Private/Closed Bootleg Bros. Ultimate - The Banished Campaign (Act 1)

[comic]

CAPTAIN KEYES​

Keyes watched as David familiarized himself with the plasma pistol, then declared he’d keep watch. Jacob had to admit, he didn’t really trust the man. Yes, he’d proven instrumental in their initial escape from their cells, but ‘David Kavarr’ bore the attitude of a man in it for himself, and himself alone. When the going got tough, the captain doubted David would be very reliable. He’d seen quite a few Insurrectionists bearing similar natures. Outlaws, bandits, people with a death wish...

As David sauntered off, Keyes turned his attention fully to the console, interacting with the central frame for a moment. This was... odd. Everything about this place was completely different from the Covenant architecture he’d grown used to, further enforcing the idea that this must have been a splinter faction.

The strangest part was that, despite prior experience tapping into Covenant mainframes... he couldn't bypass the security on the console. After a couple tries, Jacob took a step back with a slight sigh, glancing toward Copen. “Their cybersecurity is tighter than I remember... do you have experience with hacking? Want to have a go?” Keyes offered, making room for Copen to step in should he decide to.

Meanwhile, as the second group reached the rightmost door, it too hummed and slid open at their approach. Within was another short hallway, identical to the one on the left, but something stood out - there was a creature inside, in the middle of walking its way through the hall and toward them.

Unlike the brutes already seen before, this alien had a thick-shelled carapace of purplish-black, orange body armor covering its waist and chest. Natural bone-spikes, thick and dull, emerged from the back of its elbows, and formed hard caps on the knees, with its feet akin to that of an elephant in appearance - just much smaller.

On its back it carried a pyramid-shaped device that was connected to the mask it wore over its mouth, appearing like a gas mask. Its small, beady, orange eyes glittered like a glowing beetle just above the mask, and it swiveled to meet the eyes of the first being it saw when the door opened: Kazaak.

The alien stopped, staring back at them, and its eyes traveled up to JULIAN. The alien noticeably began to quiver as his left hand reached for a weapon hanging from his waist - a plasma pistol.​

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

Hardly paying attention to the Guardian behind him, JULIAN continued behind the Mantis known as Kazaaak, leading to a door - seemingly automatic. It was a hallway...with a creature inside. It was small, around the size of original-invasion era Sectoids. And it looked rather nervous while reaching for it's weapon upon seeing Kazaak and JULIAN, earning yet another mocking laughing, before JULIAN stopped and looked directly at it.

"Shoot the giant metal robot, I dare you." A taunt, it seemed, mocking the pointlessness of the alien trying to attack the robot. "I assure you, I won't be the one to kill you should you try. Chryssalid, slice him."

Oh, it felt good to try out giving orders to sentient beings for the first time instead of being forced to obey them. Fascinating.

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

They had come across a strange alien creature, which looked... scared? It quivered as it reached for what Kazaaak could only assume to be a pistol. But before he could do anything, JULIAN stepped forward. "Shoot the giant metal robot, I dare you," said the giant metal robot in question. "I assure you, I won't be the one to kill you should you try. Chryssalid, slice him."

Chryssalid? What's that? Is that some hidden companion of JULIAN's?
But as Kazaaak waited for this, he quickly realized that the robot was referring to him. He jumped onto the creature, sliced and bit the left arm to prevent it from grabbing the pistol, pinned the creature down with his weight, then turned to JULIAN. "Who you callin' Chryssalid!? I'm a Mantis!"

 

[comic]

Kazaak’s attack was enough to put the thick-skinned alien to the ground with a yelp, his attack exposing bioluminescent blue blood from its arm. Yet it wasn’t rendered helpless, as it let out a shout as the mantis spat back at JULIAN: “Me got claws, too!”

And his right claw raked across Kazaak’s own arm - and dug through his own carapace to expose the juicy bits underneath. This creature evidently had similar claws to the mantis himself, and the alien began to squirm under his weight, before shoving Kazaak off - it was much heavier than the lighter mantis, and growing frustrated. “You’s made big mistake, pickin’ on Banished! Now I’s gotta eats ya up!”​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

While plasma pistols were not entirely new to Copen, the design and inner workings of the device he now held in his hand quickly got his interest. Relatively large weapons, with a similarly sized internal battery to match, from the looks of it. Was this type of weapon common in this world, or was it the preference of this faction and the Brutes?

His thoughts were interrupted by Keyes's words, the captain having trouble with cracking the system's defenses. The young man approached the consoles himself, looking over them for a moment, before he began to tap away, trying to make sense of things and figure out any methods of access he could utilize.

"My expertise might lie a little more in robotics," he admitted. "But I've got experience, yeah."​

 

[Gamingfan]

The Guardian
The Guardian too his time admiring the scenery, so when JULIAN came to a sudden halt, The Knight bumped into his back. For a second, he struggled see what was happening over the giant robot's frame, before deciding to simply move beside JULIAN.
Unfortunately, that meant he was to late to stop what was happening. The two least cooperative members of their group attacking the first sign of life they see. Fantastic.

“You’s made big mistake, pickin’ on Banished! Now I’s gotta eats ya up!” it cried as it fought back.

"Hold on! Wait!" The Guardian moved in front of JULIAN and waved his arms. "Can't we talk this out? We're not tasty, I swear!"

 

[comic]

CAPTAIN KEYES​

Keyes let Copen take over at the console, placing a hand on his chin as he watched the kid work. He’d taken a guess that Copen could have done something about this, given the way he carried himself, the design of the armor he wore. Jacob didn’t doubt some of that was a part of Copen’s body - prosthetics, to replace the organic that used to be there.

Copen’s fingers danced on the console, but the security was mightily staunch - unheard of for Covenant technology. Keyes doubted even a splinter faction would be more advanced. Maybe they were looking at this the wrong way, or—

“Got it,” Copen’s voice was a mutter under his breath as he took a step back, and the red monitor fizzled before it flashed. A strange, multi-triangular symbol appeared briefly before a map took its place.

“Good work, son,” Keyes let out a brief sigh, and leaned forward to look over the map. He didn’t recognize the landmass it depicted, which wasn’t surprising, he had spent the better part of two months in uncharted space after Reach. There was no telling where they were.

The map depicted an island, with a few points of interest indicated by the alien systems. Jacob squinted at the layout, before he drew a few conclusions. “We’re here,” he claimed, pointing at the icon indicating a point of interest toward the south of the island. At least the language was still the same as the Covenant. “Just a processing facility, not the main compound. Grakken Prison...”

He drifted his hand up, pointing at an icon at the northern tip of the island. “They have that labelled as an ‘Apex’—it’s an aerial station. We could find a bird and get off this rock...”

Keyes typed at the console, but an error flashed on the screen, roughly translating to ‘Insufficient Permission.’ More firewalls... how and why had the Covenant advanced their cybersecurity so quickly? He didn’t find what he was looking for. “I can’t find a schematic of this structure - not surprising, the Covenant don’t much care for that kind of thing. We should rendezvous with the others and discuss a plan of action.”

Meanwhile...

The grunt pulled out his plasma pistol, taking aim - before the voice of the knight stopped him. He let out a snort, cocking his head slightly to the side. “Maybe not on outsides...” he was eyeing the wound he’d inflicted on the mantis. “But me bets you’s insides much tastier! ‘Sides, you’d escapin’! Can’t haves that!”

He raised the pistol at Kazaaak.​

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

"Who you callin' Chryssalid!? I'm a Mantis!" The bug was talking back. Urgh. Before JULIAN could speak down, watching Kazaaak attack the alien creature, the human who accompanied them, moved in front of JULIAN. The hand shaking indicated they were trying to talk to the alien, who had spoken of 'teaching them for picking on Banished'. It also reacted to the attempted diplomacy by backing up their claim to eat the Guardian.

It also noted their escape. If the 'Banished' were a group, that's who had captured him. And this was a guard, in that case... Well, JULIAN figured no loss would be mourned by his tenious allies
"Oh, go on, this is so clearly a misunderstanding. I mean, he only wants to eat your guts rather than skin." the robot moved to shove the Guardian aside with a hand, clenching the other. "Now, do I have to do EVERYTHING myself?" The fist reared back, sparks and energy around...
And SLAMMED forward towards the Grunt, with a powerful Strike!

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

Kazaaak landed on his... hands? feet? movement/combat extremeties? We'll call them claws for now. He landed on his claws, barely. "Who is this, a satirized version of me?" He had been about to attack the grunt again, before the Guardian stepped forward and tried to reason with it. That didn't work. The Grunt raised a pistol at Kazaaak, who quickly spit acid at it in hopes of disabling it.

Immediately after this, the mantis dashed to the side of the plasma pistol, and was about to do something involving biting before JULIAN cried out in exasperation, then launched some kind of strike at the Grunt. The legendary thief watched gleefully.

 

[comic]

The acid spit landed, and the grunt let out a weird squelching noise, as though disgusted by the act of spitting acid. Evidently, it could not do that as well. The plasma pistol was activated, but the weapon, unlike the earlier bars, seemed much more vulnerable to the naturally-concocted chemical solution. Green energy sparked wildly from its plasma cell as it took a frantic step back - only for JULIAN to close the distance.

“Sunofa—” the grunt muttered before the mechanical fist struck with lethal force, cracking the alien in the face. His mask crumpled into his skull, practically merging with him as his body went flying to the other end of the hall, smashing against the far door with a heavy thud, before it slowly sid to the ground, leaving a trail of glowing blue blood, his crumpled body ending in a heap.

A couple of seconds passed before the far door comedically hummed and slid open, as though only just detecting the movement.

The plasma pistol clattered to the ground nearby, emitting a hissing sound. The plasma battery was draining, a green liquid oozing out, accompanied by a colorless gas.

Nothing came at them from the open door, but a room could be seen within. What could be gleaned immediately were crates and stands, all very clearly filled with weapons: they’d seemingly found an armory.​

 

[Gamingfan]

The Guardian
The alien refuted his point and aimed their weapon at Kazaaak.

"I-" The Guardian attempted to reply, but was shoved to the side by JULIAN, who was clenching his fist.

"You-" He tried again, but by then it was too late. JULIAN's iron punch sent the grunt flying across the room until he splattered into a wall, and slowly slide down, leaving a huge smear of glowing blood. There was a moment of silence as The Guardian watched the process. He looked over the the plasma pistol the grunt dropped and determined it was probably broken before he opened his mouth again.

"That-Huh?"

At the same time, the far door opened with a loud hiss, catching his attention. Curious, the knight walked over. Upon witnessing crates filled to the brim with weapons, his face broke into a wide smile, and he ran in. The Guardian's eyes seemed to be shining as he rummaged through the crates and admired the stands.

"Woah! WOW! Check it out guys! These look so cool!" he chattered.

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

Seeing his blow reduce the grunt to a bloody, flying, heap, JULIAN let out a roar of a laugh.
"HAH! Sunofawimp, I believe that ends your sentence." Then, he turned to Kazaaak. "And for your information, I do not give a damn about what minor subspecies you are." Meanwhile, the little human had gone past and reached the...

Armory. Weapons. Fantastic. JULIAN bounded to follow.
"Yes, very good. Let's take the best of it." In agreement, JULIAN began to...well, it wasn't the gentlest - this unit was not designed for such work - but he was opening crates as well. Chances were, those were where the best stuff was.

 

[comic]

Stored within the armory, the most obvious weapons were an abundance of sidearms identical to the pistol the grunt had been carrying, as well as a new, unknown weapon. It was similar in aesthetic, but much larger, its length easily quadruple the plasma pistol. They displayed “ammo counters” reading out the plasma cell’s battery charge.

As JULIAN rejected such basic weapons, he ripped open a crate for the big guns - but unfortunately, got more of the same - save for a single weapon that stood out from the rest. It was darker in color, somewhat lighter than the large guns, but also decently longer. Clearly it was designed to be a precision weapon.

“That’s the Sulok-pattern long rifle,” a voice from the corner of the armory told them, voice shrill like the earlier alien.

A look there would confirm it to be another grunt. He was situated behind a makeshift fort of some kind, almost like it was a prop-up shop. He had several of the weapons on display around him, and a sign above him, painted in poorly-written English, read “Big Dab’s Big Guns.”

“Great range, deadly precision, but it overheats real fast. Better to fire it at five-second intervals for maximum effect,” the grunt continued, likely ‘Big Dab’ himself. “Most people just call them Particle Beam Rifles, or Beam Rifles for short.”

He gestured to the other weapons on display. “We’ve also got the Eos’Mak-pattern plasma pistol, a real staple, reliable in a squeeze and quickly rechargeable, with EMP capabilities—and this is the Erudo’ma’keth-pattern pulse carbine. It’s a burst-fire plasma weapon, and the projectiles have a pretty reliable homing capability, tracking your intended target even if they try to dodge. Unless they like, dive away. That’s enough to avoid it - for TWO SECONDS!”

The grunt snorted with laughter at his own poor joke, before he slapped his claws on the crate he was using as a table. “Name’s Weapons Master Dabdab, but you can call me Big Dab, and don’t you forget it! Normally I’ve got better stock, but Chieftain Rubikis been pullin’ resources offa this island - we’re understaffed and understocked. Been thinkin’ of runnin’ this gig on my own.”

Big Dab wasn’t wearing what the other grunt had been. Yes, he had armor, though his was jet black, indicating a different rank - or simply a fashion choice. He was also sporting what seemed to be a human trench coat, fitting terribly around his arms, the back torn open for his pyramid-like tank to fit through, and his ook was finishe with a big scarf draped around his neck. All of it black. Even his claws had been painted black. The only real color to him were his red eyes staring back at them.

“Anything catch your eye, kids?”​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

A map of the island was what they had to work with. The language displayed on it, of course, was completely unfamiliar to Copen, but Keyes seemed to comprehend the text just fine. Grakken Prison was the name of this structure, located at the island's south, while he pinpointed another facility at the northern tip. An aerial vehicle could be their way out from there.

With little more to gleam other than that, Copen headed out of the command room, spotting David on the balcony just outside.

"We've got a map of the island, but no luck on the facility itself," he relayed. "There's a point of interest to the north, on the opposite end of the island, but we should figure out our next steps and go from there. Hear anything from the others?"​

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

"Ooh, a merchant!" Kazaaak exclaimed, before running up to Big Dab. "What do ya take? Scrap? Credits? Gore? We got plenty of gore. Actually now that I think about it we don't have as much gore as we could have but we probably have enough for one of those Beam Rifles." The Mantis kept talking, clearly excited to find someone selling anything in this prison. "Got anything explosive? I'd love some explosives, even if it's some kinda grenade."

 

[Psymallard]

The Swordsman from the Stars
Hearing a commotion from behind the door JULIAN and the others had gone into, David craned his neck and squinted. He hoped they were handling whatever was in there. He just kept his new gun trained on the doorway, just in case the others were killed and a few guards were headed their way.

Thankfully, Copen showed up before that happened. The Spaniard listened to Copen and nodded his head, whilst still keeping a side-eye trained on the door. The kerfuffle had ceased, at least.

"My only wish is to get out of this damned prison. My spirit is like a bird, one which cannot be caged. ...And no, I have not heard from the others."

 

[comic]

CAPTAIN KEYES​

“Your spirit alone can’t fly us off this island,” Keyes replied as he stepped out after Copen, placing his arms behind his back. “So all we have to do is find ourselves some wings.”

He eyed David’s attentive posture, the spaniard giving particular focus toward the opposite side of the room, where the others had since disappeared. He voiced nothing, however, instead moving along the wraparound balcony, heading for the other door so they could properly link up with the others.

This Covenant splinter faction didn’t invest in rails it seemed - they obviously didn’t care much for safety hazards. Knowing a bit about brutes, though... they probably wouldn’t mind if the fall killed a few people. It would ‘cull the weak’ so to speak.

Within the armory, meanwhile, Kazaaak was quick to abandon any hostilities he might have harbored from his last grunt encounter, quick to offer a deal to the Weapons Master.

The black-clad grunt let out a throaty chuckle. “Gore ain’t worth much to me, but I can work with you... tell ya what. You each get a single weapon, on the house. I’m ‘bout to pull up shop anyway, take my business to richer, bloodier places. ‘Sides, you guys are clearly breakin’ outta here. Once you’ve done that, I’ll have an opportunity to slip on by unnoticed. So when we meet each other on the open road again... we have good business rapport.”

Big Dab then raised a claw, rubbing his talons together. “But next time, we’ll do proper business - and my stock won’t be this bad. Shoulda known Rubikis was just as bad as his stink.” He added the last bit under his breath.​

 

[Gamingfan]

Guardian Tale
The Guardian surfaced from another crate of weapons, holding a pulse carbine. He admired the weapon as Big Dab spoke of its capabilities. Hearing its functions seemed to excite the Guardian, and yet his smile grew even bigger when the merchant decided to let them have a free weapon each. Immediately, The knight hopped out of the chest and proudly displayed his gun.
"I call dibs!" he said before giving Dab a grateful nod. "Thank you, Big Dab!"
The Guardian took a moment to get a feel for the weapon, aiming it an imaginary targets and even making quiet "Pew Pew" noises under his breath. He looked surprisingly adjusted to holding a firearm, despite his medieval aesthetic. After some showing off, he turned to face Big Dab again, remembering an unfamiliar name he spoke of.
"By the way, who is Rubikis?"

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

“That’s the Sulok-pattern long rifle,”
THREAT ASSESSMENT, SUDDEN- Oh, it was a barterer. Wannabe-Black Market Vendor, perhaps.

It was rather good JULIAN's emotional limitations kicked in. He was rather close to attack. Suddenly, it seemed rather reasonable he wasn't allowed on trips to the black market. The Grunt, 'Big Dab', continued to explain the weapon, before moving onto another. JULIAN made quick notes, a new file created amongst his code; 'Secondary File, Weapons NOE'. Not of Earth, how clever. Still, he evidently appreciated Big Dab's joke about ducking the 'Erudo’ma’keth-pattern pulse carbine's shots.

One free weapon. Fantastic. Seemed the little human was already taking one - the Pulse Carbine -, and asking the rather important question of who the leader of this group was. 'Rubikis'. It certainly wasn't a name familiar to the AI beyond this day.
"If only my original weapon were here," JULIAN bemoaned, slowly picking up the Beam Rifle. Clearly made for longer range combat, and the five second suggested interval wasn't exactly ideal. Clearly, this would not be a weapon JULIAN would be allowed to run on basic programs alone, no, he would have to work to use it. "Still, I won't be looking a gift horse in the mouth."

It was surprisingly lightweight for it's size, though leverage still nessecitated two handed wielding. Or, perhaps, that was the point of view appearing for a giant metal robot that was designed to be strong physically. "Sulok-pattern long rifle, you said? I'll certainly take this one. Backing up that question by the human, by the way, though I would prefer more precise details." While speaking, JULIAN lifted the weapon, checking it over.

 

[comic]

BIG DAB​

“Rubikis? Ah, right, you guys’re new here,” the weapons master leaned against his arms on the crate in front of him. “He’s the big cheese ‘round these parts. Thinks of himself as a bit of a revolutionary, big head an’ all that. I think he’s just crazy, but he’s still the leader of the clan, and nobody who’s challenged him for that spot have lived to talk ‘bout it.”

Tapping a few of his claws on the crate, Big Dab looked at the specific weapons they’d collected and gave an approving nod. “I offer weapon modding services too, I can improve those guns - but not here. The warden’s stripped me of most of my tools, mostly junk, but I can repurpose it. Just keep an eye out for any kind of scrap, you’d be surprised how many uses they have!”​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

"Got it."

Well, even with no news from the other group, all the three had left to do was investigate the room they'd gone into. Copen followed after Keyes, prepared to fire at any incoming threat, but none came. They passed through a room containing the corpse of a different type of alien – and entered an armory, where their allies stood near a makeshift shop with a sign above it. Behind the 'counter' was a similar creature to the dead one down the hall, this time practically all black in color.

"Big Dab's Big Guns...?" Copen muttered. While this Grunt didn't appear to be hostile, the cyborg kept his guard up as he approached, looking towards the others.

"It looks like we're all properly armed now. We managed to get a map of this landmass – we're on the south of a small island. According to Keyes, there should be a method of air transport for us to escape on to the north of here. Find anything other than weapons on this end?"​

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

Kazaaak was too busy rummaging through all the boxes and crates to give Copen a proper response. He was looking for something longer-ranged than his spit. Sometimes you just gotta get someone from halfway across a giant flagship, y'know? He was chittering (and occasionally hissing) happily to himself. Anyone who knew Mantis would know that this was actually a light hunting tune, but noone here knew Mantis except the Mantis in question.

 

[Psymallard]

David
The group went through the other door to reconvene with Group B. On their way there, David took note of the dead Grunt, smirking at the fellow's brutal fate as he carefully stepped over the puddle of blue blood on his way into the armory. Upon entering the shop, the spacefarer whistled. There was quite the selection here. He quickly pushed past JULIAN and leaned forward onto the counter.

"Big Dab, mi amigo, you would not happen to have any blades in your fine shop........... would you?"

The Spaniard was hoping he would. The Plasma Pistol, though smaller than any other options Dabdab had to offer, was still a bit bulky for his taste. He glanced at the Beam Rifle- that one might be a good alternative. A slender, long-range rifle could find good use in the hands of a keen-eyed pirate.

 

[comic]

CAPTAIN KEYES​

Things got stranger. Within the next room, after passing a dead grunt, they were faced with a docile grunt... selling weapons...? Keyes was nonplussed, glancing about the room, equally as suspicious as Copen, whereas the others were quick to speak to the alien in a friendly manner.

It felt wrong.

This wasn’t the Covenant.

The captain grabbed a plasma pistol, looking it over for a moment. Good enough, he’d prefer the mobility it provided over the other two options. A particle beam rifle and... another rifle he didn’t recognize, likely made by this splinter faction.

“Nah, sorry,” Big Dab replied to David. “This is all I got, for now. But you just wait—I’ll be properly stocked once I get outta this stink hole.”

At that moment, there was a commotion of noise from behind Keyes, who had remained situated by the door. Deep voices, threatening barks, low growls... brutes.

“Looks like the fun’s over,” Big Dab sighed, and leaned fully against his forward crate. “I like you kids, get outta this alright and I’ll hold onto something special for ya, you hear?”

Jacob did a quick once-over on his plasma pistol. Full battery, everything seemed operational...

Where had these additional brutes come from? The command room and this armory had no other exits... maybe through one of the other holding cells they had yet to investigate in search of other prisoners? The grunt had said it best: the fun was over. He was counting three brutes in the main room, by the sound of their voices.​

 

[Psymallard]

The Fencer
The Spaniard let out a sorrowful sigh as Big Dab revealed that he didn't offer any pointy sticks, only super-destructive plasma weaponry.

"That is too bad..."

He slid off the counter, taking a step back. David pouted for a moment more before turning to a nearby Beam Rifle. Seeing how everyone else had grabbed their own weapons, he assumed he didn't have to pay for it. So, he shoved the bulky Plasma Pistol in the back of his belt- that'd be useful as a sidearm. Then, he plucked the fancy-looking Beam Rifle off the wall, also getting a feeling for the weight of this weapon.

Then he heard the sounds of the Brutes. Like Keyes, he was curious as to how they came up behind them. The fencer nodded at Dabdab with a grin, and then wandered over to the far side of the room. He gestured towards the door.

"Would anyone like to go first?"

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

Eventually, Kazaaak settles on a Pulse Carbine. "Erudo’ma’keth-pattern huh? Sounds like a dangerous name. I like it!"
David gestured towards the door. "Would anyone like to go first?" he asked.
"Oh, me, me!" Kazaaak exclaimed, already running towards the door. "I've been itchin' for a good fight!" And with that, the gigantic mantis charged right into the door, probably running face-first into like 50 brutes. He didn't care.