[Scotty "Roundhouse" Dale] "A Siren?! When the fuck did we…?"
[Richard McGuiness] "I'm just as surprised as you. I never would've supported that."
[Scotty "Roundhouse" Dale] "Well it's a damn good thing Suture rescued her, aye?"
[Richard McGuiness] "Hell yeah! You go Suture!"
Lilith glanced at the phone worried, concerned that it was about to explode in her hands from the sheer volume of the person on the other line. "Uh….Torgue? It's great that you got your company back…again…after Smith tried to take it from you, but why are you calling me about it?"
"WELL, I JUST WANTED TO APOLOGIZE FOR NOT BEING AT THE RAIDER'S SUMMIT, BECAUSE I WAS SUPPOSED TO AND A GENTLEMAN IS ALWAYS RELIABLE!" shouted the person on the other end, apparently having no concept of an inner voice at all.
"Well I'm sure you were busy, having to take back your company again. Why don't you just fire Smith? He is the guy who constantly fires you. Than you beat him up and he hires you again. It's been going on since that Hunger for Violence thing."
"WELL, I FORGAVE HIM THE FIRST TIME HE DID THAT, SINCE I UNDERSTOOD WHERE HE WAS COMING FROM, MAINLY SINCE I WAS BEING A BIT OF A D*** AT THE TIME, SO I LET IT GO WHEN I PUNCHED HIM IN THE FACE AND GOT MY F***ING COMPANY BACK! The second time, I off-handily made a comment on his hair and he fired me, WHICH WAS A TOTAL D*** MOVE ON HIS PART, so I punched him TWICE and got my s*** back, but kept him because his nachos ARE F***ING GODLY!"
"Well…that's…nice of you…"
"I KNOW! I FELT REALLY GOOD FOR THAT, ESPECIALLY WITH A PLATE OF NACHOS IN MY BELLY! Now the third time was kinda funny. I may have, accidentally, on purpose, blew up a planet with a population of 2 million, BUT IT WAS F***ING AWESOME AND HE HAD NO SENSE OF STYLE!"
"Torgue, that was two million dead people!" shouted Lilith amazed at his incompetence.
"LIKE I GIVE A F***! YOU SEEN THE BODY COUNTS OF VLADOF?!"
"Okay, you got me there," admitted the Siren. Nicholas Vladof 'Nick the Decapitator' was infamous for his exploits of bloodshed, all of them completely random. Well, the ones before his fight with Bellum. Now only a few were random.
"EXACTLY! ANYWAY, THIS FOURTH TIME WAS INTERESTING! I kinda stole a secret missile THAT WAS TOTALLY KICKA** and shot it into a sun, WHICH CAUSED IT TO GO SUPER-NOVA, DESTROYING AN ENTIRE SOLAR SYSTEM, AND MADE THE COOLEST F***ING EXPLOSION EVER! WAHOO!"
Lilith rolled her eyes. "It wasn't occupied was it?"
"Well if it was, IT SURE F***ING ISN'T NOW!"
The Siren sighed, grasping at her temples futilely. She usually got the vibe that she was the only sane person in her entire alliance, though Mr. Blake probably felt that more than she did. "Well, you got your company back, again. You gonna try to maintain control so you can be of use to our alliance?"
"I WILL ATTEMPT TO CONTROL MY EXPLOSIVE URGES THAT CLEARLY AGGRAVATE MY STOCKHOLDERS SO I CAN CONTINUE BEING OF USAGE AND SORTS TO YOU RAIDERS! I PROMISE, AND A GENTLEMAN'S PROMISE IS AS SOLID AS…SOMETHING REALLY SOLID!"
The Siren nodded. "Good. Listen, I have to get going Torgue. I'll see you later."
"OF COURSE! HEY, CAN WE HAVE ANOTHER BUNKERS AND BADASSES GAME WITH TINA AS THE BUNKER MASTER?!"
"Well, Tina's busy, and Brick and Mordecai…"
She remained silent. "Mordecai's retired, and Brick's gone. I'm the only original Vault Hunter left in active service." She hadn't told him about it, mainly since he was too busy getting his company back, and she was still dealing with the lonely feeling she got from it.
The end of the phone was quiet, something she had not expected.
"Are you okay Torgue?" asked the Siren quietly.
"…just giving a moment of silence for lost friends."
His lack of a loud voice was surprising, hinting that the normally boisterous man was clearly affected by what she had said.
"You sure you gonna be okay Torgue?"
"Yeah….just…I'm gonna go punch a wall or something to feel manly again. See ya Lilith."
He hung up, something he never did, ever. She stared at the phone astonished, amazed by how deeply he had been affected.
"Wow…I didn't see that coming."
Axton nodded. "He doesn't have many friends, so he values those he has a lot. He's like Salvador in that aspect."
The Siren nodded, understanding the boisterous man's feelings. "Yeah, I'm glad to be his friend. It's terrible to alone in this world."
She glanced at Suture, who had just returned from something on Eden-66. "And that's the primary concern I have for you. You knew about this Siren and you didn't tell us?"
The surgeon looked away, slightly ashamed by his behavior. "I didn't want you to be involved in my problems. It was my fault that poor girl suffered for 10 years of her life, and I had to deal with it. Bringing you along…"
"Idiot," snapped Lilith boldly.
Suture stopped, his eyes widening in response.
The Siren smiled. "You're a part of our crew Suture. We're a family. As a family, we take care of each other's problems and help them. Family's love and care for each other. It's only natural."
He paused, digesting her words.
"Love…?" he repeated skeptically. "I never understood that word, no matter how hard I tried. I am a doctor, so I help people, but does that mean I love them? Love is defined as strong affectionate feelings towards another, but I have never once felt that to anyone. What does it truly mean to love anyway?"
"To constantly be thinking about the person you care about," answered Baskerville in his normal chair, brushing his incredibly long hair with a wide-ruled brush. "To be willing to do anything to make them happy and healthy, to lay your life on the line for them. To accept them for who they are and not want them to change unless it's for the better. That's love."
Suture remained quiet, processing the words. "…indeed. That matches up with what I've studied, but I still do not understand it. Perhaps in time…"
He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "Regardless, I have successfully rescued Test Subject Aurai, the youngest Siren."
Lilith sighed and leaned forward, feeling the need to bring some insight into the conversation for those observing. "Only six Sirens are allowed to exist in this known universe. If one dies, another is instantly born somewhere else. This applies to Titans as well, like Suture here or Dion and Rocko. Each Siren as a unique ability about her that distinguishes her from the rest, making each one a highly proficient combatant. All Siren powers are based on 'heavenly' aspects, or things not typically associated with the earth and the ground: Maya with Time, me with Space, Angel with Data more specifically computers, Weather, Shadow and Light. The Titans have earthly aspects as theirs, things that are known to exist on the earth; Rocko with Ice, Suture with Blood, Dion with Plasma, Metal, Disease and Flora."
She looked up at Suture. "And it appears we know of a fourth Siren now. Do you know her powers?"
"Yes. She is able to summon tornados as well as thunder and rain storms."
"The Weather Siren," murmured Lilith biting into her finger nervously. "That could be problematic. If we release her, who knows how she'll react, and if she's been imprisoned for so long she could easily try to kill us out of confusion or rage. With powers like that, she could easily split a bulkhead."
"What do you advise we do?" inquired Axton listening intently.
Lilith thought seriously about the question, biting her thumb and splitting the skin. "I won't let another Siren slip into some corrupt bastard's grip like what happened to Angel or even me. We'll keep her here. But…"
She smiled gently at Suture. "It's only fair we let her out. She might be lonely for spending such a long time in that tube."
The surgeon grew pale. "Oh no! I'm not talking to her! I couldn't possibly do that!"
"Why not?" asked Baskerville curiously.
Suture looked away, shame crossing his face. "Because of me, that poor girl suffered so much. I don't deserve to properly know her. The best thing for me to do is never speak to her and let her live peacefully in bliss."
"You're being too hard on yourself," argued Axton.
"Am I!?" roared the surgeon, stunning them all. "I experimented on a girl for 10 years, when she was still a child! Because of me, all chances of a normal life for her were stripped from her! I'm the cause of every bad thing that happened to her!"
He began panting, clutching at the wall to catch his breath.
"You feel that in your chest?" asked Lilith blankly. "That's called love. You feel guilt for harming her, and you feel it because you love her."
Suture looked at his feet. "…love…? No, that's still not right. That's not how I feel for her."
He looked at Lilith firmly. "But I do feel guilt. If you want her out of that tube, I'll bring her out myself. I need to face this directly."
The Siren smiled gently. "Go on ahead. Bring Nurse Katelyn with you."
"I had the exact intentions," stated the surgeon walking off briskly, a goal firmly etched into his mind.
Axton smirked at Suture as he left. "That guy clearly doesn't understand his emotions."
"He talked like a guilty dad when he talked about her," murmured Baskerville tugging at a troublesome knot in his hair. "Not a lover per se, but he clearly wishes the best for her."
Lilith nodded, smiling at the afterimage of the surgeon. "Maybe he is a decent guy after all."