Angel's Virtue

Entrust

A/N-
Ah, Starbound. One of my most favorite games. A chucklefish game before Stardew Valley actually. It is a 2D sidescroller and is commonly referenced to terarria, but I love Starbound much more (put more than 300 hours into it)! This song associates the the novakid race. Novakids are born from supernovas, so gas people you could say. Very western and have horrid memories. I just thought this song would be appropriate for this chapter. What's nice is that the song's pace is like a train picking up speed then slowing down. Please enjoy!

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I heard the faint sound of gunshots. We were all awake in our bunker room eating whatever rations Kika had left. There weren't a lot of gunshots so there probably wasn't combat engaged, maybe testing. I decided to leave and see what it was all about. I then found out it was back at the same place where Caliber was testing his drone. Caliber was there with a rifle that may be a little too big for him. He set up small stacks of rocks as targets and he had rifle ammunition scattered all over the floor along with the empty shells.
"Morning, Caliber," I said.
"Oh, hello! Fang was it? I like that name," he said holding the rifle safely in his arms.
"Well, I like your name too! And thanks again for the room last night," I replied.
"Oh no, it's nothing. Nobody uses those rooms anyways," he said.

"What are you up to?"
"This rifle was one of my dad's favorite makings. I've kept it in the best condition possible," he raised the rifle to his sights and carefully aimed and fired. He did everything right but the bullet went off track.
"This rifle is too big for me, whenever I squeeze the trigger the weight sways my position," he said, "my dad made the settings just perfect. . . Wait. . . Fang, do you want to give it a shot?"
"Me?"
"Well, yeah! You seem to be the only one from your group who uses firearms," he explained carefully handing over the rifle. I took the rifle and it certainly had some weight. The wood was beautifully polished and everything looked perfect. It was a bolt action rifle. It had a dark wood color and it was equipped with a scope , it even had a strap. I held it up to my sights and aimed at the stack of rocks. I breathed in deeply and exhaled halfway and fired. The rifle had some power and the recoil felt like a small punch. The bullet attacked the rocks and blasted them into pieces. I felt adrenaline kick in and after I pulled the lever to pop the shell out I aimed at another pile and fired. I repeated this a couple more times until all the small piles erupted into tiny rock pieces.

"Works like a charm," I commented handing it back to him. He looked at the rifle and looked like he was thinking about something. "I want you to have this fang," he said.
"But, this is your father's," I said.
"I know, but I can't use it. I'm not good at using firearms in general," he pointed at his left eye with his right hand. His right arm. . . It was replaced with cold steel. "I'm left eye dominant and right handed. That doesn't bode well for those who want to practice firearms. I've seen people master it easily however, with both left and right handed! But, I can't, I don't have that talent," he explained.
"I didn't notice. . . Your arm. . ." I pointed out.
"Ah, you saw," he said. He looked at his robotic arm and sighed. "My parents died in an accident and I was there with them. An explosion took away my parents and my arm."
"That's horrible," I thought.
"It is," he said picking up the usable bullets, "but, this arm can at least do work. And I can remember my parents this way and continue on as who I am. Here."
I accepted the box of rifle ammunition and placed them in my pocket and strapped the rifle on my back.
"Your clothes are ripped. . . Come with me!" He said running along.
"Hey, wait!"

I caught up and followed him into his bunker. He had all sorts of nifty gadgets lying on shelves and over the floor. There were blueprints with very detailed lines and such while some others are basic. There are books scattered all over the places, a lot of the pages are bent which made me wonder if he slept on them.
"Here!" He said. He gave me a small stack of clothes, but they had some weight. "Try them out!"
"Is this-"
"Don't worry! There are so many more spares," he assured.
"Alright." I changed my normal attire and wore into the clothes given.

"Wow," Caliber said.
The outfit had some weight, but I can still run and I'm sure it would help me in close quarter combat. It came with some nice leather boots and gloves. It wasn't too tight nor loose. Now this type of clothing seems right in this world.
"Thank you, Caliber. For everything," I said.
"I just saw my dad," Caliber smiled looking at me.
"I don't think he had red hair," I assured.
"He. . . did."
"Really?"
"My parents both had some different colored hairs, and it was nice. I didn't inherit it, but I did get green eyes," he explained.
"I see. . ."
"Hey Fang?"
"Yeah?"
"I want to help you all out!"
"Our journey?"
"Yes!"
I reflected back on the most recent members who left. I wouldn't mind, but what would others think?
"I'll ask everyone else," I said.
"Alright!" Caliber jumped. I was happy to see him smile, but I really didn't want something bad happen to him.
As I was thinking Caliber was grabbing a sack and began storing a few cube like gadgets in there.
"Hey, I'm not sure what others would think!" I said.
"Well, I know I may not look like much. But. . . these. . . these can really help you," he said showing me the cubes. He had three. One was a drone, but I am honestly interested in finding out what the other two are.
"Well, I'm all yours!" He said.
"We don't know that yet!" I smiled as we walked back to the others.