Chapter 561 - Hostage Interresearch

Afton was deep in focus with his father's chest open as he examines Mr X's regenerative properties, as well as how its organs work in real-time. Obviously, this wasn't all that informative, but he was determined to do everything to try and cure him.

He wipes some sweat off of his forehead as he slowly cuts around his father's liver with a Saturnite scalpal. All he needed to do was cut it out, see what kinds of hormones and chemicals it was currently metabolising after force-feeding Mr X a cocktail of various chems... Slowly... Closer...​​

"Reporting! Designations Tamia, Boone, Josie, Dogmeat, ED-E, have returned with OSI hostages." Glados' loud voice sounds out over the intercom, causing Afton to jolt in surprise and accidentally stab the scalpal a couple inches into Mr X's pancreas...

"RRAAAAAAGG-MPPH!"

Afton sweat drops as he retrieves the scalpal to let the damaged organ heal, "Er, sorry dad..." he sheepishly mutters. While standing up, "Glados... Could you turn down the volume next time? What if I wasn't operating on a super-healing mutant?"

"Affirmative."

Nodding to himself, he gets up, washes himself off and steps outside, quickly spotting Tamia marching into the laboratory with two prisoners on her shoulders. "Hey, I got you something..." she states as she dumps them at his feet.

Afton grins, "Ohoho? That's quite the gift, I don't know if anything I can give would match this." he chuckles.

Tamia shrugs, "Well, you can start with teaching me how to operate Power armour..."

Afton waves her off, "Yeah, yeah, once you're done dealing with Jacobstown we'll get started... For now, let me have my fun with these two."

Tamia nods and leaves in short order, probably wanting to get back to her duties so she can start power armour training.

Afton looks down at the scientists and grins viciously, picking them up and walking straight back into the lab holding his father. He drags two metal chairs directly in front of his father and ties both people in them with chains, afterwards asking Glados to send Dala down there.

Dala arrives and already seems to be aware of what they were doing as she was pushing her own trolly filled with 'dissection' tools. Though, they look more like torture devices than anything else. "Are these the teddy bears that need help?" Dala asks in a husky voice.

Afton nods while picking up a stimulant and injecting it into the male scientist. After a couple of slaps to the face, the man quickly wakes up and is immediately presented by Mr X who's chest and stomach are still pried open, displaying all the writhing and beating organs... The mutant viciously looks down at the man, causing him to go completely white.

Afton drops a hand on his shoulder, causing the man to jump in surprise, pushing against the chains restricting his movement. "W-What?" he rapidly mutters, only now realising that he'd been locked in place... He leans back as he could feel Mr X's hot, smelly breath on his face, hoping to God he wouldn't be fed to the creature.

"So you're awake! That's good since I have a few questions I want to ask you." Afton cheerfully says as he walks over to Dala's tool trolly. The scientist looks over and somehow pales even further at the sight, he knew who Afton was, and he knew what most of those tools were for, last but certainly not least... He knew what awaited him should he anger this man. "Y-you're A-Afton Parker?"

Afton grins, "Ding ding, good deduction... Now, Sherlock, can you figure out why you're here?" he asks with crossed arms.

The man swallows his saliva and he considers the best answer... "I-Interrogation?" he asks, hopeful that'd be the extent of what is done to him.

Afton slowly nods as if listening to an advisor, "Good idea. But, let's make sure everything you say is truthful... Nyx, record everything he says, we'll wake up and ask the woman the same, if either differs then we'll have to use more extreme measure." he says.

"N-no! I'll tell the truth! G-god, please!" the scientist meekly begs, piss already streaming down his legs as he loses control of his bladder.

Afton pulls up a chair and sits on it while resting his arms on the backrest. "Alright, first thing's first... Do you know who is responsible for creating this creature... Mr X." he questions.

The scientist slowly nods, "I-I do... D-doctor Macka Bree... He is the head scientist of biological research conducted in the OSI."

Afton nods, "And where might I find this man? Where is the lab he works at?"

"I-It's not in the M-Mojave... It's west, f-from there, in NCR territory..." he stutters out, knowing just saying this was enough to promise his execution at NCR hands. Traitors aren't received well anywhere, after all.

Afton nods, getting Nyx to note down the specifics. "Alright, what were you doing near Jacobstown? From what I'm told, you were experimenting on a Supermutant?... Remember to not lie to me, I'll be asking the same to that girl beside you." he states.

"W-w-we were t-trying to incorporate y-y-your cells into Supermutants... D-doctor Bree t-thought it would work d-due to the presence of FEV in their b-blood."

...

Afton raises a brow at this, only now remembering the existence of FEV... Could that be one of the components that'd helped mutate his father? It was highly likely considering he was essentially a super-powerful supermutant with similar abilities to his own. How had he not considered this before?... Perhaps the key to fixing his father was to cure Supermutants first?

The scientist looks up at the thoughtful Afton and sweats slightly... The fact he was near the unstoppable creature his department helped to create wasn't lost on him... Would he have a similar end to Frankenstein? Dying at the hand of his own monster?"