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seventhousandCould she lead them, the downtrodden, Jack had asked. Would they follow her? It takes time, but in the end the answer is apparently a resounding YES. She knows the threads of the culture around her, and with Jack's backup and support she's emboldened to pull on them, one by one. Before Immortan emerges from his cloister with his unwilling Wives, rumors about another man who cannot die are spreading amongs the tread-slaves, the kitchens, the engineers, the milk Mothers and courtesans. The greenthumbs in the gardens above, and the blackthumbs in the caves below the Citadel. The War Boys may be the ruling class, but they're also the smallest class, and in a way they're the least of what makes the Citadel run.
And yet, she finds a surprising number of them siding with her. Her own second-in-command, the Ace, is the first amongst her crew to make his way up to the corridor where he quarters lie. He's not supposed to be there, his status doesn't permit it, but he wants to see the man she has with her, wants to know what's happening, and his boldness is rewarded. From their interactions, Jack may see that she regards the man as a kind of big brother as well as a man under her command. She's been unable to trust her crew fully with her story and her rage, but she's picked them carefully, they've proven themselves on the Fury Road, and on some level she loves them.
And they love her, evidently, because every one of them is with them, in the end; a few other lower-level War Boys join in, too, and a plan is formed. When Immortan Joe comes to see Jack, they'll free the Wives he's left alone in their Vault, and slip them into the belly of the War Rig. It will be touch-and-go for Jack and Furiosa for a short while, because she will have to get him away from Joe, but she is utterly certain he'll be turned back over to the Organic Mechanic for safekeeping and study. When he is, she'll break him out and they'll flee down the Fury Road, find a place to hole up at the edge of the mountains, and wait for the inevitable War Parties to catch up, and face them down.
The War Boys on her side will be with those War Parties. They'll take extra arms from the armory and hand them out to some of the treadworkers and the Wretched, sneak the ones who can fight along in their cars, and hit Immortan Joe's forces from both sides.
It's complicated, and there's so much left to chance it's terrifying, but given they've only had a few days to plan, it's not bad.
And it works. The loss of life is painful to witness, and the gaiety with which the War Boys fling themselves into the arms of death is more than a bit unsettling, but at the end of the day Furiosa is the only Imperator standing, and Immortan Joe is dead. The Wives they've taken only for use as bait turn out to be as enthusiastically opposed to Joe as Furiosa, although far more inclined to pacifism. Two of the five of them are helpful in the battle, though: Capable, a tall redhead, and Toast, a petite black woman with close-cropped dark hair. The latter turns out to be a pretty decent shot with a rifle. Furiosa takes to her at once.
The first thing they do when they return triumphant to the Citadel is turn on the waterfall, and leave it on for hours. There is plenty of water in the aquifer; wasting it won't do in the long run, but showing the people around them generosity for the first time in their lives is not a waste. (Kindness is never a waste, says one of the Wives, and Furiosa looks at her with awe, like she's an alien being, and seems to commit the aphorism to memory.) Watching the former slaves and desperates drink their fill and bathe and dance in cool clean water, a celebratory atmosphere takes over the whole place. They've got a hard road ahead still, but for the moment there is peace, and after watching for a long while, Furiosa suddenly unbuckles her arm, drops her corset and belts and darts under the fall of water, herself.
Next time Jack sees her, she's wet through, and the white fabric of her blouse clings to her in a way that is pretty immodest. She's giggly, though, almost as if she's drunk on the feel of cool water, and she lunges in to capture him in a determined embrace, wet and affectionate.
"Dance with me," she demands, breathless and quivering with adrenaline. "I know you can dance."
And yet, she finds a surprising number of them siding with her. Her own second-in-command, the Ace, is the first amongst her crew to make his way up to the corridor where he quarters lie. He's not supposed to be there, his status doesn't permit it, but he wants to see the man she has with her, wants to know what's happening, and his boldness is rewarded. From their interactions, Jack may see that she regards the man as a kind of big brother as well as a man under her command. She's been unable to trust her crew fully with her story and her rage, but she's picked them carefully, they've proven themselves on the Fury Road, and on some level she loves them.
And they love her, evidently, because every one of them is with them, in the end; a few other lower-level War Boys join in, too, and a plan is formed. When Immortan Joe comes to see Jack, they'll free the Wives he's left alone in their Vault, and slip them into the belly of the War Rig. It will be touch-and-go for Jack and Furiosa for a short while, because she will have to get him away from Joe, but she is utterly certain he'll be turned back over to the Organic Mechanic for safekeeping and study. When he is, she'll break him out and they'll flee down the Fury Road, find a place to hole up at the edge of the mountains, and wait for the inevitable War Parties to catch up, and face them down.
The War Boys on her side will be with those War Parties. They'll take extra arms from the armory and hand them out to some of the treadworkers and the Wretched, sneak the ones who can fight along in their cars, and hit Immortan Joe's forces from both sides.
It's complicated, and there's so much left to chance it's terrifying, but given they've only had a few days to plan, it's not bad.
And it works. The loss of life is painful to witness, and the gaiety with which the War Boys fling themselves into the arms of death is more than a bit unsettling, but at the end of the day Furiosa is the only Imperator standing, and Immortan Joe is dead. The Wives they've taken only for use as bait turn out to be as enthusiastically opposed to Joe as Furiosa, although far more inclined to pacifism. Two of the five of them are helpful in the battle, though: Capable, a tall redhead, and Toast, a petite black woman with close-cropped dark hair. The latter turns out to be a pretty decent shot with a rifle. Furiosa takes to her at once.
The first thing they do when they return triumphant to the Citadel is turn on the waterfall, and leave it on for hours. There is plenty of water in the aquifer; wasting it won't do in the long run, but showing the people around them generosity for the first time in their lives is not a waste. (Kindness is never a waste, says one of the Wives, and Furiosa looks at her with awe, like she's an alien being, and seems to commit the aphorism to memory.) Watching the former slaves and desperates drink their fill and bathe and dance in cool clean water, a celebratory atmosphere takes over the whole place. They've got a hard road ahead still, but for the moment there is peace, and after watching for a long while, Furiosa suddenly unbuckles her arm, drops her corset and belts and darts under the fall of water, herself.
Next time Jack sees her, she's wet through, and the white fabric of her blouse clings to her in a way that is pretty immodest. She's giggly, though, almost as if she's drunk on the feel of cool water, and she lunges in to capture him in a determined embrace, wet and affectionate.
"Dance with me," she demands, breathless and quivering with adrenaline. "I know you can dance."