Chapter 6

"But first," Axton explained to Maya "We better tell the people of Sanctuary what happened to Roland. None of them would have been alive if it weren't for him..."

"...Alright," Maya said quietly "But I better get some answers-"

"And you will," Axton snapped back.

The four made their way around Sanctuary, telling people what happened to the leader of the Crimson Raiders, who was shot in the back, by a coward. One by one, they were grief stricken to know that the person that saved their lives was killed. Some reminisced seeing him for thr first time. Telling him to kill some of Nine-Toes men, jumping Piss-wash Gully, and buying new weapons. Moxxi began to silently weeping to herself because she always perceived Roland as the only Gentleman-like figure (Besides Axton and Mordecai), it was clear that the lives of Sanctuary would be forever changed. Brick, who was now called the Slab-King was also deeply saddened by the loss of his friend, despite him and Roland not seeing eye-to-eye most of the time.

"I can't believe the motherfucker killed him..." Brick said who was now staying at the Raiders HQ.

"Jack is gonna pay for this...Roland and I may have gone our separate ways a few years back, but goddammit we was my friend! AND NOBODY KILLS MY FRIENDS!" He yelled before punching a hole in the wall (which was made of solid concrete).

"Roland...son of a bitch..." Mordecai said hanging his head down the ground. "He's not taking Lilith...I've lost too much...Blood...and now my friend is dead...I'm not losing Lilith..."

Axton couldn't help but feel responsible for this sorrow, what the hell was he thinking? He was ENTIRELY to blame for this mess. He walked over to Mordecai hand put his hand on Mordecai's shoulder.

"Mordecai...I'm sorry," Axton said quietly.

"It's okay amigo..." Mordecai said quietly "Shit happens..."

"Alright Axton." Maya said sternly "Where's those answers?"

"Alright..." Axton said quietly.

He walked into the room where he was staying in then went over to his shelf and pulled out one of the drawers, pulling out an old ECHO device, then walked back to the main computer, right next to the deck.

"What's that?" Maya asked

"It's my old ECHO device," Axton said looking down at it, pulling a memory chip that was plugged into the device. He then put the chip into the main computer and put it on the main screen.

"From when you served in Dahl?" She then asked

"No..." Axton said before taking a breath

"Hyperion..."

He then pushed play on the screen.

-7 YEARS AGO-

"Hey...Axton," a voice said to the half asleep soldier.

"Hey...Wake up,"

Axton then fully opened his eyes to come face to face with Jack. Who was sitting on the drivers side of a military Humvee, while he was in the passenger seat. Both of them were in a set of armor, but they're helmets were taken off.

"What is it John?" Axton asked rubbing his eyes

"You wouldn't want to miss this Axton," Jack said to him

Axton then fully sprang to life when he heard then asked Jack.

"Wait...Is it actually happening now?" Axton asked rubbing the fog that was blurring the windshield.

"Yeah," Jack said "Can you imagine? Two of the biggest corporations in the galaxy joining forces to ensure global dominion? We'll be unstoppable Axton."

Axton then pulled out his binoculars so he could get a closer look of the exchange.

It was between the Hyperion and the Atlas corporation. They have been having a useless squabble over the decades on who was the superior company over who.. Atlas was mainly focused on military production, hence the Crimson Lance; The galaxies largest military. However, Hyperion had the best technology in the dominion and had it's own privatized military (which was more skilled than the Lance, but had fewer numbers). With billions of dollars blown away by each corporation, just to prove their dominance, only to be known as equals at the end of the day, they decided to come to a truce and join forces so they would dominate the galaxy, snuffing out any minor companies such as Maliwan, Torgue, and Tediore.

"Good afternoon Mr. Blake," a gruff military voice said.

"Likewise, General Knoxx, I am sorry to inform you that the Owner of Hyperion could not attend this meeting, due to prior engagements," Mr. Blake said holding out his hand, which Knoxx grabbed and shook.

"It's a damn shame..." General Knoxx said

"What's going on?" Jack asked Axton who were still in the truck.

"They're just talking," Axton said still looking through the binoculars.

"Mr. Blake, this is Lieutenant Steele," Knoxx said looking over to Lieutenant Steele.

"It's a pleasure, Mr. Blake," Steele said holding out her hand

"Likewise, Ma'am," Mr. Blake said addressing her with the proper respect and shaking her hand.

There was a Crimson Lance soldier that was patrolling around the vicinity and was guarding Steele and Knoxx in case anything should happen. The same thing went for Hyperion, except Jack and Axton were stationed in the car.

"You think It'll work?" Axton asked Jack, which he responded.

"I hope so, but anything can happen," He said paying close attention to the exchange.

Axton then went back to looking in his binoculars, looking around the place. It was in a part of the city of Hyperius that was closed off so no interference could possibly happen. Axton then began looking around the buildings, seeing no one in them, he kept looking around, until he saw a foaint glimmer of light in one of the windows.

"Shit..." Axton said quietly,

BANG

A sniper shot was heard from a distance, shooting Knoxx right in the chest, then another shot was fired, piercing Blake in the kidney,. Then another shot was fired, but this time, one of the soldiers was prepared and then took a bullet for Lieutenant Steele, so she would survive. Steele quickly went over to Knoxx, who was on the ground, clutching his chest, she began angry and looked at Blake.

"The Hyperion bastards set us up! KILL THEM!" Steele yelled draggin Knoxx to the nearest truck and driving away with him in the back seat.

"Ah shit, we were so close!" Jack yelled, but then ducking for cover, along with Axton as the windshield broke from bullet penetration.

"We gotta save Blake!" Jack said to Axton

"Alright, let's' go!" Axton yelled putting on his helmet and loading his submachine gun and cocking it.

They both stepped out of the humvee and began to shoot many Lance soldiers, the Lance was no match for the Hyperion military and their superior training regime.

"John! Grab Blake!" Axton yelled

"Alright! I got him," Jack said picking up Blake and putting him on his shoulders.

Just before Axton was about to run to the humvee, he saw the soldier that took the bullet for Steele sitting in the corner clutching his chest. For some reason Axton thought he was different from the rest, so he began to run over to the soldier, prompting Jack to ask in confusion.

"Axton! The hell are you doing?!" He yelled

"Just get to the humvee!" Axton said "I'll meet you there!"

Axton then ran over to the Lance soldier and then picked him up, which cause the Lance soldier to ask him,

"What are you doing, kid?" The soldier asked between coughs.

"Getting you outta here, here use this," Axton said handing him his gun "Provide me with cover !"

With the soldiers left arm over Axton's soldier, Axton began to run to the humvee where Jack was waiting for him. The soldier was shooting while providing Axton support so they could get out of there.

"Traitor!" A voice yelled from behind, as he charged at the soldier with a knife, prompting the Lance soldier to shoot him down with the SMG.

"Well," The soldier said "I just killed my CO,"

"Doesn't matter they probably think you're dead!" Axton said dragging him to the humvee and putting him in the backseat with Mr. Blake, who was clutching his kidney in pain. Axton then ran to the front seat and shut the door.

"Drive! Drive" He yelled quickly to Jack, who put his foot on the gas and sped out of the combat zone.

After they were clear from the storm, Axton looked in the back and asked Mr. Blake.

"Hey Mr. Blake, how you holding up?" He asked.

"Well, I've had better days," Mr. Blake said before coughing, "I would be dead if it weren't for you two, so thank you."

"Hey," Jack said "We're doing our jobs."

"What about this man?" Blake said looking at the wounded soldier,

"I'll deal with him," Axton said.

They arrived at the Hyperion control facility, Axton then helped Mr. Blake out of the car and handed him to Jack.

"Here," Axton said "Take Blake inside, I'll deal with the soldier,"

"Alright," Jack said putting Mr. Blake over his shoulders "Make short work of him," He smirked and helped Blake into the facility.

Axton went back into the humvee and told the soldier to go up to the passenger seat (which he did). Then began to drive away.

"You can take your helmet off now," Axton said

"What about yours?" The soldier asked

"I'm keepin' mine on, for security reasons," Axton said.

"Fair enough," The soldier said.

He then removed his helmet to reveal that he was a dark-skinned man with hazel eyes, a slight goatee and a shaved head.

"What's your name?" Axton asked

"Roland," He said.

"Well Roland," Axton started "If Atlas somehow knows that you're still alive, they're going to be out for your blood, seeing as you killed your CO."

"Yeah, I know," Roland said hanging his head down, then touched his wound, and gritted his teeth from the pain.

"There should be a first aid kid in the glove compartment, along with some money, take both of them." Axton said pointing to the box

Roland opened the box to reveal a small first aid kid and a wad of about $10,000 stashed there.

"That should be enough to get you off world," Axton explained

"Off-world?" Roland asked.

"Well, yeah, you gotta lay low for a bit, go AWOL." Axton said.

They pulled up to a travel station that had many ships departing to various places in the galaxy. Pandora, the Eden dominion, Athenas and much more.

"Take the money, and buy a ticket to Eden-5. Atlas has no jurisdiction there so they can't hunt you down there," Axton said opening the passenger door for Roland.

"Alright, and soldier," Roland said before leaving the car.

"Yeah Roland?" Axton asked.

"Thank You," He said shaking his hand.

"No problem, now get outta here, before I get in trouble!" Axton said

Roland took one look then ran into the station, to board the next ship to Eden-5, where he should lay low for a few years or so.

All of the sudden, Axton's ECHO device came in with chatter that asked.

"Did you get rid of 'em?" Jack asked

"Yeah, he won't be a problem anymore," Axton said smirking.

"Awesome!" Jack said, "Well, Mr. Blake was so thankful that we saved his ass royally, that he's putting in a good word to the board of directors to get us a big promotion!" Jack said happily

"That's great!" Axton said happy as well."Well, I'll see you at the barracks I guess.'

"Yeah, see ya," Jack said before cutting off the mic.

Axton then looked at the ship that took off from the station.

'Somehow, I think we'll meet again Roland' Axton thought.