In the legate's simple tent, Legate Lanius was working on his bumper sword; thanks to a certain woman that sliced it in half. With the sword detached from the hilt, it took more than a splint to fix it - just a minor difficulty.
The scuffle with the woman left his metal helmet also fractured, that needed a fix too. The visor inside his helmet was obscure, and the metal horns broke off. More steel needed.
The repair time gave Lanius a moment to reflect on the fight he had with Lyannah and William recently. He incapacitated Will with no effort, but the woman managed to take him down and ruin his bumper sword and helmet. That was nothing short than impressive for a child.
Though it took more than a woman doped on psycho to defeat him, Lanius captured her and tied her down in the corner of his tent behind him, gagged to his liking. Chained and anchored to the ground.
Lanius approached Lyannah once more and ungagged her, to hear her pitiful threats and insults. Lanius had bandaged her up and fixed her wounds while she was phasing in and out of the withdrawal symptoms; that way, she couldn't resist.
"Where did a child like you learn to fight like that?" he asked, before Lyannah.
"College of Anvil," she uttered with a grim smile and a cocky glare.
"Hardly amusing." Lanius folded his arms and glared at Lyannah furiously, pacing around in front of her, getting more wound up. "Don't make me repeat my question, woman."
Lyannah's tone of voice went south and came back full of determination and rage. "You'll get nothing out of me, monster. Just because you patched me up doesn't mean I owe you anything but a slow and painful death!"
Lyannah spat blood on Lanius' boot, insulting him for a brief moment. Lanius clutched her by the throat, not hard enough to leave a mark but just enough to force her attention to his ungainly metal helmet.
"I didn't quite catch that; maybe you should change your attitude to a more submissive one; I tend to kill people with an attitude like yours," he calmly declared, squatting down to her face. "It may have escaped your notice, but I only healed your wounds because I need you alive, for now, at least. You are likely of some use to me."
"You're going to be sorely disappointed, Lanius. I'll break free, and I will kill you."
"Is that a bet?"
"A promise…"
"You're hardly in the position to make idle threats, child." He chuckled, and stood back up, letting her go and looking down on her. "I will achieve my ambition with or without your consent."
"You're ambition?" she said, with moderate curiosity, looking up to him with a faint sense of fear from the unknown. "And your ambition has what to do with me, dare I ask? You're wasting my time."
"To liberate humanity and rule them as a God! That is why I'm wasting your time." He reached over his broken bumper sword to clutch Lyannah's ebony blade and stared back at her with bloody intentions. "Biology and virology will only go so far to help me make the ultimate warrior. With a moderate chance of perfection, it's essentially a fair gamble. I'm thinking of a more natural approach to things. I just so happen to have a very nubile woman in my tent; she's cunning, powerful, and I'll give you a hint: she's ovulating. A perfect opportunity, wouldn't you say?"
"I'd rather die than be your slave, you pig!" she shouted, raising her voice. Lyannah was trying to stand, blistering rage clouding her judgement, but the chains were keeping her down; she couldn't move.
With a flourish, Lanius twisted his body and slashed the air by Lyannah's face, just missing the bridge of her nose by less than a millimetre. She wasn't impressed with Lanius' accuracy whatsoever and just glared at him with disgust. "You'd like me to kill you, wouldn't you? To die, and not satisfy me or my research." He wagged his finger disapprovingly. A Dragonborn, tied down like a piece of meat by an alleged enslaving monster. "That was me, wagging my finger."
Lanius rubbed Lyannah's left cheek with his hand, slowly in a circular motion. The very feel disgusted her, visually and literally. She shuddered in delight after the first few seconds, shrugging it off quickly, hoping it didn't tempt him to rub other parts of her.
"We can create a stronger humanity this world has ever witnessed, and there were already some powerful individuals long before this our reigns, however, they were flawed. Manufactured. Weak. Inferior. We're not animals like they were, though, we're different. Which is why you and I are going to breed this new race as God intended. No labs. No abominations. Just us."
"You even think about touching me I swear to Talos I'll gut you!"
"I already did, forgot about that already?" He relaxed his body and opened himself up for anything. Moving his arms out and staring at Lyannah, challenging her. "Go on then. Gut me." Lyannah threw herself at Lanius, using all of her Dragonborn strength and speed; she kept pulling and pulling. Then there was nothing. Didn't even make Lanius flinch. "That's what I thought."
Even if she used any dragon shouts, there would be no guarantee if any of them would free her. Some could make matters worse. "What kind of chains are these?" she questioned softly to herself. Staring down at the smooth chains that tied her down. They looked like they were new. Were they some kind of steel? What's strong enough to restrain a Dragonborn? "Chains can't hold me…"
"In time you'll come to your senses. After all, I'm one of, if not, the most virile person on this pitiful planet. Might be a wondrous experience in your miserable life." He brushed his shoulder and changed his tone to a more pleasant one. "It's considered a rare honour to be my slave, might even come to enjoy it. Between you and me, I don't treat profligates as bad as these Roman morons do, then again, their slaves last much longer mine do. That's fair. But they can't offer you to be the mother of the new world and queen of the Wastelands, perhaps even the world itself."
"If you're trying to charm me asshole it's not working," she snidely and reluctantly confessed. Even though Lanius was generally... okay, picturing him in bed made her sick to her stomach.
"I'm not trying to woo you, woman. Do you see a romantic dinner? French wine? No? I'm merely pointing out what plans I have for you, considering you have a big part in it all. I'm too much of a heartless wretch to care for idle emotions." Lanius walked back to his table. His bumper sword needed repairing, and his revolvers were empty. Lanius started with his sword. He placed his blade on an anvil and had a blowtorch in hand. Sparks flew as the fracture in the blade slowly fused with the hilt.
"You see," he continued, "we were wrong to manufacture supersoldiers. Why didn't we think about selective breeding in the first place? It's an excellent idea itself." He checked down the length of his newly fixed blade. It was a clumsy piece of metal with some leather straps, but it was a firm weapon with a sharp edge and an even more tapered thrust. "Just find the right matches and let it work a bit more naturally."
Lanius spent some time looking at the state of his weapons. He had four revolvers, all loaded with high calibre .45-70 Gov't magnum shells. They rested on the table with two empty ones. After some reloading and welding of the weapons, they were ready without any hassle.
With the crude sword sheathed and the loaded revolvers holstered, Lanius took a moment to reflect on the battle he had with Lyannah. The dark sword she used against him wouldn't leave his mind; it was sharp enough to draw blood upon a light touch, yet light and tender enough to be wielded by a child.
He placed her ebony blade on the wooden table and checked it out furiously. The sharp edge was slender with the other end only being a tiny bit thicker to allow the ability to hack and cleave, without losing any thrusting potential.
The dark black metal wasn't Earthly origins. Lanius knew the world wasn't ordinary, but someone had some explaining to do. "This sword you fought with earlier, the metal is not of this world," Lanius said politely, "The ease it had slicing through my armour and weapon was interesting. Where on Earth did you find this elegant weapon?"
"My own craftsmanship. If you want another demonstration, I'll be more than happy to oblige."
"Cute." Lanius took the ebony sword from the table and stepped to Lyannah, holding her chin up with the tip. "I witnessed your power on the Dam, the part when you crippled one of my smaller groups on the field, to which I personally found hilarious. Although mangling them to that degree combined with the effectiveness of your weapon and your fighting capabilities demands some investigation. I will ask this once: what are you and where do you come from?"
"You know nothing about me, and I'll keep it that way!"
"That's a shame. You see, I have a thing where I need to know everything that relates to me. Seeing that we'll be properly acquainted later I need to know who I'm working with," Lanius confessed, sheathing her sword into an open space on his belt. "With the magnitude of your power and strength with my own, our children could easily overthrow humanity's reign across this globe. With me as their God, and you as my plaything. That's if you turn down the chance to rule as my queen."
"Y… You disgusting, perverted freak!" Lyannah yelled, "There is no way in Oblivion nor Sovngarde I will tolerate this!" After some breaths, she spoke harshly, "When I get loose, I'll tear you to shreds!"
"Who's letting you loose? Me? Ha! Until you learn to respect and obedience I'm keeping you the way you are. Or when we get started; I like a woman with fire." He chuckled. "You might even prefer to keep the chains."
"How can you be so sure your ambition will succeed?"
Lanius gagged Lyannah once more with a white rag. Her voice was silent. "Darwinism at its finest. I think of our children being humanity's genetic superiors; they'll adapt and take their rightful place in human evolution."
Two legionaries entered the tent; it was Lanius' personal bodyguards he picked out himself. Braces, the large man with massive strength, the one in primitive Legion power armour. Heavy. Effective. Eight feet in height. Bowman, a skilled rifleman with humour and attitude like his own, the one in Centurion armour. Tall but small in comparison.
"Sir. A small group are approaching the camp; General Redfield is with them, and there are two others in power armour." Bowman announced.
"Redfield? Today is a perfect day for us all indeed!" Lanius cheered and sheathing his bumper sword on his back. Ready for combat. "Stage another ambush just like the last and kill them on sight."
"With pleasure." Braces snickered. "Shame Six won't be joining us."
"He's been a major pain in our asses since we ever met him," Bowman added. "Glad he's gone."
"That courier is of no concern to me, only his woman, but should any of you decide to rape this woman - because I know you both have a habit - I will kill you. Is that understood? She is mine. Nobody else's. Mine."
"Anything you say, boss," Braces said.
"Why do they call you Braces? Sorry, it's just... Braces."
Braces smiled, showing crude braces. They were made of barbed wire and personally applied.
"Ah! Should've thought. I heard you made those yourself. I can see the... craftsmanship..." Lanius slowly stared down to Lyannah. "Well as much as I would love to begin on our work... it'll have to wait for now. I want to see General Redfield die in my camp like the dog he is."
With a chuckle, Lanius left the tent with Braces and Bowman. At this point in her capture, Lyannah would stay confident that Deena would come to her rescue. Killing her was a huge inconvenience.