Shots were fired. Griffon being the first one to pull the trigger. One of the Legion gunman's chest was filled with lead. As the first corpse dropped, Troy was immediately seen running towards the small band of assassins. The melee fighters charged forward to confront the courier while the Decanus and remaining gunman got ready to fire back. Harley however was quick enough to intercept the attack. She'd have already fired shots into the Legion leader's head while Griffon fired the remaining bullets in his rifle's magazine at the other gunman. By now the melee fighters had greeted Troy. One slashed a machete at Troy. The attack was easily evaded when Troy ducked. The second Legionnaire had a power fist that was getting hurled at the courier's face. Troy quickly reacted by tackling the Legionnaire into the ground before the punch connected. While remaining on top of the melee fighter, Troy unholstered Lucky, pressed the barrel onto the Legionnaire's forehead, and pulled the trigger. The fight was not yet over, so Troy quickly got to his feet before the machete wielder had time to strike. There was another slash attempted, but Troy was able to evade it. He then grabbed onto the arm which held onto the machete, and quickly elbowed his opponent in the face which caused the Legionnaire to drop the blade. Troy then proceeded to throw the fighter onto the ground. The Legionnaire tried to get up, but Troy prevented that by firing a bullet into the Legion member's skull.
The courier turned to see his companions looting the dead bodies. Griffon looked over at his friend and smiled. "Not much of a tough bunch" he'd comment.
Troy shrugged before going over to help the others scavenge. "This is the second time they sent assassins after me."
Harley shivered when thinking back to the first time. It was a close call back then. Actually, now that she and Troy looked back, somebody did end up dying. "I'm sure Caesar is still underestimating us. These guys aren't carrying anything that's worth shit" she said.
Troy groaned. "Let's still sell them. If they're not worth much, we'll use them as to repair what we have. I'm sure most, if not all our gear aren't in the best condition."
The three all agreed to take the best quality items since those are the ones that sold for the most. The Legionnaires carried some odd looking golden coins. Harley explained it was their currency. She also suggested to take them and exchange them for caps. More things the wastelanders found consisted of food, healing powder, and different types of drinks. Some bottles had labels such as antivenom while the rest were obviously water.
When their scavenging was finished, the three continued onwards towards Freeside. Harley gave a bit of information about her former home. The entire town was shitty to begin with. Thugs were always causing trouble, but they're not too much of a problem thanks to a gang called The Kings. The group in Harley's eyes were a little weird. She continued on about how they need to first visit this place called the Atomic Wrangler. It's a casino, but they also provide more intimate services. Harley decided to keep quiet about that though. She seemed a bit on edged when mentioning those optional services.
The rest of the journey felt short due to a bunch of small talk. It went from Harley asking more about Victor, all the way to what Troy plans on doing when meeting Benny. Griffon got curious about the previously mentioned intimate services, but failed in getting information from Harley. Eventually, the conversation was halted when Griffon layed eyes on what looked like a shopping stand.
There was a man-made shack ahead of them. It had a large window with a protectron in front of it. What's even more interesting was all the guns inside.
"The hell is all this?" Griffon asked with a bit of excitement in his voice.
"Oh?" Harley took a good look at the stand, but had a nervous expression. "We won't be able to afford any of that. Gun Runner's arsenal, but it's all the good stuff."
Troy was pretty disappointed. He had a quick flashback back to Alexander at Outpost 188. The one word to describe the Gun Runner employee was 'asshole.'
"Follow me. The Freeside entrance is this way" Harley ordered. Troy was quick to listen, Griffon however stared at the Gun Runner's stand while drooling. Obviously the rifleman was disappointed to not be able to buy anything from the robot. Troy however, was eager when following behind his female companion.
The one thing noticeable about Freeside's wall was that it was completely made of junk. To be fair, a lot of things are made of junk now a days. The entrance however was much larger than it needed to be. It was as tall as a Super Mutant Behemoth. At the top of the gate were letters that spelled Freeside. However, it appears that only a couple glowed a bright red, while one flickered. Otherwise, the lights on the letters were completely shut off. It wasn't going to be as good of a town as Troy thought.
Once inside, the three were immediately greeted by armed wastelanders. Most likely mercs. Harley wasn't pleased on how they were approached though. Whatever the reason, Troy and Griffon were about to find out.
"You're in luck strang-" the mercenary looking man was immediately cut off by Harley.
"Beat it bum. You ain't worth the hiring" Harley harshly responded. It caught Troy and Griffon by surprise. Harley is normally polite, but clearly there is bad blood between her and these men.
"Oh wow, it's you" the 'bum' responded with distaste. "Bitch" he muttered before turning to Troy and Griffon. "Anyways, you two are in luck. I happen to be the most successful bodyguard in all of Freeside" the wastelander claims. Troy noticed Harley roll her eyes as she begins to walk off. The courier took a look at this wastelander. He was a caucasian man with a buzzcut and a black goatee. He happened to wear overalls with an ammo belt strapped onto him. The weaponry he carried wasn't all that impressive. A simple hunting rifle and 9mm pistol. Troy didn't realize that this 'bodyguard' was continuing to talk. Griffon was listening though. "I just happen to be available at the moment. One hundred caps guarantees you a peaceful trip through this fair district."
"Aight mate, why the hell would I need a bodyguard?" Griffon asked. Now Troy was paying attention.
"Sounds like you're new. Trust met, you won't make it ten feet without being approached by our 'friendly' residents." The emphasis on the word 'friendly' showed sarcasm.
Both Troy and Griffon gave the merc a look. They didn't even have to talk, the look itself gave a response as in "Really?"
"Okay, I get it. Y'all look like you can handle yourselves. I however happen to know the area. Even alleyways those thugs use to ambush folks. If you need me, just let me know" the bodyguard said. There were other bodyguards nearby that gave a chuckle at this one's failed attempt in hiring a client. There were a couple in the group that stood out. The two looked identical. Both of them had slicked and greased hair along with wearing a leather jacket. Either they were just two friends or siblings playing dress up, or they were apart of a group.
"Six, we gotta go" Griffon interrupted Troy's train of thought. The rifleman started sprinting off towards Harley's little figure ahead. She made distance since they entered Freeside.
Troy muttered a "Shit" before sprinting off behind Griffon. While running, he turned his head left and noticed more of those dudes with greased up hair. Some wore dirtied up white t-shirts, while others wore leather jackets. Troy was able to notice letters on the back of their jackets. It spelled out the word Kings. The same word was hung up on a building. The letters glimmered brightly for everyone to see. Clearly they were a group in Freeside. A known one too since they managed to get a building for themselves.
In the distance at an intersection, Troy noticed Harley talking to a blonde in a skimpy looking outfit. A stripper maybe? Why the hell is Harley talking to a stripper? Either way, Harley was out of sight now. She turned the corner, which caused a ruined building to cut off Troy's view of her. Griffon had almost caught up with Harley. However, he had stopped in front of the stripper and was resting his hands on his knees while heavily panting. Normally, Troy would make fun of him, but he was actually also tired. He was panting too, so he rested his hands on his hips before staring up at the blue sky.
The blonde hooker smirked upon setting her eyes on two new clients. "Hey babes, head down to the Atomic Wrangler if you want to have a good time" she said in an forced erotic voice. The girl was also dancing, erotically. Now the view was nice and all, but the forced voice was unnecessary. Then again, it didn't take much to impress Freeside residents. The girl was cute which was a bonus.
"Hey" Troy greeted while continuing to pant. "You know Harley?" he managed to ask.
The erotic dancer stopped dancing for a moment and widen her eyes in joy. "Oh! You two are the friends she was talking about?" she asked. The blondie then pointed towards the end of the street at a sign with the words Atomic Wrangler on it. It was the name she literally just mentioned when meeting them. "Harley is over there. It's nice to see my dance partner again" she says joyfully.
Troy and Griffon stopped panting for a moment. They both looked at each other with confused expressions? "Huh!?" they both said to each other in unison. Who knew Harley was a stripper. Or that's what it looks like. This honestly explains her good looks.
The situation would be silent if only the guy across the street would stop advertising his own group.
"You want someone dead? Really dead?" Troy and Griffon looked over in annoyance. There was a bald African wastelander in black painted combat armor with an energy rifle on his back. The guy also had a noticeable stubble. "Stop by the Silver Rush and we'll give you the means!" The armed wastelander's voice did not fit his looks at all. That's probably because the guy face had a blank look while his voice was actually expressive like an actual advertiser. "You want to get your hands on some of the deadliest weapons around? Head just down the street to the Silver Rush. You won't be disappointed" the advertiser went on. Troy and Griffon looked around. There was literally just them, the hooker, and the advertiser himself.
"Oi Six, let's just go find Harley already" Griffon begged.
Troy nodded with a concerned look. "Yeah, this place is fucking weird."