Chapter 457 - Divergence

Afton sighs and washes his hands off, he'd just finished operating on Caroline and was mildly enraged by what he'd seen. Aside from the initial injuries she had, the bullet wound to the gut, chest, and limbs, he also found numerous older wounds.

Whip marks, deliberate cuttings of flesh, burns, improperly healed bone breaks, and worst of all, genital mutilation. Afton grinds his teeth as he looks over the document he'd just written, it listed all of her injuries, their causes and his speculations on where she'd receive them. He'd be showing it to Karl once he'd recovered... If he recovers. Having your hand and both legs blown off was enough to put any thoughts of fighting from a regular person's mind... Though, Afton doubted Karl would so easily let bygones be bygones.​​

Of course, Afton had done the best he could to help Caroline, he'd extracted the pieces of bullets in her body but there was little he could do for the older injuries. There wasn't currently a way to create and attach organic body parts, even Afton's plant arm was more based on luck than actual science.

Afton wondered where the Legion had adopted such horrific traditions... He didn't remember the Romans ever practising general mutilation, perhaps it was brought over from the tribes?... Regardless, any guilt he'd have had after killing so many of them quickly faded. Barbaric pieces of shit like that lot deserves to be cleansed. "Glados, inform me once Caroline wakes up."

"Understood... Excuse me, creator? This may seem unusual, but why does the name 'Caroline' seem so familiar to me? I have never encountered this before, and my processors show no sign of abnormalities..."

Afton raises a brow but coughs into his fist, "No idea... Perhaps you just like the name?" he dismisses the query and quickly heads up to the Sink where Karl was currently being operated on.

He's greeted by all the personalities but ignores them as he heads for Meddie who's still apparently operating. "How is he?"

"He, is one tough bastard. Should've died minutes after being injured like this, but he's holdin' on somehow... Add the rather reckless cauterization and the guy's heart should've given out. Even still, it's beaten strong like a drum. Makes me tempted to pull him apart to see how he works..." Meddie trails off.

Afton crosses his arms, "You still haven't answered my question."

The personality chuckles, "He'll live, I'll say that much. Whether or not it will be a comfortable life is hard to say though. For all I know his damaged nerves could start firing constantly, leaving him in a perpetual state of agony."

Afton shrugs, "Yeah, but that's unlikely. A worst-case scenario... Hey, while you're at it, think you can do anything for his back? Old man keeps moaning about it so might as well get it done now."

"Will do... I'll install a cybernetic spine. You shouldn't wait around for him, he's still got hours of surgeries ahead."

Afton slowly nods, "Alright, have Alfred or Glados inform me when he's recovered or awake." he waves as he leaves.

Another thing that required his attention was the new guests in Big Mountain. He trusted most of his companions, but there were limits to what they would be willing to endure for him, he imagined that fighting gained their homeland and people would be one of them... Which is why it was very, very important that the location of this place is kept hidden from them.

Fortunately, doing this isn't all that hard as the only real map of Big Mountain currently resides on his Pipboy. Tamia's Pipboy might've been able to do something had he not already preemptively fixed such functions from finding too much info about Big Mt... The last thing he wanted to happen was for some NCR Vault Dweller to stumble across the place.

He walks to the front of the Think Tank and sits down on the bluegrass surrounding it. He'd been ignoring the notifications he'd received during the battle for long enough, now was perfect since he finally had some free time.

[Quest Complete : Find Caroline Martin]

[Lord Death v4 1869/2000]

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 50!!!!!!]

Afton grins when he sees the notification. 50 was a good number, maybe his favourite now... He quickly puts all points into Lockpicking, raising it up to 94, after that he enthusiastically moves onto the Perks...

[Level 50 Perks] : Perks at this level are derived from gathered Karma until this point. If you have proved to be monstrously evil you will receive Perks to suit this lifestyle, if you have proved to be Good Personified then you will receive options that help with this.

[Positive Karma : 2630]

[Negative Karma : 1223]

[Result] : Well-Meaning Disaster]

[Title acquired : Well-Meaning Disaster]

[Well-Meaning Disaster] : Despite your best efforts, your actions often lead to the deaths of many innocents. This exceedingly reckless method of problem-solving has made you infamous around the Wasteland. +100% Fame or Infamy gain depending on the results of your actions.

[Well-Meaning Disaster Perks] :

[Hero turned Tyrant] : Your attempts at heroism have failed often enough for you to leave such a life behind. +EXP gain when inspiring fear in others, +3 to Strength and Endurance, you become immune to critical hits. You also gain a mutation that increases the length of your canines and allows you to drink blood of your victims to rapidly regenerate health.

[Hero's Promise] : You have pledged to do your utmost in service of justice and all that's good. +EXP when inspiring hope in others, +3 to Intelligence, Charisma, you become immune to critical hits. Positive Karma grants bonus Health, Negative Karma takes away from this.

[Stay the Path] : You disregard all the deaths you have caused and continue the way you always have, heroes are fools and Villains are needlessly cruel, you are neither, yet both. EXP acquisition does not change, +2 to all stats, you become immune to critical hits. You also gain the ability to see someone's Karma.