POV Rio
After ending my expedition of what I now believe is Equus, or at least a post-apocalyptic world, I had created several dozen more Probe Droids and sent them to find anything of note on the planet. There were some regions I couldn't send them to, as the area was far too cold even for my droids. I would make more cold-resistant droids, but I had other plans. Which led me to where I am currently. I was 20 minutes away from Big Mountain Research and Development Center.
As we neared the facility, I let Cait and Quiet know that they would wait in the AHO until I sent the all-clear signal. Cait was annoyed, but I told her that I didn't want to find out if she would survive having her brain removed. She relented when I told he this.
Big Mountain was a fairly large facility within a massive crater of what used to be a mountain. From the air, I decided where I would land, and it was the roof of the Think Tank. The door opened and I jumped out. I noted down everything I saw from the sky, such as enemies and buildings. Especially ones I need to erase very thoroughly. Such as Patient Zero. That thing was far too dangerous to do anything other than complete annihilation with. I was taking no chances that it would get out and start to spread. I already had to worry about Vault 22. But I was a bit more confident Mr. House would deal with that.
'That place is bad for business without a doubt.'
I opened my wings and softly landed on the roof of the Think Tank Dome. Once I did so, I started looking for a panel, and then I opened the panel I found. I then used that access panel to gain access to the Think Tank's systems. It was a little more difficult than usual, but nothing I couldn't handle. Once inside, I send a small alert to one of the terminals. Nothing dangerous, but noticeable that it would get one of the Scientists to connect to the terminal. The first to do so was Dr. Dala.
'One down, four to go.'
Once they connect to the terminal, I instantly take over their robotic bodies and start downloading their entire brains. I had practice with Kellogg, so this was child's play. After taking over Dr. Dala, I repeated the process 4 more times, and then I entered the facility proper.
"What is the meaning of this!" Dr. Klein yells.
I don't want to hear his yelling, so I press a button and they go into sleep mode.
'Much better.'
I made sure the AHO could land on the roof safely, and when I was sure they could, I let Cait and Quiet join me. The AHO then took off again and stayed at a high altitude in case we needed them. I then started going through the brain data to see who I would spare and who I would kill. From my Darkness Sense Power, I could tell none of them were guilt-free, with Dr. 8 having the lowest darkness, but I wanted to be sure. Cait and Quiet offered to help, but I warned them they might not like what they see. They insisted anyway, so we each took a brain and went through the data.
The end result was... sadly expected, if not even worse. From what we could tell, these things were monsters. Plain and simple. Not a single one could be considered even slightly guilt-free. Dr. 8 was the least worst, but that was like comparing the evilness of Heinrich Himmler to Adolf Hitler. Both were just plain evil. Quiet got so mad that she didn't wait and brutally killed Dr. Dala. It seems her history with forceful body modifications triggered her. I let Cait and Quiet do what they wanted while I started downloading all the data the facility had at its disposal.
It was from this data that I learn Courier 6 never arrived here. I also learned that the Divide was now a massive ravine with seemingly no bottom and filled to the brim with radiation.
'I'll need to stop by there, if for nothing other than to gather all that radiation. And maybe I will get lucky and I will find something of value down there.'
The sheer amount of technical data the Think Tank had was truly immense, and this was only a fragment of the total scientific knowledge stored throughout the crater. But before we could get all of that, we would need to start clearing out the crater of any enemies. And I needed to talk with Dr. Mobius, or rather, access his brain and check if there is anything amiss with him. I had to just hope that he was a viable recruit.
3 Weeks Later...
It had been 3 weeks, and we had finally finished the last of the work needed before we could leave Big Mountain. In the end, I was able to recruit Dr. Mobius, but only after doing a massive overhaul of his robot body. His biogel needed to be flushed, and he needed to be treated with a modified Addictol treatment to purge his long-term Mentats addiction. I also had to use several healing spells to repair the damage done to his brain over the years and restore the various memories that had been wiped. He was depressed at first, but he started to get better when he started to help us break down Big Mountain. It also helped that he was able to put down the monsters that the Think Tank had made.
I wasn't able to save many of the inhabitants. The Lobotomites had been too damaged to repair, and their brains had long since been disposed of. The Spore Infected couldn't be cured as they were no longer human, just plants that infect other humans. The Yangtze camp survivors were also already feral by the time I got to them. The walking skeletons were put down once and for all. As for the Cazadors and Nightstalkers, they were a real pain to deal with, but with some reprogrammed robots, I was able to manage.
The Cyberdogs were different from the other inhabitants. I was able to tame and recruit them. They were basically a bunch of dogs that just needed some love. Sure, dogs that could launch sonic attacks powerful enough to cause immediate cranial rupturing, but Dogmeat seemed to like them.
When it came to Technology, there was a lot to go over. Light that boosted brain power, an improved Auto-Doc, Sonic Emitters, Invincible Hologram warrior tech, AI tech, Saturnite Alloy, more powerful artillery cannons, radar fences, hexcrete, weather manipulation, DNA splicing, Matter Materializer Vending Machines, Teleportation, Y-17 trauma override harness, some somewhat faulty hazmat suits, a really clingy Stealth Suit, and of course the Red Mist from the Sierra Madre and I even found a way to neutralize it. The said method was added to the DeRadifiers.
We also scrapped literally everything with the help of the Workshops. I didn't leave even the smallest piece of scrap behind. All that remained was a massive crater with literally nothing else of value. We also decided to head to the nearby Sierra Madre to clean up the Cloud that was a danger to the nearby area. I also figured I could put down the Ghost People. They had been trapped for long enough. Then I would likely scrap anything else as long as there were no other residents. The gold and other items the Sierra Madre had as of little value, but I would see if they had anything else. Dr. Mobius came with us on this trip, and I could see him getting better by the day.
It took 3 days to clear out the Sierra Madre, and most of that was just scraping the town connected to it. The Ghost people were easy to put down permanently with some cleansing magic. The cloud was eaten up and turned into normal oxygen with the DeRadifiers. The loot was mediocre. Almost anything of value had a copy at Big Mountain. As for the Vault, all I got was the corpse of Father Elijah and a few pieces of tech he had collected over the years. The Vault also had some Gold, but that was basically worthless to me. I didn't end up finding anyone alive at the resort. I didn't even find the expected Christine Royce. I could tell the Courier had been here thanks to a few recordings left behind.
Once I was done with the Sierra Madre, I made one last stop before going home, and it was to the Divide. Or what remained of it. There were a few noteworthy things to be found. The biggest was the decent amount of Ultracite. I also absorbed all the Radiation and found a few pieces of ore. There were practically no remaining structures left in this new ravine, and what remained were the small pieces of ore here and there.
POV Christine Royce
I returned from a trip to contact someone I had in the Brotherhood only to find that the entire Sierra Madre had vanished. I sat there, confused and dumbfounded as to how this happened. I pinched myself, rubbed my eyesbut nothing changed the empty view.
'Did I take a wrong turn at Albuquerque?'
I checked the map over and over again, but I was sure I was in the right spot.
'Did someone steal the casino? But if they did then they even took the foundation.'
I thought that was nonsense, but something clearly happened.
'Well, what do I do now?'
--------------
Author's Note:
Poor Christine, her house was stolen. I didn't want to do a long arc about the Big MT when I knew Rio could avoid all the nonsense, and if you think about it, Old World Blues isn't that long of a DLC. As for the Divide and the Sierra Madre, I figured Rio would just stop by and make the places safe to live, as well as take anything not nailed down. Or I guess technically everything, including the kitchen sink. Let me know if I missed a tech that Big MT has, as I can't remember everything. Until next time, Ciao.