Lilith came back into the room and sighed heavily. Her hair was singed at the ends and she smelled like smoke. She stood in front of Mordecai before taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry for belittling you." She put simply. Mordecai nodded his head in acceptance.

"I'm sorry for being an asshole." Mordecai said.

"No you're not." Lilith said with a smile. Mordecai smiled back. "So, where's Zer0?" She asked with a sweeping glance around the room.

"Have no idea." Mordecai admitted. Lilith hummed before walking away to attend something on the computers.

"Mordecai, come out to the Dust. I found her." Zer0's voice sounded from Mordecai's ECHO, stirring the Hunter from the few moments of silence.

"Who?" He asked as he stood up and headed towards the fast travel station.

"One. I found her." Zer0 said as is he were just as shocked by his own words as Mordecai was.

~x~x~x~x~x~

"I'm here!" Mordecai said as he jumped out of the Runner, standing in front of the woman who helped him and Zer0 the other day. Every inch of her body was covered, except for her head. Her long, black hair was pulled back into a long, thick braid. A ribbon mask draped across her eyes, obscuring most of her face. She raised an eyebrow and pursed her pale pink lips together.

"Good for you." She remarked. She sat in a lawn chair, her arms crossed her over chest and her upper half in the shade provided by her hut.

"You're One?" Mordecai asked in disbelief, as if the familiar mask and voice weren't proof enough.

"Yep." She said with a flourish to the red 1 on the right side of her chest. "And you must be the elusive marksman, Mordecai." She said as she stood up and extended a gloved hand. Mordecai took it and was shocked at how strong her hand was. "Now, why are you out here?" She asked while sitting back down.

"What are you doing here?" Zer0 growled, fists clenched tight and an angry emoji flashed on his mask.

"That's a long story." She said as she rubbed a hand over the back of her neck.

"We've got time." Mordecai said as he leaned against the side of the hut.

"Are you sure you want to talk here?" She asked as she looked around. They could hear bandits talking and jabbing at one another in the distance, along with some of the Hodunks at their race track.

"Come to Sanctuary then." Zer0 offered with venom in his tone.

"No." One said simply as she picked up a rock and threw it at Zer0's helmet. It bounced off and back into One's open hand. "If I do, Lilith is just gonna tie me up like she did to Athena and terrorize me until I quote-on-quote snap." She crossed her arm once again and scowled.

"We can stop her before that even happens." Mordecai offered, but One shook her head.

"Won't matter anyways. She won't listen to what I have to say." One said sadly. They stood there for a moment as silence washed over them all. "Besides, you never answered my question." She said to break the silence.

"What do you mean?" Mordecai asked.

"I asked why you were out here. As in, why in the hell are you looking for me?" She asked as she sat up, a leg on either side of the chair.

"I had to find out why you're being kind enough to offer pity help." Zer0 said flatly.

"Because you are the worst when it comes to someone who makes a living killing other people." She said with a sly smirk. "You are on a whole new level of bad, it's not even funny. You rush in, carelessly, and you don't care if anyone can see who you're aiming at. I guess that's why-"

"SHUT IT! I don't want to be reminded." Zer0 yelled. His fists were clenched at his sides and he was shaking slightly.

"I wouldn't have to bring it up if your ego didn't get in the way." One said lowly, her glaring eyes fixed on Zer0's helmet. "Maybe if you stopped spending so much time on making your body better, you could've been better mentally." One said as she stood up. Zer0 stepped back, poised to strike back at One, but she just stood there.

"If you're gonna fight-"

"I'm not. You're so eager to throw up your fists that you don't realize that you could win the same battle easily with your head. But then again, you're helmet is just as thick as your skull, I think you'd use your head in a literal sense." One smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Your constant smirking is irritating." Zer0 tried to jab at One.

"Not as irritating as your weak insults. I would be more offended by a bandit screaming about anything that what you have to offer." One countered. Mordecai watched the two bicker, trying to find a place where he could cut in.

"Knock it off!" Mordecai yelled, clearly done with the arguing. "Let's get some questions answered first before we jump into anything major." Mordecai offered. One's eyes snapped to Mordecai, clearly forgotten he was standing a mere few feet away.

"Sure, why not?" She shrugged as she settled into her chair again.

"Good. Now, how do you know each other?" Mordecai asked as he steppe closer. Both parties stayed quiet. Zer0's body language screamed uncomfortable and looked as if he were ready to run off. One trained her attention to the tips of her boots, smiling faintly at memories that suddenly consumed her.

"We trained together. He was the only one who actually cared about me. We practically grew up together." One said after the stretch of silence almost became unbearable.

"I was only nice to you because you were getting your ass kicked by everyone else." Zer0 said quietly.

"I was taught to know when to raise a hand to someone. They told me that if I allowed my powers to consume my mind and being, war could break out sooner." One said calmly. "Dew had to tell me that it was okay to be more powerful than the others, but to know when to back off."

"Well, that's a little more than I expected." Mordecai muttered. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because I needed work. After traveling the six galaxies, I needed some money if I wanted to continue on any further. You'll really hate me for saying this, but Jack hired me to be part of his inner circle. He told me who to kill and I would do it." One said with a pained expression. "He told me to kill you when you first set up camp in the Tundra, but I couldn't. Not after seeing how... how your bird loved you and how valuable you were to everyone. It changed my view on Jack." A tear slid down her cheek and her voice cracked slightly as she spoke.

"So, you're stuck here?" Mordecai asked, a little distant after realizing One spared him.

"Pretty much. After you guys destroyed the base, I had nowhere else to go. I don't have enough money to get off this planet and now I'm being told to just stay put." One said after wiping the tear away with her glove.

"What do you mean you have to stay here?" Zer0 asked.

"They told me I can't leave yet." One said with a confused shrug. "So I'm staying put until notified otherwise." A comfortable quiet came up and they exchanged various looks between each other before One sighed. "I suppose you want to leave?" One asked as she stood up and straightened her black vest.

"Uh..." Mordecai was a loss for words and turned to Zer0 for something to say.

"Let us know if you need anything." Zer0 said as he clapped a hand on One's shoulder.

"Sure thing." One said before pulling him in and whispering something.

"I'm pretty sure he is." Zer0 said before both turned their heads to Mordecai.

As they got into the Technical, Mordecai stood up and looked back at Zer0 and raised an eyebrow.

"What was that about?" Mordecai demanded.

"Just drive." Zer0 ordered as he laughed a little. One waved goodbye before disappearing into her hut.

~x~x~x~x~x~

"So, you met the girl who kept you hostage and nearly got us killed and you didn't drag her ass back here?" Lilith asked as she crossed her arms and cocked a hip.

"I'm not gonna have this fight." Mordecai said as he started to walk away, but was yanked back by his arm.

"No, you need to answer me. Why didn't you bring her here?" Lilith demanded. Mordecai sighed and turned to her.

"She wasn't a real threat. Also, she said she didn't want to come up here because she was afraid you'd tie her up like you did to Athena." Mordecai said simply.

"Oh please, that weird Guardian thing'll come back and say not to kill her, or something along those lines." Lilith said with a wave of her hand.

"One doesn't trust you." Mordecai nearly yelled. Lilith stood her ground with a glare.

"I don't care that she doesn't trust me. I just want to know why she's doing this." Lilith growled.

"Zer0 can explain then." Mordecai said as he turned away and walked out of the building.

"This isn't over!" Lilith yelled from the balcony. Mordecai shrugged her off and made his way to Moxxi's. He sat down at the bar and ordered a water.

"What's troublin' ya?" Moxxi asked as she leaned against the counter.

"Lilith doesn't listen." Mordecai said as he drank half the glass.

"Tell me something I don't know." Moxxi sighed. "Honey's stubborn and can be a real hard-head." She said as she patted his shoulder.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Weeks passed by before One spoke to Mordecai. He was dozing off in his chair in the HQ, since no one was rushing in and out of the building like every other day. One's voice quietly rang out in the silence, which didn't stir the Hunter. She called out again, a little more forcefully than last, but Mordecai still didn't wake. She cleared her throat and yelled his name, causing Mordecai to fall out of his chair and land face first on the ground.

"Jeez, could've woken me up better." He groaned.

"I was nice and said your name quietly." One sighed. "Anyways, I need your help." She said.

"With what?" Mordecai said as he straightened himself out.

"I know where I can get some materials to build a shield big enough for Sanctuary, but it's in a bandit camp that's way too big for me to go solo on." One explained.

"So, you want my help?" Mordecai asked, still trying to shake the sleep out of his mind.

"Isn't it obvious?" One asked. "Anyways, meet me out in the Dust."

~x~x~x~x~x~

So, terrible person for not updating sooner. School sucks and I'd rather just write and not worry about planning my future when I don't know what I'm doing half of the time.

Let me know how I did!