Chapter 108 - Conspiracy Theorist

Afton looks to Logan, "What're you here for?"

...​​

Logan glares at him, "Well that's none of your fuckin' business. You may be from the NCR, but you don't hold authority over us."

Afton shakes his head, "We're working for the NCR, but we aren't with them... Right now, it's just wastelander to wastelander." he says, tension filling the air.

"If you're not from the NCR then get the fuck out, this place is ours, we find it first. The Crimson Caravan will loot this place clean, and afterwards, you can pick up what's left." he states.

Afton frowns, "The Crimson Caravan wouldn't happen to have provided keys to some of the town's buildings... Would they?"

[Spies Guise is in effect]

One of the hired gun's unconsciously nod, "They migh-"

Logan glares at him, "Shut the fuck up! When McLafferty said keep it covert and her name outta it, she didn't mean spout her secrets to the nearest-... Fuck!" he exclaims, only now realising that he himself had dropped the ball.

"Well, now you know something you shouldn't, you won't be leaving this place." Logan says, grabbing his gun and-

*BANG!*

[John Wick Style is in effect]

Afton had drawn Lucky faster than the other men could blink and fired a shoot through Logan's brain, killing him instantly.

[Scare a humanoid shitless. 4/50]

He looks at the other men who didn't dare reach for their weapons, "Well? You gonna follow your friend? Go ahead, make my day." Afton says, inwardly fanboying at finally getting to use that phrase.

The three remaining men raise their hands above their hands, expressions locked in abject terror. Afton nods in satisfaction, "Now, you lot'll walk outta here, and never speak about this to anyone. 'Specially not whoever McLafferty is, got it?"

They quickly nod and start slowly walking towards the staircase, their hands still above their hands... Afton glances towards Karl and winks.

*BANGBANGBANG!*

Lucky fires out three shots all penetrating the skulls of the unfortunate souls who'd encountered it. The basement goes silent as all enemies were dispatched, Afton tosses out the empty shells and reloads Lucky while turning. "No loose ends, right?"

Karl nods, "Yeah, seems like you're learnin'. Best they didn't leave, gettin' on the wrong side of the Crimson Caravan would spell a lotta trouble... Though, whether getting the opportunity to loot the town was worth killin' those men is up in the air." he says.

"Let's make sure no one knows who killed these guys then... But first let's see if they have anything on them." Afton says and starts rifling through their belongings.

They find a couple 9mm SMG's, Rad X's, Ammo, and a chock-full keyring on Logan. Neither knew why the Crimson Caravan would have access to the locked buildings around the town, but it sounded like the start of some conspiracy.

Afton kicks Logan's corpse outta the way and sits down in front of the terminal he was trying to gain access to. Unlike the hired gun's, he was well enough acquainted with computer technology to hack it.

He took his time in order to go through the code in an attempt to find the password, getting locked out would stop him ever seeing what was held inside it... Well, unless he found where the database was being held and took it apart. That would be difficult though as this world's technology forced computer databases to be about as large as a room depending on how large they were.

In the end he managed to crack the code and was greeted with some updates on the supplies. This was obviously before the town was irradiated... Apparently there used to be radiation suits held in here, which would probably be what Logan was looking for. Unfortunately for them, someone seems to have stolen them and headed up to Nipton-... Oh.

"Er, we seem to have stolen the radiation suits these guys were looking for." he says, causing Karl to start chuckling.

"I almost feel bad for them... Almost."

The fact that the Crimson Caravan knew that Radiation suits would likely be held here only gave credence to his thought that a conspiracy was afoot... Or maybe he was overthinking it? They're traders and may have sold the NCR the radiation suits in the first place.

The duo grab two backpacks from the dead Crimson Caravan mercs and start stuffing them full of the supplies held within here. There was a huge amount to take and so they were stuck grabbing only the most valuable and weight efficient items. Ammunitions, chems, small arms, etc.

Afterwards they dump the four bodies outside of the church where some ghouls would probably devour them, removing any and all evidence of the duo's involvement. The two then proceed to lug the full backpacks back to the NCR encampment.

Sargeant Astor greets them as he sees them come in, giving an inquiring gaze towards the new backpacks they seemed to have. "A profitable trip I take it?"

Afton nods, and reaches into his satchel, "You have no idea." he states as he drops the irradiated dogtags into the man's hand.

He looks down at the almost forty tags and his eyes moisten slightly, "Thank you... Here," he hands off a bag of 400 caps.

"Don't worry about it. If you're still willing to pay we'll continue to deal with the ghouls... There's still quite a lot wandering around." Afton says, not letting the man know they'd probably get rid of them anyway while looting the town.

Sargeant Astor nods, "If you could I'd be grateful, if you need somewhere to stay the night we got a couple free beds in the tent. I don't think anyone would mind you taking them. Oh, your gear is in the tent aswell, no one's touched them.

Afton nods at him, "Thanks."

Just as the duo are about to enter the tent, time freezes and Afton is greeted with an all too familiar notification.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 13]

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 14]

"Huh, neat."