"I'm a mercenary, these weapons are my life, in this business saving money is for the dead and buried."
The King nods at this, from personal experience it was pretty accurate. Not just because having the best gear ensured your survival, but because if people heard you were carrying heaps of caps they'd take you out. Didn't matter how tough you were, a bullet to the head in your sleep'll put anyone down. "Now, that's all fine and dandy... But what can you do for me if I give you this information? I'd say you still owe me a favour for beatin' my boys."
"Didn't I tell you the Kings real name?" Afton asks, feeling as if he'd been ripped off slightly.
The King nods, "Yeah, and you have my thanks for that, but the history of the Kings is more of a hobby to me than somethin' of value. I gotta think of what the Kings need, not what the King needs." he says.
Afton sighs at this, "Fine. Know that I'm only considering this due to how important this is to me, I'm not an errand boy and I won't be doing more than one job for you. Also, I'll decide whether I want to accept or not." he states his terms, if the King didn't want to listen to his requests then he'd leave and find the counterfeit licence peddler on his own... If that failed he'd try to make up the caps he was missing for the initial 2000 cap entry.
"That's fine, I'm not into forcing people to do what I want. Besides, from what I've heard you're one mean son of a bitch."
Afton raises a brow "You know who I am then?"
The King nods, "Most folk in Freeside won't, but I like to keep myself up to date about the happenings of the Mojave. Youknow you're the big news lately with those stunts you keep pullin', thought someone may have paid you to take us out when I saw you beating my men."
"Well, fortunately for both of us no one's approached me for that. What's the job you want me to do anyway?" he asks, wanting to get to the point.
"I'll get to that, but before I do I wanna ask you... What do you think the Kings do in Freeside?"
...
Afton raises a brow but mulls over the question, initially he thought they were just a gang doing the usual 'gang' things. Extorting money from businesses, robbing people, and all the other crimes that come along with it. But, while his time in Freeside had been short, he'd not seen the Kings actually act negatively to someone. Sure, he'd spotted them gunning down a homeless-looking man on his way here, but that was probably just some drug-addled thief trying to get some caps.
"From what I've seen, you guys function as an authority around here... Taking the role of police, or protectors. Though, I could be wrong?"
The King nods, "Sharp. Yeah, me and the boys do our best to keep Freeside from becoming as chaotic as it used to be... Before we set up shop the police was completely uninhabitable for all but the worst people, roaming gangs would harass, murder, kidnap, and anything else that made their fancy." he explains before continuing.
"To be honest, we thought we wouldn't be needed when the NCR came in. Big shots had enough resources to make Freeside a properly functioning place with a proper policing system... All they did though was bring in more civilians, now, that wouldn't be bad in itself... But all those people head straight to the strip, lose all their caps and become permanent residents of Freeside, willingly or not.
Supplies cannot match the population, and with the NCR taking control of the Sharecropper farms, the produce is no longer being sold to Freeside... Instead, they send the food to Camp McCarren and their other outposts, leaving the people here to starve."
Afton listens intently, but decides to speak up after hearing this, "That's terrible and all, but why are you telling me about this... You can't expect me to be able to do something about it right?"
The King shakes his head, "No, I was just giving context to the task I'm going to give you. Need you to understand what I'm asking isn't just for the benefit of the Kings, but for Freeside as a whole." he says, causing Afton to nod slightly as it made sense.
"Lately more NCR civilians have been entering Freeside. Some seem to be refugee's while others want to make this place their permanent residence. That's all fine and dandy but I'd like to know the reason for it... Not to mention the conflicts with the NCR lately, apparently some soldier boys attacked my guys, injured 'em bad enough that they're being treated in the Old Mormon Fort by the Followers. I need you to find out what the hells happening around here, don't do anything drastic and definitely try not to antagonise them, war is not what we or Freeside needs, especially with the Fiends upping the pressure outside the walls."
Afton raises a brow at him, the NCR had attacked some Kings? That didn't sound like them at all. Sure, some of the soldiers could be confrontational, but most were cowards at the best of times. Thinking about it, Freeside would probably be better off with the Kings policing it instead of the NCR, the latter would demand taxes from everyone living there, that'd cause most people to either leave or seek other more unhanded ways of making money... "I'll take the job, you probably already know my relationship with the NCR so maybe you and them can come to an agreement..."
The King nods, "I'd be happy to make a deal with them, but first I need to know why they attacked my boys, and what operations they currently have around here... Something's fishy, but I can't place my finger on it."
Afton sighs and stands, "You'll introduce me to the licence maker afterwards, correct?" he double checks.
"Hell, you help us out and I'll pay for your licence." the King adds, and Afton nods, deciding that the job probably wouldn't be all that big a deal.
Hopefully I'm getting the Kings character right, 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.
As soon as Afton stepped away from the King he was greeted by a familiar message.
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 25]
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 26]
Huh, he hadn't thought that he'd done enough to deserve a level up... Shaking his head he just ignores it and starts looking at what to do with his skill points.
Well, obviously he'll be maxing out his Sneak skill, but after that he didn't really have a clue... Maybe maxing out Energy Weapons and then moving onto science would be the best choice? Guns gave him [John Wick Style], so he was curious at what its counterpart might give.
[Sneak skill maxed out! Blur awarded!]
[Blur] : Sneaking causes enemies to lose track of you even while in line-of-sight. Shadows provide a subtle camouflage.
Afton wasn't sure what to make of the skill, but it seemed pretty useful... Even if his enemies had locked down his position he could possibly just sneak away... Man, that'd be a mind fuck if he ever pulled it off.
Moving onto Perks, again, there was only one new one to pick from.
[Nerves of Steel] : 20% faster AP regeneration. It's good, almost OP even. But it doesn't suit his current fighting style. He hadn't made use of VATS in combat for a long time, finding it more comfortable to be in control of his body at all times, instead of handing off his movements for VATS to attack.
Shaking his head, he looks back through the Perks and eventually decides to just up his S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats again. He could put strength to 9, or upgrade another stat... To be honest, he was leaning more on Perception as it was one of the most important stats for him, strength was only really useful in close quarters combat anyway...
He quickly picks [Intense Training] and ups his Perception and time resumes. Ignoring the slight twitch of pain from maxing his Sneak skill and the extra knowledge from his Energy Weapons skill, he continues walking out of the Kings building.
Afton could already feel the effects of upgrading perception, his senses were sharper, more reactive. He felt he could notice details that weren't there before. Hopefully it wouldn't be too distracting as he had a task set for him.
Stepping out, he walked towards Dirt-Bird, it seemed to have attracted some attention from the Kings, but they were smart enough to leave it alone... They'd presumably heard of the 'bike that kills', or whatever other stories the homeless and thieves were telling about it.
First things first though, he wanted to go find Karl and Boone as they'd most likely know how to better navigate the task he'd been given. Unfortunately, they'd probably be looking all over Freeside until the meeting point, so he was on his own until then.
He glances over to one of the Kings and spots Chance looking at him warily... To be honest, it was kinda difficult to tell any individual apart from the group... They are all impersonating Elvis Presley after all. "Yo, Chance?"
"Y-yeah?" he asks, stuttering slightly as he'd not expected to be called upon.
"Got any idea where some NCR guys might be in Freeside? I need to talk to them see," he explains.
Chance quickly composes himself and looks thoughtful, "The King asked you to deal with this then?... Last I checked there was a large group of NCR civilians that'd claimed a building... Course, they don't seem to care that other people were living there..."
"Uh huh... Think they'd be willing to talk to me?" he asks.
[Spies Guise is in effect]
Chance shrugs, "As long as you didn't mention you were working with the Kings, we kinda roughed 'em up for stealing property. Both groups seem to... Dislike each other." he says ambiguously.
After nods after Chance tells him their location, giving thanks before kicking up the bike stand and accelerating Dirt-Bird towards the civilian's position.
The building itself was in one of the less populated locations in Freeside, trash littered the road, rubble hadn't even been touched aside from the occasional scavenger, and ruined vehicles are strewn about the place. Clearly no one seemed to care about this area at all.
Though, the closer he got to his destination the more people seemed to be around, all of which seemed somewhat cleaner than the usual Freeside denizens. Stopping his bike he waves at one of them and flicks at cap at them, "Yo, I'm looking for whoever in-charge of the NCR civilians in Freeside." he asks, he could try to be stealthy in the way he goes about this, but it was generally just easier to go head-on.
The man who'd caught the cap just scoffs at him and dips into one of the nearby abandoned buildings without handing back the cap. Afton was tempting to walk in there and wring out the money from the man, but it was only a single cap and not really worth the effort.
Shaking his head, he continues onwards, eventually reaching a large building that didn't look to be all that damaged from the Great war. It had around six floors, and all the glass windows had been shattered... Other than that it seemed a fairly good place to set up shop.
Out at the front doors there was a large congregation of people just sitting around, most were playing card games or day-drinking, but a few were looking around as if they were keeping watch... The low thrumb of his bike's engine caught their attention eventually as he pulled up. "Yo."
His greeting seemed to surprise a few, though most were more interesting in Dirt-Bird than they were Afton. His weaponry being the only other thing they took notice of.
"Stranger." a man with a prominent scar on his cheek states, not giving any indication on how feelings towards Afton.
...
"So... I was looking for-"
"I know what you're here for, we don't want you here stranger." he cuts Afton off and states.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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