Got this done much faster than expected so it's likely I'll put up another chapter tomorrow. Enjoy!
Miss Parker, Piper called her. Not Mrs. Parker. It was a fierce sting whenever Betty was reminded that she was alone in the world. With each day that passed, the wedding ring on Betty's left hand weighed more and more, the harshest reminder of all that she and Nate had made it as far as death do us part, except now she had to keep living without him. There were times she wanted to rip the ring off her finger and chuck it into the ocean, but every morning when she woke up in the Commonwealth, the pain would sting a little less.
It was unreal for Betty to physically walk on the former baseball field. Most kids dreamed about a moment like this before the war, and now it was commonplace. Hell, people lived here and once again, the Sole Survivor found herself impressed with the ingenuity of the settlers. Right over the pitcher's mound sat a colorful, open-air noodle bar. She looked around for Bobbi, wondering how she'd find her if she was wearing a disguise, until she heard a familiar, raspy voice.
"There you are," said Bobbi No-Nose. She wore a gas mask that covered her face and leather gloves. "Was wondering if you were going to show up. Yes, it's me. I have to hide my face in these parts. Sit."
Betty took a seat next to her as a Protectron wandered over and announced, "Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
"What?" asked Betty.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?" the robot asked again.
"Just say yes; it's the only thing he responds to," explained Bobbi.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
"Uh, yes?" Betty answered and the robot plopped a bowl of noodles in front her. "Ramen noodles? Well, at least one thing is still the same."
"That big wall of glass looming over the city is the mayor's office. Most people don't know it, but there's a strongroom buried beneath. Mayor's just sittin' on top of it. And that's our target," said Bobbi as she pointed to the skybox above the stadium.
Betty's face fell and she said, "I'm not a thief...anymore."
It was a time of Betty's life that she'd much rather forget than be reminded of. Barely sixteen years old, standing in front of a judge for stealing booze with her idiotic friends. With her squeaky clean record and stellar grades at the time, the judge was lenient, but it was her public defender who showed Betty she could be more than a petty thief. It drove Betty to go to law school and become a public defender herself.
Bobbi laughed and said, "No time like the present to give that field of work another shot. The guy has it coming, if you ask me. With the way he treats my kind, he might even deserve worse."
Still seething from her meeting with McDonough earlier, Betty answered, "What's in there anyway?"
"Things we want. Things everyone wants, and if you get in on this, there's plenty for you. Got it? So let's make this party a little bigger, shall we? I tracked down my tech guy, Mel. The guy can make a gadget to solve any problem. The thing is...he's a bit locked up right now. You have to get him out. I can't stroll into Diamond City Security with this face, covered or not. Find a way to get him out and I don't care what you have to do. Pick the lock, bribe the guard, whatever. Get him out and then leave the city with Mel before you two talk about what we're going for," Bobbi explained. "Oh, and since you tried to make me feel guilty about that mishap with the cowards back at the dig, I suggest you buy another gun. Shotgun would be best. Don't disappoint me, and you'll have more caps than you know what to do with."
Betty watched Bobbi slurp up the last of her noodles and toss a few caps on the counter. The robot picked them up along with the empty bowl.
"Noodles are great," Betty said to the Protectron.
"Nan-ni shimasho-ka?"
"Ugh, all right, yes."
A second bowl of noodles appeared and Betty ate both with gusto before she paid a visit to the arms dealer behind her. A few caps lighter, she was now the proud owner of a heavily used combat shotgun that would probably fall apart after three or four shots. She asked for directions to the security office and laughed when she realized it used to be the drunk tank for unruly fans back in her day.
Inside, the security office was a bit smaller than Betty imagined, and only two guards kept watch in the room. A short, red-headed man dozed off in the corner of his cell, his soft snores overpowered by the radio the guards had been jamming out to just before she walked in. She hoped it was a result of good security, but it was more likely because the guards were trigger-happy. Even now, she couldn't escape abuse of power, or lack of effort, as she was about to discover.
"I'm here for Mel," said Betty. "Is this where can I post bail for him?"
Mel woke up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a wide yawn.
"Eh, don't bother. His time is up in a couple of hours anyway and I'm starved. I'll let him out," said one of the guards, reaching for his keys as he turned to Mel and added, "And don't let me catch you trying to re-wire anything in the city again or you're gonna die in here next time."
Mel walked out of his cell, stretching his arms over his head before he saluted the guard. He turned to Betty and said in a low voice, "I know why you're here. God, that woman doesn't have a patient bone in her body. She couldn't even wait one day, could she? C'mon, we can talk outside."
As the pair walked out of Diamond City, Betty swore that once this job with Bobbi was over, she would return here and begin the search for Shaun, a few hundred caps richer to cover any bribes or necessary payments to save him.
Mel turned to Betty outside the city gates and said, "Thanks for getting me out, I guess. Would've only been in there a day or two more. So, you're Bobbi's new toy?"
"I'm not anyone's toy," Betty said with a scowl.
"Right...man, Bobbi sure knows how to pick the gullible ones, which is shitty since you seem to be a nice girl and all," said Mel. "What's the job?"
"Breaking into the Diamond City strongroom," Betty answered with a hint of smile.
"God damn, that's a big score. Could be enough caps there to keep me goin' a long time. Look, Bobbi might be shady, but she always pays up in the end. Let's go. Hope you're better with a gun than I am."
Bobbi No-Nose and Mel were waiting for Betty at the entrance of the dig, where Betty had almost been mauled by over-sized lobsters. At least she had a better gun this time around and a nap to boot. A small, round robot hovered over Mel's shoulder, its blue and white lights blinking on and off as it beeped.
Bobbi clapped her hands and announced, "All right, we're all here. Mel, you wanna introduce your little friend?"
Mel gestured to the robot with a proud smile and said to Betty, "Meet Sonya. This little bot is gonna help us move through the earth like a mole rat on jet. I modified her radio systems to emit sonic pulses at frequencies that can loosen any sediment around us."
"That's pretty clever," said Betty.
"Yeah, she's just a dream to work with. Best damn bot I've fixed up yet."
"Mel says we'll be able to get to the strongroom ten times faster than just digging and a helluva lot safer than loading the place up with dynamite," said Bobbi.
Mel cleared his throat and said, "Get ready, I'm not sure how the area will respond to this so, uh, brace yourselves. Sonya, do your thing."
Betty watched the small robot zoom over to a wall of the dig and out burst a blinding, blue light along with a high-pitched beep that disintegrated the wall to dust. The other walls around them held up and the three of them sighed with relief that the ceiling didn't cave in around them.
It was a hell of a fight for all of them when it was discovered that the group had dug right into a mirelurk nest. They were everywhere, bursting from piles of sand and from beneath small pools of filthy sewage water. Mel's bot, Sonya, would zoom in and out of range of the mirelurks, distracting the creatures long enough for Betty and Bobbi to put them down. No one spoke until they broke through and ended up in an old subway station crawling with feral ghouls.
"Keep heading Southwest," shouted Bobbi over the growls of ferals and gunshots. "We need to find a place to blast out of these tunnels."
"Bobbi, are you sure we're going the right way?" Mel shouted from behind a pillar. He screamed as Betty rushed him, knocking back a feral ghoul coming at him from behind.
"Of course I am," Bobbi answered with squinted eyes. It was enough to give Betty pause. Mel seemed harmless, but Bobbi was another story. She was a bit too secretive for Betty's liking.
"B-but Diamond City is more-" Mel began.
"-We're going the right way. Don't fucking ask me again, Mel."
Betty wasn't sure why Bobbi was being so short with Mel, who was a friend of hers, supposedly. Maybe she didn't expect so many obstacles in the way of the Diamond City strongroom. Hours later, five by Betty's estimate, Sonya had blasted the group into the basement of a large room that smelled of malt and hops.
"There's a brewery near our strongroom," Bobbi explained as they looked about the room. "This has to be the basement to that brewery."
"Brewery, you say?" Mel asked with a grin.
"Mel," said Bobbi with a sour face. "No."
"Just kidding...geez," said Mel. He glanced at a confused Betty and whispered, "I used to have a problem with beer."
Betty grimaced while Mel slipped a couple of beers from a cabinet into his pockets. Shame. That was another thing that changed since the war. The settlers of this new Commonwealth didn't seem to have much of it, arguing in the streets and airing laundry so dirty Betty would have burnt it. There wasn't much time to wonder about it anyhow, when Sonya blasted through yet another tunnel into a room where two mirelurk kings fought over territory. Bobbi tossed a grenade at the creatures and though the blast was enough to shake the room, Betty could have sworn she heard a lone gunshot as one of the mirelurk kings fell.
The Sole Survivor kicked the creature over as Bobbi and Mel checked for the best spot to blast another hole. Betty's eyes fell upon the entrance wound right between the mirelurk's eyes. One shot, from a high-powered sniper rifle, the same wound as the others on her way to Diamond City. She looked above her and found nothing but concrete, stone, and a set of rafters that led from one area to another, most likely for maintenance. Someone was following them, but whoever they were, they were making the fighting a hell of a lot easier.
Just down a large pipe, Betty heard Mel say, "If Bobbi's directions are correct, and I have my doubts, the strongroom should be right through here."
"Go for it, Sonya," said Betty with a smile towards Mel.
The little bot beeped twice and blasted through the wall, leading the group to the largest room so far.
"Great, now my socks are wet, but we're right under the strongroom," said Bobbi as she walked into the room.
"You sure this is the right place?" Mel asked in a small voice. "I've been mapping it out and Diamond City should be a little further North of here."
"What did I say before? I don't have a doubt in my mind. How about a little trust for the boss?"
"Tell the truth, Bobbi, c'mon. Where are we?" Betty asked.
Bobbi glared at her with clouded blue eyes and snapped, "Under the Diamond City strongroom. And that is the last time I'm saying it. We still need a way to get up there, though. Mel, you think your robot will work here?"
Mel nodded and said, "Look at this place. The foundation's already crumbling. One blast from Sonya and I bet the floor would come right down."
"Well then, make it so," Bobbi ordered.
"We won't wanna be in the room for this...collapsing foundation and all," Mel suggested.
"Good idea," said Bobbi. "Everybody clear out and wait in the tunnel."
Mel held his beloved robot between his hands and said, "Sonya, prepare yourself for a blast at maximum power."
Betty grabbed Mel's shoulder and nearly dragged him into the tunnel as the bot's explosion rocked the foundation, sending a cloud of dust and grit into the tunnel.
"That didn't sound good," said Mel with a frown. "Didn't expect that much of a kick. Hope Sonya's okay.."
"Let's get up to the strongroom, shall we?" said Bobbi as she stepped back into the basement.
Mel rushed past both Bobbi and Betty, and when he found his robot, pieces strewn about, he fell to his knees and cried out, "Oh, no. No. No, Sonya!"
"Pull yourself together, Mel. We don't need that stupid thing anymore anyway," Bobbi said.
He looked up at Bobbi with glassy eyes and whispered, "But-"
"-You can build another robot with the haul we get from the strongroom. Keep your god damn head in the game!"
"Hey!" Betty shouted, putting herself between Bobbi and Mel. "Back the hell off and show a little compassion, all right? It'll take two minutes tops to help him gather her up."
"We don't have two minutes," Bobbi replied in a nasty tone.
"Go up by yourself then if you're in such a hurry, and we'll meet you in two minutes. Jesus. Mel, please, let me help."
Betty gathered as many of the small, metal pieces as she could but it wasn't easy to distinguish what was rubble and what was part of Sonya. Just the same, she placed what parts she found scattered about into Mel's hands.
"Can you rebuild her with these?" she asked him.
Mel nodded, wiped his eyes and said, "Y-yeah. Yeah, I can. Thanks."
"C'mon, let's finish this and get paid, huh? You'll have enough to make Sonya a friend, too."
Mel followed behind Betty as they walked up the now-collapsed ceiling of the strongroom, Sonya in his arms. Betty pushed the only door in the room open with her shoulder, beckoning Mel to go ahead. Light poured through the windows of the strongroom and Bobbi stood in the middle, her pistol pointed upward. Betty looked up, expecting to see the sniper who had been following them for the entirety of the dig.
Instead, it was Fahrenheit who stood in the rafters along with two other guards. Betty felt the color drain from her face as she and a very pissed off Fahrenheit locked eyes. Betty couldn't even swallow the dread that built up in her throat.
"Bobbi, what the hell are you doing here?" Fahrenheit asked. She crossed her arms and began to tap her foot, waiting for Bobbi to answer.
"Shit," Bobbi whispered to herself.
"You seriously didn't think Hancock would catch wind of your scheme? He took you in, Bobbi. And you're stealing from him?" asked Fahrenheit.
"Hancock?" Betty asked as she looked over at Bobbi. "What does he have to do with this?"
Mel groaned and closed his eyes as Bobbi pleaded with Betty, "Don't listen to her!"
"Mel was right. This isn't Diamond City, you liar," Betty said.
"So what? This doesn't change anything. It's still the same job," Bobbi said with a shrug.
Fahrenheit threw her head back and laughed before she said, "I see you two dumbasses are in the dark about this. Not surprised. Nice, No-Nose. You all just broke into Hancock's strongroom. You know, Hancock? The mayor of Goodneighbor?"
"Dammit, Bobbi!" Mel shouted.
"Listen guys, I know this isn't what you expected, but there are still a ton of caps on the line here," Bobbi explained. "Help me take her out and all of it's ours."
Mel pushed past Betty and stood inches away from Bobbi as he said, "This is Hancock we're ripping off here, are you insane? You know the guy tends to hold grudges! He'll gut us in the streets for this! I watched him cut out a man's tongue for insulting him one night at the bar!"
"You bitch," snarled Betty as she reached for her shotgun.
"Counter offer!" Fahrenheit announced, silencing the room. "Just go back in your little tunnel there and we can forget this ever happened. What do you say?"
"-Why did you lie to us?" Betty asked Bobbi. "I want some god damn answers as to why I might be killed by the one guy who welcomed me into his town with open arms. You screwed us, and you're going to tell me why. Now!"
The old ghoul woman chuckled and said, "I knew no one in their right mind would help me rip off Hancock. Everyone is so damn afraid of him or so damn in love with him. He thinks he's invincible. I wanted to show him he wasn't."
"That's your bullshit reason? You could've gotten Mel and I killed! I'd never be able to look for my son..." said Betty. She shook her head and pointed her shotgun at Bobbi. "You made your choice. Now, I'm making this one. Mel, get out of here."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Mel ran back towards the basement but paused and whispered to Betty, "Thanks for helping with Sonya."
The Sole Survivor nodded and Mel disappeared into the darkness below.
"Know what? Fine. More for me!" Bobbi shouted.
The ghoul pistol whipped Betty, sending her flat on her back and the shotgun clattering into the basement before Bobbi climbed onto Betty and tried to point the gun at her face. They struggled over the weapon as Fahrenheit shouted to her men to cease fire. A gunshot fired, echoing in the now silence of the strongroom. Betty opened her eyes and screamed when she looked up to see what was left of Bobbi's face splattered across herself and the concrete floor beneath her.
Betty crawled out from beneath the ghoul's body as she wiped her face several times, her shaking arm not doing much to clean away the gore. She looked up to see Fahrenheit looking about the room and searching for this sniper herself but when she found nothing out of the ordinary, she hopped down from the rafters with ease and offered Betty her hand with a smile.
"You made the right move, new blood," Fahrenheit said to Betty.
"I-I'm so sorry," Betty stammered. "I never would've done this if I knew the place belonged to Hancock."
Fahrenheit nodded and asked, "Who's strongroom did she say you were breaking into?"
"Diamond City's. I met their mayor yesterday. I would've been glad to rob him, which is why I agreed to in the first place."
Fahrenheit laughed and said, "But unfortunately, you almost robbed this mayor instead and destroyed most of the strongroom in the process. Go, through that door there. Go and tell Hancock what happened, before he hears about it from someone else."
"I thought he knew this was going on!" Betty said, her voice a bit higher than usual.
"Oh, that? I said that to Bobbi so she'd shit her pants and maybe take my deal of leaving with nothing. I just heard about the break-in myself maybe an hour ago. Made it just in time. Now, hurry."
Betty made it as far as the door before she turned and asked, "..He's not going to kill me, right?"
Fahrenheit laughed again and said, "Kill you? Huh, well..maybe, if I'm being honest. Other...situations are more likely but in any case, he'd be happy to hear about your loyalty, so I'd start with that before you mention how most of the floor caved in. It's best to stay on his good side, trust me. If anything, just bat those gorgeous eyes of yours at him a few times and maybe he'll rethink the whole, killing thing. Might wanna undo a few buttons on your shirt before you walk into his office, too."
When the Sole Survivor's fantastic bod disappeared behind the door, there was a deafening crash just before a man fell from a high shelf at Fahrenheit's boots with a thud.
"Ugh, that's gonna freakin' suck in the morning," the young man said to himself. Hancock's bodyguard rested her hands on her hips as she towered over a dusty RJ MacCready, who grinned up at her with dark blue eyes. "What's goin' on, F?"
"I might ask you the same shit, RJ. What the hell are you doing in here? Don't fuckin' tell me you were in on this."
MacCready used his sniper rifle in an attempt to help himself up until he fell back again and shouted, "You aren't even gonna help me up? You helped the new girl!"
"Yeah, well I wanted to check out her tits, see what Hancock's drooling over this time. You gonna tell me why you're here?"
MacCready struggled to get up on his own and this time, Fahrenheit thrust out her hand to him. "Thanks, I guess. Hancock asked me to follow the vault girl and make sure she didn't die and gauge her skills."
"And?" Fahrenheit asked.
"She's a decent enough scrapper, but she gets overwhelmed sometimes or morons like that guy with the dead robot cry in the corner while she does all the work. But that face...I'll be thinkin' about her when I can't go to sleep.."
Fahrenheit put MacCready in a head lock long enough to ruffle his hair and then wrapped a long arm around his shoulders. "Sick shot with Bobbi there."
MacCready smiled and thanked her as he strapped the sniper rifle to his back.
"C'mon kid, let's get our drink on, maybe pick up some girls."