Hey there guys - this is just a small idea I had while playing through Borderlands. I've not finished it yet, and I'll probably write more to this as I go along and if people like it. I apologise in advance if something lore-wise is incorrect as I haven't completed the main storyline yet - I've written this based purely on what I've seen in the game so far. I hope you all enjoy it!

Edit: I changed the rating to T when I discovered that the story wasn't coming up for everyone. Sorry about that, I didn't realize.

~Lagiacrus

-About 16 years before the events of Borderlands-

"Fucking skags, dangnabit, dangnabit-!" He'd been too late. The terrible sound of a vehicle careering off the highway and into Fyrestone's walls was unmistakable – not something Dr. Zed was used to hearing but not entirely unfamiliar, either. He'd been torn from his bed at the crack of dawn by T.K. Baha (who at the time still retained his sight and both legs) who informed him of a bus rampaging down the highway, an army of skags in pursuit. The bus had crashed and now the skags were throwing one hell of a feast with the bodies within. Well, not on his watch.

"Baha, keep back, ya hear!?" He commanded and the farmer nodded in response, checking the ammo of his Jakobs rifle – older than him by about half a century, and miraculously still working.

Armed with two Hyperion Fanged Raptors, he had left the illusion of safety that Fyrestone's walls offered him and had faced the skags head on, relying on Baha for long-range support. They had overwhelmed him quickly – the strength of the skag was most evident in numbers, after all – and he was forced to make his getaway.

"Claptrap, close the gate!" Zed screamed as he passed back into the confines of the small mining town.

"Aye aye, Sir!" Was the tiny robot's response – one press of a button on the keypad and the reinforced gate thundered down upon the advancing skags, even severing the head of one who had been moving a little too quickly to stop in time.

"Dang creatures, ain't there and end to them!?" He hissed, reloading his precious Raptors and taking out a few through the gaps in the gate.

"Somethin' must've drawn 'um to that there ve-hic-le, Zed." Baha reloaded his own weapon, getting six perfect headshots in a row.

"Smell of meat, no doubt," The former doctor mumbled from under his surgical mask. He'd been hoping to raid the bus for supplies but getting close to it was impossible with the skags around – better to wait until they'd had their fill. Just as he was about to suggest withdrawing, a noise, barely audible, somehow reached him.

From the flaming wreckage of the bus, somebody was screaming for help.

Blinking in surprise, Zed couldn't even stop his snarky comment; "Idiot'll attract the skags right to 'um." Zed readied his weapons and flipped over the wall without a second thought, right into the middle of the skag army.

"What're ye doin', Zed!?" Baha screeched, doing his best to take out each skag as it leapt for Zed's head.

"People're still alive in that bus," Zed replied. "Cover me."

"Roger that!"

Zed tore through the skags with ease, never even having to stop to reload. With the skags distracted by Baha and their numbers dwindling, he eventually made it to the bus with little trouble. Busting through one of the windows, he sheathed his guns, only to find his arm grabbed by a bruised and beaten woman, watching him with hopeful, teary eyes.

"Hold on there Darlin', I'll get'cha outta this mess-" He moved to pull her out through the window but she stopped him hastily with a vicious shake of her head.

"No, I'm done for! One of my legs is broken," She had a bundle clenched tightly to her chest, which she then held out for him to see – a baby, its face streaked with dirt, blue eyes wide and puffy from tears. "This is my daughter – we were on the run from her father. Please, keep her safe – I'll distract those skags so you can get away!"

Zed was too shocked to object as she gently pressed the child into his arms. She calmly observed him and he wondered why she wasn't more alarmed about the chaos transpiring around her. Perhaps, she had seen worse in her time – Zed didn't want to know what this child and her mother had went through before this moment.

"What's 'er name?" He feebly asked, voice cracking.

"Her name's Adira," She pulled a cheap Torgue Repeater out of a slot on her belt and began to fire it into the sky. "Heeeeey, you piss-drinkin' mutts! Over here!"

Each and every skag was drawn to her instantly, ignoring Baha as if he had never been there. Zed had to take down a few but they widely ignored him as he charged back to Fyrestone. As they circled the bus, snapping and yowling at the spouting flames, the mother crawled onto the side of the bus, releasing the safety of her Repeater and flawlessly blowing the heads of three Skags clean off.

"Her father is a Bandit Chief," She called after him. He nearly stopped in his tracks then and there, Could this possibly get any worse? "He might come for her one day – please protect her!"

He didn't dare turn back around as he heard the skags leap upon her. As soon as he was back within Fyrestone and the gate was closed, he fell to his knees. The back of his neck and his forehead dripped with nervous perspiration. Baha slung his rifle over his back and joined his friend, kneeling down and examining the baby Zed so tenderly carried – still silent, forever watching them.

"Well ah'll be an alpha skag's uncle," He breathed. "It's a kid!"

"That was 'er momma who distracted the skags," Zed was still struggling to come to terms with what had just transpired. "The two of them were runnin' from bandits, 'cause one of them is 'er father."

At this, Baha fell into silence. He stood up and took a few steps back, mumbling something which sounded to Zed like "I'll be damned". Zed was in two minds about this child – keeping her and protecting her like the mother had wanted would mean that he would be on a bandit's kill-list somewhere, very close to the top. However, he could never forgive himself if he simply threw her to the skags – it just wouldn't be right. Besides, the way the little girl was just watching him with those big round eyes – she was adorable.

Claptrap whizzed down from the gate controls.

"Good fighting, guys! We sure showed them whose boss!" He cheered in his usual overly-enthusiastic manner, skidding to a stop beside Dr. Zed.

"I just hope them skags don't hang around too long, or the smell will stink out the place." Baha spoke with a lopsided grin.

"What have you got there, Dr. Zed?" Claptrap asked curiously, leaning over the baby and zooming in on her face with its cyan optic.

"It's a baby – and don't git so close to 'er, you'll frighten 'er!" He bashed the robot on the head, sending it sprawling onto its back. The action all of a sudden spurred the little human into joyous laughter – and every heart present at that moment melted, even Claptrap's metaphorical one.

"Awwww… she's cute!" Claptrap commented happily from his spot on the ground.

"Darn, can't remember the last time I saw a kid," Baha scratched the back of his bent neck, trying to avoid looking at the child as it continued to laugh, like none of the pandemonium it had been caught up in had happened. The said doctor watched her like she was some sort of alien, wondering where to even begin.

"At least we know how to keep 'er happy – just give Claptrap a good beatin' upside the head." He stated, pulling himself up from the ground. Claptrap rocketed back up onto his wheel, thrusting forward a couple of times as if to check his joints.

"Can I see it, Dr. Zed?" Claptrap held out his spindly arms, clapping his claws together in the baby's direction. Zed immediately went through a mental list of everything that could possibly go wrong with leaving Claptrap in charge of a human baby – when he saw how intently the baby was trying to turn itself to look at it. When he held her up so she could see the little robot, she began to giggle again and wriggle around inside of her protective cloth.

"Well," Zed nearly laughed. "I guess she wants te see you as well."

With the utmost care he placed the baby into Claptrap's arms, keeping a constant eye on the two of them as he turned away.

"Hey there, human child! I am CL4P-TP - you may call me by my locally designated name, 'Claptrap'!" Zed grinned under his mask while he listened to the giddy robot talk.

"'Er name is Adira, Claptrap." Zed informed it and it responded with a surprised lift of its shoulder pads.

"Wow, you humans have some pretty strange names!"

Zed adjusted his face mask and started to lead the way into the Fyrestone proper.

"Let's get 'er back to my shack – we need to work out what the dang thing'll eat."

I did my best to keep this in character but most of this was written at midnight after a really stressful day, so I apologise if this isn't my usual quality standard of writing. I'll probably go back and edit this in the near future, once I've played more of Borderlands. Thank you for reading, and please let me know if you would like to see more of this!

~Lagiacrus