Chapter 4: Gaige's Solo Mischief

Mission(s): Bad Hair Day * Side Mission

Handsome Jack Here! * Side Mission

Salvador turns to Gaige and asks, "You wanna hunt some more Bullymongs?" Gaige jumps at the opportunity, just to spend some more time with Salvador. She would've stuck more close to Krieg, but a) he creeped her out b) he seems to have been stricken with Maya.

Salvador walks up to Sir Hammerlock, and accepts a mission from him.

Sir Hammerlock says, "Do you see my hat? It is the hat of a gentleman, and yet it's missing something – some je ne sais quoi. Some Bullymong fur might do the trick if you could bring me some. To harvest Bullymong fur, you'll need to rip it from their hides with your bare hands – just weaken a Bullymong with gunfire and finish him off with fisticuffs!"

Gaige grins and says, "Hell yeah! That sounds like fun!"

"Then let's go!" Salvador replies. They both take off Salvador slows to a jog and Gaige just manages to keep pace. Salvador sees by her expression that she's really trying hard to keep from screaming out loud. As to what, Salvador keeps the burning question to himself.

"So who's going to do the ripping of the fur?" Gaige asks as they jump down to the gate and head down the slope. As they push off onto the ice, and straight out of town towards a Bullymong nest marked on their map Salvador replies.

"How about you weaken them, and I'll rip the fur off!" Salvador yells excitedly tucking his guns away, giving Gaige ample opportunity to practice her gun skills – which Salvador knows she will need if she is to survive the rest of their adventure. Salvador stops and searches two ice piles.

Gaige trots over and asks, "Whatcha got there Sal?"

Salvador holds up a small Torgue pistol and a Maliwan fire elemental pistol. He hands the Maliwan to Gaige saying, "Save this for Maya, I've got a feeling she'll appreciate it. As for the explosive one I'll keep it! Here, you can have this Dahl pistol, I found it in the cabinet in Claptrap's place."

Gaige accepts the two pistols, but brings out her shotgun instead. Salvador objects telling Gaige that they want to weaken the Bullymongs not kill them. A little bit saddened Gaige pulls out her new Dahl pistol and they both move forward.

As they walk off into the distance the bandit camp behind them springs to life, and Salvador aims his Torgue pistol at a gas tank, and the area goes up in flame forcing the bandits to stay inside.

Sir Hammerlock says, "You've weakened that Bullymong, now give him a mighty blow from your melee weapon and take his fur!"

Salvador and Gaige have now reached the nest and two Brat Bullymongs have wandered to the edge and Gaige accidentally kills one. Being more careful she weakens the second one. As Salvador takes care of it the Bullymong with his fist Sir Hammerlock says something about collecting the fur to use in research of his Almanac.

Gaige picks up the first piece of fur.

Sir Hammerlock says, "That sample will do admirably! Find me a few more, if you please."

After that Salvador lures two more Brat Bullymongs out to the edge of the nest and they are disposed in a similar manner to the one Gaige harvested the fur from – although Salvador is the one to punch them dead. Gaige picks up the second piece of fur.

Claptrap says rather excitedly, "Ooh, are you collecting Bullymong fur? I LOVE that stuff! It's soft, warm, and really good at absorbing robot tears! Once you're done collecting all the fur, why don't you bring it to me instead of Hammerlock?"

Sir Hammerlock then says, "I overheard Claptrap asking you for the Bullymong fur you're collecting. As I fear he would do something irredeemably stupid with it, like make a Mohawk out of it or something, let me sweeten the deal: if you bring me the fur I shall give you one of my finest sniper rifles."

Gaige thinks about this, then while still considering Hammerlock's offer she picks up the third piece of fur.

Claptrap asks, "So Hammerlock wants to give you a sniper rifle? I laugh at his offer! HA! If you bring me the fur, I'll give you a badass shotgun I found in the hands of a dead Vault Hunter. It's really fresh, you can still smell the sadness on it."

Now taking both offers into account Gaige seriously considers which one to choose. As Salvador lures an Adult Bullymong to Gaige's position she examines the pieces of fur she has collected thus far and concludes: apart from the bloody patches, they're pretty soft.

Gaige shoots the Adult Bullymong twice in the head, taking out both its eyes by accident, and sufficiently harms it enough for Salvador to punch it in the face. It drops dead as he rips out another chunk of hair. Salvador hands it to Gaige and she gathers all four up in her arms.

Sir Hammerlock says, "Wonderful – you've gotten all the fur I need. Bring it to me, and my sniper rifle shall be yours."

Claptrap retorts, "Screw that noise – bring ME the fur, and I'll give you a shotgun!"

Deciding that Gaige still hasn't had enough practice, Salvador sends her off through the rest of the nest alone, allowing her to use the shotgun he says, "Good luck chica!" Gaige just grins and goes off, knowing that she needs the practice. Salvador runs to the other side of the nest and waits for Gaige.

The nest circles around an ice pillar that at its top connects to an ice wall, there's a circular path surrounding the pillar and along the ice walls are several Bullymong nests.

Aiming for the head, and backing up when they jumped Gaige manages to take care of around 10 Bullymongs on her own. This makes here feel like she can take anything, and when she gets back to Salvador she grins and gives him the thumbs up. The collection of Bullymong fur, and Gaige's first solo training session takes about thirty minutes. Meanwhile Maya and Krieg manage to complete their objective in 25 minutes.

After that both Gaige and Salvador head back to town, they pass by the bandit camp (still slightly in flames) and Salvador stops Gaige saying, "See that ECHO recorder on the ground? Take it, and complete whatever mission is contained within. You'll need all the training you can get now, because all too soon we'll have to face up against Captain Flynt. I don't have to remind you chica that being a Vault Hunter is dangerous business. Good luck Amigo!" Salvador then walks back up the slope, after taking the Bullymong fur. Leaving Gaige alone to decide.

Arriving back in town, Salvador sees both Maya and Krieg have already arrived. Both of them sit apart and Salvador walks up to Krieg asking, "What's happened?"

Krieg just shakes his head, and Salvador presses. The big brute finally says, "The pretty siren did something, it felt NOT HORRIBLE! THE VOICES ARE CONFUSED!"

Maya looks over at them and Salvador gives a friendly wave and a grin. Maya just shakes her head and turns back, for a second Salvador swears he thinks he sees a blush appear on Maya cheeks. Deciding to dismiss it for now, Salvador walks over to Sir Hammerlock, he's stopped by Maya saying, "Hey, where's Gaige?"

Salvador laughs, and says in response, "Oh don't worry Maya, she'll be here soon enough!" Salvador then turns in the mission to Sir Hammerlock grabbing the sniper rifle.

Sir Hammerlock thanks Salvador, "A trillion thanks Vault Hunter, you've helped a foolish old man look far more badass then he deserves. I'm referring to myself, of course."

Down past the gate in the bandit camp at the end of the slope, Gaige stands among recently dead bandit corpses. Gaige is full of a lot of energy. She picks up the ECHO recorder and listens to its contents.

[Beginning of tape]

Helena Pierce: We've hijacked the train that runs through the Dust. If all goes well, we should reach Sanctuary in a day's time. Hyperion hasn't diverted any troops from New Haven to pursue us, and a sandstorm has devoured their nearest frontier town. We just need – [alarm sounds] oh, damnit! Everyone, get away from the windows! [Sound of glass breaking]

[End of tape]

Sir Hammerlock says on Gaige's discovery, "You've discovered one of Helena Pierce's audio logs! She was a lutenient in the Crimson Raiders – the anti-Hyperion resistance. I'd be very interested to know what became of her. If you could find the rest of those audio logs, I would be more than happy to pay you for them."

Excited at the prospect at doing something that earns her money, Gaige jumps at the request and runs up the slope. She almost falls over from exhaustion but Gaige then realizes that she'll need to get really fit quickly; or she'll get left behind…quite literally and metaphorically.

After making it to the top of the slope Gaige runs forward across town and vaults over a low metal wall. Behind the wall Gaige finds a dumpster with a small door; the door has a lock in which Gaige brakes open with her hammer. Sitting on top of the trash is another Audio Log; Gaige grabs it and listens in.

[Beginning of tape]

Handsome Jack: Hey, everybody! How are ya? Jack here!

Wilhelm: NOBODY MOVE!

Helena Pierce: What is the meaning of this?

Handsome Jack: I'm sorry, what was your name?

Helena Pierce: Pierce.

Handsome Jack: Well, Ms. Pierce – and please don't tell me it's Mrs. Pierce and break my heart – this train doesn't belong to you. So why don't you turn around, and face me, pumpkin?

Helena Pierce: This train was commandeered legally under the –

Handsome Jack: Holy nutballs! What happened to your freakin' face?!

[End of tape]

After that Gaige vaults over the low metal wall again, and makes a b-line for Sir Hammerlock's house. After reaching it Gaige circles around back and finds a ladder. After climbing the ladder Gaige now stands on top of Sir Hammerlock's shack, she looks down at the entire town of Liar's Berg and sees Sir Hammerlock, Maya, Salvador, and Krieg all staring up at her with varying degrees of worry on their faces.

Gaige yells down to them, "HI GUYS! HOW'S IT GOIN'?"

Krieg responds with, "THE COLD IS THE ENEMIE, AND I EAT MY ENEMIE WITH RELISH!"

Satisfied with the response Gaige turns to an ice pile on top of the roof, she kicks it and out flies an Audio Recording. Gaige jumps down after it and catches it in mid air. After landing Gaige listens to the Audio Recording.

[Beginning of tape]

Handsome Jack: Oh yeah? How about this – Lady? – I don't even know what to call you: you tell me why you look like you headbutted a belt sander and I'll all you go right now!

Helena Pierce: My husband gave me a skag pearl ring. The pearl released hunger-inducing pheromones.

Handsome Jack: Oh, you know what? I am so sorry. I – I just… Forgive me. Where is your husband now?

Helena Pierce: He's dead.

Handsome Jack: That is a heartbreaker, but…[gunshot] you got something in common with him now at least!

[End of tape]

After listening to the tape, Gaige turns left and runs straight out of the gate and past a water tower over a roof and down in front of another smaller dumpster. Gaige slides open the dumpster and finds three things 1) quite a lot of snow 2) the next Audio Log 3) a frozen dead bandit stuffed among the snow. With slight revulsion Gaige snatches up the ECHO recorder and listens in.

[Beginning of tape]

Handsome Jack: Hohohoho … holy crap! Did you see her head? It was like – PBBLLT! Wilhelm? Kill these savages.

Wilhelm: UNDERSTOOD.

[Shots are fired and the tape ends]

Sir Hammerlock says in response to the tapes, "Handsome Jack killed her, did he? Shame. A real shame. Please, return the ECHOs to me whenever you're capable of doing so."

Gaige then, very much proud of herself for accomplishing a mission entirely on her own, walks to Sir Hammerlock totally ignoring everyone else and turns in the mission.