[Notes: I'm glad you guys have enjoyed my fic :) I'm going to try and update once a week or so, depending on muse and such. Hope you enjoy the second chapter!]
At first, Gaige slept restlessly, tossing and turning every so often until she finally fell into a deep, calm sleep. Unfortunately, it didn't last too long. After what felt like minutes, a loud banging came just outside her door. "Gaige! Get your ass out here, now!" Tannis' voice carried through the hall, yanking the girl from her sleep. Rubbing her eyes, she grabbed her echo to check the time. 7:15 flashed across the screen. "Fuck! I'll be out in a minute!" Rolling out of bed, she hopped around the room, somehow managing to get her clothes on before dashing out the room. Pulling her short hair into her pigtails, she was greeted by three and a half sets of disapproving eyes. "My bad!" She held up her hands in surrender before going to the kitchen to find food as Tannis began to speak.
"Now that you've decided to join us, we can start. You've already met myself and Moxxi-" she paused, gesturing to Moxxi who sat on the back of the couch. "-this is Mordecai." A rather tall man stood by the door, arms crossed. His skin was darkened and worn by the sun, long black hair pulled back and half hidden by a bandana. A large sniper rifle was strapped to his back and goggles rested on his forehead. Gaige gave him half a wave as she managed to find something to eat. "He's our hunter. He can get in and out of places before they even know he's there and is the best shot around." Gaige looked him over as he drank from a silver flask. "Bet I could give him a run for his money for that title."
"Not the time. Maybe later, but for now we are here for other reasons. I need you and Krieg to head out today." Grabbing her Echo, Tannis pulled up a map. Moving it around until she was able to zoom in on a small area, she angled it so the others could see. "Before we can move on officially, we need our leader back. We have reason to believe that he may be hiding in a place called Frostburn Canyon, hiding from Jack and his forces. This is where you two come in." Gaige gulped down some water before going to go look at the map. "And if he isn't there?" "We will think about that when we get there. You and Krieg need to get there. Unfortunately there isn't an activated fast travel in that area. Take the fast travel outside of sanctuary to the nearest one to that area. From there-" she paused, zooming in a bit more. "-there should be a catch a ride. Get one and follow the road. There should be a man named Roland somewhere in there, he's currently going under the name Firehawk. Not sure why, but that's not important. Once you find him, we need him brought back here."
Mordecai pushed away from the wall. "I've scouted out there. Lots of Spiderants and bandits out and about. Make sure you're armed and be careful." His voice was gravelly and low. Gaige nodded and glanced over at Krieg, who somewhat seemed to be listening. "Sounds easy enough. Fight our way in, find this guy Roland, and come back. I think we can do that." Krieg simply grunted in agreement. "We'll keep in contact through your echos. You two get ready and head out as soon as possible." Moxxi stood up, stretching ever so slightly. "Always stay alert out there. Especially in the new areas. Jack likes to play games and I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow had people out there keeping an eye out." Gaige nodded. "Ma'am, yes ma'am."
Once everyone was up and gone, Gaige had retreated back to her room. Today sounded rather simple, just a search and rescue. Holstering her sniper rifle to her back, Gaige opted for her pistol at her hip, and assault rifle on her lower back. Picking out the correct ammo from the bag, she loaded up with what she could carry and clipped a few grenades to her belt. Grabbing her echo off the unmade bed, she pulled up the specs on DT, making sure he was good to go before heading out to find Krieg.
Eyes still set on the screen, the petite redhead didn't notice that the much larger Psycho was walking past her door and ran right into what felt like a brick wall. With a low grunt, she stumbled backwards, her hand flying up in apology. "Sorry, sorry. So sorry." Her words blended together as she finally looked up. At least he wasn't mad she ran into him. Was he? With only his eye to go off of, she could only hope he wasn't. "Dude, you're built like a wall." Her words continued as if her mouth had decided to do its own thing. "What do you do? Like work out six hours a day? Or were you just born with those muscle?" Forgetting any sort of sense of boundaries, her flesh hand began to prod at his biceps and chest. A small giggle bubbled in her chest. "Hehe, small muscular Psycho baby." Without warning, he slapped her hand away with ease. "Sorry, sorry. Again….sorry." Well, their first actual job together and she was pretty sure he either hated her already or just thought she was some weirdo.
Biting her tongue, Gaige quickly set out behind Krieg to the gates of the town. Eyes seemed to follow them as they moved through the streets and she could only imagine how it looked. A short, awkward mechromancer and a giant Psycho as their only hope. That had to be reassuring. Keeping her attention to where they were walking, Gaige took notice that Krieg had only two weapons, and only one was a gun. A large buzz axe was strapped to his back and despite the wear on it, the blades still looked sharp as ever and she would never want to be on the business end. On his lower back, a shotgun was strapped down, Hyperion painted on it in large letters. How did he even have that? It was probably best not to ask. As the fast travel came into sight, she quickened her pace to make sure she arrived at it first. Somehow, even though she probably should, part of her didn't trust him to use that thing correctly.
Tapping the screen, a large map projected in front of her. Lightly pressing a metal finger to where Frostburn Canyon was, her mind began to work, figuring which fast travel would be closest. "Looks like we're going to Three Horns. That's going to be our best bet. From there, we can grab a ride and drive to Frostburn Canyon." Krieg simply grunted in response. "I'm going to take that as 'Okay, Gaige. Sounds great.' Any protests to that?" Hoping to get at least a light response from him for her sarcasm, she was greeted with the familiar silence. With an exaggerated sigh, she turned back to the Fast Travel. Tapping the screen with her flesh finger, the machine began to work. Krieg stepped in closer to her, crossing his arms over his chest as they were quickly taken to Three Horns.
Shaking off the feeling of the fast travel, Gaige spotted the catch a ride nearby. "Come on, big guy." She waited until Krieg began to walk before she quickly made her way to the large vehicle selection screen. Humming to herself, the redhead scrolled through all the paint options before opting for a purple vehicle. Pressing the finalize button, the vehicle quickly digistructed on one of the large platforms. "Perfect." Gaige chimed in a sing song tone before turning to the car.
Letting her fingers brush along the cold metal, she was about to climb into the driver's seat when she realized Krieg was already in it. "Um, I was going to drive." He simply stared at her. Stomping a foot to the ground, she glared at him. "Out. I'm driving." Her voice hardened when he refused to move. The Psycho let out a low chuckle, settling more into the seat. Kicking her foot at the side of the car, she wasn't above throwing a temper tantrum right then and there. "There is no way I am gonna let you drive!"
This went on at least another twenty minutes and Gaige wasn't quite sure how she lost when he didn't even argue back. Yet, without a single word from Krieg, the redhead sat up in the gunner seat in the end. Holding the handles to the gun, Gaige prepared herself for crazed and reckless driving, only to be surprised. Krieg was going a little fast, but not much faster then she would've had she been driving. "Not bad.." She hummed to herself, letting her grip lessen ever so slightly. For the most part, the drive was quiet, the mechromancer giving the Psycho directions of where to go, and taking out the occasional skag or bandit.
"Just keep following the road. We'll be there in no time." Gaige called down from her seat, their location on the map moving closer to their destination. She had to admit, she was pretty surprised at how smooth the drive was going. Maybe he wasn't that bad of a driver. Then, almost as if reading her mind, the car suddenly lurched as the engine revved. Normally, that wouldn't have bothered Gaige too much, but the fact they were currently going down a twisting mountain road, their speed made her rather uneasy. "Uh, Krieg? Not to criticize your driving or anything, but can you maybe, slow down?" With a low chuckle, he stepped on the gas further. Gaige tightened her grip, knuckles turning white. "Dude slow down!" The wind whipped around her, stinging her eyes as she struggled to breath.
The edge of the cliff was getting dangerously close and Gaige knew by now, the Psycho had absolutely no intention of stopping. Ducking down into the small bucket of the gunner seat, she held onto the sides as she screamed. "Stop, stop, STOP!" The car's engine revved once more before it flew over the edge. "BEEP, BEEP!" Krieg shouted in joy as the car became airborne. Shrieking out in sheer terror, Gaige did the only thing she could think of. Raising her mecha arm, Deathtrap quickly digistructed at the side of the car. Letting go of the sides of her seat, she leaped out of what was surely a death sentence, letting DTs cold, metal hands easily catch her and lower them to the ground slowly.
The car gave a metallic groan, but much to her surprise, it didn't completely shatter as it crashed to the ground. With a whine, it continued to lurch forward, Krieg laughing in joy as it smashed into the side of an ice covered mountain. Deathtrap carefully set the redhead down, her feet firmly planting themselves onto the snow. "What the actual fuck was that?!" She screeched as the large man climbed out the vehicle. "Fun." He grumbled the word, a smirk in his eyes. "No. That was not fun, that was fucking idiotic!" Krieg didn't seem the least bit phased, chuckling to himself as she went off of him.
"Gaige? Gaige, are you there?" Tannis voice interrupted her implosion. Pointing a very angry finger at Krieg, she grabbed her echo and turned her back to him. "Yea. I'm here." She sighed, tapping on the screen to pull up the map. "Okay, so is my Echo wrong or are you two already at Frostburn Canyon?" Gaige pinched the bridge of her nose. "No. We're here. Psycho man found us a shortcut that included driving us over the edge of a fucking cliff!" She screamed into the small device, still in distress over the whole thing. "Why the hell did you let him drive?!" Tannis didn't sound amused or sympathetic. "Well, I picked the car and he got into the driver seat before I could react and he just kinda wouldn't get out. I spent like twenty minutes trying to get him out and somehow, well he won that argument." She shrugged. "Hopefully you learned a lesson here. All that aside, Just follow the map and you'll find where you're going."
There was a hushed argument in the background and the echo could be heard being passed around. "Gaige, keep an eye out. Spiderants like to hide in the ground and will pop out when you don't expect it. There's several bandit camps on the way there, but nothing too bad." Mordecai's voice chimed in and Tannis could be heard in the background, demanding her echo back. "Got it. I'll let you know when we get there." Shoving the device into the pouch on her belt, Gaige started towards the entrance of the canyons. "Come on. Let's get this over with so I can try and get over the fact you almost killed us. Keep an eye out, Mordecai says there's sp-" Her words were cut off as several Spiderants burrowed up from the ground. "Those." Armed with her pistol, the redhead easily helped Krieg take out the Spiderants as they came. Once the small colony was killed off, they began their journey into the snow covered area.
Light snow dusting the ground turned into several inches, each of their steps leaving behind a trail. Gaige had abandoned arming herself, hugging her arms instead as she shivered. The light, occasional breeze stung at her skin and she was sure her feet were frozen solid. Frostburn didn't seem like it was too far away and she quickly understood where the area got its name from. Glancing over at Krieg, she was surprised to see that the cold didn't seem to bother him, even with the fact that he was shirtless. Part of her wanted to touch him and see how warm he was, but this time she controlled herself.
For the first while, their journey was rather boring. Gaige hugged herself tightly, attempting to keep any body heat that she could, making a mental note to invest in at the very least a jacket after this. It was unusually quiet, the only sounds that of their breathing and the snow crunching under their feet, almost as if the snow had muted everything else. After what felt like an infinite walk of freezing cold, a bandit camp came into sight in the distance. "Hey, hold on." She held out her arm in front of Krieg, making sure he actually stopped along with her. Nudging him behind a nearby rock, she grabbed her sniper rifle, holding the scope to her eye. Kneeling down beside the rock, she tried her best to ignore the snow sinking through her thin leggings.
"Hmm.." Moving the scope ever so slowly, she scanned the area. "Not too many of them. Mostly looks like marauders and bandits." A Psycho soon ran across her scope, charging across the area. "And maybe some psychos." Moving her sight up, she could see a couple more in the distance. "I can snipe out the further off…" Her words trailed off as she slowly looked to her side. The Psycho that had run across her sight wasn't an enemy. Sighing, she pressed her palm against her forehead. "Dammit. One moment. One moment is all I ask for, but no. Mister man here has to charge in before I can even get a plan out together. I swear, he's going to get us killed." Pushing her irritation aside, Gaige put the scope back up to her eye, easily taking out any enemies in the distance as Krieg mowed through the ones that were closer.
When the area was finally cleared out, Gaige stood up, dusting the little snow that clung to her off. Dropping the empty magazine from her sniper rifle, she loaded in a new one as she made her way to Krieg. "What the hell, dude?! I was trying to get a plan together, don't just charge in like that!" She chastised the much larger Physco like a child. Turning to look at her, he wiped some of the blood off his mask. "Next time, wait until I have the plan ready. We don't know what all we're up against and reckless behavior like that will get one or both of us killed." Not waiting for the response she knew wouldn't be there, the simmering redhead began to follow the path once again.
The distance between bandit camps and the few Spiderants that dotted the way wasn't what Gaige had expected. By the way Mordecai had sounded when he warned them to be cautious, she had expected many more threats. When they came up to the second camp, the mechromancer had attempted to stay in front of her Psycho partner, hoping to keep him at bay. When that didn't work, as the third one came into sight, she nearly yanked him to the ground with her. After he ran in, guns ablaze, she finally gave up. The closer they seemed to get to the center of the maze of caverns, the denser bandit camps became. If they were larger, Gaige would perch herself on a roof and take out the farther off enemies as Krieg took out the closer ones. If they were smaller, she would grab her assault rifle and charge in with him. Finally, as she began to drag and ammo began to run low, they came to a cave.
"This has to be it.." Gaige spoke as she wiped blood off her face. Cautiously making her way in, it was no surprise when Krieg just ran in, no fear. The entrance of the cave was a long, icy path that slowly turned to dry rock. As they finally approached what seemed like a large clearing, an ammo dump machine was perched along the wall. "There's some ammo." Holstering her pistol, she pulled out her small pouch of money. Purchasing as much ammo as she could afford, she felt a little more at ease. At least if there was a surprise coming at them, they would be ready.
Waiting for Krieg to do the same, Gaige made sure each of her guns was fully reloaded, staying close to Krieg as she did. Once they were both loaded and ready to go, she lead the way towards the opening. "Keep an eye out, there could be bandits in here." At this point, she wasn't fully sure why she still bothered trying, or even talking for that matter, when she knew he wouldn't respond or even listen. When there was no response, she began circling the area opposite from Krieg, making sure her gun was ready. As they both made their way around the area, they met again in the middle. "Looks like we've hit a dead end. No one's here."
Right as she spoke, there was a large ball of light in the center of the open space, a woman with short, fiery hair seemed to appear out of nowhere. She looked at the two vault hunters before falling to the ground. Gaige looked up at Krieg, who looked just as confused as she did. Cautiously making her way to the woman, she half held her gun up. "You okay?" The woman didn't respond, obviously needing help. Taking to her side, she looked her over for any wounds. "Eridium.." The woman groaned weakly, looking up at the smaller girl. "Um, what?" Gaige looked at her confused, not sure what she wanted.
"There's some eridium pieces on my table...I need it.." Krieg watched them interact, his gun lowered but still in his hands. Standing up, she quickly made her way to the table, grabbing the few pieces of purple rock. Taking them back to the other woman, she handed them to her. The strange woman took them, seeming to feel better almost immediately. There was almost a purple glow to her otherwise pale skin before she looked up at Gaige. "Who are you and why are you here?" She asked softly, seeming to still be rather weak.
"Names Gaige. That over there-" she gestured to the large Psycho. "-is Krieg. He's my partner and we're vault hunters. We were sent here to look for Roland, who I'm assuming is not you." The mechromancer stood up, offering the other redhead a hand to help her up. "You would be correct. I'm Lilith and Roland used to be here. I guess it's safe to say that Tannis sent you." Gaige nodded. "Yea, how'd you know?" Before Lilith could respond, there was distant shouting, followed by bandits beginning to filter in. "Shit, they found me. We've got to get them out of here." Lilith looked at Krieg and Gaige, hoping for their help. Krieg was way ahead of them, charging into the growing number of bandits. Gaige helped Lilith move towards her bed, sitting her so that she could take cover behind it before grabbing her sniper rifle. "We got that covered."
As Krieg slaughtered the bandits that made it in, Gaige took out most of the ones trying to come in. The growing number of bodies by the door helped slow the incoming number, helping make it much more manageable. "Reloading!" Gaige called out as she dropped the empty magazine. Reloading her gun, the sound of gunshots slowed to a stop in the background. "Is it clear?" Raising her scope, she turned her attention to the door. After a few moments of no movement, there was a sudden screaming. "What the hell?"
Lowering her gun, Gaige looked for her partner, only to find him screaming and running across the small area. Before she could ask or even wonder what was happening, two very large, badass psychos quickly began closing in on him, chasing after him quickly. "Summon Deathtrap, woman!" Krieg screamed as he ran faster. Gaige couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles. Seeing a big Psycho, chased by even bigger psychos was a sight worth seeing. Raising her mecha arm, the large robot digistructed at her side. "Sick 'em boy!" She giggled out the words, Deathtrap quickly going after the badasses. It didn't take long for them to join the body count, just as a beeping came from her echo. "Good boy." Gaige smiled as DT disappeared.
Krieg glared at Gaige as he made his way towards Lilith, making sure she was okay. "My bad, bro. I didn't even see them." The petite redhead let out another giggle, the mental image one that she was going to cherish. "Lady okay?" Krieg asked Lilith, helping her off the ground where she was taking cover. The siren nodded. "Yea, I'm fine. Roland might not be though. Those bandits that came in here, their clan is who took him and why he isn't there. I was trying to get him back, but it didn't work in my favor."
"Gaige? Gaige are you there?" Tannis' voice suddenly came over the echo. Grabbing the device from its pouch on her belt, she tapped the screen. "Yea, I'm here. Sorry for a delayed response, we ran into some-" Before she could finish, Tannis interrupted. "Is Roland there?" This time Lilith spoke up. "Sorry, but he isn't. Only me." There was a pause. "Lilith? What are you doing there?" Gaige handed the siren her echo. "Long story short, I was told it would be best to hide out from Jack and did so. Roland was here with me, but we were ambushed by a group of bandits and they took him. I tried to get him back, but there's too many of them. I'll need help."
"The vault hunters will help, but until we get a plan together, I need the three of you to come back to Sanctuary. Especially you, Lilith. Without Roland, we have no leadership and you're the next in line. Without you, we don't know where to look next." Gaige looked up at the siren who seemed to hesitate. After a moment, she nodded. "I'll go back with these two. I trust that they can get me there safe." Gaige reached out for her echo. "Yea, we'll get her there safe. You can count on us!" She was a little overly cheery, but with her body still rather cold, she was just ready to get out of there and to her blankets.
"Be careful." With that said, Tannis ended their communication. "Yea, yea. So, let's get you out of this icy hell and back to Sanctuary before I get Frostburn on places I didn't know you could get Frostburn on." Gaige grabbed her pistol and began heading towards the door. Lilith followed closely behind her, Krieg trailing from behind. "So, I'm assuming you have a ride somewhere out here, right?" Gaige didn't say anything, instead making a light 'mmmm' sound. "Are you serious?!" Lilith didn't sound amused.
"Well, it's not MY fault. Big guy back there decided it would be fun to drive around like a maniac and sorta drove it off a cliff. I mean, it's by the entrance to the caverns, but it's mostly destroyed and banged up." The mechromancer tried to play it off as casually as she could, but by the siren's expression, she knew it wasn't working. "So we're going to have to walk all the way back?"
Gaige grabbed her echo, pulling up the map. "Well, there should be a fast travel somewhere out here, we just need to activate it." Following a few paths with her finger, she finally found it. "It's this way. Should still be cleared out too, so it should be easy." Taking the lead once again, Gaige drug her feet through the snow and along a nearby path. Luckily, she was right and the fast travel wasn't too far and along the way they ran into no sort of trouble. At least until they got to the fast travel.
Fifteen minutes after their arrival, Gaige was kicking and yelling at the machine. She couldn't get it to turn on and was on the verge of just destroying it. "You sure you don't need help?" Lilith was watching, unamused as she leaned against a nearby cave wall. The small redhead glared at her. "/who/ built the giant killer robot?" Lilith rolled her eyes. "You did, oh mighty one." Gaige began to press the non working buttons over and over again. "Exactly. So leave it to the electronics genius. Okay?" The siren let out a loud scoff before mocking her.
"Why are you being such a brat? I don't see you getting us home." Gaige stepped back to glare at Lilith as she spoke. "I offered to help at least a dozen times, but you always start on about how you're 'the tech genius' and can handle it. So I just step back and let you fuck around and be happy." The two girls began to argue, nearly at each other's throats when Krieg stepped away from where he was keeping watch. Walking up to the fast travel, he looked it over before flipping a small switch on the side. With that, it quickly sprang to life.
Gaige cut herself off, turning to look at the machine as it turned on. Sighing, she just shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Over it. So over it. Thanks, dude." Without another word, she pulled up the map and selected Sanctuary. The trio were quickly taken to just outside the town. Refusing to look at Lilith, or interact with her for the time being, the younger girl grabbed her Echo. Tapping the screen a few times, it rang before Tannis' voice chimed in with a 'what?'. "We're here. Where are we taking Princess to?" Gaige marched forward and through the opening gates, Krieg and Lilith following close behind.
"Bring her to the Crimson raiders HQ. I'll send you the coordinates." Rolling her eyes, Gaige pulled up the map on her small device, leading them to the marked spot. The building was large, at least two floors. The first floor was mostly open, a large table taking up a good chunk of space, stairs off to the side. Tannis stood from where she was sitting, walking over to the siren. "Lilith, it's good to see you. We have a lot to talk about." The fiery haired woman nodded. "That we do. We have to get Roland back. Let's talk."
Tannis turned to the vault hunters, Krieg standing with his arms crossed as Gaige paced back and forth. "You two are free to go for now. We will be in contact with you the moment we get a plan together." Gaige didn't even wait for more. "Great. Bye!" With Krieg close behind, she quickly made her way back to their house, closing the door behind them. Kicking off her shoes, she went to her room to burrow into her blankets and finish defrosting from Frostburn Canyon. "If you need me, just come in. I have some relaxing to do."
