POV Rio
After sorting the loot, I returned to Diamond City and found that Piper was just about ready to head out. But when I mentioned that I was heading to the Valentine Detective Agency, she said she would come with me to show me where it is. Not that I needed the help, but whatever made her feel better.
The agency was hidden in a back alley with a glowing red neon sign. When we got to the door, I knocked and then entered. Inside, I see Ellie Perkins sorting some documents.
"Sigh. Another stray coming in from the rain. 'Fraid you're too late. Office is closed," Ellie said with a depressed tone.
"Is something wrong, miss?" I ask.
"Sigh. Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I don't mean to dump this on you, but the detective isn't here. Honestly, he's gone missing," Ellie says sadly.
"Nicky's missing? What has he gotten himself into this time?" Piper asked.
"Sigh. Nick was working a case. Skinny Malone's gang had kidnapped a young woman, and he tracked them down to their hideout in Park Street Station. There's an old Vault down there they use as a base. I told Nick he was walking into a trap, but he just smiled and walked out the door like he always does," Ellie says with an exhausted tone.
"That's not good. How long has he been missing?" I ask.
"Over a week now. I know Nick well. He doesn't take this long. And now Nick's disappeared, and I can't keep a detective agency open without a detective. I don't know what to do," Ellie says while falling into a chair with a depressed look.
"I could help," I say.
"You'd help him? Really? Are you sure? It's pretty dangerous?" Ellie asked with a slightly hopeful look in her eyes.
"I know where you are talking about, and if Nick is still there and alive, then I will bring him back. I promise," I say with confidence.
"I'll help too. I may not be the best shot out there, but I can be quite the detective when I want to," comments Piper.
"Hah, thanks, Piper, and you as well, stranger. Nick should be easy to spot. He's always wearing that old hat and trench coat getup. Please, hurry!" Ellie says while motioning for us to leave.
I nod, and I go to gather everyone up for the rescue mission. Piper says she will meet us at the gate. It only takes around 30 minutes to gather everyone and get to the gate. It took so long as we needed to find Cait, as she was hiding somewhere. I also don't use the Hoshigan in a settlement like Diamond City, as I think it's a breach of privacy and a bit rude. That, and I don't want to see what everyone is doing in the privacy of their own home. Once we found her, we said goodbye to Jessica and arrived at the Gate. It took another 10 minutes before Piper arrived with a bag full of supplies. We chuckled as she didn't need that. As once I added her as a Companion, she would get her own inventory.
Once we were ready, we left and made our way to Park Street Station. It seemed the weather was both on our side and against us. It was snowing heavily today. The streets were already covered in snow, which meant it was too cold for everyone, but it also meant we were obvious targets.
'Which reminds me, I need to finish the cold-weather gear. Especially if we start exploring Hoth.'
It took just under 2 hours to arrive at Park Street Station, and we found it unguarded. In fact, most of the entire station had no people in it at all, and I could see why.
"Almost all the Triggermen are in the Vault. I count 79 in total. And Nick is down there. Trapped, but otherwise he looks unharmed. Or at least probably, I am not sure what is considered old damage and what is considered new damage. 6 people are guarding the Vault door. And another 12 are on the other side of the door," I state.
"Hmm, that might be tricky. Submachine guns are especially deadly in close quarters. And they will likely notice us once we get inside," MacCready comments.
Curie speaks up, "Vaults are quite sound isolating. Even if we fight in the main foyer, it is still likely that those deeper inside will not hear us. Otherwise, the door would awaken everyone."
"Isn't that, like, a danger? Like, what if some Raiders open the Vault Door? Wouldn't no one know that they did?" Cait asks.
"Vault-Tec would more likely want to use that as an experiment if anything. They might want to send in some troops without anyone knowing. So they likely wanted no one to be able to tell," I put my two cents on this topic.
"So what's the plan?" asks MacCready.
"I say we split into two groups. There are two paths available. One to the left that goes to where they are keeping Nick, and the other straight ahead that leads into where most of the Triggermen are. If we attack from both sides, we can prevent any from escaping, and we can pincer them in from both sides. It also increases the odds that Skinny Malone won't know what is happening. As he isn't currently here," I offer up a strategy.
No one else has a better strategy, so we decide to split up. MacCready, Cait, and Curie will head through the forward doors. Dogmeat, Piper, and I will head to Nick. The guards outside the Vault door were easy to remove. Most weren't paying much attention, so I just snuck around them and slit their throats one by one. Then I stored their corpses so no remains were left behind. This would make it seem like the guards slacked off and left their station. And by the time anyone figured out the truth, it would be too late.
The next part was much trickier as the Vault door was closed, and that thing is incredibly loud. Stealth wasn't much of an option. Or it would be if I didn't know what Johnny Tight Lips looked like. A transformation into him, and even after the doors were opened, the Triggermen gave one look and went back to their duties. Then I just repeated what I did outside the door and killed them one by one. Once the coast was clear and I didn't see anyone coming to investigate the main door opening, I returned to my normal form and brought everyone inside. Then I closed the door behind us.
"Okay, start the plan," I say to MacCready, who is leading his group.
My path had much fewer Triggermen to deal with. I only had to deal with 14 more men before I got to Dino, who was left in charge of the Vault while Skinny Malone was gone. For Dino, I didn't even bother talking with him; he was in an open space with a clear shot to his head. I shot him with the General's Ghost, and his head exploded, and it even cracked the Overseer's window behind his head. I even heard a startled yell from Nick.
We ran to the office to release Nick, and he was surprised to see us.
"Sigh. Well, it seems like you are the one getting me out of trouble for once, Piper," Nick comments.
"Hah, well, think of this as paying you back for getting me out of that Raider camp. This will make for a great story in the paper. Piper Wright saves our town's resident Private Eye," Piper jokes.
"Hah, something tells me it won't sell that well. Now we got three minutes before they realize muscles-for-brains ain't coming back. Get this door open," Nick says.
"No worries, it's already open," I say as the door opens.
"Now why'd you risk everything to find me? I'm just a private eye. Don't tell me Piper convinced you to come here?" Nick asks.
"It was the right thing to do, and I could use some help tracking down an Institute agent. I was told you are the Synth to go to," I reply.
"The Institute, huh? I won't lie, that's a big job, but sure, I'll help," Nick says.
"I've been cooped up in here for over a week. Turns out the runaway daughter I came here to find wasn't kidnapped. She's Skinny Malone's new flame, and she's got a mean streak. But for now, we should get moving before more thugs come to cause us issues," Nick comments.
Nick goes over to Dino and grabs his submachine gun.
"Not my usual style, but this will have to do," comments Nick.
Just as he says, we hear the voices of some thugs.
"Hey, Dino, you done messing with that metal freak? If so, we might have an issue," Thug 1 says.
I get on the ledge and wait for the thugs to show up below me, and then I jump down with a knife in each hand. The first two get the blades inserted directly into their skulls and die. The third man tries to draw his weapon, but I jump at him and put him in a choke hold so he can't scream.
Snap
With a hard twist, I snap his neck, and he dies. I see a few more men down the hall, but that is okay as I pull out Quiet and start shooting. 4 of them fall to the ground before they have any time to react. 3 More heard the commotion and came running with guns, but they were quickly wiped out. By the time all that happened, the others reached where I was.
"That is all the Triggermen in this section of the Vault. The others are dealing with MacCready and his group and can't be bothered to come this way," I tell everyone.
"How can you possibly know that? And what do you mean by MacCready's group? Are there more of you?" Nick asks.
"I can see through walls, and yes, there is another group of us that entered from another direction to trap all the Triggermen in the Vault," I reply.
Nick looks like he has several questions, but Piper motions for him not to ask. MacCready's group had done quite well so far. Only 17 Triggermen remained, and they were dropping quickly. Turns out old fancy suits don't give much protection against bullets. I knew why they had the suits while in the Vault. This was their base. How would anyone get this far without anyone noticing? They had armor that they would use, but most of the time they used their suits. Fashion over function and all that.
We moved through the Vault until we were right behind the Triggermen, holding their ground. By this point, there were only 13 of them left. It was clear they weren't expecting an attack from behind, as even after we started our rear attack, they took far too long to realise what was happening. They likely thought the bullets were from allies. The last 4 tried their best, but they didn't last more than a minute before dying.
Our victory was short-lived. Skinny Malone and 6 men have come back. Luckily, I had left some traps behind to catch them when they entered the Vault again.
"I hear big, fat footsteps on the other side. Once we step through this door, get ready for anything," Comments Nick.
Once we open the door, we see Skinny Malone, his 6 guards, and Darla, his current girlfriend.
"Nicky? What're you doin'? You come into my house. Shoot up my guys. You have any idea how much this is gonna set me back?" Skinny says with anger.
"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your two-timing dame, Skinny. You ought to tell her to write home more often," Nick snaps back.
"Awww... poor little, Valentine. Ashamed you got beat up by a girl? I'll just run back home to daddy, shall I?" Darla says with anger.
"Should've left it alone, Nicky. This ain't the old neighborhood. In this Vault, I'm king of the castle, you hear me?" Skinny threatens.
"I told you we should've just killed him, but then you had to get all sentimental! All that stupid crap about the old times," Darla says with a mocking tone.
"Darla, I'm handling this! Skinny Malone's always got things under control!" Skinny tries to calm Darla.
"Oh yeah, then what's this guy doing here, huh? Valentine must have brought him here to rub us all out!" Darla accuses me.
"Darla, do you really want this to be your life. You still have a family that loves you to go back to. Not many people can say that," I say to Darla.
"I... I... You're right! What am I doing? I've gotten all mixed up!" Darla says with a more genuine look.
"Darla? Wh-where are you goin'?" Skinny asks.
"Home, Skinny! Where I should have been all this time. This is goodbye for us," Darla says while running away.
"Oh, come on, Nicky! You cost me my men, now you and your friend cost me my girl?" Skinny says with a sad look.
"My friend here just did you a favor, Skinny. You always did have bad taste in women," Nick retorts.
"You smug, overconfident ass... Agh! All right, you get to the count of ten! I still see your face after that, I'm gunning both of you down!" Skinny threatens.
Nick goes to leave, but I hold him back.
"Unfortunately, that's not going to happen," I say.
I snap my fingers, and several magical traps go off, killing all of Skinny's guards. Skinny is knocked down, and his gun slides away. He goes to grab it, but I grab it and all the other weapons on the ground and bring them to me.
"What's the meanin' of this? I was goin' to let you go!" Skinny says with anger.
"You made your last alliance, Skinny. Sorry, you got twisted up in this scene. But you really should have thought harder before making that deal. From where you're kneeling, it must seem like an 18-carat run of bad luck," I say while pulling out Mare, which fits well due to it being a silver pistol with an ivory grip.
"Truth is... the game was rigged from the start," I say while pulling the trigger twice.
"So much for Skinny Malone. Think he's lighter or heavier with all those holes in him? Bullets probably add a few ounces..." Nick says dryly.
Before he can continue, I approach his body and put four more rounds in Skinny Malone's skull, causing it to burst open.
"What was that for?" Nick asks.
"Insurance. Let's say I don't want him surviving a shot to the head and then devoting his life to revenge. Or Skinny coming back as Zombie Skinny. Never know is this wacky world," I say while putting away Mare.
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Author's Note:
Yes, that was a reference to Fallout New Vegas. Until next time, Ciao.