We've only begun, here's chapter one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Borderlands.

Prologue

A great battle had just ended on the planet Exyn, a world densely populated with forests, foliage, and savages.

This was it. This was the moment I had waited my entire life for. I looked around, glancing at the people surrounding me, silently asking for their approval. Too bad they were all dead. I was the only member of my team to survive. I could almost hear their voices, despite being slain, shouting at the top of their lungs: open the Vault. I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face.

I felt myself start to tremble from different emotions. Excitement for uncovering the mystery of the Vault. Fear of disappointment in what was inside. Sadness for being the only person doing this.

Most of the Vault Hunters on my team were greedy, sadistic assholes. In fact, the only reason they were on the team was because they were strong. On the other hand, there were people like me who, despite being strong, were also friendly. Really there were only two of us, me and a guy named Serrin. He was my best friend throughout this whole ordeal. He was the only regret I had.

I picked up the Vault Key from the ground. One of my comrades had dropped it in the last battle. There were a lot of guardians leading up to the Vault. I knew someone was going to die, but I had no idea that it would be everyone but me. I walked over to the hole in the ground. I placed the Vault Key in the hole, causing it to glow.

I waited in anticipation, expecting something to happen. I stared at the arch that represented the Vault. Nothing was happening. Why? I walked over to it. I did everything I was supposed to do. The Vault Key was charged, it was inserted, the guardians had been defeated. Why did it refuse to open? Everything that led up to this moment was wasted. I fell to my knees. Our efforts were in vain. My teammates' sacrifices were to no avail. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. This was the end. I no longer had a reason to live. I suddenly felt the urge to throw myself off of the nearby cliff.

I stood up, my tears blurring my vision. As I walked toward the edge of the drop, I mentally said goodbye to everyone I knew. The cliff was a few feet in front of me. All I had to do was step forward. Of course, I hesitated. It was a good thing I did, too, or else I wouldn't have heard the strange sounds coming from the Vault. I quickly turned. Was it opening? I rushed back to the Vault, my hope restored. I stood where the Vault Key had been placed.

I watched as the arch began to glow. It got brighter and brighter to the point I had to look away. The light subsided, and I looked back at the arch. In it was what seemed like a person. I called out to it.

"Hello?" I inched forward as I spoke. The figure did not respond. "Excuse me, sir, or ma'am, whichever you are." No reply. I approached at a faster pace. When I was close enough, I understood what was going on. The figure was not a person, but a suit of armor. It appeared to be, at least. I reached out to touch it. My finger made contact with the cold surface. I couldn't tell what material it was made of, but I thought it was safe to assume it was Eridian.

"That's pretty fucking sweet, man," I heard a strained voice call out. I quickly turned to see a mutilated Serrin lying on the ground, a smile on his face. A wave of relief rushed over me. Serrin was alive! I ran to him, while the only thought in my head was to help him.

"Serrin!" I knelt down. Serrin was injured pretty badly. Much of his skin was covered in blood. I could hardly stand seeing him in pain.

"I think we did it, huh," he said, exhausted. "My stomach really hurts," he moaned. My eyes began to blur again as tears of joy began to overflow. Serrin and I had managed to survive the onslaught of the guardians and opened the Vault, which turned out to be not a failure. I couldn't be happier. I remembered that Serrin was on the verge of death. I stood up and began searching the area, particularly the corpses of my comrades, for any medkits. After a few minutes of searching, I found one lying amongst a pile of leaves, which I promptly snatched, running back to Serrin. Within minutes, Serrin was able to stand.

"Aw, man. I don't think I'll be doing this again." Serrin sighed. "What are we going to do with this thing?" he asked, signaling to the armor. I shrugged.

"It looks pretty heavy, so we can't carry it," I pointed out. "Which leads me to assume-"

"You're gonna wear it," Serrin finished.

"Why do I have to wear it?" I already knew why, but I wanted to hear his reasoning.

"Welllllll.." he drawled. "First of all, I practically just died, and I don't have the energy to wear armor. Second of all, you're the one that actually opened the Vault in the first place, so it belongs to you."

I smiled. "Touché." I walked up to the statue-like figure. "How do you think I do this?" I circled the armor. After a few moments, I spotted a pressure point in its chest. "Here it is, I think." I glanced back at Serrin. "Here goes."

I placed my thumb on the pressure point and pushed it in. Suddenly, the armor came to life, and I jumped back. That was the last thing I was expecting, to be honest. It must have caught Serrin off guard as well, because when I looked at him he was on the ground again. I carefully approached the strange Eridian artifact, eyeing its entirety. The helmet appeared to be watching me. Without warning, it lunged at me. I heard Serrin shout my name.

"Tyr!" That was the last thing I could remember.

• • •

Chapter 1

I awoke rather uncomfortably. I assumed I was on my back. My clothes felt weird on my skin, so I decided to look at my body. What I saw scared me to the point where I was almost hyperventilating.

I was wearing the armor from the Vault. Which of course really surprised me, given that I didn't actually put it on myself. I quickly stood up, only to find myself flying through the air. I hit the ground with a thud, this time face down. Strangely, I didn't feel any pain. What just happened?

I repeated the process, fly up to the sky and hitting the ground. I quickly realized what was going on: the armor amplified my movements to the point that moving normally made me a hazard to myself, except for the fact that I wasn't even getting hurt. This was fucking funny, I couldn't wait to tell Serrin-

Oh god, Serrin. What happened to him? I looked around to find I was still at the Vault. Suddenly, a loud voice boomed from an unknown location. It sounded like an intercom.

"Rise and shine, citizen of Exyn! It's me, Handsome Jack, the fearless leader of the Hyperion Corporation! How ya doin', buddy?"

What was going on? I did my best to push myself off of the ground, as slowly as possible, so as not to catapult myself into the air again. After successfully standing up, I turned my head to see a robot standing several paces away from me. I answered the question.

At least, I tried to. For some reason, I wasn't making any sound.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to mention that you can't talk, since you have no lungs! How funny is that? That means you can't breath either, buddy!" The voice calling himself Handsome Jack was on the verge of bursting into a fit of laughter, I could tell. "Anyway, I've had my eyes on this Vault for quite some time, longer than you, actually." He sounded a bit irritated. "That means that since you had the nerve to open it before me, you now belong to me."

Like hell I was gonna be this asshat's property. He was right, though. I wasn't actually breathing, which scared the shit out of me. I decided to make a gesture that he would hate. I put my hand up and closed all of my fingers but one. No, not my middle finger! My thumb! I gave him a thumbs-down.

"Oh, I see. You don't want to cooperate, do you? I guess we'll have to resort to using the collateral I just picked up as leverage." In that moment, I heard Serrin's voice over the intercom.

"Tyr? Is that you?" It was then that I understood everything that was going. According to what I heard, Handsome Jack was a complete dick. There was no way I would help him.

"Alright, shut the kid up," Jack's voice came back on. "I would kill you right now, but I have to admit that I don't know how to. Yet. Which means that," his voice suddenly became filled with joy, "when you decide to join me, you can seek me out on the planet Pandora," he finished. The intercom clicked, signalling the end of the connection. Suddenly, the robot spoke.

"Self-destruct sequence initialized." I turned and walked away. Jack said he couldn't kill me, so I assumed that the explosion was supposed to be pretty harmless. Big mistake. "3...2...1...Boom." Did that robot say boom? I heard an explosion, and the next thing I knew was that I was flying through the air.

It's funny how things work out. Handsome Jack just enraged an invincible man with a vengeance, then informed him of his location. Handsome Jack must've had a death wish, and I was happy to grant it.

• • •

Chapter one, complete. Phew.
Noble Jasper, out.