Finder Found
Afton just ignores the weird Elvis look-alikes and glances towards the North Gate... It looked essentially like a giant steel door, it was unlike the New Vegas walls that seemed hastily put together from scrap parts, they seemed specifically designed to keep threats out.
Fortunately they didn't seem locked, indeed, Afton had no idea who was actually in charge of guarding the gate. The Elvis ripoffs didn't seem like official guards, so what would happen if the Fiends suddenly attempt a full-on assault?`
He'd think on this further later, right now though he just wanted to find someplace to rest. He hops off Dirt-Bird and opens the large gate enough for him to be able to get through, closing it ones Dirt-Bird was inside Freeside.
...
Afton hadn't known what to expect when he first heard about Freeside, he'd assumed it was like every other settlement, just regular people and scavengers trying to make a living... But it seems he was wrong, the situation in front of him could only be described as destitute slums.
There was trash all over the place, the large buildings had mostly half-collapsed and he could see many poor-looking people making the ruins their residence. Most looked incredibly sick and malnourished, a good portion of them probably had a litany of incurable ailments, being poor in the wasteland wasn't like in his old world after all... You'd need to scavenge for everything, eating the scraps you could find and drinking the dirtiest radioactive water just to slake your thirst.
This was worse in the Mojave as it was a literal desert. He wondered what the reading would be if he scanned one of those people with his Geiger counter...
That wasn't the worst part though, no, that'd probably be the group of children all chasing a mange-ridden rat.
He watched as they ran past and assumed the creature was their pet or something... Unfortunately, once they caught up to it one of the children batted it over the head with a rusty pipe, knocking it unconscious. That wasn't the end to the horror show though, the gaunt-looking children dropped to their knees and starting tearing the flesh off of it and shoving the most-likely disease-ridden meat into their mouths...
Even Boone had the decency to the look disgusted at the scene before him.
"Is this place always like that? If so, can we leave?" Afton mutters.
Karl shakes his head, "I... It wasn't this bad a couple years ago..."
"The population of Freeside had exploded due to New Vegas becoming active, the war with the Legion prevents the NCR from interfering too much without wasting resources. The gangs mostly keep to themselves though, those men out there, the Kings mostly keep this place peaceful." Boone explains.
The group slowly drive Dirt-Bird through the ravaged streets of Freeside, their destination was the 'business district' and some refer to it, it contains the Atomic Wrangler, Silver Rush weapons store, and a few other miscellaneous businesses that'd somehow managed to survive in this shit-hole.
As they pass by someplace called the 'Old Mormon fort' Afton spots two children playing nearby, a little girl being chased by a young African-American boy, in his hands was some-kind of toy raygun... Though, It looked oddly familiar to him for some reason.
"Put your hands to the sky mister!" they command as they point their gun at Afton.
Afton glances to the others who just snicker at him, he decides to play along and raise his hands. "Alright, alright, have mercy."
The boy nods and extends a hand, "Now give me all your caps."
...
Was he getting robbed by this child? He could feel his self-esteem decreasing at an incredible pace! Shaking his head, he steps off of Dirt-Bird and makes a show of reaching into his pocket, once the child's eyes are drawn towards his left hand his right darts and deftly takes the raygun from the child's hands.
"Now you put your hands up, gimme all your caps." he says playfully, taking a glance at the weapon and freezing when he spots the large glowing Poseidon Energy logo. He remembered where this is from... Helios One!
It was the schematic he'd seen on one of the computers inside the Helios base while he was snooping around Elder Elijah's stuff. It's the Range finder! The device Elijah was trying to find to use again the NCR, this is a game-changer!
[Find RangerFinder for ARCHIMEDES : Complete!]
[Take control of ARCHIMEDES in Helios One]
Afton nods to himself as he begins thinking about how to infiltrate the base, he was sure it'd be heavily fortifi-
"Mister! That's not fair, I'm the good guy and your the bad guy!" the child complains, Afton having forgotten all about him in the excitement of finding the RangeFinder... Why did the kid have this in the first place anyway?
"Good guy? Since when did good guy's try to rob people?" he asks with a raised brow.
"I'm like Robbing Hood! Stealing from the bad guys and giving to myself!" he shouts. "Can I have my gun back?"
Afton rubs his face, wondering a few things... First of all, who teh fuck was Robbing Hood? Some kind of Robin Hood knockoff? Secondly, what could he give the kid to... He nods to himself, that'd work. "Let's make a trade, your fake raygun for this real gun." he says with a grin, tossing the boy a laser pistol, obviously after removing its ammunition.
The child looks at it with wide eyes, "Woo-ow mister, I've seen people shooting these at each other and they were SO COOL! Thanks a lot!" he says before running off and chasing the girl again with his new toy.
Karl just gives Afton a weird look as the kid runs off, "Was that really necessary? I'm all for arming yourself, but giving a child a weapon without any formal training might be a tad over the top... Not to mention that toy isn't worth the trade."
Afton smirks at him, "Trust me Karl, I'd have given the kid my Anti-Material rifle in exchange if he asked for it. This 'toy' is probably worth more than an entire NCR armoury, maybe you'll get to see what it can do in the future." he says ominously, causing Karl and Boone to shrug at one another.