Chapter 456 - Crack! And The Group Is Gone!

Karl grasps Tamia's forearm with his remaining hand and looks her in the eyes, "G-get my kid outta here-Arggh!" he slumps back, "I'm done for... T-Take care of Caroline... Stop Afton from doing somethin' stupid-"

"Shut the fuck up! You aren't dying here if I have anything to say about it!" Tamis spits before pulling out her Proton axe and igniting it, "This is gonna hurt, but you deserve it for kicking a DAMNED GRENADE!" she shouts, ignoring the wide-eyed look of Karl as she cuts down on Karl's wounds, cauterizing them and stemming the blood flow. This wouldn't do anything against infections or stop his body from going into shock, but it was the best she could do for now.​​

"You damned crazy woman!!" Karl roars in pain as Tamia slowly cauterizing his wounds, "JUUUuust let this old man-" he starts but isn't able to finish his words as he begins hyperventilating with his expression going dull.

"Shit!" Tamia growls out as she throws Karl over her shoulder, "KEEP MOVING, WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!" she shouts, urging the group forwards under the continued gunfire of the Legion. Veronica was thankfully drawing most of it by charging at them, but the whizzing of barely missed bullets was still ringing heavily in their ears.

Fortunately, they were only a couple hundred meters away from the teleportation point. Veronica had caused the Legionaries to scatter, allowing the rest of the group to pick them off... Dogmeat was currently tearing a man's throat out, while Boone and Anja eliminated as many Legionaries as efficiently as possible.

Afton was almost entirely covered in blood at this point, he'd noticed the plight of the group but wasn't able to get away from the fighting without drawing more attention to them... Though, his heart clenched when he saw Karl take one for the team... "Nyx, how many hostiles remain?" he growls out, wondering if he'd even put a dent in the Legions forces.

"1043 hostiles remain." the AI states causing Afton to release a sigh, he tears another man's head from their body as bullets continue to bounce off of his armour. "1042" Nyx corrects but Afton ignores her for now.

He could see the group was getting close to the teleportation point, he would try and use his Proton axes to thin the herd, but everything was EMP'd for now and temporarily unusable. So instead he just picks up a dropped chainsaw and starts swinging it like a mad man while making his way over to the group.

He reaches Veronica but neither say anything to one another, instead just concentrating on clearing out the Legionaries surrounding them and drawing fire to themselves. Both breath large sighs of relief when the group finally reaches the teleportation spot. Once everyone is inside Afton and Veronica charge at it.

*CRRAACK!*

The Legionaries continue firing but are blinded as lightning comes down from the sky and strikes the group, causing dust and smoke to kick up as they vanish from the Fort. Of course, with the dust concealing them, the Legion weren't able to see this. As a result, they continue shooting in the vague direction for a couple more minutes until the dust clears, revealing the absence of their target.

Most Legionaries breath a sigh of relief at the fact they'd survived, but a good few were wondering what was going to happen to them now... Caesar had been captured, a huge portion of their troops had been killed, and their infrastructure had been decimated... There wasn't any way for this situation to get worse...

Elsewhere :

*CRACK!*

Lightning strikes down at the front of the Think Tank, surprising a few of the workers who were milling about. Most of the group are utterly exhausted as they arrive, Afton and Veronica even slumping to a knee. That doesn't last for long however as Afton recollects himself, "GLADOS!? DALA!? WE HAVE INJURED! GLADOS!"

From the building a machine extends out, and a piece of metal slides from the front, revealing a single orange eye, "You seem to have brought back an interesting collection of meatbags, they are not for experimentation I presume?" she asks.

Afton quickly shakes his head, "No! Get Dala ready to operate, we have injured that need immediate assistance... Send Karl up to the Auto-Doc!"

"The meat bag without legs must be 'Karl', then?" Glados states as hundreds of tiny spider bots skitter from the building and stop before Tamia who's still holding Karl.

"Drop Karl on the robots, they'll take him to where he needs to go." Afton urges, and Tamia does as she's told.

Karl is rested atop the spider bots who immediately head back inside the Think Tank, carrying Karl through the main building and up to the Sink where Meddie the Auto-Doc awaits.

"Afton, Karl found his daughter and she's heavily injured, we need to help her now." Boone says, gesturing at Caroline who's looking paler by the minute.

Afton nods and starts tearing his malfunctioning armour off of himself. With most of its systems fried and temporarily unusable, there wasn't really a proper way of extracting himself from it without destroying it... He'd have the armour rebuilt later, but for now, he had some patients to help... He wasn't about to let Karl down over some armour after all.

He grabs Caroline in a princess carry and starts marching towards the Think Tank, "Let's get you some help. I'll give you back to your pops in one piece, alright?" he says, but is stopped when a young boy grabs his leg.

"Where are you taking my ma'?!" he asks with slight panic.

Afton raises a brow but quickly composes himself, "I'm a doctor, I'll heal her... Now, go aunty Tamia and play Lego's or something." he says before finally leaving.

Carlos looks between Afton's back and Tamia with watery eyes, "Is my ma' gonna be okay?"

Tamia gives a forced smile and pats the boy on the head, "Of course... Now er, why don't we have a look around... Or something." she trails off, cursing Afton for leaving her with the kid.

While all of this is happening, Anja just stands next to the unconscious Caesar with a confused and apprehensive look, too nervous to ask what she was supposed to do with the tyrant... So, instead of asking for help she just awkwardly stands in front of the Think Tank while watching the prisoner...