Afton spends an hour or two sipping some Nuka Cola while relaxing under the sun to get his bearings back. Spending the whole night modifying your motorbike was tiring as hell as it turns out.

Fortunately his [Solar Powered] Perk did more than just heal and increase strength. It also seemed to wash away his tiredness, though he wasn't willing to see how long he could get by without a good nights sleep. ​ ​

The other's didn't mind the wait as they were still recovering from their own hangovers, the only thing that was annoying was the fact that they had a constant group of people gawking at Dirt-Bird as if it were some kind of technological masterpiece.

Eventually though the group were ready to move again. Karl sat on the back while Boone returned to the sidecar. They gave their farewell to Samuel and his daughter before accelerating off in the direction of New Vegas.

They'd not even driven for a couple of minutes when they were stopped by some sort of barricade? Large pieces of scrap metal had been set up in the middle of the road, blocking them from heading any further. Of course, Afton could just go off-road and head around it, but he was already very suspicious of this wall just magically appearing here.

Karl looks at them both while keeping his face neutral, "Neither of you leave the bike, soon as we get off we'll be rushed. Pretty sure its just thieves who saw us in the 188 Trading Post." he explains.

Afton smirks, "Why don't we see if my upgrades are any good then?"

The other two nod as the group gets off of the bike. Almost immediately people started hopping over the barricade and sprinting towards them with guns and knives in hand. Afton, Karl, and Boone hold their hands above their heads as they slowly back away from the bike.

The thieves seem to be encouraged by this as the rest of them follow the brave ones, yelling and cheering about how they'll "Sell it off and be rich!"... Seems they didn't realise that Afton currently owned Dirt-Birds certification, meaning they couldn't sell it to the NCR or any NCR citizen without being arrested... Though, the black-market would probably still sell it for a lot.

"Alright bois, pull that there Vehicle over here!" a man larger than the rest calls out with a greedy grin plastered across his face. "Hm, and one of you go take everything those three are carryin' might as make this a complete robbery, hehehahaha!"

...

Afton can only shake his head as one of the bandits approach the bike. Another approach them but just before they reach the group one of the unfortunate bandits lay a hand on Dirt-Bird.

"Thief detected! Termination initiated!" The robotic voice calls out as arms sprout from the back of it. The confused bandit doesn't get a word out before he's blasted in the face by laser fire. Due to the low intensity of the lasers themselves, they don't even die instantly, instead feeling their face, muscles, and bones liquefy under the intense heat.

A gurgled scream escapes the attacked bandit, causing the rest to look at them and almost shit themselves. The brief burst of laser fire ends, and without the light show covering the bandit their face is now visible to all.

Blackened and burnt while still smoking, the man resembled what an ugly feral ghoul would look like. Their tongue and eyes had been burnt out and a good portion of the bone in their face was visible due to the thoroughly cooked away skin and muscle.

[Scare a humanoid shitless. 31/50]

All of the fourteen bandits aside from their leader freeze up at the sight, the grips on their weapons loosening as their body's scream for them to flee and never return. The leader of the group simply scowls and is about to shout for them to kill the three responsible... Unfortunately for him, Afton and his group weren't going to waste this opportunity.

Afton starts VATS and focuses on the men closest to him, as well as those with the most dangerous-looking weapons. Most are only wielding shitty 9mm pistols and broken-looking revolvers. But a few do have shotguns with them. Once he closes VATS he draws Lucky and That Gun, each gun acting like a turret as they each target different people.

*Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!*

All loaded bullets in his pistols are quickly emptied towards the enemy, eleven of the men dropping dead with their grey matter evacuated onto the sand.

Karl and Boone also jump into action, both struggle to not gape at Afton's skill and efficiency at putting the bandits down and quickly start firing their own weapons.

Another couple of bandits drop dead, the last one finally releasing what a bad situation he'd found himself in. He's about to try and flee when his leader picks him up like a meat shield and starts charging towards the group, all the while giving out a loud battle cry.

Afton was almost amused by this guy, the fact the man was wielding a large machete and using one of his own men as a shield made him think he belonged with the Legion. Regardless, he holstered his empty guns and drew the sawn-off shotgun from his chest while pulling out a hunting knife from his belt.

Karl and Boone kept firing at the man but the only damage they were causing was to the bandit being used as a meat shield. The brutish man had finally reached Afton, dropping his shield and raised his machete to behead Afton.

*KABLAMMO!*

Afton raised the shotgun in his left hand and shot the man with it point-blank in the chest. Had his strength not been at 8 points his wrist might've dislocated from using a shotgun with one hand. The bandit stumbled backwards as a spray of red left his chest, a large jagged hole now decorating it.

Afton drops the shotgun and dashes forwards while he's off-balance, driving his knife into the man's arm to force the machete out of his hand. With that done he pulls it out and slices them between the ribs. The cut was so deep he'd actually managed to penetrate the man's lung.

He was about to continue cutting the man to pieces when their head abruptly exploded into a red mist and bone fragments.

...

Afton send a dull look to Boone who's rifle was still smoking, he wipes off some of the man's blood and sighs, "Really?"

Boone shrugs, "I got your back."

...

"Whatever."