Chapter 461 - League Of Legion

Vulpes Inculta walks through the ruins that once were the Great Fort. Bodies were strewn around with no regard to who they may have been, fires linger atop tents and huts, walls collapse if they hadn't already...

Truly, he had underestimated the strength of his enemies, and Afton Parker specifically... Power armour was a surprise, but it wasn't as if they'd not had to deal with it before, this is why they had specialised units to deal with them... Even so, it all proved futile.​​

The results were thus thousands dead, Caesar kidnapped, defensive structures destroyed, and Lanius becoming temporary leader of the Legion... As far as he was concerned, all of the above were terrible, but Lanius was by far the worst.

The man had no sense for strategy, deceit, tactics, or even an average skill for planning. He was everything barbaric within the Legion all melded together into one man. True, he was an incredible combatant, perhaps even equal to Afton Parker outside of his Power armour, but they didn't mean he was a great leader.

At best, Lanius was only good at giving the troops something to fear, it was an approach Caesar had thought up after reading through some history books. He would be the calm, strategic, and merciful leader, while Lanius would be the barbaric general who you'd not dare cross. It helped put into perspective who you could have leading and why you were following Caesar in the first place.

Of course, this all now backfired since Lanius was in charge. Vulpes Inculta wasn't even sure who the troops feared more now, Parker or Lanius. He'd bet on the former due to the sheer body count of Parker's last attack, but even so, it was still close.

This is not to say nothing 'good' came of the attack, no, it provided Vulpes with quite a lot of information that could potentially be useful against Parker and his group.

Tech was the first thing, vehicles, weapons, armour, and even some form of teleportation? It was all too fantastical if he were honest. Had this not been reported by many, many men he wouldn't have believed it.

Parker had somehow gained access to incredibly advanced technology. Even the vehicle had been plated with some kind of miracle metal, so incredibly hard and strong that it put steel to shame.

Even the dull-headed Lanius had become interested in it, though, no for research and development... Instead, he just wants to melt it down and make armour out of it. Vulpes Inculta didn't try to persuade him as perhaps that'd what Lanius will need to fight Parker on an even playing field.

"Sir! Legate Lanius wishes to lead a force to recapture the canyon passage!"

Vulpes Inculta sighs and turns towards the messenger, "Very well... Send messages to Cottonwood Cove and all over Legion forces West of the river to assist in this effort. The NCR will not have constructed proper defences yet, so this is our best chance to attack..." he states, though, he is quite put out by the fact they'd be giving up Cottonwood Cove.

Due to Parker's attack, they'd need to pull all forces to take the canyon passage and prepare for the final battle of Hoover Dam. It's a shame really, all his intricate plans would be disrupted by this, and there was only one person to blame for it... Still, it wasn't as if all of his preparations were gone.

Elsewhere :

Afton walks through the Laboratories and toward the cells where they'd usually hold test subjects. Glados and Dala were floating either side of him and he was curious to finally meet one of the most feared men in the wasteland.

"I hope he's been polite to you two, you know what they say about rude houseguests." he says with a dark chuckle.

"The new teddy bear had been accommodating, aside from its poor temper. It has the most interesting insults, especially when I am taking samples from it." the robotic scientist says in a husky tone, clearly having enjoyed her time with Caesar.

Afton smirks, "Would these 'samples' include biopsies?" he asks with some mirth.

"Yes... Biopsies of every unique cell in its little body. It was fine with muscle extraction, but testicular, eye, and brain? It was one very angry teddy bear."

"If it continues to be disruptive, I recommend removing anaesthesia from the procedure." Glados adds.

"Anaesthesia?" Dala questions as if she didn't know what that was. This draws out a laugh from all three of them, including Glados who gives a robotic and rather chilling one.

Soon enough, Afton finds himself standing before the 'Great Caesars' cell. The man was sitting on an uncomfortable metal bed while covered in many bandages. Apparently, the biopsies Dala had performed weren't as 'unintrusive' as she'd claimed... Judging by the bloodied bandage over his eye, the 'biopsie' Dala had performed included taking the entire thing from its socket.

Not that Afton was complaining, this man was almost solely responsible for the murderous, raping, empire of the Legion. Seeing him in this 'thoroughly raped' appearance was rather cathartic if Afton were honest.

Though, Afton wondered what was worse, being raped or becoming one of Dala's 'teddy bears'... Both included incredibly uncomfortable and intrusive penetration.

"Ave Amicus." Afton mockingly says while looking through the cell bars.

Caesar slowly raises his head and locks his one eye with Afton's, "Non es amicus meus, negat Cyrtae... So, you've come to visit me, how droll."

"Droll?" Afton parrots in exasperation, "No, from what I heard you were quite droll yourself. I mean, acting like a supervillain and then subsequently being captured due to it? I can't tell if you're just eccentric, mad, or stupid." he states.

Caesar scowls but doesn't break their eye-lock, "A mistake, I was simply surprised at finding one of my long lost agents working against me. I felt a bit of theatrics were required to sway her back. As you can see, it didn't work." he says, gesturing at his bland cell.