Due to the rush I was in to clean up the town and ensure the safety of my romantic interest and her family, the whole bunch of us circumvented the northern main entrance and traveled along the farming settlement's walls till we arrived at a biometrically locked armored door set into the beefy perimeter wall.
Not even a moment since we pulled up to it, the weathered camera and auto-turrets mounted above the door locked in on us and scanned our group from top to bottom and through and through. The second they finished their job, they returned to scanning the surroundings and maybe a minute after that; the door popped open, slid into the ground below, and out came my female companion's father.
The very instant Mary's dad caught sight of his kid, he rushed out and wrapped his little girl in a hug, obviously very happy to see her return home safe and sound, much to her annoyance.
"Pa, get off me. I'm fine." The wildflower protested as she struggled in her father's loving embrace.
"Haha, it would seem that way. You're just as energetic as I remember." Her father, the town's mayor, commented joyfully with that rough southwestern voice of his.
The middle-aged man laughed off his daughter's annoyance with him and swiftly turned his attention to me next as his town's security forces exited the wall and took up guarding the perimeter. "It looks like you kept your promise, young man. You have my thanks."
Responding with a simple nod of acknowledgement and a strong shake of the hand, I said. "As much as I would love to chitchat, we have more pressing matters, like the danger that lurks in your home turf."
"Or so I heard." He replied before zooming in on the stripped latino in his mid 30s being secured by my mechanical men. "I suppose this is the guest my daughter mentioned over the communicator."
"Correct."
"Oh, that's great. It's been so long since I've been granted the opportunity to treat such a 'Valued Guest' myself." Mary's dad spoke in his normal tone of voice, but for some reason or another, it gave off a much darker and even sinister vibe, almost like he was a completely different person.
It looks like you're in for quite the rough night, buddy. Have fun with that.
Sniggering mentally, I wrapped up our brief conversation there and entered through the side door along with everyone else and then collectively headed into the town under the cover of night. The mayor led us to an out of the way concrete and metal building on the south side of town surrounded by a high perimeter wall topped with a combination of rusted barbed wire and razor wire. A scan of the surroundings and the interior of the structure exposed a number of turrets and countermeasures around the area, as well as several hidden ones. As for the insides, I discovered a facility that appeared to be part barracks and part jail.
This will hold this guy no problem.
Satisfied with what I saw ahead, I kept following the Mayor's lead and navigated through the interior of the sparsely decorated place. A few minutes later, I had my robots sit the guy down in a chair placed in the center of a lone cell. I then interrogated the man alongside Mary's father, Ron, and swiftly got the locations for his 'comrades' and marked them on a map.
"Okay, that's all we need from you for now. If you keep cooperating like you've been doing, we'll let you get out of here in a bit."
"As long as you keep to your word, I'll keep answering." The man replied casually.
I find it kind of odd how easily he's giving all this information up when he doesn't strike me as a coward... Well, it doesn't really matter to me since he won't be leaving here alive at the end of the day.
With a marked up map in hand, I departed the secured cell alongside Crystal Springs mayor, Ron, and left the merc to wait for his eventual fate that was still unknown to him.
The minute we met back up with Mary, I opened my mouth. "We got what we need from him to resolve this rat problem you guys got." Getting a nod in response from the two of them, I continued. "With that said, I would like to handle things on my own, if you don't mind."
"Why would you want to do such a thing? Wouldn't it be faster and safer for us to handle this as a group?" Mary's pa asked.
"Typically, yes, but as you've been made aware, I'm not exactly normal, so I can pretty much guarantee that no harm will come to any of the townsfolk as long as you let me handle things."
"Hmm, you did survive an ambush on your way back to deliver my daughter, so you do have a point... Alright, I'll let you take care of them but I'm going to set my men up around the town's exit points to make sure none of them escape."
Before I could say anything else, Mary piped up with hopeful eyes. "Can I come?"
"It should be fine since we have the advantage, but it depends on what your dad has to say." I responded, throwing all responsibility on to her dear ole dad.
Her pa shot me a betrayed look before asking. "Will she come back in one piece?"
"Certainly."
The man stewed for sometime under the pleading gaze of his precious little girl and soon gave in to her pressure.
*Sigh* "Okay then, go have fun, sweetheart." He said reluctantly, much to his daughter's delight.
Having settled that matter, I left the half barrack, half jail behind with the eager cowgirl and my squad of robots. Following our departure, we set off for the furthest target and the second the mercenary entered the radius of my perception field; I began scanning him, as well as the surrounding environment. What my efforts uncovered was a lone merc lying low and keeping watch of the area from a dark, unlit alley in between two rustic buildings constructed mainly of concrete, local stone, and weathered metal like much of the town was.
"We'll reach our first target in a few minutes." I said lowly to my companion.
"How do you want to take care of him?"
"I'll dispose of the merc silently."
"I wouldn't mind taking one of them out myself, but you're in charge, handsome, so I'll follow your lead." Mary commented, letting me know she wanted to be an active participant in the events that will soon follow.
"If you're that hungry to get some blood on your hands, beautiful, I'll let you have this one."
"Thanks, Dom." The pretty, dirty blonde haired chick said gleefully whilst hugging my side.
"Yeah, yeah, here's what you're going to have to do to take this guy out. First you'll-"
After teaching her the method to take someone out silently, the robots, Mary, and I slithered through the darkness, quickly closing in on what would be the wildflower's first victim for the night. The minute we circled around to the opposite end of the alley, the cowgirl drew her serrated combat knife from the sheath on her dark leather belt and started slowly sneaking up on the unsuspecting man. To ensure nothing went awry, I tagged along and kept the firecracker encompassed in my stealth fields' effects as she crept up.
As soon as she was feet away, she lunged forward with surprising speed at the man who was a fair amount larger than herself, covered his mouth with her hand, and slipped her combat knife into the far side of his neck and ripped it across. The man attempted to struggle for a second or two, but blood poured forth from his slit vital and streamed into his open airway and down his plain clothes. He let loose a few gurgles before collapsing to the paved ground.
"Not too bad, right?"
"Mm, you got potential, firecracker. But we're going to have to start working on your physical abilities when I stop by tomorrow to pick you up."
"Oh, I'll be in your care then, big guy." She replied, happy to hear she did a good job.
______
This is not being dropped, but the next chapter will be the last chapter for the foreseeable future since Wasteland Conqueror hasn't really been picking up any traction and requires a ton of work. So, don't expect any more releases for this for at least the next few months, unless it wins in the monthly polls, because I'll be focusing on my other works.
Usual plug: if you want to read ahead, you can do so on Patreon.