These humans were… interesting, to say the least. I had killed and eaten many of them in my trek across the wasteland. You wouldn't believe the types you come across if you go far enough, yet I hadn't come across any single person strong enough to keep two, let alone three groups of raiders with such contrasting personas together. Each of them could be summed up in a single word. The Pack was primitive, the Operators were posh, and the Disciples were matriarchal.
Yet they all cheered for blood as I entered their 'arena'. Across from me was a slight woman. She was dressed in makeshift metal armor that likely would hinder her as much as it would help, wielding a rifle that looked ready to fall apart at the slightest misfire, and clutching a bloody wound on her leg. She appeared scared and confused. What little I could glimpse of her muddled thoughts revealed that she had fallen for the same ploy that brought me here: Harvey had played the part of a wounded father, fleeing from Nuka World and begging for his life.
I turned to Gage, "Has Harvey returned from the Commonwealth?" He seemed confused by my sudden question. Evidently he expected me to continue with this farce of a show match.
"Uh, yes. He got back about twenty minutes ago." Gage replied cautiously, as if anything he said could set me off.
"Fetch him." I ordered. Gage, not needing to be told twice, hurried out the door. With that settled, I returned my gaze to the woman who had, despite heavy opposition, made it through. It was admirable, for a human. I took a step towards her, prompting her to raise her rifle. I could tell that she was trying to steady her breathing. She expected a real fight. A shame.
The instant the bullet left the barrel, I moved. Before the bullet made it halfway across the arena, I had my hand on her throat. She slammed against the metal door, crying out in pain and dropping her rifle.
"Tell me," The sound of my voice made her freeze. "Did a man named Harvey lure you here?" I knew the answer, but I wanted her to say it.
"Yes." Her voice belied her appearance. It was powerful. Commanding. Resolute. Despite the fact that she believed she was about to die, she kept her voice strong and didn't plead for mercy.
"What would you do if you found yourself face to face with him again?" I asked, my voice in a low, almost sensual whisper. She didn't see it, but my eyes glowed almost imperceptibly as I influenced her mind to bring out her deepest desire. The woman's eyes widened in shock, and her surface thoughts turned violent. I glimpsed a word, no, a name. Shaun, her child. What Harvey had done kept her from finding her child. That was all the answer I needed. I heard the now repaired inner door to the arena squeal open, and turned to see Gage shoving Harvey along. The slave balked at the sight of me, but doubly so when he saw that I hadn't killed Nuka World's newest 'vic'. I released my grip on her throat and stood aside. "Show me."
She didn't disappoint. Rather than reach for her gun, she bellowed a war cry and unsheathed a bowie knife from the small of her back. Harvey tried to escape back into Nuka World, but Gage had already blocked his way. It seemed that he caught on to what I was doing. Harvey tried to run, but mysteriously 'tripped' on a piece of metal that was in his way. The vic was on him in an instant. He tried to block her furious attacks, but only succeeded in adding to his growing list of wounds. The vic struck home with a stab directly into his throat.
The vic was relentless, stabbing Harvey over and over again, each punctuated by a cry of effort. Not counting the wounds he received before her frenzy, there was a total of thirty-one by the time she finished. Harvey's chest had been turned to the consistency of ground hamburger in her rampage. Her breathing ragged, she stabbed the knife into him one last time.
"Good." I spoke firmly. She jumped, as if she had forgotten I was there in her rage. "Stand up," I ordered. She obeyed, likely due to the fact that she was still in shock at what she had done.
"I don't know what happened," She whispered softly. "I just saw him and-"
"Lost control?" I offered. She gave a single nod in reply. "When humans are pushed to their breaking point, they are capable of surprising things." I slowly guided her out of the arena towards Nuka World. I gave a wordless order to Gage to disperse the gangs. As we walked, I caught several raiders staring at my companion, a mix of disgust, hatred, and in the case of some of the Disciples, envy.
"Why haven't you killed me?" She asked suddenly, as if finding the courage to stand up to me. "You designed that course to lure people in to kill them in a bloodsport, so why not kill me?"
"That's where you're wrong," I told her as we reached the exit door of the arena. "I didn't make that glorified meat grinder. I merely stumbled upon it, same as you. Though there was a different person in charge when I did. Know what I did to him?"
"Killed him?" She offered.
"Yes." I replied cockily, leaving it up to her to imagination. "As for why I don't kill you, that's simple." I turned her towards me and forced her to stare into my eyes. "I'm not like them. I don't kill for pleasure, for some twisted sense of entitlement, or for some perceived sense of superiority through Darwinism. I don't kill wantonly, and I only end the lives those who deserve it." I could practically taste her incredulity at my statement.
"You lead a gang of raiders and you only kill those who deserve it? Those raiders deserve it!" She was furious at this point, which surprised me that she could be so brazen after what I just told her.
"Isn't a girl allowed to play with her food?" I chuckled at her aghast expression.
She took a few steps away from me in shock, nearly bumping into a pair of Pack members that were hurrying back towards their part of Nuka-Town. "You're a cannibal?"
"Gage asked the same question, and I'm sure that you'll like the answer even less than he did." I answered her cryptically. "I'll tell you what," I gestured for her to enter the rickety elevator that lead to the Overboss' room of Fizztop. "Tell me your name, and I'll answer you with one hundred percent honesty." She seemed to swallow her pride and step onto the elevator with me.
"Nora." She spoke in an almost whisper.
A genuine smile found its way to my face. "Pleased to meet you, Nora. My name is Seras Victoria." I told her. "Now, to answer your question: are you familiar with the works of Bram Stoker?" Nora floundered for a moment before answering.
"Know it? I minored in literature in college. My professor had me create a thesis on 'Dracula' and how it set up the supernatural genre of fanta-" Her face blanked for a second, as she finally realized what I was implying. "Y-you mean you're…" She trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.
I dispelled the illusion over my arm and placed the tip of one of the clawed digits under her chin. "The real deal." I took a small mote of pride as she slowly moved her gaze of the almost fire-like movements of the shadows that composed my arm. At the elevator reached its apex, the sun was faintly visible over the top of the fake mountain. Nora shielded her eyes instinctively.
"So, the sun doesn't affect you?" She asked, gulping nervously as I still hadn't removed my finger from her chin.
"Perks of being sired by a 500 year old vampire." I replied, not breaking eye contact. "Though that was almost three centuries ago." I reformed the illusion over my arm and headed inside. Nora hesitantly followed me inside. "In case you're wondering, I was born in the year 1980."
"'Bout time you showed up, boss." Gage called out from further in the expansive room. "Nisha was askin' about the new girl." Aforementioned new girl glared at the yellow clad man.
"My name is Nora," She said with the same determined tone she used on me as I held her up by her throat.
I hummed in thought. "I think I'll pay the Disciples a visit." Nora and Gage both blanched at the notion, before I added "Alone." Nora relaxed, but Gage was still on edge.
"You're not gonna uh," He made a slicing motion across his throat.
"No, though I can't guarantee anything if they start something." I hopped off the edge of the balcony and landed without so much as a noise.
The walk towards the service door that lead to the interior of the mountain was quiet. No one barred my path and it seemed that there wasn't a single soul in the courtyard at all. The first thing I heard upon entering the massive room was a loud, pained scream. Immediately after that, the smell hit me. Death. The floor was practically covered with blood in various states of drying and decay. A metal and wood deathtrap loomed at the base of the room's sole feature: a massive concrete pillar that nearly went to the ceiling. Faintly, I could hear the quiet, pained whimpers of slaves in varying states of torture. It made me sick to my stomach, but if I went and offed the Disciples now, the other two factions would likely devolve into a territory war that ended with their deaths as well.
"Oh, you're here." A woman with a southern accent called out to me from nearby. Judging by the excited tone of her voice, she was one of the Disciples that 'worshiped' me. It didn't really bother me, but having to engage one of them in conversation would prove to be an unorthodox task. It would be so easy if I could just eat one of two of them.
"Gage told me that Nisha was asking about the newcomer." I told her plainly, trying my hardest not to sound bored.
"Yeah! I'll go get her." The woman ran off, practically giggling to herself. Unable to help myself, I sighed in annoyance. They would undoubtedly be the first group I eradicated.
My third eye told me that someone was approaching me with a knife. The perpetrator in question had hidden in the shadows of the door until he thought me sufficiently distracted. I saw Nisha heading towards me from the rickety room. The person behind me would undoubtedly attack once I started talking with Nisha. I was halfway tempted to let the attack hit, if I hadn't already played that card with Colter. Nisha glanced in the direction I knew that the would be assassin was, telling me that she had at least played some part in this. I gave the leader of the Disciples a small smile as the assassin attacked.
A third arm, made entirely of shadow, erupted from my shoulder and caught the arm holding the knife. Nisha blanched at my casual dismissal of the attack, as I merged the shadow arm with my real one, and dragged the assassin into the area between myself and Nisha. The assassin dropped the knife, quivering weakly as she tried to pull away from my iron grip. With but a single motion, I snapped the woman's arm at the elbow. The woman cried out in agony, as I still hadn't released her and was supporting her by her now broken arm.
"Please, don't kill her." Nisha begged, something I had yet to see from the 'fearsome' leader of the Disciples. "It was my idea, I only wanted to test you."
Faster than they could react, and without releasing my grip on her subordinate, I had the Casull aimed at her head. After my master failed to return, Integra gifted the weapon to me. It had its uses, mainly in intimidation given its size.
"You're lying." I shot a smirk at the frightened faction leader. "So, what should we do about this?" I gave the assassin's arm a firm squeeze, feeling her bones pop in protest as I did. She wailed in pain once more.
Nisha floundered for a moment before speaking. "Take her, she's yours." Her voice was even, though I could hear the sadness behind it. Evidently Nisha cared about this woman I was currently torturing. Another shadow arm shot out of my shoulder and latched onto the neck of the assassin. The arm currently keeping holding the woman's dissolved and I enforced the illusion over my new arm. The assassin's arm fell limply to her side, and she cried out in pain once more.
"You know what I mean." I shifted my grip on the Casull, drawing their attention back to the massive hand cannon. Nisha nodded in reply, but I was feeling particularly vicious at the moment. "Say it."
"I-" She paused a moment to gulp nervously. "I lied about testing you. I was- I wanted to kill you, so I told her to ambush you."
"That wasn't so hard now, was it?" I amped up the pressure on the neck of the assassin. Her scream lasted about half a second, before it was cut off by a loud, wet crack as her spine broke. I didn't stop there, however, as I wanted Nisha to get the message. A mere moment later, the would-be assassin's head came off, red viscera spraying everywhere. The body collapsed to the ground limply, a pool of blood growing from where the head used to be. Nisha and her companions stared aghast at the beheaded corpse of what used to be one of them. "Now then, as for what I originally came here for. The 'new girl', as you so call her, is mine to handle."
"Y-yes ma'am." Nisha replied, horror still evident in her shaky voice. The leader of the Disciples was transfixed by the headless body of her former comrade.
"Good."