Chapter 657 - Short Standing

It's been four weeks since Afton had reconciled with Josie, he was still busy of course, but the couple's new understanding had made it easier to deal with such issues.

The state of the Mojave wouldn't wait for them however, Afton was forced to assist House in reinforcing the borders of the region to protect against any retaliatory Legion attack... Despite their massive losses at Hoover Dam and the chaos caused by Caesar's abrupt 'suicide', they were still a threat...

The chance of them all gathering for one last 'hurrah' to avenge Caesar and capture the Mojave in his name wasn't zero, so, House elected to gather Afton's help in this effort.

As for what the defences were? Well, ten-foot-high walls surrounded the region, they were made of metal scaffolding and thick concrete to limit costs, and they stretched all the way around the territory, even extending miles east of the colorado.

The walls would be liberally dotted with tesla cannons, a weapon Afton wasn't all that bothered to spread to House. While yes, they were somewhat effective against Power armour due to the way they functioned, Bulwark power armour wouldn't be all that much affected due to the many defensive precautions they'd been fitted with.

It would be quite expensive to power however, and Afton wasn't willing to expend his own resources to charge them, he had provided the weapons and the wall, so it was House's turn to contribute.

Still, to make the weapons more efficient, Afton had the weapons inactive until small sensors detected enemies in the area. They would detect electronic foes, as well as organic ones, so there wouldn't be a massive vulnerability on that front.

Of course, even with the boosts to efficiency, the Hoover Dam simply wasn't able to provide energy to those defences, as well as to New Vegas and other towns that needed it... Thus, Afton started renting out the spare power produced by Helios One.

Yes, he had completely claimed the facility after the NCR had left. Helios One was probably the most well-defended place in the Mojave if he were honest, not even Novac's defences would come close... This is primarily due to Afton's worry of potential infiltration, thus, the rather ridiculous amount of Ultra-Bots, Cyberdogs, and Bulwark soldier patrols.

There was also the Archimedes one to consider as well. This would instantly annihilate any organic matter in or around the facility, Afton had made sure to give himself remote access, so he wouldn't have to personally go there to activate it should shit hit the fan.

Now that Bulwark was basically responsible for creating, maintaining, and powering the defences of the Mojave, its place as a powerful faction was cemented. Even the silliest fool would be able to recognise who was truly in control, much to Mr House's chagrin.

The man was a control freak, but the circumstances wouldn't permit him to act in any way contrary to Afton's wishes, thus, the rather humiliating position he now found himself in... Regardless, he'd have to make due, because there was little to nothing the man could do to change it.

There were also more defences added to Hoover Dam... East of it, Afton and House had begun construction of a fortress, boringly named 'Fort Hoover'. When it was finished, it'd basically look like a high-tech castle, with metal reinforcing the heavy granite stones composing its walls, and a ridiculous list of armaments covering it.

This fort will be managed and maintained by Bulwark, House attempted to negotiate around this, but Afton wasn't having any of it... After all, they were doing almost all the work, and even House was forced to agree that, while Securitrons could do many things, maintaining a fort simply wasn't one of them.

Again, this basically gave Afton complete control of the Dam, even if he left it up to House what to do with it...

He and House had also continued to negotiate over what laws and other things the man would create, but it was easy to agree on most things as they weren't beholden to massive corporations like the old world's politicians were. This allowed them to be as pragmatic and direct in their decisions, quickly leading to a unanimous consensus on what actually needed to be enacted.

Aside from strengthening his hold on the Mojave, there had been some other, more light-hearted events... The most obvious of them being Afton and Josie's wedding ceremony...

Neither of them had wanted anything big, indeed, big weddings were almost entirely restricted to high-up NCR officials. Most religions, traditions, and other facets of society simply hadn't survived the great war... In fact, most of what people retained came from what the Vault Dwellers remembered, and what books, advertisements, and other pieces of media described weddings to be.

Afton didn't consider it a big deal that he was getting married, so the only ones in attendance were close friends and companions... The Remnants were there on behalf of the dearly departed Daisy, his friends from the Brotherhood that'd joined Bulwark were there, and his companions were at the front row...

Funnily enough, he'd stupidly had Glados presiding over the entire thing... Yeah, he wasn't doing that again.

Mid-ceremony the AI would make statements between her script... 'Join these meat-bags here today in this godforsaken desert', 'You may exchange bodily fluids', 'Til death do you part, so once one of you kicks the bucket, do what you want.'

...

Yeah, not his best decision ever... Though, he couldn't help but feel that Glados would be upset if he hadn't let her preside over it... Maybe there was something he was missing though?

Afterwards, there was a small private party for the attendees... In the end, he and Josie left for their room, and he swore if she wasn't pregnant already, she'd definitely be two or three times over after that night...