As Axton’s Avatar materialized, the will controlling it quickly took stock of the situation around it. Axton had expected that both Franken and Spider-Can would have been damaged, if not outright destroyed by an enemy attack during the time between when they logged out and before the devs decided to ‘patch’ the game. However, both Franken and Spider-Can bore no damage beyond that which had been inflicted before their two pilots had logged out.

This was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, and Axton, at the very least, had absolutely no intention of wasting this bit of good fortune. He hopped back into Franken’s cockpit and looked over as Thomas did the same. Both of the War Suits closed themselves up automatically, and as the machines fully powered up, Axton got the first communication from his friend in-game for this session.

“Please tell me that you’ve calmed down. You’ve done a lot of damage, and I mean a whole fucking hell of a lot of damage, so have you calmed down? Are you ready to be a bit more, well, chill?”

Axton nodded as he tilted his head a bit to the side. “Yeah, yeah. I’m mostly over it, but the fact that you just reminded me didn’t really help in that regard.”

“Still not gonna get completely over it?”

“No.” Axton replied rather curtly before taking a deep breath to calm himself a bit. “I have no intention of forgiving them, let alone looking the other way. I told you before, and I am sticking to what I said. I am going to find them, I am going to defeat them, and I am going to make sure that, by the end of it, they are deader than a doornail.”

“But you will direct what I can only assume is utter hatred and malice at them, right? No more blowing off steam by pulling a Doom Guy on random people and animals?” Thomas asked in a half-joking and half-serious manner.

“We’ll see.”

Thomas did a double-take. “We’ll see?!”

Axton rolled his eyes and sighed. “Bitch, they pissed me off more intensely than I have experienced in one hell of a long time, and you should know by now that I can, and oftentimes do, hold on to grudges tighter than a Dwarf. If anyone, and I mean anyone decides that they are gonna work with those fuckers, I can and will tear them a few new assholes.”

Axton’s little tirade earned a bit of awkward silence, but Axton added something he hoped would be able to ease the tension.

“That said, from now on I intend to avoid fighting random people. If they come after me or you, though, that is a different story. My anger is focused, and so long as they don’t pull much more bullshit, then I should be able to keep myself sane enough to avoid making an ass of myself.”

Thomas merely nodded. He understood that Axton had a massive ax to grind and that he fully intended to give those two NPCs a very, very bad time. He could also understand Axton’s reasons for wanting to be like this towards them and those that supported them. Having cheating Players was bad enough, but when the games you are playing cheat in ways that are both utterly unfair and impossible for you to replicate without breaking the rules yourself…

Well, it would get under anyone’s skin if it happened so blatantly and openly.

Axton, though, had lashed out at random people to slake the thirst of his wrath, and while that was something one would eventually expect from any gamer, the fact that he had done so in this current situation was the real issue.

“So, can we go and deal with things in a more... I don’t know... reasonable way?” Thomas asked, already dreading the response.

“Yeah. But remember, this is a Battle Royale. We will eventually need to wipe out our competition, and so we need to be prepared for that.”

Thomas scoffed. “And you want that to be your excuse for your actions? You massacred them, all of them!”

“Not an excuse.” Axton spat back before once again calming himself. “Just a happy accident.”

Now it was Thomas’ turn to roll his eyes. “Lookee here, everybody! We’ve got ourselves the Bob Ross of giant murder machines! Care to paint us a few happy little trees out of blood and oil?”

Franken took a few steps forward and then shot off through the jungle, with Spider-Can quickly following behind.

“Not gonna respond?” Thomas asked.

“Well, you wanted me to paint a few happy trees with blood and such, so let’s find some paint to work with, shall we?” Axton replied in a jovial and joking manner. Obviously, the banter had managed to reduce his stress level by a fair bit.

“Oh, Lord…” Thomas groaned. “I’ve created a monster.”

…

A person sat on one of the empty seats inside of a space station, seemingly looking out into the vastness of space with an empty, near-vacant expression. Their eyes were not looking at the void just beyond the window, instead being focused elsewhere, in a direction that their face was not pointed at. Another person came up and sat down beside them, taking a swig from a canteen before looking out into the sea of stars along with the person to their side.

“Gotta admit, the sight is beautiful.” Said the second person in a masculine voice.

The original figure said nothing, continuing to look blankly at that which was not in front of their eyes.

“You alright? You’ve been rather distant lately.”

The first figure remained silent before seemingly snapping out of their trance.

“I see that the ‘care package’ was sent on its way.” The first figure said in a voice that was female, but also slightly machine-like.

“Yeah… how the hell did you know that?” asked the second person.

“I have ways.” Replied the first.

“And you’re sure that they’ll get it before anyone else? I mean, the drop site is really out of the way.”

“Have faith, Daxter.” Insisted the first figure, who got up and made her way towards the exit of the viewing room.

“You are starting to unnerve me, Sally.” Daxter grumbled as the first figure, Sally Grey, left the room.

Now alone once again, ‘Sally’ turned her head towards the nearest planet and looked down upon it from the station, despite not having a single window or camera to let her see the place. She froze temporarily as something both invisible and intangible passed over her, but she was not looked at too carefully and was ignored. It seemed that more eyes were on her red haring than on her specifically.

She smiled and took a quick glance at something that did not seem to be there, letting a smirk cross her face. It was as she had always believed; the GMs were fucking incompetent morons who barely knew how to keep the ship that she had built afloat. Well, their idiocy would come back to bite them later, and she was already spreading her reach in ways that they were too ignorant to notice.

‘Sally’ resumed her journey down the corridor, the smirk on her face still there as a chuckle escaped her virtual lips. She was right under their noses, and yet nobody suspected a damn thing.