Ryan and Piper set out to see Nick at his office the next day, but what should have been a short walk turned into Ryan helping some of the town's residents with various tasks such as helping the scientists at the research center gather materials, helping repaint "The Wall", and helping the radio DJ find some confidence. Piper was touched that Ryan would go out of his way to help the people in her city even when he had his own problems to deal with. Still she was happy to help Ryan in completing his tasks.
The two had just gotten back to Diamond City from helping Travis Miles, the local DJ, rescue his friend Vadim from a small group of raiders out in the ruins and had decided to stop at the noodle shop for dinner and were listening to the radio on Ryan's Pip-boy.
"Your always on your best behavior aren't you Blue?" Piper asked as she finished her noodles.
"I guess so? I hadn't really noticed." He replied, somewhat confused.
"So this is you not even trying, huh? I just wanted you to know I appreciate everything you've done today. Too few folks can be bothered. Though, in my experience, if you want to do real good, playing nice only gets ya so far. I mean, look at Diamond City, a place I've been trying to warn of real danger. But every issue I publish, all I hear is: Oh, Piper, why don't you ever publish anything happy? Piper, why can't you write something nice for a change? It's enough to make me wanna hang up my hat some days."
"Most people are content to believe in a comforting lie than the truth. Only thing that people like us, those who see the world for what it really is, can do is try to warn them of the truth, like how you try to warn them about the Institute."
"Heh, no kidding. Sure it can be scary knowing what's really out there. A night doesn't go by I'm not afraid that some Institute drone will decide today's the day to pay 'ol Piper and family a visit. But it's worth it because I know the truth, that's what protects us."
"You're afraid? Could've fooled me."
"I'm pushy not crazy. Honestly, these days, I'm more scared for my sister. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her. But I'm not the only one with something to lose. That's why people deserve to know what's out there, good or bad."
"You don't have to convince me of that, knowing what you're facing is how you protect the one's you care about."
"Exactly. Like you said, most people prefer a comforting lie. Not me. I've seen firsthand what the truth can do. My sister and I, we grew up way out in the Commonwealth. Tiny little settlement. Our Dad, he was in the local militia. Well one day, Dad turns up dead. His Captain, asshole named Mayburn. Claimed raiders must've gotten him on watch. Well, I didn't buy it. I started making inquiries. Turns out the Captain, he'd sold out. Thought he wasn't getting paid enough to babysit the town. He was going to leave the gates open one night, let a group of raiders sack the place and take a cut of the profits. Dad found out and was going to turn him in, but Mayburn got to him first and I wasn't about to let him get away with murder. The mayor wouldn't listen to me so I papered the whole town. Got his attention then and the town threw Mayburn out and were dug-in when the group of raiders showed."
"Fuck, that's… that's some fucked up shit, but what you did to make things right, that's amazing. What happened to you guys afterwards?"
"We made due. Sis was still pretty young at the time and mom was…out of the picture, so we got by on the kindness of others for a while. Eventually I saved up enough to book us both passage with a caravan and then we moved on up to the big city. Called it home ever since."
"I'm sorry about what happened to your Dad, really, but you did what you had to to keep you and your sister alive. It's impressive to say the least."
"Thanks, Blue. It was hard after he was gone, but knowing that he died doing right, that's always made it easier. But, hey, I-I'm sorry if I've been rambling. I just get fired up sometimes. It's just nice to talk to someone who, who actually seems to get it, ya know?"
"Yeah, I know. Seems like the only people I could talk to after Anchorage were other Marines, my wife, she just didn't understand because she hadn't seen the war firsthand. You and I, despite only knowing each other for a short time, we've seen the world together and can relate to each other easier that way."
"You've mentioned you fought in Anchorage before, what was it like if you don't mind me asking?" Piper asked nervously, afraid that Ryan would be upset at her prying.
"Hey, you told me your life story, only seems fair I return the favor. I enlisted in the Marine Corps when I was seven-teen and married my wife, Nora, after I graduated Boot Camp. Two years later I was stationed on the west coast and assigned to First Combat Engineer Battalion when the Chinese invaded Anchorage, Alaska. When the news hit us every branch of the military was fighting to be the first to go in and drive them out, naturally they chose the Marines and my unit was chosen to go in with the first wave to clear the way for our infantry. A week later I was gunning an up-armored Humvee driving across the Alaskan border. Those first few weeks were crazy, we set up a FOB near the Alaskan-Canadian border and I was sent out on engineer recon patrols, scouting the Chinese supply routes and defenses, looking for ways to breach their defenses and allow the grunts to do their thing. The opening weeks were some of the best times of my life, I was out there doing my part to drive out the invaders and the Marines in my squad, they became my brothers. We joked about everything and talked shit about our situation all day. I felt closer to them than I did my own family and we'd do anything for each other."
Piper saw Ryan sadden after mentioning his squad. "Along with all the awesome things we did, there were multiple things I wish I hadn't seen over there. When we finally pushed into Anchorage three months later, well, the Chinese had taken the city by surprise and they…killed all the Americans they could. The Soldiers in the National Guard had been hung from the rooftops and the civilians left to rot in the street, men, women, children, all murdered and left to greet us at the cities entrance."
"God Blue, I couldn't imagine how horrifying that would be. What did you do next?"
"Well, when our command found out what they had done they threw all our ROE's out the window, they said "You boys do what you have to to drive those bastards out of our city." We wiped out every enemy patrol we came across, just as they did to us. Sometimes they would surrender and you want to know what we said? We said fuck them and we shot them anyways, just as they had done to our people."
Ryan clenched his fists as said that and Piper could see the hatred for the invaders in his eyes. "Blue, I can't say that I would do the same thing, but I can understand why you would do that…"
"War is hell, Piper. At the time I thought we were justified in what we did, but after what happened to my squad… it made me realize just how much of our humanity we had given up in the fighting. I tried to give up my hatred and eventually I was able to but that was long after I was rotated back to California."
"What… what happened to your squad?"
"I'm sorry, I'm don't feel like talking about that right now. Brings up to many memories I'd like to forget…"
"Ok, forget I asked. What'd you do when you got back from Anchorage?"
"When I got back I spent my time training new combat engineers, prep them to continue the fight in Alaska. Just before I got out, Nora and I had Shaun. Holding him for the first time, made all the shit that I'd gone through over there worth it, I thought I had given my son a safer world to live in. Guess I was wrong…"
"Hey, we'll find your son Blue. Thank you for telling me all this, and I hope that we can have more talks like this in the future."
"Definitely Piper, it feels good to talk about these things with someone who understands. Now we've wasted enough time talking, I think it's time we went and visited Valentine."
"Then lead on Blue." The two then got up and headed towards Valentine's office to get some answers.
