Weak and Powerless - Alternate Silus Ending!

Here's the Alternate/Original Version to the end of Chapter 15 of Imperium et Libertas.  The scene at the end is one I still want to have somewhere but I posted it anyway so don't be surprised if I rewrite it elsewhere.  Enjoy.  Rawrs!

Chapter 15 - Alternate Ending

Scarlet twisted her foot slightly, causing Silus to scream in pain.  She bent down and grabbed him by the collar of his armor and dragged his face up to meet hers.  “Think of the pain while I’m gone and consider how you want to talk to me when I come back.”  She let go, shoving him back onto the floor before turning and going back into the other room with Boyd and Vulpes.  “Can I have a few minutes with my colleague?”  She asked Boyd.

The NCR Lieutenant looked between the two of them and nodded. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready to begin again.”

When she was gone Scarlet turned to Vulpes, face drawn and pale.  “I don’t know what to do!  I’m in there and I’m just bidding my time while I’m trying to think, but nothing is coming to me.”   She leaned against the wall next to him, her forehead against the cool concrete.  “And I’m so fucking tired.  I couldn’t sleep last night because of these horrible dreams I was having and…”  She shook her head and glanced up into his studious eyes.  “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this; its not like you care.”

Vulpes watched as she pushed off the wall and walked to the door to get Boyd again.  She was agitated and it was obviously that something was very wrong with her.  “I have faith that you’ll figure something out.”  He told her.

As Boyd came back in to unlock the door Scarlet turned and smiled.  Vulpes had faith in her?  She felt a renewed confidence and returned to finish Silus off.  This she wasn’t coming out of that cell into he was dead.

-X-

“Back for more?”  He smirked.  “I thought I’d scared you off.”

“Oh please.”  She snorted.  “You were the one screaming in pain.  Have you thought about what I said?”

“I’ve thought about how you need to learn your place.  Maybe I’ll show you when I get out of here.”  It was a threat, but not a strong one.  Both of them knew he wasn’t getting out of here.  Yet the vulgar way in which he spoke to her, added with the misogynistic comment pissed her off.  She pulled back her arm and punched him straight in the face.

“Say that again, you prick.”

He wiped the blood from his split lip off his chin and glared up at her.  “Such unbecoming language for a woman.  I think there are better uses for your mouth.”

This time she grabbed his hair at the roots and slammed his head back against the wall as hard as she could.  “Maybe there are,” she hissed in his ear, “but I sure as hell am not going to waste my talents on you.”

“Pity, because otherwise you won’t get a damned thing out of me.”  Sick doubt entendre.  Classy. 

She blanched in disgust.  “I think you’ll change your mind when you look outside the glass.”

“What, that man you’re with?”  Silus laughed, “What makes you think he’s going to change any of this?”

“Look again.  Look real closely and you’ll figure out that your time has run out, Silus.”

This time Silus saw what she had meant for him to see.  The man leaning against the wall on the outside of the cell had almost been unrecognizable at first outside of Legion armor, but he could not mistake those cold, calculating eyes or the regal way in which he held himself.  He turned back to Scarlet, horror and confusion written upon his face.  “Inculta,” he hissed, “why is he here with you?  Who are you?”

“I’m death.”  She replied.  “We’re going to start a fight here in a moment and you’re going to grab the knife that’s hidden in my jacket.  When you try to kill me with it I’m going to get it back and defend myself.”

“What makes you think I’ll do that?  Let you just kill me.”

“Its either that or whatever the Legion’s going to do to you if they get you out of here.  They’re pretty fucking pissed.  Quick death, or slow excruciating one?”

Silence hung in he air between them.  For a moment she thought her only plan had failed.  Then Silus leapt from his seat and grabbed her, spinning her body around so that her back was against his chest.  His hand slid under her jacket and felt around for her knife.  She was somewhat annoyed that it also seemed like he was taking his precious time, especially when his hand brushed over her breast.  “Or I could make it painful?”  She growled under her breath.

He flicked the switchblade open as soon as he pulled it from her pocket.  In an instant she gripped his arm and slung him against the other wall.  His back hitting the concrete made a heavy sound, especially with the armor he was wearing.  She wrenched her knife back from him just in time for him to recover and come after her again.  When he reached her she jabbed the knife up into his chest and twisted it in his heart.  He crumpled to her feet, and when he looked up at her his eyes had lost all cruelty.  They were the eyes of the lost and the damned.  “I hope…”  He began.  “I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into, woman.”

He collapsed backwards, leaving the bloody knife in her hand, dripping crimson across the floor as he laughed at her.  Boyd rushed into the room and Scarlet found her voice, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t… He was going to kill me.”

Boyd watched as the last of Silus’ life fled from him.  Part of her enjoyed watching his death and the other knew that they’d just lost a chance to get any information out of him.  Still, she understood that they probably weren’t going to get anything anyway and asking the girl to do this was a dangerous mistake.  She waved her hand at her.  “Just… get out of here.  It’s okay.  We’ll have someone come clean this mess up.  You did what you could.”  That was what she’d tell the bossmen when they came down on her for what happened.  They did all they could.

Playing the worried protector Vulpes put his arms around the girl’s shaking shoulders and guided her from the room.  She didn’t tell him that she wasn’t pretending, that she really couldn’t control the spasms in her body.  It felt too good for him to take control for once.

-X-

In the dim lights of the Camp McCarran Terminal it was easy to forget that this was a military base.  Every once in a while she would see someone moving through darkened corridors or making their way to a destination on the second floor.  Mostly it was quiet and that allowed her to rest as she sat waiting for Vulpes to return to her.  She was thankful to finally be seated after her long morning and laid her throbbing head against the cool wall beside her.  Whenever she moved around too quickly she felt as if the whole world was spinning and there was nothing to hold on to.  It had made it hard to keep up with Vulpes’ fast, determined stride.  She couldn’t remember where he had run off to, only the vague recollection of him speaking to her and saying he would be back soon.  After that she had found a comfortable chair and began to doze.

She had been forced to take her bandana off, the cloth feeling way too hot on her skin.  When she stuck it in her pocket she unhappily noted how wet it was from sweat and that was a bad sign.  It was not that hot outside or even in the building.  Something serious was brewing in her body.  But the only thing she could do at that moment was sit back and wait.  She’d ask Vulpes to stop off at the Mormon Fort to see Julie or Arcade, no longer caring if he found her weak.  She felt too bad to care.  The longer she sat there thinking about it the more she realized out of all the dumb things she had done so far this probably had to be the dumbest.  If the Legion suddenly started to think she couldn’t handle herself well enough they might dispose of her since she would be of no use to them and they certainly didn’t want her working for the other side. 

“Are you ready?”  Vulpes appeared from the darkness.

“Yeah, lets get back to the Strip.”  She answered, lifting her eyes weakly to him.  “Where did you go anyway?”

“While we walk.”  He told her, and they headed out of the terminal.  After they exited the gates and got out of earshot of the guards she spoke up again.  “I saw a friend of mine and thought I would check in on how his mission was going.  He’s been here for quite a while.”

“I see.  You guys really do have spies everywhere.”  She told him, faintly amused by the thought of Vulpes dropping by for a visit.  It seemed so strange to her, and that made her realize how inhuman she had been making the Legionnaires out to be.  They had friends, too, perhaps not like people like her, but they did.   “How’s your friend?”

“Well.”

Scarlet looked at him expectantly, “that all?”

“Yes.”

“Man of few words.”  She cracked.  Her positive mood however didn’t stay with her as they continued to walk to the Strip.  Between her aching body and the vision of Silus’ death she couldn’t contain it anymore.  “Did we have to kill him?”

“Huh?”  She had never seen that kind of confusion on his face before. “What are you talking about, of course we had to kill him.”

“Really?  Because he wasn’t going to say a damned word to anyone, so he wasn’t a threat.  We could have worked out a way for escape.  The NCR is understaffed terribly there right now in the prison ward.  I know he’s a coward, but…”

“No.  He broke our laws.  He acted dishonorably.  He had to die.”

“He broke your laws, not mine.”  She said.

“Are you saying that your justice is better than ours?”  He was narrowing his eyes at her, regarding her frustrated expression.

“No, I’m not saying that, I’m just saying – I don’t know what I’m saying.  I just don’t like to kill someone who isn’t my enemy, who isn’t attacking me.  I kill in self-defense, Vulpes.  That… that felt like murder.  It felt like –“  She shook her head before she said it.  She was going to say Benny.  Despite that Silus was a cruel asshole who probably did deserve to die a horrible death it was the way it all happened, like she was the Legion’s fucking assassin.  First Benny, now Silus, who next?  Her head pounded and wanted to sit down again.

“If you had such a problem then maybe you shouldn’t have done it.  I wasn’t forcing you to do anything you didn’t want to.”  His body tensed beside hers as they walked, obviously upset at her feelings on the matter. 

“My problem is that I should have felt bad about what just happened, but I don’t!”  She answered.

“Wait, you are having an issue with what just happened because you don’t have an issue with it.”  Vulpes looked like someone had taken him and shaken him upside down and spun him around a few times.  Her words were dizzyingly nonsensical.

“Listen, this won’t make sense to you because you’re used to living that way, but to me, I was raised that everyone’s life is precious and no one had a right to take it.  I was taught that the only time you could break that was if your life or the life of someone else was threatened.  To go from that to this apathetic shell… I don’t even know who I am anymore!”  Her voice wasn’t the only thing that rose during her monologue.  Inside her chest her heart was beating way too fast.  Her head was spinning again.  She almost passed out standing right there arguing with him.  The jolt of his arms catching her brought her out of her daze.

“Be careful.”  He thought she had tripped. 

Scarlet raised her face from his chest to look up into his eyes, unsure about everything all of a sudden.  She didn’t know if she liked the path she was walking, didn’t like the war that was being waged, didn’t know if she could even do something as simple as keep her word and go see the doctors about her injury.  She was feeling small again and decided maybe it was just best to wait until he was asleep or something.  Then she could take care of it privately and he’d never have to know.  The only thing she was sure of was how much she really wanted to kiss him, because over the past few months the only thing that had made her feel truly okay was the exchange they’d shared in the woods.  His passion was contagious and she wanted to feel that again.  “Vulpes…”

Vulpes must have read her mind, or at least the look in her eyes because he actually lowered his lips to hers.  It began tentatively at first, as if he was questioning if that was really what she wanted, and when she responded he deepened it.  Kissing him was perhaps not the smartest thing she could do at the moment.  It sent her heartbeat through the roof, and what would have been the normal euphoric wooziness from such an act became the catalyst for another near-blackout.  This time when he dragged her up he felt her forehead.  It was extremely hot to the touch, as was all the rest of her exposed skin.  “You’re ill.”

“I’m fine.”  She muttered.

“That’s a lie.  You’re burning up.  You mentioned going to the Followers today; I think we should do that now.”

“No, really.”  She shoved his hand off and took a few steps back.  “I’m just really tired and want to go lay down.  I had a terrible nightmare last night and need some sleep.  I’ll go after I wake up.”

“You’ve been saying that you’re going to go for some time now and you haven’t.”

“Suddenly you’re all worried for my welfare.  Well, don’t be.  The Legion’s little errand girl is totally fine.”  She was aggravated and she didn’t know why.  Something about his insistence on going to get medical attention irked her.  Maybe it was because she knew that the Legion wasn’t up on medical treatment – or could that be a misconception just because they didn’t use other people’s version of treatment.  She didn’t know but thinking about it made her head hurt worse.

“You’re an infuriating woman.”  Vulpes snapped at her as she started to limp away.  She was seriously ill and refused to see reason.  This didn’t surprise him too much seeing as Scarlet was stubborn as Hell.

“You, too!  But… you know… a man.”  Scarlet shouted back.  She knew she sounded stupid and pathetic, but any kind of witty response would not come.

“Where are you going?”  Vulpes just stood still watching her walk away, the hint of a smirk on his face. 

“For a walk!”  She huffed.

“Into fiend territory?”

Shit.  Scarlet paused, leaning her weight on her uninjured leg and trying to keep her dizziness from overtaking her.  She was so out of it that she didn’t even realize the direction she was headed.  Goddamnit.

“Are we going to see Dr. Gannon now?”

“Yes.”  Scarlet hissed, doing a complete 180 and marching back over to him, and then passed him.  As she walked ahead of him she muttered, “not a fucking word.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”  Although he would think it.  Silly, frustrating, entertaining little woman…