Fallout - Chapter 133: Beasts in a Cage (Patreon)

After Colter took control of Nuka-World, he never expanded any farther.

It wasn't because he didn't want to. He simply couldn't.

The Raiders of Nuka-World had never been a united force.

The Disciples, the Pack, and the Operators were like three groups of wild beasts locked inside the same cage, each constantly wary of the other two.

They could smell one another, but none of them would ever expose their throat. You didn't even need to look at their insignia. Their clothing alone was enough to tell which gang someone belonged to.

Even in the arena stands, the crowd was divided into clearly separated groups.

Colter knew the Commonwealth lay to the east.

Diamond City was there. Bunker Hill was there. There were trade routes stretching in every direction, along with resources everywhere just waiting to be taken.

But he wasn't interested.

He might not have read many books, but even he knew that a Brahmin only had two heads. Here, besides himself as Overboss, he still had three gang leaders beneath him, each with their own agenda.

He knew perfectly well that managing to take Nuka-Town USA with this unruly mob had already been a stroke of incredible luck. He didn't even dare think about taking the other sections of Nuka-World.

The intelligent glowing ghoul in Kiddie Kingdom still made him wake up in the middle of the night.

The ground beneath all of Dry Rock Gulch was riddled with nests of bloodsucking worms. No one who went in ever came back out.

Safari Adventure was crawling with mutated beasts of every kind. Even the Pack's hunting parties didn't dare venture too deep.

The Galactic Zone was full of pre-War security robots and automated turrets. Any outsider who walked in would be cooked alive by Energy Weapons.

As for the World of Refreshment, there was a Nukalurk Queen sitting practically next door to the bottling plant.

Those three gang leaders kept shouting about expansion, but all they really wanted was to push Colter out front to take the risks while they stayed behind and collected the rewards.

And that wasn't even mentioning the Commonwealth itself.

Colter was originally from the Commonwealth. He knew exactly what kind of place it was.

The Minutemen openly held power there, while the Institute operated from the shadows.

Between them was a heavily armed organization of Gunners.

Any Raider gang of decent size could scrape together at least one usable suit of power armor.

There had even been a vigilante called the Black Devil, and he had been no pushover either.

Take any one of those forces, and they were more than this fractured mess of Nuka-World Raiders could afford to provoke.

So eventually, Colter came to a simple conclusion.

If they couldn't expand, then they wouldn't.

He'd spent his entire life fighting. Wasn't he allowed to enjoy himself for once?

Unfortunately, while Colter wanted to settle down, the three gangs under him had other ideas. Their resentment grew stronger by the day.

The Operators couldn't properly conduct business. Nuka-World's trade routes were choked off by mutated creatures and roaming Raiders, making commerce nearly impossible.

The Disciples were barely keeping their bloodlust under control. Killing was second nature to them. They wanted the freedom to slaughter, and all they could think about was storming into the Commonwealth to raid and kill as much as they pleased.

The Pack looked down on Colter even more openly. They worshiped strength above everything else. In their eyes, a leader who refused to go out and fight or challenge powerful enemies was no better than useless.

With resentment building in all three gangs, tensions between them only grew worse, and internal fighting became increasingly frequent.

The Disciples and the Pack had already fought several times in the streets. Each time, the Operators had stepped in to mediate.

But mediation was never free.

The Operators never mediated for free; the compensation they demanded grew more outrageous each time.

Gage's resentment was growing as well.

He had helped put Colter in the Overboss's seat because he expected Colter, with Gage advising him, to accomplish something great.

How was that supposed to happen if Colter refused to do anything?

So Gage secretly met with the three gang leaders one by one and reached an agreement with them.

They would support an outsider in challenging and killing Colter. After that, they would redistribute control of Nuka-World.

And right now, the challenger they had placed all their hopes on was standing firmly in the center of the arena.

...

Down in the arena, Jace was holding Colter down with one hand despite the power armor he was wearing.

The outcome was already obvious.

Mason, leader of the Pack, rose from his seat and walked to the edge of the stands, bracing both hands against the railing.

He turned toward Gage nearby, his voice filled with excitement.

"Looks like you've got a pretty good eye, Gage. You found us another boss, and this one's even stronger."

The Pack believed in survival of the fittest and strength above all else.

Mason had become the Pack's leader, their Alpha, because he had personally defeated the previous Alpha.

By the Pack's rules, only the strongest had the right to rule.

At the side of the stands, Nisha, leader of the Disciples, slowly ran a fingertip along the polished knife hanging from her waist. Her mask covered most of her face.

While everyone else thought about power and profit, her mind was filled with nothing but hot blood.

Certain experiences in her childhood had taught her something very early in life.

There was no real black and white in this world. No absolute right or wrong.

Everyone was simply struggling to survive in an endless game of killing one another.

The weak were destined to die by the blade.

Only those strong enough earned the right to take lives as they pleased.

Nisha had long been waiting for someone to overthrow Colter, the Overboss who had grown too timid to do anything.

Ideally, whoever replaced him would loosen the restrictions and let her lead the Disciples into the Commonwealth's settlements, where they could slaughter to their hearts' content.

"What a vicious man..."

She chuckled softly, running the edge of her knife lightly across her fingertip as a sick hunger stirred in her eyes.

"I'd love to see what color his blood is."

Gage, meanwhile, looked increasingly uneasy.

Mason and Nisha stood on either side of him. One was full of anticipation, the other openly fascinated.

Gage alone looked worried.

His voice tightened.

"Wait... you two are seriously planning to let someone from the Minutemen become Overboss?"

He turned toward them, urgency in his voice.

"I don't believe he came here because he wants the position. He came to Nuka-World for another reason. I'm sure of it."

Nisha didn't answer.

She merely glanced at him before turning her attention back to the arena.

Mason, on the other hand, gave a derisive snort.

"Then who's supposed to become Overboss?"

He looked directly at Gage.

"You?"

Gage immediately fell silent.

He considered himself exceptionally clever. He was good at negotiating and making deals, skilled at maneuvering between different factions, and knew exactly how to get the greatest possible return for the smallest possible cost.

As far as he was concerned, he would have been perfectly suited for the Overboss's position.

But when it came to fighting...

That was another matter.

He simply wasn't strong enough to hold a position where authority ultimately came from your fists.

Seeing Gage fall silent only made Mason look down on him even more.

"You sold Colter out completely. Now you've got both guys down there wanting you dead, and only now you're starting to regret it?"

Gage's lips moved a few times, but in the end, he said nothing.

The facts were right in front of him.

There was nothing he could say.

...

Meanwhile, inside a private box at the highest point of the stands, Mags and William were quietly discussing the situation.

Mags Black and William Black were the central leaders of the Operators.

The siblings came from the wealthy Black family of Diamond City's upper class and had received a proper education.

Their manners, perspective, and way of thinking were far beyond those of ordinary Raiders from the bottom of society.

Even before being cast out into the wasteland, the two had secretly been involved in smuggling, assassinations, extortion, and other shady businesses.

Those things alone hadn't been much of a problem.

The Black family was wealthy and influential enough to clean up after them.

The real reason they were driven out was because they had secretly conducted experiments on living subjects inside Diamond City, and someone had died.

Murdering someone in broad daylight inside Diamond City, supposedly the safest and most civilized settlement in the entire Commonwealth?

What did they think the place was, their own family farm?

After all, Diamond City was still fairly "democratic" on the surface.

And with a certain reporter helping fan the flames, the incident caused widespread outrage.

The result was simple.

The reputation the Black family had spent generations building was destroyed by the two siblings almost overnight.

They hadn't even bothered using a front man to distance themselves from the operation. Instead, they had thrown away everything several generations of the Black family had worked to build.

If their mother, Evelyn, hadn't gone easy on them, the two of them might never have made it out of Diamond City alive.

The Operators had only one real goal.

Make money by any means necessary.

Drug plantations, slave trading, organ trafficking.

If there was money to be made, they were willing to do it.

When Mags and William had originally agreed to Gage's plan, they hadn't cared about taking power.

They simply wanted to stabilize the chaotic business environment, reopen the trade routes, and protect their own operations.

But now...

"Sis."

William lowered his voice as he stared through the wire mesh surrounding the private box, his eyes fixed on the black figure in the center of the arena.

His voice carried both confusion and unease.

"Why are the Minutemen here? Don't they usually stay inside the Commonwealth and keep out of what happens over here?"

Mags remained remarkably calm.

Her eyes were also fixed on Jace, but her expression was as steady as if she were reviewing a set of financial records.

"Don't worry. He's here alone. He's probably just here to send us a warning and see how we react."

William still looked uneasy.

"Should we tone things down for a while and stay out of sight?"

Mags looked away from the arena and toward a spot below the stands.

Several slaves wearing shock collars were gathered there.

She was silent for two seconds before making her decision.

"Go tell Lizzie to replace every sign and banner at our slave markets immediately. Put the names of the other two gangs on them instead."

William nodded at once.

"And warn all the slaves."

Mags's voice suddenly turned cold.

"Tell them to keep their mouths shut. Nobody says anything they shouldn't. If anyone starts talking, Lizzie's new drug happens to need a few test subjects."

Being exiled for so long had at least taught the siblings a few lessons.

When doing something disreputable, they now knew better than to openly attach their own names to it.

They would remain "neutral businesspeople" so that when trouble came, they could cleanly distance themselves and dump responsibility on someone else.

After all, the technology behind the shock collars belonged to Gage.

And they were only renting the location.

Once the banners were changed, the Operators had merely been "staff" and "security" from beginning to end.

Nothing more.

William turned and left the private box to make the arrangements.

Mags remained alone.

She looked back toward Jace in the center of the arena.

She hadn't expected Gage's judgment and "luck" to be this good.

At first, she'd assumed he'd reeled in nothing more than some small-time drifter, a wandering mercenary who could be bought off and used.

Instead, he'd somehow hooked the most vicious crocodile in the entire river.

Mags kept her eyes on the arena.

"Let's see how the General plans to finish this."

...

At the center of the arena, the fight was already beyond saving.

Jace lowered his stance, then suddenly exploded forward.

He launched himself into a flying kick, his entire body slamming into Colter's chest plate like a cannonball.

The impact lifted Colter completely off his feet and sent him crashing into the giant statue behind him.

Stone fragments flew everywhere.

For a brief moment, Colter was actually lodged against the shattered sculpture.

Then the heavy stone and twisted steel collapsed on top of him, burying him beneath the wreckage.

The Overboss power armor that had once inspired fear throughout Nuka-World was now a ruin.

Two of the iron spikes welded to its shoulder plates had snapped off.

Exposed cables and tubing hung loose like torn blood vessels.

Hydraulic fluid poured from the damaged armor and mixed with blood leaking through the cracks, spreading across the wasteland floor in a thick, dark red pool.

Colter had reached his limit as well.

Darkness closed in around the edges of his vision in waves, like a lightbulb flickering just before it went out.

His body was giving him its final warning.

Severe blood loss.

Not enough blood reaching his brain.

Death was closing in.

Colter knew exactly what had happened.

He had lost.

Completely.

But he didn't beg.

He didn't curse either.

He simply lay there beneath the rubble, looking up at Jace through his shattered visor.

"I lost."

His voice was hoarse and weak, stripped of every trace of his old arrogance.

With the plasma shield gone and the electromagnetic distortion faded, those two words came through with unusual clarity.

They also made him sound much older than before.

"Brother... how are you planning to run things as Overboss?"

Colter managed a crooked grin.

The movement pulled at his wounds, making his body twitch with pain.

Jace looked down at him.

There was no pride in his eyes.

No satisfaction from winning.

Only cold judgment.

"I'm going to wipe out every Raider in Nuka-World."

He paused.

"All of you are going to die."

Colter froze for a moment.

Then he began to laugh quietly.

It was a dry, rasping sound, like air being forced through a broken bellows.

"Looks like that idiot Gage misjudged someone again."

He started coughing violently, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"He always thinks he's the smartest man in the room. Always thinks he's got everything figured out..."

Colter coughed again.

"But from beginning to end, the only things I've ever seen him do well are run away and bow his head."

Jace remembered the old records he had read about Gage.

"I agree with you there.

"When he was twelve, his family's farm was attacked. He abandoned his parents and ran away by himself.

"When he was sixteen, history repeated itself. Except that time, he didn't run.

"He joined the Raiders."

Colter's laugh grew weaker, but also more mocking.

"Classic Gage. He was the same way before he started following me..."

He coughed twice more.

This time, even more blood came out.

"You know all that. Guess you did plenty of homework before coming here."

"I've never considered myself particularly smart," Jace said calmly. "So I only fight battles I've prepared for."

Colter looked at him for a moment, then shifted his gaze toward the stands.

Some Raiders were shouting.

Some were silent.

Others whispered among themselves.

They were like animals still fighting over scraps, completely unaware that the butcher was already standing outside the cage.

"Let me guess..."

Colter's voice was growing weaker.

"You prepared for this place too?"

"Of course."

Colter stared at him for two seconds.

Then the corner of his mouth lifted into the final smile of his life, one that almost looked relaxed.

"You'd make a better Overboss than I ever did."

His eyes slowly closed.

His breathing grew shallower.

Slower.

Then it stopped completely.

Jace remained standing over him, looking down at the man who had once ruled Nuka-World with absolute arrogance.

"You weren't bad either."