//------------------------------// // Chapter 28: Making Preparations // Story: Borderlands 2 DLC: Vault of the Consular // by NightStream //------------------------------// Out of all the things that Gaige saw herself trying to be in life, being a teacher was not one of them. When she thought of teachers, the mechromancer would think back to the times in high school where her teachers either supported her pursuits or saw her as a living headache. Then again, many of those same teachers would probably turn her in to the authorities if they ever saw her now. Just one accidental murder and then you end up becoming the most wanted fugitive on Eden-5. Now, she was in the back of Sweet Apple Acres, teaching somepony else that had only known her for a couple months and who had lived on a peaceful planet most of their life how to fight like a Vault Hunter. It wasn’t exactly the best idea she had in mind, but given the circumstances, the mechromancer was forced to play with the hand she was dealt.  For she had no backup, no plan, and it fell on her to lead what some might consider as a near impossible rescue operation. When Jack knocked her out cold, he not only captured the other vault hunters, but also Twilight and her friends. Spike was trying to keep the rest of Ponyville calm and the only equestrian who actually offered to help and not linger in fear inside their home was none other than Twilight’s ‘student’. At least the Bloodshots weren’t exactly a problem this time around. So, that was a positive. When it came to teaching Starlight about how to fight, there was some early success originally. Being Twilight’s student and very adept with magic, she knew how to use said magic for if she found herself in combat. However, outside of spells, using actual weapons was an area she wasn’t so skilled with.  It seemed as if those who were in the royal guard only knew how to use weapons, which was honestly a damn shame and pretty much explained why most ponies would run at the first sign of trouble. Though, Gaige honestly would take all the help she could get. Right now, Starlight was trying to examine the inner workings of a particular DAHL pistol that they received alongside the orbital shipment of equipment that Mr. Torgue dropped in for them. Unlike other DAHL pistols, this one was more of an experimental prototype that Mr. Torgue had found lying around at a trade show. Though, why that was the case was a bit unclear. “So, how does it feel?” “It’s… well, something,” the unicorn replied. “Different from what I’d deen when you used your weapons, but still has a bit of a learning curve to it.” “How so?” “Well, I did the ‘point, aim, shoot’ thing that you suggested, but when I pulled the trigger, it didn’t quite make as much of a dent as I was expecting.” She said, before motioning her head to a nearby tree. Despite there being a light amount of puncture from what was fired, it did not make any significant dents or fractures. “Mind if I have a look at it?” “Uh, sure.” Starlight said, levitating the gun to her as Gaige pulled out her ECHO Device to examine it. “Huh… whoever designed this seemed to have this focus more on living targets like bandits and Psychos.” “I think I’ve seen this design once before.” The voice of Angel came from the ECHO Device, “It looks like a standard issue combat pistol from DAHL that was used on Elpis. But it looks heavily modified. Let me see what I can bring up.” The mechromancer shrugged, before raising her ECHO over the weapon. A projected screen on the side soon emerged as some information became displayed. The Graham Cracker ‘We can’t expect the Eridians to do all the work’ Manufacturer- DAHL Weapon Type- Pistol (Semi-Auto) Rarity- Legendary -When aiming down sights with this weapon, the spread of each shot decreases and the chance to deal critical damage is increased. -Bonus damage against Psycho’s and Bandits. “Okay, that’s a lot more than I was expecting.” She said, before pulling back the slide and checking the magazine on the pistol. While this was modified to a certain extent, everything here looked well maintained and nothing seemed to be broken or out of place, which was the exact opposite of what Gaige thought as she handed the pistol back to Starlight. “I think you just need to get used to it a bit more and practice with it first before using this in an actual fight.” “Can you walk me through it? I’d like to see how you would use it first before I try again.” Gaige nodded, before she primed the hammer and went through some target practice with the different objects that served as Targets. Old bottles, bundles of hay, unused barrels, and signs that were on trees. The magazine only had six shots, so the mechromancer could guess that this weapon was meant more for accuracy rather than just spraying a hail of bullets at a target. Which… well… Considering how she would fight bandits, accuracy could suck it. “I’m not entirely the best at it, but I can at least show how it works from a practical standpoint.” the mechromancer shrugged, “For one thing, this weapon’s meant for more precision based stuff instead of firing randomly.” “Isn’t that what you do?” “No no, I fire randomly on purpose,” Gaige said, “Basically, my thing is just firing off as many shots as I can and having anarchy do the rest. Like throwing a bunch of things and going ‘Random Bullshit go!’ … Saw that as a joke on the EchoNET once, but I think it accurately states how I do things.” Starlight just stared at the mechromancer, looking like she was twitching in place before the unicorn snapped out of it. “S-so, what is it that I should do?” “Perhaps you should find a way to disable them with your magic first, before firing your weapons? A distracted target is less likely to put up much of a fight.” Immediately, the unicorn’s gaze shifted away from Gaige and to the ECHO device on her waist, “Uh, who said that?” “Oh, um…” Gaige flinched as she tried to come up with something on the spot. If she told Starlight about Angel, it would probably complicate things more. So, much to her dismay, the only option that seemed to be the best for her was to lie, “I-It’s an experimental AI program that Tannis sent to me. For what reasons, I’m not sure… but my guess is that it’s to help us try and improve how we fight a bit.” “Call me Angel.” Starlight seemed a bit confused, but she wasn’t exactly asking any questions about it. So that seemed like a win. “Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I got a couple other things to work on.” “What sort of things?” Starlight asked. Before she said anything, Gaige led Starlight over to the side of the barn and to a tool bench. On it was an arm similar to the one that Gaige had right now, but had some heavy plates and was colored black and red. In addition, there was also a heavy pistol that had the TORGUE logo plastered on its grip and side with matching colors and a blade under the barrel and a shield module from the same company “Well, Mr. Torgue sent us a lot of leftover loaders for an army. If I’m going to be able to use them to get our friends back, then I’m going to have to make some adjustments because right now, I can only control Deathtrap,” the mechromancer explained, rummaging through a toolbox as she tried to find the right one. “Right now, I want to try and see if this can just be something I can throw on the arm I have already. Otherwise, what I’m going to have to do is a lot dirtier.” “And… that is?” “Switch arms entirely. Which can get bloody if things go wrong but it’s not like I haven’t done it before,” She said, before looking at the pistol and the shield. “In the meantime, I have this to work with. Angel, can you… do your thing?” “Since you asked so kindly, certainly. Analyzing now.” the ECHO device chirped, scanning the pistol and the shield first before moving to the arm. The Commissar ‘Drive me closer, I want to smack them with my gun!’ Manufacturer- TORGUE Weapon Type- Pistol Rarity- Legendary -Always comes with a Melee attachment.  -Hitting an enemy with The Commissar decreases their defense and makes them vulnerable to all sources of damage for a short duration. The Wolfpack ‘They hear the howls and know fear!’ Manufacturer- TORGUE Shield Type- Blast Rarity- Legendary -Taking Damage while this shield is active digistructs seeking missiles that take the form of wolves (Up to Two).  -When the shield breaks, the wolves are released and seek nearby enemies to explode on contact. When successful, smaller explosives are created that still hurt, but do less damage. “Huh, that’s something.” “What is it, Angel?” Gaige raised an eyebrow. “Both of these are powerful tools for sure. Though, the arm there is different,” the AI replied, “While it was a TORGUE acquired bot from Hyperion, the type of loader bot this belongs to is much different from the normal ones. If tinkered with correctly, it’s possible to apply such capabilities to your own arm.” “What kind of capabilities?” “Let’s just say it makes your arm a more destructive part of your arsenal.”  The comment was followed by a few images surfacing on screen as Starlight and Gaige began to look closely. Though, it did not take long for the mechromancer to look at what was on board and like what they were seeing. “... Okay, we’re upgrading this first,” Gaige replied, looking as cheery as a kid who opened their presents on Mercenary’s Day, “Jack’s not going to know what hit him when we’re done with this.” Starlight herself was not quite sure what exactly had Gaige so eager to get to work. Though, the fact that the mechromancer was laughing like a mad scientist version of Twilight did not really help that much. For the last few hours, Spike felt as if he had been worked to the bone. Ever since what happened the night before and the abduction of both the vault hunters and the element bearers, he had been working closely with whoever he could find in order to not help those who were hurt, but to calm everyone down. However, doing so was much harder than he thought.  Especially since some questions they were asking were ones that he himself wanted to know the answers for. “Hey Spike, are you alright?” The question led to him turning around, his gaze fixed on a familiar sight. Though, for some reason, Starlight seemed… different. Last time he saw her, she went to go talk to Gaige. Though, now it seemed like she was ready to fight something.  “Oh, uh, sorry… Just a bit exhausted. What are you doing here?” “We came to help.” The dragon couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. But before he could ask anything, his eyes shifted to see the mechromancer right behind her. Her metal arm was now a deep shade of black with red tints. “What kind of help?” “Well, that’s the thing,” Gaige folded her arms, “If it were me, I would just want to hunt down the one responsible. However, after a conversation with Starlight and Tannis, we realized that it was more than likely possible that the asshole who did this would try to come back to finish the job.” “So, with that in mind, we came back here,” Starlight said, “Not only to form a plan, but also a possible defense. If they plan to come here, then we should be ready for it.” “Knowing Jack, it’s less of a matter of if and instead a matter of when.” Spike led both of them over to the map table, passing by a couple of Ponyville’s residents that took shelter inside the castle after the last attack. “Okay… I get what you’re telling me. My only question though is how.” The Mechromancer couldn’t help but grin as she placed her ECHO device on the table. “Let me show you something real quick. Back on Pandora, our home of Sanctuary utilized a defensive barrier to protect against bombardments like this.” After a few seconds, a holographic version of Sanctuary was displayed as a recreation of one of the bombardments that Gaige first experienced and the shield with it. “If we can try to replicate this somehow, then we could be golden.” “Eh,” the dragon folded his arms, “I mean, if Twilight were here, I think this could be done without any problems. Though, without her, it would take a lot of unicorns to do that and I’m not entirely sure who would-” “What if we use the tree?” Immediately, the hologram of Sanctuary was switched as the newfound voice startled the dragon, “Who-?” “New AI Tannis sent me. Something that’s supposed to help, but she wasn’t specific,” Gaige replied, “As you were saying, Angel?” “From my brief observations, I can only assume that the very tree that we’re inside is magical in nature,” she claimed, “Therefore, perhaps its magic could be utilized to some extent?” “Can we even do that?” Starlight wondered. “For as long as I remember, this place was just… well, a home. I figured that there were magical items in here like the cutie map, but I never really thought that the whole tree was magical.” “The only way for us to really know for sure is if we give it a try,” Gaige told them, before glancing over at each one of the numerous residents and families that relied on the castle for safety, “Our friends aren’t the only ones counting on us, the whole town is… and I’ll be damned if I let them down now.” It did not seem like it at the time, but Gaige’s words… lit a spark inside those who watched her. She was a rebellious sort, sure. Though, she probably did not expect for others to join her in such rebelliousness. The chamber was darkened as lights began to float around like wisps on the wind. Crystalline cylinders hung from the ceiling like cocoons as a figure browsed what was inside. The wisps weren’t just single minded and moved on their own, but instead were a tapestry. A loom of the dead and the damned. Roland did not like this one bit. But given the circumstances he found himself in… when the Consular called for him, he had to… No, he must obey. “Well, time to get a move on then.”Roland said more to himself than anyone listening. “I hope this gets done soon.” As he just shook his head remembering what led up to this moment, alongside the splitting headache that came with it. “Who knew living from a headshot would give me a headache.” “And what makes you so eager to be in a hurry?” The remark was enough to send a chill down the voice of the usually stoic soldier. For as he turned around, he noticed a tall figure behind him. Dressed in what looked like robes, but not made of sinew or cloth of any kind. A singular eye that was the color of the wisps around him gazed at him, their arms held forward as it looked back to him. This was the Consular. The figure that resided in this vault. “You put on a brave face, but do you really think you can hide your desires so easily?” it questioned Roland. “Your unfulfilled wishes burn you alive like a raging fire, and yet you refuse to extinguish it.” “There is a time and place to do this.” Roland started. “And I would like nothing more than to put a bullet into that Bastard's head, I can’t yet.” “Curious… Is the reason for your way of thinking because you believe I would retaliate if you do?” It asked, before giving off what could possibly be a slight chuckle, “Mortals like you intrigue me. When you face a difficult choice, you believe that making a bad decision would rectify it.” It then had a wisp emerge in its bony like hands as its eye focused on him, “The question is, how many bad choices would you make before the weight of the consequences breaks you?” “So is this some sort of game to you then? To take delight in my or whoever's torment you deem fit for you?” Roland said through clenched teeth, only to receive silence which unnerved him more than anything. “Oh, it’s not a game. It’s more of something along the lines of what you would call ‘an experiment’,” The consular said, “For Eons, I’ve watched the decisions that souls would make when forced into a bad decision. The eridians didn’t realize that the weapons they created to seal in the vaults would end up being their undoing. When Luna was overcome with jealousy and became a nightmare of herself, her sister banished her to the moon. However, after watching these souls for so long… they become predictable. You and the others, who survive on a planet of pure chaos, are the opposite.” Then, it turned away. But not without one more reply “I hope you don’t disappoint me like those who were picked before you.”