Heist of the Centuries

 is a quest in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money.

Detailed walkthrough
To begin the quest, the speaker next to the elevator in Vera Keyes' suite must hear the password in Vera's voice. The Courier must navigate a maze of ducts and catwalks filled with security holograms, toxic clouds and speakers. In some situations, the Courier may have to trigger hologram monitors to clear a path.

Enter the duct maze by using Vault Maintenance Access Terminal to open the maintenance access. There's a speaker nearby. Entering the first chamber, the speaker is immediately in front of you. Halfway down the chamber you enter the range of another speaker.

In the next room is another unshielded speaker visible to the north, and another can be seen above a lit door frame.

The next room adds security holograms to the gauntlet. On a lower catwalk is the Vault Turret Terminal Password. The Hologram Control Panel is in the southeast corner.

Activate the Vault Security Terminal to study the "Vault Security Protocols Information", read the "Maintenance Staff Warning" and "Disengage Vault Security Protocols". This shuts down the last set of force fields and speakers, clearing the path to the vault.

Immediately before entering the vault is a toolbox; next to it is a holotape containing a venomous message to Vera Keyes, and a skeleton lies on a pipe beneath it - Sinclair's. A bag is next to it, containing a copy of Nikola Tesla and You.

Inside the vault itself is a assortment of weapons, armor, stealth boys, chems, money, chips... and the fabled Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 37 Gold Bars worth 10539 caps each, for a total of 389943 caps and the single greatest collection of wealth in the Mojave Wasteland - each of which weighs 35 pounds, for a total of 1295 pounds.

However, the vault door seals within seconds of entrance. Lift the lockdown using the left security terminal, then use the monitor in the back to look up the word 'Vera'. This reveals that Sinclair in fact designed the Sierra Madre Vault not to protect valuables, but a small number of people as per a Vault-Tec Vault through the Great War: namely himself and Vera Keyes. Knowing that Vera had begun an affair with Dean Domino did not change these plans, nor did Domino's plans to rob the Sierra Madre. Hardware failures meant that the Vault could not be opened from the inside once it was sealed, meaning those inside had no choice but to wait for rescue once sealed in. Sinclar left a warning for Vera, and a trap for Domino: a file marked "personal accounts", the reading of which activates a system which permanently seals the vault.


 * Premature Ending
 * If the player chooses to access Sinclair's personal accounts, the game will end in with a slideshow cutscene, stating how the courier was trapped in the casino vault, eventually dying inside. The game will then load the autosave created before accessing the terminal inside the vault.

After the Courier reads the Vera entries, Elijah will make contact. Skills of 75+ in Science, Repair, Sneak, Explosives, Barter or Lockpick can be used to persuade Elijah to enter the vault to confront the Courier personally. He will bypass the duct maze by deactivating a forcefield and walking directly to the vault door, where, if not confronted and killed by the Courier, he will trigger the trap Sinclair meant for Domino and seal himself inside.

Hacking the security terminal in the vault will cause the Turrets outside to turn on Elijah and if they kill him, the player will not receive the Cash out achievement/trophy. Destroying the turret generator next to the terminal will disable the security turrets and cause Elijah to become hostile when he gets to the vault door.

If not killed quickly, Elijah will reactivate the forcefield and activate the Courier's collar, leaving him with only minutes to traverse the duct maze and escape up the elevator shaft before he is killed. If the Courier chooses to engage Elijah in direct combat, Elijah will activate the forcefield as soon as he notices the Courier, and Elijah's death will activate the Courier's collar.

Elijah is immune to damage until he reactivates the forcefield blocking access to the elevator, and becomes instantly aware if the Courier steps onto the stairs below the forcefield, even if the Courier is using a Stealth Boy. Elijah can pass through the forcefield even if it is active, after which he will activate the Courier's collar.

You can sneak past Elijah and seal him in the vault, and then arrive at the back side of the maintenance door, which will be temporarily locked. When Elijah arrives at the vault door, after some grumbling, he will activate security, opening the door, and the player can simply walk out and leave Elijah to his fate.

However the Courier handles Elijah causes the explosive collar to activate, which will detonate within a minute if the Courier does not board the elevator to the surface within that time.

Reaching the elevator causes the Courier to appear at the fountain in the Villa. The Courier can then revisit any location in the Sierra Madre. Once the Courier exits the front gates of the villa, a slide show plays detailing the fates of his three fellow captives, the end of which shows the Courier deposited at the Abandoned BoS Bunker, and unable to return to the Sierra Madre. Your original equipment will be returned as you walk up the stairs to leave the Abandoned BoS Bunker.

Bugs

 * A bug has been reported preventing the player from leaving after finishing the quest.


 * Bug will act as if maintenance door is still locked and closed, even if opened (Invisible Wall), effectively trapping the player until their collar blows up.


 * It is possible to make use of the third-person glitch, that lets you activate or interact with things on the other side of walls, to drop all 37 gold bars near the force field Father Elijah uses, run around the long way, and pick them all up as one, from the other side. It all has to do with looking at it at the precise angle while crouched. Think of it as some sort of defect in the force field design.


 * If you have any gas cans you can make a trap along the room by putting a ton of them on the walk way. After doing that pick up all the gold bars and go to the force field, Father Elijah will not come out until three of the turrets have been destroyed, attack the turret and keep pushing to the right side of the force field. When he run though it you should fall on the ground behind the force field. However the maintenance door will not open until Father Elijah is dead, the gas tanks should take care of that, If not reload you save. Once Father Elijah is Taken care, you will know if the door along the hallway to the maintenance door will close, you can walk out and leave.


 * If you save near the toolbox outside of the Vault doors and die you will respawn and immediately go into a death loop. Your character will appear to die from falling damage despite respawning on the gantry. To break this cycle, it is necessary to exit the game completely, restart, and reload.