Prologue

Porter Gage was not a leader. He had no desire to be. As long as he had the ear of whoever was in charge, he thought he would be satisfied. The reality he found himself in as a result of that belief, was far from what he had imagined. That he had convinced a verteran raider like Colter to unite three factions as different as the Disciples, Operators, and Pack, still surprised him. His fragile dream of finding a permanent home in the Commonwealth, away from the nuisances of Minutemen, super mutants, and the Institute`s synths seemed almost possible. Until Colter had gotten lazy. All the fire and bloodlust the Overboss had shown when the factions closed in on the old Nuka World theme park was lost now. Instead of pushing to clear out the remaining zones after Nuka Town USA, Colter spent his days drinking and playing with his power armor. When he did manage to sober up enough to leave Fizztop Mountain it was usually only to head to the marketplace to buy more Daytripper or Jet, and maybe drag some ragged slave back to his quarters to rape and beat up.

Gage wasn`t the only one frustrated with the Overboss. The faction leaders; Mason, Mags Black, her brother William, and Nisha had become dissatisfied enough with Colter`s apparent complacency to entertain the idea of a mutiny. Gage had tried time and again to get through Colter`s thick skull that something needed to be done. He had warned the man, given him every opportunity to hold to his word of taking over all of Nuka World. In the end, the Overboss had to go. If something wasn`t done soon the raiders were all going to tear each other apart. They grew more restless each day. Already they were at each others` throats and the sun was barely up in the marketplace as Gage strode through, looking for some grub. Above him on the catwalks constructed around the vendors` stalls a pair of Pack members were patrolling. An Operator sneered at them from where she leaned against a stall sipping a nuka cherry.

"Wow! Did you do your makeup this morning, or do you just naturally look like a paint mixer exploded all over you?"

"Ha. You have a face only a mother could love. I bet if she weren`t so exhausted from me fucking her senseless last night, she`d tell you that you`re special too!" One of the Pack members replied venemously. Gage snorted with laughter as he continued on his way. Sometimes it was the little shit that had to make him smirk. His amusement quickly died though as the Operator threw her half-empty drink at the guy she`d insulted... and smacked him square in the back of the head with it. The victim turned around and raised his assault rifle in rage, fingers reaching for the trigger. Gage nearly panicked, knowing if one of them killed the other there would be a full scale riot upon them within minutes.

He began to move to intercept the conflict, his previous thoughts of breakfast forgotten already. There was no way he would make it in time. Luck was on his side, however. Completely unexpected, a diversion presented itself in the form of a loud, blaring alarm. Someone was arriving on the monorail, and soon they would enter the Gauntlet. For a moment time seemed to stand still. Everyone froze, their attention ripped from the blooming fight and pulled towards the possibility of fresh entertainment. Then, like a machine slowly churning to life, the scattered raiders began to migrate towards the Cola Cars arena. Most of them would be scrambling for seats in a few minutes, but some headed towards the stairs leading to the roof of the Gauntlet. They would take up positions along it`s length and harass whatever poor fool was trapped inside, driving them in the direction of the arena and the Gauntlet`s final stage. Gage looked at this as a way to kill two birds with one stone. The distraction of a new potential victim`s emergence had averted a near disaster. At the same time, if whoever it was didn`t turn out to be a complete weakling, maybe Gage would be able to use them to off Colter. He knew time was a precious commodity that he was running out of. However, none of the raiders already in Nuka World could be allowed to kill the current Overboss. They were all affiliated to a particular gang, which meant that whoever won would most certainly play favorites. The other two groups would probably try to join forces and eliminate the person who took charge at that point. The survivors would likely fight it out among themselves in a bid for supreme power after that, resulting in heavy casualties all around. The raiders` numbers had risen, but they were still recovering from taking Nuka Town USA. The slaves were only kept in line by their explosive collars. Some of the outside traders and merchants might get it in to their heads to take out the raiders entirely though if they sensed the opportunity. Although Gage wanted Colter dead and replaced badly enough to help stage the mutiny, he refused to do the slaying himself. Whoever killed the Overboss would replace him. They would be the one who had to make the hard calls, the final decisions, and risk their neck to clear the way for the raiders. All of this the new Overboss would have to achieve, while still keeping the factions in check and scaring the shit out of everyone enough that they knew Nuka World wasn`t going to be an easy target for outsiders to take down. They would need to find a kind of balance between fear and grudging respect, enough so that Nuka World was secure, but new traders would continue to stop here. No, Gage did not believe he could be that kind of leader. But maybe, just maybe, there was someone on their way right now who could be, and he could help them towards that goal.