Chapter 286 - Robo-Scorplans...

After Zero's refusal Afton could hear Klein sputtering in indignation, it was definitely the best sound he'd heard since coming here.

"DALA! YOU GO UP THERE, YOU'VE BEEN THERE BEFORE WHEN SUCKING OUT IT'S BRAIN!" Klein refocuses on Dala.​​

"Dr. Klein, we should leave the injured Teddy bear to play its songs. Scientific evidence suggests that music can have a profound effect on skinvelopes. From helping improve the recovery of motor and cognitive function of malfunctioning brains, reducing symptoms of sad-brain in patients suffering from brain rot. And even helping patients undergoing lobotomy's to experience less pain and heal faster." Dala explains, and Afton wonders if it were true or not... I mean, she apparently has 211 doctorates, so it might be real?

"I DON'T CARE IF THE LOBOTOMITE IS INJURED! I CAN'T THINK IN HERE WITH THAT DEAFENING MY SENSORS!" he roars, furious at the fact he couldn't turn it off himself, order anyone else to do it, or even have a valid reason other than 'it annoys me'.

"*If I may, Dr. Klein. I have some pre-war sound suppresses for you to use if you wish.*" 8 buzzes, Afton's mind automatically translating it.

"... FINE! ATLEAST THEN I CAN GET SOME WORK DONE!" Klein finally relents.

Afton makes a cutting off motion to Alfred who stops the connection to the Think Tank... Once done he can't help but break into laughter, how long had it been since he'd pulled a prank on someone like that? Not since he'd sabotaged his father's locker to shock him when he touched it.

He waddles into the living room and gives a thumbs up to Jefferson, "Good job... When I'm not here, feel free to play whatever you want. As long as it's loud enough to annoy the scientists downstairs." he says.

"No problemo, kid. I don't hold any love for them either, especially after one of them threw my chip off the balcony... Apart from maybe, Doctor 8... He and I may be kindred acoustic souls."

Afton nods and heads into his bedroom, stabbing himself with one last stimpack before eating some food and laying back on the bed... He needed to space out the stimpacks he took, otherwise his body would starve itself by using all his reserves on healing his injuries.

He was already feeling marginally better after staying out in the sun for a while, but with this, he was sure he'd be able to get back into action tomorrow.

The next day Afton woke up as healthy as ever. His broken legs are fully healed and there weren't even any traces of an injury having been there. Even his scuffed clothing as returned to a brand-new condition.

He stretches his body, hearing many clicks and cracks as he does so. After brushing his teeth and having a brief breakfast, he collects all his gear and stores away the X-2 Antenna. He certainly wasn't going to be lugging that thing around, especially since he was not even as effective as his Proton axes.

Once done, he got Jefferson to start playing some tunes as he checked his Pipboy for his next destination. After looking at it for a while, he eventually decides to head west, towards the X-13 Research facility.

The scientists needed some sort of Stealth suit from there, and Afton was well overdue to get some better armour for himself... What better way to advance his armoury by stealing some sci-fi stealth armour from a highly classified military research facility... Right?

Regardless of where he may be going, he'd need to check in with 8 first, to see if he'd managed to find some way to stall the Robo-Scorpions, even momentarily.

After saying his farewell to Alfred, he headed down to the Think Tank where the scientists were already hard at work... He spotted Klein at the top of the stairs and almost burst into laughter when he see him.

The robot was wearing huge ear-muffs over what was presumably its sound inputs. So that was the 'pre-war sound suppressor' 8 had given him, if they were human Afton would be buying them drinks for this.

He quickly walks to his favourite scientist out of the lot and greets with a wave, "Yo, 8. How're you doing?"

Dr. 8 looks over from the Robo-Scorpion schematics that'd been printed out. They seemed much more intricate and detailed now, 8 having apparently scanned the rest while Afton was asleep. "*Good-er... Morning?" the robot shrugs its monitors, "*We can't really tell the time of day in the Think Tank...*" he admits sheepishly.

"Don't worry, it's morning. How's the project going? I'm still a bit wary of going out there again without insurance."

8 nods his monitors understandably, "*I'm in agreement with you Mr. Parker, I'd rather not have such a great asset gunned down by some insectoid robots.*" he points a manipulator at the schematic, "*I've found a... Temporary weakness with the Robo-Scorpions design. It's fortunate that it comes under my field of study, otherwise we'd not be able to make use of it.*"

"Well, what is it?"

"*Mobius has created two ways that I can see, of controlling his Robo-Scorpions. First, is their programming. Before he sends them out, he presumably creates a list of commands that they will attempt to follow, as most regular robots would do. Second, is via voice command, of which he has installed audio outputs on all of the Robo-Scorpions so he can command them at any moment. I imagine you would have heard him when you were assaulted by them?*"

Afton nods, "Yeah... It was strange to hear Mobius voice coming from every single robot..."

"*We'll be taking advantage of the second option. It will likely only work once, or perhaps twice if Mobius is as far-gone as Klein suspects." 8 floats over to the Robo-Scorpion body that hasn't been moved from where Afton had left it and points with a manipulator. "*Would you take apart the machine for me? We need to recover its audio output, once done we can gain access to the private channel and take control of the Robo-Scorpions.*"