Chapter 1, 'The Brave'

Disclaimer: In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to Warner Brothers Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures, Kennedy Miller Mitchel, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, George Miller, Doug Mitchell, PJ Voeten, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work. Any similarities to other fanfiction stories are completely coincidental.

A/N: So this fic is placed in the Mad Max: Fury Road Universe, and I'll try to use the correct terminology for everything that I come across but please let me know if I've used the wrong name for something or someone. Reviews are appreciated, flames are not.

There is barely any air to be found in the hidden compartment of the war rig, where Faithful has been hidden alongside her five sister wives.

All she can breathe and smell is gasoline and sweat, and she clutches Angharad, the other pregnant wife, in nervous fear as soon as Imperator Furiosa starts the engine. The compartment rumbles to life around her.

Toast, the Dag, Capable and Cheedo have formed a small circle in whatever space they have down here and have lit a small oil lamp to see, but it's the lack of air that is already making their journey difficult. They haven't even left the Citadel yet; Joe has yet to make his speech and deliver on his promise of Aqua Cola to the Wretched that inhabit this town, and Angharad squeezes Faithful's hand as soon as she senses her discomfort.

Faithful hates that Ms. Giddy has been left behind. Hates that their only source of comfort and reason has been left to deal with the rotten monster that is about to greet the desperate Wretched all around them. But she hates Immortan Joe more.

"Once again, we send off my war rig to bring back guzzoline from Gas Town, and bullets from the Bullet Farm!" Joe's muffled voice cries, and Faithful wishes with all of her might that one day she can push him off of the Citadel's highest point. "Once again, I salute my Imperator Furiosa! And I salute my half-life War Boys, who will ride with me eternal...on the highways of Valhalla!"

Angharad holds her tighter.

The War Boys can be heard chanting, and Faithful can practically see them saluting the tyrant with the classic hand sign.

In a way, she supposes dully, it's quite intelligent of Immortan Joe as a leader to train his war boys to expect and worship death; to have an entire nation of soldiers willing to sacrifice themselves and reach Valhalla.

She isn't sure if there's really any truth to the place, anyway. She never paid attention to Ms. Giddy's stories about it. She feels strange believing in something specific; her general motto has always been to have faith that one day, she will be free. Depending on a God or a place to access freedom like the War Boys do with their Cult of the V8 doesn't sit right with her, and it's one of he many things she'll always dislike about the War Boy's mentality.

But she can't blame them for that.

She can, however, blame the piece of filth that is talking again, voice echoing as he continues to address his sickly people.

"I am your redeemer. It is by my hand, that you will rise from the ashes of this world!" He cries, and within fifteen seconds she can hear the roaring water that signals the deliverance of Aqua Cola to the rotting people that call the Citadel home.

Hate. So much hate for the disgusting man that has made her and her sisters into objects. So much hate for the ways he immortalizes himself and turns himself into a God-like figure for helpless War Pups and War Boys to fall victim to. So much hate that has been built up inside of her for years that she wishes she could take out on something, but there is nowhere to place it.

Suddenly the rumbling of water stops, and Faithful's hatred is fortified once more when she recognizes that Immortan Joe has stopped the water supply. As per usual it is far too soon, and the shouts and screams of disappointment from the Wretched she hears reveal that barely any of them have received the water they need to survive properly.

"Do not, my friends, become addicted to water!" Joe's voice booms once more over the loudspeaker, and Faithful winces. Capable clutches her hand to her right. "It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence."

Faithful grinds her teeth together and ignores the urge to scream out in frustration, but it isn't until Furiosa starts moving the rig that she can release the breath she's been holding in. They are finally on the road, finally putting some distance between themselves and Joe...finally going to the Green Place.

All he will find in their absence is the paint that is now drying on the walls of their cage - angry scrawls and questions that they had written before their rushed departure this morning.

She feels the war rig pick up the pace, and Faithful gently pulls her hand away from Capable to clutch at her swollen stomach. At five months, it is obvious that she is with a child, and she retains whatever faith she can that she will eventually be free and be able to raise her baby in the security of the Green Place. Her child will not be a Warlord. Her child will not have its fate decided for it. Her child will not be property, as she has been. One cannot own a human being; cannot treat it as a thing or a machine.

She is tainted, dirty. Her child will not be.

She knows Angharad's thoughts mirror hers at the moment, because her head comes to rest on Faithful's shoulder.

The five minutes afterwards of peaceful driving are interrupted however, when Furiosa makes a hard left.

All the wives sway slightly in response to the motion of the car, and the Dag lets out a small squeak of surprise. Cheedo shushes her. They are supposed to stay quiet, although Faithful doesn't think that any of the War Boys in their small party escort would be able to hear them over the sound of the road.

She is scared. And rightfully so, because Fury road is covered in traps and remnants of past populations. She knows of some of them, such as the Buzzards, a scavenging tribe of Russian descent that live in underground burrows called Sunken City, but she is unfamiliar with any others. She assumes all of them are hostile, dangerous, and willing to turn her back to Immortan Joe for a prize.

She can do this, she tells herself, jaw clenching in stress. She can survive. She will survive. Her child will survive.

The wives stay quiet as they listen to the War Boys speak to Furiosa about going off-road, listen as she continues to give them unsatisfying answers and keeps leading them further East. Eventually, Faithful knows that saying 'it's a detour' won't work anymore, but for the time being it's enough. Furiosa's original plan is unknown to her, but she imagines that they cannot go long before Immortan Joe figures out what is going on and sends a war party after them, or a warrant for their heads and his prizes 'treasures' back. They also can't go long before bandits start to come after them.

It isn't until they start to hear panicked shouts and sounds of foreign motors that they begin to worry. It gets harder to breathe with every passing second, and Faithful nearly loses it when she hears the first explosion. Things are starting to heat up.

"I can't breathe." Angharad starts to heave for breaths, and the other girls around Faithful are clearly struggling to take in breaths as well. The war rig jolts and jiggles, emitting creaks and groans that are matched with the sounds of explosions outside.

A War Boy shouts, and the sound of a car collision echoes right beside Capable. She jumps in response, and visibly panics when the war rigs loud horn sounds out again.

"Who are they?" Capable questions hurriedly, and Toast sends her a look as if to remind her to stay silent.

"Buzzards." Faithful responds in a hushed tone. "Remember, the Russians Ms. Giddy told us about?"

"They want to kill us." The Dag whimpers, and Cheedo puts an arm around her shoulder.

All that can be heard are the horrifying sounds of road war, as the wives try their best to breathe and give each other comfort. It isn't long however, before the air gets horribly thick no thanks to the dust that is undoubtedly entering the compartment from somewhere, and Angharad can take it no longer.

"I'm going." She announces, crawling towards the hatch despite Faithful's attempts to stop her.

"No! We have to stay down here!" Her sisters try and pull her away from the hatch, but Angharad is already pulling it open and crawling her way across the vehicle to the driver's compartment. She is out of reach before anyone can stop her.

"Angharad!" Faithful cries out in horror as she watches her sister disappear, hoping to whoever is out there that won't be spotted. Nausea takes hold of her as she realizes she has no control over what will happen. "Oh..."

She cannot lose Angharad. Losing her closest companion, the wife whom she has spent the most time with, would be utterly life-shattering for her.

A minute passes, and then another and another and it feels like Faithful has been waiting hours before another Buzzard truck can be heard approaching. This one is bigger, because the War Boys' shouts are significantly more excited. She can hear the impact of spears and the sounds that the Buzzard's vehicle makes as it tries to slash the war rig's tires, but the 78 foot 18 wheeler doesn't give up that easy.

Suddenly a horrible sawing noise can be heard, and Cheedo covers Toast's shout of shock with a quick hand when it gets louder.

Someone is trying to cut their way into the rig.

Faithful holds onto Capable, and envisions her own faith as an entity that she must hold onto as tightly as she is doing to the redhead. She keeps her faith that Angharad is okay, and that they will all emerge from this safely.

Then, seconds before a gigantic explosion sounds out, Angharad crawls through the trapdoor and rejoins the group of hidden wives.

"Angharad!" Faithful cries, reaching towards her desperately.

The two reunite, holding each other tightly, and the other wives begin to ask questions.

"It's bad." Angharad announces, coughing slightly. "Stay down."

But things are suspiciously quiet for awhile after her return, and Faithful gets a bad feeling. There is something wrong. The War Boys have begun shouting at something else now, but they are not crying their classic chants that they usually do when they see an enemy. No – this is something else.

Before the wives know it, sounds of a storm are sounding out all around them. Their compartment is close to the floor, so they don't get knocked around too much, but they can hear the lightning and sounds of the wind as it beats down on the rig.

"Sandstorm." Faithful identifies loudly before Capable can begin to ask. "It's a sandstorm."

None of the girls know what that means, but they hope that the war rig can get through it. If there is any fighting going on they cannot hear it, because the only sounds are the engines of the rig and the thunder that doesn't seem to stop. The rig swerves left and right and left again, and the hidden passengers try to retain their balance along with it.

Whatever the hell the storm is throwing at it, the war rig keeps charging through, and the wives don't hear anything for the next several minutes before there is a huge resounding crunch towards the front of the rig, and then all is silent once more. They drive for another couple of minutes, until the sounds of the storm pass them and all is quiet besides the rumbling of the engine.

Faithful doesn't realize she's been holding her breath again, but she calms down when Capable and Angharad squish her between them. The compression helps.

It is another five minutes before Furiosa brings the rig to a complete stop, and the wives guess that she gauges whether or not she's been followed through the storm before she hops down and opens the door to their hidden compartment.

"It's not safe yet. I want to wait awhile longer until this storm clears up. See if anyone caught our trail."

She closes the hatch before any of the wives can respond, but she is courteous enough to leave it open a crack to allow them to breathe better. Angharad inhales deeply in thanks, and the rest of the girls stay silent. This goes on for another hour. Most of the girls are very frightened, Faithful notes, but Furiosa's speech before they departed this morning still rings loud in most of their heads and helps them remember their strength.

If you want to get through this, you need to be able to adapt. To change, no matter what happens. The wasteland is unforgiving, the Imperator had stated that morning as they had begged her to take them with her, peering at them curiously with her green eyes. If you want to make it to the Green Place, you need to be able to survive Fury road.

Other parts of her harsh motivational speech have been blocked by Faithful's own brain, and she tries to remember them. But before she can even begin to search her mind, Furiosa is opening the hatch again.

"All clear." She grunts, and helps the girls out of the compartment.

The first thing Faithful notes as she exits the rig is how bright the sun is shining. Even though she knows no more than half a day has passed since they left the Citadel, it feels like it's been weeks. She expected darkness; the comfort of knowing that they are protected by the shroud of nighttime for at least a couple more hours, but they are not so lucky.

She is suddenly thankful for the thin white material that covers their most intimate areas, as any other color would have contributed to overheating and surely caused fainting spells with the way the sun is beating down on them.

Furiosa hooks up the water and mother's milk to allow the wives some time to clean and refuel, and starts to clean the rig up by banging against it to rid the machine of all the sand that it has become clogged with.

Faithful and Angharad go for the water first, turning on the hose and allowing it to bathe them. The Dag quickly grabs a pair of bolt cutters from Furiosa's compartment and begins to cut off everyone's chastity belts, and Faithful gulps when she is forced to recognize yet again that she and Angharad are the only ones who are not wearing them.

She ignores the thought and busies herself with washing. She helps Capable and Toast wash as well, and they all drink from the hose. The Dag is having some trouble cutting Cheedo's belt off, and so Faithful takes the bolt cutters from the thin blonde and starts to work on it herself. She almost has it, until they are all suddenly interrupted by a large thump.

Faithful's neck snaps in the direction of the sound towards the back of the war rig.

It is a man wearing a metal mask, attached to a War Boy by a long chain and pointing a gun towards them with the most maddened blue eyes Faithful has ever seen. Her throat tightens in horror. They do not know who this man is, or what he wants, and the last thing they need right now is somebody else threatening them.

"We're not going back." Angharad announces bravely, just as Faithful manages to cut off Cheedo's chastity belt.

It falls to the ground with a dull crack, and the man's eyes snap to it briefly before his eyes widen and he focuses on Furiosa.

"Water." He rasps. As the current keeper of the hose, Angharad looks at Furiosa for confirmation that she can approach the man before she begins to make her way towards him.

Faithful lets a small cry slip from her throat as the wife makes her way away from her, finding that she cannot deal with the idea of her in danger, and Angharad stops for a split second. Furiosa holds a hand out towards the black haired beauty.

The man's eyes fall on Faithful, and his gaze moves down to her stomach. Her mouth snaps shut immediately, and she finds herself utterly grounded by his fascinated gaze. Her hands tighten on the bolt cutters. He doesn't remove his stare from her for a little while, until Angharad starts moving again. He grabs the hose from her as soon as she gets close enough, and shoves it as close to his mouth as possible before drinking from it.

The cage mask he has on makes it difficult, but he manages.

He makes Angharad turn around to look at her sisters, and Faithful catches her eye. It takes everything she has not to buckle and sprint towards her, but Furiosa's gaze holds her back.

When he is done drinking he throws the hose down, beside the War Boy's head who is still lying unconscious on the sand. Faithful hopes he doesn't wake up. Dealing with two men, one of which is sure to turn on them, would be even worse than this.

With a sudden viciousness, the caged man lifts up the chain that connects him to the War Boy, and Faithful's stomach drops when the gun points to her. The man grunts – he wants the chain cut. She can see a string of red that is linked in the chain, leading her to believe that this man was a blood bag for the War Boys; a universal donor that was used to fuel the war effort. She gulps, and attempts to hand off the bolt cutters to Furiosa.

Her plan is halted by another grunt from the man, "You."

Faithful meets his eyes once more and starts to slowly make her way towards him, eyes moving to Angharad for comfort as she nears her target. She keeps one hand on her stomach, hoping to remind the man that if he is going to try anything, Immortan Joe will have his head. She isn't comforted by this plan at all, but she hopes it will spare her some hurt in case worst comes to worst.

She finds an extremely disappointing lack of mistrust in the man despite their situation, and Faithful falters in her step as she questions why she isn't trembling like Angharad or fixing this man with a dark gaze like Furiosa.

Once she is close enough she lifts the bolt cutters up, and looks up at the caged man again. There's something oddly intriguing about the way he looks at her; like he's trying to figure out an equation or something, and she finds that she keeps getting lost in his eyes. They are a beautiful blue, with twinges of clear grey and what seems to be white. It reminds her of the water that Joe hordes and deprives his citizens of.

Even in her transfixed state, she can hear the Dag behind her murmur, "Angharad...is that just the wind, or is that a furious fixation?"

Then the man jiggles the chain, and their moment is lost. She clenches her jaw and steels herself before lifting the cutters to his chain and trying her best to cut it, struggling visibly. She is still thin despite the pregnancy, and has never had many muscles to begin with, which makes the job hard. The man notes her struggling, but before she can finish cutting, a thundering cry sounds out and Furiosa tackles him to the ground.

With a cascade of grunts the two go tumbling down, and Faithful jumps away from the action with a startled shout. She's never liked violence, and although she expected Furiosa to try something like this she would have thought the woman would have waited a bit longer.

Furiosa manages to gain the upper hand and rips the man's gun from his clasp, aiming at his chin and releasing the trigger. Instead of going off, the weapon releases nothing but a hiss and a click, making Furiosa lose her temper as she realizes that she's been duped. In her brief bout of shock, the man manages to tackle her back to the ground and there is a flurry of movement as the wives realize they need to help.

Faithful rushes forward alongside Angharad and the two grip the man's chain, still attached to the War Boy, pulling it with all of their might to try and get him off of Furiosa. It works; he comes tumbling backwards towards them, but Faithful finds herself falling as the sudden release of weight on the end of the chain is taken away.

Then the man is back up, swiftly avoiding Furiosa's deadly advances with the bolt cutters. She swings at him furiously, living up to her name and causing the wives to scamper and get out of her way. The man jumps and ducks, crawls backwards and eventually finds the door that is caught in the chain between him and the War Boy to protect himself with. He raises it, and manages to block four of Furiosa's blows before her bolt cutters get stuck on the door, and he kicks her right in the solar plexus.

She twists and falls, nearly landing on her face but catching herself at the last minute with all one and a half of her arms. Faithful is once again reminded that, despite her appearance, Furiosa is anything but crippled and at a disadvantage.

The bald female rushes towards the truck, seemingly trying to get to something on it – a weapon, Faithful thinks, if only she knew where it was so that she could help the fellow woman – but it is at that moment that the wives realizes the War Boy has risen, and he and the man lift their connected chain to trip Furiosa. She lands on the ground again with a frustrated growl, picks herself up, and bangs on three skulls attached to the side of the truck.

The skulls dissolves into sand, revealing the pistol hidden underneath them. Before Furiosa can begin to grab the weapon however, the War Boy manages to tackle her and wrestle her to the ground once more.

Faithful is frozen. She doesn't know what to do to help, and she feels useless.

Furiosa struggles against the War Boy, but the mad caged man, seeing what the War Boy has done, begins to tug on the chain and move the two towards him. Faithful sees his plan already; he wants to get the pistol himself, and she suddenly springs into action in response.

She and the rest of the wives try to pull the caged man away from his task, but he quickly turns towards them only to hiss and spit in their direction. Faithful, along with the rest of the girls, cry out in shock and reel back. She doesn't know what she was expecting, really; this man is just as concerned with his own survival as with everyone else.

He switches places with the war boy, who is tossed back as the mystery man sprints towards Furiosa and the two struggle with the pistol between their hands. He manages to unload the clip, but the weapon still has a shot packed into it, and Furiosa fires towards the man's head only to have him move at the last second. The bullet ricochets off of the rig, a dull crack resounding from it.

The clip lands in front of the War Boy, who army crawls over to it and rejoices, "I've got it!"

His glee does not last for long, as Faithful charges forward alongside her sisters and the six try to wrestle the small black box packet with bullets out of his hands. The War Boy is stronger than they predict, and they struggle as he fights back against them to keep the ammunition. Pulling and tugging with all of their might, they manage to get him onto his back only to realize that this has upset the fight between Furiosa and the mad man once more.

They are struggling over each other still, kicking and grunting and punching and kneeing every change they can get. They move so fast Faithful can barely keep an eye on them; it's as if they are interlocked in a never ending fight. She tries to focus on getting the clip out of the War Boy's hands, but the disciple is so greased up with paint and motor oil that it is proving nigh impossible for the wives to grasp onto his hands.

Furiosa manages to hit the man's head with the hose lying by her shoulder, but her moment of glory is short lived as he smacks it down seconds later and flips her onto her front. Straddling her, Faithful can see that Furiosa is quickly losing the upper hand in the rapidly escalating situation and struggles for the clip that the War Boy is holding even more.

With a last surge of strength she manages to get her fingers around his hand, but his grip is like iron and before she knows it Capable's hands have lost their tight hold on his arm, and the War Boy is army crawling once more towards his chained companion.

In the span of five seconds, the caged man manages to grab the ammunition and fires three shots around Furiosa's head, before pressing the barrel of the gun on the base of her skull.

They've lost.