Songs: The Last Internationale - Cod'ine; The Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel
Today was the day. Today was the day that Anouk would make it to Pandora. I was waiting for an ECHO message anytime now, while I was helping Ellie to do maintenance on Sanctuary's engines. I had never seen engines looking that bad before. It was a miracle that the city was still holding up at all.
"Hey, can you pass me that wrench, girl?" Ellie asked.
"Sure." I said and climbed back up to where all the tools were. I grabbed the wrench and brought it down to Ellie. The space down here was really narrow and it was an absolute pain to crawl around here. But we had to do it, if we didn't want the city to fall out of the sky any second.
"When's your girl coming again?" Ellie asked while she was working away on the engine. I wiped some sweat from my forehead, probably leaving a streak of black grease on it. I couldn't be bothered too much.
"Later today. She said she's gonna echo me when she's on the shuttle, so I can go and get her from Tundra Express. I mean, the Fast Travel Station is right there, but still. Wouldn't wanna leave her alone when she first gets here and all." I answered when my ECHO device was beeping.
"Speaking of the devil..." I mumbled.
"Nova? Are you in Sanctuary?" I heard Anouk's voice asking.
"Yeah, I am. Are you on the shuttle? I can go and pick you up from there." I said. I heard some shuffling in the background.
"Nah, it's all good. Hang on a second." she replied and a few seconds later the connection broke down.
"What the...?" I mumbled, trying to get the connection back. Ellie looked at me and grinned widely.
"Y'know what I'm thinkin'?" she asked.
"What?" I said absentmindedly, still trying to get the connection back.
"I'm thinkin' she's in Sanctuary right now."
"What? But... oh goddamn it. I think you might be right." I replied, when I realized that she probably asked if I was in Sanctuary because she was already on Pandora and at the Fast Travel Station.
"Told ya. Now go on and find her, before she gets lost in Sanctuary." Ellie said with a smug grin on her face.
"You gonna be okay down here?" I asked.
"Sure. Go on ahead, don't let her wait!" Ellie replied.
"Thanks, Ellie. See you later." I said laughing and climbed up through the engine room and opened the maintenance entrance. The light that was shining into my eyes was almost blinding me, as I climbed out of the maintenance shaft. It took me a few seconds to get adjusted to it.
When I could finally see clearly again, I looked down and saw that I had black grease all over me. Great. Well, I didn't have time to get changed or anything, especially if Anouk was already in Sanctuary. I made my way towards Pierce Station, hoping she hadn't left it and was wandering around the town, already.
"Anouk, are you at Pierce Station?" I asked her over my ECHO, just to be sure I didn't have to walk through the whole town again to find her.
"Yeah, I just got here and realized I have no idea where to go now." she replied quickly, sounding a little embarrassed.
"I'll come and get you." I said, laughing a little.
"Thanks."
I turned around a corner and walked into Pierce Station, trying to wipe my hands on my old cargo pants to at least get rid of some of the grease. It didn't help much, but at least I got some of it off my hands.
As I looked up I saw Anouk there with a massive backpack on her bag and a duffle bag in her hand, that looked like it was full of guns and ammo. She did come prepared after all. And there was another familiar face with her.
"Jael?" I asked, surprised to see her again. I mean, it shouldn't have been as surprising as it was, but I was expecting her to arrive on Pandora on her own at some stage, fleeing from some terrible gang war.
"'Sup?" she asked with a smug grin. I looked back at Anouk, not sure if they had just met randomly or if they had come here together or what the deal was. I mean, I had planned to let them stay in the apartment anyway, since Mordecai and I barely spent any time there at all.
"I brought Jael over with me, since you told her she can come to Pandora anytime, I thought it'll be okay." Anouk told me.
"Yeah, sure, it's no problem. I'd hug you, but I'm kinda gross right now..." I said, when Anouk just went for the hug anyway.
"You been working on a car or something?" she asked me.
"No, it wouldn't be that bad if it was only a car. I've been working on the engines that keep the city flying. They're barely holding up, but we gotta do what we can. So far we haven't figured out a way to safely bring Sanctuary back down." I answered and looked over at Jael. I still couldn't really get over the fact that she was just... here now. Probably ready to join the Crimson Raiders.
"Is the city still running on the old ship engines? That's wild." Anouk said.
"Yeah, we don't really have anything else right now, so... I guess the engines will have to do. Before we go to HQ... everyone wants to meet you. It might be a bit overwhelming, but they're all amazing people, so don't worry. Just thought you might wanna know, before you're ambushed." I told them.
"Sure, no problem. I can't wait to meet everyone. Is Gaige back already?" Anouk wanted to know.
"Gaige is back, but I think she's just out trying to get some supplies. I thought you guys could stay in our apartment, since we barely stay there at all. Or if you'd prefer to be around some people, you might be able to stay in some of the bunk beds in HQ, but I'd have to talk to Lilith about that first." I said.
"I'll stay wherever it suits. I don't need much." Jael chimed in.
"Same for me, really." Anouk agreed.
"Cool, things should be easy then. Let's head to HQ, so." I replied and started walking ahead of them towards HQ.
"You probably already guessed it, but I'm here to possibly join the Raiders. If you're still looking for people." Jael said.
"Yeah, you might wanna talk to Lilith about that. She probably won't say no, but the Raiders don't have much to do at the moment. But if you talk to her, she'll probably let you join, especially considering one of us went off to do his own thing again." I replied, thinking back to the big falling out that Brick and Lilith had the other day. Brick wasn't a fan of her leadership style (he probably wasn't a fan of anyone's leadership style) and left Sanctuary with Tina.
"Cool, thanks. I'll do that. And if not, I'm sure I can find something else to do here. Or I'll go back with Anouk, I'll see." Jael said. Hold up. Going back with Anouk? So did that mean, she did come here with her?
"You can come back anytime with me. No one will mind, no matter what you think." Anouk replied.
"We've talked about that. You know what I think." Jael just said, causing Anouk to sigh and shake her head. She looked back at me with an apologetic smile.
"She can be real stubborn." she said to me.
"So wait. Did you get her together or did you meet on whatever ship you were on or what's the story?" I wanted to know.
"Oh, Jael came back home with me after the competition was finished and now she's living with me and Nadia, basically. She said some people were after her and she had to leave Artemis." Anouk told me.
"Huh. Okay. Anyway, this is HQ." I said, pointing at the building. We walked up to the door and went inside. Of course, Tannis was downstairs working away on some part of the Vault Map. She's been working on it ever since we found it, but she hasn't been able to actually get any new information.
"Hey, Tannis." I said to her. She just looked up and eyed both Jael and Anouk suspiciously. I sighed quietly.
"This is Patricia Tannis, she's a brilliant scientist, probably knows more about Eridians and their weaponry and technology than anyone else. She's a genius, but usually pretty busy. Tannis, this is my daughter Anouk and her friend Jael." I introduced them. Tannis just nodded.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Anouk said. Tannis blinked, as if she was surprised that someone was talking to her.
"Uh... hi?" she replied.
"Cool, let's move upstairs, I think most should be hanging around there." I said and we walked up the stairs.
"Don't mind Tannis, she's brilliant, but she sometimes forgets how to speak to people. If she says something rude, she usually doesn't mean it." I told them quietly. We got to the top of the stairs and saw Zero and Maya sitting on the couch, eyes glued to a monitor with some ECHO show on it.
"Hey, guys." I said to them. They looked over at me, Anouk and Jael.
"Oh my God, finally! We've heard a good few stories about you! I'm Maya, how was your trip here?" Maya asked them, offering them some nachos.
"It was alright. Pretty relaxed, but slow. We had so many stops on the way, I thought I'd go insane." Anouk replied.
"Well, you're here. Any plans on what to do?" Maya asked. She seemed really excited to meet them. I sat down on the couch next to Zero and grabbed a handful of nachos. I was really hungry from fixing that engine.
"That Sal's nachos?" I wanted to know.
"Maybe." Zero replied. Okay. They were Salvador's nachos then. Everyone had kind of made a sport out of stealing his nachos and getting away with it. This was probably no different. While Anouk, Jael and Maya were chatting away happily, I saw Lilith come into the room, looking at them curiously.
"Hey, Lil." I said, so she could meet them, before Maya started taking them on a tour of the planet or something. They all looked over to her leaning on the doorframe. I got up from the couch.
"Lil, that's my daughter Anouk and her friend Jael. I've told you about Jael before. Girls, that's Lilith, pretty much head of the Crimson Raiders. Even though it's not official. Also, one of my best friends for the past couple of years and not just because there was a general lack of good friends." I introduced them.
"Hi everyone. It's about time we all meet you. Nova's taken us all on that weird rollercoaster ride of emotions when it came to you, Anouk. Thank God that's settled. Where are you planning to stay?" Lilith asked.
"Well, either Nova's and Mordecai's place or... well, Nova said, we could possibly stay here, too?" Anouk replied.
"Yeah, I was just gonna offer you to stay here if you don't mind the bunk beds and a bunch of people running around all the time." Lilith said.
"Sure, here seems pretty cool." Jael answered. Lilith nodded and grinned.
"Perfect. Everyone's pretty eager to meet you, so you probably won't get bored. Just pick whatever bed you like and settle in."
"Awesome, thanks a lot!" Anouk said.
"No problem, girls. Welcome to Sanctuary."
