Hello, everyone! Welcome to my newest fanfic! While this is technically a 'sequel' of By No Constraint, you don't need to read BNC to read this. I intend for it to be mostly standalone.

Also, this fic is based around Nuka-World and intended to be read by people who have played Nuka-World. Please keep that in mind.

Enjoy!

Three Little Pigs

The arena hungered for its next victim.

Gage tried not to think of it as he tinkered with the back of Colter's armour, connecting it to the power grid. But thinking was difficult anyway with the alarm wailing endlessly overhead, grating against his skull.

"You got me wired up yet, Gage?"

Gage nodded from behind Colter's back, before remembering he was out of sight. "Yeah, boss."

The same shit as ever. The unlucky bastard would show up above them. Colter would try to scare them. The sheep would either panic or pretend. Cowards didn't interest Gage, whether they faked bravery or not, because cowards never listened. Colter's head, right on a platter, and they always took the easy way out, or let their ego think for them.

Fucking morons.

Colter stretched and stepped away, turning his head up to the walkways. His opponent must have arrived. "Finally. Now go shut off that damn alarm."

"All right. I'm on it." Gage started to stride off. He'd heard Colter's monologue many times before. No need to witness the same tired routine. He reached the control room and shut off the alarm, leaning over a panel covered with buttons.

Colter let out a low chuckle, and Gage allowed himself a backward glance at the newcomer. Then he turned his attention to the boss, who was wearing a wide, malicious grin, eyeing the person above. "Don't look like much."

Gage had to agree with him. Even by the warped lighting of the arena, the stranger looked thin and scrawny. Judging from the way their clothes hung, this one was a woman. He studied her, and saw in the gaps of her clothes and battered armour the signs of thick, powerful muscles. Not that it would do her any good. She wasn't here to wrestle Colter into submission.

"Here's a quick rundown of how this works," Colter said, leering at her. "You go stock up, make yourself presentable, and then we're gonna give these folks a show. A show where I decorate these walls here with your lovely brain—"

A deep, rasping laugh cut through Colter's speech, and the woman leaned against the railings, looking down on them as if she was part of the audience instead.

Gage frowned. This one was acting like Colter was nothing more than a fleeting amusement. Colter clearly didn't like it either, judging by the way he was screaming threats at her. But she wasn't listening, now inspecting a sword in her hands instead.

Gage hoped that wasn't her only weapon.

"Alright Gage," Colter spat, his tone raked with fury. "Let her through. Something tells me I'm really going to enjoy this." He stomped off to the centre of the arena, flexing his fingers.

Gage stared up at the trapped woman, and got the strange feeling she was humouring Colter, like a parent placating a tantruming child. But…no. There wasn't a choice in this. She had to fight, whether she liked it or not.

It took a second for Gage to realise he'd fixed his gaze firmly on a tear in the woman's cowl, deliberately avoiding her eye. Irritation shot through him. What the fuck was this? He had a job to do, a waster to kill. He wasn't avoiding looking at her, just…

The answer evaded him, and Gage's temper spiked. With a silent snarl, he snapped his eyes to meet hers, glaring.

She stared back, arms folded, and tapped her fingers lazily against her arm. If Gage didn't know any better, he would have said she was bored. He shook his head, a mixture of apprehension and reluctant excitement creeping over him. It had to be an act. No one in their right mind would be this—

"Gage!"

Gage snapped back to his senses at the sound of Colter's bark, and hit the switch to let the madwoman through. As the door closed and sealed behind her, Gage looked at Nisha, who was skulking in the stands. The leader of the Disciples nodded, and Gage darted to the intercom that linked to the prepping room, praying the woman would be near enough to hear his transmission.

"All right, listen the hell up if you want to make it out of this alive," he muttered, shooting looks to Colter to make sure he didn't catch on. "I've only got a minute. Find the intercom on the wall. I'll make it quick."

There was a long silence, and then…

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The statics notes buzzed back out from the control room speaker, and Gage blinked. "That you?"

Tap.

"Not much of a talker?" he asked, his stretched patience already wearing thin.

Tap.

"Great." Just fucking great. "Whatever. Listen up. You made it this far, so you obviously got skill. But this fight coming up is rigged. You get me?" She better get him. Colter's armour was wired to an electrical grid that repelled almost all damage. He explained as such. "Miniguns, grenades...not a scratch. You get what I'm saying?"

This was usually the part where the victim began to panic and beg. Music to Gage's ears, in any other circumstance, but taking down Colter...not good.

Instead, Gage was met with silence. He frowned. "Hello?"

Tap tap.

"Stop fuckin' around!" he snapped. "There's more than just your ass on the line! I stashed a weapon in the lockers. Get it."

There was a scuffling sound of footsteps and Gage leaned away from his intercom. The woman was clearly a fucking lunatic—Nuka Town had enough of those to last a lifetime. But if she dealt with Colter…

Tap tap.

Gage quickly leaned back towards the intercom. "Got it?" He didn't bother to wait for an answer that wouldn't come. "Good. I know what it looks like, but you're gonna have to trust me. Once the water—"

"I wasn't born yesterday, sonny boy," a rough voice drawled. "Water and electricity don't mix."

Well at least she can speak.

"Alright, fine," snapped Gage, feeling nettled. His earlier excitement was rapidly draining away. She wasn't going to last five fucking minutes against Colter.

Almost as soon as he thought it, the lights in the arena dimmed. Frowning, Gage checked over the readings from his terminals, and then blinked with surprise. As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, he heard it again.

Tap tap tap.

"Power to the arena's down by thirty percent. You do that?" he said, his mouth dry. She was smart, no doubt about it. No one else had managed that before. Would she actually be the one to…? He decided again not to get his hopes up. "Not bad. You're still gonna need the gun but...that oughta help."

She didn't reply, but oddly enough, her silence felt more like a comfort now. The sign of change. Gage cleared his throat. "It's time. I'll open the door. See you on the other side."

He heard her footsteps grow fainter as he hit the button for the door. And despite the mutterings of the crowd slowly growing around the arena, Gage swore he heard her chuckle before he cut the intercom.

Well, she's confident, at any rate.

He almost had himself fooled that she might be the one, until she came into view at the door on the other side of the arena.

Gage groaned. She was still holding the damn sword.

The flat of the blade bounced against her shoulder as she glanced around the area while Colter gave his speech, designed to frighten and intimidate. It was obvious she wasn't listening, and jeering laughs began to surge up through the crowd.

"Fuck it," snarled Colter, turning to Gage. "Open the door!"

Gage punched the button, but by the time Colter turned back around to face his opponent, she had sprinted past. He bellowed with rage and opened fire, but she ran circles around him, keeping close and ducking every time he tried to hit her.

Colter paused, hefting up his weapon to reload it, and as he did so, the woman threw herself back, rolling smartly into a crouched position. She raised the red Thirst Zapper and fired.

The jet of water missed.

Gage felt his heart sink, glancing at Nisha in the stands behind him. He didn't need to see her eyes to know what she was thinking—the thinning of her lips and the stiffness of her posture said it all: no more. His time was up.

Fuck.

Gage gritted his teeth, grabbing his weapon from the cabinet. Fine. If that was the case, at least he'd drag a few of the mangy fucks down with him.

There was a roar from the crowd, and Gage turned in time to see Colter's victim throw aside the water pistol. For a second, he thought she'd given up, until she pulled a bottle from the depths of her jacket and unscrewed the lid in one fluid motion. Then she cranked back her arm and flung it like a grenade. The bottle soared, sending glistening liquid trailing behind in its wake.

Water.

There was a bang as the bottle made contact. Electricity sparked in a jagged arc, before the power sputtered and cut. The screams of the crowd drowned out Colter's voice, but Gage saw Colter's shock as he snapped his head in Gage's direction, his, "What the fuck?" barely audible over the screams of the raiders.

Gage held his breath. This was it. This was it!

He ran to the glass panelled door just as the woman sprinted straight for Colter. Colter opened fire again, but it was too late. She leaped forward, her sword raised like a javelin, and thrust the blade through the gap in Colter's faceplate.

The arena shook as the two of them crashed backwards onto the floor. The woman flipped straight over Colter's armoured body and landed in a painful heap next to his head. The sword remained jutting out of his helmet, still as the now silent crowd.

Gage stared, his breath caught in his throat. He felt numb.

RedEye was the first to speak, losing his obnoxious radio voice as he exclaimed, "Holy shit!" Chatter broke out amongst the stands as RedEye continued. "I don't...I don't even know what this means! Colter, man! He's out!" RedEye's next words were a stage hiss, echoing around the area. "Gage, what the hell just happened?"

Well, shit. There was his cue.

Shaking off his surprise, Gage straightened up and switched the intercom to the speakers. "You saw it. We all saw it! Colter's dead. We got ourselves a new Overboss."

"Her?"

Gage turned to see Mason standing, his pack crouched at his feet. For someone who looked like he'd been dunked in Nuka-Cola Quantum, the guy sure thought himself intimidating.

Mason's eyes glittered in the darkness. "Are you sure, Gage?"

Before Gage could answer, Nisha interrupted. Her tone was as cold and cutting as sharpened ice, her lip curled into a sneer. "You better know what the hell you're doing."

Gage suppressed a shiver. Unlike Mason, Nisha was someone to be afraid of, but Gage hadn't made it to second in command without knowing how to bullshit. He scowled up at her and snapped, "Hey, we talked about this! She survived the gauntlet. She was smart enough to take my advice and strong enough to—"

"She can't even shoot straight!" hissed Nisha.

"And managed to kill Colter anyway!" Gage shot back, his minute level of patience already spent. He'd delivered his end of the plan, but it was always the same with raiders. Fucking backstabbing—

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The noise was quiet, and yet it reverberated through the metal structure of the arena. Both Nisha and Mason jerked their heads to the direction of the sound, but Gage hesitated. He knew what it was without looking, and after a deep breath, forced himself to turn and face her.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The woman was standing at the door, tapping the tip of her sword in a slow, deliberate manner. Each tap left a smear of blood on the glass, fresh enough to still run down the metal blade in her hand. She reached up, grasped her cowl, and pulled it free.

He shouldn't have been surprised. Anything was possible after all. Gage still felt his jaw drop.

A ghoul?

"Who the hell are you?" Mason called out, seeming to bristle with indignation at the state of their new boss.

The woman smiled, showing crooked, yellowed teeth. "Mrs Bossanova, little pig." She banged the hilt of her sword hard against the glass to a slow, steady beat.

"Let. Me. In."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that little taste of things to come!

Now, just to bring you up to speed with how I'm going to be updating this fic. I found out through writing BNC that writing to update every week is very stressful. So this time I'm going to be writing the whole thing out before I update again. Once it's complete, I will be releasing a chapter every week.

I've posted the first chapter here, Ao3, and FFnet under the same username (Quinzelade) so that people can follow the story. That way, when I finally start updating again, those who follow will get an alert to say the story is now continuing again.

Those who have read my writing before know I'm not one for short, sweeping stories. I like to build up backstories, create drama, and most of all, make you care for my characters. Because of that, I estimate this will take between 6-12 months. I don't intend for this to be as long as BNC, so it shouldn't take as long to write.

I hope to see you guys in the next update!