A/N: Alright. Not gonna lie, I hadn't planned on these chapters being sequential. But... it would be more interesting if she had to deal with a kidnapping plot while hungover. At first I was going to make this comical, like she stumbled in, killed them while fueled with indignation, and peaced out with her man. Then I wanted her to be a complete badass as she came in, oneshot everyone while fueled with cold rage, and swaggered right out with some one-liners.

But the point of this story is character development, so I went with a rage fueled Maya who loses sight of the mission.

Hope you all enjoy!

Krieg couldn't sleep. While the bandit whiskey had knocked out Maya —who had ended up lying down and falling asleep at his feet —Krieg's heart was still pounding in his chest. It was admittedly creepy, but he... liked looking at her sleeping face in the fire's dying light.

The voice in his head kept cautioning him not to touch her —for both Krieg's safety and out of respect for Maya —and Krieg was OK with that. He would stay up and watch over her. And... replay the fantasy in his head where she would wake up, see him still sitting there, laugh, and tell him to lie down next to her. Maybe not with her. He couldn't hope for that, but... just to lie close to her.

The sound of falling debris pulled Krieg out of his daydream. He looked from the direction of the sound, down to the sleeping Maya.

You don't need to wake her up. Whatever it is, we can take it.

"Bones for a junkyard dog..." Krieg hissed cruelly under his breath.

Whoa. Someone's a little protective...

Krieg thought about this as he pulled out his pistol with a melee attachment. He was a bloodthirsty monster, but he was a little twitchier than usual. He wanted the perpetrator's bloody face skin in his fingers. He wanted to rip off its leg and eat it like a king's turkey dinner. He wanted to wear its spine like a belt. He wanted to pop their eyeballs with his teeth!

Krieg spun in his seat to avoid walking on Maya and stepped slowly towards the source of the noise. As he got closer to the pile of junk that bordered their campsite, the snickers and shushing of midgets became clearer and clearer. "Easy chickens for the pickin's..." Krieg chuckled.

Next thing Krieg knew, he was on his knees and hitting the dirt as the midgets scattered in fear. Someone whispered to drag him off and get some rope.

And then everything went black.

Wakey, wakey sunshine. Look what kind of mess you got us into.

Krieg groaned and tried to pull his face away from something slapping him, but his head immediately swam with blood as he became aware that he was hanging upside down from his wrists and ankles.

This isn't the time to just hang there and stretch your neck, moron! His inner voice shouted as Krieg twisted his head to crack his neck out. Hurry up and get out of these restraints! Krieg obliged and started to pull at his restraints.

"Hey, he's awake!" alerted the marauder leading the group at Krieg's feet. The midgets surrounding Krieg immediately swarmed to pummel him with their tiny fists as they struggled to keep up with their longer-legged companions.

Krieg pulled at his wrists and kicked his legs, but the rope continued to bite deeper and deeper into his joints. "This isn't church girl playtime!" Krieg complained as he continued to pull at his wrists.

I don't care if they hurt! They're supposed to hurt! Keep pulling!

The marauder in the back towards Krieg's head laughed. "Hey! I think he likes my knots! He ain't getting out of those ropes. Trust me. Let's just hurry up and get to base to roast this freak. He's heavy and struggling."

"Do you really think that was a good idea?" the foot marauder asked. "Boss wanted the siren, not her over-sized pet."

"Do you really think facing off against some space witch with a bunch of half frozen pipsqueaks was a good idea?" the head marauder countered as one midget tried to poke Krieg in the eye. "Listen, I told you. We steal her pet, lead her to the base, and then we have the whole gang attack her at once!"

"Oh yeah... but didn't boss want the si-"

"Dude! It'll be fine! Just shut up and let me explain it."
-

Maya groaned and rolled onto her back. Her head hurt. Her eyes hurt. The cold made her stomach churn. The taste left in her dry mouth was enough to make her want to hurl up whatever of that hooch was left in her stomach. She needed food and water... soda if she could find any. Athenas had lemon trees that she would use as a kid, but there was no chance she would find anything like that in this icy wasteland. First things first, she needed to sit up.

Maya sat up and the world tilted for a moment. She groaned and steadied her head with her hand.

"Hey Krieg, you good?" she called out before a wave of nausea hit her.

It was a moment before she realized Krieg didn't reply.

"Krieg?" she called out again. Silence. "Hey! Krieg!" Still nothing. "Dammit..." she hissed. He'd gone too far away from camp. She grunted suddenly as her head started to pound in response to her agitation. She squeezed her head, as if that would relieve some of the pressure.

Krieg was a big boy, she decided vindictively. He'd come back whenever he was done. Sure, it would have been nice to have a partner to help you out when you were down, but it wasn't a big deal. She needed to get some food and water in her.

Once Maya managed to down two bottles of water, puke one up, down another, and chew at some crackers she found in their rations... she really started to get annoyed. Krieg still hadn't made an appearance. Among all of the things she had thought about Krieg in the past hour or so, an actual deserter wasn't one of them. She suit up, paused to suffer through another spike in her headache, and went looking. It didn't take her long to trace Krieg's footsteps and subsequent dragging.

Krieg's individual trail disappeared, but his assailants' muddy footsteps were easy to trace. Two normal-sized boots and a few sets of midgets'. They would have been easy...

Thankfully she didn't see any blood, so Krieg probably wasn't hurt. Just kidnapped... like an idiot.

Maya stared at the trail for a long time as her head began to pound again. This time, she didn't close her eyes. Each time her brain pounded against her skull she blamed it on the fucking bandits who had kidnapped Krieg.

Once it passed, she lifted up her free hand, slammed her fist into the cave wall, took a breath, and took off to go rescue her friend

Being suspended in the air from his wrists was not one of Krieg's favorite activities. Nowhere near his top 20. Napping was actually much... much higher...

Hey! Are you really planning on sleeping on the job here?

Krieg grumbled.

Maya is out there on her own! She has no idea what happened to us! You're really going to leave her alone after you got us kidnapped?

"It takes two to tango..." Krieg accused.

Oh! You're saying this is my fault?

"A blood brain poison..."

As if we've never taken on marauders and midgets before! You should have had your eyes on! How the heck are you supposed to protect Maya if you can't even stand up to an ambush!

"I'LL FORCE FEED YOU YOUR TEETH IN A SPAGHETTI SANDWICH!" Krieg threatened into the air as he started to struggle against his restraints.

A shot rang out above Krieg. "Be quiet down there!"

Krieg looked up at a new marauder that paced along the catwalk above him "I'LL GIVE YOU A PORCUPINE ENEMA!" he promised to his assailant.

"Did that guy say he'd give you a porcupine enema? Ha! This dude is a riot!" called a marauder from the other side of the catwalk; the same marauder that had credited himself for tying up Krieg. This earned additional laughter from a few other bandits.

"Shut up!" called Krieg's guard. "And you, watch it! We just needed you to lead your little girlfriend here. I can get rid of you right now!"

"WATCH ME BOIL YOUR ENTRAILS IN SPINAL FLUID!" Krieg shouted back.

"You mouthy cretin! You wanna see boiling? I'll show you boiling! Fry 'im!"

A few yards away, a psycho squealed with glee and started to race towards a huge switch below Krieg. With the flamethrower ignition next to it, didn't take him long to figure out what it was for...

Great job... you have to get out of here. NOW!

Krieg grit his teeth and immediately began to use his arms to lift up his body and drop his weight down. The force shook the suspended catwalk above him, but it didn't do anything to loosen his chains. But it did seem to bend the metal bar supporting his chains.

This isn't fast enough!

Krieg looked down and the psycho had tripped over himself in excitement, but he would be at the ignition in seconds. Krieg lifted himself up again and used the additional height to slam his weight back down again. A little more give... but the psycho had reached the ignition. He braced himself as the psycho reached the big red button and heard the click... but nothing happened. A slow succession of empty clicks, and a fast succession of empty clicks.

Krieg took the opportunity to keep working.

A shot rang out and grazed Krieg's arm. "Dammit..." mumbled the marauder above Krieg as he reloaded. "The damn gas is off! Someone get over there and help Jerry! I want to see this freak burn!"

"Okay, boss. I'll help!" said a goliath who lumbered over. Krieg startled and continued to try to jump at his chain. Another shot rang out and got him in his side. He groaned in pain and tried to jump the chain again. His injured muscles kept him from going as high.

Not an option! Keep going before that thing gets here!

As if Krieg needed the little man to tell him to work through the pain. Enjoy the pain! He lifted himself up higher as a shot missed his arm. He dropped down again, but didn't feel the same amount of give in the metal. Krieg looked up and saw that the bent bar had landed on a second perpendicular pipe, giving it additional support.

Krieg let out a roar of frustration. If he could just bend the bar away from the pipe... he swung and jerked to move the pipe off, but the goliath was right below him turning on the gas for the machine while the psycho was giggling excitedly getting ready to press the button.

"All done!" the goliath called up with a salute.

"Fry 'im!"

But before the excited psycho could turn on the machine, he floated into the air in a blue bubble. Immediately after, a loud shot rang out and the goliath's helmet flew off. The psycho was taken care of quickly after.

"Gotta kill... GOTTA KILL... GOTTA KILL!" shouted the Goliath as he turned against his nearest comrade.

"Eyes up! He's got friends!" the leader called out as more shots wrang out. The surrounding psychos screamed with glee as they raced towards the entrance of the camp.

Ugh. Maya wished there were more allies. But today it was just her, a hangover, and a few different guns. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. From her vantage point by a decrepit satellite dish, she was able to pick off a few bandits with a terse fuck you's as she chose her targets before the psychos were able to make it up the stairs. Grenaded those freaks easy enough before returning to sniping. She was so focused on a bandit cornering in a bunker that she wasn't ready for the second goliath who had snuck up behind her.

"Time for KIL-LING!" he singsonged before spraying bullets at her.

Maya cried out in surprise and immediately jumped down to the ground below her. The impact rang in her head, but she shook it off as she switched in her assault rifle to prepare for the inevitable waves.

"See boss! I told you she'd come!" called a bandit from the catwalk. Dammit. She hadn't seen him before... so it was his idea.

Maya followed the marauder's eyes towards the leader. So this was a trap... "You have someone who belongs to me!" she called up as she sprayed bullets at an incoming midget.

The leader laughed. "And thanks to them, I'm about to collect your obscenely large bounty from Hyperion! Go get her boys!"

Maya rolled her eyes and moved to take cover from bullets coming from above. She didn't think anyone on Pandora actually cared about stuff like money and bounties... but someone was bound to. Even if it meant fighting a siren. Maya winced as she phaselocked a marauder and ignited the whole building, driving out his fiery crew.

The psychos and midgets got to her first, so she mowed as many of them down as she could. She couldn't knock them all out in time though. They all stabbed at her with manic cries for flesh and pain. She beat a few down with the butt of her gun, but a few definitely got some good shots in and lowered her shield. Once she felt her siren powers flow through her again, she phaselocked the closest one to ignite the others around him.

She had to grit her teeth to hold onto the lock as her head pound, which only worsened as they all cried out in pain and terror. Maya growled and used a pistol to quickly silence the remaining assailants. No time to nurse a headache. That goliath was already down the stairs.

Maya looked to the raging goliath currently keeping enemies at the other end busy —oh god, how many times had he leveled up? How many enemies were left? —and back to the goliath ahead of her. Choices, choices... murder. Murder was definitely the best option. Maya took aim and sprayed into the goliath coming down the stairs. Not enough. He kept going.

Maya tried to reload before the goliath could reach the ground and take aim. Unhooked the mag from the gun, threw it aside, reached for another, but couldn't find the mag right away. Dammit, that was sniper ammo... there. She pulled it out of her stock, but before she could install it a shot rang out from a distance.

It nailed Maya, dead center on the side of her head.

If it weren't for her shields that could have been it for this round. Thankfully all this bullet did was force her to stumble... and irritate the hell out of her hangover.

"Haha! Take that space bitch!" called the leader in triumph.

Maya saw white.

They kidnap her friend as bait while she's hungover. They lead them to their camp while she's hungover. They make her snipe them one by one while she's hungover. She has to get into a shootout with a whole tribe of bandits while she's hungover... And now one of them actually managed to headshot her causing a chasm in her skull.

"Fuck. You."

Maya took a deep breath and braced herself. This big of a target usually wasn't a problem for her... but today was a weird day. She phaselocked the goliath with a loud cry of effort. She couldn't help herself. Dammit, she thought as she shredded the goliath to pieces. This leader was going to pay dearly...

Ignoring the firefight over by Krieg, she marched back up the stairs towards the catwalk she had missed earlier. Another marauder ran at her, but she shot him in the legs and called it a day for him.

The victim she was after kept trying to shoot at her with a pistol —a pistol? he had nailed her with a pistol from that distance? Are you fucking kidding? —but didn't manage to land a hit this time. Once Maya was close enough to see her target's pain in its eyes, she took aim and shot him in both legs and the shoulder that held the gun to force him to drop it. The man cried out and started screaming painful obscenities at her. Maya hardly heard them. She focused on his pained grunts at first... until they started to act on her headache. So she phaselocked him. One more time. Just to drag this out. Just to show him how powerless he was.

"Was it worth it? Was putting your life on the line for a bounty from Jack really worth it?" she asked quietly, stepping closer to her own time-space bubble.

The man made a few grunts of pain, then tried to quiet himself. "I dunno. Was abandoning your buddy for revenge worth it?"

Maya's eyes widened. She rushed to the edge of the catwalk where she saw a bloodied psycho with his finger floating at the ignition button. He turned his masked face up at her and laughed. She rushed to pull out a gun, but she wasn't fast enough.