Flashback
In a flashback to 2283,[Meta 2] in the New California Republic's capital city of Shady Sands, an adolescent Maximus strolls through the streets, seeing the other residents as well as passing NCR trooper squads. Nearby, his parents Joseph and Julia rejoice over Joseph's successful repair of their water purifier, allowing them to drink clean, non-irradiated water, with Joseph alluding to the presence of a large underground reservoir of clean water. Around that time, a caravan driver arrives with a loaded cart driven by a brahmin, appearing mesmerized and repeating the phrase "Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter" as he passes by a farmer who ignores him. The man reaches the town center, where he collapses, still repeating himself as Joseph finds a black box implanted in his neck. The crowd is shocked and horrified when Joseph pulls off the cover on the cart to reveal it carries a modified nuclear bomb. While the other residents panic and flee, Joseph attempts to disarm the device but is foiled by a failsafe protocol, as a 3-minute timer activates. Joseph races home with Julia and their son, where the parents tearfully place the boy inside their house fridge to protect him. Moments later, the bomb detonates and wipes out Shady Sands, including Max's parents. Meanwhile, a younger Hank MacLean resides at his home in Vault 33, confirming the detonation via his Pip-Boy before going to read a story to his children.

Mojave Wasteland - I
In the present in 2296, Maximus, now a Brotherhood knight, comes out of his daydream as he leads a two-man assault with a fellow T-60-outfitted knight into a shadowy pre-War facility, eliminating several feral ghouls inhabiting the interior to retrieve a rectangular control panel. They return via vertibird to their airship, the Caswennan. The scene shifts to a pair of masked scribes walking onto an abandoned playground amidst sund dunes, opening a closed hatch on the rocket play structure to reveal a fusion generator control station hidden inside. One of the scribes takes out a fusion core and inserts it into the appropriate port to power up the control station.

Back on the Caswennan, Maximus is met with celebrations by the Brotherhood forces assembled on the flight deck, while Dane watches grimly from Elder Cleric Quintus' side. Maximus hands the panel to Quintus, who commends him on his success and calls the control panel "the key to [the Brotherhood's] new home." He hands the panel to a nearby squire. As the squire works with the panel, inserting it into a console, Quintus tells Maximus his belief that the present-day Brotherhood lacks the strength to unite the wasteland due to the isolation and factionalism separating its many individual chapters; he intends to start the process of reunification with the Knights of San Fernando at the lead, first by carrying out their latest mission to obtain "the mightiest arsenal in history."

The Caswennan arrives at the abandoned playground, where the two scribes confirm with the flight deck squire via reflected-light coding that everything is ready. One of the scribes then activates the control station inside the playground. This begins a process to reactivate a dormant array of wind turbines that rise up from their underground siloes. Powered by the generator, they spin up and blow away the immense layer of sand covering the structure underneath, revealed to be the pre-War military base of Area 51. Quintus tries to reinforce Maximus' trust in the Brotherhood's future, emphasizing they are going to make better their "fallen world" and referring to him as "[his] son."


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Mojave Wasteland - II
Elseewhere in the Mojave Wasteland, Lucy MacLean and the Ghoul continue their journey to find Hank MacLean. Lucy remarks on the bounty hunter's rudeness such as snatching away her water canteen, arguing that if they do find his wife and daughter, they probably would not like the kind of person he turned into. This irritates the Ghoul at first, but noticeably hits a nerve as he tries to move on. Their journey is then interrupted when they hear a woman's distant calls for help from nearby ruins. The Ghoul wants to ignore what he thinks is an obvious trap and chides Lucy over her "stupid" refusal to ignore a cry for help; when she goes in anyway, he begrudgingly follows after her and Dogmeat.

Inside the ruins of Affordable Al's Discount Hospital, Dogmeat leads the pair towards the room where they find the wounded woman. The Ghoul points out her tunic marked with a red X, remarking that she is "awful far west," but does not elaborate further. Lucy offers the use of her last stimpak to the woman against the Ghoul's advice, with him claiming people like them don't deserve it. He then notices a wounded man nearby groaning in pain. As he offers a hand to the man, he draws his Bowie knife and slits the man's throat to Lucy's shock, then cuts off a piece of flesh to eat. However, shortly after, the Ghoul pukes it up. He returns to check the man's corpse, revealing a poisoned wound on his back. The two then hear something scuttling around in the building's ventilation and loud bangs in an adjacent room. The woman becomes frightened, claiming "they're back." Soon after, a few baby radscorpions emerge and attack. While they are able to fend off the smaller creatures, the banging sounds in the nearby room get louder as something rams against the doors, causing Dogmeat to run out of the room. The Ghoul is thrown to the floor as a bigger, mature radscorpion bursts in. He initially avoids getting stung, using his knife to sever one of its mandibles. He scrambles back and pulls the woman over him as a shield, causing her to get stung. Lucy pulls her back to save her, causing the Ghoul to get stung in the leg. Before the creature can attack him again, the Ghoul grabs a frag grenade from his satchel, stuffing it into the wounded mandible, and kicks the radscorpion away right before it blows up.

Lucy checks on the two of them, both suffering from the effects of the radscorpion's venom and begging her to use the stimpak. Lucy decides to inject the woman, both because she knows the Ghoul's regeneration will keep him from dying and because she sees it as duly deserved for his cruelty. She then leaves him behind while taking the woman out of the ruined building, though not before promising to come back for him, solely to prove him wrong about being kind to others.

Vault 31 - I
In Vault 31, the cryo pods which Norm MacLean reactivated finish thawing, releasing their occupants, pre-War Vault-Tec junior managers who joined the "Bud's Buds" program, including Claudia, Clark, Pete, and Ronnie McCurtry. Norm greets the assembled Vault 31 dwellers while most are changing into jumpsuits. They question why they are all being awakened at once and conclude that plans have changed and Reclamation Day has arrived. Norm goes along with it, but then claims that Bud Askins is dead when asked about him; it is revealed that Norm disabled Bud's robotic chassis and placed it in a bucket out of sight, though seemingly functional. This news sends the group in a panic, with some hoping to return to their cryo pods, while Norm struggles to find a way to calm them down.


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Vault-Tec facility - I
In the Las Vegas management Vault, Hank MacLean continues with his experiments to improve the black box technology. He uses the facility's supply of experimental white mice, who were also cryonically preserved. This leads to several failures as the signal's increased strength kills the test subjects too quickly to get meaningful results, but Hank resolves to continue anyway, making multiple trips to and from the cryonic repository.

Area 51 - I
At Area 51, an exploratory group of the Knights of San Fernando including Maximus enters the central warehouse to explore and begin uncovering its contents, including a working icebox with a preserved alien corpse (the latter of which is discarded) and a preserved pre-War automobile which is promptly wheeled outside and destroyed by a knight using a minigun. Maximus also briefly reprimands Knight Riley for playing hot potato with a plasma grenade. Later, it's shown that the San Fernando chapter has transported the cold fusion technology to Area 51 from its previous location at Griffith Observatory, thus claiming Area 51 as their new base of operations. Dane observes Maximus overseeing the device's implementation with concern about Quintus' motives.

Maximus goes to wash his face in the barracks, helped by a young aspirant whom he in turn educates with his take on the Brotherhood's philosophy. Once alone, Maximus tries to polish his T-60 suit, lingering on the claw marks left by the yao guai attack that killed its previous wearer, Titus.[1] He is interrupted by Dane, who questions their friend about his recent shift in focus and how he is now helping the Brotherhood progress and especially adhering to the tenets of the Codex, which they both once regarded as a joke. Maximus counters that he has realized the struggle of living in the wasteland and now feels he has to make the Brotherhood better. Dane brings up his former goal to have a life with Lucy MacLean, but Maximus says she abandoned him and now he has to fulfill his duties as a Brotherhood knight. Dane drops the matter and changes to the subject of a meeting that Quintus deliberately excluded the Commonwealth chapter from. Dane fears this will have serious repercussions, as the Commonwealth chapter would not let the elder cleric seize power without resistance. The base's alarms blare as Maximus assures his friend that he is going to do what he can to help the Brotherhood's mission if it means preventing another apocalypse. Outside the base, the San Fernando chapter witnesses the arrival of three other airships coming from various directions, carrying other chapters of the Brotherhood.

Later on, all four chapters have assembled around a feasting table with Quintus and the three elders representing their respective chapters from the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Coronado. The elder cleric's overtures of unity are cut short by the Coronado elder asking why he excluded the Commonwealth; Quintus counters by saying if they had come, they would have taken the cold fusion relic for themselves and left the western chapters with nothing. While the Grand Canyon elder agrees about the unfairness of their situation, the Yosemite elder says what Quintus is planning amounts to civil war within the Brotherhood and leaves them fighting against the Commonwealth's martial superiority. As Quintus props up their chances of defeating the Commonwealth now that his chapter has acquired the cold fusion technology, Maximus discreetly intervenes to stop Gnatius and another knight from playing with a plasma grenade like a toy.

The elders grow restless with Quintus' plan once they realize that he intends to place himself in charge of the Brotherhood, bickering with each other as their cultural differences are brought up. The elder cleric aggressively regains control of the meeting and states that, while he acknowledges that each part of the Brotherhood is set in its ways, they are united by one common desire: power. He shows how his chapter has harnessed the cold fusion relic to generate an allegedly limitless amount of fully charged fusion cores, a rarity on the West Coast by the present. This serves as the final impetus for the other elders to declare their support of Quintus in his rebellion. Dane shares a silent, concerned stare with Maximus, who shifts uncomfortably.


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Mojave Wasteland - III
Lucy and the wounded woman are walking through a forested area, where Lucy learns the wounded woman speaks Latin when she thanks Lucy for a compliment, referring to her as a "kindly profligate." When Lucy reveals her destination of Las Vegas, the woman tries to warn her against going there so as to avoid being raped by "the wrong people," which unsettles Lucy. Their trek is interrupted by the appearance of men wearing Roman-style armor, carrying torches standing on the nearby cliffs looking down at them. When Lucy looks back, the woman has disappeared, and she begins to grow unsettled. However, she continues walking forwards.

Vault 31 - II
Back in Vault 31, Norm gets the attention of the panicking Vault 31 dwellers by saying he is one of Bud's "super-managers," the product of 200 years of bio-engineering, with the rest of them selected to be his staff. He convinces them that their current situation is actually a final test of Bud's design: to put all of their technical knowledge toward escaping Vault 31. Inspired by Norm's words, the Vault 31 dwellers begin planning ways to salvage the Vault's systems for resources and finding a means of escape.

Vault-Tec facility - II
Hank's continued experiments to improve the black box technology have stalled due to the mice dying too quickly to get results, so he explores more of the complex. He ultimately finds his way to the "Premium Elite Plus" suite, where it is revealed that the suite contained a set of cryonic suspension chambers which could be purchased by individual private citizens. Hank thaws out one of them, a man named Stephen Winthrop. The confused Steve is attached with a black box chip by Hank as he wonders if he was brought out because of Reclamation Day; Hank claims that it is, but not as Vault-Tec planned. As Hank prepares Steve for his current experiment, he remarks about his preference for "the classics" and how much has changed in the world. Steve becomes more aware of his helpless state as Hank reveals that he did not include his family in the program, which Steve claims was because it was too expensive to buy more than one ticket. Hank emphasizes how a commitment to family builds a civilization, then compares it to his experiments, claiming that through enhancing the black box, he will also improve a piece of "outdated technology" — civilization. Steve begins to react to the black box's signal as Hank increases its strength, eventually resulting in his explosive death; Hank coldly remarks "if at first you don't succeed... try, try again."

Mojave Wasteland - IV
Lucy wanders the wilderness at night until she sees the lights of campfires. As she gets closer, she discovers a red flag with a bull symbol hanging in view which she does not recognize. She is then surrounded by several armed men in Roman armor and makes an attempt to be diplomatic with an uncomfortable smile.


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Vault 31 - III
After scavenging resources from within Vault 31, Norm and his "staff" of Vault-Tec junior managers are in the midst of attempting to reach an emergency hatch connecting the Vault to the surface; its height forces them to form a human ladder using parts of piping as footholds until one of them is able to reach and unlock it. The Vault 31 dwellers then help Norm get up to the long ladder inside the chute, with the rest climbing up after him. They emerge onto the surface through an old ventilation grate, close to the Santa Monica Pier. While the pre-War Vault dwellers gaze around in shock at the wasteland, Norm is awed by his first experience outside of the underground Vaults.

Area 51 - II
The Brotherhood chapters celebrate their unification with a violent spectacle of two knights in T-60 suits boxing each other with the elders watching. Maximus, weary of the barbarism on display, tries to walk away but is intercepted by a burly man, one of the Coronado chapter's knights. The man asks if he was the one who dealt the killing blow to the "NCR bitch" Moldaver (whom he refers to as "Mold Over"). Once Maximus confirms it, the knight challenges him to a fight of their own; Maximus tries to get Quintus to intervene, but the elder silently urges him to accept the challenge. Maximus' request to get his armor is rebuked with the knight stating they will be fighting "bareback:" no power armor, just fists and raw strength and skill.

The two enter the ring formed by the crowd of onlookers, where the knight lands a cheap shot on Maximus while he is removing his jacket. Maximus is brutalized for a while, realizing nobody is going to intervene for him. He uses an opening to punch the knight's crotch, then throws his jacket in his enemy's face to stun him as he retaliates and kicks him back. The knight recovers and decides to increase the threat level by taking out a combat knife. Maximus looks to Quintus again to stop the fight, but the elder leaves him to fend for himself. After dodging a few slashes, Maximus grapples with the knight and maneuvers him into stabbing himself in the abdomen. The two wrestle to the ground, where Maximus finally overpowers his opponent and fatally stabs the knight in the chest. Despite the cheers from the crowd, including the young aspirant from before, and Quintus giving silent approval, Maximus notices Dane giving him a somber gaze before turning and walking away.

Right then, the celebration is interrupted by the arrival of a vertibird as it flies directly into the warehouse and lands nearby. A man in a heavy coat jumps off and approaches the crowd, revealing himself to be Paladin Xander Harkness, a liaison from the Commonwealth Brotherhood. He also reveals that the Commonwealth is aware of the West Coast Brotherhood's plans to start a civil war, which Quintus coldly acknowledges. Harkness then notices the bloodied Maximus standing over his fallen opponent and gives him an acknowledging nod.

The Golden Rule

Prologue: The End
On October 23, 2077, Cooper Howard, a famous actor frequently typecast to play cowboys, performs stunts on horseback at young Roy Spencer's birthday party in Hollywood Hills while his young daughter Janey assists. The boy's father, Bob Spencer, suggests to his friend Frank that Cooper is working a job beneath his pay grade to pay alimony to his ex-wife. Mr. Spencer asks Cooper to perform his iconic thumbs up for a picture, but he declines. The party moves indoors, with Mrs. Spencer switching a weather newscaster's on-air meltdown about the wartime tensions to an episode of Grognak the Barbarian, not wanting to hear the doom and gloom, while Cooper and Janey clean up outside. Janey questions her father about refusing. He avoids the question and explains that one could measure a mushroom cloud's danger by whether it was larger than their thumbs up; if the cloud was larger, they were already doomed. Cooper attempts to soothe his daughter's fears and tells her, "We take it as it comes." He gets her a slice of birthday cake at her request.

Cooper and Janey trying to escape
Cooper and Janey trying to escape

A nuclear bomb is then dropped on Los Angeles, but the partygoers initially mistake the flash as coming from a camera. Janey sees the mushroom cloud forming and grows fearful as she sticks her thumb out. Cooper is the next to notice, initially telling Janey that it is merely a fire before he sees the cloud continue to grow larger and the blast wave racing toward them. The bomb's shockwave arrives and shatters all the windows of the Spencer home. The Spencer family takes refuge in their private bomb shelter while Bob assaults Frank to prevent him and his daughter from entering. Meanwhile, Cooper and Janey escape on horseback as several more bombs are dropped on the city.

Part 1: Lucy
Lucy during her application
Lucy during her application

219 years later, Vault 33 is successfully functioning under the leadership of Overseer Hank MacLean. His daughter Lucy, a self-described "active contributor to the well-being of [her] community," delivers her application for an approved marriage with a "breeder" from the adjoining Vault 32 to the governing council of Vault 33. The Council is comprised of Woody Thomas, Betty Pearson, and Reg McPhee. Her application is approved, and her pregnant friend Stephanie Harper helps her prepare for her wedding. Hank tells Lucy about leaving his native Vault 31 to marry her now-deceased mother. The gatekeeper, Lucy's cousin Chet, stalls the process as he is in love with Lucy. She reminds him of the negative long-term ramifications of inbreeding, and he reluctantly opens the adjoining Vault door. Lee Moldaver steps forward to introduce herself as the new overseer of Vault 32, also introducing Lucy's husband-to-be, Monty. Seeing Monty, Steph calls Lucy "lucky," causing her husband Bert to give her an appalled expression from behind.

Lucy and Monty's wedding
Lucy and Monty's wedding

Lucy and Monty marry. At the reception, Hank gives a toast and reports that the Vault dwellers will be able to reclaim the surface within the next generation. At the conclusion of the reception, Lucy takes Monty to their suite, and they consummate their marriage. Monty shows signs that he lacks the social refinement and education like the dwellers of Vault 33. Meanwhile, Lucy's brother Norm enters Vault 32 and is alarmed to discover dead crops and a Vault dweller's heavily decayed corpse, causing him to flee back to Vault 33.

Lucy hears yelling outside her suite and puts on her Pip-Boy to discover that her new "husband" contains abnormally high radiation levels, confirming suspicions that he and the other Vault 32 residents are actually raiders from the surface. Monty attacks and overwhelms Lucy, telling her he truly enjoyed their time together as he prepares to end her life. He stabs her in the stomach with a concealed knife and begins to strangle her before she cuts his throat with a broken pitcher. Lucy tends to her injury with a stimpak and arms herself with a tranquilizer gun. A bloody battle has broken out between the raiders and Vault dwellers, claiming many lives on both sides. Woody manages to flee from the chaos, while others are not so lucky. Bert is killed by the raiders, causing Steph to lash out in grief and rage; she is stabbed in the right eye with a fork, but manages to grab a raider's submachine gun and shoot back. Meanwhile, a burly raider returns to Chet at the gate while carrying a Vault 33 guard; he attacks Chet, but the guard grabs his leg and trips him, saving Chet and causing the raider to be bisected by a closing door.

FOTV Lucy hides Norm in the Norm Hole
Lucy saves Norm from the chaos in the crop field and helps him hide in a storage unit. A still-living Monty tries to strangle Lucy again, but is prevented by Hank, who kills Monty by holding his head in a barrel of pickles in vinegar. They then hear an alarm warning them about the inter-vault door remaining open, causing them to run toward Vault 32. At the door between the two Vaults, Moldaver has taken multiple Vault 33 residents hostage, including Chet and Steph, and planted a bomb in the door. She orders Hank to choose between saving them or Lucy. Hank locks Lucy in a janitorial closet and affirms his love for her. A raider tranquilizes Hank, and Moldaver speaks to Lucy through the door, saying she resembles her mother. The raiders drag Hank towards "the real world" and set the other hostages free. They run to safety as the bomb detonates.

Later, the Vault 33 survivors nurse their wounds, compost their dead, and repair damage to the Vault. Over an emergency meeting in the atrium, Lucy proposes sending a search party to the surface to look for Hank. The council rejects the idea and is unwilling to risk opening the vault door. Norm tells Lucy that the council likely don't want Hank to be found because it would mean they'd have to give up the new authority they've now received with him being absent. Lucy resolves to leave alone and recruits Norm and Chet to help her escape undetected. They take an elevator up to the main Vault door, and Chet tries to persuade Lucy to let him leave with her. She sticks him with a tranquilizer to prevent him from following her. Norms admits he is "too chicken" to leave the Vault and shares a goodbye with his sister.

The door opens as Reg and Davey arrive. They beg Lucy not to leave, but she steps into the outside world, and the door closes behind her. Outside, she observes the desert landscape and the skeletal remains of people who died trying to enter the Vault. Around the bend, she sees the ocean and the destroyed Santa Monica Pier in the distance, and she dutifully presses forward.


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Part 2: Maximus
Maximus being beaten up by bullies
Maximus being beaten up by bullies

In a military base on the surface, Maximus, an "aspirant" of the Brotherhood of Steel, is beaten up by his fellow aspirants as part of a routine hazing. Afterward, his friend Dane reminds him that "flesh is weak, but still endures." In a class, Cleric Felix outlines the Brotherhood's mission to salvage and hoard pre-war technology. A massive airship, the Prydwen, arrives, and the class watches knights wearing T-60 power armor stroll into the base.

While Maximus is carrying out his assignment of disposing of sewage, Dane beckons him away. They find the shed where the T-60 armor sets are stored and admire them together. Maximus recalls being rescued by a Brotherhood knight as a child after his hometown's destruction. Presently, Dane is summoned away by the Brotherhood officers. That evening, a group of aspirants are promoted, including Dane, who is assigned to serve as Knight Titus' squire. Maximus privately vents his jealousy. The next morning, Dane suffers a gruesome foot injury after someone places an exposed razor in their boot. Maximus is blamed for the incident and dragged before his commanding officers to be interrogated.

Maximus being interrogated about Dane
Maximus being interrogated about Dane

Elder Cleric Quintus questions Maximus. He sheepishly defends himself but admits to being jealous of Dane's promotion. He affirms his desire to overcome his weakness and commitment to the Brotherhood. Quintus informs Maximus that he will replace Dane as Titus' new squire, who sheds tears of joy at the news. He later visits Dane in the infirmary, and they assert their faith in his innocence. Maximus is anointed as a squire in an initiation ceremony, and has the initial "T" branded on the back of his neck.

Quintus announces the Brotherhood's newest mission to capture Siggi Wilzig, a rogue Enclave "denizen" who carries a valuable artifact in his possession.[1] Maximus and Titus fly away on a vertibird to search for the target, assigned to the area around Filly.

Part 3: The Ghoul
, , and 
Biggie, Slim, and Honcho

Somewhere outside California, a trio of bounty hunters sneak into a fortress owned by Dom Pedro and take out one of the guards. Their leader, Honcho, explains that they are searching for a notorious bounty hunter whom Dom Pedro has held captive for several years. He keeps the hunter buried alive but once a year digs him up, cuts off a few pieces, and buries him again.[2] They find a grave with a pair of IV bags attached and tubes emerging from the dirt. The other two hunters, Biggie and Slim, are shocked to realize the hunter they are looking for is a ghoul. Honcho says that his father once worked with the Ghoul,[3] and Biggie expresses concern that he may be feral. Honcho brings out a chicken and explains that a feral ghoul will instinctively attack it, which will be their cue to kill him.

The Ghoul and the chicken
The Ghoul and the chicken

The hunters dig up the coffin and place the chicken in front of it before opening it up. The Ghoul emerges, revealed as an aged and mutated Cooper Howard. He playfully picks up the chicken, terrifying Biggie and Slim. Honcho proposes they work together to secure a large bounty, the same target the Brotherhood is after, and retire on the profits. He details that the target is seeking out Moldaver in California, specifying that he knows the Ghoul is originally from there. The Ghoul takes offense to the mention of his past and claims that, unlike them, he pursues bounties "for the love of the game." He promptly lassos Honcho to the ground, and disarms Slim as he tries to pull a rifle on him. Biggie tries to shoot a flurry of steak knives at him with his Junk Jet, but the Ghoul maneuvers Slim to use him as a human shield, and then blows Biggie's head off with Slim's rifle. He then turns his attention to Honcho, kicks him into his own grave, and leaves him to die, asserting that his kind (cowpokes) "take it as it comes." The Ghoul spares the chicken and leaves to pursue the bounty alone.

The End

Enclave research colony
In the past, Enclave researcher Dr. Siggi Wilzig helps breed Belgian Malinois dogs. He's disturbed by the facility's policy of incinerating newborn puppies that weigh less than ten ounces, so he falsifies records to spare the life of an underweight female puppy. The dog is given the designation CX404. Over the years, Wilzig has specially trained the dog and cares for her while working on an unauthorized research project. The fruit of the project is a small pulsating blue bead that Wilzig injects into his neck. One day, one of his co-workers discovers the project and reports him, but CX404 mauls and kills him to protect her master. Wilzig and CX404 flee the facility under gunfire from a turret.

Los Angeles ruins
In the present, Lucy wanders through the ocean-side ruins and discovers the long-dead remains of a family. They apparently poisoned themselves with suicide pills from a bottle labeled "Vault-Tec Plan D". As night falls, she sets a campfire and turns in for the night.

Lucy is woken up in the middle of the night by growling, and finds CX404 staring at her. Moments later, CX404 takes notice of a nearby Radroach, and swiftly mauls it to death. Lucy then notices Wilzig sitting in a chair by the fire. He talks about how radroaches evolved to become larger and more predatory when they evolved from cockroaches. Wilzig urges Lucy to go home, doubting her ability to adapt to the dangerous and violent wasteland. Lucy asserts that she is not going back without her father. Wilzig suggests that her desires will change when she becomes a "different animal" and leaves with CX404.

The Wilds
The next day, as a vertibird flies them to Filly, Maximus attempts to bond with Knight Titus to no avail. Titus then orders their pilot to touch down early out of boredom. The two trek through the Wilds while Maximus carries the luggage. Simultaneously, Wilzig and CX404 stop to rest by some discarded chemical waste barrels. CX404 enters a nearby cave and leaves carrying a human hand in her mouth. A horrified Wilzig realizes a dangerous monster is nearby. Later, Titus and Maximus happen upon the cave and find evidence that their targets were there. Titus orders Maximus to investigate inside the cave, before being attacked by a yao guai who destroys his weapon. Titus attempts to flee from the yao guai, but it catches up to him outside the cave and manages to mortally wound him before Maximus is able to shoot it in the head. Maximus removes the helmet off Titus, who orders him to administer a stimpak to him while blaming him for the attack and verbally abusing him. Disgusted by his cowardice and tired of the mistreatment from him, Maximus withholds treatment from Titus. Titus warns his squire that he'll be executed for allowing his charge to die, but Maximus claims he'll be forgiven if he brings back the target.


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Farmer house
Lucy encounters a farmer in a house in the desert, attempting to fix a water filter by putting sand in it. She offers him a sip of her drinking water, and he drinks the entire bottle. He directs her to Filly despite having never been himself; he claims people often get killed there, including several of his relatives. The farmer suggests that Lucy live with him and claims to be dying. She declines and starts heading towards Filly.

Yao guai cave
Maximus dons the dead Titus' T-60 power armor, which grants him incredible strength. In some ruins, he sees a chicken collector beating up a snake oil salesman and intervenes, setting the salesman free. He praises Maximus as a "scholar and a gentleman" and admonishes the farmer for punishing his "scientific curiosity." As the salesman runs off, the chicken collector tells Maximus he was beating the salesman for sexually molesting his chickens. Maximus sheepishly backs off and realizes his suit contains jets in the arms.

Filly
Lucy arrives in Filly, a settlement built in the remnants of an old junkyard in the middle of the woods. As she walks through the marketplace, she is disconcerted by the inhabitants' rudeness and lack of helpful information. Entering the downtown district through a short tunnel, she takes notice of a general store in the middle of the square, Ma June's Sundries, and decides to check it out. Descending into the square, she doesn't notice the Ghoul sitting in a rocking chair, watching the store intently as he fidgets with a small bottle.

Inside the general store, Lucy finds the place is filled with multiple items produced by Vault-Tec. The store owner, an elderly woman named Ma June, realizes Lucy is a Vault Dweller and laughs in her face. Her attitude hardens when Lucy mentions Moldaver and orders her to leave immediately. Lucy asserts the Vaults' mission to save America, but Ma June denounces the Vaults as "a hole in the ground for rich folks to hide in while the rest of the world burned." Lucy leaves, despondent. As she leaves the store, Wilzig and CX404 run into her as they arrive in Filly. His knowledge of her Vault surprises her, and he once more encourages her to go home. Ma June greets Wilzig, having expected him, and once again coldly tells Lucy to get on her way.

At that moment, the Ghoul reveals himself, and Ma June firmly reminds him that ghouls are banned from Filly. He ignores her and reports the large bounty out on Wilzig's head. Ma June reveals she's been paid to transport him out of Filly...prompting the Ghoul to suddenly pull out a gun and shoot Wilzig's left foot off. Ma June takes cover, and loudly offers a thousand bottle caps to whoever can kill the Ghoul.

A shootout breaks out as several Filly residents try to take out the Ghoul to take up Ma June's offer, only for him to promptly dispatch all of them. Amid it, the Ghoul helps himself to a handful of cherry tomatoes from a vendor and "pays" for them by dropping a fistful of caps on the ground. He takes several bullets in the back to little effect and kills the other shooters. Ma June is shot in her right leg and seriously injured as she tries to fire at the Ghoul. CX404 then attacks him in similar fashion to how she killed the Enclave scientist, but the Ghoul fights back and stabs her with a knife, critically wounding her.

While the shootout is ongoing, Lucy runs into Ma June's backroom and inspects her ledger, finding a transaction with Moldaver's name recorded in it. Hearing Wilzig's cries for help, she returns outside, and acting like she's the sheriff in an old Western movie, attempts to non-violently de-escalate the conflict and warns the Ghoul to stand down. The Ghoul, undaunted, steps forward, and Lucy shoots him in the heart with her tranquilizer gun. To her surprise, it doesn't work. He plucks it out of his chest, and calls it "a very small drop in a very, very large bucket of drugs" and aims his gun at her. At that moment, Maximus arrives in his power armor and orders the Ghoul to surrender. He tackles Lucy out of the way and shields her with his body as the Ghoul fires at her. While covering her, he briefly shows his face to her, and asks her to protect Wilzig while he engages the Ghoul. Lucy and Ma June help Wilzig into the shop while Maximus engages the Ghoul.

Inside, Ma June orders her assistant Barv to retrieve a prosthetic replacement foot for Wilzig from a box labeled "Jim's Limbs". Ma June fashions the foot to Wilzig's stump, a process that involves crudely shredding the end of it. Out of options, Ma June asks Lucy to take Wilzig to her client, and she declines until Ma June reveals her client is in fact Moldaver herself. She suggests using Wilzig as a bargaining chip and programs the coordinates into Lucy's Pip-Boy. Lucy escorts Wilzig out of the town as the fight outside grows heated. In the marketplace, they pass the snake oil salesman that Maximus earlier helped, and he claims to have a serum to regenerate Wilzig's lost limb. They ignore him and press forward.

The Ghoul quickly realizes Maximus is not very familiar with how to use power armor, and ultimately exploits this to overwhelm him. When Maximus gets his foot stuck in some floorboards, the Ghoul severs one of his breathing tubes, causing the armor to malfunction and jet him away. He crash lands in a nearby junkyard, ignored by a nearby raider using a toilet. Back in Filly, the Ghoul finds Wilzig missing from the shop. Outside, a dying CX404 whines from her injury. The Ghoul takes pity on the dog and heals her with a stimpak. Revitalized, she begins pursuing her master's scent while the Ghoul follows.


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Crashed satellite
Lucy holding a surgical ripper.
Lucy holding a surgical ripper.

The next day, Lucy and Wilzig stop to rest at a crashed Russian satellite near Los Angeles International Airport. Wilzig's injury has worsened, and he is visibly bleeding from his prosthetic limb; he claims he will die before reaching the destination. Lucy optimistically encourages him to press ahead, but he reveals that he has ingested a Plan D, calling it "the most humane product Vault-Tec ever made." He says he's still valuable to Moldaver if Lucy can bring his head to her and instructs her to decapitate him with his buzz saw. He calls her "Miss MacLean", which shocks Lucy as she hasn't divulged this to him at all, but he dies before he can answer her. Lucy grimly prepares to cut his head off as he requests.

Credits
The Brotherhood wants you
The Brotherhood wants you

The credits show the ruins of LAX. The sequence begins focused on a vertibird with a picture of Nuka-Girl with a blast mark on the face, with the text "Zap Em" written nearby. The camera zooms out, revealing a skeleton sitting against the vertibird and numerous other vertibirds parked in nearby hangers amidst barbed wire and destroyed barricades. At this point, the main building of the airport and the air control tower are both visible.

 billboard showing a 
Horizon Airlines billboard showing a jetliner

The scene zooms further out to show two dead figures in power armor sitting against a structure with a poster featuring Uncle Sam in power armor, reading, "The Brotherhood wants you." The camera pulls back onto the airport tarmac, showing various crashed or parked planes and briefly crossing over a teddy bear in the middle of the runway. Another billboard is seen, and this one is advertising Horizon Airlines with the tagline "Patriots don't spend their travel dollars abroad! Fly Horizon Airlines." The sequence cuts to black as the camera reaches a nearby highway.

The Target

California Crest Studios - Flashback I
Sometime before the Great War, Cooper Howard is filming the Western movie The Man from Deadhorse at California Crest Studios. He films a scene where his character, a sheriff, declares "Feo fuerte y formal" ("He was ugly, strong, and had dignity") as he confronts the villain Joey Toro, played by Jorge. Cooper objects to his character killing the villain as the script dictates. The film's director, Emil Dale, explains that the scene is meant to show that even a good man can be driven to commit terrible acts. Cooper tries to call in one of the writers, Cadillac Bob, and the director tells him Bob has been fired after he was discovered to have communist ties. The director details that the movie's theme focuses on strong individualism in a lawless world. Cooper cuts the conversation short when he sees his wife Barb nearby. She gives him a piece of lavender taffy, which he finds disgusting. Barb gives Cooper his costume for a photo shoot, and they cheerfully head toward the trailers with their daughter Janey, who races her father there.

Crashed satellite - I
In the present day, the Ghoul inspects Wilzig's headless corpse with CX404. He starts coughing and downs a vial containing an unknown chem to ease his symptoms. They both leave to look for the missing head, following Lucy's footprints.

Los Angeles ruins - I
Lucy wanders through the wasteland carrying Wilzig's head. Inspecting the head by her campfire, she notices a pulsating blue bead in the skin behind the ear, which shocks her when she tries to touch it. She sticks a tracking chip in the head just in case.

Filly
The next day, Maximus assesses his damaged power armor, removing a critical broken module. The voice of Petty Officer Shortsight of the Brotherhood of Steel comes through the armor's radio transmitter and questions "Knight Titus" for missing his scheduled check-in, unaware that Maximus had left Titus to die and taken his armor. Maximus takes advantage of this and the fact that the T-60 has a modulator to disguise his voice. Impersonating Titus, Maximus reports having been attacked by an "abomination" and claims his squire was killed in battle. Shortsight insists on sending a replacement squire, causing Maximus to panic and destroy the transmitter. He leaves behind the armor to search for a mechanic to repair the broken module.

In the Filly market, the residents are recuperating from the Ghoul's shootout. Maximus finds a mechanic who demands five caps to repair the piece; Maximus only has four. Hence, he sells one of his teeth to pay for the rest. The mechanic briefly welds the piece and takes his money.

Returning to the armor, Maximus finds scavengers trying to steal it. They beat him up and manage to open up the armor. Maximus returns for a second round and, this time, sticks his arm in the sleeve of the armor, using it to crush the head of the scavengers' leader, Tom. The others flee while Maximus sees a Vertibird arrive with his new replacement squire. To his shock, his new squire is Thaddeus, his main Brotherhood bully. He hastily reattaches the repaired piece and puts on the armor before Thaddeus greets him. Maximus also contemplates crushing Thaddeus's head, but the latter begs for his life and swears his loyalty to him. Maximus decides to make Thaddeus his personal manservant instead. Thaddeus reports that whoever finds the target will control the wasteland, and they are to kill anyone on their path to find it.


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Hollywood Boulevard - I
The 
The fawn

Lucy navigates Hollywood Boulevard, which has become a flooded lake. She has a tender moment feeding a fawn before it is suddenly dragged into the irradiated lake by a mutated gulper. The gulper also steals the head and swallows it. As Lucy prepares to dive into the water to chase after it, the Ghoul sneaks up behind her and draws a gun on her. He pistol whips her and rifles through her backpack with no success, but quickly realizes from wet mud nearby that the Gulper has the head.

Vault 33
Chet mourns Lucy's departure. He and Norm are punished for helping Lucy escape by being reassigned, with Chet lamenting he has lost his identity without his job as the gatekeeper. The council struggles to decide where to place Norm since he has shown equal apathy in every job he's ever had, but they eventually settle on having him serve food to the imprisoned raiders.

Los Angeles ruins - II & Crashed satellite - II
Maximus enjoys ordering Thaddeus about with difficult and inconsequential chores, such as climbing a tree to pick a (nonexistent) apple. As they travel, Maximus talks about being prevented from following Lucy and Wilzig by the Ghoul. Thaddeus assumes he killed the Ghoul according to the Brotherhood's policy against mutants, but Maximus says the Ghoul is alive. Thaddeus interprets this to mean that Maximus allowed the Ghoul to get a head start to lead them to Wilzig. Thaddeus begins tracking the Ghoul's radiation trail. They later find Wilzig's headless corpse. Maximus deduces that his head is the true target and falsely assumes the Ghoul is responsible for decapitating Wilzig. Thaddeus claims that the Brotherhood will someday "eradicate every last one of those freaks." Thaddeus refills Maximus' water bag and reminisces about his childhood growing up on a fly farm. At "Titus"'s urging, he admits that he used to beat up Maximus because he was also beaten up as a young recruit and regrets that Maximus didn't live long enough to find someone to beat up himself.

Hollywood Boulevard - II
The Ghoul ties Lucy up to a waterside pulley and repeatedly lowers and raises her from the water. She begs him to stop torturing her and he recalls a pre-War study claiming that torture is ineffective, which he agrees with. Lucy questions why he is torturing her if he believes that; he clarifies that he is not torturing her, but using her as bait to lure the gulper back. The "bait" successfully lures the gulper and emerges, but the Ghoul cannot suppress it, and it attempts to swallow Lucy. Lucy beats the gulper with the Ghoul's saddle bag to defend herself, and it eventually retreats. The Ghoul opens his bag and realizes his supply of vials has been destroyed. Furious, he yells expletives at Lucy and she snaps at him for his cruelty, bringing up the golden rule ("Do unto others as you would have done unto you"). The Ghoul lassos Lucy and starts dragging her away, despite her insistence that they retrieve the head. He tells her the wasteland has its own golden rule: "Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time."


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Vault 33 - II
Meeting of Vault 33 dwellers
Meeting of Vault 33 dwellers

A meeting is held in the Vault 33 atrium to decide the fate of the imprisoned raiders. Woody suggests they educate and gradually integrate the raiders into Vault society, which most of the dwellers agree with. In particular, Davey offers to teach the raiders Shakespeare and Marlowe. At the same time, Marianne the Vault scholar insists on teaching them morals first in the form of Kant and Mill, and a third dweller offers to teach calculus. Meanwhile, the suggestion does not sit well with Norm and Steph. Scoffing at the thought of educating the raiders, the council calls out Norm, who suggests they simply execute the prisoners, but the idea is shot down. Just then, an engineer comes in, saying he has bad news to deliver in private. Woody and Reg make him tell the entire assembly despite his reservations. The engineer announces that the Vault's water chip is broken; without it, the Vault's water supply will last less than two months. The residents begin to panic, and the meeting is adjourned. Steph, whose husband Bert was killed by the raiders, quietly tells Norm she agrees with his idea.

Hollywood Boulevard - III
Maximus and Thaddeus track the Ghoul's trail to the lake, which apparently leads into the water. It dawns on Thaddeus that the trail may be mixed up with a different "abomination" as the gulper attacks them. Maximus orders the less protected Thaddeus back to shore while he shoots the gulper, but misses all of his shots. The gulper lunges from the water and attacks Maximus but is wounded by a gunshot from Thaddeus. Angered, it crawls onto shore and attempts to swallow Thaddeus. Maximus pulls him out, causing the gulper to regurgitate its stomach contents. They see CX404 licking the regurgitated head nearby and celebrate their success.

California Crest Studios
The Ghoul marches Lucy through the desert, and they walk through the ruins of California Crest Studios. Lucy begs the Ghoul to share some of his drinking water with her; he ignores her and lets some water spill out for good measure. They pass some filthy and irradiated water, and the Ghoul tells Lucy that nothing stays clean on the surface. She asks if radiation caused his current appearance, and he responds, "Something like that." Lucy sees a billboard showing the Vault Boy giving a thumbs-up, and the Ghoul spitefully shoots a hole through the mascot's head.

California Crest Studios - Flashback II
In the past, Cooper emerges from his trailer at California Crest Studios wearing a Vault jumpsuit, which we now see has a color scheme derived from the cowboy costume he was wearing on the set of The Man from Deadhorse. He arrives on the set for a photo shoot where Barb, who works as a Vault-Tec Corporation executive, has asked him to shoot some advertisements for the company to give them a celebrity endorsement, meeting junior executives George Yaffe and Sarah Clements in the process. Before the shoot begins, Cooper asks the executives whether the Vault jumpsuits are radiation-proof; they shoot glances at each other before hastily saying yes. During the shoot, Cooper decides on a whim to give a thumbs-up for some of the pictures, and one of the Vault-Tec employees agrees, indicating that the Vault Boy will be modeled after Cooper.

The Head

Westside Medical Clinic
The Ghoul, suffering from withdrawal, begins coughing as he marches Lucy through the desert, walking along the mostly buried Hollywood Walk of Fame. They pass the Westside Medical Clinic and hear someone yelling, "My name is Roger!" inside. The Ghoul forces Lucy to enter the clinic first. They find Roger, a nearly-feral ghoul, inside, and the Ghoul greets him as an old friend. Roger says that life has been rough since so many "smoothies" are bigoted against Ghouls but sees Lucy and notes that the Ghoul has seemingly befriended a smoothie. The Ghoul apologizes for not having any vials that can stop his friend from turning feral. Roger warns the two to leave "before things get ugly" and says it's been twenty-eight years since he started showing signs of going feral; the Ghoul himself has staved off the process for even longer by making steady money for vials. The Ghoul begins reminiscing about pre-ghoul life and the food they both enjoyed, getting Roger to think about happy thoughts. Turning to Lucy, Roger happily begins telling her about his mom before the Ghoul suddenly mercy kills him mid-sentence, horrifying Lucy.

Lucy questions the murder, and the Ghoul asks her name for the first time; he is surprised to learn her last name is "MacLean." Lucy is further revolted when the Ghoul begins eating Roger's corpse. She claims the people of Vault 33 have never resorted to cannibalism even during a "Great Plague of '77," during which her mother starved and her father "dropped to 128 pounds;" the Ghoul doubts her story. Lucy asks how he can go on living this way. He appears briefly shaken by the question, but dodges answering and demands her help cutting up Roger. She somberly complies.

Vault 33 - I
Woody's election poster
Woody's election poster

The residents of Vault 33 decide to elect a new overseer with Reg, Woody and Betty as the candidates. Woody tells Reg he tried interrogating an imprisoned raider to no effect. The same raider attempts to break free from his confines, and Woody decides to sedate him. Betty confronts Norm about his suggestion at the assembly, and Norm remembers hiding when the raiders attacked. Betty advises him to "tread lightly" as he wrestles with his anger, stating that as the last MacLean, his words carry more weight among the population than he realizes.

Santa Monica ruins
Near Santa Monica Boulevard, Lucy and the Ghoul stumble upon a trough of water that the former's Pip-Boy indicates is irradiated. Nonetheless, the Ghoul refills his flask from the trough, and a parched Lucy cannot stop herself from drinking, too. The Ghoul seems to take pleasure in watching Lucy be broken down by the realities of the wasteland. She asks, "What are you?" and he says, "I'm you, sweetie. You just give it a little time." He's overcome by a sudden coughing fit, and Lucy uses the opportunity to try to make a break for it. She is caught off guard by a crater in the middle of the city when the Ghoul uses a lasso to drag her back to him. In the ensuing struggle, Lucy bites off one of his fingers. He, in turn, cuts off one of hers with a knife and calls the interaction "the closest thing we've had to an honest exchange so far."


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Vault 33 - II
Chet and Steph kissing
Chet and Steph kissing

Back in Vault 33, Chet is visited by Steph in his suite, and they bond over their shared trauma. She gives him some clothes that belonged to her dead husband, Bert. Seeing Chet wear Bert's scarf and sweater, Steph starts crying and calling him "Bert." She starts kissing him, and they impulsively decide to have sex. Before they can, Steph's water breaks, and she goes into labor.

Super Duper Mart - I
The Ghoul takes Lucy to the Super Duper Mart seen across the crater near Santa Monica Boulevard. Using a squak box outside to communicate, the Ghoul sells Lucy to an unidentified male voice in exchange for two months' worth of chems. He forces her through the door before collapsing. Inside, Lucy is amiably greeted by Snip-Snip, a Mister Handy robot. Snip-Snip guides Lucy to a gurney where he laser attaches a new finger to her hand from a drawer of detached human fingers. Lucy begins to relax and admits that she feared she had just been sold as a sex slave. Snip-Snip is appalled at the idea and cheerfully explains that he merely plans on harvesting her organs. He shoots her with a tranquilizer, and she passes out on the gurney.

Vault 33 - III
Dervin, one of the raiders
Dervin, one of the raiders

Norm brings dessert to the prisoners. He judges a raider for killing the people of Vault 32, but the raider insinuates that they were already dead when they arrived. When Norm refers to the vault-dwellers as "innocent," the raider says that they were anything but. Suspicious, Norm tries to access the Vault 32 record from his computer but is denied. In Chet's suite, Steph is giving birth on his couch, assisted by doctors, when Norm invites him on an excursion. Chet and Norm sneak into Vault 32 to find their crop field, which has seemingly been dead for years. Investigating further, they find multiple Vault dwellers dead from either suicide or violent murders. The Pip-Boy on one corpse indicates that its wearer has been dead for two years. One resident, dead from sticking a fork in a toaster, sits in front of a looping television program about mice in an experiment who begin killing each other after their environment is overpopulated, suggesting that the Vault shared the same fate. Norm discovers the words "WE KNOW THE TRUTH" written on the wall in blood.

Super Duper Mart - II
Lucy dreams of her mother as she begins to come to. Snip-Snip wheels her past a refrigerator aisle of captive ghouls, their organs on sale for 500 bottle caps apiece. One female ghoul repeats, "My name is Martha," in a similar manner as Roger. The human captors, Huey and Squirrel, instruct the robot to cut Lucy up immediately. In a separate room, as Snip-Snip preps for the surgery, Lucy kicks Snip-Snip's buzz saw into her left restraint, which is cut but her Pip-Boy stops the buzz saw from going further, and then overloads the robot's circuits with a defibrillator. Lucy confronts Huey and Squirrel, threatening to destroy Snip-Snip; they are apathetic since he is a robot. Lucy reveals she loaded the robot's dart shooter with toxic drain cleaner and threatens to inject them with it; they set most of the ghouls free by her demands. Lucy orders them to free the remaining four ghouls, and they reluctantly do so. When they emerge, she realizes they are feral. Huey and Squirrel kill three of the ghouls and are killed themselves in the process. Martha alone remains and desperately repeats her name while going feral. Lucy tries to break through to her but is forced to shoot and kill Martha after she attacks.


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Vault 33 - IV
Chet and Norm find more dead Vault 32 dwellers. In the overseer's office, they find the dead overseer tied to his chair and the words "DEATH TO MANAGEMENT" graffitied on the wall. Norm accesses the overseer's computer to look up Vault door records. He discovers the door was opened from the outside with a Pip-Boy registered to his mother, Rose MacLean.

Super Duper Mart - III
Lucy leaves the facility clad in protective leather pads. She finds the Ghoul supine on the ground and deduces that he will soon go feral if he does not have access to vials. She firmly says that she will never be like him and gives him the supply of vials he needs. She says, "Golden rule, motherfucker." and departs. Later, the revitalized Ghoul enters the building and gorges himself on chems and vials left by the dead inhabitants. He sees a tape of The Man from Deadhorse on the TV and pops it in. He nostalgically watches his younger self kill the movie's villain as he sits on the couch in silence.

The Ghouls

LA underpass - I
Maximus, posing as Knight Titus, and Thaddeus celebrates their successful retrieval of the head of Siggi Wilzig. Thaddeus requests that Maximus brands him with Knight Titus' power armor to signify his squire-hood to him. Afterward, Maximus reveals his true identity to Thaddeus; this results in a scuffle where Maximus crushes Thaddeus's foot, and Thaddeus disables Maximus's power armor by taking its fusion core. Thaddeus then leaves Maximus stuck in the armor and flees with Wilzig's head. The next morning, Lucy, who just left the Ghoul at the Super Duper Mart, discovers Maximus and saves him from radroaches. When Lucy begins to feel faint as a result of radiation sickness from the irradiated water the Ghoul made her drink, Maximus convinces her to open the power armor and set him free in exchange for the RadAway on him. After setting Maximus free, Lucy collapses.

Vault 32
In Vault 32, Norm questions how the raider got hold of his mom's Pip-Boy that's necessary to open the Vault, Chet persuades him to return to 33 but Norm insists on checking the 32-31 inter-vault door. At the door, the two discover the corpses of the Vault 32 dwellers and the words "WE KNOW WHAT'S IN THERE" written in blood, Norm and Chet deduces that the dwellers must have been trying to open the door. Horrified by what they have seen, the two return to Vault 33.

LA underpass - II
Maximus uses an IV drip to administer RadAway to Lucy. When Lucy regains consciousness, she sees him covering up the power armor and preparing to follow Thaddeus's trail and re-retrieve Wilzig's head. Lucy makes a deal with Maximus to let him help her track down the head with her Pip-Boy tracker, and in return, Maximus promises to bring Brotherhood reinforcements to save Lucy's dad.

Vault 33 - I
Vault 33 overseer election
Vault 33 overseer election

Back in Vault 33, the overseer election is commencing. While in line to vote, Davey apologizes to Reg while insinuating that he plans to vote for Betty. Reg takes no offense and ends up voting for her himself. Betty later wins the election with a 98% majority. Norm analyses the Inter-Vault trade records and discovers that all of Vault 33's former overseers, including Betty and Hank, had been from Vault 31 as part of the trades. After the reveal of the election's result, Betty winning in a landslide, Norm meets up with Chet and discusses his suspicion, which Chet dismisses by saying that Vault 31 had a better education system, more resources, and a tradition of voting for Overseers from Vault 31 exists in Vault 33, plus a snappy rhyming slogan of "When things look glum, vote for 31!" Norm visits Steph's suite, where Chet has begun a relationship with her and helps care for her newborn, albeit without enthusiasm. Norm asks Steph, who is a former Vault 31 dweller, what was different between the two Vaults, she responds that Vault 31 had better mashed potatoes to which Norm replied that it was the same response Hank had said.


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Bridge & Shady Sands crater
Rink crossing the bridge
Rink crossing the bridge

Lucy and Maximus pursue Thaddeus and Wilzig's head. Along the way, the pair bond, with Lucy asking what has happened in the past 200 years after the bombs dropped, and Maximus replies that the bombs dropped when he was a child. Lucy also questioned the Brotherhood's motive, and of the general education on the surface. At a bridge crossing, the duo meets with Javin and Rink, another pair of traveling wastelanders. Lucy attempts to broker a peaceful crossing by making both pairs raise up their arms in a show of peace. After Javin notices Lucy's Pip-Boy, he and Rink shoot at Lucy and Maximus, wounding him in his left shoulder. Maximus quickly grabs Lucy's gun and downs the two travelers. Upon searching them, he declares that they are "fiends," another name for "people who eat people."

The traveling pair then arrives at Shady Sands, where Lucy is shocked to learn from a billboard that over 34,000 people had lived there after the war, and Maximus tells her of the existence of the New California Republic. Learning this, she questions the Vault's Reclamation Day and of the purpose of the Vault to which Maximus says that the NCR didn't succeed in their mission of rebuilding society. Maximus shows Lucy the crater that is the remnant of Shady Sands. When Lucy asks Maximus what happened, he replies that it is the same thing that always happens: "Everyone wants to save the world, they just disagree on how." Lucy then wonders if anyone had survived, and Maximus reveals that he is a survivor of the destruction.

Hawthorne Medical Laboratories
When Maximus abruptly clutches his gunshot wound with his right arm in pain, Lucy realizes that his wound might be worse than he lets on. She leads them in search of aid, leading them to the Research & Development building of the nearby Hawthorne Medical Laboratories. As they approach the building, Lucy nor Maximus notice that the sign for the facility notes that the facility is "a division of Vault-Tec," nor do they notice a Vault-Tec logo printed on the asphalt of a parking lot that's too small for a hospital. Lucy enters the building first, gun drawn. When Lucy doesn't emerge after a few minutes, Maximus enters, and finds himself in a dimly lit office full of pristine-looking desks and still-functioning terminals. The only light in the room is from a pulsating light in the ceiling that guides Maximus down the hall to a door helpfully labeled "Medical Supplies". But upon opening the door, he finds that the door on the other side is a painted wall. It's a trap, and before he can leave, the door he entered through locks behind him, gas from the ceiling incapacitates him, and he's dropped through a trapdoor.

Vault 33 - II
Norm in the cleaned up Vault 32
Norm in the cleaned up Vault 32

In Vault 33, Betty makes her first edict to transfer a number of the Vault's population to Vault 32 as a means of a resettling campaign. Betty leads the Vault 33 Residents on a tour through the refurbished Vault 32. Norm has flashbacks showing the stark contrast between the current condition and the dystopian conditions of 24 hours ago. Norm commends Betty on the clean-up and asks what happened to his mom's Pip-Boy after her death; Betty replies that it was buried with her and that she and Hank were the ones who buried her themselves.


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Vault 4
Elsewhere, Lucy and Maximus wake up in Vault 4.

The Past

Vault 4/Howard residence - Flashback I
Sometime before the Great War, Cooper Howard films a commercial for the Vault-Tec Corporation. In the commercial, he shows the camera inside Vault 4, a "veritable Camelot of the nuclear age" governed entirely by scientists. He introduces the Hawthorne family, headed by Lloyd and Cassandra, who are scientists studying radiation's effects on human DNA. Lloyd explains that their family and eighty others will participate in a five-year trial period living in Vault 4. Filming wraps and Cooper is introduced to Bud Askins, who runs Vault-Tec's Southern California division. He formerly worked at West Tek and helped design the T-45 power armor, which he admits had numerous design flaws. Cooper, who served in the United States Marine Corps, bluntly informs him those design flaws got many people killed. Bud changes the subject to business. He tells Cooper the ultimate weapon to crush competition is "time", and the future of humanity is dependent on one word: "Management." A displeased Cooper quickly leaves the conversation to join Barb. She tells him they will all be attending a wrap party; he is further disappointed to learn he and Barb will be hosting it at their home. Cooper muses about the things he's willing to do for his wife and kisses her.

At the party, Cooper is uncomfortable among the Vault-Tec employees present, including Bud Askins. Outside, he meets with his personal friend and fellow actor Sebastian Leslie, known for playing a butler named "Bartholomew Codsworth". Sebastian is the only one of Cooper's actor friends to attend the party, as the others have distanced themselves from "the pitchman for the end of the world." Cooper confides that he lost a movie role over the advertisements. Sebastian tells Cooper his friend Charlie Whiteknife has become associated with known communists. Sebastian acknowledges that Vault-Tec will soon run the world while badmouthing a group of guests who have come to the party wearing Pip-Boys. He also admits to having recently sold his vocal likeness to RobCo Industries to use for Mister Handy robots; in return, he was paid $186,000 (pre-tax) and given his own Mister Handy robot. Sebastian decries everything as a "product", including the apocalypse; nonetheless, he is at peace with that reality. The two uneasily toast to the future.

Super Duper Mart
In the present, the Ghoul wakes up on the Super Duper Mart floor following a drug trip. A group of men dressed as sheriffs enter the building, and one removes the fusion core from the malfunctioning Snip Snip. Sheriff Troy falsely assumes the Ghoul is responsible for destroying a legitimate business and killing the owners. The Ghoul does not defend himself but asks who says it is illegal; Troy says, "The Govermint," before knocking him out.

Vault 4 - I
In Vault 4, a doctor removes a human tooth from the site of Maximus's gunshot injury. While in quarantine, Lucy speaks to Birdie through the glass, thanking her for taking them in. Birdie reports having recovered Maximus's T-60 power armor and suggests they stay for a few days to recover. Birdie says that she and many other Vault 4 residents are refugees from Shady Sands. While Lucy and Maximus wait for their quarantine period to expire, the former suggests they have sex. Maximus appears to be unfamiliar with how sex works and suggests that it is against Brotherhood of Steel rules. The camera pans out to reveal they're in the "Test Subjects" room that Cooper walked past in his commercial.

Once out of quarantine, Lucy and Maximus eat in the atrium. Lucy is relieved to be among Vault Dwellers again, while Maximus is suspicious of their cult-like behavior, always smiling. Birdie introduces them to Overseer Benjamin, who they are alarmed to see has a single eye in the middle of his face. He brightly welcomes them to the Vault and outlines the rules, including that Level 12 is off-limits. Lucy suddenly notices that many of the other residents also display bizarre physical mutations.


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Howard residence/Bar - Flashback II
In the past, Cooper entertains the idea of him and his wife quitting their jobs and moving to a ranch; Barb laughs off the idea. Cooper is dismayed when she puts on a Pip-Boy around the house and again suggests she quit Vault-Tec. He points out that they have the money for a spot in a Vault even without her job, and she says the job assures them that they'll be placed in one of the "good" Vaults, confusing Cooper. Barb avoids explaining and simply asks him to trust her.

Cooper meets Charlie Whiteknife in a bar and voices his disgust at Charlie attending communist meetings after they both fought in the Sino-American War. Charlie claims that Vault-Tec is evil and points out that they sell Vaults to satisfy their investors; if peace is achieved, the Vaults will be obsolete. Charlie recalls a movie they both starred in where cattle ranchers own more property than the Sheriff, and "the whole town burns down." He compares Vault-Tec to the ranchers and the government to the Sheriff. Charlie gives Cooper the business card of a funeral home where his meetings are held and encourages him to come.

A few days later, Cooper receives a phone call at home from Barb's new assistant, Henry, and refuses the call. At dinner, Barb says that Janey is reading a book to their dog Roosevelt and reflects she will be saddened that pets are not allowed in the Vaults. Cooper becomes suspicious, and questions who is responsible for Vault-Tec's arbitrary rules. The couple argue; Cooper protests that he did not fight in Alaska to surrender his freedom to Vault-Tec, while Barb claims she does everything to protect their family. She specifies that they will be entering a special vault that oversees the others. Cooper apologizes to his wife, but his concerns are left unresolved.

Vault 4 - II
Presently, Lucy meets Overseer Benjamin in his office and learns that despite his mutated appearance, he was born in a Vault. He also shows a number of eccentricities, like thinking her name is "Goosey" and letting cups of coffee grow mold on his desk. He complains about the refugees in Vault 4 and is surprised when Lucy tells him Vault 33 never takes in people from the surface. Lucy asks about Level 12, and Benjamin suddenly snaps and orders her out of his office.

In the room containing the Vault's reactors, Maximus attempts to steal the fusion core for his armor when Birdie catches him. She assigns him to a suite and gives him a Pip-Boy of his own. In his suite, Maximus is wowed by the Vault's amenities and indulges in their luxuries.

Lucy enters the Vault 4 schoolroom. On a chalkboard, a timeline is drawn depicting Shady Sands' founding in 2142, the creation of the New California Republic in 2189, Shady Sands becoming the capital of the Republic in 2198, the NCR peaking in power in 2241, and finally "the fall of Shady Sands" in 2277 followed by an image of a nuclear explosion. The last date visibly intrigues Lucy, as she recalls that being the year her mother died. She also finds an NCR flag in the classroom, which resembles the old California state flag, but with a two-headed bear. The refugees head toward the atrium for a "Surface Dweller tradition" and invite Lucy to join.


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Govermint Headquarters
The Ghoul, taken captive by the self-proclaimed "Govermint," is escorted to a former BBQ Shack with the words "The Govermint" on a sign outside. Inside, he meets the "president," his former associate Sorrel Booker. At the Ghoul's request, the other men remove a bundle from his bag containing a needle, thread, and Lucy’s finger. The Ghoul gets to work sewing the finger onto his hand. Sorrel speculates that his old friend continues living to look for "her." The Ghoul changes the subject and brings up the topic of Lee Moldaver. Sorrel claims that he and his gang are trying to bring order to the wasteland and points out that the Super Duper Mart he was found in was under their protection. The Ghoul claims to be responsible for killing the owners and also brags about the shootout in Filly, where he killed "nine or ten" people. Troy says his father lives in Filly, and the Ghoul implies that he probably killed him. Troy points a gun at him before Sorrel deescalates the conflict and orders his men to take the Ghoul out back and "feed him to the hogs." The Ghoul overpowers and kills Sheriffs Troy and Rex, annoying Sorrel. He removes a "Wanted" poster of Moldaver from the wall and asks Sorrel why he has it. The Ghoul notes that Moldaver has changed since he knew her.

Hollywood Forever - Flashback III
In another flashback, Cooper drives to the scheduled meeting at the Hollywood Forever funeral home despite his discomfort with the group's politics. Charlie welcomes him to the meeting and acquaints Cooper with the main speaker who is revealed to be Moldaver, then known as Miss Williams, who introduces herself as a "big fan."

Vault 4 - III
In Vault 4's atrium, the surface refugees remove their Pip-Boys as the ritual begins. They light candles on a table in the center of the room and make hushing noises, confusing Lucy. She mimics their actions. However, when they begin strip half-naked, she does not continue. They begin chanting about a "Flame Mother," and smear the ashes of Shady Sands on their skin. A portrait of Moldaver, the Flame Mother, is unveiled before the group, and they bow down to her.

Lucy and Maximus have reversed their opinions on the Vault; Maximus wants to stay, while Lucy is suspicious. With the intent on proving her position, she takes an elevator to the forbidden Level 12, which houses a laboratory. She sees jars of organic material and a video of a human woman giving birth to a spawn of gulpers which immediately consume their mother. Venturing further, she finds several cryo pods containing pregnant women. The lights illuminate, causing Lucy to hide from the doctor who treated Maximus. While she hides, the doctor hears her, activates an alarm, and retrieves a spear gun from a glass cabinet. Just as he catches her, and she throws a beaker of acid in his face. Several residents flow in and restrain Lucy as she yells that they're all crazy; Birdie responds that she'd likely say the same thing if she went into Lucy's home.

Meanwhile, Maximus happily enjoys a bowl of popcorn while watching a video of a waterfall.

The Trap

Adam's farm
Adam and his son Tommy work as lead farmers, wearing a helmet and overcoat similar to that of the NCR Ranger combat armor. After a long day of work, they return home, and Adam goes into his house calling for his daughter Sandra. He is horrified to find the Ghoul sitting at his dinner table eating a strange meat. To his relief, Sandra appears to bring the Ghoul a drink. The Ghoul laughs as he realizes Adam thought he was eating Sandra. Adam orders Sandra to step outside while the Ghoul asks for information. He brings out a letter saying Adam has three children, but he only sees two; Adam admits that his older son Roofus left to join Lee Moldaver's forces two years earlier. The Ghoul identifies the other boy as Tommy and reveals that Roofus had also recruited his brother, which Tommy had kept secret from his father. The letter indicates that Roofus sent Tommy money to pay a courier to transport Wilzig out of Filly to Moldaver. The letter was damaged when the Ghoul killed Roofus and now omits Moldaver's location. Adam demands that his son give up the location for the safety of their family; he reluctantly tells the Ghoul that Moldaver is in the ruins of the Griffith Observatory. As he prepares to leave, the Ghouls asks Tommy if he plans on taking revenge on him as he leaves, or perhaps hunting him down later. Tommy reaches for his gun first, but the Ghoul outdraws and kills him. He leaves the grieving Adam and Sandra behind and downs a vial of anti-feral chems.

Hollywood Forever - Flashback I
Back before the Great War, Moldaver, then going by "Miss Williams," commences a meeting in the Hollywood Forever funeral home. She claims that the people in power are the real enemy, and Cooper, scoffing, starts to walk out. She stops him and suggests he has sold out to Vault-Tec; he volleys the same criticism at her and her ideology. She claims she knows his wife and a side of her he doesn't. After the meeting, Moldaver privately meets with Cooper to tell him that her research division, which is working towards developing unlimited energy via cold fusion, was acquired by Barb's division. Since then, Vault-Tec has done nothing to further the project despite the fact that it could end the Sino-American War. Moldaver asks Cooper for his help getting the project back and gives him a listening device. He is repulsed by the idea of spying on his own wife, but she insists he keep it. Moldaver claims that she does not sincerely hold communist sentiments, but has been labeled as a communist for not buying into propaganda.

Vault 4 - I
Maximus eating popcorn before seeing Lucy
Maximus eating popcorn before seeing Lucy

In the present, Birdie and Overseer Benjamin admonish Lucy, who is handcuffed to a desk, for trespassing on Level 12 and injuring a fellow Vault dweller. They play a holotape showing Vault 4's origins: Given unlimited control of the Vault, Lloyd and Cassandra Hawthorne and their subordinates experimented on hybridizing human test subjects (refugees from the surface tricked inside by promises of sanctuary) with radiation-resistant species. The test subjects eventually fought back against the scientists. In the tape, a gulper breaks through Lloyd and Cassandra's barricade and eats them; they nonetheless assert that their research still has merit moments before their demise. The laboratory is now used to treat patients still suffering from the original experiments (explaining the pregnant women seen lying in cryo-chambers in Level 12). Benjamin and Birdie ask Lucy what the experiment in Vault 33 was; she insists that there was none. Despite her apology, Birdie tells her that she still must be punished for bringing violence into their community. They place a bag over her head and drag her outside. Maximus sees Lucy being dragged past his suite and resolves to help her.


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Red Rocket service station - I
As CX404 pursues him, Thaddeus arrives at an abandoned Red Rocket gas station and rests to look over his mangled foot, complete with protruding bones. He locks the dog in a Nuka-Cola dispenser to prevent her from following him, still making sure she can breathe, and leaves to search for a radio station.

Vault 4 - II
The fight in Vault 4
The fight in Vault 4

Lucy is dragged before the chanting Vault 4 residents in the atrium with her wrists tied to a post while Benjamin pulls out a scimitar and sentences her to her death ... by means of exile to the surface, cutting the rope around Lucy's wrists while the crowd cheers. She is additionally gifted two weeks of supplies to give her a fighting chance for survival. Lucy asks Maximus to be allowed to stay. At the same time, Maximus steals the Vault's fusion core in order to power his T-60 power armor and briefly causes a blackout. The backup generator kicks in as Maximus suits up. In the atrium, he begins attacking the residents before Lucy explains that they're letting her go.

They return to the surface, and Lucy entreats Maximus to return the fusion core, as without it, the Vault will only last a few days on backup power. He is resistant to the idea, but ultimately agrees, and they drop it down the chute they came through. Maximus confesses his real name to Lucy and that he acquired the armor by allowing the real Knight Titus to die through inaction. She forgives him, admitting to her own crimes and invites him to live in Vault 33 after they rescue her father. He agrees.

Wasteland
Thaddeus continues trekking through the desert as his injury worsens. He follows a signal from DJ Carl, a wasteland disc jockey who exclusively broadcasts pre-War fiddle music. In the midst of a suicide attempt, the snake oil salesman sees him and runs after him, offering to treat his wound. At the salesman's "pharmacy," Thaddeus contemplates killing him and taking all of his drugs, but the salesman points out that he wouldn't know the difference between helpful and harmful drugs. Thaddeus agrees to exchange Maximus's fusion core for the treatment. The salesman gives him a serum that tastes foul, but, against all odds, fully heals his deformed foot in a matter of seconds. He provides directions to a radio station near Shady Sands. Thaddeus is hesitant as the town is "radioactive as hell," but the salesman claims he won't have to worry about radiation poisoning anymore and leaves in a hurry.


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Vault 33 - I
New assignments
New assignments

Norm continues serving food to the imprisoned raiders. One day, the raiders all die from an apparent poisoning, and Veronica is blamed. Overseer Betty sends out the new Vault assignments; Norm and Reg are to stay in Vault 33 while Woody, Davey, Chet, Steph, and her baby are among those re-assigned to Vault 32. Norm visits Chet, wanting to continue investigating the conspiracy, but the latter has lost interest and is more eager to start a life with his new family. Norm calls Chet a coward. Chet responds, "We all are, Norm. That's why we live in a Vault."

Red Rocket service station - II / Howard Residence - Flashback II
The Ghoul tracks the head to the Red Rocket station and hears CX404 whining inside the Nuka-Cola dispenser. He frees the dog and begrudgingly adopts her.

Cooper wrestles with his thoughts
Cooper wrestles with his thoughts

Back before the Great War, Cooper wrestles with the idea of bugging Barb's Pip-Boy. He pairs the listening device before Barb enters the room and puts on the Pip-Boy. Cooper briefly eavesdrops on Barb having a pleasant conversation with their daughter before throwing the device in the garbage out of guilt. That night, he watches his Vault-Tec commercial on TV and goes rifling through the trash to recover the device. He affectionately scratches his dog Roosevelt as he recalls the Vaults' ban on pets.

In the present, CX404, now renamed "Dogmeat", cozies up to the Ghoul by a campfire. Her new master sadly remarks, "You ain't him."

KPSS Radio Station
Meanwhile, Thaddeus reached the KPSS radio station and used DJ Carl's radio to call for assistance from the Brotherhood of Steel. Thaddeus feigns appreciation for Carl's music while noting the booby traps scattered around the area, used by Carl to kill people who come to the station to complain about his music choices. When Lucy and Maximus arrive on the scene, Thaddeus shoots at them, unloading his entire ammunition supply, but his shots hit nothing. Lucy attempts to negotiate for the head, but Thaddeus steps backward into one of the traps, causing a crossbow to fire an arrow through his neck. Surprising everyone, he does not die. He pulls the arrow out, and the holes in his neck heal up. Maximus posits that Thaddeus is becoming a ghoul, a side-effect of the healing serum that the salesman neglected to mention. Three vertibirds approach the location, and Thaddeus realizes that the Brotherhood will kill him if his condition is discovered. Lucy is confused as she believes the Brotherhood are "the good guys." Thaddeus and Maximus quickly summarize that it's a complicated group. Maximus takes the head and allows Thaddeus to run away. Maximus then disfigures the severed head of one of DJ Carl's critics. He instructs Lucy to take the real head while he uses the other one as a decoy for the Brotherhood. They kiss, and Lucy promises to wait for him in Vault 33 as she leaves.


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Vault 33 - II
New Vault 32 dwellers
New Vault 32 dwellers

A going-away ceremony is held for the new transfers to Vault 32. Woody panics about leaving and tries to bail, but the Vault 33 guards intimidate him into going through with the move. Betty names Steph as acting overseer of Vault 32, and the transfers officially move out. Chet experiences a moment of regret when he sees his cousin as the inter-Vault door closes. While Betty is distracted, Norm uses her computer to communicate with the overseer of Vault 31. He reports that the "mission" is failing, and the other overseer instructs "Betty" to return to Vault 31 immediately. After a short wait, the inter-Vault door opens and he enters. Inside, Vault 31 is apparently deserted. Norm follows a mechanical whirring sound and is stunned by what he sees.

The Radio

Filly
Having been rediscovered by the Brotherhood of Steel at the KPSS radio station, Maximus is flown under heavy guard to Filly, which has now fallen under occupation by the Brotherhood. He is presented before Elder Cleric Quintus, who quickly discovers that the head Maximus brought back does not contain the artifact. Maximus is promptly sentenced to death. He is spared after Dane pleads for his life, admitting that they injured themselves (as seen in "The End"). Maximus agrees to lead the Brotherhood to the artifact.

In private, Quintus confides in Maximus about his own displeasure towards the Brotherhood, believing the organization to have lost its way (with the details of Titus' death only reinforcing this). He sees the artifact as an opportunity to reshape the Brotherhood in his own vision and invites Maximus to personally join him at his side.

Griffith Observatory - I
Hank in a cage
Hank in a cage

Meanwhile, Lucy reaches the Griffith Observatory with Wilzig's real head, and is escorted to Moldaver by her elite guards. Along the way, she finds the observatory courtyard to be filled with NCR civilians and notices one of the ghouls that she freed from the Super Duper Mart among them. In Moldaver's control room, Hank is imprisoned in a birdcage as Moldaver awaits Lucy at a dinner table alongside a female feral ghoul. Having finally received the head, Moldaver uses a tool to extract the artifact from it. Lucy demands that her father be released. Moldaver instead reveals the truth about her father's past; Hank is not really someone who grew up in a vault. He's one of numerous pre-War Vault-Tec junior executives that have been cryogenically frozen in Vault 31, each one periodically unfrozen to oversee and indoctrinate Vault 32 and Vault 33 in a bid to preserve Vault-Tec's authority and eventually recolonize the surface by force.

Vault 31
Simultaneously, Norm ventures deeper into Vault 31 and discovers it is controlled by Bud Askins, who is now little more than a "brain-in-a-Roomba." Ignoring Bud's attempts to stop him, Norm discovers the cryonically frozen Vault-Tec executives. Among the pods are Hank's and Betty's, having already been opened. He also finds a list of Vault 31's residents on a nearby monitor, including many other names, including Steph.


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Vault-Tec headquarters - Flashback
Elsewhere, the Ghoul continues toward the observatory. Meanwhile, in flashback, Cooper drives Barb to the Vault-Tec headquarters, having bugged her Pip-Boy with the audio transmitter he received from Moldaver earlier. They meet Bud outside, and Cooper momentarily panics when Barb complains to him about her Pip-Boy acting up as a result of the bug, but Bud convinces her that they can have it looked into later, and Cooper makes a thinly veiled excuse to head out to further distract her. Cooper's mention of Janey leads Bud to take a brief moment to tell him about his managerial program, which he calls "Bud's Buds," before heading inside with Barb. Cooper prepares to drive off, but realizes he'll have to stick around when he finds that the transmitter has a limit on how far it'll broadcast from.

Cooper is brought to Barb's office by Betty Pearson, Barb's secretary, who makes small talk with Cooper and mentions that Barb's new assistant Henry is a big fan of Cooper's movies. She offers to bring Henry down and introduce the two of them, which Cooper accepts. After Betty leaves, Cooper sits down in a chair, puts the earpiece into his ear and listens.

In a dimly lit room, Barb and Bud are chairing a roundtable summit of several corporate leaders, including RobCo Industries CEO Robert House, West Tek researcher Leon Von Felden, business magnate and casino owner Frederick Sinclair representing Big MT, and REPCONN Aerospace CFO Julia Masters, in discussion of potential collaboration with Vault-Tec. The meeting descends into bickering over Vault-Tec's methods. Barb, on directions from a shadowy man observing the meeting from the alcove, mediates by proposing that of the more than 100 vaults across the country, each corporation be given its own vaults for experimentation. When House asks how Vault-Tec plans to guarantee a return on their investment, Barb explains that they'll do so by staging a nuclear conflict themselves. Cooper is horrified by this revelation, and is on the verge of having a panic attack when Betty returns to the office with Barb's new assistant...who we see is a young Hank MacLean. Hank is a big fan of Cooper's scene from The Man From Deadhorse where he shoots Joey Toro dead, and asks him for an autograph.

Griffith Observatory - II
In the present, Moldaver reveals to Lucy that she had worked closely with Lucy's mother, Rose. Rose escaped Vault 33 with Norm and Lucy after growing suspicious of Hank's past and believing that civilization could rebuild itself on the surface, especially after having discovered evidence of Vault 33's water supply being siphoned from somewhere on the surface, suggesting the surface had been inhabited, contrary to Hank's claims. The MacLeans discovered Shady Sands, where Rose raised her children before Hank caught her, took Lucy and Norm back, and destroyed Shady Sands using a nuclear warhead. Rose survived, becoming the feral ghoul currently sitting at the table, while Moldaver has continued her research on cold fusion and became fixated on the artifact. With Wilzig's artifact now in her possession, she only needs the proprietary authorization codes from a Vault-Tec executive. No longer able to hold back her tears, Lucy begs her father to cooperate and give Moldaver the codes, to which Hank hesitantly obliges. Moldaver uses the now-unlocked artifact to begin priming a makeshift cold fusion reactor.

In Filly, the Brotherhood prepares to move on the observatory. As they're gearing up, Dane apologizes to Maximus, who wishes to live alongside Lucy in Vault 33 once the artifact is found, although Dane doesn't find his dream feasible. The Brotherhood mounts an all-out aerial offensive against the observatory, overwhelming the NCR defenders and moving towards the observatory building despite taking some casualties. Maximus and Dane part ways, with Maximus' squad (including Petty Officer Shortsight) heading into the observatory.

Maximus' squad doesn't make too far into the building before they're ambushed by the Ghoul, who has infiltrated through a hidden back entrance. He overwhelms them by exploiting structural weak points in the armor that have been present since he served in the Marines, as well as killing the lights to disorient the team. Shortsight's entire team is killed save for Maximus, who narrowly escapes. Maximus makes it to the control room, and shoots the lock off of Hank's cage to let him out. Lucy is too shell shocked by the revelations about her father, and by the time she's able to warn Maximus, it's too late. Hank uses this brief window of opportunity to fit himself into a suit of power armor stolen from a Brotherhood soldier whose head had been blown up by the Ghoul with a grenade. As Hank advances on Lucy and prepares to grab her, Maximus steps in between them and tries to pull his gun on him, only for Hank to punch him in the face, knocking him unconscious. Lucy runs to his side, but he is unresponsive.

Lucy aims at Hank
Lucy aims at Hank

Enraged, Lucy grabs Maximus' gun and points it at her dad's head as he tries to talk her down. As she's on the verge of pulling the trigger, a shot rings out... as the Ghoul emerges from the shadows and fires a bullet that cuts a deep gash across Hank's left cheek. Seething with rage, the Ghoul advances on Hank, waxing nostalgic about meeting the man whose most notable work pre-War involved picking up Barb's dry-cleaning. He points a gun at Hank and demands to know where Barb and Janey are. Rather than answer the Ghoul, Hank immediately turns around and jets off into the evening sky.

The Ghoul reflects that "war never changes" and tells Lucy someone is always controlling the wasteland despite the apparent chaos, and that person is likely who Hank is on his way to (and he's letting Hank go for now because that'll make it easier to find him). Noticing the Brotherhood's reinforcements in the distance, the Ghoul offers Lucy a choice: she can stay with the fallen Maximus and be killed by the Brotherhood when their reinforcements arrive, or travel with him to "meet [her] makers." Lucy makes the decision that her dad needs to be brought to justice for his crimes, and elects to leave with the Ghoul, leaving Maximus behind. Before she does so, she picks up Maximus' gun and shoots her mom in the head, putting her out of her misery.

Sometime after Lucy's departure, Maximus regains consciousness. A mortally wounded Moldaver returns and activates the reactor, returning power back to the ruins of Los Angeles. Moldaver asks Maximus to think about what the Brotherhood will do with such power, if he can even stop them, before succumbing to her wounds. Dane enters shortly after, believing Maximus to have killed her. Maximus feebly denies it, yet Dane raises his fist into the air and proclaims him a knight to a cheering crowd of Brotherhood soldiers.

The Ghoul reunites with Dogmeat outside the mausoleum, with the Hollywood Sign visible in the distance. Lucy emerges from the building soon after, now carrying several more guns, and the trio set off on foot in pursuit of Hank.


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New Vegas
As the sun rises on the Mojave Wasteland, Hank passes the skeletal remains of a deathclaw and stops on the summit of a mountain overlooking the city of New Vegas.

The Beginning

Fallout

Hank MacLean orchestrated Shady Sands' destruction using a neural-implanted caravan driver and waited in Vault 33 for detonation confirmation.

Hank's Pip-Boy Detonation Confirmation

Neural Implant in Driver's Neck

Hank's Current Mouse Experiments

Bomb's Anti-Disarm Failsafe

Driver's Looping Behavioral Phrase

Modified Hidden Bomb in Cart

Maximus Orphaned by the Blast

Hank MacLean ordered the 2283 destruction of Shady Sands, deploying a neural-implanted caravan driver carrying a modified nuclear device and confirming the detonation from Vault 33 before calmly returning to his children. The implant technology he is currently refining in 2296 is not a new project but a continuation of the same program that bombed Shady Sands, meaning Hank has been running coordinated population-control operations across decades. If his escape route to New Vegas was a planned contingency rather than improvisation, then the institution authorizing those operations is still intact, still receiving him, and the program did not end with Shady Sands.

Hank MacLean Deliberately Bombed Shady Sands

Quintus is secretly consolidating western Brotherhood chapters and Area 51's arsenal to challenge Commonwealth authority from within.

Dane's Chain of Command Warning

Quintus's Unsanctioned Arsenal Seizure

Control Panel as Brotherhood Home Key

Quintus's Paternal Claim on Maximus

Dane Watching Grimly at Celebration

Quintus's Scattered Chapters Speech

Elder Quintus is staging a western Brotherhood coup by seizing Area 51 and its arsenal without Commonwealth authorization, using unification rhetoric as cover for a power grab that will force a factional split rather than prevent one. The coup's architecture depends on information asymmetry: Dane knows the chain of command was violated but cannot reach Maximus, and Maximus has been conscripted as Quintus's personal instrument without knowing what the instrument is for. When the Commonwealth learns what Quintus has acquired, they will learn it as a threat, and Maximus will be standing at its center.

Quintus Is Staging a Brotherhood Coup

Quintus calls Maximus son because he knows a fatherless child will obey the man who fills that void.

Quintus Addresses Maximus as Son

Quintus Also Calls Maximus His Sword

Cold Open Death of Joseph Establishes the Wound

Dane Watches Quintus and Maximus Grimly

Quintus Mirrors Joseph's Language

Maximus Responds Only to Quintus's Approval

Quintus Frames Brotherhood as Maximus's Home

Quintus's use of 'son' is a targeted exploitation of a wound the episode spent its cold open establishing: Maximus lost his father to the Shady Sands blast as a child and has been organizing his loyalty around the absence ever since. Quintus has read that vacancy with precision and filled it using Joseph's own language, hollowed of Joseph's values, to produce a soldier who experiences obedience as love. The Brotherhood did not give Maximus a family. It gave him a replacement father engineered to make him incapable of recognizing when he is being used.

Quintus Calls Maximus Son to Own Him

Maximus's Brotherhood loyalty masks a deeper wound: he chose institutional belonging over the father he lost to Shady Sands.

Father's Dying Words About Goodness

Quintus Calls Maximus 'My Son'

Maximus's Cold Demeanor After Praise

Dane's Observation on the Lie

Loyalty Framed as Settling

Dane Watching Grimly From Quintus's Side

Maximus's alignment with the Brotherhood is not ideological conviction but a child's unresolved grief that the institution has quietly weaponized. Quintus calling him 'my son' is not a gesture of mentorship but a precise occupation of the paternal vacancy his father's death created, which means Maximus cannot interrogate the Brotherhood's ethics without threatening the only family structure he has left. His loyalty is not to the institution's mission but to the psychological function that institution performs.

Maximus Is Loyal to a Lie

Quintus builds a shadow faction within the Brotherhood, using Area 51 and the Knights of San Fernando to consolidate power beyond Commonwealth oversight.

Quintus Justifies Excluding Commonwealth

Dane Reads the Broken Chain

Dane's Grim Vigil on the Flight Deck

Quintus Names the Arsenal the Prize

Select Chapters Summoned in Secret

Quintus is using the Knights of San Fernando to seize Area 51's arsenal before the Commonwealth Brotherhood can learn it exists, building an irreversible factional power base by exploiting the chain of command he is simultaneously destroying. The chain of command he bypassed is not bureaucratic protocol but the only mechanism by which his authority could be checked or contested. Maximus is not his subordinate in this plan but his cover, recruited for his belief in the Brotherhood's mission precisely so that belief can be spent destroying the institution's capacity to hold anyone accountable.

Quintus Is Breaking the Brotherhood From Within

Vault-Tec detonated Shady Sands to eliminate a water rival, using black box mind control to execute the bombing and secure post-war resource monopoly.

Underground Clean Water Discovery

Black Box Implant in Driver's Neck

Driver's Programmed Trance State

Hank Confirms Detonation Without Surprise

S1 Mind-Control Tech Parallel

Modified Nuclear Device on Cart

Vault-Tec ordered the destruction of Shady Sands not despite the city's success but because an unlimited underground clean water reservoir made it structurally incompatible with Vault-Tec's post-war control model, which depended on manufactured scarcity. A mind-controlled caravan driver carrying a purpose-built, tamper-proof nuclear device was the operational method, connecting the bombing directly to behavioral control technology previously linked to Mr. House. Hank MacLean's calm, unsurprised confirmation of the detonation from Vault 33 places institutional foreknowledge inside the MacLean family itself.

Vault-Tec Bombed Shady Sands to Bury Its Water

Lucy's compassion cracks the Ghoul's hardened exterior, revealing his cruelty as performance masking grief rather than true transformation.

Family Mention Breaks Through Armor

Ghoul Admits He Was Like Lucy

Follows Lucy Into Obvious Trap

Lucy Returns to Prove Kindness Right

Stimpak Decision Exposes Moral Contrast

Danger Validates Ghoul's Warnings

The Ghoul's cruelty is a performance constructed to avoid mourning the man he was before the war, and Lucy's compassion is effective not because it appeals to his decency but because it keeps reactivating the internal benchmark he cannot stop using against himself. His emotional reaction to her mention of his family and his decision to follow her into an obvious trap both point to the same conclusion: Cooper Howard is not gone, he is being held at a distance by someone who needs to believe the distance is permanent. If Lucy is the person who collapses that distance, the show's argument about what the wasteland costs a person requires an answer about whether that cost was ever actually paid.

Lucy's Compassion Is Reopening the Ghoul

Quintus exploits Maximus's grief to rewire his moral code, positioning himself as the father who will finally shape him into a weapon.

Flashback Father's Moral Contrast

Dane's Grimace on the Flight Deck

Brutal Combat Without Visible Remorse

Quintus Frames Mission as Moral Purpose

Quintus has made a deliberate choice to position himself as Maximus's surrogate father at the exact moment grief made that substitution possible, with the specific goal of overwriting the moral inheritance Joseph MacLean left behind. The show has not confirmed that Quintus is operating strategically rather than genuinely, but the evidence points toward calculation: he calls Maximus 'my son' at the precise moment a new ideology needs to take root, then supplies that ideology's language himself. Dane's grimace is the tell. She can see what Maximus cannot.

Quintus Is Forging Maximus Into a Weapon

The woman in the red X tunic serves Caesar's Legion, and her presence west of the Colorado signals either territorial expansion or internal fracture.

Ghoul's Directional Recognition Line

Ghoul Refuses to Help Her

Woman Uses Legion Vocabulary

Red X as Faction Insignia

Eastern Faction in Western Territory

The wounded woman in the red X tunic is a Caesar's Legion affiliate, and her presence far west of the Colorado is not an accident the show leaves unexplained. The Ghoul's reaction, sized for a known threat rather than a stray, points toward either Legion expansion into the Mojave or a fracture in Legion territory that has sent its people scrambling westward. Either answer changes the map of Season 2.

The Red X Marks a Legion Scout

Quintus has psychologically dismantled and reconstructed Maximus between seasons, producing not a soldier but a vessel without self-directed will.

Quintus Calls Maximus His Son

Maximus's Flat Affect After Victory

Unquestioned Handoff of the Panel

Transformation Occurred Off-Screen

Quintus Frames Brotherhood as Family

Shady Sands Flashback as Wound Map

Quintus has psychologically dismantled and reconstructed Maximus between seasons, producing not a soldier but a vessel without self-directed will. The specific mechanism is the replacement of Maximus's inherited moral framework with Brotherhood obedience, using the paternal vacancy Joseph MacLean's death created as the entry point. If that substitution is complete, the question is not whether Maximus will choose the Brotherhood over his values but whether enough of his original architecture survives to register a choice at all.

Quintus Rebuilt Maximus as His Instrument

The Ghoul's regeneration fails when toxins enter through consumption, making poisoned flesh his only viable kill method.

Ghoul Eats Then Vomits Flesh

Poisoned Wound Discovered Afterward

Radscorpion Sting Survived Same Scene

Ghoul's Framing as Near-Invulnerable

Flesh Consumption as Character Signal

The Ghoul can survive a radscorpion sting but cannot retain a toxin he eats, which means his regeneration is route-specific and his most accessible vulnerability runs through his own appetites. The show has not named this as a structural weakness, but the episode builds the logic precisely enough that it functions as one. Anyone who understands his habits and has a poisoned corpse has already bypassed everything that makes him difficult to kill.