Chapter 317 - Talking To Yourself...

Afton glowers at his brain momentarily, "Yeah? Well, I finally got that..." he looks around suspiciously and leans in, "Lady Killer Perk" he whispers, standing back up. "Won't be long before I, we, put it to good use."

"You better. I may lack all the regular hormones that dictate lust, but it is still shameful to wait so long!" the brain replies, somewhat modified by his words.​​

"That isn't everything though, I've been quite busy while you were sitting here in this tank-" Afton says but is cut-off.

"I was educating myself! Something we've not done since we left the Bunker and started wandering through that filthy wasteland. I guarantee, whatever you've been doing cannot trump that!"

Afton shakes his head, "I know where Christine is." he states, immediately causing the brain to go silent. "She's hunting down that prick Elijah, got experimented on by the Think Tank..."

"Those fucking bastards!" the brain shouts, absolutely furious. "Oh, I haven't been so angry in so long, I want to crawl out of my jar and headbutt them!"

Afton nods, "She managed to escape with some help from a mystery man, she's currently chasing Elijah to the Sierra Madre, a Casino hidden somewhere." he explains.

"And I suppose we'll be headed there as soon as we find it?" the brain asks and Afton nods.

"Obviously, we'll fine Christine, kill Elijah, reunite with Veronica and return to the Brotherhood. Though... I think the Brotherhood is in dire need of change, change only we can bring." he says.

"And your plan on what to do with the scientists? I'm sure you've got similar ideas to mine, I am your mind after all."

Afton nods, "Conquer anything useful and destroy the rest." he states simply.

"Simple and effective, I like it! If any of those Think Tank bastards disobey then suck out their brains and place them in goldfish jars! Put them on display with no voice module but full optics... They deserve it for hurting Christine!"

Afton nods, "I intend to... So, how am I getting you out from there?"

"Just press the blue button next to the one you already pressed... Don't press it more than once or you'll split me in two..."

"Alright." Afton mutters, pressing the switch and apprehensively watching as the machine closes, a bio-gel filled glass bowl being lifted out of it with his brain inside. Obviously, it wasn't able to talk due to it lacking the modules, but this was only for transportation.

He delicately takes the bowl and walks down from the steps, "Mobius?"

"Ah, yeeesh?"

"Do me a favour and redesignate me as an ally for the Robo-Scorpion. Also, standby and await instruction for after I take over the Think Tank, I imagine we'll be doing many magnificent things together."

"Okay!" the senile scientist loudly replies, floating over to a control panel and rapidly pressing a variety of buttons.

Afton doesn't waste any time and walks out of the Forbidden Dome, entering the chamber where the Giant Robo-Scorpion had been... There are scratch marks all over the place from where it'd been trying to get up and attack him, but now it was just laying dormant in the middle of the room.

Honestly, he was quite happy he hadn't destroyed it... He now had an almost indestructible robot to use against anyone he wished, perhaps he could even go toe to toe against Liberty Prime... Though, it'd be a tough fight between the two.

He carefully makes his way out, back into the Wasteland and back to the Think Tank. He even activated his Stealthboy to be extrraaaa careful... He was literally holding his brain in his hands, so any stray shot would probably kill him. He makes liberal use of Nyx's detection system, constantly asking whether he's in danger or not.

Fortunately, he discovered an alternate path back that didn't force him through the fungus infested land. Eventually, Afton reaches the dome, but doesn't immediately head into the Think Tank. No, instead, he goes straight up to the Sink, walking into the room that holds his Spine and depositing his Brain into one of the jars to prepare it for when it's transplanted back into himself.

The Think Tank shouldn't be aware of his return yet, so he has some time to repair the Auto-Doc's personality chip and transplant his brain.

"I see you've retrieved your brain, sir. Congratulations." Alfred offers once Afton is done depositing his brain.

"Well, it should have never been taken out in the first place, but thanks anyway." he mutters, checking the Personality chips in his possession to see which is closest to repair. Using his Inventory, he finds that a Personality called 'Muggy' that's almost repaired... Of course, Afton had no desire to fix this one just yet, so he deposits all except the Auto-Doc one in storage, to make sure the right one is focused.

This gives Afton a good amount of time to prepare for his confrontation with the Think Tank. He didn't think his 'offer' would be refused, but if it did, he'd be ready to deal with the person who initially refuses. He wondered what the scientists would think if he mutilated one of their brains in-front of them.

They seem to value intelligence above all, perhaps literally removing some of their brain cells would put them in a more amicable mood?

For now, Afton focuses on preparing his weaponry, he would manually sharpen, repair, etc, to make sure [Mechanicus] would focus on the Auto-Doc Personality Module.

Once the next day rolls around, Afton finds that the Module had been fully repaired. Fortunately, the Think Tank still hadn't realised he'd returned. He walks to the Auto Doc and pushes the chip into its port. Stepping back slightly as the machine hums to life, the sound of scraping metal and clanking mechanical parts begins.

Hmph, how about it. Old Auto-Doc's back online. Well, alright... Come here, let me get a look at you." the personality says, its voice reminding Afton of an old retired veteran.