My longest chapter yet! I'm trying to extend the length of my chapters, so you guys don't leave wanting. Anyways, here you go! Some booze, some action, and lots of Axton.
"Let's get to it then."
Hock's party was nothing short of needlessly extravagant and probably very expensive. Priceless paintings hung up next to one another, large sculptures and flowing fountains. All very indicative of Hock's wealth and influence. Not that Axton cared, eyeing one table with enough booze to knock out half of Sanctuary, which was sayin' something. Walking past a few guests talking, he caught a snippet of their conversation.
"Did you hear? Santiago took over that refinery on Zorya." Axton was a little perplexed at that statement. Normally hostile takeovers would be kept on the hush hush.
"Hey Kasumi, what kind of people are at this party?" He asked, a little clued in to the answer already.
"Oh only a couple dozen of the worst liars, cheaters, and mass murderers you'll ever want to meet. People have lost jobs and lives under their thumbs, and they're all friends with our dear Mr. Hock."
"Huh. Startin' to sound like my kinda people." Axton joked, noticing how Kasumi had regained that small pep in her voice. Seemed like whatever the hell they were taking was worth more than money. Of course, he might just have to liberate a few things as well.
"And somehow I don't doubt it. Anyways, let's get started. The vault door should be somewhere in the back of the ballroom." Kasumi pushed him slightly, if still a little roughly, towards the direction of the vault.
Axton made his way through the crowd and to the far end of the room after snagging a glass of what tasted like it could be vodka from a waiter, where a set of stairs led down to a suspiciously empty hallway. Kasumi uncloaked next to him and opened her Omni-tool. Waving it over a part of the wall it beeped and the wall dissolved to reveal a high tech room with their statue inside.
"Wow, this is some impressive stuff. There's more here than I expected," Kasumi said, walking along the various panels that lined the door on the far end.
"Password voice lock, kinetic barrier, and even an EX-700 DNA scanner. Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable." She jumped slightly at Axton suddenly bursting out in laughter behind her.
"What's so funny?"
Through fits of laughter Axton replied, "Hahaha! Oh nothing... It's just that this is feeling really familiar to something I did back on Pandora."
Kasumi gave him a quick look of confusion before refocusing on the security. They were on a schedule, and right now they were way behind.
"We'll have to get Hock talking to get a big enough voice sample, the password might be in the security booth, should be plenty of DNA in his room, and the barrier? Cut the power. Never fails, if we can find it." She turned around facing Axton, who was still smiling and chuckling slightly.
"Keiji could have cracked this in his sleep. And I'm even better." She expected some awe, or maybe a little grudging respect.
"Simple enough. Least it won't try to kill us." Axton replied matter-of-factly. Kasumi was confused by this simple man. How he could just brush off some of the most advanced security tech money could buy and still not be able to properly use an Omni-tool was, simply put, preposterous.
"So what's first?" He asked. Kasumi, not for the first time in the last hour, shook off her suspicions and disbeliefs and focused on the mission yet again.
Focus Kasumi. You're here for the graybox, not to worry about some mercenary's odd quirks.
"Let's start with the voice sample. You'll have to get him talking for a bit while I compile a large enough sample." She cloaked as quickly as she could. He was distracting and frustrating, not what she needed for a mission this important. Axton moved away just as quick. On his part, he thought she was controlling and condescending.
Why couldn't Shepard be here? They both thought with an inward sigh.
Axton turned and headed up the stairs to see Hock still mingling with some guests-An Asari and another Human. Walking over as casually as he could Axton swiped another glass of alcohol from a nearby waiter and downed much of it in one gulp. He always worked better with a buzz.
Hock turned towards him as Axton came close.
"Mr. Axton, please join us. How is the party?" Somehow Axton had only just noticed the man's ridiculous accent. It was butchered and strange, even without knowing what kind of accent it was, and it immediately pissed Axton off. However, he needed him to talk.
"One hell of a shindig you got goin' on Hock, shame I couldn't bring my lady friend; she wasn't cheap." Axton started, grinning wide and fake. He just hoped it didn't have to be a long talk.
"I hope that doesn't sour your evening. Our kind of business attracts a certain kind of attention, and few understand the pains we take to keep it at a minimum….
To Axton he sounded a little like a certain Handsome Jack-ass, except Jack at least gave him a lot of things to shoot at. Luckily he was able to withstand most of the dreary speech with the power of alcohol in his system.
And he didn't have this weird accent. I can't follow a damn word he's saying now. I don't think I could even if I was sober.
Axton was brought out of his thoughts by Hock suddenly making a grand gesture to finish his speech. People around clapped and raised their glasses in a toast, while Axton was contacted by Kasumi.
"We got it. Now lets get that password. Security room is that door on the left." Kasumi commanded next. She was able to bypass the door's lock and waited for Axton to leave his conversation. Luckily he was smart enough to say he had to go to the bathroom and got away quickly and met her outside the security room.
"Well I told you to get him talking and you got him talking. Well done." She gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. He wobbled a bit before regaining his balance.
"He's just like every other rich bastard out there. Loves hearing his own voice and making others listen." Axton turned towards the door leading into the security booth.
"This the place?" Kasumi answered with a curt nod.
"Yup. There's probably a guard or two inside though. We'll have to take them out quickly."
Kasumi started hacking the door, while Axton stood with his hand on the wall bracing himself while he tried to regain his finer motor functions.
"Their security is a piece of cake!" Kasumi happily claimed, before the door suddenly opened and revealed a surprised guard.
"Hey you shouldn-" The surprised guard was struck in the throat with a quick jab by an intoxicated yet still deadly Axton, silencing him quickly, followed by a kick to his groin. The guard doubled over in pain leaving Axton free to grab the back of his head and drive it into the wall with a sickening crunch. Needless to say, the guard fell unconscious within seconds of opening the door. Or maybe dead.
Kasumi had left the guard at the door to Axton while running over to the booth before the other two could react. In less extravagance and in quick efficiency two karate chops to the back of the neck knocked out the remaining guards and they were free to explore the security room in peace. Axton sat down in one of the chairs and slowly began to search the cluttered space.
"That was some fancy fighting Axton; you learn that in 'Pandora'?" Kasumi decided to pry into his past a little, since Shepard never said anything and neither did Axton.
"Nope. 10 years military." He replied, rifling through the many datapads littering the desks.
"Alliance then? I know plenty of mercs who were soldiers once." She started looking through the guards' pockets for clues to the password.
"Never said Alliance." Axton found a datapad that contained the password. He tossed it over to Kasumi, who read it quickly.
"Password is 'Perugia'... Oooh that's the man who stole the Mona Lisa! That was some good detective work for a military blockhead." Axton just grunted in reply. Kasumi left the prying at that. She had more questions than answers now, but hey, she'd find them eventually. She always did one way or another.
Moving on from the security booth, cutting the power was easily done by following a thermal trail from the power cables. The only hard part there was figuring out how to set his omni-tool to scan for thermal half-drunk and still technologically slow.
All that was left was getting into Hock's room for DNA. All it took was a jump off the terrace, pushing a pair of guards to their grisly deaths and smashing through a window to get on the other side of a guarded door.
"So what are we looking for?" Axton asked, going through the data pads on Hock's desk. So far he had found stuff about encryption and some shipment logs. One particular pad took his interest. It read,
Mr. Hock, the A-61 Mantis gunships are complete with the military modifications you ordered and are ready for shipment to the Eclipse. We'll hold one outside for you to showcase and the others in section 6-B of the garage, behind the missile storage.
Gunships and missiles? Overcompensatin' for something Hock? Axton put it down and headed into the bathroom to take a leak. All the booze had to go out sometime. But before he could even lift up the toilet seat he noticed something quite strange.
"I was hoping to find some DNA samples... but either he doesn't have any or his maids do some amazing work." Kasumi was scanning every single bit of room Hock might have touched, but was coming up with little to nothing.
"Well... I think I've got plenty..." Kasumi heard in the bathroom. Axton's voice was somewhat hesitant, and when she went into the bathroom she could sympathize. Axton had dumped the trash onto the floor of the bathroom and found tissues. Dozens of used tissues.
"I can only guess of two reasons for why he needed so many tissues. Wanna hear?" Axton nudged Kasumi playfully, seeing her repulse in the sight of it.
"No that's okay..." She quickly scanned them with her omni-tool before hurrying out of the bathroom.
"Looks like we got it. Okay let's get going then." She didn't even let Axton go to the bathroom before heading back out into the main room. Ew. Just seriously ew.
"Hahahaha! It's like she's never had the flu before!" Axton laughed hysterically to himself, taking out the empty bottle of medicine from behind his back and tossing it back into the trash. Well, he never did say it was the other thing, so she couldn't blame him completely. Finishing what he came into the bathroom in the first place to do he chuckled and headed out for the vault door where Kasumi stood impatiently.
"Ready? I'll open the door. Then we head inside and look for the greybox."
She didn't even wait for him to say anything before going through the security lock. She cracked open the statue and pulled out a variety of weapons which looked, Axton noted, very shiny and sleek. And brand new. Not like the weapons Marcus had, which were 'ripped from the hands of dead vault hunters' as he'd been told. He picked up a shotgun and assault rifle and stuck it on his back for extra safety. One never could have too many guns after all. After that Kasumi handed him a Mass Effect shield generator which would stand up to the weapons of this universe if his own didn't. "Is that... a camera on your shoulder?" Kasumi noticed the Class Optimization Module (COM for short) that Axton wore.
"Targeting unit. Wouldn't wanna shoot any pretty faces." That's as much as Axton was willing to divulge. He really didn't want anyone looking too closely at his tech. If there was one sole thing to learn from the corporations he fought for it was that keeping your cards close to your chest gave you an advantage. And if he was alone in this universe he'd need every advantage he could get.
"And where are these weapons you supposedly have?" That'd been in the back of her mind ever since he said he had them in the car ride over.
"You'll see them when they need to be shown." He left it at that and for another few moments they stood in silence. They stepped into the elevator and waited for it to arrive at the vault.
"Time to tell me what we're looking for and why it's so important." Axton asked, hoping to get some clarity as to why Kasumi was so driven on this heist.
"My partner, Keiji... he had a neural implant called a greybox which stored all his memories like a hard drive. It's the only thing left of him that I have..." She paused for a second before continuing.
"Before he died he said he'd found some secrets. Secrets that if revealed jeopardized the Alliance. Secrets that got him killed." Her voice had lost its cheeriness again. This time there was nothing he could say. He absentmindedly touched the wedding ring that his wife had thrust into his hands the day she discharged him from the Dahl Corps. He knew the feeling of losing someone you cared for. They rode in silence until the elevator stopped, revealing a giant room filled with art sculptures and a giant green head.
"I've set our omni-tools to scan for the greybox signature. I've made yours really simple Axton, the faster it beeps, the closer you are. Think you can handle that?"
"Oh ha ha." Axton dryly commented. He walked around the room looking at all the displays. Sometimes Kasumi would notice him looking at a statue and have some comment on it, but he didn't really pay attention. After some time wandering he followed the beeping until it led to a case with some guns and a small device.
"Hey. This it?" He tossed the device to Kasumi. She started a scan of its contents when the face of Donovan Hock appeared on a projection taking up half of a wall. He started talking in his incomprehensible accent to the two intruders
"I'm afraid that won't be of much use to you, it's been heavily encrypted"
"Well Hock, you know me, I love a challenge." Kasumi replied playfully and with a small venom in her voice.
"And a small tip Kasumi Goto, next time you should have a partner capable of actually being covert. Not that there will be a next time of course." Axton ignored him for the most part, inspecting the two 'Locust' (As they read along the side) SMGs that had been sitting next to the greybox. He held one out to Kasumi who looked at it for a second with what Axton thought to be bewilderment. He couldn't tell under the hood.
"Well, if it makes any difference, he wasn't exactly my first choice." Kasumi looked over at Axton who was squinting at a sculpture behind her; a large vase of some sort.
"Did she tell you some sob story about her former partner Mr. Axton?" Hock was speaking to him now, but Axton continued to ignore him and fiddled with the gun he picked up.
"You know, he begged for his life before I split open his head, like a pathe- BANG
A burst of fire sprang suddenly from the Locust. Axton had shot the vase sculpture and it shattered, sending Hock into a fit of rage.
"NOOO! Get in there and kill that bastard! Leave the girl alive! She is mine!" He ended with a snarl and cut the feed. The far door opened revealing a squad of Eclipse mercenaries who started fanning out through the entrance.
Kasumi looked at Axton and smiled, maybe for the first sincere time since she had met him.
"That shut him up. Now we just have to make our hasty escape!"
That struck a chord which Axton hadn't thought about during the whole time he had been on the mission. Kasumi hadn't mentioned anything about the exit strategy, and now he doubted she had planned on leaving quietly. The Eclipse squad started firing on them and they dived into cover.
"Hey, was getting shot at part of your plan!?" He yelled before firing back with the Locust. It was accurate and worked its way through the enemy's shields, but it felt weak compared to the kind of weaponry he was used to.
"Look on the bright side, now you can let loose like you've been complaining about all this time." Kasumi retorted cheerfully while firing back. One of the mercenaries brandished a missile launcher and started firing on their cover, which was rapidly disintegrating under the constant fire.
"By the way, it'd be great if you decided to use those amazing weapons you supposedly have." She wanted to know more than ever what he was capable of. Shepard endorsed him, so he had to be deadly. And then there were all the strange quirks about him, his clothes, his equipment, and his past had all captured her attention. And this was the perfect time to find some answers.
While she had been thinking of Axton, he had been thinking about the enemies that currently attacked them. If it was a scumbag like Hock, nobody would mind the collateral damage and bloodshed that usually came with his involvement. Plus, he had yet to see how effective his weapons were compared to the ones of this universe. Oh yeah, time to let the lady loose.
He swiped his hand along the digistruct unit and the compacted turret formed in his hands. Out of the corner of his eye Kasumi stared wide-eyed and slightly jaw dropped with fascination. He aimed and threw his turret at the opposite wall, behind and slightly above the mercenaries' positions.
"Hey fellas!" He yelled over the gunfire, grabbing the attention of the mercs and their bullets. He ducked down again quickly while Kasumi watched.
To her surprise, the turret blinked out of sight and reappeared on the far side of the room.
It stood sideways, fixed upon the wall and started assembling itself into an imposing turret form, wreathed in bandoliers and a laser sight. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen.
He looked over at Kasumi grinning wide and swiped his hand along the digistruct unit again. This time a pistol appeared in his hands. She read the word Tediore painted along the body of the gun. It was boxy and white tinted with blue lights and she was utterly fascinated.
The turret finished its assembly and stood ready to fire and Axton yelled once more,
"Meet the missus!"
It's getting to that point where I'm rereading my story constantly to make sure things connect as I'm writing these chapters. I may not like criticism but I can sure take it so feel free to point out anything that might be a plot hole or a logic derp! Or even something about my writing I'll gladly accept.