Lieutenant Hayes slowly nods, sitting down on some nearby metal scrap with a thoughtful look, "Now that you mention it, we could use a hand with Primm... A group of ex-cons have holed up in the Bison Steve Hotel, the town itself isn't NCR territory so the higher-ups won't commit to sending more troops to deal with them."

Afton raises a brow, "Why now? Surely having criminals operating so close to the Mojave Outpost would be a problem?" ​​

Hayes nods, "They are, that's why we've created this encampment. The town is surrounded by a metal fence that's almost impossible to climb over, the only way they're leaving Primm with all their guns is through us."

"So you've committed enough troops to keep there here, but not help the town?" Afton inquires questioningly.

Hayes shrugs, "We're struggling at holding back the Legion as it is, small things like this are inconsequential. To the higher-ups at least."

"Not to you then?" Karl asks with his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. Not to me. That's why I'm willing to pay you outta my own pocket to deal with the thugs in Primm. The townsfolk have been holed up in the Vikki and Vance casino for a couple weeks now. I've tried to get them outta there but the whole damn place is covered with traps, mines, and shotgun traps.

The layout of the town may allow us to keep them trapped here, but we can't really enter either... I've had some teams try to disarm the traps but they're shot at as soon as they begin working on 'em. Not something you need when disarming explosives I'll tell you."

Karl nods, "Yeah, I get that." he mutters, "What'll you do if we deal with the cons?"

"Let the townsfolk handle themselves I suppose. I lack the men to properly secure it, and I doubt the added tax would be appealing to those inside. Many still think of us as unelected overlords, stealing land and forcing people to pay for the right to live on it... They aren't wrong I suppose." Hayes mutters, scratching his stubble.

"Shouldn't there be some police in there or something?" Afton asks.

Karl shakes his head, "The con's would've killed the Sheriff before they did anything else. No point leaving him to rally the townfolks against them." he sends a glance to Hayes to see if his assumption was correct.

He receives a nod, "Cons apparently snuck into town and killed the Mcbain's in their sleep. All the while keeping the Deputy imprisoned in the Hotel for some reason... Maybe he could be made the new Sheriff if you rescue him?"

"Hopefully, I doubt he'll be all that willing after seeing what happened to the former sheriff. We'll deal with that when we get to it though... How much are you willing to pay us for this? Taking down a group of heavily armed criminals with two people isn't going to be easy. Especially since they have the home advantage." Afton asks.

Hayes chews on his lip for a while before eventually nodding, "250 caps each. That's the best I can do, you may not think so but I don't get paid all that much."

Afton nods, it was better than he was expecting, especially considering he was doing this out of the kindness of his heart to help the townsfolk. He shakes the man's hand, "Deal, if we don't die in some gruesome way then we'll be back for the pay."

Karl sends a nod at Hayes before turning to Afton, "We should head out at night, I'll be able to disarm the explosives without the cons shooting at us. Maybe we'll be able to use their own traps against them." he says with a small grin.

While the sun was disappearing behind the horizon Afton and Karl were checking their weaponry. The former had a new appreciation for ballistic weapons after maxing out his Guns skill. The revolver felt almost unnaturally comfortable in his hand, he twirled it on his finger and aimed it at the top of a lampost a few hundred meters away, feeling as if he could hit the lightbulb contained within it.

He was also unnaturally fast at reloading the weapon, the [Rapid Reload] Perk combined with his relatively high Agility and Guns skill made him feel like a true duelist. Even Karl was surprised by his speed, and that's coming from a former-ranger...

He had the .357 Revolver strapped to his right on the hip, Eddie's Plasma pistol to his left, and his Laser pistol on a makeshift holder behind that. His Deathclaw leather satchel was slung behind him and filled with ammunition and a Sawn-off shotgun was attached to the front of the strap, letting it rest on his chest.

Karl thought he was carrying too much, but Afton begged to differ. They were going to be outnumbered by people, the least he could do is even the odds by bringing just as many guns as they do.

He left the service rifle and most of their other supplies in the NCR encampment as carrying it around would serve no purpose. The duo gave Hayes a nod before slowly heading towards town.

Before them was a concrete bridge that went over an overpass of the highway, it was heavily damaged and probably only held together by the metal rebars within it.

Karl stopped Afton from walking any further, they hadn't even left the encampment and there were almost mines everywhere... Its fortunate they have dim red lights on them marking that they were currently armed, it also makes it easier for the former-ranger to disarm them in the darkness.

Afton watched as his partner quickly dashed to the closest one, it started beeping but Karl quickly lifted it and pressed a button hidden underneath its casing. He thought that you'd need to press that big button on top of it, but maybe he was wrong? "Karl, what's that big button do?"

Karl gives his a sideways glance, "It may be a proximity mine, but it's still able to be activated by pressure... Step on it, press it, or anything like that and it'll immediately explode. I know some stupid folks who thought you could disarm it by pressing it." he shakes his head, "It was them who got 'disarmed' instead."