"Attention, citizens of Fyrestone! There is no cause for alarm. The visitors have resolved the problem!"
Claptrap's announcement boomed from the speakers around the settlement. A few residents peeked out from behind windows and barricades, but the gate stayed shut.
Zed's voice came through the open ECHO channel.
Zed: "Thanks fer takin' care of the bandits. Name's Zed. I'd let you in, but the gate's circuits are on the fritz again. There's a switch on the outside panel. Give it a go, would ya?"
Roland took point as we moved toward the gate. No one had appointed him leader, exactly, but it made sense. He had the most experience, and he carried himself as a commander, and that he was during his time in Atlas' military.
The outside panel was half-buried in dust. I opened it and checked the wiring while Lyra traced the power flow through my visor.
The problem was simple: a loose connection and a relay that had taken more abuse than it should have. I reseated the line and pressed the switch. Now Zed should have no issues in the future with his gate.
The gate locks clanked. The heavy doors began to open.
"Good to finally meet you in person, Doc," Roland said.
Zed laughed. "Thanks fer openin' her up again. They still call me 'Doctor,' even though they don't let me cut on folks anymore since I lost my licence. These days I keep the med vendors up and runnin'. You can buy all the healin' you could ever want from a real doctor, without the 'the Vault is a myth, you'll get yourself killed' lecture."
With that, we had met Zed, opened Fyrestone's gate, and taken another step toward the Vault. My journey had started long before I set foot on Pandora. Still, standing inside the first settlement I remembered from another life made it feel as if the real part had only just begun.
Zed leaned against the doorway of his clinic and looked us over.
"Outside of Fyrestone, just past the gate and across the road, you'll find some Skag dens. A Skag's a vicious four-legged beast, and it'll eat anything, including you. I wanna know if you can handle yourselves, so head out there and kill a few. If you come back in one piece, we'll talk."
It was a test. A sensible one, all things considered. Zed had no reason to trust a group of armed strangers just because we'd helped with the bandits.
I was in the VXA-01 combat configuration, with the hood down and the cloak inactive. The armour could assist my strength and speed, but it wasn't a force field. A bullet could still hurt me. A Skag could still get through a gap in the plates if I gave it the chance.
The serum had made me stronger, faster, tougher, and quicker to recover. My body could reach speeds that would have been impossible for an ordinary person, and the armour pushed those limits further.
None of that replaced experience. I'd trained, run simulations, and fought through holographic scenarios with Lyra. This was the first time Pandora itself was trying to bite me.
Mordecai was a best example of that, not long before he was on the bus with Marcus, he was met up by a woman that turned out to be a Bounty Hunter. But in the end, her own group turned against her when Mordecai offered them an ultimatum, he kills them or they take her in to cash in her bounty.
That kind of foresight and experience is what I lacked as of now.
I checked the readout in my visor. The VMR-09 Frostbite was loaded with standard kinetic rounds. Cryo ammunition would have made a mess of anything nearby, and I didn't need to test a new setting during our first walk outside the gate.
Lyra tracked the weapon status and fed me movement markers.
We had barely made it past Claptrap when the engine noise reached us.
A Bandit Outrunner roared into view, swerved across the road, and spun around while its mounted gun opened fire.
A rocket followed and it struck the ground beside Claptrap's position and burst against the nearby structure, sending a shockwave through the little robot.
"Oh my God! I'm leaking! I think I'm leaking! Aaaah! There's oil everywhere!"
I recognised the moment before it happened. My old memories had given me a rough outline of what to expect, but knowing an attack was coming didn't mean I could stop it without putting myself or someone else in the line of fire.
Claptrap had been knocked down behind cover. He was damaged, but he wasn't being shot at directly.
I moved for the nearest wall as the Outrunner's gun swept across the road. My armour's leg assist kicked in, carrying me over the gravel and behind a low stone barrier.
The rounds chipped the concrete where I'd been standing a second earlier.
"Right side!" I called.
The Bandits came over the wall. Mordecai's rifle cracked from behind us, taking out one before he could bring his weapon up. Roland and Lilith moved to cover the left side.
Brick went straight at the rest of them, because apparently charging into gunfire counted as a plan if you were Brick.
I leaned out and fired two controlled bursts from the Frostbite. One Bandit dropped down, another tried to rush me with a blade, so I shifted my stance, caught his wrist against my forearm plate, and knocked him off balance.
Muramasa slashed out with a sharp electric hiss. One quick strike ruined his weapon; the follow-up left him on the ground.
The fight ended quickly once the group was working together. Roland's orders kept everyone moving.
Mordecai picked off anyone who tried to retreat. Brick made sure the ones who stayed regretted it. I covered the gaps and tried not to waste ammunition.
Zed's voice came through the ECHO channel again. "Looks like you got under Nine-Toes' skin. Don't worry, he'll get what's comin' to him!"
The shared channel clicked, then Angel's familiar voice joined us. "You did it! I knew you were the right choice. Oh...! That poor little robot needs our help. Would you kindly give him a hand?" Angel spoke to us out of the blue yet again.
We crossed to where Claptrap had fallen. Roland came with me, while Mordecai kept watch over the road. I crouched beside the robot and took the utility tool from my belt pouch. Lyra ran a scan through my visor interface.
"Damage is limited. One power lead has come loose, and the lubricant line is leaking. Both repairs are manageable."
I pulled out a short length of spare wire, a wrench, and a roll of repair tape. Roland looked at the tools, then at me.
"What?" I asked. "I build things. I carry tools."
"Didn't say anything."
"You had it written all across your face."
I tightened the loose connection, replaced the damaged section of wire, and secured the leaking line. The tape wasn't pretty, but it would hold until Claptrap could get proper repairs.
I tapped the casing once and watched the diagnostics settle back into a stable range.
"Hah-ha! Whew! Good as new! I think. Am I leaking?" The hellspawn robot proclaimed as he returned to life, maybe I should send him to his Maker with a quick shot to the head?
"Not at the moment," I said. "Try not to take another rocket."
"Excellent advice!"
Angel's voice returned over the channel.
Angel: "He's stable. You can keep moving. Be careful out there."