Chapter Text
Walking through the gates of Goodneighbor for the first time was a feat of courage, no matter what the locals said. Normally, Valkyrie risked the trek back to Diamond City if she found herself lost in downtown Boston; not wanting to find out if all the rumors she heard around were true. If it hadn’t been for the seasons changing and the sun going down earlier and earlier, she probably would have risked it. However, she didn’t have daylight to spare and, after a close call with a super mutant’s spike board, she knew traveling at night was not an option.
She kept her head held high as she passed through the red makeshift doors and into the walled town. The shops in the square reminded her enough of the Diamond City market that she felt slightly more at ease. Then a raspy voice called out to her and decided to ruin her peaceful entrance.
“Hey! Hold up, there. First time in Goodneighbor? Can’t go walking around without insurance,” a bald man in simple road leathers eyed her as he took a drag from his cigarette.
Valkyrie paused, feeling her hackles raise as her hand itched to grab for her hunting rifle. Had they not been surrounded by people who had nothing to do with this, she may have allowed herself to pull it out and shove it in this asshole’s face, but she wasn’t the cleanest in a fight and she didn’t want to shoot someone by accident.
Settling for an eye roll, she made to keep moving past him. “Unless it’s ‘Keep Dumb Assholes Away From Me’ insurance, I’m not interested.”
The man blocked her path with one step, coming even closer to her than he’d already been. “Now don’t be like that,” he cooed at her with a smug grin. “I think you’re gonna like what I have on offer. You hand over everything you have in those pockets, or accidents start happening to ya. Big, bloody, accidents.”
Red overtook Valkyrie’s vision and her hand began to reach for her gun, but her entire body froze when she heard a low gravelly voice coming from the alleyway next to the arms dealer’s shop.
“Woah, woah, woah. Time out. Someone steps through the gate the first time? They’re a guest. You lay off that extortion crap.” The ghoul that stepped around the corner was not who Valkyrie expected her savior to be. He was decked out in a revolutionary outfit, complete with a belt of stars and spangles and tricorn hat.
He wasn’t looking at her, though, focused solely on the asshole extortionist in front of her. The guy must have had his feelings hurt by being told off, as he turned to the ghoul red faced and stubbed out his cigarette. “What do you care? She ain’t one of us.”
The ghoul chuckled, shaking his head slightly and slowly walking towards the asshole. “No love for your mayor, Finn? I said let her go.”
Finn squared his shoulders, clearly trying to act tough for the bystanders watching the event with big fish eyes and slacked jaws. “You’re soft, Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there’ll be a new mayor.”
Valkyrie made herself take two steps back from the two men, not wanting to be close by if this standoff got any worse, which seemed to be the smart idea when Hancock threw an arm around Finn’s shoulders before grabbing the large knife from his pants pocket and burying it over and over in Finn’s stomach.
She missed when things like this disturbed her. After months in the wastes, Valkyrie had seen worse than some guy getting publicly executed by a politician. Hell, she’d been trapped in a raider’s hideout for a week, eating their scraps and moving only when completely safe until the gang packed up and moved to the next hideout. She’d seen what happened to the people who hadn’t hidden as well as she had.
Which is why she couldn’t help but feel a touch annoyed when the ghoul mayor looked over at her like she might be green at the sight of Finn’s death.
The body dropped to the ground, the pavement quickly soaking through with blood. Valkyrie walked, feeling her vision slightly cross and finding it hard to keep focused. Before her mind could go to autopilot, she realized Hancock was trying to speak with her.
“Hey, you okay, sister?”
Valkyrie’s gaze quickly shot up to him and she nodded, squaring her shoulders and trying to stop looking at Finn’s bleeding out body. “I’m fine. Thanks for taking care of him.”
“Good. Now don’t let this little incident taint your opinion of our little community, you hear?” He grinned slightly, putting the knife safely back into his pocket. “Goodneighbor’s of the people, for the people, you dig? Everyone’s welcome.”
The mayor’s voice took on a friendlier but still smug tone as he eyed her, making her look away quickly. She tried to play it off like she was looking around, but she doubted he was naive enough to believe that. So, she decided sarcasm was probably the best move to keep her dignity.
“‘Of the people… for the people…’ Oh brother,” she ran a tired hand through her hair, catching and loosening some of the wind blown knots.
He seemed to approve of her joke, chuckling deeply, his smile clear in his dark eyes. “I got the feeling I’m gonna like you already. As long as you remember who’s in charge,” he nearly growled into her ear as he passed by her, heading back down the alleyway.
Valkyrie blinked, staring after Hancock for a moment before looking around in slight confusion. The many bystanders that had watched the mayor kill one of his own had already dispersed. No one was even looking at her, no curiosity other than a glance here and there before they grew bored and moved on. The event in the square must not have been all that different from the norm, then. Valkyrie made a mental note of that, wondering if trying to sneak through downtown in the dark was actually the better idea after all. Though, the dull ache of her muscles told her how idiotic that idea was, so she hefted her pack higher on her back before wandering down the same alleyway Hancock had left down. Passing the door he’d gone through, Valkyrie found the other half of the town. So this was where all the people were, and the bar from the looks of the sign above the subway entrance.
It’d be another few hours before she even felt like hunkering down somewhere for the night, and a few drinks and maybe a meal didn’t sound too bad. She still had a good amount of caps from the last time she’d been able to sell to Myrna, so at least she wasn’t worried about eating tonight. She definitely didn’t have enough to spend on a room at the inn, despite how tempting a mattress sounded. Valkyrie kept a sleeping bag strapped to her pack for a reason, she didn’t need the bed.
She kept repeating how she didn’t need the bed over and over in her head as she walked into the Third Rail, nodding to the fancy looking ghoul in the suit to be polite before wandering down the stairs. The woman singing sounded absolutely divine and Valkyrie couldn’t help giving the woman a once over when she saw the red dress and heels at the mic. Her gaze never left the other woman as she plopped herself down at the bar.
“You buyin’ or just gonna oogle Miss Magnolia all night?” a weird sounding Mr. Handy snapped at her. She pried her eyes away from the gorgeous Magnolia in order to glare at the damn robot. It felt like the thing was glaring right back at her as she fished some caps out of her bag and slapped them on the counter.
“Gwinnett stout if you got it.”
“You never learned your ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous’ or you just enjoy being rude?” One of its mechanical arms swiped the caps off the counter towards it. “I don’t know you so you’d best be on your best behavior, ma’am.”
Valkyrie sucked in through her teeth, knowing all too well what a pissed off bartender could cause for her. “Sorry, sorry. I ain’t trying to be rude or nothing. Gwinnett stout, please,” she emphasized, batting her eyelashes to maintain some sass.
“Don’t get cute,” it dropped the bottle down in front of her.
The lukewarm bottle wasn’t very inviting, but the cloudy feeling it’d bring her was all Valkyrie needed to chug it down. As she finished the last few sips, there was a crash in the room off to the right. The robot was clearly pissed off with whatever was going on, dropping the empty bottle it had just picked up from the other side of the counter.
“Damn gunners and their riff raff. I told that blasted MacCready to keep his business quiet. Gonna give him what for, I promise you that.”
Valkyrie looked at the doorway and hall where the noise was coming from. She couldn’t see much besides the wall, but she didn’t see anything that would keep her away if she got curious.
“Twenty five caps and I’ll make em quiet down,” she grinned at the robot.
“Ten.”
“Eighteen,” Valkyrie raised an eyebrow.
The robot paused for a moment before chuckling. “Deal. What’s your name so I can make sure our benevolent mayor knows you’re willing to help out around here? That is if you’re interested in another job should you manage to pull this one off?”
She considered it for a moment. It’d mean she’d have to stick around here longer, but if the jobs were things like breaking up fights in bars, it’d be simple enough work. “Valkyrie.” She knew the name wouldn’t mean anything to him. Valkyrie wasn’t the type to go out getting herself noticed. Not when she had reasons to stay out of the limelight.
“Ain’t heard of you before and I’ve heard quite a lot of names. Guess you must mind your business which means you’re my kind of girl.”
With a subtle release of the breath she’d been holding, Valkyrie nodded and stood up from her seat. “Just keep my head down and help out here and there when it benefits me, you know how it is,” Valkyrie paused. “How much is he in debt for, by the way?”
“Hundred caps flat.”
She shot him with finger guns before following the source of the noise from earlier. The VIP room clearly wasn’t as exclusive as the letters “VIP” implied. No one was there to stop her from walking inside and the only people inside seemed to be the cause of the noise from earlier. There were several couches and tables as well as a bunch of mannequins all over the floor. And then there were the three men in the room, one in a duster and cap, sitting comfy on a couch looking unbothered as the other two stood over him looking pissed.
“I don’t take orders from you… not anymore. So why don’t you take your girlfriend and walk out of here while you still can?” Valkyrie guessed that the one in the cap was the MacCready that the robot had mentioned.
“What? Winlock, tell me we don’t gotta listen to this shit”
“Listen here, MacCready. The only reason we haven’t filled your body full of bullets is because we don’t want a war with Goodneighbor. See, we understand other people’s boundaries… We know how to play the game. It’s something you never learned,” this Winlock fella explained. Whatever MacCready did to these guys off, he’d done a damn good job of pissing them off, that was for sure. The guy likely wouldn’t be able to leave town without these guys waiting for him and if they weren’t, they were probably keeping an eye on him.
“Glad to have disappointed you,” MacCready announced with smug pride.
“Why you-” the other one began, but Valkyrie saw her opportunity. She pulled her gun, moving quickly into the center of the room and aiming at Not Winlock.
“Ah, ah. That’s enough. Whatever you’re trying to do here, I think you’ve made your point. Now, if it’s a war with Goodneighbor you’re trying to avoid, I’d clear out if I were you.”
“Who the fuck is this? Some new girlfriend, MacCready?”
He rolled his eyes, though Valkyrie could see the look of relief in his face. “I don’t know who this is, don’t ask me. You guys were the ones who came in here knocking over mannequins after all. If you didn’t want anyone bothering us, you should have been more conspicuous.”
Winlock and Not Winlock looked between each other for a moment, silently deciding their next move. It wasn’t long before Winlock huffed and held his hands up in surrender. “Fine, whatever. We’ll leave for now. I’d watch my step if I were either of you,” he growled, turning on his heel to stalk out of the room. “Come on, Barnes.”
Once the two had gone, Valkyrie put her rifle away, nodded to her new pal MacCready, and stole the bourbon bottle off the end table next to him. “Consider this payment for saving your ass.”
MacCready went to snatch the bottle back from her, but she’d quickly thrown the bottle back and took a large swig before he could reach. “Hey! I didn’t ask for your help, you can’t just charge me after the fact.”
Valkyrie chuckles and hands him the bottle back before holding a hand out to shake. “Name’s Valkyrie. I promised the bot at the counter that I’d get you to turn the volume down on your fun back here.”
MacCready had already shaken her hand before she’d finished her sentence. The later news only making him groan and pull his hand back to run it over his face. “Whitechapel Charlie sent you? He’s already pissed at me for my unpaid tab, I’m gonna be lucky if he doesn’t kick me out at this rate,” he huffs. After a moment, he seems to get a bright idea, dropping his hand from his face. “Name’s MacCready, gun for hire. Real good too, might I add.”
Valkyrie raised an eyebrow, an amused smile curling the corners of her mouth. “Oh yeah? And how much to hire you?”
“Only two hundred and fifty caps and I’ll watch your back for you. That’s my contract too, so you’ll have my gun at your side for as long as you need.”
“Only. Sounds a bit steep to me,” she crosses her arms across her chest. “I heard from Charlie that you have quite a hefty bar tab you haven’t paid. How about I take care of that for you and you say we’re squared? As a bonus, we’ll split any loot we find fifty fifty.”
It was a bold offer, but Valkyrie was hoping that would work in her favor. Most things in the commonwealth relied on how you carried yourself. If she seemed confident, there was a good chance MacCready would take the bait.
“My expectation is that we split half the loot no matter what you pay,” he firmly stated. “And with the amount I’m asking for, I can pay off the tab myself. Any better offers?”
He did not take the bait.
Valkyrie mentally cursed her luck. “Yeah, well, a hundred caps is all I got and it doesn’t seem like you have many takers. Did your gunner buddies run off all your business? Maybe you should be paying me.”
Listen, it’s not like she didn’t already have the amount that MacCready had asked for, but she needed stims and food before she could set off into the wastes again. Her taunting would either make sure he never worked with her or he’d puff out his chest and act tough, take her up on her offer. Valkyrie could only hope it was the later, after all having another gun at your side out there upped your chances exponentially.
MacCready’s eyes narrowed, his hand clenching tightly around the bourbon. “You don’t give up, do ya? Look, I might not have much business but I’m not a charity. I’ll lower my fee to two hundred, but that’s as far as I’m going. If you ain’t got it, talk to me when you do.”
“Your loss,” Valkyrie huffed. “Maybe we’ll talk again sometime.”
With that, she went back into the main area of the bar. At least, now, she was eighteen caps richer. She didn’t linger at the bar, finishing her drink quickly and heading out immediately after. The intrigued look from Magnolia didn’t even get Valkyrie to hesitate. This place wasn’t friendly and she had to remember that.
Her stomach growled, causing her to wince slightly. Oh yeah, she’d wanted a meal, but she did have a can of cram and a box of sugar bombs that would hold her over until she could get some noodles in Diamond City.
Outside of the Third Rail was a sheltered area where some drifters were already settled. Some already laid out on old mattresses or sleeping bags of their own. She calmly walked past or over them, trying her best to avoid disturbing anyone before she finally found a secluded corner where she could roll out her sleeping bag and hunker down for the night. Her cold meal wasn’t the most appetizing, but she was used to making due by now.