Chapter 576 - 'Seared'

[Raul has become your companion!]

[Raul grants you a Perk : Regular Maintanance]​​

[Regular Maintanance] : All equipment used by your party will degrade 50% slower.

Interesting, but no all that useful... This Perk is rendered useless if Afton is around, primarily due to [Mechanicus]... Regardless, it would help his Companions that were doing missions away from him.

With his new follower, Afton ventured back down Black Mountain to get back to the Brotherhood base... Though, on the way, he stops by Neils shack and spots the Super Mutant passed out on the floor with many empty bottles of whisky next to him.

Deciding to leave Neil to his own devices, Afton leaves and continues to the base, actually getting back just in time for the teleport extenders to be ready for use.

Afton grins as he spots his friends, "Yo-"*Clank!* he's interrupted as Veronica gives him a light punch to his helmeted forehead.

"That's for doing radio-karaoke without me!" she exclaims, pointing a finger at the radio still playing his crappy rendition of 'Fly me to the moon'.

Afton ignores the punch and just laughs, "It was funny though, wasn't it?"

...

"Kinda? But after listening to it four times it loses its effect ." she admits before turning her head towards the Ghoul, "This ain't a replacement for Anja, I hope?" she asks, semi-sarcastically.

"Anja? That another Ghoul you been keeping boss? Maybe I shoulda tried my luck back at my shack..." Raul snarks.

Afton shakes his head, "No... Her cybernetics should still be in development as we speak. Raul here also doesn't have her 'feminine charm'... Plus he can fix vehicles and stuff." he shrugs.

The group make small talk for couple more minutes until Afton finally claps his hands and looks towards the Brotherhood prisoners, "It's time to send our friends on their way I think."

A few grim nods are given as they walk over to the boundary set out by the Teleport extenders, Christine's mother continues to plead for her to stop this, but Christine just ignores her, grasping Veronica's hand tightly with a tense frown.

Afton nods to McNamara who just stands there with his arms folded. "I'll leave you all in 'Elder' McNamara's hands... Please don't come back to the Mojave, or I'll be forced to do something even more drastic than sending you all to Mexico... Cya later!" he waves as lightning strikes the group, uplifting dust as they all disappear.

The Teleport extenders power down and begin recharging again while releasing a heat-vent sound. Afton turns back towards his companions and grins, "Alright, time to get this place ready for our NCR guests."

With that, Afton, his companions, and the able people in his army all begin repairing, modifying, and preparing the base for the NCR attack that'll be occurring in around two weeks.

Elsewhere :

Shani can't help but feel as if her end is quickly approaching... This place, Big Mt has quickly started becoming more militaristic than it used to be... Recently some of the people she had been brought here with had been allowed to go free... Under the condition they willing had some sort of chip installed.

As much as she wished to leave, having those... Things, operate on her in any sort of way made her feel sick to her stomach. As such, she was forced to stay, and forced to watch as various things occurred around her...

She wasn't even sure if the others had noticed yet... But she'd snuck around and found that large fenced off area, she'd seen the large monstrosities held inside... She'd checked on that place occasionally, yet the creatures inside changed almost constantly... The colour of their hides, their sizes, the way they act... She'd even seen one that looked vaguely human, its snout having been drastically shortened, along with its height.

All of this just made her more sure that her vision would be occurring soon. So, she decided to try and escape... She'd been watching how people operated those teleporters, and she was sure they wouldn't work for her even if she tried, so instead she elected to try and dig a small passage through the train tunnel that'd collapsed in the past at some point.

And, after weeks of work... She finally broke through and was greeted with the gloomy darkness of the tunnels. She was about to enter inside and flee this place when a small whirring sound starts behind her... Slowly and stutteringly, she turned her head, and was greeted with the familiar orange eye of a drone...

"Subject designated: Shani, you need to return back to your apartment immediately. Attempts to refuse will result in injuries and potential death." its robotic voice emotionlessly state .

"W-what? N-no! I'll be fr-"

*SCREEECH!!*

The sound of some sort of creature has Shani's head whip around towards the tunnel... Where some humanoid reptilian creatures skitter towards her on all fours... Immediately, she flees in the other direction. She takes one glance over her shoulder towards the drone that'd for some reason attempted to save her... Only to spot large weapons appear from its chassis...

*BEEeeewwww*

*PEWPEWPEWPEPEWPEWPEWEPWEPWEPEPWPEWPEWPEWPEPWE!*

The Gatling laser that'd appeared from Glados' drone immediately begins firing down the tunnel, disintegrating many Tunnelers are they charge towards it. The drone floats far above them however, firing at them without the creatures being able to reach the drone...

The creatures, suddenly realising the sheer disadvantage they were under quickly retreat back into the tunnel. Just in time too, as large groups of Cyberdogs and other robots appear around the tunnel, ready to combat any force that may appear.

Glados drone retracts its weapon and turns, focusing on Shani who was still sprinting away. "Foolish Meatbag."