章 573: Hold!

The battle lasted less than an hour, yet to those who participated, it felt as if they'd been fighting all day... The surviving Brotherhood of Steel members were all stripped of their power armour and tied up next to one another.

Veronica, Christine, and Miles do their best to try and convince some of them to desert the Brotherhood and join Bulwark, but their attempts are unsuccessful most of the time. More than half of them refuse to join Bulwark, determined to stay true to the Brotherhood and the Codex... Which was what Afton had been expecting and dreading.

There were actually a few people who he was considered refusing entry to Bulwark... Prime examples of this would be Christine's parents, the duo should be begging Christine for forgiveness, as they had basically been doing last time he saw them... Yet, once they laid eyes upon Christine's scarred body, face, and bald head. They did an almost complete 180 in their attitude...

Christine obviously still cared about them, regardless of how they'd acted in the past, but seeing them acting like this towards her made Afton's blood boil... Fortunately, his anger with them was stifled slightly as he watched Veronica punch Darian Royce in the face, knocking him out clean.

After that Veronica escorted a rather distraught Christine away from the prisoners. Miles at least managed to find Melissa, who brought along a rather large contingent of Brotherhood members who had been dissatisfied with Hardin, or persecuted by him in some way. There were around twenty of them not including Melissa, which had Afton quite happy. They'd be combat-ready once he'd put them through a psych evaluation(For loyalty), given new equipment(Including chips), and properly shown around Big Mt.

Afton himself was unsurprisingly caught in conversation with a familiar face... Former-Elder McNamara. The man was sitting on the floor with crossed legs, seemingly unbothered at his restrained state. "Welcome back, Afton." he smiles as if they hadn't just been fighting.

"Yeah, thanks... You're looking awfully happy for someone who'd just lost literally everything. The Chapter is gone, and once we've found all those willing to join Bulwark, I'll teleport you to Mexico, without any equipment and minimal supplies." he states. It was a given he'd be forced to do that, if left alone in the Mojave they could alert the NCR to the trap he's attempting to spring on them.

Even if no one rats to them directly, the large numbers of former Brotherhood members leaving the area would be warning enough that something suspicious was occurring.

McNamara shrugs, "I knew something like this was going to happen ever since Hardin became Elder... I think I prefer it ending this way..." he quietly admits.

Afton crooks a brow, "You prefer it ending this way? With me taking your people, stealing your stuff, and ditching you in Mexico like some illegal immigrant?"

The man just tilts his head and continues smiling, "Compared to what the NCR would do to us? You came in with non-lethal intentions. Even with the few casualties, this is the best result we could have hoped for... At least we get to live past Hardin's 'reign'."

"You know, you're actually my favourite Elder... Why not come to Bulwark? You'll receive a similar position to Head Paladin, I'll put you in charge of the former Brotherhood members, and I'll even have you scanning, searching, and researching dangerous technologies."

McNamara laughs, "Favourite Elder!? Haha! Well, just between you and I, I believe I did a better job than both Hardin and Elijah put together." he jokes while tapping his nose, as if trusting Afton with a secret. "As for your offer? I'm sorry that I can't accept... My place is still with the Brotherhood, and I still have a duty to protect our family, something tells me that they'll need all the help they can get..."

Afton nods sympathetically, afterwards cutting the man's restraints before leaving and continuing to look around the place. He does end up running into some more faces from his childhood, Adah Lindgren, Ramos, and people his age... He even ended up running into Sandra Torres. Sadly, the latter was the only one among the group that was willing to join Bulwark... The rest, despite their relationship with Afton, chose to follow the others in Mexico.

All in all, it took around half a day to get everything completed. During this time Afton had his robots loot the Brotherhood base and bunker, the latter of which would be stripped for tech later to serve Bulwark... Afton was looking forward to adapting the combat simulators into the Holodeck tech that was in Big Mt.

The Brotherhood armoury was a significant boon as it contained well-maintained energy weaponry and Power armour, all of which would be adapted and improved into the Bulwark variant.

There were a few problems concerning Black Mountain, but the army still stationed in the Brotherhood base easily annihilated the Super Mutant invaders... Seems as if they thought the battle would've weakened them enough to make for easy pickings. They were demonstrably wrong.

This attack had drawn Afton's attention however, he currently had nothing to do as they were waiting for the teleport enhancers to recharge so they could send the Brotherhood prisoners off to their new home.

Afton glances over at Veronica, "You're in charge, make sure no one dies while I go visit our Super Mutant neighbours." he says before marching towards the bottom of Black Mountain.

"Can we come-" Veronica starts but is cut off by Afton.

"No. You're still being punished, remember? Now stay here and imagine all the Mutant faces you aren't getting to punch." he jokes as he walks off, leaving his companions and the army behind.

Miles gestures at Afton as he leaves while glancing at Veronica, "Is he gonna be alright? There are over a hundred mutants on that mountain..."

Veronica purses her lips and shrugs, "He'll be fine... It's Afton after all..." she states noncommittally as if her answer was complete and comprehensive enough for even a child to understand...