[color=00aeef][b]Dr. Xavier Morales - Vault 88 Underground Laboratory[/b][/color]


A bright flash of blue brought Xavier squarely inside of the Vault 88 caverns as he re-materialized from the molecular relay. His eyes adjusted to the relatively dim light of the makeshift laboratory carved out within. The caverns he now stood in were a result of tireless months of work and unceasing labor provided by absounded Institute Synths. Shielded from the surface’s background radiation and well hidden from prying eyes, it made for a perfect location from which they could continue to conduct research, and remain completely undetected by the CPG. A lone ghoul claiming to be Vault’s overseer had been the only impediment standing in the way when they’d first occupied it, but that had been swiftly dealt with. 

“Hey welcome back Xavier,” the cheerful voice of Dr. Holdren greeted him from behind a large console amidst a plethora of electronic equipment and large tanks of bio-med gel which gave off a sickly green luminescent glow that bounced off the cave's ceiling and rock walls.

“Clayton...yes...good to be back indeed...” Xavier replied, looking around, “Where’s Zimmer?”

“He’s topside at the moment. He took S3-47 and Z4-22 with him. I’m expecting him back any moment now.”

Xavier nodded, “I see…I’m afraid I don’t have all that long. So I’ll ask straight-away: anything you have to report?”

“Ah! Yes, there’s been a number of updates since you last visited here. I know it's been some time so I’ll bring you up to speed briefly.”

“Yes it was impractical to slip away. The ….Director...kept me busy with some unforeseen work. A matter on which I’d like to speak to Zimmer when he arrives in fact.”

“Say no more,” Dr. Holdren said with a wave of his hand, “But yes come over here and have a look.”

The former Bioscience Division Head ushered Xavier over to one of the bio-med tanks, allowing him to closely inspect the contents within. It appeared to be a grossly mutated animal of some kind, a mole rat perhaps at one time, although there was no doubt a mixture of different animal species within. Great numbers of legs protruded from its abdomen and enlarged incisors stuck out violently from the abominations mouth. The effects of the Forced Evolutionary Virus were incredibly pronounced and always manifested rapidly. Whatever horrors the creature(s) experienced in its last moments would have been utterly unbearable,

“A failure, to be sure, but I’m close to replicating my previous results. As you can see, the cellular structure of the creature bonded quite….aggressively with that of the other two subjects: a canine and a roach respectively. It's proving quite difficult to create a stable chimera formula, but I’ve no doubt it's possible. Some time and more specimens is all it requires.” Dr. Holdren beamed with pride, “I should think I’ll have something workable soon.”

“And you’re confident you can create a...living creature in this manner?”

“Oh absolutely. Based on information from the data Dr. Zimmer provided on The Capital Wasteland and my own understanding of numerous pre-war experiments with FEV genetic engineering, it's very much a real possibility. Although the creatures created post-war in such a manner...Centaurs I believe they’re called….are at best pitiable abominations. They’re little more than the results of Super-mutants playing around with FEV and throwing anything and everything they can find into their vats. I fully intend to perfect such a creation and ensure its stability as a living creature, the uses for such an organism are virtually endless.” Dr. Holdren’s smile widened, and he looked to Xavier to be positively enraptured with his work and the creativity of it all. Xavier had to admit it was more than a little unnerving, but certainly praiseworthy. 

“Imagine being able to essentially cross-breed species with ease: eliminating negative traits in both and enhancing positive ones, and what's more doing this in such an impossibly short amount of time. Spitting in the face of evolution itself...it's fascinating frankly. To think that pre-war science was already dipping their toes into this line of work with remarkable results. I intend to build upon the foundation they left and perfect it.”

“Fascinating...truly,” Xavier replied, “Although I’ll be honest Clayton I’m less interested in the science of it all and more concerned with practical applications to solve our current predicament.”

“Oh of course, I’m still considering that a top priority. The current line of research I’m pursuing is weaponizing an organism in such a manner that would suit our needs. I expect promising results in that area, and if you like to delve further on that topic, we can discuss the other branch of FEV research related to it.”

Dr. Holdren led Xavier round a bend and towards a large dip in the cavern, below them lay a natural pit on top of which an energy barrier had been erected around the rim. Inside this pit, a number of super-mutants could be seen meandering about, all seemingly lost in a daze brought on by numerous sedatives. Gen-2 Synths patrolled the rim of the pit, closely monitoring the mutants below with their energy weapons ready to vaporize any that might become unruly,

“Human trials are on-going, but I’m afraid it's more of the same. I never expected to make much progress with this line of research considering how much effort was poured into it by the FEV Lab back at The Institute. Irradiated wastelander subjects continue to produce the same strain of unintelligent mutant organisms, as always. However, with Dr. Zimmer’s assistance we’ve made progress on the control chip,” Dr. Holdren held up a small vial containing a tiny electronic device, “The programming was relatively trivial as you know, but it's been difficult to figure out how to produce it in sufficient quantities without access to our manufacturing facilities. Help from some pre-war equipment has done the trick however, and Zimmer is actually out looking for a final component we can use to begin actively developing them. I’ve taken to calling this little endeavor the ENFORCER protocol.”  

“And you’re confident that you can give them complex commands with it enabled?”

“Of course! I can understand the hesitancy, let me demonstrate,” Dr. Holdren snapped his finger and reached for a nearby device, “Lets just do something simple first…”

Holdren pressed a button on the control device and the super-mutants immediately snapped out of their previously dazed state and moved swiftly into an ad-hoc square formation. They stood silently with eyes forward, not moving a muscle,

“Pacification protocols are enabled by default, and the voice command module is active...step forward two steps!” The mutants complied, each striding forward twice. 

“Turn around!’ Again the mutants complied. 

“Now for something a bit more complicated…” Dr. Holdren grinned ear to ear, “Pacification mode off...there we go….now...kill the third member of the front row!”

There was a short pause, as the mutant’s implant seemed to register the command, and the mutants quickly began to lunge at the singled-out mutant. The mutant in question had no sense of self-preservation, and simple stood silent as its brothers tore it limb from limb. 

“Incredible….” Xavier said, awestruck, “You’ve outdone yourself Clayton.”

“Thank you,” Holdren replied with an exaggerated bow, “Frankly I’m just glad that I was finally able to get something useful out of the FEV trials, other than synthetic organics of course. To think that years of human experimentation went by and no-one thought to pursue this line of research...boggles my mind frankly. I think Father made a grave mistake when he decided against allowing further cybernetics projects. The melding of biological life and artificial constructs is a fascinating area I’d like to continue to explore.”

“Rest assured that won’t be the case anymore….once we’ve reclaimed The Institute from Li and her ilk….we can freely pursue projects like these. You’d have my full support in such endeavors.”

“Spoken like a politician,” the voice of Dr. Zimmer came from behind. He wore a cleanly pressed pre-war suit, in lieu of an Institute lab coat, and beside him stood two Coursers, the last of their kind, in leather armor looking much the part of hired mercenary protection for the old man, “You act like you’re already The Director, or that you are guaranteed to get the position when the dust settles on this.”

Xavier chaffed under the rebuke but smiled nevertheless, “You misunderstand me Doctor. I’m merely suggesting that once The Institute is back into our hands, we’ll be the ones setting policy and approving research projects. Not short-sighted individuals like Li and the rest.”

“Indeed and we’ve a long way to go to achieve those ends…no need to get ahead of ourselves...Dr. Holdren, I acquired the component you were looking for. And I’ve identified a few more locations we might use for sweep and retrieval to acquire more materials.”

“Excellent,” Dr. Holdren clasped his hands together, “Thank you Dr. Zimmer.”

“Vic--Dr. Zimmer,” Xavier corrected himself, knowing how much Zimmer hated the use of his first name, “There’s another more important matter that needs to be looked into. The Commonwealth Provisional Government is meeting on the surface today with regards to a particularly sensitive topic of discussion.”

“You’re referring to The Mechanist?”

“Indeed,” Xavier nodded, “I believe they intend to send an expedition to the facility we identified in scouting. I’ve no doubt they intend to meet with this Mechanist and potentially secure some manner of cooperation with them.”

“Hmmph. No doubt they’re seeking to make use of the facility too,” Dr. Zimmer furrowed his brow.

“Naturally I provided Li what details on it I needed to deflect suspicion, but there was one element I left out: it was a laboratory specifically dedicated to the creation of Robobrains, making use of some rather cutting edge pre-war technology to achieve the goal of the proper use of wetware to drive inorganic processing. Additionally, one phrase kept appearing in memoranda over and over: CODE. It was related in some way to brain reconditioning. I’m sure you can agree that sort of research could be of great interest to us.”

“Agreed, let's not simply allow the CPG to walk right in and help themselves to whatever is down there. I assume you have some sort of plan then?”

“I believe I do,” Xavier grinned, “Thanks to you both. Clayton, how would you like to get more substantial test data on your Enforcers?”