A ragged figure knelt inside the wreck of a car, covered with a grey shawl. His movements were long and slow, smoothly tracking his target as it rummaged through the pockets of a freshly murdered trader further down the road. The hunter had been waiting patiently here for hours after tracking a pair of raiders to a nearby hideout; the plan had been to ambush them, take their valuables and head back to Megaton for the bounty... Naturally it hadn't worked out so clean. The raiders had turned up with a dozen others in tow, forcing the hunter to hide and await a more opportune time to strike... and here it was. This single raider had murdered a caravanner out of sight and dragged the corpse to this relatively sheltered stop to loot; he was now unarmed, distracted and vulnerable.

The hunter eased forward into the car door frame, slowly shouldering his scrapbow and lining up the target; this idiot would only take one bolt at this range, provided he didn't make any sudden moves. Crosshair hovering just above and to the right of the raider's head, to adjust for the distance and wind, the hunter exhaled, paused for three heartbeats and fired. The bolt always seemed to fly slow during a hunt, taking long seconds to reach the target; long enough for the hunter to breathe and once again hold his breath in anticipation. To his satisfaction, the bolt cut clean through the raider's skull, throwing the degenerate to the ground. Overall a good, clean kill. Nevertheless he waited a further half hour before checking his prey, just in case. His reward was a handful of blood-soaked caps, a dozen 10mm rounds and a half broken pistol... Barely a hundred caps worth of take; hopefully the bounty would make up for it, even if he could only claim half. After retrieving the used bolt from the corpse, he checked out the caravanner; the man had been mutilated and anything valuable he had been carrying removed. The raider must have stashed them somewhere nearby, something to look for later. The hunter would have preferred to bury the innocent trader, but the sun was rising high; it wasn't safe to be out during the height of the day, when the raiders and wild animals were at their most active. He would retreat to his temporary home of Megaton and perhaps see about that reward...

His first stop when he arrived back in the town was the Mayor's office, where he was able to get at least part of the offered bounty; even with one of their leaders dead, the local bandits were a serious threat to the Megaton's prosperity. He considered trying again that night, perhaps even setting some traps around their suspected hideouts, but that was an idea for later. For the moment he had equipment to sell and some maintenance to perform; the action on his scrapbow could do with tightening; the only place to do both in this backwater would be Craterside Supply and it's neurotic owner, Moira... He scowled, not particularly happy that he would have to deal with her again; the woman seemed to know exactly how to throw him off balance. Still it wasn't as though there was much choice, so off he trudged. 

As he reached the shop door, he noted a young woman also veering toward Craterside. Sciencey type by the look of her, the kind of egghead who made it clear that he had nothing to do with their business. Still, manners were manners... He pulled the door and stepped aside smartly, giving the young woman a polite smile as he allowed her in. [b]'Ladies first, lass.'[/b] Truth be told, he was as much keen in putting off dealing with Moira as being polite...