บท 228: Around the Campfire McCarren
After checking his status, Afton turns to the others, opening the caps and quickly counting them out before distributing them to everyone. Anja got 1000 caps for her help with Cook-Cook while everyone else got 1500 for the bounty and the Fiend ears.
Anja upon receiving the hefty sack of caps was stunned, she'd never seen so much wealth in one place before... And all of it belonged to her, she didn't know how to react to it at all. Her eyes began shifting around to look for anyone who might try to steal what was now hers. Years spent in the waste had forced her to conceal and conserve anything of value she possessed, and now that she was standing in the open with more caps than she'd ever seen before, her instincts were going nuts!
A hand drops onto her shoulder, causing her to shudder before looking at who it is. It's one of her saviours, the one called Afton. "Calm down, as long as you're with us no one will dare try to steal from you." he says simply.
Anja still wasn't sure whether or not to listen to him, but in the end, he was the one who'd given her the wealth she desperately wanted to defend. She nods at him and follows the group as they begin walking towards the many military tents in the distance.
Afton had heard from Josie that there was someone around here you could buy alcohol from... Of course, this is still technically a military facility, so alcohol was 'frowned' upon. Even still, apparently most wouldn't bother you if you were drinking, only saying something if it affected your work or those around you.
He walked around a bit until he found a rather put-out-looking Josie sitting in a lawn-chair do nothing. He raises his hand in a friendly gesture and waves at her, "Yo."
She glances over at his voice and gives reciprocates with a restrained smile, "Hey Afton, what's up?"
"Just claimed the bounty on Cook-Cook and was looking to buy some drinks. You wouldn't mind telling me where to get some right?"
Josie shakes her head, "I wouldn't, it's not like I can get into any more trouble."
Afton raises a brow, "Why's that?"
She sighs, "I got reprimanded for, and I quote, 'Destroying a pre-war artifact'... You'd think they'd be happy about vital flaws in military equipment being repaired."
"What'd you do?" Afton inquires, wanting to know if he could help her in some way.
She just smirks at him, "It wasn't anything I did, but instead something you did... Your repairs on the trucks were 'too good', the other mechanics thought that I'd replaced the parts, making command go ape-shit."
Afton's almost struck stupid by this revelation... Yeah, he probably should have seen that coming. The worst part was he couldn't deny replaces the parts as his [Mechanicus] Perk literally reversed time on them, he'd need to reveal his supernatural abilities in order to get her out of the mess he'd pushed her in. He scratches the side of his face with a sheepish look, "Ah, I'm sorry?"
Josie just shakes her head, "Don't worry about it. I'd have done it sooner or later so no point in dwelling on it... As for drinks? I myself could use a pick-me-up." she says, gesturing for the group to follow her as she hops out of her lawn-chair.
She leads them to a quiet area of Camp McCarren where a shady-looking guy sitting atop some crates was silently waiting. Afton let Karl do the talking as he purchased a few bottles of scotch, whisky, vodka, and tequila.
Once done the group grabbed a couple unused lawn-chairs and created a small campfire with bits and pieces of rotten wood that were lying around. Josie was still being punished, though why her punishment was to restrict her from working was a mystery to Afton. Perhaps they knew how much she loved those trucks and forced her away from them? He shakes his head, whatever the case, Josie, Afton, Karl, Boone, and Anja were sat around the campfire drinking.
Occasionally someone came by to thank or congratulate them on killing Cook-Cook, but all in all it was relatively peaceful. Though, one woman called Betsy had tossed some caps at them and joined them to drink.
Soon after that more and more people ha decided to join in, even Major Dhatri could be seen milling about. Afton was sure what they were doing breached NCR military law, but no one seemed to care.
The next day after things had settled down Afton headed over to the guest bed the NCR had provided to Anja to see if she wanted to join them or not.
He found Anja sitting upright in her bed, she looked incredibly uncomfortable and kept glances towards the door as if she wanted to leave but didn't know if it was appropriate or not. Of course, Afton had no doubts she could sneak out if she wanted, he'd seen how easily she'd avoided the Fiend that chased her. The only reason she'd almost been caught was the... Unique smell she exuded...
He walks towards her while making his presence known, "Yo." he says, causing her to jolt in surprise. "Have you thought over my offer?"
She gave him a confused look for a moment before remembering what he'd said the day before. "I-... I don't know. Why would you want me with you anyway? I'm not a fighter at all, people immediately hate me, and-"
"You may not be a good fighter now, but I see potential in you." he says really meaning his words. She had 9 Perception and 8 Agility for god sake! She was built to be a gunslinger! All she needed was someone to teach her and she'd be one of the best... Though, Afton was more leaning towards making her some kind of assassin as opposed to a gunslinger. He'd need to find some way of preventing her 'unique scent' from revealing her though.
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บท 229: Professional Intrigue
Upon hearing Afton's words of encouragement Anja blushes slightly, though, it's hard to tell due to her rotting skin. She honestly couldn't remember the last time someone had believed in her, or even spoken to her in a positive way... Maybe sticking with him wouldn't be such a bad idea?
"I-... If you really think I can do it then... Will you have me?" she says sheepishly in a hoarse voice.
Afton grins at her, "Of course! I made the offer after all." he holds out his hand, and waits for her to reciprocate. She hesitates but eventually does due to a strange feeling pushing her towards a decision. "Welcome to the team Anja."
[Anja has granted you the Persistent Escapee Perk]
[Persistent Escapee] : Grants one extra try at forcing a lock open before permanently destroying it.
[Anja has become your companion]
Afton continues shaking Anja's hand as he glances at the notifications, smiling at the additional Perk he'd gained... While not incredibly useful, it certainly did shore up one of his weaknesses, that being Lockpicking.
"I promise you'll not regret this Anja. Now, you can rest for a bit longer or try and find Boone and Karl, I need to go speak with Dhatri about some more jobs we might take... Other than that getting you geared up is next on the list." he says, looking her over and shaking his head at the Fiend-clothing she was forced to wear, as well as her lack of any weaponry.
"I'll find the others..." she says, still unsure if she'd be safe alone in this place. The looks some of the NCR troopers sent her reminded hero of times she'd spent in cages.
Afton nods and walks off, looking for Dhatri. With Violet, Nephi, and Cook-Cook now dead, he needed to find another source of income. Taking Bounties was very, very profitable, and Afton knew there'd likely be more than just those three... Perhaps a bounty on Motor-Runner, the leader of the Fiend that was almost never seen outside of their base.
After twenty minutes of walking around Camp McCarren Afton was less concentrated on bounties though... There was only one thought on his mind, where the fuck was Dhatri?
Elsewhere :
Doctor Hildern had been in contact with the other OSI labs ever since he'd discovered his new obsession. Afton Parker, or at least, that's what he calls himself. For all Hildern knew the man could be a shapeshifting mutated deathclaw, his blood certainly told many different stories that conflicted so much it might suddenly dissolve into water and oil respectively.
Afton had recently had two drastic rapid mutations that completely changed his physiology. While yes, his appearance had not changed all that much, inside he was more akin to how Ghouls function, their bodies becoming conduits for radiation. It wasn't just that though, it was clear he'd had mutations in the past too, one he'd accidentally discovered being his cells ability to perform photosynthesis at a yet unseen before level of efficiency.
If they found some way to harvest these cells and utilise their abilities themselves, they might just solve any power problems the NCR would ever run into. Even Hoover Dam would be rendered useless due to the amount of energy they'd be able to generate.
Just thinking about it gave Hildern chills, aside from the obvious benefits, he was sure that Afton would continue to mutate... One didn't just mutate two, three, or four times and stop. There had to be a reason for it, even if he couldn't determine it, he had no idea what Afton would turn into given years of time to grow... Would he grow to a massive size like a super mutant behemoth? Would he gain claws like a death claw? Would he be able to breath fire like fire geckos?
All of these questions cumulate into one problem... Afton Parker was a bounty hunter, a dangerous profession that usually never saw someone living for more than ten years in it. At first he wasn't really worried due to Afton's apparent skill... But when he returned without an arm, Hildern started to plot.
He needed... No, Afton needed him. He needed to get Afton somewhere safe, somewhere he wouldn't get hurt and couldn't hurt himself. Once he'd aired his sentiments to his colleagues they'd reciprocated similar ones and helped him to plan.
And so, that's what led up to what he was doing now. Dr Hildern looked at the trooper before him and asks, "Could you please retrieve Afton Parker for me? Preferably alone? I have a job he would be perfectly suited for."
The trooper nods, "I'll get right on it sir." they say before quickly leaving.
Hildern eyes his colleague/assistant Angela Williams. He'd kept her out of any research concerning Afton and was going to continue such a trend. It would be his discoveries and his only, there was no way he'd let anyone else push themselves on something he was solely responsible for.
Afton had begun asking around for where Major Dhatri had gone after becoming fed up with looking himself, and soon discovered that the man had left to personally report on the situation around Camp McCarren... Apparently he'd taken one of the trucks and left straight for Hoover Dam where a majority of the Mojave's NCR forces were located.
However, before he got back to the others to see what their next plan of action was, he was interrupted by a trooper. "Dr Hildern has a job that he suspects you may be interested in, I'll take you there if you're interested."
Afton raises a brow, he'd tried to stay away from Dr Hildern... The man seemed to have some sort of obsession with him, probably due to his miraculous mutations and other physiological changes. But... He still needed more caps, he seriously wanted to get the Strength implant and see what the maxed out Perk looked like...
Sighing to himself, he eventually just nods at the trooper, "Take me to him then."
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