Hello. Dablackwyrm here. after stumbling upon this site 3 years ago and reading story after story as an anon, I decided to throw my hat into the literary ring.

In my excitement, I forgot to place a disclaimer for this story. since I'm allergic to lawsuits, I'll just say this: I do not own borderlands. 2K and Gearbox does. Only my OC's are mine.

This is my second story, my first being The charms of the pharaoh, my first foray into lemon and smut fics. this story I will attempt to focus on the action, humor, and moral gray area of the borderlands games. I plan to write the entirety of BL 2 along with the DLC as I play them. As well as include an OC with the main six Vault Hunters. (Yeah I know, super original right?) in their quest to stop Handsome Jack and free pandora. I hope I do the series proud. Without any further ado, this is...

Heroism is overrated: a borderlands story.

chapter 1: You either die a hero...

"Shit shit shit... this was a bad idea!" Kayus yelled as he fired a rusty dahl Assault rifle at a group of Hyperion soldiers. "They make this look so easy in the movies! I try it and it bites me in the- aaaggghhh!" He grunted as a round punched through his shoulder. He really should have bought a shield, he thought. Unfortunately they didn't have any for impulsive acts of heroism abd bravado. His last thoughts were of punching the guy who made up the damnable phrase "YOLO".

He took consolation in the fact that he was hit with normal non-elemental rounds, even though they still hurt. . A sign they wanted him alive (probably just to kill him later after an interrogation). There wouldn't be anything left of him to bury if they were firing corrosive and incendiary rounds at him. He fell to the ground on his back, his shoulder bleeding profusely as the pool of crimson grew larger under him on the concrete. He looked up into the dark skies above Ares VII, his home planet. Several searchlights focused on him, ignoring the cargo ship carrying a group of hyperion's soon-to-be-but-not-anymore slag test subjects into the stratosphere safely out of their reach, heading to worlds unknown. He hoped his distraction worked, and that the bastards didn't have any of their ships in orbit to stop ships coming and/or going due to the size and strategic un-importance of the planet. A hyperion officer in blue and gray armor with a green stripe on the left side of his shoulder going down to his leg walked towards the wounded teen. He Looked down at him with the single glowing red eye on his helmet that made him look inhuman. He was flanked by two other soldiers in the yellow and gray armor, it didn't take Kayus long to figure out those two were low-rank.

"Take him to the "guest" room and patch him up. Jack will want to speak to this one personally." He ordered before knocking him out with a boot to the face.

Kayus woke up with a start, coughing hard as if he'd been strangled, his head throbbing and face wet with water. He was in a small room with four walls painted white, and yellow stripe along the middle. He looked to his left and saw an assortment of what appeared to be torturing instruments. A syringe with an unknown liquid, pliers for pulling out teeth, and a scalpel among them. His blue eyes trembled slightly with fear, as he realized he may have bit off more than he could chew. *At least they patched up my shoulder...* He thought, trying to remain optimistic. The door in front of slid open as three people entered the room.

"Oh you're up! good morning sunshine!" A smarmy, cocky voice said mockingly in the douchiest voice imaginable. He read aloud: "Let's see here... Name is Kayus Blackmore, son of Rowan and Rose blackmore, Sister of Leia Blackmore, blah blah FRICKIN blah! You know why you're here, right? Who I am?" A man in his late thirties, wearing a mask that appeared grafted onto his face that would have made him attractive if not for his grating voice. He wore a trench coat with spiky brown hair looked at him, An ECHO device in one hand while idly playing with a Hyperion pistol in his right.

Kayus coughed again, red blood trickling from his mouth. "A jackass?" He smirked cockily, trying to get under his skin. He was resigned to his fate. He just hoped his message went through.

The man placed the ECHO in his pocket and walked towards the restrained teen on the table, backhanding him so hard it echoed inside the small room. The pair of soldiers at the entrance flinched visibly, lucky it wasn't them in that chair. "haha. Cute. Real cute. I'm handsome jack. CEO of hyperion, richer than god a bazillion times over and killer of young little punks like you." Jack announced proudly. Flanked by two Hyperion soldiers. "So why don't you be a good boy and tell me just what the hell you were doing trying to skip town with my 'assets'." He asked in a neutral voice while walking around the chair Kayus was in. "I mean, you think you're in deep shit now, you should see the guy who oversaw this place. He's currently ashes in a trashcan!" He laughed. "I mean, it makes me look bad when the guys I hired to keep things going smoothly allow some kid to come along and kick their asses!"

Kayus wasn't stupid. He knew that he was screwed whether he told them or not. He was still going to die either way. So he decided to tell him the truth in the most dickish way possible.

"Funny you mention this planet, because you won't find them here." Kayus replied, giving the despot a shit-eating grin. "Time is money, right? while you're here, they're slipping further and further away- ungh!" Kayus groaned as one of the soldiers struck him in the gut with the butt of his rifle.

"Is that so? Possession is nine-tenths of the law, kid. You just stole company property!" Jack told him as he walked around the chair the lad was strapped to. "Tell me, how old are you? Twenty-one, right?" He asked him. He knew already, but wanted to screw with him. "I was deciding if I should have you work for me for the rest of your life..." He paused. "But You still wouldn't be able to cover the costs of those lab rats you stole from me! So I may have to kill you. Nothing Personal... Kid!" The despot laughed.

Kayus' eyes widened. Was he really going to die? He had heard stories of Handsome Jack on ECHOnet. kidnappings, assassinations, murders designed to look like accidents...

"Gonna be like that huh? Well I bet your sister would be more cooperative. Or your parents?" He smiled, watching the black-haired teen grit his teeth. "Perhaps we should pay her a visit... I got a group of assassins at your house right now, ready to kill all of them on my command! How 'bout that, huh?" Jack sneered.

The young adult glared at the despot in front of him. No-one threatened his younger sister or his family. He was normally calm and collected, but any affront directed at his family resulted in many poor saps getting their asses kicked. He struggled to break free of his bindings but to no avail. "You son of a bitch! If you're going to kill me, kill me! leave them out of it!" He spat.

"A son of a bitch? hahahahahah! you hear this kid? I'm a goddamn hero! I saved pandora and cleared the corrupt asshats off this pimple of a planet! I gave you one chance, but you're just too damn stubborn..." Jack said as he aimed the pistol at his head. "Don't worry, your family will be waiting for you in hell. Just remember, you brought this on yourself..." Jack grinned as he pulled the trigger, blowing a golfball-sized hole in kayus' head. splattering blood, brains and bone all over the wall behind him.

"Kids today, am I right?" He joked. "What's the status on the loose ends?" He asked the two soldiers.

"We did as you asked and sent a squad of assassins to the residence. As soon as they entered, it exploded. The squad was KIA, and there was no sign of the family or their remains. we think they may have been warned beforehand and escaped the planet. Should we pursue them?" He asked.

"Looks like some of the hicks on this planet actually a brain." He rubbed his chiseled chin, admiring their cunning. Somehow they knew he was coming. That kid probably gave them a heads up before being caught. He checked out their backgrounds and wasn't impressed; a retired merc with a bum leg and a nurse couldn't be that much of a problem could they? Their kid certainly was. His sister wasn't anything special either. He should have just bombed the damn place, he thought. "Go ahead and place a bounty on them. They can run, but they can't hide." Jack replied as he holstered his pistol. Take me back to Helios, we got things to take care of... And tell the administrator of this branch that if something like this happens again, It'll be him in that chair!" The fascist stated.

"What about the body, Sir?" The soldier asked.

"Oh that? I don't care." he gestured to the corpse in the chair. "Toss it in the slag vats, string it up like a scarecrow... people still use those?" The soldier shook his head. "Ah well. clean up this place while you're at it."

The soldiers did as their boss ordered them to, cleaning the interrogation room and carrying Kayus' lifeless body out of the room. They didn't even bother to seal him up in a bodybag, as they were used to disposing of nuisances this way. they stopped inside a warehouse in the back of the refinery, where slag, A byproduct of an element called Eridium was stored and in a series of large, cyndrilical vats made of metal.

"Was he serious about tossing him into these?" One of the grunts asked as he opened the lid, revealing the sludge-like, glowing purple substance that bubbled and churned inside.

"Who knows. But it's the easiest way. Let's just be done with it. We got other shit to do." the other grunt said nonchalantly. "one... two... hup!" they tossed his body inside the large drum, his body sinking slowly into the amethyst goo before the body disappeared entirely. the placed the lid on top and sealed it, carrying the drum onto one of the outgoing disposal trucks before it drove off before returning to their post.

tIf they had been paying attention, they would have seen the small, violet arcs of lightning as the dead flesh touched the slag. inside the truck, one of the barrel broke free from the inside as it drove past a bridge and rolled down a hill before landing in a river close by. It flowed downstream by way of a powerful rapid towards the ocean, leading to paths unknown...

That's chapter one down. I know this looks bleak, but I have a plan in mind. I'm still new at the writing thing, so if anyone has any tips or criticism for the mistakes I made please let me know. Also my OC will not be a siren. I think that's become a trope among BL fanfics.

Flames or trolls will not be tolerated, constructive criticism is more than welcome.