CLAPTRAP COMPLETE SYSTEM DESTRUCTION IN 13:22:14:59
Claptrap looked at Nisha, trudging slowly behind. She didn't wake up on the right side of her small cot this morning. Nisha hadn't spoken a single word out loud, preferring to instead grunt and motion in place of verbal speech. Anything hostile was immediately met with a barrage of gunfire and the occasional bullwhip to the face if Nisha hadn't reloaded. And anything of value got picked up Nisha took with a mean look to her new partner.
Perhaps waking her up after she got exactly eight hours of sleep was a bad thing?
The land they walked through had become a bit humid and wet, signifying that they were leaving the area of the Tremble Tumble Mountains and heading into the Tepatorl Marsh. The dry and cracked land gave way to short blue grass and a small trickling river. Claptrap and Nisha turned and followed the river, figuring they could run into someone that lived next to it. The river greatly expanded into a roaring stream, but as they neared the source, the water became blacker and filled with a lot of nasty gunk. The marshes were known for their contamination due to the run-off of a Vladof factory in the center of the marsh. They still had some way to go before they would reach the cult leader, but they had managed to reach the marshes.
"Why do I have the feeling that we'll be heading to that Vladof factory soon?" Claptrap wondered out loud.
"Because it's Chekov's Factory." Nisha remarked, actually saying something for the first time today.
"Oh!" Claptrap piped up, turned around on his axle to talk with Nisha while still wheeling forward. "I get it! Because it was mentioned, we will be going there eventually, possibly a few chapters from now. After another interlude with the Vault Hunters, we will meet up with Not-Jack, discuss a few things, and get a mission to go into the Vladof factory to shut it down or kill some big bad boss dude!"
"…actually, that's the name of the factory." Nisha sheepishly admitted.
"Really?"
"Yup." Nisha bobbed her head. "That…and we could use the factory's resources. Probably got a flying vehicle or somethin' like that. Weapons too, if they got any worthwhile." She shrugged as best as she could. "Really? I just wanna rob it. Old-fashion style. No purpose, just farming loot."
"Hey, I got only thirteen days left to live. If they got a flying car, we're taking that sucker!" Claptrap turned back around and went up the winding mossy trail. The two walked in silence until they were smack-dab middle of the marsh. Nisha picked up her hat and started to fan herself off as the humidity washed all over the two. Claptrap's sensors picked up that huge amount and issued a small warning to not go any deep body of water. He would rust up pretty fast, if the air itself didn't do itself.
After about thirty minutes of walking, Nisha spoke up with: "Where's the monsters and misplaced bandits attacking us?" Claptrap merely shrugged.
"Not many people live on this side of the marshes." Alpha finally spoke up. He had been keeping quiet, a virtue that Claptrap needed to look into. Alpha offered to play music for the two to kill the boredom of walking, but Nisha kindly (As much as a loud grunt could be) turned him down. So far, the only contribution he made on the journey here was to update the two on anything he could find. So far nothing had changed. Lillian still had the Vault Hunters captured and the blackout of communications and the Fast-Travel system persisted.
But maybe they would get a bit lucky up north at that huge old mansion on the edge of the land. Nisha recognized the style as a Rhea elite house that went out of style about a decade ago. Going by the fancy wooden carvings all over the metal building, this place used to belong to someone from Jakobs. That and Claptrap tripping over a sign with the company's logo made it clear. The two ascended up the rickety steps and up to the still-standing, but severally-dilapidated front door. When Claptrap went to knock, his movement on the porch caused the door to tip and fall over.
"Ah hell, I wanted to kick it down." Nisha lamented as she stepped inside. "I wanted to see if I could explode the door into splinters."
"You could stomp on it." Claptrap pointed out.
"Not the same thing."
The house itself felt empty, but Nisha drew a pistol just in case. The mansion wasn't a turbo mansion, but somewhere between that and a regular old crummy mansion. By Claptrap's calculations (Give or take a extra three…or thirty three) the place would take about a hour and a half to cover. The place definitely looked run-down, but both of the visitors could tell that for a place in the middle of a toxic-infested swamp, it stood up well.
"Why are we here?" Claptrap asked, pulling out a shotgun and following silently behind Nisha.
"Good old fashion loot-looking." Nisha whispered as she hit a wall and peered around a corner. "Plus, I looked a little bit ahead. We're going to need to get something to cross that sludge. A boat would be nice, but we might have to settle for making a raft."
"You think the wood here is good enough to last, let alone hold our weight?" Claptrap again asked a question. "I mean, the front door and all…"
"We should try the top floors." Nisha looked up before advancing down a long corridor. "Those haven't been too exposed to the elements and time. IF we have to build a raft at all. A place this big and close to the water probably has to have a garage with proper boats in it. Of course, we might have to do some repairs and maybe even a little-proofing if the hull isn't going to hold in the water…"
"A Jakobs place a few miles away from a Vladof factory? Sounds like corporate wet work…pardon the pun."
"Oh yeah. Chekov's Factory might be located on top of a small mountain, but there's got to be plenty of secret entrances all around that be accessed by boat. Keep an eye out for any sort of paper; they might contain some useful information about the area."
"Though it does raises the question…if this place IS a Jakobs spy center, then how come it still stands intact and not burned into ash? If anything, the complete opposite happened."
"Good point…then again, you ever heard of Jakobs using fire?"
"Ah!" Claptrap stopped in the middle of the hallway to talk. "Look at us! The two of us, hard-friends and later enemies, having a nice conservation! A helpful conservation where we talk as equals, as opposed to the usual banter of me saying something and you throwing a insult…"
"Shut up Claptrap." Nisha responded with a bullwhip to the eye. Claptrap listened and followed behind.
The air down the hall felt incredibly musty. Nisha took a whiff and it reminded her of mating seasons for skags. She put away her pistol and instead went for a shotgun. Claptrap made a fake gulping sound as the two of them stopped to look around and make sure that nothing had been following them or were watching from above. They preceded down the hall a bit slower than before. Nisha admitted to feeling anxious, but mostly due to the fact that having one arm meant easier target for whatever…or whoever…stalked the halls.
Claptrap wheeled onto a loose board, making it creek. This made some red eyes blink open and stare down the intruders.
Out from the various woodworks came moss-covered creatures that resembled skags, splitter skags more specifically. But they didn't move or act like skags. They hit the walls and crawled along it to go after their lunch. Nisha and Claptrap opened fire and managed to get one down and dead. Two others launched themselves off the walls and managed to tackle Nisha down to the ground. Claptrap threw out his hand into a punch that managed to throw off the monster. The two decided to run away and find a place where they would have more room to fight. The creatures pursued without making any noise outside of making the floorboards creak.
Thankfully the hall gave away to a small dining area. Nisha and Claptrap hit the middle of the area and filled the hallway with as much buckshot as they could before they ran out. Another creature fell dead but three more joined the fun. Nisha decided to switch to the bullwhip for now, leaving the gunplay to Claptrap. He swapped to a assault rifle and sprayed one creature. It endured all the bullets and swiped by Claptrap, taking out a good chunk of the shield. Nisha snapped the creature in the face, but it still lived and rolled up into a ball. Claptrap opened fire on the monster, but the rolling managed to deflect bullets and spread them all over the place. The two just leapt out of the way as the monster rolled out, tearing up the floor down to the foundation without even slowing down.
"GEEZ!" Claptrap screamed as he ducked down from another creature leaping at him. "These guys!"
"We best get going and not stick around!" Nisha growled as she resorted to kicking to get off her. The monster instead opened it's mouth and closed it shut once Nisha's booted foot was inside. Nisha howled in pain. Not helping things is when she looked down, she noticed that no blood was escaping through the teeth. What are these things? She could feel her leg going to sleep…painful sleep. Gawd, was she going to lose another limb?
Thankfully, no. Claptrap actually pulled himself together and rushed over to Nisha's aide. "CHEW ON THIS!" Shouting a cliché action hero phrase, (Think of a short-haired white male) Claptrap swing the butt of his shotgun down on the creature's head a few times. This got the monster to snap it's jaws, allowing for Nisha to escape and limb-run away. Claptrap quickly turned the weapon around and unloaded all bullets. The monster died thankfully. Claptrap then followed Nisha after throwing a grenade to keep the beasties distracted.
…despite the creatures being fairly smart and durable, they all did stop to examine the grenade. It looked nothing like they seen before! None of those humans they feasted on years had these with them! But it did look like a berry…it couldn't be a weapon then! One of those mossy beasts swallowed the grenade…and in case you don't know what happens when a armed grenade is swallowed does to the being that swallowed it as well as the beings around it, you should ask your parents.
Claptrap opened up his inventory and pulled out a vial of health. Nisha snatched it and used it to stop the bleeding, but great searing pain still erupted all over her leg. She looked down to see veins popping and could be seen through her pants. Poisoned as well? Didn't have time to focus on getting rid of that, so Nisha just ran as fast as she cold. Claptrap continued with his trend of being useful by reloading all of Nisha's guns for her.
"Alpha!" Claptrap wheezed out, despite having no lungs for him to be tired with. "What are these things?"
"I'm looking, I'm looking!" Alpha repeated as the sound of rapid key typing echoed out. "Damn, I didn't know there that many species on Pandora! Going to need some help identifying these things…"
"THEY'RE EVIL!" Claptrap cried out as he shoved him and Nisha out of the way of another roller.
"Great, that narrows down the species from twenty-five thousand and twenty to just twenty-thousand. Got anything more specific? I mean, it's your lives on the line here!"
"Green, mossy, skag-like, armored!" Nisha shrieked as her leg buckled and she fell onto the ground. Claptrap quickly backtracked and picked Nisha up with both hands, deciding to run rather to fight. Carrying his ally above his head, Claptrap just wheeled through the mansion's halls without a clue where to go. More and more monsters just burst through the walls to chase down the two intruders and destroy them.
Thankfully an open door appeared to the two. Claptrap just threw Nisha in like a backpack of a college student before jumping in and closing the door behind him. He started to throw as much stuff he could grab in front of the door to keep the monsters from barging in. Cabinets, tables, weights, whatever this room had got thrown in front of the door. The door bended against the monster's attacks and holes were broken through, but the junk pile held and protected the two from any more monsters.
One minute later, the monsters roared out a very low and vibrating growl before giving up and heading away from the door. Claptrap and Nisha kept their breathing as slow and delayed as possible (Well, Claptrap's fake breathing. Nisha wanted to get him to be quiet but didn't want to make any noise) to make sure the monsters would leave them alone. After five minutes of silence, Claptrap turned to Nisha and asked, "You okay?"
"Pretty sure I got poisoned." Nisha remarked as she lifted up the pant's leg to look at the wound. Four round holes in a arc were embedded in her right leg. While they had stopped bleeding and the holes were on the way to healing up thanks to the health vial, Nisha could see the popped veins…and they looked a bit green. Nisha breathed heavily as she wondered what she could do to fix this. The poison started to seep into her body proper, so she needed to work fast. It would take more than a few vials of health to fix this…
"Running " A very monotone and familiar voice came over Claptrap. While the bad memories of rubber duckies, grenades coming out of nowhere, and her fantastic guns being reduced to a one-shot wonder and MISSING came over Nisha, she suddenly started to feel better. Opening her eyes, she could see Claptrap wearing a nurse's cap and pointing a red laser at her. The laser hit her body and started to mend her body pretty fast. She could feel the poison starting to fade.
"Wait a minute." Nisha asked before getting up. "Why didn't you summon a turret, or a mini-you…or how about that one with the wizard hat? I like that one, can you just do that one?" Claptrap didn't respond, but he finished up performing his action skill and went back to normal. Nisha looked at her leg to see her veins had gone back to normal, both in size and color. The bite wound still remained, but faded and would vanish in a month. Shame, it looked cool. "Claptrap…thanks." Nisha honestly replied. Made her stomach shake from saying that though.
"You're welcome!" Claptrap replied all chipper before he waved his hands over the junkpile keeping the door shut. "I'm impressed with my job as a stacker! I should do this back in Sanctuary! Scooter really could use my help…"
"Not that, the other thing?" Nisha wheezed.
"What other thing…you mean my shooting?" Claptrap tapped his hand against the top part of his body. "But you spent the entire time we've been together insulting me and my shooting!"
"No, the other thing you JUST did to me."
"Nisha, I JUST shoveled a bunch of junk in front of a door to keep out a bunch of monsters from attacking us. That's the thing I JUST did."
"Claptrap, you just healed me of poison! That's the THING you JUST did to ME."
"No, the THING I JUST did to YOU is PICKING YOU UP and CARRYING YOU DOWN A HALLWAY so we can ESCAPE FROM SOME MONSTERS."
"Enough with the damn emphasizing!" Nisha growled. "I had been poisoned by those things and we got trapped in here…" Nisha got a good look around. A kitchen/dining area that looked neat and well-preserved despite the heavy fog of dust hanging over the entire room and various molds covering most services that were so thick they could block bullets. Most of the furniture had been propped against the door, and they looked to be sturdy. Nisha continued, "…you blocked the door and then pulled out that medi-b…" Nisha stopped, thought of copyright and quickly switched terms to: "…healing laser and patched me right up! How did you forget that?"
"Checking memory banks." Claptrap held his hands up to where his memory banks were and his 'eyeball' started to rotate. This loading took a few yet long seconds before Claptrap spat out, "I did no such thing! Why, I haven't even accessed my Action Skill during this entire adventure!" He then rubbed his hand up and down the side of his chassis. "Weird that you, of all people, would lie just to compliment me."
"I'm not." Nisha gritted between her teeth. Deciding to chalk this up to Claptrap's usual idiocy, she moved on to the matter at hand. "Look, we need to find a way out of here. Those beasties will tear us apart if we try to leave out the way we came in…if they aren't trying to find a way inside of this room already." Nisha took a look around. "No large human-sized accessible air vents, no weak walls to be blown down by making a pile of black powder from our bullets, no way to sneak out without being spotted…"
As the two discussed a method of escaping, the monsters returned to their nests to rest and wait for their prey to make a mistake. As they went to slumber, a whispering tone echoed through their heads…