Chapter 677 - Moment Of Resignation

Afton sighs at Christine's words, wondering if his spies had gotten any dirt on the Brotherhood higherups... It wasn't as easy getting intel on them as it was the NCR, their tech removed many, many avenues of attack that he previously had... Not to mention the fact that the NCR civilians gave easy cover for Cass, Anja, and Juan to work under...

There wasn't really anything like that inside Brotherhood facilities, especially since everyone has to carry around identification. He wouldn't be surprised if the place went on lockdown whenever forgot their holotags...

Shaking his head, he unpauses the holodisk. Allowing Elder Gurren to continue.

"We, at the Brotherhood of Steel, wish to negotiate your surrender. We are not lost on the advanced technology you possess, but the weapons you have gathered would stand no chance against our combined might. You must know this, after all, you were one of us at one point in time." Gurren pauses.

"The Brotherhood of Steel will pledge not to annihilate Bulwark, its people, and any other resistance we encounter if you agree to our terms... First of which, will be to hand over all the weapons you possess... Power armour, laser and plasma weapons, vehicles... Even the device you used to cause mass destruction from above..." he trails off and Afton pauses again.

He scoffs, "I can't tell if this is an honest offer, or if they're just baiting us to declare war against them..."

Veronica shakes her head, "They probably just want the green light to invade the Mojave... Want to skip all the rules and protocols inhibiting them."

Josie shrugs, "Er, what's stopping us from just, like, shooting the orbital laser at them?"

Afton chews his lip, "I'm not sure... They know it exists apparently, so they must have some countermeasures against it, besides the fact they have my father as a hostage" he says before unpausing the holodisk yet again.

"We are willing to reinstate Afton Parker, Zachary Parker, and any other member of Bulwark that had formerly belonged to us, if all of our terms are met with due haste. If Bulwark's surrender is not announced and confirmed within two weeks, we will have no choice but to defend ourselves against the growing threat your band of traitors presents.

You will subsequently be dealt with swiftly, and efficiently, our army will incinerate any obstacles, and to ensure the protection of the Wasteland, and perhaps even the world... We will employ our own weapons of mass destruction, such as Liberty Prime, and other weapons that the public is not yet aware of.

...

As for our terms? Aside from handing over all dangerous technology you possess, you will execute each and every Supermutant and Ghoul in your employ, those condition includes any artificially created life... Including plants, animals... People..." he trails off and Afton pauses it with some confusion present in his eyes.

"Artificially created people?... Are they aware of our cloning capabilities?" he questions, wondering if there was somehow a spy in their midst...

He looks to the others but finds that they are as confused as he is... Fortunately, there is one person present who seems to know what's going on.

"Creator, I am 70% sure the meatbag is making reference to the AI androids that have been appearing around the East coast... There have been no official findings as of yet, but rumours of machines wearing human skin have become common." Glados explains.

Afton rubs his face, "Cyborgs...? No, they'd be androids wouldn't they?... The only places that I think have the tech to do something like that is here, and... The Institute."

"Those secret scientists you keep complaining about?" Josie asks.

Afton nods, "Yeah, they might have equal-level tech to Big Mt... At least, before I came along. Seems like the Brotherhood has been better at locating them than we have though. As for Elder Gurren's demand? It'd mean we'd have to kill everyone who'd received a clone body, kill everyone in Jacobstown, every ghoul that works here... Glados, how many people would this directly affect?" he questions

"Four hundred and seventy-two." her robotic voice drolly remarks.

Afton shrugs to himself, "So, yeah... Even if we wanted to surrender, I'm not willing to accept that term."

The others nod, agreeing with his apprehension at committing what amounted to genocide against their own people.

The screen unpauses and Gurren continues yet again. "Additionally, we wish for the extermination of the one known as 'Mr House', his existence exposes a severe lack of knowledge concerning his continued existence, one we wish to rectify, preferably with laser fire.

Once Mr House has been eliminated, we will take the Mojave into our care. Protecting and caring for the common populace in ways New Vegas and Bulwark has not been able... This concludes our message, while there is far more we wish to discuss, such things would need to be face to face... By Maxson's will." he gives a small nod as the holodisk ends.

...

"Well that was..." Veronica trails off.

"Shit?" Afton guesses.

"Stupid?" Josie adds.

"Tyrannical." Christine remarks."

"Boring." Veronica finishes, blushing slightly as the others send exasperated looks at her, "What? He didn't say anything interested, and it's not like we'd be accepting their proposal in a million years." she retorts.

Afton sighs, "Yeah, I guess you're right..." he mutters, going into silent contemplation on the situation.

...

"What should we reply with?" Veronica suddenly asks...

Afton grins, "Oh. I'll definitely think of something... It'll be mature. Make our stance known while maintaining optimum civility and dignity." he explains, getting suspicious looks from the others.

...

"You aren't gonna fly a giant cock-shaped plane over them, are you?" Josie asks after a moment.

...

"Uh... No! That sounds really stupid... And funny...." he shakes his head, silently clicking his tongue at losing his first idea.