Ch. 25 Bison Steve III, The Finale

"It's High~ Noon~"

Cass looks at Colton. "It's nowhere near noo-"

*Crrk!* *Fwoom!* *Thud!*

Colton kicks the doors open and the view of a giant room with a high ceiling comes into their view. Along with intense smoke from within the room.

Time slows down as Colton activates V.A.T.S.

Colton sees 10 people. Some were standing around a fire in a barrel. Others where by a Brahmin on a spike over a fire. And others were sleeping.

He selects the head of the ones standing that he can see. The 11th guy is far away and behind a fort made out of the tables so he gets spared for the moment.

As time resumes the men look over at the sudden opening of the door leading to the kitchen. Only a few were able to even see Colton before they died.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

6 men hit the ground. Only 1 is left standing as Colton reloads so fast that he loads all 6 rounds before the first empty .357 casing can hit the ground.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Colton finishes them off. And Cass can't believe it. Colton is like a different person right now. And his shots are so fast she wonders how the gun even fires that fast being a revolver.

The guys sleeping barely got to open their eyes before they died and went back to sleep permanently.

Colton blows the non-existent smoke coming off the barrel. "It's high noon somewhere in the world"

"Ex-fucking-scuse me?" Cass looks at Colton. "You ruined it. That might have been the coolest thing I had ever seen but you opened your mouth. And you ruined it"

"There's still one more" Colton says as he quickly reloads Lucky. His 9 Agility and 25% reloading bonus from [Rapid Reload] is ridiculous. He wonders what will happen at 10 Agility.

Cass scans the room. "Where? I think you got everyo-"

*Dwooosh!* *Crash!*

The table fort explodes and the wooden tables go flying. One lands right in front of Colton and Cass and skids across the floor until it hits a wall.

Both Colton and Cass watch it go by. Once it hits the wall they both look to where the explosion came from.

Standing with a big and bulky incinerator is, presumably, a man with shiny metal armor on. It's shiny, but looks like a bunch of scrap metal shoved together and randomly welded to form armor. He holds the incinerator with both hands as it rests on his hip. His armor covers him completely and looks like only a super mutant would be able to move in it and still use the incinerator properly.

Colton wonders if he could even move with that thing on. And how the man can see with his face covered completely.

The presumed man takes two heavy steps forwards. "AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHH!" He shouts as he aims the incinerator at Colton and Cass.

Colton fires a bullet at his head but it just glances off his metal helmet. "Shit!"

"Scatter!" Cass shouts as she jumps back into the kitchen.

Colton jumps forwards into the room towards where the, intended, exit is and lands behind some tables that were set up as makeshift barricades with a floodlight behind it.

*FFffffwwwwmmmmpppp!*

A fireball explodes where they previously were standing and a fire rages on the spot as it consumes the floor and wooden table nearby.

Inside the kitchen Cass finds a fire extinguisher as she ignores the muffled screams of the tied up man who is assumed to be Deputy Beagle. She puts the fire out that was starting to spread from the table and incinerator shot and moves back into the kitchen for cover. She peeks into the giant room and looks at Colton.

Colton pauses time with vats and thinks. What does he have that can take this fucker out. Bullets don't seem like they will work. Even the joints are covered and would take a few bullets to pierce. His Energy Weapons Skill isn't that great. And all he has right now is a plasma pistol and a laser rifle which he knows how to use but hasn't actually ever fired one before.

He thinks about what he has on him. There is the dynamite….

*DMPH*

The heavily armored man takes a single step forward. "I'll burn you and then cut you open for what you have done!" He aims the incinerator at Colton and fires it.

Colton, not wanting to be a burn victim, leaps out of the way. But has to keep running as the armored man follows him as he fires consecutive shots with the incinerator.

The heat was noticeable, but would have been worse if Colton didn't have his Temp control cloak. Colton runs to the side of the room and the man turns on the his heel to keep aiming at the surprisingly agile man.

Colton felt the bonus from [Rambo Style] decreasing as his speed slowly returned to what it normally would be.

Colton gets to the wall and runs next to it until he gets in the corner where the bar would have been.

The flamer is stopped as the man reloads. "You aren't escaping here! And after I burn you and your lady friend I'm gonna go and burn the townspeople!" He shouts. "Unless your lady friend wants t-"

"Hell no!" Cass shouts as she throws a stick of dynamite from the kitchen.

Colton watches the gold medal worthy throw but it goes out of his sight and presumably towards the guy.

"Hell yes!" The man shouts.

Colton then hears a hissing sound get closer to him and he runs peeks around the corner to see that the man picked up the stick of dynamite and chucked it at him.

Without even having to think Colton began running away from where the dynamite was going to land and dove to the floor behind another table.

*BOOM!*

The floor and building shakes. Chunks of the wall fly in the air as even more smoke enters into the air.

Cass winces at her mistake. It had been a while since she had used dynamite. But only a crazy and skilled person could grab it from midair and throw it away from themselves. It was even more stupefying that the guy did it in the heavy armor.

She grabbed three more sticks and lit them.

Colton felt the explosive blast hard as it blew his table to pieces over him. Luckily he hugged the incredibly dirty floor so the splinters missed his body. But the blast still shook his internal organs.

He manages to get himself up and sees the man reloading his flamer. Colton dashed towards the man.

Right as he finishes reloading he sees Colton standing in front of him. "Hahaha! What are you going to do?!" He shouts as he aims the flamer at their feet.

Colton swiftly lunges at the flamer and makes a grab for it. He isn't successful in grabbing it but he does manage to push it up and to the side.

"Let go!" The man shouts and complains. He lifts his foot and goes to kick Colton.

Colton pushes the flamer to the side and grabs the man's foot that was in the air. He doesn't waste a second as he lifts the foot as high as and as hard as he can.

The metal man falls to the floor hard as he screams and the flamer falls to the side.

"Move Colton!"

He hears Cass shout. He doesn't need to be told twice and snags the incinerator as he runs away from the turtles man who was flailing and shouting to try and get back to his feet.

"Watch out below!" Cass shouts as she lobs the three sticks of dynamite at the now downed convict in his own personal metal tomb.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Colton shouts as he sees the dynamite go over his head and land behind him. He has the incinerator in his right hand as he runs towards Cass.

*BOOOOOM!!!!*

In even bigger explosion shakes their world. Colton was able to get far enough away from the downed man before the explosion went off. He sees Cass with a satisfied smirk looking at him. He stops running and walks up to her before he turns around.

"That was pretty cool" She comments.

Colton looks at the spot where the man used to be. Now he was on the walls, and his armor in the walls. "Which part? The part where I flipped him like a Brahmin? Or the part where you unnecessarily almost blew me up with him?"

Cass pats his shoulder. "I'd say the part where I got the final kill. And I knew you would be fine, I haven't seen anyone run the way you can run away from something"

She puts her hands on her hips. "And I already had the thing lit before you flipped him, so it's not like I exactly had a choice"

Colton drops the incinerator. "You know what? Good job Cass! I'm going to look at this on the bright side. And you know what? We didn't die!" Colton smiles as he looks into the burning room with raging fires. "Do you have another fire extinguisher?"

Cass hands him two. "We have plenty"

——————

With the building no longer about to be burned down, and all fires put out. Including the metal barrel fire and the Brahmin fire. Colton and Cass relax against a wall in the kitchen with the doors shut to try and keep the smoke in there.

Cass looks at Colton. "I'm gonna be straight with you"

Colton looks up from his seat on the ground with his back against the wall. "I wouldn't have it any other way my loyal companion"

"I didn't think we would get out of this without a scratch. Or even in general. I had very little faith. Are you sure you aren't some secret government project or some mutated and enhanced being to be able to do this almost single-handedly?" Cass seriously asks.

"I'm fairly certain. I don't remember being a baby or anything. But I have memories of growing up…" Colton pauses and then gasps. "Maybe I'm a robot! Sent back into the past to help the Wasteland from the crisis it finds itself currently in and heading towards!"

Cass slides to the ground opposite of him. "Funny…" She looks him up and down. "…. You aren't serious though right?"

"Of course I'm not serious! I'd be one hell of an advanced robot! I'm just good at what I do, and I had you helping me out. We were careful and these guys were basically brain dead. We just actually made them brain dead" Colton points at the five corpses in the kitchen.

"Mph! MmmmM Mphhh! MPHHH!"

Colton looks at the back of the kitchen and sees the tied up man. "Are you Deputy Beagle?!"

The man rapidly nods his head.

"We're here to save you" Colton says as he watches Beagle's eyes widen and a happy expression sprout on his face.

"I'm just messing with you. We're here to kill the escaped convicts. We weren't even sure you were still alive to be honest" Colton says.

Beagle's face flinches but it's still happy. Mainly because he was close to being freed now.

"We still have something to do. We will comeback and untie you afterwards. So sit tight for a few minutes" Colton gets to his feet.

Beagle tries to say something but it's muffled by the gag in his mouth.

"Gonna check out that locked room?" Cass asks.

"Yep, wanna come along? Or do you wanna babysit Deputy over there" Colton points with his thumb.

Cass stands up. "He's not going anywhere, I'm also curious what's in that room. It's one of the rooms I haven't been in before. Granted, I never did explored this place"

Colton walks towards the entrance. "Cool, let's go see what's locked inside then"

They make their way to the front doors and to the locked door behind the counter with a terminal on it.

Colton looked at the lock on the door and sighs. "I can't pick this lock. A bit too advanced for me currently"

Cass looks at it. "Can't we just kick it in?"

"We could, if you had the kick of a Bighorner. The door is reinforced for some reason. It may look like a wooden door, but behind it is something metal I assume" He points at the hinges. "These are not for the wooden door. It's like giving a rocket launcher to a child. A bit overkill and stupid. These are for something heavier behind the door"

Cass looks at the hinges and barely sees a difference. "Ok, what's your plan then?"

Colton looks at the terminal. "I can try something else"

He goes to the terminal and turns it on. The screen flickers to life and lines of code start appearing on the bottom of the screen and move up to make room for more code. After the screen is filled the code disappears and is replaced by other lines of code. Colton begins typing on the keyboard of the terminal. Lines of code begin moving places and some outright get deleted.

*ding DING*

5 minutes later the computer makes a sound that doesn't make Cass think it will explode. If anything, it sounds like something good.

"We're in" Colton says as all the code flickers away and the next second is replaced by an actual terminal screen that has various tabs to open.

Colton goes through them and skims information from the various tabs until he finds the one that unlocks the door with the click of a button.

*KrrChunk*

The door makes a mechanical sound and then there is silence.

"I haven't seen anyone hack a terminal before. Looked complicated" Cass says as she moves towards the apparently unlocked door.

"That was an easy hack. Just imagine a really hard one" Colton says as he swings the door open.

"I don't think I can" Cass honestly says.

They both look into the room. It appears to be a staff lounge type of room. The door opens up in the bottom right of the room. There is a table in the middle of it with an empty ash tray, an empty mug, an empty glass, and a key on it. Just ignore the Kelsey on arm on it and it would be fine.

Along the right wall are metal shelves with tin cans and looks like it was used to hold their food before the war since there is a package of gum and a lunchbox. The only thing that doesn't fit is a harmonica on the bottom shelf.

Against the back wall is a closed fridge in the left corner. Along the rest of the wall are broken open lockers. With a glance they can tell there are some goodies in them.

Nothing is on the wall that the door is on. Basically the wall across the lockers and fridge are bare.

The left wall has what looks to be fully stocked medical supplies.

Oh, and there was a safe on the left wall as well, near the fridge.

"Bingo?" Cass asks.

"Something like that" Colton says and they both enter the room.

They inspect the skeleton that is broken into pieces beside the table where the arm is.

Cass grabs a key next to the hand on the table. "Bison Steve Maintenance Door" She reads out.

"Well that's useless to us now" Colton says and turns to the shelf on the right wall. He takes the lunchbox but leaves the rest of the food since it's irradiated.

Cass moves to the lockers. It's mostly empty but what's there is interesting. "There's a 9mm pistol, Rad-X, and…. Med-X" She says annoyed. She's getting very annoyed with the amount of chems she's having to deal with. Her heart hurts just looking at some of them.

"Don't look over here then" Colton informs his companion as he shoved the medical supplies into his pack and the lunchbox he has.

He doesn't know why he grabbed the lunchbox. He just felt compelled to. Maybe it's because it was so late at night and it's his exhaustion catching up to him…. Or that Radscorpion Casserole.

Mentats, empty syringes, Rebound, Stimpacks, and a few miscellaneous medical supplies.

Colton wonders if he should increase Medicine next. It's at 50, and with all the medical supplies and chems they have he could make a really big name being a doctor since they are rare and hardly ever travel between towns and choose to stick in wealthier communities. That or there are fakes that Rob towns that don't know any better…..

He shakes his head and moves to the wall safe. "You've gotta be shitting me" Colton looks at the safe that is above his current level. "I don't get paid enough for this" He says under his breath as he takes his pack off.

He looks at it and it's surprisingly not damaged. Even his satchel isn't. Along with his things inside it. Colton remembers his bear-hug with the ghoul but doesn't find anything broken or damaged. A little late to check it, but better late than never.

As Colton was looking through his pack he sees his collection of magazines.

"Opening the locker is your pay right?" Cass says as she tries playing Tetris with the things in her pack.

Colton doesn't find a magazine to help with Lockpicking. In his Skills list on his Pipboy he sees that Lockpick is at a base 31 but with bonuses is at 40. Which makes him think he is really close to understanding this lock and be able to pick it. Maybe he should invest in Lockpick too...

'Why are there so many things I need to increase!' He shouts in his head.

Cass opens the fridge but immediately closes it. "Geughh" She gags. "Let's keep that closed" She says to herself under her breath. "Need help with that one?"

Colton stands up. "Nope, unless you have a plunger…." He looks at Cass. "I have an idea, but we should probably leave the room"

Cass looks at Colton. "Why?"

Colton pulls out a stick of Dynamite. Cass tries to take it out of his hand but he pulls it away.

"Don't get your panties in a twist. I'm not going to use the entire stick" Colton says as he sets it on the table.

"I'll get your panties in a twist" She huffs before dragging her pack out of the room. She doesn't want to be next to Colton while he's playing with explosives…. again.

Colton manages to make the stick of dynamite basically useless except for a quarter of it. He carefully picks it up and duct tapes it to the safe where the lock is. "A nice controlled explosion" he was saying like it was a mantra.

He lights the fuse and bolts out of the room with his things. He closes the door and rests his back against it.

"Is there a reason you ran so fast out of the room?" Cass asks.

Colton takes his goggles off. "No reaso-"

*boom!*

A not as powerful explosion goes off.

"I wonder how many more explosions this place can take?" Cass says as she looks at the walls and ceiling.

"I'd rather not find out" Colton states as he opens the door and looks at the now open safe. He goes over to it and takes out a baseball bat. "Call me Neagan" Colton says as he swings a bat for the first time in so many years. Even in his previous life he hadn't played in years.

"Neagan? Why?" Cass asks as she looks at the various stacks of prewar money inside. Sure it may be useless. But if you find the right buyer it could get sold for a pretty cap.

Colton leans on the bat like a cane. "No reason. Just a prewar reference"

Cass moves the stacks of cash. "You and your prewar references. It's like you were locked in a vault…. Were you?"

Colton shakes his head. "Nope. And I'm fairly certain only a few people actually survive in the vaults. Damn Vault-Tec and their experiments" He thinks about all the cruel things they did. That's if the Fallout 4 videos he watched actually were true in this world.

Cass shrugs. "That's true. But there are more people coming from vaults as time goes on"

Colton rets the bay over his shoulder. "Let's go talk to our friendly neighborhood Deputy"

"I'll let you do the talking. I don't particularly like him" Cass says as she stands up. "I avoided him while I was in town in the past. Just gave me some weird vibes"

Colton nods and they walk over to Deputy Beagle who is still back in the Kitchen. He walks up to the man who looks at him with expectant eyes.

Cass searches the body of the dead convicts. To see if they missed anything, but mostly to not deal with Beagle.

"I'm going to ungag you. And you are going to answer some question I have. Understood?" Colton states.

Beagle nods once.

Colton takes the cloth out of Beagle's mouth and lets it fall around his neck.

"Pah!" He spits out to the side. "Did you really come here to rescue me? I'd cross my fingers but they went numb hours ago"

Colton leans against the counter in front of Beagle. "You are Deputy Beagle right?" He wants to hear the specific words from his mouth. Even if Cass already confirmed this is indeed the man.

Beagle charismatically smiles. "Why, yes I am. It's a pleasure to meet you….."

"Colton"

"Well Colton, I was in a bit of a per-dicament until you came along. I'd be most appreciative if you could now set me free" Beagle holds his hands up.

"After a few questions" Colton looks at the man's dirty gray hair. "How'd you end up being a hostage to these idiots"

Beagle lowers his head slightly. "I must say it's been the low point of my career in law enforcement..." He then looks up and explains himself. "The Powder Gangers stole into town at night and murdered my sister and her husband, the sheriff, in bed, while I was sleeping in the office. I watched them for a bit, waiting for the right moment to pounce and arrest the lot of them. Taking careful notes as I watched. To my dismay, they found me while I waited in the shadows and brought me here"

"When did they do that?" Colton asks.

Beagle thinks for a second. "Powder Gangers had been harassing the town for a while. But they only recently attack my sister and brother-in-law. Maybe a day or two I'd say"

Colton is all types of confused now. The timeline is confusing to him.

"Say, can you untie me now?" Beagle asks.

Colton glares at him through his red goggles. "No. Stay put"

Beagle shrugs his shoulder and holds his hands up. "No need to rush on my account. I lost feeling in my hands and legs hours ago"

Colton couldn't tell if he was giving sass or was being honest. It's just the way that Beagle talks. "Fine, I'll set you free. But stop complaining after and answer the rest of my questions"

Beagle lights up. "Oh that's just marvelous. I think we should be making our way outside now. The air's a little close in here"

"We will be staying in here for a bit longer, Deputy" Colton says with a stern tone.

Beagle stands up and stretches as he rubs his wrists. "You got it! But just how many more questions? I'd rather not stay in here longer than I need to. Bad memories and all"

"Until I'm satisfied" Colton stands up.

Colton proceeds to get as much information from Beagle as he can. It's not much and the man keeps on trying to find excuses to leave or avoid certain questions.

"I'm done for now" Colton says. "Let's head outside"

Beagle smiles brightly. "That's the best news I've ever heard"

Colton wonders how such a scummy man became Deputy. Even with his sister marrying the Sheriff.

Colton looks at Cass who is in the giant room. "Hey! You done in there?!"

"Yeah! Just found some flamer fuel! Packs full now though!" Cass shouts back as she comes back into view.

Colton holds up the lunchbox. "I know that feeling. Now let's get outta here"

Cass and Colton walk behind Beagle as they walk out of Bison Steve.

And once they get out Beagle turns around to look at them. "Well! That was quite a per-dicament you rescued me from, in there. A most unpleasant experience. Going in alone to rescue a hostage! My brother-in-law was brave like that. Made a fine sheriff. Until the Powder Gangers killed him. Problem is, there's still no law in Primm. What're we to do the next time ruffians menace us and hold us hostage?"

Colton and Cass blankly stare at Beagle.

Colton gestures with both hands at Beagle. "What are you talking about? You're the Sheriff now! Congratulations on the promotion! I think we've got some alcohol to cele-"

Beagle holds up his hands and shakes them as he denies this statement. "Oh no! I'm just the Deputy! And I can't be a Deputy without a Sheriff. It's called chain of command"

Colton puts his hands, and lunchbox, on his hips. "And I suppose you want me to find a Sheriff for the town?"

Beagle smirks and lets his hands rest at his sides. "That's mighty kind of you to offer!"

"Wh- No. that's n-. You know what. I think this place needs someone more suited for the job than you after all" Colton shakes his head.

"So you agree! Great!" Beagle rubs his chin for a minute. "It should be someone brave like you, but more of a homebody. Someone who'll settle down and watch over us. You seem more of a wanderer to me, just like the lass next to yuh" He winks at Cass.

"God help us all" She takes out the whiskey bottle and begins drinking from it as she walks away towards a bench.

"Hey! My eyes are up here not on her ass Beagle" Colton says in a dangerous tone.

Beagle jumps back a bit. "I heard the Powder Gangers talking about someone in the prison named Meyers who has some experience as a sheriff. He may be a good choice" Beagle straightens up and dusts his shoulders off, some ash and dust fall to the street below his feet. "Also with the NCR so close by, you may be able to get them to take over the town. Not sure why they haven't helped out already"

"Smooth" Colton says to himself but like he was talking to Beagle. "I don't think you want the NCR protecting this town. They'll tax the shot outta you guys and then they'll leave when they don't need you guys anymore or the Legion start acting up"

Beagle freezes when he hears the Legion name. "You're right. So why don't you go find that Meyers guy?"

"Fuck it. Why not. Guess I'll ring law and order back to Primm" Colton says.

Beagle clasps his hands together loudly and then let's them rest at his sides again. "You will? That's just marvelous! I'll start thinking up questions for the interview!" He turns around and starts walking away.

[Objective Complete:

- <Primm's Deputy has been captured by Powder Gangers in Bison Steve and needs to be rescued>

- •<Beagle has been rescued from Bison Steve. Talk to him about protecting the town>•

- •Beagle wants a new sheriff for Primm. He suggested an ex-sheriff at NCRCF and the NCR as potential candidates•

2/3 Objectives Complete]