Chapter Text
Mordecai sighed to himself for the umpteenth time as he drove further out into the sandy wasteland, chuckling to himself as he splattered a rogue spiderant under the technicals tires.
He was on his way out to The Dust to meet up with Ellie; a request he received from Moxxi earlier that day. He had originally tried to refuse.
“And why exactly would I want to do you any favours Mox?” He had rolled his eyes and huffed, crossing his thin arms across his chest, thankful nobody could see into his goggles. While this was about as civil as the two could be together in the same room, he didn’t really want to start a real fight.
Moxxi mirrored his unimpressed stance, folding her arms under her chest, pushing up her impressive bust a little more.
“Listen, you weren’t exactly my first choice either, but I’m concerned for Ellie’s safety.”
Mordecai shrugged. “Ellie’s a big girl, she can take care of herself, can’t she?”
Moxxi shook her head. “It’s bad enough she’s living right in the middle of bandit county, but Scooter tells me there might be psychos out there as well. Bandits are one thing, but psychos are so unpredictable.”
Mordecai raised a brow at the mention of psychos. While he believed Ellie could handle herself out in The Dust, even he had to admit you could never be too careful with psychos running about.
Moxxi sighed after a moment of silence from the hunter, dropping her arms in defeat. “Fine, if you do this favour for me, I’ll waive your bar tab. How’s that sound?”
Mordecai tilted his head back, thinking it over before grinning. “Alright, I’ll go take a look. But I’m telling you Mox, you’re worrying for nothing.”
That’s what brought Mordecai here, pulling into Ellie’s junkyard and hopping out of his truck just as Ellie herself came sauntering out of her garage to greet him.
“Well hey there Mordy! Been a while since you came out for a visit,” Ellie greeted, coming over to give the lanky man a slap on the back that made him stumble a step before grinning up at him. “What brings you all the way out here?”
Mordecai recovered from his fumble and straightened back up, clearing his throat before he spoke. “Ah, your mom sent me out here to check up on you.” He paused and held his hands up when he noticed her about to start shouting about her mother. “She heard from Scooter you’ve got some strange people hanging out in your junk yard?”
Ellie sighed and shook her head. She wouldn’t yell at Mordecai, it wasn’t any of his fault. “Well, I’ve got some stragglers around sure. Nobody that’s causing any trouble though, or I’d have taken care of them myself long ago.”
Mordecai nodded. He believed her. If the amount of a suspicious gooey red substance oozing from the crusher to his right was any indication of how well Ellie could take care of herself.
Still he shrugged. “Well, you mind if I take a look around anyway? I just know Moxxi will know if I don’t at least check it out.”
Ellie shrugged. “Feel free, but there ain’t anything too interesting out there.”
Mordecai nodded and turned to head further into the scrap yard while Ellie headed back into her garage.
There wasn’t much to see, that was for sure. Stacks of rusted metal scraps piled high over the hunter’s head, and more sand. There was a bandit leaning up against the side of Ellie’s garage sulking, but he seemed peaceful enough.
True to her word, there wasn’t much around in the old dusty scrap yard. Mordecai squinted against the bright desert sun to try and see through the glare in his goggles.
There was something, way out in the distance near the end of the scrap yard, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. He lowered his hand to the digi-struct module on his leg to produce one of his rifles with a higher zoom, bringing it up to look through the scope.
There was someone out there. All he could see from this angle was a slender body, hunched over an old dried up skag pile in the dirt. Their hair was dark and grown out to about the center of their back, while the right side of their head had been shaved clean. He recognised the bright yellow fabric of the person’s loose pants though. Hyperion. Not nice enough to actually be an employee. A prisoner then?
Mordecai held his breath when the person slowly turned around to face him. There was a thick steel collar around their neck, only a few chain links hanging from it where it had been broken. Definitely a prisoner then. He looked at their face and saw the mask framing the person’s lower jaw. It looked more like a muzzle than anything else; starting at the bridge of their nose and covering their mouth.
A psycho.
The prisoner blinked slowly and Mordecai finally noticed through his scope, it looked as though this person was staring right into his eyes. That’s impossible though right? He’s too far away to be seen.
The person stood up slowly, eyes still locked with the hunter through his rifle’s scope and turned to face him completely. The tank top they wore hung loosely off their frame and Mordecai could see now the intricate swirls on their left bicep. Tattoos?
“A siren?” Mordecai mumbled to himself, and while lost in his contemplation, the person darted off behind a stack of crushed metal and disappeared.
“Hey,” Mordecai cried out and sprinted off, trying to catch up with the prisoner and find them, but he couldn’t find them anywhere through the maze of scrap.
“Damn it,” he sighed. While turning to walk back to the garage, he pushed a button of the device in his ear, shooting off a quick Echo message. “Hey Lilith, I found something kinda weird out in The Dust, could use a second opinion on it. Let me know when you’re free.” With that he turned his Echo off and went back to chat with Ellie.
“So you find anything interesting out there,” Ellie asked when she came back out.
“Kinda,” Mordecai mumbled and shook his head. “You know you got a psycho out there?”
“Gangly thing? Dark hair, kinda spooky?”
“That a yes then?”
Ellie waved her hand dismissively. “Oh shoot yeah. I know about her! Came here about a few months ago actually. Doesn’t cause no harm, and she does a pretty good job keeping the spiderants away.”
“Her?” So it was a girl.
“Yeah, never gave me a name. Doesn’t talk much. Don’t think she even can with that thing over her mouth, so I can’t tell you much about her.”
Mordecai hummed, thinking about what to do next. “Is it alright if I bring Lilith back here to take a look. Something about this psycho seems a little odd to me.”
“You’re free to come back anytime Mordy, just be careful. Don’t spook the poor thing either. She startles real easy and then it’s near impossible to find her again.”
“Might be a little late for that,” Mordecai mumbled under his breath, but shrugged and started to make his way back to his technical. “Thanks again Ellie, we’ll be back later.”
Ellie waved as he started the truck and started to back out of the garage. “Take care now, ya here?”