Eddie awoke in a warmly lit room, he saw the large figure of a man standing not too far away. Eddie noticed that at least this place was fitted with power. Eddie looked and he still had everything on him, all his guns, knives, and ammo. His helmet was on the table beside him, the large man was wearing what looked like a tuxedo.
"Ah you are awake, Mr. Rollins, muy bein!" He said turning around with two glasses of whiskey in his hands.
The man had a noticeable Mexican accent and sounded familiar.
"Ah, lo siento, I digress. You have not met me formally as of yet. I am El Segador or The Reaper in your tongue. And you have impressed me greatly Eddie, and that is not an easy thing to do. Now please drink my friend, es whiskey." He said handing Eddie the glass and sitting in the chair across from him.
"Uh, thanks, but ah, what should I call you, unless you... " Eddie started to say.
"No, no, Edward, call me Roberto! Roberto Torres!" He interrupted
"Thank you Roberto. I must say in truth that at first impression I never expected this much hospitality." Eddie said.
"That is because I do not extend it freely. One must earn my respect and admiration. Which you have done ten times over, mi amigo." Roberto said.
"Thank you kindly." Eddie said humbly.
"Now, I believe that you came here looking for someone, a Roland Halo, if I'm not mistaken, si?" Roberto said.
"Yessir, I'm on a mission to kill him, and quite honestly it's personal. Very, very personal. Eddie said taking a drink of whiskey.
"Si, vengeance is a marching force. But it will get you nowhere in the end. But might I ask why you seek him? What he has done to you?" Roberto asked.
"Frankly, I don't see any other reason to conceal it to you. The son of a bitch killed my wife and... my daughter." Eddie said solemnly.
Roberto looked at Eddie and seen he had touched the lone soft spot in the man's heart.
"Lo siento, mi amigo. I should not have asked." He said.
"It's fine, they were good people." Eddie said.
"Children always hit a soft side of my heart, amigo. I am deeply sorrowful to hear you say that. But I digress again, I do in fact know some things about this Roland Halo." Roberto said.
Eddie perked up.
"He came through about two weeks ago, he was dressed completely in black, in a long cloak that completely covered him and he had deep rimmed hat on his head, but of course I was in my armor as the Reaper, so I didn't say anything about that. Instead he just wanted to know if we had a general store, I pointed him in the direction of it, and as he walked off he started humming "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire" by the Ink Spots." El Segador said.
"That song was playing on the radio when my family was killed, why the hell was he singing it, did that fucker know that I'd come here?" Eddie said seemingly to himself.
"Mi amigo, the song plays on the radio regularly, so I didn't think much of it.
"Maybe it is nothing, but still. Continue." Eddie said.
"As he entered the general store he bought a box of shotgun shells. Then as a witness said, he walked out onto the street and for seemingly no reason at all, pulled a black sawed-off shotgun from his cloak, and shot the foot off of the town beggar, Sweeney. After that, the man in black disappeared into vapor." Roberto said.
"Where is his victim?" Eddie said.
"The beggar? Sweeney? He is currently in the infirmary." Roberto said.
"I need to speak to him, now, preferably." Eddie said.
"Then off we go!" Roberto said.
Eddie put his helmet on and followed the Reaper out of his estate. Eddie was astonished to see that this whole town was lit up with power and lights. He noticed mostly because the sun was setting and darkness was falling.
They walked down the dusty, uneven streets. Past orphans playing in the streets, and drunks sitting in their front porches, snoozing lazily. Roberto led Eddie to a building in the center of its street, a second one branches off to its side. A large sign on it indicated it was indeed the hospital.
They walked in and were met with a receptionist at a desk.
"Let me handle this, amigo. After all these are my people!" He chuckled.
Eddie stayed back as Roberto walked up to the receptionist and talked to her. After a moment he motioned for Eddie to follow him, and he and the ranger walked further into the hospital.
Roberto led Eddie past sick and injured people, they were being cared for by a surprisingly well trained staff of doctors and medics. Eventually they reached a room with a man missing his left leg from the knee down, they walked in and he was reading a book.
"Hola, Sweeney." Roberto said cheerfully.
The man looked up from his book, and showed a shaggy hair and bear combo with blindness consuming his left eye.
"Eh?" He said.
"Mr. Sweeney it's me, Roberto." El Segador said.
"Yeah I know you, but I don't know ranger over there. Sorry but I ain't saying anything about anything until it's just you and me." The beggar said.
Roberto looked at Eddie.
"Fine." Eddie said with a sigh as he walked out.
He closed the door to the room and leaned on a nearby wall with his arms crossed. Eddie pulled out his knife and started spinning it through his fingers. The knife was heavily customized and had seen it's fair share of action. He was investigating the part where the blade met the hilt, and found the tooth of the deathclaw he had fought earlier.
How he hadn't noticed it befuddled Eddie. Something that big and sharp should be noticeable. He took the tooth and put it in his pocket. The blade of his knife was loose now and needed repair. With luck a smithy could hammer it back into place.
Eddie heard the door shut, and he looked up. Roberto had a grin on his face.
"Come Eddie! We must head back to my villa, I will tell you what the beggar knew, and equip you for your journey ahead."
With that he started marching towards his villa, Eddie followed.