Okay, so, good news for all of you anticipating Fuse and TNT. I've managed to write 8 chapters so far, and while I want to write more chapters prior to publishing it (I want to wait at least until the fourth DLC for the third game is released if not later, just in case there's a few interesting tidbits to include, particularly about Krieg), Fuse and TNT will see the light of day as a full story, before too long, hopefully. So, you'll be seeing some Harry/Tina mayhem some time soon.

However, the idea of doing a Harry/Angel story just won't go away. To be perfectly honest, this may be my last roll of the dice on a Harry/Angel story, at least for now. If this story doesn't work out, then I'll drop the idea for the time being. I may come back to it, but if this one doesn't work out, well...yeah.

The problem with my previous iterations, based on the Pre-Sequel, was one of time. Although technically you can take as long as possible to stop Zarpedon in the game, realistically, I'd imagine the story proper takes place within a few days' timespan at most, not enough for a friendship to properly develop between Harry and Angel. In addition, having to have Harry dance around Jack without shooting him in the face didn't do it for me.

Now, doing it during the events of the first game proper bored me. I tried doing something not dissimilar for a BioShock Infinite crossover, but that petered out PDQ. The second game...I didn't want the story to basically become an also-ran of Hooked on a Feeling, my OC-centric Borderlands 2 story, and there's the problem of dealing with Angel's dependency on Eridium.

But then, inspiration hit me. I looked back at the stories of the DLC campaigns of the first game, and realised that The Secret Armoury of General Knoxx had many of the characters I wanted to include (Roland, Lilith, Moxxi and Athena), as well as having perhaps the most interesting villain of the first game, the titular General Knoxx. Hell, having Jack (pre-Handsome) and Knoxx interact makes for a very Robert Holmes-like double act (Robert Holmes being a writer for Doctor Who noted, amongst other things, for including interesting double acts with characters in his stories). In addition, because there wasn't as much urgency in the story, it allows me to give Harry and Angel more character development and allow their characters to grow. I could also write Jack as someone who, while already pretty evil before Lilith punched an alien artifact into his face, was nonetheless potentially capable of redemption, though whether he takes the opportunity remains to be seen.

No doubt you'll see a lot copied and pasted from previous iterations of my Harry/Angel story. Hopefully the new twists will make it a worthwhile read...


WIZARD'S ANGEL

CHAPTER 1:

ESCAPE INTO DANGER

So, you wanna hear a story, huh? Well, sit right down, and I'll tell you one hell of a tale. It's an unbelievable tale, but I assure you, it's all true. Well, mostly.

Not so long ago, the fate of Pandora hung in the balance. There was the Vault, an alien prison opened by a mystical key, and filled with seemingly nothing more than tentacles and disappointment. To the Vault Hunters who opened it, it was an aggravating end to their quest, especially while trying to stop Atlas from running roughshod over Pandora. But to another, it was an opportunity.

They didn't know it, but the Guardian Angel who led them into opening the Vault was a prisoner of her father, a programmer working for the Hyperion Corporation. His name was Jack, and while a key programmer within the corporation, he chafed under the heel of its CEO, and hungered for power. The Vault, and the Eridium it spewed out once the Destroyer had been put paid to, were key to his plans. So too was his daughter, a Siren who could influence electronics, and whom he believed, in his delusions, that he was protecting her by incarcerating her.

His daughter had hoped the Vault Hunters would become her friends. But at journey's end, when they beat back the Destroyer, they felt understandably betrayed, not knowing that the Guardian Angel was a lonely teenaged girl, dangling on the strings of her father, desperate for a connection to the very people she was forced to betray. Had it not been for happenstance, they would have believed her an enemy for a long time, perhaps until their deaths, or her own.

But happenstance and coincidence are two of the most powerful forces in the cosmos, take it from old Marcus. At a time when Pandora once more chafed under the yoke of those corporate jerkbags of the Atlas Corporation, under the command of General Knoxx, the Guardian Angel would, ironically, find an angel of her own, an angel of salvation in human form. Not that he was anything so divine. Nothing so divine exists in the borderlands, believe me. But, well, you could say he worked a kind of magic.

This is the tale, then, of how General Knoxx was dealt with, and how the Guardian Angel gained her freedom. About the Vault Hunters, an angel, a wizard, an assassin and, of course, me, Marcus…


The first thing he noticed on regaining consciousness was the wail of sirens, along with a computerised voice saying, "Emergency. Emergency. Intruder detected in Control Core Angel." Angel, huh? Was he in the afterlife? But why would Heaven have computerised voices?

His eyes opened, and he found himself looking…at an angel.

It was a girl, in her teens, about his age or maybe younger, secured to a chair. She had dark hair, with her right temple shaved, and cybernetic implants present. She was thin, too thin, blue-glowing makings like tattoos along her body, that which wasn't covered by a figure-hugging suit. But she was also utterly beautiful.

Of course, the surroundings, heavily technological, seemed to disabuse any notions he was in an afterlife. So he got, shakily, to his feet. "…Umm, sorry, but…where am I? Who are you? And can you please shut off these alarms?"

The girl, after a moment of staring at him, seemed to realise it, before saying, "Sorry. Phaseshift activated." Within a few seconds, the alarms ceased wailing. "…You don't know where you are?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be asking. Are we still in London?"

She stared at him, her blue eyes gazing at him in confusion, before she shook her head. "London? As in Earth? We're…a long way away."

"From London?"

"From Earth."

He stared at her, before he chuckled bleakly. "Oh, ha ha, very funny. Next, you'll be telling me that you're an alien."

"Not really. I'm human…well, genetically, anyway. Not exactly wholly human." The girl sighed quietly. "Look, as much as I'm happy to speak to someone other than…him for the first time in years…sorry, speak with someone, we don't have much time until…well, we need to get the hell out of here. Listen…whoever you are…I need help. This chair I'm shackled to, the restraints are mechanical. I can't influence them with my powers."

"Powers?" he asked, before something clicked. "…Are you a witch?"

"Witch? No, I'm a Siren." On his blank look, she asked, "A Siren? Never mind. Just…I have abilities that give me control over almost anything electronic. But these restraints are mechanical. I don't know whether you can unlock it, but…"

It took him surprisingly little time to make his mind up. True, he didn't know where the hell he was, what had happened to his friends, or who this girl was, but she was restrained to a chair, she wanted his help, and she didn't look like an enemy. He was probably about to do something very stupid, but that seemed to be par for the course for him.

So he took out his wand, and murmured, "Alohamora." And the restraints snapped open with a dull clunk.

After a moment of staring at him in surprise, the girl began detaching tubes and wires from her body, grimacing as she did so. He went to help, only for her to wave him away. "Sorry, I'm trying very hard not to injure myself." With grunts of pain, she eventually detached the tubes and wires, as well as a collar around her neck, before standing up, rather shakily. She wobbled and staggered, only to topple over. He was on her in a flash, catching her, stopping her from falling.

"…Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Not really. Sorry, I should introduce myself. I'm Angel."

ANGEL

AS

THE PHASESHIFT SIREN

A Bird Freed From Her Cage

"…Really?" he asked sceptically.

"Yes, really. What about your name?"

"…Harry Potter."

HARRY POTTER

AS

THE WIZARD

The Boy Who Lived, Adrift in Time

Angel smiled painfully. "Nice to meet you, Harry. But I don't think we have enough time. I don't know how long it is before he finds out I've been freed."

"What do you mean? What were you doing here?" Harry demanded. "Why were you imprisoned?"

"It's a long story, and we haven't got time. I promise you, Harry, I will tell you once we're both safe, because if you're found with me, then you may be murdered. He's somewhere in the facility, working on something else, but he will be coming." She put her arm around his shoulder, and he helped her walk out of the room.


Harry was only going along with this to distract himself from the inevitable, to avoid what he was already beginning to suspect at the back of his mind. The technology around the chamber and outside of it was far too advanced for what he saw back home, save for maybe science fiction TV or films. The adrenaline from the battle he had just been through was wearing off, and focusing on helping Angel helped keep his focus away from what he suspected.

Eventually, Angel led him to a tall construct with an aerial and a strange, intense light built into it. A hologram appeared over it, with a globe appearing, with a caption superimposed saying 'CONTROL CORE ANGEL'. Angel reached out a hand, and as her eyes glowed, along with her tattoos, she murmured, "Phaseshift activated." She frowned. "Dammit…I mean, darn it. Atlas' ECMs have caused problems with the Fast Travel Stations all around Pandora."

"ECMs?"

"Electronic countermeasures. Basically a jamming signal, along with one hell of a firewall. I'm more used to Hyperion technology, so Atlas is another matter entirely."

"Hyperion? Atlas?"

She shot him an odd look, before saying, "Hyperion is a company my dad works for. Atlas is another company. Both are nasty pieces of work. I think you and I have a lot of talking to do…but for now, I want to get away from here. Hmm…New Haven? Fyrestone? No, not New Haven, he has a spy there, and Fyrestone's all but abandoned. T-Bone Junction may be better…Moxxi's Underdome and her bar are nearby. She can help me smooth things over with the Vault Hunters on Pandora later."

"…I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'll explain it shortly. Just know that I'm trying to find the best place to hide out. Away from…"

"You GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!"

Harry whirled at the furious scream, even as Angel swiftly interposed herself between him and the angry-looking man storming down the corridor, a gun in his hand, pointed at them both. His lean, handsome features were twisted in an expression of utter rage. On instinct, still wired up after his fight in the Department of Mysteries, he snapped, "Expelliarmus!" at the man, using his wand from next to Angel. The spell hit the man, and sent him flying…and his gun was caught by Angel, who nearly fumbled it, before she kept it in her hand.

"…Okay, that was handy," Angel said, even as the man got gingerly off the floor.

"What the actual taint was that?" the man demanded. "Do you have any idea who you're messing with? Because you don't know Jack…which is me."

Harry stared at the man. "…This your father?"

"Unfortunately," Angel replied.

JACK

A Would-Be Hero, Actually a Villain.

"…Angel, pumpkin…just…put the gun down. You've never fired one in your life…well, not counting the turret you used to kill that bandit and your mother," Jack said. Oddly enough, his anger had gone away, to be replaced by a fearful pleading. "Angel, don't do this. Pandora's a shithole, you know this. You're in no condition whatsoever to deal with the bandits infesting this world like cockroaches. You've seen what they do to people! They rape, kill and eat you, and some of them aren't fussy about the order in which they do it. Put the gun down, and we can work this out."

"By you shackling me to that chair again? How long, Dad, do I have to be in that chair because I killed Mom by accident?" Angel demanded. "How long do I have to do your bidding, losing the only friends I can make? How long do I have to be a voyeur on a world I want to explore?"

"It's for your own good, Angel," Jack said, his gaze becoming intense, his anger coming back, but at a lower level, and a dangerous one at that. "You can't control your powers without the chair. And what, you thought those Vault Hunters were your friends? An Atlas deserter? A Siren who likes melting people's faces off? A sniper with a thing for alien birds? And a musclebound meathead who loves nothing more than to punch people to death? I'm all you need."

"Okay, sod off," Harry said, not quite knowing what was going on, but believing that Angel was worth protecting. "You're not keeping her here."

"I'd like to see you stop me, kiddo, whoever the hell you are," Jack said, stalking over, his eyes boring into their own. "You may think you're the hero of this story, but newsflash: you're not. Besides, Angel may have the gun, but she won't shoot me. Not unless she really, really wants to go for the complete set of parents she killed."

"Maybe not…but I'm leaving, like it or not, Dad," Angel said, before she slammed her hand into the control panel of the Fast Travel Station. As he lunged, she screamed, her eyes and tattoos glowing, a pair of ethereal wings of light bursting from her back, "PHASESHIFT ACTIVATED!"

Harry's vision was consumed by a flare of azure light. He felt like he was falling through a blue tunnel of energy, like something out of Doctor Who


And then, he was elsewhere. From one underground facility to…well, an aboveground facility, different in style, more military than technological, more rugged than elegant. And there was the wailing of sirens. Jack looked around, and groaned, "Oh, son of a taint. You dropped us off in the middle of an Atlas base, Angel, and one in full alert!"

"If you'd let us go, we would have…" Angel retorted, only to be interrupted.

"FREEZE! DROP THE WEAPON, AND PUT YOUR HANDS UP!"

Harry didn't have enough time to react before he was flung to the ground, his arm wrenched behind his back, his wand snatched from his grip. He was patted down. "No weapons that I can tell on this one. Doesn't even have a storage deck or an ECHO device. Just personal items. Check him more thoroughly before we intern him."

"Sir," spoke someone else, an armed and armoured soldier in red, his helmet sinister. He was pinning down Angel. "Look at the tattoos on this one. Is it me, or is she a Siren like Commandant Steele was?"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DAUGHTER, YOU STUPID CRIMSON LANCE BASTARD!" Jack was screaming from where he was pinned down.

"Quiet down, idiot," the soldier pinning him down said.

Then, there was the tread of booted feet nearby, and Harry was hauled to his feet to face the newcomer. Unlike the others, he wasn't wearing a helmet, revealing grizzled, craggy and jowly features, an eyepatch covering one eye, and a weary, sardonic look to him as he smoked a cigar in his mouth. "Hey, what the hell is all this? We just got Athena in the brig, and we have…one, two…three intruders? Right near the Fast Travel Station?"

GENERAL KNOXX

110% Done With This Shit.

"I don't know, General Knoxx, sir," said the man holding Harry. "We were guarding the Fast Travel Station on your orders in case Operative Athena came here to escape, when…these people showed up, mid-struggle. One appears to be a Siren, sir."

The older man, presumably Knoxx, frowned, well, more than usual, and walked past Harry to peer at Angel. "…Holy shit, she's skin and bones. And I thought Steele looked bulimic." His eyes flickered over to Jack, who wore a yellow T-shirt with a logo marked 'Hyperion' on it. "…Too conspicuous to be spies, too, if this idiot's wearing a Hyperion T-shirt. Probably came here by accident. Sucks to be them. Trespassing on an Atlas military facility is automatic detention, and in this climate, well, you three will be lucky to leave outside of a bodybag. Take them to the brig, separate cells, okay? And be gentle. I have enough trouble dealing with the locals for excessive force."

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US, YOU ATLAS ASSHOLE!" Jack yelled.

"…On second thoughts, tenderise that guy's face a little," Knoxx said. "It's my superiors that are assholes, and I have to carry out their stupidity."

"Excuse me," Harry said, "but who are you guys? Where are we? What year is this?"

Knoxx looked at him, and then at the man holding him. Sensing the unspoken question, the soldier holding him said, "He hit the ground hard, sir, but I'm pretty sure he didn't hit his head."

"He's…come a long way," Angel said. "He thought he was in London, on Earth."

"Earth?" Knoxx asked, surprised. "Earth's thousands of light years away. And, for your information, kid, the year is 2996."

Harry stared at him, feeling like a condemned man on the gallows, feeling the trapdoor opening up beneath him. He swayed, and his body, with all the tiredness, fatigue and shock catching up with him, gave out, and he slumped to the floor…

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

So, there you have it. Yet another VATDP Harry has ended up stranded…in the future, on another world. And he's rescued Angel.

No numbered annotations this time.