Chapter IV

Don't stop believing!

The four vault hunters stood in the center of the sanctuary.

The bullet holes that littered the area were scars of the earlier battle.

"Surrender!" Axton called, his hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath.

"N-… Never." Maya said adamantly, also gasping for air as she drew her pistol.

Axton reached for his assault rifle, and in an instant, they both had their guns pointed to each other's head.

"What the HELL is going on?" A very miffed Lilith had arrived, her tattoos glowing faintly.

"He started it!" Maya exclaimed, pulling back her gun.

"I did not!" Axton protested.

Lilith's glare immediately shifted towards Axton, causing his shoulders to slump a little.

"Okay." He said, throwing his arms into the air. "Maybe… A little."

"This is stupid. We need to be shooting bad guys, not each other!" She said. "Now. No more fi-" She was cut off as she collapsed to the ground, a dart embedded in her shoulder. "Urmf?" She asked as she lost consciousness.

Everyone looked over to a sheepish Zer0, whom had a pistol drawn.

"Conflict continues. / She's not winning. Not this time. / Fuckin' pinball, man." He said, holstering the pistol.

Axton shrugged. "It worked. I guess."

"So…" Maya spoke up. "Who's moving her?"

Salvador stared at Lilith for a couple seconds.

"Do we have to?" He finally asked.

His question was met with "No" and: "Probably not." As well as: "She's fine there."

Everyone continued to stare at Lilith.

"So what now?"

Salvador and Maya's guns were pressed up against Zer0 and Axton's heads, while Zer0 and Axton's guns were pressed up against Salvador and Maya's heads. Western style.

"I never thought it would come to this." Axton said, his face serious.

"Inevitable / It was bound to happen soon / This is stupid though. " Zer0 said, a frown appearing on his face-plate.

"Is that tumbleweed?" Maya said, watching the ball bounce across the area. "How did it get… Never mind."

She readied her trigger finger. It all came down to this.

Maya, Axton, Zer0, and Salvador sat around the Pinball machine. Maya and Zer0 were competing at the moment.

"Damn it! Damn it all! / My skill at pinball unmatched / Until the Sirens." He cursed, watching his ball disappear into the hole. (!)

They had gotten bored of standing around with their guns pointed at each other. It had been embarrassing when they realized that none of their guns had any ammo in the chambers, and had decided to go over to Moxxie's bar and try their hand at competitive pinball.

"That's… one for us… one… for you." She finished writing down the score.

"Anyone else think this is kind of stupid?" Salvador asked, watching Maya and Axton face off. "We're Vault hunters. We should be killing each other, or doing manly stuff."

"And Pinball's not manly?" Axton asked absently, his attention completely on the ball behind the glass.

"No! No it's not!" He exclaimed, rising from his seat. "We should have a drinking contest!"

"Maya glanced at him. "That's how we got here, remember?"

Salvador sighed, sitting down.

The Vault Hunters ended up playing Pinball all night, and passing out. Maya was under the Machine, Zer0 somehow on top of it. Axton was sprawled across the floor, and Salvador had passed out at the bar, piss-drunk.

Manly

As for the pinball, the score had ended in a tie, two-hundred and thirty eight to two-hundred and thirty eight.

(!) – Competitive pinball is a game I have devised where players use the same machine, with separate balls and controls. The first person to have their ball fall into the hole loses.

I have returned to this story. I saw some of this shit in a dream, and was like; "It's a sign."

Hopefully, it will not take another crack-dream to get me to update again.

Alright, good good.

Edit - I forgot to do the formatting. Sorry.