It's A Lonely Road Home. [Fallout RP: Retribution|The_Lady_Yin]

[Retribution]

​

War, war never changes or at least the guns do. It had been nearly two whole and a half centuries since the bombs first fell. A Great War they called it, a Great War that only lasted for two hours. The world as they knew it was over. Though amongst the ruins of the Old World thrived Humanities ingenuity to thrive and survive. The lucky ones among the rich and the important were given plots within advanced bunkers called Vaults. These underground communities housed the remains of the United States of America. Now lets fast forward into the future, fast forward two and a half centuries to a time filled with old laws and new ideas. America is nothing but a wasteland now, and as usual, war never changes.


It was morning in a small community known as Goodsprings, it was just south of New Vegas. The Nevada sun was rising for a new day, dust brewing over the tattered and broken road that ran right up through the middle of town. There was only two buildings that made any caps and that was the Prospectors Saloon and Goodsprings General Store. The population was a few families none of which had any future and only held a single goal in mind; survival.


Our story begins with a single man, not a family but just a man. He goes by the name of Lance DeWitt Walberg; a ex N.C.R. Ranger who works as a courier and the occasional mercenary when the time called for it. He usually tends to himself, being extremely introverted and didn't like to be in large crowds let alone spoken to by strangers.





Lance was sitting on a bar stool with his tan, sweaty muscular arms on the bar. His left hand was gripping the bottom of a shot glass filled with whiskey and the left hand was balled into a fist and pressed against his cheek. Now, he wasn't your ordinary lanky man, no, Lance was all bulging muscle and stood 6 feet in the air. One look at him and you automatically knew he was a soldier, a pure hardass through and through. He had the look, the attitude and the bulging mass to prove it. Though one look into those deep blue eyes of his and you knew what he was thinking and it was either two things. Your death or your protection.





The male took another drink from his shot glass and allowed the warm tingly liquid to slide down his throat leaving a burning taste he had grown use too. He took his right hand and dug it into his utility pouch grabbing a few caps and placed them on the bar only to have them snatched up by the bar maid; she wasn't important to the story, in all honesty she was just some piece of ass that Lance banged when he was horny.


The soldier got up from the stool and sighed; his large bulging chest heaving upwards and then dropping. He was in fact big, big all over if you know what I mean. He turned on his heels and headed for the exit, his body passing through sections of light being made by the windows. He opened the door and allowed the Nevada dry heat to hit him in the face, his handsome features glistening in sweat. He allowed his arms to dangle but his left hand ran its strong palm across his Sequoia, feeling the cool metal under his finger tips. He loved the feeling of the large hand cannon resting in its leather holster. He crossed his ripped arms across his sweat covered white tee and licked his lips. He popped his neck with a slight jerk, the metal clanks of his Adamantium bones sounding underneath the ropes of muscle. Today was gonna be his head that something new happens, or the Grim Reaper comes to take him.

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

The change began slowly, only a smudge on the edges of the horizon. Then the wind stilled, so suddenly that the dust continued to drift for seconds after it died. Those who were outside stopped what they were doing, spooked by something they could not name. Wary eyes, used to seeing the danger they were dealing with, looked around and found nothing. They only saw clouds, too far off in the distance to be of any consequence to them yet. They went about their lives uneasily, unaware of how quickly the sky was going to turn dark.


It took only minutes from that hazy smudge. Mere moments, before the entire sky was hanging over their heads, ominous and black. The wind still didn't blow, and the world seemed to have fallen silent in terrified awe. Certainly the people had. Mothers ushered their children inside, peering fearfully from the windows. Whatever livestock lived there stamped and snorted in agitation.


The clouds were slowly turning, the center of the silent circle directed to the outskirts of Goodsprings. Those who remained outside felt their skin prickle with some unseen awareness, raising the hair across arms and necks and shooting cold down their spines. All the while, the dark blanket across the sky swirled faster, gaining speed with creeping finality. Something was coming. The primitive brain processed this knowledge, even as the conscious denied. Clouds were not dangerous. But these ones were.


The wind picked up as quickly as it had died, doubly powerful than its leisurely journey before. It grew quickly, blowing dust and debris toward the center of the swirling mass above their heads. It lasted seconds before the world stopped with a noise that was felt more than seen, a concussive cannon shot of soundless clamor that pressed like a wave, blowing the dust that had riled with the wind back in a stinging whirl of particles. From the eye of the storm, something began to fall.


At first, the only thing that could be seen was flame, at least forty feet long. When that flame began to twist and writhe, the theory of meteor became less and less likely. Slowly, ever-so-slowly, whatever it was fell toward the ground, burning up in its descent. When the flames died, those eyes that still watched saw something horrifying; Whatever else... the thing that had fallen from the clouds was human. When it hit the ground, it seemed the world cried out as sound returned to the land in a rush.


The clouds dissipated, the wind fell back to a gentle breeze, and the sun made its return as if the phenomenon that had just happened were erased from the world, gone without a trace. But something, or someone, had fallen from the sky...

 

[Retribution]

Lance found himself struck with confusion and slightly nervous as what was happening. He hadn't seen something like this shocking or amazing since the HELIOS II was fired from space over the Brotherhood of Steel approaching army. He quickly ran off the porch of the Prospectors Saloon and headed into the middle of the broken street. He waved and shouted at the children to run inside. He himself was about to head for his shack up on the hill but he noticed that the swirling black mass of clouds were beginning to open up and that was when he saw the streak of orange flames fall from the heavens. The loud concussive sound blasted against his body, he quickly slapped his hands over his ears trying to drown out the sudden surge of painful sound.


When all returned back to normal and the dark clouds were beginning to break apart and the sun's rays returning the populous of the town were coming out to see. Lance felt for his gun and wrapped his fingers around the wooden stock and flipped a finger across the trigger. He knew what he had seen, and he had seen a person from the sky! He made haste to the crash site, his combat boots pounding hard against the hard cracked earth. His utility belt and other gear clanked with each step. He came to a sudden stop, sliding across the sand just a bit when he came up to the small crater made by the person who had fallen. It was like something out of a movie, but Lance didn't know what a movie was.


The male cocked the hammer back of his Sequoia and held close to his side with his arm holding it up towards the sky. Other men came rushing towards him but stopping a few feet away too. Some of them holding vermit rifles, shotguns even holding base ball bats. Lance didn't know what to make of this but he knew he couldn't just leave her laying there.


He quickly holstered his gun and rushed down the crater. He knelt down on one knee and slipped his arms under her smoldering hot body. The hiss of his skin sounding meant it was burning him but his skin was rapidly healing just as quick and was withstanding the heat radiating off her body. He then turned up looking at the scared faces of the men who had came, he just looked at them as he rushed out of the crater and quickly took her to his home. He figured he'd put her on the floor there, and when he did he sat on a near by couch, his gun still at his side but not in his hand. He waited in silence hoping she'd wake up....

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

'She' turned out to be a perfectly average-looking woman in the classical sense of things, two arms, two legs, ten fingers and toes. Two eyes and one nose. Every other average was thrown to the dry Nevada winds. Her hair lay in a simmering golden pool around her upper body, the ends singed and stiff but still nearly ethereal. Her skin, which should have been blackened by her scorching fall, was a perfectly pale alabaster from top to toes, if a little rosy. And there was plenty of skin to examine due to her distinct lack of proper clothing. The flames had eaten that much away, at least. All she had left was what amounted to a slip, ragged and transparent though it may have been, draped across her torso to brush mid-thigh.


The strangest of all, however, may have been the long line of her back where her only wounds seemed to be. Two bloody, half-charred wounds lay on her back, just across both dainty shoulder blades. Bone protruded there --Just a fraction-- that should not have been on any normal human body. These wounds still seeped blood nearly too bright to be considered as such even as yet another strange happening occurred. Those macabre holes in her skin began to knit back together inexplicably, the bones-that-should-not-be dissolving with them until both seemed to disappear.


Not a mark stained her body to give Lance any clues to her origins. No scar or birthmark, no sign of radiation, not even the tiniest bruise since her skin healed. Even as the shimmering heat began to fade from her body, she offered no sign of why she had appeared. And she did not move, either. Not for several hours. When she did come to, it was slowly. First the twitch of a fine, small hand; Next her head turned, lids fluttering. Finally, with a startling suddenness, eyes of an unearthly blue snapped open with a gasp.

 

[Retribution]

Lance saw just how quickly her wounds had healed. He could see the skin literally attach itself back together, he wondered if she was something like who had the the PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder. But when he got to looking at her more closely he could tell and feel that she was unearthly. Something about her made her seem abnormal, something stranger than any typical human being. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but when she awoken from her slumber he raised his hands up to show he meant no harm.





"Woah, hold up there. You had a pretty long fall. I don't know what you are or where you come from but take it easy. I'm sure where ever it is you come from, you'll need to just relax. My name is Lance DeWitt Walberg. I'm not gonna hurt you, trust me alright? Now outside this house there are some people who have questions, questions that I need answering. How about we start with your name, can you tell me your name?"


His voice was something out of a movie. It had a modulated voice, something you could constantly listen too, even having a smoky tone to it, attractive and lingering. He slowly rose out from his tattered chair and headed for his fridge. He knew he didn't have much, he usually eats while out on the desert wilderness. He jerked the rusty fridge door opened and peaked inside grabbing a refreshingly cool Nuka Cola. He then closed the door and walked back, his steel towed boots making heavy thuds across the dusty wooden planks. He handed her the condensation covered glass bottle before popping the cap and placing it by her side.


"Here, drink that. It's real good, and you can keep the cap. Knowing you, and I know very little but enough, but you may not have any money on you. Bottle caps from Nuka Cola's are the thing that keeps food in that stomach or bullets in guns."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

She was sitting up when he offered the Nuka Cola, looking around at her surroundings with a sort of baleful wariness. Those startlingly blue eyes turned to him as he returned, regarding him as if he were a potential enemy regardless of his words. She eyed the proffered refreshment in the same manner. Her fine-featured face was drawn into a mask of arrogance and distrust.


"I am not taking anything you wish to give me. For all I know, you are a maniac who wants to kill me for no reason other than I am alive." Her voice was steady, demanding even. The lilting accent was unfamiliar but beautiful. "In that vein of reasoning, why should I answer your questions? I know nothing of where I am, or who you are. I know a name. That is nothing to go on."


She moved quickly, rolling to her knees, then suddenly standing. She was short, but it didn't seem to stop her from facing Lance down. "Give me one reason to trust you."

 

[Retribution]

"Me, the maniac? Lady, you fell from the sky, you have not one single scratch on your body, you're nearly naked and you think I can kill you? You heal faster than I do and I heal fast!"


The male sighed as he stood up and towered over her. He was a perfect 6ft male, and obviously massive compared to her tiny frame. He just gave her a dirty and insulted look before clearing his throat and turning the other and walking off towards the fridge once more. He opened the white rusted door and grabbed his own Nuka-Cola bottle. He used his teeth to pop the metal cap off before taking a deep swig of the refreshing cola. He sighed as he looked down at the bottle in front of him and then looked back at the woman.


"You can't trust me, you'd be a fool to trust a man on the first day but I do know that I can trust you. You're obviously not from this world, so I can trust you. Now you can walk out that door and face whatever it is you came here for, or you can stay here in shelter away from the evil. I'm a bad man, I do bad things to bad people. When the Law can't do their thing, I do my thing. Do you understand?"

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

Instead of replying, she watches him with narrowed cerulean eyes. It was clear she didn't care one whit about his size, or his speech about being a bad person. Her openly aggressive stance shifted into something less so, though she did cross her arms over her chest at his mention of clothing, or lack thereof.


".... Catania Mikhael. I am not here for any specific purpose. I was.. banished.." Her nose wrinkles at the word, sour on her tongue. Her expression was bitter. The glare that had been directed at Lance darts away, turning instead to the wall nearby in a vain attempt to stare a hole into it with hopeless frustration as the carving tool. "But you are.. sort of right.. about me not being from here. I am-- was... an angel." Was. The word grated on her to no end.

 

[Retribution]

"Banished? You don't say.."


She mentioned that she "was" an angel, things were beginning to piece together a lot better now. He took another swig of his cola and walked into a different room and came back with armored knee guards. The black paint was chipped and dented from him obviously getting into some heavy work. He sat back down in his chair and began to strap them onto his knees then adjusting his military boots. He looked back up at her and sighed.


"Well what do you plan on doing? I'm sure things are different up there, but down here, if you haven't noticed it's one big cluster f**k."


He grabbed his cola from the table next to him and finished it off before placing it back on the small wooden table. He was getting prepared for work, usually going up to the Goodsprings Cementary and pick off some unwanted Death Claws. He figured he'd ask her if she wanted to join but she didn't have enough cloths to hide her mentionables. So he looked at her and sighed.


"Let's get you some proper clothing. What do you prefer, leather armor or casual wear?"

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

Catania opens her mouth to reply before the question asked caught up to her. "Ah... Let's go with leather. I guess." Came the eventual, uncertain response. She honestly looked wary of putting anything on that originated in... wherever she'd ended up. It was probably just as likely to give her an infection as protect her, if what she'd seen thus far was any indication. She held less faith in casual wear.


She glanced at the cola sitting forlornly on the ground next to her, then at the man who'd offered it. With a silent sigh, she bends down to pick it up. The first sip had her making a face for the bubbles she wasn't accustomed to. But she was thirsty, and she supposed it was better than dying of dehydration, so she takes another drink. The bubbles still bothered her. The taste wasn't so bad. She still would have preferred something else.

 

[Retribution]

"How about we make a quick trip to the General Store. Ole Pablo there has some leather armor that would fit you perfectly. We'll even get you a weapon, you seem like a up and close type of woman."


Lance gave her a few curious looks, his eyes narrowing a bit as he does so. After quickly examining her he got up and headed to his bedroom. He didn't come back till after a few minutes, he had dressed himself into a different top. He wore a white cotton long sleeved shirt, he'd rolled the sleeves up and was buckling a bandoleer across his bulging chest. He then moved to grab a large Bowie Knife from a shelf behind the wall next to him and figured it'd be a good weapon to give her.


"Here, have this Bowie Knife. We'll get you a pistol later. A woman shouldn't go around without something to protect her."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

She took the knife with something akin to disgust, holding it awkwardly. "Um... Thanks.." She grumbles, searching fruitlessly for somewhere on her person to put it before giving up and just standing there with the knife in her small hand. "So you're going to protect me from the big, bad people outside?" she asked disbelievingly, but nevertheless she moves to peek outside, Nuka Cola in one hand and the knife as big as her forearm in the other.


Her shift was torn into ragged strips across her back, holding together just enough for it to still cover her. There were still blood stains on some of the cloth higher up on her shoulders, and the rest was filthy in its own rights.

 

[Retribution]

"Protect you, you're a use to be angel, I'm sure you have some fighting skills that are a lot better than mine, right?"


He walked away once more to grab a black military grade case that held one of his favorite guns; the GM-JP AR Hybrid. He came back in and placed the case on the couch. It was rather long and wide, he unlocked the latches and flipped open the case and the reason why was revealed. Inside was a glossy black weapon, the body was boxy and the barrel was short as well. The scope was rather long and big, and the magazines used for it were wide and rather long as well. He picked up the weapon and heaved the 30 round clip into the sniper cannon. He flipped a switch on the side of this gas powered monster and it came to life with a simple whir.


"Meet Bessy, a military grade sniper cannon from the Old World. GM-JP AR Hybrid with semi and full auto capeability, 30 round magazine and super charges the 50 caliber rounds for extra umph. Can be shot from two miles away and the kick can break a weak man's shoulder. It has night vision, and inferred vision scope. If you load explosive rounds, like it has now, you might as well be a walking tank with this girl."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

"I'm pretty good at hand-to-hand. Not that I'd want to take you on. I'd be afraid you'd sit on me to crush my bones." Her eyes bespoke of the wicked amusement she found at poking fun at him, hoping he'd respond with irritation. It was always fun to bait people.


She glances at the monstrosity he picked up with raised brows, impressed despite herself at the sheer size of the beast. "And that, my grotesquely muscled friend, is overkill." She responds promptly as she looks at Lance, smiling in as sweet a manner as only an angel could. It was almost believable. The far more amused grin that followed was clearly real.


"I get the point, though. You're definitely capable of protecting me."

 

[Retribution]

"You'll gotta learn how to defend yourself too."


He attached the strap onto the hooks and slung it across his back before motioning her to follow. He opened the door to his house and walked onto the porch. People had gone back to normal like as if nothing happened. He walked down the few steps down to the grass covered ground and then down the hill and through his front gate before heading towards the General Store. He looked behind him to see if she was following him.


"Don't tarry, come on."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

She followed behind with caution, and a certain wary aggression that would to a wild animal proud. She still held her drink and her new knife, glaring at all those who looked at her with all the ferocity she could muster. For her frame, it was quite a lot. The state of her clothes and herself, on the other hand, negated any ferocity she had and turned it into petulance. She looked terribly young with that sort of expression.


She nearly said she could handle herself, but the strangeness of the world around her arrested the statement. Somehow, she didn't think she was capable of defending herself against whatever forces came out of this hellish world. It made her stick a little closer to Lance than pride had previously allowed.

 

[Retribution]

Lance guided her to the General Store in a hurry, he was trying to get the half naked girl to the store and get some proper clothing on her as quickly as possible. When they finally arrived he opened the storm door and walked in. His boots thudded across the dusty wooden planks right up to towards the Hispanic male behind the counter. The store was filled with odds and ins and a few assortment of weapons but none of which that came close to the one on Lance's back. When Pablo, the store owner, spotted the new face he smiled and gave her a quick wave.


~"Well who do we have here?"


"Pablo meet Catania, she's from out of town and she was roughed up a bit. I'm gonna need that suit of leather armor and give me a 9mm too with a couple dozen boxes of ammo. Also get a utility belt for her too, she'll need one, as well a back pack, sleeping roll and a water bottle."


The black haired male nodded his head quickly with a smile and quickly began to gather the items he requested. Lance wandered off and started looking at some tools he might need but then decided not to buy them. When Pablo got the things ready he grabbed the leather armor for females. It wasn't revealing, but it was tight fighting for a woman. He nodded in approval and handed her clothes, the utility belt, and kept the sleeping roll and back pack.


~"Uh, miss, there's a dressing room behind me. Go ahead and try on the armor, I'm sure it'll fit."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

For the most part, she'd waited quietly after offering an uncertain wave back at the Hispanic man. He answered one of the questions she'd had about this world. Lance was different. Not everyone was his size. She filed the knowledge away for later thought, sipping absently on her drink and trying to get used to the bubbles that repulsed her attempts at enjoying it every time. When Pablo spoke to her, she dragged herself free of her thoughts with a blink.


"Okay.." She took what was offered without touching the stranger, looking over the raiment critically. With a glance at her unorthodox protector, she slips into the back to change, locking the door behind her. Taking off her shift took no effort. Putting on the leather armor proved ridiculously difficult for her. She'd never had to work with so many straps and buckles before in her life. Her hair proved just as much of a challenge as she tried to get everything on. Finally, after a half-dozen minutes, she tugs everything into place and lets out a satisfied huff. Moving somewhat awkwardly in the tight-fitting clothes, she steps back into the main room for inspection.

 

[Retribution]

Both Lance and Pablo were waiting on Catania. When she finally walked out of the dressing room Pablo smiled wide with approval but Lance just gave her a simple nod; it wasn't much but it meant he approved of well it fitted her. He walked towards her and helped her adjust her belt then stuck her first gun into the holster. It wasn't load obviously because he didn't want her accidentally shooting someone without knowing.


"Come on, we'll get you some target practice."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

"Uh.. Sure. What am I going to be hitting?" She moves to examine the gun, hesitating when she glances at both preoccupied hands. She shoves the knife into the belt haphazardly, then looks at the cola. It was placed on Pablo's counter before she hurries to follow Lance, dragging her new gun out of its holster. She held it up with the same wary curiosity she'd studied him with, turning it over in her hands.


The unfamiliarity of her new leather casing made her movements continually awkward, and she was distracted from examining her newest weapon numerous times by having to readjust one thing or another.

 

[Retribution]

"I imagine we can find something for you to hit. Let's get going, I got work to do."


The pair finally left the General Store just after paying Pablo his money. They were heading for a old cemetery that was made on top of a large hill with the towns water tower just looming over head. The dirt path up the hill wasn't long but Lance imagined that Catania was having a bit of time getting her leather armor broken in. Soon she'll become accustomed to its tight fit. Once they reached the top of the hill, Lance walked slowly over to a certain grave, it once belonged to a famous man, Courier 6. He died here and was saved here in that very grave. Lance grabbed his weapon and leaned it against the marble tombstone before turning to look at the female.





"Alright, if you see a large mutated bug with a large stinger....shot it. Those are called Bloat Fly's, they can shoot out their stingers."

 

[The_Lady_Yin]

"Bloat Flies... Okay..." She peers around at the bleak landscape, hoping she knew what she was supposed to be shooting. She understood what he was talking about... mostly. She'd never encountered a bug before. She figured finding something that was flying and bloated would be enough of an indication. Except...


"You're sure I have something to shoot with? How do you tell?" She returns her attention to the pistol in her hands, puzzling out the different parts. She pauses, then looks at Lance with annoyance. The pistol fell to her hip, forgotten for the moment as she rounded on her protector. "Besides that, how in the nine circles of Hell am I supposed to use this thing? I've never even seen one before." She swings the barrel around to gesture at Lance threateningly, arm loose.