Let the Knife do the Talking

KABOOM!!!

The trio of fragmentation grenades went off simultaneously as the room's four occupants dove for cover. The first bodyguard wasn't quick enough, and was torn to pieces by the resulting storm of shrapnel. Momentarily dazed, the second guard quickly rose from his cover to deal with the person who had thrown the explosives.

But Nicole was already in the room and had her own weapons trained on their target. With a thunderous BOOM the large-caliber handgun wielded in her mechanical right hand spat a bullet into the man's left knee, bringing him to the floor. She quickly followed up on her downed target by training the submachine gun in her left hand on the man's face and pulling the trigger, the weapon spewing smaller bullets with a ratatatatatatat until its magazine clicked empty. By this time the third guard, who had been stunned by the blast slightly longer, began to rise from his cover. He didn't even get to face his opponent, as there was another BOOM as he was turning and he caught an armor-piercing round in the side of his head. The opposite side of his skull exploded from the exit wound, throwing blood, brains, and bits of bone across the room.

Finally Rayn emerged from her own cover, blaster in hand to confront her assailant. But before she could draw a bead on her target there was another BOOM as her hand exploded in a bloody mess. One last BOOM tore her right leg off below the knee, bringing the crime lord to the ground as well. Incapacitated, Rayn could only watch as her assailant stomped across the room to her.

Nicole was covered almost head to toe in blood, most of which was not her own. The large-caliber handgun and submachine gun she was wielding in each of her hands were complimented by an Impaler rifle slung across her back. She wore a military vest loaded with pockets for storing ammunition, as well as several spots that had once held grenades. A utility belt provided more storage for munitions, as well as a holster for the handgun. She wore a look of pure rage across her blood-splattered face, her teeth bared in a hateful snarl.

"You've been in this business long enough to know why I had him killed!" Rayn shouted as her attacker approached. "You know I couldn't risk having someone of his caliber hired to come after me!" But the words drew no response from Nicole, whose mask of rage only grew more hateful as she holstered her handgun and slung her submachine gun across her back. Reaching her target, she proceeded to grab the other woman by the neck with her right hand, lift her off the floor, and slam her forcefully up against the nearest wall. She held the crime lord there for a moment, staring hatefully inter her eyes as she drew a large combat knife from its makeshift sheath between her belt and pants. She held the bloodied blade between her and her victim, watching as the other woman's eyes focused on the weapon for a brief second before moving back to her own.

"You won't get away with this," Rayn choked as her assailant drew the blade back, the mechanical hand around her neck making speaking difficult. "My people will hunt you down!"

"Fuck you," Nicole snarled through clenched teeth, the words dripping with malice, as she drove her knife into her former employer's gut.

*************

So, my brain's been having a lot of fun with Rage Nicole as of late. She's just so much fun, especially since this is just a one-time occurrence in her life.

I'm kinda breaking my own rule of not messing with established canon characters with this little picture/story, but as it developed I just decided to go with having Nicole kill Rayn since it makes for a good point of conflict. After all, she did work for Krew, and then subsequently his daughter.

Named after the song "Let the Knife do the Talking" by Hypocrisy, because it is such a bad-ass song.

Um... I'm outta stuff to ramble about I think.

Gore warning I guess, since Nicole's still doing that whole blood thing.

Splatter brushes by

Nicole Strackman is the intellectual property if Matt Liston/ (me)
Rayn belongs to Naughty Dog.
"Let the Knife do the Talking" is written by Hypocrisy.