Walk With Me, Talk With Me
"That was AWESOME!"
Gaige and Krieg turned to the source of the joyous cry, and saw a small orange box with a shovel in its mechanical hand.
"That was absolutely amazing!" the orange box said. It pointed its hand at Gaige, "The way you summoned and sicced that robot on those Bullymongs, GLORYIOUS! And it fills me with pride knowing that my kind can be created to do such feats." The wheeled robot then pointed a hand at Krieg, "and you, sir, were stunning with the way you 'RIP AND TEAR'ed all those before you."
The duo were rather stunned by the sudden and unexpected arrive of the talking orange box, but Gaige recovered as she recognized the waist-high robot.
"Is that a CL4P-TP robot?" she asked to no one.
The robot turn to her, "Y-you know of me?" it said very surprised that somebody recognized it.
"Well yeah, I read all about your model in Beyond Wired years ago. General propose robot with strong alloy plating, sophisticated gyroscope tech, and advance computer system." Gaige said. The box looked rather proud of itself. Gaige continued, "After some research, I learned that the model was hindered by a crappy anti-virus software, ease of modding, and rather shoddy A.I. program."
"Soddy?" the robot said sounded very offended.
"I thought your model was scrapped." Gaige asked the orange box.
"Oh it is. Handsome Jack discontinued my line, probably because of the Robot Revolution-"
"What?"
"And the fact that we could by-"
"THIS IS BORING!" Krieg cried out it, starting Gaige who forgot about him for the moment.
"The big guy is right! After all, I finally have some strong minions to avenge my product line, and protect me from all sorts of harm!" The little robot said very happily.
"Wait, What? Who said anything about me being your minion?!" Gaige said, unhappy about the turn of the events.
"HOORAY! I GET TO HAVE VALVES FOR EPISODE 9!" Krieg called, waving his axe over his head.
'You make less sense every day,' his inner voice said. Gaige just ignored the Psycho and stared down the orange box.
"Listen here you CL4-"
"Please, my friends and minions call me Claptrap. Well, they would, if the former existed, and the latter now consist of the two of you." The robot, Claptrap, rambled.
"Whatever! Look, I'm not going to be anybody's, especially your min-" Gaige started before she was interrupted yet again.
"Hold that thought Minion #1," Gaige groaned in frustration at the bot, "Let me get something." With that, Claptrap left into the distance, leaving Gaige with the madman who was screaming about head lice and concubines. It was then Gaige realized something.
'Goddamn it, it's cold!' She thought the obvious. 'It is amazing that I didn't notice. Then again, I didn't expect to find a rare machine and then be declared his slave.' She fumed to herself, while she put her hood up and rubbed her arms to cause some friction, forgeting about her very cold metal arm. Her outfit also did not help in the situation. 'I just had to go with a skirt.'
Gaige turned to the rambling Psycho, who was very unbothered by the cold.
"Hey big guy!" she called out stopping the madman's rambling now about ghouls and team castles, and turned to the thin girl. "Thanks for saving me from those… what were they called? Bullymongs? Whatever, just thanks." She said, her father did teach her manners after all.
"YOU ARE MOST SALUTATION!" Krieg yelled. 'Communications is going to be ungodly difficult.' His inner voice mentally sighed.
"Right…" Gaige sighed, unsure if she is ever going to understand this guy. "Do you have a name?" she asked, curious of her unhinged companion.
The maniac's inner voice spoke first. 'Ok, this we can answer. We still have our nam-' "KRIEG!" 'Just couldn't wait, could you?'
"I hope that really is your name, and not the first thing that popped into your head." She said giving him a flat look with her goggled eyes.
"So I don't know if you can answer this, but why did you save me? I read that Psychos were bloodthirsty, rampaging… well, psychos."
"I PROTECT WHITE UNICORNS FROM NOSELESS BLACK WIZARDS THAT WISH HARM, ESPECIALLY THE YELLOW ONES!" Krieg yelled to the high heavens, arms and weapon raised.
"Uhhh…" was all that Gaige could reply to the proclamation.
"Minions! Your master has returned to you!" Claptrap called holding, not a shovel, but something in both its hand things.
"Awesome." The teen mumbled.
"It should be considering that I bear gifts." The robot said, apparently hearing Gaige, and held a device to her.
"An Echo Device? Wow, thanks Claptrap, now I could fix-up Deathtrap." The Mechromancer told the small robot.
"No problem Minion #1, and one for you too Minion #2." Claptrap said as he handed Krieg, snickering at his own pun.
'Ok, this the fourth one we managed to get, let's try not breaking this one.' Krieg's voice of reason told him.
"I'm glad you two like my gift to you, as I totally didn't loot these from some dead adventurers!" Claptrap said, evidently proud of himself, judging from his tone.
"Right." Gaige simply said, reminding herself to sanitize and fix any problems that she can find in the device later. Soon enough, the Echo device ecoded the biological signature, erasing any previous data of the previous owner, and displaying all sorts of information within the eyes of its new owner. A simple 'Ding!' signaled its completion.
'Awesome, glad to some connection to technology.' Gaige happily thought to herself.
"SO MANY NUMBERS! DAMN YOU GATES!" Krieg curse the sky, after his device finished its connection. Gaige ignored him, believing that they will part ways in the future, then she wouldn't deal with this for much longer.
"Now my minions, let's go to my abode, and out of this snowstorm."
'Finally.' She thought as she stepped forward to getting out of the cold. A bolt of pain shots from her leg as she remembers, once again, the condition of her leg. 'Goddamn, I'm oblivious today.'
The redhead looks to her larger companion and gets an odd and rather embarrassing idea.
"Hey Krieg," The large psycho turned to the teen, "my leg was messed up from the train crash, and I really don't think I can walk. Can you help-" the mechromacer said as she was suddenly hoisted up and slung on Krieg's shoulder. "Hey hey hey! I'm not a sack of potatoes you know!" Gaige complained, but the manic just ignored her. After some walking through the snow filled wind, Gaige quiets down, and grumbles to herself.
Suddenly a woman with long black hair, pale skin, and piercing blue eyes appear on the duo's Heads Up Display.
"What the hell? Does this thing have a virus?" Gaige said, tapping her Echo device.
"I know this is weird, but you want to follow that funny little robot." The unknown caller said with a digitized voice.
"Um…" Gaige started, realizing that thing was talking to her, "Hi, may I ask whose calling?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry. I don't really have a name, but I am an A.I. and I'm asking you to trust me in, Gaige."
"Yeah, and I'm sorry if I have trouble believing a random voice that hacked into my now personal possession, and I read articles about independent A.I. and how fickle they are." Gaige said, unwilling to give her trust so easily.
"I really mean you no harm, I just want to-" the supposed A.I. said before she was interrupted.
"STOP FADING IN AND OUT GHOST! IT'S MAKING ME GREEN!" Krieg cried out.
"I'm sorry Krieg, but I can't help it." The A.I. apologized.
"Also how is it that you know our names?" Gaige asked.
"It's not that hard considering the recent events that you two were involved in. I am a subscriber of your webcast Gaige."
"Oh… well, thanks I guess." Gaige said, remembering the events of two weeks, "So what do you want?"
"I want to help you open the Vault. The fact that you were able to survive one of Handsome Jack traps makes you more than qualified to be a Vault Hunter."
"Uh…" Gaige stuttered, not really having the heart to tell that she was just a stowaway, that survived by accident, "Is-isn't there anybody more qualified for this?" she asked hesitantly.
"There were four others, but they didn't survive the explosion." The mysterious voice said.
"WHAT?!" Krieg yelled out, 'Calm down, we don't know if she's lying to us.' the reasonable side of him said, also not believing the voice.
"Don't worry, just kept following the little robot and everything will be fine." The ghostly A.I. said before disappearing.
"Well she was… something." Gaige said after a moment of silence, "Hey Krieg, what was with the sudden outburst? Did you know somebody on the train?" Gaige probed. Krieg, oddly, simply just grumbled to himself, yelling out nonsense at some points. None of it made any sense to the teenaged girl.
Little after the hacked call from the mysterious A.I., Claptrap only concerning itself with finding his hidden sanctuary that it missed the entire conversation, the mechromancer and the psycho soon hear a beeping coming from both their Echo Devices. However before the two could do anything, the caller forced their way onto their HUD.
"Here the thing, you both were suppo-"
"Handsome Jack?! Handsome Jack, one of the richest and most powerful people in the seven galaxies is calling us?!" Gaige sputtered in disbelief, recognizing that voice anywhere from all those promotions, commercials, and interviews.
"Thank you for the introduction girlie." Jack said dryly. Gaige then notice that the lumbering slab of meat and muscle stopped in his tracks, the maniac's free arm shaking.
"So, as I saying before the fangirl interrupted me. Vault Hunters get on the train, some stuff happens on the train, and you die." Jack said, continuing what he wanted to say.
"You were trying to kill us? Why? You advertise all the time that you need Vault Hunters to help you find the Vault." Gaige questioned the incredibly wealth man.
"Don't ask how I run things girlie. I want to lure in Vault Hunters to kill them, what's wrong with that?" Jack asked.
"Well you could have actually had the Vault Hunters try to find the Vault and then betray once they actually do." Gaige simply suggested.
"… Huh. I may try that after I dealt with you two. Talk to you later, try to kill you then. Ciao." Jack then signed off the comm.
Krieg stood there, still as a statue only his hand shaking. 'We'll get him, we'll rip him to pieces slowly, have him begging for us to stop or to end it. Jack's blood will be on our hands.' His inner voice thought, Krieg listening as he his burning sensation started to intensify.
"Uh Krieg? We're falling behind big guy." Gaige said, want to get going, fix up her leg, and walk again. She doesn't want to be carried this bruiser, when he gets angry.
Soon after a long walk, the odd group of three came to a door within the ice wall.
"So I heard you fleshlings flapping the holes on your faces. What were you talking about?" Claptrap said as he typed in a button code on the door.
Krieg put down the girl, though she hung on to the psycho in order to not hop on one leg.
"Just some…" Gaige started, unsure how to put it, "Interesting stuff." She understated.
Author's Note:
You know what neat about fanfiction? I can write some responses.
