"Why am I doing this?"

"I told you, Moxxi doesn't trust Jack."

"Yeah, but why me? Couldn't you have gotten Mordecai to do it?"

"He's refusing to talk to Moxxi."

"Yeah," Ruby muttered under her breath, spinning the wheel on her modified truck, ignoring the sickening crunch as a Skag went under the wheels "That's what happens when you ditch someone for an egotist. I mean really," she slapped the envelope holding her "team's" information, "why does the head of a space station out in the Borderlands need a body double? Why the hell does Hyperion even need a space station around Pandora? The Vault was a pointless endeavor."

"Besides," Roland's voice continued over the ECHO, unaware of Ruby's irritated grumbling, "weren't you complaining about being bored guarding New Haven? Think of this as a vacation. Me and Lilith are going on one."

Ruby looked to the side, watching the bandit technical pull up, one of the inhabitants making a gesture.

"Give me a second, Roland. I have to deal with something."

Ruby grabbed her modded Unforgiven Masher, bracing her left arm on the corner of the window.

*BANG*

One of the wheels exploded, sending the technical flipping.

Ruby turned into the Catch-A-Ride, letting her truck disappear as she slid on the modified Crimson Lance helmet and started to walk to her destination.

Hitting a button, Ruby watched the HUD flicker on. She waited a second, before the ECHO device implanted at the base of her skull hooked up to it. Looking in the corner, Ruby checked the time.

Five in the morning, normally, she would still be dead to the world.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"So, why do I have to wear this stupid getup?"

The coat lashed around her legs, her gloves were too tight, as were the bindings used to make her appear androgynous, and the air coming through her rebreather/O2 kit was stale.

It sucked, she wanted to be back in her normal outfit.

"We don't need anyone finding out we got two Sirens."

"Yeah," Ruby scratched the Eridian tattoos coating her left side, Steele and the Vault's last 'gift', they still caused her occasional pain, "Right, I won't be able to talk for a bit, someone is taking care of Drei until I get back, right?"

"Of course."

"And make sure Marcus doesn't steal Crescent Rose."

"Of course."

"Thanks."

"Ruby," Roland's voice was serious, "Good luck. Don't die out there."

"I won't."

Ruby hit a button on the ECHO, letting the voice modulator active as she walked to the Hyperion station. She also stored the backpack full of rations (and a disappointing lack of sugary goods) in her Storage Deck.

The group of six men, women and robots turned as she walked in, all except one reaching for a gun.

Athena, Wilhelm, Nisha, "Jack", a CL4P-TP unit, and-

"Who are you," The fake voice was rough and demanding, turning her normally personable tone into that of a stone cold killer.

Someone had been watching too many bad vids on the ECHO-net when they designed this outfit.

"I," the woman spoke haughtily, "am Lady Aurelia Hammerlock, and you are?"

The fake name for this job popped up in the corner, and the Mercenary turned Bounty Hunter turned Vault Hunter turned… whatever she was now resisted the urge to groan aloud.

Really? That's what the were going with? She'd blame it on Brick, but living next to the guy had made it clear that despite his love of violence, he was one of the more sane members of their little family. Certainly better than Mordy on one of his increasingly common benders.

"Stone Slate."

Could they be more obvious about it being a fake name?

Ruby stepped forward, holding her right hand out to the body double.

"Jack. Pleasure to finally meet you."

The double's eyes widened, before he coughed into his hand, "Uh, very nice to meet you, Slate. The rocket should be here soon, and we can make our way to Helios."

Ruby walked to the side, taking deliberately heavy steps as she got into character.

"Wake me when it does."

-X LINE BREAK X-

Timothy watched as the mercenary his boss had hired fired his gun.

It was, quite frankly, massive, and he was slinging it around like it was nothing.

Two Bandits got too close and both collapsed, holes gouging through their heads.

What was he doing here? He was an actor, not a fighter. Certainly not a badass, like any of the mercenaries.

Even the Claptrap was doing better than he was, and Timothy was aware of how badly that reflected on him.

The body double shot at one of the bandits, the gun missing again.

"Hey."

Tim looked over to where the robotic voice came, and caught the pistol tossed at him.

"What?"

"Don't use that," Slate pointed at the Hyperion pistol in Tim's left hand, casually shooting another bandit through the skull while he did so.

"This is a Hyperion gun, designed-"

"By some idiots who doesn't know how to design a gun," another shot, "That, is an old Hyperion, they're good guns. Accurate."

"He's right," Nisha didn't look away, shooting four bandits in the head, "but I'm curious, how many times have you been around the block, Slate? There were four Unforgiven on Pandora, and old Hyperion are starting to be a rarity."

Tim looked down at the pistol, it was rare? And Slate was just giving it away?

"I've been in the Borderlands since I was fifteen, been on Pandora since the end of last spring."

Nisha made a noise of recognition, "Home sweet home, eh?"

"I could think of somewhere I'd rather be, but can't," the clipped answer came.

Athena gave a grunt of agreement, swinging her swords through the throat of a bandit.

"Isn't, uh, isn't a season not that long?" Tim asked, aiming the gun at a bandit.

"You're new to Pandora, aren't you, pretty boy? It's a Death World. Ninety hour days and a ten earth year orbit. Seasons go on for two and a half earth years, and we're about to enter spring."

That sounded miserable.

Pulling the trigger, and appreciating the lack of sway, Tim watched as the bandit collapsed, a hole in his chest.

Oh, Christ. He could see the blood gathering in the hole. Oh, Christ, Christ, Christ-

"Hey," Wilhelm grabbed him by the arm, "Don't freak out on us now, just because you-"

Warning lights lit up, and Slate growled, the electronic voice dropping to an inhuman pitch.

"This is gonna suck..."

The rocket shook, sending everyone floating in the air.

Timothy closed his eyes, bracing for his death, and wished he had never agreed to this.

-X LINE BREAK X-

Then the ship smashed into something.

Ruby staggered out of the back half of the fuselage, hitting the button on the side of the helmet to unlock it.

Yanking it off, the Vault Hunter gasped for 'fresh' air.

"I miss Pandora already…"

At least the planet had an actual atmosphere, Ruby had spent too much time on ships and moons in the first four years of her travels. Compressed air always made her a bit sick.

"He- Hey! Help! Oh, God. Oh, dammit."

Ruby staggered over to where the body double was stuck, his arm pinned by one of the ship's tailfins. Blood was covering part of it.

"You alright, Jack?"

"Wha- who are you? Wait," Ruby froze as she felt the helmet in her hand. Stupid. A rookie mistake, "Slate? You're a chick?"

"And you aren't Jack," Ruby responded the still active voice modulator making it harsh, heart pumping as she wrapped her hand around her Unforgiven Masher, "Right, Mr. Body Double?"

"I, uh, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm the real Jack!"

Ruby cocked back the hammer, pointing the gun at his skull.

"Whoa, what are you doing, Slate!?"

"Here's the deal, Mr. Body Double, and I know you are one, you agree to not blow my cover, and I don't blow your brains across that ship.

"Hal-"

Ruby shifted her hand half an inch to the left, tearing through the Dahl soldier's shield, and throat, in a single shot.

"Deal?"

"Ok! Ok!"

"Good. Now, let's get you out of there."

Ruby crouched beside him to examine the arm.

Ruby didn't like playing the asshole, but had given up her goal to be a hero long ago. In the Borderlands, there was no such thing.

"So, uh, is Stone your real name?"

"Of course it isn't," Ruby scoffed, poking the arm, "who names their kid Stone Slate?"

"Someone might. So, what's your real name?"

"Ruby. Ruby Rose."

Ruby glanced up as Body Double covered his mouth, "What?"

"Really? You complain about Stone Slate when your name is Ruby Rose?"

"There's nothing wrong with my name," Ruby grumbled, poking his arm again. Nothing.

"No, seriously, who names their kid Ruby Rose?"

"My mom."

"Really? What's her name, Red Rose?"

"Summer, she's dead."

"Oh. Shit, I'm sorry."

"Whatever," Ruby brushed him off, "bite this."

Ruby shoved a digistructed block in Body Double's mouth, waiting for the plasma knife she had nicked from Knoxx's armory to heat up.

"Whut ah oh ohing?"

Once the blade was glowing hot, Ruby swung it through Body's arm.

He screamed into the block, pulling back the cauterized arm back.

Ruby grabbed it, firmly but gently, and started to wrap a bandage around the stump.

"You, you just took off my arm!"

"It was already dead," Ruby answered flippantly, amputations were common in the Borderlands, "I just took it off in a way that you can get a cybernetic one later."

"I don't want a cybernetic!"

"Why not? Even the crappiest one could be used to break a Psycho's skull in a pinch."

"Why would I want to do that!?"

"The fact that you need to ask that, makes me extremely disappointed in you," Ruby reached down, pulling Body up, "Come on, Body Double. Grab your gun, we're moving."

"I'm not a fighter! I'm just an actor with student debt! I'm not a killer like you!"

"Well, that's really too bad," Ruby snarked, ignoring the sting at his comment, "We're all-"

"This base belongs to the Lost Legion! Drop your guns and-"

Ruby fired her gun twice, and two of the three of the soldiers collapsed, before running out.

A muttered curse, and Ruby pulled out a speedloader as the survivor lifted his rifle.

A bang came from behind her, and the last soldier collapsed.

Ruby turned, smiling at him, "Looks like you're more like us than you thought, Killer."

"I have a name."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Timothy Lawrence," Timothy's eyes widened, "but, uh, you can't tell anyone!"

"Alright, but you can't tell anyone that Stone Slate is a girl named Ruby Rose. Come on, let's find a medical vendor and patch you up, Killer."

-X LINE BREAK X-

Timothy followed behind Slate- er, Ruby, cradling his new stump to his chest.

Well, this fucking sucked.

Seriously, he hadn't been on Pandora for a day, and he had already been shot at, nearly blown up, lost an arm, and killed two people.

'Looks like you're more like us than you thought.'

Oh, and he had met a pretty girl who could probably kill him thirty times before he could blink.

Ruby shot another Dahl soldier, the legionnaire collapsed without a sound.

"So, uh, what were you doing on Pandora?"

"What do you care?" the heartless voice responded.

"I'm just curious, and can you turn off that voice thing until we find the rest? It's not like it's helping."

Ruby hit a button on the helmet, "better?" she had a cheerful voice, unlike the robotic monotone of Slate.

"Yeah, so?"

Ruby shrugged, "What's anyone doing on Pandora? We have nowhere else to go."

"What do you mean?"

Ruby laughed, "You didn't do any research before you came here, did you, Killer?"

"Uh, no?"

"Everyone who came to Pandora came for one of three reasons, they're criminals, they came with one of the companies, or they're Vault Hunters."

"Which were you?"

"I was a bounty hunter at the time, came hunting for a bandit lord and never left. There was plenty of work here."

Ruby stopped in front of a vending machine with a stylized image of a woman winking and holding a syringe.

"There isn't work now?"

"Oh, there is, I just don't need it."

"Why's that?"

"I'm rich."

Timothy rolled his eyes, yeah right. Why would someone rich be here getting shot at, instead of off planet?

"How'd that happen?"

"Went hunting for a AWOL Atlas soldier, got tied up in the Vault Hunt instead. Catch."

Ruby threw a syringe at him, filled with a deep red liquid.

"What's this?"

"It forces cell division in damaged areas or something, I don't know, I'm not a doctor. It won't regrow your arm, but it will heal the burns while I get you a prosthetic."

"Uh…"

"What?"

"I don't like needles," Timothy held the syringe away from his body, eyeing the hypodermic needle at the end.

"Oh, for God's sake," Ruby grabbed the needle from his hand, latching on to his handless arm, "stand still, you baby."

"He- Hey! Let me go!"

Ruby drove the needle into his arm, pressing down the plunger.

"There, now let it do the work while I finish this," Ruby turned back to the machine, hitting a series of buttons on the holographic display.

Timothy felt a wave of vertigo wash over him, sliding down next to the console.

"So, you said you got involved in the Vault Hunt, what is the Vault? I know Jack's dragged us into looking for one, but I don't really know what one is."

"You grew up on a Inner World, didn't you, Killer?"

"Uh… Eden-4."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. The Vault was a legend in the Borderlands. We knew it existed, but we didn't know what was in it, so everyone made their own stories. Weapons, money, power, women. You name it, the Vault would supposedly give it to you."

"And you helped open it?"

"Yep."

"What was in it?"

"Tentacles. Tentacles and disappointment."

"Uh… what?"

"There was some interdimensional monster in it, we shot it till it died and dropped a bunch of crappy guns. End of story."

Ruby had started to fiddle with something that had dropped into her hands.

"Then how'd you get rich?"

"We fought a lot of people and took their stuff, running Atlas off Pandora let us grab a bunch of their experimental gear and Eridian tech and sell it on the black market. Need a hand?"

Ruby turned, holding out a cybernetic hand.

After a brief moment her voice came over the speakers, "Sorry, was that pun bad? My sister loved them."

Oh Jesus.

"No, no it was fine!"

God, she was cute.

Why were the cute ones always either out of his league, or completely insane?

Ruby crouched down, unwrapping the bandages and sliding the hand over his arm.

After a moment, and a prick of pain, Tim felt his hand.

"What- I can feel?"

"It's an advanced model, has feeling, a layer that feels like skin, and a SD that can hold one blueprint. I'd suggest getting a Tediore weapon. It's what I do."

"I… I can't take this!"

"Why not?"

"It has to have cost a ton!"

"So? I don't use my money, and you'll be useless with one arm, and I know this is a good model. Besides, I might not be a hero, but that doesn't mean I can't help people."

"But, but-"

"-gotta get into a moonshot container."

Ruby hit the button again, and Stone Slate stood up as the elevator rose.

The rest of their team walked in, following the man Tim was made to look like.

"Hey! You're the other two I sent for! We were sure you were dead! Alright, in the Moonshot cannon, we need to get out of here," Jack walked passed them, typing on the controls.

Moonshot? Tim turned his head to look at the massive indent in the wall, shaped like a bullet...

"You want us to get into that!?"

"'Everything is air-droppable at least once,'" Ruby and Wilhelm chorused.

Then they fist bumped.

"Alright, we should land within ten kilometers of Concordia. Everyone get in before they find us!"

-X LINE BREAK X-

"This is embarrassing. Stand up, Killer."

Ruby stared down, where Timothy was clinging to her leg, screaming in fear.

She would admit, she hadn't expected to be shot out of a giant gun when she got roped into this.

This was fun.

God, when had she became like Yang?

"Jeez, this is my body double? Kinda embarrassing."

"He's got it when it counts."

"Yeah, but look at him, he's clinging to your leg like a child!"

Everyone sat in silence, only broken by the rattling of the crate and Timothy's whimpers of fear.

"Hey, Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"I just thought of something," Wilhelm glanced at the rapidly approaching surface of Elpis, looking surprisingly worried.

"What's that?"

"Isn't Elpis's atmosphere almost completely devoid of oxygen?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Then, uh, how are we supposed to breath? Only Slate has a rebreather."

…

"Ah, crap."

"Well," Nisha said, "you have to admit, if we're going to die, there are worse ways to go than being fired out of a giant gun to the surface of a moon."

Timothy whimpered louder.

"We're not going to die here, Killer. Up you go," Ruby reached down, yanking the actor up by the collar.

"Why do you call him that?"

"I need some way to let the two Jacks know who I'm talking to."

"Impact in three," Athena reached up, grabbing one of the metal bars on the ceiling, eyes locked ahead.

"Two."

The Claptrap pulled itself into a box.

"One."

Everyone else tensed.

Once the crash was finished, Athena, Wilhelm, and Ruby were the first ones up, years of mercenary work paying off. Nisha and Claptrap came up shortly after, with Hammerlock and the Jacks lying on the floor.

"Alright, open the damn door and make a break for the nearest artificial atmosphere."

"Wow," one of the two Jacks said, standing, before turning to aid Aurelia up, "You are incredibly pissy."

"I got up at 0300 PMT to drive to this job, it is currently," Ruby checked her HUD for the time, "1045. In that time I have been on the wrong side of an explosion, shot at more times than I can count, had to perform an impromptu amputation, was launched out of a canon, we're all probably going to die from asphyxiation, and I still haven't had anything with sugar in it. Excuse me for being a little grumpy."

"You have a rebreather, you'll be fine."

"So will I," Claptrap jumped into the air, waving a hand.

That caused everyone to groan.

"There's a right side of an explosion?" Floor Jack groaned out, pushing himself into sitting position.

"Yeah, but with him," Ruby pointed at the Jack sitting there, "dead, I'm going to be stuck on Elpis."

"That's the body double."

Ruby moved her finger to other Jack.

A knocking came from the door, and everyone (except Timothy) promptly aimed their guns at it.

Ruby took a quick look around, letting her ECHO register her allies' primary weapons, fixing the mistake she had made on the rocket. Nisha had a pair of uncommon Dahl Laws, Wilhelm had a rare shock Vladof Guerrilla, Athena had a rare Atlas rifle, Claptrap had a common Transmurdera, and Aurelia had a custom made Jakobs sniper rifle.

"Hello? Hello? Hello, thought you might be salvage. You're about to die."

Ruby knocked back, "Is there an oxygen bubble near by?"

"Yeah, if you open the door, I can show your friends to it."

"Uh," Timothy spoke from the floor, "are we sure this is a good-"

Ruby shared a look with Athena and Wilhelm, and at their nods, did what any self respecting mercenary would do. She punched the release button.

The door flung itself open, and each of them grabbed one of the less experienced members of their team. Ruby scooped Timothy into her arms, Athena threw Aurelia into a fireman's carry, and Wilhelm threw Jack over one shoulder.

Then they ran after the girl, trusting Nisha and Claptrap to keep up with them.

Ruby used her Semblance to move as quickly as possible without giving away her powers.

After the girl went over the ledge, a blue bubble went up, and Ruby lept into it.

Everyone took a few seconds of breath, before the girl, who had to be a couple years younger than Ruby, pointed at a building. Ruby nodded, and they followed her.

Once they were in the building, Ruby dropped Timothy, walking to the lower level, and undid the rebreather for a moment, letting the artificial atmosphere fill her lungs. upstairs she could hear everyone hacking for air.

After a moment, Ruby spoke, the modulator still distorting her voice to that of Stone Slate, "did we lose anyone?"

"No," Wilhelm regained his breath first, "Everyone made it. Hammerlock is out though."

"Thank God for small miracles," Ruby muttered, "Hey! What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Janey!"

"Nice to meet you," Ruby responded sincerely.

People who didn't want you dead for some reason were on short supply in the Borderlands. People who went out of their way to save your life were even rarer.

"Nice to meet you too, so, who are you all?"

"I'm Stone."

"Athena."

"Wilhelm."

"Nisha."

"I'm the prototype combat unit FR4G-"

"Nobody cares, I'm Jack."

"So am I," the other Jack, probably Timothy, wheezed out.

"You're parents named you the same thing?"

"They were uncreative," Ruby supplied, "Hey, Janey, do you have any O2 kits?"

"Oh? Yeah, there's some broken ones in the building just over that ridge. If you get them, I can fix them up real quick."

Ruby slotted the rebreather over her mouth, "Claptrap, come on."

"What? Where are we going?"

"To grab those O2 kits, what else? We're the only ones who can leave this place without slowly dying. Everyone else can fill Janey in."

Ruby flicked open the Unforgiven Masher, loading a new speedloader as she stepped out of the building with Claptrap.

Once they were far enough from the base, Ruby mumbled out a question.

"So, FR4G? Frag?"

"FR4G-TP," the robot answered, "I'm a Fragtrap unit, but everyone still calls me Claptrap."

"Do you want to be called Fragtrap?"

"No."

"Ok."

They walked further along, and looked passed the river of lava at Pandora, the scar from the Vault glowing purple.

"Wow."

"Sometimes," Ruby mumbled, knowing Claptrap would pick her up, "I wonder why I do these things. It's for sights like this, you know?"

They stood there for a minute, watching the liquid rock well up.

Claptrap held out a hand, and Ruby looked down.

"Why do you have chocolate?"

"You said you liked them."

"I never said that."

"You did. Back in Fyrestone."

"Didn't we shut you down?"

"When?"

"After the Robolution."

"The what?"

"The- You know what? Nevermind," Ruby cut herself off, feeling the beginnings of a Claptrap induced migraine forming, "Claptrap, you can't tell anyone-"

"I won't. What's a secret between friends?" He stopped, "We are friends, right?"

Say no. If you say yes, he'll never leave you alone. Just say-

"I guess."

Damn.

The two Vault Hunters stood on the edge of the river, looking out over the lava at their home. It was peaceful.

"Cool! I've always wanted a friend, first we'll go party-"

Then Claptrap ruined it.

-X LINE BREAK X-

Timothy leaned on the crate in the upper part of Janey's house, waiting for Ruby and Claptrap to get back.

God, this was the worst day of his life. Add everything that had already gone wrong, and now he was trapped in a building and had been carted into it like a child.

And it wasn't even noon.

"We're back~!" Ruby/Slate's voice came from downstairs, the modulator fluctuating wildly as she sang the words, followed by something being thrown onto a desk.

"You sound… cheerful."

"I have sugar in my system, I fought something that wasn't another human, and found a bunch of guns I can sell to Marcus for some extra cash! What's not to be happy about?"

"Helios is captured by Dahl, we're on the opposite side of a river of lava from Concordia, and there's a bandit group sitting between us and the only way there."

"...Well, ruin my fun, why don't you? I don't even have a shield."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me! Hey, other me, get down here!"

Tim walked downstairs, and caught the item thrown at him by Jack. Looking down at it, he glanced over at Ruby, who was clipping it to the front of her jacket.

"It's a shield, Killer. Turn it on," Ruby flicked a switch on hers, before walking over and helping him do the same, "and it will keep you from having a few extra holes in you. It won't last forever, but should buy you enough time to get to cover. These are relatively cheap ones, but keep an eye out for better ones when we reach Concordia."

"Taking the new meat under your wing, Slate? He's just going to die."

"Everyone starts somewhere, Kadam. Or did you crawl out of your mother's womb with a six shooter in hand and gun down the entire room?"

Nisha opened her mouth, seeming to bristle, before Janey clapped her hands.

"Right, good news and bad news."

"Let's start with the bad news."

"Bad news is that most of these are beyond repair. Good news is that I managed to get two of them working."

"So we can send a team of four to get… whatever we need."

"Digistruct key."

"Ah."

"So," Ruby turned to Jack, "Who's going? You are the boss."

"Well, I don't think you'll be taking off your helmet."

"Nope."

"So you're going, and so is Claptrap."

"Yeah!"

"And since the Hammerlock chick is still out of it… Wilhelm, other me, you're going with them."

"What!?" Timothy froze, "Why me!? I don't know how to fight!"

"Well, you're going to have to learn fast, because, short of a Vault Hunter bursting through the wall, the eight of us are the only ones who can stop that Dahl chick, take back Helios and become heroes."

"But, still, why me? Why not Nisha or Athena or you?"

"Because I want to keep either Wilhelm or Athena close, I'm pretty sure Slate and Nisha would kill each other, I'm staying to see if I can't locate the jamming signal from here, and Slate and Wilhelm seem to get along."

"Kill each other? No," Ruby muttered, and Timothy got the feeling she was glaring at Nisha through her mask, "leave her dead in a ditch with a bullet in her skull? Sure."

Wilhelm silently walked over, grabbing one of the O2 kits and hooking it to his back. Ruby grabbed the other, and started to help Timothy put it on.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"Oh, hey, catch!"

Timothy caught the small clip thrown his way by Jack. Man, everything was getting chucked at him today.

"I already have an ECHO device."

"Yours is a civilian model. That's a military one, comes with a class twelve HUD."

"What?"

"It links up to the chips in your shield, gun, and SDUs, tells you how much ammo you have, how much energy your shield has, lets you check and change your gear on the fly, and uses some biometric doohickey to tell you how likely you are for the next bullet to be the one that kills you. Other than that, it's everything you would expect from an ECHO device, surf the web, shows you a map of the area, takes calls," Ruby supplied.

It was weird to hear the monotone voice say "doohickey".

"Nobody else has them," at least, Timothy didn't see them.

"I have two, one in the helmet and one as a implant. I'm willing to bet the rest do too."

Ruby turned, walking out of the building, and Timothy ran to catch up with her.

- X LINE BREAK X-

"So, what's up with you and Nisha?"

Ruby quickly patted down the dead Scav, storing the Torgue pistol in her SD.

"Whatcha mean?"

"You hate her."

"I don't hate her," Ruby said, moving on to the next corpse, "I just think that if she was to wind up dead with six Masher rounds in her skull, someone was doing the galaxy a favor."

Ruby found the Scav's SD, cracking it open with a couple of button presses. Out popped a homemade shotgun and a Maliwan Umbrage.

Ruby threw the shock weapon at Timothy, before going to the next body.

"Why's that?"

"She's not much better than the bandits, overall."

Sawed off Jakobs lever action, that was going in her SD.

"How?"

"You hear stories on Pandora. Experienced fighters make a name for themselves. She's carved a bloody trail across Pandora."

"Like what?"

"A woman walks into a bandit camp, there's two minutes of gunfire, then three hours of someone screaming."

Tediore pistol, Ruby threw that one at Timothy.

"I'm all for killing bandits, it's the closest anyone can get to being a hero on Pandora, but when you start to torture them for the fun of it, I draw the line. You're a ticking time bomb at that point."

Jakobs sniper rifle, not a hundredth as good as Crescent Rose, but less identifying. Ruby slung it over her back and moved over to the next body.

"You don't think Jack's right about us becoming heroes?"

"Pandora isn't a place for a hero, Killer," Ruby grabbed the box of bullets, moving on, "Don't get me wrong, we're going to stop Zarpadon, but that doesn't make us heroes. Heroes save people, we're just going to kill everything between us and her."

Ruby stepped over the body, it still didn't have what she was looking for.

"Come on, there has to be one somewhere- there we go!"

Ruby grabbed the bandolier of grenades off a Suicide Psycho, throwing them at Wilhelm.

"Guys! Look what I found!"

Claptrap wheeled himself over, clutching a gun. It was red, and most of it looked like it had been put together from salvaged metal.

"I thought, since everyone else had better gear, I should upgrade too!"

"Well," Ruby walked towards the door, "You're about to get a chance to try it."

"DEADLIFT TIIIIIIME!"

Ruby chambered her first round, bringing the scope up to the helmet. Time seemed to slow as adrenaline rushed into her veins, zeroing in on the charging Psycho, Ruby pulled the trigger once.

The gun kicked into her shoulder, and Ruby chambered another round as Wilhelm stepped past her, an old S&S shotgun in hand as he soaked up shots.

Ruby directed the next shot at Deadlift, firing at his helmet.

A white beehive flashed half a foot in front of where the point of impact should have been.

"He's got a shield!"

A beam of blue light flew over Wilhelm's head, striking Ruby full on the chest.

Her shield held for half a second, before shattering with a warning beep, and the laser sent electricity burning through her body as the world disappeared in a flash of white.

After another half second, the beam let up, and Ruby crawled to cover.

"And a shock weapon!" Ruby called through gritted teeth, trying to shake off the numbness that had overtaken her lower body.

Her Aura was already working on it, but it would take a minute.

"Slate," Claptrap rushed over, the beam hitting the ground next to him, "Here!"

Ruby grabbed the needle, rubbed his head, and rammed the needle into her thigh through her aura.

Pressing down, the familiar brief wave of vertigo came and went.

Coming up, Ruby aimed, firing another round at Deadlift. It pinged off the wall as he rushed behind it.

"We need some way to flush him out!"

"On it."

Wilhelm hit a holographic button, and two drones were digistructed, the blue one flew to her and started to refill her shield, while the red one strafed the area, shooting lasers at the Scavs.

The red one flew to Deadlift's hiding place, and Ruby saw Wilhelm's eye widen.

"He's not the-"

The beam launched from another part of the room, shattering Wilhelm's shield as easily as it had Ruby's.

The blue one broke off, flying between the beam in Wilhelm.

A blue barrier appeared around the drone, and the beam was redirected, striking Deadlift in the chest.

Ruby's HUD showed Deadlift's shields drop considerably, and an idea formed.

"Killer! Do you still have that Maliwan I gave you?"

Ruby saw the holographic interface pop up, Timothy's eyes rapidly running across the weapons.

"Uh… yeah!"

"Switch to it! Claptrap, give us some suppressing fire!"

Ruby ducked under the hail of bullets.

"At Deadlift!"

"Oh, right! Activating !"

Two claws dropped from the bottom of Claptrap, anchoring him to the ground as the recoil attempted to push him back.

That's what he got for using a Bandit gun.

Breaking from cover, Ruby slid next to Wilhelm, grabbing the mercenary by the arm and helping him to his feet.

"That hurt," Wilhelm grunted, rubbing his chest.

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"You start to tear through his shield with shock weapons, I need to do something."

"This better be good," Wilhelm switched his shotgun for his Guerrilla, aiming at Deadlift.

"Killer, you too!"

"Right!"

Ruby took the mare's leg and Torgue pistol out her SDU, flicking open the revolver and taking out the microrocket.

Ruby compared the two, before pulling out her plasma knife. Heating up the blade, Ruby started her work.

"I'm out!"

"Then reload," Wilhelm snapped at Claptrap, throwing an empty magazine away.

"I'm ready! Switch to your other weapons and wait for my signal!"

"What signal!?"

"You'll know it!"

Ruby took off from her cover, charging the bounce pad that would lead her to Deadlift.

Ruby landed next to the bandit, and pointed the gun in her left hand at his head. She felt the Eridian markings glow as her eyes lit up, grinning as the bullet was infused and shaped.

Ruby pulled the trigger and the gun exploded in her hand, the newly shaped charge tore through Deadlift's shield and sent him crashing below.

Ruby threw aside the ruined gun, drawing her revolver as Scavs lept to join her.

Eight landed, and six went down as the shots tore through their weak shields. Ruby surged forward, swinging the knife into one's neck and digistructed her third gun.

Ruby fired every shot in the Tediore pistol, before turning and throwing the gun at Deadlift, who was weathering the combined shots extremely well.

Wilhelm clicked empty, his red drone hammering into Deadlift, before his face lit up in a nasty smile.

"Killer, buy me a minute!"

"Is everyone going to call me that now!? Let me think… got it!"

Timothy hit a button, and two digistructed clones appeared on either side of him.

"Hey! Deadshit! Over here!"

Deadlift turned, taking the shot from the Hyperion pistol with ease, and charging at him.

Timothy dove out of the way, and Ruby unslung the rifle, trying to get a bead on Deadlift.

The bullet bounced off his armor, and he pointed his gun at Timothy.

Timothy's gun clicked and he digistructed his own Tediore, firing at Deadlift as he dove away from the beam.

As Timothy came up, Deadlift had the gun pointed at him. Ruby pulled the trigger, only for it to give a telling click.

God, she missed Crescent Rose.

Deadlift started to pull the trigger the energy welling up as-

Wilhelm came from behind him, wrapping the bandolier around Deadlift's neck and diverting his aim.

Wilhelm hit another button, before throwing Deadlift away and tackling Timothy to the ground.

All the grenades detonated at once, the explosion consuming Deadlift.

Ruby let loose the breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"Ho- Holy crap," Timothy sat up, "Is- is it over? Is he dea-"

The smoke parted as Deadlift tore out of it with a roar, arms extended to grab one of them. Parts of his space suit had been embedded in his body, and what wasn't had burns covering it.

*BANG*

Deadlift collapsed, a bullet hole through his throat as Claptrap held the smoking Jakobs revolver.

Ruby rushed to reload her gun, firing all six rounds into his skull just to be safe.

Finally in the silence that followed, Janey's voice came over the ECHO.

"Now find the digistruct key. Must be somewhere around here."

Ruby couldn't help it, she laughed a bit.

- X LINE BREAK X-

It was official, Timothy decided.

Ruby was never allowed to drive again.

The actor screamed in fear as Ruby took them over a cliff in the buggy.

He should have gone with Wilhelm.

"Hey, Jack."

"What's up, Slate?"

"Me and Killer are going to head to Concordia, I'll get us in and set up a base there, ok?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll probably call you when we're come along."

Ruby sharply turned the buggy, talking them over the broken bridge to Concordia.

Once they both got out, and into the walkway into Concordia, Ruby unlatched her helmet, pulling it off with a gasp.

She hit a something in the air, and her voice returned to normal.

"Come on, it's now- uh," Ruby blinked a couple times, looking up into the corner of her eye, "1830, jeez, it took us a while fight through those Scavs. Anyway, I want to grab a hotel, eat, and take a shower before everyone gets here."

Ruby walked along, and Timothy followed her.

"So, uh, why are you pretending to be a man?"

"Why should I tell you, Killer-"

"Call me, Timothy when we're alone- uh- I mean, when nobody else is around- I mean-"

"I get it," Ruby laughed, "But seriously, why should I tell you? We haven't know each other for a day yet."

"Well, wasn't supposed to tell you my name."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's in my contract, I'm not allowed to use it for the next twenty years- Jesus Christ, what was I thinking signing that?"

God, had he seriously signed away his entire identity?

"Really, what's the punishment for breaking it?"

"I, uh, I'm pretty sure it was execution, so I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone."

"Yeah, that sounds like something one of the companies would do. Ok, I'll tell you. But first, let's get that hotel checked out."

After a quick check in with Nurse Nina, Ruby walked to a… decent building.

"Jeez, this place is middle class."

"This is considered luxury by Pandoran standards, there isn't much since Old Haven went down."

"Old Haven?"

"Yeah. It was one of the two cities on Pandora, right about there," Ruby pointed to an area to the left of the massive purple scar on Pandora.

"What happened to it?"

"Bandits."

Ruby didn't move for a minute, and Timothy looked over, worried.

"You alright?"

"I'm just thinking, it's been seven years since I came to Pandora. This is the first time I've been off it since."

"Ever thought about leaving?"

"No," Ruby shook her head, "it's the first place I've felt at home since Remnant."

"That was your homeworld?"

"Yeah."

"You ever wish you could go back?"

"Every day. I told you I got involved in the Vault Hunt? That's why. They said the Vault could give you anything you wanted, grant any wish, and I wanted a way home, to see my friends and family again. I killed a lot of people for that wish, and was all for nothing. Maybe that makes me a bad person."

"So, what do you do now?"

"Clean up Pandora. It's no place for a hero, but maybe one day it could be. It'll never be me, and it will never be Jack, but I like to think maybe one day, what I've done can help someone can save Pandora from itself."

"So, whatcha talking about?"

"You know-"

"Uh, Ruby. That wasn't me."

Ruby froze, before turning to find what Timothy already knew.

Jack was standing there with the rest of the team.

"Piss," Ruby swore, "I can explain-"

"I already knew. I also already knew you were a Siren."

"Fuck."

"I sent the Vault Hunters the invitation, how did you think I didn't know about you all? Then, you come in wearing the most clichéd outfit ever! I mean, really? Trenchcoat and a mask? Plus, come on, 'Stone Slate'? Who the heck would name their kid that?"

"And," Athena pointed at the revolver, "I recognized that gun."

"Yeah, so come on, we were just at the Meriff's office, he's locked us out, so we're going to talk to Moxx."

"Well," Timothy heard Ruby grumble, "at least I can use Crescent Rose and get out of this stupid gear."