Borderlands: Eden

Borderlands: Eden

Part 4: Howlers at the Gate

Bane (As the Crusher)

Bane did a quick analysis of his teammates as they headed to Medic's hut, wanting to make sure that they would be able to stay with him.

Alex seemed to be extremely competent, although his attitude needed severe working on, preferably via a pair of pliers and a beating. He was also completely disbelieving in the Tree's existence. Fool.

Twilight looked like she had recently graduated from high school in Bane's opinion. She was not fit for this type of work, but she had a grudging attitude that said that she was doing what she was doing because she had to, not because she wanted to.

Today, she had dark circles under her eyes, so Bane assumed that she had had nightmares last night. Good. Nightmares helped people toughen up.

Viper was the most unusual of the group, mostly because she was a snake. A talking snake at that. When he had first met her, her translator had acted up, so she had spoken a string of angry Chinese on the bus before becoming depressed. Other than that, she was extremely competent in martial arts.

All in all though, they were not the sort of people that Bane would have chosen ideally. Still, they were more tolerable than working with el payaso.

They would have to do though. If Bane was to get that treasure, then he needed their help. One person wouldn't be able to traverse this planet alone.

He had managed to increase his personal finances in what had been the Sniper's tower. He had collected some ammo and about $43. There had been a lone sniper rifle in the room, but long-range weaponry wasn't Bane's style. There had also been a small vial of red liquid that looked similar, but not the same as what Medic had used yesterday.

He wished he had gotten more money though. He needed to convince Medicto do his favour.

As they advanced towards Medic's hut, Bane pulled out his rifle, just in case more Bandits came by. Thankfully, there was no sound that suggested that.

When they reached the hut, Bane put away his rifle to remove any sense of hostility. He rapped on the door sharply. "Médico! It's us!"

"You're Spanish?" Alex asked.

"Is that a problem?" Bane asked as Medic opened the door.

"No." Alex shrugged. "Just something I should've picked up on."

"Ja, ja, fascinating." Medic was scowling, but Bane didn't think about that it was about their conversation. "Come in."

The Tree Hunters walked in. The dead body had disappeared completely, but nothing had been tidied up. Bane suspected that this was what his hut commonly looked like.

"So vhat do you vant?" Medic asked aggressively.

Twilight winced. "Is this a bad time?"

"Nein." Medic replied. "Vell, ja, but it's nothing zhat you should concern yourself about."

"Well, we came here to see if you needed anything doing." Viper said. "We figured that we should make ourselves useful."

"Vere to start?" Medic asked bitterly. "Zhis town has been nothing but bad luck for me and mein teammates."

Bane pinpointed the problem. "We… apologise for your fellow men."

"Don't be." Medic waved his hand. "Instead, convert your sorrow into hatred towards King."

"King." Alex frowned. "He's the Bandit leader?"

"Nein, he's just a lieutenant." Medic gripped the table. "But, Gott im Himmel, he vill feel mein wrath!"

"Just a lieutenant?" Alex's face fell. "You mean these Bandits have a chain of command?"

Medic raised his eyebrow. "Vhy vouldn't zey? If zey didn't, zen you'd have Bandits running all over ze place with no meaning or purpose."

"…I guess." Alex sighed.

"So who's the big boss?" Twilight asked.

"I believe it to be a man named Victor, or somezhing like zhat." Medic replied. "I don't know, I'm not a Bandit."

Bane frowned. "So… do you have any jobs for us?"

Medic looked thoughtful for a bit. "Vell… actually, ja. But it's no more zan pest control to be honest."

"Great." Alex muttered. "So it's trivial."

"What's the job?" Viper asked.

"Vell, zere's a pack of Nightmares zat live at ze front gate of ze town." Medic explained. "I don't believe zat zey have the right to be zere. Mein job for you lot is to get rid of them."

"A pack?"

"Right." Alex nodded. "Let's go then."

"Hold on." Bane said. He turned to Medic. "What do we get in return?"

Medic sighed. "Of course you vould ask zat question. Well, you'll be paid for it. I don't have much, but I believe I can spare $20 for each of you."

Twilight shrugged. "That's reasonable I guess."

"Go on outside." Bane said. "I need to speak to el médico for a moment."

Bane ignored the curious looks of his comrades and waited for them to leave. Indeed, he waited until he could see them at the opposite side of the football field before he closed the door.

"I'm assuming zat zhis is about your request?" Medic asked.

"You said yourself that you can make chemicals." Bane said. "This is no different."

"True… true. But vhat do I get in return?"

"We'll do tasks for you, no matter how menial. On top of that, we'll kill King for you."

Medic blinked, then grinned. "Now you are speaking mein language." He then frowned in thought. "It'll be difficult zough."

"I know." Bane said simply.

Medic grinned sadistically. "Very vell, zen. If I am satisfied vith you lot, zhen I vill try to make zhis 'Venom'. I vill need the formula zough."

Bane nodded. "Do you have something to write with?"

Medic nodded and gave him a pen. After shaking it a few times, Bane wrote down the formula.

"I previously took a much stronger drug than this." Bane said. "But it gave me permanent memory loss, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of this formula."

"Zat's fine." Medic looked at it interestedly. "It looks potent. I don't know if I can get a hold of ze ingredients, zough. I'll see vhat I can do."

"Thank you." Bane nodded.

Babe walked outside to find the other Tree Hunters waiting patiently for him.

"What did you talk to him about?" Twilight asked.

Ignoring her, Bane walked to the front of the group and said, "Let's go."

Alex nodded and drew his pistol. Viper followed and Twilight grumbled, pulling out her SMG.

As they walked towards the gate, Alex started grumbling. "I can't believe that we're running pest control. This is just incredibly…"

"These Nightmares are dangerous, aren't they?" Twilight asked scathingly. "Isn't that actiony enough for you?"

"Actiony?!" Alex snapped. "What the hell does that even mean?!"

"Quiet." Bane ordered. "We accomplish nothing by arguing."

The group reached the gate in silence.

Before they exited, Bane turned to Alex. "What do you think these 'Nightmares' will be like?"

Alex frowned in thought. "Well… Medic said that there was a pack of them. So that narrows it down to about two possibilities…"

"Which are?" Viper looked around outside.

Bane looked around as well. There were several dugouts in the rock that were like miniature caves.

"There's Rippers." Alex looked at the dugouts. "But judging by those caves, I'd say that we're up against -"

A shrieking howl interrupted him.

Bane spun around in the direction of the howl. On top of one of the dugouts was a dark blue wolf-like creature. Its eyes were bright yellow and vicious, while its teeth were about as sharp as a cutlass. It was small in stature, a bit like a puppy. Several strands of barbed wire poked out of its skin like stubble.

The Pup Howler shrieked again, alerting the rest of its friends. (Secretly in love with the moon)

"…Howlers." Alex finished.

The Pup Howler jumped down and ran towards the adventurers. Bane dispatched it with a few rounds of his ASULT-RFL, but its friends had crawled out of their dens, blinking in the sunlight and glaring at the Tree Hunters.

Viper readied herself. "This is going to be tough."

Alex pulled out his pistol. "They'll howl when they get angry. Take advantage of that."

Twilight aimed down her sights. "Sorry Fluttershy…"

Alex blinked. "Who and what?"

He paid for his distraction with a Howler jumping on his face. He snarled as he hit the ground and stabbed the Howler through the throat and shot at a few more Pups.

Bane shot a bunch of Pups as they ran towards him in single file. One managed to get close to him, so he kicked it away and shot it in the face.

Twilight seemed to be having an easier time killing today. She didn't start openly crying, she just did what she had to do and shot at the Pups. She quickly switched to her Handgun, presumably to save ammo.

Viper was actually doing pretty well. She didn't have any gunfire to avoid, so she was doing well with the horde of Howlers, snapping necks and kicking Pups into other Pups.

After a few more kills, the group had finished with the pack.

Twilight wiped blood off of her face. "Was that it?"

"Looks like it." Viper said. "Why do they look like wolves on Earth, though?"

"I don't know." Alex said. He turned to Twilight. "Who's Fluttershy?"

Bane noticed something poking out of a Howler's mouth. On closer inspection, it looked like the butt of a gun. He ripped it out.

"…Ew." Viper winced. "What's that?"

Bane looked at the gun. It was a civilian shotgun, single-barrelled. Like Twilight's Handgun, the gun was a dull grey and it was scratched all over. The title card read 'Crit-Boosted Shotgun'. It was Level 2, white in rarity and it was made by Scaleskin Ind.

"It's called a shotgun." Bane explained. "It fires a spread of pellets instead of a single bullet."

Twilight looked interested. "Huh. Is it powerful?"

"At close range, yeah." Alex said. "But at long range…"

"The pellets would've spread out too far and thin to be of any physical effect." Twilight nodded.

"Good to see that you understand this stuff."

A low growl alerted them to another threat.

Bane turned around to see another Howler on top of the den, but it was bigger than the Pups, the barbed wire had grown to wrap around its body and it was also rather fat.

The Adult Howler jumped down and growled again. (Level 5)

"…Erm…" Alex started backing away. "I think we found the mother."

"Is it pregnant?" Viper wondered aloud.

"No matter." Bane raised his new shotgun.

This movement prompted the Adult into rushing Bane and knocking him back a bit.

Dazed, Bane shook the stars out of his vision, got up and started firing.

This thing seemed to be able to absorb bullets like a sponge, because the others were firing heaps of bullets into it to no avail. Alex was scoring headshot after headshot, but he eventually cursed. "Out of ammo!"

Twilight was switching between SMG and pistol, panicking and running whenever the Howler ran for her. Viper wasn't having much luck with her melee strategy, as the thing was hard to approach. Alex, without much of a choice, ran in for sword slashes.

Bane shot at the Howler again and again, to little avail though. The creature seemed to have a tough hide that was difficult to get through.

Eventually, Twilight ran out of ammo as well and she cursed in anger. It was then that Bane realised that Twilight needed a melee weapon, like Viper needed a way to shoot a gun.

The creature wised up to the melee antics and kicked Viper and Alex away, sending them sprawling. It then walked towards Bane slowly.

He kept firing at it, since it was bleeding all over. It couldn't have that much health left by now.

The Howler snarled at him as he reloaded and howled into the air.

Seeing an unguarded spot underneath its face, Bane spotted his opportunity, switched to the rifle and fired six rounds into the monster's head.

The bullets passed straight through the Howler's brain and out the other side of its head. It staggered for a bit before falling to the ground, dead.

Alex and Viper staggered up and looked at the body.

"…Seeing how that thing reaches up to Alex's chest in height," Viper said. "That was a lot harder than it should've been."

"Good work, Bane." Alex muttered. "Screw you, Twilight."

"What?!" Twilight burst. "What on Eque- Eden did I do?!"

"You stopped attacking once you ran out of ammo!" Alex snapped.

"I don't have a weapon for close combat!" Twilight shouted furiously.

Alex opened his mouth, closed it, frowned, then said, "Good point."

"We'll figure out that problem later." Bane said.

"Hey guys…" Viper frowned at the corpse. "Some money fell out."

The group looked at the dead Howler to see that indeed, some money had fallen out of its mouth, along with some ammunition.

"Huh." Twilight frowned. "Maybe it ate some Bandits."

"Shame that it didn't eat a weapon." Alex said.

"…Shall we go get paid?" Bane asked.

"Yeah…" Viper frowned. "I feel like a mercenary."

"Don't worry about it." Alex said. "A few weeks in this place and the distinction between soldier and mercenary will disappear entirely."

"Oh, wonderful. You're clearly a fountain of inspiration."

The group walked back into Bycroft, wiping Howler blood off of their bodies. They had looted the corpses and arrived back in Bycroft significantly wealthier.

When they got to Medic's hut, they found him tying a noose to the roof of his front porch and measuring it as well.

He scowled as they approached, but not at them. "Um Gotteswillen. A mere two inches."

"Sorry?" Twilight asked.

"King's noose." Medic explained without turning around. "It's two inches too long."

"…Right." Alex shook his head. "Well, before you embark on an odyssey of revenge, could you pay us for completing the task?"

Medic looked at them and saw the blood on their clothing.

He blinked. "You did it? You killed ze Howlers?"

"Yeah." Viper smiled. "It was… difficult, but we did it."

Medic looked at them and smiled. "Vell… I'm a man of mein word. Hold on a minute."

He walked back into his hut and came back with four wads of money. When Bane received his, he did a quick count to find that he was a dollar off. He shrugged. It was close enough.

"Thanks." Twilight said respectfully.

"Muchas gracias." Bane said, storing the money away.

"Thank you." Viper had some difficulty putting the money away due to her lack of arms.

"Appreciated." Alex said simply.

"Your velcome." Medic nodded. "By ze way… could you do me anozer favour?"

Bane nodded.

"What do we get for this one?" Alex asked immediately.

Medic smirked. "Vell, I can't offer you money… but I can offer you a free shield."

"A shield?" Twilight asked. "I don't know if that and a gun would work in conjunction…"

"An energy shield." Medic corrected her. "It forms an invisible barrier avound you and protects you from solid objects, like bullets, rockets, rocks, and ze like."

"…Sounds interesting." Viper said. "And useful. What do we have to do?"

Medic gestured for them to follow him round the back. They did and found a vending machine with a cartoon, anthromorphic syringe on the front. It looked like a recent car-crash victim. On the side, it read 'Medizin-Verkauf' in stylish writing.

"Zhis is a Med Vendor." Medic explained. "I earn most of mein profits from selling medical equipment from zese."

"Cool." Twilight looked at it. "How does it work?"

"I'll show you vhen you fix it." Medic replied.

Bane raised an eyebrow.

"It vhas broken during ze Bandit raid yesterday." Medic said. "Fortunately, it only needs a new power coupling, and ve have an old vendor on ze outskirts of ze town. Your job is to get the coupling from ze old machine and place it on zhis vun. Can you manage zat?"

"Sounds easy enough." Viper said. "Is it anywhere near a Howler den?"

"Not zat I'm avare of." Medic replied.

"Right." Alex nodded. "We'll be right back. Let's go."

The gang walked back outside the town, avoiding the Howler corpses.

Twilight looked up at the sky and frowned. "Hey, does anyone know how long the days last around here?"

"Somewhere around eight or ten hours." Bane replied. "We don't have to worry about daylight running out anytime soon."

"Which way's the old machine?" Viper asked, looking left and right.

"Let's try the left first." Alex said. "That way, if we have to go back, it'll be a short trip."

The Tree Hunters proceeded to the left, searching for the med vendor. They all had their guns out, just in case some Howlers were nearby.

A couple of minutes passed before they saw a rectangular prism lying down in front of a fence. They approached the med vendor, satisfied that they found it.

"What does a power coupling look like?" Twilight asked.

"Like a long tube." Alex replied. "It'll be glowing."

"So it's that thing." Viper poked a blue rod on the side of the med vendor.

"Yeah."

Bane reached for it when he heard a soft sound. It was a car engine, an engine that sounded way too similar to the engines of the Bandit vehicles.

And it was getting louder.

The gang spun around to see two of the Bandit vehicles rushing up to them. Each one had three Thugs clinging to it, whooping crazily and brandishing guns.

"Off the road!" Alex yelled, diving to the left and onto the dirt. Bane rolled to the side as well and Twilight jumped on top of the vendor. Viper simply flattened down, and the vehicles zoomed right over her.

The Bandit Speedies did some screeching U-turns in order to try and run over our heroes again. (Gotta go fast!)

The excess Thugs jumped off, half of which were Raiding Thugs, who welded SMGs. They immediately started firing at the Tree Hunters while the Speedies rushed forward in an attempt to hit something alive.

This turned out to be bit of a mistake, as Viper jumped up onto one Speedie and hit the driver in the face. She then bit him in the neck, smashed his head into the steering wheel and dived into the other Speedie.

Bane saw this as a good opportunity to test his new shotgun against Bandits. He fired at a Thug a few times. It took a bit due to the pellet spread, but the Thug did fall dead eventually.

Alex, meanwhile, had shot the Raiding Thug and the other normal Thug both in the head without much effort. It honestly looked like it was too easy for him.

Twilight whipped out her pistol and shot the last Raiding Thug over and over again until he fell dead. Bane was impressed by how far she had come, and in such a short time.

Hearing a crash, Bane turned to see Viper land from jumping out of the last Speedie before it crashed.

"That wasn't too much of a spectacle, was it?" She asked.

"Dunno." Alex replied. "We were paying attention to something else."

Bane noticed that Viper was holding a gun in her tail. "What's that?"

"I stole it from the driver." Viper replied. "It was to stop him from shooting me."

"You may as well keep it." Alex said. "If just to tell people that you have a gun."

Medic's voice came on over the radio. "I heard zome shots outside. Is everything…?"

"We're fine." Twilight assured him. "We were just attacked by some Bandits, that's all."

"Hm… ho, ho, ho!" Medic chuckled. "Looks like you got under King's skin. Vhich is good! He knows zhat his end is coming!"

"…Right." Alex said when Medic left the radio conversation. "Why does he think that we'll kill King?"

"Because I told him we will." Bane replied, walking over to the vendor.

Twilight and Viper's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Well, that figures." Alex said drily. "Why did you commit us to this without consulting us?"

"I need something from him." Bane took the coupling off of the vendor.

"YOU need something from him?!" Twilight shouted. "What about us?! What do we get?!"

"You get assurance that we get to the Tree." Bane replied.

"You should've told us first!" Viper snapped. "What if we can't?"

"We will."

"And if we don't want to?"

Bane regarded her coldly. "I am here to claim a prize. I don't care what you say, I will make sure that will happen no matter what."

"What do you get if you do?" Alex asked.

"Complete dominance of the criminal underworld."

"Oh, so you're a criminal, are you?" Twilight demanded. "Explains a lot."

"And what do we get?" Viper asked angrily. "Assuming that you want all of that treasure."

"We will split it." Bane replied. "You two will get enough to get home. I'll take the rest."

"This is assuming that the Tree exists." Alex grumbled. "Look, we got the coupling, let's just get back, okay?"

The girls glared at the other two for a while before grudgingly following them. The guys ignored them.

Trudging back in silence, they found Medic testing his noose with a dead Howler from the front. He pushed the body off of the roof and its neck broke with a sickly snap.

The girls winced.

"Perfect!" Medic said, climbing off of the roof. "An excellent length!"

"Why's he using a…? Never mind." Alex shook his head.

"Médico!" Bane shouted, holding up the coupling.

Medic turned to the Tree Hunters, saw the coupling and grinned. "Wunderbar! Follow me."

Around the back, Medic gestured to the machine. "Just take out ze old coupling and replace it."

Bane did so, throwing away the broken part and placing the new coupling in the machine. Immediately, it glowed to life.

"Good, good!" Medic nodded. "Now zen, you asked how zhis vurks, Fräulein Sparkle?"

"Yeah." Twilight frowned. "Actually, did we ever get around to telling you our names? How'd you know mine?"

"Herr Bane told me." Medic replied.

"Oh." Twilight glared at Bane. "Another thing he didn't tell us about."

Bane ignored her.

Medic looked back and forth between them, detecting some anger between them. "Erm… anyvay, you press zhis button here," Medic pointed to a green button on the vendor. He pressed it and a holographic display opened up. "And zere you go!"

"Is your blood entirely out of your body?" The machine said in a pre-recorded voice belonging to Medic. "Zen step right up!"

"Huh." Twilight looked at it. "A projection."

"It's called a hologram." Alex said irritably.

"From zhese machines, you can buy Heath Vials, Shields and I'm thinking of adding anozer product to zhese… speaking of shields zough…" Medic made some sweeping motions into the hologram, moving through the tabs until he got to one marked 'Payment'. On it were four pictures of some shields.

"Those are ours?" Viper asked.

"Ja."

Bane read the title card. The shield was called a 'SL-DG Standard Good Shield'. It was Level 2 and was white in rarity. The next one was the same and so were the other two.

"Sorry about ze lack of variety." Medic apologised. "WAR is running a monopoly on ze health and gun trading. Business isn't going so vell."

"So that's why you want Buy n' Large out of here."

"Ja."

Bane purchased a shield from the vendor, prompting another pre-recorded message: "Zat'll keep you alive for a bit longer!"

The others brought their shields immediately after. They watched Alex apply his shield in a similar way to how he applied his S-NET device, except he put it on his waist. Bane shrugged and attached his to his left bicep. Viper sighed and applied hers on top of her S-NET. Twilight put hers on the other side of her hip.

When he applied the shield, his HUD flashed with the words 'Optimising shield display module'. When it was done, a blue bar flashed on top of his health bar with the number 120 on it. Presumably, that was how much power it had in it.

"I'll try to stock mein machines with better products, but for now, you have zose." Medic said.

The group said their thanks.

"Don't mention it." Medic waved his hand. "Danke, though. I'll tell you ven I need somezing else zat needs doing."

"Very well." Alex looked at the others. "What now?"

Twilight shrugged. "Dunno. Relax, I guess."

"Will do." Viper sighed. "Hey Twilight? Want to talk in my house?"

"Sure." The girls left the hut.

Alex looked at Bane. "Did you have any guns in your cabin?"

"A sniper rifle." Bane replied.

"Belonging to vun of mein late friends, no doubt." Medic said. "Incidently… vhat is ze name of ze gun?"

Bane frowned. "It was made by a company called 'Mann Co.'"

Alex shuddered. "Those idiots have set up shop here?"

"Most of mein team's… mein late team's weapons vere made by Mann Co." Medic explained. "Vhat rarity is it?"

"…Green." Bane said after a bit of thinking.

"Zen it is fine." Medic said to Alex. "You can have it. Sniper had no love for zat particular rifle."

"Good." Alex said, smiling a bit. He left the hut.

"Now, Bane, before you go…" Medic said.

"Yes?" Bane turned to Medic.

"I know vere to find ze chemicals zat you need."

"Excellent." Bane smiled.

"But I can't get to zem."

The smile evaporated immediately. "…How do we get to them?"

"Vell, zat's the thing. You can't either."

Bane glared at Medic for an explanation.

"You see," Medic sighed. "Zere's anozer village nearby, vun of robots."

"A village of robots…" Bane said.

"Ja. It's called Tornenhurst. Zere's also a WAR research facility nearby as vell. It has ze chemicals zat I need."

Bane nodded.

"So, ze robots can somehow get in and out vithout getting noticed. Zat is how you can get your chemicals. But it's not just you zat needs somezing from zem." Medic said.

"Oh?" Bane asked.

"I remember zat vun of zem is rather good at mechanics. He could probably build a vay for your serpentine friend to hold a gun."

"Anything else?" Bane asked.

"Vun of zem knows a bit about elemental veaponry. That's it really."

Bane raised an eyebrow. "Elemental weaponry?"

"He'll explain." Medic said. "If you survive, zat is. Zey don't really take kindly to humans."

Bane frowned. "So we'll have to gain their trust."

"Unfortunately. It vill take time."

"We have plenty of that." Bane assured him. "Shall we go as soon as possible?"

Medic laughed nervously. "Ha, ha… nein. Zey vere attacked by Bandits a few days back… zey're probably still twitchy. My recommendation is to vait until tomorrow, zen go and meet zem."

Bane nodded and turned to leave. "Understood."

Medic blinked and added, "Ze biggest obstacle vill most likely be ze guard. Be vary."

Bane walked outside. "Muy bien."