章 356: Ed Edd and ED-E

The group continues walking around Primm, Meyers showing them the various improvements that'd been made. The casino had been 'fixed up' and the Bison Steve Hotel had finally been cleared of the bodies Afton and Karl had left there.

It'd also been renovated to the best of the resident's abilities and made into a proper hotel. Though, right now no one was paying rent. Instead, it was basically owned by everyone in town and people who didn't have another residence would simply stay in one of the rooms.

Meyers said it was messy and a bit mismanaged but worked for the influx in population for now. As they walked Afton eventually spotted another familiar face, Johnson Nash. The elderly man was sitting in a lawn chair with any mechanical components on the floor in front of him.

"Huh, would have thought you guys'd make him Mayor..." Afton mutters, having got the impression back when the old man pulled a pistol on him in the casino.

Meyers chuckles, "He is our mayor..."

...

Indeed, that brought many questions... "Why is your mayor selling scrap metal and not managing the town?" Afton asks with a dull expression.

"He's a smart guy, why can't he do both? Not like having an office makes you a better mayor or somethin'. This way he can earn some money without being a corrupt asshole like most of those douchebags." Meyers scoffs, and Afton had to give it to him, that certainly a benefit.

Before they walk past the old man's stall however, something catches Afton's eye. "Hang on... Is that an Enclave eyebot?" Afton murmurs to himself, bending down and looking the robot over. He remembered reading about these things in the Brotherhood database, they were apparently designed to spy on the populace and broadcast propaganda.

"You know what this thing is, kid? I tried to fix it up but never managed it... The wife wanted it outta the house..." Nash admits.

"Yeah, I know it... Yo Nash, you remember me?" Afton asks.

The man gives him a glare and eventually nods, "Bout to say you looked familiar. My mind must be leaving me if I couldn't recognise the guy who saved our asses. How've you been doin'?"

"Good." Afton states before focussing on the robot, "Anyway, how much for the robot? I doubt anyone other than me would be interested in it, and even if they were it'd only be for scrap metal." he explains.

Nash shrugs, "50 caps."

Afton suppresses his enthusiasm and slowly nods before handing the caps over, "Fair."

"Hmm? I guess you're stayin' the night then? I doubt you'll be wanting ta' lug that thing around the place." Meyers says from the side, looking at the heavy exercise ball-sized machine Afton had just purchased.

Afton nods, "I'll get it fixed by tonight, we'll be gone tomorrow. That alright with you guys?"

"Course, you guys can take a couple rooms in the hotel." Nash adds, and the group nod gratefully at him.

"Alright, since we're stayin' here for the day, I might as well hit up the casino. Need some practice for New Vegas." Karl adds, leaving and taking Boone with him.

Afton looks to the girls, "Guess we better pick out some rooms, we can go see what trouble those two'll get themselves in afterwards." he says, carrying the robot towards the hotel.

The group spends the rest of the day relaxing in the casino, they weren't strapped for caps in the least, especially since they'd just completed one of the best paying jobs the NCR had. Once they returned to Camp McCarren they'd be one of the richest group in the Mojave. As well as the most well-armed.

Some of the group are confused at why Afton isn't trying to fix the machine now, but he just waves them off saying he'd do a couple tweaks to it at night. Obviously, these 'tweaks' would be him sleeping next to it and allowing [Mechanicus] to do the job.

From what he'd learned by looking the robot over, it'd apparently been shot out of the sky and had a few vital components damaged. Nothing too difficult to fix, but annoying nonetheless. Fortunately, like most robots, it had some basic info printed on the inside of its chassis...

It was designated Eyebot Duraframe Subject E, but Afton decides to just call it 'ED-E' as it seems more... Fitting? Hopefully, it'd have more personality than most robots, otherwise he might just render it down to its components and use them to upgrade his next vehicle.

Unfortunately, most of the other information he'd hoped to find in the chassis had been destroyed by external sources... Bullet holes make it difficult to read after all.

"What do you think Nyx?" he asks, wanting to know his 'closest' companions opinion on the robot.

"I hope it will be fun... I wish it could sneak, but it doesn't have legs..." she mutters.

He chuckles, "You don't need legs to sneak you know... In fact, lacking legs probably makes you better at it."

"OOooohh? Shall we remove yours then? You can always be better at sneaking, user."

...

"Er, no. I need my legs for, eh, walking... Anyway, we'll see what ED-E is like tomorrow morning." he states.

As the night rolls around, Afton and the rest of the group are forced to drag Karl's drunk and unconscious body to their hotel room... Seems like he'd gotten a bit too 'relaxed', though, it was funny to see him brag about killing a Deathclaw nest and having no one believe him.

As recompense for getting drunk while they still had things to do, the group writes a few things on his face with marker pens. Due to the lack of mirrors around the wasteland, Karl would probably not find out until someone mentions it...