章 477: Jerb done
Afton stomps along the Freeside roads as people rapidly move to get out of his way, clutched in his hand is a masked head that seems to belong to Scorpion-Man, the new vigilante that'd been helping folks... Apparently, that was at an end now, however...
Unfortunately, his progress was impeded by a small group of NCR soldiers who intercept him, "Afton Parker! You are under arrest for numerous crimes, including arson, vandalism, murder, and your traitorous actions!"
Afton just raises a brow under his helmet, "And you guys are going to arrest me, huh?" he asks, curious about what they actually expected to happen here.
The leader quickly shakes his head, "Er, no... Procedure just required us to make you aware of this... If that's all, we'll be going now..." the man sheepishly says, leaving under the disbelieving gazes of the other Freeside residents.
"Huh, ok..." he mutters before continuing up the road.
He'd just passed by the Atomic Casino and was now approaching the Silver Rush to get his reward for the job. The guard standing in front of it seemingly shrinks under Afton's heavy gaze, it wasn't every day you get stared down by what amounts to a terminator.
"S-stop..."
"Stop? I've got a job to finish." Afton states, holding up the head of 'Scorpion-Man', "Unless you want me to explain to your bosses why they need to hire another doorman."
"W-wait here..." the man asks before quickly entering the Silver Rush and audibly locking the door behind him.
"Tch." Afton clicks his tongue, wondering how long they'd make him wait out here.
"S-spare some chan-"
"Piss off." Afton growls, making the beggar stumble backwards and quickly flee. "Fuckin' junkies."
*Click, click, click!*
The door opens, revealing a group of men all wearing combat armour and pointing Plasma rifles at Afton's head. The doorman is amongst them, but also a woman he wasn't familiar with. The only thing he could say was that she certainly wasn't a looker... Dull tanned skin, receding hair with an almost bald head (most likely from radiation poisoning or something), and a low-cut jacket that reveals the rather unpleasant sight of her cleavage.
"If you're gonna shoot, you better make it count." Afton challanges, if he was struck in the face by all of those shots his face would probably melt from the heat of it, but that would depend on whether or not he'd stand there and let it happen.
"I have to say Mr Parker, you work faster than expected... Terrence hasn't even returned yet and you've already completed the job." she gestures at the head in his hand.
Afton shrugs, "What can I say? Efficiency is my middle name."
She nods, "And Faith is mine... Let me see it." she asks, gesturing at a guard.
Afton hands the still dripping head to the man who displays it to the woman as if it were a trophy. She grabs the yellow and green mask of the vigilante and lifts it, revealing the scarred and pock-marked face of the thug he'd met in the alley.
"Hmm, he looks different than I expected... Certainly not the 'Superhero' look and more of a 'Down of his luck Chem-Addict'." she says, looking the head over appraisingly.
"Surprises come in all shapes and sizes. I'm guessing you're my real employer then? Terrence made a big deal about separating the Silver Rush and the Van Graffs, but we both know it isn't as simple as that."
"Well, we try our best to be roundabout with such information. I'm Gloria Van Graff, by the way. A pleasure to meet the Mojave's most wanted man." she says, waving off the guard holding the head and holding out her hand towards Afton.
He shakes it, careful to not crush her frail hand in his grip, "Guess my job's done here then, I've already come to some agreements with Terrence, so I'll let him report back on what my reward should be. If there's nothing else...?" he trails over, giving Gloria some time to consider.
She shakes her head, "Not at all, though, I will ask that you come through the back exit next time... I don't need the attention your presence brings. Goodbye Mr Parker, I hope to be seeing you again relatively soon." she says, before turning and leaving further into the shop.
Afton nods and leaves too, heading towards the gate so he can teleport out the same way he'd come in... He was pretty sure the meeting went well, obviously she couldn't see his expression through his helmet, so it'd be terribly difficult to tell if he was lying about Scorpion-Man or not... She seemed to buy the story though, so as long as Scorpion-Man doesn't return, his relationship with the Van Graffs should be stable... For now.
Once he'd returned back to Big Mt he heads directly towards the cells where Scorpion-Man should be held. As he was passing by the cells he wakes Caesar up by pressing the 'electric' button just for shits and giggles.
Soon enough, he reaches the cell with an unconscious Scorpion-Man lying face down on the floor, Dala was already waiting outside speaking with Glados about some project. Though, it was obvious Dala would be salivating at the sight of their new guest if she had the glands to do so.
"So, what do you think of our guest?" he greets.
"The new teddy bear? It's... Wonderful... The sample I took is mysterious, yet elegant. Have you decided to allow me to look more extensively at it?"
Afton shakes his head, "Dissection? No. To be honest, I think I want to add him to our forces... Super strength, advantageous mutations, once we've gathered all the data from him I think he'd be a perfect addition." he says with crossed arm, afterwards glancing at Glados, "How far along is the project I requested?"
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章 478: George of the Concrete Jungle...
"The thought activated bomb implants?" Glados asks.
Afton nods but raises a brow at the name of it... Perhaps he should have been more specific with what he wanted?
"The implants, with the help of Dr. Zero, Dr. Dala, Dr. Mobius, and the Autodoc designated: Meddie, have almost been completed. All that is left is to conduct field tests, all of which require non-feral ghoul prisoners or Lobotomites... Our current prisoners are incapable of proper, logical thought, and as a result are impractical or potentially worthless in this venture. The Think Tank requests that you acquire more test subjects."
"Indeed... There is only so much you can do with a teddy bear that lacks stuffing." Dala adds from the side.
Afton nods and rubs the rather thick stubble that'd been left untended on his face, "I can think of a couple places that wouldn't... Harm my or the other's sensibilities. I'm sure no one would miss cannibals, but I doubt their numbers would be worth actually putting in the effort to find them..." he mutters.
...
"Hmm... Criminals would work too, but with the NCR Correctional Facility all but destroyed, there isn't really a place to hold them, meaning you're either arrested and forced to do community service, or straight up executed... That or shipped back to New California, which is far too resources intensive to be commonly used." he says, more to himself than anything else.
"Creator, our enemies hold large quantities of people. The organisations designated: NCR, Brotherhood of Steel, and Legion, would all have viable test subjects." Glados states.
Afton shakes his head, "No... That'd bring way too much attention, the NCR and Brotherhood would notice their members going missing immediately, and that's not even mentioning my companion's potential reaction to it. The Legion might not notice, but I'd still rather not start experimenting on innocent people..." he looks to Dala, "Don't think I've forgotten what you did to Christine, or myself for that matter."
Dala doesn't say anything and simply silently floats there awaiting his decision. Afton isn't even sure if she feels a trace of remorse for what she'd done. Perhaps the damage the Bio-Gel had had on their minds was already too far gone?
Regardless, he needed more test subjects, not only for this project but many others as well. "Hmm... We could use 'that' couldn't we?... Dala, how is your little project going?"
"My little teddy bear's DNA is stable for now, the manual degradation to mimic age is also working properly. All that is left is the memory splicing and integration, the most dangerous part of the operation by far." she explains.
Afton nods to himself, "Well, I've been looking for something to justify our plans, our need for test subjects could very well be the answer. Dala, Glados, concentrate on project CERR01, I'll work on getting negotiations started, no doubt they'll be chomping at the bit for it... As for our guest? Treat him respectably and try not to be too invasive, we want the data and a potential ally, not a dead mutant with nothing to show for it." he states before turning and walking away, leaving the two robots to start their respective jobs.
Elsewhere :
Tamia, Veronica, and Anja had almost reached the Boomers territory. Before them, was the highway leading up a hill and between a small canyon path, though, judging by the many signs stating 'TURN BACK, DEATH AHEAD', 'DEATH FROM THE SKY', and 'THE WAR IS HERE AGAIN!', continuing past that point without preparations would be a bad idea.
Obviously, Veronica had left her Power armour behind for this venture as appearing at someone's gate fully armed and armoured is basically a declaration of war. The Boomers might be isolationists, but they'd no doubt heard of Afton's actions over the radio by now, the Legion went to great troubles declaring that Afton's technology to a danger to everyone. The NCR projected similar sentiments but were less fervent mainly due to the fact that they'd restored some Brotherhood armour themselves.
As the group reached the border of the territory they spot an older-looking gentleman wearing relatively fine clothes... A cardigan over a nice shirt and jeans... All of which seemed to be void of dirt and dust the desert produces. "Howdy! You three should start thinkin' twice before you venture further here, last guy who tried a couple days ago is still down there, see." he gestures, pointing at a pile of bloody, scorched flesh not far from the border... Whoever it was hadn't made it that far before being blasted into bloody chunks.
Tamia shakes her head, "Thanks for the warning, but we can handle ourselves."
"No problem, name's George by the way. Honestly darlin', it'd be a shame to see such pretty ladies die so terribly, so how about this... You pay me, let's say... 800 caps, and I'll tell you the trick to avoiding them bombs."
Veronica scoffs, "800 caps? That's way too much!... How about this, you go to the Boomers instead, and we'll pay you for it, since you're apparently an expert at this."
George sheepishly glances away, "If you need proof of my skills then I'll go loot that bloody corpse down there, I've been meanin' too anyway." he shrugs.
"You loot their corpses?" Tamia asks, curious.
George nods, "Folks take their caps to try and buy explosives from the Boomers at a bargin price, most don't make it, making looting whatever they leave very, very lucrative." he gestures down at his fine clothes, "As you can see, I'm a very well-to-do man."
Tamia shrugs, "Whatever, can't blame a man for making a living. You won't be looting our bodies though," she turns to Veronica and Anja, "You guys ready?"
They nod, reaching into the large pouches on their hips. George watches as they all glance at one another one last chance before pressing something-
*SHooooom*
The trio fades from sight, leaving only the faintest distortion in the air, making George jump in surprise. "Well would you look at that... Or not! Hahahaha!" he cackles to himself as he watches the faint footsteps imprinting on the ground towards Boomer territory.
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