Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of a mechanical engine echoed throughout the ship, the rather small vessel. Silence was what accompanied and complemented this noise, rather than the usual chatter of the otherwise loud crew.

No squabbling, no discussions, no orders. 

The Survivors of the EUS Safe Travels sat in silence in the crowded ship. Engie sat near the back, slowly removing a Bungus from his turret, allowing the fungus to fall to the floor. He stared at his now cleared turret, before giving it a pat and powering it off.

Glancing back, he observed the room somberly. Mercenary, one of the many survivors, seemed to just be staring at his sword, a feeling of regret hanging heavy over him. He slowly propped the sword against the bench, before allowing his head to fall into his leather gloves, his mechanical joints popping as he did so.

Nearer to the front of the ship, three of the unexpected guests that had helped them on their journey, all stayed close together, small chirps and other noises being made. Rex had his four legs curled under him, his one mechanical eye glancing around quickly, as if anxious.

Acrid curled up against MUL-T, the robot chirping at the large beast in a way of communication. Acrid didn’t seem to mind, slowly blinking and letting out occasional deep breaths. His wounds were still being healed, as his leg had been crushed during the standoff against Mithrix.

MUL-T was in his folded up form, his head slightly poked up as he seemed to ramble on in some unknown robotic language. Engie knew it as a type of code, but still lacked the ability to decode it just through ear.

His line of sight shifted to Huntress, Commando and Artificer. Commando had not been doing well since leaving the planet, often snapping awake and screaming, and random breakdowns. Huntress softly spoke hushed words to him, as he frantically replied back, a look of panic shaking over his body. Artificer awkwardly stood by, trying her best to do what she could.

Loader sat off to the side, fiddling with her gauntlets nervously. Her hands trembled, the adrenaline from the fight still haunting her like a nightmare. She’d been the one to land the killing blow on the King of Nothing, in their desperate time.

Clearly, the guilt was having its effects. Afterall, she’d merely been a cargo mover prior.

Railgunner and Captain stood off to the side, discussing quietly about the corrupted void being in front of them. Void Fiend had been an unexpected ally, despite the initial panic and fear he caused the crew. Although now that the fight was over, he’d since shut down. Fortunately, he was still alive, but just seemed to be in a state of coma.

Off in the far corner behind Acrid, stood Executioner. They’d originally been removed from the mission, but of course somehow it was forgotten to inform them. So, they’d been bunking with Huntress, and when the time came to drop into the planet, they’d gone against orders and gone as well. For worry of somebody getting hurt.

They’d shown very good athletic abilities, working well with Railgunner and unfortunately, Bandit. 

Engie’s eyes snapped away from them, before he narrowed his optic behind his helmet in distaste. Speak of the devil, Bandit, the crew’s disliked “guest” approached him, gun slung over his shoulder. His optic that wasn’t under his hat narrowed at the crew, before glancing back down at Engie.

Engie softly pulled one of his turrets slightly away from the thief, cradling it before speaking quietly. “What do you want?”

“...’m just checking out those equipments you got there. Those model X’s?” He asked, gesturing towards the turrets.

“Yes. And no, they’re not up for sale.” He spat, “ Or being stolen either.” He added quickly, glaring at Bandit for emphasis. The revolver-bearing robot quickly held up his hands in surrender, his gun easily sliding into the sheaf on his back. Because of course .

“Woah there, big guy. Just was askin’ a question.”

The Engineer narrowed his optic at the cargo thief for a moment, before scooting away from him slightly, pulling his equipment with him. Bandit seemed to finally get the idea, and sauntered off to bother some other crewmate.

Engie leaned against his bab— turret, his optic readjusting behind his helmet at the other crew members. He glanced away, sighing. Hopefully, once this ship landed, he was able to go home. He’d have plenty of time off, since he was getting a hefty amount from this mission.

But…

Was it worth it?

His hands shook slightly. No, no it wasn’t. He’d prefer if this all had never happened, even if it meant not meeting some of the amazing people on this crew. His head fell slightly in sadness. Never had he thought he’d think like that, he had always been a people person. But this…

It was all too much.

He heard the soft pad of boots, and let out a groan. “For the last time, Bandit, the turrets aren’t up for-”

He choked on his words slightly, as he glanced up and was met with the weird look from Exo. “Huh? Oh, nope, not Bandit. Hell no.” They nervously stuttered, waving their hands. “Not here to steal the turrets either, I know how crazy you are for them.”

Engie quickly broke out into a stutter. “Oh, sorry, friend! I thought you were our unplanned guest, I’m sorry.” He said quickly, and Exo waved him off. His body relaxed slightly as Exo sat down next to him, propping their knee up and glancing at him.

Engie took a moment to observe their equipment, as he’d never gotten a chance. They adorned an emotion mask, one that sometimes displayed little faces. He’d always been fascinated in it, during their time on the battlefield even taking the time to ask little questions about it.

At the moment, it was simply a loading symbol. Most of the time, it was. It showed they didn’t want their emotions to be on obvious display, but at times their mask would display things they didn’t mean to.

…

Engie found it oddly… endearing.

Their outfit was mainly black, except for the under area of their coat, which was a nice sunshine yellow. They had hefty armor, which had saved their ass several times during the fight.

Slowly, they spoke again, snapping Engie out of his thoughts.

“...How are you holding up?”

“A-Ah, well, that’s quite an open ended question, isn’t it…?” He seemed to trail off slightly, before glancing away from them quickly, staring down at the floor.

They both knew he was stalling, everyone had been left scarred from this mission. It’d been out of left lane, the horrible acts they had to do.

Engie felt fucking disgusted with himself.

“Engie…”

The soft spoken name caused him to nervously glance up again, as they reached their clawed hand out, softly taking his. “...You know what I meant.”

“...yes. Yes.” He softly said, sighing deeply.

“Survivor’s guilt?”

“Survivor’s guilt.” He confirmed, and they let out a sigh, before squeezing his hand.

They tried to get as much eye contact out of the engineer as possible, but he kept glancing away. Eventually, they let out an annoyed sigh and hooked a finger under the chin of his helmet, causing him to let out a surprise squeak as they looked at him.

“Engie. It’s over. You’re okay, your turrets are okay, they’re okay,” they gestured towards the rest of the crew, “...And I’m okay. We’re making it back home, no more detours. Yeah?”

Engie wanted to agree, to speak, but for some reason his mechanical throat felt like it closed up. He felt his fans begin to whirr aggressively and he stuttered slightly, before nodding quickly. He’ll just go with that.

Exo seemed to stare for a longer moment, before letting out a snort. Engie let out a yelp as he felt their hand softly smack him over the back of his helmet, as they let out a small chuckle that had his sensors going wild.

“You’re such a ditz, Engie.” They stated, as Engie rubbed the back of his helmet and gave them a playful scoff. They gave both his turrets a pat on the head, then pat him on the head, which had him stuttering and his fans once again going full blast.

“Ping me on our devices if you need me, yeah? It’s not like I got anything else to do right now, anyways.” They seemed to be grinning, if Engie could guess. He just stupidly nodded, unable to speak at the moment.

They walked away, back towards Acrid, MUL-T and Rex, and Engie couldn’t help but softly pet his turret as his mind tried to work on what just happened.

…Hm, it seemed like this problem would need to be looked into a bit more than he initially thought.

Chapter Text

“The adventure lies within the journey, but sometimes, just enjoy the people you meet along the way.”

Engie had always followed that motto. Although, being an engineer most of his life, he never really got many opportunities outside of his job. So, he appreciated every little companionship he made, analyzing it and treasuring it like the rarest recovered cargo.

But now?

He was left baffled. He had no idea what to make of the companionship he had with Exo. The prospect of them ‘Coming and going’ was… oddly discomforting. Even though Engie knew it’d be foolish to chase somebody with bigger chances than himself.

Do friends chase friends? Yeah, he thinks so. He’s seen it happen before, well, not literally of course. Well, maybe sometimes, it depends on the conte-

A loud crash sounded around him, causing him to jump up, smacking his head against the turret above him. He let out a groan, sliding out from under his turret and rubbing his helmet. Fuck this new ship.

The past few days had been uneventful and honestly restless with that small escape ship, so moving to the larger bay had been a blessing. Although it was a while until they reached earth, he was thankful to have his own room and privacy.

There weren’t many rooms, so he’d heard Exo had been basically couch surfing each night. The robots were more than content with sleeping in the cargo bay, and Acrid had straight up refused to leave MUL-T’s side. The unexpected companionship had honestly shocked Captain and himself, but it did bring a chuckle out of him.

Allowing the beast to sleep in the cargo bay was easy, but figuring out Void Fiend was another. He’d woken up, and fortunately not blown a hole through the ship, but nonetheless he did freak out. It was hard communicating, but eventually the message got across that he was safe.

After that, he’d just opted to simply stare at anybody that entered the area. He mostly lingered around the kitchen, watching the CHEF bot work its way at meals. Of course, the robot paid no mind, focused on its task.

Engie, himself, had been focused on fixing up his turrets. The Bungus he’d put on them seemed to grow into some of their circuits, so he’d been carefully removing those. Fortunately, the turrets showed no sign of being damaged, instead as per usual, staring at him or anything else that moved.

Fuck, what time was it?

He glanced back at the digital clock on his desk, and the numbers had him cursing himself.

3am.

Well, he wasn’t tired yet. Not at all. If anything, he felt like he could go another few days without rest. Sighing, he stood up, giving his turrets a pat, before shutting them off. They folded in on themselves quickly, simply folding into two rectangles. He stacked them, before placing them under his desk.

Grinning to himself mentally, he made way out of his room, off to the living room to see whoever was awake.

“So… let me get this straight. You’re just going to boot me off after this. Minimal pay. And not even put me on the list for recognition.” You began softly, a tone of irritation carefully hidden between the cracks of each word and voice crack.

The old man let out a deep sigh, before leaning back in his seat. “...Hm, when you put it like that, it doesn’t seem too… favorable.” He said deeply, but that was the confirmation you needed.

“Great. Even after all of that ,” you gestured at the windows showing off into space, “you’re just going to wave me aside. No, I get it, I wasn’t meant to be on this mission, but I could’ve been at least tol-”

Captain held his hand up, effectively cutting you off. “Sargent. I will not , be having this argument with you at 3AM. Not only have you come into my office to complain for the dozenth time, but you decided to do it at an unholy hour.” He paused, his optic narrowing into slits at you, the three prongs glaring daggers into you.

You couldn’t help but shrink back slightly, despite the burning rage that caused your fingers to shake with it.

“But that isn’t fucking fai-”

“ None , of this was fair. For any of us. Now was it?”

Bitter silence. You seethed in silent rage, your mask displaying nothing but a blank screen. Finally, you slammed your hands down, the chair falling back as you stood up. Captain could feel the glare being shot his way as you stormed out of his office, sighing as you aggressively punched in the numbers of leave.

You stepped out of the office, storming down the hall towards the living room. Nobody was awake at this time, so you slid off your mask, tugging at your hood. You stood there for a long moment, staring at the ground. Finally, you let out a deep growl and punched the wall next to you, hot tears burning on your eyes as you repressed a yell.

“I fucking needed that money, how the hell is that much going to sustain me? Help me fucking recover from the shit I was put through!?” You spoke to nothing. You simply glared at the dent in the wall, before the mechanical clearing of a throat caused your eyes to widen, and you fumbled with the mask you held in one hand.

Sliding it on quickly, you glanced up, meeting the hidden optic of Engie on the couch.

“Uh…” He began uselessly. The condensation of your angered breath fogged up your mask, and you let out an angered noise, before ripping the mask off, throwing it to the ground.

Engie seemed to just stare at you, wide opticed as you stormed over, before basically falling onto the couch next to him, your head falling into your hands.

An awkward straining silence ensued, as you tried to fight the urge to just start crying. It really wasn’t fucking fair. This had to be an abuse of power, status, you didn’t fucking know. An abuse of something!

…

A large hand on your back caused you to glance up in surprise, your actual eyes staring at Engie. He’d moved closer, his gloved hand on your back as he seemed to stare at you.

After a moment, he softly spoke.

“Y-Y’know, I’d uh, take off my helmet too if it weren’t a part of my head.” The sentence was followed with silence for a moment, before you let out a snort. Engie seemed to relax at that, as you glanced back down at the mask below you.

“...Yeah, don’t want you tearing off your head for me, big guy.”

The nickname at the end was met with the soft sound of mechanical fans kicking up once again. You grinned under your hands slightly at the unconscious actions of the engineer next to you, as you felt his gaze on you.

He kind of flinched slightly as your head fell against his side, your hood falling back and your soft hair meeting his armor.

“...Why is life such a cocksucker?”

Your words ripped an unexpected laugh out of Engie, that seemed to surprise you both. Finally, you heard mechanical joints popping as his arm wrapped around your back, his hand coming to a rest at your shoulder, pulling you closer.

“I have no clue. But, at least you got people around you, yeah?”

…

“Yeah.”

Engie tried to ignore his fans and sensors going haywire as you hugged him slightly, letting out a deep sigh. His head fell back slightly against the back of the couch, as the sounds of the ship making its way through space accompanied them.

…

…Maybe this… was worth chasing after.

Chapter Text

- AUTO-LOG #982 - EUS SAFE TRAVELS (EST)

- GENERATED ESTIMATION OF ARRIVAL: 72 HOURS

- BOARD COUNT: 16

- …

ERROR.

- RECALCULATING.

- …

- BOARD COUNT: 17

“Are you sure? We made sure the count was exactly 15. With our security, there’s no way somebody could just “sneak” onboard. It’s just… not possible.” Commando wracked his knuckles along the report that laid upon the clipboard he had in hand.

He glanced up, the Captain facing away from him. The movements of his cylinder vents on the sides of his mask were the only thing breaking the complete stillness of the captain. He let out a long hum, before raising his hand slightly, speaking.

“Well, clearly, not impossible enough. The “glitch” in the system that had let Executioner on the mission, despite my clear orders. Who goes to say somebody else couldn’t get in? We made many pit stops, including Mars.” His voice remained calm and stoic, as Commando rubbed at his helmet.

“Are you implying…?”

“It shouldn’t be a possibility we just brush aside, this mission wasn’t exactly a secret one, the press announced it quite loudly, if anything.” He finally turned around, reaching out for the clipboard. In a daze, Commando handed it over, a sense of confusion lingering over him.

“But, sir, we’re arriving at the rendezvous very soon. If we have an intruder on board, and we leave the rest of the crew onboard, what if…?”

Captain held up his hand, effectively cutting Commando off softly. “We have no room for “What-ifs”, we simply have to make do.” He stated, and Commando glanced at the clipboard in Captain’s hands, before turning away slightly, sighing.

“Yes, sir.”

Commando saluted slightly, before turning and making his way out of the office, fidgeting with his gloves nervously.

Captain turned back around, his optic gazing out towards the miles of stars ahead of them, narrowing and widening like a camera lens.

“Afterall, what would a single bandit stand against a whole crew.”

“YOU DICKWAD-” Your voice echoed throughout your chamber, before you tumbled off the top bunk of your bed, crashing onto the floor with a sharp thump. You let out a yelp, before quickly struggling out of the blankets that had trapped you in their grasp.

Kicking them away, you let your head fall to the hard floor, groaning. Quickly remembering your roommate, you glanced up to the bottom bunk, only to be met with nothing. Huh, Huntress had already left for this morning’s practice.

You cringed internally slightly.

The words of Captain’s command still lingered in your head.

“You are not to leave this ship until we return to Pluto, where you will exit unharmed .” He’d made his point very clear. He did not want you on this mission.

Unfortunately for him, you weren’t one for rules. They were just suggestions to you, anyways.

A smirk found it’s way to your face, as you sat up, your arm resting against your knee as you felt quite mischievous. Although, it was dangerous and probably a horrible idea, you were going to be taking the last extra pod down to the… wherever they were going.

For a multitude of reasons, the main one being you wanted to prove Captain wrong. And you were, in fact, very capable for this mission. Afterall, you’d been an original pick before he decided to boot you off at the last minute.

Although, looking back on it, you were lucky he didn’t just throw you out to space then and there when you were found in the cargo bay.

You stood up and walked over to your desk, sliding on your gloves and then attaching your claw equipment. Powering them on, you flexed your fingers slightly, before glancing back down. Opening a drawer, you ran a clawed finger over the surface of the disabled mask, before grabbing it.

Powering it on, you slid it on quickly before grabbing your coat and loosely wrapping it around you, pulling up the hood. The sound of your mechanical armor sounded out nicely as you tapped in the numbers of leave on a number pad next to your door, before it opened quickly.

You stepped out into the hall, almost bumping right into Mercenary on the way out. He had stopped right before you ran into him, causing to stumble forward awkwardly, before letting out a choked grunt as you quickly composed yourself.

“A-ah- sorry- Mercenary,” You quickly said, glancing up at the samurai. He just seemed to nod at you, humming. “Hm, no worries, my friend.” He reassured you, and your mask quickly displayed two large yellow dots as eyes as you spoke.

“Ah, I thought you had training today? With the others?”

“I did, I have already finished though.”

“You- Already- Oh, wow. But it started like, ten minutes ago- Wow, that’s impressive.” You said, your eyebrows raising in surprise behind your mask. Hell, you knew this guy was fast but that’s slightly intimidating. He nodded, humming in agreement before speaking.

“I must get to my quarters and finish my work, I shall talk to you later at meal time, yes?”

You quickly nodded, “Oh- yeah- sorry go on ahead,” He quickly made his way past you, and you slightly waved to his retreating form. Jeez, that guy was either a hot mess or a god trapped in a mortal body. Or maybe both.

You really couldn’t tell.

The sound of a heavy door opening caught your attention, and you quickly glanced up just in time to see Loader come bounding out, poor Railgunner on her shoulder letting out choked pleads to be put down. You quickly dodged aside as the excited cargo woman bolted down the hall with RG holding on for dear life.

Those two, complete opposites but from the time you’d all been on the ship, they’d gotten quite close. Glancing back, Engineer seemed to be rambling on about something to Huntress, and she seemed to be trying to keep up. He held his turrets in their folded up form, as MUL-T slowly followed behind the rest of them.

As they all disappeared down the hall, a greeting from both Engie and Huntress, you glanced back, as Commando came out. He seemed… distracted. He fumbled with sheathing his pistol as he came out of the door.

“Hey, Com.”

The nickname caused him to glance up, before letting out a soft ‘Ah, heya Exo.’ before going back to embarrassingly miss sheathing his pistol. Eventually, you just walked up to him and shoved the hand with the pistol into his sheath, and he let out an embarrassed noise and a soft thank you.

“What’s got you so blurry eyed?”

He glanced up, and you heard the noises of his optic adjusting at you from behind his helmet before he spoke. “Blurry e- I have no eyes.”

“Okay, you get what I mean, smartass.” You deadpanned at him, and he let out a soft chuckle, although it was a bit hollow. He reached up and grabbed at his helmet.

“I really uh, don’t want to burden you. Really, it’s not too much of a big de-”

He glanced up, stopping in his words as the two pixely eyes on your mask deadpanned at him. You crossed your arms slowly, and just stared at him.

After a moment you spoke, “Cut the bullshit, let’s get to somewhere more private, yeah?” You said, clapping your hand onto his shoulder. He let out a sigh, his shoulders slumping as you practically dragged him behind you.

Turning into the kitchen, you gave a sheepish grin to the CHEF bot on duty, as you brought him next to the fridges. He made a frazzled noise as you kind of just planted him against the fridge, before leaning against the wall and made a ‘so?’ gesture.

“I…” His voice cracked slightly, a slight glitch noise signaling said voice crack. Clearing his throat, he continued. “Uh, I got a report from the Captain. It’s just… been weighing on my mind a lot, y’know?” You let out a groan of annoyance, before throwing your hands up slightly.

“ Of course it’s because of that old fart. Fuck man, he’s just causing the whole crew stress.” You complained, and Commando made an uncomfortable noise.

“He’s just trying to do what’s best for the crew, yeah?”

“The best for the crew being booting me off?”

He quieted down after that, and you stood up more slightly, speaking quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut in there. What was the report?” you prodded a bit more.

“I don’t know if I can sa-”

“You told me 90% of your life story in the past week we’ve been here, and the other reports. C’mon, you don’t gotta do this song and dance every time you need to cut off some steam to me.” You pointed out, and Commando turned away slightly.

“Yeah, you’re right. Fuck, it’s just, so you know when you were first caught?” He began and you nodded, confusion as to where this could go. “Well, we got that same warning. There’s… there’s somebody else aboard. Captain implied that… it’s probably a criminal from Mars or something. And he doesn’t seem too worried about it, kind of dismissed it even?”

You narrowed your eyes, your mask expression quickly switching to a loading screen as you let out a scoff. “Wow, doing what’s best for the crew, my ass. What the hell?” You spat out, crossing your arms again. He seemed to rub his helmet a bit more, scratching at it slightly.

“I- I don’t know! It’s so odd and out of character for him- he’d usually flip out over this kind of thing!”

“Maybe it’s the Captain’s secret criminal lover.” You said all too nonchalantly, causing Commando to stop and just stare at you.

“I- what?”

You shrugged.

“I don’t know, just a thought.”

Commando shook his helmet in disbelief, before making a weird movement with his hands. You stood up a bit more, and turned to him.

Putting your hand on his shoulder, you gave him a grin from under your mask. “Hey, I’ll keep an eye out. And if I find him, ain’t no cargo rats gonna whoop my ass, yeah?”

Commando seemed to relax slightly at that, before nodding. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay.”

“Let’s get the hell out of this kitchen and stop bothering CHEF, yeah?”

“Mmph.”

Chapter Text

Oftentimes, the impression of Bandit wasn’t the greatest one. But he knew that most had to admit he had style .

Even if the only times they admired it, it was often holding him at gunpoint.

But hey, admiration is admiration.

So, now, as he gripped his hat and glared through the vent, he was all too aware of the dust and grime that stuck to his coat. He’d be waiting for ages, sticking in the vents and popping out for a few fuel cells occasionally for battery.

It was tedious, but hey, he wasn’t one to focus on that. What he was focused on was getting through this cargo and figuring out how much he needed. He’d tag the ones onboard, but his main focus was the cargo below.

The EUS Safe Travels was on route for a cargo recovery mission that was well known. He wasn’t sure how far out they’d gone since he’d last checked, but he knew they couldn’t be far now. 

Glancing back out through the vent, he pulled out his old rustic pocket watch, his optic re-adjusting to stare at the clock like a camera lens. 

Half past two.

It’s showtime.

He wasted no time carefully removing the vent, enabling his cloak precautiously. Dropping down seamlessly, he quickly dove behind some crates, waiting there for a few moments. Although the vent opening had been sufficient for viewing the exit of the cargo bay, he had no clue for security cameras.

He already knew their sensors had busted him. It’d been the original time he dropped out, he’d been too impatient and jumped out without his cloak. Fortunately, no alarm, but the few chitters and clicks from the MUL-T bot were enough.

They knew somebody else was onboard.

That made this all so much more annoying.

He glanced around the side of the crate, his optic adjusting to glare at the security camera from under his smokescreen. He knew he had approximately half a second to disable the camera before the footage was autosaved. Then, he had about fifteen minutes before somebody was sent down to check on the camera.

His hand slowly reached for his revolver. Half a second?

Plenty of time.

With a quick spin and a pop, , the camera was shot straight in the lens. It went down satisfyingly, and he quickly ran over, dismantling it from the wall.

He pushed over the crate next to the fallen camera, flinching at the loud noise. But he had to rid of the evidence of the gun shot, otherwise his cover was blown.

Well.

More than it already was.

He had no time to curse his rustiness of a proper heist, though, as he wasted no more time. Walking over to the wall of chests, a panel popped up in front of each one, showcasing options of either a keycard or a price tag.

The ones that lined these walls were all 25 bucks, but of course, he had no plans of paying. Lifting up right arm, he quickly tapped away on the device around his wrist, before letting the chest scan the popup on the device.

“Access: Authorized.”

His optic narrowed in glee as the chest lock popped open with a satisfying click . He rubbed his gloved hands together before popping open the chest, a sense of childish excitement overtaking his sensors as he glanced in-

…

A…

A bundle of fireworks.

Ah. Hm.

It was simply placed in the middle, as he just stared at it. The fuck?

Shutting it, he glanced to the next chest. That one was a dud, but surely-

The next chest, the same thing.

He glared at the single bundle of fireworks like it’d offended his ancestry, slamming the chest shut. There was seriously no way the orders to bring “special items” was just a shit ton of fireworks. That made absolutely no sense.

He quickly went to the next chest, but this time, he was met with something… odd. And weirdly discomforting.

A single teddy bear. Like the ones from fuckin’ pluto. It was undamaged, like it’d been freshly made. He reached a hand in, taking the small stuffed animal out as his optic glanced up and read the label on the bottom of the chest.

“Tough Times.”

Shipping Details:
Tracking Number: 1418 ***

Order Details:

"Bears are just about the only toy that can lose just about everything and still maintain their dignity and worth." - Samantha Armstrong.

Sent To: 18601,
Frozen Valley,
Jupiter

Shipping Method: Priority
Estimated Delivery: 9/29/2056

Honestly? It made no sense. From the information he’d received and dug up, this cargo… What collection company made these? They were rumored to be on the Contact Light when it was originally launched.

Why was there similar cargo here? Better question, why was it the worthless shit?!

“Dammit,” Bandit mumbled, shutting the chest. He was kind of praying that the cargo that was lost on the planet was worth more. Actually, he was depending on it.

He couldn’t go back empty handed.

You let out a shaky breath.

One day. One day until you probably ruined your life, more than you already have. 

Desperation was a crazy thing.

“Oh! Hello, friend!”

The voice caused you to actually scream . You let out the highest pitch screech ever as you narrowly missed poor Engie with a dagger, that flew right past him as he let out a yelp and jumped to the side, letting out a yell as you screamed.

“Holy fucking shit Engie! You can’t sneak up on me like that!” You yelled as you leaned your head against the table, and the Engineer raised his hands up as if to show he’s harmless. “I apologize, my friend! I- hadn’t meant to give you a scare.”

“Give me a scare? My soul fuckin’ left my body!”

“Did… Did it really?”

You gave him a weird look, your mask showcasing a loading symbol. “Huh? Oh, no, don’t worry.” You snorted, and he seemed to let out a sigh of relief, before walking over and sitting next to you.

You’d come to the cafeteria to try and take your mind off things. Originally planning to try and get some food, but it’d honestly slipped your mind.

“...Ah- well- what’s on your mind, friend?”

“Hm. Just thinking ‘bout something I was told. Nothing much, don’t worry, Engie.” You half-ass reassured him, as you leaned your head down into your arms. Sheesh, where’d the headache come from?

“...Hm.” He hummed thoughtfully, before you felt a hand on your back. The touch had you glancing up,as Engie seemed to just be looking at you.

An awkward pat to your head was felt as he spoke. “I hope this relieves some of your stress.”

You let out a small laugh, as you shot him a grin from behind your mask. “It does, thanks, big guy.”

You could honestly feel the nonexistent smile. He stood up after a moment, and you kind of cried internally for the loss of touch. “Well! Sadly I need to go finish up my project. Don’t be afraid to come talk to me if you need anything, yes?”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Engie.” You mumbled, and he seemed to nod to himself, before picking up his turrets and walking away. 

Your head laid to the side, watching the retreating form of Engie. That guy was honestly one of the friendlier ones on the crew. When you’d originally been caught, Railgunner, Merc, Captain and Huntress had all been a bit cold. For obvious reasons.

Loader was excited to meet somebody new, and Commando didn’t even talk to you for a while. Engie was excited after Captain announced you in fact, wouldn’t be getting thrown out or locked up for breaking the rules.

Obviously, you’d tried to defend yourself. You’d only found out you weren’t supposed to be on the ship after you got on, and looked at the board. Your name had been crossed out.

“Terminated: Terms not sufficient.”

You, being the utter genius you are, panicked and ended up hiding in the cargo bay for a while. You were lucky Captain took mercy on you.

…

You still hated the guy, though.

That was still on him for not making sure you’d actually been informed you’d been terminated. You shook your head, sighing. Huntress was quick to warm up to you after you two became impromptu roommates, and honestly? She was one of the very few people on this ship you’d honestly consider a friend, except for Commando.

You honestly hoped you could stay in contact with some of the members on this ship after the mission.

If… they made it out alive.

The sudden dark thought had you shivering slightly. Right, they’re going down to an alien planet, you couldn’t get too attached. If this was a recovery mission…

Your face screwed up weirdly from behind your mask. Commando had vented to you a few times about being extremely anxious about this mission. You’d offered to talk to Captain about switching places, but he’d instantly shot the idea down, saying he’d rather it be him than you.

That sweetheart did not belong on this crew. He was a fresh soldier, meant to defend his planet, not go on fuckin’ dangerous recovery missions. When you’d asked why he’d been chosen, he’d gone quiet.

You guess you shouldn’t pry in that area.

Heavy footsteps approaching you had you glancing up, surprised to see Loader walking over to you. You and her were the only ones in the cafeteria, so your attention focused on her.

“Heya, Exo! Captain needed me for a bit of extra overtime training, so he decided to put you on cargo duty today. You alright with that?” Her gauntlet gestured towards the door, and you suppressed a groan. Don’t get mad at the messenger.

Dammit, Captain.

“...Yeah. Yeah, I got it, no worries.” You mumbled, trying to keep the annoyance towards Captain out of your tone. Loader seemed almost guilty, and you had to stop yourself from jumping to reassure her.

Standing up, you shot her a grin as you picked up your backpack before stumbling out of the cafeteria, towards the cargo bay. Dammit, if you honest to god had a dollar for every time Captain fucked you over in some way, you wouldn’t need the money you’d originally been receiving on this mission.

The halls were mostly silent as it approached late afternoon, the evening quickly approaching. You’d never been put on cargo duty before, but you had a general idea from the few times you’d spent time in there, watching MUL-T and Loader work their magic.

You poked your head into the cargo bay, your eyes narrowing from behind the mask. The lighting was horrible, so you quickly scanned around for a light switch. But eventually, when you did find one…

What?

It was totaled. It looked like some kind of, blade? Or something along those lines had been thrown right into it. But what concerned you was the sparks that flew off it.

A fresh break.

“There’s… there’s somebody else aboard.”

Your mind flared back to Commando’s words from the conversation you two had. A fresh wave of anxiety washed over you like a bucket of icy water, and then you heard it.

The sound of an almost cloak, then, you felt a soft pressure to the back of your head. 

You completely froze at the sound of a gun being cocked.

“How about we make this easier for both of us, sparky. Drop the weapon.” Your hand that had barely unsheathed one of your pistols slowly lost it’s grip, the gun clattering to the ground with a clang.

“...Good.” The masculine voice muttered, an almost mocking tone to it. Your eyes glanced down as a boot popped in the bottom of your view, kicking away the pistol that had fallen. You felt their hand reach around and grab out your other pistol, before the sound of it clattering away sounded out.

When you felt the gun get removed to your head, you wasted no time flinging around, throwing out one of your daggers right at the target. But they were gone.

“I said let’s make this easy, not make a scene, yeah?” You barely missed your punch as he easily dodged it, before flipping his revolver and shooting a shot. For a second you thought you were dead, but the sound of the cargo doors shutting and the panel powering down was honestly worse.

You whipped around to see the doors shutting, quickly running over to try and slip out, but to no avail. You began to pound on the door, tremors shaking your body before you whirled around, finally getting a proper view of the intruder.

To your shock, he adorned an almost western style get up. His bright hat was tipped down slightly, as the ventilation cylinders on the front of his mask blew away the smoke coming off his classic styled revolver.

“Listen, I don’t know why you’re down here, kid. But honestly? Nor do I care. The usual cargo crew is supposed to be doing overtime training.” He lifted up his revolver, pointing it right at you as he continued. “And you, probably just blew the fuck out of my cover.” His voice dropped an octave, causing you to glare from behind your mask.

“Boo-fucking-hoo,” You spat back, unlatching your chain around your waist. You slung it at him, and he let out a slightly surprised noise as it wrapped around his leg and you yanked, causing him to stumble forward slightly to maintain his balance.

You quickly followed it with a barrage of daggers, but your aim was rusty and off due to the panic you were experiencing. He easily dodged each ones, before shooting the chain with his shotgun.

The material easily snapped under the bullet, and you yanked the chain back. The now severed part remained on his leg, but he quickly dove into what seemed to be a cloaked mode. You quickly dove behind some crates, despite knowing that won’t do jackshit.

“Are you deaf? I said simple!” He yelled, as you struggled to pull your chain in.

“There’s fucking security cameras in here! You’re busted even if you kill me or not!” You shot back, hoping that’d derail him slightly. Fortunately, you don’t think he knows you’re still mostly human. So one shot to the right point would be an insta kill for you.

“There were security cameras in here.” His voice was right fucking next to you. You once again threw a dagger, but missed as he easily bent backwards and dodged it.

He jumped up on top of the crate, and you knew he was fucking with you. If he’d wanted to, he would’ve shot you already.

“Stop fucking playing cat and mouse, and shoot me you coward!” You shouted, diving away from the crate. He slung his shotgun over his shoulder, his optic narrowing at you slightly.

“Nah. I’d rather not waste bullets just yet, I’mma need ‘em.”

The fucking audicity of this wannabe cowboy-

Your eyes quickly glanced over to spot your thrown pistols, your mask going blank as you spotted them. The intruder seemed to notice too, as his optic side glanced to the closest one to you.

He popped away in a cloud of smoke, and instead of going for the one closest to you, you waited about a second before diving away to the further one. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting that as you heard him skidding to try and stop his run as you bolted.

Diving down, you snatched the pistol before holding it up, but were met with nothing. He was still cloaked.

You squinted your eyes for a moment, there had to be some giveaway. For a moment, you felt like you were going to feel his gun to the back fo your head any second now, but for a split moment, you saw a blur.

A slight disturbance.

Bingo

You pulled the trigger.

CLANK

The noise was a blessing to your ears as he popped out from his cloaked form, toppling over. You quickly shot up, running over and grabbing your other pistol. You narrowed your eyes at his form. There’s no way it was that easy, right?

Well.

You slowly stepped towards him, before slightly prodding him with your foot. There’s no way you actually one shot hi-



Suddenly, his hand wrapped around your ankle, before he yanked and you went toppling backwards. You lost grip to your pistols as your head slammed into the ground with a force that sent the room spinning.

Your eyes barely cracked over for a moment to see him standing over you, his optic adjusting like a camera lens.

“...Name’s Bandit. Remember that, kid.”

Your vision went to black.

Chapter Text

Honestly? Commando didn’t fucking know what to feel or do when he’d heard Loader yelling for assistance, for somebody. 

Extra training had just ended, and they were ordered to sleep before they finally arrived on the planet. He’d usually go to your quarters to just chat or play some cards, but he was honestly ready to clock the fuck out.

But all that was thrown out the window when he heard Loader yell, and both him and Mercenary didn’t waste any time to snap their heads up. They shared a look for a moment, before both quickly making their way towards the Cargo bay.

Commando was the first to open the door, Loader running past them yelling to bring them to the medical bay while she got help.

His heart stopped.

…Your crumpled form, your back to him laid in the middle of the cargo bay. Mercenary didn’t waste a single second before teleporting forward as Commando dropped his pistols.

“Executioner, can you hear me?” Merc’s voice rang out, a barely contained panic in his voice as he crouched down in front of Exo. Commando quickly ran forward, his shaking hands reaching up before flipping Exo over. He didn’t waste any time to lean down, trying to hear a heartbeat. Something he learnt from Exo, to use on their specific kind of human.

After a moment, a soft rhythm made itself known to Commando, and he let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Sitting up, he spoke. “They’re alive, do you see any gunshots?” He quickly advised.

Mercenary glanced up at him for a moment, before quickly looking them over. Commando slowly took their mask off, and when Merc came up with no gunshots, he told him to help sit them up.

But as Commando reached his hand out from propping their head up, he froze.

Merc glanced back at his comrade, before freezing as well as Commando stared down at the blood on his hands.

“...”

Commando quickly scooted closer to Exo, turning their head carefully, observing for a moment as he pulled down their hood. He was honestly barely keeping his panic at bay, reminding himself to remain calm.

“It’s a concussion, not a gunshot-” He finally breathed out, and Merc scratched at his helmet as Commando took off his gloves, his mechanical hands holding it up against the wound. The silence was deafening, what was there to say?

Footsteps sounded up, and they both glanced up as people began to flood in, an exhausted looking Loader collapsing against one of the walls. MUL-T came over, and Commando quickly spoke.

“It’s a concussion, and it doesn’t look like they just slipped.” He gestured to the several knives in the wall. Engie walked over, a sense of calm concentration crossing his features as he pulled out a few supplies.

Commando and Merc were dismissed, but honestly Commando didn’t fuckin’ want to leave Exo. 

In the end, that was an argument he lost.

Why couldn’t you fucking breathe.

Why couldn’t you see?

…

What…

…

You bolted up, your eyes snapping open as you took a deep breath, letting out a yelp as something tugged harshly on your arm. You barely managed to miss somebody as you didn’t hesitate to throw a punch forward, trying to hit that damn fucking revolver baring son of a cu-

“Exo! Stop it!” Commando’s voice caused you to stop in your thrashing. What t- “Commando?”

You blinked your eyes a few times, trying to adjust to the dark light of the room. You heard a few footsteps, before a soft lamp was switched on, and Commando stood, holding his hands up. “Woah, there. Let’s not attack me, and about rip your IV out?”

“I…V?” You glanced down, before quickly regretting it as you quickly glanced away. “Commando, why do I h-” You stopped, your gaze hardening. “Where is he.”

“Wher… Wait,” Commando walked over, putting a hand over your chest, pushing you back slightly. “Slow down, there. Lay down, you’re going to stress yourself out.”

“Commando! No, let me go- He’s probably still fucking on this ship-” You struggled meekly against your friend’s physical insistancies, failing miserably. You glanced at him with pleading eyes, “Don’t go into the cargo bay!” You yelled finally, and he stopped.

“...Exo…” He began, glancing at you with a worried look. “What the fuck happened?”

You finally quieted down at that, slowly laying down. You reached your hand up slightly, hissing at the pain you felt as you touched the back of your head.

“...Bandit…” You mumbled quietly, more to yourself than anything. Commando gave you an odd look, as you ran that same hand down your face. “The intruder, that-” You paused “That got onboard. He’s in the cargo bay.”

You stopped for a moment, taking a breath. “He attacked me, shot the exit panel so I couldn’t escape. I- I tried, Com. I really tried to stop him but- He was fucking playing with me.” Your hands shook slightly, and Commando didn’t hesitate to grab your hand slightly in a comforting gesture.

“He didn’t even shoot once. I couldn’t hit him, he was fucking mocking me.” You glanced up at Commando again.

“His name is Bandit. He has a cloaking feature that he’s probably been using to hide from us and security cameras.” You paused, glaring bitterly away from your friend. “At least, the ones he hasn’t already taken out.”

Commando seemed to just stare, taking in this information for a moment. After a few long seconds, he finally spoke again. “Do you have any guesses towards his motives?”

“Other than probably being a cargo thief, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m sorry,” You tried to stop yourself from crying- dammit- Commando’s probably never seen something cry, right? Is that something that-

He squeezed your hand slightly, and he spoke again, a certain edge towards it. “I’m going to report this to Captain, is that okay? We’re dropping down to the planet very soon-”

“Wait, how long was I out for?”

“...”

“Commando.”

“...We’re departing to the planet in an hour… I… tried to cancel to stay up here with y-”

“YOU TRIED TO DO WHAT!?” Your sudden outburst caused Commando to flinch slightly, and you sat up quickly, glaring at him. “What the fuck, Com!?”

“I was worried about you! I…” He sat back slightly in the chair he was in. “Seeing you… crumpled like that… seeing your blood on my hands… I…” He turned away slightly.

“I had to make sure you’re okay. Fuck money, your life is more important.”

You wanted to cry. Commando- your friend- almost shot himself in the foot for you. It was… oddly comforting, to hear somebody cares for you that much. But at the same time-

“Never do that again, okay?”

Commando glanced up at you, as you glared at him. “Some stupid cowboy won’t take me down, okay?”

He let out a soft laugh, as he glanced away again, standing up. “Speaking of which, I need to leave. Since you’re so insistent i don’t just skip out. Exo, I…” He glanced back, he seemed like he wanted to say something, but instead, “uh, Captain requested you write down a detailed description of the intruder, so uh. Also, you’re free to leave, you’ve healed alright with the help of Engie’s technology.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, and you finally sat up, reaching you arms out. Commando hesitated for a moment, before coming forward and accepting the hug, letting out a sigh.

“Don’t die out there, yeah?” You muttered quietly, sighing into his shoulder as he grunted. “I’ll be fine, just don’t get into too much trouble, m’kay?”

You cringed slightly. “Eh, don’t worry ‘bout it, Com.”

He stepped away after another moment, and you gave him a crooked smile. “See you around?”

“...Yeah.”

With that, he grabbed his pistols with one last glance, leaving the room. You stared where he’d left for a moment, before glancing down at the IV attached to your arm.

Why did Engie give you an IV for a concussion?

Despite popular belief, Bandit was no idiot.

He knew when to hide like his life depended on it, and right now was one of those circumstances. How the fuck was he supposed to know he attacked like, the most loved member on the crew?

It was just a fucking small fall! What kind of robot these days get’s knocked out from that? Probably an old model. He snorted. Of course they’d be an old model.

When they’d been rushed to the medical bay, he heard the name “Exo” and “Executioner” thrown around a few times when referring to them, so he’d use Exo as their title for them.

Exo was a pain in the ass.

There, fits perfectly.

…

A door opening snapped Bandit out of his thoughts, as he scooted further back into the vents. Ah, the captain and what looked like a shopping cart, (MUL-T was it?) came out of it. He muttered some orders to the robot, as he walked towards the launch panels.

Ah, showtime.

As he set them up quickly, Bandit’s optic narrowed in glee. Soon, he’d be returning with pockets filled with a fortune. His hand fiddled with a device chip in his coat pocket, as Captain finished setting the drop-pods up. Now, he turned to go towards his quarters.

The second the MUL-T bot and him were out of view, he dropped down, stepping towards the last pod. He opened the panel, before quickly gaining access and inserting the device ship. The desired coordinates popped up.

SIREN’S CALL

Perfect.

Hitting the confirmation button, he glanced behind him as he shut the panel. With the extra pod set up, all he had to do now was wait. Voices caused him to enable his cloak out of habit, jumping up into the vents above. Quickly shutting it behind him, he narrowed his optic as the crew began to filter in.

…

His optic widened slightly as Captain was amongst these. The captain was fucking going too? Ah…

That… would be an issue. He hoped that fuck wouldn’t cross his path, he’d heard enough about this captain to be weary.

He refused to become a part of his stupid “legend.”

Legend of these ba-

A lot of confirmations cut short his train of thought, as he realized he fuckin’ missed Captain’s speech. Dammit, that would’ve been nice to hear.

“Good luck out there, sargents.”

A salute or two, as Bandit scooted further back in the vent, making sure nobody could see him. He was honestly slightly giddy, it’d been a long time since he’d had a good heist. An alien planet with possibly millions of credits worth of cargo?

Damn fucking right.

Pods began to eject, and he watched one by one as they began to drop down into the planet. He watched as Loader hugged a woman with a large gun a bit too hard, before exitedly strapping herself into a drop pod.

He glanced towards the Commando, his optic narrowing slightly. He’d seen the Commando’s reaction to finding Exo in the cargo bay. He’d looked like he was suppressing a ton of emotions. Pure boy, ain’t he?

The commando seemed reluctant, but eventually strapped himself in, holding his breath as the drop pod shut before after a delay, dropped.

The last two pods, the extra one and the Captain’s. Bandit, frankly, was getting impatient as the Captain strapped something around his gun arm. But, for a second, Bandit’s circuits shut down as the Captain glanced right up at the vent .

He thought he was busted. 

He was done for. That’s it. He’s gonna fucking get his brains shot out in a fucking ven-

But, Captain glanced away. Turning towards the drop pod, he strapped himself in, before the door shut. Once the drop pod went down, Bandit sat there for a moment, scooting back into the vent.

There was no way he didn’t see, right? Fuck, way to break a bot’s sensors. He began to recount all his things, to make sure he had everything. Checking each smokescreen sensor, and his fuel was full, ready to last him ages. He wasn’t worried about that, but as he recounted his things, he failed to hear the sound of a drop pod opening then closing.

He ran a hand down his face as he dropped down, stretching slightly. Welp, no time to delay the inevitable, right?

He clicked the panel slightly, but it refused to budge. Huh? Fucking stupid fancy ass Earth technology- He slammed a fist down on the panel, which finally allowed him entry, opening the drop pod.

He narrowed his optic to the dark drop-pod, before stepping in, getting ready to strap himsel-

He suddenly had the wind knocked out of him as the drop-pod door closed, and he whirled around, clutching his gut, turning around to be met with-

“You!” Exo yelled, before Bandit barely dodged a punch, everything suddenly catching up to him. He wasted no time kicking their feet out from under them, but due to the small area, it was a failed attempt.

He kept having to barely dodge shit as he tried to speak. “Are you fucking mad!? If you don’t stop and actually focus on reality, we’re both gonna have a real fuckin’ rough ride. Get the hell out!” He snapped at them, but they backed up away from Bandit, screaming.

“ Me!? You get the fuck out! Now!”

“You brat, just get out before you get us both kill-” The dreaded sound of ticking stopped them both, as they glanced up.

“Countdown Prepared, please brace for ejection. Have a safe drop.”

Exo glanced at Bandit.



“You cunt.”

“Fuck you too, sparky.”

The pod ejected.

Chapter Text

Although you’d honestly been fully prepared for this, done your studying and own training, that didn’t translate to just waking up you. As your eyes slowly opened, a sense of panic washed over you instantly.

Your head was fuzzy and breathing was shallow. Your legs wouldn’t move -

Finally managing to properly open your eyes, you were met with the interior of a drop pod.

…Yes. You dropped down to the planet. But why had you passe-

…!!-

Scrambling up, you smashed your head against one of the bars, letting out a yelp and clutching your head. The drop-pod door had already been kicked off, so you quickly stumbled out, but upon putting slightly pressure to your left leg, you crumpled over instantly.

“Got a busted spring there, sparky?”

Glancing up, your face dropped as you spotted Bandit not far away, a fire softly crackling as his optic adjusted like a camera lens, his shotgun slung over his shoulder. “Don’t even think about trying to pull some shit again, it’s not worth it. The commotion will attract them back.”

The menacing title had you glancing away from him, before softly adjusting your leg so you could sit up. “... Them ?”

He lifted his head up, lazily gesturing towards something. There, on the ground, was a massive bird frankly looking more like a porcupine due to all the cleavers poking out of it. He grunted as he set down his shot gun, continuing.

“Thing just wouldn’t die, hell it even threw one of my own right back at me.” He explained casually, leaning back slightly against the metal behind him. As he did so, you took the moment to take in your surroundings.

You’d appeared to crash in some kind of odd area, large hills surrounding you. But the main thing that caught your eye were the two gigantic ringlets right behind Bandit, a number of odd foliage flourishing all over it. You glanced back, narrowing your eyes at the oddly stacked statues.

“Where are we?”

“Petrichor V.”

You glared back at him. “Where on it, smartass.”

“Siren’s Call, is what the Contact Light crew called it. From what I’ve gathered up, place is fuckin’ hell. These birds,” He gestured towards the dead body, “Basically colonized this place better than the Brits in the 16th century.”

His comment had you squinting your eyes at him from under your mask, before shaking your head in disbelief. “They just look like oversized chickens to me. I’ll take your word for it, though.” You muttered, propping yourself up against the drop-pod.

“Let me take a look at that loose spring,” He beckoned you towards him, and you shot him a glare, scooting away slightly. “Ah-ha- nope. I’d uh, rather you not try to dismantle me, not yet, yeah?”

He seemed to process what you said, before leaning back, shrugging. “Eh, suit yourself, sparks. Those circuits won’t repair themselves, eh?”

“Mmph.” You glanced away, flinching slightly. You could feel your leg swelling somewhat, and prayed to god it wasn’t a broken bone. You weren’t really feeling like telling the local cargo rat that you’re a vulnerable human whose organs could probably go for a fortune.

Eh-heh, nope.

“I’ll fix it myself. It’s my own body, afterall, it’s not like this is the first time it’s been broken.” You said vaguely, avoiding looking at Bandit. He stayed silent for a moment, before grunting again.

“Touche.”

Bandit went back to going through supplies he probably grabbed from the drop-pod, and you stood up, hissing at the pain that shot through your leg. You used the drop pod to somewhat boost yourself towards the fire, before collapsing down next to it, trying to sit less awkwardly on your leg.

Although you did not feel comfortable at all with the certified cargo rat that’d previously been fucking around with you, right next to you, this has become more of a survival situation. And having company was important.

You’d originally planned to drop in Titanic Plains, somewhere easily scoutable, making cargo easy to find. Speaking of which, you glanced over next to Bandit, who seemed to have collected three chests.

“Are you going to open those?” You asked, and he stopped in his rummaging to glance up at you.

“What? Finders keepers, kid. I’m keeping those closed until we get out of here.”

You stared at him dumbly. “You plan to haul entire chests with us, the whole time.”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t even bother to make sure it’s worth dragging around?” You inquired, and at that he seemed to open his metaphorical mouth, before snapping it shut as he narrowed his optic at you. 

He stood up, turning around and pulling one crate out. “Listen, just opening this is going to drop it severely in value, but I’m proving a point here. Trust me, this shit is going to be real worth some simple carryin-”

You both fell silent as he fuckin’ pulled out a bundle of green mushrooms. You couldn’t help but snort before your head fell back into your arms as you silently laughed. Bandit deadpanned, being throwing his other hand up.

“Uh huh, and how the fuck do you know these aren’t a really rare now extinct fauna, eh?”

You glanced up at him, your mask’s two pixelated eyes narrowing in glee as you tried to not laugh. “Yeah, wise guy. Go hauling around some mushrooms for probably 20 credits.” You snickered, before he let out an annoyed sound.

SPLAT

The mushrooms slowly slid down your mask, and you just grinned at him cheekily from behind your mask. “Someone’s got an attitude.”

“Kind of hard not to with your constant yapping, now is it ?” He hissed, pushing aside the now empty chest. You picked up the mushroom, grinning at him as you held it up.

“I’m going to keep him, and name him Rich.”

He glanced back at you, his optic narrowing. “Really, now.”

“Mhm!” You said without hesitation.

“Bot after my own heart, eh?” He said sarcastically, as the next chest began to open. You placed ‘Rich’ onto your left leg, resting your chin in your hand as Bandit opened the next chest. He pulled something out, before groaning.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” He muttered, before pulling out a bundle of fireworks. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, before letting out a ‘huh.’

“Those are some classic model fireworks, we’re talking early 2000s if I’m thinking about the right ones.” You said as he clipped the fireworks to his belt. “Great.” He said sarcastically.

As he shoved the chest aside, and pulled out the next chest, you narrowed your eyes slightly, glancing down at the mushroom that rested on your leg. Huh, it… felt odd.

“Hey, Bandit?”

“What is it now ?”

“Um, pass me that first crate?”

He stared at you for a moment in silent confusion, before grabbing and passing the crate over. You opened it again, and a panel for a description popped up. Skimming over it, your eyebrows furrowed. “Uh, I don’t think Rich is a normal mushro- HRK-”

You jerked your leg slightly, kicking away the mushroom as Bandit jumped up in alarm, his revolver instantly getting pulled out as he whirled around. Seeing no threat, he glared at you as you scrambled away from the mushroom.

“What the fuc- It fucking grew into me or something!” You frantically shouted, as Bandit rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure. How’s that concussion fuckin’ doing by the way,” He said sarcastically, as he walked over and picked the mushroom off the ground.

You sputtered. “It’s not the fucking concussion- it felt like it was moving something in my leg!” You explained quickly, and he nodded along, clearly uninterested as he picked up the fungus and examined it.

“Nope, just a regular fungus. How hard did you hit your head back in the cargo bay, holy shit.” You let out an odd noise, before standing up and marching over to him.

You snatched the mushroom from him, continuing on not noticing the completely frazzled look on his face. “No! It said in the description it had some kind of odd healing properties, you can’t just deny that. This cargo, there’s no way…” You hummed, and Bandit just stared at you.

“Well I’ll be.” He finally said in slightly disbelief, before snorting then glancing away. “So, how’s that broken spring for ya, eh?”

You stared at him in confusion, before your eyes widened. Wait, what the fuck?

You glanced down at your leg, before moving it slightly. Adjusting it and stretching it, your eyes shooting up in surprise. “Holy shit.”

“Ey, maybe keep that mushroom with ya. You’re an old model, yeah? Best to not get scrapped once the real shit comes out.” He handed you the bundle of mushrooms back, and you took it, examining it a bit closer this time, before placing it on your shoulder.

“We’d best get a move on, look for more cargo. This stuff just might be useful to our survival.” He muttered as he crouched down, taking a tank of gasoline out of the last crate. You nodded, glancing back towards the drop-pod. “Yeah.”

Bandit snuffed out the fire, and you both set off. Frankly, you weren’t too excited to be doing this with a criminal of all people, but you’d take what you could get.

–

IT????IS??NT?

S??UPPOS??ED??

T???O??END?LI??LIK??E

??THI??S



?WHE??RE

?AR??

Y??O?U??

Chapter Text

Some come to say your enemies become your friends given enough time together, and you’d always wondered about that saying. You hadn’t been around enough darker planets to ever form any enemies, other than the neighbor on your homeland and the annoying companies constantly calling your phone for “Britney.”

Other than that, you’d never quite experienced the utter hatred and resentment towards someone.

Well, you fortunately, still cannot say that now. Yeah, sure, Bandit made you want to bash your skull in half the time, but as the days went by, it got better. You’d both mapped out the entirety of Siren’s Call, down to the rickety cave system, to the menacing cliffs. Even finding an odd blue lizard shrine.

Bandit put a coin one of the Lemurians had left behind into the little pot, and the shrine had made a little DING before going silent. You’d both shrugged it off.

Oh, yeah, did you mention the fire breathing intelligent armor wielding bipedal lizards?

Oh, small detail.

Also the fucking gigantic ones that almost blew you both to smithereens in the middle of the night?

Small details, small details.

You cringed slightly at the memory. It’d been two days ago you two met the Lemurians, Bandit had no hesitation shooting one point blank. That caused a chain reaction of a swarm of them, and later in the night a bunch of Elders rolled up, scaring you both half to death.

Although, the look on Bandit’s face when his revolver’s gunshot bounced right off its scales was hilarious .

You’d set base up in the hollow tunnel of a ship, an odd shaped black totem of some kind laying near the end of said hollowed out tunnel. Yellow-reddish particles sputtered around it in slow but unpredictable movements, and every time one flew near your face, you jerked away.

That came to another point.

You hadn’t taken your mask off in days. Frankly, you were considering ripping the bandaid off and just taking your mask off and going, ‘Oh! By the way! I’m human!’

Ha, yeah right. You have a feeling he’d ditch you then and there, who wants to drag around a fleshbag on a survival mission ?

You wouldn’t.

You glanced up at Bandit, who simply was staring at the fire that crackled in front of the two of you. Fortunately, you had enough nutrient bars to last you awhile in your emergency compartments of your suit. You were able to eat those without really taking off your mask, and Bandit hadn’t noticed.

Although, recently, in the last day, you’d begun to see dots in your vision. The lack of fresh air and heat from your suit had begun to get to you. You weren’t sure how long you could go before you collapsed, and Bandit would find out while you’re unconscious.

You subtly glanced up at the outlaw, as he kicked aside an empty cargo crate he’d just emptied. He’d been working on doing another recount of your items, including the rather odd ones.

The items were… frankly, menacing.

They ranged from a beaten up teddy bear (Which Bandit made a weird face at, insisting that he have it,) to energy drinks, (You’d never have one of those again, you were going all over the place for hours on end, you frankly still felt it in your system.) to an odd.. Ice band?

Bandit had kept that one, and now every other time he shot something with his revolver, it blew up in ice. He’d gotten giddy when he first saw that, observing the band closely.

You sighed, stretching your legs slightly, causing Bandit to glance up slightly. Your items were more comfortable, including a cute wax quail that rested atop your head, a shield, and a few other random items. Although, one of your favorites being the jar strapped to your waist, that had a little jittery fire ball in it.

After you’d grabbed that, the enemies literally began to blow up after you killed one. It caught you off guard at first, but you quickly learnt it didn’t hurt you. Somehow.

Your fingers twitched slightly with restlessness. It was getting later into the evening, and you kept glancing behind you to make sure none of those stupid larva pop up again. Your face scrunched up at the memory of being hit by one of those, thank god for your Bungus.

“...Quit lookin’ so stiff, those things ain’t coming back. I’ll shoot ‘em right outta the sky if they do, yeah?” He shook his shotgun slightly for emphasis, and you nodded, glancing back.

Your hand came up to your shoulder, rubbing it slightly as you sighed. “...Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”

Bandit made a noise. “Whaddya mean. Gotta be more specific than that, sparks.”

“...I mean, there’s more areas to this planet. The others… they have to be somewhere, right?” You didn’t notice the way Bandit’s optic twitched slightly at the mention of the “others”, as you continued. “There has to be a way to get off this island, it can’t just be right off that ledge we keep walking by, right?”

Bandit fell silent, his line of sight trailing away as he let out a sigh, one exhausted and unmasked. “...I’ll give it to you, kid. You’re resilient. But frankly, I didn’t plan this far ahead.” He made an odd noise, glancing back up at you briefly before leaning back. “I didn’t have none of that fancy training they had, and I don’t think you did either. I planned to scrap some shit together from the information of a “teleporter” the old man kept mentioning in his logs. But well, jackshit for a teleporter.” He paused, looking at you properly. “We’re stuck.”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” You muttered helplessly, standing up. “We’ll figure something out. We have to.” You said matter-of-factly, despite the unimpressed look from Bandit.

You walked over, your boots making a sharp noise as you stepped on the odd totem, pulling one of the cargo crates to you. You glanced back at Bandit, gesturing for his pliers. He rolled his optic, before tossing it towards you.

Miserably failing at catching it, you picked it up and began to work at the small latch, a newfound determination surprising you. There were a few crates to work through, but hey, you were going to get off this damn planet and prove yourself capable.

Bandit watched you almost amusedly, leaning his head into his gloved hands, his optic narrowing in glee as you struggled. This chest was offly large compared to the rest, so when it made a signature pop of it opening, you couldn’t help but grin widely.

Opening it, your face went from surprise to utter confusion, before glancing up at Bandit.

“Well? What is it?”

He stood up, crouching down and leaning over your shoulder slightly to see inside the crate. You heard his optic adjusting slightly, and you forced yourself to ignore the fact he was right behind you. Swallowing the odd feeling in your throat, you picked up the… teddy bear?

It was soft to the touch, it’s white fur comforting. Its black beady eyes looked so… full of life? You felt safe with it in your hands, and you kind of weighed it in your hands for a moment, as Bandit leaned back. “Another teddy bear, eh?”

You squinted at the name on the cargo, the lack of description odd to you. “Dio?” You glanced down at the teddy bear, as Bandit made a noise.

“You named it already?”

“Wh- No! That’s what it’s called!” You deadpanned at him as he let out a deep chuckle, as he adjusted his hat slightly. “Keep it on you, doesn’t hurt to have a friend. You seem to lack those anyways-”

You delivered a weak punch to his knee, as he just narrowed his optic in glee down at you. Ugh, you fucking hated this guy sometimes-

You stood up, stumbling on your legs slightly, and you quickly realized one of your legs was completely clocked out. You stumbled slightly, before catching yourself on the little thing in the middle of the totem.

“Careful, there, Sparks, wouldn’t want a spring giving ou-”

Both of you sprung into defense as the world around you began to shake, and a menacing layer of red began to spread throughout the air. You scrambled for your guns, snatching them up as you clipped the little teddy bear to your belt.

You quickly loaded your guns as you yelled back at Bandit; “What the fuck did you do!?”

“I didn’t do jackshit!” He yelled back, but you let out a screech as a large ball-like robot emerged from thin air. You stumbled back next to Bandit, as the robot’s optic snapped towards you, honing in on you.

You mask showcased a name to you, and you yelled it out to Bandit. “It’s a Solus Unit!? What is that!?”

“Beats the fuck out of me, just fucking shoot it!” He yelled, before flipping his revolver and landing a shot right in its optic. It let out a loud creaking noise, before the latch on the bottom of it opened and two smaller ones came out.

You instantly impaled one, watching it go to the ground with a few sad beeps. The other one shot a consistent lazer straight at you, you quickly rolled out of the way and behind a rock.

You threw a dagger at the other one, watching it go straight through before the ball fell to the ground. Right as you did so, Bandit popped out of his smokescreen right behind the unit, before perfectly shooting it right in the back panel.

It swirling around before shooting at it, but fortunately Bandit was out of sight before it could get him. He clung onto the cords dangling off of it, climbing up before beginning to shank the fuck out of it with his shivs.

You were slowly chipping away at it with your bullets, while also dodging the many lemurians swarming. Some of them were straight up trying to bite you, while others had spears and rickety knives. You chained one of the lemurians by the leg, letting out a yell as you slung it around and slammed it right into the Solus Unit.

You jumped up to dodge a Lemurian coming up behind you, right as Bandit jumped off the unit, delivering the final blow with his revolver. The unit began to stutter and shoot out sparks, before going out of control and blowing up.

You narrowly dodged the pieces it shot out as it did so, but also glanced back at the two items that shot out from the totem thing.

You skid towards it, glancing at the feather and odd looking device. You took the device, shrugging as you pocketed it. It looked like some kind of part of the Solus Unit, frankly.

Bandit appeared out of nowhere, picking up the feather and placing it on his hat, before spinning his revolver right at you-

And shooting the Lemurian that had been coming up right behind you. You flinched at the shot so close to you, but before you could yell at Bandit, a bunch of Elder Lemurians emerged from the ground.

You found yourself back to back with Bandit, trying to defend off the hoard of mobs. You wanted to yell something, but you found yourself beginning to get clumsy with your movements, as Bandit continued with perfect precision.

You slid out of the way from a fireball, narrowly dodging it before your shaky hands reached for your gun-

…

Then, you felt it.

…

You barely flinched. Frankly, you barely reacted at all. You were too exhausted.

Your pupils, shuddering with shock, glanced down as a spear impaled you. Your shaky hands came up and clutched the wound as the Lemurian pulled it out, and you barely heard the gunshot over the ringing in your ears.

The portal shuddered, and the atmosphere went silent. “It’s just a spear, c’mon, it’s ov…”

His words trailed off, as you collapsed, and you vaguely heard him. “Why is there blood, why is ther- WHY IS THERE BLOOD!?” You questioned if it was Bandit for a moment, you’d never heard him use that tone of voice.

You coughed, quickly realizing it was hard to breathe. You barely felt anything, you felt like you were drowning. Your vision was blurry and dotted with black as you felt yourself get turned over, and a panicked look on Bandit’s face as he looked you over.

… Damn being human..

You felt his hands carefully take off your mask, letting you have a proper look at him without the obstruction.

“...Sorry..” You gave a smile, the best one you could as you felt his hand pry away yours from your wound. He was saying something, but it was too loud.

The world went white as you vaguely felt him drag you towards something, before a loud noise. You couldn’t hear it though. It was too loud.

…

What was too loud?

…

..

.

You forgot.

Chapter Text

…A misconception often brought along with the newer generation of robotics, was that the older models were less effective. Totally surprising, uh huh. Some might come to hear that an older model can’t do (insert stupidly niche mechanic), or that they’re just no longer “with the days.”

Simple jabs and pokes that you honestly can’t be bothered to care about.

But when it comes to old ‘models’, or Pluto’s population, the spike in backlash and attack is devastating.

Remaining to have your family in a humanoid model is considered cruel for your future generations. That lashing out when the sheer thought of cybernetics is brought up is horrific. It takes away the freedom of speech.

You, could not agree more.

Always struggling to get a job that actually accepts you without you having to lie, to avoid your own blood and flesh just to make sure they don’t figure out about your minor cybernetics.

…But nerves twitching and warm blood remains.

You’re, in the end, behind in the genetic race.

…

..

.

WETLAND ASPECT

You awoke with a sharp start, instantly being struck with a sharp pain then nothing as you lurched up, instantly doubling over and throwing up. Fortunately, your mask was no longer on, so you just sat there, kneeled over for a moment before reaching up and slowly moving your hair away from your eyes.

The first thing that registered in your head was the brown coat wrapped around you, the second thing that registered was the severe lack of armor on you. Your eyes weren’t quite working yet, dotted and blurry as you reached up and rubbed them.

After doing so, your hand came uselessly to grab onto the sleeve of the oversized coat you were wearing, before finally glancing up.

A green bundle of mushrooms laid next to you, its presence oddly comforting and warm. Slowly, your brain began to boot up, and it all caught up to you at once.

The drop. Siren’s Call. The hordes. The teleporter. Bandit.

Your death.

Your eyes trailed over to a source of light not far from you, a large fuel cell sat near you and Bandit a few feet back.

You locked eyes with him, before you began to shake.

“W…What…” You felt tears begin to well up in your eyes as you glanced down at you shaking hands. You remembered it so vividly yet not. The emotions ran through you as you hugged yourself.

“H..How-...” Your voice cracked as you uselessly began to cry. Fuck, no, stop it-

A hand on your shoulder caused you to lurch then flinch away, when had Bandit gotten so close? His expression was unreadable, his optic narrowing at you slightly as he began to speak, his voice low.

“...I don’t know either.” He said, and softly rubbed your arm before stepping back a bit. You softly took note of how odd he looked without his coat on, before it clicked in your mind.

Even in your distressed state, you took off the coat around you and offered it to him, to which he took back. He wrapped it around him before strapping his belt around it, as he began to speak.

“...You’re supposed to be dead, you know that?”

“...” You just kind of glanced up at him helplessly, before speaking. “...Where’s my armor?”

He stopped in his movements, before adjusting his coat slightly then turning back to you. He approached you, crouching down and narrowing his optic.

“Tell ‘ya what, I’ll give you that information…” He paused, and you could frankly feel his glare as his voice dropped an octave. “...Right after you fill me in on why the everloving hell you fucking lied to me?” 

You shrank back despite yourself, eye contact breaking as you glared at the cave wall next to you.

“...Why the hell would I tell you that? It’s honestly none of your business.”

“None of my- you could’ve fucking died!” He snapped back, and you just glared harder, hugging yourself tighter. “If I’d fucking known you were a frail damn human, I wouldn’t have let that happen! Hell, this would’ve been a whole lot easier. This whole damn time I thought you were all nails and metal, but look at yourself! One goddamn explosion from one of those suicidal jellyfish would’ve slaughtered you!” He growled out, throwing his arms in the air. 

“Don’t lie to yourself, you fucking dick, you would’ve ditched me the second you found out I was a fleshbag. It was my best damn chance at having one damn person to work with!” You yelled, ignoring the tears in your eyes. “The point is, I did survive, just as damn well as you until something caught me off guard!” You shot back, and Bandit snapped you a sharp metaphorical smile.

“Really now, sparks?”

You barely flinched when he spun his revolver and aimed it right at the point between your eyes, not even glancing up. You couldn’t tell if it was out of shame or out of pride.

But when you did, you just gave him a bitter smile, your eyes glaring.

“You’d be dead. Does that not register in your damn head? Gone. Fucking dead. You have so many points of deduction it’s fuckin’ sad.” You just listened to his words, but all they did was fuel your bitterness towards the robot in front of you.

“Boo fucking hoo. Yes, I’m fucking aware of the lack of stability in the human body. You don’t need to educate me, cunt.” 

He seemed to stare into your eyes for a bit longer, the revolver still pointing at your head. He seemed to be searching for something, and when he found it, he just let out a sigh, his hand dropping and sheathing the gun.

He turned around, sliding his hand under his hat as he let out a stressed sigh. You just angrily rubbed at your eyes, before letting out a shaky breath. Fuck this. Fuck him. Fuck it all.

A silence settled over the cave you two remained in, the hum of the fuel cell supplying a bitter comfort. You laid back slightly on the ground, the yellow raincoat supplying some kind of warmth from the harsh stone floor.

Bandit kicked a crate out from the large stack of them, before popping it open and glancing back at you. “Here’s your dang armor. Not like it’s going to fuckin’ save you. Clearly didn’t before.”

You stood up, scratching at the black turtleneck sweater you wore. Tentatively pulling the crate towards you, you didn’t hesitate to begin to arm yourself again, but once you got to the mask, you just clipped it to your belt for now. You weren’t feeling like it.

You walked over, carrying the raincoat with you before sitting next to the fuel cell. The soft camera-like sound of Bandit’s optic glancing at you had you glancing up, but he’d already looked away.

…

“...Where are we?”

“Next location we ended up at,” He began, picking at the clover on his hat. “Some kind of wetland or swamp.”

You glanced at the cave entrance, the dark night greeting you. “How exactly long was I out?”

He let out a vaguely annoyed noise, glancing up. “Few hours, not too long. Don’t know how healing works with olden bodies, but I don’t think instantly healing a wound with no remnants of damage is exactly natural.”

You were silent, your hand unconsciously coming up to where the spear had impaled. Shaky hands and blood were what you remembered, and the crackles of strain on Bandit’s voice as he yelled something you couldn’t hear.

“...No. No it’s not.”

Chapter Text

You weren’t quite sure what to expect these days anymore, your perception of reality had been long thrown off. You’d been doing your best to avoid Bandit, not wanting to have another confrontation with the robot.

Him knowing you were an “old-style” human honestly… It wasn't a comforting thought. He knew he could put a bullet right through your skull then and there, he’d clearly made a good example of it earlier.

You didn’t know what scared you more, the revolver to your head in that moment, or the apathy you felt towards it. Probably the latter.

A noise caught your attention as you tugged at the items around your belt, and Bandit came around the corner, a hefty amount of blue blood on him. “Cleared ‘em out, dang lizards wouldn’t give up for jackshit. The big ones still a pain in the ass though.” He grunted, as he walked by you and slapped a hand on your shoulder.

You just glared up at him as he handed you a tank of gasoline, similar to the one he had. As well as an ignition tank. “Take these, they helped me a lot and I’m sure they’d help you more. Just don’t catch yourself on fire now, eh tez?”

Tez. The nickname that had for some reason, taken over spark or sparky. You were sure it was some kind of underlying insult to you being human.

Oh, and the other issue.

“You can fucking stop pampering me with items, y’know. I’m surviving just as well as before.” You growled out, and Bandit made some kind of mechanical clicking noise, equivalent to clicking his tongue.

“Ah, but you’re still human.”

“Are you going to keep bringing that up?”

He looked back at you, and you could practically feel the nonexistent smirk. “Are you going to keep complaining about free items?”

You held eye contact for a moment, before letting out a frustrated sigh and looking away. He began forward, and you reluctantly followed.

He was mocking you.

You could feel it.

The traversing continued, on search for another portal like before. It wasn’t long until you ran into more lizards and beetles, the occasional golem. But of course, Bandit wouldn’t even give you a second to plan an attack, as he flipped his revolver and shot one, causing them all to ignite in flames.

Although it wasn’t the most pleasant scene, it didn’t really shake you. You’d gotten used to it a while ago, it’s what you gotta expect on the grounds.

The wetland wasn’t too hard to traverse, despite the usual reputation of swamps. Inevitably, you found the portal, yelling out for Bandit.

It was tucked away through a tunnel in some water, the familiar yellow-ish red particles leading you to it. Bandit gave you a pat which you instantly dodged away from, annoyance crossing your features as you slid on your mask.

He almost tilted his head at you as you glanced back up, “What?” You uttered, and he slowly turned away, muttering something.

“C’mon, don’t be getting all mysterious on me agai-”

“Frankly, I preferred without the mask.” He grunted, and you blanked as he walked forward and fiddled with the totem for a moment. You were opening your mouth to ask him what the hell he meant by that, but the ground began to shake.

You let out a yelp as a gigantic jellyfish emerged from the sky , instantly snatching a dagger and throwing it right into one of the bubbles on its head. It made no flinch other than the slight stiffening of its body, before a bunch of orbs began to appear out of nowhere.

Bandit lept onto the jellyfish from a nearby stone wall, putting his shotgun right to the body and letting it ring out a few times before sliding off the slippery surface of the thing. With a loud splash, he barely rolled out of the way as a stone golem blasted the ground where he was.

You wasted no time, pulling out your pistols and beginning to shoot it repeatedly at the large thing. Although, it felt like it was literally doing fucking nothing .

“Bandit!” You yelled, as you jumped away from another orb. “ I’m doing jackshit to this thing! ”

He jumped onto the back of a stone golem, impaling it right through it’s head. As it fell down, he looked up before throwing a shiv right next to you, impaling a smaller jellyfish, causing it to pop.

You straddled your chains a bit, fumbling with them before untangling them, “Fucking worse than earphone coords-” 

You threw them out, nicely wrapping around the base of the tentacle. You heard Bandit say something angrily in protest, but you ignored him as you launched yourself forward. You awkwardly clung to the side of the base, before pulling out your dagger and latching it to the chain, digging it into the monster.

This time it flinched, and you heard it charging up another one of the larger orbs. You knew if you stayed up there, it’d be the death of you, so instead, you took a deep breath, and dropped.

Praying to god the dagger would hold, you dropped and swung below the thing, as it continued to charge up the orb. Wasting no time, you pulled out your gun and carefully aimed.

CLANK

The orb exploded the second the bullet made contact with it, causing the whole jellyfish to blow up into a gory mess. You fell to the ground, the part with your dagger still in it yanking you to the side. You hit the ground, hard, causing a ringing to shoot through your head as you let out a groan.

A shadow casted over you, and you slowly opened your eyes, realizing in the back of your head your mask had fallen off. You were met Bandit standing over you, sheathing his revolver before reaching a gloved hand out.

“You look pretty covered in jellyfish guts.”

You grabbed his hand, as he helped you up. You stumbled a little, using your hand to wipe the bits of flesh off your legs. “You look pretty with your fucking mouth shut.”

You wouldn’t have caught the small deep chuckle he let out if you weren’t paying attention, as you felt heat creep up your neck.

“Such a feisty one.” He muttered, and you felt his stare in the back of your head as you picked up your mask from the pool of water. It had a crack running through it, but it was still usable.

“Just get us the hell out of here, idiot.”

Chapter Text

Click. Click. Click.

I??CA??NT?SEE???YO??U

…

Schnk

??IT’S??TOO??DAR??K

CLANG

…

..

.

?W??HERE??DI?D???YO?U?GO???

…

..

.

Shrrrk, Shrrrk

Sparks flew softly, the only noise left accompanying them in the cave. Deep down, the robot knew Exo was slowly getting closer to snapping at the noise.

He found it honestly, quite amusing.

He ran the rock sharply down the shiv’s blade once again, watching their twitches and flinches closely. His optic narrowed in amusement as they looked over at him, an expression of annoyance painting their face.

Remaining eye contact, he ran the rock down the blade one more time, causing them to let out a growl.

“Can you stop that?”

He let out a hum, holding up the shiv to his optic, fakely observing it. “Mm, but it isn’t done, tez.” He said in a sugary sweet tone, the mocking underlayer causing Exo’s eye to twitch.

“Bullshit.” They spat, before turning away sharply. Bandit let out a small chuckle, condescending as he put the shiv down with the rest, standing up and brushing off his coat. He flexed his hands a few times as he walked over to Exo, standing next to where they sat.

They’d been through a few areas by now, and where they lied now… it was honestly breathtaking. Even for someone like him, who’s traversed many planets.

The purple hues.. The dotted sky…

It wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen before. The yellow mixed in with the purples were so complimenting towards each other, it’d take so long to really take it all in.

But the residents of such beautiful meadows?

Not so much.

Specifically, the odd triangle shaped creatures that emerged from the walls, they’d had Exo on edge for hours, constantly glancing behind themself. Bandit hadn’t had too many issues with the residents…

Up until what we’ll call Xi Constructs.

He frankly hadn’t seen it coming, focused on finishing off a Parent.

Before the looming shadow casted over him, and Exo’s yell wasn’t quick enough.

His hand slowly reached up to his shoulder. 

Unfortunately, despite belief from the past, even with all the upgrades, nerves were still a thing. He was fully capable of feeling pain, and the searing pain he felt when that thing blazed his shoulder.

His hand fell from his shoulder as his optic glanced up out of the small cave area. 

It wasn’t pleasant.

He’d managed to take the thing down after Exo latched onto one of it’s metallic flaps with their chains, grounding the thing. But he was mainly running off adrenaline.

It wasn’t often he was hit.

And the few times he was…

Well, he has a smokescreen for a reason.

“Bandit?”

His name spoken snapped him out of his daze, as he easily fell back into his usual demeanor. He glanced back down at Exo, who had propped their knee up as they glanced up at him.

“Why did you come to Petrichor V?”

The question was obvious, Bandit thought. To get as much cash as possible, and as he opened his metaphorical mouth to say so, they cut him off.

“And I know you’re here to steal cargo and make a living off it, but why? ”

Bandit blanked.

…

“And why would I tell you that, tez?”

“Fairness. I told you my reasoning and it’d only make sense for you to tell yours.”

Tch. Childish reasoning.

…

..

A beat of silence passed, before he let out a sigh, leaning back down into a rock. He pulled out one of his shivs, fiddling with the strap on the handle for a moment, before speaking.

“...’m in debt. Bad debt.” He muttered, glancing up towards the outside of the cave. “None of that student debt or drug debt you pluto people have. It’s… towards someone a bit more… dangerous. ” He muttered vaguely, his optic adjusting slightly.

Exo sat in silence as Bandit tried to figure out how to word it. “Otherworldly, even.”

“I, uh, came for them for a few favors , take out some people, help get me out of prison, the works. When they found out I lied about wealth… eeehh..” He trailed off sheepishly, and turned back to Exo. They were looking down, staring at their own hands as they thought.

“...What will they do to you if you go back empty handed?”

Bandit stiffened slightly, but quickly masked it as his optic narrowed in fake glee. “They’ll kill me. Dismantle me down to scrap and sell my parts for a fraction of what I owe them. Just how it works on Mars, sparky.”

The older nickname had them looking back up at him, as he tried to hide how utterly terrified he was at the prospect of death.

“What’ll happen if you pay it off? Or just escape?”

…

He let out a soft bitter chuckle at the last part, as he placed his shiv down, pulling at his gloves. He lifted his sleeve up, before glancing away, holding his wrist out.

“You see that band?”

“Mm?” They inquired, reaching their hand towards it slightly out of curiosity.

“All it takes is one click and my life circuits will be cut off.”

He found some bitter humor in the way Exo yanked their hands away instantly, letting out a terrified noise. “What!? Why the hell can they just do that!?”

“...I accepted my fate long ago, sparks. I either pay this off, or say goodbye. Jus’ how it works ‘round here.” He said nonchalantly, despite the way his fans stuttered and his hands slightly shook as he slid back on his glove.

Exo leaned back slightly, a look of almost… guilt, on their face. He couldn’t help but vaguely wonder why. Such an odd little human.

They glanced down at their hands for a moment, before their eyes lit up slightly. They stood up, grabbing something from their belt.

“How much do you need?”

“Wh- More than you could imagine, kid. Don’t even think about scrounging up enough human pennies to fuckin’ pay off the debt of seventeen generations,” He began, rolling his optic and leaning back, crossing his arms.

They pulled something out of the small bag on their belt, before snatching one of Bandit’s hands. He almost yanked it back, before they opened his hand and placed something in it.

“Will this cover it?”

He almost laughed, expecting to see some gold or crystalized material, which wouldn’t even cover a fraction, but as he glanced down at what was in his hand, every circuit in his body shut down.

…

He glanced up at the human, his optic wide. “How did you get this?”

Exo let out a sheepish laugh, glancing to the side. Bandit turned the medallion over a few times, before clutching it in his hands. “I… No, how did you fucking get this? Do you even know how much this is worth?!” He yelled, standing up and reaching a hand under his hat, rubbing his head.

Exo continued to stare to the side, before muttering. “You weren’t the only thief on that ship.”

Bandit let out a few laughs, more out of shock as he paced slightly, turning the medallion over a few times. “Stealing from the fucking captain!? One of his most prized possessions- this has worth more than you could ever- how!?”

“He keeps it in his pillow case.”

…

Bandit let out another laugh of disbelief, as he stared at the small coin-like item.

He wanted to bolt right then and there. He had all he needed. He had his freedom. His ticket to living a normal life.

His optic trailed up, making eye contact with Exo.

But for some reason.

“You can go. You don’t need me anymore.” Sadness almost laced their voice, but a smile on their face.

…

Something held him back.

He walked over to Exo, blatantly ignoring the tears in their eyes as he got down on one knee, before his hand came forward, cupping their face.

“...You look pretty when you cry, but that doesn’t mean I like it.” He muttered as he thumbed the tear gone astray.

“You really don’t understand what you’ve given me, do you?”

…

They shook their head slightly, but spoke. “I… I don’t think I do, but I… I’m happy nonetheless.”

Bandit sighed slightly, before standing up. He looked at the medallion in his hand, before slowly putting it in the small pouch on his belt. He walked over and grabbed his shotgun, slinging it over his shoulder.

Turning back to Exo, he reached out his hand.

“Let’s get off this hellhole, eh sparky?”

Chapter Text

The dust began to settle, much like the aftermath of a stampede of bulls. The terrain and purple grass was burnt and charred, almost unrecognizable from the gorgeous shades of purple and yellow it was prior.

A loud crash sounded, and a quickly hardening molten rock crashed to the ground, molten liquid falling all around it. As it settled, the air did as well. Silence spread over the previously chaotic battle ground, and near the middle, were two figures.

The teleporter made a loud clang, a familiar one at that. The sound of silence, and victory, even if not a proud one. 

You reached up to your shoulder, tenderly touching the burns along your left arm where the Grandparent’s searing sun had grazed you. You knew the skin underneath was burnt, but fortunately you had a hefty amount of medkits.

As you slowly sat down against one of the prongs of the teleporter, you pulled out one of the many medkits and detached the armor around you. Bandit collapsed next to you in exhaustion, throwing his shotgun and revolver out of the way as he let out a breath it sounded like he’d been holding.

“...I honestly didn’ expect that thing to fucking pull the sun out on our asses.”

You snorted slightly as you pulled off your long-sleeved shirt, the bandages and healing scars littering your body being exposed to fresh air. Most of your chest and stomach were long wrapped in bandage. Another part to be wrapped up, you thought internally.

You hissed slightly at the burn of the treatment touching your freshly charred arm, before slowly being to wrap it up as Bandit glanced over.

“You looked like somebody tried to cook you in a microwave, only to come out with one part burnt and the other parts cold.” He said in a monotone voice. The statement caught you off guard, causing you to snort and look up at him.

“Woah, you could insult someone with those kinds of statements,”  You said with a grin, rolling your eyes and tugging at the bandage. The ends hung awkward, and you struggled to tuck them underneath the wrapped areas.

You jumped slightly when you felt gloves reach over and make content with your skin, before grabbing both ends and wrapping them into a knot. Your eyes widened as you glanced up at Bandit, and frankly, you wouldn’t admit how long you dumbly stared at him.

To be fair, he was staring back.

You could faintly hear his fans booting up, and then suddenly reality caught up to you all too quickly, and you jerked away from his way too close body, brushing yourself off and snatching your armor and shirt.

“Ehe- Let’s see where the hell this weird teleporter takes us, yeah?” You ignored the voice cracks in your sentence, as Bandit remained behind you, staring at you as you strapped on your shoulder pads.

He made some noise of affirmation, reaching up and adjusting his hat before standing up. You nervously kept checking your armor, and you couldn’t quite tell why. You just felt the need to fiddle with something and maybe stay away from the bastard behind you.

When you eventually turned around, Bandit was looking at the teleporter a bit closer, walking circles around it and observing the way the prongs worked. He seemed to push them slightly, but they didn’t budge.

“Odd, earlier these things were able to easily be moved, but now they seem to be locked in place.” He muttered, and you walked over as well, trying to push any awkwardness or nervousness you had down.

“Maybe it’s just for aesthetics?”

Bandit deadpanned at you.

“Hey, the monsters could have fashion and preferences. Culture shit n all that,” You said, shrugging your shoulders. Bandit rolled his optic, and you could feel the would be smile.

“Yeah, sure, for aesthetics. Let’s go see where this ‘aesthetical’ portal will take us, then.”

You glanced up at him as he gestured towards it, narrowing his optic in glee.

“Humans first,” He said smugly,

Ignoring his statement, you walked up to it, tenderly reaching forward. It felt cold, colder than what the normal temperature would be for this kind of stone. Almost like ice, you could feel it radiating out.

Eventually, you slowly placed your hand down into the totem’s bowl, and a sense of cold washed over you instantly, and in a few moments before teleporting, you glanced up at Bandit, as blue and white particles began to glow around the two of you.

…

..

.

Huh.

He looked oddly pretty in this lighting.

It was a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity when it went black. When you opened your eyes again, you thought you were still teleporting, before your eyes adjusted. The area was dark, but the blue lights floating around in what looked like a light layer of water illuminated the area ever so slightly.

You couldn’t see much, other than the slight light leaking from the entrance above. You turned to the side, seeing Bandit pretty easily. Here, you realized something you hadn’t really paid attention to prior.

His optic glew a bright blue, as it adjusted to the area around you, shrinking and dilating like a camera lens. The exhaust vents on his back for his smoke screen had the same blue, and here you also realized his shotgun as well had lights on it. He pulled said gun out, holding it out in front of him as he leaned down to you a bit.

“...Stay on guard, I don’t think this place is like the rest.”

You looked at him quizzically, pulling up your mask and sliding it on. “What makes you say that?”

“Lift your foot up.”

You were confused for a moment, before you obliged, and your eyes widened.

The gravity.

It was lower.

“What the h…” You glanced up as Bandit disappeared from your sight, and you realized he was moving ahead. You stumbled slightly to catch up, stepping in the cold shallow water, as he carefully continued forward.

“Doesn’t this mean we could be on a different planet or something?” You whispered to him, as he stopped in front of the offly menacing ramp.

“...Maybe.” He said vaguely, his optic narrowing as he began up the ramp. You glanced up at the long way, and let out a sigh. Right after the Grandparent fight? Really?

Beginning the way up, you slowly began to make out the hall ahead. As you two reached the top silently, your eyes widened at the state it was in. Chunks taken out of the walls, a pillar fallen over, and so many broken statues.

“What the.. Fuck…??” You muttered to yourself, as you looked out ahead at the bright blue at the end of the hall. It was blinding, almost as if it fell off right at the end of this hall.

“Exactly what I was thinking.” He muttered, narrowing his optic at the damages. “Either a fight happened here, or someone threw a pretty darn big tantrum.” He muttered. You continued down the frankly long hall, and as you got closer to the end of it, you began to finally make out what was outside.

It was a series of islands, from what you could see. You thought there was a tree in the middle, but as you reached the end of the hall, you got a proper look at a… platform?

“Is that like a justified moon treehouse?” You asked more to yourself than Bandit, as he jumped off the ledge from the end of the hall. You followed him closely behind, and your eyes widened to saucers as you saw what was ahead of you.

“Is that…?”

“An escape ship, yep.” He sped-walk forward, towards the force field around it. You stumbled behind him, gripping your pistols and daggers as you began to make out what were bodies surrounding it.

The sight…

A shiver ran through your body.

Those were gunslingers.

Just, like, Commando.

You looked over to Bandit with a frantic look, and he seemed to not give too much mind to the bodies, instead continuing around the ship. Your heart sank slightly as you quickly followed him.

“Bandit, those are dead fucking people. Probably from the Contact Light or previous missions to answer the distress call,” You sputtered out, and he stopped, glancing back at you.

“I’m aware, sparks.” A sense of detachment hang from his words like lanterns, and you couldn’t help but shrink back slightly.

Right, an outlaw.

Things like this were probably the regular.

You tried not to look behind you as you continued down the path with Bandit, and it wasn’t long before you heard an odd noise.

POP

CLANG

And just like that, it was dead.

You whirled around where Bandit’s revolver bullet had flown past you, only for your eyes to widen as a small orb-like creature began to crack. You felt arms wrap around your shoulders and pull you away as the creature exploded into a puddle of fiery pieces, littering the area around it.

“So we’re not alone.” Bandit’s voice spoke right behind you, as your hand came up and rested on his arm. Jesus fucking christ.

“Exploding balls, just what I needed this lovely afternoon.”

Bandit let out a deep chuckle as he let you go, reloading his revolver before readjusting his shotgun. You pulled out both of your pistols, eying the fire that began to burn out. This time, you’ll be more on guard.

You began around a ringlet path, narrowing your eyes at the islands around. Beacon markers were around several of them, and you couldn’t help but wonder if those were important. But you didn’t have much time to think about it, as a long crash sounded out from next to you, and you rolled backwards, not hesitating to begin shooting.

The large cannon-like rock being was barely shipped by your bullets as it began to make an odd noise, before a bunch of slow orbs shot out. You ducked down and so did Bandit, fortunately they were slow and inaccurate.

The cannon began to hobble around awkwardly, almost as if it’s gravitational point was off. You quickly threw a dagger right into one of the shoot points of it’s projectiles, but all it did was impale right into it and make and odd crackling noise.

As it charged it’s attack up again, Bandit tried his revolver as well, but it didn’t seem to do much against the tank. 

As you rolled out of the way of another attack, you looked back at him in distress, as he continued to shoot it with his shot gun repeatedly, but it just kept taking it.

“This fucking thing isn’t showing any signs of damage!” You yelled, as it began to charge up again. Bandit swore a few times under his breath, before for the first time in a while, entering his smoke screen.

The thing was targeting him, so the second he disappeared, it kind of hobbled around and shot it’s projectiles in several directions. You frankly thought Bandit had ditched you for a second, before you felt a hand on your shoulder before a large puff of smoke.

The thing seemed to flinch back from the sudden cloud, as it stopped it’s attack and stumbled back slightly. Right as you were about to roll in and try and attack it again, Bandit held you back, wrapping an arm around your collarbone.

“Stay still.” He hissed at you, before once again you heard the telltale noise of his smokescreen activating. This time, you realized, as you glanced down.

Ah, he brought you into it.

He began to slowly step back with you still in hold, as the cannon looked around stupidly, unsure of what to do with itself now. Bandit pulled you both behind one of the supporting beams of the arena above, before the smokescreen ran out.

You both stood completely still, and after what felt like an eternity, Bandit glanced out from behind the beam.

…

“It’s gone.”

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, stepping back and looking at Bandit. “What the fuck,” You muttered in disbelief, reaching up and running a hand under your hood, catching some knots in your hair.

Bandit seemed focused on glancing back, and after a moment, he turned back to you, then glanced up.

“We’d best hurry, I believe those beacon markers are probably something important…” He paused, and you glanced up at him. “And probably not for aesthetics.” 

You shot him a glare, and he just narrowed his optic in glee, before beginning back around the ringlet, mapping out the islands and how to safely get up to them without falling into the void below.

The pillars, as you called them, were horrible. You had to stay by them otherwise they’d stop powering up, and one of the would even begin to reverse it’s progress. Usually, staying in a small area isn’t too much of an issue, except you were dealing with the stupid fuckin’ constructs that kept spawning in.

Cannons, balls, and even a weird ass flying shooty thing that scared the fuck out of you. Eventually, you had found a weak point in the cannons, and they’d been less of an issue since. The balls were agonizing, due to the fact they’d fucking explode when you kill them, talk about sore losers.

The wisps…

They were horrifying.

They didn’t have that derpy gravitational misalignment like the tanks, they weren’t small and derpy like the exploders.

It felt like they looked right through you. Like something, or someone, was behind those lenses, watching you like a caged animal in a zoo.

They were calculating and have an underlayer of intelligence, almost as if they were designed to make the others disarming.

As the last pillar charged, an odd one similar to jumping a rope, finally a loud clang much like the ones from the teleporter rang out, and the menacing noise of something starting up screeched through the air.

You both ran to the edge of the Island, getting a good look at what looked like a launch pad. You glanced back at Bandit, who seemed to be thinking the same thing as you.

Do you really need to go on those?

The answer is yes. Yes you do.

So when you eventually reached the off-putting beam of hell that you felt like would obliterate you the second you touched it, you grabbed Bandit’s arm before he stepped onto it.

“Hey,” You began awkwardly. Great start, Exo .

He glanced back at you, lowering his shotgun as you took a deep breath.

“I’m… sorry.”  His face blanked before narrowing his optic at you, his posture straightening slightly. “For what?”

“I’m sorry for being human. I misread you, if I’d known what you were here for I…” You cleared your throat. “I wouldn’t have treated you the way I did.”

You glanced down at ground, before reaching up and taking off your mask. You glanced up at him, before giving one of the first genuine smiles you had since this whole fiasco began.

“So…” You laughed slightly, feeling dumb. “Thank you for sticking with me. Even if I am an infuriating asshole, and I mean so are you, I’m… glad, you put up with my ass.” You were horrible at these kinds of things, but…

“So uh, if we die, up there,” You gestured up, “Then uh, fuck, damn I guess.” You glanced back at him, and he heard an unreadable expression. His optic adjusted a few times, before he let out a strained laugh, reaching back and pulling on the collar of his shirt slightly.

“Gee, way to put a guy on the spotlight. Hitting me with this shit right before we probably get ourselves killed? Heh…” He glanced away, before sighing, the familiar mechanical whirring under it.

“For what it’s worth, you’re not half bad yourself.” He half assed, and you almost laughed at how strained it sounded. You gave him a lopsided grin, before walking past him, slapping your hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s go get ourselves killed.”

He sighed, slinging his shotgun over his shoulder, glancing back at you with a soft look.

—

You didn’t know what you expected.

Why didn’t you think?

It’s your fault.

A judgemental eye, impatient movements, charring words.

You couldn’t do anything against him.

You couldn’t do anything against a god .

Why even try?

Despite everything, you weren’t ready to die.

You weren’t ready to say goodbye.

The fight, it was a blur. It felt like a strained filter was over your brain the whole time, filtering any rational thought or survival instinct out. 

It was so cold

You remember first entering the arena, his words flying by you without any effect, but as the fight went on, it got worse.

By the second time Mithrix, as he calls himself, had dropped down…

Something was wrong.

Every time he looked at you, every time it felt like something was horribly wrong. You couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t hear anything but his words that continued to break you down like a butterfly under a cruel person’s hands.

It just wasn’t worth it .

Bandit was hurt. He might be dead. You can’t remember.

Your movements were mechanical and sloppy, impaling his body over and over again, shooting and dodging. It felt like a fever dream, it didn’t feel real .

It wasn’t long until it was over.

He’d taken your items you’d used throughout your journey. You remember that. Bandit was there too, he wasn’t gone. You weren’t alone.

And just like that, he was dead.

You’d killed a god.

Was it worth it ?

He shattered and faded like an eternal flame being finally set to rest. He called out for his brother. And just like that, he was gone.

The second the last of him faded, nothing but a helmet left, you collapsed. Everything caught up to you at once, like a slow motion filter being taken off a tape. The ground began to shake as footsteps rushed over to you, and you heard the few words.

“You did good, sparks. We’ll get out of here,” A shaky breath, “I promise.”

…

You’ll be okay.

Chapter Text

PLUTO - 6:34PM, XXXXX

ONE YEAR LATER.

…Some come to say, that your enemies may be your best friend given time.

It’s a saying you used to question all the time, pondering it carefully, wondering if you’d ever have that odd experience. Becoming friends with your enemy, you already know the worst in each other. What’s left to reveal? 

…You probably know your enemies better than those already close.

You let out a soft breath.

But that’s okay.

The sun was slowly dipping below the horizon, the soft fall air of Pluto bathing you in it’s comfort presence. You approached closer to the edge of the drop, not too afraid of the height as you sat down, dangling your legs off.

The wind softly blew your loose sweater around, but it didn’t bother you. Despite constantly being scolded about how you humans need to keep warm and not wear shorts in the middle of fall…

You heard the back door slide open. Speak of the devil, and he’ll come.

“Don’t let her run off again, you know she fuckin’ loves bolting as far away as humanly possible.” You leaned back slightly, watching as Bandit struggled with the leash on the hyperactive cat. Despite Bandit’s insistence to just get a robot dog from Earth, you insisted to just get a cat. So here you were, with your crazy black cat named Dax.

Bandit bent down, grabbing the squirmy cat who settled down begrudgingly in his arms as he walked over, before handing her to you.

You scratched her head slightly, before wrapping the leash around your arm. She opted to just walk to the side and roll over into the grass. 

Eventually, you turned back to Bandit as he threw down his shotgun, sitting next to you.

“I haven’t seen you in that outfit since we settled.” You said in surprise, taking in the familiar coat and armor. Bandit let out a sigh, the familiar mechanical whirring under it following.

“Felt nostalgic. Y’know,” He paused, glancing over. “Today, it marks a year. Since we left.”

Your eyes widened, before letting out a surprised huff, reaching up and running your hand through your hair. “Holy shit,” You muttered, sitting up a bit straighter.

Bandit brought one of his knees up to lean his arm against, as he stared out towards the sunset. A silence settled over the two of you, as you let out a happy sigh.

You leaned towards Bandit, resting your head on his side, enjoying the small mechanical noises he made as he adjusted his position to wrap his arm around your shoulder.

You felt his faceplate press against the top of your head, as he mumbled some nonsense you couldn’t really make out.

…

“Love you, you idiot.”

..

.

“Love ‘ya too, sparky.”

..

.

.

Chapter Text

HEY EVERYONE!!! 

Guess who's back!? Yeah, this mf. And guess who's back with food and a complete rehaul of the beginning of the mercenary arc? This mf.

Just giving a small quick update to say HEY, I'M NOT DEAD CHAT! Took a break but now after rereading this and deciding fuck it, we ball. Redoing the Mercenary storyline to be far more lighter and less angst heavy, in preparation for a certain captain arc.

Anyway, happy risking rain! Expect new chapters!!