She could feel the rough and unforgiving ground beneath her as she ran; the jagged stones that tore greedily into the bare soles of her ancient hide boots as the leather finally tore free from the abuse they were subjected to. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest like a hundred Rakk wings, nearly making her dizzy as she scoured the menacing cliff-face, desperate to find some tangible way out of the mess she had gotten herself in.
Behind her, barely a hundred yards away by this point, she could hear aggressive jeering of the bandit men that had chased her from the encampment she so stupid stumbled into. Vague threats to spill her blood pierced the air almost as loudly as the threats to wear her face as a hat that she could so easily hear from the Psychos to the north, well below the cavernous walls of the cliffs.
"Damn it all," she snarled, fear trembling in her voice.
She wheel around, expertly dropping to one knee in the process. She winced as the stones ground into her feet and tore at her pant leg. Ignoring it, she lifted her old Tediore SMG and braced her elbow against her knee. Three barrages of rapid fire shots rang out in rhythmic sequence, dropping three of her bandit foes almost instantly.
"Just fuck off, already!" she bellowed in a voice that was far more confident than she actually felt. Her teeth bared, she snarled at the still approaching bandits, "One more step and I swear, I'll paint the rocks with your grey matter!"
She was disheartened as the men seemed to call her bluff, piling over the trio of dead comrades and barreling towards her with little care for her aggressive threats. Their own threats became louder and more insistence, the uncivilized bandits calling for less deadly but more awful forms of torment now.
Fuck this forsaken planet.
She fired off a few more rounds before the ancient SMG jammed with a pathetic whirring sound. Her blood ran cold as she immediately twisted from her crouch and pounded against the stone, desperation flooding her with wild adrenaline as she tried to escape her would-be captors.
"Well what the hell do we have here?," a masculine voice, crystal cool in tenor, shot through the air, startling the young woman as it came from the ECHO device on her hip, "Is that a lovely Siren that I spy?"
She slapped at her hip, fingers grazing the large grey button on her ECHO as she continued to sprint, eyes peeled for a way further up the mountains. She was a lithe girl - probably something these men couldn't claim - and up was so much more appealing than down with the crazies.
"Are you the fuck leading these scabby bandits?" she snarled into the device, "You'd think that someone who knows what a Siren is would be a bit more intelligent. Call your mangy mutts off this instance or I'll show you whether or not I'm a Siren you nutless fuckwit."
"Aw hell," the man's voice rumbled through her device, significantly huskier than before, "I don't know whether to be turned on by that display or furious over the accusation. Either way, it definitely doesn't look like you're in any position to be making such threats, kitten."
She growled in triumph as she found a handhold and leaped at it without hesitation. She was furious by the man's humor, though was beginning to doubt his leadership over the bandits. Still, she wouldn't take the chance as she began to scale the cliff-face, thankful that the men seemed to be absolutely terrible shots.
"Tell ya what, Siren - I'm feeling awfully generous today, so I won't blow your pretty little head off your shoulders, alright? In fact, I'm gonna make your day a whole lot easier. And a lot more - boom!"
There was a sudden rumble - not at all like the frequent earthquakes that sent tremors across the planet - and a horrible keening cry that echoed above her. The Siren lifted her head, recoiling with a ragged gasp as she witnessed a violent purple bolt streaking towards her, seemingly out of the massive space station that hung ominously between Pandora and its moon, Elpis.
With a whine, strained by distress and physical fatigue, she threw herself up the last few feet of her cliff-face climb, scrambling to curl herself into a small ball beneath a ragged boulder. The bolt slammed into the ground below with deadly precision and the Siren panted heavily, listening for the crude cries of the bandit men.
But none came.
Cautiously, she peeked over the boulder, only to spy a rather impressive crater in the ground below her hiding spot, smeared with blood and debris. None of the bandits lived, that was clear enough. In fact, not many of them even existed after that beating.
"Gotta admit, pumpkin," the crystalline voice of her savior cockily floated through the air, "That was some impressive fucking aim."
"Y-Yeah," she wheezed, rubbing her fist against her chest to ease the tension, "Real impressive there, hotshot. Fuck, I uh… well I'm sorry about calling you a bandit. And, really, thanks for saving my ass there. I'm afraid my Tediore, well as it's treated me in the past, is starting to fail me."
"Pah," the man chuckled into the com device, seemingly ignoring her apology, "That, my divine Siren, is because Tediore sucks giant donkey nuts. If you want reliability, just get yourself a Hyperion - you won't find anything better."
She scaled carefully down the cliff-face and trotted towards the bloody crater, wrinkling her nose as she descended into its sticky depths. She began to scour through the mess, picking up bits and pieces of machinery, crumpled paper bills, and even a few rounds of various ammo, and dumping it all haphazardly into her side bag.
"Well," she scoffed, grimacing at the blood that stained her threadbare gloves, "Obviously you can see me, despite me not being able to see you, oh spooky space station man, but I'm pretty sure my getup is enough hint that I can't quite afford a fancy Hyperion weapon. Would love to replace this old artifact but it's not like I'm gonna find one just laying around…" she paused for a moment, "Actually, I might. But I won't hold my breath on that."
She cringed internally - she may have wished for a better weapon, maybe one that didn't jam constantly, but the old Tediore was a gift. In fact, one of the last things she had ever received from her late father. Despite its status as an ancient artifact, it almost felt like a betrayal, speaking so ill about it.
"If you're nice, pumpkin, maybe I'll just have one custom made for you, eh?" that same cockiness brought a slight smile to her face - she could just envision an arrogant smirk on this mystery man, "Perhaps something bold and fluorescent to pair up nicely with those entracing markings, huh, kitten?"
"Oh yeah?" she snarked, raising her gaze to the space station above and pressing one fist to her hip, "Well, I suppose you must be a big shot if you're shooting giant bolts of doom out of the big Hyperion space station, but who exactly are you that you can promise me custom weapons - and, ah, I do like fiery and SMG-y, for your information, hotshot."
"Could it be," the voice purred a bit louder, as if her friendly stalker had leaned into his mic, "Do you not realize who you're speaking to, kitten? You do wound my ego, I gotta say. But you're pretty cute, so I'll let it slide. Well, Siren, you're talking to none other than the Handsome Jack. Surely you know who I am now, pumpkin?"
"No shit," she blinked blanket and ran a hand through her hair, "Well, I know you're CEO of Hyperion. Can't say I know anything else, though. Promethea doesn't exactly give kids a decent education… or one at all, in most case. Everyone here just tries to kill me - not that most of them can hold an educated conversation anyhow. So, President Hotshot, what makes me so important that the CEO has come to my rescue? Not that I'm complaining."
"Would you buy it if I said I was entranced by your stunning beauty?" he laughed merrily at her very unladylike snort, "It's my job to observe this cesspool, looking for bandits to take out. I certainly wasn't going to let a bunch of lowlifes take out something as unique as a Siren."
Her nose wrinkled, "Not gonna lie, I think I'd prefer the stunning beauty excuse. I've had too many people judge me one way or another for what I am. No-not that I'm complaining that you came to my aid. Fuck, no I definitely appreciate the help. But… ah, you wouldn't understand. You probably like people fawning over your CEO status, don't ya?"
"You betcha, sweet stuff," he chuckled again, seeming to be in a perpetually good mood, "Don't worry your pretty golden mane over the Siren thing, pumpkin. Truth be told, I was gonna take those fucks out regardless. I just got to butter myself up to this divine little woman in the process. That better?"
Satisfied with her clean-up job, she resituated her bag over her shoulder, rolling it a few times to make sure he could adequately handle the new weight. It wasn't a lot, but it would at least buy her a few meals if she could find anywhere to sell the stuff at. She wasn't sure how far away from Sanctuary she was, but the idea of starvation made her acceptably nervous.
"Pft," she scoffed, a grin pulling at her lips. Handsome Jack sure was arrogant, but he was definitely fun to talk to, "Yeah, much better. You're pretty good at this flattery game. Hey - here's a question for ya, Eyes in the Sky - do you know the fastest way to Sanctuary?"
"Sweet cheeks, I am the best at this flattery game," yet again, that smooth voice chuckled through her ECHO, "But I'm afraid you've just gone down quite a few ranks in my book - what could someone like you possibly be looking for in the shit hole that is Sanctuary?"
"Yikes," she grumbled, tilting her head as she plopped down on a boulder and gazed up at the space station, "That bad, huh? Unfortunately, I do have to go there. My pops has a friend who lives there and I was supposed to contact him should Promethea ever get a bit too… unfriendly towards me. I don't think I'll be staying, though, if that brings me back up."
"I suppose it does, cupcake," there was no chuckle to his voice anymore, but quiet contemplation, "Be careful while you're there. The bandits there like to appear friendly, but they're all a bunch of backstabbing murderers. Absolute disgusting. I'll tell ya what, sweet cheeks, since you're so cute and all and I kinda like ya, I won't go and blow up that backwater bandit hole while you're there, mkay?"
"Blow it up, eh?" she chewed on her lower lip, trying to gauge her own reaction to this idea, "Don't suppose you mean that as any form of metaphor, huh?"
"Afraid not, pumpkin," Jack did not at all seem upset to say this, going so far as to even sound vaguely cheerful, "All bandits have got - to - go. You're from Promethea, so… well, anything is better than that shit-hole, but I plan to turn Pandora into a planet worth living on."
"If they're living together - coexisting in a way that doesn't mean the immediate slaughter of a random woman, doesn't that at least make them a bit more civilized?" she cocked her head to the side as she gazed up at the station as if speaking to Jack himself.
"Afraid not," he reiterated, seeming almost… resigned.
"Well," the Siren sighed, "I can't really say that I agree entirely with the idea. But that's not exactly my call to make. Hope that doesn't upset ya too much - after all, where else will I get my shiny, fiery, fluorescent SMG, hm?"
"I can accept that, pumpkin," Jack's voice was a bit more relaxed now, as if he had actually expected her to try and fight him on the issue, "You never did tell me your name, Siren - as much as 'sweet cheeks' fits you oh-so-well, I'd really like to know it."
"Ah, sorry about that," she laughed as she slid from her rocky perch, stretching out stiffened muscles, "I'm Avora - It's really been a pleasure meeting you, Handsome Jack. Perhaps one day I'll be able to see the face behind the name, hm?"
"Avora," he purred, and again, she could hear the smile in his voice, "A beautiful name for a beautiful Siren. I really look forward to talking to you again, pumpkin. You're a sight for sore eyes and I'll definitely make good use of your enthusiasm. Ciao, babe."