章 119: Hammer time
Afton stealthily follows the trail leading to whoever stole his bike. Yeah, it was probably a stupid idea to leave it out here, but its not like he could take it inside or something. Maybe he should've carved his name into it? As of now he was considering using the perpetrator's blood as paint for such a task.
The trail wasn't actually all that long, it leads to a shack that was about the size of a regular pre-war home that was situated not too far from the Novac motel itself.
The shack had one regular-sized door on the left side of the building, as well as a large one that resembled a garage door... Though, he didn't think whoever built this scrapheap was good enough to install the necessary motors to make it open.
He snuck close to the door with Lucky in-hand and could hear someone banging on something made of metal with a hammer. Hopefully with this going on they wouldn't notice him sneaking through the door.
He grabbed the doorknob and opened it, sneaking inside the rather brightly lit building. Strangely, there weren't any divider walls separating separate rooms, there was only a single large room that seemed to have a kitchen at the left-most corner, the rest was filled with vehicle scrap and other mechanic tools.
*Tink! Tink! Tink!*
An elderly-looking woman with white hair, adorned in a duster and cowboy hat was hammering a car wreckage's frame. This must be the person who stole his bike.
He stands and pulls the hammer down on Lucky with an audible *Click*. "No sudden movements bike-jacker. Or you might find yourself with a head to wear your at." he states.
She glances over her shoulder and seems amused by him, a smirk gracing her wrinkled lips. "Now, is that really a way to treat an old lady? Also, I've heard more intimidating threats from my grandchildren, and they've only just started talking."
Afton growls at her and fires Lucky at the hammer she was holding, it hits the metal head and throws it straight outta her hand and skidding across the room. "I'm not in the mood for jokes." he seethes.
"Hm, you're a fine shot you know. Coulda used someone like you back in Navarro... As to your bike, I've not touched it at all, only moved it to stop any would-be thieves." she says, for some reason not all that shocked at his accuracy and willingness to discharge a shot.
"Yeah, I believe that." he says sarcastically, "It was fine where it was, the only reason to move it would be if you wanted to crack it open and steal the shit inside."
The woman shakes her head, "Rumours get around in this town, the monster harming the big-horners, crazy doctor who also happens to be a drug dealer, things about Legion spies... The most recent one is that you've been trying to recreate a pre-war vehicle... With some success from what I've seen."
"Bullshit, no one was around while I was working on it." he states with confidence, having checked to make sure of it.
"You sure? I walked past you twice while you were wiring. Seemed pretty enthralled by what you were doin'. Not to mention the fact you were doing this at the back of the motel... That place has windows you know."
...
Afton feels like slapping himself in the face, had he really shown the supernatural [Jury Rigging] to all those people? As well as his efforts in fixing the bike up? "What else does the rumour say?" he asks warily.
She shrugs, "Only that you were fixing a pre-war motorbike up in plain view of everyone. This is why I thought it best to move it to a more secure location, why else did you think I had the boys leave a big trail leader here? I'm not a fool boy, only someone without a brain would steal and leave a trail directly to their location." she states.
This was strange, either she was telling the truth, or she was an incredible liar... "Who are you?"
She crosses her arms and smiles at him, "Daisy Whitman, I recover useful components from scraps people bring me. Not my favourite job but it puts caps in my pocket."
...
"I'm sure you already know but, I'm Afton Parker." he says, deciding to put his weapon away and trust the woman. He could draw Lucky faster than most could blink so it wasn't really putting him at a disadvantage anyway.
Daisy nods and sits down on the wrecked car she was hammering, "I'm like a sponge to gossip, not much else for an old girl like me to do. You and that guy Karl, Mercs that've done the NCR a lotta good, wiped out the Powder Gangers and many other annoying pests. I'll personally thank you for that as Powder Gangers used to occasionally come by and harass the farmers."
"Seems like word about us has gotten around..." he mutters, not sure how to feel about it. He didn't know if they were gaining notoriety too quickly... It'd bring unwanted attention towards them, all he wanted.
"It has, along with word about an axe-wielding Courier searching for a man who'd wronged her."
Afton raises a brow, "You know Tamia?"
Daisy nods, "Lass came by maybe a week ago? Spoke with some robot named Victor, questioned a few people before vanishing. My guess is boulder city, doubt she'd still be around there any longer though, doesn't seem the type to stick around places too long."
He nods and decides to get back to the matter at hand, "Where's my bike?"
Daisy points over at the corner where the motorbike was sitting... Its hull was now shining with a new sheen and seems to have been cleaned of all dust and grime. The metal reinforcements he'd put on to prevent people from trying to access the vital components doesn't seem to have been touched at all, lending credence to Daisy's intentions.
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Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
章 120: Productivity
He glances behind him at Daisy, "You cleaned my bike?"
She nods, "Couldn't bear to see such a good piece ruined by all the dust it'd collected. Didn't want to do anything too invasive and decided to just clean it for you. Is that a problem?"
Afton shakes his head, if anything he was grateful... It'd require very specific tools and chemicals to clean all the dust, rust, and grime from it. Perhaps the [Mechanicus] perk would slowly remove it for him, but he had no idea how long that'd take. He was fairly happy with what she'd done anyway... The motorbike now shined as if it were brand new. "No, it looks great. Thanks."
Daisy smiles at him, "No problem... Though, I would like to ask for a favour in return for this small service." she says, causing his lightened mood to dour slightly, maybe she was just looking for something from him after all. "I was hoping you'd let me help out with fixing it up... No idea where you got the parts for it, but I'm not gonna give up the opportunity to recreate a real pre-war bike!" she says excitedly.
...
"Sure." is all he could mutter, having never expected someone of Daisy's apparent age to get so excited over this. "If we get it fixed in good time I'll even let you drive it.", yep, her eyes seemed to light up at this, the woman skipping over to her toolbox and hefting it onto her shoulder before depositing it next to the bike.
He'd not admit he didn't actually know how to ride a motorbike, he'd only asked to see if she was able to teach him... If not it'd just be trial and error, hopefully he'd manage to survive crashing it a few times.
"Can we get started!?" she giddily says.
Afton shrugs, "There's still a couple parts that I need to... Retrieve before we can make it functional. All the bike needs doing right now is wiring, you got any experience with that?"
[Spies Guise is in effect]
Daisy nods, "Boy, I was wiring the insides of Verti-birds while you were still wearing a diaper. I've got this." she states while patting her bicep.
Afton raises a brow before he begins removing the reinforcements, allowing the duo to open it up and reveal the brand-spanking-new reactor core and cooling fan. Of course, this causes Daisy's eyes to bulge at the condition of them, apparently she'd never seen something this pristine before.
"Where did you find these components? They look straight outta the factory!" she exclaims.
Afton flashes a toothy smile, "That for me to know and you to get to work." he says, gesturing towards the stray wires that hadn't been fixed to anything yet.
She snorts and immediately starts handling the wiring with expert precision. He wanted to make sure she knew what she was doing before allowing her to work on it, but from the way she handled the wires, he could tell she'd handled machinery before.
"What did you say about verti-birds earlier?" he asks, the only people who should've been working on them are pre-war military, or belong to an organisation such as the NCR or Brotherhood of Steel... More likely the brotherhood as the NCR only has access to a few of them.
She purses her lips at the question, "Oh, that? I... I lived in an area close to the Brotherhood that has a lotta crashed verti-birds. Let me up close and personal to work on em."
"Mmhmm..." he hums, she didn't sound as convincing as she had earlier, "Well, it doesn't matter I guess." he shrugs.
As Daisy starts working on the bike Afton leaves to start using [Jury Rigging] on other vehicles to gather other components needed to fully fix the bike. He'd need to make sure no one was able to spot him this time though, if people discovered this ability of his he didn't doubt that the main forces of both NCR, Legion, and Brotherhood of Steel would send armies to acquire him... He could probably produce an armies worth of weaponry for them, if they pushed him enough. Imagining either organization having access to as many vehicles as they wished caused his features to harden.
Neither would use the newfound strength for the good of the wasteland, instead just gathering taking more resources and attempting to snuff out the competition. The brotherhood would maintain its draconian laws, the NCR would get even more corrupt than it already is... As for the Legion? He'd probably just be executed due to their attitude on technology. It was kinda that Caeser forced his armies to run into battle wearing sports gear and wielding machetes...
It'd ben a few days now since he'd started working with Daisy, he'd found her quite good company as they worked on the motorbike she'd started to call "Dirt-Bird". They did dance around certain subjects like what she used to do and other similar things. He was in the same situation due to his ties with the Brotherhood. It turned out rather amusing for both to try and trick the other into revealing pertinent information about themselves.
Afton was, of course, almost constantly pulled away from their project by Ada Straus who was slowly receiving more people due to Afton's climbing reputation... Seems like not many people actually trusted the woman and left their injuries alone, only now deciding to get them checked due to Afton's presence.
It was helpful he'd met Daisy as she continued working on the bike while he was away. She never questioned where the components had come from but he knew she was curious... He'd tell her... If he was stupid. No, he never intended to tell anyone of his abilities ever. The settling of someone's curiosity wasn't worth potentially being hunted to the ends of the earth.
While Afton was doing all of this, Karl was just relaxing like a regular old man... As if he wasn't a deadly former-ranger. Last he'd seen of the man he was still milling about Jeannie, maybe he really did want to to know her better? Or maybe the old man was just horny, something Afton'd rather not think about.
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