John raised an eyebrow at Damien, "You think I didn't already have that in mind? Once Lanius is dealt with, all organized resistance to my rule in the Legion will crumple, and then we can get started turning the Legion for an organized barbaric horde to a true nation, as Nova Roma." John said, then he looked at Forge and Naiz, "I will give you two the same option, join my Legion and help us reform it, or leave and return to the NCR. It wouldn't make a bit of difference to me. Just know that if you join, if I see signs of your trying to take down my work from the inside, you will instantly killed. Oh, and just saying that you might not want to shoot me if you're thinking about that, because that would put Lanius in charge,"
(Huge Civil War possibility, I'm liking these turn of events.) Damien then stood besides John, pondering over what this could mean to the Legion and it's future. He believed he made the right choice by joining John. Damien's mind was then focused onto the next biggest target, Lanius. Damien wanted to deal with him personally. If he died, then a new nation will truly be born. But while having these thoughts, Damien was thinking about the scale of things if it were to escalate to a high level. With the Legion as the Mojave's newest master and John becoming Caesar, an enormous Civil War could spell disaster for a Legion already at the height of it's power. Damien was going to deal with Lanius, quickly. The Monster of the East vs The Demon of the West, the two most powerful individuals of their nations. Knowing full well who Lanius was, his large great-sword would spell him trouble. Which is why the strange 15cm long rod attached sideways to his belt would serve as a perfect weapon against the savage Legate. "Allow me to kill Lanius" Damien asked politely. "Once he is dead, we can work our wonders."
John nodded, "Good, and take my Vivorum Umbras, they'll deal with Lanius' guard from afar, letting you just worry about the Legate. And after you kill him...You will officially become my praefectus." He said to Damius. (John calling him Praefectus is pretty symbolistic because it shows him trying move beyond "Caesar and Legate", and more "Marcius/Imperator and Praefectus", basically symbolizing John trying to move to more accurate terms the Romans used)
Damien saluted at John before heading down towards the Legate's camp. Just while the Legion army created a path for the Demon as he traveled across the road, he was eventually joined by the Vivorum Umbras. He had plans to deal with for the military of the Legion, transforming them to a seemingly unstoppable nation in simple terms of training, discipline and the lethality that made the Legion famous. If Damien could turn every single Legionary to something "Greater", it's power would rival, if not become greater than it's ancient ancestor from 2000 years prior. While heading towards the camp, Damien ran through a simplified version of the training program that he was taught from birth by his father, otherwise known to the West Coast as the legendary "Chosen One" of Arroyo. If they survived this training and some individuals caught his eye, he would select them to form his own elite squad, hopefully if it were to be approved, turning into an academy for the finest Legionaries. Only..if he survived the fight he was about to get into and become John's Praefectus As he went through the large steel gate of the Legate's camp, he immediately ordered half of the Vivorum Umbras to take up sniping positions on a hill roughly fifty meters from him while using three to cover his approach and using the remainder to kill those inside of their tents in the nearby encampment. Damien cracked his neck as he pointed two fingers towards the camp, starting the attack phrase. "Incipe..." (Begin) Damien ordered as the Vivorum Umbras Snipers placed their rounds directly in the Praetorian's skulls at the front gate, before directing their attack at the remainder of the camp, while the rest Vivorum Umbras sneaked inside of the camp and began to eliminate all of the Legionary oppositon. Damien walked by himself towards the camp, smiling.
Forge sighed, not knowing what to do. He had promised himself to destroy the legion, even if that meant destruction for himself. "Well, I guess I have no other choice BUT to join. If the Legion can become peaceful for once, then I'm in." Forge would have killed himself for saying that. He knew Niza would probably go back to the NCR, but she would raise hell before doing so.
Niza, after spending a little longer getting to the damn by traversing the terrain herself, looked at the group with distraught. "Seriously? This is it? The whole week or so of planning and talks of killing the Legion and you guys turn coat as soon as we get here? The [REDACTED]? The promises and revenges that were going to be fulfilled and you both decide to join the very people who were screwed you over?" She raised her rifle, almost pointing it the group before storming away, back towards New Vegas. "I had faith in you guys. I guess it was misplaced."
Forge looked at Niza before she had left, and then looked to the sky. 'Why have I joined this Legion I have no clue. I wanted it to be destroyed. My uncle said that he would go to hell rather than this. But why? Why am I-" Forge cut his thoughts off as he looked at John, "You know what, no, I won't join the Legion. I'll stay in the Mojave for now, but I won't go to the NCR. I will choose my own path, and I will succeed at it. I'm terribly sorry, but I have now made up my decision. If you want me to join or help with something, then find me in the middle of the Mojave. I will traveling the land for my own answers, and I will make sure nothing gets in the way. Please forgive me." Forge walked in Niza's path with his varmint rifle at the ready, just to be sure that no one would shoot him. "Oh, and I almost forgot," Forge grabbed an old dog tag out of his pocket, "Pay my uncles grave a visit every once in a while, I'm pretty sure he was of great use to the Legion before he resigned." Forge threw it at John's feet before turing and walking away.
John simply shrugged at Forge's change of mind, simply picking up the dog tags then running down to the army awaiting him, "Next stop; New Vegas!" He yelled, from which a cheer erupted through the army, "But, a quarter of you got to stay and garrison, all the rest, follow me!" ********* The Legion army was lead by John as it flooded into Freeside, marching in columns as it made it's way through, only splitting when Legionaires split off to guard a street corner, or such as passing by the Old Mormon Fort, sending an emissary to negotiate their staying, or when passing the Kings or the Van Graffs, a small contingent would wipe them out. At the gate to the Strip, the Securitrons powered off, as if even Mister House reconized he would not be able to hold back the Legion from taking his pearl, the Strip, which was already under Omerta control, but when John stepped through the gate and was greeted by the bosses of the Omertas, John didn't shake hands with Big Slim, he simply whipped out Lucky and planted two bullets in the heads of the two bosses. The Legionaires understood what that meant. The spread thin Omertas where quickly and easily overwhelmed by the Legion, and their casino became the target of all Legion hatred, leaving it simply gutted. This John allowed, as it showed to the other Families of the strip there was a new boss in town who did not play around and had a baseline for what standards the casinos had to go by. The Strip soon became the place of John's first Triumph after storming the Lucky 38 and removing Mr House. New Vegas was rechristened Roma Renovatur (Renewed Rome), and John declared it the new capital of the Legion, which he promptly renamed Nova Roma(though the military would still be also known as th Legion still(
With the fighting erupting across the Legate’s camp, Damien walked alone towards the war-tent of the Legate, where he seen the Monster of the East in all of his glory. Lanius towered over Damien, standing easily at over 8ft tall and being extremely well-built. His entire armour appeared to not only be bullet-proof, but the fearsome Legate could move astonishingly fast despite the sheer weight of the armor. At his back was the Blade of the East, the huge great-sword easily the size of him. Lanius had his arms folded as Damien stopped a few meters away from him, the two of them taking time looking at each other out of respect. "The Demon of the West. You do not bear the insignia of the bear, but your now serve the bull like your own former nation." Lanius began. “The almighty Caesar is dead and a profligate has taken his place. He shall die for murdering him.” "The Legion you serve no longer exists” Damien said. “My wife has been dead for over four years, killed by the Legion. Since that day, I have been ripping the Legion apart since then. I have joined the Legion due to a promise I made to her, that everything would be alright.” While hiding it from view, Lanius could have been smiling. “Your wife is alive....” Damien looked at the Legate in shock. “What are you talking about? I seen her body, that cannot happen.” Damien said. “My wife is dead.” Lanius then shook his head before replying. “I once met a former Profligate like yourself, a Ranger of some importance on a recon mission inside Arizona after he was tasked with destroying an encampment nearby the Colorado. After we made him talk, he seemed to mention your name several times. Until he told us the truth about what happened to your wife.” Damien then looked at the Legate in disbelief. “Tell me what happened.” “After you resigned from the Rangers, the ones leading the bear thought about what would happen to you. You wanted a happy life, no more conflict and no more pain. So to encourage you to fight the Legion, they kidnapped your wife and killed a body double instead.” Lanius remarked. “They used you as a tool, a tool pointed directly towards us to keep you fighting. They wanted you to butcher every Centurion and Legionary that you came across. And you did.” ”LIAR !” Damien roared at Lanius, pointing his handgun at the Legate. “All of the Profligates met one night. Kimball, Hanon, Oliver.....and Winters. Your own Father was the instrument of her death.” Damien’s facials turned to into absolute rage but then into hate. There was still unanswered questions that he needed to ask. “What about the legionaries? There were corpses around her.” “NCR troopers, disguised as Legionaries. They wanted to make it believable.” Damien then looked down at the ground, on the verge of breaking down. Damien then put away his handgun and took out his blackened steel gladius. “He sent you to kill me.....” Lanius asked. “I’m not only doing this for John. I’m doing this for myself.” Damien replied coldly. Lanius then raised his right hand behind his neck and pulled out the enormous blade slowly before holding the weapon in both of his hands. “Then we will settle this now. A Demon vs. A Monster.” With that, both men attacked. ----------------------------------------------------------- A lonesome individual walked downwards from the Mojave Outpost, heading towards the town of Primm. He was exactly six foot tall and had an amazing build, a gift from his former life as a champion of a tribal village. The hood that covered his head and the rest of his body made him unrecognisable as he travelled across the desert, all his weaponry hidden with the exception of a Silenced Sniper Rifle on his back. On his right arm, an old PIPBoy 2000 showed through his body. Upon just passing Primm, he seen two wastelanders in the distance. One of them was an African American female and the other was a male with a Varmint rifle and a Super Sledge. They appeared to be heading south, away from Vegas towards the Outpost. With so, the figure walked over to them. The Mojave was a big place after all, and he wanted to best way to enter Vegas. “Excuse me; I need the best way to enter Vegas.” The male spoke with a seemingly elder tone. “Something.....has come up.”
Forge looked at the man with a blank expression, "Yeah, better yet, if you want me to upload them to your pip-boy then that'll be easier than explaining." Forge thought about his uncle for quite a while, but feeling the need to do nothing was on his mind. If forge were to get mad enough to kill Legion again, then it would have to be something big.
"That would be appreciated, thank you." The figure said, taking off his hood for a brief moment. The man had a short haircut with the grey hair that he now had due to his age, alongside a rough beard almost just like Damien's. Another feature was his blue eyes that seemed to sparkle like diamonds.The man was in his 60's, but had the physical form of a man a decade, even fifteen years younger. While Forge was uploading the locations to the figures Pipboy, the figure turned around to stare north towards what appeared to be Vegas. He was concerned about what was going to happen. What he was about to do. He turned around at the right time to see Forge finish with the coordinates, returning a smile at the group. "Thank you young man. A word of advice, make it out of here alive.” The figure said before waving the group goodbye. The next time they would turn around, the man had vanished. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Lanius and Damien fought ferociously at each other. Lanius raised his blade over his head before swiftly bringing it down towards Damien's location, the former Ranger easily dodging the blade by sidestepping. Damien realised Lanius seemed to focus on pure brute strength, lacking in speed and overall reaction. While Lanius was stronger, Damien was much faster and agile. Coming around for another swing as Lanius performed a back-swing, narrowly missing Damien by the length of a ruler, Damien tightly grabbed his blade and pierced the brass armor of Lanius by aiming it at the right side of his body. While Lanius tried to cry out in pain, this only seemed to aggravate him more. Turning around to take another downwards blow, Damien raised his gladius to protect him from the behemoth blade. The force of the Blade of the East was incredible, breaking the top handle of the sword and sending it sailing several meters away from Damien. With his Gladius now useless, Damien was put into a difficult situation. The former Ranger took out the 15cm meter dark grey rod from his belt. There was a few buttons on the weapon and the middle of the weapon had a strange triangle at the base of it’s top. Damien then got into a stance as suddenly a dark blue-violet blade appeared. Damien’s secret weapon was a Photonic Sword, the whereabouts of how he discovered such technology being unknown. Damien then pointed the sword at Lanius with a smug smile was on his face. “Time to die, Legate.” Lanius seen the display and charged like a beast towards Damien, while Damien ran towards the Legate. As they met, the Legate made the fatal mistake of attacking down-wards again, noticing that Damien was out of his reach and causing the weapon to become stuck. Damien seemingly ran up the enormous great-sword and swiped the neck of the Legate as it effortlessly penetrated his armour decapitating the Legate in a single blow. As the head flew backwards, the rest of the Legate’s body stood straight before falling backwards. Damien, turned the sword off before asking the Elite Shadows to take the helmet of the Legate with him as proof of his death. He then walked south towards the Dam and Vegas, without saying a word.
The mysterious man headed straight towards Vegas towards his target, a loose end that he forgot to wrap up nearly forty years ago. Still hidden from view, he made his way into Freeside like it was nothing after evading the Legion. Getting onto the Strip and getting close to his problem would however be a problem, but he would manage. He made his way through entire military bases like a ghost in his past, from Great Khan hideouts to even Enclave bases. Once he made it onto the Strip, he slipped into the Lucky 38 to where he believed his target would be. Once the doors were jammed shut with a steel rod, he killed all the Legionaries on the first floor quickly before heading up. Only one person in the entire Western Seaboard could have made it to John undetected "I'm coming for you....Reaper." ----------------------------------------------------------------- If he was in Edward's Legion, Damien would have preferred to be crucified. But John's Legion.... Damien knew that originally joining the Legion, even with a new Caesar, was going against his better judgement. But after what the NCR pulled against him and his wife was enough to convince the Demon that he was fighting for the wrong side. Heading back to Vegas with the rest of John's Elite Shadows, he had the feeling that something wasn't right. He headed back to Vegas after wishing to quicken the pace. Upon discovering the Lucky 38 was jammed shut, he sent the Elite Shadows to help him get inside. Trying their best to open the door.
John, the 3 Vivorum Umbras that didn't accompany Damien, and the 7 Praetorian Guards John had directly with him was about to depart the Penthouse after dealing with Mister House, when they heard the elevator dinging, signalling someone was coming up, cautious, John quickly ordered his men to surround the elevator door, weapons drawn and pointing. John stood off to the side of the line, so in case someone came out shooting, he would not be the first target. The elevator door made the final ping, and they slid open...To reveal...the face..."Navarro..." John muttered, then said with a booming voice, "Don't make a single move, if you do, you will be filled with so many bullets that you could be sold as swiss cheese. The only move you may make is to put down your weapon and not threaten the only chance for peace for NCR and Nova Roma, and all the lands east of the Colorado."
"Oh, please." The Chosen One said, taking off his hood to reveal a grey haired man with deep blue eyes. "There will be no such thing as 'true' peace between the bear and the bull. I know that for a fact, you should as well considering your....questionable background." The Chosen One, then looked around at the soldiers around him. He could kill all of them, but then he would have had to deal with John. "It has been nearly Forty years, Mr. Trueman. Nearly Forty years since the sack of Navarro. After what the Enclave tried to do on their Oil Rig with their FEV experiment, I got absolute pleasure and satisfaction when the NCR gave me the responsibility of taking down that base. I have no regrets of what happened on that day." The tribal said, soon revealing himself as a man named Aaron (Pronounced as A-Ron due to tribal background). "The Enclave was going to commit the largest act of genocide in human history, nearly all life on the planet was going to be entirely wiped out. Worse then what happened in Nazi Germany, Worse then what we as former Americans performed on the Native Americans. When all life on that oil rig was wiped, I continued to kill every single Enclave member from then to Navarro, where I was offered to become the mayor of Arroyo. Your father was....memorable” “Then....I made the sole mistake of allowing you to live.” Aaron then raised his shoulders to allow his cloak to drop to the ground, revealing a set of armour simular to Riot Gear, but something about it seemed to reveal that it was much stronger. It was mostly black, but also contained some silver highlights. “They raised you to ensure that...”threats” like me never appeared again. Every day of your life has been leading up between this moment. Now....John Trueman.” Aaron then raised his hands up as two Praetorians began to advance, seeing this as a threat. “Are you going to kill me, or are you going to stand there like you have seen a ghost?” The two praetorians come closely to him attacking with their ballistic fist. Just as they were about to hit the Chosen One, Aaron bent down and threw his cloak upwards to stop the attack. Just as the Praetorians turned around, the Chosen One simply vanished from view, leaving behind a thank you present in the form of a grenade which killed both of the Legionaries. ------------------------------------------------------------- Upon hearing a faint explosion inside the Lucky 38, Damien and the Vivorum Umbras tried desperately to knock the door down. Within a few moments, Damien had the idea of borrowing one of the Vivorum Umbras's melee weapons to cut whatever was blocking the door after sticking it inside of the gap between the door. The door had not been fully closed, the intruders mistake. Upon cutting what appeared to be a rod in half, all of the Vivorum Umbras rushed inside. Damien then headed straight for the elevator before turning around and replying in Latin. "I want this place on lockdown, all of you need to ensure that nothing gets inside the Lucky 38 until this threat is dealt with. I'll be returning to Caesar..." Damien replied, activating the elevator and heading up.
John growled in anger, "I WANT THIS PLACE ON LOCKDOWN RIGHT NOW!" he yelled, "No one goes without more than 3 comrades!" John then started shouting at the building, hoping Aaron would hear, "I had no choice but to join the Enclave! And obviously their "brainwashing" hasn't done to well, or I would have taken down the NCR already, as I was trained to! But no, I've been hounded for over 30 years for no reason other than having the bad luck of being born to a horrendous, misguided group! Did I ever kill a single major NCR figure in that time? No! I've been chased for merely having the "potential"! And the Legion is no more, we are something better than that, we are not the Bull! We are better than that! You kill me, you plunge the entire Southwestern Wasteland into Chaos! But...Maybe...Maybe you should ask your SON why you should stop!"
Aaron was standing several meters away from John, already raising his sidearm into the air when he heard of a pistol click sound nearby him. He knew already whom the person behind him was, nobody but him could have sneaked up behind him and come inches behind him. Damien was standing behind Aaron, holding his 45.auto at the back of his fathers head. The son's face was one of concentration and anger, he wanted answers... "Where is she?" Damien demanded his father, the tone in his voice colder then ice. Aaron knew that his son finally discovered the truth, there was no point fighting against not telling him. "Damien. I did what I needed to do back then. After Hoover Dam four years ago, we were getting desperate. We knew that in our current situation, we would not survive another attack that the Legion performed. We needed you, but we knew that could simply not happen. Desperate times called for Desperate measures, so we did what we had to do." "You still haven't answered my question, father. Where is she..." Damien replied, walking around to his view and holding the gun to his head. Aaron took much longer to respond to the question he was being demanded, but lying now would be pointless. "The Capital Wasteland, Washington D.C. Thousands of miles from here." Damien then put his weapon away slowly, alongside his father. "Why did you do it? Why did you go back on your word and betrayed your own son ?" Aaron's voice started to pick up again, angered at his son and his disbelief. "Damien. I did what we had to do for the Republic, For Democracy !. Caesar entering California would have spelt the end of us all. As I said before, We were getting desperate. It was beyond my better judgement betraying my own child. You could have changed the world if you killed Caesar. This was a mistake i have to live with for the rest of my life." Damien could not believe what he was hearing, we paced himself slightly as he walked around his father while putting his hand on his holster for what appeared to be a newly forged gladius "So...this is the end then? "I have failed you, Damien. I have failed you. I'm sorry...but there is no other way." Aaron said, his hand now also on his holster for a sword of his own. Damien noticed this movement out the corner of his eye, watching his father's hand grip the handle. "Don't force me kill you father." Damien replied, his pacing suddenly stopping. "I will do what a must Damien." "You will try....." The two of them suddenly took out their swords and rushed at seemingly impossible speeds to begin their final duel.
Forge sat in his weapons bunker on a bed he found and cleaned a month ago, thinking about what he should have. Joining the Legion would have placed him MAYBE close to John, but he had doubt that. He sat there, thinking while starring at the wall with his super sledge in hand, "What to do, what to do..." Forges mind trailed off as he spaced out.
(I imagine this music playing in Damien and Aaron's battle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOyoCfz7_Z4#t=193 ) John turned at the sound of arguing to see Damien and Aaron facing each other, about to charge each other. Noticing this, John simply raised a hand to the soldiers raising their rifles to fire at Aaron, "No, let them fight. It's a honor duel." he said simply, "Kill Aaron if he lives though." before beconning to his Vivorums and leaving the building to stroll the streets of New Vegas, ordering his Legionaires to do work that they once thought only slaves did; build. John remembered reading about Roman infrastructure and how they built roads. Quickly organizing his forces to work alongside slaves to rebuild the roads, digging deep into the ground before filling it with compacted piles of rubble, building up the sizes as the height increased, with a final paving of large stones and a thin concrete(Made from supplies found around the Strip) layer for smoothness. After initial instruction, combined work effort made John sure that by the end of 24 hours, all the streets in New Vegas, or Roma Renovata would be fixed with brand new plumbing built in the road foundation, just like in Ancient Rome. Hopefully no more hiccups would occur and within the year, the ruins of the Mojave will be completely rebuilt, followed by the rest of his lands.
Forge took out the weapon he had been working on, a Plasma Rifle. He had taken it apart and modified the inside of the weapon. Forge was about to finish until he heard a beeping noise on his pip-boy. He pressed it and looked at it, "Hello?" "Contractor," Forge knew who this was, "Do you have any time to spare?" The screen on the pip-boy showed an old mans face, "Ah, Mr. McNamara, how do you do?" Forge asked, with a fake smile. "Things are doing well, ever since the lockdown was disabled we have been getting more and more resources than ever. I was wandering if you could come down and show us your latest inventions, seeing is how you have nothing else to do." Nolan McNamara wasn't the best of friends, but he meant well. "Well," Forge looked at his inventory of valuable weapons, "Can you send some men out here, because I have quite the amount of items." "Yes, I will be sending out three squads of five. They will arrive at 13:00, so be ready." He said. "Yes sir." Forge said as the face turned into a map. He quickly walked over to the heavy and new weapons area and started packing them in their own cases, "1:00 P.M., I can do with that."
The two Winter's attacked at each other with everything they got, both of them performing spectacular attacks and evasions through their fight. Upon clashing swords, the two of them knew that they were currently equally matched. Aaron had the luxury of simply being older then his son by 22 years and having more experience throughout his life, while Damien was younger and was much faster and stronger then his father. Both of them were however at the absolute peak of human physical condition, some even going as far as saying they were both "Super Human". One of them had the potential of destroying nations, The two of them together were simply unstoppable. The sword fighting nearly lasted half an hour before both of their melee weapons simply shattered like glass on impact due to the ferocity of the attacks. The two of them quickly turned to their rifles and sidearms, spraying bullets at each other. Damien and his father dodged thousands of rounds of ammunition like they were nothing. Some rounds did hit their marks, but did seemingly no damage to another before both running out of ammunition. Aaron nearly killed Damien after catching him off guard as they ran across their battlefield, turning their fight in a 180 degree facing the casinos and the strip instead of the terminal of House. Shooting the glass window above the Lucky 38, exposing the dry Mojave wind into the arena and a fatal drop, the two of them continued to fight. After nearly three hours of fighting, their guns being rendered useless after running out of ammo and their swords breaking. The two of them decided to end their fight with their only alternative, hand to hand combat. Both of them being masters of many martial arts, with Aaron having some advantage in Boxing (Like in New Reno during FO:2) while Damien was a master of nearly a dozen martial arts such as Wushu and Krav Maga. The two of them even invented their own hand to hand art which was currently being discussed to be introduced to the Rangers. Their fight was far from over, but showed signs of the beginning of the end.
