Chapter 127 - Boom! Headshot.

Dead Sea was a Legionary decanus, he had been put in charge of this camp called Nelson but was still unsure whether it was truly useful to the greater whole of the empire. He was sure his talents could be used elsewhere... But so boldly questioning Caesar's orders was basically asking for death.

As of now, he made use of his off time by torturing the feckless NCR soldiers they'd captured. He wasn't afraid of retaliation as their enemy had a long history of being weak and indecisive in moments such as this... This was also the reason he wouldn't kill their hostages until they acquired new ones.​​

His scouts updated him daily on the movements of the NCR, and he took much satisfaction to know that they'd watch him mutilate their comrade for hours on end. It's a shame he was forced to send the females off back to the Fort, they could've made much better 'tools' to force the NCR to feel fear and indignant rage.

The NCR was organised and disciplined... A break in their ranks could cause a lot of damage, more so than he himself could alone. And that was saying something.

"You know you'll not leave here alive? I'll continue cutting pieces from you until there's nothing left." Dead Sea taunts at the bloody man strapped to the cross.

The NCR soldier spits at the man, "Bullshit. My friends'll save me eventually, so have your fun while you can." he states, getting pitying looks from the other twenty NCR soldiers on crosses around the area.

They knew that talking back would only aggravate the legionaries further, that's why they stayed quiet... Some hoped they'd be rescued but didn't voice it for fear of getting their captors attention.

Dead Sea snorts at the brave man and cuts another piece of flesh from their leg, "I wonder if they'll come soon enough to save your legs? Or arms? Hmm, maybe I should castrate you to your stupidity from spreading in the future?"

"Fuck you. Just you wait, soon enough you'll feel lead pierce your skul-" *BANG!*

The NCR soldier goes limp as his head explodes, showering everyone nearby in blood. Dead Sea quickly backs away at this and looks around for the cause, it wouldn't be the first time one of his men had executed the hostages, but that didn't seem to be the case this time.

*BANG!*

He turns towards where the bullet had shot and spots another hostage going limp... Whoever it was is trying to kill all of their captured NCR soldiers!

The men strapped to crosses who were watching this happened start weeping. They knew what this was, a ranger had probably been ordered to execute them... They wouldn't betray their country by letting this known, but they weren't happy about it either.

One person broke down completely as the person next to them slouched as their head exploded, "NOO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! PLEASE SOMEONE! STOP PLEASE! STOOOO-"*BANG!*

Dead Sea gritted his teeth and roared at his men, "IT'S A SNIPER! FIND THEM AND RUSH THEIR POSITION! FOR CAESAR!"

The sniper was obviously very talented due to how quickly he was eliminating people. While yes, the targets are tied to crosses, he could tell they were quite far away judging by the sound. It seemed to be coming west but it was hard to be sure.

Forty of his men immediately started running towards the shots with their mongrels following them. Their equipment varied between throwing spears, pistols, rifles, machetes and shotguns. Almost all of which was very poorly maintained. The Legion was known for their melee weapons, and as such their soldiers didn't pay much attention to maintaining their guns, despite the fact these weapons needed maintenance the most.

Boone had just eliminated ten out of the twenty captured NCR soldiers, Afton was using VATS to find the exact distance of their next target, using the frozen time to plan which target was easiest to shoot before moving onto the next.

Boone felt that they made an excellent team, better than he and Manny had ever been. They weren't close at all, but Afton just seemed to know the exact information he needed to easily pull off each shot. That's not to say his considerable skill didn't come into the equation, as without his steady hand even with Afton spotting a lesser man might've missed all these shots.

The Legionary camp was already on the move towards their position, they didn't know the duo's exact position but their mongrels would eventually track them, so they needed to be quick before they were overwhelmed.

*Clack, PING!* he pulled the bolt on his hunting rifle and quickly shoved another round inside.

Afton comes out of VATS and takes a look around their position while giving Boone the next target, "Third captured NCR 1537 meters away." he states while rummaging a hand through his deathclaw leather satchel.

*BANG!*

*Clack, PING!* Boone reloads and gets ready to shoot again.

Afton enters VATS after locating some dynamite. He gets the distance of the next target and relays it to Boone while taking the time to mark out the likely paths the Legion soldiers will take to reach them.

He disables VATS and moves towards one path, "Second NCR 1510 meters." he states as he unfurls a long fuse. Karl had shown him that having more was always better, even if he just needed a short fuse he could always just cut it where he needed it. He ties a couple sticks of dynamite and hides them in various places where approaching enemies wouldn't spot before crawling next to Boone again, finding the next target.

*BANG!*

*Clack, PING!*

*BANG!*

*Clack, PING!*

*BANG!*

*Clack, PING!*

*BANG!*

*Clack, PING!*

Eventually, they'd managed to eliminate all the hostages, Boone looked tense but both knew the fight was far from over.

Afton slaps him on the back, "Chin up, we're shoot at people we actually dislike now." he states with a malicious grin.