Heyo!

So someone asked if Gaige and Krieg would also be in this story. In the first draft I didn't plan on it, but then I realized that that would be leaving out a third of the Vault Hunters and I decided that I'd just go for it. However, seeing as Gaige and Krieg aren't in the intro video and that dropping six vault hunters right into the beginning is a bit much, I decided that they won't be featuring in the fic until further down the road. How much further? You'll just have to wait and see.

Also, before anyone says anything about it, I know that I've taken some of the NPC dialog and changed it up, omitted some of it and added some of it. That's because it's hard to fit everything inside of the actually in game dialog. So I'm taking some artistic liberties if you will and down the road they'll be more dramatic differences. Nothing's going to deviate in game changing ways, but a lot of it will be different. After all, you've probably all played Borderlands, so I have to make it a little more interesting somehow.

That is all.

Love it, flame it, hate it, write a detailed literary analysis, I don't care. I just hope you enjoy!

Welcome to Pandora Kiddos

Axton was pretty sure he could hear someone's muffled voice off in the distance, but right now all he could really hear was the ringing noise the explosion had left in his ears.

He spent a second collecting his thoughts, where exactly was he?

Pandora, right? Yeah, Pandora. He had taken a job as a Vault Hunter with a few other people. That dwarf guy, Salvador was it? And that creepy assassin guy Zer0. And that really hot siren chick Maya.

But why was he face first in a snowdrift with his ears ringing?

The explosion. That's right. The train they were on had blown up. Right after it got attacked by Hyperion. Which was weird, because if Axton remembered correctly that's who had given him the Vault Hunting job in the first place.

He groaned and picked his face up out of the snow.

He saw a blinding snowstorm raging around him. Visibility was next to nothing. But he was pretty sure he could pick out a figure a couple of feet in front of him. It looked like a small robot.

Axton pulled himself up out of the snow and stood up. His muscles ached from all of the recent trauma and he wasn't sure how much of his gear had survived the impact. He made a mental note to check later.

He squinted through the snowstorm. He was pretty sure that there was something in front of him and it definitely looked like a robot.

"Oh great," the robot said. "Another dead Vault Hunter. Handsome Jack's sure been busy lately."

The robot plunged into the snow with a shovel and started digging. But after only two shovels full he stopped.

"Wait a minute, you're not dead!" He exclaimed poking at an unmoving body.

"Oh wait... Never mind you're dead... Skag crap." He mutter to himself.

"Uh... Hi there little fella..." Axton said.

The robot looked up.

"But you're not dead!" He exclaimed.

"No... No I'm not."

"That means I can finally get off this glacier! Claptrap your metaphorical ship has finally come in!"

"What now?"

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm a CL4P-TP steward bot, but my friends call me Claptrap! Or they would, if any of them were still alive, or had existed in the first place." The robot said in an oddly cheery tone. "Oh I've got something for you!" He added.

Claptrap handed Axton an Echo-Device and Axton took it.

"Here. Take this Echo-communicator that I totally didn't loot off one of these corpses." The robot said. "It comes with a class twelve heads up display, complete with a mini-map."

Dahl tech. Easy enough to work with, should be compatible with the misuses too. Axton looked back up at the robot.

"Hey," He said. "I don't suppose you've seen three others around here somewhere have you?"

"Nope. Just that dead guy over there." The robot said pointing at a nearby corpse.

It wasn't any of the Vault Hunters that he had seen on the train, which meant that all of them were still unaccounted for.

"Stay here." Axton said to the robot.

"I don't take orders from you!" The robot protested.

"I thought I was your ticket out of here. You want my help you stay put until I come back."

"Fine..." The robot grudgingly agreed.

Axton walked off into the wreck of what had once been a train. Cars were overturned, a couple of them were on fire and some had been completely destroyed in the blast.

Axton cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Maya? Zer0? Sal?" He yelled. "Any of you out here?"

He listened for a response. He thought he heard something over the howl of the wind, but he couldn't tell what direction it came from.

"Maya? Sal? Zer0?" He yelled again. "Is that you?"

This time he heard a distinct "over here" coming from his left.

He turned in the direction of the sound and looked into the blizzard. For brief moment he saw someone through a break in the snowfall. But then the snow picked up again and visibility went back to zero.

Axton headed off in the direction of the figure and a few feet later he bumped into someone. He toppled over forward and landed on top of both a snowbank and a familiar siren.

"Hey there." He said. "Fancy running into you."

"Really?" She replied. "We survive an explosion and the first thing you do is try to flirt with me?"

"Yeah."

Maya rolled her eyes and pushed the commando off of her.

She tried to get up but instead she accidentally pushed herself further into the snowbank.

"Want some help?" Axton said extending a hand.

Maya stayed silent but grabbed the hand regardless. He pulled her to her feet and up out of the snow.

"Have you seen the others?" She asked him.

"Nope, just you."

"Then I guess we should start looking." She said.

The two of them walked off further into the train's wreckage.

"Sal? Zer0? You guys out there?" Axton yelled.

No response.

"Maybe they died in the crash." Maya said.

"Well aren't you just full of cheer?"

"I'm just being realistic. Its a miracle that we survived. Maybe they weren't so lucky."

"Even if they didn't make it, I'm searching until I find a corpse."

"Why?"

"Because in ten years at Dahl I never failed bring back a squad mate. I'm not starting now."

"Wow... I'm actually impressed by that show of loyalty."

"Well, part of it also has to do with a bet I made with Salvador. Long story short he owes me twenty bucks. So come hell or high water I'm getting my money."

"And just like that I'm no longer impressed."

Axton shrugged.

They kept walking but after a few meters Axton put his arm out in front of Maya to get her to stop.

"What is it-"

Axton shushed her.

"Do you hear that?"

Maya listened carefully, but all she could hear was the wind.

"I don't hear anything." She said.

"I definitely heard something. Over there I think." He said pointing to an overturned train car in front and to the left of them.

They walked closer to the car. There was a lot of blood on it and it was broken in half.

"What the hell was in there?" Maya asked.

Axton shrugged. "Hell if I know."

Suddenly a large, four armed beast jumped up on top of the car.

"Bullymong." Maya said. "I've read about them."

"Did you read about how to kill them?"

"No."

The bullymong roared at the two Vault Hunters.

"In that case, seeing as we're both unarmed, I suggest we run." Axton said.

But before they did anything else a familiar assassin jumped on top of the bullymong from behind and plunged a katana into the back of its skull.

The bullymong went limp and Zer0 jumped to the ground.

"A fearsome creature/Deadly and terrifying/But not a challenge."

"I found Zer0." Axton said.

"You don't say?" The siren replied sarcastically.

"Anyway, thanks for taking out the big guy." Axton said. "We owe you one."

"Noted."

There was a brief, awkward silence.

"Have you seen Salvador?" Maya asked.

"The short angry one?/No, I have not yet seen him/Have either of you?"

"Nope." They answered in unison.

"We should get looking." Zer0 said and as he walked past the other two Vault Hunters. Maya and Axton followed behind him.

"Sal? You out here?" Axton yelled.

"I detect something/It could be the gunzerker/We should take a look."

"Lead the way big guy."

Zer0 turned to his right and headed for another overturned car.

"Inside." He said. "Help me open it."

Axton grabbed a hold of the car door with Zer0 and the two of them pried the door open.

"Amigos! You came!" A familiar voice announced as soon as the door was opened.

"Great." Axton said. "You're alive. Now where's my twenty bucks?"

"It's good to see you too." The Truxican said crawling out of the car.

"What now?" Maya asked.

"I saw a robot over there." Axton said pointing in the general direction of where he had landed. "He said something about me being his ticket off this glacier. Might be worth checking out."

"Sounds good." Salvador said.

"Do we have much choice?" Maya asked.

"What about you big guy?" Axton asked Zer0.

"Lets go." He replied.

"Alright, lets go then."

The Vault Hunters followed Axton back to the robot. He was still digging a hole to put the corpse in, but he hadn't made much progress. The robot looked up.

"You've returned! And you brought more Vault Hunters who aren't dead!"

The Vault Hunters looked at Axton questioningly.

"Seriously?" Maya said.

"Here!" The robot said. "Take these Echo-communicators that I totally didn't loot from corpses."

He handed one out to each of the three other Vault Hunters.

"Now," he said. "Come come friends, let's get you all inside. Man this is great now that I've finally got some mighty Vault Hunters with me, I can join the resistance in Sanctuary and get vengeance on Jack for destroying my product line and repair my central processor, so I stop thinking outloud. ...I wonder what it's like to have a bellybutton?"

He started rolling away but the Vault Hunters hesitated to follow him.

"I'll explain everything soon, but know this, you're alive for a reason and I'm here to help you." A voice said from seemingly nowhere.

"You guys hear that?" Axton asked, visibly spooked.

"Yeah..."

"Yes."

"I think so."

"You're going to have to trust me on this." The voice said again.

"I heard it again..." Axton muttered.

"Oh god, it's the ghosts of the Chung gang!" Salvador screamed. "Ay, Dios mio! They've finally come for me!"

"Hold on." Maya said. "I think it's coming from those Echo's that Claptrap just gave us."

"Huh?" Salvador said. "So they're not the unearthly remains of the dead come to haunt me?"

"N-no... Probably not..."

"I'm sorry to scare you like that." The voice announced. "I'm a... Well, just call me a Guardian Angel. I'm here to help you." She said cheerfully.

"So not a ghost?" Salvador asked.

"Not a ghost." She responded.

"Good." He mumbled to himself.

"So, what now?" Maya asked.

"Follow that funny little robot. He'll take you where you need to go." The Echos shut off and Angel's voice with them.

"Alright," Axton said. "You heard the lady. Lets go follow the robot."

The Vault Hunters started walking into the blizzard and after Claptrap. Their first few steps towards loot, fame and glory.

Author's Note: So yeah. Vault Hunters and what not... Leave a review if you'd like. In retrospect this is a rather pointless note.