In the aftermath of the cult's surprise attack and subsequent retreat there were very few war fighters left alive, War himself was nowhere to be seen, and not just because he was invisible. But the only two new casualties suffered, aside from War's men, was the Gunner the Colonel shot and the one Demon Klan member who seemed to go rogue who had his spine ripped out of his body and was having his head and spine held by a different member of the Klan.
The entire camp was left stunned and confused. No one was quite sure how to react to that massacre they just witnessed. However it was Jericho who woke everyone up from their stupor.
"Alright people, stop gawking, we still got stragglers to clear out, no one is safe until we clean up the rest of the area. We finish that, we all go home." He said as he loudly clapped his hands together. His words got his men to immediately refocus their efforts on the, now slowly, advancing remaining feral ghouls. Interestingly his was the only group without a person who broke ranks and fired on War's fighters. This fact alone was interesting but Adam didn't spend too much time dwelling on it.
After Jericho's order the group slowly put themselves back together and went back to work. Regrouping and handling the remaining feral ghouls.
There were still many questions left unanswered, too many, but truthfully Adam was uncertain he would get any answers right now so he focused on what he could do.
As Adam was reloading his guns, ready to help clear out the remaining ferals still scattered at the edges of the camp he was approached by one of the men in black suits. Though, they were not wearing black suits, instead, as they said, they each had their own suit of power armor.
It just dawned on Adam now how little presence in this battle they actually had. Despite being in massive hulking suits of power armor they did not seem to have much of a battlefield presence. Did they hide during the fight? Were they simply out of sight? Were they so ineffectual they slipped under Adam's notice? Ultimately it didn't matter, there was a lot going on, for all he knew they could have been instrumental in the battle. He did not have eyes everywhere after all.
"We will return to Midway, I believe you can handle the situation without us. We must return and inform the boss." He said with a straight forward tone. Adam nodded.
"Do what you have to do." Adam said before he looked at the dead bodies of the recently killed war fighters. "I think we just witnessed the first shots in a new war." Adam said, sighing quietly. The man in black nodded quietly as if to agree with Adam's thought. He then turned around and met with the two other fully suited up guild members and left the battlefield.
Adam surveyed the battlefield. Things were still hot, there was no question, the battle was not yet over, but the fiercest fighting was over, now it was the long protracted cleanup of whatever ferals remained they still had a lot of killing ahead of them.
The next few hours were incredibly tedious, everyone was exhausted from the long protracted battle but after a concentrated effort to clean up the surrounding areas of whatever ghouls remained it was clear that they had won. The losses were tremendous, well over a hundred had died in the battle and ensuing surprise attack by the cult. The war fighters, of course, took the brunt of the damage, with naught but a scant few left behind. However there were numerous casualties among all the various groups. However, and it might be cruel to say, no one Adam cared about was dead. Not his people, not Grant, not even the leaders of each group. But while they had undoubtedly saved Chicago from its doom no one would be walking away from this fight unchanged.
The Gunners were crippled only 7 remained uninjured, the Talon Company was cut down in half, the knights lost quite a few of their number, and pretty much everyone suffered some sort of loss.
However eventually it was clear that the battle was over and everyone slowly began to go their separate ways. Any issues the groups may have had with each other before the fight seemed inconsequential as everyone left to lick their wounds.
"So…" The Demon Klan head said, walking over rubbing his hands together. "About the matter of payment~" He said with an uncomfortable smile. Adam sighed and then nodded. He reached into his bag and pulled out 3000 caps worth of midway slips and offered it to the man.
"As promised. Thank you for showing up. You helped save Chicago." Adam said with a soft smile, genuinely thankful for their help even if he never wanted to be associated with them again.
"It might surprise some but Chicago is my home too." He said with a slightly less uncomfortable tone, instead speaking more from the heart as he took the slips. "I can't exactly conduct business nor allow my people to lead lives if everyone is dead. So I'm not exactly mad about it." He grinned as he then counted the slips and then, satisfied, put them in a pouch hanging by his hip that was made of a suspicious colored leather. Adam didn't ask.
He then turned around and rejoined his men and they all left the camp.
As everyone else seemed to be packing up, Adam headed to Jericho and the Colonel who were shaking hands to do the same with them too.
"I wanted to thank you gentlemen for showing up. You and your men were instrumental in this battle."
"Eh." Jericho said with a casual shrug as he pulled out a cigarette and began to smoke it. "Comes with the territory, we got paid, Talon Company doesn't ask questions." He grinned. The Colonel nodded.
"Indeed. While this has delivered a heavy blow to my men we will rebuild." He then looked over to the few surviving War fighters who seemed to be at a loss for what to do, not yet leaving. "And I have a few ideas how to fill up my ranks again." Adam nodded and then offered them both a handshake.
"Well I just wanted to thank you both personally anyway." Jericho shook Adam's hand a moment later and then the Colonel did the same. "Are you guys staying in Chicago?" Adam asked, curious.
"Nah, probably not." Jericho said casually. "We have other places to be, heard there's a lot of good contracts out West, we were only passing through Chicago in the first place when we got hired, this wasn't even our destination." Jericho grinned. "Plenty more fight to be had out there. Maybe I can retire down the road but I love this job too damn much."
"Then I will simply wish you the best on your future endeavors." Adam said with a smile.
"We ain't the good guys, kid." Jericho said with a grin. "We are the bad guys. But sure, I'll take your luck, lord knows we need it." He chuckled before turning to speak with his men, presumably to pack them up and move on. Adam then turned to the Colonel.
"And you?" He asked, curious.
"We are the Chicago detachment of the Gunners. We are stationed here, there's still plenty more contracts in this area. At least for the moment, I have no intentions on leaving." He said stoically and then looked at his men, many of whom were injured pretty badly. "Though we might need some time to regroup before we take another job." Adam nodded and then reached into his bag and pulled out 5 stimpacks.
"Here, take these. Your men need it." He said as he offered them. Colonel Harrison stared at them suspiciously for a moment before speaking.
"Why?" He asked simply.
"Because if you will be sticking around I'd rather be on friendly terms, your men could use these. Consider them a gift." Colonel Harrison stared at Adam for a moment longer then nodded slowly and took them from him.
"I can promise nothing, we are mercenaries, we go where we are paid to go, that may mean some day we will be hired to hunt you." He said, though not with as much of an intimidating tone as Adam would have expected.
"I don't expect promises, but I'm a good client too." Adam grinned. "You never know when I might hire you." The Colonel said nothing to that but just nodded and then walked over to his men, presumably to tend to their wounds.