Chapter 485 - Reclaimed Materials

By this point, Scorpion-Man seemed extremely depressed... His attempts to shift blame onto Afton and avoid responsibility for his actions, both direct and indirect had failed. The Vigilante just slumped on his bed, resting his elbows on his knees as he gazed at the floor as if looking for answers.

"So... What now?... Do I just stay here, forever?" Scorpion-Man asks, looking up pitifully at Afton, Dala, and Glados. "Will you have your robots dissect me...?"​​

Afton shrugs, "Honestly, what happens now is up to you." he gives a grin, "We've already dealt with the background radiation you give off, so the only threat now is your excretions. Sweat, urine, saliva, and faeces are all still a risk to the public."

"You did what?" Scorpion-Man asks in confusion.

Afton nods, "While you were asleep we took some of your cells and created an antidote/mutative elixer. Of course, I doubt it would be possible to do the same for your bodily fluids... It's an essential part of your physiology, and taking it away may just destroy you." he says, basically making all of this up.

Scorpion-Man didn't give produce more background radiation than a regular person, but he didn't know that, allowing Afton to claim he did. "As for your options? Well, you have a number of them, though, I doubt you'll like most... The first and most obvious is to join me and my organisation, Bulwark. We are probably one the most technologically advanced groups on earth, the only others that might match us are the Brotherhood and Enclave, both of which would execute you for being a mutant." Afton states before continuing,

"Should you join us, you'll be given a suitable place for you to stay, access to equipment and training most would be in awe at, and the ability to get multiple check-ups with our scientists and doctors." he explains, feeling slightly like an infomercial salesman.

"But... I am still needed in Freeside..."Scorpion-Man mutters faintly.

Afton scoffs, "Didn't I just explain to you why that's a bad idea?"

"It isn't for me, but for my brother... The Gangs tortured him to death because he couldn't pay off his debt! He was made an example for others... I-I need to stop them!"

Afton shakes his head, "If that's your goal then you were going about it the wrong way... Instead of wandering around stopping crimes you should have been doing targeted assaults against the gang that killed your brother." he states.

Scorpion-Man just sights and looks to the ground, "What are my other options?"

Afton nods, "I could ship you back to Freeside. I've already faked your death however, so it would be a surprise to those who may have known you... Plus, I doubt you'd want to risk their health with your physiology.

Another option is for me to just drop you off randomly in the Mojave... To keep people safe you'd basically have to become a hermit though... Honestly, your only real option is to stay here where we can manage your mutation properly." he shrugs. "This is not to say you'd be stuck here forever, we'd just train you up and try to solve the side effects of your abilities, afterwards you could go anywhere you wanted." he explains.

Scorpion-Man slowly nods, "C-could I think about this?... I, I want to think about it before making a decision."

Afton gives a shrug and nods, "Alright, just call out when you've come to a decision. No point waiting in a cell all day when we could be training and fixing you up." he states before leaving.

Dala and Glados float beside him as he walks, "What delicious lies you told to the teddy bear..." Dala mutters huskily.

"Indeed, you have put it in a no-win situation. Either it joins us, or puts others at risk. By my understanding of it's psychology, there's a 0.6% that it refuses your offer, Creator."

Afton nods, "Of course, I wouldn't spew bullshit for no reason. I gotta have at least some standards."

Afton doesn't immediately leave the labs after his meeting with Scorpion-Man, no, instead he walks towards the armour and weaponry decision. Mobius and Klein should be examining the new materials he'd managed to gather...

He walks into the lab and spots the two scientists already scanning the Elite Riot Gear with every tool and technology they have available.

The Elite Riot Gear in question is a large brown Duster reinforced with plating at the shoulders, elbows, knees, chest, and neck. The materials used are pretty primitive, but the helmet itself is what is most interesting, it contains large amounts of tech compacted and made very durable for this purpose only.

Honestly, the only issue Afton could see with the armour is the fact it was designed for a woman... Yep, the NCR Elite Riot Gear they'd obtained from the Van Graffs belonged to a woman. This was the case with both sets they were given... It wasn't all that bad as the only difference between the male version was the shape of it, larger hips, smaller waist, etc.

Afton wasn't actually sure what they could learn from the armour... Aside from integrating similar plating onto their Deathclaw leather dusters, and taking the tech from the helmet, there wasn't much that they didn't already have.

The only armour Afton was interested in acquiring were the Chinese Stealth Armours... The Think Tank used to have some but they were all destroyed in the creation of the Stealth Suit that Nyx lives in. This is also the reason they couldn't just make more Stealth Suits, as the materials that compose it were strange and unknown to them, most likely taken directly from some Chinese Stealth Suits...

Afton was unsure where he'd acquire such armour though, perhaps he'd need to take a trip to China and see what's happening over there... He hoped they'd all been annihilated by America's nuclear bombs, but if not he'd probably have to clean the place up... He wasn't going to allow communists to poison the world again.