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11.98% Steel Waste / Chapter 85: What's mine is mine

章節 85: What's mine is mine

Lieutenant Hayes slowly nods, sitting down on some nearby metal scrap with a thoughtful look, "Now that you mention it, we could use a hand with Primm... A group of ex-cons have holed up in the Bison Steve Hotel, the town itself isn't NCR territory so the higher-ups won't commit to sending more troops to deal with them."

Afton raises a brow, "Why now? Surely having criminals operating so close to the Mojave Outpost would be a problem?"

Hayes nods, "They are, that's why we've created this encampment. The town is surrounded by a metal fence that's almost impossible to climb over, the only way they're leaving Primm with all their guns is through us."

"So you've committed enough troops to keep there here, but not help the town?" Afton inquires questioningly.

Hayes shrugs, "We're struggling at holding back the Legion as it is, small things like this are inconsequential. To the higher-ups at least."

"Not to you then?" Karl asks with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. Not to me. That's why I'm willing to pay you outta my own pocket to deal with the thugs in Primm. The townsfolk have been holed up in the Vikki and Vance casino for a couple weeks now. I've tried to get them outta there but the whole damn place is covered with traps, mines, and shotgun traps.

The layout of the town may allow us to keep them trapped here, but we can't really enter either... I've had some teams try to disarm the traps but they're shot at as soon as they begin working on 'em. Not something you need when disarming explosives I'll tell you."

Karl nods, "Yeah, I get that." he mutters, "What'll you do if we deal with the cons?"

"Let the townsfolk handle themselves I suppose. I lack the men to properly secure it, and I doubt the added tax would be appealing to those inside. Many still think of us as unelected overlords, stealing land and forcing people to pay for the right to live on it... They aren't wrong I suppose." Hayes mutters, scratching his stubble.

"Shouldn't there be some police in there or something?" Afton asks.

Karl shakes his head, "The con's would've killed the Sheriff before they did anything else. No point leaving him to rally the townfolks against them." he sends a glance to Hayes to see if his assumption was correct.

He receives a nod, "Cons apparently snuck into town and killed the Mcbain's in their sleep. All the while keeping the Deputy imprisoned in the Hotel for some reason... Maybe he could be made the new Sheriff if you rescue him?"

"Hopefully, I doubt he'll be all that willing after seeing what happened to the former sheriff. We'll deal with that when we get to it though... How much are you willing to pay us for this? Taking down a group of heavily armed criminals with two people isn't going to be easy. Especially since they have the home advantage." Afton asks.

Hayes chews on his lip for a while before eventually nodding, "250 caps each. That's the best I can do, you may not think so but I don't get paid all that much."

Afton nods, it was better than he was expecting, especially considering he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart to help the townsfolk. He shakes the man's hand, "Deal, if we don't die in some gruesome way then we'll be back for the pay."

Karl sends a nod at Hayes before turning to Afton, "We should head out at night, I'll be able to disarm the explosives without the cons shooting at us. Maybe we'll be able to use their own traps against them." he says with a small grin.

While the sun was disappearing behind the horizon Afton and Karl were checking their weaponry. The former had a new appreciation for ballistic weapons after maxing out his Guns skill. The revolver felt almost unnaturally comfortable in his hand, he twirled it on his finger and aimed it at the top of a lampost a few hundred meters away, feeling as if he could hit the lightbulb contained within it.

He was also unnaturally fast at reloading the weapon, the [Rapid Reload] Perk combined with his relatively high Agility and Guns skill made him feel like a true duelist. Even Karl was surprised by his speed, and that's coming from a former-ranger...

He had the .357 Revolver strapped to his right on the hip, Eddie's Plasma pistol to his left, and his Laser pistol on a makeshift holder behind that. His Deathclaw leather satchel was slung behind him and filled with ammunition and a Sawn-off shotgun was attached to the front of the strap, letting it rest on his chest.

Karl thought he was carrying too much, but Afton begged to differ. They were going to be outnumbered by people, the least he could do is even the odds by bringing just as many guns as they do.

He left the service rifle and most of their other supplies in the NCR encampment as carrying it around would serve no purpose. The duo gave Hayes a nod before slowly heading towards town.

Before them was a concrete bridge that went over an overpass of the highway, it was heavily damaged and probably only held together by the metal rebars within it.

Karl stopped Afton from walking any further, they hadn't even left the encampment and there were almost mines everywhere... Its fortunate they have dim red lights on them marking that they were currently armed, it also makes it easier for the former-ranger to disarm them in the darkness.

Afton watched as his partner quickly dashed to the closest one, it started beeping but Karl quickly lifted it and pressed a button hidden underneath its casing. He thought that you'd need to press that big button on top of it, but maybe he was wrong? "Karl, what's that big button do?"

Karl gives his a sideways glance, "It may be a proximity mine, but it's still able to be activated by pressure... Step on it, press it, or anything like that and it'll immediately explode. I know some stupid folks who thought you could disarm it by pressing it." he shakes his head, "It was them who got 'disarmed' instead."


創作者的想法
Niggross Niggross

Hope you liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.

I've read a couple fanfics which say that you can disarm them by pressing the button fast enough... I beg to differ, that'd be an incredibly stupid design flaw... :P

next chapter

章節 86: Becoming Snake

Karl continues disarming mines and passing them to Afton who stuffs them into his satchel. They'd collected ten of them already and it didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

"Where did they find so many mines?" Afton mutters in disbelief.

"No idea, must've stumbled across a cache of them somewhere... Maybe a pre-war building that somehow hadn't been looted until now." Karl guesses while dashing to yet another mine.

Afton didn't know how the old man was doing it, he could barely see a meter ahead through the darkness yet Karl seemed at home in these conditions...

Eventually, though the mines thinned out and the duo found themselves in the middle of the street, Vikki and Vance casino on their left, Bison Steve Hotel in front, and residential building on their right.

Ahead they could see a lampost that's getting power from somewhere, the dim bulb illuminating a couple men who were presumably keeping watch... The townsfolk were apparently holding out in the casino, which meant these guys were waiting for people to try to leave before catching them... What they did to them afterwards was anyone's guess.

"Kid, you know how to knock someone out properly?" Karl whispers from the side.

Afton shrugged, "Kinda? I know what to do, but I'm not all that confident in pulling it off... Though... You got a knife I can borrow?"

Karl nods and hands him some sort of combat knife, a part of the blade close to the handle was serrated, presumably for cutting material. It was remarkably sharp though, Karl obviously took care of it. He noted that on its handle was some sort of mark... Three stripes behind a star, was this from his time in the rangers? How did he manage to keep it after being imprisoned?...

Shaking his head, Afton focussed on the two men guarding the casino entrance. He asks Karl how he wants to go about this and the man has them circle around the casino so they are able to come in behind them.

They're now hugging the casino wall a few meters away from the two men, both had tanned skin and ugly scars covering their bodies. Afton was pretty sure he could smell them from where he was standing, clearly hygiene wasn't a concern for them.

Both were sitting on a box, one with a shotgun resting on his lap and the other with a pistol in his holster. Karl tapped him on the shoulder and gestured towards the one sitting on the left with the shotgun.

The both kept as quiet as possible as they slowly got closer to the men, idly picking up their conversation.

"What does Carlos even want to do with these guys anyway?"

"You didn't hear 'im? Wanted to starve the townies out before robbin' 'em... A lot easier than fightin' em I'll say."

"Wonder if there're any pretty lasses in there?" one says with a lecherous grin.

"Probably, wouldn't mind gettin' me' dick wet, ey? Hehehe."

By this time Karl and Afton had reached their targets, without hesitation Karl grabbed the rightmost one, pulling their pistol out of their holster and tossing it away while grabbing them in a tight chokehold.

As that was happening Afton had jammed the combat knife through the criminal's neck, severing the carotid artery. They tried to make a grab for their shotgun but Afton wrenched them backwards, causing them to drop it.

The shock of being stabbed in the neck, and spotting their friends being choked out had the man unable to do anything but choke on their own blood. Afton held the man there until his eyes shut and he finally passed on.

His arms were completely covered in blood from holding him in place, it didn't smell yet but he had to get cleaned up soon before it starts coagulating... Blood is notoriously difficult to get off.

Afton grabbed the shotgun and rested it on his shoulder as Karl examined the unconscious con he'd just knocked out. "Wanna question him?"

Karl nods, "Yeah, let's take them inside the casino, can't have the cons finding their bodies just yet. Not while we still have the element of surprise.

Afton knocks on the casino doors a couple times before slowly opening it, he pops his head through the crack and is greeted by a revolver pressing against his cheek.

"Now, you hold still stranger. I'd rather not get blood on the carpet." he says, gesturing towards the already dirty rug that led further inside the casino.

...

"Err, I'm Afton Parker... We're here on behalf of Lieutenant Hayes to deal with your con-problem." he says with a sheepish look, trying not to focus on the gun pressed against his face. The man before him was an old man with tanned, wrinkled skin wearing overalls over a dirty shirt and jeans, some goggles hanging from around his neck.

...

"Hm, thought those soldier-boys would just leave us here to suffer. Been watching us from their camp for damn well two weeks now."

"Well, the NCR would have, its Hayes that's paying us outta his own pocket to help you guys... Could you get that gun out of my face?"

The old man nods, "Names Johnson Nash youngster, forgive me for the lead-lined welcome but we've been waiting for that lot to bust in here any moment... Could darn well hear 'em talking on the other side of the door."

Afton nods and opens the door further, "Sorry about the blood..." he mutters as they drag one corpse and one unconscious man into the casino, blood thoroughly covering the rug much to Johnson's chagrin.

Karl tips his Stenton towards the man, "Howdy." he says dully as he props the unconscious man next to a slot machine.

Johnson's shock at seeing two peoples sudden pulled into the casino eventually wears off though. "Now just you two hang on there. What is this!?" he exclaims, quickly gesturing at the bodies with his revolver.

"One prisoner and one dog-food." Karl states, walking over and shutting the doors behind them.


創作者的想法
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

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