I really wished that I was able to get out the next chapter on AO3 but sadly it probably won't be until late Sunday or Monday since I'll be gone on Saturday and into Sunday morning. Who knows, maybe I'll pull a hail mary and get something out by tomorrow night. Any here's the next part.
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*Goodsprings, Mojave Desert, late spring 2271*
After the short walk from the Bebop to the town of Goodsprings and after a hearing Faye and Spike argue over stupid petty shit, the three human being disasters arrived at the town to begin asking questions around about the whereabouts of Marcos the killer ghoul.
"Really Jet, a saloon?" "How fucking cliched can you get?"
"Shut up and start asking around."
Jet grumbled at Faye as they arrived a saloon known in the prewar era as the Prospector Saloon. Much to Spikes chagrin, a large dog began barking before he was quieted down by the owner.
"Cheyenne, that's enough. Sorry about that, she won't attack unless you give me a reason to."
A young woman chuckled as she ordered the large Australian Cattle Dog who had heterochromia, a condition in which an animal or a person has more than one eye color, away from the three would-be cowboys.
Spike muttered, "Great more animals".
"I'm sorry, I don't think we had a chance to meet, I'm Sunny. Sunny Smiles."
"Pleasure to meet you Sunny, I'm Jet Black and these two washed up degenerates are Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine. We are here because we are pursuing a killer who has been responsible for multiple murders of settlers. His name is Marcos, a ghoul."
"I have heard of him but if you are bounty hunters working for the New California Republic, I'm sorry but I don't get involved in the politics of the NCR or any faction out here in the Mojave. The NCR only claims to care about law and order and making the roads safe but honestly that's only to protect NCR settlers, nothing against you guys."
"We don't work for the NCR, we are independent contractors you could say."
Jet said to the young woman as she glanced at the three further before continuing on.
"Well, you are more than free to look around and ask people about your killer, as for me I'm the town guard and the local trapper for this town. I mostly hunt geckos that are known to injure or kill any folks out here."
"Do you know if there are any folks out here that might know about Marcos?"
"Like I said before Mr. Black I'm only concerned for the wellbeing of Goodsprings, if you want to talk to the other residents here, by all means do whatever, I need to keep tabs on the town and one of those things is hunting wildlife that could pose a threat to the townsfolk here. If you need any supplies flag down Chet, otherwise Doc Mitchell, the local town doctor could possibly help. Good hunting."
Sunny bid the three farewell and took her dog outside closing the door behind them leaving the three now figuring out another plan in pursue of the killer ghoul. Faye huffed in slight annoyance that no leads could be made.
"Well that was a complete waste of time."
"As if you would have done any better Romani."
"Fuck off Spike, I would have so done better, ugh this sucks."
"Both of you quit whining and keep asking around, clearly Sunny doesn't know anything about our lead, but she mentioned Chet and Doc Mitchell might be able to help us so quit your arguing and keep asking around."
"Fine, Spike you go look for Chet I'll look for this Doc Mitchell guy."
"Why am I looking for him shouldn't we just stick together and work together you know, something that you suck at all the time?"
Spike hollered out at Faye as they continued their search for their head guy. Despite that little argument, they ended up sticking together asking one of the vendors at Goodsprings."
"If you city slickers are looking for supplies, I'm here for that."
"We're not city slickers, we're here because we were given some lead on a killer that must be brought to justice."
"Well if you're with the NCR, I'm not interested in helping ya out. We have enough problems as it is, last thing we need is some NCR hired bounty hunters causing trouble. That along with raider gangs and further out in the wastes, Caesar's Legion."
"Don't you mean "Seezures" Legion"?
"They pronounce it as "Kaizar's" Legion, I didn't invent the group so don't ask me."
"You must be Chet." Jet replied finishing up the conversation about the various factions vying for control of the Mojave Wasteland.
"Well Chet, my name is Jet Black, these two are Spike and Faye and I'll rest assure you and everyone here at Goodsprings that we are not part of the NCR or any of those groups in the Mojave wastes, we a private contractor and we have been tasked with hunting down a ghoul by the name of Marcos, have you heard of him?"
"Funny you ask, he was just here a few days ago, he was with a bunch of armed ghouls, no Khans or anything like that."
"Who are the Khans?" Faye asked Chet.
"Khans are tough mean sons of bitches, they mostly leave outsiders alone unless you got some chems they want. They aren't like most raiders who kill for the thrill of it, still I wouldn't fuck around with them."
"Do you know who Marcos was traveling with?"
"I'm afraid I don't know the name of the group Jet, that he was traveling with, he mostly passed by talking about 'getting vengeance against the smoothskins that did him rotten' and just carried on."
"Ugh enough talking around, where did he go?!"
"Jesus Faye, keep your shirt on, though that would be pretty hot if you...."
Whack! Faye angrily smacked Spike with the tall lanky cowboy taken a bit back from what just happened. Did she seriously smacked him in front of everyone in this strange town?
"He was moving north I think away from New Vegas and out away from the NCR border. I think he's going to that Ghoul sanctuary called Gecko? That's way far from here though, otherwise just keep going north. Do you have a photo of him?"
"Yeah right here, right from my terminal."
"Yeah that's the guy you would be looking for."
"Thank you Chet." Jet said politely to the merchant. Chet responded in kind.
"If you need any supplies feel free to take a look."
"Alright let's regroup back at the Bebop and start searching northward from here. The fact that he was in Goodsprings just recently means he couldn't have gotten too far from here."
They bid farewell to the merchant and the folks of Goodsprings and began their quick trip back to the Bebop. Along the way, they encountered giant mutated praying mantises which both were quickly dispatched with Faye of course expressing her disgust for the giant bugs. Jet rolled his eyes telling her that this is what they will encounter on Earth compared to life elsewhere in the Solar System.
