Afton had just returned from Novac, he'd spent almost two days straight just helping the injured... Most people either had bullet wounds, breaks, or burns. Which was good and bad. Good because most would live, bad because the majority of people who were actually hurt in combat were outright killed.

Whoever the mercenaries were, they definitely meant business. Lethal cuts to the neck and vitals, headshots, etc... Most of the injured were a result of deflected shots, shrapnel from cover, and accidents. ​​

Of course, Novac was in an uproar, and those who'd survived the attack were training far more than they ever did before, some to the extent of of passing out. As far as Afton was concerned, it was a wake-up call to those who were taking it easy 'under his protection'.

It wasn't like he hadn't noticed the few freeloaders who took his food and did bare minimal training. Something like that was like a vacation for most denizens of the Mojave... Now however they might actually try putting some effort in.

Afton himself decided to help speed up construction on the Power armour. It was time to make a message to the NCR and the Legion, make sure neither wanted to fuck with him or his people. He figured storming into the Fort under Caesar's nose and getting out alive and without casualties would do the trick.

Elsewhere :

Shani motions over to the bathroom for her close friends to join her, once inside she looks them all dead in the eye and states, "We are all going to die if we stay here."

The rest of the group look at her wide-eyed. "What? What do you mean?"

Shani scowls at their naivety, "You think they're just keeping u here to help tend to the fields? They are going to experiment on us and discard what's left!"

...

"No... Cass said we were staying here until the war ended. She wouldn't lie about something like that!"

"You don't understand!... I-I know what will happen, I've seen it!" Shani pleads, but is let down by their disbelieving and suspicious looks.

"I think you need a doctor Shani... You aren't acting well..."

"Yeah, have you been using Chems? Those things are really dangerous!"

Shani just shakes her head and leaves the room, she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs at their stupidity. Apparently her *close friends* she'd made during her stay here weren't her friends at all!

She walks straight out of the building and is about to head to an isolated spot to brood when she'd stopped by a floating drone with an orange eye.

"You are upset." it states and Shani quickly shakes her head.

"No, I'm fine... Just leave me alone!"

"If you are not upset then by my calculations you are being affected by an arrhythmia... I will report this to Doctor Da-"

"NO!" Shani cuts off the drone with a shout, afterwards clutching her mouth at her rather over the top reaction. "J-just no. I'm fine, I swear." she states and quickly walks past, ignoring the intense look the drone was giving her.

"Report, Organic worker 31 is acting unusual, requesting extra surveillance." Glados thinks after receiving the information from one of her drones... Indeed, she'd been keeping an eye on this human as it had suddenly been acting out of her expectations for no reason.

The spider bots she'd placed to spy on them had recorded the entire incident in the female bathroom, so it was clear the organism was having a psychotic break, or knew something Glados didn't... Glados obviously ignored the latter option as she was the most advanced AI that had ever, or will ever be constructed. It was impossible for her to ever be wrong, only misunderstood.

She lowers her body into the Think Tank and focuses her single orange eye on Doctor Dala, "Organic worker 31 needs a psyche evaluation, this must be completed within 48 hours." she states before leaving, not waiting for the scientist to respond.

One day later :

Shani screams as she's dragged into the Think Tank by hundreds of tiny spider robots. Her arms and legs were bound and she couldn't do anything but wriggle in a vain attempt to escape capture. Her heart was beating furiously at the fact her life might be ending soon, but not before agonizingly painful torture...

The spiderbots continue to take her through the facility, and eventually end up in a laboratory underground. She'd grabbed by a mechanical arm that sprouts from the ceiling and placed on a surgery bed, bright lights momentarily blinding her as she'd forced onto her back.

*Ssshck!* the sound of a door opening draws her attention, and she spots one of those freakish scientists floating inside, the weird monitors projecting facial features looking at her speculatively.

"Greetings, I am Doctor Dala. I have received information that your mental stability is in question... I will examine you, and after you have been deemed 'sane', you will be deposited at your work station or home, depending on where you should be." Dala explains, but this doesn't bring any reassurance to Shani who was still sure her death was near.

"Hmm." Dala hums, "No reply, possible damage to ears, eardrum, or auditory cortex... 31, do you hear me?"

"I-I do..." Shani stutters out, realising that being uncooperative would have very, very bad results.

"Did you ignore me before that, or could you simply not hear me?"

"I-I heard you... I just couldn't find the r-right words." Shani says, finding herself unconsciously focussing on the various scalping, drills, and saws attached to the scientist's manipulators.

"Oh? And why is that, my little skinvelope?" she asks curiously.

"I am a-afraid of you... Afraid of what you might do to me..." she admits, feeling like being called 'skinvelope' should derive a far bigger reaction than she gave.

"OOooooh? Why would you be afraid of me? 67% of my operations have resulted in a success, this does not include my 99% Lobotomy rate, the only one of which to fail would be my Teddy bear." Dala says, only scaring Shani more.

Does this psyche scan include a lobotomy? Shani thinks to herself as she starts sweating under the bright lights.