I'm sure most of you had figured this out already, but I feel it bears mentioning: this story will be a little different from what happens in the game. Anyway, enjoy!

"Watch out for that hunk of loose metal," Layla called to ED-E as she crawled through the twisted remains of another car. The coordinates on the message she'd received had taken her to the old road that had once led to the Divide.

Well, it still led there, but no one traveled it anymore. It had once been a major supply line for the NCR. Joshua had told her that losing access to the roads through the Divide had been the only thing that kept the NCR from finishing the Legion at the first Hoover Dam battle.

That had to be why this Ulysses had destroyed Hopeville and Ashton. The Burned Man had explained there had been nearly a whole century dispatched to disrupt the supply line.

He also said this massive destruction had not been the plan. She hadn't been to the Divide in a long time; not since before the disaster that made it uninhabitable.

Some part of the Courier wondered if this was just some elaborate trap just to kill her; this guy might be one of the last active Frumentarii. Great Caesar's ghost probably still needed avenging.

She walked by another spray-painted message and shook her head.

'You can go home, Courier.'

No. This was personal, even if it was a trap. Something told her that Ulysses wasn't just bent on her destruction; he wanted her to see something. He might think he had all the cards, but she knew a few things about him as well. And if he assumed-

Her train of thought came to an abrupt halt as she crawled out from under a jagged hunk of bus. The way ahead was clear, revealing a path that led to a cliff overlooking the Divide. She walked out until she reached the edge, where her legs gave out.

She had thought she'd be prepared for this. Her ranger brother had hinted, and Joshua Graham had warned. Neither had been enough.

The ground was split apart; gouges were torn into the earth so deep that she couldn't see to the bottom. The air was filled with dirt, smoke and sand kicked up by horribly strong winds. The sky was dark and sickly-looking.

Nothing was left of the growing community she'd for a time called home except a few skeletal, twisted ruins of buildings. With shaking hands, she dug out her binoculars and looked through them, trying in vain to find the tiny apartment building where she'd lived with another courier, a very old man and his sweet granddaughter. They'd picked out the spot because it had been near a flat patch of dirt that Old Man Earrie started making a garden out of.

The last time she'd been in Hopeville, the weathered old man had told her to hurry back; confident that the bean plants would be bursting soon. He'd made her promise to tell him her mother's chili recipe she'd talked about so much.

She was pretty sure she recognized part of her old neighborhood; there was nothing but a huge gash in the ground, like the earth had swallowed it up.

Layla started weeping, despite her efforts not too. It was too much. Everything was gone. How could the people who'd survived the Great War stand to see everything in ruins?

ED-E bumped into her shoulder, whistling softly. The Courier looked at him, sniffling.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm…" She started weeping again. "Sorry."

The robot slowly orbited around her, occasionally knocking into her lightly. Eventually she pulled herself together.

"I'm okay… I-I just wasn't expecting… this." Layla started as she noticed how close to the edge of the cliff she was and scooted back. She wiped her face with the back of her arm and turned her attention back to ED-E.

"We'd better keep moving," she said, and the eyebot beeped an affirmative. The Courier climbed to her feet and looked around. There didn't seem to be anything more than wreckage on this cliff, but she saw what looked like a bunker across the other side of the lip of the canyon.

As they got closer, Layla was able to make out a plaque near the door that read 'Hopeville Basllistic Defense Station – Authorized Military Personnel only.' She hadn't known there was a ballistics base in Hopeville. She'd never gone this far west when she lived here.

Shaking off the thought, she opened the door and went inside.

She had only taken a few steps in when she realized the darkness inside the building was occasionally broken up by sparks of light. Confused, she moved toward the spark, then quickly retreated.

"Oh crap, be careful, ED-E," she called. The robot whistled an affirmative, probably having seen the live wires hanging from the ceiling as well. Bursts of energy occasionally blasted off of them into the ground.

Layla shook her head in amazement; this place looked like it had been hit with a bomb. She backed toward the safety of the doorway and checked over her gear. There wasn't much; she'd packed lightly. No dresses, only her assassin armor. She' d left heavy Brutus at home and opted for Joshua's gun, her shotgun, her energy axe and all the extra ammo she'd been able to scrounge up.

That only left the large wad of jerky and bottles of water tucked in her pack. Aside from that, she'd brought her normal tools and her 1st Recon beret, which was tucked back in its place under her chest plate. She strapped her bag tightly against her, pulled her hair into her head wrap and made sure her axe and shotgun were tucked up flush against her.

"Nice and easy," the Courier said both to herself and to the eyebot floating at her side, then started through the dangerously electrified corridor. There was a door at the end of the hall. As she moved up to look for a switch, it opened.

It wasn't like Layla hadn't seen automatic doors before, but for some reason she was unnerved by the sudden movement. 'Lonesome Road' was spray-painted on the wall next to the door. She hesitated as she looked into the dark room beyond.

ED-E bumped into her again, and she let out a nervous laugh.

"Okay, I'm going."

The next room was even more damaged than the corridor. Layla wondered for a moment if they were going to have to turn back. Broken, live wires hung from the ceiling like streamers.

She spotted a control station next to a generator. After a moment of planning her route, she determined she'd be able to make it without getting electrocuted. Hopefully. A few moments later, she let out a sigh of relief as she made it to the back of the corridor.

The control panel had power, much to her amazement. Layla keyed up the computer display. She started to input her usual arsenal of workarounds to get through to the security functions, but found her way blocked. She frowned, trying a few other tricks, but nothing worked. Whoever had encrypted this had meant business.

"We're gonna have to find another way to get in…" she said out loud. ED-E let out an electronic raspberry.

One door, labeled 'Reactor,' didn't respond when she tried to open it. She had the sinking feeling the generator powered it. On the other side of the room was a door marked 'Utility,' which appeared to be locked by a console. Layla had no trouble opening the door, and found to her relief that there were no exposed wires.

The utility room was full of equipment. She picked through it until she saw what looked like a stasis pod on a platform against the wall. Walking up to it, Layla peeked in.

"There's an eyebot in here," she announced, and ED-E hovered over. He whistled as his cameras looked in. "Hold on, there's a computer here. Maybe we can get him up and running." She found the program to open the eyebot pod. She toggled it on and looked up as the pod hissed open.

The eyebot inside fell to the ground with a loud clank. ED-E whistled sadly.

"I know," Layla answered him. "Let me see if I can do anything." She knelt down to the machine and dug out her tools. A few minutes later she was looking over the inner components of the robot and frowning.

"I think his central processor is shot," she said. "His hard drive is fried." She looked around the room. "It probably had to do with the electrical shorts all over this place."

ED-E beeped softly at that. Even if she could get the broken bot back to working order, the data that made it unique would be gone. The Courier sighed, then looked over the dead eyebot.

"ED-E, if you don't mind, I can salvage this guy's zapper." She shook her head. "I guess not, though. You wouldn't have the software or the drivers for it."

The eyebot warbled and Layla looked up at him. "How on Earth can you get that remotely?" There was another set of beeps and she gaped. "You've already received it?"

ED-E continued beeping, sounding like he was trying to pacify her.

"I don't care if this place can copy schematics, they had that tech at …" She groaned in frustration. "I can't tell you." She pointed to the scar on the back of her neck she'd gotten at Big Mountain, and ED-E beeped in acknowledgement.

"Anyway, who's been sending you info packets? Have you let them all in? What if they're malicious?"

Now the robot's beeping sounded like he was brushing her off. "No, I'm not being overcautious. You don't know anything about these other eyebots. What if they're planning something behind your back?"

The robot floated in the air silently for a moment.

"Fine, okay, maybe eyebots aren't known for treachery, but what if someone left some bad code they've been knocking back and forth?"

ED-E warbled thoughtfully for a moment, and Layla sighed.

"Just be careful." She looked down at the robot on the ground beside her again, "So, do you want the zapper?"

ED-E beeped an affirmative, and Layla beckoned him over. The eyebot warbled at her as she started pulling off the plate near his power switch.

"I know, I'll be careful while you're off," she said. "Here we go."

She flipped the switch, and had to fight to keep the robot in her arms. She always forgot how heavy he was when she turned him off.

Heading his warnings, she quickly removed the device from the dead eyebot and switched it with ED-E's regular laser. She stowed the old part in her bag and attached the new with relative ease. A few minutes later, she'd finished and switched him back on.

The robot beeped a few times as Layla screwed his access panel back on.

"How does it feel?"

The robot made a whirring noise, then started playing a recording.

'Experiment log 369248/b, eyebot duraframe universal interface override system. This is doctor Whitley presiding. We boosted signal gain and enlarged the overflow buffer system. That should ensure 100 percent connectivity and control. ED-E, whenever you're ready. Yes! Success! Ahem… um… Reporting full success on reporting 369248/b. ED-E was able to interface with and override the test panel in under 3 seconds. Great job, team. Now let's start on the proposal for the full rollout.'

"So that zapper is for interfacing systems…" Layla said thoughtfully. "Who's Whitely? Your creator?"

ED-E whistled happily.

"Huh… wait, you already had the drivers for this thing? I'm confused."

ED-E warbled an explanation.

"The data had been corrupted… but the eyebots here had it? That doesn't make sense, how did they get it?"

The robot whistled.

"You were scanned by the machines that gave you the software?" That was disconcerting. "When?"

The robot made a few evasive beeps.

"ED-E, that's not…" she trailed off as the robot warbled.

"All right… If you say so." She frowned.

The robot rose in the air, then turned toward the wall and shot an arc of energy into it. The scorch it left was huge.

"Oh… Well, I guess that'll be useful for frying our problems too." ED-E chirped happily as Layla got back on her feet. The eyebot pod's terminal had a few other entries on it that she wanted to take a look at. The control panel mentioned a commissary, which sounded like the machine she'd seen near the door.

'The automated Commissary system has been locked down until further notices. It turns out that the "counterfeit-proof" pay chits we've been issuing to you are exactly the same size and shape as ordinary bottlecaps…'

Layla laughed. ED-E beeped questioningly at her.

"Nothing. Looks like we could have used the commissary if it worked."

There were a few more beeps, then what sounded like music as the eyebot started bobbing in the air excitedly.

"What's that music?" she asked, and ED-E made a few furtive beeps before flying out of the room. She quickly followed him as he floated to the control panel on the generator. He sent another burst of energy into the panel. Layla thought he'd shorted it out, but a moment later the machine hummed to life.

"Great," Layla grinned. The robot buzzed off, beeping excitedly.

"Wait! Where are you going?" She got up and ran after him. A moment later, she found him in the back room near the commissary terminal. He shot another burst of electricity into the machine, and the panel opened. Now she could see the computer screen and dials to make selections, as well as what looked like the end of a pneumatic tube.

ED-E beeped behind her, and she grinned.

"Okay, let's see if the bottle caps actually work."

She dialed through the options, smiling at the amount of ammo displayed. The US military sure liked to keep their pencil pushers armed.

She ordered a box of .45 ammo, curious to see if the system still worked. There was a sound like a vacuum starting, then a box popped out of the pneumatic tube.

"All right," she grinned, freeing the box from the tube. "That ought to help things."

ED-E chirped happily behind her as she got back to the generator. She threw the lever that had popped up when ED-E unlocked it.

The lights in the room came back on, and part of the wall in front of her slid away to reveal a window. Inside was like a circular room she couldn't see to the top of. There were stairs and catwalks leading to higher levels, all surrounding a huge rocket in the center of the room; a missile silo. Layla watched, mouth agape, as she saw a few intact eyebots buzzing around making repairs to the missile.

The Courier leaned over the panel and angled herself so she could see it better.

"That's the kind of missiles they launch nukes with!" she cried. ED-E whistled.

The reactor door had opened behind her, and she made for the hallway. In her rush, she stumbled over another downed eyebot and ended up on her backside.

"Ow!"

ED-E hovered over the deactivated machine, whistling.

"What? How can you tell?"

The eyebot whistled again, this time insistently.

"Fine fine, let me look," the Courier said. "You know, humans don't go ripping each other apart for good parts."

ED-E let out an indignant buzz.

"Well… yes, I do scavenge items off bodies… I guess you've got me there." She pulled the circuit board the eyebot had indicated. "Come here, and I'll put it in."

A few moments later, she reactivated the eyebot with his newly installed upgrades. Just as she was going to ask how the new upgrade felt, the robot started playing another recording. There were two voices this time. The first was Whitley's:

'Doctor Grant? What the hell do you think you're doing?'

'Ah, Whitley, There you are. Orders from Colonel Autumn. He feels the eyebot duraframe project isn't advancing fast enough. I'm to…'

'You didn't even disengage his damage avoidance protocols! You're…hurting him!'

'Don't be ridiculous! It's just a machine! See here? I've already increased the navigation system's efficiency by 65%.'

'Get the hell out of here!'

'Fine, Whitley. It's your lab…at least until I tell the colonel about this.'

The recording ended.

"Huh… Grant sounds like a war crime waiting to happen," said Layla. "Autumn sounds just peachy too."

The eyebot whistled in agreement. The Courier looked him over for a moment.

"Why are these recordings coming up now? Are you controlling them?"

The eyebot buzzed, sounding annoyed. Layla held up her hands.

"Okay okay. If you're not worried, neither am I. Let's just keep going, then." ED-E flew out ahead of her, and Layla followed.

They were in the missile silo now. Layla looked up to see if she could spot a warhead on the device, but it was too far up. She started climbing the winding stairs, hoping to see if this thing was active.

ED-E gave a warning beep as they moved to the next floor. Layla ducked down at the eyebot's insistence. Peeking through the window ahead, she found a sentry bot scuttling around.

"Oh crap."

There was a terminal on the other side of the window, and she crawled toward it. She'd hoped for a better map of the rooms or maybe a way to lock the robot in. What she found was an override to shut down both the machine and this floor's security. She deactivated the robot and peeked back through the window. The sentry bot was still.

"Come on, Ed-o," she said with a grin. They moved into the next room, which had little more than a few empty desks and diagrams of a weapon prototype. There was a set of stairs the led up to the next floor. She started upward, hoping she'd be able to get a better look at the missile. If this thing was active, she'd have to-

Layla gasped as she walked into the room just beyond the stairs; there was an NCR trooper pinned to the wall by a hunk of metal, dead. It wasn't just the dead trooper that had shocked her, but the condition of his body. It looked like he'd been skinned.

Layla looked away, horrified. As she took a step back, her foot skidded on something slick on the floor. Looking down, she found it was a small puddle of blood.

That stopped her; there wasn't nearly enough if the soldier had been skinned here. There also weren't any streaks of blood, so the body hadn't been dragged. He could have been drained of blood or cleaned before he'd been moved, but the puddle was coming from the body. There was some on the front of the chest plate as well. And beyond all that; why would anyone skin him and then redress him?

None of it made any sense. Biting her lip, she moved closer to the dead man and lifted the torn sleeve of his uniform. He was skinned under the fabric as well. She still wasn't satisfied, and pulled her combat knife from her belt to cut open the fabric on the torso of his shirt.

There was skin under the cloth. Dry, damaged skin, but skin nonetheless. She continued cutting until she got to the shoulders, where the exposed muscle started. It wasn't a clean transition, but it looked like the skin had been blasted off.

There was another body further in the room. This one was also missing skin on his face and arms. Parts of his torso were exposed as well. This one wore the remains of a Legionary uniform.

So now there were two corpses missing all their skin, one and NCR soldier, one a Legionary.

ED-E whistled behind her.

"No, I don't get it either."

The robot gave her shoulder a nudge, and she shook her head.

"I know: stop dawdling." The Courier stepped away from the bodies and into the next room. She caught sight of a turret and the terminal next to it. It didn't seem to be activated, so she moved to look at the computer.

Another easy system; she was looking through its programs just a few moments later. Just as she started bringing the targeting systems online, she heard ED-E beeping frantically behind her.

"Wha?" She looked behind her and saw another sentry bot coming their way.

"FFFF-"

She managed to corrupt the targeting controls and dove out of the room.

"Get in here!" She called to ED-E, who zoomed after her. A moment later, there was the sound of rapid laser fire and rockets going off. The wall became very warm against Layla's back. After a very loud explosion, it got quiet.

Crawling over to the door, she peeked out and found the sentry bot exploded. The turret was destroyed as well.

"Huh."

The courier got to her feet and walked back in. The missile was visible from this room as well, only now she could see the whole thing. It was topped with a nuclear warhead.

"Oh… oh that's not good." ED-E whistled in agreement.

"We need to make sure this place can't launch it…" she murmured, though it looked like the silo hadn't been accessed in quite a while.

ED-E whistled at her, and she found him hovering over what looked like a mainframe in the next room. It was offline.

"This is probably the way out," Layla announced to her robotic companion, "which means we'll need to find the codes…" She looked around and found two more dead, skinned bodies. These looked like they'd been killed by the sentry bot that lie in a heap on the other side of the room. There was a huge knife sticking out of the robot's head.

Layla gaped at the blade, a huge bowie knife. She pulled it free of the sentry bot and tucked it into her belt. It'd probably come in handy.

She'd spotted a door marked 'Security' in the silo room. Going back that way, she found the door unlocked. Layla hit the switch, and a blast of stale air hit her as the door opened.

She crept in, gun first. The room she'd entered had a large desk in the back, similar to a Vault overseer's desk. That probably meant it had a control console.

Layla walked over to the desk, then heard ED-E beep behind her. She turned to see two rows of sentry bots on either side of the room. She hadn't even noticed them.

They seemed to be offline, much to Layla's relief. She ran a hand over her face; this place was clearly getting to her. She had to focus if she was going to live through this. Looking back to the desk, she leapt a good foot when she noticed the body on the seat.

ED-E shot over, beeping frantically.

"I'm okay. I just got startled." She pointed. "There's a body over here…"

The body had been a ghoul once, but by the looks of him, he'd been dead a long time. The cause of death wasn't hard to determine: gunshot to the head. The pistol lay near his outstretched hand. The room must have been sealed; otherwise he'd have rotted completely.

"General Martin Retslaf…" Layla read out loud from the computer on his desk. She found what had to be the silo mainframe codes in his desk as well.

Layla started to walk away, but looked back at the general with a frown. It wasn't so hard to understand killing yourself after seeing so much destruction. That thought didn't sit well with her at all.

Eventually, she shook her head and left the room, going back to the mainframe in silence. ED-E was able to input the codes. As she pulled the power lever, she could hear turrets coming online in another room. Making her way there, she found the silo's doors opened and a couple of wayward sentry bots that had been blown apart by the turrets. They didn't seem to be targeting her; the terminal she hacked must have affected all the turrets on this floor.

There were more skinned corpses, all strewn across the corridor. Layla picked her way across them, checking for ammo or anything useful.

"There's the exit," she said, and ED-E whistled in response. Layla looked back at the carnage and sighed, then opened the door.

Just as she stepped outside, ED-E's speakers crackled and a familiar, gravelly voice spoke.

"There you are."

Thanks for reading, and have a happy St. Patrick's Day!