"I'm Anja... Just Anja." she replies sheepishly. Afton could tell there was a story behind it but decides to let it go for now.
"Thanks for your help back there, Cook-Cook was a fucking menace with that flamethrower of his." Karl says.
Afton interjects before Anja can reply, "What are you plans after this?" he asks.
Anja tilts her head to the sid , "I'm not sure, even before I was locked up by Cook-Cook I didn't really have anything going on..." she says, not letting them know that she'd literally just escaped some exiled followers of the apocalypse before being captured by Cook-Cook...
"Then, won't you come with us? If anything you deserve a cut of Cook-Cook's bounty. Plus I think you'd be a good fit for our team." Afton prods, jumping on any opportunity that presented itself.
Karl raises a brow at his sudden insistence on Anja joining them but just shrugs it off... Afton hadn't been wrong about Boone so he probably knew what he was doing... Right?
"I don't know... I'm not much of a fighter..." Anja says, honestly not knowing if she wanted to join them or not. They did save her, but becoming a bounty hunter? She'd lived this long up until no avoiding jobs like that.
Afton can see her hesitation and nods, "Well, you can think it over. You'll get your cut of Cook-Cook's bounty and we can part ways if you want afterwards. Until then, would you mind helping me with collecting the ears of these guys?" He knew that ghouls found it hard to make enough caps to live properly, so once she saw the 5000 cap bounty on Cook-Cook it'd probably be enough to get her to join them.
Anja seemed confused at why he'd need to cut their ears off but shook her head and agreed anyway. "Okay."
Karl lent her his knife as he made sure there weren't anymore Fiends sneaking around. While this was happening Afton decided to check Anja's status with his [Living Anatomy] Perk.
[Anja]
Health : 65%
Stamina : 50%
DT : 0
Strength : 4
Perception : 9
Endurance : 6
Charisma : 2
Intelligence : 5
Agility : 8
Luck : 6
Ailments :
[Ghoul] : Halves charisma, causes necrosis to occur across entire body, cancer cells infesting body in a controlled manner, raises endurance by 2, grants biological immortality, grants immunity to radiation and the ability to absorb it, grants immunity to most diseases, viruses, parasites, etc.
[Ghoulification] : Depending on the will of the person afflicted they will slowly become more feral as time continues, eventually rendering them a mindless creature that only acts on instinct. Ghoulification at 2%
Afton raises a brow at this, to be honest, he didn't know all that much about Ghouls before this, but now he had an almost encyclopedic list of ailments, abilities, and boons. Were it not for the rotting flesh, charisma loss, and eventually ghoulification, he'd want to become a ghoul himself.
Obviously that wasn't really possible anymore though due to his [Rad Absorbtion] Perk. Shaking his head, Afton got back to cutting the ears off of the dead Fiends.
The group followed the bodies back to where Boone currently was, the sniper was standing over the corpse of Cook-Cook whose body was so mangled it didn't seem humanoid... The collar apparently wasn't the only thing that exploded, the gas-tank fueling his flamethrower had almost gone off, almost liquefying the man's internal organs under his metal armour.
Afton considered themselves lucky that Cook-Cook wore so much armour, otherwise they'd not have anything to bring back to Major Dhatri... Atleast the welding mask preserved the integrity of the man's head.
Anja spat on his corpse as she stood over it, no one questioned her on it either since it was rather obvious what a female would have against the man, especially with what they already knew about him... If teenage boys and young children were in his strike zone then it wouldn't take much fora ghoul to tick the box.
Afton removed the mask and looks down at the dirty, lifeless face of the man, Cook-Cook looked like a 'quintessential' criminal. Someone you'd avoid if you saw walking to the super-market. He shakes his head and begins the morbid work of cutting the head off, this time doing so more quickly than he had with Violet due to the practice he'd had.
Afterwards he drops the bloody thing in bag and lets it hang next to the moist bag full of ears... Yeah, it's just as disgusting as it sounds.
Boone looks confused at the new addition to the team but doesn't say anything for now. Before they head back Afton takes the chance to loot Cook-Cook's base, stealing the many, many chems that had stashed there. He also looked around for any more slaves but didn't find any... He asked Anja if she knew if there was anyone else but she just sadly replied in the negative.
The only real thing of note that Afton had found was a pile of scrap-paper detailing various recipes Cook-Cook had personally created... Or, to be more accurate recreated. Most of the stews, and other food were just pre-war dishes that used brahmin meat and other mutated plants as opposed to the usual ones.
Regardless, he might try cooking some of them when he got the chance. He must've been called Cook-Cook for a reason right? Aside from his tendency to burn people alive... But even then why not call him 'Fire-Fire' or 'Burn-Master' or something.
The group made light conversation with one another as they made their way back through the sewers. They had looted some 'relatively' clean clothes from some Fiends to give to Anja. The outfit she'd been forced to wear as a slave definitely wasn't suitable to be walking around Camp McCarren... Or anywhere else for that matter.
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The group returned to Camp McCarren in relatively good time, the guardsman surrounding the place were more than familiar with them at this point, though, many people made the point to insult Anja when they saw her.
Ghouls weren't particularly liked by anyone in the Mojave... The Brotherhood of Steel and Legion would kill them on sight, while the NCR would reluctantly tolerate them. Afton still remembered the shit that went down in Camo Searchlight. with Aster trying to put the surviving ghouls 'out of their misery'...
The NCR tolerated them enough to shove them all off to a separate station so no one else would have to interact with them... If that isn't disdain of the highest order then Afton didn't know what was. Boone and Karl didn't seem to have a problem, but perhaps they were just holding their tongue on Afton's behalf?
Personally Afton didn't really care, the Brotherhood of Steel indoctrination had almost washed over him, changing his mind about absolutely nothing. If Anja could prove herself then he'd accept her into the group, regardless of her status of a Ghoul.
The group briskly found and walked up to Major Dhatri and Afton didn't even wait to toss two large sacks at him. Once holding the head of Cook-Cook, and the other a disgusting pile of ears formerly belonging to the Fiends.
Dhatri just picks both up and looks into them, nodding with a relieved smile when he sees Cook-Cook's lifeless expression. "Kid, you just made my day... Probably everyone else's as well! This fuckin' psychopath has caused almost enough trouble as many of the Legion high commands. And that's saying somethin'!"
"Just doing our jobs." Afton shrugs and Dhatri nods.
The major looks to a nearby trooper and tosses both bags at him, "Go to the storehouse and grab these guys pay. You know what to do." he says.
The group make small-talk with Dhatri as they wait, the man asking how they dealt with Cook-Cook and looking somewhat confused when they tell him that Anja had actually been the one to deal the killing blow.
Afton could already tell the man's opinion on ghouls wasn't the most complimentary. He shakes his head and decides not to make an issue of it, Anja had probably dealt with many more people worse than Dhatri.
Eventually the trooper sprints back with many sacks of caps in his arms, "5540 caps all counted and double-checked." they say, handing them to Afton.
Afton isn't even surprised when the alerts appear as soon as he touches the bags.
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 34]
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 35]
He doesn't waste any time and just dumps his new skill points into Unarmed and Explovie, maxing out the former and providing him a new Perk. [Grit]
[Grit] : Increases Strength and Endurance as you take damage, the more damage you have taken the more powerful the effect is.
Of course, the Perk wouldn't be complete with a Vaultboy version of the Hulk giving him a thumbs up...
The Perk itself was quite powerful, especially as he got stronger and wasn't as likely to be one shot by a random stray bullet or claw. Thinking about how strong this Perk could be if he wore Powerarmour gave him shivers.
Perhaps maxing his Strength would be a good idea now? He already had 10 Strength in sunlight due to his [Solar Powered] Perk, and with [Grit] gaining superhuman levels of Strength would be a common occurrence. Afton nods to himself, that'd be his next pick.
Next, he looks at the selection of Perks currently displayed before him.
[Light Touch] : While wearing light armour you gain +5% critical hit chance and your enemies suffer a -25% critical hit chance. This is good, but Afton was sure he'd never be using Light armour... Even now his Recon armour is classified as Medium armour, and in future he'd likely be using heavier stuff to protect himself more effectively.
[Sneering Imperialist] : +15% Damage and +25% accuracy in V.A.T.S. to various tribal and raider characters. This one is kinda 'meh', the extra bonuses wouldn't do anything as Afton already had no trouble at all dealing with enemies that came under its effects.
[Mile in Their Shoes] : You have come to understand night stalkers. Consuming night stalker squeezin's now grants bonuses to Perception (+1 PER), Poison Resistance (+5), and Stealth (+5 Sneak) in addition to the normal benefits. Yeah, there was no way he was getting this Perk... Not only did it require you to hunt down some Night Stalkers and harvest a specific organ from them, but you also needed to eat hte organ RAW to gain its effects! Fuck that! The bonuses weren't even that good!
[Irradiated Beauty] : Sleep removes all Rads. As for this Perk? Good, but currently useless to Afton who was already mostly immune to radiation. Most of his rads disappear as he slept anyway as [Rad Absorbtion] didn't just suddenly turn off when he is unconscious.
Afton shakes his head at these Perks, none of them interested him so he'd pick one from the previous level that he had wanted to get.
[Alertness] : +2 Perception when crouched and still. Ye-ep, pretty overpowered.
He selects it without reconsidering his options, the bonus was simply too good to argue against. He then clicks confirm and time resumes, though, he wasn't almost roaring in pain this time...
Both Dhatri, Boone, and Karl all raise a brow at him as Afton stays standing unperturbed.
"Something wrong?" Afton asks, knowing full well they were expecting him to start dying again.
Dhatri coughs into his fist, "Ahem, no. I've got things to attend to, you lot should be prepared though... I'd bet my caps that people'll come wanting to celebrate Cook-Cook's end with you." he says before leaving.
Afton nods as the man leaves, flicking on his Pipboy and taking a look at his status... It's been a while since he last checked.
Afton Parker
Title : [Executioner of the Wastes], [Free Sheriff], [Fiend's Fiend]
Level : 35
S.P.E.C.I.A.L :
Strength : 8
Perception : 8
Endurance : 7
Charisma : 4
Intelligence : 6
Agility : 10
Luck : 4
Skills :
Barter : 21
Energy Weapons : 100
Explosives : 24
Guns : 100
Lockpick : 10
Medicine : 100
Melee Weapons : 100
Repair : 100
Science : 100
Sneak : 100
Speech : 100
Survival : 30
Unarmed : 100
Perks :
[Trigger Discipline], [Heavy Handed], [Rapid Reload], [Torture Techniques], [Educated], [John Wick Style], [Toughness], [Stonewall], [Sniper], [Bug Stomper], [Lord Death v2], [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], [Agility Implant], [Masterful Movement], [Blur], [Uncivilized Weapon], [Rad Absorbtion], [Tough Guy], [Nuclear Friendly], [Explorer], [Eureka!], [Atomic!], [Grit], [Alertness]
Companion Perks :
[Old Wisdom]
[Spotter]
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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