Chapter 7 Rewards! And Random Encounters

"Uhhgh!" Lilith gagged. "It smells awful." She intuitively informed us, her face scrunched up in disgust, as she wrenched the mask away from her face.

"It was a psycho's mask, who probably ate with his pet skags, and we looted it off his corpse." I remind her blankly, feeling (not for the first time) like the only sane being on this planet. "What were you expecting? Vanilla?"

"Why not?" Lilith shrugged. "Yours does."

"That, my dear, is because I'm neither a psycho, an animal, or dead." I point out factually. "...Also, because I had some vanilla ice cream, before I got to Pandora."

"Boss?" Brick turned to me, looking betrayed. "You have ice cream?"

"I had ice cream." I correct, with a wry smile. "I don't anymore."

"But you can- you can get more, right?" Brick asked me desperately.

"Not on Pandora." I told him regretfully.

"Aww, man!' Brick whined like a little kid. That's kind of what Brick is, I guess. A violent, but easy-going child, trapped in the body of an MMA fighter hopped up on steroids.

"There, there, big guy." I pat him on the back, sympathetically. "Tell you what, once we crack open that Vault, and destroy The Destroyer, we'll all go out for milkshakes."

"Thanks, boss." Brick said, a small smile making its way onto his beefy face. "You always know how to cheer me up."

"I know my employees." I shrug off his gesture, humbly. "Now let's turn in this jack off's bounty and get some wheels."

The headstone mine wasn't exactly in the neighborhood. It was way out there in the badlands. And if we wanted to get to where we need to go before the Vault's two hundred year deadline, we can't walk it. Also, walking friggin 'sucks. Fuck cardio.

It didn't take us too long to get back to Fyrestone. Claptrap was sadly almost done burying the dead bandits. Which meant I'll soon have to find another polite excuse, to get him the hell away from me. Not that I had time to react, the second we came strolling into town, he was on us faster than an electric powered unicycle…

Or maybe slower than an electric unicycle, I don't know. Wouldn't it be faster than Claptrap? Claptrap looks a lot heavier than a unicycle. *Cough* Fatty *Cough*. Either way, the fat annoying robot came up to bother me, again.

"Friends! Welcome back!" Claptrap joyously greeted, discarding his shovel entirely, via throwing it through some poor guy's window.

"Sorry Claptrap, we're really busy, don't have time to talk, bye!" I said quickly, rushing past the droid before it had the chance to talk any more.

The others were quick to follow, as eager to get away from the machine as I was. Unfortunately, Claptrap also followed, and the aborted Wall-E was very persistent. "I can come with you! I finished burying those bandits just like you asked!"

I got a couple looks from the Vault Hunters at that, so I just mouthed to them later. Even though I'm probably not gonna explain myself later. Procrastination is a great way to avoid questions that you don't want to answer.

"Umm… nope." I told him, half searching for a decent reason to deny him. "We have to turn in our bounty and leave. Gotta go to the headstone mine, very dangerous. You should stay here. Away from us,"

"The headstone mine?" Claptrap asked, his bright blue optic of what barely passes as an eye, brightens in anticipation. "I know where that is! I can be your guide, and you'll all love me!"

"Nope!" Brick refused.

"No." Roland denied.

"Not a chance." Mordecai disagreed.

"Never gonna happen." Lilith rejected.

"Yeah, sorry, that's a no buddy." I wince, kicking myself mentally for accidentally calling him buddy. He won't let that go. "I think we're good."

"Are you- are you sure?" Claptrap asked us, heartbroken.

"Yes." We all spoke unanimously in agreement.

"Oh. I see." Claptrap sniffed. I mentioned he doesn't need to breathe, right? Strictly, scientifically speaking, I have no idea why he's doing this. "I'll just go then." He rolls away. Loud, obnoxious whining could be heard in the short distance he traveled.

"That wasn't nice." Angel scolded us, in a condescending yet naive tone, that only a child could master.

"Sorry, Angel." I apologized reflexively, having grown used to the little Siren making me feel guilty.

"He was only trying to help." Angel continued to berate, ignoring my apology.

"I know, Angel." I allowed reluctantly, slightly annoyed at my daughter. But only half as much as I was with the robot.

"You're going to apologize." She did not request. It might be my influence on her, but Angel can be pretty assertive when she wants to be.

"Yes, Angel." I agreed noncommittally but knew that sooner or later I'd have to. If there's been one disadvantage of having Angel connected to the Hyperion network, it would be that privacy was really hard to come by.

Angel gave me a stern look, before she ceased her weird siren communication. "How long have you been working with her?" Lilith asked curiously, having watched our interaction in silent laughter.

"A few years now." I shrug nonchalantly. "Made her way before that, but I didn't start having her help out until I thought she was ready."

"She wasn't when you made her?" Roland asked with a raised brow.

"Hell no." I scoffed. "When I made her, she couldn't even do a tenth of what she's capable of now. Don't get me wrong, I always had high hopes for her, but she's surprised and amazed me in ways I never thought possible."

"You talk about her like she's your kid." Mordecai pointed out.

"You treat Bloodwing like she's yours." I argue, nodding to the bird on his shoulder.

Mordecai chuckled, rubbing Bloodwing's beak affectionately. "Touché. She mean that much to you?"

"More." I answered him briefly, honestly, and sincerely. "She's, heh- this'll sound cheesy but... she's my angel."

That got a few reactions from the gang. Lilith cooed, Brick awed, Mordecai chuckled, and Roland, he looked thoughtful. "You never did say what she-"

"Yo! Zed, we're here!" I called out as we neared the fake doctor's garage. That's one awkward conversation avoided. For now.

"Already?" Dr. Zed actually seemed disappointed for some reason. "Guess you couldn't kill him, huh? Ain't nothing to be embarrassed about-"

"Woah!" I cut him off, waving my arms frantically to shut him up. "Who said we didn't kill him?" I made a gesture to Lilith, who got the hint and tossed me the mask. "One dead bandit, as the doctor ordered."

Zed took the mask gingerly, his eyes widening in surprise, before he whooped with glee. "Hell, y'all actually did it! Good riddance!" He remarked, casually tossing the mask over his shoulder. "You just cleaned up this planet, at least a tiny bit. Head over to the bounty board, y'all earned every penny."

I give the man a mock salute, and start inputting the information into the system, while discreetly eavesdropping on the others.

"So, what do you think of Angel?" Roland asked the others, oblivious to my master skills of personal invasion.

Lilith shrugged the question off, leaning against the garage. "She seems cool, not really sure what she does. But if Jack says she's good, then she probably is."

"And you're not the least bit suspicious of her." Roland pressed them.

"Nope." Brick didn't seem to care.

"Not really." Mordecai agreed with equal disinterest.

Apathy, the human being's natural state. Roland's acting a little paranoid, but given what I knew of his background, he's got the right to be. He used to be part of the Crimson Lance, Atlas's hired "soldiers".

Heh, please. At best, they were mercenaries. At worst, they were assassins, executioners, murderers. Rhys may have turned it around but make no mistake, old Atlas, this Atlas, was as corrupt as the rest of them. Maybe even worse.

One of the best things Handsome Jack ever did was grind them into dust.

That's one aspect of history I intend to repeat.

Oh, the payment's been processed. Five thousand, not bad. "Gather 'round, kiddos!" I called to my squad, pretending I didn't hear Roland's accusations. "It's time for your first paycheck."

They gave a cheer at that, although Lilith gave me a mischievous look as I handed her cash over. "You better still give us a million on top of this." She warned, with a sly smile.

I held a hand to my heart, as if hurt by the mere accusation. "Why, Lilith I never-." I started dramatically before she punched me in the shoulder. "Ow!" I exclaimed as I rubbed the spot she struck. "You're mean." I playfully whine.

In response, Lilith maturely stuck her tongue out. In retaliation, I had no choice but to do the same. "Um, guys." Roland awkwardly called, drawing our attention as we turned to him with our tongues out. "Can we go now?"

I was forced to put my tongue back in, as I cannot speak without it. Alas I doubt the others knew sign language, like I did, in my many talented ways. "Not just yet." I informed him, before dividing my share of a thousand into four, and passed it out.

"Hey." Lilith tried to stop me. "You don't need to do that, I was just joking-"

"It's fine." I assured her. "I don't need the money."

"Neither do we." Lilith argued, hands on her hips.

"You don't." I allow. "You want it, and I want to give it. So, why not?"

"Because it's yours." She answered, forcing the cash back into my hands. "You came with us, you fought with us, you earned it just as much as us. Maybe more because you actually killed Nine-Toes."

I still wanted to give her the money, I didn't need it, believe me, My salary paid enough to make a thousand look like pocket change. But I learned a long time ago, when the lady wants you to do something, it's better to just go along. "Okay." I accepted with a sigh.

Lilith looked at me for a moment in assurance before nodding. "Okay." She agreed.

"So, boss." Brick coughed, and I turned to him. "We can go now, right?"

"We still need some wheels." I pointed out. "But once we get some, we're out of here." I promised.

"Perhaps, I can help." Spoke a deep Russian accent, that I was all too familiar with. Though, not in this lifetime.

Turning around we saw the most prominent bus driver/arms dealer on Pandora, and probably in the Borderlands too. Marcus Kincaid, not gonna lie, for the longest time I thought his last name was Munitions.

"Absolutely not." Roland rejected the offer point blank.

"My friends," Marcus replied, feigning hurt. "Did you forget? It was I who brought you to Fyrestone, I could easily transport-"

"We didn't forget." Lilith remarked, cutting the arms dealer off. "It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and I swear that bus smells like feet."

"It does not smell like feet." Marcus denied, angrily.

"It totally smells like feet." Brick disagreed.

"Well, even if it did, and I'm not saying it does." Marcus pointed to Lilith, as she made to argue. "It's still one of the best smelling vehicles you'll find on Pandora."

"He makes a good point." I said, receiving large amounts of shock from all parties present. "I'm not saying we hire him. I'm just saying, it's gonna be hard to find a good car around these parts."

"You could always ask T.K." Dr. Zed informed us, speaking up for the first time in the entire conversation. "Scooter, a car mechanic, owes him a pretty big favor. He could get you some wheels."

I shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Marcus objected. "You don't need to go to a blind old cripple or a redneck mechanic to get a lift! I have a perfectly good bus right there." He pointed to an old, word down bus, that seemed one bolt short of totaled.

A strange rusty metal part fell off the bus, and Marcus seemed worried. Now I'm not a mechanic, so I'm not really sure what the problem is. But, all the same, I think I'm gonna take a pass here. "We'll get back to you on that." I informed Marcus sarcastically.

…

Hey, guys! I didn't abandon the story! Sorry about the small delay, like I mentioned writing the chapters like the game, started to feel a bit tedious. It took me awhile to implement it in a way I like, and now I can share that with you guys!

I actually split this chapter up, still working on the finishing touches for the next one, but I like it!

I'm really happy to see all the new follows and favorites, guys! Over a hundred now, that's awesome!

Sooo few reviews though, breaks the heart. They're like the source of my power!

But maybe I'll see more this time, right guys?

… and now I feel like Claptrap.

Moving on to answering actual reviewers!

To CLA's Profile: First to answer your valid concern, and potentially others, no. The new Jack's not actually insane. But he does feel all of the old Jack's emotions, which includes an excess of sadism, and lack of guilt. But don't worry, he'll handle it.

T.K., you know I miss that guy too. Probably the nicest guy on Pandora, deserves better than what he got, but I'll bring that up next chapter.

And don't worry, I kinda saw the chemistry Moxxi and Jack had in the original games, and thought maybe I could replicate that here, but I see a lot of potential with Lilith here too. I left it in the hands of the viewers, because who should be a better decider than the fans? I promise you though, she'll find love.

Of course, it being Moxxi, she might find it more than once.

Allthingsconsidered99: Yup, don't worry, he's not going crazy. Just picking up some needed survivor traits for life out on Pandora. And I agree, he was definitely a villain, but in a very strong sense, he's like a tragic hero.

More sympathetic than Anakin, I can say that much. And this time around, he'll have a better ending. Thanks for being here.

Xenozip: Right? That really bothered me. Atlas had every advantage, money, power, technology, a freaking siren, and they still got steamrolled by Jack and the Vault Hunters. As we get towards them throughout the story, I'm gonna at least try to write them off as competent.

To a guest: Thanks, I love your review!

So… that it. For now, anyways. I'm just working on the ending for the next chapter, I'll probably post it on or before Friday. Maybe sooner if I get some reviews. Hint, hint.

So please, I'm begging you! If you like the story, and want to see more, then please: Follow, Favorite, and Review!

Until Next Time!