Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 8: The Mayor of Diamond City

"IS. MONEY!" I yelled as I jumped up. The guards had their weapons trained on me in two seconds flat, but I didn't care. Didn't this girl know the first thing about anything? "It's cash, dinero, moolah, scratch, dough. IT'S MONEY, KID! Please tell me you still have them at least?"

When she couldn't look me in the eyes, I knew.

"Oh god, you threw them out," I said as I slumped back into the seat. Now I really had nothing. Not a bullet, not a cap, and not a chance in hell out of this one.

Just then, the guard came back out of the other room.

"The Mayah will see youse now Jacob Burns." The man said with relish as he ushered me inside. As I looked back at Ilya I tried to give her a look of encouragement, but it only came out as a weak smile.

*******

A long mahogany table stretched out before me, with several ornate dining chairs to match. The interior of the old commentator's box had undergone quite the transformation since I'd last seen it. Gone were the beat up old furniture and crowded stacks of files, replaced by the fine Old World relics and ornate trimmings one would find in only the best-preserved ruins of the upper-class.

Even with all those seats, I chose to stand. Something about all that extravagance made me uncomfortable, even a little sick to my stomach. I heard the click of the door behind me as the guard left me alone.

I didn't have to wait long. Just then the Mayor came blustering in, working up more of a sweat than usual. His rotund figure and ever tightening pants had a way of making him look like a ham stuffed into a white suit.

"Jacob!" he said, his jowls quivering in agitation. "It really is you, why I thought I told you to never come back here again! I've got a flood of refugees at my door, a clan of Super Mutants pushing on my territory, and a synth problem that just won't go away, and yet the worst thing to happen to me all day was you show up." He said as he went to the bar and poured himself a drink.

I laughed to myself, remembering the good old days when all the mayor did was deny deny deny. Piper worked hard to expose the truth about the synths, and once she finally had, how was she rewarded? By the mayor flipping the script like a true politician. Suddenly he'd always been against the synths and he pandered to the people by shutting the gates up tight. He was the kind of man that would tell you the sky was green if it suited popular opinion, a flaw I knew I could exploit.

"You know McDonough," I began silkily. "I get why you're worried about the Brotherhood. We have technology that could flatten a burg like this in two seconds flat. But that kinda tech is a million miles away, as is anyone who could pose a real threat to you, but you know who isn't? Why your good friendly neighbors to the east, that's who..."

"Hancock doesn't take too kindly to people messing with his business, and as it stands, I'm still his business. I'm sure you've heard about the deal we've struck, how I'm under his protection so long as I'm in his territory and you and I both know how far his territory goes... So unless you feel like picking a fight with Goodneighbor, you better let me and the kid go." I smiled to myself. It might have been a lie, but there was no way he'd risk that kind of confrontation with a faction so close. Besides, what were the chances I'd been spotted coming out of the mine, anyway? As far as anybody knew, I was nuclear waste and fifty feet under.