Wow, what an intense week. I've found my writing flow again and now it's time to close the book on this fic. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, your support, favourites and follows kept me going. Not that I'm done by a long shot, I've got another one or two fics cooking. I might be gone a few days for some 'research' (going to have to put F3 back into my PC and play it again...tragic!) but I'll be back.

Superstar Kid: I'm somewhat sad as well but all things have to come to an end and all that. I hope this doesn't disappoint too much. You'll have to wait until the next fic for your Capital Wasteland update but don't worry about Amata...too much.

eaglescorch: They got off the ground alright and they do have one last card...

Oddliver: There's going to be a third fic but I'm taking it in a different direction. Don't want to be known as a one trick pony or a one plot writer with one enemy alone.

Chazzen01: Thanks. Perhaps I should have made clear at the start this was a sequel fic but I didn't want to ruin the surprise of the cyborgs' return or the Lone Wanderer's entrance.

So now it's time for the final part and the ending. Thank you again and I'll see you on the next one...

Sky Carrier-Bridge

The trio of heroes met surprisingly little resistance as they'd moved on through the ship after their victory and were stunned to be met by an empty bridge. Little did they know it but Sigma had been keeping tabs on the battle and the minute he'd seen Delta go down he'd ordered a complete evacuation. He'd used Delta's express elevator and fled down to a waiting sky fighter in the launch bay. Every other cyborg on the ship was following his example and abandoning the carrier as fast as they could. Not that Leon or Jaden were comforted by this, just the reverse in fact.

"They've locked all the computers and controls down! We can't access anything!" Yuna muttered.

"Not unexpected," Leon shrugged his shoulders as he reached for a handheld radio to contact the mothership. "We knew it'd come down to this. Sally, are you ok? Glad to hear it. Can you set up a teleport link here? We're going to need him now and I suspect we haven't got too much time before they play their last card..."

Area 51-Nevada desert

Omicron and Rho had pushed their vehicle to top speed and had arrived back at their base in a fast ten minutes. Area 51 shared a similar design with the Divide in base construction except that its 10 nuclear silos hadn't self detonated and all were armed and fully operational.

"Sigma just signalled us," Omicron revealed to Rho as she landed the fighter outside the main command building. "The Imperator is deleted!"

The news hit Rho like a thunderbolt. "The Courier and the Lone Wanderer?"

"Yes. Sigma has evacuated the carrier and is five minutes behind us so we have a free hand to do what must be done!"

A callous smile returned to Rho's face. "You have the keys?"

Omicron passed her a set of keys in reply. "Go and get the codes. Those fools think they've won the day but they celebrate too soon! It's time to erase all of our errors and our archenemies and start over."

While Rho went to the base commander's old office to secure the arming codes Omicron used the elevator to the command centre to start the pre launch sequences and select targets on the computer's map. Very soon Flagstaff, Arroyo, Vault City, New Reno, all of the once conquered south NCR and the carrier's current position had been added to the targeting computer. Omicron knew it was a shame about the carrier but that was war for you, casualties and losses were sometimes inevitable.

One look at the facility radar told him Sigma and the remaining cyborgs from the carrier were now approaching the base. Sure enough Sigma joined him in the command centre followed by the cyborg bridge operators.

"You're just in time, Sigma," Omicron smiled.

"Good. The three of us are the only primary class left," Sigma said grimly. "The Imperator's trap failed miserably."

"This will not," Omicron promised. "We will soon see our enemies burn in nuclear fire."

Sigma smiled in agreement. "Yes, our enemies may have taken our mobile base but they don't know about this one or of its capabilities. No one will ever see this nuclear strike coming until our missiles are bearing down on them!"

"New Vegas isn't on the target list?" Rho asked in surprise as she came in bearing the access codes.

"Not much point in sending 1 or 2 missiles there given the defence grid House set up long ago," Omicron replied. "We'll destroy the NCR and the Legion capital first. Then once that's done we'll rearm the silos and target a whole salvo at New Vegas. Sooner or later it will be destroyed."

Their satisfaction was cut off by a drone. "Commander Omicron, incoming transmission!"

All 3 command cyborgs were at a loss. This base was supposed to be a complete secret so how could anyone be sending a message? Omicron soon found the answer as he tracked the transmission to its source.

"It's from the carrier. That only means two people I can think of!"

Omicron wasn't disappointed. He sent the transmission to the main screen and it showed Leon and Jaden standing on the carrier's bridge.

"Ah there you are," Leon grinned. "I wondered where you'd all sneaked off to."

Omicron bit down an angry retort at Leon's flippant humour. "We didn't sneak anywhere, Omega! We just made a tactical retreat."

"Glad some of you saw reason," Jaden said diplomatically. "Now can we start peace negotiations? I'd prefer to end this without one or both of our sides getting annihilated if that's ok with you."

Sigma snorted. "You seem to think you've won everything Courier. You've won nothing!"

"And why have peace when you can have total victory?" Omicron added with venom. "You deleted our overzealous Imperator but our race and our cause are far from finished as you will soon see."

"By that I can only assume you're talking about whatever nuclear arsenal you're sitting on at that base," Jaden replied coldly. "Don't give me that surprised look. I've been to the Divide, don't forget, so I know what these old military bases were armed with."

"Well worked out," Sigma complimented. "But your knowledge of it alters nothing."

Jaden seemed to ignore him as he pressed on. "I wouldn't bet on that if I was you, we are ready to counter if necessary. Ok, here's my deal: give up this war and we won't hunt you to extinction. You'll be free to start over, rebuild and join the company of civilisation."

Rho sneered in contempt. "Weren't you listening? Given we're about to delete you all we don't have to negotiate! What do you take us for?"

"Wrong question," Leon snapped in reply. "The question is what do you make of us? Do you think Jaden's the type to bluff? He's got more heart than I'll ever have, I wouldn't have given you metal pricks any chance at all! Speaking of which this is your last one! Stand down and talk or I won't be responsible for what comes next!"

"I'll show you what comes next!" Omicron couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I thought the two of you would be more intelligent than this. You may be great forces on the battlefield but otherwise you 'heroes' are nothing more than two more stupid humans! Humans who are overdue for deletion! Fire all missiles!"

The drone control operators complied and, with a few keyboard strokes, opened every silo. A few seconds later 10 ICBMs burst high into the sky.

"All warheads armed; all flight systems stable and all trajectories locked. First impacts in 1 minute."

"All NCR cities and the Legion capital are the targets," Omicron revealed as he callously smiled. "The last one is targeted on Washington DC. After all, we still owe you for our first defeat Omega!"

Much to Omicron's disappointment and amazement Leon seemed indifferent. "I told you this was a waste of time, Jaden."

Jaden sighed. "That's ok, I expected it anyway. Ok little guy, do it!"

The cyborgs' confusion was quickly turning to alarm as klaxons started going off in the control centre.

"What is happening?" Omicron knew this couldn't be right.

A drone confirmed his fears. "All missiles deviating off course."

"Well reset them!" Rho barked angrily.

"Impossible, primary system control has been transferred elsewhere."

"We did warn you," Jaden smiled. "They'll blow up somewhere over the Pacific."

One look at the computer map showed he was telling the truth. All of the local missiles were heading out to sea. "Missiles 1-9 about to detonate!"

As the missiles exploded uselessly Omicron stared at Leon and Jaden in hatred and at a total loss. "How did you do this? Our system was hack proof!"

Leon shrugged. "If Jaden taught me anything it's that having friends counts for a lot, even if they are the small kind."

He stood aside to reveal ED-E accessing Delta's main command console on the bridge. Delta, being the despotic tyrant he was, had installed an override system on the carrier so he could launch the warheads anytime and from anywhere. Epsilon had provided ED-E with the proper access codes plus Leon had insulated and reinforced his circuits so there wouldn't be a repeat of his twin's tragic end at the Divide.

Omicron was aghast but the bad news wasn't to end there for him.

"Missile 10 is returning! Impact in 50 seconds!" Missile 10 was, of course, the warhead that had been destined for the Capital Wasteland. Now it had done a U-turn and was flying straight back at them with its warhead armed and its failsafe off.

"I guessed you'd do something like this so I told ED-E to 'return that one to sender', to use a courier term," Leon spat.

"Wait! You don't have to do this; you've proved your point!" Omicron blustered.

"You had your chance and you blew it!" Jaden shot back sharply.

"You're just getting the same mercy you showed to everyone else," Leon was even colder. "We wouldn't stop this now even if we could. Say hi to Alpha and Delta for me!"

"Twenty seconds to impact!"

Omicron, Rho and Sigma ran from the room in sheer desperation and all to no avail. The missile slammed into the facility and detonated before they were halfway down the stairs to the exit.

NCR frontline

Dan Kerrigan was feeling exhilarated, overawed and worried all at once. Exhilarated because he had just fought and won thorough a major battle alongside the Mojave Brotherhood in the rear trenches, a little worried because Yuna was nowhere to be found; though he had some suspicions as to where she was and overawed because he sensed history in the making...and the fact that the mothership and the cyborg carrier had descended from the clouds and were hanging over the battlefield leaving him and everyone else in awe.

Dan guessed how his friends were going to show themselves and wasn't disappointed. Sure enough a control panel appeared out of nowhere and then Leon, Jaden and Yuna teleported in next to it.

"Excellent timing," Epsilon went over to meet with them first. "As you can see everything went to plan and all's in hand here."

"Delta's finished and so are all the other commanders," Leon grinned. "Their nuclear plan backfired on them."

Epsilon sighed in relief. "Then it's finally over."

"The battle is, yeah," Jaden agreed. "But the clear up's only just beginning. Time to get this over with and get things moving, I guess."

All of them walked over to where the NCR and Legion forces had been corralled and surrounded by the NV and cyborg allied forces in time to hear a recovered Colonel Moore ranting uselessly and being taunted by the Legion.

"...I can't believe this is happening! I thought...!"

"Oh you thought, did you profligate?" Vulpes couldn't believe the NCR had survived this long with the leaders that it had. "I must have been really unlucky to have missed such an earth shattering event!"

Moore fumed in anger as there were laughs all round from her own side as well as the Legion.

"So when did you have this thought then?" Vulpes went on acidly. "When we were surrounded or before? I had my thought a long way before then. It was a very simple clean and uncomplicated thought: how the hell did Jaden Storm do all this? I hope it's a thought I'll get an answer to now." Vulpes had seen Jaden and his friends approach.

Jaden smiled. "I suppose I owe you that much Vulpes. It didn't take much for me to work out that you and the Legion would try for a takeover when this was over so I beat you to the punch...with the help of my new friends that is."

"Yes, the timing was perfect," Epsilon continued. "The Courier was looking for an edge against the Imperator and we were looking to break free of him. It only took a little planning and one meeting for us to forge our alliance."

Vulpes was more than a little ticked off but he just stared at them with grudging admiration. "So you cut a deal with these renegades and they make it possible for you to deploy your robots out here?"

"One of my strengths is making friends," Jaden agreed. "Something you and the NCR don't excel at. I knew you'd hope that we'd wear ourselves out on the cyborgs and leave California free for your taking so I found a way around that."

Vulpes handclapped for a few seconds. "Well done Courier. You play the game much better than I anticipated. So what happens now? Are you going to cement your victory by executing us all?"

"I'm sure a few people would love me for doing that but no I'm not," Jaden answered. "I have my code just as the Legion has its own and despite your ulterior motives you still came out to help. You fought hard and took the losses to prove it so I'm letting you go and giving you safe conduct back to your territory."

"And that's all we get? That and a 'thank you' for helping us out?" Varo muttered.

"That and a whole load of glory," Jaden grinned while not rising to the bait. "Think about the tales of the great Legion heroes who helped New Vegas end one of the biggest threats to humanity since the Great War. I imagine they'll be told around your campfires for years to come, am I right?"

Vulpes smiled coldly. "You know us better than I gave you credit for. You're one man I wish had been born east of the Colorado. Until we meet again then, Jaden Storm." Vulpes gave the Legion salute.

"Vale, Vulpes."

"Vale indeed. Varo, get the Legions into marching column. We're going home for a triumphal return." Vulpes then turned to Moore and the remaining NCR. "Until next time, profligates. Well if there is a next time!"

He looked at Jaden and Epsilon knowingly before he walked away with Varo laughing coldly.

As Jaden turned to them the NCR soldiers could see why; his eyes didn't hold much warmth. "All of which leads me to you and the question that's been eating at me for awhile: what will I do now?"

"If you're going to kill us just do it and get it over with!" Moore spat in rage. "That's twice you've betrayed us!"

"That's rich coming from you; the force that murdered my parents!" Jaden shot back sharply, his voice cracking with emotion. "You want to know something? I started out believing in your ideals. I believed in democracy and bringing law and safety back to the wastelands and I still do now. But your country lost sight of that years ago. You just kept expanding, growing and getting greedy for whatever you could grab, all the time thinking you were invincible and had the right to grab anything from anyone, anywhere."

"I knew a group that had a similar point of view once," Leon stood next to Jaden. "And its name was the Enclave. I think you know what happened to them. Many people look at you and they ask where's the difference?"

"A question I heard again and again when I was wandering the Mojave," Jaden agreed. "You poured money and lives away for four years in Vegas because you were too arrogant to admit you'd bit off more than you could handle. You tried to bully the Boomers into negotiating by cutting off their water flow and of course there was that little thing called Bitter Springs. In the end I couldn't bring myself to support arrogance like that. By depriving you of New Vegas I'd hoped to cure you of that and shake your government and politicians awake as to what you were doing. Too much to hope for I see."

"You're preaching to the choir as far as I'm concerned Jaden," Hanlon said weakly, knowing he was grasping at straws. "Believe me I've seen what you're talking about in the Senate the last few months. But it can still be cured; we can turn it around if you'll give us more time and trust us a little more..."

"Been there, tried that, didn't work!" Jaden cut Hanlon off brutally. "I tried to build trust and mend fences with you once and what did I get for my trouble? Oh yes that's right, Oliver and his Patriot terrorists."

"Something I could personally tell you about!" Cass was giving her rage full vent. "Given I nearly got killed by those whisky dicks!"

"Bottom line: I'm through trusting you," Jaden said venomously. "So are the people of New Vegas. I should have listened to them and my cabinet and put my foot down on you sooner. We might not be where we are now if I had. You let the cyborgs played you like puppets and got us into this situation...so now it's peace on my rules!"

"What does that mean? You're going to invade the rest of the NCR and finish what the cyborgs started?" Koenig asked fearfully.

Jaden shook his head. "No, there's been enough slaughter this month for 3 lifetimes. But I'm through bailing you out of your own problems and mistakes. What I'm going to do is honour the deal I made with Epsilon and then I'm taking my troops home for good."

Arcade grinned as the NCR personnel got blank looks. "Oh that's right, we forgot to tell you didn't we? We had to cut a deal to get Epsilon and his cyborgs on board but it didn't come cheap. He made us promise to give him a new homeland...so we thought the conquered half of the NCR would do!"

"You're not serious!" A horrified Moore gasped. If that happened the NCR would be cut in two, deprived of most of its industrial resources and left very vulnerable.

"Very serious actually," Epsilon coldly informed them. "Given humans' treatment of ghouls and mutants in recent years we need a home of our own where we can safely establish ourselves and live in peace. After what Jaden told me of what your people tried to do in Jacobstown this is a proven fact. Given my people are all cyborgs now and don't trust you to either defend them or live peacefully beside them, this is the only real choice."

"And my troops are heading home permanently," Jaden added frostily. "So if you want to try grabbing the land back you'll be doing it alone! Same applies if the Legion or anyone else invades!"

"So this is it?" Hsu was aghast. "You can't just cut us apart and leave us at the mercy of the Legion!"

Jaden was unflinching and unrelenting. "Oh yeah? Watch me! I've had all I can take. I'm not going to waste any more Alliance people and resources defending an arrogant nation that killed my parents, helped destroy innocent refugee caravans and that's looking to stab us in the back all the time! The trust between my government and yours is forever broken. There's only one way I'd be persuaded to help you again."

"And that would be?" Hanlon sensed Jaden was throwing him a rope but knew the price would be heavy.

"Well as I said my government would never sanction help for you after all this; but if the NCR were to come in with us and it was a matter of defending our own territory...that's another matter."

With those words Hanlon realised what Jaden had been planning all along. Not that the realisation did him any good, it was too little too late and Hanlon knew it. The NCR remnant wasn't anywhere near enough to stand on its own and it was hopelessly surrounded by the Legion, New Vegas and now Cyberia; all of which were hostile states.

"Do you seriously expect the people of the NCR to agree to this?" Moore still wasn't done despite knowing Jaden had all the aces and all the NCR had was a pair of twos waiting on a facedown card.

"I don't care whether they do or not! It's the only deal I'm offering!" Jaden spat.

"But we're a democracy!" Hsu protested.

"Fancy that. So are we," Jaden retorted. "Every settlement in the Alliance gets a seat at the top table. Yours will be no different. I'm heading back to Vegas now; I've been away far too long and I need some R&R along with my troops. I'll be back in charge of the government by this time next week. You've that long to make up your minds. Goodbye."

With that Jaden turned on his heel and walked away with Leon, the Aces and all his other friends following behind. To add salt in the wound for Moore a good size chunk of the NCR force, including Ashley and Reyes, broke ranks and joined the NV militia and Brotherhood troops as they formed up into marching columns before starting the trek home for Vegas territory. Ramos and the Brotherhood were smirking all the way to the bank as they passed by. The wheel had come full circle and this was just desserts on the NCR as far as they were concerned. The Securitrons and cyborgs followed soon after.

They left a dejected, depleted, demoralised and broken NCR army in their wake.

"Colonels, Chief Koenig," Hanlon called them over after a very long 2 minute silence. "Form up what forces we have left and head for Vault City. We'll use that as our temporary command post. I'll liaise with the remaining senators and settlement mayors there before I leave for Vegas in a few days."

Moore was finding it hard to keep tears from her eyes. "Damn it, you can't be thinking of giving up! Not after all this!"

"Cassandra, it's over!" Hanlon didn't want to admit the truth of his own words but he knew denial served nothing. "We've been outmanoeuvred and outplayed, it's a fait accompli. Jaden Storm and Epsilon have already won."

"He's right," Koenig felt just as ill. "No wonder that bastard Vulpes left laughing. He must have seen what Jaden was up to. There's no way we can rebuild and restore the NCR with what we've got left. If the Legion brings back more troops and they will when they find out how weak we are...we wouldn't withstand them, not for long anyway."

"Well I don't know about you but I'd rather live under Vegas than Legion any day," Hsu said. "Jaden's a much better prospect than Vulpes or Caesar. Given all that's happened it's amazing he's offering us this much."

Hardly anyone could believe the situation, it was almost inconceivable. History had repeated: the NCR had been defeated by the very same person who'd outdone them at Hoover Dam and this time he'd not only beaten them, he'd all but conquered them. Surrendering to the Courier left a bitter taste but they knew Hsu had spoken sense. Jaden wasn't an evil slaver or destroyer; he was just a man who'd been pushed too far and for too long. They'd reached the limits of his indulgence and everyone knew he wouldn't back down now. Bitter Springs, the Patriots and their self serving supporters from the Congress had given Jaden all the justification he needed.

"Well unless anyone else comes up with a bright idea at Vault City...I'm going to accept the Courier's offer," Hanlon said.

There was no other word of argument from the others. There simply weren't any other realistic alternatives from where they stood. The NCR was finished, gone out with a bang and then a whimper...

Lucky 38 penthouse-late next day

"Well it's been fun Jaden, but it's time for me to go," Leon said as he met up with Yuna and Dan by the teleport link to the mothership. "I'm actually going to miss this place."

"You have a weird definition of fun, Leon," Jaden grinned. "And I'm going to miss you too. Can't you stick around awhile longer? I'm going to have so much to do in the next few months. Expanding the alliance into California, rebuilding the militia, making ties with the Legion, Epsilon and his Cyberia nation, not to mention figuring out what to do with that carrier!"

The cyborg carrier had been brought back to Vegas and was now safely stored on the ground at the Boomers' Nellis airfield.

"Oh I'm sure you'll find some use for it," Leon assured him. "It's not like this world's run out of threats after all."

"Exactly! I need all the help I can get building this nation back up," Jaden implored. "I could really use you."

Leon shook his head. "I can't Jaden. Your place is here, mine is in the Capital Wasteland and it's gone without me for far too long." Leon suddenly got a brainwave as he looked at the teleport control. "But...this doesn't have to be goodbye for good."

Jaden's brow knotted in confusion. "How's that? I can't leave my nation and travel all the way across the continent. I'm a good courier but even I can't go that far!"

"You don't have to. I spoke with Sally up on the ship and she says she can leave this teleport link open permanently. There's another one just like it in the Capital Wasteland. With the two of them together you could reach it in minutes. Both of us can hop back and forth!"

"You're serious?" Jaden was elated.

"When have I ever been anything else?" Leon replied. "The Free Capital Republic has its share of problems and we need all the allies we can get too."

"No kidding," Dan backed him up. "The Super Mutants are still all over us and there's no telling when another one of Vault-Tec's fuck ups is going to bite us in the ass."

It was an uncomfortable truth that both Leon and Jaden knew well. Over the last day they'd traded a load of stories and past battles, including the vault horrors. Both men had been sickened to hear the tales of the other wastelands' vaults. It was hard to grasp that all this had been caused by a vault experiment 200 years old and based thousands of miles from Vegas itself.

"All we can do is keep on going and stay vigilant," Leon said. "It's not like we can turn back time. Anyway Jaden, if you ever need some time out from here or want to try walking on my path for awhile, use it and come across. It might be a rougher wasteland than what you're used to but since you survived the Divide I think you'll be at home in no time!"

"I'll do that sometime," Jaden promised. He was a wanderer and explorer at heart as well as a courier and the thought of exploring another wasteland intrigued him no end.

"Now that I've got this place's communication frequency I'll see if we can establish a link to here from the Citadel when I get home," Leon promised. "We should keep in touch. Until next time Jaden."

"Until next time."

Leon hit the button and teleported to the ship along with Yuna and Dan.

Jaden stared at the teleport console feeling more than a little tempted...

"Oh no you don't!" Cass and Veronica stood on the balcony above and it had been Cass that had stopped him. "You're due some R&R remember? We all are after this crazy war."

"As tempting as it is to go after him now I'm all for that," Veronica said. "We should all go get a drink or two."

"Now that sounds like an idea I can go for!" Cass grinned. "Oh, one thing first Jaden. Cachino said he wanted to meet with you."

"Did he say what about? Couldn't it have waited until the next cabinet meeting?"

Veronica shrugged. "Only that it was urgent and couldn't wait, actually he seemed pretty nervous. He said he'd meet you in one of the grand suites up in Gomorrah."

"Sounds like he's in paranoid mode," Jaden muttered. "Alright I'll go see him. Get a party set up and going. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Jaden missed the sly look in the girls' eyes. As soon as the elevator doors closed both of them high-fived.

"Oh no you won't Jaden. Mission accomplished at last!" Veronica grinned. "I can't believe we pulled that off!"

"Or that everyone else but him knew!" Cass joined her in smiling. "Now where's that scotch? I need a shot or three!"

"Better make it more than that," Veronica joked. "We might want to be drunk and flat out when he does come back so he can't get us for setting him up!"

Both were gloating over the fact that they'd just sent him into an 'ambush' of sorts. It wasn't Cachino waiting to see him in the suite but a drunk, naked and totally uninhibited Ashley who was waiting for a 'big package' delivery from her favourite Courier...

End sequence

And so, with the death of Delta and the destruction of all his followers, peace finally returned to the West Coast. Although the cost had been horrific and the loss of life had been extreme the Courier, with the help of the Lone Wanderer, was able to withstand the bloody tides of change that had assailed the land from the east instead of being swept away by them. He forged a new order out of the ruins of the NCR and his actions would have great repercussions...

Despite much bitter feeling over the destruction of their nation and being betrayed again by the Courier, the NCR remnants accepted his offer of annexation into the New Vegas Alliance preferring to keep their democracy and safety intact against the risk of defeat and enslavement by the Legion. Colonels Hsu, Moore and Chief Koenig were eventually accepted into the Alliance militia forces, as were most of the NCR army. Senator Hanlon became the government representative for Vault City after brokering the agreement with the Courier. Ironically Jaden's former companion, the Super Mutant Lily, was chosen as the representative for Arroyo after finding her family there and her close ties to the Courier were made public.

Although he'd survived the war Senator Horace Caldwell was never able to come to terms with the events of the last month. The failure of the Patriots, the loss of his son, the destruction of his beloved country and the realisation that the Courier wouldn't take any action against the Lone Wanderer for his son's death overwhelmed him and a week later...he took his own life.

The Van Graffs didn't survive the betrayal of their cyborg 'benefactors'. Soon after Gloria, Jean Baptiste Cutting and the rest of the family were incarcerated in New Reno, cyborg infiltrator assassins introduced the same toxin from the Big Empty into the air system of their jail. All died as their victims in New Vegas had; drowning in their own blood in agony.

Ashley and her family settled permanently in New Vegas after Jaden gave them a new restored farm north of the city. Bill and Kelly adopted Cody and Champ and named their new home Cold River farm in honour and memory of the home and friends they'd lost. Kelly finished repairing and restoring her recovered buggy and eventually joined the militia engineers. After their 'victory celebration' Ashley finally admitted to herself what she'd known for some time: that she loved the Courier and wanted to stay at his side.

Although taking heavy losses in the final battle against the cyborgs Caesar's Legion didn't suffer much lasting damage. As the Courier had predicted Vulpes' fame and the story of the victory spread like wildfire across the Legion lands. In spite of his plan to capture the NCR failing his position as Legate was secured and, together with Gaius Varo, now fights to put down the few remaining rebellions and await the next round of his 'war game' with the Courier.

Epsilon and Tau went to Junktown and the Hub to begin the reconstruction of the ruined land they now claimed as their new nation of Cyberia. Determined to see his dream of a peaceful and more enlightened race realised he pushed himself into rebuilding the shattered warzone into a new habitable zone in the wastes and into maintaining a good relationship with the Courier and the rest of humanity. Before leaving the Lone Wanderer warned him not to walk the path of his father or Delta. If that ever happened then the Wanderer promised that someone like him or someone like the Courier would be waiting for Epsilon one day. It was advice he took to heart.

The Lone Wanderer returned east triumphant knowing that he had finally laid another threat to the world to rest. Little did he know of the crisis that awaited him back at home that would strike at all he held dear or that he and the Courier were destined to cross paths again sooner than they thought...

As for the Courier he had performed the impossible once again; ending an old world threat, redrawing the map of the new one and strengthening New Vegas. Despite his great victory and forging new ties with the Lone Wanderer he still faced many more challenges. For securing a safe future against the forces of chaos, both modern and past, was a war he still had to fight. And war...war never changes.