Adam left Deccanus to carve into the Ant queen while he collapsed a few of the tunnels that extended out from this chamber. He had no idea how structurally sound this place was so he didn't do much, just a bit of digging into the roof of a few of the smaller tunnels to cause some of it to collapse. Though he was careful not to press his luck.
Once Deccanus was done all four of them retraced their steps back through the tunnel they came in through and then climbed out. Of course Fyre did not climb out but simply increased his thruster power to fly out but that was inconsequential.
Adam returned to the Motorcycle, making sure it was still there. After all, it was the primary reason he was here. To collect this old project that got overshadowed by the APC.
"You were saying you knew about motorcycles, Deccanus?" Adam asked, curious.
"Yes." Deccanus said as he wiped down his blade with a cloth. "There was a group of people the Legion had met as they drew closer West towards the NCR. A gang of reprobates called the 80s. They say they were driven out by the expansionist policies of the NCR and they all rode around on things like these." Deccanus said, lightly gesturing to the motorcycle. "I got to see how they worked first hand. I found the speed and maneuverability of the vehicles to be… enviable."
"You mean you wished you could ride one too?" Adam asked, curious.
"I.. never considered it until now. At the time doing such a thing went against our teachings, this too was technology that brought the world to ruin, however it looked so… liberating. I suppose, given the chance, I would have liked to drive one." Adam smiled.
"Well you are in luck, I came here with the intention of picking this up. I have a mechanic in training who I think would love to have the chance to have his own project. When he's got it fixed maybe you could take it out for a ride. Which is the proper verb, by the way, ride."
"I see." Deccanus said with a lackluster response as he looked at the motorcycle again. "I may just do that." He said quietly, his eyes never once leaving the motorcycle. Adam chuckled quietly and patted Deccanus on the back.
"Come on, let's get this thing into the APC, we got some more looting to do." Adam said as he began to start pushing the motorcycle into the APC. "By the way, I'm surprised that you didn't insist on carving up the ants to eat their meat too." Adam joked softly.
"Ant meat is… not tasty…" Deccanus said in response darkly. "If our tribe were low on food I would supply our home with the ant meat. It would help sustain us further, however it is far from a delicacy." He paused. "I have been… hunting, in my spare time, to provide our tribe with some extra food here and there. Our food stores are getting low, but I do not feel that it is worth stooping that low. I would sooner suggest a coordinated hunt be taken to track down a pack of Radstag or wild Brahmin or Bighorn. But for the moment we still have time before such a measure is in dire need." Adam nodded slowly, understanding that he had not been thinking about the vault's food stores again. After the farm was successfully started he forgot that it would take some time until they were able to produce their own food. Until then, he would need to remember to keep the pantry stocked. He would need to remain on the lookout for food to buy or loot.
After the motorcycle was loaded up Adam looted the rest of the strip mall. Just as last time it had limited things but his objectives and carrying capacity had changed since he was last here so he could be more cavalier about what he took with him.
The shops were still a flower shop, a liquor shop that was already mostly looted by him, the smoke shop where the ant nest was, a record store, and the gun store. Last time Adam was here he had completely ignored the record store on account of the fact he was alone and didn't have the space to waste on things that wouldn't turn as much of a profit. Considering he left without even taking all the guns he would have had no room for any records, however now, with his APC, he had more than enough space.
It was equally good because now with the Vault, he did actually have a record player, one for his own use, and several more throughout the vault within other people's homes and some in communal spaces. It would be perfect for further enhancing the living quality in his new home.
Adam unlocked the back of the gunstore, still left untouched just as he left it and then split everyone up to different stores to loot everything of value. Of course Pearl, Buddy, and Sgt. Fyre were not particularly great at picking out things of value but luckily he and Deccanus were. So Pearl was left in charge of getting everything from the gunstore, from guns and ammo, to gunbags, fatigues, and gloves. Buddy was tasked with taking every record out of the record store and putting them in the underseats of the APC in the troop transport. And Sgt. Fyre was told to go patrol the area.
Deccanus and Adam, meanwhile, took whatever was left from both the liquor and smoke shops and then spent extra time searching the other stores for anything of value. The flower shop was, just as Adam assumed, almost completely devoid of anything of value. The seeds were all dead, the soil was useless for them, and other than fake flowers the store had virtually nothing to take. He did, however, grab a few flower pots, some soil, and a few hand tools for those who wanted to have a flower pot in their windowsill or something. But in truth there was almost no reason to even enter the store.
By the end of the scavenging they had gotten a good number of things, but not enough to fill up the APC, which was good because Adam had another place in mind that might need its own corner of the APC. The sewer where he found that old brotherhood of steel power armor.