Author's Note: What's up, readers?! Sorry for the incredibly delayed update to the fanfic. It's just that ... uh, my grandma passed away and I have to attend her funeral about 3 months ago, and I have been taking my time to cope with it ever since. So yeah, it felt ... it felt miserable to lose a close family member to the inevitability known as death, but you know ... eventually you've got to stop griefing and move on with your life.
*Runs away to hide in a closet to cry some more*
What? *Sniff* I'm not crying *Sniff* *Sob* You're crying! There's just a lot of onions in this closet that are being sliced by invisible ghost-ninjas! I am definetely not crying! *Crys a lot more ... for a couple of hours*
Chapter 38: Apples and Gravity
As the sun shines bright on one side of Pandora, the darkness covers the night sky on the other side of the planet, with only the dim light of the geo-stationary moon weakly illuminating from above. Within the vast barren wasteland region under the night sky lies one particular settlement that is worth a notable mention … Rust Commons North. While it shares common traits with other typical Pandoran settlements (plenty of bandits, plenty of guns, plenty of ... laundry machines? Seriously, there's like a crap-load of laundry machines scattered around Pandora, many of which appear in completely random places, and I don't think people even wash their clothes in most of them. What's up with that?), Rust Commons North has gained some notoriety in the last couple of years. Ever since the cumulative (though definitely not cooperative) bandit-busting efforts of both Hyperion and the Crimson Raiders, bandits are being driven away from their camps left and right, causing it to become increasingly harder to find decent places for bandits to live on Pandora. Instead of wasting more energy on fighting additional turf wars amongst each other, the bandits simply decided to say "F*ck it!" and just group together in one place. Definitely being one of the more infamous places among the bandit community, there are more bandits per land space over here than in any other place on Pandora. Over time, as more people have settled in, it became more of a fortress, with its own gigantic metal gate, steel-reinforced infrastructure, and most importantly of all … a functional plumbing system (because that sh*t ain't gonna flush itself). Granted, the bandits inside are not solely relying on strength in numbers alone, as you can randomly pick any one of the bandits inside and he would probably kick just as much ass as a bandit from any other region, if not more. In other words, unless you have a death wish, it is best not to even approach Rust Commons North within several hundred kilometers.
However, approaching Rust Commons North is exactly what one particular person is about to do. This person being none other than Lord Arcane. Within less than a kilometer outside the Rust Commons North radius, we see the enigmatic Atlas CEO wearing his signature crimson-red hooded long-jacket, casually tramping through the dry coarse sand underneath his black boots, holding onto a metallic briefcase with one hand and … eating a red apple?
*Crunch* *Munch* *Munch* …
Every bite releases a sharp crisp crunching sound. Judging by the way Lord Arcane eats that apple, he seems to be mildly enjoying it. Given how the CEO is practically a trillionaire, you'd think his choice of food would be somewhat more aristocratic. I guess even leaders of mega-corporations enjoys simple pleasures every once in a while. To add to his playful personality, Lord Arcane would occasionally toss the half-eaten apple up in the air before grabbing it as it falls down and take another bite out of it again. The strange thing is … the apple seems to be falling a bit slower than it was supposed to be.
By the time he finally approached near the Rust Commons North's metal gate, Lord Arcane has already finished his first apple, leaving behind a neatly chewed-up core. After tossing the apple core away, Lord Arcane scans his eyes across the base's infrastructure to see a rather overwhelming sight. The large gate at the front is almost entirely made of semi-rusted metal and towering nearly 50 meters tall. In addition, there are a pack of mean-looking bandits guarding at the gate. Some of them are at the top of the gate, standing on a crudely constructed balcony and acting as far-looking watch-guards. The others are scattered at the base of the gate, acting more or less as gate "bouncers". The watch-guards at the balcony spotted Lord Arcane from the far distance through their binoculars and decided to signal the ones at the bottom to go check him out. Among the gate guards who approached Lord Arcane were three heavily armed bandits: one nomad, one psycho, and one goliath. Just when Lord Arcane is appraching almost at the front gate, he is halted by those three bandits.
"Well, well, look what we have here?" The nomad took the initiative to speak first as he rests his rusty assault rifle on his shoulder. Since nomads are among the more intelligent (and sane) types of bandits, it seems appropriate that they take upon more of a leadership and negotation role. "It seems we got ourselves a drifter here, boys."
"Meat! I smell meat!" The psycho babbled nonsensically while wildly swinging his buzzaxe to demonstrate his unpredictably violent tendencies. "Need meat for my BICYCLE HAMLET SHYLOCK!"
"Drifter! … friend?" The goliath uttered with a dopey but mildy innocent tone as he holds onto his two riot shotguns in a dual-wielding manner. This demonstrates the surprising soft side of golaith's nature … as long as their helmet stays on, of course.
"No, you idiot! It's obvious that he's an intruder! God, why do I have to end up with you losers …" The nomad complained, knowing that his associates are not the sharpest tool in the shed. The nomad then confronts Lord Arcane by lightly tapping the barrel tip of his rifle at the CEO's chest to emphasize his daunting demeanor. "Anyway, you better piss off outta here if you know what's good for ya. This here is bandit territory."
"Indeed it is. In fact, this is perhaps the best place to find the toughest and meanest bandits, from what I've heard." Lord Arcane described in his usual polite formality of a British accent (that is only 75% as sexy as Benedict Cumberbatch's voice, which is still pretty goddamn sexy), unfazed by the bandits' discouragement. "That is precisely why I am here to meet up with whoever's in charge of this fine establishment, as I wish to discuss business with them. Now, if you would kindly allow me entry into the fort and lead me to your leader, it would be greatly appreciated."
"Pfft, pwahahahaha …!" The nomad almost choked laughing in response to Lord Arcane's ludicrous proposition. While the psycho and the goliath besides him don't have the brain capacity to understand the current situation, they nonetheless laughed with their comrade anyway, albeit in a half-hearted manner. "… aaahh, so let me get this straight. You want me to take a complete total stranger like you inside that gate and let you meet up with our boss? You think I'm that stupid? Who the hell do you think you are?"
"Why, of course! How rude of me to not introduce myself first." Lord Arcane apologized politely. He even offers the three bandits a handshake out of courtesy. "I go by the name of Lord Arcane, the current head of the newly reformed Atlas corporation."
"Atlas?!" The previously humored nomad now blurted out in bewildered outburst. From the moment Lord Arcane spoke of the word "Atlas", the bandits immediately jolt up in full-alert. The nomad hastily cocks his rifle and firmly aims it dead-center at Lord Arcane's head. Both the psycho and the goliath followed up with their companion nomad's reaction by readying their combat poses, thinking that sh*t is about to hit the fan real soon. "You've got some nerve coming here, after you corporate assholes left us Crimson Lance here to rot in this sh*thole of a planet!"
"Woah, woah, easy there, my friend." Lord Arcane pleaded while maintaining calmness. He abruptly drops the briefcase and hold his hands up as an act of surrender. "Let's try not to escalate this situation any further by doing something we both are going to regret."
"Regret?!" The nomad sneered indignantly. "It is you who should regret coming here in the first place, knowing full well that people from Atlas aren't welcome here! Atlas abandoned us! We risked our lives to do their dirty jobs and they didn't even bother to pick us up! We were left to fend for ourselves and were forced to becoming low-level bandits thanks to them! I hope that their midget-lovin' balls burn in HELL!"
"Ah, yes. I have heard about the stories of my predecessor's misdeeds and atorcities towards the people of Pandora, both citizen and Crimson Lance alike." Lord Arcane spoke softly in order to solicit sympathy. "However, the current Atlas corporation is now under new management and has undergone reform in many areas, so I can assure you that those unethical methods are a thing of the past. You can have my word, as the new head of the corporation, that we would certainly never attempt a stunt like that ever again."
"Bullsh*t!" The nomad raved with increasing ferocity. The barrel of his rifle is pressed ever-so-close to the skull of Lord Arcane. "You corporate skag-lickin' midget-lovin' scumbags are all the same! You all wanna take advantage of us when we are even the slightest use to you! And the moment we became useless, you throw us away like trash and run away with your tails between your legs! What makes you think I would ever believe a word you say?!"
"Now, now, we're all reasonable people here. Let's not resort to violence just yet." Lord Arcane negotiated. "As they always say, violence is wrong, though I'm not a proponent of letting yourself get brutally murdered without an attempt of self-defense either, but I digress. Oh, I have an idea! How about, as a sign of appreciation …" Lord Arcane reaches his jacket-pocket to pull out another red apple, as big and fresh as the one he had eaten before. "… I give you a delightfully tasty snack. As they always say, 'An apple a day keeps … uh, it keeps the medical professionals away from you.' So basically, apples are like doctor repellent. And, given how famished you look right now-"
Before the friendly Lord Arcane can even finish his sentence, the furious nomad uses his rifle to butt-stroke Lord Arcane right in the face. This abrupt attack causes Lord Arcane to stagger a little, even making him to drop the apple onto the ground. There is even hint of Lord Arcane's nose slightly bleeding as a result of the strike.
"You're trying to make fun of me, you little sh*t?!" The nomad insulted with a growling tone of wrath. "I'm not eating your stinkin' apple, and I sure as heck not lettin' you get anywhere near the fortress! In fact, I don't think you'll be leavin' this place alive!"
Despite of the authentic hostility of the threat, Lord Arcane remains steadfast. He first wipes away the blood that is leaking out of his nose in a rather gentle manner, almost as if he didn't mind getting injured by the bandit at all. Afterwards, Lord Arcane slowly walks to the fallen apple and picks it up from the ground. He then brushes off the dirt from the apple and takes a sweet delectable bite out of the apple, either not caring that it got dirtied from before or didn't know about the 3-second rule. Every bite releases a sharp crisp crunching sound.
" *Crunch* *Munch* *Munch* … *Gulp*… Such a shame that you would cause me to sully this exquisite fruit." Lord Arcane spoke with an attitude of snobbishness gradually replacing the politeness from before. "I'll have you know, these are of the highest quality apples known to man as of yet. They are grown from a state-of-the-art apple orchard that is of the highest quality standards within the six galaxies, so they quite literally cost an arm and a leg. Speaking of which …"
What happened afterwards was almost unreal. Lord Arcane tosses his half-eaten apple straight up into the air before approaching the nomad at a breakneck speed. The velocity of his movement has reached to such a high level, you couldn't tell if Lord Arcane was running or hovering, similar to that of a phantom. The nomad didn't even have the time to blink or the opportunity to pull the trigger before Lord Arcane speeds right behind him and …
*Whoosh* *Splat*
… A bursting shower of blood splatters all over the place. The nomad suddenly but gradually feel heated pain near his right shoulder and left thigh area. The pain then surges through his entire body at such a high intensity that he collapsed onto the floor. The nomad started screaming, out of pain, out of fear, out of … whatever. He just felt like screaming. After the midst of confusion, it is only when his blurred vision suddenly returns to focus did he see what is going on. And there is no way he could believe his eyes.
The nomad's right arm and left leg has been severed clean off from his body.
And Lord Arcane is standing proudly next to him, looking down on him while holding onto his severed limbs, one on each hand.
What's even stranger, the half-eaten apple that was tossed into the air from before … is still hovering and tumbling in mid-air, falling at a rather slow pace, like some paranormal force is holding it up there.
"AAAHHH! AAAHHH …! OH MY GOD, IT HURTS! WHAT THE F*CK IS GOIN' ON?!" The nomad screams as he cradles pathetically on the floor with blood oozing out of his wounds. His two fellow bandits right next to him, the psycho and goliath, were in complete shock of this split-second occurrence as their minds are still trying to contemplate the absurdity of the situation.
"There, an arm and a leg. Now we're even." Lord Arcane gloated roguishly as he casually tosses both of the severed limbs on the ground. His fiendish smile indicates his supreme confidence in this fight, almost as if he know he could slaughter everyone around without lifting a finger.
"Argh … what are you jerkbags standing around for?! GET HIM!" The downed nomad loudly commanded his two bandit teammates, who snapped out of their confused state to initiate their counterattack at Lord Arcane.
"You hurt friend … Welcome to die!" The goliath cried out in a more antagonistic tone as he opens fire his two shotguns onto Lord Arcane. In response to the attack, Lord Arcane puts forward one of his hands with an out-stretched palm as a mysterious black aura is released from it, forming an semi-transparent force-field that blocks the shotgun pellets and render Lord Arcane completely unharmed. Even repeated firing from the goliath's shotgun has no effect on Lord Arcane's mysterious black-aura shield whatsoever. Also, the apple remains gyrating in midair, refusing to fall anytime soon.
"What the hell …?" The nomad is simply awestruck, as he couldn't even remotely begin to comprehend what is going on in front of him. Is it some sort of electricity-based orb shield that Lord Arcane is wearing? No, it can't be! Even the toughest shields cannot withstand that amount of damage without giving out. Also, that wouldn't explain how Lord Arcane is able to move so quickly and rip out his limbs with ease. Something else is going on here. Something he simply couldn't understand.
"Meat bicycle … You are my MEAT BICYCLE!" The psycho howled his usual lines of obscenity as he added to the goliath's attack by flinging his buzz-axe like a deadly projectile towards Lord Arcane. However, like a practitioner of telekinesis, Lord Arcane puts his outstretched palm forward and halted the incoming buzz-axe in mid-air while the buzz-axe itself is still spinning at a fixed point.
" *Chuckles* … Too easy." Lord Arcane mumbles confidently to himself. With a flick of his finger, he telekinetically causes the hovering and spinning buzz-axe to spin exponentially faster before launching itself back at the psycho at blinding speed. This results in the buzz-axe slamming right into the psycho's head, lodging the sharp serrated edge right into the cranium and causing splats of blood to ooze out. Meanwhile, the apple is still in mid-air …
Immediately afterwards, Lord Arcane moves back into a hyper-speed blur before appearing behind the oblivious goliath. Lord Arcane then uses his immense telekinetic powers to launch the goliath in mid-air and push him towards the base of the gate. Strangely enough, even with that push, the goliath doesn't seem to be harmed physically by it, almost as if was within Lord Arcane's intention.
"Hey, hey, you guys! Red alert! Red Alert!" The nomad yells in his ECHO-device in an attempt to ask his group for reinforcements. "We got an intruder here, and he's got some serious psychic-type sh*t up his sleeves! We need backup! I repeat, WE NEED BACKUP!"
In response to that message, the bandits at the base prepares retaliation by opening the gate and letting out a massive group of bandits that are charging towards Lord Arcane. There's probably two dozen of them, at the very least. Some of them are riding in bandit trucks, some of them are on foot, but all of them are heavily armed and extremely pissed-off. Despite of seeing a mob of murdering psychopaths approach towards him, Lord Arcane doesn't seem to be nervous at the slightest. In fact, Lord Arcane seems rather confident, even delighted at the sight, almost like it was his plan all along. As the bandits continues to rush out of the gate, Lord Arcane shapes one of his hands into a karate-chop form and brutally decapitates the psycho next to him with ease. It's almost like his hand was a knife slicing through butter, despite of looking just like regular arm with no weapons or tools attached to it. After he decapitated the head of the psycho, he removes the buzz-axe that was lodged into the skull and, similar to a soccer ball, he kicks the psycho's head far into the distance towards the group of bandits. Just as the psycho head was about to land, it coincidentally collided with the helmet of the goliath that was moved there by Lord Arcane from before, causing the golaith's helmet to be knocked off as a result.
And you know what happens when a goliath loses his helmet …
"Mistake … BIG GODDAMN MISTAKE!" The goliath howled in gradually increasing anger as he transforms into his rampaging form that will attack friend and foe alike. His head is revealed to be nothing more than a dangling fleshy spine with brain and eyeballs attached at the end. In addition, his skin tone is now flushed with a redder color, further indicating his new-gained rage.
"Oh shit! His helmet is off! Everyone, get away!" One of the bandits from the truck warned frightfully as he saw the goliath transformation. Any bandit who's worth his salt knows how to deal with a goliath once he has gone into rage. You either kill him as quickly as possible, or you get the heck away from him in order to prevent him from getting stronger with each kill. Given how unlikely it is for the first option to succeed, the second option fares better.
" *Chuckles* … I don't think so." Lord Arcane mutters to himself as he sees the rampaging goliath and the group of panicking bandits from afar. Even at that distance, he figured he can still work his "magic". As he rubs his palms together, he directs his intense focus onto the goliath, specifically his center of gravity. Once he reaches the peak of his concentration, he activates his mysterious powers once again with a snap of the finger. This, in turn, causes the goliath to be imbued with a black misty aura that creates a gravitational singularity effect, pulling all objects in the vicinity towards it. The bandits who are desperately trying to escape are now being helplessly dragged towards the goliath by the black aura before having their bodies crushed and ripped apart by the goliath himself. Even the bandit trucks, no matter how fast they accelerate, couldn't escape from the golaith's reach due to the black aura initiated by Lord Arcane. As the bandits are being helplessly sucked into the goliath like a black hole, the goliath is able to easily pummel the bandits one by one in order to get stronger.
"GET READY TO FEEL MY FINGER IN YOUR EYEBALLS!" The raging goliath shouted out profanely as he repeatedly cracks open the skulls and rip out the spines of his fellow bandit comrades in a rage-induced frenzy. For every kill, he gets stronger, which in turn gives him an ability to kill more, leading to a vicious feedback cycle. First, it's Raging Goliath. Then it's Badass Goliath. Then Super Badass Goliath. Then Ultimate Badass Goliath … Goliaths are pretty much the Super-Saiyans of the Borderlands universe, aren't they?
"What the heck is goin' on?! Why couldn't we escape that damn goliath?! It's like we're being pulled into it or somethin'." One of the bandits on the truck yelled in pants-wetting terror.
"How the hell should I know?!" Another bandit yelled before climbing into the turret seat of the truck and take aim at the goliath with the explosive-barrel launcher. "Screw it! If we cannot escape from it, we'll just have to kill it!"
The bandit manning the turret proceeds to launch barrel after barrel of explosives towards the nearly unstoppable goliath. The bandits from the other truck saw this and got the idea to follow through with it by using their own turret to launch massive sawblades at the goliath. Nearby bandits who are still in one piece assisted with the plan by firing their guns and lobbing their grenades towards the goliath as well. Everyone contributed to the effort of the attack, hoping to increase the chances of killing it just before it kills them. A storm of bullets, metal, and explosives flew into the goliath, leaving behind dust and smoke surrounding the environment until nothing can be seen anymore. Despite of that, once the smoke is cleared up, the goliath is still left standing. Moreover, it doesn't seem like he's actually endured the attack. It's more like he didn't even get hurt from the attack to begin with, as there is a mysterious black aura shield that is taking the force of all of the damage, leaving the goliath completely unharmed.
"What the hell, man?! How is he still standing?! Even the toughest goliaths should be dead by now!" One of the bandits in the truck yelled.
" *Chuckles* … nice try. But I'm not going to let the big guy die that easily." Lord Arcane whispers to himself as he extends his hand outward and fiddling his fingers in midair like he's puppeteering an invisible puppet. The ominous black aura shield surrounding the goliath is, without a doubt, his doing. The apple from before is still hovering in midair, by the way.
"I'LL CRACK YOU SKULL OPEN WITH MY THUMBS!" The raging goliath clamored at the top of his lungs. After picking off whatever ground troops that are left, he grabs hold onto both trucks, one hand on each of the rear bumpers. With his immense superhuman strength, the raging goliath lifted both of the trucks with his two hands and smashes them in midair, causing the trucks to collide and explode and killing the rest of the bandits in the vicinity. After that huge slaughter by the bandits, the goliath has finally reached the level that Lord Arcane wanted him to be in … GOD-liath, the highest and strongest level a goliath can ever achieve.
"I'M UNSTOPPABLE!" The GOD-liath howled boastingly. He then scans across the desert to see Lord Arcane at the far distance, standing idly and without the slightest sign of hesitation. Once the GOD-liath has spotted him, he immediately charges towards Lord Arcane like a raging bull, presumably seeing him as another target to kill.
Meanwhile, the nomad from before, with the dismembered limbs and such, is still alive, albeit still crawling helplessly on the floor. Because taking part in violent firefights on a daily basis is practically the job description of a bandit, smarter bandits like nomads always carry a health kit with them in case of emergencies. This nomad used his health-kit to stop the bleeding just in time to hopefully live long enough to be rescued. However, from the looks of it, it probably won't matter since OMG, THERE'S A FRICKIN' GOD-LIATH THAT IS APPROACHING FAST AND GETTING READY TO DISH OUT A WORLD OF HURT TO YA'LL SKAG-LICKIN' MIDGET-LOVIN' TAINT SACKS!
"Oh SHIT! He's coming towards us!" The nomad stated the obvious as he crawls pathetically towards the standing Lord Arcane. "You've done it this time, corporate midget-lover! There's no way you're gonna face a GOD-liath and get out of this alive! He'll demolish you!"
" *Chuckles* … we'll see about that." Lord Arcane replied to the nomad on the floor before calmly stepping forward, seemingly prepared to face the GOD-liath head on.
"What?! You're actually going to fight him?! That's crazy! There's no way you're survive this!" The nomad spoke in utter dismay as the GOD-liath is almost within the proximity of Lord Arcane. Even as of right now, Lord Arcane maintains his shrewd smile ensuring that everything is within his predicted plan.
"YOU BETTER GODDAMN SCREAM FOR ME!" The GOD-liath yelled as he lunges into the air in order to perform a powerful punch right into his target's smug face. Just as he was about to land his punch, Lord Arcane pushes out his outstretched hand to intercept the GOD-liath's attack. Just when the two's hands had finally impacted-
*SPLAT* *BOOM*
The apple has finally stopped hovering in mid-air and begins to fall normally.
About an hour later, the Rust Commons North bandit camp has gone quiet. There's no more sound of bullets fired, grenades going off, or psycho bandits shouting about meat bicycles. There's only the sound of wind blowing against the sand. Sand soaked in the blood of a mangled GOD-liath's corpse that was brutally split in half. Two desecrated halves of a very large corpse … just lying there lifelessly on the ground … nothing more than rotten flesh for maggots to dwell on. That is what the leader of the Rust Common North bandit camp saw when he came back from a raid with his own group of bandit brothers who were away from the base a while ago.
The leader of the Rust Commons North can quite live up to his reputation as the meanest bandit leader around, even with just appearances alone. Towering almost 7 feet tall, this man of Caucasian-descent basically has the physique of a bodybuilder on all of the steroids. We're talking biceps the size of watermelons. We're talking six-packs (abs) that could crush six-packs (beer) just by doing crunches. We're talking fingers so thick and muscular, they could probably punch holes into thick metal plates or … you know, be a nice substitute for having a masculine organ of adequate length. In addition to that, the man wears a gray jeans-jacket with ripped sleeves that shows the shoulders, dark-brown cargo pants, and hefty leather boots with steel spikes to add a bit of edginess to the whole design. There's also quite a number of gang tattoos on both of his exposed biceps to reinforce that he's a badass and you probably shouldn't mess with him. But perhaps the most iconic feature of all is … his iron mask. Shaped like that of a skull, this mask encapsulates almost the entire head of the man, covering his entire face. It is because of this mask that strikes fear into all of those he commands and conquers. It is because of this mask that grants him the appropriate name of which everyone knows him by … Iron Mask.
Iron Mask : I keep my mask on, you keep your head attached
"Boss … ergh, Boss!" A voice originating from the ground nearby is heard by Iron Mask.
It's from a nomad who was near-death and crawling feebly on the sandy floor. You can still see the dry blood stains near the areas of his recently-severed right arm and left leg. Being the bandit leader that he is, he'd obviously want to know more about what is going on, so having even one survivor who has witnessed the incident is a godsend.
"What the hell happened here?! Who did this?!" Iron Mask grunted with outrageous shock as he kneels down to face the injured nomad. He even used his arms to cradle onto the nomad's shoulders so he could get his posture more upright, making it easier to breathe. This is a kind of compassionate act that you don't see every day in the bandit community. Furthermore, if you listen closely enough, you can sorta hear a bit of genuine concern mixed in with the tone of anger and confusion.
"Ergh … there was this guy … said he's from Atlas …" The nomad explained to Iron Mask with whatever minimal stamina he has left in his dying body. "… said he's here to discuss business with you … I told him to f*ck off, and then … and then … *Breathes heavily*…"
"Calm down, calm down. I understand. Whoever this son of a b*tch is, we're gonna make him pay." Iron Mask reassures the panicking nomad before swiftly demands medical attention fro his bandit subordinates. "Hey, we need medics here! Get on it, on the double!"
"Listen … boss … you gotta be careful." The nomad wheezed as he grips onto Iron Mask's jacket to emphasize the importance of his words. "… this man … it's like he can move things with his mind …" The nomad's hand is shaking as he points to the goliath's mutilated corpse. " … see that over there … that goliath went full-on GOD-mode … and this guy just ripped him in half like it was nothing … he's dangerous."
"Alright, I know. Now rest up and try not die on me." Iron Mask consoled the nomad as he lay him down on the ground while the bandit medics operate first-aid on him.
Afterwards, Iron Mask promptly round up all of his bandit comrades for all-out assault. With the gang behind him, he marches towards the steel gate, only to shockingly find it busted open, leaving a large hole right in the middle of the gate. The hole was wide enough for two bandit trucks to go through, and the edges appear to be severely serrated and ripped. From the looks of it, it doesn't seem to be caused by explosives, though that leaves a bigger question as to how the hell anyone could do this much damage to this kind of structure otherwise. Whatever's the case is, Iron Mask intends to find out.
Once inside the actual base, there's an even more shocking sight to behold. Hundreds of bodies scattered all across the large interior of the Rust Commons North base. Some of them are definitely dead as the blood is dripping from their motionless corpses, but some of them are still alive, albeit in agonizing pain. The most surprising and perhaps creepiest of it all … some of the bodies are hovering in mid-air, trapped partially inside semi-transparent bubbles of black aura, with limbs hanging out of the bubbles like some kind of floating rag-doll. While most of the bodies attached to these paranormal bubbles are already dead, some are still alive, as their cries for help are drowned into the background noise of the countless pleas of help. Furthermore, there are graffiti-like writings on the wall, seemingly created with the fresh blood from the eviscerated bandits. The writings on the wall said "Waiting for you at the boss room." with blood arrows pointing towards the staircase leading upward to what we could assume was where the boss room is located.
Iron Mask himself doesn't have time to take care of all the injured victims on his own, so he orders the large portion of his group to go help the injured while he and two of his bandit companions go upstairs to pursue the man responsible for all this. At last, he and the two bandits arrived at the main "boss room" that acts more or less as an office for the boss of the camp. Iron Mask signals his two bandits teammates to get ready before he forcibly kicks the door open and pulls out his personal custom-made giant magnum revolver.
The small room itself was not that much to look at, but it was relatively neat compared to any other bandit encampment. There are a few lanterns here and there, partially illuminating the entire room with an orange-yellow glow similar to a campfire. There's a rectangular wooden desk in the middle of it similar to that of a typical office. Accompanying that wooden desk is a large chair of which the elegance of the red-velvet fabric is counteracted by the ranshackleness of the patches of duct tape holding it together. And, of course, Lord Arcane is sitting on that chair, with legs resting on the desk, two shot glasses in one hand and a bottle of rakk-ale in another.
"Huh … took you long enough." Lord Arcane mocked whimsically, as if disregarding the severity of the situation. He got up from his lazy position and began placing the shot glasses on the table in order to pour the contents of the bottle into them. He then approaches the obviously infuriated Iron Mask while holding onto both of the rakk-ale filled shot-glass with his two hands. "And here I was, taking my precious time off just to meet up with you. You have made quite a name for yourself, Iron Mask. There's not a bandit around who doesn't tremble by the mere mention of your name. Being revered for your efficiency as well as your brutality, you also manage your bandit camp to become more akin to that of a well-organized miltiary, thereby garnering quite a large group of loyal and highly-skilled followers. A perfect mixture of both fear and respect, if I might add, which would make even someone such as myself feel green with envy-"
Iron Mask didn't even let Lord Arcane finish his sentence before pressing the barrel tip of his large revolver right on Lord Arcane's forehead, tempted to redecorate the entire room with his brain matter any moment now.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blow you brains out right now!" Iron Mask threatened Lord Arcane with the semi-rhetorical question, eyes bloodshot with fierce rage.
"I'll give you two reasons … and they're right behind you." Lord Arcane countered with cocky confidence. Iron Mask turned around only to see that his two bandit comrades that are accompanying him are now floating helplessly in mid-air. Additionally, they seem to be struggling to breathe, almost like their throats are being strangled by a mysterious invisible force (So basically, the Darth Vader Jedi choke-hold, but with a dash of Lord Arcane's smug attitude added to it.) "Not enough for you. Well, how about taking a look outside?" Iron Mask was curious enough to step out of the office and look out at the large interior area of the base camp he previously came from. To the shock of Iron Mask, all of the bandits in the vicinity, including the ones who just recently came back from the raiding trip with Iron Mask, are floating in midair and seeming being strangled as well. While Iron Mask is frustrated at how helpless he is in this situation, he is also mesmerized by this physics-defying phenomenon. "You know, I did just killed half of your bandits, mortally wounded the other half, and ripped open your pathetic little steel gate out there like it was made of paper. What in the world makes you think that you can do anything against me?"
" *Heavy agitated growl* … what do you want?" Iron Mask asked with held-back anger as he walks back into the office to face Lord Arcane.
"Oh? Now you start to care what I want? How considerate." Lord Arcane's delivery in polite sarcasm was uncanny. He then snaps his finger, promptly causing all of the bandits that are currently floating to safely fall down onto the ground, including the two bandit grunts inside the office. "Well, for starters, I am looking for a man. Specifically, a man by the name of Louis Dauger. You wouldn't happen to know a man by that name, do you?"
Iron Mask's eyes widen in horrifying astonishment. Louis Dauger … not only is he familiar with that name, it's a name that has brought back some twisted memories of which he'd rather not revisit, which means quite a lot coming from a badass bandit leader who is feared by many of his bandit minions. Of course he would know that name. In fact, it's almost impossible to forget that name. Because that name … that name …
"You two …" Iron Mask ordered the two bandits on the ground next to him who were just being Jedi-force-choked a minute ago. "Leave this room, so we can have a talk ... alone. Tell the others out there not to attack anyone until I give the order. Focus on healing the injured. Got it?"
"Yes, boss!" The two bandits agreed high-spiritedly in unison before promptly exiting the room and closing the door behind them. This leaves Iron Mask and Lord Arcane completely alone inside the room. The few seconds of awkward silence has only intensified the tension in this situation.
"Louis Dauger … that's your name, right?" Lord Arcane revealed as he pull up a wooden chair to sit opposite-facing to the patched-up red velvet office chair across the desk. "That's the name you had before … uh, before you established this Iron Mask persona for yourself, ins't it? Honestly, the skull-motif may seem appropriate, but at the same time, overly cliche. You should try mix things up a little bit. You know, to stand out among the crowd."
"Who the hell are you, how did you do that, and how do you know my name?!" Iron Mask interrogated as he frustratingly sat on the boss chair of the room, directly facing Lord Arcane at opposite ends of the wooden desk.
"Ooh, off to a rocky start, are we? Well, no matter. I'm quite an expert in smoothing things out if nothing else." Lord Arcane started out with a mocking friendly gesture. "However, if you will, one question at a time, please? First, the introductions. My name is Lord Arcane, current CEO of the Atlas corporation. You may perhaps refer me as 'milord', 'Lord Arcane', or even cute nicknames such as 'Lordy' if we're on good enough terms."
" 'Lord Arcane'? What are you, some kind of medieval RPG villain?" Iron Mask mocked with unhindered honesty.
"Well, I suppose 'Iron Mask' isn't that high up on the creativity scale either, so let's give each other a pass, shall we?" Lord Arcane suggested. "Secondly, I know much more than just your name, Mr. Dauger. I know you used to be in the Crimson Lance. First Lieutenant of D Company Third Starborne Brigade, if I'm not mistaken. You're basically the right-hand man of the infamous Commandant Steele a couple years back. Then, once the commandant has 'kicked the bucket' due to a certain incident involving a vault and way too many tentacles, you pretty much have nowhere else to go. Well, having the very corporation you work for to abandon you like that probably contributed to the tragedy, but we'll get back to that in a bit. Of course, it isn't directly straight to bandithood that you went. Oh no, your path towards corruption was way more roundabout, because there was once in your life when you were actually part of the Crimson Raiders."
" *Growling* … are you done yet?" Iron Mask spoke with much added agitation as Lord Arcane indiscriminately dig up his whole backstory.
"Far from it my friend. Here." Lord Arcane said before he snaps the finger, causing one of the shot glass filled with rakk-ale to telekinetically slid across the table and stop within Iron Mask's reach. "Neat trick, isn't it? Understandably, plenty of people who saw me using my 'powers' all want to know how it works. But as they always say ... 'A magician never reveals his secret'. Well, I do not count myself as a magician for many reasons. Firstly, I do not perform for the amusement of anyone other than myself. And secondly ... only jokers perform magic tricks." Lord Arcane then winks at the audience. (Touche, Lord Arcane. Touche.)
" *Irritated growl* ... does anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?" Iron Mask growled irritatingly in response to the indirectness of Lord Arcane's chatter.
"Well not really. Because before they have the opportunity to ever comment on that, they are already dead." Lord Arcane implied that he doesn't take insults kindly. "Why don't you have a drink, friend? This retelling of stories is going to take a while." Lord Arcane then snaps his finger once again to cause the other shot glass filled with rakk-ale to mystically float into the air and hover towards Lord Arcane's hand. He then downs the shot glass in one go, only to immediately spit out the contents all over Iron Mask's face in a surge of astonished disgust at the ale's unappealing taste. Presumably, after that first experience, he isn't looking forward to a second glass. "PFFT! Gee, GOD that was awful! You mix skag piss with your ale or was it supposed to taste like that?"
" *Angry growling* …" Iron Mask only responded with an angrier growl as he drinks his own glass of rakk-ale with relative ease, almost like he is adapted to handle its rather unique taste. While he was drinking, he kept his mask lifted only slightly as to avoid revealing his face at all cost.
" *Sigh* … right, where was I? Oh yes, you were part of the lovely gang known as the Crimson Raiders." Lord Arcane continued. "Granted, it was a brief period of enrollment, but you did plenty of great work while you were there, weren't you? Then things have gone south, you and the other members had a falling-out, and finally, the leader of the Crimson Raiders … a chap by the name of Roland … he kicked your sorry ass out of the group, leaving you to fend for yourself once more. After this heart-breaking act of betrayal and abandonment, you probably said to yourself 'To heck with it. If the world wants me to become a bandit, I'll go ahead and become a bandit. I'll set fires on all the homes, rape all the women, and slit the throats of all of the children. It's not like I have a family to worry about-"
"SHUT THE F*CK UP!" Iron Mask's wrath was at the tipping point. He can no longer let Lord Arcane insult him like that anymore and promptly tries to make it very clear by quick-draw his gigantic revolver to shoot at the red-coated bastard. He didn't care if Lord Arcane's mysterious powers somehow make him invulnerable to bullets … he just wants to shoot him real bad. However, before he is even able to fire a bullet, Lord Arcane snaps his finger, causing Iron Mask to levitate in mid-air as well as unwillingly relinquish his revolver so that the gun floats towards Lord Arcane.
" *Sigh* … didn't I say it was useless? Honestly, humans are so emotional sometimes." Lord Arcane said as he grabbed the levitating revolver and pocket it for himself. "That's it, I'm keeping this gun. No more acting trigger-angry for you." Lord Arcane then performs a hand gesture of an index finger swiping downward, causing Iron Mask to slowly drop back to his own seat. After Iron Mask sat down, it felt like his entire body is overcome by a mysterious force weighing him down, forbidding him from moving a muscle. He felt like every part of his body has turned into cement, refusing to respond to his own will to budge. Iron Mask gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in response to how he has to bend to Lord Arcane's every whim. Despite of that, there is nothing he can possibly do right now, so he might as well bear with it until he can figure out what Lord Arcane wants. "Now, since I've brought up the issue, I guess I don't need to 'beat around the bush'. Yes, I know you have a family. A wife and a young daughter, if I may add. Mrs. Isabelle Dauger is quite the lovely woman, isn't she? And the young daughter Mia is quite adorable as well, if I do say so myself. Overall, I'd say it was a relatively happy family. Perfect, almost. Except for one tiny detail ... of which I mean they have already assumed you, the utmost best husband and father in their lovely universe, ... is dead."
"SHUT UP! I SAID SHUT UP!" Iron Mask's blood is practically boiling. Nowhere in his point in life does he want to kill a man more. Being a Crimson Lance for a third of his lifetime means that he has an opportunity to kill people for one reason or another. Usually, these reasons lacks sufficient justification and it ended up wearing down in his conscience over time. But, to see this lunatic manipulator of a man giving hints into threaten his family and to not be able to fight back only infuriates him more. Killing Lord Arcane would instead improve his conscience rather than deteriorate it, if nothing else.
"Now, of course you, being the loving husband and father that you were, is obviously alive and breathing." Lord Arcane continued. "And given your presumably unhindered intelligence and your experience in dealing with both military and corporation alike, it's not entirely out of the question that you might somehow be able to get off this planet and go back to your family. Or, if that is simply not possible, at the very least you could send out an ECHO message to your family indicating that your are alive and well. So that begs the question ... why do that assume that you are dead after all these years? It's almost like you intentionally hide the fact that you are alive and deliberately try to not go back to your family. It's almost like you love being a stinkin' Pandoran bandit scum so much that you just don't care about your family anymore-"
"I SAID SHUT THE F*CK UP, YOU PIECE OF SH*T!" Iron Mask just about had enough of Lord Arcane's incitation. With sheer force of will alone, he manages to use his strength to overpower Lord Arcane's gravitational veil and forcefully grapple onto Lord Arcane's collar with one hand while simultaneously take off his own Iron Mask helmet with the other. Once the metal skull helmet is taken off, what was revealed ... was utterly gruesome. There was barely even a face on the man's head. It's just a fleshy brain and eyeballs attached a long dangling spine, all of which covered in gory flesh without skin. The truth was almost too obvious ... Louis Dauger, the Iron Mask, was a golaith.
" *Evil chuckle* ... so the face of the infamous Iron Mask is finally revealed." Lord Arcane stated obviously, his face showing barely any sign of surprise or fright upon this revelation, almost as if he has predicted the outcome. Either that or this man has absolutely no fear to begin with. "And what an interesting reveal it is. Granted, I could have easily removed that helmet off by myself, but there's a certain joy to be had in forcing people to do things that they aren't comfortable into doing otherwise."
"You know why I never left Pandora?! You know why I hide the fact that I was alive to my own family?!" Iron Mask said, his disfigured jaw surprisingly anatomically sufficient to produce audible words that is somewhat lacking with other golaiths. "It is because of this! It's because of what you corporate scums did to me! I never asked for any of this! I joined the Crimson Lance because it was one of the few jobs that pays well enough to put decent food on my family's table! I did what I was asked! I never questioned my orders! I do the dirty work for some rich assholes and they give me enough cash to raise a family! It was a simple arrangement! Well, it was only kept simple up until they fuckin' ABANDONED US!" Iron Mask pushed Lord Arcane so hard that he fell over his chair and onto the ground. Lord Arcane didn't mind the hostility and casually got up, only to continue listen to Iron Mask's intriguing backstory. "So here I was, stuck in this hellhole of a planet with barely any food or supplies to keep myself alive, let alone find a way to get into contact with my family! Those sh*tbags in Atlas probably spitted out some bullsh*t to my family, saying I was killed-in-action or something! Having no other options, I joined up with the Crimson Raiders, hoping to exchange my service for an opportunity to leave this planet somehow! That plan didn't make much progress! It took too long! They keep making promises and fails to deliver! I was agitated! I was impatient! Things didn't work out between us, so I left them! And then I get captured by some of the others assholes at Hyperion thinking I was still associated with the Raiders! They put me through hell through one of them slag experiments, treating me like a f*ckin guinea pig! Too bad for them, those experiments only made me stronger, and so I used that power to slaughter every one of them Hyperion scientists as payback! And now, because of all that, I turned into ... this! I mean just look at me! LOOK AT ME! How am I supposed to see my family looking like this?!"
"That is quite an interesting story you've got there, Mr. Dauger." Lord Arcane spoke calmly before pulling up his chair and sit on it in a rather gentlemanly fashion. "But even more so, it reinforces my suspicions of you being the perfect candidate to cooperate with my goals."
"What do you mean?" Iron Mask asked out of curiosity.
"Well, for one thing, you are a bandit, or ... at least have some bandit-like traits." Lord Arcane explained. "That means you are not afraid to cross the line of morality as long as you get sufficiently compensated. Secondly, you have a large army behind you, much larger than any other bandit encampment I've come across. Not only that, you also got the tactical prowess to reinforce that strength in numbers. But perhaps the most important quality of all is your history with the Crimson Raiders and vault hunters. You know their strengths ... and their weaknesses. All in all, I'd say you're a perfect candidate of cooperation for my soon-coming battle with the Crimson Raiders."
"Grrr, like hell I'll even think of working with you!" Iron Mask ranted angrily. "You come to my base! You murder half of my crew! You threaten my family! And you'd expect me to be working with you?!"
"Well, I suppose everyone needs a bit of motivation in order to accomplish great tasks. Bandit leaders such as yourself are certainly no exception." Lord Arcane said understandably. With a snap of the finger, he telekinetically lifted a metal briefcase on the floor and floated it into his own hands. That was the same metal briefcase that Lord Arcane was carrying while arriving at the bandit camp. "Now before you attempt to assault me in futility yet again, let me show you why that would be a big mistake. And it all has to do with what's inside this briefcase. Please, make yourself comfortable as I show you its contents."
Iron Mask clenched his fists tightly as he glares Lord Arcane with tremendous killer rage. He knows there's no way that he'd be able to take him down due to Lord Arcane's powers. But at the same time, since Lord Arcane continues to let him live instead of easily killing him, he might as well see what Lord Arcane is trying to show him. As he got back to his desk chair, he picked up his metal skull helmet on the floor and wear it back on his head before sitting down. Meanwhile, Lord Arcane also sits himself down on his own chair before placing the briefcase flat down into the desk. He then calmly opens it and first takes out ... a teddy bear. To any regular person, it looks just like a generic teddy bear with indication of being worn down, such as missing eye button and some stitched patches here and there. But the moment Iron Mask laid his eyes upon that teddy bear, he instantly recognizes it ... it was the teddy bear he gave to his daughter.
"Here. Take a closer look at this object of interest, in case you have any more wavering doubts of its authenticity." Lord Arcane said as he hands the teddy bear over to Iron Mask. Iron Mask looks at it with horror as he turns it around only to find that there are blood stains on the back side of the teddy bear. Based on what he have seen, Iron Mask could only assume the worst.
"Where ... did you get this?" Iron Mask initially speak with a low tone before raising his voice a trillion times in volume. "WHERE THE F*CK DID YOU GET THIS?!"
"Hold on just a minute ... I'm not done yet." Lord Arcane suggested before he takes out another item from his briefcase ... a silver-colored sub-machine gun, also lightly stained with blood. It's appearance was also immediately recognizable by Iron Mask on first sight, even though others who are unfamiliar with the gun's history might mistook it as a generic SMG.
Long ago, when Iron Mask was still Louis Dauger, he was fairly concerned with the family's home security, specifically after a run-in with a home burglary. In this day and age where orb shields are becoming more commonplace even among criminals, Dauger feels like a regular pistol simply won't cut it, so he decided to buy his wife a sub-machine gun instead. He is even willing to throw in an extra buck to get one of the highest quality Atlas SMG's in the market. Even though his wife considered it overkill, Dauger ended up feeling a bit more relieved in the inside.
Lord Arcane knows how badly Iron Mask wants a closer examination and promptly hands it over to Iron Mask for a closer look. Once Iron Mask took a closer examination at the gun, he notices one more detail ... there is a ring attached to the trigger guard of the gun. A wedding ring ... belong to his wife.
"Here you go, another artifact of interest, if you will. I'd say the owner of this gun has good taste." Lord Arcane say almost mockingly. "The Atlas 'Silver', one of the finest sub-machine guns in my company's previous product line. A bit excessive for personal home-defense, but if you truly value your life, you gotta have the best weapons to protect it, right? Well ... the thing is ..." Lord Arcane moves his face closer to Iron Mask before speaking softly to him. "It did squat protecting them against me."
Iron Mask has had it with Lord Arcane. He threw aside everything onto the floor, even shoving away the entire desk with his enhanced goliath-strength, and throws a powerful punch at Lord Arcane's face. The fist is halted only an inch away from Lord Arcane before the enigmatic psychic user unleashes his black aura to somersault Iron Mask into the ground. Lord Arcane didn't even have to lift a finger and a enemy twice his size is alright pinned down onto the ground. Iron Mask is now being pressed into the floor so hard, he feels like he's getting crushed by a rakk-hive's foot.
"I'M GOING TO F*CKIN KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME?!" Iron Mask ranted with all the rage he can muster.
"Oh please. You don't actually think I'd kill them, did you? Where's the fun in that?" Lord Arcane teased conceitedly. He then whirls his hand around to cause Iron Mask to be lifted up from the floor and slam right into the wall. "I've kept them just barely alive for you to be able to reunite with them once more. After all these years, don't you want to see their faces and embrace them with your strong protective arms?"
"I swear to God, if you hurt them, I'm gonna-" Iron Mask threatened loudly before being cut off.
"You're gonna do what, exactly?" Lord Arcane clarified. After the initial burst of adrenaline had washed away, Iron Mask suddenly realizes his predicament here. This man ... this Lord Arcane ... has kidnapped his wife and child in order to threaten him. He has everything meticulously planned and calculated. If he so much as hurt a hair on Lord Arcane, his family is done for. There is no other way out of it if he wants to keep his family safe. "You do miss them ... do you not?"
Iron Mask has become speechless. He does not want to show weakness, even if he is back to a corner. He will not bend to Lord Arcane's will, because that is exactly what he wants. Lord Arcane took note in the stubborn silence and promptly went to the fallen metal briefcase to take out one final item ... an ECHO-recorder.
"Do you want to listen to their voices? The soft tones of their admiration towards you ... their pleas for help of which you ruthlessly ignore ..." Each word from Lord Arcane adds pressure to Iron Mask's shaken morale, as Lord Arcane waves the ECHO-recorder in front of Iron Mask face. Even being pinned to the wall, Iron Mask remains firm, despite slowly showing hints of weakness. Lord Arcane can feel his opponent's will is at the pinnacle of breaking and decides to turn on the ECHO-recorder with the press of a button.
[... *static* ... Louis ... *static* ... Louis, is that you? ...] The faint voices of an adult woman can be heard from the ECHO-recorder.
" *Gasp* ... Isabelle!" Iron Mask thought to himself frighteningly as he recognizes that voice to belong to his wife. Even after all these years, he could never forget the voice of the woman he once loved deeply.
[... Daddy ... *static* ... help, Daddy ... help us ...] Another sequences of words can be heard. This time coming from a young girl.
"... Mia! ... " Iron Mask almost couldn't hold back his tears. He couldn't bear the pain of finally reuniting with even a glimpse of his family's traces, even in a situation like this.
Lord Arcane turns the ECHO-recorder off. Then, with a snap of his finger, he releases Iron Mask from being pinned to the wall, causing Iron Mask to collapse down and kneel onto the floor as an obvious sign of defeat. There is nothing Iron Mask can do to even touch Lord Arcane. In both physical and psychological sense, Lord Arcane is in complete control.
"If you are truly smart, you shall stay on your knees." Lord Arcane declared majestically. "Stay on the ground, lick the underside of my boots, and BEG for my mercy like the pitiful dog that you are! You ... are BENEATH me! Understood?"
"Please ... PLEASE! Don't hurt them ... I'll do anything you ask! Anything!" Iron Mask pleaded in a defeated pose while besides Lord Arcane's feet like a pathetic skaglickin' midget lover.
"HeheheHAHAHAHAHA...!" Lord Arcane practically has the most evil laugh out of all the villains in history. If there's a contest for who has the best evil laugh out of all the villains, Lord Arcane would win first place. "Oh, don't worry. Once I get what I wanted, you and your family can be reunited once more. And unlike my predecessors, I always look out for those who are of use to me."
" *Sobbing* ... what do you want from me ...?" Iron Mask asked while miserably hiding his crying.
"Well, that is quite simple, really." Lord Arcane said before bending down to approach Iron Mask's face. "I want you ... to eliminate the vault hunters. And help me open the vault."
Lord Arcane was treading on the sandy terrain of Pandora's desert once more. This time, walking away from the bandit camp of Rust Common's North and into the unknown beyond the dark horizon. Similar to before, on one hand he is holding the metal briefcase and on the other he is holding onto a red apple that he is currently snacking on, occasionally throwing it up in the air in a playful manner. The apple still falls slower than you might expect.
*Crunch* *Munch* *Munch*
Every bite releases a sharp crisp crunching sound.
" *Chuckles* ... Apple, apple, why do you fall? Because of gravity or because of me?" Lord Arcane spoke leisurely to himself as he continues to walk away.
Meanwhile, Iron Mask is still inside his own office, which is now trashed due to the earlier incident. Iron Mask himself is now sitting on the floor, comtempating on the events and the things he must do from then on. One of the bandits came into the office to meet up with Iron Mask.
"Hey, uh boss. You sure you just want to let that jerkbag walk away from all this?" The bandit underling asked.
"You got a problem with that?" Iron Mask replied rhetorically as he got up and glaring his angry eyes at the bandit underling.
"Uh, no boss. I mean, you the boss, so who am I to question?" The bandit confirmed frailly.
"Good. Now, I need you to do something for me." Iron Mask ordered
"Sure boss, what is it?" The bandit obediently replied.
"Contact ... the 'Triple S'. Tell them there's a job for them." Iron Mask said.
"The ... the 'Triple S'!' Boss ... are you sure?" The bandit was already frightened from the mere mention of that name. Whoever or whatever this 'Triple S' is, clearly it should not be trifled with.
"Yeah, I'm sure! Now get on with it!" Iron Mask yelled before kicking the bandit out of the office. For all they know, there is going to be a war coming and they are going to need all the help they can get.
Author's Note: "BICYCLE HAMLET SHYLOCK!" Yeah, if you haven't noticed while playing Borderlands 2, there are quite a number of references to Shakespeare, such as psychos yelling "... my pound of flesh!" (possible Merchant of Venice reference, Shylock being a major character in it) and literally reciting from "Hamlet"! The makers of this game are crafty sons of b*tches, aren't they?
Also, I consider Lord Arcane's fight with the GOD-liath being one of the most interesting things to write in this fanfic. (You ever fought a GOD-liath? They are tough sons of b*tches.) Sure it was one-sided, but the point of this fight is to demonstrate Lord Arcane's playful attitude towards adversity. He didn't simply kill everyone he sees. He wants to build up his opponents' strength before he utterly demolishes them. He tries to set up the playing field so that you would assume you have the upper-hand, only for him to sucker-punch you into an astonishing defeat, which is detrimental to his opponents' morale. This will be demonstrated on later chapters, of course, so watch out for that.
Also, "Only jokers perform magic tricks." An obvious reference to "The Dark Knight", perhaps a bit too touchy of a subject as well, if you know what I mean. So ... too soon?