Elizabeth had always hated the rain.
The fact that the rain nowadays could be pouring pure radiation onto you only added to that.
She stepped inside the Dugout Inn and shook off the water that clung to her clothes, a shitty undershirt and jeans with a pair of ill-fitted converse sneakers, little water droplets flinging off her worn leather armor. She gave a quick check to the pistol at her hip to make sure the water hadn't ruined anything. Only mildly confident that everything was in order, she continued farther into the Inn.
Elizabeth had only been here once before, and that was only for a few minutes to ask around for anyone that might be able to help her find her son. The bartender was an incredibly odd man with a terrible sense of humor (he had jokingly asked her to kill the terrified DJ of Diamond City Radio as a way of breaking the ice), but he seemed kind enough and his information had led her to the place she needed to go; Valentine Detective Agency. This was earlier today.
The reason she found herself back in Diamond City and not wherever this Nick Valentine was being held was because she hadn't been smart. She left too late in the day and hadn't made it to where Nick could be found in time to get out of the city before dark.
She had been caught in Boston proper at night once before, on her way to Diamond City for the first time.
She wasn't about to make that mistake again.
So, she had to make a retreat, or else get assaulted by the various unpleasant denizens of the city that liked to come out at night. She'd rest up at the Dugout, get some supplies in the morning, then head back out to the subway so she could find the detective. And then it had started to rain on her. It was cold and radioactive, more than the Commonweath normally is, once it began to rain.
And aside from her leather armor, all she was wearing was a white tee shirt.
So, no. She didn't like the rain.
As she made her way to the bar, she heard Vadim call from behind it to her. "My friend! Welcome back! You find Nick alright? City can be confusing to newcomers!"
Elizabeth nodded her head. "Yeah, I guess. It… Didn't pan out like I thought it would."
The bartender tilted his head. "Valentine isn't known for turning people down! He did not kick you back into street, did he? Vadim will have a talk with him, if you like!"
She waved a hand dismissively. "No, no. Nothing like that. He wasn't there. That's the problem. I was going to go out and find him today, but…" She shrugged, a bit embarrassed with herself. "I didn't plan it out properly, and had to come back before it got dark."
Vadim nodded wisely. "Ah, yes. The city outside can be very dangerous. More at night. It was smart of you to come back. Nick is good at his job. He will be fine for another night, this I know. You need a place to rest, then, yes? Perhaps a drink? If you wish for company and to make caps, there is poker game going on in back room! 25 cap buy in! Very cheap, very friendly!"
"A bed to sleep in, please. That would be best."
Vadim nodded. "I will tell Yefim. Pay up front. You do not wish anything else? Drink? Food? The game in back?"
Drink and food sounded lovely, if the sound of her growling stomach told her anything. And when was the last time that she stopped to play a game with anyone, just to relax and unwind for a bit?
Not since that bomb dropped over two hundred years ago and ended the world as she knew it.
Since she came out of that freezer where her baby had been taken and her husband had been… Well, it's all been very frantic and crazy and there was very little time to stop and think. It's just been a flurry of guns and blood and guts and death, and even when she went to sleep she never really had the time to stop and think. She was scared and alone and confused by the 'brave new world' she found herself in, and the sleep she got wasn't enough to put her mind at ease. Even in her dreams, her thoughts race a mile a minute when they weren't stopped dead by the absolute terror and fear of reliving that moment again and again and again and again.
Her baby was taken from her. She didn't have the time to stop and play games and make friends.
Except, now she did. It was the first time since getting out of that Vault that she had to stop and wait before she could get going again.
How long had it been since she crawled out of the ground and into the light of the irradiated waste that was now her home? A week? A little over? And what did she have to show for it? News scars, physical and mental, that she never thought she'd have and not a friend in sight. Not even someone to share a meal with.
Just over a week and she was already hideously lonely.
She missed her neighbors. She missed her coworkers. She missed her parents. She missed her baby. She missed Andrew.
It was too early for her to consider going to sleep. It was too late for her to go about town and look at wares for tomorrow. And it was only one card game. Maybe she'd make some friends.
As she handed Vadim the cash for her room for the night, she asked him, "Where's this card game, again?"
/\\\
There weren't that many people playing, though for a poker game it was perhaps an average amount. Only four others sat at the table as Vadim showed her in. She'd be the fifth.
"My friends," Vadim said (he seemed to call everyone that). "We have another player, if there is the room for her."
One of the players, a rough looking man with an angry looking scar that ran across his forehead and a haircut that reminded her of a few too many of the raiders that she has run into in the past few days, looked her up and down perhaps a bit too appraisingly. "She have the buy in?"
Elizabeth pulled out twenty five caps and jangled them in her hand. "Easy enough," she said.
The rough man grunted. "Whatever. Sit down and let me take your money."
The man sitting across from the raider lookalike clicked his tongue at the speaker. "Now now, Hermond. That any way to treat a guest? This is a friendly environment! There's no need to be so rude." This man wore a red hoodie sweater with the hood up over a grey wool knit cap.
"Easy for you to say," a severe looking woman who wore far too much makeup, especially for the wasteland, spat. "You're the one taking all of our damn money."
'Hermond' turned the scowl that seemed to perpetually grace his face onto the hooded man. "I ain't entirely convinced you're not cheating. Best watch yourself, asshole." The scowl then seemed to get deeper, and he growled. "And my name is Hank."
The hooded man's smile lit up even brighter and he waggled a finger at Hank. "You don't fool me, Hermond. I know all about you and your little friends at Hardware City. I even paid them a visit. Had a few drinks with them. Now, what kind of hardened crook like yourself would ever allow a name like Hermond to go unknown by the world? It's the kind of name that can strike fear into the hearts of men! You should use it more often, Hermond."
Hank looked like he was about ready to jump across the table and strangle the hooded man, until the fourth and final member of the table, an older man with a long beard that looked like it could use a proper trimming, spoke up, sounding almost tired, like he'd been dealing with this all night. "Can we please get back to the game? I'm dealing." He turned to Elizabeth. "Miss, are you going to join us or just keep standing there?"
Elizabeth nodded, taking a seat next to the older man and the man in the hood. "Sure. Deal me in."
The first round went quick enough. After the blinds were paid and the cards were dealt, Elizabeth found herself with a nice pair of fives after all the community cards are placed. By the end, the other woman and the older man had already folded, and when it came time to show the cards, Elizabeth thought she would win. The Hermond or Hank or whatever had only a pair of threes.
The guy in the hood had a three of a kind. Fives.
Annoying, but only the first hand she'd been dealt. More cards were dealt. More bets made.
After perhaps the fifth hand, Elizabeth noticed something.
The hooded guy was always winning. Every single hand that had been dealt so far has gone in his favor, even the ones where he honestly had no way of winning at all.
The game continued for a few more hands. He just kept winning. Judging by the moods of pretty much everyone else at the table, he had been winning for a good while before she had showed up.
Eventually, after yet another win in the hooded guy's corner, someone snapped. Inevitably, it was the rough looking man.
"You're a fucking cheat."
The hooded guy looked up from his cards, blinking at the man across from him. "Was that directed at me?"
Hank shot up from his seat and slammed his hands down onto the table. "You're a goddamn cheat, you fuck! Give me my fucking caps back, now."
Elizabeth's eyes flickered down, and she saw that Hermond was carrying. A revolver, it looked like, and not one of those shitty ones made from rusted pipes. A real one. .44 magnum rounds, she thought, although she couldn't remember exactly. All she knew was they packed a punch.
If they guy in the hood noticed the gun too, he didn't show it. He just kept calmly talking to Hank. This wasn't the first person he had pissed off in cards. "Calm down now, Hermond. No need to get violent. And I won those caps fair and square. If you didn't want to lose them, you shouldn't have bet them. We are gambling, after all."
Hermond leaned in over the table to try and loom over the hooded guy. "I'm fine with losing my caps in a fair game of cards. You are a fucking cheat. And I don't much like cheats. Now hand over the caps, or else the wall behind you is gonna get a new paint job."
The hooded guy's eyes flicked to the gun at the man's hip. "I have a bit of a different idea."
Hank's hand came to rest on the butt of his pistol. "Speak carefully, cheat."
The hooded man placed his hands flat onto the table, making it obvious that he wasn't doing anything. "Here's what I have in mind. You and me, let's play one more hand. All or nothing. You win, you get the entire winnings for the night. I win, I keep it. It's around 300 caps. I did the math. Just one more hand, you and me."
Hank sneered. "And what stops you from cheating again, huh? You think I'm some kind of idiot? No. Now give me my fucking caps."
"I won't look at or even touch my hand."
Elizabeth had to turn and look at the hooded guy, if only to see if he had turned into some crazy nutjob just now. He must have, making a deal like that.
He rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie, then placed his elbows on the desk, his hands open in the air. "I'll leave my hands right here. You can watch me. I won't touch or look at my cards. I'll play whatever cards I'm dealt. I win, I get to keep the winnings. You win? You get your caps back and more besides. We have a deal?"
Hank seemed to stare at the man for a moment. Then his hand eased off his gun and he sat himself back down in his chair. He jerked his head at the woman sitting next to him, who was holding the cards. "Deal."
The hooded man smiled. "Glad we can be civilized about this." He nodded to the woman on his other side as well. "Please deal, if you'd be so kind?"
The woman, who seemed a bit shaken by the sudden threats of the game, nodded, and dealt the cards to the two men.
Hank looked at his cards as the community cards were being dealt. He seemed to smile at what he saw.
The hooded man's cards stayed near the middle of the table, untouched. The hooded man smiled too, though Elizabeth had no idea what at. He was going to lose. He had to. There was no way he would win this.
He had to know that. Yet he didn't fold.
All five community cards were dealt. A three, two kings, and two aces.
Then came time to show the cards you were dealt.
Hank laughed openly at the man across from him, slamming his cards down onto the table.
Four of a kind. Kings.
The smile on the hooded man's face didn't faulter in the slightest. He turned to her, gave her what must have been his most winsome smile, and said, "Hi there. Would you mind flipping my cards for me?"
Elizabeth blinked. "Uh. Sure?" And she did, flipping them over for everyone to see.
And her jaw dropped at what was staring her in the face.
Four of a kind. Aces.
He had fucking won.
What the shit?
Everyone stared at the cards in absolute shock. No one could quite believe what they were seeing. Least of all Hank.
Suddenly, Hank roared in fury, shooting up from his chair and flipping the entire table over to the side, having it tumble and crash on top of the woman off to the side. Hank drew his gun, took a single step forward, and placed the barrel onto the hooded man's forehead.
The hooded man almost seemed unconcerned.
Hank pulled the trigger.
Elizabeth flinched in anticipation of the gunshot resounding through the air. When she looked back up, she expected to find the hooded man dead on the floor, a fresh bullet wound bleeding out of his brain.
Instead, she saw him just sitting in his chair, staring up at Hank who looked down at his gun in shock.
Lots of shock going around, it seemed.
Then he moved in a blur of motion, landing a single strike against Hank's chest. Just one. The armed man collapsed onto the ground, wheezing in an attempt to try and get some air, curling into a fetal ball.
The hooded man bent over and picked up the revolver. He popped out the cylinder and took a look at the rounds housed there. Then he started to laugh. He turned the gun around and showed it to Elizabeth, like she was his confidante in all this. "The idiot had already fired two shots today. He didn't reload them."
Sure enough, looking in the cylinder, two of the six rounds had already been fired, the primer on the back of the rounds already blackened from the striking of the hammer. And somehow, the hammer had landed back on one of those rounds when he went to shoot the hooded guy. One bullet over, and he would have been dead. Yet somehow, he wasn't.
That lucky son of a bitch.
He pocketed the pistol into his hoodie. "Well, I suppose that's my cue to leave. Ladies, gents, it's been an honor to take your money. See you next time." Then he just strode out of the room.
Elizabeth looked around the room at all that had happened. Hank on the floor, struggling to catch his breath. Caps and cards scattered across the floor. The table still on top of the woman, who hefted the thing off of her. And here she was just looking to make some friends around town.
The older man next to her sighed. "I hate playing cards with him…"
Elizabeth turned to face him. "You know who that was?"
He nodded. "James Regan. A man too lucky for his own good."
"He seems like… Quite the character."
The older man snorted. "That's a kind way of putting it. He's certainly an experience, though. Bet what caps I have left that he's gone to the bar to get something hard enough to get him to pass out tonight."
Something inside of her told her that she should go find him. He seemed interesting. She wanted to go talk to him.
So, she got up, saying, "Thanks for the game, I guess," and walked out after the hooded man.
/\\\
"Vadim! Give me your strongest that won't kill me!"
Elizabeth walked back out into the main room to find the man she was looking for at the bar, speaking with the Russian man. There was a gentle buzz around the room, being more crowded than when she had first stepped in.
"You need Bobrov's Best! Nothing gets drunk quicker!"
He laughed. "I said something that won't kill me!"
"This was one time! We change recipe!"
The man shook his head. "Fine, fine. I just wanna get drunk tonight, okay?"
Vadim slid the hooded man a white bottle with a piece of tape over the label that had the words 'Bobrov's Best' on it. The hooded man exchanged caps with the bartender. Then he noticed Elizabeth siddle up to him next to the bar. "Well, hello there. You play a mean game of Hold 'Em."
"I play a mean game?" She echoed back. "You were the one that cleaned house."
He waved a dismissive hand. "Ah, I'm just lucky. You held your own, though. Nice to see someone with actual skill at the game."
Elizabeth gave him a skeptical look. "Lucky? I'd say it was a bit more than luck. That show you put on back there was impressive. How did you know that you were going to win?"
He shrugged. "I never know I'm going to win. I just do. If I seem like I know I'm gonna win, it's because confidence is everything. You'd be surprised what a confident stride and the right clothes can do for you." He turned to face her, holding out his hand. "James Regan."
She took his hand to shake. "Elizabeth."
He brought her hand up to his mouth and gave her knuckles a small kiss.
The corner of her mouth ticked up at the gesture. "Well, there's something I didn't think I'd see again. A gentleman."
James smiled. "That's my father in me. 'Junior,' he'd tell me, 'whenever you meet a woman, always treat her with every courtesy you have. They are the one's who bring us into this world, and they all deserve respect.' My father was just that kind of guy."
"Sounds like a good man."
His smile became perhaps a bit more brittle. "Yeah. He was." Then he shook his head, and poured himself a shot from the bottle in front of him. "Join me for a drink."
"Trying to liquor me up already? We only just met. And I'm married." No, she wasn't. Not anymore. Widowed. Not married.
His smile turned something bright again. "I've found it's always better to drink in company, rather than alone. And besides, I think you came over here to talk with me for a reason."
Elizabeth hummed. "I suppose that's true. Fine. One drink."
James' smile widened. "Excellent. Vadim! Get me another glass!"
After getting said glass, he gestured to a nearby empty table. The two sat opposite each other. "So," he said, "to what do I owe the pleasure of such a lovely woman's company?"
Elizabeth cradled the drink in her hands, not drinking just yet. "I'm new in town and thought I could use a friend or two. Figured I could meet some people at that card game in the back, but that didn't quite pan out."
"Ah." He nodded wisely. "Well, I should warn you that I'm not actually from town. I'm just passing through."
"Really? The bartender seems to know you pretty well."
He bobbed his head in allowance and downed his shot. "Well, I say passing through. I'm staying until they kick me out and I have to find another town to loiter in."
Elizabeth chuckled a bit. "Get kicked out of towns often?"
James smiled at her while he poured himself another round. "Enough that it's a pattern. I don't go looking to get kicked out, but you know how it is. Play the wrong guy at cards, sleep with the wrong person's daughter, drink the wrong person's booze. Then my ass is back out in the wasteland and I've gotta find my way to another bar just to start the whole thing over again."
"Well then. Someone's quite the rogue."
James seemed to take mock offense at that. "Rogue-ish. I'm a gentleman at heart, and I always will be. I just like to have some fun, that's all. Sometimes, people take offense at my fun. But hey, no harm done. There's always the next town. New people, new adventure." He downed his next shot. "So, what brings you to Diamond City?"
She looked down at her drink, still full in her hands. "I'm… Looking for someone."
"Ah. Anyone I know?"
"Nick Valentine."
James leaned back in his seat as he filled up his glass again. "Valentine? The synth?"
Elizabeth looked up at him questioningly. "Nick is a synth?"
"If we're talking about the same guy, yeah." He downed the shot. "Not one of those infiltration units everyone is so paranoid about. You can tell he's a robot. Got the metal claw and everything. But he's a good man. Haven't seen him around in a while, though. Is he missing?"
Elizabeth nodded. "That's what his assistant says."
"Ellie is no alarmist," he said thoughtfully. "If she's worried, then he might be in some real trouble. If you don't mind my asking, though, what do you need from Nick?"
Her gaze turned back down to her glass. She still hadn't taken so much as a sip. "Again, I'm looking for someone."
"Can I ask who?"
She paused for a moment. "My son."
His expression turned serious mid pour of another shot, and he put the bottle to the side. "Your son is missing?"
She nodded. "He's less than a year old. He… He was taken from me."
James grimaced. "Shit. How long has he been missing?"
"Something over a week, I think. It's hard to tell. It's all kind of blurred together."
He was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "I read somewhere that most children who are kidnapped are… Are killed within the first twenty four hours of being taken. Those that aren't are usually take with a specific purpose in mind." Tears started to well in Elizabeth's eyes, and he raised his hand in an attempt to placate. "I know it's not something you want to hear, but either your son was taken for a reason or…" Then he grimaced and turned away, looking almost sick at his own thought. Then he reached across the table and tapped a finger next to her shot glass. "Drink."
She gripped the glass in white knuckled hands, tears threatening to come rolling down her face. But she did as told, throwing back to liquor.
Then she almost immediately coughed up a lung.
More tears welled in her eyes, but this time from the sheer burning that rolled down her throat and into her stomach. "W-What the hell is this?" She said between coughs. "Did you give me p-paint thinner or something?"
James smiled at her. "Tastes like it, doesn't it? And yet, nothing will get you drunk quicker." He grabbed the bottle of the offending liquid and scrutinized it. "Really, that's the only thing it's got going for it. The very definition of shit moonshine."
Elizabeth just kept coughing. When James gestured the bottle at her to ask if she wanted another, she vigorously shook her head. "I'm not looking to die today."
James bobbed his head. "Yeah, that's fair." Then he looked her in the eye. "So, Elizabeth. Where are you headed? What's your next step?"
The woman in question sighed. "I have to head into the metro lines to try and find some vault that was built there. Ellie tells me that Nick is down there somewhere."
James nodded. "Let me come with you."
Elizabeth gave him a questioning look. "What?"
"You're from a Vault, right?" He nods at the Pipboy on her arm. "That's rare tech you've got there. Only find those in Vaults, and even then not always. So you must be from a Vault, right?"
Elizabeth nodded slowly. "Yeah…"
"You haven't been on the surface for very long, have you? You've got this look about you, a bit like a fish out of water. Trust me, I know the look." He crossed his arms and leaned forward onto the table. "You said that you were looking for friends. Well, let me come along. Wasteland can be a wild and wacky place. It's always better to have someone watching your back."
"That's true, but…" She shook her head. "I mean, you're asking to wander off with a complete stranger. Why do you want to come with me?"
James stared into her eyes for a long moment, and it was only just then that Elizabeth noticed that his eyes were perhaps the most fierce shade of blue she had ever seen before. Like cool glaciers that stared back at her. "Because I was in a situation a hell of a lot like yours. I was from a Vault too. And I was looking for someone. They kicked me out of my home, and when I got topside, it was… Jarring. The world was already over by the time I got there. I mean, I had known that the world was a wasteland, but knowing is different from seeing, yeah? And… And when I got out of there, I wanted nothing so much as to have someone watch my back. I needed a friend, and I didn't find any. None that would watch my back, anyway. It wasn't until later that I made some real friends. But at the beginning, it was lonely. Knowing what the world used to be and seeing what it was. Not having anyone with me. It was just me. And no one came to help me.
"I look at you, though, and I see the same thing. Someone who's just been introduced to a world that is vastly different from what you thought it was. Someone who looks like they need someone to help them out. I wanted so much for someone to come and rescue me from the hell that I was in. Granted, I wasn't even out of my teens by this time, so maybe I was being stupidly idealistic in wanting that, but… Well, I see a chance to help someone like I wanted to be helped. 'We are put on this Earth for the betterment of mankind, not our own selfish wants. If you have the talents, skills, and knowledge to help your fellow man, you should.'"
Elizabeth looked at him. "Your father again?"
James nodded. "He was a good man. Wanted to help save everyone. Even at the cost of everything dear to him." He spread his hands out. "Helping people is what I do. It's what I was raised to do. Let me help you find your son. Please."
Elizabeth just sort of stared at him. A complete stranger was here bearing his heart to her, offering to help her find her baby boy. So many people she had met so far were only looking out for them and theirs. They wouldn't help her. Not all of them were bad people, of course, just people looking out for number one. And there were the raiders that tried to kill her on sight. All of them were so focused on what mattered in their lives; survival. She didn't care about survival. She just wanted her baby back.
And here was this man, who seemed to give off an aura of luck as easily as he breathed, offering to help her find her son, simply because he wished to help. No payment needed. No ulterior motive. No lies. She had been a lawyer for a few years now, she could tell when she was being lied to. And this man, from the bottom of his heart, just wanted to help her find her son.
If he weren't sitting across an entire table from her, she would have hugged him. Instead, she just got a little choked up, nodded, and said, "Thank you."
The easy smile that seemed to be his face's natural expression grew back across his lips. "So, boss. We set out tomorrow?"
She nodded. "First thing in the morning." She cleared her throat, getting the extra emotion out of her tone. "Hopefully, it won't be too late to find Nick Valentine."
The smile on his face widened. "Groovy."