Erin Durand Ryder – Technician
Age: 24
Height: 5'4'' (163.16cm) Eye color: Brown. Hair: Cherry Blonde/ blonde
Favorite color: Blue
Allegiances: Teacher, Dr. Zed, New Haven
Planet of Origin: Pandora
Likes: Electricity, Eridian tech, Biotech, and robots.
Dislikes: Guns and sweets
This, was a dumb idea. Maybe the worst Erin has had in a long time, but at the very least it meant she'd finally achieve what she'd been working toward since she was a small child.
It was during one of those electric storms. The type that seemed to summon everything from spiked hail stones to raging wildfires. Anyone coming out during an electric storm on Pandora had to have a suicide wish. Except, Erin wasn't suicidal, she was just impulsive. Unfortunately, her decision-making skills oscillated between impulsively running off on a lark, and deliberate careful planning with little to no middle ground. This time was one of the impulsive times. Where half of her nerves were firing off a mile a minute – too fast for the rest of her brain to keep up, and her thought process decided to boil down into just "doing" because she no longer had that rational filter. Again, this was a bad idea.
Erin welcomed the strain in her muscles as she climbed up the wall surrounding the town and ran to her bike. She was too hyper focused on her goal to be scared of the bolt of lightning that struck the ground behind her, or the one that struck the lightning tower next to the gate.
Her ears were filled with the near deafening cacophony of the storm and motorcycle as she took off, driving to where she heard a rumor about some bandit leader finding an Eridian artifact: in the Arid Badlands, Fyrestone.
It could have been nothing. In Erin's experience, Eridian Artifacts could be anywhere between a shiny rock that can make you taste neon colors, or a shiny rock that can make you vaporize solid matter just by touching it. Her hopes were for something more, the key to the Vault, the thing she'd given up on finding years ago.
This was the hope of a 24-year-old woman that hadn't had a decent amount of sleep in the past 3 cycles, and spent those cycles cooped up in the clinic reattaching lost limbs after the last major bar party. Nearly eleven days to put it in perspective. Not that this was any different from any other day on Pandora. For nearly the past six years she'd been doing the same thing over and over, with this nagging need to be doing something else.
Erin drove for what felt like hours, a long drive through a tunnel that went on for an eternity, until finally it opened up to a wide-open space where it was raining steadily. It took her a moment to realize that she was in Dahl headlands. She'd finally driven long enough to feel the doubt that she could be wrong. Briefly she glanced back at the tunnel, then shook her head. There was still a chance she was right.
After driving further for a while Erin glanced down at the meter for the gas tank and saw that her tank was getting low. Then she felt her stomach rumble. Of course. Looking up again, she continued driving until she saw a glowing neon sign.
"So, this is where you've been, Lucky."
Lucky's Last Chance Watering hole, no doubt a popular dive for the bandit populations in the area from the large number of runners parked outside. She didn't really want to go inside that bastard's bar, especially after what happened between him and a friend. But still, she was hungry and needed to fill her bike with gas. Maybe she'd torch the place after she was done. The fire would look nice against the darkened sky.
She filled her bike with gas first, should something happen she wanted to get away fast. As soon as she was finished a giant truck drove too close to her, splashing muddy water on her face. Erin sputtered, some of it got into her mouth, and she glared at the monster as it parked, taking up two parking spaces. A brute hopped out, followed by a psycho and they entered the bar. They didn't even notice her.
Erin waited a moment before she took a key from her pocket and walked up to the monster truck. She scratched 'I am a fucking cunt' into the side of the vehicle, then decided to scratch a highly detailed picture of a crab worm's genitals in the mouth of the brute. She stood back, admiring her work. Even considered signing it but decided not to.
Entering the bar, she saw how crowded it was, and considered leaving. The bandits seemed rowdier than usual, and it seemed like they were celebrating something, either a group merger or a turf war that went very well. She hoped for the latter, it meant there were less bandits to worry about.
"Well if it isn't the little firestarter that broke all the fingers in my left hand. How long has it been? Three years? What do you want Erin?"
She looked up at Lucky, "food"
He narrowed his eyes at her, "you expect me to believe you came here for food?"
"I thought you were running a business here."
"I am running a business here. And I don't need you stirring up any trouble in it."
She sighed, "Is my money good here or not?"
He shrugged, "money's always good. It's you I'm weary of."
Erin rolled her eyes and nodded her head to the group of bandits gathered by the dart board rooting for the burning psycho throwing buzz saws at the target.
"I'm not about to start something with so many bandits here. I'm not stupid."
"Stupid no," he agreed, "crazy? Yes."
"Relax, I'll be out of your hair after I get some food and wash off my face. Got a bathroom or something?"
Lucky pointed at the cell door behind her.
"A jail cell is the bathroom?"
He shrugged, "it's all we got right now. Mostly ladies use it, should they come around here. Everyone else just does their business outside or in the corner next to the dart board."
Erin cringed, and eyed the jail cell. Well, if she gets locked in she could always pick the lock, and she wasn't planning on using the toilet. Erin walked inside and turned on the sink. Cupping her hands in the slow dribble of water from the faucet, she splashed her face. She didn't dare use any of the towels, they were covered in blood and other bodily fluids she did not want on her face.
She looked in the mirror, there were bags upon bags under her eyes, and her wet dirty-blonde hair was sticking to her forehead and cheeks, god she looked awful. Erin ducked her head when a large form filled the doorway behind her. The brute from earlier.
She watched him though the reflection of the mirror, pretending not to pay him any mind as she waited for him to either use the toilet or something. Erin had to mentally check what she had on hand to defend herself should he come after her.
He approached, and she mentally cursed as she realized he wasn't using the toilet. Trying to maintain more than an arms-length distance from him, she moved away from the sink, bowing her head to be inconspicuous as she tried to pass him. She'd rather not get into a fight now.
She froze as his giant hand grabbed her shoulder and she surreptitiously reached into her pocket, feeling the key at her fingers. She fitted it between her middle and index finger, to use as a claw as she formed her hand into a fist.
Erin looked up at him, "can I help you?"
The brute squeezed her shoulder, hard enough to hurt, "I think you can give me a hand," he grinned and jerked his head to the door.
She didn't have much of a choice but to follow him outside since he was practically dragging her out. The second they were out the door, he violently shoved her against the side his truck.
Erin almost felt the air get knocked out of her from the blow, and she had to sink down to the ground, gripping her already aching arm. She cursed under her breath. The lack of sleep was catching up to her. After a second she looked up at the drawing she'd scratched into the truck.
"Is this the problem? It'll buff out."
"The bartender mentioned you might know something about who did it."
Erin knew she shouldn't have come into the bar. She stood. It'd been awhile since she'd last been in a fight with a brute.
"What the hell do you expect me to do?"
She needed to think, calm down. Don't get scared. Brutes were huge and had a lot of muscle mass. Thick skin and thick skulls. Even a bullet to the head wasn't always enough to kill one, but they were slow thinkers, and prone to letting their emotions control how they fight.
"You do this?" He growled.
"I can't say that I did," she groaned, surreptitiously reaching into her pocket as she turned to face him. feeling the key at her finger tips, "but it must have been drawn by someone with skilled hands, you should pay them for their work."
She jerked her head to the side when a fist came flying towards it. Ducking and rolling away from another attack, she fitted the key between her index and middle finger and formed a fist. Her fist flew to his throat, and she grinned as the brute coughed when it connected.
The victory was short lived. When she pulled her fist back the key was embedded in his neck, he pulled it from his throat like it was nothing. Erin stepped back quickly as he rubbed his neck, clearing his throat.
"That stung."
More bandits poured out of the bar, and she had to reassess her priorities. All in due time, Erin, all in due time. Right now, focus on not getting killed.
Erin ran to her bike and got on, pressing a few buttons to bring the engine to life.
"After her!" the brute shouted. She stepped on the gas pedal, her ears were filled with the roar of the engine and the sound of a gunshot as she sped away.
A peek into her rear-view mirror told her that the bandits were hot on her tail, and she pressed the boost button in hopes to put more distance between herself and her pursuers.
There was a sudden blast and both she and her bike were in the air. The sky was under her feet and above her head was a small black fissure in the ground. Her body was slammed to the earth, the air forced out of her lungs. She laid next to her bike, unable to move, feeling dizzy while she listened to the incessant ring and buzz in her right ear.
Looking up, she saw the underside of a runner zip by. She looked around and saw a half-burnt corpse that stank of decay and rot. Gathering her strength, she pulled the corpse closer and positioned it to hide herself. Looking through the broken skull's eye socket, she saw the bandit peak into the ravine. Her breathing grew shallow and she shut her eyes, waiting, and mentally pleading with the bandit to leave.
After a long moment she opened them again and the bandit was gone. She waited a while longer then pushed the corpse away, grimacing as she looked at it. It hadn't been the first time she'd hid under a dead body, in truth, it happened more often than she'd care to say. Once she felt strong enough, she sat up slowly, wincing at the ache in her muscles and new throbbing in her head.
Erin looked at her bike and crawled to the bike to look it over, her gaze lingered on the peeled blue paint and the yellow printed name, "Lady" on the side of the gas tank. She sighed in relief, the shield on the bike kept it from being busted. She righted the bike, grimacing at the all too familiar ache in her body.
It wasn't the first time she'd fallen down in a ditch either.
Erin dug her finger in her ear in a vain attempt to stop the buzzing sound in her head. Really, she probably shouldn't be doing that. If she had a concussion, she should call Zed. Erin moved to call him on her Echo but stopped. He wouldn't be able to do much to help her now. She sighed; she had no choice but to use "that".
Erin lifted Lady's seat, opening a storage compartment that held a small metallic box. After pressing a couple of switches, the box unfolded its' legs and blinked a tiny light at her. First yellow, then green. The small robot did a chirp, hopping from her hand to the ground. Erin watched it start to scan its surroundings.
"Baby." She said, more as a groan than a command for attention.
It did another chirp and looked up at her though tiny scoped lenses.
"Initiate health scan."
Two chirps and a whirr later Erin shut her eyes when a bright beam of light hit her vision. She felt a few drops of water hit her on the head and she lifted her gaze to the top of the ditch she'd fallen into. As if on signal it began to rain harder.
She sighed, "I hate this place."
[X number of weeks later.]
"Hey man, hate to bother you, but I've got a pretty important job for you. Normally I'd just put this up at any job board, but I need this done fast. You're still Dahl Headlands right?"
Roland glanced at the ECHO com on his belt and picked it up. He leaned back in the gunner seat.
"We're in the area. What do you need Scooter?"
"Well," Scooter began, "A friend of mine – she answers to Erin or 'E'- ran away from New Haven a few weeks ago. E does different little repair jobs around town, when she's not busy at the clinic- but that's not important. Anyway, she was supposed to fix up a key meant to override the catch-a-ride system in case I ever get locked out of it, but never got it to me. Now, the girl is as reliable as a wild skag with a chainsaw when it comes to keeping track of stuff. She may lose the key to those Hotshots and I don't want to think what might happen if they get that key."
Lilith must have heard the conversation because she asked, "A wild Skag with a chain saw? In what sense? Is it mounted on its back or-?"
"Uhm… both?" Scooter answered.
That didn't sound good. "We'll get the key, where would we find your friend?"
"See… That's the hard part, she could literally be anywhere. But I heard some rumors of someone called the 'bloody crotch rocket' causin' all kinds of trouble by the ludicrous speedway. E is a Motorcycle enthusiast like her daddy, so she might be in that area. She's a tiny thing, so she might be difficult to spot."
"Got it. We'll contact you when we find her."
He put the Echo away only to pick it up again.
"We crashed." A gruff voice said on the other end.
"Mordecai driving again?"
A grunt.
He sighed, "you near a catch-a-ride station?"
There was a pause and he imagined Brick scanning the area for one.
"I think I see one in the distance."
"Good. We'll meet you at the Ludicrous speedway. There's a missing girl we need to find."
[Mordecai]
Mordecai and Brick bickered as they trudged up the hill.
"Alright, how was I supposed to know that the giant button was for the boost? I thought it was for the machine gun."
"It's. A. Big. Red. Button."
"All the buttons are the same color."
"There's trigger buttons on the wheel."
"Oh, shut up."
When they got a new runner Mordecai grudgingly sat in the gunner's seat, then leaned back in it, tapping his foot impatiently against the bar as the vehicle started to move. They were on their way to the location of the mission Roland just took. A mission to find Scooters' friend. What were they? Social workers? But Roland said that it was important that they found the girl, and Mordecai knew well enough by now that the soldier knew what needed to be done. Putting his hands behind his head he watched the passing landscape.
Dirt. Dirt. Dirt… More dirt… damn. At the very least he wished there were some out runners driving around so he had something to do. Worst of all the drive seemed to be dragging on forever.
"Hey Brick, when do we get there?"
"You just asked five minutes ago"
Admittedly he had started asking more and more frequently as the drive continued.
"Just answer the question"
"Soon."
"How soon?"
"Now."
Brick slammed his foot down on the breaks, which flung Mordecai out of the seat. The jackass started laughing as he started spitting the dirt out of his mouth. The Hunter stood up angrily, drawing his knife.
"I guess it's time for some target practice!"
Brick revved up the engine, tapping his fingers on the wheel, "If we duel, it isn't going to end well for you."
Mordecai opened his mouth to retort but was cut off by the sudden deafening sound of a motorcycle rushing towards him. He jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting hit. The motorcyclist didn't stop after nearly running him over, just turned around and rushed at him again. This time Mordecai noticed the rusty metal pipe in their hand and cursed.
Jumping out of the way again, he ran towards the car and climbed into the gunner seat. The motorcyclist sped off.
Brick started driving to chase after their attacker, "I'm gonna ram him! If he lives shoot him!"
Mordecai already had the rocket launcher aimed at the motorcyclist ready to shoot. Meanwhile the bandit must have heard Brick's shout and moved quickly to avoid their charge. The biker drove a circle around them, stopping when both drivers were level. Brick tried ramming the biker again, but they slowed down enough to avoid getting hit again. Mordecai aimed the rpg at them and fired. They evaded the blast.
Mordecai cursed under his breath. The RPG was too slow. He grabbed his pistol, knowing he'd have better luck with getting a hit only, to freeze when he saw that the biker began standing on his bike.
It was kinda badass. Alright, it was very badass. Enough so that Mordecai was struck with awe. Even though they were driving on such rocky land the biker's balance was undisturbed. When the bandit jumped from their bike to the car he didn't do anything when they rose the metal pipe above his head.
A falcon screech shook him out of his awe. Bloodwing swooped down and attacked the bandit, causing him to lose his helmet and stumble and lose his footing.
"Someone's getting a treat!"
The bandit slipped and fell but saved themselves by grabbing onto the bar of the gunner seat.
Mordecai laughed as the bandit desperately tried to regain their footing on the runner, and he pointed the gun at their head. They – she looked up. Pale long hair blowing in the wind, dark eyes stared at him, wide and angry.
She reached out suddenly, first knocking the gun out of his hand then pulled Mordecai from the gunner seat, sending them both tumbling from the car.
After rolling a few feet she had him pinned under her as she punched him in the face. She hit fast and hard, but not nearly as hard as some others could. He grasped her arms and punched her back, knocking her back enough to get her weight off of him. Cussing and growling, the hunter finally managed to wrestle the bandit to the ground. He should have shot her while she was still flailing. A mistake he wouldn't make again.
He grabbed his sword and raised it above the bandit's head, his hand at her throat. He felt her rapid pulse beat powerfully under his fingers as she struggled to push him off of her. Her nails dug into his arm hard enough to make him bleed.
"Mordecai! Stop!" An arm reached out and pulled him off of her.
"Roland!? What the hell are you doing?"
The bandit began to scramble away, coughing, only to freeze when Lilith appeared behind him, a pistol to her back.
"Sorry, but you're not running away. Put your hands up."
The bandit did as she was told and was prodded by Lilith to walk forward.
Scooters voice came up on the ECHO,
"E! You causin' trouble again?"
"Scooter? What the hell is going on?" She sounded pissed.
"We'd like to ask you the same thing," Roland interjected, "what's your name miss?"
The young woman narrowed her eyes at him, then darted around as though assessing her situation. Her eyes rested on Roland again.
"Name's Erin. Did Scooter send you after me or something?"
"Something like that. Scooter mentioned that you forgot to give him the override key before running from New Haven."
So, this was the person they needed to find? Erin was a tiny thing. Standing at almost a head shorter than Lilith and wearing an oversized jacket that practically swallowed her, she looked almost like a child. Especially with those freckles on her nose and cheeks. Except not. From maturity of her face and sharpness of her eyes, she might be older. She'd be cute, if it weren't for the fact that she'd nearly killed him.
As Roland explained the situation, Lilith took the gun from Erin's back.
The girl dropped her arms and folded them as she listened.
"So you see, we'd appreciate it if you gave us that key." He finished, holding out his hand.
Erin grimaced as she glanced at his empty hand, "Yeah… About that. . ."
"You lost it."
She shrugged and shifted uncomfortably, "yeah… the Hot Shots have it, sorry bout' that."
Roland cursed.
"How did you lose it?"
"I… Kinda… started a fight with Mad Mel at Lucky's bar when I keyed his truck. I used it to stab him in the throat… It got stuck in his neck without killing him."
When no one responded she added quickly, "in my defense he was double parked and was asking for it."
Mordecai raised his gun, "can I kill her now?"
Scooter's voice came up on the echo, "please don't, Pierce won't let me hear the end of it if I get her killed."
"Gee thanks, Scooter."
It really wasn't a very convincing case for the girl.
Erin waved her hands, "before you decide to kill me, I would like to point out I can help you with your Mad Mel situation."
Mordecai stood, walking over and pointed his gun at her head, "Yeah? How?"
She didn't even flinch, "you're a little trigger-happy aren't you?
[A/N: (10/24/2020 edit) Please Read: So, hi. New humans, welcome. Old humans, I'm sorry. So, this is… the third… maybe forth time I've re-written the first chapter. Hopefully, this will be the last time I'll ever re-write the first chapter, and all new edits should be… minor. At most. Hopefully.]