Vulpes Inculta watched the Courier's agile figure sweep across the Mojave every chance he got since that fateful encounter in Nipton. Something about her stoked an interest in him, and once she became a big player in the Hoover Dam dilemma, he was pleased that Caesar gave him the order to follow her. Not that he wasn't already doing that but since it was his job now, he was both doing something he liked and was serving his leader. She moved gracefully and disposed of threats with ease. She was not interested in the NCR, and same goes for the Legion. She avoided help from others and never once did Vulpes see her travelling with a companion. She was peculiar. She made him insecure, as if she knew that he was always there; always watching.
The Frumentarii would don many disguises and dared to get closer to the girl. Her actions confused him, as she saw good in the evil and bad in the good. She often murdered or stole from others and managed to maintain a neutral reputation throughout the land. She would slaughter some factions, like the Powder Gangers and the Khans, but would be idolized by small towns that needed the most help. She was selfless when others proved themselves worthy, but selfish when her own needs came to bay. Vulpes admired her, he truly felt like she was a magnificent person that had great potential to serve the Legion.
Until the time came that she was worthy of the Mark of Caesar, he served as a guardian angel for the Courier. If she had to sleep in the dangers of the Mojave, he would stay nearby and eliminate any dangers. If she was on her last leg after a battle he would drop a convenient cache of supplies nearby for her to discover. Vulpes was always a few steps ahead of her while remaining in the shadows undiscovered. He began to develop unorthodox feelings towards her, respectively.
There were times he was careless and acted out on impulse to save her life.
On a particularly hot, musty day she grew dehydrated and weak. She pressed on, though, as the next settlement was nearby. Vulpes uneasily watched her as a visceral feeling told him that danger was approaching. She stopped at an abandoned ranger outpost, where she began looking for supplies. The Frumentarii could not stay still, and his initiative proved true as the signature buzzing of a Cazador filled the air. She drew her weapon and began to fire on the abomination, but her aim was off due to her advanced dehydration. The Cazador zipped towards her unguarded stomach and pierced it with its stinger. The Courier keeled over, looking her death in the face as the lethal venom coursed through her veins.
Vulpes drew his ripper and bolted towards the scene. He could barely keep his footing as he descended the rocky ridge. The Cazador landed another blow on her before he reached them.
The Courier was still conscious, poisoned and injured. She looked up at the Cazador, which averted its attention elsewhere. She heard the sound of a ripper revving up and tearing through flesh, and as she looked at the scene there was a man. He moved delicately and slow, mindful of his footing. He kneeled beside her and felt the area around her wounds, his sharp features held a worried look. He coolly spoke to her, though his words twisted and warped as she was rapidly losing consciousness. She suddenly recognized his face, but couldn't put a finger on his name.
"You're the man who I met in Nipton." She faintly said. His eyes widened in what looked like surprise and fear. Her eyes drifted towards the sun, the Courier's delirium was apparent to him by now. She grinned a little and spoke once again.
"Beautiful day…" Her eyes drifted closed before she could finish what she had to say. Vulpes felt her pulse, which was very weak. He lifted her off the ground and searched for a bed in the abandoned outpost.
She woke up and was immediately confused about where she was. When she attempted to sit up, a pain in her abdomen forced her to lie back down. The girl was naked, giving her a sense of insecurity and vulnerability; she could barely recall what happened before she lost consciousness. The Courier looked around the tent she was in and saw a shady man sitting in a chair nearby the bed. The moonlight barely illuminated his face and she tried her best to appear threatening to the stranger, though now she had no intentions of leaving the bed. Before she could react accordingly to the situation, the man got up out of his seat.
"You should be careful next time, profligate." Vulpes felt the insulting word sting him, "I have gathered anti-venom and water for you, so maybe you won't come so close to dying next time you encounter a Cazador." He thought of the words he was going to say to her for the past six hours she was unconscious. Though he did not like the manner he had to speak to her in, Vulpes knew he had a reputation to maintain and no soft-heartedness was allowed. He began to depart from her, when she called out for him.
"Wait!" She paused, looking at him curiously. "Have we met?"
Vulpes stopped and simply stated, "Yes."
The Courier was silent, making the man assume she was done with him. She called out for him once more.
"Do you have something to say?" She perceived something was up with him after hearing his voice falter when he tried insulting her. Vulpes turned to look over his shoulder, hesitating to speak.
"Your body… is beautiful." Without further notice, Vulpes fled from the scene leaving the Courier alone. Her heart fluttered after hearing his words, though they weren't what she had in mind. She quickly pulled on her armour and ignored the pain in her gut. She ran out of the tent after him, but there was nobody to be seen in the darkness. She went back into the tent and to the chair he was sitting in, where a small sack was sitting. She poked her finger into the hole and pulled it open, nearly spilling the contents from her surprise. The bag was chalk full of Legion Aureus coins, more than she ever thought she would see in her life.
The Courier couldn't help but be curious who came to her aid.
A fortnight after their encounter, Vulpes was following the Courier on the strip. She entered the Tops, and from what he knew that's where her assailant was with the chip. He posed as a gambler and followed her into the casino. When she spoke to the men at the front desk, they bantered and flirted with her. He became frustrated with the men, but didn't take action. He simply walked into the Casino area, where she went to play some black jack. He sat at a slots machine and took note of what she was wearing.
It was a black dress with a red trim; one side of the dress had her leg completely exposed. The black fabric appeared to be silk and the red being satin. Vulpes found himself biting his lip and wanting her body. A man in a checkered suit approached him with a devilish smile on his face. He sat next to him and joined Vulpes in his ogling. The man was none other than Benny.
"Hey man, I see you're eyeing that pretty lady too, eh?" Benny said loudly and obnoxiously. "Well, too bad for you I'm gonna be the one hooking up with her. See you around." He got up and walked away with a troupe of guards.
Vulpes sneered but kept calm. He watched Benny sit next to the Courier, and he couldn't help but think of how low of a chance he had with that beautiful woman. To his shock though, the Courier linked arms with the checkered-suited man and left the Casino floor. Vulpes was not impressed.
He was furious.
The Frumentarii listened for the ding of the elevator. When the metal doors closed he called the other elevator. He impatiently waited, his blood boiling from the thought of that man violating her. When the lift arrived, he jammed the buttons impatiently. The time he reached the penthouse couldn't come soon enough.
When the elevator arrived, Vulpes carefully walked through the hallway. The place was crawling with guards. He decided he would dispose of them before dealing with Benny. The first guard was easy. He broke his neck and sat around the corner, waiting for the other to finish their loop. He pressed his ear against the wall and listened for any signs of the two starting things too quickly. He could only hear laughter, which was a good sign. The second guard discovered the body, and Vulpes turned the corner, repeating the same thing he did for the first.
He picked up any ammo from their corpses and took a pistol.
He opened the door to Benny's suit quietly and crept over to the bedroom. Vulpes rested his head against the wall and listened to them talk.
The Courier held her glass of wine, hesitant to drink it. Benny had already knocked back two glasses of the stuff. She was never big on drinking. Right now she couldn't help but think of how that mysterious man saved her from the Cazador. After giving it thought, she finally remembered what happened.
She stared at the man who shot her in the head all that time ago and couldn't feel anything but disgust and animosity towards him. If it meant giving her purity to him for the platinum chip and revenge, she had no other choice. She sat down on the bed and patted beside her for him to sit down. Benny sat next to her and leaned in, planting alcohol scented kisses on her skin. She tried her best not to cringe.
"Take your clothes off, babe." Benny began to kiss passed her collarbone and down to her chest. The Courier shut her eyes tightly and prayed that it would end soon.
The door came crashing open and Benny shot up off the bed. He called for his guards, who were now all dead.
"How the fuck did you get in here?!" Benny shouted.
Vulpes shot Benny square between the eyebrows. His body dropped to the floor like a bag of rocks and the Courier stared at him with scared eyes.
"It's you!" She stammered, not sure if she was glad.
Vulpes hooked his arm around her as she stood up, getting a gasp of surprise from the Courier. His eyes trailed her body, the smell of alcohol stinging his nose. Her breath didn't smell of the substance, so Benny must have poisoned her purity before he could do anything about it.
"Did he touch you?" He stared into her green eyes. She shook her head and he felt relieved that he got here in the nick of time. The Courier stared back into his dark brown eyes and her face became flushed with red.
"I didn't get to thank you, mister." She didn't mind that his arm was wrapped around her, in fact she felt flattered by his compassion.
"Vulpes Inculta." He pushed back a strand of hair that was in her face and ran his knuckles down her cheek.
"My name is—" Vulpes cut her off before she could finish.
"Cassandra, I know." He took his arm back, but before he could turn away she yanked him back and pulled him into a rough kiss. Vulpes closed his eyes along with hers and entered her mouth, exploring the woman he admired at long last. She wrapped both of her arms around him and took little steps away from the bedroom, where Benny's corpse laid.
The back of Vulpes' legs bumped against the sofa, where he sat, pulling away from Cassandra's embrace. He ran his hand up her exposed outer thigh to her waist. He was right; the two fabrics were silk and satin. He tugged on the fabric and let go, watching it cascade over her form. Her private parts were barely covered, and Vulpes found himself getting excited.
Cassandra pushed him down onto the couch and crawled on top of him, straddling his stomach. She could feel hardness against her bottom, indicating Vulpes wanted her body. He was handsome and she did need to choose a faction sooner or later. She needed to repay him for what he did, both for saving her and dealing with Benny for her. She leaned in, not knowing what to do. Though she has been many places before with her travels, she has never been intimate with anybody. She shyly guided his hands to her waist.
The Courier kissed Vulpes on the lips once again, tingles shooting up her sides as he stroked her. His hands would stop right above her ass, as if he was too timid to proceed. She moved his arms downwards, and he began to freely squeeze and tap gently on her bottom. Vulpes moved his hands towards her chest, which pressed against his softly. Through the thin fabric he pressed on her erect nipples. She winced at the touch. He pinched them gently and she let out a sincere moan.
"May I touch you, Cassandra?" He slid his hands down to the base of her dress, where he could feel the heat of her private emanating. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, not wanting to make her do anything she didn't want to.
"Only if I can touch you, Vulpes." She felt uneasy. Now that she thought about it, this man has saved her two times from sticky situations. Was he following her? She swallowed dryness as he reached under her skirt and stroked her. She quivered at the touch. Cassandra could feel his hardness against her as he lay expectantly for her to make a move. Then, he stopped.
Vulpes picked up on her awkwardness as her not wanting to continue. He pulled his hand away and parted her hair out of her face. "It's okay." He tried his best to hide his disappointment.
They sat together with a large space and tension between them. Vulpes felt rejected, causing a maelstrom of different feelings swirling inside him. He stood up and pulled out a necklace with a coin on the end. He took her by the wrist and placed it in her hand, closing her fingers around it with his own hand.
"This is the Mark of Caesar. It will grant you entry to Fortification Hill shall you choose to be on the Legion's side. I trust you'll make the right decision, until next time." Vulpes walked out of the suite, Cassandra kept quiet this time around.
The Courier watched him leave and looked at the necklace in her hand. She looked over at Benny's corpse and got up. She pulled the Platinum Chip out of his pocket and looked at the two new things in her hands, both of them holding the fate of the Mojave wasteland.
"I'll see you soon, Vulpes." Cassandra clutched the Mark of Caesar, her next destination being Fortification Hill.