Author's Note: I took a tiny break from writing on this to get a bit further in Borderlands 2, as I feared I was totally botching Mordecai's personality. Well, I finally got to the Tiny Tina mission and found out that yes, my assessment of Mordecai as a smug asshole was pretty much correct. I'm also pleased to see that traumatizing young children is a Borderlands tradition.

As expected, Roland was interested simply because of the Crimson Lance's involvement, which also secured Lilith's help. And Brick was intrigued by Bunny enough to at least listen to Mordecai's pitch. That and a promise of beer on Mordecai was enough to bring the full crew in. Roland estimated they could be there by dawn and instructed Mordecai to stay put. They'd figure out a strategy for assaulting the Crimson Lance base once the five of them were gathered in one place. Mordecai relayed this to Tasha, who seemed a bit intimidated by the thought of having all four Vault hunters along. It was clear she had only been expecting Mordecai's help.

"And you're doing this before I fix your scope?" she asked when Mordecai had explained the working plan.

"I'd prefer it the other way around, but Roland wants to meet with you before you go sneaking off into Sanctuary. He might have something else for you to do while you're in there."

"I'm no spy."

"We're assaulting a Crimson Lance base for you. You'll damn well do whatever Roland asks."

"And if I just vanish instead?" There was a challenge in her voice. Mordecai turned to regard her, knowing full well how intimidating his stare could be. With his eyes hidden behind the goggles and most of his features behind the mask, it meant the recipient could only infer what his intent was and if he kept his voice low, they typically inferred the worst.

"Then I'll go through every bandit camp I find until they give you up. And what I do with you will make the stories of me that already exist sound like lullabies."

Part of him wondered if he could actually follow-through with that threat. He was fairly certain he could, and wondered if this was Pandora's affect on him, or if he had always been this way and Pandora had simply given him the freedom to act. Tasha was trying not to look at him again, instead moving to sit next to Bunny, who was laying in the dirt between the two runners. Mordecai watched the two for a long while, thinking about what she had said regarding feeding the skag most her food and the much-abused rifle that was in her runner. He made his way over to it, took it off its hooks, and returned to where Tasha sat.

"C'mon," he told her, "We've got a lot of waiting until the other three get here. I want to see you shoot this."

As Mordecai suspected, Tasha was a miserable shot. She either focused entirely on the target or entirely on the gun and did not seem able to reconcile the two in tandem. She did take time to think the shot through, but at the moment she fired it seemed she simply forgot everything and winged it – which resulted in most of her bullets going wild. Worse still, Mordecai could point out a dozen bad habits and her attempts at correcting them appeared futile, which made Mordecai fear they'd been there for a very long time.

"Where did you learn to shoot?" he finally asked as she reloaded the gun for a third time. He'd given up on trying to show her how to reload faster, figuring he'd be lucky if she actually hit anything better than a glancing blow that night.

"Bandits taught me. I was pretty little. They'd bring back captives from their raids on other bandits, tie them up against a post, and let me take shots at them. They all thought it was funny, so I thought it was pretty funny too, and was always sad when I finally killed them because that meant they'd take the gun back and I couldn't play with it anymore."

"You were raised by bandits." This explained so much.

"Yeah. I'm a native to Pandora. I think my parents were Dahl engineers sent here... not really too certain, as my mother went crazy and ran off with me when I was too little to remember anything. Bandits took her in and I wound up being something of a mascot."

She'd finished reloading. She settled the gun's stock against her arm, too low to really gain any sort of stabilization from her body, and Mordecai reached out and took the barrel in his hand and readjusted it yet again. This time he closed his hand over the gun's scope and kept it there so she wouldn't try and drop the gun off her shoulder when she fired. He was tired of watching her fuck it up.

"How old are you, anyway?" he asked. She couldn't sight using the scope with his hand there, but Mordecai figured it would be better that she focus on the basics anyway. He watched to see where her eyes went, whether they focused on the target or the barrel of the gun first.

"I have no idea. The bandits didn't keep track of birthdays unless they had an idea. Lars – that's the guy that leads this particular gang – held a 'I think you're twelve' birthday party and gave me Bunny. I told him it was a nice gift, but I'd rather have an incendiary shotgun like he had."

"Every little girl needs an incendiary shotgun," Mordecai agreed. She fired and the gun rocked under Mordecai's hand. The recoil was slight but Tasha still let it throw her off. The sniper sighed deeply in frustration, wondering if this was just an exercise in futility and just why he was even bothering. He never felt compelled to correct his three companions unless they specifically asked for advice, but they also tended to stick to what they were best at and left the sniping to him. Tasha though, seemed to rely on the rifle for some things and besides, he had plenty of time to kill. He didn't particularly feel like sleeping either, not with a girl raised by bandits with a pet skag nearby. As relatively helpless as she seemed, he still had to keep in mind that she'd been raised by people that would have no qualms about murdering someone in their sleep.

"Here," he said, shifting to his feet in a crouch to move behind her, "I'll guide you."

At least she seemed to be past flinching every time he moved. Mordecai couldn't decide if it was just him or if perhaps she was just terrified of strangers by habit. There was no telling how many layers of trauma were there from being raised by bandits, having a psycho mother, and simply living on Pandora. Mordecai didn't particularly care to indulge any of them, either. He reached around and took one wrist in hand, gently applying pressure to guide her arm to a more stable position. She resisted and so he applied more until she relinquished and allowed him to set the gun right, peering over her shoulder to ensure the angle was correct. Then he settled her hand firmly on the body of the gun, his own covering it to hold it there and keep it steady, and he reached around the other side of her body to catch up her other hand and guide it to the trigger.

"Now look down the length of the gun," he directed, "See it in relation to the target."

They were shooting at a spare bandanna he'd tacked to a rock. It hadn't been hit yet.

"No, don't fire yet," he said, irritated, seizing her wrist to jerk her hand away from the trigger, "Wait until I tell you."

He waited, listening to her breath, feeling the inhale and exhale from the closeness of his body to her back. When she finished her exhale and her small frame went momentarily still, he calmly gave the order to fire. There was a spark from where the bullet hit the rock and the bandanna fluttered. Mordecai got up, walking the distance between her and the target, and inspected the piece of cloth. There was a hole. She'd finally hit it. He turned to see her just kneeling there, the rifle across her knees.

"Alright," he said, walking back, "Now try that again, on your own this time."

And she raised the gun and forget everything he'd just shown her and missed by a mile. Mordecai sucked in his breath and held it, trying to force some sort of calm into his mind. Exhaled, and failed.

"You're fucking hopeless. I give up."

The look Tasha gave him made him think it was probably a good thing she never got that incendiary shotgun she wanted.

Mordecai perched himself up on the runner, just behind the turret, and waited there for the arrival of the other three. Tasha continued to practice and while Mordecai could tell she was truly trying to retain some of what he'd shown her, it was simply too exasperating to actually watch. He stared at Bunny instead and found that was as boring as Tasha was frustrating. The skag seemed content to sleep through the night. Finally, Tasha either ran out of ammo or gave up and returned to the two parked runners. She settled down next to Bunny, leaning back against the skag's side.

"So what happens if he ever turns on you?" Mordecai called down. It seemed like it'd be important to know.

"I scrapped down a Maliwan pistol a while ago and re-purposed the unit that generated the electric charge into the collar," she replied, "Push of a button and he gets jolted with enough electricity to hopefully drop him."

"Where did you learn all this?"

"My mother. She was either a mechanical or electrical engineer – not sure which – and would fix everything around camp and I followed her and watched. Started tinkering with stuff myself eventually and the bandits soon had me cleaning and servicing all their guns for them because they were lazy bastards. I think that's why Lars kept both me and my mother around – that and my mother was crazy enough to rip someone's face off. With her bare hands. And then eat it."

"She still with the bandits?"

There was a long pause and for a moment Mordecai thought the girl wouldn't answer.

"No," she finally said, "She died. That's when I left the bandit camp and went to find my father. He went crazy too, though in a much quieter way, and lives in Sanctuary now. He's a software engineer and they let him work on stuff still. He thinks we both died and I can't convince him otherwise. Looks right through me when I tell him I'm his daughter, like I don't exist in that moment. The rest of the time I'm just some nice girl that wandered in off the street and he tells me all sorts of stuff about how the programs that run Pandora's machines work. I didn't want to stay in Sanctuary because they don't let skags in, so I just left him there."

Apparently insanity ran in the family, then. Mordecai figured he didn't want to know anything else about this girl, as her story just seemed to be growing progressively more depressing. It was little wonder she wasn't welcome anywhere – having a family of bandits certainly didn't engender trust and even if Pierce were willing to welcome her if she renounced all that, Tasha didn't seem particularly inclined to do so. Not if she still had contact with them like this. Mordecai realized bleakly that he was going to catch so much crap from Lilith for getting involved in this.

Tasha fell asleep sometime before dawn. As did Mordecai, although he at least managed to stay awake long enough to ensure that the girl was truly not going to get up and murder him anytime soon. He slept lightly as a rule anyway, and woke as soon as the engine of the approaching runner became a distant whisper. His reaction was instinct – his hand closed on his rifle and he rolled to the far side of the runner, putting the vehicle's mass between him and the incoming sound. There was little doubt it would be Lilith, Roland, and Brick; but Mordecai had learned not to take chances. On the other side of the runner, both Tasha and Bunny were waking up. Mordecai was glad to see that she at least had some instincts, even if she couldn't hit the broad side of a mountain with a gun, and ducked behind her own runner to ensure she had cover if the approaching runner turned out to be hostile. Bunny just stood out in the open, splitting its maw open and snarling at the plume of dust that was growing steadily closer.

"Tasha!" Mordecai called out, "Your dog is stupid!"

"I know!" she called back.

Mordecai raised his gun and peered down the scope. He saw Lilith crammed in the front of the turret, clearly pleased by the fact that Roland had elected to share the confined space with her and let Brick drive instead. Scooter's generosity only extended to the use of two runners at a time for the four of them and so when one of them took off on their own, it meant the other three were slightly screwed in means of transportation. Mordecai might have some apologies to make – actually, he'd probably have a lot of apologies to make considering what he was dragging them into. He decided to just forgo the entire thing and resort to angry glares if anyone demanded one. It was what they'd come to expect from him, after all.

The sniper clambered out from behind the runner and waved in greeting as the incoming vehicle slowed to an easy stop. Brick was being nice and not flinging his passengers around. Mordecai would have, were he actually allowed to drive once in a while. Lilith took her time climbing out, somehow managing to justify using Roland's shoulder as a temporary perch as she scooted over the railing. Then she dropped down and Roland followed after. Brick was levering himself carefully out of the driver's seat and his eyes settled on Bunny. Tasha was edging closer, wary, and Mordecai saw that she had her assault rife in her hands and didn't seem ready to relax and let go of it just yet. That look of a hunted animal was back.

"So," Mordecai said, turning halfway between the two parties, "Everyone: the crazy girl is Tasha and the skag is Bunny. Tasha: the scary bitch is Lilith, the guy with the stupid hat is Roland, and the big guy is Brick. He's a softie, loves puppies, no reason to be scared of him."

That introduction earned him a series of even stares from his companions. Lilith seemed unperturbed by the title of 'scary bitch' and Mordecai wasn't sure if it was because she agreed or if she was plotting his demise for later. Roland was critically eying Mordecai's own choice of headgear and seemed to be considering if it was worth making a retaliating remark. And Brick... well, Mordecai couldn't tell what Brick thought because Brick usually looked like he had barely restrained murder in his eyes.

"Also," Mordecai said, "Tasha was raised by bandits."

There was a long pause. Tasha looked ready to bolt in earnest now and Mordecai could see she was mentally measuring the distance between herself and the driver's seat to her runner. Roland saw it as well, for he shrugged and looked away as if the information meant nothing to him. Tasha's attention focused in on Brick, who was certainly the most intimidating of the four and would appear to be the greatest threat. Roland was slowly easing himself between Tasha and the runner and the girl didn't appear to notice. Her eyes darted over to Mordecai and he gave her a reassuring smile. At least, he hoped she'd interpret it that way.

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'raised'," Tasha said nervously, "More like... was the camp's mascot. Or resident running joke. I don't know."

"I can work with this," Lilith said with a shrug, "You scouted out the outpost we're going to attack yet?"

For a moment Tasha looked relieved and she turned her attention to Lilith, edging closer. Her hands fell from the assault rifle, then edged back up, and then she forcibly removed them and pressed the palms against her legs to keep them still. Lilith just jerked her head, indicating that Tasha should follow her.

"I've got a map," Lilith said, "I want you to outline the entire place."

The two moved off to one side, dropping into a crouch opposite each other and talking in a low voice. Lilith was laying out the four points to a hologram projector and a relief of the Dahl Headland flashed up between the two. Tasha hovered a hand over it for a moment and then flipped her fingers over the surface, scrolling the contours of the hills, searching for the general location of the outpost.

"Mordecai," Roland said, coming up beside the sniper, "Walk with me?"

The two moved off into the growing dawn. The false sun of Pandora was a shimmer on the horizon, struggling weakly to make itself known. Roland seemed reluctant to talk and while Mordecai didn't particularly feel inclined to start the conversation, he felt a bit obliged to considering it was at his request that Roland was even here.

"I gotta get that rifle fixed," Mordecai said. It would suffice as an explanation.

"It's your Atlas one, isn't it?" the former soldier rumbled.

"The one I used against the Destroyer."

"I get it."

The two were silent for a moment. Roland abruptly stopped walking and turned to face Mordecai with a sigh. The sniper looked back off towards the camp. Lilith and Tasha were still talking and Brick was trying to entice Bunny into a game of fetch. Mordecai figured the man wouldn't have any luck unless he was using a hunk of raw meat.

"Is Tasha going to be a liability?" Roland asked.

"Yes," Mordecai replied sullenly, "Apparently the bandits didn't really teach her to shoot, they just handed her a gun when she was little and made shooting prisoners into a game. I tried to teach her, but she's got way too many bad habits."

"How the hell is she still alive out here then?"

Both men looked back at camp now. Brick was now trying to entice Bunny into a game of tug-o-war and seemed to only be irritating the skag. Mordecai could tell this was going to end poorly.

"We'd better find out before we go into the outpost," Roland sighed, "I'll have Brick deal with the skag. I want you to put a couple bullets into her shield. Scare her. See what happens."

Mordecai nodded and slowly sank to one knee, pulling his Maliwan off his back and resting it across his leg. Roland trudged back to camp and Mordecai could hear him calling to Brick. Tasha remained where she was, intently drawing on the map with one finger, glowing outlines taking shape with each fluid gesture. Brick was nodding at Roland, then he was positioning himself between Bunny and Tasha. Mordecai waited, not wanting to raise his rifle until he was absolutely certain it was time to shoot. The huge man was enticing the skag to roll on its back and after a moment the creature just sagged as if boneless and flipped its stomach up to the sky so Brick could give it a belly-rub.

"I'll be damned," Mordecai whispered, "That's a new one."

He swung the rifle up. At this range, he didn't even need to use the scope. The first bullet exploded in a crackle of static and light and Lilith shot to her feet, fairly leaping backwards to get out of range of the effect. She would be furious that he'd done that. Mordecai fully intended to throw Roland under the bus on this one. Tasha was also scrambling back, bringing her assault rife up to bear as she did so. Mordecai estimated that her shield still held – there hadn't been the crack and flash of the field breaking – and fired again, this time around her legs. Just in case he was wrong.

Bullets slammed into the dirt yards from where Mordecai crouched. The recoil from the initial burst threw Tasha's aim off even more and Mordecai just shook his head in disappointment.

"I tried to tell her," he sighed to himself, "You have to account for the recoil and adjust."

Bunny was fighting to get to Tasha. Brick had apparently taken the skag's distraction as an opportunity to re-purpose the piece of chain he wore as a belt into a leash and was now dragging the skag back towards the runner, presumably so he could anchor the beast and keep it out of the way. That situation was under control at least. Tasha, on the other hand, wasn't. Roland was running for her, shouting something, but the girl seemed far too panicked to be listening. Lilith was just standing there, a pistol in her hands, clearly uncertain as to what was going on and not wanting to act without knowing. Smart.

Roland managed to close in with Tasha and his hand wrapped around the body of the gun before she could fire it. Mordecai smiled – he'd taken her shield down then. Perfect. Roland made a sharp jerk and Tasha ducked, simply relinquishing the weapon rather than be pulled off her feet by the motion. The strap slid off over her head and then the girl just leapt at Roland, hitting him with all her weight at around the chest. Mordecai saw the flash of metal in one hand.

"Shit," the sniper swore, putting his eye to the scope.

Skag-girl had a knife. She hadn't knocked Roland down yet, but the soldier was bearing the brunt of her weight as she had planted her feet in his chest and was holding on to the collar of his shirt with one hand, the other hand angling the knife downwards. Mordecai fired, the knife went spinning out of her grip, and with a startled shout both her and Roland went down in a heap. There was a flurry of movement that Mordecai couldn't make out and he scrambled to his feet, breaking into a run, carrying the rifle down by his hip. Roland was fighting, keeping one arm up to hold Tasha at bay. And the girl...

Mordecai thought then, that perhaps she hadn't earned her nickname by having a pet skag. The feral look in her eyes had taken over and Mordecai saw madness there. She would tear Roland apart with her bare hands, just as her mother had done in the bandit camp to those who threatened her or her child. Mordecai slowed, uncertain what he could do to get Tasha off of Roland, short of shooting her. Then a massive shape waded into the fray. Brick's hands closed around either of Tasha's arms and he simply lifted her up off the ground. She screeched – the sound mirrored by Bunny – and the sound of the two made Mordecai's skin crawl. Then Brick was setting her on her feet, still holding her by the arms, and she whipped about in his grip, snarling like a caged animal. Roland was shouting her name, trying to force her to focus. Mordecai sighed, dropped his rifle at the edge of the melee, and drew his revolver.

"Right," he said, brushing past Roland, "That's clearly not working. Allow me."

And he stopped right before the girl and looked her in the eye. Her lips were peeled back in a soundless snarl, her breathing came in rapid gasps that caught at the back of her throat at each inhale, and there was no sign that she recognized him in her eyes. He raised the gun, flipped it around so that he was holding it by the barrel, and then cracked the grip down into her forehead, a sharp, violent motion. He felt the impact of metal against bone shiver up through his wrist. She went limp and Brick let go, simply letting her fall to the ground unconscious in a heap at his feet.

There was silence from the Vault hunters. Bunny's snarls dissolved into an uncertain whine from where he was chained to the runner. Roland, Brick, and Mordecai all just stood around the girl, looking down at her. Roland didn't need to say it. Mordecai knew what he was thinking. Tasha was definitely a liability. At least with Brick, his rages were triggered rather than a default reaction.

"I don't know what the hell all this is about," Lilith said calmly from behind the three, "But she is going to be so pissed when she wakes up and I'm not going to help one bit."