There they were, nine world-displaced mercenaries, seven Vault Hunters, and a CL4P-TP Unit missing an eye. Things didn't seem to be off to a good start.

Suddenly, the mysterious woman appeared again, speaking to the sixteen while Claptrap continued bumping into everything.

"Once upon a time, four Vault Hunters changed Pandora forever. But their time has passed, thanks to Handsome Jack. Pandora needs a new hero. I know that hero is you."

"Okay...no pressure or anything. We just GOT here, after all!" Scout sarcastically commented.

"Shouldn't we do something about the little fella?" Engineer asked, gesturing to Claptrap.

"Apart from the excruciating pain, this is great! I've been waiting for a mighty Vault Hunter to help me reach Sanctuary! I will be your wise leader, and you shall all be my fearsome minions!" Claptrap declared, laughing madly afterward.

"Uhhh...how long has he been alone all by himself?" Gaige asked in concern.

"Time is quite fickle/he has been here for a while/he is clearly mad," Zer0 commented.

"Like it or not, we gotta go with the goofy little robot if we're gonna get out of this frozen dump." Maya pointed out.

"Great! Just let me get this door open and we'll hunt ourselves a Bullymong." Claptrap cheered as he went through a small door shaped like himself to get by before opening the main door from the other side. "Onward, seeing-eye minions!"

"One of us is gonna have to carry the loser so he doesn't run into everything," Ben noted before grabbing Claptrap and strapping him to his back. "Huh, you're not as heavy as I thought you were gonna be."

"Alright! Free travel service!"

The group made their trek through the snowy plains. As they did, Pyro shivered and hugged himself before taking out his lighter and flicking it on to keep himself calm.

"Even though Knuckle Dragger blindsided me, I know my way around this glacier. I bet we'll find my eye in Frostbite Crevasse." Claptrap noted.

"Well, let us know when we're going in the right direction, then," Axton said.

"Stick close to the robot, he will help you get off this glacier, and into the city of Sanctuary. That is the only place you will be safe." The mysterious woman said.

"Are we seriously gonna be trustin' this lady?!" Scout demanded incredulously.

"Do you see any other guide here?" Maya pointed out, making the Boy from Boston grumble to himself.

Claptrap suddenly yelped in terror. "Ahhh! I hear Bullymongs! Sic 'em, minions!"

Sure enough, a small herd of Bullymongs were charging toward the sixteen. However, thanks to the Vault Hunters' firepower, they were easily dispatched. Even Ben managed to shoot down a Monglet with his Basic Repeater.

"While Sasha is very good, I cannot waste her bullets," Heavy said. "We must find new weapons for ourselves."

Medic nodded. "Indeed, mein friend. Surely we shall come across adequate wares during our quest."

"Oh, you'll love the stuff Pandora has to offer, mi amigo!" Salvador grinned.

"Let's go! If we don't get my eye back, we'll never get to Sanctuary!" Claptrap ushered.

As the group continued on their way, a sudden tremor caused them to nearly lose their footing. Claptrap dropped off Ben's back and fell on his face before picking himself up.

Ugh, AGAIN?! Jack's tearing Pandora apart to find the Vault." Claptrap groaned."They say Jack's drilling operations are causing those earthquakes. That, or yo mama just got outta bed, ZING!

"Hey, leave my Ma outta this, Juicebox!" Scout snapped, bonking Claptrap over the head with his bat.

"Let's just keep moving..." Ben said, picking up the robot and strapping him back on.

"You'll need that funny little robot's help to reach Sanctuary, the last bastion of the resistance against Jack, and the only place you will be truly safe. Get to Sanctuary." The mysterious woman spoke again.

"Can she be any more cryptic?" Spy muttered. "Just who or what even is this mysterious madame?"

The sixteen soon arrived at what they could only assume was Frostbite Crevasse. After jumping down a small cliffside, they were accosted by more Bullymongs, but they were easily gunned down. However, Gaige took a nasty hit from a chunk of snowy rock thrown by a Bullymong Slinger.

"Hold on!" Medic said, taking out his Medi-Gun and healing the teenager.

"Whoa, how'd ya do that?"

"My Medi-Gun can heal any wound! I even have a device that allows me to combine it with my weapon to cheat death itself!"

"Where we come from, death kinda lost meaning a while ago." Engineer explained. "Thanks to our souls being hotwired to a 'Respawn System' developed by our old benefactors, Mann Co."

"Don't know if we'll be able to respawn here, though," Sniper noted. "So we best not get too careless, lads."

As the group progressed through the crevasse, they were suddenly given an audience with a new person on the ECHO line; Handsome Jack himself.

"Hey, kiddos. Jack here, President of Hyperion. Lemme explain how things work here: Vault Hunter shows up. Vault Hunter looks for the new Vault. Vault Hunter gets killed. By me. You see-seeing the problem here? You're still alive. So, if you could just do me a favor and off yourselves, that'd be great. Thanks, pumpkin."

"So this is the Handsome Jackass himself..." Ben noted.

"OOH-HOO-HOO-HOO!" Jack laughed back, but there was a clear bit of anger behind it. "You must be that super special ultra-rare Male Siren I've heard so much about. Listen here, wise guy, I'm gonna take my time dissecting your sorry ass when I get my hands on you. So...look forward to that."

"I take that was Handsome Jack?" Demoman asked.

"Yup, biggest asshole you'll ever meet," Axton affirmed. "Sorry about that, man."

"And I should know. I'm a Pandoran native." Salvador added.

The group continued through the crevasse before Claptrap suddenly spoke up.

"Oh! My eye just switched back on! I see a bunch of brave and strong-looking minions and an incredibly handsome robot. Which means that whoever has my eye…" Claptrap droled off when he realized the implications. "...is very close."

Sure enough, Knuckle Dragger jumped down, wearing Claptrap's eye like some kind of glorified necklace. The Bullymong roared before lifting up a turned-over car and throwing it over the sixteen Vault Hunters' heads.

"This is gonna hurt..." Gaige groaned.

"Not if I have anything to say 'bout it!" Engineer grinned before throwing out one of his toolboxes. "Sentry goin' up!"

The toolbox opened up and a Level 1 Sentry unfolded from it before landing on the ground and opening fire on Knuckle Dragger. Engineer then took out his Wrangler and used the remote control to put up a shield and aim it down at Knuckle Dragger.

"Heh, a good partner for the missus!" Axton grinned before throwing out his Sabre Turret, which joined Engineer's Sentry in raining bullets down on Knuckle Dragger and the other Bullymongs that came out of their dens.

Everyone else spread out, taking care of the surrounding Bullymongs while Engineer and Axton kept their fire on Knuckle Dragger. Ben saw that not enough damage was being done to the beast, so he took a deep breath and his Siren tattoos glowed bright red before thrusting out his hands, sending out a huge flume of fire on Knuckle Dragger, the Bullymong screeching in pain as his body burned to a crisp before collapsing to the ground after the fire blew a hole through his torso.

Pyro giddily clapped his hands at the sight of such a beautiful display of Pyromancy while Maya whistled.

"Damn, those powers of yours are top-notch, kid."

"I've been practicing since I was a kid." Ben shrugged before picking up Claptrap's eye, which had managed to remain undamaged.

"Got my eye? Great! Now we just gotta find someone to put it back into me." Claptrap cheered. "Much as I'm sure you'd like to jam your fist into my skull, optic surgery is best left to professionals, my pal Hammerlock in Liar's Berg can fix me up! Allons-y!"

"Uh, you do realize I know my way around robotics, right?" Gaige pointed out in annoyance.

"And I know my way around machines myself, son." Engineer said, taking Claptrap off Ben's back before being handed the eye. "Now don't worry, I may not be this Hammerlock fella you mentioned, but I got the magic touch."

Before Claptrap could make any protesters, Engineer jammed his eye back into the socket before taking his wrench and making a few whacks, rearranging some of the wiring and kicking up a long-forgotten system.

Suddenly, a jolt went through Claptrap and he started to shake like he was having a seizure. Engineer struggled a bit before taking off his glove to reveal his metal prosthetic hand, which caught Gaige's interest as he punched Claptrap in the face, making him stop.

"Uh...is he dead?" Salvador asked.

"I did not give you permission to die, soldier!" Soldier barked as he scooted Engineer aside and began doing chest compressions on Claptrap...wherever his chest may be.

Suddenly, the robot sprung back, looking even more lively and energetic than ever as he let out a cheer, throwing his arms in the air.

"THE FRAGTRAP IS BACK, BABY!"

"Uh...what the fuck?" Maya questioned, speaking what was on everyone else's minds.

Claptrap was too busy wheeling around excitedly, doing pelvic thrusts and wiggling his arms around in a dance motion before suddenly realizing everyone was staring at him and turning to face them.

"I feel like I should explain things! Five years ago Jack reprogrammed me to be a Vault Hunter so five others and I could help him get to a Vault on Pandora's moon, Elpis. After that, the six of us went on a journey into my mind because there was something important stored away in it. Once he got it, he shot me and killed my product line. However, a small part of my software managed to keep me from permanently shutting down, I was then found by my buddy Hammerlock and he repaired me. Since then I've been living in this frozen hellhole as a simple Claptrap, the last of my kind, trying to get by in a cold, cruel universe."

"Well, guess you made the little guy into a badass, Hardhat." Scout noted, elbowing Engineer, who chuckled.

"Happy to be of service, partner."

"Huh a Vault Hunting Claptrap, there's something I never thought I'd hear," Axton said.

"THE TOASTER DOESN'T JUST BURN TOAST HE BURNS PEOPLE!" Krieg yelled.

"Well friends, since I have my old badass program back it only makes sense that I come along with you on your quest to murder Jack!" Claptrap declared. "Onwards!"

"So...he's one of us now?" Gaige asked Ben.

"Guess so. Let's just make our way to this Hammerlock guy Claptrap mentioned. Maybe he can help us out."

Making their way up the path, the group came across another door that led into some kind of bunker.

HA! This door's Hyperion tech, child's play!" Claptrap laughed. "Aaaaaaand OPEN!"

"Intruders detected. Locking door." The door's AI said before shutting the group out.

A pregnant pause filled the snowy air before Claptrap flatly turned to everyone.

"Well, it was nice knowing ya! I hear getting eaten alive by Bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go."

"Scout, could you do me a favor, please?" Spy spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"I want you to shoot me, right in the head. Then I shall shoot you."

"Let me get that for you. Executing Phaseshift." The mysterious woman suddenly spoke, which got Maya's attention in particular.

Suddenly, the doors opened up, allowing the heroes to get inside the bunker.

"You're welcome! Perks of being an Artificial Intelligence. I'm networked into almost everything in this planet." The woman smiled. "It's a long way to Sanctuary, please take whatever you need for the journey ahead."

As the group entered the bunker, they saw multiple guns stashed away, which caught the RED Mercs' eyes as well, seeing some of them stick out to their tastes in particular.

"Alright, this is some good stuff!" Axton grinned. "We already got our own guns, but you guys are new here, so help yourselves!"

"Figured we'll take a rest before heading to meet this Hammerlock guy." Ben said as he took a seat.

The rest of the crew agreed and decided to take a quick rest stop before continuing on their journey to Liar's Beg just up ahead. They'd need the time to pick out which new weapons would fit which of the RED Mercs, Ben, and Claptrap after all.


Claptrap has his old Fragtrap program! Now he can join the Vault Hunters on their quest to defeat Handsome Jack!

Yeah, I figured the old robot needed a bone thrown his way. I got the idea from a fanfic called 'Old Program' by trickster3696.