Chapter 520 - The Point Of Skills

Afton was still pacing around the barricaded reception of the Police Station, waiting for Anja to wake up so they could start moving again... Her state was a perilous one, and despite his wishes to find Veronica again, he didn't want to worsen her condition without something dire coming up.

There's also the fact that if he left her, she'd be vulnerable to any Ghosts that manage to wander by... Even now he could hear their almost rhythmic banging against the barricaded entrance...​​

*GASP!*

Afton's attention is quickly drawn to Anja who'd just sucked in a breath, she tries to sit up but finds herself unable to, her body coughs but yet again, she seems unable too... The sheer damage done to he throat and lungs might even be preventing her from taking in oxygen... In which case, there was nothing he could do for her.

"Anja! I'm here, focus on my voice." he says, resting a hand on her shoulder and the back of her head.

She trembles, her body twitching as if every pain receptor was activating at once... Which Afton wouldn't be surprised if they were... "S-s-sir! E-everything h-hurts!" she stutters out, her hands slowly clasping each other as if she was trying to feel if they were still there...

"You got hurt Anja, badly. I managed to stabilise you but the damage you took was... Extensive." he explains, not attempting to sugar coat it as the pain she was feeling right now would make it obvious he was lying.

"S-sir... I-I can't see!" she fearfully mutters, her hands hesitantly approaching her face, brushing against her cheeks and eventually towards her empty eye sockets... Her hands jolt away from her face as she realises her eyes were gone, the painful truth surely screaming itself raw in her mind.

Afton gives a solemn nod, "The Cloud destroyed your eyes before I could pull you out. But don't worry, the Think Tank are already designing implants, we could make you new eyes! Everything will be alright, trust me on this." he reassures, deciding not to say that implants might not be an option due to the damage to her optical nerves.

She slowly nods, her trust in him as great as it was when he freed her from the Fiends. "W-where are the others?" she asks, patting herself over but only finding her Saturnite knife and Revolver.

"When we got ambushed I jumped off the roof after you, they were left with whatever attacked us... I think they're ok, if they are they'd meet us here, in the Police Station... We can stay here and wait if you're not feeling up to it though." he offers.

Anja slowly shakes her head, forcing herself up and cautiously finding her feet, hanging them off of the table and dropping onto the ground. "W-we are still looking for your sister, right sir?"

Afton nods, "Yes." he states, as they'd find Christine no matter how injured they became.

"Then, we should look around while we wait for the others to come... I-I might need help getting around though." she says in a sad tone, seemingly more upset that she wasn't able to be useful than the fact she'd lost her sight.

"Alright... Hold onto my back, I'll lead... But before that..." Afton slashes his Ultra Chainsword at the nearest wall, leaving a message for Dean and Veronica to let them know they were here should they find the place empty.

With that done, Afton leads Anja into the next room, walking through the hallways in an attempt to find the basement... If Christine was here, that's where he'd bet she'd be. They walk past a couple of empty interrogation rooms and a staircase leading to the second floor, but he ignores all of these for now.

They do encounter a few Ghosts, but Afton easily 'disarms' them... As well as 'dislegging' and 'disheading' them. Once their bodyparts are scattered a good distance from each other he continues to move.

The only real place of interest would be the armoury, someone seems to have tried to break inside judging by the scratch marks, scorch marks, and other dents visible in and around the lock... All the reckless attempts seem to have completely destroyed the lock, making it impossible for most to get inside.

Afton wasn't most.

With a clean slash of his energy blade the metal parts, the armoured gate slowly opening wide and allowing the duo entry. Afton takes the time to look around the place for anything of interest, but the armoury is only filled with crappy Bullet-resistant vests, badly maintained revolvers, nightsticks, flashbangs, and other miscellaneous equipment.

He did, however, find a dusty comic book of Grognak the Barbarian, a Skillbook to be more accurate. The only problem was the fact he'd already maxed out his Melee Weapons skill, and wasn't sure what it'd do if he used it.

Shrugging to himself, he just decides to use it to see what would happen...

[Skillpoints to Points] : 3/15

...

Huh... That's unexpected, he needed 15 Skillpoints to gain another point to use on anything else? Isn't that kind of overpowered... There were still hundreds of Skillbooks lying around the Wasteland, if he used all of them he'd basically become a god, wouldn't he?...

He's lost in thought for a couple of minutes until he feels a tug on his back, he almost jumps in response, having forgotten that Anja was still here... It's actually fortunate that she's unable to see the Skillbook turn to dust in his hands due to her condition... It'd be a massive pain in the ass to explain it to her, and eventually the others when they hear about it.

"I'm still here... There's nothing of interest, let's move on." he says, leading Anja out of the armoury and towards where the basement should be.