When we first started traveling together, it didn't take long for Livius to learn a very important fact about me:

I. Don't. Do. Mornings.

But apparently, someone didn't get that message because guess who was standing above me the next morning?

"Get up, profligate." Vulpes, who was already fully decked in his Legion uniform, roughly nudged my back with his shoe. "I want to leave for camp early."

I forced my eyes open and rolled onto my stomach, groaning a bit. My hand reached out and felt around the dry ground for my glasses. When I finally found them, I slipped them onto my nose, but I didn't get up.

"The sun's not even out." I complained, my face still pressed against the dirt, muffling my words.

"It's risky to stay in one place for too long. Now get up."

I muttered a few curses at him, then forced myself to my feet. My legs wobbled and I let out a long yawn.

"Where's Livius?"

Vulpes paced around me, eyeing me like he was examining a potential slave.

"I sent him to go scout the area; should be back soon." he pointed to the ground by his feet. "Twenty push ups. Now. It will get you your energy back."

"...What?" I reached for my canteen. Before we left the Strip, I filled it with whiskey for moments where I really needed a pick-me-up. This was one of those moments.

"Give that to me." Vulpes held his hand out.

I glanced down at my canteen. "It's just water."

"Give it. Now."

I sighed and handed him the canteen. He unscrewed the lid and cringed.

"You filled your canteen with alcohol?"

"Yes, sometimes I need...what are you doing?!"

He tipped the canteen over and poured the whiskey out onto the ground. When it was emptied, he shook it a bit then tossed it away. "An extra twenty pushups for misusing equipment and for lying to me."

"Hey, I_"

"Fifty for speaking out of turn."

"You can't_"

"Sixty for not listening to me. And an extra ten just to spite you."

"Fuck you."

"Eighty for use of_"

"Mr. Frumentarius, sir?" Livius came running towards us from the mountains.

"Ah, Recruit." Vulpes turned away from me. "Did you find anything?"

He shook his head. "Nothing but rocks and junk for miles, sir."

"Good, good." he looked back at me. "You're off the hook for now; let's get moving."

I gave a sigh of relief and began packing my bags to follow them further into the wasteland. Even though I had no business being up that early, I must say walking through the desert in the early morning was a lot more pleasant. The air was a lot cooler and quiet, no one was shooting at us, really it wasn't until the sun began to peek over the mountains that I remembered that we were in a desert.

The sunlight landed on the side of one of the mountains. Vulpes stopped and frowned.

"What's that?"

At first I had no idea what he was talking about, but then my vision focused and the outline of a hole in the side of the cliff next to us became more obvious.

"It's a hole in a rock?"

He waved his hand dismissively. "I can see that, profligate. But I've walked this path countless times and I've never seen it here before."

I shrugged. "Maybe your eyes are just bad."

Both Livius and Vulpes stared at me and I decided to shut up. For now. At least up until I saw Vulpes make his way to the hole.

"What are you doing? Don't we have a camp to get to?" I began moving towards him. "It's probably just an abandoned mine; there are plenty of those around here."

"I don't like it being this close to the camp." He examined the edge of the cave. "I'm going to investigate it."

Livius and I stood by the brim of the cave and watched him examine the entrance of the cave. He looked up at us, his pale face still visible in the darkness.

"Are you two coming, or are you just going to stand there?"

I moved to follow him, but Livius continued to stand there, petrified, then I finally remembered his claustrophobia.

"Um, maybe Livius should keep watch…"

Vulpes glanced back and forth between the two of us. "A good point, but maybe it would be a better idea for the one not in the Legion uniform to keep watch."

"Uh…" I looked over at Livius. I'm not always the best at reading people, but I knew telling the truth was not the best idea. "You did say this place is close to the Legion camp. If there are any Legionaries walking past here, I don't want to be standing out there alone. I doubt they would give me time to explain anyway."

Vulpes frowned. "All right. Come on, profligate."

Livius silently thanked me and I followed Vulpes down into the mine.

My feet slid against the loose dirt and rubble, but I managed to keep myself from falling. Using the sunlight streaming through the entrance, we slowly made our down. There didn't seem to be anyone else down there, in fact it looked like no one stepped foot in the mine in years.

"See?" I stopped in front of an old shelf and began sorting through the random knick-knacks stored away. "You're just being paranoid."

"No, I think I found something." Vulpes knelt down next to me and pulled a pale blue jacket off of the bottom shelf. "It's a Powder Ganger uniform."

"Yeah, so?"

"If this place is so old, why would there be Powder Gangers this far east?" he sighed and carefully folded the jacket before returning it to the shelf. "I'm going to keep searching. Whether you want to be helpful or not is up to you."

I frowned and leaned against the cave wall; at least it was cooler in here. Dust particles floated through the air and I tried not to sneeze. In the midst of the sounds of Vulpes searching through the shelf, I could have sworn I heard a faint beeping noise.

"Profligate…?" Vulpes took a step backwards. "I recommend running right now."

"Wait, what?"

Before he could answer, he turned around and ran deeper into the cave. Not wanting to take any chances, I ran after him. I barely had time to think when I heard a loud explosion behind me, then the sound of crashing rocks.

I hit the ground, my breath knocked out of me. Nothing felt broken, nothing seemed to hurt. I laid there and waited for the pain to hit me, but it never came. With shaky breaths, I slowly moved my arms around me; the ceiling of the cave was now barely two inches above my head while lying down.

"Vulpes!" I yelled out, my voice was hoarse and I had to take another large breath to yell it out again.

"Over here, profligate!"

I couldn't see anything in the total darkness, but I was able to follow his voice. Using my arms to push myself forwards, I slowly crawled through the small tunnel until I bumped into someone.

"Are you okay?" His voice was about as shaky as mine.

"What did you do?!"

"Apparently this place was rigged to explode. Should have known, considering that we're dealing with Powder Gangers."

"Hey, you were the one who was_"

"Just grab my arm; there should be a way to get out of here."

I hesitated, but then I grabbed his forearm and allowed him to basically drag me through the cave. He probably had better eyesight in the dark than I did in the light.

Eventually, the tunnel we were in opened up into a small corridor. In the darkness, some light seeped in through a small patch of dirt on the far side of the wall.

"Shouldn't be too hard to break through that." he shook his arm out of my hand and stood up, making his way over to the light.

"What if that leads to an NCR camp, or something?" I brushed the dirt off of my knees and followed him.

Vulpes didn't respond, instead he took out his machete and began using it to dig through the patch of dirt. Dust was flying everywhere at this point and I had to cover my mouth and nose with the hem of my shirt just to breathe normally.

The light in the room became increasingly brighter and brighter as he removed more of the dirt, until a small hole was revealed, leading out of the cave. Vulpes put his machete away and stepped out as carefully as he could considering he was in a skirt. I wiped the layer of dust off of my glasses and I stepped out with him.

The sun was all the way up in the sky by the time we got out of the cave and I never thought I would have missed the heat as much as I did. I could now completely understand Livius's claustrophobia.

Wait...Livius…

"Do you think Livius heard that explosion?"

Vulpes frowned. "I'm not entirely sure." he jumped off of the rubble and onto the flat ground below. "Let's go, though. I don't think we'll have any trouble with people hiding out there now.

The side of the mountain was hard to recognize after the explosion, but we eventually found the pile of boulders which was once the entrance to the mine.

"Livius?" I called out, and I felt a sense of panic when I saw the pile of rubble. "Livius!"

Laying face down on the ground was a young man in a Legionary uniform, the lower part of his body was completely covered with boulders.

While I ran over to him, Vulpes took his sweet time walking over. He stared down at Livius, almost in a daze.

I began pulling at one of the boulders that crushed him. "Come on, give me a hand!"

Vulpes snapped out of it and began to help me lift the boulders off of him. My heart raced and I looked back down at Livius. He wasn't moving at all, but I had just a tiny ounce of hope in me that said he was okay, but even I was beginning to lose that.

Eventually we freed Livius from the rubble, but it only got worse from there. His right leg was obviously broken, which was to be expected and could easily be fixed, but his left leg was a different story. The pale skin was purple and veiny, and shards of bone stuck out through the skin. It reminded me of that Powder Ganger's legs back in Nipton.

No...I'm not going to allow that to happen again.

I guess I was in such a stage of shock that I almost didn't notice Vulpes grab his shoulders and attempt to drag him away.

"What are you doing?!" I slapped his hands away. "You can't move him!"

"Well what am I supposed to do?"

I ignored him and pressed my ear against Livius's chest. For a few scary moments, I couldn't hear anything, but then I finally caught on with the faint sound of his heart beating. I let out a small sigh of relief.

"He's alive, just knocked out." I sat back up and looked at his right leg. "This one should be easier to fix. If we can just get it into a splint, it should heal over time. I will probably have to break it back into place first, though."

I reached into my bag and began constructing a pain killer for him, but Vulpes stopped me.

"I take it the recruit already told you about our stance on that practice, right?"

I looked down at the syringe, then back at him.

"Yes, but I need to_"

"I'm not going to allow you to do this." he knelt down next to Livius.

My fingers clenched around the syringe. "Excuse me? He needs actual medical attention. Your disgusting powder won't fix his legs."

Vulpes tried to straighten his leg, which was hard since it was severely bent out of place. Livius groaned a bit, but didn't wake up.

"My lord requires you to speak with him; that is more important. Go down to the camp now, I'll take care of the recruit."

I dropped the syringe on the ground. "Fine." I swung my bag over my shoulder. "Hope you know how to construct a splint."

He sighed. "I've been traveling through the desert since before you were born. I know how to take care of myself without your precious chems."

I had a biting response on the tip of my tongue, but I took one more look at Livius lying there and I let it go. Without saying a word, I adjusted my bag on my shoulder and turned away from them and made my way toward the camp.

"You realize you're going the wrong way, right?" Vulpes called.

I stopped, spun around on my heels, and slowly made my way down the hill to the camp. It wasn't until Livius and Vulpes were out of my sight when I decied to let my anger show in its entirity. I was muttering curses like a sort of twisted mantra, dust clouded around me from the dirt I kicked up, and my knuckles were bruised and raw from the boulders I had to stop and slam my fist into. I was an immature child, but I couldn't help it.

It wasn't until I saw the first glimpses of the Legion camp that a thought suddenly occured to me:

What if this was all a trap?

The idea did worry me, but I honestly didn't care at that point. I reached into my pocket and gripped the Mark until I felt it imprint into the skin of my palm.

The camp was located at the bank of the river, all of the buildings were plain white shacks that were nicer than anything I saw in the wasteland, but not as nice as anything I saw in Vegas.

I stopped in front of the restrooms and just when I was wondering why the Legion had a women's restroom, one of the Legionaries ran over to me.

"Halt!" he yelled. "What brings you here, outsider?!"

I practically shoved the Mark into his face. "I'm here on business."

"You...you carry the Mark of Caesar…" he stared at me in disbelief. "We've never had an outsider in the Fort in so long, especially a woman."

"Hey, I'm just as surprised as you."

"Cursor Lucullus is waiting for you by the docks to take you to the Fort." his eyes narrowed. "Don't misuse this privilege, outsider."

I just waved dismissively and walked over to the dock, making a point to keep the Mark out so everyone else knew I was supposed to be here. I stepped onto the rickety wood of the dock and it immediately hit me how unstable this felt. The blanks of wood were distorted from years of exposure to water and they creaked when I put my weight on them, but I forced myself to keep going. Although, it would have been amusing if the first outsider invited to meet with Caesar crashed through the docks.

A young man in a Legionary uniform stood at the end of the dock, looking surprisingly neat for someone who spends their entire life outside by a river. He did smell like fish and dirty river water, though.

"Ave, are you ready to travel to the Fort?"

I looked over my shoulder at the mountains where I left Livius and Vulpes. Hopefully they would have another way to get back.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready."

"The trip will take a few hours, hopefully you brought a book or something."

…

The boat ride to the Fort was one of the most awkward experiences of my life. Mostly we sat in silence, only to be broken by Lucullus making the occasional remark about the weather. Sometimes I would try to start a conversation.

"So why does Caesar want to talk to me?" I stared down at my reflection in the murky water.

"I do not know for certain. All I know is that there is something he needs to speak with you about."

"Why would he want to speak with a woman, though?"

"Women are physically and intellectually inferior to men. Their role is to bear children and ensure the survival of our species."

The conversation didn't last long.

Eventually the boat docked at the edge of the river. I considered tipping Lucullus for taking me, but I decided not to and just silently thanked him. He nodded me and lead me to the entrance of the Fort. I must say, as strange as it will sound, that it felt sort of nice to travel with a Legionary next to me-sort of familiar. Of course while Livius was a few inches taller than me and Vulpes and I were roughly the same height, Lucullus towered over me. I sort of hated him for that.

My entire body felt like it was still rocking back and forth on the river as I walked over to the huge wooden gate positioned by the river. Before I could politely knock, the gate slowly creaked open. I was not used to seeing so many Legionaries in one place. Some were marching up the rickety wooden steps that wound up the hill like a snake, some were sharpening their machetes, polishing their armor, or training. After finally seeing them in their "natural habitat" I don't know why they say they emulate the Romans. Honestly they seemed more like the spartans.

Before I could go any further, one Legionary stopped me in my path.

"Halt!"

I stopped. So I guess they're Roman-Spartan-Germans now, or something.

"Before entering the Fort, all outsiders must hand over all of their weapons."

I grumbled and just tossed him my bag; I was far too tired to actually sort through it. I caved in and handed over my spiked knuckles. After all, they didn't do me much good when I held onto them at the Tops.

The Legionary let me pass but instead of marching up the hill to Caesar's tent, I explored a bit more of the Fort. I tried averting my eyes from the slaves or the prisoners who were tied to crosses. Near the outer wall, a Legionary stood there and seemed to be training a group of dogs. I tried to walk past him, but he locked eyes with me.

"Outsiders are a rare sight at the Fort." He had a sort of mad gleam in his eye and he sounded like he has psycho for blood. "Step carefully around here and you just might leave alive."

"The Legion should have hired you as the greeter." I leaned against the wall and looked at the dogs. "Nice dogs."

I never liked dogs, but apparently that didn't come across because the gleam in his eye only got brighter.

"I know, right?" he scratched one of the older-looking dogs behind its ear. "This one's Lupa. She's the mother of our best dogs and though she's getting old, she's still a tough old bitch. Aren't you, Lupa?"

Lupa didn't respond.

I eyed the dogs carefully. "So you're like the dog trainer, or something…?"

He stopped petting the dogs. "I'm Antony, master of the hounds. And you, outsider?"

"Celeste."

"You should go, outsider. I believe my lord wished to speak to you."

I was going to ask him why Legionaries seemed to have an issue with calling people by their actual names, instead opting for things like "Degenerate", "Profligate", "Outsider", or "Amicus", but I really didn't like the way Lupa was looking at me. I wished the crazy dog man a nice day and headed up the hill to the tent.

The deeper I stepped into the Legion Fort, the more awkward I felt; maybe the nickname "Outsider" fit more than I thought. It wasn't just that I was probably the only one wearing pants for miles around, but just the overall sense of feeling like I didn't belong. Whatever I felt back at the Strip, that was nothing compared to this.

Some Legionary guards eyed me carefully as I walked into the tent and I made a point to hold my hands up to show I wasn't going to lash out. A row of Legionaries and dogs stood at the far side of the tent, one of them being the head of the Frumentarii himself.

"Vulpes." How did he get here so fast. "How's Livius? Is he okay?"

He kept his expression stoic and unwavering (I hated it when he did that). "Speak with my Lord first. Then we'll talk."

I took a step back and stared at the man seated on the throne beside him. Honestly he can't blame me for not noticing him. After all of the hype over Caesar that I got from both Livius and everyone else, this was strangely underwhelming. I don't know what I was expecting, but I surely didn't expect the older, bald gentleman seated at the throne before me. He looked less like the leader of the Legion and more like my uncle.

If he was offended that I did not acknowledge him first, he didn't show it. In fact, he almost seemed amused.

"So I finally get to meet the person who accomplished so much in so little time."

"Uh…" I looked over my shoulder. "Listen, I don't really know w_"

"My question is: are you ready to get started?"

Before I could respond, two Legionary guards stood right behind me and another set blocked off the exit; I was completely trapped.

And looking at Caesar again, I finally understood why people feared the man himself.