2

Cricket

Empire of Negramstia, the Borderlands, Devourers' unnamed base...

Don't shit where you eat.

Cricket had heard that human expression from a Shinobi Thief as to why they never stole from the cities they inhabited. It certainly did make sense, after all why would anyone do business with you if you're a complete asshole? Sure, being feared had its advantages but it also had its own problems that you had to deal with.

And besides, it didn't take long for someone afraid of you to try and do something…

Cricket made a noise that sounded like a chuckle. He was watching the progress being made, and he found that he liked it. As second in command, it was his job to make sure everyone and everything was neat and tidy. The Boss didn't like inefficiency. When he saw something was either too slow or not up to his standards, it was Cricket's job to set straight that which was twisted and to unfuck the situation by any means necessary.

Back in their Second Empire days, he was Locust's best scout and the Skeleton you turned to in order to get something done. The STM Model 3 Skeleton walked over to where Kabuto and Terran were arguing. Again. He heard a snippet of it and decided to step in before the two could come to blows.

"Alright, that's enough." Cricket called out. "What's going on, children?"

"Cricket!" Terran instantly turned and looked up at Cricket with his singular optic. The diminutive Acolyte Mk 1 put his metal hands on his hips after pointing a finger at Kabuto. "This...troglodyte thinks that the power required by our research bench is too much! I did request that more windmill generators be built, but he says that the repair bay takes priority!" It was hard to take Terran seriously sometimes with the squeaky tones that came out of his vocalizer, but the cantankerous bastard had a habit of stabbing things he didn't like. He also wasn't above locking prosthetic limbs away if he was sufficiently pissed off. Terran was an absolute petty tin can but if you needed scientific expertise there was no other person alive you could turn to that had the level of genius he possessed.

"That's not on me." Kabuto groused, the mechanical hiver shaking his head. "Noita and Nitra were the ones who asked, because they need to start work on the Thralls, the Crimpers, the Processor Units, Clank, Engine and the Sailbacks! My crews aren't even done with the infrastructure yet!"

"Irrelevant!" Terran huffed. "My research takes priority!"

"Enough!" Cricket growled, irritably. "Terran, the Boss understands that research is important but we've gotta make sure our position is secure. We were lucky with the walls being in somewhat good shape, but if our infrastructure falls to shit then there won't be any research done. Just help with the pack units; we'll get the research done pronto after that."

Terran muttered on and on about "research" and "ungrateful troglodytes", but mercifully he walked off to do what he was told. With that over and done with, Cricket turned his attention to Kabuto.

"You got problems too, Kabuto?" Cricket asked, hoping he didn't have any issues that needed his attention.

"Just wanted to say the watchtowers are done, Boss." Kabuto answered. "My crew and I are gonna get started on the repair bay if that's not an issue."

"Nah, there's no issue. Good work. I'll tell Locust when he gets back."

They parted after some small talk, then Cricket continued his rounds, using his polearm as an impromptu walking stick as he surveyed the construction work being done. No way in hell was he doing paperwork, Locust was the one responsible for that shit. Cricket had better things to do…

His thoughts turned back to the day they were given this old fort and the lands around it to do with as they pleased.


A few days earlier…

"So...no one lives there?" Locust asked Mayor Evans who shook his head.

"No, Lord Locust." Mayor Evans answered. "Not for some time, the fort had been a garrison for the Empire's soldiers but there was a mobilization and they were sent to the southern borders when tensions arose with the Alliance many years ago."

Cricket noted that info as he walked with Locust and the old mayor as they headed back to Greenwich Village while the rest of the Devourers began making their new home more defensible.

"But no war?" Locust asked, sounding astounded. "Surely the Alliance has no reason to allow slavers from Negramasita to operate in their lands."

"Er...Negramstia, my lord. And that would be true but the King of Eldania has been most adamant that he does not wish for Alliance soldiers to move through his territories, or so I have heard." Mayor Evans said.

Cricket heard Locust make an 'ahh' sound. "Politics. Everyone's favorite game." He chuckled. "Let us speak of the local area, anything other than slavers we need to watch out for?"

"There are orcs milord, wild warbands of creatures who destroy for the sake of it." Mayor Evans said sounding terrified.

"The hell is an orc?" Cricket piped up this time, he was serious. The fuck was an orc? He'd fought everything the World that Was threw at them, and he'd never seen or heard of an orc before.

Evans looked at him, barely hiding his surprise. "I...beg your pardon?"

Locust took over that time. "My subordinate speaks rudely, I apologize." He said mildly annoyed, shooting a glance at Cricket who shrugged. Hey, he was curious as to what an orc was. He was trying to fish for information.

"There...are no greenskins in your homeland, milord?" Evans asked.

"No." Locust answered. "Just humans, Hivers and my people."

"It must be a paradise then…" Evans said.

Cricket burst out laughing at the notion, causing Evans to flinch. Their homeland!? A paradise!? Fucking hilarious!

"Sorry…" Cricket let out a sound that sounded like a cough, although he more resembled a Security Spider starting up after rebooting. "Sorry...Mayor Evans, but that was a good one." He looked at Evans closely. Like Locust, he too wore samurai armor save that the plating was blackened.

"So...Orcs...they're green and what else?"

"Tough and strong. I've heard the biggest ones, the war chiefs, have the strength of ten men. They are sometimes used by the Empire to raid villages for slaves and they keep some of their...earnings as well. You must be careful milord, they're somewhat common in the borderlands and often compete with bandits for booty." Evans explained.

"Oh, good." Locust said as he turned to Cricket. "We're smack dab in bandit territory."

You could hear the smile in his voice.


Presently…

The alarm sounding shook Cricket out of his thoughts. Having made his rounds, the second in command of the Devourers had made his way back to the abandoned fort that served as their headquarters to walk through its empty halls again. Just as he was about to enter the fort proper, he heard the alarm and immediately rushed into action.

When the alarm sounded, the Devourers were to kill everything and everyone that was attacking their home. It was standard protocol that Locust decreed and Cricket enforced religiously. Cricket already heard the guttural war cries and shook his head. He would have smirked if he had been physically capable of doing so. There was finally some action and he was eager to get stuck in. He felt the reassuring weight of Reaper's Gale in his hand as he charged into the fray. The walls may have been repaired, the watchtowers finished but the real problem for their new home was making a gate and how to position their turrets to cover it. The close quarters would also preclude heavier and longer weapons to being used.

It was a task for Kabuto and his work crews; one of many that were yet to be finished. Cricket approached the gate and saw a pitched battle was already underway. He saw their enemy for what they were: humanoids with green skin, bodies packed with muscle and crude armor. Their blades were ramshackle but thick, much like the Hacker weapons back home. Cricket saw Roach force one of the big bastards down, using Dynasty's Revenge like an axe. His blade had cut into its upper chest through the shoulder, and the damned thing was still trying to hit him with its weapon. Cricket didn't hesitate and drove his spear into the back of the greenskin's head.

Cricket was surprised. It took quite a while for it to die. Roach retrieved his sword, nodded at Cricket and the two moved to take command. Katy-Did was fighting alongside Cyber Beep whose sword cut the throat of a greenskin swinging around a hammer that looked like it began its life as the anvil at a blacksmith's forge. As the thing tried to staunch the bleeding in its throat, a well aimed shot from one of Genderghast's crossbowmen finally put it down.

Cricket took his place behind the wall of Thralls who were using the long reach of their polearms to keep the greenskins at bay. Behind them were more of the Devourers, killing whatever managed to barrel through the Thralls and eager to get into the fight.

"Took you long enough!" Katy-Did snarled as an ill-aimed arrow bounced off of his helmet. He swung down and decapitated an orc that was trying to sit up.

"I was making rounds!" Cricket replied, jabbing his spear into a greenskin's face. "Where did these bastards come from!?"

"Don't know, don't care!" Terran replied, pushing a Thrall forwards and its polearm ended up breaking a tusk off of an orc's piggish face. "We're holding but we have no room to maneuver!"

Cricket knew he was right. They couldn't close the gate and they were packed under it while the orcs tried to push inside. It would be unacceptable for them to gain entry. What the hell was this, the Devourers getting pushed by half-naked green skin savages? Were they warriors or goddamned worthless starvers?

"Push 'em out!" Cricket roared. "You want the Boss to see our place trashed up by a bunch of green shit eating fuckers!?"

Reaper's Gale thrust forward and impaled a greenskin. Cricket shoved forward, battering aside the greenskins with corpse, spear and the occasional fist. Now they had an opening.

"THRALLS! KILL PROTOCOL!" Terran shrieked at the Thralls, and soon enough the headless robots shifted their fighting style to fight more aggressively so that their masters behind them could get into grips with the enemy. Cricket led the charge and soon enough the orcs broke. Their retreat became a rout, with many being shot in the back by Genderghast's crossbows.

Cricket held everyone back. No point in pursuit. That and these guys weren't headed in the direction of Greenwich Village, but there was always a concern for that happening. It wasn't like he gave a damn about those villagers...then again, it always paid dividends if one was charitable to their neighbors and Mayor Evans didn't deserve anything bad to happen to him.

Again, he thought about that human expression: Don't shit where you eat.

He'd have to talk to the Boss when he got back.

"HAHA! RUN! BEEP IS ALWAYS WAITING FOR MORE CHALLENGERS!"

The yelling caused Cricket to look to the side as Beep raised his nodachi in the air, the little Hiver looking absolutely menacing in full plate despite his diminutive size. Compared to the massive Agnu, who never strayed from his size Beep wasn't just strong he was fucking fast. There was a reason why he was among the top fighters in the Devourers. Bets and arguments arose on whether Cyber Beep, Roach, Retub, Aegis or Mighty Lionhead would win in an all out brawl.

"Hell, Beep!" Mempo crowed, another mechanical Hiver who was a smith like Kabuto, save he specialized in weaponry.

Beep just Beeped.

Cricket chuckled quietly. "All right!" He called out. "Regroup on me! Anyone hurt, go see Noita or Nitra at the repair bay. Terran, get the Thralls to start salvaging! I need a volunteer crew to stay out here in case shit happens again. The Boss should be coming back soon."


The room that Locust used as his personal office and where he would meet with his officers was spacious, once being the private parlor of whoever had been in charge of the garrison here. It had been not yet fully cleaned up and they had to do with makeshift furniture to sit on but it would serve its purpose.

Locust sat at the head of a hastily constructed table. To his immediate left was Cricket, his Second in Command. To the right was Roach and beside him was Katy-Did. At the end of the table, leaning back in his chair was Master Thief Grasshopper. Opposite him was Tree, martial artist.

All six were the same model of Skeletons, STM-3. These six were the heads of the Devourers, the Bosses.

"So...an orc attack just as we had begun settling in. I'm disappointed that I missed it." Locust said. "And a bit confused that you missed it, Grasshopper. Tree."

"That was my bad." Tree said speaking up. "I must have missed an old goat path while I was doing reconnaissance."

"No pressure. We fought them off sharpish." Cricket said cheerfully. "I think Terran is doing his vivisection stuff so we should find out more about these damned things."

"...How the hell does cutting an orc open help us in any way possible as to figuring out who set those bastards on us?" Roach asked Cricket as he looked at the other Skeleton incredulously.

"Well, a dead orc can't try and kill you." Katy-Did deadpanned. "I hope he can tell us how to kill them faster."

"Always the optimist, Did." Grasshopper said, placing his hands behind his head.

Cricket chuckled in agreement.

Locust watched his officers banter with some amusement, then he leaned forward placing his forearm on the table.

"Gentlemen." He said, bringing the chatter to a halt. "While I am most amused about this situation, this meeting just took a rather interesting turn. Roach, could you elaborate on your point?"

Roach shrugged, the motion exaggerated by his heavy samurai plate. "I doubt the attack was a coincidence. Practically nobody should know that we are here apart from the village and even then they've only seen you, Boss, and Cricket."

"So we can assume that these orcs can talk to a human?" Grasshopper asked looking at Roach. "I thought you said that they only pillage and burn shit, Boss?" He turned his head to Locust.

"Mayor Evans did say that, but we're also not looking at the bigger picture here Hopper." Cricket said. "We did save Greenwich from the slavers, not for charity of course, but for this nice fort we have."

"Go on please, Cricket. Elaborate." Locust gestured for Cricket to continue.

"Sure thing, Boss. What I mean to say is that people talk. Maybe a merchant heard about what happened from the village folk. Maybe this same merchant got picked up by our dead greenskin buddies and got tortured for info. Maybe they thought we were an easy mark." Cricket said.

Katy-Did made a snorting sound, one that sounded like static coming from the vocalizer of a rusty Security Spider. He was no easy mark. "They can come again, and I'm more than happy to fuck them up."

"Regardless, Cricket has confirmed my concerns. We will begin attracting attention, for good or ill." Locust said as he stood up. "We have limited time to prepare, gentlemen. So keep your skills and your blades sharp."

Cricket saw Locust's ambition popping up again. Hell, he was ready for whatever the captain was planning.

Might be fun.


"The funny thing about all this shit is that I've heard it all. That we're evil. That we're the devil's spawn. That we profit off of suffering. That we...get off on it somehow. The last idiot that said that to me ate steel. When one guy suffers, another guy profits. It's not fair, hell the world isn't fair. You gotta learn how to live with that. You manage that, and you figure out how things work. Figure out how things work...well, let me just say that fortune doesn't just come to you on its own…You have to take it. Sometimes you gotta be the bad guy. Sometimes you have to take everything someone has."- Cricket, on how to profit on the" nature" of suffering…

Cricket. The Reaver. The Scoundrel.

He is Locust's second in command, and never has Serenus ever known an odious rogue. At the behest of his master, Cricket can and will take advantage of anyone foolish enough to make deals with him; this usually ensures that the Devourers will profit at the expense of the common folk. He does not show it, but Cricket has a distaste for those of the "fleshier" races as he calls them.

And yet woe to those who would try to revenge themselves or plead for mercy. Cricket is also a ruthless warrior who shows no quarter in negotiations over trade or on the open battlefield. He is not above leading reprisals personally when it suits him.

If Lord Locust needs something done, it is Cricket he sends out to do his bidding at the head of a warband.

-Taken from Astrid Flamel's book, the Devourers…


One of the major mods I used is the Robotic Limb based Skeletons mod by Ikahurula, who coincidentally also created the New Weapons Dissemination Mod that I also used. All of which are on the Steam Workshop.

I'm taking this slow by the way.