Roland scrutinized Mordecai's wound. The soldier had seen enough wounds to see that it looked like it was treated by an expert, thoroughly cleaned, and securely packed. When he heard that Mordecai had gone to the clinic to get his wound fixed up by Erin, he ran over to make sure she didn't try to kill the hunter. It was a relief that she didn't.
He turned to scrutinize her, "You're really good at this."
She shrugged, "I told you guys that I work here don't I?" She started walking over to where the skag was sitting – which he learned to be named Luka- and tossed what looked like a tiny cube of meat his way.
Roland and Mordecai watched Luka jump up and catch it mid-air, "you did… but I didn't expect this level of skill from someone so young."
Erin bent down to the skag, seeming to only pay half attention to the conversation, and began to pet him, scratching under his chin and rubbing the top of his head.
Mordecai was already putting on his shirt, "Zed train you?" He looked nervous.
Erin looked up from petting Luka, who had rolled over to his back so she could rub his belly, "A bit, I was trained by someone else too. Mostly I watch, and I've studied too."
Roland folded his arms, "how long have you studied this sort of thing?"
"Medicine?" Erin cocked her head, "A little here and there since I was about nine years old."
"Since you were nine? How old are you?" Mordecai asked.
"I'm 24."
Roland exchanged a look with Mordecai. She didn't look 24, or even act it sometimes.
Erin did a derisive chuckle, "I'm aware I don't look it, unfortunately my face looks like a kid's face."
"So, wait, if you're 24, then you've been learning how to practice medicine for… fifteen years?"
She shrugged, "pretty much, learning medicine was part of my curriculum as a child. I didn't actually want to learn this stuff, but it's useful knowledge, so…"
Who the hell brought up this woman?
The night she had repaired Mordecai's echo he had woken in the middle of the night thanks to Lilith moving off the couch. At some point they had fallen asleep together and according to Erin they were cuddled up to each other. After a brief moment of embarrassed squabbling, they settled down and watched the girl work.
The damage the Echo had incurred was so extensive, Roland had thought there'd be no way of repairing it, but Erin had somehow done it. He'd fallen asleep sometime in the beginning of repairs, after she'd made a deal with Mordecai, and began dismantling five other communication devices. He had the intention of watching her, but the process seemed to take hours, and eventually was no longer able to keep his eyes open. He wasn't sure how long it took her to fix the Echo, or even if she'd fallen asleep that night, but by the time he woke she was already adding the finishing touches.
Erin stood when Dr. Zed entered the clinic.
"How's T.K.? Did a Skag steal his leg again?"
"He's doing alright, said he had a cough, but it's nothing out of the ordinary thanks to all the dust" the doctor replied, going to the sink to wash his hands, "any new patients?"
"Only a few. Nothing major."
He nodded, "Thank you for watching things here for me, Pierce called for you so you should get going," She was already out the door when the words left his mouth.
"She's quick to jump from one task to another." Roland remarked.
Mordecai shook his head, "No, she's looking forward to receiving some good news."
He thought he imagined it, but he saw a satisfied smile on the hunter's face. Mordecai began to put on the rest of his equipment as he changed the subject.
"Well, anyway, did you get the scientist's location?"
"Yeah. It's pretty far away. If we leave now we'll be able to get there before the next dim cycle."
They left without her, and Roland decided to keep her in mind if they needed anything fixed or upgraded. He wasn't sure she'd help them so readily. She did however treat Mordecai's wound, and despite the cruelty she showed that bruiser, she had shown restraint from killing Mordecai. Not to mention, Roland felt that he and Erin shared a similar goal, so there was a chance that she'd be convinced to help them.
But when they reached the underpass, he found that he didn't have to miss her help at all. Erin was leaning against the Fast-travel station, back in the clothes she wore when they met, her arms folded, and she waved when they stopped their runners. She scraped the bottom of her boot on the grate floor, as if she were crushing something, before walking up to them. From the smell of tobacco wafting from her she must have just been smoking.
"I'm surprised you bothered to stop by here," she said, "but it's a long drive from New Haven to the northern ravine, I thought there might be a chance that you'd stop at the outpost to get supplies and stretch your legs. I guess I lucked out on that."
"Did you run away from New Haven again?" Roland asked.
Erin grinned, "the boss let me go on good behavior."
"why do I doubt that?" Lilith asked.
"I haven't the slightest clue," she shrugged, still smiling. The girl looked pretty happy. The soldier looked at Mordecai.
"Is this what you meant by Erin looking forward to good news?"
The hunter smirked, already jumping out of the gunner seat of the runner. Was Roland imagining things or was he actually strutting over?
The tall man looked at Erin, almost expectantly, though it was hard to tell what his expression was thanks to the mask. The smile on the blonde-haired girl's face fell as she leaned back on her heels and stepped away from him.
"What?"
Mordecai made a gesture with both his arms, "well?"
"Well what?"
"Ah… You're welcome?"
Erin raised an eyebrow and cocked her head, "for what?"
"You do realize I missed out on getting about ten thousand dollars to clear your name, right?"
She let out a sharp laugh, "after getting me into trouble in order to receive more than twice that amount, and you say I'm full of shit."
Mordecai's lip curled in a snarl. Roland expected another fight between the two of them and prepared to intervene. He was surprised when the hunter turned and walked away. Erin looked just as surprised.
"Huh, weird."
"You're not going to keep picking fights with him, are you?"
She put her hands up, "I was just checking his shitty ego a little, but I'll be good. I promise."
He really didn't trust that she would be, but at least Mordecai didn't pull a gun on her again.
"I know I've asked this before, but why do you want her around?" Mordecai asked as he got back into the gunner seat.
Roland looked up, "She might know where the Vault is."
"Sure. She might, but there's always a chance she's lying."
"And a chance she's telling the truth."
"But we can find it ourselves with that … weird… thing that keeps popping up in our heads."
He knew what the hunter was referring to, "the Angel?"
"Yeah, weird how it seems to always know what we're doing. It creeps me out."
"I heard that."
Mordecai jerked back in his seat, exclaiming something in Spanish, as the face of a dark-haired woman appeared in their vision.
"I see that you've decided to keep this, Erin, with you. It may be a risky move considering what happened to the hunter the previous cycle."
"It is risky," Roland agreed, "but on the chance she knows, I don't want her to give the information to anyone else. Besides, she mentioned that there might be traps with the Vault as well, and I don't want to chance any unnecessary casualties."
"I thought so too. Be careful though, she's proved herself to be very clever and may stab you in the back when you're least weary. In the meantime, I'd like to suggest you not tell her about me. It may cause problems down the line."
Before Roland could ask what she meant by that, the Angel already vanished from his vision.
Mordecai waved his hand in front of his face, "man, I hate that."
"I don't like it either, she always leaves before we can ask any questions, and she's so ominous it's unnerving." The soldier shook his head and added, "and I keep getting this weird ringing in my ear after she contacts us."
"But it's not like we can do anything to stop it," the hunter growled, "damn it's just like my old job. 'you don't contact us, we contact you'."
Roland understood Mordecai's frustration after having experienced something similar. Back in the Lance he was always following orders without question, made him feel almost like a dog. When those orders were made to kill his unit, that was the last straw.
Finding the Vault may be his chance to start anew. He wasn't quite sure how he'd go about it, but he knew that finding the Vault could be the start. And more than that, he didn't want to let Atlas have whatever power was inside.
After driving a few miles north, they came to a stop when they reached the ravine where Tannis said she was located. Erin jumped off the runner, no doubt relived the drive was so short. She left her bike in New Haven, which meant she had to climb on the back of one of the runners and cling to it as they drove.
Mordecai wondered how fast they would have to drive to make her fall off the runner as he watched her approach the side of the rock. To be clear, still didn't like the fact that she was with them and still didn't like her either. Still, how he could have gotten rid of her by making her take the fall for putting New Haven in danger would have left a bad taste in his mouth. For now, he'd tolerate her existence, at least to the best of his ability. Maybe if he were lucky, she'd get eaten by some wild skag or something.
Erin paused and looked back, likely contemplating if she should wait for them as they got out of their runners. She began tapping the toe of her boot against the ground, deciding to wait.
"If you wanted to go on ahead, you could," Roland told her when he approached, "it's not like we're keeping you on a leash."
Erin tilted her head, grinning, "I wanted to give you an unspoiled view of what's up ahead, you're in for a treat if you've never seen it before."
"An unspoiled view of what?" Lilith asked, raising an eyebrow.
She nodded her head at the opening in the cliff, "go see for yourself."
The girl waited as Lilith and Roland entered, and when Mordecai approached the ravine he had to ask,
"Is there a death trap in there?"
Erin's smile vanished in an instant as she looked at him and she sighed. Brick clapped a hand on Mordecai's back as he passed them and walked ahead.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go."
After the business with One-eyed Jack, the larger man had felt so used and angry that he didn't speak with the hunter for the entire drive. Brick wasn't the sort of person to hold a grudge for very long, but he didn't expect the bruiser to act friendly.
"I'm surprised you didn't tell him what you did."
Mordecai looked at Erin. She continued, rubbing the back of her neck, "he offered to help me shake you down for cash to pay back the Boss. I don't take that he appreciated being manipulated to accidentally help put New Haven in danger."
Mordecai groaned, "it's not like I knew that I was going to piss off a Bandit leader."
"I guess so, but still it was a douche move. He even offered to help me shake you down for the cash you were paid." Then she smiled, a good-natured smile that he could see warmth in her eyes, "he cheered right up when I told him you declined the pay."
He stared at her, processing the information, "you told him that?"
"That's what I said didn't I?" She began to walk ahead, "now come-on, I hate waiting."
A few steps inside Mordecai understood why Erin said they would want an 'unspoiled view'. He began to slow his steps as he gazed at the glowing stone ruins. The sky was already starting to darken as the day transitioned into the dim cycle. He imagined that in a few more hours the emissive glow of the rocks would become stronger. Bloodwing took to the air to chase the Rakk perched on the stone arch as he approached the stone ledge.
"Wow," he breathed then he looked at Erin who was already walking ahead with the others.
Mordecai trotted over to the rest of the group as they paused next to a tall pillar.
"Is… is this it?" Brick asked, "this ravine has the vault?"
Erin shook her head, "sadly, no. This is just one of the many Eridian ruins you can find scattered throughout Pandora. There's even some ruins back in the Dahl Headlands and under Sanctuary, but those are dangerous to go to."
"Are going to these ruins dangerous? I mean, more dangerous than anything else on Pandora?" Lilith asked.
She nodded, "it's very dangerous, a lot of times you'll find Guardians where you find traces of Eridian civilization, but doesn't look like there's any around, so we should be pretty safe here."
Roland kicked a spiderling, "pretty safe?"
Erin was already grabbing a nearby shovel and shrugged as she hit a gyro spiderant with it, "least, not any more than usual."
After quickly dispatching the spiderants, they approached the dig site, Lilith and Erin walked ahead, both talking about the lost alien civilization that left behind these ruins.
"So, back to these Guardians you mentioned earlier, what are they?"
"Well… oh boy, where to start…" Erin picked up a stick and crouched down, drawing something in the dirt, "Guardians are these tall, insect-like, bipedal beings that are found in locations like these ruins. They're fast, powerful, intelligent, and have sturdy shields. I haven't come across a lot of them, but the few times I've encountered them I almost died."
"Were you using a gun?" Roland asked, a pointed question.
She shot a glare at him, "yes, actually."
"So, you do know how to shoot."
She made a noncommittal noise and returned her attention to the dirt, "that's irrelevant information. You asked me about Guardians, and I can only handle one subject at a time. Alright?"
Mordecai recalled Roland mentioning something about the woman not liking guns.
Lilith crouched next to Erin, looking at the drawing, "are they an indigenous species to Pandora, like are they descended from the Eridians?" Mordecai leaned over to look at it, it looked vaguely like a cross between a person and a bug.
"Well… I guess you can say that. You can't really tell unless you decide to perform a living dissection, but they're a construct controlled by a hyper-adaptive artificial intelligence. The theory, not my theory – it's a widely accepted one in the Eridian field of study, is that they were created by the Eridians to protect their technology and civilization."
"Wait, you dissected one? While it was still alive? Why?"
Erin cleared her throat, "well at the time we wanted to prove that the Eridians created bio-weapons, but the problem was whenever you kill one they'd just become an empty husk. Of course we couldn't make any progress when we examine the innerworkings of the Guardians like that, so we captured one alive and took it apart."
"But it was alive." Lilith repeated, stressing her words.
"Think imitation of a living creature." Erin replied, and sighed, "liken it to the study of parasites. You'll never find one a dead body, because once the host is dead its purpose no longer exists. In other words, examining a dead Guardian is a complete waste of time."
"How fascinating."
Both young women looked up, surprised by the arrival of a third woman with short dark hair. The stranger had a slight crazed look in her bloodshot eyes and looked as though she hadn't slept for weeks. She sat, cross legged in front of the both of them, looking at Erin's drawing. When neither siren nor Pandoran spoke, the strange woman waved a hand.
"Well?" she said, "Go on stranger. This is the first time I've been able to hear an account from someone who's actually encountered one of these things and knows what they are."
Erin shifted away nervously, "well… um… anyway…"
The woman sighed, "you took one apart?"
The girl was silent a beat, "y-yes…w-who are you again?"
"Not important. Now, back to these Guardians . . ."
Erin began squirming as she was bombarded by questions about Eridians that were honestly over the rest of the Vault hunter's heads. She looked so uncomfortable, but it seemed the woman had her hooks in the girl and was unwilling to let go until Erin answered her scientific queries.
"Look, it was a really long time ago, I don't remember the exact details, so…"
"Would you be willing to dissect another one?"
Erin vehemently shook her head, "No. Never again."
"Never?"
"Ever. I was almost killed."
"I see…" she looked disappointed for a second then looked back up, "I take that you don't like bugs?"
"Not… really?"
It didn't take very long to realize that the woman was Patricia Tannis, the scientist that they were looking for.
Roland walked up to group of women, interrupting a conversation that began to veer off into a scientific debate, and explained the situation. Erin, freed from any further questions, scrambled away, and began putting a distance between them.
Mordecai approached her, "why so skittish? I thought you would want to show off your knowledge to anyone who'd care to listen. Or do you know less than you say you do?"
Erin groaned and rubbed her temples, "It's not like I was prepared for a pop quiz from the leading Eridian researcher."
Tannis stood, not too pleased about the interruption, but perked up when he mentioned the Vault Key.
The Dahl scientist studied the key for a long time, turning it over and over in her hands until finally she spoke.
"Incredible," she said, running her fingers across the piece of the key as though it were some sacred object, "you've managed to locate and identify a piece of the vault key."
She looked up, "I want to you to leave this with me, so that I may run some tests."
"What kind of tests?" Erin asked.
Tannis looked at her, "I have a theory that the event that triggers the opening of the Vault has more to do with the key than the Vault itself," then she looked back down at the piece of the key, "I used to have one of these, and I found that the Vault key has a unique energy signature. I'd like to see if this one is the same."
Roland stepped forward, "You used to have another piece of the Key? Where is it now?"
"Where is it now?" the scientist mused, "ah, right. Have you met the bearded turtle yet? He hides from me in the scrapyard to the south."
Erin cringed, "You don't mean Crazy Earl do you?"
"Yes- now, anyway he has my piece of the Vault key, along with most of my underwear."
"Why- "
"The details of that transaction are not important, just get the artifact back," she waved a hand, "now leave, I need to be left alone to conduct my tests, you'll only distract me."
After the Vault hunters were ushered out of the dig site shelter, Tannis shut the door behind them with the audible click of a lock sliding in place.
"Well, that wasn't weird at all."
Lilith walked over to Roland, "well, what now? Should we start heading south?"
The soldier looked up at the darkening sky, "I say we get back to the underpass outpost. I'd rather not be traveling during the dim cycle, remember what happened back in the Arid Hills?"
Brick laughed, remembering, "when those two badass Alpha skags attacked our camp and nearly ate Mordecai?"
Mordecai remembered Marley's gaping maw and the stench of skag breath looming over his head when he woke up that night. He involuntarily shuddered, "don't remind me. I think I still smell like skag breath."
"Huh, that explains why you smell like skag shit."
The hunter turned to Erin, "Skag shit?"
"Skags don't have anuses, so they defecate out of their mouths."
"Oh, gross!"