(Author's Note: From this point forward, characters will be introduced in bold font and a title accompanying it. All commentary by the radio hosts will be viewed in italics font, script style)
Chapter Five: Bonehead
The four members of the Heart of Steel, Jack, Travis, Eddie, and the Overlord, stood armed and ready as the hulking behemoth of a Fiend steadily raised his gun, his four vicious dogs snarling and barking as they shook their chains. Bonehead shifted beneath his skull helmet, his face obscuring all emotion, watching with anticipation as tension grew. Jack stood at the head of the group, fists raised and a stone faced look. Travis flanked his left, the beam katana in his hands glowing a bright red as he took an offensive position, the normally cocky smirk on his face replaced with the steely gaze of a hardened killer. Eddie stood to the right, the Separator held in his right hand, his leathery red wings giving a short flap. Behind them stood tall and terrible the Overlord, his red eyes peering behind his demonic helmet as his grip tightened around his blood-caked mace. Tension was high, and with no sound but the dogs barking, all it took was one move to set chaos amok.
HEART OF STEEL VS. FIEND BONEHEAD
FIGHT!
(Slick: The fight is on! Quick! We need awesome music for the setting!)
(Rick: Three Dog, check that drawer for any fitting music.)
(Three Dog: This one looks promising. "Bad to the Bone", eh?)
(Slick: PERFECT! Let's rock!) *recommended music is Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood*
The gargantuan Fiend unleashed an animalistic roar, dropping his equally massive gun towards his targets and dropping his dogs' chains. The snarling beasts bounded towards the four men, but the instant they drew near, the Overlord shoved his allies aside, and with a mighty swing of his mace, bashed their jaws and sent them spiraling away. Bonehead's own roar was soon drowned out by the thunderous booming of his minigun, unleashing a hellfire of bullets that peppered the Overlord's armor. The heavily armored lord raised his arms in bracing against the lead bullets, the lethal munitions careened off the metal, but knocked him backwards a few feet from the sheer force.
"Blocking won't do you any good, tin man!" Bonehead roared over his gun as empty bullet shells littered the ground around them. The Overlord scoffed, and with steady steps began to steadily pull himself forward. The Fiend saw this, however, and with a loud whistle, the Overlord was almost knocked off the ground by one of Bonehead's dogs ramming full force into his torso.
(Rick: I never knew the Overlord's armor was strong enough to repel bullets from a minigun.)
(Three Dog: Things like that surprise you, like how most people don't realize the bullets from Bonehead's gun are actually sharpened finger bones.)
(Slick: Wow! That's both creative and morbid!)
(Three Dog: He's a god damn Fiend, what did you expect?)
"GRAH! Impudent mongrel!" The Overlord snarled, regaining his footing. In the corner of his vision, the Overlord saw the rest of the dogs had recovered from his attack, snarling and bearing their fangs. Turning his gaze towards his teammates, he quickly shouted an idea. "Try and get him to cease his fire so I can shatter his skull!"
"Sounds like a plan, I guess." Travis muttered, pulling Eddie to his feet. Seeing the giant Fiend and his gun, as well as the three dogs, a plan started to formulate in the assassin's head. "What if… Yeah, that'll work." He turned to Jack and Eddie, a firm grin on his face as he ignited his beam katana. "Hey guys. You think he'll be mad about his pups getting the hurt on?" Before they could answer, Travis immediately bolted towards the nearest dog, slashing at it and leaving a glowing burn across its body. The dog yelped in pain, growling at Travis and lunging in a pounce. It barely got two feet away before Travis leapt above it, and with a midair cartwheel, sliced his blade clean through the mutt, leaving it cleaved in half.
(Slick: I'm so glad PETA isn't here to see this.)
(Rick: The dogs getting murdered, or subjected to tons of chems?)
(Slick: Both. Bunch of pansies….)
"Ceris, NO!" Bonehead shouted, hearing his pet's dying yelp. The gigantic Fiend turned his gun on Travis, firing red hot vengeance at the No More Hero. His plan worked, Travis immediately dove behind cover as the bullets chewed into an overturned car. Seeing the opportunity, the Overlord regained his composure and sprinted towards Bonehead, but the loud clanking of his armor betrayed him in the end. "I don't THINK SO!" As quick as he responded, Bonehead returned his sights at the Overlord and resumed his bombardment of the black-armored menace. Jack slowly turned his head towards Travis' hiding spot with disbelief in his gaze, wondering how the hell a goofball like Travis Touchdown came up with a plan like that.
"I call next!" Eddie exclaimed, pulling Clementine off his back. Focusing his sights on another of the Fiend Dogs, Eddie played a short, high cord on his guitar, summoning a jolt of lightening to strike the mutt. Stunned by the blast, it left Eddie the perfect opening. Sprinting as fast as he could, the Separator in hand, Eddie raised his axe above his head and brought it down on the beast's neck, severing it at the stump. "DECAPITATION~!" He sang.
"Bohr! DAMN YOU!" Bonehead bellowed as the dog's head struck pavement. Eddie quickly flapped his wings, taking off into the skies before the giant man's giant gun could hit him. Bonehead reacted by pointing his gun into the sky, all the bullets whizzing by as Eddie continued to fly around, throwing taunts and playing mock guitar riffs. Seizing the moment, the Overlord continued his trek towards his target, but once again was stopped by Bonehead's hearing. "Not THIS TIME!" Still no closer to his target, the Overlord was again assaulted by the ammunition, the only other sound above the guns roar was the tinkling clinking of the empty bullet casings.
"Well, I guess I know what I got to do." Jack murmured, rolling his shoulders. The final dog reared its head at him, snarling as its fangs dripped with saliva, while Jack merely cracked his knuckles. The dog bounded towards him, barking and growling as he neared the DeathWatcher, who continued to remain where he stood. Once the dog was finally in range, Jack smirked, pulled his metal fist back, and threw the mother of all punches. There was a loud squish, a sickening crack, and a faint whine. All eyes turned to Jack, seeing the canine corpse speared right through his metallic arm.
"REESE! HE WAS MY FAVORITE!" Bonehead screeched, again changing targets, but the instant he turned away from the Overlord to Jack, the telltale rapid clicks froze his blood.
"Out of ammo, big guy." Jack said, shaking the dog corpse off his arm. Before Bonehead could even think to retort, the Overlord promptly grabbed his shoulders, swung him around, face to face, and brought his mace down upon his head. Hard. Not only did the bones in his skull shatter, but his skull helmet split in two upon impact. The two halves of the bone fell onto the ground, leaving behind a…
"WOAH, ugly." Travis exclaimed upon looking at the slightly malformed face of Bonehead. "And that's what chem abuse will do to you."
(Slick: Remember kids, don't do chems or you'll end up like that piece of crap.)
(Rick: Hypocrite.)
(Slick: Hey, what I do are medicinal/recreational drugs. Chems are Wasteland stuff.)
(Three Dog: Don't diss the Wasteland shit. Helps you out in a bind.)
(Slick: Addict.)
"It's hideous." The Overlord said, raising his mace once more. "Let us remedy this situation." With another mighty swing, the mace crashed upon the Fiend's head, tearing it at the neck and leaving nothing but a mound of brains and blood. "He is finished."
*guitar riff*
Bonehead, ELIMINATED!
"Was that riff really necessary, Riggs?" Jack asked, turning to the offending roadie, his fingers curled around the guitar.
Eddie merely shrugged his shoulders. "Felt fitting."
"I liked it." Travis said. "Brought back memories." Rolling his eyes, Jack motioned for the others to follow into the Gun Runner's storage and to complete their mission. The DeathWatcher and the Overlord took their places on both the doors, and with a mighty heave, the factory's doors opened, scraping against the ground and showering their boots in sparks.
Entering the building, Heart of Steel found themselves in a rather large factory room. Several deactivated machines that filled the room appeared to be built for destruction and dismantling, among them several crushers, wall mounted buzz-saws, rock crushers, rotary blades in place of ceiling fans, and oddly, a few cannons, all stained with a dark red rust. Even more suspiciously, several distinct metal plates on the ground were a brighter color than the rest of the mute tiled floor. Whatever purpose this factory served prior to the Tournament, it certainly wasn't packaging cereal box prizes.
(Slick: Hey, Rick. Do you remember what this factory made?)
(Rick: How should I know? I'm a radio show host, not a city engineer.)
"This place should be sued for a hazardous work environment." Eddie mused, looking at a large collection of saws atop a conveyor belt. "Saws, smashers, slicers, all we need is the giant drill." He turned to his left, and accidentally bumped his head against… "Found it."
"Well, at least the workers knew to wear helmets." Travis said, gesturing to a workers sign with the obligatory factory wear warning. "Why did Jimmy send us here again?"
"A crate full of guns the Runners were selling, said it was stuffed with 'em," Eddie muttered, shoving a few boxes over. "But I don't see any… Well look at that." Located at the very center of the room, right in front of a generator, was a unique looking metal podium, a red button at the center of it. As the former Cabbage Boy Roadie examined the button, he noticed the words 'Gun Runners' imprinted just above. Going for a curious act, Eddie pressed the button, causing it to emit a short beep. As soon as his finger retracted, red lights high on the factory walls started flashing as loud alarms began to blare. The group quickly formed a back to back group around one another, weapons at the ready, waiting for any sign of danger. All around them, the machines started to activate: Saws whirred, crushers churned, blades swirled, crushers rolled, and the generator signaled an industrial orchestra with a loud factory whistle.
"Great! It's like a drum solo gone rampant in here!" Eddie shouted over the loud bangs and clangs. "We're going to get swarmed by Fiends with noise!"
"That's the idea, pimps 'n playas!" Exclaimed a deep bass voice. Travis, Eddie, and the Overlord began looking around, trying to find the source of the intruder, while Jack furrowed his brow, knowing that voice all too well.
"Not him…" Jack groaned, lowering his guard. The group's attention was immediately drawn to the sound of clinking metal, looking up at the rafters above the generator. Standing on the catwalk above all the machines was a black man wearing a yellow fur coat, yellow fedora with a long purple feather, yellow parachute pants, yellow gloves, and black sunglasses on his chiseled face. A black beard ran along his jawline, and in his hands was a golden cane with a skull on the handle. To anyone who knew the street well enough, this guy looked like an absolute pimp.
The Black Baron, Stop Starin'!
(Slick: I really like this guy…)
(Three Dog & Rick: I can see why…)
"Hey, Jack, brothah!" The pimp said, leaning over the rail. "I didn't know y'all were competin' in this Tournament! I'da brought my bitch along just tah say 'hi', but work comes first, ya dig?"
"Why aren't you dead yet?" Jack loudly asked, glaring at the man on the catwalk. "Didn't you get yourself killed last time we met?" The other members of the Heart of Steel slowly looked towards Jack, looks of confusion and disbelief evident on their faces… except for the Overlord, because of that scary helm of his.
"You know this brightly dressed Ruborian?" The Overlord asked, gesturing his mace at the pimp.
"Unfortunately… That's the Black Baron," Jack explained. "He and I met at the last DeathWatch… Where I beat his ass with a spiked baseball bat and knocked him into a gigantic dartboard… And that somehow didn't kill him."
"Is he an immortal or something?" Eddie asked, looking at the Baron.
"No, he just won't fucking die." Jack complained, looking up at the Baron. "Now what the hell do you want?" The Black Baron let out a deep laugh, leaning over the railing at the four down below.
"Yo friend with the axes and the Danzig's looks activated the Sponsorship Challenge!" The Black Baron exclaimed, twirling his cane and smiling wide. "This is a little piece of ass the IDA wanted tah throw into the game. Y'all remember the Bloodbath Challenges, don't ya Jack?"
"All too well…" Jack said, shaking his head. Then, it hit him. "We're stuck in one of those right now?!"
"Sorta, Jack." The Baron said with a chuckle, pointing at the machinery. "Now, let me explain the rules of this little shindig to y'all in the most simplest ways yo brains can comprehend."
"Why that cocky son of a…" Travis growled through clenched teeth, shaking his fist. The Baron tapped his cane to the side of the generator, and with a flash of his smile, a group of camera drones flew down and focused on the Bishop of blood and carnage.
"Welcome, welcome, pimps 'n playas!" The Baron greeted the audience in his best 'TV Star tone'. "The Black Baron's here today to learn y'all the rules of this here Sponsorship Challenge. Y'see, this factory here, owned by the ever so shady Gun Runners of New Vegas, is crooked and grey like a meth whore's mouth. So here I is, proposing we do a little bit of redecorating." He leapt from the catwalk, standing in front of a wood chipper-like machine. "We goin' to be Painting the Room Red today, folks. The game is as simple as breakin' some g's nose with a brass knuckle: Make as big of a mess as ya can with the doped out motha's that come runnin' in here, and if ya can make a big enough mess, our benefactors will provide a manner of trophy to the top scorer."
"Three, two, one…" Jack quietly counted to himself. Emerging from behind the machine the Baron positioned himself at was a beautiful woman wearing a scantily clad orange top and mini-skirt, with tiger make-up painted on her face and orange hair done in two messy ponytails. On her hands were fake tiger paws, tiger boots on her feet, and a foreboding sense of bloodlust all around her. Naturally, the Baron greeted her with open arms.
"Ah, and here's my assistant for the moment, pimps 'n playas," The Baron said with a jovial laugh. "Angry Tiger, ladies and gents. Her boss and Ah got a good deal on his babes, Ah get to borrow 'em for the show, and he lets them have a good time." The girl, Angry Tiger, put a hand on the Baron's shoulder, purring slightly. "And do I know how to give a good time, heheh-yeah." Without warning, Angry Tiger grabbed the Baron by the back of his coat, hefted him off the ground, and tossed him right into the chipper. "AW HELL NAW!" His last shout was heard before being pulled into the machine, a spurt of blood blasting out of the mouth, while the rest erupted out the opposite end, covering the entire wall in gore.
"Angry Tiger POWER!" Angry Tiger cheered before merrily skipping out of the room. The men of the Heart of Steel (aside from Jack) were both stunned and speechless by the occurrence.
"He'll be back." Jack said, nonchalantly. "He always comes back."
"Like crabs?" Travis joked, only to receive a slug on the shoulder by Jack.
(Slick: DON'T TAUNT THE CRABS MAN! THEY'LL COME BACK!)
(Rick: Just ignore him, Three Dog, he has PTCC.)
(Three Dog: PTCC?)
(Rick: Post-traumatic Crotch Cleansing.)
(Slick: KEEP THAT BLOWTORCH AWAY FROM THERE!)
Four platform circles lit up in the corners of the room, obviously signaling the competitors where to stand. Understanding the rules of the twisted game, each man took a position on an individual circle, waiting for the game to begin. A loud horn blared, four thick, plastic walls shot up from the ground, blocking off the team in boxes, and the doors all around opened up, releasing dozens of Fiends inside. The game had begun.
*recommended music is Mad World by Sick YG*
Five Fiends surrounded Travis, armed with nothing but their fists and chipped razors, as the machines whirred and grinded all around them. On his left, a pair of pistons crashing into each other in rapid succession, large enough to crush a human body. On his right, the very chipper the Black Baron was fed to, the stains still visible on the wall. Behind him, a large rotating drill that passed into all four sections, whirring with the terrible memories of demented dentistry. A plan was set, all that remained was the execution.
Travis immediately dove for one of the Fiends, grabbing him by the shoulders and throwing him to the ground. As soon as his back connected with the cement floor, Travis rolled forward, kicking the Fiend off the ground and sending him face first into the chipper. The screams were drowned out by the grinding of the blades, the walls sprayed red with the innards of the former raider. One of the other Fiends screamed at Travis, charging at him with naught but a chipped shaving razor, but was instead met with an uppercut from the No More Hero. The Fiend fell like a tree, blood running from his nose like a waterfall, while Travis swung into a roundhouse kick with another, bashing the Fiend right into the two pistons. He barely had the time to raise his hands before his top half became a human pancake, crushing him like an overripe tomato, and making just as big of a mess.
"Shit, I got some on my jacket." Travis grunted as the blood sprayed from the pistons. Two of the other Fiends started backing away in fear, but barely got far before Travis slashed with his beam katana, dicing the two at the midsection, transforming them into red fountains. As more of the room turned red, more Fiends crawled in through the doors and openings, leaving more buckets of paint for the room. Travis smirked, adjusted his glasses, and stepped on the neck of the fifth initial Fiend, before raising his blade to attack once more.
A shrill yelp echoed off the walls as an airborne Fiend shot from the ceiling, ending up a messy splatter on the floor. Three of six Fiends watched in horror and anger as Eddie Riggs flew above them, mocking them with guitar riffs and loud laughter. From the start, Eddie knew he had an advantage with his room compared to the others. A bunch of rotary saws hung all over one of the walls, most of which had already ripped one of the Fiends to shreds. A cannon-like device held a sawblade within, which Eddie already fed a Fiend to, resulting in an almost morbid firecracker of bone and blood. And of course, there was that drill, but Eddie couldn't get any of the Fiends close enough to utilize it.
"Ah, whatever," Eddie said, descending from above for another attack. Eddie plucked Clementine from his back, strummed a few electrifying notes, and left the remaining Fiends twitching as the voltage stunned them in their place. "I still can do shit like this." Equipping the Separator, Eddie pulled his arm back, and spun in a rapid circle, carving the Fiends into pieces. Once the Fiends were dead, Eddie took a moment to monitor the room, and was unhappy with the lack of red painting the area. His hopes were slightly raised when more Fiends poured in, shouting and cursing as they surrounded the Roadie. Eddie chuckled, cracking his knuckles and flapping his wings. "I can fix this easy."
On the Overlord's part, he could care less about winning the Sponsorship Challenge, or whatever reward he was promised for winning. All that mattered to the ultimate master of evil and darkness was the opportunity to prove his strength and power upon the weak. By the moment he grabbed the first Fiend that came to him, he had already shown his point by hefting the Fiend high above the ground and ramming him face first into the drill. It was a slow, torturous process, but the Overlord succeeded in not only completely covering himself, the drill, and a fourth of the area in what was left of the Fiend, but reduced him to nothing but a pelvis and a pair of gangly legs. He cared not for the sharp spikes to impale the victims on the wall, nor did he have interest in the slicing conveyor belt on the ground, waiting to be fed a foolish Fiend. All he, the Overlord, cared for, was to become death.
"Run, little mortals." The Overlord boomed, dragging his mace along the ground, screeching against the metal. "But no matter how far those legs carry you, I shall be the last you see when oblivion takes you." One Fiend fell to the ground, scrambling away before a heavy metal boot pressed against his leg. Tears and mucus streamed down his face as he turned and saw the armor, black as night, and the horrific mace raised above his head. "Die." The last thing he saw was the mace coming down.
(Rick: Hold me.)
(Slick: Gladly.)
Jack heard a loud squish, followed by the Overlord's laughter on the other side of an adjacent wall. Jack grumbled to himself, looked to the wall, and saw the dark image of his ally slamming his mace onto the corpse of a dead Fiend. Repeatedly.
"Showoff." Jack muttered, taking a puff of his cigarette. When the rooms came up, Jack saw he didn't have much to work with in terms of equipment. Sure there were boulder crushers, but that wouldn't do much with spreading the mess, remembering his experiences at Mad Castle during his last DeathWatch escapade. There was also some crushing pistons and spikes mounted on the wall, which he could work with, given aim and time. At the moment, all Jack needed to work with, and succeeded, was his trusty chainsaw. Using practically nothing but the arm mounted menace, Jack tore through scores of Fiends with ease, the heavy duty weapon ripping Fiends to shreds like autumn leaves.
One such moronic Fiend came at him with a cricket bat, swinging it overhead and attempting to smash it on the DeathWatcher's head. Jack quickly grabbed his arm, and with a deafening snap, dislocated the bone, and flung the man high into the air, impaling him through the stomach on a conveniently mounted spike. A follow-up was a Fiend attempting a stealthy takedown, but was instantly thwarted by Jack turning around at the right moment. Reeling back a punch, Jack slammed his fist into the Fiend's face, sending him right into a crusher. As Jack expected, there wasn't as big of a mess as expected, but it was quite a sight to see. Just by guessing, Jack felt he had probably the messiest of all the rooms, but it didn't really matter to him. All that mattered was beating the damn Tournament and getting that wish.
Just as Jack dismembered another Fiend, the factory alarm blared, the machines began to slowly power down, and the remainder of the Fiends retreated with all but their dignity (and a few body parts) intact. The Challenge was beaten, and the dividing walls slowly slid down into the ground.
(Rick: And that's it with the Sponsorship Challenge! We'll have someone tally up the wall splatter space, see who made the biggest mess, and send a prize down to the lucky winner.)
(Slick: It looks like my toilet on Chef Kowasaki's Curry Night down there.)
(Three Dog: I'm out! That's just nasty. *door closes in the background*)
(Rick: Great, you grossed out the guest speaker, Slick.)
(Slick: I'll go sit in my corner.)
Jack looked around and saw his allies doing their own things in their section. Travis was holstering his Beam Katana, Eddie was adjusting his guitar, and the Overlord was… still beating at a dead corpse with his mace.
"Hey tin can!" Eddie shouted over the furious pounding. "It's over, cool your jets." The Overlord slowly ceased his overkill assault, regained his composure, and joined his allies in the center of the room. "You're kind of a freak, you know?" Another factory light shone above a door, opening into a room filled with computers and other devices. Out stepped a middle-aged man in a dirty brown business suit with a comb-over hairstyle, holding a metal briefcase in his left hand.
"Bravo gentlemen," The man said. "Bravo. You did well in disposing of those Raiders."
"Just doing what we do best." Travis said, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets.
"Kill the inferior." The Overlord boomed, clenching a fist.
"The voice, big guy," Eddie said. "Shut off the voice." The Overlord grumbled something about weaklings, but the rest of the group ignored. "So who're you?"
The man chuckled. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Samuel Murphy, IDA representative of the Gun Runners. And I am here," Samuel lifted the briefcase up. "To reward the winner of my Challenge to…" The man stepped in front of Jack and handed him the case. "Mr. Jack Cayman." There were two shouts of complaints from Eddie and Travis, while the Overlord gave a gruff groan. "I'm sorry, but out of the four of you, Mr. Cayman made a larger mess than you three." He turned to Travis, gesturing to his corner. "Mr. Touchdown, you focused more on crowd-pleasing spectacle and flashy moves instead of collateral damage." He turned to Eddie, waving at his section. "Mr. Riggs, you did well with eliminating Fiends, but most of your kills only spread on the ground, not all over the place." He moved to the Overlord, refraining from looking at his spectacle. "And you… Are terrifying. Nothing more to say." He returned to Jack, proudly holding the briefcase. "As reward for completing the Gun Runners Sponsorship Challenge, I am proud to award you, Jack Cayman of Heart of Steel, with a technological upgrade unlike many have ever seen." The briefcase popped open, revealing the glowing contents within: an unusually designed mechanical attachment bearing a nuclear radiation emblem.
"An upgrade, huh?" Jack asked, taking the content from the case. It appeared to attach to something, connected with exposed wires beneath the casing. It was about the size of his wrist in length. "What kind of upgrade?"
"A never before released, completely refurbished piece of Vault-Tec equipment." Mr. Murphy said, pointing to the device. "A Rad Ripper Core, designed for a discontinued product of Vault-Tec and RobCo for an augmented version of the Ripper miniature chainsaw. We ripped it from the core, and now it can be attached to any melee weapon for the ability to inflict radiation poisoning on the victim." The four men (as well as the radio commenters) oooh'ed at the description. Jack wasted in no time placing the Core on his metallic arm, a green light flashing on the surface. "Enjoy, with compliments from the Gun Runners."
"Well thanks for the doo-dad," Travis said, starting to walk away. "But we got to get going. Tournament to win and all."
"I know that rat, Two-Teeth sent you here," Mr. Murphy said, a frown on his wrinkled face. "To steal our weapon supplies so he and his Skin Bodies could make a fortune on the market. Such an act would be very bad for our business." Travis stopped in his track, letting off a loud groan.
"Why can't we get away with one fucking mission before some damn twist screws us?" Travis whined.
"Look, Murphy," Eddie said, moving Jack out of the way. "We don't want any trouble. We just want to pay Jimmy back for giving us some supplies." Mr. Murphy's frown deepened, glancing at the men with weary eyes. Slowly and in silence, the Gun Runner's smile returned, but a mischievous glint in his eyes spelt foreboding news.
"You four seem like reasonable murderers," Mr. Murphy said in a soft voice. "The Gun Runners have their mercenaries back in the Mojave, so who's to say I can't have a few here?" Another deal to be dealt, just what they needed. "So I'm going to give you a chance at something." The man pointed towards two crates nearby, both bearing Gun Runner emblems, but one had a bolted on lid. "The unbolted crate contains the weapons that rat desires. Since you won the Sponsorship, I have no authority to stop you from stealing from us."
"Sweet! I'll just get right to carrying that and-" Travis said, reaching the aforementioned crate.
"But, an ultimatum for you." Mr. Murphy interrupted. "If you give the bolted crate to Mr. Two-Teeth, consider yourselves and your army backed by the Gun Runners." The men of Heart of Steel immediately froze in their spots. Like Cinder said, Sponsorships were important to building their army to take on the Champion Kaos. But, this new offer meant having to sacrifice another, and vice versa. Jimmy did promise something extra for bringing back the gun crate, along with alliance with the Skin Bodies to get standard supplies for their forces. But the Gun Runners had weapons, armor, and robots at their disposal. That kind of stuff would help out in a scrap. This would be a tough decision that requires some deep thinking.
CHOICE TIME!
Time for you, the readers to decide, which choice Heart of Steel makes. Do they take the crate of guns to Jimmy Two-Teeth, in exchange for aid from the Skin Bodies? Or do they give the bolted crate from Mr. Murphy, and get the backing of the Gun Runners? Send a PM or write in the reviews what you want to see happen, and you'll see what happens in two weeks time!