Shot One

On Lilith and The Warrior

A/N: Hey everyone, just a quick side note. If you're here and also read Dragonsong, there are still plans to finish it. I just need to rekindle my writing abilities with something different. If you're new, hi! These are one-shots of Handsome Jack's life, and they will not usually (if ever) connect in order. Some will be heavy like this one, others will be more lighthearted. Borderlands and all its characters belong to Gearbox. Here goes nothing.

Heat. It was so hot. So bright, yet so dark at the same time. It was dangerous, and one wrong step would send nearly anyone to a painful death. Maybe this place was similar to hell, with all its lava and that eerie feeling of being caged in. For a moment, Jack pondered the thought and let it entertain him. He could leave hell anytime he wanted. Like a god. A savior. He could also come anytime he wanted, just to give it a taste and see what the afterlife might be like for the bandits he'd eliminated from Pandora. Just to see what the Vault Hunters would experience for the rest of eternity, he would visit this fire-filled hellhole again and again. He thought about the New-U station and what he'd originally programmed its professional female voice to say. A few witty lines and a push to get started again. Don't worry about the afterlife, she would tell the newly revived soldiers. Hell is reserved for pedophiles and people who buy Jakobs munitions. And the Vault Hunters who murdered his daughter.

The Vault of the Warrior. He looked down at his command station and ran his fingers over a few of the buttons. They were hot to the touch. It probably wouldn't be wise to stay long, especially having such a vital person with him. Oh well. They could always come back. The ground trembled beneath his feet, struggling to hold back the power buried below. A soft smile formed on his lips. Just a little longer, boy. I'm eager, too. He looked up at the woman above him, his means of finally getting what he'd been longing for, and watched the bright purple mist swirl around her hungrily. With a Siren charging the Vault Key, the Warrior would be his to command and nothing, no one, would be able to stop him. Not the Vault Hunters, not even the memories.

"Jack!"

He smirked at the Siren's angry cries, feeling his blood boil.

"Did you have something you wanted to say, Lilith?"

"I have enough to say to you to keep myself talking for a lifetime."

"Oh, conversation. How nice. By all means, please. Come down and talk to me." He pressed a button near the center of the control panel a little harder than he intended, unable to hide his rage, and Lilith fell hard onto the stone at his feet, gasping at the pain. The purple mist faded, and she looked up at him with disgust.

"Here I am," he told her. "All yours. So, go ahead! Come here and let me know what it is you're thinking. I'd be more than happy to hear it."

Lilith struggled to her feet in a daze, pulling at the device fastened around her neck. Despite her best efforts, it wouldn't let her move any further.

"What's that, sweetheart? You can't?" Jack turned his back to her, pushing another smaller button at the station and tightening her collar. He closed his eyes as he listened to her sputter, thoroughly enjoying the sound of her pain. She coughed a few times, and he went back to making sure the station was up to par for when he needed it.

"Vault Hunter," Lilith choked out. Jack froze, listening. "We don't have much time. The Vault Key is almost charged… it's only a matter of time before Jack awakens the Warrior. I need you to hurry."

The Vault Hunters. She would talk to them with the little breath left in her lungs, but not to him. It didn't matter. She would only lead them right into his trap, and the faster they arrived, the sooner he could finish what he started. You'll never do it, John. You don't have what it takes to run Hyperion. He thought of the things he'd been told numerous times when he was younger, hoping to make his way higher up the ladder. Fortunately, he'd had the last word, and realized he had what it took to run not only Hyperion, but an entire planet. He paced a few times to calm down before he walked back over to Lilith and kneeled in front of her, bringing his face level with hers.

"Still keeping in touch with your buddies, huh? I thought we agreed you were helping me now." The ground shook again, and he grabbed Lilith by her collar to keep her steady. He wanted her to look at him when she spoke.

"I'll never work for you, asshole."

"Ah," he said, throwing her down. "Language."

"You don't have to lecture me," Lilith said defiantly. Her red hair fell in her eyes, and they flickered a bright purple that wound its way to her feet through her tattoos. "I'm not your daughter."

"You'll never be anything like Angel." Jack pulled a small retractable knife out of his coat pocket, flicking it open and pushing Lilith onto her back. She winced as the searing rock burned her arms, but refused to scream until he dug the knife into the exposed flesh above her hips. Starting slowly, he carved out his name, watching it heal as soon as he was done. Jack. It was a pity there would never be a scar. He pushed the knife in deeper and she started kicking, but he only held her down with more force. As he continued, he plunged the blade into her side repeatedly with each word he spoke. "Don't. Talk. About. My. Daughter."

It was refreshing to see her laying there, all her defiance gone. She turned her face away from him, staring into the lava a few feet away with nothing more to say.

"You there, Lil?" came a voice from her communications device. It was the damned drunken hunter again. He wouldn't leave her be.

Jack ripped the ECHO device from her wrist, holding it up to his face as he walked back over to the command station and sent her back up into the air to do her job.

"Lilith has quite the little mouth on her," he said, speaking into the device. "And as it turns out, when that Eridium is pumping through her body, I can stab her over… and over… and over— and it just heals right back up."