POV Rio
The boat arrives just outside Joe's Spuckies Sandwich Shop. We could enter from the Andrew Station side, as the Mintuemen had long since cleared the place, but that was unnecessary, as I could go through the back entrance, which is located right near Eddie's Bunker.
Once under the sub shop, Nick runs to the bunker. But before he inputs the code, he offers me the chance to open the code, but I refuse. I also don't mention that I could have opened the door without the codes. The code works perfectly, and the door opens.
"What the f*ck?" Eddie says with a confused tone.
We walk in, and Winter looks to me first with what can only be described as utter bewilderment.
"What the f*ck are you? What the f*ck is this? Who the f*ck are you?" Eddie asks in rapid succession.
"Such language," I reply with a different voice.
"Huh? What the f8ck do you mean by such language? I will speak however I f*ckin' want, this is a free f*ckin' country. Or at least it was. And who are you to tell me how to speak?" Eddie then starts using every curse word he knows and possibly invents new ones just now.
"Just how the fuck did you... No. No way. Not after all this time. Don't tell me you actually cracked my code? In the holotapes? Ha ha ha ha ha! Well, hey, it's only been... what? Two hundred years? Ha ha ha ha ha. Well look... I'm not sure what you thought you'd find - gold, jewels, the secrets of the universe. But you get me. One guy. A "ghoul," I guess you'd call me. Just living. Surviving. And what I got, you can't have. That code... it was a joke. I just wanted to prove how dumb those feds were. Turns out, pretty dumb. So take your asses someplace else," Eddie says, like we are nothing to him.
"I'm not going anywhere until I get what I came for," Nick says with righteous anger.
"Yeah? And what's that? And who are you, huh? You look kinda familiar. But... what are you, some kind of robot? Is that what it's like out there now? A world of robot overlords? I knew it," Eddie replies.
"The name's Valentine. Nick Valentine. Remember me?" Nick says angrily.
"Valentine? The cop? Is that who you're supposed to be? Sorry, pal, but you ain't Nick Valentine. You're just some kind of... machine," Eddie insults.
"You killed my fiancé. Jennifer Lands. There are some crimes even you can't get away with, Winter," Nick says while seemingly immersed in his old memories.
"Your fiancé? You mean Valentine's fiancé? Pretty girl. A shame what happened to her. But hey, you... Or, you know... the real Valentine. He shoulda backed off when he had the chance. But what gives, robot man? Why do you even care? Some girl gets whacked 200 years ago, and you come into my home, acting the hard guy? Christ, look at you. You're not even alive," Eddie says with disgust.
"Then I guess I'm in good company," Nick says while drawing his revolver.
Eddie goes to draw his, but he isn't as fast as Nick.
Crack
A single shot echoes out, and for a few seconds, everyone just freezes before a stream of blood drips down Eddie Winters' head, and he drops his gun and falls to the ground dead.
"We're done here. But there's one more thing I've got to do. I... I wouldn't mind the company, if you wanted to tag along," Nick offers.
Valentine holsters his gun and walks away. Piper, Cait, and Dogmeat stay behind to loot everything and to give Valentine some space. I follow him. We leave the sub shop and walk into the street.
"This is it. In this spot, two hundred years ago, one of Eddie's boys put a bullet in Jenny Land's back. Now Eddie's as dead as Jenny and Nick. And I... I'm at a loss. All I know is that, without you, Eddie'd still be at large," Nick says with a quiet tone.
"Taking down Winter was a big deal. Are you doing alright?" I ask.
"I don't know. It's a lot to take in. Winter was it, the only reminder left of the original Nick Valentine. The last proof outside of some long-lost Institute archive I was ever just a mechanical copy of some cop from a bygone era. I'm not sure how to feel," Nick says with an almost confused voice.
"Don't you see, Nick? There never was another Nick. You have always been you," I respond.
"I wish it was that easy. But it's not. Because I WAS Nick Valentine. I had his memories. His fears. All that poor bastard's hope. I remember getting the call to head to some lab in Cambridge to get that neurotrans-whatever. And the next thing I know, I'm in a trash heap, my family, my home, my entire life, gone. Then I discover, all those things, they weren't even mine. Everything I ever was belonged to Nick. I'd hoped with Winter gone, the last hint of that old world snuffed out, I could finally be free. But being out here with you, what I finally realized after all this time was that taking down Winter, it wasn't about Nick or Jenny or even you or me. It was about justice, about doing what's right. And that act of goodness, that's ours. All the good we've done. That's ours and ours alone. And even if that's the only thing in this world I can ever claim as mine, not Nick's, not the Institute's, but mine, then I can die happy!" Nick says with a fierce look in his eyes.
Nick takes a deep breath and continues.
"And none of it would have ever happened if it weren't for you. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to thank you for that," Nick says with a calmer voice.
"You won't have to. We're friends and friends help each other," I respond.
"You can't stop being noble, now, can you? But this situation with Winter... It's made me realise that I need to go back and do some self-discovery. This was a breakthrough, but I want to have some time to look into where I came from. Reconnect to where I was all those years ago... So I guess what I'm asking is if I can go my own way for a while," Nick asks.
"Of course, Nick. This is a group of friends, not an army. We can go do whatever we want when we want to. Just... Stay in contact with me," I say.
"And bring back souvenirs," Cait says while walking over.
"Didn't think you could leave us without saying anything, did you, Nicky?" Piper says.
"With you, Piper? Never," Nick says before laughing.
After we finish talking, I get the notification that I am now Idolized by Nick Valentine and unlocked his max affinity perk. The perk was called Bullet for My Valentine: Thanks to your relationship with Nick Valentine, you deal 5% more ballistic damage, and your chance to persuade in dialogue is increased by 5%. The perk wasn't too powerful, but it was nice to have.
We all come together and decide to send off Nick with a celebration at the Castle. The party was tons of fun, and while we did so, I gave some upgrades to Nick so he could travel around without looking like scrap metal. I also got word that Hancock is on his way to join us, as he decided to leave Goodneighbor for now. It would only take him a day to arrive, so we decided to spend the night at the Castle. In the Morning, we saw Nick off with smiles. Also, that same morning, Piper needed to talk with me.
"So, you're not an idiot," Piper starts.
I was flabbergasted and confused.
"Uh... Thanks? I think you're also not an idiot. Sometimes," I respond.
"No, I didn't mean like... I could just use some help. This isn't the sort of thing I'd normally bother anyone else with, but you just seem really good with people, and I've got this issue. With my sister. Nat. Becoming me," Piper says.
"Don't worry, I can safely say for certain that she isn't a Synth nor is she a Doppelgänger," I respond.
"A what? Nevermid not important. I hope. I'm just terrified she's going to start taking up like her big sis. I mean, think about the life we lead. No offense intended, Blue, but personal safety doesn't exactly seem like either of our strong suits. I can't have her ending up like her big sister, dodging bullets and running from all the people she pisses off. It's part of the reason I'm on the road so much. Part of the reason I'm here with you. I keep thinking maybe, if I make myself scarce, if I'm not around her enough, she'll cool off. She'll just go back to being sweet, innocent Nat, papergirl, and all-around upstanding citizen. What do I do, Blue?" Piper asks.
"Sigh. Piper. I could give you all the reasons in the world for anything, but this is one of those situations where you need to look inside yourself. Do you really want to lose the only family you have left?" I respond seriously.
"I... I don't. I don't want to lose her. But..." Piper responded with tears in her eyes
"She is your sister. Your family. If you push her away, then perhaps what you want will happen, and she will become a normal citizen. But she will hate you for it. She won't see tough love. She will see the sister who abandoned her at the most important time of her life. We are neither Omnipotent nor Omniscent. We cannot control how our loved ones live their lives. All we can do is be there for when they stumble and fall. To give them love when this world wants to make them feel unloved. I cannot, nor will I, make this decision for you. It's time for you to look inward and start asking yourself the big questions. Who are you? And what do you want?" I finish with a raised voice.
"I... I... Blue.... I need some time to think about that. But I think I am close to an answer," Piper says while walking away.
Everyone else was watching from a distance and was surprised to see me so loud, as I rarely raise my voice. I got a little heated up, but it was because this was something that was very important to me. I have seen and experienced things like this in the past, and I never want someone else to have to go through that. Now all I could do was hope Piper made the right decision. I had confidence that Piper would make the right call.
After the chat with Piper, we waited in awkward silence for Hancock to arrive.
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Author's Note:
I will move to posting one chapter a day.