Chapter 5 begin
The group just stared blankly at the sirens for several minutes, speechless and wide-eyed. No one in the room had any idea as to how to react and instead stared at the three sirens as Angel spoke.
"This may not be our greatest plan, but it's pretty much the only plan. Without Roland's expertise in tactics and maneuvers, we're not going to last long against the stronger corporations. Atlas is also the one that was in control of the New-U network while you first vault hunters were adventuring, so if anyone still had his DNA on record, it would be them. Plus, even if we don't get Roland back, we can take down one of them as a preemptive strike and even the playing field a little. And if we do get him back... well... Imagine what you all could do with the greatest tactition, infinite resources, and a human super computer on your side..." she said, gesturing as she spoke. Everyone in the room began to come back to reality, their confusion lessening to only a slight shock as one by one, they all started to comprihend her words.
Zero was the first to regain composure and agree, he then stepped over to her, speaking in his familiar Haiku adress. "A difficult plan/ But a challenging journey/ You can sign me up."
Next to catch up was Gaige. The giddy, eightteen-year-old anarchist skipped over to stand next to Maya, smiling as she spoke cheerfully. "Let's break the forfth wall all over those sleezy businessmen's faces..." She then made a fist with her mechanized hand and released it, digistructing Deathtrap several feet away. The massive automaton made a heavy gurgling grunt, his singular red eye glowing ominusly. "...See, guys! Even DT wants to get in on the chaos! Come on!"
Immediately following observing Gaige's not-so-silent partner, Axton looked back to Maya and shrugged, smiling slightly as he put his hands in his pockets, walking over to stand next to her. "Well... I can't let Zero be alone with all these lovely ladies..." he said casually, glancing at Maya as she giggled quietly, rolling her eyes.
"I'm going tombien." Salvedor chimed in, cocking his machine gun. He then looked over to Brick, who was doing push-ups on the balcony. Brick looked up from the floor with a plain expression on his face.
"What'cha lookin' at, Slab? I never said 'no'." Brick responded, pushing himself off of the ground with one hand before walking into the room and standing next to Salvedor.
"It's not like I've got anything better to do..." Mordecai said with a dismissive voice, forcing himself from his seat sluggishly.
"That's everybody/ Angel, how does this plan work?/ We can't just run in." Zero said calmly, looking down to Angel.
She just shrugged, "I'm not sure... The only thing we'll have going for us will be surprize; not even Atlas would expect us to just attack them, even in their weakened state, they're still strong... And none of the other corporations know that I'm alive either..." Angel said, her body language dismissive and solumn.
"You mentioned Promethia earlier... What for?" Gaige chimed in curiously.
"That's one of the last hub-worlds the Atlas Corporation still controlls... If we can strike at them there, we'll probebly be able to over power them... Also, if we can take it, we should be on the look-out for the dormant vault that's there." Angel replied. The young siren then turned back to the terminal, hacking it to patch it into the Hyperion network. "...One more thing... If I start working to expand Hyperion's influince, I can start manufacturing New-U stations to be used in thwe invasion..."
"That would certainly be helpful... How long would that take?" Lilith asked, looking innto the hologram aswell.
"At current production speeds, three years. However, that's far too slow... the other corporations would definately have strengthened themselves for an assault on Hyperion by then..."
"How much faster would you need to produce them?"
Angel glanced over to Lilith for a second before turning back to the hologram and speaking. "I would need to triple production speed in order for our attack to be anywhere near timely... And the only way for that to happen would be to adopt a figure-head to conduct business in the public's eye to avert suspition... So I have to keep my presence hidden... But the heros of Pandora wouldn't raise any!..." she shouted, her face changing from calculating to optomistic.
"I see no problems/ The pieces moving to place/ The plan converges." Zero commented, desplaying a smiley face. He looked down to Angel once again, his mask projecting a heart. Angel bluched at this slightly, her cheeks growing redder when she noticed everyone staring at the two of them. She smiled faintly, gripping Zero's hand softly as she turned toward the rest of the party.
"So we'll meet again in an hour... I have some records to change and some factories to start up..." Angel said in a quiet voice, beginning to walk out. Before she could reach the door to the stairs, a voice stopped her. It was Axton, of all people, calling her name. She turned to look into his dusted face, noticing the gleem in his eyes.
"So, Angel... Just what did you have to do to disappear exactly?" he asked curiosly. Immediately after his asking the question, Angel inspected his eyes more closly. He had a strange look in his eyes that she was not comfortable with.
"I don't have to read your minnd to know that there's something else that you really want to ask me..." she replied, shooting him a slightly condescending look.
Axton shrugged in defeat, "Alright... Ya' got me... I really wanted to ask you if you really were going out with our tall, silent friend over there..." He then gestured over his shoulder toward Zero, who was gazing out of the balcony.
"Yes. We are." she then leaned closer to him, beginning to whisper innto his ear. "...He's even shown me his face..." Axton's eyes widened greatly after hearing these words, his mouth opening stupidly. He tried to speak but no words came out, only hollow grunts as air passed his lips. Angel then turned back toward the room, waving Maya over.
"What's up?... What happened to him?" Maya asked, looking at Axton's empty expression and shocked eyes.
"I told him a secret... But he'll tell all of you soon enough... Listen, I need you to do me a favor... Axton here is starting to take a liking to me... So I need you to catch his attention before he hurts himself or worse..." She said in a soft whisper, pulling Maya away from the other's prying eyes.
"Uh... Wha'?" Maya stuttered, her eyes widening in surprize, her cheeks turning red.
"I'm sorry for asking you to do this, but you're the only one here that he's interested in... And if Zero catches him trying to court me, he might just cut him down... I don't want to see that... So will you help me?" Angel asked, herr eyes turning to a playful pleading.
"I... *Sigh* ...Okey... I'll do it... For a fellow siren... But if he tries to touch me..." Maya replied in defeat, her eyes and tattoos glowing as whe faised her fist playfully to Angel before walking off, dragging a still stuttering Axton away.
"Zero? Can you come here for a second?" she called, waving her silent lover over. The assassin turned, projecting a question mark, pointing to himself. When she nodded, he walked over, standing with his arms crossed, still projecting the question mark. "Can you do something for me? I need you to make a point for me. Go over and knock Axton out... Don't kill him or cripple him... Just knock him unconscious!" she whispered, kissing the side of his faceplate, attracting some unwanted attention. Zero nodded, using his Deception to slink away, his decoy still standing next to Angel as the two bodies leaned against the wall, seemingly having a conversation.
Several yards away, Maya was sitting on a bench, waiting for Axton to snap out of his cattatonic state. After a few minutes, he blinked, finding his way back to reality. However, this too was taking too long, so Maya took a preemptive strike, slapping him on the back of the head.
"What the hell was that for!?" Axton yelled, turning to the silent siren that was sitting next to him.
"For not coming to your sences! Now hold still while I beat some brains into that thick skull of yours!" she replied, winding herself up for another swing. Axton slid several feet away, waving his hands in fear. Maya chuckled softly, lowering her hand and looking back into her lap. "Sorry. *Giggling* I just wanted to make sure I had your full attention... So what's up?" she asked casually.
"Uh... Nothing... Why?" he asked cautiously, sliding slightly closer to her.
"No reason... Just wanted to know if you were doing anything later..." Maya replied, her cheeks turning a soft pink.
" No... Not really... After the briefing, I was just gonna relax for the afternoon, maybe stop by Brick's for some sparring or somethin'. I donno... Why, did you wanna come?"
"If you're not busy, I was thinking that we could go to the Exploitation Perserve and watch the animals..." Maya said, her blush growing heavier.
"Sure, I guess... If that's what you'd prefer, that's cool..." Axton replied, looking into her eyes. The midday sunlight reflected off his eyes, mesmarizing the beautiful siren, she was now trapped by the deep glint in his experienced eyes.
"Sounds nice..." she said in a relaxed voice, staring deeply into his now excited eyes. Before she could catch herself and snap out of the fleeting infatuation, a hollow thump echoed in her ears as she saw Axton hit the ground, motionless. She looked down at him, thenn up into the dark void of Zero's faceplate. She dropped to his side, trying to rouse him from his daze but he was completely unconscious.
"Don't touch my Angel/ She's not for the likes of you/ You cannot have her..." Zero growled, his synthesized voice full of an actually detectable rage. He then unclenched his fist and walked away. Yet despite his outrage, he did not make noise with his stomping. Confused and slightly terrified, Maya watched the assassin as he walked off before she redirected her attention back to the unconscious commando in her arms. She slapped his face lightly, trying to wake him, when that didn't work, whe lifted him in a phase lock and walked with him off to Zed's clinic.
After several moments, Zero returned to Angel's side at the HQ, leaning back against the wall casually.
"Is he out?" Angel asked nonchillantly, glancing over to her deadly partner. He simply nodded, twirling the hilt of his blade (The object used to incapacitate Axton). "Well then... I'm off to start giving orders and making up stories... See you in about an hour..." She said in a mock cheerful voice before kissing Zero's faceplate and leaving. Zero nodded, beginning to turn from his siren when a thought crossed his mind. He spun back around and stopped her in her tracks, pulling her to face him as he pulled out a shield and handed it to her.
"Be careful..." he said simply, projecting a smiley face.
"It's not like my shield could be broken to begin with... Every other time my shield would break, it simply is reduced to 1, and that effect stays until the shield starts to recharge and resets itself when it fully recharges... Zero, I'll be fine on my own... Besides, I own the company that the workers recieve their paychecks from, they wouldn't touch me... Also I'll be gone for only an hour... Stop worrying about me..."
"Then take this one..." Zero replied, taking away the shield that he gave her before, now handing her the Love Thumper Shield and beginning to walk away. He walked past Brick as he did his daily 10,000 push-ups and jumped straight up onto the roof of the building, disappearing. Angel stared at the shield for several seconds and chuckled lightly to herself, clipping it to her waist, watching it activate around her.
Meanwhile, With Zero...
Zero was hopping from rooftop to rooftop when a familiar feeling set in, again as though a voice was askinng permission to gain access to his mind. He stopped, smiling slightly to himself before nodding, allowing her to enter.
"Yes, Angel?" he asked, standing still, more so than a statue.
"Just don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, okey?" she replied, her voice sweet but worried. Zero again shook his head, replying after several seconds.
"Goodby, Angel... I'll see you soon..." he said with a fained impatients, gaining a soft giggle from her as she ended the phsychic link. Zero then shook his head, smiling to himself, projecting a heart as he thought of Angel for several seconds before returning to his daily rounds around Sanctuary. As he circled the Raider HQ for the forfth time in a minute and a half, he noticed a slight burning on his left side, his fingers on that side beginning to fall numb and grow stiff. Zero then made a decision to stop for a brief delay and check himself, returning to his hidden cave. He arrived without raising suspecions, closing and locking the door tightly and securely before beginning to remove his armor very dextrously. He then reached the under clothing, removing that with less regard. However, when he started to pull his arms over his head to attempt to remove the skin-tight shirt, his joints began to feel stiff and heavy; as though a force was pushing in on the joint and down on the limb as a whole. After a few seconds of slowly removing the light clothing, he noticed a slight bruising beneath the skin in a wavy but indestinguishable pattern that seemed to grow darker almost impreceptively in time to his pulse. Zero just sighed loudly to himself in ample frustration before beginning to put his armor back on and slowly unlocking the door.
End Chapter: Life Changes Pt. 1