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20.02% Steel Waste / Chapter 142: Suicide Chamber

Chapter 142: Suicide Chamber

His first task while underwater was to find some breathable air, whether it be air pockets, an exit, or anything else. He couldn't very well explore the place if he was dead... Fortunately whoever built the vault had made some interesting design decisions, allowing a relatively large amount of air pockets to be around the place.

Though, something worried Afton. This was the floor that held the reactors, if they were still active, wouldn't he be electrocuted if he got near them? Of course with most of the vaults lights not working they might be turned off, but the terminals were still active which meant that had a power source coming from somewhere.

He'd seen a couple reactors on the floors above, so hopefully it was just them running and none down here.

Aside from that, the floor was relatively uninteresting. There were a few boxes of ammo that were interesting. He'd collect them once he found the ventilation component, aside from that most of the place looked abandoned.

Eventually he entered a room containing a reactor in it, he almost shit bricks when he saw it, but relaxed when he realised he hadn't instantly died. Scouring the room, he found a locker that contained many engineering components, as well as the differential pressure controller. It was a miracle that he'd found this component specifically, as it was the only one he needed to find that wouldn't be damaged by water.

[Quest updated! : Find parts to repair Bunkers ventilation systems. 1/3]

Grabbing it he quickly made his way back to the duo who were waiting for him. They jumped back as he popped outta the water, handing them the component and checking over his radiation levels on his Pipboy.

He hadn't been in there long enough to get radiation sickness, so it'd be better to leave using the Radaway for another time. It made you rather sickly after using it, so it was best to do it in a safe location.

"Hold up before you say anything." he says, jumping back into the water and dragging the boxes of ammo he'd found to the surface.

"You sure don't do things by half, do you kid?" Karl states as he pulls Afton out of the water.

Afton shrugs, "Caps are caps, no reason to not loot something just lying there." he says, wiping himself off with a rag before putting his gear back on. The wet underwear would be annoying, but he'd live.

"Got what you needed?" Boone asks from the side with his arms crossed.

Nodding, Afton points at the component, "That thing's rare as fuck. Only vaults contain them and similar components... Hope you guys don't mind accompanying me while I search for 'em."

Karl shrugs, "As long as we remember our other objectives, I don't mind."

With that Afton's mission for entering the vault was complete. There was still one last thing they needed to do while they were there though.

A couple hours later the group approach the Overseer's office, Afton had hacked into another terminal which apparently purported to contain the password to the Overseer's terminal. It was unlikely to work, but it was best to check and be sure.

As Afton sat down and entered the password, they were all pleasantly surprised to find that he had indeed managed to unlock it. Though, their faces that were reflected by the terminal's screen hardened when they saw the entries.

[Open sacrificial chamber?]

...

"The terminal's fucking empty... The only thing on here is this." Afton mutters, feeling slightly cheated at the lack of information.

"Youknow, usually I'd be the last guy to say we should head into a literal sacrificial chamber... But that's exactly what I'm sayin'... Something about this just feels, off. Maybe whatever we're looking for is hidden there." Karl says from behind him.

Boone just shakes his head, "We'll probably die if we go in there..." he states simply, not adding his own opinion on whether or not they should head inside.

Afton shrugs, "We'll check it out, if it looks 'fucky' then we'll leave. I'm not going to sit in a suicide chamber without some reassurance." he says before selecting the option to open the chamber.

The floor beneath them creaks as the desk and terminal itself is raised off of the ground. Revealing a hidden entrance that leads into a hallway beneath them.

...

Afton looks at the other two, "Don't step inside just yet. Those Vault Tech idiots forgot to hide the internals of this elaborate hidden entrance. Gonna makesure it doesn't close behind us like some sort of cliche horror movie."

He pulls out his tools and quickly starts fucking with the mechanical components. Jamming scrap metal in between gears, locking pneumatic pistons in place, and severing electric wiring made it so this entrance would only shut if you detonated an explosion on top of it.

Afton sends a thumbs up at the others before stepping inside the brightly lit hallway. Boone gives Karl a glance, the man shrugging nad following his partner inside.

The sniper just sighs to himself, "Well Carla, might be seeing you soon enough." he mutters as he follows them.

At the end of the hallway is a door that slides up as they approach, revealing a large room with nothing but a dirty-looking red chair, and a projector pointing at the wall in front of it.

Again, Afton isn't trusting this place at all, and immediately gets to work at sabotaging the door to allow them to leave should poison gas start filling it or something similar.

It isn't difficult, the door isn't made from the same reinforced steel that the walls are, a few minutes of denting it with his hammer finally allows him to see a few small wires that'd been concealed. He severs one at random which causes the door to immediately shut itself.

It was fortunate Afton hadn't been standing under it otherwise he might've been crushed... At least the wiring was still visible, even with the door shut. Some more fiddling around eventually disconnected the door from whatever was powering it.

Of course, this also forced the trio to manually open and prop it up by jamming a metal bar between it and the floor. Preventing it from closing.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

So. This is the end of the story, our magnificent protagonists willingly walking into a suicide chamber and instantly dying. Hope it was a satisfying end for you guys... The next installment will be Afton reincarnating as Boone's wife Carla just as Boone shoots her... Fun right?

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

next chapter

Chapter 143: Martyr or Mortar

The group duck under the half-closed door and enter the room. Suddenly as if they were being watched the speakers hidden in the corners of the room crackle to life.

"Congratulations, martyr, your fantastic journey is only just beginning. Please proceed to the light. The light is calming and puts your mind at ease. Go to the light. Welcome, please sit in the chair. The show is about to begin." a pre-recorded message states loud and clear.

...

The group glance at each other before looking at the chair...

"Who wants to take a seat?" he asks but no one answers.

Karl walks over to the projector, "Wonder what'd happen if we destroyed this?" he wonders aloud. He's about to give it a poke when the speakers blare to life again.

"Should you touch the projector, the sacrifice will be expedited by laser fire. Followed by immediate disintegration."

...

"Please take a seat, martyr!"

Afton sighs, "Fuck it, it's not like we'll be stuck sitting in it?" he says, finally sitting on the chair, now noticing that it the suspicious red splotches covering it seemed to actually be blood.

"Greeting, martyr, and welcome! If you're here now, it means you've been offered up as a sacrifice so that your vault can continue to thrive. Currently, you may be feeling sad or angry. Perhaps you never got to have grandkids, or to enjoy the pleasures of a fresh cigar. But march with your chin held high, soldier, and remember that each of us has an important role to play."

Afton stands to see if the room would realise he was no longer sitting, but it just continues with its tacky message as if he hadn't left.

The message itself seemed to be some kind of motivational speech about giving your life in the service of humanity. Or some other dogshit, Afton wasn't really paying attention.

He looks around the room and notices that the two walls on either sides of the chair seem to have a groove in the middle of them, indicating that they might open up? The room still had to kill them, and there weren't any bodies down here either...

By the warning they'd received earlier it meant that there were energy weapons ready to be fired at them at any moment. There needed to be something to remove the corpses of the sacrifices, and there didn't seem to be any mechanism under the chair, which meant there must be robots or something else still operating down here.

With all that information, it was fairly obvious what was about to happen. he doubted people forced to become sacrifices would go down without a fight. Meaning the method was likely quick and forceful. "So, we should probably start getting ready to fend off against robots." Afton says.

The other two ignore the slideshow that was still going and raise a brow at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the walls will probably open up and allows robots in. We should set up some traps before that happens... Karl, can you rig some tripwires next to the walls?"

The man nods and quickly starts creating the traps, using the many grenades they'd found around the vault as the explosives. Afton and Boone leave the room via the half closed door and wait for Karl to finish.

Afton urges the man to work faster as it seemed like the slide show was about to finish.

"Almost done!" Karl says, pulling the string through the grenade rings and tying them to the tripwire.

"Close your eyes now and imagine what joys await you in the next life - the afterlife. Can you see them? Good." the slide show ends and a mechanical whirring could be heard. Karl finishes the trap and dashes for the door, sliding underneath it as Afton kicks the metal jamming it.

He was just in time too as the walls opened up to reveal many protections, mister handy's, and roof-mounted turrets. The mister handy's float over the tripwire's, but this isn't the case for the protections which don't seem to even bother recognising the fact that many grenades were about to go off around them.

The door slams shut just as the robots begin firing at them. Afton and Boone pulls Karl away from the door, just as the grenades erupt.

*BOOM!*

The floor shudders as many grenades all explode at once. The door itself violently trembles, but luckily doesn't allow any sharpnal through.

"You guys alright?" Afton asks, doing a rain check.

Boone nods and Karl just rubs his back, "I'm gettin' too fuckin' old for this shit." he mutters.

"You're not even that old though." Afton retorts, the man sending an exasperated glare in return.

"Whatever, let's just check to see if those robots are dead." Karl says as he stretches his back out, preparing to lift the door.

Afton readies Lucky as the Boone and Karl lift the door... Taking a peek inside reveals many destroyed robots, the walls, roof and floor seem almost undamaged aside from the large scorch marks, this is probably due to the reinforced steel they were constructed with.

Ducking under the door he takes the pipe and props the door open to allow the others inside.

*Bzzt* "H-ooold it right ther-bzzt intrudbzzt-"

Afton quickly turns as he hears the robotic voice. The one responsible is a protectron with only its upper half undamaged... Its legs were completely missing and its noodle-like arms seem to be missing their hands. Not wasting any time, he pressing Lucky against its light-bulb like head and fires.

*Bang!*

That definitely puts it out of commission as its head explodes, the robotic voice abruptly stopping.

"Heh, all in a days work." Karl says as he appreciates the damage his traps had caused.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

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

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