Chapter 636 - Saviour!...?

Now that Afton had a good idea of where he was, and where everything else should be, he quickly starts headed to the next floor... One thing he was still unsure about however was the location of Doctor Usanagi... He had noticed one thing though, this place had a Cybernetics laboratory down on the second floor, which he where he'd start looking.

He passes by the staircase just as a group of Supermutants run past chasing some screaming scientists... Afton just shakes his head and descends the stairs, ending up in a darker-looking floor compared to the previous one... Either they were trying to save energy, or the experiments down here required limited light exposure? Afton wasn't sure, and the database hadn't illuminated anything on the subject... Perhaps information on specific research was on a separate system?

Afton heads directly for the Cybernetics lab and is quickly able to find it after memorizing the general locations stated on the database. It didn't look like much though, a reinforced door with an observation window that allowed you to view the experiments going on within. There were also two NCR troopers guarding the entrance, most likely just jailers to prevent Usanagi's escape.

Through the observation window, he could see Usanagi installing some sort of Cybernetic implant into... A strange creature... It was thin with grey skin, and a gaunt-looking figure. Its bones were clearly visible, along with the implants that were clearly pronounced through the skin...

Its face was... Well. Not a face. All it had were two completely white eyes and a mouth completely stripped clean of flesh... No lips were present, only a gaping maw with many deadly looking dagger-like teeth... "The hell is the mouth of Sauron doing here?" Afton whispers to himself as he examines it, wondering how strong it was compared to Mr X.

"Whelp, here goes nothing. please not more spores, please not more spores." he whispers to himself in hopes of not accidentally unleashing another world-ending monster.

He walks up to the two troopers guarding the doors before slamming their heads together hard enough to mulch their skulls and brains into soup. He then throws a hard kick at the door, completely knocking it off of its hinges before walking in.

"Yo, Doc, you mind if I come without an appointment? Or should I come back later?" he asks as he takes his helmet off.

"Afton?... It's about time! How long have I been trapped here helping these monsters with their sick experiments!?" she exclaims while prodding him in his armoured chest.

"I-er... What? Shouldn't you be grateful that I'm saving you or something, like, princess style?" he retorts in confusion.

"I was only captured because of you in the first place!"

Afton shrugs at her anger, "I didn't know they would do that, and we made a fair trade. It wasn't as if you didn't know how dangerous shit involving me is."

"Fair trade? Most would call that extortion... Sexual extortion!" she retorts with crossed arms.

Afton scoffs, "Hey, you're the one who asked, I only give you the price. You didn't exactly object to it either!" he states but shakes his head once he remembers where he is, "Look, we can argue about this later once we've escaped this place... Before that though, what the fuck is that thing." he gestures at the creature she had been operating on.

"I don't know, one of the many creatures the people down here have made... There are hundreds of them all stored on the third floor, and they've made me install Cybernetic implants in most of them." she gravely states.

Afton scratches his head with frown, "And how strong do you think they are? Are they as dangerous as, say, the spores?"

She shakes her head at his question, "They are artificial creatures with no ability to procreate, they are not a threat to the world. But. They are definitely a threat to us... I once saw one tear a troopers arms off with sheer strength alone!"

"Uh huh... So, like, Supermutant level?" he asks and she nods, getting a relieved sigh out of him.

"What?" she asks, finding his behaviour strange.

He just smiles mirthfully, "We'll be fine. I did bring an army of Supermutants when I invaded this place... Hey, do you know where Macka Bree is?" he suddenly asks, ignoring her indignant sputtering.

She nods, "He's either in his room, the surveillance room, or his laboratory... Considering the racket you've made upstairs, I'd say either of the latter two." she explains.

He nods and puts his helmet back on, "Follow me, I'll leave you with Marcus while I see to Macka... I hope you haven't got anything against Supermutants." he says as he begins dragging her to the staircase where Marcus should be arriving soon enough. But, not before slitting the throat of the creature she had just been operating on...

After depositing the incredibly worried-looking Usanagi with Marcus, Afton descends the stairs headed to the third floor. The further down the steps he walks, the darker the place actually becomes... Once he reaches the bottom, he finds himself in a completely pitch black hallway...

The only reason he was able to see anything was due to the night vision of his helmet... Unfortunately, he'd not bothered to have such a thing installed in the Supermutants gear, making it incredibly impractical for them to actually come down here...

Still, he'd bet that the Nightkin would charge down here anyway... Those guys were fuckin' crazy.

*Grrroooowwwll!*

...

Afton glances around to look for the origin of the sound, but doesn't see anything in the hallway... "Yeah, not creepy at all... Fuck, there's going to be face huggers down here or something, isn't there?" he mutters to himself as he slowly walks through the place.