Borderlands
Raider Occupation
Chapter 01
A young man with short, dark brown that's shaved on all sides and left short on the top is tinkering with a board in front of a large table with all sorts of tools and other contraptions all around him in a dimly lit place behind a large front desk in a small shop. One of the tools he's using shocks his hand and he gasps in pain as he grasps his hand.
"God, damn it!" The shop bell rings and a man with long blonde hair steps in. He's wearing a black suit with a white collar and has a cross with three arms around his neck.
"You know better than to put the lord's name in vain, my son." The young man shoots from his seat and bows his head.
"I'm sorry Father. My tools are so outdated they're begging to be put to pasture."
"How's my daughter's hover-board coming along?"
"Her hover-conversion is totally flipped. It must have been some trick she was trying to pull."
"I believe it was something called... The Tri-fecta?"
"Yup; that'll do it. Her propulsion units are backwards and the wiring is crossed. But if my tools don't give me anymore problems I'll have it done later today, Father."
"Good to hear, Lorik. I'll be by later today to pick it up." The man walks out and Lorik sits back down in his seat.
"Alright guys... I know you're all hurting. But this is our last, big payoff for a while so we gotta get this done!"
"Get what done?" Lorik jumps in surprise and a large orb hovers up to his face, giving off a green glow as it's eye stares him down.
"You have got to stop scaring me like that, Clank!"
"I'm sorry, I just came to tell you that I just finished the triggers and revolving canisters in your guns-"
"Shh!" Lorik hushes as he grabs the orb's eye, "You trying to get me arrested?!"
"I'm sorry. But I just wanted to know what you need me to do next?"
"Have you started on the compound conversions?"
"Uh... no."
"And have you started loading Corrosion, Fire and Electric canisters in the magazines?"
"No to that too." Lorik taps the side of the orb and smirks.
"Then get to it." Clank hovers away and Lorik continues repairing the hover-board. An excruciating shock cramps up his left hand and he falls off his seat in surprise.
"GOD-" His curse is cut short as he sees the top of his hand is completely black like a fingerless-glove. He screams in pain again as the blackness starts crawling up to the middle of his forearm and when sees his palm he sees a blackened four-point star that connects to two sharp points that go down to his wrist. The markings resemble tribal tattoos trying to imitate the bones beneath his burning skin with sharp lines and pointed ends. Another shock makes Lorik scream in white, hot agony.
"LORIK?!" Clank exclaims as he hovers over him, "WHAT'S WRONG?!"
"Go get Father Grimes and Doc—OH GOD!" Another shock makes it feel like his arm is bending backwards and he grasps it, "GO GET HELP!"
"Right away!" Clank bursts through the open window calling for Father Grimes and the doctor. Lorik curls up and glares at the strange markings as the pain gets worse and worse. Sweat beads down his forehead and his entire body feels like it's on fire, "GOD, PLEASE HELP ME!" Clank is over him again as a dark tunnel starts to fade his vision, "Clank?"
"Oh my God, Lorik what's happened to you?" Father Grimes asks as he knees down beside him. He places a hand on the markings and Lorik screams in pain.
"OH, GOD!" The priest jumps back in surprise as the doctor and two nurses knee down on each side of him.
"I need morphine and a stretcher, NOW!"
"And a blanket!" Father Grimes yells as he tries to cover the markings before one of the soldiers see him. The nurse stabs a syringe into Lorik's leg as the doctor out lays a stretcher with the help of the other nurse. Clank hovers over Lorik as it spreads a blanket over his person. Lorik continues to scream with every touch and the nurse covers her ears in sympathy, "For the love of God, give him more Morphine!" Father Grimes cries as he stares Lorik in the eyes, "Hang on, my boy!" Lorik grabs the priest's arm as tears and sweat continue to pour down his face.
"Please make it stop!" He cries as the nurse gives him another shot. Father Grimes grips his hand gently as his breathing slows and his voice grows calmer.
"Just rest, my son." He looks into Lorik's eyes but raises an eyebrow as his face starts to grow red, "Are you alright?"
"On three, lift him and slide the stretcher under him." The doctor says as he grips Lorik's shoulders, "Ready?"
"Wait, something's wrong!" Lorik then starts to scream again and flails his legs and arms around; trying to escape the pain.
"WHY WON'T YOU HELP ME?!" Lorik cries as he continues to scream until it feels like his throat will explode.
"Give him another shot!"
"If I give him another shot his heart could stop entirely!" He takes out leather straps and hands them to the nurse, "Tie him down onto the stretcher!"
"Yes, doctor!" Father Grimes backs up and clasps his hands together in panicked prayer.
"Go to the hospital and prepare a closed ER with you and Doctor Brown only! If anyone asks we have a young man with severe lacerations going up the left arm!" One nurse runs out of Lorik's shop while the other grips the front of the stretcher from the front, the doctor grabbing the back, "Father, the door!" Father Grimes opens the door and they rush out with Lorik screaming and writhing in the stretcher.
"MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE!" People look out their windows and doorways to see the commotion going on in the dirt streets of their town, "PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" Lorik looks down at his arm and tries to shake the blanket off, "LET ME SEE! LET ME SEE IT!" Father Grimes holds his head down as they continue to run. The tunnel collapses onto Lorik and everything goes black.
A young woman with blue hair and strange, blue markings going from the tip of her shoulder down to her hip on the left side grips a white and orange mask as a man grunts and screams in a medical room. A tall, dark man walks in and places a hand on her shoulder.
"How's he doin'?"
"They can't put him under because they need to monitor his responses as they—poke around in his head." She gets chocked up as she watches the doctors put another needle in the large man's head.
"Krieg is as strong as an ox, Maya. He'll pull through." Maya grips the mask tighter as Krieg screams in pain and obscenity.
"What did they do to him, Roland?" Tears start to roll down her cheeks as Krieg continues to scream. Maya runs out of the observation room, Roland follows behind her. Another woman is sipping a cup of coffee as they both walk in. She has red and white hair and similar blue markings that crest across her chest, dip to the left side of her ribs and then crest back across the left side of her stomach and goes down to her thigh. Maya walks out of the room and Roland scratches the back of his head.
"I hate to see her like this." The woman sighs as she stands up and leans against Roland, "How is he?"
"The doctors think they're making progress. He's starting to talk normally but I'm more worried about Maya." The woman grips his chin and kisses his cheek.
"Just remember sweetie, you're all mine." She walks out of the room and tries to catch up with Maya, leaving Roland in the room.
"I'm surrounded by death." He sighs as he walks back into the medical observation room.
The woman manages to catch up with Maya in the middle of a large, desert courtyard and grabs her arm to stop her.
"Cool your heels, sis. Talk to me." They both sit down on a near by bench and Maya hugs the mask close to her chest, "You know he wanted this."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it, Lilith. It doesn't mean I have to stand him screaming in pain." She looks Lilith in the eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks like waterfalls, "Do you know what it's like to be in love with a man that loves you back but can't actually show it because some... fuck-tard in a fancy lab coat decided they wanted to try and play god in someone's brain? To do fucked up shit to their entire body?!"
"No, sweetie I don't. But I do know that you're the only one on this whole damn planet that he didn't want to kill. He actually conveyed coherent, sensible words to you when you both first met. Saved your life and you are still the only one that can interpret what he's trying to say."
"Does this have a point?"
"That he's wanting to go through all that pain and reminders of the worst day of his life so he can be the man that you love." Two soldiers walk past them and they scoot closer together so only they can hear their conversation, "Hell come out on top... you'll see."
"Hey Sirens!" They both look behind themselves and a young woman with red hair in pigtails and a robotic left arm waves them down, "Angel thinks she has another hit!" They both rush to the girl as she walks back into the large building.
Maya and Lilith run into a large, opened room with a circular device that is projecting a hologram of a planet. Around it are hundreds of people behind computers talking on headsets. The girl with the robotic limb skips next to a tall, skinny man wearing goggles and feeding a small, red bird that is resting on his shoulder. Another young woman with similar blue markings like Lilith and Maya only they cover half her hand and stops half way to her hip. The right half of her head is shaved and the other half with long bangs that cover her left eye and long enough to put in ponytail that reaches past her shoulders walks up to the hologram's terminal and starts typing.
"Gaige says you found the fourth?" Maya asks as she straps the mask to her hip. The woman with the shaved head looks up at them, her piercing blue eyes wide with anticipation.
"I just felt it in the meditation room!" The planet gets zoomed out and a spiral filled with small lights replaces the image, "She's on Eden-One!" A smaller planet with two orbiting moons appears, "I couldn't pinpoint her exact location but I do know she's on the second moon; Eve."
"That's not good." Gaige sighs as she rubs her brow, "Edens one through four and all their respective moons are controlled by Hyperion." The entire room grows quiet and Angel looks at Gaige, "If she's revealed herself she could already be dead."
"I haven't felt a tremor yet so she must still be alive and hopefully in hiding!"
"Roland, Axton and I will depart immediately." The man with the bird says as the bird flies away.
"Not a chance, Mordecai. Last time you all scared her half-to-death. She actually ran into the arms of Hyperion. Maya and I will go with a small Raider escort."
"We can't send two of our strongest-"
"Not another word, Mr. Drinky." Lilith chuckles as she places a finger over Mordecai's lips, "This is not up for debate." Maya walks out of the room and Angel grabs a backpack, "Where the hell do you think you're going, little missy?"
"With my sisters to find the last Siren, duh." She walks past Lilith but she's stopped mid-walk and is lifted off the ground with a glowing, blue ball surrounding her.
"You're staying right here where we can protect you."
"WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME! I WANT A LIFE OUTSIDE OF THIS BUILDING, DAMN IT!"
"All of Hyperion thinks you're dead, Angel. It has to stay that way." She hovers Angel into the arms of Mordecai and he places a hand on her shoulder, "Stay safe, stay out of trouble. Ya hear me?" She nods slightly, keeping her head down and Lilith runs out of the building.
Maya pats a soldier's back as she hands the mask to her and she runs past her with a salute. Lilith joins her side as a small squad of ten men and women form up behind them; loading and locking their guns. Maya is handed a large, yellow gun with a long barrel but short stock and Lilith is handed a shotgun with three barrels and a revolving magazine.
"We're headed for Eden-One's moon; Eve. We have a possible signature for the fourth and final Siren."
"You all know the drill! If you spot her do not approach her! Contact Maya or myself and we'll handle it from there."
"We don't have to tell you how dangerous Hyperion has gotten ever since our shaky treaty of noncombat. Stay sharp, and trust in each other out on the field!" A large ship's engines start to hum to life and its large bay doors open and they all march in.
The doctor and Father Grimes burst through double doors as Lorik continues to writhe in extreme pain. A woman in a lab coat walks through another door with the other nurse and slips on a pair of surgical gloves.
"What's wrong?!"
"He's experiencing extreme, mental pain throughout his left arm. I gave him two shots of morphine but the pain only seems to be getting worse!" The doctor yells as he washes his hands, "Get that blanket off of him. Father Grimes you have to wait outside!"
"Oh my God!" Father Grimes yells as he removes the blanket, "The markings have reached all the way up his shoulder!"
"What markings? Those are just tattoos!"
"NO! THEY'RE NOT! HE HATES TATTOOS!" The doctor turns around and immediately recoils at the sight of the moving marks.
"Those aren't tattoos." He walks over to Lorik's right side and holds down his arm, "Hold him down! I gotta give him an I.V.!" The nurse and female doctor hold him down as best they can while Father Grimes slowly backs away.
"What's happening to him?!"
"Father I need you to wait outside and make sure no Hyperion soldiers walk in or around here!" Father Grimes walks out of the room and the nurse hangs an I.V. bag, "Get me Eridium! STAT!"
Father Grimes is leaning against the wall next to the ER doors and a young man runs up to him. Dirt is all over his face and sweat staining his clothes.
"I came by the shop and Clank told me to come here, what's wrong?!"
"Michael, my dear boy. You need to go back to the shop and hide all of Lorik's secret projects; including Clank! And then man the shop until I return!"
"Father?"
"Do it, my son! Everything will be explained when I arrive just go!" Michael runs back down the hall and out of the hospital while Father Grimes crosses himself again and clutches onto the large cross around his neck and begins to silently pray.
Michael bursts through the doors of Lorik's shop and Clank charges him. Michael ducks and Clank collides with the wall behind him and a weird noise bellows through the shop.
"Damn it Clank! It's just me!"
"Master Michael! I thought you were a Hyperion?"
"Well I'm not, but Father Grimes told me to hide all of Lorik's projects including you! Where are they?"
"It's just two. Follow me!" Clank hovers through the store and exits out through the back doors. Michael follows and they both enter a large, junkyard maze. Clank guides him through it and they arrive at a small, wooden shack, "The maze is filled with booby traps unless you know exactly where to go." Clank says as he flies through a hole that's the perfect size for him, "It'll just be a second. I'm the key to this place and it's wiring hasn't been updated in sometime." A light above the door explodes as the shack turns on and Michael jumps. The door flies open and Clank is waiting on the other side.
"What is he working on?"
"Two guns and a hover-board. The hover-board is unlike anything I've ever seen. It has two main propulsion units but then ten more smaller boosters for extra stability and speed along the under rim of it. Plus, instead of a strap it's deck is fitted for his boots."
"Magnets?"
"Magnets." Clank hovers over two husks of large, revolver like guns and Michael's jaw drops, "These beauties are Ivory and Ebony." One gun is white with black markings and the other is black with white markings, "He's trying to perfect the Tri-Element technology. Fire, Electricity and Acid."
"How will he get the ammunition from them. These look like forty-four magnums but much larger!"
"Of course they're larger! They have to be large to fit in the voice recognition and three system shooting!"
"That doesn't answer the ammo problem."
"They have a solar ring in the center of the revolving magazines." Clank says as he opens up Ivory's magazine to show a clear case with two rings revolving around each other with a small, yellow light in the middle.
"So they get energy from a sun and the energy charges the stock's firing systems so he never runs out of ammo." Michael smooths his hair back with a chuckle, "He's a... a God! Does he realize how much money he can make if he sold this to a Weapons Manufacturer?"
"Yeah... like he'll ever do that." Clank sighs as he picks up the board with a blue light that connect to its eye, "So where should we hide these?" Michael walks up to another table where a strange visor that has three slits going across the whole visor and is pointed at the tip down the middle and is glowing red that's connected by multiple wires to a small chip with a clear, glass hole in the middle and is pulsing with a faint, blue light.
"What is this?"
"I dunno. Lorik won't tell me. Think we should hide it too?"
"Yup." Michael picks up the guns and all their pieces and rolls them in a cloth and then gently picks up the strange visor and small chip, "We should hide these in a car or small compartment in the junk-maze.
"Great idea!" Clank laughs as he flies out of the shack with the board.
Father Grimes is pacing back forth in front of the ER's doors clutching onto his cross. The doctor then comes out and Father Grimes runs up to him.
"Is he okay, Rath?" Doctor Rath removes his gloves with a heavy sigh, "What's wrong?"
"The markings aren't... ordinary markings."
"What do you mean?"
"They resonated from his hand and worked up all the way to his shoulder. It then moved up his neck and crossed his left eye and then split between his entire left pectoral and then stretched all across his left shoulder blade to his right shoulder blade. Then it wrapped around his shoulder and went up to his right eye."
"What are you saying?"
"We had to use diluted Eridium to stop the pain. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Doctor Rath whispers. Father Grimes shakes his head and Rath sighs. He leans in close to Father Grimes' ear and whispers more hushed, "Before the pain subsided it got worse. And when it got worse he broke out of his restraints and flung Doctor Brown across the room; breaking her collarbone. Without even touching her. He's a Siren." Father Grimes gasps as he almost falls backwards but Rath catches him.
"That's... that's impossible."
"Don't you think I know that?! We have got to get him back to his home without Hyperion finding him!"
"I—I think deep down I knew. But I was in denial. He can't be a Siren. Only women can, this is a nightmare!"
"Father Grimes I need you to focus, okay? I need you to go down into the morgue and get a body bag. If anyone asks tell them I sent you. We need to sneak him out of here." Father Grimes nods as he walks away, still a little shaky and the nurse joins Doctor Rath's side.
"What are we going to do?" She asks as she takes off her gloves.
"Admit Doctor Brown and get a cast for her. I'll deal with Lorik."
Maya and Lilith are playing cards with a few of the soldiers in the middle of a large bay of the ship while the other converse among themselves. Maya scratches her jaw in contemplation and looks at the makeshift table.
"I call." She throws down to skinny silver bars onto the large pile and glances over at Lilith.
"I'll raise. Two hundred." She throws down two skinny gold bars and smirks at everyone while she blows a bubble in her gum.
"Fold." Everyone sighs in unison.
"Oh, come on!" Lilith roars as she picks up the small pile of credits, "This isn't going to be fun if you guys fold every time I raise!"
"You have a tell, Lilith." One of the soldiers laughs as she leans back in her seat.
"No I don't!"
"You blow a bubble in your gum every time you have a good hand." Maya chuckles as she flips her cards over, "See, Royal Flush!" Lilith groans under her breath as she takes all the cards and shuffles them. A scream echoes through the ship and everyone grabs their guns and starts to look around, "What the hell was that?!"
"Let go of me!"
"Oh God, please no." Lilith groans as she lowers her gun. Two solders enter the bay with Angel in between them; each holding one of her arms, "God damn it, Angel!"
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Maya yells as she yanks on one of her ears, "We told you to stay on Pandora!"
"I wanted to meet her!"
"You can't! We're in Hyperion Territory. If they see you they'll do everything they can to get back the sole-heir to the Hyperion Corporation!"
"I want to at least see our last sister!" She screeches as she yanks her arms out of the soldier's grips, "Do you know what it's like to be able to sense her? I sense how she dies! How they all die! I want to meet at least one and see if I can save her!" Tears start to form in her eyes and everyone goes back to what they were doing. Maya and Lilith glance at each other and then Lilith grabs a cloak.
"You're gonna need to wear this; hide your marks." She flips the hood over her face and laughs, "And hide that hair of yours."
"How long until we get there?"
"Five days. We're traveling all the way to the center of the Eden Prime Nebula."
"Come on, maybe you can give me a challenge in poker?" Lilith laughs as they all walk back to their game.