Double Release today because I feel like it.
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POV Rio
I got Tesla Science Issue #3, Rocket Science for Toddlers, which increased critical damage with Energy Weapons by 5%. It was obtained from Vergil's Lab. I spoke with him, and he didn't try to attack me as I wasn't wearing any armor. He mistook me for a Child of Atom.
"I'm not with the Children of Atom. I came to deliver something that belongs to you," I reply while handing him a vial.
"Huh? This... Wait! But this can't be! Are... Are you with the Institute?" Virgil asked.
"Nope, but I did steal this from the Institute. They had a civil war, which led to most of their equipment and personnel dying. So I purchased this from a fleeing scientist," I reply.
"What? No, that's impossible. The Institute wouldn't do that..." Virgil says with a shocked look.
"I got it from Dr. Madison Li. She said she was a friend of yours. She wanted to make sure your cure got to you. From what I heard, only 4 people survived the chaos in the Institute," I replied.
"Dr. Li? Yeah, I suppose that sounds like her. Sigh. The loss of the Institute will be a major blow to humanity. We may have done some... bad things, but I believe that it was truly the best hope for humanity," Virgil says sadly.
"But... I suppose I should reward you for telling me this. I can at least be assured that no one will be coming after me. And I won't die a freak. So... Just take anything in here. It doesn't matter to me anyway," Virgil says while taking the serum to his workbench.
"So what will you do now?" I ask.
"Sigh. Continue my research, I guess. I don't want to leave here. I am willing to stay here until I die. I... Did terrible things. So my penance will be living in this cave for the rest of my life. But I can at least use my brain to try and expand the cure. Maybe I can cure the monsters I made. To try and undo what I have done," Virgil says with a depressed tone.
I leave him to his devices and start taking what I want from the cave. Most of the equipment was worthless, but I got a few things of value, such as the previously mentioned Perk Magazine. I did leave him a Hazmat Suit so he could at least travel in the Glowing Sea without dying. Then I left and decided to check out another place of note. It was the former HQ of the Enclave here in the Commonwealth.
When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was the massive crater. It was decently deep. The next thing I noticed was a few pieces of the facility from below that were surprisingly intact. I landed in the crater and then entered the destroyed facility. The facility looked a lot like a Vault, and much of the facility was destroyed or beyond salvage. After a lot of wandering, I finally found something. I found the corpses of 3 Enclave members and over a dozen Gunners. Or what little remained of them.
The corpses had been thoroughly eaten. But they still had armor or clothes that I could loot. The most interesting find was the Colonel's Armored Coat. It looked really neat. But the real treat was behind them. They were guarding a door, and behind it were some terminals. I quickly accessed them and found only some data. It seems like most of it was wiped, but the few intact things updated a quest I got back at Wattz Consumer Electronics. It gave me the location of a secret safehouse used by a deserting Enclave member. It had a full suit of X-02 Power Armor. The Enclave had marked it for retrieval, but they never got the chance.
'Well, I guess the next stop might be Boston Police Rationing Site. So traveling over land it is.'
Once I had gotten everything from the terminals, I wiped the terminals completely and then took them with me. Terminals in such good condition could always be used. Once that was done, I did one last search of the ruins, and then I left the ruins and made my way back to Vault 95. I planned to head North to Westing Estate. I would make a few other stops along the way. Some to clear out some hostiles and others to grab some good loot. Westing Estate had some old prewar memorabilia that Moe in Diamond City wanted, and I figured I could grab it on the way.
We would then head east to grab the X-02 Power Armor. Then we would make a stop in Diamond City. Then, further to the Castle to give Quiet another checkup, and then we would use a boat. From there, I would either go to Libertalia or Spectacle Island. Possibly in either order. I let everyone else know what my plans were, and they agreed.
We set out and made a few stops. We also brought some friends in the form of Deathclaws to help clear out one place on the way. The place was Scrap Palace. It had 15 Super Mutants, but they didn't survive a half dozen Deathclaws. I didn't take them any further; they fed on the Super Mutants while we went North. We didn't have any other encounters on the road. The most interesting thing was when we made a stop at the Electrical Hobbyists' Club and I looted all its scrap.
When we got to the Westing Estate, we saw several Mirelurks moving around the place. We shot from far away, and none of them stood a chance. The closest they got was a Mirelurk King shooting his sonic scream at us. Once the Mirelurks were gone, we looted the estate. Besides the memorabilia, there wasn't anything else of note, with the sole exception of Unstoppables Issue #3, Commie-Kazi VS. Manta Man, which gave me an additional 1% chance of avoiding all damage from an attack.
The trip to the Boston Police Rationing Site was fairly quick. It was locked with metal bars from the inside, but that was easy for me to bypass. I used my telekinesis to unlock the bars. Then we went into the tunnels beneath. Finding the X-02 Power Armor was easy since I could see through walls. I had to admit it was decently well hidden. They had hidden the security door behind a lot of rubble, old boxes, and other junk. It didn't stop us, but it did keep almost everyone from discovering it.
The armor was given to Hancock to use. It was a very impressive set. It was fully upgraded and had a unique Tesla effect, causing damage to nearby enemies. It also had a very cool Navy Camo paint job. Overall, it was plenty worth it. Besides the Power Armor, there were some weapons and a few data storage devices. Outside of the safehouse was a large supply of Vodka, Cigarettes, Wine, and Cigars. They were basically useless to me, but I could at least sell them. I also found Taboo Tattoos Issue #1, 13. Useless to me, but it was an addition to my collection. Other than that, I found 4 Fusion Cores.
Once we were done looting the stockpile, we left and headed to Diamond City. As we entered the city, I noticed that everyone seemed tense. I went to find Piper and ask her what was going on.
"Oh, that? Well, everyone's scared about the Brotherhood of Steel coming to the Commonwealth. McDonough has made some choice words about them. Combine that with the fact that I have just released a newspaper sharing the irrefutable evidence that the mayor is a Synth and Institute Spy, and everyone is nervous. The mayor has been eerily silent. Even I'm getting a little nervous," Piper says.
"Hmm, things might get a bit messy. The mayor won't go down without a fight, and he might have enough corrupt guards, and the other spies might have enough resources to cause a fight to break out," I comment.
"Yeah... I guess you've got a point," Piper responds.
"Wait, are you saying that McDonough is a Synth and I have been mad at a fake?" Hancock says with anger.
"Yeah, that's about right," I reply.
"Those godamn sucmbags. They're lucky they are already all dead, as if they weren't. I would string them up from the State House," Hancock said with righteous fury.
"Hmm, maybe we can..." I don't get to finish as the sounds of gunfire interrupt us.
I look to where the sounds are coming from and see that a firefight broke out at the gate and the mayor's office.
"Looks like we arrive right as it sets off. Perhaps they waited until I was here to get support," I comment.
Most of the normal citizens fled into their homes while several of the guards tried to take out the defenders in and around the mayor's office. At first, I thought it was just guards vs corrupt guards, but then I realised that some of the hostile attackers were Raiders.
"That jerk sold out Diamond City!" I say with a shocked tone.
"What?" Piper asks.
"He brought Raiders into Diamond City and is using them to fight the guard," I say with disgust.
We run outside and join the fighting. Thankfully, Diamond City security caught the attack before it was too late and is holding them at the gate. I find Officer Flint in this mess and ask her what she wants us to do.
"Can you fly up to the office and prevent the Raiders from using it? If they get up there, we will be massacred," Flint asks.
"Done," I say confidently.
Everyone else goes to help the guards while I fly towards the office. The Raiders see me and shoot at me, but I narrow my body and smash straight through a window, knocking out a corrupt guard with a kick. While I am breaching the window, I pull the pins on two grenades and drop them. I hit the doors and burst right through them. The guards were too slow to respond and focused on me, so they missed the two Frag Grenades at their feet.
BOOOOM
The grenades go off and wipe out all the enemies in the office. I come to a stop at a wall and notice that the mayor's living quarters are all empty. I ran out of the living quarters towards the secretary's office. There were a few guards, but before they even saw me, I had tossed a Flashbang around the corner.
FLASH
I timed the explosion for the exact moment the first group of Raiders would come out of the elevator. While they were blinded, I pulled out an AK-47 and wiped them all out. Then I ran over to the elevator and disabled it. Once that was done, I flew out of the office and over the wall to the other side, and while still in the air, I pulled out a Fatman.
"Say hello to my little friend!" I scream.
WHIIIIISTLE BOOOOOOOM
The explosion hit right in the middle of the Raiders. The one shot killed over 40 Raiders. By the time they recovered a bit, I had pulled out the Unlimited China Lake and shot a few shells down at them. After the 5th shell, the Raiders started to flee. They realized that winning this was impossible, or maybe the constant explosions that keep killing them made them give up. The Diamond City Security was able to wipe out the few corrupt guards who refused to surrender. Mayor McDonough and the other spies were nowhere to be found. But I promised to track them down, if for nothing else but to reclaim the stolen wealth they took.
Tracking them down was easy enough. They didn't go too far in case they succeeded. They were occupying the Charles View Amphitheater. I took out the few guards they had and stunned McDonough and the 4 other spies. The cult at the Charles View Amphitheater was so grateful that I became Idolized by them. It gave me the Charlatan Perk. It made convincing others in dialogue easier, and I get better prices from vendors. The perk was fine, noting too crazy.
I took the prisoners back to Diamond City, where they were placed in jail until everyone decided what to do with them. Hancock wanted us to wait here as he wanted to be a part of the trial. Nobody was going to argue with that, and even the residents of Diamond City didn't argue as he was with me.