บท 174: Something Stinks...

Karl crept closer to the group while hiding his presence behind the nearby rubble. His goal wasn't to make an ambush or even to lay traps. No, it was to listen in on their conversation to get an idea on what they were planning.

The leader of the Fiends was currently speaking to one of the homeless-looking men, she wore a combat helmet that had a large goat-skull attached to the top of it. "-Are the supplies? I asked for them days ago and you still haven't gotten them!" Karl hears the woman say as he listens into the conversation.

The man holds up his hands and shows his palms pacifyingly, "We are trying, but the food shortages are making it difficult for us to feed ourselves, let alone get enough for you." he explains.

The woman scowls at the man, "If that's the case, then hand over your own supplies and I won't kill you." she spits, raising what looked like a Laser RCW toward the man.

"N-no come on Nutter, I'll get you your supplies, just, give me a day and I'll have it done. I promise!" he begs, not willing to put his pride over his life.

The woman growls at him, "You better, or I'm going to flay your skin and nail you to some ruins for the dogs and mosquitoes to eat. Oh, and before you leave." she points her weapon at one of the other homeless men, blasting him with a spray of lasers that causing his entire body to disintegrate. "You'll get the same if you try to run, got that Jamie?"

The man now called Jamie rapidly nods and briskly walks away, trying to get as far from that psychopath as possible.

Karl chews on his inner cheek while thinking over what he'd just heard. Obviously the Fiends were operating inside Freeside, but apparently they needed supplies? There'd only be a few reasons for this, one was the Fiends just weren't able to feed their own faction, which was unlikely. Second was that they were inside Freeside without a way out, requiring assistance from the residents...

He glances at the Fiends again and notices that they were on the move, he turns and tries to spot Boone but can't find the sniper... Instead, he just gestures towards himself with the usual NCR hand sign, if he didn't show up without a couple minutes then it was likely he was in trouble.

Fortunately Boone arrived not soon after he gave the hand sign, "Learn anything?"

Karl nods, "yeah but that can wait, we need to follow them and see where they're goin'." he states before following after the group as they walk through the alleyways.

Boone follows a good distance away from Karl, making sure to watch his back and give enough room for the more experienced man to sneak without having to drag him along. Boone was a sniper, not a dedicated scout-like Karl had been.

The Fiends were faster than the duo was, being forced to find hiding spots and avoiding any chance of discovery made them lose the group soon enough. Though, the duo was sure they'd be able to catch up.

Karl deftly snuck up to a corner and peeked into another alleyway to look for the Fiends... But, it was a dead-end... He'd watched the group walk into this place, so either they had a bunch of stealth-boys on them, were able to teleport, were planning a counter-ambush on Karl, or had slipped into a secret entrance somewhere... He was leaning towards the latter option due to how primitive the Fiends really were, using only what they managed to scavenge from the unfortunate travellers they'd come across.

Boone walks up beside him and glances into the alleyway, frowning as he does so. "Where'd they go?"

Karl shrugs, "No idea... I'm hesitant to take a look to be honest, never known what kinda shit the enemy might pull, 'specially if they knew we were tailing 'em... You sure they didn't notice us?"

Boone nods, "Yeah, their strides would've changed, and their heads would've turned at least a bit if they knew we were following them. They don't look like the trained sort either."

Karl hums to himself and continues staring at the alleyway... It was just a large clearing between buildings, there was a small pile of rotten cardboard boxes sitting on the floor in the middle of it, but otherwise, it was relatively clean... Shaking his head he decides to just take a look to see what was going on.

He creeps closer, making sure to check any and everything for traps... There were none. He reached the cardboard boxes and spotted where the Fiends may have went. A manhole leading to the sewers sat suspiciously on the floor.

Karl motions for Boone to come, once there both stare down at the sewer drain as if it were a puzzle to solve...

"I thought New Vegas and Freeside sewers had been disconnected from the outside?" Boone asks, having learned this back when he was working for the NCR... The sewers were a breeding place for crime and smuggling, so Mr. House just decided to disconnect all of it to prevent the annoyance from continuing.

"Well, we'll never know unless we take a look..." Karl mutters, "If the Fiends have managed to gain access through the sewer system then they could invade New Vegas with relative ease... I don't know their numbers but many people would die if that happened."

Karl leans down and glances around, fortunately the alleyway was dark due to the building either side of it, preventing light from reaching the floor... It'd be very difficult to sneak inside without being noticed if the underground was illuminated every time they opened the manhole. "Hmm... I'll go first I guess, I'm tempted to just drop a grenade down there and be done with it..."

He hands his Light Machine Gun to Boone as he lifts the cover as quietly as possible before climbing down the ladder.