Zane was…honestly unprepared for how Carnivora looked.
Him and the others had just gotten past the gates and, at last, were within the "festival of murder".
Sure, for the most part it had the same, ragged theme as many buildings on Pandora but, also, he could see some other things: concession stands, some photo-booths, and even a fucking Ferris wheel in the distance!
It made Zane wonder where all this shite was when he was a kid; he fucking loved Ferris Wheels!
"Vault Hunter, Carnivora just started broadcasting across the ECHONet," Lilith said into his earpiece. "The sacrifice is about to begin; don't let anything get between you and Tannis!"
"Nothin' will." They advanced forwards, Zane being the first to hear someone broadcasting on the place's PA system, saying something about 'the Agonizer 9000'…certainly sounded problematic. And no doubt something to address later.
"THE HERETICS ARE HERE—" A bandit's head exploded into gore. Zane turned to see FL4K had, curtly, blown someone's head into bits before they could raise a weapon. Of course, it led to the place going from a jovial festival into a warzone; bullets flew everywhere, and grenades exploded about. Zane took cover behind a barrier, dropping down his Barrier and using it to return fire, popping a few heads and dropping some bandits along with the others.
"Well, shite, this ain' good." He muttered. "These fuckers're gonna keep us from Tannis. Y'all got a way to clear a path?"
"One." Amara grunted. The Siren leapt over her cover and slammed her fist into the ground, Phaseslamming an explosive barrel and sending it flying at the crowd of attackers, blowing them into bloody bits. "Let's move while they regroup!"
"Gotcha, one sec though." Zane walked over to the, now, abandoned concession stand, rummaging behind it to grab a beer before moving. Sure, it'd probably taste like ass, but what kinda man would he be if he didn't blow bandits to bits with a cold one in hand?
"By the way, Vaughn," Moze asked, sticking close and keeping her AR aloft. "Who's that jackass talking on the loudspeaker?"
"That'd be Pain. Like I said, him and Terror run the carnival, and are directly in charge of the sacrifices. They 'hype' the crowd up and whatnot…but still, it's weird."
"Death does not need a 'hype man'," FL4K growled. "I will send them to meet her, personally."
"That's the spirit, bud!" They passed across a series of metal bridges, and a quick look over the edge told Zane a fall would definitely be fatal, for both them and the cultists.
That was why, when some of said cultists posted themselves on the other side of the bridge, Zane rolled a grenade across, letting it explode and send them screaming into the abyss.
"…eh…that felt less thrillin' than I thought it'd be." Zane muttered. At the rate they were at now, it wouldn't take long for them to reach Tannis, who no doubt was in the center of this weird place.
Hopefully, they had time to save her and ride the Ferris Wheel. Because why not, right?
Moze bashed a bandit's head in with her assault rifle, screaming profanities until the fucker stopped moving. "Augh…fuck…why'd I have to run outta ammo here?"
"Cause ya probably forgot to see Marcus and grab some extra ammo," Zane walked past her, reloading his handgun and heading for the lift they found. "happens to all've us at some point. Even someone as skilled as ya."
"Go to hell."
"We're IN hell, Mozzy Moze…well…some would call Pandora hell. But, either way, ya HAVE been lootin' from their bodies, right?"
"I mean, yeah." She honestly didn't; even if they were crazy cult fuckers, it always felt weird just rummaging through their pockets for some ammo, and when she DID try to loot, they had ammo for a gun she wasn't using.
"Well," Zane kicked a dead cultist ahead of her. "Check him. Saw him usin' an SMG."
"Eh…not…a fan of those things."
"Why not? They ain' bad. Sure, they lack the punch of an assault rifle, but y'know what they do got?"
"And what's that?" Moze expected a crude remark or a joke.
"Handling and accuracy," He concluded, finishing off the beer he…stole from somewhere and tossing it over his shoulder. "SMG's ain't got much punch but they're a fuck-ton easier to manage and, thus, ya ain' missin' shots as often. Didn' FL4K talk to ya 'bout this."
"Probably." Moze was still in disbelief Zane was giving actual, good advice. "Fuck…I guess I'll try one."
"Good. Now hurry up. I think Tannis is tryin' to stall the fuckers. It ain' working." Zane moved on and Moze reached down to pick up the SMG Zane mentioned. It was…well for lack of better words, a piece of shit. Rugged, old, and damaged; the only thing it had going was a bayonet attached to the front, so at the very least, she could shank someone with it.
The Gunner joined her team on the elevator and rode it down, soon finding herself in a large, open cave, with the same, rugged buildings scattered about. It looked like a crude residential area, and already she could see bandits rushing forward, armed and ready.
So, the Gunner raised the SMG and open fired, feeling her arm jerk significantly less and for one of her rounds to soar right through a cultist's chest, sending her to the ground.
"Huh…SMG's aren't all bad." She kept shooting, shifting to cover with the others. Gunfire erupted all around as, once again, they were forced on the defensive, fighting off the waves of COV fuckers.
However, amid the firefight, Moze heard what 'Pain' was saying, or rather, she heard him mention something about Eridium. Vaughn did mention something about them bringing it here but, maybe, they could do something with that, after they saved Tannis, of course.
Maybe they could rig it to explode or something. Anything to deny the COV an advantage, especially when the fucking twins were getting stronger each moment.
Amara loaded another slug into her shotgun and advanced with the others, stepping over another dead body. They were nearing Carnivora's center at last, where they could rescue Tannis and make some headway in breaking the twins.
"Folks, we arrive to our GRAND Sacrifice! The heretic Scientist and—"
The intercom cut out. Amara stepped onto a lift, a brow raised, as now nothing but radio static sounded through the speakers.
"Huh, Vault Hunters, whatever you're doing down there, it's working. The stream just cut out."
"That…isn't us, Lilith. Someone else did that." The lift stopped and Amara stepped off. Ahead of them was another set of gates and, atop them, was a skull with flaming pipes by it. Beyond said gate was a massive, gaudy contraption, one that gave her a sense of worry mixed with concern.
"Oh, so this entire time we weren' in Carnivora." Zane muttered nearby.
"What?" Moze growled. "The fuck's that mean?"
"All've that was just the outskirts. The small-time shite. But THIS is the real-deal…this is where we gotta be."
"Then let's take them down and—" The ground rumbled. Amara turned just in time to watch…well plain and simple, watch Carnivora drive away.
"…it moves?" The Siren huffed. "That's…new."
"It's fucking BULLSHIT." Moze sighed. "Lilith, the festival's driving away. Any ideas?"
"I got one." Amara turned to see the Operative standing next to…well the gold Technical they stole earlier, still in pristine and working condition. The old man was already in the driver's seat, cranking the engine on and letting the vehicle roar to life. "We're gonna run that bitch down. Everyone, climb in and get ready. This'll be fun." Amara climbed into the gunner's seat as Moze and FL4K deposited themselves in the back. Zane floored it and the Technical zoomed after the, now, fleeing Carnivora, gaining speed and advancing on it.
"Mara Mar, you know how to fire that thing, right?"
"Naturally, why?"
"Blow up the fuel lines. We take 'em down, we'll slow this fucker down." Amara nodded and adjusted the barrel catapult. Once she had her target she let it fly, watching the barrel smash into the fuel line and violently explode, resulting in a hole being ripped in the side of the metal canister.
Her shields flickered. "Damnit, we're being fired at!" She saw a few Cyclones drop from the underside of Carnivora, speeding towards them and open firing.
"We got these fuckers, you worry about the fuel lines!" Moze called before returning fire, sending one of the Cyclones smashing into another. With the threat being handled, Amara returned her focus to the fuel lines, smashing more explosive barrels into them and crippling them too. A Cyclone rolled past, guns raised to shoot at her, but it was blown to bits, courtesy of a well-placed shot from FL4K.
"Typical Vault Thief behavior…if you can't win, drag 'em down with you. I see how it is."
Pain was already getting annoying. Zane sped the Technical up just as more Cyclones dropped down, all being dealt with in a matter of moments, now that Amara's focus wasn't sorely on the fuel lines.
"Now, hammer that fuckin' transmission. They lose that, they go nowhere." Amara nodded and, curtly, fired a slew of barrels at it when Zane got close enough, resulting in the massive behemoth of a carnival coming to an abrupt stop.
"Alright, good work everyone." Amara climbed out the Technical, eyeing a pipe that'd fallen once the massive vehicle came to a halt. "Now, let's go save Tannis."
[A bit jankier with this one. I didn't remember until, while writing, that Carnivora has an interior too. So, it feels fitting for that to be its own chapter, especially because that's where the climactic boss fight is. Not a perfect plan, but I've never been one for perfectly planning things, after all.
So, reviews.
For TAG AND BINK: I didn't have Moze run the skag down 'cause I figured she wouldn't know that's normal. As I recall, they were only on Pandora for less than a day before going up to Sanctuary, so really, Zane's the only one aware of Pandora's customs and taboos, so to speak.
For T0KY0 D4RK: The Great Vault will definitely be where I'll have to include everyone in a massive, heroic assault. May mean it'll get broken into a few chapters but that tends to happen.
Stay tuned, people. We'll see if I can save the later stages of BL3's plot. Here's hoping.]