Moxxi tapped a finger on her desk once and then twice. Scattered across the desktop were various maps, calculations, and an inspired drink recipe scrawled on the front of a closed manila folder. The recipe was for pleasure, but the documents contained within the folder were for profit.
So close now… She was regretful that she hadn't been able to convince Tanis to, at the very least, stay out of her way, but the Pandoran woman deeply mourned the loss of Brick—the big Vault Hunter would have enjoyed the fruits of her labor immensely. She had held off bringing him in on the plan for fear of pricking that conscience he had grown in the wake of Lilith and Mordecai's death, but trying to bring Tanis over and failing had tipped her hand. Once Brick had come running to Tanis' aid, there was no reasoning with him. He was worse than an animal when he got going; there would have been no calming him long enough to explain why what she was doing was for the greater good.
"You know they will come," a voice said from the door. Moxxi looked up slowly, studying the Assassin who regarded her in return.
All for the greater good… even if they each had their own reasons for pitching in. Their personal goals mattered to Moxxi only so far as she needed to understand them and stay five steps ahead of them all.
So far, so good, when everything was said and done.
"I know," she replied. "The narrow minded always fight. But it won't matter. Progress and profit drive this world, sugar, and I'll see both needs fed."
"They will attempt to stop you."
She smiled and patted the folder.
"You can't win when you fight the future, Zer0. I know that. You know that. Azrae… Asha… Even the Crimson Raiders understand that. The Vault Hunters were going stagnate. I know you saw it."
"Death takes those who stop."
"And neither of us is the type to just lie down and accept the inevitable. We'll change it, sugar, and you can bet we'll make money on the way."
"Money does not call/Does not offer a challenge/Worthy of pursuit."
The buxom woman laughed.
"It's never been about the money for you. But that money will draw in those who will fulfill every need you have—that, I can promise you. Don't worry, Zer0. As my champion, I'll make sure our relationship is satisfying for both of us. All we have to do is iron out these last little upsets before we can surge into the future."
/
/
Azrae's fingers flew over her keyboard, words and numbers dancing across the screen, her brows furrowed in concentration. Beside her, a machine cracked and hummed, singing its own unique electronic song, its cacophonous noise intersecting and interfering with any Echo communications coming in or going out of the area. The sound had become as familiar to her as her heartbeat over the past few days, so she couldn't fault it for her distraction.
Her computer let out a bleep as she overreached and entered a key code that meant nothing to her program. An annoyed hiss escaped her and she leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. What was distracting her…?
But she already knew what it was; it was the lack of distraction. There was no cheery male voice greeting her at the door, no teasing about when the last time she had seen the sun was, no gentle prompters reminding her to eat. The room was empty except for her breathing and the humming of the machine.
"Fuck," she cursed softly. "I don't miss you. You fell behind the times. You got lost."
She stared at her screen and then leaned forward, covering her face with her hands.
"When did I lose you, Harolt?"
/
/
They had become a fairly sizeable group, and an odd one at that. A masked man, two Sirens, a man in a Stetson and trench coat, the bulk of muscle that was Brick, the bucket of cheery bombardier that was Tiny (who was doing her best to ignore Handsome Jack's presence), a claptrap, the blonde haired sniper, and a flaming skag.
It was one of the few times Alexander felt like he was the most normal out of the bunch.
"So where are we going?" the gun designer questioned from the cramped back of the truck. Nadie had moved up front to sit between her father and her lover, and everyone else had cautiously climbed into the back. Luckily, Enrique, the flaming skag, seemed just fine loping along easily near the vehicle, so they didn't have to try and make room for him. Alexander couldn't imagine what havoc being near that much fire would wreck on his skin.
"There's an old abandoned building just up ahead where we can settle in and plan," Maya replied.
"Bah," Brick huffed. "Let's just take the fight straight to 'em now! I'm ready!" He slammed his fists against one another in emphasis.
"That works just fine for you, big man," Maya retorted, "but the rest of us are more the planning sort before we dive straight into the maw of the beast. Besides, you know Moxxi will have contingency plans." She paused and then gave the Vault Hunter a smile. "It is good to see you in one piece and in high spirits again. How did you manage that?"
Brick simply pointed at the back of Nadie's head who flinched, realizing she had been brought into the conversation. She turned to look back at them.
"Uh, hi."
"So, that whole healing thing isn't just on yourself, huh?" the blue haired Siren inquired of her counterpart.
"Nope. I can heal other people about as well as I can heal myself."
Maya nibbled on her lower lip as she studied Brick for a moment before cautiously asking, "I suppose you wouldn't be willing to help me out? If you can put him back together…." She gestured to the burns across her skin. Nadie looked her over and shook her head grimly.
"The only reason I was able to fix Brick up was with the assistance of Eridium. If you had some around, I could probably do something, but otherwise, I'm afraid the severity of your wounds are beyond me."
Beside her, Handsome Jack stiffened, waiting for a response from the back. When Maya sighed in frustration, he relaxed.
"I'm afraid I don't have any of it," the Vault Hunter grumbled. "Oh well, I was hoping." She shifted uncomfortably.
"Sorry."
The roof and upper story of a building half buried in sand emerged between the dunes and Lawson slowed the truck down as they approached it. Maya turned and looked at the bull skag.
"Enrique, would you go check it out? Make sure no one's in there."
The skag huffed and dashed off toward the building, brute forcing open the door that used to be on a balcony so he could pad in. Lawson grunted.
"Friendly-looking place."
"Well, it'll keep us off the radar," Maya replied and scooted herself to the edge of the truck carefully. Claptrap rolled out quickly and held up a hand to the Siren.
"Madam, if I may be of assistance?"
A ghost of a smile flittered across Maya's face.
"Thank you, Claptrap." She took the offered hand and leaned on him as she slid to the sand. "I'm usually a little more limber than this, but that fight really took it out of me."
The group quickly made their way into the building, blinking in the darkness within.
"Hey, bot," Handsome Jack ordered, "make yourself useful and go see if you can find a generator for this place. We're going to need some light."
"Why should I stumble alone through the dark?" Claptrap demanded. The masked man groaned.
"Because you don't have to rely on sight to navigate, you stupid robot. The rest of us do."
"Oh yeah… I'm on it!" The yellow box rolled off into the dark, and for a few moments, there was silence. Then, a series of thumps followed by a loud yell of, "Ow! There are stairs here! I'm going to need a hand getting back up!" echoed from somewhere ahead of them. Quiet swelled up again until they heard a robotic scream.
"Aaaggghh—oh, hi, Enrique! You can't surprise a guy like that!"
"Oh my god," Handsome Jack sighed, rubbing his face with a hand.
A few loud bangs sounded and then a hum ran through the building as lights clicked on, illuminating a room where sand had begun to encroach and claim the floor space. Nadie walked to an upended table and righted it.
"Well, it's no three star hotel, but it'll do."
"Uh, guys?" came Claptrap's voice from below. "You might want to see what Enrique found!"
"He is good at finding things," Tina attested, "though usually its bandits."
"Or Vault Hunters," Maya added dryly. "I'll stay up here." She pulled up a forgotten chair and settled into it carefully, hissing a little.
"Well, I'll bite," Nadie commented idly. "I'd be curious to see what a skag found that's so interesting. He's not going to bite any of us, is he?" She eyed the blue haired Siren worriedly. Maya smirked.
"As long as Tina or I don't tell him to, he'll behave."
"Good to know. Let's go find out what they found!"
Lawson and Brick stayed back with Maya to start setting up something resembling a war room, leaving Tina, Nadie, Handsome Jack, and Alexander to go find out what the fuss was about. They took the stairs carefully, the tread marks in the sand ample warning to the danger in their descent, but eventually they wound their way through the hall to the door that both Enrique and Claptrap waited at.
"Lookie, lookie!" Claptrap said by way of greeting, pointing to the insignia on the door.
"Torgue?" Nadie questioned curiously. Handsome Jack "hmed" thoughtfully.
"He did claim this area of Pandora as his own. I suppose it wouldn't be out of the question some of his… products might have been left here." He leaned down to examine the keypad beside the door. "Still active. Gimme a sec. I should have this open in no time."
He went to work, tapping at the panel. Nadie peered over his shoulder, but even carefully studying his actions granted no more enlightenment as to how to crack them though he deftly hacked the code. The door slid open with a soft whoosh, revealing a hermetically sealed room beyond bursting with weapons, ammunition, and grenades. Nadie's eyes went wide as she looked around the veritable armory.
"Oh. Oh. I want all of this."
"Score!" Tina squealed and darted into the room beyond, eyeballing the varying sorts of grenades stacked neatly against one wall.
Handsome Jack let out a puff of disapproval.
"Really? These are awful weapons… They're guns for morons."
"Maybe they are now," Nadie agreed soothingly, "but give me some time with them…"
"Babe."
"We did add four people to our retinue," Alexander pointed out from behind them helpfully. "We'll need to outfit them."
"Does that mean I get first pick?" Claptrap asked excitedly. "I mean, I did find them."
"No, the flaming skag found them," Handsome Jack corrected irritably. "So technically he would get first pick."
"What?" Claptrap protested. "Getting pushed aside for a skag? Harsh!"
Nadie, meanwhile, had already drifted into the room, carefully avoiding bumping into Tina who was discussing pros and cons with each grenade like she was speed dating. The green haired Siren studied her options for a few moments and then started picking out specific weapons that she wanted to work on.
"Oh man. Sir, we might as well leave her here," Alexander informed his superior. "She's got that glint in her eye. We won't get her back until she's halfway through tearing apart those guns."
"That's not true," Nadie protested vaguely, running her fingers across a shotgun.
"Uh-huh," the sniper replied dryly. "What are my two kids' names again?"
"Shawn and where the hell has my screwdriver gone?!" she demanded, patting down her pockets distractedly.
"That's good, Nadie! You got one of them at least."
"Yup, I'm amazing," she replied absentmindedly. "Would you get my tools from the truck?"
"See?" Alexander sighed, looking back at Handsome Jack. "Useless. Let's go back upstairs. I guarantee you it'll be more interesting up there."
/
/
At some point, Nadie realized no one had ever brought her a screwdriver. It was also about the same point she became aware of the fact that she was alone except for the flaming skag, Enrique, who was watching her from the doorway. She stared back at him for a moment while he panted calmly, returning her gaze evenly.
"You know, good help is hard to get sometimes," she told him sternly, waving her crafting hammer in emphasis. Enrique huffed in agreement. She selected up a few of the weapons she had been working on, tucked what tools she had under her arm, and headed upstairs to see what excitement was going on.
"I call dibs on Brick!" Tiny Tina was announcing as she came up to the main room.
"I'm sorry, what now?" the Siren questioned.
"Deciding who's going out on reconnaissance," Handsome Jack explained as she walked up to his side.
"I'll stay here," Maya stated. "I'll send Enrique out to start getting the local animals over here so I can begin giving them instructions."
"I'm not volunteering," Nadie added. "I've got quite a bit of work to do before these are going to be even vaguely useful." She gestured to her armful of weaponry.
"I suppose I should go," Alexander observed. "This is sort of my shtick."
"Oooooh, does that mean the big man in the coat can go too?" Tina squealed. "I like his hat!"
"You ain't getting it," Lawson responded dryly.
"Awww! I'll swap you!" Tina tapped her beret.
"Don't think I'd pull it off," the sheriff grunted.
"If that's the case, I'll stay close by to be near if there's any trouble," Handsome Jack offered. Maya stiffened and looked up at him sharply. He caught her expression and frowned.
"Trust me, if I had wanted you dead, we would not be here. I'm not going to shoot you once everyone's out of sight. Besides, my girlfriend would just heal you anyway and then I'd get an earful."
Nadie turned slowly to stare at him and he quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Am I wrong?"
"Well, no… I mean, we've gone to such trouble already."
"Yeah, I know. And I'm not one for wasted energy."
"Awesome, we have a plan!" Alexander energetically confirmed. "And break! C'mon, Claptrap!" He spun on his heel and started for the door.
"What?" Claptrap squeaked. "You want me to come with you?"
Alexander peered back at him. "Of course! You are my bot."
Claptrap froze and then all but shook in excitement before letting out a triumphant yell.
"Onward!" he exclaimed, heading for the door ahead of everyone else.
"Do they ever stop?" Lawson asked flatly.
"No," Nadie and Handsome Jack replied simultaneously. The big man shook his head and started after the duo. Brick followed shortly after, but Tina paused long enough to repeat her "I'm watching you" gesture at both Nadie and Handsome Jack. Then, she darted after her big companion. Nadie just shook her head.
"That girl is something."
"Something is a word," Handsome Jack agreed. He looked over the weapons she had brought up and frowned. "Are you going to need me for anything? If not, I'm going to see if I can find anything else of interest in this ruin."
"Be my guest. Unless you want to hold parts and hand me tools when I need them?"
"Pass. I'll be back later," he replied dryly. He turned and headed back toward the stairs, leaving the two Sirens on their own.
"Enrique," Maya instructed, "go find whatever skags or rakks or stalkers you can. Bring them to me."
The skag rumbled and then headed out the door into the afternoon sands. The green haired Siren watched him go and then turned to study the other woman. Maya looked back at her in return. The awkward moment of silence stretched out until Nadie finally broke it by inquiring, "So, you have the Heart, huh?"
Maya's brows crooked up.
"You know about it?"
"Heck yeah. I've been looking for it basically all my life. Not going to lie—when Patricia said Moxxi had a Siren who could command animals, I thought she had it."
Maya cursed.
"Asha joined with Moxxi on this? What the hell is going on?" she demanded, the question obviously rhetorical. Nadie shrugged.
"Profit? It seems to be what motivates most people on this planet."
The blue haired Siren gave her counterpart an even look.
"Not all of us are in this mess for money," she stated, her tone clearly speaking for her thoughts on Nadie's reasoning for being involved. The gunsmith smiled.
"In my defense, I'm not in it for the money, either. But I didn't necessarily mean money when I said 'profit.' You should know as well as me—everyone is out for something for themselves. Everyone has a price. Sometimes it's money. Sometimes it's power. Sometimes it's family or safety."
"What's your price?" Maya prodded.
"Loyalty," Nadie replied. "Affection. Friendship. Love."
"You get that he doesn't know any of those qualities, right?" the Vault Hunter warned. She didn't need to specify to whom she referred.
"I think I know a different side of him than you do," Nadie responded easily as she held out a hand to the other Siren. Maya eyed the offered palm and then cautiously took it. The moment she made contact, Nadie's markings began to glow softly and her amethyst power washed over the burned Siren's skin. None of the scarring smoothed, but the aches in her joints faded and left her feeling pleasantly warm.
"Wow…" Maya breathed. "That is amazing. I wish I had known you when you could have helped me get rid of these." She brushed a finger over the scar tissue. "Though, I guess we probably wouldn't be on speaking terms if that had been the case."
"Who knows?" Nadie shrugged. "Maybe I would have agreed with you all."
"Maybe," Maya acknowledged. "And you certainly wouldn't have been dating him at that point…He had a girlfriend during that whole affair."
Nadie crooked a brow and pointed in the direction of the coliseum. Maya shook her head.
"Not Moxxi. That was before I even got to Pandora. It was a woman by the name of Nisha. She took over Lynchwood and ruled it with an iron fist. She was… uh… not a kind woman."
Nadie sighed a little and dipped her head in acknowledgment.
"Well, that's fitting of this planet," she stated simply.
"She killed Brick's puppy."
That brought an unhappy squeak out of the other woman.
"She did what?!"
When Maya nodded, Nadie frowned.
"Was it an attack dog? Or really annoying? Or did it at least pee on her shoe or something?"
"Nope. She snapped its neck in front of Brick. Just so she could break him."
The green haired Siren scowled, clearly upset at the prospect, and for all the strikes against her, it made Maya feel a little surer of the other woman's character.
"This is a shitty planet," Nadie began, "but that doesn't mean you need to bring innocents into the mix." She made a noise of realization that wasn't quite a laugh. "Course, from what I understand, both sides did just that."
"We were the ones trying to save people," Maya protested. "It was Jack who was going to murder half the planet."
"Nah, nah, nah, don't try and sell me your propaganda," Nadie retorted. "You people killed plenty in your quest to get stuff and stop him. I mean, hell. Look at what you did to Opportunity. Most of those people had never even picked up a gun!"
"Well, you want to overthrow a dictator, people are going to get hurt."
"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe this planet is better for having a dictator?"
"Oh, right."
"No, seriously. You have a planet that had some of the worst of the worst released across it. Decades go by, and it never gets better. Psychos run amok, towns live in constant fear. Then Jack takes over. He cleans up the bandits, he establishes law and order. So it's authoritarian. So what? It's far better than what it used to be! People are safer on Pandora. They can walk outside of a town's walls now without being worried about getting gunned down. You don't have to wake up afraid you're going to end up on some cannibal's plate. Most of the good people on this planet aren't fighters like we are. They were always in danger of becoming prey. Now they actually have some safety. And yes, they have to give up some freedoms for it, but how do you put a price on knowing your children will grow up and be fed and educated? Knowing they could make something of themselves, maybe even leave this planet? We didn't have that until Jack came along. Simply learning to read and write was a luxury. I don't think you people really understand what it was like here before he took over."
"Yeah, but what you don't see is the blood he waded through to get here."
The green haired Siren shrugged.
"No birth is bloodless. Evolution and change don't happen without pain. You don't have to agree with me, but I grew up here. What we have now is a dream compared to what it used to be."
Maya made a noise of disparity and the two Sirens stared at each other for a long moment.
"Ok, agree to disagree," Nadie finally sighed. "Let's change topics then. What's it like having the Heart? May I see it?"
"It's… it's weird. It's not just that I can talk to animals now… It's that they can talk to me that's hard to deal with. They don't get humans and trying to explain to a skag why it shouldn't eat that yummy-looking two-legger over there can be… difficult at times." She reached up and rubbed her chest over the circular Siren mark that rested on her sternum.
"I'm afraid I can't show it to you. It was… I guess absorbed is the right word?... into my body. Which is odd, given the thing was about the size of my torso initially. I can't really feel it inside me, not like the way Eridian feels when it's powering me. It feels normal, almost like it's an ability I've had my entire life."
"So, what you're saying is, you have no idea how to de-attune to it."
"I don't even know if it's possible," Maya admitted. "Asha and I had talked at length about that same concept. Even tried a few things, but nothing worked."
"Drat," the gunsmith grumbled. "I guess that means I can't steal it from you."
"No, I would imagine you can't. Sorry."
Nadie smiled wanly. "You're not sorry."
Maya reluctantly returned the thin grin. "No, I'm not. Not exactly enthused with the idea of giving it to Handsome Jack's girlfriend."
"Agh!" Nadie groaned, tipping her head back. "I don't want it for him! I want it for me!"
"Yeah, well, if you have it, he has it. He makes use of any tool he has available."
She looked like she was going to say something more, but a piercing screech outside the open door interrupted her. A trio of rakks fluttered into the door and beat their wings rapidly as they landed on the sand in front of Maya. The one in front squeaked and cocked its head at her, focusing a bright eye on her.
"Oh, there you are," Maya greeted. "Thank you for coming."
The rakk squawked back.
"Yes, I know," she continued, "but I'm going to need your help."
Nadie sat back in her seat, easing her hand off her gun, intently watching the animals for any sign of hostility. It was a bizarre event to watch—it was clear the blue haired Siren was speaking to them as opposed to at them, and they actively responded. Nadie could only understand Maya's half of the conversation, but it was clear the rakks participated in it, as they made varying cries and caws in response to the woman's words.
After a few minutes, the lead rakk bobbed its head and the trio took off, darting back out the door.
"That was… interesting," Nadie observed. Maya gave her a lopsided grin.
"Things are going to get a bit more hectic pretty quick," she warned her. "Now that I've got them out looking for others, there's going to be a lot of critters coming in and out soon."
"I'd best get to work, then," the gunsmith nodded, turning back to her tools and weaponry.
Time crawled by, every type of animal that Nadie had grown up fearing coming through the doors to visit the other Siren. Handsome Jack returned halfway through one of these meetings and paused at the top of the stairs, watching the scene unfold with quirked eyebrows. Once the pack of skags had departed, he rejoined Nadie, nodding a head toward Maya.
"That was quite the show."
"You missed the bullymong," she informed him.
"I thought your dad was out on reconnaissance," he protested. Nadie tilted her head and turned slowly toward him.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Your father… the bullymong? In a leather coat? With a gun? You know, that bullymong."
She frowned deeply. "He is not a bullymong."
"Are you sure, babe?" He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, a teasing grin on his lips. "I mean, he does have the same vocabulary…" Hyperion's president imitated a few of Lawson's grunts, emphasizing the animalistic qualities of them. She rolled her eyes.
"Sweetie? Come over here. I need to hit you, and I can't let go of this barrel."
"Sweet cheeks, what are you doing holding any barrel other than mine?" he retorted with a wicked smile. Across the way, Maya groaned in disgust.
"Get a room, you two!"
Before Siren or president could retort, a figure appeared in the entryway, panting heavily. The trio immediately froze, attentions fixed on the newcomer.
"Alexander? What happened?" Nadie demanded worriedly. The sniper gulped in a breath to speak.
"We're going live!" he wheezed. Handsome Jack cursed and Maya pushed herself to her feet.
"Brick and Tina?" she asked, her tone indicating she was already pretty sure of the answer.
"Mostly Brick," Alexander puffed.
Handsome Jack turned and regarded Nadie, who blinked and looked back at him.
"What?"
"This is your fault, you know."
"Huh? How is this my fault?"
"Enlightened self-interest, right? I just wanted them dead."
She looked skyward as she sighed, "I really am never going to hear the end of this. Let's go."