“What do we do?” Twilight asked nervously.
“Kill them, obviously,” Janey replied. “If we get stuck down here, they could easily trap us in the sacrificial chamber.”
Twilight nodded and stepped out into the hallway only to find that no legion soldiers were waiting for her. In fact, there was no one to be seen at all, confusing the deathclaw. Seeing Twilight stop, Janey peeked out of the doorway, her raised gun falling the moment she saw the complete lack of enemies.
“Back up the way we came. It's the only way back to the surface!” Janey exclaimed.
Charging back up the stairs, Twilight called upon her magic but didn't enact a spell quite yet. The effect was like laying a finger over the trigger, but not pulling it, at least not yet. For a moment her efforts seemed to be useless, as no one moved to block their way, that was until she reached the floor above them.
At the crossroads from which branched the security office, waited a duo of flamer wielding heavily armored enemies. Far from the football padding and machetes of the last legion soldiers Twilight had fought, these wore salvaged power armor like plate mail, treated leather, and several durable layers. They were also equipped with freshly polished, and seemingly new, flamers that had even been modified to have larger tanks.
Twilight tried to unleash a flurry of magical bolts, but the sudden rush of fire obscured her vision and made her lose focus. Her horns spat out only a spray of sparks that paled in comparison to the wall of flames that ate up the entire hallway. Seeing the onrushing torrent, some primal part of Twilight all but demanded that she run, and the deathclaw could do little to resist such an order.
“What are you, hey!” Janey shouted as Twilight pushed past her.
“Rear line, forward!” Someone shouted.
Janey turned around to find that two shotgun-wielding legion soldiers had stepped ahead of the flamers. The spray of pellets left nowhere for Janey to go, and no option but to retreat back down the stairs. Dodging buckshot while running down stairs was not an easy thing, and Janey could feel dozens of wounds open up all over her backside. Her armor did a great job at protecting her but against the storm unleashed upon her, even her moderate protection was not enough.
Landing hard at the bottom of the stairs she pivoted around the corner, and reached for her bag. Plucking a frag mine off she armed it and tossed it near the bottom of the stairs, just out of sight. Normally she would have been able to do more but using only her offhand left her slower than usual.
“S-sorry,” Twilight stuttered, the deathclaw standing awkwardly off to the side.
“Get your shit wired, or we’re dead meat!” Janey shouted.
Twilight winced.
“Stand further back, we’ll hold them here,” Janey ordered.
Twilight fell back to the entrance of the overseer’s office, her magic prepared and her spell ready to be fired.
Janey was only a few feet away, crouching in the hall, her gun pointed toward the bottom of the stairs. They didn't have to wait for long, as two small metal tubes with holes lining their midsection clattered to the ground before them.
“Flash bangs! Throw them back!” Janey yelled.
Twilight grabbed one with her magic and tossed it back while Janey reached for the other one. The courier nearly wrapped her fingers around it when something sharp bit into her calf. Glancing back around she saw a rat gnawing on her leg, its large front teeth digging deep into her muscle.
“Fu-” Was all Janey could muster before the flashbang exploded.
Blind, deaf, and in pain, Janey managed to kick the rat off of her and crawl back towards where she assumed the overseer’s office was. Twilight saw her confused and stary-eyed friend bump head-first into a wall and decided to intervene on her behalf. A clawed hand grabbed her by the back and hauled her into the room right before the shotgun duo appeared and peppered them with pellets.
Twilight was hit, but the weapon did little to her. Janey managed to escape relatively unscathed, landing in a heap a few feet from the door, still blind and confused.
Unsure of what to do, Twilight stepped inside, and clicked the door shut, then ripped off the button. She had no idea if that would help or hurt, so she started piling pieces of furniture near the entrance in the hope of adding an extra layer of protection. Twilight managed to pile just about everything that wasn't nailed down by the time Janey managed to regain the ability to hear and see.
“Get back!” Janey shouted, gesturing to the tunnel. “I’ll rig the door.”
There was a distant boom, indicating that the mine had gone off, though there was no scream of pain that accompanied it. Janey ignored it, and unloaded several mines, primed them, and placed them under the sections of fallen furniture. If anyone tried to lift them they would receive an unpleasant surprise.
Twilight fell back out of sight, in the tunnel under the desk with Janey following not long after, the human poking just her head out of the top, gun trained on the entrance.
“Here,” Twilight offered, her horns glowing faintly.
Janey’s gun hand began to glow, and the courier gave her friend a nod before turning back to the door.
The pair waited, listening as the sound of many feet approaching them. They stopped not far from the door, the pause punctuated by two dull bangs followed by the squeak of a dying rat. Janey took a small sick amount of joy from hearing that but pushed that thought aside quickly, focusing on the entrance.
The metal barrier twitched, the button on the other side no doubt having been pressed. It refused to open even when the legion soldier on the other side began to press it repeatedly. Then, they seemingly gave up, and nothing happened for several seconds.
“What's going on?” Twilight asked.
“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Janey spat back.
Twilight snorted irritably, and settled back in.
She was about to ask again when something heavy hit the door with a dull thunk. Twilight assumed it was some kind of battering ram, but it wasn't followed with another attack.
“Wait, that sounds like… Get down!” Janey demanded.
Twilight threw herself to the floor just as a massive explosion ripped through the room above her. Secondary booms accompanied the primary eruption a split second after it went off, temporarily deafening the duo. The blast wave rolled over the pair, Janey’s clothes becoming singed by the heat while Twilight's backpack nearly came alight.
Janey was first to rise, the human awkwardly stumbling past Twilight and opening the door to the tunnel. Twilight followed after her, the deathclaw shaken and shellshocked from the strength of the explosion. Once in the tunnel, Janey spun the door closed before dropping another mine by the door, just off to the side.
While awkwardly limping back towards the light, Janey pulled a handful of grenades from her bag and stuffed them into her pockets. Twilight barely seemed cognizant of what was going on but regained her bearings by the time they reached the midway point. The ringing had begun to fade, allowing the deathclaw to hear as the door behind them opened to reveal one of the shotgun-wielding legion soldiers.
He stopped short of the mine and was about to duck around the corner when Twilight grabbed the explosive with her magic and threw it at him. The man released a cry of confusion before his torso was blown apart, turning everything from his neck to his hips into a fine red mist. His sudden death barely even seemed to startle his friends, who stepped over his remains and advanced into the tunnel.
“Incinerator and rifle, forward, flamers behind!” shouted the familiar voice of Vulpes Inculta.
Twilight cast a flurry of magic missiles aimed at the incinerator-wielding soldier. Though they all struck true and the legionnaire did seem injured, his heavy armor saved him from the worst of it. Shrugging off the strange attack, he strode forward, unleashing a trio of fireballs all aimed at Twilight.
Beside him crouched a rifle-wielding legion scout, the man kneeling with his weapon pressed firmly against his shoulder. Janey glanced back just in time to see him aim squarely at her chest, giving the courier enough time to squeeze off a single wild shot. Thankfully Twilight's magic helped guide the bullet squarely between the eyes of the soldier, killing him before he even had a chance to pull the trigger.
Twilight wasn't faring any better, as two of the three fireballs struck her in the back while the third splashed against the ground next to her. Crying out in confused pain, Twilight sprinted towards the light, her efforts to cast some kind of spell to cover their retreat. Janey cursed, and ran as fast as she could after the deathclaw, though she was slowed significantly by her wounded leg.
“Rifle right, flame squad advance left! Double time!” Yelled the authoritative voice of Vulpes Inculta.
Janey cursed repeatedly under her breath as she heard a squad of soldiers begin sprinting at her. While they ran she heard the ping of rifle rounds bouncing off the walls and floor. She was nearing the exit and had started to think herself lucky when a round tore through her already injured leg causing her to stumble and fall through the lights.
Thankfully Twilight's panic had passed and she once more pulled Janey out of the line of fire. Laying on the ground, Janey grabbed all the grenades she had in her pockets and thrust them at Twilight. The deathclaw knew what to do, and took them all in her magic, pulled their pins, and threw them through the opening.
On the other side of the wall of light, the half-blind legion soldiers were startled to hear the tinkling of frag grenades bouncing near their feet. Most turned and ran on instinct, but one stopped and tried to kick the closest grenade away. The last thing that soldier thought before a peice of shrapnel tore through his throat was ‘How did the explosive move to avoid my foot?’
“Short fuse out! Wounded to the side! Reform!” Vulpes ordered.
Twilight dragged Janey towards the other side of the well-lit room, stopping when she saw several sticks of dynamite fly past the quartet of shining shop lights. Raising her hand and activating her magic, Twilight tried to throw the explosives back through the door. Unfortunately, they exploded before they could get far, fortunately, they only took out the lights.
“Stay here, hold the door. I’ll lock it down!” Janey shouted, rising into an awkward, one-legged hop.
Twilight wanted to argue, only for an idea to pop into her head.
The legion soldiers advanced into the light room only to stop when a sentry bot rolled through the entrance to the final room of the vault, firing a hail of bullets in their direction. Though the robot was oddly quiet, the soldiers fell back behind cover, stopping their advance at least temporarily.
“Launcher, forward!” shouted Vulpes.
A second later a rocket whizzed through the fake robot before slamming into the projector screen and exploding. The bot’s shape distorted before coming apart, the illusion dissipating into nothing.
“Ignore their tricks! Advance! For Caesar and the legion!” Vulpes bellowed.
A cry went up, and the soldiers charged out from behind cover. Twilight lit her horn, and prepared herself to cast another magic missile when the exit door suddenly slammed shut. A clunk was heard, and the barrier was sealed. Her horn’s glow fell away a moment later and Twilight turned to see Janey awkwardly hop back into the main area, a stimpack in one hand.
“Heal, and regroup,” Janey ordered.
Twilight dropped her bag behind cover and produced a stimpack of her own. Stabbing it into her leg, Twilight enjoyed the warm sensation for a moment before giving her head a shake and looking to Janey.
The courier had just finished using her own stimpack when the first explosion rocked the room. The door bulged inward but seemed to hold, smoke wafting through several small holes punched in the metal.
“What's the plan?” Twilight asked.
“I’m leaving a pile of explosives here,” Janey began, dumping an armload of grenades and mines near the exit. “You toss them at them the moment they break through. After that well… let's just hope that kills most of them.”
“These guys are way smarter than the last bunch,” Twilight pointed out.
“Vulpes may be a right bastard, but he isn't stupid,” Janey replied, slamming a fresh clip into her pistol and raising it. “He knew where we were going, and just how to counter us.”
Twilight frowned, her mind going back to Novac, and the many half-remembered faces that she had glimpsed amongst the crowd. Her recall was, as usual, almost perfect, with the deathclaw able to remember a man that had stood away from the group, partially hidden by shadow. It had been Vulpes, the man having had disguised himself as a traveller in order to walk boldly amongst the people of Novac. Twilight kicked herself for not recognizing him earlier, the deathclaw having been so focused on the trial that she had barely given any of the many faces so much as a second glance.
She was about to voice her realization to Janey only for another explosion to tear the door right off and send it flying. Legion soldiers surged through the opening, firing pistols, caravan shotguns, and rusty laser weapons wildly.
“For Caesar, and the legion!” the shouted chaoticly.
Twilight reacted immediately, priming the pile and tossing it at the onrushing group, unleashing everything they had.
“Wait, stop!” Janey intruded.
The grenades and mines struck true, turning the first wave of soldiers into so much steaming piles of meat and gore. Confused, Twilight glanced over to Janey.
“They were cannon fodder!” Janey shouted. “They didn't even have armor!”
Twilight looked back in horror as the true soldiers strode through the opening, unleashing a wave of fire as they did so. The deathclaw tried to fire back with a flurry of magic missiles, but a surge of panic destroyed her focus and left her stumbling backward. Though she avoided getting burned, Twilight inadvertently got in the way of Janey’s shot, forcing the courier to recoil lest she shoot her ally in the back.
Together the pair fell back behind the cover of the still closed section of wall, both hunkered down out of sight. They gathered themselves and were prepared to charge back out of cover when they realized something. The legion soldiers had stopped moving.
“Give yourselves up,” Vulpes demanded. “You have no hope of success, nor of escape.”
“So? Better to die than surrender to the legion,” Janey shouted back.
“I promise I won't kill you,” Vulpes exclaimed, his tone low and snake-like. “In fact. I won't have either of you killed.”
“I…” Janey began, only to pause. “What are your demands?”
“Step out from behind that wall so that we may speak as equals first. We can discuss terms after,” Vulpes demanded.
Twilight lit her horns and nodded.
A silent duplicate of Janey stepped out from behind cover only to receive a bullet between the eyes almost immediately. The spell failed and the illusion vanished, the copy looking confused before turning into wisps of energy.
“Your tricks won't work on me,” Vulpes exclaimed. “Now come out, or I will burn you out.”
Twilight glanced nervously at Janey. The courier grit her teeth and glanced down at her gun then back over her shoulder.
“Four,” Vulpes began. “Three, two-”
“Alright,” Janey interrupted, limping back around the corner with her arms raised above her head. “You win.”
Twilight hesitantly followed after her friend, raising her own arms above her head.
“If either of them moves, or starts glowing, turn them to ash,” Vulpes ordered.
A pair of flamer-wielding soldiers stepped forward, aiming their weapons at either one of the duo. Now out of cover, Twilight could see that only eight of the soldiers remained, two flamers, two riflemen, the incinerator-wielding legionnaire, a pair of recruits, and Vulpes himself. Though their numbers weren't significant, they were all arrayed before them in a rough line, guns raised. Leaving little chance that anything the two wastelanders tried would be successful.
“What now?” Janey muttered bitterly.
“Now? I chain the monster up, give you a nice new collar, and after that haul you back to Caesar himself,” Vulpes replied with a smirk.
“Why not kill us right here and now?” Janey asked.
“Yes, that would seem more logical,” Twilight added.
“It- it talked!” stammered one of the recruits.
“Grow a spine, soldier. The voice is mechanical, it came from the collar,” Vulpes growled.
The younger man gripped his weapon with both hands, stopping the gun from shaking.
“Yes, that would be more logical, however, Caesar seems keenly interested in your pet abomination. He even seemed to indicate that he knows it from somewhere,” Vulpes replied cooly before turning to Janey. “You, however, are to become the personal property of Caesar himself.”
“I am no one’s property,” Janey retorted.
“Not yet you aren't,” Vulpes exclaimed, drawing a metal collar from a pocket and tossing it at the feet of the courier. “But you will be in a moment.”
“I am not putting that on,” Janey stated.
Twilight growled in support.
“Silence, beast,” Vulpes retorted.
Twilight bit her tongue but glared silently at the man.
“You will put it on, or I will shoot you in the gut, and while you are lying on the ground, bleeding and crying, I will put it on you,” Vulpes stated, quite matter-of-factly.
Janey and Vulpes stared at one another for several quiet moments before Janey bent down.
“Janey, no. You can't,” Twilight exclaimed.
“Getting shot in the gut is not a pleasant experience princess,” Janey replied simply.
The courier rose to a stand, collar in hand. She looked down at it and sighed in defeat.
“Hurry up,” Vulpes demanded. “I will not have my moment of glory forestalled for even a second longer!”
Janey took one final breath and raised the collar to her neck. Before she could clamp it in place, a loud bang ripped through the room. The flamer-wielding legionnaire standing before Twilight suddenly fell to the ground, the top half of his head having been torn clean off. A second round disemboweled one of the recruits, dropping him to his knees, and leaving him scrambling to stuff his intestines back into his midsection.
There was a cry of wordless, unholy rage from the door before all of a sudden a stetson-wearing human with dark skin and a sledgehammer in her hands came barrelling through the entrance. She wore combat armor under the tattered leather clothing of a ranch hand. A slave collar like the kind Janey had in her hands adorned the hammer-wielding woman’s neck. The only small visual flare to the woman’s apparel was three small red apples that had been painted on the side of the collar.
“Applejack?” Twilight muttered.