After dumping the Fiends body in sewage, Boone and Karl went straight back to the other Fiends position. Both already knew what they had to do.
*Tink* *Tink* *Tink*
Both ready their weapons as the sound of mining continues, Boone readying his hunting rifle while Karl prepares to use his new Light Machine Gun.
Without another moment wasted they both walk out into the light, catching the attention of the Fiends who try to get out of the way after the confusion had left.
Nutter's eyes widen as both men point their weapons into the room, she reaches for her Laser RCW that'd been propped up against the wall, but it was already too late.
*RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAT!!*
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
The entire underground labyrinth was deafened by the sound of weapons firing. Karl sprayed the entire room with his weapon, making sure to aim for those with range weapons first before moving onto the next. The gun was pretty unwieldy, but it shot enough bullets to make up for it.
Boone immediately blew the head off of the woman reaching for an energy weapon, not allowing any chance of injury in their mission.
By the time they'd stopped firing there wasn't any life left in the room. Anyone who'd been present had gotten annihilated by their firepower, leaving only mangled corpses in their wake.
"Huh... Expected a little more trouble than that." Karl mutters as he starts looting the bodies, Boone goes over and checks the stability of the wall the Fiends had been trying to dig through, luckily they'd not breached it...
Elsewhere :
"When things go wrong, don't go with them!" Afton says as he points at the unconscious Kings.
...
Chance and Pacer just look at him in confusion, having never heard that saying nor recognise it as having any value. The latter was still itching to shoot dead this intruder, but that wasn't an option now that the King was here.
The King upon hearing this just looks at Afton with wide eyes. "Boy, where did you hear such a thing?" he asks after a moment of composing himself.
"A legend known as the King of Rock, Elvis Presley." he states, causing the King to gape at him.
"The King had a name? How do you know it?" he quickly asks, all the information he'd scrounged about the man had only referred to him as the King. They didn't even know what he was the King of, where was the place called 'Rock' anyway!?
Afton just shrugs, "Oh, my father used to play his music... He-er, had holotapes of the man speaking and other similar things. A shame our house burnt down." he says with a sad look.
"So his name was Elvis Presley?... A noble name, one suited for someone known as the King." he mutters to himself, still apparently stuck on that one fact. The King shakes his head and gestures around the room, "Still, that doesn't explain what you've done to my boys. Explain yourself before Rex'y here makes you his chew toy."
"What happened was your guys attacked me for trying to speak with you. Had to beat them down to knock some sense into them." he states, glancing at Pacer with a disinterested look.
The King frowns at this, "Pacer, he tellin' the truth?"
Pacer scowls and slowly nods, there was enough witnesses to refute any lies he tried to conjure, and lying to the King would definitely put him in a bad spot. "Yeah, he said something about whether or not the grease in our hair was flammable, continued to mock us until I lost it."
Afton just sends a smug smirk at him, "Seems that having a shit temper and being a shit fighter go hand-in-hand." he says with crossed arms.
"Why you-" he sputters but is interrupted.
The King lays a hand on Pacers shoulder glares at them both, "Enough. Pacer, someone else will take your post until you can handle your anger, and you, you'd better stop your mockery in my building. Whether or not you hold the secrets of the King is irrelevant if you force my hand."
Pacer mumbles something under his breath as he walks straight out into Freeside.
Afton himself didn't really care if he had to follow some rules while in the Kings territory, all he wanted to do was get the counterfeit licence and make his way into the strip... It's irritating he'd had to deal with these idiots though.
The King directs some of the still conscious members to carry the beaten ones to their rooms. None of them were all that badly injured courtesy of Afton's mercy, but most would not be fighting anymore today and maybe tomorrow.
After sending Pacer away and cleaning up the injured, the King gestures for Afton to follow him. He leads through the previously looked door into some kind of theatre? A large stage was set up at one end of the room while many tables and chairs were sat beneath it.
The King sits in one chair that looks more comfortable than the rest before gesturing to the chair opposite him. "Now that we've got all that unpleasantness outta the way, you wanted to speak with me? It better be important, one doesn't beat half my men for nothin' after all."
Afton rubs the back of his head, "Ah, actually, I only wanted to know where I could purchase a licence to get into the strip..."
...
The King just shakes his head and looks down at the cyberdog resting at his feet, "Hear that Rex? This fool fight his way through our boys just to get a licence." he looks back at Afton, "What? The 2000 caps needed to enter too much for you?" he says, eyeing the rather vicious weaponry Afton currently has on him.
Afton shrugs, "I'm a mercenary, these weapons are my life, in this business saving money is for the dead and buried."
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
"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.
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