The Hunt

*VROOOOMM!!*

*VROOOOMM!!*

*VROOOOMM!!*

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!*

A massive explosion rocked the area as the three motorcycles put some distance between them and the place where the explosion had taken place.

It was only after five minutes of driving that the motorbikes slowed down, all of them coming to a stop before the drivers hopped off to get a look at the aftermath of their little trap.

"What the fuck is with you and going overkill on explosions?!!" Maya shouted at Kane, sounding as though she really wanted to know the answer.

For his part, Kane simply smiled as he looked at the mushroom cloud off in the distance, absently wondering how many little critters he just killed with that one attack.

"KANE?!! Are you listening?!!" Maya asked once she realized Kane was staring off into the distance.

"Wasn't that cool?" Kane asked, smiling like an idiot.

"I can see why you and Brick get along." Radar chimed in, also smiling at Kane's antics.

It had taken 2 days for Maya to fully recover, and today they had decided to go out and try and find the big ass Jabber that had shot her. It was the perfect day for it.

The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, at least not until the explosion. Now there was a mushroom cloud.

Radar had downloaded the exact location where Maya had taken the hit, and they were currently on route to see if they could find anything there, but on the way they saw a old building that was crawling with Jabbers, and not just tiny ones.

Maya said they weren't nearly as big as the one that shot her, but they were still bigger than the normal ones. Anyway, Kane being Kane, he just felt like he had to do something.

That something just so happened to be teleporting beside the building and dropping a mess of bombs, then teleporting back to his motorbike, shouting that they needed to 'get the fuck out of Dodge!', which was what brought them to where they are now.

Currently, they were standing on what was apparently a road on this planet, but with all the rocks, sticks, and fallen trees, it was more like a wider than average hiking trail.

There were trees all around them, and if their target was looking at them right now, they would never know.

"Hey, how close are we to where you got shot?" Kane asked, not seeing this area on the route they had mapped out the night before.

"23 miles south, and about five minutes further east than we need to be." Maya answered, grumbling about how she ended up with a nut-job like Kane.

"We could be there in a matter of seconds if we just flew." Radar pointed out, having a particular distaste for the swamp lands of Eden-6, though she did enjoy being outside.

Granted she preferred being surrounded by technology more than anything, but it helped to take a break every now and then outside to let her circuits cool off. Not that she ever did.

Apart of her always seemed to be active, if for no other reason than to monitor the comings and goings of spaceships from planets.

"If we had just flown there, we wouldn't be having all this fun, now would we?!" Kane shot back, rather enjoying himself today. He didn't know why, but blowing something up just lit up his day.

Being cooped up all the time was boring, and if he had to be confined with women all day, he was going to need to find some other hobby than just get naked all the time.

Even he had his limits on sex, and thankfully they did too. Plus if he wasn't up for it, they'd usually help each other. Worked pretty good for him.

Ignoring both Radar and Maya, Kane hopped back on his motorbike before taking off down the dirt road towards their destination.

Maya and Radar caught up in a matter of minutes, and before long the ride evolved into a race. Of course Kane won, the cheater. He teleported around large obstacles, even going so far as to give himself extra height and distance when he flew over a jump.

Honestly it was a blast, and he enjoyed himself right up to the very moment when the bullet struck the engine of the bike, causing said bike to almost kill him.

Had he not teleported out the moment he did, he would have been an extra crispy piece of meat. He had been having too much fun that he wasn't even paying attention to what was going on around him.

There was also the fact that he was still 3 miles out from where Maya had been hit, and was honestly not expecting it at that moment, which was kind of stupid of him considering he would have done the same thing.

No sniper in their right mind uses the same spot every time they want to shoot someone.

Cursing himself for not being on guard more, Kane quickly moved to cover before he looked back to where Maya and Radar were. Thankfully he was quite a bit ahead of them when his bike exploded, giving both of them ample time to move into cover.

Both of them were about 60 yards away from him, neither of them on their bikes as they hid behind a tree for cover, though both could still see him from where they were.

Kane was standing next to them in a blink, looking a little irritated at having almost been blown up.

"Do you see the irony here?" Maya asked, actually smiling at the situation they had found themselves in.

Rather than answer the question, Kane said, "Let's just kill this monkey!" Clearly he wasn't too happy about his bike.

"It's over there." Radar informed them, pointing in the direction the shot had come from, and at the form of the fleeing Jabber. Angel wasn't kidding when she said it was big. It was fucking massive.

Just when Kane was about to teleport over to it, he stopped. 'Why make it quick?' He thought, a cruel, evil smiling adorning his lips.

This thing had not only tried to kill him, but one of his girlfriends, and had also blown up his bike. To top it all off, it simply ran off, not even bothering to check his corpse so it could eat him.

Sure it could have been a territorial thing, but in Kane's mind he just felt this thing was killing for sport. Granted he killed people for sport all the time, but it pissed him off when people thought they could use him for sport. He was going to have some fun with it before he finally let it die.

"Lets follow it." Kane said gleefully before he pulled out a tiny aircraft, which was more like a hoverboard.

The great thing about it was that it was extremely quiet, and it had reflectors on the bottom of it to act as a sort of cloaking device.

The downsides to this thing was that it wasn't overly fast, and there was no roof or anything. And it only seated 4, but that was okay in this situation.

Quick as lightning, Kane stored Maya's and Radar's bikes inside his inventory, then grabbed them before appearing on the hoverboard before he ascended into the sky.

It took a matter of a few seconds to catch up to where the thing was, still running in the same direction it had fled off towards. Kane made sure to keep out of sight of the thing, showing a bit of patience as he waited for it to lead him back to it's home.

They ended up stalking the Jabber for a few hours, watching as it scoured dozens of miles, stopping often to shoot some poor critter.

There was even 2 times where it shot at some people, but seeing as how they were shooting at each other, Kane didn't feel the need to intervene.

Eventually though, the Jabber which they had named 'Chumpy', led them back to a clutter of massive trees that had what could only be described as a town of treehouses in it.

It looked as though the Jabbers had been stealing a great deal of lumber from the lumberyard in Floodmoor Basin, using it to create a settlement of sorts for themselves.

Why they built it over a river of bubbling lava was beyond Kane's understanding, but whatever. To each their own.

It was only after he saw the area that he realized what he had gotten himself into. In the game some idiot robot led them to meet with a huge Jabber to figure out what happened to some scientists. They died.

The idiots actually tried to enhance the Saurians intelligence, which was ultimately their downfall.

As for the Jabbers, they were led by a hulking thing named King Bobo. In the game, Kane remembered all the challenges he had to go through to meet the stupid thing, even going so far as to jumping off a cliff to kill himself. He wouldn't be doing that this time.

Leaving Maya and Radar where they were, Kane began to move around the area to each of the little huts. Anytime he found a jabber alone, Kane would kill run his blade through their skulls before storing the corpses inside his inventory before moving on.

Anyplace where there was more than one jabber hanging about, Kane would usually just place a bomb near them. He didn't want to alert all of the other Jabbers of him being there, and didn't want to risk one of the others sounding the alarm if he messed up.

In his little quest, he came across 3 other hulking jabbers that were close in size to Chumpy or King Bobo. (A.N. Just gonna call him Bobo.)

They wore skulls over their faces, and Kane was unsure if they were for protection or to just look more intimidating. He would admit that they were pretty cool, looking oddly similar to his own mask, just not nearly as cool.

Anyway, the three big brutes seemed to each have a territory in the town, and from his observation, Kane guessed the brutes didn't really get along with each other, given how they threw boulders at each other whenever they got within a certain distance from one another.

It made his job of killing them a bit easier. He waited for a bit, opting to get rid of the biggest threat before he did anything.

Teleporting to the hut that had the skull of a massive creature for its entry way, Kane peaked around inside to see if he could see Bobo. The behemoth was curled up in a nest of sorts.

It was hard to tell because it smelled like the sticks and leaves were being held together with shit, and the smell was making Kane's eyes water.

It only took a few seconds of looking to find what he was looking for. Leaning against the nest of shit, Kane saw a beautiful sniper rifle.

With a glance, Kane could tell it was a Pearlescent weapon, but it did have some attachments that were clearly aftermarket.

For one, the scope on it was definitely Jakobs, given how it had the name etched along the side of it.

The stock/ butt of the gun also looked to be made of wood, while the forestock looked to be made of the same unknown metal that all Pearlescent weapons were known for.

The muzzle at the end of the barrel was also square with some rivets cut into it, acting as a muzzle-break to help reduce the recoil of the gun. From just looking at it, Kane knew he wanted it.

With but a thought he teleported twice in quick succession, not making contact as he grabbed the rifle and was back outside with the rifle safely stored away inside his inventory.

Getting back to Maya and Radar, Kane told him about his plan, and before long they were all in positions. Timing their shots perfectly, each of them shot one of the three brutes in the head, killing them instantly.

A second later and Kane detonated the explosives around the area, killing what was left of the jabbers, and destroying the little town completely.

The noise from the explosions woke up Bobo, because he was standing outside his hut in a matter of seconds, though he was noticeable not carrying his rifle.

Before the overgrown monkey could do anything, it was confined inside a massive purple orb, then smashed into the side of a tree.

"You piece shit!!" Maya screamed as she Phaselocked Bobo over and over, slamming him into random things around the area.

Both Kane and Radar watched as Maya let off some steam for a good 10 minutes before they got bored.

Bobo definitely looked as though he had seen better days, given how his limbs were hanging at weird angles, and his face looked like it had been through the mill a few times.

"You good now?" Kane asked Maya, who was panting a bit from over use of her powers. She could keep going for a bit longer, but using Phaselock non-stop like this was hard. That was why she usually used it in short bursts.

"I really, really needed this." She said as she leaned her head on Kane's shoulder and her left arm snaked around his waist.

"Can we go now?" Radar asked, leaning her head on his other shoulder, in turn ending the moment between Kane and Maya. Kane wasn't sure how he felt about Radar imitating Angel and Maya, but he wasn't gonna say anything.

"Yeah, sure." Kane said as he moved away from the two, moving towards the broken and bloody form of Bobo.

"You should have made sure to finish the job." He said plainly, then with a swing of his sword, Bobo's head went rolling.

With a kick, Kane launched Bobo's body into the bubbling lava below. With that, he was done with everything he wanted to do on Eden-6.

---------

A short time later, Kane was back in the Den. He was trying to leave Eden-6 as soon as possible, but Montgomery and Wainwright were doing their damnedest to keep him there. Well, keep Angel there. Kane could fuck off for all they cared.

"Just stay a few more days, won't ya darlin?!" Monty pleaded with Angel.

She in turn glanced over at Kane, but it was Radar who shook her head no. She apparently had enough of this, and it was high time they left to go somewhere more interesting.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like everyone wants to head out. Don't worry though, Mercenary Day is only 5 months away, so I'll be back before you know it." Angel said, hoping to comfort her grandfather.

The two of them shared a long hug good-bye, and when they broke apart, Monty handed Angel a book and a bracelet. The book was a photo album that had pictures of her mother, uncle, grandfather, and even her grandmother, not that she ever met the old woman.

She had passed away 4 years ago, which might have been one of the reasons Monty didn't want Angel to leave. He was all alone in his big mansion.

Sure there were the servants, and Wainwright was sometimes there, but it still wasn't enough.

Angel looked at the bracelet, and after touching a gemstone embedded on the top of it, a holographic image of her mother appeared.

The bracelet itself belonged to Monty, and before meeting Angel, he was sure that he would never part with the thing. However he had a new one now, one of him, Wainwright, and Angel standing together in front of the Jakobs Estate.

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Angel said, tearing up as she hugged him again.

While the two of them had another moment, Kane went searching for Tannis. She was in one of two places, so Kane didn't have to look very hard.

The first place he checked was the lab, but she wasn't in there, which was kind of a surprise. He figured she'd be done in the Eridian ruins by now, but that didn't seem to be the case.

The day after Maya got shot, he, Luna and Radar went exploring a cave beneath the waterfall that was less than a hundred yards from the Den, and to their surprise they found Eridian ruins.

There was a slab with Eridian writing on it, but even Tannis couldn't figure out what the hell it said.

She could make out a few bits here and there, but according to her it was as if there were hidden keys added into it.

Out of curiosity, Kane moved over and checked it out, using his own power to touch the thing. It reminded him of Queen Dido's room on Athenas, which made him realize that this was most likely one of Nyriad's writings that she left.

He didn't think she used her power to block it in the game, but whatever. With him being a Siren, it wasn't much of a concern to him.

Either way, Tannis had a field day with it, and she only got more enthusiastic when Kane showed her the writing he had from Athenas, only it was a picture instead of the slab itself.

It was only after seeing the writing itself that Kane realized he was forgetting about the Vault of the Architects on Pandora. It was where the Eridian Analyzer was, which capable of translating the Eridian language.

It wasn't the Analyzer itself that made him want to go and loot the Vault, but the goodies that might be in store for when he opened it. There was also the hundreds of other Vaults that had never even been mentioned in the game that he still could go find.

There was also the fact that he had most of the keys to all of them. He couldn't help the greedy smile that adorned his lips when he thought about that. Still, he wasn't in any particular rush for those ones, but he'd still find them in due time.

After a quick hope skip and a stroll, Kane found Tannis in the cave where he suspected her of being.

"Tannis, we're going back to Pando- Ah!" Kane said, only to be cut-off and surprised when Tannis jumped him.

He wasn't sure how, but she got naked faster than he did, which was kind of a big deal. No words were spoken as the two intertwined themselves together. Their departure was put on hold for an extra hour, which Kane wasn't even sorry about.

----------

Before they left Eden-6, Kane locked up the Den so not a soul would be able to enter. Not even Monty or Wainwright would be allowed entry while they were gone, much to the protests of the two.

Still, whether she knew the answer already or not, Angel hadn't even bothered to try and persuade Kane into letting them. Rather, she made sure they had all the parts and pieces to build their own hot tub and swimming pool in the Jakobs Estate.

Kane even made some money on the parts, rather than just hand them over for nothing.

It was late into the evening when they all boarded the Arcadia, then launched off into the space, much to the joy of everyone present.

They didn't mind Eden-6 all that much, save for Radar who would prefer to be anywhere else besides Athenas, but you just couldn't beat the comforts of home.

"So are we heading straight back to Pandora, or are we going to take out Malliwan?" Maya asked, unsure what their actual course was for the foreseeable future.

"There's a resort on Isolus, which is mostly for those of high society. It's run by some Maliwan executives, so I figured we could stop there and have some fun before we head back to Pandora and deal with Hyperion." Kane answered, getting cheers all around.

With all the tech around Isolus, Radar could have a field day, and the girls could all get pampered while Kane went and killed some people. It was a win for everyone.

---------------

(2 Months later)

It had taken longer than they figured to get back to Pandora, not because things were going wrong, but because they were having such a good time.

They had spent 3 weeks on Isolus doing just as they planned. Radar stole technology, devoured a few hundred robots, killed some A.I's and spent time with the others, who were having fun in their own ways.

Angel attended a few high society functions, mostly musicals and dances, even going so far as to get Kane to take her to one of the dances. After that time, she mostly went with Maya, who wasn't all that thrilled about those places either.

She rather enjoyed shopping, believe it or not. Kane had been a little surprised when he came home one night to find her and the others all wearing fancy dresses.

Never had he actually imagined any of them, other than Radar in a dress. Even Tannis was wearing one. He actually took a few pictures of it, finding it pretty funny.

Like most women, Angel and Maya loved shoes, only Maya's choice of shoes were far from most women. She bought the latest style of military boots, running shoes, hiking shoes, slutty boots, and a number of other assorted footwear.

Anyway, after leaving Isolus, Kane tracked a few members from Malliwan that had placed the hit on him to Demophon. The planet itself was actually governed over by a military force that was so large it rivaled most of the corporations.

The only thing that set them apart from the Corporations was that they were focused solely on their own planet, and they didn't sell weapons. In fact, they had trade deals with Dhal, Vladof and Malliwan.

Usually a small battalion from each of the Corporations would show up at a given time to demo new weapons or gear, and would more often than not buy items from those of the planet itself. Mostly spaceships and the like, but they also supplied food, clothing, and other stuff.

Kane wasn't sure if killing the members of Malliwan would start conflict with Demophon, but he wasn't interested in creating another enemy before he dealt with at least one of the two mega Corporations out to get him.

With that thought in mind, Kane and the others did their own thing on Demophon, relaxing more than anything.

Still, Kane didn't pass up the opportunity to take out some more contracts with Vladof, which led them to a few nearby planets.

Mostly it was to eliminates escaped fugitives or deal with rogue soldiers who had stolen from the Corporation. Kane of course did have to return most of the stuff that was stolen from them, at least the stuff that wasn't "missing". It wasn't his fault that some things found a way into his pockets.

They ended up sticking around for a month doing odd contracts here and there, until finally their targets decided to leave the planet. Once they were out of the jurisdiction of Demophon, Kane didn't hesitate to attack.

Radar had jammed all communications from the spaceship, and Maya made sure to Phaselock any escape pod that tried to flee. It was over before it even began, ending exactly how it had been planned.

Of course Kane took the opportunity to get a little more out of it, having drained their accounts of every cent before he finally killed them.

Angel and Radar actually moved the money through a few different sites to make so it could never be traced back to them, leaving them all a few billion dollars richer.

After that it had taken about a week to make it back to Pandora. There was still 3 months before Kane had to bring Angel back to Eden-6 for Mercenary Day, so he wasn't too worried about that.

Entering Pandora's atmosphere, Kane's first stop just had to be checking up on his dogs, though admittedly they were on the way to where Brick and Mordy were.

Rufus, Pikachu, Spike, Puffles, and Spot were all just as Kane remembered, only Spike had a few more scars on his back. Whatever happened, he looked strong and healthy, so he obviously came out the victor in whatever happened.

The little pack that had been around 20 or so before was sitting around 11 at the moment. Kane wasn't too sure what happened to the others, but he couldn't really care. They either moved on or got eaten, wasn't his problem.

One thing of note, Puffles had 2 little baby Skaggs following her, one bluish in color and the other green. Given how she was a corrosive skag herself, Kane knew that one inherited that from her, while the bluish one most likely got it's color from the daddy, which left either Rufus or Pikachu.

Given how the green one was quite a bit bigger than the blue one, Kane would put money on Rufus.

Walking over to the two new additions to his little band, Kane crouched down to get a better look at them. When he reached to touch the blue one, it opened its mouth and made a piece of electricity arc over to him, giving Kane a little jolt.

"Bad, Sparky!" Kane shouted, flipping it between the eyes, getting a little whine from it.

Turning towards the green one, it was baring it's teeth at him, right up to the point Kane bared his fangs back. There was a yelping sound, followed by the little thing cowering behind Puffles' leg.

"You're name is gonna be Bane. Don't disappoint me now." Kane said to the scared little Skagg.

He gave both of them some meat, calling out their names as he got them to come to him. There was still quite a bit of work he would need to put into them, but he figured they would be just as capable as their parents in the future.

Other than that, Kane unloaded a good number of corpses for the others to eat, scratching them all behind the ears and generally just having a little bit of fun.

After spending a little over two hours with his pets, Kane boarded the ship where the others had been waiting patiently. They could have just went on without him, but chose not to, not that they could complain too much.

They were all doing their own thing, so they hardly even realized that he wasn't there.

Taking off once more, they arrived at Brick and Mordy's place in less than 20 minutes.

They weren't surprised in the slightest to see Brick outside throwing a ball for Dusty, and Mordy sitting at a table drinking a beer, but they were however surprised to see a new addition to the little group.

Sitting on a chair beside Brick was a little blonde-haired girl, swinging her legs back and forth as she ate a crumpet.