Chương 448: Hole in the wall

The attack on the Fort had certainly sent alarm bells ringing throughout the entire Legion. Despite their heavy reluctance to use technology, they still used radio to communicate with one another, allowing them to relay events to each outpost and try to coordinate a counter-assault...

Unfortunately, the Legion had never expected, nor planned for an invasion via a small and elite task force, especially once that's able to destroy their defensive positions with ease and crash through the rest.

The like gate Ease of the Dam was supposedly impenetrable, yet it'd been instantly destroyed by some sort of nuclear strike. The teams behind it were not ready for what came next, the blaze of destruction left by the group driving some sort of armoured assault vehicle.

They'd successfully made it into the Fort and were doing god knows what to their leader and families inside. The troops who'd been closely following the vehicle had been annihilated by some sort of self-destruction. This left reinforcements struggling to get around the now heavily irradiated collapsed entrance that was once the only gate into the Fort.

Still, while the ordinary troops were unable to get in, that didn't mean the elite units weren't. Each had been equipped to deal with machinery, high tech weapons and armour, potential robots, and anything else their enemies might've brought with them.

Their recent heavy losses via the Brotherhood of Steel had made them reprioritise their elite troops functions. It was clear they couldn't even begin to fight against technological might with simple numbers, especially in such confined areas, thus, the Legion had twisted their 'no technology' doctrine slightly to allow elite units to utilise them.

Vulpes Inculta was pulling his hair out as he looked at the map filled with coloured pieces... Many red pieces were scattered around Legion territory, with a few black pieces inside the Fort, and a large number of blue pieces approaching the Legion's defensive positions east of the Dam.

It seems that Afton and his parties reign of destruction had jolted the NCR into action, he'd been forced to pull reinforcements heading to the Fort away and towards the front lines. Otherwise the Legion would have lost far too much ground to recover from.

As of now, the NCR had taken ahold of the canyon passage, cutting off Cottonwood Cove completely and making them unable to reinforce or receive troops from it. No doubt the recent events will change the battlefield in the Mojave entirely, the Legion would likely have to pull back their encampments to reinforce their front lines for their final attempt at taking Hoover Dam.

"PARKER! YOU DESTROY MY PLANS AGAIN! I SHOULD HAVE STOMPED YOU OUT LIKE THE BUG YOU WERE WHEN YOU CRAWLED OUT OF THAT DAMN TUNNEL!" Vulpes roars as he sweeps the pieces off of the map.

Behind him several Centurions back away, they'd never seen Vulpes Inculta lose his temper like this before. One thing was for sure, if you wanted to stay alive in the Legion, you needed to be strong or ignored.

Elsewhere :

Karl ducks behind a Legion tent as more troops run to reinforce the army attempting in vain to fight Afton and Veronica. He decides that finding his daughter was currently more important than killing those sportswear-wearing fucks.

He continues to brush past the large groups of non-combatants and slaves, but still doesn't see hidden or hair of them... That is, until he hears a couple people talking about some people going off to find their children... Karl scowled at the thought, but couldn't ignore it. His daughter has been here for years, so it wouldn't be surprising for her to give birth, nor would it be for her to make friends here during her captivity...

Upon interrogating the loose-lipped legionaries who move to go find them, apparently, the kids had last been seen at the gate of the Fort, the place where Dirt-Hog had self-destructed. The place was basically deserted, yet he could see hundreds of Legionaries in yellow radiation suits trying to clear rubble to get inside.

He ignores them for now, but his ears perk up at the sound of crying... A child's if he had to guess. His eyes were drawn towards the nearby wall that had a small hole at the base of it... After making sure he was alone, he bends down and sticks his head through, immediately pulling it back as a spear tries to give him a new orifice...

Karl growls as he rubs his face where the new cut adorned it. "Anyone who doesn't want to die hit the deck, I'll gonna fuckin' shoot my way in!" he shouts, giving the people behind the wall a couple seconds before he opens fire. Blasting numerous holds in the wall before crashing through it shoulder first.

Around the room, he only spots women who were fearfully clutching their children to their chests. All of them already pleading for their lives, yet, the one who'd tried to spear him earlier was glaring at him with anger and fierce determination... She looked familiar was his first thought before he finally realised who she was.

"Caroline!?" he exclaims, his eyes threatening to tear up at the sight of her. Her hair with frazzled and matted, her face dirty, scarred and weathered with hard experiences. She was wearing regular Legion civilian wear, rags with red adornments that hid her modesty. She was currently holding a spear with one hand while holding a boy behind her with the other.

At Karl's words, her brows raise, "How do you know me!?"

Karl feels like his heart is going to explode from his chest as he attempts to explain, "I-I'm your father! Don't you recognise me! It's Karl!"

...

She eyes him wearily for a moment before her breath gets caught in her throat, she thought she'd been forgotten by them, by the NCR... Yet her father had come for her, right in the heart of Legion territory. "D-Dad!?"