Janey sat down at the table with her own cup. "So, what's on with you?" she asked.

"Well, I've been poking around," Nisha replied, shrugging. "Hooked up with Jack, killed hundreds of bandits, murdered puppies…oh, I'm the Sheriff of Lynchwood, now."

"Oh yeah, Athena told me about that. Can I see your badge?"

"Right here," Nisha said, showing off the shiny object. "100% bronze."

"That's a real beauty," Janey nodded. "I'd kill for something like that."

"Well, don't kill me," Nisha joked. "That might not turn out well."

Janey laughed. "So, what brings you to our humble abode?"

Nisha suppressed a grimace she had felt after taking a sip of the tea. "Well, to talk to Athena, mainly…I'm sorry, when will she be back, you said?"

"8 o'clock on the dot. She refuses to ever be late. She's loyal like that."


Athena went up to the newsstand. She reached into her pockets and handed the attendant a small bill before grabbing a paper from the top of the pile.

"You should watch your back, gladiator," he said.

Athena looked up from her paper. "Excuse me? Are you threatening me?"

"Oh, not at all," the attendant said quickly. "It's just that…well, see for yourself."

Athena looked at the headline. "Hyperion-Hired Vault Hunters Brainwashed by the Crimson Raiders Into Joining the Insurrectionist Fight for Pandora, Because They Suck And Hate Us For No Reason, Never Mind That I Tried To Have Them Killed On Their Way Here, And Then Tried To Bomb A Town With Them In It."

The image showed six figures, unknown to her. But next to them stood four people she was not too pleased to see again.

"Ah fuck," Athena muttered as she stared at Lilith's image.

"I know you've had a little bad history with them," the attendant observed. "But judging by the length of that article title, they pose a serious threat to Handsome Jack's rule. Feel like backing them?"

Athena put down the paper. "I back no cause…only my own."

"Really? Then what is it you're always doing for money?"

Athena closed her eyes. "I am going to count to three, and then I'll open my eyes, and if I still see you standing there, I will cut you open and string your intestines between these two buildings, leaving you hanging like a clothesline above the street. One…"

"Hey, wait a—"

"Two…"

"I was just—"

"Three." Athena opened her eyes. She caught a glimpse of the attendant screaming for his life down the street.

Rather than make good on her promise of violent action, she laughed and went on her way.


"I admire that loyalty," Nisha muttered. "She still in the bounty hunting business?"

"Oh, not at all!" Janey exclaimed. "I made her swear it off after you opened the Vault on Elpis. She hasn't taken a single bounty job since."

"Well that's—" Nisha stopped. Holy shit, the assassin hasn't told her girlfriend.

"Are you alright?" Janey asked, concerned.

"What?"

"You just sort of jolted there for a moment."

"It's…nothing. Got a kind of chill there. So, I hear you're working at Scooter's."

"Yes, he has me run the place while he's out." She leaned forward. "Confidentially, he hasn't been back at the Hollow Point location in a month. He says he has some…business to work with. Don't know where he is."

Nisha nodded. "Last I heard he was working in Sanctuary. You know, where the Vault Hunters were."

Janey tilted her head. "Vault Hunters?"

"Oh, didn't you hear? Couple of new Vault Hunters came here. Jack tried to kill 'em, but somehow they survived. Apparently that stupid Claptrap unit Athena and me worked with dug them out of the wreckage. Now those Crimson Raiders people in Sanctuary have recruited them for their cause. Last I heard, they were roaming around the planet, scheming to kill Jack."

"Huh," Janey said. "Well, I suppose that means bad news for your boyfriend."

Nisha put her cup down. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually."

"Pardon?"

Nisha leaned forward. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but Jack doesn't stand a chance with these new Vault Hunters. They've got a fucking Siren on their side, and don't get me started on the crazy teenager with the robot. He thinks he can eliminate the threat by getting his old Vault Hunting team back together." She paused. "Well, except, Wilhelm, god rest his mechanical soul."

Now it was Janey's turn to put down her cup. "Why did you come here, Nisha?" she asked, sounding less than pleased.

Nisha leaned back in her chair. "Jack wants Athena working for him again. He thinks with her on his side, he stands a chance of defeating those Vault Hunters. So I'm here to convince Athena to join us."

"She's not interested," Janey said firmly.

"Ah, but wait 'til I show you how much he'd pay her."

Nisha pulled out an ECHO log and was about to show the number when Janey slapped the device right out of her hand.

"Now, Janey…" Nisha said, pouting her lips in a condescending manner. "Don't pretend you don't have financial troubles. Living in a dump like this? Not exactly the practice of someone rolling in cash."

"I don't care," Janey replied. "Athena has seen the kind of man Jack is. She would never take another job from him."

Nisha stared at Janey, thinking.

"And don't think I don't know about New Haven, Nisha. All those people…killed just because they supported the old Vault Hunters."

"They threatened Jack's plans."

"Jack's plans were bogus. Athena's only job with Jack was to open the Vault on Elpis. That's all she did, that's all she'll ever do."

Nisha began rapping her knuckles on the table. "You'd love to believe that, wouldn't you?"

Janey hesitated. "What do you mean?"

"All this…this house, this town, the bills…all supported by a mechanic, her girlfriend working odd jobs in the neighborhood. And the Gladiator didn't do a thing after working for Jack."

Janey sat there, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry I have to tell you this, Springs," Nisha sighed as she leaned into the table. "I truly am. You're a good friend, though, so I think you need to know this." She leaned forward even more. "Athena lied to you."


Athena crossed by an alleyway, sheathing and unsheathing her sword every once and a while. But something she spotted in the corner of her eye made her stop.

Stepping back, she saw what appeared to be a bandit lying face-down in a pool of his own blood. Not an uncommon occurrence.

But the bullet wound indicated he'd been shot in the back, apparently walking out of this alleyway.

It was possible someone had gotten the drop on him as he was walking through, except the alleyway was a dead end. More likely, he had gone into the alleyway to talk to someone, then started to walk away, only to be shot in the back.

An act of someone who wanted to have fun while killing.

Only one wound. It would take an expert gunsman or gunswoman or guns-inbetween or guns-out-of-the-gender-binary to do this sort of thing.

She looked at the ground. There were footprints: footprints like those of a cowboy boot.

"Nisha," Athena muttered.

Why should the Sheriff of Lynchwood, not to mention Handsome Jack's girlfriend, come to Hollow Point?

Suddenly, Athena realized Janey would have gotten home by now.

"Shit!" she whispered as she jumped up and started running for their house.


"...and all those Claptraps exploding in a blast of screams and wires. Most satisfying thing I've ever seen. And your girlfriend helped do all that."

Janey took a deep breath. "You're lying," she said quietly.

"Really?" Nisha asked. "Didn't you notice an unusual jump in your finances a few months after you moved here?"

Janey's silence was all the answer the Sheriff of Lynchwood needed.

"You've suspected this for a while, haven't you, Springs? Makes you wonder…what else has she lied to you about?"

Janey remained silent.

"What if she's done bounty jobs behind your back? Who has she killed in the name of money? Why should you still support her?"

After a pause, Janey finally spoke up. "Well, what if she did?"

Nisha was surprised. "Excuse me?"

Janey still sounded upset, but her speech was more grounded. "You said it yourself: we needed money. Anything she did would have been in the name of supporting us. What we have."

"But…she lied to you."

"So did you."

"What?"

"Do you seriously think I would move to Pandora and not know about what happened in New Haven?"

Nisha tapped her fingers on the table. "So she really wouldn't work with Jack ever again, no matter what?"

"Be sure of it."

Nisha pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well," she said, casually pulling out her pistol and pointing it right at Janey's face. "Perhaps I can…force her hand."