15 Chapter 15

Her suspicions were proven correct, but what she found was not a weapon. Rather, it was an army.

And she also found Mr. House, speaking to her through a flickering computer screen. As it turned out, he was the one who had hired her to deliver the Platinum Chip. And as he explained the mechanics of his plan and her part in it, she slowly began to understand everything, at least her role in the upcoming events in the Mojave. Her purpose for being reborn.

Mr. House and his whole new fleet of upgraded Securitrons. A powerful message indeed.

But all of these things hung at her mercy. Mr. House's army was useless without her help. Caesar's command pointless without her obedience to a cause she was never loyal to.

She stood at the fabric of this crossroads, deciding her path. Mr. House offered her wealth, power. All she really wanted was freedom.

And Caesar offered her...

Perhaps if Vulpes had went with her to this humming and whirring bunker, she would have offered the Legion perspective a chance. Perhaps Vulpes would have argued and defended, even explained his devotion to a madman with a cause.

Perhaps. But Vulpes had abstained.

And as she made her choice, she wondered if she even really had a choice. Was Caesar right? Was everything preordained and she merely tread the path already paved for her?

Unpredictable, Vulpes had called her.

So just as Vulpes had already settled on his choice before she even descended the depths of Fortification Hill, her choice was already decided Before the Bullet. Before the Platinum Chip.

She emerged from the bowels of the earth, from the dark room with a renewed vigor. With a renewed purpose. She was reborn. She had been granted new life by some cosmic spectrum of the universe. No one would spoil her soul and spirit. Not Silus. Not Caesar or the Legion. Not the Boones or Siri. Not Checkered Jacket.

Not even her Lord Husband. Vulpes Inculta.

***

Fortification Hill shook with an immense force. Vulpes gripped the metal frame of the weather station for support until the rumbling subsided and everything was still once more.

And then he waited, watching the bunker doors and acutely aware of the tense clenching in his stomach. Vulpes could admit to himself that he was anxious.

And then, the doors opened, and she calmly stepped through. He noticed her unscathed armor and her holstered revolver. The tension in his abdomen relaxed, but her face still made him concerned. Her eyes were distant, considering the complexity of some irrelevant problem.

"Did you encounter any problems?" Vulpes asked her carefully.

She shifted her gaze to him. "None."

"What did you discover?" he pressed.

"Mr. House possessed an army of Securitron robots," she answered. He was surprised by her frankness, and it only stirred more suspicion in his mind.

He stopped her before they left the weather station. "You will have to turn in your weapon before you leave this room."

She glanced at her hunting revolver for a moment. Then she looked to the far wall and pointed to a dangling wire. "That is where Silus had me tied." Her voice did not shake, but she also refused to look at him here. "That is where he beat me, whipped me. I'm sure I still have the scars if you would like to see."

Before Vulpes even had a chance to respond, she began to peel away the leather armor, revealing her pale nakedness underneath. The long, brown scars were visible even in the dimness. Vulpes placed a careful hand on wrist to stop her. "Maria, what are you doing?"

She did not shy from his gaze now. Her eyes were wild. "I assume that since I have to turn over my weapon I will also need to change out of this profligate clothing. I'm sure that Caesar and every man, every Silus, every legionnaire would prefer to see me this way too. Since I am nothing but a profligate whore, little better than bighorn, cattle, property, what have you. The Legion will be pleased to see evidence of my punishment. They will be pleased to take me when they desire it." She continued ripping the leather away.

He saw tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. He didn't know what had happened in the bunker or what caused this sudden outburst. "I told you. For as long as you are my wife, no one will touch you. Not a hair on your head."

Her head shot up as she challenged that. "You can't promise me that, Vulpes. You are little better than I, the pawn and property of Caesar's demands."

He gripped her hard then, pulling her tightly against him, and held her for a minute as she breathed deeply against his neck and relaxed from whatever was upsetting her. Then he spoke in her ear, low and rough and severe. "I don't give a damn what Caesar commands. You will not be touched by anyone, for as long as I draw breath. Is that clear?"

She pulled back to look him in the face. The planes of her face were flushed but she nodded, dressing herself once more. "I made a choice in that bunker, Vulpes," she informed him. "Prove to me that I chose right."

She handed her hunting revolver over without complaint and left to hear Caesar sing her victorious praises. Vulpes took a moment to check over the handgun and realized with some concern that it hadn't even been fired.