"TRAVIS!" Piper banged and knocked on the door, opening it, she allowed herself in.

"TRAVIS!" She yelled, he looked up from his recording and broadcasting equipment and was shocked by her sudden entry. She spun around and locked the door. He took off his headphones and put a hand over the microphone.

"Piper, I'm in the middle of -"

"Travis! Just-Listen! We've got one. We caught an Institute spy!"

The look on Travis' face slowly twisted into confusion, "What?"

"Just-Move! She said, gently shoving Travis out of the way.

"Piper, Mayor McDonough doesn't want you on the radio again-" Travis tried to protest.

"I don't care what he wants! If Mayor McDonough of Diamond City wants to bend over and suck his own tiny penis, I don't care! Now go live!"

"I really shouldn't Piper,"

"Shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't, Travis. They're all past tenses. Don't be afraid of the things you did. Now, I need to tell everyone out there in the Commonwealth that we've caught one of the Institute's field agents, and we're gonna kill him! Now, do I need to figure out this on my own and start turning random dials and messing with your settings, or are you going to show me?"

"No! No! Anything but that! Don't mess with my settings!

Travis stood there for a moment with his mouth open like a gaping fish.

"Well?"

Travis put one hand up to her, and pressed her out of the way. "You really caught an Institute spy?"

"Yes! It was Conrad Kellogg, the guy with the kid living in the west stands! That kid was Nate's son! The vault dweller named Nate from Vault 111!"

Flicking three switches, a little red light appeared over the top of the equipment.

"Remember to speak clearly, and directly into the microphone. Keep your mouth at least six inches from the microphone and remember to avoid hard 'P's. Take a deep breath. You're on in three. Two." Piper swallowed. "One."

"To everyone out there listening to Diamond City Radio, there is breaking news. Earlier today, Nate, a Dweller from Vault 111 hunted down and caught his son's kidnapper, Conrad Kellogg. Conrad Kellogg is a Institute spy, and he was living here in Diamond City. He's being taken to Goodneighbor for sentencing. The Institute spy is being taken to Goodneighbor for sentencing by Mayor John Hancock. Law is coming to the Commonwealth, and it starts with the death of the unlawful Conrad Kellogg. If you want to witness this-" There was suddenly more banging on Travis' studio door.

"Go to Goodneighbor! We've caught an Institute spy and he's going to hang!"

"PIPER! Get off the fucking radio!" A guard from outside shouted.

"It's time to put the boogeyman to rest, Commonwealth! You hear us, Institute? This time, we're coming for YOU! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU!"

The door was kicked open and three Diamond City Guards burst in. "Piper get away from the microphone."

"THIS IS DIAMOND CITY RADIO!" She shouted into the mic, "!" Piper stood up as Travis flicked the tape recorder off and threw a heavy brace against the door. The log jam prevented the door from being opened, but the guard's demands were getting louder and louder.

"Sorry Piper, but you need to leave now." Travis pointed up to the skylight in the ceiling. "You can climb out through there."

Popping the lid off to the soup-can sized trailer, Piper stood on Travis' roof and addressed the guards.

"You boys sure work fast, thank goodness I can trust the Diamond City guards to be there whenever there's right's that need to be infracted upon. Ever hear about the freedom of speech?"

"The mayor would like to talk to you."

"Now is that, with me; like a reasonable adult conversation? Or to me, like a child? Because there's a big difference."

"So, if you knew...and pieced it all together. Why didn't you go straight to the CIT?" Nick asked Nate outside of Shenly's Oyster Bar, carrying Kellogg between them and the unicorn pony on Nate's shoulders. The sun was getting low beyond the horizon, and the sky was turning dark blue in the east, while the west still had dark orange shades of color peaking over the mountains.

"You said it yourself. I'm paranoid. I feel like I'm being lead into a trap. That someone definitely is watching us and reporting directly to the Institute, how else would Kellogg know that we would use Meathead to track him down using his scent, unless he was informed by someone else? How do I know that you're not broadcasting everything you see, directly onto a monitor inside the Institute right now?"

Nick nodded, "None of the synths anywhere, even generation three synths, have that sort of technology crammed into their brains. We've all got a component in the back of our skulls that receives signals, but wont send anything. It keeps the Institute from being traced. I would know, people have tried cracking open my skull before and digging around to see what makes me tick. I'll say that it doesn't make for a fun afternoon."

\111/

The people of Goodneighbor went to Hancock, the people of Bunker Hill went to Kessler, and the people of Diamond City went to McDonough.

"Hancock, are you hearing this?"

Smoking a cigarette laced with liquid jet, Mayor Hancock's high was coming down when he heard his name on the radio.

"Must be. Shit. I knew that the guy was looking for the low baller who did this to his wife and kid, but he sure don't mess around." Hancock said, sitting up slowly. "Wait. They're coming here?" Hancock scratched the top of his head. "Oh Shit. What do they expect me to do? If I were him, I would'a just shot him. Why the fuck are they coming to me?"

One of the Neighborhood Watch guards was peering outside through one of the wooden boards nailed over the windows."I don't know, but there's a lot of people showing up outside."

Fahrenheit and Hancock both got up from their chairs, and went to the boarded up windows, they peered through and saw dozens of people all gathered around the Old State house. "Holy Shit! When did this happen?"

"The last half hour. People just started showin' up!"

"Why didn't anybody fuckin' tell me? That's a lot of people out there! Get out there and tell the boys no funny business! Best behavior! No pickpockets, no making trouble! You got me?! Geeze! Motherfuckers making shit my problem! Dammnit! Now I gotta think of something to say and I'm all fucking high!"

Hancock looked to the gates guarding Goodneighbor, the doors were open and people were coming in a steady stream.

"All this for a Institute spy?"

"They want to hear you tear apart the Institute, same as always."

"Well where the hell is the guy?" Hancock asked.

\111/

Mayor McDonough looked out over Fenway Park from the news stands, his own personal residence reserved for the mayor was situated close to his office, but tonight he didn't sleep. There were over forty requests from residents this evening, all traveling in a massive foot caravan, leaving Diamond City to go see the sentencing of an Institute Spy in Goodneighbor. He couldn't bar them from leaving, but he did try saying everything he could to deter them, that it was unsafe. That there were high probabilities that raiders might attack, that super mutants would close in on them, but it was the damnable Piper that encouraged them there was safety in numbers. So long as they were in a large group, stayed quiet, and moved quickly, they would all be in Goodneighbor within an hour. No way would a group that big be taken on without the support of everyone around them fighting back.

Then they all left. There were still plenty of people in Diamond City this evening, but he noticed so many chimneys didn't have smoke coming out of them, so many broken windows with boards or metal nailed over them were dark, so quiet.

The silence was unnerving.

\111/

"Is this true? Did they really catch an Institute spy?" Hancock was asked, he was standing on the balcony overlooking the crowd with both hands out on the railing to support him when the question was shouted to him. He stayed still like a stone, nodding once.

Raiders were coming in, but they all stowed their weapons and wanted to know for themselves what was going to happen to the spy.

"They're coming! There they are!" A guard from the Goodneighbor watch shouted. Lead by Nate and Nick carrying Kellogg and the pony, with Meathead trotting along side them, were Piper and the forty residents from Diamond City arriving in the dead of night along with the extra hundred of people from around Boston that all came to check out Goodneighbor after hearing the broadcast from Diamond City Radio.

Travis took to playing Piper's message on repeat, and broadcast it every ten minutes in between songs.

They all joined in the march, tagging along with the giant group of people from Diamond City, and now they were leading a crowd of ninety, mostly raiders along the way that saw the largest group of people moving through Boston in a long time, and didn't risk shooting at them.

Hancock started clapping, and the effect took hold. Soon everyone was clapping and cheering as Nick and Nate crossed the threshold into Goodneighbor and the streets were packed with people.

They'd run out of liquid nitrogen, and Kellogg was wearing a bag over his head, with hands cuffed behind his back. He was being escorted along by Nate and Nick, with Piper holding both her Sten gun and 10 mm pistol to the crowd, keeping people away from jeering Kellogg.

A guard ran to Nate, "Get him inside, now."

They parted the path towards the door to the Old State House and went inside.

Hancock was there at the front door, only a step above everyone else, so he raised his hands and shouted, "Everyone!"

The crowd needed to quiet down, and they waited for him to speak so they could all hear. "Yes! It's true! The Institute Spy has been caught! After we're finished speaking about how to proceed, you all know what's coming next for the Institute bastard! Until then, look around you? Have you ever felt safer? Have you ever seen a group of people this big? Everyone here is united against a common enemy, the Institute! They are the real enemy! Not the super mutants, not the feral ghouls, not the creatures, or raiders, or even the synths. It is the Institute who divide us, now it will us who unites against them!" Cheers went up from the crowd and he raised his hands again to silence them.

"Tonight we send a message to the Institute, that they can't fuck with us, even when they want to, because WE ARE NOT AFRAID!"

Hancock let the cheers rise up and continue as he went inside and closed the door to the Old State House. Turning around he went to Nate, "Alright, Motherfucker, you better explain what the fuck you have in mind, and why the fuck you roped me into this, making all these God-damn people show up in Goodneighbor in the middle of the God-Damn night, so it better be a good explanation."

"Let's get him to a quiet room, and then we'll talk." Nate insisted for Kellogg. Forced downstairs, there was a cell door with a chair on the inside.

"Nick, Piper, would you mind watching Kellogg while I explain the situation to Hancock?"

"Sure thing."

"What if he needs to go to the bathroom?" Piper asked.

"Tell him he can shit his pants, he's not going to need a bathroom where he's going." Nate said, dropping the pony down off his shoulders, it glared and looked up at him defiantly.

"Okay, so what's with the pony?" Hancock asked.

"He was with Kellogg when I tracked him down, and he knows that I know he can talk."

"Is that some kinda Institute experiment? Making him talk?"

"Nope, completely natural. He's staying quiet because right now, he's trying to figure out how he was slammed into submission and lost. He's just a little angry that he doesn't understand how his magic is being blocked, or what's around his horn."

"They're magic? What is that green stuff anyway? Looks like dried caulk."

"It's deathclaw shit. It'll keep him from trying to do anything smart."

"Like what kinda smart?"

"Magic type of smart. Like teleportation, telepathy, bolts of plasma, lasers, anything he might use to try and escape. Magic knows no bounds. Let's move onto Kellogg before the crowd outside starts getting restless. Is there any place away from here we can put him so there's no chance he can reach Kellogg?"

Hancock nodded, "I've got a place in mind." Hancock turned to face the closest Goodneighbor guard, "Jerkovic, take this pony to the warehouse." The guard nodded, stepping forward and leading the pony out through the door back onto the street where the people were gathered around the darkened door, trying to see in.

"Now, about Kellogg, why the hell did you bring him here?"

"I need you to sentence him, publicly."

"Just shoot the bastard and be done with it!" Hancock replied.

"Listen, truly I tell you it will make yourself look ten times as more powerful if you sentence this guy to hang, rather than me gunning him down in hot blood."

"What is this? Some sort of power play to you?"

"Yes. Hancock, that is exactly what it is, but this power needs to go somewhere, and I don't have shit for a reputation yet, but you do. Fahrenheit mentioned were all pieces on a board game, well, this will show everyone out there that not only is the Institute going to pay for their sins, but that Goodneighbor is strong. That despite the anarchy that we all enjoy, there's still repercussions for murder, kidnapping, and spying for the enemy. If you sentence him to hang, it'll make you look even more official in the eyes of the people. You already run Goodneighbor, and you do a fantastic job at it. You've already got everyone convinced that the Institute can't mess with Goodneighbor if we all stick together and show no fear..." Nate was nodding, trying to get Hancock to nod along with him.

"NOW, now people will see, holy smokes, Mayor Hancock isn't bluffing. Someone, went out and dragged this Institute spy all the way across the God-Damn Commonwealth just to prove a point. They must be serious. That is the idea we can get across to everyone outside. They're serious when people talk about fighting the Institute, but it's almost always exclusively been about synths. Now, now is the day where the buck stops. Kellogg's cost people their lives, their property, their happiness, their families, and now it's all come crashing down, Hancock. This is how we drain the Institute." Hancock tilted his head, not understanding how. "This is how we fuck with the Institute in so many ways, that even when they come up from their little hole, we'll have a better thing going on up here, than they will down there."

"If they're actively waging war, then it's costing them resources and manpower, this is going to be subtle at first, but the amount of respect to be gained for doing this will be something that will be written down in the new history books. You know about this, building, Hancock. History is literally written here. This will be one of those moments that people look back and say, 'at the old state house, John Hancock the Second brought liberty to Goodneighbor'. He helped all the people. He was a man of the people. He loved his people and what they represented."

"Fuck John Hancock the II sounds damn awesome shit I said that out loud."

"Alright, so, I already know you get the honors, but, what do you want me to do?"

"Help me clean out the Institute."

\111/

Hancock went out onto the balcony at the plaza side, over the top of the Third Rail. People shifted and moved towards the courtyard and he signaled for the street lights around Goodneighbor to dim while the lights around the balcony and himself grew brighter.

After most of the people stopped moving, and all eyes were on Hancock, he spoke.

"In the early years of colonial America, Back before the Great War, Back before the World Wars, Back before the civil war, and Back before the revolutionary war that made America independent, six hundred sixty four years ago in the year 1623, the first man who was sentenced to die was a man by the name of George Kendall in Jamestown, Virginia. George Kendall was a man convicted of spying for Britian's enemy at the time, the Spanish, so he was shot."

"The second man ordered to be executed in the Colonial States of America was a man named John Billington in 1630, he was hung for murder."

"Now it is apparent that history repeated itself. That is why after too long, Conrad Kellogg is being sentenced to death by hanging for the KIDNAPPING of Nate's son Shaun, the SHOOTING of Nate's wife, Nora, and countless other acts of violence verified by Nick Valentine's Detective Agency including SPYING FOR A KNOWN ENEMY OF THE Commonwealth, THE INSTITUTE! CONRAD KELLOGG, is hereby sentenced to hang as granted by the power to me by the people of the Commonwealth, until you are no longer breathing and dead!" Shouts of approval rose up from the crowd, all eager to witness Kellogg's death.

"Nate tracked down his enemy, and instead of shooting him on the spot, like any one of us would of done, he dragged him all the way from Fort Hagen, through the Commonwealth, Boston, and all the way here to put the fear of God into the Institute, showing our enemies that we are may be lawless, but there are still consequences! That if you murder, kidnap, or collude with the enemy, you will find yourself at the end of the hangman's noose."

"Super Mutants who see us as stupid prey, or there's the desparados of society who would take a fistful of caps over a friend's life!" Mayor Hancock shouted to the gathered crowd of two hundred people filling the plaza beneath the Old State House.

"I know that there isn't a single ghoul or synth living in Diamond city that doesn't have it's residents constantly remind them to their face of who or what they are."

"There aren't any ghouls living in Diamond City. That's how McDonough was elected, by rallying people around the idea that sentient ghouls couldn't be trusted. That they might turn feral overnight and go on a killing spree."

"But that's all the more interesting. I was taught a long time ago, it doesn't matter what people look like, so long as they act like outstanding members of their community, and know how to be civilized, they're welcome anywhere. But-"

"-When there's a group in the Commonwealth that's devoted to preventing the wasteland from recovering, that is using the lawless nature of the land for their own personal benefit at the cost of happiness and the well being of others, while they reap in the benefits while people are starving, that is not what we stand together for! We are not the Gunners who people go to just because they decide they're not getting paid enough to guard duty to Quincy, and decide to gun down all their friends and comrades. We are not the Super mutants who try to come and take us in the middle of the night! We are not the Institute who tries to undermine everything we've worked to achieve by creating paranoia and mistrust among our people! We are Goodneighbor! We are 'Of the People, For the People!'" Hancock shouted down from the Old State House, people of all races and age were rallying behind Hancock's words.

"Goodneighbor is a home to anyone, ghoul or human, synth or super mutant, even I'd even let deathclaws in if they can play nice. We are not a town that discriminates against what you look like, or where you're from in this wild green world! But, if you murder, if you kidnap, if you rape, if you spy for the enemy, then expect someone to come after you! The Institute will learn the hard way, that they can't fuck with us if we're not afraid! Haven't I already said this a dozen times? Now! Now is the time to put meaning to those words!"

"Now I know you're expecting me to march out with Kellogg, but our man Nate has the honors of putting him to death. He's got it in his mind to hang Kellogg from one of the tallest buildings in the Commonwealth, with the longest rope we can find! Luckily, we can oblige!"

Down at Kellogg's feet, two helpers dragged out a large coil of rope and set it by his feet. From the angle people were looking up at the balcony, they couldn't see them. Hancock stooped down and held the rope high over his head, and the crowd clapped and cheered. "Six hundred feet of rope and fifty feet of bungie chords and rope, people! They are taking Kellogg and the rest of this rope to the top of Mass Fusion Tower as we speak!"

"Are they ready?" Hancock shouted out, looking for cue signs from his guards. They gave a closed fist as a sign back.

"Alright! They're ready!

"Let's go! To the foot of Mass Fusion!" Hancock shouted.

A posse of over two hundred people with Hancock leading the way, they were told to wait for first light so they could see the body drop, and barred from entering the Mass Fusion building.

Hancock entered the building, and found MacCready sitting in the lobby with five more of the Goodneighbor Guards on the ground floor.

"Where are they?"

"They're a few floors up. There's a second lobby above this one, Piper and Nick Valentine are up there. They're interrogating Kellogg right now. Take the elevator."

\111/

"I'm taking Kellogg to the observation deck and interrogating him, watch the doors." Nate said.

"I want a full front page about the details when you're done with all this." Piper said to Nate. Meathead followed Nate out the doors and onto the observation deck.

Kellogg was forced into the chair. Clipping his hands to the chair's arms, Nate dragged Kellogg to the edge, and made sure he could see the ground floor far below.

"Kellogg, is the Institute located underneath the Commonwealth Institute of Technology?"

"I'm not telling you anything." He replied. Nate looked past Kellogg to Meathead, getting a perfect read on Kellogg's emotions, he didn't need to say anything at all. Nate jostled the chair, leaning Kellogg over the edge.

"How do you get inside the Institute? Are there stairs? A hidden latch? A bunker? What about a backdoor? Do they get in through the sewers? Is there a pipe or escape tunnel leading into the Charles river?"

Kellogg shook his head, but Meathead nodded or shook his head after every one of Nate's questions. The threat of death elevated Kellogg's emotions to an unstable degree, making it easier to tell if he was lying.

"Where is it, Kellogg? Where's the backdoor? The CIT is right by the Charles River, Kellogg, so there's gotta be some sort of escape hatch, right? An escape tunnel if the Institute were ever invaded? If my great grandparents never went to Vietnam, they wouldn't of known about watersheds, where Vietmin would dive down into the water, and come up into a room that was above the water line...is that it? Kellogg? A little rat hole? That can't be the only way in, though. There's gotta be a way to get all those synths out of Cambridge without no one ever seeing a thing. So, how'd you do it? Magic? Teleportation?" Nate asked, even Kellogg couldn't refrain from showing a tell that gave away that Nate guessed it.

"There we go. Teleportation. Figures. The U.S. army was working on plenty of attempts to teleport things around. Should'a figured someone would figure out how to do it eventually. You know...I was there in False Pass when I saw three battle ships rise up out of the water, and vanish in a flash of light. Still wonder about what happened to them until today, Kellogg. Hell of a thing to see, to see something teleport in and out of existence like that. Now...Now that we've got that little mystery taken care of, who's the renegade?"

"You weren't right about the teleporting, and you're not getting anything out of me about the renegade." Meathead shook his head, Kellogg was lying again, but from where he was facing, he couldn't see Meathead.

"All I have to do is stand here and watch you squirm, Let's see. Was the renegade an Institute scientist?" You may not say anything, but the hairs on the back of your neck start rising up every time I guess right." Nate lied, but it was partially true the hairs on the back of Kellogg's neck were rising.

Kellogg remained silent with a stone face.

"Where did they go? He...or she...? He? He. Definitely a he. Where did he go? Did they go to Diamond City...? Did they go to the North? Did they go to the south? South East towards the coast? Or South west towards......west roxbury..." Nate remembered the Glowing Sea, the expanse of ground zero where the nuke fell.

"West Roxbury...of course. The glowing sea."

Kellogg swallowed.

"That makes all the more sense, you what...use some sort of tracking, targeting system, and you can't get a fix on the glowing sea because of all the radiation? Isn't it? That's where this renegade scientist is hiding? Isn't he? That's what you meant when you said you had all your supplies gathered, didn't you? Your new orders were to track down the renegade scientist to the glowing sea! God I love twenty questions!"

"You don't know anything! I haven't said a damn thing!" Kellogg shouted back.

"Oh, but I can read you like an open book, Kellogg. You're poker face is shit. Now...last question. How long has it been since you went in and kidnapped Shaun from Vault 111. One year? Five years? Ten years? Twenty years? Thirty years...forty years...fifty...sixty...seventy...." Nate stood up straight.

"Seventy years." He repeated. "How is that even possible?"

"You'll never know, and I'll die before I tell you anything. Go back to your conspiracy theories and die."

"You first, I insist." Nate bundled up a rag and stuffed it into Kellogg's mouth, then tied a gag over the rag to keep him from spitting it out.

Nate reached down and petted Meathead, holding him close, whispering into his ear while hugging him, "Good boy, Meathead. I love you."

\111/

As Hancock stepped out onto the second lobby, Nate was leading Kellogg through the observation deck doors back from the outside with Meathead by his side.

"Did you get everything you needed to out of him?"

"Yep. Cracked him open like an egg."

Kellogg was forced to walk ,with hands cuffed behind his back into the lobby of the building, to the central elevator, and up to the roof. Seventy floors up, the roof was already outfitted with guards from Goodneighbor and a long piece of rope intertwined and braided with bungee cables were coiled up with a hangman's knot and noose around the end.

It was fitted around Kellogg's neck, and he jerked, refusing the tightness around his neck.

"Take a last good look at the world, Kellogg, it'll be the last one you ever see." Hancock said.

"Any last words, Kellogg?"

"You'll all die."

"We all will Kellogg. That's an eventuality that we must all face one day, but for the rest of us, that is not today. Now, go." Nate said, taking the bag and putting it back on his head. Pushing Kellogg forward with the barrel of his rifle he moved unwillingly at first, leaning forward until Nate pressed harder into his back.

Kellogg took step after step forward, he didn't know where the edge was until he felt the wind blowing fiercely in his face, he was forced off the edge of the building and fell.

Falling sixty five stories before the line was taught, the chords stretched and bounced, dislodging his neck and suffocating him, Kellogg thrashed painfully at the end of the rope until he died.

Five stories below, the large crowd of two hundred people all watched and were in shock and morbid awe that someone went through all the trouble of bringing a man to justice. When they started dispersing after Kellogg stopped moving, they were filled with a healthy dose of fear, and elation of someone evil enough to work with the Institute, a group that was so detrimental to the progress of humanity, was now hanging at the end of a rope.

Nate let his rifle slowly drop down, laying it on the ground. He found the energy in his body was depleted, and the last week was finally catching up with him in full force.

\111/

Sitting cross legged on the ground, Meathead was by his side, and Nate latched onto his dog.

Crying, he could finally move on to the next stage in his life. It was apparent to Hancock overseeing everything, Piper recording everything, that this took a lot of of energy out of Nate.

He laid down on the roof, looking up at the sky. Meathead laid down next to him, and no one disturbed them. Laying there for fifteen minutes, they understood he needed some time to himself.

Finally as Nate sat up, salt trails staining his face from tears drying on his cheeks, both Piper and Hancock were there to offer him a hand up as everyone else had left.

"You going to be okay?"

Nate nodded. "Yes. I'm going to go lie down for a bit. Get some sleep. Hancock, thank you for officiating this. Piper, I'll find you where ever you are and give you that interview you wanted. I just...need to go home."

"No problem, that was heck of turnout to watch someone die." Mayor Hancock stated. Already he could see the line of people walking back towards Diamond City.

"Yeah...take your time. See you in Diamond City, Blue?" Piper asked Nate, he nodded.

"I'll find you."

"I'll be waiting."

"You're not going to believe what I have to tell you, Piper. I wouldn't of gotten this far without you, Hancock, Nick, and finally, my dog, Meathead." Nate crouched down on one knee and beckoned Meathead to come closer to him. He walked into Nate's outstretched arms and gave the dog a hug. "Thank you."