Ain't that a Kick in the Head?

[Flipout6]

The main floor was secure, the fire was under control. Decanus Cornelius was pleased, and especially so when he found that he had lost but four men, and all of them Recruit Legionairies, the lowest ranking Legionairres under his control.

"I need two Veteran Legionairies on my NOW." He commanded. Two of his highest ranking officers came forward and saluted him. "You two are now to follow me." He said. Junius walked up the stairs, towards the elevator, and turned to adress his men. "Listen up! We have secured the first floor, and the tower's leader resides on the top floor. Me and these two Veterans are going to go up by elevator, and then disable it from the top. You men are to move up each floor, eliminate security, and capture survivors. My Frumentarius shall lead you, with another Veteran Legionairy serving as his second-in-command should he fall. Five men shall stay behind to combat the remains of the fire. Am I understood?" He demanded. His men saluted and confirmed his orders. Junius reminded himself to offer that Frumentarius up for promotion.

 

Junius and his Veterans walked into the elevator and pressed the button. The elevator lurched upward, and played some jazz on the radio. Junius put a .357 round through the speaker without looking up. The elevator doors opened on the top floor, and panicked voices yelped and started firing their weapons. Using the elevator as cover, Junius' men returned fire, and Junius saw a security guard clutch his stomach and fall, not moving again. Junius fired several times at a guard, and two shots hit him in the torso. He spun around and landed on his face, arms sprawled. After reloading the Cowboy Repeater, Junius shot another one three times in a row, in one of the rare times he demonstrated his exceptional marksmanship. He could be better, but the one thing he didn't practice was utilising a firearm. The guard jerked almost like he was being shot by an automatic weapon, his blood painted the wall a fine red, and he slumped against it, leaving a trail of crimson to mark where his back had touched the wall. One of the Legionairre Veterans was hit twice in the arm when he peeked out from behind the wall to shoot, but he downed a Bitter Drink and continued to fight with his sidearm, a banged-up .44 magnum revolver. The echoing booms of the revolver served as a devastating psychological weapon to the already panicking guards, and their accuracy decreased severely, most of them emptying their clips in panic. As most of them reloaded at the same time, Junius and his Veterans dropped all of them in 10 seconds of pure mayhem.

"They're all dead. Reload your weapons, and position yourselves behind me so that you appear to be powerful bodyguards. This Alistair Tenpenny will understand such language, and such a thing will cause his courage to fail. He shall be crucified upon the top of his tower and burned at the stake, as a warning to enemies and a signal to our allies. Spare the communications equipment, we will need it." His men nodded and placed new bullets into their weapons.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Flipout6

[TheBestIdiot122]

Zane had been walking the crackly concrete road for quite some time now. He knew that he was back in the D.C area, but Zane was just unsure of what exactly 'which' part he was in. Forgetting the thought for now, Zane continued to walk down the the road with a slight thump with each time the leather met the concrete, and with the small items moving and jumping around in his pouches from his latest scavenging run. The sun, luckily, wasn't hitting his face from his fathers baseball cap that he always carried around. Sighing at the thought of his father, he continued down the road. Becoming bored, Zane started to whistle a tiny tune that he listened to all the time on the radio. It wasn't quite in sync in his head, but it was close enough. Grinning slightly at the tune, and somehow, his metal Crossbow, also nicknamed "Toby" was also thudding in tune when he whistling. Zane loved this kind of life, he had already been to most of the major landmarks from the across the Wastes... well, what's left of them anyway. He remembered the first one he came to in his travels, which was, the Washington Monument, but the first one he's seen outside of D.C that wasn't destroyed was the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. It had surprisingly survived the bombs, but it was now rusted and ruined from it's former glory. Saddened by the thought, he stopped for a moment to figure out where he was. With that, he reached in a pocket on his apron and pulled out a map of D.C, that was quite worn, but still readable. Looking at the map, and trying to find any landmarks that he had marked on the map, he finally found were he was. Happy with his location, he put away the map, and started heading down the road again, with the same whistling tune as before.

 

After about another hour of walking, he had reached his destination, New Fairfax. It was a small enough settlement to not get attention from Raiders, but it was big enough to have a trading economy. Zane had come here often to trade with the locals here as they normally don't have enough supply's. Normally, ammo. Well, everyone needed ammo. However, Zane thought that the small settlement needed it much more then some Talon Company assholes, or some rag-tag Mercenary group that just wastes it on target practice on innocent traders. Sighing slightly, he approached the settlement, already seeing the happy faces of the populous as he approached. Walking through the gate, Zane was immeditly greeted with children, and adults alike. "Calm down everyone! I got stuff for everyone!" Zane announced happily. Opening up most of his pockets, and his bag, he started grabbing bottle caps. The children had bought some toy's that they couldn't get in D.C, and the adults bought whatever he had on him. Whatever that would be water, food, ammo, or even a pistol or two.

[Flipout6]

Junius kicked the double-doors to Tenpenny's balcony wide open, breaking one partially off its hinges. Security Chief Gustavo shot at them, but was hit in the leg by one of the Veterans and quickly disarmed. Alistair Tenpenny was terrified, but tried to act tough. Junius put his Repeater away and pulled his familiar pure-steel spear out from over his back, wrapping his fingers around the grip, which was simply leather wrapped around steel. His spear was familiar to his hands, and it was Junius' weapon of choice. He thrust is through Tenpenny's arm upper right arm, before he could use that sniper rifle of his. He yelped and dropped the rifle. Junius kicked it behind him. It would be a welcome addition to the Legion's armament.

"You, profligate, are sentenced to death in the name of the Legion. Your tower and way of life has made both you and your residents simple creatures, spoiled dogs who care only for themselves. You and your people are corrupt, and shall be punished thus. As the leader, you shall be crucified and burned at the stake atop the tower, as a warning to profligates everywhere." Tenpenny stood there, mouth agape. Gustavo attempted to speak.

"You'll not harm him while I breathe."He grunted.

"Your loyalty to him comes from money, not belief in his cause. And if we shall not harm him while you breathe, then you will not breathe any longer." Junius stood him up, thrust his spear through Gustavo's belly, yanked it out, and threw Gustavo over the edge of the balcony.

 

An hour later, Junius' men had cleared the tower, and Alistair Tenpenny was being crucified on top of the tower, on one of the only flat pieces of roof. The fire could easily be seen for miles once they lit it, and the smoke would ensure that such a spectacle could be seen when dawn broke on the third day of his crucifixion. They would light the fire when Tenpenny had nearly starved to death, so as to punish him completely for his corruption. The survivors that the men had found had been rounded up, and some had already been selected for crucification. The rest would become slaves. Junius had no doubt that at least a few had escaped through Alistair Tenpenny's secret exit, which he had not been able to use due to the nature of the attack. (He couldn't jump from the balcony, and the Legion controlled the first floor within minutes.) They would no doubt spread word of the Legion attack, and strike fear into the hearts of the profligates. As thus, Junius did not have them pursued. He reported his success to Caesar himself through the powerful radio in the tower, informing him that his orders had been succesfully fulfilled, and the Legion had a fortified base within the Capital Wasteland, and requesting new orders.

"Maintain the tower until reinforcements arrive. If your reports about the Brotherhood of Steel are correct, a mere 28 men cannot hold the tower." Caesar said. "Report back to me once they arrive, and I shall give you new orders. Before you fulfill these orders, however, I am promoting you to the rank of Centurion. Your armor shall arrive with the reinforcements. One man shall take your place as Decanus, and any other that have performed outstanding service to my Legion shall be promoted accordingly, as is now within your power as Centurion."

Junius flushed with pride, but only for a second. He confirmed the orders, and immediately got to work on fortifying the tower with his troops.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Versing continued to lug the injured Morgan along with Cathy towards New Fairfax. It took them seveal hours, but they eventually got there. It would be dawn soon, but despite the early hour of the morning people were swarming some trader near the edge of town.

"How are you holding up Morgan? And what about you, Cathy?" He asked them both. He was more concerned for Morgan, who was actually injured, but Cathy could have rolled her ankle along the road somewhere. Better to check on friends than let them suffer in silence.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Flipout6

[DemonLady]

Cathy yawned loudly, stretching and scratching her head, careful to not let the bootom of her two-piece armor come up to her breasts.

 

"I'm alright. Tired, and my hand's killing me, but I'm good. Not sure I can say the same for Morgan though.."

 

Suddenly, she heard a town guard shout "Halt! State your business in New Fairfax."

 

A familiar voice rang through the air, as Susan Lancaster and Roy Phillips, in unison told of the destruction of Tenpenny Tower.

 

"Wait.. that voice..."

 

Cathy jumped u in a hurry and darted to the direction, met with a gigantic hug of safety from a bloodied, injured, bullet-trodden Susan.

 

"Oh, my god, Cathy, I'm glad you're here... It's the Tower.. Tenpenny Tower... They got it...."

 

Veersing stood up from where he was sitting near Cathy, walking over to the two.

 

"They? Who's they? Unless.."

 

Cathy looked down for a moment, paniced.

 

"The Legion. THEY got it. They must've taken out Tenpenny Tower. i'm gonna radio ahead to the others and see what they wanna do. ... Sandro. Axelle. Luisa. Tomo. Someone, grab the other talkie in my pack. I need to talk to one of you, NOW."

Edited July 10, 2012 by DemonLady

[tokyobiohazard]

Axelle jumped as she heard the sound of a walkie going off inside a bag. She closed her eyes and bit her lip, hoping nobody heard that. They were leaving her out here with the dogs and the prisoner. It was safer for her this way, she guessed. She wasn't there to get in the way while the others cleared out the building.

 

A Raider with bloodshot eyes and sores covering his stubbly chin and cheeks snaked his head around a corner and smiled cruelly at Axelle. He scratched at his face and twitched, high on something unidentifiable. Axelle closed her eyes and winced as the man licked the side of her face from chin to brow. He had a gun, so she dared not move.

 

"Not today, profligate!" A cold voice from beside Axelle exclaimed. It was the prisoner. He had wormed himself onto his back and used the only weapons he had in this situation, his legs. Drawing his body into something like a fetal position, still on his back, he then kicked with both his legs at full strength, connecting with the Raider's neck. It produced a strong cracking sound, the kind of sound that screamed finality, fatality, an end. But why did he keep her from getting killed?

 

The crackle of radio static returned, this time accompanied by a voice, "... Sandro. Axelle. Luisa. Tomo. Someone, grab the other talkie in my pack. I need to talk to one of you, NOW."

 

Axelle looked the Legionnaire dead in the eyes as she reached into the pack and slowly pulled out the walkie, breathing heavily out of her mouth. She pressed the button slowly, "Is that you, Cathy?"

Edited July 10, 2012 by tokyobleach

[DemonLady]

Cathy sighed in releif as someone grabbed the other talkie, composing herself before speaking.

 

"Yeah it's me. Tenpenny tower's been taken. As in, everyone but Susan Lancaster, Roy Phillips, Herbert "Daring" Dashwood, and as far as Susan knows, Aliistair Tenpenny, are dead. the Tower's under Legion Control. We're in New Fairfax, if we give you the way to go, can you guys, and the prisoner, meet us here? We need as many people as possible to go to Tenpenny Tower so we can get it back."

[Flipout6]

Versing interjected about the "Take it back" part.

"Hey, hold on a second. I want to walk in there and kick some major Legion hide as much as the next guy, but a force capable of taking over Tenpenny Tower is either very large, or very capable, possibly both. It will also have a very competent leader, who is at at the very least a competent tactician and above-average fighter. Think about it for a second. Several groups of battle-hardened Legionairies, probably with decent firepower, holed up in a fortified tower under the command of an able commander. Tenpenny Tower's security forces probably had some good gear as well, such as combat armor, assault rifles, frag grenades, and this group took them all down. These three, plus Alistair Tenpenny, are the only survivors, security included. If Alistair isn't here, that means they've got him. They'll have him tied to a cross and left up there until he starves, or his wounds get infected. As formidable as we might be, even our group can't take them all down. If we do, at least half of us will be killed. And then what happens if we succeed? The Legion wouldn't do this for nothing. They wouldn't leave a small group in an isolated tower to rot, they'd put them to use, and use the tower as a base. And if they're out here, they want to expand, which means they'll be sending some more men over. We'd be celebrating our victory over what, fifty Legionairies? And then a Cohort or eight will show up right on the doorstep, thousands of Legionairies. What would we do then? I've fought the Legion more than anybody else in the group, except maybe Morgan. I know something about their tactics. And besides, some of that is basic military strategy. Why hold down a fort that won't be used? Why waste the men to attack it? You need to think about this before you go making rash decisions." Versing's inner military general came out for a minute, the inner part of him he always used when he was leading his squad back West, as a Master Corporal of the NCR military. Now he was trying to lead his group a little, at least away from unnecessary sorrow and death.

[DemonLady]

Cathy sighed, defeated, but then an idea popped into her head.

 

"Wait! They use tactics like disguising to kill people silently, right?

[Flipout6]

Versing cocked his head to one side, then the other, and answered.

"Only occasionally. Caesar's Legion is not a group of assassins, they prefer their targets to know who's just stabbed them in the gut, and they prefer to show their true colours. They do occasionally use it, but they'll suspect something if there's suddenly an extra legionairre walking around, or even a slave. They're going to be keeping tabs on their people over there, because they don't have many to lose. Still more than enough to defeat us, though. Don't get any more rushed ideas. Think them through. Plan for any eventuality you can think of, and then run your plan through with your friends, hopefully they'll spot a flaw to fix. I can tell already that you're probably going to do something really, really dangerous." He looked somewhat exasperated, although he could understand why she would want to do this.

[boneless1]

Vlad followed both Versing and Cathy to Fairfax, the wounded Morgan was being carried by those two and Vlad walked some paces behind them, his rifle in his arms and his eyes peering through the defiling wasteland. Vlad was quiet, he kept to himself and only the thoughts running through his mind from the sigh of Morgans gouged out eye. Once he heard versing speak to Cathy of tactics he grinned.

 

"We don't want to be lead to an unnecessary blood shed, either way tenpenny is a rat and a monster. He was cruel, who gives a damn about the tower..but what I know i'm going to do is break into a mans armory, load up on weapons and supplies. Then i'm going to do my business with the legionaries. Which is why I point out the faster I get this man killed the faster we get out hands on an able and fully stocked armory with many conventional explosives and weapons. Which is why we should get Morgan on his feet and fast..If the legion is truly coming it's best to be more prepared with weapons that make things go boom and bang rather then running in with a gun that goes pew and pow." Vlad spoke loud so he could be understood clearly, he then awaited their answer.