A/N: This story originated from a comment I received after writing "Retributi0n" asking about a possible Maya/Krieg story. It fell by the wayside when I got busy with other stuff; when I picked it up again recently it wound up taking a different direction.

1 – Him and Her

A horrible mixture of sounds reverberated around the room. Breaking glass, screaming, lunar supply fire… but most ominous of all, the slow footsteps of booted feet crunching over the shards of glass.

"That's twice this week, doctor. Consider this my last warning. One more escape, one more crazed psychopath on the loose…"

"You wouldn't dare —"

"Am I known for idle threats? I don't know what your problem is, or what you're doing to let these bandits escape, but you'd better fix it. Otherwise, you'll be sorry, and you won't be the only one."

"None of this would have happened if you'd just let me —"

The woman was brought up short as the man grabbed the front of her jacket and slammed her back against the wall, knocking the wind out of her.

"Don't try to put the blame on me," he snarled, his face inches from hers. "I'm here cleaning up your mess. Again. So I'm telling you one more time: fix it. Do I make myself clear?"

Winter was settling over Pandora, and in its position amidst the clouds, Sanctuary was already feeling the chill. Granted, they got more sunlight than places on the ground, but they also had to endure the wind and the biting cold that came with this kind of altitude. Most of the citizens and Crimson Raiders had dug out their warm clothes and were spending as little time as possible outside, especially at this time of the morning.

One person who seemed to care very little about the weather was Krieg. The psycho sat in the plaza outside Scooter's, reading and rereading the small typed message as if it might suddenly change. Inside his head, a titanic war of words was taking place.

It's her. It has to be her. Who else could it be?

"No. No! She's dead! They're all dead! The purple spares no-one!"

We survived.

"Nnngh…"

Hear me out. What if she escaped, like us? What if she became like us?

"No, NO! He killed her. He fed her to the purple! And the purple spares NO-ONE!"

"Krieg?"

The psycho spasmed, his primal combat reflexes sending his hand flying towards his buzz axe before what was left of his conscious mind recognised the voice and forced him to stop. He turned his head, and the bubbling mess of thoughts in his mind calmed significantly as his eyes fell on Maya. The siren sat down next to the psycho and put her hand gently on his leg. Krieg's breathing slowed, and his crazed eyes softened.

"Are you all right? You were shouting again."

"It was her… it is her," growled Krieg. He waved the message gently at Maya, who took it and read it.

"Sammy?" she asked. Krieg nodded in response. "Who is she?"

"She… she…" Krieg was panting again, and his eyes blazed. "It was her fault! All her fault! She came from the sky, with him, and the purple!"

Maya frowned slightly, stroking her hand up and down Krieg's leg to calm him down. "Him?"

"The masked one!"

"Oh." Maya glanced up at the moonbase. "And… what happened to her?"

Krieg turned and looked directly into her eyes, the fire in his eyes blazing.

"The PURPLE!"

Maya pushed the door of the training room open quietly and poked her head around the door. As she had hoped, Zer0 was here training, sword in hand, parrying and thrusting at the punching bag. Maya slipped quietly inside and sat down, not wanting to break his rhythm. Besides, she had made the mistake of startling him once before, and he had very nearly run her through.

She was only waiting for about a minute before the assassin stopped, sheathed his sword and straightened up. He turned to the door, and saw her waiting.

"Good morning, Maya," he said. "I am just finishing up; the room is all yours."

"Thanks, Zer0," replied Maya, "but I actually wanted to talk to you."

Zer0 picked up his towel from the table where it lay, raised his helmet and wiped his brow. Maya was fairly sure that she was the only person other than Gaige that Zer0 ever lifted his helmet in front of. When they had met, they had discovered a wealth of common interests, and though there had never been any sort of romantic feelings between them, they were extremely good friends. They had the highest respect for each other's intelligence and skill, both in combat and otherwise, and so they turned to each other for advice in these sorts of situations.

"About Krieg, I assume," said Zer0, pulling up a chair. His voice was still low and husky, but much more human without the synthesis of the helmet.

"Yeah." Maya didn't bother to ask how he knew; he was good at piecing little things together. She relayed the conversation she'd had with Krieg to Zer0, who listened silently and intently, a slight frown creasing his brow.

"So," he said, when she had finished, "you're trying to work out who this Sammy is?"

"Yes. I thought that maybe she might have something to do with why Krieg is… well, the way he is."

"Hmm…" Zer0 rubbed his scarred chin, thinking intently. "The name is familiar…"

"I thought it was too. But I couldn't place it."

Zer0 shook his head. "If this woman was something to do with Jack's slag tests…"

"Slag tests? I didn't —"

"What else could 'the purple' be?"

"Yes… yes, of course, you're right. Go on."

"Ask Doctor Tannis. She will know more than I do; you should talk to her."

Patricia Tannis, PhD, former scientific advisor for Dahl, was cooking eggs. Eggs, she told anyone who listened, were a healthy source of protein, a hearty light meal, and generally delicious, and it was therefore a travesty that they were so often paired with bacon, which was none of those things.

Maya listened to Tannis' lecture on the joys of eggs and the evils of bacon in silence, and found her mind wandering. She was a highly educated, skilled woman who had come to this planet to learn more about her lineage and about the sirens. And yet, that seemed to be the only thing she hadn't been able to do yet. She had met new people (and killed many of them), honed her combat skills, saved the planet from a charismatic egomaniac and let out a lot of repressed anger — so much so that Axton, who had waxed condescending when they had first met on the Hyperion train, was now terrified of her. And yet, in all that time, she had met only one person who could possibly help her understand more about the sirens and the Eridians, and that person was currently talking about breakfast while the eggs in her frying pan sizzled happily in the background.

"…prefer my yolks cooked just a little bit, so that you can eat them without making too much of a mess, and still get that delicious flavour that comes from nice soft yolks. Of course, it's a different matter when you cook one to put in a sandwich, because then you really don't want your yolk going everywhere. But that's the great thing — you can do them however you want, and they're still delicious. Now, with bacon, it's always either —"

"Doctor Tannis," interrupted Maya, coming back to reality sharply, "I don't mean to be rude, but could we move on to what I wanted to ask you, please?"

"Hmm? Oh! Right. Yes, you had a question. Please, ask away. Unless it's about bacon or music. How do you want your eggs?"

"Um, I'm really not hungry. I wanted to ask about Jack's slag experiments."

"What a delightfully inappropriate topic to discuss over breakfast. I assure you, some of what I found in the Preserve will sit beautifully with your stomach. Perhaps soft boiled, with a bit of toast?"

"Really, I'm fine. No, I was wondering if you'd ever heard of anyone called 'Sammy' in relation to Jack's program."

"Sammy? Yes, certainly I have. How about scrambled, then? I always find that to be good when I'm not all that hungry."

Maya had been expecting a vague answer, something she'd found was typical of Tannis when she either didn't know the answer or didn't want to say. At Tannis' frank admission, her eyebrows went up, and she made a split-second decision that it would be a good idea to keep Tannis happy for the moment.

"Oh, all right then, scrambled. So, uh, who is Sammy?"

Tannis didn't answer for a minute or so, concentrating on scrambling eggs for Maya, so Maya repeated her question. Tannis set a small plate down in front of Maya, with a small helping of lightly scrambled eggs and a slice of buttered toast on it.

"Give me a second," she said, "and I'll grab an old recording from the Preserve." She dashed from the room, leaving Maya a little startled, but happy. She picked up a fork and took a few small bites of eggs, so as not to be rude. After a minute, Tannis re-entered, clutching two slightly weathered-looking ECHO recorders, which she handed to Maya.

"You brought me these recordings quite a while ago, I believe. They may have some of the information you're looking for… start with that one," she added, pointing to the older-looking of the two.

Frowning slightly, Maya pushed the tape into her communicator and pressed Play. The recording whirred into life. After several seconds of crackly silence, an unmistakeable voice sprang to life.

"Okey dokey, Sammy… what say we start that test, hmm?" said Handsome Jack's voice. There was a very brief, but very pregnant, pause, before a woman's voice replied.

"It's 'Doctor Samuels', if you don't mind, sir. The test subject is still conscious, you can't expect me to —"

"Sorry, baby," interrupted Jack, in what Maya recognised as his favourite voice of syrupy condescension, "but I can't hear you right now over the sounds of people not being injected with slag right now. Now, that Vault key didn't make this stuff come outta the ground for nothing, right? We've got it, and we're gonna use it, hmm?" There was another pause, and Maya could as good as see the expression on Jack's repulsive mask before he continued. "You're not keen to be on the other side of this glass, now, are ya, sweetheart?"

"… Commencing Eridium mutation test on subject number two," said Samuels reluctantly. "Subject: Erik Franks."

The recording went dead, causing Maya to breathe a small sigh of relief — she was not keen on listening to a recording of one of Jack's experiments. Still, she was excited — this was clearly the answer, or at least part of it. She hurriedly removed the recording and pressed the second one in. The first voice this time was male, frantic but unfamiliar.

"Please, listen to me! I don't care what you do to me, just let my husband go! He's got the shivers, he's no good for your goddamned experiments anyway! Just let him —"

Footsteps clicked in the background, and the man faltered.

"What's the holdup, Sammy?" said Jack, sounding bored and obviously concealing frustration.

"Don't call me —" snapped Samuels, but she brought herself up before finishing the sentence (Maya imagined Jack glaring viciously at her). "This subject is… unsuitable for testing. His husband has skull-shivers; he could have transmitted —"

"Hey," interrupted Jack, sounding thoroughly fed up, "do ya remember that wife of yours? And how you wanted to see her, like, ever again?"

"You wouldn't —"

"Still don't hear screaming!"

Maya got to her feet excitedly. "Thanks, doctor… excuse me." She turned and left the room at a jog.

"Oh, no trouble. Do you want your —" said Tannis to the empty room. She looked up, a little surprised, then shrugged and pulled Maya's barely-touched scrambled eggs towards her. "More for me."