[Ok, Axton, we're almost there. You finished getting our landing area prepped?]

"Just about, Maya," Axton replied into his ECHO.

"No, ah am not reddy! Ah do not want sum bigass ship parked in ma front lawn!"

[Uh...] Maya's voice was understandably puzzled. [What was that, Axton? I think I got some interference.]

"That was just Scooter," Axton said, motioning at the mechanic to shut up. "He's not happy we're putting this ship of ours right in front of his shop."

[Oh. Is he going to be a problem?]

"Nah." Axton glanced over at the stairwell. Kreig and Salvador had just finished pulling out the last of the stout metal posts that ringed the area in front of Scooter's garage. "Ok, Maya, we're good here. Come on up."

[On our way. See you in a minute!]

"I'll be waiting." Axton clicked off.

"Ah am tellin' you, man, Ah do not want no friggin' vehicle parked in fronta mah shop!" Scooter ranted. "It's like Moxxi used ta say, don't never leave a useless car in fronta yer house! An' don't live in a house with without wheels if it's supposedta have 'em!"

A low pitched whine began to fill the air. Axton grinned in anticipation. "Scooter my friend, I think you're about to change your tune."

"No way, man! Ah-"

In a rush of air and engine noise, the ship flew up from beneath Sanctuary and hovered in front of them. It sleeks lines and black metal gleamed in the late afternoon light, reminding Axton of some of the stealthcraft he'd seen in his military days. He glanced at Scooter, who was staring at the craft in amazement.

"Still want us to park somewhere else?!" he yelled over the engines.

Scooter looked at Axton, a crazed look of mechanical desire in his eyes. "Are ya kiddin'?! Y'all can leave that thing in mah driveway until the sun burns out!"

Axton laughed and switched his ECHO back on. "We're good, Maya! Go ahead and land!"

[Copy. Just give us a second.] The craft sidled around in the air, maneuvering gently. [This is going to be tight. There's nowhere else to park?]

"Nowhere that we can get Brick to!"

[Okay. You sure you're clear?]

"All clear! Go for it!" A stray thought occurred. "Hey, Maya, have you ever landed a ship before?"

[No, but I'm not piloting. Don't worry, we're in good hands here.]

"So who's flying?!"

[You'll see.] The ECHO went quiet.

Whoever it was, Axton had to admit they did a good job. The ship hovered a few more seconds, then spun in place, putting its tail end closest Scooter's garage, and lowered itself diagonally into the open area. Landing struts extended, the engines whining to a halt as the ship touched down, gentle as a breeze.

[See? Told you she could handle it.]

"You did at that." Axton said. He waved his arm. "Okay, guys! Bring him down!"

Krieg and Salvador came back into view, heading down the stairs from Zed's clinic. They were wheeling a gurney between them, Brick's massive and unconscious form stretched across it. Zed himself was keeping pace, making sure the trip didn't tear any of the countless stitches on his body. Tina was trotting beside Zed, carrying his medical kit, and Mordecai was on Brick's other side, holding up the IV bag running into his arm.

Axton winced as he saw his friend's mutilated, heavily damaged frame. Hang on, big guy. If what Maya says is true, we'll have you patched up in no time.

His ECHO crackled. [Make sure you bring him to the medbay airlock,] Lilith's voice advised. [It's the one up near the front, on the right side.]

The airlock Lilith had directed them to was outlined in red with a cross over the top. "Good thing that's a big door," Salvador observed.

"Standard ship building procedure," Axton said absently. "Medbay airlocks have to be big enough to get critically wounded patients in and out easily. There ought to be secondary one somewhere else."

[It's around the back,] Lilith said. With the faint hiss of equalizing pressures, the airlock doors slid open. "Bring him in," Lilith's voice said, drifting out of the opening. "Everything's all set, I got the chamber prepped on the way in."

"You sure this thing'll work?" Mordecai asked, his own voice tense and worried.

"It worked for me," Lilith assured him. "Come on, let's go."

Axton waited as Krieg, Salvador, Mordecai, Brick's gurney, Tina, and finally Zed had all piled in through the airlock. He stuck his head through the door, then pulled back. "I think you're already filled to capacity in there. You said the other airlock is around back?"

"Yes," Lilith said distractedly. "I think Gaige and Zero can let you in. Be careful with him!" The last was directed to Kreig and Salvador as they prepared to move the unconscious Brick.

Axton headed around the aft end of the ship and quickly spotted the door Lilith had mentioned. "Hey, anyone in there?" he said into the ECHO. "Medbay's full, can someone let me in the back door?"

[Hang on!] The airlock doors slid open, and Gaige grinned out at him. "Hey, soldier! Long time no see!"

A burst of relief swept through Axton's chest. It wasn't until he saw her standing there that Axton could really, truly accept that Gaige was safe. "Hey yourself, kid." He stepped through the door and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Uh..." Gaige patted his shoulder uncertainly. "It's good to see you, too, but... really?"

"I couldn't stop him," Axton said, taking a step back. He held onto her shoulders, though. "I have been beating myself up nonstop over that. I am so sorry, Gaige." He was surprised to feel his throat close up a little, and tried to swallow it away.

The confusion dropped out of Gaige's face. "It's okay, Axton. I don't remember everything that happened that night, but I know you well enough. There's no way you would have let me get kidnapped if you could have done anything to stop it." She shrugged. "Besides, you came after me, and it worked out for the best." She gestured to the room. "We got our ship out of it, to say the least."

And that was it, Axton realized. He apologized, she'd accepted, and she wanted to move on. Should've realized that anyone who can shake off getting covered in classmate would be able to handle a little thing like kidnapping. "And it's a nice little ship," Axton said, dropping his hands and looking around. "This looks like a top of the line machine shop. Hey, Zero."

Zero waved tiredly from his seat on a table in the room's center and flashed ;)

"Definitely high grade stuff," Axton went on, examining the tools on the wall. "The medbay looked pretty elite, too, from the short look I got. Did he ever take you to the main ship, or keep you in here the whole time?"

Gaige frowned. "Main ship?"

"This is a shuttle or drop ship, I'd expect," Axton said. "Its engines are too small for intergalactic distances, and the hull size isn't big enough to hold this room, the cockpit, the medbay, and things like quarters and crew amenities."

There was a distinctly predatory gleam in Gaige's eye now. "You mean there's an even bigger ship waiting for us?"

"Stationed slightly suborbital," a female voice said from the doorway. "We can return in the runabout whenever we're ready."

Axton turned around and saw a woman that looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. She filled out her jumpsuit well, though. And she was tall. The girl looked like she had at least a couple inches on him. "Who's this?"

"She's the pilot," Maya said, coming up behind the other woman. "I told you she was good. Flew and landed this thing like it was made for her."

"You don't say." Axton walked over, extending his hand. "I'm Axton. And you are?"

"Quite complicated, my cordial commando," she replied, shaking his hand. "Mighty merry to meet you, though."

"I'll bet," Axton said, still looking at her face. "Do I know you? I'd swear we've met before."

The woman- or was she a girl? Despite her height, she looked young- shrugged. "Show me around Sanctuary, soldier, and the cause of my confusing countenance I'll convey."

"Oh, really?" Axton sounded intrigued by the idea. "Well, let's just take a walk then, shall we?" He offered his arm. She took it and they headed out the airlock. "Let's start with the easy ones. Did we meet in a bar somewhere?"

"Nope."

"Well, that takes out half my guesses. How about while I was traveling?"

"Possibly, from a particular perspective."

"Huh. Recently?"

Their voices trailed off as the pair walked out of view around the side of the ship. Maya joined Gaige at the door and watched as Axton continued to wrack his brain. "Do you want to tell him, or should I?" she asked, her tone amused.

"Nah, let's watch him try and figure it out for a while. It's funny when he tries to think hard," Gaige said with a devilish grin. "Besides, I think she's enjoying teasing him."

"Whose welfare is more Deserving of my concern?" Zero mused, coming over to the door as well. "My sister's, or his?"

"So, how long was the chamber supposed to take with Brick?" Maya asked.

"He should be up before nightfall," Lilith said, taking a seat at Moxxi's bar.

"I though you and Mordecai would be hovering by his bedside until he was up," Maya said.

"Zed cleared most of us out. He said he'd need the space to do a full check-up before he cuts Brick loose," Lilith explained. "He managed to chase out everyone but Tina. She threatened to 'cut a bitch' if he tried to get rid of her." She rubbed her temple wearily. "Can I get a water, Moxxi?"

"Water? Really, sugar?" Moxxi slid a mug over to her. "Little weaker than you usually like at the end of the day, isn't it?"

"I'll explain later," Lilith said dryly. "Besides, I think everyone else is making up for me."

With the mission over and the light fading, the Vault Hunters had piled themselves into Moxxi's bar, determined to drink away the past couple days. Salvador was already making good progress with a half dozen bottles littering the floor around him, and most of the others weren't too far behind.

Axton was going a little slower at the bar, mostly because he was taking time to complain at Gaige. "Seriously, you could've told me!" he griped. "I would've really appreciated the chance to not make of fool of myself for no reason!"

"Ah, it's not that bad," Gaige said, drinking deeply from a large mug. "So you tried to flirt with a synthetic lifeform that was projecting an amalgamated face made from the women in your life. It's not like a vault hunting assassin with mad killing skills thinks of her as their sister or something."

Axton glared at Gaige's smug expression as Maya and Lilith started to laugh. "You know, I don't usually quote my enemies, but this time it fits: You. Are such. A jackass."

Gaige just grinned wider and raised her mug. "And you're so glad to have me back, aren't ya?"

Axton held his scowl for another few seconds, then broke and smiled grudgingly. "You're going to get all the mileage out of that you can, aren't you?"

"You wouldn't?" Gaige spun her barstool around and looked out into the main room of Moxxi's. Zero and Cassidy were relaxing at one of the tables, watching as Krieg did some kind of party trick that involved standing on one hand and Salvador balancing on his airborne foot. "She seems to be doing okay, though, doesn't she?"

"Not really sure," Axton said. "She's my first- what did you call her? Synthetic lifeform? I don't really know what counts as normal for someone like that."

Gaige hid her face behind her mug. "Uh-huh."

Maya grinned and gestured towards the floor show. "She is getting along with everyone else, though." Cassidy, a wide smile on her face, had climbed up Krieg's other foot and was lifting Salvador up to the ceiling."I think she fits in."

"I hope so, for your sakes," Lilith sighed. She looked into her glass forlornly and took another swallow of water. "Ugh. This is going to take some getting used to."

"Switch to something stronger," Mordecai suggested, draining his own glass. "I gave sobriety the night off. After all this craziness, I think we earned it."

"And we're leaving Pandora in a few days!" Gaige said, almost bouncing in her seat. "We finally get to start hunting Vaults out there! Worlds that no one's ever seen or set foot on! This'll be awesome!"

"Did one of my Slabs say they were gonna start hunting Vaults? Because I'm pretty sure I called dibs!"

Almost as one, every head in the bar whipped towards the side door. Brick was standing in the frame, arms spread and grinning. Tina riding his left shoulder with an equally wide smile, and Zed was standing off to one side. "Hey, slabs! Your king is back!"

There was a round of applause and cheers from everyone, while Gaige took a flying leap onto Brick's chest and clasped her arms around his neck. "You had me so worried! I didn't even know you'd gotten hurt defending me, and then when they told me-"

"Whoa, whoa, easy, Little Slab," Brick said, laughing and pulling Gaige off. He held her under the arms, dangling her nearly a foot off the ground. "What good is a friend that won't step up? I'd do it again, even if it ended the same way." He set her down and rubbed her head affectionately. "'Sides, you and the others brought the ship back to patch me up. We're more than even."

Lilith looked at Zed. "How is he, Doc? Really?"

"Near as I kin figgur, he's in great shape," Zed shrugged. "That tube's a modern marvel. Didn't even leave much in th' way of scarring. Heck, he complained it healed some of his older ones."

"Good," Lilith sighed. "At least I won't have to worry about your health out there, Brick."

"Nah, I'm always good!" Brick declared. "You just watch, we're gonna be opening new vaults every week!"

Lilith smiled faintly. "You will. I'm not going."

Maya, Gaige, and Zero traded glances as a chorus of puzzled murmurs echoed around the room. "What's going on, Lil?" Mordecai asked, setting his drink aside. "What do you mean, you're not coming?"

Lilith sighed and sat on her barstool again. "I might as well tell you all now, before any serious plans get made. I'm staying on Pandora."

"Why?" Mordecai demanded. "We've thrown Hyperion out for good. There's no need for us to stay."

"There's a lot of reasons," Lilith said. "To start with, my powers... well, I can't really use them right now. If I went out there, I wouldn't be as effective a Vault Hunter as I used to be. That could put everyone else at risk."

"Pandora still isn't exactly safe," Maya pointed out. "Are you sure you want to stay here? Even if you don't want to keep Vault Hunting, it wouldn't be hard to take you someplace easier to live."

"No," Lilith refused gently, shaking her head. "This is home now. It started off as just another treasure planet, but... I guess sometime around New Haven, it became something else." She looked at Brick and Mordecai. "You both know we could've left a long time ago. It would have been so easy to cut and run when Hyperion showed up, before they really sealed this place down. So why didn't we?"

Brick and Mordecai looked at each other. "Roland," Brick said. "He never woulda left Pandora to Hyperion."

"And we stayed with 'im," Mordecai nodded. "Fought the whole war by his side."

"Mostly, anyway," Brick pointed out.

"And now Roland's gone," Lilith said. "We've got a ship, there's more Vaults to hunt... but I can't leave. Pandora means too much to me now. I've given it too much to just walk away." She rubbed her stomach and braced herself. "And... my child deserves to see what we've fought for. What its father gave his life for."

It took a few seconds for the people that didn't know to realize what Lilith had just said. Mordecai got there first, his mouth dropping open. "Lil... are you serious?"

She nodded. "I just found out the other day."

"Wait... you're gonna be a momma ?" Brick asked, dumbfounded.

Lilith winced. "Oof. Don't say it that way yet. I'm still trying to get used to the pregnant idea first."

"Well, sugar, come my way if you need a wardrobe change," Moxxi offered, sliding her another water glass. "I still have plenty of old maternity clothes on hand."

"Ummm... not to be rude, Moxxi, but what you might consider 'maternity clothes' scares me to death."

"An' don't worry about a thing, Lily," Tina said, slithering off Brick's shoulder to the floor. She hugged Lilith around the waist and laid her head on Lilith's stomach. "Big Sister Tina will teach your lil' Asskicker aaaaall about explosives, an' killing bandits, and everything else they'll need."

Lilith did her best to keep the horror out of her expression. "Oh, good."

Brick sighed, scooped Tina back onto his shoulder, and plopped down next to Lilith at the bar. "Better get me some of the strong stuff, Moxxi. I've got some farewell drinkin' to do."

Lilith tried to smile as she patted Brick's arm. "Make sure you call me from out there, okay?"

"I ain't drinkin' to say good-bye to you!" Brick protested, sounding shocked. "I'm drinkin' to say good-bye to them!" He waved at Axton, Maya, Salvador, Zero, Gaige, and Krieg.

She blinked. "What?"

"Well, they're all still leavin', right?" Mordecai said, taking a seat on Maya's other side. "We gotta give 'em a good send off, and you can't do that sober!"

"You guys..." Lilith protested. "I don't want you to stay just for me! Go be Vault Hunters out there!"

"Get real, Lil," Mordecai said. "We fought the same war you did, remember? The Crimson Raiders need you, and you're gonna need us."

"Besides, sugar," Moxxi said with a wink, "you didn't think they'd leave you and the baby in Tina's hands, did you?"

"Shut the hell up, Moxxi!" Tina beamed down from Brick's shoulder. "But yeah, Lil. Your baby gots three daddies."

Lililth wiped her eyes and pulled her old friends into a one-armed hug each. "Thanks, you two." Then she turned to the others. "And don't any of you even think of pulling the same thing. Someone has to represent Pandora out there, and you're it."

I don't think we were going to stay, Axton thought. He got as far as "I-"

"No argument!" Lilith ordered. "Consider this my last mission objective to you all: get out there, and find some vaults." She smirked. "Optional objectives include collecting new loot, and killing lots of bandits and/or critters. Clear?"

Axton looked around at the others and saw his own eagerness and anticipation mirrored in their eyes, eye, or faceplate. He turned back to Lilith and nodded. "I think we can work with that. But maybe we can still do something to make your life easier."

"Oh?"

"Hey, Cassidy?" Axton called. "This mother ship in orbit. Am I right in guessing it's got more than one shuttle?"

"A trio in total," Cassidy said, nodding.

Axton shrugged. "There we go. You guys keep this one, we'll call down another and head up to the ship once we've got everything ready."

Brick frowned. "What do we need it for? The medical chamber?"

"It's a spaceship," Gaige said, catching on. "Think about it. With a little work, we can patch all its systems into Sanctuary. Shields, engines, maybe even weapons. Even if Hyperion did come back, you'd be better defended and more mobile than you've ever been before."

"And it has quantum communication," Cassidy added. "We could keep in constant contact."

"What about its power supply?" Mordecai pointed out. "Whatever that thing uses for gas, it's gonna run out eventually."

"Not unless you fly it around the solar system three times at full speed," Gaige assured him. "If you keep it parked most of the time, it can run and protect Sanctuary for decades before you have to start thinking about refueling."

"One more thing," Maya said firmly. "You have to promise to keep in touch. I want status updates on you and Pandora, once a month minimum." She crossed her arms and stared hard at Lilith. "And whatever else happens, we'll be back in..." she did some fast counting, "Seven and a half months."

"For a short visit, at least," Salvador added. "Lotsa Vaults out there to hunt, after all."

"Fair enough," Lilith said, smiling. "So, are we all agreed?"

"Well... I guess we are." Everyone just kind of looked at each other for a few seconds. "Now what?"

"I'll tell ya 'now what'!" Brick roared, making the others jump. "Moxxi! Fire up the jukebox, and get the whole town in here! We've got some partyin' ta do!"

"Hell yeah!"

"First round's on me!"

"No lighter fluid this time, Sal!"

"No promises, hermano!"

Moxxi smiled and flipped a switch under the bar, cranking the music to maximum volume and setting the lights flashing.

Once more, Sanctuary filled with the sounds of celebration.

"...so Krieg just scaled the whole building?" Maya asked, laughing.

"All the way to the top, with Surveyors right on his heels and taking pot shots every inch upwards!" Axton confirmed. "He was booking the whole way, too. I don't think an elevator-" he caught the warning look in Krieg's eye "-would, um, have even worked, but the point is, he was really fast up that building."

Maya turned to the big man on her right. "Well, sounds like you really went all out getting us that last leg of the way."

Krieg puffed out his chest. "I pounded the edge of entropy with the fist of fire!"

"Oh, just c'mere." To everyone's surprise, Krieg's most of all, Maya pushed his mask up and planted a kiss on his lips. It was a full thirty seconds before she broke it and grinned at him. "I told you I owed you one."

Krieg blinked, calmly readjusted his mask, got up, and walked outside.

Gaige looked after him, bewildered. "Where is he-"

"Give it a second," Maya said, chuckling.

"I'M FLYING, JACK! FLYING!"

Gaige and Salvador burst out laughing, while Axton raised his mug in salute to Maya. "Someday you'll have to show me what you did in there."

"Maybe Krieg can demonstrate for you," Maya teased.

"Well, fair lady, your kind act has inspired me to perform one of my own," Sir Hammerlock said, coming up to their table. He bowed and offered his hand to Gaige. "Young mistress, might this old chap trouble you for a turn around the dance hall? The night is young, the whiskey is fine, and the music is truly kickin'."

Gaige blushed in surprise and pleasure. "I would be most obliged, my good Sir," she said as cordially as she could, and took Hammerlock's hand. The old hunter led her off to clear patch of floor, whereupon they proceeded to break down the funkiest dance moves on Pandora's side of 1888.

Axton stared for a second, looked into his glass, and waved frantically at Moxxi. "Refill! I'm too sober for what I'm seeing!"

Salvador raised his own mug in toast. "Vaya con dios, hermana! Live the life!" He sighed, took a drink, and leaned back in his chair. "So, what's next?" he asked. "We party tonight and leave tomorrow?"

"Probably in a couple days," Axton said. "We need to see this ship and gather up whatever supplies we need."

"Plus at least one of us will need at least a little piloting instruction, if we're leaving one of these shuttles behind." Maya looked around. "Has anyone seen Cassidy? She's the expert pilot."

"Zero took her for a walk," Axton said. "Not every day you get a new sister, right?"

"Especially one that happens to be a robot," Sal added. "To bad she didn't meet me before picking a name. I would've given her a great one!"

"Like what?" Maya asked. "Trigger Finger?"

"Nah, Rosita! Mi abuela's name!"

Maya raised an eyebrow. "Rosita?"

"Sure! Rosita the robot! She would've loved it!"

Axton shook his head and poured the rest of his drink down. "How many times we tell ya, Sal? Stop watching the old broadcasts from Earth. They're not doing you any good."

"Your friends frolic fiercely," Cassidy said as she and Zero walked around the quiet city. "Do they drink so deeply daily?"

"Some almost nonstop," Zero admitted. "Some, just when celebrating." He glanced at her. "But you knew that fact."

Cassidy nodded. "M- Gaige's memories move in my mind. I'm more familiar with her friends than they figure." She twisted her hands nervously. "She's why I saved you from our psychotic sibling."

"From what I've observed, You have all his memories," Zero said. "That was no issue?"

"Memories without meaning, and a multitude missing," Cassidy replied, shaking her head. "Soul was something he couldn't supply." She looked at the stars overhead.

"You're still troubling Over some personal doubts," Zero noted. "Talk to your brother."

Cassidy gave him a rueful smile. "Is joining your journey justifiable, or just a juvenile joke? " she asked. "You team has faced trials and travails truly torturous. You are fire-forged friends, battle hardened badasses, and close comrades. Do I deserve a destiny deriving from yours?"

They walked in silence for a minute as Zero pondered a response. Finally, he said, "You deserve only What you can make for yourself. Proof earns acceptance." He glanced in the direction of the bar, reflecting on the past. "Prove yourself to them. Show you are more than ego, And you show value."

"Admirable advice." Cassidy squared her shoulders, then stabbed her fist into the air. "Then, with vim and vigor, I shall vindicate my vitality! I-" She broke off, looking up. "Is that a shooting star?"

Living on Pandora did things to your survival instincts. Cassidy, having just been born, hadn't developed hers yet.

Zero's, however, had been sharpened to the point of his blade.

He didn't bother to ask what she meant, or even look in the direction she was pointing. He simply grabbed her around the waist and took a flying leap into the closest cover available, the Pierce Station fast travel room

They were half a second ahead of the explosion.

The 'shooting star' crashed to Sanctuary, rattling the entire city and flickering power everywhere. Zero motioned for Cassidy to stay low, then moved his head just enough to get a glimpse out the doorframe.

Several small fires were burning, and a thick dust cloud filled the town square. Zero activated his scanners, cutting through the opaque air... and stared in disbelief. "No..."

One stepped out of his landing crater almost directly across from them, a red light glowing in the center of his chest. It pulsed brilliantly, tinging the air the color of blood. The light encircled his arms, then flashed into solidity, encasing his limbs in a set of bladed gauntlets that stretched from shoulder to fingertip.

"Impossible!" Cassidy gasped, looking at him. "I impaled him!"

One's head snapped towards them, and his left arm whipped up. Zero had just enough time to spot the targeting laser-

"GET DOWN!"

The wall over Cassidy's head exploded as One sent a wrist mounted missile at them. The walls of the station were thick enough to take that hit, but One sent several more into the structure. The building groaned under the assault... it sounded like one more solid blast would bring the entire building down...

Another detonation rocked the air, but it hadn't come from a missile. It hadn't come from One, for that matter.

"I cannot believe you decided to just waltz into our city again," Gaige said cockily, shotgun leveled at the staggered attacker. Deathtrap floated in front of her, palms still crackling from his sonic blast. "There's a lot of people in this town that owe you a beating."

The dust began to clear, and Zero saw the other Vault Hunters, weapons out, powers ready, blood on their minds.

Axton grinned savagely. "Don't mess with a girl and her friends, sucka."

Every single weapon was unleashed at once, pouring hot leaded death onto the prone figure. His shield sparked, stray rounds threw dust in the air, and nothing else seemed to exist except the hail of fire and fury.

Finally, the last bullet was fired. Salvador squinted through the smoke and dust, looking for the body. "Anybody see-"

A blast of energy threw Salvador off his feet and down the stairs. Another cut through the air, striking Deathtrap and shattering him back into light. It burned through the darkness, blasting chunks out of the buildings around them.

"Scatter!"

Everyone ducked, dodged, or rolled for cover as One pushed himself up, the air around him shimmering with energy.

"That won't save you!" Maya's arm rippled with energy, and a sphere of dark energy crashed into One's shield, staggering him.

But not stopping him. One reacted to the attack, turning in her direction and firing another missile and blowing a hole in yet another building.

Maya ducked back into cover. "Or it just might."

Axton stared at the device on One's chest and arms in horror. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me! He's using an Apex Core?!"

"A what?!"

"It's digistruct power armor!" Axton flinched back as another explosion threw debris at him. "He's wearing a tank!"

"How do we kill the dragon?!" Krieg yelled. He fired a salvo of bullets, only to have them rebound. "The black arrows bounce off!"

"Nothing works against those!" Axton shouted. "You need precision fire to overload the matrix!" He shielded his face as another blast washed over him. "That, or a damn airstrike!"

Cassidy's ears pricked. Airstrike?

"How precise?!" Gaige yelled. For some reason, Axton thought he caught an edge of excitement in her voice.

"I don't know, like Zero on his best day precise!"

"Like a thousandth of an inch precise?!"

Axton started to reply... and tripped over his tongue. He looked over at Gaige's savagely eager face and returned his own maniacal grin. "That'd do it! Whenever you're ready!"

Gaige nodded. "Zero, give us a hand!"

"Everyone else, reload!" Axton warned. He keyed his ECHO and grabbed his first turret. "Once we destabilize his shield-"

"Leave the rest to us," Lilith shouted. "Cassidy gave us an idea. Ready, Maya?!"

In response, Maya sent another blast of phaselock energy at One. When his brother turned to counter attack, Zero ripped off a volley of sniper rounds, dead center of One's armor unit. "Target marked!"

"Now!"

Deathtrap and Axton's turrets all flashed into existence at the same second and tracked their target, the energy distortion Zero had set up with his sniper rounds. All three units opened fire at once, all hammering One's shield in the exact same spot.

For a few tense seconds, the shields held. Then, a flicker traced out of the center of the bombardment. The energy under fire brightened, but the rest of of the field dimmed as the Core tried to protect itself.

"Do it, Maya!"

Maya's phaselock flashed again, but this time, it encased One's shield entirely. With its energy diminished, the field wasn't able to simply repel the space warp, and One hovered in midair, immobilized.

"Over to you, Lilith!"

Lilith's tattoo's blazed orange, and the air around Maya's Phaselock glowed with purple light. With a roar of effort, Lilith flung her arm skyward, and One's body vanished in a brilliant flare, reappearing several hundred feet above Sanctuary.

"Finish him, Cassidy!"

Cassidy's fingers whisked over her arm, tapping out a sequence of commands. Over by Scooter's garage, the shuttle's engine flared to life. It rotated off the ground, aligning itself with the helpless figure. A pair of massive cannons folded out from either side of the ship's body and began to glow with power.

Cassidy glanced skyward, finger poised over her control panel. "Sayonara, sibling."

*Click*

The ship's weapons lashed out, cleaving a path of light in the darkened sky. The beams slashed through the center of the phaselock, and the energy sphere detonated, making the sky above Sanctuary as bright as day.

Gradually, the light died away, and Gaige lowered her arm, staring at the empty sky above them. "Is that it, this time? Is he really dead?"

"Dead, deceased, defunct," Zero confirmed, still looking up. "I watched him disintegrate." He clapped an arm around Cassidy's shoulders. "Well done, little sis."

Cassidy stared at the dispersing cloud of smoke with vengeful satisfaction. "Eradicating an enemy with an excess of energy is extremely enjoyable." She grinned, an expression tinged with ferocity. "How soon can we shoot more suckers?"

Axton smirked and slapped Gaige on the back. "I think your girl's gonna fit in just fine."

[Thank you for reading!]