October 31st, 2287.

Nick wandered up to Nate and Meathead, leaning on the rail looking over Boston.

"Hey, Nate, Mind if I ask you a question?"

"Ask away."

"With everything that's happened with you and your family, I wanted to know how you were holding up? It took me a long time to transition to this new world, and it took me even longer to get a feel for this place. Thank goodness I found Diamond City. It's got its flaws, sure, but it beats the hell out of anywhere else in the Commonwealth. Course, I took up a place back when people were just as scared of the Institute as they are now. Maybe even more."

"It's been difficult, but I've been finding safe havens along the route to remind myself there's still a little bit of Boston underneath all the rubble."

"That's good to hear...good to hear. The massacre of the CPG, Commonwealth Provisional Government, was still pretty fresh in people's minds seventy years ago...at that point, folks were still losing sleep over the Broken Mask incident Piper brought up in her paper. Plenty of people thought I was a saboteur, moving into meltdown the reactor or poison the drinking water."

"What happened with the CPG?"

"Years back, a group of settlers tried to get together and form a coalition. Every settlement with even a hint of clout sent representatives to try and hash out an agreement. Only, the Institute sent a representative of their own, a synth. The man killed every rep at the talks. Thus ended the Commonwealth Provisional Government, dead before it even got off the ground."

"So how'd they come to let you into Diamond City, when all that happened? I'm surprised you weren't drawn and quartered."

"Who says I wasn't? People have tried a lot to kill me over the years, even inside Diamond City. Stabbing me, beating me with a hammer, that's how I lost a chest plate a while back. One idiot even tried to hang me, so I pretended to play dead just to get on with my day. But I never gave up, same as you. I'd rescued the mayor's daughter, I showed up at the gate with her and the mayor, Henry Roberts, after she decided to run off with some caravan hand she'd gotten to know for an evening."

Nick dug through his pockets and found a packet of Grey Tortoise cigarettes, and offered one to Nate, but he shook his head.

"Turns out they were a group of kidnappers, and I didn't even know who she was until I stumbled across her screaming her head off and four tough guys looking to take advantage of her. I took her home and the mayor dubbed me a hero. He offered me a place in town, even though plenty of folks protested. Everyone said I was a spy back then, but he wouldn't have any of it."

"Sound's like you were head nig at a Klan rally," Nate said.

"I was," Nick said, dropping his tone flat. "But, I never hid who I was and people seemed to warm to that. I started off doing the jobs no one else wanted. I got more banged up being Diamond City's handyman than I ever did out in the ruins. People never forgot I rescued the mayor's daughter though, so they started coming to me when people went missing. Wife ran off? Talk to the Synth. Upset Father moves his kids to Goodneighbor in the middle of the night? Talk to the Synth. After a while, the jobs got so backed up, they didn't even ask me to do handyman stuff anymore. Hell, I was so happy to do it, it was months before I started charging anyone. I never stopped being Nick the Synth, but I'm glad it was Nick the Detective people came to see me as...it was around then...things started feeling normal...It took me a long time to realize, that home is where you make it. With some time and effort, this place can be your home, too."

Nate nodded, drawing in a deep breath and exhaling. "I appreciate that, Nick. I see this place like home, but not my home, you know? For me, home is where the family is. I get what you're trying to say though, so thanks."

"Long story, but I hope it helps. You got anything else planned for today?"

"Well, it depends. Meathead. Any news? Bark once for yes, twice for no."

Meathead barked twice.

"Guess not. I know one of those things will be sleep because I feel like I haven't slept right in a week."

"Well, far from it for me to keep you from a good night's sleep, but the Institute isn't the only underworld of crime in Boston."

"Does it have a name?"

"Yeah, its name is Eddie Winter. For a long time, I've been getting flashes of old Nick's memories."

"What kind of memories?"

"Everything. From old cases, old loves, before you showed up I even found myself running background on cases, only to realize everyone's been dead for two hundred years. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm in Nick's debt, these memories are what's kept me alive. Nick was hell of a cop, with good instincts and a big heart." Nick tried following Nate's eyes and saw them leading off towards the Glowing Sea.

"Ever since you played that tape, I haven't been able to get Eddie Winter's name out of my mind. There's a part of Nick Valentine's memories that I've been wanting to put a bow and ribbon on for a while now. I could use a hand if you're willing to hear me out."

"What's the story?"

"Once upon a time, dot, dot, dot, there lived a king of organized crime named Eddie Winter. He was a bad man who did a lot of bad things. He ordered a hit on Nick's wife, and you already know the story. Nick went to C.I.T. after the investigation was shut down, and Nick was going through tough times. Those memories were scanned, stored, and later dumped into me a hundred and forty years later after the old Nick died. Or at least, I haven't found any trace of my doppelganger."

"But old Eddie Winter sealed himself inside a personal shelter, underneath the sub shop he used as his headquarters in South Boston."

"I heard he was acquitted."

"Bull shit he was. Once it was out, half the Boston P.D. wanted to kill him, the other half wanted to turn on the ones who were after Winter. The arrogant bastard wanted to cheat death, so he invested everything he could into a crazy radiation experiment. It was all to come out of his shelter one day and into this brave new world...sound familiar?"

Nate nodded along, looking down towards the ground.

"Eddie Winter went and turned himself into a ghoul, two hundred years before it was fashionable. Heck, he was probably the first ghoul out there. I'm convinced he's still locked inside that shelter, safe and sound. He's just waiting to start up all his crime all over again. I'm going to find him, and kill him, you in? Second Verse, Same as the first? A little louder, and a little bit worse?"

"You point him out, we'll shoot him. Question, do ghouls need to eat?"

"Nope, they get awfully skinny if they don't though, that's why all the feral ghouls we see running around are nothing but skin and bones, they forget to feed themselves and just start losing energy and become less aware of things. Now, I know where Eddie's bunker is, I've even touched the door. But, he's got a code to get in. Winter was arrogant, or at least, trying to make everyone believe he was. He recorded ten holotapes, the ones Nick's Captain mentioned, and on each one, was a number. We find the holotapes, we get the code, then we get Winter. I was working on this case for a while now, and I managed to snag a pair of holotapes from the Cambridge police station, where they were set up before the war. Feral ghouls swarmed the station before I could find the rest of them in evidence."

"Funny, I was headed that way tomorrow."

"I need to pop into my office, and then I'm coming right back here to Goodneighbor, so I'll be busy for a few days. I may have Nick's memories, but I'm not Nick. It's a case that's been waiting two hundred years to close, so it can wait."

"Well, you're able to see the world for what it is, no one would fault you for being Nick Valentine, and no one would fault you for being a detective here in the year 2287. It's your choice. I'll check out the police station on my way back."

"Where you headed now?"

"Home."

\111/

Fin Act I