"I have news. The Raiders have infiltrated the Arid Nexus, which is where the Hyperion Info Stockade is," I told Maya and Zer0 after I got off the ECHO with Jack.

"They aren't going to be there now, as we can very well guess. Why is the information important?" Maya asked.

"Because there's a good chance they found out where The Warrior is buried to stop us. Jack wants us to go to Hero's Pass ASAP to help defend the Vault Key," I told them. Zer0 immediately rose to his feet with his sword at at the ready.

Maya grabbed her ECHO on her bedside table and summoned her Hellfire to her hands. I was already ready to head out, so the three of us walked out with Hyperion soldiers outside waiting for us. They immediately saluted as soon as we walked outside of the building.

"Vault Hunters," the men chorused at the same time. I nodded at the soldiers.

"At ease. Are we set for Hero's Pass?" I questioned.

"Yes sir. We shall input the coordinates for you in the Fast Travel. Mister Jack wants at least one of you defending the Vault Key while the rest of you head off the bandits," one of the soldiers told me.

"That sounds fine. We'll head at the edge of Hero's Pass and head them off when they arrive. Are you participating in the Hero's Pass main strike?" I asked him.

"No sir. We'll be holding our post here," the man said. I nodded before following the soldier to the Fast Travel. I then contacted Jack.

"Got my hands full cupcake. What do you need?" he asked.

"We're heading to Hero's Pass now. We'll deal with the Raiders as they come," I told him.

"That sounds good. Who are you going to have posted to defend the Vault Key?" Jack asked.

"I'll have Zer0 posted near you. He's a master of the element of surprise. Those bandits somehow get past us, they're dead as soon as they walk in," I told him.

"That sounds good. Just get here," Jack said. I shut off the call and turned to Zer0.

"I want you to aid Jack with defending the Vault Key. I have confidence in your stealth and ambush capabilities. You are the best person for to take position there," I told him. He nodded before I turned to Maya.

"You'll be with me in the main strike. The ex-Lancemen," I said the words with malice. "should be easy enough to kill."

"They won't survive this. Every odd is against them," Maya said, making me smile.

"Exactly my thinking," I said as we made it to the Fast Travel.

The whole place was in a scramble as the base was preparing for the arrival of the Raiders. We walked towards the end of the base and Zer0 was the only one who continued towards Jack's location while we remained on the outside. Me and Maya sat on a stone near the entrance, waiting on an update.

"The soldiers are standing by," a soldier told me, walking up to me.

"Good. We'll advance further when they arrive. I want to see if the loaders and soldiers can deal with these bandits. Inform me when they arrive," I told him.

"Yes sir," the soldier said, walking off. I looked over at Maya, who's face was dead serious.

"You look tense," I told her.

"We're about to get into a fight. Of course I'm tense," Maya said.

"You don't have to until they arrive. I find that I focus a lot better when I relax before I immerse myself in the fight," I told her.

"Well, I may try your suggestion. But don't hold your breath," Maya said. I nodded, but didn't take my eyes off her. I looked at her with an examining look. I didn't really talk much with this woman. And I was vastly interested in her. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. Maya turned towards me as I was looking at her and quickly looked away.

"You're not even going to ask?" I questioned. Maya didn't respond, so I decide to respond in a casual way. I was going to hope these bandits were going to do one thing right and take their damn time.

I placed my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer before moving her chin to look me in the face.

"I'll ask you again, and I genuinely want to know. Has anyone toughed you affectionately?" I asked. She attempted to move her head away, but I kept her face looking towards me. I could easily see that she was uncomfortable with this situation, but I wasn't going to let her run.

"You wanna do this now?" Maya asked.

"Yes. I'm wondering-"

"How you can try to seduce me?" Maya asked me.

"Seducing, no. Though I would like to get to know you. Physically, emotionally, and mentally. I really want to know what makes you... tick," I said, saying the last word with a sharp flick of my tongue.

"What do you propose?" Maya questioned.

"How about you choose what area we explore and we'll see where that goes. Because personally, I find you attractive in every way and I don't want to pass you by. I'm a patient person," I said.

"And how would you demonstrate physically?" Maya asked. I smirked. She wanted to start physically out of all things? That definitely told me something. Or maybe I was just reading too much into it. Or maybe, this was her way of edging this forward. I could tell that she didn't really know the meaning of love. Platonic or romantic. So I wanted to help her out. That was my main reason for doing this.

My side reason for doing was cause I definitely wanted a chance at dat booty. I internally shook my head at my own choice of wording, but let's face it. I'd have to be half brain dead, gay, or really professional to keep this platonic. I was definitely not brain dead or gay. But I wasn't that professional.

"Allow me to demonstrate," I said, my heart starting to beat a little fast. I was a little nervous cause I wasn't the most experienced person in the world, but I took chances when I could.

I turned towards her and one of my hands was on her waist with the other on her shoulder, drawing her closer to my lips. I leaned forward to deepen the kiss, and I heard Maya give off a small moan. So far, so good.

I didn't even notice that I had pushed her down to lay on the stone we were sitting on, but when I stopped kissing her, that's exactly the position we were in. Damn, was I that gone from the world?

I stared at her with a coy smile on my face as I sat up. I was slightly embarrassed because I'm sure she felt my erection poking at her thigh while we were laying on the stone, but it was overridden by eagerness and from this woman turning me on so damn good.

"So... was that a decent enough demonstration?" I asked. Maya was looking slightly breathless, her hair all over the place rather than it being straight like usual, and her face flushed. She looked like the most beautiful woman on earth to me with this look.

When she didn't respond, I responded by moving the strands of hair out of her face with a small smile on my face.

"I guess you're satisfied. Alright, then-" Then I felt her abruptly grabbed my head and pull me closer, locking lips with me again. She seemed a lot more eager as well as confident. I definitely was not going to fight her on this.

Then I could hear whooping on the right side of me. Maya gently pushed on my chest to break the kiss before sitting up and walking off. I groaned. I'm not sure if the cockblocking was intentional or an accident. Either way, I was upset.

"Goddammit!" I exclaimed before gesturing to the soldiers. "Couldn't you have just kept quiet?!" The soldiers rubbed their necks in minor embarrassment, which made me roll my eyes before going over to Maya.

"Don't say it," she immediately told me.

"Say what?" I asked.

"That what we did was stupid," Maya said.

"Actually, I was wondering when we could do it again. I don't know how in the hell you came to that conclusion," I told her. Maya looked back towards me and raised an eyebrow.

"What about your professionalism?" Maya questioned.

"When it comes to a woman like you, fuck professionalism," I said, walking closer to her and putting my hands on her hips. I moved my face closer to hers and kissed her. Not in a passionate way, but more in a tender and caring way.

"I'd love a woman like you by my side. Do you want a man like me is the question?" I asked.

"As long as you can promise we one thing," Maya said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"If you'll teach me what it means to be treated like a woman. Cause my whole life, I've been treated like a soldier," Maya said.

"For that to happen, you have to let me. I know you're a strong, independent woman. It's one of the most attractive things about you. But at times, just let me do things for you. You don't have to do it all alone," I told her, holding out my hand. She grasped it and gave me a nod.

"I'll do my best," she said.

"My answer is the same," I said, pulling her head closer and kissing her on the forehead.

"I assume we'll be invited to the wedding after we're done here?" I heard of the soldiers ask. Maya rolled her eyes as I put my arm around her shoulders before looked at the soldiers in question.

"If we do, none of you clowns are invited," I said, pointing at the soldiers in question with my other free hand. Then there was an explosion in the distance, causing me to immediately jerk my head towards the direction it came from. It wasn't faint, but it wasn't really easy to hear either.

"Time to get down to business," I said, summoning my Conference Call and draping it over my shoulder as I walked towards the sound of the explosion, Maya right next to me with her Hellfire. Then a soldier ran up to me before saluting.

"Sir. We may be able to eliminate one of the leaders with a moonshot. Just give us a few moments to set it up. If you feel as if you can wait, hold out on advancing," he told me. I nodded.

"Very well. But I want to be close to the action if it doesn't work," I told him.

"Very well. If that's the case, then I'd suggest holding position near our shield wall. That may give us enough time to prepare and you'll be clear out to kill what's left of them," the soldier told me.

"Very well," I said, walking forward until I found this shield wall he mentioned. Didn't take me long to find it. It was kind of hard to miss a giant yellow wall with the Hyperion symbol on it.

I teleported me and Maya up to a higher vantage point to get a better bird's eye view of the situation. I could see that Mordecai, the drunken sniper was on a stolen drop barge and being swarmed by JET loaders. Then I saw that Brick had jumped up there to try and help him. I smirked. They'd both die on that drop barge.

When I saw the drop barge get moonshotted, normally I would figure that no one would survive that. But this was not a normal situation. After I finished here, I was going to send squads all over possible routes they could've climbed out of. They would not get away if I had anything to say about it. This. Ends. Now.

Me and Maya jumped down to meet what soldiers they had. They had but one Lanceman and Krieg with Tiny Tina riding piggyback on him. I had my hands on the side of me as I slowly walked forward as if I was greeting old friends.

"How nice of you to join the party!" I exclaimed before quickly blasting the Lanceman in the head before he could even react. "We don't need any Lanceman scum here. How about you drop your weapons, swear your allegiance to Hyperion, and we don't have to kill you?"

"MY AXE IS THIRSTY!" Krieg yelled before charging forward while Tiny Tina was summoning grenades from her ECHO and chucking them at us. I teleported me and Maya away from the grenades and directly behind them. I then grabbed Tina off Krieg's back and tossed her towards Maya, who immediately put the thirteen year old in an iron chokehold. Krieg immediately wheeled around with an axe blow, but I deflected it and pushed him back.

"Amuse me bandit. Come on. Give it your best shot," I said, with my blade at my side and my hand moving in a 'come here' motion. Krieg roared before charging towards me and started hitting me with reckless axe attacks that I could easily maim him for. Which I did. When he tried hit me with a particularly sloppy attack, I spun my blade and disarmed him of his axe before headbutting him down on the ground. He quickly stood up, but I was ready to finish this.

"For Pandora!" I exclaimed as a testament to this planet being plagued by these unholy beings.

I impaled Krieg in his stomach, and I could hear him groan in pain. I could hear him spit something up, which was blocked by his mask. Bet that wasn't pleasant.

I continued by twisting the blade further in before suddenly jerking it out and decapitating him. His body stayed upright and walked from side to side a few times before crumpling as the stump where his head used to be continued to squirt out blood. I held out my hands on my side and looked towards the sky in celebration. We had won this battle.

I looked back towards Maya, who was no longer holding Tina. I saw that she was dead on the ground, so I could assume Maya either choked her to death or snapped her neck. Choking was a risky business, so I had to ask.

"How'd you kill her?" I asked.

"Snapped her neck. Choking her is too risky," Maya said, making me smile.

"You think just like me on that matter," I said before getting on the ECHO. "Commander!"

"Yes General?" he asked.

"Get some squads together and survey the lava wreckage. I have a small suspicion that the bandits we bombed might have gotten away somehow," I told him.

"Yes sir. I'm sending a squad towards you as well. If you see him, you'll have the number for intimidation," the commander said.

"Get here as fast as you can," I said before shutting of the call. I then turned towards Maya and kissed her lightly. "How about a date after this?"

"On Pandora? Not the most romantic place on earth. And this is coming from me," Maya said, gesturing to the place around her. I smiled and shook my head.

"I'll see what Jack can do for us. But I can definitely say that I've found a permanent partner in you as well as Zer0," I said. Maya smiled.

"Can't wait to see what insanity we can get into in the future," she said.

"It's going to be glorious," I said before leading her over the edge of the lava rock and keeping an eye on it. Our forces arrived not too long after we settled near the rock. Then it was nothing but a waiting game to see if they were down there.

Eventually, we saw that Brick and Mordecai were stepping on lava rocks to avoid burning up completely. I gestured for everyone to back up before they saw us. We waited for them to arrive at the top, and the soldiers clicked their guns as they made it to the top. I had a smirk on my face as I held my hands out.

"I had a feeling you weren't dead. I'm surprised-" Brick immediately charged towards me, but when he threw a punch, I evaded it while chopping off the hand that threw the punch as his other fist was coming at me. I cut that one off quickly too. All within the span of seconds.

"You may be one of the great leaders of the Crimson Raiders, but in reality, you're nothing but a thug who doesn't have any skill apart from punching. Look at that. Your hands are gone. What the fuck are you going to do?" I questioned, getting close to his face with bared teeth as his stumps were dripping blood.

Then I felt a big and hard boot hit my chest, sending me flying. I simply teleported right back in front of Brick upright and, shortening my sword to a knife, chopped off his nose in an instant. I then kicked him onto his back before Phaselocking him. Of course, it wasn't my intention to trap him. I didn't want to trap him. I wanted the force of the Phaselock to hurt him, and it did judging by the groan he let out when I did, I succeeded.

"VETE ET DIABLO, HIJO DE PUTA!" Mordecai roared, the soldiers holding his shoulders to stop him from moving. I drew my Conference Call as I walked to Brick's head and shot him several times, reducing his face to a bloody mess. Mordecai gave an even louder bellow, but as I turned to him, Maya already had a Jakobs pistol of her own out and shot him in the face twice, causing him to crumple in the soldiers' arms, making them immediately let go of him.

"I knew I was going to enjoy the day when these bandits died. I'm even more glad I got to watch it close up," one of the soldiers said. I nodded before clapping all of the soldiers on their backs.

"You're good men. Very good men. You are all war heroes. Cause you are part of this noble cause. No matter how small your role was," I said, raising my hands.

"You most of all. You, your Siren ally, and the assassin are all people of action. And those are the best kind of people in war. People who do what they have to do. It was a pleasure serving under you," the soldiers said, standing at attention and saluting me. Me and Maya did the same in respect.

"The pleasure was mind. Now, we have a Warrior to awaken," I said, grabbing Maya and teleporting to Jack's location. He was slightly startled by the sudden light, but he calmed down upon seeing it was us.

"They all dead?" he asked.

"Every last one who came. No survivors, no mercy," I told him proudly. I then heard give Lilith give off an angry growl from her elevated position, and the smile on my face only got wider.

"That's excellent news. You... you are definitely one of the best people I've known. No offense to you cupcake, but he stuck with me from the beginning," Jack said, pointing to Maya then pointing to me. "You are set for life. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, but there are always more jobs to pull off. This one will be the most memorable," I said with a smile as the I saw the Vault Key form together and float just above the hole in the ground.

"Key's charged," Jack said. I gestured to him.

"Go ahead. Awaken the Warrior. Awaken him and drown these bandits in fire," I told him. Jack seemed to look at the Key before shaking his head.

"No. You do it," he said. My eyes widened.

"Wait, me?" I questioned, pointing to myself.

"You've definitely earned it kiddo. Plus, I can say that I trust you to use its power well. Much better than me. You haven't made as many mistakes as I have," Jack said, gesturing to the Key. I slowly walked over to the Key and pushed it into the spot at the bottom. Upon insertion, Lilith fell from the sky and a large force field was put around the Key. But I was able to walk out while dragging Lilith's body out as well.

I watched the rock formation of the Vault symbol, and nothing happened for a moment. But eventually, as if my thoughts were read, The Warrior suddenly rose from under the lava, climbed on top of the formation, and roared loudly in a sign of dominance. But it settled down and was looking at me, seemingly waiting on an order. I raised my arms as if I was raising the dead or some shit like that and spoke to the sky.

"This will be a day long remembered. Soon this planet will be a place worth living in," I said. The Warrior was awoken. Now time to remake this planet.

A/N: And there it is! The very thing we've been building up to all this time! I certainly had fun writing these last few chapters. I wouldn't expect this story to last much longer. Probably a chapter or two. And I know this isn't quite as good as my Male Siren story, but I appreciate everyone who supported this nonetheless. Catch ya next time!