Afton climbs out of the manhole and pushes the cover back over it, yeah, it might be petty but causing trouble for the Legionary was the least he could do for the man's threats. Afton now had a time limit, a year to kill Major Thompson or have all of his information revealed to his enemies, something that'd put a huge target on his head.
Though, he was still thankful that they'd found out the identity of his quarry. Without their help, Afton sincerely doubted he would have ever discovered it. Still, Afton was going to do his best to destroy both factions, or at least, both faction's presence in the Mojave.
Shaking his head, first thing first would be removing Emory's head. Afton couldn't hold himself back any longer and wanted to get some vengeance as soon as possible. The almost forgotten feeling of utter hatred for the man bubbling to the surface, causing a harsh scowl to appear on his face.
Quickly he started making his way towards the NCR civilian building where Emory's office had been. Afton was sure the man would still be there, not just to take care of the NCR civilians in Freeside, but also to keep the Kings in check.
Hmm, perhaps he should leave something after he'd killed the man to suggest some Legion involvement? It'd prevent any and all associations with him... He nods to himself, sounds like a plan.
He continues sneaking through the streets until he discovers the tall building surrounded by obviously undercover guards. Still, they were placed there to protect against a large assault, not an infiltration.
Afton snuck to the less occupied building next to Emory's one and quietly climbs to the top and looks down at the gap between the two buildings, the alleyway currently being patrolled by a squad of undercover NCR troopers.
Afton was hoping to jump from one building to the other, but the gap was larger than it had looked from below. Additionally, his missing arm was causing him to doubt if he'd actually be able to catch himself once he jumped. The only thing to hold onto once he got there was a window lacking its glass, some grooves that he might be able to fit his fingers into, and a balcony a few floors down...
Eventually, after thinking for a few moments he decides to leap off and grab the window, transitioning to the groves so he could climb to Emory's office. After a moment of psyching himself up he jumps, activating VATS halfway across so he could plan out his midair movements. Truly VATS was more OP than the games had ever stated.
His hand grips the window and he flops against the building's wall as his feet fail to gain purchase. He grunts slightly as he pulls himself up with one arm, digging his feet into one of the grooves to get some grip.
"-lly think the Kings will keep their words? They're nothing but a gang of thugs." Afton catches someone saying from within the building, the broken window allowing him to clearly hear them.
Fortunately it's dark enough that they 'probably' won't see his fingertips holding onto the window... Hopefully. He waits there for a while as they continue their conversation, one person speaking their doubts on the King's while the other tries to mediate, though, Afton could tell both had misgivings about the alliance.
Eventually they both walk away and Afton breaths a sigh of relief, his fingers were starting to feel sore from hanging this long. He quickly looks up to the grooves and chews the inside of his cheek, he'd need to throw himself at it due to his missing arm.
Shaking his head he jumps slightly using the grooves and activates VATS just as he's midair, using it to plan his movements. The method continues to work as his fingers find their way into the groove, his feet digging in and alleviating some weight from his single arm.
With this he continues clambering up the building, all the while hoping no one could see him from below... After half an hour of repeating this he reached the top floor where Emory's office would be. Light streamed out of the window and he peeked inside, using VATS once he spotted the man sitting at his desk, seemingly glaring at some paperwork that'd been stacked before him.
Afton scans the room while time is frozen and spots a window that's slightly ajar near a shadowy corner of the room... Hmm, he wondered is his [Blur] Perk would help him enough to allow him to actually climb through that undetected...
Deciding that its best to try and fail than fail to try, he started shimmying around to it, once he was at the window he used the top of his head to slowly widen it at a rate he hoped Emory wouldn't spot.
Truth be told, if he just wanted to kill Emory he would've just shot the man from outside. But that wasn't what Afton wanted, well, not entirely. He wanted to question the man, find out if he had just been following orders or had another reason-no, excuse.
Plus, Afton was looking forward to acquiring a cybernetic arm, is it karma that Emory just so happened to have a right-handed cybernetic arm waiting for Afton? Probably not, but it sure felt like it!
Afton goes through a breathing exercise before climbing through, his entry into the room making literally no sound whatsoever, courtesy of his Sneak Skill. Quickly he reactivates VATS and takes a glance at Emory, noticing the man still hadn't looked up... Noice.
He turns to the door and would've snorted had time not been frozen, the key to the room was already inside the lock. Emory apparently not having expected for his room to be infiltrated from a window and locked from the inside. This only reinforced in Afton's mind the fact that Lockpicking was one of the worst Skills...
Afton allows time to resume and locks the door, causing an audible click to echo through the room, Emory looking up at him as Afton stands in a relaxed posture. "Emory, we need to talk." he states, doing his best to not reveal how tense his body was... Though, with how bad his Charisma skill was Emory was probably aware of it.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Emory's eyes widen to an almost comical degree when Afton speaks. The door hadn't opened, and they were on the highest floor of the building, so scaling up it would've been incredibly difficult, not to mention loud enough for the guards to notice. "A-Afton? How are you... Why are you here?"
Afton just shrugs, "Your men let me through, as to why I'm here? We have some matters to speak on." he says, walking over and sitting in the chair opposite Emory. "How are things going with the Kings?" he asks, deciding to try and relax the man before he puts a bullet through his brain.
...
Emory taps the desk nervously, Afton now well aware of the metallic sound the man's right-hand makes as it does so. "The Kings? Doing fine. No problems apart from the few unruly ones unwilling to grant a modicum of control to someone else."
Afton nods, "Best just to deal with them how I did."
Emory shakes his head, "Not all of us can go straight to shooting people who cause trouble Afton, the NCR have rules about this sort of thing."
Afton can't help but send a smile at him, though it doesn't reach his eyes. "They do? What are the rules on firing upon women and children then?"
...
"Excuse me?" Emory asks, trying to put up a confused facade, but Afton could tell the man was read to start fighting.
Afton leans forwards and grabs Emory's right hand to stop him from pulling it back, *Clack*, the sound of metal lets both men know that the jig is up. "Youknow, I was wondering where I could get myself one of those arms, after losing mine it's been terribly uncomfortable." he says while squeezing the arm, causing the machinery to creak under the pressure.
...
"Enough. What do you want?" Emory asks, wishing to cut to the chase.
Afton scoffs, "What do I want? Shouldn't you know already? I want to go back in time and stop your bullet from penetrating her skull. I want to climb up to that perch you were hiding you cowardly ass on and beat you to death before you killed one of the only people I truly cared about." he says, letting go of the arm and slamming the table with his fist.
Emory has a look of recognition overtake him, "It's you?"
Afton nods, "What? Can't recognise the boy you orphaned? Heh, seems about right. Probably not even the first time you've done something similar for your military overlords."
"The attack on Helios One wasn't my idea. Even if it was, we never intended to hurt any non-combatants!"
"BULLSHIT!" Afton shouts, "does the NCR always fire upon retreating men, women and children!? Helios One was yours! And yet you decided to try and annihilate everyone! Where were your rules and regulations at that moment!? Exactly! There were none! You fuckers just hide behind the pretence of being more civilised than the rest of us, all the while breaking your laws when it's fucking convenient for you!"
Emory scowls, "What do you want me to say!? That I didn't want to do it? That I repeatedly asked our commander whether or not to fire upon you? I followed orders like a good soldier." he states.
"I don't want you to say anything you piece of shit, I just want you to understand why I'm going to fucking kill you!" Afton shouts in the man's face, spittle flying out without care.
Emory's body tenses at this, and both men don't move, instead just daring the other to try...
...
...
Sweat forms on Emory's brow, flowing down his cheek and eventually dripping off of his chin onto the floor. Once he hears it hit the ground he throws himself behind the table while grabbing his chair and throwing it at Afton.
Afton roars and he kicks the piece of furniture, shattering it into a million different pieces while drawing That Gun from his hip, he leans over the desk to get a shot at Emory but finds the heavy oak desk lift off of the floor and slam him in the chin and chest.
He almost loses grip of his weapon from the sudden surprising assault, but grits his teeth and squeezes the weapon as hard as he can. The table traps his leg under it as Emory jumps into action, raising his revolver to Afton's head and preparing to fire.
Afton quickly swipes his arm at it, redirecting the barrel enough for the bullet to whistle through his hair. Emory steps out of Afton's reach and fires a couple more shots, but is shocked when Afton blocks the bullets with his gun, returning fire and shooting Emory in the chest twice.
Emory stumbles back in pain but continues firing, emptying all the ammo in his revolver. Afton upon seeing this kicked his leg out as hard as possible, sending the heavy oak desk in-front of him to take the brunt of the damage.
The bullets pierced through his make-shift cover, but the wood was enough to divert them in random directions, luckily not hitting Afton. The splinters caused by it did rain upon his body though, a few hitting him in the face.
He gives another kick to the almost completely decimated desk and sends it flying back at Emory as the man tries to reload his weapon. Revolvers were famed for their durability and stopping power, not their ease of reloading them.
The impact of the table almost sent the man out of the window, he managed to recover but lost his grip on his weapon in a panic, leaving him weaponless.
Afton could hear people shouting from behind the door, clearly the NCR guards had heard their scuffle, but he was sure they wouldn't get through the door before he was done with Emory. He briskly walked towards the man who seemed almost resigned at this point.
Afton grabbed the man's cybernetic arm after shooting him in the shoulder to keep him down, placing a foot on Emory's chest while pulling as hard as he could t remove it.
The sound of flesh slowly tearing filled the room, and Afton wrenched one last time and found himself in possession with one cybernetic arm... At the base wires and metal were still connected with flesh that'd apparently been pulled away with it.
However, one thing certainly caught Afton's attention... Hidden in the bicep of the arm was a grenade... That had its pin pulled. He looks up at Emory who now had an incredibly smug look on his face.
"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" he shouts, not even bothering to try and shield himself from the eventual explosion.
*BOOOOOOM!*
Afton wasn't even able to process what was happening when the grenade exploded, the shrapnel completely eviscerating him, tearing his body apart as it was sent flying out of the window to alleyway below.
Ya bois, bad luck on the Cybernetic arm... Smart though, Cyberntics are incredibly rare and valuable, so booby trapping it with a kind of Dead Man Switch.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.
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