Chapter 422 - Upcoming Threats.

Afton slowly nods at Dala's synopsis, if what she was saying was true then they might have a real fucking big problem on their hands... Perhaps bigger than the Spores actually presented... Fortunately, he had already created a disaster level system to explain the danger of projects, technology, or organisms...

"What danger level would you put the creature at?" he asks through the window.​​

"The creature itself barely registers as an Alpha level threat, but their race an a whole? Potential Omega level." she states.

Yeah, Afton might've stolen the idea from X-Men, but at least they now knew how dangerous something was with a simple classification... The levels were as such;

Alpha : Potential danger to civilians.

Beta : Potential danger to trained operatives.

Gamma : Potential danger to large populations such as towns or cities.

Delta : Potential danger to whole regions.

Omega : Potential danger to the entire world.

Under these classifications, the Supermutant army led by the Master would be graded as Delta level, the Spores would be Omega, and the Archimedes Orbital Laser would be Gamma to Delta depending on a number of circumstances.

"Do you see anyway of dealing with the threat before their numbers reach critical mass?" he asks probably the most important question there was.

"As of now? No... Perhaps there would be a way to weaponise a disease that specifically targets them, but their genetic variance would hinder and most likely completely halt such an attempt. Provide me more samples and I will see what I can do."

Afton nods and glances at Glados, "You heard her, see if you can't utilise our forcefield tech to create containment units for them. I think capturing some live samples would help figure out the best way of dealing with them."

"I will add it to the list... Shall I priorities it over your other projects?" she asks.

Afton shakes his head, "The Power Armour project needs to be completed soon, the other projects can wait however. Coordinate with the others to see what can be temporarily shelved and what is nearing completion." he says, shutting off the intercom and leaving Dala's lab.

The drone continues following him, but Glados is focussing on the tasks he'd just given her... As he walks through the Think Tank he's stopped by Cass who seemed to be exiting from the Sink for some reason. "Ah, Afton! Just who I needed!" she says as she approaches him.

"What'd you need, Cass?" he asks while observing her... She looked significantly more healthy than she ever had in the Mojave. More so than when he'd seen her in the NCR Outpost, though, that could be attributed to the rather ridiculous amount of whisky she'd drink.

Her hair lacked any dirt which let its natural red colour properly show, her skin was clean and her slightly tanned skin showed her freckles in full force. Her outfit consisted of a Deathclaw leather duster that she'd assisted in making, jeans, heay boots and a stray hat hanging from her neck via a string.

Afton had actually been surprised at her inclusion in the Deathclaw leather clothing project. Apparently, Klein had wanted to make them all suits or something, Dala wanted Deathclaw leather patient gowns, Zero wanted something that looked eerily similar to power ranger uniforms, 8 wanted robes for some reason, and Borous wanted shamanistic-looking tribal wear...

The only reason one or all of those suggestions weren't currently collecting dust in the 'failed projects' section was because Glados put a stop to it, recognising that Afton would fill their bio gel with Deathclaw scat if he saw them and so sought outside help.

Obviously, Cass had more experience in the Wasteland than all of the scientists combined, so she was consulted. The result was the duster before him, it looked similar to alligator skin but a lot thicker and beige.

Afton had watched when they tested its defensive properties, and boy was he glad they were made. .5mm, .9mm, .10mm, .44mm, and even .308 rounds were almost completely ineffective against it, aside from the bruises you'd have afterwards.

Shotgun slugs didn't get through but had enough force to break bone in some circumstances however... Armour piercing was a problem, but the only base round that was capable of piercing the dusters were .50mg.

Of course, that was only when you considered the regular Deathclaw leather... The Deathclaw leather duster Afton intended to wear used the hide of a Deathclaw mother, it's hide was black and significantly stronger, and thicker than the regular ones.

There were some negatives to it though, its weight made it unwieldy for most people, but that certainly wouldn't be a problem for Afton. Nor for the clothing's other intended use...

The secondary use for the dusters aside from being protective wear was to conceal power armour... He'd have larger dusters made that'd have hoods, they'd completely conceal someone wearing power armour, so to any scout, it'd look like a simple wanderer... Even if they were much, much larger than normal... At worst they'd think a Super Mutant was wandering around.

It'd also provide some degree of camouflage, Afton had always found it stupid that the Brotherhood of Steel would walk around the desert with shiny metallic armour, letting literally everyone in a few mile radius just who they were and what tech they possessed.

It could of course scare people away, but he'd rather people not know about the armour in the first place, at least, not until it was too late. If you found yourself in melee range against someone with Power armour, you were likely about to get torn apart.

The dusters would also serve other functions, keeping dust out of the armour's nooks and crannies would be important depending on how long someone was out in the field... Being unable to properly clean the armour would slowly start to cause problems. That, and the damage resistances provided by the leather would be worth whatever small annoyances they'd cause.

He shakes his head from his thoughts and only now realises he'd been staring blankly into space with Cass giving him a weird look... "Err, sorry, what did you say?"