A/N: Heyo! No real input this time. Enjoy!
Chapter 9: The Ruins
Morning came early for the Vault Hunters since they had a pretty big day. They were headed to Atlas to check out the ruins and meet Atlas' Eridian expert and see what was hidden within the chamber. All of them were a bit nervous since they had seen what would happen when a Vault was discovered; all hell broke loose. Different groups and corporations fighting to the death over the power and knowledge contained within. All they really could do was go with the flow and hope that Atlas wasn't planning on global domination. Axton explained everything to the other Vault Hunters, letting them know just how Atlas got their edge. All of them were gathered at the air ship pad, waiting for their ship.
"So, what are we expecting when we get there?" Maya questioned as she read her comic. It was quite humorous and very fun to read. She hoped Jaune could point her in the direction of the shop again since she wasn't really paying attention last time.
"My guess? Bunch of science nerds and maybe a soldier or two. The General said they first encountered a few 'beings' inhabiting the ruins, but it's been quiet ever since." Axton answered as he instinctively checked his side arm. Atlas had kept the Eridian ruins a secret, so what else are they keeping secret?
"So keep your weapons ready just in case?"
"Pretty much."
Gaige spotted the ship on the horizon and pointed it out, everyone getting their gear ready as it approached. The ship was larger than the last one they were packed into, but not massive like the ones they'd seen flying over the city. It was similar to a small passenger plane, so they were going to get some space between them. The ship landed and they were met with a familiar face; Winter Schnee, Weiss' older sister and General Ironwood's right hand man, or woman.
"Good morning all. I will be your escort to the dig site and back here." Winter announced as the Vault Hunters boarded the plan, Winter taking a side eye on the large, unstable looking Vault Hunter.
"You escorting us? I love the idea of that. Feel free to take point." Axton chuckled as he checked the eldest Schnee out. She was a drop dead gorgeous woman, even in her military uniform. To be fair to the uniform, it hugged her curves perfectly to outline her large bust and wide hips.
Winter simply rolled her eyes when he walked by, closing the door and taking note of who sat where. There were two rows of two seats that went six seats back. Axton had taken the front seat opposite of the door, on the left was Maya who had her nose in a comic book. Gaige took a seat behind her and was already racked out while Salvador was on the opposite side of her and doing exactly the same. Krieg was behind him and looked to be having an internal conflict while Zer0 took the farthest seat in the back with his face plate in his own book. She told the pilots to take off as she took her seat and off they went to Atlas.
"So, what do you know about these ruins?" Axton questioned as he leaned back in his seat. The best thing he could do was to get as much intel as possible.
"I don't know much. Not exactly my area of expertise."
"Still, you have to have heard something. At least let me know about the nerd we're meeting."
"He's… eccentric. I haven't seen anyone else come close to the knowledge of the Precursors. He's been the driving force behind Atlas' innovations." Winter explained.
"Precursors, huh? We just know them as Eridians. Guessing the language has eluded you guys." Axton chuckled. It was odd hearing about the Eridians from a different perspective, even hearing a whole new name.
"Again, not my area of expertise. I'm sure that you have more knowledge than I do."
"Probably. Well, you can wake me when we land. Feel free to wake me in whatever method you deem fit." Axton chuckled as ne closed his eyes and fell asleep. It was several hours before they reached their destination, and Axton was woken up with a splash of cold water for the face. He jumped and flailed, seeing Winter placing a cup on his lap with a small smirk. He barked "What the hell!?"
"We've arrived. You told me to wake you in whatever fashion I deemed fit, so a glass of water seemed best." Winter replied as she went to the door. She looked back at him and jested "You seemed a bit… thirsty?"
Axton couldn't help but chuckle and laugh, a fair enough jest at him and a good joke. He got up as the other Vault Hunters made the move towards the door. Once the door opened, the Vault Hunters got a blast of cold air and snow as they got firsthand experience of Atlas' colder climate as opposed to Vale's more temperate climate. Axton jumped since he was the one doused in cold water.
"Angel's sake! No warning about the cold?!" He barked as he was pushed out. The area they were in was a lot like how Lilith described the Vault they found. It was a mountainous, craggy area with howling winds and snow. He looked around and saw trailers that he could only assume was the housing for the staff working the ruins. The others got out and whined about the cold while Zer0 and Winter seemed unphased by the wind. The ruins they were looking for were set more into the mountains with large slabs of gray stone with purple, glowing veins with a large gap that had lights around it.
"So, these are the ruins… and I'm guessing the expert is deeper down?" Maya questioned as she wrapped her arms around herself, the cold disagreeing with her. Winter nodded and lead them in, the Vault Hunters seeing that stairs were built since it looked like Atlas broke into the ceiling. Maya questioned "So, how many people you have working down here?"
"There are two teams of ten each, rotating every twelve hours. There are several tunnel off shoots that were full of different artifacts and what we suspect were writings. We've given them twenty soldiers just in case of any attacks from bandits looking for a payday or Grimm that are simply drawn here." Winter answered as they walked down the stairs, finally getting to the ground. There were large space heaters set up with lights filling the tunnels so that way no one was freezing or working in the dark. They could hear the sounds of voices and machinery down some of the tunnels they passed, each of them with a soldier or two that snapped to attention as they walked by. After walking for quite some time, damn near impossible to tell in an artificially lit ruin buried in a mountain, they arrived to a large chamber.
Set up at the center of the room was a command center type of tables covered in computers and equipment. There were different stones on one table under a magnifying glass with some of them either broken in half or smashed to bits to see what was on the inside. There were books and papers around a slab, possibly attempting to translate some of the writings by hand rather than letting a computer do all of the foot work. At the back of the room was something that was out of place, a large metal vault-like door, like one would see inside of a bank. Around the edges were writings that glowed purple, all spinning towards a raised center circle. Winter pointed the lead scientist out to the group so they knew who to talk to.
The lead scientist was seated behind a bank of computers and monitors atop a prefab metal platform; one one screen was a wireframe image of the vault door, a translator running Eridian script on another, and on the third was nothing but indecipherable code. His attire consisted of black sensible boots for the uneven ruin floor, black cargo pants with pockets fit to bursting with tools and odds-and-ends, and a crisp white lab coat thrown over his back. His hair, white as freshly-driven snow, spiked out in all directions like he'd stuck a fork into an electrical socket. As the Vault Hunters approached him, he held up a pale finger to halt them in place, continuing to type with his remaining hand, attention fixated on his screens. After several more seconds, the lead scientist seemed to reach a comfortable stopping point, because he rose from his chair and turned to face them.
The first thing the Vault Hunters noticed was that he was young. Very young, like he should've been in his second or third year at Beacon young. Turned around, he was revealed to have a slender, lightly-muscled frame over which he wore a red button-up shirt. His features were on the pale side, evidence of a life spent under artificial lighting, but not unhealthily so; his eyes, the color of blood, popped behind the half-circle wire frame spectacles resting atop a narrow pointed nose. Now that he was standing, the Vault Hunters could see that he was as tall as Axton; assuming you counted the hair.
"Ah, you must be the visitors I was told to expect," the young man stated, eyeing them over as he adjusted his spectacles, the lenses catching the light and obscuring them from sight. "Soldier, month of leave and possibly sober. Woman, slightly older, Dust Tattoos perhaps? Adolescent, prosthetic, crude, looks hand-made but still functional. Possible dwarf, stunted growth either natural or steroid-induced. Possible former convict on probation. Hermetically-sealed individual with less-than-standard finger count," he muttered under his breath, eyes darting to each and every one of them, thoughts awhirl before he shook himself out of aforementioned muttering. "My name is Arthur Asimiov, lead scientist at this station. Might I inquire as to your business here? At best, you're independent contractors. At worse..." he paused as his eyes trailed too the nearby soldiers before turning back to them.
In answer to this, Axton withdrew the Vault Key from his echo device, the scientist's eyes trailing on the device itself for a second longer before rebounding to the key. Arthur took a step forward and drawing a loupe from one of his pockets, a scanner from the other, he eyed it intently for several seconds before asking "Where on Remnant did you get this?"
"Off world, on a planet called Pandora." Axton answered as he bounced the key in his hand, making Arthur wince every time it went up into the air.
"Off world, on a planet called Pandora." Axton answered as he bounced the key in his hand.
"Please don't manhandle the artifact like that. Its scientific value alone is worth more so than your continued life-functions," Arthur said wincing each time the key went up into the air.
"Is that a threat?" Axton asked with a quirked brow, taking firm hold of the key and wondering how many Badass Points he'd get for killing a guy with that.
"Not meant as such. Merely an attempt at laconic humor," Arthur returned as he eyed the key. "I am to assume you are the extraterrestrials residing at Beacon? Are these ruins perhaps a remnant of your civilization?"
"No. The Eridians came long before us," Maya answered, feeling a little left out of the conversation since Axton seemed to be taking charge, as usual. That peaked Arthur's interest in the group, seeing them more as a source of additional, or corroborating, information now.
"Eridians, you say? Interesting… interesting… I would like to pick all of your brains on this. Metaphorically speaking that it." Arthur replied as he looked over them with renewed interest. He went on "So, what can all of you tell me about the Precursors, or as you've put it, Eridians?"
Gaige stepped up since she was the one who hung around Tannis, well more accurately she sat outside the door while Tannis went off on her episodes about the Eridians. Their own scientist, Dr. Patricia Tannis, had devoted her life, and her sanity, to the study of Eridians and the Vaults. Since she was a bit… off, she wasn't exactly the greatest with people, instead preferring to converse with her own scientific equipment rather than people. She started to talk to Arthur, giving him a bit more information as everyone else started to meander a bit and look around. Maya felt a… a feeling towards the strange vault door, like it was calling to her.
It was a strange feeling she could somewhat put into words, like it was calling to her… but calling out a warning. As she approached the door, ignoring the holographic caution tape that made a small cordon around the door, it filled her with a sense of dread, like she was meant to be running away from the thing and never turning back. As she got to the door she noticed all of the writing seemed to go to the center, and at the center was a hand print with a circle at the center of it. She stared at it, her siren hand slowly raising towards it to the hand print. She couldn't stop herself, no matter how much she also felt pushed away, like this was something she shouldn't be doing.
"Halt! What are you doing?" Arthur suddenly shouted, the soldiers nearby going for their weapons as Maya placed her hand upon the symbol.
The next moment her tattoos flared up along with the writing on the wall, the once-inert shade of purple glowing a blinding white before Maya was suddenly flung back onto her rear by an invisible force, eyes wide and trembling as an invisible seam split the door in half, its two halves moving away from one another exposing a gaping maw.
Maya, however, was having a much worse reaction as she started hyperventilating. When she put her hand on that symbol, she was shown something; Vale burning with a shadowed, four fingered hand reaching over it. Axton and Winter immediately ran to Maya's side, pushing on her shoulder and shaking her as she slowly came back to reality. Maya gasped "We… should not… have opened that."
"We? Please. You're the one who did it." Axton chuckled as he patted her shoulder, happy to see her coming back to reality.
"I'm serious! We should close this thing back up and forget it ever existed." Maya barked as she forced herself up. That image she saw was just… haunting. It was definitely something that she would remember. She explained "When I touched that handprint… I saw Vale burning… and some kind of hand reaching out to crush it. Whatever is in there… it should stay there."
"Well, unless there's another DNA scanner we've failed to notice, I doubt that door will be closing any time soon," Arthur said walking forward, shining a flashlight into the gaping maw. He shouted back to the other scientists "Listen up! I want air quality scans and additional lighting down here, standard biohazard protocol until we're sure it's safe to carry forward."
"Well you can get that set. We're going in." Axton pointed out as he pulled his rifle off of his back, ready to go spelunking. The other Vault Hunters did the same, ready for whatever might be in there. Arthur attempted to protest, but then came an odd whistling sound, that made him immediately run out of the way.
"PRECURSOR CONSTRUCTS! INCOMING!" he barked, the once-trundling scientists quickly scampering topside while the nearby soldiers scrambled for their weapons. The whistling soon revealed itself to be something the Vault Hunters had only heard about from Lilith and the others; Guardians. The first two that flew out were the Sera Guardians, the flying ranged fighters of the guardians. The body was thin, chitin covered midsection with a white torso that resembled a crab shell with six tentacle like spikes poking back that acted like wings. There was a visor like face with a yellow eye that shined bright. The arms and legs were human like, but black muscle instead of skin and both the hands and feet only had four digits.
The next two were Spectre Guardians, the close combat kind. They were very close to humanoid with body structures that looked human, only covered in white chitin plates with yellow lights coming from between the plates. The head was the same as the Sera Guardian, a white visor plate with a break down the center. Instead of having wings, the Spectre Guardian had red energy blades coming from its wrists. The legs were similar to dog legs, built for running as they hunched down to charge the occupants of their ruin.
The last three were the Wraith Guardians, the common troop of the guardians. This one was also humanoid, but had dark blue muscles with red chitin armor plating. It had a think neck that connected to the back of its face plate, making it look like it had a hunched back. The guardian carried a staff that had the same dark blue muscular look with yellow lights at the end of it.
The Vault Hunters immediately started blasting, Axton and Maya going for the Wraith Guardians while Krieg and Salvador went after the Spectre Guardians and Zer0 and Gaige started firing at the Sera Guardians. Maya acted immediately, Phase Locking the first Wraith and pulling the second one in while Axton started unloading his rifle, tearing through them with little resistance. Zer0 was quick with his pistol, whipping out his golden Jakobs revolver and firing single shot, nailing the Sera right in its 'eye' and dropping it like a rock. Gaige did her usual of spraying and letting her bullets ricochet off of every surface and then strike the Sera from every direction until it was shredded. Krieg had a simple approach, brutal beating as he reared his Meat Bicycle back and slammed it into the Spectre's defense, breaking it and throwing its arms out. He turned and swung again, cleaving the Guardian in half with ease.
Salvador has a just as simple approach as he pulled out his Vladof spin gun and Bandit SMG, simply unloading his magazines that nearly vaporized the Guardian.
Before the final Wraith could assail one of the soldiers, a lance of luminous orange light pierced its chest, cauterizing the wound and dropping it to the ground like roadkill. The Vault Hunters' eyes following the trajectory of the blast, saw that Arthur was now cradling a long futuristic-looking rifle, its interior components gray overlaid with white angular plating, its barrel flanked by what appeared to be magnets, thrumming with power before the weapon powered down with an audible hum.
"And that, friends, is why we set up additional lighting before descending the depths of an alien ruin," Arthur said lowering the barrel, walking over to the downed Guardian before snapping its neck with the sole of his boot. "Damn constructs."
"You've seen Guardians before?" Gaige questioned as she reloaded her weapon, eyes still on the doorway for more Guardians.
"Yes. When Atlas first uncovered the ruins, the place was swarming with them. Lost a lot of good men and women learning their fighting patterns before we were able to move in. They were unresponsive to conventional communications, so it was the only way to ensure the safety of nearby settlements," Arthur answered. "As we cleared the internal debris and exposed more chambers, we encountered further pockets of resistance. I took a few hits trying to keep my team safe..." he said scratching at his chest. "From what we can tell, they're more machine than living beings. Bio-roid construction still not fully understood. Intellect... negligible, but fanatically dedicated to their assigned task."
"Yeah, it's what they do. They keep people from Eridian artifacts. Whatever is in there, it is definitely something important."
"Alright, we're going in. If you hear that whistling sound again, light the entrance up." Axton updated, as he pushed towards the doorway. Winter moved up to him and grabbed his shoulder, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"I can't allow you to go in there. You were brought here merely to advise, not to get involved." Winter barked, not wanting to put the people she was in charge of in any danger.
"We just opened the door to a whole new can of worms you guys have just scratched the surface of. We are way beyond just advising. Look, gorgeous, this is what we do."
"You stubborn… well I'm going in with you." Winter growled as she drew a saber from her hip. There was no way she was just going to stand by and let these six individuals just run into an unknown area. She was a Specialist in the Atlesian army, General Ironwood's right hand, and there was no way six mercenaries were going to just go in without her.
"Yeah, sure, just... walk right in there without knowing if it's filled with poisonous gas or not," Arthur sighed tiredly as they prepared to descend into the maw. He asked himself while ushering the other scientists out. "Why do I even bother keeping the damn canaries around?"
Axton looked between his friends, all of them nodding in approval and in they went. As they went in, the Vault Hunters felt a familiar feeling, the same one they felt when they were first transported to Remnant; dread. That icy, deathless and imposing dread that enveloped them and brought them to a world that was beyond their reach and knowledge.
The inky blackness practically consumed them, strangling nearly all sources of light except for the glow of the Eridium veins of the rocks around them. The Vault Hunters moved like a unit with Krieg and Salvador taking point, Gaige and Axton taking the center with Winter between them with Zer0 and Maya taking up the rear. They walked for a good few minutes before a deep, hollow voice echoed through the hall.
"Turn back." The voice echoed in a commanding, dominating voice that made damn near everyone stop and reconsider what they were doing. The voice went on "There is nothing here but ruin. Turn back."
"Damn… I feel like my dad just told me to go to my room." Gaige grumbled as she looked around. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know… but we sure as hell won't be stopping. We press and see what these Guardians are so damned eager to protect." Axton ordered, not wanting to leave this place unchecked for the scientists to deal with using just two soldiers. The group pushed deeper, starting to see more light as they saw crystals start to protrude from the earth. The crystals got bigger and bigger until they entered a massive chamber with the walls covered in crystals to illuminate the place. The last Vault they were in had Eridian statues similar to the Wraith build, but with insect like jaws coming from their shoulders. This one had none of them, but instead had an Eridian statue on its knees with chains raising its arms up while its head hung low with a broken chain. When they entered, the voice returned.
"You were warned. You were told this would bring ruin. Now you must never leave." The voice declared as the room started to shake. In front of the statue's lowered face, a purple portal opened up with white fire. A large, Eridian hand breached the portal, only this one had a large oval ring that went around it that rivaled Krieg in size. It slammed on the ground, causing everyone to stumble from the sheer force of the strike. Another raised up and slammed down, the massive being emerging from the portal. The head had large, chitinous wings that curved forward and created a battering ram like horn with a glowing purple eye.
The body was heavily armored in the same white chitin as the Spectres, but this one had large spikes protruding from its back. The portal closed as the massive feet landed on the ground, revealing the titanic guardian to easily be at least 20 ft. tall with massive club arms that seemed very good at clubbing and crushing its foes. The guardian spoke "I am Fortress. I am the defender of the piece, and I will uphold my duty."
All of the Vault Hunters raised their weapons and started unloading on the behemoth, but their weapons did nothing. Winter could see the sparks of light as well as the waves from the strange shielding the creature had. The beast took a step and brought down one of its massive clubs, sending a purple shockwave towards the group. All of them jumped out of the way with Axton rolling and swapping to his Mongol rocket launcher, letting loose a rocket barrage. Fortress flinched a bit from the blast, but his attention was turned and dragged his club fist to throw rocks and debris at Axton.
He thought quick and dropped a turret, letting a shield deploy to protect him. Maya went for her assault, Phase Locking the behemoth with the full knowledge that it was too large to hold, but the hit would cause a falter. Sure enough, Fortress did falter and fell to his shoulder, which is when Maya started lighting the Guardian up with her Shock SMG to try and crack the beast's shield. Gaige joined in with her own Bandit Shock SMG, starting a fire where her bullets landed and ricocheted. Sadly, Fortress seemed unaffected as he picked himself up, glowing eye focusing on Maya and roared "Siren traitor! You forsake your own kind for the Heretic!"
Fortress lunged forward, faster than expected for a behemoth his size, with the intent of pulverizing the two into dust. The two were stuck in shock and fear as the shadow loomed over them, but someone was quick thinking and the two were suddenly grabbed and yanked out of the way of the massive titan. The one that saved them was a massive white Beowolf with blue markings instead of read with a flurry of snow around it. The Beowolf released them and turned onto the titan, Maya and Gaige seeing that there were two more jumping onto the Guardian. The two ladies saw Winter running around Fortress' backside and pointing her saber at the Guardian, like she was commanding them to attack.
"Get back in the fight!" Winter barked as she spun and threw an ice blast at Fortress as he started to rise. She had never seen a beast of such magnitude outside of Ghast Grimm, a spectral Grimm that would possess inanimate objects and turn them into weapons. She continued "We can't allow this thing to live!"
"Foolish humans! You do not know what you're doing!" Fortress roared as he grabbed a Snow Wolf and crushed it with ease. "You will bring nothing but damnation! It is my duty to stop you!"
Krieg pulled out his Torgue Launcher, the Nukem, and fired it. The warhead slammed into Fortress' chest, creating a massive, mushroom cloud explosion that caused the titan to stumble back. Salvador followed up by unloading his Conference Call Shotgun and his Vladof Spin gun, rounds flying everywhere as it collided with the titan's shield. Zer0 gained his footing, and whipped out his Lyuda Vladof sniper rifle, taking aim at the glowing eye. He pulled the trigger and held on as he started unloading sniper rifle rounds directly into the shield before the eye. After all of the abuse, the shield finally broke and Fortress roared as the first rounds slammed into the eye, purple blood pouring from the wound.
"NO! NO! I WON'T FAIL MY DUTY!" Fortress roared as he took a step forward and started slamming his fists on the ground, sending shockwave after shockwave at the Vault Hunters and into the walls. Rocks started falling from the ceiling, all of them jumping out of the way of the debris. Fortress roared "I WILL BURY AS ALL! THE HERETIC SHALL REMAIN!"
"He's really bringing the house down!" Salvador roared as he jumped out of the way of a rock, seeing the cracks start forming in the walls.
"I might have something! Just keep the rocks off of me!" Winter barked as she ran to the spot Fortress emerged. She took a stance and closed her eyes, focusing her aura into something she'd only tried a few times before. Axton went along with it and threw out his other turret by her, creating a shield to keep the rocks from crushing her. Salvador used his Conference Call shotgun to blast any rocks that he thought were too big. Maya, Gaige, Zer0 and Krieg all started to unload their weapons into Fortress, attempting to at least slow him down from turning all of them into a mess of meat and bone.
Near the entrance, a massive white glyph appeared that looked like an intricate snowflake with multiple layers, all spinning in opposite directions. Snow started to spin up from the glyphs and form a snowy egg that was easily as tall as Fortress. The egg suddenly opened, revealing a titanic raven with a skull head and blue markings. The great bird flapped its wings, sending a blizzard that pounded Fortress and made him falter, stopping the Guardian from collapsing the cave. Once Fortress stopped slamming the ground, the raven wrapped its wings around the behemoth and started making a blizzard within its wings.
The Guardian struggled it the grasp, but the force was too much and the blizzard began freezing him. Axton cold see the look of strain in Winter's face as she willed the great bird to hold Fortress in place and freeze him solid. It took quite a bit of time, but the Guardian was finally frozen solid and the raven released him and dissipated into snow. Fortress' frozen corpse rocked forward, all of the Vault Hunters running away from the massive ice block as it crashed into the ground shattering with a loud and deafening crash. The room rocked hard, but luckily the place held strong aside from a few small rocks falling down.
"I… did it…" Winter panted before her eyes rolled back and she started to fall. Lucky for her, Axton was the knight in shining armor and caught her, her arms and head falling back as her saber hit the ground. Everyone was still, not wanting to take anything for chance when a purple light erupted underneath the head of the Eridian statue, right where the broken chain around the neck hung. Once the light faded, there was a pedestal with a piece floating above it. The piece was square in shape, two inches thick and six inches across with eridium veins going through it with a small circle on the top.
"Is… is she okay?" Gaige questioned as she moved towards Axton and Winter. She was incredibly worried about Winter, who just saved their asses from the titanic Guardian that would have buried them. Axton brought his hand to her throat, checking her pulse.
"She's alive. I think she just exhausted herself making that massive bird that took Fortress out." Axton sighed, happy to see their hero was still good. The last thing they wanted to do was come out of the cave with a Vault Key piece and the corpse of the only non-Vault Hunter. He went on "Someone grab the piece. I've got Winter. Let's get out of here."
"Got it." Zer0 stated as he walked up, grabbing the piece from its pedestal. He held the piece, feeling the weight both literally and figuratively. He questioned "What now?"
"Yeah… this is… beyond just some Vault." Maya pointed out. Her vision and what Fortress had said was terrifying. Could this… Heretic be the hand that went above Vale? Could this Vault be some kind of prison like the one for the Destroyer, the Vault monster that the previous Vault Hunters had taken out? This Heretic could be a massive threat, and Atlas was prepared to search out the Vault and see what secrets it held. Maya pointed out "Whatever is in there… it can't just be a weapons cache… or some weapon… I think it's a prison."
"Agreed, seniora. Atlas is going to open that Vault… just like the corporation and Hyperion." Salvador grumbled as he looked around. "What should we do?"
"We tell them everything." Axton stated as he stood up, bridal carrying Winter. He knew that they couldn't just tell the nerds upstairs that they didn't find anything after fighting a massive Guardian. He went on "But we are not giving up that piece. If Atlas wants to fight us about it, we fight. We should encourage them to work with us, but if push comes to shove, we shove."
"FIGHT THE POWER! RIP AND TEAR!" Krieg roared as he flailed his buzz axe in the air. All of the Vault Hunters nodded and headed up, ready to face whatever wrath they would incur from Atlas.
A/N: And even more questions arise. Who is this Heretic? How will Atlas handle the news of the Vault Hunters taking the key with them? Stay tuned and find out! Special thanks to NeoNazo365 for the assistance and use of the character, Arthur Asimov. As usual, PM or review with any thoughts, comments, or concerns.