Not Radio Freedom. Not Diamond City. This one was labeled . It pulsed from an unmarked bunker beneath the ruins of the Massachusetts State House. The voice was fragmented, synthetic, and weeping.

On the back, in handwritten ink: "Marcus + Elena. Quincy, 2077. Before the end."

— Nate deletes the Soldier, Deserter, Father, and Lover, leaving only the Child fragment. The Q.C.A. becomes a harmless, perpetual playground—a digital heaven for Marcus's purest self. But the core remains unstable. In 50 years, it will collapse into a feral AI anyway. Nick Valentine, if present, will say: "You gave a ghost a bedtime story. Sometimes that's enough." Reward: Quantum Lullaby (a portable radio that pacifies hostile synths for 30 seconds).

— All fragments combine into a single, stable AI: Marcus Webb, whole but exhausted. He thanks Nate, then asks to be shut down permanently. "I'm tired, soldier. Two hundred years is enough." The Q.C.A. bunker powers down peacefully. Reward: Marcus's Locket (grants +2 Charisma, +25 Radiation Resistance).

Five cores, scattered across the Commonwealth, each containing a fragment of Marcus Webb's soul. But each core had manifested a physical "echo"—a quantum ghost that could touch, kill, and be killed.