Time froze and Afton took a moment to collect himself, his mind was racing and he was flustered about what to do. He'd thought that Karl would at least give a warning before he started shooting, but perhaps not... The scene they'd be presented with had clearly struck a nerve on the man.

Louis was probably dead, getting hit in the chest at point-blank by a .44 Magnum would spell the end for most people. Afton could see Reggie falling to the ground after Karl had pistol-whipped him, his jaw moving at an awkward angle which meant it'd probably been broken. ​​

Tommy had his hand on his revolver and was about to draw it on Karl, lastly Blank was about to throw the can of beans he'd been eating at Afton himself.

Without much else to do, he selected Tommy and put all his action points towards shooting the man in the chest, it was the biggest target with the highest chance of success, any hit would likely cause the man to miss any shot he made towards Karl.

Blank would be coming right for Afton afterwards, so he needed to refocus on the ape-like man once his VATS was done. Mentally nodding to himself, he confirmed his selection, Laser pistol and Revolver quickly being pulled from their make-shift holsters and pointing at Tommy.

*PEW*BANG!*PEW*BANG!*

They both fire simultaneously, six shots sound out but only three hit their mark. Two bullets and one laser beam, this was enough however, Tommy fumbled with his gun and managed to drop it before falling onto his back, the wounds he'd sustained would likely be fatal.

Afton ducked immediately after VATS had ended, a can of half-eaten beans flew over his head and Blank was drawing his gun to fire at him. Afton made a few poorly aimed shots towards the man, a laser beam hitting his gun and causing it to fly off behind him.

Blank gave an almost animalistic roar and sprinted towards him with fists bared, Afton's Revolver was empty, but his Laser pistol still had some ammo in it. He fired a couple times but the black scorch marks given by the beams didn't impede the man.

As they approached Afton threw a kick at their head, he'd had to jump to connect it and subsequently fell on the floor afterwards. Blank stumbled momentarily at the surprising attack, a few more laser beams hit him in the chest as Afton fired from the floor.

His clothing had already been destroyed, scorched black flesh was visible on Blank, it was clearly very, very painful. Afton fired a couple more shots which finally put the man down. He breathed a sigh of relief and slowly got up, looking towards Karl to see if he was alright.

The old man had a foot on Tommy's face as he pointed his .44 down at him. "I told you, you try this shit again, I'd blow your damn head off." he growls.

Tommy tries to spit at Karl from the floor, but only manages to cough up blood on the sand. "Fuck you Karl. Thinkin' you're better than us. I fuckin, heard about you, you were one of them soldier boys weren't you? How's it feel Karl? How's it feel to be the 'Mans' bitch?! Bet not even the damn NCR wanted-" *BANG!*

Tommy's brain matter was "expelled" into the sand below as Karl had apparently heard enough from the belligerent criminal. The man releases a slow breath, looking down with his eyes closed as if he were thinking deeply about something.

Afton walks up but thinks twice about trying to touch the man, if he was as tense as he looked Afton might just find himself with another orifice... "Karl, you alright?"

He opens his eyes and turns around to face Afton, "Just peachy. You hear 'im?"

Afton slowly nods, "About you being a former soldier? Yeah, even without that idiot blurting it out, it was kinda obvious." he says, getting a small smirk from the man.

"Yeah... Look, I'm not one of them sensitive sorts, my past is my own and shouldn't concern anyone else. Let's clean this place up and head-"

"BOTH OF YOU SCUM, FREEZE!" a voice shouts and causes both to turn towards them.

"Shit." is all Afton can say, they were currently surrounded by maybe fourteen NCR soldiers, all with their weapons trained on them. A black man who seemed to be the leader of them continued shouting orders, "Drop your weapons and put your hands up!"

Afton looks to Karl who was frowning up a storm, the man looked to him and nodded, "Not much choice kid, better prison then dead I say." he says as he drops his .44.

Afton follows suit and drops both his pistols, the NCR quickly advancing on them after seeing them unarmed. The black man steps in front of them and introduces himself, "I am Sergeant Emil Volkman of 5th Battalion, 1st Company. You are under arrest for piracy, murder, theft, and anything else we can pin on you." he glances at the bodies around the camp, "You've got a lot to answer for, and I'm looking forward to seeing you sing." he admits with an all-to-happy grin.

"We're not Powder Gangers, didn't you just see us execute these pieces of shit?" he says, gesturing his head towards Tommy and his dead gang.

Emil shrugs, "You're wearing their colours so by my books you're Powder Gangers, this ain't the first time I've seen you lot in-fighting either. If you're innocent we'll see during the interrogation, take 'em away." he says before walking over to the ruined caravan.