He did it again.

He took many lives for nothing.

Now, a Vault Hunter like Braylon has no problems killing a fellow human, since most don't deserve to live, as evidenced by bandits on his home planet. The problem came when he took many lives only to achieve nothing. That would devastate him. First, there would be panic, then suspicion, then a breakdown. Although he didn't cry, he became very silent in his cell. His mind began reliving the past. No detail was spared, no matter how cruel, unusual or horrifying. The battles he fought, the people he killed, all of it flashed in front of his eyes for what seemed like an eternity. He chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny, freak?" The guard hit the door with its baton. Braylon ignored it.

The police confiscated his Unforgiven and Energy Pistol, the only two guns he ever carried on his body and not in his PDA. When they tried to take away his device, he told them why would that be a really bad idea. No policeman knew he had a hidden arsenal ready to be unleashed.

When the guard walked away, Braylon materialized Orphan Maker and quickly put a shell into each barrel. He took few breaths and mentally prepared a simple plan of action; murder every policeman in the station, find the guns, go to the Palace and beat the information out of Carnel Linguini. No room for mistakes. He dreaded the consequences, but there was no other way to save Remnant.

(Scattle – Knock Knock)

Knocking the door down with his foot, Braylon dashed out of his cell, turned towards the startled guard and fired. The guard's torso became a giant hole as organs, bone and muscle were obliterated and scattered on the floor behind him. Reloading, the Vault Hunter ran to the security door. Since it couldn't be opened on his side, he had to wait for a policeman to do it for him. When the door opened, Braylon swiftly put the barrels under the confused policeman's chin and plastered his brains on the ceiling.

He threw the body away as he materialized Ajax's Spear in his other hand. Kicking another door down, he ended up in a giant office filled with more cops, all looking at his direction with shock on their faces. There was no way to know how many people were present. Maybe twenty or more. What is known is the slaughter that happened in that office. Our Vault Hunter refused to release the trigger until everyone was dead or dying. He didn't aim, for there was no need. He simply moved the rifle left and right as bullets tore through bodies, desks, computers, walls, stacks of paper, filing cabinets. After five minutes, the whole office looked like it was hit by a tornado.

Naturally, the alarm went off two minutes after he began firing. The chaos was far too loud for anyone to hear a puny alarm. Braylon was busy reloading Ajax's Spear when he heard a door opening on the other side of the office. To his surprise, he found a policeman wearing a body armor, including a ballistic vest and a helmet, so thick that it made him look fat. Said policeman also carried a minigun.

While Braylon felt flattered, he immediately jumped behind a ruined desk to avoid becoming a human Swiss cheese. The minigun never stopped firing, which infuriated Braylon due to how loud it was. He watched helplessly as many policemen slowly appeared behind the heavily-armored one. His cover wouldn't protect him for long.

Because the situation demanded it, Braylon materialized an unmodified grenade and threw it at the group's direction, which broke into smaller groups of two to three individuals. The moment his grenade exploded, Braylon jumped out of his cover with the Nukem in his hands. One shot killed or fatally injured everyone, minus Braylon, as the floor, walls and ceiling exploded into fire and rubble. After the smoke cleared, Braylon jumped down. The hole led to a locker room. There were some half-naked corpses laying everywhere, possibly collateral damage. Oops.

Braylon didn't find anyone alive, so he calmly switched to Excalibastard and went into the hallway. He shot every cop that stood in his way, then entered into an evidence room. While the personnel ran on the hallways in panic, he emptied box after box of evidence until he found his guns. Then, after putting them into their respective holsters, materialized Vulcan, loaded fire Dust and set the room on fire. Just a precaution.

In the hallway he set a group of people on fire with Vulcan's secondary firing mode, which created fireballs that explode when they come in contact with a surface, including targets. Their screams rang in his ears as he saw them rolling on the ground or running aimlessly. They all died in a matter of seconds.

Another heavily-armored policeman waited for him near some stairs. This one had an automatic shotgun, powerful enough to make holes in a concrete wall, as Braylon learned when he turned around the corner.

"Bastard!" A hole suddenly appeared inches away from his head. "I need to get rid of him."

Swapping Vulcan with Fornax, Braylon fired at the police officer, who screamed as the armor melted due to plasma. He dropped his shotgun and fell on his knees as he continued screaming bloody murder. Running past him and downstairs, Braylon went through many smaller offices, shooting every donut muncher he could find. While many had their flesh and organs liquefied or vaporized, there were moments when some would turn into charred skeletons, covered in warm blood.

Braylon used Ajax's Spear when the battery was empty. There would be a brave police officer here and there, pointing their funny-looking guns at him and scream cliché phrases like "Stop right there!" or "Put your hands in the air!". Braylon would start laughing if the whole situation wasn't so dramatic and sad.

The last group of survivors was found at the entrance hall. It was, quite possibly, the biggest area in the whole station. Small wooden counters stood near the walls, now abandoned. Giant windows let sunshine inside, illuminating the gray walls and checkered floor. Those with a gun found cover behind couches and counters. Everyone else was running for the exit.

People who remained in the hall started screaming when bullets began flying. Braylon slowly picked each group of policemen, until there were none left. He then walked towards the nearest counter, trying to find anyone alive. He stumbled upon a woman in a business suit. Picking her up, he pushed her towards the counter.

"Find a fucking phone and contact Carnel Linguini. Now!"

Braylon had to slap her shock away. Stunned, she nodded and immediately grabbed the nearest phone she could find. After she dialed the number, he snatched the phone from her shaking hands.

"Who is this?"

"It's your buddy, Quartz."

"Quartz? Why are you calling from the police station?"

"I'll tell you why, you fat piece of shit. You probably thought some pigs in blue could stop me from shoving lead up your ass the moment I found out about your trap. Well, I'm sorry to inform you that you have… what… fifty or more people on your conscience? Yeah, that's right. I turned the whole station into a giant fucking graveyard, just for you."

He could hear breathing on the other side becoming unsteady.

"Why are you so surprised, fucktard? You think I would live as long as I do if I weren't a tough son of a bitch?" He chuckled. "No matter… no matter. Know, that I know a lot of ways for getting what I want from you. The moment I finish this call, I will find a car, I will come there and I won't stop beating the shit out of you until you spill all your damn teeth, understand?!"

"Quartz, listen to me. You are making a big, big..."

Braylon ended the call. It was time to show Carnel Linguini who Braylon Monocriffe really was.

The Palace was probably swarming with mooks, Braylon thought as the police car he stole crashed through another roadblock, killing two mobsters. That was the third in a row.

"You enjoy hurting people, slave?"

"No."

"Yet your actions speak differently."

"I thought you said you were busy."

"Oh, I am… I am."

His eyes widened when he saw the barricade in front of the entrance; Two rows of sandbags and wooden planks, filled with guards armed to the teeth. There was even a Howitzer-lookalike on wheels, barrel pointed in his direction.

And he was going towards it.

"Seems to me they are aware of your little 'escapade', correct?"

"Shiiiiiit!…Jump, you asshole!"

Braylon jumped out of the car moments before the Howitzer-lookalike blew it up. The explosion threw him on the road as his ears rang painfully.

"Nice way of welcoming guests, don't you think?" The voice laughed as Braylon shook his head.

"Like the good old times, for fuck's sake. Ugh..." His mind, clear of confusion, reminded him of the danger. Blinking, he moved his eyes towards the gate. They were ready to fire again. The Vault Hunter jumped on his legs and quickly ran behind a tiny building as another explosion destroyed the road.

(Guns, Gore and Cannoli – Top of Belluccio State)

"Maybe I should respond in kind."

Nukem appeared in his hands, which was used to blow up everything in front of the gate, including the gate itself. Braylon wasn't aware of ammunition boxes present behind those sandbags, so the resulting explosion was even louder and messier than he had anticipated. Nearby windows were destroyed by stray bullets, as were few cars present. Double oops.

"I'm coming for you, Carnel Linguini!"

Switching Nukem for Ajax's Spear, Braylon ran forward, shooting two mobsters who ran towards him with baseball bats and axes. Deviating from the gravel road by going left, he reached a giant statue of Azwalt Linguini surrounded by bushes and flowers. There was a man with a shotgun who tried to shoot him, but Ajax's Spear blew up his right hand instead. He cried and screamed in pain and terror as Braylon decapitated him with the Holo Sabre.

"Time to die!"

Man number two jumped out from the bushes with something similar to a drill. Before he could harm the Vault Hunter, he was knocked down with an uppercut. Braylon took the tool and drilled a hole between the mafioso's eyes.

"Death is my friend, pal."

A bullet out of nowhere destroyed one of the statue's legs, sending debris everywhere. Braylon had to jump-roll away to avoid death by a falling piece of sculpted marble.

"Are these people total idiots? Did they really thought I would-"

A bullet missed his right feet by several inches. He understood where it came from, so he crouched and approached some bushes, materializing Omni-Cannon in the process. As expected, the shot came from somewhere high. More precisely, from one window where a sniper made a nest for himself. A silenced shot blew his head off.

Braylon killed two more people that stood on a balcony to the right, one of which fell down, alerting nearby mobsters. He managed to kill one of them before they went for cover. On his way to the gravel road, he encountered a woman who threw Molotov cocktails at him. Firing with his Omni-Cannon, he shot the bottle she had in her hand, which set her on fire. Unfortunately, it also set on fire a giant tree behind her. A tree that looked really, really old. Triple oops. I think there is a theme going on here.

When he returned, rather than following the road towards the entrance, he stopped and used the sniper scope to check for any defensive measures; two cannons, two heavy machine guns and a man with a rocket launcher on a balcony above the door. There were also two groups behind sandbags, with Brans Tarkvinus shouting orders. Braylon noticed a box on the balcony filled with explosives, possibly to throw them on his head should he approach the door. When he shot it, the entire balcony exploded, with some bits that rained down on those below, ending in another explosion.

With the entrance now blocked, Braylon decided to find another way in. By going right, thus deviating from the road again, he followed a route to the parking lot situated on the other side of the Palace. It was peaceful until he reached said parking lot, where mooks were hidden behind cars, shooting at Braylon with their rifles.

"That's the whack job! Shoot! Shoot!"

The Vault Hunter blew up one car with an unmodified grenade, then killed a man by spilling his brains with the Unforgiven, finding cover behind a large staircase that led to a patio. Those men kept firing not to harm him, but to put him in a corner, Braylon thought, until backup comes to kill him like a rat. To prevent that, Braylon was forced to use Nukem once again. It was risky, because he had no Shield to protect him, but he had no choice. So he stood up as fast as he could, fired a shot, then crouched.

It didn't hit anything in particular, that wasn't even the point. It did, however, blew up two more cars, injured those who weren't killed and raised a dust cloud that covered the whole area. From there, it became easy for Braylon to kill the remaining mobsters as they were stunned or blinded by the explosion.

"Man, everyone's a killer until the real killer walks into the room."

The patio was, for such a luxurious building, nothing too interesting. To the left stood, apart from some wooden benches, the walls of the Palace, with giant windows every few meters. A tiny stone wall, decorated with vases, stood on the right side, possibly to prevent anyone from falling down. It was shaped like a long and thin rectangle, only few meters wide. The only door he could see was on the other side, guarded by none other than Jasper Andymon with a heavy machine gun. When Jasper noticed Braylon, he began firing without mercy. Cursing, the only way he could be safe was to jump through the nearest window.

(Guns, Gore and Cannoli – Round the Tip Top Alley)

A woman screamed after the intruder broke the glass into pieces, rolling on the floor before shooting the only man present in the room with his revolver, hitting the jugular vein. Blood gushed out as the man fell on his knees, before dropping dead ten seconds later. The woman lost her consciousness.

"They don't make women as they used to." Braylon shook his head as he materialized Orphan Maker. He ran to the door, aimed and waited for the first idiot to come. The ugly mug appeared few moments later, wearing a white tank top and black pants. A pull of the trigger and everything from waist up was smeared on the wall of the hallway. Braylon stashed Orphan Maker and took out Striker, shooting a man's head off in said hallway.

"Ain't that a kick in the head?!" He boasted as Jasper appeared from the right corner, holding a grenade launcher. "Shit!" He leaped back into the room as a grenade exploded in the hallway, forming a hole in the wall where the dead end was supposed to be.

"Cover me!" He heard Jasper as he went out of the room. A door opened several meters down the hallway, but Braylon shot anyone who was behind said door before they could even do anything. Jasper appeared not long after. Braylon fired a shot and Jasper was forced to hide behind the cover once again.

"This is pointless." Braylon thought as he threw a grenade he materialized. After the explosion, he found Jasper's body, without one arm and leg. The grenade killed him before he could run away.

Going left, following the hallway, he reached a kitchen that could only belong to a five-star restaurant, equipped with many stoves, fridges, sinks and a plethora of kitchen utensils. Only four cooks were present, making him believe that those were the bravest ones. Indeed, each carried something, looking like they were ready to slit his throat.

A thin guy swung his rolling pin at Braylon, who crouched to avoid the attack. Standing up, Braylon hit the cook's jaw with the stock of his shotgun, who fell pathetically on the ground, whimpering. It was pointless to waste ammo on him.

The second cook, however, was a whole another story. He was the oldest man present in the room and also the fattest. Carrying a cleaver, he ran at Braylon, roaring like a bear. Despite receiving a hole in the abdomen, courtesy of Striker, he managed to stand on his legs. Not even a second shot brought him down. He just spun around, shambled to the nearest fridge and clung to it as best as he could. Meanwhile, Braylon shot the remaining cooks.

"Where's Carnel?" He punched the fat cook. "I'm having a lead sale today. You don't want to participate more than you did. Tell me what I want to know!"

"S… scre..."

Bang.

"I warned you. Now your head's all over the place."

Somone opened a door to his right. It was yet another mafioso, one with a blunderbuss. Braylon blew his head off. The body twitched left and right as blood covered everything near it, before dropping down like a bag. Out in the hallway few meters forward, he found some elevator buttons. He used the elevator to reach the top floor. When he got out, he looked both left and right. Down the hallway, to the left, stood Carnel Linguini with his last living lieutenant, mouth open and eyes wide. He was so shocked that he dropped those few luggages he carried.

(Guns, Gore and Cannoli – Bonnino's Last Tarantella)

"Shit! It's him!" The lieutenant shouted as he pushed Carnel into a room. "Don't let him near the boss, you hear me?!"

"Listen, retards! If you don't wanna die, I suggest you get the fuck out of my way! Otherwise I'll shove so many bullets up your ass, you will choke on your own shit!" Braylon warned as he materialized Ajax's Spear in one hand and Excalibastard in another. "Understand?!"

Every now and then, a door would open as he ran forward. Braylon used Ajax's Spear to kill those meant to ambush him. He even used Excalibastard's bayonet to stab a tall guy's throat, before freezing another. The last guy jumped out from a room on the left, screaming as he fired from his Tommy Gun at the Vault Hunter. Braylon received few bullets in his chest but otherwise successfully managed to freeze the bastard and shatter him to pieces with a kick.

Shooting the doorknob away, Braylon barged into the room. It was the same office from back when he met Carnel the first time. But where was he? He looked left and, cursing, approached a doorway that wasn't supposed to be there. Could it be a super-secret-cliché exit?

"That motherfucker!"

Braylon went through the doorway and downstairs. There was barely space to turn around and the tiny, spiral staircase didn't help. Soon, he reached an underground bunker that, apparently, was a garage. Unlike the rest of the Palace, the bunker was mostly empty and uninteresting. He dematerialized Excalibastard, materialized Holo Sabre and cut down the metallic door in front of him.

Carnel and Tommie were just about to escape, when Braylon shot at the driver, stopping them before they could even start the car. Praying that wasn't Carnel, he reached said car and aimed at the window. Luckily, Carnel was unharmed, just a little shocked that his lieutenant's brains and blood were on his suit.

The Vault Hunter tore the door away with his bare hands.

"You can't hide from me, fat bastard." Braylon said as he threatened with his assault rifle. "Get out."

Carnel complied without uttering a word. Braylon wondered how much action did he actually see in his life.

"Today I killed… a lot of people. Like, easily more than a hundred. And let's not mention those I killed yesterday. It kinda… it kinda makes me wonder how much of the stuff you told me was true. Be honest, now. Come on."

"Quartz, it's not what you think-"

"Doesn't matter now. I'm here for what I asked.

"Okay, okay…" Carnel coughed awkwardly. "T-there's… a collector of… ancient documents and archives, in Residential District. I… I can write the address."

"Then let's go upstairs. Write it down. Then you'll die. Don't make that face, you thought I was gonna simply let you go? After all of this?"

Braylon chuckled as they went upstairs, towards the office they first met. Carnel quickly grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down an address. When asked why, he replied:

"It's what you are looking for; a man who collects old documents and such items. Just tell him my name." Carnel was strangely calm for a man who looked so desperate just moments ago. He probably accepted his fate. Braylon shot him the moment he put the pen down.

"Oops. My finger slipped." Grabbing the piece of paper, he went out of the office. "Well… at least I don't have to hide the bodies..." Shrugging, he walked towards the exit. "Let's see if he told me the truth or not."

And this, dear readers, is the end of Volume 1 of the story! I apologize for yet another delay, I had some problems I needed to solve. Volume 2 starts with the next chapter and, needless to say, things will become more complicated. Grimm, demons, extra-dimensional beings, bandits… one big clusterfuck waiting to be unleashed in the most destructive way possible. I already have some planned arcs but I'll see how it will all turn out. Creativity can be either an ally or an enemy.

Please leave a review after you finished reading. Thank you.