12… The True Power of the Problem

I had sent Scarlett and her pirates home to Wurmwater, and she echoed me when she got there. "So, uh, sorry 'bout the whole betrayal thing. I'm really sorry." I chuckled. "I bet they were more sorry that they tried to kill you, now that they know you're a Siren." She laughed. "Yeah. Hey, tell your sister to get better for me, Bye!" She hung up, and I looked at Patricia, who was now in Brick's arms. She nodded. She heard the whole thing, and I didn't have to tell. I had sent us to a place called Tundra Express. Lilith said they knew someone here. I was informed that telling Patricia where we were wasn't the best idea, so I kept quiet.

I followed the others, and we ended up in a cave. There were stuffed toys everywhere. Patty's eyes were closed. A young girl, about 15, sat at a desk. A picture was in her hands. She was younger in the picture, and the tall black man with her looked familiar. I realized that he was in the picture on the Crimson Raiders recruit posters, and in some of the pictures of the original Vault Hunters showed Lilith and this guy. His name was Roland. I guessed that he was dead, because she was crying. She perked up when she saw us.

"Sup, shawtys! Heard about Sanctuary. All of Roland's work, lost. You know what? S-C-R-E-W Hyperion. So, who we got here? " She had moved, and I hadn't noticed. She hovered over my sister. "Tannis. Who's this one?" She pointed over her shoulder at me with her thumb. "Alice Tannis, her sister." The younger Hunters glanced between us, and some hit themselves. "Oh! I should've seen it!" The blonde brown haired man hit his forehead. "Alice T. and the face shoulda given it away."

The girl nodded. "Cool, cool. My names Tiny Tina." Lilith spoke up. "Not anymore. More like Not-so-tiny Tina." Everyone Laughed, except Patty of course. Tina looked her over. "Hey, uh, I think Tannis here needs some needles or a nap." I gestured to her face, which was still black- grey. "She was in a fire. I think she requires needles, as a nap won't do anything for her." Tina took her hand, and flipped it over. Her palms were red and burned. Tina ran her fingers over them. "Tan is burnt bad. Musta been a big fire." Sis opened her eyes "Tan. The only one who calls me Tan is… oh god, not you!" She pushed herself out of Bricks arms, and she fell onto the floor. "Ugh, it smells like gunpowder and must in here."

I helped her stand up, and I held her so she wouldn't fall. I was gentle with her shoulder and arm. The burns were worst on her upper body, and I had an idea why. The next time I see a Hyperion loader, the first thing i'm going to do is yell 'I'm going to do to you what you did to my sister!' and then blast it's body apart, nice and slow. She leaned against me, like I was a post, and crossed her arms over her chest. Her face held relaxation and stress. I could see how much pain she was in.

My neck prickled, and I looked behind me. A large man was behind me. His gaze was locked on me, and I turned away. He stood and walked over to me. I felt his presence. His eyes burned into the back of my head. "This one makes EXPLOSIONS? AWESOME! Do it! Do it! Do it!" I closed in on myself, and Patty shifted. I looked up at the man. He examined my face. "Sorry. Did I scare you? I really like explosions." I looked away. "I noticed. You must be Mr. Torgue." He held out his hand. I cautiously took it, and we shook hands. "So can you really make EXPLOSIONS with your fist?" I nodded. "Would you please show me the AWESOME!" I nodded again.

I peeked out of the cave. A bandit stood alone. I walked over to him. He pointed a gun at me, but dropped it. I shifted. I wasn't new to people dropping their weapons to me, but it still wasn't comfortable. "Hello." He began to have a conversation with me. I shifted as I stood there, and eventually I got so stressed that I grabbed him by the throat. I hit him with my hand, and he flew across the ground, smoke and sparks coming off his corpse. The dust off the ground shifted around where the explosion was, and I felt my face get hot. My cheeks were bright red, and my hands hit my hips nervously with the sides of my fists. I crossed my arms over my chest and comforted myself. He liked me. I made a few disgusted sounds, and returned to the cave.

Mr. Torgue's face made mine turn redder. I brushed past him, and returned to where I was before. I dared not touch anything, because I knew my emotions would get the better of me. I was shaking, trying to forget the whole thing. I saw the man's face in the back of my mind. Blech. I shivered. I couldn't stop thinking of the way he looked at me. I knew I looked like I had just gotten out of a freezing pool full of red paint.

"You alright there, Alice?" The blue haired man was in front of me. "Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm o-ok." I was stuttering. I tried to regain my posture, but that experience was too disgusting. I was glad none of these people liked me, or at least weren't expressing it. Patty understood. We were both terrible with romantic situations, and that's why she and Philippe were such a good couple before he died. After that, Patricia became very hard to approach, but i've always been that way around men. That whole scene was my romantic life put into a one minute experience, except for the killing him part.

I couldn't stop moving. It was getting on my nerves. It's never taken 20 minutes to regain my sanity from something like that, but I'm a Siren on Pandora now. I accidentally touched a metal chair, and electricity ran through it. I sent such a concentrated shock that I saw it flow into the floor and disappear. I saw my mark go purple for a second, before it returned to its blaring golden tone. Lilith went to touch me, but I ducked under her arm and continued pacing.

"God,Tannis. Your sister is worse than you." Patty smiled briefly, and then went back to resting against the wall. "It's been 20 minutes and she hasn't said a word or stopped moving. It's like she's never been complimented before. At least she didn't cover him in blood." This time Patricia smiled for real, proudly and triumphantly. I wasn't stopping because I couldn't. I was super stressed, and I didn't care that everyone was worried about me. I hated everything at the moment, and yet I wished I could come back to the real world. I just didn't know. I wanted more than anything to leave Pandora, but I'd made so many new friends, if I could call them that, and had found my sister.

After about half an hour, I felt the last remnants of my stress run out of my body, and I collapsed to the floor. I waved everyone away, and I layed there. I hurt all over. I wasn't talking, but at least I was relaxed and still. My breathing returned to its normal pace, and I sat up. "Obviously she wasn't ok." The short blue haired man watched me. Lilith grabbed my arm and pulled me up. I brushed the dust off my shirt and looked around. They wanted an explanation. "I don't understand what happened either. It's never taken more than 10 minutes. And I've never been that violent." My body still shook a bit, but I was much better than I was a few minutes ago. My hands twitched, but I could stand up straight again. I could see straight, and everything had stopped moving. "I don't think that was my normal disgust in romance."

Everyone either looked at me or nodded, except Lilith. Her face was a bit more unforgiving. "Wait, it takes you ten minutes to get over romantic interaction? How long have you spent like that? You're very attractive," I gagged, "and if you take ten minutes every time someone acts like you're pretty, you must spent a lot of time alone." I nodded. "An average of an hour on a good day. Split up of course. Unless it's a really bad day, then I could spend up to three hours alone at home. Oh, and once I went to a party. I stayed at home for… a day, or two." Everyone was now looking at me in shock. "What? I'm not good with romance. So what?" Lilith rolled her eyes. The blonde- brown haired man winked at me, and I threw up a bit in my mouth. He laughed.

I went into Tiny Tina's shop with Patty, because she didn't want to be alone with her, and was the one who put the needle in her arm. Tina laughed at my display and talked to me about my marks and their abilities. "So, why were you pacing for so long? You're still shaking! Why are you so worked up? It's like you can't stop." I flicked my head towards her. "I can't! I hate this place. It started when I came to Pandora a few days back. It's like i'm not even me anymore." Tina backed away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" I sighed and looked at Patty.

She put her hand on my face. I leaned against it, but she clamped her other hand on the other side of my face. She stared at my eyes, and she made a few faces. She moved my head around. I could see that they were purple, but more like a shifting purple. "Did someone give you Eridium?" I was a bit shocked by the question. "The doctor. Uh, Zed, I think. Lil and Maya said it was good." She let go of my face. "No wonder you're sick! How much were you given?" I showed her the size with my hands. She shook her head. "I told Zed not to do this. You're a bit overdone, Alice. You'll just have to use it up." I gave her a confused look. She sighed. "You have to get the Eridium out of your system. Its confusing your body. You've got energy, and you can't do anything with it. That's why you're so odd today." I nodded. "But it started before he gave me the rock."

She laughed. "You're on Pandora. You're probably not used to the pull it has. You're marks are attracted to it because its good for them, if you don't get addicted or take too much like Lilith and don't starve your mark like Maya." I made a realization. "So, thats why i've fallen out of bed and been so messed up. This 'Eridium' stuff is making me this way!" She nodded. I hugged her. "That's why the Sandworm was pulling me so hard. I had Eridium in it, so I was super compelled to touch it. Thank you for clearing things up. I'm not as confused, at least." Patty smiled. "I'm glad I could help."