Veronica lay huddled in pain-wracked darkness, waiting in her cell for the return the Legion Slavers return. After Novac was pillaged, the few survivors were rounded up and marched to the NCR penitentiary now serving as a base for the Legion. Exhausted and bloody from the grueling march, the captives were separated and subjected to brutal "conditioning" to break all will to resist. The slave master, a bald scarred brute named Crassus took a particular interest in Veronica and saw to her conditioning personally. At first Veronica stayed silent, gritting her teeth until she tasted blood. But then the slaver abruptly switched tactics, gently stroking her blood caked hair while smiling his lopsided smile. That and the look in the slaver's eyes was enough to send Veronica over the edge and she screamed in revulsion until her throat was raw. Crassus said nothing, only smirking with satisfaction as he left her alone in the cell.
Now Veronica waited, her throat burning and her head and jaw aching as she hoped somehow she would be forgotten and allowed to die quietly in her cell.
"You are awake." A deep voice rumbled from nearby. "Good. I don't know how much longer I could contain Dog's hunger."
Veronica's eyes snapped open with bewildered awareness, than squeezed shut as the white light of a fluorescent lamp stabbed into them. She was no longer in the slave pens of the Legion, she was Dean Domino's prisoner in the Sierra Madre. Memory returned in a jumble with her last recollection being the robot arms of the Auto-Doc descending toward her. Realizing the pain hadn't faded with the dream, Veronica began to feel her head with shaking fingers as she rolled to a sitting position, finding the ridges of healed scars crisscrossing her shaved head and running along her jaw and throat.
"The ghoul has left his mark on us both." Growled the voice she recognized as Magog's. Squinting against the glare, Veronica could see the shadowy bulk of the mutant as he sat before her, his sneering teeth and eyes glittering in the light.
"Where are we?" Veronica croaked, her voice sounding strange to her ears as she saw the bars of a cage surrounding the two of them and dimly lit darkness beyond.
"This is the Villa Police Station." Magog growled with a nod toward the bars. "And one of our prisons."
"Prisons?" Veronica rasped with a wince of pain as she felt an unaccustomed weight around her neck. She reached up and gingerly felt the cold steel of a heavy collar fastened around her neck.
"I'm sure you know what that is." Magog sneered. "So I suggest you not tamper with it if you value your life."
"Where is Domino?" Veronica demanded as she glared at Magog.
"Collecting supplies for our attempt at the Sierra Madre." Magog replied with a smirk. "At least that's what he told me."
"Why are you here?" Veronica asked, her voice sounding less raspy although no less strange.
"I have Dog to thank for that." Magog snarled. "I was injured in the crash, and pain always makes Dog stronger. I wanted to get away from this accursed place, but as always Dog got in the way. I locked myself in here to keep Dog from trying to return to the old man as he always does."
"You mean Elijah?" Veronica demanded.
"He never told Dog his name." Magog growled with a shrug. "All Dog needed was someone to call Master. The old man gives Dog orders, and Dog obeys. Every time I try to break free, Dog always returns."
"What does...the old man order Dog to do?" Veronica asked as she carefully felt for the clasp on her collar.
"At first he wanted Dog to bring other Nightkin to the Sierra Madre." Magog shifted his position as he warily watched Veronica's exploration. "After they failed to get into the Casino he began to send them on raids against the NCR."
"Why?" Veronica said with a frown as she lowered her hands.
Magog shrugged. "Ask the old man. The raids became more dangerous, as if he trying to provoke the NCR to respond."
"Why would Elijah do that?" Veronica wondered out loud.
"You know him better than I do." Magog growled. "I only know what he ordered Dog to do."
Veronica looked beyond the pool of light cast by the fluorescent tubes set in the ceiling of the cell. She could make out several desks and cabinets, and what appeared to be one doorway. As she tried to make sense of her surroundings, she struggled to understand what Magog had told her and what she had seen at the fountain. Elijah hated the NCR, but revenge didn't seem right as his motivation. Her former mentor had made his disdain of the Brotherhood Council and its policies very clear over the years. It had been that antipathy that got him sent to Hoover Dam. Veronica couldn't imagine him caring enough about the lives lost at Helios One to want to avenge them. The raids on the NCR also didn't make sense. Elijah had always been a perfectionist with no patience for what he perceived as incompetence in others. If Elijah wanted to destroy the NCR, Veronica was sure he wouldn't use such haphazard measures.
And then there was Dean and his plans. Veronica touched the scar crossing her throat above the collar and scowled. What did he do to her in the Auto-Doc?
"Dean locked me in here with you?" Veronica said as she turned to face Magog.
"He locked you in here with Dog." The mutant corrected. "I believe that was not the ghoul's plan, but he adapted."
"Adapted?"
"Dog is like a child." Magog explained with a growl of disgust. "He's always hungry, and if Dean had placed you in this cell you would have been eaten."
"So why did Dean put me in here?" Veronica asked as she eyed Magog warily.
"He brought Dog food, but also something else." Magog's eyes began to glitter with rage as he bared his teeth. "A bomb collar covered in blood, which the greedy beast ate with everything else. When Dog's hunger was eased, I regained control. Dean explained what Dog had done as well as what the result of...disobedience would be."
"So we have to do what says or he'll detonate the collars." Veronica observed grimly.
"I have seen such alliances before." Magog snarled as he looked toward the door. "The old man used the collars to force coöperation from the treasure hunters that came here. Many died before one team got him inside the Casino. After that, the only time I saw the old man was the image he projected at the fountain. That was when he ordered Dog to bring Nightkin back to the Sierra Madre."
"Elijah was using the bomb collars?" Veronica asked incredulously.
"Many times." Magog replied with a grin as he observed Veronica's discomfort
Veronica shook her head in disbelief, but knew deep down that it was more than possible that her mentor would use such devices. Bomb collars had been developed during the Great War to keep prisoners in line without having to resort to fences or guards. She had heard rumors that the Brotherhood had recovered some of the devices, and had even used them during the war with the NCR. Veronica didn't want to believe the only family she had left had resorted to using the collars, but there was no reason for Magog to lie. She also remembered when she saw fire from the sky obliterate Helios One with its remaining Brotherhood defenders. At the fountain Elijah had admitted to calling down the strike, meaning he had apparently sacrificed the surviving Brotherhood soldiers to cover his escape.
Suddenly there was a tremor, and a distant roar echoed from outside.
"It's getting worse." Magog rumbled as he rested his forearms on his knees.
"What is?" Veronica demanded as she looked about.
"The NCR's arrival appears to have upset the...balance of this place." Magog replied without looking up. "The cloud is spilling into the streets and the Tunnelers are being driven to the surface. The foundations of the town are collapsing as the Tunnelers undermine them. If Dean has a plan, he had better hurry before everything vanishes."
"And hurry we shall." Dean Domino announced as he entered the room. The reek of sulfur billowed into the room after him as well as a pulsing roar until the door slammed shut. The ghoul was wearing a pack and carrying a revolver that he casually pointed toward the cell.
"It appears that Magog has brought you up to speed." Dean said casually as he approached the cell door. "Before I unlock this door I'll clarify our respective positions." The ghoul raised a metal handle for inspection. "If I release this trigger for longer than ten seconds, I'll blow you both so sky-high it will paint the moon cherry pie red. If I press the other button, you'll die without the wait. Are we clear?"
"Understood." Magog snarled. "And know that I'll kill you as well as the old man!"
"Of course." Dean said with a smirk as Veronica shot a look at Magog. "And what of the young woman?"
"Why did you mutilate me?" Veronica snapped.
"Mutilate, hardly." Dean replied with a smile. "My attempt to...subdue you did need some repair work, but the rest of your scars are from "tuning" you like a fine instrument."
"Tuning?" Veronica replied as her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
"Back before the bombs dropped Vera was my partner in crime." Dean replied as he put the trigger back on his belt. "Her health was beginning to suffer as the opening night approached, probably due to stress. I had a full workup done of her vocal cords in case medical intervention was required to get her to the curtain call on time." Dean shrugged as he raised his pistol. "Then the bombs dropped and it became moot."
"You surgically altered me to sound like Vera!" Veronica exclaimed in shocked astonishment. "Why!"
Dean regarded Veronica calmly for a moment before he spoke. "Vera was passing information to me as the Gala approached. All she said about the casino vault was that Sinclair told her she was the 'key'. It took me decades before I realized the lovestruck fool didn't mean it metaphorically. It took me even longer to cobble together a pass phrase from scavenged audio tapes."
"So why mutilate me?" Veronica growled. "Why not use the key?"
"When I escaped the vault I lost the key." Dean replied as he casually pointed his revolver at Veronica. "I don't have the luxury of years to find enough of Vera to make another one, thus plan B."
Magog had risen to his feet and looked down on Dean his eyes burning with hatred, his huge hands clenched into fists.
"So you think I will obey you?" Magog rumbled. "What would stop me from killing you before you hit the button? I would take the handle from your corpse and hold the lever myself!"
"But then you don't get to kill the 'old man'." Dean said as the smile left his scabbed lips. "I suspect your grudge with him takes precedence."
"What's stopping me?" Veronica added as she stood beside Magog with her arms folded and a furious scowl.
"You want to live." Dean replied easily. "Right now I have the upper hand, but who knows? Perhaps I'll slip up and you'll have your chance to turn the tables. As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait. I should know after waiting two centuries. Now if there are no further questions we are rather pressed for time."
Veronica nodded with her mouth set in a grim line. Dean turned to face Magog with his eyebrows raised behind his dark glasses. The huge mutant glowered silently for a moment, then relaxed his fists while his eyes burned with hate.
"Good enough." Dean announced as he produced a key and turned it in the lock. "Let us be off to make history!"