Chapter 180 - Sabotage

Afton just raises a brow at the man, did the Kings have a spy in their midst or something? Maybe he'd given himself away somehow? "What do you mean?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you, now get, we don't need your kind around here." he says with more force than before.​​

"You don't even know me, though you probably should with all I've done lately." he says, hoping that they'd recognise him and expedite his task somewhat... He wasn't all that interested with talking with these people if he were honest.

The man just shakes his head, "Kid, you could've castrated Caeser and I still wouldn't give a shit. Now fuck off before shit gets nasty."

Afton's about to start threatening and throwing around lead when someone else steps in to intervene.

"Garrick, what're you doing?" a man asks in a monotone voice.

"Just teaching this kid what's what around here Si-Emory." the man named Garrick says, correcting himself mid-sentence.

Afton looks at the man called Emory up and down... They seemed, weird. To say the least. They had brown greying hair and a clean-shaven face. The only other thing of note was that they wore all black clothes. Black boots, black hat, black jacket, black gloves... One might think he belonged to one of those Emo bands...

Emory walked up and extends his left hand for a handshake, "Sorry about him, seems to think 'defending the place' means scaring away any who comes near. I'm Emory by the way."

Afton nods while idly noticing the man's eyes. Most men had a regular mix of emotions whenever he saw their eyes. Though, few had clear differences... Men like Karl and Boone had clear determination while this man? His eyes were kind, yet somewhat jaded... Strange, if it weren't for his Perception and Speech skill he wouldn't have noticed. "Afton... What's with the outfit?" he can't help but say, no matter how rude it might seem.

Emory looks down and shrugs, "Oh this? I just like wearing it." he states, not giving anything away. "So, what has the Executioner of Slavers and other unmentionables come here for? I'll tell you right now that no-one who lives here meets the criteria for your wrath." he quickly explains.

Afton snorts, "I have known criteria now?"

Emory nods, "Well, from what I heard you were pretty clear about it. 'Slavers, rapists, pedophiles, etc."

"Ah... Yeah, I did say something like that..." he mutters, having not realised how widespread his declaration had become. Shaking his head he decides to get on with his main task, "So, this building has been taken by the NCR right?"

Emory raises a brow at him before shrugging, "I suppose you could say that, why're you asking though?"

Afton hums to himself, wondering how to go about this... His brute force method had worked thus far, and he could feel that this guy was more reasonable than the others... "I've been sent by the Kings to negotiate with the NCR, the King specifically wants to know why NCR civilians are coming here in droves, as well as the sudden hostility from the NCR." Afton explains, leaving out the less honest tasks the King had given him.

"Sudden hostility? Is that what he calls it? Man must have tougher skin than I thought." Emory mutters to himself, "There is no 'sudden hostility', the NCR sent an ambassador to the Kings and they were almost murdered for their trouble. I don't know what games they're playing but it ain't one with cards, let me tell you that."

"The NCR sent an ambassador? I don't think the King knows anything about that..."

Emory shakes his head, "Someone must be keeping secrets then, go tell the King that the NCR tried to start talks, come back to me afterwards with his response... I'm the 'unofficial' leader around here so I'm able to speak on the NCR's behalf." he says, clearly not willing to reveal more to Afton.

Afton just nods, "Alright, atleast now I've got a lead on what's going on around here... I'd also like to know why NCR civilians are moving in?"

"I'll tell you when you get back with good news." Emory states, not willing to budge on the subject.

Afton reluctantly leave the place, all the while getting glared at by the NCR civilians as he drives off on Dirt-Bird. Once he gets back to the Kings place he briskly walks inside, intent or seeing the King.

Pacer scowls at him but opens the door regardless, knowing that the King had sent him on a job.

Afton spots the King sitting in the same chair as previous, he sits down opposite him and taps to table to get his attention away from the stage... Afton wasn't sure why watching someone do their best to impersonate Elvis was interesting, especially since there must've been hundreds of Kings roaming around. "Yo."

"Hm? So you're back... I have to say, you're pretty quick youknow. So lay it on me, how'd the job go." the King replies after taking a sip of his drink.

Afton glances around to see if anyone was listening in before speaking in a low ton e, "Yeah, you've got a problem, but it isn't with the NCR... Apparently they sent an Ambassador down to negotiate a while ago, but they were almost murdered in return. You know anything about that?"

The King's eyes widen and it would've been comical if the subject matter wasn't so dire. "The hell? I never ordered anythin' like that, never even heard that they'd sent one of their own down here." he glowers while contemplating, "Seems like someone's tryin' to start things with the NCR, don't know why, we'd lose if we started fightin', that's for sure... You learn anything else?"

Afton shakes his head, "I'm planning to return later with whatever message you intend to send. They leader seems... Rational, so as long as you can sort out whoever's trying to cause trouble I reckon you can work something out without it leading to further escalation."