Afton just raises a brow at the man, did the Kings have a spy in their midst or something? Maybe he'd given himself away somehow? "What do you mean?"
"I don't need to explain myself to you, now get, we don't need your kind around here." he says with more force than before.
"You don't even know me, though you probably should with all I've done lately." he says, hoping that they'd recognise him and expedite his task somewhat... He wasn't all that interested with talking with these people if he were honest.
The man just shakes his head, "Kid, you could've castrated Caeser and I still wouldn't give a shit. Now fuck off before shit gets nasty."
Afton's about to start threatening and throwing around lead when someone else steps in to intervene.
"Garrick, what're you doing?" a man asks in a monotone voice.
"Just teaching this kid what's what around here Si-Emory." the man named Garrick says, correcting himself mid-sentence.
Afton looks at the man called Emory up and down... They seemed, weird. To say the least. They had brown greying hair and a clean-shaven face. The only other thing of note was that they wore all black clothes. Black boots, black hat, black jacket, black gloves... One might think he belonged to one of those Emo bands...
Emory walked up and extends his left hand for a handshake, "Sorry about him, seems to think 'defending the place' means scaring away any who comes near. I'm Emory by the way."
Afton nods while idly noticing the man's eyes. Most men had a regular mix of emotions whenever he saw their eyes. Though, few had clear differences... Men like Karl and Boone had clear determination while this man? His eyes were kind, yet somewhat jaded... Strange, if it weren't for his Perception and Speech skill he wouldn't have noticed. "Afton... What's with the outfit?" he can't help but say, no matter how rude it might seem.
Emory looks down and shrugs, "Oh this? I just like wearing it." he states, not giving anything away. "So, what has the Executioner of Slavers and other unmentionables come here for? I'll tell you right now that no-one who lives here meets the criteria for your wrath." he quickly explains.
Afton snorts, "I have known criteria now?"
Emory nods, "Well, from what I heard you were pretty clear about it. 'Slavers, rapists, pedophiles, etc."
"Ah... Yeah, I did say something like that..." he mutters, having not realised how widespread his declaration had become. Shaking his head he decides to get on with his main task, "So, this building has been taken by the NCR right?"
Emory raises a brow at him before shrugging, "I suppose you could say that, why're you asking though?"
Afton hums to himself, wondering how to go about this... His brute force method had worked thus far, and he could feel that this guy was more reasonable than the others... "I've been sent by the Kings to negotiate with the NCR, the King specifically wants to know why NCR civilians are coming here in droves, as well as the sudden hostility from the NCR." Afton explains, leaving out the less honest tasks the King had given him.
"Sudden hostility? Is that what he calls it? Man must have tougher skin than I thought." Emory mutters to himself, "There is no 'sudden hostility', the NCR sent an ambassador to the Kings and they were almost murdered for their trouble. I don't know what games they're playing but it ain't one with cards, let me tell you that."
"The NCR sent an ambassador? I don't think the King knows anything about that..."
Emory shakes his head, "Someone must be keeping secrets then, go tell the King that the NCR tried to start talks, come back to me afterwards with his response... I'm the 'unofficial' leader around here so I'm able to speak on the NCR's behalf." he says, clearly not willing to reveal more to Afton.
Afton just nods, "Alright, atleast now I've got a lead on what's going on around here... I'd also like to know why NCR civilians are moving in?"
"I'll tell you when you get back with good news." Emory states, not willing to budge on the subject.
Afton reluctantly leave the place, all the while getting glared at by the NCR civilians as he drives off on Dirt-Bird. Once he gets back to the Kings place he briskly walks inside, intent or seeing the King.
Pacer scowls at him but opens the door regardless, knowing that the King had sent him on a job.
Afton spots the King sitting in the same chair as previous, he sits down opposite him and taps to table to get his attention away from the stage... Afton wasn't sure why watching someone do their best to impersonate Elvis was interesting, especially since there must've been hundreds of Kings roaming around. "Yo."
"Hm? So you're back... I have to say, you're pretty quick youknow. So lay it on me, how'd the job go." the King replies after taking a sip of his drink.
Afton glances around to see if anyone was listening in before speaking in a low ton e, "Yeah, you've got a problem, but it isn't with the NCR... Apparently they sent an Ambassador down to negotiate a while ago, but they were almost murdered in return. You know anything about that?"
The King's eyes widen and it would've been comical if the subject matter wasn't so dire. "The hell? I never ordered anythin' like that, never even heard that they'd sent one of their own down here." he glowers while contemplating, "Seems like someone's tryin' to start things with the NCR, don't know why, we'd lose if we started fightin', that's for sure... You learn anything else?"
Afton shakes his head, "I'm planning to return later with whatever message you intend to send. They leader seems... Rational, so as long as you can sort out whoever's trying to cause trouble I reckon you can work something out without it leading to further escalation."
Hope you bois like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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The King wrote a letter containing his message, not wishing for his words to be up to whoever's interpretation. It was clear that one of the Kings had betrayed him so he'd rather not leave it to chance.
Afton pocketed the letter and nods at him, "I'll return with this, keep an eye out for the agitator while I'm gone." he states before leaving.
As Afton leaves the building he could feel someone's eyes on his back, taking a glance behind him he couldn't spot anyone in particular though... Damn impersonators.
A few minutes later Afton found himself back at the NCR civilian building with Emory already waiting at the front door for him. The duo walked up a couple flights of stairs to get to a more secluded area before he handed the letter over.
Emory doesn't say anything as his sits silently at his desk and reads through the letter, the subtle changes in his expressing being the only indicator of his feelings towards what'd been sent.
After finishing, Emory looks up at Afton, "Did he tell you what was in the letter?"
Afton just shakes his head, "No, that's between the NCR and him after all." he says passively.
"Well, there's good news and bad news... Good news is the King is fully willing to cooperate with the NCR to stop the fighting, the fact that some of his members are taking matters into their own hands is slightly unsettling but I digress. The bad news is that the King wants the Kings to hold all their authority in Freeside, all matters of policing and security would be handled by them. Now, NCR law dictates that I refuse this outright, but he's given me an out by offering to allow NCR personnel to inspect the Kings and their operations." Emory explains to him for some reason.
"So you'll accept right?" Afton asks, feeling like this would be a no brainer. The NCR isn't in the strongest position to negotiate due to the on-going war with the Legion.
Emory shakes his head, "If that was all then I'd gladly accept, only problem is that we'd need to seek redress for the Ambassador that was nearly killed. I know that the Kings are a tight-knit group and would be unlikely to sell out their own, especially since most thoroughly dislike the NCR.
"So... You'll be refusing the Kings proposal?" Afton asks, slightly feeling like he was on a wild goose chase. He wasn't a messenger boy, so if the King and Emory were expecting him to go back and forth and back and forth, etc. Then he'd refuse and find the damn counterfeiter himself.
"Unfortuantely I don't have a choice in the mat-" Emory's cut off as the radio on his desk bursts to life, the sound of static barely covering up the discharging of weapons.
"*ZZzzt!* -merich we're under attack by *Zzzt!* Kings!" the voice quickly reports.
Emory's eye's darkened as he taps his finger on the desk, a metallic sound ringing out as the man contemplates what to do. "What is your location?"
"*Zzzt* The watchtower outside the ration distribution centre!"
"I'll be there as quickly as I can, do whatever you need to hold your position, over." he orders as his stands, looking to Afton with an almost pleading look, "I heard you own a vehicle..."
Afton sighs to himself as he drives down the road, Emory sitting in the sidecar with an assault rifle in his hands. Whatever was happening with the Kings couldn't be good, this attack would surely not inspire friendship between the two groups, this'd especially be the case if anyone was killed... Injuries can heal, but death? Not so much.
He continues to drive while following Emory's directions until they can eventually hear the sound of gunfire. Fortunately it only seemed to be from small-arms fire, and relatively weak rifles. If someone had involved an Anti-Matter rifle or a Mini-gun then the situation couldn't possibly escalate anymore.
Afton wasn't sure what he should actually do concerning the situation either, would the King be pissed if he killed the attacking Kings? He couldn't let the Kings overrun the NCR soldiers otherwise war would be unavoidable.
He shakes his head of those thoughts as he spots the watchtower in the distance, people firing their weapons from the top of it at some Kings which were currently hiding behind some buildings and a bus stop.
"How you wanna deal with this?" Afton asks, not getting an answer as Emory jumps out and sprints towards the NCR. The guy had huge balls as he was literally running in between two groups firing at each other...
Afton drove over behind the Kings and hopped out to see what was actually happening. A few Kings had already been shot, but the wounds didn't seem fatal yet. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" he shouts, catching the attention of the Kings.
The only problem with this was... Afton had no idea who had organised this, or who each individual was... He points at a King, "Who started this fight!?"
The King scowls at him, "No one, we just wanted a piece of those dog-shit soldier boys!"
"Yeah, fuck those NCR bastards!" another shouts, with a few others parroting similar sentiments.
"The King didn't order an attack! In fact, I'm pretty sure he ordered you to not antagonise the NCR!" Afton replies, trying to get these idiots to see reason, surely they didn't think they could match the NCR's military strength?
"I respect the King, but he ain't doin' nothin' to help our brothers. Those NCR dogs beat our people and he expects us to stand down? THE KING SHOULD STAND DOWN!"
Afton just facepalms, are these fucking guys serious? "You dumb cunts! You're going to start a war and cause more of your 'so-called brothers' to die, if you really cared then you'd not challenge the most powerful organization in the Mojave!"
Hope you like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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