A/N Happy new year! Sorry this chapter took so long, but the holidays are going to mess with my upload schedule a bit. Thanks to TylerJoe2319 for an awesome review, please keep these coming, they make me very happy. I feed off reviews. They are my sustenance.
The crack of a gunshot rang throughout the hills of the Three Horns valley, shortly followed by the noise of a bullet hitting concrete. Axton leaned against the side of a broken down bus and, with considerable effort, refrained from letting out a deep sigh. In front of him stood Angel, muttering angrily as she fiddled with the reloading mechanism of a Jakobs pistol. Axton stood wearily and walked over to her, gently prising the gun from her grip. She gave him a sheepish smile as he popped out the cylinder, reloaded the gun and spun it back into place in one smooth movement.
"Sorry Axton, I'm just no good at this!"
Axton handed back the pistol with a rather forced smile.
"No problem. You just have to practice."
Angel swung the gun up and aimed it at the empty bottle of rakk-ale (borrowed from Mordecai) that Axton had placed on the roof of a broken down car sitting in the Happy Pig Motel to act as target practice for her to shoot at. So far, she had peppered the wall of the motel behind the bottle with bullets, but the bottle itself remained intact. Axton watched as she peered down the sights at the bottle, and then pulled the trigger. Chips of concrete flew from the wall behind the bottle as the bullet again failed to find its mark. This was the thirty-first time that this had happened. Giving up, Axton strode forwards so that he was positioned directly behind Angel.
"Here. I'll guide you."
He could hear her intake of breath as his arms snaked around her slender body and his hands wrapped around her own on the gun. She was still wearing his coat. She had made no attempt to return it to him, and he had no desire to take it back. Wearing only his shirt allowed surprisingly more maneuverability and besides, he had to admit that Angel looked good in it.
Steadying her hands, he leant down and spoke softly in her ear.
"Can you see the bottle in the sights?"
Angel said nothing, but gave a tiny nod. Axton tightened his grip on her hands and squeezed gently on the trigger. Another crack, this time accompanied by a tinkling sound as the bottle shattered, scattering broken glass on the ground. He drew back his arms and chuckled.
"There you go. Just a matter of steadying your grip. You're taking too long aiming, you see. It's putting off your accuracy."
Angel turned her head and gave him a smile that was oddly shaky.
"Thank you."
Axton shrugged and grinned.
"It's a long way to go in less than a week, but you're getting the hang if it. Now, let's do that again."
~o~
Torture. It was torture. This must be what torture felt like, thought Angel, as she trudged back up the stairs of her apartment and collapsed on her bed. She could still smell him, the mixture of sweat and cheap cologne that was undeniably Axton. The scent also lingered on the coat that hung from her shoulders. She had been meaning to return it to him, but couldn't make herself do it, and he seemed not to want it back.
She rolled over so she was staring at the roof. She didn't think she could bear it for much longer.
His arms, wrapped around her body. His voice, breathing in her ear.
'Just a matter of steadying your grip'? Honestly! Could the man not see what he was doing to her? Could he not see that she was undone at his slightest of touches? He had no right! How dare he affect her in such a way and be completely oblivious to the fact! She clenched her fist. This had to stop. The only way to end this would be to be able to shoot accurately on her own.
Though physically and emotionally exhausted by today's training, Angel pulled out the pistol from Axton's jacket pocket and made her way slowly back to the fast travel station. She sighed. More practice.
~o~
Angel watched the bottle shatter with the now-familiar sound of breaking glass. Axton looked up at her with no small surprise.
"You're improving fast. Very fast. You're a natural!"
Angel managed a small grin. Axton smiled back.
"I think it's time for a more challenging target. Up for a bit of hunting?"
Angel swallowed. Axton stood, dusting the seat of his pants.
"Don't worry. It's just a few skags."
He led her over the road and to the skag nest. From the corner of her eye, Angel could see skags emerging from the shadows of their nests and stalking towards them slowly. Axton pulled out a Vladof assault rifle.
"Pick some off. I'll deal with any that get too close."
Angel raised the pistol and took a deep breath. It was just like the bottle. These were just bottles. Large, hairy, four-legged, murderous bottles with rows of long sharp teeth and claws as long as her fingers. She aimed at the smallest skag and steadied her shot, then pulled the trigger.
The skag's head exploded into a red mist that almost made her drop the pistol. That most definitely did not happen to the bottles. The skags surrounding them roared in fury and bounded towards them with great bounds. Angel felt something, a sensation she had never felt before, save for the times she had secretly disobeyed Jack. The thrill, the adrenaline pumping in her veins. She was a siren, a force of nature meant not for a life of servitude but one of excitement and adventure. Almost without thinking, she swung the pistol up and shot an adult skag directly in the mouth as it roared, this time, the blood did not faze her. Axton laughed beside her, and she could tell that he too was feeling the thrill of the fight.
Much sooner than she expected, she was standing with Axton among the scattered corpses of an entire skag nest. She turned and looked at Axton, who was smirking at her with a knowing expression on his face.
"So... bit different, wasn't it?"
Angel let the pistol drop to her side.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, mortified. Axton approached her and gently took her hand away from her face, grinning.
"Hey, it's cool, everyone here does it. It's Pandora, remember, and now there's no Jack to punish you."
Angel smiled tremulously up at him and gripped his hand tighter. Axton's face darkened.
"He really hurt you, didn't he. Bastard." Angel could see something in his eyes that was cold and hard, and shivered slightly. Axton glanced down at her and it faded, replaced by warmth.
"Well, that's enough for today. I think we'd better get back to Sanctuary."
She offered him back his pistol, but he shook his head.
"Keep it. It's better than anything Marcus could give you, and you're getting good with it. We'll make a killer out of you in no time!"
Thought the words were delivered in a jovial tone, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.
~o~
As the pair returned to Sanctuary, Lilith's voice spoke over the ECHO.
"Hey. Zer0 and Gaige are back from their mission, so head to HQ when you're ready."
Axton nodded to Angel, and the two made their way to the headquarters. As they ascended the stairs, they heard faint conversation.
"I take it the mission was a success." Said Lilith.
"The mission is done / infiltration successful / The device is set." The haiku determined this speaker as Zer0. The three vault hunters turned as Axton entered the room, followed by Angel. Lilith was the first to speak.
"So, Angel, how goes the... ah... training." She gave Angel an enormous wink, and Angel turned scarlet. Axton, missing this, spoke to her as he leaned against the central table.
"Very good, actually. Angel is a very quick learner."
Lilith arched an eyebrow.
"Is that so?"
She gestured to Zer0 and Gaige, who were conversing privately.
"These two have returned from their mission. Gaige has informed me that the ship took off almost as soon as Zer0 left it, and by her calculations that means that by now the backdoor device should almost be in range. Angel, it's up to you now."
Angel nodded and walked to the computer in the room. She tapped a few buttons, and a whirring noise began as the monitor began to start up. Axton watched her as she typed. A few strands of hair had come loose and had fallen over her face, but she just blew it off and continued typing, face filled with concentration. Her tattoos began to faintly glow and he could see her brow smoothen, as if worries had been lifted from her shoulders. He thought he could understand. They all had their thing. His was combat. Gaige's was engineering. Zer0's was meditating or composing haikus or ninja-ing.
Angel's was hacking.
He had been in her position once. When he seen them for the first time, he had been more than a little intimidated by Roland, Lilith, Brick and Mordecai. They had been badass vault hunters, supremely confident in their abilities and their skills. He, on the other hand, had barely begun as a vault hunter. That had all changed after the first disastrous assault on Control Core Angel, when he and the other new vault hunters had to take charge. This, he supposed, was Angel taking charge for once. While hacking, she was in her element. In total control.
A red flashing bar had appeared on the screen and Angel began typing faster, poking the tip of her tongue between her teeth.
Adorable.
Axton gave a start, and almost knocked over Gaige, who glared at him, but he was too startled to notice. Where had that thought come from? He glanced back at Angel. He didn't think about her like that, did he?
What about the way he had felt when she had come back to life? What about the way he had felt when she had kissed him outside her apartment? And holding her in his arms, even for such an innocent reason as combat training, that too had felt... right. Axton put a hand to his head. He was almost a decade older than her, for pity's sake! And he was her mentor; he couldn't afford to think like that! He would not! He looked up again, resolute, and saw that the strand of hair had fallen back over her eyes. Oh God. This was going to be the hardest thing he had ever done.
Beside Angel, Lilith was staring at him with an eyebrow raised. He immediately busied himself with fiddling with his class mod. The awkwardness was broken when Angel let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm in."
Everyone looked at the screen. Angel put a hand on the monitor.
"Executing phase shift."
Her tattoos glowed an almost blinding white and the air shimmered slightly. A new window popped up on the screen, this one showing coordinates and a map. Angel took an exaggerated bow, a wide grin on her face.
"Ladies, gentlemen and Zer0, I present the Circe Siren Training Facility."
Lilith whistled appreciatively.
"Well done Angel. It's time to put an end to Hyperion's plans for world domination. Again."
On their way out, Lilith pulled Angel aside.
"I know all about your secret night-time training sessions." Angel opened her mouth but Lilith went on. "Listen, if you're trying to impress him, I don't think it's necessary. Judging by the way he was looking... never mind. You can work it out for yourself. On your way now."
She ushered a flustered and extremely confused Angel to the door.
"Nice jacket, by the way."
Lilith winked.