A/N: I own nothing except the laptop I wrote this story on.
Diamond City could be awfully cramped at times. It could be loud, it could get a little bit hot (especially in the summers), and if it wasn't for the Wall sometimes it felt like the entire enterprise was a complete disaster of a concept. There was also a degree of trepidation in living in the former arena of a sport that was as violent as baseball, though Piper was starting to wonder if the history of that sport was perhaps a little bit exaggerated. Rarely had she ever seen Blue get angry, but it looked like he wanted to rip Moe's face off when the latter had given his usual sales pitch about Swatters and the history of baseball. Then again, Blue was from before. He probably did know better, after all.
But despite the flaws, it was still home. And it was a lot more secure (or at least felt that way) than many of the other areas throughout the Commonwealth. Goodneighbor was a nice place, but it was a little bit too rough-and-tumble for Piper. Though perhaps for the current mayor, it was exactly the attitude that he wanted to cultivate in his city.
"I gotta say, it's awfully nice that you're letting me back into Diamond City." Hancock said to Blue, as the two of them were walking at the front of the convoy. Blue had refused to ride on the back of one of the pack Brahmin, and instead was walking alongside. Hancock hadn't wanted to get shown up, so he'd hopped off and joined his fellow man.
"It's a matter of principle." Blue said. "You're just the kind of crazy that Diamond City needs."
"No kidding!" Hancock said. He smiled, but then it seemed as though he had remembered something and then his smile faded. "Though if I recall correctly, you said that the Brotherhood ain't exactly the biggest fans of my type of people. The ferals? I get it, you need to put those bastards down. But guys like me?..." He trailed off. Blue seemed to sense where he was going with this.
"Hancock, you're being brought to this meeting because I trust your judgment. Where everyone else looks at you and thinks 'this is a drug-addled lunatic'-"
"They would be correct." Hancock said with a smirk.
"-I see a capable leader." Blue continued. "Also, think of your presence as a litmus test."
"How so?" Hancock asked. Blue shrugged.
"If Elder Maxson can't deal with the fact that I invited the Mayor of Goodneighbor, then he'll have to learn to deal with it quick." Blue said. And then he spoke again. "And if he can't handle the fact that you are a Ghoul, then I know that he was never serious about these talks in the first place."
"You were automatically assuming that he was serious?" Hancock asked. "I assumed his deal was gonna be to stroll in here with guns pointed: 'I'm Maxson. Sign this goddamn agreement or I'll shoot you.'"
"That sounds like something you would do, Hancock." MacCready said from his Brahmin mount. MacCready was not about to pass up a chance to rest his legs, and had gladly taken a Brahmin to ride on. Hancock chuckled.
"Only if I've mistakenly taken Psycho instead of Jet." The Ghoul fired back. "That reminds me. I'd better check to make sure I brought my gear." He shuffled through the bag he'd slung over his back, and Blue struggled not to roll his eyes at the sound of syringes rattling around in there. "Yep! Got everything I need."
As they reached the front gate of Diamond City, the on-duty guards that were outside the city walls seemed very happy to see the Minutemen General and his officers arriving. There was a sizeable Minutemen presence in Diamond City, but it wasn't a lot: Blue was adamant that the Minutemen serve as an auxiliary force to the already-present Diamond City security forces that were present in the city. It was an arrangement that was welcomed by the City Council, who had feared a hostile takeover in the wake of Mayor McDonough's death.
This was especially considering that Blue had been the one to personally kill the infiltrating Synth himself. And Piper had witnessed the whole thing. Blue had calmly and gently asked that McDonough let his secretary Geneva go, and somehow the blonde-haired woman had been allowed to flee for her life. And when McDonough tried to weasel his way out of any repercussions, Blue had still given him a chance to surrender peacefully. If the mayor was willing to stand trial for his crimes, then he'd be allowed to walk out of that room in one piece.
But McDonough had instead tried to turn his gun on Piper, the woman who'd stuck to her suspicions that there was a Synth in the city upper echelon like a fly to honey, in some last-ditch effort to get back at the woman who had ruined his charade and brought down his entire scheme.
Piper took note that Blue had planted two shots in McDonough's chest, followed by a coup de grace between the eyes. He was a skilled marksman: usually he only needed a single headshot to dispatch an enemy like that. Clearly he must have hated McDonough. That or…Piper wasn't sure why Blue had suddenly dispatched his usual efficiency for something so…disproportionate.
But soon that thought and reminiscence was out of her mind as the caravan was led into the city limits, through the front gate.
…
"Extra! Extra! The Brotherhood of Steel and the Minutemen preparing for peace talks to decide the fate of the Commonwealth! Read all about it, only in the Publick!"
Piper started laughing at the sight of her younger sister Nat standing up on the cinderblock in front of their stand, hawking the latest edition of the paper. Since Piper had spent the past couple of days at the Castle, Nat clearly had written an article or two of her own. She was young, but her writing prose was pretty straightforward and sharp. Piper was glad that Blue had encouraged her not to abandon her younger sister out of some misguided fear: Nat was turning into another pretty capable reporter in her own right. Also, she wasn't nearly as pushy as Piper was, which was better at getting a few of the more reticent people in Diamond City talking.
Wait. How did she-
"Nat!" Piper shouted, drawing her sister's attention. As soon as they'd hugged hello, Piper held her sister by the shoulders and practically shook her. "How on earth did you know about this meeting? I only just found out about it last night!"
"I got a tip from one of the Minutemen." Nat shrugged. "He said I should write a quick article in the paper, and then when you got back you could write the majority of it."
Piper blinked once in shock.
"Wait…you handled Baby? By yourself?"
"Baby" of course was that old and rickety printing press that Piper had restored with her own two hands years ago. It was also a very finicky machine, and Piper didn't allow Nat to go near it when it was running. The thought of Nat losing a limb because she got too close was a thought that Piper couldn't bear.
But Nat shook her head.
"Nah. The same Minuteman stayed around and helped. He's the one handing out copies of the Publick over there in front of the chapel."
He was a very old fellow, with a long beard and greying hair in addition to his rancher clothing. He wore the standard hat of most of the Minutemen, and he gave Piper a friendly wave.
"You must be Miss Wright!" He said cheerily. His smile revealed a few missing teeth. "I helped lil' Nat over there put together the latest edition." Piper smiled back.
"How did you find out about the meeting, sir?" Piper asked.
"A little birdie might have told him."
Piper whirled around to see a very smug-looking man behind her.
"Blue…" She groaned. "Isn't that a conflict of interest for you to be tipping off the press?"
"Only if I start giving editorial suggestions." Blue said, taking a nonchalant bite out of a mutfruit. Piper just smiled and shook her head.
The delegation of Minutemen started to disperse throughout the city. The Brahmin were led to the other edges of the city, and were kept under careful watch of a few of the better-armed men in the company. After all, Brahmin that had been trained to carry people in addition to bluk supplies were quite valuable. MacCready took an opportunity to stroll through the streets, as well as catch up with Arturo, the affable owner of Diamond City's gun store. Standing in the center of town, right in the middle of things, Blue was leaning against one of the stools at the noodle shop. Piper looked over at him, and then at a woman that was walking towards him.
"Blue, you got company."
Blue turned and looked. The woman was dressed relatively nice. She was probably from the higher box seat housing. That kind of status was a given for the members of the City Council. She was dressed in a business dress and it seemed as though she was wearing a little bit too much makeup, in Piper's personal opinion. She offered her hand, and Blue shook it.
"Mr. General of the Minutemen, sir." She said. "I'm Delilah Greengrass, the head of the City Council here in Diamond City. I hope that your trip to our fine city was uneventful?"
"Just sniped a few bloatflies, but other than that it was pretty quiet." Blue said in a pleasant tone. Delilah nodded.
"Oh, good." She said. Her tone was a little too sweet, like she would rather be anywhere but here but was pretending to be excited. "So, about this little discussion…how long do you think it's going to take?"
Piper knew the implications of that sort of question. This Delilah didn't want anything to inconvenience the city, and certainly didn't want two armies meeting in her town for anything longer than necessary. Piper hated people like that. They'd willingly live on their knees if it meant they'd get to mind their own business.
But Blue wasn't about to give her a lie to make her feel better.
"I'm afraid that I don't know, Delilah." Blue said. "But if it makes you feel any better, the presence of both the Brotherhood and the Minutemen will make Diamond City the safest place in the Commonwealth."
"Oh…good." Delilah said with a hint of relief in her voice. She gestured up high. "We, um, converted the mayor's office into a sort of meeting room for you and the leaders of the Brotherhood. I think that the lift can carry you all, but maybe not at once? I don't know how heavy their armor is."
"We'll work something out." Blue said.
"Thank goodness." Delilah said. "Now, I have to wonder when they'll arriv-"
…
They heard the sound long before they saw the source. And yet somehow it managed to cut through the white noise of Diamond City as though there was dead silence. The whirring of helicopter gyros and a slight humming noise of the engines. It seemed as though everyone in the city looked up to see the small fleet of Vertibirds cutting through the sky towards the city. Soon, they were lazily circling over the entire area like birds of prey. If Piper looked carefully, she could see that there were fully-armored Brotherhood Knights manning the turrets of each vehicle. In total, there were four Vertibirds that were circling the city above.
And then one decided to descend.
It was the most-polished of the Vertibirds, and the one with the stoutest armor. It continued to descend further and further, kicking up dust and the loose detritus that might have been scattered around Diamond City's streets. Abbott shouted angrily as he realized that the Vertibird was about to land right on top of him and his open area in front of the Wall, but then his common sense prevailed and he ran for cover. The Vertibird, to its credit, touched down as gently as possible, as if the pilot was taking care not to damage anything that he was about to come into contact with. The doors on the side of the vehicle hissed, and then opened.
"Show offs." Hancock muttered.
The group seemed to create a bubble of fearful separation between themselves and the citizens of Diamond City as they made their way to the town square. Blue looked at the group, and saw that there were two fully-armored Knights on the flanks, each armed with massively unnecessary miniguns. In the inner group, on one side walked Proctor Ingram, her armor whirring with each step to support her ruined legs. Proctor Quinlan was on the other side, looking positively nebbish in comparison to the heavily-armored Knights and Proctor with him.
And yet they all paled in comparison to the intensity that radiated off the man in the middle.
The first thing that Piper noticed about Arthur Maxson was that, if it wasn't for that glare that could cut through the Wall, he'd be kind of good-looking. A handsome fellow in a killer coat. But the way he carried himself screamed of someone who took themselves too seriously for romance or even casual flings.
The quintet of Brotherhood delegates stopped in front of the Minutemen leaders, and for a moment there was silence. Proctor Ingram gave a subtle nod towards Blue. Even though the man wasn't in the Brotherhood anymore, he'd been a very helpful individual. Proctor Ingram seemed to be taking in the sights, and then scribbling notes into his little notepad. But it was Arthur Maxson that seemed to command the attention of everyone in the city. He was dead silent, his glare etched deep into his face, and he looked around the city with what looked like barely-concealed disdain. And then he walked forward. Blue followed suit.
There was a tension in the air that was nearly suffocating. It was like those old Grognak the Barbarian comics Piper loved to read, where Grognak faced off against the bad guy in the center of a town, except this was real life and way more terrifying. Maxson and Blue were just staring at each other. And what a marked difference between the two there was. Maxson had his hair cut sharp, buzzed to the sides, and a thick and bushy beard. There was an ugly scar on his right cheek, which was stitched up. It was the kind of cut that only came from a Deathclaw's strikes, which led Piper to the terrifying conclusion that this man had killed one with his own hands. Maxson was dressed in his flight jacket, and seemed immaculately clean. He was professional, confident, disdainful, and cold as ice. He was the smallest of the group of Brotherhood individuals, and yet he was so intense that no one cared about his size.
Blue couldn't be more different. For one thing, he was a good head taller than the Brotherhood Elder, and he had a far broader build than Maxson. In contrast to Maxson's sharp look, Blue's outfit was faded, worn, and spattered with mud. He was laid-back, a little bit enigmatic, and warmer than the sun. If he was being intense, Piper couldn't tell.
So, naturally, he was the first one to speak.
"Welcome to Diamond City, Elder Maxson." He said. "I hope that your travels were uneventful-"
"Where is the meeting?" Maxson cut him off, and didn't even bother to inflect a properly questioning lilt to his voice. It came off less as a question and more as a demand. Blue was unperturbed.
"The plan is to meet in the mayor's office." Blue said, pointing up towards the room in question. Maxson followed his gesture with his eyes, and somehow his frown got more pronounced.
"The mayor will not mind?"
"There is no mayor currently in Diamond City." Blue said.
Maxson shook his head slightly, and Piper could just see the gears turning in his head as he created a preconceived notion of anarchy in the Commonwealth's largest city all in his head. She hated him already.
"That's a rather thin lift to get up there." Proctor Ingram said. "I doubt that everyone could get up there in one go."
"I agree, Proctor." Blue said. "I figured that we could go in groups. The secondary leaders up first, and then Arthur and I-"
"What is that?" Arthur Maxson suddenly interrupted, his voice barely containing his rage.
Everyone realized that he was looking at Hancock, who was currently blissfully smoking something. Hancock looked at Maxson, and smiled.
"Oh, hi! The name's Hancock. John Hancock if you want to be formal. I'm the mayor of Goodneighbor. You must be Elder Maxson. The pleasure is mine." He extended a hand.
Maxson visibly recoiled, as though mere contact would cause Ghoulification. Hancock shrugged.
"Have it your way."
"I did not think that Ghouls had the cognitive function to serve in civic duty." Proctor Quinlan observed. Hancock shrugged.
"Hey, man, I've only been like this for about ten years. I feel as sharp as ever."
"Fascinating…" Proctor Quinlan said, and then jotted something down in his notepad. Maxson looked at him, and then looked as though he'd realized something.
"This isn't everyone. Where is…SCRIBE!" He barked, causing everyone (except Blue, Piper noticed) to flinch at the sound of his voice.
"Sorry, Elder!" There was the sound of running footsteps, and soon Scribe Haylen was huffing and puffing right beside the Elder. Maxson glared at her, obviously furious that she was late, and then turned to Blue.
"This is my official recorder of these proceedings. I assume that you have a similar individual?"
"That would be Piper Wright, of the Publick Occurrences." Blue said, gesturing to the reporter to his right.
Piper felt Maxson's eyes on her, and then he spoke.
"I've never heard of it."
Oh, she was gonna wring his little neck.
"Piper and Haylen can go up with Proctor Quinlan. Then Proctor Ingram and Preston. And then you and I." Blue offered. "Any objections?"
Arthur stared at him impassively.
"None."
"Great!" Blue said, clapping his hands together. "Piper, why don't you show Proctor Quinlan and Scribe Haylen te way up? Then Preston can take Hancock and Ingram. And so forth."
Piper nodded, and gestured for them to follow her. She felt bad for Scribe Haylen to get embarrassed by her boss like that…but that Proctor Quinlan made her a little bit uncomfortable. Human beings had empathy and warmth. Quinlan didn't really seem to have any interest outside of science. That sounded an awful lot like the Institute to her.
…
After some time, everyone was in the conference room, and seated at the table. Proctor Ingram was standing, as she made a little wisecrack over none of the chairs being able to withstand her weight. Maxson and Blue were across the table from each other, and their advisors and other respected individuals were at their sides. Haylen and Piper were confined to the side of the proceedings. Piper wondered if there was a metaphor buried there that described the relationship of world leaders and the press, but decided that there was no point in thinking too hard about it.
Blue reached into his pocket, and pulled out a cigar. He reached into his pocket again, and pulled out a cutting piece, a lighter, and a second cigar. He looked at Maxson.
"Would you-"
"I don't smoke." Maxson said coldly.
Blue shrugged, and pocketed the second cigar. It took him a few moments to light up his own cigar, and within moments he started to puff away. Maxson wrinkled his nose in distaste, but said nothing. With that, Maxson took his turn to speak.
"My Proctor Quinlan here has compiled a list of our conditions for there to be peace in the Commonwealth. For the sake of cost effectiveness, he's written them down onto a sheet of paper. Holopads are expensive, and we didn't want to waste anything." He gestured to Quinlan to hand over the document to Blue. "I will give you a moment to read the document, and then we can discuss moving forward."
Blue took the sheet of paper, and started to read it. He was a swift reader, and within mere minutes he'd read the whole thing. He then looked up at Arthur Maxson.
"This is your offer?"
"Yes." Maxson said. He folded his arms across his chest. "Are there any issues?"
Blue sighed, and let out a puff of smoke. And then he spoke.
"It's a very direct piece of writing, that's for sure. Who wrote it?"
"Does it matter?" Maxson asked irritably. From his body language, it was clear that he was getting annoyed that Blue hadn't just immediately signed the paper.
"Well, regardless, it's a compelling argument." Blue said. "So here's my counter-proposal."
That was when Piper realized that he had been holding the sheet of paper awfully close to his cigar.
Blue let the burning tip of his cigar touch the offer, and within moments it caught on fire. Some of the others in the room gave a cry of surprise, and Blue let go of the sheet of paper. The fire carried it up into the air, where it slowly burned away into ash until there was nothing left.
There was dead silence in the room. Maxson looked red.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" He said in a deathly quiet tone. He didn't raise his voice, but he was doing that little bit where someone got so angry that they lowered their voice and over-anunciated every syllable. Blue looked undisturbed.
"I've called your bluff, Arthur." Blue said. "If you weren't going to take this entire thing seriously, then why should I?"
"So you're throwing away your best chance at peace because of some principle?" Maxson asked. "Do you seriously want a war?"
"Do you?" Blue replied.
Piper felt her heart beating against her chest. What the fuck was Blue doing? It was the first few moments of the entire conference and he was already going to fuck it up?
"You should not tempt me." Maxson said. "I could rain down nuclear fire the likes of which have never been seen in hundreds of years." Never once had he raised his voice. "I am not someone to be treated lightly!"
"Neither am I." Blue said.
"You have not the experience that I do." Maxson snarled.
"And yet in less than a year's time I've raised an army that did what you did not: I destroyed the Institute." Blue said.
Maxson said nothing. He was seething. Blue then continued.
"You say that you can rain down nuclear fire the likes of which haven't been seen in hundreds of years." Blue said. "First of all, I doubt that. I saw what one bomb did to Boston hundreds of years ago, and I doubt that Liberty Prime has that payload. But I'll play along. You have firepower. So do I."
That last statement hung over the room like a radstorm cloud. Maxson's eyes narrowed.
"What are you saying?" He asked.
"You have nukes as your trump card." Blue said. "That is a pretty good trump card. So I'll play mine: I can destroy the Prydwen."
A very visible look of uncertainty passed through the eyes of Proctor Ingram and Quinlan. Maxson snorted.
"And how would you do that?"
"Every settlement in the Commonwealth under Minutemen control has constructed artillery emplacements that are capable of crisscrossing the entire area." Blue said. "And as we speak, every last one of them is lining up and pointing at the Prydwen. And here's the thing about kinetic energy: a shell like the ones they're packing? It wouldn't take a rain of shells to bring that ship down. All it would take…is one." He puffed on his cigar again.
There was silence.
"I came here because I wanted peace." Blue said. "And I know that you want to avoid unnecessary war as well. But if you aren't going to come to these talks in good faith, then we're wasting our time. And instead of talking we should be prepared to fight. But in the time that it will take to fire up Liberty Prime, I can unleash a rain of artillery fire on the Prydwen. We're at an impasse, Arthur." He paused. "Of mutually assured destruction."
He took another puff on his cigar.
"I don't want to see another war rip apart the Commonwealth. I saw what that was like hundreds of years ago." Blue said. "I want peace. And you want peace. So why don't you spend a day in this city, maybe more if you need it, to draw up a good faith negotiations list. I can wait. And you can wait. This is something that we need to do right, or not at all. So what do you say?"
The silence lasted an eternity. Piper wondered what the hell was going to happen. And then Maxson broke the silence.
"…Very well. We will reconvene in three days' time." He said. "And where, may I ask, shall myself and my advisors be quartered?"
"You and your officers can stay in the Upper Boxes." Blue said. "They will be very accommodating to you, I am sure."
Piper did everything in her power to not start laughing.
"I see." Elder Maxson said. "Very well. We shall meet in three days' time." He stood up, and the others got ready to go. "But one more thing."
Blue nodded, giving Maxson the permission to continue.
"I don't like being played for a fool." Maxson said. "I will allow this sort of brinksmanship because I am a man of reason, and I can see your argument. We have come to agreements in the past. But if you try to pull this sort of subterfuge on me again, or if you threaten my people aboard the Prydwen again…I will cut you into little dog treats."
Piper gazed over at Blue to see his reaction. And it was terrifying. Not because he looked like he'd lost his nerve.
But because he looked utterly bored by the threat.
A/N: It was really, really fun writing Maxson to be as big a disdainful dick as I could. Perhaps I had a little bit too much fun. And Blue really has balls of steel, doesn't he?
See you next time.