บท 165: Bad news bears
Not long after Afton's rather gory spectacle, the group return to the Aerotech Office Park, a solemn silence shrouding them as they do. All knew those that'd been kidnapped were most likely dead or had met an even worse fate, it was slightly disheartening to think that they weren't able to save a single person... Atleast those responsible got what they deserved though.
After parking they walked towards Captain Parker who was sat in his usual spot. "Captain."
He turns and nods towards them, "Did you manage to find anything?"
Afton sighs and hands Dermot's ledger to him, Captain Parker looks at it and his expression immediately breaks. He looked enraged, as if he was about to arm himself and sprint headfirst towards the Fiends. "Those... I... Who did this?" is all he can ask after failing to compose himself.
"Dermot and Saint James were responsible, picking out people depending on the Fiends fetishes and kidnapping them... You won't have to worry about them though, we've already dealt with them." Afton says wit ha satisfied glint in his eye.
"Did they suffer?" Parker asks, obviously referring to the perpetrators.
A brief nod gave him all the knowledge he needed to know on the subject.
The man pays them all he can, though, the amount is rather insignificant for what they'd done. A pittance of 500 caps to split between each other. Afton wasn't bothered though, he didn't do this particular job for the caps anyway.
Captain Parker looks embarrassed at the amount he was able to pay but doesn't attempt to speak on it, "Thank you for your help, without you those two freaks might've harmed more innocent people. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again." he states with certainty.
Afton's about to bid his farewell but as soon as he pockets the caps time stops... "Hmm, was wondering if this'd actually level me up." he mutters to himself as he looks at the notification.
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 23]
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 24]
Shrugging to himself, he quickly deposits all his points into the Sneak skill, raising it to 83 points before moving onto the Perks screen.
Again, quite boring as there were no new Perks from what he could see... Was the system running out of things to give him or something?
Regardless, he just scrolls through all the old Perks he can now get due to his advanced skill levels and picks out one.
[Living Anatomy] : Shows health and other information on any target. +5% bonus to damage against humans and non-feral ghouls. It would be interesting to get, not just because it gave all his weapons a flat 5% increase, but because it could potentially give him some useful info.
The only other thing he could think to take would be [Intense Training]... He wanted to see the effects of getting a stat to max first though, he had an abundance of levels to put into his stat points.
Shaking his head, he eventually decides to just grab [Living Anatomy] just to see if its useful. He takes a look at his Pipboy to see his status before confirming his selection.
Afton Parker
Title : [Executioner of the Wastes]
Level : 24
S.P.E.C.I.A.L :
Strength : 8
Perception : 7
Endurance : 7
Charisma : 4
Intelligence : 6
Agility : 9
Luck : 4
Skills :
Barter : 21
Energy Weapons : 55
Explosives : 23
Guns : 100
Lockpick : 10
Medicine : 100
Melee Weapons : 100
Repair : 100
Science : 50
Sneak : 82
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], [Miracle Maker], [Unnerving Presence], [Living Anatomy]
Companion Perks :
[Old Wisdom]
[Spotter]
He maintains his expression as time resumes, barely twitching a brow at the pain of having knowledge of multiple spec ops drilled into his mind. He gives a small wave to Captain Parker as he leaves the Aerotech Office Park, sitting on his bike as his companions walk up and look to him to see what they should do next.
"So, I'm guessing neither or you have any problems with setting our sights on the Fiends, right?" Afton throws the question out there, by now he knew the personalities of Karl and Boone, both would be more than willing to volunteer for the job, let along et paid for it.
Karl crosses his arms and nods, "Before seeing that ledger I thought they were just pests, but now I know someone needs to deal with 'em. The NCR is too busy with the Legion to put up a proper fight, so that just leaves us."
"Wouldn't surprise me if the Legion had a hand in the Fiends, matches their MO, using smaller tribes to fight for them, supplying them with minimal resources before launching their own assault." Boone adds.
Karl nods and continues to explain for Afton, "They may look like simple barbarian simpletons, but they probably have spies in every corner of the Mojave. Their members are simply too suited for that kind of work, brainwashed to be completely and utterly loyal to Caesar they aren't at risk of being compromised by enemy forces."
"Regardless, if the Fiends are in cahoots with the Legion we'll deal with them anyway. For now though I want to visit Doctor Usanagi to see about those implants. Afterwards checking in New Vegas to see if Tamia and my friend is around..." he cycles through the various things he wants to get done. It wasn't like the Fiends were going to go anywhere.
Karl shrugs at him, "Yeah, it's getting late anyway, best get that done before we find a place to camp for the night."
Just before they're about to leave though, Afton notices a group of strange-looking people approaching them.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
บท 166: Notice, Taken
There were three men all wearing the same exact outfit... Old fashioned black suits with bowler hats, Afton wasn't sure what to make of them, but was instantly on alert when he spotted Karl and Boone getting ready for combat in his Peripheral.
The man notices the tense atmosphere and stops a good distance away from the group, all making sure not to make any sudden movements.
"Do we know you?" Afton asks suspiciously, not wishing to leave anything to chance. He knew he could draw his pistols and begin firing faster than the three men could think.
A man with pale, almost sickly skin steps forwards. Any features that he could be identified by were covered by his outfit, all Afton could tell was the colour of his skin and hair. "We know you, but you do not know us. We've been sent to acquire your services. You are mercenaries after all."
...
The group glance to each other after hearing this, "Who's services?" Afton asks for them to clarify.
The man gives a small smile and takes a single step closer before whispering, "The Legion's of course."
Boone's finger twitches as he's about to pull out his rifle and start firing, but Karl manages to stop him with a look. The sniper seemed reluctant but Karl knew they could take advantage of this situation.
Afton decides to take charge, his Speech skill would be most useful here, plus he needed Boone to control himself if they were going to make use of this. "The Legion? I thought you guys would hate us after what we did to Nelson?"
The spy shakes their head, "Some of us do want your heads, but our leader has decided you would be more helpful alive than dead. Of course, this only matter if your apparent loyalties to the NCR are superficial... Otherwise, we may have problems." he states maliciously.
Afton crosses his arms and begins contemplating, he uses VATS just so he has time to think without the spies getting suspicious... Clearly the spies hadn't been in Westside when he declared that 'all slavers would be punished', otherwise they might've been a little more hesitant to approach them.
There were a number of things Afton could potentially do with this... The first and most obvious would be to just execute the three spies here and now. Then again, he doubted that'd do anything other than aggravate the Legion, they'd definitely send assassins if he did that.
The other obvious answer would be to accept the group's offer and start making use of the Legions resources... He doubted they'd allow him to continue working for the NCR at the same time though, not in the same way the group had been doing it thus far. They'd probably want them to act as spies using the reputation they'd gathered.
Thinking on it further, they might actually be able to use this opening to secure Karl's daughter without having to kill every Legionary in the Mojave. Actually, wouldn't now be the best time to make use of his new perk [Living Anatomy]?
He focuses on the men while using VATS, instantly receiving information he hadn't expected.
[Legion spy]
Health : 99%
Stamina : 70%
DT : 8
Strength : 4
Perception : 7
Endurance : 4
Charisma : 7
Intelligence : 6
Agility : 5
Luck : 3
Ailments :
[Athletes foot] : Rash caused by fungus, decreases chance of foot rubs by 80%, increases risk of infection by 50%.
[Tinnitus] : Irritated by silence, less likely to notice high pitched sounds.
[Gonorrhea} : Sex life in peril, bad decision making. Gross penis.
...
Afton shakes his head after reading the last one, yeah, he didn't need to know that... Though, he might be able to use this sort of information as blackmail in the future? He'd need to make it subtle though, revealing that he could see someone's ailments just by looking at them would probably cause him trouble.
Back to the topic at hand, Afton needed to come to a decision on how to act towards the Legionaries. A few more minutes of thinking eventually allow Afton to find an answer that'd allow them to continue working as they had, while having the Legion's resources at hand.
Stopping VATS he slowly nods his head, "Our loyalties are to ourselves, so ditching the NCR would be easy. They're just the highest paying customers in the Mojave, I do have a couple problems though." Afton states with an air of confidence.
"And what might that be?" the spy asks.
"I'm looking for a man, a former-NCR ranger who's missing their right arm. I cannot stop working with the NCR until I've located him, I'm not all that particular to money, so find him for me and I'd be willing to work with you." he states.
The spy slowly nods, "An interesting proposal, you should know that the Legion's database on NCR rangers might be larger than the NCR's own." he sends a glance towards Boone and Karl before returning it to Afton, "Is there perhaps a way for us to gain your services immediately without having to find this person first?"
Afton shakes his head, "No. I'll continue looking for them myself, I won't count on you to do it, but once I've found them my loyalties will be more... Pliable."
"I see. We will return to our leader to discuss this proposal. For now take this, it will shield you from the Legion's wrath should you find yourselves in such a situation... Though, I do warn you, any action taken against the Legion from here onwards will not be forgiven. Do you understand?"
Afton nods, "I thought that was a given, but whatever." he says as he's handed a coin, unlike the usual Legion Denarius though instead of a face on each side it contains a jagged cross. If it were painted onto a wall he wouldn't think much of it, each line seemed deliberate as if the symbol was important.
"We bid thee farewell then, until next time." the spy says before leaving with his underlings.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง
Niggross
Niggross
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.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
200+ การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
3 หินพลัง 
ความคิดเห็นย่อย