The next morning, everyone was up at the same time, checking their gear and stocking up on ammunition. Lilith, who had taken over most of the leadership responsibilities of the Crimson Raiders, called the crew into the central control room on the second floor of the Crimson Raiders HQ. The control room had two banks of computers, one on each side of the room, and a central table with a holomap. The room was absent of furniture except for a beat up couch that seemed to have lost its cushions a long time ago. Everyone was gathered around the table except for Brick who was lounging on the couch.

"Alright, does everybody know what we are doing?" Lilith asked the group. Everyone nodded.

"We want to avoid combat if at all possible." She reminded them as she pulled a map of the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.

"We have time so we might as well go over the plan again. Our informant on the doings of the Bloodshot Bandit Clan was captured by the remnants of the Hyperion soldiers that are holed up in the Wildlife Exploitation Reserve. In our last contact with her, she said the Bloodshots were undergoing a major leadership change. We need to rescue her and secure this intel so we know what we are going up against.

She pointed to a mountain near the fast travel station. "This is where I will phase Mordecai."

She looked over at him.

"You will provide over watch as well as sniper support if this thing goes south. Maya, Axton, you will sneak through the docks, past the skag pens, and across the grassy plain where you will come to the animal holding cell facility. Once inside, you will need to extract the prisoner. If anything goes wrong, call me, I will phase in with Brick and we'll help mop up."

Brick cut in, "Too easy."

"That's a best case scenario." Lilith replied, "Remember, these guys aren't just any Hyperion Bandits, they are extremely dangerous. They have six years of slag experimentation perfected for all we know. They could be mutated into who knows what, that is why we should avoid conflict."

It was late in the day with the sun low in the sky when the group arrived at the preserve. Once Mordecai was in position, Maya and Axton began their infiltration. When they reached the docks, nobody was there and they immediately became suspicious but kept pushing forward.

"C'mon" Axton whispered as they reached the skag pen. A pack of skags managed to catch their scent while trying to sneak past and they both ran, passing the checkpoint and onto the grassy plain. Their commotion attracted the attention of more skags as well as stalkers who decided to join the fun. Maya was the first to the door of the holding cell facility, she found it was locked. "Ax," she yelled, "cover me while I hack the lock."

"Dammit!" Axton complained. He took out his Saber Turret and deployed it near the door with the shield surrounding Maya. He then began unloading on the animal pack, his E-Tech Rifle melting holes through the animals' flesh while his turret went full blast. At the sound of the shooting, all hell broke loose. Mutated Hyperion Engineers seemed to come out of nowhere and join the fight.

Axton screamed into his Echo. "Lilith get your ass down here NOW! There's too many goddamn scabs for me to handle!"

Suddenly, an explosion sent a few enemies flying and out of its violet haze, Lilith and the hulking form of Brick emerged. They both joined in with Lilith spraying her Hellfire SMG, and Brick throwing a grenade every time he reloaded his dual Tediore shotguns.

"Got it!" Maya yelled, and went inside to find the prisoner.

"Get 'em Brutus!" ordered one of the less mutated engineers. This 20 foot tall beast emerged from under the waterfall. He had the stature of a man but his skeleton looked overgrown as if it was trying to burst out of his skin. His skin was hardened and worn like leather. The tips of each of his bony fingers had a claw, jagged and razor sharp.

"Maya! Hurry the hell up!" Axton screamed.

"I'm coming, she's heavy."

"Brick go help her!"

The monster then let out an earth shaking roar and charged.

"Shit, we gotta get outta here now!"

As Lilith and Axton prepared to take on the charging behemoth, a loud gunshot rang out above the commotion. The monster stumbled and fell to the ground with a dull thud, a bullet wound through his temple.

"Nice shot Mordy." Lilith sighed as she finished off the last mutated engineer.

"Wasn't me" He replied, "I'm restocking ammo."