T(LC 7): Mr. Hunter! Mr. Hunter!*child runs up to C1*
C1: *turns to child* Yes little one? What can I do for you?
T: *pouts* I'm not little! I drink milk! *smiles then holds up drawing* I made this for you! Thank you for saving me from the Fallen! [Drawing was of C1 and Ar. Note: Well made for a 7 Light Cycle child]
C1: *removes helmet and chuckles softly as he takes the drawing and carefully folds it then slides it into vest pocket* Thank you miss..?
T: *smiles brightly* I'm Toles Mr. Hunter!
C1: *ruffles hair* Pleasure to meet you kiddo. I'm Cain-1. If ya wanna thank me, be careful okay? Your family would be sad if such a cute kid didn't come home you know? *instantly winces*
T: *kicks stone and looks down* They aren't around.
C1: *puzzled look* Well someone's gotta be waitin' for ya at home nowadays right? *T shakes head, C1 looks to A(G), who dips in a nod* Well how about we change that yeah? *T looks up eyes bright and wide* See this guy here? *holds out hand and A(G) settles on palm* This is Alastor. He's my Ghost. He's gonna go get your stuff while we go get some food and other stuff. So tell him where you live and he'll do the rest alright?
[Hours pass]
*C1 and T walk into C1's apartment in the City, T1 has clean, new clothing and a stuffed Seal*
T: Woahhhhhh! So cool! You really live here Mr. Cain?
C1: Yeah kiddo...and if you want so can you. *kneels and places hand on shoulder*What do ya say?
T*mouth drops open in shock*
Wilhelm stared at the man who made a fool of the cyborg, who was fully a man at the time, so many times over. He had dreamed of killing this man so often. He finally had the Nighthawk in front of him and was equipped to do the job. He could not fathom the dancing man's intention. He was so stunned he never even thought to digistruct any backup surveyors or loader bots.
Cain continued doing a twirling shuffle dance as Wilhelm nearly short circuited in anger and confusion. After so long, after accepting every implant he could to become better, the man he wanted to out do resorted to...THIS? He could not accept it. "WHAT are you doing?! This is not how this is supposed to go!"
Roland spoke up over the ECHOcomms. "It's a trap! The Vault Key's not on the train, abort the mission, soldiers! I'm sorry, but you can't handle Wilhelm, trust me!" Cain promptly had Alastor mute him.
Roland was harshing on his mellow with that sorta talk and he was just getting into the groove as upbeat electronic music played in his helmet.
Cain didn't even break pace as he began to swing his arms side to side enthusiastically. Axton, Krieg, and Maya had finally gotten into position. "Whats it look like?" His eyes lit up in flames as he knelt and spread his arms wide giving the tried and true jazz hands. "I'm a distraction!" The saner duo shot up from behind some train debris and of Axton and Maya opened fire on Wilhem. Krieg launched himself at the cyborg wielding his trusty buzzaxe in a screaming war cry.
"CRISPY CRISPY CIRCUITY GOODIES!"
During the distraction Gaige had maneuvered behind the large cyborg with Deathtrap. Once Krieg careened into him and sent the metal man flying, Deathtrap went into action and brought the mother of all bitch slaps to Wilhelm, sending him high in the sky. The man's shield projector sparked as it went out.
Once properly airborne, Cain raised a finger to the sky and lowered his arm until it pointed at Wilhelm. He turned into a thumbs down. "Mess with the bull?" He asked over the comms as Zer0 fired a precise shot to the man's shield projector to ensure it didn't reboot.
"You get the horn, maldito de metal!" Salvador cackled as he fired the Gjallarhorn, falling backwards due to the kick of the beautiful destruction maker. The rocket soared towards the falling Wilhelm in utter elegance. Cain watched it fly overhead and impact into the metal man.
The explosion sent Wilhelm into the ground, but the Gjallarhorn was not finished. It had not yet had its fill of destruction. Fracturing into miniature rockets upon detonation, the babies of the 'Horn chased after its target on the ground. Milliseconds after Wilhelm crashed, the rockets struck true. The explosion destroyed the majority of his body. It was a fact that very few things could take a single Gjallarhorn shot and survive the encounter.
A small object flew from the smoke and landed at Cain's feet. It was Wilhelm's head, frozen in an timeless expression of shock and fear. Nearby, a glowing core rolled to Gaige. She bent down and picked it up. "Hey! I got something!" She called.
Angel's voice came over the comms. "Wilhelm dropped a power core. Be sure to grab it, my sensors tell me it is one-of-a-kind. If you bring it to Roland, Sanctuary's shields may never need to be recharged again." Cain's golden eyes flared a bit in suspicion. Something wasn't right. Wilhelm was too easy to kill. Granted, the Gjallarhorn tended to destroy most targets, but now an end all power core?
He wasn't buying it.
"Gaige. Bring me that if you wouldn't mind." Cain asked, body language showing his misgivings at the situation. Gaige's lips twisted into a frown when she heard his tone. She handed it over. "Alastor. Scan."
The black, green speckled Ghost appeared from behind Cain's cloak and flew to the core. Blue light washed over it. The Ghost looked to his Guardian. 'It's a power core alright, but it has a virus in the cpu designed to short out shields. It was a trap.' He muttered cautiously through their mental link. 'What do we do?'
'Angel isn't on our side apparently. Can you purge the virus?' The Ghost nodded. 'Do it.' He cleared his 'throat.' "Well. Everything seems to be in order." He handed the core to Gaige. She relaxed as she took it.
Angel let out a breath. Jack's plan was working so far.
Speaking of the devil it seems he had a bit to say as comms once again spoke, "Wow. Bravo. Champagne. Cheers. High-five. Slow clap. You got the damn power core, didn't ya?" Jack growled. "You've been warned. The kid gloves are coming off. Tighten up the big-boy pants, because things are gonna get really, really bad for you Vault Hunters." Cain internally smirked. Jack was way too calm for something like this.
Another nail in Angel's coffin.
"This is what the super scary self-proclaimed God of Pandora sounds like?" Cain asked, crossing his arms. "Gotta say. I'm not impressed."
"And who the hell are you?"
"Oh just your friendly neighborhood Nighthawk. Thought you'd have heard of me by now." Cain casually picked at something beneath one of his manacles. "After all. I did kill quite a few of your boys in yellow."
Back in Hyperion, Jack grit his teeth. He thought the Nighthawk was just a myth and bandits had gotten to his soldiers.
How wrong he was.
Suddenly he gained an idea. "Oh just another merc. Tell ya what kiddo. Why don't you ditch those losers and join the winning team? Pays well and loads of benefits. For example, not dying. Think carefully. One time offer here."
Cain chuckled darkly. He pressed the communicate button as he held it aloof. "How about a counter deal? You tell me everything about every Vault and you give me the Vault key, in return I give you a few days head-start yeah?"
Jack snarled. He dare reject the God of Pandora? "Fine. Die with the rest of them. I gave you a chance. I don't give seconds. You can't stop me birdbrain. None of you, or your bandit friends can."
"Ooooohh. Soooo scary." Cain mocked. He brought the communicator close to his mouth and hissed, "Bring it Jacky boy." He set the communicator on his hip. "Alastor. Lose this signal."
"Signal blocked." The Ghost smugly remarked.
Silence reigned. Cain looked around. He tilted his head in confusion at his team's looks. "What?"
"Steel. Pure. Steel." Axton stared in awe.
Gaige was staring with mouth agape in shock. Salvador marched forward and stuck out one meaty hand for Cain to shake. "You have earned my respect amigo. I shall follow you into hell itself." Cain was very confused but shook his hand as he took back his precious Gjallarhorn that Salvador was clearly reluctant to see go.
Maya's eyebrows were arched in surprise. Salvador was...Salvador. She didn't think he had respect. Zer0 watched silently, keeping any thoughts he had to himself.
"Are you all that scared of Fugly Jack?" He finally asked in surprise.
"All of Pandora is. He's a monster." Roland stated over the comm.
Cain began to laugh. He clutched his stomach as he doubled over. "Y-Y-You think that...PLEBEIAN is a monster? HAH! Haha...ahahahah...ah...hah!" Cain straightened up, in a moment his entire demeanor had changed, and his fiery eyes burned into them all beneath his neon blue cloak, seeming to look at their very souls themselves.
He seemed much older now, and so much more terrifying than the easy going murder machine that they had come to know. His presence seemed to make the very air thicker and harder to breathe. His cloak fluttered softly from an unseen wind.
Golden avian orbs flared to life and hungrily roved over their forms with deliberate slowness, watching them, judging them. "That garter snake is just that," was the sentence uttered. Cain's voice was much deeper, gruffer than before. His body was relaxed like the calm before a storm. "He doesn't know the first thing about being a monster. He seeks to poke a sleeping hawk that will tear him apart at a moment's notice. There is one reason he still draws breath and that is due to the fact I have been more focused on returning to my home. If I wished, Hyperion would rain from the sky, his head on a pike planted in his copper throne. I have seen, fought, and killed things that would make everything Jack has done seem like an ant revolting against a giant. He can not hold a candle to the beings that hunt my people. They are the truth of nightmares. The things you repress and forget and hope you never see them again dreams or otherwise. They have brought my City to the brink of extinction. I lose brothers and sisters to those monsters far too often and yet I still fight." The Exo Hunter had an aged, tired, but undaunted aura about him. Zer0 noticed his very presence was gone. He could not sense Cain anymore. It was as if the being in front of them was a ghost.
Just what was he?
His voice growled out like a panther on the prowl for prey. "They call him the God of Pandora." A deep, dark chuckle emanated from his mouth. "Listen well hungry wolves and I will give you another scrap about me. My leaders, they send my team and I to kill Gods," The flames of his helmet flared into ivory fire, "and we're three for three. My team before was two for two."
Suddenly the pressure lifted and everyone let out a breath they didn't know they were holding as Cain popped into a mock salute. "Well? Lets get back to Sanctuary and pop this bad boy in yeah?"
The group made their way back to Sanctuary, wary of the man called Cain who sat in the back of the truck fiddling with some rifle of his, muttering to himself without a care in the world. He became acutely aware of the stares directed at him. He looked up from his work on the Khvostov. "What?"
Gaige shifted nervously in her seat. "You seem to um...have something against Jack. What did he do if I may ask?" She meekly asked.
Cain stared, blinking under his helmet. Then he slapped his knee, threw his head back, and laughed. "I don't have anything against Jack. Not at all. Hell if the world played out differently I mighta been on his side if he could help me get home." The group of Vault Hunters, except Krieg, were terrified of the thought of having to face Cain in combat. "I just cannot stand when people act like something they aren't." He set the gun to the side and leaned forward, resting his forearms onto his knees. "I'll give you hungry wolves another tidbit about me. Where I'm from? We need honesty and loyalty. We are constantly on the edge of extinction. Anything that doesn't help the City has no place. Anything that puts the City in danger is not tolerated. Deception? Lying to a superior? Killing one another? All intolerable. All punished with extreme prejudice. Pretending to be something you aren't is on that list. We have to band together to live. If a child leaves the City to play, playing as a Protector, yes what I am, and is captured by our enemies, they can be tortured for information for routes into the City and killed. Its why we advise civilians to stay within the walls." He spoke morbidly. He had seen it happen. It was one of his main jobs in the City while he was there in between missions.
Heading off invasions.
Children would play Guardian. They sometimes snuck out of the City walls where Fallen or Hive might descend on them if they ventured too far or were just plain unlucky. The children would be tortured until they broke and spilled their little crack in the Wall's armor. If the Minions of the Dark made it there before him? Untold lives could be lost depending on how stealthy the invading party was. Saving the child was a secondary objective, and he could never save them all. Not even the one who bore a paper maché version of his own helm. Seeing their mangled corpses, sometimes partially eaten if the Hive were responsible, never got easier. Nor was explaining to the parents what happened. Their wails of a broken home continued to haunt him.
He hated masks of who one truly was. It reminded him of his days before his Guardianship.
Back in his first life.
He wasn't that person anymore.
Cain shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Point is, Jack is playing the monster, who masquerades as a god, who is really just a weak little man with lots of money and resources. See why I might not like the fuck?"
Gaige nodded. "I-I see." She settled back down into her seat as Cain pulled out a sharpening block and began to enhance the edge of one of his knives. The rest of the drive was ridden in silence.
Cain whistled as he walked into Sanctuary with Maya, Krieg, Salvador, and Zer0. Gaige and Axton went to make sure things went smooth with the core. He tossed Wilhelm's head back and forth in his hands like a hot potato. Entering the Crimson Raider HQ, Lilith saw what was in his hands and groaned.
"Why'd you bring that in here? It stinks and will get blood all over the place."
"Cuz. I gots a plan Lils."
"May I know this plan?" Cain stopped tossing the head, tucked it under his arm, and stared at her. "Is it a 'Fun plan'?" He nodded. She sighed. "So I'm not getting any info so it doesn't, 'ruin the surprise?'" Another nod. She rubbed a finger against her temple. "Fine, fine, fine. Just...don't get blood everywhere. If you plan on keeping that thing around for a while Zed will have something to put it in."
Cain went to speak but Alastor spoke instead. "Jack found out. Wanna hear?" The Ghost giddily remarked. Cain nodded.
"What? ANGEL! What happened?! You said the core would get rid of Sanctuary's shields!"
"I-It should have! I'm sorry!"
Cain looked to Alastor. "Watch this." He pressed the talk button. "Heya Jacky. Sorry about ruining the whole surprise 'fuck you I win' plan, but I sorta like this place. And hate you. So go suck a di-" he was cut off by Alastor ramming into his helmet.
"You fucking bandit!" Jack raged.
"So. In regards to your plan. Fuck you too, thanks for the free power core, and remember Jacky boy. I'll be comin' for ya soon enough. Cheers!" With that Cain blocked Jack's signal again.
Lilith stared then shook her head at Cain. She really didn't know what she expected. This was normal for him. "We did have a contingency plan, you know that right?"
"Yep! But making Jacky mad is just so FUN!" He crowed in laughter imagining the face the Hyperion King was making at the moment. "But yeah. I knew the core was bad the moment Wilhelm died. It was all too easy." He idly played hacky sack with said cyborg's head. "He died too quick. I mean I brought in heavy ordnance, but still, I had my suspicions. Had Al scan it. Found a kill switch for the shields. Figured that'd be a bad thing to have happen. Al scrubbed it and here we are. No virus and limitless power for the shields. Got to put down an old dog, cause a hell of a lot of mayhem and explosions, and screw Jack over. All in all? A good day I say." He explained with a hint of amusement as he got Wilhelm's head higher than his own.
Lilith simply sighed once more.
A little bit later Roland had called a meeting. He stood with his palms down on the center table, the Vaulters, Lilith, and Mordecai surrounding it, Cain stood in a corner against a wall with his helmet on and arms crossed. Roland gestured to the Hunter. "So. We struck against Jack today thanks to our resident Nighthawk." Cain nodded from his position and gave a tiny wave. "Because of this we have a shield that's stronger, won't need to be recharged, and on top of that our contingency plan is still hidden."
"Hey. If it pisses off Jack, I'm gonna do it." Cain piped up. "The fact it helped was just a bonus."
"...Riightt, thank you all the same." Roland dryly remarked. "Anyways at the moment, plans are on hold while we look into some things. We will contact you all as needed. Dismissed." The inhabitants minus Roland blinked in surprise. The room seemed so serious. They filed out slowly, going off to do their own things.
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In the Vault of Glass, the throne room would lighten like clockwork. Toles slept on a square pillar near the entrance, a cloth tied around her eyes to allow her to do so without the light waking her. After one final brightening of the room, an english accented voice called out in relief, "WE FOUND HIM!" The sudden noise startled the sleeping Pup and she squawked and fell over the edge into the abyss. After a long fall and a very irritating death, the Huntress was revived by her Ghost. She glared heatedly at Fox who had the decency to look abashed. "Sorry?"
"If you hadn't found him and woke me up for nothing, I would have thrown you over the edge to see how you would have liked it." She rubbed her temples and walked over. "What do you have?"
Skitter was bouncing from excitement. "After 311,738 timelines that we traced his Light through the trail ended." He turned to Toles. "We found him."
She was silent for a moment. Then a grin spread on her face and she began to laugh in relief.
Fox waggled a finger. "Up up up! We found him. But we still have to be able to create a gate that is big enough to go through with ships since we may have to scour multiple planets, and able to bring us back while creating a communicator to be able to contact the Vanguard. Speaking of which..." He gestured to Toles. She rolled her eyes.
"You heard the lazy bastard Nyx. Let them know we found him." She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice. The Ghost dipped itself in a nod and sent the message along. "How do we go about making a time gate like that?" Toles asked.
Skitter chuckled. "Why its simple little Pup-"
"We ask the Vex nicely-" Fox chirped in a mock salute.
"And if they don't give it up-" Skitter's slowly growing grin disturbed her slightly.
Fox mirrored his expression. The two spoke in eerie unison. "We rip it from some unfortunate Minds."