Chapter Specific Characters: Porter Gage, Shank


"Now, once you've got all those settlers collared, you'll need to plant a gang's flag to make it official. Of course, every outpost you claim for a gang is going to be something the other gangs don't have." Shank said, not catching how Ash rolled his eyes. Fucking children, the lot of them. "And none of them like the thought of their rivals getting a leg up on them. Worth thinking over as you dole out more territory." He said, flipping a few pages in his book. "So, which gang you wanna assign their first Commonwealth territory?"

"The Disciples." Ash answered instantly, not even needing to think about it. He was gonna start strong with the gang he knew would make the biggest impact on the Commonwealth. It might've also helped their case that they were his favorite. Ah, nepotism. What a delightful practice.

Nodding, Shank did some scribbling in his book and flipped a few more pages. "That just leaves the target." He said, looking back up at Ash. "And since we're collaring and keeping our farmers, just about any settlement with a population'll do for the first one. So, you ready to pick the spot for Nuka-World's first new homestead?" Shank asked, looking as ready to go as Ash felt.

"Don't suppose your book tells you which settlement is the closest to us?" Ash asked, tilting his head a bit. He had another plan.

Nodding, Shank looked through his notes. "The Abernathy farm is the closest populated settlement."

"Then we'll take that one first. I was thinking a steady outward expansion." Ash said, creating a finger pyramid of evil contemplation as he spoke. "Get all the populated settlements under our control starting with the closest and working our way out and then taking all the empty ones once that's done."

"All the populated settlements?" Shank asked, face finally showing all the surprise he was feeling.

"All of them." Ash confirmed, grinning. "We're going for total Commonwealth domination."

After casting a quick glance at Gage, Shank's face returned to mostly neutral and he nodded. "Go big or go home, am I right? Abernathy it is. Lemme just mark it on your Pip-Boy map." He did a bit of typing on Ash's Pip-Boy and then let him have his arm back. "That'll do it."

"Good. I just gotta pop into the market for a few and then me and Gage'll head out. Feel free to send the Disciples any time after we've left, I'm sure we'll be done taking over before they get there." Ash said, feeling good about the situation. He was really gonna lead a bloody conquest of the whole-ass Commonwealth and he wasn't even nervous. Ash couldn't tell if that meant he was confident or if his suicidal tendencies were flaring up again, but it felt good whatever it was.

"Sure thing, boss." Shank said, a hint of a smile on his face and perhaps more than a tinge of respect in his voice.

Walking into the market, Ash started with the friendly chem-dealer and began to make the rounds, trading his excess loot for supplies. Gage mentioned something about shock collars and wandered off while Ash bartered. He traded with the jittery medic, the mousy general goods dealer, and even a few of the caravans that were just passing through. Finally, Ash stopped at the bitch weapon trader and the amount of fear in his eyes when Ash stepped up to his counter was almost intoxicating.

"I see you've learned your proper place." Ash greeted, getting a fervent nod in return and grinning behind his mask. "Let's see then, open wide." He demanded, leaning forward to peer at the stub far back in the trader's mouth when he opened up obediently to show him. Whistling, Ash leaned back again and the trader closed his mouth, refusing to look at Ash. "Looks good, no infection or anything. Healed up nice." The trader just nodded, looking sad, and Ash laughed, trading the last of his excess loot before leaving the market completely.

Gage caught up just before Ash left and they were well out of earshot of anyone when he cleared his throat. "So, takin' over the entire Commonwealth, huh?" Gage asked, looking at Ash. "I honestly didn't see that comin'."

"And here I thought you were a fan of the big picture." Ash teased, smiling when Gage nudged him lightly.

"Yeah, alright, wiseass." Gage said, smiling a bit. "Seriously though, we're really doin' this? We're really goin' for it all?"

"What's wrong, Gage? Don't think I can handle it?" Ash asked, looking at Gage and smiling a bit when he shook his head.

"That ain't it." He assured, looking away from Ash. "I said I wouldn't doubt you no more and I meant that." Gage paused, choosing his words carefully. "I guess I'm just shocked. I mean, goin' from barely keepin' the gangs from rippin' eachother's throats out to thinkin' about conquerin' the Commonwealth in less than a week-" He paused again, saying it out loud seeming to send him into another bit of shock. "it's alot."

"Having second thoughts then?" Ash pressed, not entirely sure what the point of all this was.

"Hell no. I'm in this for the long haul." Gage asserted, sounding quite sure of that. "I just- you're just somethin' else, is all." He said, not looking at Ash as he said it.

Smiling, Ash put some coordinates into his Pip-Boy and took Gage's hand before triggering the relay now that they were a decent ways away from the prying eyes of Nuka-Town. "Thanks." He muttered, letting go of Gage's hand and heading towards where Shank had marked on his Pip-Boy map.

Thanks to the fairly close relay point Ash had chosen, he and Gage made good time to the Abernathy Farm and Ash drew his pistol as they neared. Gage also drew his gun and the sight of two armed strangers stepping onto their property seemed to put the farmers on alert. An older man met Ash and Gage halfway, his own gun foolishly drawn.

"That's close enough, strangers. We're a peaceful farm. We don't want any trouble." He said, making Ash smirk.

"That's a shame, cuz that's exactly what I'm here for." Ash responded, aiming his gun at the farmer. "But, I suppose if you really don't want any trouble, you could roll over like a good little bitch and let me put this shock collar on you without a fuss." He offered, taking the collar Gage handed to him and showing it to the man.

"And why the fuck would I do that?" The farmer spat, glaring at Ash.

"Cuz if you don't I'm gonna put a bullet in your knee." Ash explained, cocking his pistol and grinning when the man quickly aimed his gun at him.

"What, you some kinda raider?" The man asked, looking between Ash and Gage, who now also had his gun trained on him. "Look, you can take whatever you want, but I ain't puttin' on no damn shock collar. Come on, be reasonable."

Scoffing, Gage cocked his gun. "Fuckin' coward." He grumbled, glaring coldly at the man.

"Would you like to do the honors?" Ash asked, looking over at Gage.

"I'd love to, boss." Gage said, a single shot ringing out and shattering the man's kneecap. He screamed and dropped to the dirt and Gage shot him again in the hand when he tried to raise his gun.

Looking up, Ash noticed who he presumed was the man's family coming to investigate the gunshots and trained his gun on them. "Get down or you're next." He called, humming contently when they put their hands up and knelt. "Well at least they aren't stupid." Ash mumbled, looking down at the man when he choked on a sob.

"Please, leave my family out of this." He whimpered, looking up at Ash.

Rolling his eyes, Ash grabbed the man by his dirty hair and dragged him over to where his family was kneeling. Depositing him in the dirt, Ash trained his gun on him and cleared his throat. "My name is Ash and I now own all of you. I will be hereby taking your land and giving it to a select group of my lackeys. However, due to my generous heart, you will be allowed to stay here and work for said lackeys." He explained, putting a sarcastic emphasis on "generous".

When the farmers didn't have anything to say, Ash nodded at Gage and squatted near the man to fit the collar around his neck. "Perfect fit." He breathed, straightening up and watching Gage fit the collar around the younger woman's neck, the older woman already collared. "Feel free to fix your knee n' shit." Ash said, walking away to pick the man's gun up and hearing Gage telling the family to hand over everything they had. It was nice having a professional with him.

Hitting a command on his Pip-Boy, Ash located the workshop on the farm and activated it, getting started on breaking down all the scrap around the farm. It took half an hour for a team of synths to arrive with all the materials they would need to make the settlement worthy of Ash's seal of approval and the moment they arrived, Ash switched from doing the work to bossing them around. Gage simply watched, a content smile on his face as he watched Ash bark orders. The man was a natural at ordering people around, really had a knack for it.

By the end of the day, the Disciples arrived and Ash walked out of the lounge area he'd had his synths build for Gage and himself to greet them. Ash couldn't see their faces, but their body language was definitely uncertain. "Don't mind my workers." He said casually, motioning dismissively behind himself at the synths busily working on the farm. "I've got beds and shit set up for all of you in the house but full renovations will probably take a week. You'll just have to deal with me being around until then."

"Uh, sure thing, boss." One of the Disciples said, motioning with her head for the others to follow her. They all made their way to the house and Ash went back to the lounge.

"Hope you don't mind a week-long vacation." Ash said, looking over at Gage.

"Not at all, boss." Gage said, grinning at Ash and taking a swig of some whiskey one of Ash's synths had gotten for him.

Smiling, Ash leaned back until there was a new task for him to oversee. The days passed like that for a week and once the week was up, Ash had his synths link the Abernathy settlement with Sanctum's food stores before dismissing them. He'd kept the giant farm in BioScience going since some of his synths needed to eat, but even with the synths eating their fill, they had alot of excess food. Connecting the settlements with Sanctum would allow the gangs to access the food from Sanctum if the farms weren't producing enough or if they simply felt like eating bland, nutritionally balanced vegetables.

Once the synths were dismissed, one of the Disciples approached him. "So, like, those really were synths, weren't they?" She asked, her tone uncertain.

Having been waiting for this conversation, Ash nodded. "Yep. In addition to leading all of you, I'm also the leader of the Institute."

"When were you planning on sharing that with us, boss?" The Disciple asked, tone now more on the aggressive side.

"Whenever you asked. Gage already knew." Ash answered calmly, tilting his head a bit. "If you don't like it or don't trust me now, feel free to leave. I don't need people who still question me even after all I've done for them."

Raising her hands defensively, the Disciple took a step back. "Alright, alright, you make a fair point, boss. I ain't got no problem."

"Good. Make sure the others don't either." Ash said, tone chipper. He shook his head once the Disciple left. "Ungrateful cunts." He muttered, looking at Gage when he laughed from behind him.

"Well, it is a little jarrin', boss." Gage said, looking at Ash as well. "Maybe you oughta announce it formally so the other groups don't give you the same grief."

"Maybe." Ash mumbled, fiddling with his Pip-Boy. "Either way, I've gone a week without a shower, so I'm heading to Sanctum."

Snickering, Gage shook his head lightly. "I'm gonna head back to Nuka-World, let Shank know the job is done."

"Sounds good." Ash said, triggering the relay after a brief wave goodbye. Deciding to take his time once he arrived, Ash sent his clothes off to be washed and then took a long shower. Once he was clean and dry, he got onto his terminal and allocated more synths to resource gathering. So far, everything within Sanctum was running smooth without human intervention. The synths occasionally came across a hiccup, but so far they'd managed to iron any problems out before Ash even had the chance to discover he'd been messaged about it. That might've also spoken to Ash's attentiveness, but he chose to believe his maids were competent instead.

Once that was done, Ash got up and finally got dressed, putting on some baggy pants and nothing else. Heading into his makeshift workshop, Ash realized it was about time he got this place up to snuff. Using his Pip-Boy, Ash sent out an order for any synths that had spare time and weren't already on resource patrol should start renovating. He included a list of things he wanted done that he'd made as he thought of them over the past few weeks.

There. Now his workshop wouldn't have to be so makeshift and he'd eventually get that balcony he'd been wanting. For now, though, Ash got to work. He started by laying out some clothes: a pair of jeans he'd dyed a darker blue and distressed, a Brotherhood bomber jacket he'd given studs and a few character-building cuts, and a pair of black ankle boots with heels that were shorter and thicker than his own boots'. Maybe Ash was a bit of a hoarder, but he'd been collecting clothes for awhile. The corpses he made didn't need them anymore and clothes weren't great scrap since most of them only gave him cloth, so he'd just kept anything that caught his eye even if it wasn't his size.

Getting out his supplies, Ash gave the clothes a bulletproof lining and the boots a shock-absorbing treatment. He still needed the shirt, but that could wait. The process took an hour thanks to Ash's considerable experience in bulletproofing and by then his clothes had been clean for awhile. Putting the clothes away, Ash left his workshop and got dressed before finally relaying to Nuka-World. When he arrived in Fizztop, Gage was already there, flipping through his book at one of the tables and smoking a cigarette.

"Hey, Gage." Ash greeted, going to say something else before an alarm started going off. "What the fuck is that?" He asked, frowning and walking over to one of the windows to see that no one was panicking about the alarm. Well, that was a good sign.

"That means someone's comin' through the Gauntlet." Gage replied, standing and putting his book away. "You're gonna wanna talk to Fritsch about it. He hangs around in the arcade."

"Oh?" Ash said, smiling a bit and looking at Gage. "What, trying to have me replaced?" He joked, laughing at the blank look Gage gave him. "Just kidding. What did Shank say?"

"Said he wasn't expectin' it to take a week. I told him you were very specific about when the settlement was good enough so it had to take that long." Gage said, walking over to the lift. "You still need to get with him to pick the next settlement we take and assign it a crew."

"Right." Ash said, boarding the lift with Gage and pressing the button. "Let's deal with that Gauntlet runner first." Glancing over to see Gage nod, Ash led the way to the Nuka-Town Arcade, having passed it many times but having never gone in. Well, not in the last two-hundred years, anyway. He'd been in once, during his first trip. It'd been too loud and too crowded and he'd had to leave after ten minutes, but he'd been inside. Once he was inside, he was relieved to find the music wasn't as loud as when he was nine and the only person inside was the man he was assuming was Fritsch. Ash gave him a nod in greeting and he nodded back.

"Hey there, boss. You heard the alarm, right?" Fritsch asked, grinning. "That means someone's in the Gauntlet. Looks like a real tough one too." He added, raising his eyebrows at Ash. "What happens next is up to you. You can take 'em on yourself in the arena or I can make sure our little rat never gets out of the maze."

Scoffing, Ash didn't even have to think about it. "What kind of overboss runs from a challenge?" He asked, grinning behind his mask. "Let 'em through."

"Hell yeah!" Fritsch yelled, grinning broadly and sounding quite excited. "No better way to earn a raider's respect than kicking some ass in front of a crowd. Just head for the arena whenever you're ready, boss."

"I'll be heading over right away." Ash informed, cracking his knuckles just for the effect of it. "Seems rude to keep 'em waiting." He added, leaving with Gage and jumping lightly when the alarm sounded again. It was followed quickly by a voice Ash hadn't gone nearly long enough without hearing.

"You know what that sound means! Everyone get your asses down to Cola-Cars!" Douche called over the speakers around the park, making Ash cringe.

"I forgot about needing to kill him." Ash muttered, glaring around at the speakers above him.

"Come on, boss, you can't still be that upset about the Gauntlet." Gage said, raising an eyebrow when Ash shot him a look. "Or maybe you can be." He muttered, shaking his head a bit. "Look, either way, you can't kill Red-Eye. Raider Radio is good for morale."

Rounding on Gage, Ash tilted his hat back so he could look at the taller man properly. "That motherfucker has a fucking radio station?" He demanded, tone disbelieving and annoyed.

Raising his hands defensively, Gage took a step back. "You never noticed?"

"No!" Ash said, laughing a bit and fixing his hat. "Who the fuck would want to listen to that annoying, condescending, douchey fucking voice talk between songs?"

"Uh, about that," Gage started, blowing out a puff of air as Ash looked at him slowly. Ash was shorter than him and easily eighty pounds lighter, but damn if he wasn't intimidating when he was angry. "he sings."

"No." Ash said calmly, turning around and ignoring the perplexed look Gage gave him.

"Yea-"

"No." Ash interrupted, walking to Cola-Cars. "No."

Sighing, Gage gave up and simply followed Ash. Upon entering Cola-Cars, Ash found quite the assemblage already there with yet more people pouring in from the other entrances. In a foul mood and ready to take it out on someone, Ash shrugged off his pack on the way to the entrance of the arena and tossed it aside near the terminal that controlled the doors. Next he shrugged his coat off and tossed it aside too, drawing his knife and walking out into the arena to the sound roaring applause.

Taking his position at the terminal, Gage closed Ash in and then released his opponent; some guy with a laser weapon and a Stealth Boy. The stealth field making the man invisible didn't slow Ash down though. Paying close attention to where the beams were coming from as he got a few burns on his stomach and arms, Ash ran up to his opponent and swung wildly, knowing he'd cut him from the cry of pain.

It only took three stabs for Ash to hit something vital and the man dropped, gurgling, to the floor. As soon as he died, his stealth field stopped working and Ash was bombarded by uproarious cheers from the crowd. Staying where he was, Ash waited for the applause to die down and then cleared his throat, projecting from his diaphragm like he'd learned in theater in school in order to make his voice come out louder without actually yelling.

"I have an announcement." He declared, his voice coming out nice and loud. "I'm the leader of the Institute." Ash said simply, pressing some commands on his Pip-Boy to summon a couple synths to himself while his audience decided how to react. "If that changes your opinion of me, feel free to try taking me out. I won't tolerate disloyalty, so you won't be missed when I kill you for it. My synths obey me and me alone and they won't kill anyone I don't tell them to. Feel free to feel threatened anyway, and by all means, spread the word. That is all." Ash finished, turning to his synths. "Dismissed."

After his synths disappeared in a flash of blue light, Ash walked over to the door Gage had already opened for him and picked his coat up. "They're awfully quiet." He muttered, slipping his coat on.

"I think they're in shock." Gage muttered back, frowning a bit. "When you said you had a plan, this isn't what I thought you meant."

"Well, it wasn't. But then the opportunity presented itself." Ash said, shrugging and putting his backpack back on after stabbing himself with a stimpak to get his mild laser burns healing. "Seemed like an opportunity I shouldn't miss."

Nodding a bit, Gage took a breath. "Guess we better get movin', then." He said, finding it easier and easier to shrug off Ash's antics and keep moving with every new stunt he pulled.

Humming in agreement, Ash left Cola-Cars, surprised that there wasn't an angry mob waiting outside for him. People had started leaving while he and Gage had been talking, so there'd been time to get an impromptu mob going. Maybe next time. Making his leisurely way to the market, Ash found Shank.

Nodding in greeting, Shank immediately pulled out his notebook and flipped a few pages. "Ready to get another settlement under your thumb, boss?" He asked, smirking when Ash nodded. "Alright. Next closest populated settlement- well, it's a little different. See, it's owned and operated by robots. A buncha Handies."

"Oh joy, my favorite." Ash said sarcastically, sighing and holding his wrist out. "I'll make due, just mark it for me."

"Sure thing, boss." Shank said, obeying Ash and marking the settlement on his map. "Which gang you givin' this one to?"

"Pack." Ash answered easily, deciding that even though he didn't like their leader, they deserved a slice of the Commonwealth and that since he didn't like them, their slice could be the one populated by annoying robots. Assuming Ash could keep himself from killing them. "Gage and I will be leaving immediately, send the Pack over whenever they're ready to move."

"Understood." Shank said, holding a hand up. "Oh, and before you head out, in case Gage neglected to tell you, your cut of any caps and other goodies the outposts pull in are waiting in your quarters, in that big red chest."

"Cool." Ash responded, setting up the relay right there in front of Shank. "That all?" He asked, getting a nod from Shank and holding his hand out to Gage. The older man took his hand and Ash had just enough time to catch the raised eyebrow from Shank before he triggered the relay and he and Gage were gone.

"Really just layin' it all out there, huh, boss?" Gage asked, for once not sounding even a little upset. No annoyance or aggravation or nervousness, just a calm sort of acceptance. He was finally learning.

"Yep. I was just about sick of hiding it from everyone, anyway." Ash replied, adjusting his position and starting off for Graygarden. Having relayed them fairly close to their destination, it took Ash and Gage less than an hour to arrive. The moment Ash saw the Handies buzzing away at the crops, he cringed. "I fucking hate robots. I hate Handies the most."

"How'd you wanna handle this one? We can't exactly threaten their knees like the last one." Gage asked, walking up beside Ash and drawing his gun anyway.

"I'm gonna take a crack at reprogramming them." Ash responded, getting the connecty-bit of his Pip-Boy ready. "You distract 'em."

"Can do, boss." Gage said, walking forward and getting the first Handy's attention. It started to talk to him and Ash moved in.

Walking up behind the robot, Ash quickly located the port he needed and plugged his Pip-Boy in. The robot made an annoying little surprised sound but then went silent as Ash started poking around in its programming. He had to crack an encryption or two, but soon the Handy recognized him as the administrator and from there it was easy to reprogram it to serve him and, by extension, the Pack.

Giving Gage a thumb's up after he removed the connecty-bit, Ash moved on to the next Handy and then the next and then the next. It barely took ten minutes to get them all hacked and under his control. Once that was all done, Ash put a command into his Pip-Boy and then got to work with the workshop. Once his synths arrived, things proceeded much like they had with the previous settlement.

It took the Pack a little over a day to arrive at Graygarden, and when they did, they looked just as put off by the synths busily building up the settlement as the Disciples had. Even though he had a strong feeling the interaction was going to suck, Ash walked over to the Pack members hovering at the border of the settlement.

"Those are my synths. They won't bother you. Beds are in that shack over there, make yourselves cozy." Ash informed, pointing to a rather large shack a ways back on the property.

"So it's true, then?" One of the Pack spoke up, frowning at Ash. "You really are with the Institute."

"No. I am the Institute. As in the leader. Get it right." Ash corrected, deciding he didn't care if he split hairs with the Pack after all the grief Mason had given him their first meeting.

As predicted, the Pack members bristled but surprisingly kept their tempers in check. "Right." The one who'd spoken earlier bit out. "My bad, boss."

Ash watched as the group trudged off towards the shack and he shook his head. Jackasses. Going back over to Gage, he plopped down on his lounge chair and angrily lit up a cigarette, taking his mask off in order to enjoy it. "I hate those guys." Ash mumbled after a long drag, the smoke exiting his mouth as he spoke.

"Yeah, everyone does." Gage said, flipping through an old Guns n' Bullets magazine. "But, like I said before, you ain't gotta like 'em."

"Yeah, yeah." Ash grumbled, burrowing into his chair angrily.

The Pack members wisely stayed out of Ash's way for the rest of the time he was there overseeing the rebuilding. There was much more to do to make Graygarden habitable than there had been to make Abernathy habitable so the renovations took two weeks instead of one. Ash had to break half-way through because a week was his no-shower limit, but he'd returned much faster than the last time. He couldn't risk things falling apart while he was gone, after all. Ash'd come too far for those Pack idiots to do something stupid like fuck with his synths while he wasn't around and mess up everything he'd done so far.

Once the two weeks were up, Ash and Gage left for Sanctum together. Since Gage had lived his whole life in the wastes, he was much less averse to being dirty than Ash was, but since a nice, hot shower was an option, he decided he might as well. While Gage was showering, Ash had his laundry synth bring him Gage's shirt and he gave it a quick ballistic weave before letting the synth take it to wash it. He also sent along the other clothes he'd prepared and told the synth to replace Gage's clothes with those ones once everything was clean. Ash wasn't sure Gage would appreciate him meddling with his fashion sense, but he could always take his other clothes back if he didn't like what Ash made him.

Once both men and their clothes were clean, Gage found Ash waiting in his quarters. He was wearing the grey Institute clothes he always had to change into while his clothes were being cleaned and he had the new outfit in his hands. "Hey, boss, did you do this?" Gage asked, walking into Ash's room since the door was open and Ash was right there on the couch.

Trying not to smile, Ash nodded. "Did you try them on?"

"No. Thought there was mix-up or somethin'." Gage responded, looking at the clothes in his arms with a frown. "What's this about then?"

Shrugging, Ash stood up and took the jacket from the top of the pile, shaking it unfolded so he could make sure the synth had listened and not patched up the intentional tears. They indeed hadn't, but they had cleaned up the edges a bit in what appeared to be an attempt to keep the tears from getting bigger. That was fine. "I just thought you'd look good in these. I made them bulletproof so you don't have to worry about not being protected." He said, setting the jacket back on the pile and looking up at Gage. "Just try them on. If you don't like them, I'll have a synth bring you your old clothes."

Looking down at the pile again, Gage sighed a bit. "Alright." He muttered, walking into Ash's bathroom and closing the door behind him so he could change.

That made Ash roll his eyes. You'd think with how different the world was, stupid little things like changing in front of people wouldn't be as big of a deal, but whatever. Ash supposed he'd just never had that sense of shame. Getting naked, or almost naked in most cases, in front of even complete strangers had never phased him. It was just skin, what was there to get all worked up about? Pulling himself from his internal ranting when Gage exited the bathroom, Ash couldn't help but smile.

"Does it all fit?" Ash asked, even being able to see that he'd guessed Gage's size perfectly. Maybe he could've done something with his interest in clothing if the war had never happened. What a pointless thought.

"Yeah, it fits." Gage said, looking down at himself before noticing a full-length mirror near the restroom. He looked into it and Ash saw his eyebrows raise in surprise. "Huh." Gage muttered, turning a bit.

"Do you like them?" Ash prompted, coming closer to admire his stud-work on the back and shoulders of the jacket now that they were actually being framed on a person.

"Yeah." Gage muttered, offending Ash with how surprised he sounded. He tugged on the lapels of the coat a little and cracked a smile, looking away from himself. "I feel like one of those stupid fuckin' Atom Cats greasers." Gage mumbled, shaking his head a bit.

"Well, you look hot." Ash said, his eyes widening in horror when he realized what he'd said. While his brain began to buzz and Gage looked at him in surprise, Ash began to wonder if he'd lost his brain-to-mouth filter or if it'd never developed in the first place. Could he get it fixed? Was it something he could develop over time with enough practice?

"Uh, thanks." Gage mumbled, looking back to the mirror and stuffing his hands in the jacket pockets. Cracking another grin, Gage snorted and looked away again. "Good lord. I don't know if I can do the jacket." He said, shaking his head at his reflection. "I feel stupid."

Taking the opportunity to pretend he hadn't just told his subordinate who was twice his age that he looked "hot", Ash shrugged lightly. "You probably won't be able to wear it in the summer, anyway, but I think it pulls the outfit together."

Humming, Gage nodded a bit. "Well, thanks, boss. I, uh, I appreciate the new duds."

Duds. Fucking hell, that was still a thing? "No problem." Ash muttered, turning away to hide his pleased expression and collecting his bag. "Ready to go?"

"Lemme just get my shit." Gage said, starting to leave the room but stopping when he realized how much noise he was making. Looking down at his boots, Gage suddenly realized the heels were higher than any he'd ever worn before despite not being that high at all and frowned a bit. He tried to walk quieter, but it was difficult not to make noise with the clunky heels. Still, he didn't hate them. They looked nice. Deciding he and Ash didn't engage in stealth much anyway, Gage got his bag and returned to Ash, ready to go.

The two of them relayed together, Ash setting their point so they appeared in front of Shank who jumped lightly at the sudden appearance. He gripped his chest a little and offered Ash a slightly nervous smile. "That's gonna take some getting used to." He said softly, watching Ash with a raised eyebrow as he looked around suspiciously. "You alright there, boss?"

"Just waiting for the ambush. Or the coup. Or the revolt." Ash responded, almost seeming disappointed when he wasn't shot from afar or something. "I take it the gangs got over the whole "Institute" thing already?"

"Well, I wouldn't say they're over it, but there hasn't been any rioting in the streets if that's what you mean." Shank said, frowning at the relieved look on Gage's face. "Wow, you two were really preparing for the worst, weren't you?"

"There's been rioting for less." Gage said defensively, Ash thinking he was joking until Shank nodded like he had a good point.

"I'm sure the gang leaders wouldn't mind you paying them a visit to clear up any questions they might have, but I haven't caught wind of anything traitorous yet." Shank said, taking out his notebook. "Back to business, though. I take it Graygarden is yours?"

"Yup. I realize I didn't have to make it as nice as I did since I gave it to the Pack, but it's been given my seal of approval regardless." Ash responded, smiling a bit when Shank snickered softly at his dragging of the Pack.

"Alright. If we're going on the way we've been goin', the next settlement for the taking is Oberland Station. It's a shitty little settlement, so you'll have your work cut out for you, but it only has two settlers, so that part shouldn't be too hard." Shank said, looking up from his notes to Ash.

Nodding a bit, Ash held out his Pip-Boy. "This one'll be for the Operators." He said, pulling his arm back after Shank had given him the coordinates.

"Sounds good, boss." Shank said, making some notes in his book before closing it.

"I guess I'll talk to the gang leaders before I head out, so hold off on sending any Operators out until tomorrow, alright?" Ash said, mentally preparing himself for dealing with Mason. It was worse now since Gage would be around this time. He'd been able to threaten Mason freely the first time, but now he'd have to deal with Gage's mother hen act if he lost his temper. Or maybe Mason had learned his lesson and wouldn't be such a shit this time. The thought almost made Ash laugh. People like Mason didn't learn, he'd learned that much from his brief sixteen years before the war.

"Sure thing, boss." Shank responded, watching Ash and Gage leave before going back to his book. Ash would either smooth all this over and be back out there in no time or they'd soon be in the market for another new overboss. Either way, he was excited to hear how each meeting went from his informants once they were over.