[You know, I did a tour on a planet called Precipita III once,] Axton remarked, voice tinny over Zero's ECHO unit. [I was there six months. It rained all day, every day.]

[Oh, really?] Maya asked distractedly.

[Yep. Hard rain, soft rain, sideways rain... it never stopped. I still have socks that aren't dry.]

[Is there a point to this?] Gaige asked, her tone irritated.

Even from five hundred yards away, Zero caught the motion as Axton pointed his gun at the sky. [Just that this is now the second time I've ever been that drenched.]

Despite the fact he was right, and all six Vault Hunters were trudging through Candlerakk's Cragg in a near-torrential downpour, the ECHO chatter amused and comforted Zero. As long as they were griping about the weather, nobody was under attack.

Four of the Hunters were moving forward in a loose diamond formation. Salvador was on point, Axton covering the rear, with Maya and Gaige each holding a flank. It was a solid formation, with an added layer of protection.

Zero and Krieg were running constant circles around their friends, scouting for any of the numerous threats the continent of Aegrus liked to throw at its visitors. Any aggressors were going to have to get past their picket line first, and neither of the powerful melee-oriented fighters was willing to let that happen.

So far, however, it was proving very quiet.

Zero didn't like it. When a place like Pandora, and especially Aegrus the Death Continent, stopped sending trouble your way, there was usually a very unpleasant reason for it.

Gaige was apparently feeling similar. [Is it me, or is this too easy?]

[You mean the complete and total lack of slavering beasts or crazed tribesmen? Yeah, I caught that,] Axton replied dryly.

[It's making my trigger finger itch,] Salvador complained. [Point man is supposed to see some action.] His next words didn't come over the radio; they echoed throughout the entire canyon. "Come on out, pendejos! Say hello to my little friends!"

Considering the distance, the volume on Salvador's shout was pretty impressive. Normally, a challenge roared like that could summon a chubby enemy from behind a skinny tree in a desert. This time...nothing.

[Ok, this is really getting weird,] Gaige said. [Krieg, Zero? Are you guys seeing anything out there?]

"All quiet ahead, With no resistance noted," Zero radioed back. "To my eyes, you're clear."

[Thanks, Z. Krieg?]

No answer.

[Krieg? Krieg, are you there?]

Nothing but static.

Zero broke into a full sprint, gunning hard for the Terminus crash site. The patrol pattern the pair had been running would've put Krieg right near the entrance to the ship. If something up there had attacked him, they would've heard his battle cries throughout the canyon. If it had been enough to put up a decent fight, there would've been even more noise.

But for Krieg to be completely unresponsive, with no sound at all...

None of his friends really knew how fast Zero could be. By the time Gaige made her third radio call, Zero was at the break in the path leading to either the ship or the now-empty lair of Voracidous. When Axton tried his a few seconds later, Zero was vaulting off the roof of a dilapidated shack, and barely touching the ground as he rounded the final bend to the Terminus.

At Maya's call almost immediately after, he was standing completely still, next to Krieg, as they both stared at the clearing in front of them.

Zero managed to tap Krieg's shoulder. "Answer."

The big man, not taking his eyes of the scene in front of them, nodded and spoke into his ECHO. "I'm... here, pretty lady."

[Thank god,] Maya said, relief in her voice. [Where are you? Didn't you hear us calling? We were worried.]

"Found out why the butcher's zoo was closed," Krieg said. "Going to visit the bushes and say hi to lunch now."

[What?]

"Hurry and arrive," Zero said. Krieg wouldn't be able to answer for a few minutes. "Feel free to holster your guns. You've no need for them."

[Zero? Is that you? Where are you? What do you mean?]

"Hurry," he said again, and shut down his ECHO.

Maya frowned at her now silent comm device. "That was weird."

"Running theme for the day," Axton said. "Come on, Sal, let's pick it up. I'm starting to feel a little exposed out here."

"What do you think that was all about?" Gaige wondered. "They actually sounded... freaked out. What could rattle those two?"

"We'll find out in a minute," Axton said. They were coming up on the final split in the path.

Salvador paused, sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?"

For a second, Gaige didn't know what he was talking about. Then the wind shifted ever so slightly, and she caught the scent. "Ugh, god, what did you eat?!"

"Wasn't me, chica," he protested. "That's coming from up ahead, whatever it is."

"It's pretty rancid," Maya coughed. "And it's getting stronger."

She was right. As they got closer, the smell started to turn downright nauseating. By the time they crossed the bridge over the gulf, Gaige was trying to breathe exclusively through her mouth. Barely a hundred feet later, she gave up and slung her shotgun, and was holding her nose shut with her mechanical fingers in a desperate attempt to block the vilely scented air. Then they rounded the corner to the Terminus, and Gaige dropped her hand in astonishment.

The clearing was filled with a pyramid of bodies.

Gaige ran her eyes over it in mesmerized horror. The bottom layer looked like scaylions, then boroks, then stalkers, and finally, a tangle of arms and shields and masks-

The next thing Gaige knew, she was on her knees at the cliff edge, dimly aware of a heaving in her gut. It was another minute before she could lean back.

"You three okay now?"

Axton's voice was coming from right behind her. Gaige didn't turn around, but she did note that Maya was on her left, wiping her own mouth. About ten feet to her right was Krieg, re-settling his mask to its normal position. Gaige stared in unsteady surprise. "That got you?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Zero's getting the door open. The sooner we get out of this air, the better."

As soon as Axton said that, Gaige became painfully aware of the all-penetrating stench again, and just barely managed to hold down what was left of her stomach contents. "God, yes."

Less than a minute later, everyone was crowded into the Terminus' airlock. Zero and Salvador had forced the doors shut, and the smell was greatly diminished- compared to outside, at least. "I don't get it," Gaige said finally, slumped against the wall. "What could have done that? More importantly, why would they? That had to have taken hours."

"Beyond bizarre," Maya agreed, sitting next to her. "Pandora's heavy on murder and killing, and no stranger to insanity, but that looked... ritualistic. Almost like a serial killer's handiwork."

Gaige cast a wary eye over Maya. "How do you know that? Should I check your room for piles of bodies?"

"I read a lot," she retorted. "What about it, Sal? Ever heard of something like that?"

Salvador shrugged. "Nah. Like you said, who's got the time?"

Zero stepped up and handed a small, wrapped item to Gaige. "Here."

Gaige accepted the quarter-sized circle of foil with a small frown. "Is this a mint?"

Zero nodded and handed one to Maya and Krieg each. "A little something To remove the harsh burn of Your stomach gone bad."

Gaige couldn't help but give a wan smile. "For those random occasions when something makes you toss your cookies?" She popped the candy into her mouth, relaxing a little. She had to admit, it was helping settle her stomach.

"Hang on a second," Maya protested, looking at the others suspiciously. "That got to me, Gaige, and Krieg, of all people, but not you three?" She crunched the mint, a mixture of embarrassment and irritation on her face. "What's your secret?"

Zero tapped his faceplate. "No nose."

"Lucky you," Gaige put in dryly. "How about you two?"

"I've smelled worse," Axton said curtly, his face dark.

"What? Where?"

Gaige realized her mistake a half second after she said it. A thick, uneasy silence filled the small corridor.

"Reminded me of the holidays," Salvador said brightly.

Five heads turned towards him. "What?"

"Really! It smelled like mi abuela's house on Mercenary Day."

Maya had to laugh. "You're just kidding with us."

"No, honest! I can still hear her caroling while she decorated." To everyone's mildly horrified amusement, he cleared his throat and started to sing. "Deck the halls with bandit entrails, bang ba-bang ba-bang, ba-bang bang BOOM! See them run from missile contrails, bang ba-bang ba-bang, ba-bang bang BOOM!"

Krieg joined in. "Don we now our killing clothing-"

"Enough!" Gaige clambered up, laughter fighting with exasperation in her tone. "Let's just get the stupid plans and go home. Which way to Nakayama's lab?"

"That way." Zero took point, crouching down as he entered a duct. Gaige followed quickly. Salvador went next, still humming quietly.

"Nice tenor," Maya whispered to Krieg before they ducked into the crawl space.

Axton didn't move right away. He stared beyond the door, into his own mind and at things he had hoped to never dwell on again.

"Ax! Come on!"

Maya's voice shook him out of his reverie. "Right, coming!" A few seconds later, he dropped down next to her... and into waist-deep water. "Gah! What the hell?!"

"The hold has been open to the sky since before the last time we were here," Maya pointed out. "That was what, a month ago?"

"Fantastic," Axton growled. "Now I have boxers that won't dry to go with my socks." He spotted Gaige slogging through the water, Zero keeping pace at her side. "Hey, Mechromancer! Where do we go next?"

"Up there," Gaige yelled back, pointing to the second level. "Right near the weapon hold from last time. There were two or three computers in there; I should be able to pull up the ship schematics on any of 'em."

"Perfect," he griped. "You do realize that's a good ten feet straight up? And the light bridge is out?"

She shot him an annoyed glance. "Relax. The anchor projector points are down here. They're underwater, but I can still trigger them safely."

"You're sure you can even get power to that?" Axton challenged. "This ship hasn't had a working power plant in months."

"The batteries would hold a charge for almost a year, even if the ship was parked normally and actually drawing energy," Gaige said testily. "With all the systems either offline or shut down, there's no reason think to they've drained since the last time we were here." She stopped and glared at him. "You done? I need to go underwater to get to the anchors."

Axton turned away, rifle held loosely. "Just... let's just do this."

Gaige huffed irritably, then pulled off her shotgun and held it out to Zero. "Hang to this for me. I don't wanna submerge it." Zero took the gun, flashing her an encouraging ;) across his helmet. Gaige dropped her goggles over her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, and ducked underwater.

Krieg and Maya had taken up positions on either side of Axton. Zero took a few steps forward, standing guard next to Krieg. Salvador stood shoulder to hip with Zero, completing the circle of Vault Hunters surrounding their friend. He glanced at Gaige's ripply image. "Do welding goggles block water?"

Before anyone could answer, there was a brief flash, and the light ramp began to manifest. Gaige broke the water's surface with a loud gasp. "I told you it'd work."

"You did at-" Maya broke off as the digistruct pillars all across the hold sprang to life, projecting mechanical forms into the air. "Oh, crap."

Gaige pushed up her goggles and looked around in despair. "That can't happen! Those systems aren't even linked!"

"Well, it did happen!" Axton's rifle snapped towards the nearest materializing figure, but he still spared her an angry look. "What did you do?"

"She brought the party!" Salvador crowed. "Gracias, amiga!"

"I didn't do it!" Gaige insisted.

"Blame is not needed; Anger, counterproductive," Zero said, tossing Gaige her shotgun. "Get ready to fight."

"No," Axton said tightly. "We need to get out of this water. Those are WAR loaders."

Everyone's guns went a little higher. "Maya, you think you can phaselock 'em?" Gaige asked, her tone uneasy.

"Not all of them," Maya, her voice tense. "Axton, turrets?"

"Water's too deep," he said grimly. "And I reconfigured for missiles this morning, so wall mounting isn't an option."

"Let the fleet of foot And the strong of arm stand firm. We've got this covered." Zero's sword flashed into existence, and he leapt out of the water, running vertically on a support beam.

Krieg laughed maniacally and waved his buzz axe. "Blankets are on me, sweeties!" He didn't bother leaping. He simply charged at the nearest materializng loader, churning the water into froth and moving like it wasn't even there.

"Up the ramp, while they buy us time!" Axton ordered. "We can offer support fire from the second level!"

"Not 'til my boy joins the party!" Gaige yelled. "Sic 'em, Deathtrap!" With a retina-searing blaze of light, Gaige's creation flashed into existence.

Krieg could overpower the water around his legs. Zero could dodge it. To the clawed, laser blasting, lightning-spewing killbot with a penchant for melee attacks, it didn't even matter. The three mobile fighters fell on the WAR loaders like lions on gazelle.

"Lay on, Macduff!" Krieg roared. He brought his axe down, sparks flew, and suddenly a loader was down half its firepower. Krieg seized the damaged unit, hoisting it over his head. "You are dead, Horatio!" He hurled the loader at one of its fellows, destroying both in a fiery blast.

Zero wall-ran up to the second level balcony and went into a slide, right under a newly formed loader. He slashed sideways, and the loader staggered, its right leg gone. Zero rolled up and off the balcony, cloaking and throwing a handful of kunai as he did. They exploded against the loader's eye, and Zero went after his next target. His leap carried him sword-first into another bot, skewering its power core. Zero barely hesitated, jumping away in a half second, and both machines detonated.

One of the WAR loaders took aim at Deathtrap and started charging its guns. Before it could fire, Deathtrap lashed out with its heat laser, striking the still-arming weapons. The rounds exploded unlaunched, and one more loader was out of the fight. The shockwave staggered another, and Deathtrap took advantage, slicing it to ribbons.

Six loaders had been destroyed in less than two minutes, but there were still eight left, and more were spawning. Krieg hurled his axe, burying it another loader's head and disabling the machine, but he failed to notice one materialize behind him. The machine swung its guns in a clumsy melee attack, and Krieg went flying into the water. Its weapons started to charge-

Zero's katana lodged in the loader's skull. It collapsed, but Zero had thrown his blade from second level catwalk, and didn't have time to retrieve it- another loader had started firing at him. He was on the defensive, trying to outrun the missiles, but his cloak was recharging and he was running out of room on the catwalk-

He jumped.

Deathtrap caught Zero mid-air, and flung him at the loader with Krieg's buzz axe sticking out of its head. Zero grabbed the handle, and his momentum was enough to let him wrench it free as he sailed past. He rebounded off the nearest wall, leaping into the air.

Krieg pushed himself out of the water, looking for the nearest enemy. He saw the loader Zero had saved him from, the katana still embedded in its head. Krieg seized the hilt, pulled the blade free, and brought it down on another loader that was trying to charge its guns. Krieg saw Zero across the cargo hold, crushing a loader's head with his axe.

"Nil!" he yelled. "Trade!" He flung the katana at him.

Zero caught sight and threw the axe at Krieg-

A missile barrage flashed, and both weapons vanished. Krieg and Zero had just enough time to see a WAR loader shift its aim, and then the fire caught up to them. The explosion threw both fighters into the deeper water, off-balance and shields down. The loader was on them in a second, charging for a full-scale barrage-

There was a flash of blue light, and their shields recharged just as the loader fired. Deathtrap kept pouring on the shield energy, blocking the worst of the missile barrage from hitting either of them, but leaving himself open to attack. A second loader targeted its guns, and Deathtrap took a full volley to the chest.

The recharge beam died out.

[Interference eliminated.] The first loader's guns glowed as it recharged its weapons, point blank from the staggered warriors. [Eradicating targets.]

"Shut up."

A sphere of energy flared around the loader, and it suddenly levitated, immobile and unable to fire. Maya, staring down at the battlefield from the second level, clenched her fist. The energy field tightened, and the loader exploded. "No one hurts my friends."

"They gave us cover, boys and girls!" Axton bellowed. "Let's return the favor!" He pulled his rocket launcher and fired, obliterating yet another loader.

Salvador roared with laughter. "Eat lead, pendejos!" Twin miniguns raked the field, shredding robotic limbs and scattering parts everywhere.

"Make me look bad, will ya?!" Gaige yelled, adding her shotgun fire to the fray.

The machines never had a chance to go back on the offensive. Loaders staggered and fell, shredded by the combined fire. In a matter of seconds, nothing was left standing.

Salvador pumped his guns in the air enthusiastically. "I am all that is man!"

Axton looked down, launcher balanced on his shoulder, a smug expression on his face. "You said it, Sal. Nice work."

Zero cautiously raised his head from under the water. "Done?"

"Looks like it," Maya said, panning her gun across the digistruct pylons. "Nothing else is spawning, anyway. You two alright? Any injuries?"

"No."

"Fresh as mountain sheep!"

"Deathtrap's okay," Gaige reported, checking the status indicator on her ECHO device. "Just de-corporealized. I can reconstruct him in a few minutes if we need to."

"Hopefully we won't-" Maya broke off. "What was that?"

It took a few seconds for the others to catch it. Then the sound began to fill their ears: a rhythmic thud, thud, thud... echoing through the ship's battered hull, rippling the water.

And it was getting stronger.

[To me, slashes are/Visually distracting/So I don't use them.]

[To be fair, I'm sure I would've puked, too.]

[Thank you for reading. See you next time!]