Fistful of Caps (Oregon Trails) [FULL/FAST]

    She had startled Earl, and Catherine hid her smirk as he collected himself. It was something she would never tired of doing. Earl tossed her the key as he gathered his belongings, and she caught it with her gloved left hand. Holding it between her index and middle finger, the gunslinger examined it with her good eye. A smile crept across her face, splitting her dry lip again. She chuckled.

    "The key? You want to know about the -key-? How the hell have you seen other copies of it? My Pa gave it to me when I was a teenager. Along with a note. Told me to only look at the note if I ever found another one of the Goddamn things. So if you've seen another, I'd like to know where the hell you found it." He replied, shifting a bit against the wall to make himself a bit more comfortable. "Anything else you want to Palaver about besides a key?"

    "Listen h-" The door opened and Dan popped inside, his armor removed. Catherine was quiet in study, and did not recognize him until he spoke.


    "He's stabilised. Sutured and bandaged. It'll take time and a deal of physiotherapy for his arm to go back to the way it was. He's in the med bay. Follow the signs, or me. I'm going back to check on him."

    
    Cat watched the door close again, returning her gaze to the rebel.

    She would see to Bullseye in a moment, his condition concerned her, but first there was business with Earl.

    Cat's ungloved right hand placed the heirloom weapon gently on the strangely reflective flooring. Slipping her index and middle finger into the breast pocket of her duster, the gunslinger produced a second key. She held the pair up between herself and Earl for comparison. They seemed identical.

    "This one came from mah father, Vigo Fyre. He was a desert ranger who joined the NCR when the Legion pressed too hard into Nevada. He gave me this key before he was murdered by Legion scum at our home in the Mojave. Besides what I took from his corpse, this was all mah daddy left me, Earl. It's all he left. Told me I was never tah lose it, seein' as it was important. ...So fergive me if I take some time tah discuss why an Oregon rebel might have one that's identical in his god-damn pocket." she said, losing amusement with his disgruntled attitude. Cat licked her split lip.

    "Now, whatever these keys unlock, it's important. But, there somethin' else, Earl..." Catherine continued, her voice becoming soft and mellow. "The NCR... they're going to think you did it. The rangers and the soldiers in Oregon are going to look at it as a rebel stunt to drive recruits... who tha fuck knows."

    It was hard to explain, fighting heavily eyelids and a tired mind. The bounty hunter tried as best she could. "Look, Earl... the rangers that were s'posed to be helpin' us? They think tha rebels pulled this shit for who-the-hell-knows-why. The bounty on your head just acquired a couple zero's... And by not sellin' you out to the rangers back there in the desert... well now I'm on their bad side, to sugar-coat it." Cat sighed, tipping her hat up to fully meet Earl's gaze. She looked like hell, and felt worse.

    "The barons and tha NCR want yah dead. Want me n' Bullseye, too, as accompli-surs. Clyde said something about him being a criminal already... ah don't know... an we're Enemies of the state, er whatever yah call it. But I don't reckon it's jus' a coincidence we're in this shit together. ...These here keys are a sign, mah friend."

    "Yah see, I didn't just come to Oregon to stop rebels. The money upfront was nice, but the reason I'm in this place is to find what my daddy and the desert rangers hid out here. Now ah think you can help me. C'mon, It's obvious we were meant to find each-other at some point, Earl... these keys are supposed to be harder tah find than a virgin in New Reno. And here we sit, two orphans with identical keys to the same thing left to us by our daddies?"

    "Ah kept my word, Ah did what I could and we got you outta that town still breathing. You seen ah didn't mean no Oregoners any harm, and I'm fighting for tha same side of tha coin you are. Ah just wanna know if yer still with me on after this place?"

[[ AJ or Meta it's your post, post when ya can ]]

“Red would be better. Redhead's a stupid name.” Holly teased him as he reloaded the rifle with .22 junk rounds. The rounds were awful, prone to flying all over the place and jamming the gun, but they were cheap and perfect for practicing.

“So is Holly. At least my name makes sense. Just cause I don't have a proper name don't mean you have to give me one,” he replied, handing her the rifle. “Now hit the bottles, and don't miss this time.”

Holly pouted as she took the rifle, bringing a smile to his face. He sill wasn't sure why he was bothering to help her learn. Sure, she'd helped him get in good spirits with Sunny, even if it was shit pay. Maybe it was his own version of atonement.

“-yeah, I think that's good.”

“Huh?” he asked, not having heard her in his own thoughts.

“Bullseye. You want it to make sense, that's way better. You're the best shot in town.”

“That's stupid,” he said with a frown, watching her take aim and miss the first shot.

“Nah. It's perfect. I don't think I've ever seen you miss.”

“I don't miss. I can't afford to miss. I'll wind up dead if I do.”

“Then it makes sense. Redhead is stupid. I'm calling you Bullseye from now on and I'm going to tell everyone else to do it too.”

“That's never going to catch on.”

Holly just smiled at him, breathing out slowly and pulling the trigger. He smiled as she hit the bottle. The world swirled for a moment. He was confused, but he let himself accept it. It was a dream. A memory. And a good one, at least for now.

The first bottle broke, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. Bullseye took the rifle from her and smiled. It'd taken her a year, but she wasn't missing anymore. “You'd do your father proud.”

“Not yet. But I will. Whether he likes it or not.”

Bullseye frowned, reloading the rifle. “The hell's that supposed to mean?”

“I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna join the rangers when I'm old enough.”

Bullseye scoffed, shaking his head at her. “Good luck with that. Let's get some more bottles.”

---

Bullseye awoke with a start, groaning as he did. Bright florescent lights. Stark walls. He was propped up in a chair somewhere, two men standing in front of him. His arm ached horribly. “Where the fuck am I?”

Bullseye used his good arm to rub his head, the two men giving each other a look before one of them turned around and left the room. Bullseye's head was swimming, as he slowly stood up, his good arm instinctively going to where his gun should have been. Panic began to sink in as he realized his belongings had been taken. “Where the fuck are my things?” Bullseye demanded, staring at the guard like a wild animal. He couldn't see Cat, Earl, or even Daniel in the room, and it just added to his paranoia. Had they lost the fight? This base definitely looked like something out of the stories he'd heard about the Enclave.

“Jus' take it easy, ya wounded, don't worry abou-” Bullseye lunged as the panic made him surge with adrenaline, the guard raising his rifle in surprise. Bullseye grabbed the barrel with his good hand and pushing it away from him, but not fast enough. From panic, or just Bullseye pulling at the rifle, the guard fired the rifle, the bullet grazing Bullseye's shoulder and causing a fresh stream of blood to strean down his wounded left arm.

Convinced he was going to have to fight his way out of here and expecting more guards at any moment, Bullseye held on tightly to the barrel as it burned the flesh of his palm, delivering a swift kick to the groin of the guard, enough to loosen the mans grip on his rifle and for Bullseye to yank it away. Quickly, he backed into the corner of the room, turning the rifle around and shouldering it with one hand, aiming it at the doorway and ready to swivel it at the momentarily stunned guard if the man made another move.

---

The rebel briskly walked down the hallway, looking for any sign of Earl or Daniel, and sighed with relief as he spotted the rebel leader already coming his way. “Earl. Miss Fyre,” he said hurriedly, tipping his hat to them respectfully. “Best come fast. Yer friend's awake and he didn't look very happy.” He turned to head back to the room when the gunshot rang out through the hallway and across the base.

“Ah hell.”

"Stand down, my fuckin' ass," Bullseye scoffed, even when Daniel tossed his weapon into the room. The guard on the ground eyes the revolver, and Bullseye hissed at him. "Don't even fuckin' think about it." If Daniel was telling the truth, he'd prefer not to have to kill the guard.

He kept the gun on Daniel as the man slunk into the room with his hands up, his finger tightening on the trigger. "I've had worse then a broken arm, ya fuck. You'll forgive me thinkin' ya full of shit, especially after you nearly OD'ed me on the way here."

"Dunno where the fuck ya brought me, but this sure as hell ain't no vault. I've been in them before. This is a fuckin' Enclave base, sure as the sunset. And ya coulda watched me just fine without takin' ma shit. So if ya don't mind, kindly go get me my gear, and I'll give the man his gun back when I see Cat and Earl both fine and dandy."

Earl stuck close to Cat as they walked down the hallways of the bunker, past the various rebels hanging about. He rubbed his forehead as he did, briefly pausing by an open door. Inside, a group of rebels had retreated, and were sat down on their haunches discussing something in hushed tones. They glanced up at him, their leader, Ian Persen, the self proclaimed 'Tribune of Martius' glared at him. The mans ragged blonde hair and crooked nose helped 'accentuate' the dirty face and beady eyes that focused on Earl as he paused.

Earl kept walking. He recognized them as those who had adhered to Martius' way of war over his, almost always. Even when Martius attempted to call him the Oregon Caesar, they had always truly listened to Martius. 'So long as they're not going to stab everyone in the fucking bunker for cowardice, I don't give a shit.'

"Ah don't know about fine or dandy, but we're alive. We needed medical supplies an' rest, Bullseye. That's why yer in Danny's bunker. Earl's boys were here, too. And yeah, reckon it's genuine Enclave..."


He heard Cat talking to Bullseye from inside the medical room, and swiftly entered behind her in time to see her handing a bottle of Whiskey to the wounded man. He gave Bullseye a thin lipped smile, nodding at him. "Well look whose awake huh?" He then noticed the situation at hand, namely the fact that one of his men was standing in the corner, shaken up and without his weapon.

Earl sighed, turning his attention to the shaken militiaman. He pat the man on the back, "Come on Jerry, wha'd I'd tell your stupid ass about pointing guns at people just waking up? They just panic and think you're there to kill them." He chuckled a bit and held out his hand for the gun that Bullseye had taken from him. "Cat's right, we've got a looot to talk about fella. Ah'm gonna need tha' back first though Bullseye. It's property of the Oregon Republican Army, unfortunately. The rifle if you please?"

Truth be told, the rest of them showing up didn't make Bullseye feel any better. A genuine Enclave bunker? He'd rather be back with Mandy Stark then be in an Enclave bunker. Medical supplies were well and good, but he still didn't trust Daniel. Or even Earl for that matter. At least Cat seemed concerned about his arm. Earl just wanted his property back.

"Your gear is in that footlocker, over there."

Bullseye eyed the locker for a moment, sizing up the situation one last time. If their alliance was over at this point, at the very least they weren't acting like it, though he'd been stabbed in the back one too many times for him to believe any of them were truly acting out of anything more then their own needs. Not that it made any difference. The three of them – four if he counted his guard – were plenty to take him down even with the rifle. Still, why put a guard on him if they trusted him? Why take his gear in the first place. Earl had his army. Cat had her NCR ties. Daniel the Enclave.

Accepting there wasn't much he could do if they did turn on him, Bullseye flicked the safety back on the rifle and shoved it into Jerry's chest. He didn't like the sound of lot's of talk – he was already in way over his head – but he might as well get it over with. The sooner he could get a drink, the better.

"I'll be back in about ten minutes or so. Some a these boys need fixin'."

Bullseye waited until Daniel was out of the room, scowling at him as he left. “I really don't fuckin' like him,” he said with sigh, heading over to the locker and popping it open with his good arm. There wasn't nearly as much in it as he had hoped, but he couldn't blame them for that. Last he'd seen of his pack it was ripped up in that burning house, and filled with holes. Most of the gear in it was probably ruined anyway. At the least his gunbelt was there, pouches and all.

“Gimme a sec', will ya?” He asked, struggling to get the belt on. Only having the one good arm proved to make the fastening fairly difficult, but he'd be damned if he was going to ask for help. They'd hadn't shot his arm full of stimpaks yet from what he could tell, and there was no telling how long it would take to heal up if he couldn't get a hold of some more. The bottom line was that he wasn't valuable enough to them to fix him up properly. Though that wasn't really a surprise to him anyway, with his current suspicions about their partnership.

It took him a few minutes to get the belt on properly, but better late then never. Idly, he stuck a finger in one of the pouch pockets, reassuring himself the pin was still there. It brought him a false sense of comfort, but that was better than nothing. Turning to face them, feeling a bit ridiculous with his arm slinged, he frowned at the two. “Alright, well, what's it ya want. You'll 'scuse me if ma arms got me in a bit of a shit mood.”

Earl took the rifle from Bullseye when it was proffered, shoving it back over to Jimmy and waiting for the two men to leave. He then gave Cat and Bullseye a bit of breathing space as she talked to him, after all, he still wasn't sure if Bullseye was going to collect on that bounty or not. The bounty...it made him think of Tull, and that was a bad idea in a time like this. He focused back on the conversation- the situation at hand, listening to Cat speak. His eyes darted over to the map when she pulled it out, and when she glanced back at him briefly he gave her an encouraging nod.

"She's speakin' true Bullseye. Ah dunno if you wanna come or not, but it's a whole lot better than gettin' strung up by the tans in my opinion. Ah'm gonna send Daniel and the boys out to hide in the hills while we take care of this business."

He had spoken up, but then fell silent again. He didn't really know what to say at this point, all he knew was that he was tired and he wanted this entire day to end. Plus, he wanted to hear what Bullseye had to say about this before he said anything more.

((Sorry for the length fellas, but this guy has just seen his family and home wiped out, and is trying not to pass outor shoot himself))