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39.21% Steel Waste / Chapter 278: Ego Clash

Chapter 278: Ego Clash

Afton gapes at the robot, looking down at his beaten and tattered state. His legs were clearly splinted up, displaying just how injured he actually was. "Slacking off? Are you stupid? My legs are broken you doddering two-hundred-year-old jar-head!" he shouts, jabbing his finger pointedly towards the robot.

"STUPID!? HOW DARE YOU! I AM THE CHIEF RESEARCHER OF THE THINK TANK, MOST MARVELOUS AND INTELLIGENTLY INTELLIGENT INSTITUTIONS EVER CREATED, OR EVER WILL BE CREATED! YOU ACCUSE ME OF BEING STUPID? WHY, WE SHOULD HAVE YOU PUT DOWN FOR MENTAL INSTABILITY!" Klein exclaims back, clearly offended at being called 'stupid'.

The Doctor's tirade isn't over just yet, however, "AND NO! WHY WOULD TAKE NOTICE OF YOUR FRAGILE HUMAN BODY'S CONDITION? IF YOU WANT SYMPATHY FOR YOUR FLESHY PENIS-TIPPED FORMS INADEQUACIES THEN GO SEE DALA! OTHERWISE, CONTINUE THE TASK WE HAVE SET FOR YOU."

The stubborn man and robot glare at one another, neither wishing to give ground... Afton furrows his brow, "Ignoring the technology... I need you to answer a question I have, and you will answer it truthfully, 'oh mighty chief researcher of the Think Tank'." he states sarcastically before continuing, "I heard that you have received some visits from some outsiders fairly recently, I need to know what happened to them."

"YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VISITORS?" he asks, almost sounded confounded. "GO ASK DR. O OR DR. 8, THEY WOULD KNOW MORE ABOUT THEM THEN I WOULD." he states, making a 'shooing' gesture with his manipulators.

"Are you pointing me in the right direction or just trying to get me to leave?" Afton asks, mirth and annoying interspersed within his voice.

"THAT DEPENDS, WHAT ANSWER WILL MAKE YOU LEAVE FASTER?"

Afton just shakes his head and limbs away, towards 'Dr. O'. He honestly didn't think he'd be able to get anything of worth out of 8, seeing as the robots voice modulator had been 'irreparably' damaged.

That wasn't saying that Afton couldn't fix it, because he probably could. He just wanted to hold off on that until he could gain something from it, fixing it too early would allow Dr. 8 and the others to slowly forget their debt towards him, better to wait until he needs something and then strike while the iron is hot.

That being said, he wondered why everyone referred to Dr. Zero as Dr. O... It was fairly obvious what was numerical and what was a letter... He'd seen sticky notes on and around Dr. Zero's work area, so it's pretty easy to figure out... Perhaps the robots were all going senile? Or perhaps they were all just mocking the robotics expert for some reason?

Afton walks up to Zero before greeting him with a small wave, "Dr. Zero?" he asks.

"For the last time, it's Zer-... Wait, what did you just call me?" the robot asks, disbelief apparent in his voice.

"Dr. Zero." Afton states, "Why? Do you like being called Dr. O instead?"

"Ah-No-no-no-no-NO! Dr. Zero is my name, don't let the other oxy-morons tell you otherwise!" he quickly says, "Youknow, lobotomite, you aren't all that bad. Even if you wear RobCo junk." he says, gesturing at Afton's Pipboy.

"Mhm." Afton hums, not bothering to mention the mystical properties it seems to have. "I was talking with Dr. Klein and heard about some intruders you guys had recently." he asks jovially, not letting his connection to Christine be known as of yet.

...

"I... Don't like to talk about it. 8 can't talk about it either after what they did to fry his voice module. It wasn't all the visitors though, only one of them got outta control. He's the one that took control of Little Yangtze, our old human farm."

...

"Human farm?" Afton asks after a moment, that didn't sound good AT ALL.

"Oh, yeah. During the great war, the American government had all Chinese-American citizens packed up and shipped off to various camps... Concentration camps they called it, don't know why they wanted to keep it so hush-hush." the robot lifts its manipulators, giving the best shrug it could manage. "Annoying meat-bags kept trying to break out, so be designed explosive collars to keep them put... Not that it mattered in the end, the great war happened and, well, ghouls don't make the best test subjects, especially if your experiments concern the brain."

If Afton wasn't already sure of the Think Tanks complete lack of morale boundaries before, then he definitely would now. Abducting people and lobotomizing them, concentration camps... What's next? Creating Frankenstein's monster or something?

He shook his head, he decides to pursue this later and ask about the 'troublesome' visitor, "What happened to the intruder?"

"You'll never believe it, this human... He broke out of the Think Tank. In seconds... Then he went of Yangtze, got our bomb collars, and start practising on the remaining ghouls there. No doubt trying to figure out the right frequencies to operate them.

We were sending robots to get him, but he kept slicing and cutting through their shells with some suped-up laser gun like they were cheese... Paper. When he hacked into the mainframe, 8 tried to stop him and got fried. Me? He rerouted my processors to take control of the train network here.

If you've seen the tunnels with the trains ploughed into them, you can thank our visitor for that. He wrecked the whole place... While we were trying to keep containment on the surface, he used one train to punch a hole through a tunnel and escape. Sealed now. But..."

Sounds like a certain mad-man Afton was somewhat familiar with... His obsession with technology would have no doubt lead him here, the skills he picked up from the Brotherhood allowing him to cause all that havoc, Elder Elijah. "What about the others?"


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

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.

Chapter 279: Zero ability

"What about the others?"

"There were two other human specimens. One arrived not long after the troublemaker... And the last one, not sure when he showed up... Thought the first one was going to be lobotomized at Y17, but she got out somehow..." Zero says, not noticing the slight growl that escaped Afton's throat.

"The last subject... Klein might know more, he talked to him, then let him leave the Think Tank. Hope he knew what he was doing." Zero remarks.

Afton slowly composes himself with the forced assistance of the pacification field, he stops the conversation for a moment to take a dose of Med X. Sure it as a little overpowered to be used for just a migraine, but Afton wasn't really in a state to care. "What do you mean?" he asks, wondering what Klein could know that worried Zero... The Think Tank was the place where anything and any thought could exist, so it was peculiar for the robot to have such inhibitions.

Zero seems to shake his monitor in response, "Klein knows things we don't. And I think he told some of those things to the visitor. Dangerous things if they ever got out." he says ominously.

Afton continues, deciding to question what happened to Christine, "What happened to the second visitor? Did they escape?" he asks.

"No idea. Either they escaped or didn't, I'm sure there's a third option somewhere but I don't care enough to think about it. Dala might know something, considering she's responsible for most lobotomizations done here at the Big MT."

"Hm." Afton hums, before remembering he had something else for Dr. Zero to do. "Oh yeah, I got this for you. Was wondering if you'd be able to figure out a way to deal with them, they all seemed connected to Mobius so interfering with that connection seems like the best place to start." he says, dropping a Robo-Scorpion in front of Zero.

"W-w-what! Get that thing outta here! Bad lobotomite! Don't bring dead things inside with you!" Zero suddenly exclaims, rapidly genuflecting around with his manipulators.

"Firstly, I'm not a dog. Second, I brought this so you can help in getting rid of Mobius. I barely escaped the army he sent after me, so having something to damage, or even stall them for a moment would help greatly." Afton explains, carefully hidden contempt towards Zero laden within his voice.

...

*Mumble, Mumble,*

"What was that?" Afton asks, having not picked up whatever Zero was saying.

"I said I*mumble*" the robot says, mumbling the rest of the sentence and causing a vein to appear on Afton forehead.

"Okay... One more time, loud enough so I can actually hear you." Afton slowly asks, as if speaking to a mentally challenged child.

"I said, I CAN'T DO IT!" Zero shouts shamefully, "Any time I touch one of Dr. Mobius robots they just explode and or fry themselves! I have no idea why, or what to do about it.... So there! Get that thing out before it explodes or something!"

Afton scowls, "I thought you were a robotics expert!? Something as simple as disassembling this, looking at its components and trying to interfere with its functions should be very, very easy for you!"

"I can only do one of those things... I'm only good for rendering machines inoperable, everything else goes the same way! You try fitting a lightbulb, only to find that you've accidentally disassembled it, the lightbulb socket, and the electronics leading to the switch!" Zero declares.

"Then what good are you?! Even a child can disassemble things, give them a hammer and your ability to destroy machines pales in comparison... What use are you if you're just a slightly more intelligent metal crusher!?"

"Ahhhhuhuhuhuh! I KNOW! I'M USELESS!" Zero cries out, and Afton was sure it would be properly crying if it had the ability to.

Afton huffs, and grabs the tail of the destroyed Robo-Scorpion, "I'll go ask someone who actually knows what they're doing." he states, giving one last kick to Zero's ego before waddling towards Dala. He wanted to ask about Christine before anything else, as well as whether or not Dala was responsible for hurting his lost big sister.

"Dala." he says, approaching the robot who appeared to be prodding some sort of organic material, each prod causing it to contract and wiggle as if attached to electrodes.

"Hmm? Ooooh? Has the teddy bear come to visit? Have you decided to let me examine that stubborn heart of yours again?" she asks, giving the organic material one last hard prod, causing it to explode in blood and gore... Once she turns around her monitors are immediately drawn to his legs, as well as the makeshift crutches he was using. "You seem to have taken some damage as well, don't worry, I can fix you right up." she says, slowly floating towards him, her vivisectors revving up.

"No. You won't touch me again as long as I can help it. I have something I need to ask, Dala." he says, not bother to explain how he got into this condition.

"Well then? Don't leave a feminine brain waiting, what does the teddy bear need of me?" she whispers almost sultrily, it's quite disturbing...

"I heard you had some 'visitors' in Big MT, I was wondering if you could tell me about them..."

"Ah, yes. We have three minus one visitors who volunteered themselves as subjects recently. Though, I find that some of my memory on them is... It must be stored with Dr. Klein, or somewhere equally as, or more secure..."

"Three minus one? What do you mean?" he asks, confused as how she'd phrased it.

"Three minus one is two, two spoke to us, one mean, one curious, but there was a third we didn't speak to. The last one is the minus one. It got traumatised, then taken to one of our medical centers for de-traumatisation. A rather unsettling procedure."

Afton knew she was talking about Christine, he was struggling slightly to maintain his composure at her being referred to as an object, or some kind of animal... "What do you mean 'traumatised'?" he asks after a moment, wondering if he wanted to hear about it.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

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