About this image

Personal Recollection Of Leanne Walker

As it turned out, Doc Barrows did an excellent job of patching up his latest patient.  Good enough that she was sitting up on her bunk and arguing loudly with him when I entered the Clinic.  The good Doctor gave me an almost pleading look, to which I nodded and smiled, and he backed off in relief.

'Reilly' was a red-haired tallish woman in her prime, with several years on me, plus a little extra height and muscle.  I sensed she had a major "Don't Mess With Me" vibe most of the time, but right now she was still recovering from her ordeal.

She also looked askance at my high-tech armor.  Probably trying to figure it out - certainly not BOS, Enclave, Talon or anybody else she knew of.

"Okay", she said.  "The Doctor tells me I'm in Underworld.  God knows how.  So, who the hell are you?"

"Leanne Walker, of the Springvale Ghosts.  And you're Reiily, of Reilly's Rangers?"

She blinked.  "Yeah, I'm Reilly and I've heard of you, Walker.  Three Dog's your biggest fan, talks about you all the time.  Got all the fancy toys, I can see that, and despite being just a kid straight out of the Vault, you're getting quite a rep."  Almost a smile, more a showing of teeth.  "I've got a situation and I'm in a hurry, so how about you let me go deal with it?"

Reilly definitely had her defenses up, not that I blamed her.  I chose the closest table and sat against it, "Reilly, you were carried in here looking like you had been run over by a tank.  But you were still calling out to your people, wherever they are..."  She flinched at that  "... I'm here with four of my people.  We're good at what we do; we have, as you say, 'all the fancy toys'; ....  and, with all due modesty, we have support that you simply would not BELIEVE."  I looked her in the eye.  "We're here now, and we WANT to help.  Let us."

She looked back for a beat, then breathed out slowly, and shook her head.  "What have I got to lose?" she asked herself out loud.  ".... We, my team and I, were mapping Vernon Square when supermutants attacked.  Usually not a big problem, but there were so MANY this time, and they were .... it's like they were driven somehow.  We retreated into the hospital, and they kept coming, so we fought our way upstairs and across the bridge into the Statesman Hotel.  Thought they would quit if we could keep thinning them out with boobytraps and gunfire.  It's worked before, but not this time.  We ended up on the Hotel rooftop with our options running out.  One Stealth Boy and a half-backpack of grenades left, and I knew that if I collapsed one of the stairwells, the other Rangers could ...."  A sigh.  ".... That plan didn't work.  Half-buried myself though.   I dug my way out, used my last Stimpack on the way, but by then it was impossible to rejoin my team.  They were still shooting when I left the Hotel, but...."  She stopped talking and turned away suddenly.

"Reilly?"

"... Damn ...."  She rubbed her face hard.  "Walker, if you want to help and you are that good, then rescue my team.  Please."  Not someone to whom 'Please' came easily, I could tell.  "As for payment-"

"I reckon having Reilly's Rangers owe us a favour will be payment enough,"  I told her.  "But I could do with directions...."

**********

It was a short time later, while the other Ghosts were preparing, that I had a talk with Willow.  Luckily, her injuries had been minor, but she was unsure about the 'present'.

"I'm not a tourist, I can't afford all this," she protested at the pile of Talon hardware I had given her.

"The Talons we took it from don't need it any more, " I told her lightly.  "Consider this a donation to the Underworld Department of Tourism."

"Huh?"  She looked even more suspicious about that.

I got serious.  "Willow, you saved Reilly's life today, and maybe one day the dumb-@$$ tourist you rescue from The Mall  will be ME.  So please take the armor, and wear it in good health."

Willow gave the pile of gear another look, and asked slowly, "I get the sunglasses too, right?"

"No worries.  Less for us to carry to the Statesman." 

"The Statesman Hotel?"  Willow looked at me.  "If you are going to THAT place, there is someone in Underworld you should talk to first......"


********

Some additions to Reilly and her story.  She comes across as tougher, but that's her ordeal speaking, she is still the same person.  It is never made clear how she got separated from her team, and I figured she was trying something heroic rather than simply going to get help.  It also seems plausible that she listens to GNR at least sometimes, so would have heard of the LW by now.

Pic - Willow in Talon Company power armor, from 'TalonExtraArmor' by Satanabusjones.

One of my great pleasures in FO3 is using the Groovatron to "upgrade" NPCs like Willow.