Ain't that a Kick in the Head?

[BaldurAnthology]

Sandro woke to Leeroy nudging him with his paw and head. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet. He popped a couple pain killers and took stock. Right, several dead legion, no sign of Versing. Not good. He cracked his neck and started scouting for clues. It didn't take him long to realize that Versing had been taken by the legion. Either as a prisoner, a slave, or worse. He looked up and saw the Robco Facility he had mentioned. He saw nobody near it, so he ignored it. He sat for a moment to think.

[DemonLady]

Cathy walked back, having spoken with a trader, the same one Sandro had spoken with, sighing.

 

"Versing went to Tenpenny Tower and Sandro went after him. We've gotta get to Megaton, find Morgan, and get the heck out there, NOW."

[Macman253]

King stepped out into the wild wastes, he reached into his rooksack and fastened a rebreather to his face. Securing the strap he looked around, the robot standing next to him cycling through a greeting program. He paid it no mind and started walking, a loud dogs bark filled the air and he realized it was Lady, the large mixed-breed dog came out from behind a nearby rock. Her fur red and white and her tail bobbed. She ran to him and turned circles around his legs, he smiled and began walking. He noticed one of the trade caravaneers resting with his caravan group not far away. He approached, his secure-strap unlatched and a familiar tingle in his fingertips. He was ready if things were to go bad. The three men sat around a makeshift camp, their pack brahmins grazing not far away. The lead one, a ghoul sat eating a piece of meat on a stick. He glanced up at the traveler and stood when he saw King's approach. As King came close he noticed that the three men were all ghouls, one carrying a submachine pistol, the other a assault rifle and the leader with a 10mm pistol resting in a holster at his side, a large combat knife tied to his boot. All caravans ran heavily armed but this was something different. The leader was put off by Kings rebreather and the large revolver at his hip.

 

"What do you want smoothskin?" The leader said hostiliy, his hand drifting near his pistol.

 

King smiled and stopped a few feet away, enough he was out of melee range but if the one with the submachine pistol decided to open fire he'd be chewed apart. King looked in all three sets of eyes as they peered back towards his own, with flashes of hate and confusion filling their deep black pools.

 

"I'm looking for a trade caravan, cycles through the settlements carrying food and water. It went missing and I need to know its route. You think you can help me?" King replied to the hostile ghoul in front of him. Normally he didn't mind ghouls, he hated the self pitying ghouls that complained about their predicament rather then just deal with it. These ghouls stunk of misplaced rage and hate, he knew they would rather kill him then tell him.

 

The lead ghoul sized him up and glanced over his shoulder, two hundred yards away was Megaton and the sniper on top of the gate was away. His hand grasped the grip of his pistol and murderous rage filled his face. He was out for blood.

 

King drew his revolver with lightning speed and let loose a shot into the lead ghouls face, blowing the rotten zombies head off and sending it flying. The second ghoul with the machine pistol drew his gun and King felt a chill up his spine. "Well this is it." He thought but just as the ghoul pulled the trigger the gun made a loud clack and didnt fire. King smirked and dove at the ghoul and shouldered him over, He reached up and grabbed the sawed off strapped to his shoulder and fired a shot into the downed Ghouls chest, the last ghoul fired a shot with his hunting rifle at point blank range that struck King in the back, King groaned in pain and looked over his left shoulder while resting his shotgun on the other shoulder with the barrels aiming at the blank faced ghoul as he stood there in shock that King just shrugged off the shot. King pulled the second trigger on his sawed off and filled the Ghouls brainpan with buckshot.

 

With the three bushwhackers dead he calmed himself, letting the adrenaline high from combat subside and he loaded his shotgun and reloaded his revolver. He rummaged around the corpses, found various knicknacks but nothing useful, until he rolls over the lead ghouls corpse he notices that the man has a piece of paper in his pocket, He pulls it out and looks it over, it was a map with routes highlighted, each in different colors. The caravan that he was tracking had two stops before coming finally to Megaton, the next stop was through a small town called Andale, from there they came from Tenpenny tower. He knew he'd have to go to Andale. The brahmin caught his eye as he noticed the brand. They carried the brand of Rivet City Water Caravans. These men were highwaymen, they probably stole these brahmin and were on their way to wherever they were going. King looked around as he heard Lady's bark, he picked up his shell casings and called Lady who was standing on a nearby rock. She barked when she spotted the Megaton gate open and Simms with two deputies start heading this way in response to the gunshots. King knew Simms would give him a break but he'd rather move on and avoid the questions so He whistled for Lady to follow and slipped away, long gone by the time the Sherrif found the dead Ghouls.

[Flipout6]

Within the walls of Tenpenny Tower, up in his room, Junius tended to his many injuries. He had three minor injuries from Versing's shotgun, but most of them were from Morgan. He inhaled two doses of healing powder to cure the bleeding injuries, and took a dose of hydra, which had actually been developed by the Legion, to help with his fractured and broken bones. Once his wounds were healed, a little while later, he examined his weapons. They were in good enough shape, but he cleaned them and polished them anyway. A centurion had to lead by example. Unfortunately, his armor was fairly bare, as he hadn't been a centurion too long. He had taken Versing's NCR breastplate, so he painted it over in crimson, and put it on. It was better than nothing. That profligate wouldn't be going anywhere, and Junius had beaten him in seconds. Speaking of which, it was time for Junius to go talk to Versing.

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Versing observed through pained eyes as Junius walked out of the gates with Fenrir behind him. He strode the ten meters forward to where Versing lay crucified. He noted that that damned scumbag was wearing his breastplate, painted crimson. The NCR logo was completely gone. As for Versing, his helmet had fallen off during the fight, leaving his hair to be ruffled by the breeze.

"And there you lie, profligate. Surely you must have seen that this was only inevitable." Junius spoke to him.

 

Versing coughed. "I had it pegged as a definite possiblity." He replied, and coughed again. His broken ribs were bothering him.

 

"Then you were naive. Even becoming a slave would have been to place you above the other profligates, rewarding you for your actions. That would not be acceptable."

 

"I preferred you as Jay." Versing said, and spat at Junius' feet,

 

"Yet still you defy us? Defy me? Your degenerates never learn. In order for there to be even an acceptable world, it must be conquered by Caesar's mighty Legion, and united under the banner of the Bull. Only then will humanity be worthy to once again face the gods."

 

"An excuse to rape and pillage and enslave, hidden under a banner of unity. The Master already tried and failed."

 

"We are greater than the Master and his armies. Our cause is true."

 

"I'll bet the people of the old world thought their causes were just as well."

 

"They were no better than any within the NCR. They were corrupted by technology, and laziness. They did nothing as their countries, their families, their world burned in nuclear fire. They relied on machines and a false government to fight their battles for them. And your NCR is simply an extension of that corruption."

 

"I've not been with the NCR for several years now."

 

"Ah, but you are no different. You believe in a cause that has no right to exist. Worse, you fight for it. I admire your courage and loyalty, Josepher Versing, but it is quite misplaced."

"

Edited August 19, 2012 by Flipout6

[Lutine]

"Yo, Mr. Ghoul," said a voice behind Sandro. "Looks like you beat me to the chase. A bit. A shame about Versing. They dragged him in."

Maya walked up alongside the sitting Sandro, a completed bulletproof shield in her left hand. "Name's Maya, I used to live up at the tower. I followed Versing from Megaton; saw the entire battle. I'd have loved to help, but, well, I'm surprised you were unconscious and not dead. Took a bit of a self-restraint to not get involved, actually."

 

After reaching Megaton and helping Versing and his friend, Maya ended up splitting up in town with them. She only stayed there briefly, stopping by Craterside supply for supplies and to fix up part of the F4's glass canopy into a bulletproof shield. She then left Megaton with the intent to case out Tenpenny towers and nearly ran into the firefight that Sandro just woke up from. She had hid behind several large boulders and only observed the curbstomp of a battle. She only noticed Versing and Sandro just before the firefight, but it was simpler and much more pithy to say that she followed him.

 

"If you intend to get your friend back, I'll help, because it's the Legion."

[BaldurAnthology]

Sandro jumped and whirled, pulling out his gun. He recognized the girl that some of the men in the group had been fussing over before he left. He nodded and lowered his gun, but didn't holster it.

 

"Name's Nicodemus Sandro Jesus Martinez." He shudders at the full name.

 

"Mostly people just call me Sandro, 'cause I tell them to. Nice to meet you Maya. So, what got you all messed up in the first place? I mean, the other guys were fussing a lot about you." He nods at the bulletproof shield.

 

"That looks like part of the windshield of an F4 plane. Flew in one once. Didn't like being in the air, figured I'd stick to ground. I was around during the war you know. Now, I suggest we head over to that there Robco Facility. I'm pretty good with pickin locks and hacking computers. What say we get a robot on our side?"

 

Tomoyo nodded and headed into town, where she discovered Morgan near the Doctor's office. She walked up to him and shyly smiled.

 

"Um, excuse me? Mister Morgan? Versing went to Tenpenny Tower, and Sandro went after him. I think they may be in trouble. C-could you help save them if they need saving?"

[Lutine]

Maya nodded. "Nice to meet you." She paused for a moment before answering Sandro's question with a wry smile. "What messed me up? Long story made short, I found an F4 under the remains of an old hangar near here, fairly intact, I thought I could fix it up with some good engineering work; I didn't. You can find most of the remains a mile or so from Megaton, if you're interested. That explains my new shield, too."

 

"So you were around during the war, huh?" said Maya as they approached the Robco Facility. "I've read a bunch about it from a small library an acquaintance of mine had. Must have been quite the experience."

 

Maya looked at the massive Robco structure before them. Since Sandro was alive during the war, it wasn't unusual that he could hack computers. Maya knew a decent amount about computers, but only through old prewar IT books and manuals. She knew about the Robco facility for some time(It was quite visible from Tenpenny Towers), but never found a good reason to approach it until now. Maya was never too fond of robots. They tended to wreck things more than help things, in her experience.

 

She looked at Sandro and back at the factory and back again at Sandro.

 

"You think we can unleash a robotic army against the legionnaires holed up at Tenpenny? We'd be outnumbered fifty to one as it is now."

[BaldurAnthology]

"Depends on how many are still intact. Y'see, I can change their programming, but I can't fix 'em. You see? Now, let me see if I can get this door open." Sandro crouches, his knees cracking and starts picking the lock. After a few tries he manages it, and pushes the doors open.

 

"We gotta find the right computer. Then I can hack into the robot controls and see how many still respond."

[MikeRyan]

Morgan looked at Tomyo in slight shock

 

"He did what? Oh damn, I better go check it out. Ain't gonna let my NCR brother get in trouble"

 

he set off towards tenpenny tower to try and catch up with Versing before it was too late

[Lutine]

"Right, if it's like a normal factory, the computers should probably be in a control center of some sort," said Maya as she kicked aside an old toppled table. She reached into her skirt pocket and produced a small pen flashlight, which she turned on.

 

"Fingers crossed that the computer we need still works. I can probably fix it if it's dead, but that would take valuable time. Same thing goes for the robots, but I'm less inclined to go near them."

 

She reached a set of double doors and tried the door handles, but they were locked. Maya briefly entertained the though of kicking them down, but decided against it. There might be an active protectron guard or something patrolling and drawing unnecessary attention to herself was something she didn't want but did too often.

 

"Oi Sandro, Can you get this door, before I kick it down? Should be the right room."