Afton glowers at his brain momentarily, "Yeah? Well, I finally got that..." he looks around suspiciously and leans in, "Lady Killer Perk" he whispers, standing back up. "Won't be long before I, we, put it to good use."
"You better. I may lack all the regular hormones that dictate lust, but it is still shameful to wait so long!" the brain replies, somewhat modified by his words.
"That isn't everything though, I've been quite busy while you were sitting here in this tank-" Afton says but is cut-off.
"I was educating myself! Something we've not done since we left the Bunker and started wandering through that filthy wasteland. I guarantee, whatever you've been doing cannot trump that!"
Afton shakes his head, "I know where Christine is." he states, immediately causing the brain to go silent. "She's hunting down that prick Elijah, got experimented on by the Think Tank..."
"Those fucking bastards!" the brain shouts, absolutely furious. "Oh, I haven't been so angry in so long, I want to crawl out of my jar and headbutt them!"
Afton nods, "She managed to escape with some help from a mystery man, she's currently chasing Elijah to the Sierra Madre, a Casino hidden somewhere." he explains.
"And I suppose we'll be headed there as soon as we find it?" the brain asks and Afton nods.
"Obviously, we'll fine Christine, kill Elijah, reunite with Veronica and return to the Brotherhood. Though... I think the Brotherhood is in dire need of change, change only we can bring." he says.
"And your plan on what to do with the scientists? I'm sure you've got similar ideas to mine, I am your mind after all."
Afton nods, "Conquer anything useful and destroy the rest." he states simply.
"Simple and effective, I like it! If any of those Think Tank bastards disobey then suck out their brains and place them in goldfish jars! Put them on display with no voice module but full optics... They deserve it for hurting Christine!"
Afton nods, "I intend to... So, how am I getting you out from there?"
"Just press the blue button next to the one you already pressed... Don't press it more than once or you'll split me in two..."
"Alright." Afton mutters, pressing the switch and apprehensively watching as the machine closes, a bio-gel filled glass bowl being lifted out of it with his brain inside. Obviously, it wasn't able to talk due to it lacking the modules, but this was only for transportation.
He delicately takes the bowl and walks down from the steps, "Mobius?"
"Ah, yeeesh?"
"Do me a favour and redesignate me as an ally for the Robo-Scorpion. Also, standby and await instruction for after I take over the Think Tank, I imagine we'll be doing many magnificent things together."
"Okay!" the senile scientist loudly replies, floating over to a control panel and rapidly pressing a variety of buttons.
Afton doesn't waste any time and walks out of the Forbidden Dome, entering the chamber where the Giant Robo-Scorpion had been... There are scratch marks all over the place from where it'd been trying to get up and attack him, but now it was just laying dormant in the middle of the room.
Honestly, he was quite happy he hadn't destroyed it... He now had an almost indestructible robot to use against anyone he wished, perhaps he could even go toe to toe against Liberty Prime... Though, it'd be a tough fight between the two.
He carefully makes his way out, back into the Wasteland and back to the Think Tank. He even activated his Stealthboy to be extrraaaa careful... He was literally holding his brain in his hands, so any stray shot would probably kill him. He makes liberal use of Nyx's detection system, constantly asking whether he's in danger or not.
Fortunately, he discovered an alternate path back that didn't force him through the fungus infested land. Eventually, Afton reaches the dome, but doesn't immediately head into the Think Tank. No, instead, he goes straight up to the Sink, walking into the room that holds his Spine and depositing his Brain into one of the jars to prepare it for when it's transplanted back into himself.
The Think Tank shouldn't be aware of his return yet, so he has some time to repair the Auto-Doc's personality chip and transplant his brain.
"I see you've retrieved your brain, sir. Congratulations." Alfred offers once Afton is done depositing his brain.
"Well, it should have never been taken out in the first place, but thanks anyway." he mutters, checking the Personality chips in his possession to see which is closest to repair. Using his Inventory, he finds that a Personality called 'Muggy' that's almost repaired... Of course, Afton had no desire to fix this one just yet, so he deposits all except the Auto-Doc one in storage, to make sure the right one is focused.
This gives Afton a good amount of time to prepare for his confrontation with the Think Tank. He didn't think his 'offer' would be refused, but if it did, he'd be ready to deal with the person who initially refuses. He wondered what the scientists would think if he mutilated one of their brains in-front of them.
They seem to value intelligence above all, perhaps literally removing some of their brain cells would put them in a more amicable mood?
For now, Afton focuses on preparing his weaponry, he would manually sharpen, repair, etc, to make sure [Mechanicus] would focus on the Auto-Doc Personality Module.
Once the next day rolls around, Afton finds that the Module had been fully repaired. Fortunately, the Think Tank still hadn't realised he'd returned. He walks to the Auto Doc and pushes the chip into its port. Stepping back slightly as the machine hums to life, the sound of scraping metal and clanking mechanical parts begins.
Hmph, how about it. Old Auto-Doc's back online. Well, alright... Come here, let me get a look at you." the personality says, its voice reminding Afton of an old retired veteran.
Hope you bois like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Afton shrugs to himself and steps into the Auto-Doc, allowing the machine to examine him. With the addition of Nyx, the check isn't even invasive as it can use her to check his condition.
It takes a couple minutes to finish, but once done the Auto-Doc speaks up again, "God-damn, what kind of hell-hole did you crawl out from? Heavy radiation damage, remnants of a deadly fungal infection, roots wrapping around your heart, even lacking your brain? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were just a walking corpse." it says, clearly astonished by his survival thus far.
"Yeah... Shit's been rough. You done with your checks?"
"Almost... Try to keep still." it says, and he feels the many small needles connecting the Stealth suit to his body heat up slightly.
After a bit more waiting, the astounded voice of the Auto-Doc makes itself known again, "Jesus, Mary, Joesph... Boy, you're strong as a bull, agile as a weasel, and built like a brick-shit-house. I wanna meet your folks and beg them not to birth anymore of you, unnatural creatures such as yourself'll only cause trouble."
"Okay... I'd let them know if they weren't already dead." he says, not really knowing how to reply to the robot.
"Goo-*Ahem*I mean, you have my condolences... Tests are done, calibrations are complete. What can I do for ya' today?" it asks, the Auto-Doc opening and allowing him to step outside.
"Well, what can you do first of all?" Afton asks, deciding to check its full capabilities before getting his brain, and possibly his spine put back in.
"Regular check-ups, treatments, radiation flushes, cosmetic surgery, implants, and psychiatric evaluations. You know, the basic stuff... With time I might be able to come up with more, with your permission of course." it explains.
Afton slowly nods, taking great interest in the implants, along with the psychiatric evaluation, perhaps he'd be able to rid himself of his fear of plants? Honestly, he didn't think much of psychometrics, they weren't as well-founded as other medical fields after all. "What Implants have you got?"
The Auto-Doc proceeds to list out the currently available Implants :
[Implant C-13] : Plus 10% damage to cazadores.
[Implant M-5] : Your crouched movement speed is increased by 20%
[Implant Y-3] : Removes any radiation taken from drinking an irradiated water source.
[Implant Y-7] : +5 health and +2 restored action points through the consumption of food.
Afton raises a brow at them, Usanagi certainly had more 'combat oriented' implants, but these were pretty good in their own rights. He could see uses for all apart from Y-3, as radiation from water didn't negatively affect him, and even empowered him to an extent.
M-5 was probably the most useful out of the bunch, combine the 20% crouch movement speed it grants with the Stealth suit's +20% would give him massive bonuses. He wondered if he'd eventually be able to crouch walk faster than he could run... It would look pretty fucking stupid, but would be effective nonetheless.
"Do I have to purchase them?" Afton asks, most of the machines here were designed before the Great War, all apart from Alfred had no concept of caps as a currency, so hopefully he'd be able to get them for free.
"No... As long as the commissary has the right materials I can implant whomever you want. I'd say to keep it to one implant per day though, surgery can be taxing on the body." it states.
Afton nods, "Alright, but before that, I want you to put my brain and spine back in my body... I have the X-2 Antenna, Stealth suit, and Sonic Emitter ready for the procedure."
"Good, then you've already got the pieces needed. I might as well give you an Implant while you're cut open, so what do you want?" it asks.
"The M-5 implant, if possible."
"Alright... Grab the other tech, get out of the Stealth suit and we'll get started."
Afton does as he's told, his Medical Skill allowed him to keep an eye on how preparations for the procedure were going, while he trusted the Auto-Doc, he still wanted to makesure everything was fine himself.
Four hours later :
Afton blearily wakes up, now laid on his bed in the Sink, the procedure having finished a while ago. His body is sore all over, but before he can check himself he's bombarded with numerous messages in his peripheral.
[Big Brained Perk has replaced Brainless] : Your brain is back in your body, but some of the advanced technologies remain: Your head still cannot be crippled, but you are only 10% more resistant to addiction now. Surprisingly your Damage Threshold has improved by 3.
[Big Brained] : Head cannot be crippled, 10% resistance to chem addiction, +3 DT.
[Reinforced Spine Perk has replaced Spineless] : Your spine is back in your body, but some advance technologies remain: Your torso can now be crippled again, but your Strength (STR) and Damage Threshold (DT) bonuses have doubled! (+2)
[Reinforced Spine] : +2 DT, +2 Strength.
[Your Strength has achieved superhuman levels! Title granted : Goliath]
[Goliath] : +50% to intimidation checks. Feats of Strength grants +10% fame.
[Perk Gained : Implant M-5]
[Implant M-5] : Your crouched movement speed is increased by 20%
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 43!]
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 44!]
Afton ignores the level-ups for a moment while checking the new Perks that'd replaced the old ones. To be honest, he was a bit nervous at first, reading that some Perks had been replaced. But one he saw the new ones his worries were vanquished.
The new [Reinforced Spine] Perk had put him above what he previously thought the max stat level was, giving him a title in the process.
[Big Brained] was pretty negligible, but he wouldn't scoff at the extra DT, especially since Chem addiction resistance was pretty useless to him anyway.
He hums to himself and looks to towards the level ups, immediately putting all points into Survival and boosting it to 89 before moving onto the available Perks.
I 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.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT