Chapter 11: Reuniting the Commonwealth
General of the Minutemen was not something Cap took lightly. As a child, she was very familiar with them. Her father had joined them for a few months before he met her mother. She grew up respecting, and in some ways, idolizing them. She didn't, however, think that she would someday be running the whole organization.
The day after she accepted the position, she asked that her team bring her all of the maps of the Commonwealth they could find around the Inn and Goodneighbor. Within an hour, she had multiple maps spread out on a table in the dining room of the Inn, and was able to see a view of the Boston Ruins and the surrounding areas. With Preston's help, she made marks where each of the prominent settlements were with an X. Preston added a star to an area on the east side of the map, along the coast. He said he would explain why when the time was right.
As she was studying the map and starting to plan for the best course of action, the doors to the Inn opened and in walked a familiar face. "Well, well. Looks like someone is busy." Ryan said with a smile. He walked towards the table where all of the maps were laid out, followed by a synth in a trench coat and fedora.
Cap looked up and grinned. "VB. Nice to see you again." She responded and walked to greet him. Ryan's hair was now shabby and outgrown. His stubble had spread to a short beard that was untrimmed and flecked with dirt and grime. The outfit that she and her mercs had given him was now covered in leather, and even some metal, armor. He looked tired, but it was his eyes that looked so different to Evie. They were cold, intense, and in a way, disturbing. "What are you doing in Goodneighbor?"
"We've made a huge breakthrough." He said to her and smiled with excitement. "I found out where Shawn is."
"That's great! Where is he?" Cap asked.
"The institute." Ryan replied.
Cap's smile faded. "Oh… wow, that's awful. I'm so sorry." The Institute was bad news. A mysterious organization that moved through the Commonwealth like a pack of boogeymen. They were responsible for the production of synths, androids and mechanical humans that often resulted to violence to solve their problems. When people went missing, they didn't come back. She didn't know of anyone that made it into the Institute and was able to make it out again. If his son was alive in there, it would be nearly impossible to see him again.
"We think we may be able to figure out a way in. I mean, there has to be a way. They send synths out all the time. We just have to figure out how they do it. Nick here thinks he knows someone that can help." Ryan turned to the mechanical man behind him.
The synth, or synthetic human, stepped forward, smiling. His skin, or outer covering, was grey and had patches missing, particularly below his ears and around his neck. His eyes shown bright yellow under the brim of his hat. His worn out trench coat and fedora looked like something out of a comic book. "Pleasure to meet you, Evelyn."
"Likewise… Nick Valentine, I take it?" She asked and held out her hand to shake his.
He reached his metal hand towards her, which resembled a metal claw more than a human hand. She shook it regardless, never breaking eye contact, a nice smile on her face. "You got it, though it's hard to mistake this mug for anyone else. Ryan has told me a lot about you."
Cap nodded. "Seems to be a trend with people I know." She said and shot a look at Cookie and Boomer, who were still standing at the table with the maps. They looked away, grinning.
Nick chuckled. "Anyway, we took out a guy named Kellogg. He worked for the Institute, a real cold blooded killer. If anyone knows how to get in there, it would be him."
"Took out? So he is dead? Kinda hard to get info out of him then." Cap replied.
"Right you are. But… we have a piece of his brain. And Goodneighbor has a business that specializes in handling brains and memories." Nick said and smiled. "Doctor Amari at the Memory Den is probably the only person in the Commonwealth that could make a dead brain sing."
Cap thought for a moment. "Wow… that's actually a really good idea. Insane, maybe. But it's your best option, I suppose."
"Exactly. I figured we would stop and say hi before we went off to see the good doctor." Ryan added.
"Wanted to say hi? When you are so close to finding your son?" Cap asked.
Ryan smirked a little. "Well, I also wanted to check on you. Make sure you were doing alright." He said, softer, stepping towards her. He met her gaze, looking deep into her eyes.
"Oh, I'm fine. Took on a new project to keep myself busy. Ever hear of a little group called the Minutemen?" She laughed slightly. "Well, they found themselves a new General."
Nick looked surprised, but Ryan just chuckled. "I think that's a good choice. They would be crazy not to ask you. I wish you the best of luck. It's going to be a lot of work."
"Thanks Ryan. Compared to breaking into the Institute, my job looks easy." She said and patted his shoulder. "But if there was anyone who could make it in, it's you. And with the help of someone like Nick, I have no doubt you'll find your son. If you ever need us, you know you only have to ask."
Ryan reached out and hugged her. Cap, caught off guard, hugged him in return and patted his back. "Good luck, VB."
He let her go and turned to Nick. "Let's go. Time's wasting." He said and started for the door. "I need to get some ammo before we head over to the Memory Den."
"I'll meet you there. I'd like a word with Evelyn before we go see Doctor Amari." Nick said.
Ryan looked back at him over his shoulder, and then nodded with a shrug. "Alright. See you there." He said and closed the door to the Inn behind him.
Nick sighed and turned to Evelyn. "Congratulations on becoming the General of the Minutemen. I hope they can stick around this time."
"Me too. But I have a feeling that you didn't stay behind to talk about my new position."
The detective smiled. "No, I suppose I didn't. I wanted to ask how well you know Ryan?"
"VB? He seems like a nice enough guy. Really wants to find his son." She said with a shrug. "Other than that, I don't know much about him. Why, is he in trouble or something?"
Nick shook his head. "No more than anyone else could be when they set their sights on the Institute. But some things he has done have made me question his other motives." The synth's face showed a solemn look of doubt and regret.
"What happened?" Cap probed.
Nick paused for a moment, unsure if he should continue telling his story to this new person. He felt that she was someone who he could trust, even though he had just met her. "I was being held in a vault. Some gang had kidnapped a girl and I went in to rescue her. Turns out she was the new fling for the boss, Skinny Malone. I was locked up in the Overseer's office for weeks before somebody in scrap leather armor finally let me out. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful as hell to Ryan for breaking me out. But, what he did as we were leaving…"
"Don't keep me in suspense, now." She answered, with a smile, trying to lighten the weight of the mood.
The detective sighed and continued. "We came to the entrance, where Skinny was waiting for us. I convinced him to let us walk on account of the history he and I had. He gives us to the count of ten to get out. Ryan and I start to make a break for it, but my rescuer stopped at the door to the Vault. I look back just in time to see him turn and unload his submachine gun into the backs of Skinny and his men. When the dust settled, I asked him why he did it. There was no reason for it. His response was that Skinny probably deserved it. What puzzled me the most about his answer was how nonchalant he was about wiping out three men and the girl I had come to rescue in the first place."
Cap listened to the story. It didn't seem like the Ryan she had first met, the one who laughed and joked with her and her team, despite the fact that he was technically their captive. Was her first impression of the vault dweller so wrong? Realizing Nick was looking at her, waiting for a response, she smiled a sad smile. "It's surprising he would act like that, but honestly, we have both seen worse in the wastes. We all have done bad things to survive, Mr. Valentine. Ryan needs help finding his son. You don't have to agree with everything he does, but please help him get Shawn back."
Nick nodded and returned her smile. "I will. Thank you for listening. I know you must be busy."
Evelyn waved it off and patted Nick's arm, reassuringly. "Always here to help. At a minutes notice! That's the Minutemen's slogan, I guess. Might need to work on that." She joked.
Nick huffed out a laugh. "Well, I should get going. Thanks again. Hope to see you out in the wastes."
Evelyn nodded to him and the private eye left her inn.
Returning the table, and being joined by the rest of her team and Preston, she looked at all the settlements, deep in thought. They needed to plan and make the best of the few people the Minutemen had. With only five members, all of them would be needed.
"Well, I think our first job is to take to the streets and visit as many settlements in need of help as we can. We can cover more ground if we split up." She instructed, her eyes locked with the map.
"Teams of two?" Twoey asked.
"That leaves one person without a partner. I can stay back and keep an ear out for trouble spots." Preston offered.
Cap shook her head. "No, I need as many abled body Minutemen showing the Commonwealth that we are back. No sitting in a cushy settlement, telling us which settlements need our help."
"So who goes solo?" Cookie asked, not liking the idea of anyone braving the trek alone.
"Cookie, you travel with Preston. Boomer, you're with Twoey." She replied.
"No. Cap, we can't let you travel alone." Boomer protested.
"Three teams can cover a lot more ground, and we can help more settlements at once. We can reunite the Commonwealth that much faster." She countered.
"And what good are you going to be if you're dead?!" Boomer shouted at her.
The room fell silent until it was broken by the entrance of Hancock, who opened the doors to the inn and stomped over the threshold. "Good morning, Minutemen and lady." He said with a smile, but stopped as they all turned to him, a serious look on each face. "Did I… interrupt somethin'?"
Boomer smirked. "Not at all. I think you may have solved our problem." He turned his attention back to Evelyn. "See? We found you a partner to travel with."
"The General cannot travel with him." Preston cut in.
"Why not?" Twoey asked, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, Garvey? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Hancock questioned, defensively.
"I mean, Hancock as a reputation. One that can change the way someone views the new General of the Minutemen. And not for the better."
"Oh yeah? And what reputation are you so worried about?" The mayor grinned.
Preston looked at him and huffed out a humorless laugh. "You mean besides being a well-known chem junkie? You are brutal and people are scared of you. Not to mention the story of how to forcefully took over Goodneighbor ten years ago." Garvey said, in a harsh tone.
"Isn't that more reason to bring him along?" Cookie inquired. "People will think twice before kicking Cap out or drawing a gun on her, and if the General is being supported by such a high profile figure in the Commonwealth, we will gain support from a lot more people."
"What, like raiders and chem dealers?" Preston protested.
"Hey, Garvey. I got no love for raiders. Their kind of trouble makes me sick. The most important thing is keeping Ev safe, right? Who better to do that than a brutal, chem loving ghoul?"
Preston was about to reply to the mayor when Cap raised her hand to stop him. "Hancock, would you be willing to help the Minutemen out and travel with me again?"
"You even gotta ask that? Damn right I am." He replied.
"Then it's settled." Cap turned her attention back to the maps.
Preston huffed in disagreement but didn't argue about it anymore. "Fine. But I think we should start our work from Sanctuary. A friend there has been keeping an ear out for news of settlements that need help. It's well fortified and will be a good place to fall back to until we have a more permanent base."
The group agreed and started to suit up and grab most of their gear to move it to Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Kent had finished moving his belongings into the Maiden Inn and took a room on the second floor so he could be close to the entrance at all times. Cap had left some equipment for Avery to use, along with a stern warning that if anything happened to Kent or the Inn while she was away, she would make the ex-raider wish she had died next to Sinjin in that hospital.
As the new Minutemen looked around the Inn one last time for anything they would need and started to head out, Hancock rejoined the group after letting the people of Goodneighbor know that he was stepping out for a spell, and that Fahrenheit was in charge until he returned.
Preston led the group across a rickety bridge that was half falling apart. On the other side was a winding concrete path lined with pre-war houses, some completely caved in and others still accessible, and seemed in use by the settlers. Debris and junk still covered most of the ground around the settlement. Behind one of the houses, a small farm could be seen, growing melons and tatos. A man and a woman were working the field. In the distance, the sound of hammering rang out as repairs were being made to one of the houses that were still standing. An old woman sat in a chair in front of a yellow house, and a Mr. Handy was trimming dead bushes.
The picture was strange, at best, but when Preston approached the yellow house, the old woman smiled and a dog ran up to him, happy to see him again. "Hey Dogmeat. You keeping an eye on everyone for me?" He said, kneeling down and petting the German Shepheard. The dog barked in response and ran over to greet the newcomers. Cap chuckled and started to rub the dogs exposed belly as a man in overalls and a tool belt approached the group.
"Hey boss! Good to see ya. Found some new traveling buddies, huh?" The man said with a friendly smile.
"You can say that. Sturges, meet Evelyn, the new General of the Minutemen. And this is her team." He explained as Cap stood to shake his hand.
"General? Wow, you were busy on that last job. It's nice to meet ya. Name's Sturges. I take care of this little slice of paradise." He said, and shook the hand of each of the group as Evelyn introduced them. Sturges paused when Hancock was introduced, but shook his hand anyway. "Mayor Hancock? Haven't had the pleasure of visiting your town, but I hear… good things."
"You should come visit some time." Hancock replied.
"I'll have to. Come inside, let's get you all something to drink, an' then you can tell me what you're all here for." Sturges motioned for the group to enter the yellow house, which seemed to be the main building in this settlement.
After they all had a seat on some broken down furniture and chairs, Preston explained the plan to Sturges, and the role he was intended to play. "Seems like a good plan to me." Sturges exclaimed. "And it just so happens I know of a few places that could use the gentle touch of the Minutemen."
Preston laid out the collection of maps and Sturges looked them over for a brief second. He pointed to an "x" just south of Sanctuary. "Abernathy farm has been having some problem with raiders. Seems like they lost one of their own recently. Should handle that one with care." His finger then drifted to another "x" to the east, a few hours walk from their current base of operations. "Some feral ghouls are holed up near Tenpines Bluff, here. If they don't get wiped out soon, the settlers could be overrun." Moving again, he pointed to a spot in the middle of the map. "And County Crossing is complaining about a nest of Supermutants. Not the best assignment, but they definitely need the help."
Cap stayed in silent thought for a moment. "Alright, Twoey, you and Boomer check in on Abernathy Farm. See what you can do. Preston, take Cookie and clear out those ferals. The settlers will know where they are coming from, I'm sure. Hancock and I will make the trek out to County Crossing. Everyone meets back here after you are finished. We will regroup and debrief. Shouldn't take us all more than a day or so to get those jobs done."
Sturges smiled at the group. "Good luck."