On the Road Again

"Wow, Pip," Piper exclaimed as I wound down my tale a little while later, "If that's the truth..."

"It is," MacCready growled. He hovered near my chair, leaning against Valentine's desk and ostentatiously cleaning his fingernails with his combat knife. For his part, the detective stayed quietly in the background.

"Which I don't doubt," she added hastily, eyeing the flashing blade. "True as your story is, I couldn't print it anyway. No one would believe it." She had initially taken out her notebook, a force of habit, but it went unused the moment the phrase "transported from my world to here" passed my lips. "Damn. The timing of your escape from the Institute and McDonough's visit to my news stand is too perfect to be mere coincidence. And why would he suddenly have an interest in detaining you? You hadn't been anywhere near Diamond City in weeks!"

"It does sound suspicious." Nick Valentine had been intently listening to our conversation while he flipped through a seemingly bottomless pile of folders. "Heh, looks like you have your work cut out for you, Piper. Solid knowledge, but no tangible proof. If you do try to expose our 'dear' Mayor as an Institute agent, be very careful. Let me know if I can help. Diamond City could sure use a wake up call in the 'tolerance towards non-humans' department."

"Thanks, Nick!" Piper stood up and retrieved her unused notebook. "I, uh..." Her gaze swept from me over to MacCready and she shook her head slightly. "Never mind. I guess I'll be going now. Maybe I can 'forget' to put that notice in the next issue. Or lose it entirely." She gave me a small smile. "If the Mayor wants to detain you, I'll do what I can to make sure he doesn't."

"Sounds good, Piper. I would appreciate it a lot. Good luck with your governmental overthrow of the city!" That comment teased a laugh out of the reporter as she breezed past Ellie and out the door.

Valentine spoke up as soon as the door shut behind her. "That was a heck of a story." He tapped a handful of folders against the desk to straighten them. "And it helps me with a problem I've been trying to solve. People have been going missing. You said the Institute was essentially trapped underground for the last week or so, barring agents already on the surface?"

I nodded. "Our, ah, 'friends' (I hadn't mentioned the Railroad by name) managed to wipe out their matter transmission data... until two days ago. They're back up and running now according to the latest intel."

"That's too bad," Nick commented dryly. "I wouldn't have minded them languishing below ground for the rest of eternity, trapped in their own personal purgatory."

"Hell would be more appropriate." MacCready's sardonic comment joined the discussion. "Kidnapping? Tearing families apart? They all deserve to rot." He frowned fiercely, re-sheathing the knife on his belt.

Nick wasn't about to be derailed, though. "If they were unable to transport back and forth, it means the most recent disappearances can't have been the work of the Institute... and probably some of the older ones as well." He fished out a file from his desk drawer, opening it to scan the contents. "Huh, it makes more sense if it were a local group, after all."

"What are you talking about, Nick?" I asked, my curiosity piqued by his cryptic commentary. "What disappearances?" MacCready moved behind me, peering over my shoulder at Valentine's desk.

"Like I said, people are being kidnapped, and it's not just the types that would usually be of interest to the Institute." He paused to look up at both of us. "I normally handle only a few 'missing persons' cases a year, but the number of abductions has spiked in the last couple of months."

He sighed, pushing his chair over to his computer and typing rapidly. "Your information about the takedown of the Institute's transport system eliminates them from consideration in this case. And if it hadn't been for Hancock asking me to check around for some of his residents who had mysteriously disappeared and providing me with some top-notch detective work on his own, I never would have pieced together the larger story."

"We've been around and about the greater Commonwealth for the last six months," I said, feeling my guts twist at the news. "Why didn't you ask us to keep an eye out for you? We owe you that, at least."

"Partly because you didn't stop in Diamond City very often when I was around," Nick countered, finishing up his typed report and ejecting the data disk. "But mostly it was because you had your own personal issues to deal with. You were trying to get back home to your own world." He paused with the disk grasped lightly in his fingers. "How's that going, by the way? We got rather distracted when I asked you before."

"Going back to my world?" I answered, shrugging, "It's not. I'm staying here." Three words that, instead of changing my life this time, solidified my resolve instead. "I've made my decision." I hoped the flat statement of fact would deter him from any further questions. And there's so much else going on here that's bigger than me. I want to help if I can.

"Have you, now?" The yellow eyes flicked from me to MacCready and back again. "I see." A small smile creased the tattered gray flesh of his face. "Well, if you're staying, maybe you two could help me get this message to Hancock." He waved the small orange disk file meaningfully. "After today's excitement, it might be better if I didn't leave the office for a while."

MacCready gave me a gentle nudge and I moved aside to let him take over. "Hiring our services, Valentine? Let's talk."

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Ellie, who was holding a pair of scissors. "When you cut your hair," she began tentatively, "you must've had it tied back. It's less obvious since it's so curly, but it's crooked. I know the men probably won't even notice," she said with a smile, "but if you'd like me to even it out a bit... make it look more styled..."

I answered her smile with a grateful one of my own. "Please! ...and thank you."

-0-

MacCready and I strolled along the main path from Diamond City towards Goodneighbor. Our weapons were loosely at the ready, fully loaded and prepared for any obstacles to come our way. It felt good to be out and about, on the road again. I never would have imagined it, but MacCready's fondness for traveling around the Commonwealth was growing on me. Not, I thought wryly, giving him a loving glance, to the extent that he enjoys moving around, but it's not bad, especially this time of year. I wouldn't mind having our own place, though, but I have a plan...

I took the time to just experience the world around me, fresh with the decision to stay in the Commonwealth. My eyes scanned the deserted buildings and piles of rotting debris, ears alert for any noise to find, identify, and categorize it. My nose still caught traces of the pervasive metallic scent in the air, which I now knew was the odor of ever-present background radiation, but I was increasingly able to filter that out to catch the varied odors dancing in the light breeze. This is my world now, I thought determinedly. I want to know everything I can about living here.

Mac paced beside me, falling into his normal lanky stride, if a little slower than usual. True to his word, he had changed back into his habitual green and brown as soon as we found a secluded corner outside Diamond City. I took the same opportunity to reattach my Pip-Boy, surprised at how much better I felt with the device back in its proper place on my arm. Leaving the city was simplicity itself as the guards had been mopping up the aftermath of gunning down one of their own citizens in the center marketplace. They were focused on calming the populace, not stopping a pair of "traders" walking out the main gate. Even when backed by a supposedly "superior" evil organization, I thought sardonically, human bureaucracy and political strife is still exploitable. I couldn't help feeling a certain smug pleasure at our successful ruse.

As we walked along, I caught my partner occasionally glancing at me with a tiny smile teasing the corner of his lips. At first I merely smiled back, matching his agreeable mood, but eventually I just had to know what he was smiling about. "Your thoughts?"

"Don't mind this hike." He gestured to the relatively flat, easy path we were following, and the crisp blue sky overhead. It was cool still, perfect weather for traveling across the ruined city. "Helps, being in such good company." The smile widened to a broad grin as I felt my face heat up in response to his flirtatious addition. Chuckling, he bumped his shoulder against mine affectionately and resumed his not-quite-languid stroll.

We had reached about the halfway point between Diamond City and Goodneighbor when MacCready gestured for us to stop, moving towards a partially blocked alleyway. "Trouble up ahead, Boss," he warned.

I nodded, checking my rifle. "What do you see?"

He grumbled under his breath, peering through his scope at the junction farther down the street. It sounded a little like cursing without actually using any curse words. He frowned, gripping the scope tightly.

"MacCready?"

"Damn raiders have set up another one of their oh-so-clever toll roads." He leaned back against the wall to reattach his scope. "Every so often they block one of the caravan routes and demand payment to go past."

"That's ridiculous!" I scoffed. "Especially since it was the two of us who cleared the ferals from this stretch if I remember correctly."

He blinked in surprised remembrance. "It was, wasn't it?" Pulling his cap down to shade his eyes, he stretched out on his belly, bracing his sniper rifle on a chunk of blasted concrete. "This'll teach 'em to take credit for someone else's work."

I peered around the corner as subtly as I could while my partner set himself up to snipe. There were only a couple of figures standing near a barricade with an obvious stop bar leveled across the road. Both were holding long-barreled weapons, but were standing at ease. Slightly behind the bar lay a wooden pallet, haphazardly covering what used to be the manhole entrance to the sewers. I didn't see any shelters or obvious sleeping arrangements. I think they're using the sewers as a base of operations, and I'll also bet there's more than just the two I can see.

My stomach lurched slightly when I realized the raiders were humans. Ferals and Super Mutants were one thing, but humans, sentient Ghouls, and even the Gen 3 Synths (if indeed we had fought any) were something else. I shook my head, thinking hard. Crouching down, I tapped MacCready on the shoulder.

"What's up?" My partner raised his head.

"You said they demand a toll from travelers?"

He nodded, looking a little perplexed at my question. "Yeah. They don't let you pass otherwise."

"So they won't immediately fire on anyone who approaches." I looked up the street at the two raiders.

"No." MacCready shuffled a little to face me better. "Why?"

"I want to talk to them first."

"What?!" he hissed, sitting up to pin me with a gimlet stare. "Are you crazy?"

"Mac, those are people. I want to at least try to talk them out of this path. Maybe even get them to join a settlement or something." I could tell by the stony expression on his face that he thought I was nuts. "Call it my compassionate nature."

A quiet groan was my initial answer. "Those raiders set up that toll road because they're lazy. It's the easiest scam going- threaten travelers and traders for caps. They aren't going to want to work at farming." MacCready spoke confidently, and I believed him, but I couldn't just… murder people without a good reason.

I nodded. "You're right, but I still want to try." At his skeptically angry look, I added quickly. "Besides, did you see the pallet over the manhole? I'll bet you caps they've got a base down there."

"How many caps?" The sudden light in his eyes called forth a grin on my face.

I plucked a grenade from his belt, shouldering my rifle for the time being as I palmed the explosive, removing the butterfly clip. "Let's say... 100 caps if there's more of them inside the sewers. 150 if they have any goodies."

MacCready looked a little green at the amount, but nodded. "Deal. We pool our caps together anyway. What's the grenade for? I thought you couldn't throw."

"I can't. This is Plan B." At his inquisitive head tilt, I explained. "You see, I have the best gun in the Commonwealth backing me up in case things go south. But, not even he can hit a target that's underground." A sage nod and a thoughtful frown. "If we absolutely have to, you take out the two at the barrier, and I roll this little baby," and I mimed tossing the grenade, "into the manhole."

"Risky, Boss." He grabbed my free hand. "You could get hurt."

"You're right," I agreed, squeezing his hand affectionately. "I don't want to get hurt. But I also don't want to indiscriminately kill sentient people without proof of wrongdoing."

MacCready rolled his eyes. "There you go again, looking for the good in people that just isn't there. Boss, these are raiders. They set up a toll road in the middle of the caravan path through the city! They're extorting honest travelers! What other proof do you need?"

I sighed. Mac's right, I know he's right. But I can't help but think if these people were only offered a better way, they'd take it. "Promise you'll let me talk to them first? Then when things go south," and they inevitably will, "we can take them out with a clean conscience. Clear case of self-defense."

"I promise, angel." He reached up to caress my cheek. "I think this is a bad idea, but I have your back, okay?" he murmured quietly. "If nothing else, you can say you tried... and I can say 'I told you so' over and over again as we loot the place." He gave me a mischievous grin. "You do make a wonderful distraction for my sniping."

I leaned down and we pressed our foreheads together, a quick intimate gesture. "I love you, dear sniper of mine."

"Love you too, crazy hopeful lady." He settled back down into the scattered rubble of the alley, sighting his rifle on the barricade. "Just be careful. I don't think I could stand seeing you injured."