Dala's new revelation brought a flood of new opportunities to everyone's minds. Zero only being the first to voice it, "Wait. If what you're theorizing is this lobotomite understands us... Can reason with us...
Klein loudly cuts in, not missing the chance to 'show his superiority', "THEN THIS MAY BE THE ANSWER WE'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR. AT LAST, A CHANCE TO-"
8 interjects with a cacophony of strange noises, causing the rest to go silent., "*BZZZZZZZZZTCH!*"
Just before Afton was about to ask what's going on, Borous begins to speak, "Doctor Klein! A TRANSMISSION from the FORBIDDEN zone! Coming right at us!" he says causing the group to start nervously looking at Klein.
"IT CAN ONLY BE..." Klein mutters before trailing off, everyone in the dome aside from Afton already knowing the one who he is referring to.
A flash of light occurs behind Afton, and once he turns around he's greeted with a huge monitor, larger than any movie screen he'd seen in this life or his last one. On it was another robot that looked eerily similar to Dr. Klein and the rest, only with a few differences. They looked old, decayed. Some of its monitors were broken and its brain dome looked fractured. That certainly couldn't be healthy for its intelligence and or sanity.
"If it isn't my old colleagues, the might 'Think Tank'of big MT. Big FOOLS! All of you. It is I, Dr. Mobius, transmitting from my dome-shaped... Dome, in the forbidden zone. A zone that is, yes. Forbidden to you." Their voice echoes through the room, Afton raising a brow at the almost stereotypical mad-scientist act that was occurring... He'd already dealt with Klaus, he doubted he was so unlucky as to encounter two in such a short time period.
Dr. Mobis continues, "Even now, my deadly Robo-Scorpions swarm across Big Mt with their pincers and pointy laser tails. Soon, all science will be mine! Even the technologies sealed in the Big Mt research centers cannot save you. So cower in your 'Think Tank.' Wait, for the end... That's all, err, goodbye!" Mobius's voice changing from the villainous one to a slightly senile old man with his farewell...
"MOBIUS" Dr. Klein growls, "ALWAYS THE SAME BROADCAST. HE'S CLEARLY MAD, DRIVEN INSANE BY HIS FLAWED AND IMPRECISE KINDERGARTEN-LEVEL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY."
"What are we going to do? There's no way we can breach the Forbidden Zone. There's those robot scorpions everywhere!" Zero exclaims, clearly fearful despite this seemingly not being the first time this has happened.
"Sooo... Ignoring 'Dr. Mobius, I was wondering where you'd stored my brain... And how I can leave this place... I have other things to do you know." Afton says, causing all the robots to turn towards him.
"HOW TO LEAVE? YOU CANNOT LEAVE LOBOTOMITE! ONLY BRAINS ARE CAPABLE OF LEAVING BIG MT AND ITS RADAR FENCE, YOU, ARE LACKING ONE!" Klein states.
"As soon as the lobomite tries to leave the crater, they will be transporting back inside! With some minor health defects from the forced teleportation..." Borous adds.
"*BZZZZZTCH!* 8 buzzes.
"ITS BRAIN? DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE WE LEFT IT? DR. O, DID YOU KEEP TRACK OF IT?" Klein asks, the robot somehow misplacing his BRAIN!
"I err, did we?.. No... No, I got nothing." Zero says after a moment of contemplation.
"Where ever it is, it must still be within Big MT, otherwise they would not be able to receive thoughts!"
"Then it is fortunate your brain is not anywhere in the dome, why, you would be able to access your aggression centers." Dala adds, causing the robots to tremble slightly at the thought.
"CIRCUMVENTING THE PACIVICATION FIELD?! THIS IS A NO-NO. WE HAVE NEVER BEEN IN A FIGHT. WE DO NOT WANT THAT!"
"-Reminds me of my days in American High... And Richie Marcus." Borous adds somewhat solemnly.
Afton was, or would be pretty peeved at the fact they'd extracted his brain, and then almost immediately afterwards lost it. The only thing preventing a long rant against them was the Pacification Field that was working overtime in his case.
He sighs and chooses to broach another subject, "You removed my brain, but where other surgery did you apply to me? Was accessing my heart and spine necessary to remove the fungus? Or were you just curious at what mine looked like?" he says, his tone as passive-aggressive as the Pacification Field would allow.
All the robots turn towards Dala, "DALA? WAS IT NECESSARY THIS TIME?" Klein asks, his tone one of exasperation as if she'd done this many, many times before.
"I assume full responsibility Dr. Klein. I take my responsibilities in the prodding and excising of breathing, living tissue quite seriously." Dala states, and Afton couldn't detect even a hint of remorse at it.
She continues, "All though in truth, the Auto-Doc had done most of the work already. Quite industrious, almost cut into all my investigations. Once it had removed your brain, I-... Misplaced it. Other organs began to cry out for direction using your nerves as telegraph wires. Rather than let them send their signals, I removed them as well. Shhh, little organs. Go to sleep in your tanks. Dala loves you." she whispers, and a shiver goes up Afton spine... If that was still in his body?...
"FIRST WAS THE HEART!-" Klein states, but Dala interrupts him.
"No... The teddy bear's little heart was too difficult to remove. The intruding organism had already taken it over, I applied some of our custom pesticides to it, but it mutated instead of dying like it should have... The strain must be different... Somehow." Dala says.
...
"I..." Klein shakes his monitors as if shaking his head, "FIRST WAS THE BRAIN! SECOND, SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE HEART! THIRD. WAS THE SPINE!" he reluctantly corrects himself.
[Perk Granted : Spineless] : Due to 'complications' with the procedure, your spine has been replaced as well.
[Spineless] : Your torso can no longer be crippled, grants +1 to Str and DT.
[Strength has been maxed out! Perk Granted : Tremble before me!]
[Tremble before me!] : Allows melee attacks now completely bypass DT, whether this means causing a shockwave to attack through metal armour, or simply slicing through leather. All will apply.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Afton's eyes were about to roll out of his head. Apparently, the only reason he'd survived the fungus was because they were trying to dissect him, the fungus had somehow foiled their plans to extract his heart, but hadn't prevented them from doing the same with his brain and spine... He wasn't sure whether or not he sure be grateful towards them or on the warpath.
Not only that, but the machinery they'd stuck into his back had increased his abilities, jumping his Strength from nine to ten, maxing it out and granting him a new Perk, [Tremble before me!]. His sideways glance at the Perk had revealed that it was pretty powerful, if slightly situational.
He didn't have time to think over the positives and negatives though as he didn't want to get lost in the robot's conversation...
"-Totally overrated, that arrangement of vertebrae." Zero scoffs before continuing, "'Look at me, with my lumbar and thoracic curvature.' Never had a use for any of that. Spineless is what I prefer." he states.
Afton frowns at him, "You can be spineless all you like! I'd rather have had a choice in the matter though! Aside from that, where did you 'misplace' my Brain and my Spine!?" he asks, more hoping for the return of the former as the [Spineless] Perk was pretty strong.
"Your spine should be in the sink's organ hotel, as for your brain? I do not know." Dala says.
"But YOU took it out in the first place!" Afton exclaims, getting dangerously close to feeling 'angry'.
"To be correct, you should say, 'The Auto-Doc' took out your brain. It did all the heavy lifting. It has never worked so hard before. It was unusual. Indeed, it worked so hard on your surgery that it destroyed its own memory... How odd. I bet your brain remembers what happened." Dala says.
Afton was confused at that, how would his brain remember the event, yet he himself was unaware of it... In the first place, his brain had no sensory organs if taken out of his skull...
"THAT AUTO-DOC-JUNKHEAP WAS ONE OF MOBIUS' CREATIONS, LIKE THE REST OF THE TALKING SCRAP METAL IN THE ATTIC." Klein says.
"After that, the brain lost itself... Not in the metaphysical sense. Might have gotten flushed into one of the pipes... Actually, that's pretty likely." Zero says.
Dr. Borous immediately picks up on this, "If so, it was FLUSHED all the way to MOBIUS! Fwoooosh! That... Is the sound of flushing..."
"BY THE FISSURE OF ROLANDO... ENOUGH OF THIS BIOLOGICAL SURGERY TALK." Klein exclaims before again, pointing his monitors at Afton, "LOBOTOMITE, LISTEN TO MY VOICE. IT DENOMINATES ME TO ASK, BUT... WE NEED YOUR HELP." He asks in an almost sincere way.
"IN MOST PROBABLE OF PROBABILITIES, OUR ENEMY, MOBIUS, HAS YOUR BRAIN. THIS IS NOT GOOD. HE WILL LIKELY COME AFTER OUR BRAINS NEXT. WE WANT YOU TO STOP HIM. SOMEHOW. WITH SCIENCE." Klein says, making it clear he's only asking to protect himself, and not in any way to make reparations for what they had collectively done to him.
Afton jabs his new, bark-covered finger at them, causing the robots to back away in fright, "FIRST, you lobotomized me without any consent, then you lose my brain, and attempt to harvest the rest of my organs to satisfy some curiosity or sick fetish..." he glances at Dala who's taking 'too much' interest in his extended finger and shivers before continuing.
"And now you are asking me to risk my life to save you all!? How does that make sense!? You guys all seem to be for forethought and logic, why would I ever help you!?" Afton exclaims.
"BECAUSE, LOBOTOMITE, WE, THE THINK TANK TOLD YOU TO." Klein says.
Borous interjects before Afton can respond, "For proper motivation, all we need do is rely on your SELF-PRESERVATION. Dr. Mobius has your brain, and thus you cannot leave this place brainless. You will recover it to save yourself, destroying Mobius in the process!"
"You forget! My spite trumps whatever self-preservation I might have right now. And what's stopping me from joining Mobius? He'd return my brain and I'd work with him to get payback on you lot." Afton says, his words a lot tamer than they would be if the Pacification Field wasn't inhibiting his aggression.
...
"Did... Did the lobotomite just say he'd join Mobius!?" Zero quickly asks the others.
"It did! WHAT DO WE DO NOW!?!" Borous exclaims.
"*BZZZTCH*" 8 buzzes static at them.
"Yes... That might work." Borous mutters and the robots turn towards Afton again.
"LOBOTOMITE! IN RETURN FOR NOT JOINING MOBIUS AND DESTROYING US, WE WILL GRANT YOU TECHNOLOGIES, THE LIKES OF WHICH YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN!" Klein says.
Afton crosses his arms, deciding to pull as many teeth from them as possible. "Oh? Wouldn't I be able to acquire technology if I joined Mobius? Once we defeated you, it'd be simple to retrieve it."
...
"Huh, well, he's got us there Klein." Zero says.
"QUIET! I DID NOT PREDICT THIS! LET ME THINK!..." Klein exclaims, causing them all to go silent.
...
Afton wonders if they actually have anything worth trading... For super scientists capable of creating teleportation, and lobotomizing him without removing his ability to think... They sure don't seem all that much. Though, there were a few side-benefits from allying with them.
One of which would be the Robo-Scorpion Mobius has apparently sent out. Most would consider that a negative, but for Afton it would basically be free exp... Depending on how difficult they are to destroy.
Honestly, the most important thing the Think Tank could grant him wouldn't be anything material... No. It would be their knowledge, their specialities and experience. Dr. Mobius is likely to only be worth on of the Think Tank, specialised in robots and whatever else concerned the Robo-scorpions.
The group though? If he could somehow manage to persuade them into his services, why, he'd literally have the smarted people from before and after the war working for him.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.
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