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Josh Grimm steeped out from the door of the Atomic wrangler, he put the brown ranger hat on his head, tossed his old brown leather jacket on and started down the street towards Jacks Gunshop, his place of work for when he wasn't do a mercenary contract. The Van Graff thugs across the street glared at him as he started off down the street. He walked through looking around at Freeside; it had changed over the last fifty years considerably. The relief effort made by the NCR and the kings had resulted in the city turning from a poverty stricken ghetto to a somewhat function community in a poverty stricken ghetto. More shops opened up, along with a few new bars, restaurants and hotels. Signs from Michel Angelo's shop now not only made the strip a light show at night but Freeside as well.
Josh came to corner of the street that was the top of upper Freeside, the gate made of an old bus separated the two halves. Upper Freeside was where most of the richer people lived, along with the Kings headquarters, the Atomic Wrangler, Silver Rush, Sam Adams Apartments and the now crown jewel of the King's gang, a theater made out of there old headquarters. The now "Kings Theater" served as a late night drinking hall, theater and hotel. It was as classy as Freeside got drunken fights and loud music until seven in the morning was common. Josh looked at the building; last time I was there I got dragged away by some kings for beating up some stupid punk. Still got that knife he had, nice to he thought scuffing at the memory.
"Hey Reaper" said a feminine voice behind him, he turned to see a small blonde sixteen year old in a very reveling outfit.
"Morning Cat, they really got you advertising for the wrangler this early?" Josh said crossing his arms and shifting his weight but regretted it as his knee gave him a shot of pain. He winced at it and shrugged it off but Cat says it and looked concern.
"What was that, Reaper" She asked him.
"Just and old wound acting up again" Josh responded shrugging "it's nothing fatal"
"Damn and I got excited for a second" Cat said sarcastically. Cat and Josh got along well despite the age difference.
"You know you are smart enough to go work for the Followers or even for Jaggers" Reaper said. Cat sighed at his comment and looked downcast.
"I can't, I have to look after my brothers" She said "but hey you wouldn't get to see me then"
"True" Josh said reaching into his pockets he pulled out a sum of caps and held them out to her "here buy them dinner, on me"
"Look you are really nice but I don't accept charity" Cat said, as she crossed her arms a slight look of being insulted on her face.
"Its not charity, it's a gift" Josh said. Cat sighed and took the small bag; she looked down the whole time.
"You know what I don't get Reaper" Cat said looking up at him "how can some one as kind as you be a mercenary, let alone be known as the Reaper"
Josh's brow furrowed, he often thought it was from his last name but there was more to it then that, and he grew up like some of these people did, poor and hopeless. He knew their pain and knew the struggle.
"I know what it is like, the struggle and as for helping out" Josh said as he uncrossed his arms "I was a solider once, never lost that sense of duty to the people" Josh then walked off and through the gate; he left behind a puzzled young girl. Cat shrugged and then went back to work.
"The wranglers just down the street, your almost there already!" She shouted.
Jack looked up over the news paper he had been reading to see his friend and co-worker walk through the door of his shop. The shop was in an old butcher shop but only a few got the irony in that, it had boarded-up windows and the rusty old metal door creaked on the hinges. The old walls where cracked and the brick shown through the cracks like a cut seeping blood.
Josh put his hat on a hook, along with his jacket and went behind the counter and sat down in the chair opposite Jack, who had gone back to his paper. The news paper came to the Mojave slowly after the second battle of Hoover damn, it took off eventually. There were three big papers in the Mojave wasteland, The NCR Post, a nation wide paper, The Hub Times, a mostly political paper that dealt with the issues, senators from the NCR's sixteen states and lastly the Freeside Freshnews, the local paper for the Mojave. When the NCR annexed the area they brought the manufacturing know how and industrial knowledge with them. Despite being almost three century's old, a few enterprising people have factories running again. The NCR now could make steel, paper, and other goods. Some people even found ways to use old tech to make new tech, such as old phones, terminals, and pip boys.
"Why do you read that crap?" Josh asked him "you know it's week old news by the time it makes headlines" Jack folded the paper and looked at him, he shook his head.
"It may be crap but I read it to know what's happening" Jack said grabbing a coffee mug and taking a sip.
"All it is bad news, you know that?" Josh said, propping his feet up on the counter.
"Yes and always expect to hear the worst news possible" Jack said standing as he heard the door open "that way, I may be pleasantly surprised" Josh looked puzzled at the statement for a second before standing up and following Jack to the front. A few local hunters stood on the other side of the counter. The leather clad wasters shook some dust of the shoulder guards, one put down the hood he wore and the others took of their glasses. Their faces had grim on them, a one had a nasty scar on his neck and the dust on the leather armor and weapons they had just completed the picture, pure breed wasters.
"Well, what it be boys?" Jack said as he leaned against the counter. One grabbed his scoped hunting rifle and placed it down on the cracked up marble surface.
"The scopes not zeroed, but I never touched it since I sighted it so I think the mounts are off" the one said as his comrades began to browse the selection of weapons, ammo, and other dealers of death that lined the shelves and cases.
"Let me see that" Josh said as he reached for the rifle and pulled it over to him. He started to look over the weapon; the hunter leaned up on the counter. Josh looked at him, he was younger then him, twenty eight if I had to guess maybe younger, but a pair of dog tags caught his eye.
"What unit you serve with?" Josh asked him as he continued to look over the weapon, admiringly it really. The Wood on the rifle was not old; this is a newly made stock Josh thought.
"I was with the fifth, say some of the action down in Arizona against that tribe of mutants that they found but I was only in for six years" the hunter said "in fact all of us where, still wished I had some of that new armor they came out with"
"Yeah, still hard to believe they made you a DM" said one of the others "how about you?"
"How bout it squatter? You serve?" Asked another one. Josh scowled at the slang, squatter I hate that word, squatter was a term used for anyone who has poor or lived in ghettos.
"Sure did" Josh said pulling his own dog tags off his neck and held them out for the hunters to see the one whose rifle he had leaned over to look at them.
"Sir, I'm sorry for my friends insult I'm sure he didn't mean it" the man said. The one who insulted laughed at him, holding his gut.
"What was he some armory Sargent or something?" The man said, chuckling.
"I was a lieutenant with the Third Ranger's" Josh said, the man stopped laughing and looked wide eyed "now your rifles scope and mounts are fine, the barrels become un seated" Josh said ignoring the man who insulted him.
"If you want I can reseat it for you and zero the scope again if you want. Plus for a little extra ill add a short stroke bolt" Josh said.
"How much does one cost" the hunter asked him.
"Around three fifty but we take anything here so any trade items you have are fine" Josh said as he put down the rifle.
"Do you have a demo?" the man asked, his one friend walked over to him.
"Hey, Brain me and Jones are heading to trade this meat before it spoils more"
"Okay, ill meet you at the Wrangler when I finish here" Josh used a key to open the locked case that housed some of the weapons he owned. He kept everything but his 12.7mm revolver and service rifle at the shop along with the combat armor he wore for his mercenary missions. He grabbed his scoped .308 rifle from the case and set it down on the counter.
"Well, Brain this is my rifle" Josh said as he opened the bolt "go ahead and check it out, work the bolt its short stroke. Two of my good ranger friends that are still in showed me how to make this" Brain picked it up and worked the rifles actions a few times, nodded in approval as he handed the rifle back over to Josh.
"Ill take it, how much for the ammo to zero it?" Brain asked him.
"No charge for the ammo, four hundred caps or that value for the bolt and barrel seat" Josh said as he pulled a box from under the counter.
"Thanks, I appreciate it" Brain said. Josh nodded and head to the back room with the work bench.
"It will be about an hour" Jack said who during the course of the events had gone back to his coffee and paper.
Josh and Jack walked from the stores door down the street to the bar at the corner to get some dinner. They walked through the doors into the shady old bar known as "The Congress" and sat down at the bar. The tender walked over to the two. He was cleaning a glass with a rag that was far too dirty, but it was a wasteland despite what the people tried to do everything was dirty.
"What can I get you boys?" The man asked.
"Ill take some water and a Gecko steak, through some veggies in to" Jack said.
"Same but get me a whiskey as well" Josh said.
"You never told me you where a ranger" Jack said looking at him friend "come to think of it I don't know your real name"
"You never asked, and Reaper is good enough" Josh said.
"Come on, what is so bad about me knowing your name I have known you for two years" Jack said.
"True, I guess it wouldn't hurt" Josh said "it's John Doe"
"You're a dick you know that?" Jack Garret said he looked at the bar when he heard the sound of a plate hit it.
"What's your point?" Josh said, he reached into a pocket on the chest of his jacket and pulled out a cigar and a engraved lighter, a small case fell out and landed on the table open so the picture inside was seen. He flicked open the lighter and worked the striker a little flame popped forth lighting the NCR symbol on the side and his now darkened face. His thoughts drifted to his family as the picture of him and his wife holding their new born child in her arms. He absent mindedly ran a finger down the cheek of the women in the picture, Maria. Jack took the picture and looked at it, a red haired women with bright green eyes smiled up at him, the baby in her arms was sleeping soundly. Next to the women was a man that Jack barley recognized as Josh looked up at him, his hair cut short in a military like fashion and his clean shaven face gleamed with happiness.
"What happened?" Jack asked as Josh slowly took the picture back. He put some caps down on the bar and grabbed the whiskey with his left hand, his right occupied with the cigar that was in his lips as he took a long draw on it, the nicotine giving some what of a buzz.
"I don't want to talk about it" Josh said after he let the smoke out of his lungs. He stood up and walked out leaving his food untouched.
"What about your dinner?" Jack asked him.
"Im not hungry" Josh said and opened the door. He stepped out into the neon light night of Freeside and disappeared from Jacks view.
Jason Jaggers currently sat on a large over stuffed couch in the pent house of the lucky thirty eight, women sat on either side of him and one on his lap. A large cigar was in his lips and a glass of scotch resided in his left hand. The sound of foot steps and a securitron wheel drew his attention but not enough to turn his head as the girl on his lap played with his hair.
"Sir, General Hsu and his escort are here to see you" said the robot.
"Thank you James" Jason said he still looked straight ahead into the darkness and light of Vegas outside his window. His eyes were not those of a man who was tired or of one who was thinking, but rather into another person's soul. The general and his two fellow officers sat down in the chairs across from him. General Hsu's in his old years resembled an old samurai in everything but his dress, the two officers he had brought Jason recognized as Carrie Boyd and Reyes. A few troopers stood behind them, they stood at parade rest.
"Girls how about you go get us some refreshments" Jason said, the girls giggled and left the room and headed for the kitchen "now to business"
"Yes, though you looked quite busy before" Hus said as he held up a hand and one trooper put a folder into it.
"You know every since heard the radio announcer call you the best of humanity, it laughed" Boyd said "what kind of man socializes with six women at one time" she said socialize in such away everyone got what she implied.
"A talented one" Jason said as he took a sip of scotch.
"You represent the place you rule all to well" Boyd said. She was right Jason Jaggers was a drinker, smoker and womanizer. He surrendered to almost every vice, gambling, sex, alcohol and tobacco, but he also helped the relief efforts through out the NCR and had been key in the second battle at the Hoover Damn. The man's brilliance was well known and he loved to prove it through gambling.
General Hsu handed the folder to Jason who took it and opened it up.
"Reports from observation posts past the Colorado, some from rangers" Reyes said "they all show that raids have gone up in uncontrolled territory, also that the fort once again flies Caesars colors and if my guess is right, we now have the third battle brewing"
"You mean any land that NCR, the Khan Empire, or New Rome doesn't control?" Jason said still reading.
"Correct" Boyd said "also New Rome has been quiet for a long time, any communication we had was cut off and all our trade cravens never came back. Plus these legion camps and the fact no raids have come from them troubles me"
"I know, and the legion we see is just the beginning. I know everything you have told me, don't forget I have my own men as well" Jason said as he took a draw on his cigar. Jason Jaggers agents or more commonly known as the SS were infamous for secrecy and ruthlessness.
"Yes, we forgot about the SS" Boyd said sarcastically.
"Now I know to things you don't, first off is that New Rome is no longer a republic and once again united under a Caesar but not like last time. The entire nation is now behind the new legion. The Second is that Vulpus is the new Caesar" General Hsu took a drink of the vodka that he had got from one of the girls but he spit it out at this news, the other NCR personal all got wide eyed.
"He is dead, Joshua Grimm killed him after he and his team went AWOL, Stole and went on a vengeance camping across the wasteland" General Hsu said whipping spit from his chin.
Vulpus Caesar was the third Caesar after the Second battle of Hoover Damn, he ignored the Mojave and instead managed to get his army through to the core region and cause havoc, but the NCR drove his armies back to the Mojave and over the river just like before. When it was over the legion that was built from New Rome like the first by Caesar and then the second thirty two years later by the legate, numbered under a hundred and its leader lay dead leaving Vulpus to take over. His bloody camping left a huge scar in the Republic, hundreds of thousands where killed and the damages was still being paid for.
"He is alive, my old friend I assure you" Jason said.
"How? He was thrown in a bonfire and stuck on a large stake that was in the fire" Boyd asked him.
"Someone got him off the stake and out of the fire before he died, the same people who saved him also put him in power" Jason said "I saw the official report filed by Mr. Grimm"
"How? That was top secret, no civilian, trooper, ranger or senator was to know that he survived thanks to some unknown group" General Hsu said.
"I have ways and you know I am more then just some civie. I read the whole thing, Vertibird, advanced power armor mark II though in knew about that before thanks to my connections in the brotherhood" Jason said. The NCR general's brow furrowed at this, he shook his head and threw his hands up.
"So now what, we build up the army for another go with the legion?" Reyes asked.
"No, we would get crushed. The legion is better armed than the last two times and has more funding from what the SS can tell is unlimited. The standard legionary is better equipped, better armored and better trained then ever before" Jaggers now had the NCRs full attention, so he took another puff on his cigar and sip of his scotch "no longer is it just idiots with a few good weapons and machetes running at you in a human wave tactic. Their tech is at the level of the brotherhood, but fortunately they don't have a legion of fully power armored troops. Those they do have pose a threat as is, considering the armor out performs the NCR and brotherhood"
"So, we cant win a war and if we go over the river we break the treaty we signed with New Rome six years ago, before Vulpus took over I am assuming" General Hsu said leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, besides the legion there is just to make sure we don't interfere with something" Jason said.
"Something?" Boyd asked her eyebrow rose.
"I don't know what besides the eastward expansion of the legion and its mother country. As Hsu said we can't just attack them, we won't win. They have too many advantages" Jason said taking another sip and puff.
"So what do we do?" Reyes asked.
"We need to know where every major camp is before hand and develop away to attack them without a long march. Second, this is still the legion and that means without leadership it crumbles" Jason said.
"Cut the head from the Snake the body dies" Boyd said.
"Yes but this not snake but a hydra as we have seen, cut off one head and more grow back" Jason said leaning foreword in his seat.
"So, we do what?" Hsu said "to me it seems they got us by the balls here"
"Yes, the NCR military's balls are in a vice grip. Even if we attacked them we would because the legions leadership to scatter again and the result is another comeback tour" Jason said "So, instead of cutting the heads off the hydra we nuke the whole damn thing. The legion in its infinite brilliance sent only low ranking officers out to lead the camps and the high ranking officers control the legion from the capitol of New Rome, and I mean all of them"
"So we nuke the capitol of New Rome and kill every one of those innocent people?" General Hsu said.
"I admire your idealism, but now is the time to drop morality to the side and deal with this once and for all" Jason said "We either destroy them entirely or we ourselves our doomed"
"I need some time to discuss this with the president, he needs to know about this" General Hsu said standing up. The other officers followed and headed for the stairs, the general already almost up them.
"Time is something we my not have, James" Jason said.
Josh walked down the street, his mind wondering around his head like a drunken man. He stopped at a street corner and leaned against a light. The whiskey burned as he sipped it down, his eyes unfocused looked around him at the broken buildings and the somewhat useable ones. Just to look at them was strange, the city said life but the buildings showed death. His eyes suddenly focused on something he say in a reflection in the window of a closed shop across the street. Ten figures approached him from behind, his ranger sense kicked in and he pocketed the whiskey and walked down the street again. He took a few turns at random and checked his back in any reflection he say as to not alert his suspected tail to his awareness. They followed his every turn without pause, well looks like somewhat want an ass beating. What those guys… Josh looked at a mirrored image in an unbroken window in a very broken car; three matched the descriptions of the men jack told him about. Well this should make life interesting Josh though as he ran at a door to an abandoned building and kicked in the door and ran inside. He quickly climbed on top of an old book case and crouched to fit between it and the ceiling; sure enough the men came running in. Josh took of his glasses so he could see better in the dark, his sight quickly adjusted to the dark thanks to an implant that he got from the followers in his ranger days.
"Split up we got him cornered" Said one who had on leather armor and had a shotgun in hand. The others nodded, and headed off. One walked past the bookcase, so josh jumped down behind him quietly and snapped his neck. Nine left to go, Josh thought as he pressed himself against the wall. He slung along it until he came to a door way and peeked into the room. He say three of his pursuers in the room, one was close to the door, another stood in the center with a flash light, scanning under a table near the wall. The third stood looking out a broken window. Josh pulled back and then knocked on the wall.
"What was that?" one said.
"I gots no clue check it out Dwight" said another. The first man, the one close to the door, walked towards the opening with his gun lowered. Perfect, Josh thought as he shot his arm around one side of the man's head and the other hand on his cheek, he quickly rose up and then twisted, hard and down. The sound of snapping bones and tendons reached his ears, but he didn't stop to appreciate it. He ran into the room at the second man who was busy raising his Chinese assault rifle. Josh closed the distance of only six feet in a fraction of a second as his adrenaline, combat instances and sheer will to live kicked in. he gripped the guns barrel and pulled it past him, yanking it from its master. Thankfully the gun didn't fire. Josh dropped under the arm and drew his knife and plunged it into the back of the man's head at the base of the skull, the man dropped instantly. The Reaper then claimed the last man in the room by grabbing the back of his head and slamming it foreword out the window so the neck of the poor victim was impaled by the broken glass. Little lucky on that on, Josh thought as looked around and then headed back to the hall. The stairs to the second level where on one side with a solid banister and a small balcony at the top. Another one of the assailants was at the top, so josh jumped up and grabbed the edge of the balconies railing. He grabbed the man and pulled him over, before the mercenary could scream his head hit the ground and bent a bad angle, snapping like a stick. That's five, josh thought jumping over the edge to see two more at the end of the hall backs turned as the walked down the hall. He charged them, his foot falls silent. The first got Josh's knife in the bottom of his jaw where it meets the neck at the corner and then it sliced through to the other corner of his jaw. The second man turned to get back kicked into a wall, but he quickly went to punch Josh, yelling as he did. Josh quickly grabbed the man's arm and dragged it past him, his knife went straight into the unfortunate mans gut and then up. He gargled and died as josh jumped out the window and hung out it. He quickly shimmed along a ledge to another window he saw the men he just killed through an open door. He silently hopped in and slunk up behind one just as the man he had indentified as the leader said "Where is he". Josh slit the first mans throat, and as the second went to hit him with a power fist he side stepped. The knife entered the man with the hydraulic fist under his arm in the pit puncturing his lung, the man then gurgled as fluid filled his lungs. Josh's hand shot out and grabbed the leader's throat.
"Looking for me asshole" Josh said looking the man in the eye.
"Oh shit" He said his hand on Josh's.
"Start talking, who sent you?" Josh asked tightening his grip.
"I anit telling you shit" the merc said. Josh shook his head and then banged the man's into the door frame. A solid thud accompanied it but was dulled out by the mans wind leaving his chest as Josh's knee collided with it causing the merc to drop to all fours as Josh let go of his throat. The man's head now resided between the door and the door frame, the door went flying shit as the former ranger slammed it on the guys head. The merc was dazed and blooded as Josh picked him up and reestablished his grip on the man's throat and walked him into another room, this one a bathroom.
"Answer me!" Josh yelled at the delirious man.
"I don't know"
"Bullshit!" Josh said and then smashed the man's face through a urinal's lower half, the two hundred and fifty or so year old porcelain smashed. The merc was now in the fetal position as Josh's size fourteen boot collided with rips much to the boots owners satisfaction a few cracks where sounded along with a sharp yelp of pain.
"A mid-dle man, hired us" The broken man said.
"Give me a name, now" Josh ordered.
"I cant he will kill me" Josh picked him up by the throat again and got right in his face.
"It's me you should be concerned with" He said angrily "who was it?" The merc shook his head but stopped when it smashed into a mirror,
"Ok-ay it was, Frank. Frank Fenix" the man said.
"Where can I find him?" Josh interrogated the mercenary further.
"He is a King" Josh tossed the broken mercenary to the floor, drew his revolver and pulled the trigger. The roar of the massive round was the last thing the unfortunate mercenary heard.