บท 586: Tunnel Trouble

The Ultimo-Bots had all been modified to suit the occasion. Their wheels had been replaced with four heavy-duty legs that were able to latch onto things, they were able to create footholds in even the hardest materials like granite. Not only that, but each had been fitted with shoulder-mounted flamethrowers, the fuel tanks of which had been installed on their backs.

This would be a potential hazard if they were against humans who used ballistic weapons, but Tunnelers doesn't possess any way of igniting those tanks... At least, to Afton's knowledge. He was pretty thankful that Glados had elected to modify them when he'd forgotten about it. He doubted they'd be all that useful if they were still on wheels. Going up and down steep cave passages would be a one-way trip, especially considering the possibility of the tunnelers only creating vertical pathways.

"You guys ready?" he asks his companions.

Tamia nods, and rolls her shoulder, still seeming to be slightly uncomfortable wearing Power armour into battle. "Think so... Something does feel familiar about the creatures you mentioned."

"Maybe you've fought them before? You know, before you lost your memories?" Veronica asks.

Tamia shrugs, "Maybe... Didn't you say these things are usually quite hard to spot though?"

Afton nods, "Yeah, but Cass has apparently encountered them before, so it wouldn't be strange considering you were a Courier."

"Erm... Are you guys sure I should even be here?... I haven't properly trained for something like this yet..." Scorpion-Man, or 'Juan' asks, seeming quite anxious at the prospect of his first mission.

"You've fought humans, so you're probably good to fight Tunnelers... Probably... Ah, all you make sure to remember your Anti-Venoms. Borous says that these things are quite poisonous, considering how varied their species is, I wouldn't be surprised to find a venom-spitting version." he warns.

Juan looks pretty uncomfortable at that revelation, had he not thought the Anti-Venoms he'd been given were there for a reason?

"Relax, hopefully we won't need to get anywhere near melee range to them. We're only there to make sure things go 'well' and to coordinate the troops. Glados isn't able to properly command them that far underground, so we'll be there as insurance."

"Are these things really as big of a threat as you said, Afton?" Christine asks.

He gives a grave nod in response, "From the reports Borous has given on our 'subjects', they are a highly adaptive hive-like species which breed quickly, mutate quickly, and are able to bring down creatures as tough as Deathclaws... If left alone, I wouldn't be surprised if they began devouring entire towns... The only limit to their growth is the amount of food they can obtain, so, even some countries may be at risk..." he shrugs, "And that's not even considering the possibility that they might mutate into a variant that only needs sunlight or something..." he says, explaining why they are such a big threat to the Wasteland as a whole.

"Great... Hey, don't these things remind you of those spore-things you fought before?" Veronica asks.

Afton shakes his head, "Not really, as big a threat as they are, they aren't anywhere near as dangerous to the spores. I mean, imagine if a giant mushroom sprouted on land and started releasing millions of spores across the country... That'd be end of the world shit..." he states.

"Alright, enough talk... Let's go." he decides and activates his night-vision before stepping into the tunnels.

The others follow as he looks around the dilapidated railway tunnel... Elijah had previously destroyed it when he was escaping, so it obviously had another exit somewhere... Wait, didn't Christine leave the same way when she was chasing him?... "Christine? Didn't you follow Elijah through here?"

She nods, "I did, what of it?"

"Well, where does the tunnel lead? You must remember right?" Afton inquires, while focussing on the small indentations, obviously made by Tunneler claws. It looked as if they were preparing to dig another tunnel, but were given a shortcut by Shani.

Christine shrugs, "I'm not sure, we ended up near some heavily irradiate military bases, but his tracks headed in the opposite direction after that... I just followed until I was trapped in the Sierra Madre..."

"Huh, did the Tunnels have Tunnelers in them beforehand?" he asks.

She shakes her head, "No... The other exit had been blocked by a large gate, but Elijah was forced to destroy it to exit. That's probably how they got in." she explains.

Afton palms his helmet, "So it ends up being Elijah's fault... As always." he mutters, wondering if he should have kept that psycho in a prison cell and tortured all the knowledge out of him... Or better yet, taken his brain out and interrogated that.

"Youknow, I stubbed my toe yesterday, should I blame Elijah for that too?" he muses to himself but stops in place as he notices something of interest.

"Something wrong?" Tamia asks at his abrupt stop.

Afton nod and points at a small hole on the left side of the tunnel, from it, he could see a small bulbous 'rock', well, it looked like a rock at first glance, but upon further inspection, he found that it's material more matched scales than anything else. He makes a gesture that all of his companions should understand as he allows the Ultimo-Bots to march in front of them.

Once everyone was in position, he had his shoulder-mounted light flash directly at the hidden Tunneler. The creature immediately shrieked as it was blinded by the sudden light, once its position was revealed, all the Ultimo-Bots fired their flamethrowers, engulfing the creature in fire as it ran out and start flailing.

Surprisingly, there were far more Tunnelers hiding in that spot than Afton had initially thought. Four more run out from it, in a similar manner as the first. It was only then that the ground around the Ultimo-Bots began churning, and after a couple moments claws erupted from them as Tunnelers began pulling themselves out of the ground.

"It's an ambush!" Afton shouts, disregarding his earlier words and immediately skewering the closest Tunneler.