I had to admit that the “runners” from the catch-a-ride were fascinating creations even if a bit oddly designed. See unlike most cars you would think of that are one solid unit with the engine at the front and a squarish shape the runners were NOTHING like that. They had a sort of cockpit main body with no windshield or roof but a driver seat and behind that a gunner seat with a 360 degree machinegun or rocket turret. At the back of this main body was the engine that had me a bit sketched the fuck out with how unstable it seemed.-

The genius thing about the runners however was that the wheels were attached to the main body by four hydraulic shock and elevation adjusting beams that meant each tire rose or fell independently of the others for uneven terrain or potholes. This meant that even with the roads being as shitty as humanly possible the drive was pretty smooth. The funny thing was that Brick barely fit in the driver seat and took out his discomfort on anything stupid enough to be seen as we headed to the spot marked on our minimaps.-

Couldn’t really complain about his rampage either as I earned a neat twenty thousand ish lifeforce thanks to that and the sheer abundance of stuff he killed.

“Looks like we’ll need to walk the rest of the way since those metal bits block the path to this Skinner asshat.” I said as I deftly left the gunner seat.

“Good, my leg was starting to fall asleep.” Brick said as he pulled his legs out of the driver seat with some trouble.

“So any ideas about how to make this fucker squeal? I’m partial to ripping out the fingernails myself, you?” I asked and he seemed to think about it for a moment.

“Hey you can use shock right?” he asked with the start of a feral grin.

“I can, what do you have in mind?” I asked curious to know where he was going with this.

“Got any jumper cables?” he asked with his grin growing even more malicious.

“I don’t but I can fix that easy enough, give me a second.” I said before opening my house and going in.

A few moments later I came out with a pair of jumper cables and a six pack of my favorite root beer. Brick grinned and took the cables from me along with a can of root beer and explained his idea as we walked up the path. It was pretty simple really but the gist of it was that we’d be attaching the cables to the dudes toes before giving them the juice till they cooked before repeating until he ran out of digits. I was down with this plan as that did sound really fucking painful. I also considered stuffing some traits into him to subject him to that agony but honestly that seemed like such a waste of traits and lifeforce.-

The place this dude lived in was a small little hut tent thing made of what looked suspiciously like leather but probably was human in origin. All around the “yard” were these umbrellas with spines as the handles and ribs as the spokes holding the “canvas” open. A muscled psycho with a filet knife came out of the tent thing wearing baggy ragged “leather” pants and a standard psycho mask and a reddish brown coloration from the sheer amount of blood that had dried on his body.-

“More umbrellas for the wetting!” he yelled as he charged us wildly.

“You want to do it or should I?” I asked and Brick shrugged. “I’ll do it then.” I said casually stepping forward.

Skinner didn’t care at all in his bloodthirsty charge and swung the filet knife at me and I just looked at him mockingly as the dull rusty blade slid across the skin on my chest without even breaking through my shield. He didn’t get another chance as I grabbed his arm and pulled him forward where I grabbed the back of his head with my free hand and slammed him into the ground.-

Now restrained Skinner quickly felt the pain as Brick got started by hooking up the cable to dudes pinkie toes and handing me the other ends. 

“ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”

Skinner screams as I sent a fuck ton of juice through the cables but we both ignored it and once his toes were nice and crispy we moved onto his fingers and once those too were zapped to coke and we were done with Bricks idea it was my turn. I inhaled deeply before belching a stream of fire onto the sobbing mess of a psycho under my foot causing him to scream in agony as his entire body burned. –

“That! Was! Awesome! I want that trait!” Brick said excitedly as we left the burning body behind to head back to the runner.

“[Flame breath]? It’s pretty common back on Eden six so it shouldn’t be an issue to get it for you assuming nothing here on Pandora has it.” I said with a shrug.

I didn’t mind talking about Eden six despite knowing the “angel” was no doubt spying on us simply because my affiliation with the Jakobs couldn’t be hidden and so there was no point in trying to hide it.-

Once we were back in Fyrestone waiting for the others we turned in the quest for a bit of cash that I let Brick have since I was loaded already. While we waited I tinkered with the broke down runner in town at the back with the tools I had in my house. Honestly speaking the thing was practically held together with duct tape and prayers with how fucking shoddy the work was. Sure it worked but it was not safe, efficient or ideal at all. Admittedly I might have gotten a little carried away as I used my Eridian engineering knowledge to fix a few things at first until a few quickly became a lot.-

“Heya Scooter here, you know the catch-a-ride guy? Listen some folks over there in Fyrestones gone and told me that yer messin about with one of my broke down runners. Iffin yer gettin any funny thoughts about musclin in on my car business, don’t, only warning.” Scooter said over my echo.

“Wasn’t planning on it, just fixing some of the issues in the design of the runner to pass the time. Rerouting the fuel lines away from the hot parts, better air circulation paths, that sorta thing.” I sent back casually.

“Whatcha mean exactly?” Scooter asked now more curious than mad.

“Well for starters you have the fuel lines running next to the combustion chamber and your cooling system is connected to your exhaust system which actually heats up the engine further rather than cooling it.” I said since I knew a thing or two about the topic.

“So that’s why the engines sometimes burst into flames!” he said in understanding.

We continued chatting over the echo for a while about the runners and how to improve them and even when we bickered at some points we at the very least seemed to seriously consider what the other person said.-

That was how the other three found me elbow deep in the broke down runner messing with the parts while Scooter spoke to me over the echo.

“Having fun?” Lil asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course, boys and their toys after all. How about you lot, anything worth mentioning?” I asked as I casually ignited my arms to burn off the grease on them in the super hot temperatures.

“Well that Tannis chick is kinda rude but you already knew that and Zed’s got a meeting set up with a guy who says he knows how to get us into Sledges mine.” Lil said unbothered by my spontaneous combustion.

“No shit? I’m surprised at how easy this is so far, like obviously bandits are dumb as fuck and all but this is downright fucking pathetic.” I said honestly as I rolled my sleeves down since the grease was gone.

“Don’t go jinxing us man, easy is good.” Mordy said hurriedly.

“Speak for yourself, I prefer a challenge to get my adrenaline pumping. It also helps that anything capable of that likely also has some kick ass traits.” I say with a grin.

“Can’t argue with the logic there.” Roland said with a nod of agreement.

I passed out some beverages and we set off to go meet Zed’s contact, a dude by the name of Shep Sanders that gave me a slimy vibe right away. He was fully covered in gear so I couldn’t tell you what he looked like exactly other than bandity. But the way he talked and acted rubbed me the wrong way like he would have no loyalty to anything or anyone other than himself.-

People like that were dangerous as you never knew if or when they might plunge a knife into your back for some perceived profit. He gave us a couple quests though that we chose to take since they weren’t all that hard and one of them even benefited me. Specifically he wanted us to turn on the wind turbines as well as kill some Rakk that were causing him trouble. I hadn’t seen what traits these Rakk offered so I was more than happy to take the kill mission.

___________________________________________

https://www.pa treon.com/user?u=81578854#:~:text=pa treon.com/pa treon_loskro

_______________________________________________

Alexander Drake

Lifeforce: 262,176

Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x2, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Quick thinking], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade], [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X2,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade], [Strong circulation-Epic grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade]

Stored traits:[Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep