The massive legionnaire in umpire gear swatted one man off his feet as the group charged. A quick twist with a backhanded swing shattered two of the blades in a shower of metal fragments. He raised his foot and delivered a brutal kick to a chest that had the target flopping on the ground as he suffocated in his own blood and destroyed lungs. Four more attacked him and he clapped his bats together to shatter a head. A resounding cheer rose from that as he stalked after the men that had been trying to attack him.
The one he'd knocked down got his neck stepped on and one of the disarmed men had his skull caved in. The fight, if it could be called that, continued for a few minutes till the mast man attempted to make a run for it through an opening in the crowd. The umpire turned towards him and drew an iconic weapon.
The long, heavy, engraved barrel of a Ranger Sequoia rose from his hip. The shot rang and the runner stumbled. Even from a distance I could easily see the massive chunk that was removed from his chest. It had most definitely been hollow point as even the massive 45-70 gov round couldn't do that much with a single shot. The runner took a single step further and dropped, his body folding like a wet paper towel.
Internally I felt my suppressed greed reach out. Even with my position in the NCR I couldn't get one of those. I probably could have made one but it wouldn't be a Ranger Sequoia then. It'd just be a big revolver. The gun the umpire had was obviously taken as loot from a ranger. This was an actual Ranger Sequoia and I couldn't let a legionnaire keep it. I was now technically estranged and probably a traitor to the republic but the legion was my true enemy. Yes the republic was under the shadow control of enclave remnants but the people were still my people.
I had two lives and the latest one venerated rangers. I knew their history as defenders and lawbringers of the wastes and I knew the beginning of the NCR rangers. I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. I quickly left my building and began a trek towards the stadium. The patrols here were much smaller than the outer areas but were much better equipped. Most had legionized baseball gear on but a few had the armor of what was likely the robots of the city.
One had a glass head protectron head cover that made a dumbass looking helmet. Another had a liberator as his shoulder pad and a securitrons shoulder made into a chestplate. The main difference between these legionnaires and the main legion was that they all had at lead one energy weapon. Most had laser pistols in terrible condition but a few had plasma. The main entrance had guards with plasma casters and I could see a man on some scaffolding with a heavy incinerator.
Inside the stadium I found the roundabout internal structure with lots of vendor spaces. These guys even had working water fountains and plumbing. The vendor spaces had all kinds of things, from traders haggling with lesser legionnaires, to small vented forges. The heart of this building was the slaves however. A dense flow seemed to enter and exit everywhere at once, all carrying something. Most traveled through the side halls and walkways of the building to not be in any legionnaires way.
With difficulty I brushed by them and into the actual open air. Out here the air was noticeably cooler. Massive machines visibly cut the haze and pumped it out of the stadium. The crowd sections were all filled with buildings and the announcers box was practically a castle. The flow of slaves was stiflingly tight, enough to make actual human walls. The field was a huge training ground with the batting cage turned into a dog pin. I could see at least three hundred dogs at any time in that space with many hidden in what looked like underground tunnels.
I figured that my target would be in the miniature castle so I began making my way there. I thanked Todd Howard that I'd made my helmet with a high quality mask. The dog pin and massive amount of slaves produced enough bad smell that it would probably kill me quicker than any legionnaire besides Lanius. I was forced to dance through the human ocean to get to the castle and once I did I took a break. The slaves and legionnaires alike all seemed to avoid the castle for a few feet so I took advantage of that. Once at the castle wall I simply skirted it to the entrance and slipped inside behind an entering slave. The slave quickly left after dropping their luggage and I continued inside. It was well lit with electricity and functional A/C.
Past the few lower levels I found the top dogs room. The umpire was there speaking with another man dressed like him but with a gold material for his polished chestplate. I quietly slunk to a dark and ignorable corner and stood there till the gold man left. The umpire sat down and removed his helmet to reveal a face utterly destroyed by scaring. He set the helmet down and gave a deep sigh. Then he opened a drawer and put his hand inside.
A soft click sounded and he pulled himself and his hand back, nearly clipping me with his rolling chair as I snuck behind him. His desk split in half from an invisible seam and the floor followed. I should have paid more attention to the previous floors as this was something I could have detected earlier. From the open floor came a desk that slotted with the split one perfectly, a terminal with lots of wires sitting comfortably right on top.
His hands flew to the keyboard the second he scooted close enough. Unfortunately that was what I was waiting for. I pulled out the fancy blade I'd stolen and pulled back. The blade slammed into his neck and a sickening crunch sounded as the blade hit his spinal cord. I yanked back and blood sprayed a bit before his hands came up to grab his severed neck. My backward yank positioned me perfectly for a follow up cut. I twisted my hips and swung. Another crunch and squelching sound came out as the blade passed into his eyes and through his nose. He flopped backwards at the blow and I grabbed the blanket from his nearby bed.
I wadded it a little before throwing it at the near dead man's head. It would staunch the bleeding for a bit as I took what I wanted. The Ranger Sequoia was immediately slipped into my holster with my 44 in my bag. A few rounds of 45-70 came with it. A nice combat knife slipped from his boot into mine and a beautiful pair of gold reflective aviators entered a chest pocket. The rest of his stuff was worthless for me besides a small bag of legion coins.
With him out of the way I hopped onto his slightly bloody chair and turned to his terminal. I delved into it with relish and found some very satisfying info. The most important for what I was doing was the sequoias owner. He had been one of the few rangers sent to assassinate Ceasar. He had sacrificed himself so his team could escape after their attempt on the bald idiots life. He'd been personally killed by this guy and was now avenged by a child of the NCR.
Past that bit was more information on the city. Dog town as they referred to it was so heavily entrenched at the core that they had attempted to ram through with pre-war vehicles. The last three attempts had all been stopped dead in their tracks with brutal efficiency. The first had been multiple hidden auto cannons. The attack had been annihilated in just a few minutes. The second had drowned in ash and steel from a flood of robots and cyberdogs. The third had been two combined attempts.
A large force with working tanks and armored vehicles. It had hit the first wall and torn through but was met with massive humanoid robots that tore them to shreds. The other part had been a bunch of basic troops with lots of infiltrators hidden within. They'd gotten inside but the wall had been closed off. The screams of those trapped inside had been heard for four days before they completely stopped.
I eventually left the terminal when the pooling blood nearly reached me and began looting the rest of the room. A few boxes of 45-70 gov rounds, an atomic cocktail, a nuka cola quantum, 17 legion aureus, a modified ballistic fist, and a blinged out 45 auto with ammunition. All of it found its way into my bag and I left after locking the door on my way out. With it locked I'd have some time before anyone found out what happened so I slipped back into the stafium. A stole a few choice items and as many coins as I could. Legion coins had an almost flat standard price in caps so it was much easier to carry them rather than caps. Sure they were a lump of silver and gold but the weight was kept up by them being lots of caps in a small form.
I exited the stadium with plenty of loot, a slightly updated map, and a better idea of what I'd face. With my previous life's knowledge of Denver begin a cancelled game, I knew that there had to be vault me here. It was almost a certainty that the core had one. I could even remember something about a robot army or such but with my memory focused on the Bethesda games I wasn't certain of much. Outside the stadium I jogged down the route directly towards the core.
An hour of travel went by before I saw anything other than deadly radiation haze or fog packs. A towering wall of scrap and cement stretching between buildings. On the wall ahead of me was a legion fort made from scrap and parasitized cement. Just like every other time I slipped right in past the heavily armed guards and through the opening the legion had in the outer wall. It was just a simple metal door on cement that was covered in bullet damage. A single small hole peaked through the door to the other side.
The haze on the other side was low to the ground and lighter colored than the rest. It was much heavier and clung unnaturally to the buildings beyond. The streets were eerily still with a few yellow street lights placed at equal distances. This time no one was passing through so I waited till no one was looking and eased the door open as quietly as possible. It's click shut sounded like a gunshot as I got to the other side.
With a small chill in my spine I began walking down the road. A few buildings in and I found what I was looking for, a police station. I could assume that members of the police and military had some way to identify themselves to cyberdogs and robots and if I wanted that I'd need a place to find it. Just outside the station were a few completely stripped vehicles, reduced completely to their rusted frames and a few useless parts. The doors to the station were shattered glass so I carefully stepped over them and continued inside.
I'd have loved to have Radar with me but he was guarding my car. His sensors would have mapped out this entire place near instantly and my Pooh would have plotted it. I walked past a few skeletons and opened a door to the office area. The check in desk area had a broken terminal and a skeleton. The offices had a few skeletons and even some cyber dog remains. The terminals were all burnt out or broken with the exception of a heavily corrupted one.
I continued deeper, past basic cells with skeletons, to a security checkpoint. A single corpse was lying on a terminal that had burnt up and blackened the ribs. I skipped past the large metal detector incase it was still functional. Past that was a room full of filing cabinets and desks but most had been reduced by time. A cursory glance told me nothing much of value was inside and I turned to the opposite door.
It too was worthless as it was once a storage room and now completely looted. Next was an empty barracks, looted with only a few skeletons left behind. Beside it was a gym and attached shower. One of the shower heads was leaking some nasty liquid and I ignored the room as it'd was stripped of all but a few lockers and benches. The final half of the hall had three rooms. An empty meeting room, an officers room, and an armory.
The armory had scraps left. A few 32 caliber revolvers, lots of batons, a single mangled 357 revolver, a pump action shotgun without the barrel, three combat rifles all reduced to stocks and damaged receivers, a lump of rust that might have been a 10mm smg, and some damaged armor and uniforms. I took the 32 revolver and ammo and left for the officers room. The door was slightly open with the glass shattered, the plastic shuttered hanging loosely.
I pushed it open, leading with my blaster. Inside was a slumped over corpse at a desk with a glowing terminal. A few filing cabinets, and other furniture. I checked the furniture and found a single bottle of nuka cola that I ignored. The files had been soaked down at one point and were less than useless. The gun the skeleton had used to end itself with was gone so someone had already been here. I moved it to the side on its chair and took a knee to loot the desk drawers. One had a machine I didn't recognize and the other had some office amenities.
I pulled out a few bottles of old whiskey and a picture frame. It was faded with time but I could see a clearly proud man standing infront of the station I was now in. A beautiful woman stood beside him and held one of his hands. One of his hands was in the shoulder of a small girl in front of him and the woman matched with a little boy. They had obviously been a happy family before the war. I tossed it into the lap of the skeleton that clearly belonged to the man in the photo. I then, finally got onto the terminal.
Its security cracked in minutes and I opened the files. Inside was the usual stuff that I mostly ignored. One part most definitely caught my attention.
In case of badge loss activate tag printer and attach tag to new badge. Robco security shall not be held responsible for death or destruction caused in case of irresponsible behavior near security units.
[Print Tag]
I clicked that prompt and the machine in the drawer started to hum. A few seconds passed before the terminal closed back to the files and stream hissed from the machine beside me. Out from an opening came a small card with a bar on it. My pipboy scanner caught a signal from it and showed up as (42-37-117) 888
My eyebrow rose at that weird ID number but I ignored it for the badge on the corpse. I pulled it off, poured out a drink for the bone dry fool and left while making myself the newest sheriff of Dogtown.