A pair of black boots step down a transport ship's staircase and onto a concrete landing pad. Their owner lets out a sigh, her breath condensing in the air in front of her face.
Pandora is no place for a Commandant of the Crimson Lance.
Steele can't believe Atlas has sent her to this dusty brown rock, all in the name of finding ancient alien artifacts hidden in a Vault which nobody is sure even exists. Atlas had gotten lucky with Promethea. Promethea, at least, had been well-known as being the former home of alien life. Pandora had the Eridians. The Eridians, who had apparently vanished centuries ago without so much as a trace of where they could have gone. What could have once been great Eridian cities were reduced to rubble, destroyed by Pandora's long winters and harsh summers.
The winter cycle will be ending soon, or so she's been told. Steele isn't sure what "soon" is. Pandora is known for having one of the longest day-night cycles of all planets civilized by humans.
Actually, "civilized" is a pretty generous term, she thinks as she scans the horizon.
The landing pad sits over a steep precipice overlooking a vast, vast stretch of desert. Aside from a small shack made of sheet metal just about a hundred yards away from the foot of the cliff, there's no sign of any human life down below. As far as her eye can see, that's how far the almost featureless brown dust stretches. A few large boulders and sparse stactus plants dot the landscape, giving the eye some relief from the otherwise dead scenery.
"Ma'am? The Colonel has been awaiting your arrival."
Steele turns her head slightly to the right, looking out of the corner of her eye over her shoulder.
"Shall I show you to his office?"
She turns on her heel, examining the soldier before her. "Lead the way."
Lilith sighs as she places a hand to the small, round window in her cabin. She stares out past her fingers into space, at the swirling browns and blues of a nearby nebula.
There are two things she knows about being a Siren. It gives her amazing powers, and there will always be some people who will want to see her dead.
For that very reason, leaving Dionysus, her home of over two decades, was an easy decision to make. Saying goodbye to her parents, now that was tough, but she knew as long as she was still on that planet, they could never truly be safe.
Space seems much larger to her now that she's floating through the middle of it on a transport ship. The ship's lighting system simulates day and night cycles, but even so it's hard for her to tell how long it's been since she left. And that means she isn't sure how long it'll be until she reaches Pandora.
Pandora. Admittedly, Pandora seemed like a strange destination to her, but there wasn't much information on the internet to go off. Most of the sources of information on Sirens she found were just on their lore and history. There were a few hints, but none of them had any confirmed sources of where she could actually find one. One site mentioned a vaguely religious-sounding cult on the planet of Athenas, but that same cult supposedly controlled who could come to and leave the planet, so that option was out. Anything else seemed little more than a wild guess. Eventually, she had managed to work down to three options: Aquator, the Tethys system, and Pandora.
It was the latter that caught her attention, though she can't quite place why. Maybe it was just because it was the closest of the three. Maybe it was because it was one of the borderworlds: she has always liked the idea of setting out and exploring new planets. But on the other hand, she knows it would be a huge departure from her much more sheltered life on Dionysus. Pandora is notorious for being one of the more dangerous borderworlds, and she's even aware of the growing military conflicts between the Atlas and Dahl corporations.
Two more weeks is her best guess. Two more weeks until she is to start her new life out on the edge of the galaxy.
She drums her fingertips on the porthole, her stomach churning as she tries to ignore the thought that she's about to make the biggest mistake of her life.
"Where's the rest?"
"You're lookin' at it."
Steele looks from Colonel Lewis's brown eyes down to the lone folder resting on the desk between them. She scoffs. "You're not serious."
Colonel Lewis shrugs. "You already knew we don't have much to go on."
"But this? This?" she asks, holding the folder aloft and waving it. "This is all the intelligence you've gathered on this Vault? How long have you been on this planet? What have you been doing this whole time?"
"Well, here's hoping you'll do better than I did."
"Me? Not us?"
"I've been reassigned. I thought Knoxx told you."
"Knoxx is rarely generous with details."
Lewis gives a nod of agreement. "Be that as it may... you'll be the one running operations on Pandora for the next few months. You're supposed to report to the General every week, but I'm not sure he even listens to 'em. Everything else you need to know, well..." He gestures to the thin folder in Steele's left hand.
"What does Atlas expect to find on this planet, anyway?"
The Colonel shrugs. "Beats the hell out of me. Four months on this planet and the best we came up with was finding a few old Eridian ruins. Nothing worth reporting, really. Doesn't help that Dahl keeps trying to strong-arm us out of here."
"Ah, yes, they have mining operations on this planet, no?"
"Yeah, they're lookin' for eridium or idirium or some shit like that. I've heard that they're thinking of pulling out, though. Doesn't sound like they're finding much of what they're looking for either."
Steele shakes her head and looks out the window to her left. More dust. More brown landscape. "We must have really pissed somebody off to get stuck on this planet, hmm?"
"No kiddin'. Truth be told," Lewis says, picking up his briefcase, "I think I'd feel better being here as one of the convicts Dahl uses in their mines. At least then I'd know my being here was supposed to be punishment."
Steele sighs as she surveys the horizon.
"Well. The less time I spend here the better. Hope you have better luck here than I did. Get out there and find something that'll set us ahead a hundred years, huh?"
Steele glances over her shoulder and gives Lewis half a grin. "Let's hope."
"So what brings somebody like you to a planet like this?"
Lilith glances up from her drink as she hears the thickly-accented voice.
"Ahaha! Yes, you, I'm talking to you!"
Lilith offers the man half a smile as their eyes meet. "Chasing a dream."
The man's brown eyes seem to light up at her answer. "Ahh, I see now."
She raises an eyebrow. Does he?
"You're after the legendary Vault, aren't you?"
Lilith decides not to respond, hoping that acting the mysterious type will be her best play.
"There are not many people that still believe it's real," he says, signaling towards the barkeeper to bring him a drink and refill Lilith's. "That it's just a child's story... But I suppose you already know that."
Lilith shrugs as the bartender places two glasses on the table in front of them.
"But you don't expect to find the Vault without a weapon, do you?"
"Who said I don't have a weapon?"
"Well, if you've got one, you're doing a great job of hiding it."
Lilith picks up her glass and takes a drink, studying the mustached man in front of her, the rings on his hands. A glint in his smile catches her eye, and she notices one of his teeth is plated in gold.
"Hmm, now what weapon do you prefer?" he wonders aloud, rubbing his chin with his hand. "Not a shotgun, that's too messy for you... do you like the deadly precision of a sniper rifle? No... no, you don't strike me as the patient type. You need something that can keep up with your quick pace, don't you? Maybe a nice combat rifle? Or are those too clunky for you? Hmm... ah! I've got just the thing!"
Lilith watches as the man leans over to his side and activates a storage deck. A crimson-colored gun with glowing red lights appears on top of it, and the man sets it down on the table between them.
"A good submachine gun is the weapon for you: lightweight, high rate of fire, easy to reload. Complete with a fire accessory, so you can roast anything that gets in your way!" The man chuckles. "And it's Hyperion-made, so you can fire with deadly accuracy. I think you'll grow to love Hyperion tech."
Lilith runs her fingertips along the stock and the barrel before looking up at the man. "How much?"
"Four hundred. But I'll throw in this Dahl-made storage deck for free. You'll need somewhere to keep that thing, won't you?"
Lilith sighs. Four hundred dollars isn't cheap for her. On the other hand, she would feel a lot safer with a weapon like the one in front of her. And she's sure that she could earn some money with that on her hip.
"So. Do we have a deal?"
Lilith nonchalantly rolls the left sleeve on her jacket up. The man's smile falters briefly as he notices her tattoos. "What do you know about Sirens?" she asks, studying his face, looking for an indication of fear or intimidation.
The man clears his throat, but he keeps a straight face. "A Siren, hmm? I can't say that I know much. Other than the legends."
"Legends?"
"Oh, surely you've heard of the Eridians, no? The mysterious alien race that once inhabited Pandora?"
Lilith rests her cheek on her palm, signaling with her other hand for him to continue.
"The Eridians were a powerful, advanced race. Some say they made weapons that could convert pure energy into deadly lightning. But nobody knows what happened to them. Their ruins scatter this whole planet. Now, tell me, what do you think could have made a race as advanced as the Eridians vanish just like that?"
She shrugs.
"No one can say for sure, of course, but some legends say that something more powerful than them wiped them out. Or someone. To be more specific, six someones."
"Sirens?"
"So the legend goes," he says before taking a drink from his glass. "They say that centuries ago, the Six Sirens all fought side-by-side, exploring the universe and hunting down treasure on dangerous new worlds. They say that they were all drawn to this planet. That they were drawn by the power the Eridians wielded. The power of the Gods. They say that those Sirens were the reason the Eridians vanished. Nobody seems to be sure what they did to them, though. Some believe they killed the Eridians, others say they banished them to an alternate dimension."
Lilith slowly nods. "That's interesting and all, but what does it have to do with me?"
The man sighs and takes another slow drink. "Don't you think it's odd that you, another Siren, were drawn to this planet, just like the Six Sisters before you?"
"That's assuming that story you just told was true."
The man smiles. The story was a complete lie, of course. The man is a master of spinning lies and tales. "As I said, there isn't much that could cause a race of highly advanced beings like the Eridians to vanish without a trace. And I've always firmly believed that there's a bit of truth behind every legend. Maybe there's a good reason you were drawn to this planet, Miss...?"
"Lilith," she says after a beat.
"Marcus," he introduces himself with a smile.
Lilith sighs, looking back down at the Hyperion SMG between them as she takes a drink.
"I'll tell you what," he says, glancing down at his fingernails. "I'll even give you a discount. Two hundred for the gun and the storage deck."
"What's the catch?"
"No catch. I've just got a feeling about you. I think you and I can make a lot of money together. And I don't think it would hurt you to have someone on your side on a planet like this, especially somebody with my resources."
Lilith finishes her drink and bites her bottom lip as she considers the offer. "You think so, huh?"
"Trust me. I don't get a good feeling about most mercs I meet." And about that much, Marcus was being honest.
She traces a fingertip along the barrel and glances up at him. "And you'll help me find anything you can on Sirens?"
"Any interest of my business partner's is an interest of mine," he replies, showing off his gold tooth with another smile. "What do you say, Vault Hunter?"
After a second's hesitation, Lilith reaches into her jacket pocket and places two $100 bills on the table.
"Ma'am?"
Steele glances up from the map laid out on her table to see a soldier named Delvin Hoffman standing in the doorway to her office.
"We've been receiving reports of heightened activity outside of Fyrestone," he explains.
Lieutenant Hoffman had been assigned by Atlas to be Steele's second-in-command. He told her he had grown up on Pandora before joining Atlas's military, so the choice seemed a logical one. He was somebody who knew the planet, knew the wildlife. Atlas made it clear that he was somebody to be trusted.
"Fyrestone," she repeats.
"It's far off to the west," he explains, walking up to the table. He extends a finger and points to a small dot on the left side of the map. "Right here."
"And why is this worth reporting?"
"One of our scouts said a group of mercenaries got their hands on an Eridian artifact."
"What." Steele's voice is flat and icy.
"We had tracked it to a bandit leader running one of the mines. Went by the name of Sledge. We were working on putting together a team to get in there and get it, but then that group of mercs came in before we could."
Steele shuts her eyes and exhales heavily. "What's their story?"
"Just a group of four guns for hire that have been causing a disturbance out there for the past few days. I didn't think much of it until they grabbed that artifact. Last report I heard had them heading east into the Dahl Headlands."
"Keep an eye on them," Steele orders.
"I've got my best spy out tracking them. We'll know their every move."
Lilith lies in her bed in New Haven, fingers interlocked, hands folded under her head. She looks out the window, gazing up at the stars in the night sky. Somewhere out there in the heavens is her home planet. Her entire world as a child was reduced to nothing more than a speck in the night sky. She smiles to herself. It's funny how her perceptions as a child seem so much more insignificant now.
"Having trouble sleeping?"
Lilith nearly jumps out of bed and grabs her sub-machine gun resting on the nightstand before realizing who it was that spoke.
"I'm sorry, friend. I didn't mean to startle you."
Lilith slowly lies back down, trying to figure out why the Guardian Angel is contacting her directly.
"Can you hear me?"
"Uh..." Lilith says slowly. "Yeah... yeah, I can hear you."
"Sorry again for scaring you."
"No, it's just... you've never... talked to me before. I mean, like, directly."
"I've never had the opportunity before now."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's not important right now. I just want to tell you: I know why you're on Pandora."
"Isn't that kind of obvious in the title 'Vault Hunter'?"
"That's not what I mean, and you know it. You're here looking for a Siren."
"You... know that?"
"I know a lot of things, Lilith."
The redhead fidgets nervously in her bed. The Guardian Angel has never used her name before.
"I want to let you know: your search is not in vain."
Lilith's pupils dilate as the words flow into her ear. "You mean—"
"There is another Siren on Pandora. And you're very close to finding her."
"Wh- I..."
"I know you must have a lot of questions, but know that I won't be able to answer them all."
Lilith doesn't bother to ask why. The Guardian Angel hasn't been contacting her for terribly long, but she knows that the computer is often selective in what it tells her. "Well... when will I meet her?"
"Soon. Within a few weeks, in fact, if everything goes as I predict."
"Well... what's her name? What's her power?"
"I'm sorry, I-"
"Can't tell me that, right..."
"Right."
"Is it because you don't know, or you're just programmed not to let me know certain things?"
The projection of the Guardian Angel's face looks to the side uncomfortably.
"Right, can't tell me that either."
The Guardian Angel seems to look at Lilith apologetically.
"...does she know about me?" Lilith asks.
"Yes and no."
"...what does that mean?"
"She knows you're on this planet, but she doesn't know that you're a Siren. Not yet."
"Oh."
"She'll learn-"
"Could you tell her?" Lilith asks, her eyes sparkling.
"... I'm sorry?"
"Could you tell her about me? You know, that... that I'm a Siren and that I'm looking for her? You know, I mean... I was kind of feeling like this was all a waste of time until you told me there's another one here just now... maybe it would do the same for her."
Lilith watches as the projection of the young woman's face stares ahead intensely. She doesn't seem to be looking at Lilith, but rather past her, as if in deep thought. "I'm... I'm really not allowed to contact others..."
"Right," Lilith says, a tone of defeat in her voice. "Forget I brought it up. Delete it in your logs, or whatever."
Lilith heaves a sigh, drowning out the sound of Angel doing the same.
The projection of the Guardian Angel's face looks downward, and she bites her bottom lip.
"Lilith?"
"Yeah?"
"I can make an exception for you."
The sparkle in Lilith's eyes comes back as she sits up in her bed. "Really?"
"I think these are... extenuating circumstances."
Lilith lets out a short laugh and runs her right hand through her hair. "I... I don't know what to say... thank you, um..."
"You can call me Angel," she says. The projection of her face smiles at Lilith, and Lilith feels herself grinning back.
"Thank you, Angel."
"I have to go now. I'll contact her as soon as I can, but I want you to know that I'm always watching, Lilith."
"Heh... yeah, I kind of figured you were already."
Angel chuckles. "Good night, Lilith. We'll speak again soon."
Lilith sighs and lies on her right side, wondering when she'll get another chance to talk to Angel one-on-one.
Steele lies awake in her barracks at night, a sudden cold draft interrupting her sleep. Not long after she wakes up, a woman's voice speaks up, seemingly right in her ear.
"Hello, Helga."
Steele, nearly on the verge of falling back to sleep, bolts upright in her bed, grabbing the Atlas-manufactured revolver on her nightstand.
"There's no need to be alarmed."
"...where are you? Who are you?"
Steele squints, trying to shield her eyes as a hologram projects in front of her from her ECHO device. A young, dark-haired woman with piercing blue eyes and a kind smile appears in front of her.
"This is me," the voice says, though the lips on the image of the woman don't move.
"That doesn't answer my question."
"You can think of me as a guardian angel."
Steele doesn't respond.
"We've spoken before. Or at least, I've spoken to you before. Do you remember?"
Steele falls silent. She remembers now. It wasn't long after she got to this planet. She was on a convoy trekking through the desert when they were ambushed by a group of bandits. The bandits, of course, weren't the real danger: that was the collection of adult craw worms that attacked while their guard was down. They started dispatching the creatures, but when the ground started shaking a loud rumbling sound started to drown out everything else, Steele had heard a voice in her head with stunning clarity, and it told her one thing: "Get out of there."
Twelve people were on that convoy mission, and only five came out of it alive. One soldier stayed behind while the five who were still alive fled from the gigantic craw worm that was burrowing its way out of the sand. Whether it was a gallant act of self-sacrifice, or just the fact that he was frozen in terror, Steele still isn't sure, but she knows that the only reason they were able to get away safely is because that soldier distracted the great beast.
The same voice that told her to flee had guided her, and thus the rest of the group, back to civilization and safety. At the time, she was so full of adrenaline that she didn't even notice the voice telling her where to go wasn't her own.
"You remember now," the voice says, keenly aware of Steele's thoughtful silence.
"That day in the desert... that was you. You... you saved me."
"Like I told you: think of me as a guardian angel."
"What do you want from me?"
"I don't want anything from you. I only wish to warn you."
Steele purses her lips together and exhales shortly. "Warn me about what?"
"I don't have much time, so please listen: the Vault is not what Atlas believes it to be. It doesn't hold advanced weapons, or alien technology. I can't tell you what is inside, but I have to let you know: you cannot be there when it is opened."
"Is that so? And just why not?"
"You will be killed."
Steele raises an eyebrow, then scoffs. "I don't think you know who you're talking to."
"I know exactly what you are, Helga. I've been watching you the entire time you've been on this planet. I know what you're capable of. I've seen you use your powers. So believe me when I say this: if you are present when the Vault is opened, you will not survive."
"If you're trying to scare me, it won't work. Who do you work for, anyway? Are you with Dahl?"
"No. And as far as you should be concerned, I'm not with anybody. In fact, I'm not technically allowed to speak with you. I'm risking a great deal just telling you this much."
"And why would you risk all this for a stranger?"
"Let's just say we have quite a bit in common."
Steele shakes her head, but before she can respond, the voice interrupts her.
"I have to go. I'll try to talk to you again later, but please, trust what I told you is the truth."
The young woman's face fades from Steele's vision, and Helga rubs her forehead as she lies back down and stares up at the ceiling. She wouldn't be able to fall back asleep before her alarm went off two hours later.
"Hey."
Mordecai snaps his fingers in front of Lilith's face a few times, and she slowly looks over at him. "Huh?"
"You were staring off for like five minutes there. What's goin' on with you?"
"Nothing," Lilith replies casually. "Just thinking, I guess."
"About what?"
Lilith smirks. She was thinking about how despite spending the last five weeks in close company with the three men beside her, the person she considers her closest friend on this planet isn't a person at all, but a voice that speaks with her most nights, an unseen eye that seems to track her every movement, a giver of advice when she wants it, and an attentive ear when she needs it.
"About how Roland burned the skag again," she says after a beat.
"I'm not the one who thought shooting the whole set-up with a fire shotgun would speed things along," he says in defense.
"Good things come to those who wait, Brick," Lilith says, looking at the incendiary shotgun by the Berzerker's side.
"I punch waiting."
Lilith chuckles. Angel is a good friend to her, but that isn't to say she hasn't grown fond of her fellow Vault Hunters in her own way either.
"So what's our plan for tomorrow?" Mordecai asks, chewing a particularly rough chunk of skag meat.
"Pierce wanted us to check out that inactive bounty board in the Rust Commons. Why don't you and I handle that one, Mordy?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Brick and Lilith, you two can go check out that cave on the other side of the trash heap."
"The one with all those midgets?" Lilith asks, trying to work out a piece of meat stuck between her teeth with her tongue.
"Yeah. Tannis mentioned something about crystals that she wanted us to check out too, so keep an eye out for those."
"Sounds simple enough," Brick says with a nod.
"Try not to punch anything that doesn't need punching, big guy," Mordecai says.
Brick laughs. "I've never met a problem that couldn't be solved by punching."
Lilith smirks and shakes her head. "I think I'm gonna head to bed now. Brick, meet me by the Catch-a-Ride tomorrow when you're ready to go."
Brick nods as he chews on a bite of skag meat. Crass as he could be sometimes, Lilith thinks, at least he has the manners not to talk when his mouth is full.
She heads back to her room in New Haven's run-down apartment complex and wonders if Angel will be able to contact her tonight.
"Hello again, Helga."
Steele's only visible reaction to the Guardian Angel's disembodied voice speaking in her ear is the flickering of her eyes away from the map she's studying.
"There's another Siren on Pandora."
This catches Steele's attention. She nearly drops the glass in her hand. "Another Siren? You're sure of this?"
"Positive. And you're going to meet her very soon."
Steele's mind races. Another Siren? She had given up the possibility of ever meeting another of her kind years ago, and now there's one on this hellhole of a planet?
"Well, 'meet' might be a generous way of putting it," Angel continues. "But you'll see her, with your own eyes. You'll feel her presence."
"How... how do you know this?"
"A gift. A gift of foresight. Of knowledge."
Steele still isn't sure how an AI could see into the future, so she's careful to take what the Angel tells her with a grain of salt. But still, the thought of being so close to another Siren... her mind boggles at the possibilities.
"She's grown quite powerful lately, but don't let this worry you. She's looking for you, too. She wants to meet you."
Steele slowly nods as she swirls the vodka in the glass she holds on to by her fingertips.
"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you the potential of two Sirens working in tandem."
"What does she know of me?"
"What little I told her. That you're a Siren, and that you know about her."
Steele lifts her glass to her lips and lets the liquid wash past her teeth and down her throat. "So almost nothing."
"You'll understand that sharing too much knowledge with either of you could have serious repercussions. I'm already interfering too much just by telling you of each other's presence."
"Sometimes discretion is necessary," Steele says, more thinking aloud than responding to Angel.
"I should go now. I trust you'll come up with something for meeting this other Siren. And remember what I told you: you must not be present when the Vault is opened."
Steele doesn't respond. As much as she's willing to believe the Guardian Angel about the other Siren, she still firmly believes the Guardian Angel isn't being entirely forthright about the Vault. What could possibly be inside that would be a danger to someone as powerful and skilfully trained as herself?
"Oh, and there's one more thing."
"What is it?"
"Do not trust Lieutenant Hoffman." The projection of Angel's face is flat and serious.
Steele smirks and takes a slow drink from her glass. "I never did."
"Do you think she might want to join me?"
Lilith's conversations with Angel have become almost a nightly ritual that she's grown to look forward to. Angel seems to understand a lot about Sirens, but Lilith doesn't find it peculiar: a computer with Angel's power would undoubtedly be able to discover a lot of information on Sirens. She must be able to, since she was able to find the other Siren in the first place.
"I told her about you," Angel replies casually. "She seems... interested, to say the least."
It dimly occurs to Lilith how much she must sound like a teenage girl talking about her crush, but she doesn't care, because she realizes how lucky she is just to have a chance to talk to another Siren. "You told her about me?"
"As much as I could, anyway."
"Meaning...?"
"That there's another Siren on this planet, and that you came here looking for her."
"Does she believe you?"
"She has no reason not to. It wasn't the first time I spoke to her."
"It wasn't?"
"No. I spoke to her twice before. The first time, she didn't even realize I was doing anything at all. That is... how I'm supposed to operate."
Lilith nods. "Is that why you haven't contacted any of the others directly? Because when I told them about you talking to me, they... didn't seem to believe me. Like they couldn't imagine you doing that."
The projection of Angel's face gives just the hint of a smile. "Let's just say you're special."
Steele drums her fingertips on the control console in front of her, looking through the window at the round room beneath her.
Something doesn't seem right.
She looks down at her left arm, and notes that the light beneath her tattoos is swirling, the darker shades of blue mixing and swirling with lighter, milkier tones.
A strange feeling washes over her, rippling from the back of her neck and down through the rest of her body.
"Ma'am? Is everything okay?"
Steele glances over her shoulder at Hoffman and gives him a contemptuous look. "I get the feeling that somebody has kept very important information from me."
Hoffman fidgets nervously under Steele's icy glare. "I- I just send along what I'm told, Ma'am, I-"
Steele holds her right hand up and focuses back on the room below. Hoffman falls silent.
Red lights around the room start flashing, and a loud siren sounds off. The shipping crate lifts up.
The large man stands in between the former Atlas soldier and the masked man with the goatee. Steele frowns for a moment. Weren't there supposed to be four of them?
The group steps forward, almost in unison.
"DEATH TO ALL WHO OPPOSE US!"
The mountain of a man springs into action as the doors beneath the room Steele is in open up. As he moves, he reveals the fourth member of their party, previously hidden behind his massive frame. She stares up at Steele, and Steele stares down at her in shock.
The Guardian Angel told her she would see the Siren with her own eyes in due time, but this wasn't quite what Steele had in mind.
McCloud and his guards are as good as dead, she realizes. With any luck, they might be able to take down some of the others, but they don't stand a chance against the Siren in one-on-one combat.
Steele turns on her heel and walks out as she hears the gunfire starting. "You," she says, pointing to Hoffman. "With me. Now. And bring your scout with you."
"Please tell me you all saw that!"
"What, the cannon he was using? It's interesting technology, but the projectile's too slow to be a viable weapon," Roland says. "Marcus might pay good money for it, though."
"No, not- not the guy, the chick! The Siren?"
Roland and Brick exchange glances, then look at Lilith curiously. "Who?" they both ask in unison.
"You seriously didn't see her? Up in that little room up there?" she asks, pointing up at the room in question.
"Yeah, Steele. I saw her," Mordecai says slowly.
"Yes! Thank you! See? You see?"
"Steele's a Siren?" Brick wonders aloud.
"You do realize she's the one that's been trying to kill us this whole time, right?" the Hunter asks Lilith.
"Well- okay, sure, but she's a Siren!" she says, gushing with enthusiasm.
"How does that change the fact that she's been trying to kill us, exactly?"
Lilith shakes her head. "Why is this so hard for you guys to understand? A friggin' computer knows why I'm so excited to find another Siren, so what's so hard about it for you chuckleheads?"
"The Angel?" Roland asks curiously. "You mean the Guardian Angel knows why you came here?"
"Yeah," Lilith says in a tone of voice that suggests that bit of information is the most obvious thing in the world. "And unlike you guys, she was genuinely excited for me. But no, you know what, it's fine."
"Well, we just-"
"Forget I even brought it up. Let's just get on with it and find Tannis."
Lilith heads to the entrance to the Crimson Fastness. The three men exchange glances with each other. Roland shrugs, and they all follow her through the blast door.
She's not about to let the rest of them slow her down. Not when she's so close to getting to Steele.
Steele is furious.
Not at the fact that Master McCloud is dead – he was a boastful asshole, and she wouldn't be mourning his loss.
Steele is furious because not one incompetent fool in the entire Crimson Lance division thought it was necessary to tell her that one of the mercenaries that was interfering with their mission was a Siren.
Steele the Siren wishes she didn't have to find out about the other one from a disembodied voice and a face that doesn't move its lips when she talks.
Steele the Commandant of the Crimson Lance is the one who has to do the reprimanding.
"You saw her," she growls at a young soldier, no older than 21. "You saw her with your own eyes, and YOU DIDN'T REPORT THIS TO ME?"
The spy looks nervously back at Steele and wrings her hands. "I- I had special orders to report directly to the General. He said it was need-to-know information."
Steele extends her left arm and telekinetically picks up a decorative plant on the windowsill, then violently whips her arm to the left, sending the potted plant hurtling into the wall. The pot shatters on impact, sending clay shards falling to the ground. "YOU DIDN'T THINK I NEEDED TO KNOW THIS?"
The soldier recoils nervously. "The General didn't seem to think so-"
"Damn the General!" Steele shouts, slamming her fist on the desk.
"I was just following orders-"
Steele stares into the young soldier's eyes. "You weren't following my orders."
The young woman nervously breaks eye contact.
"Go."
"Ma'am?" she asks.
"Get out of my office. I'll decide how to reprimand you later. Unless you'd rather I do it while I'm still seething."
The spy salutes and quickly leaves the room, shutting the door behind her.
Steele slowly turns to Hoffman, who was standing in the corner, watching the whole exchange unfold.
"Special orders from the General. Can you believe this? Can you believe Atlas would have my own subordinates working against me behind my back?"
"I don't understand it either, Ma'am," he says, shaking his head.
Steele nods slowly, then turns to face the window, her back to Hoffman. "What I don't understand," she starts, slowly, "is why."
"I'm sorry?"
"Why wouldn't they want me to know exactly what it is I'm dealing with? Why would they go to such great lengths to make sure I didn't know I was dealing with another Siren this whole time?"
Hoffman sighs and shakes his head. "No clue. Maybe they thought that knowing you were going up against a Siren might... cloud your judgment."
Steele lets out a humorless laugh. "Cloud my judgment? Do you realize how many deaths could have been avoided if I knew they had a Siren? No, that doesn't add up..."
Hoffman glances nervously to his left side. He doesn't like how he can't see Steele's face.
"It's funny... it's almost as if someone were trying to set me up for failure."
"...Ma'am?"
"Sergeant Kaplan said she received special orders from the General. Curious, isn't it? Considering only commissioned officers have contact with Atlas."
She turns on her heel and considers Hoffman before speaking again.
"Knoxx mentioned that you went through the Lance Officer Training Academy when he assigned you to be my second-in-command..."
He eyes her nervously as she paces around the room.
"Now that I think about it," she continues slowly, "I wasn't even the one who selected Kaplan for that reconnaissance mission." Turning to face him, she adds, "That was you."
"She was the best for the job. If you're insinuating-"
Steele holds up an ECHO recorder and hits the play button. Surprised, Hoffman falls silent.
A gruff voice speaks first on the recording. "We've got more reports of another angel out there."
A second voice, unmistakeably that of Hoffman. "I'll look into it."
"Same restrictions apply. This one sounds dangerous, so whoever you get on that job, make sure they're careful."
"I'll get the best we've got."
"Good. I'll want them to report back personally to me, understood? I need to know exactly what we're dealing with so I can decide if we should try and take her alive or just kill her."
"Understood-"
Steele stops the recording and casts an icy stare at him.
"You-" he starts, but she interrupts him.
"The two of you have been scheming against me since I was sent here."
"That's a hell of an accusation-"
"You think I'm that stupid? I've been watching you for weeks now," she says through gritted teeth. "How did you think this would work? You get rid of me and he would be so grateful that he promotes you?"
"Knoxx has wanted you out for a while," Hoffman says, dropping his facade of innocence. "You've got a lot of ambition, and even more power, and that's never a good mix."
"You have no idea what you're doing," she growls, placing her hands flat on the desk and staring him down.
"The closer you've gotten to this damn Vault, the more reckless you've become. You don't think Knoxx noticed that? You don't think he saw this as the perfect opportunity to disgrace you? To send you on a wild goose chase for a treasure that doesn't exist?"
Steele smirks. The Vault is real, that much she knows. Not that she could say she found it out by a disembodied voice telling her.
"He'll find a way to get rid of you," Hoffman says, heading towards the door. With a hand on the knob, he looks over his shoulder at her. "Provided this planet doesn't do it for him."
Hoffman turns away from Steele, twists the knob, and pulls the door open.
He stops in his tracks.
Steele stands in front of him, a revolver in her hand aimed squarely at his heart.
Before he can look back over his shoulder at where she was standing just a second earlier, before he can even utter out "how?", she pulls the trigger.
Lieutenant Hoffman falls back. As he does, he thinks he can see her still standing behind the desk, but his peripheral vision quickly starts fading.
As the color leaks from his vision, the last thing he sees is Steele looking down at him as she walks past.
The Vault Hunters would be setting out for the Vault in a few hours.
Steele figures none of the rest of the Lance will know of Atlas's plans to oust her from power. She can use that to her advantage.
She ECHOs a few of her top soldiers and tells them to muster some troops. The Eridians left a lot of guards on the path to the Vault.
With any luck, she could get there before the Vault Hunters do. Then after she opens the Vault, she can kill the guards and wait for the Vault Hunters to show up. The three men were useless to her, but the Siren... maybe the Siren would see things her way. She'd give her a chance to join her. And maybe the first thing they could do would be to take revenge on Atlas. If the corporation thought dealing with one Siren required that much subterfuge, they wouldn't stand a chance against a second one.
Steele opens the window and extends her hand towards Hoffman. His body starts levitating. She quickly checks outside the window, and upon seeing the coast is clear, opens it and sends his body out and down a steep cliff face. The rakk and the skags would take care of the rest.
The bloodstain on the floor... well, there is just no time for that.
Steele takes her ECHO communicator out of her ear, drops it on the ground, and crushes it underneath the heel of her boot.
She exits the room, closing and locking the door behind her. No one would even find the bloodstain until it was much too late.
She smirks to herself and heads outside. As if on cue, a transport vehicle rolls up, and a bearded soldier opens the passenger door for her.
"Whatever's in that Vault," the driver says as he guides the vehicle forward, "it's gonna make Atlas a superpower."
Steele stares out the window silently. Angry as she is on the inside, she remains outwardly calm. Atlas isn't exactly high on her list of priorities.
Angel stares in horror as the four monitors in front of her show Steele getting pierced through the stomach by the sharp tentacle of an Eldritch abomination. She covers her face with her hands just before Steele is dragged into the gaping maw of the monster.
After a few seconds, she peeks through the gaps between her fingers. Three of the feeds have burst into action. Lilith's feed on the bottom right monitor hasn't moved. She's just staring at the one-eyed extra-dimensional monstrosity before her.
"Angel. Guide them," a stern voice says from behind her.
Angel clears her throat. "Right, sorry, sir." She types in a few commands on her keyboard and picks up the piece of paper beside her cup of tea. Her eyes scan her father's neat handwriting. He writes in all-caps. It's always bugged her. She thinks it's just another way he tries to exude authority.
"Don't give up!" she says into the microphone. "This creature may be immortal in its own realm, but in this reality it cannot survive without a host, and that makes it vulnerable. When it becomes flesh and blood, it can be hurt; even killed. You just need to know where to aim."
She switches off her microphone, and Jack's hand comes into the side of her field of vision, pointing at the bottom left monitor.
"Whose feed is that?"
"The Siren's."
"What the hell's her problem? She's just standing there! Hey, idiot, move!"
Angel rolls her eyes. "I'll handle it," she tells him.
"You'd better. We need them to succeed here, Angel. Be her cheerleader, do whatever it takes."
Angel rolls her head from side to side and arches her back. She sighs in relief as a few vertebrae crack.
"This is clearly gonna take those chumps a while," he says. "Come get me when they're done."
She breathes a sigh of relief as her father leaves the room. Now she can work.
She types in a few commands and switches her microphone back on. "Lilith? You need to move."
The feed on her lower right monitor slowly pans to the right. After a moment, Lilith finally starts to move, ducking behind a large pillar just as a large tentacle slaps the ground where she stood moments earlier.
"I have a confession to make."
"Go ahead."
Lilith frowns as she sees the projection of Angel's face do the same. As far as she can remember, it's the first time she's seen the young woman's face do anything but smile reassuringly.
"I... I may be somewhat responsible for Helga's death."
"Who?"
"Steele."
Lilith lets out a small chuckle. "Um, I'm pretty sure you weren't the one who stabbed her through the gut with a giant tentacle."
"No, of course not, I mean that... well, I tried to warn her about what would happen if she was there when the Vault was opened, but she didn't believe me."
"Okay, so she didn't listen to you... still not seeing how this is your fault."
"You still don't understand, do you? I'm the one that guided you to the Vault, and she was trying to get there first. So in a way, I led her to the Vault."
Lilith frowns. "Wait... you warned her about what would happen?"
"...yes."
"Meaning you knew she would be killed by that weird tentacle monster."
"...yes."
"..."
"Lilith?"
"You knew."
"Well, yes, I-"
"You knew this whole time that she was going to die."
"Lilith, I promise you I-"
"No!" Lilith interrupts. Promises from a computer. Could anything be more meaningless? "You knew this whole time she was going to die, and you let me believe that I'd actually get to meet her? To join up with her? To finally find some answers about being a Siren, to finally have somebody like myself to talk to? Someone who can actually understand me?"
"I under-"
"NO, you don't! How could you possibly understand how alone I feel all the time?"
"Lilith, please listen-"
"I'm done listening to you. You spent all this time building up my hopes just so you could smash them to pieces."
"You don't understand-"
"I don't ever want to hear from you again."
Angel stares blankly as the feed on her bottom right monitor cuts to black. Lilith has turned off her ECHO device.
Angel bows her head and fights back tears. Lilith hadn't once objected when she called her friend. At first she just said it because it was what her father would have wanted.
"Be nice to them. Be congenial, Angel. You need to be their friend."
But over time, that expression of congeniality became real. With all of them, in some respect, but especially so with Lilith. It kills Angel that she couldn't tell her what she was, what they had in common, but she knew now couldn't be the time for that. Or was that just another one of her father's lies that she had come to believe over the past few years? Just another thing he would tell her to further his own aspirations?
Was she even a friend to Lilith? She hopes she was. She wanted to be. She tried to be her friend. But friends are honest with each other. Friends don't hold secrets from one another. Friends don't manipulate friends because somebody told them to. Angel tries to ignore the growing pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach.
One night a while ago while they slept, and while she was bored, Angel compiled a simple code that would keep track of how long she was tapped into each of the Vault Hunter's audio feeds. After a week of watching them, it confirmed her suspicions: of all the time she was listening to one of the four of them, almost half of it was spent with Lilith, watching her video feed, listening to her as she interacted with the others, or with other civilians. Though when they were in combat, Angel would usually switch her audio feed off: she found keeping it muted and watching their progress was easier to deal with than listening and not watching.
Almost half the time, she spent with Lilith, as if she were a little angelic figure resting on the woman's shoulder, silent and unseen, but always watching, and sometimes even guiding, even when they didn't know it.
It was only natural. Lilith was the first Siren whom Angel had ever met. Steele, well... Angel was sad that Steele died, too, but Steele had never fully trusted her to begin with. Lilith felt perfectly at ease talking with her late into the night. And Angel, she loved the company. She loved having someone who seemed to understand how she felt, even though she could never tell Lilith just how alike they were. She loved having someone to listen to, someone to talk about things with other than her father's asinine quest for power.
She had hoped that over time they could form a connection. She knew they may never meet in person, but even that would have been enough. Two ships passing in the night, neither alone, both aware of each other, but neither knowing just how close the other is.
A few times, she had even deluded herself into thinking that maybe one day she could tell Lilith that she is a Siren too. Now she might not be able to tell her anything anymore.
Angel is possessed of a sight that allows her to look forward and backward across the timeline, but even that gift didn't prepare her for how devastated she feels now.
For the first time in months, Angel switches off the computer her father has her hooked up to.
She lies face down on her bed and sobs.