Author's note: Thanks to the guest reviewer for linking me to the pic,

Double chapter incoming. I originally went ahead and made 9000+ words for this chapter, but in the end decided to split it in two, making this a little bit shorter, but extending the new chapter 11 and adding some things before moving onto the next part (after the end of the arena).

Also, answers to some previous questions in the previous chapter will be placed at the bottom as well as addressing their reviews.

DISCLAIMER: The Borderlands franchise is property of Gearbox Software and 2K Games, and Kantai Collection is the property of Kensuke Tanaka and Kadokawa Games. I own none of the intellectual properties comprising this fictional story. This story is made by fans for fans, and doesn't intend to make any form of profit or income, being that it is only intended to entertain.

Broken Moons

Chapter 10: Mass Destruction

"Humans have a troublesome nature, as they like to meddle with everything around them. Perhaps it is because in a way, they are of the frailest creatures, or at least they are in their earliest stages of infancy, think about it, no other creature is as harmless and incapable at that stage in their life, they always have something going for them, be it an unique characteristic or the capacity to grow quickly, it's one of the reasons that almost all creatures live shorter lifespans compared to humans. As humans evolved, they learned to adapt their environment to their needs, and not the other way around like any other creature. Perhaps this is what differentiates humans from animals? The concept of consciousness is evasive even to this day, with more than 5000 years of evolution. If one were to look at the records before space travelling became possible, humans haven't changed that much ever since that time…

Philosophy is a curious thing, too. Humans invented philosophy both as a way to understand themselves, but also to justify themselves. Most of the first philosophers went as far as accepting the practice of slavery, and all of them didn't even consider their female members even 'human', as they were just pretty pieces of decoration and the only method for offspring to come by; they didn't think, they weren't transcendent. History has shown that even after all this time, even with the regression that came with the scattering through the cosmos, humans are still, fundamentally, social creatures looking for their raison d'etre, only that they are so incredibly selfish, arrogant and stupid that they will never learn, what's more, in the last decades, plenty have shown just how outright ugly they can be. Why, you ask? Simple, just look at how many species have been exterminated by human hands, how many planets are long gone from their orbits, reduced to dust; yeah, there haven't been that many, but think about how many of those disappeared due to humans placing their dirty little finger on them. And humans still do not learn… It's simple, of course, that it causes one to wonder what to think of that, what to reflect or learn of that, when everything is said and done, doesn't it?"

"And what the fuck are you trying to say with this senseless monologue!?"

"That there is only one thing I know right now…"

No response.

Grey gives a long leap to his left, and the Varkid that jumped towards him misses its objective.

Alex punches an adult Varkid on its side with her left hand. Her hit pierces the Varkid's body, and with a scream she silences before it leaves her mouth, she pulls her hand back, which results covered from the forearm to the palm in icky Varkid intestines.

The silver-haired girl, Quinn, pierces one of the red cocoons repeatedly with her polearm. The evolving Varkid inside lets out an agonizing screech that extinguishes along with its life. The sack eventually explodes, staining Quinn's face and clothes with a green substance.

Grey kicks another Varkid. Since it is smaller than its peeves, being that it is in its earliest, infant stages, the kick breaks its exoskeleton and joints of its legs. Grey takes a breather and recovers his footing slowly, and as soon as the baby Varkid starts surrounding itself in a strange tissue, Grey stomps on its frame, killing it in that instant.

"Goddamnit…" Grey curses, readjusting Amber's position, who's being carried over his back.

An explosion then blasts real near his feet. He reflexively jumps to the right, and his foot meets the corpse of an adult Varkid. Grey barely avoids tripping with desperate hops, and immediately turns at the only person who could've shot in his direction.

"Hey, what's the fucking deal!?" The young man snarls, but is completely ignored by the silver-haired Quinn, who continues fighting to the best of her abilities. Amber is no longer with her, as she has discarded the unconscious shorty some minutes ago, as carrying her over the shoulder had proved too disruptive for her combat. Grey had had a hard time convincing the Ship Girl to hand Amber over to him, but in the end, the necessity to fight to her full capabilities had made her surrender the unconscious girl to him. It is at that moment that Grey realizes that in front of him lies a Super Badass Varkid, or what remains of it; his mind stumbles a bit at that, as he realizes that the other Ship Girl had saved him.

Now that Grey has Amber with him, he has another thing worrying him altogether: Getting away from this place, for Homero will at some point, come in this direction. The remaining participants and a lot of Samuel's men were dying one after the other under the mutated Varkid, and Grey wasn't particularly keen on the idea of confronting the creature.

"That's class, man, ignoring me like this"

Alex joins her Commander once again, as all of them are disarmed. The two of them stand back-to-back, observing the situation with critical eyes.

The makeshift rag-team of Grey and company have broken their way through the swarms of Varkids that have relentlessly attacked them for a while now, running through the complicated corridors and walls of a maze that is collapsing around them.

And Grey has to wonder, why in the seven heavens are there bandits still trying to kill him at this point, when Varkids are a threat to everything, including them. If he had to find one good thing about his current situation, is that the insane amount of human corpses had restocked his ammo reserves, and he was back on the game. He wouldn't dare nor really could fight Varkids with melee, except when it came to bursting their cocoons. However, he wasn't really suited for fighting at this moment, as he was preoccupied with keeping Amber safe. Grey was really worried about her, too, since her pulse was very weak, and blood covered her face and clothes.

But Grey does have to hand it to one person. Alex has been on an impressive role of protecting both him and Amber, even with a useless left arm.

"Next!" Alex calls, and Grey doesn't have to think twice.

With his ammo restocked, and lots of weapons to pick from the corpses, Grey has taken a supporting role in the rear guard. Alex has been picking weapons from the various human dead that are in no way scarce around the arena, and with Grey's quick wits and experience with the weaponry, she doesn't have to worry except firing until her guns are empty. With her instincts honed for the past week, Alex only has to take any weapon that Grey tosses her and eliminate any threat that comes her way. She's found that Varkids are better left to the other Ship Girl, as she seems to be better suited to confront them with her polearm, as it's the most effective weapon against the cocoons and her cannon for those who manage to evolve.

Grey places his foot under a gun and kicks it up, which he catches with his only free, right hand (as the left one holds Amber behind his back by her thigs and bottom). Identifying the weapon as a common burning Maliwan Gospel with a bayonet to the front, Grey tosses the weapon to the lilac-haired Ship Girl, which she accepts wordlessly and begins firing against her aggressors.

"To your left!" Grey indicates, and Alex swiftly moves her aim as instructed, making a psycho burn to ashes with the elemental rounds of her latest weapon.

"Anything for this handsome redhead!? I'm not holding up too well here!"

Grey has to admit, Alex definitely knows what she's doing. Her aptitude for almost all weapons is great. Sure, she still has some trouble with the bigger guns like shotguns and rifles, and Grey's sure that she hasn't even touched a Rocket Launcher yet, but all of this is more due to her small build than willingness. He's been consciously trying to give her the smaller arms ever since she showed evident hardship at the previous Jakobs Assault Rifle he gave her some time ago. It was funny seeing her try and hold the large caliber gun with her short arms. While she still tried (and also had some results) to use any weapon that her Commander gave her, Alex was simply better suited for smaller weapons. Besides that, she had nice aim. But Grey also noted that Alex couldn't really dare and fight whenever enemies got too close, especially Varkids. She didn't outright freeze, and didn't stop every time, but every so often, Alex would hesitate a little bit when a bandit came too close, and made it evident that she preferred disposing of enemies that were far away from her.

But still, Grey would readily admit that he's impressed by the small girl if asked. With just a little bit more training and experience, she could surely become a great gunner, equal if not greater than himself. The way she carried herself when she focused was amazing, but that concentration still wavered every so often.

Grey had to remind himself that he was looking at a little girl fight not only for her life, but to protect him as well. A girl who only had use of one arm, to top it. Granted, this girl could probably split him in two if she really wanted, but right now, Grey only had room for a little incredulity, attention to his surroundings, Amber, and sarcasm (of course) in his mind.

In the end, it was both amazement and sourness. Amazement for Alex, and sourness for pretty much everything else.

"Next" Alex calls silently, and upon discarding the Maliwan Gospel, she receives a fully loaded slag Twin Negotiator, a Dahl Handgun. Grey then kicks around a few more corpses and inspects more guns around the battlefield.

"Are you enjoying ignoring me that much?"

Alex turns her attention back to the gigantic Homero momentarily, and her heart rate increases ever so slightly at the monster's advance.

"Really? No thanks, not even a little bit of acknowledgement even when I've just saved you from that?"

"Where, Alex?" Grey calls with ragged breath.

"Over here" She deadpans at the same time she fills another Varkid cocoon with bullets before it bursts. Grey breaks for a run towards the shorter girl, evading bandits and Varkids, which receive multiple holes from Alex's gun.

"Next"

The Vault Hunter has to crouch and twist his head away from the loud explosion that blasts a Varkid.

"Move it!" He screams towards the silver-haired girl and redhead who are minding their own business. The silver-haired girl scowls but also breaks for a run towards Grey and the other Ship Girls, followed closely by her grinning companion.

"Heya, nice moves, babe" The redhead comments, but is ignored by the girl wielding the polearm. Seemingly uncaring at the girl's attitude, he soon addresses the other group. "And you aren't half bad either, shorty. On the other hand though, you're just a prick".

"Sorry, Prince Charming, but I've got things to do right now!" Grey retorts, giving the next gun to Alex and immediately resuming his search for equipment afterwards. "Hey, Al! How close are we to the fence!?"

"…I'm not sure" She responds honestly.

"Well, shit!" Grey readjusts his grip on Amber and picks another weapon. "Ain't that reassuring!?"

"Enough chitchat, here come more of 'em!" Quinn cries, swinging her polearm back in stance. True to her word, Varkids are going for them, crawling on both the walls and ground as well as flying towards them, screeching high into the air like it's nobody's business.

"Aw shit" Grey muses in response.

"Commander! Over here!" Alex calls, and Grey follows suit.

"LOREM IPSUM DOLOR SIT AMET, BITCHEEEEEEEEES!" A psycho spouts out while sticking his arm up into the sky, as Varkids feast on his insides. The scene is not unlike that of a swarm of flies swarming over a sack of rotten matter, only that the flies are oversized in this particular version of the prospect. Alex has to look away, her face losing color at the sight of the bandit being dismembered.

"Ain't that lovely?" The redhead chirps, following up his comment by a series of cheers, however, he stops a little bit when the bandit is torn in half and two Varkids take each of his halves and fly into the distance, followed by smaller Larval Varkids. "Daaaaaaaaamn! That must hurt!"

"Well, that was nasty" Grey comments sardonically, although he doesn't show concern for more than a second, quickly resuming his run.

"Hey, I forgot to ask" The redhead runs up to Grey. "But where are we actually going?"

"We're getting onto a wall and opening up the fence" Grey says immediately, and then turns to address the silver-haired girl. "And I need your cannon for it"

She gives him a confused look.

"And why should I!?" She retorts angrily.

"Homero's in deep shit then. One single girl is about to kick his ass" Grey says in a cynical tone while shaking his head with a sarcastic mug of his own.

"Well, er…" She muses, making a complicated face.

"Thought as much" Grey sighs in a mocking tone. "Besides, I don't think that weirdo has much of a better idea, anyways"

Grey, Alex and Quinn give just a little bit of their attention to the weirdo in question, who is having the time of his life shooting bandits and Varkids.

"ATATATATATATATATATATATATA….!" He shouts in an acute voice as he gives a series of "punches" with the TMPs he has in each hand. He presses each trigger whenever he extends the corresponding arm, filling a Badass Varkid with holes in a matter of seconds, never stopping his weird war cry. Grey does not understand how it is that he's able to move his arms in such a blindingly quick manner, even though the redhead has shown Grey that he's capable of that much for the few minutes they've been working together, of moving real fast. "…ATATATATATATATATATATATA…!"

"WAH TAAAAHH!" In the very instant he runs out of bullets the redhead makes the gun in his right hand apparently disappear in thin air and then gives completely untrained straight to the Varkid with his unarmed fist. While the punch itself is amateurish, its speed is incredible like all of his movements before. The redhead pierces the Varkid's body with his last attack, gracelessly losing balance and ultimately tripping onto its corpse.

The redhead who claims himself to be Oswald Baltimore stands up with no apparent difficulty, with a goofy grin plastered on his face all the while.

The strange man takes leisure steps towards the rest of the group, and once he's near them, he shrugs his shoulders by making circles with them and tilting his head sideways, which produces a pleasant crack on his neck. Walking with a relaxed pace, the redhead calls for his missing handgun once again, and after loading each of his weapons with new magazines, he spins both by their trigger guards, and dexterously slides them on the belt behind his back and under his trench coat.

An awkward pause fills the air, then he puffs his chest.

"HOKUTO KYOSATSU-SHITOTSU-KEN!" 'Oswald' declares triumphantly.

Grey and Alex stare incredulously at the Varkid blasting from inside out in a series of explosions. Grey unwillingly lets his mouth open a little bit, while Alex's face shows both mild surprise and disgust. Quinn for the most part shows no reaction.

"How did you-?" Grey begins.

Alex doesn't have to voice out that they've accepted the help (or are helping, if one were to look at it from another angle) of someone very strange.

The redhead moves his finger over his mouth as if wanting silence, still grinning.

"It's a secret to everybody"

If the past minutes before Homero's awakening had been bad, the time after his awakening was absolute horror. Grey has been in deep shit before, but this is like being buried in a metal coffin with nothing but paper fasteners to break out… and having a rabid, hungry insect to eat you out… only that said insect is about the size of a skyscraper. Even the Ship Girls' cannons are nothing but mere peashooters against the monstrous Homero.

"Seriously, how in the seven heavens did Samuel breed this thing!?" Grey complains aloud. "That shit is even bigger than four years ago!"

"Huehuehue… shit" The redhead laughs nonchalantly. "Imagine the size of-"

"I DON'T WANT THAT IMAGE IN MY HEAD, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Grey cries immediately.

"I was talking about the size of its hairs" The other male responds gracelessly. Grey prompts him a distrusting glare. "I'm serious, dude! I mean, one of its hairs must be as big as a truck, if not bigger! Imagine, selling its hair, we could become millionaire!"

"Who in their right mind would buy this thing's hair, you stupid Admiral!?" Quinn yells. "Focus already!"

"But I am focused!" 'Oswald' responds. "I'm so in the zone that if I were any more focused I would awaken my eighth sense!"

"How does that even- No, I don't want to know!" Quinn finally cedes.

"I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!" 'Oswald' cries joyfully as he crouches momentarily and without any kind of warning jolts forward with inhuman speed. 'Oswald' flashes with what seems to be a dark blue glow of sorts coming from inside his clothes and strange feet, and in an instant, he appears in a spot several meters away from where he was just an instant ago with his elbow extended forward against the creature. Leaving a trail of a strange blue something behind him, 'Oswald' crashes against the Varkid which was several meters away from him at breakneck speeds. The Varkid is sent skidding against the ground, rolling several times in its trip, and eventually ending on top of its own belly, dead.

"Or not really, but damn if it does feel like it sometimes!" 'Oswald' gives a triumphant cheer, gaining his balance like it was his second nature.

"How in the fuck are you able to do that!?" Grey cries.

'Oswald' gives him a funny look, although it is hidden by his glasses, which forces Grey to guess what his expression is.

"Family secret I guess?" He shrugs.

"Give me a break" Grey shakes his head tiredly in a 'no' motion.

'So, what's the deal with you three?" The redhead asks nonchalantly while still shooting more bandits and Varkids. "I don't think you're here for recreation… or are you?"

"Do I really look like the kind of guy who'd come into this kind of shithole!?" Grey retorts cynically and passes a new gun to Alex.

"Do I have to answer that question?" 'Oswald' reloads his TMPs.

"Fuck you"

"Love you too"

"Yeah, yeah. What about you? What's the deal, a faker and a Ship Girl together? I've seen some claimin' to be a Baltimore before, but damn, it's the first time I've seen someone claim to be the Oz Baltimore".

"Whatever to ya mean?"

"What do I-!? Here, Alex!" Grey sighs, and turns to the redhead, giving an honest 'are you serious?' face before returning his attention to the group. A bandit jumps toward him, and using his free left hand, he shoots him with his borrowed Thrusting Slapper, blowing the bandit's head out of his neck with the explosive rounds of the Torgue pistol. "Bruh…"

"That's how they call me, bruh…" The redhead shrugs, and fires the TMP in his right hand by shooting under his left shoulder, as if trying to look cool. "I'm serious, bruh…"

"Hah, now you're pulling the nickname card?" Grey laughs dryly. "Seems farfetched, trying to pass off as a Baltimore, even if it's a nickname"

"Well, how about Joker?" The redhead says. "You've never heard of the Joker before? Come on, bruh! You must have at least heard of the Joker!"

"Yeah, right" Grey scoffs sarcastically. "Like you really are the only person to ever touch the Blackwaters and come back alive, suuuuuuuuuure. You're really one of the legendary pirates, suuuuuuuuuure"

"Well, I dunno about being a pirate, but long before coming to Chariot, I made quite the career for myself, I'm sure you've heard of me" 'Oswald' says reassuringly. "Oh, and the Blackwaters? You mean that desolate murky area up north?"

Grey passes the next gun onto Alex, but damn, he was running out of weapons. He'd need to scavenge again both for ammo and new weapons. Of course, neither Alex nor him could really reload their weapons, with both of their hands being occupied; it was more trouble than it's really worth at this point.

"I can't believe some weirdo like you to be the Joker" Grey snarls. "If you're really the Joker, show me proof"

The redhead stops cold in his tracks, going as far as stopping shooting. The redhead then sheathes his weapons.

"Wait, what the fuck are you doing!?" Grey yells. "We're near the border! Don't start doing stupid shit now!"

"Just a sec!" The other one says, and begins inspecting his pockets, running his hands through every corner of his body. The strange man goes as far as unzipping his pants and taking them off, leaving him only in his underwear (which were a pair of white boxers with a heart pattern all over them), and shaking them. "Where did I leave it again…?"

"W-what the hell!?" The silver-haired girl shrieks in distress.

Grey finally confirms his suspicions that the redhead is not human, or at least, not completely, but it doesn't stop him from freaking out. 'Oswald's' feet and legs up to the thighs are covered in what seem to be plates or scales of some kind. The texture and color indicate some sort of grayish metal, with his feet being clearly the most evident part of his non-humanity, as they have beastly nails on each toe and their overall form is more akin to pure bone rather than muscle, and that they have what seem to be some kind of semi-organic, almost robotic joints in the ankles and knees, which are outfitted with what can only be described as discs of some sort; the discs have various widths and sizes and are stacked together in strange forms, reaching in and out of his ankles and knees, and the ones under his feet go as far as making contact with the ground. The rest of his legs is streamlined in a sleek design. The metallic coloration and texture doesn't suddenly stop, as it gradually changes color until it turns into human skin and color in the lower part of thighs, right over the knees, with a series of sickly colored lines that throb and invade onto the human tissue, said lines also extend and reach into the monstrous legs with complicated patterns, always seemingly pulsing, not with light, but as if they were some sort of boiling liquid, if that made any sense.

Overall, it was a nasty sight. These couldn't be standard robotic limbs, as the way they joined with the rest of his body was bizarre, and Grey had never seen this kind of legs before, even if he had met various people with different kinds of protheses. They were all different all around, but nowhere near as bizarre as this.

The redhead puts on his lower wear, seemingly uncaring at the terrified faces of Grey, Alex and Quinn, and continues his search for the elusive thing inside his pockets, continuing with the pockets of his trench coat.

Eventually, the barefoot man produces a piece of crumped paper within a pocket inside his coat, which he merrily hands to Grey and continues his shooting.

"Forget the Baltimore and Joker shit. What in the seven heavens are you!?" Grey cries in alarm, not minding the paper.

"Who knows? Even I'm not so sure myself!" The non-human man says without batting an eye.

"Of all the things-!" Quinn begins rambling, and soon enough starts ignoring all the other enemies and begins smacking her Admiral with her hands and polearm, tears of indignation on her eyes.

However, Grey has to stop them.

"We'll worry about the freak show later!" He screams, and even though he's ignored by 'Oswald' and Quinn, he continues shouting. "That can wait, right now we need to get away from-"

Grey doesn't really need to say anything, as all his companions realize at that moment that Homero's finally set for them.

The monstrous Varkid towers above everything else in the arena, with its 70 or something meters of height allowing it to have a clear view of everything inside the arena. All humans and lesser Varkids seem like ants in comparison. Homero screeches with an ungodly sound that momentarily stuns everyone in the vicinity, including its pawns.

"Aw crap…" Grey curses and jumps towards Alex.

"W-what are you- AAAH!" Alex doesn't even get to protest about her injured right arm as she's picked from the ground by her Commander, who breaks for a desperate run. Placing Amber under his right shoulder and picking Alex with his left arm and putting her in the same position as the unconscious girl, Grey takes a run for his money, as Homero drops its head down.

If anything, thanks to its massive size, Homero's jaws do not claim anyone's life by themselves, but they still cause everything that is the maze to be sent into the air like if they were merely pebbles on the road (which they were from the monster's perspective). Rock and metal flies everywhere as the ground cracks under the scandalous insect might, and the flooring splits wide open under Grey and company's feet.

The Vault Hunter feels his footing falter, but doesn't stop running even when he realizes that his altitude is increasing. The floor crumbles and falls under him, but he doesn't relent and jump for dear life at each piece of concrete as it comes, continuing his rush for what it seems to be an eternity. Grey is eventually flung into like a ragdoll with both girls under his arms, but never lets his grip onto any of them falter until the very last moment of the impact.

He crashes against a hard surface barely crouching onto one knee, and feels how the combined weight of him, Amber and Alex reverberates through his entire body due to the rules of physics with a cold shower on his spine. He inadvertently lets go of both girls, which produces a sharp wince of pain from the lilac-haired one.

Grey closes his eyes and painfully stands up, tumbling back and forth as he tries to recover balance. His knees and back scream agony to the rest of his body, but he ignores them and steadies his footing. The scene that he finds takes away whatever little breath he manages to gather.

Of course, seeing such a giant monster wasn't good news, and even worse from this close. Grey finds himself staring at one of the many eyes of the giant beast. A single eye is bigger than him, and Grey watches in horrified fascination how the patterned optics stare into his very existence. Homero is so massive that Grey can't even fathom to distinguish what is what from at in this distance outside of its bulky, glossy eyes. Grey finds himself smiling with a grin that is desperate, a grin that is nervous… a grin that is defying.

"Hey there, you ugly son of a bitch" The Vault Hunter says in a provoking yet tired tone, then laughs weakly. "Heh… I don't think there's enough bug spray for you in the world…"

The Vault Hunter straightens himself up, pushing through the pain. He's lost sight of his left eye due to the showering of hot sparks from before, and his left arm never really healed, which he faintly holds with his right hand from the shoulder. If anything, it's thanks to the adrenaline have kept him from passing out again, but yet again, he knows that he's about to enter shock.

"Hey there, big guy" The relaxed voice that belongs to the not-yet-identified redhead reaches Grey's ears.

"…Hey" Grey returns the greeting weakly, and notices that 'Oswald' and Quinn are standing next to him.

"Whoa, you actually were nice for once!?" The redhead cries in astonishment, pulling himself on one knee in exaggerated surprise. "Who the hell are you and what did you do to my bro!?"

"…And now I'm your bro?" The Vault Hunter retorts with a small laugh. "Aren't you a cheeky bastard…"

"Hey, to be honest, you ain't half bad. You got nice moves and when you aren't being a smartass you can actually be fun" The redhead confesses. "Besides, you really worry about your girlfriends there, I mean, you've gotten this far with them both, it's not every day you see someone carry on with two little girls without complaining even once. Say, I never caught your name, too"

The brown-haired man pulls his locks away to reveal his face with a sweep of his left arm, which he ignores hurts like a bitch, and grins in an oxymoronic combination of hopelessness and defiance at the other young male.

"Grey Arkham" He finally says.

"Whoa, those are some nice eyes you got there, Grey. Mind if I call you Grey?" The redhead says, still uncaring about anything.

"Whatever, Oz" The young man says and takes a deep breath while making circles with his neck, producing a series of pleasant cracks.

"Thought you called bullshit on me being 'me' before?" The redhead says while quirking an eyebrow.

"I don't care any longer. Whether you're a faker, an impostor or whatever" Grey says, reaching for the Strife behind his back. "You can be the goddamn messiah for all I care"

"Well, thanks, I guess?" Oz says in a teasing tone.

Quinn maintains a close eye on the beastly creature that stands meters away from them. Homero doesn't push its body up, instead remaining with its head down, as if it was inspecting the small fries, its eyes set for the Vault Hunters and the three Ship Girls around them.

Quinn gulps, clearly uncomfortable at being so close near the gigantic Varkid.

"Let's say that, hypothetically, I asked you for a favor" Grey elaborates painfully. "What would you answer?"

Oz takes a moment to consider.

"Most likely? No" The redhead says with a grin.

"Yeah, I thought as much" Grey snorts sardonically.

"But, if it's you, I maaaaaaaay make an exception" Oz continues. "Just maybe"

"Pfft. You make it sound like it's some sort of deal with the devil" Grey raises both eyebrows in wicked amusement.

"You know, I met the devil once before…" Oz says. "He's a little bitch"

The comment causes Grey to give an obnoxious laugh.

"Aren't you full of surprises?" Grey remarks.

"A good mage never reveals his secrets" Oz responds while fixing an imaginary hat over his head.

"I dunno what that has to do with this, but I guess I'll take it"

Alex then finally manages to stand up, and joins Grey and the others in what seems to be their last stand. Her left arm hurts even more than before thanks to Grey's impromptu carrying of her. She is beaten, tired and somewhat disappointed. Was this how it ended?

"We're screwed, aren't we?" Oz says cheerfully.

"You know, for someone who's gone into and back from the Blackwaters, you're a real pushover" Grey retorts, cracking now his shoulder blades. "I didn't expect the Joker to be… well… you"

"Ain't life a bitch?"

"Yeah. I want to kick her ass" Grey declares gracelessly.

The two young men share a laugh together. The fun is short, but it is refreshing.

Grey gives a step forward, resting the Strife over his right shoulder. Giving a sigh with mild frustration, Grey turns to his Ship Girls. Alex finds that her Commander is giving her an apologetic smile, but not the kind that asks for ultimate forgiveness. No, it was the kind of smile that said "Sorry, I will make it up to you somehow".

"You're thinking of going out with a blast, aren't you?" Oz says with apparent… melancholy.

"Something like that…" Grey answers with confidence. "Shame that I have no Overclock on me. This is going to be very stupid of me"

Before Grey can put his reckless plan in action, however, a voice speaks from somewhere. No one in the group identifies at first what is actually happening, but they soon identify that the voice is coming from freaking Homero of all things or places.

"Hey there, little Johnson. How ya holding up, ya bastard?" Samuel's voice rings from Homero. How did he do so was beyond Grey, but the Vault Hunter was too drained to care by this point anyway.

Quinn immediately primes her equipment and gets in front of her Admiral.

"You again? Damn…" Grey sighs tiredly.

"Enjoying the ride, little Johnson?" Samuel's disembodied voice speaks in wicked fascination. "After all, I prepared all this just for you"

"I'm having the time of my life" He responds sarcastically.

"And what about you, Joker?" Samuel addresses the other man. This raises Grey's eyebrows, but otherwise doesn't let it bother him too much. "Hopefully, my preparations weren't in vain for someone of your caliber"

"You sure know how to entertain your guests, Mr. J!" Oz says cheerfully. "No drinks, no food and everything in sight tries to kill us. This is one hell of a party! Only that it makes me sad that you prepared this for Grey and not for me, but oh well!"

"Good, good!" Samuel begins to laugh, but is interrupted by a fit of coughing. "I'm glad you're all entertained!"

"I think I've bitten more than I can chew" Grey readily admits. "To be honest, I'm wasted"

"Oh, that's too bad" Samuel says with sadism as clear as day in his voice. "But I'm sure you can still play for a bit more? After all, Homero is just getting started"

Grey takes a deep breath, and stays silent for some seconds. The Vault Hunter closes his eyes in this interval, and lets his breathe become rhythmical, steady.

First he turns back to the unsteady Alex, who gives him a quivering look.

"I… I can still fight" She says.

But Grey doesn't believe her, she can barely stand.

"You've done enough" He says with a face that results indescribable to the lilac-haired girl. "I need you to stay with Amber"

And then, he turns back to the titanic monster, the last obstacle. Oz doesn't let his own smile falter, and notes how Grey's killer intent becomes clearly focused. Grey drops the Strife from his shoulder, and takes a step forward, letting his anger out in the form of cold, calculated, if yet somewhat reckless vengeance.

"Time to wrap this mess up"

Answers to MortalitasBorealis questions:

I'm not hiding any girl's identities, it's not like I'm trying. Anyone with a little knowledge of Kancolle can guess who each girl is. And since I'm not hiding it at all, I may as well put this up:

Amber is Destroyer Inazuma.

Alex is Destroyer Yayoi.

Quinn is Destroyer Murakumo.

And indeed, I'm trying to keep some form of awkwardness when it comes to the girl's fighting against insane bandits and superpowered insects. I mean, from a 'normal' person's point of view, Borderlands as a whole can result pretty fucked up. Now, add a young man who takes questionable decisions all the time, and you get a recipe for disaster.

And indeed, Homero is certainly bigger than Voracidous, as I thought of Homero like a Varkid on a Kaiju/Godzilla scale. I went for a different kind of threat, which you will see addressed in the next chapter. Even if Homero is quite bigger than Voracidous, it doesn't mean that Homero's the stronger one.

And finally, I do want to bring some other creatures from Pandora into Chariot. I'll refrain from giving them out right now, but you can expect some throwbacks to the games for future chapters.

Thanks for reading!