Chapter Text
It had been a long, grueling trek through the Mojave. The past year had taken a toll on Lucy, Cooper, and Dogmeat. But it had also brought them closer together. As the pair and their furry sidekick got sidetracked by bullshit on their journey, they truly began to appreciate one another. Allyship turned to friendship, and over time, something more.
Hand-in-hand, the two strolled into Freeside. Cooper tried to pull away as they reached the gate. "It ain't safe. Most people got a nasty opinion of ladies what spend their nights with ghouls." He reminded her, his hazel eyes searching hers.
"I don't care. You're mine, and I'm proud of that. Let them glare." Lucy replied, squeezing his hand tighter and pulling him closer to her. "And if anyone tries something stupid, we'll handle it together." She beamed a grin at him over her shoulder. Though the past year had hardened the former vaultie somewhat, she still smiled bright as the sun. Something Cooper hoped she'd never lose.
"Okie dokie." He chuckled as his partner's catchphrase left his mouth. "We should stop there first. Remember the lesson I taught ya in Primm?" He pointed to a rusty sign that read "Atomic Wrangler Casino"
"If you're looking for info, start with bartenders." Lucy nodded, letting him take the lead as they entered the building.
Lucy looked nervously around at their surroundings. The Atomic Wrangler casino was on the smaller side, according to Cooper. Still, Lucy found herself dazed by the multitude of colors, lights, and sounds from the machines set up around the place. She clung to the ghoul's side as the two sat down at the bar. "You think we might find some clues about Dad here?" She asked him in a whisper.
Before Cooper could answer, a woman approached them. She was wearing a tan trenchcoat over a grey button-down and black pants. Her light brown hair was swept back into a business like bun. She sat to Cooper's other side. "Fancy seein' you here, C." She sighed. "And good thing too. I've got a bit of a situation, and I could use your help."
"Good ta see ya too, Nora. Been what, 10 years?" Cooper looked her over. "Ya look like ya ain't slept in days, darlin'. What do ya need help with?"
"John's been taken." Nora's face was grim. "I tracked his captors to New Vegas, but the trail's gone cold."
"Dumbass got himself captured? By who?" Cooper frowned.
"It's a lot to explain, and walls have ears here." She leaned in and whispered something to Cooper, and a wave of bitter jealousy shot through Lucy like a hit of Jet. She stood up from her barstool and walked around Cooper to face the woman, putting herself between the two of them.
"UM, excuse me? Who are you? And how do you know Coop?" Lucy asked, glaring at the woman.
"Calm down, Darlin. It ain't what yer thinkin'." Drawled the ghoul behind her.
"Where are my manners?" The woman smiled kindly. "I'm Leonora Hancock. My friends call me Nora. My husband John and I are co-mayors of the city of Goodneighbor, in the Commonwealth. Cooper here is a good friend of my husband." She eyed the PipBoy on Lucy's wrist. "I'm a former Vault Dweller like yourself." She whispered, holding out her hand to shake and revealing her own PipBoy.
Lucy shook her hand. "Okie dokie." She relaxed, standing next to Cooper with an embarrassed blush.
"See sweetheart? Ain't no need ta be jealous." Cooper whispered in her ear as he stood up. "Why don't we three find somewhere more private to discuss what's happened to that husband of yers?" He suggested to Nora, wrapping an arm around Lucy and pulling her in close.
"I rented a room for the night. You two can follow me upstairs." Nora replied, heading up a nearby staircase.
"All that Vault-Tec trainin' and you go snarlin' at the first woman ta smile at me?" Cooper smirked as they walked behind Nora. "My little killer's got a possessive streak." He grabbed her ass, chuckling at the squeak from Lucy.
"Woman as pretty as her, I'm surprised you never DID try something." Lucy remarked. "How do you know her husband anyway?"
"I used to live in Goodneighbor. Many many years ago, when ol' John boy first turned ghoul. I helped him through adjustin' to his...condition. Well, bout 11 years ago, I was there on a job for that piece of shit Dom Pedro, before he screwed me over and tossed me in a hole. And John decided to fuck off from Goodneighbor for a bit after meetin' the pretty lil lady in front of us. He told me that night that he just met the love of his life." Cooper's smile turned nostalgic and he took Lucy's hand. "I get it now. Didn't back then." His stolen finger ran across Lucy's grey one.
The pair entered Nora's hotel room behind her. Nora sat on the dirty bed and looked up at them. "Right. For starters, a new faction has popped up. Well, faction is too nice of a word. It's a cult. They call themselves The New Temperance Movement. A bunch of religious zealots trying to rid the wasteland of "the scourge that is Chem addiction". By kidnapping addicts." Nora scoffed and rolled her eyes. "My sources say they started in Diamond City. But over the past year, they've infected the whole damn Commonwealth. Anyway, about 2 months ago, I was returning home to Goodneighbor after settling a dispute between two settlements, when our adopted sons Shaun and Elias came running to me. They told me some men in gas masks locked them in our bathroom, and by the time they got free the men had taken John and disappeared." Nora stood and began to pace. "So I got my detective friend Nick Valentine to come take a look and we were able to pick up their trail. It led us to the docks, to a boat called "The Journey." We followed them til they docked in Santa Monica. We lost them for a bit, until I manage to catch one of their members. He told me they were taking a truckload of captives to New Vegas to "make an example of them". Now I'm here." She went over to the desk and pulled out a notebook, flipping through it. "The only clues I have are that they're traveling in a pre-war army truck, and their members wear patches that look like this." She showed them a page in her notebook, depicting the symbol of a skull with a pill in its mouth. "My captive flung himself out a window before I could get any more information." Nora let out a disappointed huff.
"Luckily, we're pretty good at tracking. And we have a trained dog who can help us." Lucy replied, putting a comforting hand on Nora's shoulder. "We'll find your husband."
"If he ain't had chems in 2 months, he'll need these." Cooper passed Nora 4 vials. "Make sure he drinks all of 'em. It'll keep him from turning." He frowned. "If..."
"Don't you FUCKING say it." Nora growled, pocketing the vials. "I get the idea. Now c'mon, let's go."
The trio met up outside the border of Freeside, where Dogmeat was leashed to a hitching post. "Sorry girl. They wouldn't let ya in. I tried." Cooper scratched the hound's chin affectionately.
"Got yourself a dog too, hm?" Nora smirked. "Careful. Gonna ruin your "big bad scary ghoul" image if you keep this up."
"Dogmeat's a great tracker. We'll need her to find the truck." Lucy piped up from behind Cooper.
"You named your dog after my dog?" Nora laughed.
"Shut it. I couldn't think of a better name." Cooper groused, definitely-not-pouting.
Lucy shook her head and brought Dogmeat over to a set of truck tracks, removing the leash. "C'mon girl. Let's find that truck." She urged. The trio and dog set out across the desert, following the trail. Cooper took point, keeping an eye out for the various enemies that the Mojave has to offer.
Roughly an hour of tracking later, the trail led them to an old warehouse, the army truck parked outside. Cooper examined a set of tracks around the truck. "Signs of a struggle here." He followed the footprints with his eyes. "There were about 20. They were led into that service door." Cooper pointed.
Nora pulled her heavily modified automatic rifle from where it had been harnessed to her back, and approached the door. "Looks like it's controlled by this terminal. Ugh, my hacking skills are a little rusty."
"Allow me." Lucy smirked, coming up to the terminal. Her fingers flew across the keys with practiced ease, looking more like playing a piano than hacking a computer. Within seconds, the door opened with a grating squeak.
"Shit. All that racket, fuckers'll know someone's here." Cooper complained, drawing his shotgun. "Get ready fer a fire fight, ladies."
"Okie Dokie! Let's do this!" Lucy drew her pistol, and the three entered the building.
Cultists began swarming in from the top level almost immediately. Nora stayed to the back of their formation, taking out the cultists who came in from the second floor with her rifle. Her shots were deadly and precise, bodies falling like dominoes. Lucy and Cooper fought back to back, mowing down enemies on the first floor. Dogmeat circled around her masters, ripping out throats of any that got too close. After 10 minutes of constant gunfire, the flow of enemies finally stopped. Lucy began to relax.
"Can't let our guard down just yet. We gotta find the captives." Nora warned, going over to the gasping, choking body of a not-yet-dead cultist. "Where are your prisoners being held? Tell me and I'll let you die." Nora ordered coldly.
"F-fuck you." Choked the man, spitting blood at her.
"TELL ME!" She shouted, stomping hard on the wound in the man's stomach. Behind her, Lucy flinched.
"B-bitch!!!" The prone man groaned. "Who the fuck are you people anyway?!"
"Let me make this fucking simple for you. You bastards stole my husband from our home. I want him back." She growled, stepping on his wound again. "Now tell me what I wanna know, or I'll have Dogmeat start ripping pieces of you off."
"Alright alright! Fuck! They're in the basement! Behind the door on the left!" He yelled.
"Thank you." She stepped off of him and turned to Lucy. "Lucy right? Put him out of his misery." She ordered, heading down the hall to the stairwell.
"She's scary." Lucy whispered to Cooper, who had been standing speechless at her side as they watched Nora's display of aggression. Lucy went over to the bleeding man. "You should have just told her from the beginning, you know. Then neither of us would be in this position." She sighed. "I'm sorry about this." She raised her pistol and shot him between the eyes.
"Remind me not to get on Nora's bad side." Cooper chuckled as he and Lucy trailed behind the other woman.
The trio and Dogmeat came into a large storeroom. A small group of guards stood around a large cage, containing the captives. Upon seeing them, the guards charged. One of them rushed Nora before she could get her rifle reloaded, pinning her to the ground. "Bad move." She smirked, pulling a knife from her boot and stabbing him in the lung, shoving him off her.
"On your left!" Lucy yelled to Cooper, wrestling with two of them. She managed to get on the back of the larger man, strangling him with a nearby power chord. As he fell, she jumped off him, then stole the gun he had and used it to shoot the other one she'd been fighting.
Cooper cursed as he was pistol-whipped by the man he was fighting, spitting out a tooth. With a glare, he punched the man in the stomach. As the man doubled over, Cooper grabbed his head and yanked, breaking his neck.
With the last of the guards downed, Nora turned to her companions. "You two check the rest of the rooms and deal with any of these fuckers that are left. I'll get John and the other captives." Nora hit a button on a nearby control panel, opening the cage the majority of the captives were in. One of them, a man she knew from Goodneighbor, waved her over.
"They've got Hancock in that supply closet over there, hung up by his wrists. He kept fightin' em til they knocked him out. Said they'll kill him first." He explained as the other captives made their escape.
"Thanks Bill. You lead the others out of here, okay? I'm gonna get John." Nora ordered, going to the closet and throwing open the door.
John was unconscious, hanging from a hook on the wall by his bound wrists. He was covered in blood, which Nora couldn't tell if it was his or not. She watched as his ghoul healing snapped his ribcage back together. He let out a groan that was half growl, twitching in his binds.
"Oh John..." She sniffled, blinking away tears as she gently opened his slack jaw and poured the 4 vials down his throat. "Please be okay..." She whispered as she cut him down and caught his limp body, lowering him to the ground carefully and cradling his upper body in her arms. The twitching of his body subsided after a few moments, and his black eyes fluttered open.
"Sunshine? You...you found me?" He asked, voice more hoarse and gravelly than usual. He slowly sat up and leaned against her, burying his face in her neck with a relieved sob. "I...was losing myself." He admitted, wrapping his arms around her middle and clinging to the back of her coat.
"I've got you John. It's okay." Nora whispered, holding him tight. "Those assholes paid for everything they did to you and then some." She kissed his forehead and rubbed his back soothingly.
"Hate ta break up a tender moment, but this place is rigged full of explosives and we need ta scram!" Cooper called.
"'S that Coop? Fuck's he doin' out here?" Hancock asked.
"Helping rescue you, among other things." Nora giggled. "Can you stand or do I have to carry you like the damsel in distress you are?" She smirked teasingly.
Leaning on Nora for support, John shakily got to his feet. "He'd never let me live it down if you did. Let's get out of here."