Heyo! Sorry about not posting for a good chunk of time. Been pretty busy with work and other military BS. Regardless, NEW CHAPTER!

Chapter 6: Diplomacy

Nickoli was woken up to someone pushing on his shoulder. Nickoli opened his eyes to see a man in his mid-forties with tossed brown hair and five o clock shadow. He was holding a paper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. "You're in my seat." The man grumbled. Nickoli realized that it was Major General Axton, leader of the Crimson Raider Army.

"Sorry sir!" Nickoli blurted as he jumped of the chair. Axton grunted and sat down in his seat, opening the paper as he sipped from his coffee. "So you're Angel's new boyfriend?" Axton questioned. "No sir. We're just friends." Nickoli answered.

"Gaige said that you two were flirting with each other nonstop at the hospital."

"I was a little out of it due to the anesthetics."

"I guess that's good. Zer0 would have killed you if you two started dating."

Nickoli gulped at the thought of Zer0 going after him for dating Angel, especially since he really wanted to. "Anyway, you and your friends have a meeting with Commander Lilith about those Elemental Men you ran into the other day." Axton updated as he sipped from his coffee. "Just thought I would let you know about that." Nickoli thanked "Thank you sir." Nickoli took a seat on the couch and watched the news as it came on the television. Angel walked out of a door to Nickoli's left, hair stuck up in every direction and eyes barely open.

"Morning sunshine." Axton chuckled. "Morning Uncle Ax." Angel yawned. Angel rubbed her eyes and greeted "Morning Nicki." Nickoli rolled his eyes and greeted "Good morning Angel." Angel sat down next to Nickoli and yawned "How did you sleep last night?" Nickoli was going to answer when General Axton responded "Your boyfriend slept pretty well since it took a bit to get him up."

"He isn't my boyfriend. We're just friends."

"I know. He told me, but Gaige also told me about you two at the hospital."

Nickoli felt his face go red since he did tell Angel how he felt and she rejected him. "Nickoli was just high off anesthetics." Angel informed. "Sure thing Angel, you know about your meeting with Commander Lilith?" Axton questioned.

"Yeah, Dad let me know with the ECHO."

"Alright. Meeting's at noon."

Angel nodded and Gaige walked out of her room, cheering "Good morning!" Nickoli responded "Good morning ma'am."

"There's no need for ma'am! Just Mrs. Gaige is fine."

Nickoli nodded and the morning continued like every other, breakfast with idle chatter until it was time to go. The group showered and changed, then headed for the Crimson Raider HQ in the Waterfront District. The massive glass building shined bright, like a beacon of hope for Pandora that there could be peace. Nickoli gazed up at the building in awe, still dumbstruck by the city and its beauty. "If you keep staring at the buildings like that," Angel poked at, "you'll go blind."

Nickoli didn't look at Angel out of fear of falling into his feelings of her. The group continued into the building and the insides appeared to be like a normal office building. Gaige and Axton led Angel, Nickoli and Justin to the elevator and headed for the 12th floor, command center. The doors opened to reveal a hallway with dark blue carpet and doors along both sides. The group headed for the meeting room and found it very occupied.

Zer0 and Maya sat on the left side while Tannis, Krieg and Patrick sat on the other. There were three people Nickoli didn't recognize in the room as well. The first was a man wearing a neat uniform and a pair of goggles. His brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail and was skinny as a rail. The second guy was a behemoth that towered over everyone else.

He wore a uniform similar to the other man's, but the sleeves looked like they had… exploded. Probably due to the behemoth's massive arms. The last person was a woman with bright red hair, almost like fire. She looked at the group and exclaimed "Good, everyone is here. Now we can get to this important message." Everyone took a seat while the uniformed people remained standing at the head of the table.

The woman's eyes stopped on Nickoli, eyes burning like fire. "I'm assuming you are Nickoli?" She proclaimed. "Yes ma'am." Nickoli responded.

"I am Commander Lilith, these are my best men, Mordecai and Brick."

Mordecai nodded while Brick exclaimed "Sup." Nickoli nodded at the two as Lilith exclaimed "All of you know why we are here. These kids stumbled into something big. I want to hear it from them." Angel spoke up and explained "Me, Justin and Patrick went to the Fridge. We found a large number of Rats that were killed using elements. We heard screams and found it coming from a rat being tortured by the four Elemental Men." Lilith listened intently as Angel told the story.

"Do you know anything about them?"

"Inferno uses fire, Electro uses electricity, Chem uses corrosion and Slag uses… well, slag. They found us and would have killed if Nickoli hadn't shown up."

Lilith looked back at Nickoli and questioned "Did you save these three?" Nickoli responded "Yes ma'am. I had Sver, my stalker, get me there as fast as possible. We arrived just in time and saved them."

"I see. Thank you for saving them, but now we have a more pressing matter. Where exactly did these men come from?"

"I don't know ma'am. They simply showed up in the Fridge and started killing."

Lilith scratched her chin and asked "Does anyone have any clue where these Elemental Men came from?" The room was silent after Lilith asked, until Brick suggested "What about Maliwan?" Mordecai agreed "Yeah, they always were curious about the extent of elemental tech. Why wouldn't they try to give people the power of the elements?" Lilith chimed in "I'll see if Maliwan will give me an audience. For the rest of you, stay quiet about this. There is no need to cause a panic among the masses about this. Am I clear?" Everyone nodded and Lilith proclaimed "Then you are released, and Angel."

Angel stood up straight and Lilith apologized "Sorry about missing your party. Duty calls." Angel smiled and replied "It's okay Auntie Lilith. I hope you find out who was behind these men." Lilith nodded and exited the room with Mordecai and Brick right behind her. "Do you really think that Maliwan is behind this?" Mordecai questioned. "I don't know." Lilith replied. "But it is our best guess. They have been making a stand in certain areas on Pandora. Wurmwater, Eridium Blight, Middle of Nowhere, Trash Coast are just a few places Maliwan has shown up at."

"Do you think they would go to the lengths of human experimenting?" Brick questioned. "Hyperion was doing it," Lilith reminded, "why would Maliwan not? I'll just make a friendly call about it." Lilith made it to her office and exclaimed "Return to your duties. I'll let you both know if I find anything." The two nodded and Lilith walked into her office. She sat on her desk and looked at the large glass panel on the wall.

"Call Maliwan HQ, inform them it is Commander Lilith calling." Lilith stated. The screen lit up with a phone icon as the call tried to go through. The screen changed to show a woman in a black business suit and glasses. Her hair was slick and black, tied into a tight bun. "Commander Lilith." She stated. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Lilith replied "Mrs. Maliwan, I'm just here to ask a few questions regarding an incident that occurred a few days ago."

"Well this is a coincidence, I needed to call you as well."

Lilith felt a twinge in her gut since she really didn't want Brick to be right about Maliwan being behind these Elemental Men. "We had three kids run into four individuals. They were reported to have been using elemental powers." Lilith updated. "Since your company mainly deals in elemental weaponry, I was wondering if you had any information." Mrs. Maliwan simply watched Lilith speak with a wide smile. "Amazing isn't it?" She finally spoke.

"What is?"

"How the creatures of this planet can harness the elements, while we humans can't?"

"I'm not sure where you're going with this."

Mrs. Maliwan punched in a few keys on her keyboard and a small video started to play on the screen. It showed a white lab with three doctors standing around a man strapped to a table. One doctor held out a needle that was filled with a purple liquid, probably eridium. The doctor injected it into the man, causing him to scream in pain. "Now start to heat the table." The doctor exclaimed.

The table started to glow red and the man screamed even louder. Lilith threw her hand over her mouth at the sight of the experiment. The man's brown hair started to turn lighter as the screams turned to laughter. "With a little Eridium and the proper attunement to the elements," Mrs. Maliwan explained, "we humans may be able to wield the elements just as creatures do." Lilith brought her hand down and stammered "You… you made these men."

"A miracle of science, wouldn't you agree?"

"More like a nightmare. Why would you do this to people?"

"He and the others volunteered for this. The three children stepped in on a classified field test of the experiment's capabilities. I ask you now for the three that saw this."

Lilith's eyes widened at Mrs. Maliwan's request for Angel, Justin and Patrick. "Why do you want the kids?" Lilith questioned. "We simply need to… properly debrief the children on what they saw." Mrs. Maliwan explained. "They need to know that what they saw was sensitive information. That is all."

"Debrief? You don't just debrief kids on classified information!"

Lilith put a hand to her forehead and barked "You remove people who have seen that kind of stuff." Mrs. Maliwan sighed and exclaimed "You really do understand the workings of corporations. Yes, as sad as it is, the children must be… disposed of to prevent any further information leaks." Lilith lowered her hand to reveal her eyes burning like fire. "You will not be taking the kids." Lilith growled.

"If you will not surrender the children willingly, then we will have to take them by force."

Lilith didn't respond, she simply hung up on Mrs. Maliwan and stared at the glass screen and sighed. Lilith picked up her phone and dialed. The phone rang and Maya answered "Hello?" Lilith responded "Hey Maya. Is Nickoli there? I need to speak with him."

"Yes, one second."

She heard the ECHO being passed off and Nickoli answered "Yes Commander Lilith?"

"Can you head over to the HQ? I need to ask you a few questions."

"Yes ma'am. I'll be right there."

Lilith hung up and headed for the entrance of the HQ. She stopped by the front door after she walked out, waiting on Nickoli. He ran up to her and exclaimed "What did you need to ask me Commander?" Lilith smiled at the young man and proclaimed "Walk with me." She started walking and Nickoli followed her as she made her way into the city.

"So how are you enjoying Crimson City?" Lilith questioned. "Zer0 told me that you have been living in the Fridge." Nickoli responded "I am enjoying the city ma'am."

"You can stop with the ma'am stuff. You're making me feel old."

"Sorry ma… sorry."

"No worries kid. So where are you planning on staying?"

She looked over at Nickoli, who was scratching the back of his head. "I really don't have a place to stay." Nickoli replied. "I was just going to head back to the Fridge." Lilith laughed and proclaimed "Why don't you come stay with me? I could use the company."

"Thank you, but I will have to decl…"

"It wasn't really an offer, more like an order."

Lilith put her hand on Nickoli's shoulder, who smiled and replied "Thank you Lilith. Is that really all you had to ask me?" Lilith responded "No, I have a few more, but they can wait until we get home." Lilith and Nickoli headed for a small building in the northern part of town. They walked in and Lilith announced "Welcome to your new home! I know it isn't much, but there is plenty of room for us both." She looked at Nickoli, who seemed like a fish out of water.

"Take a seat. Relax a bit." Lilith chuckled as she took a seat on the couch. Nickoli sat next to her, still incredibly awkward. "So what did you want to ask?" Nickoli questioned. Lilith took a breath and asked "Will you be willing to do something for me?" She looked to Nickoli to see his face a bright red as he stammered "I-I-I-I don't k-k-k-know about th-th- that. I'm a l-l-little young for…"

"What? No! Not that. Geez kid I'm not a cradle robber. I… I just got off the Maliwan. It was them behind the Elemental Men. They want Angel, Justin and Patrick to disappear."

"What? Why?"

"Maliwan doesn't want people to know about the Elemental Men. They want it to stay secret. That is where you come in."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Protect them. I want you to protect the three and make sure that Maliwan doesn't get a hold of them."

Nickoli leaned forward, holding his head in his hands with his elbows on his knees. "I know I may be asking a little much of you…" Lilith went on. "I'll do it." Nickoli exclaimed.

"What?"

"I'll do it. I'll keep an eye on them. Make sure nothing happens to them."

Lilith smiled and questioned "What made you agree so quickly?" Nickoli responded "Because they're the closest thing I have to friends. I'll keep them safe."

"Is the fact that you have a crush on Angel also a reason?"

Nickoli's face turned red and he questioned "How did you guess?" Lilith laughed "Call it a woman's intuition, and I noticed how you were looking at Angel during our meeting."

"We're just friends."

"Ouch, friend zoned. That sucks, but don't worry kid. There's plenty of other fish in the sea. Whatcha want to eat? I can whip something up."

The two sat, ate and talked for the remainder of the day. Nothing truly eventful happened other than Lilith's poking at Nickoli's feelings for Angel and how he got friend zoned.

So there's the new chapter. Again, sorry for taking so long. Review or PM any thoughts on the chapter.

-Chief