Brick hated just sitting around and doing nothing. He preferred a more active style of life, one that involved punching as many things as possible all over and eating junk food all day long. This cell pretty much killed that lifestyle; some sort of a light mist emitted through the air conditioning that kept his body cool and relaxed. He couldn't make a fist, his body was that relaxed. His natural desire to smash and break things had started to fade out of his mind.

And this made him mad. If he could be mad anymore.

When he first got thrown into his cell, Brick tried what he had been designed to do in the first place, smash shit and watch it explode into a thousand chunks. But his fists merely bounced off the four walls and the door as he tried to pummel them like he would against a bandit's head. The lack of metal bursting like a blood melon made Brick growl. He attempted to activate his Berserker Rage, but he couldn't pull it off. He didn't feel very angry. He felt somewhat…calm.

Brick had tried everything he had with him to escape. The walls and the door were too thick to break through and the door wouldn't budge no matter how he tried to move it. He considered trying the sick prisoner ploy…but he realized during practice he wasn't even fooling himself. Considering how the guards outside his cell stood at the opposing wall of the door, there wouldn't be a chance for him to grab a gun. Knowing how smart these guys were in capturing all of them, Brick decided even if his fake groaning would get the guard's attention, he would be riddled with bullets instead of getting proper medical treatment.

So, how would they be getting out of here? Brick wondered. At least his mind hadn't been that dulled to the point where he could consider a means of escape. For starters…he would have to be let out of here. Brick hadn't have been outside of his cell since he arrived. Probably because Lillian wanted to keep Brick in a place where she could keep him under the effects of the calming mist. She didn't want to let the other captives be affected; the mist was actually quite strong. If used on a person who didn't rely on rage, it would turn them into a mindless zombie. And she wanted to break the other Vault Hunters and their allies, not reduce them to things that wouldn't even respond to you cutting off an arm.

Test Subject Jones was very shocked to discover he had lost an arm and a pint of blood without feeling a thing.

And the food provided barely gave Brick any substance. Thin slices of mystery meat, watery mash potatoes, see-through carrot slices, and what Brick assumed to be a brownie…hard to tell. It could be chimney soot hardened into a brick shape. Don't know why he decided to refer to it as chimney soot. Just couldn't call it anything else. Maybe it WAS chimney soot. And why would there be a chimney out here…wherever they were?

At long last came some interaction with someone else. A big tall and imposing guard in thick armor calmly walked into the cell. No gun on him. Brick wondered if this guy had a death wish. If enough of this pacifying air in the cell got filtered from the outside, he could become his old self and easily take down his guy and the other two outside. The big guard silently pointed behind him and went outside to wait for Brick to follow. Brick realized it would be better for him and the others if he would hold back his anger for later. Scope the place out and learn what exactly they had walked into so they can better plan out an escape.

The big guard, Lukas, lead Brick towards a large room. Both Lilith and Mordecai were inside and waiting unrestrained. They didn't seem to be surprised to see their friend. Seems like the person who operated this base wanted to conserve with the first generation of Vault Hunters. Lukas ordered Brick to take a seat in one corner of the room away from his friends. Wanting to wait until someone with a gun appeared in the room so Mordecai could use that, Brick sat down and gave a knowing look to his friends.

In stepped Lillian, wearing a nice white suit. "All is present?" She asked in a quiet tone. "Thank you Lukas. Please stick around until we conclude the meeting." Lukas bowed towards her and then leaned against a wall. "Are we all present? The Siren Lilith, the Berserker Brick and the Hunter Mordecai?" She cleared her throat and waited for a response from the others. Lukas kicked Brick in the shin very sharply, enough to get him to say "Present." Lilith and Mordecai followed suit. "Good." Lillian spoke. "Now then…I suppose the leaders of the Crimson Raiders want to know the full scope of my plan."

"Yeah." Brick spoke again. "Tell us why you captured us and our friends. And if ain't good…" Brick wanted to pound his fists together to try and intimidate his capturers, but the effect of the mist still hung on him and he didn't have the energy to raise his hands.

"As I told Lilith…" Lillian waved over to the Siren. "…me and my men's main goal here is to locate a Vault buried here in the Abyss. We believe that the Vault is located…about…two thousand miles deep into Pandora." Mordecai and Lilith both looked alarmed while Brick remained with the same face. Lillian noticed this and turned to Brick to say: "That's halfway to the center to the core of Pandora." Brick blinked at this, not really getting it. Lillian added, "By going that deep, it will cause massive tremors and earthquakes the entire planet over. It could end up destroying the entire planet by accident if we're not careful."

"That's bad." Brick simply admitted.

"Yes, real bad." Lillian replied in kind. "Big bad. It will be as bad as elephant on a…" She stopped her short and went silent as she couldn't of a proper end to her little…what's the word? Oh, analogy, right. So Lillian went back on track. "Which is why I kidnapped you and your friends. Not only to prevent you from activating the drill and searching for the Vault…and to later conquer Pandora as our stepping-stone into the galaxy and further beyond."

"Figures." Moredcai sighed. "Just another wannabe-conqueror…" Mordecai was quickly silenced by a knuckle sandwich to the head, with a side of boot to the head. Today's special by Lilith remained still. Brick wanted to get up, but he couldn't feel any anger. But surely by know the mist would have worn off! As he tried to consider how long he had been in a cell, a sudden thought sprung into his mind.

He had been knocked unconscious upon being lifted up into the sky. There existed a gap in his memory.

With the room's attention focused on Mordecai, Brick reached a hand around his back, trying to find something that didn't belong. In the area at the base of the neck and in between the shoulder blades, there was a little bump. Feeling it up, it appeared to be under his skin. While Lillian and Lukas were working on Mordecai, Brick placed his right thumb and index on the bump. Anticipating a great deal of pain, he gritted his teeth and pulled hard. His skin ripped open and blood started to seep out. But coming out came the bloody implant. Brick breathed in and out heavily as he crushed the implant in his hand. He could feel himself slipping away…but at the same time? He felt his strength returning…and his anger as well. Brick hid his inner delight for now. He kept his attention of holding onto his open wound.

"Now then." Lillian cleared her throat. She reached into her jacket's right pocket and pulled out a remote. She hit the top-most button and the window on the eastern wall opened up to show the giant drill. "I called the leaders of the Crimson Raiders together so they can witness the start of the end of your world." And by pressing the second button, the drill lit up. The drillhead spun up slowly, making a very clear-sounding buzzing noise. Energy crackled at the tip, and soon a large purple laser shot out and pushed through the layer of earth. The base shook like a 3.0 earthquake.

"See?" Lillian admitted, with a little more giddiness in her voice. "It might take a while, but within about two weeks from now, I shall find the Vault! And the best part of this whole thing?" She turned to face the drill. "This drill is quiet, so we can rest easily…"

Brick jumped up and struck Lillian in the back of the head, flying the little woman into the wall. He growled out loud in both fury and pain, but he raced over to Lukas. The usually stoic guard actually reacted to this by reaching out with both hands and pushing Brick back. But this didn't stop the Berserker, and he just charged forward again and knocked down Lukas.

Mordecai was still banged from his attack, so he didn't join Lilith on her attack against Lillian. Surprisingly, the leader took a blow to the back of the head a lot better than most bandits did. In fact, she stood right back up and back-handed Lilith with enough force to knock her down. Lillian wasted no time and pummeled Lilith on the ground with stomps to the ribs, head, and the pelvis area. Lilith didn't even have time to fight back, Lillian quickly defeated her.

And Brick? He didn't fare as well. Lukas has serious bulk about him, and that was packaged with great speed. Lukas focused more on defense than directly attacking; all of Brick's blows either got blocked, dodged, or barely glanced Lukas. Combining his lack of successful attacks and his still open wound, Brick didn't have a chance against the head guard. And to further add onto the punishment, Lukas fought back with powerful blows to Brick's face, and a couple of punches to Brick's manhood, just to embarrass him.

And then came the finisher. Lukas reached forward with both thumbs raised and plunged them into Brick's eyes. Brick yelled out loud, the most painful thing he ever let escape his lips. Lilith and Mordecai looked at Brick, helpless to stop Lukas from blinding Brick. Blood poured out of his eyesockets…and Lukas kept his thumbs in. He didn't move, didn't laugh, didn't motion or anything. He remained still as a statue.

"That will be enough, Lukas." Lillian cleared he throat. And like a dog, Lukas pulled out and went back a bit to let Brick fall to the floor; holding his bloody eyes and whimpering. Lillian lifted her wrist and talked into the communicator. "I need a team of medics in Scenic Room 04. One of the prisoners has managed to rip off his implant and was given the Lukas treatment. Please treat him, and make sure the next implant will be placed on a major organ. Heart or brain, your choice." She dropped the call and went over to Lilith. "Oh, in case you thought or were going to ask…" She reached over to her right hand and pulled up a fold of skin.

One slow yank of the skin revealed a metal layer of muscle underneath. "You see, I survived a direct hit from a Nukem during my service with Maliwan. Lost my hands, feet, and my skull cracked open like a egg dropped from a mountaintop. Survived that." Lillian once more went off into her 'can't talk' phrase, but she stopped and refolded the skin…the word is…GRAFT!...graft back in place. "I anticipated a great deal of possibilities. If I must fight, I will strike you down…and I will and shall kill you if I must."

"Just do it." Lilith grunted, holding her head from all the blows she received. "I'm a threat if I'm left alive. Kill me, and make sure of your victory."

"No, no." Lillian waved a finger in front of Lilith's face. "I want your help in making my ideal government work. That's why I'm doing this. To make you believe, to make you open your eyes and understand…that I have the right idea." And she turned and left the three original Vault Hunters in the room, left to wait around until they picked up for transfer. Mordecai and Lilith went over to tend to their bleeding friend, covered in blood and forming a thick pool around him…