A/N: There's a small rant at the end about why this chapter might be a bit scuffed.
I finished making my way close enough to Nipton to finally see people moving around, seeing some people look my way. There were a few girls out front, dressed in loose, skimpy clothes. Though calling them clothes is generous, they're more like civilized rags a master gives to their 'favorite servant'. Slowing down as I come in, I notice more people coming into sight. Powder Ganger remnants from when they first broke loose if I remember this correctly.
Not letting any of my actions show my feelings on them, I continue forward to the center of town, before seeing someone exit the mayor's building. A man in a brown suit with a matching brown fedora. The second I see him I know who he is, and my emotions surge. Gripping Umbra's rains, I keep myself from tearing him apart. Why do I want to rip him apart, you ask?
Because he's the one who started the chain reaction that brought all the DLC's into existence except for Old World Blues, and even then he was the reason for massive changes in that area. 'Enough, no more thinking about Ulysses, because I'm going to kill him and his group before they destroy the town.' I focused, watching as Vulpes Inculta walked out of town past the rail road. Dismounting from Umbra, I waited a while for him to round a corner on a road through the valley.
Time skip — ~5 minutes later
Following from behind and staying out of sight, I watched as he made his way to what I remember to be the Caesars Legion Safehouse. Walking with light steps, I quicken my pace, generating a small needle like shard of concrete. Making it within 20ft of the safehouse without Vulpes even noticing me. He knocks on the door, says some kind of password, and the door opens. As it opens I see the man inside who also sees me, though can't do anything as I toss the concrete needle into his throat. He falls back, blood flowing from the wound, Vulpes whirls around and lunges at me on instinct.
He barely makes it off the ground as I launch forwards and tackle him into the safehouse, letting go and throwing him down a flight of stairs on the opposite end of the room. Looking around, I see three more legionnaires sitting in the entrance of the building. Reaching back, I pull my combat knife in a reverse grip and burst forward, slicing open the closest person's neck. As I slice his throat I use his blood and splatter it into the eyes of the guy next to him. Ducking past him, I swap my knife to my opposite hand in a standard grip and plunge it into the man's stomach, lifting him off the ground.
Whipping around I grab the still impaled knife back into a reverse grip and throw it at the last guy, who was still wiping blood from his eyes. It landed in his temple, dropping him instantly. The guy behind me, still alive, grabbed my leg in an attempt to do…something. Lifting my leg, I bring it down on his head, causing an audible crack to ring out inside the building. Leaving the first guy to bleed out, I grab my knife from the second guy's skull and start moving to the stairs I threw Vulpes down. Stopping right before I enter the door frame, a shot comes through it.
"Vulpes! You're a cancer Vulpes, and I'm going to cut you from the wasteland!" I shout, hearing more people setting up downstairs.
"Do you have any idea who you're-"
"NO! Vulpes! You're not going to speak, you're not going to spout anymore poison from your mouth!" I interrupt, dropping my important gear and upper clothes next to the doorway to the stairs. Why? Because I'm going to kill him with my bare hands.
'Because I am strong, and he is weak.' I think, remembering what he said when you first met him in Nipton. Pulling Fuck and You out of my pockets I slide them onto my knuckles. Feeling the brass knuckles on my hands again, I flex my fingers experimentally before clenching them tight. [Expert Ninjutsu] telling me exactly how and where to strike for the most efficient way to injure and kill someone with them.
"Your funeral profligate!" Vulpes yelled back at me, the sound of guns readying and even a chainsaw starting up. Activating [Prodigy Engine], I look over my concrete powers and create a Splintercore Bomb, then start to modify it to be more non-lethal. Less than a second of processing and several dozen simulations later, I morph it into a new grenade type, the Slate Screen grenade. A mix between a smoke grenade, tear gas grenade, and an enemy tagging grenade. Because of my concrete powers I can sense concrete anywhere, and because it's mine I know where it is at all times if I want to. Smirking viciously, I toss it down the stairs, hearing shouts and an oddly girlish screech.
*FWOOSH!*
Seeing the dust fly out of the doorway, I rush down the stairs and absorb the concrete dust around me on instinct. Reaching the bottom of the stairs I sense the people's outlines and start the slaughter. Rushing towards the guy with the chainsaw I swatted the chainsaw to the side, continuing into a picture perfect right hook my dad used to use mixed with [Expert Ninjutsu] to perfect it even further.
Making contact, my strike breaks his jaw and sends him sprawling across the floor, seeing a chance I kick him into Vulpes.
Seeing their outlines collide and fly to the other side of the room I focus back on the others in the room, there were 13 left. Moving to the closest, he was right next to another, both were facing me. Throwing a smash punch at the liver of the closest one into a cross to the other's throat. Moving on to the next I just smash him in the temple and keep moving. This continued for less than a minute before all of them were laying on the ground, groaning, wheezing, and gasping for air. 'Why didn't I kill them, you ask?' That's simple really.
I remembered how Augustine tortured people, and I figured out how she did it as I was fighting them. It's simple really, it's just a small application of orders infused into a self-sustaining energy loop of use energy, activate effect, absorb energy, repeat. The concrete dust acts as a good starting point…even the dust in their eyes can work, though I won't do that, I want them to watch what I'll do next. Acting on my plan I absorb the rest of the concrete dust back into myself before using the first person I attacked as practical training. Activating the concrete dust I left on his legs I injected them with my reserves, creating concrete spikes that stab through his skin and burrow into the surface of his bones, making a perfect starting point to continue growing. Though, it went a bit too far as it moved all the way up his left leg while barely reaching his right knee.
He grunted, barely able to make a noise considering some of his ribs broke from the kick I used to send him into Vulpes. Grabbing him by the throat I drag him to one of the walls and mount him to the wall in the crucifixion position. Watching the process, I automate the whole thing and send every Legionnaire except Vulpes flying into the walls, literally. The concrete was placed on the backs of their limbs, burrowing into the walls before anchoring them with concrete shackles. Turning to the others and continuing to do the same with the rest, some tried to fight back but a strike to the gut or face stopped them from trying too hard. Finally reaching Vulpes, I noticed that he was unconscious.
"Looks like you aren't as strong as you thought you were." I say, feeling an odd sense of irony at the situation. Grabbing Vulpes, I placed him directly across from the stairs, to make a statement to any Legion member that comes here. Stabbing the concrete into his arms and legs made him wake with a screech of pain.
"ACK! Wha– What is this!?" he screamed, trying to thrash and break away from the source of pain. But with his hands and ankles chained to the wall, he couldn't move very far since the concrete shards were stabbing deeper into his flesh and bones. Finally, he fell down into the crucifixion position just to keep the concrete from going any deeper.
"Good morning, Vulpes~, how are you? Comfortable? Want me to get you a cup of coffee? Maybe a back rub?" I ask condescendingly, watching as his face morphs from hate to horror, looking around and seeing all of his men pinned the same way he was. Looking back at me, the horror grows due to me having no actual injury. As his gaze moves further, he meets my transformed Ghoul eye, apparently being the right eye. 'Good to know.' I think, moving closer to him, watching the horror morph further into despair. The sight does wonders to cool my anger.
"What are you?" he whispers, this being the first time I've ever seen him scared. Hell, he wasn't even scared when you use the Terrifying Presence perk on him in game, he just calls for his men to kill you.
"Me? I'm a doctor of the world, cutting out its rot. And you, Vulpes, are a small yet particularly rancid part of it. You will be the first I use to show just how unwanted the Legion are in the Mojave, and once I reach The Fort, I will free the slaves, kill the soldiers and crucify Caesar. Having him face the East, so he may watch his empire crumble into itself without him there to keep it propped up." I say, my transformed eye glowing brighter and brighter as I speak. His look of horror changes again, this time into discussion and zeal. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything I swung my fist at his jaw, breaking it.
"What did I say about you spitting poison?" I say, before making my way out of the basement, noticing the still warm corpses of the Legionaries I killed, I manifest my Rinkaku and begin transforming one of them, remembering something I had forgotten about Kagune. The fact that they are not bound to a single form. Examples like Jason who uses his Rinkaku like a spiked lance to armor and a mace when he goes berserk. Kaneki, whos Rinkaku changes as his personality changes, from normal tentacles in the beginning, to a centipede like shape after his torture, and even into giant swords towards the end of the story. Using these and more as references, I came up with a crude yet effective way to get the RC cells I need to grow stronger without eating people directly.
Finishing the transformation, it comes out to the appearance of a worm with razor sharp concrete 'teeth' at the entrance that continue down through the whole of the structure. Reaching for the first Legionaire I killed, I pick them up with a separate unaltered tentacle and drop the corpse into the 'mouth'. Completely enveloping the corpse inside before it closes and starts to pulsate, ripping the body apart and absorbing the nutrients I need. I instantly start to feel my RC cells increase and strengthen at a rapid pace, the feeling of power that accompanies it being more manageable than I thought, most likely due to [Intermediate Discipline] keeping my instincts at bay combined with not actually tasting what I'm 'eating'.
Doing the same with the other two corpses, I walk outside. Tossing the remains away once I stopped absorbing RC cells from them. The only thing left being bones. Looking away, I close the door to the safehouse, once the door closes a screen pops up in front of me.
Ding! Punish Vulpes and his men in the same way they do to others while indirectly stopping the destruction of Camp Searchlight!
1x Random Platinum ticket acquired.
Seeing the message, I smile in relief, knowing I made it in time to keep Camp Searchlight from being destroyed. Looking back at the screen I roll the ticket.
Rolling Random Platinum ticket.
Ding!
[Holy Flame]
|Elite Ability|
Allows you to wield the holy flames of Angels, while not any more effective than regular against regular living creatures like humans and animals they deal extreme damage to any unholy or darkness-aligned being and prevent them from healing. In addition, they can be used to burn away afflictions if one is skilled enough at wielding them.
Seeing the result I laugh, feeling the irony of the roll just, 'BURN', away my anger and annoyance completely. Laughing even harder at my pun, I start walking back to Nipton.
Time skip — ~5 minutes later
Returning to Nipton's outskirts I see Umbra and ED-E waiting at the edge of town, noticing a bit of blood and scorch marks around them. Looking around a bit more, I saw a few weapons on the ground. All but one of the weapons were either bladed or blunt weapons, the last however was an RCW laser rifle. Picking it up and looking it over, I find that it has a Recycler mod on it. 'Guess that's the price you pay for trying to take my horse.' I think, smirking and placing it on the side of Umbra before mounting him. Kicking him into a run away from town so I don't have to deal with whoever owned the weapon wanting revenge.
[Chapter 9 End]
A/N Rant: Alright, rant time, I f#cking hate Vulpes! I mean, he's so condescending to everyone including you even after joining the Legion. He was never creepy or mysterious to me, he just felt like a theater kid with a superiority complex that uses every chance he can get to flex the lines he practiced in the mirror for hours. To add onto that, I'm pretty sure there are points where you can prod him about the Legion's problems and he knows of them but never actively acknowledges them because it would mean death since he would be contradicting Caesar. That and I think he just likes killing and torturing people. I don't like the Legion in the first place, but he's the main reason I don't like them. He's the first Legion member you meet if you follow the story and all I saw was the theater kid trying to be scary.
Moving onto the chapter, you may have seen me using [Prodigy Engine], I've been throttling how much it affects the story, but I'm starting to ease up on that. I'll be trying to make more use of it and [Instant Adaptation] moving forward.
Anyways, that's it from me. I hope all of you who have read this far, and even those who haven't, have an incredible rest of your day/night!
P.S. I really wanted to just get this chapter over with and be done with Vulpes. Because I don't like his character, and as I learned from this chapter, I hate having to write his name. I misspelled it several times throughout the chapter in several different ways.
IMPORTANT AUTHOR UPDATE!!! Check the Auxiliary chapters, I posted something there for you guys to read!