Chapter Text
Just go to Nuka-world, they said.
It’ll be an easy mission, they said.
You’ll have fun, they said.
It’ll just take 5 minutes, they said.
Well, Jessie Rose thought as she cradled a dislocated shoulder, they could just go fuck themselves.
Her bat still hung like an extension of her arm, blood and brains dripping from its barbed wire and spikes. She spat at the massive corpse underneath her steel toed boot and swung her bat dramatically in a circle. She narrowed her eyes at Cait as she carelessly injected a red fluid into her arm. Her eyes were still glazed over from their last chem break.
She didn’t know who was more shocked that she won against the giant, power armoured, shit-talking, ape named Coltert. The weasel Gage looked pretty damn shocked and so did the massive ginger sitting on top of a weird gorilla throne.
Cait was still ready to fight and so was Jessie.
Now all she had to do was get the hell out.
Gage’s shock turned to gloating fast. The crowd loved the sight of their new overlord towering over the body of their previous overlord. Hell, she did know how to put on a show for such a little woman. She had avoided bullets in a mad dance and had torn Colter’s head armour off with such viciousness he thought she might rip his head off with it. And then the final strike had been watching her bring that barbed wire bat over Colter’s head… that was enough to bring a man to orgasm.
“What the hell?” The giant of a man shouted out, standing up to bang on the cage fence. “You didn’t say anything about the Overboss being some girl. You better know what the hell you're doing. Gage!”
“Hey. We talked about this! She survived the gauntlet. She was smart enough to take my advice, and strong enough to kill Colter. She’s what we need. How about some respect for our new leader, eh?”
"She'll get respect when she earns it." A blonde stated.
"Amen." The man besides her agreed.
“I think they want a speech.” Cait whispered into Jessie’s ear.
“I’m not making a speech.”
“Speech!”
“Will you fuck off?”
“Speech, speech!”
“That’s it!” Jessie exclaimed loudly to the crowd. “This has been fun. Now, if someone could show us to the exit we will won’t have to kill any of you. Well, Any more of you.”
Cait hooted under her breathe and pointed her shotgun directly at the gorilla man.
“You think you can take us all on?” The man laughed.
“Do you want to find out?” Jessie shouted back.
“Hey, hey!” Gage exclaimed. “Just come on. I’ll explain everything.”
Jessie nodded over to Cait and the two followed Gage.
Nuka-world had been in every magazine in Jessie’s pre-war days. Nate and Jessie had planned on taking Shaun when he was a few years older. She used to joke that Nate only wanted to go so he could go on the rides. That and drink as much Nuka-cola as he wanted. He would have loved the glistening attractions and the friendly talking mascots. Well, not so friendly anymore, Jessie thought, as one of them walked up to her and told her she was a whore and it was going to cut her.
She pushed past the walking Nuka-cola mascot and followed Gage as they walked past a massive fountain. She passed a few smartly dressed men who wore ammo like a chest plate.
“Who are they?”
“I’ll explain when we get to your place.” Gage said, keeping his voice low as he passed the men.
“My place?” Jessie scoffed. “You think I’m staying in this shithole?”
“Hear me at least. You’re already Overboss and that’s half of it done anyway.”
She kept her mouth shut until they had arrived at a bar kind of penthouse. Her shoulder was throbbing but she stopped her instinct to cradle it. Last thing she wanted was for the weasel to know she was hurt.
“Alright, I guess it’s time to explain.” Gage stated.
“The time to explain was before we made that long ass walk up here.” Cait huffed before she turned to Jessie. “You want me to kick his ass?”
Jessie held up her hand and rolled her eyes.
“I ain’t making that long ass walk back till I hear him out. Well, Gage?”
“Look, I’ll make it simple. Do you like caps?”
“If that’s your sales pitch, you need to work on it.”
“I’m serious.” Gage said as he walked around to the bar. “This place is an opportunity with the right leadership. The gangs here work together but we need someone strong to lead us. When I saw you kill Hervey, I knew you could be the Overboss. You’ve ran the gauntlet and killed Colter- the position is yours for the taking. You’ll be rolling in the caps.”
There was a spark in Cait’s eye that Jessie didn’t miss. Jessie had smelt the trap as soon as the man refused the stimpax and immediately nodded at Cait to kill him. There hadn’t been a second of doubt. Hearing Gage’s voice burst through the speaker immediately after had only made her more confident in her decision.
“Alright, Gage. I’ll bite. Let’s say I play this bullshit game till I find out just how much is in it for me. What’s to stop you from betraying me like you did your former boss? You think I can’t smell rat?”
“He’s nothing but a weasel.” Cait agreed. “Let’s kill him and get what we can out of here.”
“Hey, Colter made his own bed. I guided Colter to lead the three factions to the theme park. I thought he was the toughest raider around. And it worked for a bit. After taking control of the park, Colter, well he got lazy and forgot about his big plans. He didn’t have a problem ravelling in all the tribute but when we asked him about taking the park, he didn’t like that all. He didn’t live up to his responsibilities as originally planned. Long as you take care of us, we’ll take care of you.”
She glanced across at Cait who offered a small nod.
“Fine.” She said finally. “What do I need to do first?”
“First you got to meet the bosses. There are three Raider gangs that run the show at Nuka-World -- the Disciples, the Operators, and the Pack. And yeah, if the names didn't give it away, these ain't your typical Raiders. These morons don't exactly play nice with each other. Thanks to Colter, this place is a powder keg just waiting to blow sky high. One wrong move and we're going to have a bloodbath on our hands.”
The more Gage talked, the harder it got for Jessie to ignore the pain in her shoulder. It was impossible to miss how her shoulder was clearly jolting out of her body but the weasel insisted on talking.
“Why don’t you lead then since you know so much?” Jessie said from behind gritted teeth.
“Leading outright ain't my style, and there's already some blamin' me for supporting Colter all this time.My talents are best used helping a new Overboss get all this shit under control. You get me?”
“Every raider out there says the same thing.” Cait shrugged. "Let's break his legs."
“Hey, I didn’t get this far by not knowing what’s best for me, alright? Gangs out here, they got agendas. And they're gonna expect results. You can't afford to forget that.”
“I get you. Tell me about these bosses and make it fast.”
“Nisha runs the Disciples. You might want to start with them. They’re crazy but Nisha has her reasonable moments. Then you got the Operators- complete opposite. Will and Mags Black, they only care about the caps. Spoiled rich kids, come straight out of Diamond City, but doesn't mean they ain't ruthless killers. If you can impress Mags, she'll listen to you. Those raiders wearing ammo chest plates and suits? Yeah, they're Operators. And then there’s the Pack. You want to avoid Mason till I can come with you. I'm not sayin' they're savages, but... well, shit. They're savages. I don't know how Mason keeps them on a leash.”
“Be here first thing in the morning. 8am.”
He realised the breath he didn’t realise he was holding. He was so relieved to have an Overboss that he didn’t notice the flash of metal till Jessie had a knife held up to his throat.
“This knife was a gift from a serial killer who killed raiders. He used to cut them into little pieces and keep their blood to paint with. If I suspect for a second you’re planning on setting me up like you did with your former boss, I’ll gut you with this knife. Now, do you get me?”
He nodded hastily and hurried onto the elevator. He was barely out of sight before Jessie collapsed onto Cait’s shoulder.
“It’s truly a special moment when a friend helps their friend take over 3 gangs.” She grimaced. “Only one thing could make me prouder- if you please cut off my arm.”
Cait rolled her eyes and dumped her onto the sofa.
“That shoulder is well and truly fucked.” Cait commented.
“Really? Can’t feel a thing.”
“You want me to… you know… do the pop.”
“Let me get something to drink first. Jesus, I’ll need it.”
She stumbled to her feet, clutching her shoulder and biting back tears. Thankfully, the bar was fully stocked up with alcohol and she grabbed the closest bottle of whiskey. She gulped down two mouthfuls before she sat back down. The wood taste almost made her gag but she forced down another mouthful as she felt Cait inject her with stimpax.
There was a small drop of relieve before a fiercely hot poker yanked through her shoulder. She swallowed her scream into the whiskey bottle and clutched her freshly fixed shoulder.
“Oh, god!” She screamed.
“Funny enough, that’s the exact thing you said last night.”
Even through the blaring pain, Jessie couldn’t help but laugh.
When she was sure the stars dancing across her vision couldn’t drag her unconscious, she grabbed her backpack from the side. Inside was a small supply of caps, spare ammo, food, water and of course chems. Cait was already injecting when jessie looked up again.
Jessie sighed as she watched the cage fighter stumble over to the bed, mutter something about rocking her world, and collapse face first on the duvet.
“Yeah, you’re gonna rock my world.” Jessie said, shaking her head.
She thought long and hard before she grabbed the first needle she could find and stuck in her arm.