Ficool

Chapter 176 - Chapter 176

As the armor booted up and his mobility began to kick in through the frame, his HUD appeared on the glass visor of the helmet which showed him a few useful pieces of information, or rather it would have been useful if his pip-boy wasn't both more thorough and more detailed, but having it only a glance down with his eyes was useful regardless. However, speaking of his pip-boy, that simple HUD that the power armor had was apparently able to link up with the systems of the Power-armor and offer a full pip-boy list of options from radio to inventory management. It was actually incredibly advanced and completely unexpected. So after only a moment for his pip-boy to make the connection the HUD overhauled itself and gave him a full range of Pip-Boy options. In fact, the fact that the pip-boy could link up with the power armor systems in the first place was such an unexpected boon he found himself at a loss of words for it.

Separate from his HUD the power armor moved fluidly, functioning just as he remembered from back in the war. It fit like a glove and offered him a full range of mobility. Stepping into power armor actually felt so comfortable he could operate indefinitely in one if not his need to use a bathroom. However that was a gross misuse of Power armor, training from the US army dictated the power armor remain on standby until it was needed for deployment or in the case of guard deployment it was only then meant to be worn at all times. As any US Army Engineer could tell you that while the power armor suits were built to last some of the materials were precision built and thus required constant maintenance to achieve peak performance. To save durability it was best to not over use the power armor, even if it made you feel invincible. He could only feel bad for the poor fools who found power armor nowadays and were not able to use it to its fullest as they remained in the armor even when it was unneeded. 

Regardless, his immediate tests done and feeling quite satisfied he popped back out of the armor and slotted the fusion core back into the fusion generator. Within a minute all the lights in the building were back on and they could all resume their work.

Interestingly , but perhaps unsurprisingly, Eve and Rae had no issues operating in the dark and had continued their work unimpeded. However the others simply had to wait to see again.

The group then resumed the scavenging. To put it bluntly, this place was stocked. The first basement floor had all the food Adam had seen before, all of it was great but the real goldmine was the second and third basement floors. Much like the previous floors it was not nearly stocked full to the brim but it was still decently stocked full of ammo, guns, armor, electrical parts, even some silver bars. It also looked as though before the super mutants had moved in there were humans living here first as some of the side rooms had been stocked full of clothing and toys, things super mutants had no need for.

Asking Pearl where the valuables were kept proved to be completely pointless. Her idea of valuable proved to be excessively unhelpful, however he did find a super sledge that the so called 'leader' of these mutants was wielding which was nice. Pearl looked at the super sledge with puppy dog eyes as Adam took it and eventually relented, giving it over to her as a gift. He was pleased it was the kind he was familiar with, the US Military Variant of the Super Sledge.

The super sledge was originally used by construction crews for demolition in civilian settings. That was nothing more than a glorified sledgehammer with a rocket attached to its back. It worked, certainly, but the one that he had just handed over to Pearl was far more sophisticated.

Deployed in the battle against the Chinese to Power armor troops, specifically troops utilizing T51 power armor variants, they were used to bust down defensive positions and proved to be a very useful tool in close quarters combat. Rather than having a rocket attached to the back the sledgehammer was high-tech from top to bottom. Shock absorbing material, kinetic storage and collection device stored in the head surrounded by shock dampers that reduce the transfer of force to the user to manageable levels and a pommel at the bottom to ensure it does not slip out of the users hands. Truly a weapon designed for war. It also was not a weapon meant to be wielded outside of power armor. Much like the fatman it was often considered too unwieldy for that. However considering how big super mutants were, Pearl being no exception, it seemed to be just the right size for her.

A small part of Adam was jealous, as he too was quite fond of the super sledge, especially now that he had power armor in which to wield it, however as it turned out he had many other toys to play with.

Mini gun with ammo backpack, flamer and fuel backpack, a 40mm grenade rifle, and several laser rifles though all with stock options, he had more than his choice of weapons if he wanted something loud and dangerous. The laser rifles were different though. The standard AER9 Laser rifle, even without all the modifications that the US Army offered to their troops, was easily Adam's favorite weapon. He was a laser boy. Sure, it had its downside, namely not packing as much punch as a conventional kinetic weapon. But in the US Army most soldiers were trained to use laser rifles, and most units deployed with a majority of the troops utilizing the weapon, Adam was no exception. Perhaps it was simply bias coming from his comfort with the weapon but he loved the feel of a warm laser in his hands. Now that he finally had the opportunity he was going to add the laser rifle to his kit. Where? How? He would figure that out later, for now he was content to know that he had it available to him.

These unique finds were far from the only things of note, however it would take nearly as long listing them out as it would for the group to move them into the APC, which had been moved closer for convenience sake. Suffice it to say that by the time they were done the APC's transport section was full to the brim with goods, and one broken Buddy. In addition, everyone had at least one backpack full of goods as the FRS also seemed to have a decent number of bags available to hand out. Pearl was using a whole shopping cart strapped to her back as a backpack. Modifications had already been made by one of her, now dead, brothers to allow it to be used as a back pack. Judging by the fact it used to have a half dead corpse inside before it was discovered, it was safe to assume this was not meant to be used to carry things. Regardless of its grim history it served well as a backpack large enough for Pearl to carry a sizable number of items. 

By the time the group was done, backpacks and APC loaded, the FRS had more or less been picked clean. It was not as if there was nothing left behind, a lot of what was left behind was useless or deemed not worth trying to bring back when they already had so much stuff. However it was picked through well enough that there was no reason to ever return here. They had done it, this was Adam's biggest score ever, and he was already eager to cash all this loot in for caps.

"Everyone ready?" Adam asked the group as he loaded the power armor, now with the fusion core, into the back of the APC where he left room for it, and then closed the door finally. The group offered him various nods and thumbs up indicating they were all good to go. Pearl did too, though she seemed confused by the gesture of a thumbs up but was willing to do it as well even if she didn't understand the meaning.

"Alright then, let's go sell off this haul." Adam grinned.

More Chapters