Please note that this story is a series of shorts based and linked to the Borderlands Fanfic Rebel Anarchy. It is advised that you read the noted chapter of that story before reading this chapter for full context.

The events of this chapter take place after chapter 9 of Rebel Anarchy and before chapter 10.

Disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands or any of its characters, Borderlands is owned by Gearbox Software and 2K Games, the only ownership I claim is of my own OCs. This is a story just for your fun and enjoyment. Please enjoy.

-Stories text formats-

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Echo/Radio"

'Krieg's inner voice'

X-X-X

-ECHO 1-

Meet the Family

It was a quiet early spring day in a suburban neighborhood on the edge of a moderate town on Eden 5. The birds were chirping, the sun was out, and a light breeze filled the air. However, there was a somber mood in the air around one house near the end of the street.

Inside a moderate two-story house, Paige, mother of Gaige, was sitting at her kitchen table after working for the last several hours and was enjoying a well-deserved cup of tea as she looked around the room. Most of the items of any sentimental value had already been removed and packed as she and her husband would soon be leaving this home that they had made a life in for the last eighteen years. Leaving all of the precious memories that she had of her husband and daughter here. With a content sigh, she had pickup her ice tea again when her ECHO gave a notification. Curious, she thought before picking up the device to take a look.

In another part of the house, Gabriel was looking over his baby girl's room. In no way did it look like the room of a normal teen girl, where instead of cute boy band posters, there were punk rock and heavy metal posters. Instead of a vanity table and makeup sets, there was a workbench that was once covered with tools and parts. Instead of light pink walls or flower wallpaper, the wall was covered with a mismatch of spray paints with Anarchy logos painted everywhere. It was an odd contrast of taste, but it was his little girl's choice, and he always supported her choices… Even if some of her more recent ones have given him more than a few gray hairs.

It saddened him that he couldn't do more for his little girl however, the suddenness of the events that occurred a little over a week ago prevented such actions. Unfortunately, because of the fact it was Mr. Halloway's daughter that DT had killed, he saw to it that she'd be charged and arrested not even two hours after the accident. He was suddenly broken out of his thoughts when the sound of shattering glass disrupted the silence. Immediately Gabriel ran to the kitchen with a Dahi pistol drawn. As soon as he entered he looked around and saw no immediate threats. He looked at his wife who was staring at her ECHO with a look of surprise.

"Paige what's wrong!?"

"It's"

"Is it the police?"

"It's."

"A Dahl hit team?"

"It's."

"The space mafia!?" He yelled in panic.

"It's Gaige! She has finally posted a new-"

*DING!*

They both looked at the ECHO to see a second alert had appeared followed by a third. The parents looked at each other and thought three new ECHO posts at once, that a sign… right? Cautiously, as if the device was now the most sensitive bomb in the universe, Paige pick up the ECHO and pushed play on the first post.

"Hello subscribers, Gaige here again, I'm sorry it took so long, not actually sure when I'll be able to upload this ECHO since I can't seem to find a DAMN signal out here. So I'm on Pandora, I got here yesterday and I am currently in this frozen ice block of a town called Liarsburg." How did she end up there, both parents thought.

"How did I get here you ask, well it all started when I got on a train to go to Sanctuary. I was sleeping when all of these Hyperion Loaders suddenly bust into the train car and attack! Me and DT were able to hold them off until the train suddenly EXPLODED!"

"Oh my gosh!" Paige wailed in panic as Gab paled.

"And before you all panic, I'm fine and alive considering I'm talking to you right now." The parents let out a sigh of relief just as the ECHO continued. "I was woken up soon after by several other people from the train and an actual working Claptrap unit of all things, shocking, I know."

"Hey Gaige we're almost ready for… Ugh what are you doing?" Asked a female voice.

"I'm recording an ECHO for my ECHOcast. Everyone meet my new friend Maya. Vault Hunter, badass, and bombshell.

"Me, a bombshell? Riiiight" Maya's said conveying a tone of incredulity.

"Oh come on girl, have you ever looked in a mirror, your smoking hot! Anyways, she is also one of only six Sirens in the whole universe! She can create this dimensional bubble that can trap and damage any target she chooses! The first time she used it she trapped this Bullymong, there these nasty four-armed creatures with claws and big teeth and an attitude that makes my school's main bully, Dick BroWorth look like a saint! Anyways her tattoos glowed and everything, it was so badass!"

"Oh, my, a Siren, never met one of them before." Paige said with interest.

"Come on Gaige, it wasn't that impressive."

"I saw you encapsulate that one bandit for calling you a bitch, lifted him off the ground, and then lit him up with an SMG as he was already being slowly de-atomized. All with a straight face, mind you!"

There was a pause for several seconds. "Well, when you put it like that… okay it was kind of badass." Maya said.

"Told you."

"Whatever, now come on. Sal's cooking again."

"Sweet!"

They could hear them walking a little until they started to hear several people talking, food being cooked and dishes being set.

"Hmm, needs more spice. Got any grounded Shock Cactus seeds in that pack?" Came a gruff voice.

"Yes, I do. Let's see, no, come on- Ah ha! Here you go." Said another man.

"Gracias."

"This is Salvador, our resident gunzerker! Say hi Sal."

"Ugh, hola… What is this about?"

"Wait, Gaige are you doing that ECHOcast thing you were talking about?" Axton.

"Yup, anyways Salvador's thing is to dual-wield any weapons, and I mean any weapons. I watched him blow away a badass Marauder with an assault rifle in one hand and a shotgun in the other.

It was nothing, I do stuff like that every day.

"He's also a surprisingly good cook and the shortest member of our group."

"HEY! What do you mean surprisingly good? You doubt my skills!" Salvador yelled.

"Really? That's your takeaway from that comment." Gaige said as the parents could just imagine the smirk on their daughter's face.

"Si… Wait… HEY! I'm not short! I'm taller than you!"

"Hair doesn't count Sal, you know that." Gaige said as the others laughed in the background. "Anyways next up is Axton, former Dahl commando turned deserter who's tough as nails."

"Aww, that sweet Gaige. I'm flattered." The voice of a man said.

"And who has an odd relationship with his Sabre turret."

"Wh- HEY, it's not odd!"

The ECHO was silent for several seconds. ". . . . Then what would you call it?" Sal asked.

"Um. A normal healthy working relationship."

It was now deathly silent in the background of the recording as both Paige and Gabrial looked at one another, both perplexed by the response.

"I'm calling the wedding planner." Maya said.

"Hey!" Salvador yelled receiving a round of laughs, including the parents.

"Well continuing on, our next member is the dark masked and mysterious ninja assassin who speaks in only haikus, Zer0!"

"Oh, I've heard of him, he's a fairly big name in the underworld." Gabriel said. "Wonder why he would be on Pandora

The ECHO was oddly silent for several long seconds. "Got anything you want to say buddy?" The silence continued for several more seconds until Gaige let out a defeated sigh. "Right, well continuing on with our intros, I'd like to introduce you all to-

"HELLO MURDER BUDDIES! I'M KRIEG!" Came a loud and jarring voice that made Paige and Gabriel both jerk back in surprise.

"Haha. Uh yeah, everyone, meet Krieg. We're not sure just… What he is… No offense big guy."

"None received Red!"

"Basically he's like a Psycho but doesn't act like the Psychos around here. Aside from his… Wording, he's definitely smarter than the average psycho at least. And is great in a fight. Finally, our last friend here is-."

"Sir Alister Hammerlock, at your service. And yes, If my name sounds familiar to you it's because I am related to the famous Hammerlock family."

"Oh wow, a siren and a Hammerlock, she already rubbing elbows with the rich and famous." Paige said getting a chuckle out of Gabriel.

"Hammer here is doing research on the wildlife here for an almanac he's making, which is pretty cool. But he's also had us help with a few jobs around the area."

"Alright amigos, who's ready for my Abuela's famous sun ray chilly. I must warn you, it will lite the fires of Infierno in your bellies!" Salvador said.

"I'm just gonna pause here for a second everyone. I starving! Zer0 pass me some of that dried cheese." *Click*

"Well, at least she's getting fed." Gabriel said with relief.

*Click* Woah! Sal wasn't kidding about how spicy that was. At least it will keep me warm tonight. *Buurp* ugh, Woah that burns coming up."

"Oh dear, how is our girl going to find a man with manners like that." Paige said jokingly as Gabriel groaned.

"Looks who talking." Gabriel said before receiving a smack to the back of his head. "Sorry dear."

"Okay, right… where was I before dinner. Ah, the train wreck. So a claptrap unit found us and led us to his home, where it was attacked by this Big Bullymong named Knuckle Dragger, who stole claptrap eye. Bullymongs are these huge ape-like creatures with four massive arms and a weak pair of legs they don't seem to use. We had to chase the thing down in order to get it back since Claptrap needed it to guide us to a town."

"We finally ran into the animal in this gulley and got into a massive fight where these smaller Monglets jumped us while Knuckledragger was throwing old cars at us. It was so B A, well until a Monglet's jumped me and tried to pull my hair out, but I'm fine. Krieg managed to slice one of his arms off while Salvador beat it to death with the severed arm! Oh wait, wait, wait! I got a video clip here."

A video appeared on the screen which immediately played and showed a gruff short man. "I am Salvador the Gunzerker. Vault Hunter and Beast Slayer! Bow before my might!" Yelled the short man with a bloody arm over his shoulder as he stood triumphantly on the Bullymong head.

"Says the guy who got knocked on his ass twice." Axton commented off-screen, as the others laughed a little.

"That's cold man."

*Click*

Gabriel was laughing his ass off at this while Paige was in a fit of giggles. "Well, it appears our daughter has found quite the group of characters." Paige said.

"I'll say, it almost like when we rolled with the Murciélagos del Infierno gang during the Palace Nebula job." Gabriel said.

"Oh, that was a fun three months. Especially when I hooked up with that cute one." Paige said with a small teasing smile.

It took Gabriel several seconds to register before his eyes widen and he whipped his head towards his wife. "Wh- WHAT! PAIGE, you went behind my back!?" Gabriel said in shock. "Who was it was it? Jose, Gerardo, That damn pretty boy Roscoe!?" He growled in anger.

"Oh, Gab." Paige said with a mischievous chuckle. "I never said it was one of the guys."

Her husband stared at her for several seconds as his mind processed her words. "Wait, you don't mean… Susana? Have Mercy Su!? That tall ass ravenette with the super long legs, and the massive?" He motioned his hands in front of his chest. Paige just nodded with a sly smirk. "The one who beat the shit out of a whole star biker bar over an ass pinch?" Again she nodded. "Who did was on the page twelve spread for Outlaws Monthly for June, August, October, and the December Christmas special, all in one year?" Gabriel asked as his face began to redden.

Paige just giggled at his reaction. "Oh when I went down between those thighs, she would sing directly to the heavens themselves." She said with a dreamy look in her eyes. "And her fingers. . . Oh, have mercy Su~." She said with a blushing face as she remembered her youth.

Gabriel stares in disbelief at his wife of over nineteen years, with a face that while grumpy was also bright as a supernova. "Maybe should continue the ECHO." Gabriel muttered as his wife simply nodded, happy to see how frazzled she had made her husband. She decided to twist the proverbial knife just a little bit more as she leaned close to him and whispered into his ear.

"You know, I do have several home ECHOs of our… Escapades~." She said in a seductive tone. Gabriel froze for several seconds before slowly looking at his wife who held a face of complete innocents. "If you want, you could… join me as I… reminisce over them." She said with a devilish glint in her eyes.

For a good minute, Gabriel's mind was frozen as he stared at his wife. Finally, he just swallowed in nervousness before picking up the ECHO device. "Let's just… Finish this first." He said as he resumed the ECHO.

"Sooo, after that, it took about four or five hours of walking through a frozen wasteland to finally reach Liarsburg. . . Of course when we got there…" The ECHO paused for several long seconds, several seconds that suddenly had the parents very worried.

"Okay look, I… I had to kill some people."

Paige gasped as Gabrial quickly grabbed her hand. "Now hold on, she could mean DT had to kill them."

"And I don't mean DT since he was inoperable at the time." Crushing Gabriel's hope.

"Oh, my baby!" Paige yelled as she cried tears of despair. "I'm sorry we can't be there for you!"

"I had to fight and kill several people with my own hands… We got to the town, it was overwhelmed by bandits so Hammerlock asked us to help deal with them and I had to fight off three Marauders myself. It got a little dicey but luckily I'm okay. Thanks again mom for the titanium, that saved me."

"Only the best materials for my baby!" Paige said cheerfully looking as if everything was normal. Gabriel just let out a sigh as he was used to his wife's sudden moods swings after so long.

"Anyways, it was a bit of a hard moment after the adrenaline high was over. But Sal made a surprisingly good point later that night. Here on Pandora, there are a lot of people who would kill you for one reason or no reason at all. So I'm probably going to have to do it again… As long as I don't get obsessed with the act like the psychos do I should be fine…"

"Oh, my poor little baby!" Paige said crying again.

"Dammit Gaige, stop making your mother cry!"

"Sorry about that, I know that was some heavy baggage right now. So continuing, today me and the others did a few jobs for Hammerlock, they said it would be good for me to get some more combat practice and some better gear before we took on Captain Flynt. He's this... pirate... warlord... bandit leader, I don't know, but we have to beat him if we want to get off this iceberg of a town. So Hammerlock suggested a few jobs to use including one where we had to kill some bullymongs to get some fur for his hat, and break into an old Raiders outpost for some shields. Sure I had to kill more people, but when they are all a bunch of murderous psychopaths who yell obscenities that would make a bathtub full of space herpes and space diarrhea look more inviting you really start to not give a shit."

"Seriously where does she get these analogies from?" Gabriel asked to which Paige just shrugged.

But our big fight came from when we all had to fight a midget riding a Bullymong, or MingMong as we called him. It was insane, they were bouncing around like one of those rubber dodgeballs in gym class! They were tossing tables, throwing chairs, slamming down on everyone, while the midget riding him was blasting away with dual SMGs. At one point they burst through the floor, grabbed Axton's legs, and pulled him through the deck like a horror movie monster!

"Well, that's a disturbing thought." Paige said.

"Zer0 and Krieg were the ones to kill them, it was so cool! Zer0 pulled out his sword and they both stared down like swordsmen in a samurai film, like Katana 22 or Cyber Ronin Road Warriors 3357! They charged each other and Midge-Mong threw a punch but it flew through Zer0, I mean they literally passed through him! It turned out to be a hologram and Zer0 snuck up from behind and sliced all of the bullymongs arms off in one swing! And then sliced the Bullymong through the neck, cutting its head clean off! The midget, who talked like a sailor and a cowboy! Weird combination right, said something like I'm gonna kill you, but Zer0 just told him some crazy haiku that Krieg translated as eat a bullet before he shot the prick in the head at point-blank! It was so BADASS!"

"So we went back to town and gave Hammer the fur and some to Claptrap so we could get a new shotgun for Sal. He wanted it for a mohawk… Apparently, the forces of nature didn't like his fashion as he was hit by a bolt of lightning, burning the fur. I can still hear the poor guy cry over the loss of it."

Sure enough, a muffled robotic crying could be heard in the distance. "I would honestly feel sad for the guy, but he had Sal and Krieg run headfirst into an electric fence today… Twice." It was silent for several moments as the crying continued. "I better go see if there's a way to soundproof my room before bed. Till next time, Gaige out."

"Well, that was a hectic day for her." Paige said.

"Plus it seems like the other Vault Hunters are watching out for her." Gabriel nodded.

"Why do I get the feeling the next one is going to worry me."

"Paige, she on Pandora, of course, we should be worried."

"Why did we let her go to such a planet again?"

"Sadly it was the only place we could send her on such short notice to escape the law." Gabriel said as he picked up his wife's ECHO and click the next recording.

"Hello, subscribers, Gaige here on the third day of my adventure on Pandora. It is about 2120 Hours GST and it's the middle of Pandora's night cycle. Anyways so I've had a crazy day today. Just straight off the wall through the roof crazy. So it started with us all gearing up and then setting out for Captain Flynt's ship to get to Claptrap's boat, Hammerlock stayed behind because he needed to fix the fast travel, but said it would take like a week to fix. So we all got to this wrecked ship that was blocking the way to Flynt's base. Claptrap told us we would have to defeat Boom-Bewm to get through. Only he didn't tell us that Boom-Bewm was actually two people called Boom and Bewm. Bewm was this little midget who would fly around with a jetpack and drop grenades everywhere, while Boom was this bandit who was manning a battleship turret that he was using to fight us. It was so violent, explosions everywhere, blood strewn across the deck, psycho parts everywhere, it was awesome!" Gaige cheered, only to go silent for several moments. "Until both Axton and Salvador got caught by one of Boom's cannon shells."

"Oh-no." Paige whispered.

"Things got a little crazy after that, in my anger I threw a grenade at Boom and blew him off of the turret, however, Bewm kept pinning us down. Then Maya jinxed us by saying we only had to worry about Bewm and the Psycho's, because Boom came back and attacked. Bewm nearly got me at one point before Maya phaselocked him and we shot him with more lead than an action movie! Afterward, we teamed back up with Zer0 who had us distract Boom. We distracted him with some grenades, making him attack us, giving Zer0 the time to sneak up behind him and stab his sword through him.

After which, well. I mean I watched two friends die.

"Oh, Gaige." Paige said with a sniff.

"But then, surprise! Sal and Axton were both alive and in perfect health! They were resurrected at the Fast Travel station back in town. Apparently, we all have New-U accounts so we don't have to worry about dying… Well as long as we don't abuse it, something about side effects from repeated use in a short period."

"Did you buy her a New-U account?" Paige asked.

"You know those accounts lock up if anyone has a major criminal charge on record, you would have to hack into the system to do that. Plus even if you did have one it would reconstruct you in law enforcement custody."

"So after a heartfelt reunion, Salvador used the cannon to blow open the gate, which accidentally he blew Claptrap across the waste into Flynt's camp. Which we soon found out was this massive ship that somehow got impaled on a large iceberg surrounded by a bandit camp. It took us some time but we fought our way up through camp, saved Claptrap, and made it to the ship's top deck, where we ran into captain Flynt."

"Flynt was this huge guy with a horned helmet, red glowing eyes, a flamethrower, and a massive anchor which he swang like a snick-it bat! It was like the final boss in a video game where he was on a throne, there was fire bursting from vents, bandits all over the place, it was insane!"

"Sounds a little like level six in Triangle Quest 3." Gabriel said.

"Sal got toasted by one of the vents during the fight so currently, he leads in the death count. Flynt was just impossible, we couldn't shoot him in the head because of his helmet, he was fireproof, he even survived getting flash-frozen by a cryo grenade! Hell, he even set himself on fire several times!"

"I threw my last grenade at him but Flynt decided to go pyro at that point causing a steam explosion that made it impossible to see anything! He then got the drop on me and nailed me with his anchor knocking me down, luckily my shield tanked the hit. Before I could get up he pinned my right arm with his foot and was preparing to strike me. I mean I knew I had a New-U account but I still didn't want to feel how it was to die! Luckily at that moment DT finished his reboot and spawned from my arm knocking Flynt away from me! They both started brawling with each other as I fired the gun my dad gave me. After a classic, you shall die here from Flynt, speech, and a witty retort from me I had DT unleash his digistruct claws on him and maul him like a blender! DT finally finish by stabbing him with all his claws and lifting him in the air where I just cooly walked over and told him to choke on this, and put two bullets right into his neck! IT WAS SOOO METAL!"

"Now there's the little badass we raised! Ada girl!" Gabriel cheered as Paige clapped.

"After which we did some quick looting where I found a Hyperion SMG, Axton also gave me one of Flynt's pirate flags he liberated as a trophy and Maya got this unique pistol from a chest before we left. And now I'm sitting in the cargo hold of Claptrap's boat on my way to Sanctuary with the other Vault Hunters. We should be landing in Three Horns by the morning and then it's a two-hour walk there, so yaaaay..." There was a pause for several seconds. "God, I hope he isn't too worried.

It took several seconds for the parents to realize what their dear girl said. "He!?" They both said.

"Wait. Ohh, that right, I forgot to mention that!"

"DAMN STRAIGHT!" Her parents both yell.

"So before the whole Marcie incident, sorry again. I had only two subscribers left, one of them being…Uh, R3bel_Wolf who I've known for the last few years. He's the one who helped me program DT's AI and a few other things like the power-to-flow rate on DT's claws. So he's been a good friend to me. Hell, he's my best friend really, who could always find time to chat and whatnot. Of course, I don't actually know him in person or really that much about him even after all of this time. I imagine you'll be putting in the comments section, "But Gaige you shouldn't talk about personal stuff to random people on the ECHOnet!" or "Gaige he could be a predator."

"Yes, you did! When we meet again I am so grounding you!" Gabriel said with anger in his voice.

"Yeah yeah I know, I broke a major rule or whatever of the ECHOnet, and I know he could be lying to me. But I don't care. I'm willing to give him a chance considering a lot of things he told me and how much he has helped me over the years. Besides I have guns, I have DT, and he doesn't know I have five badass and heavily armed Vault Hunters with me. Let's see any creep try anything now."

"Well, our baby certainly knows how to prepare for a date." Paige said.

"Dear, please don't joke about this."

"Who said anything about joking." Paige said with an oddly unnerving smile. "After all, do you honestly think I wasn't armed with at least a shotgun on our first date."

"Wh-where were you hiding a shotgun on that dress?" Gabriel asked hesitantly.

"A woman must have some secrets dear." She said with a smile that unnerved Gabriel.

"Sorry got off track there. So during the trip to Pandora after I put up that first ECHO after the 'incident', Wolf invited me into a chat room and tried to help me as best he could… That is a major understatement, he literally decided to divert my focus by dropping a WTF bomb on me that blew my mind! He lives on Pandora! That right, he's on fucking Pandor-"

"GAIGE! What have I told you about that kind of language young lady!" Both Axton and Gabrial yelled. Paige just chuckled at the situation.

"You're not my dad Axton. Now go back to polishing your gun or spooning your beloved turret."

"HEY! I don't spoon my-" The sound of a heavy door being slammed shut could be heard. A few seconds later Gaige came back on. "Sorry about that, Axton tends to act just like a second dad.

"Good! Someone needs to!" Gabriel said as Paige laughed harder. "Well, it's true! She's too young to be using such language."

"Where was I, right. So yeah, Wolf lives on Pandora, I won't go into details for, reasons. But he's been helping me prepare for the different things to expect on Pandora. He lives in Sanctuary which means I might be able to meet him tomorrow, hopefully. If everything works out I'll get him to chat on my next ECHOcast, and I'll upload it along with the rest of the ECHO's I've recorded. which you are listening to right now anyways."

"He's probably worried sick right now, and because of Hyperion, I can't connect to him. Plus I haven't been able to access my account to reload all of my data and contacts so that doesn't matter anyway. Damn you Jack Ass, for EMPing all of my stuff. And thanks again Mommy for the military hardened electronics for my arm. OH and the titanium, that saved me big time on day one."

"Only the best for my little girl."

"Well, I guess I'll leave it there for this episode. Till next time everyone. Gaige out."

Gabriel just stared at the ECHO for a moment. "My little grease monkey has a boyfriend… And I'm not there to protect her." He said in a despondent tone.

"Oh relax dear, she didn't say he was her boyfriend, just her friend." Paige said.

Gabriel thought about it for several seconds. "Yeah, you're right. She didn't."

"Or she could have snagged a good catch and plans on jumping him on when they meet."

"Are you trying to make my hairs turn gray?" Gabriel asked.

"Oh relax dear, let's just listen to the next one." Paige said as she started the next ECHO.

"Sup my… sixty thousand subscribers... Wow."

"Oh dear, I hope this popularity doesn't go to her head." Paige said.

Gabriel just snorts at the idea. "Honey, I'd like to think we've done a good enough job raising her to not be so vain, plus she's got bigger things to worry about.

"Right, Eh hum. Well, I've finally made it to Sanctuary, I've actually been here about two days now, I've just been busy. A LOT of things have happened in these last few days. Firstly before we start I'd like you all to meet my earliest subscriber and best friend R3bel_Wolf or as I now know him by, Kai!"

". . . I'm still not sure about this Gaige."

"Oh come on, it's not like your identity is protecting you or anyone else. Especially since I'm here now."

". . . I guess. . . Well as Gaige said my name is Kai and I'm originally from Polaris."

"Polaris, Polaris. Oh, that somewhat colder world in the Ganymede sector. It had all the mountains and forests. Wouldn't mind visiting it again." Gabriel said.

"I'm the last Polaron actually… as far as I know. I won't go into too much detail today, but suffice it to say Hyperion lied about what happened to that planet. They razed the world themselves and killed everyone I knew, I was lucky enough to be in orbit when it happened. Came here immediately after that."

.Gabriel was silent for several seconds. "Oh…"

"Take your time." Gaige said.

"Thanks, Gaige. I watch it happen from orbit… They dropped a missile on nearly every major city. As far as I know, every living thing died within minutes of the first strike. Because of that, I'm now trying to get back at Handsome Jack."

"And you plan on doing this by…"

"By either getting to the Vault or killing him… Whichever comes first." Kai said.

"He's not quite boyfriend material but, at least he seems stable." Paige said.

". . . I honestly shouldn't even be surprised, considering you tried to wage a one-man against a bandit clan."

"I was angry. That's different."

Gabriel eyed his wife who pouted. "Boyfriend material?"

"Shut up." She muttered.

"Anyways, so what have you been doing since then?"

"Mostly fighting for the Raiders, doing missions, I can't do much about the Vault since Jack has the Vault Key. . ."

"Still think of Riess?"

"Yeah… Sorry Gaige, I just can't do this."

"No, no, I get it… Just, take some time or."

Several knocks could be heard in the background.

"You expecting company?" Gaige asked.

"No." They heard someone get up and walk some distance until they hear them opening a door. "Moxxi? What are you doing here?"

"Hello dear I know it's a little soon but I was wondering… Oh, am I interrupting something~?"

"Hmm, oh Gaige just spent the night on my sofa after dragging me home night last. She is just doing one of her ECHO shows before we go get breakfast at the bar… Since my fridge has nothing edible in it right now."

"Kai, the content of your fridge can currently be classified as bioweapons with what I saw in there." Gaige stated.

"Well, that's disturbing." Paige said.

"Not really, happens more often than you would think." Gabriel said.

"Which is why I get on you about cleaning the fridge dear." Paige said giving the man a glare.

"I see… Anyways I wanted to see Riess's room, maybe save a few things to remember him by." Moxxi said.

"Sure, this conversation was getting a little heavy anyways. Gaige you good here, this might take a few."

"It's fine, take as much time as you guys need."

"Thanks Red."

After a moment of silence, Gaige spoke again. "Soooo that was Mad Moxxi, you can probably ECHO search an image of her pretty quick but she runs the local bar… Possibly a few other side gigs if what Trixie said last night was anything to go by." Gab pulled his own ECHO and did a quick search. When he found an image he let out a whistle. That a fine woman.

"Oh. Is that so." Paige said with a voice that spoke of suffering.

"But she has nothing on my sweet, beautiful wife who I love with all my heart!" he said quickly with nervous sweat.

"Aww, you are such a good husband." She cooed in a voice that scared him.

"BTW's I survived my first bar brawl last night… Sort of, Moxxi and her waitresses just pulled me behind the bar where we talked while the fighting continued. I did get to punch one guy who fell over the bar and then tried to get handsy, so I guess it counts."

"Start small, little grease monkey." Gabriel said with a grin that showed his pride in her.

"Anyways so Moxxi apparently had started recently dating this guy named Riess who was… You know I should probably start from the beginning. Two days ago, me and the other Vault Hunter got to Three Horn Divide, close to Sanctuary. After having to procure some parts to hack a Catch-a-ride, that's what the locals call a Rent-a-car machine that you see everywhere else in the known Galaxies, we got some Runners and drove to Sanctuary. Before we could enter though we got to talk to Roland, the Leader of the Crimson Raiders, who wanted us to go find one of his men. So we went out and after a bit we… Did find him… Mostly intact. . . It was bad, he had been shot, stabbed, beaten, there was blood everywhere, but he was alive."

"Oh, dear." Paige said.

"So the gang decided to have me rush him back to Sanctuary to get him medical aid. As I was going there, the guys raided a nearby bandit camp where the guys who attack Riess had gone and taken a power core that's needed to power Santucary's shields. Well, I got Riess to the city and after some arguing and threats of having DT shish kabob the guard we got in, and immediately this guy Doctor Zed took him to their infirmary, I ended up acting as an extra pair of hands to get things for them because Zed needed all the help to stabilize Riess. It was then that Kai showed up, I was behind some curtains, and Zed told him Riess wasn't gonna make it. Well, Riess was basically Kai's friend/adopted big brother so I had to watch as he watched his friend die on him and tell him his last words and, and… *Sniff* Oh god why does this still hurt to think about."

A soft whine could be heard coming near Gaige. "Thanks, Hati, I needed that… Oh, umm, Hati is Kai's AI hologram wolf companion, he's just giving me some comfort."

"AWW, he has a dog! Bonus point in the potential boyfriend department!" Paige cheered.

"Really, is that what it takes to get a women's interest?" Gabriel deadpan.

"Oh hush, you already married so why complain now."

"Where was I, right, so after Riess died I followed Kai to Moxxi's where he told her about Riess. Apparently, they were dating and Kai told her he was planning on asking her to marry him… Poor women. After which, Kai left after letting her cry herself dry on his shoulder for several minutes. At this point, I had no idea what to do until Moxxi found me hiding. So after explaining who I was, why I was hiding, and everything else Moxxi and her waitresses told me a bit about what happened to him when Polaris fell… Apart from watching it, he apparently had to listen over comms to people he knew dying."

"Oh my, that poor boy." Paige said.

"So they tell me to just go be with him as he's dealing with the situation was the best I could do at the time… Not in that way! Anyways, so when I do get there… and after a few things."

They heard what sounded like snickering from the wolf. "Shut up Hati! You weren't even there. Like I was saying, we finally met, after his initial shock of seeing me, we talked. And I told him about how Riess died… The guy nearly went on a one-man vendetta against an entire bandit clan as a form of retribution. Luckily I knocked some sense into him… Literally, sorry Kai."

The wolf let out another snicker in the background. "Shut up! Anyways that was the first day, so the next day I found out the others had been quarantined by Zed because Sal ate several pimentaco which got him sick. After a very interesting first meeting."

"It was a Truxican standoff Gaige." Kai said in the background as they heard something heavy being set down.

"They were just a little… Overprotective."

"You had a firing squad waiting for me!"

"As did you."

"You've met Moxxi, what would indicate she wouldn't do that!"

"Hmm."

Sounds like when you first met my father. Paige said, noting a visible shiver from her husband.

"Please don't mention that."

"Anyways I got more things to help Moxxi with." Kai said as he could be heard moving up some stares.

"So after we defused the situation Hammerlock who had fixed the fast travel in Liarsburg, offered us a job. We had to help him study some bullymongs in order to help him find a new name for the species. Every time he thought he found a name though it was copyrighted or a no-go with his publisher. Personally, I think Bonerfarts is an awesome name and describes the assholes well."

"During our job, Kai and I came across this psycho called Savage Lee, apparently he like, lives with the… *Pfft!* Bonerfarts. Hammerlock had us try to kill him. I had questioned this but the Lee said… well let me just play it back."

"I'm gonna feed you to the pack, then I'll wear your bloody ribcage like a corset."

"Yeah, screw that. So we chased him and had him cornered. But he somehow calls two super Badass… *PFFT!* Bonerfarts, these huge bone armored mongs that were three meters tall, which we stood our ground against-."

"You guys ran from them." Came a familiar voice.

"Agh! Moxxi, where'd you come from?"

"I'm just moving some things."

"Well, how did you know what we're doing?"

"Abigail was watching through your ECHO, and you guys faulted like a virgin on prom night suffering from performance anxiety."

"Seriously why would you ruin my street cred? Also, how?"

"Please, hacking into a person's ECHO is second nature around here, hell, it's even faster than going through your contacts most of the time." Moxxi said in a nonchalant tone.

"I need to secure my ECHO." Gaige said.

"Good luck with that. I think Kai is the only one with a fully secure ECHO outside of Hyperion, and he's not sure how it was done. Something a friend did for him." Moxxi said they heard her walking away. "Oh and dear, as a woman with her own ECHO show with a few million subscribers, a word of advice don't overhype your skills. After all, everyone loves a good underdog. *Sniff* I sure did."

". . . Are you good?" Gaige asked the women.

"Yes, thank you, dear, it just still a lot too. . . Excuse me." They heard her walk away.

"Okay, so Kai had us perform a tactical retreat as the Bonerfarts chased us. But then we flipped the advantage once we both were able to deploy DT and Hati who took on one of the Boners. . . Did I just call it! HA HA. Oh, Murphy, I might just have to keep calling them that… Why did I say Murphy? Anyways, I had to distract things for a minute as Kai made an IED from some Torgue shotgun shells and dropped a large Shock cactus on it, and then double-tapped it for good measure, only for us to find out it was still alive. In order to break its armor, I punched it with my robot arm! That's right I got to punch out a giant beast... monkey... thing, IT WAS AWESOME!"

"Ahem, right, well Kai put another clip of ammo into its head for good measure. We ended the day with a funeral and wake for Reiss which drew a lot of people surprisingly. During which, I found out Kai has absolutely no alcohol tolerance. I mean one shot glass and a minute later he was blacked out for the next ten hours! Almost immediately after which Sal accidentally, though un-regrettably started that bar brawl that I mentioned before, and I got my first shot of vodka and whisky!"

"Honey, you're too young to drink." Paige said jokingly.

"Old enough to kill, old enough to drink, I say." Gabriel laughed.

"GODDAMMIT!" Scream Moxxi in the background.

"Ugh, Kai what's going on up there?"

"FUCKING HELL, WHY!" Moxxi yelled.

"Let's just say Moxxi discovered one of Riess's sexual fantasies on his computer and is now angry that she did not get to… Partake in the fantasy." Kai yelled back.

"I LITERALLY HAD THE CHANCE TO DO THAT FANTASY WITH SOMEONE, AND WITH THE PERFECT CATCH TOO! KAI WHERE'S YOUR ARMS LOCKER! WHERE GOING BANDIT HUNTING!" Moxxi screamed as something crashed.

It was silent for several seconds with the exception of some quieter yells before Gaige let out a sigh. "I better go help with this. Gaige out!"

The two parents stared at the ECHO for several seconds. "Well, our daughter is certainly living an interesting and exciting life now." Paige said calmly.

"My little grease monkey is gonna be corrupted." Gabriel said with tears in his eyes.

"Oh there there, dear. I'm sure our dear little baby won't do something so debaucherous… At least with some random person. That boy however might be a fine catch, a little rough but given time our daughter should be able to lock him down."

"Paaaaige!" Gabriel wailed as she laughed.

Before anything else could be said a loud screech of a microphone could be heard outside. "Attention Mr. and Mrs. Devol, this is the Edan 5 police force, we have the building surrounded. You are under arrest for assisting the escape of a wanted criminal. Come out with your hands up!" Someone yelled over a bullhorn.

Gabriel got up and looked out the kitchen window to see several SWAT vans, cop cars, dozens of heavily armed officers, and a lot of crime buster bots that to Gabriel looked like shitty knock-offs of his daughter's creation. Along with several news vans and an extremely expensive limo that Gabriel knew had to belong to Mr. Halloway himself. "Well, that took longer than expected. But I guess it was to be expected with the bureaucracy on this planet."

"Well then dear. I think it's time we took our leave." Paige said.

"Yeah, I will admit it's been fun living here… A lot of memories…"

"True, but now that our precious little grease monkey has left the nest to go on her own crazy adventure, it's time for us to leave and head back to our own crazy adventures." Paige said as she set a case on the table and opened it. "I'm just so mad we have to do this, and we just redid the kitchen too." She said with a pout.

"It will be fine dear, home is where the heart is after all." He said as he typed in something in the case. A count downtime came on showing a two-minute count that started before closing the lid. They then made their way to the basement.

Outside an older man in a Police Commissioner's uniform was giving orders to several of his men, as a man in an expensive suit walked up to him. "Mr. Halloway. What are you doing here sir?"

"Commissioner I'm here to witness the arrest of these miscreants who gave birth to that devil that murdered my precious angel." Halloway said

"I see, still I would advise you to get back, as this is an active operation.

"Commissioner I provide nearly 80 percent of your forces funding and have even outfitted you with Halloway industries latest robots." He said pointing to one of the crime bots. "While I will have to wait for the bounty hunters to bring back the main object of my turmoil, I will at least have the satisfaction of seeing those she cares about being severed their punishment for helping out that murderer! It may be a small satisfaction, but one I shell enjoy nonetheless."

In the opinion of the Commissioner, these bots could barely be used as even meter maids with how slow they moved and weak they were. But he was also the reason his police force was so well-armed, could work with little worry of public backlash, thanks to Mr. Halloway's legal teams backing them, and why he now owned a nice-sized beach house on Aquator he planned to retire to. Along with a few million dollars, he had secretly embezzled from cutting the budget for the elementary school crosswalk guard program for Eden's 3 and 7.

As you wish sir." He turned to an officer with a radio. "Send in the Bots." The Chief ordered. Soon three dozen Crime Buster Bots bashed in the door to the suburban house. They quickly searched the floors for their targets only to find nothing. Several bots met in the kitchen looking around until they saluted a Bot with a Police Sargents rank on its head.

"Sir the house is secure, there are no life signs detected. It appears the criminals have evaded arrest." One bot said.

"I see, scan the house again and look for clues, I'll inform the Commissioner." The Sargent bot said.

"Sir, what is that?" A bot pointed to the case on the table. The Sargent floated over along with the other bots who peeked over his shoulder as he open the case. Inside, was what obviously was a bomb with a timer that showed only three seconds left. ". . . Fuck my programming." The Sargent bot said.

Outside the rest of the police and watchers were suddenly shocked as the house exploded, causing wood and materials to rain all around. The Commissioner and Mr. Halloway slowly got up and looked at the smoldering house. "What just happened!?" Mr. Halloway demanded.

"It appears that our targets have decided to not be taken alive sir, rather than face justice. This happens more often than we'd like to admit but it is the reality of this line of work. Thankfully we only lost those fine bots you have supplied us instead of human lives." The Commissioner said.

"Hmm, I see. Well, it is not the best outcome but not the worst eithe-"

*BOOM!*

A second explosion occurred several hundred meters back behind the house at an old warehouse that sat a bit away. From the flames and smoke cloud that billowed a loud mechanical hum of engines could be heard.

"What the hell?" Halloway yelled as the Commissioner stared in disbelief.

From the smoke, a large wedge shape ship slowly raised up. The wedge shape which housed an apparent cockpit tapered off on both sides to two engine housing on the sides with a set of turrets under each, under the chin of the ship was a larger twin turret that was actively moving around.

"HOW DID THEY GET A SHIP! SOMEONE SHOOT IT DOWN!" Halloway

"No… No, it can't be." The Commissioner stuttered.

"What!?"

"It's a Dahl A2 Hercules… It's the Ad Hoc." He said as he stared at the ship.

"Which means that they're the infamous Ad Hoc Fighters! The best smugglers to have flown in the last century!"

The chin turret on the ship, now known as the Ad Hoc, rotated and aimed in their general direction. With a loud crack, a pair of lasers fired out. The Commissioner tackled Mr. Halloway to the ground as something explodes a bit away from them. The ship then quickly turns before blasting off towards space.

Halloway pushed the Commissioner off of him and looked to where the ship had fired only to pale. His new Zentley Z-5000 black super Deluxe limo with robotic chauffeur was now a burn pile of scrap metal. "Guuuggaaaaahhh!" He screamed in anger causing several officers to move away from him. "Those damn Devol's! Commissioner, I want a bounty on their heads!"

"There already is one. Two Trillion from the Dahl corporation." The Commissioner said.

"Tw- Two Trillion!? Just who are these people?"

"They're the best damn smugglers and blockade runners in known space. There isn't a job they can't do, a package they can't deliver, and a law enforcement officer who can catch them. I should know, I chased them across the galaxy for 5 years before they disappeared and I transferred here… To think they were in my own jurisdiction for nearly twenty years."

"I don't care! I want them FOUND!" Halloway screamed!

"Sir I may do a lot of things for you and your family, but I am not chasing those two crazy idiots again, couldn't do it in my prime and they have to be 25 years younger than me. Either find someone else or I'm retiring immediately. I'm too old for this shit!" The man said as he marched off leaving the fuming mega-trillionaire. Nether one noticing a camera drone from a local news team had caught the conversation.

Onboard the Ad Hoc, Gabrial, and Paige were in the cockpit laughing at what they had just done. "I still can't believe it, I can't believe you actually destroyed Halloway's limo."

"Considering you got to blow up the original Crime Buster Bot factory, it'ss only fair I got to take my own stab at that damn family for what they have done. I just hope that damn man was in there."

"Sadly He wasn't."

"WHAT! How do you know?" She asked as she looked to Gabriel who had his ECHO out. He turned the ECHO to show Paige a news recording that showed Halloway's reaction. Paige burst out laughing letting out several shorts as she did. "Oh my gosh! I take it back, I want to see him live so that I can take his world apart piece by piece!"

"Will get to that, while that little video put the word out we need to do something that gets the word out that were not retired anymore." Gabriel said.

"I was thinking about that. What say we do an old classic and show those rookies how to really straf the Dahl depot at Ghastly Draco. I heard they even expanded the defense perimeter." Paige said.

"Oh, by how much?" Her husband said getting excited.

"All the way to Driuq 3." Paige said, putting a manic grin on Gabriel's face.

"But what to drop? It's not like we have anything?" He said.

"I still have a few small bombs in the hold, and a lot of paint." Paige said gleefully.

"Oh, I like this! I haven't been this excited in years!" Gabriel said as Paige got out of her seat and walked behind him to hug him. "Setting course, we will be there in three days. That gives us plenty of time to prepare as well."

"Perfect! Because that also gives us plenty of time for us to review my old home ECHO collection~." Paige whispered into her husband's ear sending a pleasant shiver down his spine.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not gonna sleep tonight?" Gabriel asked no one in particular just before their ship tore into hyperspace.

X-X-X

Sooooo, I know this is a little different, but I kind of wanted to try this format out for a while now. These ECHOs take a long time and I'm not going to make them on regular bases. Such as every four chapters you get an ECHO chapter. Plus I had some ideas I wanted to try with Gaige's parents, they may lead to some future plots.

I had actually originally wanted to make them into a separate story, but after thinking about it for some time I realized it would be too much trouble. Anyways tell me what you guys think about this, and leave a review.

Also if anyone is interested, the Ad Hoc is basically an A2 Hercules from Star Citizen, well the A2's outer frame and weapons minus the listed bombs while maintaining the cargo capacity of the M2 variant. . . Plus a few other surprises.