And the eleventh chapter is here! This didn't take too long to write, but enjoy anyway.

Also, a bit of a Vault explainer in this chapter, which I'll go into detail more in later chapters. That's why I decided not to immediately upload this; I wanted just to leave it since it's pretty exposition-heavy.

So, without further being any more loquacious…

Chapter Eleven: Anarchy

Three weeks later

The Vault Hunters were collected around the scanner in Crimson Raider HQ.

'We're getting closer to the Vault more than ever before,' Lilith announced proudly. 'It's somewhere beyond the Highlands, somewhere between it and the Dust.'

'But it keeps going off the radar,' Aurora reminded her. 'Like it keeps…fading in and out of existence.'

'Is that what your Vault Instincts tell you?' Axton guessed. She nodded.

'Like all Vaults, it possesses supernatural qualities unique to itself. However, this one seems to be way different from anything I learnt during the Gemini Vault Hunter Training Program.'

'We haven't given up yet!' Gaige exclaimed excitedly. 'We'll definitely get that Vault.'

'Enthusiasm / Such a great aspect to have / I admire you,' Zer0 venerated, displaying a wide smiley face on his visor.

'Thanks, Zer0!' She accepted.

'Careful, amigo,' Mordecai cautioned convivially. 'You don't want to stroke her ego too much.'

'There's nothing wrong with a little confidence!' Maya laughed.

'She's had it in bounds all week, compañeros,' Salvador observed. 'It's great! She's going to need it for the inevitable fight!'

'Thanks guys!' Gaige thanked.

'Aurora: what did your parents say about Gemini?' Lilith asked her.

'They've been pushing ahead on their plans ever since the destruction of the Gulag a month ago.'

'Of course, the Vault's going to open for them now that Matt isn't subconsciously keeping it closed.' Aurora hesitated at Lilith's response about Matt.

'Yeah, still can barely believe all that. Merged with a Siren's powers? I don't think even Gemini could quite comprehend it.'

'How close are they getting?' The Siren inquired.

'Well, it's hard to get a location on something that keeps disappearing. Every time they think they're getting somewhere, the Vault disappears. The Corporation's elite higher-ups are theorising that maybe it changes it location every so often.'

'And…?'

'It's not true,' Aurora informed her. 'My Instincts are more advanced than Hyperion's technology. And Gemini don't share their technology. From what I can tell, the Vault stays in the same location whenever it is in the physical plane.'

'Wait,' Maya halted her. 'Are you implying that this Vault…it disappears into some metaphysical domain every so often?'

'Exactly. I think it's only transitioning because it's been weakened.'

'Now that Matt's dead,' Gaige realised, gesturing worriedly. 'The Vault's opening, like you said. What if…what if the Vault "opening" is it coming into the physical purview?'

'Quite possibly,' Mordecai supposed. 'So if anyone gets too close to it…'

'They'll be able to open it permanently,' Aurora finished, changing the scanner to show the 3D design of a Vault gateway to emphasise her point.

'Well, then, slabs,' Brick addressed. 'It's just a matter of getting to it first!'

'You're damn right it is!' Gaige complimented. 'With the Raiders' patrols and Aurora's Instincts, we've got this, no sweat!' Lilith put a welcoming hand on her shoulder.

'Matt would be proud,' she gratified heart-warmingly. smiling. Gaige repaid the smile, happy with herself.

'Thank you, that means a lot.' The Siren nodded.

'First things first,' Lilith continued. 'We're taking Hyperion head-on. Thanks to Matt, we have better weapons and a better shield. It should be easier to –'

She was interrupted by a vociferous explosion outside. Followed by another. And another. They all ran out onto the balcony. Helios was firing shots, but the shield was absorbing it. That wasn't what was creating the explosions. There was a man riding on what seemed to be some kind of hoverboard, floating outside the barrier of Sanctuary. He was firing lasers from his gauntlets and air pockets straight from his hands.

'Who is that?' Maya asked. The man had short blonde hair and full battle armour. He had a scar which was instantly to recognisable to both Aurora and Axton.

'Caine,' they both told her, with clear animosity in their voices.

'That's Caine?!' Mordecai repeated, not quite believe the display of power he was showing.

'The shield's holding up!' Lilith observed. 'But I don't think it will forever! That Caine guy is putting it under some serious stress!'

'It's a good thing we got a new one! The old one would've been destroyed by now!' Axton relieved.

'We need to draw him out!' Lilith noted. 'Brick, get your buzzards!'

'Wait!' Aurora paused. 'Caine's not stupid. He wouldn't come alone!' She was proven right almost immediately. Flying in hoverbikes were other Gemini-sanctioned Vault Hunters. Aurora pointed them out.

'Duke Minoosh: he can fire any gun with expert accuracy and damage but needs time to focus.' She was pointing to an African-American man with a bandana around his eyes. 'There: Violet Parker. She fires powerful light from her hands but it takes a lot out of her to do it in rapid succession. It's an evolutionary advantage from her alien race.' Violet was the purple-skinned, pink-haired woman with an entertained look on her face. 'Over there is Arcturus Vaus. He has these…wind funnels generated by his small armbands. They're not too powerful, but can get overwhelming when he fires them fast.' Arcturus was a Caucasian man of Promethean descent.

'Who's left?' Gaige asked. She was feeling underpowered already.

'The fourth besides Caine is my cousin, Dan. He can create holographic projections: physical or intangible. Don't let him distract you. However, once you confuse him, he should not be able to target you easily.'

'Did Matt work with all of these people?' Maya asked. She nodded.

'They liked him actually.'

'Guys! Enough reminiscing!' Lilith ordered. 'Their using their combined powers to smash through the shield!' They jumped down from the balcony. Gaige called out Deathtrap to use as a hover.

'Brick! Get your best Buzzard pilots. We'll need them to take those Vault Hunters down!' She told him.

'Good idea, slab!' He went off to go call for some support.

'Wait! Where're you going, Gaige?' Lilith demanded.

'To draw them in!' She replied, hopping on Deathtrap, how held her legs for support. They floated up towards the Gemini Vault Hunters. 'Thank you, aero-jets!'

She flew up and out of the shield. As soon as Caine noticed her, he fired lasers towards her. Deathtrap dodged them, and allowed her to get close.

If we can put enough stress on this shield, might be able to create a brief opening, Caine thought. We can distribute enough damage across a widespread area, so that the shock absorption effect is put under pressure.

'Why are you here?' Gaige probed, snatching Caine from his train of thought.

'We're here for Matt!' All of them responded, drawing in around her.

Predictable.

'We heard he was here!' Caine added. 'So we're bringing him in!'

'Caine!' Violet sighed. 'We're not doing this too aggressively. We're just trying to get past the shield. Then we can bring on the sweet pain.' She proved this by firing light at the barrier.

'In case you're forgetting,' Duke reminded, 'Matt's our friend.'

'He made his choice when he left!' The explosive man argued. 'So we're taking down as many of these guys as we can!'

'What?' Gaige cheekily re-joined. 'You want to take down fellow Vault Hunters?' All of the Gemini Hunters' eyes widened except for Caine.

'You're all Vault Hunters?' Arcturus enquired in disbelief.

'Most of us are. You see, the Vault Hunters on this planet never died or left. Gemini just enjoys lying.'

'I'm…sure, they had a reason,' Violet disputed. 'Anyway: Give us Matt or we will be forced to hurt you. Don't think I won't enjoy it.'

'You all really don't know, do you?'

'What do you mean?' Dan queried.

'I don't know why Gemini would send you on this wild goose chase. Maybe they were trying to keep you occupied.'

'What are you talking about?' Vaus repeated.

'Matt's…' she still somewhat struggled to describe it. 'Matt's dead.'

'What?!' All of them took aback, aside from Caine.

'Knew that would happen eventually,' he muttered.

'Hyperion beat you to him. They blew him up.'

'Oh,' Violet said to herself. 'I liked him. He was fun.'

'Your reason to be here is pointless,' Gaige apprised them. 'Leave. There are reinforcements arriving. No one has to get hurt here.'

'Caine, she's right,' Arcturus recognised. 'We must go.' He didn't listen.

'If I don't get to kill Matt…' he started intimidatingly. 'THEN NO ONE GETS TO LIVE!' He used his explosions to propel his way to Gaige, and grabbed her by the throat, deactivating Deathtrap. He propelled her back towards Sanctuary, breaking a small hole – which quickly closed up – in the shield which allowed him to pass through.

Caine threw her into the ground and created a small crater. Gaige struggled to get up from the hole. He picked her up and propelled her into another building, and tried to punch her, but she dodged it. The man got angry even more, and picked her up and threw her into another building, before landing on the ground. Luckily, she had some resistance that meant she did not feel too much pain from it, so she did not take her too long to get back up again.

Zer0, Maya, Axton and Salvador all approached Caine, but he created a large warning shockwave to prevent them from getting close. They were knocked on the ground. Lilith ran towards him, entering Phasewalk and Phaseblasting him. He dodged it, and punched her away.

The Gemini Vault Hunters could only watch, purely unable to intervene. The people screaming and running was a horror to observe. And it was Caine's doing.

Caine fired off three more shockwaves that caused some debris that the other Vault Hunters had to occupy themselves saving civilians. He then continued to attack Gaige.

'MATT WAS MINE TO KILL!' He whined. 'NOT HYPERION!'

He became distracted for a moment when he saw a flash of blue light coming from inside the main building. It wasn't the perfect time for someone to be fast-travelling into Sanctuary.

That increment of time allowed Gaige to land a solid punch on his face.

Rage brewed on his face, as he grabbed Gaige again and used his explosions to slam her into a wall. He impelled himself forwards and persisted his attack on her. One more punch threw Gaige back towards the crater from before, which burrowed even further into the ground. He seemed prepared to kill her, probably through an amalgamation of explosions and lasers.

'You…little…bi–'

'Language,' cautioned a voice behind her. Caine turned around and was shocked. But before he could say anything, he was thrown back into a wall. Gaige looked up.

Matt.

He's alive! She thought ecstatically, tears of joy quickly forming in her eyes. No way!

His arm was swirling red, and had red and black lightning emitting from it, but the rest of his body was dirty, ripped, bloody, and covered in excessive, dangerous injuries. The man seemed to be entirely ignorant of those lacerations.

'Matt, you're alive,' Caine uttered angrily. 'Good…now I can kill you.' He threw more explosions from his hands, throwing himself towards him. Matt calmly stepped to the side, caught his punch with ease, and punched his rib. Caine was flown backwards. Getting up from the rubble he had just created, he fired lasers at long distance, but they all missed thanks to the Anomaly slowing down time.

'A bold move, Caine,' he commented, sounding so calm that it seemed that Matt wasn't even trying to win this fight. He made fighting Caine seem effortless. 'But you don't get to hurt my friends.' Matt calmly walked towards him, easily catching the attention of his fellow Vault Hunters.

Matt survived?! Aurora thought in disbelief. That's impossible!

Always knew that kid had some fight left in him, Axton chuckled to himself. You know what? Maybe that guy isn't so bad.

If Matt's alive… Lilith wondered. Why is the Vault still opening?

'I'm gonna kill you!' Caine threatened, using more propulsion to end up hurtling towards him. Matt slowed down time as the explosive Vault Hunter flew towards him. He ducked under him, and punched his stomach at an angle, sending him flying into to the building on his left.

Getting up from the debris, his jaw dropped. Matt had never been able to slow time to the point where he could easily dodge his attacks – he was often too fast.

What? No…how can that be?

Open your eyes, and maybe you'll see.

The mantra rang true in his thoughts, and he opened his eyes, albeit struggling. Once his field of vision was restored, Caine's could only see the figure of Matt Rye careering towards him with a punch.

Matt sucker punched him with the force of a hurricane, sending him soaring back into the air. The shield had re-energised since Caine's attack on it, allowing it to absorb the blast – whereas it would have gone through with relative ease, if the Gemini Vault Hunters were still engaging in on the shield.

'You…pathetic…Anomo.'

Caine was sent catapulting back to Sanctuary grounds, back in front of where Matt was. He picked him up, possessing a stern look on his face.

'Go home, Caine. Go running back to Gemini. You have no place here.' Caine could hardly reply, given that he just suffered an unbelievable amount of force. His gauntlets were destroyed; there was no way he would continue this fight in any case. Matt nodded to the Gemini Hunters, who were actually variably pleased to see him, but knew full well that their job was to capture him.

There was no way they could beat Matt, especially now that Caine was rendered temporarily useless. With him down, it would impossible to get past Sanctuary's shield. So they did what the Anomaly was conveying for them to do: fire on the shield.

Once he estimated that enough stress had been put on it, Matt powered up his arm with red energy with a tinge of black in. That little bit of black energy had never been shown before, and it disconcerted Gaige a little as she tried to get up from the crater. It formed lightning.

With about two fifths of his power energised, he uppercut Caine into the air again. Now, he smashed straight through the shield, and back into the air. It took a mere few seconds for the barrier to close up the aperture again. Duke called for the hoverboard to catch him.

'Until we are foolish enough to attack again, Matt!' Dan called, with a hint of cynical, false friendliness in his voice. Dan then turned back to Aurora. 'See you around, cuz.´ Aurora hated that nickname.

Matt nodded to him, but Dan was forced to speed off once Brick's buzzards finally arrived. The drivers definitely seemed a little annoyed that they didn't get to shoot or blow anyone up. They groaned as Brick was forced to call them off to return to Thousand Cuts.

There was silence echoing throughout Sanctuary.

By this time, everyone knew of Matt and everyone knew he was supposed to be dead. Even Claptrap was speechless, and he hadn't spoken to Matt once.

Gaige finally clambered out of the crater, groaning. This immediately alerted him to her again, and he hobbled over to her. She noticed his nose was drenched in fresh blood and it was leaking from his mouth.

'Matt,' she beckoned, looking entranced by his appearance.

'Uh, hey,' he coughed. It seemed like he was starting to take his toll from his injuries. He stumbled towards her, causing Gaige to hold him for support.

That didn't work out too well.

'Sorry if I, um, worried y–'

Matt was cut off through weakness in his limbs and intense pain pertaining to his bones. He hadn't paid attention to his own gashes as of late. Now it was coming back to haunt him. It resulted in his falling straight to the ground, unconscious. He allowed the blackness to engulf him, even after hearing the worried voice of Gaige saying "Matt! No!" prior to full darkening.

To be honest, that was quite short. However, I didn't plan on keeping Matt dead for long. I felt like that kind of deterred the whole point of the story – however it is present so that the Vault Hunters become more focussed on hunting the Vault. Once he returns to the land of the living, they will fully go after the Vault.

Moreover, finally gotten to the point of talking about how this new Vault works. I've been teasing it since forever. I suppose it has a minor similarity to the Traveller, since both him and that Vault teleports, except this one teleports between two dimensions, rather than just anyway.

Finally, I realize that it seemed like just mentioning what the Gemini Vault Hunters do very quickly was quite brief, but they show up more later where what they do will be more important. Especially because, well, they'll be fresher in his mind now that they've appeared when he hasn't seen them for a while.

Wow, that was a lot of chit-chat…