Atom Cats Garage

Part 5 here: https://steemit.com/fiction/@olmech/trapper-walsh-rowdy

I had arrived at on the east coast nearly a full day ahead of schedule. I had only encountered a band of Greenskins along the way. I could smell them before I saw them, so they were easy to avoid. Here on the coast lies a town that I can only assume is Quincy. I could not get close enough to it to know for sure because it was crawling with heavily armed Gunners. As I was looking the town over through my binoculars, a firefight broke out somewhere in the northwest of the town. I took that as my queue to move along, so I hunkered down and continued east...or so I thought at the time.

A short while later I came upon a huge industrial complex called Poseidon Energy. I could not tell who they were, but there were about a half dozen people walking along the top of it with rifles. I had to be close I was thinking because I could see the ocean and I was running out of real estate. I could see something else in the distance, but could not tell what it was. I decided I would go in that direction and determine if it was the place I was looking for.

It turned out to be a beached ship that was inhabited by Raiders. Now I had a decision to make. Obviously my dead reckoning had been off a bit because I was at the coast and thus far had only found bad news. What I was told to look for was a Red Rocket gas station. They are usually very easy to spot because they have a giant red rocket on the roof. I had not seen anything that fit that description. I decided that I must be too far south so I hugged the coast heading north trying to avoid the mess in the town to my west. It would be dark soon which would be good providing I could find this garage soon thereafter. Darkness would afford me the ability to slip by the town a little easier but there was no way I could see what else I might be walking into.

I was very relieved when I got to a point where I could see the big red rocket off in the distance to the north. That's what I have been looking for, so I headed in that direction. Nightfall was coming quickly now but I could tell the place was lit up even from here. Someone was there. I just hoped it was the good guys. As I got closer, I could hear music playing from somewhere near the garage. I walked through the opening in the chain linked fence and up to an open roll up door there in the building. There was a woman there wearing an jacket that very clearly said "Atom Cats" on the back of it. She then turned around and asked,

"You here to buy, sell or trade?"

I said,

"I'm looking for Rowdy."

She then pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and lit one up without ever taking her eyes off me. She then said,

"Well, you found her. Now whaddaya want?"

I was at a loss for words temporarily because all this time I had been expecting Rowdy to be a man. I guess she did not have time for me to come to my senses because she quickly said,

" Come on honey, spit it out already. I ain't got all night. I have a frame and a suit I gotta have finished by morning."

I explained to her that I needed parts for my old suit back home, but more than that I need a tutorial on how it all works. She asked about what tools I had and whether or not I had a frame to hold the suit up while it was being worked on. I told her that I had an extensive tool collection, but had no frame. She pointed to a yellow thing made of steel against the wall of the shop. There was another there just like it holding up a suit of power armor she was working on and then she said,

"That's a frame right there. You can't do anything to a suit without one. I can take it apart and then we can put it back together so you will know how it fits. I'll sell it to ya for 1200 caps. That suit there has gotta be completely rebuilt by morning. You help me and I will show you how it works but if you turn out to be a drag, you can get lost. It has to be finished in the morning."

I agreed and she left the shop for a bit while I looked things over. She then came back with two Gwinnett Stout beers and turned the radio up. She handed me a beer and said,

"Can't work without good energy. Drink up and let's get busy."

We took the frame apart and then put it back together. The frame would be easy I thought and then we started on the power armor. She took the helmet, the right arm and leg off. She showed me how all the components just plug together and bolt on. She mentioned that no matter what series of armor I would work on that any component would fit another. It had been designed that way to be easily repaired in the field with what soldiers could get their hands on. After watching Rowdy reassemble the right arm and leg, she instructed me to do the left side just as I had seen her do on the other. After finishing the right side, she brought the helmet over to me and said,

"You see down inside there where that glass panel is? That's your heads up display. It is the nerve center for the suit. If it is bad, the suit is bad...got it?

She then showed me how to check it and then she installed the helmet on the suit. I said,

"That wasn't so bad."

"Oh, but we aren't done yet sweetheart. Now comes the fun stuff" she replied.

She then began mixing paint, poured it in an old spray gun and then cranked up an air compressor. She then began to paint the suit a dark gray color which was almost a flat black. She allowed the suit to dry for a bit, then began painting red and orange flames on the shoulders, chest and helmet. When that was finished, she took a small fine brush and dipped it glossy black paint. She painted "by Rowdy" in cursive on the left side of the chest which stood out very nicely against the red paint there.

" Now were done hon. Ain't she a beaut" she said.

After that we began to discuss what I needed for my own suit. To be safe I told her that I wanted the best of everything she had. She then set out a full suit of T-60 pieces that had already been mounted to a frame and painted with her signature paint job. She explained that each individual piece had been modified to be better than standard issue army parts. She then asked what I would be using for a weapon since the suit would allow me to carry much heavier firepower than I could normally carry. I looked over at my .45-70 in the corner and she laughed saying,

"No way darlin...I got just what you need."

She opened a crate beside her workbench and explained,

"This here is a minigun but it ain't one of those sawed off 5mm pieces of shit. This one has been modified to take .50 caliber ammo and the barrels were knocked down to just three. We also extended the barrels so that you have about twice the range of the standard minigun. It doesn't fire as fast but hit hits like a drunk ass Greenskin."

We haggled over the price a little while for all the frame, armor pieces, the mods I picked, the gun and a case of ammunition. She started at 20,000 caps and I countered at 10,000. We eventually met and agreed in the middle for 15,000 caps which pleased me a great deal. I had brought 25,000 caps but that didn't mean I had to give them away. Still I felt I may have paid too much with the way she had been smiling as I counted the caps out for her.

Rowdy put me up at her place for the next couple of days so I could rest up for the journey home. Her cooking wasn't much but her company was terrific. We had a lot of fun Rowdy and I but I decided that all I would ever admit to anyone else was how she took the time to teach me the game of pool.

Rowdy walked me out to the road on the day I left for home and told me she would send my stuff out on the next caravan. She then looked at me and winked saying,

"I may have buggered up some of your stuff so you'll have to come back."

I laughed and walked away. Rowdy was some girl all right. She did not need any gimmicks to make me want to come back this way.

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