The Long Road to Hell.

((Edit: Cont. from here.))
(OOC: And away we go! Sorry about the length of the post, yesterday was a little hectic.)

The first bullet sailed through the air silently, crashing into the shoulder of it's target, causing it's step to falter. The next shot came with a thunderous crash, and removed the mole rat's head.

"Well," Calico huffed, lowering her hunting rifle and laying a hand on Four's sniper, "At least you hit it. Next time I'd better not have to finish the job."

He stared at the gun in his hands gravely, "I would have had it with the next shot."

"Oh yeah, cause I'm going to let you waste anymore fuckin' ammo." She began to make her way back towards the group, sauntering lazily with her hands deep in her pockets.

Four turned back towards the headless mole rat and lifted his gun again, lining up the shot he would have made. He stared through the warped sight for a few moments, visualizing the shot, then smiled ever so slightly. Had it.

Jarek surveyed the desolate area, squinting in the bright sunlight and watched with a frown as Calico and Four came trudging back towards them.
They had only been traveling a short while, but something had been bothering him.

He had noticed how Four was acting strangely around Calvin. Not the usual way someone might act if they disliked Ghouls. The man was always turning away whenever Calvin looked towards him, staying back whenever Calvin spoke and what seemed like purposefully hiding his face.
It was playing on Jarek's mind. Had these two met before? If that was the case Calvin had shown no indication of it. Perhaps Four had some other kind of issue with Ghouls.
Jarek decided to ask Calvin about it later, but Four....well, he was still keeping a close eye on the man.
However, his thoughts soon drifted back to the raider settlement. A coherent plan had already started to form in his mind, but Jarek knew he could do with some help.
Turning towards the group he spoke.

"So, exactly how much do you guys know about Evergreen Mills?"
He glanced purposely at Four, his steely blue eyes were hard and cold.
"Like i said, I've scouted around the place but I've never been inside the Foundry and that is where we really need to be."

Four froze in mid stride, blanching, "No." He turned to look at Calico who shrugged coyly, "Oh hell no." He and his brothers had gone to Evergreen Mills once in an attempt to join their ranks. It was shortly after they had first acknowledged what they were, but before they had completely lost their humanity or their sanity.. He couldn't remember exactly what their pitch had been but he remembered the reaction. We barely escaped with our lives. The five of us can't fight those people... can't fight that... thing. He shuddered visibly.

Calico had begun making her way to Four as soon as she heard him speak. She needed to maintain control, especially now while her companions still thought he was an unfortunate slave. Still need to talk to Calvin about that... I swear on my guns, Four, if you make a scene and fuck this up I will end you. Already she could tell it was going to be difficult to sell him on the idea, but it was either chance death there, or be put down here. She chided, "C'mon now, don't be a baby--"

He cut her off with a snarl, jabbing a finger in her direction, "You're out of your fucking mind!" Turning to Jarek, "And you. This is your idea? You're even worse than her!" He noticed Calico moving towards him again out of the corner of his eye and backed away, the repercussions of his disobedience momentarily forgotten, "No. Fuck you, I'm not going."

In the time they had traveled, Calvin had rarely let Four or Calico out of his sight, though he did his best to stay discreet. What he saw troubled him. Although he was primed to hate the kid, he couldn't ignore the terror bulging in his eyes--or what looked like glee in Calico's eyes when she saw it. Still, Calico hadn't really done anything to justify his suspicions, and he wanted to think the best of her. Maybe seeing the kid again just got his nerves jangled.

At that thought, a twinge of pain ran up his leg. Radiation was good stuff, but it wasn't magic, and his leg still wasn't 100 percent. He moved quietly closer to Jarek, Calico, and Four, stopping just behind the latter.

"Why not?" Calvin spoke the second before Four would have backed into him. "Seems like your kind of place."

Jarek stood and glared at Four for a moment and then started to stride over to him, his jaw clenched in anger.

Yeah it does seem like his kind of place, matter of fact.
Still, the guy could have been held prisoner there for all Jarek knew, but he figured otherwise from what he had observed. He would have called it a gut feeling, but he'd spent enough time around raiders to know one when he saw one.
And yeah, I am fucking crazy but who the fuck isn't in this place.

He got up close to Four and spoke in a low, angry tone.
"Sounds like you might know quite a bit about that shit hole, friend..
I suggest you either shut the fuck up or let us know what you know. Or, I guess we can leave you out here to rot with that fucking collar on, if that's what you want. To be perfectly honest, I sure as hell don't trust you so it suits me fucking fine."

Jarek was pissed off. Had Calico not even mentioned what the hell they were doing?
He couldn't be doing with this shit right now. Not now.

There are very few instances in the history of the world where two people have shared the same thought simultaneously. After all, the world is a huge and complicated place, the odds of any two people being in a situation where their reactions mimic one another perfectly is miniscule at best. In this rare moment in time, such an event occurred, and the mystical, fatalistic word that coursed through the minds of two very dissimilar people was ... fuck.

To Four's credit, he stood his ground. His first reaction was to reach for his sword, or run. Running may be beneficial. Logic quickly got the best of him though. If he was lucky he might have been able to get his hand to the hilt before he took at least a pound of lead to the brain. If he made a break for it Calico would take his head off, one way or another. Instead he rolled his shoulders back, meeting Jarek's glare with one of his own which, he hoped, was calm and collected. It was neither. "Fine. You want to know what I know? We're outnumbered, out gunned, and if by some unfortunate miracle we manage to take out enough of those fuckers to make a difference we'll still be eaten alive by... their...monster..." He trailed off and looked away, suddenly feeling very foolish.

Calico watched the exchange, fuming silently on the sidelines. She let Four finish before moving forward and shoving him bodily away from the two men who flanked him. As he stumbled she snatched the rifle from his back, and gestured violently to a rocky outcropping nearby. Her voice was a dark snarl, just below a shout but too loud to be anything but, "You. Over there." She waited until she thought he was out of ear shot, before turning to the others with a falsely pleasant smile, "Ehheh... So... You were scouting, you said?"

Jarek was just about ready to punch out at Four, when Calico shoved him away.

He knows about the Behemoth.
That just about confirmed in Jarek's mind what he had suspected. Not many people would have spent enough time at Evergreen Mills to realize what the raiders there kept as a pet and still manage to get out alive. Unless they were either very lucky or very stealthy, none of which Four really came across as. That and coupled with Jarek's other observations....
He turned to Calico, his eyes darted back and forth between her and the general direction of Four.

"Calico, don't try and squirm your way out of this. Is there something you're not telling us, by any chance?"
His voice held a sarcastic tone, but the anger alongside was obvious.

Jarek had to admit he wasn't really all that bothered if Four had been a raider. Untrustworthy though he may be, he could prove to be a valuable asset to the group if watched closely.
But what he did care about was being lied to. At least, he thought he had been lied to. The usual feelings of doubt started to creep into his mind.
This is why you trust people too much, Jarek. You give them to benefit of the doubt too often.
He felt stupid. He had extended too much trust to Calico too soon. In the past that kind of action had led him into dark places that he never wanted to visit again.
He had to face the fact that was the only reason why he was tolerating Four's presence.
Perhaps he can change.

Jarek folded his arms and glared at Calico, waiting for a response.

Calico shifted her weight from one foot to another. She was rarely caught in her lies, and loathed the idea of backtracking. It's okay, you can talk your way out of this. S'nothing saying he wasn't a raider before he was a slave... She glanced at Four who sat moodily in the shade and sighed Hell... Who am I kidding. "I may have... bent the truth a tad. Not as any slight against you fine people of course, but for simplicities sake. Surely each of you have been in a situation where it's been easier to tell a harmless little white lie than tell it straight, yeah?"

She had trouble keeping the nervous edge from her laugh, "Look, it may come as a surprise to you, but I'm not exactly the charitable type. Now, when I found that kid over there he was broken, bloody, and on the verge of death and I found myself uncharacteristically compulsed to help him. Yeah, I know what he is... or was... but I think he stands a very real chance of being rehabilitated..." She jerked her thumb in Four's direction, her eyes hardening significantly, "Thing is, I'm not gaining anything by keeping him around. Hell I've already lost one job for helping him, if I'm gonna lose this one too I'll march over there and put a bullet between his eyes and that'll be the end of it."

She turned to Calvin, her expression softening to what could almost be mistaken for a look of sympathy, "Or you could do it... If anyone deserves to, it's you."

Calvin listened to the back and forth, hand ready to go for his weapon if needed. He heard the kid say something about a moster, and filed that away for future examination. Jarek seemed about ready to blow, and he was kidding himself if he really thought he knew any of these people more than superficially. They could all be half-crazy, for all he knew. A firefight was about the last way he'd like to find out.

His mouth dropped at Calico's apparently earnest offer, and in his surprise he blurted out what he'd meant to keep to himself. "He and his buddies may have blown my leg half off for giggles, but I'm not gonna shoot someone down like a lame horse while they're trapped in a slave collar." He rubbed the knuckles of one fist against his leg, grimacing. "That's what makes me better than a raider."

Lex had been damn near silent up to that point. The thought of revenge fresh in her mind, there was little that could sway her cold demeanor. But hearing the way the conversation had turned, her pent up anger was released. She stood, and quickly bridged the gap between her and the group.

"He's another gun." she said flatly, stating the painfully obvious. "I don't care what he's done. He's another gun and we'll need all we can get. If this party breaks up because of him, then I'll go on without you." She paused, it had not been her intention to bring this to light, but they needed to know that Jarek was not the only reason she came. by then they were looking at her, she had their attention. Breaking a long silence does that sometimes. Steeling herself, she sighed and let the truth come forth. Her voice dropped, but it's intensity was obvious.

"Those twisted fucks took my son from me. I will get mine, with or without your help, I will have my vengeance." her breathing had become labored, thinking of Diar made an ache in her chest that she could barely stand. But she could shed no tears for her lost child, she had none left. She waited for their replies, but she would have none of their pity.

Pity wouldn't bring her son back.

Calico stood awkwardly mulling over Lex's comment. It felt like one of those situations where she should say something comforting or sympathetic, but she had no idea where to begin. Her mother had raised her to be hard, tough and most importantly incompassionate. Compassion got you nothing but trouble. She glanced over her shoulder at Four, who was inspecting the scout he'd taken from Stockholm's gun, and smiled. ... Totally worth it.

She let the older woman's comment linger between them for a few more moments before clearing her throat, "I'm in this. I don't have any alterer motives or revenge to drive me, but I'm in on this just the same. Jus' thought you should know."

She snapped her fingers suddenly and gestured to Calvin, her eyes lighting up, "And as for your comment about the slave collar earlier, Sir." She moved closer to the others, speaking in a hushed tone, "I'll have you know I took all the wiring and explosives out of the damn thing before I put it on him. Fuckin' near blew my arms off and wrecked two before I managed to keep one together. I figured it'd be better this way incase he tries to pry it off."

Jarek listened to what Calico and Calvin had to say and felt his anger lift somewhat.
He realized he couldn't hold it against Calico for wanting to help the man and she was right, he guessed. If she had told the whole truth things may have been more difficult. Raider or not, in the end Jarek figured that some people deserved a second chance if they really wanted it. He had no choice but to believe it.

But still, some sick fuckers would never deserve another chance or even want one, but Four probably wasn't one of them. He could see the look in the man's eyes and it didn't scream pure sick hatred to Jarek. Even if he did attack Calvin for laughs and countless other innocent people Jarek didn't know what had brought him into the life of a raider. For all he knew Four could have gone through the same hell as he had and fuck, he knew too well what the ever present Jet and psycho addictions that raiders held could do to a man.

She is right in the end, change is possible, but I'm still not putting trust in him.
Although Calico's reasons for helping Four were still unclear. Jarek found it interesting that she would have done what she did and almost smiled at the thought. There was obviously a lot more to Calico than was first apparent.

Lex's words soon cut through his thoughts.

Jarek was taken aback.
He wasn't sure what to say. The awkward silence seemed to drag on until Calico spoke again and he thought it was probably a good time to speak up himself.

"Lex, I'm sure as hell going. I've waited a long time for this chance and you're right, I guess it doesn't really matter what Four's past was, we need the extra fire power. But I think we need to be straight with each other, no bullshit."
Jarek paused. He didn't really want to tell them anything but he knew they would probably ask why he wanted to do this so badly. It was fucking crazy after all.

Speaking quietly he continued.
"They took me from my family too, except they never left any of them alive to know what really happened to me. Instead of just killing me they....well, no one wants to know that shit." he trailed off and studied the floor. He had memories he didn't want to bring back to the surface and it was hard trying not to. "I guess we both need the closure."

Jarek looked at Lex and felt uneasy. This was all starting to hit very close to home.

Her anger subsided. It was all in the open now, well... Diar was anyway...

Lex wasn't blind, she could see the never ending part that Raiders played in her long history. Fist her family, then Styx, and then Diar; it was as if they were following her. An ever-present dark shadow in the back of her mind, the corner of her eye. She caught Jarek's gaze and held it for a moment. Considering the mess with four concluded, Lex got down to business.

"What's your plan?" she asked their young "leader", and in a way he was. When all was said and done, it would be Jarek who led them to a victory, or to death. She would help as much as she could, but it would all come down to him when the firefight broke out. As she waited for his answer, Lex picked up a stick and began drawing out something in the dirt.

He had done so well... they had gotten into the bazzar, they were almost in the clear... and then he was gone. And Lex spent that dark and painful night burying her son on the ridge overlooking the place where he had died.

Calico had to contain a squeal of excitement when Lex spoke again. It'd taken all of her self control to stand through the emotional moment Jarek and Lex had shared, although she somehow knew it was important for them to both get out. Strangely enough she found herself feeling grateful she'd never lost anyone close to her. Then again, I'm not exactly close to anybody. I think the next time I see mom I may hug her. She chuckled lightly as she turned away from the group, Ooh she'd fuckin' hate that. Bet I can get Crow in on a group hug too. Whistling loudly she gestured for Four to rejoin their ranks.

Four had busied himself with the scope while the others spoke, trying to keep his mind off his possibly impending fate. Lifting the device he peered through it, watching the group as nonchalantly as he felt possible. ... Damn, I wish I could read lips. He fumbled when Calico turned to face him, almost dropping the scope in the process. He tucked it in his pocket carefully before standing and dusting himself off. Judging by the smile on her face he assumed they'd decided to let him live. Or she's just excited to pull the trigger. He made his way over slowly, equal forces of anticipation and hope battling for dominance of his mind.

Calico slapped him roughly on the back as he came to a stop beside her, "You are one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?"

He let out a long breath he didn't know he had been holding and nodded. Hopefully that luck doesn't run out anytime soon.

Jarek thought for a moment.
He knew he didn't really have an amazing tactical plan as such. It was just a general idea of what they needed to do, how they were going to do it and where they needed to go. Still, he always believed that the most carefully thought out plans went to shit as soon as the first gunshot sounded. Nothing was predictable.

"Well I don't know what experience of the place you guys have had," he begun, watching with a scowl as Four slowly came back over to the group.
"But from what I've seen we're best off at least avoiding coming at them directly from ground level."

Taking Lex's lead, he also grabbed a stick from nearby and started to draw a rough sketch of the settlement into the dirt.

"The main entrance here is predictably covered with mines and obviously isn't an option. We'd be better off coming in from the overhang above onto the walkways to the far side here and working our way down. They have regular patrols around the internal walkways but they don't tend to operate in very large groups, so picking them off from a distance one by one should hopefully work OK. Me and Four can snipe as many as possible and then the rest of you can go in. As long as we're quick and quiet we might be able to work our way down to the Foundry and bazaar which is here, without alerting every single fucker in the place at the same time."

If we're really fucking lucky

"Past there, I have to admit I don't have a clue, aside from stick to the shadows, lie low and make sure they don't know what hit them. I never got inside the place so any ideas are appreciated."
He indicated for the others to draw on the map if they had anything to add.

Jarek paused for a moment, wondering if he should mention it now. He didn't know what they knew, but the addition of the raider's caged monster was going to make things even more problematic.

Lex looked at the diagram Jarek had drawn, with a wry smile she drew his attention to the diagram that she'd drawn herself.

"great minds think alike eh?" she said dryly. without waiting for an answer Lex set to work.

"That's about what I expected. We should go in under cover of night, prop ourselves up on that cliff and watch their movements till nightfall. During the day, we'd be able to snipe one, maybe two, before all hell broke loose. after that, I'm guessing anywhere between ten and twenty five will come crawling out of the woodwork. And then, by some sort of dumb ass luck, we actually make it into the bazaar, I figure anywhere from fifteen to thirty raiders spread throughout there. Their well armed, and well supplied and we'll need to get creative if we want to wipe them out." she paused, checking to see if everyone was listening.

"Jarek's diagram is alright, it'll show us where to go. But here, he's forgotten the slave pens, that row of shacks -which will be packed to the rafters with em' by nightfall- and the Behemoth cage. I don't know where they got it, or how, but he's one mean son-of-a-bitch." with each thing she mentioned she pointed to it on her diagram.

"Inside the mill are a few catwalks, but their booby-trapped so watch out for pressure plates, tripwires, and bear traps. there's a door -here- that leads to the bazaar, which is basically a huge maze of a cavern underneath. there's one other exit -here- up a ramp behind the strip club that leads to a bordello, there'll be a few skulking around up there. there's a bar -here- and a ramp that leads down to a shop -here- the rest are just interconnected platforms. there will be a shit load of those fuckers down there, so if you've got any concept of stealth you'd do well to use it." Lex was glad that her memories were clear of the place. and how could they be anything else? her knowledge could prove invaluable and she had no qualms of sharing it.

Jarek grinned as Lex pointed out her diagram.
He had been too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice what she had been doing. Still, he was glad he wasn't the only one who knew something of the layout of the place.

He listened intently as Lex continued. It was obvious she had been through this place before and he had no doubt that her knowledge and experience would be invaluable.
Jarek nodded as she pointed out the slave pens and Behemoth cage, inadvertently gritting his teeth.

He didn't know how the others would react. Behemoth's weren't exactly easy to take down and if it got out of it's cage things would certainly get even more interesting.
Even so, he concentrated on taking in the pointers Lex had made and memorizing every word as best he could, especially what she had said about the bazaar and it's inhabitants.

I guess that's where he will be.

In the time Jarek had spent scouting around the area he'd never seen the man who was the main object of his hatred, but he knew now that this was where he resided. He'd come to hear the bastard was a trader of some sort these days and almost laughed to himself at the thought.
How things change.
There were more than a few faces he had recognized and more than a few faces he wanted to blow apart, but his was the only one Jarek really wanted.
And he planned to make him suffer.

Looking at Lex he smiled.

"Good points, duly noted. There is no way we can get through this just charging in, you're right. But yeah, I was going to mention the behemoth but you beat me to it."
Still smiling, he looked towards the others. His eyes soon fixed on Four and he remembered the man's previous comments.

"Well, if the raiders little pet gets out of it's cage I'm sure Four would volunteer as bait."
His smile spread to a wicked grin. He didn't care if the others found his sense of humor amusing or not, he wanted Four to get the message.

At the first sign of deception, you're dead my friend.

Four and Calico both listened to the others speak silently. She had never been or even seen inside Evergreen Mills. While she still traveled with her mother and Crow they used to stand at the entrance and trade with travelers, but those were the days when she used to avoid trouble. Not anymore.

Four on the other hand had scouted the perimeter for over a week before he and his brothers had attempted contact. He took the time to learn their patrols and the general layout, but that was at least 3 years ago now. Things may have changed. He listened to Lex intently. There was going to be a lot to remember, he only wished could write it all down.

Jarek's comment caused him to flinch, but he turned to meet the other man's gaze none the less. He'd been down this road before; between the threats, the aggression and the unrelenting fear, Feels like home. I have to prove my worth to them, just like in any other family. He cleared his throat and glanced at Calico, who nodded permission for him to speak, "Nothing to it. I've been bait before... with the catwalks, it shouldn't be too hard to avoid the fucker." He tried to keep his nerves out of his voice. If Jarek was trying to intimidate him, he wanted to seem like it wasn't working.

"Just before dawn would be the best time to strike." He spoke levelly, in much the same fashion as one might describe the weather, "The night patrol would be at their weariest and the day patrol wouldn't yet be awake. If we catch them at their most disoriented, we might be able to take out most of them before they retaliate. That's if they haven't changed their patrol schedule in the last 3 years. The biggest problem," He crouched, pointing a grubby finger first at the Behemoth cage and then at the slave pen, "Is here. If that fucker gets loose we can pretty much forget about saving the slaves..." He trailed off, glancing up at the group surrounding him, "I'm assuming that's what you're after, of course."

(OOC: Shh, I'm typing this at work Haven't had intarwebs access where I've been staying for a while.)


Calvin felt a new respect for Lex and for Jarek at their proclamations, and vowed inside that he would back them up any way he could. He knew the pain of losing a dear family member, and if he'd had any one person to point the finger at for Lucy's death he would have hunted them down with prejudice to his last breath. The mood seemed to be changing from its earlier chaos to one of planning and teamwork, so Calvin did his best to clear his head and stay level for their sake, nagging pain in his leg aside.

"Behemoth, huh? Whose bright idea was it to take one of those nasty little green fuckers and supersize 'im?" He squinted over the dirt-scrabbled diagrams. "Sounds tempting to open the cage and let those waste of space raiders deal with the fallout. But slaves change things."

He chewed his lip, a bad habit that hadn't stopped even with the threat of chewing rotten parts of his lip off. "Guess I'm about the least familiar person here with this place, but I can be damned quiet and close to invisible when it suits me. You need anything outside of guns a-blazin', just point me where to go. Or if it's just a matter of causing the most damage in the shortest time--" He unhooked his jacket and pulled it aside, showing the array of smoke and incendiary grenades he to kept at his waist, and the bandolier of long-handled "potato masher" grenades slung over his shoulder, "--I might have a few little somethings for that, too. Course, you might want to keep back a bit in case I get prematurely detonated." He grinned.

Lucinda let loose with a stream of electronic tut tuts. "Why do you insist on secreting such awful devices on your person? There is no peaceful use for that level of exploding ordinance."

Lex laughed at Calvin's remark, he was turning out to be her kind of person. She straightened up and headed for her pack, dragging it unceremoniously towards the diagrams. sitting next to it, she unstrapped her sniper rifle from the side and assembled it.

"They've got it in an electrified cage, don't recall seeing any switch or the like; if we want to let that thing loose, we'll probably need to blow the generators." she said while cleaning the rifle. throughout her life, she'd become and expert of small arms repair, it was just something she'd had to be. She looked over to four, holding a beat up heap of a rifle; with a sigh she held out her hand.

"You want to hand me that wreck there Four? You ain't gonna hit jack with that thing, the condition it's in." she waited for his reply, and began to think she should've asked Calico. Lex forgot to care at that moment because he wasn't going to do any good with a piece of shit rifle like that.

Calico shot a scathing glare at Lucinda and huffed, "Please tell me she'll be left far behind when we get there? Last thing we need is our cover being blown by rust-bucket here trying to make peace with the baddies." She watched the robot distastefully, I hate that fuckin' anti-war crap. It's talk like that that'll put me out of business. She doubted the robobrain was going to sway any opinions, but the thought still worried her.

Four had to force himself not to smile as Calvin unveiled his arsenal. His next question would have been if any amongst them were skilled with explosives. Grenades would be invaluable in the upcoming fight. Even indirectly. Lob of few of those down early on and the ensuing chaos may be the best cover we could hope for.

He was startled from his thoughts by Lex's voice. His eyes shifted suspiciously from her face to her outstretched hand. The idea of willingly handing over his weapon to a woman he didn't know or trust made him nervous, but he knew he had to show faith in them before he would receive it himself. Hesitantly he handed the gun over, "... Thank you." Manners may not have mattered through the last few years of his life, but the etiquette book he read when he was young had always stuck with him, and these seem like the kind of people who would appreciate it.

He had common decency enough to say thank you, to Lex, that was no small thing. She nodded slightly and set to work, completely disassembling the gun. Once it was a pile of neatly sorted parts, she began going through each part; checking it's condition, and replacing the shit ones with spares from her bag. With one last check of each part she assembled the gun with long practiced efficiency. Once it was completely back together, she field stripped it and cleaned, oiled, and checked the fitting of the parts inside. Done with that, Lex reassembled the rifle completely and grabbed a magazine from her bag.

She inserted it with a 'click' and took several paces from the group. Bringing the butt up to her shoulder, she sighted a target; a Bloatfly about seventy yards off. Sliding back the bolt, she chambered a round and adjusted the scope. She fired, the recoil digging the stock into her shoulder. through the scope she saw the bullet hit the dust about a foot to the left. Lex readjusted the scope and chambered another round; taking careful aim, she fired again. The bullet hit it's mark and the Bloatfly dropped to the ground. With a satisfied smile, Lex returned to the group and handed the rifle -stock first- to Four.

"Consider it an insurance policy. It ain't perfect, but it's damn close; you might need to readjust the scope for yourself." Lex knew she was handing a well tuned gun to a man who probably had no qualms about killing her. but it wouldn't do them any good to have him with a jacked up rifle. She just had to trust that he wouldn't shoot the person who had probably just saved his ass.

(OOC: *crickets chirping*)

Four watched her disassemble and reassemble the gun in silent awe. There had only been one in their troupe that bothered trying to fix broken weapons and armor, and her method usually involved loads of duct tape and a large mallet she'd dubbed 'Mr. Smashy'. Needless to say most of their gear was rarely repaired but that was fine because by the time anything got to an unusable state they had usually stolen a fresh one.

He took the gun when it was offered, and studied her face. She wore an expression he'd seen many times before, it said 'Don't shoot me in the back, you fuck. Don't you dare.' He hadn't decided yet if he would or not. This woman may be an asset to them but moreover than that she was a threat. He remembered her hissed warning in the settlement and managed to force a smile. He didn't bother thanking her again, the first sentiment had done it's job.

Seeing that the brief exchange was done Calico readjusted her weapons a final time, making sure her hunting rifle was securely in place after her little shooting lesson with Four, and then spread her arms to the group, "Alight! We sort of got a plan now, what say we get back on the road? Anyone got any good stories to pass the time?"

Lex packed her things back into her bag. Collapsing her sniper rifle, she strapped to the side. She took a moment to drag her boot across the diagrams they had drawn, smearing them back into the earth. Others might figure that people had stayed here, but she would make damn sure they wouldn't know where she was going.

"I'm all set." she said to no one in particular. without any real thought, she took a cigarette from her pack and lit it, taking a long drag. it was still several days to Evergreen Mills, they still had time to plan.

(OOC: Sorry about the basic reply and that I've not really been online much, been pretty busy!)


Jarek stared at Four a moment longer and then looked away.
He couldn't really tell what the man was thinking, but he guessed his point had been taken from the slightly strained look on his face.

Watching the exchanges between the rest of the group he couldn't help but smile at Calvin's arsenal of explosives.
They are definatly going to be useful.
All the same, he didn't really like Calvin's robot and he wished the ghoul hadn't brought it along. Jarek had to agree with Calico, the thing was going to be a liability if they weren't careful.

As the conversation progressed he found himself surprised to hear Four actually thank Lex for fixing the gun.
It wasn't something he would have expected from the man, but he figured Four was smart enough not to rub any of them up the wrong way all the same.
Just then, he realized there had been an unanswered question.

"Four" he started, "The slaves aren't what I'm going for, but if we can help them then we probably should."
He stopped and scanned the surrounding area for anything hostile. Seeing nothing in the immediate vicinity he continued.
"Whether we will get the chance to is another thing. Anyway, Calico is right we need to start heading out. Time is getting short and we have a lot to do"

Jarek took one more glance at the strange group and then turned to start walking.