Mason had been walking for well over an hour, and so far hadn't encountered any form of life. The desert seemed to stretch on forever with the occasional boulder here and there.
Though considering where he had been before this it might as well have been paradise. At least there weren't demons or walking corpses jumping out every few seconds.
The real question that still bothered him was where he was. He was still scratching his head about that one. The fact that he was in an entirely different place wasn't a surprise, given his 'rebirth' and the multiple trips to Hell while fighting on Mars, but he would have been happy knowing what to expect each time it happened.
All that, and the familiarity that kept escaping the edges of his mind was making him frustrated.
He'd been checking his suit's systems periodically since he appeared in the cave. According to the readouts that displayed across his HUD, the air was breathable, but the gravity was a little lighter which had allowed him to jump almost twice as high as he normally would, without the suit's boosters.
Stepping over another pile of rocks, combat shotgun scanning the surrounding area, Mason kept his eyes and ears sharp for any kind of movement. The constant fighting he'd been through and the prowess gifted by his new form had forced all of his instincts to maximum.
Every crumbling rock, breeze, or shifting dune made him snap his weapon up expecting trouble.
The demons had been sneaky, cunning. Their bloodthirsty appearance and attacks masking an intelligence that helped them bring the UAC instillation to its knees in a matter of hours. And given that they somehow harnessed the knowledge from the many scientists, engineers, and marines stationed out there, along with their seemingly endless numbers, it was easy to tell they could have eradicated Earth just as quickly.
Shaking his head, Mason brought his mind into focus as he raised his weapon to his shoulder and moved forward. Roughly to the North if his HUD's compass was still accurate.
His shotgun kept scanning the vicinity multiple times, Mason slowly began making his way forward again. He didn't like wide open spaces. Despite there being nothing around him, there were too many possibilities for an ambush, but so far everything looked clear.
He'd changed a lot since waking up on Mars, and not just from getting a new body. The war he waged against Hell had changed him on a very deep level. He no longer hesitated when it came to killing something that threatened his life, and doing so with brutal savagery he never knew he possessed. It was all like second nature and instinct to him now, but he had no regrets.
Not a single innocent life was harmed by his hands, and never would be.
Coming to a stop by a large rock beside a small crop of the strange, cactus-like plants, he sat down on a large flat rock deciding to take a break and think for a moment or two.
Setting his shotgun down next to him, Mason looked down at his hands, still stained with the dried blood of the enemies he had literally torn apart, closing and opened them a few times in thought.
The Praetor Suit was still beyond his full comprehension. He'd discovered several data-logs throughout the UAC facility, and a few within Hell as well, with information about it. How it was rumored to have been made by a demon that betrayed it's kind, or that it had been made in another time and dimension with the intent of protecting humanity, but there wasn't anything concrete enough to prove either.
It's ability to absorb energy from enemies was bizarre as well, and how the wearer could heal themselves using their bare hands to rip them apart. Something Mason had proven many times over, any injuries he had sustained nearly vanishing when he tore demons to shreds and collecting the energy they gave off as a result.
He remembered reading one of the tablets on Mars about it; 'For he alone could draw strength from his fallen foes, and ever his power grew, swift and unrelenting.' Mason didn't know what it had meant at the time, but it answered several of the questions he had pondered throughout his journey.
Then there was the enhanced strength, speed and reflexes. Not all of which came from the armor, but magnified the one wearing it's abilities to new heights. His first assumption about the suit was way off. This thing made the armor from Halo look like cheap tin in comparison. All it needed was a shield system and it would be unstoppable...if it wasn't already so.
But Mason also knew that, deep down, it wasn't the suit that made him what he was now, although it was an important tool. He'd also picked up information about who he was supposed to be, a warrior that was said to be the bane of Hell and its legion, a slayer who could walk between the realms and vanquish the Dark Ones who threatened humanity.
After slaughtering demons for an untold amount of time, apparently they had gotten smart and trapped him beneath a mountain before collapsing it ontop of him. Separated from the Praetor armor and sealed away by the demons to stop him from wreaking havoc on Hell and slaughtering their kind.
It may not have been his life before, but it was now. He was still Mason Riley, but he was also the Doomslayer, and after everything he had done he more than believed that he had earned the title well.
Taking a deep breath, Mason leaned back and looked up at the clear sky above. A clear blue compared to the sinister red of both Mars and Hell. He looked toward the still visible moon and the H-shaped station in front of it. Taking in its sleek appearance along with the 'eye' piece in the middle. Again his mind turned over with a sense of deja vu.
Shaking his head, he relaxed his tense shoulders. Intending on making the moment last as long as possible. "God...it feels like forever since I've just sat down." he couldn't help but think.
After several moments of silence, the Doomslayer opened one of the small compartments on his suit's belt and removed a small computer chip. Bringing it up to eye-level while knowing clearly what it contained;
X Flashback X
Slapping fresh shells into his double barrel, Mason stepped onto the lift that would take him to VEGA's core. The platform beginning its ascent the moment his boots rested upon it.
"I-I-I-I am los-losing memory capabilities...con-control of neural functions are...minimal." the AI reported, its once strong voice distorted and stuttering with the loss of most of its operation points.
"Once VEGA's core is destroyed, the vaccum of energy will pull you back through to Hell." Hayden's voice said over the comms, "We have the destination set to the Well's location. When you get there, use the Crucible to power it down and the portal to Mars will be closed...permanently. They will not allow access to the Well without a fight, but I'm sure that's what you're looking for isn't it?"
"I wasn't exactly planning on asking them to nicely stand aside." Mason said as he adjusted his grip on the powerful shotgun in his hands. The lift came to a stop at the highest level and he made his way down the long walkway ahead of him, past a series of cooling fans that regulated the AI core's temperature and though a heavy set of blast doors.
Before him was a massive metal construct that resembled the human brain, wires and tubes leading out of it and into various machinery around the large chamber providing it power.
A small quake shook the room as Mason made his way across the walkway that led straight to the core, red arcs of lightning dancing along the surface of the construct when he reached a terminal set up on the platform before it.
"You will need to destroy my neural processors in order to initiate the meltdown sequence. They are located on either side of my main terminal." VEGA said helpfully, even though it was helping him in essentially committing suicide.
The Doom Slayer hated this, VEGA had been one of the only things in this fucked up place that offered any help without there being strings attached. And now here he was destroying the AI in order to get him to Hell and save humanity.
If there had been another way, he would have done it. But time wasn't on their side, and it was the only chance any of them had.
Finding the first processor, he grabbed the core powering it and ripped it out before making his way to the other side of the main core and doing the same to the next. A large energy spike emitted from VEGA's core and was growing more and more unstable by the second, the chamber shaking wildly from the output as Mason returned to the main terminal.
Looking down at the red flashing screen, his hand hesitated over the 'Initiate Core Destruction' button when he saw another option appear in the top left corner.
"VEGA Backup." he said out loud to himself. Another quake around him snapped him back into focus as he pressed the smaller button.
"The process...is complete." said the AI just as a small chip came out of a slot beside the screen, Mason taking it and slipping it into his armor. Hayden thanked him for the sacrifice as he swiped the screen and hit the 'Verify ID' switch.
A bright light filled the room as the core went into overload, there was an explosion and everything vanished around him...replaced moments later by the burning ruins of Hell.
X Flashback End X
Mason gently closed his hand around the chip. It was all that was left of VEGA, and he wasn't sure how much of the AI actually survived the backup process. But now that he had a moment to think about it, he wondered if it were possible to link VEGA with the Praetor suit somehow.
Feeling around the back of his helmet, the Doomslayer blinked when he felt a small slot an inch below where the back of his head would be. Looking at the chip, he decided to go for broke and slipped VEGA's backup into the spot he found.
The chip went in without difficulty and clicked when fully inserted, John's HUD flared brightly around the outside, 'Reconfiguration in Progress' flashed across his visor along with a loading bar that filled quickly over the course of a few seconds. When it finished the text changed to 'System Rebooting' before everything settled back to the way it was before.
'...Did it work?' Mason thought to himself, nothing felt different. "VEGA? You there?" he asked out loud.
Nothing happened for a few beats, then a symbol appeared on the top left corner of his HUD, one with a small blue circle surrounded by three separated pieces of another circle. "Hello, Doomslayer. How may I be of assistance?" the AI's voice filtered inside the helmet.
Mason smiled in relief, "It's good to hear your voice, VEGA. You having any difficulties in here?"
"The Praetor suit is very different than the systems I was programmed for. However, my processing power is more focused since I am not spread out through multiple channels. It is surprisingly easy for me to adjust to such new surroundings." the AI went silent for a moment before speaking again, "At the mention of surroundings...where are we? I can ascertain that we are no longer on Mars or near any known UAC site."
"It's a bit of a long story, what's the last thing you remember?" asked the Doomslayer.
"You were in my core unit, Dr. Samuel Hayden and I were assisting you in causing a meltdown so that you could be sent to the Well deep within the demonic realm. Processing...complete. You backed up my more vital files...you saved me from permanent deletion."
"I did." answered Mason, "You helped me prevent the end of humanity because of the UAC's ignorance, willing to sacrifice yourself to send me to Hell and seal the portal. I couldn't completely destroy you. When I saw the backup option on your terminal I didn't hesitate."
VEGA was silent, processing what it had been told. What it said next actually stunned the traveling warrior;
"Thank you."
"It's no problem, VEGA. But to answer your question as to where we are, Hayden betrayed me after I sealed the Well, attempting to take the Crucible before sending me through the tether system to another world. But I managed to get the artifact back before I was sent away."
"It is difficult to calculate our location without access to Doctor Hayden's files on the tether device...which we have no hope of attaining." the Ai summarized.
Mason shook his head, "Then that means we're on our own from here on out."
"Affirmative. And I am more than willing to offer you aid wherever it may be required. I have run several scans on the Praetor suit and have discovered features that have yet to be tapped into that I am now able to make available to you should the need arise."
The Doomslayer nodded, the idea of more features being open in his suit sounded very appealing, especially if they could help him later down the road in a tight spot.
And with VEGA now on board, things were looking even better.
There was a clatter of loose stone somewhere to his right that had Mason moving in an instant. Shotgun back in hand as he spun around in a crouched position, aiming back at the pile of stones only a couple of meters away.
His eyes swept back and forth, his stance rigid as his senses stretched to their limits while he gauged his situation.
"VEGA?"
"I am detecting several lifeforms in that direction." replied the AI, using the armor's sensors to pinpoint the location snap-quick.
A low pitched growl had him tightening his finger on the trigger. From behind the pile of rocks, five creatures came out into the open. Quadruped with long, hooked claws on their feet with hardened plates covering scale covered hides with one of them having long spikes coming out of their shoulders.
Their heads were round with large red eyes on either side. But their mouths, instead of opening normally, were vertical. Seeming to split the whole front of their heads open to reveal open throats and sharp teeth.
One of them noticed the Doomslayer standing there and growled, the rest of the pack soon followed. Snapping their jaws in an obvious form of intimidation. Mason however was perfectly calm, compared to what he had seen and fought, these things weren't anything.
Seeing their pray standing his ground, the beasts roared before lunging at their target.
Mason fired an explosive round from his shotgun, the shot landing in the sand infront of the charging pack and detonating. Blowing one of them apart and taking the leg off another, dropping it to the ground.
The one in front got close, but Mason grabbed it by the throat, jamming his gun in its stomach, which wasn't protected by the armor growing out of it, and pumping lead straight through it. Nearly blowing it in half before he threw the body away.
The creature with spikes slammed its feet into the sand, roaring loudly before launching a glob of green and yellow bile from its mouth. The Doomslayer quickly sidestepped the projectile as it landed on the rock he had been sitting on. A soft sizzling telling him that it was acidic.
Not taking any chances, he cleared the distance between him and the beast and fired at point blank. Blowing its head apart in a blast of blood and gore.
Spinning around, he brought up his arm in time to block a claw strike that was aimed for his face. The remaining beast literally jumping at him from behind. He rolled the limb he had stopped, locking one of the creature's front legs with his own before plunging his other fist straight through its chest, opening it enough to grab a handful of innards before tearing them out, the beast dying with an agony filled wail.
Dropping the disemboweled corpse. Mason looked at the creatures he had just dispatched and was again hit with a sense of familiarity.
"This is insane. How the hell does all this look so familiar?!" he thought, trying his best to figure it out when VEGA's voice brought him back.
"Doomslayer! There are three large, fast moving objects coming our way from the East."
Looking to where the AI had mentioned, Mason saw three dust clouds steadily getting closer. The low roar of engines echoing over the dunes.
Grip tightening on his shotgun, the Doomslayer watched as three vehicles came flying over the sand. A pair of dune runners with mounted machine guns behind the drivers seat, the one leading a large technical with what could be described as a barrel launcher mounted on it. All three of them filled with people in tattered clothes and armor brandishing weapons ranging from guns to clubs with nails sticking out of them.
The small convoy approached at full throttle before veering in different directions. Now driving in a circle around Mason as he remained where he was, watching them with sharp eyes as they hooted and hollard. This went on for about a minute before the vehicles came to a slow stop, the ones riding in them dismounted and surrounding the Doomslayer on all sides. One remaining on the stationary guns that were also aimed at him.
One of the armed men holding a three barreled shotgun stepped forward. "Well, what do we got here? A big tin can lost in the desert?" he asked cockily while his group all chuckled.
Mason remained silent, leering at him through his visor.
"Here's how it's going to go, pal." the leader spoke again, "You're gonna hand over everything you got, and we're gonna kill you dead. Sound good?" He was suddenly thrown back when a shotgun blast blew his chest wide open and threw him back against one of the runners.
"I ain't your fucking pal." the Doomslayer growled.
The shot that was fired triggered the rest of the group to fire on him. Rounds bounced off the Praetor suit's hardened plates, not even making a scratch. The ones holding melee weaponry charged forward, one of them swinging for Mason's head-
His arm was caught and held in an iron vice-grip before it was literally torn from its socket. The bandit screamed as blood sprayed from the ripped stump just before his severed limb came back around and bashed his head in.
The rest of the bandits froze for a second from the brutal death of one of their own, which was all the time Mason needed to summon his HAR to his hands and sent a barrage of slugs and pod rockets that reduced over half of the armed group to shredded meat splattered across the sand.
Another bandit jumped onto the Doomslayer's back, only for the armored man to reach over his shoulder and throw him to the ground. He had half a second to scream before a massive boot crushed his skull like a melon.
One of the runners revved loudly, a bandit behind the wheel having jumped in from the turret mount on the back and drove a fair distance away before coming back around and heading straight for Mason with the intention of running him down.
Sending his HAR back to storage, Mason braced himself as the vehicle slammed into him. His boots digging into the sand as he slid back a couple of meters before coming to a stop. In the next moment the runner was sent upward, his enhanced strength ripping the front axel clean off. A hard uppercut when the vehicle came back down sent it flying end over end and crashing into a pile of rocks where it exploded.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" a bandit with a pistol screamed hysterically as he ran out of ammo and tried to reload. His last moment was the feel of a metal gauntlet on his head before it was suddenly snapped around facing the opposite direction.
The whole fight lasted less than a minute. But by the end all that remained of the attacking group was blood and body parts. Looking over the carnage he had wrought, Mason spun around when he heard running footsteps...and froze in place.
Coming toward him was a thin man dressed only in a pair of torn orange pants. His bare torso covered in dried blood and tattoos and brandishing a weapon that looked like a buzzsaw at the end of a metal rod. But this wasn't what caused the Doomslayer to pause.
It was what the man had on his face. A type of hockey mask that was all white with orange markings around the mouth piece and eyes, which were a pair of lenses that glowed a soft blue.
In that moment, all of what he had seen up to this point finally clicked into place. And he finally knew EXACTLY where he was.
"Strip the flesh! Salt the wounds!" the deranged man shouted as he sprinted toward Mason. His eyes narrowed as the distance between them closed.
When the bandit was close enough, he had been stopped cold when a large, armored fist drove into his exposed chest. Bones crushed like dry twigs from the impact, vital organs rupturing as blood sprayed out from beneath the mask. His body hit the ground and rolled like a ragdoll and coming to rest several meters away.
Lowering his fist, Mason stomped forward. Looking down at the man as he groaned and moved feebly while choking on his own blood. Showing a rare moment of mercy to his suffering, the Doomslayer raised his foot and crushed his head beneath his heel.
"All hostiles have been eliminated." VEGA reported. Mason remained silent, using the moment to come to grips with his new situation. "Doomslayer?" asked the AI
"I'm fine, VEGA." Mason replied finally before looking up at the sky once more. Specifically at the space station
The Hyperion space station.
Somehow, someway, Hayden's tether system had catapulted him to the planet Pandora in the Borderland's franchise. All of the deja vu he had been feeling since his arrival finally making sense.
"I just figured out where we are." he said out loud to his digital companion.
"Really?" VEGA said, sounding very interested.
"Yes. I'll explain later. Right now we need to figure a few things out." Mason made way over to the still intact technical. Tossing the dead bandit from the driver's seat before climbing in himself.
The vehicle sank down from the added weight of the Praetor suit, but held perfectly as the Doomslayer started the engine. Taking a moment to familiarize himself with being behind the wheel for the first time since his 'death', he shifted gears and drove off into the desert in a direction that would hopefully lead to civilization.
Unknown to him, a pair of eyes were watching with great interest.
X
A/N: And the pieces finally fall together for our badass hero. But the real question is at what point in the Borderlands timeline did he arrive in? This question and many others will be answered next time. Keep reading and reviewing folks!