Mediocre!

The word resounded through Nux's brain, emerging every few seconds as if following the rhythm of a war chant. He wanted to cringe away from it, but it seemed to have invaded him. Mediocre! MEDICORE!

It should have been his moment in the sun. Immortan Joe himself had sprayed chrome in Nux's face and personally assured him that he was awaited. He'd been watching, which meant, in a way, that the world was watching. And Nux had blown it.

He'd managed to return to the War Rig, but now that he'd lost the Immortan's attention, did it even matter whether or not he took down the Imperator? Frantically Nux grasped at the last embers of his hope. The Gigahorse remained close by, and the road war was still raging. Maybe, if Nux was lucky, he'd have a chance to redeem himself in Immortan Joe's eyes. He couldn't fight against six with his bare hands, having already been thrown off the rig in his first attempt. But if he could get to the engine, he might be able to do some damage. Though slowing the traitors down hardly seemed worth destroying such a priceless machine. And he wouldn't be around to oversee its repairs at the Cita-

The War Rig swerved, and Nux swerved with it, his head colliding against the wall. What's going on? The Gigahorse was directly behind the War Rig, and when Nux looked closely through its windscreen, he thought he saw Immortan Joe staring out. But not at him- rather, at a spot further in the distance. Nux craned his neck around to see what had fascinated the Immortan, right as two objects tumbled past from the Rig. A side door, and a woman.

The Gigahorse veered violently off-road, running over the woman before flipping upside down. Before Nux had time to breathe, it and its riders had shrunk into the distance. Nux turned away, blood pounding in his ears.

That hadn't been any woman who'd fallen. That was the same one who'd thrown him off the War Rig and demanded he tell her who killed the world. She was the Splendid One, one of Immortan Joe's breeders, and most importantly, the bearer of his child. And she'd gone under the wheels.

He wanted her back alive! Alive, to birth a healthy child, the continuation of his esteemed lineage. But now both mother and child were doomed, the other breeders had escaped, and the traitorous Imperator was still at large.

With help from the bloodbag, no less! Imagine a bloodbag getting to drive the War Rig before Nux even touched its steering wheel!

And worst of all… Nux sunk to the floor, dazed and shaking. Immortan Joe had seen it. He knew it was Nux's bloodbag. He knew Nux had done nothing to stop the tragedy from happening. All Nux had wanted to do was honor the Immortan, but he'd only made a complete fool out of himself. He'd been wrong- there was no way to recover himself now. To the Immortan, he might as well be nonexistent.

Rage suddenly swelled inside of Nux, and he lashed out, hitting the solid floor with his fists. All this because he'd decided to take his bloodbag to war with him! If only the breeders hadn't broken the chain that connected them. He wouldn't have tripped when boarding the War Rig, and he certainly wouldn't have given the bloodbag the opportunity to usurp his rightful place in the driver's seat.

But then again, Nux wouldn't have lasted a mile on the Fury Road without his bloodbag. Which clearly meant that, for the benefit of everyone, he shouldn't have been there at all. The thought was soul-sucking, a great black hole opening in his chest to engulf the last cinders of his rage. It's my fault. I did everything wrong… Slit was right! They shouldn't have let me do war!

All those lies he'd fed to himself… going on and on about how he was destined for greatness, how the Immorta in Valhalla awaited him with open arms. BULLSHIT! He should have known better- in fact, had known better, since the day he'd given Larry and Barry their names. Nux was good for nothing but a slow, unmentionable death, rotting away without a legacy or so much as a single story in remembrance.

It's not fair. Nux's throat clenched as tears stung his eyes. Today was supposed to be MY day.

He wasn't aware of much but his own misery for the next few moments, until a smooth pair of feet appeared in the upper region of his blurred vision. An equally smooth voice murmured, "What are you doing here?"

Glancing up, Nux discovered a woman. She was another one of Immortan Joe's treasures, the one whose outfit Nux had torn as he was thrown from the War Rig. Her skin was as pure as Aqua-Cola, and her hair, plaited on each side, was blood-red. Bathed in light from the setting sun, she was startlingly beautiful. But Nux couldn't care less.

"He saw it." The words came forth unbidden. It didn't matter whether Nux's audience of one stayed to listen, or tossed him out of the Rig once again. Nothing mattered anymore.

"He saw it all. My own bloodbag, driving the Rig that killed her." Fresh tears welled in Nux's eyes as the shame overwhelmed him anew. Why didn't she just throw him overboard right now and be done with it? Run him over the same way they'd run over Splendid. It was a fitting end to a worthless, mediocre fleshbag.

With that, Immortan Joe's voice echoed through Nux's memory again. MEDIOCRE! MEDIOCRE… Ugh! It was too much to stand. Desperate to drive the voice away, Nux banged his head against the floor- once, twice, then many times. Mediocre… Mediocre… Just get it out. Banish that powerful voice, the one Nux would obey to the ends of the earth, expressing nothing but singular disappointment…

"Stop doing that!" The runaway breeder's voice cut through the voice in Nux's head- a welcome, if fleeting, reprieve. He felt a touch at his head and realized she was cupping him with her palm. Slowly the surprise of her touch drove away his pain, if only for a few seconds. If he'd laid a hand on one of the breeders at the Citadel, Immortan Joe would likely have killed him on sight. Coveting them was almost as shaming as failing to die historic. But now one of them was touching Nux of her own volition, as if he were worthy of it…

No. No, he wasn't worthy at all. As if her fingertips had picked up the thought, the breeder withdrew her hand, and though Nux knew he deserved what he got, he felt as if his bloodbag had punched him in the stomach all over again.

"Three times the gates were open to me," he murmured, voice thick with self-pity.

"What gates?" the breeder murmured.

She doesn't know? How could she be wed to the Immortan and not know…?

"I was awaited in Valhalla," Nux tried to explain. "They were calling my name…" Oh, how could he have turned his back and left them hanging? I should have fought harder. I should have-

"I should be walking with the Immorta, McFeasting with the heroes of all time." Not lying here, a weak and pathetic half-life whose time was surely drawing to a close.

Nux expected the breeder to abandon him the instant he admitted to his failure, but to his utter disbelief, she lay down beside him. She who had helped throw him from the War Rig into the sand! What could she possibly gain from staying with him?

"I'd say it was your manifest destiny not to," she said, and if Nux hadn't been so distraught he might have laughed. Not because it was funny, though. As it was, he didn't think he could fall apart any further than he already had.

This was his destiny?! Dying alone and unwitnessed, held captive by the very property he'd promised to return to the Immortan? What twisted god would allow such a thing to happen?

"I thought I was being spared for something great," Nux whispered. "I got to- drive a pursuit vehicle… For a while even Larry and Barry stopped chewing on my windpipe." The thought brought him the barest sliver of satisfaction. Even if his story was meant to end here, at least it wouldn't be Larry and Barry's fault. He hoped.

"Who are Larry and Barry?"

"My mates." Nux pointed to them on his neck. "Larry and Barry." The shred of satisfaction subsided as he came to realize that he was still trapped inside his body. What was he thinking? Of course it would be Larry and Barry's fault. He'd be a fool to try to escape them.

"If they don't get me, then the night fevers will." Either way, it was the end of Nux. The gates of Valhalla were eternally closed to him from now on.

The runaway breeder didn't say a word. Her eyes were strangely soft, without a hint of malice or fear. Nothing like the way she'd looked at him before, and definitely not like the chrome-infused, kamikrazy glint in the eyes of Nux's fellow War Boys. He nearly stopped breathing as she reached out and brushed her fingers against his scarred lips, as if trying to clean up the dried chrome. Then she touched his cheek, wiping away the tears that he'd spilled, and though it felt… good?... Nux was overtaken with sudden fear. Why was she doing this? She must have some sort of plan…

But how could anyone hide behind eyes as gentle as hers?

When she spoke, Nux startled.

"Then why do you want to go to Valhalla so badly?"

It took Nux a second to remember what she was referring to. She still didn't understand?

"It's the only way for someone like me. If I'm gonna die…" Nux's earlier words to Slit flooded back to him, along with a wave of humiliation. He'd been so boastful, so sure that he would end up in Valhalla, and for his pride he'd been punished.

"I was supposed to die historic. Not soft and slow, back at the Citadel. If the road's a dead end, I'm gonna ride down it full throttle."

"But why would you hasten it?" The breeder's voice was still quiet, but her words carried an undercurrent of tension, which spiked Nux's nerves. He watched her hands form fists. "You said it yourself. You're a half-life. Death could come at any moment, and you run to it with open arms!"

"For the glory!" Nux didn't know why he was bothering to explain, but he couldn't believe that she was so ignorant of his existence. "To praise and honor the Immortan, by whose hand we'll all be lifted up!" All of us… except me. And maybe not the breeders, come to think of it. They had willfully turned their backs on him. Maybe that was why this one didn't realize the importance of Valhalla. Her departure baffled Nux, now that he'd stopped to think about it. To spend so much time in private with such a great man, only to run away from him… What could have possibly driven her away?

She didn't seem impressed with Nux's words. If anything, she grew upset.

"He's not as powerful as you think, War Boy," the breeder whispered. "If he were really one of the Immorta, he wouldn't need to breed us for an heir. He wouldn't have dared to enter the wasteland, just to retrieve us, if Angharad wasn't-"

She broke off and rolled onto her back, taking in a ragged breath and blinking hard. Nux was amazed to see tears glisten in her eyes. What was wrong? Breed us… Angharad?… Splendid!

Was she crying over Splendid's death? The thought was difficult to comprehend. Death was something to be exalted, if one went out in a blaze on the Fury Road, or a perma-failure to bemoan if one didn't. Nux couldn't imagine Slit or any of the other War Boys weeping over his body. They'd salute him if he reached Valhalla, or spit on him if he failed, and that would be the end.

Either way… no one would miss him.

No one will miss me.

Nux was suddenly overtaken with the desire to do something for the breeder, to make her feel better, though he had no idea how to. He reached forward to cup her face, the way she'd done to him, but she flinched away and his fingertips only grazed her cheek. Perhaps she had wised up, remembering the harm that could be done if the Immortan caught her with Nux. But somehow he felt that such threats were the last thing on her mind. She no longer belonged to Immortan Joe- and now, neither did Nux.

"My name is Nux." He had nothing else to offer her. She turned her head, her lips quivering into a heartbroken, dazzling smile.

"I'm Capable."