However, life in the 'big city' provided its own share of challenges at the time of their arrival, Diamond City was plagued by corruption, lax security, and failing infrastructure. With both of their parents gone and Nat too young to work, Piper relied mainly on kindness and charity to survive, eventually saving enough money to relocate herself and her sister to Diamond City. When the raiders eventually showed up expecting the gate to be wide open, they instead encountered prepared defenses by alerted townsfolk and were driven away. The settlers, outraged by the story, exiled Mayburn. The conspicuously public accusation got the attention of the town's mayor, who accepted Piper's evidence. Piper then created and circulated wanted posters featuring the captain and a list of his crimes. The local authorities did not believe her claims and refused to investigate.
His superior, Captain Mayburn, arranged to leave the main gate open and unguarded one night to allow raiders access in exchange for a cut of the loot and had Piper's father murdered to keep him silent.
After her father was found dead under suspicious circumstances, Piper learned that he had discovered a raider plot to sack the town. Piper grew up in a small community on the outskirts of the Commonwealth with Nat and their father, a member of the local militia.
