Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

A kiss between its three eyes

"So... It's been almost thirty minutes... And you said he would be here in less than fifteen... What is he doing ?", Bast complained nervously, looking down at the entrance of the Grave-Hoard.

"I didn't say that. I said that it would take me at least fifteen minutes to make sure my house would be secured, and fifteen other minutes for him to arrive, so he shouldn't be so far away, now.", Kïma replied, using her focus to follow her Reaper's progression, while Bast was using his to make sure Aloy wasn't having any trouble.
They decided to focus on the archers snipers first, and to take care of... well, this big guy after doing so.

This big guy was... Really intimidating and honestly pretty strange. Neither one of them knew what type of machine it could be and they had no idea how to defeat it. Kïma apparently heard some Banuk talk about a machine called 'Deathbringer' that they found in the snow, completely dead.
And this thing matched the description they gave her : a huge rectangular shaped head, with lots of canons attached, with some kind of legs. Only with these words, it would be easy to think of a Corruptor but there was something else. It's size. It was as big as at least two Corruptors, and possessed bigger guns as well.
They were going to have some trouble, that was for sure.

"She took down two of them. Only three remaining", Bast signaled, slapping her out of her contemplation.

"She's doing good. I hope she doesn't go noticed... Make sure you're aiming the last archer, so that if they see her you can slow their attack down, okay ?"

She froze after hearing a noise behind her. She turned back and frowned, pointing gun fingers at the bandit in front of her. He was laughing, pointing his bow at her :

"So predictible !"

"Oh my god, is that an Ancient Chime you have ? I don't have any like that... Maybe we could exchange some ?"

"They told me you were special, but didn't warn me of your..."

And he was raised in the air violently, his body acting like a rag doll.
Small red drops splashed everywhere before he hit the floor, very presumably deceased.
And a huge machine slowly appeared walking towards Kïma.

Bast aimed at its head immediately but calmed down when he saw the girl running to hug it tight and understood it was her cherished Reaper. It was much more impressive than what she told him... The shiny spikes covering its body were as big as his forearm, all made from a dark metal, with some of them sculpted with detailed symbols, probably Kïma's doing, and let's not talk about its claws or teeth. It was also incredibly quiet, despite its obvious weight.

"You didn't tell me you equipped it with a camouflage ability !", Declared the blonde Nora, approaching carefully.

"It's because it would've ruined the surprise. Well, now that he's here, I'll just wait until Aloy finishes her job and I'll send him down there to kill sneakily these guys down there. Then I'll attack the Deathbringer, to understand what he is capable of, okay ?", She said, stealing the chime from the corpse.

Without giving him the time to answer, she continued, patting the Reaper's head :

"Meanwhile I'd like you to keep an eye on the door. We don't know if there are more of them inside, and if some of them come out of it, I would like you to take care of them. Questions ?"

"Erm... What will happen after you've tested the Deathbringer ?"

"My Reaper will come and help me, and I think Aloy will as well. If no one come out of the door, I would be grateful if you came down to help us."

"Understood. Try not to take too much risks this time, okay ? And take care for the Redhead while I'm not down with you."

"When did the Great Bast decided to become nice with outcasts ?", Kïma mocked gently, smirking at him.