The door to the bar flew open not even ten minutes after Minako had ended the call, and without a greeting, the new customer stomped up to the bar, sounding mildly annoyed as she addressed the barkeep, not even bothering to look at Michiru.
"If this awesome deal is anything like the idea you had last month, I'm done with you", she threatened, crossing her arms over her chest, while all Michiru could do was stare – she had heard that people here on Pandora were quite different from the circles she'd moved in before her family had gone bankrupt, but she never would have imagined to find someone like this impressively tall blonde here.
"No skags this time", Minako reassured the new guest, "promise. I found you a vault hunter who wants to work with you!"
"Eh?" the tall blonde Michiru figured had to be the Haruka the barkeep had called replied, not all too smart; beaming brightly, Minako gestured at the treasure hunter, a frown creasing Michiru's brow when Haruka gave her a rather unabashed once-over, then raised an eyebrow at her.
"Is this another joke", she then wanted to know, looking at Minako again, "Minako, I told you, I don't have time for your pranks. You at least should have hired a burly guy like that one you kicked out last week, no one will believe this dainty little woman is a vault—"
With one startlingly fast movement – which made Minako squawk – Michiru got up from her seat, grabbed the taller blonde's arm, twisted it up behind her back and made her yelp, then slammed her down onto the bar, holding her there with ridiculously little effort, not even out of breath as she smiled pleasantly.
"I've said this right after my arrival in this pleasant town", she then told Haruka, adding a bit of pressure when the blonde tried to squirm out of her hold, "but that wasn't even an hour ago, so word might not have spread yet, and I'm willing to repeat myself. I won my first sharpshooter competition when I was six, and, as you can see, I'm somewhat versed in hand to hand combat as well. I assure you that I am very capable. Now, my question is – are you?"
She was sure that she had gotten the answer to that question when Haruka stopped struggling and went limp in her grasp, briefly feeling disappointed – the blonde was tall and handsome, just what she liked in her women, albeit a little unkempt – and then sharp pain shot through her foot, and she yelped, involuntarily letting go of the taller woman, glaring at her when she realized what had happened.
"Should have warned you", Minako commented, unimpressed, while Michiru tried to will the pain away so she would be spared the indignity of hopping on one foot while she grabbed the other one, the one Haruka had stepped on with all her might, "Ruka tends to fight dirty. And she's good with a gun."
"And I have a vehicle", Haruka added, "which, if you really are looking for the vault, will make it easier to get there. Well, in theory."
"I'll have to see just how good with a gun you are before I make any decisions", Michiru let her know after giving her another critical look; like most people she had seen on this planet so far, Haruka was lean to the point she was close to haggard, but, unlike others, she appeared to take care of herself, not as dirty and grimy as the other patrons in the bar and the ones she had seen outside.
"Minako is right", she went on, "it would be wise to have someone along who has knowledge about this planet. And the vehicle is a nice additional bonus. Are you willing to demonstrate your skill with a gun to me before we talk about this further?"
"Sure", Haruka shrugged, making Michiru smile – she wasn't sure why she liked the idea of searching for the vault and the treasure it was supposed to hold with this tall lanky blonde, but something about her intrigued her, and the thought of exploring this completely unknown planet alone was much less appealing.
"Right now?" the blonde distracted her from those thoughts, making her nod; apparently, Haruka didn't mind the idea, since she just nodded, then asked her to follow her, leading the way out of the bar with the smaller woman right behind her.
For a moment, Michiru worried if this was some sort of set-up now as she followed Haruka down what she supposed was the main street of Fyrestone; making sure to keep her hand close to the holster of her gun, just in case, she followed the blonde to the outskirts of the tiny town, stopping at a gate which looked as if it would fall over the moment someone might poke it too hard.
"See over there", Haruka spoke up, pointing at an area beyond the gate, a sandy plain with oddly looking piles here and there and what looked like the burrows foxes built on Michiru's home planet, "that's one of the skag territories. You ever seen one before?"
"I don't think I have, no", Michiru replied, relaxing a bit again as she figured that Haruka hadn't brought her to this spot to rob her, "unless we have them on my home world, with a different name."
"Guess you'll find out in a minute", the taller woman smirked, then reached for the gun hanging from her hip; as she pulled it from the holster, Michiru took a critical look at it, a bit dismayed when she recognized it as an older model, but from what she could tell with the brief glance she got at it, it at least was taken care of, looking clean and properly oiled.
"I'm probably not as good as you are with that", the blonde then said, nodding at the sniper rifle Michiru carried strapped to her back, "seeing what you said about winning that competition, but I do hit moving targets."
She raised the gun and fired in the air, prompting Michiru to raise an eyebrow; and moments later, the reaction to the loud noise came in form of a whole bunch of the animals the blonde had referred to as skags making their appearance, rushing out of the barrows, one look at them being enough to tell Michiru that these creatures were unknown where she came from.
They were surprisingly large, bigger than she had expected, and vaguely dog-like; she figured that they'd reach almost to her hips, should they get close enough, but was determined to not let that happen, one look at the bony armour plates which covered their heads and half their length, at the sharp teeth and the big, equally sharp claws being enough to tell her that those animals were best taken care of from afar, before they could within biting or clawing range.
All four of them briefly stopped, glancing around, then spotted Haruka and her; one of them, the biggest, opened its jaws wide to roar, and that was when the blonde fired, three times in quick succession, Michiru watching closely, smiling when each shot hit the open maw, the creature letting out a pitiful whimper before it fell over and, after twitching a few times, died.
Deciding to demonstrate her own skill, Michiru drew her own gun, her shots aimed just as well; and not long after Haruka had fired the first bullet, the fourth and final of the skags went down, small puddles of blood staining the sand and their dark fur.
"Alright", Michiru said once she could be sure they all were really dead and wouldn't jump them again the moment they'd let their guard down, "you do seem quite capable. I imagine we might work well together. Shall we go back to that bar and discuss details?"
"Let's go to my place instead", Haruka suggested in response, "more privacy there, Minako always has patrons in the bar and you don't want them to listen in."
After a moment, Michiru nodded her agreement, figuring that, even if that was part of a bigger set-up, she'd be able to handle Haruka, should the blonde try anything; and just when she wanted to turn and walk back to town, the taller woman moved away from her and towards the dead skags, shrugging at the questioning look the sniper shot her.
"There's good eating on those", she then said, smirking at how Michiru's eyes widened in response; she shrugged again, then bent down and shouldered one of the dead animals, the sniper just shaking her head to herself before she started leading the way back to town at last, silently vowing to herself that she'd stick to water and bread, should Haruka really be serious about eating that dreadful creature.