It was unforeseen. It was unexpected. Frankly, it was terrifying. Rhys found himself getting bundled up into a hug by Fiona, of all people. Did she get possessed or something? Did Fiona need an exorcism? Oh God, he was going to have to call an exorcist, wasn't he. He held his hands up, not touching any part of her for fear of getting infected by this - this niceness. This invading spirit of goodwill.

"Just hug me back, jackass," Fiona murmured right into his ear, smile hidden from his view. Though he could still hear her smirking. Stupid, smug Pandoran.

He reciprocated by wrapped his arms around Fiona's back and clearing his throat very loudly. Fiona turned her head a fraction, and he sensed her fringe tickling the side of his neck. She bore her gaze into his cheek, too lazy to pull apart just yet and look him in the eye.

"What was that?"

"Uh, just me, ah, this is n - ... this is... totally not like you at all," concluded Rhys, and Fiona abrubtly ended the embrace. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

"Whaddaya mean?" She had this look of hurt, it almost seemed funny. In that moment, though, Rhys didn't have it in him to crack up.

"I - I mean, I just mean you're not the hugging type, is all I'm saying. Never had you pegged as a hugger."

"Are all corporate jackasses as presumptuous as you? I bet they are. Only that you're the worst of the worst."

"...Uh-huh. Now who's being presumptuous?"

"Ugh, shut up, you Atlas smartass." Fiona shook her head, trying to mask the growing smile on her lips. "So I defied your expectations, huh?" She flicked his forehead, and he said, "Ow."

Rhys felt his breath hitch. She was giving a playful look, like she was teasing him. He wanted to say, yes, she did in so many ways. She was in a whole other class of her own. Nobody could keep up with Fiona, or be on the same level as her in any way, in Rhys's eyes, at least. She was exceptional, quick on her feet with a sharp mind and had a beauty that outclassed even Moxxi's in every way. He was so, so certain she had no time for him, though.

The thrill of Vault-hunting, that was what Fiona lived for now. He was just a presence on the side-lines, a distant friend. His Vault-hunting days were over, he'd told himself multiple times. Over and finished. But then she reappeared. She had persuaded Rhys to join her and come to Sanctuary. It'd been civil enough, their talk. Good to know she didn't immediately resort to violence with old friends.

Instead of saying all that, Rhys smirked. "Nope, you Pandorans were all just like I expected."

"Prick," said Fiona in a tone that was anything but angry. "You're a Pandoran yourself now, too. Or didja forget that when you were picking out your fancy suit?"


3 months ago.

"You the Vault Hunter that took the call?"

A nod.

"Show me your ECHO."

"Lost it. Your boy at the guardpost owes me a new one."

"Ya mean the one that bawled his eyes out as he drowned in liquid Eridium?"

"Er..."

"Ya knocked 'im over. I heard it all. You got spunk, girlie, I'll give ya that."

"Call me that again and I'll kill you."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now there're the fangs being shown. Got some of that killer instinct. Excellent, excellent. You know the drill?"

Fiona regarded the man lounging in a worn and torn leather chair. They were in a rickety small office on one of the upper sub-levels of Eriditon. Outside, all the levels right down to where the heavily-guarded Eridium reserve bubbled and heaved could be seen. There was a cracked window and an empty loose shelf behind the once-pristine chair.

"Find the anarchist who phoned in the bomb threat and dispose of him. Got it."

"Damn preacher is scarin' the townfolk with his babble of sin and prejudice and Eridian justice."

"Pardon?"

"They think that just 'cause we sittin' on a fat chunk o' Eridium and usin' it for our own purposes, that that's an act of defiance against them Eridians. Call that bullshit or what? Now you find them, and you kill 'em good."

"'Kill 'em good' - I should put that on my resumé," snarked Fiona, placing a hand on her hip. "Slot it between 'successful Vault Hunter' and 'on-and-off con-artist'."

"Mm. Those three sure sound more inviting than 'August's lap-dog'," responded Wesley, dwarfish in stature and greyish in hair colour.

Fiona flung her dagger which embedded itself in the spot next to Wesley's head. The mayor cackled as the rush of adrenaline pumped through him. "Pick your words carefully next time, Mayor Wesley. August is just one of my more... demanding clients."

"You two get along swimmingly for a grifter and the schmuck in her scheme," remarked Wesley, taking an extra-long drag of his cigar.

"You tell your townspeople to keep outsiders out, yet you do love very much to gossip and stick your nose where it doesn't belong." Fiona glared at him.

"It becomes my business when I'm considerin' who to hire. Count yourself lucky to get this gig."

"I know, I know. There's 200K on the line here. One thing though; how come everyone's so twitchy? You all look like you're waiting for moonshots or an invasion. I almost got wasted trying to approach the gate, never mind why I threw my ECHO comm at that guard."

"Heh heh. You're a piece of work, you know that?"

"Shut your stupid Eriditon face and answer me. Why the high tension?"

The chair creaked as Wesley got out of it. He waddled over to the window-sill, gazing at the multitude of streets and alleys stacked on top of one another. The purple glow touched almost as high as his office window. "Because people are scared. They go about their day, gettin' high, scorin' a buck or two, dealin' with traders and then we get a mad bomber guaranteein' we're gonna fly so high that we'll touch the moon before we hit the ground again - or what's left of us."

"This anarchist - being subtle isn't one of his strengths, I'd imagine."

"Nah, definitely ain't. Combine that with the fact that there was a massacre caused by a Siren 'bout a week ago, and ya have a population ready to lash out at anythin'." Mayor Wesley turned to Fiona with a grim look on his face, cigar perched between his sausage fingers.

"A Siren? What did she want?"

"What do ya think she wanted? We're sittin' on a stockpile of Eridium and guess what Sirens love most in the world."

"...Enough chit-chat. Where exactly do you want me to start looking?"


The Torgue Bomber, as it turned out they called themselves, was camping out somewhere inside an extensive network of passageways. A maze hunt. Wonderful.

It was pitch black, save for the cerulean illumination of Fiona's new ECHOcomm. She and Athena crawled through one of many loopy tunnels. Fiona felt her knees throb, and her palms and calves being pricked and prodded by loose rock and bits of gravel.

A few times her hat got shoved off by a daring stalagtite. The air was dank, but soon they located a bulbous cavern with plenty of room to stand. The purple hue came from a small reserve of Eridium right in the centre of the cavern. Small crystals embedded and scttered in the walls gave it a lovely look.

"Those are Eridium shards, so if you want, feel free to get Eridium poisoning." That was Athena's snarky way of saying 'Don't touch the pretty crystals, no matter how tempting it gets'.

"Yeah, thanks. Thanks, maybe I will." Translation: don't you fucking tell me what to do. You're not the boss of me.

"I now know why the Eriditons want me to find the bomber. Not 'cause he promised to blow everyone up sky-high if one of them approached him, it's because they're lazy. Or claustrophobic. Or both."

"Maybe this is all an elaborate ploy to kill us," Athena pointed out, walking over to the mouths of the cavern on the other side of the expanaive space.

"Pfffft."

"We both have high bounties on our heads."

"Pfffft."

"Maybe they'll kill you for your hat. Sell it as a collector's item. 'Here lies Fiona's hat, who wanted to be a Vault Hunter'."

"Oh hell no!" Fiona grabbed her fedora in a protective manner. "No one touches the hat. The hat's special. It just wouldn't be right without it. It's iconic." She stressed the last part.

"Uh-huh," said Athena, conveying appropriately zero interest. She crouched and traced her hand over the dust and dirt. Fiona picked up on her interest and ambulated over.

"Digging for gold?"

"Foot-prints. Recent. Couple of days ago, I think. Size 10."

"You got all that just from staring at the ground?"

"If you looked more carefully, you'd see exactly what I'm seeing."

"But how did you - ?" Fiona slapped the side of her head lightly. "Oh, forgot. Ex-Atlas assassin."

"In the Crimson Lance, we had to be adept at tracking our target in sorts of environments. And I was top of the leaderboard in everything. Tracking, scouting, sniping... the whole lot."

"While we're on the topic, why have you never trained me how to snipe?"

"Impatience, I suppose. You're better off learning from someone else. Anyway, let's move. I'll take point."

They delved further into the maze of caves. These tunnels were taller, and torches lined along the walls. Minutes later, they heard shouting. Athena went from a cautious walk to a steady jog, and then she broke into a full sprint. Fiona dogged at her heels.

Reaching the end of the tunnel, they were greeted by chaos. Rats were scurrying around with SMGs and shotguns, blasting away at the women hiding behind erratically positioned stalagmites. Then the pair of tatooed beauts did the unthinkable: a singularity phased into being, and all of the Rats were sucked into it. Then the redhead just moved her arms, and the Rats exploded in a shower of limbless torsos, pinwheeling limbs and flying heads as blood splattered everywhere. It got on Fiona, it got on Athena, just about every square inch of the cave got a new wallpaper.

The other two women fist-bumped without even a glance. Then one of them spotted the Gladiator and the Con-artist, and they both eased up a bit. Though Fiona could still detect the palpable tension.

"'Sup. Didn't think I'd see you around these parts, Gladiator." The redhead gave a curt nod and a mock-salute. The woman in yellow waved half-heartedly. Fiona just stared. "Are they - ?"

"They are."

"So what they just did - "

"Wasn't a trick of the light. ...For Pete's sake, Fiona, we're covered in bits of dead Rat."

"...Is being drenched in the blood of your enemies a Siren thing? I feel like it's a Siren thing," Fiona commented drily, earning bemused looks from the Sirens in the room. She raised a brow at them. "You couldn't have gone for something a bit less... explode-y?"

"Eh, I hate drawn-out fights," said Lilith with a shrug. She addressed Athena. "Who's the hired help?"

"Fiona's more of a partner-in-Vault-hunting."

"Right, right."

"Anyway, Fiona. This is Lilith and that's Maya," the Gladiator gestured to each of them in turn.

"Hang on." Fiona held up a finger. "Was one of you here a couple days ago? Killed a bunch of junkies and stole some Eridium?"

"Coincidentally, that's what we're here for today. We heard about the massive Eridium reserve and decided to check it out." Maya turned to Lilith. "Did you go on a rampage without me?"

"Huh? No. The last thing I'd do is go searching for Eridium by myself."

"I dunno. You do seem to wander off on your own more often than not lately..."

"Yeah? Well, there's a valid reason for - "

"Boring." Fiona shouldered past the pair of stunning women and continued on her way. She called without looking back, "You can stay there and bicker all day, but I have got a job to do."

Not more than two seconds later, Fiona saw that Lilith and Maya were following her. "Oh, so you decided to tag along?"

"More of a case of 'we both need to use the same road'."

"'Cept it's not a road. It's a tunnel."

"Wooow. Aren't you the sharpest axe in the tool-shed?" Lilith asked sarcastically. "Where'd you pick this one up?" The question was directed at Athena. Fiona felt a pang of hatred for the Firehawk.

Athena replied, "Hollowpoint. It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is."

After a momentary lapse of quiet where the only sound was crunching of gravel underneath their boots, Fiona asked Athena if they were on the right path. She said they were close.

Minutes later, they spotted a ring of explosive charges hugging the exit of the tunnel. Athena stepped ahead of Fiona, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Wait. Those are Torgue charges."

"So?"

"So if we go in there, and the bomber sees us, it'll be an explosion conga. Explosions within explosions. We'd never make it."

"Speak for yourself," said Lilith, shrugging. Athena and Fiona glared daggers at her.

Maya passed Athena and held out her bare arm with a smirk. "Don't worry, I got this." Her tattoos began glowing, and she used Phaselock to trap the Torgue explosives and contain the explosions.

"That's... handy," said Fiona with wide eyes. "Come on," barked Athena, rushing out the mouth of the tunnel. "The bomber probably heard that!"

She followed Athena into a massive chasm; there was a cylindrical device taller than her embedded in the rock in the middle. The Torgue corporation's logo was stamped on its side.

"Great. We found the bomb itself, now where's the bomber?"

The answer to Fiona's query was a cumalative ringing in her ears and stalagtites above her, shaped like ginormous horns, began to crack apart from the foundation and collapse. One such stalagtite would have shishkabobbed Fiona, were it not for Aspis knocking the falling rock off-course. Athena caught her trusty shield in one hand, and Fiona nodded thankfully to her. But soon a haphazard barrier formed from the pieces of congregating rock.

"Athena!"

"Fiona!"

They were cut off. Athena was stuck with Maya and the bomb while Fiona had to deal with Lilith and a retreating bomber. Through a small crevice in the blockade, Fiona yelled, "Athena? Athena!"

"I'm alright!" came a distant reply. "Just have to work on defusing the bomb."

"What? No, get outta there!"

"Wouldn't make it. 'Sides, it's a planet pounder. Experimental tech that Torgue wants me to recover."

Realisation dawned on Fiona. "That's why you came along..."

"Yeah. Now, don't you have a target to eliminate?"

Fiona blinked. The Torgue Bomber. Her feet had seemingly gained freewill of their own, and on auto-pilot, she dashed in pursuit of the fleeing shadow.


Maya and Athena crouched beside the Planet Pounder(™). It was a missile pod, with fins coming out the top. Overall, its design wasn't very aerodynamic.

Athena felt her way up the sides. She didn't see any fail-safes. Then, she listened very carefully, pressing her ear right against the cold metallic surface. Softly, she heard:

Beep, beep. Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

"It's been activated. It's counting down," she told Maya, face frozen in a rictus.

"Then let's figure out how to deactivate it," said the Siren calmly.

"I didn't receive that many details on it," grumbled Athena. "I can't even find where to remove the covering..."

"It's here." Maya tore off the plating to expose wires and the timer.

00:01:47.67. And counting down.

"Ah. This looks like standard procedure. Just cut the wires and hope we don't burn in an inferno," Maya quipped cheerily.

"No, no. These," Athena yanked on the wires to show her the loose endings, "are all dummy wires."

"Oh. Well, looks our job just got a lot harder."

Athena straightened. "Our next best option is to hack it."

"Hack it?"

"There should be a terminal that's accessible. Should be right about - there we go." She produced a screwdriver and rapidly unscrewed the nails that pressed the cover over the electronic terminal. She tapped the terminal once, and a holographic keypad appeared. It was glitching.

"Shit! He booby-trapped the terminal. If I try to hack it, all it'll do is shorten the countdown."

"Heh. 'Booby-trapped'. Always found that amusing."

"Would you please focus?!"


Fiona ran after the bomber. He never got far. She ducked behind cover as he opened fire with a Ravager shotgun. Miniature detonations rocked her world, and her head spun as she cocked her Atlas Silver.

"Hey, asshole! I heard ya get the jolies from terrifying Eriditon!" Bullets whizzed by the hairs of his skin as he pressed his body against a wall of stone.

"They must repent! Repent for their sins! They have abused power that is not their own. I am the Eridians' messenger, their prophet! I will cleanse them of their sins," roared the Bomber. He jumped when Lilith shimmered into view, strutting up to him.

"A Siren, huh... You do not frighten me." Holding up a detonator, he pressed it. Lilith's world went white, and she clutched her head, groaning. "Hrrgh... Son of a - "

The Bomber's visor in his helmet screened his eyes from the blinding eruption, and he kicked Lilith down before bolting. Fiona ran up to the Firehawk. "You okay...?"

She flinched when Lilith turned to her, eyes glaring and tattoos glowing. "I'm gonna melt his face off for that." Her voice sounded otherworldly, distorted, and it unsettled Fiona. She felt goosebumps flare all over her body.

The smart thing to do would have been to let Lilith have her way. But this was Fiona's mission. She wasn't going to let anyone else claim the kill. She raced ahead. Behind her, Lilith vanished.


00:00:14.59. "We're running out of time!"

00:00:13.37. "Yeah, no shit, Sherlock! I can see that!"

00:00:11.78. "Draining the fuel tanks is taking too long - even with the blast radius reduced, we won't survive the detonation! And neither will Eriditon."

00:00:09.01. "I can... oh. Oh. I can try this."

6 seconds.

4 seconds.

2 seconds. The timer display became crystallised.


The Torgue Bomber knew the network inside and out. The intel had been efficient. But his tactics against Sirens were not. He did have orders, though. And he would obey them to the letter, no matter the cost. See, he wasn't just a gun for hire. Not a man seeking his next paycheck after committing bloodshed. He was not a Vault Hunter. He was not a mercenary.

That call he'd made earlier to the mayor? A threat to force Wesley off the throne of Eridium he'd occupied. And before that, he'd caused smaller explosions throughout the sublevels of Eriditon. But the stubborn cretin did not order any evacuations. Instead, Wesley had to call in Vault Hunters.

The Bomber was, however, devout. He believed in the cause. But that belief could not protect him from a murderous Siren. When she flew at him, fiery wings flapping furiously, she screamed as she tore into him.


Needless to say, Fiona had been horrified upon discovering the scene of carnage before her. Lilith smirked at her darkly. "What can I say, killer? Don't mess with Sirens."


Sometime later, all four Vault Hunters crowded around the Planet Pounder(™). Disabled. Deactivated. Frozen. A glimmerous jewel in the bedrock of the chasm.

"What did you do?" asked Fiona, gaping at the sight.

"She froze it," Athena said.

"Uh, duh." Fiona tapped the timer display. 00:00:01.87. "How though?"

"By using this. Cryo mod." Maya showed them the Torrent, a gaudy, garish Dahl SMG.

"Holy shit. So, you froze it by shooting it?"

"Yep."

"Neat. Need to get myself one of those."

Lilith put a hand on Maya's shoulder. "That's all well and great, but what do we do with it?"

Athena turned to the Firehawk. "I'm taking it to Torgue. They'll want their super-bomb back."

Maya said, "How did it get stolen in the first place?"

"A break-in at Torgue headquarters. Spec-ops team was hired to steal the bomb. Then, our anarchist/bomber intended to sell it on the black market. But during the flight, his ship got shot down. And he ended up near Eriditon."

"And how do you know all this?"

"All in Torgue's briefing."

"Well, I say we keep it," said Lilith.

"'We?'"

"The Crimson Raiders. With a bomb that can level a planet. Can you imagine how much leverage we would have?"

"No. I don't really care about that - I didn't risk my life to save a city for free. I want my payment. And I intend to receive it."

[Side with Lilith - Keep the Bomb]

[Side with Athena - Return the Bomb]

[Con the Torgue Corporation]