Rebel Anarchy

by Kilo8

With no one left and no place to call home, the last surviving rebel fighter from a ruined world begins his journey to avenge his planet and comrades; to Pandora: where he plans to hunt down the leadership of Hyperion, the cause of his misfortune. However, he and the rest of Pandora will soon be thrown into a storm of anarchy when a certain redhead and her robot show up.

7. Chapter 7 Lost and Found

-TRANSMISSION ONLINE-

-Beginning ECHO Review Log-

(Kilo8) Hello everyone, Kilo8 here with another chapter of "Rebel Anarchy".

Gaige looked around the SOL's control room.

(Gaige) Ugh, where Mr. Torgue and Tina?

(Kilo8) They're at Torguecon.

(Gaige) . . . . . Torguecon?

(Kilo8) The biggest High-explosives convention in the universe. Mr. Torgue is technically contractually obligated to attend, but you couldn't keep him away from it with even a restraining order and he gave Tina a ticket since she always wanted to go.

(Gaige) I see.

But not to worry, we have a special guest to fill in today. Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Mistress of Carnage, the queen of innuendos, the hot gal Pandora has ever produced, Maaaaad Moxxi!

Moxxi walks into the control room and moves next to Kilo8 and Gaige.

(Moxxi) Thank you, Kai, it good to be here.

(Kilo8) Now down to business, first I'd like to say sorry for the long wait, I have recently gotten a job so that a thing, I'm also working on my portfolio getting it ready for a convention, and of course, there was that nasty Hurricane a few weeks ago. To anyone in Florida and the other Gulf islands I hope you're safe and well. I also want to give my wishes to those who may be affected by the Las Vegas shooting. It... It scary to see this happen again. I was living in Orlando when the Pulse nightclub shooting occurred and I've seen what something like this does to a community. So to those of you who may be in or from Vegas or know someone there, I hope you and those you know are all safe and doing well and I wish those injured a swift recovery. . . . So, with that out of the way, I have some good news. We finally have a Beta read! I like to thank and introduce my new friend MyBrainIsAPlasmaNebulaBall.

(Moxxi) That a mouthful.

(Kilo8) Eh, to each their own. I call him Brain for short, anyways, some of you new readers here and a few older follower may have noticed that with Brain's help we've been fixing the grammar mistakes on all my previous chapters. So far, chapters one and two have been fixed and update, I had wanted to fix the rest before the new chapter came out but I figured you all have waited too long.

(Gaige) Damn right it been too long.

(Moxxi) Yes, it has been a very long and hard wait.

. . . . Dammit, Moxxi. Kilo and Gaige said together as Moxxi just laughed.

(Kilo8) Anyways, thanks again Brian for the help, I should also be noted that Brian has also decided to take the leap from reader to writer and has published his own OC Borderlands story called "Caustic Chivalry", he already has the first chapter up, so check it out when you can.

(Gaige) Sweet.

(Kilo8) So since that basically covers everything I'll let Moxxi have the outro.

(Moxxi) Please, enjooooy the chapter my dears, and remember to follow so that you may get all of the latest and hooootest chapters.

Kilo and Gaige stared at Moxxi for several seconds till Gaige open her mouth to speak.

(Kilo8) Just… No. Just… Just start the chapter already.

-ECHO Transmission interrupted-

X-X-X

Disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands or any of its characters, Borderlands is owned by Gearbox Software and 2K Games, the only ownership I claim is of my own OC's. This is a story just for your fun and enjoyment. Please enjoy.

X-X-X

Chapter Beta Read by "MyBrainIsAPlasmaNebulaBall"

X-X-X

-Stories text formats-

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Echo/Radio"

'Krieg's inner voice'

X-X-X-

Chapter 7

Lost and found

It was about midday when the Vault Hunter's ship finally crashed ashore at Three Horns Divide. They all picked themselves up, then quickly got off the boat and started moving inland. After several minutes of walking along the base of the cliffs along the shore, they came upon a cut through that looked like it would lead to the top of the cliffs. It was only about 5-6 meters wide and on top of it there was a rickety looking bridge made from random parts and pieces of steel that spanned the gap. As they approached the path they heard the sounds of motors and gunfire. "Look!" Maya yelled out. They all looked up to the top of the cliff where she was pointing to see a truck race over the bridge. It slid to a sudden stop on the other side, where its turret then rotated around and fired several rockets at the bridge, causing it to explode and collapse into the chasm.

Axton's ECHO, which was set to scan, suddenly picked up a nearby transmission. "Sanctuary is off limits. You Bloodshots can stay in your hole."

"I SEEEEE YOUUUUU!" Yelled a bandit in the other truck, which then jumped the gap.

The other man, who on the ECHO ID came up as Cpl. Reiss just sighed. "Awesome… Why don't you boys run on back to your hellhole of a camp?"

"Oh! Good idea! I think we'll just turn around and head on back to our - DIE!" He yelled followed by several gunshots.

"Pandora is a violent and dangerous place. Sanctuary is… slightly less so," Angel's voice suddenly said on their ECHOs.

"Nah, it's just Thursday," Salvador said.

"Really? What's Friday like then?" Gaige asked.

Salvador just started to grin. "So much Carnage...," he said to himself mainly as Angel continued.

"Anyways, with that bridge out, you'll need a car to reach the city gate. Get to a Catch-A-Ride Station."

"Well, you heard the lady," Axton said before he and everyone started moving again.

The next hour involved them getting up the path and fighting their way through a dozen Bullymongs. When they reached the Catch-A-Ride station Gaige tried to hack it, but after several failures, they had to raid a nearby Bandits camp for a part which would let Angel hack it. They digi-structed three Runners which they used to jump the gap that Reiss had created. They then had to travel through a Bullymong infested cave, and after another few minutes of driving, they had all finally reached the gate to Sanctuary. Of course, they first had to deal with the local Bandits who were trying to demand that they be let in, that was fun. They had only just finished the fight and while everyone else gathered up the loot, Axton went over to the call box and rang it.

"You're never getting into Sanctuary, you Bloodshot skaglicks!… Wait you're not Bandits?"

"Nope, we're all Vault Hunters." Axton replied.

"Vault Hunters!? Hold on, let me patch you into Roland."

After a few seconds a man voice came on everyone ECHO's. "Ah so you're the Vault Hunters I've been hearing all this radio chatter about.

"You've heard about us?" Axton asked which drew everyone's attention.

"There has been talk of a group of Vault Hunters who faced Handsome Jack and lived all along the northern shelf and three horns. I assume that's all of you."

"I guess you could say that."

"Name's Roland, I used to be a Vault Hunter like you, until I formed the Crimson Raiders. We'll catch up when I get back to Sanctuary. For now, I need your help. My men tell me Corporal Reiss hasn't returned with the power core we need to keep the city's shields running. Bring Reiss back to Sanctuary, and you'll have earned your place in the Raiders."

Before anyone could say anything Angel once again, come on their ECHO'S.

"Roland's contacted you? Good. Listen to what he says, he can help us defeat Jack"

"Well this is just great. I mean I'm freakin starving here man!" Sal yelled.

"Sal didn't you just eat that Pimentaco in the Runner like five minutes ago?" Gaige asked.

"You actually ate that thing?" Axton said with a hint of disgust, as Maya seemed to turn slightly green just at the mere thought.

"It was pretty good, which reminds me, did you guys eat the ones in your cars? If not, can I have them?" Sal asked. At this Maya just ran around a corner and threw up.

"What's wrong with her? Was it something I said?" Sal asked.

"Yeah, let's go with that," Gaige said

After Maya finished dry heaving the group got back in their respective Runners and began following the marker given to them on their ECHO's map. After driving several klicks past the Bullymong cave they came through earlier they arrived at the location. They all got out and found a smoking bandit truck that looked as though it had been hit by an RPG. Axton ordered everyone to spread out and look around. As everyone was looking everything started to shake and tremble, and when it stopped, their ECHO comms came on with a familiar, smug voice.

"Handsome Jack here, reminding you all not to worry your pretty little heads about those earthquakes. See, with every tremor, my drills get closer to the Vault, to freedom, order, and safety for all of us. Except for you asshats in Sanctuary."

After several minutes Gaige was looking in the wreck for any clues when she heard an electronic whistle, she looked back to see Zer0 holding up an ECHO pad. Everyone gathered around before he played it.

"Got the power core, Bloodshots… blew the bridge… I'm hit... I'm gonna try and lose them in the Marrowfields." the message cut off a second later when they heard an explosion. "This doesn't sound good," Sal said.

"Reiss is in trouble? Dammit - we're spread thin enough as it is. Find him, soldiers."

Axton noticed Gaige was in deep thought from the expression on her face, the kind you have when you're trying to remember some piece of info that slipped your mind. And it had something to do with this guy he was betting.

"Gaige, you got something to add."

"No, it's just the name sounds familiar."

"No time to ponder / A life is at stake / We need to move," Zero said as he pocketed the ECHO.

The Marrow Fields weren't far from the wreck, but several large bones blocked off the Runners so everyone had to continue on foot. As the team looked around they kept finding clues everywhere from spent shells, dead bandits, even several shot up Bullymong corpses. They all kept following the tracks until they started to hear the sound of bandits laughing. Zer0 pointed at a rock gap with a path that everyone immediately ran through.

They quickly rushed up the path towards the yelling. When they turning the corner they saw four Psycho's, including a huge badass Psycho pounding and kicking a man in grey Crimson Lance armor who was laying in bloody snow.

"Assist that man immediately!" Axton shouted. Everyone immediately jumped into action. Maya Phaselocked a Psycho and Gaige began peppering him with SMG fire. The Badass Psycho was surprised by this and looked up only to see. . . Krieg throwing a laughing Salvador right at him. Sal landed feet first into the Psycho's face and knocked the Badass over. "EAT MY FISTS PUTA!" Salvador yelled as he jumped back up on top of the Badass and began pounding the Psycho in the face. Krieg quickly rushed in to join in the fun! Axton shot the third Psycho several times while Zer0 ran in and slashed the last one with his sword.

After all of the Psychos were eliminated the group rushed over to the Reiss. Maya started to use her powers to try and heal him but for those who could tell from experience, he was in bad shape.

"Vault Hunters!? Didn't think I rated that much of a rescue," Reiss said with a pained voice.

"Roland said you were making some kind of delivery," Axton asked.

Cough* "Bloodshots. One of those psychos ran off with the power core, took it to a nearby Bloodshot camp. Without it, Sanctuary will be defenseless. You need to get it back. (Cough), Aw, hell. Moxxi is gonna kill me for this." He said looking at his wounds.

Axton looked over to Maya who was still trying to heal him, while Gaige was helping ZERO making tourniquets for his wounds.

"I can stabilize him for now but he needs a doctor, quick," Maya said.

"Forget about me, you need to get that power core, without it Sanctuary is dead."

Axton continued to ponder the situation as looked over to Gaige when he had an idea. "Hey Red, you have a driver's license right."

"Pfft, I'm an eighteen-year-old school girl, what would make you think I didn't have one. . . Why?" She asked looking at him questionably as Axton began to grin.

Five minutes later, they all watched as Gaige sped off in one of the Runners with Reiss in the turret, as they both raced off towards Sanctuary. As everyone else stared after them Maya spoke up. "You think she'll make it in time."

"I don't know, but personally, I don't want the kid around for what we're about to do," Axton said as he and the rest of the Vault Hunters turn around towards the camp.

"So what are we about to do?" She asked.

"Find the bloodshot camp / find and retrieve power core / avenge the badass man," ZERO said more sadistically than usual.

"I see," Maya answered.

Axton pulled the charging bolt on his Dahl rifle. "Right then, now that that's cleared, let go honor a good man."

X-X-X

As they sped across the frozen wasteland for Sanctuary, Gaige was trying to drive as fast as she could without ether flipping the Runner or tossing Reiss out of it.

"Hey Reiss, you still with me back there." Gaige yelled back.

"More or less" he grunted.

He was silent for another minute until he randomly asked. "Isn't your name Gaige?"

Gaige, to say the least, was surprised by this and lost focus for a few seconds.

"GAIGE!"

Gaige snapped out of her stupor only to immediately swerve to avoid a random wrecked car they were heading for.

"Sorry! You okay?"

" Yeah, I just don't think I can take many more jolts like that."

"Sorry. How did you know my name?" Gaige asked back.

"I…. I heard your friends say it, I was just. . . Validating."

Gaige had the odd feeling that wasn't entirely true, but who was she to question a dying man. But that did make her think of something else.

"Hey Reiss, in case you don't... You know. Do you have anything you want or... need to say."

Reiss was quiet for a moment as he thought about it.

"Yeah. Ugh… A favor actually."

"A favor?"

"Yeah, watch after... my Brother... for me"

"Your brother, who's your brother… Reiss.. REISS!"

Gaige realized that he must have finally blacked out after all the blood that he's lost. Fearing that she was going to lose him she decided to screw safety and floored the pedal.

"Hang on Reiss, we're almost there!"

Five minutes later, Gaige pulled up to the front gate of Sanctuary, jumped out of the Runner. She immediately ran to the call box and started mashing the call button. After twenty seconds Lt. Davis finally answered.

"Dammit bandit, I told you to. Wait you're one of the-"

"Whatever!" Gaige yelled back cutting the man off. "Just let us in!"

"Woah now, I can't just let you in little girl, I have to first scan you, get a photo, run it by Roland and-"

"DAMMIT SHUT UP ALREADY! Reiss is in my Runner, BLEEDING OUT, and you're giving me the tenth degree! YOU BETTER OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR MY ROBOT FRIEND IS GONNA SHOVE HIS CLAW SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU WON'T SIT FOR A YEAR!" Gaige roared.

"Oh shit! I'm opening it! I'm opening it!"

Gaige heard the gate unlock and saw it begin to open, she quickly hopped back into the Runner and sped through the gate as soon as it was wide enough. On the other side of the gate, she could see Sanctuary which was sitting on the other side of a large gorge. Gaige raced across the bridge past a lookout post where a man in dark green crimson Lance armor yelled: "The next gate is open, wait in front of a place called Scooter's Garage."

Gaige quickly pulled through the main gate into the town to see that she was in a small roundabout, so to avoid crashing she mashed the brakes and drifted to a stop by an auto garage. She hopped out and started to check on Reiss, she felt for a pulse and found he still had one. 'Thank god he's not dead' she thought just as she heard hurried footsteps. She turned to see a black-haired man with hints of grey in it wearing a doctor's uniform with a name tag that said Dr. Zed and had a blue medical mask over his mouth come rushing down some nearby stairs. Behind him were some more guys in crimson Lance armor only thiers were white and had a red medical cross on their shoulders and helmets, and they were both carrying a stretcher.

"How's the patient?" The doctor asked.

"He alive but bleeding badly, he was… I don't even know where to start, he's been shot up, beaten, stabbed, it was a fucking mess."

"Was he conscious at all since you found him?" He asked.

"Yeah, he blacked out on the way here, about ten minutes ago."

The two medics finished getting Reiss on the stretcher and started hauling him up the stairs. Zed followed them and Gaige followed him to a building at the top of the stairs with a neon sign ontop shaped like a syringe saying 'Dr. Zed's'. Once inside the medics put Reiss on a surgical table, where one of then immediately ripped Reiss's helmet and dropped it on the floor before ripping off his armor while Zed went to work setting up a blood transfusion. Gaige meanwhile, not knowing what to do, stood in a corner as she watched them work.

"I hope his brother gets here soon."

X-X-X

About ten minutes after Gaige had arrived another Runner rolled through the outer gate to Sanctuary. It stopped by the guardhouse outside of Sanctuary. Kai got out and walked up to the platform with a box in hand.

"Hey Davis, I got the new pulse emitters that we need." Kai says as he set the parts on a table as Davis stared at him. "What is something on my face man?… Helloooo, earth to Davis"

"What are you doing here?" he exclaimed.

"Ugh, finishing my mission, and delivering the parts. What else would I be doing?" Kai stated as he pulled out the parts and set them on the table.

"No, why are you here when Reiss is at Zed's!"

Kai froze for several seconds till he turned to Davis with a face of fear and confusion.

"What do you mean he's at Zed's!?"

X-X-X

Gaige was trying to gather some more insta-heals as Zed had instructed as he and the medics were frantically trying to save Reiss. Just then blood started squirting into Zed's face.

"Clamp that artery now! Kid, the fridge, I need another bag of B negative, on the double!"

Gaige ran to the fridge and fumbled with several bags of blood and… other organic parts till she found a bag behind a jar with what looked like a human kidney. She tossed the bag to one of the medics who started hooking it up. Zed finally fixed the blood leak he was working on only to curse as he finds another one.

"There's just too many!" Zed muttered as he grabbed the insta-heals Gaige passed him. "I'm gonna need more clamps soon. Kid, cabinet behind the curtain to the left."

As Gaige rushed over and started digging through cabinet, only to stop when she heard the clinic's hatch door slam open. Gaige peeked between the curtain to see a young man with black hair about her age rushed in with focus solely on Reiss.

"Doc what his condition." The young man asked.

Zed finished the part he was working on and took a few seconds to step back and observe Reiss's condition. He looks to the man and shakes his head. "I'm sorry Kai, I can't fix this. There's too much damage and he's already gone through three pints of blood in less than twenty minutes. There just no way I can keep up with that amount of blood loss, he has minutes at most".

The young man frantically pulled his hair in frustration. "What about the New-U station, we can scan him." but Zed cut him off before he could finish.

"He's a former ATLAS employee, you know that means Hyperion already has his DNA and mental scans on record. And we both know Hyperion has locked out and canceled all Atlas employees from the system years ago. I'm sorry Kai but... you need to stop thinking about how to save him and start thinking what to say to him… It's time to you said your goodbyes while you can."

It was quite in the room as Gaige watched from out of sight behind the curtains. "That's Kai!?" She whispered to herself. She didn't know what to do, here was one person she just met for the first time less than an hour ago who was dying, and now the one person she been waiting to meet for the last week now was just a few meters from her. Gaige and everyone else were snapped out of their train of thought when they heard a weak cough from the table, everyone looked to see Reiss was awake.

"Hey, can't the 'cough, cough' dying man get a word in."

Kai rushed over to the table, "Hey man, how you doing?"

"Worse than I look if I had to say. Sorry, I don't think I'm gonna make it for drinks at Moxxi's tonight." Reiss weakly said. "Man this sucks worse than the time we fought that mutant badass Skag with the tentacles."

"Don't even remind me of that," Kai said as he physically cringed at the memory.

Reiss chuckled at his reaction. "Damn, I was going to ask her to marry me. I've got my mom's old ring, a plan, and everything to make it special."

"Oh yeah, and who would you have roped in to be the man of honor." Kai said with a weak laugh.

"Well, you of course. You're my brother in arms after all."

"Reiss… I don't, I don't know what to say."

"You'll say it would be an honor you damn asshole!" He jabbed as Kai just chuckled.

"Would it? It sounds more like I'd be your bodyguard who's job it would be to stop all of the jealous and/or angry SOB's who want to kill you for taking Moxxi."

"It 'cough' wouldn't have been that bad."

Kai just gave him a deadpanned look. "Scooter."

Reiss thought about it for a second. "Okay, you got me there." He said as they both laughed a bit till Reiss began coughing again. A few seconds after the coughing fit passed Riess looked back to his friend. "Hey, just do me a solid and watch out for Moxxi for me. Knowing her, she won't take this well."

"Of course man, I swear nothing bad will happen to her, I'll even tell her you died after taking down half of an army of Bandits by yourself. Make you sound as badass as possible." Kai said as Reiss weakly chuckled.

"Yeah, I would appreciate that. Just one more thing." He quietly said forcing Kai to lean in to hear. "You know how to pick them brother, so take care of her and treat her well. I already told her to watch out for your sorry ass."

"Riess, come on, Moxxi already treats me like a little brother."

Reiss just gave him a cocky blood-covered grin and chuckled. "Wasn't talking about Moxxi you lucky bastard."

A look of confusion came over Kai's face. "What? Wait, then who?"

"You'll see. Ugh, don't got long, remember to watch Moxxi and your own ass, or I swear I'll come back and haunt your ass till the end of time."

"You don't need to tell me twice, man. Save me- save me a seat at the poker table in hell man." Kai choked out.

"Was already planning on it, now if you'll all excuse me, I'm just gonna go to sleep now… Wake me up when I'm... no longer... on Pandora... anymore." he said as he closed his eyes. A few seconds later the heart monitor flat-lined leaving everyone standing there in shock.

Kai simply stared at Reiss, while Zed and the medics all bowed their heads in respect. Gaige silently began to cry to herself as the silence encompessed the room. It was only then that she realized what Reiss words from before meant. Kai was the 'brother' Riess wanted her to watch out for. He was the one he wanted her to protect.

After several minutes Kai finally got up and grabbed Reiss's discard blood stained helmet that had been dropped and forgot on the floor. Kai slowly started to move towards the door only to stop and turn to Zed. "Thanks for trying Doc." Kai said. Zed just nodded before Kai walked out and closed the bulkhead door behind him. Gaige was trying to figure out what to do next when Zed coughed to get her attention.

"Now while I do appreciate the extra company from time to time now isn't exactly a good time for us. So if you could just..." Zed said as he motioned to door. Gaige realized what he was implying and nodded before she moved to the bulkhead.

Gaige quickly left the clinic and found herself out on the street. She looked around for Kai and just bearly noticed him going around a corner and quickly followed after him. She kept tailling for several minutes as he slowly walked through the town. Finally Kai went into open doors of a bar called Moxxi's Red Light. Gaige snuck in behind him and hide behind one of the booth seats near the door.

The bar was more like a large club with how it was setup. In one corner there was a stage with a monstrous karaoke machine by it. On the other side of the room where several slot machines, dartboards, and two old billiard tables. On the far wall from the door was the bar itself and behind it was a woman standing behind it cleaning a glass.

Form what Gaige could see she had shoulder-length brown hair, blue eyes and had on a lot of makeup giving her face a near perfect white complexion with a bit of pink in her cheeks for a light blush. Her outfit was that of a purple circus ringmasters uniform with a top hat with several feathers and a queen of hearts card sticking out of it the gold band on it. Her outfit also showed off her ample bust with a bit of a black lace bra sticking out some.

Kai walked over to the bar and took a stool."

Moxxi raised an eyebrow and look Kai over for a few seconds. "Okay sugar, first, what have I told you about coming in here covered in blood and guts. Second, why do you smell like fire, brimstone, and a Rakk apocalypse? Third, why do you look like someone killed your puppy or something?"

Kai looked at her with a sense of doubt till he slowly unclipped Reiss's blood-covered helmet from his belt and gently placed it on the bar top in front of him. Moxxi stared at the helmet in confusion for several seconds, until she started noticing small details such as some chipped paint here, a dent there. They were details she had seen for years, enough to recognize the owner of said helmet.

She glanced up at Kai then back to the helmet several times till the realization set in. The glass she had been cleaning fell and broke on the ground as she slowly slumped back using the back bar top for support.

"No… No… No, it can't be. Kai this is a joke, right? Right?"

At this point, Kai got up and walked around to the other side of the bar as tears started to form in Moxxi's eyes. Kai was soon standing in front of her with a somber gaze.

"Mox... I'm sorry but… Reiss… he didn't make it."

At those words the floodgates broke as Moxxi buried herself into Kai's shoulder as she began sobbed, the teen wrapped his arms around her. This quietly continued for about ten minutes, several of the waitress who had been around watched, some in shock, others crying themselves.

Finally, Moxxi appeared to be calming down as she slowly pulled away from Kai, revealing her utterly ruined makeup. "Do you know how he died, were you… were you there."

"When he died, yes. Zed tried his best but..." Kai bowed his head for a moment as he collected himself. "As for how it was caused, I don't know. Roland had sent us on separate missions…" He was silent for several seconds. "I actually don't know who did this or who even brought him in. I only just got back from my own mission twenty minutes ago."

"Did he say anything before...," Moxxi tried to speak but couldn't find the words.

"He… He loved you Moxxi. He was actually… he had a ring, a ring, a plan, everything." Moxxi gasped when she heard this as she began to tear up again.

"Oh God. He- he was going to… oh god... Damn… DAMMIT! Why is it always the good ones!" She yelled.

Kai's face still had a despondent look as he brought Moxxi in for another hug as she started crying again. This continued for several more minutes with Moxxi occasionally letting out a curse between her sobbing.

"Where is. *Sniff* where is his…"

"Zed's probably moved him to the morgue by now, but I'd wait a bit. It wasn't… pretty," he said. "Anyways, I think I'll take my leave now, I need time to… reflect," Kai said before he turned to leave.

Gaige hid behind the seats again as he passed, she watched him go out the open doors and keep walking till he turned for the center of town. Gaige had gotten up and hidden behind the archway by the door. Her mind was racing with hundreds of questions and imaginative scenarios as to what could happen if she tried to approach him. Would he be happy, would he be mad once he learned she didn't get Reiss here in time? Would he even react at all? While she was thinking about all these things, she never noticed the shadow that fell over her from behind.

"Well, what do we have here."

Gaige jumps in surprise giving off a loud 'EEEP!' She turns to find Moxxi standing there, arms crossed with an angry look in her eyes which was only made more fearsome by her ruined makeup and her near bloodshot eyes from her earlier crying session. With a stern gaze, she looked over Gaige, till she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

"Who are you and why are you stalking my favorite little Vault Hunter. And you better answer truthfully because I'm not in the mood for any Skag shit today."

Gaige wasn't entirely sure how to respond to this question as she nervously looked everywhere but at Moxxi.

"Well, we're waiting." She said as several waitresses suddenly surrounded Gaige, trapping her in.

"I ugh. I ugh." She stuttered trying to come up with an answer until she finally broke down.

"I DON'T KNOW! I only got to this planet four days ago and I've had to kill hundreds of creatures and bandits just to finally get to this city. But before we could even set foot through the gate my companions and I are sent back out to save someone, only once we get there, we find the poor guy beaten and shot to a bloody pulp. Then I am elected to drive him back to Sanctuary to try and save him. Not only did the guy not pull through after everything that happened, but I also had to watch as he dies. Plus before he dies, his best friend, who happens to be Kai walks in! KAI! The same friend I've been waiting to finally meet in person for the first time, and instead, I had to watch him watch his best friend died right in front of him. And now I have no idea what to say to him, let alone how to even approach him after everything that has happened because I consider Kai to be my only friend I ever really had and I just watched him get emotionally crushed, and I'm scared he'll hate me since I was the one to bring Reiss her! He might blame me or say I wasn't fast enough getting him here or, or that I didn't get to him in time, and, and, and."

At this point, Gaige's legs gave out as she slumped to the floor with tears in her eyes as she developed a slight case of the hiccups as she gasped for air. Moxxi looked too her waitresses in surprise and looked back to Gaige. She was also mentally asking herself how did a girl of her size have that kind of lung capacity. Then Moxxi had a sudden realization.

"Are… are you, Gaige, by any chance?" Gaige looked up at Moxxi as the tears kept pouring out and gave a weak nodded before another hiccup escape her throat. "Oh dear, it's going to be one of those days. Girls close up for the day and someone grabs some ice cream from the freezer, we're all gonna need it."

After a fifteen-minute cleaning and lock up, and a much-needed fix of one person's makeup, Gaige found herself sitting in the middle of one of the large circular booth seats flanked by Moxxi and her waitresses. The first one was Abigail, a long-haired brunette with teal blue eyes. Next was Susan, who had short blond hair, light brown eyes, and a light coat of freckles over her nose. and Trixie was a dark skin woman with raven hair in a pixie cut. If it weren't for the fact that they were on Pandora, Gaige would have bet they would be the popular girls in any high school or be supermodels by now. Gaige just finished a bowl of chocolate ice cream and gave a satisfying sigh. "Thanks, I needed that."

"Considering all the skag shit you've been through today, it's understandable dear." Said Trixie.

"So now that you've calmed down, I want details, what happened to my dear Reiss." Moxxi said with a somewhat venomous tone. So Gaige quickly started to explain the events to them leading up to the point when Reiss died in front of Kai and herself. Moxxi was tightly gripping a glass in her hands on the table and had an ominous vibe coming from her.

"I'm sorry for your loss Ms. Moxxi, I can't really imagine how you must feel about this."

"First please just call me Moxxi dear, second, it's fine. This isn't the first time I've have had to face the loss of a loved one like that. I just want to make the bastards pay for what they did to Reiss." She took a deep breath and calmed herself down before speaking again. But that's a problem for another day, right now we have to deal with your... boyfriend problem."

"Bo-boyfriend! He's not my-"

"Dear, you've traveled halfway across the galaxy to meet him," Abigail interrupted. "You obviously love him."

Gaige's face turned beet red in sudden embarrassment "What, no! It was just a 'cosmic' coincidence that he was here. The reason I left was-"

"Cosmic coincident, oh, I like how this story is starting," Trixie interrupted.

"I'll get the video camera and popcorn!" Susan said gleefully.

"Girls," Moxxi said with a slight sternness as the waitresses all giggled.

"Look, Gaige, let me ask you this. When you found out Kai was here, what did you think, why did you trust a person who you never met."

Gaige stopped and thought about it, She wasn't entirely sure herself. "I'm not sure, till recently all I even knew for sure about him was that he was a boy, and he's competent with tech to a fair degree, I had no real reason to trust him other than the fact that he helped me with some of the tech for DeathTrap. He also the only person I can talk to when I have an issue I didn't want to talk to my parents about. We play games together online, talk about music and movies and whatever else is relevant. If I had to call him anything right now I'd have to say he's my friend. He's the only friend I've ever had, the only person that I've come to trust. Does that mean I love him, don't know, don't care right now, I just want to help my friend right now, like he's helped me so many times in the past."

The others just looked at her for a moment until Susan spoke up. "Two hundred bucks says they're dating by the end of the month." Gaige just groaned as the others laughed at her expense.

Moxxi finally stopped laughing. "Let's settle down girls, we're not planning the bachelorette party… yet." She said with a sly grin which garnered another round of giggles for her waitresses.

"Okay, are you all done? I want to help my friend sometime before the end of the universe." Gaige stated now thoroughly ticked off.

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a bundle. Considering how much that boy has lost in the last year, I think the best thing to do is to just be there for him. You know comfort him, have him know that someone there for him. Get him to open up, God only knows what it took to crack him the first time.

Gaige looked at her questionably. "What do you mean for the first time?"

Moxxi and the others realized what she just said and looked to one another then back to Gaige. "How much has he told you about his past," Moxxi asked.

Gaige quickly explained to them what Kai had told her during her chat with him over a week ago. This left a worried look on Moxxi's face. "It looks like he gave you the watered-down version."

"What do you mean," Gaige asked.

"Well, when his planet was just attacked, he was forced to watch it for above with no way to help. From what Reiss had picked up, he had to listen to the screams of the people he knew dying."

Gaige honestly didn't know know what to say at this point as she averted her eyes to her empty bowl. "It sadly gets worse from there." This snapped Gaige's focus back. "He mentioned to you that his mentor was with him right." Gaige nodded. "Well, he didn't say what happened to him. When he and his mentor reach Pandora they encounter a Hyperion patrol which shot them down, and caused them to crash land… His Mentor was killed in the crash."

Gaige gasped at this as her attention was now solely focused on Moxxi. "So he literally just lost everything."

Moxxi nodded, "From the way he talked about his mentor, well this mentor, he had two, he was like a second father to him. And all he had left was the clothes on his back any gear on him or from the ship and a rifle from his first mentor, who was a grandfather figure, that he never let's get more than a meter away from him when he's out and about."

"There's also one other issue, Kai… Kai is one of those people who will bottle up grief and let it eat away at him. As for why he does that to himself no one knows, but I'm just afraid he'll do something stupid or spiral into a pit of self-despair."

"Sooo what should I do? Give him a hug, because I don't think that will be enough," Gaige said

"That's a start, but I think you might want to also…"

"Give him a show." Abigail interrupted.

"A little third base action." Trixie pitched in.

"I'd just jump him and drag him to the nearest bed," Susan said causing all three waiters to giggle.

"NO! God no! Ugh, you girls and your..." Moxxi cleared her throat to reassert her command of the conversation. "No, what Kai needs right now is a friend and a shoulder to cry on." Moxxi noticed Gaige's sudden bout of nervousness as she slightly shuffled in her seat.

"Which means our new friend here will have to go over there… By herself."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't think I'm ready for this." Gaige said.

"But didn't you just say you wanted to help your friend," Trixie said.

"Yeah, but I thought maybe one of you were going to maybe help me… make first introductions."

"Stop whining already and just woman up girl, your friend just lost his only best friend he had, and is all alone. Now you have to fill in those shoes and see him through this." Susan said. "Besides it's not like Kai gonna bite you." She paused then a devious smile crept up on her face. " At least not at first." Which caused Gaige, as well as Abigail and Trixie, to start blushing as red as Gaige's hair.

"Susan, stop that. Besides if anyone would bite you it would be Hati." Abigail said.

"Who?"

"Not important, look, Kai is probably been sitting in that apartment that he shared with Reiss, all alone. Now get over there and help your friend." Moxxi said as she got up and began pushing the young girl to the door.

"But."

"I know you're nervous, but it won't be that bad, now come on, go to your friend."

"But I don't know where he's at…" Gaige said

Moxxi realized her sudden oversight and quickly pulled out a small notepad she uses for orders and wrote down the direction. She then escorted her to the door. Just before Gaige left, she turned to Moxxi.

"Thanks you for the help Moxxi, but will you be alright yourself?" She asked concerningly.

"I'll be fine dear, I've already have my own friends here for me. Besides, it would make me feel better that someone was with Kai, knowing him he's probably trying to bottle up his grief, and I worry about him as though he were my little brother." Moxxi said waving her off.

"Moxxi, he's nineteen. Said Abigail.

"Details details. Now, run along, Sugar."

"Alright, thanks Moxxi!" She said as she ran down the street.

After she disappeared for sight Moxxi gave a long sigh. "Trix, get me the bottle of the strong stuff we keep locked under the bar, and a box of tissues, it going to be a long night." She said sadly.

X-X-X

After Kai had returned home he had removed his gear and drenched himself in a hot shower for nearly thirty minutes till the water became ice cold. After getting out and changing, he went to the first floor and just sat on the sofa. After a while, he started to mindlessly clean a Tediore pistol that had been lying around. His mind was at a complete loss for what to do.

It was only in the last two months that he finally was getting over the loss of the Colonel and everyone else from before. Once again he was unable to do anything but watch as the people he cared for died in front of him.

"Goddammit! Why!" He yelled as he throws the pistol at a wall. Before it got to the ground it gave a small explosion that didn't really damage anything but it did knock over several things while the gun re-digistructed onto the coffee table.

"Crap". He muttered in frustration.

As he began cleaning up the mess he thought about Reiss again, the memory of Reiss body on the table covered in blood. That only served to get him more down, he sat down and leaned against the wall as he continued to think. The worst part about the situation was that he was alone, sure he had Hati, but due to overclocking the power unit on the hard light projector the other day during his fight with the hive, he had to let the unit charge and reboot, which would take until tomorrow at the latest.

Kai continued to sit there for several minutes when he suddenly heard a knock at the door. Kai ignored it at first, but after several minutes the knocking turned into a pounding. "Great, probably Roland with his 'cheer up soldier' talks again." He said as he mentally facepalmed himself for letting that memory creep up again. The man knew how to rally an army of freedom fighters, but he was no good with a one on one. "I coming, I'm coming," Kai said as he got up and walked to the door.

Kai opens the door expecting Roland or someone, but who he found caused every cell in his body to freeze.

Standing at least a whole head shorter than him, was a girl with orangish-red hair tied into pigtails. Her outfit consisted of a red skull crested t-shirt with a blue hooded vest worn over it that was only zipped up about halfway. She had a short red skirt with two belts, or a belt and what appeared to be a large bicycle chain wrapped around her waist with the odd tool or part hanging from it. She had on a pair of black and white striped leggings and blue sneakers and what appeared to be an ankle holster for a wrench. The two biggest features she had was a robotic left arm and that her green eyes that could make emeralds look as dull as mud. Features that Kai knew belong to only one person.

"Gaige?"

Gaige looked him in the eyes and gave him a small smile before she suddenly cocked back her right fist and punched him in the face. The second after it connected Kai's world faded to black as he fell back onto the floor with a thud.

Gaige stared at Kai's unconscious body for several seconds until she grabbed her right hand and hissed in pain. "Damn that hurts… How the hell does Sal make that look easy?"

X-X-X

Back on the SOL, everyone was in the control room again and Gaige and Moxxi we're sharing a box of tissues.

(Gaige) Why did Reiss have to die! That was cruel. *Sniff*

(Moxxi) You suck for doing that to them, *sniff* and US Kilo!

(Kilo8) Hey, if you want to blame someone, blame the original story writer, but at least now it gives Kai more drive.

(Gaige) Why did you have to do another cliffhanger ending? And why would I punch the guy! THAT MAKES NO SENSE!

(Kilo8) You know exactly why.

(Gaige) What are you…. Oooooh, right. I almost forgot about that.

(Kilo8) And don't worry Moxxi, theirs hope for you yet.

(Moxxi) Oh. Why do tell sugar.

(Kilo8) Moxxi, you know better than anyone that spoilers ruin a good story. Imagine if someone told you the big plot twist in the middle of a story, like say… the latest Icha Icha book or-

*CHU-CHINK!*

(Kilo8) …. Something!

Kilo could only stare at the quad-barrel Jakobs shotgun Moxxi had somehow taken from Gaige and brought to bear on him.

(Moxxi) Spoil it and you die.

(Kilo) . . . . Gaige, you owe me fifty bucks and twelve bars of Eridium.

(Gaige) Dammit! Fine, I guess you did win.

(Moxxi) Wait, you guys bet on if I read Icha Icha!

(Kilo) Yup, thanks for helping me win the bet. Anyways thanks again everyone for being so patient. Please remember to follow for any new updates and to leave a review. Also, as I've stated before, if anyone has an idea for a new weapon, unique, legendary, pearlescent, or my own Mythic class then just PM the suggestion. I'm always looking for new ideas and I might feature it in a future chapter. So till next time everyone, this Kilo8 signing off. HIT THE BUTTON GAIGE!

*BZZZT*

- ECHO Review Log Terminated -