Chapter 26: Catalyst
The elevator was nearing the bottom floor when Angel spoke, "Eridium alone could never charge the vault key. It needs a catalyst, something to awaken its power. It needs a Siren. Jack acquired his Siren catalyst a long time ago. He kept her hidden from the world for years but finally…you'll be able to set her free."
Maya was confused, and Axton's expression showed he was feeling the same. Did this mean that Angel was a Siren too?
"Hey!" Axton said suddenly. "is your voice back to normal?"
"Ugh, I hope-" she stopped and a large smile grew on her face. "Thank GOD! I finally feel like myself again," she said happily.
Axton smiled and gave her a playful shove, "I must admit, you sound much better this way."
The happiness was short lived for Maya, for she could not seem to shake the tense feeling building inside her. She wasn't sure what would be waiting for them in Angel's chambers, but she couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen. She was about to voice her concerns to Axton when the elevator came to a stop.
"I detect you're getting close," said Angel, "hurry and reach me, you must get the vault key and…deal with me."
A hallway was stretched out before the pair, leading to a door at the end which presumably lead to Control Core Angel. They started down the hallway with their weapons at the ready. Upon reaching the door, Maya opened it tentatively and stepped inside, Axton following behind her.
They were in a dark room. Another hallway was laid out to the left with glowing purple lights leading all the way down. They went down the hall, and found a control pad in the center of a round room. Maya pressed the button on the pad and waited.
"Executing phase shift."
The whole room began to change, as though what it once was before was merely an illusion. The walls stripped away almost digitally, along with the floors and the control pad and everything else. Maya was unsure if it truly was the room transforming, or if they had been taken to a different room entirely. In the center, she spotted the vault key suspended in the air.
"The vault key is here, but to truly stop Jack from waking the Warrior you can't just steal the Vault key. You must destroy his catalyst, you must destroy me."
There was a flash of light, so bright they both had to shield their eyes. When it dimmed, Maya squinted through the light and saw a woman. A beautiful woman, with wings almost like Lilith. But this woman dresses in black, and her wings were white. She had long black hair, and her head was shaved on the side. Her Siren tattoos glowed magnificently, even against the flash of white light. It was true, Angel was a Siren.
She hovered in the air but a moment before floating gracefully to the ground. Maya and Axton slowly approached her. Upon closer inspection, she actually looked frail, maybe even sick. As though the life had been drained from her. Her eyes were sad, distant.
"Jack's spent years pumping me full of Eridium," she said sadly, "using me to charge the Vault Key and manipulate his enemies. Destroying the Eridium injectors that keep me…alive…will stop the Vault key from charging. And it will end a lifetime of servitude, now-"
"YOU GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" Jack screamed angrily. Daughter?!
Angel was sucked from the room by an invisible force, out through a doorway as she screamed in terror. Maya and Axton bolted after her, through the door was a large round room. Television screens lines the walls all around, displaying the angry face of Handsome Jack. Angel had been taken to the center of the room, she was surrounded by some sort of orange force field preventing them from reaching her. A stream of concentrated Eridium had her engulfed, it appeared it was coming from a machine above. Looking closer she spotted the large purple tanks, three of them. They must be the Eridium injectors, Maya thought.
"What the hell are you doing? Angel!?" Jack said frantically on the monitors.
"Stopping you, you piece of-!"
"Agh! Language!"
"The Eridium injectors! Destroy them!" Angel pleaded.
Maya's eyes went to the tanks hanging above; she pulled out a shotgun and began shooting at the tanks, Axton following in suit.
"Yes! Just like that!"
"Oh no you don't! Shields up!"
Suddenly an orange protective force field, mimicking Angel's, was guarded around the tanks.
"Fuck sake what do we do now?!" Axton yelled.
"NO!" Angel cried, "I'll try and expose the injectors, just hold on!"
"Bandit, you keep this up and I'm heading down there to blow your brains out myself. YOU HEAR ME!?" Jack said furiously.
"He's lying, the coward would never face you in person!"
Maya was at a loss; she looked to Axton who also stood looking dumbfounded. If they couldn't break those Eridium injectors, what were they to do?
To make a bad situation worse, doors began to open up around the room, with loaders piling out. It was going to be like Overlook all over again.
"Where the fuck is Roland?" Maya called as she began to shoot at the incoming bots.
"Hope he gets here soon!" Axton yelled back as he deployed his turret and armed himself with an assault rifle. They did all they could to keep the loaders at bay, buying Angel time until she can lower the shields.
"I cant stop Jack's defenses!" Angel shouted. "be careful! I'll help you anyway that I can, I'm sending ammo to you!"
Sure enough, ammo began to be dispensed by some sort of chute near Angel's captivity. It was a good thing, too. They had expended quite a bit fighting the bunker, and weren't able to resupply as much as they wouldve liked.
Things were getting chaotic, very quickly. They knew getting to Control Core Angel would be more than difficult, but this was just insane; shock field generators were rising up from the floor, giving them less distance to move around to avoid the loaders. Maya realized very quickly that if Roland didn't get here soon and provide support, that this would be a pointless battle. One that would be over very quickly.
She phaselocked an incoming loader, and threw it into one of the shock generators, rendering both the loader and the generator useless and broken. "Hmm," she said with a half smile. Pretty effective actually.
She repeated this; soon she had cleared the shock generators and a few of the loaders, but they still kept coming. It was though Jack had an unlimited supply. Even if Angel had unlimited ammo to combat them, their bodies couldn't keep this assault up forever. Something had to give.
Her powers were growing weak, and sweat had begun to drip from her face. She suddenly felt white hot pain rip through her right calf, knocking her from her feet. Her shield must have depleted from the surrounding shock generators, and a gun loader had managed to get a shot in right at her leg. She gritted her teeth and fired back, blasting the loader into pieces. She took the time to inspect the bullet wound, it at least appeared that it hadn't gone through bone, but it tore up her muscle some.
Gingerly, she stood back to her feet. Spotting a health booster on the floor, she limped for it, phaselocking an ION loader along the way and letting Axton's turret do the rest. She stuck the booster in near the wound, relishing in the near instant relief.
"Angel how's those shields coming?!" Axton yelled, alarmed.
"Working on it!"
"We don't have time Angel!" Maya yelled back as she dodged an EXP loader, destructing itself mere feet from her. The heat and debris slammed her already burnt back.
"HEY! UP HERE! Need a hand!?" came the glorious voice of Roland.
She spotted him up on a walkway above, heading towards the tanks.
"ROLAND! Fuck man are we glad to see you!"
"Roland!" Angel called, "I need you to lower the shields around my Eridium injectors!"
"Uhh, did I miss something? Or is Angel a Siren?!" Roland shouted.
"I meant NOW Roland!"
"Right, I'm on it!" he replied as he went to work. Once he lowered those shields, her and Axton would be able to destroy those injectors. They just had to hold on a little longer. She and Axton continued to fire at the incoming loaders, doing their best to keep their fire off of Roland.
"So this is how you bandits fight is that it? Cant come straight for me, you gotta kill an innocent girl!?" Jack said angrily over the monitors.
"That's how he works, he'll try to guilt you, to make you think it's your fault. Don't listen," Angel warned.
"Shields down! Shoot the injector!" Roland yelled down to the pair.
Maya wasted no time in running towards the unprotected injector, while Axton gave her cover. Roland deployed a turret of his own.
"Get to my turret, it will protect you!"
She spotted the orange glow of the turret shields and made a dive for it, skidding to a stop and aimed her weapon up at the injector. It busted open with only a couple shots, no wonder Jack felt the need to build shields around them.
The amount of loaders flooding in was beginning to become overwhelming; Roland jumped down to provide some needed support, but they also needed to destroy those injectors. They were running out of time.
"I'll expose those injectors, just stay alive!" Roland shouted, as though reading her mind. His advice was easier said than done, however. He climbed back onto the walkway overhead, and began fucking with the control panel trying to lower the shields.
"You are endangering my baby girl. This is my vow; every friend, every child, every person you ever passed on the street, I'm gonna kill them all. You didn't follow the rules, bandit!" Jack shouted at Roland. Jack desperately turned his attention to Angel, "sweetheart, everything you could ever want is within these four walls! Angel, do you have any idea how much I've sacrificed for you? The bandits I've killed, the people I manipulated- everything I've done was to protect YOU!"
"Promise me you'll kill him!" Angel pleaded.
"I lowered the shield! Hit the injector NOW!"
This time Axton had been closest to the injector in question; he deployed his turret and began putting holes in the injector, rendering it useless. There was only one left now. Unfortunately, the weight if the injector crumbling broke the walkway Roland was standing on, sending him tumbling to the ground. Thankfully he was able to roll back onto his feet.
"DAMNIT! Now I cant reach the last injector panel! I don't know what-"
"How ya doin?" came Lilith's, Lilith's voice.
No.
Oh God no.
"Lilith what the hell? I told you not to come!"
"Yeah and I didn't listen!"
There she was, she had phased to the other side of the room and began firing at loaders.
Maya saw red. It was a white hot, angry feeling bubbling up inside her, mixed with the heavy feeling of betrayal. She promised her she would stay. She promised she would be smart. She shouldn't be here, Angel warned her. She wasn't safe here, she knew that, but she went against her word anyway. Went against everything she told Maya. She took out a nearing gun loader, and stormed over to where Lilith was standing.
"LILITH WHAT THE FUCK!" She screamed in anger.
"Not now Maya-"
"No, FUCK you Lilith," she said, pointing a trembling finger at her. "You fucking-"
"Worry about the loaders Maya!" she said, looking over her shoulder.
Angry tears unshed burned at her eyes. She felt like she was being treated as though she were a petulant child. She spun around pulling out a shotgun, blasting away incoming loaders into piece. She was furious, and this wasn't over. She turned back to Lilith, grabbing her roughly by the shoulder. Loaders be damned.
"You fucking lied to me Lilith! All this time you were so cool about us going out, even though it meant you stayed behind, it was all a fucking act wasn't it?!"
"Maya please-"
"God the things I did with you," she said, her voice trembling with emotion. "I told you I loved you, you told me you loved me too!"
"Maya I do love you!"
"Then why wouldn't you just tell me the fucking truth?! You were planning this from the start!"
Lilith broke free of her grip, shooting a loader that had been coming up behind Maya.
"Maya please, we cant talk about this now!"
"Apparently we couldn't talk about it before either you FUCK! YOU HAD PLENTY OF CHANCES TO TELL ME THE TRUTH!" The tears were falling now, she knew it wasn't the time nor place but she didn't care anymore. She couldn't keep her emotions in check, not this time. She was hurt. She began shooting furiously at the loaders, before turning back to Lilith.
"Its clear I cant fucking trust you at all anymore. You and Roland and all of the crimson raiders have just been using Axton and I as part of your master plan! You never gave a fuck about either of us!"
That hurt Lilith. She could see her falter for a moment as she shot at the loaders. She looked at Maya, pain written all over her face.
"Maya…that's not true at all. I love you," she pleaded, reaching for her scorned lover.
But Maya would t hear the rest of it. Her anger was already allowing words to spew forth from her mouth like vomit. She needed to try and keep her temper in check if they were gonna get out of here alive. She was done with Lilith.
She phaselocked an EXP loader, slamming it into the wall with a small explosion before taking off across the room towards Axton, leaving Lilith speechless on the other side with Roland.
"You okay?" Axton said loudly over the gunfire.
She wasn't. "I'll be fine," she said, thus ending the conversation.
"Lilith we need to move!" Roland called out. She grabbed him and phased him up to the remaining injector panel. Maya shot them a glance before re-focusing on the loaders. With the initial shock of seeing Lilith here subsiding, her chest was gripped with a new emotion: fear. It was fear that caused her chest to constrict and her blood run cold, and it echoed her earlier feelings of worry she had coming down the elevator. Lilith shouldn't be here. She was in danger. Something bad was going to happen, and Jack knew it. She tried to keep her attention on the onslaught of loaders, but the fear was suffocating her.
"Please, okay. Are you hearing me? Please don't kill my baby girl," Jack pleaded. He almost sounded human. Almost. And Maya felt for Angel, she really did. Angel had been on their side all along, and it was a shame to have to do this to her.
"DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOURE DOING?! Who cares about the goddamn Vault Key?! You're gonna end the life of an INNOCENT GIRL!"
"Jack ended my life long ago, this has to end NOW!"
"Got the shield down! NOW MAYA!" Roland shouted.
She aimed her SMG at the last injector and fired a spray of bullets, filling it with holes. It was over.
The shield around Angel went down, along with her. Maya approached her as she collapsed to the ground.
"Its done, its finally done…thank you…friend," she said as she lay slumped to the side, gasping for air. Lilith phased her and Roland down beside her, and Axton ran to join them. Maya met Lilith's eyes briefly, and for a second it looked as though Lilith wanted to speak, but Maya looked away.
"Angel, you can stop this! I'll still forgive you baby!" Jack cried.
"Dad, I have to tell you something…you're an asshole."
She slumped over with her final breath, much to Jack's anguish.
"Angel! NO! ANGEL!" He screamed, and the monitors went blank. For a moment, the room was quiet.
"What kind of a person would do this to their own daughter?" Lilith wondered aloud.
"The kind that deserves to die," Roland replied darkly. He kneeled in front of Angel and grabbed for her wrist, feeling for a pulse.
"Shes dead. Jack just lost his only way to awaken the Warrior." It was a bittersweet feeling. He stood, "we've got the Vault Key, but this isnt over yet. We've gotta find Jack and take him out. Lilith, you take the Vault Key to Tannis. We'll go after Jack-"
Her vision filled with a red mist before she even heard the shot. It happened so fast, it took a moment for her brain to really catch up with what was happening. Roland's face twisted into surprise, his sentence cut short, and that was all she saw before she was temporarily blinded by the red. Her hands went to her face, furiously wiping the red that blinded her. When she opened her eyes he was already on his knees, blood spewing from his mouth, from the gaping hole in his chest where his heart used to be. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"ROLAND!" Lilith shrieked, before running to his side. Behind him stood Handsome Jack, holding a smoking pistol and grinning maniacally. He had appeared so fast, no one had a chance. It was as though he digistructed himself out of thin air.
Maya went to move, but something held her back. She looked to see her ankles and wrists restrained by some sort of force, Axton as well. It was as though a force field had held her in place, and panic started to set in.
Lilith's eyes blazed red, and her great fiery wings exploded from her back.
"YOU BASTARD! IM GONNA-!"
The sound of electricity cracked in the air, and Jack had Lilith suspended in an orb of some sort, probably made of the same force that was currently holding the two in place. She suddenly fell to the floor, gasping and clutching her neck which was now fitted with a metal collar. It looked as though it was causing her a great deal of pain. Maya felt her heart stop, all of her worst nightmares were coming true right before her eyes. Angel was right, he is going to kill Lilith.
"NO JACK PLEASE! TAKE ME! TAKE ME YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!"
Jack just chuckled darkly, "what's that saying? Don't pick a fight with a man that has nothing left to lose? See, I'm going to show you just how much you have to lose, and I got the most powerful Siren on the planet to do it with," he said as he roughly grabbed Lilith by the collar, holding her up in front of Maya's face. It broke something in Maya, she fought desperately against her hold but it was no use. She could see the fear in Lilith's eyes, along with the regret. I'm sorry, her eyes said.
"Lilith, kill the Vault Hunter. We've got a date to keep with the Warrior."
Lilith's hand forcefully was held up to Maya's face. If there was a God, he was cruel, Maya thought bitterly. To be killed by the hand of her lover would be a fitting end to a bitter battle. She looked into Lilith's eyes, tried to tell her it would be okay. That she forgave her, that it wasn't her fault. She began to sob, "I love you Lil," she said. It was all she could say.
Lilith's face twisted in determination, desperately trying to fight against Jack's commands.
"NO!" she screamed, and Maya braced herself for the end.
But the end never came. There was a flash of light, she held her hands in front of her face to protect them, before feeling her feet hit something solid.
She squinted her eyes open and found herself in what looked like a dusty old storeroom, Axton and Lilith were nowhere be found.
The realization hit her like a shotgun blast to the chest. She began to hyperventilate, the room was spinning. She heard a voice on her echo, Mordecai maybe? But she couldn't make out the words. She collapsed to her knees and threw her SMG to the side, and desperately clawed at her slung weapons trying to get them off. She unzipped her jumpsuit part way, she couldn't breathe. She was being suffocated, and she was sure she was going to die right here in this storeroom.
She thought of all the things she wished she said to Lilith. She thought more of the things she wished she didn't say. She wanted, no, needed to take it all back. She didn't mean it, she didn't mean any of it. She was foolish.
She pounded her fist into the floor. Unsatisfied, she did it again. And again, until she was leaving bloody prints on the floor.
"No no no no no…Lilith," she choked. Her and Roland, gone. Roland was dead, Jack would surely kill Lilith once he was done with her. It was over.
Well Maya, you cant save everyone!
The damn nightmare was coming back to haunt her. She was an idiot for brushing it off. She was an idiot for a lot of things.
Someone was screaming, she was sure it was her.