Chapter 182 - What's A King Without A Crown? Or A Head...

Try as he might, Afton couldn't get any of the Kings to listen to him. Their adrenaline was pumping and they were driven by a misguided sense of justice... Or was it revenge? Either way, there was only one way this could end. It was whether or not Afton could salvage whatever relationship the Kings had left with the NCR...

If the Kings were left to their devices they'd eventually be wiped out, not without dealing a huge amount of damage to the NCR on the other side though. After this, the NCR would probably regroup and create a task force to deal with the rest of the Kings.​​

After that, they'd take control of Freeside and try to police it themselves... And fail spectacularly due to their severe lack of man-power. The Legion was still knocking on their doors, and they had no resources to expend on governing Freeside.

Of course, there was another option... Though, Afton wasn't sure if it was the correct decision to make, or indeed if he had to make it... He shakes his head and activates VATS, needing more time to decide.

While time is frozen he goes over the probable results of whatever actions he'd take... He already had semi-good relations with Emory, and he was still technically employed by the King. Afton was the only person who could deal with this 'properly'.

Afton stops VATS and drawn Lucky from its holster, pointing it at the back of one of the King's heads.

*BANG!*

The man drops like a drunk fly, though due to the continual sound of gunshots no one else seemed to notice.

*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*

[John Wick Style is in effect]

Afton had emptied his revolver into the Kings, and only now had some of them noticed that their friends were dying. They quickly turned around to engage him but found themselves looking down the barrel of That Gun.

*BANG!*

His bullet passed through the King's skull, causing them to drop the 9mm submachine gun they were using. The other Kings immediately opened fire on him but he agilely threw himself over some concrete rubble, the enemy bullets kicking up dust as they missed him.

"DAMN TRAITOR!" a King shouts as he runs up to his cover, not realising that Afton wasn't someone to be trifled with, especially by a raged fueled wannabe-gangster.

They jump on top of the rubble and points their gun over it in search of Afton, unfortunately, his new Perk [Blur], had allowed him to almost vanish momentarily. The King was shocked to find Afton pulling him by his throat over the cover, That Gun pressed in his mouth as he squeezed the trigger.

*BANG!*

The NCR had stopped firing by now, not having a clue at what was going on. The Kings had suddenly stopped engaging them and there seemed to be a fight happening on their side. They continued to fortify their position in-case this lull in combat abruptly ended.

Afton himself was struggling to get a shot in, there were around thirty Kings who'd all turned their attention to him, peppering his cover with an egregious amount of lead. Surely they'd run out eventually, right?

Using [Blur] he sneaks a small distance away from where he'd been hiding and pops his head up momentarily while using VATS.

The Kings had hidden themselves in between some buildings in the alleyways that'd block line of sight from him and the NCR watchtower. There were a few hiding behind some ruined pre-war vehicles as well, though, Afton had just the thing for that.

Stopping VATS and reaching behind him, he equips his Anti-Material rifle and loads it, putting one slightly different bullet in his mouth for quick access. The Kings were still shooting his previously known position, attempting to suppress him from moving... If he were anyone else they'd have succeeded... Unfortunately.

*BANG!!!!*

They'd started a fight they weren't going to finish. His rifle explodes like an angry thunder god as his .50 calibre bullet easily tears through the pre-war vehicle's metal doors. Striking a King in their chest as they fall to the ground missing a huge portion of their chest and lungs.

Afton fires again at the other King hiding behind the same car, the bullet hitting the chassis and diverting its trajectory, missing the target... It wasn't all bad though, the pieces hit by the bullet turned into pseudo-shrapnel and peppered the man all over his body, pieces striking him in the throat and causing him to go down too.

The Kings had located his current position and started firing again, only for Afton to load his 'special' bullet. He aims at an alleyway containing five or six Kings and fires, not at them, but at the wall behind them.

*BANG!!*

*KABOOM!*

The bullet explodes on contact and instantly kills one of the Kings standing nearby the wall, their body looking like a red-water balloon as it implodes. That's not all though, the debris from the destroyed wall injures a few of the others, and the building begins to creak as the rest of the structure struggles to retain its stability.

The Kings aren't able to get away fast enough as the entire thing collapses on top of them, if the weren't dead from the impact, they'd suffocate under the rubble... All in all, the former option would be preferable.

Upon seeing Afton's brutal dismantlement of their forces, the other Kings immediately start shouting to surrender. Throwing their weapons towards him and dropping to their knee's in hopes that they'd be spared.

Afton wasn't a fool though, he didn't trust them at all and knew one would likely try to shoot him in the back. "TOSS YOUR WEAPONS AWAY AND CRAWL TOWARDS MY POSITION IF YOU WANT TO LIVE! IF I SEE A WEAPON ON YOU I'LL EXECUTE YOU LIKE I DID THE OTHERS!" he shouts, wanting those that'd surrendered to get out of the way in-case more wanted to fight.