Laser blasts scorched the floor just as Layla ran past, pumping her legs as fast as she could. She slapped the controls of the Sierra Madre's Vault door, which opened slowly. She squeezed in as soon as the opening was wide enough, quickly closing the door behind her.

The vault door slammed shut, shielding Layla from the turrets' fire. She sighed in relief; there had to be a way to turn them off from here. Traversing the walkways leading to the vault had been a nightmare of holograms and blaring radio signals, but she'd done it. She'd even found Sinclair's body next to a very angry holotape message. According to the tape, he had caught on to Dean's scheme and had changed the vault into a trap for Dean and the treacherous Keyes.

She looked around the vault. This was what it all had been for. And it was pretty much empty. Completing her turn, she found a table piled with money and gold bars. She stared, then slowly reached out for one of the bars. It was heavy… very heavy. She wouldn't be able to carry more than a couple… maybe not even that. She carefully packed two of them into her bag and tried it on her back. Just two were pushing it, but she'd manage with the extra weight.

Even with the gold, the vault didn't seem to hold anything worth the effort that had gone into finding it. The gold bars were a fortune, especially in pre-war times. But that hardly required the firepower that had protected it.

Shaking her head, Layla made her way to the computer terminal, keying it on. On it, she found a message left by Sinclair for Vera. By the time she had finished it, she was holding back tears.

The vault, the whole Sierra Madre, had been built to protect Vera from the war. Sinclair had put every dollar he had left into the place so they would survive the bombs. Even as Vera's terminal disease had become apparent, he had planned to make her remaining time as safe and comfortable as possible.

When Sinclair had found out that Dean was using her to betray him, he had turned the vault into a trap. But when Vera came forward and confessed, he forgave her. The holotape she had found near Sinclair's body had been ripped out, replaced with a warning about the trap.

As Layla contemplated this turn of events, the large screen behind the terminal switched on, and Father Elijah's face appeared.

"You've done it. No one else has made it this far."

"What did you want with this place?" Layla said. She was about at her wit's end dealing with the man. "There's barely anything here of value."

"It was never anything in the vault that I wanted, but the vault itself. Access to it means control of the entire complex. I'm going to make a nation, and the Sierra Madre had everything I need to do so. Weapons, a fortress. The invulnerable holograms are more potent than a whole army. The Cloud can wipe out life wherever it touches. The vending machines can make anything, from food, supplies, and, ammunition, to valuable technology such as your slave collars."

Layla hoped he couldn't see her face. The man was insane… but brilliant and incredibly evil. Not a good combination. Christine was definitely right; he couldn't be allowed to follow through with any of this.

"Are you coming down here?" she asked finally. Now it was Elijah who took a moment before answering.

"No. You're resourceful, clever. I've waited too long to walk into a trap."

"Come on, the collars have done their job. I've done what you wanted. I just want to go home."

There was silence, then the man answered, "Very well, I'm coming down. Meet me by the vault door."

Layla knew he was lying to her just as much as she was lying to him. She opened the door and walked out, leaving it open behind her. Soon Elijah appeared on the catwalk leading to the vault.

"You've been a useful ally," Elijah said, stopping near the lip of the platform. She watched as he deactivated the force field and stepped through. The force field reactivated behind him. That couldn't be good.

The Brotherhood elder said nothing more, but the look on his face told Layla everything she needed to know. He was here to tie up loose ends. The thought had barely crossed her mind when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. The turrets lining the walls were coming back online and turning her way.

Just as she pivoted to leap back into the vault, she felt a burning explosion rip across her shoulder and back. She let out a cry as she crashed to the ground, now mercifully shielded by the huge metal door of the vault. She pulled her legs into the small room just as the turrets adjusted to her position.

The turret controls were just above her head, and she climbed unsteadily to her feet. It only took a few keystrokes to realize the terminal was locked. She heard Christine's voice cut in and out from her Pip-Boy.

"Try to help… he's… locked me out of the system."

Layla shook her head, feeling light-headed as pain surged through her back. She didn't have time to wait. A generator stood below the terminal. She stepped back, aiming her shotgun. One shot was all it took to destroy it.

She listened to the sound of the turrets powering down, then the echo of Elijah's muttering. He had to have a backup plan; he was too intelligent not to. So Layla went to her backup plan and threw a grenade out of the vault door.

It's explosion was deafening in the echoing chamber, and Layla leapt out of the vault just as the shockwave passed, hoping to catch Elijah off guard. Instead, an energy blast caught her in the hip as she emerged. Her armor took a lot of the damage, but Layla held back a scream and dropped to one knee.

Elijah stood in the same place she had left him, reloading the gauss rifle in his hands. If she couldn't force herself to move before he finished, she was dead. Layla took a deep breath, shutting out the pain and fear coursing through her as she launched herself toward the elder at an angle. She closed the space between them as Elijah raised his rifle. Before he could fire, The Courier's brought her shotgun to bear. The blast caught him in the stomach, and he dropped his rifle and crumbled to the ground.

Layla kept her gun trained on him for several moments, but he didn't move. It was over. The Courier barely got a chance to sigh in relief before her collar started beeping.

"Ah crap."

She took off in a run toward the entrance, pumping her legs as fast as she could. The walls began to shake as she ran past. The blow to the generator must have caused more damage than she thought. Rounding a corner, she had to dive under a blast from a steam pipe. Her collar beeped faster, and panic started gripping her; she wasn't going to make it.

Just as the collar started beeping faster than it ever had, she slapped the elevator door open and leapt in, furiously pounding on the buttons. The elevator began moving very slowly. Layla closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

Just as she was expecting the explosion that would end it all, the metal around her neck went quiet.

*.*.*

Layla looked back at the front gate of the Villa as she dropped the inert slave collar. A feeling of relief had come over her as she had opened the gate, stepping out of that nightmarish place and back to the real world. She had done it, she'd survived. But as she looked out beyond the Villa, her relief dried up.

There was nothing but desert as far as she could see. She still didn't know where she was, and the others had wandered off without her. A thick, lonely feeling came over her, making her anxious. She fiddled with her Pip-Boy for a moment, trying to get an idea of where she was compared to any recognizable location. The screen offered no real answers.

There was a road that lead from the gate. It had to go somewhere, so she started walking. She had patched up her new wounds as best she could, but her armor wasn't looking so hot. When she got home, she'd take the time to fix it right. For now, she walked, limping slightly as she started down the path.

The area around the casino looked dead and bare, with a sinister pallor from the waning sunlight. She wasn't free of the Cloud yet. It would probably take an hour's walk before she'd breathe clean air. That gave her something to look forward to at least. She was having a hard time convincing herself not to despair; between the sharp pains from her wounds, the unknown area, and the pressing loneliness, she was miserable.

Looking further down the road, she thought she saw something coming her way. Her hand went to the pistol at her side, and she squinted her eyes as the shape became more recognizable. She stopped, not believing what she saw. A few moments later, Rex nearly barreled into her, barking happily.

"Rex! Rex, why- how are you here?" She wasn't prepared for the surge of relief that overwhelmed her. She sunk to her knees and wrapped her arms around the dog. Tears started flowing down her cheeks, and she buried her face in the fur on his neck. She looked up, and the dog licked her face, barking again.

Looking beyond the dog, she now saw three mores shapes approaching. She recognized Veronica, Arcade and Boone as they got closer and quickly wiped the tears and slobber from her face and stood. Veronica had broken off from the others and ran to her at full tilt. As soon as the scribe reached her, she threw her arms around the Courier. Layla squeezed back, having to force back more tears.

"I'm so glad you weren't eaten by a super mutant!" The Courier blurted out, and Veronica gave her a weird look before squeezing her again.

"Well, that was an efficient rescue," Arcade said as he and Boone made it to the girls. "We were all prepared to storm the place and wrest you from some ghost-filled nightmare dungeon."

Now composed, Layla gave him a wry grin as Veronica let her go. "You're a few hours late."

"What happened?" Veronica said. Layla frowned at her friend, knowing this probably wouldn't be easy.

"Veronica… I found Father Elijah…" she was expecting the girl to be shocked. She wasn't expecting her to look mildly impatient.

"Yeah, I know, but what happened?"

"Wait, you… How much do you guys know?"

"We found Elijah's things in the bunker, and the location of the Sierra Madre to find you. We were going crazy trying to find you." Veronica said.

"Well, I guess we weren't much help after all, huh?" Arcade said. "You managed by yourself."

"Are you kidding? Do you know how happy I am I don't have to carry all this stuff back home by myself?" She was trying to play off how sincerely happy she was, but found herself closing the distance between her and the two men and finally throwing her arms around both their necks.

She felt Arcade's hand on her shoulders and Boone snake an arm around her waist. She had plan to let go quickly, but found herself still clinging to them after a few moments. She closed her eyes and her head came to rest on Boone's shoulder, where she left it. Just as she was going to let go, she felt Veronica reattach herself to her back.

All three of her friends squeezed Layla, and the girl closed her eyes and had to bite her lip to keep from crying again; she finally believed they were really with her. They stayed tangled up in each other's arms for a moment more before Layla regained her composure. She took a deep breath and let it out.

"How far are we from home?"

"About six hours," Arcade said. Layla groaned, sliding out of her friends' arms. It was better than days, like she had originally feared, but much longer than she wanted to walk.

"Boone, carry me."

He actually made a move like he planned to pick her up, and she stepped away, laughing. Taking another step, this time on her bad leg, she stumbled as it buckled under her. Arcade reached her first, gently holding her by the arm to steady her. He looked at the leg, frowning.

"Have you been hurt?"

"Not too much. Ever been in an Auto-Doc? Wild stuff." Her grin faltered as he looked her over, concern clear on his face. Layla hadn't had a chance to look at herself lately, but she must have looked about as good as she felt. She was injured, sleep-deprived, half-starved and dehydrated. The new tears in her armor which exposed her hasty bandaging probably weren't helping her image either.

"Where did these bruises come from?" the doctor asked warily.

"I… an explosive collar." Layla glanced at Boone and immediately regretted it. He looked furious.

"Did Father Elijah do this?" Veronica's voice sounded strained as she looked at her injured friend. Layla turned back to the scribe; this was the course of conversation she had been dreading the most.

She simply nodded, then winced at the girl's face. There were a few moments of tense silence before Boone spoke up.

"Is he still alive?" His voice sounded brittle with rage. Veronica turned to him with an unreadable look. She whipped back toward the Courier when she spoke.

"No."

Boone merely nodded, relaxing somewhat as he looked Layla over.

"You okay?"

The Courier laughed. "Let's just get out of here."

"Wha- I thought we could look around…" Arcade said, looking toward the casino. "It's not too often one gets to explore a non-existent treasure trove of pre-war tech."

"If Father Elijah was after the technology, there's probably a lot of really good stuff in there," Veronica agreed.

"No. There's nothing in there for the living." That comment seemed to only make her companions more curious. Veronica even turned towards the gate. Layla could see a Ghost Person's corpse just inside, the green eyes still lit.

"Let's just go home." Layla had to work at keeping the plea out of her voice. She wouldn't go back into the Villa, never again.

"Come on. We're all here. It's not like you'll be alone," Arcade said, still eyeing the glowing structure.

"We wouldn't take long…" Veronica was starting toward the gate when she heard Boone clear his throat. She turned and found Layla already walking down the road, away from the Villa. Both Rex and Boone followed her closely.

"Hey! Wait up!" Veronica and Arcade both scrambled to catch up to the others. Veronica fell into step with Layla and gave her a look. "If you didn't want to go, you could have just said so."

"I did." The Courier was relieved her friends had followed. She wouldn't go back in there, and she had gotten close to breaking down over it.

The scribe noticed how quiet The Courier was, and how close Boone walking with her, his main form of expressing comfort, and immediately felt bad for badgering her. "Here, give me your bag, I'll carry it."

Layla gladly handed it over, and they walked toward home.

We will be concluding "Playing the Board" on Saturday. The next story, "Introduction to a Waltz," will be a flashback, and a companion piece to "I Sustain the Wings," which will continue the main "All the Things You Are" storyline. Both stories will be featuring everyone's favorite ex-NCR sniper.

Got all that? Good! See you on Saturday and leave a review if you're feeling in!