Rise of the Reaper part 18:A Heated Spectre, A Battle of Life & Death
With the match fixing to begin, the undercover guardians took their seats. "I wonder who's going to win?" Reaper said anxiously. Jada scoffed at the comment. "Regardless of who wins, we make money," she said as she took her seat in between Tulos and Reaper. With the sound of a horn, the match was underway. The two men in the arena stuck together while the women split up to perform a pincer attack on the guys. "Looks like the women know what they're doing," commented Reaper as one of the guys got shot in the back, causing Reaper to cringe. The spotter of the guy's team healed him just as the other player for the guys' team got shot, causing one of the spectators to start pitching a fit. "Dammit son, I taught you better than that, get up!" the man shouted. The man kept shouting, but to no avail; his son was dead. The women closed in on the only member of the opposing team left since his comrades were both killed. He ended up surrendering in the end. Jada snickered, causing the man whose son was killed in the last match to glare at her. "You see fun in this?" he asked her with tears coming down his face, "my only son just DIED! Now what do I have to live for?" Tulos surprisingly recognized the man almost immediately. "Roger?" Tulos asked, "Is that really you?" Roger, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, looked at Tulos. "Tulos? Yeah, it's me. Where have you been?" Roger asked Tulos in disbelief as his former teammate walked past Jada and Reaper and put both of his hands on Tulos' face. "I've been doing some Guardian work. Is there any place where we can talk privately?" Roger nodded. "Yes, we can head to my store," he said, "I'm only getting customers during the day anyways, so that place will do. We need to catch up." Once they left the dome, it didn't take them long before reaching Roger's shop. Roger reached in his pocket to dig out the keys to his shop, and unlocked the door. "Sorry for the mess," he said, "just find a spot to sit down so we can talk." The three sat down as Roger shut and locked the door. "You said you know Tulos?" Jada asked Roger curiously. Roger looked up from a small fridge which he was reaching in to get drinks for the four of them. "Tulos was one of my old comrades prior to him becoming a guardian full-time," Roger said as the drinks were passed out, "although I know him by the name Tucker; Don't know where he got the name Tulos." Reaper nearly spit out his drink. "Hold up," Reaper said, "why did you change your name to Tulos then?" Tulos looked down at his drink, his mind wandering. "I changed my name because I didn't want my past to follow me, but I guess it came full-circle," Tulos said, "Yes, I used to be called Tucker although my comrades that I had prior to meeting Jada and Cinder would call me a buffoon; There's no denying it. I used to be an Iron Lord." Jada and Reaper both spit their drinks out of their mouths. "Iron Lord? You?" Jada asked, perplexed by the realization that was just told to her. Tulos sighed heavily. "Yes, I used to be an Iron Lord when I was rollin' with Roger," Tulos said sadly, looking in Jada's direction, "I left the order of the Iron Lords and lied about my actual name to you and Cinder because I didn't want you to think of me as an outsider." Jada rested her hand softly on Tulos's shoulder. "Listen, whatever you want us to call you is fine," Jada said, "nothing will change who you are, regardless whether you're an Iron Lord or not." Reaper nodded in agreement. "Yeah man, you're a guardian regardless of status," Reaper said, "besides, what would Oracle think? Actually, regardless of what she thinks, she'd love you the same way ya know." Tulos sighed. "Yeah, you guys are right," he said, downing his drink, "regardless of whether or not I'm an Iron Lord, I'm still a guardian!" Jada and Reaper both nodded solemnly to Tulos before he looked at Roger. "Is there any way you can hook us up with armor and weapons?" he asked the old weapon dealer. Roger nodded. "I will as long as you three promise me to avenge my son and take down this narcissistic death-bringing ring," Roger said. The trio looked to each as each of them nodded with Jada standing up and extending her hand towards Roger. "Consider it a promise Roger," Jada said. As soon as Jada and Roger got done shaking hands, Roger cracked his knuckles. "I'll get right on those orders for you guys," he said as he took out a ledger to take some much-needed notes to use when he crafts their armor. Several hours later, Roger wiped the sweat off his brow as he finished the final piece of armor. "There ya go, your armor's finished," Roger said as he looked over his work, "I also craft weapons as well if you guys are gonna participate in the dome." The trio nodded. "Would you need to know our specific weapons that we use?" Tulos asked Roger, to which he nodded. The trio explained what weapons they used and Roger got right to crafting the weapons for them. Two and a half hours later, Roger huffed and wiped the sweat from his brow yet again as he handed them their weapons, proud of his craftsmanship. "There ya go, a set of weapons for each of ya," Roger said finally resting his arms and his legs since he was standing up when he was crafting the armor and weapons, "just make sure you kick some ass when you go in there and don't die like Robin did." Jada gave Roger a puzzled look. "I'm sorry who?" Jada said. "My son," Roger said sadly, "the guy you saw die was my son. I honestly don't know why he got involved in this shit, I bet his mother Robina would be rolling around in her grave if she saw what happened to Robin." Tulos put his hand on Roger's shoulder. "Don't worry, old friend," Tulos said, "we'll get vengeance for him along with all the other people who have lost their lives due to this shit." With that, the three left Roger's shop in order to meet with Overkill to register for a match in the dome.