-TRANSMISSION ONLINE-
-Beginning ECHO Review Log-
In orbit around the moon was a lone dog bone shaped space station quietly floating in space. Until the sound of a girl screaming in excitement shattered the silence.
-On board the station-
(Gaige) OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! I can't believe we're on the Satellite of Love from MST3K! This is so OF THE CHAIN!
(Torgue) Well, Gaige is taking to the new place well.
(Kilo8) I figured she would geek out, got the place during a sale. Of course, technically this is the second version of the SOL from the new MST3K 2017 version, with a few added features.
(Torgue) That %#$*# awesome! By the way, where Tina?
Kilo pointed to the corner where Tina was out of it with a devilishly happy grin on her face with a plate of golden-colored cookies next to her.
(Kilo8) She's been like that for the last two hours.
(Torgue) Just how many of those golden cookies did she have?
(Kilo8) One.
(Torgue) . . . Seriously.
(Kilo8) I was just as surprised as you. Anyways welcome once again everyone to another ERL presentation of Rebel Anarchy. Now to make up for how little action there was in the last chapter, well guess what we have this chapter.
(Torgue) A metric $# ton of action.
(Kilo8) Oh yeah, lots of it, and we're also finally moving into the main BL2 story. Hey, Gaige! Time to step up girl, you're on.
(Gaige) An epic space station, the rest of the Vault Hunters are coming, and my character is finally getting into the action! HELL YEAH! BEST CHAPTER EVER! TO THE MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER!
Gaige runs through the door towards the Mystery Science Theater.
(Kilo8) Well, she excited. Anyways I hope you all enjoy the chapter.
Just then Tina bolted up straight with one of her signature crazed looks on her face.
(Tina) Best damn cookie ever.
She grabbed another cookie and scarf it down in seconds. Not even three seconds after she eats it she fell back onto the floor with a look of pure Bliss on her face.
(Torgue) . . . Should we be worried?
Kilo just shrugged.
(Kilo8) I'm more afraid of what she'll do if we try and take them away.
(Torgue) Hm. . . She fine then.
-ECHO Transmission interrupted-
X-X-X
Disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands or any of it characters, Borderlands is owned by Gearbox Software and 2K Games, the only ownership I claim is of my own OC's. 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'
X-X-X
Chapter 5
Welcome to Pandora Kiddo
Part One
The world around her felt cold and desolate, and even with the numbing cold around her, she felt sore. Gaige's memories slowly began to trickle back.
It started early that same day after she landed on Pandora. She got off in a small spaceport town called Starzz Town, apparently, it was one of only three places where none corporate shuttles could still 'safely' land on Pandora without worry of Hyperion. This is only because of the town's insane Anti-Air network that protected it from Hyperion moonshots attacks. It also had several Buzzard squadrons that would patrol the surrounding airspace. Only certain crafts are given clearance to land there. Although the skies were mostly safe, the streets were fairly lawless. Gaige didn't stay long and got on a train heading North East towards a town called Rough Iron Ridge. From there Kai was supposed to pick her up. Suppose, being the preferred word.
She had been sleeping in one of the vacant cars when several Hyperion Loader bots busted into the train car and tried to kill her. Gaige was holding them off fairly well with Deathtrap's help until a forward train car EXPLODED and derailed the whole damn train. Which led to Gaige's current situation.
As Gaige's mind was still waking up with a throbbing headache that was killing her, she began to hear voices.
Most of the voices were muffled for some reason. The most she could tell was that one had a high-pitched robotic voice and then someone speaking in what sounded like haikus. She tried to move only to feel pins and needles shot through her body, but it was enough to get someone's attention. The next thing she knew, she felt something being brushed off her till her head was dug out of what she then realized to be snow.
Slowly her sight came back as she felt someone prop her up, a quick look around and she found that she was currently in the middle of a frozen wasteland surrounded by wrecked train cars and other rubble. It was also then she noticed who had dug her up.
"Hey kid, you okay?" Gaige looked to find a man who looked to be in his mid-twenties crouched down in front of her. He's had brown hair done in a sort of crew cut, pale blue eyes and light tan skin. Over his left eye was a white rank Chevron. He was wearing a modified tan brown Dahl uniform, and on his right shoulder, he had what looked like a camera mounted on it. He also had olive drab cargo pants and a pair of combat boots. Around his neck was a necklace with a diamond ring hanging off of it.
"Ugh, I think. I just feel have pins and needles shooting all thro- OW!" She yelped. She looked to see someone in a black armored skin tight suit with a helmet on. In front of his face was a red hologram Zer0 as well as one painted over his heart. He was jabbing an insta-heal into her right arm.
Almost immediately Gaige felt most of the pain and soreness she had been feeling fade away, although she was still cold. "What happened," she asked.
"Train was a trap / Many enemies came and attacked / Handsome Jack destroyed it." the man in the combat suit said with an eerily robotic voice.
Gaige looked at him in confusion. "Did he just speak in Haiku?" Gaige asked.
"Yes, yes he did. Can you get up," The Dahl soldier asked?
"I think so." Gaige said as she slowly tried to get up. The two men by her quickly helped her up, after she got on her feet she took a quick inventory of her gear. She still had her rucksack and her dad's gun which was in her back holster, but when she went to check her ECHO she found that it was fried. 'Just great,' she thought. With her ECHO fried she couldn't summon Deathtrap as part of his Digistruct program was processed by her ECHO. Gaige could only sigh at this discovery. She then looked around and found that there were several other people there as well.
The first was a woman with short blue hair styled in a bob-like cut, blue lips to match, pale skin, and three little blue dots under her left eye. She had on a skin-tight yellow and black combat bodysuit with only a right sleeve. Her left arm was covered in blue tattoos. She also had on blue pants with gray patches on the knees and sides.
Gaige wasn't sure what was up with the siren tattoos. She had heard of Sirens, there could only be six of them in the universe at any given time and each one could have incredible powers. She had also seen a few girls at school get Siren tattoos to try and look cool. With that in mind, Gaige knew there was the possibility she was a fake.
Next to her was easily the tallest one there. It was a man who wore a gas mask with only his left eye visible. He had no shirt on, a pair of orange baggy pants and a harness around his shoulders with a tube running into his left arm under a crude metal gauntlet. He was the only one visibly armed with what appeared to be a large... 'buzz, saw, axe? Buzz Axe?' she thought.
Finally, the shortest member was a man with bluish-black hair and accompanying beard, who looked as if he was mad. He had on a ragged burnt orange t-shirt and jeans, and a pair of leather boots with spurs. Over his shoulders appeared to be ammo belts, and what Gaige suspected to be a pair of digistruct converters. How he got one let alone two of them was a mystery as one unit could buy a small ship.
"So who are you kid?" the soldier asked.
"Gaige. What about all of you?"
"Well, I'm Axton, ex-Dahl Commando. Mr. Haiku there in the suit is Zer0, the chick with the tattoos is Maya. The big scary Psycho by her is Krieg, and finally the shorty here is Salvador." the now name commando said.
"HEY! I ain't short! Punta." Salvador yelled.
"Well, you actually are," Axton said, he was then nailed in the back of the head by a snowball. Axton turned to see Salvador smiling at his deed. This quickly turned into a shouting match which Gaige and the other watched for a few minutes until till she got fed up.
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone looked at her, surprise at the sheer lung capacity she had to have for that yell. "Can we just please go somewhere else now, someplace 'warmer' perhaps," Gaige said as she pulled her hood over her head.
"AGREED! SEEK THE WARMTH LIKE THE FIRES THAT BURN THE FLESH!" Krieg yelled.
'Great, you've probably just scared that girl half to death,' said a voice in Krieg's head
"Uuuh,"
"It his way of talking, he doesn't mean it in the literal sense. . . Most of the time." Maya said.
Right, so any ideas as to where we should go," Gaige asked.
"You can come to my place!" An annoying robotic voice nearly yelled behind Gaige, causing the girl to jump and fall over on her butt in surprise.
When she recovered she looked behind to find a small yellow wedge shaped robot with a single glowing blue eye, spindly arms that stood on a single wheel. Gaige couldn't believe it, it was a full functional Claptrap unit. From what she knew, almost as soon as Handsome Jack became the head of Hyperion he supposedly shut them all down as his first act. "What… the... hell?" Gaige asked.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am a CL4P-TP steward robot, but my friends call me Claptrap! Or they would if any of them were still alive. Or had existed in the first place! Oh! I've got something for you!"
Claptrap went over to a dead body and pull something out of its pocket.
"Here take this ECHO communicator I didn't loot from one of these corpses! It comes with a class twelve heads-up display, complete with a minimap!" Claptrap said as handed it to Gaige. She looked it over before she equipped it and saw it was an older Dahl military grade ECHO, it even had a few more features like a motion tracker. It wasn't bad but it was slower than her previous model.
"Now come, come, friends. Let's get you all inside." Claptrap said. Axton quickly pulled Gaige back on her feet. Everyone then started following the little robot as it continued it's ranting.
"Man, this is great! Now that I've met several mighty Vault Hunters, I can finally join the resistance in Sanctuary, take vengeance against Jack for killing my product line, and repair my central processor so I stop thinking out loud! . . . I wonder what it's like to have a belly button?"
Nobody was sure what to do, or if they should trust the little robot until a fuzzy image of a woman appeared on everyone HUD.
"I'll explain everything soon, but know this - you're alive for a reason, and I… am here to help you," came the voice of a young woman.
They all look at each other. "You all heard that too, right," Salvador asked. They all nodded, except for Claptrap who appeared to not receive the message even notice that something had distracted everyone. Finally, Axton just shrugged and followed after Claptrap. Everyone else followed suit.
It took a few minutes to get to Claptrap place which was made out of an assortment of ice, scrap, and a LOT of old Claptrap parts. They finally made it inside and Gaige immediately took a seat by the furnace as Claptrap went somewhere to get more fuel for the fire. Everyone was silent for the next few minutes, till Gaige spoke up.
"Sooo, you guys were going to be Vault Hunters too?"
"Yup, I'm just looking for fame, glory, and adventure," Axton said as he was checking several boxes for anything useful.
"I'm here because it sounds like fun." Salvador chipped in.
"I seek the challenge / the chance to test myself/ to see my strength," Zer0 said. Everyone looked at Zer0 with various looks, until Gaige looked over to Maya and asked, "What about you?"
"Me, I'm trying to find out about my siren heritage," she said quietly.
"Wait, so you're actually claiming to be a real Siren. How do we know you're not just one of those posers with a decent tattoo." Axton asked accusingly.
"What! You yourself saw me using my powers on the train." To Maya annoyance.
"Yeah, that whole fight is a little fuzzy. I think I may have hit my head when we got blown up." He said sheepishly.
"Well if you are one, why not just show us now," Salvador asked.
Maya stretched her arm out at one of the Claptrap bodies sitting at a small table that was set up to look as though it playing poker. She had a look of concentration on her face, and soon a was clenching her teeth in frustration. "Augh! I can't, I must have overused my power when I tried to shield us all from the explosion," she said. "I didn't think I'll be able to use my powers for a little while."
"Right~ sure. Whatever you say," Axton said sarcastically. Maya gave him the finger as she glared at him.
"What about you big guy," Axton asked Krieg. "Must follow the blue flower! Protect the flower," He nearly yelled out.
"What?" Axton said. Gaige was just as confused.
"Right, well how about you niñita?" Salvador asked.
"I'm only an inch shorter than you shortly," she muttered since he just called her little girl.
"What?" Salvador asked.
"I said I don't really want to talk about it." Everyone looked at her skeptically, till Gaige gave a small sigh. "Let just say, I made a mistake and now I'm wanted. So I came here to hide and become a Vault Hunter. I'm currently trying to get to Sanctuary to meet up with someone."
"Really, does little red have a special friend waiting for her or something." Axton teased as he came over and ruffled her hair.
"Stop that! It not like that, he just a friend."
"Oh, so it a 'he' now." Maya chipped in.
Before she could respond Claptrap rolled back into the room with a few cardboard cutouts of Handsome Jack and tossed them in the furnace.
"Sorry about the mess. Everything Jack kills, he dumps here, bandits, Vault Hunters, Claptrap units. The bot said as it tosses another cut out into the flames. "If I sound pleased about this, it's only because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed!"
"Awwww, you poor thing," Gaige said as she gave him a pat.
"Now, the creatures around here are dangerous, none more than a Bullymong named Knuckledragger. Killed everyone I know. He's just one more reason you've gotta help me get out of here. I keep a few pistols in the cabinet over there for emergencies but, in here, we should be pretty safe."
Just then there was a loud roar as everyone looked around till they realize it came from above and looked up. A giant blue-skinned creature with white fur in several places, four massive arms, and short legs swung down through a hole in the ceiling. It then swung around the smokestack, falling right down towards Gaige. Axton thinking quickly grabbed the back of her hoodie and pulled her out of the way of the creature, which landed next to Claptrap.
Claptrap screamed and tried to run but the creature picks him up in it claw then shoved one of it other claws into Claptrap eye and tore it out. The beast then jumps up and climbed out of the same hole it came in through.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that was Knuckledragger," Maya said as she got up from her cover. Gaige got off of Axton as they both fell back in the rush. While everyone else was looking at Claptrap.
The guns, the guns in the cabinet. He said as he pointed to a cabinet lying in a pile of snow and junk.
Axton walked over to the cabinet and opened it to have several pistols falling out. All of them were common grade guns but right now it was better than nothing. Everyone gathered around for a weapon when. Axton held a Tediore pistol out for Gaige. "No thanks, I already got one." she then pulled out her dad's gun and held it up to show.
"Damn, where did you get that?" He asked.
"My dad gave it to me. I'm just glad he had me store it in a normal holster or else I would have lost it." Gaige said as she grabbed some ammo.
They soon left Claptrap's place and started walking through the frozen glacier. They didn't have too much trouble as they followed the little robot and only had to deal with a few Bullymong's. About ten minutes later, as the group was pulling Claptrap out of a snowbank that he got stuck in, everyone ECHO devices came on as a familiar voice was heard.
"Hey, kiddos. Jack here. president of Hyperion."
"Oh, well if it ain't the glorious leader himself. By the way, you missed all of us." Axton remarked.
"Well, you can't blame me for try to kill off a bunch of scumbags."
"Ugh, no. You're the scumbag, Gramps," Gaige said.
". . . What the. Who the kid?" Jack asked sounding both confused and irritated.
"That for me to know and you to find out you self-centered asshole."
Everyone was a little surprised that Gaige had the balls to insult a man who could literally kill them with the push of a button.
"Great another brat with a mouth," Jack muttered. "Look, lemme explain how things work here: Vault Hunters shows up. Vault Hunters looks for the new vault. Vault Hunters gets killed, by me. Seeing the problem here? You're all still alive. So, if the lot of you could just do me a favor and off yourself, that'd be great. Thanks, Pumpkin." Jack said before he disconnected.
"Well that was interesting," Salvador commented.
"Let's just get the annoying robot out already," Axton groaned as walked away.
They soon managed to pull Claptrap free of the snow and continued onward. After cutting through an old Hyperion supply container they came to a large open frozen cove with a crashed Hyperion barge sitting up on the side. Claptrap suddenly stopped and started looking around frantically.
"Oh! My eye just switched back on!" He said excitedly. "I see several tough-looking minions and an incredibly handsome robot... Which means that whoever has my eye," he said as he started to get more frightened. "Is very close."
Just as he finished everyone heard a roar echoing around them. "LOOK!" Maya shouted as she pointed to a ledge. Knuckledragger was standing on a ledge above them, and on his chest was Claptraps eye. he turned and grabbed an old wrecked car then lobbed it at the group.
"Scatter!" Axton yelled and everyone immediately ran to get out of the way. The car hit the ground and exploded in a large fireball. Salvador was caught by the explosion which sent him barreling through several Bullymong piles till he stopped in a snowbank.
Axton yelled out to him, "Hey shorty, you dead?" Salvador's arm popped out of the snow with a raised middle finger in response.
Meanwhile, Gaige and Zer0 were both firing at Knuckledragger from behind the cover of a pile of wreckage, while the creature was throwing chunks of ice and metal at them and the others. Zer0 and Gaige both ducked as another large ice shard flew over them. "So any ideas"
"Go surround the target / Attack it from all sides / Then eliminate the target," the masked man said. Gaige just stared at him for a second. "That seems rather simplistic."
"I know it is / We need to act fast / Now get to work."
"I think my intelligence has just been insulted," Gaige muttered as she ran to the left of the creature. She went to jump over a pile of junk in order to get in position, only to discover Pandora had weaker gravity. "WOAH!"
She managed to keep her balance and land on her feet. "What the hell just happened?" Gaige yelled.
"Gravity is slightly lower on this planet," Maya yelled over to her. She took a few shots before she continued. "Though Pandora is about the same size as most inhabitable planets it only has about four-fifths the gravity of most."
It was at this moment when Knuckledragger charged at Maya who had been distracted. Maya saw this and back up into the cliffside as she kept firing her Tediore pistol which did little to the Bullymong's tough skin. Gaige also saw this and fired at Knuckledragger as well, but her shots didn't slow him down either.
Knuckledragger was about to plow headlong into Maya when Krieg jumped in the way and stopped the creature's charge. One of Knuckledragger's claws tore into Krieg's left shoulder, but Krieg didn't even seem to be phased by the wound and took that moment to pull out his Buzz Axe. "TIME TO BLEED!" He yelled as he brought the ax down on the mong's lower left arm. The blade started to saw through skin and bone as blood began to gush out. Knuckledragger let out a thunderous roar of pain as it used its free second right arm to punch Krieg, knocking him back. Knuckledragger looked down at its now dead arm, the arm was now nothing more than a limp bloody slab of meat hanging off of the creature by a few tendons. In an act of fury, the large Bullymong grab its useless arm and ripped it off, causing more blood to spray out and drench the snow red.
"Well, that just gruesome," Maya said, as she looked like she was about to throw up. Knuckledragger then proceeded to throw the arm away which hit Salvador who was just getting out of the snow. Salvador was knocked back into the snow pile by the force of the impact.
"Can someone give me a hand… Oh, wait. Never mind, I already have one." he yelled as he held the dismembered limb out of the snow pile.
Back to the fight, Knuckledragger jump up to the top of the cove. On the walls of the cove, there were several holes which Monglets started coming out of and jumped down to attack.
"Oh god! They're coming outta the wall-sphincters!" Claptrap yelled as he ran around flailing and screaming in terror.
As that happened three Monglet's had singled Gaige out. She had just finished reloading her gun when she noticed. Gaige took aim at the first one and fired at the first mong, nailed it in the head with the second burst. Gaige then fired several shots into the second Monglet and killed it, while the third one lunged at her. Gaige tried to shot it but only got two shots off before her gun clicked empty. "Crap!"
While the Mong was still in the air, Gaige quickly cocked her left arm back before threw a punch that intercepts the small creature square in the chest. It was the first time she had ever punched anything other than inanimate objects with her robot arm, so upon contact her fist sank into the little mongs chest, crushing the front of its rib cage. The rest of the inertia quickly caught up though as Gaige ended up launching the Monglet twenty meters from her till it hit the side of a crashed Hyperion barge with a loud bloody splat. Gaige stared at the spot it had impacted, and then looked down to her blood covered robotic fist for several seconds. "...Neat."
In her moment of distraction, another Monglet jumped on her back and started to yank at her hair. "OW! OW! OW! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" she yelled as she struggled to get the small beast off. One of its claws raked her right arm making several scratches that started to bleed.
"SOMEONE GIVE ME A HAND WITH THIS LITTLE BASTARD!" She cried out.
"Hold on niñita!" She heard Salvador yell. She suddenly felt the Monglet getting knocked off of her and heard it wailing as it went flying back over the cargo container they came through. "Uh, thanks, Salva- did you just use Knuckledragger's severed arm to hit that mong?" she asked Salvador who was holding the arm that Knuckledragger had ripped off. "I lost my gun, I had to use something," Salvador said with a grin before Gaige chuckled and turned back to the fight.
Most of the Monglets had been dealt with at that point when Knuckledragger decided to jumped back down and charged Zer0. It slams into Zer0 and sent him flying into the glacier wall. The assassin fell the ground and slowly tried to got up on his hands and knees as Maya ran over. "You okay?"
"This is getting ridiculous/We cannot keep this up/We need a plan." Zer0 said as he reloaded his weapon.
"Well, we're all open to suggestions!" Yelled Axton who was being whipped around by Knuckledragger while Gaige had started firing away nearby to try and help him.
"I got a plan, GIVE HIM THE RED!" Krieg yelled as he jumped from his cover charged at the massive beast. As he ran, Krieg throws his buzz-axe, only to surprise everyone as he seemingly pulls another one from behind his back and chucked it as well. The first one hits and embeds itself into the chest, just right of Claptrap's eye. The second one lodged itself into Knuckledragger's right upper arm causing him to drop Axton. Knuckledragger gives a roar of pain as Krieg grabs the other two arms and held him in place.
"Attack now!" Axton yelled as he, Maya and Gaige started to fire at the same spot on Knuckledragger's left side. Zer0 charges around and takes several slashes at the Bullymong's right with his sword. Knuckledragger lets out another roar of pain until there was a loud, wet 'thwack' and the beast finally falls over dead as Krieg steps back. Everyone looks to see Salvador walk up to the dead beast and take a triumphant pose with his boot on the beast head and the arm he used to club it with propped over his shoulder. Gaige immediately pulled out her ECHO and started recording.
"I am Salvador the Gunzerker. Vault Hunter and Beast Slayer! Bow before my might!" He yelled.
"Says the guy who got knocked on his ass twice," commented Axton causing Salvador's ego to deflate right there, as everyone but Zer0 laughed a little.
"That cold man."
After Gaige and Krieg used some inst-health to heal up their injuries the team search through the loot that Knuckledragger dropped, which wasn't much. They found Claptrap eye and Gaige offered to fix him right then and there but Claptrap rudely replied that optic surgery should be left to an expert, much to Gaige's irritation.
They made their way up to the barge which Claptrap tried to open, only for it to go into lockdown. Thankfully Angel who revealed herself to be an AI open the door. Inside they looted all the crates but the only noteworthy thing was an old Jakobs shotgun which Salvador laid claim too since he lost his pistol. After that, they all began to make their way to Liar's Berg.
X-X-X
In a small town called Rough Iron Ridge, Kai was sitting in his Runner by the train station. It wasn't a big town, only about twenty people live there. Hyperion didn't even bother the town because of just how small it was, the only reason it exists in the first place was that Dahi used to have a mine in the area. It had been almost two hours since Gaige's train was supposed to arrive. Now an hour late wasn't too strange but two, now Kai was getting worried.
His ECHO beeped and he quickly answered, "Gaige?"
"No man. . . Wait, she hasn't arrived yet?" Reiss asked on the other end.
"No, and it's been almost two hours since her train was supposed to arrive."
"Damn, well have you heard anything from her."
"Not since she landed this morning. I've tried calling her ECHO a few times but it keeps saying it out of service range."
"Well, there's not much we can do. Are you going to stay there," Reiss asked.
"Probably, Roland said he didn't have any missions that needed our attention for a few days."
"Well, I'll tell you what, if you haven't heard anything from her by morning I'll come out and will go looking for her,"
"Thanks, man. By the way, did you need anything or why did you call?"
"Oh, just checking in, anyways I got to go. I've got plans here," he said.
"Plans? Since when do you have plans?"
"Since none of your business, that when."
"Woah, touchy. Alright, we'll talk later then."
"Alright, and Kai."
"Yeah Reiss?"
"I'm sure she fine."
"... Yeah, thanks, man. See you later."
"Later."
Kai ended the call and looked to the sky and sighed. "Dammit Gaige, where are you."
Kai then heard something and looked around till he saw Hati sitting next to the Runner, gnawing on an arm from one of the Bandits they killed earlier. "Hati! Spit that thing out, you don't know where it been!"
X-X-X
After about six hours of navigating the glacier, the band of Vault Hunters finally reached Liar's Berg. After killing about a dozen Bullymong's outside the gate Claptrap rolled over to the control box and tried to get in. After a minute he activated the comm box.
"Hey, Hammerlock!" Claptrap yelled into the control box. After a few seconds, a man who sounded stressed answered back.
"Spectacular! first Captain Flynt's bandits attack, THEN Claptrap shows up! I must have been horrifyingly cruel to puppies in a previous life to deserve this kind of treatment. Oh, wait, who are all of you?"
"Ugh, where all Vault Hunters sir," Axton replied.
"Vault Hunter's? OH thank heavens! I say, Vault Hunters, could you kill Flynt's men for me?"
Everyone looked to one another, Axton looked back to Claptrap. "Sure why not." He said as he got his Dahl pistol ready. The gate started to lift up… only to fall off it rail and fall over. This revealed about two dozen Marauders standing around the town. Both groups stare at each other for several seconds.
"... Vault Hunters! Let's wreck em!" yelled one of the marauders. They all began to spread out and open firing while the Vault Hunters did the same. "RED RUUUUUM!"Krieg yelled as charged straight in and started to hack and slashing several nearby Marauders with his buzz axe.
Gaige started trading shots with a pair of Marauders behind cover. After emptying the clip she ducked down behind an ice wall and started reload her Rogue.
"Come on out, little bitch!" She heard one of the Marauders yell. Gaige was about to retort when everyone's ECHO devices came on and Capt Flynt spoke.
"Got a proposition for ya, Vault Hunters. You give up, we'll just shoot ya in the head. It'll be quick, clean, and a hell of a lot less painful than what Handsome Jack'll do to ya." Flynt said over the ECHO.
"Pfft, fuck that," Gaige yelled as she shot a burst at one of the Marauders in the head. This cause the Bandit's head to explode in a bloom of blood, flesh, and bone. She quickly shot the second Marauder in the chest several times before he dropped. She was about to cheer when several pellets from a shotgun winged her right shoulder. She cried out in pain and fell over in sudden shock. She looked to see another Marauder with a Bandit shotgun with a large butcher knife like bayonet blade, aimed at her.
The Marauder pulled the trigger only for a loud clank to be heard. The Marauder tried to pull the trigger several more times only to finally realize it was jammed. Instead of trying to fix the jam the Marauder opted to charge at Gaige with the shotgun raised over his head so that he could strike her with the blade. Reacting to this Gaige tried to shot the Bandit, after four panicked shots she heard a click as she emptied the clip. She didn't have time to reload as the Marauder was now two meters away. She raised her left arm and managed to block the blade, mentally thanking her Mom for the pieces of ship grade titanium she gave her to build the outer casing of her arm. Then the Marauder stomped his boot into Gaige's stomach which caused her to yell in pain. "Aww, you gonna cry baby," the Marauder taunted.
"No, you are!" Gaige kicked her foot up and nailed the Marauder in the family jewels, as Marauder was attempting to bring the shotgun up to try and strike her again. The gun fell out of his hand as the Marauder started hitting the high note of a baritone as he screamed in pain. Gaige moved back and reload her Rogue, as the Marauder started to recover. "You damn bitch, I'm gonna-,"
BA-BANG! *
A trickle of Blood started to run down the Marauder Jacket from the two newly formed holes right where his heart was.
"But... I'm so… cool," he said before he fell back dead into the snow. The snow around him started to be stained red as blood spilled out.
Gaige was panting and trying to catch her breath when she heard Claptrap give out a freighted shrill. "OH NO! Bullymong's!" yelled Claptrap.
About a dozen Monglet's and adult Bullymong's were jumping down from one of the glaciers cliffs that surrounded the village. 'Crap', Gaige thought as she got back up. She saw the shotgun the Marauder had dropped and decided to pocket it up and stow it before she got back in the fight.
She runs over to Maya who firing away with a newly acquired fire element Tediore SMG at several Marauders who were still fighting. Gaige was going to assist when she sees an adult Bullymong rushing Maya from behind. "MAYA! BEHIND YOU!"
Maya turned around to see the Bullymong's launch itself at her. Maya throws up her left hand as her tattoos started to glow. To Gaige's shock, a sphere of energy suddenly encapsulated the creature and it appeared to lock it in place. With a smirk, Maya lazily hosed the trapped Bullymong with her SMG causing it to burst into flames as it quickly began to screamed as it burned. The energy that entrapped the beast dissipated a few seconds later causing the creature to fall, only it never reached the ground as it turned to ashes.
Maya looked over to Gaige to find that she was gawking at her. "Holy shit! You really are a Siren!"
"Yeah, I know. Cool right." Gaige could only nod in response.
"Hey, ladies, less talk more killing!" Axton yelled as he ran by, several Bullymong's came chasing after him.
"Should we help him," Gaige asked.
"Nah, I'm still mad at him for calling me a fake. Let go help Sal with those last few Marauders," Maya said pointing to Salvador. He was for some reason standing on top of the town's bed and breakfast in a shootout with several Marauders all around him. Apparently, he ran out of shotgun ammo and had opted to chuck ice at them.
The fighting continued for several more minutes until everyone had finished off all the Marauder's and the Bullymong's were killed. Axton was mad at Maya for not helping him, but only got a few mild cuts and bruises for the Bullymongs attack so he just sucked it up. As everyone gathered back together Claptrap popped up out of a snowbank. "Are they gone?"
"All the bad meat sacks have fed my blade!" Krieg yelled as he waved his ax.
"Excellent! Hey, Hammerlock! Since my minion just saved your town, you wanna do your bestie Claptrap a favor and repair my eye?"
"Yes, I suppose I am in your debt now, aren't I? Come to my shack, and I shall restore Claptrap's sight. First, I shall shut off the electrical fence for you." Hammerlock said begrudgingly.
"Alright, vamanos, minions!" Claptrap yelled as he rolled towards a gated house.
"Vault Hunters, please let Claptrap go first." Hammerlock seem to say on only the Vault Hunters ECHO's
"I knew Hammerlock would come around eventually. Me and him are like two peas in a pod! Two bullets in a mag! Two cannibal midgets in a fat guy's rib cage!" Claptrap yelled before running into the fence. Claptrap suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree as electricity arced across his body until he was fell back smoking with his tray popped open.
A few seconds later the door to the shack on the other side of the gate opened up. A man marched out he appeared to be in his 40's. He had a large bushy mustache that seemed to connect to his sideburns, and had on spectacle glasses, with a shattered right lens. His outfit consisted of a modern version of a Victorian style Safari outfit and had on a bush hat. The most noticeable feature was that both his right arm and leg were replaced with robotic prosthetics. Both seemed more skeletal in their appearance than the prosthetics Gaige's.
"Greetings, Sir Hammerlock at your service," He said as he gave everyone a salute.
"I must give you my apologies," he said as he jogged down to the gate and opened it. "but when Claptrap speaks, I feel my brain cells committing suicide, one by one."
"I think I can relate compadre," Salvador said.
After he opened the gate Zer0 gave Hammerlock Claptrap eye. Hammerlock took the eye and began to reconnect the wires and then screw it in. After it was in everyone noticed Claptrap was still off.
"Is he broken?" Maya asked.
"Hmm," Hammerlock thought. After a few seconds, he suddenly bashed his metal fist on the Claptrap body. This appeared to fix the robot as his eye lite up, and he quickly hopped back up.
"Ha-HA! I am ALIIIIIVE!"
"Oh dear, he talking again," Hammerlock groaned.
"Minions! Now I've got my eyesight back, and you're all far uglier than I remembered!" He said which earned him several vulgar responses. "Time to join up with the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary! This glacier's full of nothing but murderers or jerk bags, like that Hammerlock dude!"
"I'm standing right here, 'dude'!" Hammerlock remarked before turning back to the Vault Hunters. "Well I imagine the lot of you must be tired and starving, luckily I happen to have the keys to the inn. So just let me fire up the generator and I'll get you all a nice meal."
Everyone agreed that they could do with some rest and a meal. So the Vault Hunters all followed Hammerlock, talking about their kills and other things they did during the fight. Gaige was bringing up the rear when she noticed the Marauder she had shot in the heart. There was blood seeping into the snow turning it red and the smell of iron.
Gaige then looked around at the other bandit's she had killed. As she stared at the Bodies the realization of what just occurred started to settle in, of what she just had just done. "I-I killed them. I... killed these people." She then covered her mouth and dropped to her knee, she tried to hold it back but found herself throwing up what little she had in her stomach onto the snow.
Hey Gaige what-, GAIGE!" Maya screamed as she tried to run over and help the girl, but Axton stopped her. "What are you doing!"
"Relax, she fine. Just give her a few minutes. The kid needs to deal with this alone right now," He said as they watched Gaige throw up again.
X-X-X
It had been almost ten hours since Gaige's train was supposed to arrive and there was still no sign of her or any word about her that matter. Kai had been regularly texting her every hour… Or less.
Kai then noticed the old man who operated the station walking over towards him from the station. He seemed like a nice enough man from what few words they had exchanged earlier. Old as he may be though, just a quick looking at his body's build and Kai could tell the man was strong enough still to punch the head clean off a bandit. "Got any news for me old timer?"
"A little bit. It seems that Hyperion has the tracks closed off for their use. Some Express train or something." The old man said.
"Dammit Jack, what are you up to now," Kai mumbled.
"That not all," The old man commented. "According to word from down the line, there was a derailment of one of Hyperion trains."
This didn't give Kai a good feeling. he silently hoped Gaige didn't accidentally get on that train, but he couldn't be sure. "Any idea when the rails will be fixed?"
"Could be a few days, could be a month." Hyperion control's the area where it derailed," The old man said.
"Where would that be?" Kai asked.
"The frozen glaciers near Liar's Berg."
Now Kai was worried. Liar's Berg had been overrun by Hyperion a few months ago. The only person he knew that was still there was a hunter by the name Sir Hammerlock. Kai had talked to him a few times and had done a job for him once but he really didn't know too much about him. Well other than the fact that he once tried to make a pass on Reiss on a particularly drunken evening according to Lt. Davis and Moxxi.
"Well, thanks for the update sir."
"No problem kid." He said as he shuffled back into the station.
Kai was about to try Gaige for the… Well, he didn't know how many times now when his ECHO started ringing. He looked and saw it was Reiss again.
"Reiss, what up?"
"Roland called, we got jobs to do."
"Seriously, we were supposed to be given the next few days off."
"Yeah well, this is an emergency, plus Roland is out to meet with one of our contacts. Anyways we had a few bombardments earlier that overtaxed the shield, so now the power core needs to be replaced. On top of that our usual supplier is currently out of stock. So now we have to steal one from the old refinery up north that the Gas Guzzlers control."
"Right, I can meet with you in about ten hours at the end of Dahl turnpike 4."
"Sorry, the core only half the problem, three of the field emitters are also in need of replacement. So you are going to have to hit the old Atlas Outpost near the Rakk Hills to get some."
"Crap, I hate that place. Who brilliant idea was it to put an Outpost near an area that has over forty fucking Rakk hives," Kai asked.
"Some five-year-old someone decided to make an admiral."
"Right, I forgot how fucked up Atlas's military structure was. Well, I guess that means we're each going solo-" before Kai could finish he heard a soft moan in the background. "Reiss… What was that?"
"Nothing! Just ugh, one of my videos."
Before Kai could retort he heard a familiar voice speak up. "Reiss come back to bed dear, you left me all alone. And it just so 'cold' without you,"
Kai was silent for several seconds till he finally asked. "Moxxi? Is that you?"
"Kai? Oh hello, Kai, how your day been sugar."
"Wait but this would mean… HOLY SHIT REISS! You did! You finally manned up and asked Moxxi out! I'm proud of you brother." Kai nearly yelled.
"Ugh, thanks, but actually-"
"Actually~ it was me who made the first move, sugar," Moxxi said proudly.
"Wait, but That would mean… Aww shit, I owe Roland a hundred bucks now. Dammit!" Kai yelled.
"Wait, you and Roland made a bet on which one of us would make the first move!? What the hell man!" Reiss yelled as Kai could hear Moxxi laughing in the background.
"Actually that was just a side bet, I still won a bit of the group pot. Which reminds me Moxxi, Mordecai bet you guys wouldn't get together before the end of next month."
"Ha, shows him. Morde missed his chance with me, besides I feel like I've won the jackpot with this cutie. The things this man can do with his tongue just make me-"
"MOXXI/MOXXI!" Both Kai and Reiss yelled, as she just chuckled.
"Right, well then I better get going then. Be safe Reiss,"
"You too. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! Did you hear from Gaige yet?" Reiss asked.
Kai sighed, "No, and the station manager told me that there was a Hyperion train that derailed near Lairsburg so the tracks are blocked, so at best she still stuck at a station down the line, at worse..."
"No, Kai she is alive. Don't you dare start thinking the worst, okay. After all, we're talking about a girl who has the balls to cut off her own arm and then the skill to build a robotic one in it place. After hearing that, I'd be willing to bet she can handle herself." Reiss said reassuringly.
"I got a call from Hammerlock last week. Some of the Bandits in the area damaged the fast travel in the town. He was trying to fix it last time we talked but said it could take up to two weeks before it's fixed… Tell you what, I'll make a few calls for you and see if I can find anything about your friend's whereabouts."
"You would do that Moxxi?"
"Of course sugar, you're a dear friend and Reiss's little brother. So it only makes sense that I would help you out."
"Thanks Moxxi, Reiss I'll talk to you later."
"Right, be safe man."
"You too," Kai said. He looked over to the station and yelled. "Hey, old timer!"
"What do you want kid," the man yelled as he walked out onto the train platform.
"I have to go and deal with a job. Could you call me if you hear anything else about the train or the repairs."
"Sure kid, it not a problem. By the way, your a Raider right?"
Kai looked with an arched brow. "I am, way do you ask."
"Just thought I'd ask. Keep the fight up kid."
"Heh, thanks old man," Kai yell as he started his Runner and quickly sped out of the town.
X-X-X
Gaige was currently sitting on a bed in one of the rooms in Fillion's Bed, Breakfast Bullets. She was working away on a spare part in an attempt to fix her gear so that she can be able to summon DeathTrap again. Even if she got the gear fixed tonight it will take anywhere from a day or two to finish loading the programs into her new ECHO.
After the adrenaline had finally worked it way out of her system the reality of her actions had finally dawned on her. She had killed another person, several people in fact. She wasn't sure what to think about it, sure they were just bandits out to kill her but they we're still human right?
She kept wishing she could contact Kai and ask him but since her original ECHO device was destroyed she didn't have any of her contacts other than her parents which she had memorized. On top of that, the connection to the ECHOnet was none existent out here. So since she couldn't call Kai to ask for his help on the dilemma, or to pick her up for that matter, she continued to try and distract herself. So far it wasn't working all that well.
Suddenly the part she was working on cracked in half and fell to the floor.
"Dammit" She yells as she throws the other half of the part in frustration at the wall. Gaige hears heavy footsteps and looked up to see Axton in the doorway.
"You okay kid? I thought I heard you yelling."
"I'm fine, I'm jus-just frustrated, and stop calling me kid," Gaige said as she picked up another part.
"Mhhh, I see."
He watched her work on the part as he leaned on the doorframe, this continues for several minutes till he spoke.
"Today was your first time, wasn't kid?"
"What are you talking about."
"The first time you killed someone."
Gaige froze on the spot unsure what to do or say. With a sigh, Axton came in and sat down on the bed next to her. "I know that look Gaige, don't try to hide it. God knows how many times I've seen that look."
Gaige drooped her head in shame as she thought about it more, mentally trying to stave off the impending conversation she knew was coming.
Look I get it, you're scared. You killed someone for the first time and you are not sure how you should feel about this. You have to understand that nothing in life is as simple as you think, especially here on Pandora. I hate to be blunt but for now on it going to be live or die out here."
"I don't know what your life was like before or why you choose to come to Pandora, but any kind of normal life you knew is over out here. I mean, when I was in the Dahl forces I thought I killed a lot. But the first day I got here I killed twice the number of people I did then in my first four missions out of training. God that was a crazy fight, the Bandits just kept coming and coming. Hah, this one moron who I caught off guard tried to rush me with a butter knife and…"
He only then noticed that Gaige had brought her knees into her chest and had buried her face into them. Axton mentally cursed himself as rub his neck as he tried to think of something to say. "You're not very good at this are you, tonto."
They both look to see Salvador standing in the doorway with Maya and Krieg peeking in behind him.
"Look, I'll admit that I may not be as smart as most people, but if there are three things I know it fighting, killing, and it how to deal with the effect of killing another person."
"Didn't you say that killing is the only fun thing to do on this planet." Maya chimed in.
"Well bandits mostly, but you have to understand that bandits are just mindless murderers and escorias.
"...Escoria?" Gaige asked.
"He means scumbag," Maya chipped in.
"What she said, and who's gonna miss a scumbag. Plus I swear these bandits must have their own New-U stations because there never seem to be an end to them. There like Threshers, you can kill a whole nest of them than a week later they're back in force, damn tentacles worms." Salvador muttered. "With that said, it wouldn't surprise me if you ran into the Bandits you killed again."
"Anyways there this old man back in my home village, he was an old gunslinger who could put a bullet between the eyes of a Skag from 300 meters from the hip, 700 meters if he actually aimed down the sight. I asked him once when I was little if he ever thought about the people he's killed. And do you know what he did."
Gaige shook her head before Salvador continued. "He turned to me and told me of course he did, but if that person was a bad man who would kill without reason then they didn't deserve a second thought. I'm not saying you'll never ask yourself if you're a bad person, but I am not going to ask myself if it is right or wrong when you know the guy you killed will try to kill you without question. And plus, if it to protect your friends and loved ones, then it doesn't even matter."
Gaige reflected over Salvador words. After a minute, Gaige finally got up and walked over to Salvador and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you Sal."
"Anytime niñita." he said as he returned the hug.
Gaige stepped back and wiped away a tear. "I think I'm ready for some dinner now."
"Come on, we saved you a bowl of Hammerlocks stew," Salvador said. Gaige nodded as she wiped a few tears from her eyes, as Salvador guided her out of the room while everyone else followed them out.
X-X-X
-LINK REESTABLISHED-
-Resuming ECHO Review Log-
(Kilo8) Well, that wraps up another chapter. So, what did you guys think?
(Torgue) Pretty AWESOME!
Tina still in a cookie coma.
(Gaige) Aww, where was Deathtrap, and the lasers, and all the extra explosions! And my bad ass one liners!
(Kilo8) Gaige I did not promise you any of that. All I promised was that we would have a more action pack chapter, which continues on to next chapter as well.
(Gaige) What do you mean?
(Kilo8) Didn't you guys read the Chapter title? This is only part one of the "Welcome to Pandora Kiddo" chapters. Things are going to just keep getting crazier and crazier.
(Torgue) More explosions?
(Gaige) More guns?
(Kilo8) We got more guns, more explosions, more loot, more badasses, and more insanity!
(Gaige) EPIC!
(Torgue) AWESOOOOOME!
Tina just randomly mumbled.
(Kilo8) Also as of this chapter, I'm including at the bottom after the ERL a new list for any new original Weapons and/or Loot I may add to the story. This will only consist of gear that I have made for this story, along with their technical specs. For now, we're calling it the ERL Loot Guide.
(Gaige) Sweet.
(Kilo8) The first two weapons on this list will be Kai's Clementine and Gaige's Rouge Smuggler. Also if anyone wants to make a suggestion for a new Unique, Legendary, Pearlescent, or my own 'Mythic' class, then please, leave a suggestion in a PM or in a Review. I might just include it in a future chapter.
Just then Tina bolted up again.
(Tina) GOD DAMN! I LOVE THESE COOKIES! I need another.
(Kilo8) QUICK GRAB HER!
(GAIGE) Stop Tina!
(Tina) STAY AWAY FROM MY COOKIES COPERS! OR ELSE I'M GONNA BUST A CAP INTO ALL OF YA PUNKS!
(Kilo8) Anyways I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, please remember to follow for more updates and leave a review.
(Tina) AND COOKIES!
(Kilo8) Yes and... OH HELL NO, we are not doing that after the Blaze Incident back in Chapter 4. Well till next time everyone, this is Kilo8 with the ERL Crew on the SOL signing off. GET BACK HERE TINA!
(Torgue) I got her! OW! I don't got her!
(Tina) VIVA LA COOKIES ASSHOLES!
- ECHO Review Log Terminated -
X-X-X
ERL Loot Guide
Note: All gun statistics are based on Level 50 weapons stats.
The Clementine:
Manufacturer: Jakobs
Weapon type: Assault rifle
Weapon Grade: Red/Mythic
Flavor Text: When ya pull a gun, kill a man.
Description: A weapon with a powerful punch and higher than the normal damage of a Jakobs assault rifle. It shots have nearly twice the velocity of a normal Jakobs weapon, giving it rounds the ability to penetrate several unshielded Targets ( Similar to Zer0 B0re ability ). Rounds also have a 35% chance of ignoring shields and if it does penetrate the shield it gains a 100% Crit bonus. While it is a powerful weapon, it has several drawbacks. It can't be fitted with a scope so one is strictly reliant on iron sights. Also, the clips ammo count cannot be altered whatsoever by personal skills, class mods, or Relics. The Clementine still retains the Semi-auto fire ability as any Jakob's weapon. Also if the round does bypass the target's shield it cannot penetrate and hit another target like with unshielded targets. Finally, it cost 2 ammo for each shot as it needed the extra material to construct the more powerful rounds.
Appearance: The Clementine looks like an M1 Garand rifle, the texture is similar to that of a legendary Jakob Hammer Buster rifle.
Stats:
Damage: 28547
Accuracy: 95.0
Fire Rate: 17.9
Reload Speed: 2.8
Magazine Size: 16
Bonuses:
100% Crit bonus
100% Crit Bonus when the target's shield is penetrated.
X-X-X
Rogue Smuggler:
Manufacturer: Dahl
Weapon type: Pistol
Weapon Grade: Blue/Unique
Flavor Text: Han shot first.
Description: The first round of the weapon will have a 300% critical hit bonus. If the first shot earns a Crit every shot after will have a 50% critical hit bonus. Also, the Burst Fire only has a two-shot burst instead of the typical Dahl three-shot burst.
Appearance: The Rogue Smuggler has a polished gunmetal gray finish, while the grip is made of dark mahogany wood. There is an image of a Falcon with its talons out and wings spread as if it were frozen at the moment before it struck engraved on both sides. It parts consist of all Dahl parts with the exception of the grip which is a Jakobs grip, and a laser sight mounted under the barrel.
Stats:
Damage: 8216
Accuracy: 94.0
Fire Rate: 11.3
Reload Speed: 2
Magazine Size: 16
Bonuses:
300% Crit Bonus for the first bullet in a mag
50% Crit Bonus for each shot after the first shot, if the first round hits.