Chapter 524 - Royling Emotions

"Jesus Christ, he did a number on you, didn't he?" Dean mutters, actually feeling sympathetic to his fellow victim's plight... It seems a if she'd got the short end of the stick, having been shoved into this Auto-Doc and forgotten.

The woman herself looked utterly exhausted, but despite that, her blue eyes scanned each of them as if trying to find a threat.​​

Veronica scans the woman emaciated form with a look of horror, they wore a patients gown and nothing else, however, her words get caught in her throat when she notices a small mole on the woman's knee... "C-Christine?" she stutters out, taking off her helmet and shoving it into Dean's arms for a moment.

The woman's blue eyes widen at the tone and voice of the person, even more so once she sees the armoured person's face. She tried to open her mouth but finds no voice coming out, scared, she raises a hand to her throat and trails a finger along the vicious-looking scar running over her jugular.

Veronica, realising who this is sends an alarmed look to Afton, "Quick, she needs Med X and a Stim... We need to stop her bleeding before she loses any more blood."

Afton, nodding, jabs a Med X into the woman's neck fast enough for her to not react. She seems to be very well trained, but too weak and exhausted to put up much of a fight... Not that she really wants to, Veronica's presence has put her to ease pretty well.

Next, he stabs her with a Stimpack, injecting the materials and letting it do its work... She'd be more exhausted as it comes into effect, but better tired than dead, right?

Once he was sure Christine wouldn't drop dead he walks up to a nearby chair and sets her down in it, afterwards removing his own helmet. "Remember me, sis? I hope you do, you did abandon us after all." he says, his eyes focussing on her collar.

Nyx, already knowing what he wants stops Elijah's connection to it for a moment as he begins trying to fiddle with it.

Christine tries to push his hands away, but Veronica restrains her for now. Trusting Afton to remove any leverage Elijah has over Christine. It takes a couple minutes, but his prior experience with Deans collar allows him to easily remove all the explosives. He pockets the C4, just in case he might need to use it in the future.

Once done he gives the duo a thumbs up, "Job done, Elijah won't have any hold over you anymore..."

Veronica gives a smiling nod and looks back down at Christine, "You know how much I want to slap you silly for leaving me? But I'll leave that for later... Are you okay?" she asks.

Christine looks up at her former lover and slowly shake her head, pointing at her throat while opening her mouth soundlessly.

Afton raises a brow and retrieves some papers from around the room, handing it to Christine, "Can you write?"

...

After glaring down at the paper for a moment, Christine attempts to write something, it starts off an A... Probably? But the letters eventually devolves into spirals, backtracked lines and scribbles. It looked like the start of a Picasso painting, potentially pretty, but not helpful at all.

Christine crushes the pencil she was using and throws it away, clutching her head in her hands while tears dripped from her eyes. Veronica takes her up into a tight hug, not letting Christine suffer alone.

Afton just looks on with rage slowly building, Elijah and Dala had done this to Christine, he had no doubt in his mind. Christine had always been a strong person, and he'd never seen her cry aside from a couple particular moments, seeing her like this now made him want to run through the Cloud and piledrive Elijah into the concrete floor.

He wanted to snap that old piece of shit like a twig, seal him in a concrete box with a tiny hole to deliver air, and wait until he starved to death. Or maybe feed him to the baby Deathclaws? That'd definitely be slow and agonizing enough... Or maybe just toss him into the Cloud for the sheer irony of it.

He feels a tap on his side and is about to attack whoever it was in response when Dean's voice tears him from his thoughts. "I'm sorry to say, but you look as if you are about to tear apart and eat us." the ghoul states.

...

Afton shakes his head and looks at him, "Sorry, just thinking about things..." he admits, taking a glance at Christine and Veronica who were still comforting one another. He nods his head at Dean and escorts Anja out of the room, so the duo could have some privacy.

"W-what happened?" Anja asks after they exit the room.

Afton sighs, "We found Christine, but she's been... Tortured... She can't speak, and she seems completely unable to write or formulate words. I doubt she is even able to read at this point, though, Maths is another thing to test. Brain injuries like the one that she's currently afflicted with are notoriously finicky things..." he solemnly says.

"Will she be okay, sir?" Anja wonders aloud, feeling sympathetic due to her past experience within NCR hands.

"I don't know... I hope so, but, it's hard to tell." he admits, beginning to pace along the hallway to ease his anxious feelings.

Inside the room :

Veronica continues to hug Christine as if her life depends on it, though, still making sure to be gentle for the frail and tortured woman.

After the group leaves the room she looks up at Christine's almost unrecognisable face, "W-why did you leave us...? The only reason any of this happened was because you left, who knows what we could have been doing now if you'd only stayed!?..."

Christine just slowly shakes her head, still unable to say anything... Even if she could, she doubted it'd soothe Veronica's roiling emotions.