...

Afton gave Karl a blank look as they headed north from Camp Searchlight along the highway, towards the nearest town which just so happened to be Novac. "How did you make this happen?" he asks in exasperation. ​​

Karl shrugs, "I have no idea what you could mean?" he says, stifling a grin.

Afton just gestures behind them at the four sorry-looking NCR soldiers who were carrying their five backpacks full of loot.

...

"So, I might have offered Sargeant Astor a way out of our agreement. May have also let him know that I have contacts with some NCR higherups due to my former rank."

Afton raises a brow at the man, "You do?"

Karl shakes his head, "Not anymore, those shit-stains dropped me like a pregnancy test when I was imprisoned. But Astor didn't have to know that, did he?"

Afton nods, "I guess... If you didn't get their help I don't think we could've gotten all our loot to Novac anyway...

The four NCR soldiers were named Avery, Jacob, and Daniel respectively. All were new recruits and had only shot at feral ghouls up until now. This made Afton feel a little better about forcing them to carry their bags, they wouldn't be much good in a fight anyway.

"Any idea on what to do when we get to Novac?"

Karl spits on the ruined road nonchalantly, "No idea. Take a few more jobs, get caps, then try and head for New Vegas... We need gear enough to do what we want, Gunrunners'll probably have what we need." he mutters.

Afton raises a brow, "We both have several thousand caps, surely that'll be enough to buy whatever we need?"

Karl just scoffs at him, "No chance, for the best gear you gotta be willing to pay an arm and a leg. Our combined caps wouldn't even pay for a single top-grade weapon, let alone gear for the both of us."

The group continue walking along the highway, making small talk with the already exhausted soldiers while the duo keep an eye out for danger. Though, both Karl and Afton were surprised when something whizzed past their heads.

Both immediately throw themselves behind a nearby car wreckage, their four bag-holders doing the same behind a large rock.

"An ambush!?" Afton quickly asks Karl, having not noticed any signs of one.

Karl shakes his head, "No, worse."

What could be worse than an ambush?... "A deathclaw!?" he exclaims in fright..

The former-ranger just smacks him, "Hell no! You don't see me runnin' do yeah? That's what I'd do if I saw one charging me!... No, over there on the top of the hill near the campsite ruins, a swarm of Bloatflies."

...

Afton gives him a confused look, "Bloatflies? Aren't they like, really easy to deal with.", though, upon asking this he receives a fierce glare.

"Who the fuck told you that? Do you know how hard it is to hit a flying, moving target that constantly shoots back with acidic poison shit? Not to mention there's around fifteen of 'em, I'd rather fight a Legion patrol singlehandedly!"

Afton takes a glance over the car and spots that there is indeed fifteen Bloatflies slowly making their way towards the duo, all the while firing a barrage of acidic bullets. They don't seem to be able to harm the wrecked car they were hiding behind, but they'd eventually reach their position.

[John Wick Style is in effect]

He used VATS to make sure he wasn't at risk of any projectiles before shooting Lucky at them. Strangely the flies immediately started performing aerial manoeuvres when he pointed his gun at them, causing two of his four shots to miss. The two Bloat flies that were hit exploded into yellow blood and gore though.

"You four stay put! Don't peek you head out unless you want a ghoul makeover!" he shouts to their bag-holders. It wouldn't due for one of them to die... He didn't think they could carry all the bags on their own.

"Aye, Aye Capt'in" One shouts in response, somehow finding the courage to make a joke in this situation.

"What I wouldn't do for some bug-spray right about now." he mutters to himself as he continues popping over for an instant, using VATS and firing off a few shots before ducking back into cover.

Fortunately after Afton had picked a few off, Karl was able to find a chance to assist and eventually, all of them were knocked out of the air. The calibre bullets that the duo were using had reduced all of the flies to mush so even if there was something to loot from them, it was destroyed now.

The NCR soldiers look at bit rattled from it, but they'd been in combat before and would eventually recover. For now though the group had to keep moving, Astor may have reluctantly lent his troops, but he'd need them back relatively soon. Best not to ruin the cordial relationship they had with the man. Especially since the man had offered some very interesting information about Cottonwood Cove, the Legions hold on the West of the Colorado, as well as their main slave transportation.

Apparently, it wasn't just Camp Searchlight that had a problem with radioactive materials... One of the trucks that held the material had been lost on its way to Camp Searchlight before the Great War. That truck was currently located on the top of the hill overlooking the Legion's slave camp.

All they needed to do was sneak over, unlock it and dump all the contents on the Legion's head... The reason they hadn't immediately jumped at the chance were many, the first being that this would undoubtedly kill any slaves held in the camp... Now, Afton wouldn't mind the casualties but Karl's daughter might be down there, not to mention it'd strike too close to home to do something like that.

The second reason was that they didn't want to put the Legion on their toes, right now the duo were nothing but Mercs to them. But if they released the radiation on the camp Astor would have to report back to higher command, there the Legion spies would find out who's responsible and mark them for death. Something neither needs right now.