Chapter 622 - Atomic Reconciliation

Ulysses takes cover next to her, ignoring the Cyberdog that sits behind him. "This was always my intention... In case I failed to kill you. The marked men would flood this place, cut off your escape. If we cannot prevent what comes, then let us make our last stand here. Two couriers, together, at the Divide." he states while pulling his Anti-Material rifle from his back and taking aim.

"How would you escape if you killed me though! That just sounds like a shit plan!" Tamia shouts, sucking just a bullet whizzes over her head.

Ulysses chuckles, "There are many escape routes available... But you wish to try and stop, or alter the Nuclear launch, do you not?"

Tamia breathes a sigh, "I guess!... And you're going to help?"

Ulysses nods, "As I said before. Two couriers, making a last stand at the end of the Divide. Seems almost fitting." he states as he aims over the cover and fires a shot... But not at the marked men, instead he aims at a small nuclear charge that'd been abandoned at the side.

*BOOM!*

The chamber shakes as nuclear fire engulfs a large portion of the attacking marked men, unfortunately, even with them gone more just arrive to take their place.

Tamia fires a couple shots from her .44 revolver, and kills a couple, but it barely puts a dent in their numbers... Fortunately, none of the marked men was stupid enough to bring explosive weapons to the fight. With her and Ulysses taking cover next to the nuclear missiles, any substantial explosion would most likely kill everyone and everything in a mile or so radius.

She glances back towards Ulyssses to check him, he wasn't wearing any armour and was extremely vulnerable to taking damage... Though, she was surprised when she saw him stand up and hold his Anti-Material rifle in one hand with a short grenade launcher in the other.

He seems completely comfortable to fire both, and keep them reloaded as he dual-wielded the weapons... Sure, Tamia had the strength to do this, but to become as proficient at it as Ulysses was would take days, if not years of practice.

Ulysses tilts his head to the side to avoid a stray bullet while firing his Anti-Material rifle back at the shooter, blowing their head clean off before firing a grenade into a nearby group.

*Boom!*

The group of marked men fall over each other to get out of the way, but fail in the end, with the nearest to the impact becoming bloody smears on the ground.

"Enough of this." Tamia states before igniting her Proton Greatsword and rushing the enemy. Most marked men target her in response, but all the bullets are easily deflected from her armour... A few use energy weapons against her, but the insulation Afton and the scientists had provided prevents the armour from heating up too quickly.

Of course, Tamia does make an effort to dodge and block most of the attacks, using her greatsword as a shield to hide behind as she charges. Soon enough, she reaches the front lines and begins decimating the enemy, cutting them limb from limb while they futiley attempt to retaliate.

None of the marked men has powerful enough weapons to breach her armour, so all they were doing was scuffing it up more than it was before.

*Schwing!*

A marked man is bisected and drops a pulse grenade he was about to throw, causing it to explode and engulf Tamia. The shockwave washes over her, causing a few of her armour's systems to malfunction, but the additions that'd been added to prevent further harm quickly reboots them. The armour locks momentarily, but Tamia is able to move the next second, continuing her rampage.

Ulysses watches from the back with a dull expression, wondering if he was even needed here... Or if he stood a chance should he have decided to fight her... He wasn't entirely sure his Anti-Material rifle could breach her armour... It wasn't like any Power armour he'd seen before... Which meant Bulwark had provided it... Perhaps siding with her wasn't the worst decision he'd made?

Tamia stabs a marked man in the stomach, letting her blade stay there as she grabs another and tears his arms off, afterwards retrieving her blade and continuing on. She's so enthralled in the fighting that she doesn't realise she'd exited the chamber and fought the marked men until she reached the elevator they were coming from.

She grips her blade tight and cuts the doors of the elevator open, showing the cords which were hoisting the elevator back and forth... And, with one final slash, she cuts them to prevent any more reinforcements...

*SHEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIKK..... CRAAASH!*

The elevator plummets far below after she cuts the cord, killing any marked men who were trying to get up. She'd destroyed the only way the marked men had to reach them as well as her only exit, so she was placing her trust in Ulysses words when he said he had other exits.

She deactivates her greatsword and holsters it on her back while walking back towards Ulysses, "Alright! I've destroyed the elevator, now can we do something about the nukes!? I have no idea when they're supposed to be going off!" she anxiously says, wondering if they'd make it in time.

Ulysses brushes some dust off of himself and ignores a bleeding bullet wound on his shoulder, "I cannot stop the launch, I told you this."

Tamia nods, "Yeah, but we can choose a different target right? I was thinking that maybe sending them East would be a good way to go... It isn't like we have family over there to worry about, right?" she shrugs.

...

Ulysses slowly nods his head, as if reluctantly in agreement. A part of him was still somewhat loyal to the Legion, but Caesar's actions against the Divide, Tamia's and his own tribe had firmly put him against the man.

He makes his way over to the terminal as Tamia watches over his shoulder, the man begins reconfiguring the targets, changing them from high priority NCR locations like the Long 15 and other infrastructure, to any major routes the Legion had to try and invade the Mojave or the West.