The very next morning, Zeke was making breakfast for himself, Ian, and Jess if she joined them. He was making a large batch of eggs in a large pan. Ian was waiting at a counter rolling a joint with marijuana using a roller he had.
"So, boss man? You think that chick is going to help us with this job?" Ian asked.
Zeke stirs the eggs to scramble them: "Well, that is the thing. I don't know if Jess will join us. She could just rest up and leave. She seemed tired when I dropped her off in the room."
Ian finished his roll, "I don't know if we can trust her. She is a stranger, and the fact that her appearance is hidden draws more suspicion."
"I know what you mean. I have that feeling, too. But she probably doesn't trust us either. But what can we do? There are a lot of weirdos in the wasteland. Just look at us and our little group."
"Fair point, boss. Any word from the boy?"
"He should be returning any day now, in his last message. He has been traveling for quite a while now. But he seemed to have found some goodies on his travels, and to us, it would be useful or make us a great profit."
"What a true businessman," Ian smiled.
They both heard the restaurant front door open, and they both looked and saw Jess walk in. She was wearing less clothing than she had worn the previous day. She wore a black hoodie, dark blue jeans, and knee-high leather boots. Her hood was up, and she wore a black cap that hid her hair and black sunglasses that hid her golden eyes from them.
"Jess, good morning. Sit down., I'm making breakfast for us. We could brief ourselves before we go," Zeke said as he made plates.
Jess sits down a few seats away from Ian.
"I was surprised you came. I thought you bailed on us," Ian looks at her.
"I know you don't trust me, but Zeke saved me yesterday. So, there is no point in ditching someone who saved my life. Plus, he has offered some funds and a weapon. Once this job is done, I will be out of your hair," Jess says as she looks back at him.
"Alright, fine by me. Just don't think I won't kill you if something bad happens," Ian threatened.
These guys are already going at it, Zeke thought, overhearing them.
Zeke brings out the food, and they begin to eat. But Jess notices something off when she sees Zeke's portion of food, which is three times the amount they had. He eats it in big bites and seems to eat it faster than they do.
Zeke notices this, "Is there something wrong?"
"Well, that is a lot," She comments.
"I have a big metabolism; it's a rare condition where I burn more calories than most," Zeke replied.
Jess felt he was covering up something, but she did not pry into it as she was only there until they finished this job. Zeke explained their job, where they had to check on the area to see if bandits had set up a camp to help protect their area from them and the other nearby people. They depart for this area, which is nearby, in an old grocery store.
They walked in front of the store, hiding behind an old rusted car. Zeke handed Jess a pistol.
"Alright, we just have to go in and take them out. Pretty easy in my book," Zeke explained.
Ian puts out a joint he was smoking on his right, which shocks Jess. "You make it sound easy, boss. Jess and I will return and see what we are dealing with."
"Fine, then I will take on the front," Zeke smiled.
"Sounds like a plan. Do you want us to wait or head in?"
"Do as you wish. If I hear trouble, I will head for you through our tracking system."
"Roger," Ian leaves with Jess, who seems confused, as they sound like crazy people.
Ian and Jess make it to the back of the store and hide behind an old dumpster, and they see a guard at the back loading dock. He grabs a throwing knife, which he seems to have up his right sleeve, and throws with perfect precision at the head of the guard, killing him.
"Let's go, follow my lead," Ian whispered.
"Right," Jess replied with a whisper.
Ian grabs his gun in his left hand and has a knife in his right as he crouches down and sneaks over to the loading dock with Jess behind him. Ian would take a pick in before he grabbed his knife out of the dead guard's head. Ian holds his weapon, which is a rifle and a couple of bullets.
Not much, Ian thought*
Jess peeked in to cover him, which he seemed appreciative of as he thought she would turn on them. Both would head in and sneak through the back of the store to see more guards, but Ian would dispose of them the same way he did with the first one. He seemed quiet and sneaky, as he seemed skilled in this, which impressed him.
They were about to peek into the store floor when suddenly Ian felt the barrel of a gun at the back of his head, and before Jess noticed, she had a gun pointed at her.
"Shit," Ian sighed.
Ian and Jess were captured by the bandits and were brought out to the store floor where they had binding put on their wrists, and they were handcuffed behind their backs and sat on the floor as they surrounded them.
"Now, what do we have here? Wait? I know you, Ian Smokeroach. You used to be a big shot raider back in the day. You used to be in a huge gang, too," a bandit spoke as he looked at Ian.
Jess looked surprised by this, but would be more shocked at Ian.
Ian shouts, "AH, FUCK! Sorry, I just felt like shouting before you kill me."
"Fucking idiot. Well, I don't expect much. But it seems you have brought us something interesting," the bandit gazes at Jess. "It's been a while since we've seen a female."
The bandits start to surround Jess and look at her lustfully. One of the bandits grabs her hood and takes it down with the cap, revealing her silver hair, which shocks them and Ian. He removes her sunglasses, revealing her golden eyes.
"What's this? She is a weird-looking one," the bandits inspect her by looking.
"Are you a psychic?" Ian questioned as he figured it out.
"Yeah," Jess finally revealed her secret.
"To think we would find a mystery. I think it was the other day. A friend of ours talked about an old factory that exploded twenty years ago, which should have killed the people in the nearby village. Still, they all gained a special ability to control things with their mind," Ian recalls a conversation.
"What was that? You saying she is a freak?" the bandit backed up from her.
"Well, that is not nice to say to a lady now?" An unfamiliar voice to the bandits spoke from within the middle of the group.
They looked spooked and saw Zeke sneak in without them noticing, as if he were a ghost.
"Who the hell is he?" questioned a bandit.
"Oh, sorry, gentlemen. I am Zeke. It's a pleasure, but sadly, things get bad here. Well, for you anyway," Zeke smiled.
"Why you--" the bandit tried to take him down, but got a hard left punch to the face before he grabbed Zeke.
Another bandit aims his gun at him and gets ready to fire, but Zeke grabs it and aims it up before he can fire. Zeke slams his right palm into his face and knocks him out with one hit. He took out two out of the five around them. One bandit aims his handgun at Zeke and fires a bullet at his head, and Zeke's head goes back from the hit. The force was able to remove his eye patch over his left eye. They looked surprised as Zeke did not fall from a shot which would have killed a normal person. But they all looked shocked at Ian, as he knew how Zeke survived. He lifts his head to reveal that he caught the bullet between his teeth without damaging them. But the remaining bandits and Jess saw Zeke's left eye, which looked more reptilian.
"I think I heard of you now, and that eye is proof. You are Zeke Deathclaw; I thought you were only a legend or a myth. A man with the ability of a deathclaw to make super mutants look like wimps," the bandit leader says.
"I guess my secret is out. But it's okay; you will be taking a nap soon," Zeke says as he spits the bullet out of his mouth.
"No, I think you're stupid," The bandit leader points his gun at Jess.
Zeke laughs, "You think I am worried for her? By the looks of it, she has already saved herself."
The bandit leader looks confused as he looks and sees that his gun was disabled on the ground, and he was only holding the handle and trigger. Jess was able to use telekinesis to do this. She did this as soon as the gun was pointed at her. The other bandit backup from this but gets knocked out from behind by Ian, who got out of his binding. The leader looks to see how he got loose, sees his right arm is gone, and sees he was using it as a weapon in his left hand. He found out Ian's right arm was a robotic one. But before he would do anything, Zeke slams his right fist into his face, knocking them out.
"That's a wrap," Ian tried to put his arm back on before Zeke helped him.
Ian pops a blade out of his right palm and cuts the binding on him. Then he helps Jess get out hers by cutting it. Zeke picks up his eye patch and puts it back on around his left eye.
"You alright?" Zeke asked Jess.
"Yeah, but are you guys mad at me? I hid this from you," Jess looks at him.
Zeke chuckles, "No, not really. If you can tell, we are not normal either. I was an experiment from the Brotherhood of New York. I lost my left eye a few years ago, and here we are. But I never thought to see a myth come true. I assume the people after you want to use your power for no good."
Jess looks down, "No, I am running from my brother."
Both Zeke and Ian looked surprised by this, as she was being hunted down by a sinister group or person, but her own flesh and blood. Zeke then picked up her sunglasses and cap from the floor.
"The Brotherhood should be coming soon. You'd better hide yourself again," Zeke hands it to her. "I can't guarantee that one of them won't tell everyone what you are."
"Why do you want to help me? You could probably get a bigger reward than this job."
"It's obvious, no? I don't care about money much and would feel bad if a fellow freak is in danger. Even though I have this left eye, which makes people think I am a monster--I am still human in this twisted world."
Jess was silent. She put her cap and sunglasses back on, and they waited for the brotherhood to check if they had finished the job before going back to base.
Jess waits in the restaurant for Zeke to come back. Ian is sitting nearby on a sofa, smoking a joint.
"Good Job today, newbie," Ian comments as he inhales and blows smoke.
"Thanks, I guess," Jess said, in deep thought.
Zeke walks in and places a pouch of caps in front of her. "Here you go, and if you want, you could pick up a weapon from our shop, and it's on the house."
She picks it up and looks at it for a moment.
"Are you not happy? I gave you my share, too." Zeke questioned, seeing this.
"I was wondering if I could sit a bit longer? I could use some more caps before I leave?" Jess asked.
Both Ian and Zeke were surprised by this. But it proves she can trust them.
"We can't promise we'll protect you if your brother finds out. You know we'll turn you into him if our lives are threatened," Ian says, getting up from his chair.
Jess responded, "I would not blame you, but maybe I can find a way to stop him. He will catch up to me eventually if I keep running."
"Boss? What are we going to do?" Ian asked.
Zeke thought a bit, "Very well, but he comes here to get you, I can't promise you that I won't kill him if he threatens my people. I already lost enough of those close to me."
"If it's the only way, then you can do what you see fit, Zeke. I might find better closure in it as well."
"Alright, welcome to the team, Jess," Zeke said with a smile.