The rest of the scorpions didn't stand a chance. Mobius was going to have to step up his game. I left the lab and quickly gathered up the rest of the supplies the Think Tank had sent me for and went back to tell them i was done. As I walked back in the room the same calming feeling washed over me and I was greeted with the normal response again.
"Oh god the hand penis lobotimite is back" said Dr, Klein
"I can still hear you fuckaroo" I said as I walked up to them.
"I still think he's cute, I would love to have a breathing session with him soon" said Dala.
I certainly don't. She scares me more than Deathclaws
"I assume you've come back with the components we need" said Borous.
"Yep, can I get my damn brain back now?" I asked.
More incoherent beeps erupted from one of the robots meaning 8 was talking again.
"Yes alright 8 calm down. If you want your brain then it's time to confront Mobius in the Forbidden Zone" said Klein. "If you happen to pass by the residential houses in the perimeter please check on my dog for me"
More fucking tasks from this bitch.
"Fine, if i'm going in that direction i'll take a look" I said.
After another series of tasks were given to me I got to leave the assholes in their chamber. 8 wanted me to find a way to get his voice back and Dala insisted I visit her for a "breathing session". Of all the tasks that was the least likely to happen.
I made my way outside and decided to see if I could find Kleins dog in the old residential areas. The way over consisted of a few robo scorpions sent by Mobius in his vain attempts to destroy me. My guns easily outperformed theirs and sent them back to the scrapyard. When I entered the residences I was greeted by absolutely nothing, which was as good a surprise as i'd gotten in these past few days. The houses themselves were fairly clear with a few bits and pieces of loot scattered around. In the backyard of Klein's house was a quaint doghouse with blood outside of it. Inside was more than just a dog treat. I knew something was wrong when I heard the scratches and guttural sounds coming from inside the house. When I approached it it jumped out. The deathclaw was less than three feet tall but seemed just as vicious. It attacked with the speed of its taller brethren. I immediately recoiled in shock and jumped backwards while simultaneously pulling out my hunting shotgun. It only took a few shots to take down, but it's convulsing body was just as disturbing as it being alive. In Dr 8's house I found a sonic emitter as well, with the items and information I travelled back to the Think Tank. Klein was not happy to hear the fate of his dog but I could care less what he thought. 8 on the other hand seemed quite happy with my gift to him. He claimed to "charge up" the emitter and then gave me cram and duct tape as a I received my shitty rewards I went out to find the asshole that stole my brain. Klein had the brains enough to mark the location of Mobius on my pipboy, what he failed to tell me was the Mobius was on the far north-east point in the Bit MT. On the way were a few places I hadn't explored yet so at least there was a possibility of free loot and things to shoot on the way. I stepped out of the Think Tank tower feeling good about my loud and proud plan of attack. Of course the second I stepped out I was ambushed by robo-scorpions and Mobius' voice screaming at me over the Big MT loudspeaker system.
"Foolish mortal, I am DOCTOR MOBIUS and my ROBO-SCORPIONS are now here to destroy you!"
"Sneaking done" said my suit that apparently had never heard of irony. Before the scorpions could have a chance to shoot at me. I was diving out of the way behind some of the old abandoned crates next to the tower. While they tried to circle around and pinch me in from both sides I got to work on some quick defenses. First I quickly threw a landmine along one side to slow them down, and then began climbing on top of the crate for a higher vantage point and line of sight. My lever action shotgun seemed to just appear in my hand while a laser pistol was pulled out of my belt in the other. I blew the tail off of the closest scorpion with my shotgun while I took potshots with the laser pistol at the larger group.
"I could use a little help here!" I yelled up to the top of the tower where I was sure the Think Tank freaks were watching me struggle. Of course none of them did anything, but i suppose it was my fault for assuming even former people now encased in robot heads could still have some good left in them. At the very least Mobius had apparently never thought that his enemies might climb on top of crates when fighting his robo-scorpions. For once I was glad the mad scientist hadn't thought of everything. The rest of the scorpions were fairly easy picking and I jumped off the crate when it was done to hear Doctor Klein's voice over the loudspeaker warning anyone listening to stay off of the yellow pipes.
Thanks for the help asshole.
I continued to make my way towards the Forbidden Zone where Mobius was hiding encountering a few skeletons in their trauma suits and random rogue robots along the way. One of the trauma suits was even able to come off and I grabbed it to sell back in New Vegas assuming I ever got out of this shithole. The walk to Mobius felt familiar to me in some strange way, like I had been this way before in some past life. When I got to the collapsed train tunnel that led to Mobius's lair a few more robo-scorpions came at me as always and were dispatched fairly easily. When I went to open the door it slid open without much effort and I walked inside unmolested. When I entered the room it all came back to me at once. I had been here before.
Chapter 11: First Encounters of the Robo-Brain Kind
I remembered being dragged into the Think Tank before. The Doctor's were probing my skin and seemed to be interested in making me their "newest creation". At the time I had no idea what was happening, but it was why they called me a Lobotomite. They hadn't taken my brain on my second journey to the Big M.T., but this time, the first time. The home appliances in the Think Tank were all functioning with their personality chips and I could remember them talking to me and arguing with one another over things that didn't make sense to me. I even remember the auto-doc replacing some of my limbs with biometric parts. Just like my friends had told me before I came here… or should I say came back. Somehow during my first visit the appliances all lost their personalities and had them scattered around the Big M.T. It felt like my fault somehow, but why? I couldn't remember what I had done to make them scatter. I could remember Klein and the rest telling me to fight Mobius before and I had done so. I had walked into this very room and fought a giant robo-scorpion, of course it was, and beaten it by using it's own control console and defenses against it. I remembered opening the door afterwards and finding Mobius in a state of insanity with my brain sitting in a chamber. My brain, that thought seemed like the key to it all. I would have to go confront it again.
Confront It! Again? Why do those words stick out to me.
"Here goes nothing" I said to myself before stepping forward into Mobius's chamber for the second time in my life.
The door opened with a creak and I entered at a crouch with my shotgun at the ready. I immediately saw two sites that were instantly familiar to me. The first was a robo-brain like the ones in the Think Tank floating around the room. The second was a chamber filled with water and tubes housing a very recognizable organ. The robo-brain stopped hovering about and turned to look at me as I entered the room. I quickly took aim.
"Oh, hello you again". It said to me in a voice that was akin to that of a drowning alcoholic or drug addict. "I'm glad you decided to retu-zzz-n to vizit me again".
"Mobius? Is that you" I asked.
"Forgo-*burp*-ten me already have yo" he said. "I thought after our lazt talk you would treat me like a freend again."
"The problem with that is that I can't remember the last time we spoke. I vaguely remember coming here the first time, but most of it is a blur to me. What happened to my body and why do I not have my brain back. What the fuck is going on."
Mobius told me everything. While his mentat infused brain made him almost impossible to understand, I got the full story. The first time I had been to the Big M.T. I had met the Think Tank just like this time, but I had refused to work for them and went to help Mobius instead. I got the full story of how Mobius had convinced the Tank that the items I had been sent to locate like the stealth suit, the X-2 antennae radar, and the sonic emitter were needed to defeat Mobius, were actually the items needed to perform a brain transplant. Mobius had built the radar fence to keep the Think Tank from escaping into the Mojave and unleashing more of their creations upon it. He had secluded himself in the Forbidden Zone with his robo-scorpions to ensure the survival of the remnants of mankind even if it meant his sanity in the process. The first time I had come to the Big M.T. he knew I was the only way to stop the Think Tank from becoming the demons he knew they would be in the outside world. I had went back to confront Klein and his associates, but somehow they caught word of my intentions and found a new frequency for the calming effect the Think Tank had that superseded the failsafe Mobius had given me. When I came back they incapacitated me and took the personality modules out of the appliances so that they couldn't warn me when I came back. Then the Think Tank sent me back to the Mojave with biometric body parts to monitor me for the eventuality that I return and they try to use me to kill Mobius again.
"Wait, so what happened to my brain. Why is it still with you?" I asked.
"Thats for you and the brain to sort out" said Mobius in his classic insane rambles of sentences.
"Why it quite is." came a British accent from behind me. I turned around to see the tank I had spotted from the doorway and my brain staring back at me.
"You.. you can talk?"
"Of course I can talk you idiot, I am you after all."
"Why do you have that strange accent?"
"The only voice modulator Mobius had was English, I can't say i'm happy with it but it works."
"So, can my other organs talk?"
"No you idiot. Did you never learn anything in all the years we've been alive. I'm the center of you, the thoughts. Your spleen can't talk too."
"Oh. Alright well let's get you back in my head and we can head off to kill Klein."
"Well maybe I don't want to go back in with you. You've obviously been doing fine without me."
"But your my brain, why wouldn't you come back?"
"Are you insane. I have to put up with you, you always wanting to go and kill the dangerous raiders with guns and other monsters. And then there's the disease and all that damn whiskey you drink isn't good for me either."
"You can't tell me it isn't fun though, we get to see some beautiful and cool shit out there."
My brain started to fluster.
"Well… I suppose you're right…"
"C'mon baby you and me are meant to be!"
"Fine, I.. I suppose i'll come back with you."
My brain exited the chamber and plopped into a storage container that I promptly picked up. The only thing left to do now was confront the Think Tank. Though, something else felt pressuring to me. I felt bad for all the personalities of the appliances in the Think Tank that were scattered around the Big M.T. just waiting to be broken or destroyed forever. It would be a bit of a longer route, but I was determined to save them all before I went back to Klein and his cronies.
It took me a long time and I had some not so fun encounters with weird little creatures and shit around the Big M.T., I eventually found all of the personality chips except for the toaster. The only place I hadn't really explored yet was a cave on the top of a cliff on the western side of the crater. I could always see lobotomites and a trauma suit skeleton hovering around the entrance of the cave and decided to ignore it, but now I needed to get in the cave and make sure the toaster personality was or wasn't there. I began to scale the cliffs after finding a curvy and uneven path leading from the Yangtze camp that had been here since the war. There were a few brainless enemies at the camp that I quickly dispatched. When I continued climbing up the road I found some robo-scorpions that I had to eliminate before I reached the cave entrance itself. A lobotomite jumped out and me and almost impaled itself on my sword before I even had a chance to cut it's head off myself. I crouched down and entered the cave at a snail's pace. Obviously I had a rifle at the ready as well, on this particular occasion I was feeling a silenced semi-auto rifle I had picked up at a raider camp back in the Mojave. The first enemy dropped without alerting its invalid companions and I continued into the cave. There were a total of about six other lobotomites and the one trauma suit lining the walls of the cave and wandering around like the buffoons they were. I laid a mine under the body of their friend and continued deeper inside, picking off enemies when I had clear shots on them. Seeing the bodies drop in front of them still probably wouldn't alert the others. Only sound or sight would do that. Soon only the trauma suit was left standing and somewhere along the way it had sniffed me out and was charging me with a piece of rebar it had found somewhere. My rifle kept pinching holes through its head and chest area but they didn't even seem to be slowing it down. When it got close i quickly smacked it with the butt of my rifle and pulled out my combat knife. I could feel the rebar hit my back as I tried to twist out of the way and I swore I could hear my brain in my backpack say something about how it never should have come back with me. As I got back up from the hit, the suit was on the backswing part of a new strike and I quickly decided to sprint in quickly to get under its defenses. My combat knife punched high and deep into its chest area as it had nothing to swing down at. I drug the knife up through the suit and the skeleton inside and managed to decapitate it before any more damage could be done. With that done I took a quick check for any more enemies in the cave, and with the all clear I started scrounging around for the personality chip that had to be in here somewhere. It only took me a good 30 seconds after turning on my flashlight to see I had made the right choice. The room around me was completely full of stacked toasters and other broken appliances. It felt like some sort of shrine to the dominance of toasters when compared to other small kitchenware. On a shelf in the back of the room I found the chip I was looking for and got out of one of the few things I'd seen in my travels that actually made me feel uncomfortable. The walk back to the Think Tank took a lot shorter than I had expected and as I rode the elevator up I took the new serum Mobius had given me to counteract the calming effect in the Think Tank room. Before I encountered the elephants in the other room, I took it upon myself to put all the personalities back. I came to find these appliances were all maniacs. The lightswitches all hated each other, the jukebox had a speech impediment, the plant grower wanted to "breed my seed", the auto-doc seemed perfectly fine to do surgery but warned me he was getting old and rusty, and the toaster wanted to drown the world in nuclear fire. I guess I was right about the shrine after all. It did most of the talking and its main rhetoric was to complain that the nuclear holocaust had already happened so it couldn't do it again. It also told me that the rest of the AI's in the Think Tank would rue the day they threw him into a bathtub, he was very explicit in saying that they'd never be able to toast bread for the rest of eternity. The most tame personality was Muggy, a simple little robot that just wanted to collect coffee mugs. That's why he got to stay in the bedroom. The big mega computer in the middle of the room called itself The Sink and relayed that there wasn't much else for me to do in the Big M.T. It was time to confront the Think Tank. When I walked in the room my weapons weren't drawn so the Think Tank couldn't do something last minute to stop my vengeance again.
"Lobotomite how did i-" said Klein before I blew his robo-brain in half with my lever action shotgun.
"My names The Courier, get it right bitch."
The rest of the Think Tank seemed to get the memo and immediately started firing lasers at me. I suppose they would have been a threat to someone that didn't have bionic limbs to make dodging the shots easier than blasting Klein's face in two. 0 was the next to go with Dala, and Eight following shortly behind. At the end Borous was the only one standing, or should I say floating, and he began to beg for his life.
"Please don't kill me, i'm too weak."
"You took my brain, lied to me, used me to do your dirty work all so you could go out and fuck up the one place I call home. And after you wiped my brain a second time you had the audacity to try it again and you really thought I wouldn't find out what you've done. You made nightstalkers in the splicer lab, Deathclaws and other beasts that have killed my friends and dozens of innocent people in the Wasteland, and you want me to let you go out there just to cause more havoc. I don't think so."
Borous was now whimpering on the ground. He started to say something that sounded like it could have been justification for his actions. Before he could finished I put a solid piece of lead through his face and ended it right then and there.
The Think Tank was no more. While the Big M.T. would always have rogue robots and brainless men wandering its midst there would no longer be a threat from either Mobius's robo-scorpions or the Think Tank's tinkering into things that they had no right to play into. The Sink's appliances were all back together and seemed to be having fun arguing with one another and dealing with the toasters antics. Mobius would continue to live a drug fueled life in in robo-brain in the Forbidden Zone. And finally my brain decided to stay in the Sink for the time being with my heart and spine in preservation chambers. My brain told me to go find some more answers before I could reunite with it. When I was throwing the Think Tank's bodies off the balcony on the huge spire I also found a special gun with Big M.T. Transportalponder! etched in the side. When I hit the trigger it sent me back to the old drive in movie theater where the crashed satellite was. I was home.