Damian had only been walking for an hour but he already knew the powder gangers had no interest in chasing down a single person when they had a nice shed which presumably had at least some items of value (including Damian's helmet and machete) to loot through.
Then out of nowhere he hears a slightly feminine voice call out.
"Stop right there, legion scum!"
Damian freezes in his tracks. Unsure of whether a powder ganger had caught up to him, an NCR
soldier has spotted him, or simply someone who doesn't like the legion saw an opportunity with this lone legion soldier.
Damian slowly raises his hands as he feels a second person come up behind him, pulling his arms down and binding them with a piece of twine. As he was tying the twine the second figure spoke in a clearly masculine tone.
"Okay you legion dog, you stumbled across the wrong settlement."
"I'm no longer with the legion!" Damian replied in a rough outburst.
"Oh so now that you're caught you think that by just saying you're not in the legion you can get out of this?!"
"No! It's not like that!"
"If you aren't in the legion then why the hell would you wear their god forsaken armor?!"
"Because I just recently took my freedom."
The man loosened his grip on Damian's hands, his instinct told him to run, but with the woman that probably has a gun aimed at him within earshot, he decides it would be in his best interest not to.
Damian hears the feminine voice approach from behind. Neither person is yet in Damians view.
"So, what do you think we should do with him, Chance?"
"I think we should kill this legion dog where he stands, Amy."
Amy pauses for a moment to think about this suggestion.
"I don't know about that Chance, if we kill him we can't get any info on him."
"But if we don't kill him, he's just going to be a drain on our resources!"
"Who said we have to feed the bastard?"
Chance smirks and then replies.
"Good point, he looks healthy enough."
Damian chimes in objecting to the conversation.
"Hey! Just let me go and you wont have to worry about anything, trust me, it will save you a lot of time and energy."
Chance gets in Damian's face and gruffly inquires.
"Is that supposed to be some kind of a threat?"
"No, I'm just saying that it would be much less of a hassle for you if you two would just untie me and leave me alone."
"No why would we do that legion?"
"So that way you and that woman would quit arguing in my ear!"
Chance reels his arm back and smacks Damian across the right side of his face, knocking Damian to the ground.
Damian quickly draws his strength and raises himself to his feet, he now can see his captors and put faces to their names. Chance is a brawny man wearing an average merc grunt outfit with shortly cut orangeish hair and a single tooth missing from his angry grimmace.
Amy on the other hand is a thin woman with a hunting rifle gripped firmly in her hands, she allows for the strands of her sandy blonde hair to hang to her shoulders, while somehow managing to keep it out of her face, she's wearing a pair of black boots which were probably show boots from before the war and a pair of gecko leather jeans with a black and white flannel shirt, (obviously too big for her as it hangs loosely from her shoulders and the excess is tucked into her jeans)and is approximately a foot shorter than Chance who stands eye-level with Damian, after looking at the pair he turns to Chance and charges him, knocking him off his feet.
He begins to kick Chance in the ribs, but before he manages to he feels the press of cold steel
against his temple...
"Now both of you quit fighting!"
Damian reels his foot back and delivers a kick to chance's rib-cage despite the obvious danger of the action, he then feels a hard jolting hit to the back of his head, and everything goes black...
Damian's mind flashes back to the legion instructor that gave him the scar on his lip, and how he had just acted no better than the man who was shot for his actions that day, when the thought gets to Damian on the ground, he watches as the man draws back his foot and the moment it makes contact Damian violently awakens. His body wanted to shake as a person normally does after waking from such a dream, but he found himself to be still restricted.
Amy lazily looked over, the glow of a lantern illuminating her tanned face.
"Ha chance! It looks like you owe me twenty caps, sleeping beauty here woke up before morning."
"I did? What time is it?"
"Shut up legion boy!"
"I do have a name you know?"
"Yeah, I do know, but to be honest with you, I couldn't care less legion boy."
"Well, if you guys don't care about my name yet you are keeping me alive, what do you plan to do with me?"
"We haven't decided that yet, but if you cause us anymore problems we're just going to gut you and leave your body beside the road to rot."
"Message understood ma'am."
"Don't call me ma'am!"
"My apologies."
"Just shut up and wait for chance to get back."
Damian began to survey the room he was in but as soon as he started to look around Chance burst through the door, scanning the room for Amy.
He rushed over to her and pushed her away from Damian, then grabbing Damian by the neck.
"How did you alert your fucking legion buddies?!"
"What are you talking about?!"
"Out there a fucking group of those legion bastards are about to ransack the town!"
Chance lifted Damian to his feet and drug him outside with Amy following close behind ready to provide covering fire.
Chance dropped Damian to the ground as the terrified shrieks of the townspeople grew louder, he saw powder gangers alongside the citizens of the town, all of them running in fear.
He looked to the road and gasped at the sheer number of legionnaires marching towards the town. At the head of the formation was an unmistakable figure, Damian could make out that wolf's head from any distance, Vulpes Inculta was leading this assault.
As the townspeople scramble for the 'safety' of their homes, the legion quickly spreads itself out across the town.
Four legionnaires rushed toward the trio, one was quickly dispatched by a shot from amy's and two more killed by a charge from Chance who was brandishing a pair of spiked knuckles.
The final legionnaire circled around Chance and Amy managing to release Damian from his binds and give him a single spear.
Chance and Amy wheel around to spot the legionnaire and Damian, the legionnaire takes out a ripper and stares them down, he begins to charge while revving the ripper, but after only three steps a spear tip pierces through his chest.
The legionnaire looks down at the tip before it is violently withdrawn from his chest and he topples to the ground.
Standing behind the legionnaire was Damian holding the spear.
"Now do you believe I'm not with the legion anymore!?" Damian remarks with droplets of blood spattered on his rage-filled face.
Chance and Amy stand there bewildered at this turn of events, until Damian barks out.
"We can't just stand here! We need to get moving before the legion destroys this whole town!"
"He's right Chance, lets get moving."
"Alright Amy."
The trio start to head for the road leading out of town with Damian at the head of their closely packed formation, they encounter one final group before they near the towns exit.
This group was formed in a circle, opening up once the trio came near to them revealing at the center of this group stood Vulpes Inculta himself.
"Damian, my dear friend. It's a surprise seeing you here considering you died with the rest of your squad."
"Vulpes, just step aside and let us pass, I don't want to have to hurt you."
"I'll let you pass in exchange for your woman."
Chance instinctively jumps in front of Amy and yells at Vulpes.
"If you want to get to her you'll have to go through me you dog-headed freak!"
"Damian, calm your attack dog."
"Chance, settle down, we're not going to give Amy away."
"Hm hm hm, I'll let you three pass, but this wont be the last you see of the legion, Damian. Eventually we'll catch up to you, and when we do, we'll kill you."
Vulpes passed Damian one last glance before ordering his men to follow him to the towns courthouse.
Damian, Chance and Amy cautiously walk down the road, passing a sign with the words "welcome to Nipton" scrawled onto it.
Chance mutters under his breath.
"Goodbye Nipton..."