Chapter 4: A Slice of DC

[November 2287]

"Hey Nick, nice of you to join me in the Piper Suite!"

Nick Valentine, synth detective extraordinaire, stared impassively at Piper Wright as a Diamond Security guard opened her cell. He lost count of how many times he had to bail his friend from jail - all for public disturbance. Hopefully, this would be Piper's last stint in jail for the foreseeable future - provided things don't get fucked up within the next few months.

"Thanks Ralph." he replied, smiling at the guard.

"No sweat, Nick." Ralph replied, patting him on the back. "After all you've done for us, this is the least we can do."

Pocketing the jail keys, he gave Piper a hard stare. "Out you go, Piper." Ralph announced, motioning with his baton. "Nick ain't got all day - 'specially for all he's doing for you."

"What d'ya mean?" Piper asked, looking confused. "What he talking about Nicky?"

"Thanks again, Ralph." Nick repeated as he walked towards the exit, ignoring the question.

"Hey Nick, wait up! Hey, where's my stuff?" Piper asked, trying to catch up with the synth detective.

"It's in my office, Piper." the detective replied, opening the door for both of them as he stepped out into the glare of Diamond City's flood lights. "I'll explain everything once we're there."

He knew that Piper wanted to know more but she restrained herself as they quickly made their way into the Valentine Detective Agency. 'At least Ellie left the lights on,' Nick thought, thankful to his secretary as he entered. "Sit," Nick ordered, motioning to the armchair before his desk before sitting behind it.

Frowning, Piper followed his ordered before noticing something. "Hey, where's Ellie?"

The Synth Detective didn't answer, his metal hands steepled. He gave the reporter a hard stare. "Tell me, Piper," he asked a minute later, once she started fidgeting. "When was the last time you talked with you sister - and I mean an honest to goodness conversation."

Piper faltered, suddenly looking unsure. 'Good, that should make her start thinking.' "Your sister, Nat, told me it was a month ago - and you talked about work."

"Well, of course-"

"Damnit Piper, do you care more about your work than your sister!" Nick exclaimed, leaning forward. Piper flinched, probably not used to getting screamed by her friends.

"What does this have to do with Nat?"

"EVERYTHING!" he roared, slamming his hands on the desk forcibly.

Piper immediately leaned back, fear in her eyes. "Ni-Nick?"

Nick collapsed on to his chair, wishing he could feel tired like any human. "Nat collapsed earlier today while you were in jail." he revealed, snapping Piper out her shock. "She's fine now, Ellie's taking care of her."

"How-"

"Apparently, there's no food in your house for the past three days." Nick cut, glaring at her. "Because someone was stuck in jail for the same amount of time."

"I-we have a stash of food in our cupboard!"

"Used up two months ago."

"Sh-she knows where the caps-"

"Spent in on giving herself meals last week."

"Why didn't she tell me?" she shouted, looking distraught.

Nick fixed her a flat stare. "You weren't there."

"Wh-what?" she whispered, looking shocked.

"You weren't there, Piper." the synth repeated, softening his voice. "While you were off traveling about looking for the next story, your sister was suffering here all by herself. If this was Pre-War America, you would have been charged with Child Endangerment and Neglect, you'll be in jail while your sister gets stuffed into an orphanage."

'At least the point's being driven home…' Nick thought mildly, seeing the reporter's horrified look. "Thankfully, this isn't Pre-War but unfortunately, you aren't out of the woods yet."

Picking up a folder, he tossed it to Piper and waited for her to finish reading it. Nick could clearly see that she was getting angry at what the documents said, not that he had much of a choice."What the hell is this Nick?" she exclaimed, looking angry. "The Mayor's taking over the paper!"

"The city's taking over the paper, not MacDonough." he corrected, lighting his cigar. "Specifically DSec and my agency - it took some concessions but it was worth it."

He puffed some smoke, not that he would feel the kick of the nicotine. "MacDonough originally wanted to kick you out and place Nat in a foster family. Sullivan and I manage to convince the rest of the council it wasn't a good idea to try and separate family." he stated, getting a snort from the reporter. "Unfortunately, they agree that you're in no condition to take care of your sister - especially after they heard what Nat told me once she woke up."

Nick crossed his arms, giving Piper a hard look. "It was a good thing Sullivan proposed that you do some community service. I even mentioned that it was a standard thing back in Pre-War for situations like this. It took some time but we managed to come to an agreement: you write some stories about the good side of DC and you get Nat and your house back."

She huffed, crossing her arms. "So what, the Publik is now a propaganda piece for MacDonough?" Piper retorted, clearly unhappy.

"Originally, that's what the Mayor wanted," he said, shrugging. "But Sullivan convinced the rest that it would be better if you wrote articles about DSec and the cases they solved."

The woman raised an eyebrow at him, looking unimpressed. "Nick, it was you who solved all those cases."

Flashing her a grin, Nick pulled out a badge and tossed it to her. "Meet Diamond City's first detective, Piper - comes with a badge as well." he said, smirking as she inspected it.

"Hmm…not bad Nick, not bad at all." she replied, a small smile on her face. "So…what happens now?"

"Well…" he began, taking a drag from his cigar. "Valentine Detective Agency gets folded into the DSec as a contractor, meaning I can still take on private jobs but anything Sullivan hands me takes precedence."

"But what happens to Ellie?"

"Sullivan's making her DSec Secretary, as he needs someone to handle the paperwork." he replied before raising his mechanical brow. "Why aren't you writing this down?"

Seeing her confused expression, Nick gave a grin. "Consider this your first story as a DSec Beat Reporter."

'This is the start of a beautiful partnership.' Nick thought, grinning as Piper scrambled for a pad and pencil to write on.

# # # # # # # # # #

[March 2288]

It was March 15, 2288 when Nick and Piper's troubles began.

Before that, it was a peaceful transition as Piper began her Council-mandated community service. Although she still got to see her sister weekly, Ellie had full guardianship over Nat while Nick as Piper's parole officer. The synth could see that Piper was remorseful of her actions, having heard her cry herself to sleep for a month. However, she really placed effort to make sure she would complete the required agreement - too much effort, to be exact.

He and Sullivan had a laugh when they saw the paper a week after her release. Part of the agreement was turning the Publick Occurrences to be more pro-DSec. That way, the city would still be getting news but with a bit of a propaganda flair. The first article, however, was…too zealous in praising DSec - enough to make comparisons with a North Korean newspaper. Thankfully, Piper toned it down in the succeeding articles and while it wasn't BBC material, Nick felt it was enough.

"Hey Piper, Nick here?" he heard Sullivan ask as he went down the stairs.

"I'm here Cap, what do you need?" he answered, walking out of the corridor behind Sullivan.

Although he didn't look the part, Captain Danny Sullivan commanded a lot of respect from the city. It reminded Nick of a much younger (and human) Valentine - focused, driven, and intelligent. In fact, the city's territory expanded thanks to him. He set the Super Mutants and the Alley Raiders against each other, killing the two groups off without DSec butting in.

Once the perimeter was secured, the overpopulated Fielders started moving out into the newly christened "Outer Stand". This allowed the Fields to expand its farmland and relieve the strain on DC's food supply. It also helped that the city was undergoing an economic boom - travelers and caravans were spending more caps, everyone (even the stingy Upper Standers) were paying their taxes, and the surrounding area was free of dangers.

"Missing Person's Case," Sullivan said, handing over a folder with a grim look on his face. "Been gone for a week now."

Nick tsked, reminding him how different Pre- and Post-War police procedures were. Instead of a 24 hour mark, people were only declared missing after a week-long disappearance - something that grated on his nerves. A week gave someone a lot of time to disappear…or hide the evidence. "So who's the POI?" Piper asked, looking eager. Not that Nick could blame her - making pro-DSec articles are only fun for the first few, everything after is boring.

"It's 'who's the vic', not POI." Nick answered, opening the folder. "And it's Earl Sterling, Borbov's bartender."

Piper frowned. "Wait…isn't he the one with a crush on Ellie?"

"Got it in one." Sullivan replied, crossing his arms. "Vadim said Sterling's house was empty and none of the guards saw him leave the city."

Nick frowned. "Piper, head out to Dugout, tell the Borbovs I wanna ask them a few questions. I'll follow you shortly, need to talk with Danny here."

Piper jumped for joy, rushing to grab her coat and left the two men behind. Once they were alone, the synth pointed to an 'i' in the folder. "He ain't in the list?"

Contrary to what the Mayor liked to say, DSec knew Piper's Institute fear mongering had some basis - especially after a guard saw him talk with a black-coated man who then disappeared in a blue flash. After that, DSec started to prepare for the worse - though they had to be discreet about it. It took time, but Sullivan manage to contact the Railroad for help - Railroad would supply anti-eavesdropping devices against Institute bugs and DSec would provide a safehouse for the Railroad to use.

DSec also began profiling DC citizens who were at risk of being kidnapped by the Institute. Thanks to the efforts of Railroad Agent Pam, the DSec had a list of High Value Targets (that the Institute confirmed when they replaced two targets on different occasions). To anyone eavesdropping, DSec could say they were talking about a list of troublemakers - something that had credence since Piper was on the list.

"Yup," he replied, "never appeared."

"Well then," he began as he loaded his Colt Python. He holstered it before putting on his coat and hat. "Looks like we got a regular on hand then."

The DSec captain snorted. "Take care Nick, I'll see you later." Sullivan replied, leaving Nick alone in his office. Once he locked it up, Nick headed to the Dug-Out Inn, reviewing the case he and Piper were dealing with:

Victim's Name: Earl Sterling

Occupation: Dugout Bartender

Age: 34 y.o. (born 2253)

Address: 1st corner 2nd Run streets

Details: Left the Dugout Inn for an early night around 12:30 on January 08, 2278, according to Vadim Borbov. House was empty when Yefin Borbov went to check it with a DSec Guard on January 11, 2287, with no sign of forced entry. Gate Team reports that Victim wasn't spotted leaving or entering the City limits.

"Ah, Nick here's!" an accented voice shouted, drawing the synth detective from his review.

"How are you, Vadim." Nick greeted, tipping his hat as he reached the Dugout Inn. "Piper brought you out?"

The half-Russian shook his head. "Met her outside, said you want to talk." he explained, grinning. "Why don't we go inside hm, let me serve you my latest batch of moonshine."

"Vadim, we've been through this." Nick replied, shuddering as he recalled the last time he drank a newly made moonshine. "I'm not going to be your guinea pig... again."

The bartender laughed. "I ain't talking about that - this is a new moonshine tested before!" he replied as the two entered the bar, heading straight for the bar stand. "No fear of malfunction, trust me."

"No thanks," Nick replied, looking around and seeing Piper talking with Scarlett. Leaning on the bar stand, he gave a Vadim a look. "Anyway, you reported Sterling to be missing."

Vadim sighed, looking tired. "Aye, I did." he replied, shoulders slumping down. "Poor Earl...gone just like that. Such a good bartender, good friend - oh, but terrible with women, mind you. Bull in a china shop with them."

'Nothing new, let's try another route.' "He have any enemies here?" he asked, bringing out a pad and pencil from his coat.

"Hmm…" Vadim hummed, looking thoughtful. "None I think off - unless you count drunkards but I doubt it."

"Right," the synth agreed, writing down No enemies. "Did you hear anything from before he left - like his plans or something."

"Uh...not before he left but he did say something about wanting to change his looks." he replied, looking sheepish. "Thought it was why women don't like him."

Unhappy about his looks - potential reason for disappearance, need to look into, he wrote. "Anything else?"

Scrunching his eyebrows, Vadim was quiet before remembering something. "Ah, he talked with Croaker one time the Docs were here - two weeks back I believe. Had a pretty intense discussion from what I recall."

Croaker and Sterling talked - Former deals with plastic surgery, possible lead. "Thanks Vadim." Nick answered, tipping his hat. "Oh, can I get three grilled radstags with Nuka-Cola?"

# # # # # # # # # #

"You think Croaker had something to do with this?" Ellie asked.

Nick shook his head, glancing at Piper as she laughed at something Nat said. "He's a lead until then."

They were currently inside the Wright Household, overseeing Piper's weekly visit. Since the Council wasn't completely heartless, Piper still got to visit her sister weekly until DSec saw fit to return Nat's guardianship back to her. With Nick as Piper's parole officer, Ellie volunteered as Nat's temporary guardian until Piper's year long service ended.

"Good point," she conceded. She smiled at the scene before them. "How's Piper?"

"If she keeps up her attitude by June, I think I can recommend she get partial guardianship over Nat during the weekends." he revealed, giving Ellie a grin. "As long as she doesn't drive me to an early grave."

Ellie snorted, shaking her head. "Nick, if you can survive a Super Mutant turf war with only a pipe, you can survive anything."

"Only if I have Gen-1 spare parts." he joked, standing up. "Anyway, you take care of the two - I'm heading to Mega Surgery to check on Dr. Croaker."

"Stay safe, Nick!" Ellie called out.

After assuring Piper that it'll be fine, Nick exited the Wright house and headed to Mega Surgery. "Hey Doc, Croaker in?" he asked Sun, Croaker's partner and owner of the medical side of their store.

"Afternoon Detective Valentine." Sun replied, greeting him with a nod. "Unfortunately, he hasn't returned yet. Anything I can help you with?"

"Did you ever see Earl Sterling visit Croaker?" he asked, bringing out his notepad and writing Croaker not present - looks suspicious.

"The Dugout bartender?" Sun clarified, frowning. "No…not that I can remember. Why, has something happened?"

"Person's currently missing, doc." he revealed, noticing a red streak (drag marks from the looks of it) leading away from the cellar. "What's that?"

"The reason why Croaker's not here." he explained, shrugging. "He had to dispose some of the…remnants of his surgery, with some leaking out - in fact, this is the first time within the week he left the cellar."

Nick nodded, though he didn't like Sun's last comment. "Thanks doc - tell Croaker I want to talk to him once he's back."

He headed for Sterling's house, thankful for Vadim giving him a copy of the house key. Arriving at the corner of 1st and 2nd Run, the synth unlocked the door and entered the empty house. "Right," he muttered as he flipped the switch. "Let's find a clue."

Eyes wide open, he activated a subroutine that allowed him to fully scan whatever was in his field of vision. It was one of the few things he liked about being a synth, next to the aiming subroutine he had. 'Gotcha!' he thought, spotting a small slip of paper underneath the sofa. It was invisible to the naked eye, given how well hidden it was. Picking it up, Nick noticed it was a Mega Surgery Center receipt…dated December 27, 2277.

He muttered a curse as he read it:

MEGA SURGERY CENTER Dr. Crocker - Resident Surgeon

1x Reconstruction Surgery - Facial

Total: 500 caps

Down-payment: 200 caps

Procedure to be performed upon clearance of final installment payment.

Patient: Sterling, Earl

'Fucking hell, Sterling really pushed through with the facial reconstruction.' Nick thought, connecting all the evidence so far. 'Vadim said Croaker and Sterling were talking, this must be what they discussed. Sterling pays a down-payment of 200 caps, gathers 300 caps within two weeks. Leaves Dugout with money, heads to Croaker for surgery, something bad happens. Croaker forced to stay cooped up, leaves a week later. Same time as the case began - cellar holds evidence, for sure.'

Bursting out of the house, he ran towards Mega Surgery. "DOC!" the detective screamed, startling Sun and a patient. "Open your cellar now!"

Complying, Sun unlocked it for him as Nick brought out his Python and a flashlight. Cocking it, Nick jumped down and flashed his light around. The room was a sanitary nightmare: dirt walls, bloody tools, and unclean chains hanging from the ceiling. Spotting a refrigerator near the back, the synth detective crept towards it, wary of any potential trap. Spotting none, pulled it opened - revealing the severed head of Earl Sterling, battered and bruised with cut marks all over. "Fuck…" he cursed, holstering his weapon.

Climbing out of the cellar, the synth noticed a crowd forming around the center. From the looks of it, the mayor was involved, talking with Sullivan as Piper was asking Sun some questions. "Nick!" Piper exclaimed, helping him up the ladder. "What happened?"

"Sterling's dead," Nick stated as MacDonough and Sullivan arrived. "He paid for a facial reconstruction service. Somehow Croaker fucked up, causing his death."

"How sure are you Sterling's dead?" the mayor countered, raising his brow. "I mean…what's your evidence?"

"Oh I don't know, does his severed head count?" Nick snarked back, causing the three to pale. Pushing him aside, he walked towards Sun. "Doc, where does Croaker dispose his surgery trash?"

"Uh…near the tracks by Hardware Town," the doctor replied. "There's a pond there where he digs a hole and dumps it there."

Nick didn't reply, bringing out his Python and checked his ammo. "Piper, get your gun." he ordered, satisfied he had three moon clips. "Southward clear, Sullivan?"

"Just yesterday," the DSec captain replied, folding his arms. "Sandy, Burns, go with those two."

Saluting, the four immediately head towards the gate. "Alright, you three watch my back." Nick ordered as they exited the gate. "Let me handle Croaker, got it?"

He heard a round of affirmatives before waving them to quiet down as they neared the tracks. Sure enough, Croaker was there with a shovel on hand and a sack with an arm sticking out. "Hey doc, what d'ya got there?" the detective shouted, weapon on hand as his companions spread out around him.

"Oh Earl, you've...you've really been a handful, you know?" Croaker muttered as he kept on digging, not realizing he was surrounded. "But I think we're just about done - our little mistake is finally going to be...corrected."

"Take it easy, doc." he tried again, a bit louder. This time Croaker heard him, twisting to face him. "Let's talk about Earl, hm?"

Startled, the surgeon dropped his shovel and pulled out a gun. "Oh, naughty, naughty!" Croaker replied, looking crazy. He waggled his finger, randomly pointing his gun at everyone. "You're not supposed to be here…but that's okay - I can fix that, I can fix anything!"

He bit back a curse. 'Croaker's completely gone, need to take him down quickly.' Nick thought, recalling the time he had to talk down an asylum escapee with a hostage. Thankfully, they got the hostage out and captured the nutcase but damn, it took over four hours just for it to finish. "You made a mistake, but you can still do the right thing, doc - just think this through."

"I didn't mean to do it - you have to believe me! Doc Crocker is a brilliant surgeon. No one dies under his care - no one!" he rambled, shaking with eyes darting about. "They just walk away happy - happy with my work, happy with their new face. Not screaming, not bleeding out on the floor."

"Croaker…" the synth warned, eyeing the pipe revolver pointed towards him. "Why don't you lower the gun and let's talk about it."

The crazy surgeon became calm, worrying the detective. "There's nothing to talk about because I'm going to make things right - make things better!" he exclaimed, pointing the barrel to his head and pulled the trigger. Nick swore loudly as Croaker fell to the ground, head blown up by the revolver.

"Fuckin' hell…" Sandy muttered as his companions converged towards him.

"Well…" Piper began, peeking into the sack and grimacing. "We now know where Earl's body is."

Sighing, Nick crouched before the dead body as he brought out a cigar from his coat. "One thing's for sure," he said dryly, liting up the cigar and puffing it. "Croaker won't be fixing anybody's face anytime soon."

# # # # # # # # # #

It was a Saturday morning after the Sterling Case was closed, the two catching up on their respective paperwork - a news article and a police report, respectively. Thankfully, there wasn't a huge backlash from the case's fallout (except for the complaints on Croaker's replacement). "There's one thing I don't get," Piper began, pausing from her transcription of the case. "What made Croaker snap like that?"

Laying down his pen, the synth turned to Piper. "I'm no profiler, even during my Pre-War life. If I had to hazard a guess, it'll be because Croaker's has OCD." he replied.

And wasn't that a surprise - upon entering his office, Nick was surprised at how orderly Croaker's stuff was. Every drawer was properly labeled, it's contents packed away neatly; his tools arranged in alphabetical order, cleaned and vacuumed sealed - even the pictures of patients had comments on how much Croaker wanted to change, add, or remove.

"So he was a perfectionist?"

Nick shook his head. "There's a difference - perfectionists try to keep things orderly. Obsessive-compulsive disorder, on the other hand, literally wants order." he explained, trying to get his point across. It was a shame mental health awareness took a back dive during the Post-War era. "Croaker wanted things to be perfect - down to the smallest of details. From the look of Sterling's face, I guessed Croaker was driven nuts trying to make his face perfect."

"So...Croaker went wacko cuz it wasn't up to standards." Piper clarified, giving him a questioning look.

The synth sighed, nodding. "That's one way to put it…" he replied before going back to his report, Piper following his lead.

Moments later, Nick heard someone knock on the agency's door. "Door's open, let yourself in!" he shouted, looking up. "How can I - Deegan, what are you doing here?"

Edward Deegan was an old friend of Nick - Pre-War Nick to be exact. The two met in the Boston Police Academy and struck a strong friendship, even after being assigned to different precincts. Unfortunately, Deegan was heavily wound that he was given a medical discharge. Thankfully, he got work as a bodyguard for the Cabot family (who at that time was looking for one).

After the bombs fell, the two didn't see each other until Deegan rescued Nick from the L&L Gang, an anti-Synth raider group. It was a hell of a meeting but the two understood each other - Deegan was scared and forever a ghoul while Nick wasn't sure if he was still the "real" Nick. It took some time, but the two rekindled their friendship and it was a nice change to reminisce with someone from the past.

"Can't I say hi to an old friend?" the ghoul rasped, giving off a mischievous look. Nick gave his friend a deadpan look. "Fine…you got me. I need your help - Emogene is missing again."


Awesome Notes & Notifications:

HELLO EVERYONE, I'M BACK!

I know I said January 15, 2020 but since I've updated my Publishing Schedule, I'm posting a new chapter every three months. This allows me to create enough backlog of chapters without sacrificing the delay in writing a new chapter every time I upload one.

Regarding the story,I hope you don't mind the skip to Diamond City. While most - if not all - authors on Fallout always writes the story from the MC POV, I decided to breakdown the POVs among the companions. This way, the focus won't always be on the Adams as they meet up with the game companions. Rather, we will be seeing concurrent events overlapping with each other (Railroad story line mixing in with the DC story line; MM + RR team ups; etc.).

Don't worry, everyone will come together - how they come together will be another story. But for now, let's enjoy the introduction of our dear Synth Detective and his Reporter Assistant as they scour the wasteland, solving cases and writing stories for the Diamond City residents!

Leave a review, constructive criticism, or comment!


NEXT: The Case of the Mysterious Cabot Family (May 09, 2020)