Borderlands: Unnatural selection

Clay seemed to understand but shook his head "Sorry to burst your bubble kid but theres no such thing. Not saying it's not possible but that stuffs outlawed in all six galaxies on both the legal and Illegal side of things. steps on too many toes so no one touched the ideas." he said honestly.

"That's... unusually reasonable for our species." I said astonished.

"You'll get no argument from me, seen all sorts of folk so I know how bad we can get. Welp we are currently in orbit above Eden six so I figured I'd best give you a bit of advice before I take us in for a landing. Most of this is pretty common sense like don't shoot nobody but your case is ...unique. So I figured it'd not hurt to make things clear. First DON'T shoot nobody, important that one. Second DON'T kill nobody."

"You'd think that would be covered by the first rule but I've seen folk use their bare hands to do the trick so best not to leave any loopholes. Third DON'T take any disrespect lying down, Old Monty WILL bully you if you don't stand up to him. It's his way to test you so don't take it personal. Other than that do whatever feels right even if it might seem downright rude, the Jakobs value sincerity a whole helluva lot so act how you normally would. You follow those rules and this'll go swimmingly." Clay said seriously and I nodded.

He headed back to the console with that taken care of and typed some stuff and turned some dials before hitting a button. The ship rapidly started to approach the planet that also had an even bigger planet behind it and I realized with a start that this habitable planet was a fucking moon.-

The ship's shield caught fire as it dropped into the atmosphere but other than some minor shaking it was a smooth entry. As we got closer to the surface I was amazed at what I could see out the window, massive trees and lush dense flora that covered everywhere that wasn't covered in rocks or swamps and even some of those were covered too. There were lumber hauling hanging trolley lines and dirt roads going all over the place where we were headed and a vast grassy plain that led to a huge wooden manor. -

The grass swayed and rippled as we slowed down our descend and landed on this exact plain with a slight jostling of the ship.

"Alright kid follow me, Monty already knows we're coming." Clay said and led the way off the ship, a ramp at the back behind some of the cargo that had an airlock we had to go through.

My first impression of Eden six after stepping out of the ship was 'This place is wet as shit!'. It was ungodfully humid like walking through fog except there was no fucking fog just straight up moisture. And the heat! Dear Christ the heat made it so much worse! 

'This is like Florida and the Kongo turned up to fucking twelve!' I mentally complained. 

"Not bad kid, most people are sweating up a storm when they first land on Eden six but you're dry as a desert." Clay said seeming genuinely impressed.

"Please tell me this shit gets better or I might ask you to take me back." I joked.

"It does once we get closer to the manor, it's the grass here see. It's meant to be real wet to take the heat from a ship landing on it." Clay said with a chuckle.

That was a relief because if the entire planet was this bad I had no idea how the fuck anyone would agree to live here. After that Clay led me over to the manor where I got my first meeting with Montgomery Jakobs. The manor itself was situated on a cliffside location that had and I'm not joking right now, floating mountains nearby in the distance. If I wasn't walking on the ground and feeling it's effects for my self I would have sworn gravity had taken a vacation with those MASSIVE chunks of floating stone being perfectly visible.-

"Oh those? It's a magnetic thing I'm told, marvel to look at whatever the case." Clay explained as we walked once he saw me staring.

I just nodded before turning my attention to the manor that just had the door at the back open. In the doorway stood an older looking man with short combed grey hair and a long well trimmed beard. He had a clean silver suit on with a blue undershirt and large ornate revolver at his hip.

'Clay wasn't lying, that guy looks like the definition of mean.' I thought judging the man just as he in turn was clearly judging me.

"I've taken shits more impressive looking than you boy, what makes Clay think you're so damn special?" the man asked gruffly as we approached.

"Must be that stick up there if your shits are so bad, As for me the first thing I did after waking up today with a gun, shield and missing memories was open a vault, kill the monster that came out and get the nifty prizes within." I spat back.

The man somehow looked even more serious "You got any proof of that boy?" he demanded firmly.

I reached into my satchel and retrieved my house.

"This good enough?" I asked holding it in front of me.

His eyes widened as he beheld the sphere but he maintained impressive amounts of self control.

"What do you want for that and the vault?" he asked seriously.

"Why would you want an empty vault?" I asked confused.

My house I get but I had made sure to mention that the vault was empty so why the fuck would he want the thing?

"What's it matter to you when you are just here for a quick and easy buck?" he snarked.

"When the fuck did anyone said I was here looking for money? Last I checked me coming here was his idea, not mine." I sent back and we both turned to look at Clay who had an "oh shit" expression.

"In my defense I had told the kid you'd do right by him after learning about his amnesia, figured he'd save the alien stuff for later." Clay said embarrassed.

"You don't seem like you've got amnesia to me." the old man said gruffly.

"I know who I am and how to do some things but shit you would consider common knowledge is fucking news to me. I am picking up whatever little breadcrumbs of knowledge Clay has been dropping for me so far but that isn't a whole damn lot. He said you'd be willing to help me so either prove him a liar or fucking help." I spat done with this mans shit after so little time interacting with him.

The old man stared me down "BALDRIN!" he roared without looking away.

A few moments later footsteps approached from within the manor and a narrow faced old man with slicked back hair and a butler outfit appeared.

"You called Sir?" he asked.

"Prepare the guest room and bring me everything you have about amnesia as well as the good tea." Montgomery said and the butler, Baldrin, nodded and left. "Follow me." he said to me and I assume Clay before turning around and walking into the manor.

"Like I said, don't take it personally kid." Clay said patting me on the shoulder before walking into the building after Montgomery Jakobs.

'Fuck it I've got nowhere better to be, lets see how this plays out.' I thought and walked into the building making sure to close the door behind me.

The inside of the manor reminded me almost of an old western museum with how it was styled. Damn near everything was made of wood and just had this old western vibe to it that was hard to explain. The books looked like they were rarely read and the bronze or gold(can't tell) statue busts were pretty much everywhere. There was also an insane amount of vine design detail work on all the wood that I couldn't understand the significance of. The manor itself was huge both inside and out as well, almost rivalling my own house in fact.-

The old man led us to a spot that had a fireplace, couch with end table, two chairs and a coffee table between all of it. He sat down in on the largest of the chairs that was clearly his personal seat. Clay sat on the couch comfortably and I sat in the chair opposite the old man.

"Let me see your gun boy." the old man said firmly.

I raised an eyebrow(I don't have any) at him questioningly.

"Trust is earned boy, you give it and you'll receive it. You can learn a lot from a mans gun, how he maintains it, how it's been used, who made it." He said gruffly holding his hand out.

I took my gun out of it's holster and slid it across the table.

"BLING!" the chime went off and this time it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

He reached forward and began looking the gun over but as he did so his frown deepened and a look of confusion crossed his eyes. Without hesitation he pointed it at a nearby bust and pulled the trigger.

"BANG!" the gunshot echoed through the manor and the bust was now sporting a hole the size of a golfball in the forehead that went all the way through.

"You said the first thing you remember was waking up with this and a shield?" he questioned as he slid the gun back across the table to me where I holstered it.

I moved my satchel to the side to show my shield. "Yeah, woke up on Baal three with just that and the clothes on my back. My memories were also pretty much all absent like trying to hold water with a net, full of holes." I said honestly.

"That gun's stock but the confounding thing is that it ain't got a single defining feature as to what corporation made it but functions like it belonged to three of 'em. Seen nothin like it before." he said seriously.

"I can't tell you what I myself don't know. Which corporations does it seem to belong to and why?" I asked fishing for information.

"Jakobs, Atlas and Maliwan. We at Jakobs make the most powerful guns and I mean that literally, got the most stopping power in our guns outta any corporation. Atlas makes the most balanced guns, not good one way or another but not bad either. Maliwan specialized in elemental effects and are the best in that field but trade pure stopping power to stuff that tech in their guns. That guns got the stopping power of a Jakobs, the balance of an Atlas and the elemental capacity of a Maliwan. I ain't gotta clue how since we DON'T mix our products, doesn't end well when forced together either. " he said seriously and I filed that nugget of information on those brands of guns away.-

Clay whistled appreciatively "Damn kid, knew that gun was something special but never woulda expected that." he said impressed.

I ignored that and focused on another detail that interested me "You said it was stock? That means it can be improved through customization doesn't it?" I asked and the old man nodded.

"Wouldn't be easy, or cheap for that matter either but if you were willing to machine new parts that were compatible with it that gun could become something fearsome to face, maybe even the most powerful revolver in the six galaxies." the old man said seriously.