victory_road | 1st Ω [Action for New Bark Town/Video]

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1st Ω [Action for New Bark Town/Video]

[Action; New Bark Town]

[Fresh green grass. A breeze that carries no hint of smog or pollution or any other manner of nastiness in the air. People happily walking around unarmed and seemingly unworried over the potential of being jumped or mugged even in broad daylight.

This was not Pandora.

Not that it took any of these observations for Athena to conclude that something was very wrong. Just the feeling of the sun on her face as she drowsily awoke earlier (ugh, Janey was right, she was starting to lose her edge) was enough to send alarm bells blaring through her head. After all, her and Janey's place in Hollow Point wasn't the worst, but it was far enough away from the cave entrance that they don't really get much sun. That put Athena instantly on alert, and she practically bowled "mom" over before she could even open her mouth and instinctively grabbing the pack - she didn't even care whose it was - by the door and heading outside.

So here she was now, pacing in the middle of town like an angry kraggon, looking for anything familiar... but there was nothing. She couldn't even see Elpis's broken surface in the sky, so there was no way this was Pandora. One of the Edens, maybe...? But which one, they were all better than Pandora, so she couldn't tell by just one glance in one town...

Okay... okay. She had to find her bearings. She could do that. First, check the pack for anything that could be of use. Pulling it off her shoulder and tugging it open, Athena began sifting through the contents; food, a change of clothes (pfft, like hell she was going to get rid of her armor in an unknown location), what looked like some basic medical supplies, a... red and white ball? That catches her attention.

She set her bag down so she could examine the ball more closely. Round, one button on the middle... some kind of robot? At first glance, it reminded her of Gortys before she had been activated, so maybe if she pushed the button...

And then she promptly dropped it as the ball burst into light, every one of her battle instincts flaring to life as her brain screamed grenade! But damnit, she had no guns, no shield or sword....

Wait.

Sword?

Okay... yeah. That was definitely a sword floating in front of Athena. Staring at her.]

What the...

[She reached out to grab it by the hilt, but surprisingly enough, it dodged out of the way of her hand! Frowning, Athena tried to grab it again. And again it dodged. Her frown then morphs into a full-blown scowl, and she lunges for the thing.]

Argh-- get back here!

[Video]

[OKAY EVERYTHING'S UNDER CONTROL, EVERYTHING'S COOL. Except... not. So when the video flickers on, the rather annoyed, severe face of a young woman can be seen front and center.]

I'll give whatever dirty lowlife responsible for this ten seconds to identify themselves before I start hunting them down. Believe me, you don't want that.

[There's a pause, and her frown deepens if that's even possible. This... kidnapping, or whatever it was, had happened in her home. Said home was crappy, sure, but it had been damn secure. Athena herself had made sure of it. So if whoever-it-was had been able to get her without a problem, then the other occupant of the house could possibly be...]

Springs. As soon as you see this, echo me.

[She doesn't sound worried, but the edge in her eyes fades a little, and she reaches up to run a finger along a gleaming silver ring hanging from a chain around her neck. She blinks, realizing what she just did, before she practically shoves the ring under her shirt and out of view.]

If anyone can direct me to the nearest fast-travel station, the information will be much appreciated. [There's a pause, and the curious eye of a Honedge peeks on-screen with a gleam of curiosity. The woman glances at it, scowls, and pushes it away from the camera.] Also, the nearest gun vendor.

[Because this isn't the first odd creature she's seen so far, so she's not taking any chances. If she can't have Xiphos and Aspis, or at the very least any of her more advanced guns, she'll have to make due.]

Finally, if anyone familiar to me is viewing this, I will update my status as soon as I find my bearings in this bizarre town, and we can arrange a meetup then. Until then:

Athena, out.

[Click. The video finishes.]

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[Well, this lady was taking it more... angrily than most. And apparently had some very concrete ideas on how to fix it.

Too bad they were all for naught.]

Um! Unless you mean a bus or a train, there's no "fast-travel" stations here. [She considers something for a moment.] Or guns!

... What.

[Okay. Okay she can buy the "no fast-travel" thing. Not all towns or areas have a fast-travel station, after all. But...]

You're screwing with me, aren't you?

[Don't worry, now that she thinks about it, it's pretty darn bizarre to her too.]

Nope. [She shakes her head] Unless they're really hidden, I don't think even the police here have guns.

[Who needs guns when you have fire-breathing dogs?]

Edited 2016-07-18 02:40 (UTC)

[This week has been going beautifully. Everything's been coming up Handsome Jack. Mafuyu's almost to Goldenrod. He's made a friend, who likes killing and talking business as much as he does. He's got people all over the planet getting Pokemon for him. A friggin Hyperion employee just showed up!]

[So when Athena's video begins playing on his 'gear, Jack half chokes on a mouthful of instant noodles, the rest coating his 'gear and table in a sudden mess.]

[Shit. Shit shit shit shit. Of all people....]

[Alright. It could be worse. It's not Lilith. And this place doesn't even have weapons. Or...death.]

[It's cool. It's fine. He's got the upper hand here. He's been here. He has people.]

Think it'd probably be in my best interest to skip that meetup, babe.

[She's going to find out he's here soon enough anyway. At least he can throw her off, too, control their initial encounter.]

[Few things can surprise Athena anymore. She thought nothing could surprise her anymore, but then there was that whole thing with Fiona carrying around General Pollux's eye, so maybe she was wrong.

This? Hearing the voice of a dead man? This manages to surprise her too.

It really shouldn't. Jack has all sorts of propaganda all over Pandora. Sure, most of it's been defiled by now, but some still remains. Crappy billboards and old advertisements with Jack's face and voice plastered all over them still exist, so hearing his voice again isn't completely bizarre.

It's the fact that he's responding to her that surprises her. And that surprise quickly shifts into a simmering anger, that familiar itch beneath her skin that she hasn't felt since she held her sword to Cassius's throat...]

... Jack.

[Her scowl doesn't get much worse, thankfully, but her eyes narrow in such a way that damn, you could almost hear a sword unsheathing in the background, even though her hand not holding her gear is empty.]

You've got to be kidding me.

That's absurd. It's like you're begging to be robbed or slaughtered.

[She snorts at the mention of "police". Like she'd expect any sort of law enforcement to be of much use in that department, anyway.]

So what can I expect to use to defend myself? Can I find a sword, at least? [Again, the Honedge tries to nudge itself into view of the camera, but Athena just shoves it away.] A real sword, I mean.

[He's got himself under control enough to flip his own video on. He's sitting in a high backed swivel chair, his familiar gray blazer on over a yellow t-shirt with some local gym logo. There's no mistaking Handsome Jack, the original, in the flesh.]

Almost wish I was. Nope. It's me. Surprised to see me? Don't answer that, I know you are.

I also know we're a long, long way from Pandora. Or any place that's even heard of Pandora. We've been kidnapped to some far flung hellhole so beyond any part of a civilized galaxy that it may as well exist in a bullymong's dream.

So cool your murder boner, wouldya?

[Maybe they can work something out. Jack's a reasonable guy!]

[There's a... weird creaky-cracking sound going on as Jack talks. Like the sound of plastic about to break or being ground togeth-- ah. Yeah. That uh. That's Athena gripping her gear so hard she's probably in danger of crushing the thing in her hand.]

And why should being far away from Pandora calm my anger?

[Honestly, it just makes her even angrier. And... no, worried isn't the word here. But if Jack is here, alive, even though he was supposedly killed by Lilith in the Vault of the Warrior... does that mean the Jack that died at her hands wasn't really Jack?

Timothy crosses her mind briefly. He was definitely one of the more bearable of Jack's vault hunters, when he wasn't trying to be the man. Could it be that he was serving his purpose as Jack's double down in that Vault...?]

You may be able to brainwash your Hyperion goons with your words, but you should know that won't work on me.

Because no Pandora, no Hyperion...I really don't see what I'm gonna do to you. We're in the same boat.

[Jack spreads his hands, a gesture of helplessness.]

I don't even have anything against you! Look, I'm just saying...I stay out of your way, you stay out of mine. We've got no stakes here, nothing on any of the races. We don't have to be assholes to each other!

Salutations, ma'am.

[She is. So. Very. Tired.]

Um. I haven't heard of any fast traveling stations, 'cept the magnatrain here in Goldenrod, but I haven't used it myself, it makes me a little nervous honestly, and we're a long way from New Bark Town anyway. And there's the teleport things in the Pokémon Centers, they're new, but they'll only take you places you've already been which just seems weird to me.

[Processing. Yawn.]

Oh! And there's no guns anywhere. Or actual weapons, just the Pokémon. Sorry.

[Yeah, no, she's definitely not buying this.]

I'm not sure if you remember, with all the people you've killed and have had killed on your orders, but I can still clearly remember those scientists you vented out of Helios while your vault hunters were taking control of it back for you. I can remember how they'd begged you to stop and listen, to reconsider, the same way that you're begging now.

[Sure, it may not seem like he's begging. But in her years as a Lance Assassin and a lone merc, she's seen all kinds of people beg for their lives in all kinds of ways. Just because they're not being obvious about it doesn't mean they're not doing it.]

You don't give your enemies any sort of mercy. So why should I give you that same luxury?

No weapons at all? Wow, how have scavs not taking this place over yet?

[Great. Just great. Athena lets out a frustrated sigh.]

I'm guessing this "Pokemon" thing is that sword that won't leave me alone and yet won't even let me touch it?

[BECAUSE MAN IT SURE DOESN'T SEEM USEFUL BECAUSE OF THAT.]

....Athena, I'm not 'begging' you for anything. I'm offering you a truce, up front, pure and simple.

Oh or the love of...are you still harping on those scientists? It was a tactical decision. I've shown plenty of mercy since then. Patricia Tannis is alive, isn't she? Because I let her live. Hell, I let her go! Crissakes, I'm showing it right now! 'Cause you know what? I liked you. We're only enemies because you decided we ar

Let's just mutually ignore each other. It's a big planet!

... Didn't you break both of her hands before you let her go?

[Look, she got stuck telling her damn story three times before she finally got out of Sanctuary. She was there for a while, so she kind of got to know some of the people there. Kind of. And Tannis doesn't exactly have a good filter when it comes to talking.]

She was being difficult.

She kept her hands, didn't she?

Yeah, you'd think that but - that's why we have pokemon!

[There's a series of pops as Ochako gleefully opens her pokeballs and a swablu, hoppip and noibat all pop out! Yes, they look super fierce and capable of defending her.]

Ah, you have one of those too! [She's reminded of a certain spiky-haired guy who wasn't too keen on his first pokemon either...] They're, well, they're pretty much your best bet at protection if that's what you want.

Right, that's so much better.

[... It is, honestly, and in most parts of the universe, that would be considered a mercy. But not when Jack is acting like he's not that bad of a guy because he spared her like that.]

But just because you have some twisted sense of mercy towards your enemies doesn't mean I have to feel the same.

I've seen the kind of person you really are, Jack. Down in that Vault. I don't know how you're here, how you're alive, but I am not letting that person I saw in there return for another shot at obliterating Pandora.

[Athena glances between Ochako's three pokemon, to the Honedge floating besides her, then back to the girl on the screen. she doesn't look convinced.]

Right, no. There's absolutely no way I'd trust in the ability of monsters over my own. I can handle myself just fine.

Than not having hands? Uh, yeah. Way better!

Oh, listen to yourself! Spouting Crimson Raider bullshit propaganda. Lemme guess, you've been talking to Lilith? I'm fixing Pandora! That crazy witch is just pissed off 'cause I killed her boyfriend.

For a damn good reason, I might add.

How am I alive? 'Cause real heroes never die, cupcake.

Yeah, we had a nice long talk as she had me tied up in front of a firing squad. Had me tell her all about the Elpis mission.

[Is she still sore about that? Hell yeah she is. And maybe, in any other situation, she'd be a bit more skeptical about anything that came out of the mouth of someone who nearly put her to death the way Lilith did. But again, seeing how Jack had completely lost it in the Vault of the Sentinel... all that stuff that she'd heard from Lilith seems absolutely believable.]

You lost the right to call yourself a hero the minute we stepped out of that Vault, Jack.

I pay you what I promise, she ties you up and wants to shoot you...and I'm the one you've got a problem with? You have really got to work on your priorities.

Doesn't work that way, sweetheart. A hero's a hero. And I am.

A hero.

[In the category of "cute things that kick ass", Ochako fits right in with all the pokemon present]

I should warn you, if you're relying on any special abilities or magic you had back home, you won't have them here! [Especially if that ability is "gun", but she already covered that] You kind of need to rely on your partner!

As far as I know there are no gun vendors around. [Kid friendly?] No fast travel stations either. You have to walk or ride Pokémon.

[Like horses and big flying Pokémon. More interesting anyway, right?]

You from the future? [Because fast-travel stationed sounded very futuristic indeed, considering Snake was from 1984.]

If you find a gun vendor, let me know.

Don't bet on it, though.

[... Right. So that kid before wasn't screwing with her. Great. Good thing Athena has many other skills to rely on in the absence of guns.]

What about a sword? A knife? A sharp pointy stick? You're telling me you can't get any sort of weapon here?

[She's already getting a headache, ugh...]

... The future? What are you talking about?

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1st Ω [Action for New Bark Town/Video]

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