(Kilo8) What's up everybody, Kilo8 here again with another riveting chapter of "Rebel Anarchy". Sorry about the delay I have been busy for the last few weeks. Now joining us once again is the ever-explosive but ever-so-loved, Tiny Tina!
(Tina) Sup sucka's! Now, where are the cookies?
(Kilo8) And also once again joining us, the head of the Torgue corporation, and master of the air guitar, Mr. Torgue!
(Mr. Torgue) Epic SOLO~! MEEDLY MEEDLY MOWWWWWW!
(Kilo8) Now then, down to busine-
(Claptrap) HEY! You forgot to mention me, Minion.
. . .
(Claptrap) What, nothing! Don't leave me hanging.
(Kilo8) Okay. Mr. Torgue, if you would please!
(Claptrap) What?
Mr. Torgue rushed Claptrap and then kicked the yellow robot straight up through a closed skylight. Kilo and Tina looked up through the broken skylight as Claptrap flew into the sky.
(Kilo8) . . . Nice kick.
(Mr. Torgue) Thanks, I was a placekicker back on my high school football team.
(Tina) Bye Claptrap.
(Kilo8) Right back to business, first I'd like to thank slickman, mushyomega524, FanOfFanFiction820, RandomIRIS2183, LoneReader101, umbridoar, and TheUnholyMessiah for favoriting the story, and Crusadeofanime, Dria's Broken Ca5tle's, Eagle Master17, Requiem the Eternal, Spartandude928, doctor3378, espacole, and kingn25 for following. I'd also like to thank William563 and Newtinmpls for the reviews, and I also would like to thank The95will who has helped me iron out several ideas for future chapters. Moving on I was also asked by several people about what is an SDU and/or what it stands for. So I figured a quick little lesson is called for, and who better to explain than our resident tech genius. So with that, I like for everyone to welcome the redhead of anarchy, the queen of mechas, and one of the most wanted girls on Pandora, GAIGE!
Everyone looked at the door, instead of it opening though the whole wall exploded in a blast of fire and rubble. As the dust settled a larger legless floating robot with claw-like hands and a single red eye flew through the opening. Sitting on the right shoulder was a red-haired, green-eyed girl who quickly jumped down in front of everyone.
(Gaige) I say MECHRO, you say MANCER. MECHRO!
"MANCER!" yelled Tina and Mr. Torgue together.
(Kilo8) I just fixed that door…
(Gaige) It's just a door.
(Kilo8) AND THE WHOLE WALL!
(Gaige) Details, details.
(Tina) YEAAAA, My sister from another mother is here!
Tina all but tackled Gaige to the ground in a big hug.
(Gaige) It's good to see you, Tina. So someone needed an explanation.
(Kilo8) *Sigh* Yeah, some of the audience doesn't know what an SDU is.
(Gaige) You mean a Storage Deck Upgrade, Pfft! That easy, a Storage Deck Upgrade, or an SDU for short are data storage devices used to hold items that have been de-digistructed as data, for example.
Gaige pulled out a pistol, then in a quick flash of blue pixelated particles, it was swapped for a Torgue Nukem rocket launcher that materialized in her hands.
(Tina) Oooow. I can make a big boom with that.
(Gaige) SDUs are what allow us Vault Hunters to store and carry around lots of guns, ammo, and loot without it weighing us down, most of mine are stored in this metal lunchbox I have hooked to my belt. Think of SDUs as a limited form of a bottomless item bag, the more SDU chips you have, the more loot you can carry. Crazy Earl over in Sanctuary sells them in exchange for Eridium bars.
(Kilo8) Thank you, Gaige, for explaining that. Now how do you feel about your debut in today's chapter?
(Gaige) I'm excited, especially since I'm the first of the Vault Hunters to make an appearance, and I get to show off my skills! BOOYAH!
(Kilo8) Uuugh.
(Gaige) . . . I'm not gonna be fighting in this chapter, am I?
(Kilo8) Eeeeh.
(Gaige) DAMMIT!
(Tina) Ooo, sorry girl.
(Mr. Torgue) At least you're in the story already. I have to wait for the DLC adventures.
(Tina) You know, I think we should talk to Kilo about that.
Everyone turned to Kilo, with an evil smile.
(Kilo8) Uh-oh. Before I run, I'd just like to say thanks for coming and I hope you all enjoy the chapter! LATER!
(Gaige) GET HIM!
Kilo then jumps through the hole in the wall as everyone else pulls out their guns and chases after him.
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Chapter Beta Read by "MyBrainIsAPlasmaNebulaBall"
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Disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands or any of its characters, Borderlands is owned by Gearbox Software and 2K games, the only ownership I claim is of my OCs. This is a story just for your fun and enjoyment. Please enjoy.
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Stories text formats
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Echo/Radio"
'Krieg's inner voice'
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CHAPTER 2
Spark of Anarchy
Pandora. . . To most, the word pertains to the ancient Greek myth of Pandora's Box, a box that is said to hold all of the known evil in the world. These days however, the legend of Pandora takes the form of a planet; a planet filled with poisonous plants, deadly creatures, inhospitable wastelands ranging from blazing hot to cold as hell, corporations run by megalomaniacs trying to kill everyone, and bandits, lots and lots of bandits. Anyone visiting Pandora would be facing all of these threats plus more; a world of pain, suffering, and likely death. As for those who already live there though… It's just another Tuesday.
Kai was firing away with the machine gun in the turret of a Runner, while Reiss was driving like a madman as three bandit trucks were chasing them across the tundra.
"Reiss, I thought you said they only had one truck!" Kai yelled over the gunfire.
"Hey, I was just as surprised as you, who knew they had friends coming over!" Reiss yelled back.
They were on a recovery mission to retrieve a shipment of medical supplies that were stolen by the Cross Chop gang two days before. They had managed to steal the meds back, but now they were both running for their lives from a group of bloodthirsty bandits who were shooting at them with bullets, flaming saw blades, and explosive barrels.
"In front!" Reiss yells. Kai turned to see two more bandit trucks blocking the road ahead.
"Any ideas," Reiss yells.
"You're the driver! I don't know the way around here. Just get us out of here!" Kai yelled back as he kept firing on the ones behind them.
Reiss took two seconds to think before he spoke up, "I got an idea, so hang on." Reiss turned left and took the Runner off-road and over a hill.
"Ugh, Reiss where the hell are we going," Kai asked as he glanced at Reiss.
"Just trust me."
Kai heard a loud metallic thunk and looked back to see a saw blade stuck in the rear of the Runner. "Crap," Kai muttered as he swiveled the turret around, took aim at one of the three trucks following them, and opened fire. The driver of the truck tried to avoid the incoming fire, but a lucky shot managed to bust through the windshield and clip the driver in the shoulder. This caused the driver to swerve and run into a large Stinging Cactus. Although both the impact and the discharge of the cactus didn't destroy the truck, everyone in it was either knocked out or killed by the electrical shock emitted from the plant.
Kai didn't even have time to think about his accomplishment as several tracers whizzed by his head. He looked over to the other Bandit Technical that was painted blue with a catapult turret and saw it throw something at them. "Incoming!" Kai yelled as he ducked to avoid an explosive barrel that flew over his head, missing him by mere centimeters. The barrel landed in front of the runner and exploded causing the vehicle to pop into a wheelie. Kai yelled out in surprise, but the front quickly fell back down and they kept moving.
"What the hell are you doing back there man, that almost hit us!" Yelled Reiss.
Kai popped back up and began firing at a blue Technical with several Psycho midgets in the rear. He quickly manages to hit two of the midgets, knocking them out of the truck. After several more seconds of concentrated fire on the hood of the truck, it exploded and flew off the side of the road. Just then the two Technical's that blocked them off before had caught up with the last technical.
"Great... hey Reiss, how are we doing man?" Kai yelled as he kept firing.
"Well, I think you might want to hang on. As Scooter would say, things are about to get extreme." He yelled back.
"What are you talking-" Kai started to ask only to turn and see the cliff they were rapidly approaching. "Reiss what hell are you doing!... Reiss!... REIIIISSSSSS!" Kai yelled as Reiss activated the Runner's boost and they flew off the cliff edge.
Kai kept screaming in panic for several seconds while Reiss was laughing like a madman. Kai didn't stop screaming until he suddenly felt the impact of the Runner landing on another cliff across the canyon. Their Runner skidded to a stop and both Kai and Reiss looked back to see that they had only just barely made it across. Judging from the tire tracks in the snow, they only made it by half a meter from the edge of the cliff. Just then, the three remaining Bandit trucks chasing them flew off the cliff on the opposite side at full speed. Only, their trucks were too heavy and didn't have the speed needed, so they fell short and either impacted the cliff or fell into the canyon; leaving the bandits to scream and yell profanities all the way to their doom.
Kai got out of the Runner and walked over to the edge where he looked over. "Shit." He muttered as he observed that the canyon was about 50 meters across and was easily over 200 meters to the bottom. He could see the now burning and crushed Bandit technicals littering the bottom of the canyon. He looked back to Reiss who had gotten out of the runner, even though he still had his helmet on, Kai could tell he was trying to hold in his laughter.
"You knew about this, didn't you," Kai said as Reiss finally busted out laughing.
"You should have seen your face when we landed man, that was hilarious!" He said as Kai walked back to the Runner.
"Shut up man, that wasn't cool," Kai said as he started to work on pulling out one of several saw blades out of the Runner.
"Come on man, we're alive aren't we, and we managed to take out five bandit trucks in the process. So what are you complaining about?" Riess said with what Kai could only imagine was a cheeky grin on his face.
"You could have told me there was a cliff on the other side!" Kai yelled as he managed to yank out a saw blade and fling it into the chasm.
"Yeah I could have, but then it wouldn't have been as funny, and I got this awesome ECHO recording of it." He said as he held up an ECHO pad showing a replay of Kai's reaction. Kai was surprised by this. 'When and how did he manage to do that?' he thought.
Kai's surprise quickly turned to anger, until a thought came to mind and a sly grin crept across his face. He pulled Hati's photon emitter and lightly tossed it in the air, and after a quick flash, Hati formed and landed next to Kai in his normal mode. "Hati," Kai said calmly as the wolf looked at him. "Fetch," Kai said as he pointed to the ECHO Reiss was holding. Hati turned and began to growl at Reiss as his eyes turned red and he grew in size, shifting to attack mode.
Reiss began to slowly step back. "Oh crap," Reiss immediately booked it the other way, a second later Hati began to give chase. "DAMMIT KAI!" Reiss yelled as he ran for it while Kai just sat down on top of the runner and watched the show.
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Three hours later the two friends managed to get back to Sanctuary and delivered the meds to Zed. So after reporting their mission's success to Roland, they decided to go get a meal at Moxxi's. "Still can't believe you had Hati chase me down." Said Reiss. Hati who was in his normal mode, or low power mode so that he can stay active in his physical form for longer periods, barked as they walked into the bar. The bar, called Moxxxis Red Light was one of the larger buildings in Sanctuary. Once they walked through the entrance there was a row of booth seats that wrapped around the front of the room and the left side with several standing tables spread about. On the right side was a stage with a Torgue brand karaoke machine that was blasting music. Lining the walls all around the room were star-shaped lights that cycled through the colors of the rainbow. On the far wall from the main entrance was the bar with several skag skin seats lining the front of it. Of course, that was the least of their focus at the moment.
As soon as they walked into the bar they both saw Moxxi, who was dealing with a rough-looking customer. "Say that one more time, I dare you... sugar," she said to the man.
The man she was talking to was some local tough guy who would hang out at the bar every once in a while. All Kai knew about him was that he was an asshole who is so foul-mouthed that he makes a trash dump look more inviting and that he had a mean left hook. "I said, you and those bitches you call waiters can all suck my big fat-" Before he could finish Moxxi grabbed the guy by his hair and slammed his face onto the bar top, then she lifted his head to face her.
The man had a dazed look and was bleeding profusely from his nose, which was bent out of shape; he also had a good-sized gash on his forehead. Moxxi inspected the damage and gave the man a smirk, "Oh dear... that looks like it hurts, here have a cold one... it will make you feel better." Moxxi grabbed an unopened beer bottle by the neck and pulled her arm back. With blaring speed, Moxxi belts the man across his face with the bottle as it shatters from the force of the impact. The man is ripped out of her grip and falls to the floor in agony as the whole left side of his face starts to bruise and bleed from several cuts. Moxxi, who still had the broken neck of the bottle in hand, leaned over the bar to inspect her work. "Well, got anything else to say, sugar?" she said in a sickly sweet tone as she pointed the broken bottle at the man.
The man merely moaned in pain. "I thought so, mouth off about me all you want but if you talk about my girls like that again, or ever dare touch them, I'll introduce you to Rubi," she said as she chucked the broken bottle into a trash can. It was only then that she noticed Kai, Reiss, and Hati standing nearby.
"Well hello boys, are you having a good day?" She asked with a smile.
If one were to describe Moxxi, or in this case, as Reiss would, she is the dream for the majority of men. She had ice-green eyes and raven hair that reached her shoulders, with part of her bang coming down covering her right eye, and She had heavy white makeup on her face with a hint of pink blush, and weirdly all of the makeup worked for her. She was wearing a short purple ring master's outfit with gold trimming that framed her hourglass figure and ample breasts and showed a gratuitous amount of cleavage. It also had slits going up the hip which were high enough so it teasingly showed off a little bit of her underwear on her side. She had a matching top hat with several colored feathers in the rim, along with a queen of hearts playing card. She also had mismatched, thigh-high stockings with the right being a black fishnet and the left being black and white stripes thigh-high, and completed the outfit with a pair of white leather, high-heeled boots.
One thing that always confused Kai was that since Moxxi always wore a heavy amount of makeup on her face, there was no way to really guess how old she was. But considering the hourglass shape of her body that most men would worship, and the fact she's had two kids who are both well into their twenties, if not older; Kai had to peg her to be somewhere around her mid 40's to mid-'50s. Age aside though, Moxxi knew how to fight and inflict pain as she had just demonstrated.
"Hati bit me in the ass. Damn mutt," Reiss muttered the last part, which made Hati growl in an annoyed tone.
"Oh, come now," Moxxi said as she made her way from behind the bar. "How could anyone be so rude to someone with such a cute face." She said as she squatted down and gave Hati a good scratch behind his ears. "Who's a big killer, you are! Yes, you are!" She said in a cutesy voice.
"Okay Moxxi, don't spoil him. I swear if you could feed him you would be feeding him Rakk steaks and bullymong ribs every day." Kai said as he and Reiss took a seat at the bar.
"Well, the big boy deserves them after he ran out those ruffians that got far too frisky for their own good. Hati, you will always be my big, strong, powerful, hero." She said giving the prideful wolf a pat on the head before moving back behind the bar, only to stop halfway. "Hati, could you be a dear for me and drag the trash out," she asked as she motioned to the unconscious man on the floor. Hati gave a nod and bit the collar of the man's jacket before he slowly dragged the guy out to the street.
Once Hati left Moxxi turned back to Kai and Reiss with a smile. "So boys, what will it be this evening?"
"Rakk burger and a Maliwan Black Label." Reiss said. "Same, but a lemon soda," Kai said. Moxxi nodded and called out the orders to one of her waiters and went back to work just as Hati came back in and sat down near Kai's feet.
"Thanks, dear." She said sweetly to Hati.
"What did that guy do anyways?" Reiss asked.
"Oh Smith, he just got drunk again and started to harass my waiters. Just the usual, until he started to get overly hands-on with Abby. So as you boy's saw, I had a little talk with him." Moxxi said as she started cleaning the blood off the bar.
"How is Abigail, she isn't shaken up or anything?" Kai asked.
"She's fine, I gave her the rest of the evening off though." she said as Moxxi got back to work.
Ten minutes later Moxxi served them their meals. "Eat up boys."
"Thanks!" They both responded.
Reiss pulled off his helmet so that he could eat. He had short blond hair, dark brown eyes, and a squarish but still well-proportioned face. The last detail was a small scar across his left cheek he got from a bandit during his time as a Crimson Lance soldier.
"Seriously man, why do you wear that helmet, all the time? I've been here for four months now and I have only seen you take that thing off when you eat and sleep, hell sometimes you sleep with it on. Take that thing off more often, it's not like you're ugly or anything under there."
"I have to agree with Kai, you're the kind of eye candy that always makes me... hungry~." Moxxi said seductively with a greedy glint in her eyes that made Reiss freeze up like a deer caught in headlights. Moxie gave him a wink and a smile before she strutted off to the other end of the bar. Kai just chuckled at Reiss's reaction and went back to his burger.
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After finishing their meal and having some small talk about their day with Moxxi and a few of her waiters they both took their leave for the night. As they were headed to their place for the evening Kai thought about some of the things that had happened since he first landed on this great big ball of death. After joining the Crimson Lance, Kai had little to no luck as a Vault Hunter. He tried doing research and tried to track down several leads about the vault's whereabouts with Tannis's help. So far he's had zero luck finding the Vault, and since Jack had already brutally stolen the vault key from Tannis several years before, there was nothing he could do to ease his irritation.
As a Crimson Raider, however, Kai has been making a name for himself with the people of Sanctuary, amongst Hyperion, and several bandit gangs. He had even gotten a bounty put on his head from Hyperion for trespassing, theft, the assassination of Hyperion employees, destruction of corporate property, and vandalism. The bounty itself is worth fifty-five billion credits, which is not bad according to Roland. Reiss had also managed to acquire a bounty himself worth fifty billion.
Reiss and Kai have both been running raids together on Hyperion convoys, weapon depots, and even a prison break to free several members of the Crimson Raiders during the last few months, as well as ran the occasional odd jobs for the people of Sanctuary. During that time he and Reiss had become good friends. Reiss had even let him stay in the extra bedroom he had at his place, especially after Reiss heard that Tannis had been trying to take apart Hati's holo-matrix while he was staying at HQ.
Since Reiss was one of the first people to scout and clear Sanctuary after everyone evacuated New Haven after the Wilhelm incident, he and several others got first dibs on claiming space. So he chose one of the small tower apartments at the town's center across from the command center. It was a small two-floor unit, with a kitchen and a small den on the first level and two bedrooms and a shared bath on the top, apart from a slight draft issue with the building's heat system and the need for a fresh coat of paint, it wasn't too bad.
Despite the age difference, Reiss and Kai had become good friends during their time working together. Actually, Moxxi described their relationship to be more like brothers than just friends. Of course when you're fighting man-eating wildlife, bloodthirsty bandits out to kill anyone not as crazy as them, and a tyrannical CEO with a nearly endless supply of killer robots that he's able to drop down anywhere on the planet in a line of sight to Helios, it helps to forge such friendships.
They finally got home and immediately Reiss sat down on the couch and turned on the TV to Bossanova's Murder Rally. Hati went over and sat down next to him to watch as well. Kai, on the other hand, went to get out of his gear and grab a shower. About twenty minutes later, after he had finished his shower and changed into something more relaxing, he grabbed his tool kit from his room and came back downstairs where he took a seat at the small kitchen table.
"Hey Reiss, let me look at your gun, you mentioned during the ride back earlier that it was jamming up some."
Reiss pulled out and tossed him a blue-grade Dahl React SMG with a fire element that Kai caught and quickly began disassembling. About an hour later, Kai was finished with the repairs and was starting to reassemble the gun when his ECHO chimed with a notification. Kai looked at his ECHO and saw it was an alert that Gaige was about to start an ECHO cast in a few minutes.
"Is that another ECHOcast alert from that Mechro what's-her-name that you have been cyberstalking?" Reiss said.
Kai frowned at the comment. "It's not cyberstalking if I'm just watching/following her channel," He retorted not even looking up at him.
"But you are chatting with her after almost every one of her ECHO shows, that's stalking in my book." Reiss countered.
"Says the guy who follows all of Moxxi's late-night ECHO shows, and has them all recorded on that old toaster you call a computer and follows all of her social media pages."
"Uuugh, how do you-," he started to ask.
"You had me remove several viruses from your computer last month, remember? You haven't deleted your browser history in months, man." Kai said as he glanced at Reiss with a sly grin. "You are into some kinky shit." Reiss just smiled and chuckled sheepishly, as Kai looked back to the SMG.
"So when are you going to ask Moxxi out, ever since she found out what you look like underneath that helmet she's been doing nothing but dropping hint after hint around you man. She's been basically carpet bombing the innuendos at this point" Kai stated.
"Yeah, I've noticed. It's just, how do you even approach a woman like her?"
Kai looked back at him with a deadpan look. "You're asking me about dating advice? Reiss, you do realize that I've spent most of my life fighting in not one, but two separate resistance movements since I was nine. What makes you think I have any experience in asking out a woman, especially one like Moxxi."
"Sorry, didn't know why I asked, but I still want to know why you follow that girl's ECHOcast and then chat with her," Reiss asked as he turned to look at him.
After a moment Kai just leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Well, for starters, I consider her a good friend, or pen pal at least. The second reason I listen and chat with her is because… she talks about her life... the type of life that I will never be able to have. My life has revolved around fighting for so long that I don't even know if it's possible for me to have a normal life. But when I listen to her it gives... gave me hope. Hearing Gaige talk about her "average" life on a peaceful planet has always given me a bit of hope that I might be able to have a peaceful life like that outside of all this. All the fighting, all of the battles, and the destruction and death, a chance to be normal." he said with a small smile.
Then Kai's face darkened a little "Of course, now my home is nothing more than a lifeless wasteland, and I now live on one of the most hostile planets in the known universe; so now it's just a dream, all because of what that bastard did," Kai said quietly as his mind went back to that day filled with screams.
"Kai… Kai… KAI!"
"What!?" Kai said as he was shaken out of his thoughts and looked up to Reiss and Hati, who were both staring at him with worried looks. "You okay man, you locked up for a minute there?"
"Yeah. I- I'm fine. I just got lost in…"
"Lost in "that" memory again." Reiss finished.
"Yeah, sorry."
"You don't need to say sorry brother. Just remember, it wasn't your fault."
"Yeah, I know… it's just-"
"Kai! It wasn't your fault, now go listen to your damn ECHOcast before I beat the guilt out of you," Reiss said as he held up a fist as Hati barked in agreement.
Kai paused for a few seconds then nodded, then snapped the last few pieces of the SMG together.
"There, that should fix the jamming issue, also I oiled it and cleaned it," Kai said as he tossed the gun back to Reiss and got up.
"Awesome, it was about time for me to clean it, thanks."
"Alright, well I'll see you in the morning. Come on Hati."
Hati and Kai left for the stairs as Reiss sat back down on the couch. "Hey, Reiss." He looked back over to Kai. "Thanks, man."
"No problem, now get out of here, I'm trying to watch the race."
Kai went to his room quickly after that and climbed into bed with Hati curled up at his feet. He tuned his ECHO pad (Note: ECHO pads are like ECHO devices, but they look like a small tablet.) to Gaige's, or as she called herself, Mechormancer's ECHO channel and watched the countdown clock till the show started. After about two minutes the counter finally reached zero and a "LIVE" icon popped up in the corner with a picture of Gaige encompassing the screen.
The image showed a headshot of a teenage girl with fair skin, emerald green eyes, and short, copper-red hair tied into short pigtails with what appeared to be a pair of clamped rubber hoses. She also had a set of work goggles sitting on her head with gold-tinted lenses and a collar/choker made of leather with nuts and bolts used as studs sticking out of it. One could say Gaige was trying to pull off some kind of cute grease monkey/punk rocker look.
Gaige: "Hello, subscribers!" a notification beep in the background. "Uh-mmmh, both of you. Hmph."
Kai frowned at this, he knew that Gaige had been losing more viewers lately, but he didn't think it would get this bad, he felt bad for her. Gaige's subscriber count peaked at about 122 about a year and a half ago, but ever since a particular five-hour-long rant about how Marcie was a no-good toad-faced lying bitch, the number has steadily declined. It was actually pretty funny in his opinion, but he suspected someone was using that to slander her.
Gaige: "The science fair approaches, and I've got more updates. I just started work on the third revision of the DT project, and while I was tinkering, I sliced my arm with some sheet metal, not a big cut, it barely goes like, halfway to the bone and it occurred to me, I could just jet the wound with an Insta-Health and get back to circumventing the Turing chip with a Hecker circuit re-integrator, OR I could kill two birds with one stone. See, I could never figure out a good method to quick-summon the DT, but as blood began to spurt from my forearm, I realized it: a cybernetic limb!"
Both Hati and Kai looked at each other with "Say what!?" expressions on their faces.
Gaige: "I could program all of DT's digistruct data into one robotic arm, and use that to summon DT at any time, any place! So I figured, what the heck, and I sliced off the rest of my arm with a particle saw."
Kai just facepalmed himself. "Hati, it's official, She's crazy," Kai said as Hati barked in agreement.
Gaige: "And my dad's all like, "Uhh! Ohh! Uhh!" And blood's like, going everywhere. But a few hours and a few pints of blood later, and I built a metal arm strong enough to smash concrete!"
The sound of concrete being smashed could be heard in the background.
Gaige: "Ha ha ha! Yes! So metal! Oh, and I'm trying to do devil horns with my robot arm right now, but it not really working right now because like… fingers… it's a… whatever… Point is, Marcie and her stupid fusion reactor are not going to have–"
The sound of a notification chimed in the background.
Gaige: "What the hell? Sorry, my newsfeed just picked up an article with Marcie's name on it. Yuellaghh~. UHH. "Local student Marcie Halloway has made a technological breakthrough which will change the face of law enforcement forever." Hm no, I don't think so. "Her new invention, which she calls the Crime Buster Bot" – wait, WHAT? Uh, hello, that is my design. HOH! Marcie ripped off my science fair project idea! Okay, no. "Crime Buster bot will use digistructing claws, thermo-sonic lasers, and quantum duplication to help law enforcement agencies subdue dangerous criminals"?! Marcie, what the hell?! She completely ripped off MY DT design, except… instead of using it to stop bullying, she's giving it to the galaxy's most corrupt police force! Marcie! You are such a!" Kai and Hati wince as they hear the sound of glass and other things being smashed. "DAARGH! You complete tool! And the name, that name sucks! "Crime Buster Bot"? Bitch, are you kidding me!?"
The sound of a door opening in the background could be heard, Kai figured it had to be her dad.
Gaige's Father: "What going on in here? I can hear you from across the house."
Gaige: "Dad, now is not a good time."
Gaige's Father: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, why don't you-"
Gaige: "Marcie Halloway ripped off my robot's design, used them to build fascist security bots for the cops, and now she's going to try to win the science fair with MY IDEA!"
Gaige's Father: "Oh… You're going to take that bitch down, right?"
Gaige: "You're damn right! I'm going to upgrade my bot, and I'm going to win the heck out of that science fair! It is SO ON!"
Gaige's Father: "That's the spirit! You put your mind toward your little DT project, Marcie won't stand a chance."
Gaige: "Don't call him DT anymore, dad. His name… ( the distinct sound of a digistruct summon was suddenly heard in the background. ) … is Deathtrap."
The ECHOcast ended as Kai leaned back. "Well, that was interesting."
Hati gave Kai a deadpan look. "Alright fine, it was crazy, but you can't blame her for going all rage mode there, her project was ripped off by her mortal rival. Hell, if someone stole your designs and made a crappy copy version of your program, it would be an insult to…" Hati's face drooped in memory.
"Sorry boy, it's still too soon I guess."
Kai glanced down at his ECHO pad and decided that maybe he should check up on her. Kai pulled up his contacts, which now consisted of about a dozen people, selected Gaige's contact, and sent a chat room invite.
X-X-X
Gaige was cleaning up the mess she made in her room from her destructive outburst when she heard another alert on her computer. "Great, what did Marcie do now?" Gaige said as she dropped some scraps in the trashcan. She went over to her computer to see it wasn't her news feed, but a private chat room invite, from. . . R3bel_Wolf! Out of all the subscribers she's ever had R3bel_Wolf was the only one she ever regularly stayed in contact with and is one of her only two remaining subscribers. She immediately sat down, accepted the invite, and began typing.
Mechromancer: Wolf! How are you doing?
R3bel_Wolf: I should be asking you the same thing after that ECHOcast.
Mechromancer: Oh, you heard that?
R3bel_Wolf: I think half of this galaxy heard you. My ears are still ringing by the way.
Mechromancer: : P
R3bel_Wolf: Don't you go giving me that face.
Mechromancer: Ha, ha, make me!
R3bel_Wolf: Fine, if you're going to be this rude I might as well take my leave, good night.
'Oh shit' Gaige thought. Up until about five months ago Wolf and her would chat after a show or play online games together about 2-3 times a week, but then he just went offline out of the blue. For the next two months Gaige didn't hear anything from him, when he finally did come back online he just seemed a little... lost. It was as if some part of him was taken or he lost something. They still would chat, but it was not as often as they used to, so to have him up and leave made Gaige freak out a little.
Mechromancer: NOOOOOO! Don't leave a girl in need.
R3bel_Wolf: Oh, you "need" me? Mech, I didn't know you thought of me like that. ; )
Mechromancer: What!? NO, NO, NO, that's not what I meant!
R3bel_Wolf: Ha, ha.
Mechromancer: You asshole.
R3bel_Wolf: Ha, I'm a wolf, what did you expect? Anyway, I heard you have been having issues with patent infringement from the local competition.
Mechromancer: Please don't remind me about that bitch. I'm just so pissed! She just has her daddy buy her everything she wants, and she just wants to make my life miserable. To her, I'm just a plaything.
R3bel_Wolf: She is just a sad little idiot who has to make herself feel important by putting other people down, but at the end of the day, she can't even lift a finger without her daddy paying someone to do it for her. Whereas you can fend for yourself in the real world, and you are a hundred times smarter than she'll ever be.
Mechromancer: Thanks, Wolf, you always know just how to cheer a girl up.
R3bel_Wolf: It's what I do, but now I have to ask, was it really necessary for you to chop off your whole arm!? Don't you think that was a little extreme?
Mechromancer: Hey I needed to incorporate the summoning rod somehow. Plus I can smash concrete now, FUCKING CONCRETE!
R3bel_Wolf: But couldn't you have just made a glove with the emitter built into it, and then just have the main unit strapped to your back in a small pack? It would have been easier to maintain and you could have kept the arm.
Gaige stared at the screen and reread what Reb3l just typed before really thinking about it. 'Is that even possible? It is a fairly simple idea when you think about it. Sure I would have to miniaturize the emitter somehow but aside from that. . .' "Shit," she said to no one, "I hate it when he is right."
Mechromancer: Why is it that you always make things easier "after" I have done it the hard way.
R3bel_Wolf: Because you're a jump-first ask questions later type of girl when it comes to science and badassery.
Mechromancer: . . .
R3bel_Wolf: Oh quit your pouting, you know it's true.
Mechromancer: I'm not pouting!
R3bel_Wolf: Yes you are, I can see it in your text.
Mechromancer: Why do you do that to me?
R3bel_Wolf: Cause it's fun.
Mechromancer: I really hate you sometimes.
R3bel_Wolf: But not all the time.
Mechromancer: Ugh, you can be too much, you know that? Whatever, besides I need to come up with some new tech for Deathtrap.
R3bel_Wolf: Right, by the way, love the new name for DT. It will definitely strike fear into those who cross his path. As for upgrades, I vote for nuclear missiles.
Mechromancer: Woah, nuclear missiles, are you crazy!? I'm trying to impress the judges not incinerate them.
R3bel_Wolf: . . . Then explain the laser eye you gave Deathtrap.
Mechromancer: Shut up, but seriously, I need some ideas.
Gaige spent the next hour going over several ideas with R3bel_Wolf to improve Deathtrap. She knew from past chats that Wolf wasn't a scientist like herself, but he was still smart and knew his way around an SDU and several other pieces of tech. Eventually, after an hour of brainstorming, they both admitted to being too tired to stay awake.
R3bel_Wolf: Time to clock out for the night.
Mechromancer: Yeah, I still have school tomorrow, yaaaaay.
R3bel_Wolf: Well that sounds like fun.
Mechromancer: What, you're not going to school?
R3bel_Wolf: As my name also implies, I'm a rebel.
Gaige smiled as a devious plan started to form in her mind, she just had to set it upright.
Mechromancer: Ooooh, so you're a rebellious bad boy, me like.
R3bel_Wolf: Okay, down girl, but seriously with what I do, school isn't much of an option.
Mechromancer: What do you do then?
R3bel_Wolf: AH, NO! School night. Bed. Sleep.
Mechromancer: Oh come on, not even a tiny hint, you never tell me anything about yourself. : (
R3bel_Wolf: You! Bed! Now!
Mechromancer: R3bel! I didn't realize you were so bold! I don't know what to say, this is so sudden.
Wolf didn't respond for the next several seconds.
R3bel_Wolf: WHAT!?
R3bel_Wolf: NO NO NO! That's not what I meant!
R3bel_Wolf: I wasn't even thinking about that!
Mechromancer: So what does that mean, you don't like me. Did you ever like me?
R3bel_Wolf: WHAT! Of course, I like you.
Mechromancer: You do, that means you do love me.
R3bel_Wolf: WHAT!
R3bel_Wolf: Gaige, where did this come from!?
R3bel_Wolf: What with the sudden escalation?
The messages suddenly stopped and for about a minute, he didn't type anything else. Gaige was about to ask if he was still there when she got a response.
R3bel_Wolf: Wait a minute.
R3bel_Wolf: Are you pulling my leg…
Mechromancer: . . . . Maybe. : P
R3bel_Wolf: GAIGE!
Mechromancer: HA, HA! I wish I could see your face right now. You must be steaming from your ears!
R3bel_Wolf: Just go to bed already. I think I'm getting a headache.
Mechromancer: Fine, I had my fill of laughter at your expense anyway.
R3bel_Wolf: Yay for you…
Mechromancer: Alright, well I'm going to bed. Night Wolf, thanks for the help.
R3bel_Wolf: No problem, have a good night.
Mechromancer: BTW, -100 Badass points from you! Bye.
Gaige closed the chat before Wolf could reply with a rebuttal, as she laughed at a mental image of someone cursing out at his computer, considering what she just did. She and Wolf would play this little game with one another. If someone won a match or did something awesome they would earn several or more Badass points, if they did something stupid or embarrassing, they would lose some points. To lose such a large amount would certainly make him mad. Currently, the score stood at 7625 for Gaige and 7610 for Wolf after his recent point reduction, meaning Gaige was in the lead.
After she finally managed to calm down, Gaige decided to get ready for bed. Fifteen minutes later she was lying in bed thinking about her day, but her thoughts kept coming back to her friend R3bel_Wolf. She had been chatting with him for about 4 years now. At first, she thought he was nothing more than an overly interested fan of hers or a cyberstalker at worst, so she decided to air on the side of caution for a while, for a whole year. She finally started taking him seriously after he helped her modify an SDU so that it could store food at cold temperatures, turning her modified lunchbox into a handheld refrigerator.
So after that, Gaige began chatting with Wolf more often. He never gave her his real name or even told her what planet he lived on, claiming it was too dangerous if anyone knew of it. She even started to randomly try to guess his name about a year ago, she had gotten through most of the H's so far. All that she really knew was that Wolf was a boy, considering certain things he would say in their chat, he was at least 18-20 years old and lives on a planet somewhere in the Vega III Cluster on one of the smaller colonies there. He's also fairly smart, most of his knowledge seems to relate to weapons, but he also knew how to encrypt data, repurpose SDUs, and to a certain extent encode AIs. It was actually with his help that she was able to create a good base code for Deathtraps custom OS.
The bottom line, though, was that Wolf was still mostly a mystery to her. They shared the same interests, she could have serious discussions with him, could easily talk about the latest episode of some show for hours, share funny videos they each would find, and talk about theoretical uses for AI and robot design. They would even play online games together. He also seemed to know just what to do or say to make her feel better when she was feeling down. But at the end of the day, she still knew nothing about him, which drove her mad with curiosity.
"Uuuugh" Gaige moaned, 'I'm starting to act like a love-struck teenager from one of those sappy teen cyborg, ninja, vampire romance novels,' Gaige thought. 'But then again, what girl could resist a little mystery? I honestly hope I can meet the real Wolf, someday,' she thought before she drifted to sleep.
X-X-X
(Kilo8) Look, as I've told you guys, if I introduced your characters too soon, it would ruin the flow of the story.
Kilo was currently tied up and hanging upside down from the ceiling over a card table while Tina, Gaige, and Mr. Torgue were playing Texas Hold 'em at the table.
(Tina) And we said, if you want to get down you'll have to put us in the story next chapter...
I'll see your three sugar cookies raise you two chocolate chips.
(Mr. Torgue) I fold.
(Gaige) Alright, that's two chocolate chip cookies from me. Here's the River.
Gaige flips the last card and it is a Jack of Spades, making the cards, five of diamonds, five of spades, Queen of spades, seven of clubs, and the Jack of Spades.
(Tina) I bet five Chocolate chip cookies.
(Gaige) Alright, I'll see your five.
They stared each other down for several seconds till Gaige flipped her cards and revealed a two of spades and a ten of spades.
(Gaige) HA! Flush!
Mr. Torgue just whistles as Gaige goes to claim the pot till Tina held up her hand to stop her. Tina flips her cards revealing a five of clubs and a queen of hearts.
(Tina) Full house sucker.
(Kilo8) Damn~.
(Gaige) Nooooo!
Tina takes the pot and then high-fives Mr. Torgue.
(Kilo8) Anyways, so Gaige, what did you think about the chapter?
(Gaige) You made me sound like a love-struck schoolgirl.
(Kilo8) A, you are a schoolgirl, B, you are not love-struck, it's not like I have you sighing dreamily every five seconds, with mentions of crazy fantasies in your head, or have you written into some crazy love triangle or whatever. Your character is just curious, it's like if you had a wrapped present in front of you, it's wrapped up all nice and everything and looks awesome, but you want to know what's in it. It's like that.
(Gaige) I guess I can accept that… For now. But if you make me look like a weak, spineless, lovesick schoolgirl who-
(Kilo8) Like hell I would write you in that light, you're a fucking Badass.
(Gaige) Damn right I am, but if you do then you're going to have a looooong conversation with DT.
(Kilo8) Fine, now can you let me down, all of my blood is rushing to my head.
(Tina) Not until you get us into the next chapter.
(Mr. Torgue) And we need a f*cking EPIC entrance, with guns and explosions!
(Kilo8) No, besides you two have a permanent seat on these pre and post-chapter chats at this point. And there are enough explosions and crazy shenanigans around here to keep you both satisfied till you're introduced into the story. And I baked you all of those cookies the other day Tina.
(Mr. Torgue) He's got a point.
(Tina) . . . Fine, I accept your reasoning and offer of baked chocolate goodness.
(Kilo8) Great, now can you let me down?
"No," they all say.
(Kilo8) Oh, come on! Why not!
(Gaige) Because it's funny.
(Kilo8) You guys suck. Well anyway thanks everyone for joining us today, and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Please remember to leave lots of reviews.
(Tina) And cookies! But no raisins! Raisin cookies are evil!
(Kilo8) TINA! How many times do I have to tell you, don't ask the viewers for-. . . . Wait, do you guys hear something?
Everyone paused and listened and slowly everyone picked up the sound of someone screaming in fear, getting rapidly closer with each second until.
*CRASH*
Something fell through the other skylight window and impacted the floor, making a small crater.
(Gaige) What was that!?
As soon as Gaige asked a familiar yellow robot rolled out of the crater.
(Claptrap) Hey guys, did you miss me?
Everyone just groaned.
**TTS Fix 2-18-24**