A couple more months pass for Afton and Bulwark with thankfully no disasters. Though, while nothing bad had happened to the Mojave, California was another matter entirely.
The Brotherhood had finally mustered their forces and left a trail of death and destruction as they entered NCR territory... The various gangs, factions, and whatever was left of the NCR military attempted to hold them off, but the destruction of the government and chaos caused by it had weakened them far too much. Allowing the Brotherhood to traipse on through without opposition.
Indeed, things were only accelerated when the Brotherhood brought out their ultimate weapon to destroy the NCR tank and armoured vehicle defences... Liberty Prime...
What good are tanks, missiles, guns, and bombs going to do against a basically invincible transformer? Nothing, that's what.
The war only lasted a couple of weeks before the survivors surrendered, not willing to risk their lives trying to claim land that wasn't theirs, or reform a country that didn't care about the people within it.
Afton kept a close eye on all of this, making sure the Brotherhood wouldn't quickly turn their army around and start marching toward the Mojave. Their Vertibird's would be able to reach the region fairly quickly, but getting Liberty Prime from New California to the Mojave would take a while.
Afton hadn't been sitting on his hands though, before he'd even had the NCR government assassinated, he'd begun constructing more Ultimo-Bots, Power armour, and other military equipment to prepare for the eventual Brotherhood offensive.
Additionally, he'd finally managed to get time to complete some longstanding projects that'd been needing some final touch-ups... Specifically, Bulwark's airforce... Yeah, you heard it right, the Bulwark Airforce.
With the schematics taken from the Boomer Bomber, Afton had finally completed the modified aircraft. From afar it looked quite similar to the Boomer's aircraft, though, without all the rust and missing material's theirs had.
Up close you'd immediately spot the strange film covering the metal of the aircraft, it was matte black, and would prevent any light refraction, and make it incredibly hard to notice for anyone during the night.
The size of the bomber had also been drastically increased so as to hold more bombs in its cargo hold. Its engine was refitted with a more powerful nuclear one, and many anti-air defences had been installed to prevent any other aircraft from combatting it, something most prewar bombers had issues with.
Then, there was also the shape of the plane to address... It was aerodynamic, yet, had many sharp and weird edges that seemed unnecessary... This was the anti-radar system Aton had devised after remembering the Stealth Bombers from his old world... He wasn't sure if America had created them in this world or not, but even if they had, he doubted any faction had any defences against them.
Once it was complete, and he'd taken it for a couple spins during the night to confirm that it was effective at bombing and remaining undetected, he made plans to produce more. This, with Afton's assistance to launch more Orbital satellites, had drastically increased Bulwark's productivity.
The need for more Glowing Ghouls to power everything forced Afton to send more patrols out in search of them... But after the quantity started getting lower, he created a project for Dala and Borous to see if creating Glowing Ghouls was possible.
As for how the satellites were going? Well, after mapping out Helios One, developing more weapon systems like it wasn't all that difficult. The only problem was the large solar arrays needed to power each one.
Thus, in the few months after hearing about Shani's vision of 'destruction' he'd only managed to create two extra orbital lasers. Of course, this wasn't just going to help against whatever attack was going to happen, it'd also be useful against the Brotherhood whenever they tried to attack.
During all of this, he'd had to split a good portion of his time with Josie. Her baby bump was getting bigger and bigger, and he was afraid she'd pop if he turned around... Honestly, the idea of having a child scared him far more than anything before. And now that conflicts were threatening to get worse and make their way onto his doorstep, he was determined to make sure nothing could possibly harm her.
Speaking of family... Dala had finally made progress altering the FEV virus to cause specific mutations... While it had taken quite a few prisoners(Hundreds), she was now able to influence what specific part of the body would be mutated.
For instance, she was able to grant a human, a Supermutant arm, leg, head... She'd even gone so far as to change a person's entire body aside from their head. They weren't affected by the rage and mental degradation most Supermutants would experience, yet they were far stronger than any human could usually be.
Of course, such things didn't come without side effects, this changed person only lasted a couple days before their immune system freaked out and torn itself apart, rejected the person's head and literally causing their brain to liquify.
Still, this progress wasn't as fast as Afton wanted it to be... And with his and Josie's child on the way, he thought it'd be fitting for his father to be present to see his grandchild... Thus, he decided to use drastic tactics...
*Shuuk!*
The reinforced door opens to reveal a cell that doesn't have a floor, instead having vicious-looking acid covering the bottom like a pool. Above it, strapped to a machine held over the middle of the acid was Macka Bree, the gaunt-looking man turning his head away from the T.V he'd been provided that only plays reruns of bad prewar shows.
"U-uh-please! Don't take away my T.V again!" the man quickly shouts, struggling slightly in his restraints.
Afton just shakes his head and sighs at how far the man in front of him had fallen... From a genocidal maniac with a god-complex, to this snivelling piece of shit who'd flinch at the slightest movement...
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"I'm not here to take away your T.V... Though, if you disobey me, I'll do far worse." he threatens, pressing a button that lowers the machine slightly closer to the acid below.
Macka gives a squeak of fear as his eyes moisten, "P-Please! Not again!" he exclaims, struggling in his bonds to get away from the acid.
Afton scowls at him, "Then you better do as your told." he states before growing a thick tentacle from his plant arm, taking Macka from his restraints and depositing him outside the cell, though, with the tentacle still wrapped tightly around him.
"Try and resist or escape, and I'll show you that I can control puppets too... By threading roots through your body." he warns.
Macka slowly nods and sheepishly rubs his wrists. He'd been stuck in that position for two weeks straight, so he was fairly happy to be able to stretch himself out...
The tortures had taken a toll on him, and he now no longer thought himself the 'master-race', his easy defeat via Afton's allies had clearly displayed his weaknesses. Even he, someone who controlled Afton and was essentially unstoppable against most things, was defeated by a robot, and an annoyed girlfriend...
After temporarily freeing the man, he drags him towards Mr X's cell, the zombie-like monster was still confined in its room, machines continually cutting away at its constantly regenerating flesh to stop it from escaping.
Afton pushes Macka inside and gestures at Mr X, heal my father. And if you try anything funny, just know that there are far worse things than that pool of acid in your cell..." he growls.
Macka looks over at his creation... Mr X had been the pinnacle of what he'd been able to do, Afton's DNA was only compatible with his family, making his father the only subject that could be altered with it... Thus, creating this immortal and incredibly strong creature.
The idea of taking control of Mr X flashed through his mind, but he was well away of how strong Afton was, and how much stronger he'd gotten since their fight... He didn't know how it'd happened, but he knew Afton could easily deal with Mr X, and subsequently him due to his inability to puppet him.
Macka walks over and places a tentative hand on Mr X's torso, feeling his masterful creation go still as he looked to see if reversing the process was possible... Obviously, reversing such a perfect procedure hadn't ever crossed his mind, so he had no idea how long it'd actually take.
Afton watches with cautious eyes as Mr X's skin loses that grey leather look, becoming slightly softer and more human-looking.
Using his Perk [Living Anatomy] he could see Mr X's endurance slowly decreasing, meaning that whatever Macka was doing was likely working...
Afton quickly turns off the machines cutting Mr X's limbs to prevent his father from permanently becoming a torso... Just in time too, as Mr X's healing factor had seem to have gotten weaker.
Unfortunately, the changes that Mr X's body undergoes aren't as extensive as Afton had hoped... His height and appearance remained the, aside from his now normal-looking skin. Macka abruptly stops whatever he was doing as soon as Mr X's Endurance reaches 10, the max level a regular human can reach.
"Dad?" Afton calls out, wondering if Macka had actually done it...
"Grrrr!" Mr X growls when addressed, still not sounding human at all.
Macka breathes a worried sigh, "That's the best I can do... I'm sorry, but its mind is still in a feral state." he mutters, wondering if he'd be tortured again.
Afton just shakes his head and ignores the man, restraining Mr X's now regrown arms and legs as he has Glados deliver an X-ray machine to the room. Once it arrives, he positions it directly at his father's head, scanning his skull and brain to see if there was anything that could be done...
On the monitor, his father's brain was fully displayed, every wrinkle and crevice, every imperfection... Afton was very familiar with the human brain by now, having dissected and experimented on many deserving people before.
His father's brain was odd though, larger than it was before due to the skull's increased size, the additional brain matter looked different compared to the rest as well. It's texture was smoother, yet pulsed as if a separate living creature.
This was actually a good thing, it meant there might be something he could do to fix his father... If his brain were completely normal, then it'd mean his mind itself had been broken... With this though, it meant he might be able to fix his father.
Hmm... It would be incredibly difficult however, he'd have to excavate around the new brain matter, dealing with any problems he encounters on the way.
Afterwards, his father's brain would probably also need extensive Cybernetics to make sure nothing else goes wrong... Plus, he didn't know how the brain would react to his drastically different body... His father wasn't Mr X after all, and he hoped he retained no memories of his time as the creature.
He sighs and turns to face Macka, "You have done as I've asked. Keep this up, and I may not shoot you into the sun when your use has ended." he states, before looking up into the corner of hte room where he knew Glados was watching.
"I need you to send in Dala, Usanagi, and Mobius. And I don't care if they're busy, send them anyway." he commands.
"Affirmative." Glados easily accepts. Not having a problem annoying the scientists with the sudden request... It wasn't as if they could reject Afton's orders either.
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