Man, I suppose planning it out makes it easier to write, doesn't it? The aftermath of the chaos that went on last chapter shall follow into this one. The story's still got a ways to go, though…

Chapter Ten: Ruin

Shortly, the Vault Hunters escaped the bunker, except for Matt. Aurora noticed that, as they got out, the door locked automatically. They slowed down in the grounds of the Friendship Gulag. This gave Gaige enough time to slip out of Brick's grasp.

'MATT!' She cried desperately. The girl bolted back towards the bunker. Gaige almost made it within ten meters of the steps, but was interrupted by the explosion. The massive explosion threw her back and onto the ground, leaving her staring at the blaze. She took several deep breaths. 'NOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

The others caught up to her, standing despondently beside her. Tears were flowing constantly, and her sobbing was vociferous and extended. Brick finally let go of Aurora, who fell to the ground in despair.

'What just happened, amigos?' Mordecai asked over the ECHO.

'There was a bomb,' Lilith explained. 'Matt was trapped in a room with it.'

'He's dead,' Aurora continued. 'No one survives that.'

'Oh.'

There was a seething silence among the Vault Hunters, looking solemnly at the fire that was spiralling from the explosion. The stillness threatened to lash them if they attempted to speak anything intelligible. What could be said in this situation? Someone who they had started to care for dearly had just died in front of their eyes!

Aurora struggled to pipe up with what the woman knew needed to be said.

'My parents were supposed to arrive tomorrow,' she told everyone, tears welling. 'They're expecting Matt. What…what am I supposed to tell them?'

'I'm sorry, Aurora,' Maya apologised to her, although an apology was unneeded. Gaige continued crying, even after Lilith put a hand on her shoulder.

'I'm sorry, Gaige. I really am,' she said. 'His death won't be in vain. That Vault Monster is going down.'

'He was a hero,' Axton noted. Aurora's weeping resulted in her speech being jumbled ever so slightly.

'I didn't want him to be a hero! I wanted him to be my…' She struggled to finish that last word, but it was easily implied what that word was intended to be.

'We can mourn later / But now, we do as was asked / And get that new shield,' Zer0 reasoned. He helped the two of them to their feet, and they reluctantly made their way back to Sanctuary.

The Gulag was in ruins, and would be for a long time. The Raiders may not even be able to get any use out of it. However, a new shield would do them fine.

But what Gaige needed was a new heart.

One day later

Aurora received the alert on her ECHO device rather quickly. Her parents had landed on Pandora, and had evaded Gemini better than she had expected. From what her device told her, they were in Overlook, too.

Once she had made her way into the Crimson Raider HQ, the Gunslinger told them where she was going. Gaige was not there, which the woman expected of her.

No one had seen her for at least 12 hours. Sounds of a blowtorch angrily at work were easily audible when near her house. It didn't take a detective to recognise that she was using her work to get past her grief.

Aurora didn't altogether care what Gaige was doing. If the girl hadn't decided to get so close to him, then she would've been fine. The Vault Hunter cared little any more if that girl did indeed have feelings for Matt, because now it didn't matter that much.

There wasn't any time-wasting when it came to coming to Overlook, even though she was dreading some of it. She loved her parents, but she didn't love explaining the Matt situation. No one would. Besides, her parents knew that she loved him when they knew each other, so that was making it especially harder.

'Hi honey!' Called a voice. It was her mother, standing next to the grinder in standard clothing from Atrios-6 – being trader's clothing. Standing next to her was her dad.

'Hey, Miss Borealis,' he teased. That nickname was so old and so stupid, but it still brought up good memories for both of them.

'Hey mom! Hey dad!' She welcomed, going over to them and hugging them. 'Was the trip alright?'

'It was great,' her mother replied. 'But we don't quite get why it was necessary.'

'I don't want Gemini coming after either of you. It's safer here.'

'Where there are Stalkers, Threshers, Varkids, Bandits, Crystalisks, Spiderants, Rakk, Skags, Hyperion and Vaults?' Her father reminded her, evidently not too convinced.

'And that.' Aurora pointed up at Sanctuary, majestically floating in the sky.

'What's that?' Her mother asked.

'Sanctuary. One of the only truly safe places on Pandora,' the young woman informed them.

'Is Matt up there?' Aurora's dad wondered. Her expression instantly dropped to a crestfallen, more depressed look.

'Yeah, where is Matt?' Her mom added. 'Aurora?'

'Matt, well, he's…' she was well aware of the difficulty that she was having uttering this, and despised every second of it. 'He's dead. He died in an explosion.'

'Oh, baby girl, I'm so sorry,' her mother comforted, holding her in her arms. 'I had no idea.'

'He was a good man,' her dad solaced, stroking her hair. 'And I know you really loved him.'

'C'mon,' Aurora ushered. 'We should get to Sanctuary.'

Two hours later

Gaige and Lilith observed the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve up from Mordecai's coupe. Multiple Gemini soldiers were patrolling it, holding their guns tightly. There were Loaders in the Hyperion observation zones, but they weren't Hyperion Loaders. Their design bore a rhombus, gemstone logo with an airbrush "G" in the centre.

'Gemini,' Lilith muttered distastefully.

'The Gemini Corporation manufactures Loaders?' Gaige asked in disbelief. Lilith nodded.

'They were guarding the Gemini Armoury,' she replied in confirmation.

For the past hour and a half, Gaige and Lilith had been scouting out the location to see if they could find any more data on the location of the Vault. Aurora had recently informed them that Gemini had taken over the location as an outlet for Stock and Data Exchange, since Hyperion would likely not allow them to use the Hyperion Info Stockade to store it.

Her parents worked with Gemini – although their true allegiance was to their daughter – and they said that the information on the Vaults would likely be there. This reminded Gaige of her raid of the Info Stockade a while back.

Most of her Vault Hunter allies questioned her judgement for this mission, not altogether certain that the girl would able to maintain focus on the mission, giving their unnecessary casualty recently. "Unnecessary casualty" was what Gaige herself called it, and was adamant on that. Matt would have disagreed, if he was alive.

But he wasn't, although Gaige didn't find it easy to admit that.

Aurora seemed to be holding up better than her. However, the keyword there was 'seemed'. She had a different reaction compared to Gaige, not showing any kind of weakness and refusing to. In comparison, the Mechromancer had evidently taken it hard, and had only chosen to go on this mission as solid proof that she was still useful.

The Wildlife Exploitation Preserve echoed silence amongst its large geographical area. It wasn't really an exploitation of wildlife creatures, nor would it be a preserve, as not only do Hyperion not even technically own it, but all the creatures either had ran away due to Mordecai's escapade to release them or had been moved away to some offsite or off-planet location.

'What do you think?' Gaige asked. 'How many of those dudes are there?'

'Maybe a hundred,' Lilith estimated. 'But they won't have moonshots, so it shouldn't be too hard to get through the entire complex.'

'You want to just fight through?' she realised.

'Well, we already know how many of those guys there are,' she reasoned. 'So we don't need a good vantage point anymore.'

'Fine. Just don't teleport me.'

'Too late!' Lilith laughed, grabbing her shoulder, her arm glowing orange. There was a swirl of purple and they disappeared and reappearing just before the Gemini patrol. Gaige didn't seem too pleased.

'Lilith! You can't just teleport me without warning!' She complained.

'Keep your voice down!' She whispered. 'You don't want to attract them just yet.'

'As if a burst of purple energy hasn't done that already!' The Mechromancer argued. Lilith looked around to observe if they were about to be bombarded with enough soldiers to blow up a small city. There were few seconds of silence but nothing happened. The Gemini Corporation's lackeys had not discovered their presence.

'What we're gonna do is charge them,' Lilith suggested. 'We have to follow through.' Gaige nodded, although was less focussed on how she was going to take them down and more when.

'Ready,' she confirmed.

'Good, because you're leading the charge.'

'What? Why?'

'So I know that your head's in the game.'

'I'm fine, Lilith. I can fight.'

'People's real emotions can easily be hidden under a shell,' the Siren reasoned. 'It is how many people deal with grief.'

'Is that what happened to you?' Gaige grew a cheeky smile which she failed to null or lessen. Lilith suddenly went dark.

'That was uncalled for. Don't bring that up again. I'm trying to help you, you know.'

'Whatever.'

'Let's just go and get this mission done,' she replied. 'For Matt?'

'For Matt,' Gaige agreed. She took out a Gatling gun and checked it was loaded. It was. Lilith nodded and took out a Double Anarchy weapon. It was Matt's, but they had to go somewhere, even Gaige had to admit that. The fallen one never even used it, especially since he had a fairly varied range of weapons in his cache that suited his purposes fine and didn't need it so much.

Still a cool weapon though, the Mechromancer thought.

Gaige ran in and took no hesitation in firing. Lilith followed behind her. The Gemini soldiers immediately fired back, and two G-GUN Loaders began firing.

'FULL FORCE AUTHORISED,' announced one of the two G-GUN Loader. Gaige shot off the limb which held its gun, quite literally disarmed. She didn't need Deathtrap at the moment. The Loader charged up his eye beam, but Gaige barraged it with enough bullets to disable its eye and blew off its leg, deactivating it.

Lilith fired her Double Anarchy, admiring the swirling bullets as they flew through the air. They travelled towards the heads of two of the Gemini soldiers, dealing massive damage while simultaneously piercing through his armour. Their bodies dropped to the ground, dead. Gaige fired inaccurately at the remaining three enemies, being the Gemini GUN Loader, the two Gemini soldiers and one Gemini Deceptor. Most of her bullets missed, but when they did hit, they dealt substantial damage, dispatching them quickly. Once they dropped to the ground, Gaige did not celebrate over-emphatically, but forced a smile when Lilith looked at her.

'Nice,' the Siren commended. 'Although, there's still a ways to go.' Gaige nodded, and they headed for the door.

They were fully prepared to take on whatever threat lay ahead. Gemini weren't a challenge, but then again, they weren't so prominent on Pandora. Additionally, they didn't know of them so well. Aurora often claimed they were worse in high numbers, and when they took in their advanced military reinforcements, the Corporation would squash almost anyone within moments.

To Lilith, the imposing nature of Gemini as they solidified their campaign reminded her of Hyperion's rise to power. That was what lead to Lilith to be careful in not underestimating their threat. At least they didn't have some insane psychopath like Handsome Jack as the leader.

The closest thing was apparently Caine, but they hadn't met him yet. Lilith wanted to, and Aurora had shown them a picture of him too.

Caine was a short-haired blonde, with a scar on the side of his face that apparently had been sustained thanks to a barrel exploding in his face. He had a grim face, with a muscled complexion that wasn't too prominent or too weak. The Vault Hunter often wore full battle armour, complete with upgrades such as lasers on the gauntlets and a built-in shield with a high capacity.

The guy was never too sane, like Jack, and followed Gemini to the end. They took him as a regular trainee as a child, long before Matt, before working his way up the ranks and achieving the title of Vault Hunter two years ago. The title still treated him as a mercenary over someone who raids Vaults, which was something Caine liked.

The man would not get to that Vault before they did.

Now, they needed those data files.

Lilith went for the door, and pressed the button. She remembered how the door worked for them now, once Gaige did some tinkering. It slid open compliantly.

There were multiple Gemini Loaders in the immediate vicinity. A G-BUL Loader patrolled across the large open surveillance space, with a G-PWR Loader nearby, its rotary blades not activated. Five further Loaders stepped down the steps to their left – three G-GUN Loaders, one G-SGT Loader and one badass G-Loader. The G-GUN Loaders noticed them first.

'TERMINATE SUBJECTS,' the G-GUN Loader called out. The total seven Loaders initiated an offensive formation on their charge towards the duo.

Gaige instinctively threw out Deathtrap, and Lilith entered Phasewalk. She targeted the PWR Loader, fully aware that Gaige's bullets would just deflect of its spinning blades. Lilith went of Phasewalk behind the Loader, and Phaseblasting it. Its blades stopped spinning for a few seconds, long enough for Deathtrap to claw off its arms. Lilith shot the final few bullets to destroy it.

That was a good start, but there were still six more Loaders to go.

They were both careful to dodge the attacks of the Badass Loader. They needed to save it until last, as it was more powerful with an entourage.

Gaige fired quickly around the three GUN Loaders, forcing them to collect together in a crowd. She smiled slightly, pleased that her spur-of-the-moment plan had worked. Lilith Phaseblasted them and impaired their limbs, slowing them. This allowed Gaige to hit all of them and destroy them, despite the inaccuracy in her shots.

'Well that went well, I guess,' she commented noncommittally. Unfortunately, Gaige had let her guard down, and the Badass Loader's rockets hit her head on. She was thrown on the ground. Once Lilith destroyed the G-SGT Loader with a Phasewalk-enhanced punch, she ran over to her and gave her hand.

'You're getting distracted!' The Siren warned her. 'You can't afford to be unfocussed right now!' Gaige took her hand and pulled her up.

The G-BUL Loader managed to approach far enough to see it an option to charge with its shield, sliding across the floor. Lilith jumped over it and shot off its shield arm. The Loader immediately ceased that attempt, and Deathtrap initiated a barrage of attacks that sliced it up into malfunctioning parts.

Gaige reloaded her machine gun and fired unendingly at the Badass Loader, carefully dodging the rockets while simultaneously getting closer. She nodded to Lilith to confirm that she had the robot distracted. So the Siren immediately entered Phasewalk, causing the bot to take away some of its attention from Gaige to keep a look out for her.

The damage was starting to pile up now that the Mechromancer was getting attacked much less. Lilith exited Phasewalk just in front of the Loader, and landing a punch on one of his arms, blasting right through it. Stumbling back, the Badass Loader took a second to recalibrate its surroundings and adapt its battle strategy.

These Loaders must have every single battle strategy downloaded into their memory banks! Lilith recognised. These guys are much stronger than Hyperion Loaders!

Deathtrap went in for a strike, but the Badass Loader emitted some kind of frequency which deactivated her invention, forcing Gaige to dedigistruct him.

'Dammit!' She cursed, as her robot began to return into her arm. She reloaded her gun, and fired again. Her aim was off, missing almost every single bullet. Lilith fired her Double Anarchy at the Loader with extreme speed and reaction. Her Phasewalk seemed to be fluctuating, like she had overused her abilities. Gaige got flashes of Matt, how his nose would often bleed with overuse, and how his muscles would weaken once he'd used up all of his adrenaline.

I guess she's been worn down as of late, she thought. We both have.

Observing how Lilith acted, several further thoughts rose to the forefront of Gaige's mind.

Their powers… she realised. They're so…similar! Maya said Matt's abilities were Siren-level, but it doesn't make sense how Hyperion would be able to replicate that! If they could, wouldn't they be more powerful? Was Matt…connected…to Sirens somehow? Perhaps this place, or maybe even the Vault, might hold the answers. She resented herself for not realising this when it would've been useful.

If Matt wasn't dead.

Little time elapsed before the Gemini Badass Loader had been dismantled into an electrified heap of scrap metal. Lilith and Gaige continued down through the Preserve, making their way up the stairs. On their way, they opened some ammo crates in order to restock quickly.

'Hey, you two!' Called a voice demandingly from behind them. They'd just been making their way towards the bridge when someone stopped them.

Gaige spun around to see a Battle Architect, holding his submachine gun tightly and close to his chest. Lilith noticed this, and was about to strike when she stopped her. It seemed like not all Hyperion agents had left the place. This Architect seemed to be one of the few maintaining guard.

'We might be able to use him for information,' she suggested.

'Are you sure?'

'Well, he looks pretty weak.'

Lilith nodded, and Gaige walked over to the Architect, with a stern look on her face.

'Now you listen here,' she addressed, with pure aggression in her voice. 'If you want to make it out alive, you're going to listen to everything I say.' Gaige had an imposing vigour about her, which was maximised by her taking out a large Maliwan rocket launcher and pointing it straight at the Architect's face.

'O-OK!' The man immediately complied. He wasn't even attempting to hide the vulnerability and fear in his vocal chords. Without a second thought, the Architect dropped his weapon to the ground. Gaige passed over her rocket launcher to Lilith, so that proper interrogation could be done.

'What's Hyperion planning?' She demanded. Gaige pulled him closer to her angry, pissed off face. He stuttered in speech. 'Tell me!'

'I don't have high enough clearance to know everything!' He admitted. 'All I know is that the new director is hunting down some Vault, and he's partnered with the Gemini Corporation to do it!'

'Why did they blow up the Gulag?' Gaige immediately replied. 'They can't have just been trying to take down some Vault Hunters!'

'No, that wasn't the reason!' The Architect confirmed. 'They had multiple motives. One was kill all of you. Another was to prevent you from getting the shield upgrades. The third…'

'What? Spit it out!'

'There's radio chatter about this dude called Matt. Some kind of experiment that got away,' he continued. Gaige's eyes widened.

'Matt's dead.'

'Exactly! They needed to end his connection.'

'To what?' The Mechromancer was clueless as to what he was talking about.

'To…Sirens.' Gaige had been correct. Lilith was shocked.

'What the hell are you talking about?!' The fiery Siren demanded.

'The Genisys Project. I know what it entailed.'

'You're more than just an Architect, aren't you?' Gaige figured out.

'No. Truth be told, this is the first time I've been out in the field. I'm a scientist, not a soldier.'

'What happened in the Genisys Project?' Lilith enquired, still pointing Gaige's rocket launcher.

'Genisys was an experiment to merge natural-born humans…and Sirens.' Neither of them could quite believe what they were hearing. 'So they took DNA from one of their own. Angel, I think her name was?'

'She was Handsome Jack's daughter,' Gaige confirmed.

'Yeah,' the Architect remembered. 'Once Jack allowed it, they took a blood sample. They infused it with ancient Eridian technology, and ancient Siren energy. In the project, Angel was made it energise it to her fullest capabilities, in hopes that the blood might transfer Siren powers.'

'That's impossible,' Lilith cited. 'Siren abilities don't work that way. They aren't passed down through conventional means. It is only when one Siren dies, that another is born to take its place. It doesn't pass through genetic properties. You can't "create" a Siren.'

'Jack always said only six can exist in the universe at any one time,' the Hyperion agent reflected. 'So when it came to testing…it was impossible to survive. Every time they tried injecting the sample, the subject would likely die, usually through disintegration. Their bodies couldn't handle the power, and I guess Mother Nature doesn't like it when you start messing around with her toolbox.'

Lilith tightened her grip on the rocket launcher.

'They…we started to get desperate. So the head scientists of the project started trying to adapt the bodies of their subjects in hopes that the project would be a success. Then one test subject with perfect health and physique fell right into their hands.'

'Matt,' Gaige understood. 'You kidnapped him.'

'I was one of the scientists working on the project,' he admitted, showing evident remorse for it. 'I was one of the scientists working on Matt. The head forced us to do some pretty hardcore operations to grant him some enhancements. We almost destroyed his body and then repaired it with new upgrades over and over…until the sample was finally injected.

'That Matt guy…he handled the power far better than we expected. He'd clearly acknowledged the endless pain he went through. Once that Vault Hunter gained powers on par with Sirens, he wasted no time in escaping.'

'You still haven't explained why you needed to cut off his connection,' Lilith complained, her fingers tightening around the trigger of the rocket launcher. The Architect jumped back.

'Hyperion and Gemini realised something. The Vault is…or was…connected to Matt. He had a connection to Sirens, which means he had a connection to the newest Vault on this planet. He may not have realised it, but while he was alive, the Vault would not open. He was keeping it closed; the Anomaly's death was an attempt to force it to open.

'That is why the Gulag was blown up. They knew he'd be there. He wasn't just someone who happened to caught in the blast…no, Matt was the target.' Gaige had heard quite enough of this. Hearing this Hyperion worm speak was reopening old wounds.

'You Hyperion bastard!' She howled, running towards him. The Architect could not react before Gaige grabbed him and began beating him into a pulp with her metal arm. 'It's your fault he's dead! You hear me? It's your fault!'

'Gaige, stop!' Lilith commanded, dropping her launcher, but she did not listen. She beat him endlessly, perhaps breaking some serious bones.

'You experimented on him like a guinea pig! You caused him intense pain! You should've just left him ALONE! But NO, you instead weaponised him! YOU MURDERED HIS SISTER!' Gaige continued punching brutally, and went in for another, but Lilith caught her strike.

'What did I say about getting DISTRACTED?!' The Siren bellowed. Gaige snatched her metal arm away from her grasp and punched the Architect so hard that he died due to intense and sudden force creating a whiplash effect that snapped his neck. He slumped to the ground, in a heap of bloodiness and flesh.

'I hate Hyperion,' the Mechromancer angrily declared, placing obvious emphasis on her own disgust.

'Gaige, what the hell was that?' Lilith demanded. The girl turned away from the Siren. 'You can't do that!' There was silence form the other end. 'Do you think this is what Matt wanted?'

'Say that again, I dare you,' The little redhead bitterly replied.

'Do you honestly think he'd want you to be wallowing in your own grief all the time?'

'You wanted to kill Jack after he killed the person you loved.'

'Don't even go there,' Lilith warned acrimoniously.

'No I will,' Gaige disobeyed. 'What's the difference between you and me in that regard, huh? You did the same thing you're criticising me for!'

'And the anger blinded me; it played me right into Jack's hands!' The Siren reminded her. 'The difference is that I show restraint. I know when and when not to pick a fight. I have learned from my mistakes, and I understand what you're going through. But trust me: this isn't how you should deal with your grief.'

'I won't let anyone get in the way of me exacting revenge.'

'Listen to yourself! Matt wouldn't want this. He would want you to stay true to yourself.' Suddenly, Gaige got flashes of Matt.

"Stay strong – no matter what happens. Stay true to yourself despite whatever is thrown your way. Never give up on those around you and never forget who you are."

Gaige dropped to the ground, recognising Lilith was right. She didn't hesitate to begin crying as she thought about everything Matt had said to her before his death, and how she had not been fulfilling her promise to him.

'I'm sorry!' She asked for forgiveness, although it wasn't too easily heard given her crying and how she had her head to her hands. Lilith put her arms around her, comforting Gaige as she wept. 'You're right! Matt wouldn't have wanted this!'

'It's OK, Gaige,' the Siren counselled, rubbing her shoulder. 'We all feel unsure what to do when someone we care about has died. But you're getting through the grief.'

'What-what do you mean?'

'You denied that you weren't in shape for future missions; you would show evident anger whenever anyone brought it up; you bargained your way into this mission; and now you've experienced depression that made you aggressive whenever you were reminded of Matt. You realise what's next right?'

'What?'

'Acceptance, Gaige. You're on your way to getting over it.'

Gaige looked up at her. For the first time in a while, she seemed happy. Happy to finish this mission, to make Matt proud from beyond his grave.

Thank you, Matt.

Six days later

The rubble was tremendous. It had been so colossal it had filled the sinkhole of the underground and still managed to create a pile on top. But the fire had gone out a while ago. Luckily, Hyperion had bethought an emergency sprinkler system. It took a while activate since its sensors were messed up, but the water certainly put out the fire.

The door to the underground system of the Friendship Gulag had been bent in half, and the entire network itself had collapsed. Every Hyperion agent got out, their target presumed destroyed in the blast.

However, no one noticed the truth. From within the immense debris, a piece of rock wall lining trembled in movement. It was thrown away. A hand reached out desperately, clawing at the ground for some kind of grasp. It attempted to pull itself out somewhat, but only managed to advance a few millimetres forward.

The hand had a sleeve coloured dark navy-midnight blue.

And it flickered black and red lightning, as crimson energy began circling around it.

Yep, another cliff-hanger, sue me. (Don't actually.) But yeah, did you really think I'd kill off the main character – especially so soon? I'm not George R.R. Martin…

That happened to be a decent length, if I do say myself.

Also, finally revealed the purpose of the Genisys Project, and also why it gave a reason as to why Matt has Chronokinesis as a power in general. (I said I'd do that, didn't I?) It's almost entirely Siren-based, although the project boosted his energy efficiency and stamina with it. Further information will be given later.

Yeah anyway, Chapter Eleven is around the corner.