Chapter 34
Hunters Moon
They made their way back to where they had left the others and after untying their prisoner, they blindfolded him and made their way back to the ship.
The first thing they did, even as A.I. ngel was marveling at the ship was to secure their prisoner. They started by securing him to one of the bulkheads, near the cargo bay. Artemis then dug through the stuff she had and came back with a collar.
Securing it around his neck she told him "This is a collar usually used when transporting live animals. I've had a few jobs that wanted them, so to protect my ship, in case they escaped, I would affix one of these around their neck. If they leave the designated area, usually their cage, boom. If they're getting unruly, boom. If you try and remove it."
"Let me guess, boom."
"Correct. So, don't do anything stupid. Next, we're gonna give you something to make you sleep. Hard for us to relax with a prisoner on board."
"You could always let me go."
"We could also make the sleep permanent."
"In that case, I'll take the temporary sleep."
"That's what I thought."
They injected him with the drug and after checking to make sure it had taken, moved out to the main area, dropping their bags as they went.
After the door had closed Gaige leaned in and asked "Will that collar really explode?"
"No, it just keeps track of his life signs."
"Huh, I didn't think you were a good liar."
"I'm not, I'm just so tired that my face can't be bothered to show expressions."
"I get that. I think I'm gonna sleep for a month."
They made their way through the sitting room where A.I. ngel was looking around in awe as Deathtrap was working in the kitchen, and up the stairs to the cockpit. Setting their course to the nearest major station where they could get the bounties, they watched the station shrink as they flew away, not even wanting to wait to see it explode.
They staggered back down just as Deathtrap set three plates onto the table with a flourish. It was just something light for them to eat before bed, but they were extremely grateful for it.
"I know that we shouldn't be eating right before bed, but right now, I don't care." Gaige muttered between shoveling food into her mouth.
A.I. ngel took a nibble of hers before starting to dig in "This is really good. What is it?"
"Urrgurrr"
"Really? I've heard about that, so this is what it tastes like."
After the girls finished their meal, Deathtrap shooed them away, sending them to bed while telling them that he would clean up and keep an eye on the girl and their prisoner. The girls gave a grateful wave to him and bid A.I. ngel a good night, morning, whatever and headed into the bedroom.
Artemis brushed her teeth and left the bathroom to Gaige, whom had taken those moments to gather some fresh clothes. She took a relaxing shower and with her hair still down stepped out to find the other girl dead asleep on the floor.
Shaking her awake she informed her that the shower was free.
"I'll take one after I clean my limbs. I'll just sleep down here for now so I don't mess up the bed." And with that her head hit the floor and seconds later she was sleeping again. Gaige shrugged and crawled into bed. Seconds later, she joined Artemis in slumber.
The Next Day
Gaige woke slowly, the tendrils of sleep refusing to let her go, pulling her back into a doze a few times before she finally had to get up. It took her three tries to get up, her stiff muscles not wanting to respond, but eventually she managed to stagger into the bathroom.
A short while later she came out feeling much more awake and found Artemis still sleeping on the floor. Letting the other girl rest, even while noting that Deathtrap must have come in at some point and covered her with a blanket, she made her way out to the sitting area where she found her robo-buddy waiting.
He let her know that he would have something ready for her in a minute and told her to be quite, since A.I. ngel had fallen asleep in the sitting room chair. Gaige glanced over and saw the girl curled up in a blanket and nodded.
"How's she doing?"
"Urgurr"
"That's good. And our other guest?"
"Urrgurgg"
"Good, let's keep him that way until we get to our destination."
Deathtrap nodded and went back to cooking while Gaige made her way up to the cockpit and checked their progress. To her surprise she found that she must have been asleep for more than twelve hours, since they would be arriving at their destination in just over a day.
She knew that the ship was slower than some of the newer models and that didn't bother her. She was grateful to be able to travel on it at all. Still there were times that she wished that it was equipped with an implosion drive, but sometimes taking your time wasn't so bad.
Deathtrap brought her meal up to the cockpit so she could eat without disturbing anyone. She sat there eating in silence, staring out at the stars, and for the first time in a while, felt a bit lonely.
It was more than an hour later when Artemis finally woke up. For a few minutes she found herself unable to move, everything had stiffened up while she was sleeping. That and sleeping on the floor usually led to a bit of stiffness. Eventually she managed to get her left arm around and pulled herself into a sitting position and stretched.
She flexed her right arm, making sure that it had healed properly and was relieved to find that everything seemed to work. Still, she had a new scar across the back of her forearm, but that wasn't anything that she worried about. What did bother her was that she smelled awful, a combination of sewage and sweat that would take effort to remove.
She pushed herself up and after a trip to the bathroom, made her way out. She found Deathtrap floating and with a wave she headed over to him.
"Urrgur" He softly stated causing Artemis to look around and spot the sleeping girl on the chair. Nodding she whispered back "I'm gonna be in the maintenance bay, need to take these limbs apart and clean them. Be glad that you can't smell."
She made her way to the back and ducked into the small workspace. Pulling up a stool she started by taking her leg apart, fitting the tools into it and popping the outer plates off. Each one she dunked into cleaning solvent and let them sink to the bottom. When she had enough of them off, she detached the leg itself and reattached one of her old, barely functional ones.
Sighing she flexed the toes and gave the ankle a twist before hobbling over and putting the entire removed leg in to clean.
She then followed the same process on her arm.
At some point while she was working, Deathtrap brought in something easy for her to eat, which she was grateful for. Finishing the last bites of it she hobbled her way out and dropped the dishes on the counter before making her way back to the bedroom. Grabbing some fresh clothes, she made her way into the shower and stood under the spray forever, trying to get the ground in stench off of her.
Eventually she made her way back out, feeling much better and found Gaige talking to the newly awakened A.I. ngel.
"Well look who finally got up." Gaige said smiling at her.
"I've been up for a while." Artemis grumbled holding up her metal hand.
"So, I see. Your other ones soaking?"
"Yeah, I should go check on them soon."
"How's the other one?" She asked holding up her own right hand.
"No loss of feeling or range of motion." She replied wiggling her fingers.
"That's good."
A. was silent through the back and forth, seeming to not want to interject and seem silly. Eventually she found a proper moment and asked "Gaige told me, but I have to ask, is this really your ship?"
"Yep. It might not be the fastest out there, or the most...well anything, but it's mine."
"That is impressive. I am jealous of you, being able to go where you want." She sighed and then changed subjects again "So where are we going?"
"Well, first we need to get rid of our prisoner and collect our bounties. Then we should, hmm."
"We should check in with Moxxi." Gaige added as the other girl pondered.
"Right, next there, then on to Eden 5. After that, well, we don't have an after that yet."
"What is a Moxxi? And what is on Eden 5?"
"Moxxi is a person."
"A dangerous one." Artemis added.
"Only if you're not careful. And I'm from Eden 5."
"That was why we needed money." Artemis continued for her "So she can pay off a debt she owes and can then go home."
"Oh, that is good, but where is home for you?"
"Right here."
"Hey, this is my home too, I was only born on Eden 5."
"That's where your parents are."
"Doesn't make it my home."
"Alright, true, but that's still your home."
Their banter was interrupted by a giggle. They looked over and found the girl smiling openly. She laughed and said "It is good to see that you are such good friends, I am lucky to have been found by you."
The girls looked at each other and shrugged.
The Following Day
They dropped off their prisoner without complications. They had left A.I. ngel on the ship, not wanting her to be found out about yet, especially since they didn't know about her legal status, plus they didn't want her to see this part of life just yet. They knew that they couldn't hide it from her forever, but they secretly wanted to keep her innocent for as long as they could, even though they knew that the galaxy was not a place for it.
Gaige did most of the talking as they handed their prisoner over and collected the bounties on him and his crew. She had to admit that they hadn't killed Hel, but did admit that it sounded like she had quit the lifestyle. Other than that, she had a bit of trouble telling them where it had happened, especially since the station no longer existed, but in the end, they got paid.
After double checking that the money had been deposited, they made their way to the local branch of Marcus Munitions and sold off the guns they were willing to part with.
With that out of the way, they had enough money for Gaige to pay off her debt. There was only one problem.
"I can't take all this money." She said looking at the total.
Artemis sighed "This again? Haven't we been over this already? We did this job so that you could pay off your fines. We did it, now you need to."
"But this is too much."
"It's what we made."
"And what about you? You took the worst of it back there, so how can you not take any of it?"
"That's just part of doing it."
"You have to take part of it, I wouldn't feel right otherwise. We can pay off part of the debt now and find a way to pay off the rest later."
"You're really gonna insist on this?"
"Yes."
"So, half of it's mine?"
"Yes."
"And I can do what I want with it?"
"Yes."
"Good, then I'm gonna pay off the other half of your debt."
"But that's not..."
"You said I could spend it how I wanted, and that's what I choose to do with it."
"But...But..."
"But what?"
"I'll feel like I owe you. I'm gonna have to pay you back for it, that's the only way I can let you do this. And that's not negotiable."
"Fine, whatever, let's go."
Gaige stood staring at her till Artemis sighed and asked "What now?"
"I just want to know, why are you so insistent about this?"
Artemis shrugged "I've got my reasons."
"Which are?"
"Mine. But I guess, part of it is, well, I just feel that you should go home, while you still can."
"What's that mean?"
"You never know when you're gonna loose something important to you is all."
Gaige watched the other girl's back as she walked away and the sadness it seemed to contain, the things she had lost and let out a sigh, before jogging up to her and throwing her arm over her shoulder as they walked back to the ship.
A Few Days Later
They pulled into the casino's docks and disembarked. It was four of them this time, they felt this was a safe enough place to show A.I. ngel around. Besides they felt that they should let Moxxi know about her, so that she could tell the others in turn.
The girl gawked openly at the brash mixture of taste and tacky, even as the others made a show of pretending not to be taken in, it was their second time there after all. They made their way through the casino floor and across the central complex till they came to the main tower.
When they had got their landing clearance, they had double checked their appointment with Timothy as well as that he had an appointment with Moxxi, since it did them no good to waste their time waiting around for him in the casino, especially one that wasn't functional. Not when they could spend it on the ship instead.
In the last few days, they had tried to come to an arrangement with the new girl. From small things like where she would sleep, to more important things like what she wanted to do now that she was free. The first one was resolved by Artemis sleeping on the floor again and the second, well, she didn't know, but she did want to learn how to defend herself, so they had gone over the basics with the promise that as soon as they could, they would take her to a planet and train her properly.
They boarded the elevator and stood in silence as it shot them to the top floor. With a soft ding the doors slid open reveling the same secretary that was there the last time they had been there. She looked up and ushered them into the same waiting room, with the same stock of boozes.
Even though everything was the same, it felt odd, like it had been years since they'd last been there. To the point that even the two girls found themselves looking around.
Deathtrap observed them as he kept guard. It wasn't that he didn't think the place was safe, nor was it that he didn't trust Timothy. It was just that he couldn't really trust anyone with that face, even if he knew the story behind it. Plus, someone always had to be on guard.
After a brief pause, in which Gaige was eying up the selection of boozes longingly, the inner doors opened and they walked in. Timothy was facing away from them, arguing with someone on the other end of the line, and he held up his mechanical hand to let them know that he knew they were there and that he would be with them shortly.
A few seconds later he hung up with a "How is it so hard to find good help, I hope you have better news then the last guy." He continued turning around to face them "You wouldn't believe the...Angel?"
"Dad?"
"No, wait, you're not her."
"And you are not Jack."
"Sorry, no, not Jack. Though this might be only the second time that I wished I was, my name's Timothy, I am, well I was, maybe I still am? Sorry, I'm the last of Jack's doppelgangers."
"Ah, so he did have a backup plan for himself, besides Project Phoenix, I am sorry, where are my manners, I am A.I. ngel. And I do not know how to introduce myself."
Timothy turned to the girls with a look that screamed both 'HELP' and 'SOMEONE HAD BETTER EXPLAIN THIS, NOW'.
Gaige sighed and said "We'll explain, but we want to do it only once, so if you could get Moxxi, we can continue."
It looked for a second like he was going to demand an explanation, but relented and turned to the holo-projector and pushed a few buttons.
The holo-Moxxi appeared, looking a bit put out as she said "Well it's about time, there's only one place a girl doesn't like a man to be early and this isn't it. Hey there sugar, how's it been. And who's your friend?"
"That's what we were waiting to talk about." Gaige said before telling what they had discovered at the coordinates that they had got. She told most of it, from the Pseudo-Sirens, to the Lords of Death, to A.I. ngel. It took her a while, during which time, both Moxxi and Timothy played the parts of a good audience, being quite for the most part and only interrupting with questions that were appropriate. Even Moxxi managed to keep her trademark double entendres in check. The entire time, Timothy and A.I. ngel kept glancing at each other, like they wanted to say something, but didn't know how, nor did they want to interrupt the story.
Eventually Gaige came to the end of her story and everyone sat in silence for a moment. After a pause, Moxxi broke the silence "So the station is gone?"
"I can confirm that." Timothy spoke up eagerly "A while after they had gone, we finished analyzing the ECHO and sent a ship out to check. They couldn't find it, but they did report that there was a lot of debris in that area."
Moxxi nodded "Good, like so many things of Jack's, it shouldn't be in the wrong hands. Not to speak ill of your father, but he was, well..."
"A jerk?" A.I. ngel offered.
"Among other things, yes. But on to you. I must confess that I never met the other you, nor have I heard the best things. But that isn't your fault. You have to excuse me, but I'll come back to you, for now I need to finish the matter at hand." It seemed that even she was trying to be nice to the girl, even if her father was a monster that Moxxi hated, she couldn't hold that against the girl. She was even keeping her innuendos to a minimum. She turned back to the others and continued "I'm glad you're safe. So what are you going to do with the data?"
The girls looked at each other and Gaige asked "What data?"
"Don't even try and tell me you destroyed all the data there."
"Well, we did let the data on how to make more of her get destroyed."
"And on the Sirens?"
"That's still on our ship. We haven't decided whether to give it to Tannis, or destroy it."
"It's up to you, so until you decide, my lips are sealed."
"Thanks."
"If you really want to thank me, you could take some of that hard-earned money and invest it in the casino. A little bit on the ground floor will get you some big returns. Or if you really want to blow your load, you can go all in."
"Thanks, but we need it to pay off debts." Artemis replied, clearly missing the string of innuendos which caused Moxxi's face to fall a bit.
She recovered a split second later and turned to the third girl and asked "So dear, what're you plannin on doin now?"
"I want to go with them, explore the galaxy some more. But I also want to stay here for a bit. I know he's not my dad, but I want to talk to Timothy some more as well. I guess I do not know what I want."
"Then why don't you stay here for a while." Timothy ventured "If that's all right with you?"
"That might be a good idea." Gaige said "Why don't you stay here for a little bit while we go take care of the other things we've got to, then, when we're done, we can ECHO you and see if you want to come with us, or stay here a bit longer."
A. looked around at them, settling on Artemis who added "It's up to you, but he is the closest to a dad that you've got."
She nodded and turned to him and asked "I think I will then, if you do not mind."
"I...I would like that." He managed to get out with a smile.
"And don't worry." Moxxi added "I'll keep in contact to make sure everything's all right."
"That worries me the most." Gaige muttered.
A Short Time Later
The girls had gotten everything of A.I. ngel's off the ship, not that it consisted of much, just a spare set of clothes and toiletries, and were getting ready to say their goodbyes.
"Don't worry, we'll be back." Gaige said patting the girl on the shoulder before reaching out and running her hand over the stubble just starting to grow on the top of her head "Maybe next time you see us you'll have more than fuzz up here."
The girl blew out her cheeks in frustration before relenting into a smile "I will miss you too."
Deathtrap flew over and told her "Urrgrrruruu"
"Don't worry, I am sure he will try to be the best dad he can imagine."
"Urggu"
"I will."
She turned to Artemis who sighed and handed her the bag with her stuff in it. A.I. ngel looked surprised, it was heavier then it should've been. She looked down and opened it up as the other girl scratched her head and explained "I found some stuff while on the station that I think was yours, so I'm givin it back to you."
She looked into the bag and pulled out the children's books and the stuffed loader that she hadn't seen in years, since before the station had locked down. She stared at them for a second and then hugged them close to her chest, tears springing to her eyes.
"You...you are giving them...to me?"
"Yeah, well, more like returning them really."
"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I thought these were lost forever. Dr. Luca got these for me." She said, tears running down her face while she looked up and managed a smile "And now you have given them to me, which I believe makes these the first things that anyone has given me since I became a person again."
Artemis caught a look of parental jealousy from Timothy as he stood in the background. She shrugged at him and turned her attention back to the girl in front of her.
"It's not really a gift. I mean they're yours to begin with."
"But they were lost. And you have given them back to me. So again, thank you."
Artemis scratched her head again awkwardly and said "Well, see ya."
She waited a few seconds and turned to where the others were waiting and walked back to her ship as Gaige leaned in.
"That was a nice thing to do. But why didn't you give her them sooner?"
"Well I had to clean them, and if she was on the ship, I figured that I could just add them to the library."
"You were thinking of keeping them."
"Well" She looked over and sighed "Fine, yes, I thought about keeping them, but I didn't did I? They were hers and I gave them back."
"I know, you did good."
A Few Days Later
Eden 5
Gaige stood on the other side of the port. She had just paid off her fine and was now free to go where she wanted. It still hadn't sunk in yet. The last thing over her was gone. She was free. Totally and completely free. After eight years, she was back. And she was scared.
Not just that her dad might be disappointed in her. Not that he might have changed into someone she didn't recognize. Not that she might run into someone that knew her and thought that she still had a bounty on her head. Not even that she felt like she had come home.
No, it was the completely irrational fear that prisoners felt when they got out. The fear that they no longer had a place. That they didn't belong in this world.
She looked around, at all the pretty people, and some ugly ones too, as well as all the plain ones, but mostly the pretty people, with their pretty cloths and the lack of anyone shooting and wondered, do I really belong here?
And what if she didn't? What if she had just spent more money than most of these people would make in a lifetime to find that out?
Why hadn't she just met her dad in orbit or something?
She looked over at the other two next to her and wondered, how mad would they be if she said she wanted to go back to the ship?
"Where to?"
The question caught her off guard. The only thing she could say was "Huh?"
"Your house. Where is it? Oh, do your parents still live at the same place?"
"I...don't know." She pulled her ECHO unit out and typed something in and a few seconds later answered "Yep, still live in the same place."
"Well then lead on."
Gaige turned and looked at her and saw someone looking back that wouldn't take no for an answer, she wouldn't let her go back to the ship. Instead she gave Gaige a reassuring smile and nodded.
The floating robot next to her, which was only getting a few glances, probably due to the spikes and the crystal in his face more then anything, gave her a thumbs up and waited for her to lead the way, even though he knew the way himself.
Gaige sighed and found her feet walking down the familiar roads. Paths etched into her memories, even though she hadn't seen them in years, she still knew which way to go. And before she knew it, she was standing in front of a familiar gate.
Through it she could see the house. It looked the same. Nothing had changed, but somehow, it felt different, foreign. She felt herself lock up. She couldn't do it.
She turned to Artemis with a tight look of near panic and said "I can't do this."
"Sure you can. Just go up there and ring the bell."
"Can't you do it?"
"No. Well technically I can, I mean I am physically able to, but I can't do it for you."
"But I can't either."
"Why?"
"Because..." She trailed off, trying to think what would convey all of her worries, her doubts, the truth of how she felt and finally settled on the only thing that expressed it properly "I'm scared."
"I once read 'Humans are cowards in the face of happiness'."
"Huh?"
"It means something like, we all want to be happy, but when we finally see it in our grasp, we get scared. Scared to the point that we convince ourselves that we don't really want it. That we would rather regret it later, then take the chance now and risk losing something."
"You sound rather sure of that."
"I am. Trust me, I am."
"You wanna talk about it?"
"No, I want you to get in there and be happy."
"Bitch."
"Sure, now just get in there and do it, don't think about it, just move."
Gaige sighed and thought about it. What was she scared of? Losing the picture in her mind? Disappointing her dad? Or was the other girl right, and what she was really scared of was being happy? No that was silly. Who'd be scared of that? But she thought back, all the people she had met, the ones that weren't happy and the ones that were. There were those in each category that were there because of a risk they took. But in the end, the ones that kept going were the ones that continued to seek happiness, so could she do any less. Besides, she had to pay Artemis back somehow.
At some point as she was thinking she had made her way up to the door and found her hand hovering over the bell. Looking back, she was met by a genuine smile and a nod, along with thumbs up from both of them. Taking a breath, she imagined herself in battle and pulled the trigger, pressing the bell.
The chime echoed in the house, followed by a muffled yell. As the sound of footsteps got louder, Gaige found the palm of her hand soaking with sweat, so she quickly rubbed it on her shorts.
The door opened reveling a man who had gracefully slid into middle age. He blinked rapidly, his jaw dropping and after a few tries managed to get out "Gaige?"
"Hi dad, I'm home."
