Chapter 7
-3 MONTHS LATER-
"My God...' Axton said looking at the lifeless body of Jack's wife, suspended from the ceiling, with a noose tied on her neck, with a knocked over chair next to it.
"What the hell happened here?" He wondered before he heard a faint noise running down the hall.
"Mommy?" The little girl said "Mommy!?"
Axton quickly shut the door that had the lifeless body there and confronted the girl running down the hallway with a smile on his face.
"Hi Angel!" Axton said kneeling down to her eye level.
"Axton..." Angel said sniffling a bit "I can't find my Mommy, where is she?"
Axton then paused and looked around a bit biting his lower lip trying to think of something, before coming into eye contact with the teary eye girl before saying.
"You Mom, Angel, she uhhhhh," He paused "She had to go away for a while,"
"When will she come back?" Angel said to Axton
Axton paused again before saying
"I don't know Angel.."
Angel then had tears freely streaming down her face.
"Hey come on," Axton said trying to cheer her up "Don't be like that Angel, you still have your daddy right?"
"Daddy says you're a bad person," Angel said wiping the tears from her face, causing Axton's face to become grim.
"He did?" Axton asked confused "Well, uhh, do you think I'm a bad person?"
"No..." Angel said
"Well there ya go!" Axton said patting her shoulder, which was covered up on one side for an unknown reason. "People's opinions matter Angel, but most importantly, it's what you think, okay?"
"Okay..." Angel said before hugging Axton "Thank you, Axton,"
Axton then pulled her away and said
"No problem Angel, just remember that your daddy loves you and is protecting you, okay?"
"I know..." Angel said
"Hey sweetie!" Jack said down the hallway
"Yeah, Daddy?' Angel said
"I got a surprise to show you Angel! Come on!" Jack said
"Okay..." Angel said running to her father and grabbing his hand.
They both walked down the hallway then made a left turn at another corridor, Jack took one look at Axton then continued to walk down the hallway.
'What are you up to John?' Axton thought to himself.
-3 MONTHS LATER-
It was a bright and sunny day on the scorching planet known as Pandora. Axton was sitting on a cliff side, holding a high-tech sniper rifle developed by Hyperion. He was looking down at a street that could barely be considered a street, due to the poor conditions of the road, driving on that road would be a challenge in itself, let alone survive in this hellish wasteland. He then went into his back pocket and pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look at the road. Pandora was truly a shithole, it seemed that no order was in place in this planet, and nothing seemed to have sentimental value. Yet he couldn't help but feel a certain charm to this planet, as if there was more to this planet than most people would ever see. But until then, Pandora was a shithole in his eyes.
True to Mr. Blake's word, he put a good word to the board of Hyperion directors for both him and Jack to earn them higher executive roles. As a final mission as a soldier on the field, he took on the role of a Corporate Sanctioned Assassin, killing murderers, cutthroats, and terrorists alike. He was wearing a Combat uniform with tan boots and a couple of magazine pouches in his vest. He felt that one more tour of duty before he shoved off to become an executive felt right, because after this he would become an executive in the Hyperion branch.
"They coming up yet?" A voice said from his Echo communicator.
Axton pushed the microphone button and said.
"No John, nothing yet,"
Axton then paused and saw a small cloud of dust inching closer and closer to a town that had practically no inhabitants whatsoever.
"Wait..." Axton said "I see something," pulling up his binoculars to have an even closer look.
Axton then saw an extremely worn down bus slowly creeping up to the desolate town of fyrestone, the windows were replaced with metal shards so no potential harm could come to driver (at least he assumed). He couldn't see anybody in the bus yet, but intend to see soon enough.
Axton put his binoculars away, picked up his sniper, pressed the eject button, then the scope slid forward electronically. He placed a fresh magazine into the magazine catch, the sniper, detecting a magazine inside the catch, automatically closed itself up and cocked back the bolt, so it was ready for action. Axton then looked through the scope of the gun to get an even closer look, he saw the doors swing open and saw some figures step out, he could hear what they were saying faintly.
The first one stepped out with a bird on his shoulders said
"Man, what a shitty ride that was, what do you think, Blood?" then hearing a screech from the bird.
"The seat was sticky...why was it sticky," The 2nd passenger said walking out of the bus, Axton noticed the tattoos on her shoulder.
'Maybe she's the target...' Axton thought to himself.
"They need to make these things more badass accessible!" Another voice said stepping out of the bus, Axton couldn't get over huge he was, each one of his biceps were equivalent of his head, hell, he could probably crush his head with his bicep!
Then finally the last person stepped out, Axton couldn't believe his eyes who he saw.
"Roland..." He said quietly to himself, the last time he saw Roland he sent him off to the space station with a first aid kit and a wad of cash, he was in bad shape, and he felt kinda guilty that he didn't have the chance to patch him up properly before shoving him off.
"The hell you doing here?"
"Can you stay here for a bit?" Roland said "We need to check out the town for a bit,"
"No worries friend!" Another voice said from within the bus (Presumably the driver).
Axton then pressed the communication button on his ECHO and told Jack
"John, four people just stepped out of the bus, 3 Male, 1 Female, the girl has tattoos on her left shoulder, you think this is the one?"
"What color is her eyes?" Jack asked over the radio
Axton then zoomed in to get a closer look of the supposed Siren. He saw them being led to the town of Fyrestone by a Hyperion built robot. He zoomed in on her face then radioed to Jack.
"She has bright hazel eyes, and her hair is a sharp red color,"
"Bingo," Jack said "That's the one, remember, the Siren is the target, it's alright if you kill the rest but kill the Siren. Radio to me for evac. John, out."
Axton then began to look through the sniper and steady his aim. Until he heard the robot say.
"Oh no...Is that?...Oh No not again! RUUUUUN!" The robot screamed before taking cover.
Axton then saw a couple of vehicles drive over the cliffside and land in front of the 4 people. Axton confirmed that about 15 bandits jumped out of the cars and began to open fire on the people.
"Damnit," Axton muttered under his breath.
He then remembered Roland and that how he saw something in that person, some undefinable trait that made them worth living for. He saw it in all four of them, especially Roland, who seemed like the leader of the group at this point.
"Fuck this Shit," He silently said then began to open fire on the bandits who were attacking the hunters.
It was no problem taking care of the bandits because of three advantages; 1, Axton was a trained marksman at this point, while the bandits weren't, 2, he had the higher ground, and 3, he had the best weaponry money could buy while the bandit's weapons were held together with loose duct tape and dried up snot.
He saw one of the bandits get into the turret of the vehicle and fire a rocket at him (following the gunshot pattern and bullet impact of his sniper).
"Oh no you don't," he said before scooping off his head completely.
He then saw man wearing goggles and a mask stand up and say
"Well, that Guardian Angel chica lives up to her name,"
The Siren concurred with the man.
'Who the hell is the "Guardian Angel"? Axton thought
He completely forgot about the missile that was heading straight towards him, as soon as he realized, he yelled,
"OH SHIT!" and jumped from that vantage point, the rocket completely obliterated his vantage point. He tried to latch on to other jutting rocks and shrubs to try and break his fall, which worked to some extent. He hit the ground quite hard despite his efforts.
He slowly got up from the ground he landed in and was about to call for evac, but then thought in hindsight that they would kill the four Vault Hunters when they arrive. He saw that the bus was still stationed there, where Roland told him to stay, he quickly ran to the bus, making sure he wouldn't get caught, pulled out his pistol and yelled at Marcus.
"Drive!" He yelled
"But-the-the-Roland told me to-" Marcus stuttered only to be interrupted.
"I said DRIVE!" Axton yelled pointing the gun closer to his face.
Without hesitation, Marcus threw the car into drive, and took off from Fyrestone like a bat outta hell. Axton could see through the rear mirror the masked man run out to the highway and yell and throw his gun down. They entered a tunnel and were shrouded in darkness for a bit, before entering the light again.
"Stop here," Axton said sternly
Marcus then slowly hit the brakes on the bus until it came to a halt.
"Are you gonna kill me?" Marcus asked worried, hoping that Axton would spare him.
"No.." Axton said lowering his pistol.
Marcus let out a sigh of relief, only to get greeted with the butt of the gun meeting his face at high velocities, knocking him unconscious and landing face first on the steering wheel, causing a constant horn to be sounded off.
Axton took one look at Marcus before exiting the bus and began walking some distance away from the bus. Axton then picked up his radio and pressed the microphone button.
"John, it's Axton, I need that evac," Axton said.
"DId you kill the Siren?" Jack asked.
Axton paused for a minute, then pressed the mic button again.
"Negative...There were complications..." Axton said deeper, causing Jack to let out a sigh, then saying.
"Alright...Evac's heading your way...John out."
Axton shut off his Echo device. About 3 minutes later, a helicopter hovered down to Axton's location, then the main door sliding open, to reveal Jack was in the helicopter, wearing a tuxedo suit without the Jacket itself and had two guns holstered on his shoulder belt. Axton then walked into the copter and shut the door. As soon as Axton was confirmed inside the chopper, the pilots began to gain altitude and forward velocity.
"I tell ya, Axton" Jack said to Axton "This place needs a good fixin'"
Axton paused then responded "...I guess. Hey, what happened to Angel? I haven't seen her in about 3 months now.."
Jack looked at Axton then said to him
"Angel's attending a boarding school now, she really likes it there," Jack said reassuring Axton.
"Oh...good," Axton said
"Yeah..." Jack said quietly.
Axton studied Jack for a bit and wondered...
'Why would Samantha commit suicide?'