Password correct.

A huge noise began to come from inside the vault.

Tobias had succeeded.

After three nights, he had succeeded.

After years out in the blazing heat of the Capital Wasteland, Tobias had spent three nights freezing cold in a cold piece of cavern. The only light was impossibly bright, coming in through the cracks between the sticks of the old wooden door, but only casting a small shadow. No heat came into the room, cold filling the clearing of stone and rock.

For three days, Tobias had been stabbing away at number after number.

Non-stop.

For three days, Tobias had not slept. He had not rested. He had only stopped to give Maria and Dogmeat food.

Finally, after three days of cold and combination, of tedium and tiredness, the keypad had accepted the password.

Tobias' eyes burned. He barely had energy to stand up. He hadn't taken Rad-X. Marie didn't need her last memories of him to be him chugging pills and inhaling Jet. He felt horrible.

Tobias put pressure on his foot.

He put pressure on the other foot.

He grabbed the keypad up on the stand, pulling at it and straining to get to his feet.

"Tobias?" Maria ventured.

The sweet, two-year old voice seemed extremely out of place. The only other sounds were the loud clangs and clinks and sound of steam from the door, an alarm blaring to announce its opening, and Dogmeat's muffled panting.

Tobias finally got to his feet with a grunt.

The humongous door, shaped like a giant iron gear, started to show light coming from the inside of the vault.

"Maria, warm beds await you," Tobias muttered.

The giant gear door cranked further up. Further up. That familiar floor was there, a bit lower than the actual floor of the vault. The stairs. The railing. Tobias squinted as the fluorescent lights hit him, shielding his eyes.

"Cover your eyes," Tobias said.

Marie obeyed, placing one soft hand over each eye. Duster knocked against her cheek.

Dark silhouettes.

Lots of them.

The giant door went further up.

Further up.

It was gone.

There was a clanking noise as it stopped.

Tobias blinked a few times. The silhouettes soon became people.

Some were people Tobias recognized.

Some weren't.

Most of them were security guards aiming guns at Tobias.

Most of them looked afraid.

Some of them were frozen with utter surprise at the sight of the return of James' son.

But one of them was a far more familiar face. A far prettier face. A sad, weak smile spread across Tobias' face again.

"Hi, Amata. I came back," he said.

Amata stared at him. The look on her face was one of sadness, surprise, pity, and perhaps sympathy. Care, even.

Tobias' eyes slowly lowered down to the guard directly in front of him. Underneath the helmet, Tobias could see an old red and white beard and Caucasian skin. Just because of that red beard, more memories flooded into Tobias' brain.

"Hey, Talmner," he said, "You were a guard back when I was just a kid. Still at it, huh?"

Talmner was silent for a moment.

"Head guard, now," he said quietly.

Tobias nodded.

"Come on, Maria. Come on, Dogmeat," Tobias called, gesturing towards the inside of the vault.

Maria walked forward, Dogmeat padding forward with her. Maria looked up with fear in her eyes, clenching Duster tight in her hands. Dogmeat looked at the guards with caution, ready to attack.

Talmner lowered his gun.

"Put you guns down, boys," he said.

The other security guards hesitated, looking at each other.

"Put them down," Talmner said, more strictly.

The other security guards did so.

Tobias looked back at Amata.

"You know what's funny, Amata?" he said, "I was just dreaming about you."

"Don't be a smart-aleck," she said quietly, memories filling her mind as well.

She started to cry.

Tobias stared at her for another moment as she buried her head in her hands, then nodded to himself and looked back at Talmner.

"You know, this little lady here is pretty tired and hungry. I think she deserves a nice, warm bed and a hot meal. Don't you think so, Maria?" Tobias asked, looking down at the girl he'd stolen two years back.

She nodded up at him.

"Yeah. Me too. How about it, Talmner? Could one of your boys here show her to the cafeteria?" Tobias asked, looking back up at the older security guard.

"Of course," Talmner said, "Come on, Wilkins, show the girl to the café."

Wilkins nodded, and looked over at Maria.

"Come on, ma'am," he said kindly.

Maria looked up at Tobias and tugged on his hand. He looked back down at her, and saw a look in her eyes of question and fear.

"Don't worry, Maria, I'm right behind you. You just follow that nice man and get yourself a hot lunch, I'll come and join you soon," he said.

She nodded, and reluctantly let go of Tobias' hand. She walked over up the steps and followed Wilkins out. Dogmeat looked at Tobias.

"Go after her, go on," he said.

Dogmeat hesitated, then barked one last time and padded off after Maria.

A second later, after the door closed behind them, Tobias looked back at Talmner.

Silence passed.

"Could I step in?" he asked.

"Of course," Talmner muttered.

Tobias stepped over the threshold, onto the steel floor of the past. He looked around, soaking it all in, then looked back at Talmner.

More silence passed.

"You know," Tobias finally said, "I always liked Grognak the Barbarian."

Amata sobbed just a little bit louder.

"And when I was a kid, I always wanted to grow up to be just like him. Sword and loincloth and all, big muscles, manly and all. Great big greatsword, wouldn't even need a shield to protect myself, just fighting off the hordes of evil with sword but not shield, battling the creatures from the fires of the brimstones for good and humanity!" Tobias said, quoting but altering slightly the line from the comic, "But it's a little hard to get a hold of a sword, you know. A lot easier to be a cowboy these days, and hey, a cowboy is almost as good as a warrior, right? Revolver instead of a sword, but still, a cowboy is no joke. I didn't mind growing up to be a cowboy. Cowboys aren't too bad."

Talmner said nothing, standing and listening.

"So, going out like a cowboy isn't that bad either. I wouldn't mind going out like a cowboy. Wouldn't mind it at all, I'd be the only cowboy who played with science labs all his childhood. Chased around a girl," Tobias said, and glanced at Amata again, then back at Talmner, "Do you like cowboys?"

Talmner still said nothing.

"You look like you'd make a good cowboy. You were always cool, I always thought so when I was a kid, wanted to grow up to have a beard like yours. Thought it was really manly. My beard's all grey, though, and I'm younger than you. Yeah. Yeah, you'd make a good cowboy, Talmner. Come on, Talmner. Let's be cowboys. Let's have a real shootout, one on one. How about it?" Tobias asked.

The other guards started to stir. Talmner quickly put a hand up to quiet them, and it worked. The guards were instantly silenced. Talmner continued to stare at Tobias.

"Come on, Talmner. Humor me," Tobias said.

Talmner was silent for a moment.

"All right," he said.

Tobias smiled at him.

"Thanks," he said.

Tobias walked over to the red-haired security guard, who was taking off his helmet and handing it to one of the other guards. Tobias walked closer, and closer. He finally leaned forward to whisper into Talmner's ear.

"Give the .32 and the bullets to the girl when she's older, the other guns, too. The duster, as well. The dog is hers," he whispered, then stepped back.

Talmner nodded.

"Thanks," Tobias said.

The baby sitter turned, walking about ten feet the other way. He turned to face the old, grizzled security guard. The guard handed his shotgun to one of the other security guards and set his hand above his pistol. Tobias smiled and threw back the side of his duster covering the holster containing the .32. He hovered his hand over the revolver.

"Come on, then. You do the count-down," Tobias said.

A gleam of pity and guilt flashed across the eyes in the stone-cold face of Talmner that showed no emotion.

"NO!" Amata screamed.

One of the security guards grabbed her. She tried to resist.

Tobias looked back up at her.

"I'll dream of you, Amata," he said.

He looked back at Talmner as the wanderer's old friend screamed and bawled.

"Come on. Let's be cowboys," he said.

Talmner nodded.

"Three. Two. One."

Tobias whipped out his .32.

Talmner whipped out his Colt.

The Colt spoke three times against the mute .32, its ability to speak left in the pocket of the duster.

"NOOO!"

Tobias staggered back. His steps were slow and heavy. Down the hallway, the small figure of Maria cried out and turned at the sound. The security guard named Wilkins picked up her small hand and squeezed it.

Tobias fell.

EPILOGUE

14 YEARS LATER

"So what do you think? She's cute, right?"

"What, that Marie chick?"

The group of three stood in the hallway vaults. They were dressed in green leather jackets, the design of a lion on their backs, like some kind of altered version of the Tunnel Snakes from the old days. One of them chewed on a toothpick. His name was Max, and his friends' names were Will and Joe.

"Yeah. She's cute, ain't she?" said Joe, with a grin on his face.

"She's cute, sure, but you've heard the stories haven't you?" asked Will.

Joe frowned.

"What stories?" he asked.

Will laughed and looked at Max.

"He ain't heard about the Daughter of a Deathclaw!" Will chuckled out.

Max shook his head, and looked up at Joe.

"You really ain't never heard about her daddy?" Max asked.

"Baby sitter," Will corrected.

"Daddy, babysitter, it changes with the stories. But yeah, most of them call him a baby sitter. Guess it sounds neat, Deathclaw as a baby sitter. Anyway, you want to hear the story?" Max asked.

"Yeah," Joe said.

"Well, see, Marie wasn't born in the vault here. Well, first of all, she was born out in this place called The Pitt, which was basically supposed to Hell, and where else would a Deathclaw spend his free time but Hell? So in this Deathclaw wanders and he kills her entire family, but when he sees her, he takes her in. Kidnaps her, takes her back here, and raises her himself. Now, then, this is a real intelligent Deathclaw, the kind you see out in California, you know, the ones you hear stories about that can speak and all? Yeah, he was one of those. Vicious, mean dude, about seven feet tall, but he raised her, you know? He even picks a gun off of one of his victims before he eats it. One day, he stumbles along here and just rips open the door, straight through the steel and everything! Everyone just starts blasting away at him, letting loose slugs into his red skin at this hellhound that just stumbled into the vault thinking he could eat everyone! Eventually, after he kills more than a dozen guards, this huge monster keels over dead and they realize he's got this baby with him! Vicious, mean thing, just like him, but when one of the guards get his gun to shoot him, old Talmner stops him, you know, thinks it's still a baby or whatever, crazy old geezer. So they take it in. That's why some of the stories say it was her daddy that was the Deathclaw, because she sure as Hell seems to have Deathclaw blood in her. I heard she's still got that gun the Deathclaw got her hidden away somewhere, and one time a friend of a friend of mine told me he saw her playing with a Deathclaw hand! Must have ripped it off the Deathclaw's corpse! Me, personally? I think that wasn't no Pitt she was born in, I think she was born in Hell, man, she's a crazy broad. Did you see that old hound of hers? Old as all Hell, it must be more than sixteen years old, but once a friend of a friend of mine tried to, you know, seduce, shall we say, her, and this old grey hound just leaps up and goes at him! And he's not the only mean one, one time my friend Jeff found out she had a teddy bear in her room and was making fun of her. He was in the hospital a week." Max explained.

The group of three were silent.

"Wow," Joe said.

"Yeah! Not so cute anymore, is she?" Will asked.

"No, dude!" Joe exclaimed.

"It's all wrong, you know."

Joe jumped, and the other two startled. Down at the end of the hallway stood a teenage girl, her eyes a blazing blue fire and her face mischievous.

"He wasn't a Deathclaw, my baby sitter. And you missed a few details, too. He hung out with a Ghoul mercenary who could probably kill twenty BoS boys in half a second, and my dog isn't that old so don't judge him. No, my baby sitter wasn't a Deathclaw. He was a cowboy," Marie said, her hands on her hips and Dogmeat at her side.

The three teenage boys stared at her.

"You did get one thing right, though," Marie said, and grinned, "I was born in Hell."