Chapter 2
Location: Pandora, Wind Shear Wastes.
Date: Approximated Eleven Months Before The Awakening Of The Warrior.
Time: 1800
It's been hours since the Mechromancer last finished her meal, now she felt quite revitalized, if a bit dry around the lips. Slight dehydration as a result of a near comatose state was nothing some melted snow couldn't fix. She was almost ready to call in Claptrap and tell it she was ready, until she remembered something.
Her metal arm.
Gaige frowned. As helpful as it had been, she really needed to insulate it somehow to prevent it from sapping any more of her body heat in the future should she ever need to venture out into colder climates. She looked around the igloo for parts, but only saw broken Claptrap models. She cringed, she knew that they neither contained the parts she needed for the designs she had in mind, nor would Claptrap appreciate the sight of his fallen brethren being disassembled.
She glanced at the blanket that she was currently wrapped up in. The materials were perfect to form an insulating layer over her metallic arm, it would be so easy to tear a piece and wrap it around her arm, but…
Her arms wrapped around the blanket, the large, furry quilt becoming a treasured object within hours of use. It provided warmth and comfort as she was freezing, and that moved to a level just below her beloved Death Trap. Come to think of it, maybe she could add the fur quilt to DT as an upgrade. Then she could have both her favourite things at once! It seemed like a great idea, but there was the lack of proper salvageable equipment to achieve that dream.
Sanctuary would probably have the proper tools.
Nodding to herself, Gaige decided upon a course of action.
"Hey Claptrap! I'm ready to go!"
Claptrap wheeled into the human's line of sight as soon as he heard her give him confirmation her status. It observed as she stored the [Quilt of Bullymong Fur] into her SDU, it's estimated that the material took up 2 slots by itself. That left 10 slots available in her inventory and 2 more weapons in her Equipped SDU, the unmodified, standard issued SDU.
"Ah, finally! I was thinking that these wheels were going to rust off with all the waiting you've been doing! Then again we're headed to Sanctuary, so Scooter's bound to have some oil laying around somewhere there…"
Claptrap saw the human approach, having hopped off the couch and landing perfectly balanced despite her rather short stature. She then proceeded to forcefully grab hold of its antenna. The little robot immediately stopped its rambling programs.
"Claptrap, you do remember that you promised to tell me about Sanctuary once I've recovered right?" She moved the surprisingly stiff antenna around, the little bot quickly wheeling around to match the movement. The little bot didn't respond other than to keep its antenna from bending by wheeling to the direction she shifted it in her hands in. She got the feeling that the object in her hands was something extremely sensitive to Claptrap units, given that the unit in question had immediately locked up upon contact. Slowly, she released her hold on the antenna.
"That… was an unpleasant experience." The robots tone was small and dull, lacking the exuberant personality that it had exhibited earlier. Suddenly, it wheeled within the girl's personal space screaming as loud as its vocal emitters would allow. "PSYCHE! Ha-ha, you should've seen the look on your face! Priceless!"
"Claptrap! I really thought you were damaged!" Gaige yelled angrily once she had overcome her shock. "Maybe I really should damage you so I can be legitimately worried…"
"Err, no thanks! Anyway, why don't I tell you about Sanctuary! It's this little squat hole-"
"Eeep!"
Claptraps' distractive rant was cut off by a high-pitched yelp coming from the human, her features contorting from surprised to fear within moments of its eye observing her. Her gaze was fixed to the wall behind him, a particular spot that he was quite familiar with. His benefactor's hiding spot. It turned to observe what exactly had caused the reaction.
Looming over the pair at nearly twice the cowering human's full height, the hunched figure was wrapped in a patchy, full cloak of rather dirty Bullymong fur. The only visible parts were the feet, which were heavily armoured in the faded Hyperion colorations of gold and white. Slung across its back was- an obviously dead- Bullymong of massive proportions with sharpened spikes protruding from its knuckles.
Knuckle Dagger was dead.
"Minion! You're back, and you've brought Knuckle Dagger back with you! Ah, such a joyous day indeed!" As Claptrap continued to cheer at the prospect of retaining his eye, Gaige stood still at something larger than Death Trap. The Massive Bullymong was dropped to the floor icy floor, its sheer weight reverberating throughout the structure.
"The blood rage awaits for none of the peaceful to carry out the carnage" It spoke, but its voice seemed wrong. Like a person speaking through a gas mask, but modulated by a machine. The words also didn't make sense, like the ravings of a Maniac psycho in a calm tone.
She wished she had the courage to summon Death Trap right now, but her fear had frozen her to the spot. Oh sure some of her fear had to do with the sheer size difference between the two, but it mostly emanated from the vicious-but dead-looking Bullymong laying at her feet. The dead Bullymong practically oozed danger even in death, she didn't want to know how terrible it must've been when it was alive and roaming.
And to think that this looming figure took it out. Unbelievable.
"Oh, hey 'Vault Hunter' don't worry, that's just his way of saying the path is clear of Bullymongs." Claptrap wiggles its claws as it said the words 'Vault Hunter' to her. It then proceeded to wheel on top of the dead Bullymong and move in an up-down motion "HA, take that you apes! No more tearing out eyes for you! Tea-bag time Ha-Ha-Ha!"
Quickly annoyed by Claptraps constant bragging, Gaige quickly snapped out from her terror-induced stupor and into an expression of annoyance. Her right arm reached to the wrench in her ankle-fitted tool belt, took out the said tool, and swiftly tapped the robot's flat top.
"Ouch! Hey-!" Claptrap clutched its top as if in pain. It looked to complain, before an annoyed glare from the Mechromancer shut him up.
"Claptrap" She began calmly, trying her best to avoid contact with the crazed giant in front of her by focusing it on the little robot. "What is that?
"Oh, that's just my super tough minion and advisor! Took great care of me and gives me great advice!"
"Advice?" Gaige felt an eyebrow rise at the prospect of the nonsensical giant giving any sort of advice.
"Yeah, sure! When he first came to me, I wanted to immediately want to go to Sanctuary! But the big guy over here wanted to wait for someone in here, so I let him. We've been here ever since!" Claptrap turned and hugged its minion's leg "Minion here has been quite lazy during the stay here other than fixing the hole in the roof, and hunting those eye-tearing Bullymongs, otherwise, Minion's always lazing around in that corner of his day-in and day-out"
"It's time to make a Jack-of-all-Axes. My veins shivers with pain!"
Again with that 'wrong' voice. It sounded like a deranged human psycho trapped in a body of a robot and restrained with the cold logic of one. If only it communicated in a way she could understand.
"Oh, he said he's really excited to brain Handsome Jack with a really, really nasty axe in a needlessly violent manner." Claptraps casual translation earned him a blank stare from Gaige. "What, I've been living with Minion for almost a month! Of course I'd know what he's talking about!"
Gaige resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose in exasperation, the only median of communication between a giant robot capable of offing an elder Bullymong and the rest of the world, was a Claptrap? Maybe she could get Death Trap out and make a translation software from their interactions? Then again, she hadn't even made one for Death Trap yet. She made a mental note to do so, once they reached Sanctuary.
It was then that 'Minion' decided to vocalize its intent. "The flame needs to burn with pain before we have no more pain in Sanctuary, but take glasses-brain with us!
"You said it Minion! Charge!" Claptrap agreed, Gaige having little to no idea as to what they were discussing. The larger figure took point while Gaige and Claptrap stayed close behind. The little bot shifted closer to Gaige, tugging at her bracelet to get her attention. She complied by tilting her neck to look at the little robot. "I should probably tell you what he meant. First, were going to meet Sir Hammerlock-a good friend of mine-in Liar's Berg then we need to get to my totally awesome ship and sail to Sanctuary."
"You have a ship?" She couldn't help but ask it. Even though Claptrap units were known to brag, there was always some truth that they expanded based it on at first. The possibility of a ship and Sir Hammerlock existing was highly likely, but whether the ship belonged to Claptrap or Sir Hammerlock actually being the little robots 'good friend' remained a very low probability.
After sliding down a few frozen slopes and climbing one more, the trio reached a sealed metal barge. A scanner not unlike the one in Claptrap's place resided beside the door. "Liar's Berg's on the other side of this Hyperion barge. What say we cut through it, chum?" The little robot confidently wheeled towards it, the scanner proceeding to activate and scan the little robot. "HA! This door's Hyperion tech – child's play! Aaaaaaand OPEN!"
"Unauthorized personnel detected, please verify access with a nearby authorized Hyperion Personnel"
"Well, at least we didn't get locked out." Claptrap shrugged, before turning to their third companion "Minion! It's your turn to stand there!
The two then watched in astonishment as the scanner did its work. "Hyperion Administrative Access Detected, Access Granted. Have A Nice Day!"
"Who exactly are you!?" Gaige couldn't help but point at the giant, she regretted it almost immediately after though as he began rambling with a volume like a megaphone.
"I'll never forget the way her holes cried... The way she screamed in agony as she pushed the knife slowly into my sternum... Such a beautiful symphony of feelings, and at the end of it, she was so much greater! My operatic diva of flesh and steel! Somebody open me up and put out the fire in my belly... It will never end. The blood, the screaming, and the teeth, it will start again and again and again, forever! The Purple fluids flow like silver powder within my burning bones! Cold mirrors threaten my skin with protection, It won't CUT! IT WON'T CUT! IT WON'T CUT!"
Gaige ended up plunging her pinkies into her ear canals and squeezing her eyes shut to block off the insane ramblings. However, she managed to hear through the primitive counter measures she put up. All she heard could be summed in one word: Crazy.
Once she was sure that the ramblings had ceased, she released the physical blocks on her sensory organs. Just hearing it make her dizzy, and she didn't even know what most of it meant! Another mental note: make earplugs. She turned to Claptrap. "Hey Claptrap, you understood what he just said?"
The steward bot sat in silence for a few moments before promptly ignoring by wheeling into the barge "Lemme know when you're ready to go meet with Sir Hammerlock, 'Vault Hunter'!"
Unknown to Gaige though, the ramblings had already been discretely recorded by a certain captive siren. This message was replayed repeatedly before being completely decoded. A pair of eyes emitting a soft glow of power widened in realization. She absolutely could not allow Jack to think that his 'pet' project somehow survived being nuked from orbit. She would do all she can to hinder observation while misleading the power-hungry man all she could. It would be a difficult task, but she was prepared.
Jack could NOT know. Ever.
So, deep within Thousand Cuts, The Angel prepared a miracle.
"Hey Claptrap! Stop ignoring me and answer the god damned question!"
Her rage apparently had little effect on whatever happened to the steward bot as it showed her a weapon box, which revealed an extremely crappy pistol. No really, her ECHO unit identified it as [White] [bAndiT crpY pisTaL]. To make matters worse, all the ammo scattered throughout the room was anything BUT Pistol Ammo.
"I'm sorry 'Vault Hunter', but it seems that the memories of the last 5 minutes were remotely deleted." It confessed, so it had really been hacked by an unknown? "However, the hacker has assured me that it will ONLY delete similar files, so I am definitely not compromised.
Gaige could only sigh at Claptrap's stupidity. Now another thing to add to her ever growing list of upgrades to apply once she got to Sanctuary. "Its fine Claptrap, but I can't even use this crappy pistol-say, do you have an adhesive?"
"Uh, sure?" Gaige's frustrated expression quickly turned into that of contemplation, before switching to glee. The steward bot handed her a roll of duct tape from its SDU, which Gaige gleefully took from the robots hands.
The Mechromancer went to work, quickly taking the two of the sharpest scraps of metal she could find and wrapping them up on either side of the weapon's barrel. The duct tape wrappings would hinder the aiming reticule, but that didn't matter, it's not like she would use it to fire off any rounds any way. All she had to do was get in close to any enemy and use the enhanced strength of her robotic arm to move in for the ki-
Suddenly, she felt nauseous. Bile rose to her throat and she collapsed in a coughing fit, the bladed pistol tossed from her grip like some poisoned object. She began dry heaving, tears welling up in her eyes as she did so.
The cause?
It was simple really, for all Gaige's intelligence and aptitude with WMD (e.g. DT), she was still a 15-year old girl who had felt incredibly guilty for ending the life of her rival (even if it was Marcie's fault to begin with), escaped with the help of her loving father, and never consciously made an actual lethal weapon before.
The one that had changed the relatively harmless gun into an instrument of violence wasn't Gaige, it was the Mechromancer in her.
Claptrap watched impassively as the human spasmed, the sudden shift in her actions being completely illogical and therefore not within its ability to respond. She was obviously in great distress, but its processors could not comprehend just what has triggered the sudden fit.
Earlier, the human had displayed intuitive innovation by changing an extremely poor ranged weapon into a slightly more effective melee weapon with minimal materials. It was a brilliant move on her part, so why did she throw away the makeshift weapon? Despite its lacklustre quality, it had to be more effective in defending herself than simply going in unarmed, right?
It observed for several minutes longer before concluding that it needed a slightly different perspective. Its single, cycloptic lens shifted to the only other figure in the room before going back to observing the pained human.
"Hello? We need to go 'Vault Hunter'! The longer we stay here, the more time Jack has to find us and melt ME down!" It waved its arms out, executing its core programming to snap the human out of her trance, but it didn't work. She was in too deep to snap out of, it gave the other individual the go-ahead. "Minion…carry her."
The cloaked giant complied, its metallic boots making sharp clanking noises as it shifted its centre of balance to pick the girl up. Claptrap observed as the left metal-encased arm appeared from within the robes: It was much thicker than the spindly arms of a Loader, and much more fleshed out than that of an Architect's Exoskeleton as well. The Hyperon themed armour plating had a strange texture to it, almost as if it were ridged in curving patters, which was impossible due to Hyperion's partiality for sharp and angular designs, right? If the ridges were miniscule Eridian script however…
"The little one weeps a beautiful symphony of pain, an instrument of smiling blood trapped within the womb of the unborn Meister, the silence hurts dead deaf." With a single motion, the curled up human girl was scooped up and lost within the figure's robes, "Let the painful fire be fed your bloody hatred, so as to make the warmth and solitude real."
"Right Minion! Let's show go grab Sir Hammerlock, Kill Flynt and sail to Sanctuary! Charge!" As Claptrap got caught up in its own excitement, it overlooked the fact that it was at least a dozen feet above ground upon exiting the Hyperion Bunker. Upon charging out of the bunker, it promptly fell into the soft snow a dozen meters below it. "Ouch"
Several seconds passed before Claptrap's 'Minion' landed beside the buried bot, and pulled it out by its wheel-feet with its now-less bulky left arm. Unfortunately, Claptrap let out a ridiculously loud cry of surprise upon release, attracting the nearby Bullymongs from their icy nests.
Claptrap had only moments to realize the situation that they were in before being tossed aside. As it was once more blinded by the snow covering its optics, it only heard the 'battle' occur, "The cold skin needs to be warm...GIVE ME YOURS!"
And then, the only sounds after several seconds were pained howls from crippled Bullymongs.
A/N: Yay, Second Chapter is out! Is it too fast or too slow? Do you guys want to see the fighting scenes now? Or wait it out? Lemme Know what you all think!
P.S. If you can guess just what our mysterious character is actually saying, I'll give you Brownie Points!