Chapter 483 - Cancerous

It isn't long after Augustus and Caesar leave that Afton starts commanding the slaves and eventually teleporting them back to Big Mt. Of course, they wouldn't all be integrated with the people already present as Afton didn't want the Legion's culture to start being adopted amongst his own people.

So, first, he'd had Glados and her army of robots design a 'prison', though, it acts more like a rehabilitation center, as well as a 'sorting' center. He still needed to sort out the criminals from innocents, so the rehabilitation center would be doing that as well as trying to remove whatever idea the Legion had instilled.​ ​

Fortunately, there was a relatively easy way to go about this... The slaves could already pick out a few criminals who'd committed incredibly evil acts against them and others, so Afton would have Glados testing the 'Thought Implants' on the first... Yeah, he wasn't expecting them to survive either, which would alleviate some of the stress put on their supplies.

After everyone is situated Afton quickly walks down to the cells to greet Dala and Glados who were presumably still working. He finds them in front of a cell and stops with a grin, "It worked flawlessly, no one has a clue."

Glados's orange eye brightens up slightly, "Did CERR01 act suitably? No malfunction, stutters, or mental defects?"

Afton shakes his head, "None that I could see, it seems stable enough, but we'll continue monitoring it while the operation continues."

"Gratiae Dei, my head feels like it's going to explode... What did you do to me?" an angry voice asks from the cell.

Afton's face breaks into a sadistic grin as he looks at the weak and emaciated man, "Did you think removing your tumour would be an easy affair, Caesar?"

Caesar grumbles in response, and Afton continues, "Now that we've removed your tumour I hope you'll be more willing to open up to us... We may not be friends, but you can trust us to follow through with our promises."

Caesar rubs his head while squinting in pain, "I see..." he trails off ambiguously.

Obviously, Afton wouldn't tell the man that they hadn't touched the tumour... The reason his head was hurting was due to the procedure they'd put him under that stole and made a copy of his mind and memories.

Project CERR01 was the Think Tanks first attempt at a functional human clone, of course, they'd fitted the clone with every monitoring device that was and wasn't in existence. They'd be able to observe the changes in its DNA, mind, actions, and even its intentions... Though, it was also important to mention they had a backdoor connection that would allow them to control it entirely.

If Afton wanted to, he could probably start a full-scale war between the Legion and NCR right now. Making Caesar order the entirety of the Legions forces in and outside the Mojave to attack... But, he resisted the temptation, for now, acting too rashly after escaping Afton's grasp would be too suspicious.

Plus, he still wanted to find where he wanted to stand... Right now he was leaning towards House, but that was more because he hated the NCR and Legion than actually liking House. He thought the man's capitalistic and authoritarian stance was the right idea, the Wasteland wasn't like the old world, people needed a heavy hand otherwise they'd rebel and commit heinous acts like slavery, ****, and cannibalism... It's just the way human's act if they get the chance, the Wasteland provided such opportunities.

There was also the fact Afton hated leading people, it was hard, annoying, and time-consuming... Even now he spent most of his time managing Big Mt and the people inside it, despite the fact he was delegating almost all of his jobs away.

Obviously Glados and Nyx had helped immensely in this, but even they wouldn't save him from mountains of paperwork if he personally controlled the Mojave. So, it was probably better to ally with someone who thought similarly to himself.

He still needed to have a proper discussion with House, but they both knew Bulwark would be a boon to any organisation it allied with. There was also the fact Afton had a very close relationship with House's top operative, Tamia, he honestly doubted House had any intention to fight or do anything of the sort to Bulwark.

Still, this would all be decided in the future.

Afton breaks out of his contemplation and gestures at Dala and Glados to follow him as he leaves Caesar's cell and walks towards Scorpion-Man's. "So, found anything interesting about our resident insect yet?"

"The subject has shown incredible physical capabilities, though, I must add, not as impressive as your own." she trails off, his monitors lingering on his form for an uncomfortable moment.

"*Cough* Continue, Dala." Afton says, trying her mind out of the gutter... Or 'Cum gutters' as she's proclaimed anytime he's had his shirt off...

"Yeesssss... All the subjects fluids and organism materials are radioactive, though, the intensity depends on the part... Dead skin is the lowest, and blood is the highest. Despite this, the subject shows no increased risk of cancer, radiation sickness, or other side effects." she explains.

Afton raises a brow, that sounded somewhat similar to himself. Though his body cleansed the radiation after a while. The thing he was most interested in wasn't the man's ability to stick to walls, his psyker status, or his enhanced physical capabilities... It's his seeming immunity to cancer and other mutations caused by radiation.

If they found out a way to harness this, they could cure cancer outright, and perhaps even do something for Ghouls! It'd be a revolutionary discovery, one that all factions on the earth would fight for, one that would have to be kept secret no matter what.

Afton slowly nods, "Have you discovered how he's able to stick to walls?" he asks, honestly he hoped to god the Spider-man explanations were false... It was terrifying to contemplate having millions of tiny hands growing from your palms...