//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: Slab Gardening 101 // Story: Borderlands 2 DLC: Vault of the Consular // by NightStream //------------------------------// Earlier that day… “Finally, it looks like we made it.” Lilith let out a sigh of relief as they arrived at the town of Griffonstone. After sitting around for what felt like hours, the siren arrived with Roland, Mordecai, and Brick as they began to take in the sights. Salvador was also with them too as he began to take in the sights of everything around them… or lack thereof for a better term. If a picture were to paint a thousand words, then the best way to summarize what Griffonstone looked like to them was ‘if Overlook was in Equestria’. The whole town looked like it was a complete dump and many of the griffons that were walking the streets weren’t entirely so warm and welcoming like you would expect from the townsfolk in Ponyville. “Well, this place looks downright upsetting,” Lilith sighed, “Who was it that we were looking for again?” “I think Rainbow told me that it was a griffon named Gilda or something like that,” Mordecai replied, “Though, I highly doubt we’re going to be expecting some kind of welcoming committee that can help us.” “Well, maybe there’s some place that we could ask around,” the siren suggested, before noticing something out of the corner of her eye. “I think there’s a bar over there. Maybe we can see if some of the patrons can give us some information-” Of course, much to their surprise, Salvador was already making his way over there. Over the course of the train ride, he didn’t have the chance to get anything to drink and his throat felt like sandpaper. If he wanted to stay focused, then he needed something to quench his thirst right now. Either that or end up like one of the townsfolk in Oasis. “Well, I guess Salvador has the same idea… I think?” Roland asked as he started to follow behind Salvador. As they were walking towards the bar some of the griffons nearby were eyeing them, seeing what they were doing. “I guess they don’t very many visitors.” Roland commented as he saw the looks they were getting. “Hey as long as they don’t start anything, it’s all fine to me.” Brick commented with a cocky smirk. “I’ll just stay outside,” Mordecai said, before he left out the door. It looked like Salvador himself was doing just fine. But, he could still hear what the other griffons were saying within earshot. Needless to say, he was not too happy about it. “The beak is up with that guy? I mean, is he even supposed to be a pony?” “He looks like if an ape slept with his mother. Maybe his grandmother even-” As Salvador finished his drink, he also subsequently shattered the glass that he was drinking as he glared at both the griffons that were talking. “WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT MI ABUELA, PENDEJO!?!” “What the-!?” The griffon did not have enough time to react as Salvador’s hooves smacked the griffon in the face. Breaking his jaw and sending him flying through a window. “You’re going to pay for that, freak!!” His accomplice snapped, swiping at Salvador with claws. Much to his surprise, Salvador blocked it with a hoof. Before headbutting the griffon and throwing him outside too. “WHO’S NEXT, PENDEJOS!?!” “Get that guy!!” “Well, guess that did not last long-” Lilith was going to continue talking as the rest of the bar turned into a complete free for all, but stopped when she saw of the griffons grab a chair and smashed it across Brick’s head. “Oh no.” Brick just straightened out after the hit and rolled his shoulders. “You know, a friend of mine told me I should get a hobby. Told me of something that might help me pass the time,” Brick then turned around and grabbed the griffon that hit him by the shoulders. “And you happen to the perfect example. So guess what? IMMA PLANT ME A DUMBASS TREE!!!” He then lifted the griffon up and planted him head first into the ground until only the griffons paws and tail was visible from the floor. “WHO’S NEXT?!?!” “I am just gonna go over here.” Roland simply said as he walked over to the counter, not even trying to stop Brick as he pummeled his way into the fray. “Gimme a strong one.” Placing a few bits on the countertop. “Coming right up.” the bartender said with a little hesitance. Meanwhile, as he watched the chaos that unfolded from outside, Mordecai was honestly glad that he decided to not be in there. The hunter knew that it was definitely a bad idea to have a pissed off gunzerker and an equally pissed off Berserker in the same place. Especially in a bar full of drunks and with a guy shouting through their ECHO device like he was giving play by play commentary. He was hoping that literally anything could distract him from what was going on right now. Luckily, he soon got what he asked for. “Hey you,” He looked up, only to turn and see a griffon who had white feathers around her head while the fur and feathers on the rest of her body were brown, “Would you happen to be with the knuckleheads that happened to start that mess?” That had Mordecai tense up a bit, narrowing his gaze at the griffon as Talon did the same, keeping a pistol at the ready and hidden from view. “Who’s asking?” “Woah, easy there. No need to be hostile,” the griffon went up on her back legs, holding her claws up in the air, “A friend of mine told me that a group of you would be here in Griffonstone that needed some help. Mostly ponies and one griffon-” “VAMOS, IDIOTAS!!!” That was followed by what sounded like an explosion, followed by Mordecai smacking his forehead with his claw. “Aye yae yae…” Back inside, the bartender could only look in both amusement and confusion as he witnessed his bar get destroyed because of two ponies utterly defeating any griffons who attempted to even attack them. “So, I take it stuff like this happens somewhat often?” directing the question towards the Soldier, while also passing him his third drink. “Somewhat, but the one whos bigger only does that if someone instigates it.” Roland said as he takes a sip. “I apologize for what my friends have done.” The bartender just shrugs. “Not the first time my bar has been through something like this… just not to this degree anyway.” “At least Brick didn’t bri-” Roland began only to suddenly turn towards the front of the building as he sees a griffon go flying by and shattering the glass that is by Mordecai. “AND HE’S OUTTA HERE! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!” Brick said as he puts his fist hammer over his shoulder. Roland just lets a very heavy sigh at that. “Of course he has it on him.” After he said that Mordecai peeks his head in to see what just happened. “Alright, just what the hell happened that started all of this?” “Well one of the griffons insulted Salvador’s grandmother,” Roland began as he turned around to face Mordecai. “and after that one decided it was a good idea to smack Brick with a chair and, well…” He trailed off as he pointed to the griffon stuck in the ground. “That happened. Then it all just spiraled out of control from there.” Mordecai took a moment to look around the room, before looking to the griffon that was planted in the ground. “Heh. Dumbass.” As he said that, Lilith herself got up from her seat and turned to the bartender. “Put my drink on his tab,” She said, pointing to Roland with a hoof before noticing the griffon behind Mordecai. “So, you made a new friend?” “In a sense,” Mordecai told her, before stepping out of the way so Gilda could see her, “Let’s just say that what was going on in the bar attracted her attention. Lilith, this is Gilda. Gilda, this is Lilith.” “So you’re Rainbow’s friend hunh? Nice to meet you,” Lilith replied back. “Same… Though, for the record, I’ve only been patching things up with Rainbow most recently,” The griffon clarified, “So, I was informed that your group was looking for something?” “Yeah, it’s a piece of something though.” Roland said as he came back from paying for the drinks, and some of the damages that were done to the bar. “We need to find it, and according to previous experiences some weird stuff will happen near it.” Roland then sighs before looking back into the bar. “So should we give them a few more minutes or try and stop them now?” “We could leave Mordy here and let them catch up afterwards,” Lilith suggested. “Works for me, Mordecai you ok with that?” Roland said to the Hunter. “Sure, I guess. Someone’s going to have to make sure they don’t do anything stupid… aside from what they already did.” “Take it easy, and not get injured either.” Roland said to Mordecai before turning to Gilda. “So you are Gilda then, what strange thing has been happening around here then?” “Define strange,” She told them, “Nothing aside from the locals being complete self obsessed jerks is really considered as ‘normal’ around here.” “Huh, the last few times we needed to go somewhere, some enemies from were we are from showed up here.” Roland started. “Prime example being Varkids, and from what I heard loader bots as well.” “I… don’t have any clue on what you’re talking about, but there is one place that could be something to look into,” The griffon told them, “One of the mining sites that the griffons was used to process minerals that we trade with Equestria and other countries was shut down recently when some of the workers got hurt. I didn’t hear much, but when Grandpa Gruff was talking with one of the workers that was there, he said that they were attacked by some… invisible monster or something.” That had Lilith stop for a moment. There was only one thing that she could think of that met that description… and when she realized what it entailed, she was not entirely enthusiastic about it. “Oh great. Please don’t tell me that you’re referring to what I think you’re referring too.” “You know something about them?” Gilda asked, sounding a bit surprised. “It’s highly likely,” The siren replied, “Back where we are from, we call them Stalkers. They’re reptilian like creatures that can cloak themselves and be invisible before they attack prey,” With that, she then turned to Roland and asked one question. “You got a shock weapon? We’re going to need it.” “I think I have one on hand, but this is going to be not fun at all,” Roland muttered as he looked through his inventory before finding one. “For now at least it’s just stalkers, but I dread if there are more over there.” “Let’s see what we’re dealing with first before we make any predictions like that.” Lilith told him in response. “If it’s really bad, then we’ll need Mordecai and the others for backup.” “It’s just that from our experiences is that i can’t help but prepare for the worst when we go on missions like this is all. Besides I know Mordecai and them will help anyway… I mean hell if it came down to it I think just Brick and Salvador could handle it themselves.” Roland followed up with. “You mean if they weren’t already busy?” “You have a point there.” Roland admitted, as they hear the sound of another glass window breaking. “If anything, they can just pinpoint our location with their ECHO device and catch up with us that way,” Lilith told him, before going on ahead, “Now let’s go see how bad the stalker problem is.” “Hopefully it won’t be as bad as it is on Pandora.” He said following Lilith. “Are you trying to jinx us?” She asked him. “If it was as bad as Pandora, we would be seeing a lot less Griffons.” Roland sighed. “Sorry, just still getting used to, you know, being back and all that. Also doesn’t help with this new body.” “Yeah, don’t mind him,” the siren told Gilda, “We’ll help solve your problem. Now, could you show us where it is?” “It’s in the quarry not that far from here,” the griffon replied, going ahead and taking the lead to show them where its at. All while the Soldier and the Siren began to get ready for a fight. “Come on, are you two done in there already?” Mordecai now asked Brick and Salvador as both of them looked to have finally been finishing up with their business in the bar, “This place looks less like a bar and more like a dumbass forest with the amount of ‘trees’ you’ve been planting.” “Not yet.” Brick said as he picked up another griffin and started making them hit themselves. “They started this and I am making sure I end it, right Slab?” He said directing the question to Salvador. “Toda la razón!” Salvador shouted, which Mordecai knew as ‘Damn right!’ and gave him even more of a reason to sigh. “Well we better hurry up. Lilith and Roland found who we were looking for and went off on their own. I’m listening to their ECHO and it appears we got a stalker problem out in the nearby quarry.” “Huh, can they handle it a little long-” “I don’t mean to be rude, but I think you should listen to your friend.” The barkeep said as he walked forward with a flat look on his face. “While I normally don’t interfere in fights that go on in my bar, I don’t take very well to it being… as your friend stated… ‘a dumbass forest’. Now one of the ponies who left earlier paid for some of the damages that the two of you caused and unless you want to pay for any MORE damage, I think this is a point to stop.” The barkeep sighs heavily. “Besides the ones that are planted will be paying for the rest of the damages since they did initiate this little brawl.” He then goes to the counter and grabs a bottle and hands it to Salvador. “It may not be the strongest I have here but take it, it’s on the house.” “Gracias, amigo!” The barkeep then goes back behind the counter and waits for the other patrons to wake up. “Don’t worry about cleaning up, I will make them clean up their mess.” Motioning over to the ‘Forest’. “Heh, thanks for that. Well I guess we shouldn’t keep Roland waiting then.” Brick said to Mordecai. “Oh before you go any further.” The barkeep spoke up before they left. “From what I heard from the rest of these idiots before you came in was there some strange flying creatures as well near the quarry. Said they looked like some sort of huge bat like creature, you might want to be careful of them and whatever those stalkers are.” “So a Rakk and Stalker problem. Got it.” “Thanks for the tip, but that’s nothing new for us from where we are from.” Brick said as he exited the bar. “I think Roland and Lilith can handle themselves till we get there right Mordecai?” “Hopefully,” he replied, “If this were just a Rakk problem, then that would be easy. But since we’re dealing with Stalkers and you can’t really see the bastards unless you shock them first, then it’s going to be a lot more difficult. Either way, we should hurry.” “I think they can at least hold off until we get there. I mean, it’s Lilith and Roland. They know how to hold down an area.” Brick commented. “You do realize that there’s someone else with them, right amigo?” Salvador asked, turning to Mordecai as he just nodded his head. “Ah well, guess there’s only one way to solve this.” “Well that changes things then. Let’s get a move on and hopefully they left some fun for us.” Brick said as he chuckled. “Knowing what we might be up against, we’re going to have plenty of fun once we catch up,” Mordecai told him. “Here we are,” Gilda told both the soldier and the siren as they approached the abandoned quarry. Mining tools and equipment were just left on the ground and all over the place and stains of blood were already dried up on the soil. Giant holes were seen along the walls, but nothing else was noticeable or out of the ordinary, aside from the ‘KEEP OUT’ sign that was planted not far from the entrance. “This was where the attacks happened.” “Definitely seems like a place that a stalker attack would happen at,” Lilith commented as she looked around the area. “That’s for sure, and honestly I expected at least some drag marks or burn marks if there were the badass variants.” Roland said as well, surveying the area. Before he could go further he heard a voice coming from Lilith’s ECHO. “Hey Lilith, you there? Got some news for you,” They heard Brick speak to them through Lilith’s ECHO device. “Just a heads up, but it seems there is some Rakks as well at the quarry. So be on the lookout until we get there.” “Well sh-” Roland began as he then heard the all too familiar sound of a Rakk. “Better hurry then, Brick. Show’s about to start,” Lilith said, before pulling out a Maliwan shock SMG, “When those Rakks start coming at us, the Stalkers are bound to show up soon after.” “No kidding, lets at least thin the herd before this really kicks off then.” Roland said as he pulled out a DAHL shock assault rifle. Lilith smirked, before turning to Gilda, “You might want to find some cover. It would be better if you didn’t get caught in the crossfire.” “Also don’t mind the noise, because it’s going to get real loud.” Roland chuckled as he deployed his turret, which started firing upon the rakks shortly after deploying. All Gilda did in that moment was just nod, before flying over to where she was hiding behind a boulder near the opening of the quarry. Turning her head as Lilith herself was paying attention to the ground in front of them. Making sure that nothing got the jump on Roland or his Scorpio turret as he was shooting at the Rakk in the sky. “How’s it looking like by you, Lilith? Any Stalkers yet?” Roland asked as he had his focus entirely on the sky, occasionally dodging Rakks or their bodies as they come flying by. As some Rakks fell down, Lilith noticed some shifting movement in the ground as she grit her teeth. “Yeah, we definitely got company. Gimme a second,” she said, before disappearing right in front of Gilda. Startling the griffon in the process. “H-How did-?” She said, just before Lilith re-emerged and set off a phase strike that stripped a stalker of its shield. “Long story, lots of internal bleeding, we’ll explain later,” Lilith interjected, before firing her smg and killing the stalker, “Any word from the others yet, Roland?” “Hey Brick, how is it coming along with you?” Roland said as he was able to get some time in between killing the Rakks to check in with Brick. “We can hear the gunfire now, we are getting closer to you.” Brick commented. “They are on their way now,” Roland told Lilith as he then got back to shooting Rakks. “Perfect. It’ll be much safer knowing we got someone watching our backs,” the siren replied, taking a second to reload her weapon and look back around the area as she was on the lookout for more stalkers. “Still not seeing any signs of the key fragment though.” “Yeah, who knows where it could be.” Roland said as the Rakks were now ignoring them for now. “Well we have some respite for now, but not for long I imagine.” “Hey everyone, we late to the party? I don’t hear any gunfire anymore.” Brick said as he walked over with Salvador and Mordecai. As Lilith turned around, a stalker began to make its approach towards her, but was quickly shot down by Mordecai. “If anything, I think this party’s just getting started,” Mordecai smirked, priming his rifle again as Salvador armed himself with two unkempt harolds. “Let’s go, amigos!” “AW HELL YEAH!!” Brick shouted as began pummeling Stalkers left and right. “Well I understand the Stalkers, but where the hell did the Rakks come…” Roland began only to trail off midway. “I have a feeling we will find out later, being honest.” Roland said with a flat tone. Just as he heard the sound of rapid explosive rounds being fired from Salvador’s hand cannons. “EAT LEAD, PENDEJOS!!” “Well, time for round two!” Roland laughed as he saw a bigger wave of Rakks coming their way. “Not sure what’s drawing all of them into a frenzy, but this isn’t normal. Even for this planet’s standards,” Mordecai said, followed by shooting at a pair of Stalkers that were behind the ones that Salvador and Brick were engaging head first. “I can think of one thing, it is possible that a rakk hive is nearby and the key fragment is somehow lodged into its body.” Roland said as he redeployed his turret. “Another thing it could be is a really big and badass Stalker thats controlling them via the key fragment. Either way, the fragment has to be a part of this somehow.” “And whatever it is, we need to kill it.” Lilith added, “Hopefully, we don’t have to deal with any of Dr. Zedd’s ‘mistakes’, but considering our track record, who knows.” “Don’t remind me, amiga,” Salvador grumbled, trying not to remember what she was referring to. “For the love of everything, do not go there at a-” Roland began, only for them all to hear an all too familiar sound. “This may sound rich coming from me, but why did you have to say anything at all.” Roland said flatly as a few Skrakks came out of the mine. “Apparently we forget that Karma is a thing.” “LESS TALKING MORE KILLING!!” Brick shouted out as he ran to the nearest Skrakk and punched it hard in the jaw. “Agreed Amigo!! HAHAHAHA!!!” “Well something we definitely all agree on.” Gilda could only watch as the five of them began to fight off and kill almost every monster that was in that valley. When she heard about them from Rainbow, she was led to believe that they were just mere treasure hunters. She did not think that they were savage warriors at all, especially ones that showed no mercy against any opponent that they found themselves up against. “Well I think this confirms it that what we are looking for is in the mine,” Roland said in between shots. “Just the question is how far do we have to go or will one of these things be dumb enough to bring it to us.” “I don’t care as long as we can take care of these things here and now.” “Why don’t we force it out in the open?” Mordecai then suggested as he flew back for a moment to let his allies fight, before Gilda watched as he brought out some kind of metal contraption that was on his waist, “Hey Tina? I got a quick hypothetical for you.” “What is it, Smorgy Mordy? Gaige and I were gonna teach Spikey here how to play Bunkers and Badasses!!” Mordecai just blinked, before letting out a sigh, “We’re trying to force some creatures out of a mine, but they’re… let’s just say… being a bit too bitchy to listen. How much ‘encouragement’ would we need to use in order to draw them out?” “Well, if that’s what your asking, I say enough in order to make them panic like wussies. If you’re at a mine, then there should be some enough boom sticks lying around to do the job! Make that creep wuss out like a biiiiitch!!” As he heard that, Mordecai sighed, before looking to his allies. “Alright, I just got off my ECHO with Tina. I might have an idea for forcing whatever’s inside the cave out here, but it’s going to require a few things.” “Should I even ask what ‘things’ she’s referring too?” Lilith then asked. “She said that if we had enough ‘boom sticks’, we can draw them out. Which leads me to think that she’s referring to dynamite,” the hunter explained, “Try to see if you can find any dynamite lying around. If we try dropping the mine on their heads, it’ll probably force whatever has that key piece to come out so they don’t get crushed.” “Sounds like a plan. Brick, Salvador, you go with Gilda and try and find that dynamite.” Roland took a second to aim at a Skrakk and took it down. “We will stay here and make these things don’t go any further.” “Got it Roland.” Brick then turned to Salvador as he tossed aside a stalker that got shredded by Roland’s turret. “Lets go Slab!” He then said to the Gunzerker. Who’s response was just letting out a triumphant laugh while Gilda slowly followed the two of them. A bit hesitant that she would want to get herself involved with the current situation and all the madness that came with it. “So Gilda, any idea where the miners stored their equipment nearby? That would be the best spot to start looking.” “I wouldn’t be entirely sure since I stay clear of it,” the griffon honestly told them, “But I would think that there’s some kind of shed or someplace nearby where they keep their tools. Try checking there.” “So, like a tool shed then?” “Exactly,” She said, sticking to the skies to get a better view for the others down below. “There looks to be one to the right of the mine entrance. Try going over there.” “Alright, you take it easy and make sure you let us know if anything comes from behind.” Brick then nods to Salvador as the gunzerker went to go check the shed. The door was locked, so he had to resort to kicking the door down as he stepped inside. Finding a crate of dynamite, an empty barrel and what looked to be gunpowder. “Find anything?” Mordecai asked. “Found la dinamita, along with un barril and pólvora.” “What is he saying? I’m having trouble understanding?” Gilda then asked. “He said that he found the dynamite, but also found a barrel and gunpowder. Something tells me that whoever was here first was trying to collapse the place before the tunnel before the stalkers got them. Pobres bastardos,” the hunter replied back, “That might be part of what we’re looking for. Grab everything you can and bring it back.” As Salvador began to start pulling things out and Brick began to grab some of the items, that was when Lilith had a new question. “Part of what we’re looking for? What, do we need another piece?” “Personally, I would think that it would be a bit more preferable if we had something to put the bomb inside the mine rather than put it in ourselves,” Mordecai explained, before looking up for a moment and grinning. “Lilith, Talon’s hovering over a place where he might’ve found a mine cart of sorts. Go see if you can bring it over.” Lilith could only nod, before activating Phasewalk as she disappeared from sight. Startling Gilda again, but not before the berserker and gunzerker brought the supplies back. “Okay, with Tina not being here, we’re going to have to try and come up with this ourselves. Shouldn’t be that hard to do considering that most of the materials are already here,” Mordecai said, putting away his sniper and walking over to the supplies. “When Lilith gets back, we’ll have Brick shove this as far as we can into the tunnel once on the cart. From there, it should make a big enough explosion to draw whatever creature is holding the key out here. In the meantime, cover me.” “Righty-o, amigo!” the gunzerker proclaimed, before turning back to the beasts that were coming after them and began unleashing a torrent of ammo at them. “I hate to be on the receiving end of this when it goes off, but whatever it is will deserve it for sure.” Roland said as he reloaded his gun as the Rakks, Stalkers, and Skrakks all decide to hang back a bit before converging in on them. “TIME TO LIGHT EM UP!” “Got the cart right here!” Lilith stated, before arriving a few moments later, “Brick, you’re up!” “On it!” Brick called back as he started pushing the cart. After a couple seconds he gave it a hard kick and sent it flying into the mine. “Carts down the hole!” “Okay everyone, stand back!” Mordecai declared, aiming into the mineshaft and pulling the trigger, setting off a massive explosion in the mine while they took down the last few remaining beasts. Of course, the explosion caused the ground to shake… and with it, had a new problem emerge from the ground. A giant sized thresher. One that was the size of another giant thresher that Salvador fought before called Terramorpheaus. And each one of the Vault Hunters had their own reaction to this. “Hijo de puta!” “Oh shit.” Lilith cursed “Holy-!” “Oh my god-” “Ha ha ha! Finally, a worthy opponent!!” the vault hunters heard Brick proclaim as he cracked his knuckles. “Our battle will be legendary!!” He then shouted as he ran forward towards the thresher. “Heh, same ole Brick.” Roland said as he reloaded his gun. “Best not to let him have all the fun.” “Y-you’re not serious, are you-” Yet, before Gilda could finish her question, all the vault hunters ran into the fray to take on the beast, much to her own shock as the sound of gunfire rang through the air, “I really need to ask Rainbow about the kind of friends she’s making-” “SWALLOW THIS, PENDEJOS!!” “TURRETS UP AND RUNNING!!” Lilith herself was even trying her best to hit the Thresher as well as throw some grenades at it. However, she soon began to realize a problem. “Guys, nothing’s working! Our shots are barely making a dent in its hide.” “Yeah I can see that, then how-” Roland started, only to be interrupted. “Well if we can’t hurt from the outside, then we damage it FROM THE INSIDE!!” Brick shouted as he ran forward with a yell towards the Thresher. As Brick got closer the Thresher opened its mouth to roar, only for Brick to jump inside it. “I mean… that is one way of doing it.” Roland said as he scratched his head. “Do you really think that’s really going to get him anywhere?” Mordecai asked. Roland opened his mouth to respond, only for the Thresher to start thrashing around in pain. Faint sounds of impacts and Brick yelling could be heard from the Thresher itself. “Sounds like it is working.” Roland simply stated. “You think one of us should back him up?” Lilith asked. “I don’t know. Do you want to be inside of a thresher, Lil?” Mordecai asked. “…… Fair point.” All the others could do was watch as the Thresher was continuing to thrash around in pain. Sometimes the Thresher would try and attack them, but then Brick would simply continue his assault on the inside of it. Until finally after minutes of internal damage the Thresher went down. Then before Roland could even speak, near the neck area of it began to move and Brick punched his way out of the Thresher. “HAHAHAHAHA, NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A FIGHT!!” Brick shouted out in pride as he grinned triumphantly. “Uh, yeah sure it was. But I think you should clean yourself off before we go any further.” Roland deadpanned at Brick. “What about a key piece? Any signs of it?” Lilith then asked. “Hmm, hold on I think I found it near its heart… or whatever passes for a heart anyway. I’ll be right back.” Brick said as he started walking back into the corpse. “Brick don- and he already went in… goddammit.” Roland said as he face palmed. “Oi amigo’s,” they heard Salvador now as the saw the key piece that he was looking for. “Look what I found.” “Oh good. Now we don’t need to have Brick-” “Hang on… I want to see where this goes,” Lilith smirked, watching in amusement as Brick continued to tear through the insides of the thresher. Roland could only heave a big sigh. “I give him five minutes before he comes back out.” All the while Brick could faintly be heard humming to himself or wondering where the fragment could be. “Only five? That seems rather generous.” The siren teased. Which only had Mordecai roll his eyes and let out a sigh. The only question in his mind now being how the hell were they going to explain all of this once they got back?