Strangely enough, they weren't immediately under assault as the group left Helios One... Maybe the NCR hadn't noticed? Or their guards were too relaxed? Perhaps they hadn't expected them to leave the facility and instead just starve to death silently?

All these thoughts were interrupted as a flash of light illuminated the area momentarily... ​​

*BOOM!*

A large amount of dirt was unearthed at the front of the group as what sounded like multiple mines went off all at once. The NCR had apparently been waiting for this and started opening fire as soon as the explosion was heard.

Hundreds of service rifles were firing at them all at once, the barrage of bullets barely being held back by the Power armour surrounding them. Afton shot back with his Laser rifle, attempting to hit the distant flashes, but had no idea whether he'd reduced their numbers or not.

Of course, he wasn't the only person responding, the area was lit red by the barrage of Gatlings lasers that sprayed upon the NCR's firing line, killing what must've been thirty people all at once. Someone in Power armour standing behind him lifted some kind of ballistic device, this confused Afton momentarily as the Brotherhood usually stayed away from them... However, he understood when the man started firing.

*Boom!Boom!Boom!*

A spray of grenades left the heavy weapon, laying down explosions wherever he turned, the flimsy sandbags the NCR had erected were like paper against the weapon, splattered of blood and limbs of the unfortunate victims hit went everywhere.

Afton was starting to think that they might be able to defeat the NCR... Until the discharge of a ballistic weapon louder than the others sounded out, Afton watched as the bullet shot through the grenade-launcher's visor. The bullet wasn't able to leave the back of the helmet, but the man was dead regardless. They dropped heavily to the floor and Afton forced his legs to keep running instead of trying to pick up and using the weapon...

The rumour about those NCR snipers wasn't incorrect apparently, they were fucking crazy at their job! Afton knew he'd never in a million years be able to shot through someone helmet visor, let alone while they were constantly on the move.

Afton fired a shot at the top of the canyon where they were moving, having guessed that'd where the man was judging from the angle of the shot that'd killed the man earlier. The red light travelled through the area and lit it up briefly, allowing him to spot the red visored man wearing the typical veteran ranger coat...

Upon being shot at they hefted they Anti-Material rifle onto their shoulder and left to relocate their position. The sniper was apparently timid, Afton nodded to himself at the thought that he'd bought his Chapter a few minutes at not being targeted by the sniper again.

The NCR didn't seem to know about the hidden canyon passage, the only thing stopping the Brotherhood from reaching it was the line of firing soldiers who were firing madly as if they had infinite ammo.

The soldiers wielding service weren't that big a deal, doing almost nothing to the men in Power armour, occasionally a bullet would get through the walking wall of metal and hit something in the centre, but these were usually non-lethal injuries. Only two Initiates had died thus far, which was considerably less than Afton had expected.

What was the biggest problem though were the huge amount of mines laid out, they didn't have to time to sweep for them and disable them, so the Paladins just ran blindly. Now, Power armour could resist a couple mines, but eventually the shrapnel would make it through.

Afton had seen Eighteen men with crippled legs being left behind by the group, still firing their weapons defiantly. They were definitely going to die, the metal legs of the Power armour had been so dented that it'd basically crushed their legs, all the machinery inside was like a grinder against their muscles, they couldn't even take it off if they wanted to.

They screamed "Ad Victoriam" as the NCR snipers put them out of their misery.

The group had only gotten halfway to the passage when Pulse grenades started getting thrown, almost everyone was caught in the blast, causing Power armour and weaponry to malfunction. Once this happened people started dropping like flies.

The Knights, Scribes, and Paladins in Power armour were not able to move properly, allowing the NCR to fire upon those in the centre of the formation. Blood sprayed onto Afton's face as a woman holding her newborn child was riddled with bullets.

A couple bullets whizzed past his head, and one eventually lodged itself in his shoulder, throwing him to the ground. Miles grabbed him and helped him up while blindly firing his Laser rifle at the NCR in the distance.

Afton's Laser rifle had ran out of ammo and needed a reload, but his mind was frazzled with pain and so he just threw it to the side and slung the Tri-beam laser rifle from his back. It was like a shotgun, firing three red beams in a burst. He fired it at the formation ahead of them that was blocking their destination.

Seeing that he wasn't doing all that much to them, he let the rifle hang loose on the sling and retrieved a plasma grenade. He didn't know if he was ablet throw it far enough, but he didn't know if he'd get another shot.

He reared back and threw it as hard as he could, the pulsing green light travelled just over the NCR's sandbag-blockade, and he could see soldiers scrambling to get away... It was futile though, Plasma grenades weren't like the typical ballistic ones, their radius was massive, and liquified anything caught near it.

His grenade had reduced the sandbags and nearby NCR soldiers to a glowing green mulch, it didn't take long for those affected by the Pulse grenades to regain their bearings, they had anticipated such an attack and did their best to shield the circuitry... It was a slapped together job at best, but it was all they could do with the time and resources given.