Child of the Wastland - Prologue
Deep in the eastern wastes laid a small town, known by travelers as Brimley, and by its occupants as an eternal hell. Surrounding Brimley on all sides was a small forest composed entirely of black plants, most of which were poisonous, but a still fair amount were edible. It had earned the names Blackened Forest, Eternal Prison, and the Black Prison. Anyone who ever went into the forest and off the only trail made of wood and metal fences, would ever come back. And when the mayor's deranged wife ran off into the forest with a series of important documents, it was only natural that he sought outside help, since no Brimmer in their right mind would trek into the forest for any reason.
Nici shouldered her Alejandro and her spell book as she stood up from the smoldering campfire. She looked around, checking to see if she might have left anything. Content she hadn't, she wielded her .38 special, preparing for a raider and mutant-filled trek across the lake bed. She had seen the town she was aiming for, along with the infernal infamous Blackened Forest, about four to five klicks away, on the other side of the large lake bed. She sighed as she scanned the small desert, seeing scorpions, mole rats, and the occasional gecko. This is going to be a pain in my ass, isn't it? She thought, hopping down off of the ledge that marked the start of the lake bed. It wasn't long before shots could be heard from the bottom of the lake, along with small explosions as her explosive rounds took effect.
Across the lake, sitting high in the mayor's office, which he had enjoyed calling his 'Fortress of Solitude' sat a fairly rounded bull, in front of him stood a telescope from the ancient world that survived the nuclear winter. Now he used it to watch the tunderiskan, one hand keeping it steady while the other sweaty palm worked his manhood. Huffs came from his mouth as he watched Nici take down mutant after mutant, imagining her in various positions; while in the forest, many eyes were set to the explosions before they returned to their business, none so interested in a far off figure as the gluttonous bull.
Nici, dirt and dust in her white fur, finally climbs up the shore of the dock that marks the closest point the lake sat to the town. She turns around quickly and fires off her last two shots into the irradiated golden gecko that was chasing her. She opened the revolver, unloads the casings with a quick pop of the gun, and replaces six more rounds into the cylinder as she walks towards the town. She looks up and, noticing how much time had passed, picks up her pace to be able to reach the town before the hottest part of the day in these mid-eastern states. Finally, a few hours later, placing the time at around high noon, she reached the thin portion of the forest and, with a sigh, follows the thin, winding path to the city, careful to not deviate from it.
The bull, by the time Nici was completely finished, had already fired off three loads and was working on the fourth before he finally noticed her destination.
"Shit." He quickly set about to clean up before he stopped, grinned, and sat back in his chair. "Lola! Get your ass in here!" He bellowed, and less than a minute later a timid looking, whimpering mouse scurried into the room, her eyes low and hands wrung before her.
"Y-ye-" He cut her off by grabbing her collar, the only bit of clothing she had, and forcing her onto her knees.
"Lick up the mess bitch, then clean me off." He growled, and she obliged with little more than a whimper.
Along Nici's trail, vicious snarls and horrible wails taunted her, occasionally something would rattle the chains at her, but any move she made against them would have been useless and she was well aware of that fact. So instead, Nici, used to the sounds and screams of the wasteland, would ignore them, moving steadily forward towards the village. Secretly, she was glad that it was still rather light out, for, even with her excellent eyesight, she would have trouble following the light path towards the run-down city. It took her a good hour to make it through the blasted forest. She finally reached the city limits, and took a look around, looking for anyone that might help her find the Mayor's house. Quickly she finds that she wouldn't need a guide, given the big sign outside the largest, and most structurally sound, building stating that it was the mayor's residence. She sighed and thought, Damn. One of these types again? You always get the shittiest jobs. She walks up to the front door of the large building and finds a two-way intercom positioned just to the right of the knob-less door. She clicks the button and says, "Miss Tunderiska here to see the mayor." Her voice was reminiscent of the old records left over from the war, singsong and sweet. She stepped back a foot or two from the door and waited for either it to open, or someone to answer the intercom.
Outside the mayor's 'office' the town had barely more than 21 buildings, all in disrepair, except the mayor's of course. Various towners milled about, some aimlessly, some purposefully. All around the town tiny pockets of children could be seen playing, walking in tattered remains of cloth, or simply in the nude. It seems liked the only half-way decent clothes seemed to belong to the mayor, while others simply had to make do with what they could obtain from their surroundings.
By this time, the mayor had been sucked off twice, viciously raped and beaten little Lola, and forced her to be a toilet for his piss. When she threw up, weeping and shuddering as her body tried to cleanse itself of the disgusting liquid; he slammed her head against the floor and ground her face in it until she reluctantly, and very fearfully, cleaned it, leaving her body a complete mess. He grabbed her by the neck and shoved her into a guard as Nici arrived, and said, "Take the bitch back to her room..." He huffed as he composed himself quickly, adjusting his pre-war suit and slicking back the red hair on his head before three of the guards let Nici in, escorting her to the base of a staircase which he had begun to descend, clearly trying, but to no avail, to look sexy with his pot belly and ruddy fur.
Nici internally sneered at the lard of a bull, but kept her composure, telling herself it was simply a job. She dipped slightly, showing the prevalent signs of an employee to her employer saying, cunningly sweet, "Miss Tunderiska at your service Mr. Kilmooth."
"Please Miss Tunderiska, call me Charles." He flashed her a blindingly white smile as he stood before her, about six inches taller than her.
"I never imagined such a beautiful woman would come visit me here in my...humble abode, now I suspect you're here about the erm..." A quick once over and nervous lip-licking. "Position?" He finished, smiling again. She glared at the portly man as he tried to make a horrid sexual pun.
"Yes. I'm here for the job. I hear that your... what was it? Wife? Ran into the forest after a... disagreement?" She almost twitched trying to be nice to her douche bag of an employer. "There wasn't much of a description of the job in your letter, just that you needed my skill to find the missing person." She hadn't even noticed the size difference at all, his height holding no sway over the 5' 4" Tunderiskan. She smiled mentally, thinking of the last creature she fought; a Super Mutant Behemoth that she ran across while trying to clear out a trade route of raiders.
This man had no fear factor towards her at all. Her right orange paw idly fell to her .38 special, prepared for the worst if this mayor had gotten the wrong impression about her being here. He sighed dejectedly, trying to play a victimized bystander, subjected to things he didn't deserve.
"Such a tragedy...I loved her so much, but she was such an...unstable, woman...a tigress with a horrid temper, favorite thing to do was to try and bully her way around." He had sighed again, one of the soldiers did the comforting hand-on-shoulder as the others nodded while tightening their grip on their weapons, obviously die-hard loyalists who believed whatever trash flowed from Charles' mouth. "She ran into the forest with the entitlement forms that gave me ownership of this here town, along with others of varying importance...She hopped the fence and vanished, but those forms....without those forms I'm helpless to help these people...if you can find my wife, and the forms, I will be indebted, and owe a great deal."
Nici skeptically looked at the bull as he spouted the obviously faux story. She sighed and told herself Just a job, just a job. Get in and get out.
"So where would I find this... tigress? I hope you're not thinking I head into a forest with no idea of where to go, what lies in the forest, etc." She smiles, a smooth haggler when it came to her services. "That is... Unless you pay me twice the sum promised. Upfront, with the promised sum insured to me on the return trip." With her prices, not many would be able to get away with paying the 4500 bottle caps she had just requested for wandering into a deadly forest with no map. Little did the large bull know, but she wouldn't even use the map to find his... estranged wife, but rather would rely on her Tunderiskan abilities to guide her straight to where she needed. She knew types like his well; the 'mayor' playing the poor old victim who had been stolen from, when in fact, the person she was 'finding' was actually the original mayor or owner that had been chased away. It mattered not to her which was the desirable outcome for the people of the town, but rather, who could pay the most or offer the most.... interesting payment. He gaped at her as she mentioned the steep increase in price.
"Wh-what!? Are you daft I can't pay you that much, that's more than the cost of the entire town!" He snapped, flustered and red faced as the guards shuffled slightly, not sure whether to step forwards and grab Nici or stand by and let this play out. It's a good thing they all decided to wait, because the bull finally sighed angrily. "I can pay you double the original, if you return. But only if you return, there's no use granting a dead woman her money..."
"Half up-front and the rest when I return or else the job stays unfinished." Her hands fell to her hips and she tilted slightly to the side as she glared him down, knowing that she had the vantage point over him. "I won't go in somewhere blind without good incentive. So you either pay me the full original sum up-front and give me a promise that I can expect the rest of my payment when I return, or you give me a fully detailed map of the forest down to the last twig." She sneered slightly, a knowing grin on her face as he huffed angrily as the guards aimed at her, and moved out of easy reach before he held up a hand.
"What makes you think I'm going to hand over this money? I'd never give into the likes of some little bitch mercenary." He snorted, taking two steps up the stairs, and the guards moved so she was trapped in a triangle shaped crossfire.
Nici smiled at the bull's idiocy. She was the only one within any sort of available distance that would or could help him and she was the best at what she did: retrieval. "What's going to stop me from doing wh-" He never finished the sentence, or if he did it was completely drowned out by the ear piercing shriek that ripped through from outside, shouting of all sorts joining it before gunshots, more screaming, and the sound of guards running through the mansion/house towards the door.