"Colonel Autumn, I believe you trained the girl too well."

Eden's voice over the intercom was irate, much to Augustus' amusement. He didn't dare show the thought, instead focusing himself on the task ahead of him. On the newly acquired assets.

It had been... easier, than he'd expected, to round up the Vault Dwellers. A few had been executed for poor attitude, but the majority had willingly given themselves up to the Enclave. A lifetime of following the orders of one man―well, it was to his benefit that they were conditioned, already.

The rare few that could be trusted to perform duties among his men would be assigned once their intentions were confirmed. Augustus left that to his subordinates, for now. He had other problems to deal with, more concerning to both him and to Eden.

Problems like what to do with the now-errant child and her overly rebellious father. That sobered Augustus into a frown, staring at Eden's "eye" as it lectured him on her training. He had not anticipated her departure from the Vault being so... dramatic.

Surely, that was the only word that could describe what had happened. Eden lamented that Lillie had ruined the Vault, her preferred method of persuasion more blunt than a hammer. "A Vault such as that could have been immeasurably useful," it snapped. "And she's completely destroyed it―"

"If I might speak frankly, Mr. President," Augustus said, tiredly, "it was your instruction that allowed her access to the information she used to 'persuade' the dwellers."

Eden's unblinking red eye considered him for a silent moment, and a dry chuckle finally emitted from the metal facing. "Of course, I did impart to her the necessary information on Vault systems. Thank you for reminding me of that, Colonel. One mustn't allow oneself to fall to hubris."

The light bored into his eyes, painfully so. Augustus nodded, jerkily. "Of course, sir." He paused, then turned a questioning gaze onto Eden. "My men reported that Lillie was observed running away from the Vault," he said, slowly. "She was fired upon, unfortunately. She may well consider herself to have been... written off."

"You saw, as I have, that she was made aware of the back-up plan," Eden began. Augustus winced, inside. Yes, he had seen that. It was... difficult for him to imagine what she must think, knowing that she was a walking time bomb.

The back-up that he had secretly hoped would destroy her was most decidedly a bomb. Her shaking hands when she looked at the x-rays―Eden, of course, delighted in showing that feed to Augustus, in an effort to torment him further. What purpose that served, now that she was a loose wire in the works, he had no clue.

"She still considers herself Enclave, trust me in that. It's all part of my plans, Colonel." Eden made a tutting noise. "I know I haven't been forthcoming in the details. If you will allow me to explain?"

Augustus ground his teeth into each other, once, before he consented to the supercomputer. This... rigmarole that Eden had been instigating was only going to become worse as time went on. If it deigned to release information to him, then that information was what it deemed redundant... or was being imparted to him as a means to provoke him.

As much as he didn't enjoy the thought of allowing himself to become intentionally provoked, he might still have some use for whatever Eden shared... if he dared. And he most certainly did dare.

Eden's voice was matter-of-fact as it detailed its idea. "The eyebots roaming the wastes have brought me information from as far away as the D.C. ruins, though those troublesome Brotherhood imbeciles do still destroy them. The loss of resource is necessary, however. In the D.C. area... there is an opportunity to rectify the disastrous mutagenic effects of this terrible world." Augustus raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Inside of the Jefferson Memorial, a group of inspired scientists built a massive purifier to remove the radiation from the tidal basin. Can you imagine how life might thrive in the wasteland with access to clean water, Colonel?"

He could. It meant no radiation being ingested―less radiation in crops being grown in dirtied soil―and it could prove invaluable to the Enclave if they possessed such a thing. A way to reverse the negative light the wasteland had developed, after their arrival in the Capital Wasteland―

Augustus felt hope, again, and quashed it as quickly as he could. He couldn't afford to let that sort of thing affect his conversations with the damnable computer, much less try to hope, until well after this issue with Lillie had been resolved. She was still―

Augustus pushed that feeling away, as well. Tried to focus himself on what was happening in the here and now.

"...It would certainly improve quality of life, sir," he said, tonelessly.

"Naturally, this resource could have been excitingly useful for the Enclave." The eye burned into his retinas again, and Augustus sighed under his breath. "Roughly eighteen years ago, the purifier was thrown into disarray. Imagine how I felt, if you will, when I discovered that, without so much as a warning, the scientists in the Memorial had abandoned their project. ...It was quite depressing, Colonel."

"Of course, Mr. President," he muttered. Wished the damn thing would get to the point, with this―tension. The whole conversation was starting to feel like a denouement, and he did not want to imagine what Eden might be attempting to reveal.

"Hope was not lost. The head scientist fled into the wastes and I had almost thought him killed. The persons involved were of interest to me far before your men chanced upon them. I had to work very carefully to bring James to our graces." It paused for a brief moment, then continued, "And, of course, his daughter, by extension."

Augustus prided himself in his utter lack of reaction to the implication. He had an inkling of an idea as soon as the thing mentioned the time frame―but he wouldn't allow himself to give Eden any more ammunition against him.

"Is it correct of me to assume that James will attempt to reach this purifier, again, and Lillie might be joining him in a venture to restore it?" Augustus asked, his voice as neutral as he could manage.

"That is why you are my second-in-command," Eden said, as if he were a father proud of his son. The tone made his stomach sink to somewhere around his knees in disgust. "Yes, by my calculations, James should be making his way toward Rivet City with Lillie. The... disruption of the signal notwithstanding―" it cleared its throat. "Lillie is smart enough to provide a temporary solution, but she cannot hope to find a permanent one. The only location in the ruins with the necessary equipment to create a signal―one that would prove sufficient to overpower our own―is that Galaxy News Radio station. My eyebots tell me that the signal of the station recently suffered a drastic reduction in strength." Eden chuckled, meanly. "It may be in Brotherhood control, still, but the sheer amount of super mutants roaming the area keep them from aiding that rebellious deejay Three Dog. Not to mention the relative scarcity of such equipment."

"Would Lillie not―" Augustus began, but stopped himself. If the area was under Brotherhood control, she certainly wouldn't attempt to reach GNR. Even if James was able to talk their way into some kind of truce, Eden's brainwashing wouldn't allow her to suffer the negative opinions of the men at the radio station. She was Enclave, through and through.

If Lillie went to GNR... she would only sow more chaos, as she had at the Vault. He pressed his mouth together. "She stole some equipment from the Vertibird that landed at the Vault," he said, quickly, to cover up his question. "Regular maintenance and repair parts for eyebots, sir. Is that how she created this interference?"

"You are, again, correct," Eden said, still sounding proud. "She created a signal with those parts, and is using it to maintain some stealth." It sighed. "But the power cell that she installed will not last forever, Colonel. She will need to replace it at some point, which means she will need to draw out another Vertibird... or stage something similar."

Augustus' heart sank down to near his stomach, at his knees. "And you intend that we contact her at that point, sir?" he asked, carefully.

"We may not have another chance. Lillie needs to be allowed to feel that she has managed a getaway, for the moment. Once she and James ascertain the condition of the purifier, she will need to return to Raven Rock for instruction―or reconditioning, if that is what is required." Eden almost sounded uncertain of itself.

Augustus' hope raised itself up more strongly at the thought. "Very well, Mr. President."

"For now, dear Colonel, we will observe from a distance." The red light flickered momentarily. "...As well we can."

The first thing Augustus did when he returned to his quarters was drop into the chair at his desk and turn on the terminal sitting there. After a moment of staring blankly at the wall, he lowered his hand to the keys and pulled out one of Lillie's holotapes, loading the tape into the terminal with robotic movements.

Once the information had been loaded, he sought out a specific phrase that had been in the back of his mind since the revelation of―

Her birth. James and Lillie were not of the Vault, as he had assumed. He was almost grateful for that, somehow. But he was also angered. Angered in that not only had James kept that information―expected the man should, his spirit being so bound by ire for the Enclave―but also angry that Eden had not seen fit to reveal the truth until now.

Until there was absolutely no way he could act on that information. The Vault dwellers were in Enclave control, the Vault itself incapable of sustaining life and thus unlikely to be explored for confirmation of this farce. Lillie... was in the wastes, somewhere, her only indication of location being the occasional still frame tainted by so much static that the best guess was only that. A guess.

If Eden no longer needed him to feel―whatever he had, for the girl―then he was expected to reverse his softer attitude for her. Eden wanted him angry at James and Lillie. So he would be more tractable in retrieving her from the wastes, perhaps.

He was angry, but he didn't hold any of that anger for her. Anger at James for his lie―anger at Eden for withholding that information as part of its plot to cause him to feel for her―

But Lillie didn't know she hadn't come from the Vault. Augustus was fairly certain she'd never been in on the act; Eden's manipulation of her for Enclave purposes would have been far easier if she believed she was... pure human stock.

If she knew now?

Augustus rubbed his eyes and scanned the poem for the lines he'd been thinking about. After reading them, he sat back in the chair and felt his breast pocket for the holotape his father had left him.

A slow smile came across his face. He... had placed his trust in the girl. And now, that felt like one of the best decisions he'd made in his long life.

Smile―for the fetter'd eagle breaks his chain,
And higher worlds than this are his again.

"The Age of Bronze" by Lord George Gordon Byron