บท 366: Breaking the Peace

The group leaves Camp Searchlight the night morning, the NCR troopers and Sgt Astor all bidding them farewells as they begin walking north to their next destination.

They follow the winding highway for a while until something causes them to halt in their steps... Black plumes of smoke could be seen drifting in the distance, and Afton swore he could hear the faint sound of gunfire occurring.

"You guys hear that?" he questions the others, wondering if the Legion had finally invaded with full force.

Everyone gives grim nods, "Fuck. Sounds like Novac's being attacked... I don't know if Manny'll be able to defend against something like that." Boone quickly says, wondering if his old town would still be standing by the time they get there.

"Well, we better go see then." Afton says before breaking into a jog, obviously he could go faster but he'd end up leaving some of the less fit people behind... There was still a couple miles until they reached Novac so sprinting all the way there and exhausting everyone wouldn't do.

The group made 'good' progress but had a stop a couple times for Josie and Karl to catch their breath. The former wasn't a physically active person and the latter was getting old and hadn't kept up his fitness when he was in prison.

Eventually, Afton could see the trademark Dinosaur that marked Novac, but unlike last time he saw it, its head was missing a large chunk and was slightly on fire... Even from this distance, he could see bullets flying through the air, impacting the head of the dinosaur as a lone figure in its mouth tried to fight the attackers off.

He was able to see who was involved when they got closer to Novac, a large group of Legionaries were trying to advance from east to gain access to the town. Though, they were being held back by a small group of townsfolk, NCR soldiers, and Manny who was sniping from the top of the Dinosaur.

"GET OUTTA MAH' TOWN YOU SPORT-WEAR-WEARIN', DOG-FUCKIN', PIECES OF VARMINT-SHIT!!" Daisy's familiar voice roars as she fires two service rifles simultaneously, the woman looking like a character from Wolfenstein.

The Legionaries who'd tried to charge her with machetes were quickly mowed down. One drops to their knees and tries to plead for their life but Daisy shoots them anyway. Though, she's forced to duck into cover as the properly armed Legionaries all aim their own guns at her, inadvertently giving Manny some breathing room.

He manages to peak out of cover and get some more shots off with his Hunting rifle, but throws himself out of the Dinosaur head when a Legionary prepares to fire a heavy-looking weapon at him. From what Afton could tell, it was a grenade launcher...

*Thump!*

*BOOOM!*

The remaining pieces composing the head of the Dinosaur disintegrate in the subsequent explosion, raining down plastic shards on Novac as their biggest attraction is destroyed.

By this time the group have finally gotten into range to act, Boone immediately loading his Anti-Material rifle with some of his remaining Explosive rounds and firing at the Legionaries.

Afton isn't even able to say anything to stop him as it'd put his loyalties to question... Besides, he wasn't about to let the Legion destroy one of his favourite towns either! He gets out the Sonic Emitter and fires it at one of the groups of Legionaries, all the while activating [Meltdown!].

Once the sonic projectile strikes, a huge shockwave ripples through the area, knocking over the rest of the Legionaries who weren't immediately killed and forcing the Novac defenders behind their cover.

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

The chain reaction of multiple [Meltdown!] explosions quickly envelops a large portion of the Legions forces. Afton chuckles as he watches the destruction he'd caused, only now noticing the wide-eyed looks he'd received from his companions.

"What the fuck!" Karl shouts, taking a step back from Afton, or more specifically, the 'nuke-energy-pistol' he was holding. "Why didn't you do that against the Deathclaws!"

"Is that really what you're asking about? Not the fact that he'd had a weapon of mass destruction attached to his chest?" Boone retorts.

"Why don't you guys talk about this, you know, when we're not fighting against an army?" Josie shouts, feeling like her companions were not taking the situation seriously.

Afton shrugs and gestures at the army who were not running for their lives back in the direction of Nelson, "Doesn't seem like they'll be bothering us for a while... And for Karl's question, I wanted to keep more of the Deathclaw corpses intact. This gun usually just turns the enemy into puddles of green goo." he explains.

Karl just shakes his head in exasperation, "Whatever, just don't go pointin' that thing at me."

"I'll try not to... Shall we see how Novac's doing? I might need to get my doctor gloves if anyone is injured." Afton says, wondering if the town had found another doctor that wasn't just another fraud like the last one.

The group walk through the scorched area that'd previously been under siege and come face to face with many guns. Revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and many more were all pointed at them, courtesy of the townsfolk of Novac.

"Oi! You silly lot, Put them guns down!" Daisy commands as she steps in front of the group, holding her shoulder from what seems to be a bullet wound.

Afton gives a wide smile, "Hey Daisy, how're you doing?"

"Ah, I shoulda known it'd be you three. Who else would be mad enough to drop a bomb so close to town!" she scolds before returning to her usual happy demeanour, "Pardon me if you're tired from your time on the road, but I'm not really ready to receive you right now. None of us are." she says and gestures at the heavily damaged town.

"Looks like you got shot... Want me to take a look at it?" he asks, the elder woman nodding and letting Afton lead her to a more private setting so he can tend to her wound.