Note: Edited for content.

"Objective is secured, sir."

Augustus moved into the room. Would that he could be over and done with this nonsense... he stared down at Lillie. His head ached terribly, the migraine that had built up inside of his skull near to bursting with its intensity.

Really, he was surprised that she'd even tried to fight. He knelt onto one knee beside her, seeing her eyes open but unfocused, and wondered what he looked like from the other side. What Eden was seeing, as Lillie lay helpless on the floor.

She still carried his pistol, held weakly in one hand. She was bloodied and bruised, and wore a sheen of sweat mixed with the grime that came from traveling the wastes without practicing proper hygiene. He'd expected that much, but...

Overall, she looked terrible. Terrible for having been subject to the ravages of the the wastes and terrible for having been disabled by the Enclave in such a baffling manner. She was disoriented from the cryo-grenade that had been used to bring her down. Her head was spinning in a circle, with one elbow propped underneath her and the other arm moving weakly in a repetitive motion.

He considered her, silently. Willed himself to show no emotion, something he'd had practice doing for many a year―but all he could feel, in that small moment, was pity. She'd put up a fight she'd had to lose. He knew there was a reason behind it, but for the life of him he couldn't comprehend―the sounds of gatling lasers and gunfire still echoed in his head, overpowering any other thoughts.

He leaned an elbow onto his knee. "Good work, soldier. Make sure the G.E.C.K. is secured aboard my Vertibird," he told the man, tonelessly.

"Yes, sir! I'll have the techs come down and remove it immediately, sir."

Augustus reached down and took his pistol from her hand, tugging the weapon away from her hand. She groped at it, her fingers grazing his as he pulled, weakly trying to keep it from him. "...You're certain she's unharmed?" he asked, turning his gaze from her unfocused eyes.

"Yes, sir! She'll pass out shortly, but we can revive her."

His hand, holding the pistol, twitched briefly. "Excellent. Prepare her for transport immediately."

"Right away, sir!"

He stood and walked away, raising his hand and examining the pistol. It was... she'd kept the pistol in excellent condition, as he would have if he'd remained in possession of the weapon. Her efforts were more than adequate, really. It was cleaner than the rest of her equipment, by far.

He knew exactly why she'd paid such careful attention to the 10mm pistol. Damn him for trying. Damn her, with that foolish heart she possessed, for buying into the manipulation. Neither of them could ignore the consequences of Eden's scheming, in the end.

Augustus holstered the weapon, moving himself as quickly as he could away from the men. To know that he was delivering her an unknown fate weighed heavily on him. Coupled with his suppressed feelings for the girl, while she was away... the disappointment that he now felt, at her successful retrieval, was wearisome. Even if this were a token gesture, she surely couldn't hope for―

Augustus couldn't be sure that she would know what to do with the override. Couldn't be sure she wouldn't turn him in, telling Eden the moment she had a chance, either. Regardless of what she did within Raven Rock...

She'd deliberately walked into the trap. Like he had, once before, but her efforts would not be successful. His hadn't ever been.

He sighed and pinched himself on the nose, trying to keep his composure.

"You must understand," Eden was saying. He wasn't even trying to listen, anymore. Chain of command be damned―he was, already―

Complications had occurred, at the purifier. Of course they had; the problem wasn't that the complications were all that difficult to deal with, or how infuriating they were. The damn thing had a password on it.

That was to be expected; James was a smart man and he would have guarded it with adequate measure. Even prior to the Enclave designs for the equipment, he couldn't have trusted anyone.

Augustus listened to the report, as one of the techs repeated himself over the radio. Confirming what he'd already known, that the G.E.C.K. had been safely delivered and was being installed. Up until this point, the Brotherhood had been a pressing concern for his men; now, they'd backed away from the memorial and were surveilling the area without engaging. He mused on why that should be the case, only to be interrupted by a snide voice.

"Colonel, you aren't paying attention. These fugues of yours are becoming tiresome."

Augustus looked up, slowly, blinking with a practiced slow motion. "Sir?" he asked, playing the confused older man that he often had felt.

"As I was saying," the supercomputer said, overbearing and stiltedly patient, "James spent much time educating Lillie about his ideals. I have no doubts. She knows the code for the purifier."

Augustus frowned. "Wouldn't you―" he began, staring at the floor. He knew the answer as soon as he spoke the question; Eden would not be asking him to interrogate her if it knew the code. ...Or would it? Augustus wasn't sure just how far the machinations went.

"No, Colonel. I do not possess any recordings from the time." It sighed, painfully. "Hindsight is twenty-twenty, is it not? Speak with her, Colonel. She knows the code."

He turned to the eye on the wall, debating. He let his face fall into a dull look, as he thought about the matter. It was likely that Eden had another plan in place, if he couldn't obtain the code from Lillie. If he were to speak with Lillie, assuming she were to give him the information...

He doubted she would, but he had no way to know what she was thinking. And Eden would immediately use her acquiescence against the both of them, if she did. Augustus closed his eyes and stifled a yawn. That, he told himself, was why she'd not given herself up willingly. In the same vein, he understood that meant she wouldn't give him the code without some sort of show for the supercomputer.

Eden had to have something planned, and Augustus couldn't say what that something was. He could only hope that Lillie's ambiguous plan was more effective than whatever the ZAX bastard could think up.

He sighed to himself again, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had very little hope left, really.

She'd been secured in a holding cell, as per his request. Augustus entered the room, alone, and stared at her for a long moment, seeing her slumped behind the resonance barrier. She should have been awake, by now. He frowned and looked her up and down through the blue light, mildly concerned.

Her eyes moved behind her eyelids, following him as he moved from one side of the restraints to the other. She was awake. And pretending not to be. Typical of her, really.

"Let's keep this nice and simple," he said, bringing up his hands and removing his gloves, slowly. He shot a sharp glance at her. This playback, he was sure, would damn the both of them―

She opened her eyes, a pleasantly confused look on her face. Watched him with that look, the only sign of uncertainty the trembling of her lower lip. She straightened herself out, but didn't answer.

"No games, Lillie. Do I make myself clear?" He put his gloves into his coat pocket and moved closer to the barrier, holding a hand out as if to touch her. His fingers stopped just shy of it, spread out over the blue, as he placed himself in front of the eye on the wall. Eden might see through other means, but he'd only shown his hand with recorded audio, thus far...

Lillie's face fell, but her hand came up and mirrored his on the other side of the barrier. Her eyes darted to the eye on the wall, then back to him. He dropped his and nodded.

"You're going to tell me the code for that purifier," he said, evenly.

She lowered her hand, smiling in a funny way. "Fuck you," she said, laughing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Augustus moved away from the restraints, coughing, trying to hide a laugh. Her inappropriate behavior came as no surprise, but the way she'd spoken... the curse felt alien to his ears. "Why do you insist on provoking me?" he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"No, seriously," she said, her voice growing louder. "Fuck you."

When he turned back to her, he drew his pistol and stared down at it for a brief second or two. She was smiling at him. Amused, just as he was, at the situation. He couldn't afford to let such an opportune smile cross his face, as much as he might wish it. "Lillie," he said, letting his strained patience for Eden catch up with his voice, "tell me the code. You know the consequences for disobedience."

He held one hand on his pistol, the other hovering over the restraint release. Stared at her through the barrier, saw how dirty and tired she looked. How she appeared on the outside was how he felt on the inside. It was... an interesting opposite. But not a pleasant one, sadly.

She had new scars. Pink lines across her sunburned skin, bullet gouges and laser burns added to the already mangled skin on the side of her head. As she turned her head to watch him, he could see the old surgery scars through her thin hair. He recalled how skinny she had been, before, and noted that she had gained some muscle in the time since.

Her eyes cut through him just as sharply as they had in the past. The glimmer from the lenses was not as obvious under the dim lights of the bunker as it might be in the wastes. She baffled him, still.

But she had a purpose in this mind game that Eden had been playing. A purpose he could not fully grasp, sometimes, but one that seemed to work in his favor―if he was willing to make a personal sacrifice.

He knew just how capable of violence she was, even without a weapon. Threatening her with his weapon, before, had propelled her into defending herself. But now... now, she wasn't afraid of being shot. And she had proven just how ruthless she could be, many times over. He kept his eyes on hers, his pistol aimed at her chest, and hit the release.

The bullet lodged itself in the far wall, grazing her naked shoulder, but she'd slammed him backward into the door before he could pull the trigger twice. He would have laughed if she hadn't delivered him a solid blow to the solar plexus and knocked the wind out of him.

Where he'd shot her was the same―the same place she'd shot him, so long ago―

He groaned, stupefied and doubled over in pain as her knuckles dug into his stomach and her other hand quickly disarmed him of his weapon. The effect only made him lurch forward onto her, his hands moving up to grab her shoulders as he recovered.

She was warm. He vaguely remembered that she'd been cold to the touch, before. Gloveless fingers met her skin, wondering―she turned her head so that her mouth was suddenly on his ear, distracting him. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and his pistol was under his chin. The metal dug into his skin, forcing his head backward against the door.

"Li―" he gasped out, but she'd grabbed his head and―God, he'd thought they were done with that. He knew she still―dare he say it―admired him, somehow. Even after all that had gone on.

Lillie was kissing him, now. This time he didn't push her away. Couldn't have, at any rate―she might have shot him with his own weapon, but―shame pooled in his face, flushing red under hers. It wasn't the right time to do such things―

She pulled away, jerking his head to the left and swept his legs out from under him, knocking him to the floor. In a flash, she'd flipped the gun around and he could only stare as she brought the butt down on his temple.

Godspeed, Lillie.