The Streets of Boston - Chapter 11: The Pied Piper of Diamond City

• Posted by Teineeva June 4, 2016 - 1,480 views

  November 9, 2287

  The rusted green letters of the old sign were as weathered as the rest of the shack. The sales weren’t all that great apparently. “Publick Occurrences” It said. I smiled, Piper was clearly a history nut, I could appreciate that, especially since I was part of it now.

  What I couldn’t smile about was the goddamn rain. 30 bloody caps for a shredded bloody umbrella, what did Vadim think? Of course my new “friend” refused to put it on the mayor’s tab.

  “It’z but a minorr tranzaction, let’z not bother the mayor with this shall we?” Oh the bastard. But well his loss, he didn’t accept my money, said it was junk. I didn’t have any bottlecaps. Whose idea was it to trade with bottle caps anyway, what is wrong with paper money?! Not only did this mean that my fortune became useless, but it also meant I wouldn’t be able to use my old printing presses for forgery anymore. Damnit.

  My suit was wet, my shoes were muddy, all my money was worthless and I was meeting with a reporter in the slums. My life had certainly taken a turn for the worst. I had to do something about it.

  I walked up to the front door and knocked. While I was waiting I noticed the writing above the door: “Diamand city’s newspaper”. Or at least that’s what they would have said. Someone had gone through the effort of barring the word “newspaper” and had replaced it with “Reporter Scum” in big red letters. I had never seen the population of a city turn on the press, it meant they were either very complacent or at least as afraid. I could certainly use that to my advantage. A people that fears is a people that easily gives it’s trust and power away to individuals. It wasn’t the mayor, he was but a puppet, someone else was in control of this city and I was going to find out who.

  Finally the door slid open and a young girl peeked through the opening. Piper’s younger sister Nat, probably short for Natalie. Her face was twisted with fear and distrust. Something was wrong.

  “Good morning Nat, I’m here for Piper, she asked me to come.” I said calmly. Whatever it was, if it concerned me; the best approach was the calm one. I wasn’t looking for enemies here, not yet at least.
  

  I heard Piper’s voice coming from behind the door, her commanding tone disguising her distrust. My curiosity peaked, whatever happened was related to my visit, to me specifically.

  “Nat, let him in.”

  “But…” The young girl objected, but was interrupted by her sister.

  “Nat, I said let him in.”

  The girl unwillingly accepted and opened the door, beckoning me to come in.I walked in and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of old paper and centuries old ink. The interior of the shack was a mess, old newspapers lay everywhere. Pre-war articles had been cut out and hung on walls, and from the ceiling. Piper had then started connecting them together with string of multiple colours. I found Piper hunched over a desk in the middle of the room. It was drowning in papers, files and scraps of other documents. I recognized the seal of the Boston Public Library, the Boston Bugle and even some Enclave documents. Where had she gotten all these from? The better question would be, why did she have these?

  “Glad you dropped by Simon.” She said without looking up from the documents that had caught her attention. It was a photo, it looked a lot like an old pre war mugshot, but from the distance I couldn’t discern who it was.

  “You know I initially thought you were a vault dweller when we met. With your whole fish out of the water look. But that isn’t it right? There’s something more specific about you.”

  “Get to the point Piper, why did you ask me to come? I’ve got an appointment with the barber next door in a few hours.” A quick look around gave me all the information I needed. The articles on the walls, all told of companies I used to own, companies I used to use in my less legitimate business ventures. And now that I was closer to her desk I could clearly recognize the face on that mugshot; it was mine.

  I couldn’t resist smiling, damn that picture was old. In all my time in the business I got arrested once. Drunk driving. It was also the first time I bribed the long arm of the law. I honestly thought that picture had been destroyed, yet here it was, coming to haunt me. 219 years later.

  “Here’s the deal. I want an interview, and you are going to answer my questions. Even the tough ones.”

  I could hear the click of the 10mm in Nat’s hand behind me. Shit. Here I was, in a room with people who had managed to gather every piece of information about me, they were afraid and even worse, they were armed, and I was not. The words “keep calm” echoed through my brain, you’ve been in worse situations. But damn in those situations I was a crime lord and not just some, what did she say; fish out of the water.

  “Sure Piper, what do you want to know?”

  She looked up at me and stared defiantly for a few seconds, she knew who I was and I knew how this would end. It wasn’t the first time I had silenced the press.

  “First, let’s begin with your name.” She ordered.

  “Simon Augustus Lafoy, my father wasn’t content with naming me after a sin, so he also called me Augustus, the name of a long dead pagan emperor. But let’s be honest you already knew my name didn’t you?” I said pointing at the arrest warrant on her desk.

  Ignoring my question she went on to the next question: “Where are you from?”

  I shook my head in disbelief, surely she would have more than enough material here to know that now wouldn’t she? Damn, she had enough to convict me.

  “I was born right here in the city. I’ll be honest though, it certainly looked a lot better at the time. Well, no not all of it, this place was real dump, always has been.”

  “Alright, then could you help me explain this?” She asked as she pushed the picture into my face.

  “Not the most charming picture I ever posed for to be honest, but what have you. Even at the time we couldn’t really ask the Boston P.D to take photo classes, much less pay for them. Can you imagine the chaos we would have endured if the entire police department had left for classes? Now that would have been one hell of a way to go!”

  “Stop joking around, Simon,” She yelled, impatiently. “How is it possible that you look exactly like the man in this picture?”

  “Well, it’s me, I am the man in the picture, don’t you get it?” I said, as nonchalantly as I could muster.

  “You aren’t fooling me, you can’t be this man, he is dead, so who or what are you?”

  “I am, as you clearly know, “ I gestured at the walls “Simon Lafoy, one of the biggest criminal minds on this side of the world. I’ll admit, you did some thorough research, the police still couldn’t connect the dots even with all the evidence right under their noses.But next time you want to interview someone like me, be sure to rest a bit beforehand. You’re tired and that’s going to make you sloppy.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “Oh no just some friendly advice.”

  “Piper, can’t we just shoot him?!” A frightened Nat yelled from the back of the room, her pistol pointed at my back. “Let’s just get rid of this Synth!”.

  I saw Piper preparing to put down the rebellion, she wanted this to go her way, but I signaled her to stop. I would take care of this.

  “A synth, you say? You think I’m one of those bloody robots you lot seem so afraid of?” I asked as I approached Nat, her aim was already wavering. “I am a person of flesh and blood. Which means I am far worse.”

  “Shut up, Synth, don’t come closer!” Nat exclaimed. She was trembling like a leaf in autumn.

  Regardless to say, I continued. “I know more ways of hurting you and your pathetic sister than you can imagine, so now put that gun down or I’ll show you.”

  “Simon, cut it!” The older sister yelled.

  I turned around and looked at Piper: “You see, that’s a threat.” And walked back to the desk. I unbuckled my Pipboy and put it on the table. Wouldn’t want it getting dirty now would I?

  Nat was crying in fear, her finger was still on the trigger but she was harmless now and without paying any further attention to me, Piper rushed to her aid.

  I couldn’t care less about consoling the brat. My eyes were locked on Piper’s desk. I knew the book, and every trick in it. Every reporter, private dick or mobster worthy of respect would keep a gun at hand. Preferably under one’s desk. I walked over to her desk and searched for the usual hidden holster. I was not disappointed.

  “Sorry girls, nothing personal, just business as usual.”