the realization, he readies the Tesla cannon.

"That was an eyebot," he states. "You're harboring Enclave fugitives. I thought--" He smiles wide beneath his helmet. "--there was something fishy about this. Men."

In tandem, Johannson and Luis ready their rifles.

"You have five seconds, Park, before we open fire on you and your 'friend.'"

[doubletap]

Nope. Nope nope nope. Alex reaches behind him again, grasping Neil's clothes and pushing him back and towards the wall for support. Alex steps forward into the room and shifts to the side, attempting to keep attention to him alone. The gun is angled down--for him, he's quick enough to whip it back up in a heartbeat. "I think I've been going about this all wrong," he starts.

"Last time around, I made a decision and committed it in secret. This time I should be more upfront. I'm Alex," he says pleasantly. "Alex Seattle Geer. From the Mojave Wasteland, out in Nevada--you might know California more?"

He stops moving, not wanting to provoke--in that method at the least. "There was a group out there. Elder Elijah's group, after he fucked up. Elder Nolan McNamara kept it going, though Head Paladin Edgar Hardin wanted to take over. Know any of those names?" he asks, each and every name burned into his mind. "Veronica Santangelo? Christine Royce?"

[goodfight]

Fuck his life. Fuck his stupid shitty life. Neil's pushed back toward the wall as Alex moves into the room, all three Brotherhood eyes fixed on what they perceive to be the true threat. And they would be correct, Neil thinks.

Alex Seattle Geer. The Courier. Between him and three Brotherhood of Steel members, there's no doubt on who's going to come out on top.

It's a sign, he muses, that it's time to go. Go back into the room as requested by Alex earlier in that wretched conversation.

He walks swiftly, eyes watching for immediate dangers, into the open door, to the Laser RCW Recycler standing against the wall near the packs. He picks up the rifle and sucks in a breath, tension mounting behind his motions.

Dogmeat and ED-E are within his eyesight and safely within the walls. The former is tense but silent while it is the latter who's projecting the most distress. Neil raises a hand toward the eyebot, attempting reassurance despite the scenario. "Hey, hey," he says gently. "It's okay."

It's going to be okay, one way or another.

[vacuus]

Park steps back while his friend steps forward, but it's the latter who holding a damn fine energy weapon. Tanks and his men are going to be looking in the stranger's direction.

They receive a name. A name and a state. Of course, they know the NCR, the birthplace of their fine organization. Nevada as well. They know the chapters, the locations. They just don't know if there's even a connection to those places anymore.

Thus, the additional names given are not recognized. Nothing sparks a lick of sense in any of the men, and it's Tanks who finally scoffs at this Alex Seattle Geer.

"If I can't care about what's in front of me," he says pointedly, "what makes you think I care about a group that I can't see?"

[doubletap]

Neil returns to the room, and that's all that Alex cares about. He smiles pleasantly at the man in tin. "No one can see them anymore," Alex replies. "I got tired of them demanding weapons and tech from people in the Mojave and buried their chapter under two tons of rubble."

[vacuus]

There's something remotely creepy about the guy's smile, about the insinuation of mass murder, enough for Luis to get the jitters. To shoot at Alex without a second's thought to his aim.

[doubletap]

The one on the left fires in reaction, and in the split second that it takes for Alex to pull up the LAER+, his eyes narrowing in pleasure. The energy beam clips Alex's shoulder, which is fucking fine, because it allows him the extra moment to set up his shots.

The RobCo VATS program is a shortcut on his Pimp-Boy, and he activates it now to secure the accuracy needed to take down two targets. Three shots are all that are needed for each, and the men beside the one in charge both drop to the ground. One's head rolls further, bouncing off the back wall. "There was one thing they got right, though," he continues thoughtfully, as if nothing had happened. "They knew that my eyebot was something to be treasured, even if they only valued him for his tech."

In the room with the open door, ED-E beeps nervously at Neil's attempts at reassurance, part of him wanting to move closer to be pet by Alex's friend. The rest of him doesn't know if Alex is now mad at him, or if Alex needs help. He shakes, scared, and wishes they were back home where it was simpler. There is the sound of fighting, attacking outside, and ED-E registers the fact that Alex was hit. He jolts toward the door, before stopping, unwilling to cross the threshold and risk the threat that Alex had made. He stops there, hovering in dismay. Only to hear Alex's words cross the distance. Treasured? Alex...treasured him? He beeps to himself quietly, a sad sound in the room.

[goodfight]

His attempts are for naught as ED-E reacts further to the noise outside, to the death being dealt. Much to Neil's dismay, the eyebot races toward the open door. He moves to chase, body twisting to follow the rushed movement.

"Wait, ED-E!"

It all ends in an instant. The eyebot halts abruptly just before the threshold as if it had suddenly lit up in flames. Words flow from outside, words that seem to affect the kid, and ED-E gives quiet, mournful sounds. Nothing Neil's ever heard before.

It's enough, he finds. More than enough for a man with a broken brain to feel his heart break from the fucking sight.

"ED-E," murmurs Neil in a call for attention. He steps forward and slowly, as to not startle the kid, touches his hand to the chassis.

[vacuus]

It's like a dream. One of those eerily detached sequence of events that transpire regardless of your actions. Luis drops like a fly to join Xavier's ashes while Johannson loses his head in the most literal sense, and Tanks only feels a lack.

It's funny. How the angriest paladin in the Capital Wasteland isn't blowing up over losing three of his men. Instead, in the face of likely death, he's calm as a fucking cucumber.

"Good for them," Tanks says lightly. "Guess I'll get to figure out exactly what sort of value they saw in it."

With the Tesla cannon locked and loaded, he opens fire on Alex, on the mysterious guy seemingly bent on protecting Enclave tech.

[doubletap]

In the assassin suit, with a rifle he knows well, movement is simple to Alex Seattle Geer. The cannon fires, blue light streaking out, and Alex hugs the LAER+ to his chest; drops and rolls to the side, coming up firing.

The VATS activates in his HUD, and he targets the man's left leg, letting loose a barrage of hits.

[vacuus]

The energy blast hits a wall, the impact leaving behind a scorch mark and sending out a shockwave, enough to nearly throw off the paladin's balance. Tanks keeps steady somehow, hissing from annoyance at the miss.

The hiss, however, turns painful when he notices his left leg is more or less a mangled crater of burnt flesh.

[doubletap]

There's no return fire, and Alex instantly moves to do the same to the opposite leg, trying to get the guy to the ground.

[vacuus]

This time, the crippled limb is felt in full, and Tanks crashes to the ground with a yell of utter pain, both legs injured beyond repair. A series of swear words and very nasty things spill out of his helmet as he grabs the laser pistol from his belt to shoot erratically at fucking Alex Seattle Geer.

[doubletap]

A couple hit, but most miss. It's still not enough to start to worry about. He crosses the room, taking the time to aim and shoot the pistol from the guy's hands. "Hey," he says softly, coming closer.

Deny it all he wants, but Alex was invited into the Brotherhood, and further than that, he's been trained in power armor techniques by the Remnants. Does that make him an Enclave spy? It's almost funny to think that this metal lug might be half right.

He crouches close by, a hand whipping out to undo the well-known fastenings of the guy's helmet, making it clang to the floor. Alex cocks his head. "ED-E's a 'he', not an 'it'. Just a minor correction."

[vacuus]

The pistol flies out of his hands while the cannon is nowhere to be seen, leaving the only comfort available to Tanks. The strong sense of correctness, the confirmation of his suspicions. Death is coming, and Tanks is right. Fuck Rivet City. Fuck Xavier. Fuck this guy, too.

It's decidedly odd behavior coming from a paladin, but fuck that. He's a decidedly odd man.

The helmet is lifted from his head, revealing a thin-lipped man in his early thirties staring blandly at his attacker. Tanks allows the other his say before speaking, the ridiculous notion that Enclave tech could possibly hold a gender.

"Are you done?" he gives, sounding bored out of his mind. "You're wasting my time. Shoot your goddamn gun already."

[doubletap]

There's something that Alex finds off about this situation, and it won't be until much later that he realizes what it is. His inclination to not shoot, to draw out the scenario more. To give the guy a chance to redeem himself in Alex's eyes, so he doesn't have to kill him. He doesn't want to. Kill more of this group than he has.

But at the moment, it only feels strange, and Alex spares a thought that this guy was braver than most he encountered. He shrugs to the dialogue, raising the LAER+. "Fine by me."

And shoots.

In the room, ED-E turns half toward Alex's friend at his name. The dark-haired person raises his hand toward ED-E, and it's so rare to the eyebot that he doesn't think to move away.

[goodfight]

If he's being honest with himself, Neil has never gotten beyond being a mere acquaintance with ED-E. Hasn't really given much thought to the eyebot other than the intense pressure he often feels in his chest when he thinks about the Enclave for more than a beat. Dogmeat is ED-E's friend; Dogmeat would have a better idea on how to reassure his friend.

But it's Neil, not his child, who's reaching toward the eyebot. Who quietly touches fingertips to the cool metal.

"It will be okay," says Neil gently, in a tone he's only used with one human child.

[doubletap]

For a second, Alex wonders if he should hold to what he said and wear the power armor the guy was in. It would make it interesting, at any rate, but he's reminded of the Legate suddenly, and feels ill at the thought. He's tired still, worn out, and seriously hasn't eaten in weeks, and he slings the rifle over his back and looks half-hearted at Red Glare. It feels like it was a waste to bring that. More of a waste to even take it out. He wasn't going to use it in a place like this, but the bluff hadn't worked and it had only ended up a shield. A good one, at least. He'll clean it up later.

Along with the rest.

At the moment, he turns his feet back to the hall, slipping inside the room to a strange sight.

ED-E, unused to this kind of affection, gives a soft burble at Neil's kind tone.

[goodfight]

The burble releases something wound up tightly within him, and Neil sighs. Exhales slowly as the kid takes to the gesture, even if it isn't from a known source. Neil remembers then that ED-E has played a major part in fixing the damage in his head, that he probably owes this not-so-little eyebot his life.

...He hates himself. Perhaps he's only feverish, but right now, he couldn't stand the fact of his own fucking existence.

It takes Neil a beat to notice the quiet and subsequently, the large man at the open door. He detaches his hand from ED-E, nodding once toward Alex for the eyebot's sake. To encourage the kid to talk to what could be considered his parent.

[doubletap]

Sadly for Neil, ED-E is a decidedly private creature. After taking note of Alex's presence, the eyebot does move--in a darting dash back to the corner he started in. Alex watches after him for a moment, then sighs. He'll have a talk with him once Neil is back to sleep.

Alex exhales. Then crosses the room to grab a stimpack from one of the packs. Halfway through the motion, item in hand, he turns slowly to look at Neil.

"...Are you in my coat?"

[goodfight]

Oh. Guess talking isn't part of the kid's plans. Neil watches ED-E sit in the corner for a bit before turning to address Alex. To pause for a beat at the injuries.

"...Yeah, I just grabbed the nearest thing," he says distractedly. "Are you okay?"

[doubletap]

He pauses for a minute. Then inserts the stimpack into a leg, and drops it on the floor, crossing the room. He reaches out, grasping the front of the jacket (not wonder it felt familiar), and pulling Neil into a wall. Alex leans into him, leaning his head down to nuzzle the skin underneath the collar of the jacket.

"...You look good in my clothes," he murmurs, tongue flicking out.