Zane sprawled out in his recliner, a bottle in hand and a smile on his face. The door to his room was locked tight and the Operative reclined in only a tee shirt and boxers, relaxed as could be and with the TV on in front of him. Lilith said they could take the day to themselves and, naturally, he was taking full advantage of it, and what better way to unwind than by relaxing in boxers and watching shitty sci-fi films.

The one on now was a fun one; Attack of the 50 foot Skag; looking back on it, Zane found it funny, as a kid, he couldn't tell what was special effects and what wasn't but, now…well he could clearly see it was just two dudes in a suit, and with the camera tilted to always make it look like the skag was bigger than the actors.

He wasn't even sure why they did that; he was sure skags that size were actually a thing, now.

Another swig from his drink was taken and Zane breathed a sigh. It'd been a rough few days, and despite how well he held up…well honestly, it was definitely an armful and a half. It was even worse with New-U stations being dismantled and downed; a fuck-up was lethal, as opposed to a temporary setback. Sure, he didn't really have many years left, but he wanted to spend them not being murdered by crazy cultists who'd probably try and broadcast his death across the galaxy.

His situation was a harsh one, but he was already this deep in the hole. No sense in trying to claw his way out now. Not when they were this close to actually fucking things up for the COV.

…or at least he thought. Really, still, he saw a lot of holes in Lilith's plan. Honestly, he was hoping the twins would fuck up enough and reveal their headquarters so they could lead an assault on them. Fucking up the Vaults didn't really do much except...well buy time for that shite. So, hopefully, that was what the Commander's plan was.

Zane took another swig of his drink and reclined. He let those thoughts drift away; right now it was time to unwind. Unwind and pop in another tape.

He was sure he had a copy of Revenge of Mothrakk somewhere.

Moze made sure her goggles were in place as she welded another plate to Iron Bear. The downtime was appreciated, 'cause now she could fix Iron Bear and…well just that. She didn't really know what else to do with the time she was given. Granted, she had hobbies, yeah, but priorities.

She set the welding tool down and tugged the goggles up. Her mech was fully repaired and, now, she even managed to swap the left arm for a rocket launcher; she could murder four times as many cultists in a fourth of the time!

…still, now with the repairs done…Moze didn't know what to do next. Drink? Browse the net? Socialize?

She shot down all of those ideas…which left one. She could talk to Amara. However, with such an idea, came an influx of those…thoughts. Thoughts she didn't understand. They weren't bad, no, just intrusive, and she didn't know how to act on them. Should she just go right up to Amara and tell her about them? No! She'd think differently!

"Ugh!" Moze shook her head. She had to figure out what the fuck was going on in her head, but for now, she could probably give Ellie back her tools.

And, maybe, she could ask FL4K about these…thoughts. The bot seemed to know more than they let on. Could potentially even help figure out their source.

Amara rested her fingers on the keyboard, a sigh leaving her. She thought it'd be easy to send an email to her family back home, letting them know about her adventures as a Vault Hunter and the things she did. Problem was she didn't really know where to begin. Writing was never a forte of hers, nor was she good at sitting down and composing her thoughts…such a thing was why she was more of 'punch first ask questions eventually'.

Still, she had to write something, so the Siren did her best to think. Eventually, she had something, and began to write.

It's been a weird few days, but…well things are alright, I guess. We stomped Maliwan's strike team and a buncha other things. Hell, I got to open a Vault, too! Of course, that turned out to be a mistake, but the next one should be better.

I've made a lot of friends along the way; one of them's a bit…well she's nice. Moze is her name. Things've gotten weird between us; not weird bad but weird…weird. She gets flustered around me. I think I know what it is, but I'd rather wait for her to tell me herself what it is…last thing I wanna do is jump to conclusions.

I'll try to send another email later. For now, stay safe!

Amara's finger lingered over the enter key. Her eyes were glued to the paragraph she wrote about her and Moze, lips curling into a scowl. She was tempted to just edit it out, but…she didn't see a reason at the same time. It was the truth, and besides, it could possibly help. Maybe.

Her finger mashed down on enter and the email was sent. Her cautious scowl was replaced by a relaxed grin.

Now to see if she could borrow some of Zane's horror films. She needed something else to do.

"There you are my friends. More food." FL4K relaxed as they watched their beasts gorge themselves on food. Mr. Chew snapped up his kibble eagerly, Broodless took time to savor her meal, and Meat-Thief was messily eating his food. The downtime was appreciated, though mostly so FL4K could properly feed their beasts. They didn't really have any interests outside of hunting, killing, and other things, so the time away from the hunt could only be spent on aiding their pets and ensuring they were all perfectly fed and ready for the hunt, for next they went after the next fragment, wherever it was.

Once more, their gaze was out towards the window. Towards space. They wondered where their hunt would take them next. Where they would go once this was over. Of course, they'd stick with the other Vault Hunters but what came next? What foe would arise to be hunted next?

They didn't know, and in a sense, they enjoyed that. Not knowing what came next was always a delight, for if they always knew what was to come next, their existence would get boring, and they would exist for a long time.

Or as long as they could, considering the nature of their existence, and how accidental it was.

…their existence was a mystery to them. FL4K always found themselves questioning it in their downtime. How they gained sentience. Then again, they figured that's how it is for everyone; they were no different. Amusingly, it was why they didn't enjoy downtime; being alone with their thoughts always led them into wondering just why they exist, and how long they'll exist for.

Perhaps they would one day learn the secret to the why behind their existence. But, for now, FL4K reached down to gently stroke the side of Mr. Chew's head, hearing the skag growl in delight.

This was fine. Living in the 'now' had its benefits.

[So, downtime chapter. Feels weird going off canon, but it's needed. I got my stuff balanced, somewhat, so I can do bigger chapters in the coming weeks. I did have to cancel the whole Fictionpress thing due to low readership for my works there, so I moved back to Wattpad, where I can potentially market some of my original works and earn income towards them. Won't discuss more about it 'til I have content going.

So, reviews.

-I didn't add Zer0's PoV for…well a number of reasons. One being he's still on Promethea with Rhys, though I could give a chapter with him working on rebuilding the city or something. I dunno. The other reason's because I literally have no idea how Zer0 thinks. Considering he speaks in Haikus it's possible he thinks in them too, and…well that's a lot of haiku to write and for the audience to digest.

-I'll see what I can do for the AmaraxMoze thing later down the road. I have a few plans.

-I'm glad, once again, this story's been able to fill the void the original game left. Really, yeah, the twins were weak antagonists; motives are "there" but as I said before, they made the tragic error of being villains after the performance of Handsome Jack. It'd be hard to top the charm he had, so they were set to fail from the beginning. The only consolation they bring is they're antagonists you really love to hate, but that's it.

-I...don't actually know what Shadow Warrior is, but I could google it later before bed.

Keep the reviews coming. Next week we'll get back into the Eden-6 chaos. Until then, be safe out there; world's gotten crazier and hazardous.]