Chapter 202 - Maketh Acquainteth

"They said they'd be scouting one of the Fiend leaders while you rested."

"Huh, trust them not to be idle. Where's my shit?" Afton asks after a moment of thinking, only now realising that his Pipboy was still on his wrist... The mystical properties of the device still amaze and confuse him. He wasn't complaining about it though, making people unaware or unable to remove it would save him a lot of trouble in many situations.​​

Dr Kemp gestures to the footlocker beside the bed, "I'd encourage you to stay in bed for a little longer, there's no need to risk aggravating anything else so soon."

Afton shakes his head at the man's suggestions, "I've got a lot of shit to do, I'll not be relaxing until it's all done. Thanks for patching me up though." he says noncomittally and starts putting on his Recon armour. He checks his Pipboy to see if anything drastic had changed aside from the level up :

Afton Parker

Title : [Executioner of the Wastes], [Free Sheriff], [Fiend's Fiend]

Level : 29

S.P.E.C.I.A.L :

Strength : 8

Perception : 8

Endurance : 7

Charisma : 4

Intelligence : 6

Agility : 10

Luck : 4

Skills :

Barter : 21

Energy Weapons : 100

Explosives : 23

Guns : 100

Lockpick : 10

Medicine : 100

Melee Weapons : 100

Repair : 100

Science : 62

Sneak : 100

Speech : 100

Survival : 30

Unarmed : 33

Perks :

[Trigger Discipline], [Heavy Handed], [Rapid Reload], [Torture Techniques], [Educated], [John Wick Style], [Toughness], [Stonewall], [Sniper], [Bug Stomper], [Lord Death v2], [Spies Guise], [Quick Draw], [Adamantium Skeleton], [Ranger Tactics], [Ranger Targeting], [Ranger Awareness], [Mechanicus], [Jury Rigging], [SuperHot Block], [Solar Powered], [Miracle Maker], [Unnerving Presence], [Living Anatomy], [Agility Implant], [Masterful Movement], [Blur], [Uncivilized Weapon], [Rad Absorbtion]

Companion Perks :

[Old Wisdom]

[Spotter]

Afterwards he looks around for his weapons but notices that he was missing his Anti-Material rifle... In its place sat Karls LMG, along with all its ammunition. "Er, did Karl take my gun?" he asks the doctor who was still trying to persuade him to stay.

"The big sniper? Yeah, he left behind that when they went off scouting."

Afton nods, "Thanks." he mutters as he checks through his backpack to make sure everything was there... It seems that Karl and Boone had cashed in the ears they'd collected from the Fiends, he currently had an extra 1360 caps sitting in a few bags. They must've partitioned his pay and stored it with him. Good guys.

"Alright, thanks doc, I'll be headed out. Take care of yourself." he says, giving a small wave as he left.

Dr Kemp sighs as he slumps in his chair, watching the young man leave. They were probably the means of which he could advance his career, the discovery and recording of someone in mid-mutation was incredibly valuable. And now that they knew he had been a regular human beforehand, the NCR knew it wasn't an inborn gift.

Dr Hildern had suggested that they just file Afton as dead and ship his body back to the main NCR research facility to try and replicate the mutation. He'd almost accepted it, but considered the help Afton had given the NCR in his relatively short time as a bounty hunter. He was sure the kid would do many more great things if left to his own devices and not strapped to a dissection table.

Though, even then, that didn't stop him sending some of Afton's blood off to get it tested and analysed... He didn't think anything would come of it, but it was better to get everything confirmed rather than leave it up to interpretation. Hopefully he'd be able to relay the tests back to Afton in case he has any other potential health risks.

Afton had just left the main building of Camp McCarren and stepped into the area containing the many military tents. NCR troopers were marching from here to there, supplies were being moved, and he could spot mechanics repairing one of those NCR trucks he'd heard so much about.

Walking over he kneels next to someone who only had their legs visible, they were under the truck doing something he couldn't see.

"So, these are the trucks the NCR has huh?" he asks, the person under the truck sitting up in surprise and whacking their head on the bottom of the vehicle. Afton raises a brow when he hears a feminine squeak...

His suspicions were confirmed when they crawled out from under the vehicle, oil-stained their white shirt that looked almost too small for them due to their generous *cough* proportions. To be honest, he should've noticed their gender just by the shape of their legs, they were rather curvaceous after all.

The woman had greasy oil-stained brown hair with a dirty, but well-shaped face. "Erm, did you need something?" she asks as Afton had just been staring at her face for longer than what seemed acceptable.

His eyes widen as he blushes at being caught, truthfully he was trying to look past the dirt and oil covering her to imagine how she'd look underneath it all, but it probably did look creepy from her point of view. "Ah, sorry. just didn't expect someone so cute to be working as a mechanic, oil isn't good for your skin youknow?"

The woman shakes her head while ignoring the sudden compliment, "Yeah? You try to find enough water to shower with around here and I'll clean up. Still, you didn't answer my question."

Afton shrugs, "Just wondering if you wanted any help. I'm pretty good with vehicles." he says, causing her eyes to glint in recognition.

She points rather rudely at hm, "You're that guy with the motorbike!"

"Yea-" he's about to confirm but is interrupted by the now rather excited woman.

"That's so cool! How'd you find the parts for it? Did you rebuild it yourself? Do you have anymore vehicles!?!"

...

"Sorry... I've just not seen any other vehicles apart from this old trucks." she bangs the NCR truck lightly with her fist.

Afton can't help but pounce on the hook she'd just thrown at him, "You're interested in vehicles?"

She nods, "Ever since I was a kid. Read books about racing cars and tanks, I only really joined the NCR for these trucks... Them being the only real vehicles that are still around, though, you seem to have figured out a way to fix that bike up."

"I'd heard a lot about these things, but they don't seem to live up to the hype. A lucky bullet would explode the fuel tank and burn everyone in this thing alive... Just because you paint it green doesn't automatically make it a military vehicle..." he mutters.

She nods, "I know right!? But we can't even add stuff to protect it because the higher-ups say these are 'Antiques' and that adding stuff would decrease their value! How dumb can you get!"

"Soldier! This isn't social hour! Get back to work!" a large man shouts from the side at Afton's new acquaintance, causing her to grimace.

"Ah, sir. I was just discussing a problem with the vehicles integrity with..-" he looks to her, only now realising he'd not learned her name. "Josie." "-Josie! She's really quite talented you know?"

"What would a bounty hunter know about mechanics?" the officer asks with incredulity.