Chapter 2: Shield Acquired

When I arrived at the dark burnt orange tent's flap, I decided to reside on the side of caution and peered through the slim gap in between the two flaps.

Damn, there's a fuck ton of bandits.

I commented mentally as I scanned the area I could see from behind my cover. What entered my vision was at least several dozen bandits going about their lives in a large scale rundown mining complex that some corporate entity abandoned years ago for whatever reason.

Watching all the different bandits stealthily and safely from my cover, I found they were mostly made up of your typical run-of-the-mill ones that looked like any ordinary human except rougher in psychical appearance and clothed in various worn clothing of the combat and leather variety probably made from skag leather. And they weren't the only types I discovered in my observation of the area, I also found psychos sporting their signature masks, bare upper bodies, and wielding circular saw axes being rowdy over by a large burn pile off to the right.

Aside from them, I spotted a handful of bruisers that looked similar to myself in stature resting on makeshift chairs around another burning pile of garbage and clusters of midgets, which were basically miniature versions of psychos, rummaging through the various junk piles scattered throughout this facility and dismembering bodies of some sort way in the distance.

I expected to find a similar layout and scenery to the game's version of Headstone Mine but this place is a hell of a lot larger in scale compared to its game's counterpart. However, I suppose it makes sense for it to be this way since making a world to scale without world generation would be nuts, nevermind getting something like that to actually run on any PCs or consoles.

As my mind was running and thinking about what else may have changed in this world versus its game version, I eventually refocused on what was in front and continued scanning the environment around from the small gap I had available. I spent the next several minutes or so examining the surroundings, and once I was satisfied with my initial investigation, I began planning my next move.

Alright, I got a good grasp on the general area now and have watched the bandits I can see long enough, so it's time I've made my next move since I can't remain in this tent forever. Now the question is what should I do... Well, seeing how my goal is to open the vault, I'm going to need to gather all three vault key fragments and since I'm already at a location that holds one I would like to acquire it before I dip out of here and head off into the Arid Badlands.

I doubt the leader of the Arid Badlands bandit tribe, Sledge, would willingly hand it over when he's known for his aggression and physical strength and not his rational intelligence and reasoning. Therefore, if I want to take possession of the key, I'm going to have to take it from him forcefully, meaning I'm going to have to go on a slaughter spree... That's definitely an impossible task going off the massive number of bandits I've seen thus far in this minute portion of the Headstone Mines.

However, this is no longer a game, so I can use plans and strategy to overcome the numerical advantage they currently hold over me.

...

Remaining by the tent's only entrance, I started brainstorming and running through different ideas in my head along with possible scenarios I might face a short while from now. I spent the following minute as such and eventually had a great idea come to me.

I wonder if I could abuse proximity mine grenade mods and other such explosives to my advantage... There certainly wouldn't be a cap on them like the games, so I don't see why not, and if I combine them with other explosive munitions, I could make some mighty fine IEDs (improvised explosive devices). And since I'm currently a bandit privileged enough to have my very own personal tent, I should be able to explore and navigate this mining compound unimpeded... for the most part, I believe.

Hence, I don't think it would be all that difficult to gather up supplies to use for this plan of mine. I'll just have to figure out how, when, and where I want to use my extra powerful proximity mines. All that said, I want to ensure I have as much survivability as possible so I'm going to want to get a hold of an energy shield so I can't be taken out by a single round.

I don't know if I would actually go down in one shot given my sizable health pool, but I'd rather reside on the side of caution than take the risk of dying at the hands of bandits. Having said that, I'll definitely have to do some testing once I get out of this bandit stronghold and find my own safe haven on Pandora.

Having pretty much made my mind up on boosting my defense before I start gathering supplies for the bandit massacre I will no doubt have to perform, I psyched myself up, hardened my facial expression, and left the confines of the tent with my weapon at the ready. The moment I stepped foot outside, a few of the nearby bandits looked at me briefly before turning away somewhat fearfully after I returned their gaze.

Looks like this bruiser I've taken over has quite the fearsome reputation.

Paying no head to the fearful gazes I had attracted on my exit, I began taking in the sights I couldn't see from the limited view I had in my personal residence. I examined the area till I spotted a much lesser populated area in the distance with many connected large multi-leveled rusted sheet metal structures in the distance.

That place should have some loot.

With an area of interest located for looting, I moved in the direction of the massive run-down buildings at a not too fast nor too slow pace. Taking one step after another, I slowly began moving away from the noisy bandits and their vile activities I tried to shut out of my mind and before long, I arrived in front of one of the structures. Taking one last look around the area, I only found a handful of bandits that all kept to themselves and paid me little to no mind.

Not finding any problem with them, I did the same and started ascending the rusted stairs that led up to a second level of the building I was at. The stairs creaked ever so slightly under my new vessel's weight, but they nonetheless held strong. Once I reached the top of the steps, I walked along the crisscrossing pattern metal walkway and made it to a door.

Hopefully, I can find something useful past this door.

Praying mentally that I find something good, I grabbed the handle, opened it up and pushed the door open with a decent amount of force with my machine gun pointed in the direction of what lay beyond the door ready to punch holes into whomever. The instant the beefy metal door slammed into the wall, I noticed the space was completely free of bandits. Still remaining cautious just in case one of them was hiding, I pushed into the place with my rare Atlas machine gun held up and pointer finger positioned right next to the trigger.

Stepping into the place, I observed the interior and found myself in a multi-leveled mineshaft with an open core located directly in the middle of the shaft. Curious, I proceeded over the metal railings that were much less tainted by rust and wear due to it being located inside instead of exposed to the elements outside. When I reached them, I peered down into the dark depths that I couldn't see the bottom of. From there, I moved my attention to the metal cables that cascaded down the mine shaft and followed them all the way to the ceiling of the seventh above ground level.

I spent several more seconds observing the portions I could see from my position before turning my attention to the many lockers and other such containers that ran along the walls of the many levels.

There is no way I won't find some loot here.

Eyeing the containers like a kid in a candy store, I strode over to the door I came through, closed it and locked it once I discovered how, and bolted over to the nearest locker right of the only entrance of this place I was able to locate thus far. The instant I arrived in front of the locker that looked like a carbon copy from the games, I attempted to open it by pulling the obvious handle, but the thing refused to budge.

How do you open this thing?

Taking a step back, I examined the container and eventually located the activator, which was the glowing green rectangle on the upper portion of the locker. As soon as I pressed it receded somewhat into the locker's door and released a clink sound undoing the locking mechanism.

Let's see what I got.

With my inner loot goblin filled with a surprising amount of anticipation and excitement, I opened the container, revealing not a fucking thing within the locker except the words fuck you and a poorly scrawled in hand flipping the bird scratched into the locker's interior.

I could get angry but that is genuinely amusing. It reminds me of that door that leads to nowhere in Fallout 3 with the painted on fuck you.

Having no luck with my first pull, I tried the smaller drawer below on the same combo locker unit and found a wad of dollar bills.

That's not what I'm looking for, but I'm sure I'll need it when I arrive at some civilized place on Pandora.

Picking up the cash, my ECHO device Digistructed the bills, absorbed them, and added them to the money counter in my system interface.

[+105 Dollars]

That is a super convenient feature. It would've sucked lugging around a ton of cash.

Satisfied with my little find, I continued my looting efforts and went to the next loot container and repeated the same process, finding a shield although a very basic model from what I can tell. Messing around with it, I couldn't figure out how to activate it for the life of me. So rather than waste my time on figuring it out myself through trial and error, I brought my ECHO communication device to my hands and began searching the ECHOnet for the information I sought.

It took a minute of searching, but I nevertheless tracked down a tutorial on how to operate personal energy shields via the convenient search engine provided by the Dahl corporation. Now a bit more knowledgeable, I slid a tucked slot open and pressed the hidden power button before closing it back up and securing it on the chain belt running through the loops on my worn, dark gray cargo pants.

Once I had it attached, I activated the smallish device and the very instant I did a blue energy covered the entirety of my body. Intrigued, I brought my left forearm up to my eyes to get a closer look and saw an aquamarine blue colored sort of second skin covering every bit of my body.

I wonder how tough this shielding is.

Wanting to put it to the test before my first fight, I slammed my energy-covered fist that had now transitioned from its bluish color to translucent into the looted locker's closed door to test how it'll perform. The result from my little test was my fist caving in the locker's door and my shielding only dropping 10 capacity out of 100 that shot back up and regenerated to 100% after waiting 4 seconds.

I put quite a lot of force behind that strike, so this device has certainly boosted my defenses by at least a few levels, no doubt.

Content with my upgraded defenses and survivability, I restarted my looting and went from one loot container to the next. I spent a good while going through everything thoroughly on this level and when I was certain I had scoured and scavenged all I could; I took count of all the loot I accumulated and organized on the floor and within my personal backpack space provided by my ECHO device.

[ Loot Acquired ]

Weapons: | Rare || S&S Munitions | RDLS Explosive Fury Machine Pistol - | Uncommon || Vladof | LS Shocking Fury Machine Pistol - | Common || Torgue | Stock Carnage Rocket Shotgun

Shields: Basic Shield (1)

Meds: Minor Healing Kits (10) - Minor Insta-Health Vials (15) - Light Healing Kits (6) - Light Insta-Health Vials (6) - Insta-Health Vials (2)

Ammunition: 3,291

Grenades: 17

Dollars: 5,457