Chapter Eleven: …Nuke it out!
Gaige awoke early, it being a couple of days after team RWBY came over and visited their dorm. She had enjoyed their company (except that rich bitch with an itch Weiss Schnee), and while the days since were filled with school work, it was much better than her typical day on Pandora. There were no bandits to kill, no monster specimens to retrieve for Hammerlock, and no Hyperion base to assault. It was like she had a normal life, one she had somewhat wanted back on Eden-6 before the science fair.
She began to stretch; her mechanical arm was a bit on edge today, while she walked over to the bathroom. She quickly undressed and got into the shower, so very glad for running hot water (a rare commodity on Pandora). But while she rubbed her body with some body wash, she began to think about what Jack could be planning.
She knew that he would be making life for the Crimson Raiders hell on Pandora, but he seemed interested in the Grimm from Remnant. Did he think he could control the Grimm, and if so, how? She knew from her conversations with Erica during Port's lectures (cough boastful and ego-centric tales cough) that attempts to pacify the Grimm had all ended in death and generally a loss of the facility. Yet if Gaige knew anything about Jack, it was that he somehow instinctively knew how to harness and control things that shouldn't be shackled, like the destroyer of world's eye or controlling Lilith to charge the Vault Key.
But why bother with the Grimm? Pandora has more than its share of volatile lifeforms, including but not limited to Rakk Hives, Thresher Maws, Skags, Bullymongs, Spiderants, and Varkids. Unless there was something special with the Grimm (besides lacking a soul), why else would Jack want something that were on par with the beasts of Pandora?
She turned the water off and quickly grabbed a towel and began drying herself off. Once dried, she quickly slipped into her clothes and got prepared for the day ahead of her.
"Alright everyone, today you and your team will be running a twenty minute drill," Glynda Goodwitch said, beginning yet another one of her combat tactics classes. "The mission will be split into two categories. The first for the 'huntsmen' team will be to evacuate the civilians from a terrorist hideout with as little loss of life as possible. The 'terrorist' team will try and prevent this at any cost, but they are confined within the building of their choosing."
Gaige, Robert, Erica, and Nash were sitting on the benches on the field, not looking forward to this mission. While Robert, Erica, and Nash didn't have any experience in hostage situations, Gaige had. It had occurred shortly after Jack's 'death' and some bandits had managed to kidnap Tiny Tina. It had taken Gaige, Axton, and Salvador two hours, a thousand rounds of bullets, fifteen grenades, a rusted lead pipe, and a tub of lard (don't ask, just don't) to free Tiny Tina from the bandit camp. She hated the thought of being on the huntsmen team and trying to rescue the hostages in such a little time.
"Now, the first team I name will be the huntsmen, and the second will be the terrorists," Glynda stated, before picking up her scroll. "First up, Team RWBY will be extracting civilians while Team GREN will be holding the hostages. GREN, come over here and choose which building you want to use."
Gaige and the others of her team quickly got up and walked over to where Glynda was, which was over a table which had a map of the scenario range. In total, there was five different 'target buildings' to choose from.
"So, Gaige, since you're the leader, you know which building you want?" Nash asked. "I quite like the look of the church; nice open grounds all around it allow us to see where RWBY will be coming from, and the church tower offers excellent sniping opportunities."
"No mate, that Church is a death trap," Robert quickly retorted. "There are too many windows along the sides of the Church to cover up and there isn't any room large enough for us and the hostages to keep safe. How about that bank; few windows, fewer doors, and we could stash the hostages in one of the safes and prevent RWBY from freeing them in case we are taken out."
"Nah, let's take this place," Erica suggested, tapping on the map. Gaige looked at the place and saw what the building was supposed to be; Dust Warehouse.
"Hell no," Gaige said, with an air of finality. "We are not going to restrict our capabilities to use the building as a massive bomb; I much prefer to have my insides inside of me. No, we are going to take this building."
Robert, Nash, and Erica looked at the building Gaige was looking at, and for a moment they wondered what was exactly special about the building, before they saw the biggest selling point.
"Ah hell Gaige, please don't tell me you are serious?" Robert asked, only to see Gaige smiled deviously. "Ah bloody fucking 'ell, fine, just please go easy; I rather not have to fix my turret like I had to after the EMP."
"So this is the place they chose?" Weiss said before scoffing. "God, this is just reinforcing my idea that Gaige is a freaking god damn Marxist-"
"Weiss shut up, all you have done since we visited team GREN's dorm has been talking shit about Gaige," Yang said. "Seriously, you need to chill."
Ruby sighed before slapping her sister on the back of the head.
"Ow, what the hell Ruby?! That fucking hurt!"
"That's what we will be doing every time you pop out a pun," Ruby said. "But seriously, who would choose this building out of the others?"
Indeed, RWBY was outside what looked like a typical 3 story office complex. Red brick building, glass windows on the second and third stories, one entrance in the front, one exit out the back, and finally a roof with an access door. Overall, it wasn't that impressive, making the team wonder why they choose this building out of the other choices.
"Well, I can assume we aren't going in the front door, they will have it secured, and they most likely will have the access from the roof locked, so that's a bust as well," Blake said, drawing up obvious points. "If we are to get in, we could try the back entrance."
"That might work, except we don't know where they will have the hostages. For all we know, they could be getting them to the third floor and then sealing all ways up to it," Weiss stated. Ruby sighed.
"They only got a five minute head start, so unless they have people helping them, which they don't, then there is only so much they could do," Ruby stated. "If I was them, I would focus on getting the hostages in a location where it would be a natural death trap for anyone trying to rescue them while giving them cover and firing angles on them."
"So, any ideas on how to get around that?" Yang asked. Ruby nodded, before quickly detailing the plan. After ironing out a few details, team RWBY began sprinting towards the back door, determined to make this as fast a hostage rescue as possible.
"Time to knock on the door!" Yang yelled, cocking her arm back before punching the door off its hinges and down the hallway. Yang led the group, intent on breaching any doors in their way. She quickly rushed the hallway, blasting down another door, only to see what lay in front of her.
"Oh fuck me!" Yang cursed out before she ducked under a literal torrent of fire. Erica, in her black plate armor, was spewing her molten fire down the hallway, not taking any precision to take aim with her fire. Though given it was a narrow hallway, if it was anyone other than Yang, then the flames would've knocked them out of this test. But Yang was willingly to brave the fire; she just didn't like the thought of thermite leaving her in her birthday suit.
She quickly rolled onto her back and began blasting shells at Erica's direction, forcing the black knight to back up to avoid the shotgun pellets from destroying her armor's seal. By this time, Weiss had shown up, and began weaving her glyphs and ice dust to begin creating a wall of ice.
"Get in close and knock her out!" Weiss said to Yang, who nodded. Yang vaulted over the Ice wall, only to be faced by the sight of Erica pulling out her sabre and Robert standing smugly with his battery of cannon turrets aimed at her.
"Give me a break!" Yang shouted, which was drowned out the roar of Robert's cannons letting out a barrage of shells, which soon decimated Weiss's ice wall. As Yang landed, Erica blitzed her and began slashing with her sabre, trying to break Yang's guard. Despite not being adapt at knife- much less sword- fighting, Yang knew how to aptly guard against blows to her most vital of areas, and used her gauntlets in a classic boxing guard to cover her face and to weave around any thrusts sent her way.
Weiss meanwhile was using her glyphs to dart around the room, which was formerly a massive cubicle office which GREN had leveled to make for an open room, to avoid the shelling coming from Robert's cannon. Without any suitable way to defeat the turrets, Weiss was forced to go after the turrets' master, which was easier said than done. Anytime she closed close enough to begin thrusting her rapier at Robert, he would switch to a non-lethal form of his canister shot. Thus the two were at a standoff.
"Can't do much without getting in close, eh?" Robert taunted Weiss. "A shame really, because I can't do shit outside of range." Weiss scowled before revolving the cylinder.
"I have more to me than just a rapier and you do well to remember that!" Weiss lashed out, before slicing through the air and tapping the trigger, unleashing a bolt of lightning at Robert. Unfortunately, someone stepped in and blocked Weiss's attack, without seemingly being affected by it.
"Awe, that's cute you think your self-entitlement translates into combat," Gaige mocked Weiss, showing off her digi-struct claws, which were humming lightly with the electricity that Gaige intercepted. "But your social position means little in battle, princess!"
Before Weiss could 'correct' Gaige, Gaige summoned Deathtrap, who immediately fired off a laser right at Weiss. She back flipped out of the way, with the laser barely missing her by an inch. Weiss growled, looking over at Yang who was struggling against Erica.
"Damn it, we could use a little help here!" Weiss shouted out, wondering where the hell Ruby and Black were. Her answer came in the form of a red blur zipping past her and colliding into Deathtrap. Ruby had Crescent Rose aimed dead center at Deathtrap's chest.
"I'm sorry," Ruby muttered, before pulling the trigger, unleashing the massive overcharged dust round into Deathtrap. The robot, despite being shielded and being made to withstand a literal onslaught of enemies, wasn't protected well enough to deal with a point blank anti-material round that was designed to deform on impact. The robot shattered before digitally deconstructing, with Gaige crying out in anguish.
"NOOO! Not Deathtrap! I'll make you pay for that!" Gaige pulled out Taylor's Coach Gun and fired off the super blast, intending to hit Ruby with 130 pellets, but Ruby had already sped away from where she had been, instead appearing right in front of Robert.
"Sorry about this!" Ruby said, before slamming Crescent Rose's blunt edge into Robert's mid-section. Robert, not expecting such a heavy blow, was thrown into Erica, whose attention was focused on Yang. The two ended up in a heap, with both struggling to work themselves out of the mess as Robert's leg was pinned under Erica, who was pinned by the rest of Robert's body.
"Get off me, your armor weighs a ton!" whined Robert, feeling a leg cramp coming on. Erica glared at him.
"What the hell do you mean?! Remember the device Gaige gave us made my armor lighter! So what are you saying Robert?! Are you saying I'm fat, or that Gaige couldn't build something correctly?"
Fuck me for having to deal with teammates who get easily sidetracked, Gaige thought ruefully as both RWY and herself stared at the pummeling that Erica proceeded to give Robert. Sadly, she had dealt with teammates that didn't work as coherently as she knew everyone on Pandora thought they did. Between Krieg's tendencies to charge headlong into battle, Axton always going over the top with his weapons, and Zero always kill steali- ahem, getting the drop on Hyperion agents, Gaige should've been used to her teammates never focusing on the plan's minor details. Should've, but still it got to the engineer Vault hunter, but she decided that if she couldn't force order (kind of ironic being she was the so proclaimed mistress of anarchy), she would ensure that it didn't matter.
"So, where's Blake?" Gaige asked. RWY looked at her, shrugging.
"Well, due to her ability to sneak past everyone, we decided she would go to the third floor and secure the hostages, and even though we don't know where Nash is, it's pretty apparent that this fight is over. So, I guess we succeed, right?" Ruby stated, looking to Yang.
"I guess, I mean its three vs you Gaige, so are you going to surrender?" Yang asked Gaige. She chuckled.
"Under normal circumstances, that would be true, however this isn't normal circumstances," Gaige said, pulling something out of her pocket. RWY looked at what she had, before all trying to stop her.
Ozpin was minding his own business, walking past the combat tactics class, nursing his cup of coffee. He had it at his lips when a massive shockwave nearly knocked him over. Unfortunately, while he didn't fall on his ass (he wasn't some mook to let something to benign as a shockwave to make a fool out of him), his hand had recoiled instinctively, sending his rather hot coffee into his face. The result-
"Some of a fucking bitch!" Ozpin swore, dropping his coffee mug in pain, which promptly shattered. "God damn it, that was my lucky mug!" In case you were wondering, that particular coffee mug was with Ozpin when he lost his virginity, became a Huntsman, became headmaster of Beacon, and finally when he won the Vale lottery for a couple hundred thousand dollars. Needless to say, he was quite attached to the white porcelain coffee mug.
Angered at the pain in his face, the coffee now dripping into his clothes, and the loss of his favorite coffee mug, Ozpin stormed in the direction of the shockwave, hell-bent on determining what officially ruined his day. It was sadly the combat tactics class, so when he entered he tried to plaster a calm face. Key word being tried.
Instead of being red in the face with anger, Ozpin's slowly paled as he saw an ominous mushroom lingering on the combat grounds. He glanced around, seeing the other teams' jaws all collectively dropped, with Glynda being unnaturally calm. Ozpin winced; he knew all too well that when Glynda was perfectly calm, you best run for your nuclear bunker, seal it closed, and pray to any and all gods you know that Glynda doesn't get in.
"Ms. Goodwitch, mind telling me what happened?" Ozpin asked, only to internally die a little at the scathing gleam in Glynda's eyes as she turned to face him.
"Why headmaster, since you sooo kindly asked, I'll tell you," Glynda began to respond, her voice being sarcastic and extremely snarky. Ozpin pitied the poor souls that would have to endure her wrath.
"It seems that GREN's illustrious leader, in her infinite wisdom, decided that if she couldn't win, then no one would win. She somehow rigged her teammate's turrets to have some kind of explosive payload that she could detonate at her whim. As a result, not only due I have to deal with six students that will need medical attention- nothing serious mind you- but effectively the combat ground has suffered sufficient damage that I can't use it for the rest of the week. Oh, and I have had various reports that the shockwave also shattered Oobleck's coffee pots, so yeah, I just fantastic. Is there anything you need?"
Ozpin sighed.
"Sarcasm is unbecoming of you Glynda, though to answer your question, you wouldn't happen to have a towel or something to wipe my face, would you?" Glynda was about to unleash the horrible inner bitch on the headmaster when she finally looked at his face.
"Ozpin, what happened?" she asked, wincing at the redness of his face. Ozpin frowned in sadness.
"The shockwave sent my coffee in my face, and caused me to drop my lucky mug," Ozpin replied. "But seriously, do you have a towel; my face is in a bit of pain, so I like to get a cold wet towel and let my face heal up a little. Oh, and make sure at the least Ms. Asimov is punished for her reckless behavior."
"I normally would agree, but if you can squint just underneath the mushroom cloud, I think she is getting her just deserts," Glynda pointed out. "Oh dear, perhaps it be better if-" Before Glynda could finish, Ozpin, in a bit of pain and really not thinking, spoke his opinion on something.
"My god is Ms. Schnee flat," Ozpin said, before the redness in his face from the burn quickly dissipated, his body shaking at the menacing aura coming from Glynda. "Ah shit, I said that aloud now didn't I-"
He was promptly cut off by Glynda's atomic bitch slap. After getting over the whiplash, Ozpin rubbed his cheek before frowning at the disaster of this class was becoming.
"Glynda, come to my office later so we may discuss how to improve this class," Ozpin ordered. "I can't afford these losses and deal with any potential lawsuits, so I think we really need to get some things worked out."
"Agreed, but I think I should stop the two teams from their beatings on Ms. Asimov," Glynda replied before walking off. Ozpin turned and left, wondering if it was possible to get a burn/slap scar.
"Gaige, those were my babies!" Robert shouted for the umpteenth time. "How could you do that to them!?"
Gaige was currently sitting on her bed, nursing her stomach due to the repeated kicks that everyone in the scenario gave her. Seriously, she understood that people on Remnant had more modesty than those of Pandora, but it wasn't completely her fault that the explosion, besides toppling that paper-thin building, would declothe everyone (save Erica, but the clothes underneath her armor wasn't spared). Hell, she still didn't understand how they didn't receive major burns and had their clothes scorched off. It seemed physically impossible; although she really shouldn't be saying that, considering she saw a psycho killed by someone beating him with his own skull.
After the explosion and hastily getting some clothes, both RWBY and GREN came face to face with an angry Glynda. She didn't blame RWBY for what happened, and she forgave REN for their involvement, but she tore Gaige's ass a new one due to the damages she incurred. She told Gaige that while RWBY and Erica beat the shit out of her, none of them would be punished and that she would have to make up for it by doing tasks for Glynda for three months.
Gaige had earned the ire of team RWBY for the declothement, but she hoped they would eventually forgive her for causing their embarrassment. But she understood her partner's anger at the apparent destruction of his beloved turrets. It wasn't every day that you saw one of your most prized possessions destroyed by the hands of someone you trust.
"Robert, do me a solid and deploy your turret," Gaige said. "Or at the very least go through the motions." Robert, still fuming but willingly to hear reason, did as was asked, only to frown.
"Um, okay, weird question, but what is with this error message?" Robert asked. Gaige raised an eyebrow before getting up and walking over to see it. She groaned at what the message said.
"Damn it, wasn't expecting that," Gaige said, before quickly entering an explanation upon seeing Robert's confusion. "When I made your ECHO device, I incorporated the same digi-struct system so that you can always deploy your turrets after a certain cool down like a partner of mine had done with his turret. Unfortunately, I had used Deathtrap's version to accomplish this, as Axton wouldn't let me touch his turret. As a result, it's causing some issues, which require you and I to correct the coding, somehow."
"So how long until I have my turrets back?" Robert asked. Gaige shrugged.
"Two days at most, unless it's being a bitch. Then maybe, big maybe, four, five days, tops. But that's if no one tries to murder me for…"
"Yeah, yeah, I don't need the reminder of that unexpected fallout," Robert said, preventing Gaige from finishing her statement. He paused, as if he was thinking of something. "Gaige, there's something I wanted to ask."
"I guess I owe you an answer after hurting your babies, so what's the question?" Gaige asked whilst she sat back on her bed. Robert looked at the door before shutting it, locking it quietly.
"Look, while we were, naked, I saw that you had a tattoo that said 'Et amare memento Angel', that would be about Jack's-"
"Angel was never Jack's daughter!" Gaige shouted at him, shocked that Robert had seen her tattoo of Angel. "Jack never deserved to be Angel's father, not after the hell he brought her! And so what, I will always remember Angel, she saved us more times than I could remember!"
"But that phrase isn't just remembering someone," Robert said, silencing Gaige. "I recognized the text barely, but it translates to 'always love and remember'." Robert watch as Gaige visibly shrunk at his words. "Look, I don't care about whom you are attracted to, I just wanted to know if that tattoo was about that Angel, and from your reaction I can say it was."
Gaige was about to speak up when banging on the door could be heard.
"Hey assholes, open up!" Nash shouted. "Let me in now!"
"And why should we do that?" Robert asked, not taking his eyes off Gaige. Gaige quickly mouthed 'we'll talk about this later' to Robert, which he nodded.
"Because I might've mentioned to Yang that she owes me fifty lien for a certain bet that I made Robert!" Nash shouted back. "I like to keep my family heirlooms in one piece, thank you very much Naval Quartermaster of Awesomeness!"
"Are you really-"
"Don't ask Gaige, it's a long ass story," Robert said, wincing at the memory that particular nickname brought up. "And Nash, is that the bet I think you are referring to?" Unfortunately for Nash, he didn't know about Gaige being in the room.
"Yeah, that one about how I would see Yang in her birthday suit before the end of the year!" Nash yelled. "So would you do your besty a favor and let me in before the bombshells blonde kicks my ass."
Gaige smiled maliciously, thinking of a way to regain favor with at least one member of team RWBY. She nodded to Robert, who sighed, knowing that his best friend was doomed.
"Yeah, I'm unlocking the door," Robert said with a heavy heart. Almost immediately after opening the door, Nash ran in and slammed the door shut and locked it.
"Yes, I survive another day!" Nash exclaimed happily, before heading to the bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower, I still have a bit of dust in my hair that I want to be rid of. Oh hi Gaige." Nash barely walked three feet before he stopped and turned to Gaige.
"Ah shit…."
Author's Note: I'm back, and yeah, not my best chapter, but I kind of fucked myself over when I did the naming of the last chapter. Kind of needed to make a sufficient fight scene, but because of that it took me nearly 3 months to do. That and getting a job, starting and working on other stories, getting into Warhammer 40k, and a bunch of other things delayed this chapter. So not much to talk about as this was a proverbial filler chapter that begins laying the groundwork for future chapters like its sister chapter (the last chapter) did, so might as well respond to some questions I got from you guys!
Unless I state otherwise, this story and my other stories are not dead. I know it has taken me nearly 3 months to update this story, but it is far from dead. I just get overwhelmed from time to time with things going on in my life and other story ideas that it can take some time for me to properly drain them to get back to my other stories.
No, not everyone is going to get buffs from Borderlands. Yes, Gaige did give her teams ECHO devices and shields, but that is for convenience on her part. She isn't going to be building fleets of Deathtraps for anyone, but she will be helping her team out. I'm not going to explain too much right now, but suffice it to say, it will make Robert look like a pervert, and I set it up in this chapter. If you can piece together the hint I just dropped and the one in the chapter earlier, you will get to have an inside laugh.
Also, Cinder's plans wouldn't be escalated by Claptrap's arrival, but rather thrown for one hell of a curve ball. Plus with losing Roman Torchwick, Junior, Neo, and the dust Roman stole to Handsome Jack, her plans are in tatters. It's like losing your fuel dump and your top advisors before you even get your war underway. But she isn't going to be railroaded out of the story, no, Cinder never gives up without a fight.
Alright, I think that about covers it. Sorry for the delay, but life happens. Until next time, please read, follow, favorite, and review, and I'll see you next time!
