Regardless of her own discontent at failing the test again, Josie just sends a smile toward Tamia, "Congratulations Tamia, you've earned it... What're you going to do now?"
Tamia shrugs, "Take a break probably, see what else House wants... You know, the usual."
Josie purses her lips and glances around conspiratorily, "You sure that's it?..."
...
"Yeah... Unless you know something I don't." Tamia inquires, wondering where this was going.
The duo get out of their armour and head to the showers to clean themselves off of the grime and sweat they'd collected throughout the days training. While washing their hair, Josie broaches the subject yet again, though, this time more directly. "So, er, I was wondering... You sure there's nothing going on between you and Afton?"
Tamia clicks her tongue at the question she'd been waiting for, "Yeah, I'm sure-"
Josie continues, "-Because, to me and the others it definitely feels like it..."
"As I said last time, we aren't involved in any way... Aside from some friendly flirting, there's nothing." she states with finality.
...
"Then, you wouldn't mind if I... You know..." Josie trails off.
Tamia crooks a brow, "I thought you were interested in Boone? He not scratching that itch anymore?" she questions, somewhat amused.
Josie huffs, "That dour grump won't even look at anything vaguely female... Considering what happened to his wife, I don't blame him though. If I wasn't aware of his past then I'd have thought he was gay or something." she says with mirth.
Tamia snorts but accidentally sucks in some water from the shower, breaking into a choked laugh, "A-alright! Can we not talk about this in the shower? I might drown if we keep on!"
"Fine, fine... But we'll continue this later, you have my word!" she states, shaking her head like a dog and leaving to dry her hair, all while Tamia is deep in thought, considering the conversation.
That night :
"*Bzztch!* Send in the decoy, squad keep sights on target.*Bzztch!*" a quiet yet firm voice states through their radio. They were currently observing a wall through the scope of their sniper, which wall? Well, considering the large Bulwark logo painted across it, it obviously belonged to Novac...
The NCR presence in the area had been drastically reduced since the debate between Ambassador Crocker and Afton, but this wasn't only due to public outcry and reputation management... It was also to lull the leaders of Novac into a false sense of security.
The decoy, a junky called Derpate who'd been paid with a large sack of Jet, timidly steps forth towards the heavily armed walls of Novac... The guards atop the wall quickly notice him and go about the usual procedure, finding out who they are, why they are here, and what level of authority is needed to deal with it...
Of course, Derpate had already been drilled in exactly what to say, and while he was a stuttering idiot, he managed to complete his lines with some amount of credibility. He was posing as a merchant from a large brahmin baron who wished to trade food with Novac, which of course, required the presence of the towns Mayor, Daisy.
Thirty minutes after Derpate introduced himself, Daisy could be seen walking across the wall to address the junky. Who was getting increasingly more nervous due to the fact he knew exactly what was about to happen.
Far away from Novac, the leader of the NCR Ranger squad begins ordering his men through the radio, his sights quickly locking on Daisy as soon as she's visible. "*Bzztch!* Sights on target, aim for vitals, clean kill. Retreat as soon as the target is down, I don't want to test how far those defences can reach.*Bzztch!*"
The four sniper teams all quickly aim their weapons at Daisy, one focusing on her head, one on her neck, one on her heart, and one on her abdomen which aimed where her spine and vital arteries should be.
Daisy stops stop where Derpate was standing and starts addressing him in a bored tone, wondering why this trader had decided to arrive so late in the night... She'd been playing a game of Caravan with Orion and Arcade Gannon and was about to win a fair amount of caps from the both of them, which is why she was slightly miffed about having to come out here...
She only realised something was wrong when the 'trader' struggled to even account for what he wished to trade for... But by then, it was already too late to do anything... She never even heard the weapons being fired as lead passes through her head, grazes her neck, punches through her heart, and obliterates her liver...
Daisy Whitman, loyal friend of Afton, Mayor of Novac, and former member of the Enclave abruptly dropped to the floor with blood pooling from every orifice. Her death was instant, which would be a small consolation to those close with her... Though, this fact would be outweighed by the manner in which she'd been killed... In a cowardly assassination, the people responsible for which would quickly be named by Afton's spies working under Ambassador Crocker.
Of course, the defences of Novac quickly jumped into action to retaliate for the random attack, spraying lightning bolts at Derpate who was quickly incinerated before turning their sights on where the gunfire had come from... Unfortunately, none of them was able to tag any of the fleeing NCR rangers, primarily due to the inherent inaccuracy Arc Weaponry carried.
Orion and Arcade quickly arrive after hearing the commotion, both looking on in horror at Daisy's corpse. They rush over and the latter tries to see if there is anything he could do for her, but reluctantly admits to himself that she was already long dead before they got there... "M-Moreno... She's gone..." he solemnly whispers.
Orion however was less shocked and more enraged, quickly standing and looking off in the distance for whoever had committed the act, he was so angry in fact that he may have been willing to leap off of the wall and charge the enemy with his bare fists alone.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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ShinAmazake
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*Beep! Beep! Beep!*
...
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*
...
*BEEEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! BEEE-Smack!*
"Fuckin' shut uuup!" Afton suddenly roars as she sits up from his bed, crushing the alarm clock that had been sat on his bedside... He'd only just managed to drift off into sleep, yet half an hour later some stupid fuck was trying to message him or something... HE JUST WANTED TO SLEEP!
*Shrrp!*
A panel in the roof slides away as Glados drone floats down, a vein appears on Afton's forehead but he manages to stifle the urge to smack the robot for interrupting his sleep... "This better be really damn important, Glados."
Glados ignores the threat and continues as she had been, "Creator, the NCR has performed an attack against Novac, killing one person in the process." she states.
...
He crooks a brow at this, "I'm guessing it wasn't an all-out attack then... An assassination?... Who was killed?" he asks, feeling his heart begin to beat faster.
"Subject designated: Daisy Whitman was struck multiple times in the head and other vital areas by ballistic weaponry, most likely sniper rifles." the feminine robots explains as if he hadn't just been informed of a close friend's demise.
...
"She's dead...? But why? She wasn't all that important to Bulwark, nor to Novac..." he mutters, feeling as if this was his fault in some way.
Glados picks up his train of thought and offers her own conclusions, "Perhaps it was due to her being the highest rank person within Novac... The NCR is unaware of Big Mt, so they have no other avenues to retaliate." she states and Afton nods in agreement.
Glados explanation explained a lot, but that still didn't make it any easier to process Daisy's sudden demise... After he'd gotten over the initial shock, he was hit with a wave of anger and indignation, how dare they harm someone he'd personally placed under is protection... IN HIS OWN PROPERTY!?
He jumps out of bed and ignores all the personalities trying to talk to him or catch his attention. He splashes his face with water puts on the Stealth suit, grabs his weapons and marches out of the Think Tank with Glados' drone tailing him.
"Creator, we also have messages from Novac... Subject designated: Arcade Gannon has temporarily taken the mayor position... Would you like to listen to the messages?"
"Yes." he confirms as he continues to the armoury where his Power armour is kept and maintained.
"Affirmative." Glados states before beginning the recorded messages, "*Bzztch!*H-hey, I'm speaking to Afton right?... I hope so... Look, you've probably heard about Daisy, and we're pretty sure it was the NCR that are responsible for it. People in Novac are baying for NCR blood, I've taken the role of Mayor, but I'm barely holding them back from marching towards the nearest NCR encampment...
I'm not even sure if I want to stop them, I wasn't all that close with Daisy, but she was like family... I've managed to make a sort of deal with Novac's angry residents. Said you might accept them, give them training, and place them in your military force to combat the NCR. I don't know if I've overstepped my authority with this, but it was the only way to stop an outright invasion..." Arcade trails off while releasing a long sigh.
"There's also my friend Orion Morino... I don't know where he's gone, but I fear he might be planning something big, the look on his face when Daisy was killed, and the one he had when he left? It didn't promise anything good... You need to watch out for it, not because it's a threat to whatever you've built, but because Morino and Daisy come from very bloody places." he warns.
"When you get the chance, come speak to me in Novac, it'd help sort all of this out a lot... Urgh, honestly, who'd have thought I'd become a leader like this...*Bzztch*" the message ends with Arcade's quiet lamentation.
Afton chews his lip upon hearing this. He was conflicted, if he looked at it from a purely pragmatic point of view, Daisy's death had potentially brought more benefits than her continued existence had. From it, he was getting volunteers for his military, a clear and obvious reason to retaliate against the NCR, and a motivation for his people to fight... Daisy would essentially become a martyr fueling Bulwark's ambitions...
Was he happy that this was the case? No, but he felt conflicted nonetheless. "Glados, have CERR01 speed up our plans..." he says while looking down at his Pipboy map, checking for the closest NCR encampment to Novac.
Obviously, he wouldn't be attacking Helios One anytime soon so he'd have to target the next closest place... Camp Forlorn Hope. He could attack Nelson instead, but that place had basically been abandoned when the Legion retreated from the west side of the Colorado.
Once having decided his plan of action, he puts on his Power armour and heads down to the teleportation array. Once there, he spots a tired-looking Boone standing there already fully armed.
Afton stops and stares at him for a moment, wondering what he's doing here... "I'm guessing you've heard the news then?" he asks and Boone gives a firm nod.
"You're going to retaliate?" he asks as if it were a foregone conclusion.
"Are you going to stop me?" he replies with another question.
...
Boone shakes his head after a moment, "We were friends, me and Daisy. The NCR assassinated her in cold blood, for no reason whatsoever. Any love I had for my country is gone, do what you need to, just try and keep innocents out of it." he solemnly says.
Afton was still confused as to why he'd turned up fully equipped... Had he been expecting a fight? Or did he want Afton to take the sniper along with him?
He watches Boone's back as the sniper leaves, headed straight towards the bar presumably to get shit-faced.
With that, Afton activates the teleporter and leaves with a crack of lightning, not willing to waste any more time without retaliating against the NCR's dishonourable attack.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Kingsprovince
Michael Jarrett
Nazlican Erdem
Tarlock
Justin David
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