Okay, so, here's the second chapter of Wizard's Angel. While there'll be quite a lot copied and pasted from previous iterations of my Harry/Angel story, here, you'll find a lot more original stuff.

Anyway...it's fitting I post this chapter now, as the release of the fourth DLC campaign for Borderlands 3 is not far away: Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck...

WIZARD'S ANGEL

CHAPTER 2:

IMPRISONED

Well, that's what she got for choosing the first Fast Travel Station she could access using Phaseshift, Angel reflected as she laid down on the cell's cot, an Atlas medic examining her with a scanner while General Knoxx looked on. Her father had been knocked out, but due to a lack of cells, she had to share with Harry, who was propped up against a wall. She was uncomfortable with the scrutiny of the two men, but she saw, if not kindness, then sympathy in Knoxx. She knew in ECHO transmissions she had intercepted that he had most definitely not wanted to be posted to Pandora. He was one of the few top COs in Atlas who wasn't power-hungry, sadistic, a child, a corporate suit, or a combination of the above. Ruthless, yes, but not out of sadism as much as Atlas policy.

She hated the stink of his cigar, though.

"She's definitely a Siren, sir," the medic said, pocketing the scanner. "She matches known records of Commandant Steele. You do know she'll have to be reported to command?"

"In due time. How is her condition?"

"Better than you'd think. That suit must help stimulate her muscles and keep her hygienic, but if I ever found my kids treated like this, I'd go after the one who did it with extreme prejudice," the medic said. "Needs some treatment, though. The boy doesn't have a concussion or brain injuries or signs of drug use. He's just exhausted, with a few minor injuries."

"Must have been decanted from a stasis tube or something if he thought it was the 20th Century," Knoxx mused. "Assuming he isn't nuts, anyway. Then again, this world's full of nutjobs and crazies. He seems normal by comparison so far. No Eridium poisoning?"

"No. That's one of the first things I scanned for, sir."

"Right…you go take five. I want to question the little lady. Don't worry, you won't be needed afterwards, I hope."

"Thank you, sir," the medic said, and he left the cell. Knoxx did too, closing the cell's forcefield door.

"Now, protocol says I have to subject you to very thorough interrogation. But as my superior officer is a five year old used as a figurehead by corporate suits who wouldn't know military protocol if it bent them over and sodomised them, well…you're dangerous, but only because you're a Siren. I'm more worried about Athena over there, and she's out cold."

Angel looked across to another cell where a woman in a figure-hugging crimson bodysuit lied unconscious, tufts of blue hair poking out from beneath the hood of her bodysuit. Her face had a hard beauty to it. "A Lance Assassin? Omega Squadron?"

"Oh? You know about them?" Knoxx asked suspiciously.

"Their reputation is well-known," Angel said, unwilling to give details about her powers or what her father had her doing to Knoxx for now. "I heard rumours that you take people from their families during adolescence and indoctrinate them."

Knoxx chuckled bleakly. "Yeah…that's about right. Don't get me wrong, I hate it myself. Athena here was a Pandoran native. Her parents died in a mining accident, and she was snatched from a shithole that passed for an orphanage in Hollow Point. A week ago, she tracked down her sister Jess, and reunited with her. I made the mistake of mentioning it to my superiors. I thought it rather nice, but those walking lumps of distended rectum thought otherwise. They tricked her into killing her sister and remaining relatives. When she realised what happened, she got…stabby. But enough of that. I need to question you. Let's start with a name."

"Angel…Angel Clarke."

"…Angel, huh? Given what the asshole was ranting when we captured you, he's your father?"

"…Unfortunately."

"And I'm guessing you're both Hyperion, or at least he's Hyperion, and he was using you somehow. Sirens have pretty weird powers," Knoxx mused. "So, what are they?"

Angel remained silent. If he found out she could manipulate electronics, he'd find a way to prevent her from escaping. But she needed to escape.

"Silent treatment, huh? Can't say I'm surprised," Knoxx said wearily. "But I'd bet those cybernetic doohickeys implanted into your temple may be part of them. Still, you're a darn sight easier to talk to than Steele. She wouldn't stop talking, so full of her own self-importance because she was a Siren, and a Commandant. I'll be honest, I was glad when she got impaled by an overgrown ornery octopus." His eyes narrowed. "And you reacted to me saying that. Not in surprise, but as if you saw it happen. Steele's death was a matter of public record, but not the manner in which it happened, and I expected shock or disbelief."

Angel remained silent once more. The less he knew that could be used against her, the better, though it was inevitable this interrogation would have the veneer of civility torn from it. Even if Atlas hadn't taken over Pandora again and ruled with an iron fist, Angel was a Siren, and Atlas would covet her. She cursed inwardly her hastiness in activating the Fast Travel System.

"Still shutting up? Silence is its own kind of answer, girl. Don't get me wrong, you don't want to be here, and I reckon you shouldn't be. As in, you should be far away from this place, enjoying your life away from this shithole that stinks of haemorrhoids wrapped in stale bacon. But the galaxy isn't so kind. You're here, you're my prisoner, and that means you're shit out of luck. I'm sorry, I really am. The moment I tell them I have a Siren in my custody, they'll want you shipped back to Promethea, and I'm obligated to tell those stupid bastards I work for sooner rather than later."

As he made to move away, Angel said, "Why do you continue to work with Atlas, Knoxx? Admiral Mikey is five, and as you said, he was put there as a figurehead due to nepotism. Atlas is dying thanks to their committing too many resources to getting the Vault here."

Knoxx looked over his shoulder at her. "Because when you're in the Lance, you're in it for life. If you resign, you resign from life. And frankly, it's getting to the point where I want to resign. But not yet. You trespassed on an Atlas base, girl, even if it was by accident. It's going to be the worst mistake of your life. Cheers." And with that parting remark, he left.

Angel closed her eyes and groaned quietly. This situation was the very definition of the saying 'out of the frying pan and into the fire', or more aptly, exchanging one cage for another. Captured by Atlas wasn't the worst case scenario, but it was pretty damned close to the top. However, she did have the advantage of her Siren powers. True, she didn't have as much practise hacking into Atlas' systems and technology, but still…deactivating the forcefields for her cell would be child's play. Of course, leaving the base would be another matter entirely.

She looked at Harry. The boy, upon meeting her, had promptly tried to help her. Such altruism without strings attached was rare in the cosmos in general, let alone on Pandora. He was like a knight in shining armour, something out of a story, and to tell the truth, she was also curious about his powers. Something about his use of them resonated with her, like her powers, and yet unalike.

As she considered her options, she heard a noise from the cell across the corridor. She looked up, to see Athena looking at her. "You, Siren, Angel he said your name was…what abilities do you possess?"

ATHENA

AS

THE EX-LANCE ASSASSIN

Has Nothing Left to Lose.

"What do you mean?"

"I can escape on my own, but your abilities may increase the success of my escape," Athena said. "I was shamming unconsciousness when Knoxx was speaking to you."

"…If we escape, he escapes too," Angel said, indicating Harry. "This is non-negotiable. He freed me from my previous prison."

"And the other prisoner? The one who is your father?"

Angel thought about it. On the one hand, he was her father, and she would be lying if she didn't want him dead. And she still felt guilt over her mother's death. On the other hand, he had locked her away for years, exploiting her for her powers. In the end, the decision was disconcertingly easy to make. "Leave him."

Athena frowned. "I sense a story there. But can you fight?"

"No…but if you can bring me to the Fast Travel Station, assuming it's still active, I can take us to somewhere else, and muddy the data trail."

"A hacker?"

"Something like that."

Her eyes narrowed. "I see. I will trust you for now. Rouse your cellmate. When he is ready, I will open my cell, and then yours."

"No need to open the cell yourself," Angel said. "Just be ready…"

Harry wasn't sure what to expect when he opened his eyes. If he was able to think consciously during his, well, unconsciousness, he'd have hoped to wake up in a bed in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, with Pomfrey clucking over him, and Hermione and Ron either in the nearby beds, alive and relatively well, or hovering nearby, waiting for him. Because then, it would mean what he just experienced was a bad dream.

Instead, what he got was Angel gently shaking him awake. Before he could say anything, she said, "Quiet. We're about to escape. Do you think you can help?"

"…Yes," he said, a little uncertainly, but without his wand, he might be able to do some magic. He just wasn't sure.

"Good. Get ready to go. You might have to help me along. I'm not up to running much. Sorry. Just say when you're ready."

Harry gathered himself together, as best as he could. He'd need to ask more about the situation once they were safe…though something told him that was a relative term wherever he was. After a few seconds, he said, "I'm as ready as I will ever be."

"Got it," Angel said, before her tattoos and eyes began glowing again. "Phaseshift activated…okay, I can unlock the cells…and I can divert them with an alert for the main entrance. Will that help?"

The blue-haired woman in the cell opposite them nodded. "Can you do anything else?"

"Not unless I had more time. The more I'm using my powers on their system, the more likely they are to notice," Angel said.

"Then it'll have to do. Trigger the alert, and then make us seem like we're heading for the garage, not for the Fast Travel Station. Disable the cameras if you can."

"Got it," Angel said. Eventually, sirens wailed in another part of the base, and distant announcements could be heard. The forcefields across the doors deactivated, and Harry got to his feet. Soon, he, along with Angel, were running behind the blue-haired woman, Angel soon panting.

"Athena, how many Fast Travel Stations are there in the base?" Angel asked.

"There's one nearby, to take prisoners to the spaceport," Athena said.

"Right. Lead the way."

They soon got to a device much like the one they had used earlier, and Angel was at it, panting heavily. "Okay…let's see…Phaseshift activated…dammit, only T-Bone Junction has a Fast Travel Station functioning near the Underdome. Then again, Scooter Hodunk is there, he might be able to get us to Moxxi."

"Can you get us there?" Athena demanded.

"Yes." And then, once more, they vanished down a tunnel of azure light…

…Only to reappear elsewhere. Angel swayed on her feet, Harry helping support her as he looked around. They seemed to be in a rather grotty town, built high up off a desert. "We'd better hurry," Athena said, helping support Angel. "Did you manage to obscure our trail?"

"Yes, I did," Angel said, her eyes fluttering, as if tired. "Good thing we managed to avoid any guards. Without guns or other weapons, we would have been in trouble unless they deployed a drone."

"The way you are now, I'm not so sure," Athena said, even as they helped her along.

Harry looked at Athena. "So, who are you again?"

"Athena, former Crimson Lance Assassin from Omega Squad. Though…given what Angel said about you, that may not mean anything. I overheard them saying you were probably in stasis."

"…Yeah. I'm Harry Potter."

"I see. It seems that we are introduced," Athena said, even as she helped Angel along. She indicated a building declaring itself to be 'Scooter's'. "In there, she said."

It took them some time, but they managed to get into the building, where they were greeted by a braying nasal voice with a Southern accent. It's owner was a short, sandy-haired young man wearing a baseball cap with a voluptuous woman kicking a rolling tire. "Hey, uh, if you wanted a place to crash after drinkin' too much, there's a nice motel down the road? Then again, if y'all lovely girls want to crash with your friend, I'd be okay with that."

SCOOTER

Catch-a-Riiiide!

Angel looked up into the young man's face. "You're Scooter, right? We need your mother's help. The three of us just escaped from the Crimson Lance. We need somewhere to lay low."

"…Okay, but why? I mean, Mom's just arrived to touch base with me, she's at Marcus' store, but…why?"

"Tell her the Guardian Angel needs help," she said, her eyes fluttering again, threatening to shut.

"Okay, okay, but…look, you just go and lay her down there so she can get some rest, okay?" Scooter said, indicated a cot, filthy, but the only thing worth lying down on. "I'll go fetch Mom."

As the mechanic scurried out, Harry had to wonder, even as he watched Angel fall asleep, snoring gently, what the hell he had gotten himself into. He was still trying to make sense of it all. But if what Knoxx had said was true, he was in the future…far from home in both time and space. Even if he was free from prison, he was trapped in other ways.

And he couldn't help his friends. Who knew if he could even help himself or others…

Harold Tassiter, President of the Hyperion Corporation, was not a pleasant man. Indeed, to call him unpleasant was like calling the ocean wet. However, to give him his due, he was an intelligent pragmatist. He may be unspeakably cruel to his underlings, but he'd never do more than insults unless he felt it warranted something stronger.

HAROLD TASSITER

Less of a Douche Than Handsome Jack, Though Not By Much.

However, one of his employees earned his ire. Jack Clarke, a low-level programmer (technically, that didn't mean low-ranked, but rather, he worked with fundamental source code, though Tassiter liked to pretend that it meant low-ranked), who had been a thorn in his side with strange requisitions and requests, many of which seemed to vanish into a black hole. Tassiter didn't believe it to be anything so banal as fraud. Jack, whom he preferred to call John to remind him of his place (by having his name not worthy of being remembered properly), was ambitious and smart, and was funnelling the money into some sort of secret project. Tassiter hated that.

Tassiter did admit, Jack's claim that the Vault Hunters' actions would cause a proliferation of Eridium had borne fruit, but their attempts to mine were stymied when Atlas came back with an occupying force. And now, an intercepted transmission from Atlas' base of operations on Pandora (it was cute how they thought their encryption was anything worth a damn for all but their top level transmissions) had him sending a team to Jack's facility to investigate. He knew where it was, but for now, had left it alone until Jack fucked up. Which now he had.

"We have confirmation that someone with cybernetic enhancements was hooked up to this chair, sir," spoke the technician that reported. "We can't be sure if it was a Siren, but there's a lot of energy dampeners that would be consistent with attempting to control one."

"I see," Tassiter said. He did remember that Jack had a wife and daughter. The former had died to a bandit attack, but the latter, Jack claimed was with relatives for her own safety. Contemplating this, Tassiter eventually decided, "Continue your investigation. Notify me if you find anything confirming that he held a Siren captive for his own use."

"Will do, sir."

As the connection cut off, Tassiter scowled. "Hiding a Siren from me, John? That was unwise. A Siren would be a great asset to Hyperion, more so than you, you pathetic little code-monkey. If you'd only owned up to it, I would have given you a promotion, allowed you to keep possession of her as long as you kept her under control. But you felt you could keep her and use her behind my back. Well…I should've done this years ago." He went over to his desk and activated a connection to another department.

A suave, calm voice answered. "Yes, sir?"

"Blake…you are in charge of the Department of Mercenary Relations and Tourism. I need a skilled mercenary, the best money can buy and who is utterly obedient and competent. And I do NOT want a Vault Hunter, not one of those filthy near-bandits running around."

"Would Wilhelm suffice, sir? He happened to be here in HQ after he finished another job for us in the inner worlds."

"The Enforcer from Hera?" Tassiter considered this, before nodding. "Expensive, and with a tendency to cause collateral damage…but as long as it's to Atlas infrastructure or Dahl infrastructure, then that's acceptable. Send him here at once. I have a job for him…"

CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Harry, Angel and Athena have escaped, but Tassiter's plotting. Oh dear.

No numbered annotations this time.