Raven Rock was a hive of activity as everyone hurried to comply with the lockdown procedures. Tara's mind whirled as she and Becky followed her brother through the corridors to wherever Colonel Autumn would be. She desperately wanted to ask her brother what exactly had happened, but trying to discuss classified information out in the open where anyone could hear would be more trouble than it was worth.

Fortunately, one of the benefits of being led around by the facility's head of security was the fact that everyone else, even power armored soldiers, stepped out of the way at his approach, so they made good progress, despite the number of people bustling around. The rush of people wouldn't last long anyway; once lockdown procedures were completed, the only people moving around the base would be soldiers or those undertaking essential work.

Before long, the three arrived at the cell block. Colonel Autumn was waiting outside one of the cells, arms folded as he glared in through the open door. He looked around when Andrew called out to him, "Colonel, I've brought them, as you ordered."

"Thank you, Lieutenant-Colonel," Colonel Autumn replied, shifting his attention to the doctors. "I appreciate you coming so quickly. I'm sorry to summon you out of the blue like this, but a situation has arisen involving the Rainbooms and I need your help."

"Andrew, er... I mean, Lieutenant-Colonel Strong told us that some of the Rainbooms had been taken captive?" Tara replied cautiously. "He also said that you need our help with them."

Colonel Autumn nodded. "Indeed, follow me." He closed the door of the cell next to them and strode up the corridor to stop outside another one. Instead of opening the door, he checked up and down the corridor to make sure no one else was around, then leaned in close to the others and spoke in an undertone, "I highly doubt that I really need to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway; everything we discuss now is to be considered highly classified. No-one without clearance is to hear any of this, is that clear?"

"Yes, Sir," Tara and Becky replied.

"Good." Without further ado, the Colonel immediately told the two of them everything that had happened in Vault 87, the return flight, and the incident on the landing platform when they arrived at the base. "As you can see," he said when his story was finished, "these girls pose a far greater threat than previously thought, hence why I'm seeking your advice."

Tara just stared at him in blank shock. "But… you… why? Why would you even want to kidnap them again? Especially after what happened at Project Exodus?"

"I assure you, it was not my idea," Colonel Autumn replied with a scowl. "If it were up to me, I'd have had the lot of them put down the moment we learned that they were a threat. Unfortunately, the President disagrees with me on that point. And, going by the looks on your faces, it appears that you do, too."

The two women shared an uneasy glance. "It's not exactly in the Enclave's best interests," Becky said slowly.

Colonel Autumn gave them a long, hard look, then slapped the button to open the cell door and ushered them in. Inside, held upright against the back wall by a set of electromagnetic restraints, was Twilight Sparkle. Her skin was alarmingly pale. A pair of medics spared the group a quick glance before turning back to their patient.

"Is she injured?" Becky asked anxiously.

One of the medics shook his head. "No, Doctor. The Rainbooms were hit with cryo-grenades, but we administered the recommended anti-frost agents to prevent cellular damage before we put them in full-cryo for transport here. We're just starting the chemical thawing on this one, she'll be fine in a few hours."

"Remember to make sure that she and the others are sedated when they start to come around." Colonel Autumn waited until the medics had finished with their ministrations and left the cell before he turned back to the doctors and the Lieutenant-Colonel. "Alright, now I need you to tell me everything, and I mean everything, about the Rainbooms, starting with this girl right here."

Tara looked at Twilight, unconscious and vulnerable, and couldn't repress a shiver. Somehow she knew that Colonel Autumn bringing them to see her in particular couldn't be a coincidence. In an attempt to head him off, she decided to dive in and explain about the Rainbooms' magic, with a few appropriate exaggerations, naturally, "Her name is Twilight Sparkle, she's telekinetic. Her magic is very powerful, enough so that-"

"That she can crumple a suit of power armor with ease," Colonel Autumn finished with a grim nod. "I saw the aftermath of her handiwork at Project Purity."

"The others are equally dangerous," Becky supplied. "Which other girls are here?"

Colonel Autumn glanced at Andrew, who replied, "We've got the blonde one with the cowboy hat, and the albino with the purple hair."

"Applejack and Rarity." Becky winced dramatically. "I suppose it could be worse, but those two are still dangerous enough to cause problems. Applejack's magic gives her super strength. She's strong enough to tear apart Duraframe as if it were paper. Rarity, on the other hand, can manifest temporary gemstones out of thin air in any shape or size she desires."

"The others are Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy," Tara added. "Unfortunately, they're probably the most dangerous of the group. I imagine it was probably Rainbow that chased you and destroyed the Vertibird, she's the only one who'd have the speed to keep up with them." She frowned thoughtfully. "I don't have any idea how she managed to actually destroy the Vertibird, though. Maybe it's another aspect of her powers?"

"Or maybe Pinkie gave her something?" Becky offered.

Tara hummed as she considered. "It's possible." Seeing her brother's curious look, she clarified, "Pinkie's magic allows her to turn anything she touches into high explosive and detonate it at will." She neglected to mention that her magic was limited to processed sugar.

"Wait, anything?!" Andrew cried incredulously.

"Anything." Becky backed up the lie with a nod. "Sunset's magic will cause us problems, too. She's a telepath and has even displayed a small measure of mind control. We think that's how the Rainbooms managed to escape Project Exodus."

The blood slowly drained from Colonel Autumn's face. "Mind control," he echoed. "You mean she…" His expression hardened suddenly. "Are you certain that she isn't still controlling anyone?"

"We don't think so, not at this distance," Becky replied.

"That just leaves Fluttershy, who is arguably the most dangerous of the Rainbooms by far," Tara finished, this time without any exaggeration.

Andrew glanced at her warily. "What could possibly be more dangerous than mind control?"

Tara fixed him with a serious look. "She can converse with, and potentially command, almost any of the wild creatures of the waste that she encounters." She turned back to Colonel Autumn, speaking with deadly sincerity, "I'm curious, what exactly is our plan if her power happens to work on deathclaws?"

"W-well, we can handle a deathclaw or two, and the chances of her running across any more of them than that on the way here is pretty slim,” Andrew said with false confidence.

"There's a known hotspot of deathclaw activity located between here and Vault 87," Colonel Autumn corrected, prompting a look of horror from the Lieutenant-Colonel. "Still," Colonel Autumn continued, "I've yet to hear why eliminating the Rainbooms is not in the Enclave's best interests. From what you're telling me, it would be best to remove them as quickly as possible." He gestured to the unconscious Twilight Sparkle. "And nothing I've heard so far explains why this particular Rainboom happens to look like you, Doctor Strong."

Shit. Realizing that there was no real way out of this without causing more problems, Tara explained the truth about the alternate realities that Sunset and the other Rainbooms were from, the fact that each of these realities had different versions of the same people, and that Twilight Sparkle was her own extra-dimensional counterpart.

When Tara had finished, both Andrew and Colonel Autumn glanced over at Twilight's unconscious form. "So this… Twilight Sparkle," Colonel Autumn said quietly, "she's another version of you?"

Tara nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"I see." The Colonel turned to glare at them suspiciously. "And I suppose you expect me to believe that neither of you have any ulterior motives for trying to keep these girls alive?"

Becky let out a disdainful snort. "My own interest in Twilight is purely academic. The same cannot be said for Sunset Shimmer, though, given that she happens to be my otherworld counterpart."

That stopped the Colonel in his tracks. He slowly glanced over his shoulder at Twilight, then back to Becky. "Sunset Shimmer. That would be the telepath?" Becky nodded. "And I assume the two of them are in a similar relationship to…" He gestured vaguely at the two doctors.

"Yes," Tara and Becky lied together. "That's not the worst part," Becky continued.

"Of course it's not," Andrew muttered in a resigned tone. "Just… just tell us and get it over with."

"The people of their worlds, especially Sunset's original home, do not abandon their friends," Becky explained. "You can be damned sure that the people the Rainbooms left behind are searching for a way to bring them home. When you consider the fact that the Rainbooms are high schoolers, adults, and yet the people of their realities are perfectly comfortable letting them run around with such devastating magic, you have to wonder how powerful their actual military is."

The Colonel had gone entirely white, but Becky kept pressing, "I don't know about you, but I don't think it's a good idea to be antagonizing a group whose rulers might be able to wipe the Enclave off the map without breaking a sweat! Hell, for all we know, we could end up facing an enemy that could drop the god-damned moon on us!"

"Alright, you've made your point!" Colonel Autumn spat. He sighed heavily and folded his arms. "Damn it, now what the hell are we going to do?"

"Taking out the Rainbooms is off the table," Andrew said flatly. "If someone does come looking for them; there's no way we'd be able to convince them that we didn't harm the girls, not so long as the Brotherhood of Steel is around to refute it, unless we are likely to have obliterated the Brotherhood anytime soon?"

Colonel Autumn shook his head. "The Brotherhood have a veritable fortress in the form of the former Pentagon, several smaller defensive outposts dotted around the downtown area, and the support of many of the local settlements. Getting Project Purity working will be a huge step towards weakening their position, but even so, it will probably be a few months, at best, before we can eradicate the local Brotherhood."

"Are we making any progress on Project Purity?" Tara asked.

"Things would be progressing faster if you were on the taskforce, as originally planned," Colonel Autumn replied sourly. "Still, the President allowed a single Vertibird to leave before the lockdown was complete, taking the G.E.C.K. to Project Purity. I am confident that the assigned scientists won't have too much trouble getting it to work. Unfortunately, even when the purifier is complete, we still lack the access code required to bring it online." He growled and lowered his voice, "I intend to interrogate our prisoner from Vault 101 personally on that matter."

"T-that probably wouldn't be a good idea!" Tara said quickly, earning an exasperated glare from the Colonel. "The boy from Vault 101 is a close personal friend of the Rainbooms, harming him is not going to help us get in their good graces."

Colonel Autumn swore viciously under his breath and turned away, planting his hands on his hips. "I suppose that explains why our surveillance eyebots reported the Rainbooms entering the Little Lamplight caverns after the boy had already been there for a while." No-one dared speak as he stood and stared at the wall, lost in thought. Finally, after several minutes he swore again and turned back to the others. "Fine. I'll make sure that the Rainbooms and the Vault brat are unharmed by my troops unduly, but anything further than that is beyond my control," he said abruptly.

"Even with that, it's not going to be easy to get back on peaceful terms with the Rainbooms," Andrew supplied. Colonel Autumn eyed him suspiciously, clearly wondering if that was a veiled dig at his own bungled attempt at first contact.

"There is one way of getting them friendly, or at least ending hostilities." Becky took a deep breath before continuing, "We offer a peace treaty."

Andrew and Colonel Autumn shared a confused glance. "You… want us to sign a peace treaty with the Rainbooms?" Andrew asked.

Becky rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Not exactly… but there is another group that we know they're friendly with that we-"

"Absolutely not!" Colonel Autumn snapped.

"Offering the Brotherhood of Steel a peace treaty is our best chance right now," Becky retorted. "I know our history with them is chequered at best, but pooling our resources and manpower would be the most efficient way of preventing future issues, not to mention the quickest way to rebuild the United States."

Colonel Autumn snorted scornfully. "That has to be the most insane thing I've heard all day. Even on the off chance that the Brotherhood themselves would accept such an offer, you'd be hard-pressed to find any right-thinking person in the Enclave who would even consider working alongside those small-minded thieves until the Brotherhood have been thoroughly put in their place."

Becky wasn't ready to give up that easily. "Surely if our organizations could come to an agr-"

"Enough! If you are so adamant that allying ourselves with the Brotherhood of Steel is our best option, then take it up with the President." Colonel Autumn clasped his hands behind his back and regarded the women imperiously. "Now, unless you have anything else to offer regarding the Rainbooms…?"

Becky deflated, slumping her shoulders, but Tara chimed in, "Their necklaces. They emit a previously unseen form of ionizing radiation; part of Project Exodus' duty is to study that radiation to discover whether or not it's dangerous."

The Colonel nodded curtly. "Very well. I'll have a technician deliver the necklaces to you as soon as we can safely remove them. You're dismissed."

In the most secure room of Raven Rock, near the center of the mountain, President Eden waited patiently in his inner sanctum.

It had been several hours since the lockdown was initiated, but he was glad that things were running smoothly for the moment. According to the medics, the visitor from Vault 101 would be waking up shortly; an event the President was very much looking forward to.

Still, despite the lockdown, the resident scientists had been anything but idle. Those operating under Doctor Turner had been especially busy, working on their available stock of magic.

President Eden allowed himself a moment of thrilled anticipation at the thought of the wondrous substance. It seemed to operate on a set of rules all of its own with no regard for any known laws of physics. This, of course, made it valuable beyond words.

So far the scientists had managed to separate it out into eight distinct varieties; seven that were apparently identical to that generated by each of the individual Rainbooms, and one further variety that appeared to be a compound mixture of the others.

The scientists had also been exposing each of the varieties to measured doses of radiation in order to increase the quantities available; the most useful attribute of the magic yet discovered. Thankfully, Doctor Turner and his team had avoided any unpleasant incidents like that which occurred at Project Exodus, though inaccuracies in measuring the dosage of radiation had led to them procuring a large amount of more volatile magic, which was rather whimsically being referred to as 'dark' magic.

In fact, the quantity of magic stored had increased so dramatically that President Eden had authorized the secret departure of single Vertibird a short while ago to the Adams Air Force Base. It carried several containers of each variety of magic, in both ordinary and dark forms, along with strict instructions on how it was to be stored and handled safely.

With the more advanced facilities available at the air base, mass production of the magic would be able to begin in earnest. President Eden had also sent an encrypted message instructing the science teams stationed there to begin experimenting with the magic immediately; testing its effect on everything from munitions and armor to food production and energy generation.

The President was confident that, under his careful leadership, it wouldn't be long before the Enclave could count themselves as a magical superpower.

The only problem, so far, lay with Doctor Strong.

President Eden felt a complex mix of pride and frustration whenever he thought of the good doctor. The woman was a genius; one of the finest minds ever to come out of the Enclave's educational programs, but she had a powerful sense of compassion and moral obligation that limited her usefulness when it came to some of the Enclave's more… unsavoury projects. Unfortunately, this meant that the new magical research had to be kept largely under wraps. There was no telling how the doctor would react if she were to discover its existence prematurely.

Despite Doctor Strong's idealistic weakness, however, the fact remained that she was one of the most brilliant scientists alive, and one of the very few people who knew about the President's own secret. So, when she had requested a private meeting with the President in person less than half an hour ago, he saw no reason to refuse.

Initially expecting a report or request of some sort, President Eden was astonished when she instead came to him with a written proposal for a peace treaty between the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel. It came complete with a thirty-two point presentation on why such a treaty was the best step forward for the Enclave.

It was a bold move, to say the least. Of course, once Project Purity was working, the results of Project Scouring would render an alliance with any wasteland organisation a pointless endeavor, but there was no need to inform the good Doctor of that. Luckily, Doctor Strong accepted his assertion that he would at least consider her proposal.

Less lucky was the Doctor's follow-up question about what the President was planning for the magical effluent still stored at Project Exodus. When he stated that he hadn't decided yet, she, rather impertinently, chose to remind him that the magic was extremely dangerous and should not be experimented on at all until she and her team could devise a safe method of storing and analyzing it.

President Eden didn't particularly like lying to his best scientist, though admittedly that was largely because he knew that she might see through it. Given that she would inevitably find out the truth at some point, the President went with a little clever wordplay instead; implying that he had no intention of experimenting with the magic rather than actually saying it was being experimented on at Adams Airforce Base. Doctor Strong would undoubtedly be angry when she discovered his ruse, but by then he hoped that the ends would more than justify the means.

A sudden alert from one of the base's security cameras caught the President's attention. Ah, it seems our visitor from Vault 101 has finally woken up. Excellent.

The Lone Wanderer's cell was the only one to have a direct camera link inside, and Eden watched eagerly as the young man regained consciousness. He seemed momentarily confused by the fact that he was standing upright in a set of magnetic restraints, but that confusion quickly gave way to a cautious examination of his surroundings. Seeing the boy's keen analytical mind at work mere seconds after waking up from cryogenic stasis confirmed for the President that he was making the right choice with him.

"Good afternoon." The boy's head snapped around to the camera in the corner. "Please forgive the somewhat uncouth invitation I sent."

"Where are the Rainbooms?" the boy demanded.

"They are safe, I assure you," the President promised, not untruthfully. As the young man opened his mouth to speak, President Eden cut in quickly, "I am sure that you have many questions, but perhaps it would be better if we spoke face-to-face. Here," the boy stumbled as his restraints were suddenly deactivated, "I have instructed my soldiers to allow you to pass unmolested. I would appreciate it if you didn't dawdle too much. Time is of the essence."

Becky sighed heavily, blowing a lock of hair out of her face as she sprawled out on the bed. Tara had gone to present the treaty proposal to the President, but Becky didn't have high enough security clearance to go and see him too, so she had been stuck twiddling her thumbs while waiting for her better half to come back.

Determined to at least do something useful instead of just moping, Becky sat up and decided to try and go through the jumble of memories she'd received from Sunset Shimmer again. As she wondered where to begin, she glanced over at the lockbox on the bedside table. A technician had delivered it shortly after Tara had left. Inside were all three of the Geodes belonging to the captured Rainbooms.

Becky frowned as she considered the magical necklaces. As far as she could tell from Sunset's memories, the Geodes were near enough a complete mystery. They must have came from Equestria originally, but figuring out how or when, or even what the Geodes actually were was effectively impossible.

Sunset's memories suggested that they were potentially related to the Elements of Harmony, whatever the hell they were, but the only concrete fact available was that they were immensely powerful artefacts. Learning anything more about them was made even more difficult by the fact that magic worked differently in this world than it did in either Equestria or the world the other girls came from.

The sound of the door opening dragged Becky out of her reverie. She looked over to see Tara enter the room, resignation written all over her face. Becky made an attempt at a sympathetic smile. "I guess it didn't go well?"

Tara dropped into her desk chair with a huff. "The President said he'd consider it, but I get the feeling he was just humoring me." She raised an eyebrow as she spotted the lockbox. "Is that the girls' Geodes?"

Becky nodded grimly. "Yeah. I was going to take them down to the old lab, but I can't while this lockdown is still in effect." She rolled her eyes for dramatic effect. "What did he say the plan was for the magic back at Exodus?"

"Not much." Tara sighed and spun the chair around idly. "He just said, and I quote, 'any plans to experiment with that dangerous substance are on the same shelf as the Chiroptera research and Project Scouring."

It took a moment for what her girlfriend had said to sink in, but Becky's blood ran cold when it did. "Uh… Tara?"

Tara stopped the chair and looked around at her tone. "Hm? What's wrong?"

Becky glanced at the door to make sure it was closed, then got up and stepped over to whisper in Tara's ear, "The Chiroptera research, that's the Scorchbeasts, right?"

"How do you…" Tara trailed off at the look on Becky's face. "Yes, it's Scorchbeast research. It was abandoned when the researchers concluded that the plague they spread was too difficult and dangerous to contain." Tara replied warily. "Why?"

"Because the Scorchbeast research is still ongoing," Becky said quietly.

Tara just stared at her in shock. "H-how do you know?"

Becky grimaced and looked away. "I… may have hacked into Doctor Turner's personal terminal a few months ago, back when we heard that Project Scouring was getting shelved."

Stunned disbelief flashed across Tara's face. "Why would you even do something like that?!"

"I didn't trust them," Becky said flatly. "I wanted to make sure that Project Scouring was definitely being abandoned, and Doctor Turner was in charge of FEV research at the time." She held a hand up as Tara opened her mouth to scold her. "Yes, I know; it's against the rules, but I did it anyway. The point is, I didn't find anything about Project Scouring on his terminal, but I did discover that we have Scorchbeast specimens down in the sub-levels. The experiments never stopped."

The blood drained from Tara's face as she connected the dots. "But… if the Chiroptera research is still active then…"

"Then maybe Project Scouring is too," Becky finished. Tara sat frozen on her seat for a moment, then whipped the chair around and started typing away maniacally on her personal terminal. "Er, what are you doing?"

"Finding out," Tara replied simply.

Becky squinted as she tried to follow what her partner was doing on the screen. "You're accessing the mainframe? How will that help?"

"All of the President's secret files are stored on the mainframe," Tara explained. "You just have to know where to look."

Becky's eyes practically popped out of their sockets. "The Presi… are you insane?!"

"Probably," Tara admitted grimly, "but I have to know."

The two lapsed into an uneasy silence. After a few minutes of feverish typing, Tara quietly said, "I'm in."

"What's in there?" Becky asked, leaning over to see for herself.

"One second…" Tara opened a file named FEV Projects and started scrolling through a list of project names. "Most of these are inactive or cancelled. Deathclaw research is active… there's a bunch of Super Mutant countermeasure programs…" She sighed and slumped her shoulders when she spotted the next one. "Chiroptera research… huh? What the fuck is a Wanamingo? Ah! Here; Project…"

Becky felt her heart sink as Tara trailed off. Peering at the screen, she saw Project Scouring clearly marked as being 'Active'.

"He's betrayed us," Tara said shakily. "Congress, the military, the very democracy he's supposed to stand for."

Becky tried to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Tara slipped away from her and moved over to the bed, sinking onto her side and putting her head in her hands. Becky sighed and sat at the desk instead, glaring at the damning evidence on the terminal. "Okay, I know this is pretty bad, but we can figure something out. Colonel Autumn was against Project Scouring, if we can get this information to him-"

"He'll use it as an excuse to stage a military coup," Tara interrupted. "All we'll do is swap one monster for another." Before Becky could come up with another suggestion she heard the snap of a latch and Tara say in a dark voice, "If we're going to stop either of them from committing any more atrocities, we're going to need power. Real power."

Becky looked around just in time to see Tara lift all three Geodes out of the lockbox and slip them over her head. Becky tried to launch herself across the room and stop her, a yell of horror on her lips, but she didn't even manage to clear the chair before the Geodes flashed and a thunderclap sent her tumbling to the floor.

An ethereal wind ripped through the room as Tara was lifted into the air, while a sphere of magical energy slowly expanded out from the Geodes. Just before the sphere encompassed her entirely Tara let out a ghostly scream that lingered even after she disappeared.

Seeing Tara's silhouette through the magic, Becky tried shouting her name, but she didn't get any response as the sphere flickered black. Finally, the sphere exploded in a flash of light that shook the entire mountain and knocked the lights out, plunging the room into darkness.

Becky groaned and cradled her head, noticing dimly that the facility's emergency alarms were blaring through the corridors. A pale glow from near the bed drew her attention and she looked over at where Tara had been, fearing the worst, then gasped in fear and awe at what she saw.

Tara was floating two feet off the ground. Her pristine white lab coat was now ragged and had turned a deep purple color. Her hair was a mix of purples and black, with a long amethyst ponytail that stretched down past her feet, and all of it rippled in a non-existent breeze. Vast, near-black wings spread out from her back, and a shining horn poked out from her forehead, providing the faint glow that lit the room.

The thing that Tara had become laughed; giggling softly at first, then throwing her head back and letting out a lunatic cackle that echoed out through the walls.

Doctor Turner beamed with satisfaction as he looked up at the frame holding Horrigan upright. The first vials of magic had already been administered with no real effect, but they had modified the frame slightly and now there were several gallons of each variety suspended above the frame, ready and waiting.

"Which one should we give him first?" the technician at the frame asked.

Doctor Turner hummed thoughtfully. "I'm thinking maybe the blue one, his body seemed to accept that one a little easier than the others. We'll start off with, erm… let's go with five hundred mils for now, just to be safe."

The technician nodded, but before he could administer the magic a violent tremor shook the room and the lights suddenly cut out.

"Um, that's a little unusual," Doctor Turner pointed out. Fortunately, the emergency lights clicked on a couple of seconds later. They were dim, but they at least provided enough light to move around without bumping into things. He was about to say something witty when he heard a faint echo of someone laughing, seemingly coming from somewhere above.

"D-doctor!" the technician cried.

Doctor Turner glanced at him to see what was wrong, then yelped as he saw all of the magic draining from their containers into tubes and pumping into Horrigan's body. "What are you doing?! You weren't supposed to put it all in!"

"It wasn't me!" the technician snapped. "That earthquake must have done something!"

The two men could only watch in fascinated horror as the containers slowly emptied. Turner bit his lip as the last of the magic dripped through the tubes and into Horrigan.

Seconds passed. Then a minute. After almost five minutes of waiting Doctor Turner finally sighed. "Well, that was a little disappointing. I suppose next we'll have to-"

The sharp rasp of the respirator in Horrigan's helmet made Turner's mouth snap shut. His face cracked into a grin as a glowing green mist slowly seeped out of the joints in Horrigan's armor, followed by a faint click as the helmet's eyes switched on, blazing red in the dim light.

"Yes… yes… I think we've-" Doctor Turner was interrupted again as the light suddenly faded and the eyes switched off. A half-second later there was a series of clicks and thunks as pipes and wires disconnected from the armor, then Horrigan slumped to his knees and tilted sideways until he thudded against the frame.

Doctor Turner just stared at the lifeless lump. "I… um… what?"

"No…" The technician took a step towards Horrigan. "No… no, no, no!" He darted towards him and started trying to reconnect the cables and pipes. "You can't die like this!" he shouted desperately. "I've spent twenty fucking years keeping your sorry ass alive! Wake up!" He gave the helmet a slap and screamed in its face, "Wake up you mutant freak!"

The glowing green mist suddenly spurted out from the armor's joints again with a violent hiss, and the eyes blazed into life once more. The technician barely had time to move before Horrigan lifted an arm and backhanded him across the room with enough force to smash him against the far wall.

"I'M NO MUTIE." Horrigan's voice reverberated out of his helmet's speakers like a shockwave. Doctor Turner trembled with naked terror as the huge monstrosity turned its crimson eyes on him. "WHERE AM I?"

With this chapter, we've reached the beginning of the end of the main Fallout storyline. Next chapter, the fight begins...