Chapter 3

Axton was sitting quietly at the bar with Salvador, Roland, and Mordecai talking about whatever seemed to pop in their heads. Ever since Jack took global dominion over Pandora, Moxxi's business has been put to a screeching halt, that and the fact that Moxxi dumped Jack (which probably wasn't a good idea). Her Underdome was closed off and now she runs Moxxi's bar, a place that sells alcohol and (for some reason) pizza. She enjoyed running the place, of course, the occasional asswipes would try to come on to her and such, but she adored it when people like Roland, Mordecai, Sal, Axton and all those people come around.

"What's happenin' fellas?" Moxxi asked, she always tried to keep interaction among her customers (In more ways than one).

"Oh, this and that," Roland started, taking a swig from his beer he then said "A crazy psychopath inching closer and closer to killing us all, Revolution is falling apart, Sanctuary is now completely vulnerable to an invasion by Hyperion, but other than that, same ol' same ol',"

Moxxi scoffed at Roland's cynical comment, she was trying to lighten up some sorta mood but in return got a snappy remark.

'Typical Roland' thinking to herself.

Mordecai pulled out his bottle of Bladeflower Whiskey that was drank half-way, yanked the cork off with his teeth and was about to take a huge swig, only to be stopped by Axton.

"Dude, maybe you should eat something first," Axton advised to his friend.

"Oh no thanks friend," Mordecai politely declined "Food makes me sick."

Mordecai then put the spout of the bottle to his lips then tilted the bottle diagonally then began chugging the Whiskey bottle, bewildering all of the men at the bar, even Moxxi stared at him slack jawed when he drank the rest of the whiskey, which was about a 750 mL glass bottle.

When he was finally finished with the bottle, he took the spout from his lips and let out a very long "Ahhhhhhhh" signifying that the whiskey literally, hit the spot.

"A man who doesn't eat but drinks like that, he is going to die!" Axton said, still blown away by Mordecai's feat.

"When?" Mordecai then said, becoming more philosophical (Which was normal when he was drunk).

"Why do you do that to yourself?" Axton asked.

"Oh, it's a long story," Mordecai warned Axton.

"Well we're sitting here, and I'm all ears," Axton said to Mordecai.

"Yeah, why did you become like who you are now, sug?" Moxxi then asked.

Mordecai let out a huge sigh.

"Alright" Mordecai said "Well, back in my prime I used to be known by everybody as

'Demonios Mano'"

"Demonios Mano?!" Salvador said in disbelief "He had the fastest hands in the east coast!"

"..In the world" Mordecai said "So anyway, every single bandit, cutthroat, and prairie-punk would always drive into town to try and beat 'Demonios Mano' in a quick-draw. Heheheheh...Idiots"

Mordecai then said "One day, I came across a flyer advertising a shooting contest near town, so I signed up,"

"To make things interesting, I didn't use a sniper rifle like everybody else did, I only used a Jakobs Law pistol, and smoked the competition," Mordecai said with a little pride in his voice.

"But the judges thought I was a cheat, although they couldn't find any refutable evidence that backed that up, so the assholes still disqualified me from the contest..." Mordecai said switching his tone to anger.

"Then one day, I was just walking down the street, minding my own buisness,when I hear a voice yell from behind me 'Reach for it, Mister!'" Mordecai paused

" So I spun around with my weapon drawn, and there I was, face to face, with a six-year old kid..." Mordecai said in shame.

"I just threw my revolver down on the ground and walked away" Mordecai said but then taking a deep breath.

"Little BASTARD SHOT ME IN THE ASS!" Mordecai yelled, causing Moxxi to cringe in pain.

"So I limped to the nearest bar, crawled into a whiskey bottle, and never came out," Mordecai said wrapping up his shit-story with a bowtie.

"Wow," Roland said, finishing off his beer "So that's why you got the little limp in your left leg,"

"Yep," Mordecai said taking another deep breath.

There was a slight silence between the Five of them, the techno music was still blaring in the background. Axton then finished the rest of his beer stood up from the bar stool, then threw down a couple of 20 dollar bills for the drink he bought.

"Thanks for the drink Moxxi," Axton said with common courtesy

"Oh you are so very welcome hon, doors always open!" Moxxi said

"I'm gonna go to Marcus' to see what kinda guns hes got in store," Axton said taking a breath.

"Spoiler alert: There is none," Mordecai said jokingly, high-fiving Moxxi in the process.

"Welp, catch you guys later," Axton said

"Alright then,"

"Laters,"

"Catch ya later, Amigo,"

"Buh bye, sweetheart,"

Axton walked out of the bar, straight toward Marcus' Munitions, which was located at the corner of town.

'Man' Axton thought to himself 'That was a pretty harsh story he told us, he's been through a lot-

"YOU GONNA BUY SUMTHIN'!?" Crazy Earl yelled at him through his door visor.

"NO Earl, I'm fine!" Axton said annoyed that Crazy Earl derailed his train of thought.

"GOOD, CUS I WASN GON SELL ANYTHIN' TO YAS, NOW SCRAM!" Earl yelled at Axton

"Alright I'm going!" Axton said raising his voice, and continuing to walk towards Marcus' store.

'Goddamnit Earl... now where was I? Oh yeah, It must've been so embarrassing to get shot in the ass by a 6-year old, how the hell did he even know how to use a gun?'

By the time he thought about that incident, he was already at Marcus Munitions.

"Hello friend! And welcome to my shop!" Marcus said with his traditional greeting tone.

"Hey Marcus, just checkin around, what's new?" Axton asked.

"Well, have I got a weapon for you Axton! I got a new shipment of Dahl armaments and I thought you would like this new sniper rifle I purchased from them!" Marcus said being the pitchmen like always.

"Alright, I'm listening," Axton asked becoming interested.

"Well, It is called the 'Pitchfork'" Marcus said while pulling out the sniper, it truly was a work of art, I had a long bayonet attached to the bottom and had a very sleek scope on the top, Axton also noted the twin barrels on the rifle.

'Mordecai, you were wrong' Axton thought to himself.

"It features a rotating barrel, so you can fire at a faster rate," Marcus said "And when zoomed in, it has a 5-round rapid fire capability!"

"Alright, how much?" Axton asked

"$250,000" Marcus then said, causing Axton to widen his eyes a bit.

"Well," Axton said, "I DID raid that Hyperion supply line and got my fair share of the bargain, so, I guess I can treat myself once in awhile," Axton then dropped $250,000 on the table, causing Marcus to drop his jaw in excitement.

"Neveroyatnye! I can't believe somebody actually had enough money to buy this work of art! Thank you my friend! For your continued patronage, heres a free pistol, courtesy of Maliwan!" Marcus said excited and gave Axton the pistol, which also was quite impressive, judging by the purple glow emitted from the gun, he assumed it was slag powered.

"Well, thanks Marcus, see you around I guess," Axton said also as excited as him.

"Farewell my friend, if you shop anywhere else, I'll have you killed!" Marcus said.

Axton then laughed then walked up the stairs to go back to the headquarters to show off his brand new sniper rifle and pistol.

'I wonder why he was laughing?' Marcus thought to himself puzzled.

Axton then opened the door to the HQ to see Maya and Lilith talking to each other, and saw Tannis ranting about how 'Fillipe' the ceiling chair was so brave as usual. They both noticed the sniper rifle on his back and the pistol that he carried.

"Wow, sweet sniper, dude!" Lilith said

"Yeah, where'd you get that?" Maya said anxious to know.

"Well it's a limited edition Dahl sniper rifle and I bought it at Marcus' store," Axton said boasting about his newest weapon.

"Forreal?" Lilith said with disbelief "I always thought it was better to pry the weapons from hands of the Bandits ourselves.."

"What about the pistol?" Maya asked

"Oh this? Well Marcus gave it to me for free for buying the rifle." Axton said, causing Lilith's eyes to widen.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Lilith said once again with disbelief "Not only did Marcus sell you a top- notch sniper, but also gave you a weapon...for free?"

"Yeah that's what I was thinkin'," He the looked at Maya then said "You want the pistol Maya? I'm probably not gonna use it, and I know how much you like Maliwan weapons." Axton asked flipping the pistol around so the butt of the gun was facing Maya.

"Wow thank you Axton! This is great!" Maya said grabbing the gun, happy not only because she got a very nice gun made by her favorite manufacturer Maliwan, but also because it was a gift from Axton.

"Hey, you guys seen Zer0 around?" Axton asked looking around for the emoticon emitting ninja.

"Last time I saw him, he was training or something, I think he's upstairs," Lilith said admiring the gun Maya got.

"Alright thanks!" Axton said walking upstairs.

Maya took out the battery cell that charged the pistol, noticing that it was slag as well.

"Hmmmm a Slag gun," Maya said "I scored big time, didn't I?"

"Yup," Lilith said "In more ways than one..." Raising her eyebrows rapidly.

"Oh shaddup!' Maya said playfully pushing Lilith "It's not like that!"

Lilith laughed at this then said "Whatever you say, chica, he's quite a handsome man!"

Lilith then walked out of the HQ, presumably to go to Moxxis for a quick drink and talk to the fearless leader Roland and the town drunk-but-better-shot-than-all-of-us Mordecai. Maya then quietly said to herself while staring at the gun.

"He is quite handsome..."

Zer0 was on the balcony in a meditative position, both legs crossed, with his katana on his lap when Axton found him.

He then put his hands on the ground, then calmly and with grace lifted his body so he was doing a handstand, he then began to do repetitions of push-ups while in the handstand position.

"Okay, you GOTTA teach me that," Axton said to Zer0

"I'll Eventually / We have other matters now / What with Handsome Jack," Zer0 said in a haiku

"I know Zer0, I know..." Axton muttered before going to his room.

Every time he stared at that damn giraffe on his shelf, it flooded his mind with memories.

'You wouldn't want to miss this, Axton'...'He will pay for this'...'I have no time for cowards'...'What are you doing, kid?'

'The voices...these fucking voices' Axton thought to himself while gripping his hair stroking it in angst.

"Axton..." said a soft voice behind him, he could tell Maya's voice from anybody else.

"Yes, Maya?" Axton said keeping his cool.

"If theres anything I can do, please let me know... I'm getting worried," Maya said softly again.

"Why would you be?" Axton said still retaining his cool turning his head 45 degrees clockwise.

"Because you're my friend," Maya said walking up to him putting her hand on his shoulder, noticing how tense it was.

"Please, Maya this doesn't concern you..." Axton said softly

"Why can't it?" Maya said raising her voice slightly "Axton, why don't you want to tell me about that stuffed animal?"

"Maya," Axton said turning around, noticing her very concerned face (and his gun holstered on her thigh) "You shouldn't ask questions you don't know the answer to." He said before sitting on his mattress.

"Funny," Maya said, slightly annoyed "That's exactly what the head monk said to me millions of times,"

"He was a wise man, Maya" Axton said looking at her.

Maya, now annoyed said "Well you can't ask him that because a major city in Athenas was nuked and over 600 people were gunned down in the Mombusha city streets including all of the monks at the temple!"

"I know Maya, I know. I've read the newsletters..." Axton said calming her down.

They both shared eye contact for about 15 seconds before Axton, who was always the person to break the silence said

"You should get some rest, Maya, I should too,"

Maya knew she couldn't do more at this point, so she finally gave in and said

"Alright...Goodnight Axton,"

"Goodnight, Maya..." Axton said calmly

She walked to the door, took a long, saddened look at Axton then walked out.

'Maya...' Axton thought with the guilty conscience he had. He finally closed his eyes and went to sleep, sleep that he hasn't fully had for the past couple of years.

'I'm sorry...'