-Getting What's Coming To You-
Baron Flynt sat upon his throne on the giant digging machine in the centre of the Salt Flats. He looked upon the wasteland around him with pride. He had taken over a formally Crimson Lance-occupied area and called it his home. This could not be said for two of his bandits. Taylor and Jaynis Kobb hated one another ever since birth. They had both tried to kill each other using methods of poison and traps but none of them worked. They wanted to become the dominant brother; they wanted to be the one who outlasted the other. Because of their total disregard for each other's life they had become infamous in the bandit regime and two of the most feared. Baron Flynt had watched the Kobb brothers grow up for five years and almost saw missions he had sent them on fall on their arse. Baron Flynt did as best he could to divide them into separate regimes. Jaynis was almost transferred to Krom's canyon and Taylor to stay with Baron Flynt. However, Baron Flynt couldn't deny that Taylor and Jaynis worked brilliantly together as a team. Sure, they hated each other but when they had to they were unstoppable. No bandit could ever forget when Taylor was being chased by Sledge's 'Roid Rage Psycho in Headstone Mine and Jaynis jumped on top of the bandit who must have been over eight-feet tall and continue to stab him repeatedly in the neck with a buzz-axe. The bandit still lives today but with massive wounds. Jaynis showed everybody that he does in some way care for his brother but they both still had issues that nobody could ever understand.
Taylor jumped off of his Runner south of the digging machine deep in the misty Salt Flats. The digging machine was only just visible through the mist. The circular blade which stretched out from the platform was almost in full view from Taylor's position. Taylor had been sent out into the mist by Baron Flynt to recover a missing audio diary a dead bandit had hidden. The dead bandit was Mickey Leonov, a spy for the Dahl Corporation. Baron Flynt found out when Mickey left an ECHO device inside his Runner which fell through the hole in the floor. Mickey had forgotten to patch up the hole after a burst of corrosive gunfire melted away at the steel. Baron Flynt saw it when he heard something fall onto the ground when he was walking past the Runner pit. The ECHO device had Dahl's name all over it and when he played the recording it was pure evidence against Mickey. After interrogation, Mickey told Baron Flynt he had more recordings hidden all over the Salt Flats. Seeing this as a perfect way to separate Taylor and Jaynis, Baron told them both to look all over the Salt Flats in search for the recordings. Taylor went one way while Jaynis went the other.
Taylor walked through the mist. He didn't really know where he was going but the GPS he had in his hand indicated that some kind of electrical device was nearby. Since the only electrical points in the Salt Flats would be anything on the digging machine, the Catch-A-Ride station and the weapon vendors dotted around the Salt Flats were shown as "points of interest" on the GPS it seemed pretty likely this was the ECHO device. Taylor tripped on a rock in front of him and struggled to stay on his feet. He used his free hand to catch himself on the ground before standing back up again. The mist was getting worse. Taylor knew he shouldn't be on foot this deep in the Salt Flats at this time of day without a Runner or some kind of illumination. There was no time for Runners; he needed to be on foot to find the recording. Whatever Mickey knew about the bandits he sure as hell told the Dahl Corporation, these recordings had to be found and destroyed. Dahl was the reason why there were bandits on Pandora in the first place and it was obvious they were planning on rectifying that mistake. Taylor crouched down with his free hand stretched out in front of him to give himself a better chance of finding his way. Taylor tried to keep going straight forwards so retracing his steps would be easy. His Runner wasn't marked on the GPS; he just wanted to keep things simple. The GPS began to bleep repeatedly which increased in speed when Taylor kept moving forward. He looked at the screen and realised he had overshot the blip. He retreated and stopped when he was at the centre of the blip's position. Now all he had to do was feel around for the recording. Taylor didn't bank on the recording being left on the surface; chances are it was buried underground. He dropped to his hands and knees and began to stroke the ground hoping to touch an ECHO device. Ten minutes must have passed when Taylor convinced himself the recording wasn't here. He had looked all around him as far as he could in all directions before the GPS bleeped to tell him he was too far out. The mist had evolved even thicker. Taylor could barely make out his own hand in front of him. Taylor abandoned the search and retraced his steps to the Runner. Taylor was walking even more carefully now, the mist was starting to affect Taylor's head, his vision was fading, his eyelids felt heavy, he just wanted to sleep. Taylor climbed in and turned on the engine. The blade of the digging machine wasn't visible anymore but Taylor knew the digging machine was only ahead of him.
Taylor hadn't been driving for five minutes when another Runner crashed beside his Runner sending him spinning sideways through the mist. Taylor's Runner landed on its side and bounced into a large rock and landed on the ground. Taylor's previous fatigue had gone, he was completely alert now. Who had crashed into him? Taylor crawled out of his smashed Runner and stood on his knees. He squinted his eyes in an effort to see through the mist. A figure emerged through the blanket of mist; Taylor drew his pistol and told the figure to stop. The figure didn't stop; he carried on walking as if he hadn't heard Taylor. Taylor this time shouted at the figure whose clothing features were beginning to become more detailed to stop. Again, the person didn't stop. There was no way he hadn't heard Taylor. Taylor was still very hesitant; there was something about this person that seemed awfully familiar. Taylor, realising he was no longer in the dominant position stood up on his feet and stepped forward and shouted again at the stranger. This time the person stopped. He stopped without any sense of fear, it wasn't a sudden halt, and it was a slouchy halt. Like he didn't want to stop. Taylor began to walk with his gun still raised to the person. As he walked closer the stranger's details became clearer and Taylor lowered his pistol. The stranger was no stranger, he was Jaynis Kobb. Taylor's older brother. Taylor asked him what he was doing but Jaynis said nothing. Taylor asked again, no response. Taylor attempted to swing his pistol at Jaynis but Jaynis ducked under the arm of Taylor and stabbed a knife into Taylor's left knee. Taylor fell down under the force of the knife and clutched his leg. Jaynis crouched down and said to his younger brother.
"For the first time, you'll have to depend upon only yourself to survive. Baron told me to test your survival skills in my own time. No better time than now. Crawl for your life or die on your hands and knees?" Jaynis grabbed a handful of Taylor's hair and stared deep in his brown eyes "I'll find the last recording." There Jaynis left Taylor all alone in the mist while he drove off in his Runner.
As night fell over the Salt Flats, Taylor felt the cold on his body. Being out at night in Pandora wasn't safe for a party of men, it was even worse for a loner. All kinds of bugs were nocturnal and in the Salt Flats the temperature dropped below zero. With Taylor all alone in the cold, weakened, he was easy pickings for all kinds of creatures. Help was out of the question. Just as Jaynis and Baron wanted, well in Taylor's mind it was all down to Jaynis- not Baron Flynt. Taylor was going to have to push himself to the breaking point and not break.