Chapter Text
Nisha had planned it for weeks, almost methodical, when the other gangs turned their attention to the commonwealth and to sending tributes for the dear Overboss. It was almost too simple with Gage and Mason and the Operator pests too caught up in one upping one another to even notice her securing the Power Plant, the weeks of scouting not even noticed by Shank.
It doesn't take long until Sole seeks her out, her vault suit drenched from the downpour that had cast the region in hues of grey. From upon the ledge they stood upon Nisha stares down at the OVerboss before her, familiar hues of the vault suit stained with the blood of her kills to get to her. It's splattered across her pretty face, her lips quirked in displeasure. The sight has Nisha lick her lips slow like the could taste the metallic tang of it.
Adjusting her hold on her gun, the crackle of the rad-storm only spurs on the urgency the gathered gangs felt. “Let’s finish this” Sole says to herself, the words barely caught on the wind as Nisha waits her move. Then she squares her shoulders, an iron will she had showed when facing Colter all those weeks ago. Tension is taunt in the air surrounding the power plant as Sole breaks away from the other leaders lingering to make her way closer to the precipice of the Disciples newfound territory. A hush falls over the raiders present standing with bated breath as they await the words of the Overboss, for mercy of execution the masses await orders.
The expectation weighs heavy on Sole’s shoulders as she looks up to meet Nisha’s eyes. “Nisha!” Sole calls out, her resolve strengthening as she hardens her spine. “Is this how you deal with disagreement? To sneak behind my back and use childish tactics to get what you want like a spoiled child?” She jibes.
'Oh, so now you see me' Nisha thought, glad for the weight of the Boss's eyes only on her for once.
“Would you have preferred me to gut you on the spot, Overboss?” Nisha retorts, something about the chastising of Sole's tone turning the edge to her words hard. Still, they don't seem to sense it as her gang members erupting into laugher around her. “I believed I could still get through to you, despite us not always seeing eye to eye… I decided I needed to get your attention in another way.”
“By pulling a coup? I thought you were smarter than that to pull such a stunt as this cheap shot. If it was caps or recruitment I could have found a solution for us.” Sole says, gesturing to the surroundings.
A dull metallic ting sounds as Nisha taps her weapon thoughtfully against the rail she leant against. “You know, Sole, I thought I told you that we aren't swayed by caps like those spoiled brats obsessed with their hair or those savage animals who can't behave in public. If you had just sided with the Disciples, the whole Commonwealth would fear us - and with fear, comes power.” Nisha says.
“Did you say this same speech to Colter before you set him up for failure?” Sole argues, glaring up at Nisha looking down at them from the rails of the power plant.
'Colter is not even half the man you are' Nisha thought to herself but instead of sharing such sentiments she just grins down at Sole. “Everyone knows we all wanted Colter dead, ’Course if I had my way, it would have been a slow painful process… Colter thought some imaginary sort of rule or code made him untouchable but he soon found out he was wrong the hard way. Although, I could give him a little credit for he built the Gauntlet after all. Ask anyone and they’d tell you it was total shit at first with no imagination but we soon spiced it up a bit.” She says before pausing thoughtfully. "No, you were far better than he ever dream to be, a potential I still see in you.”
“Is this meant to give me confidence in my standing amongst you?” Sole questions, shifting her weight as if to shed herself of antsy anticipation. “This whole coup doesn’t quite strike me as reliable moving forward.”
“You needn’t have worried about my loyalty, Sole, for it’s not everyday I like someone better alive than dead… I guess you're one of the lucky ones.” Nisha said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Were.” Savoy buts in from Nisha’s side.
Beneath the helmet on her head Nisha glares toward her right hand man. Had it been anyone else she would have gut them for such gall, no one got to speak about the Overboss like that if they knew what was good for them. “I suppose… not everyone is in my good books, namely your little pet.” She says, a diversion of softer sentiments she held for their dear Overboss. It seemed that her distraction worked for a round of snickers erupt at the term, there was no denying just who the loyal dog of Sole's was. “If I had it my way, I would've slit that little suckup's throat a long time ago for Gage will never be one of us- he’s a failure- Hell, he’s lucky we're giving him a second chance.”
“No thanks to her, that’s the only reason you told us to hang back from gutting him since the start.” Savoy mutters his voice carrying on the wind to them down below. “If I get my hands on him, i’ll finally gut him like i’ve longed to do.” He says.
She spies the surprise that flickers across Sole's expression and knew that Savoy's foolish words had been overheard by the masses below them. It has her hands tighten agains there cutlass blades, knuckles white with the force like it could suppress her simmering rage. “Careful, Savoy” She warns. “I'm getting off track…. Now, where is the bloodshed that I was promised?” Nisha demands, amusement curling a sinister smirk from beneath her helmet. “You told me- told us- that you would let us create fear in the commonwealth and curate that power to get what we want.”
“I gave you your hunting grounds… plenty of it!” Sole argues.
The words only set her simmering anger ablaze. “We were loyal!” Nisha snarls, baring her teeth like a rabid animal. “I sent you countless men to aid your missions, I gave you ammunition and caps- all that tribute to remind you how well we work together but what did I get in return? Pittance… scraps! Like we were mangy dogs you took pity on!”
There’s a tense silence that seems to follow her words, a smothering silence that seems to cover all in its oppressive atmosphere. Then something in the Overboss's expression softens, something like understanding that has her gaze dropping down toward a blade hooked on her belt in contemplation for her next move. It is then that she unhooked it from her person and brought the blade up for Nisha to spy in purposeful emphasis but with her face covered there is no way for Sole to sense her reaction to the sight of the blades.
“Was it not so long ago that you had offered your own gifts to me?” Sole questions, light glinting across the Cutlass blade, a Disciple staple and more importantly Nisha’s staple. “You stood by me, stood by Nuka-World… this blade right here is a token of your gratitude so would you throw it all away? After all this time?” Sole demands.
The sight of those blades, the very thing she treasured in this cold world more than anything, being held for the masses around them to see only wrought frustration from her. That was a moment between them, a token of her affection in the only way she knew how to demonstrate it to the Overboss. To have her desecrate it now, to what they shared that afternoon only burnt the sympathy she may have held for her. “That was also warning to keep me and the Disciples in your thoughts.” Nisha says her tone harsh and she glares down at Sole but then it cools into something wistful. “A shame really, we could have been so good together.”
Sole's shoulders loose that tension that held them tight, the sight only generating a confusing conflict between admiration and loathing.
At her lingering pause, Savoy glances toward her pointedly. "Are we killing them or what?" He prompts, the words more demand than anything.
It only reminds her that perhaps she had been wrong about this situation after all, the weight of her decision leading her gang either to victory or the slaughter and glancing at the raider gangs coming to aid the Overboss against them, Nisha has no choice but to go forward. “Do you know what I like to do when someone decides to act without my approval? I decide to spare them the collar and go straight for the execution!” Nisha shouts signalling the start to the chaos.
Almost instantaneous with her shout someone sent a round of bullets straight at Sole, the action so swift that it cuts into the muscle of her shoulder in a shredding mess of gore and carnage.
“Sole!” Someone’s voice carries over the carnage unfolding, a mournful wail like some otherworldly cry. It takes Nisha a moment to realise that the noise had come from her, with pain in her throat proof of the strain on her vocals. Her weight shifts and Nisha found herself falling forward to grip the railing before her in a bid to keep herself steady, rendered unmoving at the mere sight of Sole staggering under the barrage. She falls to the muddy ground beneath her, her hand striking out to press at the torn fabric of her vault suit with bloody fingers to staunch the blood flow. With her mouth agape Nisha takes in a ragged inhale, relief rising within her to realise it was not her neck that had been hit but rather her shoulder, an area that was not so fatal. On the ground Sole lifts her head to spy Nisha’s stunned body language, no doubt spying that the gunfire that hit Sole was as much of a surprise to her as it was to Sole. It seems that some believed the shot too have killed her or at least wounded Sole enough to kick this fight into full gear.
Nisha only gets a moment to assess her with her own eyes before a sudden burst of pain has her wrench her gaze away from the Overboss' hands bloody and shaking with adrenaline as she grazes a hand along her leg, a snarl fierce on her face as she stumbles to cover as the muscle refused to lift itself proper. Savoy lets out a shout in turn, lifting a rifle to take out the figure who had been lucky to land such a shot on her. The Overboss was a pretty distraction it seemed.
"Come on!" Savoy prompts.
Nisha shrugs his hand away with her teeth bared in warning. "Let us get to the roof." She urges, following the plan they had laid out.
Her leg protests as they hurry to the raised cat-walks and platforms, blood hot and wet as it weeps from her wounded leg as she forces it to climb up and up to the Power Plant's roof. As she glances back toward the mass of conflict, she can spy Gage and the Overboss giving chase. If this went as planned, she could seperate Sole from her loyal mutts, Gage and Mason both, and perhaps she was lucky for Mason had followed her Disciples into a room filled with traps.
At the fork of the path forward, Sole and Gage come to an abrupt halt as they bicker on which direction to head toward. From their voices carrying on the wind it seemed that Gage and the Boss were arguing on which way to go. Sole seems reluctant to follow Nisha and Savoy's path, her attention drawn into the room where Mason was trapped with multiple Disciples. It always came down to the loyal mutts didnt it? Nisha fights the scoff from escaping her at the knowledge. That flicker of distress on the Overboss's face only causing anger to burst within her, for Sole shouldn't care for that idiot, he was a waste. Speaking of a waste, it was a pity Savoy hadn't got Gage out the picture yet but there was still time for that, especially if he chose to follow them as Nisha had planned.
As Sole rushes into the room, Gage turns to spy herself and Savoy climbing to the roof. She grins as he takes chase, a pleased laugh escaping her as Nisha pushes herself up and up the ladder with Savoy leading the way. Whatever decisions the Overboss was making in this moment didn't matter, all she needed to do was seperate Gage from the rest of his allies and she had a chance to cripple the chain of leadership where it hurt. Around them gunfire splits the air, the taste of smoke and explosives a rich haze as they climb ever upward, the sound of Gage's boots a ringing metronome to the chase that was moments from beginning.
At the lower section of the roof Savoy hauls himself upward, reaching out a palm to pull her upwards. For a heartbeat or two it is only them until Gage hauls himself up onto the lower roof with a cry. In his hand a dagger flies, the sight unexpected for a raider who mostly relied on guns. It strikes her wounded leg, more of a graze than anything solid but with the bullet that shredded the muscle of her calf prior the shot buckles her leg out from beneath her. Nisha lets out a cry of rage, teeth grit and snarling as she glares toward Gage with smouldering hatred.
Gage pants, attempting to regain his breath from their chase, his grip on his gun unsteady as he works to reload it. Savoy rushes forward using the moment to his advance to swing at Gage with the machete in his palm. They clash, the sound of the barrel of his gun preventing Savoy's machete from severing him limb from limb as they push against one another.
Nisha takes the moment to haphazardly bind the wound on her leg, the bandage there an attempt to stop the unending weeping of blood there. It wouldn't do much to slow the blood with the combination of wounds but it does help prevent her from slipping as often. She rises once it is secure enough, loosening her own cutlass blades from her side as she circles Gage slowly in a bid to strike where he was weakest.
It was obvious to linger on his blind side, a cheap but effective spot to hinder him so Nisha strikes, slashing at his upper arm in a bid to hinder him. Gage swears at her in turn, his eye jumping between her and Savoy in desperation. "So it seems we both know where the Overboss's affections lays." She jabs.
Gage spares a moment to met her gaze as he fires a round toward her that misses. "Seems like both of us have ended up on the outer." He says self-deprecating.
Nisha slashes at him blindly, savage satisfaction filling her as blood flows at her blow. Gage staggers back with a cry, the back of his palm working to ease the blood that stung into his eye and blinded him. With only one hand on his gun, it was now or never for them to end this fight. At her side Savoy laughs at the sight, a loud triumphant thing as he closes in on Gage with his blade raised to give the finishing blow.
"No! I deserve this!" Nisha cries out in turn, anger sharp as she rounds on her right hand man for attempting to upstage her.
Still he doesn't listen and Gage turns only to sink a blade he had managed to grasp into Savoy's shoulder with wounded desperation. Savoy lets out a cry of surprise that quickly turns into pain, his injured shoulder hangs awkwardly where Gage had successfully slipped the blade at the joint between his armour. His dominate hand holding his machete is drenched in blood, both his own and his opponents that ran like rivets to the floor.
Nisha can only glance between them, hands tight on her blades as she thought on her next move. Although, as the sound of boots on metal rang into the air it seemed that maybe the Overboss had come after Gage after all. As Nisha glances toward her as she exits onto the lower section of the roof, the sun haloing her arrival as she took in the scene before her. Then she runs, spurred forward by her flailing companion and Nisha backs off, content to watch Gage and Savoy battle it out without her interference.
“I’ve done this hundreds of times… do you think you’ll be any different?” Gage goads, tightening his grip on his rifle.
“Cocky.” Savoy fires back sarcastically. “I can’t wait to see you choking on your words when I finally get to put you down like dog you are.” He says with a fan kick outwards, aiming to throw Gage off balance. He reaches out with the machete in his grip, his arm swinging out in a deadly arc towards the the skin of Gage’s face.
Luckily Gage sidesteps, before he spits at the ground, blood pooling around his lips from the gash on his face. It splits more under the strain of the goading grin he gives. “Won’t be nothin’ left of you when I’m done!” Gage crows boastfully.
“Enough goading and kill him!” Nisha snaps out, arms crossed defensively as she stares down the fight impatiently.
Savoy’s fingers crept along the hilt of a blade only minutes away from sinking it into Gage's side and finely ridding them from his presence, although, Gage seems to predicts it as he raised his gun to jab at Savoy's exposed ribs with the butt of his rifle. “Really bad move!” Gage snarls, his attack skewed wether from tiredness or from the distraction of blood still pouring from his wound. Savoy gets lucky, grabbing hold of Gage’s arm when he feigns an attack. He kicks at Gage’s legs, forcing him off balance. He uses his body weight to force Gage to his knees, an almost hysteric laugh falling from his lips as he seems to gain the upper hand.
“No!” Sole cries, a screeching wail unlike anything she’d cried in years.
Gage’s hands scramble at Savoy’s hold, blunt nails attempting to scratch at the uncovered skin there. Savoy’s hold squeezes, his palms moving to now squeeze at the skin of Gage’s throat. “Finally!” Savoy pants laughter bubbling from his lips. “Beg for your life like a worthless mutt!”
Gage snarls up at him un turn, his lips peeling back to flash his teeth. One of his hands drop, his visage growing more and more red as he struggles to breath, still he continues to fight, his other hand continues to twist and beat at Savoy’s grip desperately. The Overboss brought her own blade out from its holster, weighing up intervening as she watches what could be Gage’s final moments.
“Gage!” Sole cries desperately, unable to get a clear shot to aid him.
Just as Nisha believed Gage's fate was sealed she heard Savoy cry out as Gage sinks the blade into the other’s side, blood blossoming as the sight of the injury. It is enough to make him loosen his deadly grip on Gage’s throat, allowing Gage’s fist swings to meet the uncovered skin on Savoy’s jaw distracting him again before his hand drops to trace threateningly along the barrel of his gun. Moments away from shooting at Savoy from the hip, Gage fires, a rough attempt to subdue Savoy that hits his previously injured shoulder. Savoy is gasping for air at the blow, his injured arm useless and limp at his side. It is deathly quiet as in a blink, Gage has re-adjusted his grip to bring the rifle up point the scopes between Savoy’s eyes and as a round of bullets is fired into his head, blood and sinew sprays out in a gory display and just like that Savoy is dead.
Gage glowers down at the crumpled body at his feet. “Guess you thought you had a chance.” He says, kicking his boot out to roll the body over to lay face down in the filth.
The sight of Savoy face down in the filth does not fill her with regret only bitter disappointment for how much of a failure he had become. “Pathetic.” Nisha says apathetic at the sight of her second in command dead on the floor. “I hope our final act is much more an invigorating display.”
Her words only invite the pair's attention and Gage shifts to shield the Overboss from her sight as if he wished to take the brunt of her anger. Still, the Overboss is no sheep as she turns to met her companions gaze. "This is between us alone." She warns, and in her palm she tightens her hold on her pistol.
Anticipation sends Nisha's blood alight. “Just how it should be, Overboss, just the two of us.” Nisha interjects pleased.
Shaking his head Gage obeys her command like the good mutt he was, absently rubbing at his throat where hues of black and blue were beginning to sprout where Savoy had throttled him. Sole spares him a glance, before adjusting her hold on her faithful gun, a sort of contemplations pulls at her pretty bloodstained face. Nisha cant help but ponder how many of her gang the Overboss had slaughtered on her way to find her. The thought of her besting them all only makes Nisha like her more, lured toward her despite herself. Then she holsters the gun and Nisha is about to berate her for seeing her as something so insignifican until she notes the way Sole's hands crept toward a Disciples blade strapped to her hip.
So, Sole wanted to battle in the most intimate way? In the way Nisha had displayed for her those weeks ago with her own hands. Something twisted in her heats at the sight of her replicate blades in blood soaked hands fresh from the kill, that the Overboss saw the blades as a weapon to be only used upon a worthy opponent. She welcomes it, something eager having her spur her way forward before she can think it through under the Overboss's critical eye. Nisha knows she is wounded and easy prey to gut if the Overboss got the chance so reacts first, her own blades shifting to slash at Sole’s dominant arm by lashing and hacking at the bicep there. Despite the littering of attacks on her person Sole was not helpless even if her body ached, still Nisha's strike aimed true as it sunk into Sole's arm.
With a cry of pain, Sole staggers under the blow as her knees falter, unyielding even as Nisha brutally twisting the blade for the hell of it. Sole grits her teeth, attempting to breathe through her nose as if it could ease the pain in an attempt to centre herself. Desperate, Sole sends a wild disarming kick towards Nisha in a bid to stop the other from torturing her any further. The force of her kick forces them apart at her action, as well as weakening Nisha’s hold on the weapon still lodged in her arm. Sole hisses as movement jars it awkwardly, not daring to look towards the weapon stuck there but no doubt grateful to have distance between her and the Disciples leader once more.
Nisha eyes follows down to where Sole's palm was beginning to become slick with blood, her hand trebling around her Disciples blade as the muscles strained as she brought her arm up to retaliate Nisha's previous strike. It is almost too easy to block the attack with the way her arm is wracked with tremors at the movement, instinctive ease having her parry every blow Sole sent her way. Still, it impresses her how worthy an opponent the Overboss is for she had no doubt fought her way through swarms of her gang, dodging mines and traps onto to find herself standing before Nisha now and matching her every blow.
“What is left for you?” Sole questions, baring down on her swing with as much power as she can muscle together. “Your second command is dead! Your people slaughtered like cattle for what? You’ve lost, Nisha!” She cries in a last bid to reason with her.
The words or maybe the tone wrenches a laugh from her, the sound rasping and raw as it hurt to escape her. “At least I can say I put up a fight.” She says.
This coup had gone further than she thought it would, she had planned to come here and have Sole see reason, to see that she was a formidable leader that she could no longer cast aside for the likes of Gage and Mason. Yet it had spun out of control, the Overboss being injured in the crossfire until the coup became something tangible as an all out war occurred. She never meant for it to go this far, never meant to have her own members die by the hands of the other gangs nor have Savoy slaughtered in the process. She can feel the heat of the sun on her back indicative of how long they had been working on this final showdown. It had been storming prior, remnants of the rad-storm damp at the metal at their feet.
Sole winces at the sensation of Nisha's blade still embedded in her skin, absently Nisha muses that she would need to bind it soon and remove the blade before it butchered her arm even more but perhaps Sole would finally have a permeant reminder of her now. Some twisted grin overcomes her at the thought despite the exhaustion that began to creep into her. She liked the thought of such a scar on Sole, wishing she could sink to her knees before the Overboss and taste the blood on her skin.
They take a moment to eye each other as they wait to see who will make the next move before Nisha lunges towards her once more and perhaps she was more distracted than she thought for Sole reaches out to snag her shoulder forcing her to the ground with as much might as she could muster despite her injuries protest to finally subdued Nisha on the rooftop of the Power Plant. Her boot listens to pin Nisha to the floor, the heat of the metal beneath her sharp against her back as she looked up at Sole hovering over her.
“So this is it” Sole muses aloud, her hand shifting as she unhooks a fresh blade from her side and the faint curve of the metal giving away just what weapon was at her side- the replica cutlass blade Nisha had gifted her all those months ago.
Perhaps the sight was meant to frighten her, yet, despite the fact that it warned of her imminent fate Nisha finds herself Nisha grinning in satisfaction as she settles against the metal beneath her. “At least this is a worthy way to go.” Nisha says, laughing painfully as blood is spit up to tint her teeth in a gory display. “At the hands of my dear, Overboss. I could wish for nothing more.”
Wordlessly Sole bent down, her free hand shifting to grip at the bare skin of Nisha's jaw forcing her head up to bare her neck in submission. The motion only has her hand snags on the key to the Power Plant Nisha’s had stashed around her neck, aware of the tremble in Sole's hand as she steadier her nerve to end this.
“What a pair we could have been- I would have served you far better than Gage would have.” Nisha says. “Better than Mason is now, I could have been that for you.”
Pain flickers across the Overboss's features, something part loathing and anguished as she takes in the sight of Nisha bloodied and beaten beneath her. “I don’t doubt that.” Sole says, taking pity on the leader kneeling before her. “In another life perhaps we would have.”
It is those words that echo in her head as Sole's cutlass blade rasps a faint sting against the delicate skin of her neck, blood beading there in something too soft to be a finishing blow and Nisha shifts her head just so, the blade cutting into her skin harder as she stared into Sole's eyes in a urge to finish this properly.
"I wonder, have you ever slit someone's throat Overboss?" Nisha questions.
Sole's bruising grip on her jaw softens into something shy of a caress. "I have." She admits.
"Then tell me, how did it feel to kill someone so intimately?" Nisha demands.
Against the blade's hand Sole's hand tremble momentarily before she hardens her resolve, forcing herself to steady her hand before the reality of the situation can dawn on her. In a motion like Nisha had taught her Sole finally drags the blade cleanly before she can second guess herself, feeling a rush of wet warmth on her palm where her hand hadn’t moved quick enough.
Intimate, Nisha thought as blinding pain struck her, how lucky she was to be the first blood drawn by the Overboss's own cutlass blade, to have her own blood staining the Overboss's gentle hands. She spares the Overboss a bloody grin, gasping and choking on her own blood as she watches the Overboss witness the life leave her eyes.
"Like this." Sole whispers down at her. The Overboss haloed by the light of the sun staring down at her, a bloody cutlass blade a mirror of her own in her white knuckled palm is the last thing Nisha sees before Nisha takes her last breath and darkness overtakes her.