Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? This would be my first foray into the world of Fallout, mostly as a result of getting the game not too long ago and watching helplessly as it devoured my other fandoms.

Don't worry, this shouldn't be too long, since it's basically a bunch of one-shots bunched together.

Novac

When Boone first saw her, he wasn't even slightly impressed.

Five-foot-nothing, slanted eyes, black hair, slight frame, and a Vault 21 jumpsuit did not make for an intimidating picture in Novac, or anywhere else. The little floating eyebot trailing her didn't seem to be any more intimidating, even considering the laser cannon slung under its armored shell. The two arrived in town with barely any fanfare, greeting people as they went. Even if the robot gave people the creeps, the girl was friendly enough and didn't seem to want to cause any trouble.

He heard, through whispers from those townsfolk who would still talk to him, that she'd singlehandedly cleared out the Primm problem—killing every mercenary in the entire town with nothing but a varmint rifle and a 9 mm pistol that had seen much better days. There might have been a baseball bat involved at some point, but apparently that part had come from No-Bark, and he wasn't about to trust anything the local lunatic said.

But whatever she'd accomplished, it wasn't important. Boone's world had narrowed—if someone wasn't an enemy, they could be safely ignored. He was the night shift lookout—that was the end of the entire affair.

And then, for whatever stupid reason, she climbed Dinky the Dinosaur with her robot and pestered him.

He'd been startled at first, of course. "Goddamn it! Don't sneak up on me like that. What do you want?"

She didn't hesitate. It was like she didn't even register that he had at least eight inches on her and could have blown her head off if his finger had been on his trigger. She just quirked her lips in a weird little half-smile, eyebrow raised, and asked, "Expecting visitors?"

He forced himself to calm down. "Yeah. But not like you." Who the hell was supposed to expect a tiny Asian woman and her pet flying robot to pop up behind him, anyway?

Boone had never been smart, exactly. He was a gifted sniper and a steady soldier, but he was not going to win any sort of intelligence competition and knew it. But still, an idea came to mind then, and he seized on it. "Huh. Maybe it should've been you I was expecting all along. Why are you here?"

The woman frowned briefly, and Boone knew instantly that he was being examined like some new gun. She was trying to get a read on him, figure out of he was trustworthy or destined for the scrap heap. But then, sunglasses tended to get in the way of that kind of plan, given the whole "can't seem to see their eyes" problem.

Finally, she said, "If you're looking for someone in particular, I could tip you off if I see them."

Safe answer. Perceptive, too, and easily responded to. With sarcasm. "Yeah, well, if you see anybody wearing Legion crimson or a lot of sports equipment, you just let me know." Boone's frown deepened. "You still haven't answered my question."

The smile came back, despite his near-growl. This woman was about as smart as a pile of bricks. "Just looking around."

"There's nothing up here." Useless, then. She wasn't going to help.

Once again, she brushed off the blunt retort. "There's a sniper."

Thank you, Captain Obvious. "I think you'd better leave."

This time, the hostility was met with narrowed eyes and a snappish, "Do you treat everyone around here like this?" The eyebot, floating slightly above their heads, beeped as though anxious.

Click. She didn't know anything about Novac. Not yet. Even after talking to all those people. That…that was useful. It was a long shot, but Boone was used to those. "Wait. You just got into town. Maybe you shouldn't go. Not just yet."

What was with those damn eyebrows going up and down all the time? Still, she nodded. She'd listen. "Okay. Why is that?"

"I need someone I can trust." Boone told her bluntly was she leaned back against Dinky's mouth to listen. "You're a stranger. That's a start."

"That says something rather disturbing about your town," she said flatly. "You only trust strangers. Why?"

"I said it was a start." Boone replied gruffly. Damn woman, making everything more difficult. "This town…nobody looks me straight in the eye anymore."

"What do you want me to do?" she asked. Ducking and dodging one minute, going straight for the heart on the next move. She was a talker, all right.

Still, the plan had formed. It was enough, right? He was taking a risk in trusting a stranger, but given what had happened to Carla… "I want you to find something out for me. I don't know if there's anything left to find, but I need someone to try.

"My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch." Boone explained with difficulty, his voice low and harsh. The woman straightened suddenly, staring right into his eyes with attention that couldn't be feigned. "They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up. I don't know who."

"…You want me to track down your wife?" the woman asked carefully after a moment or two.

"My wife's dead." Boone snapped, forgetting himself for a moment. "I want the son of a bitch who sold her."

There was another long pause. "I see. You probably wouldn't be asking this if she was alive. Even in the Legion." The woman took a deep breath. "What do I do if I find this person?"

That took barely any thought. "Bring him out in front of the nest here while I'm on duty. I work nights." Whoever it was, they were going to pay in blood. "I'll give you my NCR beret to put on. It'll be our signal, so I know you're standing with him. And I'll take care of the rest. I need to do this myself."

There. Done. Accept already.

"I'll see what I can do to help."

Breathe out. She's in. "Good. I'll make it worth your while. And one more thing. We shouldn't speak again. Not until it's over."

He handed her the beret, watching her face go completely still. Then watched as she began pulling items out of her pockets to make room—gecko hide, brahmin steak, whatever else was around. She piled the items onto her robot and, finally, slipped the beret into her pocket. And pulled out bobby pins. What for, he didn't care.

Once she was prepared, he added, "No one in town knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never know. Or the Legion will be after me next."

She nodded. Then paused, halfway down the stairs. "I never caught your name."

"…Craig Boone." He replied. Courtesy, courtesy… "You?"

"Meda Li. I'll be back."

And she was. He didn't know what happened, really, until he'd seen Li lead a drowsy Jeannie May Crawford out in front of his post at a little after eleven. Then she had looked up, right at him, and then turned to the old woman with a look like Death itself.

He never found out what Li told Jeannie May Crawford in those last few seconds. And after the hat went on, the only other one who knew was missing a head.

He'd confronted her later. Li shoved the bill of sale into his hands and never explained anything else. There was nothing that needed to be said.

But when she came by the next day, to return his beret and announce that she was heading toward the next stop on her Mojave tour—Nipton—she asked if he wanted to come along. Less than four minutes later, Boone left Novac with a courier and an eyebot in tow.

A/N: R&R, folks!