Here arrives another one! Took a while to get going, but really picked up towards the end. Gets a bit scientific with Matt's powers, specifically with how some if it works and the rate at which he slows time down. Also, some hints at the beginning about the 'voice', but you're going to have to figure that out for yourself.

As I said before, this chapter follows immediately on from the last, so the perspective starts with Gaige. This is where the hints about Gaige's deeply rooted psychological problems come to the forefront and are fully revealed. Hope they make sense!

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Deathmark

With every minute passing by, Gaige was getting angrier and more annoyed about the situation. She had to get out of here. She also didn't. Her mind was split between her ideals, and it couldn't focus.

But all from torture?

Surely not, right?

While, yes, torture could get so intense you may go insane, however, having full-on conversations with another imaginary voice was on the complete other end of the insanity spectrum.

Gaige could not help the feeling that it was coming from somewhere else. An ulterior source; not entirely from her own perception. She couldn't put her figure on it, but it was helped along by the fact that the voice just didn't sound at all like her, even though it was her voice. It was almost as if someone was using her voice, to communicate, rather than her mind creating some personality from all of her dark emotions.

Gaige was intelligent. Very intelligent. However, she may have been smart – yet she wasn't smart enough to figure out that enigma.

There was nothing in her half-shattered mind that could come up with that.

[Move yourself away from that subject.]

Why?

[It doesn't matter.]

Who are you?

[Wouldn't you like to know?]

WHO. ARE. YOU.

[Silence.]

The alternate voice warped slightly, and it started to sound less like Gaige. It seemed distorted, as though it was corrupted. That was incredibly unnerving for the Mechromancer to hear, since she knew now that this…voice was not tolerating her argumentative behaviour.

I don't get it. You aren't a part of my mind, are you? What makes you think you have some right to invade my consciousness?

[Do not place yourself on some pedestal. You aren't perfect.]

It sounds like I should be asking WHAT you are.

[I'll tell you what you are.]

The intimidating tone scared her, and that was impossible to hide, especially for a girl who shows her emotions on a whim. And whatever the voice was – part of her or not – it seemed to have full access to her entire mind, which meant it knew she was afraid.

[Gaige. Title: Mechromancer. Age: 18. 19 in a few months. A fake. You're not really a Vault Hunter.

Look inside your soul. You have fears. Your peers – they became Vault Hunters as a decision over years of training. All of them have had experience, either due to their age, their battles, or both. How did you become a Vault Hunter?]

The Vault Hunter didn't quite grasp what in God's holy name the voice was going on about. Or at least, the Mechromancer thought she didn't. Gaige wasn't sure, since most of her feelings about Vault Hunting had been repressed and shoved down since she knew there were things far more important than questioning her own status. When she got mixed up with the war against Hyperion and the fiery dispute against Handsome Jack, that all got pushed to the side.

Now, it was coming to the forefront. Slowly.

When I got on that train. After I escaped the law. After I saw that chance for a new life and ran away. That's when I became a Vault Hunter.

[You are dwarfed under the influence of your Vault Hunter superiors. The pathetic thing is that you don't even see it. But I know you can feel it.]

She asked the only question that came to her.

How?

[We are connected. We have been since your mind opened up from the torture.]

So you aren't a part of my mind…you must be…something else.

[I am the infinite.]

Gaige had no idea what that meant, but it certainly sounded menacing.

[But you. You became a Vault Hunter on a whim. Without realizing, without considering, what it entailed. A reckless gesture.]

Her eyes widened and her muscles tensed despite her restraints. She…it…wasn't wrong. It was reckless. She didn't consider the possibilities, or what might happen. The Mechromancer never initially thought that saying she was a Vault Hunter would immediately put a bounty over her head. She may have already had one, but it certainly intensified thanks to Jack when she jumped on that train which changed her life.

[As I said before, your friends spent time training before they took on that title. They all had a drive, a solid reason, to want to become a Vault Hunter.

You didn't.

That's your fear. You don't compare to the others. You're the youngest of all of them. You're the most inexperienced of all of them. I have been watching over events for the past few years – I know.]

She could barely think about what the elusive voice was talking about when it said it had seen everything as it happened.

[You're scared you'll be left behind. You're afraid that, because you are inexperienced, that means you don't deserve to be a Vault Hunter. That it means you're a fake who isn't really there.

It's true. And you know it.]

N-no…it-it's…

[Of course, that comes from the guilt over Marcie Holloway's death. You killed an innocent person. Vault Hunters tend not to do that; Vault Hunters only kill those directly opposing them, specifically those who have committed bad deeds.

Ironic, isn't it? You know, since you are the one who has committed a bad deed.]

Hearing all of this was overbearing. A lot to take in. This was stuff she had pushed down to the cloudy confines of her mind. It was not something she liked to think about too often, and something that was slowly and forcefully forgotten over time.

Worst of all, she couldn't deny it. Deep down, Gaige knew there was truth behind it. She could not lie and claim it wasn't true. Whoever this personality was, it was certainly smart.

Marcie being brought up did not help all too much. Simply, it was too painful for her truly to want to think about. The initial guilt over the accident had always consumed her due to her part in it, mainly because the innocent albeit petty girl's death was a mistake on her part specifically.

The fact that it claimed it had been watching over events of the past few years was unnerving, too, since it made her realize that it would know almost everything about her. However, that did not explain why it decided to break its silent observation and talk to her directly. Or what "it" even was.

I-I…y-you…

[Oh, poor, impudent Gaige! It seems I've broken you.]

What part of this was funny?

[You're below your superiors, so stop pretending you even have the right to so much as stand next to them.

It's interesting, truthfully. Your aspiration is not to be seen as a little girl and as a steely, tough character. You dream to be comparable to others. I find that peculiar.

You have a dream. I control the dream. I am the dream. The possibilities are infinite. I mark the infinite. I embody all not finite.]

Had Gaige been able to form coherent sentences, she might've asked what the hell this voice was talking about. What was it referring to when it spoke of the "dream" and the "infinite"? Why was it so fascinated in both? It seemed to speak of them like they were physical or personified entities, rather than concepts.

She had to force herself to speak, since the shock of the truth about her psyche being laid out on her – and her subsequent acceptance of it – didn't make it easy to focus.

G-Get out of m-my head…NOW.

[My work here is done. I had to access your tormented mental state so I could hurry things along.]

W-what do you m-mean, "hurry things along"?

[Irrelevant. Listen, Mechromancer, to what I have to conclude with.]

O-OK.

[When Matt arrives here to save you] – the voice warped into something else. No longer recognisable at all as Gaige's, but completely different. A different, sweeter sounding, more feminine voice – [I want you to give him a message. He'll understand it instantly. These exact words:

{The only water that flows in the forest is the river.}

And finally, the voice faded away. Completely gone, leaving the Vault Hunter completely alone. It was never a schizoid-induced personality that manifested from the darker aspects of her soul; it was something completely different.

Something anomalous.

Axton and Zer0 had no difficulty in landing the ships on the ground of Elpis, near Lima Base One.

The base was not under alert at all, which was pleasing, as they made sure not to be so close that they would even see their arrival. While the Gemini stationed there were aware of their impending entrance to the base, it wasn't like any of them were planning on greeting them. To them, it was only soldiers loyally returning to base.

However, it was anything but that.

A reckoning was in order.

They slowly got off the ship, as not to draw attention to themselves. While they were quite a distance from Lima Base One, it would not be hard for the station to spot unidentified roamers if they made too much movement or too much noise. Although, Matt did not want to waste too much time trying not to get caught, when they'd likely have to in order to get Gaige back. Stealth may have been the preferred option, but no one could stay hidden forever.

Elpis's barren surface had been heavily impacted by Eridian mining and heavy pollution thanks to Hyperion, so any natural beauty it may have had had worn away into some new form of exquisite beauty that was interesting to observe. "Interesting" was perhaps the best way to describe Pandora's moon. It had lakes of lava and glowing slag, which were revealed often by crevices and winding crevasses in the moon's marvellously unattractive wasteland.

However, Elpis's exceptionally underwhelming appearance was the least of Matt's problems.

They took out their guns, Matt holding his Double Anarchy tightly, and walked across the surface. The Vault Hunters considered small talk, but were well-aware the time for idly chatting had passed, and had been fulfilled enough back on the jump-ships.

It was still a lingering enquiry in Matt's mind about what he should do with Commander James Sharp. The Anomaly could not lie that he had an instant desire to kill the man, but he had to stop himself from considering it. His bloodlust was controllable – however the Vault Hunter's rage had already proven to be unmatched. Mainly, that was due to how his Chronokinesis was linked to his emotions somewhat.

Would killing the battalion leader really be justified? The man had not tried to kill him, although he had tried to use him on numerous occasions now that the Vault Hunter thought about it. With that to think about, it was not unbelievable that the commander would attempt to do it again.

But the line between good and evil had always been grey. Not clear; quite vague. Most people were neutral and straddled the line between them, while many others had their own interpretations of both. What side of the line was the Anomaly really on?

That was something the Vault Hunter did not want answering.

Despite the past few hours, he had not forgotten about what his sister had said to him.

'I'm waiting for you.'

The Anomaly flinched.

Matt could've sworn he heard that in the real world. Perhaps a whisper, very faint, but the Vault Hunter was certain that wasn't his imagination. He looked around frantically for a few seconds, avoiding the eyes of his teammates as to evade questions.

'I'm here.'

There it was again. There was no way that the young man could've made that up in his head. However, it had no discernible source.

'When the time comes, you will know what to do.'

What was she expecting him to do? Waiting for him to do what? Amelia was supposed to be dead, yet it seemed to him that her soul still persisted. Aurora had tried to dissuade him from thinking this, so that he would not get his hopes up. Now it seemed her efforts were pointless.

Or there was the other, more plausible-sounding theory: the Anomaly had finally been chucked into the loony bin. And would need aid from Three immediately.

Going insane was at the bottom of Matt's list of potentials. Not to mention it would not be helpful for his friends if he went and did that. The Anomaly was too focussed now to get distracted anyway – though it was rare that he wasn't focussed. Psychologically, he was fine, or fine enough, perhaps Three would've agreed. Insanity tended to eat away at the mind, bit by bit until all sense of reason was lost. Three said that.

And Matt was always trying to be reasonable.

Reason, however, was not promised to get you through ever single situation. Reason was regularly defied in the world of the abnormal. In addition, doing what was reasonable was not always right, and doing what was wrong was easy. Doing wrong was the easy way out, the choice you would go for when you stopped caring. Or when you didn't know what the benign option was. Unclear lines aside, others could tell fairly easily when someone had dipped into the blackened waters and gone to the dark side. Handsome Jack was the prime example.

The Anomaly wasn't a saint, however.

Undoubtedly, he'd made many mistakes in his time, and would certainly make many more. Matt had problems, many of which the young man was still afraid to face. There were things he'd done that he wasn't proud of, and actions he'd taken which he would give almost anything to undo. There was no Anomaly without regrets, Amelia being the prime example, but he knew at the very least that he was not evil. However, there always was a fear rooted deep in his mind that one day he would cross that line. And possibly never come back.

If that day was inevitable, then it would have to wait. He couldn't become evil now. Well, he didn't want to be corrupted, but even if that time would arise, it was not now – because he had a job to do first.

All his instincts were telling him to stay alert. They were also telling him his ascension was coming: whatever that meant. Of course, the Vault Hunter could only take this to be that the opening was coming. That thought was amplified by the fact that his link to the Vault detected its presence into this plane of existence, rather than the metaphysical one. His subconscious will felt waning, like it was draining, telling the Anomaly that he could not keep the Vault closed much longer. But even so, the Vault Key charged by itself, anyway, so the Vault could still open anyway. Likely, his connection was merely delaying the inevitable.

When would the Vault open, though? Matt knew from his vision that he could open it, and only him. Yet, Sharp could theoretically wait until it opened by itself. Matt could lead them to the Vault, although he had no reason to. While the commander had someone, so very close, who could provide him with the riches and power that was his mission to gain, but the Anomaly had no reason to aid him in his wretched crusade.

No. Commander Sharp did. Commander Sharp had Gaige. It was obvious. Matt knew that Commander Sharp kidnapped her so that he would co-operate with Gemini, but initially, he did not know for what.

Now he did. It was a leading back to Commander Sharp. It was leading back to his blasted agenda.

Matt stopped walking, clenching his fists in unbridled fury. His allies stared at him.

'Matt?' Lilith asked.

'You all right?' Axton enquired.

'The Vault.'

'What?' Aurora asked, gingerly edging closer to him.

'That's why he took Gaige,' the Anomaly told them. 'Because he wants to force me into servitude. He wants to force my hand. With Gaige in his hands, he believes that he can…coerce…me into opening the Vault for him.'

'What do you mean, "opening the Vault for him" exactly?' Maya wondered, furrowing her brow in confusion.

'The Vault can only be opened through an input of Siren-based power in order to open it early,' The Anomaly explained guiltily. 'Power that only I can provide.' Aurora nodded knowingly.

'How interesting / The Vault's certainly unique / It is quite strange.'

'Where did you learn that?!' Mordecai demanded, glaring at him angrily.

'Vision. I had it a couple days ago.' the Vault Hunter singlehandedly admitted, clearly not sounding proud that he knew it.

'You had a vision?' Lilith realised. 'Of what?'

'It was of the future. We had finally gotten to the Vault. It was there that it was said by Caine that…only I could open it. The Vault opens naturally when it comes into the physical purview, but I can do so early and pull it into this dimension using my link to it.'

'When we you planning on telling us this, Matt?!' Maya immediately yelled at him, slightly glad that they weren't close enough for Lima Base One to detect them. That would be conducive if they weren't going to get caught.

'This could've been incredibly useful to know this sooner, Matt!' Axton agreed.

'So Sharp knows this, and is using Gaige to make you do what he wants?' Lilith presumed, not fazed by her teammates' evident dispute. Everyone had their secrets.

'We can't work as team if we're lying to each other, slab,' Brick advised.

'Why couldn't you have mentioned this before, amigo?' The Hunter wondered, not sounding too aggressive but clearly not sounding very happy.

'Because we all died!' The Anomaly bellowed, making them freeze at his outburst. 'In the very same vision, we all died taking down the Vault. Mostly by the hands of the Vault Monster.'

'That's…morbid,' Salvador muttered, surprising the others that he knew the meaning of the word.

'Did you see what the Vault Monster was?' The redheaded Siren in front of him inquired carefully. He shook his head.

'No my vision blacked it out,' he told them.

'Any clue as to what it was?'

'Not really. It was weird, though. It had this roar, and it sounded…human.'

'It must be able to mimic living beings in some way…' she mused, to which her fellow compatriot nodded. Maya and Mordecai stared at Aurora, who looked completely unaffected at the coming of this "news" and was merely looking at Matt fervently.

'You don't seem to care that Matt lied about his knowledge about the Vault,' the Siren probed. 'I thought you would care.'

'Uh, well…um…' the Revolverslinger desperately attempted to reason. Mordecai easily put two and two together by her nervous behaviour.

'You knew, didn't you?!' He immediately accused, to which Aurora could not really deny. Flagrantly, the Hunter was correct.

'Gaige knows, too.' That immediately set them off. Aurora had learnt from Matt that he'd told Gaige first, but it was plainly the fact that three of the Vault Hunters had been lying to the other six. If Maya and Mordecai were angry before, they were fucking furious now. They opened their mouths, and were about to completely go off on Matt, but he stopped them before they could speak.

'Guys, I am really sorry for lying to you,' the Anomaly contritely apologised. 'I just really didn't want to lower morale and make you doubt yourselves because of me. I'm not going to let that premonition come true, for sure, but I didn't want you to be distracted, especially if it was because of me.' He hung his head low, and much to his surprise, Maya put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

'It's OK, Matt. I get it,' she understood. 'We all have our secrets. While I don't enjoy being perjured to, I know you'd never do it without a good reason.' Axton sighed.

'She's right,' he concurred, to the behest of Mordecai. 'You're not one to lie out of ill intent.'

'Just don't lie again, unless it's absolutely necessary,' the Hunter warned him, making it clear that "absolutely necessary" allowed for only a small margin of things. Matt nodded in compliance, although still evidently furious that Sharp was trying to get to him using the people he cared about. They could see that.

'I get that you're angry, Matty,' Aurora told him. 'But try not to distracted, OK? It'd be a little hypocritical.' The Anomaly chuckled at that humorous statement, aware that it was incontrovertible that he would be a hypocrite if he got distracted. However, the Vault Hunter could not deny that the desire to make Sharp pay for what he was attempting to do was overwhelming. How exactly Matt would do that, he did not truly know.

After a minute, the group continued walking, with the Anomaly's gait soon normalising. Ironic, perhaps. Although, it was clear it was partly – if not mostly – an act.

After a while, they reached a metal gate, where Matt and Aurora stopped them. It wasn't a normal gate, as it was entirely an energy barrier, metal bars replaced by blue energy, but two large metal poles stood tall beside both of them, rather incongruously, as though they were not meant to be there. A large fence stretched around Lima Base One, complete with emancipation beams at the top to prevent people from climbing over and a massive wire mess over its expanse.

'I was expecting there to be cameras,' Axton noted, slightly upset that his plan to sneak past their blind spots was not going to be used.

'There usually are,' the Revolverslinger informed him, curious as to why not. 'Strange.'

'Strange indeed,' the Anomaly said gravely, narrowing his eyes.

'Let's just take this as we can,' Lilith advised. 'I sense no bad air. It is likely Lima Base One is distracted.' Maya thought about nodding that, but she didn't want to take it as a happy coincidence. Matt nodded, but did not fully agree.

'It isn't like they necessarily need them,' the Vault Hunter reasoned. He picked up a worm from the ground, which attempted to bite him, and threw it at the gate. The blue turned to red, and immediately disintegrated it. It quickly turned back to the static blue, leaving shocked expressions on all of the Vault Hunters beside Matt and Aurora. 'This gate only authorises Gemini personnel or anyone specifically on the registry.'

'Then how the hell are we gonna get past it?!' Mordecai commanded for an answer so fervently that it almost scared Matt.

'Let's see…my Bypass set isn't powerful enough to get past Triple-Encryption Grade locks. It's an energy barrier, so it can't be deactivated. The metal is maximum blast-proof, so no luck knocking that down…'

'You're not exactly filling them with hope here, Matty,' Aurora cautioned him.

'I have a plan.'

'That's better.'

'When it detects an unauthorised object, it will scan it and then disintegrate it. After it disintegrates it, there is a fraction of time where it is shut down, before it restarts up again. If I can use my Chronokinesis to slow time at the right moment, then I may be able to get us past the barrier before it can detect any anomalies.' There was a slight snigger at his wording.

'How short is this interval you're talking about?' Maya asked him. The Anomaly shook his head in admittance that he didn't know exactly, before pouting as they tried to think up a suitable estimate.

'Less than a nanosecond, I'd say.'

'How much is a nanosecond?' Axton wondered, not familiar with these areas of science.

'10 the power of -9 seconds,' Aurora explained to him. He looked at her blankly; he tried to figure out how many zeros that would be, until she elaborated further. 'One billionth of a second. 0.000000001 seconds.'

'Damn, that's short,' Brick comically stated.

'I couldn't kill as fast as that,' Salvador commented idly.

'And you're saying that you'll have even less time than that to do it?' Mordecai the Hunter requested confirmation in the most disbelieving way, only accepting it when both the Revolverslinger and the Anomaly nodded. 'Damn. Can you even slow time that much? I mean, the last time you got close to that was when you stopped time.'

'I don't know how to do that again, but when I saved you guys from the bomb, that was about a microsecond every two seconds or so. A microsecond is 1000 times faster than a nanosecond, so I'm not sure.' That brought up worried faces. 'But it's the only chance we have.'

There was a unanimous nod about the Vault Hunters, seeing that this was indeed the only option. There was no hope to save Gaige if they didn't at least try. They all needed this to work, for the Mechromancer's sake. Especially now, they could not give up or fail, since they'd gone through quite a lot to try and get her back – even enduring a long trip to Elpis.

'We're all behind you, slab,' Brick assured him, given him a hard smack on the back. Matt recoiling in pain, but his pain resistance meant that it didn't last long.

'You've got this,' Maya assured. Aurora, Lilith, Axton and Mordecai nodded agreeably.

'These powers are yours, Matt,' Lilith persuaded. 'So they will do what you want them to.'

'She's right,' Aurora concurred. 'You need to focus, and control your powers. You've had your Chronokinesis for about a year and half, so you're definitely going to be in tune now more than ever before – especially with the Vault opening – so that means concentration is the key.'

'I don't know much about how your powers work, to be honest, kid,' Axton admitted. 'Heck, the whole "Siren" thing still goes over my head. But I do know your will is unmatched. If you feel they're not doing what you want, I am more than certain that your will can override it.'

'Thanks, guys,' the Vault Hunter acknowledged, cracking a smile.

Carefully, the anomalous young man closed his eyes, and focussed as much as he could on his powers. Allowing the energy to spread to every orifice of his body, every single tissue, down to the last cell. It felt like lightning was surging through his nerves, crackling and snapping at each end. Matt could feel lightning fizzing out of his body, zapping the ground and burning it, but not out of control, unlike the last time he had activated this stage of his Chronokinesis. This new, third stage was perhaps the only way he could slow time to that of less than a nanosecond, despite the fact it took a while to charge up. Though, now with a new level of control, it wouldn't need as much time to do so compared to before.

Time slowed down. Time slowed down more. And slowed down more. And more. And more. And more.

The dust particles gliding so elegantly through the Elpisian 'air' slowed to a stop; water dripping from crevices in the cooler parts of the moon froze in their movements; the breathing of his allies decelerated as they spread through the air gracefully; Matt felt more compatible with his surroundings than he ever had before. It was as if he could detect and completely interpret and understand each of every single sound wave, or see every single photon, or taste every speck of minerals in the air, or smell each aromatic particle.

An experience like no other. Ineffable to describe, but imaginably…satisfying, or something like that. Electrifying, maybe? Of course, words couldn't be put into words properly to give a proper impression of what it really felt like. Imagine you had access to every single cell in your brain, access to all areas, with full optimisation – beyond that even – of everything your mind and body had to offer. That was a basic idea of what a fraction of the experience was to Matt.

He looked around for an object to throw at the gate. Soon, the Anomaly found a very aggressive bee-ant and tangled it from his index and forefingers to prevent it from biting him. (A/N: Cross between a bee and an ant. Has a sharp sting, but the toxin also extends to his teeth, so it happens to have a very painful bite.) Matt had gotten used to having to kill creatures, but he could maybe agree that disintegration was perhaps unjust. But there was no other option.

Aware that he wouldn't have to put much effort in, since with only an input of energy would be needed to throw the insect far enough. The Anomaly merely flicked it lightly, watching carefully as the energy, which he'd transferred to it naturally to keep the object within his speed, ostentatiously leave it and return to him via lightning. It slowed to be in time with everything else, a few moments before it hit the grid.

With a few manipulations of the ebb and flow of time, the Vault Hunter made it so, in about twenty seconds of his perception, it would hit the energy gate. It moved hardly noticeably, but clearly enough so that he could gauge when he should move his friends past the gate. Matt was aware that it would take a microsecond for the bee-ant to disintegrate, which at this current level of slow motion, would occur in a few seconds.

Once it turned red, the Vault Hunter tensed, and slowed time to his current maximum. A tenth of a nanosecond, for every one of his seconds. The bee-ant froze in the now red gate, and was burnt black after ten of his seconds, prior to disintegrating into ash that slowly descended to the floor.

Matt instantly moved his teammates to the gate a few moments before the bug completely disintegrated. Thanks to the slowed down time period, it did not take much effort. They lost most of their weight when he applied his energy to them, since they basically froze.

The gate went blank, and the pathway was clear. Now, he only had ten seconds to get everyone through afore the energy gate restarted. And Matt couldn't find any objects large enough to be detected by it. The Anomaly moved them as fast as he could across the gate, pushing them through it. They slowed down as the lightning left them and was absorbed back into his limbs. Thankfully, the gateway did not turn them to cough-inducing dust.

Once Matt realised there was a mounting headache rippling through his brain, he jumped through the pathway at the eighth of his seconds, and moments before the accurate turn of a real nanosecond. He landed on the ground with a harsh thump, but jumped off the ground and sapped most of the kinetic energy off his allies so that they wouldn't be injured when they hit the ground.

Time resumed normal passage, and there was another vociferous, painful-sounding thud from the Vault Hunters when they landed on the ground. The energy gate returned to its passive blue, without having detected any further intruders. There were no sirens, no warning announcements, just complete silence. Hopefully to Gemini's chagrin, they'd gotten through Lima Base One's defences and were quickly on their way to rescuing Gaige.

The Vault Hunters had gotten through.

And cut.

Going into detail on what it felt like for Matt before, during and after he activated his powers was actually quite fun. Difficult, though. It's not easy coming up with different things to talk about, as well as describing the scenery as it slows down. I have only really described once, very briefly, in Chapter One (or Two, I can't remember) so I felt like properly illustrating how it felt too would be interesting. Honestly, it really is ineffable, mainly because I find it difficult actually defining the whole thing.

If you're thinking "wait, Elpis doesn't have an atmosphere, there are only artificial bubbles" then let's just say Gemini's been doing some tinkering to the planet. It hasn't been terraformed, it's just gained significantly more Oxygen (and some other elements) so it's easier to breathe in. LB1, however, has its own bubbles which filter out Carbon Dioxide and various other harmful gases so there's only a small fraction of them - just enough as is required.

The energy gate was also deliberately reminiscent of the barrier that blocked the path to the Bunker in Borderlands 2, whereupon it would disintegrate any non-Hyperion. So, well done if you picked up on that.

To tease, I suppose, the next chapter will be named after one of Krieg's skills. It's one that I think will fit the chapter quite well, metaphorically and literally referring to what goes on in it, and also because I plan for Krieg's proper reintroduction to the Vault Hunters to be in said chapter.

Also, a bee-ant doesn't exist in Borderlands, I just made it up. I think a bee-ant is a cool idea. It doesn't die when it stings, though – which I suppose makes it more of a "wasp-ant" but I thought bee-ant sounded better.