Chapter 149 - Capped Knee's For Caps

He's surprised the Legion hasn't started sending assassins after them yet? Hmm... Afton wasn't sure how much notoriety you needed to gain with the Legion for them to start sending kill squads at you.

Checking his reputation he found he was [Shunned] by the Legion. To be honest, it wasn't really clear what this meant, but shunning a person didn't immediately make you hostile against them. Hopefully he wouldn't have to watch his neck for a while.​​

That brings another thought to mind, he was still lugging around that axe he'd picked up in Search Light, since this guy supposedly knew almost everyone who passed here, he must know when Tamia arrived... If she arrived that is.

"Hopefully I won't have to deal with any assassins until later... Ah, by the way, have you seen a woman named Tamia go through here lately? Tanned skin, wields an axe, vault suit." he asks.

Samuel slowly nods, "Yeah, came through here a couple days ago, headed to Boulder City, came back, then left for New Vegas. Took that weird robe girl as well."

"Weird robe girl?" Afton asks in confusion.

"Yeah, robe was pulled so tight over her head you couldn't see what colour her hair was. I'm guessin' she was some sort of spy due to how interested she got whenever the news came in. That or she was just really bored..."

A spy who doesn't like people looking at her hair... Why does that sound familiar? "What was their name?"

Samuel shrugs, "Never asked, I'm not usually scared of women, but when one's walking around with one o' those power fists I know when to keep my mouth shut. Don't know why she was so interested in leavin' with that Tamia girl though."

"A power fist huh? Hmm. Ah, sorry for not buying anything, I'll come back later and get some food. Thanks for the info." Afton says as he stands and leaves.

Honestly, you'd think she would at least try to disguise herself when she belonged to a faction hostile to the NCR... Dislike of her hair, spy, power fist. That has Veronica written all over it.

A wry smile appears on his face as he thinks about reuniting with her. It'd been a while since they'd last spoken, he didn't want to have to explain himself to a raging Veronica if she heard about him leaving without giving his own story first.

She was travelling with Tamia though, which meant they were headed for the New Vegas strip to kill that checkered suit douche. Hopefully they wouldn't do anything stupid and get hurt in the process.

He'd try to catch up with them, but that's for later. Right now he has a market full of random tech to look through. He walks down the overpass and circles around to visit the highly populated grouping of traders.

Most of the people here were trying to buy or peddle food, supplies, or ammunition. He supposed that weaponry was handled by that arms merchant ontop of the overpass. The NCR wouldn't likely be willing to seed all means of controlling firearms. Though, if his eyes weren't mistaken there was a funky-looking group cuffing money from people and discreetly handing firearms to them. Whether it was just a black market kinda deal or they had permission Afton didn't know... He'd not buy anything from them though as the prices would probably be jacked up, best just to head to the Gunrunners for that.

A few things did immediately catch his attention though, propped up against a wall a robot with broken knees was sat next to its owner as the man tried to sell it off. No one seemed willing to buy though as a crippled robot was next to useless.

"Y-you there, would you buy this? It's very useful! It can speak, shoot, hell, there's probably a lot more that I haven't found out yet." they say, looking hopefully at Afton.

Afton just raises a brow though, was the fact the robot could talk even a benefit? Not to mention even if he did buy it, how would he take it with him... His bike only had three seats after all... Hmm...

A lightbulb suddenly appeared above his head as he stifled the grin that was making its way to his face. "Protectron? Do you have any other functions that we are unaware of?" he asks the robot, knowing that eliminating its potential would be key to lowering the price.

"This unit is only designed for protection. Additions can be made but it is recommended to ask the advice of a RobCo mechanic before attempting this." it states, causing its owner to frown.

Afton looks to the man, "How much for it?"

"I-er-hmm, 200 caps-No, 2000 caps!" he stutters out, correcting himself after he gave a price he considered too low... Truly, how did this imbecile find the robot in the first place.

Afton just scoffs and shakes his head, "2000 caps? Fuck off." he states and walks away, the man immediately tries calling him back but he doesn't even glance behind him. He'd come back for the robot later, he knew no one would buy it, and if they did it'd only be for scrap parts. The man would be desperate to sell it so he'd get a good price when he returned.

After leaving the man to stew he continued walking around the market place, occasionally stopping at a stall to see the wares people were peddling. He'd purchased a few mechanical components that he'd use for his future plan with that broken Protectron, as well as a plasma mine that someone wanted to get rid of.

Of course, it was defective and would instantly explode if you tried to activate it, so Afton got a good price for it. His [Mechanicus] Perk would make sure it'd work properly when he needed it.

As he was walking one thing did catch his eye though, a man sitting on the outskirts of the market had a few small items placed in front of him. Everyone who passed ignored him, and it was easy to see why... He had pieces of scrap metal and smooth-looking rock... And that was it.