Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: A Deal 

The sun slowly rises over the sands of Pandora, Rakks flying in and out of their nest as the heat starts to rise up, turrets surrounding areas to prevent people from entering in and out of the wasteland, and the wreckage of the Hyperion space station, Helios. People were given a law to stay away from that place as it has brought many bad memories from the lasers that would penetrate the planet for it's eridium crystals. 

But many do not listen to that law. 

By a small cliff, there was a boulder being slightly moved over as a figure slowly came out, a gas mask over their face before slowly gesturing their hand from behind as they slowly tip-toed away from the active turret that has not spotted them. Behind the figure, was a large Saurian as it lets out a snort, it's red pupils looking at the figure before slowly following them, also keeping quiet as it's talon like feet avoid any stone or debree to give them away.The lizard's blue frills on it's head flickered back and forth before snorting at the figure in front of them. 

Once the figure turned around, they could see they were far from the turret and lets out a gruff. It then pats the Saurian's side gently. "Good girl, Lunastra...let's hurry and get this over with." They said before pulling out a small harness from their backpack. The Saurian nods before leaning her head and neck forward for the stranger to place the harness on her. Once making sure it was secure, the figure grabbed the handles of the harness and hopping onto Lunastra's back. 

Lunastra shook her head rapidly before feeling the human stroking her side. She lets out a gruff before starting to run to the wreckage of Helios. The Saurian's powerful legs leaps over rocks and metal debree while the human kept their body leaning forward. They started to come closer and closer to their destination as Lunastra came to a slow halt, letting out a roar before walking. The human looked at the large space station in front of them before removing the gas mask. 

The human was a girl, her black hair flowing down to her lower back as part of her bangs were dyed white over her right eye. Her eyes is what stood out the most as they were mismatched, the left a gentle blue while the right was a ruby red. She adjusted the bandanna around her neck as both her and the Saurian looked around as they entered what use to be the most powerful space station in this galaxy. 

"...to think that this place could make other stations like kittens, huh?" The girl asked, Lunastra letting out a snort in response before stopping. She slowly got off of Lunastra and pets her head gently, earning a small purr in response before the Saurian grabbed a stick. 

"What are we looking for, Lily?" The Saurian wrote. Lily looks over at Lunastra. "We need to find anything that can be useful for the hiring of the Crimson Raiders in a few days. Weapons, shields, ammunition, anything that can help out. You search over there, I'll start here." Lily starts to venture over to a small Hyperion locker before slowly rolling her sleeve up, her entire left arm cybernetic. She pulls her gloves off and then pulls out her ECHO, opening a small app before typing a few words in. 

Lunastra was sniffing the ground, letting out snorts before pushing over debree with her head. She tilts her head at a shield before grabbing it gently with her teeth and placed it in a bag, continuing her search. 

Lily then smirked when she got the locker open and placed her cybernetic hand down. Part of her red eye glowed a bit brighter before it turned to it's natural glow. She pushes the doors to the locker opened and smiled when she saw a Hyperion Shotgun in there, completely black with red stripes on it. "I don't think I've seen this brand before, probably a demo before they got this out in production." She held it in both hands before trying to aim, seeing the shield pop up from the weapon. 

"Seems to work well...gonna test it further when we get back home." She placed the shotgun in a holster on her back before grabbing some shotgun ammo. A few grenades were also found along with some more Hyperion shields and assault rifles. They have been at the wreckage for hours as the rest of the search starts to become less productive, finding many materials wrecked from the crash or merely rusted away from lack of use.

The search was about to be called off before Lily can hear Lunastra letting out a whine like roar. "What did you find, girl?" Lily asked as she walked over to the dinosaur as it scraped against a metal bin of what use to be a desk. Lily looks over before managing to pry the drawer opened. Both Lily and Lunastra tilt their heads as they saw a small flashdrive hidden in there. 

"....what's this?" Lily asked as she slowly picked it up, turning it over as she inspects it. It seemed to be in fine condition as Lunastra gives it a small sniff before letting out a gruff. Lily narrowed her eyes a bit before making her cybernetic hand scan the flashdrive and her face immediately brightened at what she found. 

"Lunastra, you found an A.I. flashdrive! And to think that they stopped making these! We need to see if it's testing good or not when we get back home. It could help us out." Lily said, placing the small drive in her front jacket pocket. The saurian merely tilts her head before perking her head up at the horizon as she can see the sun slowly starting to set over the the hills. Lily also saw the sun and nods. "Yeah, we need to head back before someone catches our secret entrance. And I think that's about all that there is here....fun while it lasted." She chuckled at the last part. 

Lunastra merely rolled her eyes at her human's amusement but lets out a chortle in laughter as she lets Lily hop onto her back once more. Lily looks back at the space station once more before petting the side of Lunastra's neck, making the dinosaur walk out of the wreckage and heading back home.

After pushing the boulder back into place and kicks the dirt to make it look like nothing was there, Lily and Lunastra head to their home as a large sewer entrance was sealed off. Lily gets off of Lunastra before knocking on the metal door. A small hatch opens as a large red eye looks down at Lily. "Password." 

That made Lily jerk her head back. Password?

"Password--I didn't give you a password, Rogue! Open up!" Lily said somewhat annoyed. There was a chirp sound before the hatch closed and the entrance opened to reveal a worn out Hyperion bot, it's red optical glancing down at her. "I'm sorry, Lily. Bandits tried to come in here and I had to think. I didn't realize you were returning so soon!" The bot replied, clasping it's metal hands together nervously. Lily sighs deeply before giving the chassis a gentle pat. "It's okay, bud...I'm glad you thought of a back-up plan." She said, smiling apologetically at the bot.

Rogue seemed to chirp happily before pulling Lily into a tight hug, which she wheezed out a laugh and pats his arm. "Yeah, yeah love you too, buddy. But please put me down, I can't breathe." She wheezed, which made Rogue panic and placed her down, glancing at her with concerns. She just smiled at him as Lunastra placed the bag on a table before going to a corner that had a large worn out mattress. She paws at it with her clawed hands before curling up and laid her head down. 

The inside of what Lily calls home wasn't all much, but she prefers it. The fridge and stove somewhat work but she keeps many generators on her in case they go out, string lighting all over the walls and small ceiling to give them light. And there were many shelves of technology and Hyperion brands she found in the desert or the wreckage of Helios from small shields to large snipers, shotguns and SMG's she found. 

"Miss Lily, I don't like it when you go to Helios all out on your own...what if you get caught?" Rogue asked, making Lunastra perk her head up and lets out an annoyed growl. Lily smiled at them both. "Rogue, don't worry. Lunastra was with me at all times and that's probably the last time I'm going there. Many of the stuff either rusted or were destroyed in the crash....but we did find something." She placed the shotgun down before pulling out the small flashdrive. 

"Lunastra found an A.I. flashdrive. Think it still works?" She asked, the Hyperion bot looking at it before scanning it. "Scanning....all seems operating at normal conditions. It seems an A.I. is already installed in there." Lily perked her head up at that. 

"Really? Think we can set it up now and see what we are dealing with?" Lily asked. She was excited because there was an A.I. and it could help her with many things if it is set up right. The Hyperion bot nods before walking over to a part of her home that had many monitor screens on. Lily stood beside Rogue as she types in a few commands before the screen displayed a green color. "Insert A.I. codes." Lily looks down at the flashdrive. 

"Well....here goes nothing...." 

00~00

There was only darkness, that was all he could see. 

He didn't think that spending the rest of eternity in total darkness would be this boring. That is until something glowed and there were voices being heard. 

"Are you sure it's working?" 

"I did ran a scan twice. All is operational." 

"...maybe it's one of those that needs to update slowly?"

One was a metallic voice, but the female voice he was not aware of nor did he heard of before. This made him slowly stand up and he could see a black haired woman with mismatched eyes staring at him with shock and an Hyperion bot as it blinked it's lens at him in what seems to be in shock. 

He blinks once, then twice before he narrowed his eyes but there was a smirk on his face. 

"....hey there, Kiddo...." 

00~00

Lily could hardly believe it as she stares at the screen with eyes wide with shock. 

It was Handsome Jack.

It was an A.I. of Handsome Jack, the once most powerful man, a bandit killer and CEO of what was Hyperion. And he was on her screen! "H-Handsome Jack...y-you're....you're..." Lily was stuttering as Lunastra looked at the screen, slowly standing onto her feet as she lets out a small growl. 

"Alive? Well, what can ya do...legends like myself don't go out that easy, kitten." He glanced around on the screen as he observes her home. "....real tacky place ya got. But that's enough about you, now tell me where the hell am I and how the hell did you get me on your damn computer?" He asked, even though he was smirking, Lily can tell that he was downright pissed at the circumstances he was in. 

"W-Well, you see...I-I usually go to the wreckage of Hyperion for supplies since....well, I really can't trust COV brands--" 

"Wait, wait, wait...COV?" Jack raised an eyebrow at that, crossing his arms over his chest as Lily nods. "Yeah, Children of the Vault, they started to make brands of shields and weapons, but they fall apart quickly." Lily explained, which earned a flat and yet annoyed look on Jack's face. So another bandit brand, huh? Thought he wiped those out years ago, but then again, bandits are dumb and try to make things their own way. 

"A-Anyway, I usually go to the wreck for supplies...and we found, well Lunastra did, a flashdrive that had an A.I. but we didn't think it would contain you in general." She finished as Jack just kept staring at her with a blank look. "....so Helios is gone, then? How long was that?" He asked, starting to pace from one screen to another. Rogue refused to look at the CEO in the eye and Lunastra was behind Lily, but her tail was curled around her protectively. 

"....seven years." 

That made Jack stop in his tracks. Seven years since he's been gone!? He growled in frustration and ran a hand through his hair before looking over at her shelves filled with Hyperion. "....somethin' tells me you're overstocked, kitten. And why don't you go to the other brands? Like those Maliwannabes?" He asked, which that made Lily narrowed her eyes at that brand. "That's because they're a shitty brand!" 

Jack blinked at her response before letting a small snort. "....alright, that I can agree with you. You got a name?" He asked, leaning forward a bit. "Lilian, but I go by Lily for short. This is Rogue and Lunastra." She gestured to the robot and the saurian. Jack didn't seem to care about the dinosaur that was growling at him, but more interested in the Hyperion bot that stood beside her. "...thought they were wiped out with Helios." He gestured to the bot, which Lily just shrugged, but smiled up at Rogue. 

"Found him a year back as a bandit decoration at their camps. I put him back together and he's been with me ever since." She pat Rogue's chassis, which got a happy beep in response."Besides, I'm got this stuff because I'm leaving in a few days to go to the Crimson Raiders." She pulls out a flyer that had a wanting for new members that was lead by Lilith, the Fire Hawk. Jack just huffed in response before looking away.

"I'm only going because I'm tired of hearing those Calypso Twins making a livestream of every kill they do and they're up to something that Lilith is suppose to explain when I get to the base." She saw that Jack was still not looking at her or responding. 

Lily looks over at Lunastra before looking back at the A.I. on her computer screen. "Uhh--" 

"Shush. Thinking here." Jack held a finger up to her while not looking at her, which made Lily give an annoyed look in return. It was silence for a few moments before nodding to himself and looks at Lily. "Alright, pumpkin. I'm gonna make you a deal. As you can see, I won't be able to get stuff done if I'm stuck like this and wouldn't it be hilarious if I can give the scare of so many people when they see I am back from the dead. So if you can find me a body and it has to be Handsome like myself, I will help you out with your stuff. You scratch my back, I scratch yours, get the memo?" 

Lily blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Do I need to repeat it again, dum-dum? Find me a body and I help you with this bullshit you got going." He said annoyed, his eyes narrowed down at Lily. She glanced over at Rogue who just blinked in response. "I mean...I get it....but how the hell am I suppose to find a body if they're mostly destroyed? They made sure that there were no traces of you anywhere after your death." 

He blinks at that. 

"...I'll think as I go. So we got a deal or not? Because I will get what I want either way." 

Lily glanced over at Jack before looking down. On one hand, people will become paranoid if Jack did come back from the dead and he might do more things to Pandora and the people that lived on there. On the other hand, she can work beside the once most powerful man in the galaxy and probably learn a few tricks with the Hyperion weapons she has got. 

"...Well? I'm waiting on an answer, kiddo." 

Lily took a deep breath and sighed. "....If I help you...what will you do if I find a body for you?" She asked. Jack smirked and casually shrugged. "I'll let ya go...or not, I'll think of something when we get to that. So we got a deal then?" He smirked. Lily nods. "....it's a deal." He brightened up a bit as he clasp his hands together. "Alrighty then, Team Handsome is a go! But first thing is that I'm gonna need to be in something because I'm not staying in this computer while you have the fun. You got anything that can be used to transport me in without a hassle?" 

Lily blinked at his whole attitude before thinking. Rogue backed away from the group, which made Jack rolled his eyes. "As much as I want to be in a brand that I created, I don't like that shade of yellow you got going there." He waved his hand at the bot, also thinking. Lily then glanced down at her cybernetic arm before nodding. "...I got a port on my cybernetic here. Would that work?" She asked, rolling her sleeve up to reveal it. Jack whistled a bit. "And to think I thought you were some softie, but you got some fight in ya from that little robo arm you got going there. That'll do for now. But be aware of this, pumpkin. Once you set me in, you'll be the only that can see me unless you place me in a different machine." 

"Basically, you'll make people think I've gone off the deep end and think I'm talking to myself?" She asked, a flat look on her face which made the older man laugh. "Oooh, this is gonna be a fun relationship, you and me. Place me in there, Lils." He said as Lily starts to unplug the small flashdrive out from her computer. She breathes deeply before opening a slot and placing the flashdrive in, the system pulling the drive in and closing the port. 

Jack's figure flickered in front of Lily, which he smirked down at Lily, her head only reaching up to his chest. "...you're a lot shorter than I thought." 

"Don't make fun of my height!" She growled, making Lunastra and Rogue jerk back at her sudden outburst, earning yet another laugh from the older man. She took a deep breath and looks at her Echo, seeing the time as it was already getting late. "Look, we have to be ready in a few days. I just gotta make adjustments to the shields I'm bringing." She glanced at Lunastra and pets her head. "Get some sleep....we've got a few busy days ahead of us before the real one begins." 

She blinked when saw her Echo flickered and saw how Jack was looking through her photos. "Seriously!? You still have a picture of yourself in this lame ghetto!?" He laughed as he saw a picture of Lily in a multi-colored dress. 

"Get out of my pictures you piece of shit!" 

"Language!" 

"I don't care, get out of there!"

Rogue was deactivated as a hologram showed of his battery charging up for the journey, Lily fast asleep against Lunastra as she lets her use her side and belly as a pillow, curling up around Lily as she breathes softly in her sleep. 

Jack remained awake, however as he glanced at his current situation. So he's an A.I. once again, that was fine. He can still hack things if he wanted to. He doesn't have a company anymore, which was a downside but that doesn't mean he can still kick ass like a bandit killer he was. He's stuck with a girl, a Saurian and a worn out Hyperion bot...which he will take a half-and-half on that as a good thing and bad thing. 

Lily seemed pretty mouthy and many people don't stand up to Jack like that unless they want a bullet in their head. But she seemed stubborn, so he will have to put up with that. At least the arguments can be amusing for him. Hopefully they can find a body for him if he wanted to come back in all of his glory. 

....that is if he can find one. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Crimson Raiders

Lily has gotten ready as a bag was over her shoulder, Lunastra casually cleaning her clawed hand before running it over her face and frills as they wait for their pickup.  Rogue kept glancing around while shifting from one foot to the other. It seemed peaceful enough for her as there was nothing but silence, hearing a bird screeching in the distance....that is....

...until a blue hand was going in and out of her cheek, making her have a flat look on her face. "Jack, stop it." 

"What? I'm bored!" He said, casually floating in front of her with his hands now behind his head, crossing his legs while smirking down at her. She rolled her eyes at the older man as she shifted the bag up more. "I swear, you are like dealing with a five year old. Can't you act your age?" She asked, still giving him an annoyed look. All the A.I. could do was shrug casually, a smirk on his face still. "Never stopped me when I ruled Hyperion, cupcake. I can act how I want, when I want and people don't question it." 

"But guess where Helios is now, buddy? No longer in the sky from what I can see." She snark back, a smirk on her face as she watched Jack narrowed her eyes at her, now standing while he looked down at her. "You are very lucky I am an A.I. right now, kiddo because if it that wasn't the case, I would have strangled you for that comment." He said, pointing to her chest while keeping eye contact with her. Lily also had her eyes narrowed before she could hear an engine from the distance. 

Both Jack and Lily glanced over to see a bus coming towards them from a distance, dust picking up from the tires as it speeds towards them before slowly coming to a halt, hearing a metal screech as the door came open. A very large man was driving the bus, but was smiling down at Lily. "Ah, you are newest Vault Hunter, yes? Name's Marcus, don't let the name wear out." He chuckled, then spotted the Saurian and robot. "Your large friends can ride on the trailer with Moze's machinery. Makes more room for passengers." He gestured to the back. 

Lily leaned back to see the trailer, along with a giant gunner bot as was deactivated for the time being. Lily gestured Rogue and Lunastra to the trailer and they both went without a fight, sitting beside the large mech as Lily entered the bus. As she did, she could see four other people, making her already nervous of the others. Jack glanced down at her when he saw her frozen. "Get a move on, kitten." Lily blinked from her trance before she sits at the back of the bus, the vehicle slowly starting to move until it was back up to speed. 

As the ride goes on, Lily already knew the others that were on the bus. 

Amara was a Siren. Lily had never seen a siren or met one before and she could tell that Amara was proud of being one as her tattoos glows, spirit like hand appearing as she gives out a fist bump to one of the vault hunters. Then there was Moze, a gunner of what belonged to a powerful mech team until she left with her robot which she called 'Bear' as she was getting ammo fit into her weapons. Zane was an operative, his expertise on shields and digital clones while giving the others a laugh in the group. She remembered hearing a story about his older brothers being part of the assassinations before he giving it a quit. Finally, there was FL4K, a beast master that had a Jabber, a Skag and a Spiderant as his companions. He mostly kept to himself but express of how every hunt has a beginning and an end, but he will enjoy this one the most. 

Jack flinched back a bit when FL4K's Spiderant walked up to them, letting out a small screech to Lily as her leg casually scratched the ground. Lily simply smiled before she leaned her hand down and gives it a gentle scratch under the chin, the animal practically melting under her touch as it lets out a purr of approval. Lily smiled before giving the head a gentle pat. "Such a good girl..." 

"She is fond of you." 

Lily glanced up at FL4K as he observe's the Spiderant's reaction to the head and chin rubs she was getting. "Not many know of how to make a Spiderant melt under a human's touch." He replied. Lily smiled at the Beastmaster in response. "My uncle use to own a Spiderant farm years ago. One of them was fond of me until it died from old age. I remember it being a large one, but that's about it." She said, giving the Spiderant one last head pat before it went back to FL4K. 

"So, what's special trick do you got up your sleeve, lass?" Zane asked, the others looking at her. Lily felt frozen at the spot as she tries to think up an answer. Jack huffed while rolling his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "....a tamer! Y-Yeah, a tamer!" Lily said, smiling slightly while the A.I. gave her a weird look. "...really, that's the best you can come up with, Lils?" 

"Tamer, huh? Better than some of people that come with their titles. At least yours is simple. Good, but yet simple at the same time." Amara smirked, Moze glancing up before filling up her sniper rifle that was a Torgue brand. "So what's your story with that Hyperion bot back there? Not many run these days." Moze questioned, but not looking up. Lily blinked before looking behind her to glance at the trailer. Rogue had Lunastra in his lap, both of them glancing at Moze's giant gun mech before the Saurian laid her head back down, Rogue petting her gently with his metal claws. 

"I found him a year back in one of the bandit camps. He was being used as a decoration, but I saw something more in him. So I took him back, patched him up the best I could, and he's been with me since then. He acts like a mother hen sometimes, but he's my best friend along with Lunastra and..." She nearly spilled out Jack's name before glancing back at the older man with a pleading look on her face. She couldn't give him away, not yet. Plus Jack want to reveal himself his way and they have no idea how to do that since many of his tracks were gone from the galaxy, people wanting to forget about him. 

"And...?" Moze asked, the others looking at her as well with curiosity. She tries to think. "...J! My A.I, friend J. He's a new addition to my team." She smiled, Jack jerking back at that sudden name. "....J? Really?" Jack thought, huffing a bit while looking away from Lily with annoyance. "He's a special case because he's linked to my cybernetic. Only I can see and hear him." She chuckled nervously. The Vault Hunters gave her a weird look before going back to chatting with each other. Lily sighs deeply as she leaned back. 

"...so that went well..." Jack shrugged, but was chuckling at the situation. 

"You're not helping." Lily grumbled, a hand over her eyes. Lily already made a fool of herself, and she didn't want anymore coming from Jack. She then heard a voice in her head. "Take it easy there, killer. Everyone is different."  A female voice said and Lily blinked, sitting up straighter. "...did you hear that?" She asked, looking around. "Uhh, heard what, kitten? I didn't hear anything." 

"You wouldn't be the only one getting shock from hearing this in your head. My name is Lilith. I already talked to the others. We will chat soon enough until we get to our destination." The voice disappeared again as Lily looked around, somewhat freaked out from the voice she just heard, then jolted when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Amara looking at her. "Take it easy. That was Lilith...I could tell because you were freaking out kinda like the rest of us had earlier." She gives out an encouraging smile and Lily could only nod in response. 

"...I didn't know that she could do that..." Amara just chuckled and leaned back into her seat. "Many sirens have different skills, especially when we can communicate with people telepathically. But you seemed to taken it a lot better than I thought. At least you weren't like Zane when he first heard it." She chuckled, making Lily look over at the operative. "Really? What happened?" 

Zane remained silent, a slight blush on his face.

"He claimed he went off the deep end and tried to whack his head in with a pan Marcus carries around." Moze chuckled before Zane looked at them all. "Hey! I have seen weird shite in my day! And ladies that talk in me head was not one of them!" They all chuckled at Zane's response, Lily snickering a bit. She then glanced over at Jack as Zane tries to prove himself of what he reacted was normal for him. "Can sirens really do that?" She asked, Jack glancing at her sideways before shrugging. 

"Some, yeah...but not all of 'em. I only met three sirens in my life and only six can exist in one universe." He said, closing his eyes while leaning into the seat next to Lily. "....how come?" She asked. Jack opened one eye at Lily, huffing in annoyance. "Kid, I'm not some psychologist or anythin'...only six can exist, that's how the world works." He doesn't talk about it anymore and Lily just huffed before looking out the window. 

Marcus drops off the hunters as Lunastra and Rogue stood next to Lily. They can see a large building that seemed to be abandoned a long time ago, but Lily can see that there were bandit activities here. "...this is our stop?" Lily asked, looking at the group as Marcus drove his vehicle away. FL4K nods as he looks at the building, a Rakk perched on his shoulder before flying off. "This is it." He said. 

That's when they could hear a tiny wheel towards them and Lily could see a look on Jack's face at the source. "....goddammit...." He mumbled, burying his head in his hands as Lily looks at him confused. "...J? What's wrong?" She asked, using his nickname for the time being until they were alone. As she looks to see what he was cursing about, she could tell immediately. "...oh no...." 

It was a Claptrap unit. 

It was humming a happy tune before spotting the Vault Hunters. "Hello, new recruits! I am Claptrap! And I am here to show you the new secret hideout! Onward my minions!" He pointed to the building as he tries to lead them. They all look at each other with confusing looks. "...I thought the Claptrap units were all destroyed when Jack took over Helios." Zane whispered to Lily. Lily just shrugged in response. 

"...apparently I missed one...." Jack mumbled, silently kicking while sulking that he has to deal with an annoying robot once more. "...guess he missed one..." Lily said as they all followed the small robot as he kept humming a happy tune, making fake karate moves, the hunters following him normally. Lily looks over at Jack, who seemed to be still sulking about the small robot. "Is your....friend....okay?" FL4K said, seeing Lily looking at her side where no one was standing at. She glanced over at FL4K. "....Lemme get back with you on that...." Lily said. 

She tries to pat Jack's shoulder, but then saw it went through, making Jack coming out of his trance and look at her. "Sorry....tried to make you feel better." She said. He just looks at her before looking away. "...appreciate the gesture, kitten...even when it was a failed attempt." He chuckled, which Lily smiled a little that his attitude lightened a bit. Not much, but it was a good start. "Lilith! I have gotten the minions like you have requested!" He said. 

"....do you always have to sound enthusiastically?" Lily asked, making the unit turn around to look at her. "I would change it, but my chip was built to make me sound happy all the time! Despite being sad!" He said cheerfully. Lily and Jack glanced at each other with an eye brow raised. Jack slowly raised his hand up, about to say something. "J, don't even think about it." She said, Jack giving her an annoyed look. "You don't even know what I was gonna do!" 

"You were going to do something to him that would most likely not end well!" 

"No I wasn't...I mean, not really...." Lily was giving him a look, an eyebrow raised at him. "Don't give me that look! Only I can give you that look!" He growled, throwing his hands up before turning his back to her. Lily turned over to see the Vault Hunters looking at her with a weird look and she just smiled sheepishly. "...he likes to hack stuff and I wasn't going to let him." She chuckled nervously. 

They suddenly heard a roaring sound before a bright red light appeared in front of them, revealing to be the Fire Hawk, Lilith. She stood up as the flamed wings slowly disappeared from her back as she smirked at them. "Hey there, killers. My name is Lilith. You all the new Vault Hunters?" She asked. They all nodded as Jack merely rolled his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest. 

"Let me brief you all on what we're dealing with. As you can see, there is a new cult going on, killing hundreds of people along getting bandit followers." Lily looks to see a large cardboard cutout of the Twins, Tyreen and Troy Calypso, the leaders of the COV. "And there are after something called 'The Great Vault.'" That made Lily stop in her tracks. "The Great Vault? Isn't that a myth?" Lily asked, speaking up for the others. "Not sure...but apparently they need Vault Keys to get to it. Real or not real, we need to stop them. Can I count on you all?" 

The Vault hunters nodded. 

As the others talked to Lilith, she looks over at Jack as Lily feeds Lunastra a piece of meat that FL4K given her. "...is there such thing as a Great Vault?" She asked, Jack sitting next to her. "There is, yeah...but it takes more than some mere Vault Keys to open it, kiddo. You need at least gallons of Eridium to open it." He leaned back as Lily watched him. "Eridium can do stuff to you, kid. Make you open stuff, get some effects both good and bad, and sometimes leave some...consequences." He looks at her. "Take it from someone who opened a few vaults, they do stuff to you." 

She looks at him and saw him not talking about it, a blank look on her face. She went back to petting Lunastra while feeding her as she licked her hand, purring softly while leaning into Lily's petting. Lily heard footsteps coming towards her before and saw Lilith coming towards her. "Names Lily, right? Didn't think we would nearly have the same name." She chuckled, sitting next to her and held her hand out to Lunastra. 

The Saurian sniffed her hand and lets the Siren pet her. "So what's your story? Why do you wanna join the Crimson Raiders?" Lilith asked, looking at her with a smile on her face. Lily blinked in response before shrugging. "Life was getting a little dull, just wanted a little adventure and saw an opportunity when I saw the flyer." She smiled, looking at Rogue as he walked up to her and slowly sat down. "Were you a Hyperion worker before Helios went down?"

"Nah...worked for Maliwan for a few years before quitting. Their health insurance was shit and the boss wanted a go at me, so I kicked him where it hurts instead." She chuckled. That got a chuckle from the Fire Hawk and clasp her hand on her shoulder. "So you ain't afraid of kicking Maliwan ass if we see them?" She asked. Lily nods at her, smiling as well. "If it means I can hit them where it hurts, then let them come." 

Lilith chuckled once again. "Like that attitude, killer. Don't lose that." She pats her shoulder once more before getting up and talked to the others. When Lily turned to Jack, she noticed him looking at her oddly. "...what?"

"You didn't tell me you worked for Maliwan." He said, sitting up more while staring at her, then at her cybernetic arm where the sleeve covers most of it up to her wrist. "Did you get your arm there or...?" Lily shook her head. "Nah, made it myself. I mean...I use to have one, but the damn thing kept malfunctioning and the doctors at Maliwan kept making one excuse to another. Do you know how hard it is to function and do daily work with just one arm? So, I told them to kiss my ass, quit and made a new one." She leaned back, letting the Saurian lay her head on her lap. 

"I mean, I didn't think it would matter if people knew that I worked for them...they're a bunch of pansies anyway. They're all bark but no bite." That got a chuckle from Jack as he stood up, Lily glancing at the AI before seeing Lunastra's head perk up suddenly, now on full alert. 

"What is it, girl?" Lily asked, also standing up. She starts to bare her teeth, growling lowly before running towards something and tackled something, hearing a yell from outside. The yelling got everyone's attention as Lily came out to see a psycho from the COV on the ground as Lunastra had him pinned, her teeth sinking into his neck while her claws and feet dug into his back. "Call it off! Call it off!" He yelled out. 

Lily had her eyes narrowed as she walked towards them. "Lunastra, Hold." Lunastra stopped trying to dig her teeth more into his neck, but didn't let go. "Mind telling me why you try to do a sad and yet very stupid attempt to assassinate us in our base?" She asked, her eyes still narrowed as the man growled, not answering her. "The twin gods will lead us to the vault! And will bring death to the Vault Thieves! Long live the Calypsos!" Lily glanced over at Lilith, who nods. 

"...Lunastra. Prey." 

Lunastra growls louder before chomping down hard onto the man's neck, snapping it before letting go. 

"Good girl." Lily pats Lunastra, who was licking the blood off of her maw and claws, then looks at the Vault Hunters. She doesn't say anything before walking past them. Jack was looking at her, but was grinning. "Good job, kid. You got her trained up really good." He gestured to the Saurian, who shook her head rapidly. Lily just shrugged in response. "She may be a Saurian, but she knows commands really well." 

......

...... 

"The Sun Smashers?" Lily asked, Lilith talking to her in private after the fiasco with the lone COV bandit that tried to assassinate them. Lilith nods and held out a map of the Pandora valley with most of the bandit outposts that was recorded. "Yes. They apparently have a vault key that the Calypso are after, so I need you to go there and get the key from them. And see if they can join us." 

Lily nods and adjusted the shotgun strap over her shoulder and whistled for Lunastra when she entered outside of the camp. Lunastra looks at her and purred, then looks over at Rogue. "I want you to stay here, Rogue in case more bandits come. They can use your fire support." Lily said, then adjusted the harness on Lunastra. Jack appeared and then looks at Lily. "....okay, what are you doing?" 

"As much as I like driving than any other person...Saurian riding is the best to go in style." Lily smiled before hopping on the Saurian's back. Lunastra purred and looks back at Lily. "She's fine with it and we do it all the time." Lily smiled, patting the Saurian's side as she lets out a chirp roar. Jack crossed his arms. "What sane person doesn't like driving? You can vent all of your angers out on people in front of you as you run them over!" He laughed a little and Lily rolled her eyes. 

"I never said I hate driving. I just prefer Saurian riding." She shrugged before adjusting herself on Lunastra's back and then gave a gentle nudge on her side with her leg. Lunastra started to walk forward before starting to run, Jack's image flickering back into her arm. They start to make their way to the Sun Smasher's camp to find the leader and hopefully to convince them to hand over the vault key. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: The Calypso Twins

Lunastra came to a halt, snorting as Lily got off of the Saurian. Jack's AI flickered beside her before appearing, looking at the Sun Smasher's logo as it dangles helplessly above them, creaking back and forth before it finally falls in front of them. "...that's usually a bad sign..." Lily muttered before getting her shotgun out. Jack just merely rolled his eyes and walked beside her, Lunastra sniffing around. 

"So what do you think their leader is like?" Lily asked, trying to make a conversation. "Don't know, don't care. Let's get what we came for." Lily can tell that he was still a little pissed off from earlier. "Are you still pissed off that there's a Claptrap unit still alive?" She asked him. 

"No." 

"Don't lie, Jack." 

"I'm not lying." 

"Just get over it already. One is alive and it's gonna be like that, okay?" 

He just rolled his eyes, huffing as the conversation dropped. Lily rolled her eyes at Jack before adjusting her shotgun in her hands before hearing a voice through her ECHO. 

"H-Hello!? Can anyone hear me!?" A male voice cried out. Lily tilts her head. "Uhh....you wouldn't happen to be part of the Sun Smashers clan, wouldn't you? Because I really need to talk to the leader if you do know them." She asked, Lunastra chasing a Tink that was hiding from them, hearing his screams as Lunastra gave chase, roaring as Jack watched for his amusement. 

"Y-Yeah! Yeah! Head to where I am at! I'll explain everything!" The mysterious man said before her Echo turned off. Lily heard a crunch as saw Lunastra managed to catch the Tink that was trying to escape her, the body in her jaws as she shook it rapidly, growling before looking at Lily. "Drop it." Lily said softly, the Saurian dropping the corpse and walked over to her. "Lunastra, sniff out." She lets out another command. 

Lunastra perked her head up and immediately went to work. Jack raised an eyebrow at that before glancing back at her. "Okay, what did you make her do?" He asked, watching the dinosaur sniff the ground. "If you want to sniff something out, use a Saurian. Better than a Skag, they can smell humans many miles away. Why do you think I chose a Saurian?" She chuckled, Lunastra now sniffing the air before starting to run and roar. "See? She got something." 

Both Jack and Lily went to the source and was surprised at the scene. 

It was a man. 

Only wearing an underwear and a cape, hanging by his feet from a chain. "Hey! A little help?" 

Lily and jack blinked at him in response, still trying to understand what they were seeing infront of them. "Umm...did they....take your clothes for humiliation or....?" Lily tried to ask, looking at the man. "Nah, bro! This is my outfit! Ya know, bandit life!" He smiled, shrugging before letting his arms go limp. Lily blinks again in shock, before shaking her head and shot the chain that binds the man. He falls down, landing flat on his back before standing up. 

Lily and Jack hissed in pain, wincing from the man's impact. 

"Okay, okay, I'm good. Th-Thanks, man! A-Anyway, what are you doing here? You here to join the Sun Smashers? Because my clan left to join the COV." He said, stretching his back before flexing his arm after being hanging upside down for so long. "Wait...you're their leader?" Lily asked, looking at him with an eyebrow raised. He nods, smiling. "Yeah! Name's Vaughn! I'm the chief of the Sun Smashers!" He said. 

Even Jack looked at the man shocked. He knew him! "That's Vaughn!? Wait-wait-wait-wait, how did muscles come from a tiny accountant of Hyperion to...this!?" He asked, running a hand through his hair. Lily glanced at Jack by the corner of her eye before looking at Vaughn. "O-Okay, so Vaughn. Umm...we are with Lilith from the Crimson Raider. We've heard rumor that your clan has gotten a Vault Key." 

Vaughn looks at her surprised. "W-Wait, you're with Lilith!? Oh man, I use to run with her back in the day--wait, you said Vault key? Ugh, I told my clan not to mess with that stuff! Well, if you're here for it, you're a bit late...my clan took it to the Broadcast center that's run by the Calypso Twins as a sacrifice." Lily groans in frustration before she calls Lilith on her Echo. "Hey, it's Lily. Yeah, I'm here with the Sun Smasher war chief....no, they don't have it...his clan took it up to the broadcast center. Yeah...." Lily was walking to a corner. 

Vaughn looks at Lunastra, who was sniffing him curiously before she shook her head rapidly while letting out a sneeze. "This, uhh, Saurian won't bite me, right?" Vaughn asked, slowly holding his hand out but flinching away when Lunastra tried to sniff his hand. Lily glanced at her. "She's trying to get your scent. She won't bite you unless you give her a reason to." Lily called out before talking to Lilith once more. 

Lunastra circled Vaughn, sniffing him before letting out a snort when she saw his hand come towards her. "Uhh..g-good girl..." He stutters, looking away as he hold his hand out to her. Lunastra looks at his hand before hurring, pressing her snout against the palm of his hand. A soft purr rumbles into her throat as Lily hangs up, smiling at the Saurian's attitude. "She's purring; she doesn't do that for anyone. I just finished talking with Lilith. We have a temporary base and she wants to know more about the Broadcast center." 

Vaughn perked his head up at that. "Y-Yeah! Absolutely! I know a shortcut!" He starts to lead the way before Lily could say anything. She then looks over at Jack, who just shrugs. "...define shortcut on Pandora..." Lily mumbles under her breath before running after Vaughn. 

"It's good to see you Vaughn." Lilith chuckled as Vaughn came to meet them, Lily following behind before she placed her hands on her knees, gasping softly. "For a short man...you run fast....fuck...." Lily gasped, trying to catch her breath. Jack reappeared next to Lily, casually floating with his arms crossed over his chest. "Language, kitten." He chuckled. She was about to snap at Jack to shove it, but then realized that they were with Lilith and Vaughn, so she kept her mouth shut. 

"So what is this Broadcast center?" Lilith asked, glancing over at Vaughn. "Oh, it's a radio station just outside of Ascension Bluff. They call it the 'Holy Broadcast Center' that's controlled by a psycho named Mouthpiece. That's where the twins hold most of their auditions to join the COV. And that's exactly what my clan did; they tied me up, took the alien tech and heading up to the broadcast center." 

Lily and Lilith glanced at each other. "Ascension's Bluff is not a walk in a park, Lilith. That's got 'bandits' written all over it." Lily commented, adjusting her shotgun over her shoulder. Lilith glanced at Vaughn before looking back at Lily. "Okay, killer. Go to someone named Ellie, she can hook you up with a catch-a-Ride. I know you prefer your Saurian, but this is just to be double sure. Like you said, that place has bandits all over." 

Lily knows that Lilith has got a point and she sighs. "Alright. I'll go to Ellie's and talk to her. I need to bring Rogue with me. Can use the fire power." She chuckled before heading off, whistling for Lunastra as she follows. Lily then whistled for Rogue and he perked up happily, marching towards her. 

"We gotta speak to Ellie. She can hook us up with a vehicle." Lily said before they made their journey to Ellie, Jack appearing again. "Why the long face, pumpkin? Can't ride your favorite dino anymore?" He chuckled, leaning back. Lily gives him a glare. "You are really starting to piss me off, Jack. Now I can see why people try to get to you a lot." Lily growled. 

"What did I say about language?" He asked, scowling down at her. 

"I'm 28!" She growled, making Jack jerk his head back, a small surprise look on his face. "...no way you're 28..." He said suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. Lily's gaze soften a bit, but not a lot as she adjust her shotgun and rifle. "I am 28. Why, did you thought I was younger?" She asked, glancing back at him. Rogue just vaguely watched them, but kept his guard up for anything that can pop out at them. "Well...yeah. I mean, I thought you were like, what, 21 or something...." 

Lily lets out a sad chuckle. "Oh, if I had every penny in the universe that said that to me....probably would be almost just as rich as you were." She chuckled. That earned a chuckle from the older man. "Yeah, keep dreaming pumpkin. No one can be as handsomely rich as me. And I should know...I was rich when I was young and alive. From one day, you're a Engineer of Hyperion, then became the freakin' king of Hyperion. That doesn't come on a platter that easily." 

Lily glanced at him. "Wait...you were a Engineer?"

"Mostly cybernetic stuff, yeah, and I still am the best one there is. So if you got a glitch going on in that arms of yours, I'm your man...well, AI....you get the idea..." He grumbled at the last bit. 

They start to make their way to a garage that said 'Ellie's garage' and they could hear someone talking. Lily got her shotgun out, taking cautious steps, the voices getting louder and louder. "So what did you say you were goin' ta do ta my friend, Lil?" A female voice said. Lily slowly peered around the corner of a building and was surprise at the sight, lowering her gun, Rogue doing the same as well. 

There was a bandit strapped to a wheel, slowly rotating as a lather large woman was pacing back and forth with a switch in one hand. "The calypso will tear her apart! The god twins will lead us--" 

BOOM!

Lily jerked back when the bandit suddenly exploded when the woman flipped the switch, the lower torso and legs only remained on the wheel. "Oops, my fingers slip." She chuckled before turning over to Lily. "Oh, hey there, hon! Didn't see ya there! Lilith told me you were coming! It's Lily, right?" She asked, her body now relaxing and more friendly, making Lily's guard relax a bit. 

"Yeah...and you must be Ellie? And here to think that I was gonna shoot him for smart mouthing at you...but I guess you got that covered." She gestured to the bandit's corpse that just now fell from the wheel. "Well aren't you a sweet thing. I've grown up here so I am use to the locals." Ellie chuckled before leading Lily through the junkyard. "So you here for a vehicle?" Ellie asked, looking back at her. 

"Yeah. Lilith said you could hook us up with one."

That got a huff from Ellie. "Wish I had good news for ya, hon. But bandits robbed my last two I had for you Vault Hunters just a bit awhile ago. But if you can hijack one, I can register it to the catch-a-ride system fer ya. That is if ya don't mind gettin' yer hands dirty." She chuckled at the last bit. Lily just smirked and held her shotgun. "Tell me where they are and I'll catch them." 

Ellie smirked at Lily before gesturing her head to the opening that leads to a racetrack. "You can find a car or two down there, kill the bandits if you want or run 'em over. Get a vehicle and I'll hook you up with a Catch-a-Ride." She looks over at Rogue and Lunastra before smirking. Ellie then walked over to the bandit corpse she just killed and grabs a dismembered arm. That got Lunastra's attention as Ellie tossed it to the Saurian. 

The Saurian catches it in the air, munching on it happily. 

"Rogue, Luna...you two stay here. I'll be back before you know it." Lily smiled, rolling her shoulders a bit to relax as she went further into Ellie's junkyard. "Don't you worry, hun. They're in good hands!" Ellie called out to Lily, which she waved her hand in response. "...I like her." She chuckled a bit once they were far enough, Jack reappearing beside her. "Of course you would, kitten....but I'll admit...she's not bad." Jack shrugged in response. As they go further, killing a few COV's along the way, Lily then can hear engines running along with bandits yelling and cheering. 

Lily crouched a little and peered over a car, seeing two vehicles going around the track with bandits driving them. Lily nods to herself before pulling out a sniper rifle, loading it up before holding it gently, looking through the scope. 

"...you're gonna hurt your arm if you hold it like that, pumpkin." Lily glanced over at Jack, a somewhat confused look on her face as the older man sighed before kneeling beside her. "It's gonna bruise you if you don't got a good grip on it. Here." He moved his hand a bit, and Lily jolts a bit when her prosthetic starts to move on her own and saw Jack moving it so the bottom was resting against her elbow and lower arm. "Now adjust your grip on the muzzle...yeah like that." He watches Lily move her flesh hand up a bit. 

"Now make sure you grip is good and tight or it will go flying out of your hands." He was knelt beside her as he watched the bandits, then focused on Lily who was looking through the scope. "Relax...deep breath and when you got your mark....release...." Lily nods, taking a deep breath, her finger on the trigger. 

She fires her shot. 

It hits one the bandit drivers in the chest, making the car swerve out of control and hits the other car, crashing into a pile of tires that it made all of the bandits fell out, an electric barrel going off and electrocutes them until they were fried up, the other car driving off the cliff and crashed, killing the others. 

Lily and Jack blinked in surprise of the result. 

"....good shot, kiddo." He tries to pat her shoulder, but it goes through her instead. 

"...wasn't expecting that kind of result..." 

"Yeah? But take it either way, right?" He chuckled as he walked over to the car, Lily putting away her sniper rifle and walks over. "Well...at least the car is in good shape. I don't think the barrel damaged it either." She said, then saw the bandit still in the driver seat, dead from the bullet wound to the chest. She nods to herself and managed to pull the corpse out of the vehicle and got into the driver seat.  

"You do know how to drive, right?" Jack asked, glancing at her when she saw her hesitate for a minute. "Uhh...I'm use to the Technician...had them all the time back on Eden-6, so it's been a moment since I've drove an Outrunner. Works better on the terrain than the other vehicles, but haven't tried the Cyclones yet. Heard they were fast." She said, then noticed a look on Jack's face. "...what?" 

"I thought you were born on Pandora." 

"I was, yeah, but then I moved to Eden-6 for a few years then moved back to Pandora. Eden-6 is where I got Lunastra at and she didn't want me to leave her so I let her come with me. She's been my partner for a very long time." Lily smiled before starting the vehicle, the engine roaring with life as Lily starts to drive out of the track. 

.....

.....

"Lookat you, hon! Ya got the vehicle back! Those bandits didn't cause ya trouble, did they?" Ellie asked as Lily pulled up to the garage and parked the car. Lily smiled at her sheepishly before hopping out. "Yeah...but one of the cars drove off the cliff when I was trying to get one. Sorry about that." Lily smiles a bit, but was looking down in guilt. Ellie just smiled and pats her shoulder. "It's alright, hon. At least you got one back in peace, so that's all that matters. Let me get this register and I'll let ya be on your way. And since you managed ta kill them bandits...I'm gonna add a little somethin' fer yer troubles." 

"N-No, Ellie. You don't have to do that." Lily tried to say, but Ellie shook her head. "Hon, it's fine. It's the least I can do." She types a few things in the system before resummoning the vehicle and Lily noticed how there was an extra seat in the back. 

"In case you want ta carry yer robot friend around, he can fit into the back. Ya'll are hooked up an' ready to go! You tell Lilith that the ship is almost done!" She said as Lily got into the vehicle, Lunastra on the shooter seat and Rogue, who struggled a bit, got into the back seat. Lily nods at her before starting to drive off to Ascension's Bluff.

It was a silent ride for them all, Vaughn briefed on them a few minutes ago of the Calypso Twins usually doing livestreams when they get new volunteers and then warned her about Mouthpiece. 

"So he uses loud speakers to high volume and frequency so high that they exlpode...didn't think that was possible." Lily said, pulling up to the gate of the Holy Broadcast center. Jack appears as Lunastra gets out and Rogue walked beside her. 

"I know, right!? But many things can be used as a weapon when it comes to psychos on Pandora. I heard that one actually killed a tink by shoving a shoe in his mouth." Vaughn said, making Lily jerk back a little but then shook it off. "...I wouldn't be surprise if a spoon was used as a weapon." Lily mumbled under her breath, but then heard Jack snorting a bit, covering his mouth as he glanced a way, trying to silence a chuckle. 

"...Jack?" 

Jack's shoulders were shaking, trying to contain his laughter.

"...Jack, you didn't....did-did you really kill someone with a spoon!?" 

Jack immediately starts laughing. "I-I'm sorry, it's-it's just that..." He starts to double over in laughter, his hands on his knees as Lily looks at him with shock. "Uhh, you okay? You've gone quiet..." Vaughn asked. Lily glanced down at her comm. "I'll get back to you on that. I'll...update you on my progress." She hangs up on Vaughn, looking at Jack as he starts to calm down a bit from his laughing. 

"...did you really kill someone with a spoon?" Lily asked. Jack could only smirk in response. "Well, I sorta did...but I only gauge his eyes out and..." He starts to laugh again, "He's all bumping into stuff and I...was just dying in laughter because he came up to me and tries to kill me with a spoon, so I just..." He laughs once more, Lily now rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "Ohh, if you were only there, Lils then you'll get the idea of how goddamn funny it is." He pretends to wipe tear off of him as he calms down. 

Lily shakes her head once more and shoots off a bandit that tries to rush them, hearing Mouthpiece going off during the livestream and that's when they all heard a female voice. "Hey there, superfans. Tyreen here and we are here to let the Sun Smashers join our family! And guess what!? They also brought a vault key! So lets do a quick shout outs to our fans and let's get this show on the road!" 

Jack jerks his head back at that voice. "Who in the hell was that?"

"That's Tyreen Calypso. She's basically the leader of the COV's with her brother, Troy Calypso. I've never seen them in person, only hear their livestreams, but they're after the vault along with their 'cult'" She air-quotes the word, "So we need to get the map before they use it to open the vault." She enters the building once the threats of the many COV were gone, Lunastra holding a Tink corpse in her mouth while Rogue followed her closely. She then glanced over at Rogue. 

"How are you doing on your ammo, big guy? Still good?" LIly asked. Rogue beeped happily in response, which she pats his chassis. "Don't be shy to pick up any weapons or ammunition if you need any, bud." Rogue beeped happily in response as they venture into the building. Lily had her shotgun out as they were about to pass some speakers. Lunastra perked her head up as her frills flickered, dropping her corpse and grabbed Lily by the back of her shirt with her teeth. 

"Lunastra--" She was cut off when the speaker volumes went out and lets out a sonic wave, destroying some of the objects that were around it. Lily blinked in surprise before looking back at the Saurian and pets her. "...good girl." She purrs in response, nuzzling her cheek before going back to the Tink corpse and picks it up, slowly munching on it. Lily then became more careful when she saw speakers surrounded an area, Jack watching Lily throw something to activate the speakers. 

They venture deeper and deeper into the broadcast center before seeing a drop off to a larger room. "...alright...you guys ready?" Lily asked. 

"Technically I can't do anything but move your arm there, so...good luck with that." Jack smirked before disappearing. Lily huffed a bit while rolling her eyes and looks at Rogue and Lunastra. The Saurian was scrapping her clawed feet against the ground, frills flickering back in forth in anticipation while the Hyperion bot reloaded his firearm. This made the younger woman smirked before all three jumped down. 

They could hear organ pipes playing a tune before stopping as Mouthpiece made his appearance, the speakers booming loudly while Tinks come out from their hiding, trying to rush them. Lily lets out a sharp whistle and Lunastra roars before taking care of some of the ticks while Rogue open fired at the others, Lily loading up ammo in her shotgun before firing at Mouthpiece. He holds a soundbar shield up, the bullets ricocheting off into the walls by the speakers. Lily growls under her breath before reloading and kept firing. 

"YOU...WILL...DIE!" Mouthpiece roared out, banging his sword against the ground, the speakers starting to build up sound once again. The Saurian and the Hyperion bot got out of the way as the speakers let out a loud sound wave, the remaining Tinks killed from the sound wave. Lily kept firing at Mouthpiece, Lunastra charging at him before biting down on his arm, making him let go of his shield as he shouts out in pain. He raised his sword up, only for Rogue to blast it out of his hand, the entire hand gone missing as the psycho shouts in agony and pain. 

Lily shoots once again, hitting his shoulder while Lunastra kept dragging his upper body down to the ground, forcing him to kneel before Lily had the barrel of her shotgun at his head. "You may defeat me, Vault Hunter! But the Twins will rule this universe! You will see when the Great Vault--" 

BOOM! 

Lily blinked, not remembering pulling the trigger and saw Jack appeared next to her again, crossing his arms over his chest. "Ugh, I was tired of him talking so I pulled it....ya did good, kitten. Not gonna lie, but I didn't want to hear that speech again..." Lily just gave him a look before shaking it off, Lunastra letting go of the corpse before seeing something in his back pocket. She lets out a hurr before gently grabbing it with her teeth. 

"What you find there, girl?" Lily asked, putting the gun away as Lunastra placed an object in her hands. Lily tilts her head at the silicone object, Lunastra also titling her head. Rogue was silent before his red eye glowed and scans the object. "Scanning; Pandora Vault Key, but it's energy is drained. Requirement; Siren energy charge." Rogue backs away while Lily blinked. "...I thought Vault keys were suppose to have....a better design....not looking like...uhm..." 

"A piece of crap?" Jack finished for her. 

"Exactly." 

"Well, not many techs that make this stuff can be creative, pumpkin. But...we got what we came for, so--" 

Jack was cut off when a large hologram appeared of the twins, Tyreen and Troy Calypso. "Hey there, superfan! Man, we saw the whole fight and talk about level-headed! I mean, I get some people have a good team, but a dinosaur and some outdated robot, seriously?! I thought you hunters have some class or something!" Tyreen laughed, Lily narrowing her eyes while the Saurian growled, Rogue reloading his gun and aimed at them. 

"Rogue...it's a hologram. Can't hurt them even if we wanted to..." Lily mumbled before looking at them. "What is it that you want? Because I got a tight schedule I need to keep!" Lily growled, putting the Vault Key inside of her jacket while getting her shotgun out again. "What, you takin' the Vault Key? Not that I don't need it now, it's all dead just like those Sun Smashers that brought it to us. We tried to invite them into our family, but all they wanted was money and guns. And-And get this, Troy said the best comeback ever! Tell her, Troy!" 

"Gods don't negotiate." Troy chuckled while adjusting his jacket. 

"Gods don't negotiate! Love that line already! But yeah, they didn't want to join so I did what I normally do best to those that don't want to join." Tyreen chuckled before stepping out the way, "Check the monitor!" Troy said and when they looked, Lily tensed up immediately when she saw Tyreen turned a psycho into a crystal like husk from a touch of her hand, now remembering seeing those husks outside of the broadcast center. 

"So go on ahead! Take the Vault key to the Firehawk, I'll be back later to pick it up anyway." 

"Wait, wait wait...Tyreen, check her weapon..." Troy chuckled and Lily narrowed her eyes at them. "And what do you got against my weapon?" Lily growled, but heard Tyreen laughing. "You are seriously using Hyperion!? You know that brand is like, dead, right? No one ever uses that brand since that damn space station crashed seven years ago." Lily could feel her cybernetic arm twitching, knowing it is not her. 

She knows it is Jack's doing

He was downright pissed. 

"Alright, I'll let you have your fun there, Vault Hunter. And remember, you are my number one super fan." Tyreen cooed before the holograms of the Twins disappeared. Lily had to use her human arm to get her Echo out just because her cybernetic arm kept twitching uncontrollably. "Lilith...I got the Vault Key. I'm heading back now." Lily slowly said. "Good job, killer. Don't lose sight of the key, I already lost it once." The Firehawk said before hanging up. Lily watched Jack appeared by her side once more. 

"Did they seriously said what I think they just said?" 

"Jack, calm down--" 

"No-no-no-no-no, did they just make this personal?"

"Jack--" 

"Ohhh, when I get my body back, I'm gonna make sure they're gonna feel the pain once I choke it out of them really slowly." 

"Jack!" 

The ex CEO of Hyperion stops his ranting and looks at Lily, his expression still angered at how the twins were down-talking a gun brand that remained top of the list for so many years. "And what do they know about weapons! Ask me this, sweetie, when you look at Hyperion guns, what do they offer?" He asked. Lily raised an eyebrow at him and he raised an eyebrow at her in return, expecting an answer. 

"...umm...accuracy? Better shields--" 

"Class, sweetheart. They offer class! You look at those Maliwan, they come up with some pathetic name for their guns like 'The Gosipel' or the 'Provocatuer' and some other pretentious crap. Hell, I am betting you that those stupid C-O...whatever you call them, have a gun that can't even spell 'pistol' right!" Jack ranted on, throwing his hands up in the air while his back was turned to Lily. 

Lily lets out a silent snort, knowing that Maliwan did have...weird names for their guns.

"And I was a top dog on the damn food chain when it comes to guns and I can still kick ass if I wanted to!" Lily rolled her eyes before letting out a sigh. "Look, I get it...you're pissed that they talked down your gun brand. But the sooner we can get this over with, the sooner we can find you a body and let you do what you want...but throwing a tantrum....like a goddamn two year old, isn't helping your case!" She shouted, making the AI turned around to glare at her. 

"Are you trying to piss me off, kitten? Because we need to make things clear between you and me." He waved his arm up and Lily's cybernetic arm and hand were up and Lily then felt the cold metal of her fingers around her neck, but not enough to choke her. "You may have me as an AI for now, but get on my bad side, we are gonna have some problems and I will make sure every day, until we find myself a body, is absolute hell for you. Are we clear?"

Lily didn't say anything, her eyes still narrowed at the older man. 

"Are we clear?" Jack repeated himself, Lily feeling her fingers tighten slightly around her neck. 

"....we're clear..." 

Jack let's Lily's arm go limp and she slightly relaxed, but kept her guard up. "Let's hurry and get this shit done and over with." He disappears from her sight, Lily glaring at where the AI stood at before she felt a nudge from her arm. She looks over to see Lunastra looking at her with concern, cooing softly. Even Rogue looks at Lily as he placed his claws on Lily's shoulder. Lily sighs deeply before a soft smile was on her face and pets Lunastra and then smiling up at Rogue. "...I'm fine, guys....let's get back to Lilith and tell her what we know so far." 

Lunastra nudged her once more before following Lily out of the Broadcast center, Rogue in front in case more bandits came out. Lily looks back down at her prosthetic arm, seeing a slight light of blue around it and sighed deeply. If she was going to work with Jack, she'll have to be more careful on her tactics.

Otherwise it will cost her life if she's not careful. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Attack before Take-Off 

Lily comes back to the base, Lunastra and Rogue coming out of the vehicle. The woman leans back in her seat a bit before sighing deeply, then turned off the vehicle. She looks back down at her cybernetic arm, not seeing a sign from the AI. Jack hasn't spoken to her since their little argument from the Holy Broadcast Center and it was starting to become unnerving without hearing his antics or his sarcastic attitude around Lily or her friends. 

She steps out of the vehicle and goes up to Lilith. "Here's the Vault Key, Lilith..." Lily said, tossing it to her, which the Firehawk caught it with ease. "Good job, killer. The others were helping Ellie get stuff for the ship to get ready for takeoff." Lilith smiled, making Lily smile back at her before seeing Vaughn approach her. "Hey! Ya made it! Did you see my clan at the center and...why do you smell like blood and skin?" He asked. 

Lily's expression hardened a bit before soften and sighed deeply. "...sorry, Vaughn....but the twins killed them before I could get to them."  

"What!? No! I told them not to..." Vaughn cuts himself off, taking a deep breath. "No... Sun Smashers never cry..." Lily can hear his voice breaking a bit and sighs softly before resting her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. He looks over at her and gives her a gentle smile. "Thanks, Vault Hunter...I know you did what you could..." He managed to say, which Lily gives him a smile in return. "It's fine, Vaughn...and it's Lilian, but I go by for Lily for short; Lilian is too formal for my taste." Lily chuckled a bit at the end. 

That's when Lily and Vaughn saw something glowed by them and looked over to Lilith, who was trying to charge the Vault Key, but the lights flickered on and off. "Hmm...can't get it to charge..." Lilith mumbled under her breath. Lily tilts her head at the Vault Key. "Rogue said it required a Siren to charge it up...so how come it didn't work for you?" Lily asked, looking at the Firehawk. 

"Not sure...usually it doesn't take much, but it looks like it's been damaged." She then looks up at Lily, "Here, take it down to someone named Tannis, she can see what's the problem. We'll meet you at the ship when you're done." She tossed the Vault Key back to Lily, who caught it in surprise but then nods at Lilith. As she exits, she can see her arm flickering blue, making her blink in surprise, but nothing happened. 

'...I think he's still pissed off at me...' She sighs deeply before getting back to the vehicle--

"So what now, pumpkin?" 

Lily jolts a bit, clenching her chest with one hand while trying to get her breathing in control. Next to her was Jack, his arms crossed over her chest while having a smirk on her face from the sudden scare he had given her. 

"Y-You can't just do that, ya piece of shit!" She shouted, managing to calm her heart down and glared at him. He just smirked at her, giving her a wink. "But I love your reactions, pumpkin. Plus, you were in a sour mood, so I had to improve it." He shrugged while Lunastra and Rogue got into the back of the car once again. "By what, making me lose my nine lives?" She joked, her breathing now calmed. 

"Your nine lives are fine, kitten. So what's going on now?" He asked, watching her start up the car. 

"Gotta go to someone named Tannis, the Vault Key isn't charged and Lilith couldn't charge it. So we have to see what's going on...and kill a few COV on the way if we want to." She placed the car in gear and starts to drive, Jack already flickering out of image and back into Lily's cybernetic. 

Her ECHO started to go off and saw it was Tyreen, making her eyes narrowed at her voice. "Hey, Vault Thief! Goin' to recharge that key for me? Aww that's sweet of you...but I don't know why you chose team loser with the Firehawk. Because my followers? They'll do anything for me...here, for example. HEY! You! Cut off one of your legs for me!" Lily arched an eye brow, wondering what kind of person would do that--

"FOR YOU MY QUEEN!" Lily jerked her head back at the sudden scream, hearing flesh being chopped off from something. 

"No, no don't cut your other--aaannnd he cut off his other leg...oh boy now he's trying to stand on his stumps...ugh, hold on a sec." Tyreen groaned, Lily hearing something else happening and the bandit was no longer screaming. "Phew. Glad that's out of the way...wait, what was my point again? Oh yeah! My followers will do anything for me. So keep that in mind, super fan. I'll be back in a bit to get the vault key, so charge it up for me, will ya?" She hangs up on Lily. 

As Lily came to a halt, both Jack and Lily were staring at the ECHO pad, their face having no expression whatsoever. 

"...what the hell did I just listen to?" Jack asked, looking at Lily. 

"Why are you asking me!? I'm just as confused as you are!" 

Lily turns off the car before going down the canyon, Lunastra taking lead as she sniffed on the ground, possibly looking for any other COV psychos that would come their way, Rogue taking the back as he aimed every once in awhile. When they venture up ahead, they can see a camp full of Eridian crystals, a small tent built up along with what looks like an abandoned shack. Lily and Jack glanced at each other before Lily lets out a small whistle to the Saurian. Lunastra perked her head up and ran up ahead, sniffing the area before perking her head up, the frills on her head standing on end. 

"Hello? To whom that is walking in my campsite." 

Lily watched a woman come out of the shack, smiling at her as she brushed the dust off of her red coat. "I assume that Lilith sent you?" She asked. Lily's guard went down slightly, placing the shotgun back in the holster. "Then I am guessing you are Tannis, then?" Lily asked, signalling Rogue to stand down as he lowered his arm. Tannis nods, smiling. "Yes, that would be me. Patricia Tannis, but you may call me Tannis. And you have the Vault Key, I presume?" She asked. 

Lily nods and walks over to Tannis and hands it to her. "Excellent! A proper congratulations is in order!" She then stares at Lily, "That was it. I will look at this while you can roam around the camp and take that is not nailed to the ground." She smiled before walking back inside. Lily jerks her head back and looks at Jack. She gestured a hand to Tannis with a confused look and Jack merely just shrugs. "I'd take the offer if I were you, kitten." He shrugged. Lily only raised an eyebrow at Jack before shrugging it off and looked around for any ammunition. 

"As you may know, Tyreen is also a Siren like Lilith, but she has the power to suck life out of other people and turn them into a husk they leave behind." Tannis called out, making Lily look at the building she was at. "...that would explain all the husks I saw at Ascension's Bluff inside the Holy Broadcast Center. What about her brother, Troy?" She asked, finding SMG ammo for Rogue and placed it inside of his arm where he held all of his ammunition. 

"Not entirely sure about Troy. It is mostly Tyreen that is showing her Siren powers. It looked like that she tried to charge up the Vault Key, but her powers only drain it. I'll try to fix it to my best ability, but I won't make any promises." Tannis said, but then paused when the air went completely silent, LIly also stopping when Lunastra starts to growl, hearing bandit cries over in the distance. "...am I hearing blood cry screams in the distance or am I having another one of my episodes?"

"Let's pray that it is one of your episodes Tannis. Unless you can spawn bandits like crazy!" Lily shouts, getting out her shotgun once more and starts to fire at the incoming bandits. Rogue loads up his fire arm and starts to fire, Lunastra tackling many bandits as she can before snapping their necks. "Lilith, there are bandits attacking my campsite!" Tannis shouted, Lily then hearing something from behind and nearly attacked the source, but then saw Lilith. "Jesus, you scared me, Lilith." She chuckled nervously before firing at the bandit that tried to get her from behind. "Let's keep them off of Tannis." Lilith smirked before teleporting to the other part of the campsite, shooting at bandits while Lily took care of the other half. 

It felt like minutes, almost hours, but the COV finally stopped coming, piles of corpses on the ground as Lily rest her hands on her knees, taking deep breaths while Lunastra collapsed beside her, panting heavily, Rogue reloading his fire arm. Jack smirked down at Lily, one hand resting on his hip. "Aww, can't handle a lil' bandit problem like the big dogs, Lils?" Jack teased, his grin showing a bit of his teeth while Lily glared at him. She simply flips him off and he cackled before disappearing. Tannis slowly peeks her head out, seeing all the bandits dead and sighed deeply with relief. "Glad that's over with...I tried to fix it the best I could, Lilith. Tyreen tried to charge the key herself, but her powers only drained it even further. That's why you couldn't charge it." Tannis stated, Lilith appearing next to her as the Vault key activated, Lily seeing the Vault sign lighting up. 

"I can only make out one vault and that would be...Promethea?" Tannis tilts her head, Lily glancing at the key. "So that's our first goal then, huh? Promethea?...heard they got awesome light shows there." Lily chuckled a bit, then Tannis gasped in excitement. "Of course! That's where Typhon Deleon found the first Vault! Maybe that's a sign!" Tannis stated, earning a small smirk from the Firehawk. She then turned to Lily. "Alright, killer. Guess Promethea is our first goal. Meet us at the ship, the others were helping Ellie with getting the ship ready up." 

"...Lilith, you know that I abhor this..." Tannis whined, knowing what was going to happen. 

"I'm just trying to keep my Eridian expert safe." Lilith chuckled. 

"Do you know any other Eridian expert?" Tannis challenge before they disappeared, Lilith transferring herself and Tannis to the ship. Lily straightens her jacket out before whistling Lunastra and Rogue back to the car. Lily's echo starts to go off again and she only frowned when she saw it was Tyreen once again. 

"You know, when I step in Skag shit, I simply brush it off, but you? You're kind of a clinger, super fan. I mean, you don't know what powers hold inside of the Vault. They're my birth right to open them, you can't handle that kind of power. But remember this, Vault thief...I always get what I want in the end." She hangs up, Jack glaring at her ECHO while letting out a snort. "As much as I hate the damn Firehawk...Tyreen is starting to become number one on my shit list..." Jack growled. Lily rolled her eyes at the A.I. before letting the bot and Saurian get on the vehicle. 

"And who was on there before Tyreen?" Lily chuckled, starting up the car and Jack glanced at her, a deadpan look on his face. "...do you really want me to answer that, pumpkin? You won't like the answer." He said before going back into her arm. Lily rolled her eyes at Jack before starting up the car and was driving to where the coordinates was for the ship. As soon as she got there, Lily was surprised of how big it was, Lily whistling in admiration of the ship. "...this thing is way bigger than I thought..." 

"Hey, VH!" 

Lily blinked and saw Ellie waving her down, the other Vault Hunters there. Lily parks her car, Lunastra hopping out before sniffing FL4K's pets as they came up to greet the Saurian, Rogue simply staying beside Lily as she walks up to them. "Lilith said the first Vault that showed on the key was Promethea...any of you been there before?" Lily asked, looking at the hunters. They all shrugged before Zane spoke up. "Yeh, I've been there. Part of an assassin mission...bloody mess it was...'cause the blighter I was after went up an' explode when he was holdin' a Torgue grenade wrong...pretty funny though..." Zane chuckled. 

Just as Lily was about to asked, the alarms rang out. 

"It's the COV!" Ellie shouted, Lily seeing the door slammed shut where Lilith stood out. The Vault hunters ran up to the sealed door and could hear fighting happening, something powerful colliding with something else before it went silent. "Damn door's busted! Head towards the back to the elevator, Hunters!" Ellie called out. Lily and the Vault Hunters could hear the bandits letting out a battle cry as they charge at them. 

"Let's hurry and get to Lilith!" 

They all nodded and started to fight their way to where Lilith was before Lily could see a TV screen showing an image of Tyreen and her brother Troy holding Lilith, her heart stopping when she saw the Firehawk not moving. "Guys, we need to hurry, now!" Lily shouted, shooting a bandit in the head, then reloading. They rushed through the building, killing any COV's that got in their way until Lily saw Lilith on the ground in the middle of an area, the bandits closing in on her. 

"Get away from her, ya damn zealots!" Lily growls, pulling out her sniper rifle and shot one in the head. That seemed to get their attention as their focus was now on Lily. She lets out a sharp whistle and the Saurian ran past her, roaring while pouncing on one bandit, snapping his neck while Rogue opened fire on the other bandits that were coming from left and right. Once she saw the danger was dying down, Lily ran over to Lilith. "Lilith, you okay!?" Lily asked, helping her up to her feet. 

"V-Vault...hunter..." She sounded in pain and Lily could see no longer see the glowing tattoos. "...Lilith....did she...?"

"Hurry, Lily! Get the commander out of here!" Moze yelled, the bandits trying to ambush them once again. Lily nods at Moze and lets the Firehawk lean against her, placing her arm over her shoulder as she helped Lilith to the ship. "Luna, guard!" 

The saurian perked her head up and ran towards them, keeping behind them while Rogue stayed with the other vault hunters to finish off the bandits.

"...they're gone..." Lily glanced at Lilith when she saw her staring at her arm of where her tattoos once glowed. "...she took them....Tyreen took them..." She whispered, not facing Lily. For once, she didn't say anything, but gives her a gentle squeeze while helping her inside of the ship. Lily then lets out a sharp whistle to signal the other Vault Hunters to get on the ship. 

The ship was slowly rising from the station, everyone on board as the large ship blasted up to the sky, going out of Pandora's orbit. 

00~00

"Lilith, what happened!?" Ellie asked. 

Lily was still supporting Lilith as they got to the bridge of the ship before Lilith slowly stood up, no longer needing the support. "Her tattoos...she's....no longer a siren..." Tannis whispered. Lily didn't say anything, Jack glancing at her with his arms crossed. "...are you sayin' that Tyreen took her powers!? I'd say we hunt down that bitch and get 'im right back!" Ellie shouted. 

"Are you crazy!? I say we stay here and built a fort!" Claptrap shouted, the small bot obviously shaking a bit as he stood behind Lily, clinging to one of her leg. Lily and Jack rolled their eyes. "Aside from Claptrap's statement, are you sure we can take on the Calypso's in the state we are in?" Tannis asked, looking at Lilith. She merely sighs and glanced at Lilith. 

"Tannis has a point, Lilith...it's just only us along with a few Pandoran citizens....I doubt we can take them on in this state, let alone a cult filled with millions of followers..." Lily stated, Lilith took a deep breath and looks at them. "Tyreen is after the powers of the vault, we have to stop them. I may not be a Siren, but I am still a Crimson Raider. And I say we have to fight back at all cost." 

"I'm with ya all the way, Lil'...if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they get." Ellie smirked. Claptrap blinks in surprise and nods. "Yes! That's what I've been saying!" He stated, Lily glancing at the unit with an eyebrow raised and looks at Jack. He just huffs in response and vanished. Lilith then looks at Lily. "Get the other Vault Hunters to the bridge, Lily. And hurry, we need to get to Promethea before the COV." 

Lily nods and went to the cargo bay. 

As they all were leaving, Ellie turns to Lilith. "Hey, Lil...it's bad luck to fly out of orbit if the ship doesn't got a name..." Ellie said, which the Firehawk smirked back at Ellie. 

"...she's already got a name....Sanctuary." 

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: The Game Plan 

The vault hunters made it to the bridge of the ship, Sanctuary III. They could see Lilith pacing back and forth a bit as the others wait for orders on what to do. Lily would glance at Jack once in awhile when she could see him poking at her, making her swat at him while giving him a glare. That only earned a snicker from the older man as he stops messing with her, the Vault hunters looking at Lily with confusion. 

She then smiled sheepishly at them while inwardly cringing on what just happened. 

"...if we're going to Promethea...we're going to know about it. Claptrap, do we have any intel on Promethea?" Lilith asked, turning to the small robot, who perked up with excitement. "Oh, Promethea? It's the home planet of the Atlas Corporation! It's one of the most armed planets in this part of the galaxy!" He informed. Lilith nods and looks at the Vault Hunters. "Well, if we're going to Promethea, we'll have to get Atlas on our side, or try not to kill us when we open the vault. Can I count on you all?" She asked. 

They all nodded. 

Moze installed the Astronav chip near the navigation module and was about to type the destination to Promethea when the Claptrap unit came over to type it in. "I got this! Onward to Promethea!" 

"Claptrap, wait! That's sensitive space equipment!" Lily tried to stop him, but then felt the entire ship shake, the alarms blaring as now everyone on the bridge of the ship was floating. "Claptrap...what did you do?" Lilith said, the gravity pressure falling as everyone tried to keep themselves balanced. 

"Ahahaha! I'm bloody flyin'!" Zane laughed, Lily trying to balance herself out. "Well...guess I can cross flying off of my bucket list...." Lily chuckled a bit, Jack looking at her with his arms cross behind his head as he pretends to sit. "Don't know about you, kiddo...but I can always fly, so sucks to be you, huh?" He asked, Lily giving him a glare. "Do you always have to be an ass!?" 

"Only when I want to..." Jack smirked. 

Zane looked over at Lily, pretending to be offended. "Ya called me an ass? I feel so offended..." He said, sarcastically clenching to his chest where his heart was, but laughed. "No, Zane...I didn't mean to you, I meant to..." She didn't say anything else, looking away before Lily blinked when she heard the alarms not going off anymore. "That's weird, I'm not seein' that hull breach no more...." Ellie stated over the comm. 

When Lily looked at the source, she nearly snorted and tries to cover her mouth to contain her laughter.

Claptrap was stuck in the hull breach problem, stuck to the glass as he tries to free himself, but couldn't. 

"That's because the only thing standing between this ship and space is my ass! MY ass saved all YOUR asses!" Claptrap yelled, no longer struggling to get out of his predicament. Lunastra and FL4K's pets were looking up at everyone, roaring as they wanted everyone to get back down. "Once sec, y'all. I'll reboot the grav generator." Ellie said. Lunastra timed herself before jumping up, a few inches away from Lily as the gravity came back, Lily landing on the Saurian's back as they landed back down onto the floor. 

Lily blinked before smiling and pets her. "Thanks girl. Always know when to keep me safe." Lily stated, patting her side before sliding off of the Saurian. Lilith looks over at the navigation control and lets out a curse. "Everything's busted. Ellie, how long will it take to get it fixed?" Lilith asked, glancing at the ECHO comm. "Keep your skinny pants on, Lil. I'm workin' on it." 

"Get it going as soon as you can. Vault Hunters, check to make sure everyone is alright. Claptrap? Keep your ass in that hole." 

"You got it!" 

Lily rolled her eyes as they all went their separate ways before Lily could hear scratches coming from a room. Lunastra lets out a huff before sniffing the door where the scratches were coming out from. She lets out a confused hoot before trying to nudge the door, then roared at Lily. "Hold on, girl..." Lily placed her shotgun away and managed to unlock the door. She was surprised to see what it was. 

It was another Saurian. 

Unlike Lunastra, it had some sort of collar that was hooked to other things around his body. The saurian looks at Lunastra and gives her a curious sniff before glancing at Lily. "Maurice thanks you for freeing me! It is good to see another Saurian on board the Sanctuary!" He states. Lily blinks before glancing at the collar. "So that collar helps you talk?" She asked. 

"Yes. The scientist named 'Tannis' provided Maurice with this peculiar device. That way, Maurice can speak to others! It is good to hear the voice. You smell of Edens, from my old home. That is good, a familiar smell! It fills Maurice with joy!" He stated, but his throat was rumbling with purrs as he walked up to Lily and gives her a gentle nudge. Lily blinks before petting Maurice's head. "Yeah...it is..." 

Lunastra looks at Maurice and roars at him, her tail wagging. "Your Saurian friend, she says that she is happy! Happy to see another Saurian! And is glad to be with you on your journey! If you need help, come to Maurice! Maurice will help you if you need any!" He said before nudging Lily towards to where the medical room is located. Lily glanced at Maurice and then Lunastra, then smiled. 

Jack appears her. "...you should hook her up to one of those things." 

"...will put it down as a maybe, J. But now, let's check on Tannis. Haven't seen her since the take-off." Lily said, entering the room. The entire room was frozen, all the controls and equipment covered in ice and frost. "Uhh, Tannis? You in here?" Lily asked, only seeing a dead Saurian, which Lunastra hissed and backed away before going back to where Maurice was at. 

"Lily? Is that you? Mind turning back on the heat? I'm alright for now, but please turn the heat back on." Her voice was muffled, Lily and Jack looking around the room in confusion before Lily could see the button. She knows it was the control for the room temperature, but it was covered in ice. "...to hell with it..." Lily mumbled as she pulled out a Jakobs pistol and shoots at it, clearing the ice, then pressed the button. 

The ice in the room started to melt, the Saurian corpse slowly going stiff before going limp. As Lily was about to ask Tannis, she watched in shock and horror as the scientist was coming out from inside of the Saurian, exiting the mouth as she was covered in blood. "Phew! Thank you Vault Hunter! I will let you know if I need anything else needs to be smashed. Now please leave, I need to count my supplies and see what I am dealing with." 

Tannis pushed Lily out of the room gently, the door closing behind her. Lily and Jack slowly looking at each other before shivering in disgust. 

"...now I know why Lunastra left the room....guess I'm cancelling lunch..." Lily mumbled. Jack, for once, does not say anything as he walks alongside Lily as they met up with the other Vault Hunters. "Ellie said to meet her downstairs...." Amara said, all them meeting up with Ellie. They all went downstairs to meet Ellie near the bay of Sanctuary III, smiling at the Vault Hunters. "Hey there, guys. I got some stuff fer ya..." She smirked as she pressed a button to reveal them the equipment...

...only to see the boxes on fire in the cargo bay. 

"Ah hell, we'll have to vent the cargo bay and ditch our efforts...." Ellie groaned, pressing another button to open the blast doors, all of the boxes now going into the vacuum of space, the fire dimming until it completely vanished. "Well, there go all the grapple-grabbers, jet backs an' all of the other cool things I was savin' for ya'll...guess it wasn't meant ta be....but if that ol' bat, Crazy Earl hasn't been sucked into space yet, he may have the part we need to fix up the ship! Tell 'im ya'll need an entropy accelerator. Otherwise, we're sittin' ducks in Pandora's orbit."  

"Wait, Crazy Earl is still alive?" Jack asked, reappearing next to Lily. She nearly bolted, but hid it very well as the other Vault Hunters went down to see a another blast door, writings all over it, but one stood out that said 'GET LOST' on it and 'Only Eridium shards, all sales final." 

"Earl!" Ellie banged on the door, "Wake the hell up! Our ship's dead in the water and we need your help!" She shouts, the slider on the door opening to reveal the face of Earl that lived in what he called 'his room. "Whatchu want!?" He snapped. 

"Uhh, an entropy accelerator?" Lily asked, glancing at Jack with a questioning look. Jack just merely shrugged at him, he dealt with the old bat many of times, but it seems that he had a shittier attitude than ever. "I'm busy, now SCRAM!" He slams the slider shut, making Ellie groan. 

"Just hand over the part Earl, we don' have time fer this!" 

"I don't see your name on the door, whoever the hell you are! No sell, now get lost free loader!" 

"Earl, if you don't hand over the part, I'ma twist ya into a pretzel and fondue your ass!" Ellie threatened, making Earl open the slider once more. "Fair enough, but ya'll have ta buy it with what I need! Ya'll got any eridium?" He asked. They all looked at each other and patted their pockets. When the Vault hunters shrugged their shoulders at Earl, he slammed the slider shut once more. "No eridium, no sale! Now beat it!" 

"Earl, it's been a day, amigo...don't test me..." Ellie growled. 

"No eridium, no sale!" Earl shouted once more before they all heard something clicked. "Earl you--" Ellie clenched her hand into a fist and growls. "Guys, he locked himself up...if ya'll have eridium, then the ol' bat will give us what we want. Go talk to my ma at the bar, she usually carries many currencies on her. She may even have a few eridium shards she can spare." Ellie offered. 

The Vault Hunters took their chances and went up to the bar that was on Sanctuary and when they saw the sign, they were shocked of who it was. 

Mad Moxxi 

She was sitting on one of the stools that was by her bar and gave them a flirty wink at them before getting up and walked up to them. "...Ellie's mom is Mad Moxxi herself?" Lily whispered, still trying to take the news in as Amara slowly nods. "...I thought it was a myth....guess it is true...." She whispered back. Jack was just merely glaring at Moxxi, his arms crossed over his chest. Lily glanced at Jack, then back at Moxxi then back at Jack again. He just glanced at Lily and huffs. 

She'll have to ask him later. 

"Name's Moxxi...what's yours, sugars?" Moxxi asked, her tone sounding flirtatious, making everyone tense a bit. Zane was the first to speak. "Uhh, it's Zane?...w-we had a weekend at a casino!...did ya forget me?" Lily can tell he was already smitten, Moxxi chuckled at his response. 

"Guilty as charge..." 

"Quit thirstin' our new vault hunters, ma! We're in the crap! We need some eridium to fix the ship!" Ellie said over their Echo, which Lily was somewhat relieved at the sudden interruption while Moxxi just smiled at them. "Have you tried one of my slot machines? Maybe you'll get lucky..." She walks over to one before hitting it with her arm twice before hitting it with her hip, the machine making a new beeping sound. 

Lily gulps before stepping forward and pulled down the lever, the machine going into action before all three slots landed on an eridium logo, spitting out a few shards of eridium to them. "Well, would you look at that? Seems you have the magic touch, hon..." Moxxi said, smiling at Lily. Lily was doing her best to keep a straight face. She heard a few stories about Mad Moxxi and seeing her in person is not helping her at all. 

"Drop by anytime, sugars...I got some...other games we can play." Moxxi winks at them, Zane seemingly to slouch a bit as he watched Moxxi walk away to her bar. "Okay, Zane, let's go before you start drooling." Lily said, the others leaving while Lily was helping Zane move his feet out of Moxxi's bar. He stopped for a minute, giving a wave at Moxxi before Lily shoved him again to move. 

"Alright, let's give that turd blossom Earl what he wants..." Ellie groaned as the others came back to Earl, which he slides the slider opened and saw the eridium. He quickly snatches it from Lily's hand and chucks the part at them. "There, ya happy? Now scram!" Earl shouted before locking the slider once again. "...pleasure doing business with you earl, you crazy old timer..." Lily mumbled, going to the engine to install the part, Jack just watching her. 

"...saw you glaring at Moxxi...got a story for that?" Lily asked, screwing a few bolts out to get the panel out. Jack just huffs. "I don't know why Moxxi is here....nothin' but trouble if ya ask me...it seems that she'll be there wherever I go...I don't remember why I dated her." Jack grumbled, making Lily almost drop the part and looks at Jack surprised. "...you....and Moxxi....? You two...were a thing?" She asked. 

Jack just rolled his eyes. "A long time ago, yeah...and that's all your getting out of me, pumpkin so don't ask anymore about that." He said, pointing his finger at her. She gives him a weird look before rolling her eyes at him before installing the entropy accelerator. "Okay, Ellie...it's in." Lily said, sealing the panel with the bolts. The engine then started to roar with life, everything going back online. "There we go...she's purrin' like a skag with a belly full o' bandits. We're back online, Lil!" Ellie laughed. 

"Good...Vault Hunters, come to the bridge." Lilith said through their Echo comms. When they got to the bridge, they saw Lilith there, Claptrap still trapped in the whole on the ship's glass, along with Moxxi. "We have to get to Promethea...but Moxxi has got a proposition for you if a few of you are interested..." She said, Moxxi stepping forward. "I got an idea for quite some time, but didn't have the firearms to get it done...I'm talkin' about a heist. I'm willing to let a few come with to help me make this happen..." Moxxi  smirked. 

"I need at least one of the vault hunters with me, Moxxi...I know you need fire power, but I need them as well to help us get to the vaults before the calypsos do." Lilith argued, Moxxi turning to the Firehawk. "Oh I know hun...that's why I'm letting them decide on what to do. There are no wrong answers, sugars...." Moxxi smiled at them. Lily glanced at the other vault hunters before looking down at her arm and nods, sighing deeply. "...Moxxi?"

Moxxi turned to Lily. "....how about you take Zane, Fl4k, Moze and Amara with you...I'll stay with Lilith to help her with Promethea." LIly offered, all eyes now on her. "Lily...." Lilith trailed off, looking at her surprised. 

"Lily, are you sure?" Moze asked, looking at her. Lily nods before shrugging casually. "Yeah, and I'm bad at the whole 'heist' thing, so I'll most likely will be in the way. They seem to have more experience with this, especially Zane. You'll need their firepower more than mine." Lily explained. Moxxi looks at Lily and then smiled. "Do you all have any objections to her offer?" Moxxi asked them. 

They all shook their head. 

Moxxi smiled and then looks at Lily. "Thanks, sugar...and don't worry...I'll bring you something nice if this heist is a success...kick ass for me while I'm gone, okay?" Moxxi asked, stroking her cheek before walking past her, the other vault hunters following her. Lily felt herself in a trance when Moxxi stroked her cheek like that before snapping out of it, shaking her head rapidly. She then looks at Lilith. "...does she have that effect with everyone?" Lily asked. 

Lilith could only chuckle. "That's Moxxi for you. And thanks for sticking around, killer. So let's head to Promethea. Moxxi got a ship for the other vault hunters so we'll be okay. Set coordinates to Promethea...for real this time." She made a side glance at Claptrap, who kept trying to get out of the place he was stuck in from time to time, but nothing happened. Lily nods before typing in the right coordinates. The ship starts to move away from Pandora. "Here we go..." Lilith smiled. 

"Here we go!" Ellie cheered. 

"Wh-what's happening? I can't see!" Claptrap protested, now struggling more to get out of the spot. The ship then started to jump into hyper-drive and jumps, many starts and planets passing through. "Come on..." Lilith prayed, hoping the ship stays in contact through hyper space. 

"My ass...is full of stars!" Claptrap said in awe, Lily rolling her eyes before the ships jumps out of hyperspace, now in the orbits of Promethea. Lily smiled as she runs up to the window. "Promethea, we made it! Wait..." Lily saw familiar ships circling around the orbit as well and tensed. 

"....those are Maliwan fleets!" 

"I thought this was an Atlas planet. Somethin' ain't right, Lil..." Ellie said, seeing the ships as well. Lilith had her eyes narrowed and looks at Lily. "Why would they go for Promethea?" Lilith asked, Lily could only shrugging. 

"I quit Maliwan years ago. I don't know why they are here, Lilith or have no clue of what they're up to." Lily stated. Lilith sighs and nods before looking back at the planet. "We have to get to the vault first and try to get Atlas on our side...." She said, starting to hook into the planet's system so that they can use the fast travel systems. "Dammit! Looks like Maliwan is jamming the fast travel systems. I can't go in...but I found a distress signal." 

Lily typed in a few commands before the signal could be heard through the speakers. 

"Atlas, come in Atlas! We need back up! Send reinforcements! Bandits are pourin' in! Send back up at once!" The distress signal cuts off after that, Lily and the Firehawk looking at each other. "Looks like the COV are on the planet already....help whoever gave out that distress signal. Maybe that'll get us on Atlas's good side. Ellie, is there a way to get Lily onto Promethea?" Lilith asked. 

"Way ahead of ya, Lil. Vault Hunter, come to the cargo bay an' let's chat." Ellie smirked. Lily nods and whistles for Lunastra and Rogue to follow. They slowly went down to the cargo bay and met with Ellie by a drop pod. "Okay, so I hooked up the drop pod with the travel system so you should be able to in the outer rims of Promethea. Now I won't lie that it will be comfortable, but I did what I can...but you'll be able ta land in Promethea no problem." Ellie then turned to Lily. 

"Make sure to kick ass for Lils, will ya hon?" She then sighs, "Someone has to...." She mumbled at the last part. Lily smiled and gives Ellie shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry...I will..." Lily smiled before entering the drop pod, Lunastra and Rogue following her in. Ellie punched in a few buttons and then pulls a lever. "Good luck, VH!" She shouts. 

With that, Lily went down to Promethea to fight whatever is in store for her. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: Atlas's Good Side 

The drop pod crashes into the Meridian Outskirts, rocks tumbling around it before it went silent. The door opened, Lily, Lunastra and Rogue stumbling out of the drop pod, their vision dizzy from the rough landing. Lunastra was making weird steps, letting out stressful whines as she tries to regain her balance, Rogue slowly sitting down as he beeped a sad noise. Lily just groans as she fell to her knees, vomiting the contents out of her stomach in the corner. Jack appeared beside her as she coughs, taking deep breaths as she sunk to her knees. 

Jack awkwardly tries to pat her back, but it went through her since he was an A.I., so he just stands next to her, glancing away to give her privacy. 

"That look like a rough landing...you still with us killer?" Lilith asked through her comm. Lily slowly pressed the reply button. 

"Question, is your vision, stomach and heart suppose to spin around like a weed eater? Ugh I'm gonna throw up..." Lily groaned, slowly standing up. Her steps were still uneven, nearly falling over. "Well...as long as you are still with us. Looks like the s.o.s. signal is just up ahead....try to see who needs help." Lilith said before hanging up. Lily bends down, her hands on her knees as she tries to steady herself. 

"You're not gonna keel over me, are ya kiddo?" Jack said, an eyebrow raised at her while his hands were on his hips. Lily could only chuckle sadly. 

"I've had worse....just...give me a second..." Lily said, closing her eyes and took deep breaths. Lunastra soon felt better and went over to nuzzle Lily's cheek, letting out a concerning coo. Lily glanced at the saurian and smiled, patting her back. "I'll be okay, girl. Rogue! You good, bud?" Lily asked, looking back at the Hyperion bot. 

"Conclusion; I hate drop pods..." Rogue whined, slowly standing up before walking towards the small group. Lily could only chuckle. "Yeah....but we'll get use to it if we go on a different planet..." Lily soon stood up, pulling out her shotgun before they journey down the hill. They all could see many ships both belonging both to Maliwan and Atlas. "...I don't get it...Maliwan didn't care about other corporations...why go after Atlas? They can't be that desperate, right?" Lily asked. 

"Kiddo, I'm gonna tell you something. I dealt with Maliwan many of times when I was king of Hyperion. They will do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, to make themselves look better. I thought you would know that too since you use to work for Maliwan." He chuckled at the last part, but then looks at her when she shook her head. "No, I wasn't a soldier or anything like that. I worked in tech designs, making sure that a lot of products are worth selling. Hell, I made a product that was going to go through the roof, but something happened and the next thing I know....my idea was taken away...so I'm trying to buy my product back because they aren't using it the way they're suppose to be use." Lily sighs, running a hand through her hair. 

"...what did ya made, coffee machines or something?" Jack asked. 

"Nah, it's the Maliwan Spheres..." 

"Wait...you made those?" Jack asked, now remembering a few when he was alive, seeing many of them in the stock markets before. Those were actually worth selling something aside from their shitty gun brands. 

"Yep...they were meant to help others, such has repairing buildings, helping the elderly, disabled, people who are sick, that kind of help. But they turned it into a weapon and...other stuff...that it made me ashamed of myself working for Maliwan. So I'm trying to buy my product back, but they're making it tougher and tougher. So I'm trying to contact the CEO of Maliwan himself and buy my product that way. They're making it more and more difficult for me to contact him. That's why I have the money just in case..." Lily shrugged. 

"Buy it from the big boy himself, huh? Hope you got the funds, kitten--" 

"Vault thief!" 

Lily and Jack blinked when they both heard Tyreen through Lily's Echo, then saw bandits coming out of nowhere that what looked like Lilith's siren powers. "What the hell?!" Lily shouted, getting out her shotgun, Lunastra roaring and went to pounce on one bandit that tried to rush them. "COV? How did they beat us!?" Lilith asked, hearing the bandit activity. 

"Always a step behind, huh Lil? Let's see how your vault thief goes against my followers. Kill her for me will ya? God Queen Tyreen believes in you! Laters!" Tyreen hangs up as Lily kept firing at the bandits that would charge at them, Rogue crushing a bandit's head with his hand before reloading, Lunastra shaking a corpse with her teeth before tossing it to the side. As Lily finished reloading, there was a bandit behind her before she felt her cybernetic arm moved on her own, making her turn to punch the bandit straight in the chest, making him fall over. 

Lily blinked before Jack appeared next to her once more, giving her a wink. "You're welcome...being a hero and all..." He shrugged, Lily just merely rolling her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever strokes your ego." Lily added with a chuckle before hearing folks screaming up ahead. "Can anyone hear me!? Atlas, please send back up! Bandits are showin' up bloody everywhere!" The voice shouted. 

"They must be ahead! Let's go!" Lily shouted to Rogue and Lunastra, which they rushed to the location. But as they got there, they saw a woman shooting two bandits dead, pinning one to a boulder with a foot before pulling a bullet to their head. She then saw Lily. "Ya gonna stand there gawkin' all day or ya gonna help me!? You're gonna miss all the fun!" She said, smirking at Lily. Lily stopped staring at her in awe before shaking her head rapidly, snapping out of it before firing at the remaining bandits. 

After the bandits stopped showing up, Lily sighs with relief before turning to the woman. "You alright? Any injuries?" Lily asked. 

"I'm alright. But you showed up at the right timin', oh, I'm Lorelei, by the way, did Rhys sent you?" She asked, smiling at her. Lily looks at Lunastra and Rogue confused, her arm twitching a bit, knowing that Jack's anger rose up once more at that name. "Uhh....Rhys?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Lorelei also looked at her confused and gestured to Lily with her hand. "My boss? CEO of Atlas? We're at war with Maliwan?" Lorelei asked. 

Once again, Lily had a confused look on her face, Lunastra tilting her head while letting out a confused hurr. 

That made Lorelei smirked. "Not from aroun' here, are you?" She asked, leading Lily to a tunnel as the young vault hunter smirked. "Gee, what gave that away?" Lily asked sarcastically, chuckling that made the other woman chuckle as well. "Yeah, we're at war here. An' if Maliwan isn't trouble enough, we got bandits poppin' out of nowhere. Screamin' about somethin' called a 'Vault' or somewhat." She shrugged. 

"Yeah, that would be the Calypso Twins, they're after a vault here on Promethea and I need to get to it before they do." Lily stated, following her to a Catch-a-Ride, summoning a Technician so that her Saurian and robot friend can hop on. That made Lorelei snort. "Those two streamer knuckleheads? I don' know anythin' about a Vault, but Rhys might know. Follow me, I can introduce you to 'im. I got to tell him about or bandit problem as well." 

Lily's cybernetic kept twitching every time Lorelei mentioned the name 'Rhys', making her silently glance at Jack. He seemed to be glaring at the ground, his arms crossed over his chest. Whatever was on his mind had to do with the CEO of Atlas. "....you okay?" Lily whispered to him. Jack did not answer to Lily, simply disappearing into her cybernetic once again. Lily was about to let it slide before she got a text notification on her ECHO. 

She pulls it out of her pocket and saw a text. 

'Tell you later when we are alone. -Jack' 

She sighs before blinking when she heard Lorelei calling out to her. "You ready? The base isn't far, so follow me an' well go over game plans." She said, in a Cyclone. Lily just nods before getting into her vehicle and followed Lorelei through the broken bridges that goes to the city of Promethea. "So how long Maliwan was at it with you guys?" Lily asked through her comm. 

"We've been at it for about almos' a year. Rhys was hopin' they would give up at some point, but his stalker thinks otherwise..." She said, making Lily jerk at that. A stalker? In Maliwan? "Uhh, I'm not sure if I heard ya right, but did you say a stalker? Someone from the higher ups of Maliwan is stalking the CEO of Atlas?" Lily asked. Just as she was about to get an answer, Lily felt someone ram into her car, making her almost spin out of control. 

It was COV in a different Technician truck, but the wheels seemed different and Lily stilled. "They got Maliwan tech!?" 

"How the bloody hell did they get Maliwan tech! Take 'em out!" Lorelei shouted, turning her Cyclone around to chase the vehicle, Lily doing the same. "Rogue! Time to use the new weapon you got! Aim for the gas tank if you can!" Lily said, trying to get close to the vehicle. Rogue stood up from his seat, his right arm shifting into a new weapon at aimed. "Weapons ready, stability increasing, within range." Rogue aimed his right arm at the vehicle before it glows a bright pink. "Firing." 

Rogue lets loose, the plasma blast hitting the car. The bandits were crying out as they were spinning out of control, their breaks no longer working until they crashed into a large bridge supporter, the car exploding from impact. Lily and Lorelei came to a halt, Rogue looking at the sight as his arm shifted back to normal. "All threats eliminated." 

"Holy shit, I never seen a Hyperion bot do that! Awesome work, Rusty!" Lorelei cheered as Lily got out of her car. "That's Rogue for ya, if you need a vehicle destroyed, Rogue is your bot." Lily chuckled, Rogue standing beside her to let her pat his chassis in approval. He also made a beeping noise of approval as Lorelei looks at the damage. "Hey, over here. There's an echo that a bandit must've dropped." She said, Lily coming to stand next to her and placed it in her Echo. 

It was a recording of Tyreen. 

"Okay. One more time, and I'm gonna say it slowly; don't...kill...the Maliwan guys." Tyreen said, talking to someone. 

"KILL THE MALIWAN GUYS!" A psycho shouted, "FOR YOU! FOR MY QUEEN! FOR MY-" He was cut off, obviously sounding like Tyreen grabbed him by the throat to stop him from speaking for a minute 

"No-no-no-no-no-okay, umm..." Lily and Lorelei glanced at each other before looking at the Echo again. "This energy? I love it, but we made a DEAL with Maliwan, and now we're NOT going to kill them. So...what are we going to do when we see a Maliwan guy?" Tyreen asked again, as if hoping the psycho she was talking to will finally understand.

It was silent before...

"KILL THE MALIWAN GUYS! FOR TYREEN! FOR THE TWIN GODS!" He shouted, Lily hearing something being slapped as if Tyreen was slapping her forehead out of frustration. "Yeah, okay, gotta start this one over..." She groaned before they both heard her powers activate, sucking the life out of the psycho she was talking to before it cut off. Lily and Lorelei slowly glanced at each other. "...okay, two enemies worse possible now in an alliance...the world is ending at this point." Lily groaned.  Even Lorelei throws the echo recording a few yards away from her out of frustration.

"Slag me! Those bandits are now workin' with Maliwan! Ugh, as if this can't get worse! Come on! The base isn't far now." 

Lily parked her car, Lorelei walking up to a closed door and gestured Lily to wait. "Skyman! Open up!" 

"Uhh...password?" Lily glanced at Rogue, that sentence sounding familiar, which the Hyperion bot looks down sheepishly. 

"The password is open the bloody door before I shove a coffee grinder up your ass!" Lily snorted at that, placing a hand over her mouth at that to contain her laughter. The door opens. "Yep, it's definitely her guys! Welcome back, sir..." Skyman then looks over at Lily, Lunastra and Rogue. Lily tensed up a bit with how he was staring at her. Lorelei noticed and nudged the Atlas soldier with her arm. "Relax, she's with me an' her friends. Lily is a vault hunter and she's here to help us." She said, then smirked softly at Lily. 

The Atlas soldier flinched and lowered his weapon more. "Oh, sorry about that! H-Happy to see a vault hunter, Miss Lilian!" Skyman said, glancing at Lily. The young vault hunter silently sighed with relief and walked over with Lorelei. "Thank you, and it's Lily." She said, now walking behind both Lorelei and Skyman. "Report..." Lorelei asked, the atlas soldier glancing at her. 

"Lots of movement above. Bandits and Maliwan patrols are working together. We moved the citizens underground just in case. We tried to contact Rhys, but Maliwan is jamming our comms; we can't get a hold of him." Skyman said, Lily seeing the citizens in bad shape, some of the Atlas soldiers trying to provide them with food or blankets. Lunastra looks around and saw a child, clutching to a saurian stuff animal. She lets out a purr and went over to her slowly, earning a small gasp from the girl. 

She walks up to Lunastra and shyly holds her hand out. Lily smiled sadly and went up to the two, kneeling down. "It's okay...she's friendly..." Lily asked, petting the saurian, which she purred softly under Lily's touch, then saw the tiny girl's hand. Lunastra stretched her neck forward to sniff the hand before placing her snout into the palm of the girl's hand, which made her giggle out of joy. 

"See? She's a softy when it comes to children." Lily chuckled, then watched the young girl run to her parents in excitement, making Lily stood up and pets the saurian. "Good girl..." Lily stated, which earned a hurr from Lunastra before going back to Lorelei. "Yeah...as you can tell, Maliwan doesn't care if the citizens get into the crossfire. We thought it would be best if they stay down here until this shitstorm is over. But...now that you're here, we can get back Watershed Base." She smirked. 

"Watershed Base?" Lily asked, walking alongside her. 

"Yeah...it has a direct line back to Rhys in HQ, but Maliwan captured it months ago. I didn't have the man power to take the base back, but now that you're here, we can send those bastards packing. Do you need to resupply on anythin'?" She asked, turning to her. Lily nods. "Yeah, but not a whole lot...knowing Maliwan, they'll sent Juggernauts at us as soon as we hit the base." Lily said. 

"Ugh...hate those guys. There's a ammo drop machine down there...once you're done settin' up, meet up back with me an' we'll get the base back." She gestured to the hall, which Lily nods in thanks and gestured Rogue and Lunastra to follow. As they were now by themselves, Jack appeared next to her, a scowl on his face with his arms crossed against his chest. Lily glanced at him as she went to refill Rogue's ammunition. "....you keep that up and you'll have that look forever, J." LIly said, earning a slight glare from the older man, but didn't say anything. 

"Got a story for why you don't like the name Rhys, buddy?" She asked, glancing over at the AI, who really wasn't looking at her, staring at the wall. 

"...before I met you, I was inside an employee's head as an AI with someone named Rhys. Didn't like him at first, but then he started to grow on me. I thought we were goin' places, ruling over Hyperion together...but then backed out of the plan when he didn't like having a robot exo-skeleton inside of him." He mumbled at the last part, making Lily look over at him in shock. "A-An exo-skeleton!?" Lily whispered. Jack looks back at her, an annoyed look on his face. "He would still be ruling Hyperion, only I would be taking the control." He shrugged. 

Lily was speechless at what he said. 

"If you were in the same position as Rhys, would you back out of it too?" Lily asked. The older man just looks at her and shrugs again. "No one can control me, I control others...like I control that lil' robo arm of yours, kiddo." He smirked, making his arm move to show that he could, her hand clenching to a fist before letting it go limp. She had her eyes narrowed. "And I can eject the flash drive if I wanted too as well..." She countered, both of them staring each other down. 

"...you got an attitude, kitten." He said, giving her a teethy grin. 

"And you're a dick, so we're both disappointed with each other." She counters back--

The place then rumbles, the whole underground hideout shaking. "What the hell?!"

"Maliwan! They found us!" Her echo went off, both the girl and the older man look at each other. She then whistled to Rogue and Lunastra and they ran around the corner, only to see Atlas soldiers firing at Maliwan soldiers. "Get the civilians to safetey!" An Atlas soldier shouts before taking cover when his shield went out from the elemental firing from Maliwan. Lily growls before loading her Jakobs pistol before firing at the support systems that were carrying on the Maliwan soldier's backs, some either exploding and killing the soldiers in the process or malfunctioning so that the Atlas soldiers could finish them off. 

Lily runs out to see a ship belonging to Maliwan escaping over the city, making her curse silently. "Damn it...they got away..." Lily said, lowering her pistol as Lorelei caught up to her. 

"Wow...I never seen anyone take out Maliwan like that before! How did you do that?" She asked, seeing how she knew where to hit and aim at. Lily smirked, reloading before pulling out her Hyperion gun, loading it up. "...pays well when you got an ex Maliwan worker on your side, huh? Made the soldiers designs myself...but the head honcho of guns and security didn't like my protocols and mixed it up. Which they forgot to cover up all of the exposed parts for the equipment if you know where to aim." She said, both now walking towards to another tunnel where it leads to Watershed Base. 

"Ex Maliwan, huh? What made ya quit?" She asked, casually taking out a Maliwan soldier with her sniper rifle. Lily just shrugs, whistling for Lunastra and Rogue to have their fun, the Hyperion bot firing at the soldiers with ease while the saurian was biting down on their necks or tearing their limbs off. "They made my designs look like shit, so I told them to kiss my ass and quit." Lily shrugged. 

Many of the soldiers were now either dead or retreated to their shuttles as Lorelei allowed Lily to access the base, only to be greeted by two pyro Juggernaut soldiers, showing off their flame weapons. Jack appeared next to her, seeing how she had a deadpan look before aiming, only shooting twice. Jack was about to ask when Lily started to whisper. 

"3...2....1..." 

The large batteries on the tech started to sputter, flames coming out as the Juggernauts struggle to get the equipment off before both of the soldiers exploded, blood splattering against the wall as a small gust of wind push towards them. Lorelei blinks and then looks at Lily, who just shrugs. "...I warned the product team that the weak spot was too obvious...they didn't want to listen..." Lily said, placing her pistol away. 

"I...can see that...." Lorelei trailed off, seeing the young woman now petting Lunastra as she purrs softly, nuzzling her hand before pulling away. "But we got the base back, so that's all that matters. Now, let me see if I can get a hold of Rhys...it will take a moment..." She said, now typing on the communication line to get a hold of the CEO of Atlas. Lily rolled her shoulders to relax, Rogue standing outside in case more Maliwan showed up. Lily noticed a look Jack was giving her and gestured a hand to him, silently asking him what was wrong. 

"....not bad, kiddo...." He said, a slow smirk growing on his face, which Lily only shrugs before they both heard Lorelei that she got a hold of Rhys. Lily walked over to the comm and pressed the button to greet the Atlas CEO, Rhys. The hologram of the CEO appeared in front of them. 

"Hello, you've reached Rhys Strongfork! CEO and wartime general of Atlas Corperation. Just a quick question; WHO THE HELL IS THIS AND HOW DID YOU GET ON MY SECURE LINE!?" Rhys asked, clearly agitated of how someone got a hold of him with everything going on. Lily was about to snap back at him when Lorelei stepped in. "Rhys, it's me, Lorelei. We got Watershed Base back and we got a bad si..." She paused, tilting her head as she looks at her boss. "...hang about....what is that THING on your face?" She asked, gesturing to the mustache he was growing on him. 

Lily kept her best to keep a straight face....

...because she could see Jack wheezing in the corner. "Ah, to think I was gonna kill him! But he ruined himself with that..." He couldn't continue as he kept laughing at what Rhys has become and what he did to himself. 

"Oh, this? It's a seige mustache. The, uhh, troops love it. A-Anyway, who's your friend?" Rhys then asked, looking at Lily. Lily could hear Jack laughing harder at his last sentence before straightening herself. "My name is Lily...currently a Crimson Raider and a Vault Hunter as a bonus..." She said, both Rogue and Lunastra looking up at the hologram, which Rhys was frozen in shock. 

"Vault hun...C-Crimson Rai....O-Oh holy crap yes! H-How many troops did you bring? Twenty-Thousand? FIFTY-Thousand!?" Rhys asked, Lily looking at the small group she had with her before shrugging. "Well, unless you count an Eden Saurian and a worn out Hyperion bot...that's all ya got, pal." Lily said, not wanting to mention Jack, who finally calmed down as he wipes a tear of mirth away from his eye. 

"What? Oh come on! I can't take back the city with a single digit army!" Rhys argues, which Lily raised an eyebrow at. "Really? Because we were able to mow down Maliwan with ease." Lily said, Lunastra nodding her head in agreement while Rogue just simply lets out a beep sound. "She's right, Rhys. They're good. They're really good. Anyway, we got some bad news; Maliwan and bandits are working together. Seems the Calypso weaseled their way into Maliwan's inner circle." 

Rhys drags his cybernetic hand over his face, sighing deeply. "Great...everyone is just....piling up here...." He then cleared his throat to look at Lily. "A-Anyway. You showed up at the right timing, my friend. Maliwan has a Giga-Mind that holds everything I need to know and my top agent is going after it. If they have anything related vault wise, it would bee in that Giga-mind. Go meet up with my agent on the far side of town North East of here. Rhys out!" The hologram disappeared. 

"He's, uhhh....optimistic....?" Lily said, glancing at Lorelei with a questioned look. 

"Yeah, he's like that. But he has a good heart, though. He allowed me to work with him as leader of his commanding troops. Take that any time of the day along with runnin' a coffee shop...ah, I miss coffee..." She groans at that last part before going back on track. "I know you would stick with an Outrunner because of your two friends, but I'm gonna hook you up with a Cyclone as well. It's fast, light, really great for getting aroun'...I got to get Watershed base back up...go ahead an' meet with Rhys's agent." Lorelei smiled before going over to the Catch-A-Ride and added the vehicle to the library. 

As Lorelei goes back up the stairs, Lily could still see Jack snickering at what he witnessed earlier. 

"...were you serious of killing Rhys?" Lily asked. 

"I was...but the kiddo ruined himself, so there's no point..." He snickered, to which she rolled her eyes at him, summoning the Outrunner. Rogue and Lunsatra hopped in while Jack disappeared back into Lily's arm, per usual. She'll have to ask Rhys later if he knew Jack back then...that is if he's willing to. 

She starts up the vehicle and exits the base, going up North East of the city to meet up with Rhys's agent. 

Chapter Text

A Past Comes Up 

"So who's Rhys's agent? What should I know about them?" Lily asked, having Lorelei on her comm as she drives through the streets of what was the City of Promethea, destruction everywhere as she saw broken buildings, street in rubble. Rogue kept looking around for any possible threats to them. 

"Rhys's agent is a bit of a loner, but I know you two will hit off grand. He's after a cache from Maliwan that's protected by an impassible shield. If he's anywhere, he's after that. And I'm sure he can give ya the extra details about the Giga-Mind..." Lorelei said, Lily turning on a street, Lunastra just looking with her head sticking out the window from the vehicle. 

Her comm suddenly went off and then heard Tyreen and Troy, making her eyes narrowed at the voice of the twins. 

"Hey, superfan! So what do you think of our new alliance with Maliwan? Pretty cool, right?" Tyreen asked. Lily was about to snap before hearing Troy's voice. "We give Maliwan an unlimited supply of screaming war-meats, a.k.a our followers. And they gave us a bunch of crazy, high-tech guns." He said, which she could tell that there was a smirk on his face. 

"Yep, so once they take the planet, they get Atlas, and we get the Vault. So you're left playing with...whatever you got down there! Just keep doin' you! Ha!" Tyreen added. Lily just about had enough. 

"And you are probably wondering why Maliwan is going so steep to take over a corporation that is doing a lot better than they are because they don't got any original ideas! Take it from someone who use to work for the damn company! So if anything, it's you that don't got anything running!" Lily snapped. 

"Wow...someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed..." Troy snickered. 

"Aww, someone's butt hurt...anyway, see ya later, Superfan!" Tyreen sang out before hanging up. 

Lily pulls over when she got to a spot, seeing Maliwan agents already patrolling. 

She went over to the nearest post and punched her cybernetic arm at it, gritting her teeth before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes to relax. Lunastra looks at her and whined, nuzzling her arm while a purr rumbled in her throat. Lily glanced at her before petting her, a tired smile on her face before seeing the patrols.

The young Vault Hunter lets out a small whistle, to which the Saurian perked up and starts to go on stealth mode, slowly stalking a Maliwan soldier before taking him out silently from the side, biting down on his neck and snapping in two. Rogue starts to load his gun and once he saw Lunastra out of his shooting sight, he lets out all the bullets, killing the other Maliwan soldiers that were near the area, the bullets ricocheting off of his shield when they attempt to shoot him. 

As Lily walks up the steps, she heard the familiar flick of the AI appearing next to her once more. 

"So a Giga-mind, huh?" Jack asked, glancing down at the corpse of the Maliwan soldiers. Lily rolled her shoulders to relax. "Yeah...suppose to be a Maliwan AI. I know for a fact they changed it since I've worked there since it was mostly a chip for computers or robots so they have personality or something. I mostly don't mess with that stuff since the Maliwan spheres were my main project along with adding assistant projects for them. So I don't know what they did with them since I've left the company." 

Jack glanced at her before shrugging, but then Lily looks at the older man. "...what about you? What AI's did you do for Hyperion aside from the flashdrive AI's?" Lily asked, the older man blinking in surprise and looks down at her. Jack then shoved his hands in his pockets. "Nah, mostly flashdrives. We don't let the AI's out in public until we made sure that they're operational. That's why I have an R&D team to make sure that they work. But what we do is mostly guns that will make others look like kittens." He smirked down at her. 

Lily rolls her eyes, but had a slight smile on her face. So much for more info on Hyperion. 

"....can I ask you something?" She asked. 

"Depends on the question, kiddo..." 

"...you said you were an Engineer on cybernetics...what made you want be CEO of Hyperion?"

Jack blinks at that, some memories popping into his head...remembering when he opened the Vault...then his hands around the old Hyperion CEO's throat...then betrayal...

"...ck...ack...."

"Jack!" 

He blinked, not realizing he zoned out and looks at Lily, who was looking at him with concerned. "You okay? You were quiet for awhile..." Lily asked, glancing up at him. He looks at her before noticing movement from the corner of his eyes. "...that the agent?" He asked, pointing something ahead of them. Lily blinked before looking at where Jack was pointing at and saw a stranger just staring at the horizon with their arms folded. 

"...must be them..." Lily asked, whistling for Lunastra and Rogue to be right beside her as they walked to the stranger. 

That's when Lily saw three Maliwan robots sneaking up on the stranger. Just before Lily could warn them, the stranger was gone in a blink of an eye, then saw how one robot got sliced in half, one into multiple pieces and then the last one having it's arms sliced off, then the head before the stranger perched on the ground, sheathing the sword as the mask displayed a '<3' emoji. 

Lily blinked in surprise, not seeing someone moved so fast before walking up to the stranger. "Uhh...y-you're umm, Rhys's agent, right? That's...after Maliwan's cache?" Lily asked, very unnerved of the masked stranger looking down at her. 

Then a ':)' display shows on the mask. "Greetings./Let's ruin Maliwan's day./ Our mission begins." He said, then showed a ';)' emote before going to the door, slicing it in half and then used a hologram to make himself disappear. Lily blinks in surprise as she looks at the stranger. "....an assassin that is a blade master and also speaks Haiku? I like him already." Lily said, smirking slightly as she follows him to the area. 

"That's Zer0. He use to be a Crimson Raider, like you...wonder where he went off to..." LIlith said through her comm, but Lily could tell that the Firehawk was smirking. "He's always been a little...cryptic, but he's as deadly as they come." She said before hanging up. That's when she caught up to Zer0 until she saw the Maliwan bots once again, raising the alarm when they were spotted. 

"Haywire service bots. / Their masters have long since fled./ Decommission them." Zer0 spoke before pulling out an Hyperion sniper rife and starts to fire. Lily smirked and pulled out her shotgun, whistling for Lunastra and Rogue to go nuts on the robots. Lunastra roared, tackling a bot before ripping off it's head, electricity and oil coming out of the robot's head as the Saurian crushed it in her jaws. 

Rogue simply kept firing simple shots, not wanting to waste ammo and simply pushed the robots to the side with force, making them crash and malfunction from the Hyperion bot's brute force. Lily just fires one shot after another before not realizing that all the robots were now destroyed, blinking when Zer0 placed a hand on her shoulder, making her turn to look at him as they were already at the computer where the shield was up protecting the cache. 

"All bots demolished./ Lower that shield so we can/ loot some sweet weapons." He asked, his masked helmet displaying '>-<' emote at her. Lily smirked at the assassin before going over to the computer satellite and typing in a code. She heard the shield powering down and looks over to see that the cache was now easy grabbing for them. "Huh...guess Maliwan is losing their touch if their shields go down that easy..." Lily chuckled. 

Lily heard a ship coming. She glanced over at the source and stilled when she saw a circular drop ship coming towards them. "Uhh...unless they changed their designs...tell me that's an Atlas drop ship...?" Lily asked, glancing at Zer0. 

"Negative." His helmet now deploying 'ಠ_ಠ' emote as he aimed at the drop ship, Maliwan troops coming out along with a few Juggernaut soldiers. 

"We made them angry./ Prepare for counterattack./ Maliwan dickheads." Zer0 said. Despite his voice staying the same, Lily could tell that he was just as annoyed as she was when she saw Maliwan appearing once again. Lily growls as she fires at one, killing him with a head shot. "At least we can agree on that. Maliwan are dickheads..." Lily stated, next to Zero as they both shot round after rounds at the incoming Maliwan group. 

Zer0 looks at her for a brief moment before displaying 'XD' on his mask before focusing back on their mission. Lily saw one more Juggernaut and aims right at the power sphere on his back, the corrosive element spewing out as the soldier desperately tries to get it off of him. With one last effort, he rushed towards both Lily and Zer0 as the power core sputters out of control, about to detonate. Zer0 thinks quickly, Lily making a squeak sound when he picks her up and hops away just as the soldier exploded from Corrosive element from the power core. 

Lily blinks as Zer0 was now at the entrance of the cache they were after, the assassin now placing Lily back down on the ground gently as she stuttered out a thanks. The helmet once again displayed a heart emote before looking back at the massacre of the fallen soldiers. "Their assault has failed./ A predictable outcome./ With our combined skills." He said, then looks at Lily. 

She then glanced at the entrance. "Alright...so what is it that you're after, exactly?" Lily asked, Lunastra and Rogue coming up to them. Zer0 displayed ':]' on his helmet. "New Maliwan tech./ My sword requires an upgrade./ Search through the depot." With that, he disappeared, the hologram clone of him just there before disappearing as well. Jack looks at her once they were alone. 

"He's...good, like...really good...." Lily said, Rogue and Lunastra looking at her. 

"...you got a little crush on him, don't ya?" Jack teased, Lily's face easily going red as she tries to punch Jack's chest, but failed since he was an AI, her hand going through him while the older man snickered. "Just teasing ya, Lils...you're too easy to rile up. Now I know what to do just to mess with ya." He gives her a toothy grin, to which Lily huffs in annoyance and looked away, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Dick..." Lily mumbled, going into the depot to find the cache for Zer0. 

Jack just laughs at that, not commenting on Lily's language. 

Lily could only find weapons that were mostly Maliwan, which she wasn't interested in and kept looking until she opened one more chest, seeing a device. She picks it up slowly, inspecting it. Was this the tech Zer0 was after? Just when she was about to call out to him she found it, he already appeared in front of her. "That's the sword upgrade./ I need it for our mission./ I'll trade you for it." Zer0 requested,  the '>_<' appearing on his mask before holding out a Hyperion sniper rifle to her. 

Lily blinked at that before smirking. "...you sure do now how to drive a hard bargain, Zer0. You got a deal." She smirked, tossing him the upgrade to him. He displayed a smiling emote on his mask before handing her the sniper rifle. She was surprise of how light it was in her hands, looking through the scope as the shields appear on the Hyperion weapon. 

Zer0 seemed pleased at the tech he was given, taking out his sword before placing the upgrade on the hilt of the weapon. "Look at this./ Monomolecular edge./ Translation? Cool sword." He states, the blade now glowing red, Lily now in awe of the upgrade that was done on his weapon. "...you are right. That is a cool sword..." She smiled at the assassin-- 

"Hey, it's Rhys' best friend Zer0, stealing my tech." 

Zero displayed an ':(' emote at the voice. 

Lily also stilled at the voice, blinking in surprise as they both glance at the screen to see a man who was smirking down at them both. "What's the matter? Atlas not 'cutting it' anymore? My offer still stands. It's not too late to come work for Maliwan." He then glanced over at Lily. "And you must be the Vault Thief that Tyreen warn me...." He trails off, narrowing his eyes at her before his eyes went wide with surprise. "...Lily?" 

Lily then blinked in surprise, now knowing who he was. 

"...Katagawa?"  

Zer0 looks between the two, a question mark emote displayed on his helmet. "What are you doing!? Since when did you want to become a Vault Hunter?" Katagawa asked, his eyes narrowed to which Lily returned the look back at him. "And what are YOU doing forcing a merger with Atlas? Last time I remembered, you told me that merging with other companies were 'boring'," She air-quoted the word, "and would waste your time?" She asked. 

Katagawa looks at her before shaking his head. "You know what? I don't have time for this." He was about to shut off his camera before hearing Lily's last word. "I'm buying my plans back, Katagawa! And I'll get them for real this time!" Lily growls. The man then smirked at her. "Oh, Lils...you still think you can buy your plans back after all these years? You don't got a leg to stand on...they belong to Maliwan now, and it'll stay like that as long as the prices go up. And I know you don't got the funds...so goood luck with that." He smirked. 

He then logs off of the monitor, leaving the Maliwan logo on. "You little---" Lily growls and fires at the monitor, putting bullets into it before it hangs helplessly on the wall mount before falling to the ground, Lily heaving as the anger slowly seeps out of her. "You okay? You seem to know him." Lilith asked, hearing the whole conversation. The young Vault hunter sighs deeply. 

"...that was Katagawa Jr. He's now head of Maliwan Mergers...and my ex boyfriend." 

Zer0 displayed 'D:' emote on his mask at the confession. 

"What!?" Lilith couldn't help but asked, Lunastra and Rogue looked at her in shock as well. Lily glanced at everyone and shrugged. "Yeah...I regretted that decision, believe me...he was also the reason why I quit Maliwan...making my ideas into his sick fantasies. L-Look, can we just forget about this and focus, please?" She asked, looking at Zer0 seem to agree with her and walked over to the shield that was holding them inside. 

He drew his blade out and stabbed at the shield, the power of the sword made the shield short out and was destroyed. Lily sighs deeply and glanced at Zer0. "So you got the tech...now we need to after the Giga-Mind, right?" Lily asked, to which the assassin nods at her question. "Yes./ It has the information Rhys needs./ I'll be waiting for you." Zer0 then disappears, leaving Lily with Rogue and Lunastra.

Jack appears next to her, to which Lily looked at him confused at the look he was giving her. 

"...okay, kiddo, you and me; we're gonna have a little talk." He said to her, to which Lily glanced at him with a weird look and shrugged. "With what?"

"With your taste in men, that's what! Why would you date that prick!?" Jack asked, also heard the whole conversation between her and Katagawa, which he found it shock and confusing that Lily and him had dated. Lily jerked back at the sudden outburst and threw her arms out at him. "Look, alright?! Love be stupid, what do you want from me!?" She asked. 

"That's not a good excuse!" 

"Well it is to me, so fuck off!" 

They were now both glaring at each other before both of their demeanors relaxed a little. "Trust me, Jack...I regretted of dating him, okay? Because all he fucking cared about was that stupid yacht that he made and self appearance. And making my main idea into a little sick fantasy that made me regret of ever making it and working for Maliwan...that's all I got, okay?" 

Jack just looks at her before sighing deeply as Lily digi-structs a new vehicle, Lunastra and Rogue hopping in. Lily gets into the driver seat before starting it up, her expression looking tired and exhausted from the sudden outburst she had. "...answer me this, kiddo...why would you date him? You know you're, like, way out of his league, right?" Jack asked. 

Lily was silent for a brief minute before sighing deeply. "He was...I don't know...he was different back then. He actually cared about our relationship and my happiness...just when his father told him he was twelfth in line  for the job he was after. So...he invited his family up to the yacht and then murdered them all, and now he's the first in line. That's when our relationship started to tumble downwards. We kept fighting...disagreeing on a lot of things. He then told me he would rather date someone more loyal to him and not disagree with him than he would with me. So...I dumped him..." 

Jack remained silent. 

"...then he bought my plan outright from my manager I was working under and made them to something that wasn't part of the plan. So...I made it my goal to buy my plans back. But they kept setting the price higher and higher. So I'm hoping I would just buy it from the CEO of Maliwan himself than to Katagawa because he would rise the price even more." 

They got to their destination, Zer0 waiting for them. Lunastra went up to Lily and nuzzled her shoulder and cheek, trying to cheer her up. Lily smiled at the Saurian, Rogue coming up from her other side and placed his clawed hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. "...thanks guys." She pats them both before going up to Zer0, who was waiting patiently for them. "Ready when you are." 

"This is where the test begins./ I'll be watching." Zer0 states, slicing the blockage in half to where the Giga-mind would be at. Lily runs up the stairs with her two friends behind her before seeing the wide open area. She looks for the Giga-Mind before blinking when she saw Tink...

...that had a brain in a jar for a head. 

"...yep, they change it alright..." Lily said, the Tink coming down with the small AI bots helping him down, surrounding him as the Tink now called out for the hiding Maliwan troupes to ambush the Vault Hunter. 

"So, not an AI./ Secrets locked in squishy brain./ Hack him, with your guns." Zer0 said, now on a high perch to see the test if Lily can pass or not without his help, keeping an eye on the AI with his other sniper rifle he keeps on hand. Lily lets out a whistle, Rogue and Lunastra already going with the plan to keep the Maliwan troops busy while she deals with the Maliwan AI. "Okay, buddy...you and that squishy lil' brain of your is coming with me, like it or not." Lily said, aiming her pistol at him. The Tink could only let out a gargle laugh in response and made the AI bots charge at her. She rolls to the side, shooting at each one that was close to her. 

One AI bot managed to cut her cheek, then another on her shoulder, to which she flinched but held it in. She kept firing until she ran out of ammo on her pistol, letting out a curse and switched to her shotgun. The Tink saw it coming and managed to shoot the shotgun out of her hands, making her wince at the sudden impact of the force of her gun being let go. She had only her sniper rifle that Zer0 gave her. 

She pulls it out, the small shields activating as she took aim. That's when she felt her cybernetic arm twitching, seeing it now glowing blue as her arm was now not in her control, the fingers on the trigger until she realized it was Jack's doing. She shakes out of her state and takes aim, looking through the scope. She hits a few direct spots on the backpack the AI was carrying, the bots now malfunctioning. 

Before the Tink could realize what happend, a bullet went through the chest, then another at the top of the jar container. 

The AI spins around uncontrollably as the ooze from the jar leaks out until it was nothing, the body dropping down. The rest of the Maliwan troops were dead, the Saurian chewing on the corpse's head while Rogue went over to pick up the brain that contained the info Rhys needed. Lily smiled, then looks up at Zer0 and waves at him, telling him that it was over. 

"That will at least hold/ recently processed data./ And thoughts during death." Zer0 said through Lily's comm. 

Lily just shrugs. "Eh...we've carried worse than this..." 

"Return to the base/ and send that data to Rhys./ I have more to kill." Zer0 placed his sniper rifle in his holster, hopping onto a roof before looking back at Lily. "Oh, and Vault Hunter.../ you are worthy of that name./ Good hunting with you." Lily barely saw the wink emote Ze0 gave her, to which she smiled at that before seeing the assassin disappear. She actually felt like she did good for once--

"Wow. You really just popped the brain right out of my Giga-Mind. Not satisfied with running underfoot, huh Lily?" Katagawa said through Lily's comm. She growls in response, rolling her eyes as she glared at her Echo, seeing his profile pic on the call, to which makes her angry even more.

"I swear if you spew out that bullshit about how your next in line, I swear the next bullet I'll pull is going into your brains." Lily threatens. Katagawa just chuckled at that threat, seeing her angry amusing him. "Oh, Lils...knew you had a temper in you, but it won't last long. Just think about it...now that you put yourself in my way." He then hangs up, Lily clenching to her comm, knuckles turning white from how tight she was holding onto the Echo--

She felt her cybernetic hand on her wrist, making her jolt to look at Jack now in front of her. "You gotta control that anger, pumpkin...it ain't gonna do ya good if you're going in blindly. Don't let that asshole get into your head like that. If anyone is gonna give you a hard time, it'll be me." He said, playfully placing his finger on her forehead. She just gives him a deadpan look in response. 

"As if you don't annoy me enough..." She said, grabbing her shotgun. 

"Well, I annoy everyone I meet...so much that they want to kill me, too." He chuckled, to which Lily looks back at him with an eyebrow raised. "You have that effect on everyone you meet, Jack." She states. Jack then looks at her and then smirks. "But you love me, right kiddo?" He asked, giving her a teethy grin while wiggling his eyebrows at her, to which Lily snorts at him, a small smile on her face. 

"I tolerate you." 

That made the older man laugh. "Wow, kitten. That might be the nicest thing you said about me." He chuckled and that made Lily chuckle as well. "Yeah, yeah, don't let it stroke your ego, old man." She chuckled, now exiting the area to get back to Lorelei and let Rhys know that the job was done. She pretty much ignored the comms coming from the Twins or from Katagawa Jr. as she made her way back to Watershed base, to which she was met with Lorelei and Zer0. 

"Hey, you're back! Wait...why do ya smell like brains and fried circuitry?" Lorelei asked, her face scrunched up at the smell, to which Lily shook her head. "Trust me, you don't wanna know..." Lily said. Lorelei did want to ask, but then went against it and got Rhys back on the direct line, the hologram version of Rhys showing once more. Lily glanced at Jack when he appeared next to her, to which he was snorting at the mustache that Rhys had. 

"Vault hunter! You got data from the Giga-Mind? Give it." He saw the data that Rogue was carrying delicately in his hands before handing it to Lily, to which she held it in one hand. "Ah, ah, ah, hold on a sec. I'll give it to ya if you help us open the Vault here on Promethea." Lily said, looking at the Atlas CEO. She saw him winced and she already knew it was gonna be more than that to convince him. 

"Ooh, uh, yeah that. Uh huh. It's just...I'm super busy with the whole invasion thing. Any other time, it is Vault-o'clock, baby! But I've-I've got my own company to look after." Rhys said, looking at the young Vault Hunter. Lily gives him a look with one eyebrow raised before casually shrugging. 

"Suit yourself. I can just give this to Lunastra. Been meaning to get her a new chew toy. Her fastest record is thirty seconds." She smirked. If she knew better, she saw Rhys froze up at that statement of the Saurian devouring the data. "Wait-wait-wait-wait!" He waved his hands frantically at her, to which Lily watched him, the data still in her hand as the Saurian looked at it with hunger in her eyes. Rhys then cleared his throat. 

"I've rebuilt Atlas from almost nothing, and I will do anything to keep Maliwan from taking that away. I swear on the company's future that I will help you find and open the Vault." Rhys promised. Lily's smirk grew wider and looks at her comm, calling Lilith at what Rhys offer. "Well, Lilith...what do you think?" Lily asked, knowing that she already heard what Rhys said. 

"Sounds like a promise to me...give the man what he wants, killer." Lilith said, to which Lily nods and placed the data on the direct line and hooks it up. Lorelei was already laughing at what she witnessed. "Wow! I've never seen Rhys squirm like that! You are really something, Vault Hunter." She snickered, to which Lily smiled at her. "I wasn't joking about Lunastra. That literally is her fastest record of destroying a chew toy." Lily chuckled, to which she laughed even more. 

Rhys then cleared his throat. "I, umm, still here. The hologram can still hear you...and Holo-Rhys has feelings." He mumbled at the last part, to which Lily and Lorelei laughed a little. When Lily heard Rhys gasp a little she looks over at him. "Ohohh, man! This guy had everything up there! Troop movements, supply lines, scouting data and...hmmm..." He looks at the data in his cybernetic. 

"What is it?" Lily asked. 

"Huh...seems like Maliwan's been searching for the fragments of the Vault Key themselves, and they've got some leads. A planet called...Athenas?" Rhys looks at her, to which Lily shrugged. "Don't know that planet...do you?" Lily looks at Lorelei, to which she shrugged as well. That's when she heard Lilith on the comm. "I know that place. Killer, get back to Sanctuary!" 

"Okay, you do that...Rhys out." He said, the hologram disappearing once again. Lily looks at her friends before shrugging before going to the fast-network, setting the coordinates to the ship before disappearing.  Guess Liith knew the planet. 

This is getting better and better by the minute.