Colonel Autumn: Glitch or part of the story?

[GeneralAlvarez]

After playing fallout 3 for the quintillionth time I managed to find myself yet again at the stories supposed ending where you face off in the most disturbingly disapointing fight with Colonel Autumn. You'd think you'd have a much more dramatic encounter with the guy after what he did to your father and all the crap he put you through. I mean, your dad quite literally sacrifices himself to kill the... Hey wait a minute. Shouldn't Colonel Autumn be DEAD!? There can't be that many guys with the same coat, haircut, voice actor and personality in Fallout 3 (well there is, but not in the story quest). I noticed this when I first played the game when I was captured by the guy and noticed he was still alive. I thought it was part of the plot line, but no! It wasn't! I played through both the regular story and the broken steel DLC and they never explain how Autumn survived. Is it possible that Bethesda (and or Obsidian) made a huge mistake? Or are they saving this up for Fallout 4?

So, is it a glitch or is it part of the story?

 

[Protocol95]

They never outright explain it but when

Spoiler

your dad is sacrificing himself, it looks like Autumn injects himself with something. It is possible that this kept him alive. It may just be part of him 'dying' but that's what it looks like.

 

[Bek359]

It's theorized that he injected himself with an experimental form of Rad-X or something. This is the Enclave, after all. Their tech is much better than anything anyone else has. Still would have been nice to have that addressed in dialogue.

 

[EllEzDee]

Google Augustus Autumn. There's a perfect screenshot on the vault wiki of what he did to supposedly saved his life.