Chapter 1
Zero looked around the flaming wreckage that was his train ride. He was now currently laying stomach down in the snow, freezing and hurting. Somehow no cuts though and no breaks or tears in his suit and helmet, he was thankful for that.
He looked around at his surroundings, checking to see if any of the company that blew the train up, had followed after the wreckage.
'Hyperion' He thought silently to himself, he was checking for any Hyperion personell, in-case their leader had sent out any form of watch or scouts. There were none visible right now, but he opted to remain vigilant for them, to ere on the side of caution.
He pushed himself up from the snow, his lean, slender and tall frame having a thick outline on the snow below where he was now standing. He scanned the surroundings once more, checking to see if anyone else had survived the explosion. He remebered each of the other so called 'Vault Hunters' perfectly.
There was the young female, red haired and had some form of robotic limb on her small and slender frame, she looked to be around five feet six inches. She had some kind of school uniform as her choice of attire, she looked no older than nineteen years old. Not even looking to be comfortable with the concept of a simple train ride with some strangers.
'How would she ever survive out here?' Zero thought with some mild amusement. 'No challenge.' He thought.
Secondly, there was some military looking male. Blonde haired and around six feet tall, medium muscle had a uniform on also, but unlike the schoolgirls attire, his was a badge of military experience and training and not the vulnerable years of your life. He had some dog tags around his neck he kept rubbing softly, his military rank marked above his left eye. Sergeant. He had some small box he kept tinkering with as well, looked to be a deployable object of some kind, however Zero could not pin-point what exactly, however he assumed some form of turret. He was a military man after all.
'No challenge, however a significant waste of energy.' Zero thought.
A small boulder like man was also aboard with them, oversized muscles that could overpower most in physical, close conflict. He had numerous tattoos, a bandage along the bridge of his nose, a mohwak and a beard. His accent from the train suggested some form of truxican descent. He was considerably smaller, around five feet and three inches, but nothing to underestimate should combat arise.
'He seems the no-thought fighter, would rush in too quick. No challenge as he could be taken from range.' Zero thought.
Finally a second small female, she was not like the others, she was unique. A siren. Her blue markings easy to mistake to the common man, but not him. Siren markings on her small and fraile looking frame, but it was evident that she was a formiddable enough opponent. Even for him. She looked to be around five feet and seven inches, a shade taller than the red headed schoolgirl. She had blue hair, blue lipstick, however faded to a few tones lighter than her hair, still complimenting her pale skin.
'Removed from range, easy to evade with my speed. Little to no challenge.' He thought, almost sadly.
'No challenges here/Where else except Pandora/Could a challenge lie?' He returned his thoughts to his haiku pattern of speech.
After he had filled in his memories on the others, he now faced a decision. Stay and look or leave? He considered his options.
If he stayed with the group, he would need to tolerate all of the talking and unnecessary pointless small talk. His meditation would only do so much before he cut one of them down to relax. However, having a group of accomplices, military experince and a siren in particular, could prove beneficial, even for someone as skilled as Zero. They would be annoying and distractive, but crucial to getting out of these, seemingly endless ice fields he was currently stranded in.
On the other hand, he could leave, make his own way. His suit has been fashioned to tolerate even the harshest conditions, but there is no guaruntee that he would find any shelter before the cold began to, eventually, leak through his suit. But, as a single target, he would be a lot more difficult to track, whereas opposed to the group who would be careless in covering their tracks and destroying evidence of their involvement in any matters.
"Hmm" Zero hummmed audibly, small elipses making it's way to his helmet. After a few moments of thinking, he decided he would leave on his own. He has never needed a group or partner to help and he wouldn't need them now. He has been through much worse than this and he has survived. He felt his belt for the blade he had, the hilt was still there thankfully, and surprisingly undamaged.
He trudged through the snow until he heard the voice of a small, robotic like machine speaking to someoone. He immediately crouched down and duccked behind a pile of wreckage. He drowned out the whilstling wind and the metal-on-metal noises and focused in on the two voices that he could hear faintly. It was one of the others, from the train. Someone survived.
"Hello, I am a CL4P-TP stewared bot, but my friends call me Claptrap, or they would if they were still alive, or had existed in the first place! Oh, I've got something for you." He could hear a male voice calling out from his left, luckily the metal he was behind hid him from sight in that direction too.
"Eyyy, anyone out there? Chicas? Pendejo army man?" It was the truxican calling out for the others. He hadn't noticed Zero on the train, which Zero was grateful for.
"Sal! That you?!" An American accent called out, another male. The soldier from the train and the muscled midget.
'Sal...' Zero thhought, he'd remember that.
The two men had trudged towrds each others voices and looked at each other, they were both now visible to Zero fully.
The soldier had fresh cuts on his face and burn marks on his uniform, but seemed in a reasonable enough condition. The same could also be said for the shorter of the two, he had cuts and tears in his shirt, burn marks and dirt covering him. Both seemed to be in a stable enough condition.
"Guuuyyyyys!" A feminine voice echoed through from behind Zero, he would be visible to them if he didn't act fast. Alas, he didn't act fast enough, the small redhead appeared from behind him and spotted him.
'Curses' Zero thought to himself as she shouted out for him.
"Hey, ninja dude! You seen the other guys here?" Zero inwardly sighed as he stood upright, she hadn't even asked why he was trying to hide himself from the others. She would certainly not survive out here.
Zero pointed towrds the two men, who were now staring straight at him and the head of the girl, they couldn't see her full body behind the pile of wreckage. Zero scanned her, she seemed to be the least affected so far, having only minor cuts on her cheek and non-robotic arm. Although she was near the back of the train when the explosion had went off.
"Hey, umm...ninja du-" Zero cut off the soldier.
"My name, unimportant/However it is Zero/What about your name?" Zero asked, knowing what the military man was going to ask, haiku never faltering.
"I'm Axton, I'm going to guess you're not one for handshakes." Zero looked at him through his void-like helmet, he had guessed correctly.
"My name is Salvador!" The small truxican announced proudly, as if his name held any importance to Zero.
"Guys, I'm assuming we're all going for a friendly introduction here, so I'm Gaige." The redhead spoke awkwardly, as if she was constantly being marked on everything she did. Just then the source of the robotic voice appeared from out of the heavy snowfall.
"Hello minions! I see you are all intorducing yourselves to each other. Your master is proud." The small robot, who Zero would guess is Claptrap, spoke in his annoyingly high tone.
"Minions!? I'll show you mini-" Zero stopped paying attention to the offended redhead and began to scan the area, the flames having all wittled down to a spark now, he saw no sign of Hyperion and no sign of the other female too. The siren.
"What're you looking for?" The solier asked, noticing he had shut himself off from the group and scanning the area.
"The other hunter/The unique and mystical/The siren lady." Zero haikued halfly, not paying attention to Axton fully. But the soldier took that in and managed to understand it after a few seconds and began to look as well, even going through the piles of wreckage to look for her.
Zero joined Axton whilst the other two, Salvador and Gaige were dealing with the small robot. Suddenly, Zero spotted a small piece of metal be shifted, Axton was not near him and everyone else was out of the wrecage. This could be her.
Zero walked over to the pile were the movement was and lifted a heavy sheet of steel off of the now visible siren. She looked to be badly bruised and had a few cuts on her, also looked to be incapable of walking if the ankle at a ninety degree angle was anything major. Zero was right about that, she held her hand out limply and only looked with pleading eyes, seemingly incapable of speaking. Zero reached down and moved a few more pieces out of the way before shouting on the others.
"Found her!"
They all came over rather quickly, Axton helping her out whilst Zero and Salvador moved pieces of scrap metal out of the way. Gaige was tinkering with her robotic limb and Claptrap came over to them, with the only relieving thing he had said since they met him.
"I have a home nearby, we can rest up there and deal with any injuries, follow me minions." It announced before wheeling it's way into the snowy wasteland on it's one wheel.
The group all follwed the robot, Gaige, Axton, the siren and Salvador all keeping speed with the robot and Zero trailing behind, considering if he should run now, into the snowy wasteland and find his own way. He, hesitantly, decided against it. He knew full well that he could leave any time he wanted to, so he saw no harm in staying with them, just to get off the glacier.
They all arrived at the door of the robots home, it scanned itself in and welcomed everyone in, they walked down a small icy slope and into the main room.
Zero took in all of the details about the room. A wooden floor next ot the fireplace, about a five by five metre wooden floor, the rest was just snow covered stone. There was a door to the right of the room and a massive hole in the ceiling, letting the winter air in. There were dead bodies stuffed away in the corner, broken Claptrap units strewn everywhere and another small room at the opposite end of the room.
The soldier set the siren down on a gambling table after sweeping all of the money off of the table and on to the floor. He was handed a small red vial from the robot, which Zero instantly noticed to be an insta heling vial, it would help with her cuts. The group all went into different areas of the room after the sirens breathing steadied out and she was resting. Salvador and Axton went to a safe, to check for anything that could help their group further. Gaige went into the room just next to the safe and began to fiddle with a set of tools from a small toolbox she had found, she continued to tinker with her arm. Zero went to the darkest corner of the room to assess the group, their patterns, emotions and common traits.
After about thirty minutes of the group walking around the room, Zero had all of the information he needed, nothing else was new as he couldn't see them in combat. He didn't know enough yet.
A sudden beeping came from Axtons pocket, he pulled out a small metal box looking thing, it's screen made it look like a comms unit and the handle just solidified that. Axton accepted the call and a familiar voice came through the unit.
"Hey kiddo's, Jack here, President of Hyperion? Lemme explain how things work here, see I've noticed you've all began to move around and scavenge for gear, but you don't know the system do yah? See vault hunter shows up, vault hunter looks for the new vault, vault hunter gets killed. By me. So if you could do me a favor and off yourself that'd be great." The line remained ative, as if this Jack was expecting a response or a gunshot.
"No? Hmm, alright then, I could just place extremely high bounties on ya, it'd get you all killed soon enough."
"That would work, but the problem is you know nothing about us Jackass." Gaige spoke confidently through the small box.
"Oh that's where you're wrong Gaige. I know a lot about each of you." Jack said sinnisterly. The siren woke to Jacks voice and looked around the room, Axton handed Gaige the small unit and began to fill the siren in on what was happening.
"Who do I start with? Oh heck with it, Gaige. I know you had your science fair incident, Marcy Holloways parents would...maybe stumble on some money to send a bounty hunter after you, wouldn't that be something?"
Jack said happily, Zero could tell he was smiling at the other end of the unit. Gaige paled and looked like she was going to be sick.
"Hmm...Axton next, how is Sarah?" Zero looked to the soldier and saw his eyes had widened. "I'll just go with 'fine', anywho, I think if her superiors found out what she did to help an awol commando, they'd put her to the firing squad that was reserved for you, don't you think?"
Axton remained silent, analysing Jacks statement.
"Ahh, and now Salvador, the monster of Ovejas. You have quite a lot on your plate already don't ya? Cannibalism, murder and destruction of property just to name a few. How would your...'abuela'? Did I say that right? How would she react to an assassin at her doorstep? Knife to the throat and you wouldn't know. For all you know I've done it already."
Salvador was now heavily breathing, drool coming from his mouth and he looked ready to pull Jack apart. Zero took note of his easily provoked anger.
"And Maya? Ooooohhh, a siren on Pandora? You know I killed one of your kind a few years ago? Lilith, red hair and bitch attitude. Anyway, the order would be very happy to know where you are, don't you think?" Zero saw her shocked expression, and took note that she was called Maya. This 'order' obviously had meaning to her, negative or positive he couldn't tell for sure. However he'd judge from Jacks tone that it was negative.
"Ahhh and finally, Zero. The challenge seeker, The ghost of an assassin, killing anyone you please to get a challenge. I knew a lot of people that you put away, and I also know their families. To have the heads of all corporations send the most dangerous people in the constallation after you would certainly have you get your...challenge." Zero smirked under his helmet, he was now hoping Jack would send the message out.
"So, I know nothing about you? I beg to differ." Jack finished then cut off the line, before anyone could recover from that mass of information the small robot came rolling in from outside, with more of the small boxes. He handed them out to each of the vault hunters and told them that they were 'echo communicators' and are an efficient way to communicate with each other, he had already programmed and tuned into all of the fequencys of the vault hunters.
Claptrap then rolled away from them and stood next to the fire place/pit whilst the vault hunters all looked at each other, Zero noticed they all looked like sheep, scared that this 'lion' Jack knew so much. It was amusing.
"Well, Jack knows a lot about us. Looks like I was wrong." Gaige said.
"You." Zero's mechanised voice interrupted her from what she was about to say.
"What?"
"He knows a lot about you." He clarified.
"Well, fine, he knows a lot about us and not the cliche 'badass ninja' dude." Gaige said childishly, putting air quotes around 'badass ninja'. Axton stopped her mid-rant.
"Gaige, you heard Jack, the guy's an assassin, or at least we think he is. He's supposed to come off as badass and intimidating. Although I got my doubts about his skill, we could still need him with us."
Zero was irked at the soldiers words, doubting the assassin was a mistake, something he would pay for soon.
"You're right, sorry. Just a small bit panicked right now, the whole bounty hunter thing has me on edge." Gaige apologised to Zero, he cared very little however.
Maya slowly made her way off of the table, she looked to be healthy and able to walk on her own now. Insta healths do exactly what they say.
"Okay, umm...what's the plan for us? We can't stay up here and wait for this Jack guy to come after us."
Axton was the first to reply. ""Yeah, but we should rest up first, go for civilisation in the morning." The group considered his words, even Zero. It would be wise to go out as soon as possible, remain on the move and avoid detection. But night was beginning to approach if the loss of light was any consollation, and Pandoras nights could be below freezing. Painfully low tempratures. Not extreme temperatures however, not low enough to pierce his suit.
"Alright, I guess that makes sense." Maya replied. After she finished, the group began to properly assess each other.
Claptrap wheeled his way out of his makeshift home. The group didn't acknowledge his departure, they instead continued staring at each other. Zero noticed the soldiers eyes rested on him longer than everyone elses. Perhaps considering him a possible threat?
"So, introductions now that you're awake, huh beautiful?" Axton began his flirting with Maya. She rolled her eyes, pressumably just used to it.
"Yeah sure, what's your name?" She asked Salvador, Axton looked a small bit disappointed but he wouldn't be put off that easy. Zero just ignored the groups attempts at getting to know each other, he didn't see the big thing about it. They would all perish soon enough. Except Zero, Zero would remain at the top of the metaphorical food chain.
He was then drawn from his thoughts by the blue haired siren facing him, expecting a response. He spared no words and just flashed a digital '0' towards her and progressed toward a small window in the back. He did however hear her ask the group something.
"What's the matter with him?" They all just shrugged and went to their respective corners for some rest. Axton offering Maya some extra 'body heat', and Maya nicely declining.
Not soon after, they were all asleep. All asleep except one. Zero remained awake, waiting for them all to doze off into their lands of slumber for him to make his escape. He snuck out the window, which was basically an open hole in the wall which was made by a cannon or boulder. He crept out silently, as usual, and proceeded up a small ice wall in front of him and leapt down, cat like grace and silence on his landing. He sighed.
'Thank goodness for that/No more unneeded talking/Now back to old ways.' Zero haikued silently in his mind, he was glad to be rid of the others and back to himself.
The way he liked it. He progressed towards some faint lighting over a large Hyperion-looking storage base. He walked along the icey lake he was on, more of a pond really. He approached the huge metal container and went into the corner, where the container had met the ice. He stuck his foot in the ice and used the small crevices on the container to pull himself up to the top of the metal container.
When he got to the top, he dusted some excess snow off of his stealth suit and walked along it, seeing a small settlement below him. He scanned it, nothing but a few drunken bandits were there. No challenge, Zero audibly groaned and unsheathed his digistruct blade. He may not get a challenge, but he would have his suit warmed by the blood of others for sure.
He lept down, creeping down the small iced over slope, towards the small gate that was blocking him off from the town, however a small wall was on the left next to it and could be used to leap over the gate, so he used it to his advantage. He climbed the small wall and landed, silent as ever and hid behind the small home in front of him. A bandit had staggered over to where Zero was, too drunk to even notice him so Zero took this opportunity and sliced his head off, catching the body so no noise was to alert the others, he moved the body over behind the building. He then moved behind the building, approaching a small metal fence, he saw another bandit sitting himself, drinking happily. He didn't even realised his throat had been slit until he felt the warmth of the blood on his chest, before he could scream out Zero shoved the tip of his katana through his mouth and out the back of his head.
There was only one more marauder left, he was leaning against a door, currently vomiting uncontrollably. Zero abandoned his combat stance, walked into the open and got behind the man, the marauder never noticed him there. Zero shoved his katana throughthe mans lower back and dragged it up his body, bursting out through the top of his head. He watched in amusement as the bandit walked around, his top half split in two and walking around on the both legs, he continued for a few seconds before collapsing in the pile of vomit. Zero audibly sighed as he sheathed his blade. He hated this, no challenges and no conflict. Just sheep to the slaughter.
He then remembered something, his helmet held the information of all contracts on whatever planet he was currently on. Pandora is the second most dangerous planet in this galaxy, if anything could challenge him, it'd be here. He brought up the contracts menu and scrolled down, it was sorted in order of price, in descending order. He looked over them all.
Roland - Ex Crimson Lance, reward for proven death $30,000,000
Mordecai and Bloodwing - Assualt, Trespassing and murder of Atlas and Hyperion personnell, reward for proven death $58,000,000
Brick - Bandit leader, affiliation with Mordecai and Roland, Murder and arson, reward for proven death $76,000,000
Firehawk/Lilith - Unknown bounty hunter, unique abilities and dangerous for anyone, if spotted report to Hyperion Station 33986, reward for death, $99,000,000
Zero stared at the pictures of all these individuals, he doubted the payments but did not doubt the crimes. This 'Firehawk' sounds like it would be formiddable. Unique abilities, dangerous for anyone? He memorised the image of the fuzzy woman, he saved the image and began to render it, to get a clearer image.
The process would take several minutes, so Zero decided to push onward. He walked to the end of the small town, leaving his small trail of carnage behind. He walked down a second, steeper slope under a metal gate. He immediately spotted another small settlement, two houses and four bandits, three of those bandits looked like the were madmen. The other wielding a shotgun.
Before he could unsheathe his blade for another run however, his helmet notified him that the rendering of the image was complete. He brought it up, making sure to remain unseen and keeping to the shadows. He brought the full image up and saw this...Firehawk woman. Obvious female, bright red hair, small and slender frame and...Siren markings.
'Two sirens on this one planet? How odd? A third of all sirens in existence are on this planet right now. And I could kill them all.' Zero pondered this thought for a moment, the time that the Firehawk bounty was set, was three years ago, this woman has been moulded by Pandora, her skills have been honed and trained, experience and toughened fighting styles. Superior to Maya in most every way.
Zero chose to go after this Firehawk, the most dangerous and biggest challenge he has seen so far. He would test himself with her. Fight this mystical being. And win.
He searched the location on her, and he saw that it was in a place called 'Frostburn Canyon' He now searched for where this Frostburn Canyon was via his echo, it was over an ocean. Not far over it though, if he had a boat he could easily get there before sunrise, abandon his distractions from before, progress onward like he usually would.
'Equipment is required, Firehawk will fight and will fight well, sniper and revolver are my requirements.' Zero thought, almost robotically. Just listing the bare minimum he would need and set out to get them.
Zero then realised he had left his old Jakobs rifle at the wreckage, it is most likely broken beyond repair, but the parts may be needed for future repairs. He exhaled loudly in annoyance and progressed down the slope, sticking to the shadows and approaching cautiously. The night time darkness wasn't with him however as the moonlight gave him away, it bounced off of his helmet and immediately drew the attention of one of the madmen. His echo sent information to his helmet, identifying these madmen as 'Psychos' and the shotgun wielder as an 'Outlaw'. He pulled his blade out fully and charged one of the Psychos.
"I'M GONNA MAKE YOU GARGLE YOUR LAST BREATH!" One of the Psychos shouted out, laughing insanely as he did so.. Zero ran at him with unmatched speed, he shoulder barged him to the ground and sunk his blade into the other Psycho behind him, using his now lifeless corpse as a shield from the hail of shotgun pellets being fired from the Outlaw. Zero ran with the body off the ground, dangling on the end of his blade and threw the dead body at him after Zero heard his gun jam, he jumped up into the air, pushing off of the dead Psycho for more height, raising his blade in the air and carving the Outlaw clean in half. Now just the other Psycho.
"NO! MY PASTY CAKES!" He screamed angrily as he fully recovered from his daze, as if he was offended by Zeros murderous actions. Zero ran at him again, he darted to the side and when they were a foot apart, Zero stuck his leg out, tripping the Psycho. He quickly swung his blade at the Psychos neck, slicing his head clean off.
He progressed onwards more. He came to another gathering of buildings next to a small drawbridge, no bandits were out.
Zero scanned to make sure he wasn't being watched, scanning the glacier behind the buildings and all the windows as well. He concluded he wasn't and made his way across the lowered drawbridge, he jumped down the hole at the end of it, again. No bandits, most will be inside with the cold. Zero felt the cold but it was extremely deduced. Almost non-existant thanks to his suits traits.
Zero walked through the courtyard like area, taking note of the huge cannon aimed at an open gate. Maybe a defence mechanism? He was on some frozen ship, frozen against the mountains where the gate was.
He walked through the open gate and stared at the mechanical behemoth that greeted him. A huge ship, frozen on a similarly huge iceberg, the ship had a dragons head on it, made out of metal and was constantly breathing fire. Below it, a small bandit encampment, but he noticed something. Something on the far side of the ship. A small boat, looked small enough for a one man crew. Zero was almost in disbelief, exactly what he was looking for.
He saw it was floating in the water, an anchor hovering above it on a chain, it looked like he had a small time window to get to the boat.
'A challenge of speed?' He thought to himself with a small grin on his face, not like anyone could see it with his void of a helmet covering his face. He accepted this challenge, he would not kill the bandits here, he would instead run through the camp, using the shadows and makeshift bandit tents as cover and acquire the boat.
The anchor began slowly lowering itself towards the boat, Zero estimated around five to six minutes to get to the boat, and he had a large bit of ground to cover.
Zero made a very quick start, he darted down the slope, crossing the icey water with good speed, he encountered another raised metal gate, the entrance to the bandit camp. The camp was empty, all bandits looked to be sheltering from the cold winter air. Zero used the lack of enemies to is advantage and began to sprint through the camp, still keeping to the shadows as his assassins instincts has taught him. He ran to the edge of the camp, a small icey ledge and a seven foot leap to the boat. If the jump was missed or had errors in any way, Zero would plummet to his death on the rocks below. He had little time to calculate his jump howver, as the anchors speed had increased and he had around thirty seconds to make it on to the boat. He took the small time window and leapt, his hands outstretched to grasp on to the metal railings of the boat.
His hands locked a death grip around the railings, he used the swing from the jumps momentum to his advantage and pulled himself up with relative ease. He was now faced with a door, locked with a padlock, Zero not even putting thought into his action, swung his digistruct blade at the lock and cut it off, the door swinging open for him freely now. He darted inside the small, dingey cabin and started the boat, whatever idiot owned this boat had left the keys in, so Zero snatched them up and started the boat up, he pushed the small lever forward and the boat began to speed away from the glacier and huge metal dragon/ship.
He was currently in silence, blissful silence. The soft hum of the boats engine his only company. He was grateful for this. Zero opened his echo now that he was free and opened a live feed of his location, he was seventy three miles away from land. He scrolled along to where he'd be docking, this Frostburn Canyon was a further thirteen miles away from his docking location. He had quite the distnace to cover to reach the Firehawk. Zero pulled the lever down, so the boat was only going at half the speed it was before, rather slowly. He decided he would fully rest, wake up and finish his journey, rest once more before the fight and then find the Firehawk.
'A good sturdy plan/Firehawk beware of me/I'm coming for you' Zero haikued sinnisterly in his head before sitting down on a chair in the back of the cabin, and shutting his eyes, letting sleep take him.
7 HOURS LATER - DAYLIGHT
Zero awoke to the sound of metal against rock, he had misjudged the speed he had left the boat going at and it had began to dock itself. Hard.
The boat crashed against a rock, sending Zero flying from his chair and into the window in the cabin. Zero recovered from the incident, the boat had stopped scraping the rock and he was uninjured, he staggered to his feet and kicked the door open in frustration. He could have needed the boat to depart for the second siren after the Firehawk. He stared out on to, yet another snowy wasteland, this one had a bridge above where his boat had crashed, the boat was blocking going back so he only had the option to go forward toward some strange pillar looking things, they had holes in them and stood around ten feet tall, some where moulded against the wall. Then it clicked in his head, some form of animal had made burrow in these pillars. Judging by the size of them, a formiddable size as well.
Zero drew his blade, knowing that on Pandora, the bigger the meaner. He liked the thought of multiple beasts charging him. However big they were, he would come out on top. He was slightly saddened by how true this was, but glad at how far he has come from his first days of killing.
He don't know why what happened next happened at all. He thought of the others, back on the glacier. The group of Vault Hunters. He shoved them from his mind quickly, not allowing any distractions for his fight with the Firehawk.
Suddenly, drawing Zero from his thoughts there was a small four-armed creature looking at him, had small build and around two feet in height, max. It let out a pathetic roar and began to charge him. Zero almost laughed, he stuck his foot out and unsheathed his blade, placing it against one of the creatures four arms, right at the joint.
"Scream for me creature/Bring more of your kind to me/Give me a challenge" He followed his request up by running his blade through the creatures elbow. It was at this point that his echo had sent the information to his helmet again, referring to this creature as a 'Monglet'.
The Monglet let out a high pitched squeeling noise, crying for help. And help came in the form of another four armed creature, this time the size of a bandit truck. His echo told him it was a 'Bullymong'. The Bully monmg noticed the now dead monglet beneath Zero and the blade leaving the creatures lifeless body and returning to Zeros side, blade still digistructed.
The Bullymong let out a more menacing roar, something that intigued Zero, maybe this beast could challenge him?
'I doubt this beast will challenge me' Zero thought to himself, he ran at the beast and it charged him, bluntly as the Psychos did. He jumped over the beast, taking it by surprise and landing on it's back, he sunk his blade into the top of the Bullymongs skull and dragged it down it's back.
Another Bullymong appeared, from up a small slope in front of Zero, next tothe mountains wall, where more of the holes Zero now declared as 'Bullymong Burrows'. This one was much bigger than Zero and had a green mist coming from it, his echo notified him that it was a 'Bullyrott'. He was also notified by his echo that it had an acidic like attack, something that melts through even the strongest aromour. Zero considered this, acidic like elemant coating the beast would leave his melee attacks hurting him more than it in the long run. He could shoot the beast, but no firearms were near him. He would need to find some way. He had little time to think of a way however, as the Bullyrott noticed him next to it's dead bretherin and ran at him, he ran to the side, towards the mountains walls. He scaled it and hooked himself on to a small burrow, it was thankfully empty so he was safe now.
The Bullyrott had other things in mind however, as it picked up a large chunk of ice from the slopes floor and wound it's arm back and threw it at him. Zero jumped upwards, just avoiding the chunk of ice. He then had an idea, albeit it was a poor idea and could likely backfire very badly, but it was all he had at the current moment and given his current situation, he was not going to take any chances.
He began to saw throught the chunk of burrow he was on, so it was loosened, he got halfway throught it and the beast had lifted a sizebale pice of stone now, it wound back and hurtled the piece of rock at him, it strayed off to the side, fortunately. Zero was finished sawing the piece of ice, he jumped down below it, so it was dangling above him. The burrow was the size of the Bullyrott and so could crush it easily.
Zero feigned a stomach injury and clutched his side, luring the creature in so it didn't throw more at him and to make it think it could devour him. The Bullyrott ran at him, at the last second Zero darted to the side and avoided the beasts charge, narrowly. The creature collided with the pillar that supported theb urrow, the force knocking the piece of sawed ice to fall and crush the skull of the Bullyrott. It now lay limp under a huge pile of ice and snow.
Zero sighed, his adrenaline had got going, which he was grateful for as it distracted him from the lack of a good progressed further up the snowy slope, seeing the walls of a bandit camp, now that he was in broad daylight he may be more visible to the enemy, something he was uncomfortable with.
He approached a small station, it had vending machines, two of which named 'Marcus Munitions' and 'Marcus' Guns' The other was named 'Zeds Meds' Zero needed a shield, he hoped the Meds machine would provide one. He opened the menu and scanned the machines options and looked through the statistics of each one. He settled for something that had a white outline, decent capacity but it was Hyperion made. A shot fired would deplete it slightly but enhance the power of the weapon shot. He then switched machine to look in the Guns machine, a russian accent came through the machine chanitng 'Guns, guns ,guns!' Happily.
He immediately saw a Jakobs rifle, very good stopping power and a Jakobs scope, good zoom and magazine size was optimal. He paid the one thousand dollars for it and equipped it, happy to have the feel of a powerful rifle in his grasp once more. Juts like the old times before Pandora. He then picked up some ammo and noticed another, slightly smaller machine, a 'Catch-a-ride' as it was so blandly named.
Zero was slightly amused by the obvious hillbilly-like tone that greeted him, he was however grateful that he could shorten the time taken to reach the Firehawk, so he settled for a 'Light 'Runner', good speed and handling, brakes funtioning.
'Good enough' Zero thought.
Zero sped off of the parking pad with the vehicle and jumped the broken bridge ahead of him, he was happy to be going over a hundred and fifty, such speed and power in a little car. 'Impressive, maybe I misjudged this car.' Zero thought as he sped through the tunnels ahead of the bridge, he emerged from them after smashing another monglet and sending pieces of it everywhere. He chuckled sadistically. He stopped at a small station just outside of the tunnel and to the left a bit, something he could have done with a day ago. A fast-travel station.
'The only good thing Hyperion has produced outside of the New-U system.' Zero thought, it was true however, their weaponry was poor, shields only good for long range and fighting force? Disgusting was an understatemnt.
Zero got out of the car, scanning over the areas available for the fast travel. He sorted them alphabetically and enterd it in. It took a few minutes so Zero began to scan his surroundings, a small shelter with yet another Catch-a-ride inside, another set of vending machines and his fast travel station. Around the area was a metal fence behind the shelter, blocking off more Bullymong burrows and across the destroyed road was yet more Bullymong burrows. Everywhere else was just empty, void of all life.
'Pandora is littered with these creatures' burrows' He thought. His echo beeped, telling him it was all sorted now, he checked the station again and saw this Frostburn Canyon was not yet discovered, but had a station available, it offered directions. Zero connected his echo to it and dowloaded the directions. The process took a few seconds, he pulled his echo from it and left towards the car, seeing his target was only a few miles.
'My estimates may have been off, turns out I am closer than expected, excellent.' Zero thought as he climbed into the car. He drove off towards the Canyon, he rounded a corner from the fast travel station. The corner had another ship, an anchor floating from it too, it seemed too far in-land, how it got there was anyones guess. The bottom half of the ship had been overrun by bandits and Zero was not going to waste his time on them, he had more pressing issues at hand right now.
He kept driving past the bandits, he noticed a small bridge, leading over a small gap in an icey canyon, the one he drove through before. He drove over the bridge and noticed there was a few concrete blocks stopping his car going further, he abandoned his car and approached them. Zero soon noticed that the concrete blocks were also an entrance to another bandit camp, at the end of the camp there was a gap in the wall at the end. At the end of this small camp was the entrance to Frostburn Canyon.
He began to walk into the camp, unaware that there was someone watching him from their tent. A male emerged from a tent near the end of the camp, next to the gap. Zero focused in on him and began to analyse him. This bandit looked to be more muscled than the others he had encountered. He looked to be more rounded and covered with protective clothing, wielding a flamethrower with a gas canister on his back, or a fuel canister. He also wore a gas mask too, pressuambly to protect him from the flames. Looked to be around six feet, maybe six feet and four inches. He began to shout at Zero.
"Wellll, who's this?" The mans voice pierced Zero, aggravating the assassin with one question. Zero pulled his rifle out as the man began to prepare his flamethrower, it was strange how he was here alone.
Bandits are not normally on their own unless they're wanderers. Zero brought the rifle up to his shoulder, took aim on the mans head, slowed his breathing down and fired. Zero, however, was unaware that the man had a shield , that luckily ate the first shot for him, Zero pulled the bolt on his rifle back and focused on his head again as he began to walk towards Zero.
He fired his rifle and this time was more successful, the mans head exploded in a bloody stump and he collapsed in a pile of blood and flames from the weapon. Zero then began to walk through the camp, scanning around him as he was supiscious about the loner in a camp.
Zero then heard more psychotic rants coming from behind him, more Psychos by the sounds of them.
"THE FLAMEY FLAMES WILL CONSUME THE MASKED ONE!" He heard one of them shout as they ran at him.
He turned to fire at them and noticed there was another flamethrower man, now recognised as a 'Nomad Pyro' and the Psychos had skulls on their faces, flames spewing from them, they were dubbed 'Hellborn Lunatics' by his echo.
Zero cared little however as he looked through his scope, annoyed at the distractions, he shot one of the Lunatics in the head, immediately killing him. He shot the other in the knee, crippling him and he fired at the Nomad Pyro, turning his head into another mess like before. Zero approached the grounded Psycho, putting his rifle on his back and unsheathing his blade.
"You there, you madman/Where do I find Firehawk?/Answer me quickly." Zero demanded as he placed his blade on the neck of the Psycho, he began to sputter out words.
"END OF CANYON! SECRET LAIR WHERE ALL ARE FORBIDDEN! IT'S TOO POWERFUL! A GOD!" As he finished his rant, Zero granted the man a quick death and slashed his throat.
"End of the canyon?/He said it's too powerful/Perhaps a good fight." Zero haikued aloud to himself, he began to walk towards the gap and walked throught the dark cave.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Zero emerged into a small openeing, two walls either side of him and another fast travel station. He was grateful to see the sight of the station, he walked rather quickly towards the fast travel which was beneath a small wooden shack, accompanied by yet more vending machines. Zero activated it and watched it spring to life, he knew that was the process done so he progressed up the small slope towards an open area.
He was now presented with two choices, go down the slope to the right and progress further into the camp, or go left and head upwards, into the open and lead into the camp also. He chose to go right, to go down the slope and into the camp, 'maybe even bandits could challenge me'. He almost laughed at the thought, nothing he has encountered has been able to challenge his skill, few have come close to worthy, but none worth mentioning.
He reached the bottom of the slope, seeing a few tents with some more of the Hellborn Psychos, they didn't attack him however.
'Why don't they attack? Are they waiting for something? Attempting to surprise atack me?' He thought, he had no weapons out and they knew it, so why didn't they attack?
He slowly progressed into a cave opening after he had finished scanning the area, just a few tents. He then heard gunfire, he spun around and unsheathed his blade, the bandits were not shooting at him for once, they were infact shooting other bandits, the others were identified as 'Bloodshot Marauders' and they had some form of war paint on them, some eyes painted on with, what looked like blood. Zero was going to question it until images of the redheaded contract flashed into his mind. Zero would normally ignore it, just him remembering his true duty, but the image didn't go away. The red hair and the blue markings. She was taunting him, and attempting to taint his perfect ways of thinking. He shook a small bit, as did they full cave.
'Some form of earthquake? No, it'd still be continuing if it was an earthquake.'
It was then Zero realised that he had just been standing there, staring into a bandit cave for around five minutes straight, he recovered his thoughts and pushed onwards. Not too far to go and he would meet the Firehawk.
This section of the camp held a few tents, he hadn't sheathed his blade so he walked into the gathering of tents before he stopped, he focused his hearing and heard...spiders? Moles?
Just after he thought that, some creatures with shield-like heads burst from the ground, the badits all began to fire at them and, again, ignore Zero. Although this time he couldn't blame them, the small creatures did spew fire after all. His echo identified them as 'Spiderants' and the ones on fire were 'Blazing Spiderants' Zero just kept walking, he encountered some metal stairs and walked up them. Once he got to the top he noticed some more tents were there, and two of the Pyro nomads came out, focused on him.
'Finally, something to test me, bring it' He thought as he rushed towards them with his blade. He was a foot away from one when the other began to shoot flames at him, he ducked behind the first nomad and shoved his blade through the stomach, using his impressive strength, he lifted the nomad off the ground, using both hands on his blade and ran towards the fire-spewing one. He got a few inches away when the dead nomad on his blade collided with the other, Zero slipped his blade out and sidestepped around the dead nomad, the grounded nomad was getting to his feet when Zero slid his blade into the mans face, dragging it to the left to rip it in half as the man screamed for a split second. Zero let out a dark chuckle.
"You did not challenge/Your fighting was very poor/You deserve this death" He spoke out, his mechanised voice echoing slightly throughout the cave, the gunfire back at the Spiderants had halted and he felt alone, isolated. He enjoyed it.
He then looked up from the now dead nomads and saw another set of metal stairs, he walked up them as they climbed a large rock, leading out on to the cold surface again. As he got out he sensed something, something that years of assassinations have drilled into him, as he saw the small path that led out into another area with a New-U, he couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen, like an ambush. His extra few second of hesitation paid off as a single Psycho emerged from the end of the walkway. He was not any ordinary Psycho however.
This one had his right arm at the length of a tree trunk, and his left shrunken to the size of a childs. He stood around eight feet tall and looked to be very muscular. He spotted Zero and ran at him, covering around a metre and a half per step. Closing in fast, Zero had to think of something, and then it hit him, the oldest way to defeat someone and also the simplest. Zero sheathed his blade and pulled his Jakobs sniper out, he aimed down the sights and shot at the Psycho, he mask absorbed the bullet and he just kept running at Zero. Zero did not relent however, as he just kept firing shot after shot after shot at the huge maniac in front of him, he collapsed when he was a mere metre away from Zero.
Zero had wasted his ammo on him, he was now empty and had to rely soley on his sword. He progressed further along the walkway, encountering no more Psychos or bandits. He came upon another small slope leading into the largest part of the camp, he scanned the area, hoping that more bandits would appear and shoot at him. But he was again denied of a challenge.
'Perhaps fate is letting me walk straight to the Firehawk. Straight to my desires.' Zero thought as he began walking into the centre of the camp, no more bandits were there but it wasn't that there were none visible, it's that there were none alive.
They were all laying in pools of blood and stacked in a small pile at the end of the camp, near the entrance to yet another small cave. He wondered who could do this, and still have the time to stack them like this pyramid.
'The firehawk. She is close. Quickly, into the cave' Zero began commanding himself, becoming a small bit excited at the thoughts of the intense battle he could have with this siren. 'How difficult will she make it? Maybe she will even manage to injure me. Who knows?'
Zero began to pick up the speed at the thoughts, breaking into an all out sprint until he reached the end of the cave tunnel, he looked ahead of him now, a steel beam across a ten foot gap, and a fall to spikes of metal.
'Balancing acts? Very well Firehawk' Zero just walked across the steel beam, not even needing to slow down, however he remained cautious just in case. He had to cross another steel beam over another spike pit before he came across another small tunnel, at the end there was a half open blast door, as if it was frozen there.
Zero approached the door and slid under it, as he was six feet and nine inches, he had to lower himself a small bit. He came upon more vending machines and there, It caught his eye, a flash of purple that was synonymous with the sirens. Zero bolted out into the opening where the flash was, he was on a metal walkway and metal stairs at the end led up to a main platform, and two other platforms branched off from it, the main platform had screens on it with live camera feeds and the back platform, opposite where Zero currently was looked to hold a bed and a small fire pit for warmth, the other platform, to Zeros left held containers which were likely ammo supplies.
Zeros attention was quickly drawn to a second flash of purple, the siren was fighting more of the tattoed Marauders and Psychos, she looked to be holding her own too, although small cuts told him she was faltering and becoming tired, which suggests a lengthy fight has been going on for some time. He then heard her begin to taunt them.
"For bad guys, you guys suck!" Zero noted her voice. Soft, even in the midst of combat, although it was raised to a more violent way right now. It intrigued him.
Zero unsheathed his blade when he saw the bandits were all gone, although probably not for long. He quickly and silently made his way along the walkway, got up the stairs and spotted the siren hunched over, staggering towards some metal safe at the top platform and clutching her stomach, Zero felt a smirk wash over his lips, she looks to be tired, he began to stalk her, silently taking one step for every two she took, her steps were small and frantic he noticed.
Zero got right behind her, now inches away from her and drew his arm back, ready to plunge his blade into her head when he felt hesitation.
For the first time in his life, he hesitated to kill a target. He then was alerted to an explosion coming from the other platform, the left platform. The siren bowed her head down to the ground and muttered quietly.
"They got another way in. Fuck." She began to turn around slowly. Zero darted back down the stairs and hid under them, his sleek figure and blakc suit helping him melt into a shadow. He saw two marauders and a Psycho walk casually above him, up the stairs and towards the siren. He heard one cock their rifle.
'I won't allow this.' Was his only thought as he came out from under the stairs and walked silently up them, getting behind the trio of bandits, no guns were raised at her, however one was speaking to her threateningly.
"Not so tough now, are ya sweetie? I think the boys are gunna enjoy having you with us." Zero heard him say darkly, obvious implications being of sexual desires.
Zero grabbed the Psycho by the back of his neck and tossed him over the ralings, a good forty foot drop on to more spikes. The two marauders turned around and tried to fire at him, he swung his blade horizontally at them, decapitating both of them. They both fell lifelessly to the ground and he stared at the siren, blade remaining in hand. She looked to be shocked.
'Not an unexpected reaction, I did just prolong her life for another few seconds.' Zero thought to himself as he stared at her.
"Wha-Who are you? What are you doin here?" She asked, trying to remain threatening, Zero was not fooled by her tone.
"I am here for you." He said, one vague sentence yet so much meaning to her, she had a look of rage wash over her as she replied.
"Look, if you're one of them" She gestured stiffly to the marauders. "I'll melt your brain, understand me?!" She shouted, Zero sighed.
'Stubborn woman'
"I'm here for money/Your life is needed for pay/Do not struggle, girl" He realised he has just annoyed her with this, as she stood up he quickly analysed her injuries.
'Cuts along stomach and face, arms worn out and tired, rage currently being felt.' He thought.
"Your collectin money on me?! Fuckin try me fly bo-" Zero cut her off by grabbing her by the throat, tightening his grip he lifted her off the ground and stared into her eyes. Normally where he'd see fear and a look of plea, he saw determination and rage, accompanied by some shock.
'Respectable, but it will not save you'
He tossed her against the fire pit, so her back collided with the concrete sides of it, he opened the crate next him and pulled a line of sniper ammo out. She was dazed from the head injury and fight from before, so she couldn't run at him, or even fight at all. He sheathed his blade and pulled his Jakobs rifle out, normally he would cut her throat but he was angered. Rage filled.
'Firehawk? A challenge? I will tear the Hyperion corporation down myself for promising such bullshit!' His thoughts screamed. He loaded the rifle and aimed down the sights at her, he was zoomed out to a four times zoom, he could see the snowy background which was slightly calming.
Until a small glint.
Zero instantly recognised it and drew his rifle up towards the source and away from her, he fired a shot at the light.
He missed their head but hit the shoulder and saw them collapse back, before he could pull the bolt back and end them properly, another jumped down from the open ceiling above him and knocked the rifle from his hands, slashing a small knife at him. He ducked it, barely, and sweeped the legs of the assailant. He unsheathed his katana again and swung at them and missed as they rolled away from him, he cought their arm as they tried to roll again.
The assailant got to their feet after escaping Zeros grasp and rushed the siren, Zero quickly rose up and grabbed their baggy jacket by the hood, pulling them back. They raised their leg after being pulled back and caught Zero in the gut, he grunted as he doubled over and reached for his rifle. He grabbed the sniper and held it with his left hand, aimed at the snowy wasteland where the other one was and after a split second glance down the scope, he fired, nailing them in the head as they had just gotten on their feet.
The other rushed him as they noticed his head had turned to glance down the scope and he slashed his blade at them with his right arm, almost effortlessly cutting their chest and making them reel back.
Zero dropped the rifle and lunged at them, slicing their head off completely. He looked back at the siren, making sure she hadn't made a run for it, he saw she was only frozen there, exactly where she had landed from Zeros throw.
Zero began assessing the body of this would-be assassin, after he knew the siren couldn't move much. He saw they had a 'H' on their jackets chest, and the jacket itself was yellow, telling Zero it was from Hyperion, their trousers were black and boots were black also.
"Poor apparell choice/Lead to your deserving death/Leave my hits alone" He haikued and looked at the head, which had rolled down the stairs, it had a face bandana and goggles on.
'Pathetic' Zero thought as he walked towards it and picked it up, tossing the head over the edge, he walked back up the stairs to see the siren sitting on her bed, still clutching her stomach. He picked the assassins body up and threw it over the railing too.
He then drew his attention back to her, and approached her with his blade out. He got in front of her and stared down at her, she looked back up at him.
"Look, if you're gunna kill me, just do it fast, alright?" She asked. A final request. Zero was again hesitating this kill.
'One should never have the misfortune of hearing a siren beg to die fast.' He thought, he didn't know why he thought this but he listened to his thoughts, they never let him down before.
"No." She flinched at his response.
"What? Why not? Just kill me fas-" He cut her off.
"I will not kill you." She now straightened her back, he noticed she had tensed as well.
"Why? It's your 'job', I'm just worth an extra buck." She spoke sadly, Zero however felt nothing at her sadness, he did however feel something at her words.
"Hyperion wants you/They want you dead for money/I was going to." She looked at him, her sad expression changing to one of questionning. He continued.
"I have chosen no/Hyperion sends others/A greater challenge." Now she looked confused.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"A greater challenge/Is to fight all assassins/Rather than one you."
"You saying I'm not 'challenging enough?!"
"Not as challenging as a hundred assassins." Zero closed their conversation and sat next to her on the bed, staring at the fire. He could feel her eyes boring into his head.
"What is it?" He asked.
"You're an assassin, right?"
"Yes."
"So instead of killing your target, you kill other assassins?"
"Yes." He reponded, still as robotically as ever.
"Why?" She asked.
"The challenge." Was all he said.
"What?"
"The challe-"
"I got that, why for a challenge?"
"Satisfying kills/Are those that fight for their lives/And they will fight well."
"And that's what you want? Someone skilled to fight?"
"Yes."
She reamined silent at this, as if processing his answers.
"Why me then? Why not some other poor bastard?"
"..." He couldn't answer, why did he choose her? There were others, why her?
"You...were the closest." He lied, he thought of something on the spot and hoped it would work.
"I...guess that makes sense. So where are you going now?"
His response was to look at her and display an emoticon '?'
"You can't really stay here." She said.
"Why?"
"I don't want an assassin to share my living space with."
"I will not kill you."
"I don't know that."
"Then why not trust me?/I have already saved you/Twice for that matter."
"...true, but I don't know you."
"That's a good thing."
"It would help if I did." She pushed further, trying to get off of the bed, but collapsing on the floor. Zero stood up and walked to her, he put her arms around his neck and used his other arm to hook under her legs as he lifted her back on to the bed.
"I am dangerous/Skilled in many arts to kill/Most are silently." He haikued as he stood back, he saw the look of thought hit her.
"Alright, so you're the sneaky type?"
"Yes."
"Wha is it yo-" Zero cut her off.
"Tell me please Lilith/What is it you struggle for?/In the metal safe."
"How do you know my name?"
"Contract."
"Oh yeah. And umm about the safe...I need the eridium chunk that's inside, siren powers, you know."
"I see, shall I retrieve it?"
"Yeah, um, thanks? It's up there" She lazily pointed, the fatigue making it's way into her voice as well as her actions.
Zero got up and went to the small metal box, picking up his rifle on the way. He opened it and saw the small chunk of purple rock. He put it in the palm of his four-fingered hand and examined it, such a rare element, priceless as a chunk as small as this, yet fuel to the sirens.
Zero walked back to Lilith and heanded her the small rock, her hand began to absorb the small chunk and she flared in a purple colour for a few seconds, Zero had to avert his eyes due to the brightness of it.
When Zero looked back she looked fine, energetic and ready for murder.
"Are you feeling better?" He asked her.
She shot him an intimidating glare, which even made him go on edge a small bit.
"Oh I'm feeling a LOT better, thanks." Zero looked around her platforms as she began to walk off towards the exit, filled with some kind of new energy. She turned and looked at him.
"I'm going hunting, make yourself at home...seeing as your stayin." She said, rather chipperly.
'Maybe the eridium is like crack-cocaine for the sirens.' He thought, amused. He just raised his hand, waving her off.
As soon as she left the cave, Zero ran to the railings that looked out into the snowy wastes, he equipped his sniper and set the zoom to a twenty times magnification. He scanned for the other body and saw it under a small pile of snow and it had the same clothing as the other assassin. He was not happy that Jack may now know where he is, as well as Lilith. But at least the Crimson Lance hadn't followed him. He sighed.
"What have I started?/The siren may think I'm safe/She hasn't a clue" He audibly said to himself.
'She's dangerous too, likely more so if her powers are any consollation'
"She isn't" He spoke aloud.
'I said likely, not for certain.'
Zero walked to her bed and sat down on it, staring out at the wall. He sat like that for hours. He was thinking about leaving again, just abandoning this place and searching for another area entirely. He shook those thoughts out however, as he still had a job to do.
'Hyperion will fall like many before it, and I will be the one to do it.' Zero thought.
5 HOURS LATER
Zero was standing aginst the railing, his back towards the snowy wastes and he was facing the door, looking for any sign of intrusion. He had moved from the bed after he heard psychotic wails and gunfire that sounded close, but turned out to be nothing more than a Psycho killing himself.
Finally, Lilith came back in, covered in blood and pieces of bandits clothing.
"Did you enjoy the hunt?" Zero asked her as she walked up towards her bedding platform and collapsed on to her bed again.
"I *Pant* think it *Pant* Could have gone *Pant* Better." She spoke out in between breaths. Zero stared at her.
"I see, issues arised?" He asked.
"Yeah, more of the *pant* assassins." She panted out, Zero stood in front of her now, not that she noticed as she was face down on her bed.
"Where? How many? Are they dead?"
"Jeez what's with the questions?And yeah, my...err...followers got all six of them."
"You have followers? The bandits and the madmen, they're your followers?" Zero felt comfortable speaking in his old haiku. But she requested no more of it and it would make his life easier if he let her have her way...some times. Zero thought more on the assassins.
'Six? Jack is getting impatient, relocation is required.'
She looked at him, as if saying 'Really?' to his haiku.
"Yeah, they're like my own little cult. They think I'm a god or something."
"We're moving." Zero grabbed her arm and pulled her from the bed. She yelped at the sudden contact and being dragged from her bed.
"GET OFF ME!" She screamed, Zero did as she wanted however, and dropped her arm to the ground where she was. She looked at him with rage filled eyes.
"What. Do you think. You are doing?" She asked, getting up and threateningly stepping towards him, he didn't move however.
"Jack wants you dead now/Impatience is visible/He will not relent."
"And so we're running?" She asked skeptically.
"No, finding better accomodation." Zero countered, although it could be seen as both running and finding a better safeplace.
"Look, if you're so worried, we can go to Sanctuary, that seem fair?"
"What is this...'Sanctuary'?" Zero asked uncertainly.
"It's where the anti-Hyperion resistance is, I have a lot of close friends there, and it's out of the reach of Hyperion assassins."
"Optimal location, if the information is correct. We should set out at once." Zero went for the exit of the cave when Lilith stopped him.
"Hey, there is no need to walk, I can take us." She said confidently.
"The Fast Travel is within walking di-" She cut him off, something he wasn't too pleased with.
"I meant more I can phase us there, I am a siren after all."
"No." Zero said, Lilith had a grin on her face now.
"What? Scared of a little radiation?"
"No."
"Then what is it? It's the fastest way there and we don't need to use Hyperion ways of getting there."
"..." Was Zeros only response. He didn't know what it was.
"I...very well, we can use your way." Zero said, voice faltering slightly at the end. He hoped she didn't notice. But she had.
'Curses.'
"Awww, the big ba..." Her voice trailed off as he walked back to her, towering over her. She stared at his faceplate, he had no idea why she had stopped mid sentence.
"Is there something wrong? I assumed we'd be leaving now." Zero said, as if not knowing just how intimidating he was up close. Lilith let out an audible sigh and grabbed Zeros arm.
His initial reaction would be to twist it and snap it out of the socket, but he stopped himself. He, for some strange reason, trusted her and locked his hand around her wrist.
"Alright, hold your breath." Zero did as he was told and held his breath. He closed his eyes and tensed up, locking a death grip around Liliths wrist.
After a few seconds and a lack of burning sensation, he opened his eyes, thankfully not being blinded by the sirens purple blast. He stared at his surroundings, he was in a small room with a command table in the centre. His attention was drawn to a clawing sensation at his hand, he then realised he was cutting off her circulation she was trying to make him let go. So he let go.
"Apologies, first time experience, adrenaline fills me." Zero spoke out.
"Hey, it's fine." She said in an amused tone. She then gestured towards the room which Zero was now scanning properly.
"This is our little HQ, Crimson Raiders base of operations. Sanctuary." She introduced dramatically.
Zero was not paying attention, he was busy looking around the room. The table had a map of the planet on it and some green locaations and red locations. He looked at tyhe walls of the room, they were littered with wanted posters. He recognised the other Vault Hunters' faces on them.
Maya-Siren, $720,000,000,000
Axton-War crimes-$5,000,000,000
Salvador-Trespassing, Public indecency, Profanity, Vandalism, Arson, Manslaughter, Theft, Cannibalism-$99,000,000,000.99
Zero-Political assassination-$32,000,000,000
Gaige-Creation of unauthorised technology, Excessive adorability-$820,000,000,000
He was drawn to the small mscled midget, Salvadors poster. He has done a lot of things in his past. Zero chuckled at the ludicrous amount that was offered for him.
Lilith saw the posters and walked over to them, she took each of the posters down and approached Zero, she must have seen him looking at them for quite some time.
She held them out to him, she asked him.
"You know these guys?"
"Yes. Survived on a small glacier, I left them."
She looked at him, tilting her head questionningly.
"Why'd you leave them? They could have helped us stop Jack."
"Doubtful, none except the siren had any real abilities or skills. Maybe the soldier, but I chose not to stay." Zero was finished talking, he walked to the end of the room where a small balcony was and looked upon the stingy town that was Sanctuary. Spire in the middle surrounded by benches, a Fast Travel next to the spire in a small building. A garage to the right of this apparent 'HQ' and a large amount of vending machines. So dull.
Zero sighed and walked back into the room with the table, he noticed Lilith standing at the doorway talking to someone.
'Obvious male, deep voice. Friendly and close. Perhaps this 'Close friend' she mentioned earlier?'
Zero pondered the thought before the man in question came into the room to see Zero. Zero quickly looked him over.
Grey shirt, a pullover and it was tight, showing off his muscles. He had grey combat trousers and black knee-pads and boots.
"You're the one who helped Lilith?" He asked, a commanding voice but not a demanding one. A strong leader was Zeros first impression.
He nodded his head, yes.
"Well, on behalf of the Crimson Raiders, thank you. She is a strong unit for us and a good fighter, helluva job taking on two assassins at once." Zero just stared at him, the man looked to be around Axtons height, maybe an inch taller.
"Anyway, I can tell you're not much for talkin, so I'll go for introductions. Names Roland, Ex Crimson Lance, you are...?" He waited for Zero to respond.
He jast emoted a red, digital '0'.
"Zero?"
"Yes." His mechanised voice intrigued the Ex-Lanceman further, Zero could see him deep in thought. He then picked up the wanted posters that Lilith had sat on the table, flicking through each of them.
"An assassin?"
"Yes."
"Who are you here for?"
"If I wanted anyone here, I would have taken them before you walked through that door."
Roland tensed, as if now expecting Zero to attack him.
"Well, what are you doin here then?" Lilith interrupted Zero before he started.
"He's here with me, I offered him a place in the Raiders."
"And you didn't think to run it past me first?" Roland responded, annoying Zero slightly. 'Why should a SIREN run it past you first?' He thought with slight disgust.
"Look, he saved my ass from two Hyperion assassins, I trust him a small bit, okay?"
"*Sigh* Fine, we can't risk any assassins in the ranks, he could be with Jack for all we know. But I'll allow it, if he can prove himself." Roland then faced the, now intrigued assassin.
"Zero? I got a job for you." Zero nodded the man to continue.
"We have four Hyperion assassins, hiding out at a small station in three-horns. We need them dealtwith so Lilith can go about more freely dealing with the Bloodshots."
"And I am going alone? Excellent, a true test of skill."
"Uhhh...yeah, call it that, it's a big priority so we need it done quickly."
"Series of swift kills/A test against assassins/I need the challenge."
"Sure, here's all the info you need." Roland handed Zero his echo and Zero connected it to his, taking the contracts on them and handing the echo back.
"Oh and Zero?" Roland asked as Zero was about to leave. Zero looked at him.
"Make sure they stay dead, they're really dangerous people."
Zero emoted a ':)' As he said.
"Excellent." And nodded to Roland, before jumping off the balcony and landing on the street below, it was only a small eight foot drop and proceeded towards the Fast Travel.
"Lil'. He's a creepy guy, keep an eye on him." Roland asked her. She nodded, half heartedly, her mind somewhere else. She, unlike Zero, knew how dangerous these assassins were, and she knew that even Zero probably can't handle them. She walked out of the HQ and proceeded towards the Fast Travle too. Instead of punching in the co-ords for Frostburn however, she typed in the co-ordinates for Three Horns Valley.
She was going after him.
A/N: That took longer than it should have to type up, to anyone who reads these A.N's, please leave a review!