Usanagi isn't bothered by the man's rather frantic behaviour, instead of panicking or tensing up, she instead just coughs into her hand and looks over her clipboard. "Ahem, what is the last thing you remember?"
...
"I..." he shakes his head, "That's none of your business! Tell me why I'm here! Now!" he shouts.
"Mr Parker would you please calm down? I'm afraid that answering my questions is the only way you'll be given any degree of freedom... If you are considered well enough, we may even let you meet your son." she states, causing the man to pause.
"My son?... How do you know about my son? I swear if you've hurt him I'll-"
"Stop! We have not hurt your son! He is perfectly fine and living a very fulfilling life, it is he who actually rescued you from the NCR after all." she explains.
...
"H-he did? Wait, how old is he now!?" he suddenly asks, not believing that a young teenager could do such a thing, even if with Brotherhood training.
Usanagi herself pauses, not actually really knowing the answer... Luckily, Afton tells her over the earphone she currently had in. "He's nineteen years old now."
"N-Nineteen!?... H-how? I was only captured... No..." he clutches his head, "Why is it so hard to recall?"
"That may be because of the extensive brain surgery you had to undergo to return your senses... Please, what's the last thing you remember?"
...
"I... After I was captured by the NCR, they interrogated me, I think... After that, they sent me somewhere else, a laboratory I think... Everything after that is blurry..." he looks to Usanagi, "What happened to me?"
Usanagi inwardly sighs to herself, how could she explain to this man that he'd been turned into a monster that had killed many people under the OSI's orders... "The NCR used you as an experimental subject and managed to turn you into a mindless puppet. You were their super-soldier, but we managed to capture you and work in finding a cure... Tell me, do you remember your son's name?"
...
"Afton, I could never forget him. The most peculiar yet talented child the Chapter had ever seen." he fondly recalls.
"And your wife?" Usanagi presses, wondering if this question would set off a psychotic break... To him, his wife had only died relatively recently after all.
"...Verna." he states with a solemn look, or, as solemn as his monstrous face could manage.
Usanagi nods, "Good. At least your memory seems in order... Now, why don't you tell me how you are feeling right now?"
"How I feel?" Zach questions, unsure what this would accomplish.
She nods again, "Yes, do you feel anything unfamiliar? Peculiar? An urge or instinct to do something?" she asks.
...
He shakes his head after a moment, not feeling anything like she'd described. "No... Kinda hungry, but that's it." he says. He was feeling concerned over his current situation, and mournful for his wife, but that wasn't strange or out of the ordinary.
Usanagi examines his face for any deception, but smiles in acceptance once she was sure he was telling the truth. She glances up at the corner of the room, "Glados, could you pull up the psychological tests for me?"
"Affirmative." the AI's robotic voice says as a holographic screen suddenly appears on the nearby wall. On it was a strange shape, a shape Zach immediately realised was a rorschach test.
The holographic screen had surprised him, but the Brotherhood was known to possess holographic screens to be used for important tasks, such as the map in the Elder's room... To think they'd consider him that important though brought a slightly smile to his face.
Usanagi gestures at the screen, "I see you know what this is... If you could answer as truthfully as you can, that would be appreciated... Now, what do you see?" she asks.
"A chemical reaction." he says after staring at it for a moment.
Usanagi nods as the screen automatically moves to the next. "This one?"
He shrugs, "It's some piece of space-age technology I think..."
The screen changes again, "And lastly, this one."
Zach stares hard at this one, "It's... Two bears high-fiving."
...
Usanagi crooks a brow, "Huh, no one's ever given that answer before... I can see the resemblance though." she mutters before shaking her head, "Alright, there are a few more tests we need to do, but I can promise they won't take long..."
Zach nods and silently waits.
"I'm going to say a word, and I want you to say the first thing that comes to mind... Dog."
Thirty minutes later :
Afton breathes a sigh of relief as he watches his father finish up with the psychological evaluation. From what he'd seen, the man was perfectly healthy and mentally stable. Something he'd been unsure about after they'd removed so much brain matter.
He was a bit worried about how his father would react to the news of what he'd done to the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood, but that issue could wait for now...
He looks at his father and activates [Living Anatomy] to see what changes had actually occurred.
[Zachary Parker]
Health : 100%
Stamina : 99%
DT : 18
Strength : 10
Perception : 8
Endurance : 10
Charisma : 3
Intelligence : 7
Agility : 5
Luck : 3
Ailments :
[Mutative Remnants] : Having gone under massive mutations in the past, some things still remain despite the attempts to heal them... +3 Strength, +4 Endurance, -1 Intelligence, -3 Luck, +12 DT. Also increases resistance against diseases and any further mutation.
Hmm. Seems like Macka hadn't been able to fix everything... Afton had expected something like this as his father's appearance hadn't returned to normal... At the very least, he'd have retained some of Mr X's strength due to his drastically increased size... He'd need to run a couple tests to make sure everything was fine though, it'd be stupid if they healed him, only for cancerous tumours to suddenly appear all over his body.
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Afton shakes his head of the dour thoughts concerning his father and an agonizing death involving cancer. He adjusts the Stealth suit and puts on gloves to prevent his father from spotting his plant arms, afterwards waiting for Usanagi to leave the room.
*Shuuk!*
The reinforced door slides open, and Usanagi walks out with her clipboard clutched to her chest, she gives him a small smile and nods, "He seems fine, though, I'd not let him go anywhere without supervision, preferably yours, as I don't think anyone else could actually deal with him if he went out of control." she explains, remembering the way the chain groaned against the man's strength.
Afton nods, "Thanks for your help, I'd give you a bonus, but your salary is already big enough." he chuckles, gently clapping a hand on her shoulder as he walks past, into the air-lock between the observation room and where his father was.
He calms his breaths as the door closed behind him, "You ready to meet my dad, Nyx?"
"I have already met him before, sir... I think I still have the imprint of his fist..." Nyx mutters.
Afton shakes his head, "That, wasn't my dad." he easily retorts, "Just try and behave yourself... Try not to reveal anything before me, I'm a bit scared of his reaction, to be honest." he admits as the door opens and he steps into the room.
Zachary Parker looks up from where he was sat on the bed, spotting a familiar-looking man enter the room. They were 6.1 ft, messy average length black hair, tanned skin and hazel eyes that matched his late wife's. He wore strange clothes as well, but he didn't recognise the insignia printed onto the chest plate.
It was his son he realised almost immediately, though, the light beard and black-veins around his eyes made him slightly unsure of himself... The latter because he couldn't recall any medical ailment that would cause such an effect... Which meant, potentially a mutant?
He shakes his head, not daring to believe such a thing without confirming who this man was. And what'd happened in his life. He stays quiet, silently observing Afton and not making any moves to start the conversation.
Afton certainly hadn't been expecting the tense atmosphere as soon as he stepped into the room, he'd imagined a joyful reunion with lots of hugging, tears, and everything else that goes along with it... But maybe his dad just wasn't in the mood...
He coughs into his fist and sheepishly approaches his dad, not bothered in the slightest by his deformed face. "You're starting to make me kind of depressed here, what's wrong? Can't even recognise your own kid?" he asks semi-sarcastically.
...
"No. I recognise you, but, a lot has changed. I really didn't expect to see you again after you and the others left through that canyon passage." he admits with a sigh.
Afton slowly nods, sitting on the bed next to his father, "Yeah, well, I thought you were dead. Only found evidence that you were alive when I rechecked the battle sight years later... I avenged mom you know. Blew him to kingdom come." he chuckles morbidly.
Zach finally looks up and locks eyes with Afton, "Good. Bastard deserves to rot in hell." he affirms, acknowledging Afton's efforts.
"Yeah, the guy who lead the attack on Helios didn't have a good end either... Got chopped up and eaten by cannibals or something like that. With how fat that bastard was, he could've fed the whole casino."
...
"How has your life been, son?" Zach asks, wanting to know if his son's life had been easy, hard... Worth living.
Afton thinks for a moment before shrugging, "It's been interesting, I guess. I've experienced quite a lot, done good things and things I regret... It's been a bit shit at times but, I think I've managed well enough."
Zach slowly nods, "The Doctor said you were the one to rescue me?"
"Yeah..." Afton pauses, wondering if he should tell his father that he'd been sent to assassinate him. "Er, I lead a group to attack the facility that mutated you, capturing the scientist and forcing him to help return your mind." he finally says, not explaining that the group he'd lead had been an army of supermutants...
Zach finally lets a proud smile make its way onto his face, "You must be at least a Paladin to be able to lead a group into battle like that... That'd make you one of the youngest Paladin's in Brotherhood history." he mutters.
...
"Er, not exactly." Afton quietly replies, feeling bad for ruining his father's moment.
...
"What do you mean?" Zach asks with mild confusion.
"... Well, a year or so ago I kind of... Left the Brotherhood." he explains sheepishly.
...
"What...?" Zach's face goes blank in utter confusion.
Afton breathes a sigh, "Do you know what happened to the Chapter once we left Helios?"
Zach shakes his head, "I assume you retreated out of the Mojave and requested reinforcements?"
"No... McNamara led us into the Hidden Valley where a number of old bunkers were located. We hid away in those as we were basically trapped without anywhere else to go... The NCR destroyed a couple of them, but missed the main one."
Zach scrunched his brows, "Then what?"
"Well, nothing, really... We hid there for years, doing little to nothing for the Mojave and slowly dying out underground. I ended up leaving for. reasons. Eventually travelling all around the Mojave, making friends, enemies..." he explains.
Zach slowly stands, tugging slightly on his chains that prevent his full range of motion, "Where are we now then? Are we back in the bunker? Headquarters? Another Chapter?" he challenges, becoming more and more unsure of this situation the more he learns.
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