Stalking Stalkers

Afton groggily wakes up to the tunes of jazz that Jefferson seemed to be playing. He rolls over and falls out of bed, just notifications flash past his eyes.

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 41!]

[WELCOME TO LEVEL 42!]

Afton sighs as he's locked in place, unable to move and wipes the sleep from his eyes due to the sudden level up. He glances at the 30 Skill Points he'd received and looks at his Explosives Skill that is currently at 99... Shrugging, he adds one additional point in it to max it out.

[Explosives Skill Maxed! Perk Granted : Explooo-sion!]

[Explooo-sion!] : Take 80% less damage from your own explosions and 40% less from all other sources.

Afton raises a brow at the funnily dressed 'Witch-Vault Boy' That'd popped up, but ignores it and focuses on the perk he'd received. It almost made him immune to explosions he created, which would be a boon if he continued to use explosives like his Sonic Emitter and [Meltdown] Perk.

Still, he wouldn't be launching nukes at his feet anytime soon as he suspected he'd still be vaporized. He was very happy with the 40% resistance against other people's explosive weapons though, that may allow him to take a few extra hits without instantly dying... Something that was quite useful.

Hm, he still had 29 Skill Points left to deposit, and Afton wasn't all that sure what he wanted to use them on... The only available options he actually had left were Barter, Lockpick, and Survival.

He wasn't all that interested in Barter of Lockpick, so Survival would be the best choice. Plus, he might need it in future when Tanning certain creatures pelts. Sure he could try and figure it out via his Repair and Science skills, but why waste the time when he could just level this.

Afton boosts up Survival to 59 points and focuses on the available Perks.

[Certified Tech] :+25% critical hit chance against robots, 85% chance of finding an extra crafting component on destroyed robots.

Yeah... Afton wasn't surprised to see only one new option available. The Perk itself wasn't all that great, aside from the potential ways to abuse it... He could create a robot designed to be destroyed, break it to find the bonus material, and then repair it via his [Mechanicus] Perk, essentially granting him infinite materials.

Of course, this was all hinging on whether or not he'd be able to loot his own robots, which Afton wasn't all that certain on. Shaking his head, he looks back to a Perk he'd been ignoring since he started leveling.

[Lady Killer] : +10% damage to the opposite sex and unique dialogue options with the opposite sex. Yeah, it was either this or getting [Intense Training] to boost Perception or Endurance.

"No, I've left it long enough... COME TO ME, MY YOOOUTH!" he mentally exclaims while selecting it.

...

Yeah, he doesn't feel all that different. Time resumes and Afton finally hits the floor beside his bed. "Jefferson! Turn the volume down for god's sake!"

"Heh! Heh! What was that, son? I can't hear you over these tunes!" the personalities voice echoes through the door. Before the music abruptly turns off.

"My sincerest apologies, sir. I had been cataloguing more of the commissary and had not noticed the racket. Rest assured, it will not happen again..." Alfred's voice says over the intercom system.

Afton grumbles and collects his gear, walking into the hub room to collect Nyx where he'd left her... He wanted her to get acquainted with Alfred so he'd left her in his company for the night.

"User! Alfred has never sneaked before! Something must be done!" Nyx exclaims as he approaches.

"As I said before, I simply lack the capability to 'sneak' as it were. If you pushed the meaning of the word, however, you could say I am always 'sneaking', as my duties to the Sink at times force me to remain unseen." Alfred explains.

Afton just shakes his head and equips the Stealth suit, ignoring Nyx's surprised exclamation at Alfred's words. He chews on some-sort of power bar as he exits the dome. Checking his Pipboy for the location of the X-8 facility, his destination.

He remembered Borous words yesterday and knew he'd need to find the Kennel once there, other than that. He'd first be checking around the facility for Robo-Scorpions, since this is the last technology he needed to gather to... do whatever the Think Tank intended to do...

He had thought the journey would be fairly easy, avoiding Lobotoimites was easy enough, even if they were in large groups. But strangely, all Lobotomites he'd seen tried to avoid the East side of the dome... The reason for this? Why, the huge packs of Night Stalkers roaming around the area.

With Nyx's help he'd avoided most, but he had been forced to fight a few groups. The closer he got to the X-8 facility, the more Night Stalkers he encountered. It was only after dispatching the third group of them that he noticed where they were coming from... A large building called the Z-9 Crotalus DNA preservation lab.

Afton was tempted to see what was inside, but thought better considering how many Night Stalkers he'd encountered thus far... No, instead, he found a group or two and cut off their limbs, tossing the bodies around the facility.

Once enough were gathered, he drew the Sonic Emitter and fired a round while activating [Meltdown]... The subsequent explosion was humongous, every Night Stalker caught in it just adding fuel to the chain reaction.

*BOOOOOOOOM!*

The ground shook as a small mushroom cloud formed above the facility... Or at least, what was left of the facility. Whatever had been living in there was undoubtedly dead, as the only thing that remained was a huge crater.

Afton claps off his hands after reholstering the Sonic Emitter. "A job well done."

"That wasn't sneaky at all" Nyx complains, but he ignores her. Instead, looking at his Pipboy and smirking slightly as he noticed that the Z-9 Crotalus DNA preservation lab was no longer displayed on the map.