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38.78% Steel Waste / Chapter 275: Crippled Two

Chapter 275: Crippled Two

*CRAAAACK!*

Afton hits the ground with huge force, his built-up horizontal momentum barely doing anything to assist him at all. He lands correctly, but the sheer force of gravity upon his body, and especially his legs, causes him to fall to his side with a suppressed groan of pain.

He could feel the injury in every detail, despite the Med X he'd taken earlier... Shaking his head and gritting his teeth, he rapidly looks around to see if any enemy had noticed him. judging by the fact neither of the two groups of Robo-Scorpions were currently encroaching upon his position, he'd say he was reasonably safe... With the obvious exception of his legs.

Looking down, he saw the extent of the damage... With [Living Anatomy] and his high Medicine skills he was easily able to identify the problem... Both of his legs were broken. "Fuck." he whispers to himself.

Quickly, he dips into his backpack and retrieves the Proton axes and begins securing them to either side of his leg. He then uses some torn fabrics to tie them tightly, making a splint out of the deadly weaponry.

He grunted in pain as he tightened them and then retrieves some stimpacks, stabbing each leg with one to speed up the healing process. It wouldn't instantly heal his broken bones, but it'd be a good start... He honestly didn't want to get caught out by the scientists of the Think Tank in this state... Who knew what other experiments they'd try to perform on him.

Afton looks to the side and spots the dead Robo-Scorpion from earlier, as well as the X-2 Antenna. He crawls towards the latter and sits next to it for a couple minutes while the stimpack starts working on his legs.

With both of his legs splinted, he'd barely be able to walk, let alone fight. So he'd need to get back to the Sink fairly quickly. After ten minutes or so he finally decides to move, using the X-2 Antenna and his Anti-Material rifle as makeshift crutches.

He begins his slow waddle towards the ThinkTank, the big dome in the distance was the safe point. But at the rate he was currently going, Afton didn't think he'd get there before dawn... He growls under his breath as he forces his injured limb too far to go faster, accidentally exacerbating the problem.

After a couple more minutes, he spots some figures in the distance... Their familiar headwear and glowing Proton axes made it extremely obvious who they were. Afton didn't think himself fit enough to deal with such a large group, so instead began to look around for sanctuary... Any place would do, as long as it provided cover...

His eyes focus when he spots a small satellite dish sitting atop a rock formation... It looked inconspicuous, but judging from the fact nothing was connected to the dish, something must be nearby to operate it... He waddles up to it and spots a symbol, one he'd seen written across the door of the X-2 Transmitter Antenna Array.

It looked like some kind of artistic modification of the American flag from his original world, in this one it was known as the Old World flag however, the flag of pre-war America. This one was blue though, instead of the red one on the door of the array... Before he's able to investigate further, he begins hearing the sound of lobotomites nearing. He looks around and spots a carefully hidden cave entrance next to the symbol and quickly ducks into it, hoping the lobotomites wouldn't be able to reach him...

Inside he's greeted by a dark room, only illuminated by chemical workstations and glowing mushrooms... There's a dead campfire in the middle, lots of ammunition boxes scattered around, and a bedroll sitting in the corner.

Someone had been living here at one point, stocking it with equipment, creating defensible positions, and even having time to grow plantlife... He was honestly surprised, he didn't think it was possible for anyone to make it into Big MT with their brain intact... Is it possible he's not the only intelligent lobotomization victim?

Shaking his head, he waddles over to the bedroll and sits down after propping both of his make-shift crutches to the side... His Anti-Material rifle sitting in arms reach in-case he needs to blast a large hole into any intruders.

He rested his legs in front of himself, the splints forcing them straight and preventing him from adjusting them to get comfortable. Sighing, he tries to lay back, propping his hand on the floor to lay down as gently as possible... Though, when he does, he feels something cold and hard on the floor...

"Hm?" he mutters, grabbing whatever it was and bringing it to his face. "A Holo-Tape?" he wonders aloud, glancing over to where he'd found it and spotting two more. He looks them over and spots thin strips of tape on each of them, labelling them in rough writing. "Patient Log Y-17.0"... The same facility where the skeleton-spacesuits had come from?

Idly, he wonders if listening to these tapes would answer more questions than it creates... He should just get to sleep, as his legs would heal quicker this way, he could always listen to them later... But... Something about them won't allow him to deviate his attention.

He sets the first one down in front of himself and clicks the button to begin the recording...

"*Bzzt!*

This is Christine Royce. Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel... the Circle. Not going to make it through this, hope someone finds this message, gets it to the Brotherhood in the West. Tracked a rogue Brotherhood Elder, Elijah, here, to the Big Empty.

Place is more than it seems, there's a crater hidden deep inside. Junkyard of pre-War labs scattered across the crater's surface, all still running... like this one. Elijah's dissecting these centers, one by one... tracked him to an old Chinese-American internment camp. Survivors, ghouls, have bomb collars. Robots moved in when I tried to intercept him... Elijah sent the camp ghouls against us both, like walking bombs. Got hit by the explosions, woke up here. Guess the medical robots were programmed to bring wounded victims from the camp to this center. Some kind of Auto-Doc prototype lab... manned by corpses trapped inside suits that keep them moving, no idea why. Not sure how long I'm going to last... cut open my head like a lot of the humans I've seen here, feel strange, can talk, but can't hack the term...

*Crash!*

...wait, an explosion outside. Someone's here... someone's..."


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

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

next chapter

Chapter 276: Dreadful Tapes

Afton's throat becomes somewhat hoarse after listening to the Holo-Tape... Christine was here?... And she was hunting Elder... Former-Elder Elijah. He wasn't sure what the Brotherhood of Steel circle was, but from the sound of it, it was some kind of special forces department of the faction. Is that why Christine left? She was invited to become one of them?

He shakes his head and focuses on the more problematic part of the tape... Christine had been here, and an Auto-Doc had operated on her, cutting open her head like the 'humans' she'd seen here. Afton heavily suspected the people she referred to be lobotomites.

A growl unconsciously escapes his throat, if the scientists had hurt her, he'd tear them apart with his bare hands! He didn't lose his temper often, but that was a different story if someone wanted to harm his family.

By the sounds of it, they had operated on Christine and affected her mental faculties... Making it more difficult for her to hack, something that came naturally to anyone from the Brotherhood of Steel... Fucking bastards!

His plotting to destroy whatever pacification field was within the Think Tank to interrogate them was interrupted when he realised there were two other tapes he hadn't listened to yet... Composing himself, he forced down his anger and activates the next one.

"*Bzzt!*

Christine: ...don't want to argue philosophy with you. Brotherhood are preservationists. Tech in the wrong hands, it's dangerous. Mojave's proof.

Unknown man: No denying that. Proof's here in this crater, all around us. Your tribe, the Brotherhood - haven't met many of you. Wanted to. Thought you might be the last chance for the Mojave... the West. The East. But you're all the same mind, obsessed.

Christine: Elijah is obsessed. He's mad. It's why they ordered his execution.

Unknown man: Two are more alike than you know, too wrapped in the wrong bits of history to see ahead. Not judging. I know how it is. People are like couriers, you and him. Sometimes don't even know the message they bring. You all had a new flag. Thought maybe new ideas along with it. What you believe isn't any better than the Bear or Bull. No future in either.

Christine: So says the man with the Old World flag on his back. America, the Commonwealth... burned away.

Unknown man: America sleeps. And until it's dead, I carry it. Just like I carried you. More than hope. Belief. There's voices here in the Big Empty, I want to talk to them. Not like your Elijah did. Got questions. Want to hear history give its answer."

The discussion between the two had allowed Afton to start thinking rationally again... Honestly, he agreed with whoever Christine had been talking with. The Brotherhood was obsessed, their duty towards the preservation of humanity as well as the protection and detention of dangerous technology had been slowly altered as time went on.

His words were wise, measured. Like someone who'd been and seen through much to form his opinion, one that would not be swayed against any half-assed argument. It didn't sound like stubborn rigidness that people like that usually do, no, he sounded like he hoped he was wrong, but knew the unfortunate truth.

Christine's voice brought a sad smile to his face though, it'd been so long since he'd heard from her... It was good to know she was still alive, or at least, had been alive when these tapes were recorded.

Afton looks to the next Holo-Tape and nervously activates it, hoping Christine would still be ok and for it not to just be a memorial by the man after she'd perished.

"*Bzzt!*

Christine: ...didn't think you'd make it back.

Unknown man: Almost didn't. Got my answers. Your Elijah, he met the Gods in this place, did a good job of making them question the way of things.

Christine: Do you know where he went?

Unknown man: He's gone to the Sierra Madre. That's a special kind of hell. He won't come back. Someone smarter, tougher's going to kill him. If the Madre doesn't.

Christine: I have to go after him.

Unknown man: Not going to talk you out of it. Know what it means to track someone you share history with. Got a meeting of my own.

Christine: That Courier?

Unknown man: Get her to come to me. Got a message for her, like the message she had for me. Make them walk the road west, straight and true, sink their feet in Old World ash. Let storms tear at them. See the Divide. See what happened.

Christine: The Divide? There's nothing there.

Unknown man: Nothing there? Like the Big Empty? The Sierra Madre? No, the Old World sleeps there, sure as the flag I carry. The Courier knows the way. And at the Divide, her and I - there, we'll have an ending to things."

This tape was more ominous than the last ones... The unknown man had said Elijah had met the gods here. Unless he was referring to some sort of supernatural force, Afton could only speculate that he meant the scientists. They were the owners of this place, the creators and destroyers...

Apparently, Elijah had left for someplace called the Sierra Madre? And Christine was going to follow him...

Afton had no idea what, or where the Sierra Madre was, nor why Elijah would want to go there. All he knew was that if he wanted to find Christine, he'd need to go there. It didn't matter how dangerous it might be, he needed to find her. Find her and Veronica, bring everyone back together again, like how things used to be.

He lingered in the self-created sombre mood for a while before shaking himself out of it. No, he couldn't be distracted by emotion yet. There was still much to analyse from the tape, information pertaining to the man Christine had been speaking with.


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.

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