Jay and Lilith stepped cautiously into the secondary cave mouth, the air thick with the damp stench of mud, urine, and something more metallic. Shadows danced along the jagged walls, thrown by the flickering flames of makeshift torches someone—or something—had left behind. Each footstep echoed off the uneven stone, making them sound louder than they were.
Cortana's voice cut through the darkness. "Jay, keep the Engine ready. Environmental readings suggest unstable rock formations ahead. And—oh, joy—several hostile biometrics. five, possibly six."
Jay flexed his fingers. The Ruin Engine thrummed just above his skin destroying a micro meter of space, resonating with his heartbeat. He took a deep breath. "Let's make it five or six less."
Lilith glanced at him, a smirk playing on her lips. "That's my kind of confidence. Keep talking big, kid, I'll cover your six."
The cave twisted and narrowed as they advanced, forcing them into a single-file line. Jay's revolver felt reassuring in his hand, heavier and steadier than the one he had patched together from scraps. He thumbed the cylinder, testing the weight.
Lilith moved beside him, her eyes sharp in the dim light. "Keep your head on a swivel. This isn't a scavenger hunt anymore; it's a trap waiting to happen."
The Ruin Engine pulsed, and Jay felt the faint vibrations of skag movement in the tunnels ahead. He whispered, "They're here. Up ahead."
Cortana responded with a subtle hum of acknowledgment, then added, "Smell readings indicate both juvenile and adult skags, but the adult has a stronger energy signature. Possibly territorial. Possibly hungry."
Jay allowed himself a grim smile. "Hungry or not, we're the appetizer."
The tunnel opened into a cavern larger than they expected. Stalactites hung like jagged teeth, and several more skags prowled along the edges. Jay's eyes swept the area. Using the Ruin Engine, he absorbed a cluster of nearby stones, shaping them into temporary spikes for traps.
Lilith nodded in approval. "Creative."
Cortana teased lightly, "Look at you two, a coordinated dance of destruction. Perhaps I should be impressed."
Jay flushed slightly. "We've got rhythm, okay?"
Lilith snorted. "Rhythm and death."
Between skag skirmishes, Jay found a quiet alcove to catch his breath. He examined his revolver again, rotating it in his hands. It felt like it belonged to him now, not just an upgraded weapon, but a tool that matched his skill and intent.
Cortana's voice softened, more instructive than teasing. "Jay, consider this: your Ruin Engine is powerful, but overuse can cause fatigue. Reserve some of your energy for critical moments. Observation and patience can be as lethal as raw force."
He nodded, letting the weight of the advice sink in. "I know. Just… feels good to actually hit what I aim for."
Lilith crouched beside him, smirking. "Good. Because that feeling doesn't last long in here."
Moving forward, the cavern narrowed again, leading to a small chamber. Dim light reflected off a shallow pool of water, revealing the adult skag they had driven off earlier, now joined by a juvenile pair. The creatures snarled, teeth glinting.
Jay blinked, repositioning. He summoned the Ruin Engine to absorb loose stones, forming another jagged wall. "Covering your flank," he whispered to Lilith.
She moved through Phasewalk and landed a series of rapid strikes, knocking one juvenile back. The adult lunged, but Jay's barrier held. He ejected a shard at its side, causing it to stumble.
Cortana observed. "I calculate a 78% chance this engagement will conclude within thirty seconds if tactics remain constant."
Jay grinned. "Time to prove your math, Cortana."
The skags were finally down, panting, bleeding, and scattered. Jay took a deep breath, feeling the adrenaline fade. Lilith wiped her blade clean and smiled. "Not bad for a warm-up."
Jay groaned. "You are the worst teammate sometimes."
Cortana chuckled softly. "He's growing, Lilith glanced at Jay. "Ready for the final stretch?"
He nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Cortana added quietly, "Sensors indicate the main chamber ahead. Nine-Toes will be there. Prepare accordingly."
The three advanced, weapons at the ready. The air thickened. Silence fell—a heavy, tense silence punctuated only by the dripping water and distant skag growls. Jay adjusted his revolver, steadying himself.
The tunnel sloped downward, gradually widening into a throat of stone that funneled warm, rancid air toward them. The smell thickened—old blood, wet fur, and gun oil. Jay slowed his pace, revolver lowered but ready, and Lilith matched his steps, her eyes narrowing as the darkness seemed to press inward.
Cortana spoke low, her tone sharpening with focus. "Multiple movement signatures ahead. Not skags. Humanoid. Armed."
"Bandits," Jay muttered. "Has to be."
Lilith cracked her knuckles. "Good. I was getting bored."
Cortana hummed. "Your definition of boredom concerns me."
They stepped into another cavern—the "Gullet" as Jay mentally named it—long, narrow, and with just enough cover to make ambushes inevitable.
And sure enough—
A bullet ricocheted off jays shield hitting a rock nearby.
Lilith dove behind a stalagmite. "Contact!"
Three bandits emerged from makeshift barricades deeper in the cavern. Their armor was scrap metal welded together, and their weapons were rusted but functional.
Jay blinked to the side, appearing behind a half-collapsed boulder. "Cortana, layout?"
"Triangle formation," she replied instantly. "Left gunner with a repeater. Center with a shotgun. Right with a blade and poor life choices."
Lilith snorted. "Love the analysis."
"happy to assist."
Jay fired two quick shots at the leftmost gunner. The upgraded revolver barked with very little recoil, and the bandit staggered. Lilith Phasewalked and appeared behind the shotgun wielder, decking him with a shockwave that sent his weapon skittering.
Jay blinked again, closing distance with the blade-wielding bandit. The Ruin Engine flared, absorbing a strip of the cavern wall and converting it into a brittle, glasslike shard. Jay slammed it into the bandit's shoulder.
The man screamed and fell.
Lilith finished the shotgunner with a sharp kick. The last gunner tried to crawl away, groaning.
Jay calmly walked over, lining his revolver firing it twice into him
They descended again. The tunnel widened into a dome-shaped cavern, lit by half-broken lamps and bioluminescent fungi.
Cortana spoke quietly. "This is it. Main chamber. Nine-Toes is thirty-eight meters ahead, slightly elevated platform."
Lilith flexed her hands, blue vapor flickering faintly. "Any skags?"
"Two," Cortana answered. "Bigger signatures than the last pack. Likely his personal pair."
Jay nodded. "Pinky and Digit."
Lilith blinked at him. "Who?"
Jay shrugged. "It feels like the kind of stupid names a guy named 'Nine-Toes' would give his pets."
A brief silence.
"…He's not wrong," Cortana admitted.
Jay exhaled slowly as he stepped forward. His revolver gleamed in the dim light, and the Ruin Engine pulsed in his palm.
Lilith rested a hand on his shoulder. "Stay with me. Don't rush. Don't try to solo the bastard."
"Not planning to," Jay said.
Cortana added warmly, "I'll keep track of his movement and call targets."
Jay's heartbeat steadied.
For a moment, standing there on the edge of the chamber, he felt the weight of everything—his strange arrival, his powers, the dangers ahead it was building up but not the time to fix it... yet
They stepped into the chamber.
Nine-Toes stood atop a metal platform, hunching like a feral dog, his torso wrapped in mismatched armor plates. His face twisted into a grin that was all gums and malice.
"Well, well," he rasped. "More meat for the grinder."
Two skags leapt to his sides, growling—larger, meaner, and visibly mutated.
Lilith whispered, "Fuck off."
Jay whispered back, "Called it."
Cortana chimed gently, "Tagging targets now."
Nine-Toes lifted a battered pistol and screamed, "GET 'EM, BOYS!"
The cavern exploded into chaos.
Nine-Toes burst from the back alcove the dim lanternlight caught the metal cones strapped over his bare chest—crude, polished to points, and utterly ridiculous if they weren't attached to a man built like a brick wall dipped in steroids. His torso was thick with muscle, veiny, scarred, and glistening with sweat despite the chill of the cavern. The cones clicked with each heavy step, making a sound halfway between comedy and threat.
Jay's brain helpfully supplied: …What am I even looking at?
Cortana didn't answer—because she was too busy confused with potential threat levels.
Nine-Toes grinned, showing teeth that looked filed. "Finally," he growled. "The little gear-thief comes crawling into my den." His voice was low, gravelly, the kind of tone people used when they genuinely enjoyed violence.
He cracked his knuckles. The pop echoed.
Jay lifted his revolver a fraction. "You, uh… shop at an interesting armor store."
Nine-Toes didn't even blink. "do you bleed the same as everyone else." He stomped once—hard enough to shake dust loose from the cavern ceiling—and the skags perked up, snarling.
Cortana's tone sharpened. "Incoming! Both skags moving—shock variant on the left, fire on the right!"
Jay barely had time to dive aside before the shock skag unleashed a blast of crackling electricity that scorched the stone where he'd been standing. The fire skag roared, spraying a gout of flame across the cavern floor.
Lilith darted forward, weaving between the two attacks with unnatural grace. "I'll take the fire one! Jay, handle the taser mutt!"
"On it!"
Jay blinked sideways, reappearing behind a cluster of broken pipes. The shock skag wheeled around instantly—its eyes glowing a harsh neon blue—before lunging.
Cortana called out, "Careful! Its charge attack discharges an AoE burst—brace!"
Jay slammed his hand onto the cavern wall, the Ruin Engine sucking in a wide slab of rock that twisted and sharpened into a jagged barrier. The skag smashed into it, detonating a halo of crackling electricity that skittered across the stone.
Jay grit his teeth as the charge bled through, numbing his arms. "That hurts more than I like."
"You're still alive," Cortana replied. "Which is more than I expected if I'm being honest."
The shock skag backed up, paws scraping for traction as it prepared another charge.
Jay didn't let it finish.
He blinked forward—appearing directly above the creature—and drove a Ruin-forged™ spike into its spine. The skag shrieked, electricity flaring wild and unfocused. Jay rode the momentum, landing in a roll as the beast collapsed in a twitching heap.
Lilith, meanwhile, detonated in a swirl of Phase energy, reappearing beside the fire skag and delivering a strike that blew out its front leg. It toppled with a pained yelp.
That left Nine-Toes.
He was already charging.
Jay barely had time to blink aside as the bandit boss slammed into the cavern floor where he'd been standing moments before, cracking stone. Nine-Toes spun with shocking speed for someone so bulky, swiping with a knife the size of a forearm.
"You killed my boys," he snarled, voice trembling with fury. "You think you can walk in here and take what's MINE?"
Jay fired twice—both shots hitting center mass. The rounds sparked harmlessly off the metal cones.
Cortana deadpanned, "Please stop shooting the nipples."
"I panicked!" Jay shot back.
Nine-Toes roared and lunged again. Lilith teleported between them, a shockwave of Phase energy staggering him for half a second—but only half a second.
He grabbed her arm, lifting her clean off the ground.
Jay's heart lurched. "LILITH!"
Cortana snapped, "Jay—now! Use the Engine!"
Jay thrust out his hand. The Ruin Engine pulsed—hard. A swirl of stone, metal, and bone fragments whipped into his palm, forming a brutal, jagged gauntlet.
He dashed forward.
He didn't blink—he charged.
Jay slammed the gauntlet into Nine-Toes' ribs with a crunch that echoed through the chamber. The bandit boss stumbled, forced to drop Lilith.
She rolled to safety, coughing. "—Okay. That one actually hurt."
Nine-Toes wheeled on Jay, eyes wild. "You little—"
jay then released a blast of bone and sand fragments in a shotgun scatter towards nine-toes following up with another mishapen gauntlet to the jaw
The bandit boss collapsed to his knees.
Jay stepped forward, breathing hard. The cavern was quiet except for dripping water and Nine-Toes' rattling breath.
The man spat blood, glaring up with pure hatred. "Vault… ain't for you…"
Jay didn't answer.
He fired the a shot point blank.
Nine-Toes collapsed backwards in a splatter of gore.
"one down three more for the main story" jay mutters in a quiet hush covered under his sigh "I need a nap"