Chapter 8

Pandora

Gaige took point this time, while Artemis kept her eyes on the courtyard. Moving as quickly as she could, Gaige still winced each time she made a noise, but it seemed that no one had noticed her as she ducked into the open door at the base of the building. Doing a quick scan of the interior, she found that it was a large open area, and while there were bandits moving around inside, none of them were watching the door. She shot a thumbs up back to the others before slipping behind a barricade and waited.

A moment later Artemis slipped up next to her and if she hadn't been expecting the other girl, Gaige would've jumped at her sudden appearance. Deathtrap meanwhile flew in and quickly pulled himself up against the ceiling, which was a ways up, the cavernous room being at least a story and a half tall.

"Now where?" Gaige whispered as softly as she could.

Artemis shrugged and looked around "There's a group over there, by the most likely door, so we're not getting in that way, which leaves..."

She froze up and something about her attitude caused Gaige to not ask what was up, which turned out to be a good thing as a bandit walked through the door right then. Gaige's eyes widened as she tightened her grip on her gun, but the bandit didn't look around, he just blinked at the sudden darkness and walked forward, waving to one of the others and calling out to him.

It seemed that it was a shift change, since the other bandit groaned and grabbed his gun. After a brief talk with the returning bandit, out of which Gaige only caught "The Stalkers seem a bit riled up today" the leaving bandit slouched and headed towards the door.

Before Gaige could figure out what to do, a hand grabbed her belt and drug her back, pulling her around the edge of the barricade. She glanced at Artemis, but found the smaller girl was watching the psycho walking away from them, even as the bandit headed to the door.

Realizing they were exposed, they both decided to head for the nearest door and made a break for it, keeping low as they did.

To Gaige's amazement, no one shouted out as they ducked through the door and into the room on the other side. Giving it a quick once over as they moved though, Gaige couldn't immediately figure out what it was for, but quickly realized that she was trying to apply logic to a bandit base, and quickly gave up and instead focused on not running into anything.

Weaving around the table where a busted TV sat, with a burnt skull holding a Marcus Munitions bobble-head in its mouth inside, she unconsciously snatched the bobble-head and stuffed it into her pack. Other than that, she had to carefully avoid the magazines that were spilled across the floor, trying not to be distracted by whatever was on their covers, which wasn't all that hard, since she was trying to look everywhere at once.

To her annoyance, Artemis had casually slipped forward, moving up to the door and cocking her head for a second, before moving through into the hallway on the other side. Gaige kept low, trying to follow and wondering where Deathtrap was. He hadn't followed through the door, so she hoped that he was at least keeping out of sight and waiting for them to make a break for it so that he could cover their escape, and if not that, she hoped he was at least alright.

Trying not to think about it, she followed down the hall, glancing through the open doors they passed, finding more rooms filled with junk, but not the junk they were looking for. Before long, they came to the end of the hall and had to choose to head back towards the central area, or away from it. Taking a second to try and orientate herself, Gaige realized that if they went away, they'd end up going outside and around to the part they'd originally seen from across the valley and since she doubted that whatever Tina had wanted them to find her would be out there, she knew they'd have to head back to the central area. Her only hope was that the group loitering there had moved on.

As she expected, Artemis turned back to the center and moved forward, rifle in her left hand, pistol held tight in her right. She moved without hesitation as she slipped up to the door and glanced out. Holding up her hand to let Gaige know to wait, she slipped out and slid around behind a pile of crates that were tossed to one side.

From her new vantage point, she could make out the placement of the bandits going about their business and suppressed a sigh, she didn't like this, not at all. It wasn't that she couldn't take everyone there, even by herself, it was that if she did, they would soon be bogged down in a protracted firefight. She wasn't entirely sure they could win, not without knowing how many opponents were there, not to mention what kind of tricks they had, but even if they did win, which she felt was likely, there was no guarantee that what they were after was here and if it wasn't, even if they were in good shape, their ammo supply would likely be low, so they couldn't move to the next place without somehow restocking, which would take time, time that she didn't think they could afford. She was already annoyed about how long this was taking, each hour they spent on Pandora, Holloway would be spending getting better prepared for his eventual rematch with them, so she didn't want to waste any more time.

But there was nothing she could do about that now, so she kept an eye on everything in the room, including spotting Deathtrap hiding up against one of the air vents or pipes, she couldn't be sure what it was for, hanging from the ceiling. Despite his size, he was doing a good job of blending in, she'd only picked up on him cause she knew what she was looking for.

Just as she was wondering if they would have to fight their way through, there was a commotion outside. Artemis immediately glanced back at Gaige to make sure that she was still there and not doing something incredibly stupid, and to her relief, she was still hanging by the door, shooting a look that shouted 'What?' at Artemis.

Artemis held up her hand as the group of bandits rushed forward. The instant they were past, she waved Gaige over, but stopped her from continuing.

"What's happening?" Gaige hissed in her ear.

"Not here, wait for the rest to leave before we make a break for it."

"What rest?"

Before Artemis could answer, the door behind where the bandits had been flew open and another thirty of them went running by.

Nodding as if to say 'Those rest.' Artemis moved out, making a motion for Deathtrap to join them as they rushed through the door and found themselves in a wide room, even though it was quite a bit smaller than the last. There were lockers against the wall they'd just come through and on each wall was a single door, the ones on the sides were closed, but the one straight ahead didn't even have a door in the frame and led to a metal stairwell.

Though neither of them thought that what they were looking for was on this floor they quickly checked the doors, not wanting to waste any more time than necessary. Neither door led to any kind of store room, nor anything else useful, just more strange bandity rooms, so they headed towards the stairs while hoping that they hadn't blown their chance.

Once again, Artemis took point, slipping up the stairs as they went back and forth while Gaige tried to follow along. Deathtrap brought up the rear and was getting tempted to just grab Gaige and carry her along since she was taking forever trying not to make too much noise. He didn't think it really mattered that much and in fact would be more suspicious to anyone listening since no one else here was doing anything to muffle the sound of their feet, but he knew that she was trying to match the other girl, and he was grateful that they were getting along as well as they were, though he wondered what the future held for them. He reminded himself that if they wanted to see the future, they needed to survive the present, so he turned his attention to his surroundings.

They came to a halt at the first door and waited while Artemis scouted a short way down the hall. After just long enough to worry the other two, she came padding back and shook her head.

"Nothing." She whispered, keenly aware of the echoing nature of the stairwell, so she was just outside when she talked.

"Damn."

"Guess we've gotta keep going up."

"Wait, before we do, what happened outside?"

"Not entirely sure, all I heard was something about Stalker's attacking."

"Wait, you mean the ones we were riling up by feeding them?

Artemis shrugged "Donno, but as long as they're distracting everyone, we should get done in here."

Gaige nodded, and let Artemis continue leading them upward.

As they approached the next floor, Gaige caught the other girl's head cock to the side, as if she was listening to something that confused her greatly.

She tapped her shoulder and mouthed 'What?', but only got a shake of the head in response, accompanied by her pointing upward. Gaige shrugged, but followed along and by the time she got to the next door, she'd figured out what the other girl had been hearing.

"No, no, that's not right. What's missing, what, what, what?" A lone voice echoed through the floor. Peering around the corner, they found themselves staring at a large open space lit by fires. Most of them were in barrels or on candles, but a few were burning rubbish heaps on the floor. In the middle of the room was a tall, thin man, covered in tattoos and bent at an odd angle. His shock of white hair stuck up as if he'd been electrocuted and floated around as he thrashed weirdly. In his hand was what appeared to be a stuffed bunny that had been dipped into blood, which he was waving wildly at what Gaige thought was a canvas, all while shouting at it "No, that's not where I told you to go! Why won't you listen to me? What's wrong with you?"

In frustration, the weirdo threw the bunny at the canvas where it impacted with a wet 'Splat' causing him to cock his head. "Yes. Yesyesyesyes. No. Arg, why won't you work."

He bent almost over backwards and spotted them standing there, looking at him. Spinning around, he straightened up and addressed them "No autographs. The studio is closed, I cannot work."

Gaige didn't know how to respond to him, so she let her eyes travel around the room. The first thing she saw was the crate sitting open just behind the man with a few pairs of rabbit ears sticking out. The next was the fact that what she'd taken for a canvas, was in fact the back of a naked person, chained to a slab of concrete, though whether it was willingly or not, she couldn't tell.

Finally, she let her eyes wander back to the person in front of her. He was younger than she'd thought, his white hair was what had thrown her. He was wiry, and only wearing pants. She supposed some might find him good looking, but he was far too crazy for her tastes, but even so, she had to wonder what he was doing in a place like this. Then she got a good look at the tattoos on his chest and everything fell into place.

Across most of his torso were four almost identical tattoos, lined up two by two, each one depicting a psycho mask, each in a different color, done in the same style as the signs outside.

She'd found the artist.

"Ah, you're stunned into silence by the mere presence of my greatness, I understand, I do, it is my curse, but wait, what's this? Do I know you? I think I must, but from where? Where where?"

Artemis slowly leaned over to Gaige and whispered "I think this guy's a wackadoodle."

Gaige almost snorted with laughter and after checking to make sure she was able to keep a level voice asked back "Is that related to the cobblywobbles?"

"As the cobblywobbles are to unease, a wackadoodle is to a nut."

"Ah, got it, then for the record, this guy might not be a wackadoodle, he's an artist. They're all like this."

"There are none like me." The artist interrupted, causing Gaige to realize that she must have said the last part a bit louder than she'd meant.

"Right, I'm sure there aren't. Look, I'm gonna need the rest of that crate." Gaige said, trying to draw things back into the realm of sanity.

"Fine, take them, I am done with them anyway."

"Really? Wow, that was easy."

"Ah, but first, I must know where I've seen you before?"

"I donno, I don't think I've seen you."

"No, no, no, I know I have. Hmmm, now where was it?" He bent backwards till his head was parallel to the floor "Was it at a showing? No. no. no."

He snapped up and looked past them as if he was seeing Deathtrap for the first time. His hand flopped forward, pointing with his first and last fingers "That's it! You were there!"

"Sorry, but where's there?"

"You were at Castors."

"Castor's? I don't know a Castor. You know a Castor?" Gaige said, dumbfounded as she turned to Artemis.

"Can't say that I do."

"What? How can you say that, you were there, though I can't say if you were, though I think you were? Yes! Yes, you were, you were the one that interrupted, how could I forget."

"Well, I don't remember so could you jog my memory? Who's this Castor guy?"

"How could you not remember? It was such a glorious day, truly magnificent. I was so envious of my brother for his bride, she was like a work of art. I see you still don't remember, it's fine, maybe seeing him will help."

He walked over to a giant drop-cloth that was draped over something taller than he was and about four times as wide. With a grand flourish, he pulled it off revealing a massive block of purple crystal, one that the girls hadn't seen in months, one that was still holding the spiked shield he'd died with.

"Oh shit." Gaige said, recognizing the groom she'd killed the last time she'd been here.

"Oh, was his name Castor? I don't think I actually ever heard." Artemis muttered.

"Oh, how fortuitous that for me to have found you." He said, spreading his arms, but then seeming to change his mind, swung one of them over his eyes.

"Crap." Gaige muttered, readying her gun.

"He was one of the blessed, a true disciple, but he must have angered the twins in some way, must have been found wanting and that's why he fell, but none of that matter, all that matters is that I must know, how did you turn my dear brother into such a splendid work of art?"

"Wait, what?"

"These lines, the color, the emotion, it's simply transcendent." His voice was quivering with emotion.

"Uh..."

"You won't tell me? I understand, every artist must guard their secrets. Still, I would so love to have a long conversation about technique with you, but alas, you must be punished for what you did to my babies."

"I don't recall doing anything to any kids."

"I understand you must have been jealous of my sublime skill, but that is still no excuse to, no, there is never any excuse to destroy art."

"Wait, your babies were..."

"My glorious works. You nearly destroyed the entire Tina line. Oh, but there is only one left, truly it must be cherished." He brought his hands close to his chest, like he was cradling an infant, before suddenly cocking his head and looking at them.

"So, uh, what do you have against Tina anyway?"

"Her? HER! That plebeian, that heathen, that, that...CRITIC?! She had the gall, the temerity to call my work...derivative! Me! The great Pollux Warhull! Derivative!"

"That's it." Gaige said, suddenly slapping her fist into her palm "That's what's been bugging me about those pictures. I knew I'd seen something like them before."

"NONSENSE! My style is wholly original and has never been seen in the galaxy before!" Pollux ranted.

"No, no, there was this guy, what was his name?"

"He was a cheap imitator of me!"

"He died, like, fifty years ago."

"It's not my fault that the coward died before I could prove my work superior, but that just goes to show how genius my work is, it transcends time itself."

"...What?"

"Ah, my genius is too great for your puny minds to get around, it's so sad, but it's the burden I must bear. Still, I regret that you must die without understanding the truth of my work, but I must get back to it, and you are in the way."

Before he had a chance to do anything, Gaige fired her shotgun into him, knocking him back and throwing blood all over the statue of his brother.

Pollux froze, bent backwards transfixed at the sight of his blood splattering the statue, his lip quivering for a few seconds before he yelled in ecstasy "YES! That's it! That's what I was looking for. What was missing."

He staggered to his feet and threw his arms wide, shouting "Again! It must be done again!"

Gaige looked at him, reluctant to give him what he wanted, but needing to finish him off, so she winced and fired a second time.

Pollux slumped to the floor, a look of complete satisfaction and enrapturement on his face "It is...perfection." He muttered as he died.

"OK, I stand corrected." Artemis said, staring at the corpse "That guy wasn't a wackadoodle, he was just Rakk shit crazy. I mean, I guess not every psycho wears a mask."

"Nah, he was just an artist."

"You can't expect me to believe they're all that crazy."

"No, but most of them are."

"Great, let's just get our stuff and get outta here." Artemis said, sounding depressed.

"Now what's got you down?" Gaige asked in genuine concern.

"Nothing. Well, it's just the thought of more like him running around like that is all."

"Ah, yeah, that is a bit depressing, isn't it?"

Artemis nodded and emptied the crate of stuffed rabbits into the bag Deathtrap was holding.

"Two down, one to go." She muttered.

"Urur"

"Yeah, he's right, we're three down. Don't forget, takin care of this nut was one of our tasks."

"Right, but we've still got one to go, and no real idea of where to go for it."

Gaige sighed "No, we don't, do we."

They looked at each other for a second, before Artemis suddenly snapped around to the side.

"What?"

"We're about to have company."

Gaige brought up her gun just as a hidden side door flew open and a tall woman sashayed in.

"Polly dear, what was that noise? Did you break another one? I wish you wouldn't be so hard on your canvases, we're running out and it's not easy to find an unsullied o..." She trailed off as she looked around, taking in the blood splattered statue, the corpse on the floor, and the two girls and the robot facing her. "Oh dear me, it seems we have guests."

Gaige studied the woman, and felt wholly inadequate. The woman standing there out womanned her in every conceivable way. She was tall and beautiful, with large eyes and a slight pout to her pink lips. Her cheeks held a healthy glow and her limbs were willowy. Her skin had none of the damage years on the road had inflicted on Gaige and her hair was raven black and shined with a magnificent luster in the flickering light. She would have been perfectly proportioned, if not for her chest, which bloomed with twin swells each almost as big as Gaige's head.

Every inch of her spoke of femininity, and it sparked a desire and a sadness within Gaige's heart. The only woman that Gaige could compare her to, was Moxxi, and while she found Moxxi to be more attractive, something about this woman struck a chord with her. It might have been that Moxxi's open flirtatiousness was over the top enough that it seemed almost in jest, but this woman wasn't giving off any of those vibes, instead, she felt like the kind of woman who you would give up anything to be with, even for a night, without her ever asking.

Feeling completely inadequate as a woman, Gaige turned slowly, and with great trepidation to Artemis, knowing what she'd find. She knew that the other girl would be in love, that she'd give up on the job, wanting to stay here.

Instead, she found a look of naked disgust on her face.

It was shocking enough that it snapped Gaige out of her misery and back to where she was. She watched as Artemis tightened her grip on her rifle as something dark flickered behind the woman's eyes. Slowly she raised one hand and snapped her long fingers.

Out of the shadow of the door she'd emerged from, three scantily clad women stepped out, thin outfits trailing around them, hiding just enough to be tantalizing.

"Ladies, would you dears be so kind as to entertain our guests?"

The three women brought weapons from somewhere Gaige couldn't figure out and opened fire, even as Artemis slid to the side and shot back.

Her bullet slammed into the first woman's shield before ricocheting into the other two. Gaige dove into a roll while switching to the SMG she'd been carrying on her back. Coming up, she opened fire, watching the bullets tear through the shield even as the woman turned to fire at her.

Deathtrap fired an electric laser into the same one's shield, while flying sideways, avoiding the fire from a second one. He was grateful that they were finally doing something and that all three of them could cut loose and blow off some steam. The girls had been acting alright, but he could tell they were frustrated with things, so killing some bandits would be perfect, even if those bandits were scantily clad women.

Artemis fired again and again, driving her shots into the buckling shields and felt at peace. She'd seen Gaige look at her earlier with sad eyes and wondered what that had been about, but that was something that would have to be dealt with later, right now, she had to take these three out and then chase after that monstrous woman who was currently slipping back out the door, trying to escape to who knows where.

Right as she fired the last shot from her rifle, the nearest woman's shield broke. Unconcerned with the danger she was in, the woman turned to her and fired her shotgun, catching Artemis in the shoulder. Though her shield took the entirety of the blast, the impact knocked her over, since she was moving at an angle. Abandoning her rifle, she rolled to her feet and using her left hand, grabbed the nearest barrel and spun, pitching it at the woman's head. The flaming barrel slammed into her, knocking her over and lighting her on fire.

Ignoring the thrashing woman on the ground, she pulled her pistol and resumed firing at the third woman.

Gaige for her part, was horrified, it wasn't like she hadn't lit people on fire before, and it wasn't like she hadn't shared a dark joke about it with some of her fellow Vault Hunters, but something about the casualness to this one struck her.

No, she realized, that wasn't it, it wasn't the casualness, it was something else. She knew that Artemis would use any tactic to fight, as long as she could win, well, not any tactic, but some pretty dark ones. And it wasn't the first time she'd seen the girl do something like this, especially recently, so what was it that was bothering her?

It wasn't that she was afraid of the girl going psycho, even though she'd commented on it. It had been something else. Scrunching her face up in thought, Gaige took a second to put the burning woman out of her misery, as well as claim the Anarchy, before turning back to her opponent and resuming fire.

Deathtrap watched as Gaige struggled with some thought as she fought. He knew what was wrong. The same thing that had been wrong for a while, Artemis. That wasn't to say that there was anything wrong with her, or with having her around, it was just that lately, whenever Gaige was struggling with something, the other girl always seemed to be at the center of it. Well, it was her or booze and since he was pretty sure that wasn't the case this time, he figured it was Artemis. Beyond that, he was fairly sure what was bugging Gaige about her. She didn't like seeing the other girl be cruel.

He knew that Artemis's outward anger and hostility, her viciousness were all ways of driving people away, of covering the self-loathing she felt. She knew if she struck others hard enough, they'd learn to leave her alone. Though he had to amend that thought with the fact that sometimes, she just wanted to punish someone else, as had been the case with Orion. And that other times, she was just frustrated with something, like not dodging a shotgun blast, so she took it out by smashing a barrel into the offending person's face. Still, he was glad that Gaige cared about the mental well-being of the other girl, though he wished that she'd just admit to why.

Shaking his head to clear his chips, he finished off the last shield and let Gaige kill her opponent.