Chapter 433 - Unwanted Observations

Afton had been completely unaware of the attack on Novac while he was in Big Mt. The only reason he'd been alerted to it was that Glados had detected damage to her 'observation unit', better known as Dogmeat.

A quick teleportation and he was once again inside Novac, immediately he was greeted by many weapons pointed at him, the Novac soldiers were all on edge and were waiting for some more intruders to face.​​

Afton just crosses his arms and glares at them, "There better be a good reason you're pointing those things at me." he growls out, causing the men to halt.

Fortunately, Daisy walks over with an angry look and smacks a couple soldiers on the back of their heads, "What do you think you're doing? Go on, get back to work!" she says before turning to Afton, "Welcome back... Has anyone told you about last nights events yet?" she asks.

Afton shakes his head, "No, explain it to me... And where's Dogmeat?"

Daisy gestures for him to follow her as she begins explaining the events the night prior. She explains that the Mercenaries were here to kill Afton or someone close to him, judging by their attempts to gain access to the apartments.

Afton had expected something like this to happen, but was sure the security of Novac was good enough to block most attempts... Somehow a few got through though... He would've laughed their attempts off had they not killed many people, and he certainly wasn't laughing when he saw the state Dogmeat was in.

The Cyberdog was missing a leg and had scorch marks covering it, blackened spots on its metal components with burns on its organic ones. Dogmeat whimpers as he kneels down next to it to examine its injuries, but Afton wasn't really sure what weapon would cause something like this...

Glados was helping examine its systems and reported that some of its nerves had been fried, something a flamethrower wouldn't usually do... After a couple minutes, Glados eventually just tells him to transport Dogmeat to Big Mt so she can get it repaired or replaced.

Afton nods to himself and does so, teleporting Dogmeat back so Borous, Dala, Glados and the other robots could help fix Dogmeat... Hopefully, he wouldn't have to be replaced, Dogmeat had been a 'good boy' as far as he was concerned.

After seeing to Dogmeat he looks for his companions and eventually finds Boone on the southern wall watching the road. "Yo Boone, where is everyone? They all seem to have disappeared..." he asks as he approaches, Boone not even giving twitching at his sudden appearance.

"Everyone but Tamia should be attending to the injured, or at least, helping those that know something about it... You're a doctor right? You should probably be down there too." he states.

Afton nods, "I will be, but I need to make sure everything is ok before that... Where did you say Tamia is?"

"She left to go find a doctor." he states simply.

"Wait what? Isn't she on the NCR and Legion watchlist for associating with us?"

Boone smirks, "You mean for associating with you, right?... Anyway, she has the protection of House, so she should be fine for now, she also took that floating robot-thing... Plus, that woman can handle herself."

Afton sighs and leaves Boone to it as he heads down to the make-shift hospital they'd set up... He should still have his medical equipment in his backpack... But it's been quite a long time since he'd properly used any of them.

Elsewhere :

Tamia kicks a rock as she walks North towards New Vegas, she'd only now realised how annoying walking actually is... She wished Afton or Josie had taught her how to drive on of those Vehicles. And given her permission to use one for that matter.

She'd been walking for around Eight hours now, yet she was still a couple miles away from the 188 Trading Post. Though, At least she had some company, ED-E wasn't just good at detecting incoming enemies, he also came with an inbuilt radio... Though, he didn't seem to be able to lower the volume of it, so both of them were very, very noticeable as they walked through the Mojave.

Of course, she'd encountered a few troubles along the way, halfway to the 188 Trading Post she'd run into an NCR barricade. She'd thought she would be arrested, but apparently she was the only one involved with Afton that didn't have a bounty... For obvious reasons.

*Bzztch!*

Tamia raises a brow at ED-E at the strange sound he was emitting, "You alright Eddie?" she asks, but doesn't receive its trademark beeps to indicate its mood.

"*Bzzztch!*-And so you walk, far from those under your banner, to an old master with a new flag. Where will your path end? That, will be for you to decide.*Bzztch!*"

Tamia scowls at the gravelly voice that'd come over the radio, this wasn't the first time she'd heard it, whoever they are seemed to use ED-E to speak to communicate with her... They would occasionally chip in with unwanted observations on her situation, which meant they either had a good information network, or were watching her...

She glances around the sandy area she was in for anyone, but finds herself still alone, the only sound she could hear being the desert winds and the old prewar songs ED-E was playing.

Tamia rubs her temples, feeling yet another headache coming on... It was strange that she got a migraine every time she heard the voice, the fact they seemed to know her better than herself was worrying too.

Afton says that the voice belonged to the one who helped save his sister in all but blood, Christine. And that they were looking to meet a courier... Which most likely meant Tamia herself. What she didn't know was why they hadn't just come up and spoken with her yet, did they have another goal in mind? Or was just fucking with her mental state deemed 'good enough'?

She shakes her head and sighs before continuing to walk. Must be her old motto, or at least it felt like it... When in doubt, walk it off.