[center][color=tan][h3]Courier 6[/h3][/color]
[b]Level 2[/b] - (17/20) EXP
[b]Location:[/b] Scrapyard - Right
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1067[/center]



As soon as the radio on the Courier’s arm started playing his favorite soothing, relaxing song, the Courier let the tension in his shoulders subside. Ah, Johnny Guitar. That angelic voice could make sweet sweet love to his ears as easily as a bolt action carbine. He was so mesmerized that he hadn’t even noticed the large pig like man, Roadhog, save his bacon. He barely noticed when Zer0 reappeared by his side, taking additional shots at the robots from behind their cover. 

[color=tan]”This is taking too long. I think I’ve got an idea!”[/color] Uh oh. A Courier idea was a dangerous one. Taking notice of one of the Omnic robots that had been wrecked by Zer0’s B0re power, the Courier reached out from his cover, grabbed the robot by its arm, and yanked the thing back behind the scrap with him. [color=tan]”This is gonna take some time, but it should end the battle damn fast if it works!”[/color] he announced, before getting to work.

Popping open a small chamber on his Pip-Boy, the Courier tugged out a long cord, then looked over the barely functional Omnic for a receptacle he could use to plug his Pip-Boy into. A couple seconds later and he found what he was looking for, though it required he tear off some of the armor plating around the thing’s metal skull. Once jacked in, the robot’s diagnostics began to display across his arm-mounted computer screen. [color=tan]”Haha! They’re compatible! Yes!”[/color] Tap tap tap danced the fingers of his right hand across the tiny keyboard mounted to his left arm. First he had to make himself familiar with the coding of these things, and damn was he impressed with what he saw. Sure, the hardware they were sporting wasn’t anything to write home about, with the somewhat average guns and the mass produced armor plating that didn’t even cover their whole exoskeletons, but the [i]software[/i], that was a thing of beauty! 

The coding kept changing right before his very eyes, almost like it was evolving, like it was learning! Was the technology of the Big Empty even this advanced? The Courier imagined what these robots could accomplish if they had constructed better vessels for their programming, and quickly decided he did not like the idea one bit. Self aware robots.Learning robots. They could wipe out humanity so easily, at least in his world, scattered and broken as people were. Luckily for him there was still some baseline code that remained the same in the unit, no matter how the rest of it changed and evolved. That made sense, as the learning protocols in these things could easily cause them to shutdown if proper failsafes were not in place. All it would take would be to accidentally move the wrong 1 or 0, and then… Well that’s what robotics and computer experts like him were for.

The Courier delved deeper into this baseline coding, eyes taking in everything that he could. The Omnic’s red optical lense glared at him, clearly wanting to punish him for this invasion of its soul, but without a functioning body incapable of following through. Heh. Fucking robots. Ah, fascinating, that would be useful. So they communicated with one another on a wireless telecommunications network. Just a little deeper, and he could exploit them…

[b]Pew![/b]

[color=tan]”Argh!”[/color] The Courier clutched his left shoulder, the jerking reaction nearly pulling the interface cord free from the robot it had been plugged into. The monitor of the Pip-Boy began to fade as he realized his mistake and quickly forced the jack back in more securely. That stray shot had almost cost him everything! Luckily Blazermate had heard his cry of pain and reacted quickly, patching up the injury with expedience. [color=tan]”Thanks, pardner,”[/color] he waved the medabot off with two of his fingers, concentrating back onto his work. This was too important…

Yes! There it was! An emergency override code!Broadcasting the code through the Omnics’ network would force them to shutdown against their will! It wouldn’t do a damn thing with those other robots, and at some point the Omnics would notice the broadcast signal and evolve an algorithm to neutralize it, but at least it would take out a considerable number of the Omnic forces across the entire Scrapyard, helping all of his companions and the rabbits, before they developed a defense. [color=tan]”Hold on to yer hats, amigos! A bunch of robots are about to eat dirt!”[/color] The Courier copied the failsafe code and began to transmit, using his Pip-Boy’s radio as the point of origin, and routing through the interfaced Omnic’s processors. If they attempted a counter-hack, it’d run through the Omnic as a proxy before reaching his Pip-Boy, at which point he’d be able to disable the connection.

[b]BOOM![/b]

One of the rabbit creatures simply vanished into a fine red mist. The Courier perked up, spotting small tufts of white fur floating about in the air. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on what had just happened. Then it clicked. That sound. He already heard it not five minutes ago. Even amongst the explosions of the grenade launcher and the bullets flying through the air, the Courier could recognize a .50 caliber anti-material rifle.

[color=tan]”That [i]idiot![/i] That brahmin pie faced [i]mother fucking idiot![/i]”[/color] He scanned the area for where the shot could have come from, instinctively looking up to the hill they traversed to get there. Sure enough there was Michael setup with his rifle, smoke rising from the muzzle. [color=tan]”WE COULD APPEAL TO THEM! THEY COOPERATED YOU FUCKING SHITSTAIN!”[/color] 

His curses and insults meant nothing, and it was too late. The rabbit creatures recognized the betrayal (not that Michael could have known) and reacted exactly as one would expect: they turned hostile.  And here was the Courier, holed up in a corner unable to move without interrupting the signal that would shut down Omnic robots, practically a sitting duck. Ratchet called out a plan, but the Courier wouldn’t be able to take any part in it. Gritting his teeth, he armed himself with his .44 magnum revolver and prepared himself to put a bullet in anything that got too close, if it wasn’t friendly.