Authors note: Regarding the fate of Bloodwing; this is seriously AU. But this is also chapter 3, so if that comes as a surprise, well... then you have been skipping past the authors notes. Which is probably just as well.

Standard disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands 2, any of it's characters, or any of the other wondrous creations of Gearbox Software, 2K Games or Iron Galaxy Software. However I certainly lay claim to misspellings, mistakes, tweaks, spells and characters of my own creation, and any re-characterization you may notice.

BWBWBWBW

Bloodwing gave a mighty beat with her wings, rising up over the loading area / arena. Krieg, Axton and the two remaining loaders were knocked against the walls of the pseudo arena. Both of the loaders collapsed in a shower of sparks.

As she arced into flight again, Mordecai cried desperately over the open ECHO channel. "The vault hunters are friends, girl, they're here to help you."

Bloodwing showed no reaction.

Gaige realized that she only heard Mordecai's plea through the ECHO network. He hadn't attempted to access any public or open speakers that were "local" to his targets, the way that Scooter sometimes did. So how did he expect Bloodwing to hear him? Of course how did he ever expect her to hear him while she was in flight? He had to have implanted an ECHO receiver into her at some point. Given her lack of reaction to any of his comments, Jack must have removed it.

Circling the arena, the now giant avian gave a cry of rage. Again Gaige's Babbletext supplied a partial translation:

Pain/Disorientation...command/imperative.

Another group of oversized scags charged in from the west. Before they got very far into the arena, there was a violet burst of energy as Maya phaselocked the largest one. Purple tendrils dragged at the nearby pack members, and as they were pulled together, Gaige could see them snarling in irritation at each other. So, maybe she'd been right earlier. Increased aggression. Then came the thunk-thunk-thunk of Axton's turret and between the ordinance from the Commando's "old lady", and the writhing energies of the Siren's powers the pack was reduced to a twisted, dissolving mess.

Bloodwing gave another cry, and for a moment everyone looked up at her. She gave one great beat of her wings, and for a moment she hung, an incredible violet-black shadow against the fading light of the sky.

"She is beautiful." Maya's voice was hushed.

Another beat of her wings and Bloodwing rose higher.

At first Gaige thought it was a trick of the light; but no, she was changing, somehow. The violent clearly slag-tinted hue was fading, and she was changing to a yellow-gold that shimmered in the evening sky.

Then she folded her wings and dove, but instead of coming low enough to grab with her talons, she kept them tight along her body. Her beak opened, but instead of that cry of rage came a gout of red and gold flames.

Maya was the first to dodge, a full out dive to the left. "She's breathing fire!" She rolled to the east, moving faster than the mutated skag she'd been targeting. She landed behind an ammo crate. The skag was crisped. Belatedly Gaige realized it was a damn good thing that she'd not been closer; she would have gotten hurt. But that was a passing thought.

What was going on here, really?

As the great bird passed them over, Gaige got a good look at the golden collar she was wearing. A small tag of some kind dangled from it.

The mechromancer frowned. "DT," she subvocalized silently. "What can you tell me about Bloodwing's collar?" So far Jack had never reacted to her subvocal comments to DT. She'd set up the communication coder to analyze her vocal movements. It worked because she'd replaced the fillings in three of her teeth with mini-motion sensors.

Handsome Jack's voice came over the same open ECHO channel that Mordecai was using. "Just give it up, kiddo. Bloodwing's got ALL the elements at her disposal! Slag! Fire! Electricity! Corrosion! And...and, uh...damn, I forgot the last one. What was it, again?"

Axton's mutter came from somewhere behind Gaige. "If that's true we are seriously fucked."

Deathtrap's analysis scrolled across the lower part of Gaige's visual display. Storage datachip sealed in plas-glass with Mordecai's thumbprint. No indications that it has been accessed or tampered with. Explosives laced through the collar.

Gaige's mouth opened, but nothing came out. Jack was going to ... he had planned this whole thing. Too late she heard Axton.

"Get moving short-stack!"

Turning to her left, pistol raised, she noticed the Hot Loader stumping toward her. It's weapon arm was already raised, and she had just enough time to think "Oh, shit".

She was blown back by an explosion that disintegrated most of her shielding and slammed her into the wall of the arena. She missed landing on an ammo crate by inches. Stunned, she couldn't stay upright. Her legs slowly gave way and she slid down the wall. The only reason that she kept hold of her pistol was that her mechanical arm was less effected by the impact than the rest of her.

She could see the end of the Loader's barrel glowing.

1340 muttered. "Oh. Shit. Boss."

In the moment when Gaige was expecting the loader to fire; two things happened. First her vision was clouded with blue. DT was recharging her shields. At almost the same moment, the loader was surrounded by violet light and rose slowly a few feet off the ground. The energies of Maya's powers coalesced on it, and the thing began hissing and collapsing.

All around her it was chaos. Kreig was leaping up from a newly dead and still bleeding oversized scag to scramble up the stack of crates she'd slammed against. He was completely focused on a small repair drone circling the arena.

"THE METAL FLEAS COME TO DANCE! JACKETS OF LIGHT!" The psycho leapt up, throwing his buzz axe in the moment when the repair drone stopped to hover over a severely damaged loader. The axe carved through one of the surveyor's wings with a cascade of sparks. The wing spun off to the right, the little drone dropped onto a set of metal storage boxes, gave off another shower of sparks, and fell to the ground. The buzz axe continued on it's circuit like a demented boomerang, eventually returning to Kreig's hand. It landed jagged blade first, but he didn't seem to notice or care.

In the sky above them, Bloodwing wheeled slowly in a wide turn.

Mordecai screamed over the ECHO. "Goddammit! Just-just weaken her and I'll hit her with a tranq!"

Axton took careful aim at a nearby loader, taking out it's joints with short bursts of ammo. "Right." He said sarcastically. "Tranq her and we'll just borrow a constructor to scoop her up and carry her home."

Gaige commented. "I don't think that would work. The arms really aren't long enough."

Handsome Jack spoke mockingly. "You really aren't thinking this through, are you? Bloodwing has more power now than you do. Slag. Fire. Electricity."

With another shriek, Bloodwing dove toward them, this time claws outstretched. Her claws crackled with energies; blue sparks arced from one talon to another.

"Yes." Axton commented dryly. "Fucked."