Since she remembered Swan Lake from her time, it didn't take Briar Rose long to find it near Boston Commons, and since this Vault 114 was under the lake, it had to be in Park Street Station. On arriving at the peaceful spot, she was surprised to find some of the swan boats still intact. Maybe she would revisit one day, pretend to be back in time before her world drastically changed.

For now, she had a job to do; she and Dogmeat skirted the lake to head down to the subway. They cautiously descended, not sure what kind of new opponents waited for them. Even down here under the surface, things were in bad shape too, but at least there was electricity. She heard some men speaking, and she felt relieved that at least they were human. Briar Rose got beside the doorway and peeked in to see if these men were good or bad.

The two men she saw looked like they had stepped out of time too: they wore black slacks, white shirts, and black suspenders, armed with a submachine gun, and spoke in a Jersey accent. They looked and acted like they were gangsters or were triggermen belonging to a Mafia. There was no doubt that these men weren't friendly.

Preston had given her a supply of grenades and she now took one out, pulled the pin, and tossed it in; she ducked back behind the wall for cover. The men yelled out in alarm just as the grenade exploded.

Briar Rose waited for her ears to stop ringing and listened for any noise; not hearing any, she poked around the corner again to find the men dead. She went on, holding her pistol ready in case anyone stepped around a corner suddenly. At Sanctuary Hills, she and Preston had worked on adding a silencer; she had the laser musket on her back.

She and Dogmeat advanced as quietly as they could, sniping individual triggermen when she could, delving deeper and deeper into the subway tunnels. Most of the subway cars were overturned but some Briar Rose could walk through like normal. In one of the cavernous platforms where two subways met, she was forced to fire openly instead of in stealth. Dogmeat helped take down those at a distance as she killed the ones on her side of a platform. After she finished with those close to her, she pulled out the laser musket and killed those in the distance Dogmeat hadn't gotten to yet.

Large machinery sat rusted and unused in 210 years near a metal walkway up to a giant circle in a wall; set into the circle was a gear with the gold numbers 114. She took a deep breath, bracing herself to find out what experiments befell the residents in there, as she ascended to the control panel. She pulled the plug-in out of her Pip-Boy, inserted it, and pressed the button when the glass case opened.

Like Vault 111, a loud alarm sounded as the gear withdrew and rolled out of the way. A metal bridge extended to her when the pristine and white insides of the Vault came into sight.

"Jesus, why does that door have to be so damned loud?"

The male voice dropped Briar Rose to a crouch. She had her silenced pistol in hand when she crept in; even Dogmeat snuck beside her. The man started to call out names in question, wondering who was coming in. She shot him down before he realized she wasn't a friend.

They trekked through the Vault like they did before; there were more triggermen inside the Vault than outside. Briar Rose also kept an eye out for any hint as to what went on in this Vault. So far, she hadn't seen any cryogenic pods or bodies; maybe Vault-Tec hadn't been able to ensnare anyone for their schemes planned here.

Surprisingly, she came into an enormous cafeteria: it had three floors and many tables and stools—Vault-Tec had planned for there to be a lot of residents. This looked like what Briar Rose had expected Vault 111 to be: equipped to provide a new home and a life for its residents, not betray their trust by experimenting on them. She really wondered what went wrong now.

On the third level, a man had his back to her and talking with someone else; she couldn't see the other, so they had to be talking through a window.

"How are you doing in there, Valentine? You're looking quite gaunt; want me to bring you a snack?"

"Keep talking, Dino. It just gives Skinny more time to figure out how to bump you off."

The name caught her attention—Nick Valentine had to be the one behind the window. Briar Rose snuck up to the third level, listening to Dino trying to sound full-of-himself and Nick's sarcastic remarks. From what she had heard, she already liked Nick because of his dry humor, especially stuck in his situation.

She made it up to the third level, hidden within the shadows of a room opening up on where Dino spoke with Nick. Dino had a simple pipe pistol on his hip; to his right was a terminal bolted into the wall—she had a feeling that would open the door to Nick.

"I wouldn't be so confident," Nick warned. "I've seen Skinny Malone write your name down in that black book of his: 'lousy cheating card shark' were his exact words, then he struck the name across three times. What is it? Three strikes and you're out?"

Nick obviously played Dino, but the idiot fell for it. "Wh-what? No, that can't be. I'm the best member of Skinny Malone's gang!"

"I'm just telling you what I saw; think of this as a friendly head's up, considering you still have a head soon..."

Dino panicked. "I'm getting out of here!" He turned to run, but met Briar Rose's gun and Dogmeat in attack mode and ready to pounce.

"Not until you let him out," she ordered.

Dino somehow relocated his courage and reached for his gun. "I'm not—"

She shot him between the eyes, cutting off his refusal.

"Thanks for showing up, but we got to hurry," Nick said through the window. "We have about three minutes before they realize Muscles-For-Brains isn't coming back. Search him for the terminal's password."

Briar Rose did what he said, rummaging through Dino's pants pockets for a piece of paper with the password; she hurriedly typed in the code to open the door to Nick's cell. He stepped through as soon as the door opened.

"Gotta love the irony of the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario."

She just stared at him; this was not how she pictured Nick Valentine. He looked the part as an old-time detective with a fedora, a white shirt and black tie, and a brown trench coat, but she expected him to be... human. He resembled a human, but part of the left side of his face down his neck was gone and exposing wires, metal plates, and steel rods. His eyes were completely black except for a bright golden ring for irises; his left hand was normal but his right was stripped down to a robotic hand. It was obvious he wasn't human, but she didn't know what else he was.

Recognition flickered across his eyes and made him look her over too—they had never met before, so she had to remind him of someone.

"What are you?" she asked.

"Never seen a synth before, have you? Or you didn't know you did. I'll give you my creation story later; right now, we need to split."

He was right—she would have to hold her questions for later. Nick kneeled down beside Dino, took his gun and ammo, thanked him for it, then they started running, him leading the way. He told her he knew a quicker way out, so they wouldn't have to go the long way around she came through.

They had exited the stairs on the ground floor in a small room when Nick suddenly stopped her. She could hear men walking around. "Dammit, they're already here." He looked at her. "How do you want to play this?"

His golden robotic eyes were discomforting; she looked around him to count three triggermen with submachine guns—they were too spaced apart for them to kill them silently. "Openly; we can't kill them quietly," she whispered back.

She and Nick used the small room they were in for cover when the triggermen returned fire. Briar Rose kept Dogmeat by her as she hunkered down behind the wall under the rain of bullets. When the fire slackened, she would poke around the doorway in an attempt to snipe one down and Nick would stand up to fire through the broken window. It took them longer than expected to kill two triggermen and the last one bravely charged into their room to kill them at close range. Dogmeat lunged, biting into the man's arm; he distracted him long enough for Nick to shoot him.

Their retreat out of Vault 114 went pretty much the same with them hiding behind walls or metal containers as they killed more and more triggermen. Nick's escape route took them through the living quarters and doorways sealed off and powered by terminals; he hacked them to open the doors. At her impressed expression, he said he had a knack for computers from basically being a machine himself.

When he opened his second door, it revealed yet another flight of stairs. "More stairs? Who built this damn place: a fitness instructor?"

At another locked door, Nick stopped. "I hear the fall of fat feet." He looked at her. "I can guarantee Skinny Malone and members of his gang are behind the door. The girl I came to get, Darla, is probably with them, too. Be ready."

He opened the door, and they met five people—three being triggermen, one a young woman in a sequin dress and holding a baseball bat, and a man in a black suit and hat, holding a submachine gun, looking like a gangster. Skinny Malone's name was quite ironic since he wasn't thin anywhere.

"Nicky, what are ya doin?" Skinny Malone began. "You come into my house; shoot up my guys. You have any idea how much this is gonna set me back?"

Nick stepped forward. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your two-timing dame. You ought to tell her to write home more often."

Darla pouted. "Aww, poor Valentine; ashamed you got fooled by a girl? I'll just run back home to daddy, shall I?"

Skinny shook his head. "Should've left it alone, Nicky; this ain't the old neighborhood. In this Vault, I'm king of the castle; you hear me? And I ain't letting some private dick shut us down now that I finally got something good goin'." Briar Rose felt filthy when his eyes roamed over her. "It'll be a shame filling that pretty thing by your side with lead..."

Darla looked at Skinny Malone. "I told you just to kill him so we wouldn't have to deal with something like this, but you got sentimental over 'old times'. Now look: he could get out and tell others where we are!" She turned back to Nick and Briar Rose. "And who's this? Why are you here?"

She decided to be honest. "I came for Nick; I need his help."

"You came to the wrong place for that, darlin'," Skinny said.

Things were quickly heading toward one outcome; she thought to try to touch Darla—she was just acting like a spoiled runaway trying to get back at her parents. "Darla, you don't belong here. I can see you have class; you can do so much better than him. Don't throw your life away with these thugs. You have a family you can go back to."

As she talked, Darla's angry expression softened and her tense stature relaxed.

"They'll still take me back after this?"

"I'm sure they will; families forgive."

She looked like she was about to cry—her eyes were so hopeful about going back to her family.

"Oh, come on, baby; don't listen to her," Skinny Malone begged.

"No, Skinny, she's right; this was a mistake leaving with you."

"Baby! Darla!" he whined as she walked over to stand beside her.

Darla looked over at the men. "Put up your guns; I don't want any bloodshed, and I'm sure you don't want to kill Nick."

Skinny Malone looked at her hard. "You're leaving me for a family that doesn't love you?" His eyes flashed with anger; Briar Rose recognized danger. "No one leaves me!"

Before he could raise his gun, a gunshot sounded out, and he fell back with a hole in his head—Nick had shot him. "Sorry, friend."

Briar Rose had her gun aimed at the triggermen but seeing their boss dead, they raised their guns and hands in defeat. She gestured her gun at them to leave through the still-open Vault door; they did.

Darla beside her was speechless, staring at the dead Skinny Malone with wide eyes.

"Sorry, Darla; I wasn't going to let him hurt you," Nick said.

She snapped out of being stunned. "No, it's okay; I'm glad you didn't let him."

"Find a man that doesn't want to hurt you," Briar Rose suggested.

Darla just nodded.

"Let's get out of here," Nick suggested.

He led them to a metal ladder leading up to the surface; Briar Rose held Dogmeat under an arm as she climbed up after Darla. The exit put them in a back alley; Darla said her thanks, then left for her home.

"Never thought I'd see that wonderful Commonwealth sky again," Nick said sarcastically. He looked down from the sky darkening to her; his eyes had an even more unnatural glow. "Before we begin with the questions, who's my rescuer?"

"Briar Rose."

He smirked. "A befitting name: a face that rivals that delicate flower but can draw blood with its thorns. Now, how did you know where to find me? Few people knew where I went..."

Not only sarcastic, but a charmer too; she felt her face flush some. "Your assistant sent me for you."

His eyebrows lifted. "Ellie? That girl deserves a raise."

She chuckled. "I think this calls for one."

"Well, since you went by the office and from what you said earlier, I assume you need help to find someone..."

She nodded. "I heard you were the best."

Nick snorted. "'The best'? Probably not, but I am the only one to take time to care." He gestured at the road behind her. "We'll discuss your case at the office, but I have some questions of yours to answer, don't I?"