In the Mojave, killers, criminals, and psychopaths are as common as flies on a corpse. Even as the combined forces of the NCR and the Legion pushing into the desert wasteland to claim it as their own, all this seems to have accomplished is creating a chaotic environment where such reprobates can thrive instead of die out. Many of the NCR's efforts end up creating resentment and criminals from anyone to legitimate bandits seeking to sack NCR caravans for their supplies, to relatively peaceful wastelanders who simply refuse to accept the NCR's unconditional control over their lives. Combined with corruption and incompetence putting the lives of their own troopers at risks, some criminals are former NCR themselves, either deserters or those who were deemed such for infractions gone way out of control.

Even the Legion, with all of their claims of might and control through brutality, is not as efficient as they claim to be when it comes to controlling their warriors, or the criminal elements within. Indeed, the brutality and cruelty that the Legion uses as a weapon of fear has become a beacon for the various wasteland gangs and factions to make an unlikely partnership, with Legion sponsored rape, murder, and raiding. Of course it doesn't take a genius to realize that these same gangs would soon turn on the Legion should an opportunity present itself, just as the Legion would not bat an eye to executing every degenerate they had paid off. Indeed, the forces that come to claim to bring peace and stability have done an excellent job at waging war and sowing chaos in the lands.

You are employed by the Black Gold Guns, a fairly new face to the Mojave. Bounty Hunting Firms differ from your standard gun-for-hire mercenary group in that they often work alone or in small groups, not offering services to act as guards or sheriffs, but still taking down criminals and evildoers nonetheless. They take contracts from all over, whether it be the desk jockeys back at Shady Sands, Frumentarii tying up loose ends, or locals in dire need of assistance. The Black Gold Guns is ran by a woman named Annabeth, a former NCR ranger with an eye patch and a big iron on her hip. She handles your contracts and payment. In the same building is a ghoul named Bete, a friend of Annabeth who can assist you with repairing and upgrading your weapons, so long as she has the materials you have the caps. The office itself is located at a spot formerly known as the Lone Wolf Radio, which Bete has already cannibalized into a singular functional radio and computer which she uses for her work. Aside from the business officr and Bete's workstation, upstairs is a small rest area where you can sleep, eat, and relax until your next job. It's not particularly fancy, but it's better than sleeping outside.

"Alright kid, now that you're part of the company, allow me to explain how things are done as simply as I can. I'll assign you a contract to go after a bounty, someone who is verifiable armed, dangerous, and likely running with a crew of their own. The minimum pay for a successful bounty is 250 caps, however more dangerous bounties can often go even higher than that. Naturally, you're allowed to keep whatever you happen to find off your mark or anyone else who gets in your way. In order to verify the mark is dead we need their trigger fingers." Annabeth sits across from you on her desk, writing something up on her type writer. On her desk is a few empty bottles of sarsaparilla and an ashtray with a half-smoked cigar. Soon she hands you a single sheet of paper, with the basic details of your next mark.

"Your first mark is a Convict named Erik Steele, or Thrasher as he tries to call himself. When the Powder Gangers took over the NCR correctional facility up north, Thrasher took a few cons with him into Primm, having taken over the Bison Steve Hotel and forcing most of the towns people to hole up in the casino. While he and his gang are all wanted dead, Thrasher's the only one with the balls to boss the gang around. Once he's out of the picture the rest of the gang will scatter, though no one is going to complain if they're all wiped out." The bounty you received would have Erik's mugshot, as well as a list of crimes below his image. He's wanted for corporate theft, selling of stolen goods, assault, and falsifying business data. It also mentions that he used to work for the a company called Talos Armors, which apparently produced armor for the NCR. The bounty on him is 250 Caps. "Any questions?"

Kid?

She was pretty sure she was a grown up.

"Powder gangers huh." Lizzie replied with a light laugh. "Y'know, I can't hate anyone who uses explosives like they do." Just 250 though? She could make more in an hour by robbing a caravan or something. Ugh, this was going to be annoying, wasn't it? Well, she couldn't complain too much. It was either that or start doing some raiding herself again, and she had decided to leave that. "Buuut if I'll get paid I'll take 'em out." Maybe she could finally get her mitts on some incendiaries.

"None for now, boss lady." Lizzie got up from her chair. "Gonna see if Bete has any extra stuff I can borrow. Sounds easier than some of the...well, y'know." She grinned, not wanting to bring up her rather less than reputable past if she could. "Anything else I need to know?"

“Pay is proportional to threat. Powder Gangs play tough, but any semi-competent militia can deal with the likes of them, dynamite or not. The only reason the Powder Gangers manage to hold Primm is because they jumped the sheriff and the deputy, leaving Primm without any leadership to coordinate a counter attack. Hell, I had half a mind to go down there myself since we get supplies from Primm, but I figured this would be a good first job for you.” Annabeth pops open a bottle of sarsaparilla and takes a swig from it. She takes out another and offers it to you. ”As for any other info, watch out for Thrasher. His cronies are a bunch of chumps but there’s a reason the bounty is for him specifically. We’ve also reports that he and his band robbed a caravan running guns, so chances are each of those gangers are packing. Aside from that, you ought to be able to take care of yourself. And if you can’t well... We’ll see soon enough.”

"Pfft, ahahah," Lizzie laughed, flashing a grin to Annabeth. "Me? Get taken out by a buncha splodey dumbos? Noooot a chance." Well, obviously they were armed and dangerous. Even more so if they were freshly resupplied by ransacking some caravan. Hm. Hmhm. Well, she could handle herself. No sense in thinking about this too hard. "They'll be dead before ya know it, boss lady." She headed out of the building, a friendly wave to Annabeth.

She slung her brush gun over her shoulder, Lizzie went to find the friendly little ghoul by the name of Bete. She probably didn't have anything she could use yet - not to mention not having any materials herself, but hey, no hurt in asking. As small as the Lone Wolf radio station was, it didn't take her too terribly long to find the kid ghoul.

"Hey, Bete!" Lizzie walked up wearing her usual smile. "Wanted to see if ya had anything useful layin' around before I left on a bounty."

Bete was at her workstation with various computer parts scattered on her desk. From the looks of it Bete had somehow found a pipboy and was in the process of cannibalizing it's parts for something. When you arrived she looked up at you. "Ah Lizzie, about to go on a job huh?" Despite being a ghoul, Bete's voice sounded relatively normal, young even, except for one thing: A notable robot autotune. It's something of an open secret that Bete's voice is augmented by her mask, filtering her real voice to something less gravely. She doesn't like to talk about it. "Well, I've been busing with some personal projects, but I think I might have something around here. Let's see... Ah, I do have these." Bete dug around behind her desk and pulled up a small crate of bottles. They looked like Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles, however instead of a normal bottle cap they had a thick fiber cork.

"I figured since Anna doesn't bother to clean up her drinks, I'd recycle the bottles into something useful. Simple firebombs, glass bottles filled with some fuel and a little special something to make sure it can make a decent splash. Just light the cap on fire and throw it at something really hard, and you got yourself a little homemade incendiary bomb. Bete takes two bottles out and slides them to you. "Since you're new, you can have these two on the house. The rest however I'm stockpiling in case I need to clear out some geckos. Buuuuuut I'm willing to trade you some extra ones for say, fifty caps a pop?"

"Ooh, fire." Lizzie's smile widened considerably. She was probably biased since she was a bit of a pyromaniac, but fire always made everything ten times cooler. Lizzie picked up one of the bottles, swishing the bottle around in her hand. She tied both to her belt, right next to the hatchet hanging from her waist. "I'll take ya up on that offer once I get some more caps on me." She gave the ghoul a friendly bap on the head. More firepower was always a good idea. Maybe she could just...burn the entire Bison Steve down. No one would miss it, would they? Naaah.

"I'll try not to burn anything down with 'em." She laughed, turning away from the Ghoul. "Laters, I gotta date with a Bison named Steve." Lizzie stepped out of the bounty office, the hot Mojave sun harshly greeting her. Nothing new, there. Just another new day in the desert. Wouldn't be the Mojave without sand, heat, and she was probably going to be adding a few bullets soon enough. Assuming Annabeth or Bete didn't try stopping her before she left, her boots turned towards Primm.

From the clifftop, you could see Primm in the distance. While no desert jewel, the sight of the ruined city was a welcome reprieve for travelers thanks to being one of the few major settlements in the Mojave Wasteland. It was one of the few places with a working water reservoir, giving it immense value to traders and travelers. The town itself also had various tradesmen and crafters, mostly in electronics and even robotics. The Vikki and Vance Casino itself was it's main attraction; while it's payout is worse than Vegas and doesn't really have as much class, it still offered a fun experience if you want to waste away your caps, and the food served there is better than eating geckos and bloat flies.

Of course, that was Primm before. Ever since the NCR moved in, things started to get shaky for Primm. It's no secret that while Primm wasn't a bad town, it's vices and services were popular among unsavory folk who would stalk the hills and hit caravans trying to make it to town. Primm had it's own law to keep the peace but that was only good to stop the violence in the town, not outside of it. And when the NCR moved in, those customers stopped showing up. And since they stopped showing up, caps started to run a bit dry even as people got comfortable with the peace. Too comfortable. And thus, their current situation: lawless and taken over by common criminals, even with the NCR just a stone throw away, they too are too limited in number to commit to a operation to clear the town, who never had a good relationship with Primm either way. Then again the NCR hasn't done a very great job at being friendly with most of the Mojave's native inhabitants in the first place.

It would take about thirty minutes or so to trek down the mountain. No clear path had been beaten down yet for you to get to the town very quickly unless you want to start jumping off cliffs and hope you survive the landing. And as Bete mentioned, there are a few geckos running around hunting and being a general nusience. While smart enough to stay away from the office, the vermin showed little fear in attacking anyone on the mountain path no matter how big they are. The radiation may have made them bigger and stronger, but it also killed their sense of self-preservation.

Thus it wasn't long before you ran into small pack of gecko hunters. They seemed to be prowling for prey, and if they spotted you, you could be certain that their little brains will consider you food and try and chase you down. Fortunately you were on a ridge above them and they haven't noticed you yet, but they are searching and staying alert.

She had been to Primm before, a few times.

One of the few places where ne'er-do-well's and general less savory sorts like she had used to be could have some relatively good, clean fun. So long as she kept her nose clean in the city. Mostly though, she had simply used it to get chems and restock on provisions. Seeing it in the distance reminded her briefly of her distaste for the NCR. If they actually did their damn jobs then things wouldn't have gotten like they were.

"Oh, lunch."

Immediately upon seeing the five Gecko's, though, her thought process entirely. She should probably pay far more attention to the Mojave. She'd get killed if she didn't. She immediately dropped to a knee, pulling her Brush gun from around her shoulder. They hadn't noticed her yet, she could avoid them, but she had plenty of ammo, and gecko meat was delicious.

She took aim towards the gecko's on the ground below, starting with the one closest to her, aiming a shot right towards its cranium.

For geckos, a 5.56 round was more than enough to put down a gecko, especially with a bullet to the head. But with a .45-70, the gecko's cranium was more than shot, it was splattered, sending blood and gore to the other geckos nearby. The loud noise shocked them, leaving them stunned for just a moment. They looked around quickly and spotted you. Despite the sudden and violent death of it's fellow gecko, the other four thought of nothing but to hunt the prey before them. They quickly began to scramble up the cliff in your direction; a feat that normally would take a person a good set of climbing gear and a prayer to do, but these gecko hunter's webbed appendages and relative light weight allowed for this sort of three-dimensional maneuvering. But this greater mobility also came with an obvious weakness: these geckos wouldn't be able to dodge bullets as they climbed towards you.

Lizzie unconsciously licked her lips as the Gecko head splattered into giblets. There was something fun about just watching something explode like that. Quickly, as they scrambled up the wall she positioned her gun downwards, over the edge of the cliff. Swiftly, two more shots were unloaded at two different geckos in an effort to thin their numbers before they got to her. As soon as the second shot left the chamber, she backed away from the cliff edge, ready to put more rounds into the Gecko the moment they climbed over.

Sure enough both geckos fell off the walls as giblets. It was a bloody mess and frankly one of them wouldn't have much meat left on him to eat unless you was to scrap up his remains into kebabs. Despite this overwhelming firepower the last two geckos continued to climb up until they were finally on the ridge with you. It was a narrow ridge, so it was close-quarters combat. And it wouldn't take long for them to charge at you trying to bite your legs. Their teeth were like forty switch blades being popped out all at once, ready for stabbing into some meat.

Maybe she shouldn't be quite so eager to blast them, a bunch of meat was goin' to waste.

Eh, oh well.

Realizing she didn't have quite as much room as she thought, Liz opted for some close quarters combat. She grabbed the barrel of her gun, swinging the butt of her rifle into the mouth of one of the lizards, using the weapon more like a glorified baseball bat than its intended purpose. She didn't take time to holster the rifle, instead simply letting the weapon fall to the ground and attempting to dodge the second gecko and using the time to pull her hatchet from her belt.

Your improvised use of your gun was mostly effective, good enough to knock one of the geckos out from the air however it didn't kill the beast. It did make him stunned if only for a moment. The second gecko however was able to get a scratch on you, biting into your leg. While you can certainly feel it, your pants and duster were doing a decent enough job to prevent the gecko's teeth from finding any skin. If it were a bigger one, you'd likely be losing some flesh and maybe even bone. Still you'd ought to act fast. The nasty critter was gnawing, tearing through your duster's leather.

"Ngh!" Lizzie winced, feeling the gecko's teeth clamp down on her leg. On the bright side, it was right in striking distance. The bounty hunter grabbed her hatched, wrapping both hands around its grip and swung the blade right into the side of the lizard's skull.

You'd feel a slight sting as the gecko's teeth cut into flesh, but as soon as the blade of your axe left the gecko's skull, the beast fell to the ground twitching. It would spasm there for the rest of it's very short life, dying in about twelve or so seconds. That left the last lizard, the one you had stunned with your rifle, who continued to run and lunge right at you. Despite being so small and physically puny, these creatures were physically capable of rather impressive levels of athleticism, not just their climbing ability but also leaping. This is most important because the last gecko jumped high enough that it was going to try and bite your face.

Ow.

Note to self: Gecko Teeth hurt.

Still fourth one down, one to - "Gweh?!" Damn, she really needed to remember how fast these little snacks were. The redhead, barely had seconds to react as she brought up her hatchet, holding it between her face and the creatures teeth hoping to catch the creature mid jump on it. She'd try to shove it off of her - in times like this having something like a pistol she could just pull out would be fuckin' amazing. Assuming it was successful, she'd make an attempt to drive the blade of the weapon into this ones head.

Not a moment too soon before you manage to catch the gecko as it bites down onto the handle of your hatchet. It holds fast despite not catching any meat, allowing you to swing it into the nearby wall just long enough to stun it once more, and finish it off with another axe to the head. This once was a cleaner cut and nearly decapitated the gecko, finally leaving you with nothing but a few dead lizards. It wouldn't take too long if you felt like skinning and butchering these geckos; hides were always in some demand from traders who knew people who could turn them into clothing and textiles, and the meat was... Palpable enough. Obviously don't eat it raw; gecko meat is highly radioactive and it's a good way to get cancer. But once you grill them on an open flame, they're a decent enough snack and unlike most wasteland critters, the radiation actually helps make sure the meat doesn't catch diseases.

You'd be able to obtain at least four usable gecko hides, though one was notably missing it's entire head. As for meat, taking the best cuts you find about seven pounds of the stuff all together. There were more bits of the gecko you could eat, but that meat is tough and unpalatable no matter what you do with it. Better off leaving it to the flies. And finally, seemed like one of the geckos was pregnant, because you found one gecko egg. Gecko eggs are hard to cook though due to their high acidic, making terrible omelettes. You've heard of some crazy wastelanders making cocktails with them, but those usually ended with said wastelander dying of some sort of alcohol based poisoning, which may or may not have been made worse by the gecko eggs.

Once you'd finish figuring out what to do with these gecko bits, it was more or less a straight shot to Primm. The town seems almost peaceful from a distance, but you know that it's going to get loud once you make your presence known there. You can see the big old bison from your position too. The fact it wasn't on fire at the moment might be considered a good thing for Primm's state of welfare.

"Whew..." Lizzie grunted, taking a moment to collect her rifle from where she had discarded it. "Looks like meat's on the menu for dinner tonight, haha!" She laughed, setting about the rather bloody work of skinning and gutting the gecko's. Always a good idea to try and get skins. Traders would always pay for 'em, and if not, she could probably find some more use for them herself. More importantly was the meat. Call her crazy, but she had a particular love for Gecko meat. Might even be able to use the Egg as an impromptu throwing weapon.

Finally done with the work, Lizzie made sure any injury she had wasn't too terrible before setting off.

Primm.

She had been there a few times before. She wouldn't be surprised if someone recognized her from her old gang. Well, maybe she could get in without getting into too much trouble or recognition.

In and out.

"...maybe an explosion or two." Lizzie giggled, making her way towards the city. It definitely wasn't going to remain peaceful once she found her bounty.

The rest of your travel to Primm was fair peaceful aside from the occasional gecko, bro g being alone they simply ran away from you. As you’d approach the first thing you would notice would not be Primm itself, but the NCR. Seems like they had a little base set up across the bridge from Primm, their flag flying high. However there was only a single soldier at the gate who would stop you as you approach.

“Whoa where the hell do you think you’re going? Havent you heard? Primm’s under lock down right now. Whole gang has taken over the town.”

---

Oh.

The NCR.

Great.

Lizzie's soft smile didn't betray the fact her mood had been thoroughly soured at the sight of them. She almost wanted to just ignore them. Not like their rule was respected out here anyways, and she wasn't particularly fond of getting held up by them either.

"Heh, yep, I've heard." Lizzie replied in a fairly non-hostile tone despite the sass of the words. "Looks like you guys could do a better job." Her smile widened, glancing in the direction of the Bison Steve. "So I'm gonna do it for ya. Leader of that gang? I got a firebomb with his name on it." She only stopped long enough to reply before heading across the bridge.