Chapter 2: A New Friend
Mission(s): Cleaning up the Berg, This Town Ain't Big Enough
An hour passes. Then after speaking briefly with Claptrap, the robot then went over to some door controls. After pressing buttons for a few seconds the door opened and they way forward was revealed.
Claptrap then speaks as they walk forward, "Keep your wits about you, minion – this glacier's run by a bandit named Captain Flynt. The jerk kept my as he torture playing for a few months. We played games like 'dodge the blowtorch' and 'don't get dunked into the pool of acid'. I was really good at the first one."
Claptrap, again due to his lack of eyesight, falls off another cliff. At the bottom of this one however sits the lovely deserted down of Liar's Berg.
A voice comes on the ECHO, "Attention people of Pandora! Handsome Jack here, offering a million bucks to whoever brings me the head of the Vault Hunter that just arrived in Liar's Berg. Oh, and I'm still offering a reward for Roland the mass murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting Bandits!"
The three Vault Hunters jump down and find them selves facing a small pack of Bullymongs. As Salvador, using his pistols, pumps them full of lead 'till they're dead he sees off in the distance, standing on a house, a mysterious woman. She looks like a Vault Hunter, Salvador thinks. But why isn't she helping us?
Another voice comes on the ECHO, "A million bucks? All right, boys – this is Captain Flynt! I want you to find that Vault Hunter, and bring 'em to me! NOW!"
Ignoring the mysterious lady for now, Salvador focuses his attention around him and finds all the Bullymongs had been eliminated. He grins at Gaige and Krieg saying, "Good job amigos!" After receiving the complement with a 'thank you', Gaige walked forwards with Krieg following close behind. Salvador ran up to Claptrap who was waiting for them at a gate.
"Hey Hammerlock!" Claptrap says.
"Spectacular! First Captain Flynt's bandits attack, then Claptrap shows up! I must have been horrifyingly cruel to puppies in a previous life to deserve this kind of treatment. I say Vault Hunter, could you kill Flynt's men for me?" Hammerlock asks.
The gate opens, but halfway to doing so it falls over in the snow.
Captain Flynt then says, "Got a proposition for you Vault Hunter. You give up, we'll just shoot you in the head. It'll be quick, clean, and a hell of a lot less painful then what Handsome Jack'll do to ya."
There are a few bandits in the camp and Salvador takes cover behind the side of the gate, peaking out he pulls back before betting brained by a few bullets from an smg. "My pistols won't work from this range!" Salvador shouts then they hear some sniper shots coming from somewhere in Liar's Berg. After a moment, Salvador peeks out again and sees a few bandits lying around dead.
"What is WRONG with you boys?! Just kill that slaglick, so's we can get our reward!" Captain Flynt says.
A few more bandits show up, and Salvador sees the mysterious woman standing on to of a house on the other side of town, reloading a sniper rifle. Taking the opportunity Salvador rushed out and takes cover behind some ice. Gaige rushes past him screaming "COME AND GET SOME!" Salvador jumps on top of the ice just in time to see Krieg descent on a poor bandit, splitting his skull in half with his buzzaxe.
"Oh no, BULLYMONGS!" Claptrap yells.
Suddenly from the cliff bordering the left side of town, comes a roar accompanied by one or two Brat Bullymongs. Salvador aiming with one gun manages to take down one of them; Gaige manages to hit the other with her shotgun but only severely injures it. Krieg is too busy taking care of the remaining bandits, and Gaige is forced to reload. A sniper round punches through the Bullymong's shoulder sending it sprawling to the ground.
As the last of the enemies fall, Captain Flynt comes on the ECHO. By this time both Gaige and Krieg have ECHO communicators and all three Vault Hunter's are tuned into the same-shared channel. Meaning if one of them gets called, all of them can hear it.
"DAMNIT! This ain't over, grinder!" Captain Flynt yells.
"Hey, Hammerlock! Since my minion just saved your town, you wanna do your bestie Claptrap a favor and repair my eye?" Claptrap asks.
"Yes, I suppose I am in your debt now, aren't I? Come to my shack, and I shall restore Claptrap's sight. First, I shall shut off the electrical fence for you," Sir Hammerlock says.
Gaige points out a Zed's Meds machine and an Ammo Dump, but Salvador also points out that they're not powered. So ignoring the vending machines for now they Vault Hunters head onward, following Claptrap.
Sir Hammerlock says, "Please stay back, Vault Hunter – let Claptrap go first."
"I know Hammerlock would come around eventually. Me and him are like two peas in a pod! Two bullets in a mag! Two cannibal midgets in a fat guys ribcage!" As soon as Claptrap finishes saying this, he runs into the still active electric fence. Getting shocked for a few seconds, Claptrap then falls backward in the snow inert. Salvador walks up to the gate standing a few feet away.
"Apologies, but when Claptrap speaks, I feel my brain cells committing suicide, one by one. I shall be out directly," Sir Hammerlock says.
The door to Hammerlock's shack opens and a man with a metal prosthetic on his right arm and one of his legs walks out. The man introduces himself while giving a salute.
"A pleasure to meet you Vault Hunter. I am Sir Hammerlock – at your service."
The small group of Vault Hunters notice a woman jump down from atop Hammerlock's shack, she wears an orange and black combat suit wit a sleeve going down her right arm ending in a glove. Down her left arm however, no sleeve and no glove – thereby leaving out in the open blue tattoos, stretched all up and down her arm.
"I came out here to research Bullymongs for my almanac, but Captain Flynt's men trapped me on this glacier. Many thanks for disposing of them, by the way – to survive a direct run in with Handsome Jack AND defeat Flynt's bandits? Unheard of. I'm heading to Sanctuary myself. From what I hear the Crimson Raiders there could use a hero like you," Sir Hammerlock says.
Sir Hammerlock holds out his hand, "Now, if you could hand me the robot's eye, please."
Behind Sir Hammerlock stands the woman with the blue tattoos. Gaige squeals and runs past Sir Hammerlock saying, "Oh my god! Are you really who I think you are?" Salvador chuckles in confusion, and hands Sir Hammerlock Claptrap's eye.
"Now, I only need to connect this to this, and …" Sir Hammerlock puts Claptrap's eye back in the eye socket, twists it around a few times then slams it with his fist. "That should do it!"
Behind Hammerlock and Claptrap stands they woman, chuckling at Gaige's attention. She leans down and speaks in the younger girl's ear, Gaige giggles then runs to Salvador. Before she can say anything however, Claptrap interrupts them by getting up and yelling.
"Ha-Ha! I am ALIIIIIVE!" Claptrap yells.
"Oh dear, he's talking again," Sir Hammerlock sighs.
"Minion! Now I've got my eyesight back – and you're far uglier then I remembered! Time to join up with the Crimson Raider's in Sanctuary! This glacier is full of nothing but murders or jerkbags, like that Hammerlock dude."
Sir Hammerlock retorts, "I'm standing right here, dude. Now that Liar's Berg is clear, I might as well turn on the main power – this town's full of things that may be of use to a go-getting slayer of men like yourself."
"Minion, roll out!" Claptrap orders.
Gaige whispers, "That lady's a Siren!" Salvador is impressed and shakes the siren's hand. "What's your name, amigo?" He asks.
"Maya," she replies then walks off after Sir Hammerlock. The rest of the Vault Hunters follow her, and Sir Hammerlock and Claptrap.
Sir Hammerlock says, "I see our fearless leader Jack is looking for you. Charming fellow isn't he? Spouts drivel about bringing peace to the frontier, then shoots unarmed men women and children like it was going out of style! Bah – I'm spouting exposition again, aren't I? Apologies!"
Sir Hammerlock turns on the main power, and then says, "Ah – there you are. Come on – work curse you! A, fecal matter – the bounty board's broken. The resistance must have disconnected it before they left for Sanctuary. I'd planned to post some jobs for you. Ah well, just speak to me instead."
Salvador hands the mission into Sir Hammerlock, the gentleman then says, "It's quite late, why don't you chums rest for the night in my shack? There's plenty of room in the upper parts of it, I'm sure you'll be quite comfortable."
Salvador accepts this and turns back to his two Vault Hunters and Maya, "So what brings you to Liar's Berg?" (have a conversation where Maya gives a brief explanation, and they all head in for the night.)
After sleeping for quite some time until morning, the group of four Vault Hunters emerges from Sir Hammerlock's shack. They find Sir Hammerlock in the same place where they'd left him the night before, sitting on a block of ice. Whether or not he had stayed out there all night, they didn't bother to ask him.
The man stands up and says,"Though Captain Flynt killed everyone in Liar's Berg, I see no reason that wild Bullymongs should lolligag about the place, disrespecting the memories of the former towns folk. If you could clear the town of them, that would be most gentlemanly."
"You have an ECHO?" Salvador asks Maya. She nods and bringing up the map Maya studies it, after a moment she says, "We should spilt up it looks like there are two locations to clear out; a graveyard to the right of town, and under the bridge a pond area. The enter the pond area you'll need to exit the town the way you came and hook a sharp left."
"That sounds like a plan everyone?" Salvador says. He then looks at Gaige, winks sarcastically, pulls out both pistols and turns around running out of town screaming, "I'm gonna kill you all! Ahahahaha!" Gaige pumping her shotgun runs out after him, chuckling under her breath in the excitement.
After following Maya's instructions, Gaige and Salvador come to a frozen pond area. They see a lone Monglet out on the ice and Gaige says, "Don't worry Salvador, I'll take care of this one."
Gaige walks out on the ice and blasts the Monglet to bits, but at the sound of her shotgun blast more Monglets poor out of the nests in the walls surrounding the pond area. Salvador yells, "Watch out amigo!" And then shoots some of the Monglets away from Gaige. The high schooler remains remarkably calm, but only when Salvador stands near her.
Surrounding them are dead Monglets, and their stink rises up attracting a few roars from inside the nests. "Get ready, NOW! OPEN FIRE!" Salvador using only his revolver goes for headshots on the Brat Bullymong and Gaige waits for the other Brat to get close, and then pumps the poor beast's head full of lead.
"That's one area free of Bullymongs. This would be an even greater achievement if anyone in Liar's Berg were still alive to celebrate your victory, but still – well done!" Sir Hammerlock says congratulating them.
Over in the graveyard Krieg charges among the gravestones, and Maya hangs back ready with her sniper rifle. As soon as Krieg slices a Monglet in half with his buzzaxe, three Adult Bullymongs come out of their nests. After that two Bullymong Slingers, three Brat Bullymongs, and several more Monglets jump out as well.
Maya's eyes pop wide open when Krieg bellows at the top of his lungs, "THIS BLOOD SHALL SOON POUR DOWN THE GULLET OF SHAME! AND I AM THE KING OF SHAME, LET ME DRINK OF PUTRID FURRY BEASTIES!" Krieg then proceeds to kick the smaller Bullymongs into the larger ones, distracting them. Maya opens fire with her sniper rifle, but only manages to take out two Adult Bullymongs before Krieg goes down amongst furry paws and claws.
After a moment the buzzaxe begins to swing wildly, through he bodies piled on Krieg. The axe on its top is spinning and a horrible chainsaw noise is coming from it. Chunks of Bullymong flesh begin flying everywhere, and Maya shudders somewhat when Krieg emerges grinning with savagery. Maya's eyes smooth back to normal, but she still feels a bit of the shock.
"Most efficacious! Bullymongs will think twice before raiding peaceful cities in the future, hopefully," Sir Hammerlock says.
Maya says, "Hey Krieg? Roll around in the snow to clean yourself off … please?" Almost like he was commanded Krieg does as Maya says, cleaning himself off in seconds he then bounds to her standing very close. "Oh and another thing, please don't stand that close to me … in public."
Krieg backs away only two steps, and slightly satisfied Maya walks back to Hammerlock. After waiting for a minute Gaige comes running back with Salvador following behind her. Both have grins on their faces like little children and Gaige says, "That was so cool!"
Maya gives her a high five, and Sir Hammerlock says as Salvador turns in the mission, "Please make Captain Flynt's death as prolonged as possible would you? Quite the douche, he is."