The work was pretty backbreaking. Tires all needed to be swapped out, which was simple work but the tires were not everyday car tires, they were sturdy military tires meant to resist small arms fire, thus they were heavy and had way more studs to tighten. Luckily with the help of the two protectrons a lot of the heavy lifting was out of his hands.
Then came the battery. The door separating the back troop transport and the driver's section opened electronically, and since the battery was dead, it was practically sealed shut. It could have been muscled open, after all there was a failsafe for that very reason, but it, itself, was in poor shape so the smarter idea was simply to bring the heavy ass battery in through the port on the top.
This was not easy, the protectrons lacked the ability to climb up the APC to carry the battery and it was too heavy and unwieldy for Adam to carry alone. Ultimately he asked for Deccanus' help who was still just sitting on the side watching. With effort the two got it inside and Adam then got onto the difficult part.
It took Adam all day to get everything set up. New dials to replace the ones that didn't work, new parts for the broken ones, new wiring where it was needed, new headlights, everything.
By the time night was hitting Adam was finally ready to do his first test. Everyone gathered up outside after a day of amusing themselves to see if Adam succeeded.
"Alright, moment of truth." Adam said from inside the cockpit as he got ready to hit the ignition.
He pushed the button and, for a moment, his heart sank. There was no response from the APC, he momentarily began to freak out wondering what he had done wrong, after all it was his first time fixing up an APC it would make sense for him to mess up somewhere, but no response at all was a bad sign.
However then the lights in the cabin began to flicker on, then the dashboard backlights, then the engine, then the headlights. It worked.
Adam cheered from inside the cockpit as he revved the engine a bit, testing it out. It purred just like it should. Of course, being an electric vehicle it was quieter than the nuclear powered and fuel powered ones, but it still had some nice feedback when he stepped on the gas. Which, now that he was this far, it was time to take it for a test drive.
Adam stepped on the accelerator and the APC began to move smoothly down the cracked and destroyed road, the newly installed shocks doing their job as he slowly, but effectively, moved further from the safehouse leaving his friends behind.
Adam then decided to push the limits and see how well this thing handled. So he stepped on the accelerator and gunned it down a straight path. The APC responded perfectly. It was smooth, it was responsive, and most importantly, it worked. He had done it! He had himself a military APC now! His efforts were not for naught!
He even tested the weapon controls from the cockpit and found that they worked too. They needed to be oiled more, maybe cleaned up a bit but the servos were all working and he had even found a few rounds for each gun in the car stashed away in the cockpit near the loading mechanism. Of course he didn't fire it off, but having 3 rounds of 105mm and 10 rounds of 78mm was a great start to keeping this vehicle stocked with ammo. He would need a dedicated gunner in the cockpit with him if he wanted to use the guns however. Otherwise he would have to stop the APC, climb over the center console into the gunner seat and then fire as he pleased, leaving the APC unmoving. It was not a perfect system. However he could worry about that later. For now his test run was over.
Adam drove back to the safehouse shortly after and climbed out of the cockpit, he was all smiles. Salvatore gave him a light round of applause.
"Well done kid, i knew you were good, but you just out did yourself." He said with a grin.
"Been a long time since I've seen one of these up and running~" Eve said with a playful tone as she gently touched the chassis of the APC.
"I… have seen these wrecks throughout the wasteland before… I did not know these beasts were meant to move. I thought they were shelter." Deccanus said, partly astounded.
"Yay! Good work, Sergeant!" Rae said happily, cheering on Adam.
Adam gently patted the chassis himself, still smiling.
"It took, literally all day, but the thing is working, and, as far as I can tell, the battery has more than enough juice that I don't need to worry about it for a while. I will need replacements in the future but this puppy is ready for action." He grinned and then walked around to the back and opened up the ramp leading inside the troop compartment now that it was powered. Lights in the back flickered on as he stepped inside. It was spacious, just like he remembered. Well, he remembered it being cramped as hell, it was meant to house 6 soldiers in combat armor and 2 in power armor, but they usually tried to cram in 2 extra soldiers if they could, and that's not to include all the extra stuff they brought with them inside. However, for his needs, it was perfect, this was more than enough space to make any trips out into the world easy to bring back. He could even start to bring back the large finds that he had left behind due to them being way too big now. If only he had this thing when he was raiding Second Life… but that was wishful thinking.
He lifted up the bench seating in the back to reveal the storage compartment underneath. It was thin, designed to mostly just hold MREs and ammo boxes, but even this gave him more storage space. Hell, if he threw a mattress in the back he could practically live out of this thing. Though that was not what he had in mind. Unfortunately both storages were empty but he didn't expect anything to be inside anyway.
Then he ran his hand along the inside of the walls, running them over the port shields that could be opened to allow the soldiers in the back to both see out and fire out from inside the vehicle if needed. One might consider it a weakness in the armor, but the plates themselves were each 3 inches thick, and there was one on the inside and outside. Honestly, if something was strong enough to punch through both port shields then it would have punctured the normal APC Armor. Adam had never once seen the port shield's punctured in all his time serving. Especially now, this was only beneficial since the likelihood of higher powered weapons had dropped significantly.
He still had some eventual work to do, anti-theft systems being chiefly among them, after all a padlock on the exterior was not enough to stop a determined thief. For the moment he did take the time to install a key switch that would allow the ignition button to work, but it was not the best work he had ever put out nor was it a permanent solution. Honestly, by the time he was installing the key, he just wanted to be done, so he might have rushed a bit. It's probably for the best someone stay with the vehicle at all times when parked in a town. Luckily he had 3 perfect little robots who didn't eat, sleep, or disobey orders here to protect it if needed. Eve was given an exception because she was not just a robot.
"So what's the plan now, kid?" Salvatore asked, throwing the last of his cigarette down on the ground and stomping it out. Adam looked up at the sky.
"I think I'm going to eat, and then sleep." He chuckled. "I've been working all day." Salvatore grinned.
"If you were going to take all day I could've stayed home and met you here tomorrow~" Eve said, though it was clear she was teasing rather than complaining. "Great work handsome, go get some rest, you deserve it." She then paused and added in the flirtiest tone she could muster: "And let me know if you want some company in your bed tonight~"