I finally drew a picture of Leesa for the cover! Whoo! She's also on my DeviantArt with a May0 picture! I will probably be drawing more of the characters over time. Hope you guys check them out! My DeviantArt link is on my profile (=
I also have a Mordecai/Leesa picture I'm working on to get practice with drawing these characters.
One more thing: People on Pandora do have access to showers. Please don't question it xD
Maya, Zero, Axton, and Mordecai were running past the fields filled with varkids, shooting a few from the air. They didn't waste time trying to get to Tina's home, ignoring and dodging the majority of the varkids and bandits that showed up before them.
Mordecai was pissed and everyone there could sense that. Axton was secretly sorry for whatever or whoever was keeping Tina away from calling Mordecai back. Mordecai would never admit it but he enjoyed the girl's company and would never allow her to be harmed by anybody. A part of Mordecai made a secret promise to Roland that so long as he was alive, he would care for Tina much like Roland did. When the group turned the corner to Tina's workshop they all stopped at the entrance.
The entire place was trashed, tables knocked over, stuffed animals torn apart, and black gunpowder marks were smudged everywhere.
Mordecai clenched his fist, "TINA!"
Nothing.
"We should go over to the local bandits. Maybe they took her?" Axton suggested.
Mordecai shook his head and pointed to a distant pile of robot arms and legs that must have been blown off in the fight. "Jack took her."
Maya walked up to Mordecai, "He must be in Eridium Blight which means he didn't get far after we hurt him. He's weak, Mordecai. Let's go take him out."
Mordecai leaned down and picked up Princess Fluffybutt before turning towards Maya, "You should have left her in that damn box."
Maya suddenly grew furious, "Leesa's a person too, Mordecai! She has feelings!"
"Are you really sure about that?" Mordecai got up in Maya's face, "For all we know she's just as psychotic as her husband!"
Zero stepped in between Maya and Mordecai and nudged him a bit away from Maya, "This is not the time for arguing." Zero hid under a sensible rouse when in all actuality he was being very defensive over Maya. Zero may have his doubts about Leesa but he knew Maya was right. Leesa has feelings and if Maya could see that and felt she needed to be protected, Zero would keep Mordecai off her back.
Mordecai glared at Zero, "Don't you see what she's doing to us? She's messing with our heads, tearing us apart!"
"You're impossible Mordecai!" Maya shouted, "If this was a trap, Leesa could just snap her fingers and we'd all be dead by now which is what Jack has been wanting this entire time!"
Mordecai didn't say anything in response.
Maya shook her head and walked deeper into the workshop, entering the garage to look around more. She glanced over all of Tina's possessions before she saw the picture of Tina and Roland stuck to the wall by a bloody knife.
"Get in here, you guys!" Maya cried out.
Everyone ran to her and each had their own mortified look on their faces as they looked at the note stuck to the ruined picture of Tina and Roland:
Bring my wife to the volcano in Eridium Blight.
Mordecai pulled the knife from the picture and note, tossing it to the ground. He took the picture and folded it, placing it in his pack while walking back through the workshop to leave. "Let's give him what he wants."
oOOOOOo
"You cannot be serious, Mordecai." Lilith crossed her arms.
Leesa sat at the table in the middle of the room, looking through a folder that belonged to Tannis. She let Leesa look through it after much argument so Leesa could see what Jack had been doing all this time on Pandora.
"It's not like he's going to hurt her. They're married for crying out loud..." Mordecai glanced at Leesa.
"First, you said you didn't want her talking to Jack and now you want to hand her over?! We still don't know why he put her in the case in the first place!" Lilith rebutted.
"Look, Lil, if we don't at least show Jack that we've fulfilled our part of the bargain he won't give Tina back."
While Lilith and Mordecai argued, Leesa reached a page about the Wildlife Reserve, scanning through the slag experiments. She pushed the page to the side a little to see a picture of Angel that Axton had drawn out. Axton's hidden talent was an artistic type that allowed him to draw whatever he saw to almost perfection. His picture of Angel in her chambers and one close up of her on the ground were amazingly detailed and showed all the emotion in her eyes before she died.
Something inside of Leesa snapped when she saw the picture of Angel and read more about the slag experiments. She placed a hand on her heart as it started to beat rapidly when a solitary image appeared before her:
A young blond girl running from the Wildlife Preserve for her dear life, crying.
Leesa's flipped through more papers until she saw Tiny Tina's picture and Tannis' explanation about how her parents were killed by Fleshstick at the preserve. Tina looked identical to the small child she saw running. She let her mind slowly sink into phase past to try and coax out more memories...
Leesa remembered Jack ordering people to go after her but suddenly...
Leesa's hand touched his shoulder, "Please... Let her go for me? Please stop this madness..."
Jack looked over at her and all she could see was him pulling her into a tight hug, allowing his soldiers to stand down, allowing the girl to run.
Leesa took a chance and glanced over at Angel's face, a memory coming from the depths of her mind. All Leesa could see was Jack hovering over her, whispering to her before she fell asleep and it all went blank.
"You weren't supposed to find out..."
After the words left her mind, she felt a need to protect everyone from Jack especially Tina. Her heart ached that she couldn't save those Jack had already killed and hurt...
Leesa stood up suddenly, her chair falling over from the force, "I'll go."
Lilith stepped forward, "Leesa you can't do this..."
"Mordecai is right, Lilith. Jack isn't going to hurt me so long as there's one sliver of John still in there. I want to help. No matter what is entails."
Mordecai walked over to where the Vault Key was and pulled open a drawer, coming back with a metal collar in his hand. Lilith backed away at the sight of it and placed her hand over her neck.
"We need you to wear this to make sure you don't betray us." Mordecai opened the collar, walking over to Leesa.
"Mordecai! You can't be serious! That thing is evil!" Lilith protested.
"What is it?" Leesa asked, concerned about the sound in Lilith's voice.
"It's a collar Jack uses to control a Siren's power." Mordecai explained simply.
"It. Is. Evil." Lilith spat out.
"I know you don't like the collar Lilith but it's neither for you or your choice." Mordecai handed the collar to Leesa, "If you really want to help, I need you to put this on."
Leesa hesitantly reached her hand out, pausing for a second before finally taking it from Mordecai. Her hand gently brushed his as she put it up to her neck and slowly placed it against her skin.
As soon as it attached together, Leesa's wings appeared causing Mordecai to step back slightly. Leesa winced as her wings flapped slowly and ice crawled up her arm again and towards the collar. Once the ice touched the collar, it sent out a spark and the ice retreated back to her forearms.
After a few minutes of silence, Leesa looked into Mordecai's goggles, "I think we're good."
"Gather everyone. We're getting Tina back."
Lilith looked at Leesa for a moment, waiting for her to give out a smile before heading downstairs.
Leesa shifted uncomfortably while Mordecai watched her.
"Are you happy you're going to see your husband?" Mordecai asked in a monotone voice.
Leesa shook her head, "I'm not ready to see the monster he's become."
Mordecai thought about her words before remembering what she told Lilith earlier, "What did Jack tell you about Sanctuary?"
"Let's get Tina back first... That's the main priority here."
Mordecai was a little shocked by what she said.
"Why are you so surprised?" Leesa asked Mordecai as his body went rigid. "I am not what my husband has become. I wouldn't harm another human being without a good enough reason and I would never harm a child."
When Mordecai didn't say anything, Leesa sighed, "I read about what Jack took from you. I know you don't trust me but I am very sorry about Bloodwing."
"He wanted to play a violin to rub her death in my face." Mordecai closed his eyes underneath his goggles.
Leesa's eyes started tearing up at what Mordecai added:
"He had her body on display at Opportunity. Like he was some hero."
When Mordecai opened up his eyes, he witnessed a tear fall from the Icebringer's eyes.
Mordecai thought about Maya's words about how Leesa is a human with emotions like the rest of them. A small piece of him was telling him to give Leesa a break, to even let his guard down. But when he let his guard down, Wilhelm almost killed them all.
When he let his guard down, Bloodwing was taken.
When he let his guard down, Lilith went to Roland and got captured.
He won't let his guard down again.
Ding! (= Done. Any theories?
