Author's Note: Before I start the chapter, I'd like everyone to know that I'm sorry about the confusion in my story thus far. No matter what I try, the line breaks don't stick. I'll be doing the upload manually this time around and force the page breaks. Maybe that'll work. With that out of the way, I'd like to also apologize about the long delays between updates. I don't really have any excuses; I've been lazy and stuck in writer's block for the most part of it. So without any further ado, here's chapter 6.

Pandoran Nights Chapter 6

(...Shit... Not even a few hours and we're already out of topics to talk about...) the disembodied voice inside Krieg's skull muttered, its whispering travelling out in all directions within the darkness of Krieg's unconscious mind.

Krieg floated aimlessly in the inky blackness of his dreamlessness with his legs crossed and his arms crossed over his chest. He grumbled, nodding the affirmative to his lingering sanity's comment.

(...This is not going to be a fun week... I can tell already... Please... Please Maya let those two scientists inject us with something so we can dream! ...Anything's better than this boredom!) the voice shouted with exasperation. Once again, Krieg's disembodied sanity was met with Krieg nodding in agreement.

Several Days Later: Outside Krieg's Head, Pierce Station.

"How's the research, Little Slab?" Brick asked, walking up to Gaige as she stored one of her guns.

"It goes..." she replied, sighing audibly. She then walked out to the balcony with him, leaning against it to relax a bit, rubbing her eyes. "I tell you, Tannis is determined! I can hardly keep up, and I spent an afternoon bleeding out and building myself a new arm!"

"Yeah, she always was a tireless worker. Just from all the echo logs we found back in my day, we could tell that. She was here for around... Hey, Lil! How long did Tannis' echoes go for before we gave up on 'em?!" he shouted off the balcony to Lilith down below.

"Like... 2000 or so?" she said up to him, walking into Pierce Station.

"And those were 2000 Pandoran days! So multiply that number by... What?" Brick asked, looking down at Gaige.

"About 1.5, give or take." She replied. "That's pretty determined. Didn't she go insane and kill off one or two of her coworkers to be alone and regret it or something?"

"Yep. Killed a girl over her chair... Good times..." he answered, crossing his arms and closing his eyes for a moment. When the silence between the two persisted, his eyes opened again and noticed the somewhat confused look in Gaige's eyes as she stared at the towering man. "What?" he asked.

"Uh... Nothing... Just... Lot of thoughts right now..." she said, sighing audibly.

"I've heard that sigh before." Brick interjected, lowering himself to be seated against the concrete of the wall. "What's eatin' you, Little Slab?" he asked, thumping the ground beside himself with his fist to offer her a seat.

Without much protest, Gaige heeded his request and sat down, grumbling as she did so. "Ugh... There's just so much going on, you know? We've got damn near no idea who's screwing with the big guy or who took Maya, or if the two are even related events! I haven't made a lick of progress in understanding the sleeping giant and Tannis is running me ragged! ME! Of all people, she's burning ME out! Then there's all the crap going on with Athena and that weird thing that saved her last week... Oh! And let's not forget the last ingredient in this Clusterfuck Surprise of a week! Axton still hasn't made a single goddamn move on me! I mean, I know I'm younger than the rest of you guys, but come on! I'm pretty goddamn sexy if I do say so myself and he hasn't even stuck a hand up my skirt yet! I'm starting to feel like the fuckin'..." she stopped, breaking her rant. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked up from her hands that had been moving rather emphatically as she spoke to the all but stunned colossus of a man sitting beside her. Her cheeks burned crimson and her throat grew dry. "...That... That wasn't all in my head just now... Was it?" she asked him.

"Not even a little..." he replied, shaking his head in the negative, his tone and body posture showing his awkwardness, but he quickly shrugged it off, sighing. "So the soldier's not even trying, eh? I've had girls that seemed young compared to me. Had more than a few that seemed damn near fun sized to say the least!" he said, quickly adopting his own blunt brand of humor, making the young lady beside him giggle slightly, breaking the awkwardness for good. "...Sounds to me like he's just trying not to rush you or seem like just some perv to ya. Glory hound or not, he's got some sort of brain in his head..." he said, chuckling. Gaige elbowed him in one of his biceps. "Just talk that bit out with him and see how it goes. Everybody's always available for advice. Not just me, you know." He remarked with a grin.

"Ah, I know, but you're the easiest to talk to. At least it's been that way since that whole thing when Ax and I were planning our first date." Gaige said, smirking. She then stood up and saluted him with a grin on her face. "Anyway, thanks, Brick. I'll be sure to put an end to this dry spell once and for all after this." She said with confidence and heading out of the station, leaping over the balcony to go faster.

As she finished her statement, Lilith walked up onto the balcony, catching the last bit of her address. "Not even going to ask..." she muttered, nursing a cup of coffee in her hands. She settled into the frame of the doorway and looked out at the sky above, taking a sip of the steaming brew. "So, did she mention how the two of them are doing?"

"Slow." Brick said, shifting down to the ground to begin his daily regimen of pushups.

"Yeah, I can't say I'm surprised. Based on the reports I'm seeing, they're having trouble just mapping his DNA. Apparently, it's so bad that it's almost unrecognizable as human by the computers." She mentioned, taking a sip.

After hearing this, Brick's motions slowed and he looked to the side to catch her eyes with his as he began speaking. "I knew it was pretty twisted from the experiments, but really?"

Lilith nodded, shifting on her hip to retrieve her Echo. "Yeah, check it out. I just got the message a few minutes ago. I hoped things were going better." She answered, turning it on. Out projected an image of Krieg before it zoomed in on his arm. It moved in gradually at first, but rapidly increased in speed and magnitude until it reached the cellular level, showing that his cells possessed larger than average nuclei and rather thick Cell Membranes, accounting for his ordinarily impressive levels of durability.

"I've heard of thick-skinned, but that's just ridiculous." Brick muttered, crossing his arms, chuckling slightly.

"You don't know the half of it. Keep watching, you'll get to see what his cells actually do when he transforms..." she replied, pulling up another piece of footage. This one was of the same cells, but alongside it, was a video time-stamped to be happening at the exact same time, but was showing his entire body. In his unconsciousness, he was lacerated repeatedly until he was nearly dead, and then given a massive dose of adrenaline. His body crackled and changed, just as it always had. His cells, however, were actually bursting due to how quickly they were replicating, healing his every wound instantaneously, then, they began growing, to nearly twice their original size, their cell membranes thickening and condensing.

"Holy nutballs..."

"Yeah. You're telling me. This makes the third time I've watched it in 5 minutes, and I still can't fully understand what's happening." Lilith replied with mild exasperation.

"No wonder they can't figure out how he does it, his DNA must be about as screwed up as Jack's face."

"Well, anyway, we're about at that point where it's back to the waiting again." Lilith counters, scratching her upper arm.

"Not a surprise."

"I guess I'll check up on what Zero's doing." She replied, crossing her arms and heading out the door. Upon exiting the building, a gust of air blows her hair and an eerie silence pervades the area around her. "Zero, how many times am I going to have to tell you to stop doing that?" she asks rhetorically, turning around to see the enigmatic assassin standing his full height behind her.

"That's dependent upon your perseverance. Can you count forever?" he replies, crossing his arms.

"If I wasn't still reeling from what I just saw a few minutes ago, I'd be pissed at you for the sarcasm. Right now, though, I need a distraction. Krieg's making little to no progress and I'm getting stir crazy. Want to go to the edge of the city and train me to snipe better? I want to see if I can put down a Thresher at a thousand yards like you, killer." Lilith asks, smirking. Her lure, however, fails to catch the assassin's attention as Zero shakes his head in the negative, causing her smirk to drop immediately. "Well why not?"

"Date night." He answers simply, projecting a heart from his faceplate. He then, seemingly with sass, turns and walks away, tall and proud.

"I'm keeping a tally of how many times you sass me, you ninja dork!" she shouts after him, realizing he's mocking her by not simply disappearing. He does not respond, and instead rounds a corner towards the Black Market and disappears from view. "Well shit. I'm out of ideas." Lilith mutters to herself, crossing her arms and sighing.

This moment of exasperation and boredom is soon interrupted, however, by a loud bang and a plume of black smoke billowing out of the roof of Scooter's Garage.

"...Shit..."

End Chapter 6: Silent Revelations.

Sorry for the long delay for not a lot of progress, everybody. Ideas have been few and far between recently. Well, anyway, thanks for the patience and as always: read, review, and feel free to send me a PM. Stay frosty, my friends!