WHITE
Cradling her head in her hands, a young woman in a white and red combat dress groaned into her hands as the automated cargo hauler carried her through the stars. Her shoulder was encased in mechanical white plating, with glowing blue lines pulsing gently. And on her other side was an ornate rapier with a thick base resembling a revolver.
As she brooded, her scroll began to ring. Raising her face from her hands, a hopeful look flitted across porcelain features marred only a thin scar over her eye. Maybe someone had made it out?
WEISS SCHNEE as
THE PENNILESS HEIRESS
Accepting the call, she quickly demanded information. "Klein? Mother? Whitley? Did anyone else escape the atta-"
Unfortunately, the caller that interrupted her was neither friend, nor family. "Heya, kiddo! Your pal, Handsome Jack, here! Don't bother answering back, I got you on mute!"
Weiss could only hold the phone to her ear in abject shock.
"Now, you might be wondering why I just launched an all out assault on the SDC's homeworld, killed millions of your fellow citizens, and basically stole every single thing your family's built for the last two generations. Well, slugger, it all started when your dear old man lied to me."
"Hrrm! Urgk!" Gurgled the voice of another man on the line before sounds of flesh beating flesh silenced him.
"You dad says 'hi.' Or at least I think that was a 'hi.' Hard to tell since I, y'know, cut out his lying tongue. Old fashioned, I know. But I already have a piece severed facial on display hair from my defeated enemies."
Weiss opened and closed her mouth, unable to even comprehend how to respond to that.
"And maybe, just maybe, if your old man hadn't tried to screw me over by raising the Dust prices forty percent higher than what we agreed upon, none of this would have happened. Ah, no use crying over spilt milk. This works out better. The SDC Board of Directors even agree with me! Well, the ones I let live, anyway."
The young heiress dropped her face into her free hand.
"Oh! And I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about your bank balance anymore, because I had the SDC bank transfer all funds to my personal fund to build a diamond horse stable. Still haven't found your mother or your brother in this big ass place, though! But hey, I figure all I have to do to find your mom is look at the bottom of the nearest bottle. As for little Whitley... I figure once we have him I'll just toss him into the poorest orphanage I can find. Y'know, just for giggles."
Weiss frowned at the confusing feelings that stirred in her. Concern? Resentment? Anger? Sadness? ... Relief?
She came to the conclusion that she'd just shove those feelings deep down inside her and not reflect on them.
"Now, I know you got your heart set on going to Atlas, probably banking on the history of good will your two companies had with each other before your daddy got greedy and ruined everything, and maybe fling yourself at your sisters feet and leech off her success. But that's not gonna happen. 'Cause while I've been serenading you with the soothing tone of my voice, a Hyperion assault freighter has been closing in on your ship."
The ship jolted as something much larger clamped on to it. Weiss jumped to her feet, weapon at the ready. The scroll strained as she gripped it tighter, and continued to listen to the monologue.
"Here's the thing, Muffin. Your Daddy, in addition to trying to rip me off, apparently made a little drone with a whole bunch of neat features... that he had some hackers steal from Hyperion data banks. And during the whole liberation of the SDC- we're still calling it a liberation, right?" A small voice in the background of the call answered in the affirmative. "Right. When we 'liberated' your planet, we came across some footage of you here in this house. We saw you grab it. We know you have it, Sweetness."
Weiss's eyes darted to the mechanical pauldron on her shoulder.
"I'm gonna give you a choice, Pumpkin. Hand over the drone and die a quick clean death, or we take the drone and you die messy. Personally, I don't think you have a last stand in you, seeing as how you ran away as soon as your planet's capital city fell from all the orbital bombarding I smacked it with. Looks like all the 'heroism' your Grandpa had must have all went to big sis, huh?"
Weiss's hands clenched into fists.
"Now, I know this is a big decision. But if it makes it easier, just know you're helping the real hero build a better futu- oh, what now?"
Another voice, urgent and fearful, interrupted Jack.
"... The hell do you mean 'the 4N631 satellite is missing?' And please bear in mind that I routinely kill for far, far less."
More fearful murmuring, followed by a vicious snarl from Jack and the sound of a hand canon firing.
"Okay!" Jack inhaled sharply. "I gotta take this. Be seeing your corpse soon, Princess. Say 'hi' to the Loader bots for me. See ya!"
The line cut- not that it did anything to make Weiss feel better. For she could now see large chunks on the hull that were now being cut by high powered lasers.
Her mind began to race. It was very likely that the cargo vessel was already disabled, so there was no escape staying here... so that left using the attackers ship. She sighed as she popped open her sword and began to load several different types of elemental rounds. This was going to be...annoying.
The first of the blocky yellow and white machines descended as the hull gave way. Landing in a crouch, it never stood a chance as Weiss created a green glyph that gushed a stream of foul smelling liquid upon it. The GUN Loader gave a monotone cry as the corrosive acid ate through its armor. As it jerked about, trying to dislodge as much of the gunk as it could, Weiss darted forward and stabbed past its single eye, and deep into its central processor.
As the machine died, Weiss withdrew her blade and hopped backward as three additional GUN Loaders fell from the ceiling.
The Heiress danced backward, triggered her weapon, and a shower of large icicles erupted from the glyph that appeared at the tip of the blade.
The Loaders were rendered nonfunctional as the icy spears impaled their vital mechanisms. "OW." They stated their custom emotionless tone as they perished.
Weiss took this opportunity to use an Aura assisted jump through the hole the machines had breached from. She huffed as she landed over the still hot rim the hole. Two additional GUN Loaders were apparently waiting to drop in as they spotted her. The first actually had time to fire a few rounds into her Aura as she repeated the same maneuver as before, and speared the machine through the eye and into its brain.
Weiss spun out the way as the other robot tried to smoosh her against the bulkhead. She proceeded to counter its attack with a precise cut, and severed the arm with the gun attached. The Loader attempted to retaliate, but she was already on the move and twirled behind it as it came in swinging with its remaining arm.
The green glyph once again appeared as she showered the corporate enforcer drone with acid at point blank.
With no enemies in sight, Weiss took a moment to breathe and berate herself. She had let a basic Loader hit her. Her sister must never find out about this, otherwise she would disown her.
She sighed as she scanned her surroundings. She was in a large cargo bay with six unoccupied recharge docks for Loaders... and eight that were not empty.
Weiss snapped into a combat stance as three EXP Loaders, three HOT Loaders, and two BUL Loaders stirred to life. She hummed to herself in consideration. Now was as good a time to test the drone as any. Lifting the arm with the pauldron attached, she shouted out one of the few command phrases she knew.
"Kalterwind, attacke!"
The pauldron unfolded into a four winged insectoid robot the size a cat, and proceeded to launch itself at the 'face' of the nearest BUL Loader. The robot screamed in simulated agony as Kalterwind's laser stinger sliced the plates apart. After a moment, the machine fell dead to the floor, and the drone scanned for its next target. It selected the other BUL Loader... which decided now was a good time to transform into 'bulldozer' mode and put some distance between them. Kalterwind pursued.
Meanwhile, Weiss did not stand idle.
Summoning the green glyph again, she prioritized taking out the EXP Loaders while moving steadily backward out the the HOT Loaders range. The black and yellow striped Loaders attempted to jog into towards Weiss as their overloaded power cores popped out of their heads and began to hum ominously. Weiss proceeded to make it rain corrosive acid upon all three. She smiled in satisfaction as they detonated quite safely away from her. Unfortunately the HOT Loaders took this opportunity to charge.
She was about to repeat what she had to done to the previous three robots, when the hidden trigger in her blade clicked empty. The corrosive round had been spent. Backing up into a bulkhead, Weiss's eyes widened as she saw their barrels light up with flame.
"Kalterwind! Schild!" She shouted with far less dignity then she would have preferred.
The drone, in the middle of ruthlessly murdering the remaining BUL Loader, launched itself at rapid speed to its owner. Closing the distance between them, it halted directly over her head and began to emit a shimmering blue dome over the both of them. The HOT Loaders flames collided against the shield with no effect.
Weiss took this time to eject the spent round and insert a fresh one. She tsked in annoyance as she found she only had one left. "Should probably conserve this." She whispered to herself.
Kalterwind began to emit a shrill beeping sound to signify that the shield was nearing the end of its sustainable 'up time.' Fortunately, the HOT Loaders flamethrowers stopped so they could go into their automatic cooldown. Unfortunately, that left them their strong, human-squishing Loader arms within crushing radius.
Weiss quickly formulated a plan. Forming a black glyph beneath her feet, she flung herself high into the air over their swinging arms as the shield collapsed. Kalterwind followed suit, and went back to her shoulder in pauldron mode.
Mixing it up a little, she brought forth a blue glyph and froze their legs to the ground. As they attempted to wiggle free, Weiss breathed in deep. This would require precision.
She poked the air three times with her weapon, leaving a red glyph hovering over each point. She narrowed her eyes and flicked her sword. Three fireballs soared out like little comets... directly into the fuel tanks of the HOT Loaders flamethrowers.
Detonating with the dignity of a exploding toilet, the last of the Loaders died.
Sheathing her blade, Weiss sighed in relief. Even for a ship as small as this one was, this was a pleasantly undermanned vessel. Handsome Jack must not have thought much at all of her combat capability, otherwise he would have included something with heavier ordnance than these Loaders had been equipped with!
And right on cue, red lights began to flash over a large door as alarms sounded to alert all who might be in the Loader bay. Weiss cursed her luck as she unsheathed her weapon and watched the huge doors slide apart.
And not a moment too soon, for before her, waiting its storage dock, lay an oversized and overarmed KLL Loader.
It took a Weiss a moment to gather herself as she watched the machine unfold itself into a standing position. She barely came up to the damned thing's knees.
"This is ridiculously unfair." She growled to herself as she ejected the fire Dust and loaded new rounds labeled TORGUE into the blade. "Told myself I'd never stoop low enough to use these-"
Her complaint was interrupted as the KLL Loader opened fire with it's six gun-arms.
"Kalterwind! FLIEGEN!" She cried as she ran desperately out of the line of fire.
The drone transformed and rotated itself onto its mistress's back. Resembling a small backpack, four wings of light erupted from it and sent Weiss into the air.
Now flying, the huntress desperately fired the new rounds. Orange glyphs, resembling a cartoon explosion effect, rained somewhat slower fireballs upon the KLL Loaders right arm joint. Exploding with the force of grenades, they successfully dismembered the arm and caused the three guns to fall to the ground. Almost as if it was angry, the Loader responded by charging the 'head' atop its shoulder with power.
"SCHILD!" Weiss shouted as she summoned a thick ice wall between herself and the Loader.
Landing as the drone detached from her back and converted to shield mode, Weiss began to form a new plan. The ice wall started to crumble as the KLL Loader fired a powerful arc of lighting from its eye.
Taking what little time she had, Weiss focused her Aura into the palm of her hand and formed a tiny white glyph. As it spun, a tiny white knight appeared in her hand. Smirking, Weiss grasped the little fellow and looked to the crumbling wall. "Fliegen!" She ordered.
Once again converting into flightpack mode, Kalterwind sent Weiss high into the air.
Soaring over the KLL Loader, she proceeded to stagger the giant death machine with more TORGUE rounds. The KLL Loader stumbled about as Weiss landed directly unto it's shoulder and shoved the tiny Knight right into the gaping hole where its arm had been. She kicked off back into the air as the Loader could swat her into paste.
Flying clear of its reach, Weiss's expression was decisively smug.
The KLL Loader's frame suddenly rang with the sound of a tiny knight wreaking as much havoc as it could within the inner mechanisms. The great machine fell to its knees as it jerked to and fro.
Not wasting the chance, Weiss shouted; "Kalterwind! ATTACKE!"
The drone once again detached from her and flew directly into the KLL Loader's face and... did gruesomely unholy things to it.
Weiss landed before the robot, ran into a somersault, kicked off the remaining gun arm, and landed on the Loaders back. (As well as valiantly ignoring the tearing of metal and circuitry her drone was causing. Robot on robot violence should not look like something out of a slasher movie.) She held a hand over what she hoped was the right spot, and willed the knight to create an opening. Sure enough, the little guy obliged and punctured a small hole with his sword. The Huntress quickly dismissed him back within her soulspace.
Using her Aura to enhance her strength as much as it could, Weiss drove her blade deep within the small opening and severed the cords connecting the KLL Loaders power core. The machine slumped to the ground in defeat.
Weiss sighed explosively. This had gone on long enough. She hopped off the Loader and walked to a doorway that had been to the side of the KLL Loader's dock and marched through it as it swung open automatically. Kalterwind, sensing the fun was over, returned to her shoulder.
Going forwards a ways, she followed the instructions painted on the wall to the front of the ship. Soon enough she found her destination as the doors gave way.
Two pilots in Hyperion uniforms awaited in the cockpit. "STOP IN THE NAME OF JACK!" One shouted in panic.
Weiss responded by deploying icy spears into their bodies. She calmly walked past their dying bodies and to the controls. Surely Hyperion didn't make anything too complicated for its lackluster employees to opera-
Her slowly improving mood came crashing down as the monitors above the controls declared:
CONTROLS LOCKED
DESTINATION: HELIOS ONE
She screamed in frustration and pounded her slender fists upon the screen. She spun away in a snarl.
"Okay, universe!" Weiss shouted. "Here's my birthday wish! Just once for today- just for once- LET SOMETHING GO RIGHT, DAMMIT!"
A soft ding alerted her back to the monitors. What she saw turned her anger to confusion.
SYSTEM ALERT
4N631 AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED
CHANGING COURSE TO... PANDORA [Purple Level Threat Encounter Equipment recommended]
Message!
TO: Weiss Schnee
FROM: Angel
You're lucky my feelers in Jack's network detected your situation.
I can help you, but I need your help in return. I'm putting together a team to find Pandora's Vault. Maybe whatever is inside can help you get back on top, maybe not. Either way, Pandora's as good a place as any for you to disappear with Handsome Jack out there.
But if you want the CHANCE to change your life for the better... come meet me at Grandma's House: The Bed and Breakfast.
I'll be diverting your ship's path to a new friend of mine. She can take you there.
We can hash out terms when you arrive.
-Your (hopefully) new friend, Angel.
[END MESSAGE]
"... Fine." Weiss mumbled as she slumped down into the pilot's chair and watched as the stars flew past. "I'm not even going to question this. I give up."
She wasn't sure that going to Pandora was anyone's idea of a good decision, but maybe once she was there she could finally hit rock bottom. Then she could climb her way back to a better life.
Right?
After landing the ship in one of the many deserts of Pandora, Weiss walked away from the vessel and made her way towards a billboard laying beside a cracked road. The heat was already beyond what she could reasonably tolerate, but she would endure because she was a Schnee, dammit. And Schnee's did not give in to hellish temperatures over seventy degrees! (No matter how badly they wanted to.)
She walked past the dilapidated billboard and looking for this 'friend' she was supposed to rendezvous with. Unfortunately, she hadn't been paying attention beyond the rush of the desert wind, and she hadn't been looking in the right direction.
Otherwise, she would have heard the engine of an oncoming car.
Otherwise, she would have noticed an obnoxiously red Runner breaking hard before her.
Otherwise, Ruby Rose would not have 'somewhat' run over her future best friend.
Weiss crashed to the ground as the Runner stopped. She could only distantly recognize the distinctive blue tattoo's of the driver as she jumped out of the car.
"Oh, my gosh! Are you alright?!" The Siren yelped in panic as yanked off her cloak, bundled it into a make-shift cushion, and gently placed it underneath Weiss's head. "I'm so, so sorry! I didn't see you! You just came right out from behind that sign as I was coming in and- sorry!"
Weiss opened and closed her mouth a few times before her dazed mind settled on an answer. "Today's my birthday..."
The young woman kneeling before her was silent for a moment, then quickly jogged back into the runner and pulled something out of a duffel bag. Making her way hastily back to Weiss's prone form, she offered the heiress a clear plastic container containing a slice of strawberry cake with vanilla frosting. "Happy birthday! It's a couple days old and it got bounced around in its box, but it's still good! I promise! My name's Ruby, by the way..."
It was everything Weiss could do not to break down and cry right then and there.
A/N: Not as action heavy as the last one, I know, but I kind of wanted to focus more on Weiss' backstory for this one... And I wanted to write Jack lines.
NAME: WEISS SCHNEE
CLASS: High
WEAPON: Myrtenaster
AGE: 19
HEIGHT: Slightly more than laughable
WEIGHT: Highly pushable
SEMBLANCE: Summoning
EQUIPMENT: Cutting edge support drone with flight, shielding, and offensive capabilities
WANTED: DEAD
CRIME: Defying a duly appointed Hyperion Death Squad
BOUNTY: $50 and a high five from a Handsome Jack doppelganger
NEXT TRAILER/CHAPTER: Savage Land Blake?