In the Shadow of the Valley: Main Series

by Desert Ranger Caracal

The main series, here at last. For those who have wanted to see what the main series of my work involves, and how things change accordingly over time, then this is where it all begins, and by extension will end when the last chapter is finished, the main story has a pinned in place ending and there is nothing left to fix. Do enjoy, I intend to flesh this series out a good bit.

3. Chapter three

CHAPTER THREE: BREAKING THE INFLUENCE. BY DESERT RANGER CARACAL.

LOCATION: WESTSIDE

DATE: OCTOBER 25TH 2281.

TIME: 10:32 AM

TEMPERATURE: 84°F OR 29°C.

Westside seemed on edge in all manners. As free as the town was, it also had major problems it needed assistance with. Most of it was overrun by fiends who had a monopoly on the area, and the Westside Militia was primarily concerned in keeping the Fiends from overrunning the rest of the area while also preventing the NCR from taking over. The militia had a lot on its plate, but it would have some relief in the coming weeks.

The courier didn't waste much time as she walked right to the entrance of Westside and went right in, having the fortune to not need her assault rifle's mettle tested. After making her way into Westside, she began to look for where the militia's leader was, and after asking about she managed to find him in the Westside Co-op, buying some of the vegetables the shop had. His name was Paul, his tanned skin bore the usual scars of keeping Fiends out of the remaining part of Westside, with one over his left eye having made him nearly blind in both eyes. He had reinforced leather armor and had a double barrel shotgun, instead of the single barrels that the men under him had. The courier approached him before speaking.

"Excuse me, you are the head of the Westside Militia, right?"

He turned his head and nodded.

"The name's Paul, I am indeed the head of the Westside Militia, why are you asking me about that?"

He asked. Courier Six opened up her bag and pulled the terms of agreement out, holding them before him.

"You already know of the Free Mojave Forces, they want an alliance with you. Read this and you'll know the precise terms that they have in mind."

She said, as the leader took the papers and began to read through them nice and slow.

"Hmmm, jurisdiction over my men in the event of combat with Legionaries, raiders, fiends and other such problems, giving them better gear within reason, hmmmm. I'll admit, Joseph's got a solid plan here. I'll accept these terms, under the condition that every member of the militia gets a firearm that's a better weapon than the ones they already have as soon as possible, except me. I ain't giving up my old sawn off."

"Sure, I doubt he'll be unable to get the required gear in order. I'll let him know."

She said, before going to the counter and buying some Banana Yucca fruit from Clayton, leaving the Co-op afterwards as she began to return to the bunker. Even if she was helping the wasteland out, she still was a courier. She had finished the last of the fruit as she entered the bunker, walking right to Joseph before she began speaking.

"He's agreed under condition that we rearm his troops with better weapons."

Joseph let out a little chuckle before he spoke.

"That's it? I was expecting something more demanding than that. Still, that is a decent amount of gear to give out. However, I'll ask Zech about how many 10MM pistols and SMG's we have. They'll be an immediate improvement and something that he won't be able to contest so much. Plus, we have the ammo."

He said, getting up as he began to walk to the armory, with Courier Six following behind out of curiosity's sake, and in case she had to deliver the weapons as well. Zechariah had just returned to the armory when Joseph and Courier Six came in, and turned to the two of them.

"Now what're the two doing here? If you want to know how the recruits are doing, they're taking to weapons repair surprisingly well. Though it's clear they need time to learn more."

"Good to know, but I'm here because I want to know how many 10mm pistols and submachine guns we have in inventory. The Westside militia has agreed to an alliance with us, provided we replace their weaponry."

Joseph said, to which Zechariah's ears pinned back, his face growing stiff as the reality of what had been said came clear.

"How many members of the militia are there?"

He asked, his voice growing dimmer as he realized just how much work he had ahead of him.

"Fifty in total."

"Give me a few hours, I think we have that many."

He said, before beginning to back up and scour through the cabinets and crates of the armory. Joseph left the room, and Courier Six did the same, not wanting to disrupt the feverish work that the caracal was doing. True to his word, the caracal was done after a few hours and had packed the weapons into two crates when he was done.

"Alright, somehow I was able to scavenge twenty Colt 6520's, twenty N99's and about ten 10MM SMG's. That, and about sixty rounds of surplus ammo for each."

Zech said, the caracal having been a bit frazzled by the sudden hit of firearms to gather, investigate the condition of, get into a pile, all on top of getting containers for said guns AND ammunition. The fact it took a few hours was a bit surprising but something he could do. Joseph nodded and took the two crates, grunting a bit before looking down at the Courier.

"Now you have the job of making sure these guns get distributed. However, you'll be going with Russell to ensure that you don't have to carry all of this in one go. Plus, he's got to stay there to train the members of the militia how to not waste ammunition with their SMG's. We have a battle coming up, and you're going to be part of it."

Joseph said calmly. True to his word, an hour later she and Russell were heading to Westside with guns in tow, each of them silently noting how things were really beginning to heat up.

LOCATION: Westside.

DATE: OCTOBER 25TH 2281.

TIME: 4:43 PM

TEMPERATURE: 91°F OR 33°C.

When they had reached Westside, it seems like the entire militia had been gathered to be issued their new weapons, clearly eager for better guns than their 20 gauge single shots. The first of the two crates was set down and opened up, revealing what they were hoping for, as quickly cleaned and examined 10MM pistols and submachine guns lined the crate in neat rows. The head of the militia walked over and took a look inside, before letting out a snicker.

"So this is what I was hoping for. I'll admit, Joseph's choice of gear is worlds better than the shotguns we have. Submachine guns however? Unless one of you knows how to whip these guys into using them right, we're gonna have issues about that."

He said, as militiamen began to take guns from the crate one at a time. Russell nodded in agreement.

"I agree, that's why I'm here to help teach those who take the sub guns how to use them. We have a long fight ahead."

Russell said, the cheetah's eyes particularly focused on the glee of those who picked up the submachine guns and began waving them around excitedly.

Before too long, all the single shots had been gathered up and were sold to the Gun Runners for all the 10MM they could get, Russell had a lot to teach the rather green members of the militia, and things were going to have to move quickly if they wanted to drive the Fiends out.

After everyone had gotten their guns of choice, Russell gathered the ones with submachine guns and took them out to the outskirts of Westside for training. The Courier returned to the bunker once more, knowing the next two weeks would be full of things to do, all preparing for clearing the wasteland of Fiends, among other things.

LOCATION: THE OUTSKIRTS OF WESTSIDE.

DATE: NOVEMBER 9TH 2281.

TIME: 10:25 AM.

TEMPERATURE: 93°F OR 34°C.

Joseph's plans came into fruition surprisingly quickly, as Russell's intensive and thorough training made it clear to the Westside Militia members who picked up the submachine guns that the plans of the Free Mojave Forces were very serious, and would involve them having to take this as seriously as him, if only because they wanted to keep Westside safe from Fiends and other raiders. By the end of two weeks, they had the overall area mapped out and a plan was set in motion. They even knew what Vault 3's insides were going to look like, when they managed to get a former Great Khan runner to spill the beans in exchange for some precious absinthe and anonymity.

In total they had a little over 100 warriors enlisted, with Joseph having his paws on 51 Free Mojave Forces warriors and 25 Westside Militiamen, and Russell was in charge of 25 Westside Militiamen.

Russell's goal was to lead them into the Fiend occupied areas of Westside and clear them out using intensive assault tactics to drive the Fiends out, aiming to kill as many as they could, but more focused on driving them out and keeping them out.

Joseph's plans were to lead the remaining warriors in flushing out the fiends in the rest of the controlled areas before charging into Vault 3 and wiping it clean, the key goal being the capturing and executing of Motor Runner in front of NCR witnesses, as evidence that they were not hostile to the NCR inherently, and that a major threat to the area had been removed.

Joseph's warriors would be assisted by sharpshooters commanded by Ruth and Rachel, who would keep the heads of Fiends down and aid in the overall advance. Rodriguez and Deborah would be in charge of comms and had a shack set up behind the Sunset Sarsaparilla headquarters, where Joseph and his warriors had gathered to begin the charge, with Ruth, Rachel and the sharpshooters in advantageous high grounds around the area.

Russell's men were gathered just above The Thorn, and had plotted out the square they would go through, expanding as far as the Monte Carlo Suites and basically stopping there when all that was cleared out. To ensure they were all in sync, Russell, Ruth, Rodriguez, Deborah and Joseph all had two way radios to keep in check with each other, so the assault could begin when all was ready.

The members of the Westside Militia shivered in anticipation, as Russell unholstered his revolver, silently mouthing a little prayer, before taking the radio off of his belt and speaking.

"This is Charger, ready to commence assault when Piercer and Slammer are ready."

He said, soon hearing the reply.

"This is Piercer, on the roof and ready to pin down some heads."

Ruth replied on her own radio, aiming down the scope of her sniper rifle, aiming at the chest of a fiend in metal armor, waiting for the right time to strike.

"This is Slammer, ready to prove to the Mojave what we can do. Piercer, let your aim prove itself."

Joseph said as he unslung his Winchester City Killer, setting it to full auto as he let Ruth make the first shot.

When Russell heard Ruth put a .308 AP round through the chest of a hapless fiend, killing him near instantly, he and his 25 warriors began moving quickly, splitting into two groups. The first group was lead by Russell, who was aiming for two places in particular that had concentrations of Fiends and raiders of other kinds.

First was an old hotel that was seemingly packed to the gills with antsy fiends, like tourists to Vegas who had just gotten a stuffed Christmas bonus. The second group were to scout the remaining area and wipe out any fiends in the area. They headed off right away, leaving Russell and his SMG toting men to work by themselves.

He and the soldiers didn't waste time, with Russell rushing up the stairs with his revolver in hand as two soldiers each began to clear rooms quickly. One opened the door of a room and threw a frag grenade in, and when it went off, the other emptied a magazine into the room, before a brief inspection happened. This tactic was impressively effective, catching Fiends off guard easily and causing immense damage, killing most of those in the rooms with just the grenade, and killing the rest with the hopeful spray of 10MM.

After the first clearing, the soldiers quickly advanced up the steps as Fiends began coming out of the rooms before being shot by Russell, who didn't waste time and began shootime immediately. No fiends were surviving this, they had orders to take no prisoners, and it wasn't like the Fiends were all that keen on surrendering in the first place.

Doped up and eager to spill blood, they rushed out of the rooms with maniacal laughter and taunting cries of how they were going to feast on feline organs, but found themselves clutching their chests and crumpling dead when they found themselves outmatched by a former cheetah ranger, and 10 militia men with no fear of Fiends. This took a surprisingly short amount of time, and after everybody reloaded, they made their way to the second stop, the Monte Carlo suites.

The main problem here was with the Scorpions, a minor gang compared to the Fiends, but a problem all the same. The scorpion member right at the door didn't even flinch as he saw the ten Westside Militia members begin to approach, a ranger in the middle of them. He just began running at them with a switchblade in one hand, screaming loudly.

He was rewarded soon after with a .357 bullet to the heart, killing him in under a second. Russell lead the men into the suites, and before too long were opening fire once again, cutting down the few members of the minor gang with ease, with Russell ending the fight as he shot Roller and Yvette in the head soon after they popped out, making them fall down with the rest of the gang. Russell stepped out of the suites as he grabbed the radio and spoke in.

"This is Charger, main objectives have been cleared, we'll wait for the sweep to finish and then have civvies roll in to help clean up the mess and secure the rest of Westside."

"Copy that, continue with your objectives, Piercer and Slammer are currently wiping the floor with the Fiends."

Deborah said, to which Russell nodded, and resumed his objectives.

At the same time as Russell was clearing hotel rooms and wiping out a small gang, Joseph and his forces were smashing through Fiend territory, shooting every single fiend they could see. Their path was simple, circle around the known Fiend territories in a counter clockwise path before entering them, then after clearing the area out, wiping out Vault 3 and capturing Motor Runner, executing him in the open so his death would be clear and undeniable.

The initial work of the sharpshooters was impressive, managing to kill more fiends than expected before Joseph and the others rushed in. The fiends were unsurprisingly not too smart though, and before too long, Cook Cook began to charge at them with lethal intent. Before he could pull the trigger of the flamethrower however he got a nasty surprise when Courier Six dumped a whole magazine of armor piercing ammo into his chest, killing him in mere moments.

Cook Cook collapsed with ease, and the courier soon rushed to him, quickly unsheathing a knife and cutting off his head in the heat of battle, throwing it into a sack before reloading and catching back up with Joseph's forces, while two squads stayed behind to control the liberated area, no bodies besides fiends were in the area much to the surprise of everyone. The caracal had to keep himself from running as fast as he possibly could, lest the humans he commanded were caught in the dust and he was alone.

He was a beast of a warrior, but overwhelming the fiends with all the warriors on his command was utterly demoralizing. About ten minutes later, Violet and her dogs got swarmed by Joseph and his warriors, her dogs being shot down as quickly as they could, with Violet herself being somewhat horrified by the sight of the canines she trained from birth to adulthood being shot down by people from Westside and well trained wastelanders in combat armor. Their yelps resonated in the air as they perished with ease, as if crying out to Violet to save them from their fate.

This didn't stop her from firing at Joseph's men, with her getting a few hits on them before getting a short burst of fire to the chest from Courier Six, killing her off. The last of the dogs were shortly killed, as two squads took hold of the area as the Courier took what she needed from Violet. From there, Joseph, Courier Six, and the remaining 59 warriors charged at Driver Nephi and the fiends in there.

Most of the fiends actually did something surprising, they ran away in terror, desperate to evade the warriors who were seeking their death. Some of them weren't that smart, including Driver Nephi, who began incoherently shouting in anger and erratically running about, moving like a maniac as he tried to instill some fear in them. Courier Six put a stop to it as she emptied the rest of her magazine in him, with the other fiends around him being shot down with ease, though a few lucky shots did kill a few Westsiders and one Free Mojave Forces warrior.

Courier Six went to Nephi's corpse before decapitating him as per usual, throwing his head into the same sack before reloading her rifle. Joseph reloaded his shotgun, and after making sure the squad had taken their place to protect the bodies and the location, got moving. He began to circle around, aiming to wipe the remaining fiends out near an NCR roadblock before going through the west entrance of the South Vegas ruins.

This took so short a time it was only really noteworthy when the NCR soldier occupying the roadblock basically froze in place as he saw Joseph and his men walk over, kill a few fiends with the assistance of some snipers, and without much of an issue.

One of the Free Mojave Forces men turned to the shocked NCR soldier after reloading his SMG and chuckled.

"What's the matter? Never seen a competent militia actually do something of value? Don't worry, Joseph's not a moron, he's not going to kill you."

He said, to which Joseph snickered, slinging his shotgun over his shoulder as he replied.

"If you go back to Camp Mccarran and tell people what you saw here, you might have a vulpine ranger named Pablo question you about me. All ya need to know is he and I were Desert Rangers. But enough about that, I suggest you run off, and tell your higher ups that the NCR is about to have the fiends wiped from the area."

Joseph said, to which the NCR Soldier slowly nodded, before running away as fast as he could, aiming right for Camp McCarran. Joseph picked up the radio and began talking as soon as he did.

"Slammer here, we've wiped the floor with the Fiends outside the South Vegas ruins, we're going to go in and finish the job in there. If any of Charger's submachine gun boys wanna join in, we could use five of them if possible as assistance, we lost a few soldiers during the assault, and this is a chance for them to really hit the Fiends in the heart of things." Joseph said, listening eagerly.

"This is Charger, we're currently having civvies help us out with resettling the area, I'll send a few guys your way to assist in the final crush and wipe. They'll be ready to end this problem once and for all."

Russell replied as he looked over at some of the SMG toting guys doing jack shit.

"Rodger, we'll be waiting by the South Vegas ruins south entrance."

Joseph said, putting the radio away as two more squads took their place in the destroyed building. Joseph then turned to Courier Six and spoke firmly.

"Alright, if you want a chance to do some leading of your own, you can take half of the men here, go to the East entrance and go through there when the shooting starts. If you say yes, your goal will be to secure the entrance of Vault 3 for a final assault on the area to wipe out the remaining fiends and to kill off Motor Runner."

He said, to which the Courier nodded and replied.

"I will not fail you."

Joseph grinned in approval before turning to the soldiers, cracking his knuckles as he spoke.

"Now listen here, half of ya'll are gonna go with the fine woman beside me and follow her to the east entrance of the ruins. When ya'll hear shooting, rush in with her and take the entrance of Vault 3."

He ordered, signalling who was to follow her before walking off.

Courier Six made her way to the east entrance, the soldiers following close behind before stopping behind her at the east entrance, her forces mostly consisting of Free Mojave Forces warriors, due to the importance of securing the vault's entrance. Joseph took the soldiers under his command to the west entrance, waiting for the submachine gun toting westsiders to come. When they had come in, Joseph unslung his shotgun, setting it to semi auto before opening the door, rushing in as he began shooting at the first Fiends he could see.

The fiends outside the Vault had little clue what was going on before finding themselves being shot at, with Courier Six leading the separate charge to the entrance of Vault Three. She and those under her command found the fiends there to be easy to kill, with accurate, sharp hits to the fiends outside meaning that none of the warriors under her command were killed.

Joseph experienced similarly small amounts of trouble as he and the other soldiers cut through Fiends like they weren't even there, with Joseph soon getting to the entrance of Zapp's Neon Signs, pointing to the men with Submachine Guns.

"The five of you with submachine guns, come inside with me cause we're gonna clear this place out. The rest of you are going to circle around the entrance of Vault 3 and clear out any remaining Fiends, now get going, victory awaits!"

He shouted, the sub gun toting men following him into Zapp's to clear the place out, with the others following Joseph's orders as they wiped out the Fiends that were around the entrance of Vault 3.

Zapp's was cleared out in barely any time, Joseph chucked a single frag grenade down the staircase to the basement let the Fiends inside know what was going on, and the excellent choke point proved fatal to the chem addled raiders. Five of them got shot down by three submachine guns spraying lead at the same time, killing them with ease.

Joseph didn't even blink, walking down the staircase with his men following behind. They thought they were done with it when Duke shot one of the Westsiders in the arm with his Service Rifle, beginning to rapidly fire down at them. The ranger quickly shouldered and fired a short burst at the raider, the buckshot hitting the metal armor wearing man and nearly killing him too. The widening clumps of lead hit his torso, stunning him in agony before the other westsiders opened up and killed him with a retaliatory burst of fire.

He fell over the railing of the staircase, and the place was empty of life, but the traps were still a problem. They'd deal with it later, Vault 3 was the primary goal in this after all. After exiting the building, Joseph had two men stand at the door to keep the place secured, while the wounded man was evacuated for medical care nearby. He'd recover in good time, Joseph knew it.

The caracal made his way to the building where Vault 3's entrance was, the bombed out area showing the rotting, grotesque remains of the Fiend's victims, alongside the fresh bodies of recently slaughtered Fiends. While a few of Joseph's forces were wounded in the process, none of them were killed, and they were being attended to accordingly. Courier Six and twenty Free Mojave Forces warriors stood at the entrance of Vault 3, where Joseph reloaded, before getting in front of them and speaking.

"Alright, here's the final hurdle to leap before we've rendered the Fiends as a dead force in the Mojave. We're going to rush in and wipe the fuckers out, we're going to scour the whole place too, the only prisoner worth taking is Motor Runner, if only so he can be extracted for execution with NCR witnesses. If any civvies are in the vault, you are to ensure they get extracted and brought back to Westside or some other safe location. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

Called out the warriors, with Courier Six joining in with her own reply.

"No prisoners!"

Joseph nodded at her, turning to the vault door as he let her pull the switch.

The massive door opening up slowly induced a kind of fear most others would likely not be expecting, as it pulled open, rolling to reveal the Fiends inside, the massive caracal ranger induced a kind of fear most of the Fiends in the entrance weren't expecting to feel, much less the other 21 warriors with him.

Gunshots rang out, buckshot made the Fiend at the controls tumble to the ground before she could call out that there were bloodthirsty militia fuckers rampaging in. The others in the area met a similar fate with 10MM SMG's, a shotgun and an assault rifle spitting lead out and killing the other fiends quickly.

When that was done, Joseph walked to the entrance that lead to the main vault and shouted out an order.

"Courier, I need you to take the other door and go right, if our intel is correct then that corridor leads to Motor Runner. I'll take the lion's share of the men to clear the rest of the vault out!"

He shouted, to which Courier Six gave a thumbs up, going her intended path as Joseph took 15 warriors with him, the other five going with the Courier.

The ranger split them up into three squads, each aiming to clear out as much of the vault as they could, with Joseph leading the head of the charge, his sharp eyes and shotgun meaning it wasn't too long before Fiends from all over were charging over and dropping like fucking flies too. The ranger had a piercingly sharp sense for battle from time with the Desert Rangers and his decade in the desert, plus he was keen on making this short.

It wasn't too long before they found an opened up area where the Fiends had set a cage up for captives, and it seems like they had a few caravaneers in there, two humans and a ghoul, with a deceased member of the caravan inside, recently killed due to the fact that he wasn't rotting. Charging in fast and hard, Joseph caught the Fiends and captives off guard, lunging at them with his combat knife in his left paw and a piercing yowl, the caracal plunged it deep into the first Fiend he saw, unholstering his revolver and firing away at the closest Fiends he could see, terrifying even them and using the stabbed fiend as a bullet shield to good effect.

The demoralizing assault proved to be what sent a few Fiends retreating, even after Joseph's six shots dropped several fiends. This meant when the fighting was over, all he had to do was pull his knife out, toss the corpse aside, sheathe his knife and reload his revolver. The huge feline turned to the nearby caged caravaneers, before speaking calmly.

"I'm gonna find the key to your cage, then my men are going to escort you three to Westside, or a safe location you'd rather be at."

He said, to which the ghoul gave his reply.

"Well if we could be escorted to the Crimson Caravan, that would be great."

He said, to which Joseph nodded, before resuming his scouting with men following close behind, a squad of five staying put to keep the captives safe in the meantime, the combat armor wearing humans being a welcome sight to the caravaneers, even if their saviors still had blood on their hands, they weren't insane, at least not like the Fiends. Continuing to plow through the living areas, Joseph quickly found the final corridor, and made his way down.

The last door on the left was opened up, and two fiends were surprised by the last thing they'd ever see. The ranger gave the two of them a pair of buckshot rounds, killing them quickly. He then walked over, checking their bodies for the keys. Soon enough he found two sets, with poorly written labels on them both, one of them saying CAPTEEVS and the other saying MAYINENENCE. Even if they were badly written, their locations were clear enough.

Joseph got up and let the warriors check the other rooms as he returned to the cage, unlocking it and throwing the door right open.

"Alright, I'll have three of my warriors escort you to the Crimson Caravan when Motor Runner's been captured and executed. In the meantime, ya'll will be brought upstairs so you don't have to fester down here."

"Why thank you. that's quite generous, we'd like to go up now."

Said the recently released woman, who was guite pleased by how she wasn't going to be in this rotting pit for much longer. Joseph pointed over at one of the warriors, before speaking.

"You, go and lead these former captives upstairs. The rest of ya'll are to hold position till the fighting is over, then it's time to clean this place up."

He ordered, to which the warriors shouting affirmatives as the caracal began to leave. Before he did, one of the captives rushed over and pushed a piece of paper in his hands.

"Here, take this, it's the password for the nearby overseer's office, you helped us out and I don't want to leave you hanging."

He said, to which Joseph turned around, nodding understandingly before leaving. He made his way up, heading to the entrance of the Maintenance wing, seeing the bodies of a good few Fiends piled up in a nearby corridor due to them trying to rush the Courier's position, their failure was pretty obvious, and they didn't even stop the feline's advance. He walked to the warriors, pulling out the key to the Maintenance wing, tossing it over to Courier Six.

"Here's the key, now please open the door, everyone else, get ready and prepare yourselves, our final goal here awaits."

He ordered, cracking his knuckles and unsheathing his knife, silently preparing himself to capture Motor Runner with his bare paws. When the door opened up, the warriors charged in guns blazing, with Courier Six at the head of things as the five fiends in the room were outright killed in seconds, their remains littering the floor with little issue as the warriors continued their trekking before seeing the hallway.

Joseph and Courier Six took the left along with two warriors, the others taking the right to clear out the hostiles they could see. Joseph and the others cut through the Fiend guards with ease, as the caracal keenly cut through those stupid enough to try and hit him, getting ever closer to the primary goal. Motor Runner's chamber was close, and the caracal didn't waste time, sheathing his knife and walking to the door.

"Alright, I'm going to capture the sonsabitch and bring him outside in his Fiend armor, ya'll are gonna handle any of the other hostiles that are inside and present. Courier, if you can find any intel of note in his quarters, take it, even if it don't seem like much."

He ordered calmly, before opening the door up. The door opened to reveal a nasty sight, a grimy chamber used by a foul pervert of a leader, with a bloody mattress in the corner being the most comfortable spot in the place.

Even as Motor Runner stood near the entrance with a revving chainsaw, it was clear he was still terrified of what he saw. The last thing Motor Runner saw before his capture was the silhouette of a two meter tall caracal ranger, who charged at the man right away, preventing him from being able to use his chainsaw with a sharp punch to the gut, making him drop it and fall down in a surprising amount of pain.

His dogs couldn't even snarl, as full magazines were emptied out into them, killing them off faster than they could bark. While he was high, the pain of a brutal punch to the stomach was not something the Fiend could power through, and Motor Runner stayed on the ground as the caracal forced his arms behind his back, cuffing him and swiftly knocking him out with a hit to the head. Joseph turned his head to the others and spoke.

"Alright, I'll carry his ass out, Courier, come back when you're done sweeping his quarters, maybe even the whole wing if you're in the mood to be extra thorough."

He said, tossing the fiend over his shoulder, carrying him out like a sack of potatoes with surprisingly little issue, his warriors following behind as he gave them the orders to spread the news, and to begin cleaning the vault so it could be established as a second base of operations.

Joseph exited the vault to the cheering of his warriors, the ranger flaunting the unconscious body of the crazy bastard who had terrorized the Vegas area for much too long. Civvies were also in the area, excited by the fact that not only had the Fiends been driven off, but that they'd been brutalized so bad that their return was extremely unlikely. While all this was going on, NCR ranger Bryce Anders got out of the Vault, seeing the madness and using it to his advantage in escaping the place.

Joseph and a few others saw him, but otherwise ignored him as he returned to Camp Mccarran, ready to tell quite the tale of what he saw in Vault 3. Courier Six came out a few minutes later, holding a few sheets of paper she had found containing details about tradings near Westside, and other such things. She handed them off to Joseph as he carried the still unconscious Motor Runner out of the South Vegas ruins, ensuring the feline knew what was up after the execution. The men still in the area were performing clean up duty, alongside noting the causalities and wounded on both sides of the conflict. Joseph's shock assault proved to be what broke the Fiends as a power player, and helped bring Westside more influence and peace to the picture.

About an hour later. on the I-15 overpass near Camp McCarran, a group of ten NCR witnesses came to see what was going on, and they were surprised to see what awaited them. Joseph's group numbered seven total, the caracal most predominantly, with Courier Six standing beside him, her rifle low ready, two FMF warriors and three Westside militia also holding their weapons at low ready, and lastly, Motor Runner himself, kneeling with his hands behind his back, having recently come to.

The witnesses were seven NCR soldiers, Bryce Anders, a vulpine ranger named Pablo, and an NCR reporter who was here to document the occasion for the news. Joseph looked over, smiling gently at his old ranger buddy before speaking.

"Looks like we meet again Pablo, let the others with you know that ya'll can step closer, I only aim to kill Motor Runner here."

He said, raising his voice so that he could be heard. Pablo nodded gently, letting the others know before walking over on the bridge, stopping ten meters away from Joseph and his party.

"Why are you executing him here? You could just hand him over and let us take care of him."

Pablo said, attempting to leverage things for the republic.

"And risk his escape? No, he gets wasted here, his death will be the dying ember of the threat the Fiends posed in the area. That other ranger with you, I saw him leaving Vault 3, I know he was trying to kill Motor Runner, and failed in the process."

Joseph said, asserting his will and pointing out another NCR failure.

"I killed a dozen of the fucking degenerates in the process, if I wasn't caught and trapped in that vault, I would've succeeded!"

"If you had tried that, you would likely have been another corpse in the grand scheme of things. You're lucky me and my warriors got you out of that jam, even if we didn't do it intentionally."

The caracal said, to which Pablo quickly pushed Bryce back with an arm before speaking.

"Look, I don't wanna fight you and your militia, so just do what you need to do and we can go our separate ways."

He said, to which the ranger nodded, reaching down and grabbing Motor Runner by the wrists with his left hand, putting a firm boot on his back and pulling tight, drawing his revolver from the holster and cocking it. The muzzle was firmly pressed to the Fiend leader's head before Joseph spoke.

"Motor Runner, your time's up, any last words before you're sent to what lies beyond?"

"FUCK YOU AND THE NCR, IF I SEE YOU IN HELL, I WILL SKIN YOU LIKE THE MANGY CAT YOU ARE!"

Motor Runner shouted out, a pathetic cry only deafened by the revolver firing a .44 MAG round right into his skull, killing him on the spot. Gray matter, blood and bone shot across the ground as the bullet tore through his head in milliseconds, painting a gory picture that the NCR reporter keenly snapped up, alongside the image of Motor Runner crying out his last words in anger.

Joseph let go of the corpse, wiping the bloody barrel of his revolver off before holstering it, looking back to the rangers.

"That's that. Take his corpse as you please, whatever the case, the Free Mojave Forces hold Vault 3 and the surrounding ruins. We'll be sure to keep the people safer than you."

He said, walking away with the warriors he lead, the final insult from the meeting sinking in the mind of the rangers. Meanwhile, four soldiers walked up and began carrying the corpse back to Camp McCarran, with two taking the position of rear guard.

The reporter and a curious soldier however stepped over the bloody mess, and ran up to Joseph, the reporter shouting as she ran the feline down.

"Sir, sir! I need to know what happened with Vault 3 and the Fiends."

She shouted, to which Joseph stopped, turning to face her before replying. The reporter was dressed in basic civilian clothes so she didn't stick out like a sore thumb in the Mojave, and she blended in rather well, her tan skin and dirty blonde hair telling of a wastelander's life. Still, she was clearly more educated than most, and a rucksack on the side bore the name of the post war news agency she worked for, based in the NCR of course.

"Make it quick, I've got to help resettle the area for the good people of the Mojave."

"Great! I have three questions for you. First, when did you found the Free Mojave Forces?"

She asked, enthusiasm bubbling up to the brim as her desires to get a story bore fruit.

"About three months ago."

"Okay! Second, how long were you in the Desert Rangers before you left?"

She asked next, putting her camera away as she quickly pulled a notepad and pencil out, jotting down what he had to say.

"I joined when I was 15, I left when I was 20, ask Pablo if you want more personal details."

Joseph said, not keen on this, his tired expression telling the NCR soldier beside her that she better not ask something stupid as hell for her final question.

"Alright, now then, just one last question for you and I'll be out of your fur. What are your long term goals for the Mojave Wasteland?"

She asked, thankfully asking something that the caracal could answer peacefully.

"My goals are to see Caesar's Legion out of the Mojave for good, hell, I wouldn't be opposed to kicking their asses in Arizona either."

He said, telling the reporter what she wanted to hear, alongside what he di hope to do. She nodded and replied.

"Alright, oh! I have one last question, what's your name?"

"Call me Joseph, the only clue to my full name I can offer is that it is on my armor."

He said, turning around from her and continuing to walk off, with the warriors following closely behind him as he aimed to make good on his statement. The reporter left, managing to crudely write the mysterious writing on his neck armor down for someone else to decipher. The block script's meaning was preserved, so it wasn't too big of a deal for her.

Courier Six made her move soon after, leaving for Camp McCarran to cash in some bounties, having handed the papers over already. What she found turned out to be papers outing a pair of slavers who were selling refugees to the Fiends. They were captured and dealt with in Westside proper, with Bad Motherfucker doing the deed with his sledgehammer. He was indeed on the side of the people, nobody could deny it, much like how much work the militia had on their hands. While beginning to head back to the bunker, Courier Six approached Joseph with a plan in mind.

"Hey, Joseph, remember what I said when you had me bring those plans over to Westside?"

She asked, looking up at the behemoth of a feline, to which he nodded and replied.

"Yes, yes I do. I made my promise, and I intend to make good on it. Russell knows how to run a clean ship, so I'll let him know, and then we can get going."

He said, walking off and heading to Russell, coming back to the Courier with only his revolver, having given the shotgun to Ruth so it could be returned to Zechariah for maintenance.

"Lead the way, I've never been in the Strip."

He said, to which the Courier nodded, beginning to lead the way to the North Freeside Gate.