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(BUS)Chapter 81: Insane(ly) smart
🕑 Added 2025-04-05 15:08:35 +0000 UTC"Bandits maybe?" Mordy offered not very convinced of his own theory.
"There are fucking bandits camped out in the trash heaps around the place so absolutely not!" I rejected that theory with facts right away.
"It's Pandora, people are weird here." Brick said with a shrug and I honestly couldn't argue with that.
"Hey Scooter! you got my Badger uploaded into the Catch-A-Ride yet? Need it to reach Tannis without a few hours of walking." I sent my mechanically inclined buddy over the echo as I looked at the Catch-A-Ride station nearby some vendor machines.
"Yeah, I done went ahead and put it up in the system with the new engine, should purr like a Skag with a bellyful of bandit." He sent back along with a sound I assume was him giving a thumbs up.
I went first to Digistruct my ride and like he said it rumbled to life life a jaguar ready to hunt after a nap. With the engine specifically put together by Scooter for it all parameters had skyrocketed with the sole exception being the offensive capabilities. I didn't wait for the others at all and took off down the road from the station.-
There were two paths to it but one had been mostly blocked off to vehicles at the leftmost side of the road while the "official" road was the paved one going uphill to the right so I took that one. There was a couple of bandits walking on the road but I barely felt it as I ran over those speed bumps. Soon I reached a spot where the road diverged AGAIN. There was a pipeline here at this spot that the smell told me was the sewage system as it smelt of rotting shit and other nastiness.-
As if that wasn't fucking enough there was also a flock of Rakk hanging around that pipe that took unkindly to my loud machine showing up. My turrets turned them into swiss cheese shortly thereafter while I consulted the map to figure out where the fuck I was going. The right path took me to a scrapyard of all things that served as a sort of nexus place for entrance to three other locations. The middle path went to Old Haven that the Crimson lance had sacked and taken over while they were "looking for vault relics", AKA being assholes.-
The final path which was to the left had two branches but roughly led to the same area that Tannis was holed up. Unfortunately the fastest route was also through the shallow poop river that I grimaced before driving through as I tried not to think about what was in the greenish brown "water". once I left this shallow shit stain though I had to admit that the best spot to set up a town had to be next to these windmills that while made of scrap where still functional and mostly clean.-
The land was mostly sand and rock like by Fyrestone but there was a nearby brown waterfall and stream and not literal mountains of fucking trash all around it. The only real flaw from what I could tell was that there was spider ants all over the area but if you cleared them out and collapsed their tunnels they wouldn't even be a problem. While you couldn't pay me enough to drink that water, on a parched armpit of a planet like this any source of water that could be purified into drinkable state was a valuable resource.-
As an added bonus there wasn't trash piled up literally everywhere around the spot, big selling point if you ask me. Anyways I drove past this area and up to the footpath that was the entrance to the dig site Tannis was staying at. The Eridian origins of the place were obvious the moment I walked through the gap in the cliff face. Carved stone pillars that glowed that emissive white and large perfectly carved Eridian symbols for "Vault" all over the place on the ground that had been uncovered. The small group of Spider ants I dispatched on the way to the main dig site gave me a couple thousand lifeforce and the main site itself was quite disappointing honestly as it was not actually an important location.-
Sure there was plenty of glowing Eridian architecture exposed above ground but the design and lack of Eridium told me it wasn't even a little important to the Eridians, a common area even I theorized. The others hadn't quite caught up to me yet but that was fine as it gave me a chance to speak with Tannis alone, well as alone as i could be with the "angel" spying on me. -
The scientist herself was in a small shack looking over a set of schematics that I recognized as belonging to the weird dumptruck thing I had seen previously at the mine. Tannis was surprisingly quite the looker actually as she had fair skin and smooth round face with greenish blue eyes and a pixie cut brown hairdo that just peeked over her goggles. Her body was thin and frail looking without giving the idea of sickness. Her outfit consisted of a dark red cloth jacket with long sleeves and leather pads at the upper arm area. She also had on fingerless leather gloves and leather chaps over a pair of khaki pants that were tucked into tight knee boots of durable material.-
"Your choice of apparel is savage and crude for a scientist though I suppose it would serve in a combat situation." she said after looking me over as I did the same.
"Functional and stylish don't always have to be mutually exclusive. This undersuit for example protects me from most environmental factors while keeping me comfortable without restricting my powers, perfect for field work. Machine washable too." I say with a grin pointing at the part visible on my chest.
"Point taken. I would prefer to speak without constantly looking at the visage of a predatory animal however, it's unnerving." she said looking at my mask.
I pulled it off and looked at her with a raised eyebrow "This better?" I asked sarcastically but she actually nodded.
"While your inhuman qualities may be offsetting for the average mind I find them a fascinating phenomenon worth study since they are a result of your powers if my sources are accurate." she said seriously as she looked at my face quizzically.
"Not much to study really since I already fully understand how my powers work though the method by which they accomplish what they do eludes me still. In simple terms my powers integrate features of creatures or constructs on a genetic and molecular level to myself. I use the fundamental energy of life, Lifeforce, as the fuel for this integration but that's as much as I am willing to freely share." I said candidly.
"Extraordinary! Even this alone pushes my understanding of Siren powers forward considerably! That reminds me for whatever reason, where is the gaggle of dullards that you usually associate yourself with?" she asked looking behind me curiously.
"To be fair only one of them can be considered below average in intelligence, so that's rather rude of you. They are also playing catch up since my car is better than theirs." I pointed out and she scoffed.
"If I bothered to consider the feeling of the mundane every time I spoke I'd be rendered mute. Still I will actively try and avoid speaking ill of your associates in your presence. Their absence is problematic however as what I have to propose is a matter concerning all of you. While utilitarianism might be more convenient for me I understand your group operates on a system closer to democracy where all opinions are accounted for." she said with a frown.
"That's fairly accurate though I should note that we can act independently if we so choose. For example my deal with you in regards to the information I have set aside for exchange." I said taking out some of the notes I had written down in my free time about the vaults I opened and what I have discovered of the Eridians through self study.
"Paper copies? How unusual, why not have the information be made digital instead? Certainly more convenient that way." she asked confused.
"Ah well you see there's this nasty little thing that's been spying on us through our echoes and I didn't trust that whatever it is can't look at data stored on the echo as well. Physical media solves this problem." I explained frankly.
I couldn't help but smirk when I said it as I could almost taste the jackass behind the spying's frustration. How could they not be when I regularly made it known to them that they weren't getting shit from me I didn't want them to know. They were playing some game by "helping" us get to the vault and were keeping things from us that didn't serve that purpose, whatever it was. -
While I couldn't exactly sabotage their whole plan since our goals aligned for the moment that didn't mean I had to give them anything beyond that either. In a manner of speaking we were openly using the other and both sides knew it. Once the vault was open though all bets were off as things were bound to turn tense between us.
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce:204,903
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade]X4, [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Demi-supreme body-Legendary grade], [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X2,[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade], [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade],
Stored traits: [Flame projection gland]
