Ain't that a Kick in the Head?

[tokyobiohazard]

Ferox thanked Morgan and took a single deep gulp from the canteen, grateful for the cool water on his tongue. He heard all the commotion about whether or not he could be trusted, and simply gave a blank stare at the ground in front of him. He wasn't going to respond to any of it. It was ridiculous to dispute it, because he could never change Versing's opinion of someone who has been in the Legion.

 

Axelle, on the other hand, felt a twinge of agitation at Versing's stubborn attitude, "Cathy's right, you know." She stepped in front of him and looked into his haggard green eyes, only a few inches from matching his height. Jamming a finger into his chest with enough force to jam her finger, she narrowed her eyes, "Where do you get off acting like this? Does it make you feel big and bad to declare the supposedly ill intentions of a man who, when completely alone with a fifteen year old girl, decided to save her life and roll with all the punches all of you people have given him since then? You stubborn, close-minded, paranoid, old..." She grit her teeth together and growled ferally in her throat, glaring up at Versing while pulling at her hair. "You make me so angry, I can't even think of the words to express myself with. He could very well have killed that Raider, freed himself, and then brutally raped me, knocked me up, and taken me for his bride. Instead, he put up with all this bullcrap because he finally saw a way out." She smiled angrily, laughing humorlessly. The girl looked back into Versing's eyes, "Sure, you don't buy a word of it. Sure, all you're probably thinking is how best to kill me because I touched you. That makes you just as bad as the Legion, though. You're all killers. All I'm saying is, watch your tone. Or I'll break your fingers next." Chips licked at her hand, whining as she walked away gritting her teeth. She wondered what would happen if she turned and tried to punch Versing... But she ignored that urge.

 

"Nah," Ferox began, drawing something that looked like a puppy in the dirt with his index finger, "I'm a bad dog, a real savage puppy. A double agent. I should probably kill myself right here. It's hopeless, I know too much. The confines of my mind swell and overflow with the vast knowledge of every thought Caesar himself ever had." He chuckled. "No need to get so worked up over me. I do, however, find it surprising that you trust those two strangers over there. Since when do so many people scavenge the wastes in the same place at the same time?" He handed the water bottle back to Morgan, knowing the he must feel the same suspicions.

Edited July 31, 2012 by tokyobleach

[MikeRyan]

Morgan put his watter bottle back in his pack and nodded at ferox "Yeah, that is what confuses me a bit, sure they might just be friends who thought "Hey let's go scav!" but I highly doubt it to be honest. I'm gonna keep an eye on them so they dont do something stupid."

[Flipout6]

Versing was glad he was wearing an NCR chestplate, otherwise getting poked in the chest hard enough to crack Axelle's fingers would more than likely have hurt him.

"Or, he was clever enough to realize that if he tried to rape you, he'd have everybody in the group jumping down his throat. From what I've seen so far, Ferox may turn out to be the General Wait-and-See Oliver of the Legion. He was with the Legion's best, Caesar's assassins. That means that not only is he a skilled fighter, but he's loyal. He could be the most skilled fighter in the Legion, but if he wasn't loyal he wouldn't get past the rank of Veteran Legionairy, because they wouldn't trust him with anything other than cracking skulls. You don't give him enough credit, Axelle. He's strong, agile, loyal, and possesses at least enough brains to not try anything stupid....yet. I'm not trying to compliment him, I'm being realistic. As for me? Stubborn, yes. Paranoid, yes. Not old yet, and if I was as close-minded as most of the people in the NCR, I'd be trying to force all of you to join the NCR, and declaring war on you if you didn't." Axelle walked away from him, accusing him of thinking about the best way to kill her, simply for touching him. That was one step too far, and it brought up memories of the Bitter Springs Massacre. "HEY! you hold on a minute, you inconsiderate adolescent punk." It took the full extent of his self-control, as well as the memory of the child from Bitter Springs, and the fact that Axelle was just a teenager, to stop him from grabbing her by the front of the shirt and throwing her at the wall. Instead, he stormed after her and copied her movement of bringing his face an inch or so away from hers. "I would never, ever, shoot a child. I'm here trying to dispose of a threat to the entire group, and you come right up to me, compare me to the Legion, and accuse me of being a childkiller. What gives you the right to do that? The fact that you broke his fingers? Oh, great job, He can't pull a trigger quite as easily now." He was furious, and his eyes were half-crazy. He maintained eye contact with her until he remembered that he already WAS a childkiller, intentional or not. He backed up a little, and his eyes filled with tears before he looked away.

"And as for YOU, Legion scumbag, I never said I trusted these two yet. Shut your mouth, before I shoot a bullet through it." He turned his back towards Axelle and the rest of the group, and mumbled almost incoherently under his breath "........Killed too many already........"

[MikeRyan]

Morgan decided that enough was enough and stepped betwen Axelle and Versing to stop their bickering "That's quite enough now, both of you. I'm not more comfortable with trusting a legionary than you are Versing, but I sure have no intention on shooting him, but considering how long he has been with us, the legion might think he has betrayed them so he proboably can't return to them. So thats why I hink we should keep him alive for now. Besides I was thinking of asking him a few questions. Now if you two don't stop bickering, I'm going to stitch both of your mouths shut so we can get some peace and quiet in this camp for atleast a few minutes! I might be a calm person but if I get angry then the maker have mercy on your soul, cause I'll beat the snot out of you."

 

Morgan had quite enough of fighting for one day now so he gave them both a warning look

 

"got it?"

Edited July 31, 2012 by MikeRyan

[tokyobiohazard]

Axelle gulped, "I got carried away. That's all. Sorry, Versing. I just... Dammit, I'm a teenage girl, do you need any more explanation than that?"

[Zephyr2011]

It had been about a day since the mercenaries first came to Mark's doorstep. Ordinarily he would worry about running out of supplies but he knew that the mercenaries didn't just stroll out here and make a large encampment with seven people without any food or water. Unless they were somehow absorbing life from all the bullets they had, they were eating something and had plenty of it. None of the normal signs of grouchiness that accompanied rationing or the squabbling for more supplies or luxury items like cigarettes and narcotics. These mercs were intending on staying here for a long time. A very long time he noticed some equipment that could be used for setting up different electronic devices like one of the large power packs, similar to those used for powering Gatling Lasers and miniguns. The mercenaries had been busy laying more mines and setting more traps between forays into the ruins. Mark hadn't just been sitting idly by though.

 

Mark had been keeping a sharp watch from his high tower and last night he had descended into some of the lower levels of the tower, closer to the fourteenth floor where there were many vending machines for the building's inhabitants before the war. Here he had found several bottles of Nuka-Cola, no quantum unfortunately though. But Nuka-Cola still glowed brilliantly and was still quite radioactive and could still be used for a few home-brew explosives. Not nearly as potent as the quantum grenades he had learned about when talking with the occasional traders and caravaners that he had seen during his time near the Arlington Library. The supply closet on his home floor had some other supplies he could make use of like different cleaners and various other supplies including paint, which although mostly useless did usually come with a thinner like turpentine.

 

All day Mark had been tinkering with cans and other containers, mixing Nuka-Cola, abraxo-cleaner, turpentine and a few other agents he had worked with before. He experimented on the back side of the Apartment building, a floor down where the explosions couldn't be seen or heard down below by the mercenaries. Finally he settled on a good explosive that didn't do much damage but made an obnoxious bang and glowed like the sun. He didn't have a Geiger counter but he was pretty confident the radiation was minimal. Which was ideal for his situation.

 

That evening Mark spotted a group of Supermutants, conveniently placed close to the mercenaries but too far away for the groups to see one another. Mark was about to change that. As the sun dipped beyond the horizon he hurled one of his light-bombs with all his might towards the super mutants. he knew he would come up short, but he also knew how loud it would be and how bright the explosion would be. To his satisfaction he could barely make out the super mutants turning their heads toward the explosion and ready their guns. He continued this process but reduced the distance of each throw. He only had a few, maybe a half dozen, so it was crucial that he was on point every time. Finally he threw his last grenade within sight of the mercenaries and hopefully the mutants. This did the trick.

 

Lasers and tracer rounds lit up the night sky as about four super mutants assaulted the five remaining talon mercenaries. As the mutants charged one was obliterated by the mines ringing the mercenary encampment and another had its leg severely injured and hobbled behind cover. Mark observed patiently as the fire-fight continued. One of the mercenaries went down just after letting loose a grenade that landed in the lap of the crippled mutant. The two remaining mutants continued a frontal assault marching through the debris from the mine field. The mercenaries had been foolish about the field's layout and most of the mines had gone off at the same time from successive explosions. Two of the mercenaries began a flanking maneuver to pincer the super mutants. One of the mutants noticed and obliterated the left individual of the flanking movement. The other mutant wasn't so lucky and took a stream of lead to the face. While it didn't kill the mutant it did blind it and as it flailed in pain, clutching its eyes with one hand it sprayed its laser rifle's fire everywhere, crippling its assailant's right, and trigger, arm. As the blinded mutant flailed the two remaining healthy mercenaries pumped it full of bullets, bringing the beast down. The final mutant was clearly the smartest and kicked what appeared to be one of the only remaining mines directly into the legs of one of the two healthy mercenaries, blowing her sky high. The final healthy mercenary panicked and began just firing into the mutant's chest. This of course, did not help. The mutant blew the talon mercenary's head off with ease and turned towards the crippled Talon who ran into the rubble.

 

As dawn broke, so did the rubble directly below Mark's rope. The final mercenary had been running from the mutant and had tripped on a pile of rock far below Mark. The mutant didn't let its victim linger, and promptly stomped on his legs before bashing in the poor soul's skull with the butt end of a laser rifle. Unfortunately for the mutant, Mark wasn't merciful either. Mark flew down the rope in his climbing harness and grinned with a devil-may-care attitude as he landed on the super mutant's shoulders. The beast seemed to jerk in shock at the sudden weight on its shoulders. It reached up to bat away its antagonist but it was too slow. Mark jammed his left hand into the mutant's corresponding eye, partially blinding it then thrust the hooked end of his trusty crowbar into the mutant's other eye. As the beast howled in pain, Mark grasped the other end of the crowbar with both hands and heaved backwards with all his might. A sickening crunch rent the air as the mutant's skull gave way and its brain slowly oozed out of what was left of the mutant's cranial cavity. Gradually the giant mass of muscle slackened slightly and collapsed under its own girth and Mark leaped off to go enjoy the spoils of his covert war.

[MikeRyan]

Morgan nodded at Axelle and let off a small smile "That's better kiddo, figthing among ourself is the first step to destruction you know? So just keep calm and keep Ferox, he's halfway to a full member of our group now so killing him would be dumb."

[BaldurAnthology]

Sandro arrived at an entrance to the metro tunnels and decided to camp out here. The ferals left him alone, so he just made a fire, lit his pipe, and hunkered down to wait.

 

Tomoyo was really starting to get angry at all this bickering. "I say we stop bickering amongst ourselves here, and get moving! In case none of you noticed, Sandro just left on his own because he got fed up of it! Perhaps that should have sent a clear message? We shouldn't waste time here! We have an armory to scavenge, as well as the whole capital wasteland ahead of us to scavenge! Why are we not doing so? If we don't get moving soon, I may end up going after Sandro. at least then I can be certain he is safe. If I get attacked, at least I won't be this bored of sitting around doing jack-all waiting for someone to get their thumb out of their behind and get us moving! Kami no tame ni, hitobito ga sore o issho ni eru!" (for god's sake, get it together people!) Breathing heavily from this tirade, while she hadn't been shouting, she had been talking rather forcefully, and longer than she normally would. She blushed deeply and withdrew, nervous that someone would turn on her.

[DemonLady]

"I agree. We should jet before Roughface gets too far ahead of us and we lose him. Let's just agree to disagree and settle with this: Ferox, if you try ANYTHING stupid, we'll all be on you like radiation on a Feral Ghoul Reaver. You capiche, amigo? As for you, little Asian--" Cathy cut herself off to plant a good, wet kiss on her, holding it for a moment. "--you are so. Now let's blow this brahmin burger stand and get the show on the road!" She ended off by patting Axelle on the head playfully, clearly a gesture to say it's okay.

[Flipout6]

Versing turned back around to face the group for a second, after composing himself.

"What about the NCR agent? She could die any second now, and she could be a valuable addition to the group if we manage to revive her. Megaton ain't far, I could carry her to Doc Church and then catch up with you guys. I've made it all the way to this side of the country on my own, I can handle anything in those sewers. Unless any of you have a better idea...."

"Me and Skyler could go with you." Jay said. Versing shook his head.

"I won't be taking two armed strangers with me alone into the wilderness, especially if carrying the trooper has already rendered me defenseless. Go with these guys. As for the rest of you, if you want to think about it, take a little bit to decide. I haven't made anything that goes boom in a while, and I still need to armor up my arms and legs.. I'll be looking around the area for materials and stuff. Belts, sensor modules, the like."

 

He turned back around and walked towards the nearest building, (what used to be a store, looked like) with his assault rifle in his hands. He hoped he would find something good, like pre-made explosives or a suit of armor. He hadn't been able to find a good shotgun among all the mercenary bodies, which irked him a little. For whatever reason, he liked shotguns. He could tell already that the building was probably devoid of murderous creatures, so he payed a bit more attention to looking around. He ran a mental list in his head of what he would need for armor upgrades, coming up with something to attach the straps to his clothes, such as glue, and scraps of armor or shapeable metal. The Capital Wasteland was much cooler than the Mojave, so overheating wouldn't be a problem. Paint wouldn't be a bad idea, either, so that he could camouflage the armor a bit more. He did manage to find two belts, so he would be able to attach knee-pads or something as soon as he got some metal. Afterwards, he looked around for something he could use to make explosives. In the maintenance closet he found duct tape, and a lunchbox was resting on a table out front, beside a pair of cherry bombs. So far, so good. He had plenty of caps, so he just needed a couple cherry bombs and then BAM, he would have a bottlecap mine. He was lucky enough to find two still-full bottles of vodka in a cabinet in the back, and a cloth on a kitchen table. (Looked like there was living space in the back, while the shop was in front.) He used his knife to cut the cloth in half, and then emptied out a little bit of the wine bottles onto the cloth. He stuffed the cloths in each bottle, and tucked them into his belt. He now had a pair of molotov cocktails, and if he found some cherry bombs, he would have a mine as well. Versing wasn't an expert bomb-maker, but he could make improvised explosives just fine. He walked back out the door, about two minutes later after he first entered.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Flipout6