Nigel, Lucy, Bjorn and San-Kai stood outside Goodneighbor, it was a short walk from the Old North Church and they’d managed to avoid the majority of super mutants – only having to take down about two on the way. The harsh neon lighting gave no illusions as to where they were as they swung open the door and stepped inside.
The town was small but not tiny, the Old State House stood imposingly in the centre as the other buildings of the town surrounded it. Two shops were at the front of the town, one run by a robot selling guns and the other run by a ghoul selling general items. A bar was underneath the State House in the old train station and ‘The Memory Den’ inhabited the old theatre.
A man, dressed in a leather jacket and trousers leant against the brick wall, was smoking a cigarette as he spotted the group entering and walked on up to them, “Hey guys, welcome to Goodneighbor – you got the money for the insurance?”
Lucy answered the man, “Insurance?”
“Yeah, you gotta pay me 200 caps or bad things’ll start happenin’”
Before Lucy could reply a Ghoul dressed in a red leather jacket and a tricorn hat strolled out of the Old Sate House, “Finn! What did I tell you about the extortion crap? If I catch you doing that once more I’ll stab you, you hear me?”
“Sure, Hancock” Finn spat at the Mayor of Goodneighbor before running off
Hancock turned to the group, “I’m so stabbing that guy next time, and sorry about the bad welcome from Finn – welcome to Goodneighbor, of the people, for the people – you feel me?”
“I feel you, Hancock” Nigel replied
Hancock turned to Nigel, suddenly noticing him, “Nigel? Sorry, I missed you, buddy – what you doin’ in Goodneighbor?”
“We’re looking for a diamond”
“A diamond? Nick Valentine came in a few days ago looking for the same thing, he’s in the Hotel”
“Thanks”
“No problem, see you around”
“See you, Hancock” Nigel called after him as the Mayor of Goodneighbor walked on back into the State House
Lucy turned to Nigel, “You’ve been here before, then?”
“Yeah, I came through about two years ago –Hancock and I drank about five bottles of Bourbon in one evening”
Bjorn interrupted, “Bourbon? Is that like mead?”
Nigel chuckled, “Close enough, shall we go and see Nick?”
“Lead the way,” San-Kai said
***********
Nick Valentine knelt on the floor of a room in the Hotel Rexford, after days of asking around he’d learnt that the diamond was last seen here, but nobody knew where it had gone after that. Nick’s ability to notice things was enhanced compared to regular humans all thanks to his advanced technological brain.
Footprints could be seen leading out of the room, heavier on the heel slightly by the weight of something on their back, a diamond maybe? The tracks led out of the room and down the stairs, Nick followed them, crawling carefully down the staircase with his eye on the footprints – hence why he didn’t notice the man he was about to bump into.
“Oh, sorry” Nick began, getting up from the ground, and then he noticed who it was. “Nigel? Good to see you, how are you?”
“I’m fine Nick, how are you?”
“Can’t complain – who are your friends?” Nick asked, indicating the others
“Nick, this is Lucy, Bjorn and San-Kai”
“Well hello to you all, what brings you to Goodneighbor?”
“The same thing that brought you here – a diamond” Nigel replied
“Well, I’ve been hired by Tinker Tom to hunt it down”
“So have we” Lucy added
“Huh, guess he thought I was taking too long – I’ve just found some tracks…”
“Then let’s follow them” San-Kai interrupted
“Very well, they lead out of the Hotel Rexford and turn left”
“I don’t see anything – do you need two eyes to see it?” Bjorn replied
“It’s not because of your blindness; I can notice things the normal human wouldn’t see with a microscope”
“Damn,” Bjorn said
“You say they turn left?” Nigel interrupted, eager to find the diamond
“Yeah,” Nick said, following them outside. “They go into the Memory Den”
“Then let’s go,” Nigel said
**********
The Memory Den was a musty old theatre with pods lining the walls where paying customers could relive past memories as if they were happening right now. In the centre of the building sat Irma atop a red chaise overseeing the memory pods, posters lined the walls and dirty old carpeting lined the floors. Nick walked on in and immediately noticed the tracks, “They go down to Amari’s lab” he announced to the others
“Then what are we waiting for?” Bjorn urged
“Amari is a friend of mine and she’s proven quite useful in cases – could you confront her for me? Don’t mention my name; I’d like to stay on good terms with her”
“No problem, Nick” Nigel replied as the group went downstairs, leaving Nick Valentine as he turned around and left for Diamond City.
They found Dr Amari in her lab downstairs, a clean, clinical room compared to the musty den upstairs. She noticed them enter and they noticed the diamond sitting atop a mount in the corner of the room.
“You are here for the diamond, did Tinker Tom send you?”
“How did you know?” Lucy replied
“You are looking for Dwemer and Tinker Tom has a habit of getting other to do his dirty work in return for favours, you want the wristband?”
“Why do you want to know?” Nigel asked, suddenly apprehensive
“Because he will only give you one, yet there are four of you – I can give you three others”
“I presume you won’t just give them to us?” Nigel replied
“No, but unlike Tom, or Tatak, as I know him, I will not send you on a search for a diamond – I simply ask that you listen to what I am about to say”
“We’re all ears” Lucy said quickly before Nigel could say anything
“You are being transported around by Kagrenac, the Chief Tonal Architect of my race”
“You mean you’re a…” San-Kai began
“Yes, I am a Dwemer, and do not interrupt me” Amari replied. “The wristbands have the power to teleport you to where you desire, instead of being at that madman’s mercy”
“We were told there were no spare wristbands, how did you get three?” Bjorn added
“Seven of us were sent to study Dimension-FO1997, two of us survived – that leaves three wristbands for you and two leftover,” Amari replied. “To save you time I will contact Tatak and get him to teleport his wristband over here in exchange for the diamond” Amari grabbed some kind of sleek black box and spoke into it, “Tatak? Send me the wristband and I’ll send you the diamond, the group are here”, instantly the Diamond disappeared in a blue flash and in its place was the wristband. “Do you like my phone?” Amari asked. “I got it from Dimension-IRL4,000,000,000”
“Now, I beg of you – when you get the wristbands you must travel to Kagrenac’s workshop, I have input the co-ordinates in your Wristbands – Dimension-CO2016”
“Why do we have to go there?” Nigel enquired
“You do not know what Kagrenac plans? The Crossover has the capabilities to destroy the entirety of creation that, along with the means he used to create it, is why we banished him and the device to a tiny, desolate plane of Oblivion”
“So if we don’t stop him…” Bjorn began
“All of creation will perish in fire” Amari finished. “You may have begun this journey looking for a way home, but you will end it saving reality itself – now quickly, put on the wristbands”
**********
Lord Commander Mark Collins stood by his window, he’d seen them leave the Hotel Rexford – now was the time to strike. He walked menacingly down the stairs and kicked open the door, sniper rifle in hand. Upon entering the Memory Den he roared to Irma, the lady in the centre, “Where are they!? The group with the lizard man and the cyborg!?”
Words failed Irma but she managed to point towards the entrance to Amari’s lab, Collins charged past her and ran down the staircase to the lab – only to be greeted by blinding blue flashes as the four of them activated the wristbands.
“Damn it!” Collins roared, and then noticed Amari beginning to lock the other two away. “You! Give me one of those wristbands!”
Amari turned and, in the blink of an eye, slapped a band on her wrist and teleported out of there. Collins growled in frustration, but noticed Amari had not locked the other one away – there was one left. He grabbed it from the cabinet and attached it to his wrist, choosing the first Dimension that came up – DimensionCO2016.
**********
Despite Amari’s instructions the group accidently teleported themselves to Skyrim instead of the workshop, it was no issue as they could easily teleport there whenever they wished. The group sat on the ground, recovering from the shock of the teleport when suddenly the ground began to shake.
A long, blood-red chasm opened up in the sky and cracks began to appear in the ground, screaming could be heard in Whiterun as the statue of Talos visibly fell over, crushing the bench before it – it was by pure luck that Heimskr managed to dodge it. A voice could be heard booming over the land from an unknown source – “Greetings, people of Dimension-ES1994 – you are the first dimension to be destroyed, enjoy the end of creation!”
Nigel looked at the group’s fearful eyes, “We need to get to that workshop”
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