Viva Las Vegas
"Twenty minutes to showtime, ladies!" Hadrian strode through the backstage. Girls sat at a long row of mirrors applying thick layers of makeup, dressing up in sequined unitards and ridiculous feathered hats. Eunuch guards stood at the door of the dressing room, turning away desperate and horny Legionaries. One centurion wouldn't take "By order of Caesar" as an excuse and had to be beaten up and carried away. Dozens of young men flitted back and forth carrying instruments. The air was full of excitement and tension.
In her own private dressing room Julia Aram applied spirit gum to her shaved head and affixed her black toupee. This was the big show, and it had to be perfect.
"What do you think?" she turned around and asked Hadrian.
"I think it's perfect. I think it's perfect so long as it doesn't fall off when you're prancing around out there," he cattily replied, "You have the steps memorized?"
"I could do the whole routine blindfolded," Julia tested the strength of her wig, "Hardly matters anyway. The audience isn't going to look away from the showgirl tits." She checked the tape binding her own chest down.
"Caesar proves once again you can build an empire around dirty old men," Hadrian quipped and kissed Julia on the top of the head, "Go out and slay him."
It was a brilliant plan. It was so brilliant it barely needed the intervention of the Daughters at all, but the Goddess didn't gamble. She had a mind like a steel trap and very little that went on in the wasteland escaped her notice. Julia knew that Hecate was just a woman, she knew that when most other Daughters didn't. Julia had seen Hecate at her very worst, weak and scared and powerless. But Julia had also seen the Goddess as she scoured over her Daughter's tribal reports, had seen the Goddess bit by bit build a comprehensive and total image of the wasteland. Built it not like a picture, not a static image, but like a machine, with living and interacting parts. Julia had seen the Goddess conjure the entire four corners wasteland in front of her, and then tweak it, giving some and taking some away, watching events ripple outwards, predicting what would happen and generally playing with people's lives like dolls. It was in those moments, where Hecate towered over the wasteland and sculpted it to suit her, Julia couldn't help but feel like she was really in the presence of a deity.
"Everyone get in position!" Hadrian barked. Everyone involved in the production except the eunuch guards provided by Caesar were Daughters or Hounds of Hecate. They'd all been cherry-picked by the Goddess herself for this mission. Julia had been given the lead role not simply because of her charisma and dedication but so the Goddess' second-in-command could be there if anything went wrong. Hecate didn't want any part of the plan to go awry, even though in all actuality the stakes were very low. It was almost as though she wanted to show off for her enemy, even though she made sure he didn't even know she existed. As far as Caesar knew he would not be watching trained killers and dedicated cultists performing ancient rock 'n roll in a rebuilt theatre in Phoenix, but a simple band of skilled traveling performers. Even though he'd never know it was by her command, Hecate was determined to make sure he was completely blown away by her followers.
Julia stood behind the set as the curtain drew open. She heard Hadrian welcome the Legion's elite to the performance. Hadrian made a joke and the Legionaries laughed. The lights came up and the music turned on. Everything but the conga drums was pre-recorded and being played through the speakers. Julia burst out of the saloon door mock-up set and began lip synching to a three-hundred year old song.
Julia had been to the ruins of Las Vegas only once, on her return trip from the Divide. She'd avoided it on her way to the Divide, warned well in advance of how dangerous it was. A few tribal gangs held different parts of the city. It was a cruel place that held none of the glitz and glamor the song publicized. Maybe somewhere deep in the Sawneys or Slither Kin territory there was a shadow of the bright light city but it was unlikely given how predatory and vicious the tribes she remembered were.
Besides being startlingly maintained for the past few centuries Julia couldn't understand the city's hypnotic power. Everywhere in the Mojave seemed to point towards the ruin, as though some sort of charm spell cast long ago kept drawing people to it. This old world legend of Las Vegas was what Hecate drew on. If the Goddess was right, Vegas would be the death of Caesar and his Legion. Julia had no doubt of that.
She looked out into the crowd but it was too dark to find the face of Caesar. Would he get the message? Would it seep into his skull, trick him into desiring the miserable pit of the Mojave? Had he already been planning to march across the Colorado? Was he enjoying the show?
It hardly mattered. The song finished, the stage lights went out and the Legion hooted and cheered. Even if Caesar now felt the subliminal compulsion to conquer Vegas, it would take years for him to act on it. There were more shows, more psychological warfare to be made. It was a long con, but Rome wasn't destroyed in a day.