Capítulo 50: Pity or Pride?
After the new Elders speech, Afton walked to the barracks and fell into his bed. The room he was in was large with many beds beside one another, a single footlocker next to his bed to keep his possessions in...
He couldn't even work up the energy to talk to his friends, or to see if Veronica had even survived... His parents were dead, mother killed right before his eyes, and father sacrificing himself for everyone else.
It hurt, a mixture of fear, anxiety, sadness, pain, grief, and fury all bundled into one jumbled mess. He had no idea what to do with himself. So, he did nothing, it took a couple of hours for him to fall asleep, memories of seeing a bullet enter his mother's visor playing over and over.
Eventually though he just stopped thinking, his world turning black as sleep took him.
The next day he was shaken awake by someone, he still didn't feel up to getting up, much less doing work... He glances at whoever was shaking him and the harsh words he was about to spit at them died in his throat. "Veronica..."
She was sitting beside his bed, a hand on his shoulder as she slowly shook him awake. She showed him a dim smile, it was clear she'd been crying last night due to her slightly red eyes. Whether it was because of Elder Elijah abandoning them, the numerous deaths caused by the NCR, or something else, he didn't know. "You're finally awake."
"Veronica..." he repeats, not really knowing what to say, "Are you okay?" he asks at having nothing better to say.
She nods, "I am... I'm... I'm sorry about your parents Afton, maybe if I could have gotten through to Elder Elija-"
"Stop." he says in a dull tone, "Just stop... There was nothing we could do about it Veronica, I promise you, if I thought for a moment you were responsible for the deaths of my parents, I'd kill you the first chance I got... Right now, you're the only family I've got left, so don't start blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault." he reassures her after gathering his thoughts.
Veronica upon hearing this pulls him into a hug, both had lost almost everything during only a few short months. Almost everyone they loved and cherished had been taken from them, who knew how much time they had until that was taken too.
They remain like that for a couple minutes, before Veronica lets go and rubs her eyes, "Afton, the Elder wanted to speak with you."
Afton slowly nods, "Ok. Once I'm ready I'll be there." he says as she gets up to leave, sending one last glance over her shoulder at him as she exits.
He gets out of bed and pulls on his Initiate clothes, they hadn't been cleaned and were still covered with dirt and blood. The metal plates were smudged and the bullet hole where he'd been hit in the shoulder was still there.
He didn't know who, but someone must've attended to his wound... He hadn't felt the wound after he'd been dragged away from his father. Sighing at the fresh memory he left to the Elders office, passing by a few Knights and Scribes who were setting up the automated turret defence system.
McNamara was sitting behind his desk and brightened up slightly when Afton came in, though, it dimmed when he saw the state of his uniform. "Initiate Parker."
Afton nod at him, "Elder. What have you called me for?" he asks as politely as he could manage.
"Before I speak on what I called you for, I wanted to apologize for your parents, both were amazing people and very dedicated to the Brotherhood. The Chapter is less than it was before after losing them."
"Doesn't matter how good they were, they're dead now." he can't help but mutter.
McNamara hears him but doesn't have a valid response, shaking his head he continues, "From personal experience and eye-witness accounts, I've decided that you're ready to advance. I think you could've been promoted a year or two ago, but its better to be safe than sorry."
"Before I ask you what you want to do, there's the prerequisite that all Initiates must decide... Do you wish to stay within our ranks? You may not be able to leave the bunker anytime soon, but the Codex dictates that you have the choice." he says, all the other Brotherhood members guarding the room perking up, wanting to hear his answer.
...
Afton didn't know what he wanted to do, to be honest, he felt like flipping the board and starting over ago, saying "fuck off" to his responsibilities. If he accepted, he'd likely be trapped down here all his life, not something he was particularly looking forwards to, but... He still had a lot to learn. Perhaps there'd be a day where they'd be allowed to leave the bunker for missions?
...
He couldn't leave the Brotherhood, he didn't care about the Codex, or most of the people in it... Only the friends that'd survived the NCR. If he wanted to get back at those bastards, he'd need every advantage he could get. The only real place to do that is in here. "I want to stay with the Brotherhood."
McNamara breathes a sigh of relief at hearing this, Afton had clearly thought about it, most just instantly refuse to leave, but it was clear the boy had misgivings about the Chapter. He couldn't blame him either, he'd just lost his parents mainly due to the previous Elder's failure. "Have you thought about what Order you wished to join?"
...
Afton nods, "Knights." he states, the Scribes would help him understand technology better, but he wanted to learn to fight, to attack and defend against his enemies.
"Becoming a Knight, hm? The reason I've promoted you is because two people came to me to ask to apprentice you, Scribe Adah Lindgren and Knight Katie Stanton." the Elder looks to a nearby Knight and gestures at them, "Retrieve Katie Staton for me." he commands.
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Capítulo 51: Battle of Hoover Dam?
And so began Afton's training under Katie Staton, both were already familiar with each other, and both had lost family to the NCR, so it was relatively easy for them to get working together.
He knew that Katie would've preferred apprenticing her son Miles, but you aren't usually allowed to apprentice your children. The reason for this is to promote Chapter unity, and by "Chapter Unity" they mean loyalty to the Chapter instead of your family.
The only other changes to the Chapter was a Scribe named Lars Taggart being made Head Scribe. He was known to be somewhat lecherous, but that hadn't interfered with his work yet so people just left him to it.
It'd been a year since the battle of Helios One, Afton's training proceeded, but his progress had been dulled due to the combat simulators. They were akin to virtual reality machines, but once you were inside you'd immediately be able to feel the difference between reality. Your senses were altered in a manner that negatively impact you outside the simulators.
For instance, if you were to enter hand to hand combat within them, sure you might be able to win, but if you tried to same manoeuvres outside of it, you'd likely overshoot your steps or punches and leave yourself open to an attack.
The minute differences piled up, so Afton tried his best not to enter them again... This bunker didn't have a lot of room, so Afton ran around the halls to get his daily exercise, the others usually watched him disinterestedly. Apparently, they didn't think anyone who tried to get past their energy weapons would be brought down by a few punches.
The NCR hadn't given up the pursuit after the attack on Helios, they tracked the group into the Hidden Valley and started pouring radioactive waste down the vents in an attempt to wipe them out.
Fortunately whoever built the bunker had the foresight to implement ways to remove radioactive material. They were intended to survive a nuclear holocaust so it didn't surprise him such things had been implemented.
The NCR clearly thought that was that, and left after dumping the waste, presumably due to how irradiated they'd made the outside of the bunker... They couldn't very well leave scouts in such an area after all.
Most looked to the Elder a few months after the NCR had stopped observing them, at first he hadn't wanted to risk discovery, but at everyone's assistance, he started sending out lone "wanderers" to gather supplies.
These people would trade with people until they had enough to create caravan companies with which they'd store supplies outside the bunker. In all honesty, not many people wanted to volunteer for such a service, but, to Afton's surprise, Veronica did.
He was shocked she'd volunteered, hadn't she said they were all the family they had left? At hearing the news he immediately dragged her into a room and interrogated her... Now, Afton was aware of some of the abuse and harassment Veronica received, but he thought she was thick-skinned enough to handle it... And, for the most part she was, with one exception.
Darian Royce and Susan Royce weren't too fond of her, Afton hadn't believed it when she told him as they all seemed so close in the past. Apparently, they hadn't known of the two's relationship until Christine vanished, they were some of the more... Conservative people in the Chapter, and upon finding out what Veronica and their daughter had been doing, they'd almost immediately cut all contact with her.
The Chapter was small though, they worked in the same place, and the Royce's couldn't seem to restrain themselves from insulting her at every chance they got. Veronica herself still felt guilty and somewhat responsible for Christine leaving, so she just took the insults with responding, respite how much it hurt to have someone you saw as foster-parents treat you like that.
Veronica promised to come back as often as possible, there were restrictions placed on those outside the lockdown, it wouldn't do for someone to track her movements and find the exact bunker they were located in...
Once she left, she'd visit him once every four months, while telling him about the outside and the few people she occasionally met. Most of the news was about the NCR and Legion, apparently the latter had tried to invade Hoover Dam and try to take it from the NCR, but ultimately failed.
It was a little disconcerting to hear how a group of people wearing sports gear and skirts with machetes was able to cause the Wasteland to fear them so much. Though, upon hearing their tactics, their clothing was an afterthought... Burning people to death, enslaving women, crucifying people, the Brotherhood referred to most people in the Wasteland as Barbarians, but the Legion definitely deserved that title.
Not everything was horrible though, he'd grown tall enough to finally wear Power armour. Knight Stanton helped him properly adjust it and get inside. It was a weird feeling being "mostly" impervious to all outside harm. The enhanced strength and small sound of mechanical whirring made him feel like Ironman... Still, he couldn't help but feel the design was... Inefficient.
He was also trained in how to use the other weaponry the Brotherhood had at their disposal, Plasma weapons, Thermic lances, and now that he was able to wear Power armour, heavy weapons like the Automatic grenade launcher or the Gatling laser.
What he was most talented with though were the Gauss rifles, he distinctly remembered using his mother's after she was killed, and the feel of blowing off the bastards arm in response brought a great deal of satisfaction whenever he thought of it.
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