"And that's the last of 'em." Zane lowered his handgun just as the last Maliwan soldier fell dead; the four of them standing on a metal platform with a slew of deceased Maliwan soldiers scattered about. It was a challenge, yes, but…well…no it wasn't. Maliwan's troops were fucking idiots.
But Zane was a good sport. He'd tell people they give an honest attempt.
"Alright, good, looks like that's the last of them—"
"Already made that joke." Zane said dryly, holstering his gun. "But, good effort."
"Shit, sorry. Anyhow, go ahead and hit that button nearby, and it'll open a chute up. That should get you into the Maliwan base." Said button was pressed a second later, courtesy of Amara, and the chute in the ground opened up.
"So, just jump down that chute, and it should put you four on a fast course for the control room. Cause…I don't think Katagawa's gonna let that laser stay down for much longer, and I'll be DAMNED if he destroys my favorite salon!"
"…he…goes to a salon…?" Moze deadpanned. "That's…weird."
"Ain' terrible, though," Zane pat his own hair with a smirk. "Ya think I got this naturally?"
"I did, cause it looks like shit."
"Heh, well I think it looks amazing." Zane turned his attention back to the chute, scratching his chin. "Still, that's gonna be a long fall. Everyone, use whatever ya can and…I guess slide down the sides." Zane was the first one down, dropping off the platform and, once he was past the rim of the chute, turned to stab his energy wristblades into the side, feeling them sink deep into the metal but, ultimately, stop his fall.
He also had time to reach up and catch Moze by her arm as she fell past, the Gunner swearing up a storm. "…ya dropped yer knife, didn't you?"
"Just shut up and get us down there."
"Heh, should invest in these bad boys, then." Zane gestured to his claws before he began to slide downwards, seeing Amara was using her astral arms to slide down, and FL4K was using their weird knife, though their jabber was simply hanging off their backpack. The descent was a lengthy, boring one, but thankfully it wasn't filled with Maliwan; Zane could fight in a lotta places, but not when he was hanging on to a friend.
The four of them reached the bottom of the chute, Zane letting Moze go and retracting the blades into his gauntlet. "Still, Mozzy Moze, these're pretty cheap nowadays. So, pick some up when ya can."
"Augh…I'll consider it. Now where the fuck are we?" The new area reminded Zane of a mineshaft, except…y'know…shitty. Still, for the time, it was quiet, and if it was on the right path, then there were no complaints.
"We must go," FL4K walked past, shouldering their newly acquired assault rifle, their jabber following suit. "The sooner we reach our destination, the sooner I can rake my blade across this Katagawa's eye."
"…eerily specific—" Zane came to a complete halt when something fired a blast at the spot he was almost a moment ago. He looked up to see many floating metal balls, all aiming demented cannons at them.
"…oi, Rhys, are those the death-spheres ya were scared of?"
"O-Oh, those? Y-Yeah, they are—watch out!" Zane jerked back as a blast struck the ground, the Operative sighing and tossing out his Digiclone.
As much as he hated to say it, he wished things were easier for once. Cause this was just nuts.
"FUCK!" Moze panted in exhaustion as she stood over another destroyed death-sphere. When Rhys told her about the damn things, she was expecting some small, weird orbs that just exploded like mines; not fucking laser cannons that had enough plating to match Iron Bear! But, like with everything they've fought, it just took the right amount of bullets to get rid of it.
"Good, now just go ahead and—"
"Die, please. I'm getting quite sick of this little game." Katagawa's voice made her grunt in annoyance, though that changed to ire when, ahead, the metal doors suddenly slammed shut, sealing them off from their path.
"…Amara, can you punch through these doors?" The Siren shook her head. "Fuck…alright, Rhys, anything on your end? Can your little Viper Drive get us through this shit?"
"I doubt it; no terminal around. B-But I got an idea! I can remote-control one of those, admittedly, sweet spheres and give you a hand! Just pick one out for me and the Viper Drive will do the rest." Moze sighed and got moving, hearing the others peppering and destroying the remaining death-spheres as the Gunner looked for one that wasn't trying to blow them up.
It didn't take her long to happen across one, the Gunner tapping it with her foot. "How about this?"
"Ehhh…nah, that one's full of ratch turds." She retracted her foot and kept walking, soon finding another death-sphere.
"Aaaaand this one?"
"Nah, too big; not my style." Moze's eye twitched, but she just took a deep breath and kept moving. The last one better be it, else she'd punch Rhys right in the dick when she finally saw him.
"Aaaaaand THIS one?"
"Oh that's PERFECT! Use the Viper Drive and—" Moze didn't even let him finish; she rammed the Viper Drive into the death-sphere and stepped back, watching it rise up and…she noticed something. For one, it was differently shaped than the others…and it had a heart on it.
…Moze realized this was not a death-sphere.
"Uh, Rhys—"
"Not now," His voice came from the sphere now; that was a change. "Antigravity, too? Very nice! But-ahem-this isn't a probe, by the way, so do not call be Rhys-Probe or whatever. From here on out, I'll be called Rhys-Ball. Wanted to do Rhys-Sphere, but…eh…doesn't roll of the tongue well. So, let's get that door open, and get to the control room." Moze just watched him fly off, looking over to Amara.
"He does know that's a pleasure sphere, right?"
"Shh…let him figure it out." Moze was down for that.
"Attention all Maliwan soldiers, first one to bring me a dead Vault Hunter will receive a two-hour pass to the Zanara, and all the pleasures and fun it contains…at a moderate limit." Amara sighed as, once again, Katagawa tried to incite and inspire his soldiers to successfully killing her and her friends, but, like every other time, the Maliwan soldiers were reduced to pulp and bits before they could get close.
"Anyone else wish we could shut this moron up?" Everyone nodded in response. "Glad it isn't just me. How much further to the control room, Rhys—"
"It's Rhys-Ball, for now. Rhys-Ball."
"Ugh, Rhys-Ball. How much further?" She was mildly tempted to punt him across the room, but shooting at the Maliwan soldiers, unfortunately, kept her busy.
"Um…shouldn't be much further from here. I'm gonna have to stay hidden for the most part…didn't…didn't really know this was a pleasure-bot." Oh, so he found out…Amara was disappointed he wasn't freaking out. But, oh well. She made sure her EVA helmet was functioning as she saw they were back out in the vacuum of space, Amara clenching a hand and sending an astral arm out to grab a Maliwan Heavy, lifting him high into the sky before slamming him down atop his friends, causing them to explode in gore and fire. The path continued to change and, gradually, the amount of Maliwan interference was deteriorating. So, either the soldiers were scared to come after them, or they were actually running out of men, this time.
She honestly wasn't sure which was better, at this point.
"Ah, damnit," Amara came to a halt, seeing a hard-light wall blocking their path. "Katagawa's set up a firewall…tch…alright, so, we're gonna have to destroy the servers controlling them." Amara raised a brow at that.
"I'm no tech expert, but won't that cause a slew of other problems?"
"Psh, like what?"
"I dunno, destabilizing the life support of this base and probably cause it to explode violently?" Rhys was silent.
"I-I mean, if you wanna get technical, it's on the table. But, y'know, that's like a…small…little chance. Like…forty four percent."
"That's the opposite of little!" Amara shouted.
"Look, Mara, push comes to shove, I can figure which server does what and splice it the normal way. This ain' my first time fuckin' up a Maliwan base and it looks like it ain' gon' be the last." Amara was still skeptical, but she was going to see what happened. The door opened and the four of the delved inside, lighting up any Maliwan they saw.
"Heads up!" Amara ducked down as a few blasts shot past, the Siren seeing a newer, unique Maliwan troop there, one that looked purely mechanized as opposed to the others they saw. "Keep eyes on that one! Looks important!"
"Not for long." The Siren sprinted towards the mechanized unit and clenched her fist; her astral arm erupting underneath it and suspending it in the air before she used another one to slam an explosive barrel into it, decimating the mechanized soldier, but it didn't seem ready to die, yet.
"Mara! Heads up!" The Siren felt the air leave her lungs when rockets pelted her; her shields flickered and faded as she hit the ground, though she was able to roll to the side before the Maliwan soldier pressed on their advantage, feeling a hard-light shield envelop her, courtesy of Zane's Barrier. "Ya good?"
"I…think." That was a new experience; actually getting put in the corner. It was one she didn't want to repeat. The Operative offered a hand and she accepted it, getting to her feet and looking over at the mechanized soldier. It was…well it was finally down, namely because FL4K's jabber was smashing it into the ground, the monkey currently irritated and charged with that demented energy.
"We need to hurry," The Siren looked over at the Beastmaster, seeing FL4K currently slumped against a wall, shaking their head. "My energy reserves won't last much longer. I need to recharge."
"I'll find something." Moze holstered her gun and walked off, leaving Zane and Amara in the spacious room filled with dead soldiers.
"Mara, stay here and keep an eye on our metal friend, 'kay? I'll go splice the servers and get things done." He recalled his Barrier and sauntered off, Amara walking over to FL4K and kneeling by the Beastmaster.
"Are you going to be okay?" FL4K nodded. "Out of curiosity, what'll happen if you run out of power?"
"…I'm honestly not sure." They said. "Typically, I manage to recharge my chassis long before I reach this state. Most likely, I'll go into a rest-mode like state, and if I'm not charged then…well death, I suppose." They said it so casually; Amara found that haunting.
"Well, don't worry. Moze's gonna bring you something to give you a boost. But, just in case, hang back so you don't push yourself, okay?"
"Understood. I do not want to shut down. Not on such a glorious hunt." She had to chuckle at that. At least FL4K was an optimist. The Siren could hear Moze approaching, so at least they could get their friend up and running for the last leg of their assault.
The last thing she wanted was to actually lose someone on this fun journey. But, the odds of that were quite slim.
"Thank you for the assistance again, Moze," FL4K checked their energy stores once more as the group rode the elevator down to the control room. While it wasn't a massive amount of energy, it was at least enough to, hopefully, get them through the rest of this hunt safe and sound. "This energy should be enough to keep me going for a while longer."
"Hey, it's what friends are for, right?" The elevator hit the ground and Zane dropped his Barrier, bullets riddling and striking it as FL4K returned fire with their sniper rifle, popping heads without any hesitation.
"What the absolute FUCK are you fools doing?! They're in the control room! DO SOMETHING!" Katagawa was breaking. This was the right time.
"Oi, Katagawa! Why don' ya go cuddle ya're Rhys body-pillow?" Zane's insult spurred Katagawa into angry, incoherent screaming. "Hey, this insultin' thing's pretty fun, FL4K. I'mma make fun of the Calypsos next." FL4K nodded.
"Hey, guys! I think I can hack the laser!" The Beastmaster's attention was turned to Rhys-Ball. "Wasn't hard to get control of it; Katagawa's security's shitty here!" FL4K guessed that was because the obsessive man assumed no one would ever make it this far. Such arrogance was disgusting. "Keep me covered while I finish the hack; I'm gonna blow his precious pleasure boat out the sky!"
"It's a pleasure yacht you gorgeous moron!" FL4K did as Rhys-Ball asked, the Beastmaster sniping a few more soldiers and keeping them busy. "Guuuuuys, let's talk about this; someone stronger was going to take over Atlas regardless. If it wasn't Maliwan, it was gonna be Jakobs, or Vladof, or even Tediore for crying out loud!" He was panicking. Good.
"Almost got it!"
"Hang on, don't blow up my pleasure yacht! I got so many fun memories there!"
"So did I at lazy river park! FIRING!" FL4K felt the ground rumble, the Beastmaster looking over as that purple beam arched across the sky…and engulfed the Zanara, blowing it to bits and, no doubt, eradicating everything and everyone within it. Now, Katagawa's screams were agonized wails.
"You've been avenged, my sweet frogurt…ahem, so, let's get that key fragment. Should be in the center of the room and—" Something emerged from the ground. Something that, in a flash, destroyed Rhys-Ball in a flash of cyan energy. The thing was another death-sphere, but far larger…and far more dangerous.
"Rhys-Ball! Nooooo!"
"Everyone, heads up!" The ball fired a laser at the wall and the group took cover, Zane erecting another Barrier and keeping himself covered as he returned fire as best he could. Moze was already in her Iron Bear, returning fire as well, as Amara used one of her astral arms to open fire with two shotguns; something the Beastmaster wasn't even sure she could do. However, FL4K saw their attacks were largely ineffective; the new death-sphere had reinforced armor and was quite durable…almost.
Amid the fighting, they could see there was a power cell; exposed whenever the ball fired its death laser. If they could get close enough, they could damage that core and perhaps create an opening for the others.
"Meat-Thief," The jabber perked up. "Distraction time." The jabber, without missing a beat, picked up a nearby shock barrel and flung it at the sphere, causing it to flinch as FL4K cloaked themselves, sprinting around the sphere and, when it fired its laser once more, they leapt off the edge of the metal platform and stabbed their blade into the metal hull, sinking it deep and anchoring themselves to the side. They could feel the death-sphere shaking itself around and trying to dislodge them, though it was to no avail. Their blade was raised again, and when the core was exposed, FL4K stabbed it downwards, feeling their body quake and spasm as they siphoned the energy from it. It didn't feel too good, but it was helping immensely, evident by the death-sphere slowing down.
"Strike it while it's weak!" They dropped down as the others continued to focus on the sphere and, in a matter of moments, it blew to bits, FL4K landing on their feet and shaking themselves off. Honestly, that plan was…far beyond what they would have normally done; it worked, at least.
"Woooo! Suck on that, Katagawa! Don't mess with Atlas! Alright, so, Vault Key's in there, Vault Hunters. Go ahead and get it and…I…guess find a way back. Didn't think this through." FL4K wished they could sigh. Rhys was a poor planner; it made them wonder how he kept Atlas safe for eight years…
"Zane," They mashed their hand down onto their ECHO. "You heard that, correct?"
"Sadly, yeah, but don' fret. Ol' Zane's got an idea."
"Define idea."
"Depends; how much do you wanna bet we can survive a fall from orbit?"
…FL4K was going to find sighing software as soon as possible.
(So, bit late today, but I'm recovering from Finals and getting some other works done. But, I'll keep updating this regularly so everyone has something fun to read.
Anyhow, Matt22152 asked why FL4K's the one to insult the Calypsos; the reason for this is because they seem like the sort of person to insult someone, regardless of moral boundaries. That, and it felt funny.
Anyhow, thanks for all the support, and in the coming chapters, we'll be touching on some harsher subjects. So, stay tuned!)