Joseph looked up at the Aperture Science building with a glare and sighed. He’ll have to look at Level 53 later, for now, though, he’s going to solve some more puzzles. He held his gun loosely and walked in, heading for the elevator. Taking it down to the lowest level, he then jumped down the hole in ceiling, landing on his long-fall boots, really glad that they actually worked.
Joseph then ran passed the previous puzzles and through the clothes room where he found the latex time travel suit for Twilight. Going into the next puzzle room, he found it to be in complete darkness. The only sources of light were roving red beams, signalling that turrets were moving about.
“Another dark one? Great.” Joseph groaned and pulled out a flashlight from his pocket, and held it in his mouth to better see the room. As the light went around the room, he found black walls on all four sides, a few islands of floor in the centre holding about four turrets each and around the sides were an extra eight, all of them walking in different patterns. It was only a matter of time before one spotted him. He took a step to the left to see if he could do anything and two beams of light immediately latched onto him.
He rolled to the side as soon as they fired but some more turrets heard his movements and targeted him as well. Joseph figured this was extremely ridiculous, even by Aperture’s standards. After yet another dodge roll, he placed his left hand in his pocket and brought out a bullet, chucking it a nearby wall, but not before feeling a few turret bullets hit his hand.
A swirling green portal opened where the bullet hit the wall and a tall young man exited it, blissfully unaware of all the turrets in the room.
“So, who summoned me this time?” He asked before looking down and seeing several red lights appearing along his body. “Gyah!” He screamed as the turrets started firing and him managing to dodge them as he scrambled for cover.
Joseph looked at the voice and chuckled a bit at the reaction. Gingerly grabbing the torch out of his mouth and training it on him, he winced at the movement and spoke up, “I don’t think there’s any cover around here, mate!”
“Joseph?!” The voice asked as he continued to dodge the oncoming fire. “Is me getting shot at going to happen every time you summon me?!” He whined.
“I don’t know! This is only the second time I’ve done it!” Joseph answered, and held his gun in one hand while still holding the light in the other. He raised it up and moved the light around to a few of the distracted turrets, firing a portal underneath, and one above them. “That should take care of … oh hell.” Joseph groaned at seeing the other turrets move their lasers back to him. As he heard the classic, ‘Gotcha’ he jumped backwards and began to run around in a panic. “At least I got them distracted from you!”
“Good point, but maybe I should try something a little more permanent!” The voice called out before a loud bang echoed through the room and one of the turrets fell to the floor, sparks coming from its destroyed laser sight. A few more bangs echoed out and a few more turrets fell. Eventually, the noises stopped and the last of the turrets had been dealt with.
As soon as the last turret hit the floor, the lights came on, revealing twelve dead turrets and blood drops along the floor from Joseph’s hand. Joseph flicked the torch off and put it in a pocket before walking over towards whom he summoned. “G’Day Vash!” Joseph said cheerfully, despite having a bloodied hand.
“I was having a good day, but then some aussie dragged me into a hailstorm of bullets,” Vash commented as he pulled some bullets out of holes in his left glove. He reached into his duster and fished around for a few seconds before tossing a roll of bandages at Joseph. “There, you might wanna stop the bleeding.”
“What bleeding?” Joseph asked as he caught the roll of bandages. He then felt the adrenaline leave his system and hissed in pain as his left hand flared. “That bleeding,” Joseph answered his own question and got to work bandaging up his hand. “I’ll get the bullets out later. What’s been happening with you since we last met?”
“The short answer would be insanity,” Vash chuckled as he continued removing bullets from his left arm. “The long answer is pretty long so I’d recommend getting comfortable.”
“It’s been insane here too.” Joseph commented and sat down so he could properly do up the bandages.
“Well, I got turned into a woman for a day,” Vash said offhandedly with a shrug.
“You what? How the heck does that work?” Joseph questioned, eyes widening at the thought. “I don’t think anything that crazy happened here, unless you count robots taking over the entire town,” he said dismissively.
“Well, my friend Jason has an Omnitrix and it created another personality when he scanned Discord back in his universe. And that other personality came out and with some encouragement from another friend of mine thought it would be funny to change me from Vash to Valerie.”
Joseph snorted at that. “Sorry. That’s a bit insane for here. If Aperture came up with a way to change genders back and forth, I think it would have hit the market ages ago.”
“Oh, give it time,” Vash chuckled. “All it takes for insanity to come into the life of us Displaced is one lucky summon,” he commented as he walked over to a destroyed turret. “Actually, one Displaced popped in uninvited and accidentally gave one of my marefriends a snake tail for a lower body,” He called out over his shoulder as he dug through the wreckage of the turret.
“Sounds kinky.” Joseph replied and stood up, walking over to Vash and the turret. “Whatcha looking for, mate?”
“Well, I was an engineer back when I was on Earth and I loved things like robots, so I’m just digging through this thing to see if I can find anything fun to tinker with back home. Ooh, I think I just found something important!” Vash cheered as he pulled out a large chip from the turret.
“That,” Joseph pointed to the chip, “is most likely where it’s main functions are. How it can walk, how it can speak, how it can move it’s laser, even how it controls when it shoots. So that would be very important to a turret. I never really was into engineering back home, it was more physics, theoretical quantum physics and string theory that I was interested in.”
“I took a theoretical physics class,” Vash answered as he gingerly pocketed the computer chip. “The professor was my advisor for the Robotics Club I was in. Nice guy, we connected over our shared giddiness over making tiny robots fight each other.”
“Sounds like a cool teacher.” Joseph said and stretched, jumping a bit as he heard something powering up behind them. He turned around and found an impressive sized laser beam being stopped by some sort of metal plate. He watched as the beam fired continuously until the metal was red hot, but even then, it didn’t give in. “This is a new puzzle element.”
“Something’s telling me that if we want to get out of here then we’ll need to find a way to stop that laser,” Vash sighed.
Joseph turned back to Vash to say something but was stopped by the floor panel behind him flipping over, revealing a big red floor button. “Try stepping on that button.” Joseph suggested, pointing to it.
“Oh, am I your Weighted Companion Cube now?” Vash asked with a laugh as he stepped on the button.
When the button was pushed, the laser beam got a different colour to it, making it shrink slightly and the plate less red-hot than before. “That did practically nothing. And you probably are my Weighted Companion Cube. I usually have one of my friends with me when I solve these button puzzles anyway.” Joseph said with a shrug and smirked at the joke.
Vash didn’t respond, staring at the laser for a few minutes before letting out a deep sigh. “I really don’t like this, but I might be able to destroy that laser.”
Joseph looked around the room again, and found that they were the only ones there. No cubes, no Companion Cubes, and no turrets either. He then facepalmed with his good hand, realising that Vash may have powers other than being a crack shot. “How are you going to destroy that laser? All that button did was shrink it slightly and I doubt you have a laser strong enough to destroy that one.”
Vash just quirked an eyebrow at Joseph in slight disbelief. “Did… did you ever watch an anime called Trigun?”
“No … is Vash one of the characters from there?” Joseph asked, crossing his arms at the disbelieving look.
“Main character,” he answered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it and started tapping at the screen before tossing it to Joseph. “I’ve got Youtube opened up, just type Angel Arm into the search bar.”
Joseph got a confused look as he caught the phone but did as asked. He searched up Angel Arm and tapped on the first video he saw. He nearly dropped the phone in surprise at the sheer power of it. “What the hell was that!?” he called out, chucking the phone back to Vash.
“My worst nightmare,” Vash answered with a deep sigh as he took off a crystal armband and his right glove. “Now I’d suggest staying pretty close to me,” he said as he stepped off the button and strode towards the laser. “There’s a certain area that’s safe from the destruction this thing brings. Also, if I end up punching a hole into the moon, Don’t. Tell. Luna!”
“Trust me, I’m on bad enough terms with her as it is but you’re actually going to use it!?” Joseph asked in shock and surprise as he followed close behind Vash when he walked passed.
“Well, do you have any better ideas to deal with this thing?” He asked, indicating the red hot beam.
“If there were a few other things in this room besides the button and us, then yes, I would be able to have some form of an idea but … no. No I don’t.” Joseph sighed.
“Then as much as I don’t want to do it, I don’t really have much of a choice. Here, hold these,” Vash said, handing Joseph his glove and armband. He pulled out his revolver and took a deep breath. He concentrated on it and reached up with his left hand, popping off the top of the gun to reveal a glowing orb. He let out a scream as both his arm and the gun fused and changed. What had once been a normal arm was now a monstrous gray cannon with a glowing yellow sphere at its center and a halo surrounding the barrel. The light seemed to pick up and an odd noise filled the room. Energy gathered at the barrel as Vash used his left arm to point the cannon at the laser. Finally, a white beam shot out, pushing past the laser and punching through the emitter that was firing it as well as the wall. When the light from the beam died down, Vash collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
Joseph took the things Vash gave him and inspected the armband. It looked like a dampener of some sort. He didn’t get anymore time to dwell on it though when he heard an odd noise, as well as the light pick up. He cringed and closed his eyes when Vash fired the cannon. Opening them back up, Joseph looked to where the beam once was and found a hole. Hearing something fall, Joseph turned his attention to it and found that Vash had collapsed. “If I had known this would have happened, I probably should’ve argued with him better.” Joseph muttered and quickly walked over, kneeling down and shaking him. “Hey, Vash! You there, mate?”
“Five more minutes, Tia,” Vash mumbled.
“‘Tia’?” Joseph asked out loud, and then realising that it was most likely a nickname for Celestia. “You want five more minutes for what?” Joseph asked him, wondering if this will actually go anywhere.
This seemed to get Vash to stir as he slowly pulled himself up. “Uggh, that sucked,” he said to no one in particular. “I think I’d rather deal with a hangover than that again.”
“Glad to see you’re back in the land of the living. I highly doubt you’ll have to use that Angel Arm again, though.” Joseph commented, sighing in relief at seeing him move about.
“Here’s hoping,” Vash chuckled dryly. “Now, hand me my armband and my glove. I’m starting to feel naked without them.”
“This is a dampener, isn’t it?” Joseph asked him, giving the armband and glove back. “I could probably rig it up so that you won’t have to take it off when you need to use the Angel Arm.”
“Nah, I like it as it is,” Vash replied as he slid the glove up his arm and clasped the armband closed. “Gives it a little flair of drama. Plus, I’d have to take it off anyway so I don’t destroy my glove when my arm changes. Do you know how hard it is to find someone willing to work with leather in Equestria?”
“Unless you go to someplace where there aren’t any ponies present, yeah it would be pretty hard. Fair enough, I suppose. If I remember … I have a disassembled turret in Twilight’s basement if you want to take a look at it. I’m not doing anything with it so it could be a good opportunity to get something else from a turret.”
“Sounds good to me,” Vash chuckled as he stood up and stretched. “And maybe we can get some food? My arm transforming and firing a giant laser has left me pretty hungry. Ooh, anyplace got any good donuts?” Vash asked hopefully.
“Sure. Come on, exit’s this way.” Joseph said, standing up and pointing to where he had entered the room. “Donuts … I believe Sugarcube Corner has some. Hopefully the party has died down by now.” Joseph grunted, holding his gun loosely as he lead Vash through the facility.
“Yes!” Vash cheered as he pumped a fist into the air and happily followed after Joseph. “I’mma gonna clean them out of all their delicious donuts until I go into a sugar coma!”
“What kind of Equestria does not have donuts for you to be this deprived?” Joseph asked incredulously.
“One where they haven’t been invented yet,” Vash answered with a shiver. “Plus, everyone talks like they just walked out of the pages of a Shakespeare play.”
“It must be a sad Equestria then.” Joseph said with a shake of his head. “I can barely read Shakespeare, let alone understand what the hell he was trying to talk about,” he added as they passed through the second to last chamber.
“Surprisingly enough, it was quite a bit of dick jokes in his comedy stuff,” Vash answered with a chuckle. “And it isn’t bad in my Equestria at all. Even though there’s no donuts, I’ve still got my marefriends and friends, and I’ve introduced some modern comforts to the place so I’m pretty comfortable.”
“Speaking of which, how are your marefriends?” Joseph asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Ruling a country and protecting the two that rule said country,” Vash answered. “Other than that… putting up with my antics is probably the best answer to that question.”
“So that would be … Celestia, Luna and whoever the captain of the guard is in whichever time period you’re from. Am I correct?” Joseph said, eyes widening in surprise as he mentioned the princesses.
“Yup!” Vash said with a big smile. “Her name’s Morning Star, she kind of keeps me in line whenever I get a bit too… eccentric,” he finished as he rubbed the back of his head.
Joseph gave a chuckle at this and stopped walking as he looked up to find a hole in the ceiling. “Can’t remember. Did you travel through portals when you were here last?”
“Yup, that’s how you got me away from those turrets last time. Though I didn’t have the most graceful of landings.”
“You’ll probably have a more graceful landing this time then.” Joseph said with a grin and taking careful aim, fired a portal up into the hole and off to the side. Firing one underneath himself, he fell through and landed upright, being sure to step to the side whenever Vash made his entrance. “Make sure you jump through!” Joseph called out. Vash nodded and did as he was told, though when he came out the other portal he instantly flopped onto his face.
“Ow, looks like a repeat of last time,” he commented as he peeled himself off the floor.
“You definitely need a lot more practice.” Joseph commented as he fizzled the portals out. “And yes, it was a repeat of last time,” he said with a smirk.
“What can I say, I’m used to thinking with bullets, not portals,” Vash replied with a shrug.
“Doesn’t really matter to me, anyway. What I’m more curious about is why there were two puzzles in one room. That has not happened before. Especially with a puzzle being fine tuned to you and your specific powers, even though you had only just arrived.” Joseph said as he sidestepped the hole and lead Vash to the elevator. “Before you ask, we were underground this entire time.”
“Well, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that this place probably has an A.I. that can scan lifeforms and adjust testing rooms to fit whoever’s in the room,” Vash said, scratching his chin in thought.
“I doubt that. Me and a couple of other Displaced fought the A.I. you’re talking about and defeated her. She was called Queen and she had adapted herself and her army to whatever I threw at her.” Joseph explained, pushing the call button and waited for the doors to open.
“Last time I checked, Glados came back from being put inside a potato. Never consider an adapting A.I. completely down for the count.”
“Can they come back from being chewed to pieces and then digested inside a dragon’s belly?” Joseph deadpanned, moving into the elevator once the doors opened.
“If they wirelessly uploaded their programming into a backup somewhere, then yes.”
“Please don’t suggest that. I’ve had enough trouble with her as it is already.” Joseph said, leaning on the wall and placing a hand on his forehead. “How can I defeat her if she comes back and is immune to dragon biting?”
“A giant EMP should be able to fry a good portion of whatever she plans on storing herself in,” Vash shrugged.
“I already used an EMP against her when Draigo travelled through time to warn us about her in the future. He’s that dragon I mentioned a bit before.” Joseph said, rubbing at his eyes.
“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” Vash said as he patted Joseph on the back. “From the sounds of things, you don’t have to tackle the problem alone, so don’t.”
“Right.” Joseph sighed and exited the elevator. “Ponyville is this way,” he muttered, leading the way.
“Huh, I’ve actually been to another Ponyville before, though that was when I was summoned by Sheogorath.”
“Who?” Joseph asked, scratching his head in confusion.
“He’s a deadric prince from the Elder Scrolls series. The prince of Insanity to be exact.”
“Insanity? Sounds like the Joker.” Joseph commented, blinking a bit as they emerged into soft sunlight.
“Well, more like Discord than anything else. Though he goes from harmless to dangerous pretty quickly. Pro tip, don’t get him angry if he summons you.”
“I’ll be glad if anyone summoned me, to be honest. Haven’t really had the chance to explore other Equestrias yet.” Joseph said with a soft sigh. “What kind of donuts do you like anyway?”
“All of them!” Vash beamed as he started to drool a bit.
“You have a problem …” Joseph said as he watched Vash. “You’ve got a bit of drool coming out,” he said, pointing to a spot just below his mouth.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Vash replied with a bit of a chuckle as he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his left hand.
“It’s fine.” Joseph shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets, being mindful not to crush his left hand. When they emerged from the Everfree, Joseph felt glad about the fact that no pounding music was sounding from the town square. “At least the party has died down. Sugarcube Corner should be open after all.”
“Nice, though…” Vash stopped as he looked at the area. “Huh, I can’t believe I didn’t notice this when I was summoned by Sheogorath. But this is where we’re building the changeling village back home.”
“If that’s the case, then your Equestria will be very much different in the future.” Joseph said, musing over what Vash said. “You didn’t think Ponyville was this close, did you?”
“Not really, before we decided to build the castle, most seemed to stay away from the forest. At least, that’s just what I heard.”
“I don’t think I remember hearing that.” Joseph said, scratching the back of his head. “You want donuts, don’t you? They should be … this way. But still, a changeling village is a nice thought for them.”
“It’s part of this peace deal we’re working on with their queen. We’re building the village and getting pony volunteers to see if ponies and changelings can live together.”
“That is interesting.” Joseph gave him a smile. “Hopefully it will all work out.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty confident it will,” Vash replied with a smile.
Joseph lead the way through Ponyville before eventually stopping at Sugarcube Corner. “Don’t let the walls of the shop fool you, it’s just for decoration.” Joseph warned before stepping inside.
“Darn, the building looked delicious,” Vash chuckled as he followed him up to the counter.
“I … tried to eat it once but it didn’t really work out.” Joseph said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. He tapped his good hand against the countertop for a bit before a pink pony trotted out of the kitchen.
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, what can I- Joseph!? Where have you been?” Pinkie asked, looking at him, then turning her attention to Vash. “Did Joseph summon you for a puzzle solving thingamajig?”
“Yeah, but I just made it blow up,” Vash laughed.
“That he did. There’s a hole in the wall and everything.” Joseph said with a chuckle.
“So Aperture is just a pile of cinders now?” Pinkie asked, scrunching her face up in thought.
“No, but I did put a big hole into it,” Vash shrugged. “That place is made of some tough stuff.”
“Good enough for me! What can I get you?” Pinkie said, smiling at the both of them.
“I don’t want anything but I think Vash wants something.” Joseph said, waving his good hand at her.
“Donuts!” Vash beamed. “I’d like some donuts please!”
“Which ones do you want? There are all kinds of types to choose from.” Pinkie said, crouching down and looking at the delectable treats herself.
“All of them!” He beamed again, placing a few bits onto the counter.
“Okey dokey!” Pinkie beamed and grabbed one of each type before putting them in a big paper bag. She then counted the correct amount of bits and gave the rest back to him. “There you go! Enjoy!”
“Thank you!” Vash said with a mouthful of a glazed donut.
“Thanks, Pinkie. Do you know if Twilight is in her library at the moment?” Joseph asked her, to which Pinkie responded with a shake of her head.
“Nope! You’re free to go in there.” Pinkie said and grinned, serving the next customer as Vash and Joseph walked away.
“So, are we going to check out the library for Twilight now?”
“No, I’d just rather not have her ask me questions and scold me for going into Aperture when she told me not to.” Joseph said with a shrug.
“But what about that turret in her basement?” Vash asked seeming a little disappointed.
“We’re still going to have a look at the turret, don’t worry. I was just making sure she wasn’t in there when we walk in, that’s all.” Joseph said, trying to clarify for him.
“Okay,” Vash nodded as he bit into another donut.
“You really like those donuts, huh? This is the third one you’ve eaten in as many minutes!” Joseph commented, feeling a twinge of pain as he clenched his left hand.
Vash slowed down his eating and carefully studied Joseph. “I think we’re gonna have to deal with your hand at Twilight’s place before I study that turret.”
“There should be a first-aid kit in the basement. Don’t ask me why it’s down there but I think it’s because that’s where Twilight’s laboratory is.” Joseph said flippantly, ignoring the pain for now. “It’ll be simple. I’ll patch myself up while you study the turret!” Joseph added with a sudden manic smile.
“Uhh, Joseph, are you okay?” Vash asked, taken aback by the change in demeanor.
“I’m perfectly fine. Like I said. I’ll patch myself up with the first aid kit in the basement and you can study the turret at the same time.”
“Ookay, I guess I’ll take your word for it.”
“I don’t know why I said that. It’s probably either the blood loss or the stress talking.” Joseph explained as he brought his hand out of his pocket.
“Then maybe we should hurry up so you can get patched up before you pass out due to blood loss.”
“Maybe we should.” Joseph agreed and sped up his walking so they can get to the library faster. When they did make it, Joseph immediately went down into the basement and grabbed the first aid-kit. Vash followed in after him, shaking his head.
“Do these ponies even know what locks are?”
“You’d think they would learn after that robot attack. No, I’m planning on introducing them after I’ve actually found some.” Joseph answered, carefully unrolling the bandage on his left hand so he could get to the bullet wounds. “This is the first time I’ve actually been hurt by turrets so there’s that, I guess.”
“And it took a room with like twelve of them in a basically empty room to get you,” Vash offered as he walked over to the turret and stood by it while looking at Joseph.
“Yes it did, and even then, I think it was because I threw your bullet at the wall that made this possible. That model there is one of the early versions, or the ones you would see in the games. I dissected myself to see what made it tick.” Joseph explained, and looked at the few bullet wounds that were there to see if he could try and dig them out.
“Yeah, you’re lucky I’m able to dodge automatic fire. Otherwise you’d have at least three angry ponies gunning for your head,” Vash said as he started picking up and examining pieces of the turret.
“If I wasn’t dead already, then yeah, I would.” Joseph said with a chuckle and tenderly poked some tweezers into a bullet hole to see if he could dig the bullet out.
“Yeesh, really glad the only place I was hit was the left arm,” Vash said with a wince as he glanced over to Joseph.
“That’s the metal one, isn’t it?” Joseph asked before gasping as he accidentally poked himself with the tweezers.
“Yup, can’t feel a thing with it.”
“Struth, so you have no feeling in that at all?” Joseph asked, breathing slowly as he felt the tweezers hit something metal. He managed to grab the bullet and then slowly maneouvered it out, before eventually flinging it onto the table next to him when it was brought out. “Ah, jeez! That hurt like hell!”
“I bet,” Vash said with another wince. “And to answer your question, no the metal arm can’t feel anything. I’ve never really torn it open to figure out how I’m able to move it like I do. Mostly because I don’t want to be down an arm if I break something while trying to put it back together.”
“I could probably help with that. I’m no biologist but I am good with machines,” Joseph suggested, going for round two in the bullet holes. “One down, two to go.”
“No thanks, I’ve got a gun inside the thing and I’d hate for you to hurt yourself if you caused it to go off.” Vash shrugged, turning his attention back to the turret.
“Fair enough.” Joseph said, being careful when poking around. Feeling it touch something metal, he pulled it out and flung it next to the other bullet, immediately starting on the third hole as he grit his teeth through the pain. “Found anything useful yet?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Kind of, I found out that Aperture has a lot of money to burn. They use gold wire instead of copper. And I think I found a firing mechanism for the turret’s guns.”
Joseph sighed in relief as he got the third bullet out and placed it next to the other two, looking over the turret for a bit. “I never really knew the difference between gold and copper wire. Yeah, they definitely had a lot of money to burn. They even teamed up with Black Mesa to build a ship but I don’t think the same thing happened here.”
“To be fair, gold is a better conductor and is super malleable.” Vash offered. “Copper is just more cost effective. Still, this is an interesting set up in the turret. If I had some time, I might be able to throw something together using this tech.”
“So that’s the difference. If you want, you can take the entire thing back with you if you want. All it’s doing is just collecting dust and wasting space. Those were Twilight’s words, not mine.” Joseph said with a grin and braced himself when he began to apply disinfectant to the wound.
“Seriously?” Vash huffed. “She has an advanced robot in her basement and the only thing she’s doing with it is using it as a dust catcher? What a waste.”
“Well, for the first few months after I dissected it, she got all the information she wanted so there’s that too.” Joseph said with a shrug and applied a fresh set of bandages over his hand. “Finally finished up this mini operation.”
“Has she done anything with that information?” Vash asked as he started looking for things to place the turret pieces into.
“So far, not that I know of. But then again, we’ve been so busy trying to find a town full of ponies that I’m not surprised she hasn’t. She probably will in a few days though.” Joseph supplied, walking over to Vash.
“Good, I was about to feel very sad about that. Though, that does make me think I should start teaching engineering to ponies back home. So far I’ve only taught Hammerfall the basics of it.”
“If you do, then try and not make a big facility out of it. It will only lead to a lot more problems.” Joseph said with a smile and looked around for a few containers. “You are looking for containers, right?”
“Yeah, can’t exactly shove the entire thing into my duster. That would be convenient though,” he finished with a chuckle.
“Oh, definitely. You still got that upgraded computer chip?” Joseph asked as he began to look around for something to put the pieces into.
“Yup,” Vash answered, pulling the chip out of his pocket and holding it up.
“That’s good. At least you’ll be able to start somewhere.” Joseph said with a chuckle as he found an empty, big-ish plastic container. “I think this will fit most of it,” he said, pulling it out from it’s place and handing it over to Vash.
“Thanks,” Vash nodded as he started carefully placing pieces into the container. Joseph watched him place them in the container and thought about how it will fare during the teleportation.
“No problem. If you ever need another one, just give me a call.” Joseph said with a shrug.
“Sure thing, and call me if you want me to fire a laser at some more puzzles,” Vash laughed.
Joseph laughed at that. “Definitely. Are there any side-effects to using that Angel Arm?”
“Oh… not really,” Vash said with a strained smile. Joseph’s face fell when he saw Vash’s smile.
“You sure about that?” he asked.
“Totally,” Vash replied, his smile becoming more strained.
“I’m starting to sound like Twilight here. I don’t think you are, and I think you’re hiding something. Spill it mate.” Joseph said.
“What I’m not hiding anything,” Vash laughed nervously. “It’s not like the arm slowly kills me every time I fire it or anything crazy like that.”
“Ah hah! You were hiding something! But if it slowly kills you then why did you use it?” Joseph crowed and then returned to a normal level.
“Well, you needed help,” Vash said as he rubbed the back of his head. “And one or two uses will be fine. There’s a reason why I wear the armband.”
“It’s a power dampener, I figured that out on my own. Does it help you control the cannon as well?” Joseph asked, leaning back against one of the many tables.
“No, it’s only job is to prevent the thing from firing,” Vash answered while shaking his head.
“I assumed wrong then. What can I say to that?” Joseph said with a shrug.
“You don’t have to say anything to it. It’s just something I’ve gotta deal with. On the plus side though, even though I’ve got a city buster attached to my arm, I can live a really long time. Vash in the show was 300 and looked just like I do right now.”
“So you got a fair few years ahead of you. You should be grand then! I won’t worry about it then, even though I wasn’t meant to worry about it in the first place.” Joseph smiled and walked over to the container, helping him place the last few bits inside.
“Yeah, as long as I don’t take the band off, I should be golden,” Vash smiled.
“Yeah, should be. Oh well. You got everything you need?” Joseph asked, placing the lid on the container.
“Yeah, thanks for giving me this stuff.”
Joseph gave Vash the container and stepped back a bit, smiling. “At least this visit lasted longer than last time. You ready to be sent home?”
“Yeah, gotta get back to the marefriends, and Morning’s “kinky” tail as you put it,” Vash chuckled.
“Hahaha. Can’t say I don’t envy you. Vash, our contract is complete.” Joseph said with a wave.
A portal opened up behind Vash and he picked up the container and started to walk through it, before he completely disappeared he turned back to Joseph and said, “Be sure to tell Pinkie those donuts were amazing!”
“‘Course I will!” Joseph replied and watched him disappear, leaving behind his bullet token.