143 Martyr or Mortar
The group duck under the half-closed door and enter the room. Suddenly as if they were being watched the speakers hidden in the corners of the room crackle to life.
"Congratulations, martyr, your fantastic journey is only just beginning. Please proceed to the light. The light is calming and puts your mind at ease. Go to the light. Welcome, please sit in the chair. The show is about to begin." a pre-recorded message states loud and clear.
...
The group glance at each other before looking at the chair...
"Who wants to take a seat?" he asks but no one answers.
Karl walks over to the projector, "Wonder what'd happen if we destroyed this?" he wonders aloud. He's about to give it a poke when the speakers blare to life again.
"Should you touch the projector, the sacrifice will be expedited by laser fire. Followed by immediate disintegration."
...
"Please take a seat, martyr!"
Afton sighs, "Fuck it, it's not like we'll be stuck sitting in it?" he says, finally sitting on the chair, now noticing that it the suspicious red splotches covering it seemed to actually be blood.
"Greeting, martyr, and welcome! If you're here now, it means you've been offered up as a sacrifice so that your vault can continue to thrive. Currently, you may be feeling sad or angry. Perhaps you never got to have grandkids, or to enjoy the pleasures of a fresh cigar. But march with your chin held high, soldier, and remember that each of us has an important role to play."
Afton stands to see if the room would realise he was no longer sitting, but it just continues with its tacky message as if he hadn't left.
The message itself seemed to be some kind of motivational speech about giving your life in the service of humanity. Or some other dogshit, Afton wasn't really paying attention.
He looks around the room and notices that the two walls on either sides of the chair seem to have a groove in the middle of them, indicating that they might open up? The room still had to kill them, and there weren't any bodies down here either...
By the warning they'd received earlier it meant that there were energy weapons ready to be fired at them at any moment. There needed to be something to remove the corpses of the sacrifices, and there didn't seem to be any mechanism under the chair, which meant there must be robots or something else still operating down here.
With all that information, it was fairly obvious what was about to happen. he doubted people forced to become sacrifices would go down without a fight. Meaning the method was likely quick and forceful. "So, we should probably start getting ready to fend off against robots." Afton says.
The other two ignore the slideshow that was still going and raise a brow at him. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, the walls will probably open up and allows robots in. We should set up some traps before that happens... Karl, can you rig some tripwires next to the walls?"
The man nods and quickly starts creating the traps, using the many grenades they'd found around the vault as the explosives. Afton and Boone leave the room via the half closed door and wait for Karl to finish.
Afton urges the man to work faster as it seemed like the slide show was about to finish.
"Almost done!" Karl says, pulling the string through the grenade rings and tying them to the tripwire.
"Close your eyes now and imagine what joys await you in the next life - the afterlife. Can you see them? Good." the slide show ends and a mechanical whirring could be heard. Karl finishes the trap and dashes for the door, sliding underneath it as Afton kicks the metal jamming it.
He was just in time too as the walls opened up to reveal many protections, mister handy's, and roof-mounted turrets. The mister handy's float over the tripwire's, but this isn't the case for the protections which don't seem to even bother recognising the fact that many grenades were about to go off around them.
The door slams shut just as the robots begin firing at them. Afton and Boone pulls Karl away from the door, just as the grenades erupt.
*BOOM!*
The floor shudders as many grenades all explode at once. The door itself violently trembles, but luckily doesn't allow any sharpnal through.
"You guys alright?" Afton asks, doing a rain check.
Boone nods and Karl just rubs his back, "I'm gettin' too fuckin' old for this shit." he mutters.
"You're not even that old though." Afton retorts, the man sending an exasperated glare in return.
"Whatever, let's just check to see if those robots are dead." Karl says as he stretches his back out, preparing to lift the door.
Afton readies Lucky as the Boone and Karl lift the door... Taking a peek inside reveals many destroyed robots, the walls, roof and floor seem almost undamaged aside from the large scorch marks, this is probably due to the reinforced steel they were constructed with.
Ducking under the door he takes the pipe and props the door open to allow the others inside.
*Bzzt* "H-ooold it right ther-bzzt intrudbzzt-"
Afton quickly turns as he hears the robotic voice. The one responsible is a protectron with only its upper half undamaged... Its legs were completely missing and its noodle-like arms seem to be missing their hands. Not wasting any time, he pressing Lucky against its light-bulb like head and fires.
*Bang!*
That definitely puts it out of commission as its head explodes, the robotic voice abruptly stopping.
"Heh, all in a days work." Karl says as he appreciates the damage his traps had caused.
