Pain, an overwhelming sensation that's being felt everywhere on the body. It reached places Raven had hoped would remain untouched by such distress. But somehow none of that could be compared to the loud ringing in her ears. It felt as though her skull might crack open at any moment. With a bit of effort, Raven managed to sit up and then reached for her ears, beginning to rub them gently.

After a few seconds of this the ringing began to fade away. Allowing the woman to hear the sound of the howling winds. Including the sound of... crunching? Looking ahead, Raven was surprised by what she saw. A yellow Claptrap unit digging into the snow with a shovel. "Great - more dead Vault Hunters. Handsome Jack's been busy." It said in a depressed tone of voice. 'Can't be. They're all supposed to be dead.' Raven was now starting to wonder if she'd hit her head and is now hallucinating.

The Claptrap dug its shovel into the snow again, however, it appeared that the robot had inserted the tool too deeply and was now struggling to remove it. Eventually it's able to but this causes the Hyperion made machine to roll backwards and to accidently face her. It perked in surprise by seeing Raven sitting. It then surveys the area around her with its single, blue glowing eye. "Wait a minute - you guys are not dead! YES! Now I can get off this glacier! Claptrap, your metaphorical ship has finally come in!" The Claptrap's formerly despondent tone gave way to an exuberant one, brimming with fresh hope.

Upon hearing the robot's reassuring declaration that "You guys are not dead!", Raven immediately scanned the surrounding area, relieved to find the four Vault Hunters lying just six feet away on the snow-covered ground. Quickly rising to her feet, the young woman hurried over to them.

Claptrap was about to follow the Vault Hunter, but he stopped when the sound of shifting snow caught his attention. He turned towards the source of the noise and spotted a large pile of snow moving slightly. "Another surviving Vault Hunter? YES!" He exclaimed excitedly. "The arrival of another Vault Hunter will surely make Jack soil his impeccably tailored pants!" Claptrap eagerly rolled towards the new Vault Hunter, ready to assist them.

Meanwhile, Raven was checking on the others. She carefully rolled Salvador onto his back, grasped his shoulders, and began gently shaking him to rouse him from unconsciousness. "Salvador! Come on, Sal, wake up!" She urged.

"Hmm, there's no school today, Abuela. Just five more minutes, please." The short man mumbled. A small smile found itself forming on the woman's masked face. Eventually Salvador came to and with the assistance of Raven was sitting up. "How are you feeling?" She asked him. "A little sore, but I'm fine all things considered. Thanks, Loba."

"You're welcome. Come on, we need to check up on the others." He nodded his head and then went on over to Axton and Zero while Raven went over to Maya. Fortunately, the three were alive and seemed to suffer no serious injuries. "Well, I can cross off surviving a train explosion from my list." Quipped The Commando as he patted the snow off his clothes.

"While you're doing that. I'm going to cross off Jack's name from my kill list!" Said Zero in an irate tone of voice. Maya, who's getting the snow out of her blue hair, says she's more surprised that Jack would try to kill her instead of trying to capture her. But then goes on to say she too shares Zero's feelings of being tricked. Despite quipping only just a few seconds ago, Axton too felt the anger in him brewing. 'Should've known better than to listen to that broadcast.' The Commando thought.

Salvador was surprisingly the least angry among them. Mainly because he already knew what he was getting into when accepting the job. Sure, he still wants to find the Vault, collect its contents, and kill lots of bad guys along the way. But his true goal is to kill Handsome Jack to solidify the safely of his village. 'Don't worry, Abuela,' He thought reassuringly. 'I'll make sure Jack won't send another squad of soldiers to where we live. I promise.'

Raven's own anger is on par with her new teammates, but the one feeling that's overpowering her anger is disappointment. Not toward Jack, but rather herself, for naively believing she could become a Vault Hunter. Now, she was increasingly perplexed as to why Jack had selected her in the first place. Overcome by a sudden melancholy, she wondered if he had taken amusement in raising the hopes of someone as green as her, only to ruthlessly shatter those hopes in a fiery explosion.

The young woman wasn't able to think on the matter any further because of their new robot companion suddenly calling out to them. "Hey guys!" The Vault Hunters pivot to observe the robot, which is energetically hopping and flailing its arms. "I've discovered another one of your Vault Hunter comrades!" He gestured towards the shifting mound of snow. Then, with his metal clamps, he began to clear away the white powder. Suddenly, the individual buried underneath rose, shaking the snow off their figure.

As the person's identity was revealed, everyone could now clearly see them for who and what they truly were. "Guys, that's not another Vault Hunter - it's a..." Claptrap cried out in a panic, "PSYCHO!" Without hesitation, Claptrap quickly rolled away, flailing his arms in terror and urging, "RUN AWAY!"

The Psycho stands out as an imposing figure, likely the tallest of his kind seen to date, excluding the Badass variants. True to form, he is shirtless, showcasing his muscular physique, with only a brown harness adorning his torso. His right arm is almost entirely wrapped in bandages, complemented by an orange cloth strip. Metal plates with rivets cover the back of his left forearm. The Psycho's sole attire consists of a pair of suspiciously prison-like orange pants.

While his mask bears a resemblance to others of his kind, it also displays distinct features. Instead of the typical two LED eye lenses, this mask has simple eye holes, with the right one obscured by a brown patch. Rather than a stitched-on Vault symbol, his mask features the symbol painted in orange, and a tube leading to the mouth is attached to a filter on the right side of the mask.

Immediately the others reached for their weapons to arm themselves. But no guns materialized into their hands, save for Raven that is. "My guns! They're gone!" Salvador said. "They must've been destroyed in the train explosion." Zero concluded while bringing out his sword. Axton held up a tomahawk and Sal just raised his fists.

Since she was the only one with a gun. The masked woman took aim at the Psycho and was about to pull the trigger, but that was stopped by Maya suddenly jumping in front of her. "Hold on, hold on! Don't shoot him!" Everyone became surprised by the Siren's action. "I know he's a Psycho. But trust me when I say he is not like the others." The bluenette glances over her shoulder and watches as he starts to relax when seeing her.

Maya softly smiles and turns to gaze back to her teammates. "He actually saved me before I boarded the train." Even more surprised, the others ask for the story. The Siren recounts the events of meeting him for the first time at a train stop, where she mistook him for one of the dangerous Psychos and then tried to kill him. Absorbed in her efforts, she failed to notice the Rats creeping up behind her. Just as they were about to strike, their newfound Psycho ally intervened, eliminating all but one of them and saving her.

Raven, with her weapon now lowered, inquired about the fate of the last one. Maya replied that he fainted from fear due to the Psycho's threat. Putting away their melee weapons, or in case Salvador's case, relaxing his fists. "Since you're vouching for him, and I have no reason to doubt your story. Then he's ok in my book." Said Axton. Zero agreed by nodding his head.

"Welcome to the team, amigo! This will be a new experience for me as I usually kill your kind!" Everyone faced palmed at what Salvador just said. The Gunzerker didn't even seem to catch on to their reactions. "I know our time together has been short, but I've come to trust you guys." Raven's blue eyes home in on the Siren. "Maya, I trust you when it comes to him." She subtly gestures toward the Psycho.

Maya's smile grew slightly more and then speaks in a relieved tone. "Thank you, guys. I swear he'll be helpful to us." She then makes her way to their new teammate and stops right in front of him. "Well big guy. You've become a part of the team, made some new friends, and have become a Vault Hunter all in one day. Congrats!" She then raised her gloved hand and turned it into a fist and held it in place.

The Psycho stared at the fist for a few seconds, his one visible eye clearly showing confusion. But a second later it shifted to realization, and he mirrored Maya's gesture, softly bumping his fist against hers. After that he said the following. "I am unused to the emotions I am currently feeling!"

"You got a name?" Raven asked the newest member of the team. He looks at her and raises his buzzaxe. "I AM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!" He shouted. Axton, Zero, Salvador, and Raven didn't know how to react to that. Not in the slightest. "His name is Krieg." Maya told them.

Reemerging from wherever his hiding spot was after having overheard the whole story. Claptraps asks, "So, he's a friend?" The Siren nods her head. "Awesome! Jack won't be able to stop us with him on our side."

However, Krieg would not be the team's final member. Moments after they accepted him, a lone figure emerged from the blinding snowy winds. This person was a young woman, seemingly around Raven's age. She had orange hair in two pigtails, with yellow-tinted goggles resting on her forehead. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless grey hoodie, a red shirt with a skull design, a red skirt, black and white striped leggings, and sneakers. Her entire left arm was cybernetic.

The Vault Hunters were a little startled by her as they didn't expect anyone else to have been on train. Thinking their new Psycho friend was the only stowaway. The young woman introduced herself to the Vault Hunters as Gaige and then asks them what happened to the train.

Gaige was given the short version for why they were on the train and why it exploded. She then had a reaction none of them expected her to have, "Awww! I missed all of that cool stuff?! I'm completely all for the anarchy!"

After a quick beat of silence. Axton says, "I like her." He then asks the red head if she would like to tag along with them. "Well, since I literally have nowhere else to go, have no idea where I am, and I was always interested in the idea of Vault Hunting. Hell yeah, I'll tag along with you guys!"

Claptrap's voice rang out excitedly. "Man, oh man! This day keeps getting better and better. Seven Vault Hunters? Is that even allowed? Seems overkill, but whatever, we need overkill to defeat Handsome Jack." He paused, realizing he hadn't introduced himself. "Oh, right. I am a CL4P-TP steward bot, which stands for-"

Gaige's eyes went wide as she rushed over to the yellow robot, kneeling down to meet his gaze. "Oh my God! A still working Claptrap!? I thought every single unit was shut down for good!" She exclaimed. The red head grabs the robot and begins to turn him left and right. Analyzing every little detail. "Hmmm, out of date by a few years, but is still kept in tip top shop."

The Hyperion robot extricated itself from Gaige's grasp and said, "As much as I love having a woman fawn over me, I really need to get you guys out of the cold into a warm safe place. But before we do, I've got something for all of you."

He reaches inside his small front compartment and rummages around inside. After a few moments he holds out strange devices. "Here - take these seven ECHO communicators that I totally didn't loot from any nearby corpses! It comes with a class-twelve heads-up display, complete with a mini-map! Now – come, come, friends. Let's get you all inside."

The Vault Hunters put their newly acquired ECHO devices into the free slot of their SUDs and follow behind Claptrap. "Man, this is great! Now that I've met seven mighty Vault Hunters, I can finally join the resistance in Sanctuary, take vengeance against Jack for killing my product line, and repair my central processor so I stop thinking out loud! I wonder what it's like to have a belly button."

Only after a second of Claptrap saying all that. The Vault Hunters' sight was suddenly filled with the image of a young woman with pale skin and dark hair. "I'll explain everything soon," she said, "but know this – you seven are alive for a reason, and I am here to help you."

All seven Vault Hunters came to an abrupt stop. "Whoa!" exclaimed Gaige, her voice laced with alarm. "Either I'm going insane, or I must have hit my head really hard during that train explosion. Because I swear, I just saw and heard a woman speaking to me!"

"You saw her too?!" Asked Raven. The masked woman felt a sense of relief, grateful to learn she was not the only one who had experienced the strange vision.

Krieg suddenly clutched his head, crying out in anguish. "AHHHHH! No, no, no! Not another one! I don't want another one!" The others cautiously stepped back, reaching for their weapons again, except for Gaige, who was unsure how to react.

Fortunately, Maya intervened, her soothing voice calming the situation. "Whoa there, Krieg! We saw and heard her too, ok? Just take it easy." The Siren's words had a pacifying effect, as the Psycho began to settle down.

With him fully calmed down. The Vault Hunters were about to discuss among themselves about the mysterious woman. But they were denied the chance by Claptrap shouting at them. "Hey! What's the hold up?!"

Silently deciding with each other to talk about it later. The Vault Hunters catch up to the Hyperion robot and continue to follow him. Eventually the group came up to a shelter that was built into the ice. Surrounding the entrance was a heap of garbage and junk, and as Raven glanced upward, she noticed six dead Claptraps serving as macabre decorations above the doorway. 'That's not weird or creepy at all,' She thought to herself sarcastically.

Claptrap rolled up to the door and dramatically raised his arms. "Aaaaaand open!" He announced. The door's scanner emitted a blue light, scanning the small robot. A moment later, the door slid open. "Just a little added security," Claptrap explained. "Gotta keep those Bullymongs at bay, or they'll rip your eyes out!"

"Do I even want to know what that is?" Axton asked as he stepped inside. "Oh, trust me. You'll find out soon enough," Claptrap replied ominously. Once all the Vault Hunters had entered, the door closed behind them.

XxX

At Helios, the moon base orbiting Pandora's singular celestial body, Handsome Jack sits in his expansive office, reclining on a luxurious golden leather chair behind his desk. "Junk, junk, useless, junk and useless." Currently Handsome Jack was going through paperwork that was sent to him by one of his several R&D teams. They were mostly pitch ideas for weapons they wanted him to give the green light so they can begin development on.

"Jesus, these ideas are so dumb." Jack said with a shake of his head. "Who would want a gun that has legs?" Crumbling the papers into a tight ball, he then throws them in a small trash bin next to his desk. He reaches over and presses a button on his desk that was next to a built-in speaker. "Molly? Can you tell R&D Team 3 if they send me anymore stupid ideas, I'll have them fed to our animal test subjects?"

A female voice comes through the speaker and says she'll notify them immediately. Satisfied, Jack leans back in his chair and kicks his feet up on his desk. Ready to take it easy for the rest of the day. "Jack," Suddenly said an all too familiar female voice. "I have a report on the Vault Hunters."

For a brief moment annoyance appeared on his face, but it quickly faded because it is her that's talking to him. "That died just like the others. No need for a report Angel."

The mysterious voice, now revealed to be Angel, informs Handsome Jack that the seven Vault Hunters have survived his explosive trap and are currently taking refuge from the harsh environment. Jack perks up in his seat, clearly taken aback by the unexpected news. "Survived, you say? Well, that's a first," he shrugs. "But it's nothing to worry about too much. There are about a thousand ways for them to..." Jack stops mid-sentence, doing a double take on a specific part of her sentence. "Angel? What do you mean by 'seven Vault Hunters'? I 'hired' five, not seven."

"Two stowaways had sneaked onto the train," she said. "They've just allied themselves with the five you hired." He responded, "Show me." Suddenly two 3D images of the two new Vault Hunters appear in front of him.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "These don't seem like the kind of people I'd expect to ally with the Vault Hunters. Especially that Psycho - but whatever. Angel, I want you to dig up everything you can on these two, and then make some wanted posters for them. I don't care what crimes you list, just make sure the price on their heads is high."

"On it, sir. Is there anything else you need me to do?" She asked. "No new tasks, but I would like for you to repeat what you did for the last batch of Vault Hunters with this new batch. Just got to change the script is all." He said with a devilish smile forming on her face.

Don't expect a consistent upload of chapters. I do have a life outside of writing this story and other times will right for other websites.