Nuclear Winter

— Outside Sloan, near quarry Junction—

"All I'm saying is we should just focus on the convicts, and then let the NCR deal with the giant angry reptiles!" A red headed woman was pleading to a group of girls under the hot sun.

However all the girls simply looked at her with an 'are you serious' look plastered on their faces.

*Sigh, "You saw what we did outside Jeans Skydiving back near GoodSprings right Cass? He summoned a bolt of lightning with a damn Anti-material rifle in a weapon case! If he says he has a plan we will follow it! Sunny for the umpteenth time scolded the red head in front of her as Ava giggled and Sarah simply kept staring at the back of a man 20 feet away.

After watching the mayor of Nipton pleading and pissing himself as the town hanged him, they all got their gear together, purchased what they needed and left the very next day.

At first, the girls thought that they would head to the prison, but Alex changed the plan and said he wanted to clear out quarry junction instead.

Unknown to the girls he had a reason for doing such, a better plan that would see him gain the stone and limestone needed to reinforce his town in the future, while weakening the NCR.

After he told them his plan to ignore the prison, Cass got upset. Some of those animals captured female caravan guards and soldiers to pass around in the prison. She didn't feel right walking past and lowering her head, another reason to drown her sorrows it seems.

While the girls where in their own world discussing and arguing, the man in question was looking at a small rickety town in the distance.

'If I can get them to sign up with me, it would be easier to secure my town in the future. But I need to handle that damn quarry and prison, the quarry is simple. I can bait those deathclaws, then wipe them out from the high ground. The NCRCF will be tricky, can't include the girls in the plan. Hundreds of drugged up and horny bastards with a need to be respected won't end well, but can't let such a force go…Mayers.. I'll have too sneak into the prison it seems.'

Suddenly feeling a tap on his shoulder, Alex shook his thoughts to the back of his mind and turned to see who snuck up on him.

"You look like you were deep in thought, care to share? Also stop staring at me like I'm some kind of ghost of lives past." Sarah let out a pout and poked Alex on his chest while she scolded the man.

Taking a deep breath Alex recollected his emotions, he still couldn't believe Sarah Lyons was right in front of him. The girl was crass and stubborn to boot, but extremely beautiful. Every time he saw her his brain had a fart.

"Heh, not staring! But you're right, ehem. Just deciding on our best course of action is all, we'll need to gain this towns trust before heading towards the quarry." As he spoke the other three stopped quarreling and walked over.

"So what do you want us to do? Standing here thinking about it won't get it done any faster." Sunny was the first to speak up, making Sarah squint at her with a slight glare, before the she shook her head and looked back at the man before her.

Alex only chuckled however, "we need to go into town and gather info, maybe pick up an odd job or two, helping them with some minor issues while secretly gathering info from them about the quarry and maybe the NCRCF."

All the girls nodded, it was a solid plan. The people of Sloan where dead smack between the two places and could give out information, especially if they had some goodwill built up. Considering that the NCR basically left them to rot, a little goodwill may just go a long way.

"Alright, let's go." Alex started to head towards the town and three of the girls quickly followed…all but a red head.

"GAHH, your all fucking crazy wanting to take out a nest of deathclaws! YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT!!" However after the brief hesitation and indignant shout, Cass quickly trailed along after her new companions.

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— 15 minutes later, Sloan.—

Walking up to the town slowly, an old man with a single shotgun took notice and cautiously took some steps towards the small group.

"Hey strangers, names Chomps Lewis, Mind telling me why you came this way? Thanks to the powder gangers and deathclaws we don't see travelers much no more?" The man held his shotgun with sweaty palms, refusing to raise it to the well equipped group.

However Chomps heard the tall man laugh, "Just passing through old man, but before that we would like to stay for a day if you don't mind?" Looking at the man covered head to toe in weird black NCR looking armor, Chomps lowered his guard and relaxed a little.

"Sure don't! Place used to be much livelier back when, now though it's a shadow of its former self. Most headed back to California or one of the other NCR settlements around the Mojave, went from a town of 400 plus down to a small camp of 23 stubborn souls." Sighing the old man looked back towards the town of 20 plus buildings.

"Most the buildings are abandoned, so if you and yours want, you can set up in one of them for the night. Jas will have some grub cooked up by 7:30pm at the mess hall, you can stop by and grab a bite if you wish." Looking at the group, Chomps gazed at 4 of the most beautiful girls he's ever seen and decided to give the group a final warning.

"Let me make something clear though young-ins, when you wake up tomorrow, turn around and head back down to Primm. I ain't trying to be rude, but if you go further north you'll die, that pack of deathclaws hunt all hours of the day and I don't want you folk to end up in their bellies." Turning around Chomps headed back to the sandbag barricade with to more men who kept staring at the girls with rosy cheeks.

"Thanks Lewis, we'll head into town." Alex waved and left the old man and to others with him, the girls quietly following suit ignoring the lustful gaze of the two men near Chomps.

After making it into town Alex turned and looked at the girls, "find us a place out of the way, I'll head around town and find out if there's anything that can be done around town to improve our image." However he soon had an angry Ava poking his cheek with a pout.

"I'm coming with you! I won't let you out of my sight!" Alex felt his lip twitch, this girl was damn clingy! She wouldn't even let him sleep alone, he nearly had a heart attack when he woke up in the middle of the night too use the restroom, only to find her kneeling beside his bed staring at him while wide awake, a smile on her face.

He nearly shot her in the face in a panic! She just giggled and followed him to the restroom, got mad when he refused to let her in with him, then snuggled him in the bed till the sun rose up. Normally something nice, but she kept sniffing him and giggling…FOR SIX HOURS.

When searching his memory, or better the old Alex's memory, he realized this was nothing new with her. She was always completely attached to him, but it would become a pain in the future. She has no boundaries and is quick to extreme violence , especially when she doesn't get her way with people she doesn't care about. Typical Van Graff girl to be honest.

"Fine! Everyone split up into two groups and look around town, Sarah, Cass and Sunny…you guys look around for a place to stay and talk too some locals, me and miss needy over here will look for small ways to help the town. Let's meet at the mess hall in two hours." Rubbing his temples, Alex turned and walked towards the mess hall, Ava gently holding his arm and a goofy smile on her face, gently mumbling "its a date" over and over again.

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— 2 hours later, the mess hall, Sloan—

Sitting down at a corner table in the mess hall, a handsome man with a dead fish stare could be seen with a beautiful silver haired girl sitting on his lap trying to feed him a piece of Brahmin steak.

"Chugga, chugga, choo choo! Open up for the wifey express and say nom~" almost everyone in the mess hall was holding back giggles at the girl treating the man like a baby(a few were jealous). She fed him his mash potatoes and was now on to serving him the steak, yet every forkful you could see a piece of the man die due to embarrassment, yet when he tried to stop her she broke down in tears and the man quickly relented to her whims.

Alex's torment soon came too an end though when the door of the mess hall opened quickly, and a red head ran in only to rush up to him and shout in fear. "We're all going to die!"

Seconds later the girl let out a loud ouch as a blonde woman smacked her on the back of her head, yet looked over at Alex with worry in her eyes. Too see Sarah so worried made Alex take things seriously for a moment, "what's up? Why are we all dead?"

However the next words made Alex realize why.

Standing at 45 feet tall and 8,000 kilograms, hide as tough as steel with claws as long as three feet.

Able to smell blood up too ten kilometers away, and see in complete darkness.

Able to move its massive body at 75 kilometers and hour or jump vertically up to 150 feet horizontally over 200 in a leaping attack…

A beast that can wipe out the main Legion camp if it snuck up on them unaware.

The only reason Sloan isn't a graveyard is because this beast has only one goal.

To protect its mate and their nest.

A beast that made Alex realize he was going to need a MUCH bigger weapon.

With a weak voice, Sarah said this beasts name.

"A Mythic Deathclaw Matriarch"