บท 462: News of the worst kind
Afton crosses his arms, "Well, before I start asking you questions, I am behoved to ask whether you've enjoyed your stay thus far."
Caesar wrinkles his brow, "What do you think?" he asks with a dull look, "I've been tortured, mutilated, and not even given the basic essentials even a sale would need." he lists off while glaring daggers at Dala.
Afton slowly nods, "Good, I'd be unhappy if you were comfortable." he says and Caesar sneers at him as if he'd been expecting such an answer.
"The teddy bear will be surprised to find that had it not been captured, it would have died in months, if not weeks." Dala adds from the side.
"What do you mean, machine?" quickly asks, not understanding what she's referring to.
"From the samples I gathered I discovered something intriguing within the brain. I suspect that the teddy bear had a large, cancerous tumour inside its brain, though, I would have to scan it to be sure. No... Cut it open and see it for myself to be sure." she corrects herself.
Afton snorts and breaks into laughter, "Hahahahahehehehe! Did you hear that Caesar? Getting kidnapped by us is the best thing that's ever happened to you! Hahahaha!"
Caesar himself is looking incredibly grave, he ignores Afton's laughter and looks down at his hands as if only now contemplating his mortality. "W-what does this mean?" he asks as Afton's laughter peters out.
"I think you well know what this means. It means, had you not been kidnapped by us you would have died." Afton gestures at Dala, "Dr Dala here is one the foremost experts on human physiology left in the world, I sincerely doubt anyone else in the Mojave, or even the entirety of America would be able to save you." he says, deciding not to mention that he himself could probably operate on Caesar and remove it... Scarcity is scary in itself, knowing that only one person could possibly save you.
Caesar looks incredibly conflicted at this news, he knew something was wrong due to the almost constant headaches and migraines he'd get, but cancer? There's a rule in the wasteland, 'Cancel your plans if you get cancer', as your death was a certainty.
It was actually one of the most common afflictions in the wasteland, due to the abundance of radiation, radioactive material, and carcinogenic foods, drinks, and materials lingering around, you were more likely to die of cancer than of old age.
This is one of the main reasons you don't see century-old men wandering around (With the addition of the other threats of the wasteland)
"I-is there anything I can do?" Caesar tentatively asks, knowing he was now on a time limit. He knew these people would most likely keep him alive, as he was more useful as a bargaining tool than a corpse.
Afton smirks at him, "I don't know, it depends on how cooperative you are when I begin asking you questions... I'll warn you right now, we will be able to detect if you are lying on not."
Caesar nods, "I understand... Can we begin? I would rather be healed sooner than later..."
"Alright. Glados, bring me a chai-" he asks but is interrupted when the floor raises under him, forming into a metal chair.
"Anything else, creator?" Glados asks, and Afton was sure she sounded quite smug...
He shakes his head, "No, that'll be all, thanks." he says, sitting down and leaning towards Caesar. "Now, what's this about Tamia being a spy?"
"She used to be under my employ, a spy that was supposed to steal whatever Mr House was trying so hard to find... I did not account for other forces to intercept the package, otherwise I'd have had House eating from the palm of my hand." he explains.
"And her tribe? Her family?" Afton probes.
Caesar grimaces slightly at the question, if anyone else were to be watching they'd have not noticed anything... But Afton spotted the twitch in his facial muscles. "They were killed in an NCR attack." he states, but judging by the increase in his heartbeat that Glados and Dala were monitoring, he was lying. Not that Afton needed to a sensor to tell, Caesar was so worried that they'd find out that he was metaphorically stumbling over himself.
"Oh?" Afton mutters as he stands and walks to the side side of the cell were a few buttons were present. "Hmmm, let's see if one of these will make you more truthful... Eeny, meeny, miny, moe." he hums and suddenly presses a switch, causing electricity to run through the metal floor, walls, and furniture of the room.
"AAAaaaaaAAARGGHHH!!" Caesar roars as he begins convulsing, falling from his bed and onto the floor where he writhes around as if he was having a seizure.
Afton holds it for a couple seconds before releasing. "That was interesting, your voice sounded more honest while you were screaming. Shall I try another or will you tell the truth? Surely a bunch of slaves are not worth enduring torture?"
Caesar pants heavily from the floor while trying to regain his breath, he wasn't as fit as he used to be, so having so many volts of electricity running through him was as exhausting as it was painful. "I-I had them disposed of after Tamia's failure..." he huffs out.
Afton raises a brow, "Huh? Did they get the same 'burning man' treatment you gave Graham, or something else?"
...
"Don't test me, Caesar. I'm still on the fence on removing your cancer, and to be honest, the thought of sending you back to the Legion without having it extracted is too funny a thought to reject." he warns.
Caesar pales slightly at that, that would be a long and agonizing death sentence. That, and his legacy would end like him, frail, weak, and forgettable. "You have to understand! I spent enough resources on getting Tamia into House's good graces to buy an army!"
"Cut the shit and tell me what you did to them!" Afton growls, his finger hovering above the cell control panel.
"I had the children killed before their parents, the women violated before their crucified husbands, and after the troops were done with them, the wives join their spouses. The only thing left of them now are ashes, so forget about ever recovering them." he states, his back straightening as he explains his punishment as if he needed to be in a position of strength while recalling it.
...
Afton nods, "You're telling the truth... I'll be back to question you further, for now, I have things to do." he says before leaving. Once he's far enough away from Caesar he calls out, "Glados, make sure his stay here is as uncomfortable as you can reasonably justify... Also, have Dala conduct some more tests on him... They don't need to make sense, only cause pain. Tell Caesar that it's all required to properly remove the tumour." he orders, wondering if the anger he felt right now would match Tamia's when he gives her the bad news.
"Understood." Glados' robotic voice affirms from a nearby speaker.
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บท 463: Mourn
After Afton's long chat with Caesar, it wasn't difficult to locate Tamia, after all, he and Glados did basically know about everything that happened in and around Big Mt. She's currently at the firing range with a bottle of beer in one hand and a gun in the other... Yeah, not a good combination.
Fortunately, she's the only one present, or he'd be worried about someone getting shot. The firing range itself was way more technologically advanced than even America before the Great war would've had.
Holographic targets would appear, and people could watch whoever was inside through a forcefield. Afton walks in and spots Tamia randomly shooting at a far off target and missing it entirely.
"Huh, we can rule out alcohol from improving your aim then!" he jokes with crossed arms.
Tamia, surprised, whips around and fires at Afton, the bullet-deflecting off of the forcefield as it makes a fizzling sound from the impact.
"Yeah, we'll take away points for awareness and reasoning too." he adds, miming writing notes on his hand. He shakes his head with a smirk, "So why're you not chilling with the others? I'm quite proud of that pool youknow." he asks, deactivating the forcefield and walking towards her.
"I wanted to be alone, clear my mind and whatever else you're supposed to do in a crisis... So, you know, get lost." she says sarcastically.
Afton just sighs at her tone, "Glados, can I get a beer?" he asks no one in particular, and a couple seconds later a panel opens up on the floor, revealing a rather lukewarm beer... "You couldn't pull one from the back of the fridge?" he asks in amusement before shaking his head, "Whatever, thanks." he says before sitting down on a desk that had some weapons Tamia was presumably trying out on lying on it.
He flicks off the beer cap with his thumb and takes a sip before looking at Tamia, "You can bullshit to the others, but I can tell when you're lying. You don't have to tell me anything, but I'm here to listen if you need me." Afton says while patting the space next to him.
Tamia scoffs at him, "You sure you're not just using this chance to hit on me?"
Afton smirks, "Well, I'm tempted, but flirting can come later, for now why don't you tell me what's bothering you?"
She shrugs her shoulders before walking over and sitting next to Afton, taking a sip of her beer as she does. "To be honest, I'm still trying to process everything... It's not everyday you have your life turned upside down, I reckon I'm the only person who has to mourn for people I didn't even know existed. People who might've been family..."
Afton raises a brow, had he said anything about her family being killed yet?
She gives a long sigh at his expression, "You act like I'm stupid. Of course Caesar wouldn't let them go after I vanished. They were his guarantee that I wouldn't leave or betray him, I vanished, so they vanished too."
Tamia takes another sip, shaking her head before continuing, "Anyway... How's the war looking?" she asks, abruptly changing the subject.
"No, you aren't pulling that on me. You can't change the subject and hope we talk about something else. You have reasoned the fate of your family, but that doesn't mean it'll hurt any less." he says, dragging the matter at hand back kicking and screaming.
Tamia scowls, "What else do you want me to say? I'm saddened by their loss? You want me to start crying on your shoulder or something?" she drinks the last of her beer and tosses it at one of the metal walls, shattering it. "Look, if this is your way of getting in my pants then just say it, I'm too tired to care at this point." she accuses with a glare.
"I want to help you for god sake. Look, I know where this shit leads, an emotionally distraught person at a shooting range combined with alcohol?! There's only one way I can see this going Tamia! You can accuse me of whatever you like, but doing nothing while one of my friends are like this would be despicable."
"There's nothing you can do, there's nothing anyone can do! My entire family is dead! So if I wanna shoot myself then it's my choice, you should just piss off and let your robots clean up the results!"
"You're being stubborn and lashing out." Afton states, "Look, come with me and we'll go see the others. You shouldn't be alone right now-"
"Well I want to be alone! Unless you have some magical fucking doo-hickey that can give me my family back, I don't need your help!" she exclaims.
Afton sighs, and paces slightly. He was supposed to come over here and report what he'd learned from Caesar, but Tamia is clearly too distraught right now to just tell her. He didn't think she'd off herself, but, that didn't mean she wouldn't be driving herself crazy with the thought.
That said, what would he do in this situation? He knew what it felt like to lose family, but losing a family he didn't know he had? Feeling emotions that seemed to spring up from nowhere? That was another ball game entirely.
When his parents had died at the hands of the NCR, all he'd wanted to do was stew in his anger. If it weren't for Veronica, Miles, Melissa, and Adah, he might've been acting out like how Tamia was now.
Regardless, he'd let her try to figure this out for now. Give her some time alone to dwell on the subject. He releases a long sigh, "Fine. Be alone, just know that if you need any help, come talk to one of us. None of us are psychologists, but most know a thing or two about loss." he says before beginning to leave.
Once outside, he orders Glados to keep an eye on Tamia to make sure she doesn't do something stupid. It was actually quite fortunate Tamia was spending her time in the shooting range, as it's probably one of the safest places in Big Mt... Forcefield projectors were everywhere, and all could be activated almost instantly. Glados would easily be able to stop Tamia if she tried anything nonsensically stupid.
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