Chapter 5
Hunters Moon
They made it back without incident, though they had seen a larger number of bots then they'd expected near the port. In fact, there had been enough of them that they were the first thing that they felt they had to talk about as soon as they got back.
"You think they spotted us?" Artemis asked, glancing behind herself, as if the robots had followed them.
"If they had, they would've done something."
"Unless they were only there to find us."
"And then what?" Gaige snapped a bit harder than she'd wanted. Like she'd said on the surface, she wanted a drink, but contrary to the image she'd projected, she'd barely been in control and she hated herself for it, so she was lashing out. Well, that and she was on edge from everything else.
Luckily for her, Artemis didn't seem to take it the wrong way for once and simply replied "Then the ship in orbit follows us, or maybe they send back that we've been here and the next place prepares. I donno, I'm trying to figure this out, but I keep telling you I'm no good at this stuff."
"You're way better then you give yourself credit for." Gaige replied "I wish you could see that, but I know you don't believe me. Oh, and speaking of the next place, where should that be?"
"Why would I know?"
"I was just seeing if you had any ideas." Gaige said, trying to settle the other girl.
"Ah, well, I don't, not really. Well, I've got a few, but I wanna hear yours first."
"Trying to pawn it off on me, are you? Well, I guess I can let it pass this time." She paused, catching the other girl's expression and sighed "I'm kidding, jeez. Sorry, let's just forget about it. So, back to the matter at hand, we need to figure out where to go next, but what leads do we have?"
"Well, we just found out that someone that claimed to be related to Holloway took his body, but we don't know who or where, so that doesn't really help."
"No, it's useful, but you're right, it doesn't help us much in this instance, does it?"
"No. So what's that leave us?"
"Hmm, well, we could always go to where the bots were made."
"That seems like a trap."
"Well, duh, it's obviously a trap, but we don't really have any other leads, unless you're holdin out on me."
"Why would I do that?"
"It's just an expression, that was where you're supposed to chime in with anything you've got, you know, like the idea you were reluctant to say earlier."
"Oh."
"Not to sound mean, but how're you still so bad at this?"
"Sorry."
"Don't be sorry, get mad, tell me off, pick up on the social cues, something, but don't be sorry." Gaige snapped, causing the other girl to flinch. Gaige groaned inwardly "Now it's my turn to say sorry. Look, I didn't mean it, I'm just cranky, I guess being around all that booze was a lot rougher on me then I thought."
"It's alright."
"No, it's not. Remember what we talked about at that meeting? Stand up to me."
"I...I'll try."
"Good, best that I can ask for. Well, not really, the best would be for you to actually do it, but I'll take what I can get. Speaking of which, what was this idea you had?"
"I didn't have an idea, it was more of somewhere we might need to go, sooner or later, and probably sooner, now that I think about it."
"And where's that?"
"I'm not entirely sure."
"Huh?"
"I'm not sure where we need to go."
"Then what's your suggestion?"
"Well, it's just..."
"Look, just say it, however you can, I'll try and piece together what you're meaning and we can go from there, alright?"
Artemis gave a small nod and continued "It's just that, well, on Jaka, when the bots popped their EMP fields, they were different from before."
"Oh? How so?" Gaige was shocked. Usually, it would've been her that picked up on any mechanical difference, so she wracked her brain, trying to come up with something, but drew a blank.
"Huh? You didn't notice? Oh, but you were busy fighting them, so that's probably it."
"Quit stalling and just say it."
"Sorry. The difference was the duration." Seeing Gaige cock her head, she continued "Last time, I mean the other times we faced them, they went on for what, thirty seconds at the longest?"
"Sounds about right."
"Well, this time they were still going all the way up till they exploded, right?"
"Again, right."
"So, that was, what, two minutes? Longer?"
"Really? So what? We're now immune again, aren't we?"
"That's not the point. It doesn't matter that we're immune, while the field is up, we've got no shield. Not to mention that if we take damage to our cybernetics, or Deathtrap's body, I'm not entirely sure how that'd work, but the field could get in."
Gaige paled at the thought, but continued "So what're you suggesting?"
"That we need some way of dealing with it, but I have no idea what that is. I mean, everything I can think of, like explosives, requires electricity, or the kind of heavy weapon that neither of us likes."
"Hmm, the explosives thing might work, but we're gonna need an expert."
"Well don't look at me, I don't know anyone like that."
"Good thing I do."
Pandora
Boomtown was exactly like they'd remembered it, with the buildings spilling over the ledge and the motley assortment of folks wandering around, giving them suspicious looks.
They'd gotten into a debate about what to do with A.I. ngel and the argument had raged for a while.
"We shouldn't involve her in this any more than she already is." Gaige argued.
"But she needs to get out and see the galaxy at some point."
"But she wouldn't be seeing it, she'd be stuck in the ship."
"Well, what about Pandora?"
"What about it?"
"Couldn't she come down?"
"Are you crazy? That's not a place for her, for starters, it wouldn't be safe."
"You really think that Brick and Mordecai couldn't protect her?"
"I think they'd do their darndest, but anyone on Pandora can die at any time, even someone as tough as them."
"So, what're you suggesting? That she stays locked away cause it's not safe?"
"No. I'm trying to say that until she can handle more situations, we shouldn't throw her into the Skag den."
"I feel like you're not telling me something."
"You can feel however you want, but as long as I'm makin sense, you're just dodging the issue."
In the end, the decision was made for them when A.I. ngel came out of the bedroom and told them "Timothy just contacted me. It seems that there was a problem with the new central computer system and was wondering if I could return."
"And what do you want?" Artemis asked.
"I would like to stay, but I understand that you are going to a dangerous spot, so, as long as you promise to take me on another adventure, once this one is done, I will go back to where I can be of use immediately."
So, they'd swung out of their way and dropped her off before heading to Pandora.
They looked around, trying to spot a familiar face among the suspicious onlookers. They'd called ahead, making sure that not only was the B-Team going to be there, but that they would be expecting them, so it only took a little while for a familiar lanky man to come walking up.
"How's it goin?" Mordecai said with a wave.
"Good." Gaige replied "Well, no that's a lie."
"Yeah, if it was good, you wouldn't be here."
"That sounds insulting." Artemis muttered.
Mordecai shrugged "Not many come here by choice, specially not when they call ahead, so what brings you? Or did you wanna meet with the others before sayin?"
"Might as well say it once." Gaige sighed "Where are they?"
"Eh, they're waitin over there, they were gonna meet you, but somethin came up last minute."
"And they sent away their eyes?" Artemis said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah well, those two are better at this."
Gaige cocked an eyebrow and asked "Interview with persuasion?"
"Heh, something like that." He said with a smile "Interview with persuasion, I like that. Well, they should be done in a moment, so follow me."
He led them across the open area and into one of the buildings. Gaige sighed inwardly as she realized that the only footsteps clanging out were her own, which made her self-conscious of everything from her inability to sneak, to her weight, but she kept it in and followed along.
After a few turns, he led them into a dingy room that was downright posh by Pandora standards. Gaige looked around, the table was intact and had only a minimum of coffee rings on it, as well as a few broken bandit masks that looked like they were being used as coasters. The chairs were stuffed and worn, but the bunny patches looked new and the couch had all of its cushions, and they all matched.
"They should be here soon." Mordecai said "Can I get you somethin while you wait? Coffee? Somethin stronger?"
Gaige swallowed noisily and shook her head "I'm, uh, I'm trying to quit."
Mordecai gave her a look while nodding "It's not easy, is it. All I can say is, stick with it and it's easier with friends."
Gaige nodded in commiseration with him and looked around "So, uh, which chairs can we use?"
"Huh?"
"Never a good way to start off takin Tina's chair. Or yours for that matter."
"What about Brick?"
"Yeah, he'd only fit on the couch."
"Right."
Right then the door flew open and a tiny blond bounced in with a "What'up." Before pausing and spinning on Mordecai "Why they still standin? Didn't ya offer em a seat? No hospitality."
"Hey Tina." Gaige interrupted her "We were just waiting for you since we didn't want to take your seat. I mean, that wouldn't be a good way to start."
"What'chu talkin about? They all my seats. Well sept for that one, dat's Bricks. But today I feels like this one." She said while jumping into one of the chairs "Now sit and tell Tina what brings your fine behin to ask her for her services."
"Before we get to that, a little somethin for you." Gaige said, elbowing Artemis to wake her up.
"Right." She said, setting the box she was holding onto the table. "Last time we were here, we forgot to bring a gift for welcoming us into your house, though to be fair, I didn't exactly know what we were doing, nor did we enter a house, but this time I came prepared."
She opened it up to reveal a bunch of cupcakes. Most of them were identical, but two were different. One was huge, looking almost like a small cake and the other had different colored frosting.
Tina squealed "Cupcakes! You did fine!"
"You mentioned that we should bring some next time, so we made some before we got here, though for some reason Gaige told me not to put raisins in them, which I thought was odd, since I was making cupcakes and if I put raisins in them, doesn't that make them muffins?"
"Finally, someone gets it!" Tina shouted, gesticulating wildly. "I mean, why do people wanna put raisins in everythin anyway? It just wrong."
Artemis nodded "Oh, those ones are yours." She pointed to the identical ones "And since it would be rude to give them to only one person, that one's for Brick, and since Mordecai doesn't seem like the kind that likes sweets as much, I tried to make his with less sugar."
"Nice." He said, grabbing his.
Once everyone had taken a bite, or in Tina's case, just shoved an entire cupcake into her mouth and nearly choked on it, she continued leading the meeting.
"Your offering has been approved, so what can I do ya for?"
This time Gaige spoke up, explaining the situation and what they needed. Tina sat and thought about it for a bit.
"So, do you think you can do it?"
"Whos do you think you talkin to? Corse I's can do it. And you already paid in cupcakes. Yummy, yummy cupcakes. Fortunate for you, I's knows how to handle this, but unfortunate for yous, I's gonna need you to do somethin for me."
"Fair enough." Gaige said "What's that?"
"If I's gonna have a party, I's gonna need you to go gives the invites to the gents. The ingre-gents." She smiled crazily at her joke "First I gonna need you to find an invite Mister Reginald Boomington of the South-Highland Boomingtons, he a tall thin redhead with a fiery temper, yous can find him hangin around some of them psychos that like to go boom, cause he knows they gonna show him to someone he can bang, but you gonna need to take them out without him seein, cause if you be seen, he gonna go off.
"Next you gonna have to find Sir Bartholomew Gearsworth the IVth, he a very punctual man, popular with the ladies, but I donno where he at right now, but the two of you is good with machines and stuff, so I's sure you can find him.
"Last I gonna need you to invite a friend o'mine, actually, a number of them. The Flumblebumble family are perfect for cleanin up a mess, they can hold everythin we want, but there's a problem. See, these babies were found and on their way here, but some Rakk suckin, no good, motha humpa done up and stole 'em! And I wants 'em back!
"Ahem." Tina cleared her throat, calming herself slightly "Oh, an one more thing, while you's out distibutin the invites, if you happen upon Pollux Warhull, I would very much appreciate it if you would kill his Stalker sukin butt. See, he fancies himself an artist, but the only thing he be doin is puttin up some nasty graffiti suggestin that me an Enrique are doin the nasty. Now I loves me my Enrique the fourth, he's my boo, but we just platonic, I don swing that way if you know wha I'm sayin?
"Oh, but beware, he under the protection of Volupta, an she a right fine piece o' work. Take her out too if you need, actually, take her out even if yous don't. I mean, my last girlfriend left me for that jiggling juggernaut an if there be one thing this place don't need, it a girl snatchin monstrosity like that."
Gaige glanced over and saw that Artemis was wearing a completely confused look, like she hadn't caught any of what had been said, which didn't surprise Gaige once she remembered that the girl had never taken a mission from someone like this. She'd had clients before, but there was something about taking a job as a Vault Hunter that always felt a bit different, so she'd have to explain it later, for now, she turned back to Tina and said "Where can we find them?"
