A hush befell the bailey as Liberty Prime rose from the lab below. A portion of ground split in two as large steel trap doors parted, allowing the massive robot to be raised into the growing daylight and the awed gazes of the troops awaiting its arrival.

The hush slowly became a chorus of whispers, then murmurs, and a few disappointed sighs as nothing else happened. After several minutes a particularly secure Knight-Sergeant barked orders at his troop, his voice ringing around the courtyard and snapping everyone back into preparations.

Talia had to admit the robot looked more impressive now it stood alone in the open air. A person barely came level with its foot and it was equipped with a magazine of mini nukes that it made look more like a bushel of apples. She gasped when it finally came to life, being put through a few final motion checks after the Scribe attaching it to an overhead crane was clear.

"Five minutes," Burke said to her side. "Remember the briefing?"

She nodded and grabbed her helmet, shifting in the unfamiliar armour gifted to her by Sarah. Burke did the same and they joined the troop they were to follow all the way to the water purifier.

"Strange we get all this protection now," she commented sourly.

"Well don't complain, there's a lot more trouble out there than we're used to and this lot might save your hide. Are you sure this is big enough?" Burke tapped the back of her head, knocking the loaned helmet down over her eyes.

"Hey, it's no good if I can't see… Wait-" She pushed it back and readjusted the foam she'd slipped inside to make it fit, harvested from one of the spartan mattresses.

"We're just following them in, don't worry. They'll do all the leg work." Burke reassured her. "But keep your wits about you," he added quietly so only she could hear, "I don't fully trust Lyons."

She returned his serious expression with a nod and watched as the restored superweapon was hoisted up and over the Citadel walls, given that it was too big to walk out of the gate like the rest of them.

"They said Dr. Li and the others would be going in as well to help bring everything online?"

"Yes. I saw her around here somewhere earlier. I think the armour they buried her in is the only thing keeping her together."

"Nah, she's really pretty tough," Talia said, remembering how Li rallied the team and roused her to make their escape.

"Just worry about yourself, they have an escort."

She nodded but frowned beneath her helmet. Even if everything went well, Li would think it all went wrong for her and Burke. That was the point.

Everyone was ordered to load and prime their weapons. The satisfying solid snap of her rifle's charging handle returning amid a sea of buzzing laser weapons turned her mind to the job at hand. Their troop eventually exited the Citadel gate behind two others, it must have been a large portion of Lyons' whole contingent. Leading was Liberty Prime. It was as tall as two houses, stomping along quite steadily and regularly declaring the inevitable victory of democracy via its amplified voice circuitry.

Despite the bizarre fission between its recycled programming and modern reality, the sensation of heading toward danger with so many others and this machine was something entirely new and exhilarating. A hundred times the excitement she'd felt confidently plotting her assault on the memorial with James. She embraced it if only to counter the equally scaled nerves, given the certainty of a battle. But really, how much of a battle could it be with Prime at the front?

They approached the bridge where Talia met Burke two nights ago and the robot stepped up to assess the Enclave energy barrier.

"Obstruction detected. Composition: Titanium alloy supplemented by photonic resonance barrier. Probability of mission hindrance: zero percent."

It then grabbed each pylon that powered the force field. Both sparked and plumed as Prime did something unseen and, frankly, worrying considering the amount of mini nukes it was carrying. But in a few seconds the barrier shut down, and Liberty Prime marched on over the bridge.

Talia, Burke and Dogmeat were far behind the Pride and the robot, but able to see everything it did as they traversed the city en route to the Jefferson Memorial. It cleared debris from the bridge with ease. Mines detonated under its feet with no consequence. It scanned the terrain ahead with an array of sensors, identifying hidden threats and removing them with a precision blast from its lasers. At a supermutant hotspot, it picked up the one on watch and tossed it easily a mile away while the others were vaporised or crushed as their stronghold crumbled around them.

But they hadn't seen anything until it used a mini nuke, which it launched with nothing but a calculated overarm throw. The blast was certainly deserving of the term 'mini', at least compared to the detonation Talia had witnessed at Megaton, but it must be the most devastating weapon on the battlefield short of an airstrike. The second stronghold was levelled instantly.

"First time seeing one of those?" Burke asked as she swore.

"Yeah. Geez, and you can get a handheld launcher for those?"

"Yes, I've sold a few."

"Okay, that's cool."

"Remind me when it's your birthday."

She couldn't quite believe the ease with which they walked through concentrated supermutant territory. The Enclave had effectively penned the majority in a single district with multiple force fields, keeping them away from Rivet City and the most common traveller routes, but creating a certain deathtrap for anyone who found themself inside the fences.

Now it was a mutant graveyard.

As Prime disabled the final barrier, the group emerged from the city ruins onto the riverside. Had the weather had any sense of drama, the clouds would have parted and allowed the morning sun to gleam off the water in a symbol of hope and victory. Instead, they were greeted with an unhindered blusterous wind, and it began to drizzle. But at least they were out of the dust. Talia noticed a group of raiders to their left. Positioned in an alleyway, probably waiting to pounce on travellers or adventurers, they simply gawped as more firepower than anyone had ever seen in one spot passed by only feet away.

Prime's synthesised voice was just audible on the wind. "Warning: impact alert. Scanning for Chinese artillery."

"Incoming!" The Knight's translation was hardly necessary but imparted more urgency than Prime's assessment of the situation. Everybody hit the deck. Talia grabbed Dogmeat just as she was yanked down into the gutter. There was a volley of explosions. The sound rumbled through her stomach and shook off a piece of the promenade wall. When the crumbling stopped she dared a peek from under Burke's arm. There were no smoking craters where the Brotherhood should be. The robot was still standing.

"Threat neutralised. Democracy will never be defeated."

"Did you see that?" someone exclaimed.

"He shot 'em out of the sky!"

There was a chorus of cheers as the Knights around them got up and continued following Prime. Another volley came shortly after but most just crouched to watch this time. Prime locked onto each projectile and vaporised them all. Talia turned to Burke with an all too excited grin. Maybe this would be a walk in the park all the way to their escape.

The Knights ahead began firing on something. Probably Enclave ground troops this close to the purifier. It was in view a few miles along the river. Talia kept watch around her and to the rear given they were at the back of the pack, but no one seemed to be flanking them. It seemed like Autumn had garrisoned everybody at the memorial.

The familiar thrum of Vertibirds filled the air. One was trying to drop troops around them, while another was attacking Prime. A rocket missed the robot and demolished a portion of the crumbling office building behind it. A surprised supermutant in the exposed upper floor turned a minigun on both Prime and the aircraft. The bullets ricocheted right off Prime's invulnerable exterior. Talia and Burke ducked as the rain took on a more dangerous quality, at least to those not in full power armour. Bullets skipped off the robot in all directions, including right back at the mutant who fired them, which made it even more angry than they usually were.

Prime took out one Vertibird with its laser. It exploded mid air and the flaming wreck spiralled into the river. Prime then plucked the angry mutant from the ruin like a particularly ugly doll in a particularly grim dollhouse and threw it with perfect accuracy into the remaining aircraft. The mutant and the craft's rotor blades shared a brief introduction before also spiraling into the river.

"Communists engaged. Scanning for survivors. Count: zero. America will never fall to Communist invasion."

"I've never seen that before," Burke said.

By the time Talia set foot on the memorial grounds most of the fighting had been done. Brotherhood troops had fanned out to secure the area. Enclave bodies littered the road and scaffold that circled the monument. Casualties were being moved to the bank. The Pride had gone inside to clear the interior. She and Burke were told to take cover until they were called in. She wondered how long until they would be 'dead' and leaving all of this behind for good.

From their chosen spot they both turned at the sound of another aircraft, but Prime declared it friendly and clear to approach. They were buffeted by a storm of dust and rain kicked up by the Brotherhood Vertibird, which landed nearby and began loading casualties. The sight stirred the memory of the first time she'd seen one. Enclave landing at the facility while she cleared a blocked pipe. Her stomach knotted.

"I don't know if I can go in," she croaked.

"What?" Burke yelled above the engine noise.

"How can I go in?" she yelled back. "What if he's still there? Or not? What if he's a ghoul?"

Burke shook his head. "Not possible. It doesn't work like that."

Well, she thought, the Brotherhood would kill him if he was anyway. Maybe Sarah would leave him alone if he could prove who he was fast enough. Talia wasn't sure she'd want to know in any case.

It felt like an eternity waiting to be called up. Despite the outside being secured everybody remained vigilant at their posts. The wind on the exposed peninsula complemented the rain the way salt set off a wound, and Talia was shivering. All this drama over water and it was pouring out of the sky, she thought.

"This isn't that acid rain I heard about is it?" she asked Burke while inspecting her clothing for signs of erosion.

Before he could answer a Knight interrupted with an urgent request that they follow. She took them to the side entrance where one of the Pride was waiting expectantly. "Boss wants you at the control room. Follow me."

Without time to worry further Talia fell instep, Burke and Dogmeat close behind. The corridor was the same as she remembered it, only with a Brotherhood Knight stationed at the end and a slightly sweet, metallic scent in the air. Paladin Vargas moved swiftly, giving her almost no time to process the carnage inside the old gift shop. She picked her way around the fallen bodies and defensive barricades set up by the Enclave. Dogmeat bounded ahead when he detected Sarah. She was waiting outside the door to the control room with Tristan and Gallows.

"Guys, hustle up. Okay here's the situation. The control room is the final section to clear. It's critical we get in there and get this thing up and running. A few Enclave locked themselves in and I thought you might want to be here for this Tali, since I have a feeling it might be our prime target inside. No one has confirmed him out here. It's possible he could have flown out, but if you wanna join us we're about to go in and find out."

Talia wanted to be annoyed. She hadn't particularly wanted to be here at all, but all she had to do was activate the purifier, they said. Easy enough. But of course Sarah would think of her and not want her to miss out on a fight.

Regardless, Talia found herself nodding and asking how many were holed up in the room.

"We're not sure. But I can't starve them out, who knows what they could be doing. I need to secure control of this place asap."

The hissing of a broken pipe, the clanking of the tired air circulation, the heavy mechanical groaning of her dad's lab, it all faded to a whisper. The roar of Talia's own surging pulse coursed through her ears instead. The room narrowed and came into sharper focus. Sarah's eyes trailed over to Burke.

This wasn't part of the plan. Talia turned to him, expecting a veto, only to find a shadow of a smirk that bolstered her own instinct. He wanted Autumn too.

"Alright then," Sarah concluded. "You know, you two are kinda cute. I love a couple that goes to war together. Gallows, prep the charge." She directed them back a few yards while Gallows set explosives at the door. "Listen guys, I'm sorry again about all this. Talia, I know I already said this, but I didn't tell anyone where you were. My father had planned way ahead already. I sometimes forget how brainy he is."

Talia didn't even bother to shrug. "I know. It's not your fault. Anyway, we're here now."

But Sarah continued, uncharacteristically distracted from her work, if only for a minute. "I can tell you don't believe me but I didn't. I was actually kind of hoping you two would elope in the night. Would've made a nice change to achieve something other than a dead mutant for once. But you're right: we're here now."

With that she shifted back into the Sentinel she embodied most of the time, explaining how they would enter the room after the door was blown. Talia focussed as best she could despite Sarah's last comment echoing in her mind. "Wait- are you sure about blowing the door? My dad said something about volatiles in the system or something when we were here."

"Well I was sure. But we're a bit stuck for another- oh, Tali, you and your stone age weapons. Gallows, stop! Talia's going to breach with her shotgun."

"I am?"

"She is?" Gallows asked with obvious disappointment.

"Yes," Sarah confirmed. "It's quicker and cleaner anyhow."

Gallows packed away his things and got in position along the wall. "Okay, but this way would be a lot more fun. Just sayin'."

"Damn, you're right," Talia agreed, but Sarah waved her on. "Can't do this with lasers then Sarah?" she asked by the door.

"I'll admit that thing has its uses. Okay, get close, that's it, aim between the handle and the frame. Fire and then get to the side and follow us in."

Talia took up her position and checked in once more with the crew lined up beside the door. At a nod she took a breath and fired, unable not to scrunch her eyes shut and turn away. Without pausing to appreciate how she had completely blown the lock to pieces she jumped to the side of the door so the Pride could swarm through.

Burke trailed at the back but stopped at the frame and motioned for Talia to wait outside too. She made an urgent face at the sound of the firefight happening inside, but he shook his head.

"You think this is a trap?" she asked incredulously.

"Could be."

"No. No, there's a fight in there, let's go!"

"It would be convenient for Lyons if we actually got killed here, is all I'm saying. They're the professionals, let's not get in the way."

No, he was wrong. Sarah was just offering her a chance at vengeance. Yet she remained at the threshold, trying to tease any details from the cacophony within. Eventually the din reduced to a stalemate of sporadic potshots and Sarah yelling at whoever was remaining.

"You're cornered, there's no way out. Just come out and make this quicker for all of us."

Talia ignored Burke and darted through the doorway, sliding into cover behind one of the huge stone pillars that held up the roof of the main memorial space. "What's the deal Sarah?" she called.

"Just one left, girl. I think it's your man."

"Autumn?" she yelled.

Silence, then that comforting voice she'd only ever heard utter threats and violence called from behind the railings up on the catwalk. "You again?"

"Yep," she managed.

"Ugh, I can't say I'm surprised. You and your ilk seem hell bent on destroying everything our government has worked to achieve! I should have killed you back in Raven Rock. Well, there's still time."

Her mouth grew dry and her weapon slipped in sweaty palms. She tried to muster some comeback- he was surely speaking out of desperation- but her throat felt tight.

Then Burke's voice rang around the room from her side. Calm, but menacing, in the way a particularly high ledge couldn't do anything to you, but you stayed away from it anyway. "You heard the lady. You've got nowhere to run. Give it up, you've lost."

Autumn retorted with defiant zeal. "I beg to differ! The Enclave is at the height of its power!"

He was cut off by laughter. The Pride's. Sarah fanned his angry spluttering with an elaboration. "We all thought the Enclave was beat and gone until last week, and you lasted a week before my girl destroyed your entire base."

He eventually regained enough composure to reply. "You think your wasteland lackey has destroyed us? Ha! Even after that, we are more powerful than you know. You'll soon find out!"

"Big words from someone pinned down with no backup."

"Even if the Brotherhood of Steel controlled this water supply, you don't have the resources to give the people what they need. Only the Enclave has a plan for the future and the mandate for it. The Enclave will prevail and this great nation will return to how it once was- under our protection! Not the pathetic rule of a group of traitors and mutineers like you."

"Yada yada, just come out so we can shoot you and save us all the ammo."

Autumn declined Sarah's offer with multiple shots around the room. Talia shrank into the pillar as the air sizzled with laser pulses. He was cornered. None of his words could hold any weight, and yet she was sinking under them.

But somewhere through the darkness she heard Sarah's continuous taunting, Dogmeat growling, Burke calling to her, and the surface didn't seem out of reach. She opened her eyes and turned to Burke, only feet away behind another pillar. She nodded to say she was present and okay.

Then she aimed her rifle around the edge of her pillar and sent a barrage of 5.56 up at the spot where Autumn was hiding, not giving a shit what else got torn up. "Why are you hanging on Autumn?" she yelled. "You're fucked. Your people outside are dead, your president is dead-"

"The Enclave is not dead!" he retorted furiously. "We are the future. The American people are worth fighting for and so I uphold the presidency! Not something I expect you to understand."

"The President was a senile machine and it was undermining you. You know Eden gave me a modified FEV right? He said you wouldn't cooperate with his plan."

Autumn faltered. "That's not true, that plan was abandoned months ago, he would never go behind my back!"

Talia smirked a little and savoured every word she said next. "Oh but he did. He told you it was over and asked me to add it to the purifier in exchange for my freedom. He betrayed you, he was going to take you out of the picture and take over the country himself."

"Ridiculous. He would never be able to seize control. You're just making things up."

"I already said he was senile. But you know it's true, that's why he said I was free to go."

"The Enclave would never support a coup like that, not destroying what's left of the American people. No, the Enclave is loyal to me. I am the Enclave!"

"If you believed that you wouldn't have kept a self-destruct code for Eden- the code that I used."

Autumn screamed and fired more shots. Talia returned them, feeling much better by the second. He seemed to be understanding how things were; how he never had the power he thought; how he had lost.

"Now," Sarah hissed.

Gallows suddenly broke cover, leaping the stairs in one bound. Laser fire glanced off his power armour and he bore down on the lone survivor. Before Talia could complain she heard Autumn cry out as his weapon was smashed from his hand. She watched as Gallows hoisted him into the air and carried him down to their level like a ragdoll.

"We had to be sure he had nothing heavier, and you got him nice and distracted there, Tali," Sarah explained as she came out to cover the prisoner. "Alright, we got it from here. You guys go on watch outside, I'll call you if we need anything." The rest of the Pride left Talia, Burke and Sarah standing over Autumn.

"You can do the honours," she told Talia.

"You're not taking him prisoner?"

Sarah looked at her quizzically. "You can do that if you like. I'd cut the head off the snake."

Talia stared down at Autumn, still inexplicably nervous despite him having no power here. He tried to get up. Burke shoved him back to the ground with a boot. Talia backed off. "I'm not an executioner. Do what you want." She left the pair with him while she ran up the stairs to check out the control room. She could hear Burke and Sarah debating who ought to gain credit for the kill. Autumn called them savages. She scoffed at his audacity.

The room was sealed shut. The central reservoir of water was still, offline as she'd always seen it. She leant on the window and stared in blankly. The whole place was empty. There were blood stains on the floor and some of the computers. Janice. There was nothing to mark where she'd seen James fall. Was he alive? Had they taken him away? No, Li explained the radiation levels, it was impossible. And he'd known it. Talia had seen it in his eyes.

This armour was suffocating. She tussled with her chinstrap until it came loose and yanked off the helmet. She turned back to look down the steps. Autumn was still breathing for now. She descended swiftly to interrupt Burke and Sarah's rapidly heating discussion. She threw the helmet hard into the ground beside Autumn before launching herself on him.

"Where are they? What did you do with them?" She rattled him by his collar.

"Who-"

"The bodies. My friend and my dad, you fucker, where are they!"

He looked up at her with infuriating indifference and mild disgust. "I don't know. Could have been tossed in the river for all I know."

She punched him in the face so hard she might have noticed herself break a knuckle if she wasn't so incensed, disgusted, heartbroken. He didn't take kindly to the blood pouring from his lip and he grabbed her by the arm. Talia was all too ready to strangle this bastard with her bare hands, so she threw her weight into his. She scrapped with him on the ground like a rabid yao guai before Burke and Sarah wrestled them apart. Too soon.

"No!" she protested wildly, straining against Burke's grip.

"He got your damn knife, Tali, it's over."

She realised Sarah was indeed prizing Talia's own knife from Autumn's fingers, now crippled in her armour's vice-like grip. Sarah threw it aside and made to draw her sidearm.

"Wait!" Talia implored them both with as much sanity as she could muster, wriggling free of Burke's loosening grasp. Without taking her eyes off Autumn, held in place by Sarah's enhanced strength, she stepped close, drew her own pistol and fired it into his skull before he could get another word out. She looked at the mess for a few seconds as she caught her ragged breath, then turned away.

Sarah released his arm and the body crumpled to the floor. "Well then."

"Are you alright?" Burke steered Talia to sit on the steps as he inspected her.

"You mean am I in one piece? Yeah," she answered flatly.

"Damn girl," Sarah breathed as Burke confirmed she hadn't been stabbed. "I thought you were about to rip his throat out with your teeth."

Did she not? She looked over at the body. No, she did not.

"Feel better?" Burke inquired.

She steadied herself with a deep breath. "Yeah. I do actually."

Sarah chuckled. Dogmeat lifted his leg against one of the pillars. Burke squeezed her shoulder and looked so goddamn proud and she just sagged in relief that what she knew in her gut she had to do, fair or not, was completely cool in their books. They were all so fucked up, and she didn't care.

"You guys are the best you know."

"Save it for later huh, I'm gonna check out the controls." Sarah jumped up to the catwalk.

Talia took Burke's arm as he helped her to her feet. "I guess it's over," she breathed.

"Almost. We'll be out of here soon."

They embraced and for a moment there was nothing else, no one else. As the red mist faded, she became aware of more than her own bloodrush. The stretch along her side as she hung off Burke's neck, the warmth of his hands, the weight of his arms, sure and firm and reminding her as if she'd forgotten that he was here with her, for her.

She laughed softly over his shoulder, "I didn't think it would work out. I can't believe this."

"I can't believe this!" Sarah shrieked from above.

They both turned to face upstairs, two brows raised and two furrowed.

"Guys!"

They hurried up the stairs at the explosion of urgency in Sarah's voice.

"We have a problem."

"How serious?" Burke pressed.

"I think you'd call this one 'severe'," Sarah clucked sarcastically. "Doctor Li said the place has been damaged or sabotaged and pressure's building up. It's bad enough this place might be blown sky high." She held her thumb on the intercom by the door. "We're all here, Doctor. Is there anything we can do, or do we have long enough to get everyone out of here?"

All three of them leant in around the small speaker as Dr Li's voice crackled through with an answer. "I can't say precisely, but not long enough. Minutes? The pressure has to be released now- the only way to do that is to turn the purifier on. Do you understand me? It has to be turned on now."

Talia shrugged at Sarah and Burke. "That's what we're here to do."

Sarah jabbed the button. "I'm ready to go on that. Is there anything else or can I proceed?" She whipped back her hand to wait for Li's answer. "Be nice if these eggheads had said something earlier. Thank god for you Tali or I'd have blown us up opening the door. Doctor?" She jabbed the button again to check Li could still hear.

"I'm here. If I'm reading this right, I'm afraid… There are lethal levels of radiation inside the chamber. I'm sorry. I wish there was some other way but there's just no time. It has to be done now or the damage will be catastrophic."

"...Copy. Out." Sarah turned to Talia and Burke with a glib look about her. "Well, so much for celebrating."

"You must have a robot around here," Burke surmised with indignant hope.

"She said this has to be done now, so I'm afraid it looks like one of us has to go in there and turn the damn thing on. And whoever does it isn't coming back out. Not exactly how I imagined going out, y'know?"

"Really? I'd have thought heroics wouldn't be too foreign to the Lyons' Brotherhood."

Their exchange turned to bickering, but the words washed over Talia's head as she stared at the master control panel just feet away through the glass. She began to shake her head.

"Enough, we don't have time for this," Sarah barked, cutting off Burke. "What should we do? Draw straws? Talia's saying no."

"No," Burke cut in. "Death and glory has never interested me, that sort of things is certainly much more up your street. This is your mission. It's your legend in there, you'll be a hero- think of the glory you'll bring the Brotherhood if you purify this river. And your name will be known by everyone.

"Besides, we've all taken anti-rads but you are wearing power armour. You stand a chance of basking in that glory. In and out, job done. Talia, give her the code.

"Talia..."

Talia was still shaking her head. "I'm supposed to do it aren't I." A heavy realisation more than a question.

"Not under these circumstances. Lyons would love for you to do it, but really we're not even supposed to be here."

"Technically she was supposed to do it before this problem reared its ugly head though," Sarah countered.

"As a favour. We're just civilians, Sentinel. Now that there is a problem I'd go so far as to say it's your duty-"

The bickering stopped as the outer door to the air shower slid open in front of Talia. James was collapsing again. Run. But there was nowhere to go. She'd tried and here she was again. She stood at the threshold, staring at the inner door control just inside. Just a few steps away.

That was until Burke dragged her back several feet.

"I'm supposed to do it though, can't you see?" She protested reluctantly, but unavoidably.

"Absolutely not, you're not going anywhere."

"But to end up back here after everything. I was born here, my mom and dad both died here- it's obvious isn't it? I had no choice, like them. It's fate."

"You're talking nonsense. Sarah's going to do it because it's her job, now what's the code?"

"No, no nobody else is going to die for me-"

"You're certainly not going to die for me. Do you really think I'm letting you walk in there?"

She pressed the heel of her hands to her brow and hissed out a sigh as if it might release all the memories and doubts swirling around her head. "It's the only way to make it stop-"

Burke squeezed her upper arms almost painfully. "It stops when we get out of here, like we talked about. You better get a grip, we're walking out of here together. Are you hearing me? We have a plan, you remember it don't you? You want to see those other places with me, yes?"

She looked at him and nodded and tried to imagine the future they'd planned instead of what being ionized to death might feel like.

"Talia, what's the code?" Sarah interrupted.

"No, Sarah-"

"I need it now."

Talia turned in horror to find Sarah was already sealed behind the first door.

"Come on girl, or I'm in here for nothin'."

Talia lurched against Burke's grip for the door control, but he pulled her further away.

"Talia!" Sarah's voice prodded something primal in Talia's mind that said Something Bad was very close and there was absolutely no time for messing around, so she better pull herself together and answer before Something Bad happened.

"Two-one-six! Two-one-six!" she cried desperately.

"Two-one-six-two-one-six? Or just two-one-six?" Sarah pressed as a light began to blink inside the compartment.

"Just two-one-six," she replied limply. "Fuck, Sarah-"

"Don't. Look, Burke's right. Duty, honour, fame and glory. Not a bad day. You two get yourselves straight to Tristan alright? Get out of this shithole for me."

Talia strained against Burke, to do what, she didn't know, she just couldn't stand and watch. But he didn't give her an inch.

Sarah turned from them to face the centre console. After a few seconds she stepped out of view.

Talia surged toward the window but instead found herself pinned to the railing where she couldn't see anything much beyond Burke. She flailed either side of him, tried to get under him, but he was solid, and the more she fought the more he held her back.

She jumped at a loud clunk above them. Then came a whirring followed by bubbling sounds, and eventually a surge that calmed to a steady churn. "I think that's it," Burke said quietly. They waited a little longer, staring upwards as if expecting the roof to cave in.

Instead, Dr. Li spoke over the intercom again. "The pressure is reducing. I think you did it."

"She did it…" Talia whispered. "Is she…"

They looked at the door but Sarah did not reappear. Burke shook his head.

"She might need help," Talia gasped.

Burke planted her on the spot and crossed to the window. Then he returned and shook his head.

Talia's heart raced and the room began to spin.

"We should go find Tristan," he said.

"No, we need to help her."

"There's nothing we can do." He grabbed her by the wrist and brandished her Pip-Boy, "Look, we're taking rads even out here, let's go." He ignored Li on the intercom asking for a response and pulled her back down the stairs with him.

"But-" She fought the crippling nausea and clung to hope there was something she could do. "Rads- yes, that's it!" She wrenched herself free, careened down the last few steps and threw herself by Autumn's body.

"What are you doing?"

"Autumn survived before, he injected himself with anti-rads or something. It's better than what we have. I've had it, they gave me something to get me out of Vault 87." She raided all of Autumn's pockets furiously as she spoke. He had to have some on him.

"It's been too long already-"

"You don't get it, this stuff is strong. I saw him take it-"

"But Sarah didn't take it."

"Well it might do both, like we have Rad-Away-"

"Talia, no, it can't undo this. It's been too long."

"How do you know? Are you a doctor? Ah!" She raised an autoinjector into the light in triumph.

"And how are you going to get in there to use that on her?"

Talia met his negativity with a look of displeasure. "Is she near the door? I'll take more Rad-X and as soon as I've got her out-"

"No, this isn't a game, you can't just pop in there for a brief moment. You know this stuff just slows down the damage?" He plucked her issued tub of anti-radiation pills from her hand. "It isn't magic, living out here is a balance."

"You don't have to talk to me like a kid, I fucking know," she spat, pulling herself to her feet. "Then I'll take it and get her out and maybe it's not too late for the doctor to do something."

Burke grabbed the hand holding the autoinjector. "You will not. Do you even know what's in this?"

"Rad stuff, look! It's got the symbol!"

"I know you picked up more medical training than me but even you know that would be unwise. Now, stop-"

"Stop trying to reason with me!" She wrestled him for the device. Why couldn't he see he was wasting precious time? But he wouldn't give it up. Now she was wasting time arguing. She opened her palm and let him have the injector, and while he was distracted by his win she ran off up the stairs. "Bring that with you!"

She got the first door open just before he caught up, but she'd barely reached for the button to enter the interior when he hooked an arm round her waist and ploughed her into the back wall. "You'll kill us both dammit! She's dead, you can't do anything."

"She's right there!" she reached out over his shoulder toward Sarah who lay motionless on the other side of the door. She'd made it halfway back from the console.

"Tali, listen: she's dead, alright."

"It's not alright," she whimpered.

"Well, it's how it is. You can't do anything."

She despised his words and how right they were, but he said them so tenderly. Apologetically. He would have made it alright if he could, but this was as good as it was going to get.

"Why…" The word made its way out on a weary breath from a spot deep in the pit of her stomach. Her knees buckled and the nausea sent her head spinning again. She gripped tightly onto Burke for fear of falling, and for fear of the day when something would finally happen to him.

She was vaguely aware of voices, mild respite from the vertigo as her ass met the floor, Burke turning to look at the catwalk. She followed his gaze.

Elder Lyons was staring through the window at the body of his daughter. After a minute he turned and looked down at them.