MacCready tried looking calm as he left the Statehouse. He wasn’t as good as Valentine at finding people, and he wasn’t sure if he would be able to find his sister, but he didn’t have to tell everyone that.

The sun almost blinded him compared to the darkness inside Hancock’s office and especially compared to the darkness of the Third Rail. He didn’t need to ask Daisy which way Marian went; he knew that already. He turned right and left the city, hoping to find Marian.

She had to be doing what she called "hunting". The way her shoulders had squared, the fact each step she took was quicker and quieter than the one before it. MacCready may have been surrounded by people who were older and smarter than him in Hancock’s office, but he knew Marian from the time they spent together on the caravans. She was pissed off, and hunting was her preferred way to deal with her anger.

He tried thinking of the tricks she taught him on hiding and searching for people. He remembered when the caravan they were guarding got attacked by slavers. When it became clear that there were other guards who were on the side of the slavers, Marian grabbed him and the two of them ran. She could disappear when she didn’t want to be found. Even while he was hiding with her, he felt almost like she was using magic.

MacCready stood there and listened, she was hunting, Faenus did not have a silencer, if she had already started shooting, he would hear it. He heard nothing out of the ordinary. No shooting sounds that would give her away.

He remembered letting her lead him from hiding spot to hiding spot. Doubling back, moving in circles. Everything she did felt wrong, and it saved them. They even managed to kill two slavers and that bastard Hollis before she decided they were safe.

But she wasn’t hiding now, she was hunting. She was hunting angry, so she wanted easy prey. MacCready thought about that. Easy prey, she would avoid feral ghouls, she was always afraid there would be a non-feral among them. Then he remembered her backpack, how full it looked in Hancock’s office. She talked about how her friends in Quincy owe her nothing but still felt like giving her so much. She didn’t need to say they were ghouls, MacCready knew. When his sister played hero, she focused on protecting ghouls.

“Synths have the Railroad to protect them,” she told him once when he made fun of her. “Ghouls only have each other.”

She wanted to go back to the Capital Wasteland. She wanted to save more ghouls. And then MacCready had an idea where she went. She was in debt to the Bobrov Brothers. She had a code of honor that would not let her leave the Commonwealth until she had paid it off. Hunting would be a good way for her to get what she needed.

Rebelling against a strict childhood that taught her there was only one way to be a good person led her to creating a different code of ethics that was just as strict, maybe even stricter. She believed she was a monster because of her rebellion, and if she didn’t have that code, she would be as bad as a slaver or a raider maybe even worse. MacCready never saw it, but she had scared him before when she let her code go and did “what had to be done”.

He headed towards the Commons, he hoped he was right on where she was. He could find himself running around in circles searching for her if he wasn’t. But raiders did tend to carry lots of caps. He still wasn’t hearing any gunfire, but that may just be her setting up for a fight. “If they don’t know you’re near, take your time before announcing yourself. They aren’t getting prepared, but you can.”

That was how they killed Hollis. Marian hadn’t meant to kill him specifically, but he thought he could track her. He overlooked the bottlecap mines she had scattered in the gully they were overlooking. She did her best to make it look like she dropped them while running, when really, she threw them into the gully from above. After Hollis stepped on the first mine, MacCready fired from above, taking her advice to move after every shot. Hollis turned around to limp out but stepped on another mine Marian had tossed behind him after the first one went off. They ran to another hiding spot before Hollis had finished bouncing, they never knew if the slavers ever found his body. MacCready still hoped those slavers stepped on every one of Marian’s mines.

Soon MacCready did hear something, it wasn’t gunfire, but it was voices. Two women. Two hostile women. One sounded like Marian, with her slow speech like she was trying to pronounce every word right. The other one; shit, the other one had an Irish accent.

MacCready stopped trying to be quiet, he didn’t have to listen anymore. He stayed wide of the pond as he hurried to the Combat Zone.

“Do you really want to test me, Little Girl?” Marian asked as she slung Faenus across her shoulders like she was in a settlement.

“What do you take me for? A stupid git? I fought next to Nate from vault 101, what have you done?” Cait replied.

“Awe, how cute, you were taken in by a vault dweller like a cute little kitten,” Marian teased. “Looks like he tossed you aside as soon as you stopped being cute, kitten.”

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Cait’s face turned as red as her hair. She was ready to fight. Marian’s anger was past the point of passion. She was now in a sort of calm rage. MacCready was always afraid of those. Her tongue became her best weapon then, she would insult someone over something so specific, it was impossible for them to argue back. If she was really mean, she would be extra nice while doing the insulting.

MacCready didn’t have time to be afraid of his sister, he ran between Marian and Cait, pushing Marian away from the fight. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” MacCready said, trying to get their attention and hopefully not get hit.

“RJ?” Marian asked, she let him push her back a few steps, but she was loose and ready for a fight.

“MacCready, what do you think you’re doing?” Cait asked. MacCready didn’t have to look to know she was also ready for a fight.

“I need her,” MacCready told Cait. “I need you,” he told Marian with as much force. “I need you to help find my friends.”

“Is this a friend of yours MacCready?” Cait asked. “Because I’m about wipe the floor with her.”

“More like lick up some brahmin cream, little kitty,” Marian teased.

MacCready had to hold Cait back, doing his best to remain between them. He really wished that this was a fight between any other two women in the world. He did wonder how Marian’s trained disciplined would stand up to Cait’s hard learned style, but he couldn't let them fight.

“Stop it! Both of you!” His voice didn’t have the authority it did when he was in charge of Little Lamplight, but he hoped that they both cared about him enough to listen. He turned back to Marian, hoping Cait wasn’t going to try a sucker punch. “Look, I know Valentine was wrong, Hancock even said you don’t have to continue this case, but I really need you to help find my friends.”

“Eh, what did Nicky do?” Cait asked.

“That over aggrandized Gubb wannabe decided to get imprudent when I found a clue before he did,” Marian told her. She acted like she was proud she angered Valentine.

“I understood about three words you said,” Cait said. “Did you just say you did a better job on a case than Nick Valentine?”

“Yes,” MacCready broke in. “She found a clue. Nick yelled at her for it. That’s why I need you to help him find them.”

“Mr. Valentine put me in an impossible situation!” Marian was angry, in a way that showed. “There was nothing I could have done that he would have approved of that wouldn’t result in people dying. If you want me to do this, why not just ask and I’ll do it on my own. I’m probably better than him anyway.”

MacCready didn’t realize he was angry. He knew he was scared for his friends. He was also scared of the fact he was standing between the two most aggressive people he ever knew; with the possible exception of Princess. Suddenly, all of his anger, and all of his emotion went through him and he found himself throwing a right hook at Marian. His adopted sister spun and fell to the ground with the surprise punch. He heard a bird nearby caw, like it was laughing.

Marian was holding herself up, touching her cheek when MacCready started talking again. “I get it, you’re mean and he’s a jerk. You two don’t like each other. Every time I’ve seen you since you got here you’ve talked about how you’re going to shoot him in the a…how you’re going to shoot him. I let you two go at it because I’ve seen you make friends with people you fight with. But I don’t fu…I don’t have time to wait for you to do that now. I need you two to do this together. I know you could probably figure out how to find them, you’ve always been fu…you’ve always been smart like that. But Knick Knack and Knock Knock don’t have time to wait for you to figure it out.”

“Who?” he heard Cait ask behind him.

“Nick has been doing this for a long time, he knows what to do, but he may miss sh…he may miss other things you won’t,” MacCready continued, ignoring Cait. “They may already be dead, I don’t know. I just know you and Nick are both smart, and if they are going to have a chance, I need you two to figure out how to find them. Please Is…Please Marian.”

Marian looked away for a minute. MacCready knew she was thinking about what he said. She stood up and turned to face him. He could already see a red welt forming on her left cheek where his fist connected. Her face was serious without a hint of her usual smile. Luckily, her posture was no longer the way it was when she was looking for a fight.

“Ok. I have been selfish,” she sighed. “I will try to work with him. But after this is over, I want that letter from you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been delaying. If I have to try not to crack Soft-boiled’s feelings, then I think it’s time you give me what I want from you before I head back to the Capital Wasteland.”

“Why would you want to go somewhere like there?” Cait asked. “All there is is open space and a few old buildings.”

Marian glared, “I’m trying to get people away from the war going on there.”

Cait didn’t respond for a moment. “So, you’re looking for someone here in the Commonwealth?”

“Two friends of mine,” MacCready answered. “They came on a caravan. All we know is they got to Quincy and didn’t get to Goodneighbor.”

“Geez, do you need any help busting some heads or something?”

“What do you…” MacCready started before Marian placed her hand firmly on his shoulder.

“Won’t you get in trouble with your boss?” she asked.

“Naw, Tommy has me kicked out of the ring for a week. Apparently, he didn’t like me ‘creative interpretation’ of the rules he's been putting in place to attract a more genteel clientele. I’ll probably get another week if he gets wind of the fact that I almost gave a free show outside the building.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t,” Marian gave Cait a conspiratorial smile.

Cait looked shocked for a moment, and then she smiled in a similar way. One day MacCready will have Marian teach him how she does that.

“I don’t know what we may or may not need,” Marian continued. “We don’t have much information, and Mister Valentine is calling all the shots. I’m just the bodyguard, as he has made painfully clear. You’ll have to ask him; you can come with us.”

“I think I’ll do that,” Cait announced.

The three of them made their way back to Goodneighbor. MacCready was praying that his two companions didn’t suddenly start fighting again. Still, if they needed to fight raiders or gunners to save his friends, Cait would be very helpful.

He knew he couldn’t hold back the letter Marian wanted any more. He needed Hancock’s help; he didn’t know how to keep her in the Commonwealth. Every time he saw her, she wanted to go back even more. He knew she hated herself for living. Every time she survived something that should have killed her, she hated herself for it.