A/N: Been having my eye on doing this for a while, and I've decided to make a story off it. For now, this'll be a one shot. But it might be a story depending on the feedback. I'll leave that for you all to decide. Anyway, enjoy. P.S: This is not Out of the Comfort Zone Rhys(For any of you who follow that story line). This is normal, lucky to survive Rhys. Right at the beginning of Tales From the Borderlands.(Marked as complete until continuation is decided)

Rhys continued to eye the ECHO in his metal hand as he was walking. He was glad that he didn't run into anything that might try and kill him, which included a lot of things on this sinful planet.

"Alright Fiona, where are you hiding?" Rhys thought to himself as he walked. He still had his stun baton in his pocket, but that was pretty much all he had on him. No guns, no shields, no anything. It made him feel a little vulnerable, but he knew he had to do this.

Then Rhys saw that a gunshot had been fired near his feet, making him jump back and hide behind the rock that was close to him. Rhys damned himself for speaking too soon. But he didn't get a good look at whoever shot at him.

"I know what'll get you to come out and play," the voice said. Rhys frowned. It was a girl. But not only that. Her voice was pretty young. It wasn't scratchy or gruff like a bandit's was. Her's was young and gentle, though filled with conviction. You don't get many young people on this planet. Cause they're usually dead. But just like any other situation, it was either him or her. And Rhys was going to choose himself.

"Can't I go one day on this stupid planet without something or someone trying to kill me?" Rhys thought before immediately shaking his head. He knew that was an impossibility.

Then a robot with a menacing red eye came around the corner, making Rhys yelp in fear. If Rhys didn't move from the spot he was at, the robot would've clawed his head into bacon strips. Knowing Pandorans, they'd likely fry the strips like they were bacon. And eat them for lunch later.

But Rhys was in the line of sight of the girl, and she immediately started shooting at him with her Vladof pistol once he was. But Rhys was rolling around in the dirt to get away from the bullets and the killer robot. Somehow, it was working for him.

"Stand still, will ya?" the girl asked.

"Why would I do that?!" Rhys yelled back.

"Hmm. Good point," the girl said idly as Rhys heard a click from her gun. "Shit."

Rhys immediately took the opportunity to stand to his feet, draw his stun baton, and activate his ECHO eye to get an analysis on the robot. It was weak to electricity, making Rhys smile. How could she not make the robot grounded? That was a bit of an amateur mistake, but he'd take advantage of it.

"Come and get me, you hunk of junk!" Rhys exclaimed, making sure to take cover behind the rock so the girl couldn't shoot him.

The robot quickly flew at Rhys, its right arm raised for a strike that would turn him into paste, but Rhys ducked under the strike and prodded the robot in the side with it, causing it to fizzle a little. Even though he was standing up, the robot blocked the girl's view of him, so she couldn't shoot him without shooting her robot first. And that would only complete Rhys' job if she decided to go through with it.

Then Rhys jumped and stuffed his stun baton right in the robot's eye, causing it to spark and convulse erratically before disappearing. And his stun baton fell to the ground rather than disappearing with the robot, which was lucky for him.

"Deathtrap! You're starting to piss me off," the girl said. Rhys bit his lip. The stun baton was just about of his reach behind this rock, and she might be waiting for him. Dare he go for it?

Biting back a growl of fury, Gaige checked her ammo count. She only had about a hundred or so bullets left. And this Vladof was burning through her ammo faster than an unstable elemental core through a pistol. Which was almost instantaneous.

"Should've stocked up," she thought, scolding herself for making a mistake like that. "If I knew it was going to get this intense, I would've brought one of the others with me."

But Gaige knew she was on her own. She figured sneaking up on him was the best decision she had, so she lowered herself into a crouch and slowly walked towards the bandit.

Rhys looked around the corner and didn't see her there. He then looked over at the stun baton and quickly went over to pick it up before getting back behind cover. At least he didn't get shot for his troubles.

Gaige quickly appeared on his left and she didn't hesitate in pulling the trigger. But unfortunately for her, luck was not on her side as that was the side Rhys was looking at that moment, and he was able to react fast and swing his stun baton.

It was a trade off - Rhys had got shot in his side by two bullets, but Rhys had disarmed Gaige of her gun and the brief electric shock sent an unpleasant sensation through Gaige. Unfortunately for her, her arm was not grounded and therefore, the electricity traveled through Gaige's entire body, even more deadly than the original voltage.

While Rhys was distracted by the pain of his bullet wound, Gaige managed to recover from her shock faster than Rhys could recover from his wounds and hit him with an uppercut to the jaw, knocking him flat on his back. But his metal hand had an iron grip on his stun baton, and he was not about to let go any time soon.

Gaige drew a Maliwan pistol and aimed it at Rhys, something akin to rage lining her young face.

"This is for Deathtrap asshole!" she exclaimed. But Rhys managed to quickly rise up and throw the stun baton directly into Gaige's chest, knocking her back a few meters like she was a crash test dummy.

"Fuck you," Rhys groaned as he held his human hand on his gunshot wound. It hurt like hell, but he knew he had to get up otherwise she'd just draw another gun.

Rhys saw his stun baton only was a few feet in front of him, so he crawled towards it and manged to grab it before rolling to the side and out of her sight.

Gaige groaned from the pain coming from her chest. That stun baton his her directly in her left breast, and it felt like some of the electricity shocked the crap out of it too. Gaige growled. She did not like how this fight was going. It wasn't over in a few gunshots like most fights with bandits. No, this one was frustrating her by not dying so easily. Maybe she should've just left him be. After all, he had not guns to fight with. If she didn't kill him, a bandit camp likely would've.

"Man, this bites," she thought.

Gaige stood up with determination and moved around the rock to find him, deciding on summoning a Jakobs shotgun to shoot him. One shot is all she would need. But he wasn't there when she came around the corner, making her raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Right here dumbass," Rhys said, peeking his head from around the bottom corner of the rock and grabbing her left leg with his metal one and tripped her up, causing her to let out a very girly scream and sending the shotgun flying.

"God, you are irritating!" Gaige exclaimed angrily as Rhys slowly rose to his feet, stun baton still in hand.

"Says the girl who attacked me for no reason," Rhys said calmly before prodding the stun baton on her metal arm. Gaige screamed as the electricity traveled through her body, even more deadly than its original voltage. She felt her nerves being lit on fire and she couldn't really summon the thought process to be able to think how was she was going to get out of this.

Then it was gone. She expected it to continue, but she didn't complain.

When she tried to get up however, her electrocution began again, leaving her a writhing wreck on the ground. Then it stopped again.

But what he had done to her was enough now. She could barely find the strength to move. She tried to use her ECHO to summon a health hypo for her to use, but she felt her ECHO being yanked off her and then her stomach was being pressed with a heavy weight. She turned only to see that Rhys was pinning her down, though he looked exhausted and half-conscious. He was also bleeding profusely from his gunshot wound. The blood drops that were staining her shirt could attest to that. But he was still in control.

"Just... let's call this a draw," Rhys panted. Gaige raised an eyebrow. She didn't really expect that statement. She was expecting a bullet to the head from her own, or a threat of torture, rape, or cannibalism. Cause let's face it, that was Pandora. So she couldn't resist not commenting on the subject.

"You... don't want to kill me?" she asked.

"I... really do. But... I'm tired of killing. I haven't done much of it, but I'm already tired of it," Rhys said, breathing heavily. His side was burning like crazy, but he simply scrunched his face up and tried to ignore it.

"On Pandora, you're gonna have to get used to killing. There's not much room for leaving people alive. Most will just turn around and kill you later," Gaige explained to him.

"And you're... one of those people? Are you saying I should kill you?" Rhys asked, managing to raise his eyebrow.

"I didn't say that, but it's friendly advice," Gaige said quickly, regretting her statement. But she felt his weight be lifted off her, and Rhys lay on his back while deciding to hold his gunshot would with his metal hand.

"Go. I'll be gone when I can find the strength to get up, or until I bleed out. Whichever happens first," Rhys breathed out. Gaige frowned. She probably was going to regret this, but she wouldn't let this guy die. I mean, he could've kept shocking her with the stun baton until she lost consciousness or died before looting her corpse or bleeding out. But he didn't. He let her live. She felt like, in a weird way, she owed him one.

Gaige grabbed her ECHO that hung in his limp hand before summoning two hypos. One was for herself to help with her electric burns that she got from his stun baton. The other was to heal Rhys of his wounds. His eyes widened when he looked at his now healed wound before quickly looking back at Gaige.

"Why did you save me?" he asked.

"Cause you didn't kill me," Gaige said simply. It was that simple. Rhys knew that. Life could be very scarce for most people who weren't bandits. So she felt somewhat grateful. At least, that's what Rhys assessed.

Rhys was the first one to his feet and he held out his metal arm for Gaige to grasp. She grabbed it and was brought to her feet. She walked around and picked up her guns to put in her ECHO. Then she turned back to Rhys and tossed him her Vladof pistol.

"You need a gun," Gaige said simply.

"Yeah, I know. But it's not like I can necessarily raid a bandit camp and loot the place like you Vault Hunters," Rhys said.

"Yeah, but if you have money..."

"Don't have any money. Only thing I got is this ECHO and my stun baton," Rhys said, picking up the ECHO that he had dropped during the fight.

"Wow, you don't have much do you?" Gaige asked, crossing her arms and looking at Rhys with a surprised expression.

"After Helios fell, I'm lucky to be alive. I'm an ex-Hyperion if you can believe it," Rhys said, deciding to go ahead and clear the air with that. Gaige was tempted to draw her shotgun, but she held back and decided to ask. After all, Hyperions get big bucks for killing or bringing in Vault Hunters. And he passed that up. That was very un-Hyperion.

"'Ex?'" she questioned.

"Got tired of the bullshit of Handsome Jack put me through, so I just ended up crashing Helios. I didn't even care," Rhys said, his tone hollow.

"You're way better at killing people than I am. How many people do you think were on Helios, huh?" Jack's words echoed through his head, and Rhys felt guilty every time he thought about that.

"Just so you know, Handsome Jack's been dead for a while now. I was there when Lilith burned his skull from the inside out," Gaige said, recalling the memory of Hero's Pass.

"Oh, if you only knew..." Rhys said, shaking his head. Gaige frowned. She did not like the sound of that. Just what was he suggesting?

"I did what I had to. To rid the world of you."

"And I sure as hell would do it again," Rhys said aloud. Gaige looked at Rhys strangely. She thought he was either insane or haunted. There wasn't much of a difference between the two any more.

"Anyway, it's Rhys by the way," he said, holding out his human hand. Gaige stared at it for a minute before grasping it with her metal one.

"Gaige. Look, I'm sorry for shooting at you," she said, scratching the back of her head in minor embarrassment. "I'm used to running into bandits more than anything, and I shoot first and ask questions never..."

"You didn't kill me, and you've stopped shooting at me. I think I'm over it now," Rhys said. Gaige smiled.

"That's certainly quite a thing to get over. Uh, we got off on the wrong foot. I'm not sure how everyone else would react to you, but do you need a place to stay? Sanctuary's been looking for more people to recruit, and I feel like I could get you in. Provided I teach you what your Hyperion scrooges could not," Gaige explained with a prideful smirk.

"You sure I won't get shot in the face after they find out I used to be an ex-Hyperion? I mean, we did call mortar strikes on you guys on the daily," Rhys said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Well, I'll make sure to tell Lilith last. She might not take it as well as everyone else. My car's not far. I can head back to Sanctuary now. Lilith complained about the giant ECHO signal you were sending out, and wanted one of us to check it out," Gaige said before deciding to add some other things as an afterthought. "You better be glad it was me who came. If it was Zer0, your throat would've been cut open before you even saw him. Axton's turret would blast you to sticky pieces. Krieg would take your baton, shove it up his ass, and call it paradise before slicing your head off. If it was Maya, you wouldn't probably wouldn't have even gotten behind that rock before you were dead. And you can't pin Sal down like you did me, so I'd say you're very lucky."

Rhys gulped. By the sound of things, her fellow Vault Hunters were a lot more formidable than she was. And in this case, that was bad. Very bad. He was lucky.

"Uh... yeah. Listen, can we get off the subject of how lucky I am not to get those other Vault Hunters trying to kill me?" Rhys asked.

"The wittle Hyperwon is scared?" Gaige said in a baby voice before it leveled out. "Can't say I blame you. Come on." A smile tugged at Rhys' lips. He liked this girl. Just as serious as Athena when it came down to it, but as playful as Fiona or Sasha. He knew his time his time with her was never going to be a dull moment as he followed her.

A/N: This is a one shot, but I'll make it a series if you enjoy it and see potential. I've always wanted to play with these two meeting, and now's the perfect time when I've got a suitable plot to work with. Tell me what you think, and peace!