Chapter Summary: Everyone's favorite NPC Magnus, Nova, is up for this chapter.

Notes: "Okay, you're running out of factions, who's left?"

"Well, Nova technically works with the UPR, but she's the only NPC who could regularly interact with him, and potentially positively. Plus, she's an announcer, too. Everyone knows Announcers count as neutral parties."

So there's the logic. Plus, she reminds me of my favorite Borderlands NPC, Patricia Tannis, and not just her voice.

Chapter 5: Nova

Nova liked most of the Battleborn. Those she didn't, she tolerated, because Ghalt needed them, and Ghalt had kept her from going too crazy, so she owed him, and that meant no killing Kleese.

But they'd been gradual things, learning to like them. Ghalt she'd always liked, and the members of the UPR who chose to follow him tended to worm their way into her metaphorical heart somehow.

But the other factions, who in one way or another where opposites of the UPR, had been slower to happen.

Whiskey Foxtrot had involved bonding over a hatred they turned out to share for "Doesn't Deserve to be Called by His Title" Conrad, who'd been very vocally against Foxtrot's continued existence, and had actually suggested blowing up Nova after the Severance. The troglodyte had even suggested throwing Oscar Mike out of an airlock after the Mikes won their independence, stating that he could have been a spy and thus a sign they wanted to get rid of the UPR.

"Seriously? Dear god, how has that man kept his job?" Whiskey had asked when she told him that.

"They had to finish training a replacement, and then find a way to legitimately send him into the field so he could hopefully have his brains blown out. I may or may not, though if Ghalt asks, I did not, have helped by hacking his computer terminal so that Jim could learn a little faster."

"This Jim have a Mobius strip tattooed onto his dominant arm and amber eyes?"

"Yes."

"I knew that guy! He locked himself into a closet when I left so he had a legit reason for not stopping me when I ran into him." He smiled fondly, "Ah, man, I should send him a message when things calm down a bit."

Nova had enjoyed the talk so much, having someone who really got what her problem had been with Conrad (essentially, if anyone who hadn't been born from a womb couldn't just to what they were told, they had no right to exist in his mind), that she eventually messaged him (Jim, not Conrad. He was really dead at this point) on Whiskey's behalf, attaching a picture she'd covertly taken that showed he was onboard her.

And she eventually messaged him because, callous as it might sound, it wasn't high on the list of important things to do to take down Rendain. But she made it ahead of time, along with messages for people connected to some of the other Battleborn. Sending them might have been low priority (and potentially dangerous), but she got bored and as more than one person had told her, it was better to do something productive.

She paid attention to him, of course. She paid attention to everyone as much as she could, the reasons ranging from genuine interest, making sure no one was up to anything against the group's interests, and amusement. He fell under interest and amusement, like the majority of them.

For instance, while he did not literally eat shit for breakfast, he certainly ate some bizarre things that could fit the loose definition of shit often used by others. Some of which included the things that Phoebe made when she felt like being creative. Nova wasn't even sure if he was doing it to be nice or just didn't care so long as it was still edible. He and Oscar certainly never suffered any consequences to their health from them.

Some might assume he'd started learning piano to impress a certain Jennerit spymistress, but from what she'd been able to dig up, he'd been interested sometime before that. it seemed the only thing stopping him before was a lack of access to the instrument, used only once to smuggle something onboard at the last second that no one wanted to bother getting off after all the work getting it on.

Above all else, though, was just how comfortable he was with himself. He really owned the whole "badass defective clone" thing, and for all that he didn't enjoy having his interests or hobbies made fun of, he didn't hide them once they were revealed. And anyone it seemed like he should have something against for some connection to bad things in his life was never an outlet for his ire. Rather, he saw them as connected to something that made him who he was.

It practically almost made Nova think she should maybe give Kleese a break.

…nah.

Notes:

Phoebe's problem is that she keeps thinking she can do it better while having never needed to cook before. They are working on getting her to accept lessons. She does fine if she actually follows the instructions.

After Rendain was taken care of, Nova did send those messages.

Jim's like Montana in that it doesn't really matter where you came from to him. Since he'd get in trouble if he just let Whiskey leave and they were in an area with no cameras, he just locked himself in a closet and pretended he was shoved in there. They literally saw each other when Whiskey turned into a hallway he was in, and he just walked into a closet and smashed the keypad inside when the door closed.

Conrad is just some guy I randomly came up with who was a dick. He is definitely dead, now, so don't expect him to ever turn out not to be. He isn't missed.

Next chapter is about someone with an awesome cap.

Comments are appreciated.