So, Cottonwood Cove is a bit of an anticlimax. Just imagine how you tore the place apart to the tune of screaming Legionaries.
Cottonwood Cove
It was the second time all of them had been gathered for one "mission," as Arcade referred to them.
"Decisions, decisions." Li remarked quietly, sitting on a rock overlooking Cottonwood Cove.
"About what?" Boone asked in an undertone. He was about three feet to her left and had once again borrowed her binoculars. He had nearly memorized the guard patrol…but then, he'd been here before. A long time ago. Not as many red skirts as there used to be.
"I don't know if I want to pay these bastards back for Camp Searchlight or just kill everyone with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire." Li replied, frowning a little. "And who's supposed to be running this place, again?"
"An unpleasant fellow who calls himself Aurelius of Phoenix." Arcade answered, equally quiet, since Boone probably didn't care and Li had apparently forgotten that they'd met the person in question not too long ago. Perhaps her ability to remember names was a little impaired. "One of Caesar's top lieutenants, most likely posted here because it's the largest slave auction site on this side of the Colorado River."
"…Boone, do you remember where your old sniper's nest was?" And this was something that struck Arcade as incongruous and Boone as downright creepy. "Just…go there and get ready. I'll explain later."
"…All right." Boone's voice was even more harsh than normal, but he gave Li her binoculars and took off. After a moment, ED-E followed, beeping all the way.
Li, meanwhile, waved for the rest of their raiding party to join them on the hillside. And apparently she had gathered three Stealth Boys for just this occasion. And all of them knew who was going to get them if Boone was going to be on sentry duty, though there was still one question up for grabs—what, exactly, were they going to do to Cottonwood Cove?
"Got a plan to go with all that tech?" Cass asked.
"Yeah, I think." Li said.
"We're gonna need something a little more solid than 'I think,' Boss." Raul put in. "And I hope you're not expecting us to take on a Legion outpost as a distraction."
"Not quite." Li handed two of the Stealth Boys to Cass and Lily, keeping one for herself. Then she started drawing in the dirt. "There are three slaves in the pen right now, and we need to get them out. But we also need to kill all the Legionaries between them and the road, or else they'll all get shot trying to escape."
"What if they have bomb collars?" asked Veronica.
"Then that's something I'm going to have to deal with." Li looked down at the camp. "I can pick any lock I have to if I put my mind to it. And I know enough about explosives to not set them off."
"And if you can't deactivate the collars?" Raul asked. "Then what, Boss?"
"Then I find Aurelius of Phoenix, mug him for a key, and get everyone out in a blind panic." Li replied dryly. "But I don't think it'll come to that."
"…Let's just assume it will." Arcade muttered. "Where are we supposed to be?"
"Your faith in my abilities is amazing, it really is." Li snapped back. She sighed. "The plan is for Lily and me to sneak into the camp and let the slaves out—well, I will. Grandma, you're going to handle the guards."
"Sounds like a bit of weed-whacking, pumpkin." Lily agreed. "Grandma's been putting it off for a mite too long."
…Well, it was fairly clear that the nightkin was more detached from reality than usual today.
"Veronica, Arcade, Raul, you're going to be on that hill over there." Li went on, pointing at a different chunk of the landscape. "See the barrels? Be ready to knock them over and into the town."
"…That wouldn't happen to be what you were referring to when you said you would take revenge for Camp Searchlight, is it?" Arcade asked after a minute or two.
"Just wait for my signal and you'll see." Li said.
"This is going to end badly…" Arcade muttered nonetheless.
"And finally, Rex is going to be with Boone on this one—picking off the few guards that make it up the road a bit, since I don't think any of us is going to be in much of a position to defend fleeing refugees or pick off escaping Legionaries." Li stopped drawing in the dirt. "Everyone know what they're gonna be doing?"
There was a chorus of "Yes" in various intonations and accents.
"Good." Li said. "Let's make those Legion bastards pay."
And so they did.
The refugee family escaped unscathed. Li, Boone, ED-E, Rex, and Lily butchered the Legionaries on guard. As for the Legionaries that survived the stealth assault on Cottonwood Cove by simply not being within easy reach of knives and sledgehammers, they didn't do so well either.
This was mostly because, on the courier's signal, several dozen barrels of radioactive waste was dumped onto Cottonwood Cove.
And as far as historical refusals of employment go, the courier had them all beat.