There was a bit of residual tension in the air as Axton, Thomas and Sally waited for a response. Would Admiral DiVeto be pleased with that which they had made, or would he be upset and bring down a punishment. Admiral DiVeto, for his part, seemed to quietly enjoy the growing anxiety felt by the trio as he stayed quiet and let the nervousness build. He opened his mouth a few times, only to close it shortly after, almost as if he was toying with the Players and the NPC like a cat playing with a cornered and crippled mouse.

Finally, he apparently decided that he had caused enough stress to build and answered the question that Axton had posed.

“It isn’t what I expected, but then again, I didn’t give you any real specifications as to what to build for me. To be clear, this is the second craziest custom War Suit I’ve had the dubious privilege of laying my eyes on, with that crippled tin-can with spider legs over there being the strangest by far. I’ll be honest…”

The tension in the air continued to increase as the Admiral looked the two Players and the NPC in the eyes one by one before cracking a smile.

“I think I will indeed have fun with that new toy. Congrats; you’ve fulfilled your end of the deal. Now it’s high time that I fulfill mine.”

…

Axton and Thomas were led out of the mechanic bay by the Revelry Admiral, but before they could be brought back to the starter city, they were approached by the NPC that had been so instrumental to their project. Sally Gray had decided that she still had a lot to learn and that following the two Players around and working with them would be a lot more fun than simply working on things in such a potentially hostile environment.

For her ‘sin’ of taking lessons when the others had been too proud to, she was now essentially an outcast. She had partially smoothed things over by giving the few SuitMakers that still had some camaraderie with her a few quick pointers, but aside from that she had no further desire to do much with them.

If they managed to take the info that they had gleaned by fucking with Franken II and from her hints and then made something useful, then good for them. But to be clear, she didn’t have high hopes that they would be able to do much. They were bull-headed and stubborn, so she expected that they would need at least a year before they made any real headway, and even then, it would be nothing compared to what she could do on her own right now, let alone what she could accomplish with Axton and Thomas.

…

And so, the trio left the compound and were dropped off back in the starter city. Now that Axton had a bit more leeway in how he could operate (thanks to Admiral DiVeto’s interference and insistence that the local ‘security’ forces make any attempts to claim Axton’s bounty nigh impossible) he now could finally play the game as it was meant to be played. The Quest he had been given by Admiral DiVeto had bumped his level up by quite a high amount (this not counting XP gained from the shit he pulled before being wrangled by the Admiral and dealing the final blow to that fleeing enemy), but he was still a low-leveled scrub compared to Sally.

That said, now that Axton, Thomas and Sally were ‘free’, the trio now had quite a number of things to do. Franken II was still out of action, its components heavily damaged by Axton’s self-sabotage, and so it was going to be a while before the machine saw action once again. Axton had already transferred ownership of it to Thomas, who had insisted that, once it was repaired, that he be able to rename it. Axton didn’t mind that, as he didn’t much care for Franken II’s general combat style himself. He had built the thing, but it had never been intended as anything more than a backup made from the leftovers from Franken I’s construction.

Thomas was more suited for it, anyway. The armor on the torso was shite, so someone with a high Con score like him could actually tank a few shots that could (and likely would) penetrate the flimsy torso armor and keep on going. But rebuilding Franken II (new name pending) would need to be put on the back burner. The two Players had some entry-level quests to start, and it was high fucking time that they played the game in the way it was meant to be played.

…

Axton and Thomas had split up. They were still in a party together, but by acting independently they could cover more ground and pick up more Quests. Plus, each of them had different specialized Quests that were only available to them, mostly due to differing stats. While a party could make these quests easier, both Players wanted to have some time apart. They would still share the XP via the party system, but they would gain much more of that shared XP by working separately and on their own projects.

Sally was tagging along with Axton. Axton may have had his level spike, but he was still at least 15 levels below the NPC SuitMaker. On a Starter World, where Axton’s level was at least 10 more than that of the vast majority of other Players, Sally’s level alone was a potent form of deterrence. Add in the Faction-Wide announcement that trying to collect Axton’s bounty would result in immediate hostility and/ or death, and even the more daring Players and NPCs decided to keep their distance and avoid trying to collect the money offered for Axton’s head.

While Thomas went around doing his thing, Axton and Sally walked down the poorly maintained roads that led to the class-change hall. Axton had no idea what to expect from the Classes offered, but he did have a feeling that he would be in for a treat. After all, due to the fuckery that Donovan’s connections had engaged in, his stats were perfectly balanced. That, coupled with his rather deep knowledge of building War Suits, meant that he almost certainly had a few specialty Classes just waiting for him to choose them. And, even if that wasn’t the case, he was still confident that he could get a Class that was right up his alley.

Once a new Class was his, a whole bunch of Quests would open up for him to engage in. The anticipation was killing him.