Keely purses her lips when he questions her, "I wanted samples from that big tree... Soon as I scraped some bark shit hit the fan. Was forced to hide in here, but, as you can see, the roots found me eventually." she says, sending a pointed look at the roots restraining her to the wall.
"What about your skin... It's green like the Spore Carriers, are you sure you're not infected?" he asks, knowing that she's probably immune to it, but still wanting to know her theory.
Keely attempts to shrug but the roots simply tighten their grip when she does, "Ghouls are immune to the spores, but that doesn't mean they'll stop trying. Our cancerous cells will kill anything introduced to our bodies, be it out own cells or intrusive ones... By the way, I still haven't gotten your names." she states, looking at them expectantly.
"Afton Parker, this is Anja... Now, about those roots, think the tree will go berserk again if we cut you out?"
Keely gravely nods, "If you cut it we need to leave quickly... I don't know if I'm able to walk though..." she mutters.
Afton nods, "Alright, here's how we'll do it. I'll cut the roots and take Keely, Anja you will clear anything in the way of the exit while we run. Cool?" they both nod and he gives them a reassuring smile, "Cool."
Afton holsters his pistols and pulls out the axe, it's previously dulled blade having fixed itself via his [Mechanicus] Perk. He gives the duo one last chance to blackout before bringing it down on one of the roots wrapping Keely.
*Thwak!*
A sound no different to chopping into a tree can be heard, and immediately afterwards a loud, low rumble echoes powerfully through the cave. Afton rears back and tries again, chopping through the first root and causing the low rumble to turn into a silent shriek.
The remaining roots try to constrict Keely but Afton speeds his chopping up, outside he could already hear the roots tearing apart everything around them... Hopefully the Spore Plants would be among the targets.
A couple more chops and Anja pulls Keely out of the bundle, Keely trying to stand but falling to her knee's, obviously too weak to walk. Afton shoves the axe into his backpack and throws Keely over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes. "Let's go!"
*OOF* Keely groans as all of her weight is forced onto her stomach, "Treat me like a princess why don't ya!"
Afton smirks, "Apologies but I lack the equipment for that."
"Like what? A sense of decency?" she playfully accuses.
"My other arm... Though if you want a princess carry then I'm sure Anja would volunteer!" he says just as they leave the cave and are greeted with utter destruction.
The luminescent tree had apparently not taken kindly to its roots being destroyed and had begun tearing apart everything in the cavern. Most of the Spore Plants were dead, and stalactites from the ceiling were beginning to fall.
Both large and small rocks were beginning to dislodge from the walls as the tree's roots tore apart the foundations that kept the cavern from caving in. The group decided not to stick around and wait to see what else would happen, quickly gunning for the exit at the opposite end of the cavern.
They made sure to stay well away from the tree by circling around it in a similar fashion to how Afton and Anja had first snuck through. Only now they were forced to dodge falling stalactites and randomly flailing roots that could hit like a swung tree.
Afton leaps over a root attempting to sweep across the floor and Anja just barely makes it over, raising the laser rifle towards the next offending root and firing a couple times. She misses most of her shots but a few connect, leaving large black scorch marks on it and causing the root to retract.
Afton uses VATS to freeze time and examines the path forwards, quickly noticing a couple stalactites in Anja's path that may harm her. He resumes time and calls out to her, "Anja! Get out of the way!" he shouts.
Unconsciously her body throws itself to the side just as a couple stalactites pierce the floor where she'd just been standing. It was fortunate she was so used to following orders otherwise she might've met her end right there.
Quickly she picks herself back up and follows Afton, clearing some more roots out fo the way as they run through the narrow entrance leading back to the Vault. Even though this cave system is relatively safe they don't stop running until they get back into the confines of the Vault metal interior... If it could survive the apocalypse then a cave-in would be nothing.
Anja and Afton stop to catch their breaths, the latter unceremoniously dropping Keely and begging to cough again. Droplets of dark blood spattering the floor under him. "Auuhhhh, fuck!"
"Seems like you haven't got much time left." Keely observes from the side rather callously.
He sends her a sideways glare, "No shit sherlock, don't forget I got infected trying to save your sorry ass." he states, not wanting her to forget the debt she owes him.
Keely nods, "I don't mean anything by it, just stating a fact."
"Think there's any hope for me?" he asks her.
Keely shakes her head, "No, not really..."
Anja interjects with a frown, "How can you be sure? You aren't all-knowing," she turns to Afton, "I'm sure we'll find a way to help you sir."
Afton chuckles weakly, "Huh, thanks for the optimism. I guess..." he says while releasing a sigh, "Before we do anything, we need to deal with the spores somehow. If they leave the Vault then it won't just be me who's fucked."
Hope you liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
"Before we do anything, we need to deal with the spores somehow. If they leave the Vault then it won't just be me who's fucked."
Both Anja and Keely nod at his words, the latter rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "You know, the cavern was originally a source of many problems for the Vault as it contained any pockets of flammable gas. Gas that has probably been sucked up by the ventilation system, if we introduce an explosive or large fire to it then we might be able to burn away all the Spores in the air..." she muses aloud.
Afton scoffs, "Yeah, and bring the whole Vault down on top of us. Sure it's designed to withstand nuclear explosions, but that's only from the outside... I have no idea if its structural integrity will hold from an inside explosion."
"You got any better ideas then? Green Thumb." Keely retorts.
"Oh, I'll give you 'Green Thumb' She-Hulk!" he growls, but wheezes slightly at the exertion.
Keely continues, "It's a good thing you've almost kicked the bucket, at least you can cause the explosion without any regrets." she states.
*Smack!*
Keely's head is whipped around as Anja slaps her, "Will you stop mocking him? He's sick and we just saved your life you rotten bitch! Your legs are still useless so who do you expect to carry you out if Sir kills himself!? I certainly won't!"
"So you aren't just a slave then, huh?" Keely says, not seeming to be upset about the slap. She looks like she wants to say more but just shakes her head and looks at Afton, "You know, you are as much a danger to the outside as the Spores are..."
Afton doesn't want to acknowledge that fact but knows it's true, if he succumbed to the infection he'd become a Spore Carrier, producing spores and spreading it amongst the wasteland. "I know, that's why I'll torch myself before I get that far. Until then I still have some life in me." he states. "Now, where's that ventilation duct you mentioned? I've got some explosives on me that'll do the trick." he says while throwing Keely over his shoulder again.
The ghoul scientist leads them to the hallway and points to some vents that are vaguely distorted, revealing the volatile gases that lie there. "We'd need to find a safe place before lighting it, but I can't think of anywhere that wouldn't render our goal pointless, we need a place devoid of spores." Keely states.
Afton raises a brow and looks to Anja, "The mainframe room?" he wonders aloud and she nods at him.
The group walk to the mainframe room that just so happened to be quite near to the ventilation duct. He sets Keely down inside and tells Anja to wait inside, he then pulls out a grenade from his deathclaw leather bag.
"You two stay here while I deal with it... Just try to keep the door open for me." he mutters as he leaves.
Afton stands at the opposite end of the hallway where the ventilation duct sits, he needed to do this cleanly otherwise he'd be fried to a crisp.
He takes a moment to visualise exactly what he'd be doing, unclip the grenade, throw it just under the vent and run for the mainframe room before it hits the floor. He should have just enough time to reach safety before the explosion... Though, he admitted it was cutting it close... He was beginning to wish Karl was here to set up a timer or something, the man was way more proficient with traps than Afton was.
"Alright... 3. 2. 1." Rapidly he bites the clip off of the grenade and throws it, immediately turning and sprinting away just as the grenade leaves his hand.
Soon enough he spotted the door to the mainframe room and felt like kissing Anja, she'd left it open for him!
*BOOM!*
The explosion goes off and he glances over his shoulder, spotted a wave of fire streaming towards him. "SHUT THE DOOR!" he shouts, Anja pressing the switch which causes the door to start descending.
Afton doesn't waste any time and throws himself at it, somehow managing to slide beneath it just as it shuts. A puff of fire attempts to follow Afton threw the small gap but its cut off before it can do any real damage.
"Well, that was something." Keely states from the side... "Do you smell something burning?" she asks, the group only now noticing that Afton's trousers were on fire.
"Ah! Shit, shit, shit!" he exclaims as he rapidly pats himself out. While he's extinguishing himself the vibrations of the explosion purging every floor of Spores continues.
The wave of fire 'should' destroy any trace of Spores... *CRRAAAASSSH!*
Sounds of something collapsing could be heard from their room. If Afton had to guess then the wave of fire wave the last straw for the cavern containing the large luminescent tree. Combined with the damage the tree itself had caused earlier, it wouldn't surprise him if the Cavern had completely caved-in. He only hoped that the plants would ber destroyed instead of being preserved under the rocks...
Eventually, the sound of the wave of fire eventually peters out, leaving the group sitting in silence once again. Unfortunately, even if they destroyed all the Spores, Afton was still caught between a rock and a hard place. He was the last potential Spore Carrier, and so he needed to either cure himself relatively soon, or burn himself to prevent further spread.
He knew there was one place left in the Vault that he hadn't explored yet, the cavern access on the Oxygen recycling floor. He had the keycard, so he'd check in there on the way out...
"Do you think that did it?" Anja slowly asks.
Keely nods, "The Spores were somewhat flammable from my earlier experiments... That should've killed them all, but once we're out I'll have the NCR torch everything nearby and destroy the entrance to the Vault."
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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