Disclaimer, I own nothing. The characters presented by my story belong to Gearbox and 2K. The characters are fictional, any events that occur are purely coincidental. (IE If one day a Siren walks up to you, Phaselocks you, and shoots you, please don't sue me)
Also, this story is based on Maya. She is my favorite character and I will be writing this story in relation to how I believe she is thinking. In the interest of not plagiarizing the entire game, I will find ways to skip unimportant dialogues and go straight to my own work.
*Italicized texts are Maya's thoughts*
Chapter 9
Hot and Cold
Wow that was a nice dream, what was I dreaming about? Damn, I can't remember. Man I hate when that happens. Maya's eyes fluttered as she was adjusting to the light. She turned to her side and saw Axton hunched over Salvador.
"Mmmm, what you doing there soldier boy?" Maya questioned.
"Shhhh, don't wake him up", Axton said quietly, "hahaha, this will teach you to tell me to shut up."
Maya got up slowly and stretched out her arms. She walked over to see what Axton was doing. Her eyes got wide when she saw Axton's handy work. Oh boy, Salvador is not going to be happy about this, hah. But I gotta say, he looks better like this.
Axton was drawing a fancy French moustache and monocle on Salvador's face with a Sharpie. Maya decided that this was a boy thing so she went to the restroom to freshen up and checked her own face. Luckily there were no markings on her, other than her telltale Siren tattoos.
Although these weren't really tattoos, she called them that but Maya was born with them. She always wondered why she had them, did all Sirens have them? What was their purpose? She pondered these questions every day. One time, in an effort to look 'normal' Maya stole some make-up from a visitor of the abbey and smeared it all over her markings.
This was a big mistake because not only did she look ridiculous because the make-up was two shades darker than her skin, but her markings burned intensely. Maya tried to wash it off but passed out from the pain. The next day Brother Harker woke her up and questioned what she was doing.
"I wanted to be normal", Maya cried. She curled up into a ball, ashamed of her failed attempt.
Brother Harker sat down and pulled the little girl into him. He lifted her chin to face him and consoled, "Silly child, you are you and that is all that matters. You are the hope of the abbey. Those marks are superficial at best, but your heart, your mind, your ability, they are all you. Please don't do something so foolish again."
Maya smiled sadly remembering the man she left back in Athenus, he held her until she fell asleep. She was only seven at the time and still incredibly naive about the world. She thought she could trust Brother Harker, over the years she realized that his fear of Brother Sophis outweighed any affection he had for her. Maya splashed her face, dried up and headed back to the living room.
When Maya got there she didn't see anyone, I guess they are all outside. Sure enough Axton and Salvador were outside having a smoke and Sir Hammerlock was finishing up some preparations before reactivating Claptrap.
She just noticed that someone was missing, "Hey where's Zer0?"
"I don't know, he said he wanted some fresh air and just bounced", Axton replied.
Salvador turned around and added, "He wanted to go for a run. Like he would ever RUN! The wind alone probably propels him ACROSS THE DAMN ICE!"
Maya burst out laughing, the drawings were complete and damn were they funny. Oh my God, does Salvador really not notice? Ahahaha, can't breathe, oh my jeez.
"Hey! What's so funny?!" Salvador questioned.
"Nothing, nothing. Sorry, your joke was just really...pfft...funny."
Salvador gave her a dirty look, which only added to the hilarity that he was a Dwarf man with a moustache and monocle on his face. Axton couldn't help but join in and soon the two were laughing so hard that Salvador couldn't take it anymore.
"SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Salvador's voice boomed in the canyon and the two stopped laughing.
Without any warning Salvador walked over and grabbed Sir Hammerlock roughly asking, "What did they do?!"
Sir Hammerlock was stammering, "Um...well...they, kinda did something, but not they, it's more one of them. Well, it's more of...uh, drew on your face."
Salvador's face was almost beet red as he rushed back into the house, Maya heard a loud scream and walked back in to see him trying to wash the Sharpie off his face.
"Um, Salvador?"
"WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?! I'M SORRY DID YOU NEED TO DRAW IN SOME FRECKLES WHILE YOU WERE AT IT?"
"No, hey I'm sorry I laughed. It wasn't funny. I should have told you."
Axton peeked out from behind her, "Hey buddy, I'm sorry about drawing on your face. I didn't think you'd be so upset."
Salvador faced away from them, "No, it's not your fault. I just. I was bullied as a kid and that's why I am who I am now."
"Someone dared to bully you?" Maya questioned.
"HAH! Now? Please, those little punks would die. But back then I was a scrawny little boy that you could pick up and throw across a room. And now I'm a big muscular Greek god dammit. Yet ,all this time all you people do is make fun of me and I'm sick of it."
Both vault hunters looked at their dejected friend in pain, Axton did some quick thinking and tried to lighten the mood.
"Hey bro no worries! We harass each other out of love man! Come on, I say mean things to Maya all the time. Missy A-Cup here has so little boob that I wonder if her body armor is padded," Axton proceeded to grab Maya's chest, which got him a slap in the face.
"Hey! You're not so much better Captain Tinker! Sometimes I wonder if you aren't overcompensating for something down there," Maya quipped as she punched Axton's crotch.
"WOAH THERE! FAMILY JEWELS!" Axton cried out in pain.
The two were about to get into an all-out fight when they heard Salvador whimpering.
Maya tapped Axton's shoulder and went to Salvador, "Hey big guy, we're really sorry. Please forgive us?"
Suddenly Salvador turned around laughing hysterically. The other two looked at each other in confusion, they stood there for another few moments until they realized what Salvador's incoherent babbling was, "You two! AHAHAHA A-cup...aha...overcompen...YOU TWO ARE RIDICULOUS!"
The two smiled brightly at Salvador, "Hey bro, anything to get you happy." Axton was glad that his friend wasn't sad anymore.
Maya added, "And we promise to not harass you...as much as before. We still will though."
Axton threw in, "Yeah man, bro code."
"I can LIVE WITH THAT!" Salvador cheered.
"Are you all done with this childish squander? Can we please leave?" Zer0's voice rang in suddenly causing everyone to jump a little. He just returned from his run to find Sir Hammerlock frightened, Claptrap up and running, along with his friends laughing uncontrollably. This day became ridiculous too quickly.
"Ha-HA. I'm alive! Minion, I've got my eyesight back and you're far uglier than I remembered! Time to join up with the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary!" Claptrap was up again, damn.
I wonder, if he falls down a steep cliff. Will we hear him scream? Maya's patience was always tested when Claptrap started talking, a sentiment her whole team shared.
The team said their goodbyes to Sir Hammerlock, Salvador stayed a few minutes longer to apologize for his earlier outburst. As they exited the town Maya revelled in the beauty of the sun's rays on the clear ice. This place would be nice for a sunset walk. I wonder who I'd bring here. A nice picnic on the ice, ahhhhh that would be the best. Maya's mind was so entranced in her thoughts that she barely noticed a bullet whiz past her head.
"MAYA LOOK OUT!" Maya turned back to see Zer0 lunge at her full force, which slammed both bodies onto the icy floor. Axton and Salvador were already engaging the bandits from the huts in front of them, it took mere seconds before they were all dead.
Zer0 brought Maya up in his arms, "Hey! Hey! Are you okay? Why were you just walking with your head in the clouds? Dammit Maya."
Maya blinked a few times to regain stability, then roughly pushed Zer0 away.
"Damn you! Why did you have to push me so hard? Jeez", Maya complained but she was grateful inside, deep inside, like so deep down that she will not admit it.
"Ugh, forget it", Zer0 replied as he bolted off in frustration.
Maya was in no mood to talk either, she hated being scolded as a child and age didn't seem to take away that stubbornness. She always wanted to be treated as an equal, or better, as a superior. Maya didn't like feeling helpless or weak because she was always worried that people would take advantage of her. Damn Zer0, who asked for his help? I could do anything BY MY DAMN FUCKING SELF! I'll show that asshole. She turned back, looked at Axton and Salvador, gave a quick nod and they were off into the next little town.
By this point the vault hunters managed to form an unspoken routine, Salvador charged into the middle to draw agro, Axton and Maya shot the distracted enemies from a middle ranged distance, while Zer0 took an overwatch position and killed off anything unluckly enough to fall into his sights. After the vault hunters finished clearing the area Claptrap hurried over to lower a drawbridge that lead to another portion of the bandit hideout.
"Wait, we must sit and regroup for a moment first", Zer0 advised after noticing that everyone was pretty beat up.
"Ugh, yeah I second that", Axton groaned, "That took a bit outta me."
Maya looked at her friends and felt a pang of sadness when she noticed their wounds, "Yeah okay, you guys do that. I...I wanna go for a quick walk. See yah in a bit."
Without waiting for a reply Maya hopped off the drawbridge and landed gracefully on the icy floor. She walked to the distance, not exactly sure where she was planning to even go. Her echo device indicated that it was 13:15, man we had a late start today. Gotta move fast to make up for lost time....But they're hurt, again. Dammit Maya why did you have to just run head on into things? You idiot!
Maya knew that they all got hurt because of her selfish anger, the fact that she couldn't take defeat and ended up dragging everyone down too. She always had a short temper, even as a kid it was terrible, it was over the years that she learned how to hone her powers along with her anger. But even the best actors forget their lines and Maya was no different. Losing her Phaselock ability devastated her, it was the one thing she could offer to the group and now it was gone.
She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even see the box in front of her and tripped over it falling face first into the ice.
"AGHHHH! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON TODAY?!" Maya screamed out in frustration.
Her cries alerted the local bandits as they swarmed out from their hiding spots. Oh, FUCK ME! Let's see, one, two...hmmm...only six. I can do this.
Maya was hiding behind a knee-high wall that just conveniently happened to be there about fifteen feet away from the enemies hideout (seriously). One-by-one she took them out, come on, don't be stupid. Think! Think! One at a time. Don't run out there.
Soon enough all the bandits were dead, Maya walked up to see if there was anything to loot from their corpses. The echo device was very helpful in this endeavor, it had been modified by its previous owner to pick up all money and ammo. As Maya was about to leave she noticed a platform with a lever. Curiosity got the better of her and she took it up, once she arrived at the top she saw a 'Zed' store.
Maya walked up and activated the vendor. Woah, no way. Insta-healths, shields, class mods, this is awesome! Hm, seems like I can sell some stuff too. Maya took her time looking at the merchandise and bought one for everyone.
These shields will come in handy later. Maya smiled as she imagined Salvador and Axton fighting for the better shield. She hurried back to the group, excited to give them the little pick-me-ups for the day.
Little did she know how much of a pick-me-up it would be...
**Keep up all the support everyone! I'm having as much fun writing these as you are reading them. Please continue with the reviews, favorites, and follows**
Also, for those wondering about Maya's love story. Let's just say, you haven't met the love of her life yet =) I won't be like Ted and build onto an eight season story, but we're getting there. Thanks for your patience and I hope you'll fall in love with the characters as much as I have writing about them!
