The card killer Options

[Lopov]

Inspired by TheChesireKhajiit, who created a separate thread for raider Victoria, I decided to post my latest tale in a separate thread as well. There'll be one story per week and if all goes according to plans, I should post them every Friday. Matching screenshots will be posted after each text, most of them but not all will be taken through the eyes of the main proantagonist.. Some stories will be long, some short, and sometimes you may recognize references of your own characters.

The stories ahead are dark though I'll try to make them humorous at times but most of all I hope you'll like them.

Enjoy.

_______

I

For the past two hours Lina has been spying on the pretty young guy sitting alone by the burning barrel – not because she’d be after him but because she wanted to be sure that he wasn’t some weirdo. She might have been a rookie in the bounty hunting profession, but she was very good at sneaking and thanks to her PipBoy who showed the [HIDDEN] icon on the top of the screen at all times, she knew that the young guy didn’t spot her.

Not seeing anything that’d make her suspicious, Lina joined him, and the stranger who introduced himself as Clive, gladly offered her some cram and a bottle of Nuka-Cola. Nobody could resist Nuka-Cola except undead and since Lina was very much alive, she gladly accepted the drink. It turned out that Clive wasn’t just pretty, he was also funny – so the more the Sun was setting, the better feeling Lina had about the coming night.

After Clive told her a little bit about himself, Lina revealed him that for the past few months she’s been on the track of the so called ‘card killer’. “In the wasteland it’s easy to get away with almost any crime but this guy or girl, I don’t know, but I think he’s a guy, always cuts throats of his victims, who are always women, then leaves behind a card depicting death. Like he wants to be recognized, you know? After one of my friends got killed, I decided to go after him. Or her, but I think he’s a guy. I pursued dangerous raiders before so I have some experience in tracking people down. Anyway, sometimes the trail would go cold for weeks but then rumors about a new murder and a new card would reach me, and the trail eventually led me here. The Capital Wasteland is just a few miles north of here and I’m sure I’ll catch up with him. Make him pay for his crimes. Sooner or later.”

Lina got a feeling that Clive wasn’t particularly interested in her story, either he didn’t take her bounty hunting profession seriously either he was hoping there’ll be some action between them this night. Well, Lina couldn’t blame him, after all she was also hoping for some action and it wasn’t long before Clive held her firmly in his arms.

***

Pleasantly tired, Lina was getting dressed as she saw Clive throwing her shotgun in the burning barrel. As he was pulling a blood-stained knife from behind his leather pants, his face didn’t seem nice anymore. Frightened Lina realized that she just had sex with the man she was after.

One slash at Lina’s neck was enough to end the aspiring career of a bounty hunter. She died not knowing that the stranger, whose name wasn’t Clive, had intentionally placed a camp in this location, waiting for her. Already down south he put a tracking device in her satchel and thanks to his own PipBoy he knew of Lina’s movement. He also knew that she liked men a lot, and hoped that she’ll stop by.

As ‘Clive’ was walking north towards the Capital Wasteland, he thought of Lina’s words, realizing she was right about many things – he was a guy, he cut throats of his victims, he preyed on women and he always left a card depicting death behind. However, she missed one vital information. Before killing his victims, ‘Clive’ had sex with them.

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Lina talks

Lina has some Nuka

Lina talks again

Lina on top

Lina frightened

Lina is gone

The killer's signature

Leaving

[SubRosa]

The Card Killer did not leave a card because Ben Canning is not a woman, and he did not have sex with Ben first. The CK is a serial killer, and seducing and killing women is his M.O. Any killing outside of that is incidental, not part of who and what he is. Hence no card.

[Lopov]

The Card Killer did not leave a card because Ben Canning is not a woman, and he did not have sex with Ben first. The CK is a serial killer, and seducing and killing women is his M.O. Any killing outside of that is incidental, not part of who and what he is. Hence no card.

Exactly. This is the only reason why the card wasn't left at Ben's corpse.

@TheCheshireKhajiit - indeed, Ben didn't deserve a card.

@Acadian - the card killer didn't intend to kill Ben Canning at first and because I encountered this NPC for the first time, I didn't know what he was going to say. But in the end our antihero couldn't refuse such an offer.

@SubRosa - I agree, Ben Canning could also be driver over by floozy Janet on her motorcycle.

@Renee - the card killer doesn't care too much where to leave cards because he figures that in the broad wastes it's next to impossible to follow him.

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VI

What was the best thing about raider women? They were wild lovers because they were on drugs most of the time.

What was the worst thing about raider women? It was hard getting close to them because they usually shoot on sight unless you were one of them.

But the card killer had a plan how to get to one of their camps, located on the overpass west of Springvale. He observed as some man, clad in reinforced combat armor, killed many raiders from that camp and scared others good enough that they went hiding in their trailers and makeshift camps.

The man in combat armor obviously didn’t have any interest in pursuing the rest, so he left the overpass behind, and that was when the card killer attacked him from behind with the assault rifle. He killed the man in combat armor, then carried his lifeless body to the raider-infested overpass. He had assumed that raiders saw their shootout and he was correct – as he approached the raiders, none of them shot at him.

He threw the corpse of the man in combat armor in front of all surviving raiders to see, then crossed his arms, waiting for their reaction.

“What do you want, asshole?” asked one of the raiders.

“One of your girls,” curtly said the stranger. “For some fun.”

“With pleasure,” seductively said Crazy Anna and stepped up front. “With pleasure, kid. That guy…” she spat on the corpse of the man in combat armor,”…killed my boyfriend. Perhaps you can become my new one, ha ha ha! I’m all yours.”

“Do what you gotta do, then leave,” said the raider who called the card killer “asshole”. “Understood?”

“Understood,” nodded Crazy Anna’s “new boyfriend” and led her behind some piled up cars. As Anna already wetted her lips, ready to show the stranger what she was the best at, he handed her the shotgun and some shells.

“What’s that for?” she asked, confused.

“Five hundred caps for you if you help me take down the rest of your gang,” proposed the stranger.

“What? Well…wow…the offer is very, very tempting. But why?”

“No questions asked and you get six hundred caps. And we still have sex once we bring your friends down. What do you say?”

“I say, let’s rumble, kiddo!” yelled Crazy Anna and through to her name, she went on a killing spree against her former friends.

That was another good thing about raiders – offer them some fake caps or some other fine reward and they’ll turn their back on their friends without a second thought.

The stranger didn’t even need to fire a single shot, Crazy Anna dealt with all of them. When it was done, he kept half of his promise – they had wild sex on the overpass but instead of six hundred caps Anna got a deep cut over her throat and a card next to her body.
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The overpass

Following the man in combat armor

Fire!

The trophy

Entry fee

One of the raiders

Another one of the raiders

Crazy Anna

"Yes, Megaton is that town over there."

Flirting

"You want me to kill our guys?"

Crazy Anna at work

The kid doesn't even need to shoot

Anna sees a knife and protects what's the most important to her

The card

P.S. The following Friday there won't be a new story because I'll be on holidays abroad.