South of Black Mountain where the Hidden Valley lies sat what used to be an ordinary windy dust bowl... However, no longer is this the case...

Around the various bunkers were many people in Powder armour getting to work on various projects. Walls were still under construction, but what's built combined with the Brotherhood's firepower would most certainly keep all threats out. ​​

Even the army of Supermutants north of the area didn't dare to show their green faces. A small group of scouts had made that mistake before, and now their burnt corpses serve as warning to the rest.

Elder Hardin watches with crossed arms as the area's defences are slowly set up. They'd stripped out all the turrets in the bunkers, functional and broken, and set them up around the place. Anyone or anything that approached without permission would be blasted to kingdom come.

It'd been a couple weeks since the Brotherhood had left the confines of the hidden bunker, and now Hardin was putting his long thought up plans into action.

In only a few short days, they'd gone from isolationist scavengers to a real threat in the Mojave... The NCR had started using the Long 15 as their primary trade route, but not with the Brotherhood's presence they'd managed to capture a number of caravans.

No longer were they forced to scavenge... Instead, they'd be collecting taxes on the road they were protecting from the Super mutants. That, and waging war against their old enemies was inevitable.

There had been a few attacks from the NCR, but they had easily been fended off without casualties on the Brotherhood's end.

Still, despite getting almost everything he'd yearned for years for, one thing niggled in the back of his mind. The traitor, Afton Parker. Indeed, almost everyone in the Chapter had heard of the recent incident involving him, the NCR, and the Legion.

Most were happy that their enemy had taken such crippling damage, and a few even wanted to bring Afton back into the fold, but Hardin didn't belong to either group.

The sting he felt at the memory of being beaten by a boy with no armour was as raw as ever. Were they not in such a perilous position he'd elect to send some Paladins after him, unfortunately, they didn't have the hands to spare for such a task. Add the fact it'd cause Afton's 'friends' to kick up a fuss, it wasn't worth the effort.

Still, Hardin had been alleviating his anger by sending those formerly affiliated with him on particularly dangerous missions. They may have been friends once, but no one disrespects him and gets away with it.

Elsewhere :

Miles and Melissa hide behind cover as bullets impact the boulder they were hiding behind. They'd just be trying to requisition some goods from a Caravan when a group of NCR troopers ambushed them.

Fortunately, they had been wearing their Power armour when it happened, otherwise, both would have acquired a new facial feature in the form of a large hole. The rest of their squad were nearby slowly picking off targets, but this still wasn't what they'd expected from their first official mission out of the bunker...

"Think every mission is gonna be like this from now on?" Miles asks as rock bounces off the top of his helmet.

"Probably... Hardin's become such a hard ass! I'm supposed to be assisting Taggart, but he sends me out with you anyway!" Melissa complains.

Miles just shakes his head, "Look, let's just get through this and we can ask him about it afterwards!" he states before looking around as the firing stops momentarily... Realising the enemy was probably reloading or distracted, he hops over the rock and starts firing with his Gauss Rifle, all the while Melissa was following close behind providing support.

Elsewhere :

It's been a couple days since the 'Capture of Caesar' as people over the radio had been calling it. Afton was currently heading up to the Sink to see how progress on Karl was going. Karl's daughter, Caroline, had woken up yesterday and was slowly but surely recovering, much to the relief of everyone involved.

Obviously, she was having difficulties reintegrating into 'regular' society, if life in Big Mt could be called that. Her time among the Legion had brought a litany of things that she'd need to work through. An example of this would be her unconscious utter subservience towards any man who asks her something.

She's aware of it, but only recognises what done or how she'd acted after the fact. While it might be amusing for pranks, it certainly wasn't for Caroline who became distraught whenever it occurred. It's so bad that it happened even with her son Carlos.

Afton shakes his head at the thought, hopefully Karl would be able to help her. If anyone stood a chance, it'd definitely be him.

Before he reaches his destination however, he spots a notification appearing in his peripheral...

[Stats]

[Perks] : 3

[Mutations]

Apparently, he'd unlocked three Perks without realising it?

After thinking about it for a moment, he realises that yes, he'd forgotten that reaching above 10 in any stat would grant a perk. Last time he'd gotten the Goliath title, not all that exciting, but perhaps the new ones would be?

[For reaching Superhuman levels in Perception, Endurance, and Agility you receive three Perks!]

[Bullet Time] : Once a day time will substantially slow down in response to a threat, this lasts for 10 seconds.

Afton smirks at the Vault boy wearing a trench coat leaning backwards to dodge bullets next to the Perk. As for the Perk? There wasn't all that much to say about it, other than the fact he'd added yet another defensive ability to his arsenal.

[Freeza Style!] : Your endurance had reached Superhuman levels! Allows user to hold their breath for extended periods of time, become resistant to Starvation and Dehydration, pressure, Temperature, and potentially even the void of space.

Hmm, this time the Vault boy was looking strikingly similar to a certain white and purple alien... Afton wondered how effective the Perk actually was, it didn't provide any concrete numbers, which was expected as it was hard to quantify starvation... Plus holding his breath was probably based on his Endurance stat anyway.

[Cat's Agility] : Makes user completely immune to fall damage.

"Gross." he mutters as he spots a Vault boy dressed in incredibly tight looking female leathers... Was it trying to dress up like Catwoman?... Urgh... He shakes his head and turns his attention back to the Perk. Yeah, it's OP.

He could now jump out of a plane and hit the floor like a missile and still be completely fine... In fact, that might be a good strategy in the future. Though, it would become a problem if his allies thought they could do the same...