Snowflake on the sand
Chapter 27
Why don't you do right?
"Attention Lobotomite… if you are still alive that is… we need the technologies to completely take over science and triumph over the eeeeevil Doctor Mobius" Winter opened her eyes as the distant yelling woke her up, Six barely stirred next to her his mind and body drained. The ugly scars on his chest and head reminding that he was basically hollow now, not in the philosophical sense but quite literally. He had explained it loosely but he was no quite sure, out of the corner of her eye she spotted movement.
Curiosity got the best of her, grabbing Six's patient gown she moved towards the Sink and spotted a tiny securitron ramming its body against a wall, Winter raised an eyebrow as she saw it stare intensely at coffee cup it didn't even notice her walking next to it. Picking the cup up she gave it to the robot and to her surprise she heard sniffling "You and master are so nice, little Muggy is so happy" the robot hugged her leg, Winter amused patted the robot on its head. "Muggy right? What are you doing here?"
Muggy looked towards the room where Six was finally stirring awake and then back to her "Master has been reactivating our personality modules it was… weird, even if the comment comes from me which doesn't mean much but anyway. Most of us where reactivated while master muttered basic orders to us and then ran back into the big MT, the light switches think he is hot but I just like mugs.. oh God I know you have more cups they're sitting there in your back pocket taunting me!"
Winter looked at her outfit and raised an eyebrow "This thing doesn't have pockets…" Six walked into the picture and threw a cup at Muggy, who grabbed it and wheeled away happily. "Doctor O made him like this because he hates House's guts, but the real kicker is that he knows he sounds insane hahahha man that's mean" the courier informed as he adjusted his dessert ranger outfit. Lucky and The mysterious magnum where hidden but it looked like Six was going to war. Winter looked down at her excuse of and armor and let out a sigh "Where did you even get that?"
Six looked down at himself and wiped out some of his blood "I had it when… I died? I am not sure what is going but Doctor Dala might have the answers, she was the one that cut me into many many pieces so I will go and talk with the Think Tank… maybe you can tag along too I planned that yesterday, but a disguise might be…" Six rambled on as he returned to his room and opened a large safe, he rummaged it for a while but then he returned with a familiar outfit and a mask.
"You're kidding there's no way I am wearing that!" Winter recoiled back as the offensive blue outfit was offered, Six chuckled "I don't have any other type of clothes that would fit you I was going to sell this to the Vault Hotel you know, luck is on your side" Winter glared at him. "I wouldn't call luck having to wear one of those things… do you not have a shirt or something that I can use?"
Six shook his head and placed the outfit on her hands making Winter frown even more, armored vault suit. She was familiar with it, Six had used one before but to her the outfit was just too… odd. But it was not like she could use her old outfit, Six had placed the remains of it on a crafting table, seems like the had not been merciful to it. So with a sigh and a glare she walked towards their while six snickered a little at her reactions, he clapped making the rooms lit up "All right everyone shows up, you can talk. Muggy here could not contain himself"
"Oh sure blame it aaaaall on me" the tiny securitron said as he went to retrieve the toaster from the trash, his speaker had been taped infuriating the toaster of doom more than Six thought possible "HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR HANDS ON ME?! Soon I will end the world and EVERYTHING you hold dear!" Six raised an eyebrow at him "You do know that the world already ended right?"
There was a moment of silence but it was broken when the Jukebox (who preferred to be called Blind Diode Jefferson) laughed at the poor maniacal toaster followed by the Book Chute and Six swore he heard the Auto-Doc chuckle.
"Really? Fuck that puts a damper on this toaster's mood… then prepare to see the world destroyed AGAIN! MUHAHAHAHAHA" Winter walked out of the room and flipped him face down making the toaster let out a long string of curse words, Winter blushed as Six gawked at her "Why did the light switch call me skank who stole her man Six?" a distant 'because you are' was heard. But Six simply ignored it as he closed his eyes and did a mock prayer "Thank you, for I think I have seen heaven"
Winter kicked him the shins as she geve him a glare "This never happened, when we get out of here you wont mention a thing to anyone you hear me you dolt?" Six chuckled but his expression changed as he looked at the elevator. He reached for a mask he had ripped off a lobotomite yesterday because he thought it looked cool, but now he needed to be at his best he did not doubt his ability to bullshit the Think Tank but he also needed to be smart enough to explain why Winter was there. So with that in mind after Winter had gone to sleep he had stayed up puling an all-nighter reading on anatomy and brains, he event went to the auto-doc to ask in a hushed tones things beyond his grasp and now… he still didn't knew jack but it didn't mean that he could not bullshit just a little bit more.
"Ok what do you now of Big MT Winter, only things you have seen with your eyes" the courier questioned as he moved towards and used what looked like to be a bone from some creature as a way to point at the screen. "Not much other than the robots here are top of the line, event those back at Mr. House's bunker where not as resistant as this ones"
Sis nodded and pointed at the different facilities "We are stuck in the world of the hyper intelligent monsters that kept the war going long ago, but they did something to themselves right Muggy?"
The tiny robot scoffed as he took apart what looked like to be a dish "Yes as I said yesterday, they put their brains in jars so now they use no dishes… assholes" Winter blinked as the information settled in. Six then pointed at the different faiclities on the map "These are the… well supposed location of the facilities here at Big MT, apparently some of them have been wiped out or somehow they fucking moved. The brains downstairs want me to locate three technologies, naturally I agreed because I thought it was in hell but details you know, but you thinking what I am thinking?"
Winter snapped her fingers at him and smiled "They can build the machine we need, all we need is to explain the situation and maybe they will be intrigued enough to helps us, or maybe just out of the goodness of their heart" Six made a face as the room went silent.
"Best if you find out by yourself, put this mask on and act like you got your brain scooped out" Six commented as he gave one final glance at something in the big book of science, cracking his knuckles he psyched himself up as he stared at the elevator with the words Think Tank above it. Winter put the mask on and gave a brief at herself in the well-polished exterior of the Auto-Doc. The vault suit… fit a little bit too well but the mask made her look like something out of a cheap horror movie. Six told her to act like her brain got removed so a particular movie came to mind, smiling under the mask she started to drag her feet towards Six as she moved her hands clumsily, Six gave her a raised eyebrow but Winter simply gurgled the words "Brains"
The courier laughed but nodded "Yup, we can go with that. Now stay close to me and no matter what, don't talk. They are… jumpy in a way" Six said as he held the elevator doors open for her to shuffle in, the ride down was quiet but Winter spotted how sweat started to form on Six's brow. He was nervous, she realized as the doors opened and his hand immediately snapped to his sides, barely being able to move them and the moment they moved to his weapons they quickly moved back to a normal position "Pacification field, what a pain in the ass" the courier commented as he walked into the large dome. Winter was glad she was wearing a mask with lenses because her eyes widened as a familiar sight greeted her, it looked like a top of the line atlas facility but with a lot more dials and less chairs.
"What are you DOING?! Bringing another lobotomite here is strictly AGAINST the rules, look at it dragging its many…" Six raised its hands as the giant machine floated towards them, the screen showing to angry eyes, the brain visible through the glass and gel at the top of the head.
"I know but look at what it can do, somehow my lack of brain made it react to the teals coils" Six said as he pointed at Winter, the specialist felt the machine stare at her so she did what came to mind "Brainssss" Doctor Klein rolled his eyes as best as he could with only biogel and screens as his means of communicating his discontent. "So a lobotomite followed you, didn't attack you and all you thought about was bring it to us, please just bring the technologies you brainless thing… and all of you so called geniuses stop eavesdropping and get BACK to work!"
"Sure thing Doctor Klein I just need to speak some things with Doctor Dala and Doctor Borous it won't be long" Klein seemed satisfied as he looked for something and then tossed it at the courier "Keep that thing on a leash, if it defecates is YOUR issue I don't even have hands to clean it." Six chuckled nervously as he felt Winter twitch in anger next to him but bit her tongue, Doctor O approached him as Six looked for Dala "Found anything about what we discussed … the name thing?"
There was a moment of silence as Six blinked in confusion, but then he recalled the conversation with the expert in demolition "Oh yeah, not much really all I remember is that it's not O Doctor O… hehe. But I just can't wrap my head around it like, if it's not a letter then what is it" Winter did a double take as the answer of their predicament quickly came to her, but how could she share it with Six. So channeling her inner zombie she wrapped her arms around Six and nibbled as best as she could on his ear, was it embarrassing? More than anything she had ever done but she managed to whisper "Zero" into his ear.
"Your pet is doing something weird, please kick her out I already have enough weirdness working next to Dala" Six coughed to cover as he gently pushed Winter to the side "Don't mind it, it's looking for brains. I think I got it its Zero, Doctor Zero"
The brain nodded happily as he recalled "Thank you, that's it Doctor 0 that's my name. It feels so good to finally be able to be recognized by my REAL name, the biggest zero in all of big MT. now how to make the others recognize it… hey you're kind of smart for a lobotomite, so tell me what can we do?" Six being put on the spot pulled a pose as he made it look like he was thinking, Winter using her freedom as a zombie shuffled to Six and with her bails did a zero and then slashed it down the middle. Six blinked and then turned to Doctor 0 "Why not put a slash through it, that way no one can confuse it for an O"
Doctor 0 nodded (Or at least Winter assumed that's what the brains did as nodding) and picked up some stuff "Here, as a thank you more of those useless caps… I think you would not need more of this as we already gave you a lot but, oh well a gesture is what I remember we did in the old days as thank you. Unless you name is House and you never apologized for existing so every single MONTH without fault he would publish this stupid articles as a gesture to show investors that they could trust in him god I hated him" Zero went back to his terminal and with a few prompts a large explosion shook big MT, Zero laughed. "Suck on that House, can you turn everything to dust with a few well-placed missiles I doubt you can!"
"A if it isn't my little Teddy Bear, are you here to show me… more, of what you showed me yesterday" the voice of Dala interrupted her, Six feeling Winter's glare behind his back quickly stretched one arm and scratched his nose with the other "Like this?" Winter heard the doctor do… a very peculiar noise as her entire body(?) shook "I am far too weak for this right now teddy bear, I cannot partake on our activities"
Winter felt like she had just walked into bizarre world. Doctor 8, she assumed, just appeared out of nowhere made a bizarre static noise and then returned to his post "Haha good one 8" Zero replied not bothering to look up from hi screen. Dala on the other hand was busier analyzing Six "So I actually have a reason for being here, I need some answers regarding my arrival, more specifically the part that I think I was fucking dead"
Dala chuckled "Please do not be so dramatic little teddy bear, your heart simply exploded that's all. The rest of you was mostly intact I think, the brain had simply gone to sleep. Shh little organs no need to cry, it was nothing we couldn't solve the hard part always come with the brain like your new friend over there, it is a mindless thing the tesla coils always failing. Like you it has no organs at least not one's that I didn't alter"
Six shuddered "So in other words, I wasn't dead per say I was just close to it. Man what luck, its almost like I got someone looking out for me" Six said and the bizarre jingle Winter had heard before filled the room, Six waved at Dala who made a noise the specialist wished she hadn't heard. Klein barely moved from his projections and schematics nose deep into what looked like to be satellite information, it was only for the Big MT for some reason and Winter spotted one signal, off to the side barely visible coming from the Mojave.
A theory started to form on her mind, but she would save it for later for now she was content to follow Six, it took two short coughs to gain the attention of the last Doctor. It glared down at Six "And so the lobotomite returns, his intentions unknown! I hope you're here for a good reason"
"You bet, I have some trouble locating this thing you wanted me to reach" Six started but was interrupted by Borous who looked down at him in shock "You have not found X-8? Unbelievable! The Nigh Stalkers and Cazadores have more brains than you do! Believe me I know that much, after all I made them"
Six glared "Are you telling me, that not only you created those monsters. You also let them loose on the world?"
"Why those it matter is not like they can reproduce" Borous said defensively as Six wanted to kick his tank in but the pacification field kicked in "You idiot, of course they can! They have huge nest all over the… you know what it doesn't matter, just tell me a how to get to X-8 more easily" Six said as he felt a headache coming along, Borous narrowed his hypothetical eyes but dropped the matter "Fine, follow my cyber-dogs! All of them come from that facility, I would say see you again but who knows if there is a next time for any of us!" Borous went back to his work after that cryptic message, Winter followed Six as they exited the are but energy surged all around them as Six felt electricity start to move all around the facility.
Klein glared down at him from his position high above "Remember lobotomite, there is only way to defeat Mobius and that's with those technologies. Get them fast, time is not on our side" Winter looked from the side, barely remembering that she had a cover that she could not blow. These maniacs and oddballs held power beyond anything she had ever seen in the wasteland, the Night-Stalkers and Cazadores where stuff of legend back in Vegas. Zero had just wiped out the equivalent of a small town with just with one bullet of what Winter feared was a large arsenal. Doctor Dala and Doctor 8 seemed to be more hyper focused on their fields even if she had no idea what the hell the static doctor was doing.
For his part Six let out a sigh as they returned to the Sink "Man those guys always put my nerves on high alert, even if I don't have anymore nerves I think" Winter removed the mask and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know, small is a word I never thought a brain in jar could make me feel"
Six looked down at his PipBoy and frowned "Still early in the morning, if you feel like having breakfast before leaving now would be perfect and after that we're off to X-8" Winter nodded as she moved to the kitchen followed by Six. As Wintered poured herself a glass of water and prepared some toast in collaboration with a still salty Toaster, Six made some eggs that Winter hopped where of some bird and not whatever abomination h had come across in his travels.
"Six, who is this Doctor Mobius? The brains seemed scared of him" a plate of eggs was placed in front of her as she smelt how delicious it smelled, seems like Six had added some vegetables he had foraged, an omelet was what she would call it back home, but she doubted Six knew it had a name. The Courier let out a sigh as he grabbed some water and dug in to his meal "Doctor Mobius is the evil overlord of the forbidden zone, his machine is what cut me into pieces. I don't know if the satellite that brought me here is also his doing, but one thing I know is that he is at war with the rest of the Think Tank, he is constantly threatening them over the radio and sending his army of Robo-scorpions all over the facility I saw them march from my cover" Winter nodded as she finished her meal.
"So what you are telling me is that he is the one we have to beat correct?" Winter commented as she adjusted the vault suit, Six made a face as he stood up "I don't know, there is no way into the forbidden zone that the Think Tank knows and because they cannot leave this dome for now. So I need to get three technologies as they call them, the X-8 facility is the one that makes the most sense to me, they gave this machine" Six grabbed the Sonic Emitter and handed it to Winter, the weapon looked like another energy weapon but it had a screen that displayed soundwaves for some odd reason.
"The juke box over there says he can change the type of sound we fire, thing is I really did little exploration yesterday that I remember, I just kind of ran as fast as I could to reach my destinations. Central Intelligence wake up I need to buy some stuff" the table in the middle, lit up as the sink hummed with blue light. The sink central intelligence unit quickly prepared the cap dispenser "Good day sir, might you allow me to say that you look splendid?"
Six chuckled "Why thank you, I will need some weapon repair kits don't worry about the price. By the way, this is Winter by the way treat her as you would treat me" the central intelligence scanned the specialist, Winter approached the machine the lights turned to her while Six repaired Lucky "Might I interest Sir with some Stimpaks?" Winter raised an eyebrow.
"You do know that I am woman right?" Winter commented but the AI didn't care, there was a small ding as the menu came into view. "Of course I know, but sadly I was programed to only address a male by Doctor Mobius my creator. You will have to forgive me" Winter looked at the menu as many healing items came into view. Med-X was a no to her, Six had to go to the clinic to get his addictions cured. As she gave a sideways glance towards him she wondered if his new body made him more resistance or simply made him immune. But there was little time to think about that.
As the door to the big mountain opened and they where greeted by an almost alien world there was some nervousness in her stomach, but unlike the Sierra Madre she wanted to see all that this weird place had to offer. The future was here, for both Remnnat and Earth, so she would not squander the opportunity.
A/N: Small chapter to clarify some things as I saw some confusion in the comments. I hope this clears some doubts about the last chapter and the What If chapter before that. Big MT is ripe for the taking and because I am really enjoying playing through it again with some mods I think next chapter will be longer than this one. Thank you for reading and reviewing, you really make my day. See you soon!