So, this is sort of a follow-up to my previous Borderlands story, The Last Job. There's some overlap between the two stories, but you could easily read this without reading the other. This one's gonna be longer than that story, but still considerably short: four chapters, plus one epilogue.

Athena sat on the barstool, staring at the dregs of the strong liquor she had ordered. Her Atlas training built up her stamina to the point where she could not get drunk without consuming an insanely large amount of alcohol, say, a barrelful of vodka.

"Another," she said to the bartender, who had just handed her a plate of skag tenders.

"You sure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's the fifth one tonight."

"Just do it."

"You know this stuff's strong enough to kill a Rakk Hive, right?"

Athena flashed a dark glare at the bartender.

He jumped slightly. "Uh…coming right up."

Athena picked up her drink and let the last bits of it run down the side of the cup and into her gullet. Savoring the taste for a moment, she picked up a skag tender and took a large bite out of it just as the bartender returned with her drink.

"The eating and drinking habits of Atlas assassins are beyond my understanding," he said, stepping back.

Athena swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I never thought of Crimson Lance folks liking fried food."

Athena put down the tender. "At Atlas, all they ever gave us were the standard rations," she said pointedly. "We never had anything but water and the food bars. We get to Pandora and start taking over towns, we also start eating Pandoran food." She leaned back slightly. "Some call this stuff unhealthy, I call it fine cuisine." She dropped the rest of the tender in her mouth for dramatic effect.

"To each their own," the bartender nodded. "Enjoy your meal."

Athena took a swig out of her drink. Sometimes she wondered how everyday Pandorans enjoyed their alcohol. One guy had just downed a shot of vodka and was in the process of banging his head against a table. Some woman was leaning against a chair, feet on the table, casually drinking from her beer bottle and occasionally giving Athena a seductive glare, one Athena was not interested in returning.

She looked at her watch. 7:40. It was almost time for her to go.

Suddenly, a fellow in a tan hat and a blue shirt began wheezing and screaming. He slammed a fist against the table, apparently trying to cool himself off. His hair caught fire, then his clothes, then his flesh.

Athena turned to the bartender. "What's killing him?"

The bartender watched as the man in the tan hat disintegrated into a pile of ash. Pursing his lips thoughtfully, he pointed at Athena's drink. "He decided to have what you were having."

Athena stared at her drink. "I…glass of water, please?"

"Coming right up," the bartender said. As he began pouring the new drink, he picked up the phone to the kitchen. "Hey, I'm gonna need a broom for Table 4? Someone ordered the Rakk Lava Cocktail."

"Ah geez, again?"

Janey came home fully expecting to find the house empty, with a note on the coffee table saying Athena would be out for the evening, probably to drink or to go for a walk, or maybe to do whatever odd jobs she could find.

Sure enough, such a note sat in its usual spot, held down by an old grenade they had lying around. This time, it said something about her going out for a drink, and that Janey shouldn't bother joining because she'd be back at exactly 8.

Janey read the note and sighed, before heading to the kitchenette to boil a cup of tea.

Ever since they'd moved to Hollow Point, Athena had become markedly distant. On the rare occasions where she stayed home for dinner, she would sometimes toss around whatever had been prepared with her fork, only taking a bite occasionally. Janey would bring up some topic of conversation, like a humorous death that had happened at work, or stories Scooter sometimes shared with her. Athena would nod and share some dull story about what she did that day, but with obvious disinterest.

Janey suspected Athena's distance was due to her missing her old days as a Lance assassin. People didn't just forget what they were bred to do. There would always be that itch to go back to the way things were.

The thing was, Janey didn't believe any of Athena's dull stories about where she'd been. Scooter had made sure of that.

"Really?" he had asked one morning. "You really believe she went on down to the bookstore and read somethin'?"

"Obviously not," Springs replied hesitantly.

"She's hidin' something from you, gal," Scooter said, widening his eyes. "I dunno, maybe she cheatin' on you?"

"I thought about that," Janey shrugged. "But it doesn't sound like her. I mean, don't get me wrong, she has betrayed folks before, but…I doubt she'd go that far."

"She was a bounty hunter, maybe she's off and collecting bounties," Scooter shrugged. "Ever notice anythin' weird in your paperwork?"

Janey thought about it. There had been a bit of an inconsistency a few years back, when they'd first moved to Hollow Point. But after that, nothing.

Janey was still deep in thought about Athena's frequent absences when she heard a loud knock on the door.

It's 7:45, she wondered as she put down the mug she had just retrieved from the cupboard. She never comes home early. She's always on the dot.

Per Pandora custom (it was a hell of a lot more dangerous than Elpis), she grabbed a shotgun from off the rack, armed it, then swung the door open.

Standing there was a slender woman in a black overcoat, a large black hat, and a pistol, still in its holster.

"Nice gun you got there. How ya doin', Springs?" she asked with a wide smile.

Janey lowered her gun. "The Sheriff of Lynchwood?"

"Hey now, Janey, I know there are stories of me killing anyone who calls me by my real name, and I'd like to let you know those stories are true, but we're friends, right? Just call me Nisha."

"Uh…Nisha, hello." Janey looked around, puzzled. "What a surprise. Umm…what are you doing here?"

"Well, truth be told, I was looking for Athena," Nisha admitted. "She in today?"

"She's gone out for a bit, but she should be back in…" Janey looked over at the clock. "Fourteen minutes and 33 seconds?"

Nisha blinked. "To the second?"

"If she isn't delayed, sure," Janey nodded. "Would you like to come in while you wait? I was 'bout to pour myself a cuppa, I can make one for you, too."

Nisha smiled. "That would be nice, thank you."

Janey opened the door wider and stepped aside as the lawbringer entered the threshold. "Just wondering…what was it you wanted to talk to Athena about?"

Nisha adjusted the gun in her holster. She had a feeling she would be needing it soon. "Oh, just…business."