Chapter 574 - Armistice

The start of the path that snaked up Black Mountain wasn't all that different from the rest in the Mojave... Chipped, rotten, and mangled concrete with dead-looking shrugs sprouting from between the huge cracks cover them. "Maybe my first action as world ruler president king... Chief...? Would be to fix these damn roads." he huffs as he hops over a particularly large crack.

Over in the distance, he spots a shack with a Super Mutant sitting conspicuously outside of it... He already knows who it is, Neil, the 'gatekeeper' of Black Mountain. Despite how ominous the name sounds, the Mutant actually attempts to keep unwary travellers from stumbling into the other hostile mutants and getting eaten alive.​​

"Hold up there traveller, you'd best turn back before you regret your life choices... Though, venturing further up this path would count as a 'Death Choice'..." the Mutant states in a far more eloquent tone than Afton had expected.

Afton shrugs, "I hope you aren't friends with anyone up there... You should probably start thinking about moving to Jacobstown."

"Wait what? What're you talk-Wait, stop!" Neil stutters, jumping to his feet and following Afton as he walks through the entrance and further up Black Mountain... Almost immediately, Afton's attacked by a Nightkin that jumps out of invisibility while swinging some kind of make-shift sword.

Neil reaches his arm out futilely in an attempt to save the human, but is shocked still when the Nightkin is instantly bisected into halves, each side flopping to the floor lifelessly.

Afton turns his head towards Neil, "As I said earlier, you should probably think about moving..."

...

Neil continues to watch dumbfounded as Afton blazes a trail up the mountain path. Bullets deflect from his armour, and any Mutant that gets into arms-length quickly becomes mincemeat. Soon enough the human gets out of view, and once Neil composes himself he turns around like a robot, searches through his hidden safe, and pulls out a couple bottles of whisky. "Man... Humans are becoming scary."

One hour later :

Afton had finally reached the top plateau of Black Mountain, there were numerous derelict satellite dishes among the large nuclear creates decorating the place... Though, Afton wasn't able to focus on that due to the twenty or so mutants currently firing at him.

He dodges most of the fire, his armour deflected the rest. But the biggest threat to him was actually the heavy incinerators some of the enemies wielded. That problem was easily solved with some application of his plant-arm 'Jutsu-grass-style razor whip!'... Yeah, he wasn't confident enough in himself to shout his 'special attack names'.

Afton swings his 'razor whip arm' and decapitates one of the mutants that wielded a rocket launcher and pulls the free weapon towards himself, turning it towards his enemies and firing the rest of its ammunition.

After every mutant in eye-sight is dead, he moves onto the next area, the peak of the mountain where the single working satellite dish sits, along with two concrete buildings that look relatively unharmed from the Nuclear apocalypse.

He takes a single step towards the broadcasting building when he hears a peculiar shout behind him, "INVADE MY MOUNTAIN WILL YOU!?"

Once he turns to face it, his mind halts for a moment at the sight... A large nightkin wearing a blonde wig, pink heart-shaped glasses, and lots of leather rags seemingly designed to look like a dress... Ah, this must be Tabitha, leader of the Super Mutants and 'eager' radio host.

She swings a jet-powered sledgehammer at him, but he easily blocked it by stepping backwards, afterwards swinging his Ultra Chainsword at them. The strike hits their stomach, disembowelling them and causing their intestines to burst out of the wound as if they were a failed confetti bomb.

Tabitha doesn't even seem to notice the wound though, "YOU WILL DIE HUMAN!" they scream, swinging their weapon again. Afton blocks it this time however, using his armoured arms to take the brunt of the force. He doesn't move an inch either due to his [Stonewall] Perk, his Power armour combined with the Perk actually causes Tabitha to stumble backwards from the impact.

Additionally, they accidentally stand on a stray intestine and tear a large portion of its length out... Not that Tabitha notices.

Despite their stumble though, they quickly recover, this time sending an off-balance swing at him... Which he reciprocates by punching the head of the Supersledge, his various Perks allowing him to destroy it with ease... The jet of the Supersledge explodes as a result, burning a good portion of Tabitha's visible skin, along with its? wig.

Tabitha's earlier shouting had now quickly devolved into unintelligible shouting, groans, and screams as they writhed on the floor weakly. Their injuries had finally caught up with them, allowing Afton to easily behead the mutant, finally ending the Mutant threat of Black Mountain. Something that neither the NCR, nor the Brotherhood had managed to do.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 54!!]

As always, the world freezes and the selections appear before him. All of which he quickly scrolls past to find the Mutation he'd been meaning to acquire...

[Beauveria mordicana duraferro] : User's arm becomes as hard as steel.

Oh yes... This would essentially give him the ability to form a suit of armour wherever he went... And that's not even considering the offensive applications... No longer would his razor whips be so frail, and now he could form an awesome Prototype blade-like Alex Mercer... Ok, maybe that wouldn't be all that useful considering his advanced weaponry... But it was still badass!

He'd also be able to form a shield now that would be as strong as steel... Instant cover whenever he needed it... Plus, he could trap people in steel-strength plant prisons... Like how he'd killed Dog, but even more terrifying!

He nods his head and clicks confirm, quickly feeling his arm noticeably become... Denser? It wasn't really explainable to someone who hadn't experienced it, but it was akin to feeling your head become heavy due to lack of sleep... Something like that.