Borderlands: Gunsight (33 page)

“Hey—I’ve been trying to since I saw you last!”

“Yeah? You took your time! I had to bust out on my own! Bigjaws nearly ate my feet!”

“I saw his body . . . and Jasper’s . . .”

“You going to get me up out of here?”

“Just a second.” He had heard boot steps behind him; he spun and fired almost point-blank at a one-armed Reamer-uniformed Bruiser Psycho coming at him with an axe in his hand. “Be my bleedentine, darling!” the Psycho bellowed. Mordecai had to duck to his right so the axe hit the railing and not him. A burst from the corrosive SMG punched eight acid-burn rounds in the Bruiser’s belly. The Psycho screamed and giggled at once; Mordecai swipe-kicked his adversary’s legs out from under him, and the Bruiser fell on his back, convulsing in death.

“Mordecai?” Daphne called out. “Can you spare a moment for me?”

“Yeah, uh, look, baby, I almost got brained by an axe up here.” He looked at the bodies of the Tunnel Rats. “You kill those scumbags?”

“Naturally! You sure weren’t here to do it! But I’m outta ammo and there’s more of the bastards coming!”

“Who’s that with you?”

“Just get me up there!”

“Hold on . . .” He found a loose cable and drooped it over the railing, holding on to his end. It wasn’t far down to Daphne, with the tilt of the ship, and she quickly clambered up. The man with her came up more laboriously. She and Mordecai had to reach down and help him onto the deck.

The stranger pulled off his gas mask. “Fluron!” Mordecai burst out. “Daphne, you know who this guy
is
?”

Mordecai raised the submachine gun—then remembered he’d fired the entire clip.

“Yeah, I do, and don’t shoot him,” Daphne growled, looking around. “He’s a friend of mine.”

“A friend of
yours
? He works for Reamus!”

“Not anymore!” Fluron said, holding up his hands palms outward. “I promise!”

Mordecai snorted. “Okay, if Daphne vouches for you.” He slapped a new clip into the SMG and gave it to Daphne, along with several grenades. He unstrapped his rocket launcher and nodded to them. “Come on. I’ve got to get you two out of this hole before I take Reamus down.”

“Reamus is alive?” Daphne asked, as they returned along the rail walk toward the prow. “You’d think most everyone’d be dead in this wreck by now.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he were alive,” Fluron said. “He’s liable to be in his Living Armor. That’ll protect him from almost any kind of damage.”

“
What
Living Armor?”

But before Fluron could reply, five Tunnel Rats came into view around the corner of the superstructure, sliding down the slanted deck.

“Yo!” Mordecai shouted, as the Tunnel Rats got to their feet on the railing and turned crossbows and shotguns their way. “I’m working with the Chief Engineer! We’re allies! If you’re looking for food, head belowdecks! There’s dozens of ’em down there just waiting to be—”

That’s all he got out before they opened fire.

A crossbow bolt slashed past Mordecai’s face, exploding on the deck behind him, and another buzzed overhead. Bloodwing was already in the air, darting down, distracting the Tunnel Rats. The Rats’ shotgunner was running toward them, raising the weapon. Daphne opened fire, catching the shotgunner with a double handful of corrosive rounds before the man could fire. The Tunnel Rat spun and fell, shrieking as its skin bubbled away in green steam.

The other four were standing near two fallen but intact barrels marked with the insignia for toxic explosives. Mordecai shouted at Bloodwing to return; she flapped back to him as he fired at the barrels, the rocket hitting the deck just in front of them, splash effect detonating both containers. A green-tinged double fireball erupted, incinerating the remaining Tunnel Rats.

“I always wondered if that’d really work,” Fluron said.

“Works if you manage not to blow yourself up with it,” Daphne said. She reloaded the SMG and led the way along the railing.

As they went, she sketched her escape from Gunsight for Mordecai, and he told her what had been delaying him. But she didn’t seem inclined to forgive him. She just looked at him and shook her head.

Mordecai could hear the distinct sound of the Eridian cannon going off, firing intermittently—Mordecai wasn’t sure what Brick was firing at.

They gave the ruptures in the deck a wide berth, and saw no more Tunnel Rats or Reamers. But they could hear them.

The Tunnel Rats had entered the lower gashes in the Crusher’s hull, overwhelming the few surviving Reamers with sheer numbers. The Reamers shouted in panic; shouts became screaming . . .

“Not a good time to be belowdecks,” remarked Fluron, swallowing hard.

They went on, soon reaching the prow of the ship. Not waiting for the others, Daphne climbed over the rail, jumped on the stone stairway, and made her way to the slope leading up to the edge where Brick stood beside the smoking cannon, his fists on his hips. The steep incline was littered with the
fried bodies of Tunnel Rats—some of them were just splashes of flesh and blood, recognizable only by bits of gear.

Mordecai hurried to catch up with her. “You’re alive . . . kinda,” Brick said, as she ran puffing up to him.

“I know I don’t look like I’m alive, but I am,” Daphne said, dryly, as she joined him. “Whew!” She pointed at the cannon. “What is
that
thing?”

“Eridian cannon . . . Mordecai, you take care of the cannon. I’m gonna go down and kill some Tunnel Rats. They came at me like we had no deal! I’m gonna make the bastards pay!”

“Suit yourself, but it’s not worth the trouble, if you ask me—being as Daphne’s alive.”

“Not smart to let Reamus live,” Brick said.

He was right about that, Mordecai figured. “But there’s a good chance he’s dead . . .”

“We should get out of here,” Fluron said, joining them, eyes wide with fear. “I think I hear the Get Clear siren.”

“The what?” Mordecai heard it then, a whining siren from deep within the wreck of the Crusher.

“I’m going to the outrunner,” Fluron said. “Daphne? Coming?”

“Yeah. I’ve had enough.”

She and Fluron started toward the outrunner—Mordecai turned to Brick to suggest they go, too—

And then, in the wreckage of the Crusher, something emerged from the big gap Brick had burned in the superstructure. It barely fit through the gap, squeezing out, and then standing.

It was Reamus, his body below his chest hidden within a carapace of stainless steel, glimmering with a translucent purple shield. The carapace, Reamus’s Living Armor, was
supported on six jointed metal legs, each leg ending in sharp steel talons, the limbs computer-enhanced to be as dexterous as any insect’s. An energy cannon jutted on the upper edge of the armor, at the level of Reamus’s bare chest. He had steel-gauntleted hands clamped on the swiveling cannon, and his other two hands each clasped an explosive-round shotgun.

There was blood on his face—he’d been injured in the wreckage. But not injured enough.

“Looks like we burned an exit out of that wreck for him,” Brick said, stepping behind the Eridian cannon. “Just as well. I don’t like to leave an enemy unkilled.”

“Yeah. Bloodwing—go back there and do what you can to protect Daphne!”

“Errr!”
she responded, and leapt into the air.

Mordecai glanced back at Daphne. She and Fluron were hurrying over to the outrunner. Maybe she’d get on its turret and join the fight. He hoped so. He had a feeling they’d need all the help they could get.

Reamus confirmed the feeling, stalking quickly off the slanted deck and up the incline toward them, climbing steadily.

•  •  •

At the outrunner, Daphne settled into the driver’s seat, Fluron beside her. He found a couple of med hypos under a seat and gave them each some. As strength came back into her, and Bloodwing circled over them cawing, she thought about going back to help Mordecai.

Then a woman’s voice came on the ECHO. It was Moxxi.
“Mordecai? It’s me, Moxxi! I got your frequency from Marcus! What do you say, big boy! I think it’s time you and me stop playing and got married! Come on back to Moxxi’s and we’ll get back
to old times! You as much as admitted you wanted to! Even if that bitch is alive—you and me both know she’ll just kill you in her sleep one of these days!”

Daphne activated the ECHO. “Moxxi—have you been playing around with Mordecai?”

“Is that Daphne? My goodness, you
are
alive! As for Mordecai, he’s all mine, girl! May as well give him up!”

“He’s taken up with you? Really?”

“Really! Let me talk to him!”

“Kiss my ass, bitch!” Daphne snapped, cutting the connection.

“Let’s get out of here, Daphne!” Fluron said. “Reamus is coming outta that hole and you promised to help me get off this planet! Mordecai is Moxxi’s now—you heard her!”

She stared off toward Sudden Canyon . . . and made up her mind.

•  •  •

“You two!
You
did this!” Reamus roared. “You’re behind this cowardly destruction of my Crusher! I’ll tear you slowly to pieces for that!”

Brick fired the cannon, several quick pulses that struck Reamus on his chest and his armor—the shield held, weakening only slightly.

“Come and get some!” Brick roared defiantly.

Mordecai was aiming the rocket launcher down at Reamus—when the mutant let loose with a triple blast from his armament, one from each weapon, the shots triangulating on the cannon. The Eridian howitzer turned red hot and vibrated with the excessive energy. Brick swore and stepped back—then kicked the cannon down the hillside so that it rolled end over end toward Reamus.

It was a smart move, Mordecai thought. The cannon—clearly going to explode, could put out a big shock wave. But Reamus fired on it before it got more than halfway to him, and it detonated in a ball of blue-white fire.

Fragments of the cannon spun, trailing smoke, some of them striking Reamus but kept back by his shield.

“Good try,” Mordecai muttered. “But that’s a powerful shield.” He fired the rocket launcher—the rockets struck Reamus’s armor, doing little visible damage.

“I gotta shield of my own and he’s made me angry, very, very angry!” Brick snarled.

“No, Brick, hold on—let’s see if we can get Daphne to—”

But Brick was no longer listening. He was going berserker—and rushing down the hill toward Reamus.

The big mutant stalked up toward Brick on his jointed steel legs, past the smoking remains of the Eridian cannon—as Brick charged him.

Mordecai tried to pick out a target on Reamus he could hit without catching Brick in the blast. But it was an awkward angle.

Brick leapt in the air, straight toward Reamus—and was met in midair by the convergent tracks of energy from Reamus’s weapons, a tripartite fist of pure energy hitting Brick in the midriff.

Brick roared in pain and fury as the blast knocked him backward, shorting out his shield and sending him rolling, stunned.

Mordecai used the opportunity to fire, hitting Reamus high on his body—but still the mutant’s shield held. The Living Armor rocked back at the impact, front two legs off the ground, but the four rear limbs gripped the slope firmly and
held him upright. He fired at Mordecai, who was just able to leap aside before the blast struck the place he’d been a split second before.

Mordecai got to his feet in time to see that Brick was up, shieldless, his chest charred. But he was stalking down the hillside toward Reamus.

Reamus waited till Brick was in reach—and then slashed out with his front legs, stabbing into Brick’s right chest and left shoulder, impaling him. Mordecai could see the metal talons thrusting out from Brick’s back, the wounds gushing blood.

Brick bellowed in pain and thrashed on the impaling limbs—but he was being lifted off his feet, skewered. Reamus aimed his three weapons at Brick . . . the cannon, and the two hand weapons . . .

Mordecai fired the rocket launcher twice, and his aim was good: the first rocket struck the cannon, the second struck Reamus’s chest. The shield protected the big four-armed mutant but the rockets jolted him enough that he only hit Brick indirectly. Still, Brick had been impaled, and now he was struck by a glancing energy beam. He was knocked off the skewers, to fall, rolling to one side, out cold. Probably dying, if he wasn’t dead already.

The fury that had receded in Mordecai since finding Daphne alive now resurged, roaring up in him.

“Come on, you sick freakish skag turd!” Mordecai yelled, firing the rocket launcher at Reamus. He used up his last rockets, firing them as quick as he could, so that flame and smoke and dust surrounded the big mutant, hiding him from sight.

Mordecai couldn’t see him.
Maybe I got through to him that
time.
He dropped the empty rocket launcher and plucked two grenades—and then Reamus stalked from the pall of smoke, coming into view, scarcely marked by Mordecai’s attack.

Reamus crowed with laughter and came quickly up the hill, jointed metal legs climbing rapidly and efficiently. Mordecai tossed the grenades, reached for two more, tossed those, too—and then Reamus’s tripartite energy discharge struck him.

Mordecai’s shield held, long enough to keep him alive, but he was flung backward, tossed through the air, spinning like a crash test dummy. He fell onto his back, the wind knocked out of him, gasping. The sky seemed to melt overhead; the clouds swam with malevolent faces. The ground felt like mush beneath him.

He tried to sit up—but his arms and legs didn’t want to respond. “Daphne . . . ,” he called, hoarsely.

Where was she? What was she doing?

A shadow fell over him. A looming shape blocked out the sky. It was Reamus. The huge mutant stood over Mordecai in his Living Armor, his laugh booming across the plain. “Your little girlfriend has run away, Mordecai! I will impale you, again and again! I think I can keep you alive for a half hour, as I stab you through and through—perhaps more!”

Lousy way to die.

Mordecai, still lying on his back, fumbled for grenades, couldn’t find any . . .

Reamus rocked back on his armor’s four rear legs and raised his front pincers over Mordecai, preparing to stab down, his eyes bright with anticipation, grin madly wide. “They’ve all left you, Mordecai! Prepare to die friendless, prepare to die . . . alone!”