"But I do have some things I need to ask you."
"*Oh? Then ask away, I appreciate not having to speak to myself for company...*" Dr. 8 says via his usual static.
Deciding not to address that incredibly depressing statement, Afton drops the Robo-Scorpion in front of the scientist and points at it, "I tried to ask Zero to help me with this, but he's about as useful as barbed-wire bubble-wrap. So, I was wondering if you'd be willing to take a look at it to see if we could try and find a vulnerability or something."
"*Hm... I'm not exactly a robotics expert, so I'm unsure what you think I'd be able to find... I'm primarily an Acoustician, though I have dabbled with other subjects.*"
"Just taking a look at it is all I ask." Afton pleads, "Ah, but the way, Zero said something about the robots exploding when he touched them, so... Be mindful of that." he adds, not wanting a potential ally to go the way of the Dodo.
"*Well, let's see here..." Dr. 8 says, examining the robot but making sure not to touch it. After a moment he floats away and retrieves a tool that looks suspiciously like a Sonic-Screwdriver...
"Er, what's that?" he asks, wondering if doctor who was something that existed in the Fallout universe... "A sonic-screwdriver?" a tentatively asks, hoping to get some sort of reaction from the scientist.
"*Oh, this? No, it's my patent-pending soundwave-screwdriver!*" the robot chirps through RobCo term link.
Afton snorts and points at 8, "That's literally just a Sonic-Screwdriver then! And your patent's never going to be confirmed since the government's destroyed!"
Dr. 8 slumps as Afton says this, "*Ah, I forgot... The way you speak about my Soundwave-screwdriver, has this invention of mine already been discovered by someone else?"
...
"Err, yeah... Some guy called Dr... Hu... They're Chinese." he stutters out, not wishing to give any indication of his previous life, or anything that could potentially risk someone figuring it out.
"*Bah! I doubt they made theirs before I made mine. Those gook crooks probably stole my schematics and passed it off as their own!*" the robot shakes his monitors, "*Whatever, no point disparaging the 'most certainly' dead. Let's take a look at this Robo-Specimen shall we?*"
Dr. 8 hovers towards the Robo-Scorpion and activates his 'Soundwave-screwdriver', waving it at the robot as the familiar sonic humming sounded out. Afton wondered if it functioned the same as the timelord's, but shook his head, that thing was more plot-device than an actual device.
"So, find anything out?"
"*Give me time, I can't simply wave this at something and instantly have answers. If I could then I'd have the answers to the universe... You have some seriously unrealistic expectations Mr Parker.*" 8 says.
Afton bites back a retort, he wasn't wrong. Afton had respected the robot to shout 'Eureka!' and with a click of his sonic-screwdriver deactivate the Robo-Scorpion army... Perhaps he was just becoming nostalgic towards the old show he'd never watch again...
Dr. 8 floats towards a terminal and inserts a cord into the 'Soundwave-Screwdriver', he rapidly types on the keyboard with his manipulators and after a couple minutes, the sound of what he could only guess was a printer started.
The robot floated towards a grey box and opened it, revealing some sort of music sheet? He had many things written on it, but Afton couldn't understand any of it. "*Hmm, I think this might be doable... I've managed to map out some of the Robo-Scorpions internal machinery via my Soundwave-screwdriver, it might take me a while, but given enough time I could have a significant portion of its schematics written out.*"
"That's fantastic! How long will it take?" Afton asks exuberantly.
"*Err... A while... It's difficult to quantify how long it will take as some materials are less receptive to this kind of probing. Some may interfere, while others would simply not be detected. I'll need to test many frequencies to catch everything, even then we most likely won't be able to discover much. Using this method we can detect hardware, not software. As our... Robotics expert. Isn't suited for the job, we'll just have to manage with only that.*"
Afton nods, even if Zero was a robotics expert as he claimed, he doubted they'd be able to access the Robo-Scorpions software... He might have completely fried it via his initial attack on it, and that's not even mentioning the defences Mobius had most likely put in place.
"Hmm, is Zero's lack of expertise the reason your robot bodies are so... Impractical?" Afton curiously asks.
"*What do you mean? Our bodies are perfectly suited to our daily needs.*"
"8, are you telling me you are happy with that drawing you made earlier? You can't even write, if I were to make a list of things a regular human can do compared to what your body can do, the former list would most certainly be longer."
"*Well, there's always a trade-off, Mr Parker. As much as I long to be human again, it's simply impossible. If I had tried, I wouldn't still be around.*"
Afton nods, "Yeah, I understand that, but... Why not just alter a suit of Powerarmour, stuffs your brain in that and have a fully functional humanoid body, that could potentially be used to defend yourself and your colleagues?" he asks.
...
"*I... Errr... Say that again, slowly.*"
"Seriously, it's like you guys aren't even thinking... Though, I can see a few problems with my idea. first of all, power consumption would be a problem, if you couldn't find a sustainable source of energy then you'd be in trouble. I'm guessing your current body is the most power-efficient one possible... Though the fact that you guys float around disputes that..." Afton trails off, thinking about whether or not it would be possible to hook up some power armour to 8's brain.
...
"*Mr Parker... Would you perhaps like to join the Think Tank?*" 8 asks, clearly impressed by Afton's expertise.
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"*Mr Parker... Would you perhaps like to join the Think Tank?*" 8 asks.
...
"What?" Afton replies dumbfounded.
"*I believe you have potential, Mr Parker. You display all the qualities we would want in a colleague of ours. intelligence. Expertise. A lust for knowledge, and to answer the unanswered questions. We could use someone like you, someone who might eventually replace Dr. O...*" 8 explains.
Hm, Afton hadn't really expected to be asked this. He'd thought that all the scientists were too self-centred and arrogant to ever believe someone outside of their group had 'potential'. But, apparently, he was wrong. 8 clearly wasn't afflicted with those personality flaws, still, he couldn't accept. "I can't accept, Dr. 8. I have other responsibilities and goals outside Big MT."
"*Unfortunate. Perhaps we could discuss the state of the outside world after we've rid ourselves of Mobius? The Think Tank is 200 years behind in that regard, I think it might soon be time to thrust our presence back into the world, powered by science, the Socratic method, and the will to do be better than we have...*"
"Hm, I don't think the world is ready for you guys yet... Especially with your colleague's morale... Inadequacies." Afton says, glancing at the other scientists over his shoulder.
Dr. 8 seems to nod with his monitors, "*In regards to your earlier question about our robotic forms? We simply never thought about it, believing our minds were the only thing we needed to flourish. Clearly, we overestimated what intelligence alone could achieve. I wouldn't scoff at being able to march around in some heavy power armour.*" he says, sounding somewhat excited at the thought.
"Well, we'll see what happens when this is all over. Thanks for your help 8, I'll be back another time to check on your progress. Hopefully, we'll find something to halt the scorpions, even for a bit... I'm not keen to fight an army of them..."
"*I hold the same hopes, break a leg out the-... Nevermind...*" 8 says as Afton turns and starts waddling away. He spots Dr. Borous working nearby but decides to talk to him later. He didn't really have a valid reason to engage the scientist in conversation, and he sincerely doubted the scientists would be happy to just engage in social niceties, especially considering his company for the last 200 years.
As he leaves he quickly finds himself frozen mid-step...
[WELCOME TO LEVEL 40!]
... Yeah, the timing of these levels is getting increasingly more random. He really needed to sit down and find out the actual trigger it...
Shaking his head, he boosts his Explosives skill up to 99 points, quickly moving onto the Perks he has at his disposal. This time, he takes the time to scroll through the various Perks he might have missed in earlier levels, or was previously not able to acquire them due to his Skill levels. A few strike his fancy as he picks a few that might be useful in future.
[Piercing Strike] : All your unarmed and melee attacks negate 15 points of DT. Afton wasn't sure what to make of this Perk... He already had [Tremble before me!], so what effect would this have? Would it simply do nothing? Or have another effect?
[Silent Running] : Running no longer factors into a successful sneak attempt. After spending around five to ten minute straight looking at this one, Afton quickly realised its potential. The text, 'No longer factors into a successful sneak attempt' needed to be taken very seriously, as that literally rid any penalties that running may have. This included sight, sound, and everything else that may impede a sneak attempt.
[Splash Damage] : Explosives have a 25% larger area of effect. Good Perk, but Afton was still leery about increasing the power of his explosions...
[Unstoppable Force] : x4 normal damage through enemy blocks with melee and unarmed attacks. This would synergies with [Tremble before me!], enemies wouldn't be able to block a proper strike from him, basically making any blocked attack far more deadly than if they'd just took it without defending...
[Light Step] : Floor traps or mines will not be set off. A good self-preservation Perk, but somewhat unneeded, as well as opening potential weaknesses in his perception. Just because he'd be immune to explosions and other traps, didn't mean his companions would. Not to mention it only worked on floor traps, anything above the ankle was still 'fair game' and deadly.
[Meltdown] : Foes killed by your Energy Weapons emit a corona of harmful energy (Toggleable). Now, if this Perk simply made all of his Energy weapons explosive, there would be no chance in him taking this... But, now that he saw there was a toggle option, it was somewhat good. If not, he imagined himself exploding into a bloody past after killing someone with a Proton axe... Yeah, not good.
[Ninja] : Multiplies Critical Chance by x1.15 with melee and unarmed weapons, and grants +25% damage with melee/unarmed sneak attack critical. This is amazing... Until you consider the fact that any enemy Afton intended to sneak attack was almost certainly going to die anyway. He could only see this working on heavily armoured vehicles, or deathclaws... Or something. Though he still doubted that he wouldn't be able to one-shot them.
[Lady Killer] : +10% damage to the opposite sex and unique dialogue options with the opposite sex. Ah, an old favourite that he still hadn't taken. He'd say he was perfectly able to woo and seduce women without its help, but that wouldn't strictly be true now, would it? In this life, apart from a few makeout sessions in a Brotherhood locker, he was a virgin... Sure, he was always doing something, planning something... But he was still somewhat eager to cash in his second V-card... Heh, he'd be the only one in the universe able to say that, someone needs to put it in the Guinness world record... The first person to lose his virginity twice.
[Friend of the Night] : Your eyes adapt quickly to low-light conditions. Hmm, an interesting Perk that would save him a lot of trouble. But... His perception was already high enough as to allow his eyes to quickly adjust anyway. Plus the fact he could simply design infrared goggles of something... He really didn't want to waste a Perk point on this.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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