So that's where you are.
I thought with glee as I spotted the asshole who did me dirty… And taught me an incredibly valuable lesson.
The bandit leader I found was a bruiser sort of character, covered head to toe in bone armor crafted from the local wildlife and wielding a sizable double-barreled rocket launcher of unknown make.
Hmm, what is the manufacturer of that launcher? I don't recall ever seeing that specific model… Well, I suppose that changes things a bit. I was intending to send a rocket his way to return the favor, but I wanna get my hands on that piece of gear, so I guess I'll have to go with a less explosive option, one that will keep that weapon from getting too roughed up.
With both my curiosity and greed triggered, I forewent my original plan of blowing that bastard to kingdom come and instead drew the weapon I used to take out his boss, Bonehead, a short while ago. Armed with my Eridian Lightning Sniper Rifle as well as my Atlas Pearl Havoc Machine Gun, which I traded my Chopper out for, I continued circling around the camp unbeknownst to the riled up bandits, who were stupidly searching for me in a spot I ditched long ago. Itching to rip this guy apart, I moved quickly along the dusty dirt paths that crisscrossed the place and flitted between the rusted and worn-out shacks as I inched ever closer to this bandit, who was seemingly the man in charge here now that his boss had been disposed of.
...
I kept moving and closing in on the bruiser, but on my way to my destination, a random bandit exited a rundown structure behind me groggily and turned in my direction as I continued on my way through enemy territory.
"Hmm, who's that big guy in the armor...?"
The fella got one look at me and wisely decided to toss the even bigger trouble I was about to unleash onto some other poor sap. "You know what I don't need to know; someone else can handle this."
That uniquely lazy bandit let loose one more yawn before performing a 180 and heading back inside, probably to go to catch some more zzzs.
Unaware that I had been spotted by a bandit, particularly one who was too lazy to bother with the troublesome me, I continued on my way through the dilapidated structures as the horde of bandits searched noisily in the distance. Once I had rounded the enemy encampment and had approached close enough, I started examining the area and looking for a prime spot to kick things off again.
"Hey friend, I got a bit of an issue over here." Claptrap spoke hastily over the ECHO communication line.
"What's up?"
"Uhh, you know those bandits we've been dealing with
"Yeah, what about them?" I replied as I kept looking around the shithole bandit camp.
"Well, they're kind of moving in on my location, and pretty quickly at that, so I could use a bit of help over here... Like yesterday."
My bucket of bolts sounded like he was on the verge of getting squeezed, so I didn't keep him in suspense and replied right away. "Alright, just keep your head down for a few moments. I'm about to draw their attention."
With my mechanical companion in need of a sizable distraction, I urgently searched the section I found myself in. Unfortunately, I didn't spot any positions that were all that great.
Fuck it, I don't have time for this.
Unable to waste anymore time searching for a good place to take on rocket man, I decided to forgo that plan and just chose confront the fucker the old fashion way. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but it wasn't a poor plan either since I would have coming from the rear and the element of surprise working in my favor. The second I made my mind up, I started making a beeline for the target, and after cutting through a number of weathered and decayed structures, I saw the big bruiser with the unique rocket launcher I planned on ripping from his cold dead hands... Or what would be left of them when I was through with him.
My target was in a bit of an elevated position, but it wasn't one I couldn't reach with relative ease, so I began to approach the scrap metal stairs that led up to him. However, just as I was about to step on them a thought occurred to me.
Hmm, hold on a minute; it may not be the smartest idea to take the stairs. I mean my massive weight combined with my body armor's heft will surely cause these stairs to creak and moan under my pressure, which would then result in me losing the element of surprise...
Yeah, I don't feel like tanking another rocket, so I'm gonna have to come at this a different way.
Unwilling to throw my element of surprise out the window just yet, I retreated some and peered at the back of the bruiser's bone-covered frame.
My options are quite limited here and since I don't have the time to think my best choice right now would be to just strike him down from all the way down here before I race up there and unload on the bandits who have been actively searching for me all this while… He's the only real threat left to my knowledge, so once he's down for the count, Claptrap and I will have little trouble cleaning up the dregs.
Time was a ticken and my companion wasn't going to be able to hold out all on his own when the bandits stumbled across him, especially with how many bandits were left, so I brought up my alien sniper rifle with my left hand, lined up its muzzle with the bastard's head and readied my machine gun for what was to come next.
As soon as I was locked onto the back of his bone-covered skull, I unhesitatingly pulled the trigger and sent forth a bolt of blinding blue lightning. The bolt of volatile energy traveled at such extreme speed that it covered the short distance between he and I in far less time than it took one to blink, and the instant it impacted, it took his shields down and arced crazily across the metal bits that held his bone armor together.
However, the bolt didn't have enough juice left to do anything more than scorch the bone plating covering his head, so I followed up my initial attack with a fully automatic spray from my trusty Atlas machine gun. My gun thundered as a storm of concussive gunfire rang out loudly whilst I held the trigger and kept my weapon on target and before I knew it round after round impacted his bone armor and pierced straight on through it. And from there dug deeply into his flesh all whilst procing my high tier weapon's incendiary effect.
If I had come at him from the front whilst he had all the bandits under his command, I have no doubt I would've had one hell of a hard time taking him out with the amount of distractions I would've been dealing with. But in this instance, there was nothing he could do in response since I got the drop on him; thus, he succumbed to the many lethal wounds I punched through his flesh. With no life left in him, his muscular burning body gave way and landed on the concrete above with a loud thud.
As much as I would like to gloat over Rock-O's death right about now, the battle has only just begun.
Even though I wished to rejoice in the execution of my revenge, I knew I had a whole boatload of bandits that required culling, so I banked my celebration time for later and stormed up the rusted junk stairs to present a prime opportunity for my little sidekick to collect some heads. The old weather-beaten stairs groaned under my weight, but they nevertheless held, so I ascended as fast as I could, and when I made it to the top I swapped out my Atlas Havoc machine gun for my Chopper.
Locked and loaded and ready for action, I stepped over the bruiser's lead-filled corpse without a second thought and approached the edge of the level I found myself on as the corpse kept smoldering behind me. Once I made it to the edge, I found a scene of corpses and body parts strewn about the ground below and swaths of bandits who had been scurrying about moments ago in search of me, all heading to my location.
Good, they're all coming to me now. Time to mop the floor with the rest of them and head to the next mission location.
Motivated to make short work of the cleanup and move onto my next job, I hefted my two weapons up and unleashed hell on the crowds of human scum. Bolts of lightning arced out of my Eridian sniper rifle one after the next and pierced multiple bodies at a time, leaving a trail of spazzing corpses with each subsequent pull of the trigger. On the other hand, a continuous stream of explosive rounds flew forth from my heavy Vladof machine gun and struck the crowd of enemies and blew many of them apart when its projectiles met their shields and armor.
"COME AND GET SOME FUCKERS!" I roared, drawing even more aggro to myself.
And whilst I was gathering all the attention for myself, Claptrap didn't lag behind and started just after I did.
"Take that, you stinking, meat bags! AHAHAHAHA-" Is all I heard over our ECHO communication link.
Yeah, Claptrap is a bit of a psychopath... But I guess so am I when this has become my new norm.
There was a lot of killing that needed doing, hence I left such thoughts for later and kept on firing bolts of deadly energy and equally lethal bullets, that were decimating multiple bandits at a time with its explosive force and the shrapnel it was sending everywhere.