"Where the hell have you guys been!?" shouted Gaige as Axton and Salvador warped into Pierce Station. "And where's Krieg!?" "Its a long story..." replied Axton.

ONE DETAILED RECAP OF THE FIRST CHAPTER LATER:

"So..." said Lilith, Commander of the Crimson Raiders, "Basically, A hole spontaneously opened underneath Krieg and he fell through it to god-knows-where?" "Pretty much." answered Sal. "Aye, reminds of me of a job I did on Hephaestus." remarked Zane. "Wait a minute, you don't appear until Borderlands 3-" "Axton, quit interrupting. Zane, please continue." said Lilith. "As I was sayin', I was hired to protect some rich guy from a trio of assassins that had been running amok recently. Well one night I caught 'em trying to fit a warhead in the rich guy's mailbox. They ran off before I could get a real good view of 'em, but they were some freaky lookin' buggers. Real short, too. I ran after 'em, and I saw they'd escaped through a hole in the ground like the one Axton and Sal described." "Any other important details?" inquired Lilith. "Yeah, when their escape hole closed, it left behind a pentagram."

As Zane continued describing other details, Zed looked to his right and saw Moxxi with a concentrated look on her face. "What's with the notepad, Moxxi?" "I'm trying to come up with a sexy innuendo based around the word 'hole', but it ain't coming."

"So what you're saying is that we're dealing with El Diablo?" asked Salvador. "Aye." replied Zane. "We're up against Old Scratch now. Surprised this hasn't happened sooner, to be honest." CHK-CHK "WELL WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR!? LET'S KICK SOME DEMONIC ASS!!!" screamed Sal as he cocked a pair of Bandit shotguns. "Wait a second, everyone, usually portals like the ones described can only be opened with some form of ritual." said Lilith as she and Brick held Sal back from jumping off the edge of Sanctuary.

"Are you talking about demonic portals?" inquired Tannis as she stepped out of her lab. "Yeah, you know anything about 'em? Axton responded. "Well, allow me to be of assistance. While Lilith is right in that portals to Hell can usually only be opened by an unholy ritual, there is a much rarer, more dangerous way they can open. Axton, Salvador, were there any ominous, dark clouds with red lightning emanating off of them where Krieg went missing?" "Yes, actually." responded Axton. "Well.." continued Tannis, "That was an incredibly rare event known as a Hellstorm. Where the clouds' lightning strikes, they open portals to the world below." "So... we basically just wait for another of these Hellstorms to pop up?" asked Brick. "Well, Hellstorms only occur every 75 years, or whenever its most convenient to serve as a catalyst for us to meet another motley crew of quirky personalities from another piece of fictional media." answered Tannis. "Tannis, what the hell are you talking about?" asked a very concerned Mordecai.

"Alright people, I've got a plan." said Lilith. "Zane, Gaige, Sal. You 3 go look for old cultic texts. Anything from a spellbook to an old parchment should do. Zer0, Axton, Maya, you go ask those Cult of the Firehawk guys if they have any experience with portal-opening rituals. Bring some cryo weapons in case they're feeling hostile." "Wait those aren't until Borderlands 3 eith-" "Axton, for the last time, quit interrupting people!" exclaimed Brick.

And so, the Crimson Raiders set off to find all weird, culty crap they'd need to open a portal to the netherworld and rescue their mentally deranged friend.