Hello

[Tank]

This is the story that is currently progressing in the Saloon. I figured it was pretty good, so I'm gonna slowly compile it all into a flowing story here in the same way. That means my posts and Apocs posts stay the way they are while the rest will be filled out to fir the style. That way it will look mor like a story and less like a movie-script. Enjoy!


Hello

Doc is sitting in run down bar, drinking flat beer from a tin cup that will probably give him more diseases than he wants to contemplate, his gauss rifle is sitting on the tale, his bottomless doctor's bag is on the floor, his stetson tilted over his eyes, and his coat wrapped around his wiry form. Trying to keep in some meager warmth, Doc props his feet up on the table and starts to relax. Suddenly somone puts a gun to the back of his head. Doc's right arm begins to whine as the buit in plasma pistol capasiors begn to build up a charge, and Doc swings his arm to point directly at his assailents face, but he immediatley drops it in shock as the man chuckles.

The man was Apocalypse, known as Apoc. He smiles and asks "Would you happen to have the cure for jet addiction?"

Standing in front of Doc was his old companion Apoc. Time had taken its toll on even Apoc, despite this Apoc's charismatic features stayed strong and Doc Hill smiled wondering if Apoc still had his way with the ladies. The grizzled old Doc had been expecting his old comrade to meet him in the bar for almost two days.

Doc asked "Apoc, you old son of a gun... how are things?"

"Quite good... I've set up a large farming estate south-west of Modoc... not to far from here actually. Married my girl she just gave birth to our second son last month." Apoc replied. Doc notices a shadowy figure in a USMC uniforms with a 'Terminator' style pistol with attached scope, red-dot laser and silencer, standing behind Apoc. In the old days Doc would have jumped to conclusions and opened fire on this stranger. But Doc was tired out and not in the least bit interest to shoot first ask questions later, so he simply asked

"Who's this, then?"

"My trusted bodyguard... Silent Trigger. He's a bit quiet but he's a deadly shot with that pistol of his, and he can manage most sub-machineguns, rifles and shotguns... but if things get really bad he's a trained kick boxer."

"Nice... what's with the uniform?" Doc asked

"I used to be a USMC raider, we'd cruise around in pre-war military vehicles and loot and pillage towns and farms. Got kidnapped by some slavers when my jeep broke down and they killed my sergeant. Apoc here bought my freedom... and I've been in debted to him since."

"Doing deals with slavers, Apoc?" Doc said shocked

"Well... I need a couple of extra hands down at the farms. I got loans from New Reno and I preferred to spend the money on a load of slaves rather than slowly spend it paying wages. I'm good to them though, they have decent rights which most owners wouldn't have given them... more over if they work a full five years honest work then I'll give them the choice of staying as paid workers or going free."

"You should take me down there sometime, I'd like to see the farm and meet up with your missus again."

Apoc laughed, slapped ol' Doc on the back and announced

"First things first... last time I checked I bought our last round of drinks... and you know what that means."

"Yeah, yeah... I'm buying... what'll it be?"

"The usual." Apoc smirked

Apoc asks silent what he'd like and he responds with a slight frown, " don't drink, thank you Apoc, you know that..."

Silent Trigger seats himself next to Apoc, his hand on the holstered pistol's butt, taking frequent glances through his mirror-tinted sun glasses at the entry of the bar, and at the few figures within.

He then looks back at Apoc and asks, "So what are we gonna be doing with this Doc-guy Apoc, where we goin, when? You mentioned something about an adventure?"

As he sips his double vodka on the rocks, Apoc notices how uncomfortable Silent is. Always looking over his shoulder, always expecting a fight from a sullen looking slaver or a tribal who'd been drinking to much 'fire-water'.

"Relax, Silent... why've you always got to be so jumpy?" Apoc exclaimed

"Just my nature, I guess." Silent explained "So... where we going?"

"Nowhere for now." Apoc said "I just want to chill out with my ol' friend Doc and just talk about old times."

"You can't be serious, Apoc." Doc chuckled

"I am kind of. I've settled down now Doc, you know that. Nah, I stopped having 'adventures' a long time ago."

"So what did you mean when you were talking about adventures?" Silent mused

"I meant talk about the good old days."

"Oh, come on Apoc!" Doc laughed "We don't want your friend here thinking we're a bunch of whimsical farts who've gotten old before there time, do we?"

"Well.. what can we do?"

"Finish up your vodka and lets go see that farm of yours!"

"Great." Mumbled Silent Trigger sarcastically. Apoc finished his drink and cast the glass aside, no sooner had it shattered against the wall of the bar than the three comrades in arms were in Apoc's car.

"Sorry about the mess, Doc."

Apoc then looks staright into Docs eyes and says, "You know, somethings different about you..."

Doc looks at his glass. "Heh, wondered when you'd get to that. I had some major work done, found this old brotherhood outpost in San Fran, had my blood replaced, heart cleaned out, my face fixed, a little anyway, and some sub-dermal armor put in. Physicly speaking, I'm twenty years younger than I was the first time we met .

Apoc looks stupified, then replies, "Damn Doc, you'll have to take me out to that base sometime!"

"Not a problem, when we get to you place, I'll fill you in on what I've been up to."

Silent lives up to his name and remains silent.

...............

Apoc's car stormed across the sandy wastes, occasionally bounding over the odd dune. Eventually they could see the farm on the horizon. Burning. The famr had been raised to the ground a pillaged. Horrified, Apoc got out of the car and wandered into the wreckage of his former home. Amongst the mutilated bodies was a single servant, dribbling blood into the sand. Apoc hoisted him up and screamed

"What happened here?"

"Raiders. They came... they killed all the elderly. Enslaved the young ones. And marched off."

Silent squated down in the tracks left by the raiders, sifting the sand through his hands. He quietly mumbled

"They were USMC raiders."

"How can you tell?" Doc said

"The gunfire is to accurate for most other raiders. And these tracks have been driven over and over again... meaning the vehicles were driving in a line. USMC raiders do that to conceal their numbers."

"Where is my wife?" Apoc belowed

"They took her off with the young ones." The servant said. He then quietly died in Apoc's arms. After burying the dead Apoc wandered off to the edges of the farming estate and sat down cross legged. Doc Hill went to join his friend, Silent in tow. After a brief silence Apoc looked over to his friends and said

"Silent, looks like you've got yourself and adventure."

Doc looks at Apoc. "Apoc, We'll need weaponry, my base has a pretty well stocked armory, I've been runing a merc outfit for awhile, I think my second is still there right now, I could probably have him truck some stuff out here in a day."

Apoc looks striken. Doc continues, "Don't worry old friend, these bastards have never tangled with Doc Hill, and they are not going to even regret it, because when I'm done, they'll be dead." He pulls a radio out of his pocket and puts it to his mouth. "Jace, load up the Mauler, full load,and get your ass up by Modok,the Howelers have a job"

A chatter of static is heard momentarily, then a steely mans voice sounds through the radio. "Sir, the team is still doin' that job in Reno....."

"I know" Doc then looks at Silent and Apoc. "Don't worry we'll have backup "

The radio sounds shortly "I'll be there by morning sir. Jace out."

Doc puts the radio away. "He's a good man. I don't know what armament was left, I suppose we'll find out."

Apoc thanks his old friend and Silent nods curtly, then says, "If these are USMC raiders, which they sure as hell seem like to me, then I'm not sure if I can fight against them, when they realise that its me, they'll send out a reward for my death to all other units, and then all of your lives will be at risk because of me. You must realise this. I am willing to come with you, but only if you still want me to."

Doc pats him on the back and comments, "Silent, I have more prices riding on my head then I can even remember, they want a piece of anyone riding withme, they better have some big guns and a lot of stims. Besides, I haven't done more than lead operations for the Howlers for a while now, I need the change. To summerize my ramblings, I'd say you're part of the team."

Doc looks at Apoc, "Well, Apoc?"

"Please help," says a shakey voice behind Doc.
He turns to see a weak looking man with a knife stuck in his right shoulder and several rips on the side of his vest left by bullets that were too close for comfort.
The man suddenly faints.

Doc looks at the man. "Ah, hell!"
He kneels over his new patcient, open his myterious bottomless doctor's bag and removes a stim-pack and emergency blood transfusion pack(now with programmable blood type) and sets to work, five minutes later he's done, though his patcient is still unconcious.

He then looks up at his other companions. "Guess we'll have to wait to hear his story. So Apoc, you think we should take Silent with us?"

Without answering his old friend, Apoc storms off back to his burned out home. He returns with a muck brown coloured satchel pack over his back, a clip of ammo in one hand, a 10mm SMG in the other and a hard bitten mild cigar between his lips.

Doc asks, "What's in the bag?"

"My old collection of stuff. The assemly parts for my silenced Hampton Carbine sniper rifle, ammunition, my cap, a pack of jimmy hats, a beer, that holodisk from Vault 29 and a pipboy 2000. "

"Good you're gonna need that. Is Silent joining us or not? "

Apoc swings his bag round in front of him and opens it up, retrieving his beloved New York Yankees baseball cap from the satchel. He puts over his ghostly white hair and pulls down hard. Under the shade of the cap he eyes up his bodyguard Silent Trigger

Silent asks, "Well?"

Apoc pauses a moment, then says, "Silent, I'm sorry... I never told you. You've been my slave for six years. I'd agreed to let you go if you wanted after five. You're a free man... the choice is yours. You want an adventure and I can promise you'll get that with me and Doc. But I warn you now... if you're gonna ride with us a price on your head is gonna be the least of your worries."

"John Wayne said that courage is being afraid but saddling up anyway." Silent grins.

"Does that mean you're coming?"

Silent opens his mouth to answer... there is a brief moment where he is quiet... watching the group hanging on the edge of his words.

Meanwhile, 10 miles away from the burning farm lies a shady lil' tavern. It seems to be completely made of concrete and steel. Walls are covered with barbed wire and camouflage. On top of the building is a little tower with a machinegun barrel pointing out from the window. The tavern seems to be revised from a hundred years old military installation. Two brahmins and few carts are at the drinking through, a guy wearing combat armor is taking a smoke near the tavern entrance and a little boy behind the corner is playing with an old dead rat. Inside two men and a woman are sitting at the bar counter. The bartender hands over a bottle of nuka-cola to a guy wearing a black leather jacket.

"Here ya go. That'll be five. "
"... five what? "

The bartender sighs. "Five bottle caps, dummy."

Kashluk looks the bartender in his eyes, blinks once and reaches for something in his pocket. The bartender's eyes widen up and he takes few steps back. A drop of sweat travels from his forehead, over his cheek near to his throat. Kashluk draws his hand from the pocket. The bartender gasps, but a micro-second later notices the man holding his hand open in front of his nose. Five bottle caps resting on his sweaty palm.

"Are you going to take them or not? ... Dummy?"
The bartender stutters, "Y-y-yeah. Thanks. Anything else?"
"Nah. I should be going really."

The woman next to him pulls from his sleeve when he is about to raise up. "Whatsh the hurry, sthranger? Shtay here with me... Letsh chat or shumthin'. Or don'tsh u care 'bout galsh?"

"Yeah, what ever."

"You fuckin' homo!"

"Hey, bartender... Buy this sweet woman a drink or something. Anything to keep her off from me. Here."

Kashluk tosses a small leather bag of bottle caps to the bartender. The drunk woman is about to yell something nasty at Kashluk, but the bottle of rotgut that the bartender slams in front of her takes her attention all of a sudden.

Kashluk walks out of the tavern and takes a deep breath of wasteland air. It has a strange scent. Like something's burning. Kashluk turns over to the guy in combat armor.

Kashluk: "Do you smell something burning?"

The guy must've been thinking some deep thoughts, because it takes a few moments before he realizes someone's talking to him.

Combat Armor Guy: "Who, me?"
Kashluk: "Oh, right... You're smoking."
Combat Armor Guy: "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Kashluk: "Bleh, forget it."
Combat Armor Guy: "Hmph... Weird mofo..."

Kashluk goes to his cart and attaches it to his new brahmin. He bought it from the Modoc market just few days ago. It had been hard time travelling when his previous brahmin died from radscarpion poisoning. Before riding away Kashluk decides to check through his equipment:

Sawed-off shotgun tied to his back with leather straps - check.
Kevlar plates between the layers of his jacket - check.
The huge stainless steel mace hanging from his belt - check.
The stims, bottle caps and food in the cart - check.

Kashluk: "Alright, Betty, let's move it. Yee, yee!"

When the brahmin starts walking a bunch of thoughts swirl into his mind. "Where now?" It's Modoc in the east, Redding down south. "Been in Modoc lately, maybe I should go see how Redding looks these days", he mumbles to himself. And Betty continued to move south. Then... Then Kashluk noticed a faint light in the horizon.

Kashluk: "Heheh... I knew wind is a powerful thingy, eh Betty? Betty, can you smell the smoke? Yeah, of course you do, you sweet thing you... Hehehe... Ok, Betty... Should we go check what's happened over there? Should we? Yeees, sure we should, sure sure..."

[Apocalypse 2077]

Er... fair enough. I think you should've checked with Doc and me first... but all means, go ahead.

[Tank]

I actually tried to, but the damn PC's at school suddenly wouldn't open new pages... So I just did the first page and then tried again... Still nothing, so I figured I'd PM you about it the ollowing Monday (today) and see if you guys were allright with it or I'd just delete the whole thing.... :oops:

[Som Guy]

Sweet! Thoguh I'm noticing it kinda late though. Been awhile since I've checked the FanFic section.