Chapter Specific Characters: Oswald the Outrageous, Porter Gage, Shank
Chapter Specific Tags/Warnings: One long-ass fight scene that I hated writing with every fiber of my being but that I think came out pretty good, alot of backstory exposition
Meeting with a clash of metal, Ash and Oswald found themselves in a brief lock before Ash slid his knife upwards, sidestepping Oswald's sword as it came down and trying to slash at the ghoul's side. Oswald moved in time and tried for a slash of his own only to have Ash block the blow. Neither man was really trained to fight like this. Proper sword fighting was a long-lost art. Oswald only really had as much knowledge as Ash and both of them only from old pre-war movies so both men were really just winging it.
Still, for just winging it, they were doing a good job of not hitting eachother. The blocks were decent, the slashes were fast and savage, and the parries were sloppy but they did occasionally manage to get a stagger in. Gage, meanwhile, was dealing with the ferals that had crawled out of the rubble all around them to attack. They seemed as focused on him as Ash was on Oswald which worked out just fine since Ash clearly had his hands full.
Quite suddenly, Ash had an idea. "Do you recognize me, Oswald?" He asked, grinning at the perplexed frown Oswald gave him.
"Oh, sure, I recognize everyone who comes trespassing into my home in a full hazmat suit." Oswald replied sarcastically, cutting a gash into the chest of said suit and giving Ash a nice cut on his chest to boot.
Hissing in pain, Ash realized that was it for his suit; the rads were gonna get in now no matter what. Being that as it was, Ash flung his helmet off and shook his hair out a bit, parrying Oswald's next hit and taking a step back. "I'm sure you had alot of audience participants during your time working here, but what about this?" Ash's expression went dead and his tone went void, though he tried to make it come out younger and higher, the whole display confusing Oswald enough that he didn't take the opportunity to attack. "The top of the hat pops out and the rabbit is under the table. There's a compartment in the wardrobe. Wires. There's wires everywhere."
Eyes widening a bit in recognition, Oswald faltered on his feet and had to take a few steps back to avoid a sudden wild swing from Ash. "I do remember you! Security had to escort you out because you wouldn't be quiet and play along!" He said, frowning in confusion and blocking Ash's attack as he closed in on him. "How-how are you still alive?"
"Hear that, Gage!?" Ash called, grinning over at Gage quickly before turning his attention back to Oswald. "An unbiased, third-party account of my life before the bombs!"
"Yeah, I-I heard it." Gage responded, shooting a feral in the head before it could charge at him.
"Well, I'm so glad I could clear up whatever little lover's quarrel that was, but if you would kindly focus!" Oswald shouted, crying out in pain when Ash suddenly stabbed him in the upper arm.
"I'm plenty focused." Ash hissed, ripping his knife free to block Oswald's swing and stabbing him in the side next.
Much to Ash's temporary annoyance, Oswald disappeared in a puff of smoke, reappearing further away on the catwalks up above them. Running up to Oswald, Ash caught him just when he was about to send out a radiation wave and tackled him. Unfortunately for both men, Oswald had been standing near a bit of broken railing and Ash's momentum sent them crashing through it and to the concrete below. Oswald took the brunt of the damage and cried out as his elbow hit the concrete far too hard and shattered like glass. He didn't have time to try swinging at the teen above him before Ash's knife was buried in his shoulder and he had to disappear again.
Despite the radioactive barrels around the roof slowly recharging his energy and helping him heal, Oswald was running out of juice. He could only do so much magic at one time before he had to take a break, and if he didn't take care of Ash quickly, he wouldn't have enough power to heal himself next time Ash gave him a serious injury. As it was now, he didn't even have enough juice to try again to send a radiation pulse to heal his friends dealing with Gage.
On the up side for Oswald, Ash was also breathing hard as he got up and looked around to locate the ghoul up on the catwalk again. He'd never fought this hard for this long. It was one thing to hold his knife still and let a gatorclaw do all the work for him, but this was considerably more interactive. He had to be on his guard with Oswald or he'd get even more damaged than he already was. It was bad enough that Ash's suit wasn't really functioning anymore so he was sucking up rads from being around the barrels, the last thing he needed was a serious cut to deal with too.
Locating Oswald, Ash grinned despite how tired he was. "Not looking very good there, Ossy." He mocked, the fierce glare Oswald gave him only making Ash grin wider.
"I'd say the same for you, but you didn't look very good to begin with, so-" Oswald trailed off, giving a shrug.
Either unbothered or hiding it well, Ash laughed and stalked forward, climbing the ramp up to where Oswald was. "I'm pretty sure it's cheating to heal everytime you teleport." He informed, charging the last few steps and swinging his knife down at Oswald.
Blocking it with a grunt, Oswald sneered at Ash. "Jealous?" He bit out, kicking Ash in the stomach and dashing forward when he staggered back.
Moving to the side at the last moment, Ash stabbed Oswald in the back, his knife barely missing the other man's spine. "A little, yeah." He admitted, ripping his knife free and backing up a few steps as Oswald straightened up.
Panting hard as bright green blood leaked from his mouth, Oswald knew it was now or never. Ash's knife had punctured his lung and everything was getting fuzzy and breathing was becoming too difficult. He either took Ash down with him, or he lost this fight and the home he'd fought so hard and so long to defend. Charging forward with what was left of his strength, Oswald swung but Ash caught his arm.
"Too slow, Ossy." Ash breathed, panting hard and swaying a bit on his feet. He was just stronger than Oswald, the radiation taking it's toll but not as much as a popped lung. Brandishing his knife with an almost drunk-looking swagger, Ash placed the tip of the blade to Oswald's chest and began to press. The ghoul hissed but hadn't any strength left to fight and before long, Ash's knife had slowly pierced his heart. Grinning, Ash ripped his knife free one last time, shoving Oswald away at the same time and watching as he fell, dead.
Swaying, Ash fell, only avoiding hitting his head on the nearby railing because Gage caught him. "Alright, stay with me, boss." Gage hissed, dragging Ash away from the barrels he'd been standing far too close to the entire fight and sticking the needle end of a rad-away into his neck. It normally went in the arm, but he didn't have time to get Ash's suit off, so this would have to work. Getting out a rad-x and a can of water, Gage knelt and propped Ash up laying against his knees with his head in his lap. He got the teen to swallow the pill with a mouthful of water and then helped him nurse the rest of the water while the rad-away did its job.
Once Ash started looking less pale, Gage stuck him in the chest with a stimpak to start healing the cut he'd received there. "You're fuckin' insane." He grumbled, still holding Ash against his knees. "You shoulda just shot 'im. There wasn't any reason to put yourself in so much danger."
"Still won." Ash mumbled, smiling through the fog in his brain.
Sighing, Gage couldn't help but smile. This crazy fucker was something else. "Yeah, you sure did, boss." He conceded, leaning back as Ash sat up slowly on his own.
"I think that's the closest I ever came to biting the big one." Ash mumbled, checking his Pip-Boy and seeing that the rad-away still had quite a bit of work to do. "Mighta killed over too if you weren't here."
"Careful, boss, I think I almost heard a "thank you" in all that." Gage said sarcastically, standing up and going over to Oswald's corpse. He fished around in the ghoul's pockets and returned to Ash, holding out a computer password and a key.
Smiling tiredly, Ash took both. "Thanks, Gage." He muttered, standing slowly and taking the bag of rad-away with him as he walked over to the terminal. He didn't feel like even trying to crack it in his current condition, so he just used the password, quickly locating the option to shut off the radiation misters and selecting it. Stepping back, Ash then unlocked the door that would let him get to the flagpole and passed through it, squinting at the bright red sky the sunset was creating.
Following Ash outside, Gage took off his helmet and looked out at the sun. "Kinda pretty, huh, boss?" He muttered, looking over with a raised eyebrow when Ash snorted.
"Overrated." Ash muttered, yanking the needle from his neck and tossing the empty bag of rad-away aside. He still didn't feel completely better yet, but he wasn't quite ready to get another bag going. Hunting for the flag he needed, Ash assigned the final Nuka-World park to the Disciples and watched the flag rise as he hoisted it.
"Well I'll be damned." Gage hummed, looking up at the flag as well. "It's official. Nuka-World is ours, all of it." He said, sounding excited and very pleased but, much to Ash's delight, not surprised.
Grinning, Ash looked to Gage. "Not surprised, are you, Gage?" He asked coyly, wanting to hear it from the older man.
"'Course not, boss." Gage replied, looking at Ash and giving him a grin of his own. "We ain't ever been on ground this solid before and it's all thanks to you."
Looking away, Ash gave a shrug. "I had a pretty competent assistant." He offered, smiling when Gage laughed.
"That you did." Gage boasted lightly, the smile slowly leaving him and being replaced by a serious expression. "Look, I been thinkin'-" He started, pausing to consider his words before carrying on. "Now that we're here, let's keep this party goin'. I'm thinkin' it's time we set our sights on the Commonwealth." Gage said, holding up a hand when Ash looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Takin' back Nuka-World is a big fuckin' deal, no question, but it can't be the end of things. Needs to be a beginnin'."
"Elaborate." Ash ordered lightly, turning to look at Gage fully and feeling intrigued.
"These buncha savages need a goal, somethin' to focus on. If they ain't got it, they'll wind up turnin' on eachother." Gage explained, tone and face all business now. "And an operation this big, we're gonna need more of- well, everythin'. Nobody's gonna hand it to us, we need to take it." He said, a slow grin breaking up his serious expression. "Commonwealth has a ton of shitty little settlements that could be put to better use, don't you think?"
Grinning at the implication, Ash nodded. "I'd say so." He agreed, suddenly letting out a breath and running his hand through his hair. "Fuck, we're talking full-on Commonwealth domination, aren't we?" Ash asked, the realization making his head spin a bit. Or maybe that was just the rads. His levels were still pretty high, after all.
"Sure are." Gage agreed, looking out at the quickly darkening horizon again. "'Course, I'm just makin' suggestions here. You're the one that needs to give the go-ahead." He said, clearly trying to toe the fine-line of telling Ash what he needed to do without sounding like that's exactly what he was doing. "You ask me, we don't rush into this headlong, we take it slow, be smart about it. If we're aimin' to grab a piece of the Commonwealth, it's going to take the right contacts and alot of muscle. I say we go have ourselves a chat with Shank. He's the point man for everything enterin' and leavin' Nuka-World."
"Yeah, alright." Ash said, looking out at the low sun as it disappeared quickly below the horizon. "I'll talk to him first thing in the morning."
"He floated this idea before, been itchin' to talk to you ever since you took over." Gage added, shifting a bit when the sun finally vanished fully below the horizon. "I'd bet he's got a good idea of where to start. He's in charge of the caravans, so odds are you can find him somewhere near the marketplace. In the meantime, I'm gonna get the gangs workin' on gettin' Nuka-World's power plant up and runnin'. It's about time we shed some real light around here and let people know we mean serious business."
Nodding, Ash slung his pack off and casually turned on his Pip-Boy's flashlight to rifle through it. He picked out a can of water and straightened up to drink it, leaving his Pip-Boy light on and pretending not to notice how it made Gage relax. It was the least he could do, really, with how helpful Gage had been during all this. "Sounds good, Gage." Ash finally said, getting a relay ready and holding his hand out to Gage. "Comin' along?"
Nodding, Gage took Ash's hand and they disappeared together in a flash. When they came out of it into Sanctum, the two men traveled in comfortable silence up to their respective rooms, Ash to finish treating his radiation poisoning and Gage to get planning their next steps. It was a few hours later when Ash saw Gage again. He was now clean and rad free and if Gage wearing the clean, grey Institute clothes were any indication, he'd showered as well.
"Hey, boss, can I ask you somethin'?" Gage asked from the doorway to Ash's room.
"'Course." Ash responded, turning off the game he'd been playing on his Pip-Boy and sitting up on his bed. He motioned for Gage to come in and the man sat on the couch near Ash's bed, looking a bit nervous.
"Okay, I mean, I was wonderin'-" Gage started, frowning a bit as he struggled with his words. "We been runnin' together for awhile now." He said, Ash knowing this was going to be a serious conversation by how nervous Gage seemed. "You ain't afraid to take what you want, and don't let anybody get in your way. Got more guts than most folks. I guess what I'm wonderin' is, why? What's behind all this for you?" Gage finished, finally looking at Ash.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Ash shifted a bit. Hiding who you are isn't living free, he thought, taking a breath before speaking. "Honestly? It's all just for the fun of it." Ash answered honestly, feeling relieved when Gage didn't look put off by that answer.
"Not the worst reason I ever heard." Gage said, smiling a bit before getting serious again. "You ask me, this whole damn world is here just to tear you down. Deck's stacked against you from the very beginnin'. Most folks are too stupid to realize it." He said, his tone just short of venomous. "They just sort of stumble through, managin' to scrape together some shitty little life for themselves. They struggle every day, until somethin' catches them off guard, and then that's it. Lights out." Gage sounded spiteful, clearly not thinking very highly of those sorts of people.
Ash simply nodded a bit, leaning forward some as Gage spoke. He wasn't sure what all this was about, but it was clear Gage needed to get it off his chest.
"They don't get how it is, they don't see it comin'." Gage continued after cutting his eye over to make sure Ash didn't look annoyed. "And then some folks are too aware of it, you know? They see the world for how fucked up it is and so they decide they gotta have it all, right now." He said, sounding equally disliking of this opposite sort of people. "All the booze, all the chems, all the caps, and they don't care how they get it. In fact, if they can take it from others, they feel like they're gettin' the upper hand. Only, they ain't." Gage said with a light sigh.
"Fuckin' raiders." He practically spat, shaking his head. "They get so greedy, so focused on right now they make some shitty mistakes, and wind up dead. Hell, maybe some of them are tryin' to get killed." At that, Ash couldn't help but think of every stupid, reckless, self-endangering decision he'd ever made and wonder if he was one of those people trying to get killed. Was that what he wanted? Was that why he was so reckless? It was only when Ash saw the look Gage was giving him that he realized that's exactly what Gage was implying. He didn't get a chance to respond before Gage kept talking.
"You've taken a real shine to runnin' the gangs, hasn't gone unnoticed." Gage continued, his tone making it hard to decipher it that was good or bad. "These idiots need someone in charge. All these people, they either try too hard or not enough, maybe not at all. Me? I like to think I walk the line between fightin' for what I deserve and gettin' out of control." He said, looking at Ash fully. "But you. Boss, you're a damn live-wire. I don't doubt your abilities. Not anymore, not after all I seen you do, but I need to know: are you tryin' to get yourself killed?"
The question hit Ash like a brick to the face now that it was coming from someone else and not from his own mind. Mostly because he didn't have an answer yet. Of course he wasn't trying to get himself killed. He'd never been happier than in this post-apocalyptic hellhole where he could finally indulge in every depraved thing he'd ever wanted to do to someone. Then again, Ash really did welcome death with open arms. He supposed he sort of fought for life, but if the odds were ever stacked so high that he didn't stand a chance, he'd smile as he went, he was sure of it. Hell, sometimes he stacked the odds against himself. Why? Why was he like that? He didn't know. He didn't have an answer.
Gage was waiting patiently for one though, so Ash shrugged lightly. "I don't know." He replied slowly, looking away. "I- I've always been like this. Self-destructive, I mean. Even before the bombs." Ash pushed up his sleeve in order to pick at the cigarette burn scabs on his arm, a nervous habit. "I don't think I'm suicidal. I don't really care if I live or die though. I- sort of just want a rush. If risking my life gets me that rush-" He trailed off, shrugging and looking back at Gage.
Nodding slowly, Gage leaned back on the couch. "Well, better than a "yes", I suppose." He muttered, sounding slightly relieved. "Look, I-" Gage started again, pausing and making a face. He looked down and did an odd sort of spinning motion with his hands like he was rolling a ball between them before trying again. "I grew up in your average crap-hole settlement with parents that meant well, but- they were pushovers." Gage said, sounding disappointed and shaking his head a bit but moving on quickly.
"Watched 'em get smacked around by raider gangs for years, handin' over whatever they had to keep their lives. One day, I'm watchin' 'em cower in front of some punk with a gun, and it just hits me." Gage said, punching one hand into the other to emphasize his point but keeping his eyes on the floor. ""I ain't gonna end up like this", I says to myself. So I bail. I'm what, twelve years old? Didn't matter. I'd seen enough of the world to know how shit works."
For a moment it seemed like Gage was waiting for Ash to say something, he even glanced up at Ash, but the teen simply sat there, watching Gage closely and wondering where he was going with this. When Ash refused to speak, either to tell him to shut up or to weigh in, Gage continued.
"I bounced around for a few years, takin' whatever jobs I could to pay for food. I was a runner for a caravan for a while, did some scavengin', did odd jobs for settlements- no matter what, one thing never changed." Gage said, smiling a bit and shaking his head. "When the raiders came through, everyone rolled over. Raiders took what they wanted, moved on, and that was that. Didn't take long before I finally figured out where I'd really been headin' all along. Next time a gang came through, I joined. Worked my way up over the years, and now here we are." He said, finally looking up fully and motioning to Ash and himself.
"And, well- well, my point is, runnin' with you now-" Gage paused again, frowning but not looking away. This was hard for him, all this sharing shit, but he was determined to get his point across. "-makes it seem like it was all worth it." He finished, swallowing hard now that it was finally all out there.
"Wow." Ash murmured, shocked and- flattered? Yeah, flattered. "I wasn't expecting that." He admitted, looking down and realizing he'd made his arm bleed from picking his scabs too hard. "I- well, I can't say I been through the same kinda shit you have, but-" Ash paused, covering his bleeding arm with his other hand. "I mean-"
"Elaborate."
"What?" Ash asked, looking up at Gage in surprise, having not expected to get interrupted.
"I laid it all out for you, boss. Your turn. Tell me about your shit, I wanna know." Gage responded, watching Ash closely. There was a long silence where Gage was afraid he'd overstepped, that he'd pissed Ash off and fucked things up, and then Ash looked away and took a deep breath. Then he started talking.
"The first time I remember realizing I was different was when I was eight." Ash said softly, looking at the floor as he spoke instead of at Gage. "I had drawn a picture of someone getting stabbed in the eye and my parents took away my crayons for a week. I didn't understand why and they couldn't, or wouldn't, tell me more than "it's bad" so I just kept doing it. Eventually they started discouraging me from drawing at all and after awhile, I stopped." He recounted, taking his knife from the nightstand and fiddling with it idly while he spoke.
"It only got worse from there. I was mean to the other kids at school and around the neighborhood. I liked to hurt them, so eventually I was restricted to only being around them with supervision." Ash said, nicking one of his fingers as he fiddled with his knife but not seeming to notice. "When I proved difficult to supervise, my time around other children outside of school was limited to times when two or more adults were around to watch me. Then I lost my animal privileges when I started taking out my aggression on the family dog." Sighing a bit, Ash looked away from the floor to the knife in his hand, still not really seeming to notice that he'd cut several of his fingers by then.
"They didn't get to the dog in time, though, but I never got caught for that one. I mean, Nate and Nora suspected me, of course, but they couldn't prove anything." Making an intentional cut on his palm while he spoke, Ash watched the blood flow lazily down the wound. "They got stricter after that and my once monthly therapy got bumped up to twice monthly." Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ash had a feeling Gage wouldn't know what therapy was, but he was in too deep now to stop and explain.
"I got into drugs and drinking with my friends once I got into high school. I was fourteen. By then, there wasn't any helping me or stopping me and I think Nate and Nora sort of knew that. They definitely stopped trying as hard." Ash said, his voice oddly void, like he was telling someone else's story instead of his own. "I was spiraling by the time the bombs fell. I was so bored with life and I was honestly okay with dying. I- I don't really know why I followed them when they told me to run. Why I didn't just stay there and face the nuclear hellfire." He muttered, shrugging a bit and setting his knife down in his lap. "I guess I just sort of figured if I died, whatever, and if I didn't die, whatever. It didn't matter, so I just ran."
Smiling a bit, Ash let out a humorless laugh, actually forgetting what the point of this was and now just unloading his baggage. "Every day after that has just been borrowed time. I should've died October twenty-seventy-seven, the day nuclear fire destroyed the Earth, but I didn't. I can't even count how many times I should've died after that. From the day I thawed out to what happened today. But here I am." Ash finally looked up, looking at Gage with eyes that looked far older than barely seventeen. "So I've taken up the idea of living free. I do what I want because I want to and if it gets me killed one day, oh well. I should've died two-hundred years ago, so what's it matter now?"
"Shit, boss." Gage muttered, not really sure what else to say. What else could he say?
Giving another humorless laugh, Ash looked down at his now mutilated hand and suddenly picked the knife back up, pressing the tip of it into his palm, intending to fully pierce his hand through if he could take it. He got a little ways in before Gage's hand was wrapped around his wrist, forcing him to ease up. When Ash glanced up, he didn't like the concerned, disturbed look Gage was giving him and looked away again, letting his knife drop from his hand onto the floor now that Gage was done letting him play with it.
Moving back once Ash dropped the knife, Gage hesitated. If he tried too hard, he knew Ash would lash out. He didn't like to be coddled even if that wasn't Gage's intention. Still, that knife was not sanitary and Ash was clearly content to just let himself bleed, so he felt he needed to do something. Getting out a stimpak, Gage gently took Ash's hand and was surprised when the teen didn't resist. He injected him there and in his other arm too and left, coming back quickly with a moist rag to clean the blood off of Ash.
Once Gage was finished, Ash pulled his hands back to himself, still staring at his lap so he didn't have to look anywhere else. It'd been a long time since he'd felt this empty. He'd managed to keep the feeling at bay since he woke up by either destroying or creating, but now that he couldn't even destroy himself, the feeling was a little overwhelming. Ash wasn't sad, that would take too much investment, he was just- hollow. Like there was a void where his heart should be and he couldn't feel anything even if he wanted to.
"But-" Ash said slowly, a sort of warm feeling igniting in his void as he suddenly remembered the point of all that. "But, everything with you, all the killing and conquering and all that, I think it makes all the emptiness and anger and spiraling-" He paused, needing to take a breath and having to force his thoughts to stay on track. "It was all worth it. It was all worth it cuz now even though I still don't care if I die, I'm as close to happy as I've ever been "running with you"."
Gage let out a breath as Ash seemed to catch a second wind and come back to himself. He hadn't meant to send him spiraling like that, he'd just wanted to learn more about Ash. "Yeah?" Gage asked, searching Ash's face for any lingering emptiness and finding it quickly clearing up.
"Yeah." Ash muttered, swallowing and looking down at his healing limbs. "Thanks." He whispered, letting out a shuddering breath as he slowly remembered how to feel again.
"Sure thing, boss." Gage replied, straightening up fully and retaking his seat on the couch. "And, uh, thank you." He said, looking away and feeling awkward again. "For sharin'."
"Yeah, sure." Ash said quietly, glancing at Gage. "I think it helped." He admitted, looking away again. "Or, it felt weirdly good, anyway."
Laughing softly, Gage gave a nod. "Too bad it's so fuckin' hard, huh?"
Giving a soft laugh of his own, Ash nodded. "Yeah."
There was a brief moment of silence before Gage cleared his throat and stood. "Well, it's late. I'm gonna head to bed." He started walking to the door but then seemed to linger there as if he was waiting for something.
Ash had resolved to break himself of telling Gage goodnight, but he noticed the lingering and raised his eyebrow a bit. "Night." He said, catching a small smile as Gage finally left. Huh. Too tired to ponder anything at the moment, Ash collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly, not even getting the chance to take his Pip-Boy off.
When Ash woke up the next day, it was almost noon and he realized he hadn't set his alarm the other night. Oops. Sitting up, Ash stretched and at first he couldn't remember why he felt so fucking sore. Then he remembered sword fighting a ghoul on the roof of a castle and the way all that sounded without context made him smile sleepily to himself. What a fucking world.
Dragging his pack over, Ash rifled through it and pulled out a box of funnel cake. Two-hundred or so years past the expiration date, but still pretty good. Better than mirelurk, anyway. After his sugary breakfast, Ash walked over to his terminal and hit a few specific keys to enter a command. Then he went over to the couch and started cleaning his pack out. He had alot of shit that he didn't need to be packing around.
Ash was in the middle of realizing he needed more food that didn't max out the amount of sugar he was technically supposed to have in a week all in one bite when H1-87 appeared at his door. "You called for me?" They asked, having gotten an alert in their courser chip that Ash needed them.
"Yeah. Has Gage left already?" Ash asked, not looking up from his pack. He did not need to be lugging around all these clothes.
"He left early this morning." H1-87 responded, hiding it well if they were annoyed that Ash summoned them just for that.
"Thank you. Dismissed." Ash responded, glancing up to see H1-87 leave and finishing up with his pack soon after. There! Now he'd be able to fit whatever fresh loot he deemed worth lugging around as well as more food. Real food. As much as Ash was okay with sustaining himself solely on funnel cakes, snack cakes, and Nuka-Cola, he knew he needed actual food every now and again.
Getting dressed, Ash slid his pack on and clipped his Pip-Boy into place. He set his coordinates and triggered a relay, coming out of it in Fizztop Grille like always. A quick glance around told Ash that Gage wasn't there but as he started towards the button that would summon the lift, the distinct sound of the pulleys working started up. Leaning over the edge, Ash saw Gage riding the lift up and leaned back again. He was flipping through a book and not paying attention and Ash had every intention to startle him when he arrived.
The lift stopped and Gage stepped off into Fizztop Grille without looking up from his book. Moving as silently as he could in heels, Ash snuck up behind Gage and whispered "boo" in his ear. The elbow to the ribs was worth it for how hard Gage jumped. Ash stood doubled over, clutching his ribs and laughing and Gage looked annoyed.
"Dammit, boss! You don't sneak up on a man like that! You're lucky I didn't shoot you!" He scolded, sighing when Ash grinned at him behind his mask.
"It would've been worth it. You should've seen how high you jumped." Ash said, straightening up and rubbing his ribs a bit more before accepting the dull throb.
Huffing, Gage put his book away in his back pocket. "Well, I'm glad you're here. I got the gangs workin' on the power plant like I said I would."
"Cool." Ash responded, walking over to the lift. "I need to stop by the market after I talk with Shank."
"Alright." Gage said, boarding the lift with Ash and pressing the button to go back down.
A short walk later, Ash and Gage were in front of the Nuka-World market and Gage was pointing out a man lingering around the main entrances. Walking up to the man, Ash nodded once at him in greeting. Time to see if this one was a cunt. It was staggering how many people were cunts when first meeting Ash. Even Gage hadn't made the best first impression with all his "listen up" crap.
"Well, look who it is." Shank greeted, peeling himself off the wall he was leaning against and walking up to Ash. "Liking what you've done with the place, boss. Gangs certainly seem pleased with their new little kingdoms." He said, so far making a fair first impression. "Haven't seen people this revved up since last time someone spiked the water fountains." Shank added, smirking a bit at the memory. "Never formally introduced myself. Name's Shank." He introduced, making Ash feel old when he didn't extend his hand for a shake.
Archaic, Ash reminded himself, that shit is archaic. It was stupid in his time, it'd be even stupider now. "Ash." He replied, not bothering to add "Overboss" since there was no one in Nuka-World who didn't already know that by that point.
"Pleasure." Shank said, moving on quickly now that the introductions were out of the way. "Now, if you and Nuka-World's favorite cyclops are standing here, well, I suppose he expects you might be the one to finally get things back on track." He said, making Ash very grateful for his mask as he had to bite his lip hard to keep from laughing at the cyclops comment. "How long it take him to convince you it was time to move on the Commonwealth?"
Something about Shank's tone was making Ash prickle even as he couldn't quite place what it was about it that did it. He was soft-spoken enough, but that was hiding something. Like a trace of a hint of an implication that Ash was picking up on but couldn't quite put his finger on. Gage had caught it too though. Ash could tell he was now watching Shank instead of trying to appear like he wasn't listening like he usually did when Ash was handling business.
Speaking of, before Ash could respond, Gage butted in. "Hey now, no convincing, just a friendly conversation between like-minded individuals." He corrected, tone more friendly than Ash had ever heard it. Huh. Gage was the friendly type when he was threatening someone. Good to know.
Despite the trace of a hint of an implication that Ash still didn't like, he shrugged. "I was sold the moment the words left his mouth."
That made Shank smirk. "Good to know we finally got a smart overboss." He said, smirk fading into what Ash was beginning to understand was a carefully crafted neutral mask. "Givin' the gangs spots to call their own around the park, it bought you some good will. But providing them with their own domains, carved from the settlements of the Commonwealth-" Shank paused, a smirk playing his lips again and a small, hungry sort of hissing sound leaving him. "I can't think of a better way to solidify your place around here. Plus, make us all a pretty cap along the way. If that interests you, well, all you've gotta do is say the word, and we can let the fun begin."
Creepy. Shank was kinda creepy. Ash didn't dislike it, per se, but that was definitely his vibe. "I'm interested." He confirmed, catching a flash of excitement in Shank's eyes that only manifested in a small smile.
"Music to my ears." Shank practically purred, glancing over as Gage spoke up again.
"Shank ain't kiddin', this is gonna be all kinds of fun." He said, sounding as excited as Shank had looked for that brief second. It was then that Ash realized that they had probably been plotting together about how to convince him since before he was even the guy they wound up with. He was feeling mildly set up but his growing eagerness to get started was keeping him from feeling too annoyed.
"So getting us set up in the Commonwealth's gonna require three things: territory, provisions, and loyalty." Shank explained, taking out a book from one of the pockets in his coat that looked suspiciously similar to the one Gage had been looking at. "First thing's first: territory. We're gonna need to claim a settlement for our gang to work from. An outpost. And there are two ways to claim new territory: you can head in yourself and- convince the locals to leave, or I can get a crew together and you all can put them in the dirt. How you do it's up to you." He said, flipping his book open and looking at Ash. "So, first big decision. You wanna talk them off their land or you wanna wipe them out?"
"I, uh, I think you know what I'd rather do, boss." Gage added, clearly thinking he already knew which one Ash was going to chose and probably thinking that was a good way to let Ash know he approved.
Pausing long enough to feel like a proper dramatic asshole, Ash tilted his head up slightly, looked Shank in the eyes, and made his decision. "Neither."
"What?" Both Shank and Gage asked at the same time, making Ash grin.
"Here's what we're gonna do. Me and Gage are gonna head over to a settlement, make our intentions known, beat half to death anyone who doesn't like it, and then collar everyone there." Ash said, feeling and sounding quite confident in his decision. "Why would we waste perfectly good maids? They stick around, tend the crops, keep the place tidy, sleep in the dirt where they belong, and the gang members have someone to pick on that isn't eachother. Sounds like a whole lotta positives and not alotta negatives to me." He finished, grinning at the look Shank was giving him and the look he imagined Gage was giving him.
"Well." Shank breathed, sounding as impressed as he looked. "Gage wasn't fucking with me when he said you were the real deal."
"Oh?" Ash asked, looking to Gage and catching the tail-end of the glare he'd shot Shank. "So you've been bragging about me?" His tone was amused because he was amused, but that didn't stop Gage from grinning at him sheepishly and generally looking quite nervous.
"Somethin' like that." He admitted, letting out a breath when Ash laughed and looked back to Shank.
"So, let's get this party started." Ash said, grinning behind his mask and more than ready to get moving. The Commonwealth was about to be very, very screwed.
