I am MacCready trash.

Fallout 4 has destroyed me.

There was a lack of MacCready fics, so I decided to have at my own. Enjoy this little brain child. Let's see where it goes.

MacCready wasn't really sure when his life had gotten to this point. If you had asked him a few months ago, he wouldn't really be sure where he would end up. Running with the Gunners had taken it's toll on him mentally. Three months away from them had done wonders to clear his head, but he could admit to himself that carving out a name for himself in the Commonwealth wasn't going exactly as he had planned…

Although, he never really had a plan to begin with. That is at least, a well thought out one. Sure, he knew what the end goal was - he needed to get more money or find some way to get a cure to Duncan in time. That was all that mattered to him. It didn't matter how he did it, just so long as it was quick. Turns out getting caps around here was harder than he had thought.

The gunners worked for a little while, until he realized that he wasn't getting the caps he thought he should. Even though he enjoyed the violence caused through his tour with them, it became so monotonous and draining that even he had to wonder what their end goal was. He wasn't fitting in with this group of degenerates and it was beginning to wear him down. That, and MacCready realized they were skimping him on the spoils after taking over any new areas. That was what did it for him. Sure, he knew they weren't exactly the most generous bunch, but when he joined he expected to be getting more than he was.

So, he walked. Tried to find work where he could.

He knew how to shoot well enough that word got around. He started to get a reputation, which was exactly the sort of thing that he wanted. If you had a good reputation, and an even better shot, you stood to make enough caps out here to survive off of. So whatever he didn't need, he'd send back to the Capital Wasteland with Daisy to take care of Duncan. Which unfortunately didn't leave him with very much to live off of, so most nights he spent in the Third Rail drinking and waiting for his big opportunity to come walking through the door.

Apparently the gunners didn't take too kindly to that, surprisingly. You'd think with how heartless and relentless they were in their pursuit of military weapons and caps they'd have little to do with MacCready. That was the hope at least. Turns out when you make too big of a name for yourself some of your ghosts come back to haunt you.

Which is where he found himself now, eyeing two ghosts of his past through a glass of whiskey.

"Can't say I'm surprised to find you in a dump like this, MacCready." Winlock greeted, except it was the kind of greeting that came with the promise of something violent.

He smirked. Couldn't help it. It figures they would track him all the way down here.

"Was wondering how long it'd take your bloodhounds to track me down, Winlock." MacCready didn't bother getting up from his seat. Didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing how off guard they had caught him. It didn't seem like it was about to get ugly just yet. He knew they wouldn't do anything in Hancock's town either - that man had an even uglier reputation than he did. So instead he decided to stay seated and kill them with snark while he could. It was more fun that way anyway. "It's been almost three months since I left. Don't tell me you're getting rusty."

MacCready's particular brand of sarcasm didn't seem to win them over any. Instead, Winlock looked at his partner, Barnes, and MacCready could feel the air in the room change. Seemed they definitely weren't in the mood for him today. He took another swig of his drink and set it down, eyeing the two as they waited on him.

"We need to take this outside?" He decided to ask. MacCready was already getting tired of this. If it was going to go south, best it happened sooner rather than later. He still had a few hours left of his night, and was itching for a fight anyway.

That was until the strangest lady walked through the back door of The Third Rail.

"MacCready?" She asked, all eyes in the room glancing over her way. Seemed she even surprised Winlock and Barnes with the way they were eyeing her. It couldn't be helped though. She just looked so... out of place. That was the only thing that came to mind with her. She just didn't look like she belonged here…

"Yeah?" He stood and decided to answer back before it got too awkward. After all there were three different guys staring at how pale and clean she looked. Definitely hadn't been touched by the Commonwealth the way the rest of the people he saw around here were. He watched her walk more into the room, a cold and calculating stare on her features. He was momentarily distracted by her strange black overcoat, that is until he noticed a Pipboy on her wrist. The last time he saw one of those was back too many years. Back when he was the mayor of Little Lamplight and the Lone Wanderer decided to pay her respects.

She noticed him staring at it and hid it behind her back a little, slowly making her way towards him while eyeing the other two men curiously. "There a problem here, fellas?" She challenged, moving to lean on a hip with the hand not marred by the machine.

Winlock and Barnes exchanged more looks. Man, MacCready couldn't remember the last time the two of them were this quiet. Perhaps it had something to do with the way the lady was staring at the two of them. Even though she appeared so out of place, there was a look in her eyes that rooted you to the spot. MacCready could see it even though it wasn't directed at him. This lady had definitely seen some horrible things, and she had a look that promised even more horrors at whoever was on the receiving end.

Winlock finally spoke up, coming out of his stunned silence and continuing to gaze up and down at the new stranger. It seemed he also didn't really like what he saw there. That means he wasn't totally hopeless. "Not at all. We're just delivering a message." He turned back towards MacCready, letting Barnes take the brunt of her death stare while he addressed him.

"In case you forgot, I left the gunners for good." MacCready spoke up. This was going on long enough, and besides, it wasn't like they were getting anywhere. Maybe he could scare off the newcomer while he was at it. That or sell himself a little bit.

"We heard. Still, we know you've been making a name for yourself out here. Taking our jobs. That isn't going to work for us." The two gunners stepped closer into his line of sight, coming dangerously close to getting in his face. That wasn't something MacCready liked.

"I don't take orders from you. Not anymore. So take your girlfriend and get out of here while you still can." He vaguely heard a snicker from the far side of the room, but instead of addressing it he decided to keep staring daggers at Winlock, hoping his barb worked enough to get them out of his hair without anything getting messy.

"What?! Winlock, tell me we don't have to listen to this shi-" Barnes was cut off mid sentence when a distinctly feminine voice drifted through the room.

"Gentleman." She finally decided to address everyone again. Somehow she had managed to maneuver herself between all of them without making a sound, something MacCready was impressed by. Then, she gently placed a very clean and polished hand on top of Winlock's chest, looking up at him with her wide, doe eyes. "He's in my employ now. We don't need to be so... hasty." She purred, letting her hand fall slowly down his chest.

Winlock looked a little confused by the gesture. It seemed womanly flirtations were lost on him.

No surprise there. MacCready was pretty sure there wasn't much going on up top of that ugly mug of his. Still, he had to hold back a laugh watching his face change at her ministrations.

With all that silence, you'd think he would have been able to come up with something a little bit more intelligent, however a "... What?" was all that was heard. Barnes decided to make himself noticeable, coming up and putting a hand on Winlock's shoulder, almost like he was going to grab for the woman. Just as he was about to speak, she gave him a radiant smile - that was except for those doe eyes of hers that fixed him with a stone cold stormy gaze.

She leaned in closer. MacCready thought she was about to bite him, but instead she batted her eyelashes and whispered "That means, silly, you won't have to worry about it anymore. I've got it."

Man, if MacCready could have even the ounce of charisma this broad was oozing, he'd be richer than Allistair Tenpenny.

The two gunners blinked around, almost like they were in a daze. Not having the desired reaction she was going for, lady decided to keep going - albeit with a different approach. MacCready watched the arm cased in Pipboy as it sunk to her hip. She pulled out an impressive looking silenced 10 millimeter, fixed it on them for a moment, and then pushed it into Barnes' exposed shoulder. "I won't say it nicely again, gentleman. Now beat feet before I get Hancock down here."

They gaped at her, Barnes' giant meaty hand going for her gun, until Winlock put both his hands up to signal to his partner and the lady that they were finished.

"Listen, we don't want any trouble with Goodneighbor." Winlock spoke, then eyed MacCready as he started backing out the door. "If we hear you're operating in Gunner territory, all bets are off. You got that?"

"You finished?" MacCready demanded. Winlock smirked and put his hands down, still eyeing the lady with the trained 10 mil on him.

"Yeah... we're finished."

Both of them left slowly. Barnes took one last glance at the stranger with the devilish eyes before shaking his head and following his partner. If MacCready was lucky, that would be the last he'd see of them for a while.

He shook himself out and waited for the lady to speak again. She didn't seem like the kind of gal who'd beat around the bush, which he liked. She holstered her weapon and wiped off the hand that was on Winlock's chest on the bottom of her coat with a sneer. When she turned toward him, he watched her whole demeanor change in the few seconds it took for her to step close to him. Gone were the stone cold demon eyes, instead he was met with stormy determined ones.

"So, I take it those aren't friends of yours?" She asked, sinking into the hip she favored earlier and inclining her head at him. He watched the underside of her neck catch the light in the room and noted again just how untouched she really seemed. She definitely wasn't from around here…

"Not anymore at least." MacCready answered, folding his arms over his chest and waiting to see how this would pan out. Perhaps this lady was the opportunity he was waiting for. She certainly knew how to handle herself. And, if she was able to keep herself that clean then that must've meant she didn't lack for caps. He decided that now was as good a time as any to sell himself out - he needed the caps desperately. It had been a long time since his last job. He needed to send something back home to keep Duncan's hopes up.

"Look," He started, "If you're preaching about Atom or looking for a friend, you've got the wrong guy. But, if you need a hired gun then maybe we can talk."

Stranger lady seemed to like what she heard, because he watched a smile form on her lips. "I'm interested... if you think you have what it takes." Her smile turned into a smirk as she waited for his reaction. MacCready got the strange feeling that this lady was reading him like a book - every one of her statements seemed to be well thought out and carefully calculated. She didn't' speak right away, instead opting for the silence to drag a little bit. Not enough for it to be too uncomfortable, but just enough to make you a little bit more unsettled. She definitely knew her way around people.

"You're joking right? I've been doing this since I was a kid. I know my way around." She didn't seem to mind his tone, still waiting with a smirk on her features.

"I used to run with the gunners for god's sake..." MacCready wasn't sure why, but he felt like he needed to add it. He was unsettled enough to be a little intimidated by her antics, after all he was trying to sell himself out here. If he couldn't stand up to this doe eyed lady, how else was he going to make money?

"You mean those two idiots? Never heard of anything about the gunners. What's their M.O.?"

Someone who hadn't heard of the gunners? MacCready took a second to digest that, adding it to his already giant file of 'this lady is different' and decided to answer her as truthfully as he could. "They're one of the biggest gangs in the Commonwealth. Got a rep for being crazy... you know, so tightly wound you'd think they were a cult or something. I stuck with them for a while because the money was good, but I never really fit in. That's why I started flying solo." She nodded her head as she listened to his dialogue, still keeping silent.

"Now, what about you? How do I know I won't end up with a bullet in my back?" MacCready asked. He decided before anything got too serious he'd have to at least broach that subject. With the way she seemed to handle herself around those two idiots, he wasn't really sure what to make of her.

"You don't. That's part of the risk right?" She leveled her gaze at him, letting herself straighten out and waiting on his reply.

MacCready was surprised with how honest an answer that was. He didn't expect that from her. Then again, he still really wasn't sure what to expect from her anyway, so perhaps it was better to just go with it. "Can't argue with that." He said. "I'll tell you what, price is 250 caps… up front. And there's no room for bargaining." He added, making sure to stand firm on this. If he could get the caps from this lady, he'd be able to send more than half of that back home to Duncan on Daisy's next caravan. He needed this.

"Everything's negotiable." She replied, stepping towards him. "Will you take 200?"

Even though 250 would have been more than enough to send home, MacCready was swayed by this mysterious stranger. She came walking into his life at a time where he was pretty down on his luck. It's not what he had originally planned, but hey, when had that ever worked out for him before?

"You drive a hard bargain, but you just bought yourself a hired gun." After he said that, he watched her whole face morph into a genuine smile. She stuck out her hand, a gesture that was oddly reminiscent of the Lone Wanderer from all those years back. It was something that had been lost to time in the Commonwealth. He couldn't help the small smile that lit up his own features. It seemed he had a knack for ladies from a vault wandering into his life. He didn't really seem to mind it though, stranger turn of events had happened to him. This one seemed like it could go somewhere promising, so MacCready remained hopeful as he enveloped her small, clean hand in his dirty one.

"Alright MacCready. Nice to meet you. I'm Nora." She shook his hand confidently, afterwards letting hers fall to the pocket of her jacket to retrieve the agreed upon amount of caps. After hearing the familiar clinking of the money, and testing for it's weight, MacCready let an actual smile fall on his face.

"Same, Boss. Now let's get out of here."

She nodded her head in agreement and lead the way. MacCready watched as she started to walk towards the door. He didn't have much in the way of possessions, so he was already locked and ready to go. Wherever this Nora was going seemed like a more interesting route than the one he was on anyway. With one final glance around his room, he started for the door. Nora had rushed ahead of him before really giving him a chance to catch up, something he would have to discuss with her later.

In fact, there was a lot he would need to discuss with her. Like what was to be expected, what she needed of him, what she was doing...

There were a lot of questions now filtering through MacCready's mind as he searched the bar for the strange girl.

He found her hunched in a corner, unseen by those around her, as she rifled through the contents of someone's ammo case. Quickly glancing around, Nora stuck her hand in and started pocketing the contents before looking over her shoulder at him, gracing him with another gigantic smile.

He coughed out a laugh, sinking down to his knees and trying his best to maintain the element of stealth. When he got close enough, she gave him a look - almost like she was asking for permission. It seemed Nora was a bit of a klepto, something he could agree with. When she didn't see any sign of hatred on his features, she motioned for him to open up his pockets and then she stuffed a wad of paper cash in his pocket.

He really didn't know what to think about her after that…

Except, she definitely wasn't what he was expecting.