Steel Waste Chapter 6
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With the revelation of the situation, he currently found himself in he continued his training with renewed vigour. He had no idea how similar the world would be to Fallout 3, but knew if he was half-hearted he'd be an easily killable NPC.
At least he started with the equivalent of a silver spoon in his mouth, he couldn't imagine anywhere better to be born than in the Brotherhood of Steel. Power armour was basically cheating in the wasteland, completely covering yourself in thick armoured plates that made you immune to most damage was broken enough, but with the addition of the mechanical parts underneath that increased your strength and speed you became almost unkillable.
This was not to say you couldn't die though, the wasteland was full of crazy creatures like Deathclaws that could shred steel with ease, or Super Mutant Behemoths that could crush you with a single step.
Personal strength was the first thing Afton had to aim for, having strong allies and knowledge was great but if you were negligent for even a moment your life would be snuffed out... All it took was misstepping where a random raider had laid a mine and boom, you're a goner.
That is not to disparage the strength in numbers, especially when considering the Brotherhood of Steel, an army of Power armour clad men wielding Gatling lasers would annihilate any potential force. Though he was unsure of the situation of the chapter where he'd been born, if everything was perfect then they'd not be living in some dingy rotten building...
Of course, having knowledge of the region and the surroundings was a must, even if he had the best gear in existence he wouldn't survive if he accidentally wandered into a Deathclaw den...
On that topic, he doubted some of the mechanics in the game would be the same in this new world, would he be able to level up? Would Stimpacks instantly heal you? Would you be able to take bullets to the head and still survive? All of these questions were valid and incredibly important.
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In the game you'd access your inventory, stats, and everything else with a Pipboy, a machine you strapped to your wrist and helped wit various things. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he'd be given one as only Vault Dwellers seemed to possess them.
From what he knew, Vaults were not actually designed to help people survive the apocalypse, instead, they were more like science experiments to see how humans would react in certain situations. For instance, he remembered hearing about a vault that contained one woman and almost a thousand men... He didn't know any details but he imagined the social hierarchy would quickly breakdown and chaos would ensue.
After thinking over it, he was probably lucky not to be one of the Vault Dwellers, who knew what kind of sick experiment he'd be subjected to. One thing was for sure, if he saw one he'd have to go for it, the slight chance that he'd get the advantages you have in the game was too great to ignore.
A few more weeks pass and Afton had started being able to produce specific sounds, it still sounded like babbling but with a bit more practise he'd be able to form words soon... They'd not be clean or concise due to how weird not having teeth was.
He would have to be careful when speaking, if someone observed him while he was practising it'd raise more questions than he was comfortable with... Being called a genius was fun and all, but being too smart at an early age would attract the attention of important and powerful people.
It'd been a month since he'd been born, his training had gone relatively well, he was sure his muscles were stronger than what an ordinary baby would be, and he was now able to speak, even if it did sound broken and high-pitched.
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Afton had started to notice more people walking outside his door in the hallway, it was clear something was going on, and his assumptions were validated when his mother walked in while clad in red robes with a smile on her face. "Heya, how's my Afton doing?" she asks even though she's not expecting an answer, "It's time to move, are you ready? Do you wanna leave this place?"
...
Leave? What did she mean by that...
His father walked in next wearing his Power armour, "You ready yet? The Elder wants to relocate somewhere, we've already scouted the area and created the safehouses."
"Give me a moment, I need to pack Aftons toys, clothes, and blankets." she says, packing a rough-looking pack with everything of worth in the room.
"Well try and be quick, the Elder wants to leave as soon as possible... I don't know why but he's got the weird look in his eye again."
"Should we be worried?" Verna asks after closing the pack and picking Afton up.
Zachary shrugs, "I'm not sure... I respect the man and his position, but sometimes it feels like leading the chapter is not his top priority. You'll be in the middle of the convoy with the other mothers, scribes, and newborns so I'm not worried about that. What concerns me is where we'll be heading, it's not as defensible as our current position and is quite far from any clean water source.
If it were up to me, we'd prepare for a longer journey and get further into the Mojave. Less chance of any confrontation with the NCR that way... I'm not the Elder though so we'll just have to make do."
"Atleast Afton will finally see outside, I can't imagine being stuck in this cramped place is good for him..." she looks down at him, "You'll love feeling the sun on your face Afton, trust me." she says, gently bouncing him up and down in her arm.
Zachary smiles at them, "Susan, Darian, and Christine will be accompanying you, so at least it won't be boring."
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