It was decided, after much consideration, that Pearl would accompany Adam on his trip to convince the leaders to send reinforcements. Salvatore said he might be able to convince some of his merc buddies to help out, either for cap or for glory, plus he wanted to give a full update to the people of Naper, he still had a soft spot for them. Eve said she had to polish off some old weapons, and Deccanus wanted to scout the areas around the Vault to search for a suitable battlefield. Unfortunately Pearl was too large to sit in the cockpit with Adam but she could comfortably sit in the back. He would be down a talking partner up front but it was a small price to pay to let everyone prepare themselves for the upcoming mission. Besides, Pearl was the newest member of the group, a formerly wild super mutant that only recently joined up. Honestly Adam didn't trust her enough to leave her unsupervised right now. So bringing her with him seemed to be the best choice.
Before Adam left, however, he got the best piece of news he had heard all day.
"Here is the sum total of our earnings from selling off all the loot." Eve said as she handed over a huge number of Midway Slips and a few loose caps to Adam. The entire amount added up to 17,396 caps. It was a tremendous success.
Ultimately, among his group, there were actually few who needed to be paid. A benefit of working with reprogrammed robots. Salvatore didn't get a real cut since he was a hired mercenary, however Adam gave him a free 2000 caps for taking part as it seemed the least he could do. Pearl didn't get any since she didn't even know what caps were yet. Which only left him, Deccanus, and Eve. The remaining 15,000 caps were split three ways, each person getting 5132 caps. Adam had, in one move, more or less completely gotten back his entire APC investment from this one run to the Federal Ration Stockpile. It had gone exactly as he planned. Though he had not planned he would have to deal within an oncoming horde of ghouls.
Either way, his wallet set from the sale of all the goods, he left Midway shortly thereafter alongside Pearl to head right to The Pier.
The trip to The Pier was incredibly smooth. The path was well maintained and patrolled as he noted last time. The path was more or less a straight shot with wide open roads to allow for a lot of people to come and go. He practically didn't have to take his foot off the accelerator the entire trip sans the two times he encountered a traveling brahmin caravan and he had to slow down to pass them.
Arriving at The Pier, Adam had to park the APC outside the front gate as The Pier was not designed for cars to roll out onto it. Especially not multi-tonned armored infantry fighting vehicles.
The guards were, understandably, quite surprised to see a fully functional APC roll up, and they, also understandably, had their guns raised and ready to fight if needed. However Adam emerging from the hatch calmed them down significantly and he was instead met with pleasant hellos and a warm welcome. It seemed they had not forgotten him at all. That's nice. It's also going to make his efforts to get them to send extra help to the battle easier.
Adam opened up the back hatch and let Pearl out. The guards were sufficiently intimidated by her but they didn't seem to be unwilling to let her in with Adam. Simply informing Adam to 'keep the Mutant on a short leash.'
With that he walked inside, Pearl in tow, as he headed to meet with the only woman here with the power to help. However he was stopped shortly after entering by the young girl who was still selling flowers at the entrance.
"E-excuse me Mr…" She said, clearly intimidated by Pearl but trying her best to be brave and make a sale. "C-can I interest you in some flowers?" She said hopefully. Adam looked at her and was about to open his mouth to answer but Pearl spoke up first.
"Its a little human." Pearl said as she stepped closer, intimidating the child accidentally. The young girl almost looked like she might cry but she was keeping strong for the moment.
Pearl stood tall over the little girl for a few moments before she took a knee and gently placed a hand on the child's head.
"Pearl likes little humans, Pearl protect little humans, Pearl remembers little girl like you, she had biggest smile." Pearl said in an almost… motherly way?
The girl was very intimidated for a few seconds after having her head patted by the mutant, but seeing that Pearl had no intention to hurt her, and even more so, was willing to protect her, she mustered up the courage to offer her a flower from the bouquet she was holding.
"W-would you like a flower? Mr. Mutant?" She said hesitantly.
Pearl gently took the flower from the girl, holding it gingerly between her thumb and her index finger and then put it behind her ear.
"Pearl thanks little human for gift. Pearl happy." Adam smiled softly at the two of them and then pulled out a Midway slip worth 50 caps, since he truly didn't have many loose caps at the moment and put the slip into the girl's hand.
"That's for you. I hope the rest of your day goes splendidly." He said warmly before he led Pearl down the pier towards The Emirates.
"State your business." One of the men outside the door to the palace-like space said as they stopped Adam and Pearl before they could enter.
"I need to speak with Madam Aquamarine. I have urgent information." Adam said in a businesslike way.
"Name?" The guard said without a care in the world.
"Adam Baxter." The guard seemed to raise an eyebrow at the name, perhaps recognizing him by name only and then nodded and turned to head inside to assumedly ask for permission.
A minute later the guard returned and ushered Adam inside.
"Ah~ How wonderful to see you again, Adam Baxter." Madam Aquamarine said as she lazed on her pillows smoking her pipe in a smoke filled hazy room just as he saw her last time. She then looked to Pearl who was following closely behind Adam. "I see you picked up a super mutant of your own." She grinned.
"They are quite useful aren't they?~" She said as she gently gestured to her two armored Super Mutants in the back, who, for once, seemed a bit animated. Perhaps because they were seeing Pearl too.
For Pearl's sake she seemed surprised to see the two super mutants and looked like she wanted to walk over to speak to them.
"Pearl would like to say hi to super mutants if pretty lady will let Pearl." She said to Madam Aquamarine who just chuckled softly into the back of her hand. Get full chapters from 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩
"By all means my large green friend~ have at it. Those two might love some conversation from a fellow like you." She smiled and Pearl then broke off from Adam and walked to the back of the room to converse with the super mutants.
The conversation was, unfortunately, quite loud as super mutants were not quiet creatures, however it was not much more than Pearl just asking how they ended up here and what they did around this place as well as how it was living with 'puny humans'. Adam did his best to tune out the conversation and focus on the task he came here for.
Adam took a seat on the pillow across from Madam Aquamarine and took a deep sigh.
"I'm going to be blunt." He said with a serious tone. "Famine is on the move, and we need to stop him."