"No. I didn't know that... I thought she was just another Chem addict with all those Med X's she was popping, but I see now that I was mistaken..." he mutters through the radio, "Thank you for revealing this to me, Afton.*Bzztch!*" he says gracefully before ending communications.
Afton sighs, takes his helmet off and rubs his jaw. What's with this place and confusing him... He just wanted to return to the Mojave where everything was 'relatively' simple. NCR grey, Legion bad, House equally as confusing... Nevermind...
He glances back over to Vera Keyes and taps his foot, "I haven't been sheepish about looting before, why should I start now?" he mutters, walking over and stripping the skeleton of its dress... As long as Veronica didn't know its origins, he was sure she'd love it.
The skeleton crumbles to the floor as he removes the dress, revealing the wall behind her... His crooks at brow at the writing on it, Vera seems to have written a message in her own blood... 'Begin again', and 'LET GO'... He wasn't sure what it meant, but maybe it was a message to Sinclaire or something? Who knows.
With everything said and done, he begins heading back down to the lobby to see how the others were doing getting the VIP status... They'd failed thus far, but Christine was actually pretty good... Despite her inability to speak. Still, since he'd managed to gain access to the VIP rooms, the status was less of a priority.
Elsewhere :
Elijah was heavily scowling as he crawled through the ventilation ducts of the Sierra Madre Casino... He'd had this all planned out before Afton and Veronica had arrived... The Ghosts would breach the Casino and put the place on lockdown, he'd use this opportunity to turn off the power and allow Ghosts to continually harass the group to get them moving where he wanted... Yet... That Ghoul had used his former relationship with the place to completely ruin his plans before they'd even started...
Because of this, he was now forced to hide away and crawl through the vents to reach places he needed to go... It was inevitable as if he was spotted by anyone he didn't doubt that he'd be killed. Afton and Veronica had shown incredible combat capabilities, and he'd seen enough to know he stood no chance in a direct confrontation.
Fortunately, knew this place like the back of his hand, the last time he was here he'd almost entirely mapped the place out and discovered the vault... The only problem was the last security system in place, the system that prevented him from accessing the Vault at all.
All he was able to do was gain control of the Turrets, Holograms, and Forcefields around it. But, no matter what he did, the Vault was impenetrable. As much as he hated to admit it, he still needed those fools to succeed... Even if using them could prove more dangerous than the Cloud or Ghosts had ever been.
This was one of the main reasons he hadn't used the main security systems and turned the place completely against them... While Afton and Veronica might survive the initial assault due to their Power armour, Christine would undoubtedly perish. This was unacceptable as she was the most important piece in this puzzle.
He scratches claws his head in annoyance, not noticing the thick clumps of hair falling to the floor as a result, or the blood thick under his fingernails.
Two days later :
Christine had finally broken the chip limit in the Casino as was quickly given access to the VIP sections of the Casino. The trio had quickly made use of this but had yet to find anything of use... Though, they had discovered a ridiculous amount of valuable items during this time... Sure enough, VIP's were very rich, and if you combed through their rooms you'd find a litany of gold jewellery, expensive watches and suits, and large piles of pre-war cash.
Other than that nothing much had happened, aside from the confusing buzzing that'd occasionally occur from Christine's collar. Afton had investigated it but found nothing, meaning it was either a glitch or something Elijah was doing.
Afton hadn't been idle during this time either, having finally found the ventilation systems and hacked into it. Once he was in, he began expelling any and all Cloud left within the Casino, this would clear the blocked pathway he'd found days ago... To be honest, he had high hopes for it... Why else would that place be the only Cloud infested area in the Casino? Everything else was clear of it. He suspected that someone wanted to protect it.
In the end, he was right. Once he headed down the heavily corroded hallway, he'd found himself standing before a heavy Saturenite door, though, it seemed to be lathered in something that actively resisted the Cloud's effect on the metal.
The Saturnite was very dense, tempered, and reinforced, so most attempts by anyone else would prove useless... Afton didn't have such issues however, he ignites his Ultra Chainsword and easily swipes through it, his Perks allowing the weapon to act as a more efficient lightsaber.
Once he'd cut around the rim of the door, he gives it a firm kick, knocking the chunk of metal out and allowing him to step into the pristine yet dusty laboratory... His eyes were immediately attracted by the Big Mt symbols prominently plastered on everything... From the walls, containers, and even the glasses.
Clearly, Big Mt had some serious dealing here, yet, Afton hadn't found any evidence of such in the scientist's database, even Glados hadn't noticed anything of interest, meaning that everything had been destroyed or intentionally deleted.
He scans the room for anything dangerous but only finds a couple of skeletons slumped in their chairs in front of a couple monitors... They had a few empty bottles of whisky scattered around them with even more empty bottles of pain killers...
He takes a glance at the monitors and notices that they seemed to have been observing the town below the Casino... The town which had been utterly annihilated by the Cloud...
He sniffs, "Seems like they couldn't live with themselves after what they had done." he mutters, not feeling an ounce of sympathy towards these people.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
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Kingsprovince
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Nazlican Erdem
Afton continues investigating the room, going over the files in the terminals and looking overall physical files that were stored or hidden away. There was a bunch of machinery present as well, but Afton was wary of touching anything without knowing exactly what it did... He might just accidentally fill the room with the Cloud if he presses the wrong button...
Fortunately, he'd found quite a lot of information about what the Cloud actually is... The Cloud is a self-replicating toxin that can corrode and poison almost anything it comes across. The scientists hadn't actually discovered it's ability to transform lifeforms into mindless immortal zombies, but that's probably because they refused to observe the destruction of the town and subsequently killed themselves.
Strangely, it's actually possible to manipulate the Cloud. To control it to some extent. The machine used to do this was a mixture of technologies that still somewhat baffled Afton. It had magnetic components as well as light and sound waves. Apparently, it took an incredibly delicate mixture of the three to manipulate the Cloud.
The machinery in the room would control what areas the Cloud could access, where it moved, and how much it would replicate. Fortunately for the world, the replication rate had been set quite low, the Cloud had been active for two hundred years after all, if it wasn't limited it would've enveloped most of North America and most likely South America too.
To be frank, the Cloud was a weapon of mass destruction, he thought that the Spores were bad... But the Cloud is ephemeral and cannot be stopped if fully unleashed. It would just keep replicating, spreading and devouring. At least with the Spores you could fight against them, burn the plants and kill the carriers... But this? It was an apocalypse waiting to happen.
Still, now that Afton had gained access to the Cloud control systems, it was possible for the group to leave this place... But... If he did that, he'd be leaving this weapon in Elijah's hands... He needed to completely cleanse this place, and once it was secure, move his own forces in so they could map out the machinery enough so there could build their own Cloud Manipulator.
Plus, he couldn't let Elijah know he'd found the lab yet, the last thing he needed was for that old bastard to sneak in and flood the place while he was busy elsewhere.
Strangely, the Cloud Manipulator isn't the only advanced technology he found information about here... The place also held detailed information about the Holograms, and some kind of Matter Recombinator?
Afton's eyes widen as he reads through the file... How had he not noticed this before? He'd spotted the weird vending machines scattered around the place but ignored them for the most part, this is probably why he'd never noticed that they were some of the most valuable technology in the wasteland...
"These things alone could solve world hunger" he mutters in disbelief.
The Matter Recombinators do exactly what it sounds like... They recombine matter, using energy to alter the fundamental composition of materials. As long as you had enough energy you could literally create anything so long as you know the composition of what it is.
Obviously, mapping out the entirety of an object would be rather difficult and time-consuming, but, once done you could infinitely create more. From chems, to bullets, to food, to guns... The only problem most people would have would be actually producing enough energy to power it... Which wouldn't be a problem for Afton since he basically has infinite energy with his Glowing Ghoul reactor...
As Afton is thinking about all the potential possibilities these technologies could present, he's interrupted by a buzzing from his Pipboy...
"*Bzzzzztchzzzz!* Hello again, Afton. I'm sure you are overjoyed to hear my voice, you have spent days searching for me after all." Elijah states over the radio.
Afton scowls, "What do you want?"
"What do I want?... Well, that's quite a loaded question, so I'll shorten it and just say... Everything." the older man says, confusing Afton further.
"You're gonna have to elaborate, I don't speak in riddles." Afton spits, not wanting to waste any time dealing with this soon-to-be-dead ass hole.
Elijah's sigh carries through the radio as he begins to speak, "Well, I've been watching you venture through my Casino, and I've found that you are quite the loyal person... But I wonder how far this extends? Would you abandon your friends for revenge? How valuable are your friends compared to your family?"
"Just spit it out you piece of shit." Afton growls out.
Elijah pulls away from the radio and seemingly drags someone in front of it... A familiar gravelly voice speaks into it.
"Urgh, you won't get me to talk you crazy lunatic." Deans voice states in a weak tone, obviously talking to Elijah.
"Dean? How the fuck did Elijah grab you?" Afton asks while rubbing his forehead, was Dean really so weak to allow that old fool to nab him? Or had he been tricked?
"Plant-Boy? Huh, guess he wants to give you one final show before he offs me." the Ghoul chuckles before he's pulled away from the radio again, Elijah taking his place.
"If you want to see the Ghoul alive, you will bring your friends to the VIP rooms in an hour. Take a minute over that and I'll paint the room with the Ghoul's brain matter... And after that, I'll take another of your friends.*Bzztch!*" Elijah threatens before leaving.
...
Afton palms his face, anger towards Elijah and disappointed in Dean for getting captured. Most importantly, he felt rage at the fact Elijah was threatening his family. Dean was more or less an acquaintance, but to threaten Veronica, Christine, or Anja? That was a death sentence.
He packs up his shit, stores the files he'd been reading, and locks down the room by picking up and sliding the heavy Saturnite door back where it belonged. Elijah probably wouldn't be able to move it due to how heavy it was, but Afton wouldn't place all his hopes on it. Once done he races towards where the rest of his group is.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :
ShinAmazake
Chris Lindsey
Kingsprovince
Michael Jarrett
Nazlican Erdem
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