Zane kept himself ready as he and the others advanced deeper into the ruined ship. Sure, they had a guide leading them through the derelict, said guide was constantly fighting with his ex who, in turn, made shit more complicated for them as punishment.

Really, it was just annoying. But, alas and alack, he both knew how the lil' guy felt, and had been in his position once or twice in his younger years.

…even though he was being nice with once or twice; it was many more than that…

"BALEX, your designation intrigues me." The Operative was pulled from his thoughts when FL4K spoke to the teddy bear.

"Oh, yeah yeah yeah…stands for Binary Automated Logistical…" Somehow, the damn thing sighed. "All right, my old man Jakobs couldn't decide weather to call me Barry or Apex, so he ended up calling me BALEX. I know, it's not the coolest origin story but…"

"My five-hundred- and twelve-character alphanumerical designation has no meaning, but I have shortened it to FL4K for the sake of time." FL4K said curtly.

"My name means 'deathless' on thirty-seven worlds," Amara chimed in with a chuckle. "And it's also a brand of conditioner on eight. Should be getting royalties for those."

Zane shrugged. Might as well chime into the weird name thing, too. "Hey, could've been worse; me brothers were named Baron and Captain. I got off pretty lucky 'pared to them."

"And…augh…" Moze rolled her eyes. "My full name's Moserah Hayussinian Yan-Lun-al-Amir Andreyevna…Moze for short."

Zane stared at Moze like she told him she was an alcoholic. "Bull-fuckin'-SHITE; THAT'S your name?!"

"Y-Yeah, and?!"

"Nothin', always thought Moze was short for fuckin' Mozington or some shit. Or Mozzing. Not…that!"

"Says the fucker named Zane."

"I ain' mockin' the name; just sayin' thought it was somethin' else." Zane could still see Moze was fuming. She'd be fine. "I'mma still call ya Mozzy Moze. Ain' makin' no damn nicknames from that."

"Oh? Something you'll leave be for once, Zane?" Amara questioned.

"Nah…need time to come up with somethin' for what I just heard. Mossy? Hayu? See? I got nothin'." Honestly, he was just putting in the effort just to annoy Moze. Moment they left the ship he'd probably forget her real name. Was way too long to remember every time.

It was why he was somewhat glad FL4K didn't actually say their full name, too. That'd probably put Moze's to shame in terms of fucking length.

Moze peppered another grog with her assault rifle, killing the damned lizard as her team swept through another abandoned room. They were still stuck providing cover for Balex and his…"new body" but she had the hunch they were getting closer to the end. Or, at the very least, somewhere they could afford to take a breath.

"We're coming up on the security hold; it'll be right around…ah crap, I'm navigating again," The robot groaned. "You know what, you find it? The room ain't far."

"…well that's helpful." Moze silently groaned.

"To be fair," Amara noted. "He's probably trying to avoid giving his 'ex' anymore fuel against him…seems like she's got quite a bit."

"You know an awful lot about dealing with ex-girlfriends, I guess." Moze tried to make a crack but…well once it was out there, she realized it was pretty fucking stupid and wished she could shoot the fucking words out the air.

Amara just chuckled. "I've had my fair share of girl troubles. Think one of my ex's literally tried to take a bank hostage to force me to go out with her again. Worked as good as it sounded."

"Least you c-came out of it alright." Moze picked her words carefully; that feeling was back. It…still didn't feel bad, but it still felt weird to have. So, like before, she tried to stomach them and pressed on…even though part of her felt "relieved" Amara even went for girls to begin with.

…she was gonna talk to someone about these feelings when she had a chance. But, for now, mission. Can never forget the mission.

"Alright, there's the door to the security hold…aaaaaand GenIVIV's blocked it, and my medbot clearance probably won't get us through here."

"Speaking of security," Oh fuck. Balex's ex was back. "Oh security~! There's an adorable little idiot criminal trying to break in. Please pull him apart. Slowly."

"…y'know, she says she hates him, yet constantly refers to him as cute…" Moze grunted.

"Sometimes crazy ex's do that," Amara answered. "especially if they weren't the ones who instigated the break-up." Moze whirled around and emptied the remains of her mag into a robot, destroying it. She wanted to call Iron Bear but, with how deep they were in the ship, she was worried the signal could get messed with and the mech could get sent elsewhere; Balex's girlfriend probably couldn't do that but she wasn't taking the fucking risk.

It didn't take long to thin the herd of the attacking security bots until, at last, they stopped coming all together. "Alright, good fuckin' work, Vault Hunters…but we ain't getting through thar door. Luckily, I know a side route. Let's go through the freight entrance." At least with Balex they wouldn't get lost…because Moze was confident without him, they'd still be fucking around the entrance area.

Or, worse, still fighting fucking swamp dinosaurs.

Amara blew apart another security camera, racking her shotgun and taking another apart. They were pushing on at a swift pace and would inevitably reach their destination. Sure, she felt a lil' disappointed to only be fighting robots and swamp monsters, it was still…okay, compared to what they witnessed in the manor.

And the possibility the twins finally had an ace in the hole against them if they could readily produce more of those 'Anointed'.

The Siren pushed those concerned thoughts and lit up another robot, taking a moment to sigh and look around the ruined "battlefield". They were in another damaged room, one that looked to be where the original owners scanned stuff as far as she assumed. Made her wonder just what the Family Jewel was used for but, considering who owned it, she guessed it was used to move weapons shipments.

A neat thought.

"The key fragment should be in this security cell," She turned to look at Balex, who was typing away at and trying to 'hack' a console. "Watch my ass while I 'navigate' the door controls." Least this meant things were just about over—

"I've had a lot of free time since you crashed us here, BALEX," Aaaaaaand there goes that thought. "Did you know the local jabbers have a unique language JUST for mating? They're quite the romantics."

"I…don' like where this is goin'." Zane said, already dropping his clone down.

"I get it, I'm no good at dirty talk; shut up about it." Balex called back, still hard at work.

"You wanna hear some? It's really beautiful."

"Hear…monkey mating calls…the fuck's she on about?" Moze asked.

FL4K loaded their sniper. "Moze, reload. Now. We're about to have company."

"What—"

And then the fucking AI started making jabber noises. Annoying, creepy jabber noises. Amara quickly realized what the fucking thing's intent was when she heard many distant, reciprocating calls.

"Ah, crap! She's calling ALL the horny jabbers back to us! I hate those things!" Amara started firing the mere instant one came into view, blowing the jabber to bits.

"FL4K! Is your own jabber gonna be an issue—" She watched said trained jabber club another across the head with a pipe. "…huh."

"Bold of you to assume Meat-Thief doesn't know better, Amara." She sighed and blew apart another horny jabber.

This was NOT how Amara envisioned her day to go; fighting waves of sex-hungry jabbers, but…well that's how her day was.

On the upside, they avoided actually letting any of the fuckers close. The Siren didn't even wanna think about what'd happen if someone got overwhelmed.

The team kept shooting and Balex even got some turrets online to bolster their chances in fighting off the wave of horny apes. Thankfully, after a lot of bullets were spent, the remaining jabbers pissed off, finally giving them the solace they needed. "That was…really uncomfortable," Balex said. "Come back, I've nearly got the cell open." With the way cleared, Amara let Balex take the lead as he opened up a door—

WHUMP!

Just in time to get whacked by a damned jabber. A BIG one, too.

"Hahaha! Idiots! Did you really think I didn't have a backup plan?!"

"Your methods make me assume as much," FL4K coldly retorted. "Feels like all of this was improvised and you're trying to maintain the illusion of control."

"It's not, you damn drone."

"Mhm; least I can actually walk." FL4K went after anyone they could. But, still, Balex's body was gone and the Badass Jabber was, quickly, dealt with by the others as the Siren stooped down to pick the pink toy up.

"Well, what now, Balex?" She asked.

"Fuck…we just keep going, I guess. It's not in—"

"I moved the key fragment ages ago, you cute dummy. If you want it, come to the bridge and fight me for it."

"Sort of impossible; we actually have bodies. You don't."

"Oh, you'll see." Amara didn't like the sound of that. But, still, only path now was up.

To the bridge to confront this crazed AI that, somehow, made FL4K seem normal.

FL4K kept their SMG at the ready as the team continued to move. They were nearing the bridge, where Balex's mate wanted a showdown, and a showdown was what the Beastmaster planned to give and then some.

"Okay, listen, I got an idea on how to beat GenIVIV."

"Why? Is she not simply an AI?" FL4K asked.

"Nah, bitch probably installed herself into that old Maliwan Mech Jakobs kept around as 'décor'…despite it bein' fully functional, but there's a second one in the shuttle bay. If we can get me into that one, GenIVIV won't be able to stop us! Let's head through Engineering." A detour, but FL4K could tolerate it, and the team pressed on, moving swiftly and cleaving through any foes who were foolish enough to stand in their way.

Once in Engineering, FL4K saw the mech in question. It reminded them much of Moze's Iron Bear, but…rudimentary. And Maliwan based, of course.

"So, what now, Balex?" Moze asked.

"Mech time, baby; we gotta open it up and install me inside that beautiful thing. Should be a manual override on top." Zane was already moving, moving past the sparse robots in the room and easily reaching the mech, setting to work in overriding it as FL4K rammed their blade into another service bot, ripping it in two. It didn't take long to get the mech groundside and, once there, Amara was the one to install Balex into it…with mixed results.

Namely, she placed him where the mech's groin would go, if it had one.

"…Mara…what's um…what's with the placement?" Zane asked with a snicker. "Like, I ain' questionin' it but—"

"He said shove him wherever. Can't reach the head." She retorted.

"So…he's just gon' free-bear it?" Zane joked. FL4K audibly sighed.

"Yeah it looks weird, but check it," The mech's arms moved, displaying impressive firearms. "Weapon systems are online! Now lemme…just figure out sh—" The jets activated and the mech started to ascend. "Wait fuck nonononono—OOOH SHIT!" And he was gone; ascended right out the windows above.

"…I assume this was not part of the plan?" FL4K asked.

"Yeah just…head to the bridge; door should be open. I'll…try to stop careening through the air." Least they had a straight shot. So, now came the time to finish the fight, and destroy GenIVIV.

…her name still made no sense. That wasn't even how numerals worked…

[Another chapter done and the closer we draw to the conclusion of this epic tale. We're still quite far off, but eh, we're having fun.

Thanks for the continued support on this, but like always, time to cover some reviews.

-I made sure to include the scene of everyone describing their full name and, of course, having Zane react to Moze's. Let's face it, it's something he'd do.

-Them facing off against horny jabbers is something I forgot. Glad I recalled, as it led to some neat comedy.

Don't forget to also check out my FictionPress; I plan to update there more in time. Til then, stay safe, and stay healthy!]