James, if you've left to go on a wild goose chase for this 'Vault 112' and its 'Garden Of Eden Creation Kit' and not to reunite with and take care of your daughter, so help me I will lose whatever patience I still have for you.

I did more research into Dr. Braun after you left, research I'm sure you looked at but aren't thinking much of because the man has been dead for almost two hundred years.

As it turns out, his alleged genius was aggressively overstated and, instead, it looks more and more like he was a sadistic, evil piece of work. I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised, considering the rumours that have been circling around Vault-Tec much longer than either of us have even been alive, but it has me worried. If you get in over your head with this, I don't know what will or might happen, and I'd rather not dwell on some of the more concerning possibilities.

All you're doing is proving me right. This is all terribly irrational, and it is only seeming to get more and more irrational by the day.

I suppose it doesn't matter. I have my own life, my own projects, my own job, and I don't need to be dragged into whatever the hell it is you think you're doing, James. In an ideal world, yes, I would be more than happy to return to working on and finish out Project Purity, but we don't have the resources, we don't have the evidence to even propose restarting the work on it, and, more pertinently, we don't have the time. Much as I resent it, I'm sure the Brotherhood would feel the very same way.

More than anything else, though, I'm just tired. There's far too much to do, and far too much to think about. Janice is panicking half the time because of the Brotherhood, Anna is getting in the way of work being done by complaining, and Albert Garza is constantly being dragged in and out of maintenance. The second one thing goes wrong, two or three more things go wrong. A pipe bursts, and then one of the water purifiers goes offline and needs to be dealt with. Just last week, one of the purifiers leaked all the way through, and the entire thing needed to be replaced. It may have only been one of many for the labs, but it was one more thing to have dealt with. I can't do everything myself, and, even if I could, I wouldn't. I have my own projects, my own life, and too damn much to do.

My email inbox, unfortunately, is evidence enough of it.

Danvers.L (Security Update – 12. October. 2277)

Dr. Zimmer has been fingerprinted, and his stats put on file in the event he causes trouble enough to warrant arrest. He is a nuisance, but we haven't got a reason to arrest him unless he causes more than just frustration. However, we are keeping an eye on him to ensure he doesn't interfere in work, classes, or commits any acts of thievery or espionage. We also won't be letting him leave the city from here on out to prevent him from contacting the Enclave or interfering with Brotherhood operations.

I've attached Zimmer's file below –

Well, I certainly can't say you leave any stones unturned, Lana. At least someone knows how to focus in Rivet City Security. If he weren't so affable, Harkness probably wouldn't be the head of the department.

Zimmer, Dr. Charles Alexander

Notes: highly uncooperative, armed, and retains a bodyguard. His bodyguard was also highly uncooperative and armed. Claims to be from the former Commonwealth Of Massachusetts, and a member of an advanced, scientific 'Institute.' Further investigation has, by and large, confirmed that story, though evidence of this 'Institute' has been inconsistent and primarily the product of rumours originating in the former Commonwealth Of Massachusetts, the former Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, and the former states of New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, and Maine. Any issues with Dr. Zimmer should be told to and handled by cleared members of Rivet City Security only. Prevent him from interfering with the Brotherhood Of Steel at all costs.

Physical Information: Dr. Zimmer is, by all appearances, a caucasian male in his mid to late fifties. His eye colour is brown and vision corrected by thick, bifocal glasses that appear to be custom made, either by his own hand or someone else's. He carries a distinct, ornate, and extensively modified Chinese pistol which, also, must have been inherited or altered by his own hand or someone else's. Dr. Zimmer has brown hair, which has largely greyed and is balding. His fingerprints are stored digitally in the Rivet City Security database, as well as in a burgeoning, physical file we are also retaining on him. Their form is a central pocket loop whorl. He is 5'11" and blood typing identified him as being of the Blood Type AB Negative.

Thorough it is. I don't think I could write a better report on the man myself, had I the time to carry out anything resembling an investigation into him. This 'Institute' he's mentioned coming from is fascinating. If it's real, it probably is one of the best research facilities in the country, hell, the world. In that case, they also probably made the right choice sending him off. I certainly don't want him in my way, and I doubt anyone else – if the place is real – would either.

If things get better, and the Brotherhood finally put an end to the Enclave, I wouldn't mind seeking his 'Institute' out, perhaps with Janice. Her having always wanted the chance to travel aside, if this 'Institute' are as advanced as Zimmer claims, I can only imagine how much more productive we would be if we were to join them. I'd certainly want to know what technology they have access to but, for now, it doesn't matter.

"Dr. Li? I need to speak with you. Now."

Janice.

"You're the only other person on this damned boat with a key to this office. What the hell's going on?"

"The Brotherhood."

"There's always something going on with the Brotherhood," I snap, only to take a small step back when she frantically steps in and slams the door shut. "Did Lyons send more of his men to attempt to overtake any number of our projects?"

"Not quite," Janice says, hastily checking to ensure access is barred. "But it is about you. I…he's called Dr. Holt to speak to their leadership. Their entire leadership."

I frown. "Do you have that list?"

Janice hesitates. "Don't you know all of them?"

"I've had contact with them. That doesn't mean I know them."

"I stole the list from her emails on her hard drive and printed a copy off," Janice says, pulling a sheet out from her filer. "It's substantial. Elder Owyn Lyons, Sentinel Sarah Lyons, Star Paladin Madeline Cross, Head Scribe Reginald Rothchild, Paladin Marcus Bael, Paladin William Lyons, Paladin Samuel Krieg, Lancer Captain Alexander Kells, Proctor Elisabeth Ingram, Scribe Harold Bowditch, Proctor Marshall Quinlan, Scribe Elizabeth Jameson, Proctor Keith Teagan, Scribe Greagory Peabody, and Knight Captain Aaron Cade."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Janice nearly falling over tells me more than enough. I shouldn't have said that. Not like that, and certainly not to her.

"Anna seemed less than thrilled about it," Janice nervously says. "Although I don't know why they want to speak to her and not you, though, since you're both on the Rivet City Council."

"That would be because I won't let them walk all over me," I irritably reply, taking the paper from her. "I see you've added some of your own commentary. I can't say I don't appreciate that."

"Just some of what I've overheard, mostly recently," Janice replies. "I asked Harkness about them a little, too, just fill in some of the gaps. I…I don't know why all of them want to talk to her."

"Seeing as I've made it abundantly clear that, if they want a damn thing from me, Lyons is going to have to swallow his pride and come to me himself, they probably want to try and get a more detailed understanding of the work we do here," I say, eyes narrowing the further down the list I read. "Keith Teagan is a womaniser? That's a bit of an understatement."

"Just what Harkness said," Janice says, uncomfortably rolling back and forth on her toes. "He seems to only respect women who can fight like a bat out of hell."

"That I'm already well aware of," I pause. "Cade isn't too bad. Frankly, he and Rothchild are damn near likeable, even to me. I suspect the two of them will be there solely to take notes and, in Cade's case, probably ask a few questions about our medical students. Seeing as the Brotherhood do train most of them…that I'm not concerned about."

"I'm not used to you having any nice words for the Brotherhood," Janice says with a nervous laugh. "I think Elisabeth Ingram is alright, too. A bit…direct, but at least she's up front with people. But I could be biased since she and I are around the same age."

"I've spoken with her a handful of times. She's more than competent, and a great engineer in her own right," I note, briefly amused at one of her other comments. "I see you've written Marshall down as 'enjoying the pomp and circumstance' of some of the Brotherhood's more elaborate shows of power."

"I mean, it's true," Janice says. "That's what I've heard everyone say, anyways. I've always stayed mostly out of the way at Brotherhood events, even the civilian ones, if I have to go at all. But I didn't like the way he spoke to you over the line a few months ago."

"Was that when he attempted to gain access to some of our research without permission?" I frown when she nods. "He's Brotherhood through and through. At this point, I don't take it personally. He'd speak to anyone that way."

"I'm sure but, still, I didn't like it," Janice shakes her head. "I appreciated Sentinel Lyons taking the time to come down and apologise to you for it personally. I know you aren't too fond of her, but she means well. At least, that's what I can see."

"She does," I concede. "Her brother too, and, for the most part, their father as well. That said, I still don't like Owyn. Certainly not the way he's been the past few years. He is free to believe I have become, as I recall him saying the last time we spoke, 'older, wiser, and more cynical,' but, whatever I may be, I at least don't assume whatever I say goes without question every time."

"True but, at the same time, the Brotherhood rally around him and, like it or not, we need him," I know, Janice. Better than anyone else, I know. "He's a good person at the end of the day, I think. Sure, he can be harsh, but I understand why."

"Understanding why and supporting the cause he stands for are very different from liking him," I remind her. "My personal views are more often than not similar to that of the Brotherhood. That said, my issues with Owyn are personal. On some level, rational or not, I do blame him for Project Purity's failure."

"From what you've said about it, and what I've learnt about it on my own, that makes sense. The Brotherhood could have kept the project safe, protected, and…" She pauses when I glance at her. "Do you think they could have…if there had been more help from them, James' wife could have been saved?"

"Seeing as Catherine was in an increasingly bad state before she gave birth, no, I don't think they could have," There was no getting around it, was there? "Speaking of her and James, I apologise for subjecting you to some of my…difficulties about him arriving and then departing so suddenly."

"I get it, don't worry," Janice says quickly. "I mean, he turned up out of the blue after about twenty years and acted as though things hadn't changed. I'm not surprised it was off putting. Besides…what are friends for?"

I manage to give her a small smile. "I suppose. As for…this mess," I raise an eyebrow at one of the names on the list. "Damn it. I'm sure he's going to be there solely as a reminder of the Brotherhood's strength and one of Owyn's best field officers, but Krieg is going to attempt to make a mess out of Anna by the fact he's an intimidating presence alone."

"Krieg?" Janice hesitantly presses. "Isn't he the guy you had Danvers escort out of the labs?"

"Him and two of his Initiates," I remind her, setting the paper down on my desk. "He attempted to coerce me into handing over the entire laboratory complex to the Brotherhood, including all of our projects, some of which are all but completely out of my purview. I may be the Director, but well over half of the work that goes on here is well out of my area of expertise."

"They're probably hoping Anna's legs will turn to jelly when they get her in a room with them and start 'asking' her questions," Janice rolls her eyes. "It's pathetic of them to try. Lyons is making himself unpopular enough around here with the taxation thing without risking aggravating every scientist, student, and laboratory technician in this damn city."

"I'm far from used to hearing you get particularly heated about something, but I'd be hard pressed to say I disagree with you," I glance up at her before turning my computer terminal back on. "Could you make sure Anna stops by to talk about this with me before she has to go before them? As tiresome as she can be, no one should go into an interrogation with the Brotherhood without knowing they're going to try and eat you alive."

"I will," Janice says, nervously rubbing at her right arm. "But Madison? What should I do if they drag me in to be 'asked' questions too?"

"In that case, whatever you say, say nothing," I sigh when she doesn't respond. "If the Brotherhood catch you in a lie or contradicting yourself later, they will call you out and punish you for it. The best thing to do is not answer their questions by making what you say meaningless."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just tell them what they want to hear?"

"That's how they get licence to trample on every person that so much as breathes in a way they disapprove of. I've never trusted them, but Owyn has gotten worse as the years have dragged on. I trust him to win the war and put down the Enclave. I cannot and do not trust them on anything else."

"I don't either, but do you think Anna will?" Janice says, checking to ensure the door is still locked. "I mean, they do tend to be extremely persuasive when they want to be."

"Anna has her faults but being stupid is not among them," I tell her, frowning at my email inbox. "I could have sworn I had the latest shipment of chemical supplies sent down to storage. Did I forget that or…"

"I had them redirected, since two of the chemistry labs are working on separating compounds from pre-War materials we've had passing through more recently," Janice says, hesitantly walking back towards me. "I've earmarked the ones from the shipment for specific purposes, experiments, and projects and had them properly stored. If Anna didn't realise that, it's my fault, not yours."

"Either way, I…" How are you more responsible than her despite being nearly half her age, Janice? "I'll let her know," I tell her, beginning to type up a reply for Anna. "I can't tell if I'm becoming occasionally forgetful or if she's being deliberately oblivious. I know things have been hectic around here, especially in the last year and a half, but that's the price to pay for productivity."

"Hopefully the Brotherhood won't disrupt it, then," Janice says, glancing at Anna's email over my shoulder. "There's…another thing I'm worried about with the Brotherhood choosing to compel her to speak. I know it's probably just because they think she's going to be easier to manipulate – oh, who am I kidding, a lot easier to manipulate – than you, as the two options for the Rivet City Council's members from the scientific community, but I am worried there's a chance she might be…more alright with this than she seems."

I turn to eye her closely. "What do you mean? Anna isn't fond of having to answer to anyone. I can't fathom her wanting to answer to the Brotherhood."

"I know, I know, but…" Janice takes in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I'm worried she's going to try to make you look bad, to them, out of frustration for the way she perceives herself as being treated around here. Or maybe even out of jealousy of what you've accomplished, especially recently with the developments out of the hydroponics laboratory and research."

"Much as she can be difficult to work with, I doubt Anna would do that," I can barely get her to answer to me half the time. I'd be shocked if she were at all eager to answer to the Brotherhood, even out of frustration with her not being given the most sensitive projects and research initiatives. "But I see where you're coming from. She has been, admittedly, more irritable the last few months in particular, and her temper is shorter than ever."

"She didn't seem to like it when James was here, either, even though he did help out around the labs despite doing his own digging into the old files and records," Janice notes. "I know it's far from the point, but sometimes I wonder if Anna got her attitude from her great-great-great grandmother. From what I've read about her and her companies, she reminds me a lot of Anna."

"If that's true, then, even going that far back, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," I can see it, Janice. It's probably played into her feeling more important than she truly is over the years, although the only people left who would give a damn about any of that are the Enclave, I'm sure. "Although, like her, Anna is a brilliant woman. If they still existed, I'm sure she would be on the board of a major pre-War company too. There's a certain level of cunning and pure selfishness required for that, Anna certainly possesses it."

"Her husband thinks so," Janice says, her voice only a hair lighter. "It's funny to me, how she often won't answer things but he's just about an open book. Anna and Wyatt really are just opposites in that way, but, then again, who really knows what goes on in other people's marriages?"

"Well, regardless of what goes on in the rest of her life, from what I know from working with her for almost twenty five years, if REPCONN were still around, I wouldn't be shocked by Anna following in her footsteps and becoming its CFO by sheer ruthlessness alone," She certainly has the attitude for it, and the skill. "Ironically, we could have easily ended up working on projects for them if the company had survived the War but, overwhelmingly unlikely hypotheticals aside, Julia Masters is incredibly similar to her great-great-great granddaughter. She would probably even be proud of her attitude if she were here to witness it."

"And that ruthlessness is why I'm worried," Janice says, losing all levity in an instant. "We all know how Anna feels about the work she's been put on of late, and I can't help but worry that she might take out her frustrations with everything and everyone – including you – by painting an unflattering portrait of you to the Brotherhood."

"She wouldn't have to. I'm more than well aware there are several members of the Brotherhood who already have a less than flattering impression of me," If Anna is still irritated by the trust I have towards James and my trusting him more than her, then that's on her. Would she really waste her breath telling them things they already want to hear? "She's far more likely to get angry and frustrated with them than she is with me. Honestly, if they push her long enough, she'll probably lose her temper on them. I doubt she would be a willing…witness of sorts to them."

"Still…promise me you'll be careful of what you say and do with them until after she's compelled to speak to them," Janice pleads. "And…prepare me for what might happen, if they compel me too."

"I will, Janice," I assure her. "Now, let me get back to work. I'm sure you have plenty to do yourself, and there's no use worrying about something just about out of our hands. I'll send you a list of things to do and not to do if they approach you. Will that be enough to make you feel better?"

"For now, yes," Janice says, tiredly rubbing at her neck. "I'm going to take what's left of my lunch break to have a snack before teaching my next class."

"If you can't have that, come back here after you finish for the day," I tell her with a small smile. "I'll get you dinner, Janice."

She weakly smiles back. "Thanks, Madi. I'll see you then."

Just like that, and she slips past the door and closes it shut behind herself.

The silence.

Tapping on the computer mouse to keep my computer terminal from going to sleep, I scan over my email to Anna one last time before sending it. Then there's the rest of it. Reports from Danvers, Harkness, and the rest of security. Other members of the Rivet City Council, and the hundreds of people working in the labs. Some things from Lyons' underlings, unsurprisingly, and still nothing from him personally. If he won't come down here himself, I'm certainly not going to bend and let him get out of doing so. He needs me – if he does, in fact, need me – much more than I need him. I don't need him to do my job. He might need me to do his, and he should have to show it.

That said, it's a handful less emails I need to read or respond to.

And, then, there are James,' and some of them I still don't know if I want to read them. The longer he's gone, the more I want to hold onto him.

Damn you, James. Still…I can't avoid reading all of them forever. It's not worth it.

Davis.J (Returning To Project Purity – 9. October. 2277)

Madi –

My hope is, within a few months, I shall be able to return to Rivet City with more information, more materials, and more supplies, including the GECK. At that time, we can approach Lyons and the Brotherhood with our new plan, and our new information and capacities. Truly, Madi, if you give me enough time, I know it will work this time. We'll bring Project Purity through to the end, even though it has taken us so much longer than we had ever wanted to. And, after that, I hope you can meet Annie with me. I think you would like her. She's a brilliant young woman, and so much like Catherine had been but herself in her own right. Even her voice – very nearly a soft and posh English sound – is, in some ways, a reminder of Catherine but, I suppose, even more so a reminder of Annie being the perfect blend of the two of us. But I won't drag on the loss we still feel about Catherine. I know her death was painful for you too, Madi, and I am so sorry for reminding you of it. It was an undue burden.

As for your fears about the Brotherhood from then and the ones you voiced before I departed to find and bring back what we will need to complete Project Purity – and, certainly, I imagine you will be reading this after my departure – I understand them. I understand your fears, not the least of which being because, as you said, we do need them more than ever. If we can complete Project Purity and see the Enclave be defeated by the Brotherhood around the same time, that would be wonderful. Seeing as it is more than likely the Brotherhood will need to put an end to the Enclave with finality before then, all I ask is you be careful. I know you have never trusted them while I always have but, all things considered and having become a more reflective man as I've grown older, I am starting to understand where you're coming from. Lyons has changed significantly. I should have known that, of course, but these past nineteen years have made him colder and harsher. I understand, of course, but I'm concerned by it.

That's quite enough of my rambling, however. All I ask is for you to be careful, Madi. If worst comes to worse, too, I ask you care for Annie too. She should be safe back in the Vault, where she is meant to be and where it is wonderful and safe, but, if something has gone wrong, all I ask is you care for her as though she were your own. I know it must mean very little, especially if you ultimately do not ever meet her, but I have always thought of you as her godmother. In the worst possible scenario, please care for her and for yourself. I am slowly becoming to realise I have become quite the isolated man, and that has been of my own volition despite not having meant for it to be. C'est comme ç a. I'm sorry for the pain I suspect I have caused you, and I hope our second reunion will be much happier.

Be safe, Madi. For both of our sakes.

Dr. James Matthew Davis

"You're certainly right about the Brotherhood," I sigh, closing out the email but marking it as priority, easy to go back to later if I… "Oh, land of password, handgrip, wink, and nod," I quietly quote to myself, from a poem I must have read ages ago. "Whatever you say, say nothing. There was a sense that, even as people greeted the new day with great enthusiasm, the sulphureous intrigue of the past would continue to linger."

It seems Seamus Heaney must have known where things might end up long before the rest of us did.

Impulsive and perhaps strange as it is, I suddenly unlock the only drawer in my desk I ever lock and take out my old notebook, flipping through it until…

One event that opened us up to all of this. The same one that inspired me to pursue science in the first place nearly thirty years ago.

The Trinity Test.

If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendour of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.

Forgetting that inciting achievement might have been where we went wrong. It was a success, yes, in objective terms. But that never should have superseded the gravity of it.

I suppose, then, once again, we can blame the people who ended the War after it had dragged on for decades but, all things considered, it wouldn't be enough.

Not enough to make up for all of the innocent people who died because a few select people had delusions of grandeur nearly two centuries ago.