Download App
94.92% Steel Waste / Chapter 673: Familial confrontation

Chapter 673: Familial confrontation

...

Afton suddenly starts chuckling, holding his face in exasperation, "You know, I've already had this talk with Christine when I rescued her." he says, causing Zach to quieten down at the name of his lost 'niece', "I've heard your arguments before from her, not to mention my own experience with the Brotherhood and the Codex! You think I haven't thought this through? I'm not stupid, dad!"

"I'm not saying you are, Afton, maybe just misguided... I know you probably think you're doing the right thing, but this isn't the right way. I don't want this." he pauses, "Your mother wouldn't want this." he continues, gesturing around at all the technology in use around them.

Afton sighs, "Look, can we just agree to disagree? You won't be convincing me, and I probably won't be convincing you... Besides, there are other things more important than this that I'd like to talk about."

...

"Fine, but I'm not dropping this, Afton." Zach growls, mind still racing to find something to convince Afton to stop while he was ahead.

Afton nods, "Before I show you around, there's someone I'd like you to meet." he says while leading Zachary back into the Think Tank and up into the Sink where Josie was waiting.

They enter the room but pause when they spot a visibly pregnant Josie, standing next to Alfred in just her panties and a tank top, all while chewing on a ketchup-covered pickle...

...

They stare at one another for a moment, Josie continuing to slowly chew on her snack, at least, until she realises who Afton's guest was.

*Cruunch... Cruuunch...*

"EEEeek!" she yelps, dashing towards the bedroom to get properly dressed for her first-no, second meeting with her father-in-law.

Afton glances at Zachary and grimaces at his father's disbelieving expression, finally coughing into his hand to get his attention. "Ahem!... Er, sorry about that, I probably should've let her know that you were coming."

"Who was that?" Zach asks after composing himself.

"She's... My wife." he quietly replies, hoping Josie hadn't made a bad impression on the man.

...

Zachary covers his face with a large hand, trying to hide the amused grin that'd made its way onto his face, "You know, she kind of reminds me of your mother... Pickle'nd all." he chuckles.

Josie reenters the room now wearing trousers, sheepishly looking at the duo as Afton tries to get the image of his mother mimicking Josie. "Afton, is this...?"

He nods, "Yeah, Josie Parker, meet Zachary Parker. My dad."

"H-hello!" Josie sheepishly greets with mock confidence, extending her hand towards Zach.

The man reciprocates and envelopes her hand with his own, giving a light shake and a small nod, "So, this is the woman who'd captured my son's heart? This is quite the pickle..." he trails off, with a small smile on his deformed face.

...

Afton and Josie look at one another before breaking into laughter. The dad jokes were back, or, grandad jokes?

Three hours later :

After that, they all get comfortable, the duo regaling Zachary with stories of how they met, and the adventures they'd been on together. Zach recounted some of his own stories with Verna, how they met, her time while pregnant with Afton, and the weird habits she formed from it... But eventually, the atmosphere got serious as Josie mentions the Battle of Hoover Dam.

...

"Battle of Hoover Dam?" Zach questions, causing the duo to suddenly go silent.

Afton rubs the back of his head after sending an accusing glance at Josie, "Ah, well... She was referring to the second battle... The first was the NCR against the Legion, ah, you know, those Sportswear wearing freaks that worship the Romans?" he nods after Zach affirms that he remembers them.

"The NCR barely came out on top with some tricky tactics, securing the Mojave for the NCR... The second battle though, included the NCR, Legion, New Vegas... And us, Bulwark." he explains.

"So you've already started waging war?" Zach asks with a regretful look.

Afton gives a nod, "We had no choice. The NCR was bound to lose, and I wasn't about to let a bunch of slaving, raping, ass holes claim the region... Not to mention, my revenge against the NCR hadn't quite finished at that point." he states.

"New Vegas, controlled by Mr House, was it?" Zach asks, not all that familiar with the place. He continues at Afton's nod, "What was Bulwark's role in the battle?"

"Ah, well... I won't go into details, but we wiped out the NCR and Legion, claiming the Dam for New Vegas."

...

"For New Vegas?"

Afton nods, "I've made an agreement with Mr House, he has the appearance of owning the Mojave, but it's Bulwark who truly controls the region."

Zach shakes his head, "I don't care about that... I just want to know why you are working with that... Thing! Mr House is reported to have existed from even before the great war! Meaning he's either a sentient and malicious AI, or he's somehow immortal! Do I even have to tell you what the problem here is?" he angrily asks at Afton's nonchalant expression.

Afton just shrugs while rolling his wrist disinterestedly. "Yada, yada, Codex, yada... What's your point?"

"My point!? My point is that you're working with an incredibly dangerous individual, who could spell the end of human civilisation as we know it!" he exclaims and jabs a finger towards Afton's face, "The Brotherhood has committed evils in the past, but we never attempted to subjugate land!"

Afton sighs and slumps in his chair, "This again? I thought we were over this? Leave the politics and enjoy your time with your family... You're going to be a grandad for god sake!"

Zach growls under his breath, but before he does anything he'd regret, he stands and marches out of the room, leaving the Sink and Think Tank as Afton and Josie watch.

"Glados, could you... 'Lead', my father to some accommodation... Try not to make it look too blatant, I wouldn't want him to feel restricted... Ah, don't let him leave Big Mt though, that'd probably go down badly." he states.

"Affirmative."

He looks back at a somewhat heartbroken Josie, who seems to have taken his father's anger towards himself as a rejection of her. He sighs and begins consoling her, explaining that that wasn't the case at all.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

Shameful69

JayJonnaJamison

next chapter

Chapter 674: Rosy Day

Afton stands next to Josie as she finally goes into labour, her grip on his hand feeling as if she'd broken through the human strength limit... He looks up and spots Zachary Parker and his other friends through the temporarily-made one-way window. They were all waiting for Josie to finally give birth, anxiously hoping everything would go well.

Dala and Doctor Usanagi were helping out as Afton was only here for emotional-support... He honestly didn't think his hands would be steady enough to assist Josie in giving birth.

The subsequent months after returning his father back to his senses had been generally the same as before. No big conflicts, no infighting, rebellions, or anything of the sort. The only problem had really come from his father's antagonism towards Bulwark, and the way they operated.

He'd eventually managed to drag his father back to Josie to explain he wasn't angry with her, and that he was happy she was his daughter-in-law.

While the man didn't clearly state it, Afton could see the man constantly struggle between family and duty. He'd occasionally asked to be teleported to the nearest Brotherhood base, but Afton would just argue that they'd execute him on the ground of 'looking like a pale super mutant'.

Sometimes that argument would quell his father's intentions, but sometimes he'd need to give the full list of reasons on why that was an incredibly bad idea, even mentioning the fact they'd execute him and Afton if they could due to their status as mutants.

Zachary had eventually found out about their various experiments on Deathclaws, people, and other mutants. This almost caused him to disown Afton for 'Literally doing what the Brotherhood was created to stop'... Fortunately, Zach had eventually calmed down, yet, their relationship had not been the same since.

Speaking of experiments... They'd managed to give Anja a human body, using Ulysses DNA of course(not that he knew), the body had been modified to resist radiation, an addition added to all subsequent clones. Not that many were actually made, due to lack of demand.

Recreating Psyker abilities in people hadn't progressed at all however, the experiments usually resulting in eldritch abominations which were only good for-

"AAAAARGH!" Josie screams and crushes Afton's hand further, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Keep pushing honey, you got thi-"

"YOU DID THIS TO ME!" She screams, she breathes short and quick as she attempts to birth their child.

"Come on! Once we're doing I'll fix you a drink! You haven't drunk in ages, remember!?"

"WHICH IS YOUR FAULT! REMEMBARRRRGH!" she angrily retorts before screaming again, "WE ARE NEVER FUCKING AGAIN! EVER!"

Afton maintains a composed and calm expression, inwardly grimacing at the determination in her tone...

Thirty minutes later of abuse and exhausting herself, Josie finally gives birth. The sudden wails of the baby-making Afton breath a sigh of relief.

Dala and Usanagi clean and perform extensively check-ups on the baby, allowing Josie to rest for a couple minutes as stimpacks are slowly introduced into her bloodstream.

Eventually, the duo hands the baby to Josie, allowing both her and Afton to get their first look at their child.

The baby looks up at them with innocent, hazel eyes, and small tufts of brown hair on her head. It's a girl, Afton knew of her gender beforehand, but Josie didn't want to know, instead wanting it to be a surprise.

Thus, she thought up names for both boys and girls... Josie was currently sobbing with happiness as she looks down at the child in her arms, "My baby..." she sends a heartwarming smile at Afton, "Rose."

Afton slowly nods and sits on the bed next to her, examine the child's appearance... From the scans, he'd been able to tell that 'Rose' would inherit some of his mutations, thus his wish to name his child after a plant of some sort.

It was suitable, not because of the baby's squishy red cheeks, but because of fungus that'd already implanted itself in his daughter's body... He was sure what abilities she'd possess, but he was sure she'd be an exceptional person.

He was relieved the fungus hadn't taken root in Josie as well via her blood, she probably wouldn't be able to adapt fast enough to the fungus if she did, resulting in a litany of problems, most dire of which included death...

The baby seemed to be examining them with curiosity as well, but eventually falls to sleep under Josie's slowly rocking movements.

After a few more checkups on both Josie and Rose, Afton pushes the duo out via a wheelchair, exiting the room and grinning towards the people waiting for them.

Happy and relieved laughter sounds out as Afton and Josie are swarmed. Veronica, Christine, Anja, Shani, Tamia, Melissa... The men wait behind them, want to allow the women to get the 'cooing' out of their system before they jump into the fray.

Zachary, however, just marches through the women like a steamroller, eventually stopping and kneeling down before Josie, taking a closer look at his granddaughter. "Good work." he bluntly states to Josie, causing her to laugh nervously.

With that, he gives a firm no to Afton and leaves, allowing the women to finally start interrogating Josie about her experience and cooing over Rose.

Dala tries to exit the operation room to join them, but quickly retreats as soon as she spots Christine, her 'punishment' still fresh in her mind.

Another thing Afton noticed though was Tamia's somewhat restrained enthusiasm. She looked both happy, resentful, resignation, and a litany of other things he couldn't nail down... unfortunately he wasn't able to pursue this right now for obvious reasons, so he'd have to ask her at a later date.

For now, he just greets his male friends who all congratulate him on a 'job well done'. Their reactions were expected, all except Boone who was silently smiling, the situation dredging up old, happy memories of his wife and unborn child... His expression slowly breaks down into one of loss, and reluctant acceptance though.

Again, there was nothing Afton could do for the man. So instead he just recruits Shani to bring him from his depression, a common tactic as of late.


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Niggross Niggross

Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!

If you like my content or want to read ahead please go to : https://www.p.atreon.com/Nagross, I'd appreciate it.

Also, thanks to my patrons for their support :

ShinAmazake

Kingsprovince

Nazlican Erdem

Shameful69

JayJonnaJamison

Load failed, please RETRY

Weekly Power Status

Batch unlock chapters

Table of Contents

Display Options

Background

Font

Size

Chapter comments

Write a review Reading Status: C673
Fail to post. Please try again
  • Writing Quality
  • Stability of Updates
  • Story Development
  • Character Design
  • World Background

The total score 0.0

Review posted successfully! Read more reviews
Vote with Power Stone
Rank 200+ Power Ranking
Stone 3 Power Stone
Report inappropriate content
error Tip

Report abuse

Paragraph comments

Login

tip Paragraph comment

Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.

Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.

GOT IT