I apologize that I took so long to update, I also want to say sorry, sorry, SORRY! that this chapter sucks compared to most of the stuff I've written, and the only explination I can give you is...college, I've got semester tests coming up and I'm freaking out over one of my classes. I Promise I'll make the next chapter better! Tell me what you think, but be gentle...WHAAA I'M SORRY!
John awoke with pained muscles and sore bones, but he ignored them as he opened his eyes to investigate a voice nearby.
"Great, another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's been busy." John noticed a robot in front of him, not as advanced out of everything he's seen, but a robot no less. Quickly surveying the area he noticed that the train ride ended on a snowy wasteland, apparently inhabited only by the robot. Nearby he spotted his Assault Rifle half buried and retrieved it. "Hey! You're not dead!" the robot cried, grabbing John's attention, "I am a CL4P-TRP, but my friends call me Claptrap!" The robot turned and began going through the bodies.
"Hey! Can I get a little help here?" a voice asked. John turned to see who he assumed to be Gaige buried head first and waist deep in the snow. He grabbed Gaige by the ankle and effortlessly pulled her out of the snow.
"How's it hanging?" a male voice asked, both Gaige and John turned their heads to see Axton with Maya on his back, unconscious, "You might want to put her down, that striped cloth on her legs aren't from tights.
"HEY!" Gaige shouted as she pushed on her skirt. John let her go, causing her head to get buried again.
"Here!" Claptrap commented as he gave everyone a small device, "Take this ECHO communicator that I totally didn't loot from one of these dead bodies."
"M-my head..." Maya groaned as she awoke.
"Morning sunshine." Axton joked before getting knocked back by Gaige who pulled her head out of the snow hard enough to send her flying into Axton and Maya. Axton quickly tossed Maya in front of him so that he wouldn't land on her, however their momentum still caused her to fall on top of him and hit his head with hers.
"Ow, what the hell!? You're head is as hard as a rock!" Maya exclaimed.
"Says you!" Axton shot back, "Are Sirens made of steel or just your own head!?"
"You guys going to make out or what?" Gaige asked causing Axton and Maya to look at her with confused faces (and also realized that she was already standing). Maya turned back to Axton and realized that she was still on top of him and quickly jumped off.
"I would keep my distance from now on if I were you." Maya hissed.
"Is that how you say thanks to a person who possibly saved your life?" Axton asked, "I could have left you out there."
"W-what?" Maya asked with a tinge of regret.
"I'm not saying you owe me," Axton continued, almost causing Maya to apologize, "I'm implying it." There goes Maya's guilt and apology.
"Enough!" John shouted causing everyone to look at him, "We need to get off this glacier and find out what's happening here." Before he could say any more a female face became visible at the top of his visor.
"Whoa! You guys seeing this?" Axton asked and everyone nodded.
"I know you don't know who I am," she commented, "but I need you to trust me. My name is Angel. You need to follow that robot, he can help you get off the glacier."
"Alright then, follow me!" Claptrap shouted. A short silence followed...for about five seconds, "With your help, I can finally get of this glacier. Maybe I'll find someone in Sanctuary to help reprogram me so I stop thinking out loud! I wonder what it's like to have a belly button?" Claptrap stopped for another few seconds before they reached a small home, "AAAAAAND opeeeeeeeennnnn!" The door to the home swung open, "Just a little added security. Gotta have those Bullymongs at bay, or they'll rip you eyes out!"
"I swear, if we didn't need him I would have shut him down by now." Gaige commented as they followed Claptrap into his home. Only to have a massive beast come through the hole in the ceiling, pick up Claptrap, flip him over, tear his eye out, and quickly left leaving the others to stare at the roof with disbelief at the irony that occurred before them.
"The gun...in the cabinet." Claptrap commented and Axton opened the nearest cabinet revealing a pistol.
"Better than nothing." Axton commented.
"Hey, what about us!?" Gaige asked.
"You got a giant robot and I have my powers," Maya commented, "I think we'll be fine."
"I still want a gun..." Gaige mumbled, her frown deepening as she realized John was inspecting his AR for damage before slapping the mag back into it.
"Apart from the excruciating pain, this is great! I've been waiting for a Vault Hunter to help me reach Sanctuary! I can be your fearless leader, and you can be my ferocious minion! AHAHA AHAHAHA!" Claptrap commented as he went through a metallic flap door and opened a secondary door for them, "I can't see anything, so let me know if I'm going to run into anything...oof! I'll just assume you didn't see that." Treading through the snow at a quick pace, the five of them made their way to a clearing with what appeared to be a large abandoned cargo vehicle. "Oh! My eye just switched back on!" Claptrap exclaimed, "I see an incredibly handsome robot, and a very tough looking minion!" Claptrap's voice began to turn into one of fear, "Which means that whoever has my eye...is very close!" At his words the giant Bullymong from before came over the abandoned vehicle and lunged at them.
Axton tossed out his turret and it unloaded along with Axton firing his pistol on the beast, Gaige Digistructed Deathtrap who began to slice away at it, Maya used her Phaselock, lifting it into the air and keeping it in place, and John emptied his AR's mag into the creature. Within seconds the giant Bullymong fell dead in the snow.
"Well that was easy." Gaige commented as she picked up Claptrap's eye, "You want to do the honors Chiefy?" John took the part and was about to ram it into Claptrap.
"Whoa there, as much as you'd like to jam your hand into my head, I think we should let a professional do this." Claptrap commented, "I have a friend past this area that could help us."
John shrugged and they followed Claptrap into the cargo vehicle (with the help of Angel), and found a weapons chest inside.
"What are our choices?" Axton asked.
"We've got a Bandit shotgun with a twelve round standard mag and stock, a DAHL smg with holo sight, and a mag fed DAHL sniper rifle with a standard 6x rifle scope and bayonet." Maya reported.
"Dibs on the rifle!" Gaige exclaimed and quickly took it from Maya.
"You know your guns." Axton commented.
"You have to in order to survive out here." Maya replied.
"You got a point." Axton commented as he took the smg and handed her his pistol, causing Maya to give him a questioning look. "Always have a side arm." Axton explained, "A larger weapon isn't real useful in close quarters you know."
"I'll keep that in mind." Maya replied with a small smile, "Thanks."
"Hey guys, we've got a problem." Gaige commented, "The doors frozen and my arm can't break through."
"Huh...any ideas?" Axton asked.
"Give me a hand." John commented as he gave the door a straight punch with his right hand. Gaige joined him with her left and the frost on the door began to fall off.
"Almost, but we need a bit more." Gaige commented.
"I'll break it down!" Claptrap shouted, "Am I facing the right way?"
"Umm...yeah." Maya replied.
"YAAAAARGH!" Claptrap shouted as he rammed into the door, only succeeding in bouncing off the door and into some containers behind him, "I think I got it!" Axton face palmed.
"Hit it one more time." he commented as he took a stance. John and Gaige left some space in between each other as they gave another straight punch at the door, but this time Axton joined them with a tackle in the space between them, successfully breaking down the frozen metal door.
"Well that was a waste of time." Gaige commented and the others nodded in agreement.
"Its down?" Claptrap asked, "Alright! Its a good thing I loosened it for you."
Gaige rolled her eyes and moved toward the exit, "Well? We going or not?" Everyone nodded as she took the lead.
After clearing out a small town on the other side at the request of Claptrap's friend who repaired him and filled them in on who Handsome Jack really is, "I see you've met our fearless leader, Handsome Jack." Hammerlock had said in an educated gentleman's accent, "He goes about preaching about peace and prosperity then shoots innocent women and children like it was going out of style."
"Looks like your way out of here isn't going to be as easy as you thought." Axton commented to John.
'He's right,' John thought to himself, 'if I'm going to get back to Infinity, I'm going to have to deal with Handsome Jack first.' He turned to the others, "Someone mentioned a resistance group?"
"Ah yes, the Crimson Raiders." Hammerlock commented, "They're stationed in Sanctuary and could use people of your expertise."
"To sanctuary it is then." John commented as he took the lead. What followed was a constant assault by random bandits and marauders, each failing to stop the five's advancement through bandit territory. Finally after making their way through a lair owned by a Cpt. Flint, obtaining Claptraps boat, finding a vehicle after making it to the mainland, and retrieving a power core for Sanctuary's shields (at the request of a man named Roland), they had finally reached Sanctuary.
"Finally!" Axton cried out, "We made it! Now where's the grub? I haven't eaten in eighteen hours."
"We're all hungry." Maya commented.
"Try Moxxi's." Claptrap commented, "She's got pizza and booze."
"Sounds good." Axton replied.
"We need to deliver the power core first." Maya explained, "You and Chief go deliver it, and we'll save you a few slices." Before Axton could argue, Maya and Gaige took off.
"Come on, let's deliver the power core and locate Roland." John commented.
"You'll want to talk to the town mechanic about Roland." the soldier at the power core relay commented after they replaced the core. John nodded and they both walked towards the city.
"So should we get the girls or talk the mechanic first?" Axton asked. John stopped and thought before looking at Axton.
"You go eat, I'll handle the mechanic." he commented the continued to walk, leaving Axton to stare at him for a bit.
"Well alright then." Axton said to himself as he shrugged and left for Moxxi's. Upon entering the bar he saw Maya and Gaige sitting at a table with three boxes of pizza. Axton jumped into the seat next to Maya and pulled a box for himself.
"Well you weren't lying when you said you were hungry." Maya commented as she bit into her own slice.
"Yep, and this is hitting the spot." Axton replied then turned and stared at Maya.
"What?" she asked, but Axton didn't reply as he slowly reached his hand up to her face, slowly and gently gliding his fingers across her cheek. Maya was surprised by the sudden closeness which caused her heart to race. Before she could do anything else, Axton retreated his hand and backed away. "W-what was that for?" she asked and Axton looked at her with a smile then chuckled as he held up his hand, which was holding something red.
"You had a pepperoni on your cheek." he replied before he got up and left to get a drink.
"Smooth." Gaige commented.
"What are you talking about?" Maya asked.
"You didn't have that pepperoni on your cheek you know." Gaige replied with a smile.
John entered the mechanics shop and was greeted, or insulted, by a guy with a hillbilly accent, "Aww snap, are you'z Hyperion? I knew you bot would come for me some day, but just so you know...YOU NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE YOU ROBOTIC SUM BITCH!" The man tossed his wrench at John who caught it and tossed it back at him and hit him in the head.
"I'm here to talk about Roland, not Hyperion." John commented.
"Oho, my bad." the man laughed, "Names Scooter. Roland told me that you should head for HQ."
"Hey Chiefy, you hungry?" Gaige shouted as she entered the workshop and looked around and didn't notice Scooter was there, "Not bad, I could stop by here more often."
"Let's go." John commented as he walked out.
"Do you ever stop moving?" Gaige asked before she followed him, leaving Scooter and the pizza alone.
"Waste not, want not." he said to himself as he ate.
Its been two days since they left Sanctuary and entered the Firehawk's lair.
"Of all places to go, why do enemies always go to the farthest location!?" Gaige shouted before being pulled away by John to avoid a fire trap, "...thanks."
"Don't mention it." John replied as he took the lead.
"So, what are you guys going to do when we get Jack?" Axton asked, "I for one am going to use him as a punching bag for a few days."
"I'm going to get back those Loader blue prints!" Gaige mumbled, "I made them first!"
"Wait, you made those loaders?" Maya asked.
"Yep, they were the prototype for death trap." Gaige replied, "but then my now exploded class mate had to sell them to Hyperion, so I came up with a better structure."
"We're here." John commented as he looked around the cave's computers.
"Huh..."
"What is it?" John asked.
"Isn't that guy Roland?" Gaige replied as she pointed at one of the screens.
"Looks like...his social page." Maya commented, "He was...having a conversation with the Fire Hawk?"
"Never mind that, the Fire Hawk messed up one of his computers." Axton commented as he pointed to a blue screen displaying an error, "...what the fuck is that?" he added as he spotted a screen with a fat lady in a (too damn small) bikini.
"There's movement nearby." John warned as he readied his AR and a purple orb appeared in the middle of the room and transformed into a female figure.
"Sup." she greeted, "Name's Lilith, or the Fire Hawk as you've heard...preferably Lilith."
"We're here for Roland." John commented as he kept his weapon on her.
"Guess you don't introduce yourself much?" Lilith asked, "Anyways, I'm a f-friend of his...he's not here, he was captured and taken to a bandit stronghold. Hey, can you get me some Eridium? It's in one of my strong boxes."
Gaige turned to a shelf of strong boxes, "Which one?"
"I don't know." Lilith replied, "Just check them randomly or something." Gaige groaned and opened one box to find a bloody head inside.
"Really?" she asked.
"Huh, I wondered where that went." Lilith replied, "A little reminder of an old friend, not the best...just close it and check another."
Gaige opened another box, revealing an echo recording, "EXPLOSION MOTHER F***KER!" Gaige slammed the box closed and looked at Lilith.
"I don't know." Lilith replied defeated, "I found that recording and I couldn't shut it off, plus the boxes are sound proof."
Gaige opened another box to reveal another echo recording, "The Eridium is in the next box." a mechanical female voice explained and Gaige opened the next box to see another recording, "You mad bro?" the same voice commented, "No but really, the Eridium is in the next box."
"I swear if it's not, I will toss this whole thing over the cliff!" Gaige snapped as she opened the next box and revealed unrefined Eridium and an Echo recording.
"...Finally!" Gaige exclaimed while snatching the Eridium, but not without getting shocked (electrical).
"Troll security system. LOL" The female voice commented and Gaige kicked the collection of safes off the edge.
"You know I had a good gun in there?" Lilith commented.
"Just take the damn Eridium!" Gaige snapped as she shoved it into Lilith's hand. The Eridium disappeared and a purple aura surrounded Lilith for a few moments before returning to normal.
"Alright, now I can get you into the stronghold." Lilith commented, "You'll catch them by surprise, it'll be great. Just get Roland out of there, alright? Hold still." Lilith glowed again before a purple flash blinded the four.
Once the light faded, John was the first to notice they were in hostile territory and took aim at several bandits as one of them broke the silence, "HOLY **** AND **** ON A SANDWICH!"