Alex only shakes his head in absolute disgust. "You really don't care," he says, talking mostly to himself at this point. "People have put their blood and souls into this worthless piece of shit project, and you don't even give a damn if you blow it all away."

And Alex, he was surprised to find, did. It was a worthless project. It was honestly ruining to think about in the context of what it could have been instead. But for close to a year, Neil had sold his soul to make it succeed, and he was not going to disgrace the memory of that sacrifice. That loss.

He drops the missile launcher as easily as anything, reaching behind his shoulder in the same easy motion. His LAER+ is an energy rifle, a tri-beam rifle, same as theirs, sure. Same premise at least. His did a helluva amount more damage, and looked a shitton better, to boot. But that isn't the issue here. "I care, apparently. But I'll be wearing your pretty power armor all the same by the end of the day."