An: Happy Friday everyone! Sorry for being a little late, life gets crazy :P. Thank you for the reviews! They really brighten my day and keep me motivated. Of course Maya and Lilith will get their vacay, after everything these two have been through I think they deserve some happiness. It will probably be done in an epilogue style to this story, and when I get around to the sequel I will probably do some kind of prologue in order to transition to the story of BL3. Enjoy a chapter, we are nearing the end now!
Chapter 31: Hero's Pass Bound
"Hmmm you feel that? That electricity in the air when you're just aching to murder someone? I havent felt that in such a long time."
Jack had begun taunting them as soon as they had reached Eridium Blight. They weren't going to satisfy him with a response. They would tell him in person how they felt.
"You do what you have to to stop him from waking the Warrior. Even if it means taking me out. I'd rather be dead than a damsel!" Liliths strained voice came over the echo. Maya grabbed it to tell her they would never ever let that happen but Axton stopped her.
"We will show her in person," he said as though he could read her mind. "Enough chit chat. We're here to end this."
Maya swallowed hard and lowered the echo. He was right, there was no point in answering. They would go there and rescue her and bring her back to Sanctuary alive.
"Brick and I are gonna meet you guys in Hero's Pass. You think we'd just sit by and let you guys have all the fun? Win or lose, we're gonna finish this together!" Mordecai said over the echo. Brick chimed in, "We might not make it Slabs, but I want you to know hehehe, it's been a hell of a lot of fun!" Maya breathed a small sigh of relief knowing their friends were coming. They would need all the help they could get.
They pulled the runner up to the meeting spot. Claptrap was already there, bouncing and rolling with more enthusiasm than the situation called for. They dismounted and approached the little robot.
"This is it minions! Our vengeance is finally at hand! LETS TEAR THIS PLANET A NEW ASSHOLE! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGG!" He charged forth towards the large Hyperion door, waving his little twig arms in the air the whole way as Maya and Axton followed behind exchanging looks of exasperation.
"Hyperions gonna regret ever setting foot on Pandora! Minions, I'm gonna get that door open so I can take care of that Handsome bastard myself!"
"Gotta give him credit, the things got heart," Axton murmured.
"You hear me Jack, you killed my friends! You destroyed my product line! I am the last Claptrap in existence, AND I AM GOING TO TEABAG YOUR CORPSE!"
"Ugh," Maya said. "The fuck does he learn this shit from?" Axton on the other hand, found it hilarious. They had just reached the door when loaders began to construct on either side.
"AHHH! MINIONS! Draw their fire with your face while I cloak my way over to the door!" Claptrap shrieked.
Axton and Maya took turns rolling their eyes as they fired upon the loaders, taking them out easily.
"Good job Minions! I'm uncloaked over here by the controls! Just gotta get this door open!" Claptrap said cheerfully. "You think a door can stop me Jack?! I was made to open doors HAHAHAHA!"
They watched as the little robot fiddled with some buttons. "Aaaaaand OPEN!"
"Access denied."
"The hell Claptrap?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What?! I said 'aaaaaand OPEN' not 'aaaaand close a secondary set of doors'!"
"Dispatching additional troops"
"Oh great" Axton said sarcastically. "Take cover!"
He grabbed the robot by one of his arms and chucked him over a barrier, while he and Maya ducked behind another. Four loaders began to be constructed outside of the doors. Axton chucked a grenade, taking out two, while Maya phaselocked a third and sent it flying into the fourth.
"I'm gonna try and override the controls! Cover me minions!" and out the robot went, surprising the pair with his newfound bravery. They disabled the loaders with ease once again and waited.
"Dispatching additional troops."
"Badasses incoming!" Claptrap yelled.
Two badass loaders were constructed, immediately setting fire upon them. Maya was hit with an electric shot, and she went down behind the barricade, her muscle spasming and twitching painfully.
"Aarrrghhh!" she cried, doubled over as she waited for it to pass. She took a few deep breaths and stood, firing back at the loader. She hit it with a couple critical with a caustic sniper and sent the loader flying back into a melting pile of metal. Axton had used a launcher to take the other one out.
"You okay!?" he called to her. She gave him a thumbs up and gritted her teeth. Her muscles still felt locked but she knew it would pass.
"Reinforcements depleted."
"Thank fuck," Maya said rubbing her shoulders. "That electricity hurts like a bitch!"
"AAAAAAAAND OPENNNNN!" Claptrap cried once more, and the doors began to creak open. "Theres no stopping us now minions, together we shall free Pandora! I will lead you into battle, I will destroy Jack myself with my bare hands, I will-"
The door opened fully, revealing a very long, very steep set of stairs.
"STAIRS?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he cried in anguish. "Minions, you'll have to go on without me, do your master proud!"
Maya was sure her eyes would roll out of her head if she spent another second with the robot. "Don't worry Claptrap, we will."
They left the robot mumbling to himself about his weaknesses for stairs, and began to ascend. It was quiet as they reached the top, save for the clicking of their fresh mags sliding into place.
"Here we are, Hero's Pass," Axton sighed. "Let's go get your girl, huh?" he said nudging her. She smiled with determination.
"Let's."
They ascended a second set of stairs once they passed through the door leading to Hero's Pass. Jack was still echoing them, anger and desperation evident in his voice.
"Mmmm do you feel that you fucking child killers? Hmmm?! The vault key is nearly charged, this worlds gonna end!"
"Fuck Axton we gotta move!" They took off in a run, passing some overturned sea cans and ammo boxes along the way. They were sufficiently stocked up, right now the main priority was getting to that Vault Key.
They went through what looked like the mouth of a cave leading into an underground passage. They ran into a couple loaders near the entrance but they were dealt with efficiently. The continued up the rocky underground slope, passing various structures that looked like housing along the way. This must be an operation Jack had been working on some time.
A few engineers came from the houses, Maya put a bullet between one of their eyes and Axton slammed the butt of his rifle into another's teeth as they ran by. The third was riddled with bullets before he could even raise his weapon.
They came to a large area of the cave, an opening leading back outside was just across the way. A BUL Loader and a PWR loader were incoming, alerted of their presence.
"I fucking hate these things," Axton said as he struggled to hit the PWR in between its spinning arms.
"Fuck it let's just blow it up," Maya said as she took the launcher off her back. She fired one shot at the loaders and sent the first one flying into a million pieces, leaving just the BUL loader.
"I hate these too," Axton said again.
"I'm not wasting more rockets on loaders, hold on."
She phaselocked the loader, allowing Axton to spray it with a caustic SMG. The loader was no more once Maya released the phaselock, just a pile of goop.
They took the path that lead outside onto a bridge. As they were about to cross, a large ship came into view over the bridge. The thing was massive, even bigger than the bunker, but it looked old and worn.
"The hell is that thing?!" Axton asked nervously.
"I'm not sure, but-" The large ship spun around, revealing two auto cannons mounted on the back. They began to glow and fire beams straight at the surrounding loaders and engineers. Maya grabbed Axton and pulled them behind a sea can on the bridge. Painted on the side of the ship in large black letters read "DOWN WITH JACK."
"Its Brick and Mordecai!"
"SLABS! Lemme get this outta the way!" came the booming voice of Brick. The backup had arrived.
Brick had ran into the fray, killing engineers and loaders alike with his bare hands. The ship had landed and the engineers that tried to run out of it's way didn't get very far. Standing on a lowered ramp on the ship was Mordecai, picking off the enemy with his sniper rifle.
Brick ran to a barricaded door guarded by a Hyperion force field. He destroyed the barricade with ease, and Axton and Maya followed.
"Mordecai's in position, and my fists are hungry! LETS GO!"
They went across another bridge that angled upwards, doing their best to keep up with Brick and his bloodlust. Explosions and mayhem were surrounding them now, but they had to keep moving. If anyone got too close, they were dealt with swiftly. To their left was a third bridge leading to a platform where loaders were being constructed rapidly. Brick ran to the platform, eager to take the robots out with his fists, while Maya and Axton hung back and sniped as many as they could see so they could make it safely across.
Once they had caught up to Brick, it was evident that they were in a supply cache for Hyperion. They took advantage of this and re stocked their ammo and health boosters as quickly as they could before continuing. Maya had a whirl of confidence flare up in her chest, and she looked at her comrades with pride. They were really doing it, everything was going to plan superbly.
They rushed over another bridge hanging dangerously over the lava below. The place they had built here would have been spectacular under different circumstances. It was the size of a small city, the operation they had here.
They had almost reached their destination, ahead lay another large orange force field blocking their way, but they would deal with it when the time came. The were currently preoccupied with the incoming loaders and auto cannons that were mounted up high, ready to take them out.
The sound of Brick's fist pounding flesh and the echo of Mordecai's rifle pinged off the sides of the great cavern. Maya happily joined them with the sounds of her own weapon as she tore apart the auto cannons with expert efficiency. Axton was sniping EXP loaders that threatened to get near Brick as he walloped engineers and loaders alike. They were working like a well oiled machine, she would gladly fight next to these Raiders anytime.
She huddled up next to Axton behind a barrier. Brick was working on some loaders up ahead, while Mordecai circled in the ship taking out as many loaders as he could from here he was.
"Dispatching Jet Loaders"
"We're taking fire! Just hold on!" Mordecai cried.
As well as things were going, they hit a rough patch. The loaders had nothing on them skill wise, but when it came to numbers they were quickly becoming overwhelmed. Maya phaselocked a Jet Loader and sent it flying into the lava. Then another. She was beginning to weaken, there were far too many.
"Gonna run out of fucking ammo before we even reach Jack at this rate," she said breathlessly as she slid another clip in her assault rifle. "We need a miracle!"
"Almost there, just hold on a little longer!" Mordecai relayed as he circled back around, blasting loaders to bits and pieces. He went back towards the force field door, blasting the auto cannons at full power until-
"WOOHOO! The paths clear!"
Axton and Maya jumped from their places and ran towards the door, but they were still in trouble.
"Shit, I'm surrounded! Brick, go with them, I'll stay here!" Mordecai cried out as his ship started to smoke.
"Like hell you will! Slabs, you go on ahead!" Brick jumped from the platform onto the ramp of the ship, just as it began to take heavy fire.
"NO!" Maya screamed, as she made to go back towards the ship.
"MAYA NO!" Axton stopped her. "We have to keep moving, they will get out of this, I know it, now MOVE!"
She tore her eyes away painfully, trying to keep the glimmer of hope alive in her heart that they would in fact make it. She prayed Axton was right.
They ran through an area known as the Drift Mouth Access. This platform was significantly quieter, now that they had taken out most of the personnel. But it wasn't without its obstacles.
War loaders began to appear left and right, along with a handful of engineers at their side. Axton deployed his turret and sprayed his SMG while Maya climbed a sea can, desperate to get a view on the situation.
"We're not far Axton! Keep shooting!" she placed a phaselock around herself and helped him out, killing any close range engineers and loaders that threatened the pair. Together they ran, the place was a maze in itself. All they could do is keep heading towards the waypoint, stop and destroy the loaders, and repeat. Bridge after bridge, bullet by bullet.
After much bloodshed and broken robots, they finally reached the end of Hero's Pass. Ahead of them lay a dark cave, the entrance to the Vault of the Warrior. This was it, everything they fought for, everything they died for, was leading up to the final battle. Just through that cave, her lover would be waiting. She felt giddy with the thought of satisfaction received by ending Jack's miserable life. To watch his eyes go dim as he exhaled his last breath, Maya knew it would outshine the death of Brother Sophis tenfold.
The ground lurched and shook and the pair were nearly thrown from their feet. They spun around quickly as a constructor descended upon them, its angry red eye aglow. It fanned out its scanner, constructing a massive War Loader, then another.
Axton pulled Maya down behind a barrier, breathing hard and not letting go.
"Axton, what-"
"You have to go."
She almost laughed, "Okay, well let's get them then we-"
"No Maya. You have to go."
Now she did laugh, "have you lost your mind? I'm not leaving you!"
He lessened his hold on her arm. "If we go, they will follow, and we have to get inside that Vault. You need to go, I'll hold them back."
He was serious, she could tell, which made it all the more painful. Tears sprang to her eyes when she realized that no matter what she said, he was not going to follow.
"Axton," she said, her voice cracking, "No, please-"
He grabbed her around the shoulder, pulling her to him and planting a kiss on her forehead. "This is your time Maya. This mission, everything we've accomplished, has been because of you. Only you can take the Warrior down and save Lilith, save Sanctuary. You don't need me to do that."
She couldn't believe her ears, "I do need you Axton, I do!" she shouted as the loaders began to shoot the barricade. "I need you! I cant-"
"You can! Everything you've been through has been leading up to this moment. Maya, you can do this. You will do this!"
"What about you," she sobbed. "What if something happens to you? Axton, I couldn't go on…"
"I'm gonna be okay, I promise, I'm going to see you when this is over. After you end this Maya!"
She sniffled, knowing his stance was final. She had no choice but to move on. She touched the side of his face gently, "please be okay Axton…"
He cocked his weapon and gave her a push towards the cave, "I'll be fine, just get moving!"
She nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat, tearing her eyes away before she lost all composure. She forced herself to move towards the cave, her heart breaking with each step.
"And Maya?" he called. "Make the bastard pay. Make it hurt."
All she could do was nod, placing a hand over her chest as a promise. She ran.