Chapter 427 - Apocalyptic

A couple days later Afton, Karl and Anja were all gathered atop a hill overlooking an encampment. It was one of the newest Legion Raid camps that'd sprung up lately. Afton had tried ignoring them at first, hoping the NCR would deal with them instead, but for some reason, the camps weren't even touched...

Of course, 'Raid Camp' is the polite term, as their primary function is to capture Mojave residents and ship them back to Cottonwood Cove were they'd be collared and made slaves. Afton had been holding off on actually dealing them until now as he didn't want to waste resources assisting his enemies... However, there was only so much Legion bull shit he could take before his hand was forced.​​

Afton was currently wearing the Stealth Suit under his greyish black duster made from Deathclaw Mother leather. Karl and Anja were wearing beige version that weren't as durable but still added a significant amount of strength...

Karl had it over his combat armour while Anja wore it over her recon armour. His companions were less sure on their defensive properties, but that was cleaned up when Afton shot Karl in the chest with Lucky, one of his less powerful revolvers.

The man had been slightly winded, but other than that he was completely fine... The Duster didn't have a scratch n it either.

"So, kid... How'd you wanna deal with this camp?" Karl asks as he looks through the scope on his Anti-Material rifle at the camp.

Afton shrugs, "Since they only just set up and are lacking hostages, I figured I could test out a new weapon." he states, reaching into his bag and pulling out the Range Finder.

"Are you sure you want to destroy it so quickly, sir? This one is much more hidden than the others, it might have something valuable in it." Anja asks, her face concealed by her mask and hood.

Afton just shakes his head, "We can sift through the ashes afterwards if you really want." he says before pointing his weapon at the camp. "Oh, by the way, neither of you should mention what happens next to anyone." he states.

That was the reason he'd only brought the two of them, he trusted them far more than everyone else with this knowledge. Even Veronica might accidentally blurt something out to the Brotherhood about it, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

Afton points the gun in the center of the camp and holds the trigger down, the holographic screen on the back starts going through a changes, with writing appearing on it with various shapes and forms.

A small laser comes out of the gun and hits the ground in the middle of the camp where he was aiming. He had to hold down the trigger and aim with a steady hand to keep the gun operating.

*Loading*

*Loading*

*Accessing network*

*Connection established*

*Triangulating target*

The small, almost invisible laser projecting from the Range Finder allows three humungous lasers to come down from the sky and to start spinning around where he was aiming. The Legionaries had notices the peculiar sight at this point and were all staring up at the sky in confusion.

*Activating Orbital Defence System*

*Firing in 3-2-1-0*

Once the three lasers connect Afton, Karl, and Anja are blinded by light as what felt like the apocalypse occurred... A massive beam of light shoots from the sky and envelopes the entirety of the camp, the force of which was enough to knock Anja and Karl on their backs.

Afton squints his eyes as a wave of heat washes past, making the usual desert sun pale in comparison... Were it not for his durability, he was sure all of his hair might've been singed off. The beam of light from the sky only lasts a couple second, but once it ends all that's left of the camp is a glass-filled crater... The heat seemed to have crystalised everything on contact, making it look like the Space Marines had particularly disliked that part of the planet.

That wasn't all that happened however...

[Lord Death v4 1000/2000]

[Blind Fire : Shoot the eye's of your enemies : 100/100]

[Blind Fire Complete! Perk granted : Luck of the Draw]

[Luck of the Draw] : Luck when in combat increased by 2.

[Use the Orbital Laser!!!! Complete! Perk granted : Second Apocalypse]

[Second Apocalypse] : Gain a point in one random stat every time you kill more than one thousand people in an instant.

Afton was very, very happy about the perks he received... Luck of the Draw was 'ok', and would most likely help in minute ways he wouldn't notice, but Second Apocalypse was pretty fucking broken... The only problem was, if he wanted to use it he'd literally have to massacre thousands of people.

He glances over at his companions who were both gaping at the result of the weapon, and Afton couldn't help but feel smug at how much damage he'd just done...

However, it seems that he hadn't taken one thing into account...

*BOOOOOM!*

Something explodes from under the crater, and from the plumes of thick mushroom cloud-shaped smoke, it seems that there was a cache of Mini-Nukes buried underneath the camp... Though, he quickly found himself corrected when a new notification made itself known...

[Find the mystery bomb maker from Vault 11 Quest Failed!]

Yeah... Apparently, the man was working for the Legion... And also happened to be in the camp the one time he decides to use the Orbital Laser... Shit.

"The fuck was that?" Karl mutters, still glaring at the now larger crater before them.

Afton shrugs, "Legion must've been stockpiling explosives for something... Good thing we destroyed it, they might've been waiting to use it on Novac." he says, not giving any indication he knew the actual answer. "Plus, if anyone comes to investigate it'll just look like an accident, instead of an Orbital Laser attack... Even if some people did see the laser, they might just confused it with multiple nuke detonations... Come on, let's get going before anyone spots us." he says, standing up and quickly leaving the hill.