Capable inhaled sharply and tugged at the hem of Six's shirt. "Follow me. You'll have a new job soon, if he's doing what I think he's doing."

They ran through the halls and into a locked door. The Courier cursed and eyed the lock. "Careful, I don't want to fall on you." Capable moved out of her way, and Six kicked just below the handle. The door cracked, and she kicked again. The door ripped away, swung back and hit the wall before bouncing back. "Nux! Let him go."

The purple-tinged man gasped for breath as Nux did as she asked. "He's been killing us!"

"Yes, I understand that. But I need to ask him some questions before we kill him back, okay? Then I'll let you and the rest of the Warboys do what you will to this fuck, alright? Knowledge is power." She turned on the Organic Mechanic and shoved him against a wall with her arm across his collarbone. "Now. You will tell me the truth about what you know of their illness. You will tell me what is in that white paint, and why in the FUCK you and this 'Immortan' Joe have convinced them that water is an addiction and not a basic bodily need. Then you will pay in whatever way the Warboys see fit. If you lie, you will not die. You'll be kept alive and fucking tortured by me until the day your body finally gives out from stress. Have I made myself clear?" They were nearly matched for height, but she seemed to tower over him in that moment.

The man nodded vigorously. "Yes,yes. Very clear." He started rattling off how they made the white paint, where they got the white clay and what they added to it to make it have more staying power.

Partway through, she paused him. "Capable, can you write?"

"Yes."

"Write down everything he's said. I can wait while you do."

She nodded and grabbed a piece of charcoal and started writing on the wall with it. When she came to the end, she looked at Six again. "I'm ready when you are."

Six interrogated him for long enough that the light changed in the room. "Is there anything else? Do you keep records? Are there any medical texts?" He hesitated, and she punched him hard enough to rock his head back. "WHERE?"

Nux watched the Organic Mechanic stutter through how their records were kept and not kept, and point to moldering, brittle texts from before the gas wars. He murmured to Capable as his leg twitched with nervous energy. "She's Chrome."

"She shines under conditions that should kill her."

"So do you."

"And you," Capable pointed out. "You should start organizing your Warboys. Tell them to scrub the paint from their bodies and the walls where you all sleep. And drink some water. Plenty of it."

"Why would they listen to me?"

"You've come back from the dead."

Nux nodded slightly. "Alright. And the Organic Mechanic?"

"Tell them I will bring him to them once I'm finished here, which shouldn't be too much longer." Six spoke up.

"And where should I meet you when it's all finished?"

"At the Vault," Capable spoke up. "Toast is going to get some help taking off the door."

Six picked the Organic Mechanic's brain until she felt satisfied that she knew all he could tell her, and where to find more information. Capable led them to where the Warboys slept, following the sound of yelling and Nux shouting above it all. Six whistled again, and Nux turned to her. "You've got to teach me how to do that."

She grinned and shoved the Organic forward. "This is the man that has made sure you all stay sick. He and the Immortan have been lying to you." She watched scrubbed-clean faces look upon her like either a god or a madman. "I am taking his position, and you may do with him as you see fit. I promise you, and everyone in the Citadel, will get the best care I can offer."

Capable smiled and whispered to Nux, "I told you she'd stay."

"But for how long?"

Nux set warpups to scrubbing down the lower walls while a group of the older boys took the Organic Mechanic out of the room. They set up rope and chain pulleys to get up high to scrub at the paint. "Make sure it all comes off," he shouted. "And wash again when you're done." He looked at Six for confirmation, and she nodded.

"Are you coming with us, Nux? They've got this well in hand, and you've been on Fury Road for four days. It's time for you to get your blood looked at." Six held out her hand for his, and he stared at her hand for a moment before grasping it. "Come on, we'll make sure everyone eats and I'll take a few samples, okay?"

They passed the kitchens, where some of the Milk Mothers were handing out rations and steadily giving people water. The Mothers were quick to give them food and shoo them along before too many people noticed they were there. They walked back through the catacombs and up stairs to The Vault. Toast, Cheedo, and Furiosa were talking with a Black Thumb as he tried to jimmy the pins from the hinges. "They're not meant to come off. I can make it stand open, probably, but I don't know if we can take it off tonight."

Nux and Six both broke off to inspect the hinges themselves, and Six spoke first. "He's right. They're not meant to come off. It'd take days, maybe a week to get the pins to come loose. If it were that simple to take the door off, you would have figured it out already."

Furiosa nodded. "Jam the door open then, and we can work on hanging curtains."

Six took a blood sample from Nux and carefully biopsied the growths as they sat in the common area of the Vault, labeling the samples 'Larry' and 'Barry' at Nux's request. Cheedo watched curiously over her shoulder. "How do you know what to look for in all of that?"

"My father was a Doctor. I made him teach me."

"Made him?"

"Yes. He thought I couldn't handle a little blood." She smiled wryly at the other woman. "We both know that women can handle a bit of blood." Cheedo gave a snort of laughter with her nod. "Do you want me to teach you to read these? I'll need some help. We have a lot of sick people around here."

She nodded. "Just to read the samples, right? I... I can handle my own blood just fine... I don't know that I could handle anyone else's blood or... fluids."

"Yeah, just the samples. Tell me what you want to know, and we'll start tomorrow. Has anyone seen Dag?"

"She's getting some seeds started," Toast spoke up. "She knew they'd take some time to grow, so she said she wanted an early start."

Six nodded and looked to Furiosa. "So. You've taken the Citadel. Now what?"

Furiosa looked at her and considered. "Well, I hear the old Organic Mechanic has been left to the mercy of the masses that he kept ill, and you're our new... Doctor."

"Yes, with Cheedo as my assistant. And anyone else who wants to learn. Spreading knowledge is important, especially if you ever need me on the Road with you."

Furiosa nodded. "Then I'll leave that to you and whoever joins up. Nux, you'll help wrangle the Warboys?"

"Yes, Imperator-"

"Furiosa."

"Yes, Furiosa." He shrugged. "But if it's all the same to you, I'll keep 'Black Thumb'."

"Oi, have you three finally gotten together? Or are you still dancing about it?" The Dag put her head on Capable's shoulder.

"Dag! Now is hardly the time or the place." Capable was blushing while Toast raised her eyebrows at them. "Toast, hush."

"I didn't say anything. But follow me, I think I can solve your sleeping arrangement problem that's going to come up soon." She led them down the hall and to an offshoot where some of the Milk Mothers had slept. "They've taken over his old chambers for themselves."

"Good for them," Nux nodded.

"I know they have a room for bathing... which you all should probably do." She wiped a smear of blood off Six's neck. "Eat, have a chat... do whatever you need to do with some privacy, hmm?"

"Toast!"

"Oh, come on. Have fun."

Six finally realized that she was getting into a relationship with someone who had only been raped, and another who was probably a virgin. They went in to the room, and she spoke. "Neither of you have to do anything you don't want to." She looked at Capable. "You are allowed to say 'no'. We," she gestured to Nux, "will always back off if you say so."

"Even... in the middle? or near the end?" She made a show of looking them in the eyes, even though she was focusing on a crack in the wall.

"Well, yeah," Nux nodded. "I..." he hesitated, groping for words. "I don't want you to feel like a Thing anymore." He thought for a moment, then spoke again as he turned his head to look at Six. "And you're not a Thing, either. Tell me if I..." He looked queasy. "I don't want you to feel like a Thing with me."

Six kissed his cheek and yanked back. "You're burning up, darling. Capable, water, please. Show me where..."

"This way, I think. This is set up much like Joe's chambers." She guided them all to a room with a pool of water, like in the Vault, and got Nux to sit with his feet in the water while Six started running a cool cloth over him. "Are you going to be sick?"

Nux nodded. "Yeah," he managed, accepting the bucket from her as his stomach decided it needed to be empty again. The Courier kept touching him with the cool cloth as he gagged, keeping a soothing motion up as she murmured into his ear.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay. Capable, sweetheart, can you fetch me my black leather bag?" The redhead nodded and darted out of the room. "Drink. Slowly," she added as an afterthought. She cupped her hands and brought them to Nux's lips.

The first mouthful, he used to swish around his mouth and spat out into the bucket. Six cupped her hands again, and he drank as slowly as he could. "Thank you," He mumbled as his head fell to her shoulder. She kissed his shaved scalp, and he shivered at the way his spine tingled. "I'm sorry-"

"There's nothing to be sorry for, darling." She smiled against his skin as capable came back in with the doctor's bag. "I'm going to give you another vitamin, with..."

"I brought the bowl of broth," Capable offered. "His stomach should be able to handle that."

"You're right, it should. Once the plants start producing food, everyone will get a more varied diet, which should help with a lot of the sickness. I only have five more vitamins after this, though, so Nux is the one that's going to get them."

"There are others more worthy-" He started.

"You and yours saved my life. I would have died out there in the heat without you. Now it's my turn to save yours." She broke the vitamin in half. "Half now, and if you can keep it down, half after we bathe, okay?"

Nux nodded and took the pill, swallowing with a mouthful of broth as Six stood and started pulling off her clothes to bathe. He could hear Capable doing the same, and he hesitantly stood on shaky legs to unbuckle his pants, even as Capable reached out to steady him. Her hands were cool and dry on his fevered skin. "What's in the paint that makes you so angry?"

"Lead. I'm almost positive you all have severe lead poisoning." Six shook her head.