Looking for the power armor was going to be easier said than done. When Adam had emerged from the sewers he was tired, it was dark, and he was looking for a place to sleep, not trying to locate where he was in relation to everything else. For him it was just a random sewer grate, which meant he would need to drive around in the general area until he found scenery that matched what he remembered from that night. Luckily for him he did have at least a good idea what the general area was where he emerged from the sewers.
So he started by heading near the Chevron factory and worked road by road, street by street, until he could find the location by sight.
The process was tedious, but that was all that was truly bad about it. He did see some cultists wandering around in the area but just as last time they left him alone. After all, he was in a heavily armed APC. It was the smarter choice for them.
Regardless, after a few hours of boring driving he stumbled upon a location that looked very familiar to his memories of that night.
Disembarking everyone from the APC he set out looking for the sewer grate and was pleasantly surprised when he found it immediately, in the center of the intersection.
With Pearl's help the sewer grate was removed and Adam climbed down with little hesitation, leaving everyone else topside for the moment.
There, just as he last saw it, was the power armor. T45d, with the symbol of what he now knows as the Brotherhood of Steel emblazoned on the left side of the chest, over the heart.
With some effort Adam pushed it over and spun the lock to open up the inside. The body of the man inside was rank and the smell was so thoroughly unpleasant Adam actually put on his gasmask to deal with it.
After removing the body he checked the systems on the power armor. Shot. Worst case scenario.
Even without a fusion core you could still tell in more analogue ways if a power armor frame was functional or not. This was very much not functional. It was beyond repair even. Well beyond repair without a massive amount of effort, the right tools, equipment, and a number of other things Adam didn't have access to. In other words it would not be worth it.
However while the power armor frame was a waste, the armor pieces themselves seemed to be in more or less good condition, albeit quite gross from sitting in a sewer and with a rotting corpse inside for God knows how long. Obviously the armor alone was useless with no frame to attach it to but having more armor pieces was always good, especially if he can get a new power armor frame in the future. He just needs to find one. They are hard to come by. Maybe he could just buy one instead?
Regardless, with some effort to strip off the armor pieces and carry them up the ladder two at a time he had successfully taken everything of value from the former brotherhood member. However before he left he noticed that the man had a holo tag, the same kind he used to have back in the army. Out of respect, one soldier to another, he took the dog tag with him, so that at least one person could mourn their death.
Finally, with the armor stashed in the APC Adam got back inside and headed home, ready to offload his spoils.
Adam joyfully called Eric outside the vault while his companions helped move a majority of the loot inside. Some were being left outside to be sold soon, but things like the records were brought inside for whoever wanted to enjoy them. Adam hadn't actually checked to see if the records were still good but someone else could check, getting them alone meant at bare minimum a few would still work.
Regardless Eric came outside, confused, but ready to do work on what he assumed was going to be the APC only to be met with a smiling Adam standing in front of the motorcycle.
"Eric, I present to you your own personal project." Adam grinned and patted the motorcycle. "This guy here will be both your responsibility and your practice tool. I know you wanted to be a mechanic not a roboticist like I have been teaching you. But there was really not much I can do to teach you on the APC, and I haven't seen many cars intact enough to salvage. But this guy here would be a perfect addition to our soon to be built motorpool. If you are up to the challenge." Adam grinned. Eric walked over slowly, gently dragging his hand along the frame of the motorcycle as he stared at it.
"This is… mine?" Eric asked slowly.
"Yes. It's yours." Adam smiled back. "Of course it's going to need a lot of TLC, but there's no better teacher than trial and error." Adam gently patted the motorcycle.
"I mean I know I asked you to teach me but…" Eric said, at a slight loss for words. Adam shook his head.
"You are a friend, Eric, and what you said to me yesterday, that you don't care what I am just who I am, that meant a lot to me. So consider this a gift." Eric let off a soft laugh.
"Well I'm pretty sure I didn't put it quite that eloquently. I think I said something along the lines of. Who the fuck cares what you are." He grinned at Adam before turning back to look at the motorcycle.
"Same difference." Adam chuckled. "Anyway this is your pet project from now on, I'm more than happy to help you if needed but I figured you can just go at it, we got some reading material in the library and got plenty of parts in the workshop though I don't know if we have everything so feel free to ask me to get stuff if needed. The only request is, maybe when you are done, you can let Deccanus take a spin on it. He seemed to love the idea of giving it a ride."
"Honestly, I just want to see this thing run, I don't care too much about riding it as long as I'm the one that made it work again." Eric then turned to Adam. "Thanks man, I mean it."
"You are welcome. And good luck. You are going to need it."