The carnage was worse than he imagined. Hancock hadn’t seen this many bodies since he helped clean up the aftermath of the Battle of Bunker Hill. A battle which all he understood was that it involved the Institute, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Railroad. Since he and Kessler were both allies with the Railroad, he assumed it had something to do with synths.
As he walked around the Wall, he saw a scavenger pointing her gun at him. “It’s mine! Back off!” she demanded.
On a normal day he would have raised his hands and backed away. A normal day wouldn’t be worth fighting someone desperate. The problem was, this wasn’t a normal day, and he was more desperate than her. He pulled out his shotgun and fired. He was far enough that one shot wouldn’t kill her, just injure her. Good thing he had a double barrel shotgun.
He walked past the scavenger moaning out her last breath as he reloaded his shotgun. He turned the corner and walked past the parking lot which drifters sometimes use as a makeshift living area. It was normally as dangerous as any other place in the Commonwealth, but it had free beds.
The turrets which once protected the city were now bases with parts decorating the area. Bodies decorated the area, too. Some of them were still alive and moaning. Guy had out done himself this time.
The ghoul walked through the front gate, to have a guard step in front of him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, no ghouls in the city,” he could hear through the muffling helmet.
Hancock could have snuck past this man, or even shot him, but he didn’t want the guards more on edge then they already were.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” the guard said.
“That’s Mayor Hancock, from Goodneighbor,” he could hear another guard say.
“I don’t care if he’s the Director of the Institute, he’s a ghoul and I’ll be damned if I let a stinking ghoul inside my city,” the first guard said. “Emphasis on the stinking.”
“Now don’t go on with the complements, I might start thinking you like me,” Hancock responded.
The guard brandished his weapon. “I don’t. So why don’t you turn around and leave before I show you what we do with ferals like you.”
Hancock could feel his blood boiling. He knew he would have opposition on getting in, but this guy was pushing his luck. “Trust me, son, you don’t want to see me go feral.”
The guard stepped back and aimed his gun at Hancock shouting, “He’s going feral, he’s going feral.”
“That’s enough,” a new voice said.
The guard lowered his weapon. “He threatened me, Sullivan.”
“I saw what happened, I have this, why don’t you go on patrol and make sure there aren’t any more raiders hanging around.”
“But Sullivan.”
“I said, ‘go’!”
The guard made sure to shoulder check Hancock as he walked past the mayor. Before Hancock had a chance to get offended, Danny Sullivan was standing where the guard had been.
“My apologies, Mayor Hancock,” Danny said politely.
Hancock was glad that Danny was keeping his head about him. He even noticed that the head guard was still brandishing his gun. Hancock also noticed that the redhead had a dark bruise around his eye.
“The guards are a little trigger happy right now, after everything that has been happening.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hancock said, waving off the insults of the guard, “My men tend to be ready for a fight right after a big one, too. Which reminds me, I hope you got the goodwill shipments I sent you.”
“We did, Mister Mayor, and thank you for that. I can’t tell you how many lives you’ve saved with those shipments.”
“It’s all part of being a good neighbor,” Hancock said. “I even brought some more, but this time I’m wanting to discuss some politics with your mayor in exchange for them. Do you think that can be arranged?”
“I can’t make any promises, but I can take you to Geneva and she would be able to tell you if it’s possible. I would like to personally show you to his office,” Sullivan responded.
Hancock knew that it wasn’t an offer, but a veiled threat. Sullivan may be soft spoken, but it was obvious that he carried a big stick. “Thank you,” he replied.
Danny led him to the elevator behind his usual post. They took it to the offices, where Geneva sat behind her desk reading a book. Hancock couldn’t help noticing that the guard that should be behind her was missing. As the two men stepped off the elevator, she looked up and gasped before putting her book away.
“Mister Sullivan! What is ‘that’ doing here!” she asked pointing at Hancock.
“Charmed to see you too,” Hancock responded. He never liked Geneva; she was the rich girl in their class who always got what she wanted. He and Guy would giggle to themselves about what a bitch she was and what they would give her if they could. She didn’t get everything she wanted, she got Guy, not Johnny.
“He’s the mayor of Goodneighbor,” Danny explained. “He’s the one who sent all the supplies to us. He’s wanting to open peace negotiations with Mayor McDonough.”
Geneva squared her shoulders and practically curled her upper lip in indignation. “I will…let him know that it is here,” she said before standing up from her desk. She knocked on the door to the Mayor’s office and disappeared inside.
“Do you think this will take more or less than fifteen minutes,” Hancock asked.
“She’s more professional than that,” Danny insisted. “She is probably just prepping him for your surprise meeting. It’s not often we get a guest with as much clout as you.”
Hancock was impressed at Danny’s diplomacy. Guy was right to hire him for a high post. Geneva, on the other hand, probably got her position on her knees, something that Guy used to describe in great detail when they were kids and were still fantasizing about sex more than having it.
The secretary finally exited the office. She looked shaken up, like she was still trying to believe that a ghoul could exist, let alone be standing in front of her desk.
“The mayor will…be seeing you now,” she said as if she was forcing herself to say it.
“Thanks for your cooperation, Mayor Hancock,” Danny said. “I’ll leave you to your meeting.” The officer then returned to the elevator and disappeared to do his own duties.
Hancock walked towards the office, making sure to stop by Geneva’s desk before he did. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” he teased.
The repulsion that covered her face was enough to make the stress of jumping through all these hoops worth it.
He walked past her and entered Mayor McDonough’s office. The mayor was standing by the window and looking out at the city. He turned and looked surprised at Hancock’s presence. What an actor.
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“Why hello, Mayor Hancock. How good it is to see another mayor. My apologies for the greeting. Everyone is still reeling from the events yesterday, I’m sure you can understand.”
Hancock noticed that Guy wasn’t moving to shake his hand. He may be putting on a good show, but he was still the same entitled prick he always was.
“I understand,” the ghoul responded. “I hope the supplies my town sent were helpful.”
“Oh, they were, they were, thank you. To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”
“I brought more supplies and thought maybe we could negotiate a deal for military assistance.”
“I am grateful for the supplies,” Guy responded cautiously, “but I’m not sure what you have in mind for the deal.”
Hancock moved farther into the office to look outside onto the city. “It’s like this, I’m not sure if you have been informed of the war in Capital Wasteland.”
“I have heard rumors of it. Something about the Brotherhood of Steel’s order of succession.”
“Something like that,” Hancock agreed. “But there’s more to it. My sources tell me that they are claiming territory for ownership. As well as anything and anyone on that territory.”
“That’s thousands of miles away, I don’t see why-”
“They are moving North,” Hancock told him.
The other mayor looked as if he already knew. Damn him.
“We need to create a unified front,” Hancock continued. “That way if the Brotherhood return, we can kick them right back out.”
“We are prepared for any attack, even from the Brotherhood of Steel,” Guy insisted.
“Just as long as free supplies are being streamlined to you from my city,” Hancock finished. “How well do you think you would be able to handle an attack like yesterday if it were to happen again right now?”
“I will not discuss classified information,” Guy told him.
“Of course not. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that my War Advisor got injured yesterday. I am aware she is somewhere in your city. I would like to escort her home.”
“With all due respect, if she was injured, she was either with the raiders or a guard. If she was a guard, then she would be outside the city.”
“Then you won’t be hurt if I were to take her with me when I leave.”
“No, if she was a raider, she will be hunted down and treated in accordance to her part in yesterday’s attack.”
“What does that mean?”
“Legal execution.”
“Now, that’s just not neighborly of you,” Hancock said. “Let me get her and take her home. I’ll even have her give an official promise that she will never come back.”
“I cannot do that, my people elected me to uphold law and order,” Guy insisted.
Hancock couldn’t help but laugh out loud. By the time he got himself back under control, he saw his brother turning red. “Law and order, like what you did to those ghouls when you were first elected? I know you never cared about them one way or the other. It was just a ploy to get yourself elected; you told me that yourself.”
“Mayor Hancock, I assure you-”
“Stuff it,” Hancock said. Then it dawned on him. The lighting was different than it was that day over a decade ago, but that was all. Every wrinkle, every blemish, everything about his brother was exactly the same. “Fucking Hell,” he whispered.
“Mayor Hancock, please, try to maintain the decorum of this hallowed office.”
“All these years,” Hancock said quietly. “All these years, I was hating you for all the wrong reasons.”
“Mayor Hancock, I must insist that this meeting be brought to an end.”
“Not yet. I’m going to say this once, so you better hear me right. Do what you want with this city, I washed my hands of this place the day you bragged to me about tossing the ghouls out for your own personal gain. But you can tell your master that if you, or he, do anything to harm her, or ever try to stop me from seeing her again, there will be a war between our cities.”
Hancock walked past the synth who pretended to be his brother and out of his office. Geneva stood up at her desk, putting her chair between them.
“Don’t bother, sister,” he growled. “I wasn’t interested in you when we were horny teens, and I’m even less interested in you now.”
He went to the elevator that led to the inside of the city. As the lift lowered, he could hear Geneva screaming, “Mister Mayor, it’s entering the city!”
“Stick that in your cunt and fuck it,” Hancock muttered to himself.
The city was mostly empty, people were probably still afraid because of the attacks. The few people who were in the streets stared at him as if they had never seen a ghoul before. Many of them probably hadn’t seen one in the past ten years.
He finally made his way to Nick’s office; the signs were just as he remembered them. He felt strange returning to this place after so many years.
“I guess you really can go home again,” he muttered to himself as he followed the arrow sticking out of a cartoon heart leading to the office of his old friend.
He didn’t bother knocking, he never knocked on the door before, and didn’t see a point in knocking now. Ellie knew he was coming, but she still looked shocked when he entered the office. The office was exactly as it had been since he first entered it when he was fourteen. Every piece of furniture was still in the same place. Hancock guessed he shouldn’t be surprised, Nick never really cared about interior decorating.
“Hancock!” Ellie shrieked at him.
“Now I know I’m not the best-looking guy,” Hancock started up.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Ellie continued. She moved around her desk to greet him.
“How is she?” Hancock asked.
Ellie looked away. “I…I couldn’t stay with her anymore. She is just getting worse and I…I…I’m sorry,” she started crying.
Hancock wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him. He understood that Ellie and Isabel had grown close over the past few months. Now he was asking her to stand helplessly over her friend and watch her die. Even a bastard like him couldn’t do that.
“It’s okay, sister,” he cooed. “It’s okay. Is Nick back yet?”
“No,” she whimpered into Hancock’s shoulder. “He hasn’t returned. I’m afraid he won’t be back in time.”
“Don’t say that,” the ghoul said gently. “She’s a survivor. She’s been out in the Wasteland for over a decade. Most people don’t survive two days out there.” He gently placed his hands on Ellie’s arms and pulled her away from him, forcing them to make eye contact. “How about if I go and check on her. I have some medication that may help. With luck, she’ll be sitting up and waiting for Nick when he returns.”
Ellie brushed her tears away with the palms of her hands. Her eyes shifted away from his, not that he could blame her, prolonged eye contact with a ghoul wasn’t for the faint of heart. “Thanks,” she said quietly.
Hancock left Ellie in the office as he made his way to the bedroom. He was as scared as everyone else who cared about Marian, but he didn’t have to watch her die the way Ellie and Nick did. He could pull strings and keep himself busy when others didn’t have that luxury. Nick had to be strong for Ellie, and Ellie had to be strong for Nick, and in the end, Nick was the one who seemed to break under the pressure. Hancock understood his old friend and mentor but was still disappointed in him.
He saw her battered backpack waiting for her in the corner, like a loyal pet. He turned and saw her body. He couldn’t tell if she was still alive, or if she was leaving a beautiful corpse. He sat down on the bed next to her and felt her wrist. He could feel a pulse, barely. Her pale, waxy complexion was enough to tell him how much blood she had lost.
“Hey, sister,” he said to her as if she could hear him. “I’m sorry it took me so long to visit. It’s not easy for a ghoul to get here, but I think you know that. I guess you’re getting what you always wanted, aren’t you? I know that desire, that wish to escape your part of the blame for your family’s crimes. I knew a young man once who wanted that as much as you did, and he became suicidal like you. The difference is, he lived in a drugged-up stupor thinking about nothing but himself forgetting other people exist. But you, you always lived for other people, to the point where you forgot you exist. And now you are dying just like he did, and you’re breaking everyone’s hearts while you do it, but you can’t understand why, because you don’t believe anyone would cry for something that doesn’t exist.”
He had to stop talking for a bit, he looked down at his hand. He knew he could save her, but all he would do was give her another week before she found a new way to get herself killed. Just like how in his youth he would sometimes wake up in the hospital after a bad trip, only to go out for another one.
“You’re breaking His heart,” he finally continued looking at her. “He cares about you in ways I’ve never seen him care about anyone. He sometimes forgets people care about him too, but he believes no one should care about him because he doesn’t believe he’s a person. You care about him, I know, and you shouldn’t break his heart like this. You can live for other people and still live. Trust me, it’s doable.”
He reached a wrinkled hand into his jacket and pulled out a blood pack. “I’m going to give you what you need to live. But I don’t want you running off to find a new way to break his heart. I want you to stay, and keep smiling, and keep visiting the people who care about you and love you because, damn it, we need you.”
He worked on hanging the blood pack on the steps above her as he talked. He didn’t stop talking as he worked. He continued by running a tube from the pack down to her arm. He sat back down before gently tapping it trying to find a vein. The blood loss caused her veins to collapse, but years of experience taught him how to find the smallest veins.
“I can sit here all day and tell you why you need to live. But I think you’ll just die of boredom listening to me talk. Instead, I’m going to do what I can to help keep you alive. I don’t want Nick’s heart to break, he deserves something good in his life, and you may be the best thing that ever entered it.” He carefully inserted the needle into her arm. “I don’t want you to die, you may be the best thing in my life that I haven’t ran away from.” He watched the blood fill the tube and eventually enter her arm. “Truth is, I don’t care about the fact that you’re breaking Nick’s heart half as much as I care about the fact that you’re breaking my heart. I’m never going to say this when you can hear me, but I love you. Please stay with us, please don’t break his heart, or mine.”
Hancock watched the color returning to her skin. The pint was enough to stabilize her, but not enough to save her. He could only buy her time. It wasn’t enough. He couldn’t be enough for her, he had to believe Nick could.