FFF - Talk to Cherry

What Boss Murphy asked of you is possible, although it would be difficult to pull off and extremely difficult to pull off cleanly. But you don’t particularly want to blow up the Free Gurls. They aren’t your friends, but they also aren’t your enemies. You’re already in over your head, but killing a lot of people is unlikely to make it better.

You hurry into the swamp. You’re starting to learn the area. Not exhaustively or in detail, but your ability to navigate the swamp efficiently is increasing. Unfortunately, the dense nature of the swamp makes it easy to be taken off guard.

It’s not an ambush this time. You hear something and investigate, moving with as much stealth as you can, but stealth isn’t really your thing. You emerge from the dried, tangled vines into the middle of a tiny raider camp: hardly more than a few bedrolls on the ground around a little camp stove. Two of the bedrolls are occupied, but you made enough noise on approach that everyone is awake and reaching for weapons.

Your reaction time is good and you already had your rifle in your hands. You shoot the nearest raider twice, then the other one. The second one gets a shot off, but it’s nowhere near you.

You hear a roar and turn in time to see the third raider swinging a spiked club. You block with your rifle, but he’s a big guy. The blow shatters the rifle and sends you tumbling to the ground. You land your back, grabbing for your SMG. You get it pointed in the right direction and fire rapidly from the hip. The click of the gun running dry is louder than the shots were, thanks to the suppressor, which glows red with heat.

The raider, full of holes, groans and collapses.

Sore and panting, you catch your breath and try to listen. Those rifle shots were extremely loud. You better not stay here. The day is getting darker. It’s not late; it’s because of the clouds. Visibility is bad.

You look sadly at the remains of your rifle, but it can’t be salvaged. You discard everything related to it to save weight and check the raiders for anything worth taking. You get a handful of caps and a big, improvised pipe pistol. It’s junk that you can’t possibly trust, and it’s only a single-shot weapon.

You keep moving and make decent time. You are gaining confidence in your ability to handle yourself.

Old Gurlberg is easy to navigate even in hazy daylight. You quickly and discreetly return to their headquarters, where you watch from cover. Watchdog is covering the front with her pipe rifle. You don’t see or hear anyone else, but you’re being careful.

You wait until dark and make your move right away. Watchdog has been the sentry for quite a few hours and she must be tired. You can capitalize on that before she switches with someone else.

You take your shot and cover the distance to the building in the dark, slipping around the side and creeping up on Watchdog.

She spots you but you already have her covered with your suppressed SMG. She freezes.

“Open the door and let me in,” you say quietly. “It’s not what it looks like.”

She hesitates, then complies. The second you’re inside, you lower your weapon and show her your hands.

“I have to talk to Cherry,” you say.

Ten minutes later you’re in the lab. Everyone is present except for three sentries. The Free Gurls are wary; they think that you might be a distraction for an attack. That’s similar to what you feared, and completely possible. You wouldn’t put anything past Boss Murphy, who clearly will do anything that she thinks is necessary for New Gurlberg.

Labrat finishes examining the bomb.

“It’s the real deal,” she says, removing her goggles.

You worried that Cherry would explode with rage at this news, but she’s taking it well. She’s furious, but in a quiet way. It looks to you as though this isn’t a surprise to the Free Gurls. You sense that they’ve known that a showdown with Boss Murphy had to come at some point.

It looks to you as though Cherry wanted to maintain the status quo a little while longer, though. Labrat is Cherry’s meal ticket. Queen Tess is her stunt double. Perl is her enforcer, and Fury is her general.

“Don’t even think about it,” Fury says, and Cherry seethes. She wants to go and attack Boss Murphy, but the Free Gurls simply don’t have the strength or a game plan. “Fuck it, Cherry. I’m not waiting for you. Girls, get ready to move.”

Cherry grimaces, but doesn’t object. There’s a ripple of reactions through the assembled women. One of them jogs away to make sure the bikes are fueled up. Labrat looks sadly at her lab.

Their only option is to run and they know it. They aren’t going to give up Labrat, but you knew that when you decided to talk. You will still win a victory for Boss Murphy because the Free Gurls can only take so much with them, and you and Boss Murphy will get what they leave behind.

And the Free Gurls? They’ll have their lives and everything they can carry. They’re lucky that it played out this way. You notice Queen Tess, or really just Tess, in the background. She’s staring at you. Her eyes are pleading. It takes you a second to understand.

“Hey,” you say. “Do you want to come with me?”

Tess does something that looks like a nod.

It’s not that she wants to go with you; she just doesn’t want to go with Cherry. Or maybe it’s Reggie that she doesn’t want to leave. You know that you heard some things to suggest that the two of them have history. She can’t be with Reggie in this place, but at least they’re close. There’s no telling where Cherry will take the Free Gurls now.

“Hey, Vault Girl? Who do you think you’re talking to?” Cherry cuts in.

“She doesn’t want to go,” you say.

“What she wants doesn’t matter. She belongs to me. Read my lips, Vault Girl: you’ve done right by us. Fury will give you some choice gear and Labrat will give you as much chems as you can carry. That’s enough to make you a rich woman or Boss Murphy’s best friend. You’re going to take this deal and you are not going to tell me what to do with my property,” Cherry says coldly. “And we go our separate ways.”

Queen Tess looks dejectedly at the floor.

Accept Cherry’s deal?

Or stand up to her?