"I'M BACK FUCKERS! YOU MISS ME!?"

... ​​

Karl, Boone, and Anja all stare at Afton as if he were stupid, the former quickly climbing out and walking towards him, soon shadowed by the others. "What the hell are ya' doing boi?! Waltzin' on back here without nary a word for months! And did you forget that this is a combat zone!? YOU TRY'IN GET SHOT?!?"

Afton's lips thin into lines as he's told off like a child, "Ahh, give me a break, I'd have thought you'd be happy to see me." he says with a shrug.

Karl's scowl deepens further, the man rearing back and punching Afton in the face as hard as he can. Unfortunately, Afton's [Stonewall] Perk prevents him from being knocked on his ass, resulting in Karl feeling as if he'd hit a brick wall.

Karl glances at his fist for a moment before looking back at the sheepish Afton, "That's for ditchin' us, you bastard... And you look like shit." he then proceeds to cuff the back of Afton's head and walk him towards the others who are approaching.

"Heh, old man shit on your entrance? Good. It was stupid anyway." Boone says, smiling slightly despite himself.

"Sir... Your arm..." Anja mutters, her shock drawing the others attention.

"What the? You got a new arm!" Karl shouts, having not realised it earlier.

Afton grins and raises his right arm, stretching and flexing it as if to mock them, "Damn straight I did. I prefer this one to my old one any day, actually." he mutters.

...

"How...?" Karl asks, staring intensely at the new limb he seemed to have acquired. "Is it a cybernetic, or..."

"I'm not gonna say anything about it until we're in private... Don't know who could be listening..." Afton says, his eyes scanning the trench behind them where NCR soldiers were still watching.

Boone raises a brow and then points as his own eyes, "Related to those fucked up veins I'd bet..."

"Yeah, along with that weird armour and your new dog." Karl states, glancing at the Cyberdog that Anja had started stroking.

"Who are you calling weird?" the synthesized feminine voice of Nyx challenges, apparently taking offence at being called 'weird'.

...

"The hell? Kid, I know you've been pent up, but getting a robot girlfriend ain't gonna help that... In fact, it'd make getting a lady of your own harder with it around." Karl says.

Afton shakes his head, "It's not like that..." he mutters, not liking how the Stealth suit warmed up slightly at his words, "Her name is Nyx, and I can't discuss her origins until we're somewhere private." he receives a grumble in response from Karl as he says this.

"Sir... Are you fine now?... No longer infected...?" Anja asks, still worried of the prospect of the fungus spreading. Indeed, the other two having heard the deadliness of it nod as she asks.

Afton nods, "I'm fine. All traces of it have been neutralised, and are no longer a threat to anyone else." he states, deciding not to tell them he was basically still infested by it.

"Alright, let's cut the chit-chat and wheel your bike into the trench, the Fiend might attack again at any moment." Karl takes charge, deciding that talking in the open directly outside the Fiends base wasn't the best idea.

Afton was ushered inside with Dirt-Bird, the group sliding the bike into the trenches so it was out of sight before taking him to a semi-secluded spot so they could talk.

"So, what's been happening since I left?" Afton cuts to the point, deciding that getting caught up would be the best for everyone involved... Especially considering the state of the trench and everyone in it.

"NCR hired us to help exterminate the Fiends, then abandoned us when the Monorail was bombed. That's basically the just of it around here."

Afton slowly nods, "And the Legion?"

"Getting more aggressive... They managed to take back Nelson, place apparently didn't have enough men to hold the position. Might also have something to do with Camp Searchlight and Camp Forlorn Hope..." Boone says, getting angry simply stating what'd happened.

"Huh, you guys been keeping up with the radio chatter huh?" Afton mutters.

They nod, "Not much else to do out here, besides watching for Fiends."

Afton raises a brow, "Yeah, what's up with that as well... Woulda thought they'd be easy to deal with, especially after we nuked their asses."

Karl shakes his head, "They've rigged their hideout with so many traps I'm honestly surprised they haven't killed themselves yet... The initial attack force was torn apart, and after that everyone was very, very wary of being the one to go first. That combined with no proper command leaves us here, in a stalemate."

Boone crosses his arms, "Almost starved them out until they started cannibalizing..."

"Gross." Afton mutters before shaking his head and continuing, "So, what's your plan? I wanna get this done and head into New Vegas..." he glances around, "Got a few caps to spend..."

Karl nods knowingly while Boone frowns slightly at the fact he 'intended' to gamble. Anja herself was clueless, as she'd never even gambled before, let alone been to New Vegas.

Karl shrugs, "To be honest, after the last disaster we were just thinking of returning the pay and leaving... No point wasting our time for such a shit reward, only thing still keeping us here was our dislike of the Fiends themselves."

"Well, I can already think of a couple ways of dealing with them... You guys not considered sabotaging the air filtration system of the Vault? Trash that and they'll all come scurrying out like rats."

Boone shakes his head, "Tried that, but the Fiends aren't that stupid... They've set traps around the outlets, the Vault was built in the basement of that large building, so they have no trouble sniping at us when we try to approach. Only luck we've had is when one of the more savvy soldiers snuck in and planted some C4... Shame the NCR can't be fucked to give us anymore of it though."