Chapter 671 - Intro'dad'tion...

Afton shakes his head of the dour thoughts concerning his father and an agonizing death involving cancer. He adjusts the Stealth suit and puts on gloves to prevent his father from spotting his plant arms, afterwards waiting for Usanagi to leave the room.

*Shuuk!*

The reinforced door slides open, and Usanagi walks out with her clipboard clutched to her chest, she gives him a small smile and nods, "He seems fine, though, I'd not let him go anywhere without supervision, preferably yours, as I don't think anyone else could actually deal with him if he went out of control." she explains, remembering the way the chain groaned against the man's strength.

Afton nods, "Thanks for your help, I'd give you a bonus, but your salary is already big enough." he chuckles, gently clapping a hand on her shoulder as he walks past, into the air-lock between the observation room and where his father was.

He calms his breaths as the door closed behind him, "You ready to meet my dad, Nyx?"

"I have already met him before, sir... I think I still have the imprint of his fist..." Nyx mutters.

Afton shakes his head, "That, wasn't my dad." he easily retorts, "Just try and behave yourself... Try not to reveal anything before me, I'm a bit scared of his reaction, to be honest." he admits as the door opens and he steps into the room.

Zachary Parker looks up from where he was sat on the bed, spotting a familiar-looking man enter the room. They were 6.1 ft, messy average length black hair, tanned skin and hazel eyes that matched his late wife's. He wore strange clothes as well, but he didn't recognise the insignia printed onto the chest plate.

It was his son he realised almost immediately, though, the light beard and black-veins around his eyes made him slightly unsure of himself... The latter because he couldn't recall any medical ailment that would cause such an effect... Which meant, potentially a mutant?

He shakes his head, not daring to believe such a thing without confirming who this man was. And what'd happened in his life. He stays quiet, silently observing Afton and not making any moves to start the conversation.

Afton certainly hadn't been expecting the tense atmosphere as soon as he stepped into the room, he'd imagined a joyful reunion with lots of hugging, tears, and everything else that goes along with it... But maybe his dad just wasn't in the mood...

He coughs into his fist and sheepishly approaches his dad, not bothered in the slightest by his deformed face. "You're starting to make me kind of depressed here, what's wrong? Can't even recognise your own kid?" he asks semi-sarcastically.

...

"No. I recognise you, but, a lot has changed. I really didn't expect to see you again after you and the others left through that canyon passage." he admits with a sigh.

Afton slowly nods, sitting on the bed next to his father, "Yeah, well, I thought you were dead. Only found evidence that you were alive when I rechecked the battle sight years later... I avenged mom you know. Blew him to kingdom come." he chuckles morbidly.

Zach finally looks up and locks eyes with Afton, "Good. Bastard deserves to rot in hell." he affirms, acknowledging Afton's efforts.

"Yeah, the guy who lead the attack on Helios didn't have a good end either... Got chopped up and eaten by cannibals or something like that. With how fat that bastard was, he could've fed the whole casino."

...

"How has your life been, son?" Zach asks, wanting to know if his son's life had been easy, hard... Worth living.

Afton thinks for a moment before shrugging, "It's been interesting, I guess. I've experienced quite a lot, done good things and things I regret... It's been a bit shit at times but, I think I've managed well enough."

Zach slowly nods, "The Doctor said you were the one to rescue me?"

"Yeah..." Afton pauses, wondering if he should tell his father that he'd been sent to assassinate him. "Er, I lead a group to attack the facility that mutated you, capturing the scientist and forcing him to help return your mind." he finally says, not explaining that the group he'd lead had been an army of supermutants...

Zach finally lets a proud smile make its way onto his face, "You must be at least a Paladin to be able to lead a group into battle like that... That'd make you one of the youngest Paladin's in Brotherhood history." he mutters.

...

"Er, not exactly." Afton quietly replies, feeling bad for ruining his father's moment.

...

"What do you mean?" Zach asks with mild confusion.

"... Well, a year or so ago I kind of... Left the Brotherhood." he explains sheepishly.

...

"What...?" Zach's face goes blank in utter confusion.

Afton breathes a sigh, "Do you know what happened to the Chapter once we left Helios?"

Zach shakes his head, "I assume you retreated out of the Mojave and requested reinforcements?"

"No... McNamara led us into the Hidden Valley where a number of old bunkers were located. We hid away in those as we were basically trapped without anywhere else to go... The NCR destroyed a couple of them, but missed the main one."

Zach scrunched his brows, "Then what?"

"Well, nothing, really... We hid there for years, doing little to nothing for the Mojave and slowly dying out underground. I ended up leaving for. reasons. Eventually travelling all around the Mojave, making friends, enemies..." he explains.

Zach slowly stands, tugging slightly on his chains that prevent his full range of motion, "Where are we now then? Are we back in the bunker? Headquarters? Another Chapter?" he challenges, becoming more and more unsure of this situation the more he learns.