POV Rio
The day after MacCready and Curie left, I got back to work. My goal was to increase my standing with Diamond City to open them up to possibly supporting the Minutemen. I knew that the Mayor was a Synth infiltrator, but even he can't ignore public opinion. And all things considered, Mayor McDonough was still a bit impartial as he had to appear as such.
Several of the quests I accepted were beyond easy. Mostly because they requested minor items that I already had. The legitimate chem dealer Solomon wanted a Mutated Fern Flower, which I had. Doctor Duff wanted a Bloatfly Gland, which I also had. Sheffield wanted a Nuka Cola, which was easy enough. I also hired him to work on one of my settlements. He was willing if I could supply him with some Nuka Cola. I didn't see a reason not to accept, so I agreed. After that, I retrieved some green paint for Abbot. I even gave him a large supply and a paint mixer.
Funnily enough, a Raider gang was occupying the place where the paint was located, and they may have done a stupid thing, or rather, I messed with them.
Flashback
"You got to help me! My friend. They've been hurt. Hurt really badly. Please help!" says the Raider pretending to be a Settler.
I hide my amusement at the terrible acting and go along with it.
POV Demo
"You think Jessie is going to get us some people this time?" asks Billy.
"God, I hope so," says John.
"As long as she doesn't bring a Super Mutant like last time," Kelly says.
"Shh, shut up, it sounds like Jessie is back and she got someone," I say.
We hear her get closer, and when she is just around the corner, we pop out, and I crap myself when I see what she brought to us.
"You god damn idiot! WHY DID YOU BRING A GODAMN DEATHCLAW HERE!" I scream in terror and rage.
"What do you mean a Deathclaw? This is a random chump like you asked me to bring," Jessie says with a clueless look on her face.
Growl
The entire room starts to smell like soiled clothes as we hear its growl.
"Oh f*ck me," I say with a doomed look.
POV Rio
I wipe my claws on the corpse to clean them after playing as a Deathclaw for a bit. I returned to my normal form and looked around me. The area was a mess with massive gashes in the walls and floors from the massacre. I had to admit that being a Deathclaw is kind of fun. The only downside is the mental cost and the fact that so many people soil themselves when they run into a Deathclaw. And Deathclaws have a sensitive nose. I can smell what they are cooking, and it is gross.
But I had my fun, and now it was time to retrieve the paint I came here for.
Flashback ends
Getting the paint and even a decent amount of supplies was easy. A lot of he materials hadn't been touched as no one knew what to use all the stuff for. But I did. I had been shipping out materials every day due to all the stuff I keep finding. That is what I had been using a lot of the Changelings for. That and the Minutemen have been using the 2 other Vertibirds I built for them extensively.
While I was outside, I helped the Diamond City guards fight off a Super Mutant attack. That alone made me a favorite among the guards. When I returned to the city, I was asked by Sheng Kawolski to help clean out the water filtration system. I did him one better and improved the efficiency, making it less prone to breaking down. But I did find some suspicious things in the water pumps.
"Sheng? Why was there a skull in the water?" I ask with a raised brow.
"Eh, so maybe you weren't the first person I asked. Maybe the last guy found an unstable hand grenade. Hey, once the filters do their job, it's all water under the bridge, am I right? Anyway, uh, need some water?" Sheng says nervously.
"Uh-huh, well, okay, the pumps should be cleaned out now and everything should be working better than before," I comment.
"Thanks a lot, Rio. And if you ever need clean drinking water, then come see me. It was a pleasure doing business with ya," Sheng says.
Dubious business practices aside, Sheng was a good kid. He offered to pay me, but as usual, I refused. For refusing payment, a robot named Miss Edna gave me a Perk Magazine. It was called Live and Love Issue #9, I Married a Robot! Suspicious name aside, it gave me the following effects: Robot companions/creations permanently inflict +5% damage. It was a nice boost, especially since it affected any robots under my command and those I created.
Speaking of Miss Edna, she asked me an interesting question.
"This 'love' I hear about. Do you think you can have it for someone, even if the two of you are very, very different?" Edna asked.
"Yes, if you love someone, it doesn't matter what differences you have. Our flaws are what make us perfect. And as the old saying goes, Opposites Attract. If you love someone, hold on to them. Tomorrow you might not have the chance," I say with care.
"I... Thank you. You have helped me make up my mind about something," Edna said before leaving quickly.
After that, I completed a few investigations Nick needed to get done. One was completed automatically as it was trying to find Shem Drowne's treasure. That, and I reported what happened to Marty Bullfinch. After that was a trickier case that involved tracking down a missing person named Earl Sterling. We entered his house and started looking around for what had happened. Once we did so, we found a receipt for a plastic surgery scheduled to be done not long ago.
We went to the Mega Surgery Center and caught Doc Crocker cutting up Earl's body.
"Oh, Earl. You've... you've really been a handful, you know? But I think we're just about done. Our little mistake is finally going to be... corrected," Crocker says to himself.
"Doc, why don't you put the gun down?" I say, interrupting him.
"Oh, naughty, naughty! You're not supposed to be down here! But that's okay. I can fix that. I can fix anything," Crocker says in a demented tone while pulling out a gun.
"Okay, let's calm down. I'm putting my gun away. See. Now, why don't we talk about what happened?" I say while trying to talk him down.
"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 dies! They just walk away happy. Happy with my work. Happy with their new face. Not screaming. Not bleeding out on the floor. Earl, he... he just didn't want to be happy. That must have been it," Crocker says with a more and more deranged tone.
"You made a mistake, but you can still do the right thing, doctor. Just put the gun down and we can fix this," I say while motioning downwards.
"I... I did it, didn't I? I killed a man. Oh god. There's so much blood. So much blood all over me! You're...you're right. There's one thing I can do. Only one thing's going to make this all better," Crocker says while raising his gun to his head.
"No wait!" I try to grab his gun with my telekinesis.
BANG
I fail, and he blows his brains out.
I sigh and move to leave. But Doctor Sun arrives.
"What's going on here? Is... is that Doctor Crocker? And that... Is... is that a... body? I think you owe me an explanation. What happened here?" Sun asks with an indignant tone.
"Doc Crocker killed Earl Sterling. And then he couldn't handle the guilt and took his own life. Now I am going to get the guards, and while I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt, you must understand that this looks bad for you, right?" I ask.
"Doctor Crocker killed Earl? The... the facial reconstruction... So he really DID go through with it... That explains a lot more than I'm comfortable with. Doctor Crocker always cared about his reputation, but this... this is inhuman... And you think I might have had something to do with this?" Sun asks.
"I hope you don't, and I want to think you didn't, but Crocker was chopping Earl up in your basement. Dragging a corspe down here without anyone noticing is hard enough, but the fact that you didn't notice anything is a bit... worrisome," I say.
"You're...you're right. I should've known Doctor Crocker wasn't in any condition to continue practicing medicine. I should've known he killed Earl. I guess I ignored the signs because I wanted to believe that Crocker wouldn't go this far," Sun said with some sadness.
Nick ran and got the guards, and then they started to handle the scene. It wasn't as in-depth as a prewar investigation, but that was okay. With everyone making a statement and with Nick's reputation, the guards cleared us of any suspicion. Once we left and headed back to Nick's office, Nick commented on the case.
"That was a mess. Sorry you got caught up in that. They aren't usually this messy. But I think there is only one more case to do before I am caught up," Nick said.
We entered his office and grabbed the last case file. Thankfully, this case was much simpler. Or at least we thought. Someone spotted a strange robot at the Chestnut Hillock Reservoir and wanted us to find it and bring it back. When we arrived, we found the robot, and I had to admit it was a very confusing sight.
"Is that what I think it is?" I ask aloud.
"If you think it is a Giddyup Buttercup Horse, then yes. That is what it is," Nick comments.
All of us were baffled as the toy horse just trotted over to us and started to speak.
"Hello, I am Buttercup. Can you help me find my Daddy?" Buttercup asked.
We all just sat there staring at it. I was the first to recover.
"Uh, sure, but who is your father, and where can we find him?" I ask.
"Huh? Daddy is called Daddy. She was Marlene's Daddy. But he is also my Daddy. But I don't know where to find him. I tried going to the place called work, but big meanies didn't let me in," Buttercup said.
I had an idea and opened the Hoshigan, and sure enough, my guess was right. Buttercup was magical. And decently strong as well. I felt like I had heard the name Marlene, so I checked my inventory and immediately found where I had heard it.
"I know where your Daddy is," I say.
"Oh, joy, you can take me to see him?!" Buttercup said while jumping up and down.
"I sure can. I need to go there anyway," I reply ot her.
"Sorry, Nick, but I think you won't be able to bring Buttercup to your client," I apologize.
"No problem. I am more interested in seeing where this goes," Nick says with a smile.
I request a Vertibird, and we board it and set course for The Slog.
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Author's Note:
Some of you may know where Buttercup is from; I will say it is from Fallout 4. It's just from a minor side quest most would miss when playing. Until next time, Ciao.