บท 544: Hostage Stitch

Luckily, Afton quickly located the rest of his companions, Veronica seemed to be trying to 'subtly' pry a Hologram emitter off of the wall while Christine took care of Anja nearby. The girls were lucky that Afton had taken control of the local security otherwise the Holograms would be trying to disintegrate them for the destruction of property...

Veronica finally tears the emitter from the wall and stumbles backwards with it still sparking in her hands, "Finally!"

"You sure that's a good idea?" Afton abruptly asks from behind her with crossed arms, causing her to jump in surprise, almost dropping the emitter in the process.

"Eeep!... Afton! Don't you surprise me like that! I almost punched you in the face!" she exclaims.

Afton shakes his head, his expression turning dire as he cuts to the chase, "Dean has been captured, and Elijah is threatening to execute him if we don't show up in an hour... Ten minutes of which has already passed." he states, causing the group to go silent.

"W-what should we do?... I mean, I like Dean but... Is he worth risking everyone else? We barely even know him..." Veronica cautiously says, feeling ashamed for even considering it.

"We will get Dean, I don't know what Elijah had planned, but I'd rather walk into a trap than continue searching for him... It might take months to finally pin him down, and even then he might be able to escape somehow..." Afton admits, wishing to use this opportunity to finally get Elijah. There was also the fact that if he let Dean die, he'd essentially admitted that he was willing to sacrifice friends to achieve his goals... Something that would basically put him on the same level as Elijah...

Christine steps forwards and nods at Afton, sending a challenging look sideways at Veronica. Despite them making up slightly, Christine still held a deep resentment against Elijah, and it wouldn't surprise him if she was willing to sacrifice herself to end the old bastard.

Afton taps his foot anxiously as he looks at Anja, "He wants all of us to come... But I'm worried about taking Anja, I know you don't want to hear it, but you are vulnerable right now." he says.

Anja frowns but accepts it nonetheless, she knew her current limitations, her lack of vision made her almost completely useless in a fight... "I will come, he might do something if I am not there..." she states with determination, wanting to rescue her fellow ghoul.

Afton nods, "Alright... Leave the emitter, we can scavenge for shit once Elijah is dealt with... Let's go." he says while beginning to lead the group to the VIP rooms, all while fully armed and ready to fire upon anything that moves.

Twenty minutes later :

The group eventually reach the VIP rooms and walk into the long desolate hallway. At the end of it, they could see Elijah holding a heavily injured Dean... He seems to have cut off the Ghouls arms to prevent him from attempting an escape... The group can only grit their teeth at the sight, as Elijah presses some kind of makeshift pistol against Dean's temple.

Dean miserably looks up and spots the group, faintly smiling at the fact they actually came for him... Such loyalty certainly wasn't common before the apocalypse, and he doubted that'd changed after it.

"So, you've finally come." Elijah states, pressing his weapon against Dean's head harder, making the Ghoul grimace.

Honestly, Elijah almost looked at bad as Dean... His thin white hair was patchy in places, with red, bleeding skin visible all over his scalp... His beard was thick and untrimmed, dirty and likely crawling with lice.

His clothes were in a similar situation, he still wore the Brotherhood of Steel Elder robes that he used to... Considering how many years it'd been since Helios One, Afton was surprised they were still usable.

They were torn and stitched up in many places, covered in blood, dust, and oil stains, while the bottom robes were very frayed as if they'd been caught in a wood chipper for a second. Still, Afton's eyes were drawn towards the many gadgets attached to his clothing, the pulsing glows of grenades, and other unidentified technology made him wary, giving him an unconscious sense of dread.

"What do you want with us, Elijah?" Afton demands, Anti-Material rifle ready to be used at any sight of hostility.

The elder gives a choking laugh, coughing and beginning to splutter halfway through, "Right now, I want you all to begin walking towards me." he states.

...

They don't move for a moment, but Elijah 'encourages' them via shooting a strange holographic projectile from his peculiar-looking gun. It skims the Ghouls skull and hit the wall beside him, thankfully leaving Dean with his head intact.

Afton grits his teeth and leads the group by a few meters, hoping to take the brunt of whatever trap Elijah had laid... Strangely, there didn't seem to be any though.

Elijah commands them to stop while the group is standing outside of a familiar room... Vera Keyes room to be specific. "My dear Christine... I need you to go inside the room, and enter the Auto-Doc." he states.

Christine scowls and raises her gun in a rage, but is stopped as Afton places a hand over the pistol, preventing her from pointing it at Elijah. "We will deal with him soon! Just do as he says for now... Please." Afton quickly whispers.

Christine silently growls, fuming that Afton had stopped her but nodding after a moment anyway... She knew that Afton wasn't stupid, nor would he be willing to let Elijah live, so she decides to place her trust in him for now...

Afton nods and glances to Veronica, "Head inside with her, she might need some encouragement to get back inside another Auto-Doc."

Veronica purses her lips under her helmet but nods regardless, she'd be looking at the Auto-Doc's configurations before she let Christine inside it. She remembers what Afton had said when speaking about it, but she'd double check regardless.