Slit ran his hand down the shining polish of the razor cola. They had been working on it for almost a week and it was coming along nicely. He took a few steps back, leaned against the wall and took in the beauty.
"Shiny as fuck" he whispered under his breath. Slit pushed himself away from the wall and started walking towards the other end of the garage.
"Hey Nux! Have you seen that smeg dinosaur? He said he would give us a big ass steering wheel. WITH SKULLS!"
There was no answer. Slit took a deep breath and yelled at full volume.
"Where are you you mediocre schlanger?! Are you sleeping again?"
"Stop yelling. I'm here." The answer came from the corner of the room, and Nux slowly emerged from the shadow he was sitting in. He was a bit paler than usual as he rubbed his puffy eyes with both hands. Slit saw him getting weaker by every passing day.
"I don't know where Ace is. And stop calling him a fuckin' dinosaur or he'll gut you.. or even worse, put you on puppy guard"
Slit growled. Even just thinking about watching the dirty stupid pups made him irritated. "Goddamn whiny little wastes of flesh" he murmured, walking towards Nux. "You look like shit by the way."
Nux shrugged "You never liked me for my looks."
"I never liked you. Period."
Slit pointed at the car: "It's almost finished. Look at that V-8! And all that shiny metal! This will be one hell of a ride."
Nux looked at the recently named Razor Cola and smiled. "I wish more roadies had cars like that. Most of them barely has any clothes. But this one… oh that jacket I got from him!" He smiled, his enthusiasm annoying Slit.
"Oh shut it. It's dirty and ripped." Nux's smile faded, and Slit smirked. "Come and get me that dinosaur. I bet he's lurking around the imperators."
Nux sighed and headed for the corridor without answering. There was no point arguing with Slit, but at least he knew his place when they were on the fury road. Lancers had a tendency to be cocky, but the ones who forgot who's driving didn't survive for long. A few sudden turns, and even the best lancer could end up under the wheels. Not a shiny death.. and not worthy of Valhalla. Nux thought he would never do something like that.. he liked his lancer, even when he was an ass.
He made his way through the dimly lit tunnels, the only light coming down from the gardens. His feet got muddy from the small puddles that collected the dripping water from above.
The first place he checked for Ace was the imperator's dining room. Ace was not one of them, but by his age he was almost as respected by the warboys.. and by the imperators. The small dining room was almost empty, its five creaky worn-down chairs unoccupied. Only one imperator was in the room, standing at the makeshift counter sharpening his knife. He glanced at Nux and nodded slightly. Nux was one of the best drivers and almost everyone knew him, even some of the imperators started to notice him. "What a shame you'll die soon" some of them said.
Nux nodded back and moved to the next corridor that first led to the private rooms and then to the mass room where all the warboys slept. Chances are Ace would be there, enjoying a quiet nap before his night shift starts.
The corridor was rather long, and the doors to the private rooms were scattered along the walls unevenly. There were only about a dozen private rooms in the citadel, not counting the upper level where the Immortan and his heirs lived.
After the next turn Nux heard something that made him stop and silently creep up to the corner to listen. A soft murmur reached his ears, something oddly rhythmical, but he couldn't make out the words. The voice sounded familiar.
He sneaked even closer, and peaked out behind the corner. His eyes went wide: this was not something he ever thought he would see.
Ace was standing in front of one of the doors, holding.. a bunch of flowers? Nux saw them once as a pup, a gardener girl stole them for him after he had a nightmare. He kept them for months, but the other pups found it and crushed the dried flowers.
But why would Ace steal flowers? Nux tried to listen to his words.
Ace 's voice was monotonous and surprisingly soft. He looked straight ahead, staring at the door and tearing apart one of the leaves in his hand, as he said:
"I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust
If you like your coffee hot
let me be your coffee pot
You call the shots
I wanna be yours
I wanna be your electric meter
I will not run out
I wanna be the electric heater
you'll get cold without"
(poem by John Cooper Clarke)
Ace stopped, and put his face in his hands, almost crushing the flowers "Ah fuck this is awful!"
Nux was dumbfounded. He almost never heard Ace swear, and only ever heard him telling short rhymes to the pups. But poems? Only Miss Giddy talked about poems.
Ace lowered his arms and stood silently for a few seconds, then dropped the flowers on the ground and turned to walk away. That's when he saw Nux.
"How long have you been 'here?!" There was not a trace of softness left in his voice. As he stepped forward and started walking towards Nux, he backed away.
"N..not long. I wanted to ask you about the wheel… the steering wheel for the new V-8 car. It's almost ready and..." Nux stopped mid-sentence as Ace reached where he was and looked straight into his eyes from mere inches.
"Listen to me, boy." Ace towered over him, his voice thundering. "You saw nothin'. YOU HEARD NOTHING. Are we clear, boy?"
"Yes, Ace! Of course! I didn't even find you! I'll just go!" Nux was afraid. He didn't think Ace would actually hurt him, but being on his bad side was a really awful idea.
"Good. You do that." Ace stepped back, looking at Nux. "I'm waitin'.."
"Yes, sorry. I'm on my way." Nux turned and quickly walked back in the same direction he came from, but stopped after a few corners and waited. After about a minute he sneaked back to where he saw Ace. Ace was gone, but the flowers were still left on the ground. Nux walked over to them and squatted in front of the door to get a closer look. The mostly blue and light purple flowers seemed beautiful against the yellow sand.
"What's that?" The cold voice came over his shoulder, and Nux spun around to find himself looking up at none other, but Imperator Furiosa. Her war paint was smudged and she was covered in dust. She must have just returned from a supply run.
"I...uhh.. found them here. No idea how they got here." Nux babbled and stood up. He was taller than Furiosa, but he felt really small at that moment under her scrutinizing look.
"Get lost. And take your flowers away from my door." Nux grabbed the flowers and turned around to once again go back through the corridor. As he took the corner he heard Furiosa's voice "Don't come here again!"
Nux swiftly walked back to the garage where he found Slit lying on his back on top of the razor cola, petting the top of the car with his hand. Slit looked up when Nux entered.
"So where is that smeg steering wheel?" Nux didn't answer, just went to one of the tool boxes and sat on it. "I said where is the wheel?! Did you talk to Ace?"
Nux stayed silent for a second before answering. "He was swearing. If you want that steering wheel, you go and talk to him! I'm not going near."
Slit sat up and whistled. "That's… something." It was his turn to stay silent. He then laid back down and said in a light tone "All right, no wheel then." He smirked "But you have to tell me about those flowers you're holding."
Author's note:
- This is just a short fic I wanted to write (it was a challenge from a friend) but if people like it I'd be more than happy to continue :3
- A BIG thank you for Kanronotatsu and Thoughtfulfangirl for beta reading!