Eddie hadn't seen the streets of New Vegas in almost a year and half, he wasn't going back by his own will anytime soon. Too many people doing stupid things, wasting their lives. Alice used to say that. She was the only person who made sense to Eddie sometimes. Then when their daughter came along, Eddie thought that he was going to die of stress, but as usual Alice always made sense. She had a good head on her shoulders, and a good heart in her chest She was such a humble and grounded person. Eddie winced at the thought that had just crossed his mind. She was scared for me when I first started my mercenary work. Then when I joined the NCR. She was even mad at me when she found out I tortured that legate at Camp Mccarran. God. How did it come to something like this?
Thinking like this always made Eddie feel like shit. He thought he saw a small town in the distance. He passed the sign walking the interstate sign, "Welcome to Arizona!" So at least he was making good distance to Tombstone. The Dark Man was hiding there, his target.
The town looked to be an hour, possibly two away, he seen some sort of circular object in the center, but it was too far away too tell. After a spell of walking, Eddie came up to the gates of the medium sized community, two guards were on duty. One was substantially fatter than the other.
"Oi, you down there, what you doin' 'ere, eh?" The bigger one asked
"Eventually I'll be just passing through, but at the moment, I'm looking for a man named Roland Halo. Seen him? He's the only person dumb enough to wear black in the desert." Eddie said diplomatically.
"Lad, neither of us know who or what you might be talking about, but our leader, El Segador might know something, he right might." The other one said.
"His name is 'The Reaper?' Boy that sure says 'friendly and inviting.' Charming." Eddie could tell that the old bastard was lying about not knowing anything himself.
"Yeah, and it's been awhile since we seen an NCR ranger 'round these parts, aye." The fat one said.
"I hate to ruin your fun, but I'm not a ranger, not anymore and not for a long time have I." Eddie said.
They opened the gates and led him to a throne right in front of the arena that was clearly in the middle of the town. The throne was made out of weapons and armor from the Wastelands. Just on the back Eddie saw wreckage bearing the NCR bear and Brotherhood of Steel logo. Shit. This won't end well.
Nevertheless of his doubts Eddie walked in front of the throne. There was a man clad in a full suit of waster-forged medieval fashioned armor, and the face mask was of a skull. Just fucking peachy.
"Greetings, my name is Edward Rollins, but most call me Eddie. I'm on a mission to find a man named Roland Halo. Your guards back there told me you might know something about him?" Eddie said as nice and as diplomatically as possible.
"Who the hell do you think you are, boy?" El Segador said in a gritty Spanish accent looking at Eddie.
"With all due respect, sir, I am no boy. I am a bounty hunter. Now, I hate to be rushing but I must find this man, it's of very high importance." Eddie said through gritted teeth in his helmet.
El Segador stood up, towering over Eddie by a good foot of height. Shit.
"This is my house, one does not come up to me and show no respect for a king, then ask a favor, then proceed to insult my authority." El Segador said.
He swatted Eddie down, but not to the ground, on one knee Eddie reached for his revolver, in a split second it was aimed at the tyrant's face and Eddie was back on his feet. The lackeys gasped in the back. He grabbed Eddie by the wrist and clutching it so tightly Eddie heard the polymer bracer crack, soon he couldn't hold his gun, and it clanked to the floor. El Segador looked him in the eye.
"I will tell you about our mutual aquatints, but, only if you survive three rounds in my arena." He said.
"Bring it on you motherfucker." Eddie said.
"That's what I wanted to hear." El Segador said, and head butted Eddie.
Eddie's vision blurred and he fell to the ground unconscious. He woke up a few hours later, in the pit, surrounded by freshly spilled blood, viscera, and bones. A rabidly cheering crowd stood beyond the barrier. Eddie stood up and the crowd cheered, he still had his armor on, but he reached for his gun and found an empty holster. He looked up and each of the guards he met earlier were holding one. All Eddie had was his trusted hunting knife. And a gauntlet at his feet. It was a demolition power fist, Eddie put it on and clicked a button in the grip, the heated coil on the end of the meat hammer of a metal bar on the end of the fist ejected forward with sparks and steam.
A siren wailed and he sighed as his first round of opponents entered the game. Eddie drew his knife, turning the blade in a stabbing position. Out of the opposite side walked three lightly armored personnel with melee weapons. Eddie taunted them.
They charged each other, Eddie slid between two of them causing one to hit the other, he stabbed the injured one in the back of the neck and blood spewed out and hit the side of his ranger helmet.
This gave the second one time to hit him in the stomach with his chain-wrapped baseball bat as the first fell to the ground bleeding out. As Eddie was trying recover, the third finally attacked and went for an overhead swing with his sword, but Eddie blocked him with the power fist, he recoiled and fell to the ground, and then came the second. Eddie hit him in the stomach hit the power fist, and sent him flying a good seven feet. Finally Eddie was able to get up to his feet, now the second one had the mace of the first one in his hand.
Eddie went all in and charged the second one, he knocked the bat out of his hand with power fist but was met with a mace to his shoulder, Eddie dropped his weapons and was stunned. The second one started hitting him in the back, thank god the ranger armor was taking the brunt of the hits. The third one came over and distracted the second, Eddie seized the opportunity and grabbed the second one's chain wrapped baseball bat, he turned and cracked him right on the jaw. Both of them staggered backwards, as Eddie got up he saw the jawbone of the second one laying a few feet in front of him. Then the second fell to the ground, missing his entire jaw. The third dropped his sword and started running. Eddie walked up and picked up the sword, he drew it back, and sent it flying in a fluent motion. It caught the third in the spine and he fell down paralyzed.
Eddie walked over and picked up his knife. Then he went up to the final enemy as he bled out. He pulled the sword from his back and swiftly ended his suffering with a jab to the head.
Eddie looked up at El Segador sitting on his throne. The brute looked as if he was planning, schemeing, ready to point out any weaknesses Eddie had, and then exploit them.
"Is that all you smug son of a bitch!?" Eddie wailed.
El Segador shook his head and gave the thumbs down. The siren wailed again and the second round was starting.
El Segador gave a wave of his hand, and the guard threw him his rifle. Eddie caught it before it could hit the ground. He drew it at the gate with a '2' on it. Then it opened.
A large four clawed hand with an extend middle claw grabbed the side. Then the matching other hand grabbed the opposite side. Red eyes ignited the dark as a growl erupted into the stage, and the cheering silenced. The creature revealed itself as an alpha deathclaw. God. Dammit.
Eddie watched as the beast fully revealed itself to him and the crowd, the ground rumbled with each step. Scars adorned its thick and dark hide, and blood freshly coated it's razor sharp teeth. It set it's eyes on Eddie and he could feel it pierce damn near into his soul.
He had thought of nearly everything, except for a deathclaw. Of course it had to be a fuckin' deathclaw. Eddie had worked a contingency for almost everything but that, needlessly, this poor creature hat to die for him to live. So he had to go for broke.
Eddie fired a shot from the carabine into the deathclaw, however he only pissed it off. It got on all fours and charged him, Eddie rolled out of the way and felt his brain rattle in his head as the deathclaw connected with the stadium wall.
He looked and the deathclaw had it's left horn stuck in the wall, Eddie was an ultimate opportunist and he slung the rifle into its holster on his back, and, using his knife, he jabbed it into the back of the deathclaw and started climbing it. It wailed in pain with every jab, but eventually Eddie made it to its neck, he locked his legs around its neck and jammed his knife right into it's left eye. This caused the animal to charge so much sheer anger and adrenaline up, that it broke it's own horn off, while it was still stuck.
It started running around the arena as Eddie held on for dear life, but he slipped and, the deathclaw grabbed him an launched him across the arena. Eddie got up, but he realized he landed right beside a huge chunk of rebar in concrete, that had been placed as an obstacle with multiple ends pointing towards the deathclaw. Speaking of the deathclaw, the poor creature was still wailing at the loss of an eye as it felt a bullet hit it's shoulder, it growled and looked where it came from.
Through its enraged vision it saw only Eddie and charged at him upon all fours again, it was only at the last second that it saw the rebar sticking out of the fallen concrete.
Eddie felt the thud on the opposite side of the concrete, along with the good two feet closer to the wall. Did I actually just do this? He got up and walked to the other side and saw the deathclaw pierced by the rebar, the creature was killed on impact. Eddie used its own rage against it. He felt kind of bad for the creature. It didn't ask for this, it was just a wild animal trying to defend itself in an alien environment.
The crowd roared in cheer, and Eddie looked up at El Segador, he could tell that the lord was impressed. Not any waster could be this tactical. El Segador stood up with his halberd in one hand and he took Eddie's revolver in the other and addressed Eddie and the crowd.
"Mr. Rollins! You have impressed me with your latest feat, under normal circumstances, I would let you out, but, I did say three rounds, and I'm a man of my word, but I do believe you at least earned the chance to use everything at your disposal in your last fight." El Segador said.
He threw Eddie his sequoia revolver and Eddie caught it. It wasn't the response he was looking for, but not also the one he dreaded. Eddie looked at the door with "3" painted over it, and heard El Segador's voice.
"For your final fight, Eddie, you must face the only man to ever run undefeated in my arena. He is, the Overboss!"
The door opened halfway, and an enormous man, towering at least eight feet tall broke it down. He was extremely muscular, looking at though he could crush someone's head with his bare hands. To make it worse, he wore sleeveless armor that was of clear gladiator influence, he held a short, broad-bladed sword in his hand.
The Overboss started running towards Eddie, the ranger started running back, he knew he stood no chance of outmuscling him, so Eddie was going to outwit the brute.
Just before impact, Eddie slid between the legs, and quickly landed a jab in his ribs, this however was a mere prick to the Overboss. He swatted Eddie, and the ranger went flying a good ten feet, when he got up to his feet, he was met with a massive right hook from the Overboss, directly in his right chest area.
This hit Eddie so hard it knocked the breath out of him, as he stood there gasping for air to renter his lungs, the Overboss cane down with his sword and left a long gash on the left side of his helmet. But he wasn't done, after that, he slammed Eddie with an uppercut, which threw his helmet off.
Finally Eddie caught his breath after being stunned, he drew his revolver, but with reckless abandonment and fired, he hit the Overboss in the shoulder, which despite the blood, seemed to just piss him off even more. He grabbed Eddie by the throat, Eddie dropped his gun and was lifted above the Overboss's head horizontally. The Overboss marched around the arena with Eddie high in the air, the. He slammed him down on the ground.
The Overboss grabbed Eddie by the hair of his head and dragged him to the concrete block, he threw Eddie atop it and started drilling haymaker after haymaker into his midsection. After a few of those barrages, Eddie felt this lung collapse from the strain and external damage. Eddie could barely breath and his chest hurt so bad it distorted his vision, but he felt the Overboss grab him by the throat again.
With Eddie in his hands, the Overboss walked to the center of the arena. He held Eddie high, primed to break his neck.
"Any last words?" He said.
"Look... down..." Eddie mumbled in deep pain.
The Overboss laughed hardily, but nonetheless obliged Eddie's final request. He looked down and was met with a .45-70 bullet shattering his skull. The shot made Eddie's ears ring for the first time in awhile and he felt the hands on his neck loosen slightly, but still clutching Eddie, the overboss fell on his back, Eddie landed on top of him. Eddie stood up, and took his sword as a trophy. The crowd went insane. Cheering and bellowing his name. Eddie took the sword and jammed it into the Overboss' chest, confirming he was indeed dead.
Eddie walked over and picked up his helmet, it had taken a long lightly deep gash behind the left eye and leading into the mouth area, and stopping there. He put it on, and all the internal components still worked perfectly fine, Eddie wished he could say the same about himself, his whole chest and midsection had taken an absolute beating. Eventually, he dropped to his knees and barely managed to pull a stimpack out of his bag and inject himself in the chest with it before he passed out.