Once that wave of bandits was done and dusted a set of doors in the middle of the machines floor(roof?) opened up and two bruisers were lifted up. These two were special however as one was the same sort of metal masked type as we came across in the Dahl headlands that was much bigger than the standard bruisers. The other was similar but had a bandana over the lower part of his face and ridiculously developed traps. Like to the point the muscles almost covered his fucking ears.-
The one with the traps had a metal sword that was basically just a jagged piece of steel that had been sharpened and had cloth wrapped around the bottom to serve as a handle. The other one used a shotgun I could tell from a glance wasn't something I expected to see in a bandits hands, it was too good for that.
"Why don't you play with our shoulder mountain pal here Brick?" I said casually and the big man grinned.
The other bruiser shot at Brick as he ran up but I charged forward and tanked the hit with my shield before throwing out a haymaker at his chest.
A shield rose to meet my fist and I felt the energy projection tremble under the force of my blow but ultimately hold out.
'That's fine, have another!' I thought as I sent out another haymaker that cracked the shield this time causing the bruisers eyes to widen behind his metal mask.
He raised his shotgun to my face but I didn't even blink as the slug shattered on my shield at point blank. A thing few seem to understand is that shield tech is specifically designed to stop bullets but has trouble with melee attacks for a single reason, size.-
Shields work by detecting an attack and raising a barrier of energy between it and the wearer that is very concentrated on the location the attack would land on. This means you need enough firepower to completely drain the shield to get through in a single shot or multiple relentless shots to prevent the shield from recovering the energy spent eventually causing it to fall. By using a melee strike or even an explosive however you force the shield to cover a much larger area which means it takes dramatically less force to drain it.-
It was for this reason that I could afford to do something so normally risky like this. Not to say I'd recommend someone to try and imitate this action as not everyone had a pearlescent quality shield that was more than capable of taking a few heavy slugs. Before the bruiser could try and fire again however I threw out a palm covered in electricity draining his shields charge fully. My next blow shattered his ribcage and ended the fight as his internal organs were devastated by the bone shards and impact force.-
"If you want something done do it yourself!" Flint yelled angrily as the two bruisers died to me and Brick.
Bricks bruiser didn't even have a shield and died to a single punch when his weapon went off. It took a while since the guy was using hit and run tactics but we eventually killed Flint who oddly went down quite easily for a bandit leader. That left the feasting and looting which I was more than happy to do. There was even a couple decent traits up for grabs, [Omega body] and [Sword expertise-Rare grade] to be specific.-
I grabbed both of those for 14,000 units but thanks to the bandits up here I broke even on lifeforce and even had a small profit of 2,301 units. As I had previously thought the bruiser I killed had an Epic quality shotgun that I casually bought off the group for my armory. Flint himself merely had an explosive Atlas shotgun called the Boomstick that was honestly as much of a danger to it's wielder as it was to their enemies, also only Rare quality. The rest of the loot was mostly common or uncommon quality junk that was collectively labeled "resale" by the group.-
"Alright now lets see this map we just did all this work for." I said with a grin as we walked up the ramps leading to Flint's throne that the mini map said held the map.
"Finally we can open the vault and get that sweet sweet loot." Lil said just as eagerly.
"What do you guys thinks gonna be in there anyways? Like we know thanks to Alex that it's probably gonna be tech of some sort but we don't know what kind of tech." Mordy asked casually.
"Judging from how much stuff there is about this vault in Eridian ruins probably something super important and powerful." I said seriously.
"I hope it's a gun that turns rocks into gold." Brick said with a silly grin at the idea.
We were sorely disappointed when we opened the chest that was supposed to hold the map however. The chest was empty and Steele took this moment to mock us and reveal why that was.
"There is no vault map mercs. Tannis has betrayed you and joined us. She just used you to get what she wanted. You've ignored my orders but I'll cut you a deal. Leave the planet now and we won't pursue you. Do yourself a favor, take advantage of my generosity while you still can. Any further disobedience will cost you and the citizens of this planet dearly." she said without trying to hide her smugness.
I sighed "I saw this coming but hoped Tannis would have made a better choice. Ah well nothing for it I guess, anyone know where the lance are based at?" I asked while pointedly looking at Roland.
Before he could answer however the "Angel" chimed in. "The Crimson Lance are about to make an unpleasant discovery and learn a harsh lesson... Oh no... no no no! this wasn't supposed to happen! Stand by." she said panicked.
At the end of that Steele sent out a worldwide message through the echo system. "This is Commander Steele of Atlas corporation Crimson Lance, Starborne brigade. Be advised. In preparation of upcoming special operations of the Lance. I have ordered the Echo network shut down. Any attempt to circumvent our control will be met with punishment of death. Do not test me or we may shut down the commerce grid as well. This is the only warning you will receive." she said before going silent.
"Gotta admit that's actually a good move on her part. Stops us from leaking the fact they are opening the vault to the wider universe. Kinda a bitch move though." I said with a shake of my head.
"The Lance is based in the snowfields to the north of here, it's a short drive and trek through an old mine if we don't want to storm the front gate." Roland said seriously pulling up his map and pointing to where we needed to go.
"What the bloody hell is going on!? Has Steele gone insane!? I'm getting reports of gunfire around Sanctuary. It's a damned warzone and with the echo network down I won't be able to arrange for..." Pierce sent only to be cut off as the network shut down.
"This is not how it happens. Can you see me? With the echo network down I can't see you, we're flying blind friends. Our window is closing. The vault can only be opened every two hundred years. If it isn't opened soon the chance will be lost.. bzzzzt." the "Angel" sent briefly before that signal was also lost.
"As much as I'd like to gloat about being right about the whole spying through our echoes thing this isn't the time. We need to get that vault key back and turn the network back on. Orders not important." I said firmly and everyone nodded in agreement.
We hurried to the lift and took it all the way back down only to find the bandit camp crawling with Lance troops no doubt here to kill us. Clearly that bitch Steele had no intention of even letting us off the planet to begin with if these troops were already here. That was something I filed away under "fuck that cunt" mentally before we charged the soldiers.-
Lil phased out of reality while Brick and I took point and Roland laid down suppressing fire while Mordy found cover to start sniping. I fired three shots into the helmet of the closest soldier before inhaling deeply and spitting out a thin but critically hot stream of flames through the hole in my mask that killed another.
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https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro
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Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 597,021
Integrated Traits: [Gun mastery-Rare grade]X3, [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Demi-supreme body-Legendary grade], [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Energy projection-Legendary grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade]X2,[Lesser dragon breath-Epic grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade]X2, [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Rare grade]X3, [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3, [Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade],
Stored traits: [Flame breath-Uncommon Grade], [Tinkering instinct-Rare grade], [Minor regeneration-Rare grade], [Superior vitality-Epic grade], [Omega body-Rare grade]X2, [Supreme Armored hide-Epic grade], [Hard bones-Rare grade], [Sword expertise-Rare grade]