"THEY'RE GAINING ON US! WE NEED TO HAUL ASS!" Running as fast as her legs could carry her, Fiona fought to keep up her speed as she sneaked a look at the huge wave of bandits who were currently pursuing her and her group through the dusty expanse of desert. The sun was setting in the far distance and as it grew darker it became more difficult to see exactly how close the bandits were to their position.
She had been the one to discover the treasure map which had let to the gang coming together for another of their legendary and, regardless of how well planned out they were, dangerous adventures and things had been going well until they discovered that their chosen route led them directly into a path of a bandit camp.
And it turns out that the assembled collection of bandits and psychos did not appreciate the unexpected company.
To her right she could see Rhys, August and Sasha following her example and sprinting as quickly as they possible manage and on the left Athena and Vaughn were doing the exact same.
She could also hear the frantic whirring of LoaderBot as he weaved slightly behind the group to make locking on to their position more difficult for the enemies who were attempting to target them and to soak up any bullets which may come close, all the while protecting Gortys who he had wrapped up in his arms to prevent damage.
"Ouch. Ouch. These bullets are a real pain in my ass. Ouch." LoaderBot announced monotonously as the small clinking of connecting bullets continued to be heard over the screeching and manic shouting of the pursuing bandits.
"I know buddy! I know! We need to get to shelter!" Sasha called out between breaths, "I am open to ideas guys!" She shouted over her shoulder.
"There is an old mansion house just over the next hill!" Ducking to avoid a large rock which flew over his head, August bared his teeth, "Fucking idiots! But really, the old mansion has an electrified fence which surrounds it! If we can get the little robot to re-electrify it we can be safe in there until we come up with a real plan!"
"Sounds good to me!" Rhys joined the conversation, his voice scratchy from exhaustion. "All this exercise CANNOT be good for me." Forcing himself to keep moving despite the aching of his legs, he wondered how Vaughn was getting on. "How you doing Vau-"
Glancing to the side of him, he saw Vaughn keeping his pace up with no sign of stopping. To Rhys it looked like he was barely even breaking a sweat and he had an odd, almost-serene expression on his face as he sprinted.
Turning to meet his glance, Vaughn tilted his head and asked pleasantly, "Yo, did you say something bro?"
"No. Nah. Nooooooope. Just saying how I was enjoying our run!" He gave a fake smile, holding up a shaky thumbs up which was immediately met with a steady one from Vaughn. "Damn exercise bike." He muttered quietly as he faced forward again.
As they finally reached the top of the hill, the mansion which August had mentioned came into view.
"LAST ONE TO THE MANSION GETS THEIR EYEBALLS RIPPED OUT AND EATEN!" Sasha yelled as they raced down the sandy hill to their destination.
Being the first to arrive at the metal fence, she wrenched the door open and ran towards to the fuse box, closely followed by Vaughn.
Keeping an eye out as they all ran through the gate, she watched as Fiona slammed it shut behind her and fixed the large lock into place. "Is there power?" Fiona shouted over to her.
Pulling open the fuse box with Vaughn's help, she eyed the available green light. "YES! WE HAVE THE POWER!"
"Well turn it on then!" Athena called out, sounding exasperated.
"Yes Ma'am!" Vaughn agreed and pulled the level down.
The sound of the fence electrifying was heard immediately as a soft buzzing made itself known on the surrounding metal. At the area of the actual lock, electricity itself could be seen arcing over the gate as a warning to intruders.
"YEEHAW!" Vaughn shouted again as he watched the bandits slow and eye the fence apprehensively.
"Did he just 'yeehaw'?" Fiona raised an eyebrow and turned to face Rhys.
Rhys grimaced slightly. "Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, "we don't talk about the cowboy thing."
"Ooookay." Looking back at the bandits, Fiona's face became panicked, "GUYS! We have a problem!"
In two of the small gaps which existed in the face, the sight of two rocket launchers could be seen poking through as two of the rocket-wielding bandits took their aim towards the group. One took aim at the main group and the other at Sasha and Vaughn as they ran back from the fuse box.
The guns clicked as they started to lock on.
The second bandit was the first to fire and, in horror, Rhys realised that Sasha and Vaughn would not be able to escape the blast on foot.
Pointing at the pair, he screeched, "LOADERBOT! GET THEM OUTTA HERE!" His expression becoming more panicked as he watched one of the small rockets closing in on Vaughn and Sasha's position.
Dropping Gortys gently, LoaderBot launched himself at the fleeing duo and scooped them up just as the rocket impacted on the ground where they had stood. The blast caught the robot as he was escaping and instead of flying them back to the group he was forced higher into the air.
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit" LoaderBot announced as he was launched skywards.
As he started to descend, the sound of Vaughn's panicked yelling was all that could be heard as the group watched LoaderBot crash through the roof and into the mansion itself, both humans still safe in his grasp.
Any words which the remaining group had were cut off as they heard the first rocket bandit fire his own shot.
Throwing open the doors of the mansion they bundled inside. Leading the charge, Fiona, August and Gortys, raced across the entrance towards the main hall to avoid the rocket. Behind them, Rhys and Athena attempted to keep up.
Knowing they were too slow, Athena grabbed Rhys and placed her behind him and she threw her shield out to protect them from the worst of the blast. The rocket hit her shield at full force and a large explosion caused Fiona to close her eyes as the blinding light was followed by a large crashing noise and a short yell.
Waiting for the dust to settle, she opened her eyes and was confronted by a large hole in the floor where Athena and Rhys had stood.
"GUYS!" She screamed into the darkness below, waiting for an answer.
A small cough was the first noise to emerge followed by Athena's unshakeable voice. "We are okay. This one hit his head but he's conscious." Right on time a small groan also rose from the dark.
"Yeah he does that." Smirking, Fiona continued to squint into the darkness. "Can you find some way back up to us? Sasha will lead the other guys down to meet us and it'll be safer to stick together. Shall we say...the main hall?"
"Then we will meet you there once we have located an exit." Athena agreed.
Straightening up, Fiona eyed up both August and Gortys, "If they're gonna be a while do you want to have a small exploration of this place? Find some expensive heirlooms? Some silverware?" She raised her eyebrows.
"I would love to go stealing with the both of you. My friends are very good at taking things which do not belong to them." Gortys exclaimed cheerily while looking up at them.
"The little robot is right, it sounds fun." August agreed as he wiped some of the dust from his face and had a quick look around the destroyed entrance. "Lead the way."
x-x-x-x-x
Groaning as he struggled to gather his bearings, Rhys cracked one open and was met with complete darkness.
"I'M BLIND!" He screamed in a panic. "I WAS BLINDED IN THE FALL! HELP! HELLLP! FIONA! VAUGHNNNNNN!"
His vision was restored to him as the thin blanket which was blocking his view was pulled from him by an amused-looking Athena.
"Really?" She asked, the corner of her mouth turning up.
"Shush. I think I hit my head. Can I get a little sympathy here?" He moaned pitifully.
"No."
Sighing, he pulled himself to his feet and took a good look around. The basement they have been blasted into was almost completely black with only a few cracks of light here and there providing a faint idea as to what objects surrounded them. There was also a faint smell of damp.
"Eww." He hissed as he stood in something wet. "Please don't be blood. Please don't be blood." He repeated quietly.
In front of him, Athena used the faint pinkish glow from her shield to scan around her immediate area. The light fell over several abandoned ammo cases and old furniture which had been covered with dust and webbing.
His eyes darting around the darkness, Rhys gulped in fear." Uhh, Athena, do you remember the name of that old rhyme? Y'know the one with the monster that lives in the dark and eats people who walk into its house? Not that I think that's what gonna happen here or anything but do you know what its name was?"
"It was the Grunnelskag." The voice of Handsome Jack answered immediately as he burst to life behind Rhys, causing the nervous man to yelp in fear. The slight knock to his head had allowed Jack to escape from his mental confines and Rhys had to a admit that he was a little pleased to see him.
Well not pleased to see him, but he really did appreciate the extra blue light which Jack provided to shine on the creepy darkness, allowing him a better field of vision.
That kind of pleased.
Honestly.
"How the hell do you know that?" Rhys whirled around and faced the hologram, ignoring the look of mistrust which Athena sent his way as he conversed with the maniac. She really hated it when he did that.
But the hologram ignored him of favour of looking to the side of the room with a far-off glance, "Used to read it to my Angel when she was a kid. She loved that book. Always had a thing for the scary monsters, she did." His tone had taken on an unfamiliar softness which only happened when he discussed his lost daughter.
"Ahh...okay then." Rhys offered awkwardly. He hated Jack mentioning his daughter, it always forced him to view the madman in a more humane light and it was seriously weird.
"Athena!" Shouting quietly as he watched the assassin continue to scope out the surroundings, he caught her attention. "What's the plan, assassin-man?" Even to his own ears, his forced cockiness sounded fake.
Athena paused her search to turn and send him a dirty look, "Did you just call me a man?" She asked, her tone dangerous.
Back-pedalling immediately, Rhys held out his hands in defense, "N-no! No, no, no, no! It was just a joke, just trying to rhyme 'plan' with 'man'. I mean I could have said 'woman' but that would have sounded weird with the extra syllable and I just," he faltered as she narrowed her eyes, "like to rhyme? It was a bit of fun...I'm sorry." He conceded.
Scoffing, she turned back to her search as she continued to use the dim lights to manoeuvre a way through all the old junk back to the assigned meeting area of the main hall.
At his side, Jack snorted. "Jeez cupcake! Why not just rip your balls off and hand them to her in a pouch? I mean, if I was there I probably would have apologised too cause, y'know, she wants to kill me anyway and that wouldn't have helped my cause but at least I would have apologised with a little bit of dignity. Good going kiddo!" Throwing a sarcastic thumbs up, Jack hovered directly in front of Rhys.
"Shut up you ass." Rhys muttered as he walked straight through him and followed the path which Athena was making.
x-x-x-x-x
Still slightly stunned by their unexpected sky-high journey, Sasha and Vaughn lay unmoving in the ungraceful positions which they had landed on as they attempted to catch their breath back. Between them, LoaderBot filled the available remaining space as he waited for something to happen.
From the open hole in the ceiling, the trio could see the darkening sky.
Almost immediately after they had fallen through they could have swore they heard another rocket blast go off but it was incredibly difficult to tell since the fall had caused their ears to ring quite roughly and they had not heard any screaming or hint of panic from the others.
"Vaughn," Sasha offered quietly to the other silent figure after a moment had passed, "you okay there?"
"Yeah i'm good, I only had a rocket launched into my face. No real biggie." He summarised with a false cheer. "You?"
"I'm good. What about you LoaderBot?" She looked at the robot and her eyes widened in shock, "Eek! Umm, LoaderBot, where are your legs?" Her tone was apprehensive as she took in the damage.
"The blast blasted them off," the robot replied instantly, "I am not happy with this change of circumstance. Not cool."
"I...don't blame you." Sasha admitted after a moments hesitation. She lifted her head and had a quick scout of where they were, "I think we're stuck in the attic of this old place. We should go and meet the others and see if we can get our saviour here patched up." She patted LoaderBot on the shoulder gently.
"I am the second coming." LoaderBot announced to the room.
Vaughn shook his head slightly, "Try to stay humble, friend." Watching as Sasha moved to stand to her feet, he soon frowned as she let out a small gasp of pain. "What's wrong?"
"My ankle," She hissed as she attempted to put pressure on it, "I think i've sprained it. Goddamn bandits!"
"Someone will have a first aid kit. Athena usually carries a small one. We should probably go and try and get our hands on it," Vaughn concluded, "LoaderBot, can you carry her around please? Thanks buddy."
"Negative."
"Wait what? Why not?"
"My internal structure has been compromised, her weight on my shoulder will cause my arm to disengage."
"Wait, is he calling me fat?" Sasha raised a dangerous eyebrow as she sized up the injured robot, "Yo Vaughn, is he calling me fat?"
"...negative." LoaderBot replied again after a slight pause.
"Well I am not letting you leave me here in this creepy ass attic while you go off having an adventure," Sasha exclaimed hotly, "Vaughn, you can carry me."
"Excuse me?" His face was a picture of shock.
"Carry me. C'mon Mr Muscle put those rock-hard abs to good use!" She teased lightly while waving her hands out at him.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Let me on your back."
Trudging towards her, Vaughn muttered, "This is kind of humiliating," as he bent down to allow her to secure herself safely around his lower back.
Locking her legs around his stomach and her arms around his upper waist, she made herself comfortable. "See, I knew this would be no trouble for you, Captain Biceps."
"Could we stop with the jokes?" Vaughn pleaded, his voice only a little strained from the excess weight he was now carrying.
"Of course I can babe." He couldn't see her but he could hear the humour in her tone.
"Babe?"
"Well, this is kinda romantic don't you think."
"N-no. Yes? Wait what? No?" She could hear the panic in his tone as he considered her words.
"I'm kidding. Just tryna make you laugh Vaughn. Try to relax."
"I do not understand that humour." Joining the conversation again, LoaderBot pushed himself up on his arms and prepared to follow the duo as they started their journey through the attic.
Vaughn tightened his grip on Sasha's legs as he stood to full height, "Me neither buddy."