[center][color=tan][h3]Courier 6[/h3][/color]
[b]Level 3[/b] - (10/30) EXP
[b]Location:[/b] Scrapyard - End
[b]Word Count:[/b] 1562[/center]


Courier 6 largely ignored Blazermate, giving only a rude middle finger to the robot’s chiding. They may have been arguing, but it was an important matter to make sure Michael didn’t wind up killing any good people unnecessarily. By his account they’d all need as much help as they could get in defeating this Galeem, and a loose cannon firing off anti-material rounds in close proximity to comrades was completely unacceptable. The irony that the Courier was, himself, a loose cannon never once occurred to him.

Then came the Master of Master’s response to his question, which proved to be largely unhelpful and unenlightening. [color=tan]”Naw, I don’t wanna sit here and chat now. That’s why I asked while walkin’,”[/color] he shot back, a bit of annoyance creeping into his tone. [color=tan]”But if you wanna keep this whole mysterious voodoo hoodoo image you’ve got going on, that’s fine by me. Ain’t rightly my business and I respect a man’s right to keepin’ his personal matters to himself.”[/color] It was true enough. Even among his best friends and traveling companions, Boone and Arcade were locked up tighter than a New Vegas virgin’s legs. They warmed up eventually, but until that point both had proven to be extremely private, and in Arcade’s case, awkward. If the Master were to answer anything, he’d do so in his own time.

That’s when the Courier almost stumbled, having to catch himself. His arms flailed out awkwardly in a rather amusing attempt to maintain his balance. The culprit? Kirby! The adorable pink puffball was in walking condition again, and givin the Courier special attention. [color=tan]”Well howdy there, Kirby. What’re you doin’ up and about?”[/color]

“Ey!” Kirby responded, creating one of those deep red hearts he had used to de-brainwash everyone. The heart popped on the ground and Kirby signalled the Courier once more. What was… What was he getting at? 

[color=tan]”Erm… You want to be… Lovers?”[/color] the Courier questioned, reeling back. He had certainly slept with a lot of people of all varieties, and a lot of non-people, but something just felt inherently [i]wrong[/i] about sexualizing Kirby. As though the very idea itself were a dark, depraved thing of anti-life only the absolute worst people could even conceive of. That’s when a different idea hit him. [color=tan]”Wait…”[/color]

The Courier held out his left hand, palm open out. He concentrated, forcing his own heart and soul into the spread digits, feeling the warmth of his own goodness and trying to express it outward. A small heart appeared, then fizzled out as he lost that concentration, the energy returning to his body. [color=tan]”Heh heh, hey everyone! Check out what I can do!”[/color] he cried out, manifesting a heart in each hand. Like a rodeo clown he began juggling the hearts, first two, then three, then skipping as he did so and giggling all the while. [color=tan]”Hahahahahaha! Oh man, this is great!”[/color]

After a few moments, the Courier ceased his shenanigans, though the joy it brought him could still be clearly seen plastered across his face. In celebration he took a mighty swig of his whiskey bottle, then wiped himself off with a sleeve. [color=tan]”I guess Kirby gave me his power to free people from that shining disco ball’s power, eh? Guess I’m his official favorite,”[/color] he declared, rather smugly. Of course he had no idea how wrong this truly was.

[color=tan]”Enough time has been wasted. We’ve got to hurry!”[/color] he urged the rest, then took off running in the direction of the others. He had a bad feeling that some of their partners were already in a really rough spot.

[hr]

6 could surveil the situation from afar pretty decently. Enough to know that it was definitely bad. Some of their group that had gone off on their own earlier, the girl in the green hood, the other girl that showed up late, and that weird animal bird thing that talked in the third person, they had been pinned down, and in Tora’s case, nearly eviscerated. Thinking back on it, where the hell was that puppet? Did Geno just go flying ahead to leave everyone else and save his own skin? Er, wood? Didn’t he say he was going to scout ahead? Yeah, great fucking job, Geno. Would have been nice to know there was a big rabbit robot war and that the castle was guarded by some turrets and a machinist to keep them up and running. [i][color=tan]Fuck that puppet.[/color][/i]

No time to dwell on the what ifs of Geno having done his job right. Things were only getting worse out there, and most of the group were holding themselves up in an advance on the bridge with the gun turrets. The Courier knew better. Almost always there was another route to take, a way to disable turrets, a way to get around. At least the team made for a great distraction while he took off to the side, away from the firefight. He dove into the moat, fully intent on swimming along the side and climbing up to the elevated position of the engineer and the Omnic that sported this deadly turret function. However, the journey would not be as simple as he had hoped.

Within the waters of the moat the Courier caught sight of some truly breathtaking and wondrous things. Large fish (how would they taste after being cut up and roasted on a spit, he wondered?), a large blue friendly looking sea monster in a hat (well hello there!), and… [color=tan]”Glurb!”[/color] Air escaped the Courier’s lungs as a lakelurk took hold of him in a bearhug from behind. He recognized the slimy humanoid crustacean arms immediately as being a creature from his own world, and one that was especially deadly in its home turf. Unfortunately that was exactly where they were.

The Courier struggled as the beast squeezed harder, then bit deeply into his neck, piercing the sub dermal armor and causing some bleeding. The Ghost of the Mojave lucked out, managing to grab his magnum revolver and point it haphazardly off to the side. Not knowing where the bullet would strike, he pulled the trigger. The loud was bang significantly dampened by the surrounding water, as was the force the bullet shot out with, but at point blank range that didn’t change the overall effects. The bullet pierced into the lakelurk’s abdomen, just between its shell plating. The monstrous creature hissed in pain and reeled back, releasing its grip on the Courier.

Damn, this plan wasn’t working out. If only he had known the moat was infested with lakelurks! The Courier started swimming fast as he could back to the surface, but to no avail. The lakelurk was made for water combat and quickly recovered. With a slash of its claws, it left a bleeding gash in the Courier’s chest. More of his air escaped in the grunt of pain, and he couldn’t last too much longer without surfacing. Unfortunately the lakelurk had other plans.

Realizing how ineffective his guns would be under water, the Courier took hold of his new pickaxe, swinging it at the monster as the creature passed by for another stab. The pickaxe moved through the water with surprising power and speed, blindsiding the lakelurk, and even the Courier for a moment. The tip of the mining tool lodged itself into the lakelurk’s head, several inches deep, piercing the brain. It died, leaving behind a floating mote as with all the other creatures he had seen perish this day. Invigorated by… [i]Something,[/i] the Courier quickly took hold of the monster’s spirit and surfaced as quickly as he could. 

Feeling he could swim better without the pickaxe, 6 put it away only to realize he was suddenly fatigued, weaker, slower. Was it the pickaxe that gave that benefit? He didn’t feel anything before though, so why now? Ugh, it was so hard to think through all the… [i][color=tan]Bleeding![/color][/i] That had to be it! The pickaxe improved his physical attributes, but only while injured! Well, ain’t that a kick in the head?

Realizing that he was, in fact, in a better position with his new melee weapon on hand, 6 grabbed it once more and powered back up to the surface, taking in a deep gasp of air. He had emerged at the edge of the platform where their enemies had been positioned, so sparing a glance to the side told him nothing of how the situation had changed: his vision was too blocked. Sparing no time for rest, the Courier began to climb up the wall, slamming his pickaxe into the side for increased leverage and practically leaping up the side. The added physical effort only exacerbated the wounds given to him by the lakelurk, which in turn only improved his physical capabilities even more, allowing him to ascend ever faster, move with greater power. It was a circle of self abuse and power that ended with the Courier practically leaping straight over the edge of the wall, pickaxe in hand, and bringing it straight down on the very first enemy he happened to see: Bastion the Omnic.