Chương 26: "Disciplinary"

Steve doesn't open his eyes for fear of the stew burning them, allowing Afton to walk up and deliver a roundhouse punch to his face, knocking the teen to the floor.

Apparently that wasn't enough as they slowly get to their feet, anger allowing them to ignore the hot liquid on their face. He charges at Afton, throwing his arms around at random in an attempt to hit him. Clearly no one had taught him how to fight, or even punch properly...

Afton gets clipped on the shoulder by one but it isn't all that effective, dodging the next and dashing forwards, hugging Steve to prevent anymore flailing punching being thrown. The boy tried to wrestle him but found that Afton was actually stronger somehow.

Veronica had taught him how to punch and fight in general, but it was Christine who'd shown him how to utilise other things that weren't his fists. Afton takes a small step back to get space before slamming his elbow into Steve jaw, the metal fixtures on his Initiate uniform providing an almost unfair advantage.

*Crack!*

Steve's jaw made an awful sound as he slumped to the floor, backing his head on a nearby table as he's knocked unconscious. Afton just looks down at Steve with a small amount of disappointment... His first real fight in this world and even his previous one, and he'd not even been challenged. He shook his head, this was the difference between a trained and untrained combatant he supposed.

The cafeteria was silent when he walked back over with his tray to get more stew, the Initiate tasked with giving everyone their meal blankly just handing him another bowl, not realising that giving Afton anymore was against the rules due to rationing.

...

Afton found it hard to ignore everyone staring at him, even Melissa and Miles with mimicking owls towards him...

"That... Was... SOO COOL!" Melissa finally exclaimed after recovering from the shock of seeing Afton utterly decimate an older Initiate.

Miles rapidly nods, "How did you do that, who taught you!?" he quickly asks, apparently wanting to get tutored himself.

Afton just shakes his head, "You should ask to learn some hand-to-hand combat when you become Initiates." he say simply, not wanting to trouble Veronica or Christine.

Soon enough Paladin Edgar Hardin and their teacher Scribe Doran Dumble walks into the room, scouring it with their eyes before both find Steve Lynch's unconscious body and Afton.

"Initiate Parker, with me!" Paladin Hardin commands as Doran gets some help from other Initiates to carry Steve's body to the infirmary.

"Can I take my food?" he asks just as Hardin is about to leave the room, causing most of the room to look at him as if he were crazy...

Hardin glances at Afton and an almost undetectable smirk finds its way onto his face, "As long as you clean up after yourself." he states and walks out, Afton picking up his tray and quickly following, getting confused and awed looks from everyone else.

Afton was lead into the man's office where he was already sat down, the fact he was wearing his Power armour made it look like the chair was a small stool, but he managed to keep himself from chuckling at the sight.

Hardin gestured to the chair on the opposite side of the desk and Afton sat down, placing his meal on the table and biting into a potato nonchalantly.

"Do you know why I have called you here Initiate Parker?" the mans asks with a stern expression.

Afton shrugs and swallows his mouthful, "No sir, I was simply defending myself so I see no reason for action against me."

Hardin slowly nods, "... I agree, you were provoked first, and hadn't made the first move. Not only that by that idiot Initiate managed to hit a young student in the face while he was at it, someone he was supposed to be protecting. It seems we've misjudged his character if Initiate Lynch is capable of doing that." he explains.

"Why did you call me then?" he asks, confused.

"Because regardless if you are at fault or not, I need to be seen investigating it, even if I already know what happened. I'm proud that you handled it in such a way, and impressed you managed to take on someone two years older than you. Those lessons you're getting from Veronica seem to be paying off." he says with a small grin.

"Ah, you knew about that?"

Hardin nods, "Who do you think covers for Veronica when the Elder is unable to find her? Even when she's on break the Elder comes looking for her, the man doesn't seem to understand not everyone can go on without sleep for days... Plus, I think what you're being taught is valuable knowledge, initiates are taught hand-to-hand combat a couple of months after they are promoted, which is too late in my estimation.

Being trained at a younger age instils the movements and attitude required of a warrior, it makes you more combat-oriented and confident, something that will never be a bad thing. As the old proverb goes, it's better to be a warrior in a farm, than a farmer in a war." he explains.

Afton had just finished his stew as the man was talking, but he nods in understanding, he agreed with the man. Knowing how to fight did make him more confident, and being thrashed by Veronica so many times had given him a wider perception of others actions... To most someone gripping their fists and tensing their jaws as nothing, may just irritation, but to him, it was potential aggression.

"May I leave now? My classes should start soon." he asks and the man nods.

Afton picks up the tray and is about to return them to the cafeteria when Hardin grabs his attention.

"Oh and Initiate Parker? Good job in there today." he says sincerely, despite the fact he'd beaten a fellow Initiate and potentially broken his jaw.

"No problem sir, hopefully this won't happen again anytime soon though." he says as he finally leaves.

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Niggross

Hope you guys like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know...

Yeah, I imagined Hardin to have been kinda like this before Helios One, a "bro" if ever there were one.

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

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Chương 27: Death Trap?

After the "cafeteria" incident most people who disliked Afton stayed well away, the fact that he hadn't been punished in any capacity was one of the reasons why this was the case... The other? Steve Lynch's broken jaw. The Initiate had been patched up in the infirmary, a stimpack being used to help along with the healing, however, as soon as he was deemed healthy he was heavily reprimanded by Scribe Doran.

He was given the punishment of having no free time for three months, his every waking moment would have to be spent in what could only be described as community service. Cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors, helping Knight and Scribes put away the large amounts of scrap and other miscellaneous things they'd sometimes use, etc.

Initiate Steve Lynch obviously held a grudge for this, not only had he been humiliated by his junior, but he'd also been punished and lost face. None of his "friends" even wanted to associate themselves with him any longer, apparently now that he wasn't all he made himself up to be, they weren't interested in befriending him.

Afton was slightly nervous about what Veronica and Christine would think about the whole incident, his father was happy about how he dealt with it, having likely heard it from Hardin's perspective. His mother on the other hand? Not so much. Apparently breaking his "friends" jaw due to an argument was way too far, Afton just silently nodded his head though... You couldn't really win an argument with your mother.

As expected, Veronica and Christine did hear about it, during their next sparring session the former was happily kicking her legs while sitting atop a desk, while the latter was giving him a hard look.

"Afton! So how was it? Your first fight?" Veronica quickly asks, wanting to hear every little detail.

He sighed and went into how it came about, how he was provoked and attacked first, this seemed to calm Christine down a bit upon hearing he didn't instigate it. Apparently, Veronica didn't want to hear about how he got into the fight, but how he fought instead... Muscle head.

Christine pops a cocky smile at her lover when he reveals that he'd ended the fight with an elbow, "The elbow is mightier than the fist" she mocks, having heard Veronica spout the literal opposite when teaching him.

"No! If you were stronger your first punch should have ended it... I'll have to show you how to do it again!" she shouts and starts chasing after him while swinging her fists.

Christine laughs as Afton frantically fends off Veronica, despite how long he'd been training with them, he still wasn't a match against either of the two superior combatants.

A few days pass and Afton is finds himself in a class he'd be excitedly anticipating... Power armour training... Doran walks in after everyone had already arrived, however he was no in his usual scribe robes... Instead wearing a set of Power armour that heavily clanked over to the front of the class. As usual the Power armour raised his usual 5.8ft height to 6.5ft, it was honestly rather surprising to see such a short man become so tall just by using the armour.

"Greetings Initiates." he says, quickly receiving "Sir!" in response and nodding, "As most of you know, today I'll be teaching you about Power armour, one of the most important technologies the Brotherhood of Steel owns. Now, I won't be able to teach you anything specifically on how they operate or are made, as you'll only learn that after you graduate from Initiate... But, I can teach you how to wear it."

Afton raises his hand and Doran points at him, "Yes Initiate Parker?"

"Sir, aren't we all still not tall enough to properly wear the armour?" he asks, causing a few students to groan as they realise they'd not get to experience using it yet.

Doran nods, "That's right, you need to be at least 5.5ft in order to wear the typically issued Power armour units we use in the Brotherhood, this brings us to the first thing I need to teach you all." he says as he turns around to show the class his back, he touches something that causes the suit to straighten its back and go rigid. Doran takes the helmet off as the back of the armour opens up, revealing the man inside.

Doran steps backwards out of the armour and turns to look at everyone while resting the helmet on his desk. "Now, the reason for the height restriction is simple. It would be far too time-consuming and wasteful to fully customise each suit of armour to each individual person, the Pre-war American military thought so too and designed the suits in a way to make it more accessible to everyone." he says before gesturing at the strange mechanical components inside the suit.

"See these? These are footholds, this is the main thing stopping anyone who isn't trained to use Power armour. You need to manually adjust them before you get in, otherwise there are two outcomes... First is you don't raise them enough, the armour will close on your head and crush your skull, if there isn't anyone well versed in how to override the armour you will probably die in a few seconds." he explains, causing a few students to grimace.

"Second, you raise the footholds too much, this will cause the armour to clamp don't on your chest, depending on how high you set them, you'll either slowly suffocate or you'll simply have you chest collapse with your heart and lungs being crushed... So, when I tell you to NEVER try to wear Power armour without someone experience watching, I FUCKING MEAN IT!" he shouts, displaying how serious he is on this topic.

"I have seen more than my fair share of Initiates getting mulched in these things due to how reckless and overeager they are, so if nothing else, obey this one warning I'm giving you now." he states.

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Niggross

So yeah, this is the reason I'm giving that people can't wear Power armour without training. Dying a brutally gory death is enough reason not to attempt it. :P

Hope you guys liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.

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