Alright, this is the second in The Bonds of Steel Trilogy. Be warned, there is an abundance of action in this chapter.

There Stands the Grass.

"Woah." Layla's mouth hung open like a trap door as she gazed upon the entrance to Vault 22. As Rex tore apart giant mantises, oblivious to the sight, Layla and Veronica stood in stunned amazement. Neither of them had seen so many plants before. The entrance to Vault 22 was a verdant paradise of flora, covered with grass and plants of all shapes and sizes. As Rex tore apart the last giant mantis, Layla and Veronica came to their senses and approached the entrance. The door to the Vault was hanging open, presenting a tantalisingly easy entrance.

"This place is amazing." Veronica said as she looked at the plants around her. "Think of what this data could do."

"I don't really care about the data too much to be honest." Layla replied apathetically.

"Then why are you even here?"

"To help you of course."

"I'm touched." Veronica said sarcastically as she ducked into the entrance. "Shall we?"

"Alright, just one second." Layla turned to Rex. "Stay boy." If Rex was getting tired of being told to wait he didn't show it. Instead he ran off to try out the urine absorbing properties of nearby bushes. With that, Layla followed Veronica into the vault. They had been so busy staring at the plants however, that none of them saw the sign that someone had erected outside the vault. The sign had originally said: 'Welcome to Vault 22', but someone had since written over the original words in red paint. The sign now read: 'Keep out! The plants kill!'

*Later*

Layla had never been in a vault before, and couldn't help feeling a sense of unease as she and Veronica explored the Vault's dark corridors. Foliage littered the vault, and the smell of freshly cut grass lingered in the air. To Layla, the unfamiliar smell was quietly terrifying. As they explored the vault, a strange chirping sound could be heard in the distance, which confused Layla. Not only that. As they continued to explore, Layla kept getting the feeling that they were being watched. Whenever they walked by a large amount of vegetation, Layla felt like eyes were looking at her from within the grass, but when she looked there would be nothing there. By the time they reached the third floor, Layla was really on edge.

"I think we need to go through here." Veronica said as they came to a large metal door. Through windows next to the door, they could see a cave. "I'm guessing these subterranean tunnels lead down to the bottom floor." Layla tried the computer next to the door, but found no way to open the door.

"Crap!" She said in an exasperated tone, then noticed a slot for a key card on the computer. "It looks like we need a key card."

"Terrific."

"You stay here by the door, I'll head further into the vault and see if I can find a key card."

"Sounds good. My feet are killing me." As Veronica sat down next to the door to rest her tired feet, Layla moved further into the vault, eventually finding stairs leading down to the fourth floor. She found herself in a large, open space. In front of her was a large atrium, and there were several rooms nearby, including stairs leading down to the atrium. Christ, I'm going to be searching forever. Layla thought to herself as she stood on the balcony railing and looked down into the atrium. At that moment Layla heard small footsteps coming towards her, and it sounded like whatever was making the footsteps had four legs. She grabbed her club and spun around to see a plant running towards her.

It wasn't a plant however. Looking closer, Layla realised that the plant was humanoid in shape. The creature was about three feet tall, and its skin was the same shade of green as most of the plants in the vault. It ran on all fours, and had sharp claws. The creature jumped towards Layla, and she quickly swung her club like a baseball bat, whacking the thing out of the air and into the wall. It hit the wall with great force, then fell to the floor. Before it could get up, Layla smashed its skull with her club, splattering green blood and pieces of brain everywhere. She took a second to catch her breath, recovering from the fright. What...the hell...was that? She thought to herself. She suddenly realised why she'd kept feeling like something was watching her. These things had been lurking in the grass that littered the vault, watching and stalking her.

Even as she realised this, she saw movement in a cluster of plants and grass to her left. Another of the plant creatures burst from the grass and let loose a loud, ferocious growl before rushing at Layla. The creature slashed with its claws upon reaching her, but she parried with her club before kicking the creature in the face, knocking it flying off the balcony and down to the ground below. Layla looked over the balcony to see that the creature had landed on its head, and blood oozed from a lethal head wound. Layla took a second to regain her composure, then continued her exploration of the fourth floor. Plant creatures or not, I need to find that key card.

She walked down the stairs to the wide area where the second creature had landed, and followed a corridor leading off, which took her to the vault living area. While wandering through the various, plant infested rooms, Layla came across a key card. It was sitting on a small table in one of the rooms, though the table was surrounded by grass. Regardless, Layla reached out to grab the key card. She grabbed it, but then a green hand shot out of the grass and grabbed her hand.

Layla pulled her arm free from the green hand that held it, but then a second green hand shot out of the grass, and slashed Layla with its razor sharp claws. The slash cut straight through the chest of her leather armour, leaving four bloody scratch marks on Layla's chest, one from each of the creature's fingers. The slash knocked Layla back slightly, and she tripped over a chair before falling to the floor, dropping the key card in the process. The plant creature that had slashed her took full advantage, jumping out of the grass before rushing her. Layla quickly pulled her single shotgun out of her bag, before firing. The shot blew off the top of the creature's head, knocking it flying into the wall of the small bedroom. Layla started to get to her feet, but two more plant creatures suddenly burst from the grass before rushing her. She put away her single shotgun before getting out her rebar club, and swung the club in a horizontal arc. The blow knocked the head off the first plant creature, but the second beast ducked under the attack. It leaped towards Layla, but she quickly pulled That Gun out of her thigh holster. She shot the creature in the face with That Gun at point blank range, knocking the creature flying across the room and leaving a gaping bullet hole in between its eyes. Wanting to spend no more time on the fourth floor than possible, Layla quickly picked the key card up off the floor, then ran back to the third floor, and made her way back to Veronica.

"Oh you're finally back." Veronica said as Layla burst into the room with the locked door. She was lying on the floor, but quickly got to her feet when she saw the bloody scratch marks on Layla's chest and the shocked expression on her face. "What the hell happened to you?" Veronica asked, a concerned expression on her face. Before Layla could reply, she saw a cluster of plants and grass behind Veronica. A head poked out of the grass, and the creature within prepared to jump.

"Behind you!" Layla exclaimed. Veronica spun around just in time to see the creature leap towards her. She quickly unleashed an uppercut on the airborne beast with her power fist, knocking off the top of the beast's head and sending it flying into the wall.

"What...the hell...was that?" Veronica asked, a shocked expression on her face.

"That's exactly what I wondered when one of those things jumped me." Layla replied, motioning to the scratch mark on her chest.

"We need to find this data and get the hell out of here fast."

"I couldn't agree more, which is why I got this." Layla pulled the key card out of her pocket. She walked up to the computer, before sliding the key card into the slot. A few seconds later, the door opened. Not wasting any time, they followed the subterranean tunnels and found the fifth floor.

"Alright, the server room should be on this floor." Veronica said as they passed through the door, leaving the underground tunnels behind and entering the fifth floor. "Let's find it and get the hell out of here." They wandered the fifth floor, searching for the server room and avoiding all plant clusters they came into contact with. After a while, they found the room, but before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, a vine whipped out of a nearby room. It wrapped around Veronica's leg, and she screamed as it dragged her into the room.

"Veronica!" Layla yelled before dashing into the room. Upon entering the room, she saw a giant venus flytrap. The vines were attached to the plant, and it had Veronica in its grasp. It opened its spiked maw, and prepared to chew on Veronica with the thorns that served as its teeth. Layla quickly whipped out That Gun, before firing at the plant's open maw. The flytrap recoiled in pain as the bullet blasted straight through its maw, causing it to loosen its grip on Veronica. Veronica quickly saw her chance, and broke free from the plants grip before punching it in the maw. The flytrap stumbled, injured by the attack, and Veronica started to punch it over and over again. Before Layla could help, she heard a familiar growl, and turned to see two plant creatures charging towards her. She quickly fired two shots from That Gun. Both shots scored headshots, blasting both creatures between the eyes and knocking them both flying. When Layla turned around, the flytrap lay dead. Veronica stood over the plant, stomping on it angrily. She finished stomping on the plant before taking a moment to compose herself, then turned to Layla.

"Shall we?" She said pleasantly. They walked back to the server room, and Layla downloaded the data from the mainframe and onto her Pip Boy. With their mission complete, they hurriedly tried to leave the vault. Unfortunately, the vault was a maze, and they quickly found themselves utterly lost.

"I hate this vault." Layla said in an annoyed tone as they walked down a random corridor.

"You and me both." Veronica replied in an equally annoyed tone. "At least you didn't nearly get eaten by a giant venus flytrap."

"No, I just nearly got my stomach cut open by the illegitimate love child of a human and a garden plant." Before Veronica could come up with a witty response, they found themselves back in the underground tunnels. After walking for a short distance, they found a drop, with a large, open cavern at the bottom. A green mist covered the cavern, and Layla could see several small shapes moving around in the mist.

"Are they plant creatures?" Veronica asked nervously, readying her power fist as Layla crouched and looked through her binoculars.

"No." Layla replied, surprising both her and Veronica. "They're giant mantises." Layla said in a relieved tone, suddenly realising that the chirping she'd heard earlier had been giant mantises moving around in the air vents. She put away her binoculars and got to her feet.

"Killing them should be fun." Veronica said eagerly. Before Layla could reply, a vine snaked out of the mist and grabbed her leg.

"Oh hell." Layla said in an exasperated tone as the vine dragged her down the drop and into the cavern. The vine dragged her along the cave floor, scratching Layla's back on several jagged rocks as it did so. Layla quickly reached into her leather jacket pocket, and pulled out her combat knife. She slashed the vine with the blade, cutting it and freeing her. She put the knife back in her jacket pocket, before drawing That Gun and firing three shots at the flytrap's gaping maw. The bullets punched straight through the plant's maw, killing it and causing it to fall to the floor. Before Layla could breathe, several giant mantises swarmed her. She put That Gun back in her thigh holster before taking out her club. Seconds before the mantises reached her she swung the club in a wide arc, knocking all the nearby mantises flying across the cavern. A mantis suddenly flew past Layla's head. She looked to see where the mantis had come from and saw Veronica, knocking several mantises flying across the cavern with a series of uppercuts.

Layla suddenly heard something whistling through the air, and turned to where the sound was coming from to see a spiked projectile flying towards her. She ducked under the projectile, and saw a flytrap on the other side of the cavern. The flytrap spat another projectile and Layla charged towards it, sliding under the projectile as she did so. She rolled to her feet before leaping towards the flytrap and smashing its maw into the ground with her club. She smacked the flytrap a few more times to make sure it was dead, then scanned the cavern to see if there were any more enemies. All she could see was Veronica, covered in green blood.

"I never want to see another plant or another bug for as long as I live." Veronica said as she walked up to Layla, cringing at the green blood at covered her. They prepared to leave the cavern via a tunnel leading off from it, when Layla saw movement in a small grotto in the corner of the cavern. She ran into the grotto, club at the ready, only to see no plants or mantises. Instead there was a ghoul, sitting on the cave floor.

"It's about time somebody killed those damn plants." She said in the raspy voice typical of most ghouls, getting to her feet as she did so. "I assume the NCR sent you here to rescue me?" Before Layla could reply, Veronica walked into the grotto behind her.

"You must be Keely." She said in a friendly tone. "Doctor Williams asked us to find you."

"She's a nice kid." Keely said to herself, then turned her attention to Layla and Veronica again. "We need to get rid of these plants. Follow me, quickly."

*Later*

Layla and Veronica followed Keely back to her base of operations on the second floor. Fortunately for them, Keely was able to repair the vault's elevator so they didn't have much of a walk. As they entered the room that Keely was using as her base, the ghoul sat down at a desk, seemingly resting her tired bones.

"So, what the hell is up with all these mutated plants?" Layla asked as casually as she was able.

"I've been investigating that for a while now, and I think I have an answer." Keely replied.

"We're on the edge of our seats." Layla's sarcasm earned her an annoyed look from Keely, before she continued.

"From what I can tell, this vault was conducting experiments on plant life, looking for ways to repopulate the world with vegetation after the war. I don't know how it happened, but it seems the researchers have been infected by a symbiotic airborne spore, that takes control of the subject's nervous system and grows to cover their entire body."

"That explains what the hell those plant creatures were." Veronica said in an interested tone.

"That's right, but the vault is still full of the spores. They have to be destroyed, and I've figured out how to do it."

"We're listening." Layla said, eager to kill the rest of the plants.

"Alright, I've been pumping gas through the vault's air filtration system. All I need now is for someone to ignite it."

"Someone being me I take it." Layla said with a spectacular lack of enthusiasm.

"That's right. To ignite it, you'll need a flame, an energy weapon, or an explosive. If you don't have anything like that then there's some grenades in my duffel bag over there. Here, I'll mark the location on your Pip Boy." Layla walked over to Keely, and Keely quickly pressed a few buttons on the Pip Boy. A few seconds later, a map came up on the Pip Boy. At least I won't get hopelessly lost now. Layla said, relieved.

"Alright, I'll be back in a bit. Veronica, stay here with Keely." With that Layla grabbed the duffel bag Keely had mentioned, left the room and headed for the elevator.

"You didn't tell Layla that she'd most likely have to outrun the explosion when she ignites the gas." Veronica said to Keely after Layla had left, raising an eyebrow at her as she did so.

"Didn't I? Must've slipped my mind." Keely replied, faking innocence.

*Later*

About half an hour later, Layla walked back into the office. Her hair was singed, and her leather armour was burnt.

"I did it." Layla said angrily, glaring at Keely as she did so.

"Oh good you survived." Keely said apathetically, not even looking up from the computer at her desk as she did so. "Now all the spores, spore carriers and mutant plants have been destroyed, and I've just finished deleting the rest of the data concerning the plants from the vault's mainframe. Now we can...wait a minute."

"What is it?" Veronica asked, looking at Keely as she did so.

"According to this, some of the data has been downloaded from the main server room recently." She looked at Layla suspiciously as she spoke. "You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Before Layla could begin to come up with a suitable lie, Keely cast her eyes on Layla's Pip Boy. "The data's on the Pip Boy isn't it?"

"Keely, we need the data to help some friends of mine. Please, let us take it." Veronica pleaded to Keely.

"I'm sorry, but the data has to be destroyed. We can't let anything like what happened here happen to the rest of the Mojave." With that she grabbed Layla's wrist, pulling her forward. "Let me delete the data, it'll only take a second."

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that doc." Before Keely could react, Layla grabbed That Gun from her thigh holster and shoved it into Keely's mouth. Keely's eyes widened in surprise. "This data is very important to Veronica, and I can't let you destroy it." Layla pulled the trigger without hesitation, blowing a hole through the back of Keely's skull and splattering blood onto the far wall. Blood and brains seeped from the hole in Keely's skull as he grip loosened on the Pip Boy and she fell dead to the floor.

"Was that really necessary?" Veronica said in an exasperated tone as she just managed to avoid vomiting at the sight of Keely's brains on the floor.

"She wasn't going to let us leave without destroying the data. It was the only way." Veronica sighed and shook her head.

"Can't you go a single day without killing someone?"

"I don't think you want to know the answer to that." Layla replied with a grin as she put That Gun back on her thigh holster.

"What are we going to tell Doctor Williams?"

"You leave that to me. Right now we should get out of here." With that they made their way to the elevator, leaving Keely's corpse behind.

Now they have the data, but will the elder see reason? Find out in the next chapter, the finale to the trilogy! Oh yeah, and review like crazy.