Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. Been swamped with work and studying and applications on top of applications, yadda yadda yadda. I'm sure you all want to hear about that. So I'll tell you about it! First I- Nah, just kidding. I'm not a sadist. Just too lazy to write all of it down. Now let's get on with the story (finally)! I do not own Borderlands. Enjoy!

There was a lonely skag on the road in Three Horns Divide. It once had a family, but they were now lost to him. The evil metal monsters on the road saw to that. A rumbling sound followed by an engine was heard. The skag saw two of the forsaken beasts headed toward him. Now was his chance. He would have his revenge. With a roar, he ran towards the monsters at full speed. They would not win this day.

"Hey, Sal!" Axton called out to the other car. "Careful with the driving! That skag's guts nearly hit us!"
"Sorry!" Salvador yelled back, laughing like a psycho and flooring it, causing Gaige to scream at the top of her lungs. Axton shook his head and increased his speed too. They were on their way to Frostburn Canyon, where Scooter said the Firehawk lived. Axton, Zer0 and Maya were in one car, while Salvador and Gaige were in the other. Zer0 was holding onto one of the bars of the light runner, positioning himself between Axton and Maya. Gaige lossed a coin toss. Tough world. Salvador boosted over a ramp and pulled over next to an encampment. "Map says the entrance is here." Gaige announced. Axton and the others acknowledged this as they climbed out of their runners and readied their weapons.
"This encampment here/ Is most likely overrun/ With many bandits." Zer0 noted.
"Good point." Maya peered over a barricade. "Think we'll need a plan?" Axton looked over where Maya was looking.
"Maybe if we had some sort of distraction to draw their attention, we could- hey, where's Sal?" Axton broke off his battle plan in confusion. The others shrugged. Suddenly they heard the sound of Truxican laughter.
"ADIÓS PENDEJOS!" Salvador screamed as he charged forward with an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Axton watched as Salvador ran in, guns blazing.
"I guess that's our distraction." He muttered. Axton leapt over the barricade and flanked the bandits from the side, opening fire once in range. Gaige summoned Deathtrap and had him charge straight through the middle of the crossfire between Salvador and Axton. That left cleanup to Maya and Zer0. A few Siren shock blasts and invisible stabs later, the Vault Hunters stepped through their carnage into Frostburn Canyon.
"Alright. We're in Frostburn. Now where do we find the Firehawk?" Gaige asked.
"The Firehawk should be around here somewhere." Angel chimed in. "Stay alert." Axton was about to thank her when bandits ran past them, up ahead on the road. The Vault Hunters quickly took cover to the side. Well, Zer0 had to hold his blade up to Sal's neck to keep him quiet, but still. "That's weird." Angel commented, sounding concerned.
"What?" Axton asked. If an A.I. was concerned, they should all be.
"The Bloodshot Bandits seem to be attacking the Firehawk's lair." Angel answered. "Thye've never done that outright before."
"They eliminate/ And we can clean up after/ Sounds easy enough." Zer0 commented.
"They've probably left landmarks for reinforcements." Angel suggested. "Those should lead you to the Firehawk. That… or follow the screaming." She seemed to shudder before signing off.

After checking to make sure everybody was loaded up and ready to go, Axton led the way down the path to the first landmark. It was fresh. And by fresh, it meant the body was still bleeding. The "landmark" was a psycho strapped up and crucified up against an upright metal bed. "How did they have the time to put this up?" Gaige wondered.
"Step off, Vault Hunters." A rough and raspy voice croaked through their ECHOs. "This is between the Bloodshots and the Firehawks."
"Uh, who's this?" Axton asked.
"Leader of the Bloodshots!" The hoarse voice cackled proudly.
"No, we got that." Maya responded blankly. "We meant who are you?"
You can call me… Flanksteak!" A sudden snort forced Axton to turn and see Salvador on his knees with tears streaming down his face. He obviously was having trouble not laughing. He was failing. "Hey!" Flanksteak shouted. "What's so funny?"
"N-nothing, amigo." Salvador got up, trying to catch his breath. "We're bueno."
"Once my boys bring his ass back to me, he's gonna pay for every Bloodshot he killed!" Flanksteak snarled. "We're gonna string him up from his own freakin` intestines!"
"Well, that was needlessly graphic." Angel commented dryly as Gaige made sounds like she was about to upchuck.
"… Let's just get going." Maya broke the awkward silence. Axton nodded and brought out his assault gun.

The path ahead split up. High road and low road. Through his scope, Zer0 saw the path ahead was filled with both Bloodshots and Firehawks. Zer0 headed towards the high ground, followed by Maya and Gaige. Axton and Salvador looked at each other and grinned. Time to raise some hell. Salvador charged in with his shotgun blowing holes through every bandit in his path. Axton ran from behind, shooting anybody that Salvador missed or only wounded. Axton rounded the corner and threw out his turret over the heads of a group of turret sprang out and rained a hail of bullets from behind as Axton took aim at the front. He heard the sound of gunshots from above and saw Zer0 at a sniping position, with Gaige and Maya providing cover. "Hey! Check this out!" Salvador yelled, taking aim at an approaching goliath. "Headshot!"
"No, Sal, wait!" Axton yelled. Too late. Salvador fired the gun directly at the goliath's head. It's flaming skull helmet came off and hit the ground.
"What's the problem, amigo?" Salvador turned, annoyed at being interrupted. "That." Axton pointed. Salvador turned to see the goliath's skin change color and grow. It's tiny head slithered out further with a longer neck. It dropped its guns and yelled in rage.
"Mierda." Salvador muttered, and quickly went to reload as fast as possible.
"What's the big deal?" Gaige asked through their ECHOs. "It looks like he's turning on his own crew."
"And when he finishes with them?" Axton quickly picked up his turret and ran behind cover. "Who do you think he'll go after next?"
"Well, we'll just kill him. Easy."
"When they're in rage mode, Goliath's grow stronger with every kill." Maya told her.
"Oh." Gaige said, realizing their situation. "Let's get him now then! It's robot fighting time!" Deathtrap was summoned in an instant and zoomed towards the goliath, who was now clobbering two bandits at once. Deathtrap opened fire with it's laser, while expertly evading the goliath's punches in mid-air. The goliath then jumped higher than before, right over Deathtrap, and was about to smash him when Maya's phase lock intervened.
"Hurry…" Maya called out in a strained voice. "… Not sure… how much longer…" That was all the Vault Hunters needed to know. Axton and Salvador took aim and opened fire, Zer0 and Gaige followed suit. Soon, Maya dropped the goliath's carcass onto the ground, and the Vault Hunters regrouped.
"You okay?" Axton asked.
"I'll be fine." Maya panted. "He was just heavier than I'm used to lifting."
"Heh, that's what she said- ow!" Salvador rubbed the back of his head where Gaige hit him. "That's a metal arm, chica. Watch it!"
"Then next time you'll watch it!" Gaige retorted. Salvador walked away, grumbling.

"This is unusual." Angel commented, as the Vault Hunters came upon the next landmark at the mouth of a cavern. "The Firehawk has harassed the Bloodshots for some time, but they have never mounted such a large-scale assault on the Firehawk before. I wonder what's given them such confidence."
"I guess we'll just have to keep shooting until somebody talks." Axton said, slamming his tomahawk into a nomad's skull. The Vault Hunters kept pressing forward when they heard a sudden "EEEEK!" Axton whipped his head to see spiderants coming out from crevices in the cavern. He threw out a few grenades and slammed his tomahawk onto one the size of a skag. He heard a screech and looked up to see another skag-sized one jumping towards him. He braced for impact, only to see the spiderant sliced in two. "Thanks, Zer0." Axton said as Zer0 materialized in front of him and flashed a :) on his visor. Axton saw behind him another spiderant facing off against Salvador. Sal kept on shooting, but it's exoskeleton was incredibly tough. Suddenly, a rapid click, click, click came from Salvador's guns. Salvador looked down at his guns and back up at the spiderant, that was around his body size, inching closer. He grunted and threw down his guns.
"You want a piece of me, puta?" Salvador cracked his knuckles. "Come and get it!" Salvador roared and ran forward at the spider ant. Then it was squashed. Sal stopped short and looked up to see another huge spiderant that was brought up and down like a sledgehammer by Maya's phaselock. "You okay, Sal?" She called out.
"Yeah, fine, whatever." He mumbled retrieving his guns.
"Gaige, you alright?" Axton asked when all of the spiderants were dead. "You don't have to worry about these things. We got 'em."
"Um, what are you talking about?" Gaige asked, confused.
"Didn't you scream earlier when these things came out of the walls?
"Uh, no?" She responded, slightly insulted. "I thought that was Maya."
"What? No! I love spiderants!"
"It didn't look it/ When you slaughtered more than one./ In fact, several." Zer0 commented dryly.
"I didn't say I liked them enough to not kill them when they attack me, I just find them to be fascinating creatures."
"Well, if it wasn't us, it must have been one of you boys."
"Wasn't me."
"I think not."
"You kiddin'? I grew up with these on mi abuela's farm!"
"Umm…"
The Vault Hunters turned to see a goliath Bloodshot standing off to the side, sheepishly.
"That was you?" Maya asked, incredulously.
"What?" The goliath responded in defense. "They're creepy." An awkward silence rose between everyone. "Sooo can we just go back to killing everyone?" Gaige asked, trying to break the tension.
"Yeah, probably for the best." Axton answered and raised his gun. "Sorry." "No worries." The goliath said. "I was gonna do the same to you. Let's rock."

Later on, after a few more killings and second-degree burns, the Vault Hunters came upon the fourth sigil. And that's when Jack decided to but in. Axton was only half paying attention to Jack going on about how the Firehawk liquidates guys into smoothies and how Roland's an idiot for not figuring out Jack's secret, yadda yadda yadda, when he spotted something headed their way. "Hey, Maya," he said without taking his eyes off the target as he raised his assault rifle, "how big is too big for you to lift with your powers?"
"About as big as Captain Flynt was, I guess." She answered. "Definitely no bigger than that. So far I can only do a couple of normal sized people and robots." She paused. "Why?"
"Incoming badass!" Axton opened fire, prompting his teammates to do the same. Their target stood at least seven feet tall and wore a huge skull on its head. It was carrying a huge pipe that was tied to other animal bones as a club. The badass lumbered forward as bullets tore through its flesh. It didn't seem to mind though. That just tickled. Finally, after several reloads, a few dodges form the mighty swing of the badass's giant club, and a few well placed grenade. "That was me!" Salvador cheered. This caused everyone to bicker for a good five minutes over who made that final killing shot. In the end they all agreed to just move on and wouldn't count it. Little did they know, it really was Salvador who killed the might badass.

It took some time, but after a few more encounters, a large city-like campsite that looked kind of like a factory, and the sizzling of burning flesh (man these Firehawks loved fire, eh?), the Vault Hunters came to a cavern and sigil number 6. "This is it. The Firehawk's hideout." Angel warned them. "Be careful, friends. There are bound to be traps everywhere." A sound like somebody stepping on a switch was heard followed by flames and screaming.
"OH! GOD IN HEAVEN! I CAN TASTE MY OWN MELTING FLESH!"
"See? Traps. Don't let that happen to you."
"We won't." Axton swore. The Vault Hunters treaded very carefully. At least until Salvador stumbled on another fire trap and Gaige nearly got one of her pigtails singed.
"What? It wasn't my fault!" Salvador exclaimed. "It's these damned vibrations in the earth. Jack's drills!"
"Yeah, he just mentioned those a second ago." Maya confirmed. "You think he's getting closer?
"There's no way I'm letting an asshole like him get to that Vault." Axton grumbled. "At least not before me." Gaige was about to respond when gunshots interrupted the conversation. The Vault Hunters looked at each other and ran ahead to see a circular platform where two bandits were shooting at something. As the the Vault Hunters got closer, Axton could make out some kind of light in the air. Suddenly, the light smashed down and blasted the two bandits away. The light began to fade, and Axton was able to make out shining flaming wings, that were fading as well, attached to a red-headed woman with glowing tattoos on her face and arm. Just like Maya. Holy shit, Axton realized, the Firehawk is a siren! The light finally faded and the woman stood up straight and turned to the Vault Hunters, grinning.

"Sup." She nodded cooly in their direction. Never before had Axton ever seen a cooler entrance. Then this was ruined by the woman falling weakly to the ground. The Vault Hunters rushed forward and Maya grabbed her before she hit the ground. "Howyadoin?" The woman said, weakly. "The bandits call me the Firehawk, but the name's Lilith."
"You're the Firehawk?" Gaige was astounded. "A freaking Siren?" Lilith chuckled.
"I'm with the Raiders, like you." She said. "I keep the bandits in line so Roland can focus on taking down Jack."
"So you didn't take Roland?" Axton asked. "Then who did?"
"I'd be happy to answer that, but long story, lots of internal bleeding can you help me up?"
"I have so many questions." Maya gushed as she helped Lilith up. "I've never actually met another Siren before."
"Maya? I don't think now's the time." Axton interrupted, gesturing to the weakened Lilith.
"Right, right, later. Sorry."
"S'okay." Lilith grinned. She grabbed her head in pain. "Oof. I need a pick-me-up. Get me some Eridium, will ya? I should have some in one of my strongboxes." Zer0 ran to where Lilith pointed and returned a moment later with a small chunk of unrefined Eridium. He handed to her, which she graciously accepted. She took a few steps back and put both hands onto the chunk of purple rock. Soon, her whole body began to glow with a purple light. When the light faded, the rock was gone and Lilith stood stall and strong. "Ahh. Thanks. Feels so much better." She looked at the Vault Hunters. "So yeah. Roland. Bloodshots took him. Made 'em cocky too. They never come after me this hard." An explosion went off, interrupting the conversation. Bandits came pouting through holes in the ceiling. "Heh. Now the real fun begins." Lilith said, beginning to glow again. "I'll see if I can't phaseblast a few of 'em for ya."

The Vault Hunters went to work straight away. Axton threw out her turret and laid cover fire while Salvador let loose and wild. Gaige summoned Deathtrap and sprang into action on the other side. Zer0 went invisible and bandits left and right found themselves suddenly sliced up. Maya thew out a couple of phase locks to round up for shooting covered Axton. Suddenly, badasses appeared. Salvador, dual wielding a shotgun and a incendiary assault rifle, attacked the first one along with Deathtrap and Gaige backing him up. Maya saw the second one coming towards them and tried with all her might to lock it in a bubble. A spark went off and blew the badass back a few feet.
"Cool." Maya breathed. Axton threw out a grenade and emptied a few clips, hoping this would stop the monster. When the smoke cleared, the badass was obviously weakened, but still standing. A sniper rifle shot rand out and a smoking hole appeared in its head. Zer0 appeared right next to the falling badass and a :) appeared on his visor.
"Show off." Axton muttered.
"Well, that was fun." Lilith panted as she sat on top of a pile of corpses. "Feeling tapped out though. Could ya grab me another hunk of Eridium?"
As Gaige ran to get the Eridium, Axton looked over the carnage Lilith wreaked and back at her tired body. "Are you sure taking this stuff is a good thing?" Axton asked, concerned. "You don't look too good." Lilith waved a tired hand off, like she was trying to say to forget it but couldn't speak. Once Gaige returned and Lilith did the purple glow thing again, she finally stood up.
"Since the Vault opened, my Siren powers have been getting a little… awesome. Thanks to this Eridium stuff." Lilith grinned, flexing her arms. "No idea why."
"That does not fare well./ I am seeing bad signals./ Are you not concerned?" Zer0 asked. Lilith just shrugged.
"That doesn't sound like something you should just shrug." Gaige piped up, but Lilith had already moved on.
"Now, let's see about rescuing my boyfrie-, well ex-boyfriend." Lilith winced before regaining her composure. "Before the Bloodshots grabbed him, Roland was getting intel on the Vault, and what Jack plans to do with it."
"Did he tell you anything?" Axton inquired.
"No." Lilith shook her head. "You'll have to find him."
"What are you going to do?" Maya asked.
"I gotta head back to Sanctuary." Lilith answered. "Keep the city in one piece while Roland's away. But first," Lilith put her hands out and began to glow again, "I'm going to teleport you into the Bloodshot Stronghold. That's where they're keeping Roland. You'll catch 'em by surprise and have a real advantage. It'll be great."
"Awesome." Axton and Maya said at the same time. Salvador just scratched his head.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, but if we get to kill people, I'm in." He laughed like a madman. Zer0 said noting but raised his pistol and flashed a 0 on his visor. A purple light waved over them, and Axton felt the same feeling as the teleportation tech that Dahl used at their bases. Lilith snapped her fingers and Axton was blinded by the light. When it subsided, Axton saw they had moved!… to another area of Frostburn?
"…I just moved you, like, ten feet didn't I?" Axton turned around to see Lilith standing beneath them, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'm still getting used to this."
"No big deal." Gaige responded. "There's always troubleshooting in the beginning of any great technological achievement."
"That reminds me." Lilith said. "The Bloodshot Stronghold can be full of tough customers. Ya might want to train a bit before taking them on."
"Thanks for the suggestion." Axton said. "We'll see you soon." He turned to the others. "Ready?" After a few nods and looting of storage crates, the Vault Hunters set out to get Roland back.

Author's Note: And done! I hope that was long enough to satisfy you all and make up for the long wait! I cannot apologize enough, so I won't. Wait, I already did. Crap. Oh, well. So, we've finally met Lilith, I have plans for Axton and Krieg's introduction thanks to all of your wonderful comments. If you have more suggestions, please don't hesitate! Hopefully the next update won't be too far away. See you soon!