The bug ugly War Suit that was currently named Franken II lifted off slightly from the ground once again and began to speed off down the streets of the beginner Zone. It only took a few moments after that for the bounty hunters to mount up and initiate a pursuit, and they even went so far as to call for support from other hunters scattered throughout the city.

After all, if their mark had a War Suit, then they would need all the firepower that they could get. Whether intentionally or not, these hunters who had joined in on the endeavor were now also wanted men. The coloring of their names and levels above their heads shifted from blue to red, and to their own surprise, they found the people they were used to ignoring were now gunning for them.

Ironically, in their pursuit of glory and wealth (and a bit of action) nearly 40% of the city’s bounty hunters ended up being flagged as enemy mobs, or, in other words, Traitors to The Revelry. Space owned by The Revelry may have been mostly anarchic and ruled by the strong, but there was one fundamental truth and unspoken law that everyone in their realm obeyed.

You do not go against the Council of Admirals.

And, unfortunately for those hunters, they had done exactly that, regardless of whether they knew it or not. It wasn’t like they could explain their reasons, either. Since when has ignorance of the law ever been seen as a valid excuse by those with tyrannical control and despotic hegemony?

It was only the first in-game day, and already Axton had caused mayhem, havoc, and discord.

It wouldn’t be the last time, either.

…

As Thomas watched the now-hostile mobs run off in pursuit of Axton and his ugly machine, he was flagged by one of the higher-level NPCs.

“Was that Suit piloted by that other Outworlder?”

Thomas nodded.

“What kind of model was that? Didn’t look like anything I’ve ever heard of.”

“He… well he has the skill needed to make his own custom models.”

This took the NPC by surprise.

“So, what? He’s from the Empire?”

“No, he’s like me. New. Foreign. Not from this galaxy. Don’t ask me how he manages it, because I’m as in the dark as you are. I always assumed that we couldn’t do that until I saw him in Franken I.”

The NPC rubbed his chin and smiled.

“Let’s hope he survives.” Said the NPC as he opened up a comm channel with someone. “I’m pretty sure I may have a business proposition for him later on.”

…

Franken II was speeding down the dirty streets in reverse, the spider-like legs moving slightly to add their own extra maneuvering thrusts to the Suit’s main hover system. After reaching a certain point, Axton set the single jump jet on the underside of the main body to full and sent the spider-can into the air. A few more short bursts from the legs allowed the Suit to end up flying in a parabola while sideways until it was just about to slam underside-first into the side of a building.

As if on cue, Franken II’s legs extended and acted as a kind of cushion that prevented the whole Suit from slamming into the side of the structure. A few moments later, and the limbs had stretched out and the Suit had essentially become a spider on a wall. It was high enough that it would have the advantage of being out of sight from most ground forces, yet it was still able to fire down on said ground forces itself.

The two modular turrets on the right and left sides of the torso began to swivel around. Axton had disengaged the safeties and manual control and was now letting the improvised auto-targeting system take control. It would be difficult enough to move the machine around on the sides of the buildings around it; adding in manually targeting the swivel-mounted guns on the sides of Franken II on top of controlling the movement of the Suit itself would be too much for Axton to bear.

Axton held the auto-target system back from firing as the hunters drove underneath his perch, waiting until they had passed before turning the torso of his hideous monstrosity of a mech to face the backs of the oblivious idiots before setting the guns free. To the shock of the enemies below him, quad-linked 12.7 machine gun fire and twin-linked 20mm autocannon rounds began to rain down on the rear of the bounty hunters, knocking out an APC, an IFV, and three Humvee-knockoffs before the rest of the hunters could even begin to figure out what was going on.

Of course, by the time they did realize that they had been shot at by a War Suit that had attached itself to the side of a building both above and behind them, Axton had already pushed his ugly crab-can of a mech off of the building and landed it down on the city streets below like he was playing a lightning round of the old game ‘Lunar Lander’. Firing off a few more rounds as a ‘fuck you’ to the bounty hunters, Franken II sped off down the maze-like streets once again, leaving the survivors to be easy pickings for beings that they had not expected would ever be a threat.

Axton had not lured them to the place they found themselves at for no reason, nor had he laid into them as little as he did for no reason, either. He had done just enough damage that the new Players nearby could earn some ‘easy’ XP without having to risk their safety by venturing out of the city. He had led the mooks directly back to the very Beginner Square he and the other Players had spawned at, which also had a respawn point in the exact same place as well.

Those who survived the initial wave of Players throwing themselves at them were horrified to see the bodies of their fallen adversaries vanish into particles of light, only to immediately reappear with an axe to grind. Axton had taken great care to render even the vehicles he didn’t end up destroying unable to move well, with flat tires and damaged engines for days.

Eventually, the sheer determination and lack of a fear of death were enough for the Players to claim a few kills and earn some easy renown with The Revelry. As Axton sped away, he figured that he could use that as a way to extort his fellow Players into not trying to claim his bounty for themselves. After all, he not only had a War Suit of his own, but he had also led easy loot and renown straight to them and even softened it up for them, and he hadn’t even demanded anything in return.

As Franken II sped through the streets, its pilot received a voice-chat request from Thomas. Something about an opportunity to make a lot of money and get some decent safeguards against other bounty hunters? Well, even if the people in charge here wanted Franken II, he wouldn’t be crying any tears upon losing it. As great as the current machine was, it was far too gimmicky for his tastes. He had mainly built it just because he could, and he already had an idea for Franken III in his head. If this rust bucket got a new master and a new name, well, he would be unhappy about it.