Spoiler warning: This is the entire quest to find Cait in Fallout 4.
I do not own Fallout or it's respective characters. They belong to Bethesda.
I will be adding more, I just wanted the intro straight from the game.
The Combat Zone, huh? Doesn't sound like a bad place from what the Diamond City Security guard had mentioned in passing. I could blow off steam there and make a pretty penny while I'm at it. Do people in this era even use that phrase anymore? Make a pretty bottle cap. No, that doesn't sound right.
It looks like the raiders had already rolled out the welcome mat. I sneak out from around the corner, careful to remain in the shadows. They even have lights strung up. How quaint.
"Who's there?"
I pause and hold my breath for a brief moment and watch as the raiders canvas the area. When they relax, I check my scope to do my own assessment. I count maybe five raiders in total. Easy pickings.
I take cover behind an old bus stop and steady my breathing before plucking them off one by one.
"Disappearing act, huh?" A girl asks the chilly night air as she disappears around the corner.
'I haven't moved, darling,' I think to myself as I let the sniper rifle hang around my back before I run out and take a hard turn around the corner with my trusted shotgun in hand.
She rounds on me, startled, "why do they always have to fight back?"
I smirk. She only has a machete but she charges for me anyway. There's a guttural that emerges from her as I blast a hole through her abdomen. She hits the ground quickly with a hard thud as the machete skids away from her.
I lightly step over her body without looking at her and check the sign out front. There's rules scrawled out on a black board next to a trash can fire. Raiders follow rules? I give a deep throaty laugh. It looks like a child wrote this.
Tommy's rule # 1
No fighting outside the cage!
Tommy's rule # 2
No caps? No entry!
Tommy's rule # 3
No loitering or begging!
Rule breakers will be shot or worse
I let myself in through the front doors to a ruined foyer. Raiders really don't keep after themselves. But why should they in a place like this?
The rules are rewritten on a board in front of the entrance with a sign saying 'Combat Zone This Way.' To my left are two raiders bound behind a locked door with a large sign stating that these are rule breakers. Humiliation, to some, can be worse. Emotional scars are much harder to heal than physical scars.
I feel the band around the finger on my left hand and look away from the raiders chained to the platform. I can't think about the past anymore. This is a different world.
I open the doors to the next area and my nostrils are invaded by the scent of meat cooking over a fire to my left. I stand back and listen to the cheering of the crowd, raiders whistling and shouting approval for whoever is in the cage below.
"At least look like you're trying!" A woman yells out, exasperated.
"Smash him!" A man yells as I take a look around the area where they've built shacks and shops around the seating area. It's just me back here and so far they haven't even noticed me walk in. They're all too distracted by the show upfront.
"Smash all his bones!" I hear the same woman shout as I take a look at the two sparing in the cage. They're not cheering on their comrade who seems to be getting his ass kicked by the woman he's been matched with.
I continue to watch for a moment longer, admiring her skills although I'm though I'm sure she's strung up on something from her movements. I fish around in my pockets for a PsychoBuff and clutch it in my fist, ready for a good fight myself.
"Smash her!" a man growls.
I take the platform up to my right as the announcer says over the intercom, "and that concludes this round. Cait is the undisputed winner!" I wonder if that's Tommy.
Cait, huh? I make my way to the top where a raider is sitting in a chair. I catch a glimpse of Cait as I come to stand beside him and feel a strange ping in the pit of my stomach. She's standing at the front of the cage under a spotlight, her opponent knocked out on the floor in the center. I missed the knockout blow.
"What the…." The raider cheering to my side stops and I instinctively tense up, ready to fight. "He ain't supposed to be in here! Rip 'em to shreds!"
"Shit shit shit," I hear someone below shouting and see a man in a suit sprinting for the cage.
"Who's there?" A raider asks in the distance as I duck behind a counter. My heart is beating steadily and calmness washes over. I inject myself with the PsychoBuff and shake my head irritably.
"Fucking kill!" I shout as a primal rage pulses through me and I jump out from behind the counter, shotgun in hand, ready for anything.
"What?" A woman shouts as I knock the butt of my shotgun across the head of the raider who had been sitting beside me only moments ago. He falls to the ground with a loud crunch.
"Oh hell no!" Another guy shouts as I run across the platforms, shooting down anyone in my way.
A Molotov whizzes by head and shatters behind me, setting the counter ablaze as I continue to charge forward with the heat building behind me. It fizzles out moments later.
The ones who aren't busy trying to shoot me down are running at me with tire irons and machetes. At least four come my way believing in the power of numbers.
I don't think anyone ever told them not to bring a knife to a gun fight. I shoot the first one down and kick his corpse off the platform as another slams me across my jaw. I hear a crack before shaking it off, spitting out blood, and laughing.
"I've done this hundreds of times. Think you'll be any different?" she shouts angrily before raising her bat in the air, ready to take another swing. Her body hits the ground before she can even start begin to swing it back around. I step through the small puddle of blood forming around her and start to get twitchy.
I plow through the rest of them, all ducking behind makeshift fences or seats now. These must be the easiest bunch of raiders I've ever gone through. I duck out behind a counter near the front and reload.
There's a moment of silence as the dust settles and I'm breathing heatedly and shaking from the action. Or maybe it's from the PsychoBuff.
"Do you think they're done out there?" I hear someone say and I turn around quickly, gun up, ready to fire.
"We don't want any trouble," he shouts as I look around and see the man still crouching down in the cage. "Not anymore at least," the ghoul adds as an afterthought as I peak around to see him still kneeling in the cage.
"Oh just peek your head up," Cait sneers as she stands up, "ya damn coward."
"To heck with that," the ghoul says in response, "I'm too pretty to go out like this."
I laugh to myself as I holster the shogun. The welcoming party could have gone better but I just might like these people, if they aren't enemies. The ghoul looks around while still kneeling before shouting, "hey, you all done killing each other?"
I remain silent while still watching them through a crack in the makeshift wall.
"Look, whoever's out there, we were rooting for you the whole time," the ghoul shouts. There's fear in his voice though he does well to mask it.
With a sigh, I stand up and walk out to the center walkway to stand between the rows of seat.
"Look, why don't you come over here and show us you don't mean no harm," the ghoul says as I cross my arms. We size each other up. He's still crouching on the blood spattered floor.
"So," he starts carefully, "you wanna talk this out like civilized folk? Or you just gonna bash up my theater some more?"
My shoulders shake in silent laughter. Me? He should keep his dogs on a leash if he wants his theater to remain in one piece. With a shake of my head I cautiously step down and make my way around to the cage entrance. He looks at me as I walk slowly toward him with my hand still on my shotgun.
"You finished tearin' the place up now?" He asks and I give a noncommittal shrug. "Well, that could've gone worse," he sighs as he stands up and brushes off his suit.
Cait rolls her eyes but gives a hearty chuckle. "Heh heh, I dunno. Seemed quite the performance from where I was standin'," she says with what sounds like a thick Irish accent.
She's a little beat up and there's a familiar look to her eyes that I recognize as someone with a drug habit. Behind the bruising though, she's got to be the one the prettiest woman I've seen in the Commonwealth so far.
"Are you fucking high or something?" He asks before shaking his head. "Why am I asking, of course you are."
"Was still winning the fight, wasn't I?" She argues defensively.
I shift back to lean on one leg and continue to listen to them bicker. They must have been working together for quite a while.
"You're strung out and getting sloppy is what you are," he says wearily.
I know the feeling. I don't usually bring anyone with me on my quest to avenge my wife. I would never forgive myself if my habits got someone else killed. I feel the cool metal of my wedding band around my finger with thumb and twirl it around my finger.
"Course, I suppose you ain't got to worry about that now. Seems this one just put us out of business," I look up after noticing he's addressing me now. I open my mouth to argue but he continues, "I'm not sure if I should kiss you or have my little bird here feed you your own entrails."
'I'd like to see her try,' I think to myself as I clench my jaw. There's a sharp pain at my lower jaw and I feel with my tongue for where I'd been hit to find a broken tooth.
"I told you to quit callin' me that!" She shouts angrily.
"What is this place?" I ask to change the subject and stop their bickering as he begins to explain.
"Not from around here, huh? This is the Combat Zone. Finest arena in the Commonwealth. Cait here's the headliner. Hundred plus matches, undefeated."
I tune back out of the conversation, still nodding at the right moments, and take another look at her. She seems fit enough to keep up with a bunch of raiders but it's hard to believe a junkie could go undefeated; if I'm to believe what this ghoul says.
"…and put us out of business, that is," I catch the end of his sentence and have to look away from Cait and back at his mug so she doesn't catch me staring.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
I'm only half listening to him now. I think the drugs are wearing off. I've been addicted since I found out how to mix the drugs together. It makes my head swim but it keeps me from overthinking.
I try to stay focused on the conversation. At least Cait's voice is something to remain focused on, "to hell with 'em. More'll come. Just need a quick breather and I'll be ready to go."
I exhale. I feel the same way right now.
"A breather? What?" The ghoul asks in disbelief. "So you can slam more of that junk in to your arm? No, no," he pauses and shakes his head. "You know what? I think this was a blessing in disguise." He turns his attention back to me and says, "you caught the end of that bout. What'd ya think of Cait's work?"
"She's clearly," I pause as my head swims, "talented," I add in a tone that would suggest otherwise. I didn't actually see much of her fight. But how can I judge someone who is probably as much of a head case and junkie as I am? I saw the aftermath and the guy is still lying on the floor. He's probably dead.
"See. Least someone knows skill when they see it," she boosts, not having caught my tone.
"It ain't your fightin' skills I'm concerned with," the ghoul grumbles before turning back to me. "So here's my predicament. I suddenly got no audience. No audience means I got no caps coming in."
'Doesn't sound like my problem," I think as he looks at Cait and frowns.
"And if you ain't bringing in caps, little bird, you ain't an asset. You're a liability. To me…" he pauses thoughtfully, "and to yourself."
A flash of disappointment crosses her face as she looks away. He nods and says to me in offering, "so…here's what I'm thinkin'. What say I let you take over her contract? She goes with you, watches your back…" she perks back up at this but looks slighted. "…look, you'd be doin' me a favor while I try to get the place back in order. What do ya say?"
"Me? And him?" She says as if this would be the worst thing to happen to her. I'm slightly offended.
"Why would you want her to go with me?" I ask, reflecting her offense. It isn't exactly my fault she's out of a job. I mean, shit, she's a junkie too. How is she going to watch my back?
"Yeah, Tommy? Just why the hell you tryin' to get rid of me?" She asks, angered and hurt.
"Maybe I just think you deserve some time off," he answers in a tired voice as he turns away. "Maybe I like this one's face. I don't know. I usually got a good sense about this sorta thing." He sounds tired, like he wants this night to be over with. Maybe he's the one who's high. But then again, I'm the one wearing shades indoors so how could he see just how bloodshot my eyes are?
"So what do you say?" He asks me.
I shake my head and give it some thought. I guess it is my fault she's out of job. I mean, I did just obliterate her clientele. "Sure," I answer, "I could use someone watching my back." I look to Cait and she's glaring at me now. I'm not sure if she's angrier at Tommy or at me.
"Good," he says with finality, "it's settled then. And here. Take this," he says and hands me a small sack, "it's the purse from the last fight. Exterminator's fee."
"Now just wait a sec," she says gruffly, "what exactly are you gonna do without me here?"
"You don't need to worry about me," he replies sadly, "I'll get this place set up right, maybe find a less blood soaked clientele. Now get the hell out of here." He tries not to sound broken up as he adds, "you ain't welcome here anymore, little bird."
"You're a real son of a bitch, you know that, Tommy?" She spits bitterly but even with my head swimming, I know she's hurt.
"You don't have to tell me," Tommy chuckles but doesn't smile. He just walks away as Cait stares at the floor, her brows knit together in thought.
"I guess you just come find me when you want to head out," she adds flatly before she walks away. She exits the cage and I linger for a moment, watching her leave to take a seat at a counter.
When I make my way up and take a seat beside her, she's gulping down a warm bottle of whiskey. "Cait," I say carefully to get her attention.
She turns to me. "So, you ready to head out?" She asks, trying to sound happier than she is.
"That depends," I shrug, "how're you feeling?"
"I dunno," she replies with a shake of her head. "Feelin' kinda useless sittin' here with me thumb up me arse," she says bitterly as she sets the bottle down then looks away. "So, are you ready to get this show on the road?" She asks without looking back at me.
"Ready," I say grimly as she stands up and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.
"About time I got out of this place," she says, sounding like she's starting to accept the idea. "Let's go."