A/N: I only own my OCs. Everything else belongs to Gearbox.
So, I finally updated! Sorry for the wait. How are you all liking
it so far? I've got a couple surprises (I hope) in store.
Property of Hyperion
Chapter Ten: Progress
Killing wasn't always a bad thing so long as the right people died. Creatures without humanity weren't the same as people, but it was the decaf to my coffee-addicted body. I could slaughter as many monsters as I wished. People, though... Blue blood spurted from a suddenly headless stalker, and my body shook with laughter. The electric shock of Gaige's grenades had torn through my shield and burned my now-numb left arm, but not enough to stop me from slinging around my axe. It was moments like this that I appreciated my body's fortitude. Without it, I probably would have died years ago.
The room was dark. I was frozen in place by fear and elation. It was the big day. We had waited for this moment for too long. My hand wrapped around the doorknob, but I hesitated to open it. How ready was I for this?
Pain flourished in my skull and I howled, gripping the sides of my head. "No, no, no." My axe fell to the ground. Something sharp sank deep into my leg, but it was nothing in comparison to this stabbing in my head. After a beat I kicked the stalker and knocked it away. Seconds crept by and the agony remained, angrily throbbing in my head. When the pain didn't let up, I crumpled to my knees. "Keep the memories down," I snarled. "Slash them, stab them, kill them."
Fire erupted in my arm and licked across my back. I tried to talk, but my mouth was twisted in pain. I couldn't speak. On instinct, my hand flew to my gun. Bullets didn't bother me. I would fight through it like always.
"Make them bleed thought-juice. Make them wither. Make them hide!"
Admittedly, I was stuck somewhere between feeling and seeing. Normally I was just aware about what my body was doing, sensing. I couldn't control it because I was just a voice, an impression in the back of my own head. But this agony, these memories, I experienced them with my body, and I felt sorry for myself. Shock settled in, but didn't wholly blind me. I had some clarity. There wasn't sense in wasting time. I had to shake off whatever I was feeling before I could attempt to reign in my body. Getting this under control was imperative.
"Look, stick with me, buddy. That is in the past."
When did I reach for my shotgun? As if magic, it was in my hand, pulled from my back, and I fired blindly, shouting incoherently at the top of my lungs.
"Stop shooting! You're gonna hurt someone!"
"I'M GONNA BUILD AN EMPIRE ON THE MEAT OF YOUR DECAYING CORPSES!" I was enraged, but it felt a little deeper than that. What it was I couldn't figure out, but it was there. The shotgun barked again and again without any specified target. "Sing the hymns of your gnarled pancreases, my meat pretties!" The head of the last stalker in front of me exploded.
With horror, I watched as my body turned and faced the group of Vault Hunters, who were cleaning up the last of the creatures. Quickly, I gathered what so-called strength I had and tried to shout - easier said than done - and command what was already becoming a very bad situation.
"Big guy, if you don't stop shooting, I will kill us both! It's gonna end, here and now! Understand?"
The gun barked again, though I couldn't be sure if was because I had already been pulling the trigger or if it was out of defiance. Regardless, the bullets sank into a stalker corpse heaped on the ground. Smoke wafted from the barrels of my shotgun, and I was gasping for breath. Stalkers were lying on the ground: some in pieces, some whole. Their neon-blue blood looked wrong, as though it was rotting the grass beneath it; some of it was spattered on me, which wasn't the most pleasant feeling. My skin wasn't corroding, but from the smell of fetid meat and spoiled milk, I figured a shower was in order very soon.
Adrenaline was still running high like fire in my blood. That... That was a memory - a fragment, a shard of something before the experiments. It wasn't much, and I didn't dare try to recall any more right then, but it was something. It was more than I had a day ago.
"Axton, you don't get it!" Gaige was shouting.
From my knees, I turned to look towards where most of the commotion had happened. Maya and Gaige were hovering over something. There wasn't much blood on the mound between the women, but it wasn't moving either. The commando had his hands clasped behind his head as he paced, not looking too happy, and Salvador was picking through stalker piles. Someone was missing.
"Go see what's going on."
A gun was lying next to one of the stalkers. I hobbled over to inspect it, muttering "Soul-stabbers and meat-grabbers make sharks of the mice and mind." The gun was Jakobs made, rustic-looking and reliable. A long-barreled pistol with a comfortable grip. I shot it at one of the corpses, only mildly affected by the recoil.
"Come on. Go make sure the Siren is okay."
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Axton had stopped pacing, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Honest mistake, but the grenades worked."
"No, not an honest mistake, Ax. I knew. If she's dead, it's on me for throwing those grenades. She's not exactly a Bandit. She was a person, like Marcy. Although it could be argued that Marcy was a vile rodent that died at her own hands because she drove me to what I did, and I shouldn't have gotten expelled, nor arrested, nor third place because she stole my idea, and I was just-"
Maya placed a hand on the teenager's shoulder. "Take a breath, Gaige." She knelt down, inspecting something. "Has anyone checked for a pulse, yet?"
"Just do it. You've killed a lot today, and more will be waiting for you tomorrow."
My axe clicked back into place on my belt; the shotgun slid into the holster on my back. I dropped the Jakobs, disinterested.
"Uhh, I don't do that kind of science."
Groaning, I lumbered over to the group. Cypher didn't look terrible. She was decorated with stalker entrails, and her left arm was pink from burns, but she wasn't bleeding profusely. Her nose was flared, lavender lips parted just enough to reveal pearly teeth. My heart sank, I thought, at the sight.
"What?" The soldier stared at her incredulously. "So I'm getting yelled at for possibly killing someone that might not be dead? Great. Thanks, guys."
The Siren huffed, pushing some hair behind her ear. "This isn't about you, Axton," she chided. Maya pulled the glove off her slender hand and pressed two fingers to Cypher's neck, waiting. Seconds of stillness ticked by. Axton didn't seem too worried, but the Siren and self-proclaimed Mechromancer were obviously hoping to find a-
Cypher gasped and grabbed Maya's arm, pulling on the blue-haired Siren so Cypher was sitting upright. Gaige shrieked and jumped six feet in the air, only to fall on her backside. Axton's hand was on his gun, but I could see it was more instinct than aggression. Maya was visibly surprised, but otherwise held her composure well. Cypher's violet eyes were the size of saucers, darting this way and that wildly. After a moment, she exhaled and leaned back, relaxing on the grass.
There was an easy smile that lightened Maya's face. "Are you alright?"
Cypher's shoulders shook silently. She was grinning, then began to laugh aloud. "That," she started, finally releasing Maya's arm. "That was awesome!" She was having a little trouble breathing, but she seemed fine, otherwise. There were a few bites on her legs, and some spikes that would have to be pulled out later, but she was going to live. "So, we need to go to the Eridium extraction plant, right?"
Salvador tossed Maya an Anshin vial, no doubt the only one he could find. "Pequeña, pero feroz." His face was split in half by the wide, toothy smile he wore more often than not. "Small, but fierce," he translated.
They all laughed. Maya gave Cypher the injection, which made only a few visible changes. The redness in her skin faded, and the bleeding stopped. Otherwise, the new Siren was perfectly fine already. "No," Gaige started and dusted herself off. "I think it's best we rest here for the night." Everyone else seemed to agree, and they headed back to the small shack.
Maya looked back at me and smirked a bit. "You coming, big guy?"
I smiled back and raised my axe in the air. "Grind the darkness until it giggles to death!"
"Idiot."
It was murmured in my head with mild contempt. Were I in control, though, I would have been chuckling at myself. There wasn't anything I could do about the harsh feelings between myself and the other men in our band of merry murderers, but I still had two friends here. No, three. Cypher had stuck up for me, just like Gaige and Maya had before. Three friends that wouldn't kill me in my sleep. That was something.