The tiring day was grueling, with the sun beating down on the backs of those brave enough to wander out. A group of six moved in tandem with each other. Call outs and defenses arisen at the appropriate times let the ones designated move forward to crush the Hyperion loaders.
As the last one fell in a broken heap of bolts and slag, the group surveyed the area.
"Seems clear, I say we grab what we came for and get the hell outta here." Maya, the Siren, always the voice of reason.
Much to the indignation of a certain Commando.
"Si chica, grab the goods and get out." the short, muscular one known as Salvador, was quick to help snatch the ECHO recorder from the mess and leave.
"Alright, you guys got the coordinates? Good, get back to Sanctuary and get some shut eye. Lil says we got a lot to do. But she can't say what as Jack is watching her like a starving Skag preys on Lava Rats. Fucking bastard." the slurred voice of the quite possibly drunk sniper resounded over their ECHO communicators.
"I hope we can rescue her in time. I feel as though we should be doing more." Maya grumbled as she followed the others back to the once peaceful, if not Psycho infested Badlands town of Fyrestone.
"My thoughts exactly,
time is not a luxury
motives not in check."
"Zero has a point. If Jack has Lilith, and he knows where this Warrior is buried, why not speed up the process?" the Commando looked back as he was in the head of the gang.
"Because he wants to kill us before he destroys Pandora and every living thing on it. He'll wait till we come to him. Then he'll set his plan in motion." they all looked to Maya who was staring at the ground.
"Yeah? How do you know?" Axton sneered as he stopped at the Fast Travel station.
"Because, I've seen enough hate, greed, and lies to know when a megalomaniac is plotting your imminent death." she spat as she accepted the travel to their home in the dump.
As they arrived the argument continued, "all I'm saying, is that he wants us to be lured in. He wants to make us believe that he can't do anything yet, then, when we come in, he'll snag us with that Warrior." she continued as if the conversation had never been broken.
"Yeah well I-"
The argument was broken by the youngest of them, "would you guys just stop it?!" her eyes were filled with sadness and anger as she glares at them before stomping off to her small home and closing the door with a harsh slam.
"What's wrong with her?" Axton looked to the others.
"I sense an increase,
her stress level's very high.
She seeks comfort now."
Maya stepped forward, "I'll go talk to her. Go tell Mordecai we returned in one piece." she walked off to the Mechromancers house and knocked.
"Come in." the reply was small and held little emotion.
Opening the door, Maya looked around and found the young one in the back. She was fixing something on Death Trap. Her tools were strewn about, making it feel as though this was the house of a mechanical prodigy. As it should.
"Hey-"
"I don't wanna hear it Maya. I don't wanna hear about how you're sorry, or how everything's gonna be alright. So just, save it, alright?" she didn't even turn to face her as she continued to work on her creation.
"Look, Gaige, I know everything's looking bad, and arguing probably isn't going to save our friends or solve our problems. We're all upset. Not just you." she stood there idly, not knowing what else to say.
"Roland and Bloodwing are dead Maya. We may not have known them quite as long as everyone else, but, Roland-" she stopped and placed the wrench she was using down and sat still.
Maya was at a loss for words now. It was true, ever since they arrived and rescued Roland, he had been somewhat of a replacement father for the naive Vault Hunter. Whenever she was sad, he gave her words of encouragement to help her along. Whenever she did something of great achievement, he always gave her words of praise.
"Could you leave? I was about to do an ECHO log for my subscribers. Let them know, how I'm doin. Ya know?" she turned towards her partner with tear filled eyes.
"Alright." she turned to leave when she remembered something she had on her.
Pulling it out along with the pencil that was taped to it she weighed her options carefully.
"Gaige?"
"Yeah?"
She placed the notebook down on the table for her.
"I once read somewhere that, if you write how you're feeling, sometimes, you feel better. Maybe like, a letter? Sure, we'll never be able to send it, but, you never know." she smiled as the eighteen year old snorted with laughter.
"Where'd you read that load of Slag? In a Philosophy of the eighteen hundreds book?" she slammed her hand down on the book as she continued to laugh at the very idea of it.
"Heh, yeah. Does sound kinda funny, huh?" she smiled sadly as that was one of her favorite books.
She loved reading about the past. The horrors and triumphs of mankind that had passed so very long ago.
"It's pretty hilarious. Anyway, I gotta ECHO log to post. So, I could use some privacy." she motioned towards the door.
"Alright." she headed out the door and left her to her own business.
Gaige's POV
I sat there, staring at m ECHO recorder I had brought along with me. I couldn't find the heart to really post anything, but I had wanted to be alone.
Slamming my prosthetic fist on the metal table, I sighed as I left a dent.
"Oh frag it. I need to fix that now." I turned to grab my tools when my eyes landed on the worn exterior of the journal.
"Sure, why not? Guess as long as no one sees it, couldn't hurt." I sighed as I pulled the pencil from the tablet and looked at the tip.
It was dull, and I didn't have a sharpener. Instead, I grabbed my Shock SMG and used the Bayonet on the end to sharpen it.
Finally satisfied that it was to my liking, I opened the book and flipped to a clean page. I bit the end of the pencil as I decided what to write. Frustration over rode all else as I struggled to form words on the white surface.
"What do I write? Stupid Maya and her stupid ideas!" I slammed both my fists down before laying my head on the table over the make shift diary.
My eyes landed on a few barrettes my father had given me for my fourteenth birthday. I remembered it well.
The orange haired girl ran about excitedly as her parents watched from the table in the back yard. She had just opened a present bearing a tool box complete with a small robot kit for her to work with. Though she had very few friends and the ones she had hadn't bothered to show up to her party, she would not let that dampen her mood.
Her father laughed as her mother cleaned up the mess from her knocking over the cake.
"Alright pumpkin, I still have one more present to give you." she ran over to him and hugged him.
"What is it?! Is it the new Vanity Crusher I've been wanting?! Oh that thing pounds metal into flat disks like BAM!" she clapped her hands together excitedly.
"Hah, no, it's nothing deadly or death defying." he handed her a small box.
Out of curiosity, she opened it slowly and looked at the contents suspicously.
"Hair barrettes? Dad, they're nice and all, but I don't do accessories." she took one out and looked at it.
"No, but you're a beautiful, young woman. And some day, you'll wear these proudly as you meet that one special boy I may or may not threaten with the Jakobs pistol my grandfather handed down to my father who handed it down to me. Someday, I hope to hand it down to you." he ruffled the teenagers hair playfully and she backed off.
My eyes teared up as I remembered what he had said.
"Daddy..." I sat up and began writing.
Dear Dad,
Life on Pandora is pretty cool, I guess. I mean, if you don't mind the death and almost being beaten to a bloody pulp every other ten or so minutes. I, uh, made some new friends. So, yay? I mean, they always have my back, so I consider them friends. Don't know what they think of me.
You might never meet them, but I could tell you stuff about them. What I know anyway.
So, first, there's a Siren named Maya. I know how much mom wanted to meet a real life Siren. Maybe it'll be a fifty/fifty since I got to meet not only one, but like, three.
Maya's like the leader of our group called the Vault Hunters. Apparently, we're hunting some ancient, alien structure known as the Vault. Hence the name, 'Vault Hunters'. Yeah.
She's really nice and pretty, she tries to keep our spirits up, but, it's pretty hard right now.
The next one is a rogue Commando who was dishonorably discharged cause of glory houndness. He's kinda funny, mostly starts arguments with the others. Mainly Maya. I think they so wanna do it. Er, nevermind. That just made me gag slightly.
Ugh, just threw up a bit in my mouth. Gross.
Anyway, so there's Salvador, he's this midget with anger issues, but he's pretty cool. Even though he eats people. Yeah, he's, weird.
This one tall guy who looks like a Psycho, really weirds me out. He talks a lot about meat muscles, blood, and the agony of others. And he doesn't just talk about it, he SCREAMS about it.
He scares me.
Uh, the last one is Zero. He's pretty cool. He doesn't talk much, and when he does, it's in Haiku. He's mysterious, I say this, because we've never seen him without his helmet. Or his suit.
I wonder what he's hiding?
We have these old Vault Hunters working with us to stop this fascist from the corporation called Hyperion. Say, didn't Aunt Jessie buy some Hyperion tech?
Bitch.
Love her though. She used to bake such delicious cookies.
Man, I could use one right about now.
The old Vault Hunters names are Lilith (another Siren), Mordecai, Brick, and Roland.
Lilith is scary when she's mad. She literally can turn a person into a human smoothy with her powers! I saw it up close too! When we rescued her when she was under the name of the Fire Hawk, she liquified this one Mutant Psycho and it was awesome! It also made me puke, but eh. No one said being badass meant being clean with your awesomeness!
Mordecai, he's, strange. He hates eating (this is obvious as he probably weighs about a hundred and forty pounds). He had this little bird friend that he named Bloodwing. She's, she's dead.
Handsome Jack, the guy we're gonna kill? Yeah, he killed her.
He blew up her head with an explosive collar.
Tears streamed down my cheeks onto the page, causing a smear on one of the words. Wiping them away, I continued to write my thoughts down.
Brick is this really big and muscular guy who lost his dog to Hyperion. Or was it dogs? Did he have more than one?
Anyway, he calls us Slabs. Apparently, we were initiated into his Slab gang. He's the king. Boy do I feel special knowing the King of Slabs. Why, last week, he and I spent the whole day terrorizing Terramorphous the Invincible!
Terramorphous. He's this really big thresher, which is a lizard that burrows under the ground and has a bunch of tentacles that he can lob stuff from.
The last, is Roland.
He was one of my best friends. He always made me smile when I was down. In a sort of sense, he was kinda like you. Except he never made hot cocoa or read stories to me. Though, he was kind and compassionate.
Jack killed him too.
It was such a damn cheap shot! While he had his back turned, he just shot him right through the chest!
I remember how I reacted when his blood coated my face. It was terrible.
Jack, he took Lilith. All because we killed his daughter, Angel.
She was another Siren, but, he enslaved her to make her fuel and charge the key that opens the Vault!
He was a monster!
I think, had she lived, I would have sent her home to you. She never knew the love of a caring father.
I think that's what she needed all along.
Sure, Jack had money, power, and connections, but, what's all that with just hate and malice? It's like a sour grape. You could never truly enjoy it.
I know this is probably a waste of effort. You'll never read this but, I love you daddy. I'll never be able to return home and feel your loving embrace and drink those delicious hot beverages I claim I'm too old for. I'll never be able to sleep in my warm bed again and squeal over all the new tools the shop down the road brings in from shipments. But most of all, I'll never be able to show you just how much I've grown up and how well you raised me.
Love you dad, you're the best.
-Love Gaige.
Your grown up little girl.
Sighing I fell asleep at the desk, unaware of the shadow looming over me.
As the days turned into weeks, I felt the pressure lifting from my shoulders. Though, I wondered where the letter had gone, as when I woke up, it was not there.
Shrugging it off, I just went along with the others. It would still be a while before we could face Jack. There was still plenty to do.
The gang and I returned from another run out to the Dust. Ellie had us work on some feud or something between the Zafords and the Hodunks.
They were both equal in idiocy. Never realizing we were the ones screwing the other over.
Did anyone have a fully operational brain on this planet?
As I entered my house once more, I closed the door behind me and sat at my desk. The work was physically tolling. So much walking and running.
It was exhausting.
There was a knock at the door and I groaned as I stood and opened it.
It was Zero.
A smiley emoji appeared and he held out a box for me.
"Uh, thanks? What's this?" I inspected the box carefully, hoping it wasn't a booby trapped thing like what he had done to Axton a while back.
"Mail." was all he said.
As I stepped back, he walked inside and sat on my bed.
"Uh, come on in?" he gave me another smiley emoticon but this one had a large mouth consisting of a D instead of a parenthesis.
Setting it down, I carefully opened it and looked inside. There was something wrapped up underneath a note.
Grabbing the envelope, I opened it and saw it was from my dad.
At the sight of the familiar name, I almost dropped it.
"Well? Are you going to open it or stare at its exterior?" his voice, though modulated, held an aura of sarcasm and humor.
Nodding, I ripped the top open and unfolded it.
Dear Gaige (my grown up warrior),
I'm sorry about what happened to the two you lost. Give this, Mordecai, my regards. Birds are ones who become part of the family. I should know, I had one as a kid.
It's great to hear you've made some interesting friends! Though I wish I could meet them. I feel uncomfortable about all of this (not just the writing thing, have never done it. Pardon the terrible penmanship.) but the whole, you saving a savage world thing.
I know you're old enough to make your own decisions, but do be careful. I worry about you all the time.
This, Angel, it depresses me a father would do that to their own daughter. Though it is great that you met some Sirens. I'll be sure to tell your mother the next time I see her.
Also, I am sorry to hear this Roland character died. I did not know him, but he sounded like a good man.
I can do little but sit by and hope for the best. I wish you luck in killing this Jack bastard. I hope you knock all his teeth out and make his skull into a salad bowl!
-Love,
Your proud father.
P.S. There is but one thing I can do, I know it's not your birthday, but it is coming up soon. Disclosed in this package, is something I'd like for you to have. Use it well.
Placing the note down, I pulled out the wrapped object and unfolded it.
Inside, was the Legendary Unforgiven revolver. As basic as if it came fresh out of the factory that produced it.
Zero looked at it as an exclamation mark appeared over his visor.
"A Legendary,
a perfect weapon for one,
such as you dear one."
I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, "how did he get my note?"
His only response was a winky emoticon and a hug.