Chương 254: We didn't start the fire!... Just kidding.

"Before we do anything, we need to deal with the spores somehow. If they leave the Vault then it won't just be me who's fucked."

Both Anja and Keely nod at his words, the latter rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "You know, the cavern was originally a source of many problems for the Vault as it contained any pockets of flammable gas. Gas that has probably been sucked up by the ventilation system, if we introduce an explosive or large fire to it then we might be able to burn away all the Spores in the air..." she muses aloud.

Afton scoffs, "Yeah, and bring the whole Vault down on top of us. Sure it's designed to withstand nuclear explosions, but that's only from the outside... I have no idea if its structural integrity will hold from an inside explosion."

"You got any better ideas then? Green Thumb." Keely retorts.

"Oh, I'll give you 'Green Thumb' She-Hulk!" he growls, but wheezes slightly at the exertion.

Keely continues, "It's a good thing you've almost kicked the bucket, at least you can cause the explosion without any regrets." she states.

*Smack!*

Keely's head is whipped around as Anja slaps her, "Will you stop mocking him? He's sick and we just saved your life you rotten bitch! Your legs are still useless so who do you expect to carry you out if Sir kills himself!? I certainly won't!"

"So you aren't just a slave then, huh?" Keely says, not seeming to be upset about the slap. She looks like she wants to say more but just shakes her head and looks at Afton, "You know, you are as much a danger to the outside as the Spores are..."

Afton doesn't want to acknowledge that fact but knows it's true, if he succumbed to the infection he'd become a Spore Carrier, producing spores and spreading it amongst the wasteland. "I know, that's why I'll torch myself before I get that far. Until then I still have some life in me." he states. "Now, where's that ventilation duct you mentioned? I've got some explosives on me that'll do the trick." he says while throwing Keely over his shoulder again.

The ghoul scientist leads them to the hallway and points to some vents that are vaguely distorted, revealing the volatile gases that lie there. "We'd need to find a safe place before lighting it, but I can't think of anywhere that wouldn't render our goal pointless, we need a place devoid of spores." Keely states.

Afton raises a brow and looks to Anja, "The mainframe room?" he wonders aloud and she nods at him.

The group walk to the mainframe room that just so happened to be quite near to the ventilation duct. He sets Keely down inside and tells Anja to wait inside, he then pulls out a grenade from his deathclaw leather bag.

"You two stay here while I deal with it... Just try to keep the door open for me." he mutters as he leaves.

Afton stands at the opposite end of the hallway where the ventilation duct sits, he needed to do this cleanly otherwise he'd be fried to a crisp.

He takes a moment to visualise exactly what he'd be doing, unclip the grenade, throw it just under the vent and run for the mainframe room before it hits the floor. He should have just enough time to reach safety before the explosion... Though, he admitted it was cutting it close... He was beginning to wish Karl was here to set up a timer or something, the man was way more proficient with traps than Afton was.

"Alright... 3. 2. 1." Rapidly he bites the clip off of the grenade and throws it, immediately turning and sprinting away just as the grenade leaves his hand.

Soon enough he spotted the door to the mainframe room and felt like kissing Anja, she'd left it open for him!

*BOOM!*

The explosion goes off and he glances over his shoulder, spotted a wave of fire streaming towards him. "SHUT THE DOOR!" he shouts, Anja pressing the switch which causes the door to start descending.

Afton doesn't waste any time and throws himself at it, somehow managing to slide beneath it just as it shuts. A puff of fire attempts to follow Afton threw the small gap but its cut off before it can do any real damage.

"Well, that was something." Keely states from the side... "Do you smell something burning?" she asks, the group only now noticing that Afton's trousers were on fire.

"Ah! Shit, shit, shit!" he exclaims as he rapidly pats himself out. While he's extinguishing himself the vibrations of the explosion purging every floor of Spores continues.

The wave of fire 'should' destroy any trace of Spores... *CRRAAAASSSH!*

Sounds of something collapsing could be heard from their room. If Afton had to guess then the wave of fire wave the last straw for the cavern containing the large luminescent tree. Combined with the damage the tree itself had caused earlier, it wouldn't surprise him if the Cavern had completely caved-in. He only hoped that the plants would ber destroyed instead of being preserved under the rocks...

Eventually, the sound of the wave of fire eventually peters out, leaving the group sitting in silence once again. Unfortunately, even if they destroyed all the Spores, Afton was still caught between a rock and a hard place. He was the last potential Spore Carrier, and so he needed to either cure himself relatively soon, or burn himself to prevent further spread.

He knew there was one place left in the Vault that he hadn't explored yet, the cavern access on the Oxygen recycling floor. He had the keycard, so he'd check in there on the way out...

"Do you think that did it?" Anja slowly asks.

Keely nods, "The Spores were somewhat flammable from my earlier experiments... That should've killed them all, but once we're out I'll have the NCR torch everything nearby and destroy the entrance to the Vault."