Chapter 489 - Crossing The Barks

Tamia is led into the hanger by Loyal as shown to a few strange devices, the old man quickly shuffles everyone else out as he gestures exaggeratedly at the small box-like devices. "See these? Their Ballasts, floating, deployable devices that'll help actually get the Lady outta the water..." he says before tossing something else at her, "And that's a rebreather, should let u stay underwater for around an hour." he explains.

Tamia lifts one of the ballasts slightly and frowns at the weight... Despite being intended to float, they were significantly heavier than she'd expected. "Are you sure these'll work? Aren't bombers, like, incredibly heavy?"​​

Loyal nods, "They are, but-" he kicks over a large container filled to the brim with ballasts, "We got enough of these things to float a building!"

One hour later :

Tamia, Veronica, and Anja were all carrying large backpacks filled with ballasts out of the Airfield. They were currently walking along the heavily cratered road, but their destination wasn't Lake Mead, at least, not yet. First, they were going to head to the teleportation point they'd used to arrive here and report what was happening to Afton... Maybe he'd want to take a look at the bomber before the Boomers got it.

They walk past the mangled corpse of George and eventually reach the point, Veronica using a small device which causes lightning to shoot from the sky and strike them, kicking up a cloud of dust and causing them to vanish.

After returning the group ignores the large new facility they'd not seen before and heads to the Think Tank to find Afton. And, with the help of Glados, they find him in a Laboratory working with Mobius and Klein on his Power armour.

The trio quickly notice the group and Klein scoffs indignantly, "IT'S JUST LIKE HIGHSCHOOL AGAIN! GO BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE, WE HAVE HOMEWORK TO DO!" he exclaims.

Afton just shakes his head at the scientists and looks at the group imploringly, "Something up?"

Tamia nods, "Er, yeah... We were about to raise a literal bomber out of Lake Mead and wanted to let you know about it..." she explains with a sheepish look.

"A bomber?" Afton parrots, excitement briefly showing in his eyes before he recomposes himself, "No doubt this is for the Boomers then?"

She nods again, "They've almost deified the thing and have told us to raise it out of the water with ballasts," she gestures at the large backpacks they were carrying, "They're planning on taking it apart with robots and transporting it all back to their base while they fire artillery near the NCR as a distraction." she says.

Afton rubs his chin at this, most planes hadn't survived the initial nuclear bombs that started the Great War, and those that had were too irreparably damage to actually work, not to mention the lack of individuals who knew how to fly the things...

Aeroplanes weren't like Vertibirds, give someone a couple weeks training and 'wallah' they're able to fly a Vertibird, but for a plane, bomber, or jet? No chance, you'd have a better chance spontaneously exploding than actually getting the thing in the air, even if you did, you'd soon greet the floor very enthusiastically at match speed.

That all said, if someone were to possess such a vehicle in the current day's climate, they'd be an almost unstoppable force... What good would Power armour be against a bomber dropping payloads from a mile above you? None.

Honestly, Afton was tempted to just steal the bomber for himself, but knew that'd likely make him and the trio hated by the Boomers. Plus the fact he had no idea how he'd transport it back to Big Mt, it wasn't like the teleporters could transport something so large.

Still, he wanted one.

Afton glances at Klein and Mobius, "You guys wait here, I've got something to do." he states and gestures for the trio to follow him.

He leaves the Think Tank and heads straight to X-8 where the Cyberdogs could be found. He gathers up a large group of the one's designed by Glados for scouting, scanning, and other miscellaneous tasks. They number around thirty and should be enough to scan the bomber relatively quickly... Once done, they'd send the data back to the Think Tank so they could replicate the bomber.

"Take these guys with you, they'll scan the bomber once it's out of the water, once they're done they'll teleport back... They'll also assist you in combat should you need it." he states.

Tamia nods, "Alright. Is that all?"

Afton grins in affirmation, "Should be. You want me to tag along, or?" he asks.

Tamia shakes her head, "I don't think there'd be a point, plus you're already pretty busy here..."

Afton nods, "Alright, you guys better get to it before anyone notices you were gone... Remember to take the Cyberdogs." he says before returning to Klein and Mobius to further work on his Power armour.

Tamia, Veronica, and Anja quickly head back to the Mojave with thirty Cyberdogs in toe. The teleporters work overtime to move everyone, but eventually, they get back and start heading towards Lake Mead...

On the way they encounter a few obstacles, though, any potential raiders are easily scared off by the army of Cyberdogs. The same could not be said for a huge pack of Golden Gecko's however.

Fortunately, one Cyberdog's sonic bark is enough to send a grown man flying... Times this by thirty and you have a rather explosive result. Any Gecko in the path of the projectile freezes, trembles, and explodes into a fountain of blood and gore.

Tamia wondered what an army of one hundred Cyberdogs would be capable of... Due to the type of weapon it was, it'd most likely instantly kill anyone driving heavy vehicles, which meant that these Cyberdogs were literally the best anti-vehicle weapons in the Mojave, by a large margin actually.