Chapter 679 - Freedom, Liberty, And Transformers!

Soon enough, the Brotherhood declared war on the Mojave, Bulwark especially, as was noted in their officially published announcement. The reason for this was obvious to most people, "Afton's Middle Finger" as it had been named, had been witnessed by most of the West Coast, and had made the Brotherhood the butt of most jokes amongst those that'd been unwillingly conquered by them.

Most remnants of the NCR that were now forced under Brotherhood control took to this like moths to fire, even making large groups of them leave their lands to join Bulwark, in an attempt to get some payback against the Brotherhood.

Not all news was good news though. Now that the Brotherhood had made their intentions clear, Liberty Prime and the rest of the free Brotherhood forces were en route to the Mojave... And while their march wasn't all that quick due to the fact they needed to set up resupply outposts every hundred or so miles, they would eventually reach the Mojave's doorstep.

Mr House wasn't happy about Afton's middle finger, calling it 'a flagrant display of immaturity and shortsightedness'... Of course, his tone changed once the volunteers from New California started coming in, the man not having expected the people to rally behind what was essentially a nationwide prank by Afton.

A few Brotherhood scouts had attempted to get into the Mojave already, but they were easily sent away by the vast security systems that'd been installed all around the region's borders. While Afton was wary of killing any Brotherhood members, he recognised that the situation may make it a necessity, especially with the antagonistic stance he'd clearly taken against them.

Not that they gave him much of a choice mind you, to choose between subservience and butchering your own people, or fighting against former comrades, Afton would pick the latter every time.

Two months pass after the events of Afton's middle finger, and the Brotherhood was finally making their move...

Afton, Tamia, Veronica, and Christine were standing atop the fortification that'd been made at the Mojave Outpost in the South Western side of the Mojave.

The fortifications were vast, and should easily hold off any attack the Brotherhood attempted... At least, that's what Afton hoped. He was as sure of their defences once he spotted the towering figure of Liberty Prime that was advancing towards them from the distance.

Behind the giant robot, were hundreds of Knight and Paladins following along the ground, all equipped with the finest armour and weaponry the Brotherhood could provide.

Not only that, by behind those ground troops were many Heavily armed and armoured Vertibirds, they were currently keeping their distance due to the many large Anti-Air weapons the fortification had been installed with.

"You guys like our chances?" Afton asks while gesturing at the army ahead.

Veronica gives a nervous chuckle, "No idea... I grew up on stories of Liberty Prime, I'm not really looking forward to fighting it." she admits.

Tamia cracks her knuckles, "Probably all exaggerated... Hit it good in the knee cap or the neck and boom, we're done." she states.

Christine shakes her head, "The Enclave had tried that and many other things when they fought against it. It is heavily armoured and equipped with shields that'll resist basically everything we could throw at it..."

"I don't know about that, we got weapons the Brotherhood has never seen before... Besides, this wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with shields, what're the odds that its shields are similar to the ones we have at Big Mt?" he asks.

"65% Sir, its shields look weaker than what we possess, but perhaps it has been installed with the prototype versions?" Nyx speaks from his suit.

Afton slowly nods, "Alright... You guys, I need you to deal with everything else while I try to bring down Liberty Prime... But first, let's see if we can negotiate at all." he says, raising his hand and making a gesture, causing lightning to strike his position and deposit him almost directly in front of the advancing army.

"Can you guys hold up for a minute! Who's your commanding officer!?" he shouts, holding his hands up pacifyingly.

Liberty Prime stops and takes one look at Afton before announcing, "COMMUNIST DETECTED ON AMERICAN SOIL; LETHAL FORCE ENGAGED!"

"WAIT! I'M NOT A COMMIE, I'M A FULL BLOODED AMERICAN!" he shouts, ignoring the fact he still felt more like an English-man than a Yank.

"CHINESE DECEPTION DETECTED, DESTRUCTION IMMINENT!" the machine continues, beginning to walk towards Afton and raising its foot.

Afton leaps backwards as it attempts to crush him underfoot, leaving a large crater in its wake... Once it attacks, the rest of the Brotherhood army begins advancing again, a few even starting to make pot-shots at Afton.

Shaking it head at his failed attempt to negotiate with the robot, he pulls out the Range Finder and points it, not at Liberty Prime, but the army behind him.

He's forced to keep backing away from the continually approaching Liberty Prime, but eventually, he gets a clean lock with the Orbital Laser.

"PEEWWWW!"

A cloud overhead parts as a huge blue laser cuts through the center of it, the laser enveloping a large portion of the Brotherhood ground army.

Once the attack ends, the only thing that could be heard is the screams of those who'd been on the outskirts of the laser and had somehow not been instantly killed, as well as Liberty Prime which had drawn a nuke from its back, getting ready to throw it like a football.

"Nyx, again!" Afton shouts as stops in place and watches as the nuke is thrown directly at him... Only for another bolt of lightning to hit him, depositing him a good distance to Liberty Prime's right.

The nuclear explosion causes a huge mushroom cloud to form, and it kicks up a huge amount of sand and dust, obscuring both side's vision for a couple moments.

After breathes a sigh of relief at having dodged the nuke... He honestly didn't know if he'd be able to withstand a direct hit like that... Fortunately, he'd thought about this beforehand and had many teleportation extenders buried under the ground around the fortification....