[Enroute to Supermarket town] 

[August 25th, 2277]

[3rd Person POV] 

After grabbing all of the loot that she could find on the dismembered bodies and searching around the complex itself, she had gathered quite a substantial loot as she mostly found expired food just stored. 

Another haul that she had claimed was the amount of guns she had acquired. 

Totally around 50 guns, 10 Rifles, 20 Shotguns, 20 Pistols, and even 50 types of knives which she can jury rig to fix my weapons or make a new one considering most of these aren't exactly useful for her. 

She thought about it. It then decided to sell it on the first refugee town that was marked on the bandit's map she found yesterday. 

And considering the distance, it would only take at most a 2-hour walk to finally approach the first half-civilized town she would see when she first arrived here a few weeks ago. 
But what surprised her the most was the Nuka Cola caps. They are being used as currency here which shocked her. 

But the more she thought about it, the more she blamed Q for it. 

There must've been that point in the lore where Nuka Cola was global and they've established a branch here in her country which is why Nuka Cola exists here. 
Another currency that she found was a metal coin with words etched into it. 

"These look like chips but metal. And Fortuna Industries huh... Might put that on my to-do list to find things out."

She counted the caps along with the Fortuna coins and she had about 1,200 caps and 800 Fortuna Coins or FCs to simplify it. 

She stored it in her inventory and stood up from her bed after a long rest. 

She grabbed her backpack to fool people that she was storing her money in there along with her valuables. 

After she prepared everything, she grabbed her trusty riot shotgun and left the complex to head down the road to the north once again. 

[2 hours later] 

She stopped at a distance to see a makeshift wall of busses, cars, and even barbed wires that were surrounded by wooden towers she knew this area well since as a kid, she used to have fun exploring and buying gifts every Christmas until she left the country at age 10 for America. 

Heck, the front gate even had its automated gun turret ready to mow down with a click of a button from an operator. But she suspects that they don't have enough ammunition for the turret itself, so it might be an intimidation tactic, but she's not taking her chances. 

She mentally prepared herself as she pointed the shotgun down on the road and slowly approached the gate. 
The guards saw her after a few minutes and shouted

"Stop! Stay where you are! What is your business here at supermarket town!" 
2 guards pointed their rifles at her, nervously contacting the leader of the town with an unexpected situation. 

She stopped just as ordered and waited. It must've been intimidating since she's wearing the Adv. Riot Gear and she didn't fault them since her helmet is terrifying for normal people that is.

After waiting for another few minutes someone on a loudspeaker ascended the tower with a charismatic look and an aged look and spoke with a deep voice. 

"What is your purpose here stranger?" He said through the loudspeaker. 

"to trade and rest." She calmly replied, not revealing anything to them. Why should she? 

The Town leader assessed the now-identified stranger to being a woman, wearing strange armor and what looked like an auto shotgun 
After contemplating on whether to let her enter or not, he wanted the stranger to answer him first. 

"You seem heavily armed to be a mere passerby stranger. I don't want no trouble when you're in my town understand?"

He ordered or more like demanded

She scoffed inside her helmet and frowned for a brief moment before replying. 

"Don't worry, I'm only here to stay, relax, and might sell stuff." She sighed tiredly 

The town leader nodded, satisfied as she shouted for the men to open the Frankenstein gate that they made. 

She quickly entered and took a look around and it didn't surprise her one bit that there were a lot of people here in SM Town. 

From what she can gather, there are about 200 people here, some are living in the houses in front of the supermarket and the town hall supposedly is inside the supermarket itself along with the soldiers of said town living inside the mall. 

"Were watching you outsider." one guard said, still nervous and apprehensive and she could only nod to show she understood. 

She asked the town leader who was named Manuel where the market was and he directed her to the parking lot of the mall. 
Thanking Manuel, she proceeded to head to the marketplace, and quickly she heard the shouts of sellers selling monster meat, weapons, adult toys, and many more. 

What surprised her was how many buyers there were and somehow the wasteland found its way to normalize a bit of humanity, even just a little. 

She subconsciously tagged every trader, merchant, and seller here with her sharp eyes, her skills as a trader subconsciously activating to find a reputable merchant who wouldn't rip her off and loyal to mercantile ideals. 

She eventually found one that was on the upper right side of the parking lot. 

She mentally stored her pistols in the backpack she was carrying that was useless to her and approached the merchant. 
The merchant looked at her with no emotions as he spoke. 

"Are you looking to sell Miss?" 
"Yes, I am." 

with those words, she quickly unhooked the backpack that was on her back laid it in front of the merchant's table stall, and poured the pistols that she found. 

The merchant whistled "That's a might find miss. Care to tell a merchant where these goods were acquired"? 

"Bandits, that's all I can say." She said, not clarifying where nor how many and the merchant understood. 

"Of course of course." 

He quickly said as he proceeded to inspect each pistol and revolver in front of him. 
After a quick assessment, the merchant gave a ballpark number. 

"3,000 caps." 

"Bullshit. 6,000 caps." 

"Now now miss, these weapons you've found are hard to maintain and might not sell. 4,000."

"They can still be used, and you overprice your goods anyway so why even bother? 5,500"

"Why I'm offended miss, my pricing is fair unlike other merchants here. 4,500"

"Of course, it's fair because you make it look like it's fair. So stop lying to yourself. 5,300" 

"My my what an annoying lady you are. But my motto is to give the customers the best quality goods to ever find in my store. You'll ruin my reputation if I sell these at a high price! 4,800"

"I'll invest in you in the future so take my final offer. 5,000"

He ponders for a bit, weighing the pros and cons. 

Based on the armor that the woman was wearing, the woman was likely a soldier even and rich so his gears turned, and smiled and pushed his hand up to shake

"You have yourself a deal miss. I hope you won't let me down." 
"I won't. Your name before I go?" She said, as she received 5,000 caps placed them onto her backpack, and wore them again. 

"My name is Talon at your service." he slightly bowed
"Where might I find a bar in this town?" She inquired.

"just in front of the mall where the houses are. The bar is called Glory's Hole. An apt name I know. But you can gather information there for the right price." Talon replied. 

"Thank you. I'll be seeing you soon as I find new things to sell to you." she shakes talons hand in return before leaving. 

"I hope it's not covered in guts next time because jeez you didn't clean it off from this gun! It's hard to clean you know!" he shouted to her. 

She only waved back at him as she was heading to the bar. 
As she was heading towards the bar, she spotted some armed residents and guards loitering about and humming to herself. 

Most of the residents were wary of her and avoided her like a plague and it was understandable given her outfit and the way she walks. 

4 minutes later, she arrived at the bar and entered.

The bar went silent as they saw me for a brief moment before resuming their cheerful and chatting atmosphere as I approached the counter. 

"What might you need stranger?"  the bartender asked. 

"Strongest drink you have," she replied, taking her helmet off. 

The moment she took her helmet off and put it on the counter, the bartender was stunned at her beauty but shrugged as the bartender grabbed her drink. 

"That'll be 20 caps."

She paid upfront took a swig and noticed the taste to be mixed with whisky and gin, how she missed alcohol. 

Of course, she had alcohol in her inventory, but nothing beats this taste from the wasteland itself. 

"Say I need information as I've been...busy." She vaguely said. 
"What kind of information?" The bartender roughly replied. 

"State of the wasteland, factions and all that." She replied

The bartender scoffs "Well you've been away for a while but that'll be 200 caps." 

She happily paid the man and waited. 

The bartender grabbed the caps and started his long talk on the factions, the wasteland itself, and what to avoid. 

"Sit down Missy, it's gonna be a long talk." The bartender said, smiling. His teeth show obvious decay.