Borderlands 2: Plus One
The Beginning
A lone man was impatiently tapping his fingers on the base of a computer. Lines of code ran across the screen, his eyes quickly glazing over each one as it passed. He did not have a lot of time before Maliwan realized he was both stealing and erasing code from the internal network. If he managed to live through this stunt, he would set them back years and avenge his friends in the process.
Of course, he would also be fucking himself over in the process. A large bounty courtesy of the Maliwan corporation would haunt him for as long as he lived. He didn't care though, with the death of his friends most of the work in his department was doomed. Maliwan was bound to scrap the project and start over, and he'd die before he let that happen.
The man looked around his surroundings, it was mostly empty as most of his department's work was gone, already long scrapped or recycled. A few stations still had the seeds of work planted, exoskeletons in different stages of assembly stood proudly amongst the otherwise empty room. It was a shame he had to destroy it all.
One of the intercoms in the room came to life, a robotic voice began talking, "Attention all Maliwan security personnel. Employee Lee Whitlock is under company arrest for corporate espionage. His current location is available on your echo devices. Please arrest him, thanks."
Lee cursed quietly, his situation just got much worse. Luckily he planned for this scenario, pulling his own echo device out he navigated to a custom-made program and activated it. A few seconds passed before a thunderous explosion rocked the ship, the lights flickered for a brief moment but returned to normal. The same intercom from before sparked to life once again, though much louder this time. A siren blared and an equally loud voice announced, "WARNING! PRESSURE LEAK DETECTED IN ENGINE BAY! WARNING! PRESSURE-"
Lee drowned the sounds out and watched as his program finally finished downloading and purging the database, not a moment too soon either as Maliwan troops began filling into the room. There was no warning as gunfire overpowered the whining sirens on the walls, though Lee managed to disconnect his echo device from the computer and take cover behind some workbenches. His heart was pounding, he'd never been in a gunfight before! He wasn't a soldier! He just built the shit soldiers used to kill bandits or other corpo soldiers!
He didn't even have a weapon to fire back, nor a shield to protect his body, but he did plan for this scenario too. Like before, he activated the same program but a different charge on his echo device. What followed was a tense couple of seconds as Lee wondered if his charges failed, yet his tune changed once another loud explosion rocked the room. The gunfire was no more, though Lee gave it another couple of seconds before poking his head up. Blood and gore-soaked the walls, while bits of armor were all over the floor. Lee decided to worry about the blood on his hands another time, ideally when he was safe.
With the work of his team safe, Lee now had to escape the ship, but before that, he had to plant charges in what remained of his old workplace. From his echo device, he digistructed the final stack of explosive charges he made, taking a moment to prime each charge and set a timer for 15 minutes. The yield of each charge should be enough to destroy everything in the room and blow a hole in the ship's hull, furthering the destruction. Lee wasted no time in sprinting for the door, stopping only to snag a Maliwan submachine gun. He wouldn't have any extra magazines, but something was better than nothing.
Chaos was everywhere as employees ran around and armed Maliwan troops patrolled the ship's corridors. Lee simply ran until he either got tired or crossed paths with a Maliwan patrol, where he would hide or attempt to look like a normal Maliwan employee, he still had his uniform on after all. Fortunately, the people employed to fill the ranks weren't all that competent, Lee avoided each patrol easily enough.
Lee disabled the employee tracker Maliwan forced upon every worker, they only knew of his location before due to cameras in the workplace. Why they couldn't track him now was beyond him, perhaps the chaos of the engine bay going up required more focus? He wasn't complaining and chopped it up to pure luck, something he could use more of as he came upon the escape pods.
Two Maliwan troopers stood guard at the pods, both carrying shock submachine guns. Lee could tell by the blue tint on each weapon, he wasn't sure how to get rid of them though. To his dismay, the guards suddenly noticed him standing awkwardly in the hall.
"Hey, isn't that?" One soldier trailed off, before quickly bringing his weapon up and yelling, "Lee Whitlock! You're under arrest!"
Lee cursed and raised his arms, "No need to shoot!"
"Keep talking and I just might," the same soldier replied, nodding to his partner to approach and arrest Lee.
"Alright asshole, to the brig you go," spoke the other soldier, her voice extremely familiar.
"Clementine?" Lee questioned, but received no reply until she got close enough to touch him.
Clementine sighed, "What the hell have you done Lee? Half the damn ship is yelling your name and the other half is trying to fix your mess. You stranded the Constantine above Pandora, and now we got Hyperion up our asses thanks to you."
Lee's plan for the engine bay was both a diversion and a tactic, by blowing it up he kept the ship in orbit of Pandora. Where he planned to crash an escape pod and hide out until the heat sizzled out. He wasn't telling her this though.
"Look Clem, you know what they did to my team. I couldn't sit by and ignore it, not again."
"There were better ways to go about this Lee, you could have just quit."
Lee stared into her helmet, "We both know they wouldn't have let me leave."
Clementine ignored his gaze and moved to arrest him, "I suppose you're leaving one way or another now."
Everything suddenly slowed as a powerful explosion rocked the ship, Lee and Clem stumbled into a wall as everything began to shake and tilt. Wasting no time, Lee summoned his own weapon and hit Clemintine in the helmet as hard as he could, yelling an apology as he snatched her weapon and turned to the other soldier. With a gun in each hand, Lee wildly fired down the hall, actually managing to kill the soldier before both guns ran dry.
Dropping the first gun he acquired, Lee once again apologized to Clementine, who flipped him off. He frowned and left to board an escape pod, stowing his weapon away while he set the pod to land on Pandora. As the pod doors closed, Lee took a seat and watched through the glass as the pod took off. The Constantine was a large ship, and as he got farther and farther away, Lee could appreciate the glory of the ship for once. He could also see the gaping hole he left in the hull, heaps of random scrap now floating in space.
Lee was silent, not many words came to mind, especially when he turned his attention to the planet he was currently speeding towards. Being vaguely aware of the insanity that awaited him once he hit land didn't leave him any more excited. As Lee began to relax, exhaustion managed to settle in, he wasn't in the best of shape and the stress of pulling off his stunt didn't help. He couldn't rest now though, with what research he had done, Lee knew he should head for a town called Sanctuary. With the help of the Crimson Raiders, Lee hoped to resurrect his work, and maybe save a few souls along the way. It was the least he could do after all the people he's killed, indirectly… or now directly.
Lee intended to make peace with his past and see his team's work truly come to fruition. He had the source code, he had the first working prototype, he had a shock submachine gun with half a magazine. The prototype needs a little more work, something he likely won't have the time nor equipment to do for a while. He'll manage, somehow.
The pod landed without any major issue. The landing was a bit rough, but he's alive and can't complain. Lee found himself nowhere special, nothing but sand and rock as far as the eye can see. Luckily he could see the mag-rails for what was probably a cross-planet train system, at the very least it could probably get him close to his destination. Before stepping off, Lee grabbed the emergency supplies from the escape pod, which was nothing but health hypos, water, and tasteless food blocks. With all his gear accounted for, Lee set off and began to follow the mag-rails.
As the lone engineer walked for miles, he came to realize how fucked the day cycle was. The sun was hitting him hard, he was thankful for the water in the pod's supply kit, without it he would've likely died from heat exhaustion. As the hours passed, Lee would occasionally stop for rest, then continue his walk.
Lee's feet ached, he aired them out at each stop for rest but it didn't do too much."These damn Mali boots ain't worth shit… if I live through this I am so buying a real pair of boots," he grumbled.
For the most part, Lee saw no actual action during his walk. Wildlife worried him a couple of times, but he was left alone. Some vehicle filled with masked men drove nearby, Lee took no chances and hid behind rocks, avoiding danger. Eventually, he ended up stumbling on a pretty random train station. To make things even better! A train was pulling up just as he was approaching the station! Was it luck? He didn't know, but whatever it was Lee was glad to be getting so much of it lately. Unfortunately, it capped out at the train's arrival.
Gunfire began to erupt from the station as the train slowed to a halt, Lee couldn't see much from his position, so he debated getting closer. In the end, he knew he needed to board this train or he was bound to die out in this desert. That train had to stop elsewhere, and elsewhere was better than here.
Lee summoned his submachine gun and ran to the action.
Running up the steps, Lee was now able to see a small group of hunched humans(?) surrounding a blue-haired woman shooting at some rock in the distance. He assumed she wasn't aware of the things behind her, and then prayed saving her wouldn't result in getting killed. Lee shouldered his firearm and began firing in bursts, and despite his lack of combat experience, he was no stranger to guns. His bursts hit most of what he aimed at, taking down 2 of the creatures and wounding a 3rd before his gun clicked empty. Lee panicked once he realized he drew most of their attention, quickly diving into cover as they began throwing… axes?
True to word, an axe flew over his head and hit a rail, bouncing back and sliding into his reach. Lee rushed to grab it and scooted a bit to the left before standing up, hoping to confuse them long enough to throw his own axe. Instead, Lee was the one surprised while watching some shirtless man effortlessly finishing the rest off. As the last hunched man fell, the shirtless man turned to Lee and stared him down.
Lee dropped his new axe and raised his hands in surrender, announcing, "Friendly! I killed some of these-" Lee watched as the blue-haired woman joined the standoff, she had her weapon trained on him- "things that were sneaking up on your friend."
He turned to the woman, "FRIENDS OF FLESH ARE NOT FOR ME!" He shouts.
Lee was confused.
The woman eyed her shirtless companion and looked at the bodies with burn marks, "You shot these Rats?"
Lee nodded, "I would have shot more of them but I'm completely out of ammo."
She hummed, "Not a smart thing to tell someone on Pandora."
Lee frowned when he saw the tattooed arm, "if you're gonna shoot me, at least aim for my head. Spare me the painful death by siren, please. Oh and I don't have much worth stealing."
The woman smirked, "I'm not robbing you. Thank you for helping me and," she turned to the shirtless man, "and my new friend here."
Her friend twitched rather violently, "NEVER FORGET THE MEAT PARTY!"
"I would never," she smiled at him.
Lee coughed, "So if you're not gonna kill or rob me… can we board this train before it takes off? I don't want to be stuck out here with these corpses."
"After you," the woman motions, "My name is Maya by the way, this is… uh," she turns to the man again.
Shaking his axe, the shirtless man shouts, "HRNNG! INVITE YOURSELF TO THE BLOODBATH! KRIEG IS HUNGRY!"
Maya smiles, "This is Krieg."
As Lee boarded and the other two followed, he turned and said, "I'm Lee."
The trio remained quiet as they walked through train cars, following signs that welcomed Vault Hunters, Lee felt he was going the wrong way. He was no Vault Hunter, and he didn't have much interest in being one. He would find himself surrounded by them soon enough though, as the trio stepped into a cabin holding the only passengers aboard this otherwise empty train.
Everybody stopped what they were doing and stared at the trio of people walking in. A man in the back, one Lee recognized as a Dahl Commando, spoke up, "Hey hey! We got some more Vault Hunters! We're all gonna be working together soon, so why not introduce yourselves now?"
Maya spoke for them, "I'm Maya, the shirtless dude is Krieg, and this is Lee."
Lee shook his head, "I'm not a Vault Hunter, just looking to make my way to Sanctuary."
The Commando frowned, "You're on the wrong train then bud, we're going straight to Handsome Jack."
"Fuck," Lee cursed, anger plopping onto a seat.
The room was quiet for a few moments until the Commando kept talking, "Well I'm Axton, the mysterious figure in the other corner is Zero, he speaks in uh…. Haiku? Yeah, haiku." He turns to the shorter man in the room, "this hunk of muscle is Salvador, and finally," he turns to a red-head sitting alone, "That is Gaige."
Gaige gave a half-hearted wave and returned to her brooding.
"It's nice to meet you guys," Maya replies.
"POTATO GARDENING," Krieg randomly shouts.
The train continued to rattle down the track, nobody said anything.
Lee sighed and spoke up, "I don't suppose any of you would grace me with some ammo for my submachine gun? I've got like 50 bucks."
Axton and Salvador were quick to pipe up, but Maya digistructed some ammo and offered it. Lee reached out, stopping to ask, "for free?"
"For free."
Genuinely grateful, Lee took the ammo and added it to his echo device, which spat out a fully loaded magazine. He inserted it and spun it around, priming the weapon.
"Thank you, Maya," he spoke, earning a nod in response.
Silence took over the cabin again, until Axton spoke up, "So what's a Maliwan employee doing on Pandora all alone?"
Lee eyed the man, retorting, "what's a Dahl commando doing alone on Pandora?"
"Touche," Axton mumbled.
As silence took over the cabin again, Lee looked up at the sign that welcomed all these Vault Hunters. While lazily reading it, the welcoming sign suddenly fell off and revealed a far less welcoming sign.
Everything went to shit as Handsome Jack himself spoke over everyone's echo communicators.
"Welcome to Pandora kiddos!"
A/N
Hello everybody! I've decided to try my hand at writing a Borderlands fanfiction, as you can see.
Some things to note:
1. I do not have any major planned romances. Maya and Krieg may happen if we get far enough, but that's it. The OC will not get Lilith, Tannis, or Gaige.
2. If this story gains enough traction (which is what will decide how often I post), I might ask for audience opinions on romance. The OC is years older than Gaige, so morally its iffy, but it's legal so at the least we can throw in some romance drama.
3. The OC will not have some world-breaking power (it seems a lot of people give their OC the power to stop or slow time?), instead he will have a mixture between Moze's Iron Bear and Gaige's Deathtrap. You'll see when it's revealed, nothing world breaking, but it at least fits into his backstory of working for Maliwan.
4. What I plan for my OC is for him to slowly turn into a badass so you can see his character grow. Starting off, I don't want him to be a major bitch though, or some kind of Mary Sue. Beyond the luck him and the party will get for plot sake, you'll see him get hurt PLENTY.
5. Gaige will start off the same-ish. Meaning we'll see her development into a badass and open up to the other VH's more.
6. My writing is rusty so I apologize if it reads poorly, I try to make my stuff at least make sense. I have a bad habit of run-on sentences, and using too many commas.
7. This fanfiction will aim to be a slightly realistic but faithful retelling of the Borderlands 2 story. With plenty of character interaction between our favorite VH's and others.
8. Starting next chapter I might switch to 1st person.
9. No, Lee is not the Walking Dead Lee. I made the Clementine reference because I realized I could and went with it.
I hope you guys enjoy my OC, I know I haven't even explained his looks, but honestly I'm still not even sure. I wrote this on a whim. Feel free to offer ideas for his design, nothing crazy though. Comment, criticize, follow.
Next chapter - A Meat Bicycle Built For 7