Aim to Please

10 | An Eye for an Eye

Aurora came into her shop a few days later, without MacCready, to trade the loot from their newest raid. When asked about where he was, she said he had to talk to Hancock.

Whitechapel Charlie had told her Aurora had hired MacCready, and they were still traveling, so Daisy figured either the job wasn't done yet or they had become comfortable with one another, so they stayed together. They came in off-and-on to trade with her, laughing and joking around with another—the two mercenaries had finally found kinship. She wondered if something could eventually develop between them.

Her wonderings were answered when Daisy saw the quick and shy way Aurora had averted her gaze when they came in with Duncan's cure. This wasn't the same woman who made it clear that she wanted to be alone—it looked like her hard heart had thawed. But MacCready had changed the most: he seemed more open, happy, and free; he had always kept people at arms' length from not trusting them, but he wasn't that way with Aurora—he had let her in.

She didn't know Aurora's story, but she knew MacCready's—she couldn't blame him for not getting close to someone. Lucy's death still weighed heavily on him, and Duncan's illness took his every thought, but Aurora was drawing him back to the surface, and he wasn't fighting her. They had a connection; it was easy to see. If there weren't two people more of a match, it was these two.

After laying out everything Aurora had brought to trade, Daisy sorted through the collection of pipe pistols, Raider leathers, and various pieces of armor to come up with her price.

Aurora balked at the number of caps and made a shocked face as she put a hand on her chest like she had been shot. "You wound me, Daisy!" A sly smile pulled at the corner of her lips. "Surely these fine selections are worth more caps?"

She shook her head with a rueful smile—MacCready had rubbed off on her. "If they didn't have so much blood on them, perhaps they would."

"Oh, that's an easy fix," she said as she pulled on the sleeve of her shirt and began rubbing off the blood splatters.

So focused on cleaning the armor, Aurora didn't sense the two men come up behind her; one hit her over the head with a tire iron before Daisy could say a word. Aurora slumped over the counter unconscious; when she fell, Daisy saw the gun pointed at her. She ducked under the counter just as the trigger was pulled. The bullet thudded into the brick wall behind her.

"Grab her and go!" one of the men yelled; she heard the sliding of Aurora's body, then the men ran out.

"K-L-E-O! Gunners!" Daisy yelled, loud enough for the Assaultron next door to hear. She heard the heavy stomp of her feet as she ran out of her store.

"Shit; they have an Assaultron!" a man yelled followed by the crack of gunfire. She heard some dying yells, and the gunfire stopped; Daisy peeked over the counter to see bodies littering the courtyard and K-L-E-O running through Goodneighbor's entrance.

She had to get MacCready; Daisy ran to the Old State House, where Hancock called home and his mayoral office. She hurried up the spiral staircase to the top floor; MacCready, Hancock, and his bodyguard—Fahrenheit—had been alerted at the sound of gunfire and were headed to the stairs.

"Daisy? What's happened?" Hancock asked.

She looked at MacCready. "Gunners; Gunners took Aurora. K-L-E-O's gone after them."

His eyes widened in shock and fear flickered across his face; MacCready passed Daisy and sprinted down the stairs. She ran after him with Hancock and Fahrenheit behind her.

They went into the courtyard to look at the dead: there had been no warning because the Neighborhood Watch that watched K-L-E-O's and Daisy's stores had their throats slit. Four other men lay dead, dressed similarly as Gunners belonging to some group.