Chapter 607 - Fucked.

Colonel William Carver looks through the window as his convoy approaches Black Mountain. The landmark was a clear indication that they were nearing the Brotherhood base, so he and his men were terribly tense awaiting the battle that'd occur in an hour at the latest.

No one was panicking fortunately, he'd already laid out the plans to his men, so once the convoy reached a distant point, the artillery machines split off from the trucks carrying most of the troopers.​​

The Artillery machines made a left on the road and slowly pulled themselves up a slight incline, gaining height and eventually arriving to a place that looks over the road with the Brotherhood base in the distance.

The trucks carried on instead, driving down the road until the Brotherhood base was in sight. Once they'd arrived, they stopped the trucks and all quickly got out with their weapons, many of them carrying sandbags out and stacking them to create makeshift barricades.

Jackson personally led the group while the lieutenants that'd come with William assisted, knowing Jackson was a higher rank than them.

Once the preparations were all complete, with snipers in position, artillery ready, each specialised squads ready to fire, Jackson looks through his binoculars towards the base.

In the distance, he could see the walls with seemingly no one atop them... Aside from the few armoured shadows that would walk across it, obviously patrolling... Had the Brotherhood somehow not noticed their presence yet?

"Sir?" a trooper beside him cautiously asks.

Jackson squints his eyes, feeling as if something very bad was about to happen, "What is it?"

"We-er, we found something strange?" the trooper states, pulling Jackson's attention and gesturing at a small mound of dirt that seemed to have been disturbed a while ago. The NCR troopers were all staying a good distance from it, scared it might be a buried missile, mine, or even an undetonated nuclear bomb.

Fortunately for them, it was none of the above. Once the soldiers had determined that it was safe, a couple brushed the dirt from it, eventually, it was revealed... Some kind of obelisk made from blue-tinted metal, that seemed to be electronic?

"Sir! We've discovered another!" another soldier says, but Jackson gets a cold sweat on his back when he properly looks around.

It was faint, but he could see disturbed earth everywhere as if there were hundreds of these strange obelisks just waiting for their arrival. "SHIT! IT'S A TRA-"

*CRAACK!*

Lightning descends from the sky all around the NCR, it was loud but not as much as you'd expect lightning to be... It did blind most of them however, leaving only Jackson who still wore his favourite sunglasses able to see.

"ARRRRGH!!!"

Screams break out all around him as Jackson realises what'd just happened... Towering figures appear all around them, many Deathclaws and Cyberdogs had just been teleported into their midst!

The NCR was no stranger to Deathclaws, but the only efficient way to deal with them was from a distance... Getting up close and personal like they were now was a complete death sentence!

"SIR! H-HELP! SAVE M-GUHK!" the young man's pleading is cut off as a long claw penetrates his throat, and tears his head from his body.

Jackson throws himself to the ground in order to dodge the maws of another Deathclaw, firing at it with his revolver to deal some damage at least. The Deathclaw is about to cut him to ribbons when another soldier runs in front of it screaming while a Cyberdog's jaws are locked around their ankle.

This luckily draws its ire as it devours that man and seemingly forgets Jackson, he begins crawling backwards in a panic. He wasn't trained for this! Nor was he prepared for anything even approaching this disaster!

Jackson continues crawling backwards in a daze until the sounds of screaming slowly fade from his ears... Though, whether this was just him hallucinating while in shock was another matter entirely.

*Grrroowwwl*

...

Jackson slowly turns his head to look at whatever was behind him, his eyes widening and tearing up when he spots the humungous Cyberdog. Gabe doesn't let the man try to fight back, instead, unleashing a sonic bark point-blank at him, which makes his body literally implode from the force. Arms, legs, bones, and organs go flying as the shockwave hits him, killing him instantly.

Elsewhere :

Colonel William had been watching these events from the artillery machines. He'd thought that the lightning bolts were the attack, but once the dust cleared and revealed the army of Cyberdogs and Deathclaws, he had absolutely no clue how to proceed.

There was literally nothing he could do about this, aside from the obvious which meant blowing enemies and allies alike with an artillery strike.

He grits his teeth and looks over at his shocked men, "IGNORE IT AND FIRE UPON THE BROTHERHOOD BASE! IF ITS MUTUAL DESTRUCTION THEY WANT, THEN IT'S MUTUAL DESTRUCTION THEY'LL GET!" he roars, pushing his men to quickly start firing.

The artillery machines all point their payloads towards the base, and after making sure the targets are set, fire.

Many, many missiles all launch off into the sky while leaving smoke trails, doing an arc before heading straight for the Brotherhood base.

However, William isn't able to observe the destruction they'd caused because a number of shadows had surrounded the three artillery machines. His door is wrenched open, torn from the vehicle and tossed away like a frisbee as an arm grip tightly his face.

"Guhk!" William yelps as he grips the arm, trying to prevent his neck from being broken by the whiplash. Once outside, he looks up at whoever was holding him, only to see someone dressed in full Bulwark Power armour. Their menacing-looking helmet bearing down on him. "W-who are you!?" he chokes out, wanting to know who exactly is responsible for all this death.