Chapter 95: Whisky Cap
After Karl leaves Afton turns towards his new 'drinking buddy', his mind was still fuzzy but it was relatively easy to understand that fist-fights didn't usually make you friends... Or maybe it was different in the Mojave?
"Sorry... Youknow, about hitting you. I just really, really hate raiders." she says sincerely while tapping her whisky glass to get Lacey to fill it back up.
He shrugs, "Not the first woman to beat the shit out of me, my best friend's the one who trained me... She'd give any guy a run for their money." he says, thinking about Veronica with a small smile.
The woman nods, "I'm Cass by the way."
"Afton... What's the deal with you and raiders anyway?" he questions, most people wouldn't start a fist fight with 'former-raiders' for no reason after all. Especially since the people in question had undoubtedly helped out enough to make up for their past crimes.
Cass sips her drink and sighs, "I used to own a caravan, Cassidy Caravans. Life was pretty good until I got word that someone had raided it, killed all my people and burned everything it held... Must've been Legion since they didn't even bother to take anything."
"So I reminded you of that, huh?" he asks.
She shrugs, "Yeah, I guess. You used to be a Powder Ganger so you kinda deserve it. Raiding Caravans is in the job description after all... Doesn't really matter now though, did you really help the NCR take back that prison?"
He nods, "Yeah, wasn't too hard. Once the NCR got behind the walls it was like shooting fish in a barrel... What're you doing here anyway, I can't imagine your happy just sitting around?"
Cass snorts, "Yeah, that's because I'm not. My Caravan may have been destroyed, but my licence is still active... Means that I can't leave until Jackson gets his head outta his ass and lets me go. Says 'the roads are too dangerous', bullshit."
"Wait, so even if your caravan is destroyed they still force you to stay here?" He asks in confusion.
"Exactly. I know how to handle myself, and don't need these stiffed dicks to worry their pretty heads for me." she says loud enough for some of the soldiers to hear. The exasperated sighs give a clear picture that this wasn't the first time she'd expressed her irritation to them.
"Can't you, I don't know, just walk out?" Afton asks, "They can't legally stop you can they?"
Cass shakes her head, "They can and will, I'd technically be smuggling if I tried to do that, even if it sounds bullshit... Hey, you're a merc right? Don't suppose you could clear the roads?"
Afton shrugs, he and Karl were going to take some jobs so he might as well hear her out. "It depends, who's paying, how much needs to be cleared, and what creatures will we be dealing with."
"The only problem I can see is those damn giant ants in the dry-lake, they wait next to the road and ambush anyone who comes near. I'm sure they consider the road their territory, not like the NCR has enough balls to take it back."
"Why is that anyway?" he asks, wondering why they couldn't bring a couple machine guns and start bringing their numbers down.
"There are too many ants, that and they have tunnels underground that let them popup behind you at any moment... As to who's paying, I'd be willing to chip in some, but Jackson would probably give an arm and a leg just to have those pests gone."
Afton shrugs, "Me and Karl'll look into it tomorrow. Right now I think I could do with a couple more drinks."
She snorts, "Yeah, you and me both."
The next day Afton groggily woke up, he was on the bottom bunk in the Barracks and could see many other soldiers, as well as caravaners, sleeping nearby. Rubbing his eyes he groaned as he felt the hangover kick in. "Fuck, does coffee even exist anymore?" he mutters to himself as he falls outta bed and slowly makes his way to the bar, the smell of alcohol almost causing him to vomit on the spot.
He looks to Lacey who's somehow still there and asks, "You got any water?"
She nods, and passes him one, "9 caps."
He tosses her the cash and sits down, only now noticing that Karl was sitting on the stool next to him... When did he get up? The man grinned at him and waggled his eyebrows, "Fun night?"
Afton just shakes his head, "Don't start Karl, I'm having a rough enough morning as it is." he says swirling the water in his mouth to get the dryness and taste of Tequila out.
"Whatever kid, you had a chance and you blew it, doubt you'll be losing your virginity til we get to New Vegas."
...
Afton's about to reply when a hand grasps Karl's shoulder, the old man turns around and comes face to face with a rather angry looking Cass. "You got something say old-timer?"
Karl snorts, "Yeah," he gestures to Afton, "My boy here ain't good enough for ya?"
...
After a moment Cass just breaks into laughter, she wipes a stray tear from her eye and continues "Youknow, there's a fine line between funny and annoying."
Karl nods sagely, "I get that, same thing with life really." this gets another chuckle from her and they both nod in agreement.
"I suppose it is... I spoke to Afton yesterday about a job for you two, you weren't too drunk to remember right?" she asks.
Afton nods, "Clearing the roads right?"
She nods, "I've already gone to ask Jackson what he'd be willing to pay, said 600 caps. I'll chip in a hundred so, you willing to do it for 700 caps?"
The duo looks at each other and shrug, "Sure."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
Chapter 96: Chems boy?
After accepting the job the duo took a look around the traders to see if they anything they could be of any help... They didn't really have much to sell, most supplies having been slowly used during their stay here, putting most into pretty bad spots.
They did make sure to stock up on ammunition though, judging by what they'd heard, there could've been anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of Giant ants... Neither had an idea how long it'd take, or if i was even possible to completely get rid of them.
Regardless, they'd taken the job so they had to give it a shot. Karl did find something of interest while asking around the traders... A plasma grenade. Afton had used quite a few of these during the battle of Helios One, but only now did he realise that they were incredibly rare, and incredibly valuable.
They could range from 300 to 600 caps each depending on who's selling, makes him feel slightly sick when he remember how any he'd been throwing around like an idiot... Karl managed to get a good deal on it as they were literally going to use it to clear the roads for these caravaners.
"What're you going to use that for anyway?" Afton asked after Karl bought it.
"You'll see kid, these things are a hundred times more useful than any ballistic grenade, I'll tell ya that."
They were suited up and ready to start clearing the roads... As they were leaving the camp a voice shouted at them... It was the Sniper that'd been glaring at them from the roof of the Barracks.
Afton turns and shouts back, "What?!"
The woman seemed to shake her head and started making her way down to the ground and towards them. Once she did they found she was pretty short, only being 5.8ft... Afton couldn't help but be drawn towards her relatively large breasts that were under her dirty white vest.
"Eyes up here virgin." she spits, causing Karl to immediately start cackling. Afton sends him a dirty look before glancing at the sniper, "You need something?"
She nods, "You two were about to head out right? Clearing the roads? Well. I have something that needs looking at. See that smoke in the distance?" she gestures between the legs of the giant NCR statue towards the town that seemed to be burning in the distance.
They nod, "Yeah?"
"Well, that's a town called Nipton, not a nice place, but still technically law-abiding. I need someone to check up on it but Ranger Jackson won't send anyone to look without reinforcements. If you're willing to check up on it while you're out there I have some caps with your name on them."
Afton shrugs, "Sure, we're going in that direction anyway... Any idea on what it might be?"
The woman shakes her head, "Maybe the remaining Powder Gangers have set up shop there after the prison was taken? Other than that I don't really want to think about it."
"We'll report back our findings." Karl says and starts walking off, Afton nodding at her and following along.
As so the two were back on the road, from the top of the hill they could see the dry-lake, as well as a small dust-storm that was occurring around it. It wasn't as bad as the hidden valley was during the night, but it'd still irritate the eyes and inhibit their vision slightly... Luckily both Afton and Karl had sunglasses that'd protect their eyes for the most part.
They ignore the Giant Ants in the overpass and instead head directly into the dry-lake. Almost immediately they could see many silhouettes through the dust.
"Know anything about these things? All I know is that they can apparently burrow through the ground..."
Karl nods, "Yeah, we best stay on concrete to stop that from happening. I know there's usually one queen that lives in their tunnels, producing a constant supply of new young... We need to clear the soldier ants out and find the entrance to the tunnel." he rubs his beard, "We're pretty lucky today though, the dust-storm will stop their pheromones from alerting the others."
"Pheromones?" Afton questions.
"Yeah, they use it to communicate with one another... Attack one and the whole damn colony'll be on your ass, unless you're in a day like today." he says.
Afton nods and spots a sillouet coming towards them, reaching for teh sawed-off shotgun hanging from his bandoleer. Karl stops him from grabbing it though, shaking his head at him, "Don't bother with this, unless you press the barrel against its head it'll do nothing." he explains.
"Yeah, my bad." Afton admits, having forgotten just how tough the exo-skeleton of these things is. Instead, he draws Lucky from its holster and aims it at the creature as it slowly heads towards him.
It reaches the highway and Afton is finally able to get a good look at it, it's around 4ft tall, 4ft wide, and 7ft long. A large creature with six legs and two large mandibles, along with two piercing black eyes.
It clacks its mandibles at him for a moment before trying to rush him, Afton just fires Lucky at its head, causing orange fluid to explode out of the wound, the creature dropping dead almost immediately.
"Huh, I was expecting it to be a little harder to kill than that." Afton admits, feeling slightly disappointed at the anti-climactic death.
"Kid, you tryin' 'ta die? Stop saying stuff like that." he growls, firing his own gun at a nearby sillouet and causing it to drop dead. He pulls out his knife and walks over to the ant Afton had killed as start cutting open its abdomen.
"What are you doing?" he asks in surprise, there wasn't anything of value inside these things... Even their meat was terrible.
Karl just shakes his head and keeps digging until he finds what he's looking for... Reaching in and pulling it out, he wipes the orange fluid on his shirt and presents it to Afton, "Lookee here. Ant Necter."
...
"I have no idea what that is."
Karl just shakes his head, "Its a Chem boy, sells for a good amount... Now, let's properly get cleaning this damn road or we'll be here all week."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross
Niggross
Hope you bois like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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