William relaxed a bit more as the conversation began to flow, then Lucy bombarded him with questions,
"Hang on a minute, one at a time. Ok first question, I'm here because I need to know the location of the new Enclave base, because I need to sneak into it. I'm also here to pick up some things to help with a distraction, it is a rather long story involving a very rich ghoul and someone called Dudley." When he spoke about it, the plan seemed like it could work, if everything went right, but if everything went wrong.....
"Right then, second question. When I found you, it was like you were broken, you'd been beaten within an inch of your life and I think it might only have been the drugs that kept you going long enough so I could find you and Doc Church could keep you alive. As for what had happened, I'd say more of a professional hit than a random raider attack. Raiders might have made some mark, painted the walls or hung your corpses outside. Raiders would have taken you back with them to sell as a slave or killed you right there, with Paradise Falls having, um, fallen a few years ago, I'd say it is because they weren't raiders that you're here today." William could notice that the tone had dropped, this was a difficult conversation.
"My best guess would be someone hired those people, they would know where you were and what to do. The damage done left little trace, so it looks like a raider attack, but raiders leave signs to mark their territory. Somebody wanted your father dead, they knew where he lived and knew what to do. On who ordered it, think who might have wanted to kill your father."
William decided he'd give as much detail as he could remember. He told Lucy the story of how he had come across her, it had been one of his earlier jobs for Morgan Bloom, there had been a skirmish between Bloom's mercenaries and raiders squatting in what had been the Evergreen Mills stronghold. Bloom had been looking for some notable shotgun rumoured to still be there but his team had been ambushed by raiders and further teams were beaten back. The raiders were in a canyon and the only way in was heavily mined and fortified. Lookout snipers had taken several heads already. Bloom had ordered William to get in and get the shotgun. It had all been made clear that if he refused there would be a mercenary team coming after him too, Bloom wanted to add to his collection.
William had been travelling from Underworld to Evergreen Mills, he had stopped at Megaton for the night and early in the morning he had set off again, travelling on the road through Springvale until the column of smoke rose high, he had found a partially burned home riddled with bullet holes, the only living thing there was Lucy, near dead and drugged out of her mind. The most surprising thing about her was how light she was, as if she was hollowed out inside. He'd taken her back to Megaton and made sure she was in the caring, if harsh hands of Doc Church, convinced the good doctor to look after her for free and had to set off on his way again. If he took too long, Bloom would have simply put a price on his head, there was not the trust that existed now.
It had mostly been in vain, rescuing Lucy was the most productive part of the job. He had gotten into Evergreen Mills by climbing down the cliffs and sneaking in without being noticed by anyone. But the shotgun was not there, he interrogated a raider and after threatening to put that tyre with spikes back on wrong way up learned that there had been a unique shotgun belonging to a trader, but it was long gone. Bloom was unhappy with the result, but satisfied that nothing else could be done.
That was how William had met Lucy, now he decided to ask his own question, "What are you planning to do after you've recuperated here?"
"Hang on a minute, one at a time. Ok first question, I'm here because I need to know the location of the new Enclave base, because I need to sneak into it. I'm also here to pick up some things to help with a distraction, it is a rather long story involving a very rich ghoul and someone called Dudley." When he spoke about it, the plan seemed like it could work, if everything went right, but if everything went wrong.....
"Right then, second question. When I found you, it was like you were broken, you'd been beaten within an inch of your life and I think it might only have been the drugs that kept you going long enough so I could find you and Doc Church could keep you alive. As for what had happened, I'd say more of a professional hit than a random raider attack. Raiders might have made some mark, painted the walls or hung your corpses outside. Raiders would have taken you back with them to sell as a slave or killed you right there, with Paradise Falls having, um, fallen a few years ago, I'd say it is because they weren't raiders that you're here today." William could notice that the tone had dropped, this was a difficult conversation.
"My best guess would be someone hired those people, they would know where you were and what to do. The damage done left little trace, so it looks like a raider attack, but raiders leave signs to mark their territory. Somebody wanted your father dead, they knew where he lived and knew what to do. On who ordered it, think who might have wanted to kill your father."
William decided he'd give as much detail as he could remember. He told Lucy the story of how he had come across her, it had been one of his earlier jobs for Morgan Bloom, there had been a skirmish between Bloom's mercenaries and raiders squatting in what had been the Evergreen Mills stronghold. Bloom had been looking for some notable shotgun rumoured to still be there but his team had been ambushed by raiders and further teams were beaten back. The raiders were in a canyon and the only way in was heavily mined and fortified. Lookout snipers had taken several heads already. Bloom had ordered William to get in and get the shotgun. It had all been made clear that if he refused there would be a mercenary team coming after him too, Bloom wanted to add to his collection.
William had been travelling from Underworld to Evergreen Mills, he had stopped at Megaton for the night and early in the morning he had set off again, travelling on the road through Springvale until the column of smoke rose high, he had found a partially burned home riddled with bullet holes, the only living thing there was Lucy, near dead and drugged out of her mind. The most surprising thing about her was how light she was, as if she was hollowed out inside. He'd taken her back to Megaton and made sure she was in the caring, if harsh hands of Doc Church, convinced the good doctor to look after her for free and had to set off on his way again. If he took too long, Bloom would have simply put a price on his head, there was not the trust that existed now.
It had mostly been in vain, rescuing Lucy was the most productive part of the job. He had gotten into Evergreen Mills by climbing down the cliffs and sneaking in without being noticed by anyone. But the shotgun was not there, he interrogated a raider and after threatening to put that tyre with spikes back on wrong way up learned that there had been a unique shotgun belonging to a trader, but it was long gone. Bloom was unhappy with the result, but satisfied that nothing else could be done.
That was how William had met Lucy, now he decided to ask his own question, "What are you planning to do after you've recuperated here?"
