Chapter 312: Another One.

After his harrowing experience with Patient Zero, Afton was more than happy with the slight reprieve he found walking through the abandoned passageways leading to the Forbidden Dome. It was actually quite peculiar, the large red crystals sprouting from the ground must serve some sort of purpose, but he couldn't actually think of one.

Once he'd dealt with Mobius he would be sure to conduct some research on them. Whatever properties they have, he definitely wanted to take advantage of it, especially considering their apparent abundance here.

The peace didn't last long however, soon enough Nyx warned him of enemies up ahead. He dropped into a crouch and slowly made his way forwards, eventually spotting what looked like a large tunnel entrance with X-42 written on the wall.

This is most likely the Forbidden Dome, and his suspicions were only encouraged by the small army of Robo-Scorpions patrolling out the front. He was tempted to just blast them with the Sonic Emitter and let the explosion take care of them, but knew that'd likely collapse the Forbidden Dome entrance.

"Any ideas, Nyx?" he quietly asks.

"Sneak past them."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen... Remember last time? And the time before that? Their proximity sensors are the bane of my existence. Though, you have given me an idea..." he mutters, glancing behind him at the large crystal formations.

He retrieves his Anti-Material rifle from his back and takes aim after loading an Explosive round into it. The explosion wouldn't be as large as a chain reaction [Meltdown] would be, so he felt more confident controlling how much damage it'd do. He aims at a cluster of Robo-Scorpions that were walking in some-sort of formation and fires.

*BOOM!*

A fiery explosion lights up as around eight robots are either destroyed or crippled. Afton loads another and fires again, immediately afterwards getting to his feet and running towards the crystal formation. The Robo-Scorpions probably hot on his tail by now.

Using his maxed out Agility and [Masterful Movement], he's able to quickly climb the crystals, jumping from one to another. The Stealth suit boots and gloves provided him enough grip to scale to crystals without slipping. Eventually, he made it to the top of the canyon, looking down at the small army of Robo-Scorpions streaming towards his previous position.

Knowing he didn't have much time, he ran to the opposite side of the peak and started sliding down into another canyon passage. Once on the floor, sneaking towards the relatively empty Forbidden Dome entrance. There were still a few Robo-Scorpions milling about, but they didn't last long as he charged them with his Inversal axe.

One he'd killed the few remaining he quickly headed towards the entrance, getting out the device Klein had handed him and entering through the now raised doors. He was slightly worried that the Robo-Scorpions would attack him from behind once they noticed he was inside. But this proved false as the door slammed shut behind him.

"MWHAHAHAHA! You have entered my forbidden zone DOME! THERE WILL BE NO ESCAPE FOR YOU! And once you have been taken apart and rendered for materials, the Think Tank is next!" Mobius shouts maniacally over the intercom.

Afton smirks, "I'm not trapped here with you... You're trapped here with me!" he loudly retorts, thanking whatever gods allowed this situation to happen for the opportunity.

"Ha... Ooohhh, that was actually rather frightening... Could we tone this down a little bit? Wait, let me just..." Mobius mutters, leaving for a moment before coming back, "THAT'S BETTER! Your feeble words won't move me! MY FINAL DEFENCE WILL END YOU SWIFTLY!"

"Final defence? Pfft, yeah? What's that gonna be? A few more Robo-Scorpions?"

...

"YES!"

Afton palms his face, is this guy for real? He walks through the hallway of the Forbidden Dome and eventually exits into a humungous room. In the middle is the largest robot he'd ever seen. "Oh, so this is what he meant..." Afton mutters as he glares at the Giant Robo-Scorpion.

It looked identical to the other's he'd fought thus far, the only obvious exception being its size. It must have weighed tons, and that huge laser tail it possessed didn't look friendly at all. It seemed to be deactivated, but who knows how long that'll las-

"ATTACK MY BRILLIANT CREATION! ATTACK AND EXTERMINATE THIS PEST!"

*BrrrrRRRRRRR!*

The sound of many generators activating occurs as lightning rods hanging from the ceiling above the Robo-Scorpion shoot blue arcs down at it. This is apparently enough as he immediately starts moving, its massive claws clacking while its tail points in his direction.

"Oh, shi-" Afton leaps out of the way, into one of the many metal-reinforced bunkers littered around the place. He's surprised when it isn't a laser that's fired out of the Scorpions tail, no, instead it's a massive ball of energy that shakes the entire room when it hits.

The shockwave washes over Afton, but he takes no actual damage... Instead, his Pipboy bursts to life, immediately clicking to indicate the presence of high levels of radiation.

[Atomic! is in effect]

Afton glanced at the part of the wall that'd been struck by the ball of energy, it looked as if the metal was slowly melting. Despite the attack having ended. He knew if he got hit by it he'd been instantly incinerated...

Fortunately, the Robo-Scorpion appeared to need a few seconds to charge up another shot. Giving Afton time to think about how to properly move next. He uses VATS to extend this duration indefinitely.

Now that he was able to get a better look around the massive chamber, he saw many small buildings similar to the one he was in now. There was a single terminal in the one he was currently in, meaning the others would likely have similar things as well. Though, first, he'd need to check the terminal to see if anything useful would be on it.