Chapter 31

"Welcome to Nipton."

We were standing in front of a man wearing some rather strange clothes for someone that wasn't locked in a cell, then again considering the lack of new clothes maybe he just wears them just so that he wouldn't be naked, rather than being an inmate. At the same, a few of his friends were aiming their weapons at us, specifically at Vito and ED-E.

"What's with the warm welcoming?"

The man glanced at Vito for a few more seconds before he turned to face me.

"We don't see much of his kin around these parts, add the bloody fuck flying eye that you have, and you can see why we are so weary of you."

"The folks at the Mojave Outpost didn't have any problem with either one of my companions. So why are you so hostile to us?"

"Because we aren't the fucking NCR kid! We are Powder Gangers, the best of the best and the only rulers of the Mojave!"

As soon as he said those words he and his men start laughing as if this was some sort of truth for them, then again I doubt these people were not drug addicted, judging by the way most of their hands were shaking and how bloodshot their eyes looked even from here. Just as the powder ganger was about to continue his monologue, a bolt pierced his neck, killing the man on the stop, making all of his friends quickly turn and look for the culprit only to see tens of men wearing red football gear marching towards the town, ready to slaughter everything in their path.

Before they could even react properly, more bolts rained on them taking almost every single powder ganger out, leaving the people of Nipton at the mercy of the legion. Meanwhile, we could only watch how these idiots were killed by the legion without even batting an eye.

Since this wasn't exactly our kind of expertise we quickly turned around, leaving the town in the hands of the legion, after all, we had no obligation to risk our lives for a town that was already going to fall the moment the legion besieged it.

By the time we reached the Outpost, Nipton had already been transformed into a burning mess with smoke easily spotted a few kilometers away from the town. As soon as we reached the top of the hill, Sergeant Kilborn looked at us in shock not expecting to see us anytime soon.

"Usually I'd be glad to see you folks, but considering the smoke that we all can see, I take it something bad happened in Nipton."

"Powder ganger took over it before they were killed by the legion."

"You know what, go and talk with the Major by yourselves. I don't have the nerves to deal with this shit, especially when a bloody offensive will start as soon as the HQ is notified about this."

When we entered Knight's office, the man seemed to have aged a few years, but when he looked at us, I swear I could see the man brighten slightly, before quickly returning to the same hopeless look he had when we entered.

"I've got to say, this isn't exactly the way I would have loved to meet you guys again, but sadly for all of us the legion doesn't exactly care about our feelings."

"I take it you heard the news?"

"Every single one of us saw the smoke and the scouts that were sent there to see what happened only prove our fears. The legion had attacked one of our settlements."

Wait for a second Major, if the NCR knows what happened there why do you sound as if you guys had abandoned the town?"

"You know Dante, being a Major isn't easy, even more so when you have to decide the fate of some folks. My superiors don't care what happens to Nipton since it barely makes the monthly tax the NCR collects, even if I want to save the town, I do not have the necessary amount of troopers for such a task, add the fact that one of the rangers had seen Vulpes inside the town, I'd say that we have no chance of succeeding."

"Vulpes?"

"Vulpes Inculta, the leader of the frumentarii and one of the trusted men Caesar does have in his army. He is one smart bastard that made the NCR bleed every time we fought against him. Because of that, every time he appears, we would rather wait for him to leave than get our troops slaughtered by his wicked tactics."

In the end, there was nothing I could do, and sincerely that made me feel bad. However I wasn't egoistic enough to think that I could save the town alone, especially when there are god knows how many legionnaires in that town.

While I was slotted in my thoughts, Beagle decided to ask Knight what are they going to do.

"So major what is the NCR going to do now?"

"There's nothing we could do for Nipton, but my superiors decided to finally take care of our biggest threat other than the legion, the powder gangers."

"Wait for a second Major. You trooper boys are going to assault the correctional facility?"

"That's the plan, though I hate to admit, we will lose many good men and women for that place."

Just as Vito was about to continue asking the major, I interrupt them with a question.

"And if someone was to go inside the facility and help you guys from within, would the number of casualties decrease?"

"I do not know the answer to that question son, but I know that if you succeed in doing this suicidal mission many good men and women would be saved, and at the same time I might be able to pull some strings with the help of Major Joy making you an official member of the NCR, without doing the whole immigration test ."

That was surprisingly strange even for Knight, then again, Major Joy does seem to like me to some extent. Maybe this is her way of making sure that I would not become an enemy of the NCR, which to be fair would be against what I want to become after all fighting against something like the NCR would either become a slow and painful war of attrition or a total annihilation for my side. For now, though, it seems that I would become a powder ganger.

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