Chapter 3: Memories and Death
"So Moze, where we at right now?" Smoke asked taking a small hit from his blunt and blowing it to the side.
"Baroness Aurelia Hammerlock, the CEO of Jakobs Corporation is paying us to leave the planet," Moze said with an annoyed groan.
"I am sure she said more than that," Smoke said walking up to Moze with his hands on his hips smirking.
"Yeah, she did...but I don't feel like saying any of it," Moze replied making Smoke nod his head.
"Meh not worry. I can do that for ya," Smoke said snatching the gunners Echo-2 while swaying his hand over it.
"What are you doing?" Moze asked glaring at the inventor.
"Keep your tights on soldier. I am just curious about what else she said okay?" Smoke said with a chuckle while bringing his completed Echo-3 and hummed as he placed it over Moze's.
After a second had passed, a wire shot out of Smoke's device and into Moze's and watched as a screen opened up to replay the Baroness' message.
"Vault Hunters! I am Baroness Aurelia Hammerlock, CEO of Jakobs Corporation. I've just been informed that you rescued my brother. Disappointing. It's a family affair, and you've no business interfering. That said, Vault Hunters are nothing more than whores, so I will simply pay you to leave the planet. Come to Jakobs Manor to negotiate your price," Aurelia spoke making Smoke bust out in tears as he started to laugh hard.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's Aurelia alright. HA! She never changed," Smoke said with a soft sigh. "What a bitch..."
"You've met her before?" Moze asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah. I've done business with her once. Took one transaction to screw up our entire contract," Smoke said shaking his head.
"Was this before or after you quit your job of being an inventor for Maliwan?" Moze asked crossing her arms under her breasts.
"Pfft, this was before I even joined Maliwan Corporation. I was an inventor for hire, and she hired me to make her an elemental weapon. Being the young, high, and smart dude I was, I made it for her. She took it and kicked me out...without paying...she even took my pack of weed with her when she did it," Smoke admitted while shaking his head.
"She stole from you?" J asked with a raised brow now.
"Like I said, man...I was young and high," Smoke replied looking at his friend.
"...and stupid..." J finished making Smoke chuckle while nodding his head.
"Yeah fine. I was also a little dumb," Smoke agreed with his hands raised in defeat. "But thanks to this I think we can get her back. What'd Hammerlock say about her deal?"
"She's going to backstab us the moment we get to the manor," Moze answered.
"Yep. That is just her nature to do something like that," Smoke said with a heavy sigh.
"So kill her?" J asked looking between the two.
"I say go ahead but Hammerlock still has hope for his sister so maybe...keep that on the low," Moze said shaking her head while looking at J.
"...AND THAN KILL HER!" Smoke shouted with a wide smile.
"Really?" Moze asked with a raised brow.
"What?! She deserves it! Come on J back me up here man," Smoke said looking at his friend for back up.
"She sounds extremely annoying and overconfident...I want to kill her," J said before gritting his teeth.
"See! He gets it," Smoke said with a smile making Moze and Ellie shaking their heads while smiling.
"What am I going to do with you two?" Moze asked while bringing her hands to her hips.
"You can take us to Jakob Manor!" Smoke suggested with a smile while walking over to Moze's side and nudging her arm softly.
"After Iron Bear gets fixed up. You all saw firsthand that Iron Bear can take a beating as well as dish it out," Moze said looking at Smoke. "I tried using her during the fight against Hammerlocks Warden...Iron Bear couldn't even move let alone be of any help."
"I don't know. You're only looking to fix up your Iron Bear mech right? No improvements or anything?" Smoke asked with a raised brow.
"Yeah. Only repairs," Moze repeated making Smoke roll his eyes and shake his head.
"Boring. Pretty sure Ellie can do it without me," Smoke said as he closed his eyes and placed his hands behind his head smiling.
"Hey!" Ellie spoke putting her hands on her hips.
"Do you want to modify the Iron Bear?" Moze asked a little annoyed at Smoke's attitude now.
"...I would not know where to begin," Smoke said opening his left eye slightly to look at Moze who only glared at him.
"Help her Smoke. If you and Ellie work on it, the task should be completed in an hour...minimum," J spoke up causing Smoke's eyes to shoot open and look at his friend.
"You're taking her side?" Smoke asked surprised at J's explanation before looking at Moze to see that she was also shocked at his intervention.
"Help her," J repeated while glaring at his friend.
"Alright fine. You win. I'll help repair her Iron Bear. What about you two? What are you going to do while Ellie and I get to work?" Smoke asked sighing heavily while rolling his shoulders back.
"Seeing Smoke in action on something as complex as J there's limbs...I'm sure it will take us bout ten minutes tops for simple repairs...not too sure about modifications though," Ellie added.
"Are you sure you don't want me to modify Iron Bear a little?" Smoke said with a nervous smile.
"Can you?" Moze asked with a raised brow.
"Pfft, please. I saw your Iron Bear in action, and it piqued my interest. Tell me what you want on her and I can add it in," Smoke said with a chuckle.
"...what can you do?" Moze asked narrowing her eyes.
"What can I do? Moze, I can add in weapons like no tomorrow and even strengthen Iron Bears armor, so it doesn't get messed up so easily," Smoke started while rubbing his hands together. "I mean I can make Iron Bear's weaponry switch,"
"What do you mean switch?" Moze asked with narrowed eyes.
"What type of weapons can an Iron Bear unit use exactly?" Smoke asked swaying his hand and creating a holographic blueprint for Iron Bear.
"A minigun, grenade launcher, railgun, flamethrower, rocket pods, and bear claws," Moze answered as she watched Smoke sway his hands about creating images of the weapons she mentioned.
"Alright I can think of two ways to make all those weapons work out for your Iron Bear," Smoke started as he looked at Moze. "There's the conventional way where Iron Bear will have a portable armory for itself...like a backpack."
"Sounds dumb..." Moze admitted making Smoke chuckle before taking a long drag of his blunt and releasing it out with a satisfied sigh.
"And I agree. Which is why we ain't going that route," Smoke said putting a large X over the backpack idea and pulling out another design. "Instead of a backpack, we just put it all on. Some will be fused while others will be as they are but in a different area."
"Different area?" Moze asked confused about the idea.
"Here," Smoke spoke before widening the design revealing the railgun being placed on the right shoulder while the missile pod was placed on the opposite side. "You see, the railgun and missile pod will be on the shoulders."
"What about the grenade launcher, flame thrower, and minigun?" Moze asked looking at Smoke now with her hands on her hips.
"The grenade Launcher is good alone so that's going under the left arm," Smoke answered.
"You mean on the left arm," Moze said while shaking her head.
"I know what I said. It will be going under the arm rather than being the arm. Gives Iron Bear room to use her claws," Smoke corrected with a smirk.
"...that would make it more convenient," Moze agreed while looking at the design while rubbing her chin with her left hand. "But that leaves out the minigun and flamethrower."
"Does it? I am sure that Iron Bears' right arm will be perfect for a flaming revolver," Smoke said with a laugh.
"A flaming what?" Moze asked with a confused look.
"It's a fusion of the minigun as well as the flamethrower...but deadlier," Smoke explained while opening a separate holoscreen to show the minigun spewing out a stream of fire that stretched to twenty meters. "YEAH BABY!"
Moze watched wide-eyed at the display of power before shaking her head and clearing her throat.
"How would you be able to increase the range of the flamethrower?" Moze asked eyeing the flame revolver.
"Well there's the standard flamethrower oil but that ain't what you're going to use soldier. You're going to be using a special oil I created myself...not only is it more powerful but it reduces the risk of it exploding on you like the heavies the Maliwan Corp uses," Smoke explained while tapping the holoscreen and revealing the substance the Iron Beam would be using.
"How long would it take for you two to make these modifications?" Moze asked crossing her arms under her bust with narrowed eyes.
"...mmm with Ellie here working with me...I would say about...half an hour," Smoke said causing Ellie and Moze to stand there motionless.
"What?" Ellie asked breaking the silence.
"The reason why I could not make J's limbs so fast was that his body parts are a lot more advanced than Iron Bear's. Not only that but I got the blueprints for the Iron Bear when I first saw it in action against the Vault Monster," Smoke said making Moze shake her head.
"When did you get Iron Bear's blueprints? How? You were fighting all the time!" Moze questioned a little surprised at the inventor's statement.
"Like I said. When we were fighting the Rampager. While we were fighting it, I had my wrist scan your mech when I was close enough," Smoke said looking at Moze than back to the blueprint design.
"So while yall are going down there giving them hell, me an Smoke will be busy fixin up your baby," Ellie said with confidence.
"...I'll leave you two to it then. Come on J let's head down there," Moze said walking toward the pod with the berserker following behind her.
-Eden-6-
As they both arrived back at Eden-6, they made their way toward the Jakob Estate only to come across the Children of the Vault. While Moze was in the back-opening fire on the CoV, J was tearing the CoV apart with mere punches, kicks, and grapples. He left the shooting to Moze to test his newfound upgrades as well as its limits. So far, he found that his limits were unknown once more which allowed him to reap every CoV he encountered. Although, his main focus was none other than larger enemies as Moze walked up by his side to see a mangled CoV Goliath.
"Sucks to be him. Come on, we got more work to do," Moze said looking at J and nudging her head to have him follow her.
J nodded his head and walked toward the gondola with Moze before being called by Wainwright on Moze's Echo-2.
"I'm nearly inside the manor, by way of a rather tight underground passage. Jakobs Estate has more entrances than a harlot at a bordello for squids, if you don't mind the tight squeeze," Wainwright spoke before pausing for a second. "Speaking of suckers, while you distract Aurelia. I'll search the cabaret in the Theater Wing. My father had a study hidden underneath the stage. If there's a clue to the Vault Key, it'll be there,"
"What did we miss?" J asked looking at Moze as she started the gondola.
"Aside from the Baroness paying us to leave. The clue to the Vault Key is in the Jakobs Estate...and Wainwright is going to get it for us while we keep the backstabber busy," Moze explained as the gondola arrived at its destination allowing the two to walk off and toward the Manor.
"Makes sense..." J replied while nodding his head.
"Let's get this over with then," Moze said with a heavy sigh as she pushed the doorbell of the estate as a holographic face image of Aurelia appeared in front of the doorbell.
"Right on time, Vault Hunters. Please, do come in," Aurelia spoke before the hologram faded and the door unlock itself.
"That evil harpy can even make proper hospitality sound sinister. Just go along with whatever she says," Wainwright spoke making J grit his teeth.
"I don't like this," J commented while looking around.
"Same here," Moze spoke as she slowly started to look around the hallway as the two continued.
"I'll be with you in just a moment. Wait for me in the dining hall, and we'll discuss your payment...whore," Aurelia whispered the last part while talking through a speaker making J quickly slam his left fist into it breaking the device.
"I want to kill her," J said narrowing his eyes.
"We'll have to wait and see," Moze said looking at J before walking upstairs to the dining hall with J behind her. She eyed the door for a long second before taking hold of the door handles.
Before her hands could touch the door handles, they were both enveloped in energy and lifted off the ground followed by the door opening and revealing Troy. Moze's eyes widened in fake surprise as she looked at Troy while J simply kept his annoyed look on his face. He smiled and pulled the two into the room smiling while a hologram of Aurelia stood by his side as Troy laughed softly.
"You should see the looks on your stupid faces!" Troy said before he looked at J and laughed harder. "And what do we have here! Here I thought you would be nothing more the scrap last time my sister and I tore you apart...speaking of parts, those look brand new,"
"The Vault Thieves! As promised!" Aurelia spoke gaining his attention.
"Not bad, Baroness. But you still owe us a Vault Key," troy said with an annoyed tone.
"I am working on it as we speak. Well, I will leave you to your fun. Good doing business with you, Vault Hunters," Aurelia spoke before looking at the Vault Hunters with a smile as the hologram faded away.
"This is...awesome. We haven't really had a chance to really get to know each other, huh? Ty's been doing most of the talking. She does that, right? She's the center of the galaxy and the rest of us sort of...orbit around her. But...things are changing. freakin' look at me! Ah, I've never felt so good in my life! Wha-What is this? What is this? Your siren friend? She didn't know what she had! With this power...I can pull the stars out of the goddamn sky. Y'know, Tyreen says we should let you keep playin' along. Yeah, a little competition gets our followers all RILED UP! But I'm not one of 'em. No, not anymore. And I'm done gettin' table scraps," Troy said while looking at Moze and stretching his right hand out to grab her head grinning.
"Fill your hands, you zealot scum!" Wainwright shouted from the second-floor balcony before firing his shotgun at Troy making him stagger backward and releasing the two. Moze fell on the ground while J landed on his feet with a faint grunt.
"Ohhh...oh, I'm going to KILL you!" Troy shouted pointing at Wainwright.
"Come and get me you rat-faced bastard!" Wainwright shouted before running off and Troy chasing after him.
"So...new plans?" J said walking over and helping Moze off the ground.
"New plan! YOU search the cabaret! I'll keep this punk-ass rat boy runnin' around like a jabber with its bunghole on fire!" Wainwright said through the Echo-2.
"That answers that," Moze said looking at J than forward hearing the sound of CoV coming in. "Seems we have company. Ready to wipe them out J?"
J raised his hands to his face before looking over at Moze grinning.
"I am," J said before they both looked down the hall as the CoV were starting to pour in.
"With your upgrades...it shouldn't be hard to get to the marked location," Moze said raising her Echo-2 device and revealing their destination toward the theater.
-Theatre Room-
After countless minutes of Moze and J tearing the CoV apart room by room and hallway by hallway, they finally arrive at the theatre of the Jakobs Estate.
"I lost him! Vault Hunter, the cabaret theatre is up ahead. Push through!" Wainwright said over the Echo-2 comms.
"So our objective is right ahead," Moze added while going to her knee and checking her ammunition. "You should do a system check on your limbs to see if there are any minor damages."
"No damage," J said rolling his shoulders back while watching Moze.
"Well seeing as no more CoV are coming in. My only guess is there might be an Anointed up ahead," Moze said with an annoyed sigh.
"A what?" J said with a raised brow.
"Anointed. A juiced-up version of a CoV empowered by the Calypso Twins. Fought one back when I was breaking Hammerlock out of prison," Moze spoke before standing back up and sighing heavily. "They are powerful but not impossible to kill."
"From what I learned in the labs...if it can feel pain...it can die," J said bringing his right fist into his left palm smiling.
"I like that attitude J. Now let's move it. Faster we get done, the faster we can get out of here," Moze spoke cocking her assault rifle with a smile.
The two walked into the theater to see a lone Goliath come from behind the curtains holding two assault rifles just like any others until his body was engulfed by purple energy.
"Hey, Vault Thieves. Wanna see something your Siren friend couldn't do?" Troy spoke through Moze's Echo-2 as the Goliath started to levitate off the ground. "Yes! Let my power flow through you!"
J watched with wide eyes as the Goliath grew bigger as well as turn purple with his skull revealing itself. Once the Goliath finished transforming, the field around its body vanished allowing it to fall to the ground followed by releasing a booming war cry. Moze did not waste any time to bring her assault rifle out and begin to open fire on the Anointed CoV causing it to grunt in pain before quickly looking at them and snarl.
"I think I'm pissing it off!" Moze shouted as the Anointed hopped down off the stage and stretched its hands out only to clap them together firing a wave of energy at them.
J quickly took hold of Moze and jumped over the wave of energy before landing safely on the floor.
"I could have done it myself!" Moze shouted before shoving J away just as the sound of more CoV was heard coming into the theater.
"Can you deal with the normal bandits?" J asked looking at Moze.
"What about you?" Moze asked narrowing her eyes at J only for the Anointed to appear behind them before grabbing the berserker and throwing him at the stage of the theater. "J!" She shouted before turning her attention back at the Anointed and watched as he laughed and tried to grab Moze's body while she was shooting at him.
"Burn!" J shouted from behind the Anointed as he jumped up into the air with his right fist engulfed in flames before descending toward the Anointed's head.
Moze saw this and rolled out of the way causing the Anointed to look over his shoulder to watch as his head was hit by J's burning knuckles.
"I got the Anointed. Keep the small fry off me while I take this fat guy on," J answered looking at Moze before turning his attention back to the Anointed that was trying to grab him by jumping off his body and landing on the ground. Once he landed on the ground, J started to fireballs of fire from his right fist and lightning bolts from his left.
"Get back here!" The Anointed shouted before vanishing in a purple flash and appearing right in front of J with his arms raised over his head. "Smash you good!"
"Smash who good?" J asked as he rolled forward away from the Anointed's slam before slamming his left-hand into the ground grinning.
Looking at the large target, he looked at the ground and switched his left hand's element to frost as he kept his hand on the floor. A second later, the stage started to freeze over which was ignored by the Anointed as he raised his hands out of the ground only to slip and fall on his rump. Seeing this chance, he launched himself over the Anointed with his hands raised over his head. Over J's head, an orb of red and white energy formed before he slammed it onto the Anointed's body freezing his chest but nothing more.
"C-C-Cold!" The Anointed shouted before swatting J off his body and getting back to his feet.
"You're a tough one..." J commented while watching the Anointed lean his body back and let out a roar followed by eight flaming skulls appear in front of the Anointed before flying toward the berserker's direction. "Let's see if Smoke kept the early function." He said stretching his right hand out while opening it wide watching as a small red orb appeared that acted as a vacuum to absorb the fire skulls.
"What?" The Anointed asked in confused as J slowly closed his hand grinning while eyeing the Anointed.
"I return your rage with my own," J spoke while his entire right arm began to glow a crimson red.
Seeing that he still had the absorption function, he ran toward the Anointed but watched as he clapped his hands together sending another wave of energy toward him. Seeing the wave so close to him, he brought his left hand up to defend himself but instead his legs transformed and fired a Jakobs shotgun under his feet launching him up over the wave only to fall flat on his back.
"That's new," J said while looking up at the ceiling before he saw a large hand quickly take hold of his head and lift him off the ground laughing.
"I crush you," The Anointed commented before hearing J laugh softly and bringing him closer to glare at him. "What funny?"
"Stupid," J spoke as he brought his right hand to grab hold of Anointed's head and firing a point-blank blast at the skull of the CoV causing his skull to explode followed by the Goliath's body started to turn into an eridium statue.
"Took you long enough," Moze joked as she walked up and punched the eridium statue with her gauntlet shattering it and allowing J to land on his feet groaning.
"Whatever! Kill as many Anointed as you want. I'll makin' 'em. My army is endless. But you know what? I've got more important crap to do," Troy spoke through the Echo-2 before laughing.
"Yo J, how are things going man?" Smoke asked coming from J's right shoulder. "Sorry for the surprise but I had to try out your Echo-3 embedded into your shoulder."
The two looked at his right shoulder in thought before a small holographic form of Smoke appeared and laughed.
"Any other surprises we should know about?" Moze asked with a chuckle while J glared at his friend.
"Relax. From the readings, I got from J's activities. I'd say he's running good and tearing shit up," Smoke commented with a chuckle.
"How?" J asked causing Smoke to sigh and shake his head.
"Just because I am working on something doesn't mean I ain't keeping an eye on you J. Gotta make sure everything is working fine and dandy," Smoke said with a smile.
"As Moze said...any other surprises?" J repeated.
"Welp unlike your old limbs, these have a gun almost everywhere," Smoke answered while crossing his arms over his chest while leaning his head back feeling pride in his work.
"What's the point in having a gun in every place on J's body?" Moze questioned with her hands on her hips now.
"Not everyplace. That would be fricking stupid. Almost every place!" Smoke corrected. "Doing so will increase mobility as well as effectiveness on the field. It will take time for you to master it, but I am sure you got time to learn,"
"Do we?" Moze asked with a raised brow.
"Although J here ain't the smartest person around, he is the deadliest," Smoke commented. "He'll get master his new limbs eventually,"
"And if he doesn't?" Moze questioned.
"He will. I know he will," Smoke said before sighing heavily and nodding his head. "Alright I'll let you two get back to your objective...in a few more minutes Iron Bear should be complete, and I will meet up with you two,"
As Smoke finished talking, his hologram faded away leaving the two alone again.
"Well seems you have a lot more on your plate than you expected J," Moze said with a sigh in which he nodded his head in agreement.
"He means well," J said before raising his right hand and slowly gripping it into a fist.
"Alright, we still have work to do," Moze said just as Wainwright tapped into her Echo-2.
"Right! Now that rat-boy's out of our hair, let's get to business. The trap door to my father's study has a trick latch. You'll need to figure out the solution. Get up to the technician's booth," Wainwright spoke in which J walked up onto the stage and narrowed his eyes.
"I am going to brick through the trapdoor," J warned as he started to walk around with Moze shaking her head. "We do not have time to wait...like you said...the faster we finish here the faster we leave here,"
Moze groaned before nodding her head while watching J walk about the stage feeling around for the trapdoor.
"Now hold on a minute. I already had that harpy tear up my family's home. I don't need it torn apart anymore!" Wainwright argued before J came to a stop at the center of the stage and gripped his hands into fists.
The berserker raised his right foot off the ground before quickly bringing it down to the floor firing a Jakobs shotgun downward while his left foot locked him in place as to not have him fly up like before. As J's right foot came down, the trapdoor would break open allowing the berserker to hope down and look around.
"I'm not entirely sure. My father said he kept all his records down there. Look for something..." Wainwright paused unsure what to say to finish his sentence.
"We'll keep a lookout Wainwright," Moze replied after landing behind J and looking around.
As they searched the study, Moze came across a bookshelf beside a bed and taking a closer look at a skull by it. Placing her hand on it, the bookshelf shifted and moved back before sliding out of the way.
"Of course! He meant record literally! That record's as old as Jakobs Corporation, and I got the only ligno-phonograph player in the entire system. If he wanted to leave me a message, that must be it! Bring it on back to the lodge, Vault Hunters!" Wainwright pointed out as Moze took the record off the wall and nodded.
"Inbound back to the lodge," Moze said before looking at J and nodding her head.
A second later, the wall that held the record crumbled revealing a hidden exit to use to leave the Manor.
"Convenient," J commented as he looked at Moze before looking to the entrance and taking lead.
As they neared the exit, Moze's Echo-2 sounded off revealing it to be Aurelia.
"Leaving so soon? Very well. Let me explain myself. You mean nothing to me, so I sold you to the Calypso Twins. But so you know, I will get the Vault Key. Because I'm rich, and rich people get what they want," Aurelia explained in which J gritted his teeth.
"She should know that death does not discriminate between rich and poor...he simply just takes..." J whispered to himself.
"She will get what she deserves but first we need to get this back to Wainwright," Moze said nudging his head before taking lead and causing him to follow her a second later.
As they were making their way back to the lodge, they got another message from Smoke as his hologram appeared over J's right shoulder again.
"Just popping in just to tell you that Iron Bear is finished," Smoke said with his arms crossed.
"Is she battle-ready?" Moze asked looking at Smoke.
"I'm sure she is but you'll have to see for yourself," Smoke said with a chuckle while scratching his belly.
"Can I call her in?" Moze asked a little taken back.
"I don't see why not. Ellie and I already put on the finishing touches," Smoke replied with a proud smile. "She's proud of her work as am I,"
"If you say she's good to go then that's all I need," Moze said with a nod.
"I do however have a small surprise for both of you when you call Iron Bear. I hope the surprise is a good one," Smoke said with a chuckle.
"Smoke...what did you do?" Moze and J asked glaring at the inventor.
"You'll have to find out next time," Smoke said with a soft laugh before the hologram disappeared.
/To be continued...
The upgraded J…what is the surprise for Iron Bear?
Find out next time everyone and as always let me know your favorite part.