A/N: So I got a message regarding how this will work into the narrative regarding RWBY and Borderlands. So I won't be using anything from Volume 3 and beyond or from Borderlands 3. Kind of going off with my own stuff but I might borrow a few things from them. Anyway, NEW CHAPTER!

Chapter 8: Getting Out

The alarm went off in the male Vault Hunter's room, Axton bring the one to grab his scroll and turn the alarm off. Damn his desire to keep some kind of normal sleep schedule… and he had a meeting with Ozpin about their payment for the mission they went on, as well as for the eridium Beowolf skeleton they had picked up. He sat up and looked around, seeing that Salvador and Krieg were still asleep while Zer0 was gone. Axton figured that Zer0 would be out and about already since that was his thing, or he was sneaking some alone time with Blake. He chuckled as he got out of bed since he knew Zer0 wasn't trying to get into Blake's pants… at least as far as he knew. Even after years of "knowing" him, he didn't really know anything about the assassin.

Axton stretched as he grabbed his morning routine gear, shambling towards the bathroom. He knew he needed more stuff if they were going to be staying here long term. He went in, slightly forgetting that the bathrooms were coed when he saw Weiss at one of the sinks.

"Morning Weiss." He grumbled as he went to the sink next to her. He looked at her as he gathered his stuff thinking that she looked a lot more… relaxed. Instead of her white dress and jacket she wore a light blue nightgown that went down to her knees, and her hair that was usually tied back was now free hanging. He also noticed something interesting about her… she actually had a chest. In her combat clothes, she was flat as a board but now, she actually had something that could be called a bust.

"Can I help you with something?" Weiss questioned. She had noticed Axton staring at her for far longer than she was comfortable with.

"You've actually got tits. I thought you were flat." Axton answered as he turned on the water at his sink to start shaving.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, I saw your sister and she's got a hell of a set. But I thought you were a board. Guessing you wear some kind of binder?"

"That's none of your business!" Weiss barked as she finished up her morning routine. She felt her face light up in embarrassment and anger. How dare this… mercenary say such crass and rude remarks about her and her sister?! She finished her bark "You damn perv!"

Axton chuckled as Weiss stormed away as he started to put shaving cream on his face. He knew that would come to bit him in the ass later, but he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. He shaved, brushed his teeth and showered, getting himself ready for his day. He threw his pants back on and went back to his room to get dressed. Once he was dressed he sat down to put on his boots, yawning as he shoved his foot in, only to get a foot load of something cold and wet. That was a hard wake up as he pulled his foot out and saw that his boots were full of tomato soup.

"Damn. Guess that makes us even." Axton chuckled as he set his boots aside to clean his foot up. He figured this was Maya's payback to him running off with her towel the other day. Looks like he was going to be going barefoot until he cleaned his boots out. He simply went on with his day, getting a few weird looks from the few students that were up so early on a weekend. He arrived at Ozpin's office, finding the Headmaster himself as well as General Ironwood, who looked at him with a raised eyebrow seeing that Axton was barefoot.

"Morning Headmaster. Morning General." Axton greeted, giving Ironwood a very halfhearted salute as he took a seat in front of the desk. He went on "So, what are we discussing other than payment of the skeleton?"

"Well, evidently the General has some interesting information to share." Ozpin shared, giving Ironwood the floor.

"When I said I hadn't seen anything like your Vault Key, it was only a half truth." Ironwood sighed. He had seen similar structures and rocks like the Vault Key before in Atlas. There was a reason Atlas had such a military advantage when it came to the other kingdoms, why they were more advanced than the other kingdoms. He went on "A few years ago, we uncovered strange ruins in Northern Atlas. We've pulled quite a bit of, what you call, eridium from the ground surrounding the area."

"And what have you been doing with it? Let me guess… weapons and energy sources?" Axton questioned. He'd seen this route before with Hyperion; claiming eridium as theirs and making themselves even stronger.

"That is correct. With help from the Schnee Dust Company, we've engineered it into an energy source, creating power cores and engines that work better than our Dust engines. Our weapons hit harder and stronger than anything else there is."

"And I'm guessing you've got all these shiny new toys just sitting and waiting for something to go wrong? No offense General, but I've seen what happens with eridium. Once you get a taste of the power, all you want is more."

"I understand your concern, but rest assured that Atlas isn't going to be trying to become some global power."

"We'll see about that. So, how far have you gotten with the ruins?"

Ironwood crossed his arms and looked out the large glass wall that stared out over Vale. He already didn't like revealing so much about what Atlas was doing. He needed to be sure that Atlas stayed strong, no matter the cost, and needed to stay safe, no matter the measure. He sighed "We have pushed as far as we can. There is one last chamber that stops up."

"What do you mean by that?" Ozpin questioned. Ironwood explained Atlas' connection to eridium and these ruins, but nothing about a chamber.

"There's one last chamber in the ruins we haven't been able to get into. Any time we try to drill or blast into it, the drill breaks and the explosives do nothing. It's like it's being protected. The only thing that we have on it is a marking of a hand with a circle at the center of it."

"How… interesting. What do you make of this, Axton?"

"I think you're playing with something that should have stayed buried." Axton groaned. He'd dealt with two Vault while on Pandora; the one that controlled the Warrior and another that was a weapons stash. Wherever a Vault was, war and death followed it like stink on a pig. He went on "The ruins are from an ancient race called the Eridians, the ones who made the Vaults. They can be anything from super weapons to weapon stashes to monster prisons. If there's ruins and eridium here, that means there's a Vault, which means there's a key."

"Do you believe that there may be a key in the chamber?" Ozpin questioned. This was all very fascinating, an alien civilization leaving such structures that could hold such destructive power. Yet his old friend James had decided to keep this kind of discovery a secret.

"Not sure what else it would hold. From what the General has described it's not a Vault. Vaults are usually big arches and they're pretty hard to miss. If I'm not imposing… I'd like to go see these ruins. See if we can see anything you or your people might have missed."

"We do have our own people there, the one who has been working the hardest and deciphered the most knowledge from the ruins. I'll give him word that others with knowledge are coming." Ironwood agreed. The thought of what was in that chamber was bothering him. He hated the unknown, and that chamber was a massive room of the unknown.

"Good. Anything else?"

"Actually there is the initial reason you were brought here." Ozpin chuckled, thinking it was a bit amusing that they came here to talk about payment, and instead set up another job. He went on "I can offer you… five hundred thousand lien for the skeleton. It's quite a rare find, plus the eridium itself is quite useful. Does this amount sound good?"

"That's a good hundred K each… yeah, sounds good." Axton chuckled as he held out his hand to shake on it. Ozpin smiled as he reached out and took the Commando's hand and shook, sealing their deal.

"May I ask… where are your shoes?" Ironwood questioned since they were clearly finished.

"In my room, currently filled with soup."

"That… just leaves more questions…"

O00000O00000O

Maya was headed for the airship, looking at her scroll and seeing the very large number that was her bank account. She had no idea how Axton convinced Headmaster Ozpin to pay them so much for the skeleton and the job, but she sure as hell wasn't complaining. The Vault Hunters were told to get ready for a longer stay, so that included basic toiletries and clothing that was a bit more… suited to their newer climate. It was a fair thing to prep for since they had no clue on how they could possibly get back to Pandora. She was also looking for some good books since this was a new world, and that meant new literature to enjoy.

She arrived at the airship launch pads, waiting for the ship that usually carried students back and forth between Beacon and Vale. She looked around and saw Jaune sitting on a bench and waiting, looking down at his scroll.

"Headed into town?" Maya questioned as she sat down next to him, making him jump a bit.

"Holy… scared me. Yeah… I am." Jaune answered as he tried to get his heart rate down.

"Whatcha planning on doing?"

"I was headed to a… book store."

"Really? Cool. I was looking for some books. Mind if I tag along?"

"Uh… I'm not sure you'd like this one."

"Jaune, are you going to a comic shop?" Maya questioned. The first time she had met him his nose was in a comic when he ran into her. So it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities that he was going to get more.

"I… yeah…" Jaune groaned. He knew he was supposed to grow up a bit when coming to Beacon, but one has to retain some amount of child-like fun. What's the point of making any kind of money and not spending it on fun stuff?

"Mind if I still tag along? Books are books, even if they do still have pictures." Maya replied. Nothing wrong with comics since they're still story driven works of art. More detail is just in the picture rather than in words.

"Sure. That's fine."

The two boarded the airship and went into town, Jaune leading the way to the comic shop. It was a small store that was part of a larger block with a window that was lined with different action figures and small statues. They went in, seeing that the back of the store held all of the comics and books on several shelves while the front had a small seating area with a couple chairs and tables. Maya went her own path and started down a row, looking at all of the options. It wasn't long before Jaune made his way to her.

"You know… you're getting a lot of… attention." Jaune pointed out. Not like it wasn't obvious with the young adults that were in the store nearly constantly walking by the ends of the shelves to get a good look at her.

"I don't see why. They've probably seen girls before. Any recommendations?" Maya answered. She'd seen them, thanks Vault Hunter senses for keeping eyes on the back of her head.

"I mean, it's not every day a pretty girl walks in here. And this one. About a bunch of soldiers trying to steal each other's flag."

"Cool. Guess I can grab an issue or two. And thanks for calling me pretty again."

"Yeah, uh, no problem."

Maya chuckled as she grabbed two issues that were sitting there, happy to have something to read from the new world. She paid for her stuff and Jaune paid for his and they headed out, ready for their next task. She asked "I need to do some clothes shopping. Care to help me out? I'll buy you lunch if you do."

"I-I don't think we're really… to that point in friendship…" Jaune nearly blurted, which made Maya laugh.

"I'm not asking you to sit in the changing room with me. Just sit outside the room and let me know what you think. Okay?" Maya responded.

"Oh. Yeah, I could do that."

"See? No reason to worry, unless you were trying to sit in the changing room with me." Maya questioned with a smirk and a small bump from her elbow. He started to stammer and blush before Maya laughed again "Joking, Jaune, joking once again."

O00000O00000O

Gaige headed for Ruby's room and knocked on the door, ready for their day together. They were headed out for lunch before going to the weapon shop to look at parts to figure out what she needed. The door opened, but she was met Yang.

"Well hey there, Gaige. You here for Ruby?" Yang greeted and questioned as she stepped aside, gesturing for Gaige to come in. Yang had a few questions for Gaige, wanting to be really sure that it was safe for them to hang out. Gaige shrugged and walked in, Yang closing the door behind her. She asked "Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, go right ahead" Gaige answered happily as she pulled up a chair and took a seat while Yang went to the bookshelf.

"So, why are you wanted for murder?" Yang questioned plainly.

"Ah… that. Well, it was a girl from school, Marcie Holloway. You see, I designed Death-Trap in my dad's shed, cut off my own arm to prove I could put the control rod in my own arm. And what does she do? Get her dad to steal my plans, has his team of engineers to 'improve' the design and sold it to the Eden-5 police force." Gaige explained, not exactly happy to be reliving the reason she could never go back home. She went on "We got into a fight at the science fair where she got first and I got third."

"And so… you killed her?"

"Not exactly. She shoved me, and Death-Trap went on the offensive and attacked. His claws kind of made her… explode. There was a lot of screaming, I ran… and I haven't seen my family since."

Yang nodded as she thought on what Gaige had said. It seemed like the whole thing was a bit of an accident brought out by, what sounded like, a bully with a dad in power. It shed a new light on Gaige, and it made her feel a tiny bit better about her and Ruby hanging out. She asked "How many people have you killed? Axton said you guys killed bandits… how many?"

"That is a harder question. After a while… you kind of stop counting." Gaige sighed. That was another thing to talk about, since there was a certain point you just… push it aside. It was difficult at first for her, but on Pandora it was killed or be killed. She explained "The bandits of Pandora are less people than they are… beasts that speak. If you get into a fight with them, it's killed or be killed… and that's if you're lucky."

"And… if you aren't lucky?"

"Too many horrible things. Eaten, turned into stew… become the bandit toy. Fuck, Pandora was hell."

Yang blinked in shock at that last part, wondering why the hell anyone would go to Pandora. A place where people would turn on each other in such ways was simply… barbaric. Yang questioned "So… why go there?"

"Because no one would chase you there. Why would anyone chase after someone when they'd most likely be dead when they get there?" Gaige sighed as she leaned back in her chair, honestly just happy to be back in civilization.

"I guess you have a point. Thanks Gaige, for telling me… and I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For thinking that you might be a danger to Ruby. I was wondering if I should even let you two hang out at all."

"No worries. It's all good. You're her big sister and you want to look out for her. So where is she?"

"Oh I told her you'd meet her at the airship pad so we could talk. You'd better hurry up or you'll miss the airship"

"Shit! See you, Yang!" Gaige barked as she shot up and ran out the door. Yang simply chuckled as she walked out herself, texting Blake that the room was open for her to return to. She sighed as she went on with her day, feeling better about Ruby's new friend.

A/N: And there we have it! Atlas using E-Tech? A mysterious chamber in an Eridian Ruin? What could it all mean? Find out next time! As always, PM or review for any thoughts, comments or concerns. Until next time!