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20.45% Steel Waste / Chapter 145: Merc Negotiation

Bab 145: Merc Negotiation

"Who we are? We're just a couple of mercs." Karl states, not willing to give any more information than that.

Mak crosses his arms with a sarcastic look on his face, "Is that so? Word is the Mercs that fucked the Powder Gangers are rolling down this part of the Mojave. I even found some limbs next to the road... That was you guys right?"

...

"Yeah it was. I wanna ask about your job though, there isn't much to take from Vaults unless you know what you're looking for, this one especially." Afton asks.

"Eh? Some blond bird from the strip needs authentic vault suits... Don't pay too much but the Crimson Caravan holds a grudge..." he says.

Afton raises a brow, from what he'd heard the Crimson Caravan was as professional as you can get. He wondered what Mark had done to piss them off. Regardless, he knew how to take advantage of a situation. "Well, we've killed every hostile creature down there, maybe get something for doing your job for you."

"And maybe you can suck my cock, kid. We can barely afford to feed ourselves with the shit jobs we've been getting. Even the NCR don't wanna hire us. Last man who tried to extort me had his head replace his ass before he was disintegrated." Mark growls, in a low tone.

Karl steps in between them to try and mediate the sudden hostility, "Woah there, kid just wants to get what he's owed. Can't really blame him after the nearly hundred giant mutated rats we were forced to kill down there."

Mark just sighs, "I don't mean to threaten you but, this is a matter of life and death. A single cap lost is one of my men starved. But, if you've managed to make our job easier and let us conserve ammo, I'm willing to owe you are favour..."

Afton just nod, favour's were iffy rewards... Depending on who owed you they could be the best, or the worst. Having the president of the NCR or Caesar owe you a favour could save you from certain death or imprisonment. Comparatively, the favour from a homeless man would be worth less than dirt. If they could not feed, house, or even clothe themselves, what good were they to you?

He wasn't able to judge how useful a favour from Mark would be, but he was willing to bet the man valued his honor more than most things. It was something about his character, speech, and stance... He just seemed like an in-general good guy, whether it was just an act or a facade was difficult to tell.

Afton decides to just take it as if a favour from the man was valuable, not point upsetting him by disregarding it. Who knows, having the leader of a mercenary good owe you might be useful one day. "You sure? Seems like a bit much for just helping you with a job... I heard favours in the Mojave were worth their weight in gold."

Mark just snorts at him, "Where'd you hear that dogshit? A favour in the Mojave is a future betrayal, usually. I'm a man of my word, so if you even need help in the future, just ask... Hopefully me and my men'll be in a better state than now." he says holding his hand out.

Afton shakes his and nods at the man, "Good to know honour isn't completely dead in the wastes. Though, I'm curious what you could've done to annoy the Crimson Caravan.

"Uhh... Well, they hired us to do something I wasn't willing to do. Secretive kinda shit, contract forced us to do it but I tore that shit up, didn't realise they'd added a clause for breaching it..." he admits with says with a slight blush.

Karl nods sagely, "Yeah, fuckin' bureaucrats."

Mark laughs, "Damn straight. With them at the helm I doubt the NCR'll last all that much longer, 'specially with the Legion hammerin' at the gates... Whatever, let's not talk about those fucker's or I'm liable to shoot something. Why don't you guys make camp with us?"

The group send glances at each other before eventually shrugging, "Sure. Might as well."

Afton, Karl, and Boone are still a bit wary of the men, always ready to draw their weapons should something happen, but after an hour of 'Jolly Cooperation' the tensions calmed. Karl had even offered to share some whisky with Mark, the Dowager leader not having drunk alcohol in a while due to how poor they actually are.

Afton keeps Lucky and That Gun hidden in his sleeping bag as he starts to drift off to sleep, unfortunately, just as darkness takes him he feels the familiar feeling of time stopping. A notification blowing any tiredness he had away.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 20]

Huh, it feels like the times where he levels up are coming increasingly more random... Maybe it's like a checkpoint system? Or it won't appear unless he's completely safe... Or feels completely safe?... Whatever, thinking too hard is gonna give him a headache.

Right now he's got 15 skillpoints to spend, he's already got Medicine to 76 so it isn't that far until maxing. Might as well just max that and then look for something else to put points into.

Now, onto the new Perks he's able to take...

[Explorer] : All locations are marked on your map. This, might be an overpowered Perk. Outside the game you'd be limited to the map the developers designed for you... But in real life? He'd essentially be given a complete map of the world with specific locations marked. He'd not need to search for a location if he took this Perk as it'd all be located in his Pipboy... Though, he could always pick up the Perk later on, it wasn't immediately useful to him right now.

[Grim Reaper's Sprint] : A kill in V.A.T.S. restores 20 AP immediately. A good Perk, but wholly unnecessary since he only ever used VATS for recognizance.

[Solar Powered] : +2 Strength and +1 HP per second during the day. The 'superman' Perk. It was very overpowered to say the least. The +2 strength would put him at the peak possible human physique during the day, not to mention the +1 HP per second that'd visibly close wounds at a rapid rate... To understand how broken this was, 30 HP was the amount a regular Stimpack would heal... A medical device designed to heal wounds as quickly as possible was equivalent to 30 seconds of standing still with this Perk...


PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.

Bab 146: Becoming a (Shitty) Kryptonian.

Afton wasn't sure what was the best choice... Picking [Explorer] to enable him to essentially gain Google Maps +++, or picking [Solar Powered], making him a Kryptonian Lite...

"Whatever, I can always get the other next time." he mutters as he selects [Solar Powered] and clicks confirm.

Afton Parker

Level : 20

S.P.E.C.I.A.L :

Strength : 8

Perception : 7

Endurance : 7

Charisma : 4

Intelligence : 6

Agility : 8

Luck : 4

Skills :

Barter : 21

Energy Weapons : 55

Explosives : 20

Guns : 100

Lockpick : 10

Medicine : 91

Melee Weapons : 100

Repair : 100

Science : 50

Sneak : 23

Speech : 100

Survival : 30

Unarmed : 33

Perks :

[Trigger Discipline], [Heavy Handed], [Rapid Reload], [Torture Techniques], [Educated], [John Wick Style], [Toughness], [Stonewall], [Sniper], [Bug Stomper], [Lord Death v1], [Spies Guise], [Quick Draw], [Adamantium Skeleton], [Ranger Tactics], [Ranger Targeting], [Ranger Awareness], [Mechanicus], [Jury Rigging], [SuperHot Block], [Solar Powered]

Companion Perks :

[Old Wisdom]

[Spotter]

He doubles checks his status after time resumes and drops back into his sleeping bag again, trying to somehow force himself asleep through the excitement of gaining new abilities.

The next day Afton was woken up by a completely unperturbed Boone. The sniper obviously wasn't bothered by the fact neither had slept the usually required seven hours... "There better be a good reason for ruining my beauty sleep." he growls semi-sarcastically as he rubs the dust from his eyes.

Boone shrugs, "The mercs are planning to enter the vault soon, thought you might wanna know."

...

Yeah, it was probably best he get up and see the group off. Plus, it was best to get moving early. In a world where dangers were around every corner, waking up at sunrise and going to sleep at dusk. His sleep schedule in the Brotherhood had been a bit weird as the time of day didn't really matter when you were underground. Not to mention the fact that the only time people left was during the night.

Something he noticed once he was awake though was the fact that his skin felt... Different. Warm? Small blemishes and marks had all but disappeared from him, and any skin in contact with the sun felt revitalised... As if he'd just been through an expensive spar a couple times. Not to mention the fact he felt like he could wrestle with a super mutant and actually win. God, [Solar Powdered] was a good Perk.

After swishing some purified water around his mouth and brushing his teeth Afton walked over to Mark who'd been organising everyone for their expedition. To be honest, watching a professional mercenary group prepare for a job was rather eye-opening. Everyone seemed to have a designated job, medics, trappers, spotters, etc. It made his band of rando's look rather pathetic in comparison... Even if Afton was sure he'd be able to take them.

Mark finally spots him and grins in his direction, "Finally awake? Didn't think you were one of those..." he trails off.

"One of those?" Afton parrots, wanting him to elaborate.

Mark shakes his head, "Nevermind. Anyway, me and my boys're about to enter the vault... Anything we should look out for once we're inside?"

"You heard the horror stories too huh?" he asks with a smirk, getting a nod in return, "Well, this vault is pretty mundane compared to the rest. There was a shit ton of traps set up down there so I'd be careful, can never know if you'd gotten all of them or not. There might also be some leftover giant rats, but they're fairly easy to handle... Oh, and the lowest level is flooded with irradiated water so don't bother down there." he explains.

Mark had taken out a small booklet and started writing notes into as he'd been speaking, Afton was almost impressed by his attentiveness. "Hm, thanks for the info... You'd be surprised how unwilling people are to speak with you once you've made enemies with the wrong people. I'd advise you stay in the Caravans good books, that or ignore them entirely... Up to you." the man says before turning towards his group, "Alright guys, Jones, Martie, I want you at the front looking for traps. Rest of you do your jobs and we'll get back in one piece."

The group enters the cave and shuts the door behind them, Mark sending one last wave at them as he disappears inside.

The trio don't immediately leave though, Karl just stands there looking at the door with a contemplative expression. "Have to say, never thought I'd run into a friendly merc... Past experiences wit them as a Ranger taught me to shoot first and ask questions later." he admits.

Afton shrugs, "He seems like a nice guy, but it could just be a facade hiding another self-serving animal. Whatever, let's get moving, we've got some ammo to pawn off, aswell as that leftover Ant Necter you're hoarding, Karl." he say pointedly, causing the old man to blush slightly.

"Can't you let an old timer enjoy his retirement?" he retorts.

Afton shakes his head, "Not with an untested, addictive drug. Once we've saved your daughter, killed my grudge, and fucked Caesar is every way possible, then you can go do something stupid and self destructive." he says semi-sarcastically.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Boone says with the side with a small grin.

Karl slumps his shoulders slightly, "Fine, we'll sell the highly addictive ant anus powder, happy?"

"Yep." Afton says, popping the P as he starts packing up his sleeping bag in preparation for hitting the road again.

Karl sits behind him and Boone is scowling as he's back in the sidecar. Afton gives them both an amused look before starting the engine. "So, any of oyu know what's up this road? I personally have no idea."

"Trading Post 188, a hotspot of activity for NCR military as well as its citizens. Being between New Vegas and the only route that leads to California makes it an incredibly valuable location. The placements of Ranger Stations are partly because of this spot imparticular." Boone says, still clearly not happy with sitting in a sidecar.

Afton hums to himself, "Think any retired Rangers might be staying there?" he asks with a growing grin.

Boone shrugs, "It's not a place you usually make camp, its close enough to New Vegas and the other towns to make setting up a proper settlement not worth the effort. Good for trading though, NCR used to keep an even closer eye on it when the Brotherhood of Steel was around, scavengers usually like to sell technology there..."

Karl glances at Afton knowingly but he just shakes his head, "Why would people sell technology there and not in New Vegas?" he asks.

"Probably because the sale of technology is heavily taxed there, not only by the NCR, but by Mr House as well. The man seems to take particular interest to any pre-war tech that passes through his city."

Afton nods, "Maybe we'll find something interesting there then." he says, kicking up the stand and rapidly accelerating towards the highway. Excited at the prospect of some cool pre-war tech... He may have left, but steel clearly runs through his veins.


PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

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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