Chapter 432 - Bound To Hurt

Drake upon spotting their pursuers were not returning fire, glances at Stasus and quickly lays out their situation, "They're tryin' to draw this shit out. We gotta get' before they realise Hunter's distraction!" they stand while he fires off a couple more bolts of lightning before hopping off of the roof and running towards the southern wall.

Already they could see the firefight happening between the soldiers and Madeleine. There were a couple corpses that'd had their heads blown through piled up below the wall, showing that Madeleine definitely wasn't showing mercy...​​

Usually, the group would do their best to avoid needless killing as it only breeds more problems, but the situation had apparently become untenable.

*Bang bang!*

Drake gets hit yet again in the back, his armour barely absorbing the bullet as he ducks to avoid the next. He unclips another flashbang and tosses it behind him to get some space from their pursuers and charge towards the makeshift steps that lead to the top of the wall.

As they run the soldiers on the wall notice their presence, forcing Drake to fire a bolt of lightning into the nearest, the bolt cuts through his flash with ease and crippling the person behind him. Stasus charges in front and severs the hand of one man as they attempt to shoot, afterwards kicking the man off of the wall as they give a Wilhelm scream as they fall.

Unfortunately for the duo, there were far more soldiers on the wall than they'd initially anticipated. Drake was barely holding them back with his rifle as Stasus did his best to block any bullets heading his way with his armour.

Madeleine of course was assisting them, but there was only so much a sniper as powerful as hers could do against light armoured units... It was made for single heavy targets, not groups.

By this time Karl, Veronica, and Tamia had caught up and gotten rid of the effects of the flashback. Veronica charges up the stairs with a silent roar and punches Drake in the back while he's busy focused on other enemies.

*BANG!*

Her shot-gun powerfist fires into his side as she hits him, his armour not doing anything against the stopping power of the strike. A spray of blood follows a part of his side being obliterated, the force of the hit knocks him forwards, sending him sprawling over and accidentally off of the wall.

Stasus attempts to retaliate with a strike, slicing at her shoulder and managing to hit... Unfortunately, her combat armour combined with the Deathclaw leather duster makes it almost impossible for his blade to harm her, it instead bites into the metal-polymer of armour and lodges itself there.

Veronica uses this opportunity to punch Stasus in the face, but the man dodges backwards, eventually backing up against the side of the wall.

"There's a sniper about! Get your head down!" Karl manages to shout, allowing Veronica to duck in time as a heavy bullet goes past her head, skimming her hair and taking a few strands with it... Not that Veronica would mind, she hates her hair...

Tamia peeks over the stairway and fires a couple more shots at Stasus as the man blocks his face with his arms, most of them do nothing to his metal armour, but she does manage to find purchase in the gaps at his joints.

Karl arrives and is about to unload his LMG on the man, but Stasus seems to take his chances by throwing himself off of the wall...

The wall itself isn't actually that tall, so once the group look over, they spot Stasus carrying away a heavily injured Drake.

*BANG!*

The head of a soldier beside them explodes into red mist, forcing everyone else to duck behind cover, seemingly unable to give chase of fire at the retreating duo.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK! We can't let those pieces of shit get away! How many people did they kill!?" Veronica shouts, but Tamia and Karl force her down to prevent her from doing something stupid.

"You got a death wish or somethin'!? Keep fucking down or you'll get another eye socket!" Karl loudly retorts, using the sword lodged in her shoulder as leverage to keep her still. "Atleast we aren't empty-handed... They left some gifts for us." he states, gesturing at the rifle that fucker had been using to shoot lightning.

It isn't long before a brave soldier who peeks his head over spots the missing figures, meaning they'd escaped somewhere they'd not be able to follow...

Karl sighs and lets Veronica go, leaning against the edge of the wall, "They sending assassins after us now? Should I feel proud they seem us important enough?" he jokes.

Veronica shakes her head, "What I wanna know is who sent them, the NCR or the Legion."

Tamia frowns, "Or the Brotherhood... That Hardin guy didn't look happy about getting his ass beat."

Veronica looks as if she's about to refute that but Karl speaks up, "Oh fuck, we left Dogmeat..."

The other two look at him with wide eyes and quickly stand, running towards where the Cyberdog had last been seen. Once they arrive they spot the whimpering cyborg with ED-E hovering protectively over it.

Dogmeat's leg had been severed and was slowly bleeding out, but a quick tourniquet and bandages temporarily sort him out for the time being.

"Shit, boy... That kid's gonna be on the warpath when he hears about this..." Karl mutters.

"Wouldn't he already be with how many people those guys killed?" Tamia asks.

Karl shakes his head, "He'd mark that as simple casualties... No, he's gonna take this personally, even if he ignores the fact they were obviously here for him..."

Tamia stands and gently picks up Dogmeat, "We need to get a proper doctor in this place, I'll head down to New Vegas when I have the chance and ask House if he knows anyone... Until then, let's check the wounded and damages." she states as she marches towards the makeshift tent hospital...