Mordecai raised his closed eyes to the blazing Pandora sun. Sprawled out on the rock, I could almost take him as sleeping. Of course, I know better than that. He is Mordecai after all, relaxing isn't in is vocabulary. Above him I sat cross-legged on a flat part of a large boulder, drinking from a small canteen I keep with me. I continued to gaze down at the hunter, who sighed and shifted his shoulders a bit. Sometimes I wish I knew what he was thinking, the things that go through his mind. I raised my face to the sunlight and closed my eyes. It's hard to believe that almost a year ago I didn't know what sunlight felt like against my skin.
I rubbed the tribal marks on my shoulders, knowing what they meant. They made me different, into something I don't even know. Lilith knows I'm part siren, but she doesn't know what the other half of me is. All we know is that whatever it was it gave me the power to use massive ebony eagle wings that spreads feathers over my shoulders and up my wrists. The four vault hunters taught me everything I know today. Being locked up in a cell, all I knew how to do is listen to people and to imagine what life would be like on the outside. Lilith helped me with my siren powers while developing her own. Mordecai taught me to be an effective killer, and Brick and Roland taught me how to fight.
"Kid? Hey kid! Hello, is anybody home?" Startled, I snapped back to Mordecai staring me down with his arms crossed and his head cocked to the side. I blushed a little, but then saw Lilith behind him with a strange purple rock. "What's that?" I asked her as she handed it to me. Then energy surged through me and I seized down against the rock. Everything turned white and I felt some sort of...power! When I calmed down Lilith was holding my head and Mordecai was standing over me.
"What the fuck?!" I spat out, my head pounding. Somehow, though, I felt good. Like I was stronger. Lilith smiled above me, "You have just served as an experiment of mine." I tensed. Experiment. Not a great word for me. "Sorry to not tell you, Peige, but I needed to see if it worked for you to. I just gave you a substance called Eridium," she paused then continued, "It gave you power, didn't it?" She looked at me expectantly and I nodded. Mordecai reached for me and gently lifted me. For a trained killer, he's always had a light touch. I shivered a little and he handed me the canteen, "Take a look at your tattoos." My brow furrowed, then I looked and gasped at what I saw. My tribal marks had always been a ring inside a ring with unattached, elongated teardrops that represented feathers. Now I looked at them and they were glowing faintly a bright azure purple and now tribal swirls flowed down to my elbows. "Whoa," was all I could get out of my throat.
Before any of us could let out another word a familiar cry from above startled the three of us. Mordecai stiffened as his beloved Bloodwing soared down to us, "Something's wrong!" Bloodwing crashed into Mordecai and collapsed. "Oh my god!" I rushed to him, Lil not far behind. Cai rushed off the rock and sprinted toward Zed's metal shack in Fyrstone. "Mordecai! What happened?!" Lilith called out from behind. He kept sprinting, myself not to far behind him. I felt Bloodwing's pain, I knew his wing was broken and so did Mordecai.
Finally we bombarded into Zed's shack; a small metal hut or shack or whatever where the med vender and only medical 'specialist' we know works on his patients when he isn't in New Haven. "Whoa now, kids. What in the Skag Gully is goin' on?" Mordecai rushed over, threw the body occupying the metal table and laid the unconscious hawk raptor down in front of Zed. "Well I'll be, what happened to your pet thing that you carry around" Mordecai and I in unison announced, "Broken wing ," as I walked over I got my first good look at Bloodwing, his light feathers and leathery, bat-like wings splattered with blood and his leg was twisted and had something wrapped around it. Zed began working on poor Bloodwing, who was slowly coming back to the land of the conscious. Lilith was trying to get hold of Roland and brick as Cai tenderly pulled off the piece of paper and read the scribble out loud.
Hey vault hunting fucker, I had some of my associates from Dahl fuck up your beloved pet just for you. Name's Jack, and the game is about to begin.
And with that, Mordecai stomped over to one of the lockers next to Zed's table and slammed his fist into the metal. As blood began to soak into his gloves I felt a pang of empathy. One of my gifts was a blessing and a curse. I could feel Bloodwing's pain, Lilith's panic, and Mordecai's despair. My instincts said to walk away, it wasn't my problem. However, my heart couldn't let him suffer alone. "Mordecai..." " Why did I let this happen?!" He snapped his head up to me and his mouth was a stone line. "This isn't your fault, you know that. This Jack guy..."
My head flashed back. I knew him and suddenly I remembered. My marks began to burn as I remembered the first thing about my past since I woke up three years ago. I remembered being small, and my parents' screams as I hid under their bed, then a cynical laugh and two gun shots...and the gurgle of both of them dying... "Jack..." I bitterly spat. Lilith was by my side, "Peige what's wrong?" "I know who did this. He goes by... Handsome Jack."