Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Borderlands.
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Blood and Bullets
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Chapter Seven
It was another day of traveling across the desert before they stopped for camp one last time. After that, they focused all of their attention on the job at hand. However, they hadn't been given anything specific to look for apart from a general area to search. Roughly two standard days in and they had yet to find anything, but that could partly be blamed on the fact it was still technically 'night time' for Pandora, though they were still thankful that it wasn't 'day time' where it would have made it unbearably hot out. Having made camp at the top of a tall rocky formation with a clear view of almost the entire surrounding area for miles, Maya was currently on watch, using a monocular Naruto had given her, while said blonde was currently doing some basic maintenance on an old-looking shotgun of some kind.
"I've never seen a shotgun quite like that before." She spoke up curiously, hoping that the conversation might help alleviate her boredom for the time being. Already knowing what she was going to ask, Naruto smirked while finishing up and putting the weapon back together. "What kind is it?"
"It's a Jakobs brand Striker semi-automatic combat shotgun with a twelve-shot rotary drum. They only made a handful of them in the past and for only a short while." Naruto started explaining before grabbing a speed-loader specifically designed for the Striker shotgun and used it to drop all twelve shells into the rotary drum in a single motion, snapping the rifle back together and pressing the stock into his shoulder while staring down the sights for a quick check. "To this day, the Striker is still one of the most powerful and one of the most accurate shotguns on Pandora. Unlike a lot of people on this ball of dust, I don't care for any of the newer guns out there. Before Jack came and capatilized on the appearance of Eridium, all of the weapons manufacturers made some really good guns, but now...They've all taken a nose-dive in quality just because Hyperion decided to make their guns look prettier and shinier than anyone elses."
"Wow...I didn't know you were such a devoted collector of old guns." Maya giggled out in a playfully taunting way, but the slight glare Naruto threw at her out of the corner of his eye told her that he didn't find her teasing as amusing as she thought it was. Calming down and glancing away slightly, Maya lost her grin. "Sorry..."
"...Just so you know, I don't collect old guns just to let them rust in a display case." Naruto spoke up after a moment of silence as he stood up, cradling his new Striker in his hands while walking over to where she was. "I collect them so that I can fix them up and restore them. A gun is made to be used, not to be put on display. That was just how I was taught when I was learning how to use a gun..."
"If you don't mind me asking...Who was it that taught you?" Maya asked a little hesitantly, the question making Naruto sigh quietly before he knelt down beside him, keeping his gaze on the horizon. He was quiet for a moment as he retrieved a cigarette and lit it up, taking a long drag before finally answering her, smoking it as he talked.
"My father...He taught me everything he knew about guns and then some." Naruto answered quietly. "For as long as I could remember, he had always favored Jakobs brand guns. Most of them weren't anything special or noteworthy, but he did have one that he valued above the others. Much like the Striker I now hold, that particular gun is still one of the most powerful and accurate of its class...The Jakobs Unforgiven six-shot revolver."
"Whoa..." Maya muttered, watching as Naruto retrieved that very same pistol from his storage device while setting his shotgun down beside him. Glancing up at Naruto's face, she was saddened to see such a pained look on him as he stared at the pistol in his hands, undoubtedly recalling memories of his father.
"It's been a long time since I last held this..." Naruto commented idly while thumbing the release switch and jerking the revolver to the side with an experienced flick of his wrist, the cylinder popping out to the side. Just like when he had last held it, the cylinder held the same six used casings that had been in it since the night he had lost his entire family. He would never forget the sight of his father putting down an Alpha skag with a single shot back when he was still a kid, back when he was first learning how to use a gun. That had been the day that he had gained a new-found respect for guns, especially the ones that were now considered 'obsolete' when compared against the newer models...
"..." Maya stayed quiet as she put her hand on his, giving him a small, sad smile when he glanced at her.
"You know..." Naruto began quietly as he looked back to the rather large and heavy revolver held in his right hand. "I've fired every single gun I own at least once...except this one. For some reason, I just can't bring myself to use it. It was because of this gun that my father gained his reputation as the 'Widowmaker'...and it was that reputation it had brought him that got him killed in the end."
"What...What do you mean, Naruto?" Maya asked a little nervously while gently touching his shoulder. It was the first time Naruto had mentioned anything meaningful about his family and how they died apart from some rather vague and undefinitive details. However, she knew that name, the Widowmaker. A lot of people did. What no one knew was what his real name was or even what he actually looked like because whenever the Widowmaker showed himself, all anyone ever saw was the pistol in his hand.
"Everyone in my family had made a name for themselves in the region we had been living in since my parents arrived here on Pandora." Naruto started explaining while pushing the cylinder back into place and putting the Unforgiven back into his storage device. "My father was the Widowmaker, a name that was known all across Pandora. My mother, while not as famous as my father, was well-known as the Black Rose. Even my little sister had made a name for herself in our town as the Red Lotus for something our parents hadn't exactly been proud of...Then there was Sarah. In certain circles back then, she was known simply as the Banshee. Even I had a name of my own. Back then, it had been the Assassin, but after that dreadful night...it became the Ghost of Pandora."
"Naruto..." She whispered softly and sympathetically, but before she could try to console him, Naruto narrowed his eyes while looking out at the horizon. Without looking away from it, he took the monocular from her before holding it up to his face, peering through it. A moment later, he gained a serious look on his face. "What is it? What do you see?"
"Bad news. Look for yourself." He replied quietly and coldly as he put his cigarette out, passing the monocular back to her while pointing in the direction he had been looking in. Doing as instructed, it took her a few seconds to find it, but when she saw it, she became concerned, yet confused. Almost three miles to the south of their position and heading in their general direction was a convoy of three Praetorian APCs, even though she didn't know what they were. "Praetorians. They're the mainstay of the Mobile Armor division of a militaristic organization calling themselves the Guardsmen."
"...That call you got back in the cave a while back...Are they who you were talking about? These 'Guardsmen'?" Maya questioned. Grimacing slightly, Naruto gave a brief nod while standing up, putting the monocular away.
"Come on. We need to get moving." Naruto ordered before he started heading back down to the Titan parked at the base of the earthen obstruction they were on. As curious and confused as she was, Maya didn't argue and followed after him. As they climbed into the massive heavily armored truck, Naruto tossed his sheathed swords in the back and pressed a button on the steering wheel that caused the middle of the dashboard to flip over and fold out, revealing a one square foot touch-screen console that sat at an angle so that it faced towards Naruto with a tray of buttons and switches at its base. Reaching over and pressing one of the buttons on the tray, the section of dashboard in front of Maya opened up before another screen of the same size was revealed with another tray at its base that sported a joy-stick with a trigger and a couple other buttons mounted to it. "Buckle up."
"Naruto? What the hell is all of this?" Maya questioned with unsettled confusion, though she did make sure to hastily strap herself down with the harness-type seat belts built into the bench-seat. Scooter had said nothing about there being crazy gadgets and gizmos built into the dashboard.
"You remember asking me why my old truck had a manual transmission back when we first teamed up? Well, that's because I like to be in full control of my truck and everything in it." Naruto answered without looking up at her as he tapped at the screen a couple times and hit a couple of the buttons. A moment later, the screen in front of Maya flicked on, revealing what seemed to be a live-feed from a camera mounted to the turret with a targeting reticule centered on the screen. "As for this? Let's just say Scooter took that to heart and then took the meaning of 'control' to a whole new level with this truck. It's also because of this that the damn instruction manual was so damn huge."
"Uh...Aren't you forgetting something here?" Maya growled out at him with a slight glare, getting him to look up at her. "I haven't read the damn thing! I have absolutely no idea how to operate any of this, Naruto!"
"Ugh..." Naruto sighed heavily out of frustration as he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. They were running short on time. According to the satellite-linked live-feed radar displayed on his screen at the moment, the Praetorians were closing in fast and would reach their position in less than five minutes. "I'll teach you all of that later, but for now, you're just going to have to settle for a crash-course on the basics. You see the stick in front of you? That controls which direction the turret is pointing. You see the cross-hairs on the screen? Line those up with whatever you're shooting at, which will be the Praetorians we're about to ambush, and then pull the trigger on the stick to fire. Don't worry about the other buttons for now. Questions?"
"Yeah, just one..." Maya hissed quietly before glaring at him with confused anger. "Are you insane?! Just one of those things look like they could crush your old truck like an empty beer can! What makes you think we can take on three of them at the same time?!"
"Hmph..." Naruto snorted and her a confident smirk before pulling his face mask up over his mouth and nose, situating his goggles over his eyes. "This isn't my old truck, now is it?"
"You really are insane..." Maya whispered in shock, unable to believe what she was hearing. Naruto only laughed at her as a sadistic grin formed on his face under his mask, the engine roaring to life as he twisted the key that was set in the ignition. They sat idle for a few more seconds before Naruto put the truck into first gear and floored the accelerator, the Titan's four tires lurching into motion simultaneous. Circling around the mass of rock and stone as the Praetorians passed by on the opposite side, Naruto tapped a button on the tray beside the steering wheel, causing the heavy machine guns mounted to the hood of his truck to chamber the first of many rounds to be fired that night, only to press another button that caused the numerous missile tubes mounted on the sides of the Titan in the back to rotate out.
"What Scooter didn't know was that that 'weird vehicle' he found was actually a Praetorian, probably one that had been attacked and over-run by bandits." Naruto started explaining as they came around the other side behind the convoy. "Unlike my old truck, the Titan isn't so easily beaten!"
Just as he had said that, Naruto had shifted into sixth gear and floored the gas pedal once more, causing the armored behemoth to race forward, slamming into the back of the rear-most Praetorian that caused the back of the APC to lift up off the ground and get hung up on the top edge of the plow mounted to the front of Naruto's vehicle. Just like his old truck, the steering wheel bore a pair of buttons within range of his thumbs that acted as the triggers for the Titan's hood-mounted guns. Thumbing open the black plates that made them blend in with the steering wheel, Naruto pressed down on them, causing the four barrels to expel one armor-piercing round after another into the weaker armor plating of the Praetorian's underbelly, ripping straight through it in seconds.
"One down!" Naruto exclaimed with some excitement as he slammed on the brakes, causing the immobilized Praetorian to dislodge itself from the Titan and slide through the sand for a few meters. Speeding back up while steering around it, Naruto hit a button on the console beside him that caused the armored slates running across the windshield and windows to fold down while a tactical holographic display appeared in its place to keep him from driving blind. "Shoot, damn it!"
"Okay, okay, okay! No need to get pissy!" Maya snapped back angrily and hastily out of nervousness as she gripped the joy-stick with both hands and aimed the turret at the disabled Praetorian as they passed by it. As she squeezed the trigger just as Naruto opened fire on the APC ahead of them with his hood-mounted guns, the noise of the quad-barreled cannons easily drowned out the heavy machine guns in front with booming explosions of sound that made the entire armored truck vibrate from both the volume and the recoil. In just two seconds, the first Praetorian was ripped to shreds by the massive bullets, causing it to explode as its ammo boxes ruptured and set off the explosives packed into the transport.
Maya snapped back into focus as Naruto suddenly swerved to the right to avoid being hit with return-fire from the Praetorian ahead of them. Reacting instantly, she aimed the turret at the second of the three APCs and squeezed the trigger, the recoil of the cannons firing causing her body to shake from the sheer intensity of the vibrations. As she traded shots with the second Praetorian, Naruto was busy getting a lock on the lead vehicle with the targeting system linked with the rocket launchers. Locking on after a few seconds just as the turret on top of the second Praetorian was chewed up by the turret under Maya's control, Naruto tapped a selection on the screen that caused the four dozen tubes to belch out a volley of rockets that raced out and over to the last Guardsmen vehicle, a second salvo quickly following them as they reloaded.
"Hell yeah!" Naruto cheered a moment later as both the second and third Praetorians were destroyed simultaneously from Maya finishing off the second APC and the second round of rockets ripping through the weakened armor of the third APC. Slowing down and turning around to make a pass by the wrecked vehicles just to make sure there weren't any survivors, Naruto glanced over at Maya and chuckled at the look of shell-shocked relief on her face while pulling his mask and goggles back down around his neck.
"Hey! It's not funny, Naruto!" Maya spat as she punched him in the arm. She then proceeded to punch him in the arm repeatedly in order to better express her frustration and anger with him, punctuating each word with a fist. "They almost killed us, you asshole! And it would have been all your fault! You stupid asshole!"
"Damn it! Quit hitting me!" Naruto yelled back while trying to fend her off with his one available arm, reaching over and pushing another button with his left hand to deactivate the manual combat systems, causing everything to sink back into the dashboard while the armored slats opened back up. Wanting to take advantage of the extra room to kick Naruto's ass, Maya started fumbling with the release latch on her harness, but Naruto beat her to it by moving across the cab after stopping the truck and pinning her hands down before she could start wailing on him again, capturing her lips in a kiss that silenced her attempted curses and slowly made her relax. Melting into the kiss as she started to return it, Maya let her eyes close. When he pulled away a few seconds later, though, she whined in complaint, having wanted him to keep going. "You going to keep your hands to yourself from now on or am I gonna have to strap you down in the back with Spaz and Taz?"
"I-I'll behave, I promise. Just...come back over here. Please?" Maya whined and pleaded as she stared at him, even going so far as stick her bottom lip out a little, hoping it would be enough for her to get the attention she was currently wanting from him. Rolling his eyes, Naruto leaned back down and kissed her forehead before situating himself back in front of the steering wheel, the Titan rumbling forward once more. "Oh, come on...I said 'please'!"
"Just wait a little longer, okay? I want to put at least some distance between me and these totaled Praetorians before more Guardsmen come snooping around to find out what happened." Naruto explained, causing Maya to take page out of his own 'guide book' and start pouting childishly, something he had never seen her do before. Granted, he had only known her for a brief amount of time so far. Arms crossed over her chest and glaring out the window beside her with her bottom lip sticking out, Maya sat like that for only a few moments before she felt a hand grab the back of her neck near the base, quickly melting at his touch as Naruto massaged her neck a little.
"Oooh..." She moaned quietly out of contentment, barely managing to unlatch the harness holding her in place before scooting a little closer to Naruto so that he didn't have to reach so far. Shaking his head at her reaction with an amused grin, finding Maya to be quite adorable when she pouted like that, Naruto kept driving until he had put a safe enough distance between him and the wrecked Praetorians. Pulling into the first cave he saw that was big enough for the Titan to fit in, Naruto hadn't even turned the truck off yet when Maya planted herself in his lap, stradling him and pressing against him as she kissed him hungrily.
Barely able to concentrate on anything other than the blue haired distraction in his lap, it took Naruto a minute before he managed to find the keys and turn them to shut the truck off, all while returning the kiss as Maya started grinding against him. As Naruto started to blindly fumble with one hand as he tried to find the release lever under his seat, Maya was already working on undoing his pants while still ravaging his mouth, temporarily forcing her blonde haired lover into submission. When the seat suddenly fell back from the lever being pulled, Maya couldn't help it and let out a brief, startled cry, only to start laughing as Naruto rolled over on top of her, pinning her under him...
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"Naruto? Where the hell are we?" Maya inquired as they walked through a small town called Iron Sands out near the far eastern edge of the Dead Sands that was only a two hour drive from where they had encountered the Praetorians, Naruto's Titan having been parked in a public garage just within the gates of the town. "And what are we doing here, anyways?"
"This, Maya, is my home town." Naruto answered while adjusting the black duffel bag slung across his back, his response shocking the Siren to the core. Before she could say anything even remotely positive, Maya spotted the sad smile on his face and the pain in his eyes. "And we're here to collect the payment for the job."
"Oh..." Was all Maya could say, suddenly feeling out of place and caught off guard by the sudden shift in Naruto's mood. Thus, she decided to focus on the town itself, which didn't look that bad. The buildings looked a little old and weathered, but still rather sturdy and well-built, the 'architecture' of each structure reminding her a little of the town Fyrestone, having been shown pictures of it that Lilith had taken not long after opening the Vault and defeating the Guardian, only the town was closer to being about half the size of Sanctuary. There were only a handful of people milling about at the moment, but she noticed how each one of them recognized Naruto almost instantly despite him having his head completely covered. Then again, it could be because of his attire or that he visited regularly or something else entirely...
"Come on. This way." Naruto directed quietly before heading down another lane of sand-smothered ground that passed as a street in the town. It wasn't long before they reached a bar that didn't look very much different than the Slug-Spitter back in Sanctuary, only a little more...old-looking, having a bit of a 'western' feel to it. It probably helped that it was called the Six-Shot with a pair of long-barreled revolver pistols crossed behind the name on the sign. It was when they walked through the front door that Maya suddenly felt as if she had just walked into the heart of a skag's den. Sitting behind the counter just past the front door and to the side was a rather large man that looked as if he could pass as Brick's little brother.
"Do you have a membership card?" The man asked quietly, which sounded a little odd with his deep voice. Having expected him to pull out an actual card or something, Maya was simply stumped when Naruto retrieved his Unforgiven pistol from his storage device and calmly set it down on the counter. Recognizing the revolver and glancing up at Naruto, the man seemed to fully recognize him in that instant and reached under the counter top, pressing a hidden button that caused a previously hidden door beside the counter to open up, which led to a set of stairs heading down towards a cellar or a basement-like room built under the bar.
Wordlessly nodding to the man as he put the pistol away, Naruto motioned for Maya to follow him before heading down the stairs, the door closing behind them as a few lights flickered on along the ceiling. As they reached the bottom, Maya guessed that the room was almost a full three hundred feet under ground and as she looked around the chamber they had entered, she understood why. Having half expected a smoky room with a group of people playing poker or something, Maya was shocked to discover that it was actually a rather large and open garage of sorts. She could only estimate that the garage was nearly three hundred meters in length and another two hundred in width, the ceiling being almost two hundred feet above them with thick steel I-beam rafters crisscrossing the entire expanse of ceiling with three rows of ten cement-encased steel support columns running the length of the garage. Along either side of the garage near the far end, which terminated in the form of a long tunnel that undoubtedly led back to the surface, were dozens of what looked like Outrunners that had been stripped down and modified to look like dune buggies with mounted weapons she had never seen before and painted in a desert camouflage scheme. Near their end of the massive garage, though, were modified versions of Technicals that had almost as much armor plating as Naruto's old truck and similar weapon systems, only they were painted in a desert camouflage color scheme just like the modified Outrunners. Spanning the entire length of the side walls were roughly two dozen wide-set garage doors. Scattered all across the garage were people working on various vehicles. Some were welding pieces of metal together, some working on the engines, and others maintaining their respective weapons.
"Naruto? What...What is all of this?" She asked quietly and cautiously. Now she knew why she had been feeling so cagey when they entered the Six-Shot bar. Naruto kept a blank face as he led Maya to a door on the other side of the garage, ignoring the people dressed in desert camouflage colored cover-alls as they crossed the raised platform that spanned the rear of the garage. It wasn't until they passed through the door and started heading down a metal walled corridor that Naruto answered her question. The first three words he said shocked the Siren to the core and honestly scared her a little.
"War is coming, Maya. We've known about it for years, long before the first Vault had been opened here on Pandora. The Guardsmen have been around for years, ever since the first discovery of Eridian technology. We don't know what they're planning, but it's nothing good and Pandora is involved somehow. Thus, the Storm Raiders were created to defend against them, but neither side has made a substantial move. Until now." Naruto explained calmly, ignoring the look of shock on Maya's face as they kept walking. "There's something about Pandora that has had the Guardsmen's attention since the beginning, but we haven't been able to find out what it is. We can only suspect that it has something to do with a specific Vault hidden here on Pandora; one that contains something worse than the Warrior and the Guardian put together."
"Wait...Storm Raiders? Another Vault? But the Key never gave any hints toward a third Vault on Pandora." Maya questioned while stepping in front of Naruto, forcing him to stop. "Just what is going on, Naruto?"
"Like I said; War and it's standing on our doorstep. The Guardsmen must have found what they've been searching for because they're here now. The Storm Raiders have been here since Pandora was first colonized and we've been preparing for this day ever since." Naruto answered before rubbing the back of his neck. "This is what I meant back when we were headed to Liar's Burg. About it being your last chance to bail and that there was no turning back after that point. This is it, Maya. I know I haven't explained everything to you yet, but I need an answer right now; are you with me on this or will you bail out?"
"I...Naruto, I...We..." The Siren stammered, unable to wrap her head around everything she had just been told. "You're asking me to go to war, Naruto! And I don't even know what the hell is going on! How am I supposed to know that you're even the 'good guys' in this fight?!"
"Because we're all that stands between the Guardsmen and total anarchy on a galactic scale." Someone else answered as they entered the room, her voice bearing a thick Russian accent. "My name is Natalia Krevchenko, leader of the Storm Raiders."
29 years old, Natalia Krevchenko stood at 5'4" with waist-length black hair pulled back in a high pony-tail with her chin-length bangs left free to frame her face, bright green eyes, and light cream colored skin while black tribal tattoos covered her entire right shoulder, her right bicep, along the bottom of her neck on the right side, and the right side of her chest. Like she always was, Natalia was dressed in a grey midriff-bearing tank top that conformed to her C-cup breasts, a pair of baggy black pants held up by a black leather belt to keep them from falling with several large pockets on the thighs while the leggings were tucked into her polished black knee-high combat boots, a black knee-length trench coat over everything with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows, black fingerless leather gloves on her hands, a storage device attached to her belt behind either hip, and a pair of Vladov TMPs set behind her lower back between them that were almost identical to Naruto's own.
"Welcome back, Naruto. I was expecting you back sooner." Natalia addressed the blonde calmly. "What happened?"
"I ran into some trouble with bandits out in the Tundra Express. My truck was totaled and the wreck left me injured." Naruto answered, getting a sigh from Natalia. "Thankfully, Reina found us. I managed to get my hands on a new truck after getting back to Sanctuary thanks to Scooter."
"I thought I recognized his work...I don't know what we would do if we lost you." Natalia said quietly in out-spoken thought before stating at a normal volume. She then looked to Maya. "And who might you be?"
"Natalia, this is Maya. My partner." Naruto answered, causing Natalia's eyes to widen slightly in surprise. He then addressed Maya again, who was rather confused and feeling left out. "My parents had been members of the Storm Raiders. They taught me and my sister everything they could. We joined as well once we were old enough. After they died, all I had left were the Storm Raiders...They've become something akin a second family to me."
"Speaking of your sister...Naruto, there's something you need to hear." Natalia remarked seriously, yet softly. Casting a split-second glance at Maya in questioning, Natalia continued after recieving a brief nod from Naruto. "I don't really know how to break this to you easily, but...I think she may still be alive..."
"..." Naruto was quiet for a moment as he dropped his duffel bag to the ground. A moment later, he had Natalia pinned to the wall by her throat, the barrel of his Unforgiven pistol pointed at her head. "You better not be lying to me, Natalia...Because if I find out that you are, I will kill you..."
"S-Sawtooth..." Natalia choked out. "Find the...Bloody Queen..."
"Maya. Wait outside for me." Naruto growled coldly, his tone startling Maya. Unable to verbalize a response and too unnerved to argue, Maya only nodded before leaving to do as she was told. Hidden behind his goggles, Naruto's eyes had reverted back to being the 'Eyes of Death', his tone dropping to a whisper that promised excruciating pain and a slow death as he spoke again. "I strongly suggest that you start praying to every god and goddess to ever exist that you're right because if you aren't...I'll be back to keep my word..."
As he let her go and continued down the hall after picking his duffle bag up, Natalia dropped to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath as she held her abused throat. That was not how she had expected him to react, but she couldn't blame him...
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