Departing from vault after being exposed (8)
I believe the answer is:
outbound
'departing' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'vault after being exposed' is the wordplay.
'vault' becomes 'bound' (I've seen this before).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'being exposed' becomes 'out' (out on display).
'bound' after 'out' is 'OUTBOUND'.
'from' is the link.
(Other definitions for outbound that I've seen before include "Being in the process of departing" , "Leaving" , "Going away" , "Headed away from home base" .)