-TRANSMISSION ONLINE-
-Begining ECHO Review Log-
The room was filled with the sounds of gunfire and maniacal laughter as Gaige, Mr. Torgue, and Kilo8 were all taking cover behind a steel wall as a massive hail of bullets flew over their heads. Most of these bullets were being fired from the source of laughter, Tina.
(Kilo8) COME ON TINA! How many times do I have to tell you, we don't know where it is!
(Gaige) KILO! STAY DOWN!
Gaige grabs Kilo and pulls him down as a rocket flies by. Gaige pops up and fires a few bursts from a Maliwan SMG before she quickly ducks back down.
(Mr. Torgue) So again, how the %$# did we get into this mess?
(Kilo8) Well, one of our reviewers supposedly sent a map that would lead to the ultimate cookie, and she now thinks one of us is hiding it for some reason. . . Oh, Hey everyone, sorry about the mess. As you can, see we are having some- *BOOM!* ... trust issues with our group.
(Tina) SURRENDER THE MAP, YOU THIEVES! OR ELSE I'LL FEED YOU TO SIR REGINALD THE SECOND!
(GAIGE) DAMMIT TINA, WE TOLD YOU ALREADY, WE DON'T HAVE ANY MAP!
(Tina) WRONG ANSWER! KEEP FIRING MY MINIONS!
There were four Claptrap units of different types and color around Tina all firing SMG and assault rifles.
(Kilo8) Well, this is just great, we're outgunned and outnumbered two to one.
(Gaige) Actually, I manage to nail a Partisan Claptrap during my last burst.
Just then they heard the panicked cries of Claptrap. They peeked over the table and saw Claptrap supporting the Partisan Claptrap in its arms. There were several bullet holes in the Partisan-trap by its data port.
(Claptrap) Come on Partisan, don't you die on me soldier! Don't you dare fucking die on me!
(Partisan-trap) *Cough Cough* I don't think I'm gonna make it, brother. I can see a bright light. It's ... it's the almighty robot policeman, telling me that my time has come.
Goodbye, my brother, I'll see you on the other side. HURK EUH, Blaa…
The Partisan-trap eye stopped glowing and went limp in Claptrap's arms after that.
(Claptrap) Partisan, PARTISAN! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I'LL AVENGE YOU, MY BROTHER! I WILL AVENGE YOOO- AAAGH!
Suddenly Claptrap was nailed by several electronically charged bullets just below his eye, sending him flying onto his back and knocking him out.
(Kilo8) HA! Gotcha!... Oh crap.
Kilo8 quickly ducked back down as another hail of bullets started pinging off the cover.
(Kilo8) Man, she's got a lot of ammo. Anyways today's Chapter will promise lots of action, a few Vault Hunters you may know, and some other surprises. Another thing I want to do before we start is to answer some Reviews. Blaze1992 asked three good little questions.
(Torgue) He's also the one to get us all into the current situation!
(Kilo8) Yeah… Anyways, first, why have your OC arrive before the start of BL2? I'm not going to go into too many details but I basically had the OC arrive early in order to set up a lot of dialog for future chapters for when Kai meets Gaige and the Vault Hunters, explore some underrated characters, and set up several things for future chapters. Also, I wanted to incorporate a few of Gaige's ECHO logs from before she got to Pandora. Second, since so far the main focus is your OC are there gonna be other OCs added on to BL-verse? In short, yes and no. Yes that there are going to be some more OCs added in as we go, but there are not going to be any more Vault Hunters, just a few simple characters here and there and some added enemies for extra bosses fights, like Blood Rage back in chapter one. We already have enough Vault Hunters around here. Which brings us to Blaze's final question, will all vault hunters team up with your OC to take on Jack and everything else? The answer, HELL YES! Kai will without a doubt be meeting the rest of the Vault Hunters and take on that son of a-."
(Torgue) DUCK!
The three of them ducked as another rocket hit close by.
(Gaige) TINA, ARE YOU INSANE!?
(Kilo) Ugh, continuing on, Blaze also gave me an idea to name these little before and after chats the "Echo Review Log" or ERL. So thanks for that Blaze, and I hope the rest of you enjoy the new chapter toda-"
*TING, TING, ting…*
(Gaige) Hay Torgue, is that a Bonus Package Grenade?
(Torgue) Yes, yes it %$# is.
(Kilo8) Right… Enjoy everyone. RUN!
*BOOM!*
-ECHO Transmission interrupted-
X-X-X
Disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands or any of its characters. Borderlands is owned by Gearbox Software and 2K Games, the only ownership I claim is of my own OCs. This is a story just for your fun and enjoyment. Please enjoy.
X-X-X
Stories text formats
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Echo/Radio"
'Krieg's inner voice'
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Chapter correction/grammar edits by GrammerNazi1598
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Chapter 3
Birds of a Feather
It was a late evening at about the twilight period as some Pandoran's called it, and the stars were slowly creeping out in the sky above. As always, Pandora's only moon Elpis was high above, giving off a soft glow on the forest in the valley below as it's light was mixed in with the oranges, blues, and purples in the lightly clouded sky. It would have been a beautiful and scenic sight if not for two things, the first being the sight of Helios Station, Hyperion's giant H-shaped space station that has been sitting in front of Elpis for the last few years. The station equipped with a Moonshot cannon as Roland said they called it, was mainly meant for Planetside supply drops, but it could also be used to launch either pods with Loaders in them to any point on the surface of Pandora that was out in the open, or just be loaded with an orbital strike round to blow up any unshielded position. It was also just a constant reminder of Hyperion's presence on the planet, and an eyesore.
The other reason was that there was a Hyperion research and supply base in the middle of the forested valley which tarnished the incredible view. The only other thing that could be said about the ruined scene was the sound of two guys quietly talking in a small camouflaged foxhole.
"So she just cut it off without a second thought?" Reiss asked.
"Yup. Of course, she now has a badass robotic arm that can crush concrete. She built it herself, too." Kai paused for a second as he stared through his sniper scope.
"Surveyor drone crossing in front to your right, it's starting to get a little close, you got it?" Reiss glanced up from his scope then re-aimed his corrosive Maliwan sniper rifle. "Yeah, I see it." A few seconds later he squeezed off a round which blew the drone's right wing off. They watched it plummet down in a death spiral straight into the river 40 meters below them.
It had been about a week since Kai last chatted with Gaige, and he and Reiss were currently overlooking the Hyperion research and supply base from a clifftop about a kilometer away. Roland and a dozen other Crimson Lance soldiers were currently raiding the base to steal a shipment of weapons that came in on a transport earlier while Kai and Reiss were providing sniper cover for Roland and his team when they finished inside the base and had to make their escape. So, for now, they were just talking to pass the time as they waited in their little outpost, which they had been camping in for the last three days until they were needed.
"Good kill, and the rest of the base has yet to be alerted from the looks of it." Kai said.
"Must mean Roland and the others have already scrambled the bases comm network." Reiss said. He then glanced at Kai. "So, when are you gonna ask her out."
Kai sighed and shoved Reiss in the shoulder as he laughed. "Not funny man, how many times do I have to tell you, it's not like that. Even if I asked her, too, no sane person would leave life on another planet like Eden 5 to move to Pandora, just for a date. The only people who come to this death trap willingly are adventures, runaways, and criminals. I would never ask that of someone, especially someone who already has a good life, even if they don't think it a good one."
"Yeah, can't blame you there, I would never want to bring anyone I knew to this hell hole if I could help it. It's bad enough with the wasteland environments and the dangerous wildlife always trying to kill you, but then you add in Hyperion, Psychos, and all the crazy people here who would rather shoot you than give you the time of day? Forget it." Reiss said as he looked back through the scope of his rifle.
They laid there for a minute quietly 'til Reiss spoke up, "But you do like her though, right?" He asked, as Kai just sighed. Suddenly, there was an explosion at the rear of the base that caused a chain reaction as several large fuel tanks at the rear of the complex exploded and took out a Hyperion supply barge that was parked on a landing pad.
"Well, I guess that the signal." Kai said, "Subtle."
"Eagle's Nest to Crow's Nest, are you guys ready?" came Mordecai's voice over their ECHO's. He and another Crimson raider by the name of Samson who was one of the few people in Sanctuary with any formal sniper training were in a position about 700 meters to the right of Kai and Reiss's position on the cliff, creating a crossfire coverage of the base.
"We're ready to go." Reiss responded. "Just slag them and we'll knock 'em dead."
Kai looked down the sight of a Vladof sniper that Mordecai had lent to him for the operation. Of course, Kai had modified it without asking him. Instead of firing at full-auto, he had modified it so that it could be set to semi-automatic. While this doesn't change its base performance, it did mean that the rifle was now much easier to control and aim. Of course, if he needs to Kai could still switch it to full-auto with just a flip of the safety.
Just then they heard Roland's voice came over the ECHO, "Eagle, Crow's Nests, we got enemies following us, prepare to provide covering fire!"
"You boys heard the man. Open fire." Mordecai chimed in as he started to open fire with a Slag sniper rifle, hitting multiple enemies around the base. Reiss, Samson, and Kai started to fire on any of the Loaders and armed Hyperion Combat Engineers that Mordecai had slagged but not killed in the first shot.
"Crow's Nest, I lost sight of an engineer with a rocket launcher near the Eridium pipes, do you see him?" Samson asked over the ECHO.
"I don't see him, do you?" Reiss asked. As Kai scanned the area with his scope he noticed a blur of yellow moving by some crates.
He zoomed in and saw that a Combat Engineer had climbed up onto a supply container and was lining up a shot at one of the trucks being loaded. Without thinking, Kai aimed, squeezed the trigger, and fired, watching as the bullet entered into the engineer's neck several seconds later. The force caused the engineer to spin around and drop the launcher as blood started flowing from his neck as he tried to grasp his neck and stop the bleeding. In a frenzied panic he took a step back too far and fell off the crate.
"Got him." Kai spoke up.
"Good shot Crow two." Mordecai said. The number of targets quickly diminished after that, and the Raids quickly began loading the crates onto the trucks they were stealing from the motor pool.
"Well, it looks like we're almost done here guys." Kai said over his ECHO. Just then, Reiss noticed something on the horizon coming straight towards the base.
"Oh shit." Reiss muttered.
Kai looked to where Reiss was looking and saw several JET Loaders coming in to make an attack run on Roland and his team who were in the open as they were loading the trucks. "Oh, son of a... you had to jinx it, Crow two! I'm going to fucking punch you after this!" Mordecai said.
"Fine, fine, shoot now, blame later!" Kai yelled as he and Reiss started to concentrate fire on the first two Loaders. Kai shot at the first one and managed to hit it and knock it off its attack run, but it didn't go down and instead peeled off, leaving a smoke trail as it left. The next one Reiss shot at and hit on the side of its torso. It tried to peel off but the acid-coated round quickly caused it too much internal damage as it tried to pull away. Its engines suddenly flamed out causing the Loader to fall and crash into the ground a few seconds later in a very satisfying explosion.
The next wave consisted of three Jet Loaders, which Mordecai and Samson quickly started to fire at. Mordecai destroyed the first two in quick succession, while his partner nailed the last one after firing two rapid shots. The one Kai had missed landed and took cover, but that was the least of their problems. "Moonshot, incoming!" Samson yelled on the comms.
They both looked up to see three moonshot pods come roaring down from the sky and impact in the middle of the compound. As the dust cleared, the first two pods released WAR Loaders, but as for the third one...
"What the hell is that thing!?" Reiss said. It looked like a Badass Loader, but it was nearly twice the size of one and had three auto-cannons on each arm clustered into a set around the shoulder joint. Unlike all other Loaders, this one had a head on top of its torso that looked like an armor-plated box with a single red eye. Also, instead of the normal Hyperion yellow paint job, it was mostly painted green with a yellow stripe going vertically across its front, and several white stripes banded around the ends of each barrel. The last thing to note was that it looked as though there were several extra armor plates tacked onto several different parts of its body.
It suddenly crouched into a steadied stance and the auto-cannon pods expanded. It then began to fire at several Raiders including Roland. The shots barely missed them as they all scrambled for any cover they could find. The shots, however, found a home into the side of a small cargo truck, causing it to explode in a shower of burning shrapnel that rained down on those nearby. The ECHO was suddenly filled with screaming as one of the Raids, from what Kai could see, had a large piece of steel going through his left shoulder pinning him to the crate he was hiding behind. The new Loader had effectively cut Roland and several others off from everyone else.
"STAY DOWN PEOPLE!" Kai heard Roland yell on the comms. Just then there was a burst of static on the comms, and then he spoke.
"Hey kiddos, guess who! No, wait, I'll give you all a few hints considering how small your brains are. I'm incredibly smart, extremely rich, and I am the single most handsome man in the universe!"
"Handsome Jack." Roland spit out the name with venom.
"Ha, ha, that right, it "meee"! I see you and your gang of boy scouts have met RD's latest toy, they called it the Super Badass Loader. Yeah I know, it's not all that clever, but we're going to making like, a million of these guys, so you know, what's the point. Oh and also, you're going to be dead soon anyway. Fun fact, this particular unit was a late prototype model with more armor than the final production version. I figured hell, why let a sweet ass weapon sit in some storage container when I could use it to rid myself of a damn thorn in my side. So have fun Roland." Jack said with a cynical voice at the end.
"Dammit! Stay in cover everyone! All sniper teams, nail that thing!" Roland shouted on the comm.
Roland and his team couldn't seem to damage the new Loader, they couldn't even damage the eye, which on previous models had been a big weak point. Adding to the fact that there are already two badass loaders flanking it, making it near impossible for anyone to take a shot, as they would cut down anyone who tried.
Those on the sniper teams weren't having much luck either, as neither team could get any clean shots, plus it didn't appear to have any weak points, as all the normal weak points seem to have been reinforced. Mordecai groaned in frustration, "Ahh DAMMIT! Roland, we don't have any good shots, and I don't think any of us have anything powerful enough to punch through that armor."
"Let's try this then!" Yelled one of the Raiders on the infiltration team. Kai could see a man run out from cover hefting a Torgue rocket launcher.
"Mitch, NO!" Roland yelled, but Mitch had stopped in front of the Loader and quickly took aim. The raider fired twice at only 20 meters away and both shots nailed the massive Loader square in the face causing it to stagger back. Kai could hear Mitch give a triumphant cheer over the ECHO. But as the smoke quickly cleared, the Super Badass Loader could be seen already picking itself back up with only minor scorch marks on it.
"Oh crap." Mitch said, as the Loader aimed at him.
"MITCH, RUN!" Roland yelled, but it was too late. The Loader open fired and was turned Mitch into mincemeat in a matter of seconds as everyone else watched in horror. In the span of five seconds, all that was left of Mitch was a massive pile of blood and a few odd-sized chunks of flesh spread out all along the ground, while the Loader with its six smoking gun barrels just turned away to find another target.
"DAMMIT! Is there anything we have that can stop this thing?!" Roland yelled.
Kai thought about it for several seconds then he began promoting a special command on his HUD, but he still needed some help. "Roland, I might have a solution but I need you to get that bucket of bolts to look in my direction. Hit it when it stops firing. It looks like this thing suffers from the same barrel overheating issue that the regular WAR Loaders suffer from."
"Kai, what are you planning?" Mordecai asked.
"Sir, just do it, please, there's no time to explain. I need you to slag that bot on my mark." Kai said on the comm.
"Alright kid, but if this plan goes sideways-"
"It won't, trust me." Kai said as he readied to shoot.
Roland and two other raiders flanked to their left around several supply crates 'til they were behind several large pipe pieces. They waited until the Super Badass Loader had to cool it barrels after firing. When it finally did, they began firing on the two other WAR Loaders. The closest one was shot apart piece by piece, starting with the guns, then they shot out its leg servos, causing it to collapse under its own weight. The other one started to fire on them but Roland threw a grenade that managed to stick to the Loader's front just to the right of the eye. Three seconds later the grenade exploded, sending the bot to the ground.
Kai activated the command which, thanks to a "Large" amount of techno wizardry, caused the next round in his sniper rifle to charge as the barrel started to glow green with corrosive energy and give off a low hum. Kai looked and saw the Super Badass Loader turning towards Roland and the other Raiders with him, which in turn made it face in Kai's direction.
"Now Mordecai!" Kai yelled.
The hunter fired off several shots from his rifle that effectively doused the SB Loader with slag. A few seconds later Kai fired a single shot that left a glowing green trail as it flew 'til it nailed the Super Badass Loader dead center of its chest. Thanks to the effects of slag, which weakens whatever it touches, the bullet was able to pierce the armor. A second later the bullet exploded, causing the Loader to suddenly lurch back from the force as a small part of its chest was blown open, the acid from the bullet beginning to dissolve everything it touched. The Loader then began to shudder violently as its internal components were being eaten away and causing irreversible damage, a fact that became apparent as white smoke started to spew from several points on its body. A few seconds later it starts lumbering aimlessly around the area as if it were drunk, and nearly tripping a few times.
"WHAT?! What are you doing you piece of junk! What the freakin matter you!?" Jack screamed.
"It dying plastic man, isn't it obvious?" Kai replied with a grin.
The comm was silent for a moment, 'til he heard Jake's voice seeping with rage. "I know you! You're that damn Polarion piece of shit that's been causing my men so much trouble for the last four months. I should have known that was you're doing. Still using that Armor Buster tech you got, I see."
"Well, if it helps to make your life miserable then why wouldn't I use it? By the way, I'm not very impressed by your new toy, it breaks way too easily, just like all of your other toys." Kai said with a cheeky grin.
"Haha, I swear, you kids today, acting like bandits, vault hunting, causing mischief and mayhem. Well go ahead, give yourself a nice pat on the back. You may have won today, but I'll end you just like I did the rest of your comrades back on Polaris!" he said as his tone got dark.
Kai froze for a second, not in fear, but anger as he thought about all the things that man had done to him. Suddenly, he felt someone grab his shoulder. He looked to see Reiss staring at him with a concerned look. Kai nodded to him, a little shaken but still good.
"Wow Jack, you killed a planet full of people who only wanted to make a fresh start, have families, and live a peaceful life without worry. How does it feel to have stacked yourself up next to history's greatest tyrants?"
"Woah, woah, woah, I'm no-"
Before Jack could continue Kai interrupted. "Hati, playback please."
After a second of static everyone on the comms heard a dark voice "You may have won today, but I'll end you just like I did the rest of your comrades back on Polaris!" There was silence for the next several seconds.
"Yeah, just keep trying to convince yourself, facelift." Kai said with a smile as he activated a special program on his ECHO that started to jam Jack's signal.
"Why you little, I-I-" His voice started to overlap and got distorted as static soon took over and blocked Jack out.
"Let me guess, you just used the program again?" Reiss asked.
"Yup."
"You gotta get me a copy of that program, man." Reiss said.
"I'll make you one later. Hey, Roland, you good down there?" Kai called on the ECHO
"We're good, we're just loading up the wounded and the last of the guns now." Suddenly everyone hears someone yell "Moonshots" in the background. Kai looked up towards Helios station and could see several dozen projectiles coming in fast. "Right, forget the rest of the guns people, we're moving out now! Sniper teams, bug out, and meet at the rendezvous point."
"Got it, Roland, see you back at base." Mordecai chimed in. "Reiss, Kai, get to your extraction point and we'll pick you guys up."
Kai and Reiss quickly gathered their gear and began making their way through the forest. It took several minutes but they finally managed to arrive at an old dirt road. About three minutes later, Mordecai and Samson drove up in a Bandit Technical they had... acquired on their way here several days ago.
Mordecai, who was standing behind the driver's cab in the truck bed stood at about 189cm and had black hair that spiked out from the back of his head with a red bandana covering the rest. He had on a pair of green-tinted goggles he always wore that made it impossible to ever see his eyes and had a pointed beard that same color of hair. The rest of his attire consisted of… well, Kai wasn't really sure. He had on a tight short sleeve coat but it was mostly covered as his torso appeared to be wrapped in a red cloth, and on his right shoulder was a metal shoulder pad. He also had on an old pair of faded gray digi-camo pants, and strapped to his back was a sword in a leather scabbard.
Sitting on the roll cage of the driver's cab was Mordecai pet bird, Bloodwing. She had blood-red eyes and was covered in a mix of bluish-gray and white feathers and with all whitish-grey feathers around her head with a raptor-like beak. Her legs were long, very long, and each had several 2 cm long talons on each foot that could tear through steel like it was tissue paper, as Kai had seen first hand a month ago when Bloodwing mauled an armored Psycho.
Pvt. Samson was wearing the same type of Crimson Lance armor as Reiss, only his was painted in a forest digital camo pattern.
"Someone order a taxi?" Samson said cheerily from the driver's seat.
"You all should have called for an ambulance instead." Came a synthetic male voice from behind them.
Everyone looked behind them to see a Hyperion Hawk trooper wearing black armor with a pair of blood-soaked talons painted on the top of his helmet walk out of the woods. He was carrying a Tediore rocket launcher tucked under his left arm and a Hyperion pistol in the other hand aimed at them. Following him from the woods were three more Hawk troopers in normal Hyperion yellow. One had a Torgue assault rifle, the other two had Hyperion SMGs.
Everyone stared at the man silently for several seconds 'til Reiss spoke up. "Ugh, okay who the hell are you all, and what's with the get-up?"
Morde just let out a sigh"Guys, meet Hyperion collection and repossession officer 3512, AKA Zager, as well as being a collective pain in mine and Bloodwing's ass for the last 11 years." Mordecai said as Bloodwing gave an ear-splitting screech in anger.
"You too, Blood, now wait right there like a good prize." Zager said.
"Prize? Mordecai, what is he talking about?" Kai asked curiously.
"Zager here has been trying to steal Bloodwing from me ever since we first ran into each on Arpeggio II during one of my hunting expeditions. Zager likes to... Collect things during his jobs. Mementos of his jobs if you will. But he has never been able to get her, which has driven him mad, so he's been chasing me across half the known galaxy trying to kill me and steal my girl here."
"And today I finally get what I want, to kill you and take your bird. And just for the hell of if I'm going to kill the rest of you as well!" He yelled.
"Woah, Woah, time out, me and my friends here aren't involved in this little rivalry, grudge, whatever it is. So there is no need to go all trigger happy on everyone here, besides Mordecai." Kai said raising his hands.
Zager points the pistol at him, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you and your friends, minus Morde of course."
"Of course."
Kai saw Mordecai giving him a 'what the fuck' look, as was Samson, but Reiss didn't even flinch at his notion. 'It's good to have a friend who knows how you work.' Kai thought.
"Look, here's what I'll do. For our freedom, I will give you this." Kai pulled Hati's Holo sphere out. "This is a decoy projector. Once it scans you, it will project a 3D hologram image of you that will act as you have programmed it. You can even deploy it to fly around and it can be respawned after a short charge time. As for what you do with it, either give it to your boss for a nice bonus or keep it for yourself, it's all up to you. So what do you say, interested?"
Zager stared at it for several seconds. "Show me."
Kai smiled and lightly tossed the sphere into the air, there was a flash a second later and a large, angry, blue glowing wolf landed on top of a shocked Zager. "WHAT THE HELL!?" He yelled as Hati started digging into his armor with his claws and teeth as the other three Hawks looked on in shock as
they tried to figure out what to do, giving everyone else the distraction they needed.
"Come on, move it, we gotta go!" Yelled Mordecai as he jumped into the turret and started firing sawblades at the Hawk troopers. The troopers dodged the burning blades as Kai and Reiss quickly leaped up and climbed into the truck bed. Kai turned and whistled, Hati looked up and immediately ran back to him and jumped into the truck just as Samson gunned the accelerator and they tore off into the woods.
"KAI! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Mordecai yelled.
"Personally, I would call that a well-executed distraction." Reiss said cheerfully.
Mordecai looked back to Kai. "Kai you no good, backstabbing, son of a bitch!" He said with anger in his face until his expression turned around as he began to laugh. "I'll work with you anytime, man." Morde said with a smile.
"Hey guys, I'd hate to ruin the moment buuut, we still have a problem." Samson said.
Everyone else looked back to see the three Hawks flying after them and quickly catching up. "We got them on the run now!" Yelled the lead Hawk.
"Crap." Said Reiss, as he pulled out his Dahl SMG while Kai pulled out a Torgue shotgun and Morde swiveled the turret around. They started firing away, but the Hawks were easily able to either dodge or tank the hits because of their shields.
"Hati! A little help!" Hati turned and opened his jaw towards the incoming Hawks, a small sphere of electricity quickly formed and fired from his mouth, leaving a blue trail. It flew out and was drawn to the nearest Hawk trooper. Upon hitting the Hawk, his shield broke. This was Hati's Mjölnir skill, which lets him launch a guided electro bolt at his target and deliver a hefty electrical shock. It also had a chance to stun the target and/or scramble any electronics for several seconds. This latter effect is what was currently affecting the Hawk as he tries to maintain control, but Mordecai took the opportunity and fired several saw blades at him. One blade struck and wedged itself into the Hawk's left leg, which further damaged his leg boosters and caused the Hawk to suddenly veer left and slam face first into a tree, causing an explosion of blood, guts, and fire.
"Good shot, Mordecai!" Reiss yelled. Kai took a second to assess the situation when he noticed something.
"Guys, where is Zager?" Kai asked.
Everyone suddenly heard the sound of another booster and felt something land on the truck. "Oh shit!" Yelled Samson in shock. Everyone turned to see Zager standing on the hood of the truck, his armor was now gouged in several places from Hati's earlier attack. He had also replaced the rocket launcher with a two-sided short sword he had drawn. At the same time, two more Hawk troopers flew over and joined ranks with the remaining two.
"Son of a… Samson, keep driving. Reiss, Kai, deal with the remaining troops. Blood, cover them. I'll deal with Zager." Mordecai said as he got out of the turret and pulled his own sword. "And Kai-"
"I KNOW! I KNOW! You can punch me for jinxing us later." he yelled as he quickly reloaded his shotgun.
With that, Zager and Mordecai began to clash on the hood of the truck as everyone else but Samson kept fighting the Hawks. Hati kept launching Mjölnir's as fast as he could, but the rest of the Hawks had wised up to the danger of the energy missiles he shot and were avoiding them. Kai kept firing away with his shotgun and managed to land a few hits, but none of them were doing any kind of real damage. At the same time, the Hawks were firing back with their own gunfire.
"Dammit, we're doing jack shit. They're moving too fast!" Reiss yelled.
"Well, I'm open to any ideas." Kai yelled. Hati then barked several times. "What did he say?" Reiss asked.
"He said focus fire and keep the target from moving." Kai said as he looked back to Reiss.
"Why not?" Reiss replied with a shrug.
They started focusing on a single Hawk who had a Hyperion shotgun and quickly whittled down his shield. Hati followed with another Mjölnir, which the Hawk was unable to dodge and it hit him square in the face. The damage from the combined fire of the three of them caused the Hawk to be set on fire by Reiss's SMG electrocuted by Hati's attack, and mauled by Kai's explosive shotgun blasts. He started screaming as his body basically turned to ash before he could hit the ground.
"Alright, onto the-" Before Kai could finish, Hati started to flicker and whimpered. Three seconds later, his image de-rezzed and Hati timed out as his Photon emitter respawned into the storage unit on Kai's belt. "Shit, Hati has to recharge." Kai said, gritting his teeth in frustration.
The remaining three Hawks saw this and pressed the opening. Reiss noticed this and yelled "HEADS UP!"
The first Hawk drop-kicked straight into Kai, sending him flying into the front of the truck bed near the turret and putting him into a daze for a few seconds. The Hawk took this opportunity to quickly level his SMG and began fired at Kai, but Reiss kicked the Hawk, causing him to drop the SMG off the side of the truck, though not before Kai's shield failed and two rounds tore through his left shoulder. "AUUGH! DAMMIT!"
Reiss and the Hawk faced each other each pulling out a combat knife. The Hawk struck first but Reiss blocked and punched at the unarmored section of the Hawk's stomach with his left hand, knocking him back a few steps. Reiss went for a slash with his knife but the Hawk brought up his left arm and deflected it with the arm gauntlet then went in for another jab. Reiss twisted his torso to the left, barely dodging.
As Reiss knife fight continued, Kai pulled out one of the insta-health he started keeping in his pack. Before he could inject it into his wound, several green-tinted bullets hit the metal next to him. He looked to see another of the Hawks flying at him with a corrosive Dahi assault rifle with a bayonet on it. Kai could tell he was going for the kill, so he dropped the insta-health and picked his shotgun back up fired at the Hawk several times. The Hawk shot as well and hit Kai, but the hits were absorbed by his shield, which had recharged a moment before. The Hawk, however, took the full brunt of four explosive shots from the Torgue shotgun which killed him and knocked him out of the air.
Kai dropped the gun and grabbed the vial again, quickly jabbing it into his shoulder, the solution swiftly beginning to heal the wounds. Kai grabbed the shotgun to reload it, only to notice that it been damaged by the acid from the Hawk's assault rifle, rendering it useless without major repairs. Just then, Reiss fell next to him as the Hawk trooper he was fighting jumped on him and attempted to bring a knife down on Reiss. Reiss grabbed both of his wrists and put all of his strength in holding the knife away from him.
"A little- ugh- help here." He grunted out.
Kai swung his arm over and activated his hard light blade a second before he hit the Hawk, slicing clean through both of the Hawk's elbows. The Hawk starts screaming, "MY ARMS! MY ARMS! WHY!? I NEED THOSE FOR THE SOFTBALL GAME SATURDAY!"
Reiss tossed the now severed arms away and pulled out a Tediore pistol, shoving it into his face and putting two quick shots into the Hawk's head. The dead Hawk fell on top of Reiss 'til he shoved the body off of himself. Both men took a second to breathe, but this was cut short when Zager suddenly went flying over both of them and landed on the ground behind the truck, which quickly left him in the dust.
"Till next time, asshole," Mordecai yelled as he slid down and took a seat between Reiss and Kai all three watching an angry Zager fade into the distance. Reiss then suddenly asked, "Hey Morde, where's Bloodwing?"
As if on cue, there was a loud, sickening thud that shook the truck as the last Hawk landed on top of the other dead Hawk, this one covered in blood, scratches, and lacerations all over, his helmet and several pieces of armor were missing. His face looked like it lost a fight with a weed whacker. A few seconds later, Bloodwing flew down landed on top of the pile of corpses and gave a victorious screech.
"Good job, girl. Samson, take us home." Mordecai said as he slowly pulled out a flask of Rakk ale and took a swig from it, then handed it to Reiss who took a swig, too. It was silent for the next several seconds, until Mordecai suddenly twisted around and threw a heavy punch into Kai's stomach with as much force as he could muster. "GUUH! SON OF A BITCH MORDE!" Kai yelled in pain as Reiss just laughed at his misery.
X-X-X
Up in Helios station, a man in a massive office with an equally massive window view of Pandora was yelling in anger at his monitor. The man had brown hair with one little streak of gray in his bangs, which were swept to the left. His eyes were odd, as his right eye was a light baby blue, while his left was a light green, but his appearance only got stranger from there. His face was of a lighter skin tone than rest of his body, making it seem almost inorganic. It was also extremely chiseled in all the right places, but on both temples and his chin where what appeared to be metal latches. Altogether, his face appeared to be a mask.
His outfit consisted of an open dark bluish-gray blazer with the sleeves rolled up. Beneath that, he had on a brown vest with a yellow shirt underneath. He had on dark jeans with a Digistruct weapon holster hanging off the right side of his belt, and wore a pair of brown skater shoes, giving him an overall business casual look.
He was currently looking at the main computer screen built into his desk, which looked like it had raspberry jam dripping down the screen.
"Damn that piece of Polarion shit! How? how is it possible for that twerp to not only jam a Hyperion ECHO signal, but then send this fucking virus into my computer, which not only makes my screen look like someone smashed raspberry jam all over it BUT ALSO MAKES THE CAPPUCCINO MAKER IN MY DESK DISPENSE THE DAMN STUFF! HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK!?" Jack yelled in rage. He pressed a button and buzzed his secretary.
"Yes Jack, what can I do for you?" A lady said on the other end.
"Hey sweetcheeks, first, I need someone from the IT department to come fix my computer terminal and my cappuccino maker. Second, I want the bounty for Kai the Rebel to be increased to three hundred billion, and I need you to edit the charges list to also include asshole, hacking, and the desecration of my CAPPUCCINO MACHINE!" He yelled.
"Y-Yes, sir. Of cours-"
"Honey, honey. How many times do I have to tell you… Call me Jack. Handsome Jack." He said sweetly.
"Um-ah, y-yes sir, I mean Jack! Anything else… Jack?"
"No, no. That will be all for now babe."
He sat back down and sighed. A few seconds later a small compartment opened and a cup of steaming raspberry jam lifted out of it. He stared at it with disdain. "I fucking hate raspberry."
X-X-X
A few hours later four men, a wolf, and bird sitting on top of said wolf walked into Moxxi's bar all tired, sore, and covered with blood, minus Samson and Hati since Samson drove and Hati was just a light hologram that was cleaned every time he reactivated. Roland was at the bar apparently waiting for them, but when he turned to look at the group he was surprised by their appearance. "You guys look like hell. What happened?"
"Zanger, plus five Hyperion Hawks." Mordecai said with a blank face.
Roland was quiet for a moment as he processed the info. "Right… 'nough said... Moxxi, let's get these guys all a round of drinks, on me." He then motions for them to follow him, "Come on, let's grab a table."
Samson parted ways with them at that point in favor of joining several of his buddies by the dart board, while everyone else took a seat in an empty booth.
"You seem chipper, did something happen?" Mordecai asked.
"Yes, in fact, something did happen, we just managed to acquire about 20 Torgue rocket launchers, two boxes of Longbow grenade mods, and several crates of brand new Dahi assault rifles."
"Really? I thought it was supposed to just be some Hyperion SMGs and shotguns." Mordecai said in surprise.
"That what we thought as well, but apparently there must have been a clerical error, and we got today lucky." Roland said as Moxxi delivered their drinks.
"Well, in that case, a toast to the fool at Hyperion who has graced us with this bountiful harvest of high-grade military weapons." Said Reiss, as he raised a glass.
"To the fool!" *Clink*
Everyone took a swig of their own drink, and before anyone could set down their drinks Roland raised his bottle. "And to the loss of our comrade in arms, may he find peace. To Mitch."
"To Mitch." Everyone else said with a more somber expression. Everyone had taken a drink of their beverage, or in Mordecai's case down the rest of his and asked Moxxi for another.
Mordecai then turned to Kai. "By the way Kai, I'm gonna need that sniper rifle I lent you back."
"Aww, do I have to? I like this rifle." Kai said with an innocent grin.
"Come on man, you promised you would return it." Mordecai said getting a little pissed.
"Relax, I'm just screwing with you, although I did modify it some." Kai said as he pulled the rifle out and passed it to Mordecai, who gave him a scowl of annoyance before he started studying the rifle. After he looked over it for about a minute he finally looked at Kai in disbelieve. "You modified a Vladof sniper rifle to be able to switch between semi and full automatic fire modes? How? You have to be a corporate weapons engineer to pull that off."
Riess jusst let out a luagh. "You're joking, right. This guy is always messing with a weapon when we're not on the job. Of course, he almost never touches an uncommon grade weapon, unless it's necessary. And as for the white common grade weapons, well..." Reiss said as Moxxi brought over another drink for Mordecai.
"I would rather pick up a stick and stone before I picked up a white weapon. Their accuracy is so bad you can't even hit the broadside of a barn with one at point-blank range. It's like my aunt would always say, if it's white, it ain't right." Kai said. Roland, Mordecai, and even Moxxi all looked at him with surprised expressions.
"Uh, what?" Mordecai asked.
"Just ignore it, it's like a verbal tic he has when anyone offers him a common weapon." Reiss explained.
The three of them looked at Kai with a mixture of confusion and surprise. "Uh, right… so explain how you learned to modify weapons." Roland asked.
"I knew a retired weapons smith back on my home planet who used to work for the Jakobs corporation way back. He was part of the group of elderly who would babysit for me and the other kids who were all too young to fight or help out in any major way. So one day, Mr. Dixon started teaching me how to fix and modify weapons of all types since I had nothing… is something wrong Mordecai?"
Mordecai just sat there staring at Kai in disbelief. "D-Dixon? As in Patrick S. Dixon, Jakob's most notorious weapon designer, Ten-time shooting champion for corporate marksmen competition?! The man who supposedly shot and killed a whole Atlas wetwork's team from over 1500 meters with a rusty Jakobs sniper rifle without a scope? THAT DIXON?!"
"Jeez, I never realized how infamous old Wind Snapper was." Kai said before he took another sip of his drink.
"Mierda santa! It is him! The stories he must have told you, the knowledge of all his work. He was my idol, the reason I got into competitive shooting as a kid in the first place. I even own several weapons he has made. They are the best guns I own. That Siah-siah Muckamuck I showed you last Thursday was one of them."
Kai just laughed. "Yeah, I know. I recognized his handy work immediately. That was just a toy compared to some of the things he's made. I've seen all his best work." He said as he glanced to the wrapped rifle that he had set next to the booth.
"You got to tell me about some of his better stuff."
"I'll do you one better." Kai said as he picked up the rifle and unwrapped it, as soon as Mordecai saw what it was, he froze.
"Is-is that a Mythic weapon?" Mordecai asked longingly as he stared at the rifle.
"A what?" Moxxi asked as she and Roland both had on confused expressions.
"A red rarity or Mythic weapons, are one of the hardest types of weapons to acquire. While Legendaries and Pearlescent weapons are rare and powerful, they're still made in small quantities, like two or three hundred, making it hard to find one. But Mythics are on a whole other level of power and accuracy. It takes years to craft a single one and the designers will only use the best materials and or technology to make it. At most there may only be two or three of a particular mythic weapon ever made. Some are prototype weapons while others act as a sort of masterpiece to show off a designer's skill. Each Mythic weapon is a work of art." Mordecai said as he stared at the weapon in Kai's hands.
"Jeeez Morde, if you like it that much, why don't you just marry it." Moxxi teased, while Mordecai just kept staring at the rifle.
"What's it called?" Mordecai asked.
"This is the Clementine, the single best weapon that Dixon has ever made and the only one of it's kind. It has twice the muzzle velocity of a typical Jakobs rifle and a bullet shot from it is capable of penetrating several unshielded opponents. It is accurate out to about 900 meters if the shooter has a good enough eye. It's only drawbacks are that it's unscoped, has only an 8 shot ammo count, and it makes a loud ping when the clip ejects. Other than that, it's the best weapon I've ever owned and it has gotten me through more fights than I can count." Kai said with a small smile as he remembered those days back in that workshop with the old man.
"And before you ask Morde, there is nothing in the whole damn galaxy that you can offer me to ever even consider trading it to you. Not a damn thing." Kai said pointedly at Mordecai who had his mouth open looking like he was about to speak, only to close his mouth slowly with a look of slight disappointment.
"Wow Kai, I've never seen you so defensive." said Moxxi.
"Well, it's one of the few things I have from home, and Mr. Dixon gave it to me after my first mission, as a gift, saying that it will protect me." He said as he somberly looked at the rifle."
Everyone was quiet for a moment after that. "How about a genuine Atlas Chimera and-"
"Forget it, Morde!" Kai said, causing everyone else to laugh.
Kai was about to say something else when Roland cut in. "I hate to break up this conversation, but I have another mission for all of you."
Around of groans came from the other men. "Seriously Roland, we just spent the last three days camping in the wilderness just to cover your and everyone else's collective asses. You're welcome by the way, for an operation that took you all of thirty minutes to complete." Mordecai said.
"Yeah, I mean can't you give us at least one night to clean up and sleep in our own beds?" Kai pitched in.
"Sorry, but we got word that a Hyperion Engineering team guarded by a small squad of commandos have set up a listening post out by Devil's Ridge. With it, they can easily intercept our comm traffic and-"
"Put our operatives at risk." Mordecai answered with a groan.
"Right, so we need you to destroy the outpost as soon as possible and gather any intelligence you can find."
"Well, let's get this over with. Kai, get the truck, Reiss stop by Marcus' for ammo, I'll get-."
"Actually I have another job for you Mordecai. Meet me in the command center in 20 minutes." Roland said.
"Ugh, fine. Later guys, come on Blood, we got work to do." Mordecai said. As he got up, Bloodwing gave a cry and jumped off of Hati's back and flew onto Mordecai's shoulder as he walked away.
"So I guess that just leave the two of us for this job… Great." Kai said depressingly.
"Well I can let you two recruit one other person for this job, but do it quick, you need to get this done ASAP." Roland said as he slid out of his seat and left, Moxxi also took that moment to go back to work, leaving Kai and Reiss by themselves.
"Well this is just great, so any ideas on who our third will be?" Kai asked.
Reiss just shrugged as he looked around the bar until someone caught his eye.
"Actually, I do have an idea. I'll be back in a few minutes." Reiss said as he got up and rushed over to the other side of the bar, leaving Kai alone.
He let out a sigh, pulled out his ECHO and started going through a few things until he glanced at the time and date and realized what today was. He chuckled as he leaned back. "Well, I hope things are going better for you, Gaige." He said with a grin.
X-X-X
At that same moment on the other side of the Galaxy on Eden 5, Gaige, who was covered almost head to toe in blood was standing in the middle of an empty school's auditorium in a state of complete shock. The room looked like a war zone as all around her were smashed up science projects, flipped tables, and blood and guts were strewn all around. DeathTrap was floating next to her with his Digistruct claws active and ready to protect her from any more possible threats, while Gaige, who was now covered in blood and guts could only stare at the spot where Marcie Holloway once stood only a minute before. Her mind was racing with hundreds of thoughts a second as her mind tried to process everything. After another minute, the realization of what her creation had just done finally dawned on her. "Aww, crap." She muttered.
X-X-X
-LINK REESTABLISHED-
-Resuming ECHO Review Long-
The entire building laid in ruins around them with bits of twisted metal, burning debris, smoking Claptrap units and a lot of bullet casings everywhere. Sitting in the middle of this wreckage tied up together were Kilo8, Gaige, and Mr. Torgue, while Tiny Tina was sitting on a still knocked out Claptrap.
(Kilo8) Tina, how many times must we tell you, we don't know where the map is.
(Tina) LIES! Claptrap told me he gave the map to you guys, so one of you fools has the map to the Mountain of the Legendary Golden Cookie! The fabled home of the most legendary cookie in the known universe!
(Gaige) Why are you so hell bent on this supposed legend, Tina?
(Tina) Well if you must know, an old lady in Sanctuary told me the story once, shortly after Roland found me and brought me there. The story goes that there was once a kind-hearted woman who ran an orphanage. Though she tried to make the children happy she always seemed to fall short. So one day she decided to make the children a batch of cookies, made with the purest love and happiness that can only come from the kindest of hearts. Each cookie was so warm, soft, and chocolatey that anyone who eats one will feel that pure love warming every fiber of their being, and when the children tasted the cookies they finally felt either what it feels like to be loved or reminded of the love that their parents showed before they were lost. Sadly, the woman eventually died many years later, and her recipe was stolen by a wicked and bitter man who hides in a mountain fortress. Only a child who has once know the true love of their parents and the loss of that love, yet still carries that original love in their hearts may be able to find her recipe and share with everyone once again. Ever since I lost my parents, I have held onto that hope that this legend would be true, so that I may be able to feel my parents love once again.
Tina swapped away a small tear from her watery eyes, as everyone else was crying themselves.
(Gaige) Oh God, Tina. Let me hug you please, that too much for anyone's heart!
Torgue was sobbing uncontrollably.
(Kilo8) Tina, that was beautiful.
While they each were crying Tina expression suddenly became cold as she stood up and pulled out a legendary Bunny rocket launcher and aimed it at her prisoners.
(Tina) Yes, yes it is. But one of you is keeping me from that dream, and my sole mission in life. Now tell me WHERE THE MAP IS!
As she yelled, Tina had stomped her foot down on to Claptrap, which suddenly caused Claptrap to reactivate. He got up rapidly causing Tina to fall onto her butt with a cute little yelp. Claptrap's module tray also popped open and a piece of paper fell out and floated to the ground in front of Kilo, who looked at it.
(Claptrap) Ouch, what happened? The last thing I remember is the feeling of anger, rage, a hail of bullets, electricity and… what was I talking about?
(Kilo8) Claptrap… Is that the map you told Tina that you gave to us?
(Claptrap) Huh, oh yeah. I got that from some chump who isn't my minion. What was his name? Blur, Blair, Blaze, I don't know. Anyways I guess I forgot that I had stored it for safekeeping and… Why do I suddenly feel endangered?
Tina picked up the map and looked at it for a moment, then folded it up and put it in her little hip pouch. She then turned to Claptrap with a sinister glint in her eyes and an eerie smile that sent a shiver down everyone's spines.
(Tina) Hay Claptrap, I need to have a word with you. So would you mind following me?
Tina grabbed Claptrap's arm and started dragging him away.
(Claptrap) Uh, guys. A little help here, I think I'm in mortal danger!
(Kilo) Even if we wanted to Clap, as you can see…
(Gaige) We're a little tied up at the moment.
(Torge) So you're on your own.
Soon, Tina and Claptrap were out of sight, leaving everyone else tied up in the middle of the rubble.
(Kilo8) *Sigh* Well it looks like we'll need a new place to have our Reviews. Speaking of which, what did you guys think of the chapter.
(Torgue) SO MUCH ACTION, BLOOD, EXPLOOOSION! IT WAS AWESOME!
(Gaige) I literally got only one line. And it's a cliffhanger on top of it!
(Kilo8) Yeah, it just felt right to stop there.
(Gaige) I hate it when you do that.
(Kilo8) Relax, you're going to get plenty of screen time next chapter.
(Gaige) Speaking of next chapter, where are we going to meet?
(Torgue) Something tells me that won't be much of a problem next chapter. I foresee a
quest coming up here soon.
(Kilo8) Anyways, I have a backup place we could use. It's a little small, but for now it can work for a few chapters.
(Torgue) Hmmm, maybe the audience could make some suggestion on where we could relocate.
(Kilo8) That an excellent idea! Alright, you heard the man, leave any ideas or suggestions in the Reviews as to where we could possibly set up next. It could be an evil lair from a movie, a space station from a game, a starship or secret base from a cartoon or anime. Everything is acceptable…. EXCEPT FOR UNDERWATER!
(Gaige) Wait, why not underwater? What, can't swim.
(Kilo8) No, I can swim, I just want to eliminate one particular option.
(Gaige) Why~?
(Kilo8) We already have one overly annoying square-shaped yellow character around here that we can't seem to get rid of, do you want to risk the chance of another similar character with a similar shape accidentally showing up and joining forces with Claptrap?
. . . . .
. . . . .
(Gaige) Wait? You don't mean? OH HELL NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT SPONGE!
(Torgue) #$% THAT!
(Kilo8) Yeah, I figured you'd all react that way. So I'll take it from your reactions no undersea base.
(Gaige) Yeah, no. Screw that.
(Kilo8) Well then. I guess that's a wrap for today, you guys have anything el-"
(Claptrap) AAAAAAH! NOT MY EYE! NOT MY EYE!
(Kilo8) Right… Well, I hope you all enjoyed today's Chapter. I'm Kilo8, and please
remember to leave lots of reviews… Now how are we getting out of these ropes?
(Claptrap) AAAH! STOP SHOOTING ME! OW! ENOUGH TI- WHAAAAA!
(Gaige) . . . No idea.
- ECHO Review Log Terminated -