Forge sat at a table trying to figure out how he can make a single grenade into nuclear bomb of some sort. He couldn't quite put the pieces together, and they were to the vault, the group would need something in order to keep the radiation from touching their skin. Forge had three different types of armored radiation suites, made to hold up to about 30 rads per second. They were old, worn out, and wrinkly. He looked at the other pieces of armor inside a box before realizing what a guinness he would be. Forge took pieces of armor and got to work on the suits.
John and his small bicontubernia, or 16 soldiers, looked over a hill looking straight at the heart of the NCR Rangers in the Mojave, Camp Golf. As he studied the camp through binoculars, or more specifically, the resort hotel building that the Rangers had taken headquarters in. Though Caesar had at first wanted to send his new troops against Bitter Springs since it was an easy target and would yield quite a good amount of slaves, John instead convinced Caesar that his troop wasn't meant for such "lowly" work that could easily be done by recruits. Instead, he offered Camp Golf, and Chief Hanlon's head. If Camp Golf was taken out of the picture, or at least the Ranger controlled area of the camp, along with a simultaneous, overwhelming attack on Camp Forlorn Hope bolstered by the evacuated troops from Cottonwood Cove, then a massive hole in the NCR's line along the Colorado would be ripped open, and Legion troops could flow even more freely into the Mojave. Caesar listened. Since it was the dead of night, and NCR thought Camp Golf was at minimal risk of attack until the coming battle of Hoover Dam, only a few Rangers stood guard outside in the open while everyone else slept, a mistake John was keen to take advantage of. Looking at the four newly trained, but now highly accurate snipers of his bicontubernia, with their suppressed sniper rifles, he gave a single order, "Incipio." (Commence). Three soft "pings", and the three Rangers keeping watch fell dead with a bullet to the head. John the personally lead a quiet charge upon the building, the troops among him brandishing suppressed assault rifles and gladius machetes on their sides. Sneaking into the building, they quickly flowed into the barracks and slit the throat and stabbed the heart of each and every Ranger and Veteran Ranger inside without a single noise, killing them all in quick fashion. Then, they spread out, quickly killing those left alive in quiet ambushes. John and three of his soldiers, whom he considered his best as they used to be Veteran Legionaires before coming under his command, slipped into the room of Chief Hanlon. Walking confidentially up to Hanlon's sleeping body, he slipped out Lucky and cocked her, before placing her directly in the middle of his forehead as another soldier placed his gladius on Hanlon's throat and the other two restrained him. "Ur-wha-...I see the Reaper has finally come.." Hanlon said slowly as he woke quickly from the disturbance, "In more ways than one.." John looked at Hanlon with narrowed eyes, "What do you mean?" "Well...I know you...you're codenamed "Reaper"...And I see you have come to collect your dues...as you were trained..." Hanlon said, "Ain't exactly a secret that we found out that Enclave was trainin' some poor ol' boy to kill leading NCR figures." "I don't have time for this." John spat at Hanlon, before suddenly moving Lucky to Hanlon's heart, "Caesar wants your head intact after all." he said smoothly, firing a single shot before Hanlon could respond, killing him instantly. John nodded to the soldier who was holding the gladius, and he instantly plunged down, removing Hanlon's head in one swift stroke. Grabbing the head, John simply said, "Eamus." (Let's go) and left the body, and the troops regathered, trooper blood mixing with Ranger blood on their uniforms as they had moved into the camp proper following killing all the Rangers. Then, they simply disappeared into the night, just at the same time as the last pocket of resistance in Camp Forlorn Hope was silenced, as the hundreds of Legion troops easily overran the 40 or 50 so troopers at Forlorn Hope.
Throughout the next three days, the group of Legion hunters traveled across the Mojave finding the requirements for their bomb, traveling into the highly irradiated Vault 34 and beyond to find that what they needed was right. Once news broke of Camp Golf and Camp Forlorn hope being simply wiped out by the Legion within a single night, the needs for the bomb would be irrelevant. Knowing that with all the Rangers stationed in the Mojave all dead, including some of whom he used to know when he was serving, and the extra collapse of the highly strategic position of Forlorn Hope, the Legion had an irreplaceable advantage amongst the NCR. Damien knew that his own home several miles outside Westside was not safe enough, despite its defenses. It would have been too obvious of a target. He needed to find a place to hide to continue his crusade. Four years of fighting against the Legion. Four years of protecting the Mojave from a grim future. Gone. Damien knew he would have been dead if he were still serving with the Rangers at Camp Golf, but now the Legion had the chance to take the Mojave with the now weak NCR. Once they secured the former NCR camp sites, then they would come for the Dam. After that, California. It's only a matter of time before the Legion had the Mojave. Only a matter of time before they came for the Demon.
John saluted Caesar as he approached him in the tent, not saying anything, just showing him Hanlon's head, which brought a small smirk to his face, "Very good, John! I may have respected this man for his command and role, but I am infinitely more content to see this. This will be a very good morale booster for the Legionaires. I'm glad I listened to you John. The hole now in the Profligate lines will be easily exploitable. From the way things are going so far, we c-" "...Caesar?" "urrh...agh....can flow behind the Profligates and hit them from behind during the coming Battle." John gave Caesar a confused look, "Are you okay, sir?" "...What? Oh...I had one of those moments again, didn't I...Don't worry, it's nothing." "Sir, suddenly blanking out and making groaning before suddenly continuing as if nothing as happened is not nothing. It means something is wrong up here." John said, tapping his head in the brain area. Caesar looked down and made an annoyed but thoughtful look, "Alright, fine, come with me." Caesar said, leading him back to his private quarters, where he turned and faced John, "Okay. I will be honest. I am only telling you this because even in the short time you have been in my Legion, you have already all but guarenteed our victory. For the past several weeks, I've been having moments like what you just saw more and more often. Some nights, my pain is so bad I can't sleep, and I can't get up for sometimes days at a time. I have a near constant headache that gets so bad that I can't think. I know that you were in the Enclave for your entire childhood, I want to know if you were taught something that can fix this." John thought for a bit, then remembered how he had once spent some time at a Follower's campsite, and someone had these exact same symptoms, "Brain tumor." He said bluntly. "I feared that..." He replied simply, "Then we need to get it removed." He pointed to the mobile Auto-Doc Mark III at the foot of his bed, "That should do, but it's missing a part." He said, "And it needs that part to work." John put his hand up to that, "No need, Lord, at Raven's Rock, we often had shortages of parts for medical equipment just like this one. Could easily be jury-rigged to do just the same thing." John said, leaving out that it required manual control under jury-rigged conditions, his plan now set in motion already. Caesar nodded slowly and took a deep breath, "Alright...I trust you. You have given me no reason not to." He said simply. "Alright sir, I'll fix up this machine up and then we can put you under." ************ John and Ceasar's left and right hand men, Vulpes Inculta and Markus Antony, shambled out of Caesar's tent in despair, "Caesar is dead!" They cried out, "He has died peacefully in his bed." Mark continued, not wanting to reveal the advanced medical tech in Caesar's tent. John took a step forward, "With his dying breath...He proclaimed me his successor due to his confidence I would be the best choice of ruler, as the Legate is a military man and should not be burdened with ruling a nation. Prepare for attack, we shall take the Mojave from the Profligates while they think we should be in mourning! For the Legion does not mourn in tears and weakness as the Profligates might, but in strength and blood!"
"Golf is out of the picture now. It's only a matter of time before they take the Mojave, then they'll try to hunt us." Forge said, letting his super sledge rest on his right shoulder. He looked at Damien, "So what do you think? Do we have a fighting chance, or no? Because when worse comes to worse, we can always hide in the repaired vault with the brotherhood, or we can hightail it outta here."
Mere hours after John solidified his power at the Fort, his Umbras and the Praetorians making completely sure the ranks accepted his rule, John took the name Augustus Caesar, and sent a message to the Wasteland via a written message to Radio New Vegas targeted at NCR. "Caesar has moved on to a greater existence, I am his successor, John Augustus Caesar, and I offer the NCR this; Immediately withdraw from the Mojave and we can make peace and begin peaceful relations, or we will take the Mojave by force. Surrender and further bloodshed will be avoided, and your soldiers can back to live their lives. NCR generals; think about what you are doing, you are destroying the lives of many families in this pointless war. And to the rest of the Mojave; we will not enslave you unless you try to resist."
"If that happens then I would have no choice but to move back to California, it would be too dangerous to remain in the Mojave. But I cannot bring myself to leave the place where I met my wife...." Damien said, suddenly picking up on an announcement by Mr. New Vegas about the Legion.
Niza face cringed after hearing the news. "You guys can turn and run where ever you want. I, on the other hand, am not being scared off by some old, turn-coat, rat-bastard, pig-headed, legion-loving, Caesar S.O.B who thinks he can just walk in, probably offing the old Caesar in the process, and take control of a maundering army of bandits and that he can try to run me off with a cheap radio message and some boys in skirts!"
Forge stopped in his tracks and turned to face Niza, "It's not the fact i'm scared, i'm never afraid of death, i'm afraid of losing you both. If I was traveling alone the first thing I would have done is destroy the Legion." Forge spaced out as he looked up at the sky, "I made a promise, not to my uncle, but to someone my age that is long gone now. The promise I made was to... Nevermind." Forge stopped before he could continue. He began walking with the others, balling his right fist up, remembering what hell was when THEY killed HER
John stood on a cliff overlooking Hoover Dam, unlike Caesar, he was planning on taking direct part in the coming battle. Below, his troops were already sneaking into the Dam, the half that the NCR had abandoned after the loss of the Arizona Spillway. Meanwhile, he had ordered troops to occupy Cottonwood Cove, Forlorn Hope, Golf, and even a force to overrun Bitter Springs, rendering Hoover Dam the last entrenched NCR position on the Colorado River. On top of that, he sent even more troops that had the goal of spreading across the Wasteland, who would hit the NCR at the Dam from behind, after causing havoc across the Wasteland, with the single order of "Kill any who resist". "Three days..." John muttered to himself, "Three days and then we shall attack if the NCR doesn't withdraw." He said before turning and heading back to the Fort, picking up his small entourage of his Vivorum Umbras, the rest back at the Fort, training some of the Legionaires there in John's combat; advancing using suppression fire to keep the enemy in cover, then killing any they roll across. The principle of flowing through weak points, hitting the enemy where the strong pieces would get smashed apart and more.
Damien then took off his glasses to reveal his bright blue eyes at the group, his facials showing much concern. He turned around to face the group and just shook his head, he knew exactly what was about to happen. "With a New Caesar, the Legion is likely to be much more powerful then Edward ever was." Damien replied revealing Caesar's true name, a discovery made after encountering the Former Legate in Utah several years ago. "We see the Legion as "Primitive" in terms of technology if we put them in comparison to the NCR. Yet, one could imagine how powerful the Legion could become if they were...should i say "Modernized" like the NCR if the same discipline and training the Legion had. If that happened, the Legion would have taken the Dam with ease the moment they set foot in Nevada. They would have been unstoppable. If the new Caesar truly turned the Legion into this mindset....then it's game over for the NCR." "With the NCR losing Golf and Forlorn Hope in a single night, my best guess is that they will assault the Dam during the upcoming while creating absolute anarchy in the Mojave. Not even the "Safest" communities would believe they will be untouched. Bitter Springs is a good target for them, that would render both sides of the Colorado useless while being a heartbeat away from Vegas. During this time, a sneak attack from behind their lines would be fatal. Not saying that it already was." "The NCR Generals...." Damien thought for a moment. "This message would provoke almost everybody in power in the NCR. The best interest of the people will be to remain silent while those they follow sacrifice their own kinsmen to fight a pointless war. It's obvious that the war is highly unpopular, not to mention that these soldiers are poorly equipped and trained in the first place. They get at least 2 weeks on the training fields, then they ship them out to the middle of this forsaken land. This starts Revolutions. With the loss of the high majority of it's power in the Mojave, the NCR is likely going to fight for their chance to rule the Mojave. Their leaders believe that if they cant have it, nobody could. If we go to Hoover Dam, we'll end up dead like the thousands of other young lives the NCR is throwing at the problem thinking they can solve it. We know the NCR wont listen to the Legion's best interests. " Damien then looked at the horizon for a moment before turning around and walked east away from the group. "It's over....."
Forge turned to face Damiens back, "And who said it's over? We haven't even put up a fight yet, and your giving up now? Only give IF there's no other way. So what if the Legion tears apart the NCR, that wouldn't stop a deathclaw from killing at least twenty Legionaries. There is always a way to win. It doesn't matter if outnumbered, outgunned, even out powered. There is ALWAYS a way to win a war."
Niza thought for a moment. "All I heard from that was 'deathclaw killing legionaries'. I think that since the NCR being pushed back some..." she mumbled angrierly and incoherently to herself for a moment. "... by the Legion. I say we get the surrounding tribes and maybe the heads of New Vegas to help. And I'm sure if we kick up enough dust, our old 'friend' might come to have a word with us."
"You read my mind! I've befriended some of the clans and major groups." Forge thought for a moment, "There are the Great Khans, it'a a 50/50 chance that they'll help out, IF they break the alliance from the Legion. Then there are the Boomers, there is an 80 of 90 chance that they'll help. The Brotherhood of Steel, if I'm caught in a battle, they'll be more likely to help." Forge looked at the angered woman, and then looked at the hopeless man, "There is no reason to give up, Damien. We have the pieces for the bomb at least."
(Now, how about some action?) John stood inside the weather monitoring station surrounding by guards, looking over at the oversized casino chip in his hand. He found it in Caesar's personal belongings before his cremation, along with a journal that went all the way back to when he was Edward Swallow with the Followers of Apocalypse. Apparently, Caesar had some Legion Frumentarii backed up by some Omerta ambush the head of the Chairman, Benny, after he had left New Vegas under suspicion circumstances. This was the item recovered from his body. The journal said something about using it to open a chamber in the Weather station that lead to a bunker that Caesar had deduced held more of Mr House's Securitrons in it, due to the Lucky 38 symbol on the door. Though he said "it would be easy enough to reprogram the robots to fight for the Legion", he feared "use of the robots would make the Legionaires lazy." and so planned to destroy them. However, John had another idea. From what he's seen of Securitrons, they're pretty easy to kill with good weaponry, weaponry the NCR had. However, he could use them to soften up the NCR positions on the Dam, then send in the Legionaires to blast them apart. As he was about to place the Chip into the console, a Legionaire suddenly burst in, "Caesar Augustus! Profligate President Kimball visited the Dam! A Fumentarii slayed him! Now the Profligates are wanting to attack in revenge!" John gave the Legionaire a curious look, "Is that so? THEN WHAT ARE YOU [redacted] WAITING FOR? Spread the word! Get the Legionaires into position! Let them attack across the Dam, then, when they have crossed, surround them, crush them, and take the Dam!" The Legionaire nodded quickly, "Sorry Caesar sir, as you wish!" he said quickly before running out of the room. John looked around to his Umbra guard, "Well?" he asked rhetorically, "Let's go! Some Profligates wish to die! Let's go fulfill that wish." he said in a deadly tone before running out, quickly followed by his guard as the entire Fort quickly scrambled as word spread, heading out to make ambush points to trap the NCR as they flooded across the Dam.
"By itself, the NCR is completely obliterated at Hoover Dam. But with the Mojave aiding the Republic...." Damien thought. "We just might have a chance." Damien's bugged radio, wired to intercept Legion communications, picked up as word of the Legion advancing towards the Dam began to become evident. The Demon looked at the group, taking his gun out and looking at Forge and Niza. "You've talked some sense into me. Gathering the Mojave on such short notice is bad, but I have a feeling that they would show up sooner or later. I made a promise to her, and the day I break that promise is when I go silent." Damien said before his tone of voice changed to become suddenly cold. "I'm going to kill an entire nation..." And with that, Damien walked towards Hoover Dam.
