It wasn't hard to convince Nick, Travis, and Danny to get in on the plan on fuck up Bobby Deluca. Nick, of course, wanted a full-on trial-style for Bobby, but dropped that idea when he took note of the murderous gleam in Hancock's eye. He recognized that there wasn't going to be much room to reason with his friend about this. He just had to hope Hancock could restrain himself long enough to convince the Overseer of Vault 81 to agree that Deluca deserved punishment.

The trip down to the Atom Cat's garage was a bit slower and more tedious. For one, they only had Nora's directions to go by. Secondly, the Gunners in Quincy were definitely a reason to stay alert, slow, and low. None of them were prepared for a massive gunfight because they were traveling light. However, when they did finally reach the garage, they were met with blazing hot enthusiasm to kick ass.

"So, you're tellin' us that snake did a number on Bet?" Zeke commented crossly once the gang had heard the story. "Whatchya think about this, Cats?"

Roxy rubbed hard at her eyes. "I say we fuck up that Clyde's day in a major way." She popped the collar of her jacket and fingered the switchblade in her pocket.

Duke, Johnny D., and Bluejay all had a murderous vibe coming from them. Bluejay cracked his knuckles over and over, while Johnny D. grumbled to himself. "That shit's fucked up, man." Duke spoke up with an edge to his voice that would've made a razor jealous. "Anyone that messes with a Cat gets the claws. Let's tear him a new asshole."

"Hey, now Cats, let's be reasonable." Zeke cut in with a wily smile. "Let's tear him several new assholes, so he gets to choose which one he wants to use to shit himself." He grinned widely at Hancock. "I don't wanna go mushy on ya, but Bet couldn't have roped herself a better guy." He shook hands with the mayor. "You didn't have to come all the way here to get us on the up and up. Personally, I can't wait to pound that nosebleed into the pavement. I call dibs on the second round of layin' into him."

With the Atom Cats entirely onboard, Nick Valentine took Hancock aside and decided that now was the best time to have the discussion he'd been planning out since Hancock picked him up from Diamond City. "Listen, Hancock, I know you care for Bet." He began prudently. "I just want to prepare you on how to deal with this in a way that won't upset the burgeoning relationship between the two of you." He took a draw from his cigarette and continued. "I took on a lot of domestic dispute, domestic violence, and other such cases back in the day…well, the other Nick did the majority, but there've been a few in the past years for me, too. I've seen women who've taken beatings so bad they can hardly walk crawl back to their abusers on their hands and knees and, all the while, begging to be forgiven for perceived slights. Hancock…John…does Bet know what you're planning to do and, more importantly, is she okay with it?"

"Yeah, she knows, but as for the other part-" Hancock rubbed at his jaw and scowled. "When she went back to Vault 81 to get some stuff from her granddad, I couldn't help myself. He was hurtin' her again, so I beat the fucker to a pulp. She wasn't happy with me, to say the least, and said she was pissed because the guards might have killed me, but it was always at the back of my mind that she might still love 'im. It kills me 'cause I still don't know if she wants to protect him from me because there's still a part of her that loves him or if she's really afraid they'd execute me."

Nick nodded somberly and ground out the butt of his first cigarette, only to light up a second. "Hancock, you've got my sympathy, but you've got to know that working with battered women is an uphill battle. I can't say if she loves him or not, but I do know that women in her situation typically run back to their abusers out of terror and not out of actual love for them. She's probably terrified he'd somehow survive, and with you dead, who'd protect her from him?" He sighed at his friend's confused expression. "I know it sounds illogical, but the fear he's instilled in her isn't something that can be fixed overnight. She can't help it right now, but maybe she could get better if you're patient and if…" He paused and looked him in the eye, his amber eyes glowed in the darkness like twin suns. "If you love her enough to stick it through, she'll have bad days and good days, even a few days that are in-between, and she'll need you every second of it. Do you think you can do that? If you can't, I can't let you take this any further." He planted his feet firmly on the ground and steeled himself to hear Hancock out.

The mayor adjusted his frock coat. "I can do it."

Nick cocked his head to the side. "That isn't a full answer, John, and you know it. I think you're afraid to say it, but I can see it. I just need to hear it and I'll do everything I can to help you get your justice from Bobby DeLuca."

Hancock pulled his tricorn down low over his face and turned about-face. "I dunno, Nick, I want to, but sayin' it is just…" He whirled around and his coat whipped about his boots with the sudden motion. "What if it's not like that for her?" A rare show of his hidden insecurities strangled his words into a mumbled, desperate mess.

Nick sighed and pushed his hands into his pockets. "Three words, John, but no one should say them lightly." He shook his head. "I know you can do this, and you know I wouldn't make it a stipulation if I didn't think you were capable or if you didn't truly feel it."

Hancock paced back and forth. Every single memory he had of Bet flashed in his mind's eye; their first encounter down in Vault 81, their trouble with raiders and how the first time she'd ever shot a gun was to save his life, all of the time spent gathering junk for her still, all of the times he'd pulled out every stop just to hear her laugh and see her smile, and the first time he realized she'd never flinched away from him the way she did everyone else. "Nick, I think I love her." He said in a quiet, awed voice. "No, I know I love her and I'll try my damnedest to earn hers in return, regardless of what happens to that little Deluca shit."

Nick beamed proudly at him. "There you go, kid. Now, let's round up the boys and head on over to that vault."

Traveling in power armor does make everything a hell of a lot easier, and they made a good time across the Commonwealth. Travelling in groups was typically dangerous if one didn't have enough manpower and guns to fend off the rabble-rousers, but power armor made all the difference. Raiders barely bothered them, but they stood no chance when they did. It sped up the trip by about three days and they were standing outside the vault by the middle of the second week out of the garage.

Hancock led the way, but Nick was right on his heels. He pressed the speaker button just outside the vault door. "This is Nick Valentine, Nora's husband, and I'm coming in with a group to discuss an urgent matter with the Overseer."

A familiar voice came over the loudspeaker. "This is the Overseer, I can see you have the ghoul who nearly beat Bobby DeLuca to death for seemingly no reason. I'm not letting any of your group in unless I get an explanation for that."

"I'll tell 'er." Hancock interjected in a loud voice. "Yeah, I fucked him up, but did you know how he was treatin' Bet? I caught 'im pushin' and slingin' her around, but that's not the only shit he pulled. Did any of your people know he was beatin' her within an inch of her life every chance he got?"

"Betty Stillwater?" The Overseer was obviously making quite the effort to sound surprised. "I was under the impression that queer girl left him to chase sin in the Commonwealth."

Nick shouldered Hancock aside before his temper got the better of him and the chance they had at getting Deluca was literally shut down. "Well, I'm afraid you were misinformed, ma'am. In any case, we aren't here to debate the circumstances around her departure. We're here on Bet's behalf to request that Bobby DeLuca is punished for his abuse."

"What proof do you have beyond a ghoul witness and the word of a half-wit girl?" The Overseer asked demandingly.

Valentine's thin lips turned down in a severe frown."Well, she did claim that several years ago she and Bobby were having an argument and she admitted he pushed her down a set of stairs. She broke her wrist and her leg. Would I be wrong in assuming that would be in her medical records?" Nick asked calmly, though he was frowning and obviously a little disconcerted by the Overseer's lack of concern or knowledge of what had occurred under her prideful nose. "Also, she probably would have gone to the doctor with frequent, unexplained injuries; perhaps cuts or bruises, and the occasional black eye or split lip."

"Fine, I will look into it. However, if there is nothing of concern, I suggest you should all leave." The Overseer left them with only silence to accompany them.

"Can you believe that? This broad's determined to give us the royal shaft!" Zeke exclaimed from behind Hancock.

Travis chimed in and he sounded uncharacteristically angry. "This…this is bullshit, man." He was shaking like someone had dumped ice water on his head. Danny caught Travis's eye and made a motion that clearly said Travis needed to calm down. Travis turned away, frowning, but refrained from saying anything else. Nick shot Danny a grateful look; at least he knew that rash behavior was the absolute last thing needed in such a sensitive case.

Which is why, Nick thought to himself with a mental sigh, Hancock shouldn't have even come. John 'Hancock' McDonough was practically the king of rash and impulsive behavior. To be fair, Hancock also had a good amount of control and a substantially long fuse, but to be even fairer, that long fuse led to 180 pounds of ghoulified dynamite. The Cats weren't exactly thinking clearly either, Nick could plainly see their homicidal intentions, and so it looked as if it were up to him and Danny to keep cool heads. He glanced at Hancock again, who had lit up a cigarette and was clenching the filter between gritted teeth, and hoped he could talk the man down if he got riled up again.

Everyone waited anxiously for the Overseer to answer, but they all stood there for the better part of an hour. Hancock had started pacing, Travis had sat down on the cavern floor with his head against the wall, and meanwhile, Danny kept tapping his fingers rhythmically against the metal railing to the tune of 'Atom Bomb Baby'. Zeke and the rest of the Cats kept their cool, but were muttering amongst themselves and Nick could occasionally catch snatches of conversation that sounded suspiciously like they were plotting Bobby's painful demise. Nick rubbed at the spot between his eyebrows and then at his temples; it was just a habit, but he felt he needed to do something or he would short-circuit.

They all jumped as static loudly buzzed over the intercom. "I've read over Ms. Stillwater's file and…" She paused with a defeated sigh. "It seems you were right, Mr. Valentine. The doctor himself admitted that he suspected something was wrong for a long time, but he felt it wasn't his place to mention it. Given this evidence, the doctor's testimonial affirming the records to be correct, and Deluca's well-known history of severe drug addiction, I believe your claims to be true."

"What actions do you intend to take?" Nick inquired sternly.

The Overseer answered immediately. "We can no longer abide Deluca's presence in Vault 81. He was directly responsible for a young child's nearly fatal encounter with a mole rat and now we have solid proof that he has violent tendencies. He is a danger to everyone here, but our laws forbid us to resort to execution, except in the case of murder, so he is exiled from the vault. He will be exiting Vault 81 now and you may do with him as you please or leave him to his own devices. He is no longer my concern."

The vault door opened its great metal maw with a sound akin to steel teeth gnashing together. A handful of guards marched from its jaws on a grated tongue. They said nothing at all to the outsiders, but simply waited at the vault entrance. Finally, faint struggling and shouting could be heard. Deluca soon came into view with his arms secured behind his back and with a guard on both sides. They forced him forward with little effort, despite the fact that he appeared to be struggling with everything he had.

Nick noticed that Hancock had gone completely, dangerously still with a frozen snarl on his lips. "Not yet." He hissed in a tense whisper. Hancock didn't make any sign that he'd even heard his old friend, but he did keep himself from closing the distance to Deluca.

Bobby was thrown on to his knees outside the vault door and there was a sheer terror in his eyes when he recognized who was waiting for him. One of the guards, who had grown up with both Bobby and Bet, scowled at him. "Sucks to be you, man." He said indifferently in reply to Bobby's pleading. He and the other guards left without another word.

Bobby's shoulders shook and snot ran down over the side of his lips. Zeke frowned. "Our Bet got beat on the reg by this wet rag? Sheesh, I can hardly believe it!" He shook his head. He smirked in Hancock's direction. "Well, let's get these cuffs off him-"

"Leave them on." He said sharply. "This isn't about a fair fuckin' fight or some kind of noble bullshit. I want this little shitstain to feel every bit as helpless and afraid as he made my baby feel. He needs to feel just as trapped and just as goddamned humiliated."

"Hancock," Nick said in a warning voice. "Think for a moment about what you're doing. This isn't some raider or Brotherhood asshat."

Hancock's eyes flicked over to Nick. "I know." Valentine actually took a step back because the pure rage in his friend's voice was nearly a physical force in and of itself. He'd never heard the man become truly angry; annoyed, frustrated, and even a bit pissy, but never anything on this level.

"Wait!" Confused, they all turned at the sound of a familiar voice. Bet clambered unsteadily down from the mouth of the man-made cave and she panted heavily in an effort to catch her breath.

Hancock left Nick's side to go to her. "I told you to stay back in Goodneighbor." Like flipping a switch, he went from homicidal to gently chiding her. "Have you been following us this entire time?" He looked her over for any sign of harm, but she seemed to have done well on her own. A swell of pride rushed up in him and he gripped her shoulder. "How did ya manage sneaking behind us like that? Do you need anything?" He grabbed his pack and withdrew a canister of water to push into her hands. "I'd be upset if I weren't so goddamn impressed." He grinned at her, but the expression vanished without a trace when he read the somber look on her face.

"I snuck out not long after you left with Fahrenheit. Don't be mad at the Watch. I told them I was going to use the bathroom. I dropped by my place and got some road supplies before heading out, so I don't need anything. I only need you to just hear me out on this. At first, I wanted to cut you all off before you got here, but the time on my own made me realize something." She sighed and couldn't meet his eyes. "It's about time I finally face my own demons, John. If I'm strong enough now to take out raiders, Gunners, super mutants, and to track all of you guys halfway across the Commonwealth, then I'm fairly certain that I can handle this on my own." She was shaking a little and her breathing was coming in tiny gasps, but she closed her eyes before taking a deep breath to steady herself and she walked right up to where Bobby sat on his knees. She knelt beside him and looked him in the eye. Every instinct in her body wanted her to flee from him, despite the fact that he was handcuffed and surrounded by people who were very ready to kill him if he tried anything. Fear rolled in her gut, but she shoved it down, swallowed it and pretended it wasn't there. "I used to actually love you." She admitted, although the words left a bilious flavor on her tongue like the bitter aftertaste of vomit. "You twisted me up inside and used my love for you to make me hate myself. You took away everything that made me happy until all I knew was you." She gritted her teeth.

"Betty, I promise it'll be different if you tell your friends to let me go." He smiled at her. "They can't make you happy. Only I can make you happy."

"Don't call me that!" She snapped at him in a suddenly vicious outburst. Yet, she almost immediately forced herself to calm back down and tempered it down to a glare. "I hate that name. My name is Bet."

He shrugged weakly. "Sure, sure, whatever you want, but you're not really going to let them kill me. Are you, sweetie?" When he smiled, it was as slick as oil on ice. "Not after all the good times we had, right? Remember all those nights we spent talking about our future together?" Bet was silent and Bobby slid his gaze over her head to silently stare at Hancock with a hint of triumph. "You're not going to choose him over me, are you?" His words were honeyed poison.

Bet's eyes flew up to meet Bobby's and the words were out before she had the chance to think. "Him." Her voice grew stronger. "It'll always be him over anyone else, including you…especially you. You have no place in my life and no right to steal my happiness anymore. This is the end of it, Bobby. I'm ending it this time because I don't need you anymore. I love John because I may not need him, but I will always want him."

Bobby's deceitfully sweet tone changed in mere moments. "You bitch!" He lunged forward, but she hopped out of the way and he only succeeded in face-planting in the dirt. He writhed on the ground while she backed away with a disgusted expression. "I hope your cunt rots off, you dirty, ghoul-fucking, whore!"

She glanced at her friends and blinked before a smile slowly spread. "I've said my piece, so you guys can do whatever. I'll wait outside, though, because I'm feeling kind of nauseous." Her nerves were finally getting the better of her and she could feel her lunch attempting to make a second appearance.

Nick decided he didn't feel like bearing witness to whatever that sadistic glint in Hancock's eyes was hinting at. Danny and Travis followed suit, although Travis gave Hancock an encouraging thumbs-up. Surprisingly, Bluejay came out, too. He exited his power armor and put an arm around Bet. "You three mind if we have a private chat?" He asked politely.

He led Bet a little ways off, but only just out of earshot. He rubbed his face self-consciously and sighed. "I never got around to tellin' you what happened to my face, did I?" She shook her head.

The oldest Atom Cat smiled ruefully. "When I was a kid, my family's farm was attacked by raiders. They killed my parents, raped my oldest sister and then slit her throat. They said it was because my parents couldn't pay their monthly tribute, so they'd come to 'teach 'em' a lesson' and get their money back by selling me into slavery. Of course, I tried to run away, because I thought they'd just kill me if I got caught and I didn't much care if they did." He let out a slow breath. "Well, they caught me, but they didn't kill me. Instead, they carved up my face like a slab of Brahmin steak. I got away the second time I tried to run off, but the scars will always be here."

Horrified, she looked at him with sad eyes. "I…I..that's terrible. I'm so sorry that happened to you!"

He smiled a little and shrugged his shoulders. "It's all good. Yeah, it's sad, but I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for these scars." She stared at him with mild confusion and he chuckled. "I'm crap at this 'inspirational speech' kind of stuff. What I'm trying to say is that your scars don't define you; you define your scars. Those marks that piece of cockrust left on you are nothing to be embarrassed about."

"John…he told you…" She mumbled meekly.

Bluejay pursed his lips. "Well, technically, he told the Overseer, but we were all there, so…yeah, I guess. I just wanted to let you know that no one thinks less of you. I know you and I never really got the chance to talk a lot while you were in the garage, but you never struck me as a coward or a weakling. I don't know why you'd feel like that, but maybe that's a failing on our part. You're part of the Cats, Bet, and a couple of scars won't change that." He reached over and popped the collar of her leather jacket. "Do you think our guys are done with him yet?" He glanced back over toward Nick and the other two.

The pair rejoined them, but none of the others had come out of the cave yet. They couldn't hear anything, but none of them felt like going in there. "Nick…" The synth detective pinned her with a questioning stare. "Is it wrong…to…you know…feel nothing?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, doll." He knew exactly what she meant, but the point of the matter was that she'd said before that she wanted to face her demons. So, he was giving her the chance to face them and the best way to do that was to speak of them aloud.

Her gaze darted toward the cavern and back to him. "I don't care what happens to Bobby. It's not that I want him to die, but," She sighed heavily. "I don't really care if he does or he doesn't. Does that make me a bad person?"

Nick rolled his cigarette into the corner of his mouth. "No, it doesn't make you a bad person." He eyed her for a moment. "You know, doll, I'd like to think I'm a decent judge of character and I think you're a far sight from being a bad person. You've got your faults like anyone else, but you're not a bad person. Personally, I think you did the bravest thing I've seen in a long time." And then he tacked on as an afterthought. "Although, I don't think it was the smartest thing to follow us out here alone."

Upon being reminded of what she'd said to Bobby, she paled. "Oh no." She seemed stricken by a sudden apprehension.

Nick raised an eyebrow at her and she bit her lip. "I said I loved him." She squeaked in a mortified voice. "How do you think he'll take that?!"

Nick laughed and shook his head. "Did you mean it?" He asked, only mostly joking and, of course, she nodded. "Well, then why are you worried? If that man has half the sense I think he has, I don't believe he'd be less than thrilled." The detective's amber eyes had settled on the familiar, lanky form of the mayor striding out of the cave with his easy grin back in its usual place. He leaned against the mouth of the cave, unbeknownst to Bet, and smirked while she suffered through her unnecessary angst. Nick's eyes lingered on the blood spatters that marred Hancock's clothes and dotted his face.

The moment was ruined by Zeke clomping out with Johnny D. and Duke. They all seemed pretty satisfied with themselves. Travis spoke up. "Is he…you know…"

Zeke and Hancock both shared small grins. "He's mirelurk chum." Zeke announced proudly.

"He's dead, then." Bet said in a hollow voice.

"Oh yeah, very dead." Hancock nodded. "He's been pretty much pasted." He gazed at Zeke's power armor with admiration. "Damn, you know, I've really gotta get myself a set of power armor." Nick cleared his throat pointedly. Hancock had the presence of mind to look a little guilty. "So, ya feelin' okay or…"

She stared hard at the ground, lost in thought, but she was smiling when she finally looked up again. "You know, I think I'm good." She shook her head. "No, actually, I'm more than good. I haven't felt like this in a long time."

"Felt like what, exactly?" He asked.

She met his eyes with hope sparkling in her own. "Happy."