A mini nuclear cloud filled the area where the super mutants and their pets once were. The explosion was loud, but not ear shattering, and the blast of air from the explosion could be felt even where Adam and Salvatore were, but not even that was too bad. The Mini nuke was designed to not hurt the operator, despite the incredibly dangerous fact that it was a nuclear bomb despite the diminutive size. Regardless, the sight was truly unrivaled.
As the smoke and fire cleared there was practically nothing left of the obstacle that had once stood before them. There was some gore, but truly not much, the blast had swept most of it clean, incinerated in an instant. The ground was not even cratered, just badly scorched.
"Well!" Salvatore let out a laugh as he too saw the scene before them. "Fuck yeah!" He cheered as he handed Adam back his rifle.
"Hell of a shot." Adam said as he marveled too at the sight.
"Told you I'm good." He chuckled softly before standing up. "No sense hiding anymore. We got to get a move on."
"Yeah, that blast was loud as hell, best clear out before something else comes along to check."
"My thoughts exactly."
As they passed over the spot where the super mutants once stood they could still feel the slight residual heat in the air, the ground was hot, the building nearby was scorched, though not nearly as bad as the ground. It was clear the mini nuke had forever etched its presence into this spot.
It would have been nice if the rest of the walk was peaceful, however it was not, because Adam couldn't get that lucky. They arrived at the scene of what seemed to be a battle that had ended a few minutes ago. Corpses of many dead cultists of pestilence lay strewn about a bullet ridden street, and the men of War were casing the battle field looking for wounded to carry back to their base, and finishing off any cultists left alive. Unfortunately there was no way around, now without a many hour detour, which would include a lot of doubling back, the streets up till now had been largely one way created by a mountain of rubble. Interestingly this mountain of rubble is the same reason why, despite The Pier being geographically close to Midway, it takes a while to travel between the two settlements. Natural barriers around Chicago make traversing difficult. Regardless they had no real choice but to go through the camp of War's men. It was that or potentially arrive at Second Life at night.
"Hold it." One man wearing biker leather, a crazy red mohawk, pierced upper lip, and a gnarly looking assault rifle said as they approached. "You ain't with them fucking crazies are you?" He gestured to dead cultists.
"No sir." Adam said with a soft smile. "No purple, as you can see." He chuckled as he tugged on his combat armor gently, laughing softly to keep the tension low.
"Hmmm" The man said as he looked Adam over for a few moments and then shrugged. "This area ain't safe it's under the protection of War but damn cult keeps trying to muscle in." He said with an oddly kind and informative tone.
"I will keep it in mind, thank you for um, keeping the peace." Adam said with a slightly nervous smile.
"Yeah sure, whatever." The man said before he shouldered his rifle and turned to leave.
"Guess that means we are good?" Adam said to Salvatore softly before the two of them began to walk through the former battlefield, guarded but otherwise unaccosted. That is until, of course, they were accosted.
"Hey! You two!" A different guy yelled at them as they were about halfway through the intersection where the battle took place. Adam sighed loudly and stopped in his tracks. After he sighed he turned on his heels and spun around to look at the man with a bright diplomatic smile.
"Yes?' What can I do for you sir?" Adam asked politely.
"This 'ere is our territory, so we have the right to charge um… tolls…" He said, perhaps just making it up on the spot. "No sense getting in trouble with my friends here, so how about I let you through easy for a simple… 100 caps?"
"100?!" Salvatore snapped back, looking ready for a fight.
"Each." The man said, now more menacing, holding onto his gun tightly, it still pointed at the ground but clearly ready for a fight if needed. Some of his compatriots were taking notice and either looking over or outright moving to join this man. They were standing in the middle of an intersection, no cover immediately nearby, with about 15 of War's men scattered throughout the area. If a fight were to happen they would stand no chance.
Adam put his arm out in front of Salvatore to stop him from acting up and then put his smile back on.
"Of course!" Adam said with the cheesiest and most buttery tone he could manage. "I would be happy to contribute to your efforts in keeping the area safe!" He said happily, though of course it was forced.
"Do you happen to take Midway slips?" Adam inquired. The man laughed a bit.
"Sure I do, Midway money is good with me." He grinned and relaxed his shoulders, clearly no longer expecting a fight.
"Wonderful!" Adam then reached into his pocket and pulled out 2 100 cap slips from midway and handed them over to the man. The man grinned widely.
"I love a man who knows how to conduct business." The man said with a callous chuckle. "Pleasure meeting you, stay safe on the roads, strangers." He said in an almost malicious way before he turned around to join the other men. The others around him also seem to disengage from the two of them and return to scouring the battlefield.
"Let's get out of here before they change their minds." Adam whispered quietly to Salvatore before turning around and fast walking them both out as quickly as they could.
"Fucking lowlife tattooed scumbag freaks." Salvatore grumbled once they were completely out of sight of the War camp. Adam sighed.
"I agree, but nothing we can do, we couldn't have won that fight." He said before checking his pouch to see how many caps he had left. He had a little more than 100 by his calculation, he was close to being broke. An awful thought. Salvatore sighed.
"Just a bunch of street toughs who think they own the world." Adam shrugged.
"We were robbed, I won't deny that. But I like to think of it as giving them a tax for patrolling. After all, if they are out and about they are clearing raiders and super mutants, and feral ghouls and anything else. Just by existing they are naturally clearing things."
"Wow, way to look on the bright side." Salvatore said scathingly, clearly not buying into Adam's rationalization.
"All I'm saying is I can either be mad I got robbed, or I can think of it as paying a service fee. I'd rather assume it was the latter."
"Yeah well next time I see them I'm going to give them 100 caps worth of bullets instead." Salvatore responded as he grinded his teeth. Adam chuckled and waved it off.
The rest of the trip from this point was much calmer. There was a radioactive pool in the middle of the road full of barrels of nuclear waste that Adam had to carefully navigate around. Salvatore instead walked straight through the center, getting his boots wet as he basked in the glow for a moment and then waited for Adam's slow and careful navigation to bring him around. When Adam met him on the other side of the pool he could have sworn Salvatore 's skin was looking a bit healthier. Or, at least, healthier looking for a ghoul.
Besides that they also encountered a few more patrols of War's men but they were either too small to threaten Adam and Salvatore or the two of them were able to find a way around. Still the numbers of people they were seeing wandering around was noteworthy, it gave a true sense of how strong War had become after absorbing as many groups as he did. This was enough to wage a real war if he wanted, and that thought was frightening.
However, after a tedious but mostly peaceful journey they arrived at their destination; Adam's old workplace. Second Life HQ.