Ben was sitting by his lonesome on a Hyperion train, traveling to some Hyperion outpost. He honestly didn't know why he was going there, aside from the horror stories he had heard before arriving on Pandora. All he could think about was hopefully meeting another Siren, considering they were drawn to the chaos the planet offered. He just wanted answers on his...unique case.
"Only six Sirens can exist at a time...and I'm a male...could I be one of the six? Or am I the super special seventh?"
The Phasebending Male Siren sighed as he just closed his eyes and tried not to think too much about things. However, the train suddenly stopped, making him open one eye to see what was going on.
In walked nine men, all of them clad in red and all in different outfits. A skinny guy who looked like a Boston delivery boy, a guy in WWII army fatigues with a helmet covering his eye, a person in a gas mask and asbestos suit, a dark-skinned man with an eyepatch, a large man with a bandolier of bullets, a man with goggles and a hard hat, a man in a lab coat, a man with sunglasses and a bush hat, and a gentleman in a fancy suit with a balaclava.
"Hey, we ain't the only ones, guys!" The boy, who looked to be the same age as Ben, pointed out with a Boston accent.
"Looks tired, Scout. Better give 'im his space." The man in the shades said with an Australian accent.
"You do know what personal space is, yes?" Snarkily spoke the man in the fancy suit with a French accent.
There was a seat available next to Ben and the guy in the asbestos suit sat down next to him, just minding his own business and flicking a lighter on and off while staring at it attentively. Ben figured he wouldn't intrude and kept to himself.
"You think you can trust that Handsome Jack fella?" The man in the hard hat asked his compatriots in a warm, fatherly-sounding Southern accent.
"Not exactly. But we have no other place to go now that we have been fired from Mann Co." The man in the lab coat said in a German accent.
That got Ben's attention, Mann Co. was one of the most prominent mercenary companies in the known galaxies. In hindsight, he should have recognized those nine men, they were the members of its now-defunct Reliable Excavation Demolition unit. Guess they figured Vault Hunting would help fill the void the loss of their job left.
"Men, we must be alert at all times!" The WWII guy said in a gruff voice. "As I see it, we are walking straight into enemy territory! A trap is among us!"
"Ah, Sol! You need to cool your ladles, man!" The dark-skinned man said in a Scottish accent. "There's nine of us together. If there is a trap, we'll handle it!"
"Soldier does have point." The large man said in a Russian accent. "Could be dangerous on arrival."
The asbestos-suited man spoke up as well but all Ben could hear was mumbles through his gas mask. However, his friends seemed to understand him just fine.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there, Pyro." The hard-hatted man said.
The nine mercs made small talk amongst themselves as the train continued onward. Ben wanted to speak up but he didn't want to sound rude and interrupt anything, so he kept quiet.
When the train stopped, everyone looked up to see another person getting on. He was about 5'9 with short brown hair swept back with spikes in his fringe; he had subdermal implants in the shape of the symbol for a military sergeant and was wearing a brown military jacket with a patch of a skull with a lighting-shaped crack running through it, and a bandolier holding a Dahl Carbine on his back, green cargo pants and boots that looked like they were made of metal.
"Welcome aboard, friend. What's your name?" The man in the hard hat asked with a smile.
The military man smirked. "Hey, name's Axton, ten years of Dahl military experience at your service."
"Dahl, huh? You must have some medals, son. Whip 'em out!" The man called 'Soldier' said gruffly.
"Whoa, easy there! Take me out to dinner first, at least." Axton chuckled. "Besides, I don't have any medals on me. I was dishonorably discharged."
"So was Soldier from what we've been told!" The black Scottish man laughed, patting his friend on the back as he grumbled.
Once more, Ben kept quiet as Axton struck up a conversation with the Mercs, particularly with Scout and Soldier. After a while, the train stopped again and another person stepped on.
He was tall and slim, about 6'3 in height, the same as Ben, covered in a skin-tight suit in shades of black and grey, with what looked like light armor and a red zero on his chest, and his head was hidden by a helmet with a glass face plate.
"Well, who's this mysterious rogue?" The man in the fancy suit, named 'Spy', wondered.
"I am a killer/born and bred without equal/my name is Zer0."
"Is he speaking in Haiku?" The man with the shades, who Ben heard was named 'Sniper' asked.
The now-named Zer0 simply walked over and sat on the other side of Ben, getting his attention as he turned to the mysterious assassin.
"You are different/not like many others here/what is your story?"
"My story? You sure you wanna know?" Ben asked neutrally.
"No need for that dark and depressing attitude, son." The hard-hatted man known as 'Engineer' said. "Way I see it, you're among friendlies."
"Just a guy who came to Pandora hoping to find some excitement," Ben explained. "Or, you know, die like 80% of the people who come here tend to do."
"Dinae need to dampen the mood, lad." The Scotsman named 'Demoman' dryly said.
The group traveled in silence for some time before stopping again, this time, two new passengers stepped on.
The first was a woman, around 5'7, with blue hair in a bob cut, and blue lipstick; she was wearing a yellow shirt with black and grey patterns on the side, no left sleeve, a glove on her right hand, baggy blue pants, and yellow and black boots.
Her companion was a man around 7'5, so muscled everyone was surprised his skin hadn't ripped. He was bald, wearing what looked like a cross between a gas mask and a hockey mask, with a piece of leather covering the right eye hole, a harness but no shirt, his right arm had bandages on it, whilst his left arm had metal armor; he had orange pants with metal boots.
"Damn, he's even bigger than you, Heavy!" Scout exclaimed to his large Russian friend, who nodded with an impressed look.
"Not many can say they are more giant than Heavy Weapons Guy."
Ben noticed something about the woman in particular; She had blue tattoos running down her left arm that resembled Eridien script, marking her as a Siren, just like him.
"Hey, how's it going." The woman said as she sat down, her tattoos glowing slightly as she looked at them curiously. As for Ben, he felt a pulsing warmth as he felt his own tattoos, which he kept hidden by his baggy clothes with lightweight armor, glowing as well.
"So, what's your name, Sheila?" Sniper asked.
"I'm Maya. If you couldn't already tell, I'm a Siren." The woman introduced herself. "And as for my...friend, I guess? His name is Krieg."
"THE PEN STABBERS ARE PUTTING IDEAS IN MY BRAIN!"
"He's...relatively harmless. I'm 80% sure, at least. Just don't get on his bad side."
"Never thought I'd get to meet another Siren already..." Ben thought to himself in amazement. "Too bad from the looks of it she already has a boyfriend."
At the next stop, the train picked up a Hispanic man around 5'4 with blue hair in a faux hawk and a spiky beard; he was heavily muscled, his orange shirt looked like it would tear any moment; he was also wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a leather glove, and an aura of aggression. Despite that, he gave a friendly-enough smile.
"What's up, pendejos? Me llamo Salvador the Gunzerker, when do we start shooting things?"
"Don't know, mate." Sniper shrugged. "Might wanna put that trigger finger on hold though."
At the next stop came a group of five teenagers. The leader of them was a girl around 5'3 with red hair pulled into pigtails and a set of goggles. She was wearing a sleeveless hoodie with a red shirt with a skull underneath, she had a fingerless glove and some bracelets on her right arm, and her left arm was cybernetic. She had a red skirt, with a tool belt with a Vault symbol hanging on it, black and white striped leggings, and blue sneakers.
The first of her friends was quite tall, around 6'1, with a dopey-looking smile on his face, feathery orange hair, and a unibrow. He was wearing a green jacket over a red and white striped undershirt with purple jeans and black boots. He also had a Vault symbol on the back of his jacket.
The second was a lad of around 5'6 with a lanky frame, a tomato-red shirt, lightweight protective armor, purple shorts with cybernetic chainmail on his legs, light blue sneakers, and golden blonde hair. The most interesting about him was his black sock-like hat, which had a Vault symbol stitched onto it.
The third was a guy around 5'4 and was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a purple collar and red vertical stripe, light blue chains with a wallet chain, red sneakers, black fingerless gloves, and a pair of shades with the Vault symbol drawn on the edge of the right lens.
The fourth and final of the girl's friends was a tall young man with a trim build and around 6'1 in height, the same as the first boy. He had tanned skin, navy blue hair, a unibrow, and was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a red stripe running around it with light blue farm pants, and farm boots as well as leather armor, blacksmith gloves, and a pair of goggles on his forehead.
"'Sup, people! Gaige is in the house and these are my homies, Ed, Edd, Eddy, and Rolf!" The girl introduced herself loudly.
"Please, call me Double-D to differentiate myself from my friend Ed here." Edd, the kid in the sock hat, said while nudging the dopey boy next to him.
"So, we got twenty guys looking to be Vault Hunters, huh?" Scout noted as everyone sat together. "Wonder how things are gonna go from here."
Suddenly, the sign above everyone with Hyperion CEO Handsome Jack smiling fell down. The sign initially said "Welcome, Vault Hunters" but when it dropped, another, less friendly sign with "...To your DOOM! (Nothing Personal)".
"Um...everyone..." Double-D nervously began before several blocky, bipedal yellow robots popped up.
"Hyperion Loader Bots..." Spy noted. "This does not bode well."
"We should probably start moving, fellas!" Engineer hurriedly said.
Everyone quickly scattered for the express purpose of not getting murdered. Axton threw a box onto the ceiling. It stuck there before spawning a turret, keeping the loader bots at bay. Then he turned, whipping out a Maliwan rocket launcher, and fired it further into the train.
"You got yerself a sentry too?" Engineer asked as he slammed down a toolbox, which popped open as his own sentry turret unfolded into being. "Well so do I, son!"
Maya backed away from the rocket Axton fired and shielded her eyes from the explosion, before raising her left arm, the tattoos glowing as a loader was telekinetically lifted and thrown into a wall with enough force to break through.
Another loader came up from behind Maya but it suddenly twitched before bending and folding into itself until it was a tiny ball of crumpled-up metal. Maya turned to see Ben with his hand out and a metallic grey glow surrounding it.
"Wait, he's a Siren too?!"
Salvador, who was hanging out from the side of the train, swung back inside and took out two assault rifles before opening fire at the incoming loader bots, laughing maniacally all the while. Krieg also sprung into the fray, swinging around an unholy fusion of an axe and a buzzsaw around.
"Good lord! I wasn't prepared for this!" Double-D cried as he hid under the chairs, shaking like a leaf.
"Stop being a wet noodle, Head in Sock Edd-Boy!" Rolf said as he took out a Jakobs shotgun and opened fire. "Show them what it means to be a man!"
"Don't hurt Double-D!" Ed said as he grabbed a loader bot and slammed it over his knee, folding it in half in the process.
On the roof, two Hyperion engineers, wearing yellow exoskeletons, approached Zer0. One punched at the assassin, only for the metal fist to go through him, revealing itself to be a hologram. As he stood, confused, his partner jerked as a glowing blue katana blade stabbed through his chest. The other engineer turned in time to see the assassin backflip over the dying man. Midair, Zer0 planted his feet on the engineer's chest and kicked him into the blade sticking out of his partner's body, killing him as well.
A robot sailed across the train, propelled by Gaige's mechanical fist as she and Eddy laughed, the latter keeping her covered with a Bandit assault rifle.
"You call these rustbuckets murder bots? THIS is a murder bot!" Gaige said as she raised her cybernetic limb, digitally summoning a large robot with no legs and a single glowing eye.
"Oh yeah! Deathtrap is here!"
"Cool name for a murder bot!" Scout said as he ducked under a loader bot's swinging fist and slammed a metal baseball bat into its middle, making it recoil as Gaige sent Deathtrap to rip it apart.
"SCREAMING EAGLES!" Soldier roared as he fired a Dahl rocket launcher at a Hyperion engineer, blowing him into bloody chunks while Demoman took out a grenade launcher, lobbing red glowing pipe bombs as he backed his buddy up.
"Not a lot of good vantage points to take a sniping roost." Sniper noted as he ducked under the swing of a loader bot before stabbing a kukri machete through the side of its head. "Guess it's up close and personal huntin' for me, boys!"
A Hyperion engineer seized up before falling over, a butterfly knife sticking out of his back as Spy appeared, having cloaked himself as he dusted his suit off. Pyro took out a flamethrower and incinerated a poor Hyperion engineer who screamed and flailed around before falling off the train.
"The best thing about robots...you don't have to make bodybags for them!" The labcoat-wearing man known as 'Medic' cackled as he stabbed a bonesaw through its chest and yanked it out in a sea of sparks.
Heavy had taken out an honest-to-god minigun and began opening fire on any hapless Hyperion engineers and loader bots in his path, yelling all the while as Salvador laughed and joined in on the slaughter.
"SHANK AND SMILE!" Krieg cried as he finished chopping a loader bot in half with just two swings of his 'Buzz-Axe'.
Soon, all the enemies had been eliminated and everyone huddled up together. Maya giving Ben an incredulous look as he tried to avoid making eye contact with her.
"Okay, so apparently there are male Sirens out there?"
"I don't like talking about it."
"Come on, let's kick that Handsome Jack in the ass!" Axton said as he kicked open the door to the next train, revealing Handsome Jack...NOT!
"A fake!" Double-D gasped as the Handsome Jack dummy spun around in its chair, a recorded message from the man himself playing.
"It's cute that y'all think you're the heroes of this little adventure, but you're not." It was then the group realized that the entire room was rigged with a literal crapton of dynamite. "Welcome to Pandora, kiddos!"
"OH YOU SON OF A-!" Ben screamed as he got in front of everyone and held out his hands, a metallic grey aura surrounding them as he bent the metal of the train to close off the trapped train car...but the explosion still rocked the entire train off-course as everyone screamed and held on.
Ben ended up slamming his head against the roof, spots decorating his vision before mercifully blacking out...
And so the story begins in earnest! In the next chapter, our twenty unlikely heroes meet everyone's favorite lovable annoying robot; Claptrap, and hunt themselves a Bullymong! Stay tuned for more!
