Chapter 403 - Ba-Bye!

Happy with all the new Perks he'd acquired, Afton and the group continue driving towards their destination. They hadn't had much hassle so far, but judging by how the deserted trainyard they were driving past looked, they'd stumble into trouble at any moment...

Of course, as Afton thought this he had an ominous feeling emerge in his stomach and Anja in the back notices a ping on the radar... Afton stuck his head out of the window to look behind the truck at whatever it was, and his eyes almost bulge out of their sockets once he spots the eight Deathclaws charging the vehicle with claws bared...​​

"Shit! One of you get on the turret! There's Deathclaws chasing us!" he exclaims, and the group in the back of Dirt-Hog begin shuffling around, everyone trying to personally operate the vehicle but ending up obstructing another.

Thankfully, this doesn't last long as Boone throws the hatch open and grabs the .308 machinegun, he then points it at the approaching Deathclaws and sprays them all with bullets. Afton looks at the map as the occurs, checking that they aren't going to accidentally drive past the Brotherhood of Steel Safehouse. Fortunately, it was still a good distance ahead, and they weren't currently at risk of missing it.

Boone continues firing and does a good amount of damage to the creatures, but it isn't good enough to ease everyone's worries... So, to assist the rest of the group kick open the back doors and aim all of their respective weapons at the enemy.

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!*

*DAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGA!*

*Stereotypical Shooting Sounds!*

Afton looks to Josie after checking out the window again, "Alright, stop the truck." he says and she does as told, stopping as a could of dust rolls over them.

Afterwards Afton walks over and approaches the Deathclaw corpses, checking them over to see if their pelts would still be of any use... Unfortunately, the number of bullets they'd all been hit with made whatever material they could provide useless.

Afton sighs and kicks some dust at the corpse and walks back to the truck, all the while Veronica and Tamia were examining the corpses of the first Deathclaws they'd ever killed. "You can take a trophy if you like, typically people take a hand, claw, or tooth. I'd say head as well but you aren't getting blood in my truck." he states, climbing back into the passenger seat.

Tamia just looks at Veronica and shrugs, igniting her Proton axe and severing a hand before shoving it into her backpack. "This will go on my wall... Err, maybe in the Lucky 38?" she mutters, realising that she didn't really live anywhere.

The group continued riding until they finally reached their supposed destination... Veronica said it should be around this area, and Afton with his [Explorer] Perk knew it should be as well. Though, the area itself looked dull, lifelessly, and utterly boring. Hm, a perfect place to hide a secret base.

There were large rocky walls nearby that led into a small cavern that dipped below ground level into some sort of cave. Following it, Afton eventually found a rickety wooden door blocking the entrance further in... It required a key... Funny.

*SMASH!*

Afton puts his foot through the door where the lock would have been, once he pulls his limb back and gives the door a push, it slowly swings open, revealing another pathway with a more high-tech door at the end.

The group follow behind with Karl and Veronica at his sides, the former to detect traps and the latter due to her familiarity with the Paladin that runs this place. Afton had never personally met them, but that's what you get for being forced into an underground bunker for most of your life.

There were no traps, allowing the group to simply walk through and open the door, they are almost blinded by the lights coming from inside, but once their eyes adjust almost everyone is shocked by what they see...

It looked well organised, with many beds placed on either side of the room and a large number of shelves placed in the middle, additionally, Afton could spot a couple workstations used to repair, create, etc.

It was the shelf that drew the most attention though. On it was a set of fully operational 51b Powerarmour, T-45d Powerarmour, and a huge number of energy weapons in including Gatling lasers, Tesla Cannons, etc.

"Wow... Do the rest of the Brotherhood have this much firepower?" Josie asks, almost salivating over the many prizes within.

Veronica shakes her head and smirks, "No, this is only the tip of the iceberg... Scared?"

"Not really... If all the Brotherhood ar you like you Veronica I don't think anyone would be worried..." Josie admits, causing Veronica's face to blush and afterwards darken.

"Ha-ha-ha... Yeah..." Veronica mutters, sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

Karl walks over and picks up the 51b helmet, wiping some dust off of it with his sleeve, "So, this what you came for?"

Afton nods, "Sure is, but we aren't using it in that state yet... Hang on, let me get the coordinates outside the bunker so I can transport this back to base." he says, getting a weird look from Veronica.

Yeah, his intentions for the armour weren't simply to use them, but also to dismantle, research, and recreate them. Once the Think Tank had put together a proper blueprint, he'd have them modify the armour to his liking.

Of course, he wasn't expecting to be wearing the powerarmour when they infiltrated the Fort. His goal would be to find Karl's daughter and get her out before any fighting started. And for that, he'd need his dutiful Stealthsuit.

Regardless though, he'd leave some of the energy weapons behind so as not to piss off the Paladin too much when they eventually return. Once everything is teleported away, Veronica leaves a note for the Paladin;

"Hey Paladin! Veronica here, sorry about the missing stuff, I just needed to borrow it forever... Thanks, ba-bye!"

Afton looks at the note with a raised brow, "You sure you wanna write that?"

Veronica shrugs, "No one else has the balls to do that, so at least he'll know it was me here."

Afton nods, "Good point."