Note: Massive editing is complete. Enjoy some crazy Enclave supervillainy.


This story is dedicated to FalloutGamerGirl, because, quite simply,

I would not have finished the whole of it without her.

Thank you, so much.


The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless―
A lump of death―a chaos of hard clay.

"Darkness" by Lord George Gordon Byron


"The procedure is quite simple, James. I don't see why you should have any objection to this."

"I don't understand why it would be medically necessary to―"

"I assure you, Doctor, if the optic nerve is to be... adjusted, there must be some consideration made. Lillie might not be able to comprehend the input as immediately as you expect. We're simply severing the connection until Dr. Isben can fine-tune VIOLA. When she is given sight, she will not confuse herself by half-remembering things she has already seen."

"Surely the problem is in the retina, not in the―"

"I appreciate your concern for your child, James. And I understand that you are a capable physician in your own right. You mustn't take away from the vast amount of Pre-War knowledge that the scientists here, have to draw upon. Lillie will be in the best of care."

"But Mr. President―"

"James, this conversation has stagnated. If you continue to revisit your argument, I will have to direct you to Colonel Autumn for reprimand. Lillie has too much to offer our scientists, and the Enclave did take you upon its breast without a thought to the contrary."

"And I thank you for that, Mr. President, I do―"

"I look forward to having your daughter grow up in a world, in which she is able to see, James. I am quite sure you will be able to appreciate that, as well. And think of the opportunity our scientists can take advantage of―the visual integration system has not yet been tested on a person such as Lillie! The research data alone will prove invaluable!"

"My daughter is not a science project!"

"Of course not, James. Why should you imagine that?"

"I object to her being used in such a manner―as if she were nothing more than a research subject―"

"You would prefer a summary execution?"

"...I'm sorry?"

"I will defer further inquiry to Colonel Autumn. This conversation has gone on long enough. Good day, Doctor."


Lillie was playing on the floor, knocking a ball around the room. James sat at the desk nearby and watched her without a word, as she grasped out at the ball and headbutted the gate of the fence he'd rigged up for her. Every time she came around the edge closest to him he would dip a hand into the fence and tickle her, and she would shriek in joy and tumble away.

Lillie bumbled about the fence without a thought, lost in her own toddler machinations, while James wiped a tear from his eye and thought about everything that led up to their inclusion into Raven Rock. About why she was about to undergo this procedure that was necessary and unfortunate.

After Lillie's birth... and Catherine's death, James had aimed himself northwest. Made an effort to get to Megaton; he'd spent the evening there discussing business with Moriarty, paying an unreasonably high amount of money for information that the barman had not been so willing to part with. Information about a local Vault that would provide everything that Lillie needed to thrive and grow. It would also have given him ample opportunity to further his own research.

It hadn't mattered how much money he'd wasted on Moriarty. The Vault Overseer hadn't been willing to let Lillie and himself inside. James had pleaded with the man for hours over a static-filled intercom, explaining their situation and the necessity. In the end, the Overseer stated that there was too much risk; too much subterfuge to cover up. Too many people who wouldn't remain complicit to the plot, to keep up appearances. Almodovar regretted that the baby would be without protection, but his job was to oversee the protection of the people of the Vault... and James and his daughter were not of the Vault.

"In Vault 101, no one ever enters and no one ever leaves." Almodovar wished him godspeed, and spoke no more.

It was too dangerous to go back to the purifier or to Rivet City, where Madison had gone. It was too dangerous to go anywhere, really, other than where he'd wanted to go. James didn't know what to do. It was a feeling unlike any other, and he'd never had the chance to experience it before.

James and Lillie were two lost souls among many, out in the wastes. With nowhere to go, James had cursed until his lips cracked, walked northwest until his legs were jelly, starved himself until his stomach was nothing more than a hollow pit, and Lillie―

He reached out and tickled her again as she wobbled her way around the corner, brushing her side up against the fence because she couldn't see which way to go. The damage was already done, by the time he'd found a place for them. If Catherine hadn't died, she would have spent the majority of her life inside the Jefferson Memorial. If Catherine hadn't died, Lillie would not have been subjected to UV damage from the harsh wasteland sun.

Lillie was such a tiny baby. Even now, at over a year old, she was small for her age. A miniature version of himself―it a was a shame that he couldn't see Catherine in her face. She would grow up without her mother... without knowing how to miss her, because she was gone before Lillie could know her.

Lillie made another round and James grabbed her up, hearing the funny burbling laughter, seeing her sightless eyes glancing over his own. They were lucky that they had been found by the Enclave, even though James did not enjoy the capture by the oppressive military force. It was a safe haven for Lillie. A place she could grow up without fear of death.

Yet with fear of an overbearing military presence and a virtual dictator in the President. Of a society where free thought was often considered seditious, such as it had been before the War. But James could not bear to let Lillie be killed in the wastes; living under the roof of a hostile force was only the lesser of two evils. Not an easy choice to have made, but the better one nonetheless.

The military base at Raven Rock was host to many differing types of scientists, including the ophthalmologist Dr. Isben. In James' many discussions with President Eden―over the intercom, and at Eden's leisure, of course―he'd managed to work out how Lillie could regain her sight. But the cost... it was devastating.

The visual integration project had taken a year to develop, and Isben was preparing to implant the device into Lillie's eyes. James did not particularly enjoy that Lillie's condition would be used to further the Enclave's soldiers, which was the expected outcome of the experiment. He understood the scientific ramifications, the benefit of performing the experiment; he was not so blind as to assume they would give her medical aid without something in return. But...

Lillie squirmed in his arms, as he struggled to move her onto his lap. "Lillie," he chastised gently. "Daddy is only trying to hold you."

Lillie burbled something out and grabbed hold of his beard, pulling him with disproportionate strength―she was so strong for such a small thing. He smiled, untangled her hands from himself, and turned her to sit on his lap.

As was their custom, James told her Catherine's dream again. Every night before sleeping, he would explain to her that her mother had wished for clean waters in the broken and wasted world. He would end the custom with a recitation of the biblical passage that Catherine had been so fond of.

By the end Lillie would invariably be asleep in his arms, one hand tangled in his lab coat and her head nodding onto his forearm. James would smile, move her to the crib, and retire to his own bed. Tonight was no different than any other night... excepting what would come in the morning.

Tomorrow morning, she would undergo surgery. Tomorrow afternoon, she would be in recovery. By two mornings after... she would be able to see again.

James would not sleep well for the next three evenings.


"It was a success," Dr. Isben said, running a gloved hand over the front of his enclosed suit. "By that, I mean that Lillie's vision has been restored and the lens is positioned to provide additional data to the monitoring station. As President Eden directed."

The red intercom light on the wall glowed brightly as Colonel Autumn stared down at the sedated child on the gurney. James stood over Lillie, his hand on her scalp, stroking it gently. A vividly red incision had been repaired―a result of additional surgery requiring installation of a device into the optic chiasma, as Dr. Isben had explained. The result was that Lillie's yellow hair was shaven off and a gruesome scar would form. James was furious with this development. He had not been made aware that VIOLA required internal access beyond the optic nerve.

"I'll explain, if you allow me?" Dr. Isben asked the Colonel. Autumn nodded. "The lens of the eye was replaced with a prosthetic," Dr. Isben said, gesturing in a circle around his own eyes. "This was attached directly to a connecting lens in the back of the eye and a lead was run along to the chiasma, to the main body of the device."

Colonel Autumn stared down at the girl's head. James breathed out in a rush, closing his own own eyes. The thought that Lillie would have to rely on a mechanical device for sight―for her entire life―

Dr. Isben continued. "VIOLA was designed to sit directly inside the chiasma and intercept the signals sent by the optical nerve. It will provide the same function as the chiasma does; but it will translate the signals sent by the lens instead of the signals that normally would be sent by the rods and cones of her retinas."

"Very good, Dr. Isben." The President's voice rang through the medical bay. "I look forward to seeing your work on further use for such devices. Colonel, please escort the child and her father to a recovery room, and report to me."

James watched a minor annoyance tremble across Colonel Autumn's face, before he curtly agreed to the duty. The Colonel had not been very fond of James; when the Enclave scouts came across James and Lillie on the wasteland floor, they'd rounded the pair up and deposited them in Raven Rock. It hadn't been expected, and Colonel Autumn was still suspicious of James' motives within the reclusive society.

James knew that the orders to retrieve himself and his daughter came from President Eden; he had somehow known of their departure from Vault 101 and mistakenly assumed that the pair were actually from within the Vault. James didn't feel the need to correct him. What might be gained from the President thinking that he and Lillie were pure humans was enough to keep his mouth closed on the matter.

James wheeled his daughter to the room in which she would recover from the surgery, following the constrained Colonel. Autumn was speaking in clipped words about tactical development of the VIOLA program, and how he expected it was going to change the nature of Enclave warfare.

"I don't approve of sordid medical experiments on children," Autumn was saying. James broke from his momentary distraction, watching Lillie stirring on the gurney as if the movement was disturbing her, and stared at the Colonel with a frown. His words spoke of a concern against the President, and of doubt.

"Whatever you believe this exercise is meant to provide the Enclave―" Autumn turned to shoot a glance at James, his own face pinched and showing concern. "Best we remember that even the greatest of minds can have ill moments," he continued, laying a hand on Lillie's arm. "Including minds such as your own, James."

James bristled at the unprompted touch, and the overt threat. The Colonel could not make it more clear that he did not approve of James. Autumn withdrew his hand as quickly as he had laid it, and opened a door to the recovery room.

James pushed Lillie into place and set up apparatus to monitor Lillie's vitals. Autumn stayed long enough to see that she was in the best of health following the major surgery, then departed.

Once he had gone, James sunk into a chair beside Lillie's gurney and put his face into his hands. The price to pay... was a lifetime of Enclave monitoring and imprisonment―a lifetime for Lillie, who was not old enough to make the decision on her own, and a lifetime for him, because he could not hope to escape their clutches with his daughter if they were able to literally see through her eyes.

For the first time since Catherine had died, James allowed himself to cry.