Note: Minor content edit.

She should have known she'd lose the war.

Lillie stood in front of the door, staring at the vial in her shaking hand. Thought about what President Eden had said, barely registering its increasingly impatient admonitions for her to leave. She'd... fought her way through the bunker, all the way to the end. Eden had opened the doors for her.

But she'd been startled by the voice of Colonel Autumn on the P.A., ordering her to be shot on sight. She'd... forgotten to use the override. The only thing he'd actively trusted her with, and she'd completely forgotten to use it―it made so much sense, that code. It was probably a control mechanism for the supercomputer. She couldn't do much with it, now.

Colonel Autumn was right to think she was the enemy, if he knew she'd met with Eden and not activated the priority override. She should have―God, she didn't know. Couldn't have anticipated that the President was a computer, much less remember the code after being so upset by that.

She wouldn't blame the Colonel for acting against her. Even if everything that had gone on, hadn't... she'd still be in trouble, somehow. It seemed to be in her nature to cause problems.

Colonel Autumn's voice sounded so tired. He spoke with the same authority he always had, but... he stopped in the middle of his announcement, and when he started again his voice was stressed and faded.

The sick feeling in her stomach had grown to the point she could taste stomach acid. Her chest ached with all the stress, and she didn't think it was physically possible for her to feel any more pain.

She was wrong about that, though.

The worst pain struck shortly after Colonel Autumn's announcement ended. Her hand jerked involuntarily on the vial as fire shot through her head and the VIOLA feed cut out, sending a chill down her spine. She gasped, spittle flying from her mouth, as her chin jerked up and out, and her back straightened out with a painful twinge.

"Remain calm, Lillie," President Eden said, sounding distorted. "The failsafe has been activated."

It was going to kill her? That didn't make sense―what was going on?!

She jammed her mouth shut, biting the inside of her cheek and tasting blood. Static swam in her vision as VIOLA came back online. When she could see again―it was different, again, but she could see―

She felt nearly paralyzed by the painful and confusing shock, watching halos echo out from the blue lights on the walls―managed to lift one foot and step toward the door―

Whatever the shocking sensation was, it ended just as she put her foot down. She fell sideways, tossing the vial across the floor, twisting an ankle and landing her shoulder against the door. Her head felt―she couldn't quite describe it, it was like she'd had electricity flowing inside her skull―the tingling sensation shot out into her hands and feet, down her spine and through her stomach.

Lillie threw up onto the floor, groaning as she slid down the door and curled herself into a ball. "Wha..." she managed. Her tongue tasted of metal and felt like it was too big for her mouth.

Eden chuckled patronizingly from a nearby speaker. "The shock you've received was not nearly enough to end your life. Enough to disable you temporarily, but you will live."

She searched her mind for the answer, but came up with nothing. The tingling slowly abated as she lay on the floor, shivering at the coolness of the metal. "Eden," she mumbled out, "what―"

"The failsafe was never meant to end your life, Lillie. I couldn't allow you to be killed, even in some accidental fashion. You do understand, don't you?"

She shook her head slowly, trying to get her bearings back. Her mouth tasted of sick and blood, she was cold, and she wanted to be anywhere but here―here, allowing this sociopathic A.I. to control her―

"I am unhappy that I needed to activate the failsafe. You can rest easy in knowing that the plasma charge wasn't what it appeared. Your father might have had knowledge of a great many things, but..." Eden made a thoughtful noise. "The battery that powered VIOLA's link to the orchestra has failed. It is an unfortunate occurrence."

She pushed herself up from the floor into a sitting position, staring at the unblinking blue light with a perplexed face. "What?"

She could see in color, again. What in the world was going on―

"Come now, you mustn't let the shock unravel your mind. You've earned your freedom, Lillie. What you've always wanted. Provided you undertake this last mission, of course."

She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, only opening them when it began to speak again. "I have planned extensively for all parties involved in our unpleasant situation to achieve―well, our respective American dreams. You will be allowed to leave, unharmed, and will be set free to do as you please in the wastes. You must deliver the vial to the purifier and install it as I have asked. That is my dream, Lillie. I would like to be able trust you with ensuring that dream comes true."

She blinked at the wall, then pulled herself into a stand. Ignoring the statement, she hazarded a question. "And... Colonel Autumn?"

"Will rest content in the knowledge that his dream of bringing the Enclave back from the brink is coming true." Eden chuckled, dryly. "And I'm sure our dear Colonel will feel much better once he's no longer plagued by thoughts of a certain lovesick teenager."

Something was going on, here. She could feel the tingling in her fingers, still. Eden couldn't watch her out there, if the feed was terminated―and neither could Colonel Autumn. Eden wouldn't have planned for any kind of good outcome that would necessitate keeping Colonel Autumn alive, if it intended to follow through on the threat of―

But, a small voice in her head pointed out, if Colonel Autumn isn't thinking about me, anymore, what does that mean?

She shook the thought from her head and focused. Eden said the failsafe activation had terminated VIOLA's feed. She could still see, even after that. It must be lying, again. Or―

Not so much lying as skewing the truth. She'd come to understand that was how Eden worked; it pulled one hand to move the other. There was something of that in this situation, something that the supercomputer wanted to keep from Colonel Autumn. But why?

Was it something Eden knew the Colonel wouldn't agree with...? She retrieved the vial from the floor. This thing, and her orders to insert it into the purifier... that was it, wasn't it?

Lillie's eyes narrowed at the vial. "You just threatened to kill him," she said, angrily. "You said he wasn't of much use. That only I care about his being alive." She made a face at the computer. "Why would you do that, if you really want him to achieve his dream?"

"The Colonel isn't the easiest subordinate to work with, Lillie." Eden sounded annoyed. "I've known him since he was quite young; Colonel Autumn is as stubborn as he ever has been. Autumns always were rather proud, you know. But it is true that he's become redundant. His actions grow more and more seditious every year, nearly to the point of treason. I'm sure you understand the consequence of disobedience, for someone in his position."

That made sense. Colonel Autumn had been blatantly obvious with his attempts to inform her of Eden's own treachery―the Byron lines he'd sent to her, came to mind. He must have hoped she would see everything and still be able to hide her intentions. Those lines had been so obvious, when she thought about it, so clear in their meaning. Eden might have pretended not to understand, but...

Lillie nodded, her eyes focused on the vial. Eden went on, "If you refuse to undertake this mission for me... know this: the matter of the purifier must be resolved. At any cost, Lillie. If you cannot help me, then Colonel Autumn―in his stupefied state, which was undoubtedly exacerbated by your most recent assault on him―will be pressured into losing a great many of his men. Each time an inaccurate code is entered, the device emits that same radiation that killed your father."

Lillie knew that wouldn't be acceptable to Colonel Autumn. His pride had only made this arabesque that was Eden's plot, work all the better. He wouldn't want to sacrifice more soldiers to this cause, if―

She thought furiously, trying to take in everything at once. Assuming she did what Eden asked... she still couldn't be certain the A.I. wouldn't order Colonel Autumn's execution. It had never told her the truth.

The truth. She thought about that. Getting her out into the wastes had been a complicated scheme to acquire the purifier. A plan that involved putting her father out after her, assuming that he would go to the purifier as soon as she felt threatened by Eden. The attempt she'd made to disrupt the radio signal was just another anticipated response, and her getting into the good graces of the Brotherhood of Steel... all part of the plan. The plan may not have included her dad dying, but... it was all there, every last little piece in place.

To get the purifier into Enclave hands, Eden had used her feelings for Colonel Autumn to manipulate everyone. It was...

Everything was all her fault again. For existing. For playing into the plot.

She didn't know what to do. She felt like a little girl again. She'd never been anything but that, for so long...

But that was before she'd gone out into the wastes. Before she'd had to use her own wiles and fight her own battles, before she'd been able to curb her stupid fantasies. She was still the heroine of this story―Jericho was still the blackguard―Colonel Autumn was still―

Her mouth curved into a wry smile. She'd finally gotten the kiss she'd wanted, all those weeks ago. Had to steal it, but... back then, the kiss had been meant as a reward for the knight that she'd thought was protecting her in her blinded state. It was her reward, this time. She was the hero, and Colonel Autumn was the damsel in distress.

He'd never treated her like a little girl. He was depending on her to follow through on his plans. For a brief second she was angry at herself―she really had forgotten about the override. The only thing he'd truly trusted her with.

It was hurtful to think that she'd not only dashed her father's expectations of herself, but now her duty to Colonel Autumn and to the Enclave was lacking. More pain. She sighed to herself.

Eden anticipated she would fail at her duty. Banked on it. The freedom it offered her, now, had to be a part of another plot. Another way for it to convince her she should do as it asked, and forget about her allegiance to―

Lillie breathed out, slowly. She was done with being manipulated. Her father had committed suicide because of this insanity―and now she was being forced to do something that would certainly kill her, too―

"With all due respect, Mr. President, fuck you." She took a deep breath, and breathed out.

"You are entitled to your opinion," Eden replied, dryly. "Now, you must leave the bunker. I cannot hold the soldiers off forever, Lillie. And Colonel Autumn has ordered your arrest." It chuckled, sardonically. "Again. You are familiar with this routine?"

It was a remarkable plan. A plan that only a supercomputer such as itself could have planned, over the nearly twenty years that she'd been alive. Lillie was torn between admiring the subtlety of the manipulation over that time, and feeling absolutely disgusted at the esteem she might give.

It would have been so much simpler if she'd never known about the stupid plotting that Eden had been doing.

She turned to the door as it opened, feeling the wetness on her face and ignoring it.

But she wouldn't be surprised to find that Eden had planned for that part, too.