Reduvius's coordinates brought Maya to a dust-buried Dahl outpost, only recognizable as such by its stumpy watchtower and a few exposed sections of corrugated steel rooftops.

She couldn't complain about this choice of location. There was nowhere to hide, no chance of ambush. Empty sand stretched out for miles on every side.

She'd come alone—or, alone except for Mordecai covering her from about 800 meters away. With the possibility of it being a trap, she didn't want to put a newbie like Fiona at risk. And Krieg's lack of filter seemed to be a good way to get into trouble, depending on who Reduvius was.
It seemed her precautions were unnecessary, though—the place was deserted.

Her ECHO buzzed with a new message.

Reduvius
Today 7:44 AM
You there?
Something came up. :( I can't go into detail here, but I left you an ECHO recording. It might clear some things up.
It's attached to the underside of the third step.
Unless it's not, but then I'm probably screwed lol

Sure enough, a classic ECHO recorder was duct-taped exactly where he said it would be. She pulled it free and pressed play.

"Okay, so, hi, it's Reduvius." The voice coming out of the recording sounded distant and seemed to buzz and echo metallically. "Hopefully it's you listening to this. Like, I'm putting myself at a lot of risk here. I would have preferred to meet with you in person, but I can't, and I can't explain why on a recording. You'll just have to trust me. Or don't trust me, I think it'll go basically the same either way.
"You had questions for me. And I'll tell you now, my answers kind of suck, they're not actually going to help you at all. Like, the Harding stuff? I have an in with Zer0's attackers. Not a good one, but decent enough to figure that much out. I'd tell you more, but if the wrong people get their hands on this, I lose that in.
"And the attackers in question? Yeah, no idea who they are. Your usual shadowy and mysterious organization, I guess? I tracked them down, saw their camp, even intercepted some comms, but I can't actually figure anything out. But it seemed pretty obvious they aren't the 'loose ends' type. Corporate, probably—but when aren't they? They meant to take Zer0 alive, if you haven't already figured that out. They screwed that one up pretty bad.
"Yeah, so that wasn't actually why I wanted to meet with you. There's some stuff I could have explained in person that I won't risk here. But, consolation prize? You definitely want to take out the people who did this. I can set that up for you. Or, I can put you on the trail after one of their search parties. Give me a few days and I'll hook you up with a tracking signal. You can track them down, kill them, capture them, whatever. Probably should capture one.
"And yeah, I realize that sounds like a trap. Like, I give you a tracking signal and lead you into an ambush? I'm not sure how to make myself sound more trustworthy—but hey, you badass Vault hunter types walk into traps on purpose all the time, right? And I doubt you have any other real leads. If you want to help Zer0, you'll take me up on this." He paused. "If they were there, they'd vouch for me."

Maya stared at the recorder after it finished playing, unsure of what to make of it. Maybe it was a problem with the recording, but Zer0 had specifically mentioned a distorted voice.

But if he meant to set up an ambush, why not here? Why bring in a third location, one that he even admitted sounded like an obvious trap?

Maybe, in their arrogance, Zer0 had given these people far too much credit. It wouldn't be the first time some disorganized group of mercs went after a Vault hunter. Just the first time the Vault hunter screwed up enough to almost lose to them.

Or maybe Maya was missing something.
She needed to talk to Zer0.

She ECHOed Mordecai on the way back to her outrunner. "Hey, turns out that I didn't need you here after all? But still, thanks for covering me."

"Don't worry about it. Might be hard to believe, but it's way better than what I would be doing otherwise."

"Yeah, about that…" She hesitated, trying to channel every possible ounce of solemnity into her voice. "I know finding Zer0 is—I know we want closure, but there might not be anything left out there. It would be more productive for us to focus on finding the people who killed Zer0."

"Lil's hoping that if we find Zer0's body, we'll find our lead. Guess they coulda left us a message or something." He sounded unconvinced of his own words. "Their helmet has to have survived, at least."

Zer0's helmet linked to neural implants in their head, it wasn't inconceivable that there'd be useful data on it. She couldn't argue against searching for it. Pandoran scavengers would eat almost anything, but none of them were capable of fully digesting a hunk of metal and polycarbonate.
"That's kind of a needle in an ocean of sand situation, isn't it?"

Mordecai's laugh sounded forced. "I hate to say it, but I think I might have the easier job. At least I know what I'm looking for."

Maya didn't have much choice but to head back to the Atlas facility, in the hopes that Zer0 could provide answers.

The last time she'd come here, three days ago, the door had opened for her automatically. This time it was shut tight, a deterrence field shimmering in front of it. An electronic voice warned "Step between lines for bioscan. Failure to comply may result in death."

She stepped between the lines and let it scan her.

"Error. Biosignature not recognized. Do not move while the bioscanner is active. Two attempts left."

She was about to ECHO Rhys to let her in when his tired-sounding voice came from the door console. "Maya? Sorry, uh, I haven't registered you yet, give me a second and it should let you in."

Sure enough, the deterrence field vanished and the door opened. "I'll be down in a moment," Rhys said.

She spent a few minutes standing around the front lobby before the door to the hall marked "Defense Division" slid open and Rhys stepped out, yawning. His blazer was hanging half off, his hair disheveled, and his nose was still bruised and slightly swollen.

"Hey," he greeted through a yawn.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" She wasn't actually all that sorry, considering she'd been up since the crack of dawn to get to Reduvius's coordinates at the scheduled time.

He shook his head. "No, I've been up for a while. Just, you know, you kinda showed up without warning. You uh, you could have ECHOed?"

"With how Zer0's been about the ECHOnet? They're gonna be mad that I'm here in the first place." She'd probably regret it, but how else was she supposed to handle the Reduvius thing?

"Do you know where they are, or…?"

Rhys shrugged. "I saw them last night? We talked for a moment, but then they disappeared again and I don't know where they've been since? The whole invisibility thing, you know? What do you need them for?"

"We have a lead, but I need their input."

"I can take a look around? No guarantees, though." He scanned the area behind her, frowning. When she followed his gaze there was only the empty lobby.

"Unnecessary." Zer0 materialized beside Rhys, causing him to stumble back with a barely stifled yelp. "I was here, just confirming / That no one followed." They looked at the still startled Rhys, projecting a sudden exclamation mark. "Sorry, I forgot, / I should have announced myself. / ...But, what's going on?"

Rhys spoke before Maya got a chance, "Hold-hold on, how about we don't stand around in the middle of the hall to talk? I'm not totally sure how Vaughn would react if he saw you. Either of you."

"I'd hear him coming," Zer0 said. Still, they turned away, leading back into the Defense Division hall and through the nearest door—the break room.

"Vaughn?" Maya asked, following. "Do you seriously have someone else here?" She was starting to wonder if they'd been too quick in trusting Rhys.

"Yeah, I didn't exactly invite him over." He looked pained. "He uh, he just kind of showed up. But it...It'll be fine. Right, Zer0?"

"Again, what is going on?" Zer0 disregarded Rhys's question, sitting down at the nearest table. "What did you come for?"

Maya sat across from them, leaving Rhys to take a seat between them. He sat with his chair slightly too far from the table, seemingly avoiding being too close to either Vault hunter.

"Do you know a Reduvius?" she asked.

"No," Zer0 answered. "Why?"

"We visited Lynchwood the other day," she started, going on to recount the murder of Harding, the ECHO, and the meeting Reduvius had set up. "He was a no-show, but he left a message. He claims to have a history with you, but he—actually, you should just listen." She took out the ECHO recorder.

Zer0 sat up straight the moment it started, listening intently. Twice they projected a "I", the second time leaving it up until the recording finished.
"All of it is lies," they said. "His voice, exactly the same / As the enemy's."

"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Maya sighed. She would have liked to be wrong, this time.

"You shouldn't have come. / What if he had followed you? / He may suspect this."

"I wasn't followed. The meeting place was completely open and I had Mordecai watching my back. He would have noticed if anyone else had been there. But you do realize you've made it somewhat difficult not to come here and check-in with you, right? This whole secret is already starting to get out of hand."

"I thought you'd manage. / You've shown such skill in the past. / You are quite clever."

She had to laugh. "Thanks, but there's more to this than just me being smart. Everyone already thinks you're dead, you know?"

They flashed a question mark.

"Last night Tannis finished analyzing the achlys sample from the dart. She concluded there was no way for you to survive. It...It was a pretty bad scene. A lot of yelling. Tina cried. And I had to stand there trying to figure out how I'd realistically react if you died. As it turns out, that's not exactly my strong suit."

Zer0 was quiet. Even with their helmet, it was obvious they weren't making eye contact—or even looking at her at all. Either they were angry or they actually felt bad. Maya kind of hoped it was the latter, some guilt would be good for them.

"They have no body," they said, finally. "What makes them so sure I'm dead?"

"You lost a considerable amount of blood before running off into the desert, poisoned with a substance that would normally negate any healing? And no one's seen or heard from you since. It isn't a particularly outlandish conclusion, if it weren't for Rhys finding you, you would be dead."

"And yet I am not." They crossed their arms, sullen.

"Yeah, because you got really lucky." She took a deep breath, reminding herself that losing patience with them would get her nowhere. "Look, Zer0, I'm doing the best I can. But I don't know anything about you or your past, if someone comes to me saying he used to be friends with you, how should I confirm it?"

"Assume he's lying. / My past will not help you here. / I left no loose ends." They tilted their chair back, projecting a "눈_눈".

"So you've killed everyone you've ever come in contact with before you came to Pandora? All their friends and family, too?"

Zer0 didn't respond to that, just looked at her, projecting the same face a second time.

Admittedly, Maya already knew she couldn't expect much out of them when it came to their past and she could respect that. They were more likely to take off their helmet than share specifics of who they'd been before Pandora. "There's got to be something we're missing. He acted like he knew you when he attacked you, didn't he?"

They nodded, back to avoiding eye contact.

"You have any theories there?"

Zer0 remained silent.

"...I can leave?" Rhys spoke up, starting to rise from his chair. "I-I mean, I completely understand if this is stuff you'd prefer I didn't overhear, you have your secrets and I...I really should get some work done anyways, so—"

"No, you should remain," Zer0 insisted before Rhys had the chance to take a step. "As you are sheltering me, / It's best you're aware."

"Oh, uh…" Rhys slowly sat back down. "I guess—I guess that's a good point." He looked like he wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor, though if that was a result of his failed escape attempt or of Zer0's acknowledgement, Maya couldn't tell.

"So does that mean you have something to make him aware of?"

"...No. Nothing solid. / Perhaps they unearthed something? / Documents, maybe." Their voice had gone quieter now.

"Documents? That's really vague, Zer0."

"My identity. / There may still be some record / That I failed to burn," they said. "You are a siren. / Some learn that and see profit. / It may be like that."

The thought had crossed Maya's mind. Few people had seen what Zer0 was, and most had no reason to believe them anything more than a robot or someone who'd undergone extreme cyborgization. Those were the logical conclusions to make, humanity's only contact with other intelligent life forms were the long-extinct Eridians.

"Unless you've been really good at hiding it, I'm reasonably sure you don't have any superhuman powers. Sure, you're not human, but I can't imagine you being any more useful than let's say, Axton."

They projected a "(".

Rhys recovered enough to speak up again. "This might be totally off base, but Hyperion's got some technology that can turn people into...Pretty much turn them into cybernetic meat puppets, and…" He paused to clear his throat. "Okay, I think it was seven years ago there was that Claptrap uprising? They implanted Hyperion cybernetics into a bunch of people's brains… Some of them were pretty important people, too…" He trailed off, frowning.

Zer0 looked at him blankly for a moment, then nodded. "A decent theory."

"Yeah, it definitely works in favor of your inflated ego," Maya said, but she couldn't disagree. "It could still be a thousand other things, too, but I guess we've got this Hyperion dart and Harding was a former Hyperion. They already hate us, and it's been a while since we've heard from them."

"It wouldn't be Hyperion—Pandora's cost them way too much money. Knowing them, they've cut their losses and won't be sending anyone planetside anytime soon. Otherwise they'd uh, they'd have killed me by now." He'd sounded completely confident when he'd started, but that had faded quickly. "But I wouldn't put this past Dahl? Or one of those interplanetary crime syndicates...Something like that."

Maya considered that. If it wasn't Hyperion, there was no way of narrowing it down with the information they were working with. And they had the more immediate issue of Zer0's would-be captors to deal with. She'd hoped that talking to them would have given her something less stupid to go with, but...
"I'm going to take Reduvius up on his offer. At this point that's the only way we're going to figure anything out."

"Good," Zer0 somehow managed to sound more detached than usual.

"Is there something wrong with that? I'm not sure what else I can do. Unless you have some information that can point me in some direction? That you're actually willing to share?"

"Nothing," they answered. It was never easy to figure Zer0 out, but usually, their self-assurance was palpable. Not now, though. "You're not wrong, Maya. / I feel I should know something / And yet, there's nothing."