"It is my job to ensure the safety of Raven Rock―"

"Colonel, she's only twelve!" Her dad's voice rose over the Colonel's accented one, overpowering him. "Do you think she intended to cause real harm? She is only a curious child!"

Lillie curled up into a ball on the chair she was sitting on, mashing her face into her knees and covering her ears. Didn't want to hear them yelling―yelling about her and her stupid mistake―

"I think you have intended to sow disharmony among my troops since your inclusion into the Enclave!" Colonel Autumn snapped, slamming a fist onto the table. Lillie jumped in place, fighting tears. "I see no reason for this debacle to have even happened―other than your own ineptitude as a parent!"

Her dad remained curiously silent. Lillie shuddered with a sob, peeking out over her knees and feeling the pain in her ears from the pressure in her head. Her dad was standing at the end of the table, facing Colonel Autumn, his face contorted in anger. The light in the bunker made him look like a monster, funny shadows under his eyes and cheeks drawing him into a scary thing. She flicked her eyes to Colonel Autumn and hiccuped in fear.

The older man was staring at her, his head turned and a hand cast out to point at her. He slowly turned back to her dad, and lowered the hand. "Do you deny this, Doctor?" Colonel Autumn asked her dad. "Do you deny that you have failed as a parent?"

"I do not," her dad said, sounding terribly sad. Lillie's heart hurt. She couldn't stand to hear that, hear the pain in his voice―all her fault. All of it.

All because she had found a way into a lower level of the bunker, and all because she was curious about the function of the nuclear reactor that powered the bunker―because she had logged into a terminal using her father's name and examined the reactor output. She was only curious―how much power was needed to keep the bunker going, how much was produced by nuclear fission?

And because it was exciting to pretend that she was a scientist. Pretending to be like her father, doing important work inside of Raven Rock, helping the soldiers fight the war on those nasty things out in the wasteland.

She hadn't meant to push any buttons. ...It was an accident. It was!

Colonel Autumn crossed his arms over his chest, then dropped them back to his side, glaring at her dad. "How is it that she was even able to log into that terminal, Doctor?"

Her dad was quiet, again. Lillie pushed her eyeballs into her knees and felt the awful pain that came of it. She deserved that, for doing what she did. Even if she'd tripped on her own feet and accidentally activated the manual shutdown―she looked back to her dad, and tears streamed from her eyes. Even if she hadn't meant it, she'd caused him the sadness that marched across his face, right now―

"What is your excuse for allowing your daughter unfettered access to important technology?" Colonel Autumn clenched his hands into fists and stared James down. "For allowing her to cause a site-wide power failure and nearly destroying the entirety of our work?"

"I have none," her dad said, after a long silence.

Colonel Autumn stared at him for a moment. "You are taking the blame, Doctor? Is that correct?"

Her dad stared at the Colonel without blinking. "I am, Colonel. It was my fault that Lillie had access to my credentials, and my fault that she was allowed to wander in places she oughtn't."

Lillie mashed her face back into her knees and listened to the command given by Colonel Autumn, sobbing as he read out a long list of what he considered her dad to be guilty of―crimes that, in reality, she was guilty of. It was too much. She cried her eyes out, shuddering in the chair and soaking the pants of her jumpsuit with her tears.

Her dad was taken away by two men in power armor, but not before calling out to her that she must be strong and not give in―

And she was left alone with Colonel Autumn, who slowly turned to her with a calculating look on his face.

That was the day the world changed, for Lillie.

Three years passed. Things were never the same as they had been, before. Lillie knew it was all her fault.

She didn't endear herself to the Colonel. She caused trouble for each new caregiver she was assigned to. Lillie never intended to make trouble. Every time she was reassigned she would desperately cling to a hope that her new caregiver would be like her dad―loving and understanding without judging―

But it wasn't to be found. Lillie's relationships with her caregivers were always to be professional, and so she slowly gave up hope. Even though her father had told her not to... she couldn't help but give in. He was no longer around to give her support. Because of her own stupidity.

She underwent surgery repeatedly, at Colonel Autumn's direction. Each and every time she went under the knife, she gained a new scar on her scalp and a new outlook on the Enclave. Colonel Autumn had explained to her in curt terms that she was to be remade into what a good woman should be―

"I don't care if we have to cut the disobedience out of your skull," he told her. "You will behave."

The surgeries went on for some time, and each time Lillie would wake up temporarily blind, confused, and in pain. It wasn't until the third year after her father was gone, that she had her first encounter with the President. An encounter that shaped her future, dramatically.

Her head was swimming with pain after a particularly long surgery; a metal plate had been installed into the side of her head. Dr. Isben explained to her that her skull was no longer holding up to the repeated intrusions, and so he had installed what he referred to as "a window to her soul." An easier access to the hardware that they had implanted. Until that time, Lillie hadn't known why she was being operated upon.

She remembered sitting up and wincing in pain as the I.V. lines jerked against her skin, feeling cold and shivering against the metal gurney. The room was filled with an eerie light and for a moment she remembered her father's face right before he had been taken away―

And a voice had filled her head and the room with such loud intensity she wasn't able to control her moan of pain. It echoed through her brain and made her clutch at what raggedy hair she had left, after so many surgeries.

The voice apologized in a much quieter voice and introduced himself as President John Henry Eden, the one and only President of the United States of America. Until that time, Lillie's only major social interaction had been Colonel Autumn and the faceless caregivers she was handed over to when she left the medical bay. After her initial concern for the nature of the voice, and the person behind it, she latched onto him as a friendly soul within the madness.

President Eden ordered the surgeries temporarily stopped. She was grateful to him for that. He explained to her the nature of the experimental procedure that had been performed on her―she had been blind but could now see, as a result of Enclave technology. That technology that allowed her sight was part of a program that she was an integral part of, ensuring the productivity of future generations of Enclave soldiers by allowing Dr. Isben to operate on her.

Lillie thanked him personally for that. Anything she could do to be free of the terrifying surgeries and the awful way Colonel Autumn treated her―

President Eden tutored her on the United States, when she had free time from the ruthless physical training that Colonel Autumn insisted she maintain. Lillie was not physically able to perform the stunts that the Colonel asked of her; she was too small of frame and far too weakened by the repeated surgery to perform any great feats.

President Eden would not excuse her from the exercise, and she did not ask. He spoke of the necessity, implied that she needed to be fit in order to enable the success of the VIOLA program. VIOLA was what let her see, and she owed the Enclave her life and her merit for giving her that sight.

Lillie felt herself slowly understanding why she had been separated from her father, and why she was being pushed so hard to succeed.

It was a matter of utmost importance to return the wasteland to its former state.

"I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America," Lillie recited, a hand over her heart and her eyes locked onto the intercom light up on the wall. A voice from the speaker recited the pledge with her, proudly and boldly.

"With liberty, and justice, for all," she finished, and let her hand linger over her heart as her eyes fell to her feet. Justice. Liberty. Two things her father would never have... because she'd sent him to his death. Because she had not obeyed, when she'd needed to. Because...

She was quiet for too long. The President, who was waiting for her to acknowledge him with the traditional "good morning" after the end of the Pledge of Allegiance, spoke. "I do so enjoy our morning ritual. Don't you, Lillie?"

Her head jerked up. "Of course, Mr. President."

She had not had thoughts such as that for a long time, now. Hadn't blamed herself for anything relating to her father since―since shortly after she became acquainted with President Eden. Lillie felt ashamed for even daring to think such thoughts; they were useless emotion that could compromise her in the field, or cause her to display behavior that would bring punishment. Behavior such as crying―she could already feel the physical reaction beginning to swell inside her head.

"You are, perhaps reflecting on your upcoming field test?" President Eden asked. Lillie watched the light glowing dimly. "Or is it something different in nature, that has occupied your mind so."

"I am..." Lillie sighed and let her hand drop to her side. She stared at the blank metal wall of the bunker room. "I was... thinking about my father."

"Yes?" the President sounded as if he had anticipated the conversation. Since James' imprisonment because of her deliberate actions against the Enclave she had been reluctant to speak of her father to anyone, let alone the President―she didn't feel that it was right for her to expound upon her own failure. President Eden had been ever so patient with her these last five years, and taught her so much of value.

Lillie had once asked Colonel Autumn if she might see her father, when she had just come out of surgery and was in dire need of a comforting hand. The answer was, as usual for the restraint the Colonel always showed, concise and devastating.

"James is dead, Lillie."

Lillie looked up at the intercom again and rubbed her ear, feeling the familiar pain. The pressure in her sinus cavity that meant tears were forming inside her head. It wouldn't do for her to show such a weak emotion when she was about to undergo her first actual field test―the first uncontrolled test of the VIOLA program. The first way in which she was being allowed to prove her merit, the first time she would be able to do her part to support the Enclave.

She breathed in and out, slowly, and managed a small smile. "It was only a small thought, Mr. President. I will purge it."

"It is for the best, my friend," the President said, and Lillie felt her mouth twitching into a wider smile. To be considered the President's friend was a great honor―she dropped her hand to her side and waited for him to continue.

"Good morning, Lillie," the President said, pointedly, and she repeated the salutation back at the intercom. "Now... The morning ritual is out of the way. Let us discuss today's schedule, shall we?"

"Of course, Mr. President."