Author notes: Finally a new chapter. I am not fully happy with this chapter but I felt I needed to post something. Sorry about the wait but I have been having trouble with writer's block, and have not dealt with it well. Whenever I would write something down I would find it just wrong and then give up and not even look at the story for days. I t took me far too long to get this up and I will make sure to post a new chapter without as much of a delay. I don't want to be one of the authors that posts one chapter and you never see anything again. I do hope I did a good job of getting the Vault Hunters into the action and the next few chapters with focus more on the battles that you experience getting to an objective and some of the ways I end up having to play. There is a little nod to a Youtuber I have watched, it's not big just a little funny thing I thought worked in well.
Chapter 2.
Three outrunners were speeding across the Pandoran landscape, taking the Vault Hunters to their first destination. After getting the information they needed from Vaughn, Gaige and the others had headed to the nearest Catch A Ride and got their vehicles. The Vault Hunters paired off Gaige and Moxxi in an Outrunner, Torgue and Hammerlock, and finally the most reluctant Vault Hunter Deputy and Claptrap together.
"Okay everyone the first gang of Hyperion bandits we're going after are called the Hyperforcers, they are headquartered in the Dust. The leader is Commander Radvik. These guys are the security forces of Hyperion, they are going to be the human soldiers. So we won't have to worry about too many loaders." Gagie told the team.
"So what's the plan here? How are going to find out if these guys have what we're looking for?" Questioned Deputy.
"Well the plan is the same as always, we kill all of the bandits then loot what's left. The data core will have to be around somewhere, and if its not then we just move on to the next group."
The rest of the group agreed that this made perfect sense. Loot and Murder is basically the pass time of Pandora. It's what worked in the past so why change now.
"Wouldn't it be safer to scout out the locations and gather intelligence first? That way we can find out which camp actually has what we're looking for and not risk our lives needlessly attacking bandits who don't have it." questioned the Deputy.
"..." The rest of the group just stared at Deputy in confusion.
"You mean don't fight literally every bandit in between us and our objective?"
"You're not from Pandora are you?"
"AVOIDING FIGHTS?! TOTALLY NOT RADICAL!"
"Yeah we'll just stick to what works."
The Deputy hung his head in despair. It looked like common sense and logic would not be heard this day.
"It's okay, I want to avoid fights too, but being a Vault Hunter is pretty much the opposite of that. I should know I been working with these guys from the beginning." Claptrap sympathized.
"Well if nobody else has any ridiculous suggestions we're almost at the bandit camp. So everybody get ready" Gaige relayed to the team.
The three Outrunners pull up to a stop outside the entrance to the pass where the Hyperion bandits have made their base. The Vault Hunters get out of their vehicles and start to walk towards the entrance to the bandit base. In front of the various rocks and crude metal barriers of the entrance there was a sign painted on scrap metal in all cap proclaiming this was the home of the HYPERFOCERS.
"Why is it that the Bandits always seem to put up signs telling you where they are? You'd think that they'd want to be hidden, especially with how often the Vault Hunters go after them." Questioned Hammerlock.
"Huh I guess when you become a bandit you have to be an idiot."
"Okay guys let's get in there, kick some bandit butt and hopefully the data core will be here."
The group made their way past the entrance and started walking up the path to the bandit camp. It wasn't long of course before they encountered the former Hyperion security staff turned bandits. There were some just lounging around the pathway as bandits are apparently won't to do. Being the sniper of the group Hammerlock decided to take the first shot. Before the bandits were even aware of the Vault Hunter's approach one of the soldiers dressed in a rough version of the Hyperion uniform had his head blown off. This set off the rest of the bandits and the battle started.
"YEAH LET'S KICK SOME ASS!"
The Vault Hunters started to engage bandits at will and well for the bandits it was chaos, for the Vault Hunters it was fun. Torgue ran up blasting away with one of his Torgue assault rifles, turning any bandits he hit into pieces of gore. Moxxi was right behind him laying down bursts of her submachine gun, setting any bandit in her way on fire. Other unlucky bandits found themselves dealing with the crazy teen aged Mechromancer as she sprayed wildly with her submachine gun killing enemies all around her, sometimes even those she was aiming at. The Deputy was also right up in the action taking bandits with his powerful Jakobs shotgun. Even Claptrap was was pulling his weight picking off bandits with a Dahl assault rifle moving quickly into the battle. Hammerlock supported the rest of the team with precision shots taking out anyone who threatened the Vault Hunters blind spots.
The initial skirmish didn't last long. The rag tag bunch of bandits were no match for Vault Hunters, former Hyperion soldiers or not. As they regrouped the Vault Hunters first of course started to loot the corpses for anything good.
"Well this is off to a good start." Stated Hammerlock
"Wooo, this is what Vault Hunters do! Kick some bandit butt!" Was Torgue's enthusiastic reply.
"Okay that was just the few guys in the front who weren't even paying attention. Let's no get ahead of ourselves. This is still a dangerous mission" Came from Deputy.
"Yeah yeah. Don't be a buzzkill. Well is everyone set to move on?" Gaige decided to get things going.
The rest of the group was collecting ammo and healing up where necessary. They were also sorting through the various weapon that the Bandits had been using hoping to find some better guns.
"Hey this guy had a blue assault rifle! SWEET!"
"Well that's better than anything else I see around here. Just some whites and a few greens. Nothing better than what I've already got."
"Yes I appear to have the same. Pity there is such a poor turnout of loot."
With the Vault Hunters lamenting their poor loot turnout, except for Torgue, they set off up the trail deeper into the bandit base.
The group made it up the path to gathering of various structures were the members of the Hyperforcers were living. Some soldiers were just sitting around talking or eating or other leisure stuff. Others were patrolling keeping watch. There were those doing maintenance on equipment. All in all doing whatever people normally do in their home.
"Why is it no matter how much of a fire fight we have down the path, bandits never seem to communicate up the line. I mean what's even the point of having lookouts if you're going to ignore them getting in a fight."
"Well maybe we killed those guys so fast that they weren't able to send out a distress call or something."
"Yeah, it just seem strange is all, it's always like this."
"Okay whatever we should just get back to it and clear these guys out so we can find out if they have what we're looking for."
With that the Vault Hunters started forward to engage the second group of bandits. Again Hammerlock was the one to get first blood, the advantage of being the sniper of the group. A Hyperion bandit who was crouched down and working on a generator suddenly went down with a spray of blood and brains. The rest of the bandits immediately reacted to this, bursting into action. Say what you will about bandits being dumb, when it came to a fight they were up in action quick. All of the bandits who had been idle picked up weapons and rushed out to meet the attacking Vault Hunters.
Hammerlock continued to lay down precise sniper fire on the hordes of bandit defenders. He was in his element treating the bandits as if they were game to be hunted. Picking targets and squeezing off shots Hammerlock got head shot after head shot. Bandits were dropping before they even knew they were in danger. The rest of the Vault Hunters had not yet had a chance to engage their opponents and Hammerlock had already rack up a kill count of ten. Yes, this is what Hammerlock had been craving. To be out in the action, to be an actor, a player not some bystander. A bandit armed with a submachine gun was running out of cover down the pathway towards the rest of the Vault Hunters attacking. Hammerlock lined up his cross hairs and took the shot along with the bandit's head.
Moxxi was the first of the rest of the Vault Hunters to make contact with the bandits. She rushed ahead, not the calm and collected leader of death battles, but an angry savage Hodunk. Normally Moxxi is in complete control she didn't typically get her hands dirty participating in fights and killing, that she left to Vault Hunters and random bandits. Now she was the one killing bandits and doing so in a brutal fashion. The sophisticated air that Moxxi gave off could cause people to forget that she is a native of Pandora and a member of the Hodunk family. When is comes down to it Moxxi knows how to kill and is very good at it. Right now she has a lot of anger and grief to vent. She blamed a certain group of sort of Vault Hunters who in her mind put her son in danger, but she also had blame to go around to Hyperion. Without Hyperion's actions Scooter would never have gotten dragged into the conflict Vaughn and his friends were a part of. She had been talked out of taking her anger out on Vaughn but she still wanted someone to pay. When she was in range she started dealing with every former Hyperion soldier she could. The first bandit to charge Moxxi met with a spray of incendiary bullets lighting him aflame. Moxxi did not pause at his screams and continued her way through the defenders.
The charging bandits started to explode all across the battlefield. Gyrojet rounds were streaking towards the bandits and they couldn't get out the way before, well BOOM! Torgue had made his presence on the battlefield known in his usually loud bombastic way. "Wooo! Yeaaah, time to get your butts kicked by some real bad asses!" Torgue was having the time of his life, he was getting back to basics killing bandits. He had been the spokesman for the Torgue company for so long that he hadn't gotten out to actually do anything badass. He used to kill bandits and wrestle monstrous creatures and do awesome things. All he wanted to do was hang out with the Vault Hunters, but for some reason they would always find some reason to not include him. This is finally his chance to be one of the team and it was doing what he was good at. TAKING DOWN SOME BANDIT #%$ YEAH!
The Deputy was slightly panicking. He didn't know what he was doing here, he just followed the rest of the group and started to fire on the bandits charging them. His large Jakobs shotgun was making quick work of anyone who came within it's range. These people were all a incredibly dangerous and a little insane. Deputy was just a regular guy trying to do right by the people of Lynchwood and keep them as safe as one can be on a world like Pandora. He didn't have any business in group with these veteran killers, he thought as the Psycho about to cleave his skull got the butt of his shotgun in the face followed by both barrels. He thought about how he could not measure up to those around him as he reloaded his weapon causing another group of bandits to take their chance and charge what they thought was a weak opponent, but they underestimated the speed a Jakobs shotgun could be reloaded. These bandits were quickly dispatched. He being a lawman and policing the streets of his home, not besieging entire armies of bandits.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" Claptrap was not having a good time. He wasn't supposed to be out here fighting the bad guys, that's what he had minions for! On man this was bad, Claptrap was speeding back and forth trying to avoid the return fire from the bandits screaming and flailing his arms around. Oh man oh man what am I going to do these guys are going to kill me! The Bandits found Claptrap to be a difficult target to get a bead on as he was so small and moving around so erratically. Claptrap suddenly stopped fleeing as he realized he could kill people again. He digistructed a Dahl assault rifle into his hands and started to snap off bursts against the bandits trying to kill him. The bandits started to fall as Claptrap re-embraced his murderous tendencies and cleared the field of his enemies. Okay Claptrap was starting to get back into his Vault Hunter mindset, his protocols had been reactivated and his was no longer the joke. He was no longer a punching bag or someone's toilet, he was a bad ass, and he was going to show them all! Suddenly a rocket impacted with claptrap and he was on the ground unresponsive.
"Ugh someone go pick up Claptrap, he's gone down." Gaige was wasn't surprised that the first of the group to be downed was Claptrap, getting shot, or blown up, or whatever seemed to be what he was best at. Ah well he was doing okay before hopefully he would remember how to be a Vault Hunter quickly. The Deputy was the first one to reach their downed teammate.
"Hey what am I supposed to do here"
"Just pick him up so he can get back to taking these guys out."
"How would that help him he was hit by a rocket!"
"Oh I don't know then just hit him with a health vial."
"But he's a robot. Would that even do anything."
"I think so, I mean he got healed with vials in Athena's story."
"I ah okay..."
The Deputy knelt down to Claptrap and started to infect him with a health vial. After a few seconds it seemed to work and Claptrap was his fe...ah wheel.
"Ahh man I hate that. Getting downed hurts a lot."
"Hey Claptrap head in the game we still have bandits to take down!"
The Vault Hunters continued their way up the path deeper into the bandit base killing more helpless bandits as they went. They easily made their way past the beginning as the disorganized yellow clad bandits were weak and not in high numbers to truly pose a threat. As the group started into a new area they encountered real resistance. There were more enemies than before and they seemed to hit harder, depleting shields quickly causing the adventurers to be forced into cover. The group was now less bombastic and far more cautious in their approach. Taking a few shots before returning to covers and lobbing grenades from safety, doing everything they could to ensure that they would not be downed.
"You know I just thought of something."
"What!"
"These guys don't seem like what I was expecting from attacking a groups of Hyperion soldiers."
"What do mean?"
"Well I expected them to be more like what Hyperion was like when me and the other Vault Hunters fought them. You know with their uniform and armor and turrets and stealth suits and stuff. Except for some yellow here and there and a few Hyperion logos you couldn't tell these guys from any other Bandit clan"
"I guess they lost a bunch of stuff when the station fell. Maybe the soldiers went full Pandoran or these guys are just some local bandits the soldiers recruited as cannon fodder."
"Oh yeah, that makes sense. The enemies have gotten tougher the further in the stronghold we've gotten."
As they had been talking out of a nearby building four nomads came out marching to the front of the battlefield. The shields they were carrying looked like they had been pieces of metal ripped from the side of a Hyperion ship, yellow with a big H on the center. Diverging from their typical tactic these Nomads were marching is formation towards the the group. The Vault Hunters opened fire on the approaching shield wall but to no effect. There were no openings that would normally exist when random Nomads would come forward at different angles leaving sides or back vulnerable.
"AHHH PHALANAX ITS A PHALANAX!" Screamed Torgue.
"Okay this is more disciplined than I would normally give bandits credit for."
The other surviving bandits were not idle during this time and took advantage of the situation and formed up behind the mobile cover piling more fire onto the pinned down heroes. The group of Vault Hunters were forced to pull back a good distance to a previously cleared encampment while they let shields recharge and reupped their health.
"Okay we need to figure out a way around the, I can't believe I'm saying this, phalanx of Nomads or we're not going to be able to go any further."
"We can't hit them like we normally would. They're not showing their backs and with the rest of the bandits actually supporting them it's going to be difficult trying to get a line of sight on their weak spots"
"Well it might not be that difficult." Came from Gaige.
She brought be cybernetic prosthetic up and pushed some buttons and digistructed Deathtrap into being. He hovered there looking at his creator before she gave him a command. "Okay Deathtrap get over there and deal with the bandits." Deathtrap straightened up in attention them turned towards the bandits up the path and floated off with his claws crackling with electricity. The once confidant Nomad phalanx hesitated before the screams started.
"Oh yeah I forgot she had that thing."
"I guess we better get back up to the fighting and finish this group off."
The Vault Hunters ran back up the path towards the pained screams and reengaged the bandits the had barred their path. With the previously disciplined bandits broken and scattering in panic they Vault Hunters had no difficulty in mowing their opposition down. Once the last of the bandits had exploded into viscera the Vault Hunters decided to stop and rest as this fight had actually taken quite a bit out of them.
"Hey guys how bout we stop for a bit. I not really used to this kind of stuff and that last fight nearly did us in."
"The Deputy does have a point. We can't just keep going non stop. We should take some time to rest." Added Moxxi
"We should probably also come up with a plan before we continue forward. This encounter shows that some of the typical Vault Hunter tactics might not be the best way."
"YOU MEAN JUST F #&ING S#!% UP!"
"Yes, I mean that."
"Hah I hah could hah go hah for a break" came from Claptrap prone on the ground panting, which should have been impossible as he's a robot.
"Uhg fine. I think how Vault Hunters have always done things works, but if you guys want to take a break and think and plan then fine we'll do that."
The Vault Hunters set up a camp and got ready for the night. They had started a fire and laid out bedrolls, which of course they had in their digistruct backpacks, and prepared to rest. The coming morning the group would set out again to get to the heart of this bandit territory and hopefully find the information they need to recover Felicity. Those new to being Vault hunters have gotten a taste of the kind of challenges that they are now set to tackle and will have to rise up in order to overcome. For Gaige its just more of the same just now she's the leader and must make the tough choices. And Claptrap come on man this is the second time you've been a Vault Hunter, and before that you led a Robolution, suck it up, jeez. Anyway the Vault Hunters went to sleep for the night hoping they were prepared for what lay ahead.