"What do you mean you can't open the gate? Stop messing around, Danny. I'm standing out here in the open for crying out loud!"

"I got orders not to let you in, Ms. Piper. I'm sorry, I'm just doing my job."

"Just doing your job? Protecting Diamond City means keeping me out, is that it? Oh look, it's the big scary reporter, Boo!"

Her charming appeal was being beaten by metal screens, wiring, and an apathetic security guard. As long as Piper's conversation with a metal intercom box continued, she knew she could only get so far.

Having learned long ago it was nearly impossible to lie to Meathead, and that he was reading emotions on a biologically comparable scale, Nate didn't even have to say anything when he rolled his eyes up to him. "<She ticked someone off.>" Nate said, wagering the madam being left to fend for herself annoyed someone on the inside.

"That must be a recurring problem for her."

"<What makes you say that?>"

"She said so herself, she's a reporter."

\111/

Danny on the other end of the intercom, leaned on the microphone button, sighing deeply. By holding down the mic on his end, Piper couldn't interfere. She was forced to listen to Danny's drawn-out sigh, making her hear the off-put resignation in his voice. This was one conversation he didn't feel like having today, but if he took his finger off the button, Piper would talk and talk and talk.

"You said the Mayor was a synth Piper, and guess what, in this tiny little town of one hundred people with nothing to read except hundred-year-old books, they took it seriously and McDonough took it personally! Did you maybe think that a story saying you can't trust anyone would make the world a bright and happy place?"

"I was only describing the observations of how the Mayor was acting. It's reporting, and no my articles weren't going to make the world a bright and shiny place, we've got nukes for that! My articles are about the shreds of truth and stories that could build interest when everyone already knows each other on a first-name basis, and traders coming into Diamond City can know what's being talked about in our community." Piper said, trying to explain it reasonably.

"Piper, the only reason people are talking about it, is because you were one of two people who was talking about it... And then you told more people, and then some details got lost along the way as a big old game of he-said, she-said went from you to your sister, to everyone in the school, to every parent, and then it wasn't until Travis said something over the radio." Danny took his mouth away from the microphone for a moment to catch his breath.

"There were more people than just the mayor who were mad when they found out about two brothers who were found dead in the Dugout Inn, after trying to carve each other's skin off, trying to see if they were synths underneath! Go. Away. Piper." The fight just wasn't in Danny's voice, but it was surely rising in Piper's.

"Ergh! You can't just lock me out, I live here!"

Nate glanced at Meathead, away from Piper, "She sounds like a fantastic listener." Meathead nodded.

"Piper, Fuck off till we feel like opening the gates."

She wasn't deterred in the slightest, with one arm still propped against the intercom, she turned up and around to face Nate and Meathead.

"You two. You want to get into Diamond City?" She scanned both of them top to bottom in a blink of an eye.

"Do you think they're going to listen to you so quickly after he told you to take a hike?"

A look of concern flashed in her face, then changed to a stern smile. "Just stay quiet, Oh, what's that?" She spoke louder into the microphone. "You're traders up from Quincy? You have enough supplies to stock a general store for a whole month? Huh. You hear that Danny?" Piper said, really leaning into the intercom box. "You going to let us in, or are you going to be the one talking to crazy Myrna about losing all this supply?"

\111/

"Geeze! Alright, Piper! Just give me a minute." Danny said, leaning back from the microphone. He put his feet up on the counter and frowned at the small switch that raised and lowered the gate. Shaking his head he reached out for it, then pulled his hand back. His hand hovered over the gate switch.

'She's testing me. I know it. I know she knows I know it. Don't do it. She's bluffing. It's painfully obvious that it's a bluff.'

"Oy! Reporter." Nate said, pulling Piper away, the indignant scowl she wore was directed at the small intercom.

"What?"

"When was the last time you heard about anything coming up from Quincy?" Nate asked,

Piper squinted her eyes and shook her head, "Two weeks ago?" Nate responded by widening his eyes and shaking his head.

"You didn't hear about the raid?"

Piper bit her tongue and faced her body towards Nate. "What happened to Quincy?"

"Four days...five days? Four days ago, I met a man...shoot I forgot about him...anyway, I met this man named Preston Garvey, of the-"

"Of the Minutemen! Yeah! Why? What happened?"

Nate's eyebrows rose and fell and he looked forlorn by shaking his head. "Listen up. He told me the Minutemen fell apart. Half of them joined the Gunners, turned raider, and wiped out Quincy. By the time I found him, they went from twenty Minutemen and a bunch of civilians to him and four civilians. Preston was the last Minuteman and that was right before even more raiders from the Corvega plant in Lexington came and separated us in Concord. I don't know if he survived or not. I only know he didn't die in Concord because I checked all over for his body. But, of the four people who were with him, two of them were captured, one died, and the other is missing, probably with Preston if they're still alive."

"Whoa. That's a lot to take in," Piper's eyes flashed to the gate, wondering what was taking so long.

"There's a lot more to this, but right now, this isn't helping us get inside. There was also a fire at Covenant, major shit show, and I know how U.S.S. Consitution set sail. And...how is it that you're a reporter and not heard about any of this!?" Nate asked, looking at the blindsided reporter.

"I was downtown! I only just got back from checking some leads out about a potential story about a giant mutated monster in the harbor when the ship crashed into the skyscraper. I tried checking it out, but robots were crawling all over the building and they wouldn't allow me on board." Nate spared a glance towards Meathead, he shook his head no.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?" A voice called down from above, twenty feet above them was a security guard leaning over the rail, "I can hear every little thing you're saying!"

"Oy! Was I talking to you? Shut up! I'm trying to conduct business down here!" Nate shouted back.

"Take a hike!"

"Get Buggered!" Nate shouted back.

"That doesn't even mean anything!"

"Says you! You buggerer! You need a good bollocksing! Make sure your partner washes his junk first! You look like a guy who likes it dirty!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck off!"

"Come down here and make me!" Nate said, arms out.

The guard rose his rifle and Nate just shook his head and laughed, the pipe rifle had a slightly bent barrel that looked rusted out. "Nice gun! Your mom polish it for you?"

The guard pulled back on the bolt, loading a round into it.

"What are you gonna do with that piece of shit in your hands? That gun's gonna fall apart or blow up in your hands!" Nate jeered, putting his hands onto his hips.

"I don't want to shoot you, but I will!"

"You couldn't hit even hit the ground if you fell off that wall!" Nate shouted up.

"Stop yelling at the guards! You're not helping!" Piper shouted at Nate.

"This guy couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat!"

Crack! The rifle went off and the round embedded into the brickwork five feet away from Nate.

His response was to laugh, "Oh my gosh! Ha! Hahaha! Your aim sucks, jackass!"

"That was just a warning shot!"

Meathead shook his head. The guard was worried, embarrassed, and backpedaling, trying to explain it.

Nate snorted with laughter, "Is this how it is then? Oppression of the masses through force? Help! I'm being oppressed!"

"Shut up!" Both the guard and Piper yelled.

"Open the gate, and I'll stop fucking shouting!"

"You heard me, Piss off!"

"Make me!"

Crack!

"FUCK!" Piper's arm was thrown backward and a stream of fresh red blood flowed from her arm. She collapsed onto the ground, "Shit! Thomas! You fucking ASSHOLE! You fucking shot me! YOUR AIM IS TERRIBLE, you asshole!" She gripped her arm and shook in throws of pain.

Nate glared at Thomas and he was scared. Laying his rifle by the rail, The security guard quickly backed away out of sight.

Nate went to the intercom. "Hey, Danny boy, Thomas just shot Piper, let us in. Also, he needs to calibrate the sight on his rifle and learn to aim properly. He's gonna shoot someone's eye out at this rate, starting with himself."

Danny's response was a long drawn out sigh. Longer than before. Inside the walls, he was shaking his head and looking at the door control. Clenching his eyes shut he rested his hand on the button to make the metal wall rise.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that shouting from here. Piper, I swear you make the days here in Diamond City go by a little slower. Just, for this month, could you drop the damn Institute talk? It's killing us."

"Just let me in you assholes!" Gripping her hand over the bullet wound in her arm to staunch the flow of blood.

Nate went to Piper's side and held up a Stimpak to her. "Yes or no?"

"Yes! Definitely yes!" Nate jabbed her in the arm and her entire left arm relaxed and went limp for a moment. Piper rolled her head back and moaned. "Ohhhhh...that sucked. I hate getting shot." The bleeding stopped, and a little lead round was forced back out of the bullet hole. The wound pussed and blood hardened, quickly turning into a loose scab.

The entire wall shook as metal pylons contracted, pulling up a large section of yellow steel reddened by ages of rust and pocketed with bullet marks. Deeper dents were from long ago when people could still ram their cars into it, trying to knock it down. Now it was adorned with a white diamond and bordered with a white line. Burn marks scorned the edges as if someone or a group of people tried burning the stadium to the ground from the outside.

Nate waved his hand and offered Piper to go first. "Ladies first." He said, allowing Piper to be the first thing the expecting faces of Diamond City Security saw.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Piper responded, wincing once as she moved her arm in a little circle before dropping it.

Meathead looked up at Nate, 'Really? his expression meant to ask. Piper skipped ahead, grinning madly to have security let her in again.

Nate glanced at Meathead for silent input, the dog scrunched up his face and turned away from a foul stench.

"I know bud, she's full of it...how much do you want to bet she's cried wolf at least once?" Meathead stuck out his tongue and shook his head.

"<Too easy, no bet. I can only imagine how quickly she works.>"

"Who let this rabble-rouser back into my city?" There were only a few people who could shout the possessive of 'my city', and Nate guessed it was either McDonough, who Piper and Danny mentioned, or a chief of security only now aware of Piper's return.

"Well, that was fast." Nate turned to the entrance and walked in, hearing the gate squeak and slid shut behind them.

"It's not your city, McDonough!" The shouting started almost as quickly as Piper entered the baseball stadium. Her voice was proud and determined, as well as arrogant and a bit overdone as if she was trying to bury the lede.

"With the right motivation, maybe..." Nate said to himself. "Wanna go play charming neighbor?" Meathead shrugged his shoulders and wagged his tail.

"-You believe in freedom of the press, don't you?" Piper asked, bringing Nate's thoughts back into the conversation.

"I believe in free speech, along with the rest of the bill of rights and every amendment to the constitution that followed after that," Nate said. "But when you ask me, do people have the right to know? Yes, of course, they do, everyone always does. But it's not their duty to do your job for you, it's your job, to do your job for yourself, which in turn you feel it benefits society. Hi, I'm Nate, that's Meathead, m' dog. I heard you were the Mayor? It's an honor to meet you." Nate said, extending a hand out to shake McDonough's. Meathead snuffed outwards through his nose twice and barked loudly, Nate held his hand out for a moment as McDonough stared and then shook it as well.

"Yer Got...clean hands there..." McDonough shook his head, looking at Nate's hands. The difference was extremely apparent in skin tone, color, roughness, and texture. McDonnough's hands were dry and rough, the backside of Nate's hands was still soft and smooth from the pre-war condition. "Anyway, you seem like a decent enough city type, what can I or Diamond City Security assist with you today? Business? Food and Water? A place to settle down? Diamond City is a safe happy city, don't let this muckraker here tell you otherwise." The mayor shot Piper a look that said 'what are you still doing here?

"I'm looking for a bald kidnapper, might've come through here with either an infant or a young boy. That boy is my son. He's either passing him off as his son or hiding him. Last I saw of this kidnapper, he has a scar above his right eye and a beard, wore a black leather jacket and carried a .44 magnum if that matches anyone's description." Nate looked at McDonough's face for any recognition, there were a few traces of memory popping up, but nothing to tell him that McDonough saw the kidnapper.

"Oh? Your son is missing? What's Diamond City Security going to do to help this man, huh? This isn't the first missing person report to come through here, and now we've got an infant who's been taken."

"Thank you for the support, Piper. We'll handle it from here." Nate interjected, turning his attention to the mayor.

"I haven't personally come in contact with such an individual...I stand corrected. As the mayor, I have, but no person with your son. Scars on people's faces are a common sight in the Commonwealth, and the clothes could easily be changed or swapped out. People carry all sorts of weapons, so when I say I have seen a person like that, I've seen and met hundreds of people whom you describe. Diamond City Security doesn't have the capacity to handle all missing people's reports. But, Diamond City has every service available known to man, so I'm sure one of our residents can assist you."

"Great! Hey, since you're the man in charge around here, you seem to know what's going on in these parts. Do you have any suggestions on who I could ask for help?"

"Oh...ah, well...There is a private citizen I could recommend the services of... a Detective Nick Valentine, he specializes in tracking people down for debts and that sort of thing." Mayor McDonough said with a nod of his head towards Nate's rifle.

"Now, I have to get going! Diamond City security doesn't have time to help, but I'm sure Mr. Valentine charges a reasonable fee."

"Do I need to check this?" Nate turned to Danny, the closest security guard, and he raised his head.

"Nah, carry it around if you want, just no pointing it at people," Danny replied.

Piper caught Mayor McDonough one last time, trying to get the last word in.

"This is ridiculous, McDonough! Diamond City can't provide one officer to help with missing persons? I want the truth."

"Piper! I've had enough of this! From now on, consider you and that little sister of yours on notice." Turning to Nate, "I must return to my office, you seem like Diamond City Material. Should you feel like purchasing a residence in Diamond City, please speak with my assistant Geneva. Until we met again, have a pleasant stay in Diamond City." Mayor McDonough turned on his heel and went for an elevator marked 'Club Level Elevators' and waited for a security guard to tap the button before the doors slid closed. The quiet dinging of the bell counting off floors as it rose.

"Wow, I'm impressed. not often anyone can get anything out of McDonnough's tight-fisted hands." She walked halfway around Nate, sizing him up, looking him from toe to head. "Hmm, why don't you stop by my office after you see Valentine? I think I just found my next story." Nate raised his eyes in surprise. Looking down to Meathead, then back to Piper.

"Piper, does the phrase it's easier to attract flies with honey, rather than vinegar, mean anything to you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Shouting at the person who you're trying to get information from doesn't always work, a little tact goes a long way when talking to people like Mayor McDonough. My knowledge is free, but teaching it to others is expensive. As for now, I need to speak to a man about a kidnapper."

\111/

"Diamond City Radio!" Travis looked up at the posters around his studio, "Yeah. Diamond City Radio, broadcasting all day, every day and then some."

"Brenton Wood must've pretty choosy with the gals he was after, but he sure saw one that caught it eye. Baby You've Got It, only at the Great Green Commonwealth Jewel."

Pressing play on the holotape machine, and switching over the microphone, it took Travis Lonely Miles a moment to realize he goofed on saying, 'The Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth.'

"Darnit!"