Chapter 272 - GHOST!

Afton is quite taken aback once he observes the stats of the proton axes... They are apparently weaker than Knock-Knock, only having 50 damage compared to it's 66... Why were they so strong then?

Sure, the Proton axes had special attributes that did more damage to robots and power armour, but that didn't apply to lobotomites, even if it might barely to Cyberdogs...​​

He rubs his face while trying to solve this mystery... They acted like lightsabers, cutting through anything and burning surfaces they contracted. But their stats were completely contrary to that, was it perhaps, something relating to him? Thinking about it further, maybe one of his Perks was-...

"Oh... Is it really that simple?" Afton mutters to himself as he pulls up the Perk that may be responsible for this...

[Uncivilized Weapon] : All Energy weapons become overcharged, adding +100% damage to any Energy Weapon you use!

... Did the Proton axes count as Energy Weapons? Because that would make sense. Boosting the pitiable 50 damage of the proton axe to 100... It might not seem that much of an improvement, but when you consider that an Anti-Material rifle does 110 damage, it's obvious to see why they seem so powerful. Especially if you consider the bonus damage to robots and power armour...

But that raised another question... Did [Uncivilized Weapon] raise the damage of the special attack? Boosting it from 20 to 40, or 50 to 100?... If so, then he literally had one of the most powerful weapons possible to deal with robotic foes and power armour.

Shaking his head, he decides to put off further observation and research until later... For now it was time to retrieve the spoils of war. He shoved the four proton axes into his backpack and stepped towards the 9 damaged chips still laying on the floor.

He grabs one and examines it with his inventory :

[Blind Diode Jefferson Personality Moduel] (Broken)

Hmm, he was expecting a description of some sort but you can't get everything... He grabs them all and wraps them in a makeshift cloth pouch, storing them in his backpack so his [Mechanicus] Perk can begin on slowly repairing them... He still wasn't sure on how long it would actually take however.

Humming to himself idly, he opens his Pipboy and takes a look at the map to see where the destination of the easiest technology to reach would be.

Hmm, the X-2 Transmitter Antenna Relay is directly north, and Afton could see it off in the distance. It looked like a large satellite disk to him, but who was he to judge the 'geniuses' in the Think Tank...

He starts walking towards it while reloading the rest of his weapons, making sure he was ready for the next ambush. He was expecting this place to be absolutely riddled with enemies, especially considering how lax Dr. Dala and the other scientists were about 'lobotomites'... It wouldn't surprise him if there was an army of them just wandering around, brainless as well as aimless.

He followed the stone tile path, occasionally examining the large green pipes that seemed to have fragmentation mines laid atop them? He didn't bother grabbing them as climbing the pipes was too much hassle for the reward. Though, he was curious at who would place mines there... It seemed rather redundant... unless of course they were meant to damage the pipes themselves.

On the way he ran into a couple more groups of lobotomites, except this time he got the drop on them. Now that he knew they couldn't be reasoned with, he had no problem at all with simply assassinating them from afar.

A group of twenty was annihilated and the look were a couple proton axes, and some proton throwing axes? They were singled handed versions of the two-handed ones, balanced to support throwing instead of chopping. They seemed rather pointless, as a relatively average gun would beat throwing weapon any day of the weak. Regardless of his thoughts on them, he stowed them away anyway, along with the other weapons he found.

He was somewhat thankful he hadn't run into anymore Cyberdogs, not because they were tough to kill, but because he'd rather not kill dogs if he wasn't forced to.

Afton had just finished off another group of lobotomites when he suddenly had a bad premonition... He looked around and saw something peculiar. A skeleton wearing some sort of spacesuit was propped up against the wall, it's lifeless eye-sockets glaring at something in the distance... On its lap sat a plasma rifle, it looked heavily damaged but loot was loot, so Afton walked over to pick it up.

Only to have his arm grabbed by the skeleton! His eyes widened in surprise and slight fear, he wrenched his arm backwards to escape its grasp, his 12 Strength easily allowing him to pry his arm out and back away. "What the fuck are you?" he asks apprehensively, sure, there was a lot of weird shit in the wasteland, but never a literal moving skeleton!

The skull didn't move but its arm slowly reached for its plasma rifle, it gripped the handle of the weapon but Afton wasn't willing to let the thing attack him without retaliating. He steps forwards and kicks the plasma rifle away, sending the weapon clattering against a nearby boulder.

The skeleton shifted its body in the direction of the weapon, as if astounded that it'd been knocked away... It then turned back towards Afton and slowly started to get up.

Afton could hear some kind of servos moving, if he had to guess then he'd say the skeleton wasn't actually alive... Instead, just being controlled by some machinery in the suit...

He uses VATS to determine what it was actually called... [Y-17 trauma override harness]? Hmm, at least it doesn't say 'Ghost of Christmas past' or something similar. Afton was strong, but he didn't think he could handle supernatural enemies... Yet.