Part 24: The Greatest

Update 24: The Greatest



By the time we got back to New Reno the swelling had gone down from my implants. With those and the extra practice I'd gotten in the Sierra Arms Depot I was feeling ready to get back into the ring.



My first opponent eventually went on to become a fairly big name around New Reno, although he wasn't that good of a boxer. I knocked him out with one punch, but he took it well enough to make a joke as he was trying to get back up.



Stuart would have lined the fighters up outside the door and had me keep going all night if he'd had his way, but I insisted on a break between each fight to rest a little bit.



The second fighter actually got a few shots in, and I was thankful for the impact protection. He didn't know what to make of an opponent who took his punches with a smile on his face.



He wasn't smiling a couple seconds later. The human skull can be a frighteningly fragile thing when you don't have ballistic impact plates fused to it.



The championship bout was even more ferocious. The punches all bounced off of me, but I swear I caught the guy trying to bite at my ear a couple of times. I've fought giant rants that snapped at me less.



Eventually I managed to get a lucky hit in and finished the match… and that was how I became the Boxing Champion of New Reno. By killing three men in the ring and cheating my ass off. If you haven't already, you might want to rethink any conception you have of me as a hero.

As a note, the game scripting doesn't exactly know what to do when you kill the champion with a no-damage critical. Combat ended but the match didn't, and as a result I couldn't be declared victor. I had to restart a couple of times to actually get a non-glitched match.



The Prizefighter perk gives you additional damage resistance on top of the surgical implants, particularly absorption. We've got a natural 12 absorption / 9% damage resistance against regular damage now, which combined with combat armor is enough to stop most small arms fire.



Oh, and we also popped another level as a result of the fighting. Points go to Small Gus, Energy Weapons, and Science.



Now that I was a boxing champion, Little Jesus had the time to talk to me, and offered to set me up with a job with his old man. I think he'd actually forgotten about meeting me before, but Jet will do some funny things to a guy's mind.



"Hey, you Jesus Mordino?"

"I… am Jesus Mordino. You… will address me as Señor Mordino. What… is your business with me?"

"I spoke to you son, Señor Mordino. I'm looking for work."

"You… do not look strong enough. I have no work for you."

"The men I fought in the boxing ring thought the same thing. I'm here, and they're not. Let me prove myself, Señor Mordino. I can do it."



He went for it with that reminder, and my first job was a simple delivery…although I didn't like the way he emphasized the word "stables."



Big Jesus' directions led to a complex outside of town. The guards at the gate didn't even ask any questions… being famous took a bit of getting used to, but it was definitely useful around the New Reno area.



Ramirez, on the other hand, was a huge dickhead. He also had a pretty steady Jet cough and shaky hands. Somehow I couldn't see imagine where all the Jet was going.



I left him with his package and a warning not to fuck with me.



On the way back a gang of thugs managed to ambush us in the city. They were more heavily armed than some armies, particularly considering that two of them had flamethrowers. I made a point of shooting those two first.



One of them had an interesting pistol that I picked up as a kind of souvenir. The kick on it was horrendous, but I kept it anyway. At the very least it'd make an interesting selling piece.

Behold, the second most powerful pistol in the game doing a whopping 20-30 damage per shot. In comparison, our current magnum does 12-18. This one takes one more AP to fire, but with the right build you can still get off two good aimed shots per round with it. In addition, it uses the very common .233 ammunition whereas the ammo for the best pistol in the game is much more difficult to find. And yes, it is modeled after the pistol from Bladerunner.



"Yes, I gave your package to that guard, Ramirez… you know that guy's a Jet head? He was reeking of Jet fumes."

"Not everyone at the Stables… knows they are test subjects."

"Uh… come again?"



"Ice cold."

"Oh… uh, about my payment then…"



My next job was a collection assignment, although a bit more on the up and up than the one on Renesco. These guys weren't being double-tapped on their payment for one thing, and they were a… unique business.



"Is this what I think it is?"

"We be getting a 'discount' here too?"



"Yeah, sure… now that we're talking, though, got any.. uh.. holes that I could fill?"



"Well, if endurance is the problem…"

"Calm down, big guy. They spend most of their time on their backs, but the girls want to be able to walk home after their shoot."

So yeah, none of us ended up becoming film stars that day. I didn't think about it right then, but with the right chemical encouragement



The next job Big Jesus wanted me to do was a whopper - killing Boss Salvatore. There was no way that job wasn't going to end in a flurry of laser fire, and I wanted my thermal implants before then. Money was still tight, so we were going to have to skip town until we could get some more cash together...



But luckily there was a little place just down the road where I could look for work.