Chapter 8
Zer0 was awake, he stood at the end of the sleeping redheads bed, he was having a quiet discussion with his employer,
"And do you have the rest of the vault hunters in sanctuary?"
"Yes"
"Are you with the siren?"
"Yes"
"Are the you going after the vault key train tomorrow?"
"Yes, everything is in place, give the order for me and i'll make sure they will follow like-"
"Like sheep to the slaughter, alright alright, i knew i hired you for a reason"
"They will perish naturally if you give it time, they will walk into your trap and will be yours.I trust my funds will be delivered to my account also?"
"Yeah sure zer0, just make sure my little 'friends' walk into where we want and you'll have your money"
"Good, i must leave she is awakening"
And with that, zer0 ended the call with his employer, he had alot of money on this and was not up for losing it, he saw her rub her eyes and yawn like a child, 'Innocence lost' he thought with a smirk.
She got up from her bed and walked over to him, she said in a suggestive tone,
"You know, it's rude to leave a woman by herself when she wakes up."
"Then go back to sleep, i have some business i must take care of."
"*Huff*, jackass"
Zer0 left the woman to sleep and contacted Axton over the echo,
"Axton, are there any jobs?"
"As a matter of fact there is, we gotta go out to the tundra express for some spy, he apparently knows the vault key will be on a train going through there, we gotta take it"
"I will go there, give the co-ords for this 'Tundra' and i will progress through...alone"
"Ummm, yeah sure, if you're certain your up for it then sure, thanks for the break"
"I need no thanks, only the kill and challenge, co-ords now"
"Yeah sure"
And with that zer0 received the exact coordinates his employer predicted, he headed out and decided to leave the sleeping siren to rest,'If only she knew what awaits her, almost pitiful...almost'Zer0 thought with a smirk as he punched in the coordinates to the fast travel.
As zer0 spawned in, he walked through the valley, having already been given a map by his employer he knows the place in great detail, he sees where the 'spy' is and has an idea to ignite the local varkid populace on fire to wake him up.
5 minutes and 40 varkid screams later, the hunter awoke, he sounded a little spanish if zer0 was to guess, he looked slim, slightly toned and long hair, he had goggles on his face as zer0 looked through his rifle scope and was...a pretty good shot with his rifle, seeing as he was atop a lighthouse in the valley, he'd have to be.
Zer0 was informed by the vault hunter, now identified as Mordecai, that he should look for a child bomb maker to help hijack the train.
Zer0 approached a cave with live missiles hanging from the ceiling like puppets, he approached a shed with the bomb maker who had just, blew a marauder into a pile of...nothingness.
"Are you the child known as 'Tiny Tina'?"
"Hell yeah sucka...whos askin?"
"Mordecai told me to find you, said you could help me with a train hijacking."
"Awwww, hellz yeah, buuut imma need ma badonkadonks for my 'Ladies' first, if you want the train, FIND THE BADONKADONKS!"
Zer0 backed away from the...intense child and headed for the bandit camp nearby for the 'Badonkadonks'
As he arrived at the gate of the camp he heard the spanish sniper slur drunkily through his echo,
"Need a hand ma man, i got plenty a' ammo"
"No, i wish to go alone, do not fire"
"Meh, if you say so"
Zer0 ignored whatever else the drunken sniper had to say and began his slicing through the camp, this camp held badass nomads and psychos, it provided short challenge for zer0 as he grabbed the two 'Badonkadonks' which were huge missiles and walked back to tina.
"Awwww hell yeah, best day eva!, just gimme a minute an i'll have the ladies ready for youz"
After 3 minutes of worrying explosions from the shed, tina presented the two ladies, which were two stuffed bunny rabbits strapped to huge missiles, zer0 just lumped them across to a nearby hut and placed them on the roof,
"Right, just poke their bellies when you want me to set the 'splosives off, i gotta do it remotely."
As instructed zer0 poked the bellies and watched them take to the air and demolish the train track, bits of the train went everywhere and zer0 went up to find what he was looking for.
As zer walked up the train track and onto the ice shelf, he knew what was to come, there would be no vault key, a power core would awiat him, it would drain the shields of sanctuary and 'Poof', money and another successful job for zer0, he walked harmlessly by the loaders and bits of wreckage, to arrive here, a broken robotic giant or 'Wilhelm' as he was more commonly known, he was there, dead from the explosion as predicted and his power core was on the ice next to him, zer0 echoed ahead to inform Axton,
"Axton, there was no vault key, but a power core that can save the city from destruction, i will return"
"Oh thanks buddy, i hope the varkids were-Oh hey lilith, when'd you get here, nah it don't matter i don't care, so yeah z, get the core back here and we'll see about saving sanctuar-"
He cut the call off as his employer echoed him,
"Is it going according to plan?"
"Yes, they are unaware, the shield will be down in an hour, prepare your attack"
"Right on, thanks pumpkin..."
And the call ended there, zer0 returned to sanctuary, the dull city of 'Hope' for these people, 'almost pitiful how easily they will be wiped out' , zer0 thought as he delivered the core to the crimson raider on the outpost just outside of sanctuary.
'10. 9. 8 .7 .6 .5 .4 .3 .2 .1 and-'
The shield dropped at that exact moment, he heard the raider shout over the echo that the shield was down, before he was blown to bits.
Zer0 ran from the city and watched as the helios station began to bombard the city with moonshot after moonshot, he heard over his echo that lilith was attempting to lift the city into the air, but thought that this feat was impossible, he saw the others appear infront of him as lilith pushed them from the city, she shouted sorry and...it was gone, the city had 0 was impressed.
"How the hell did this happen, we had everything goin smoothly until-"Axton looked back at zer0,
"Until you brought us that core, you son of a bit-"A blade found it's way to his throat before he could finish the sentence, it would seem zer0 has to lie a little onger to maintain this illusion
"I did not know, this is unfortunate but the city is safe, we will find the tyrant and finish him...we will return to sanctuary"
"And how do you know this for sure?" The blue haired siren asked
"I have...faith" Zer0 was almost sick saying that, he has never lied so much in his life. It is shameful, but then again, he kills for a living.
He heard his employer call through his helmet as him and the group progress to the highlands as Roland suggested, the employer told him 'to continue with plan B, incase plan A went to shit', zer0 obliged and was given further instructions, he turns to the group and announces,
"I know a way back, it is complicated but it is certain to work"
"Well spit it out amigo!"
"We find a fast travel and calibrate sanctuary into it's network, seeing as a sirens blast may have corrupted the core files for that location, we must do this if we wish to return to our allies."
"Well, it's the only lead we got...what's the harm in tryin right?" The soldier suggested with false hope, the others bought it though and they began to journey to the highlands.
8 HOURS LATER
As they finally arrived at the highlands, after fighting through the three horns valley and the fridge, they arrived and noticed the flying city, hovering there in the air.
"Gaige, do you think you could calibrate the location into the network?"
"Yeah, but i'd need the coordinates from scooter, and i'd need to breach the main firewall just to add it into the main network and make it available from all of these things"
"Very well, contact scooter and work on it, we may as well set up camp here, no wildlife and a fast travel next to us seems like a good camp, any objections?"
Silence, just nods from the group signaled zer0 that this may shift the plan back into motion.
"Very well, let us begin."
As everyone scampered to do their job, zer0 noticed axton and gaige were being...particularly close and giggling alot, he suspects a deeper form of friendship has been created between the two, Maya has been echoing the marksman known as Mordecai an irregular amount of times, another bond he'd look out for and exploit if necessary, and sal...talks to his shoes.
'A form of relationship has been created between these hunters, exploitation will be easy and success will be achieved faster' in the back of his head he heard, 'And what of you and lilith zer0?, you have felt for the first time in 7 years when around her...you cannot hide it', he knows this is true and decides to distance himself from her for when they get back, there will be no weakness for him, none whatsoever.
After about three hours of irritating giggles from gaige, long conversations with Maya and her echo and sal...being sal, zer0 heard gaige yell, through a laugh,
"It's done!"
"Finally, let us return home"
"What no 'thanks gaige' or 'you're awesome gaige'?"
"Do not seek constant praise girl, it will let you down and weaken you" As zer0 punched in the coords for sanctuary, he realised his mistake when he heard gaige scream,
"ENOUGH WITH THE FUCKING GIRL THING ALREADY!"
And they appeared in sanctuary, surprised that her machine worked zer0 simply gave her a thumbs up and wandered away from the group and into a corner of the city to think, he climbed up on one of the roofs, made sure he would not be disturbed and sat down in a meditation position, his thoughts were beginning to form and he was in complete calmness.
Shortly lived however his helmet rang, and he answered after checking that no-one was near,
"Hey pumpkin, hows it goin in banditville huh?"
"It's going well, they seem wary of me, i may have disturbed them slightly"
"So long as you get them to the bunker, you can leave, only after it though, so wheres my siren?"
Zer0's finger twitched at this, he would ignore it normally but it was his trigger finger this time,
"The siren is not yours yet, but she is here, asleep in the HQ"
"Does she suspect you?"
"No, she fears my skill, but does not think i was purposely bringing the shield down"
"Good, good, hey to get the plan ready for their little assault, i need you to deliver a message to Roland"
"What kind?"
"Just tell him that you spotted a 'Hulking figure with huge fists near the entrance to a bandit camp', he'll get the idea."
"Very well, may i ask why?"
"It's an old friend of his, he's a muscley bastard but civil enough for a bandit, you want his profile?"
"Please"
After a few minutes of silent waiting zer0 recieved it
"Ah, Brick the bandit king, he is an ally of Rolands?"
"Don't question any further, it doesn't concern you but yes he was, now deliver the message"
"Very well."
And with that, zer0 ended the call, he nimbly leapt down from the roofs and approached the raider hq, he entered silently and crept up the stairs to the planning room, he saw Mordecai and Lilith asleep and Roland standing there,
"Roland, i must speak with you"
"Ermm, okay but can't it wait?"
"No, in private now"
"Ermm sure, come on back to the back room"
As zer0 approached a dingy looking room, he walked in and was greeted by a huge hole in the side of the building and a huge fall to those that were not careful,
"I have sources that tell me that we can take out Jack in one swoop, but i need assistance from you"
"Alright, and what is it you need"
"Well, those same sources are part of a gang, known as 'Slabs'"
He saw Roland tense at this,
"So you know what i'm asking?"
"I do, and you're insane, you know they'll tear you up right?"
"They will try, you know as well as i do that the bunker that Jack owns is where he has set up, it wouldn't be as heavily guarded otherwise"
"I know that, but how will a psychotic bandit king help us get to the bunke-ooohhh, you want the air support"
"Sharp minded, yes i do, if we have those men and ourselves attacking the fortress, we will win, we hav two sirens and two master tacticians, it'll be hard not to"
"Hmmm, fine i'll consider it, but the past for me and the king may make it difficult for you to convince him"
"Then write a message, i will deliver and he will assist, mention the fall of hyperion could be because of him, he will come"
"Ermmm, alright and how do you know this?"
Zer0 was walking to the door and stopped,
"I was hired to kill you all, i know a great deal"
"And are you going to kill us all after this?"
Zer0s only response was a ':)' emoticon, before walking out and leaving an uncomfortable feeling Roland in the room.
Roland thought to himself,'I'm not letting you outta my sight assassin'
Authors note-Sooo, what did you guys think of zer0? Not as caring and soft as you thought probably.