Chapter 42
Garden of Minos
The pedestal appeared to be made up of five parts each rising independently, flush with each other, the outer four were larger and were roughly triangular in shape, while the central one was squarish with an indent in the top. It rose first, stopping just under Jinx's chest height, while the other four rose a bit further, coming almost to her shoulders. The outer ones were angled, with their highest point being at the back and sloping down to about the height of the central pillar.
They appeared to be made out of some kind of stone and on the sides of the outer pillars were strange markings in a glowing square with another one on the top, on the front of three of them, right below the angle was what appeared to be stone gears, each pillar having a different number and on the fourth and slightly larger one, they were on the angle itself.
"Well, it's definitely Eridian." Gaige said, staring at it puzzled.
"You don't say."
"Aren't you the one always going on about sarcasm?"
"Well, when you say something like that, what'd you expect?"
"I was just thinking aloud, no need to be such a bitch about it."
"Sure, sorry and all that, but why'd it appear? The whatever this thing is, I mean."
"Hmm, probably because we defeated the Guardian."
"And why would that make this appear? I mean what kinda logic is that?"
"I donno, but that's what always seems to happen."
"Fair enough. So how does it work?"
"You think I know?"
"No, but was kinda hoping you would. Or at the very least, have some kinda insight."
"Well I don't, so give me a moment." Gaige huffed and went to work examining the pedestal. She made a circuit of it, being sure to not touch anything, then had Deathtrap lift her up so she could see into the center.
After that she cautiously touched one of the gears on the side of the nearest one, when nothing happened, she moved on to the different patterns glowing on it.
To her surprise, she found Artemis examining one of them as well and had to ask "What're you doing?"
"Examining it."
"Why?" Slipped out before she could think about it.
"Cause if we don't figure this out, we're gonna be stuck here and while I might not be as good as you with these kinda things, I'm pretty good with patterns so I figured why not."
"And?"
"And I don't have a clue. Not enough to go on at least."
"Figures."
"Well, I suppose we're gonna have to turn these things." She said giving one of the gears a push.
Even as it turned with a click Gaige let out a high pitched "Are you crazy!" Just before the portals flashed.
"Oh please no." Gaige muttered looking around "Pleasepleaseplease"
"Huh." Artemis said looking around "Seems to have cycled the portals, interesting."
"Gah!" Gaige cried, grabbing her hand before she could do anything else "What'ya think you're doin?"
"Figuring out how this works."
"Don't just start pressing things!"
"How else'll I figure them out?"
"We look, then think, then choose a course of action before we do. Is this how you hunt?"
"No, I do all that stuff before I hunt and I did them before I turned that, it's just I did it in my head. Cause you missed the last step, moving forward."
"And I thought being reckless was my thing."
"It is, but in this case, I made a call."
"Well next time discuss it with me before you do anything."
"Fine. So, which one should we turn next?"
"Oh god." Gaige groaned burying her face in her hand "Do you ever learn."
"Yeah, so what would you do?"
"I would've wanted to finish examining this thing before I did anything else, but since you've already started on that side, step back and let me do this."
With that she carefully turned the gear and watched the portals shimmer a bit before settling down. Looking at them, she gave the gear another turn and watched them do it again. Then to complete the experiment, she turned the gear back and watched as the portals went back to the way they'd been.
"Alright, that's what that one does, so what about this?" She said, trying the next gear down. As she turned it, the portals flashed again prompting her to go "Huh?"
But to her side Artemis nodded and went "I see, so that's it."
"What's it?"
"The portals shifted, but where last time they went this way" She gestured with her hands "This time they went this way."
Gaige nodded and turned the gear again and this time she saw what Artemis was talking about "Ah. You're right."
But then her expression darkened and she added "But for what purpose?"
"What?"
"Why would they want to be able to control where the portals connect to around the room? It makes no sense."
"Not to us anyway, at least right now."
Gaige nodded and quickly tried the rest of the gears, noting how they affected the portals. She tried putting her hand on the glowing symbols, but it didn't do anything that any of them could spot, so she moved to the next pillar and after swallowing hard, gave the first gear a turn.
Nothing immediately happened which caused Gaige to examine the pillar closer and she spotted that the glowing symbol was not only different, but seemed to her to look like a button, so she pushed down on it and gave the gear another turn. This time the portals changed and instead of being glowing disks, seemed to show different places.
Surprised she stood and turned, but the instant she let go of the button, they reverted to their glowing form. Trying again, she pressed the button down and again when she rotated the gear the portals lit up with all different places that she'd never seen before.
Continuing to hold down the button, she tried rotating the disk further and the places changed, though now almost all of them were showing what appeared to be blank spots in space. Turning it again brought up even more places, so she tried the next gear which brought up even more space.
Letting go of the button she stared at the pedestal and muttered "What the heck's this all about?"
"Huh?" Came the confused noise from next to her. She'd almost forgot that she wasn't alone, so the sudden noise startled her.
"Oh, uh, I was wondering what this place is for, I mean, why show all those places and what were they?"
"No idea. An observation station perhaps? A transport hub? Could even be a prison, since we can't get out, maybe those were all places where there were Vaults?"
"And what about the views of space?"
"Uh, yeah, I donno."
"Me either."
"It's Eridian, so maybe we shouldn't think about it too hard, I mean, no one understands most of the stuff they left behind." Gaige said with a shake of her head and moved around to the last of the three pedestals and tried turning the first gear, but nothing happened, so she tried pushing the symbol on top and the central pillar lit up, projecting a glowing sphere. Looking at it, it looked like a planet with all the different land masses.
"What the..." Artemis said looking at it, and then for some reason at the portals.
"What?"
"I think this is one of the planets that was showing."
"Really?"
"I mean, I can't be sure, but I think so. And look, there's a marking on it."
She pointed to another complex marking of similar design to the ones on the pedestals.
"Huh, wonder what that means?" Gaige asked "Let's try this."
With that she turned the gear and the planet rotated. The next gear rotated it on a different axis, while the third gear zoomed in.
"Hold on a second." Artemis said, moving back to the first pillar and turning one of the gears, which caused the planet to vanish and be replaced with another one.
"It's like you can select with this one, and that one." She pointed to the second pillar "And then examine it with your one."
"Weird, still don't know what it's for though, so let's try the last one."
She shrugged and moved to the last pillar, the only one that was completely different and tried turning the gears on it. To her surprise, all of the gears moved together, almost like a switch and as soon as she turned them the central pillar lit up again, though this time it projected a complex shape, far more intricate than any that they'd seen before.
"Uh, OK." Gaige said and tried to turn the gear again, but nothing happened.
"Lemme try." Artemis said, pushing the button on the third pillar again. This time the shape changed into another even weirder shape that looked like a stack of the writing.
"Try turning the gear?" Gaige offered and when Artemis did that, the stack flipped to the next one down.
"Right, so that's what that does, let's try this." Artemis muttered moving around to the next button and pressing it. Again, a stack of information that they couldn't read appeared.
"Hmm." She said, cocking her head "Wonder what happens if I do this.
She pressed down on both buttons and suddenly the shapes all vanished and in their place was a single non-glowing symbol that didn't look friendly and was slowly filling with red light from the bottom. As it filled the chamber started to shake, with bits of debris falling, which caused Artemis to yank her hands back. As soon as she did, the shaking stopped and the symbol went back to being black before vanishing.
"Uh, what was that?" She asked looking around.
Gaige walked around behind her and looked over her shoulder before nodding and saying "I think that's what we're looking for."
"Really?" Artemis said looking at it with growing suspicion.
"Yep." Gaige replied, taking a small step back and closing her eyes for a moment as she gathered her will to continue. She let out a soft breath and threw a punch at the back of Artemis's head.
Whether she heard something, or had come to the same conclusion, the smaller girl ducked and spun, throwing her own punch at Gaige's stomach.
Gaige managed to slide back and avoid it before yelling "What're you doing?"
"I should be asking the same thing, what are you doing?"
"Look, only one of us is getting outta here, someone has to stay and hold down those switches, so you're getting outta here."
"No way, that's my line. Besides, weren't you the one who told me that sacrificing yourself wasn't noble, it was greedy?"
"It is, but in this case, it's doing the right thing." She replied while circling slowly around.
"The right thing? That would be you leaving."
"No way, you're the one that's leaving."
"I've got nothing out there, so you need to go."
"What're you talking about, you've got everything out there. A ship. Money."
"Is that all you think about? Fine, it's all yours."
"I don't want it."
"But you said that it's everything and if that's the case, you take it and go."
"I refuse to live on your corpse."
"Well, I feel the same, the difference is that if I stay here, no one will care, that's what you have that I don't, people who'll miss you. You say I've got everything? But the truth is that I've got nothing. There's no one out there that will miss me, no one will care if I'm gone, hell, there's probably quite a few who'll be glad."
"That's not true!"
"Sure it is, off the top of my head there's the Montamore's, those Holloway employee's and no doubt a few of your relatives just to name a few."
"Yeah well, most of them would be at least as glad if I vanished you know."
"Maybe, but there's a lot more that would miss you."
"No there's not."
"Sure there is, your family, your friends, your old Vault hunting buddies. Me? No one."
"A.I. ngel would miss you. Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright would as well."
"Alright, maybe, but they'd miss you too, so do they really count?"
"Of course they do, you said no one would miss you, but they would. And so would I. You're not alone anymore."
"Would you though? Would you really? Or would some part of you be glad that I'm not around anymore? No more creepy monsters following you around. No more feeling guilty every time you see me. No more having me asking you to make choices. No more having to sacrifice what you really want. No more having to worry about what I might do? You really expect me to believe that no part of you, not even a tiny bit, wouldn't be glad to be rid of me? Cause I don't believe it."
"Of course part of me would be glad to be rid of you! But not the part you're thinkin on, I've told you that some part of me's self-destructive. The part of me that wants to keep crawling back to the bottle. To give up on what I want. That part of me doesn't want you around because you make me try to be better than I am. I wanna be the person that you see when you look at me with respect that I don't deserve, when you stand up to me and try to make me a better person. And I can't be that person without you around anymore." She charged in, trying to grab the smaller girl and throw her, only to get tangled up as Artemis grabbed onto her shirt.
"Sure you can. You just need to find someone who's good for you. Unlike me." She shouted back, twisting out of Gaige's grip and trying to grab her from behind.
"Don't you get it? You are good for me. Before I met you, I was a disaster. You wanna know how bad I was? How disgustingly self-destructive I was? I got so wasted that I asked some of the Vault Hunters to put in a good word for me with Eista! Even though I really knew what kinda man he was, I asked. And you know what's worse? Even after I sobered up, after I realized what I'd asked them to do and felt nauseous about it, even though I got lucky and they didn't do it, do you know what I did? I went back to the bottle. That's who I was before I met you!" Gaige practicality cried as she shoved the smaller girl away.
"And nothing's changed since then." Artemis shot back "You still run back to the bottle. So, don't give me that, we both know that you'll be better off on your own. You can still find happiness. Me? Not gonna happen. I can't even say what I like without inviting doom onto myself and those I care about. No, it's better for everyone if I just die here."
Gaige grabbed her head in frustration for a moment before letting out a sigh and giving the other girl a look. "I'm not gonna change your mind, am I? You just won't accept that I don't wanna live without you, will you?"
"No matter how many times you say it, how can I believe it?"
"I guess you're right. Words just won't convey what I think. I really wish there was another way, but you're right. I hate saying it, but you're right." Gaige said with a sad shake of her head, and then charged the other girl, crouching low as she did, trying to catch her off guard as she attempted to slam her shoulder into her stomach, but the other girl seemed to have seen it coming as she threw herself sideways, revealing the control pillar directly behind her, causing Gaige to impact into it instead.
"Ow." Gaige moaned as her shoulder hit the stone, even though she'd tried to stop before hitting it.
As she bounced back from the impact, Jinx was on top of her, attempting to hold her down so that she could hit her in the back of the head in an attempt to knock her unconscious.
Gaige shoved her arms against the pillar and pushed back, knocking them both off balance and forcing Jinx to back off.
The two girls stared at each other, moving slowly as they sized each other up. Gaige slowly rolled her shoulder, checking the bruise. Once she was sure it would hold up, she nodded to Artemis and said "Pretty sneaky."
"Says the person that tried a sneak attack. Twice."
"Touche. But I wouldn't have to do this if you'd just let Deathtrap carry you outta here. I mean, why won't you? You've already said that you don't trust me, so why die for me?"
"Knowing that won't change anything."
"It might, I mean, what was it you said earlier? Convince me?" As she said it, Gaige lunged forward, throwing a punch at Artemis's face, which she swatted away and threw one of her own at Gaige's stomach, forcing her back.
"I've already told you, I've got nothing out there."
"Neither do I."
"Liar. You've got plenty."
"It might seem that way to you, but what do I really have?"
"You've got a family." Jinx said as she ducked low and lunged at Gaige's legs, grabbing onto them and pulling, managing to drop the other girl into the water. Instantly she was straddling her and trying to punch, only to have her arms grabbed by Gaige, who had crossed her arms so that her cybernetic arm was holding Jinx's.
"Whom I hadn't seen in years, but I got to thanks to you, so that's more than enough." She wrestled against the squirming girl.
"You've got friends."
"No, I don't." Gaige said twisting sideways, managing to throw the lighter girl off.
They both rose to their feet as Gaige continued "Other than Deathtrap, who do I have? Huh? Sir Hammerlock? Other than his wedding I haven't really seen him in years. B Team? If it hadn't been for you, it might have been another seven years before I saw them. Don't you get it? I'm alone out there too, but unlike you, it isn't as obvious."
"But you still have people."
"What about Cranley?"
"What about him?"
"What happens to him if you die?"
"You know what'll happen, he'll be in your care." Gaige took that moment to dash forward. As she expected, Artemis ducked to the side and as she did, Gaige twisted with her and pulled her back. Snaking her left arm around Artemis's throat she tried to lock it with her other arm to choke her out.
The smaller girl managed to not panic and got her left hand onto Gaige's wrist in time and was able to pull it down enough to breath.
Gaige was honestly surprised, she knew her cybernetic was stronger than Artemis's, who had built hers for durability, but here she was pulling hard enough to stop her. It wasn't like muscles either, where a strong enough will could make a difference, this was cold physics. Still, she had the advantage, both in height and in strength, so she leaned forward, stomping on the back of the other girl's knee to get her down.
But it didn't go as easily as that. Artemis stepped forward with her other leg, managing to keep herself from falling over or going to her knees. Giving up on gaining any more ground with her arm, she shot her right hand back, grabbing at Gaige's head, prompting her to try and swat it away.
As she pushed at it, the hand found a grip and tangled with Gaige's pigtail. Gripping tightly, she pulled hard, dragging her head off to the side as pain exploded across her scalp and forced her to let go of her throat.
As soon as she was free, Jinx let go of Gaige's hair and scampered a little ways away, fixing her eyes on the other girl as she staggered around holding the side of her head. Unconsciously, Jinx tried to shake the hairs that were still stuck to her hand off, but the wet clump didn't go anywhere, so she wiped it against her pants.
"OW!" Gaige cried out, still holding the side of her head while glaring at Jinx with tears in her eyes "Seriously? Pulling my hair? That really hurts you know."
"You were trying to choke me."
"I was only trying to put you to sleep."
"Was that what that was?"
"Yes! I was trying to do this as gently as possible, but that's it." Gaige gave her scalp one last rub and fixed her with an open glare. "I wanted this to be easy, but no, you just had to make it hard."
"You're the one making it hard. Just grab onto Deathtrap and get outta here, that's all you have to do."
"I'm not leaving you behind."
"Then you've got another solution? Cause if so, I'd love to hear it."
"Sure I do. Leave me behind." She said before rushing in and throwing a punch aimed at Jinx's head.
Jinx dodged backwards and shouted back "Not happening." and threw a punch of her own, aimed at Gaige's leg.
Gaige managed to pull her leg back and slammed her clasped hands down onto Artemis's back, knocking her to the floor with a spray of water. Gaige tried to follow her attack up, but the smaller girl rolled to the side while grabbing Gaige's leg, yanking it out from under her.
Jinx was on her feet first and rushed the prone Gaige, who snapped out a kick at the other girls' leg, connecting with her left one, which succeeded in knocking it out from under her, but sent a stinging wave up her leg.
"Ow. Damn metal leg." Gaige muttered, rubbing her ankle as she rolled to a crouch. Artemis pushed up from the water and shook her head, sending droplets flying. The moment she started to stand up, Gaige lunged forward, grabbing her around the waist and lifted her up. She took a step and tried slamming her down, except that she had managed to hook her arm around Gaige's head, dragging her with and causing them both to splash into the water.
They lay on their backs for a second getting more and more frustrated with their lack of progress.
Gaige rolled over and took a swing at Artemis while yelling "Why're you being so difficult?"
"Shut it." Jinx retorted, rolling slightly to avoid the strike but still getting hit by the resulting splash. "I'm getting tired of your greedy whining."
"Whining?" Gaige spat as she dodged a return strike "If anyone's whining it's you. Every time that I try and do something, you whine about something I've said or done, you bitch and moan about it and when you're not doing that, you're dragging up the worst mistake I've made and throwing it in my face and I'm tired of it. I know I screwed up, it makes me sick to think about and I know that you have the right to bring it up, but you lord it over me like uh, uh, big stick"
"Cudgel?"
"Shut up! But yes, a cudgel, now, where was I? Oh yeah, you lord it over me like a cudgel, making me feel like crap every time. I know that things can't go back, so the least I can do for you is this!"
"I don't want this, don't you get that, I never wanted this!"
"Then what do you want, huh?"
"I want you to be happy! That's all I've ever wanted."
"Well too bad, I'm an ex-Vault Hunter, and we don't get to be happy. I mean, a third of the ones I knew are already dead, and out of the rest, one's insane, one's missing and the rest are broke or wanted. I'm not gonna have a happy life, it's just not in the cards for me, but you still might have a chance."
"No, I don't."
"And why not?"
"Cause monsters don't get happy endings!" She shouted back with such force that Gaige took a step back.
"You're not a monster."
"Yes, I am! I bring nothing but pain to those who're close to me. Everyone I care about gets hurt. Everything I touch goes bad. I deserve to be here, not out there, so let me do something good for once."
"Oh, lay off the self-pity. Everything and everyone? I'm still here."
"And stuck in this place."
"That was my choice. I did this to us. Me. Not you."
"It was only because of me that you wanted to come here."
"Sure, and it was only because of Marci that I ever left home. And it's only because my parents met that I was even born. So not everything's your fault. And if you wanna talk about pain, what about what I've inflicted on you?"
"You didn't"
"Stop lying!"
"I'm not lying! You didn't do anything to me, everything that's happened has been my fault, it's what I deserve for being the way I am."
This time Gaige slapped her and grabbed her shoulder while screaming in her face "There's nothing wrong with you! Get that through your head."
"Then why are you trying to abandon me!"
Gaige stopped and looked into the teary eyes of the other girl and whispered "I'm not. I just, well, someone has to stay here."
"So why shouldn't it be me? I've got nothing out there if I let my curse consume you too!"
Gaige looked at her and realized that if she did sacrifice herself, Artemis wouldn't ever be able to move forward again, her belief that she was a monster would grow till that's all she was, but still, she knew that she couldn't lose her here either so she said "And if I lose the one good thing in my life, what do you think will happen to me? Will I be any better than you would? Or will I end up the same, loathing myself as a monster?"
The girls looked at each other and slumped down, both of them defeated.
As they leaned against each other a voice rasped out "You know...I am wondering...why no one is looking for...another option?"