4 – Kiss
It takes two.
(Timeline: Post-Claptastic Voyage. Not that long after Jack's rise to power. About a month shy of the two-year anniversary of the Vault's opening.)
"Sir?"
"What is it, Jimmy?"
"This may interest you."
"Hmm…" Jack examined the small paper that Blake had given him. "That is interesting. Thanks, Jimmy."
Monday! On most planets throughout the galaxy, Monday was generally held as the worst day of the week. But not on Pandora. This was partly because very few people actually worked 38-hour weeks – especially not since Atlas' fall – but mostly because of the Underdome. The Monday free-for-all was the biggest event of the week, and the stands were always very full. This week, however, Roland, Lilith and Brick were on the ticket, and it was standing room only in the Angelic Ruins.
Moxxi hovered in the back room, her adrenaline bubbling, watching the crowd file into the stands. There was still several minutes until the start of the combat, but Moxxi knew that just watching the crowd enter the arena kept her buzzed. Unable to sit down, she paced for several minutes until the last of the crowd had taken their seats. She grabbed her megaphone from the table, proceeded into the deserted lobby and entered the arena.
Upon seeing her, the crowd immediately erupted into cheers. Moxxi lapped it up, smiling, waving and blowing kisses until she reached the centre of the arena. She ascended to her platform gracefully and swung around the central pole once, waving to the whole crowd with her megaphone, then placed it to her lips.
"Good afternoon, Pandora!" The crowd cheered. "We've got three great matches lined up for you today – are you excited?" Again, the crowd cheered. "And what better way to start than with those masters of the arenas, the world famous Vault Hunters themselves… Roland! Lilith! And… Brick!"
The three Vault Hunters entered the arena to the same reception as Moxxi herself – they were well-known as masterful combatants, and any match featuring even one of them was a guaranteed sell-out. All three of them was unmissable. They soaked up the cheers as they walked towards the centre of the arena (at least, Lilith and Brick did – Roland appeared to be trying (unsuccessfully) to pretend that he wasn't there), and gave Moxxi the thumbs-up when they reached the centre, which she returned.
"As ever," continued Moxxi over the cheers, "they'll be facing wave upon wave of the toughest enemies this planet has to offer, including our local friendly bandits, the remains of the notorious Crimson Lance, and, of course -"
A colossal explosion drowned out Moxxi's next words, and the entire arena shuddered. The cheers turned to screams. Moxxi had stumbled slightly, but kept a tight grasp on the pole to keep herself from falling; down below, Roland, Lilith and Brick had steadied themselves and had drawn their weapons, looking up at Moxxi questioningly. They had barely recovered when the same thing happened again, this time causing part of the arena roof to fall in.
"So I hear," said a voice through everyone's communicators, "that this is an unmissable event. I prefer to think of it as an unmissable opportunity. Don't you agree?"
There was a muffled thud from somewhere far above them all, and the building shook again. This time, the explosions kept coming, and the screams intensified as flaming rubble began to drop from the roof.
"Change of plans," shouted Moxxi, barely making herself heard over the commotion. "Everyone out!"
The crowd was a step ahead of her, and they were already halfway out by the time Moxxi slid down the pole and joined Roland, Lilith and Brick. No words passed between the four of them as they started running for the lobby, dodging flaming debris on every other step. The crowd parted for them, but only slightly, and they allowed themselves to be swept through to the exit and out into the sunlight. The crowd put a good two hundred metres between themselves and the Underdome before slowing.
Brick lowered his shoulder and started to push forward through the crowd, who knew better than to get under his feet. Moxxi, Roland and Lilith hurried along in his wake. They quickly reached the front of the crowd, stopping short as they caught sight of the Underdome.
Smoke was rising off several parts of the building, which was already mostly destroyed. Flames flickered through the shattered windows, sending sparks and embers onto the parched ground outside. Horrified, Moxxi tore her eyes from the carnage and looked up towards Helios, which continued to belch fiery mortars towards the Underdome and showed no signs of stopping. Unwilling to watch, but unable to look away, Moxxi simply stared, her eyes flickering between the smouldering ruin of the Underdome and the uncaring, unrelenting moonbase, her heart sinking lower with every mortar.
What seemed like an age later, but in reality was only a minute or so, the timbers of the Underdome gave a final, defeated groan and gave way, causing what was left of the roof to collapse. Several more mortars collided with the rubble on the ground, before the moonbase finally let up. A hushed silence fell over the crowd for several seconds, before a dull murmuring started up.
Roland nudged Lilith and nodded his head at Moxxi, who remained completely rigid, staring at the pile of rubble in front of them. Lilith nodded, and went over to Moxxi. Roland started making his way back through the crowd with the help of Brick, performing first aid where they found people injured.
Moxxi's communicator, as well as those of Roland, Lilith and Brick, flickered into life. Chuckling came through the line at the other end.
"Ah, I enjoyed that… Hey, you idiots still alive? Damn it. Oh well, there's always next time."
"Civilians are injured, Jack," said Roland, his voice astonishingly level. "That was uncalled for."
"Oh, Roland, it was totally called for," replied Jack. "You idiots just don't learn, do ya? I told those scientists, I told that idiot Huxter, and I told you – you cross me, and you won't live to regret it. You just don't listen."
Moxxi listened to this in silence, her fists clenched. Unable to control herself, she screamed, and every ounce of the white-hot fury boiling inside her tore through the air. Heads turned in the crowd, and on the other end of the communicator, Jack burst out laughing.
"Dammit, Jack," shouted Moxxi, her vision clouded with rage and barely-repressed tears, and the crowd fell silent, "I'll kill you for this!"
"You tried that once already, remember?" replied Jack, his voice turning steely. "How'd that work out for you? See, this is what happens, Moxxi. You destroyed my favourite toy, and now I've returned the favour. I don't forgive, and I sure as all hell don't forget. Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. I'll see you idiots in a few weeks when I get around to burning New Haven to the ground."
The line went dead. Moxxi bit her lip, trembling slightly, then bent double and crouched down, struggling with herself. She felt Lilith's hand clasp her shoulder lightly, and she breathed deeply. Eventually, the battle was won, and she slowly stood up, her vision clearer. Slowly, she walked back to the ruin, her shoes sinking slightly into the ground, which had been cracked and shaken by the mortars.
The destruction was worse up close, far worse, and Moxxi had to pause and steady herself as she reached the place where the lobby had been. She heard three sets of footsteps behind her, and knew that Roland, Lilith and Brick had followed her, but she did not turn around.
She was surrounded by rubble, mostly. As she surveyed the wreckage, her eyes passed over a few things that had fully or partly survived the mortars: a piece of pole from the centre of one of the arenas, an old supply container, half of a Zed's Meds vending machine, a piece of the fast travel station. Moving forward into the remains of the back room, Moxxi found what she had been hoping had survived – her megaphone, thoroughly dented and charred, but miraculously intact. She bent down and picked it up. It was uncomfortably warm in her hand, but she hardly noticed.
She felt Roland, Lilith and Brick reach her, and the four of them stood in silence for several seconds before Roland spoke.
"Moxxi?"
Moxxi turned slowly to face the Vault Hunters, and their presence soothed the pain she felt, at least a little.
"You'll kill him, won't you?"
Roland hesitated for the smallest fraction of a second, then nodded mutely.
"Will you be okay?" he said.
"Yes… yes." Moxxi attempted to summon a smile, but quickly gave up.
"Let us know if you need anything, alright."
"I will." Moxxi turned back to the wreckage, and she heard the Vault Hunters returning to the crowd. She clutched their reassurances to her, and breathed steadily for several seconds before setting off slowly in the direction of T-Bone Junction.
It was several weeks later, and Moxxi had barely ventured from her flat above the bar in T-Bone Junction. News of the Underdome's destruction had spread like wildfire across Pandora, and the townspeople had not bothered her about it, although several of them had left small bunches of flowers and cards outside her door, of which she was incredibly grateful. Her pain and anger still struggled inside her, but they had dulled significantly now, being replaced by little more than a blank emptiness.
The only person she had spoken to since arriving back in T-Bone Junction was Roland, who had contacted her the day after to check that she'd arrived back safely. Just a few days ago, he had sent her a hastily typed message informing her that Hyperion had assaulted and destroyed New Haven, and that he and a group of survivors were heading east towards Sanctuary. In between these messages, and since the last one, she'd spent the bulk of her time staring at the ceiling, alone with her thoughts, which had already passed through the first three stages of grief and had currently settled on depression.
The communicator lying on the bedside table crackled into life sharply. Moxxi reached over and picked it up.
"Moxxi, you there?" came Roland's voice.
"Yeah. You made it to Sanctuary?"
"Yeah. Damn Bloodshots overran the city after Atlas pulled out. They weren't happy to leave, but we managed to convince them."
"Cool."
"Mmm… listen, you ought to join us. Scooter fixed up the fast travel here; if I send you the coordinates you should be able to come straight through."
"That's nice of you, Roland, but I'm alright here. Thanks for offering, though."
"Yeah, I know you can take care of yourself, but there's a rumour going around that Jack's planning to move on T-Bone Junction."
Moxxi sat up. "What?"
"Yeah… I mean, I don't think he wants to raze it like he did New Haven, but I also don't think he'll be nice and polite and not shoot you. Anyway, there's an old bar here that you could set up in. I know we all could use somewhere to relax over a drink, and I think it'll do you good to find something to occupy yourself.
Moxxi clicked her tongue, thinking hard. "All right… Maybe you're right."
"Thank you. I'll send you the coordinates now, but I need to get onto Zed… he's really not safe out in Fyrestone. I'm surprised Jack hasn't gone for Fyrestone already, actually…"
Roland hung up. Moxxi closed her communicator and stood up. She stretched, drawing her back up to its full length, then started to pack her things. The more she thought about it, the more she realised Roland was right – she really did need something to take her mind off everything. It had, after all, been rather a bad month so far.
A/N: Originally, this was going to be the last chapter. However, I realised part of the way through writing it that there might be a better way of ending, so there is one more chapter coming.