Even with all the temptation of the idea to get a good, "for my own", armament - and, who knows, maybe even a shield - at the first point I still went to the second point, the meeting place with a new contact. Well, understandably, I stuffed Claptrap in the trunk first, but the point remains.

  An hour of travel and one crossed skag later the destination point, the settlement "Ohoho", appeared in sight. A crooked human-sized metal fence, behind which could be seen the roofs of buildings, a water tower, and some other structures - a typical Pandorian settlement, a rusty knife going through the engineer's heart.

  And there were a few dozen bandits gathered around it.

  Well, of course, could it have been easy and simple?

  The bandits' attention was focused on the settlement - they seemed to be shouting with someone inside - so they hadn't noticed me yet. The question was, what should I do?

  "Received incoming message with attachment! Sender: Vladoff Corporation."

  An attachment?

  After hesitating for a second, I decided to take a look at it first. And...

  "In recognition of your success in defending the interests of the Vladoff Corporation and fulfilling a special assignment, you are rewarded with the following: 1. A three-month paid vacation on the planet Pandora. 2. A crate of oranges (12 kilograms). 3. 3 packs of toilet paper ("Tenderness", three-ply, professional, 12 rolls/pack). 4. A named weapon of your choice.

  Choose an option:

  A: "Drunken Revolutionary" assault rifle.

  B: "Nutcracker" combat sniper rifle.

  - I take it this is a nudge? - I inquired, raising an eyebrow with a glance to the sky and then to the ECHO. There was no response, but it wasn't really needed. In this situation, obviously, option B points the way...

  The sniper looked like an ancient "three-line rifle", aka "Mosinka", but instead of wood it used some kind of plastic, and the internal structure had nothing in common with the legendary rifle.

  The quality, according to ECHO, was also not "Legendary", but "Epic".

  It had a x-six magnification sight, "High firepower, good rate of fire, easy reloading, small cartridge block", according to the same ECHO.

  There were also letters engraved on the barrel. Turning the weapon slightly, I read the words they made up.

  "Like a nut. With a core of nitroglycerin." Nutcracker, hmmm... Still a strange engraving though.

  The ECHO-generated cartridge block of this sniper contained materials for only three shots, and that was a significant drawback, but it was enough for me right now - I wasn't Mordecai to rely on such a weapon.

  I could see through the scope that the situation at the settlement was not going well; judging by the gestures, the orange crested 'punk' was angry. He turned his head toward one of the big guys standing nearby ("Brawler, Threat Level 9"), and a grenade launcher materialized in his hands.

  No more stalling.

  The big guy raised his weapon and pointed it at the village gate, but the back of his head was already in my sights.

  The Brawler's head exploded.

  When they say that, they mean that it simply blew apart, bursting because of the hydraulic shock caused by the high-velocity bullet.

  In this case, it exploded quite literally, as if it had been stuffed with explosives... oh. So that's what it was about.

  Several other nearby bandits were also caught in the blast. Unfortunately, Homo Recens are extremely tough animals, but the ECHO showed the injuries by decreasing the health bars.

  I immediately took out a new target.

  This time there was no explosion, and the hit, judging by the ECHO, was not fatal. I tried to shoot someone else, but this time I missed - the bandits were no longer standing still.

  Unfortunately, in all the commotion, they noticed me.

  Without wasting time on reloading my rifle, I jumped into my car. Two buggies and a small truck were already rushing toward me, bullets kicking up fountains of dust in the ground.

  In my favor was the fact that my car was modernized and reinforced, while the bandits' cavalry was shabby and beat up, long neglected, and had no armor, unlike mine. Yes, the armor plates made my buggy heavier and slower, but it paid off - especially now.

  One of the armor plates crumpled and nearly flew off its mounts; with sparks and a squeal, the bullet ricocheted off to the side. In response, my turret - I'd strapped one of my badasses on the buggy so I wouldn't be distracted by aiming; I had a sawed-off shotgun sticking out of the viewport, though - crossed the tubular frame of the bandit's buggy, and the vehicle went sideways, then flipped over and tumbled merrily. Minus one.

  The catapult attached to the truck jerked, and a barrel came off it. I didn't expect anything good from it, so I fired my shotgun, trying to shoot it down.

  I was lucky, and my expectations were justified: the barrel exploded on the fly, causing another bandit buggy to jerk. Unfortunately, the car didn't lose control... hell, a couple of shorties rolled another barrel into the catapult. I took aim at it again, hoping to shoot it before I threw it, and blow up this catapult on wheels.

  Two disks missed, the third hit the bucket and bounced off it without hitting the barrel.

  ...Then the truck went sideways, as it had with the buggy earlier, and crashed into the bandit's buggy, which remained on the move. The barrel exploded, and both vehicles were out of the fight. Yup, ricochets can be useful.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Meanwhile, outside the settlement, and inside it, the battle was also going on, and quite intense. Automatic weapons were rumbling, something was exploding, I noticed a flash of electric discharges....

  Conveniently, my ECHO displays friend/enemy status, so I took advantage of that. First, to move in closer, allowing the turret to fire on the bandits left outside. They were shooting back, too, and not unsuccessfully, especially since one had a corrosive gun - I'm not sure if it was a machine gun or a pistol - but my armor was holding up. I'd have to rebuild it thoroughly later, but for now I could rely on the work already done.

  Under the circumstances, it was irrational to use a sawshooter, as it might ricochet off some of my allies, so I switched to a machine gun - but I only fired a couple of shots when I had the chance. A new bandit buggy that suddenly appeared almost hit me, but I only lost a few armor plates, and the space in front of the gate that was lying on the ground - I think it was broken by a corrosive grenade - was cleared. Unfortunately, the concrete barriers in front of the gate prevented me from driving inside to join the fun in my car, but I was able to shoot a couple of bandits outside as well - though they were trying to use cover, they were taking cover from the fire coming from the opposite side. The fire from my turret was damaging the houses of the settlement, behind which they were taking cover, but fuck them.

  And from the other end of the settlement was firing - also a turret. It was covered by a shield, not by a normal dome, but by a half-ring, but then this shield was destabilized, unable to withstand the bandit fire.

  Then the turret went silent, and one of the bandit big men, with an axe in one hand and a cannon in the other, ran toward it, intending to dismantle it.

  In vain. Whatever caused the turret's autocannon to hiccup - out of ammunition, reloading, some kind of malfunction - it had other arguments: the mini-missile blew the big guy to smithereens.

  And then a man jumped from the roof of one of the buildings, right between the three bandits. The first was hit in the temple with a shotgun butt and fell to the ground; the second caught a volley of buckshot in the face. The third was knocked to the ground by a sweeping kick and immediately shot by dark-skinned man in some sort of armor, with a large shoulder pad on his left arm.

  From behind a garbage can near a neighboring building a bandit with a rifle in his hands came out, but the black man, without turning around, waved his hand in his direction, and the bandit fell on his back, with the hilt of his knife sticking out of his eye socket.

  "Another familiar type," reported the ECHO. - "And he wants to talk..."

  - Roland here, - a man's voice said as I opened the channel. - Thank you for your support, but this may not be all. We need to check the neighborhood.

  - I'll drive around, - I answered, and then I heard a rumbling sound. And then... Where did it come from, and whose sick mind had created this monstrosity?

  Probably the closest relatives of this thing were the orc Garganthas of the forty-thousand year. A huge, though not comparable to the Garganthas (only four meters in height) relatively humanoid combat robot, assembled from various garbage and miscellaneous parts, mostly buggy hulls, it seems.

  With a large cannon between its legs.

  "MechaDickerXL," the ECHO reported. - "Big thing, isn't it?"

  I stepped on the pedal, and just in time: the MechaDicker's main caliber roared, making the ground at the point of impact erupt in a fountain. My car's armour wouldn't save me from that gun, even if it was in perfect condition...

  At least it helped against a couple of machine guns in the mecha's hands. For now.

  I was going full speed, wiggling back and forth, hoping I wouldn't flip over, and that my turret was having some effect on this monster.

  - Looks like a problem, - Roland said thoughtfully over the comms.

  - No, it doesn't "look", - I replied venomously. - That's what it is. Full size.

  Fucking Angel with her fucked-up eyeliner. I don't think it's her, though - I noted pilot in the robot's torso.

  - Hold on, - the black man said briefly, and then stopped talking. Damn, I don't even have grenades, and I don't have a chance to shoot with corrosive - everything goes to evasion attempts...

  The attempt to go behind "Dicker"'s back was not very successful: his body, as it turned out, could rotate 360 degrees quite quickly, and he kept pouring bullets at me, some of which were damaging my armour. I don't think this thing was going to run out of ammo anytime soon.

  My turret tried to fight back, but it didn't do much damage. And then it went silent, damaged by one of the giant's shots. The situation was getting really shitty; even trying to escape would only put me under fire from the main caliber. I guess I'd have to take my chances...

  ...or not. The Mech pilot, focused on me, didn't notice the other actor. I didn't notice when he appeared, but Roland nimbly climbed up the robot's leg and onto its back; a little more, and he slipped the barrel of his shotgun between the metal tubes, rods, and plates that made up the MechaDicker's torso.

  Boom! And the colossus began to topple over.

  In the first second I thought he had crushed the hero of the day, but I immediately noticed Roland standing on the ground next to his frag. David and Goliath...

  - Shall we talk? - he said out loud, looking in my direction.