-TRANSMISSION ONLINE-
-Beginning ECHO Review Log-
(Kilo8) Hello everyone, I'm Kilo.
(Gaige) I'm Gaige.
(Moxxi) And I'm Moxxi sugar.
(Kilo8) . . . Riiiiight. Anyways, welcome to another chapter of Rebel Anarchy! Now before we begin I just like to say sorry for the wait. This chapter was supposed to be posted several weeks ago, but my Beta read Brain got bogged down with college work so it took him some time to get it back to me. Totally understandable. Also, this is a shorter than normal Chapter, so I'll say sorry in advance for that bummer.
(Gaige) Short?! Kilo! This chapter info says it not even four thousand words! What the Hell!?
(Moxxi) What's the matter Kilo, can't perform?
(Kilo8) . . . Really Mox, just… *sigh* No it nothing like that. You see, I finally got the opportunity to do some work in my chosen industry. Of course, this means that I'm working two jobs now. . . Yeaaaa. It also means my updates might be a little slower, but I will not be giving up on this story!
(Gaige) So, what field is this new job in? Science, technology, medical?
(Moxxi) I bet it something like waste management or construction. Maybe you should do one of those stupid working man calendars. ( She laughed )
*SNAP*
Without warning, there was a sudden flash of light. When it ended Moxxi looked down and realized she was now wearing a blue and silver cheerleader outfit that said Wolves on it, with matching pompoms in hand.
(Moxxi) What the hell?!
(Kilo8) Moxxi, you really shouldn't insult me anymore.
(Moxxi) What? This is your doing? How?
Kilo whipped out a piece of paper that both Moxxi and Gaige looked at. It was a diploma of completion, for video game development.
(Gaige) Your a video game developer. . . . That is AWESOME!
(Kilo8) Hell yea it is. I can make all kinds of things, like this.
Kilo snapped his fingers and after another flash, Gaige's outfit had changed into a badass biker outfit with dark ripped jeans and a leather jacket that had "Anarchy for Life" embroidered onto the back.
(Gaige) This is so B A!
(Moxxi) Why does she get to look like a Badass?
(Kilo8) What the matter Moxxi. Don't like your outfit, it looks cute on you.
Gaige snickered at this.
(Moxxi) Either change me back or give me something else.
(Kilo8) Your words, not mine. *SNAP*
There was another flash and this time Moxxi found herself in a French maid uniform, complete with a feather duster in hand. Gaige lost and fell over laughing, while Moxxi looked ready to kill Kilo.
(Moxxi) I'm going to end you.
(Kilo8) Yeah, yeah. Now let's get this chapter started! TO THE MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER!
-ECHO Transmission interrupted-
X-X-X
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 own OC's. This is a story just for your fun and enjoyment. Please enjoy.
X-X-X
Chapter Beta Read by "MyBrainIsAPlasmaNebulaBall"
X-X-X
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Echo/Radio"
'Krieg's inner voice'
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Chapter 8
Heart, Soul, and… Stomach?
Kai was looking down at the world below him as it's mountains, green forests, rivers, and lakes all slowly passed by his viewport. A transparent hologram screen suddenly appeared in front of him and superimposed an image near a mountain. He could see several dozen containers and prefab structures. "I've got what appears to be a Hyperion Loader outpost at grid 57.6062° North, 173.4828° West. Looks like they're getting ready to move on New Bergen again."
"Log it for now and we'll call it in once we land," said a man with a heavy Russian accent who was at the helm. He was an older man, easily in his mid-fifties, but he had an air of danger around him that made it feel like he could kill a man in a heartbeat for so much as just glancing at him the wrong way. His hair was a mix of black and grey, which could be seen poking out of his old black Vladof beret. Along the right side of his face was a large scar that went from the edge of his right eyebrow to the side of his chin and his eyes were Hazel. He was wearing a heavy grey military jacket with several Vladof unit patches on each sleeve and matching combat pants. He also had a photon emitter unit hooked to his belt, and always had some kind of Vladof pistol in a hip holster.
"Alright, pup, we have just two more orbits till we can land," Ryet said.
"Finally, we've been at this for nearly twenty hours now. Why do you even volunteer us for these damn recon missions, couldn't one of the pilots do it?" Kai said as he punched in the data.
"Call it a part of your training, you never know when you may need space skills in this universe. Now quit complaining or I'll have you clean the engines with a toothbrush."
"Damn slave driver," Kai muttered.
"What was that!"
"What was what?" Kai responded with a neutral face.
"Tsk, umnik (smart ass)."
Suddenly the sensors beeped and Kai quickly turned to check. "Got something coming out of hyperspace, one hundred kilometers off our port at grid four seven," Kai said as he checked the new data coming in.
Sure enough, a large hyperspace rift opened up in space and a Hyperion heavy cruiser exited the rift, which disappeared a few seconds later. The cruiser looked like any of the other half dozen cruisers, but this one had been heavily modified. Where there would have been turrets, now sat several massive sensors arrays, and the hangar bay on the bottom of the vessel had been extended out several meters for some reason.
"What the hell is that thing, Colonel? Some kind of new spy ship?" Kai asked.
"No idea, never seen anything like this… this is something… new," Ryet said with a concerned tone.
Before any more observation could be made the cruiser's hangers opened up and several racks extend out. A second later over two dozen large missiles shot out and started moving towards the planet at hypervelocity.
"SHIT! It an orbital bombardment!" Kai yelled.
"Forget running silent, broadcast a warning on all frequencies, NOW!"
Without question, Kai grabbed a headset and activated comms as Ryet continued to observe the missiles. "This is Shadow Star to everyone planetside. Hyperion has launched an orbital missile strike! Repeat, inbound orbital strike over the Usath continent. Initial observation counts over two dozen missiles."
Ryet handed him a note with several names listed on it of observed possible targets, as he quickly moved back to the pilot's seat and strapped in.
"We've confirmed and counted thirty-eight missiles and believe high probability targets include, New Bergen, Reynir, Antden, Gil, Frost Lake, New…" Kai eyes suddenly widened as he read the next name, New Yukon.
"NEW YUKON! TAKE COVER, REPEAT EVERYONE IN NEW YUKON TAKE COVER NOW!"
"Moy Bog!" Ryet said.
Kai looked back out the window just in time to see several purple flashes engulf the window.
X-X-X
Kai suddenly bolted up, breathing heavily. Then the pain started to settle in. "Ahhhg, why does it feel like I just went five rounds with a Bruiser," Kai mumbled as he stretched his jaw. It was then that he realized he was sitting on his couch… And remembered that something small and red had knocked him out, he was still a little fuzzy on the details.
He heard something moving behind him and in a rapid motion, he drew his sidearm, a rare Maliwan shock pistol at the moment, and leveled at the source of the sound. What he didn't expect was a scared, yet cute, yelp in response.
"Dammit Wolf, don't scare me like that! And get that gun out of my face!" Gaige demanded.
"Gaige!? W-what? How are you here? Where were you?"
Gaige just crossed her arms, with an irritated look.
"Ugh, what's wrong," he asked nervously.
"Gun."
"Huh?" He looked down and realized he still had his gun drawn and aimed at her and quickly put it away. "Sorry about that, old habits."
Kai finally took in Gaige's present state, she had on a loose purple t-shirt with a red anarchy logo that looked spray-painted on. While wearing black sweatpants and black and white striped socks. Her hair was undone and reached down to her shoulders and looked like it had been recently washed as it was still wet.
"Well, are you going to say something," Gaige said in an annoyed tone.
"Umm, I would say good to see you, but if I recall correctly you punched me in the face. Soooo."
"I did say I would punch you in the face when we meet."
"Right… Did you use the robot arm?" Kai asked as he pointed to her arm.
"No, I decided to give you a pass considering everything that happened today."
"What do you-,"
"I know about Reiss."
Kai froze in mid-sentence as he stared at Gaige, while the events of day flood back to the front of his mind. "How do you know about that?"
"I…" she started to say, as her demeanor seemed to sadden some. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I was there, I'm the one who brought him in."
He looked at her with a stunned expression which quickly turned to a serious one. "Who did this to him," he asked.
"Some group called The Bloodshots; they chased him down, shot him, and stole a power core from him. Then several Psychos stayed to beat on him, for how long I don't know…God, there was so much blood. The leader of the group I came with had me rush him back here in a Runner," she said as tears started to form in her eyes.
Kai had a hollow expression as he stared at Gaige, although he wasn't really focused on her at the moment as his fingernails dug into his palms. He then walked around Gaige and head for the stairs.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Gaige asked as she quickly followed after him upstairs.
Kai went into his room, not caring to close the door as Gaige followed him in. The room wasn't overly big, on one side there was a workbench/computer desk with a disassembled Torgue rifle and several tools and parts lying out. On the opposite side, was a heavy weapons locker that looked like it had been modified. The far end of the room curved into a half circle window and had a bed built into the left part of it.
As Gaige continued to take in the room, Kai walked over to the locker and punched in a code. Two separate compartments opened up, the first had what appeared to be a high capacity Digistruct storage unit. The other compartment was a normal gun locker with several weapons. Immediately, Kai began pulling out ammo and weapons and setting them on his bed. It was only when Kai pulled out a Torgue Rocket launcher from the storage unit that Gaige snapped back to reality.
"Woah hold up, what are you doing with all of that artillery?" Again Kai ignores her as he keeps pulling out more weapons. "Hey, are you listening to me," she asks as he opens a drawer and pulls out several grenades. "KAI!"
Kai stopped and turned to Gaige, "What?" He said sternly. She immediately saw the anger in his eyes, but she could also see a look of remorse and pain as well.
"What are you doing, why are you getting all of these weapons out!? What are you planning to do, take on an army or something!?"
Kai stared at her for a moment before he turned and started to check the Maliwan SMG in his hand. It took Gaige a moment to realize she had hit the mark. "Oh, holy shit, ... You're planning to take on that whole Bandit gang by yourself, aren't you!?... Kai are you INSANE!? Reiss wouldn't want you to do this!"
"You don't know that," he said as he turned and put the SMG down.
"I'm pretty sure your friend wouldn't want you to wage a war in his name."
"And what do you know about my friend!" He yelled as he turned to face Gaige. "What do you know about what he wanted! He was my comrade, my partner, my friend, MY BROTHER!" Kai shouted. "He was the first decent person I met on this hell hole of a planet, he gave me a place to stay, helped me join the Raiders! Then we fought together in the fields, mission after mission, against everything this planet had to throw at us, and at the end of the day, he always had the time to help me in some of my darkest hours. So tell me, what do you, a little school girl who has never been to another world, has never had to fight for your life, never had to face death in the face know about my friend!"
"I, ugh-"
"That's right you don't know because your life is perfect! You know NOTHING!"
"AAAAAHHH!" Gaige screamed out in anger as she punched Kai in the gut with her robot arm, and since this arm dished out a lot more force than her previous punch, it easily caused Kai to fall back. Plus, he didn't have his shield on, which meant he felt the full force of the punch.
"Ugh, Gaige! What the hell-" he started to say until Gaige jumped on top of him, straddling his torso while punching him repeatedly in the face with her right arm.
"SHUT… UP... YOU... IDIOT!"
She stopped and stared at him as she tried to control her breathing. Kai had a bleed split lip but he seemed more shocked than anything as he stared back.
"Don't you dare say that! For the last two weeks, I've gone through more shit than most people my age will ever go through in their whole lives! I watched my classmate be killed by my science project, RIGHT IN FRONT ME! I was covered in her blood and guts! Then I had to leave my home and family because I apparently became a wanted felon and had to travel halfway across the Galaxy to hide from the police on the most lawless and deadliest planet in the known universe. But it doesn't end there, oh no, I'm only just getting started. Not even two hours after landing, I'm nearly killed by Handsome freakin Jack himself who blew up a whole train, his own fucking train, in an attempt to kill me and several Vault Hunters! After which, me and the survivors had to traverse a frozen glacier for half a day where hundreds of creatures were all out to kill us. I had to fight a three-meter tall Bullymong named Knuckledragger for Christ sakes! And when we finally got to some scrap of civilization we have a fight with a group of crazed Bandits, where I shot and killed my first person with my own hands!" Gaige yelled as tears started to form in her eyes.
"Sure they were all just murderous bandits as Sal put, but they were still human. Of course by the end the next day I was used to it, after killing at least fifty more Bandits! After which I had to watch two of my new friends get killed as I could only watch! Thankfully they came back thanks to being in the New-U system. Then we fought this Bandit Lord, who nearly would have killed me if it weren't for DT finally coming back online! Then today after finally reaching Sanctuary's gate and thinking that I'd finally be able to meet the only person I have ever called a friend in person, I find myself being instead sent straight out again to find Reiss. When we did find him, he was basically a bloody pulp, and then I'm the one everyone chooses to race him back here. After I finally did get him back here, I had to assist in the surgery, only you know what happens while I'm there, the one person I wanted to meet barges in and I find out that it's his best friend who is dying on the table." Gaige yells out as her tears are now raining onto Kai's chest.
"And there I am, having to watch as your friend dies in front of you. Finally, after an hour of panicking and a stern pep talk from that Moxxi woman, I finally got the courage to come visit you. Of course, ignoring how I just punched you first, I told you about what happened to Reiss, and what do you do. You start loading up like some bad action movie star getting ready for a fucking suicide mission!"
"Gaige, I'm not going-"
Gaige socked him with another punch to his left cheek.
"I told you to shut up you blasted idiot. The only thing that been keeping me from having a complete and catastrophic mental breakdown was the idea of having at least one person on the other side of this crazy adventure that I know. On top of that, Reiss basically asked me as one of his dying wishes to keep an eye on his brother. And I also promised a very distraught woman, who just lost said man, that I would make sure you're alright and don't go off and do something completely STUPID! So if you think I'm going to let you go out there and get yourself killed then think again, or I swear I'll break your legs before you even reach the fucking door!" Gaige finishes as she stared straight into Kai's eyes.
After several seconds she asked,"Well! Say something dammit!"
"Uuum, breath."
Gaige only then realized she had basically forgotten to inhale during her whole speech. Of course, the oxygen deprivation finally caught up to her as she fell backward while she rapidly tried to catch her breath. Kai slow sat up and leaned up against the workbench as he wiped away the blood from his lip.
After about a minute or so Gaige finally started caught her breath back and propped herself up across from Kai. "Got any… thing else… to say… or am I gonna… have to break… your legs," She panted.
"You hit like a girl."
Gaige chuckled and snorted a little. "I'm sooo going to get you back for that later."
Kai just chuckled for a moment, then he glanced over at the pile of weapons he had laying on the bed. "Shit, what was I thinking, trying to take on the Bloodshots stronghold. I probably wouldn't have even made it past the main gate without expending half my ordinance. Let alone get past Bad Maw." He said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Just be glad you have such an awesome friend like me," Gaige said as she wiped away the tears that still stained her face.
Kai gave a sigh and looked at her. "God, I must be the biggest ass for yelling at you like that."
"I'll let it slide this time."
"Did both Reiss and Moxxi ask really ask you to watch out for me?" Kai asked.
"Yeah, of course, I don't think Moxxi meant I should have punched you several times when she told me to check on you."
"I swear, this must be what it feels like have siblings with Moxxi and Reiss around." Kai expression then saddens as he lends his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "Shit… he's really gone. My best friend and basically my brother in all but blood is actually gone," He said. "And he just got the girl to… Hell, he was already planning on asking her to marry him…. Dammit man, why did it have to be you."
Gaige watches him and thought he might start crying as he kept berating himself. But after several minutes of him just sitting there, he had yet to shed a tear. This confused Gaige as any normal person would have been balling their eyes out by now, but then an idea occurred to her.
She slowly got up and went over and sat down next to Kai's on his right side, if he had reacted to this move he didn't show it. "You know, I think I get you. You're acting like one of those cliché hero types who try to put on a strong face so that others don't think you're weak... Kai, we're not even out of our teens yet, we can't be holding in baggage like that. So I going to tell you something that my mother always tells me in… these types of situations. Screw those who judge you, it's okay to cry."
Kai slowly looked to her, and slowly Gaige wrapped her arm around his shoulder, giving him a smile. Finally, after another minute, Kai slow began to weep for the first time in a long time.
X-X-X
The remaining Vault Hunters had finally brought back the power core and entered the city. They decided to go to the Medical Clinic to see if Gaige was there and see if Reiss had pulled through. They entered the clinic where they meet Zed.
"Well hello there strangers, what can I do for you."
"We're here to find our friend and see how Cpl. Reiss is doing," Axton said.
Zed just looked down and shakes his head. "I'm sorry folks, he didn't make it, there was just too much damage and blood loss. He died on the table about an hour ago."
Everyone had a reaction to this, including Zer0 who had a sad face appear on his mask.
"Considering the damage we saw, I'm not really surprised," Axton said somberly. "By chance did you also happen to see where our friend who brought Reiss in went?"
"Oh, the little Redhead? She was helping out as we tried to save Reiss, but I kicked her out shortly after Reiss died. Needed to clean and prep the body," Zed replied.
Axton was about to ask where she went when Salvador suddenly let out a pained groan. "I'm not feeling too good amigos." He suddenly claps his hand over mouth and attempted to locate a trash can or something, but soon he just threw up a putrid green and brown sludge right there on the floor.
Everyone else had mixed reactions of disgust at this, but Zed just stared for several seconds before asking. "Son, what have you eaten today?"
"Well, I had three of those awesome Pimentaco's we found in the Runner's," Sal said before heaving another load onto the floor.
Zed stared at Salvador in disbelief, then he slowly walked over to a control panel by the door and punched something in. Several seconds later the door slammed shut and there was a hiss of air as the room pressurized.
"Uh Doc, what are you doing?" Axton asked.
"Sanctuary health code number three, anyone who eats something made by Scotter must be quarantined for a minimum of twelve hours of observation. Sorry to do this to you all on your first day here, but it has to be done."
The Vault Hunters all turned to Salvador with various levels of anger in their eyes/helmet. Sal just nervously chuckled.
"Ugh, sorry." He said before he suddenly slapped his hand over his mouth as he started to turn green. Zed, handed him a bucket as he heaved into it.
"UGH! It like my insides are being baked in a volcano!" Salvador yells before planting his face in the bucket again.
X-X-X
-LINK REESTABLISHED-
-Resuming ECHO Review Log-
Everyone is back in the SOL's control room in their normal attire.
(Kilo8) Soooo, what did you ladies think.
(Gaige) That was awesome! You got my personality and reaction down! Friend or not, NO ONE BACK TALKS ME!
(Moxxi) I have to say I'm surprised with you Gaige, didn't think you had such balls.
(Gaige) Thanks Moxxi.
(Moxxi) To think you would mount a man before you even go on a date, how bold!
(Gaige) Wha- What! MOXXI! It isn't like that!
(Moxxi) (Moxxi just laughed) I am disappointed at how short this chapter is though.
(Kilo8) Well this was meant to be part of chapter 7, but it just made the chapter to damn long, and hard to write… Shut it Moxxi (He interrupted as Moxxi was about to make an innuendo). By splitting it I got two chapters, and twice the suspense for people reading it. Again, I'm sorry for how short it was, but just wait, next chapter is nearly finished and it going to be a big one. Anyways before we end today's ERL I just like to thank Brain again for the help, and for coming up with an awesome chapter name. That really surprised me, also good luck with school. So once again, please remember to follow and leave a review, and till next time everyone, this is Kilo8 signing off! GAIGE! HIT THE BUTTON!
(Gaige) LATER DAYS PEEPS! *SLAM!*
*BZZZT*
- ECHO Review Log Terminated -