Where pretty girls are, you know that I'm around…
Ash worked her way back towards the fortress of a city that was Diamond City, followed closely by her furry companion Dogmeat. She had let the reporter get a bit of a head start before beginning her own trip back. She couldn't seem too eager to meet back up with her. No, Ash knew how the game went. She thought back to her days before the bombs dropped. She had been notorious for being an outrageous flirt whenever she went out. Much to the disapproval of her late husband Nate.
"Ah Nate. You always were the jealous type. I thought it was cute, the way you'd swoop in and make sure whoever I was talking to knew I was taken." She said quietly to herself. She was saddened by the sudden thought of her deceased husband. She shook her head to try and sent the thoughts away and kept moving. She looked up and saw the top of Fenway Park's "Green Monster" and knew she was approaching the city.
Upon reaching the gates, Ash happened upon a peculiar, and pretty comical, scene taking place outside the gates.
"Danny, open this gate up right now! I live here, you can't lock me out. What the mayor is scared of a reporter? He can't handle the truth? Ohhhh nooo look out for big bad Piper, coming to destroy the city with her newspaper." Piper Wright stood at the gate, talking loudly into an intercom, making large motions with her arms as she spoke. In the mimicking voice she added "You know I even heard rumors that she was a synth, sent by the institute to take control of Diamond City." Once again, her voice was heavy with sarcasm.
"Look Pipes I want to.." A voice started to reply but was cut off.
"Ohhh don't you 'Pipes' me Danny. I am not going to be..." She must've heard the approaching footsteps as she turned to see Ash approaching her. "Umm hold please." She said to the intercom. She moved to Ash. "Well, someone's eager for an interview."
Ash smirked. "Looks like I'm a bit out of luck if you can't even get into the city." Ash stated.
"Oh that? Between you and me, Mayor kinda has a stick up his ass, and doesn't like it when you write the truth. You know how politics goes." She raised her voice when she said "write the truth" so the intercom could hear it.
"Well, from what I heard, it sounded like you definitely had it under control." Ash blew some of her red hair out of her face. "You want me to have a talk with him?" Ash offered.
"Actually, I have an idea." Piper's face lit up. "We'll say you're with a caravan, got loads of supplies. They'll have to open the gates. Oh Danny!" She moved back to the intercom before Ash had a chance to even reply. "You won't even open the gate for a caravan, loaded with food and weapons to trade?"
"Yeah right Piper, like I'm gonna believe dat. 'Sides I got my orders, gate stays shut." Danny said in a heavy Boston accent. Piper turned to Ash and gave her a look of 'c'mon help me out here'.
Ash sighed and shook her head. Moving to the monitor she said "Yeah, we got a lot of supplies we gotta get rid of out here. The brahmin are getting tired and we need caps." She looked to Piper who gave her two thumbs up.
There was the sound of movement from the other side and indistinct conversation could be heard. Then, Danny's voice saying "Fine. Gates coming up. This betta' be legit Pipes."
The gate began to slowly rise. Piper looked to Ash and went quickly to the gate, ducking under it before it reached the top. She flashed a smile at Danny and uttered "Don't call me Pipes" and walked towards the city. "You coming Blue or what? Wouldn't want that pretty face of yours to be used as mutants punching bag." Piper said loudly over her shoulder.
"Wow Piper you really know how to compliment a woman." Ash said loudly back.
Ash walked in after her and the just shrugged in Danny's direction. "She always like that?" She inquired.
"Usually. Ya ain't with a caravan are ya?"
"Nope." Ash smiled and followed Piper into the city. She could get used to that.
Ash stood at the entrance with Dogmeat close behind. She surveyed the converted ballpark and remembered the days she spent watching the Red Sox play. She was familiar enough with the city itself, she had taken odd jobs here and there from citizens, gathering paint for the wall, even helping Nick Valentine solve a case. She had never stayed more than two nights in the place. The smell of the beds in the Dugout Inn could only be tolerated for so long.
Ash descended the steps into the city and was greeted by a young girl on a crate, yelling about the newest issue of Publick Occurrences.
"Hey you! Redhead lady, you want a copy of the latest edition? It's got the latest scoop on kidnappings and the Institute." The loud little brunette inquired of her.
"Kidnappings?" Ash asked.
"Oh yeah, it's the insitute. They're taking people and turning them into synths." The girl said excitedly. "The Mayor is denying everything, but all of the evidence points to it!" She exclaimed.
"Nat! Not so loud. You want Security to come and take you in?" The voice of Piper Wright came from the doorway into the Offices of Publick Occurrences.
"But Piper the city needs to know the truth!" Nat argued. "Also, the printer broke while you were gone. Again." She added the last word with a very large hint of annoyance.
"I know, but we've had enough trouble over the past couple of weeks. So, just keep it on the down low until this whole Mayor business blows over." Piper told her.
Nat groaned. "Fine. Have it your way." She turned back to Ash. "Here, have a copy on the house." She handed her the paper and hopped off her crate and ran off.
"I see the reporter blood runs in the family." Ash said holding up the newspaper.
"What can I say? She takes a lot after her big sis." Piper replied. "You wanna come inside? We could do that interview I know you're so eager to do." Dogmeat barked happily in reply.
"Well, I think that settles it" Ash laughed and followed Piper into the office.
The office/home of Piper Wright was about as Ash had expected. There was a couple of desk full of loose papers and recorders. Holotapes littered desks and the floor around them. There were a couple of sleeping mats near the back of the room, and there was a couch sitting the middle with a tv that definitely did not work, sitting in front of it on a couple of cinder blocks. Piper sat on the couch and lit a cigarette.
"Isn't life in the Commonwealth short enough?" Ash asked not really expecting an answer.
"What can I say? Old habits die hard?" Piper replied, setting the cigarette in the ashtray next to her. "Let's get started shall we?" Piper inquired with a hint of excitement as she got out a pen and paper. "Obvious first question, what was life in the Vault like?"
"Cold." Ash answered. Piper cocked her head in confusion. "The Vault I was in was apparently an experiment on the effect of long term cryogenic stasis. I was frozen in a pod shortly after I entered the Vault." Ash explained.
"After you… entered the Vault? That would mean.." Piper visibly put the pieces together. "Oh my God."
Ash smirked. "Yeah. I am over 200 years old."
"Well, you look incredible for your age." Piper smiled and said to Ash.
"Well, you don't look too bad yourself." Ash replied, making Piper blush.
Piper regained herself. "So you remember what life was like before the bombs? You know what this place used to look like?" She asked. barely containing her excitement of finding a pre-war relic.
"Yeah. I lived up in Sanctuary Hills. I had a husband, Nate. I had recently graduated Law School. We had a white picket fence, a brand new car, the whole nine yards."
"Nine yards? Why would you need nine yards?" Piper inquired, utterly confused.
Ash forgot how incredibly outdated that figure of speech was. "It's a figure of speech. A very, very old figure of speech."
"What did people do back then? I can't imagine it was shootouts and raider attacks in pre-war Boston." Piper asked.
"Well, I used to love to go out to the bars. I was never a heavy drinker, I just loved the social scene. All the interesting conversations, and interesting people I'd meet." Ash answered.
"Nowadays, the only people you meet want to either kill you or sleep with you. Well, for me at least." Piper remarked.
"Can't say I blame them for wanting the second thing." Ash said softly, with a smile. Piper turned beet red. Maybe a bit direct, but hey. It's the apocalypse.
Piper cleared her throat. "Wow umm is it hot in here? Ummm where were we?" Ash smiled watching Piper regain herself. She was cute when she got flustered. "So, what did you do after you thawed?" Piper finally asked.
"I went home. Went to see what was left of the town. It was in ruins. It was crazy how similar and catastrophically different everything was from the day the bombs dropped."
Piper rubbed the back of the pen against the temple of her head. "So, you saw the bombs drop?" Piper's voice was soft.
"Yeah. It was terrifying. Horrible. I just remember running out of the house with Nate following. Everyone was afraid. Everyone was had to get to the Vault. We just got to the elevator when the first bomb hit. The sound was, deafening, the light was blinding. Everyone was terrified. The elevator descended and that's the last memory I have of the world before. We got in, they put us in these jumpsuits and led us to the pods. My pod malfunctioned, and some emergency protocol kicked in and thawed me. All the systems malfunctioned. The stuff just wasn't built to last two hundred years. Nate's pod… everyone's pod… I was the only one who made it out." Ash finished the story and looked up at Piper. She hadn't even written anything down. She just sat there, shocked, trying to process everything that had just been said to her.
"Ash… I'm so sorry. I… I don't know what to say." Piper said softly, moving her hand to Ash's leg.
"It's okay." Ash replied, looking to Piper. "Not the interview you expected?"
"About the farthest things from what I expected actually. I don't know what I expected. Vaults that freeze people for thousands of years was not what I was expecting. I thought that they were supposed to help people? To protect them?" Piper inquired rhetorically.
"Me too. But we were just part of their experiment. It cost a lot of people their lives." Ash said looking down at the ground.
"Well hey, to wrap this whole thing up, do you have anything at all that you want to say to the readers?" Piper asked.
Ash thought for a second. Inspirational? Humorous? No Comment? Then it came to her.
"No matter how terrible a situation may seem, there's always something good that can come out of it. You just gotta wait it out, and it'll come to you. Or you to it. Either way, even in the apocalypse, there's still something out there for you." The words flooded out from Ash. "Just look at us. Brought together by a frozen pod, a couple of nukes, and a raider with one boot. There's always a silver lining." Ash smiled at Piper.
"That was amazing Blue. I didn't know you had it in ya. The people will love this. This'll be our biggest hit… why are you smiling at me like… oh… ohhhh… that last part you said was about…" Once again, the reporter blushed uncontrollably.
"Is… Is it hot in here?"