章節 523: Scarred
After three hours of searching the Medical District, slowly clearing out Ghosts, destroying speakers, and avoiding the ever-moving Cloud, the group eventually stumbles across a hallway with a peculiar sound being emitted from it...
There were a couple doors on either side of the hallway, which meant the sound could be coming from any one of them... Not to mention the few shambling steps Afton could hear coming down from the end of the hallway.
Afton picks up a rock and tosses it hard, grabbing the attention of the Ghosts who start slowly stumbling down the hallway towards them, both not having noticed the group yet. Afton thrusts his right hand forward, shooting a grappling hook of wood from his plant arm which smacks the closest ghost in the face.
Once grabbed, Afton pulls his arm back while retracting his limb which forces the Ghost towards them and launching it off of its feet. Afton catches it midair with his Ultra Chainsword, cutting its lower body off with ease.
It lands on the ground with a wet flop, "I have the high ground!" Afton shouts as he swings again as the half torso Ghost. His strike bisects it, and he kicks the pieces far from each other to prevent it from reforming.
For the next Ghost, he just draws his revolver and fires a couple shots through its head, its heart, and its knee caps. It falls to the ground squirming, quickly beginning to regenerate, but Afton quickly dismembers it.
He turns towards his group and sends a thumbs up at them, "Shall we check out that sound now?"
Dean who's still surprised by the sheer martial abilities Afton possesses just numbly nods.
Afton looks at Veronica with a smug smirk under his helmet, "Bet you're wishing you had one of these now?" he gestures with his Chainsword.
Veronica shakes her head, "I admit it's more effective with these kinds of enemies, but I'd rather some fist-type energy blades... I bet it'd be way easier to do that than whatever you did to create the swords." she states.
"Huh... Oh yeah, I was planning on doing that, wasn't I?... We'll talk about it when we get back, alright?" he says as he approaches the first door along the hallway. Trying the handle but finding it locked and then immediately forces his foot through it, smashing the door open.
Inside is another operating room... Kinda? Instead of the typical operating bed, there was simply an Auto-Doc on standby, awaiting a patient.
"Hey, couldn't this help Anja out?" Veronica immediately asks, but Afton shakes his head as he approaches the machine and starts opening its software and noticing a couple discrepancies.
"No way... The hardware on this thing is too damage to perform any difficult operation. Plus, I don't trust any of the old machinery around here, one wrong zero from a one and it'll cut your head clean off. As far as I'm concerned it's just a piece of junk." he says, tapping his gauntlet against it, causing a metallic sound to ring out.
The rest of the room doesn't contain anything of interest, aside from a few expired vitamins, Chems, and a couple Stimpacks that look sort of useable? Afton would save those for himself, as only he would be able to survive them if they were found defective... If a good Stimpack can save you from lethal wounds, a defective one could end you faster than a bullet. There's pros and cons to everything after all.
The next couple of rooms contains around the same thing, broken Auto-Docs not fit for purpose, and expired chems... However, the further they went the more pronounced the peculiar sound was becoming... It sounded strange, like the humming of mechanical components mixed with a hair trimmer, and the sound of a butchers shop... Perhaps a Ghost had accidentally stumbled into one of the defective Auto-Docs?
Eventually, the group reach the last door and enter inside, finding an Auto-Doc that was currently running... Its door was sealed tight while it operated on something, but Afton wasn't able to use the machines internal cameras to see who was caught inside.
He had a really bad feeling about this, and wanted to find out what was inside, regardless if it was a Ghost or some other unfortunate victim. Using his Maxed out Science Skill he attempts to hack it and take it under control... Unfortunately, it'd locked him out until it was finished with its operation...
This was actually a security measure to prevent assassination via this method... It'd be far too easy to modify the operation and have someone gutted while inside the Auto-Doc.
So, he tried the next, more effective method.
*BANG!*
He smashes his fist through the terminal, immediately causing the humming to halt. He pries his fist out of the electronic scrap while it sparks ineffectively, still attempting to conduct its operation. With that sorted, he gets a grip on the door, and using his Superhuman and Power armour enhanced strength, he slowly pulls it open.
*GRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!*
*THUNK!*
He slams the door to the side, but is forced to catch something as it falls out of the machine... Looking down, he raises a brow at the thing he'd caught. It was a person, here was no doubt about that, but they were bald and completely covered in blood and wounds.
The Auto-Doc hadn't actually done anything to their body, instead focussing its brutal attack on the person's face and throat... Though, judging by the scratched and scuffed explosive collar, this was another of Elijah's victims.
He cautiously picks the person up and turns towards the group, "Er, I found...-" he glances at them and spots breasts, "This woman in the machine..." he mutters, the bad feeling punching him in the face with a particularly worrying idea... Was this Christine?
He couldn't really tell due to the thick slayer of fresh and old blood coating their face... The scarring was horrific, as if their head was an eggshell that'd been fractured all over. She even had a reverse joker smile, the scarring making her look like a permanent frown instead of a smile.
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Niggross
Niggross Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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章節 524: Royling Emotions
"Jesus Christ, he did a number on you, didn't he?" Dean mutters, actually feeling sympathetic to his fellow victim's plight... It seems a if she'd got the short end of the stick, having been shoved into this Auto-Doc and forgotten.
The woman herself looked utterly exhausted, but despite that, her blue eyes scanned each of them as if trying to find a threat.
Veronica scans the woman emaciated form with a look of horror, they wore a patients gown and nothing else, however, her words get caught in her throat when she notices a small mole on the woman's knee... "C-Christine?" she stutters out, taking off her helmet and shoving it into Dean's arms for a moment.
The woman's blue eyes widen at the tone and voice of the person, even more so once she sees the armoured person's face. She tried to open her mouth but finds no voice coming out, scared, she raises a hand to her throat and trails a finger along the vicious-looking scar running over her jugular.
Veronica, realising who this is sends an alarmed look to Afton, "Quick, she needs Med X and a Stim... We need to stop her bleeding before she loses any more blood."
Afton, nodding, jabs a Med X into the woman's neck fast enough for her to not react. She seems to be very well trained, but too weak and exhausted to put up much of a fight... Not that she really wants to, Veronica's presence has put her to ease pretty well.
Next, he stabs her with a Stimpack, injecting the materials and letting it do its work... She'd be more exhausted as it comes into effect, but better tired than dead, right?
Once he was sure Christine wouldn't drop dead he walks up to a nearby chair and sets her down in it, afterwards removing his own helmet. "Remember me, sis? I hope you do, you did abandon us after all." he says, his eyes focussing on her collar.
Nyx, already knowing what he wants stops Elijah's connection to it for a moment as he begins trying to fiddle with it.
Christine tries to push his hands away, but Veronica restrains her for now. Trusting Afton to remove any leverage Elijah has over Christine. It takes a couple minutes, but his prior experience with Deans collar allows him to easily remove all the explosives. He pockets the C4, just in case he might need to use it in the future.
Once done he gives the duo a thumbs up, "Job done, Elijah won't have any hold over you anymore..."
Veronica gives a smiling nod and looks back down at Christine, "You know how much I want to slap you silly for leaving me? But I'll leave that for later... Are you okay?" she asks.
Christine looks up at her former lover and slowly shake her head, pointing at her throat while opening her mouth soundlessly.
Afton raises a brow and retrieves some papers from around the room, handing it to Christine, "Can you write?"
...
After glaring down at the paper for a moment, Christine attempts to write something, it starts off an A... Probably? But the letters eventually devolves into spirals, backtracked lines and scribbles. It looked like the start of a Picasso painting, potentially pretty, but not helpful at all.
Christine crushes the pencil she was using and throws it away, clutching her head in her hands while tears dripped from her eyes. Veronica takes her up into a tight hug, not letting Christine suffer alone.
Afton just looks on with rage slowly building, Elijah and Dala had done this to Christine, he had no doubt in his mind. Christine had always been a strong person, and he'd never seen her cry aside from a couple particular moments, seeing her like this now made him want to run through the Cloud and piledrive Elijah into the concrete floor.
He wanted to snap that old piece of shit like a twig, seal him in a concrete box with a tiny hole to deliver air, and wait until he starved to death. Or maybe feed him to the baby Deathclaws? That'd definitely be slow and agonizing enough... Or maybe just toss him into the Cloud for the sheer irony of it.
He feels a tap on his side and is about to attack whoever it was in response when Dean's voice tears him from his thoughts. "I'm sorry to say, but you look as if you are about to tear apart and eat us." the ghoul states.
...
Afton shakes his head and looks at him, "Sorry, just thinking about things..." he admits, taking a glance at Christine and Veronica who were still comforting one another. He nods his head at Dean and escorts Anja out of the room, so the duo could have some privacy.
"W-what happened?" Anja asks after they exit the room.
Afton sighs, "We found Christine, but she's been... Tortured... She can't speak, and she seems completely unable to write or formulate words. I doubt she is even able to read at this point, though, Maths is another thing to test. Brain injuries like the one that she's currently afflicted with are notoriously finicky things..." he solemnly says.
"Will she be okay, sir?" Anja wonders aloud, feeling sympathetic due to her past experience within NCR hands.
"I don't know... I hope so, but, it's hard to tell." he admits, beginning to pace along the hallway to ease his anxious feelings.
Inside the room :
Veronica continues to hug Christine as if her life depends on it, though, still making sure to be gentle for the frail and tortured woman.
After the group leaves the room she looks up at Christine's almost unrecognisable face, "W-why did you leave us...? The only reason any of this happened was because you left, who knows what we could have been doing now if you'd only stayed!?..."
Christine just slowly shakes her head, still unable to say anything... Even if she could, she doubted it'd soothe Veronica's roiling emotions.
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Niggross
Niggross
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