Sounds of a Failed Assassination
The psychos stood around the ravaged corpse of Mad Moxxi. They were breathing heavily, blood dripping from their hands, their buzz-axes was covered in blood and they marvelled at the sight of someone who looked like they had been torn to pieces by Feral Skags. The crowd had thinned out during the hellacious murder. Those who hadn't caught fire and those who hadn't fallen inside the arena had managed to climb the large outside walls and drop down into the Deep Fathoms. Desperation was the chief emotion at this point. They were so desperate that landing into the Deep Fathoms, a dried out ocean spanning for miles in all directions was a better option than anything else on the table.
Nova-TP lowered himself down from the arena wall. He had witnessed the whole plan evaporate from his grasp. Mad Moxxi was killed by the psychos, the key they needed to reactivate the power was on her person. The whereabouts of C4TALY5T-SV was unknown. If he knew Mad Moxxi was already dead, who knows what he would do. He seemed as maniacal for bloodshed as the psychos were. Nova-TP steeled himself for another look of the arena. He climbed the wall and raised his optic sensor above the wall so he could see the arena. The psychos were gone, hidden from view. Nova-TP could still hear screams but they were much fainter now. He could tell that most of the crowd had escaped over the walls of Hell-Burbia. Nova-TP understood the severity of the situation. As far as he was concerned, C4TALY5T-SV was expendable. He could grab the key and get out alive without him. He could think of an excuse to tell the INAC or whoever would ask.
Nova-TP carefully pulled himself up onto the arena. He was now standing on the ground where countless gladiators had fought and died for the affection of Pandora's most beautiful woman. Nova-TP was walking with the care and compassion that one might if they were visiting the site that was a battlefield. There wasn't a single psycho in sight. Nova-TP could see the smoking carcasses of the crowd members who had caught ablaze from the pyro. The pyro sets were no longer spitting out flames but the power was still out. It wouldn't reactivate unless somebody used Mad Moxxi's key. Mad Moxxi's corpse was in plain view. Nova-TP could hardly believe that the psychos could be that violent. Then, he remembered, they were psychos.
Nova-TP collapsed to the blood-stained sand and crawled towards what remained of Mad Moxxi. He couldn't tell from standing where the key was. He had to move the pieces of her corpse and rummage through and pick out the key. It was a sick sight. Nova-TP was glad he was denied the sense of smell. He pulled her leg towards him and found a link of keys and personal mementos bound around a thin metal ring. One of the mementos was a shard of glass with Mr .Shank carved into it. This would be proof that Mad Moxxi is dead. Nova-TP took the bloody keys and stashed them inside one his panels. Now, all that was to be done was to leave. Nova-TP walked back the way he came and dropped back down into the maintenance ring. He turned towards the direction C4TALY5T-SV went before the riot began and made his way to the New-U station. Nova-TP was slightly running, he wanted to get there quickly but he didn't want to attract attention with noise. The psychos had disappeared but it was a logical certainty they had split into individuals to hunt down everybody they hadn't killed. Nova-TP heard a scream pierce the dead atmosphere now and then. Confirmation that crowd members who were still around had been spotted, chased and killed.
The maintenance ring was completely empty, nobody was here. Nova-TP found Mad Moxxi's New-U station and didn't wait any longer. He took out the keys, slotted the power key inside the New-U station's controls and reactivated the power. The neon lights shot back into life, the spotlights burned the sky with light and the pyro sets spat fire into the crowd seats pronouncing their revival. The New-U station activated, but the Fast Travel Network wasn't operational. Nova-TP couldn't leave. However, Nova-TP didn't activate the Fast Travel Network, he was frozen in time. There were rapid footsteps behind him, feet stamping sand with every beat. Frail breath underneath the footsteps. It wasn't C4TALY5T-SV. Nova-TP turned his head and saw a psycho standing on the edge of the divide between the arena and the maintenance ring. Nova-TP couldn't move, he was standing with his ticket home in his hands and a maniacal bandit standing a few yards away from him with apocalyptic tendencies in mind.
The robot and the human looked at each other for what felt like an hour, reading the thoughts of the other. Trying to hazard a guess at what they would do next. Nova-TP jammed the key inside the New-U station's controls and turned the key. The psycho leapt forward cutting a path in the air and knocked the droid to the floor. He dived onto Nova-TP's body and began scratching at the craftsmanship that made his body. Nova-TP wriggled like how a fish would desperately try to untangle itself from a fishing line. Nova-TP scurried away from the psycho and leapt back up to the arena floor. Nova-TP sprinted his way to the other side of Hell-Burbia with the psycho chasing after him with his buzz-axe suspended above his head like a charging warrior. Nova-TP dropped down from the arena and landed on the other side of the maintenance ring. The psycho then tripped over a dead gladiator and face-planted onto the floor ending the chase for now. He had to find his way back and escape alive. Nova-TP sprinted along the ring looking for his way back.
C4TALY5T-SV stepped forward from the shadows and collided into Nova-TP. As droids crashed into one another, so did thoughts and confusion. What the hell was C4TALY5T-SV doing? Why was Nova-TP running without me? They both stood up and C4TALY5T-SV pinned Nova-TP immediately against the wall with a buzz-axe to his optic sensor. It became clear to Nova-TP that C4TALY5T-SV had killed a psycho.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"The New-U station, I was trying to find you?" Nova-TP hoped C4TALY5T-SV would swallow his pitiful lie
"No, you were leaving without me. Was it because I didn't get my pound of flesh? Did I fail you?" Static crackled through his voice. Nova-TP knew he had to leave without him. He was a danger to everything. He was insane.
"I don't fucking blame you! If you don't let me go they'll kill us both!" Nova-TP looked to his left and saw the psycho he was running away from spot them. Nova-TP couldn't tell from the amount of blood the psycho was already caked in but his nose was broken, leaking blood down his neck. He flipped his buzz-axe and caught the tip of the blade with his fingertips. He hurled it in their direction. The blade span through the air, droplets of blood flickered in all directions from the blade. C4TALY5T-SV threw Nova-TP away from him and dived out of harm's way. The buzz-axe impaled the wall Nova-TP was held against. The psycho sprang forward with no specific target in mind. Nova-TP forgot about C4TALY5T-SV and ran for his life. He ran around the ring and looked back occasionally, nobody was following.
He found the New-U station and couldn't believe that the keys were still locked inside the controls. He activated the Fast Travel Network. The New-U station fired out a purple beam into the sky which formed a swirling portal circling the Underdome high above. Nova-TP picked off the mementos from the keyset and left the Underdome without C4TALY5T-SV.