Steel Waste

After accepting the job the duo took a look around the traders to see if they anything they could be of any help... They didn't really have much to sell, most supplies having been slowly used during their stay here, putting most into pretty bad spots.

They did make sure to stock up on ammunition though, judging by what they'd heard, there could've been anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of Giant ants... Neither had an idea how long it'd take, or if i was even possible to completely get rid of them.​​

Regardless, they'd taken the job so they had to give it a shot. Karl did find something of interest while asking around the traders... A plasma grenade. Afton had used quite a few of these during the battle of Helios One, but only now did he realise that they were incredibly rare, and incredibly valuable.

They could range from 300 to 600 caps each depending on who's selling, makes him feel slightly sick when he remember how any he'd been throwing around like an idiot... Karl managed to get a good deal on it as they were literally going to use it to clear the roads for these caravaners.

"What're you going to use that for anyway?" Afton asked after Karl bought it.

"You'll see kid, these things are a hundred times more useful than any ballistic grenade, I'll tell ya that."

They were suited up and ready to start clearing the roads... As they were leaving the camp a voice shouted at them... It was the Sniper that'd been glaring at them from the roof of the Barracks.

Afton turns and shouts back, "What?!"

The woman seemed to shake her head and started making her way down to the ground and towards them. Once she did they found she was pretty short, only being 5.8ft... Afton couldn't help but be drawn towards her relatively large breasts that were under her dirty white vest.

"Eyes up here virgin." she spits, causing Karl to immediately start cackling. Afton sends him a dirty look before glancing at the sniper, "You need something?"

She nods, "You two were about to head out right? Clearing the roads? Well. I have something that needs looking at. See that smoke in the distance?" she gestures between the legs of the giant NCR statue towards the town that seemed to be burning in the distance.

They nod, "Yeah?"

"Well, that's a town called Nipton, not a nice place, but still technically law-abiding. I need someone to check up on it but Ranger Jackson won't send anyone to look without reinforcements. If you're willing to check up on it while you're out there I have some caps with your name on them."

Afton shrugs, "Sure, we're going in that direction anyway... Any idea on what it might be?"

The woman shakes her head, "Maybe the remaining Powder Gangers have set up shop there after the prison was taken? Other than that I don't really want to think about it."

"We'll report back our findings." Karl says and starts walking off, Afton nodding at her and following along.

As so the two were back on the road, from the top of the hill they could see the dry-lake, as well as a small dust-storm that was occurring around it. It wasn't as bad as the hidden valley was during the night, but it'd still irritate the eyes and inhibit their vision slightly... Luckily both Afton and Karl had sunglasses that'd protect their eyes for the most part.

They ignore the Giant Ants in the overpass and instead head directly into the dry-lake. Almost immediately they could see many silhouettes through the dust.

"Know anything about these things? All I know is that they can apparently burrow through the ground..."

Karl nods, "Yeah, we best stay on concrete to stop that from happening. I know there's usually one queen that lives in their tunnels, producing a constant supply of new young... We need to clear the soldier ants out and find the entrance to the tunnel." he rubs his beard, "We're pretty lucky today though, the dust-storm will stop their pheromones from alerting the others."

"Pheromones?" Afton questions.

"Yeah, they use it to communicate with one another... Attack one and the whole damn colony'll be on your ass, unless you're in a day like today." he says.

Afton nods and spots a sillouet coming towards them, reaching for teh sawed-off shotgun hanging from his bandoleer. Karl stops him from grabbing it though, shaking his head at him, "Don't bother with this, unless you press the barrel against its head it'll do nothing." he explains.

"Yeah, my bad." Afton admits, having forgotten just how tough the exo-skeleton of these things is. Instead, he draws Lucky from its holster and aims it at the creature as it slowly heads towards him.

It reaches the highway and Afton is finally able to get a good look at it, it's around 4ft tall, 4ft wide, and 7ft long. A large creature with six legs and two large mandibles, along with two piercing black eyes.

It clacks its mandibles at him for a moment before trying to rush him, Afton just fires Lucky at its head, causing orange fluid to explode out of the wound, the creature dropping dead almost immediately.

"Huh, I was expecting it to be a little harder to kill than that." Afton admits, feeling slightly disappointed at the anti-climactic death.

"Kid, you tryin' 'ta die? Stop saying stuff like that." he growls, firing his own gun at a nearby sillouet and causing it to drop dead. He pulls out his knife and walks over to the ant Afton had killed as start cutting open its abdomen.

"What are you doing?" he asks in surprise, there wasn't anything of value inside these things... Even their meat was terrible.

Karl just shakes his head and keeps digging until he finds what he's looking for... Reaching in and pulling it out, he wipes the orange fluid on his shirt and presents it to Afton, "Lookee here. Ant Necter."

...

"I have no idea what that is."

Karl just shakes his head, "Its a Chem boy, sells for a good amount... Now, let's properly get cleaning this damn road or we'll be here all week."