Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“On the right!”

The warning came only seconds before a modded Outrunner slammed into the side of their car. The Light Runner, built for speed over control, spun off-course, narrowly avoiding a sand-smoothed boulder bigger than itself.

Gaige gripped the wheel with both hands. Her metal fingers sunk deep into the wheel’s leather covering as she tried desperately to correct the car’s path. They’d forgone the spiked treads in favor of the increased speed of regular tires. She wished now she’d gone with the spikes.

By some miracle, they didn’t flip over.

The other Runner, piloted by two dingy-looking bandits, was back on them in a second. The front of their Runner was modded with huge, sharpened sheets of metal, giving the bumper a fanged underbite. The “teeth” glimmered in the Pandoran sunlight as the car raced toward them, the bandits inside hooting and hollering their usual nonsense.

“Hey!” Moze leaned out the window, helmet bouncing as Gaige stomped on the gas again, driving them right toward the other car. As soon as they were in range, he hefted his Yellowcake rocket launcher onto his shoulder, took aim, and shouted,

“Kiss my fat balls!”

In a matter of seconds, the other Runner had exploded in a pillar of neon yellow radiation.

“Holy shit, dude!” Gaige swung the car around, already taking aim at an armored Technical that was chugging toward them. “Think we can take that one?”

Moze slapped another mag into his launcher and laughed. “Is that seriously a question?”

Gaige grinned, revealing her sharp, jagged teeth. “Not for me.”

The enemy Technical was equipped with two side arms and a barrel launcher on top. The drivers wasted no time launching one of those barrels directly into Gaige’s path. It exploded against the reinforced windshield, spawning spiderweb cracks all across its surface.

“Glad we sprung for the windshield now?” Moze asked with a smirk in his voice.

“Still say it’s slowing us down.” Gaige swerved around another barrel impact. This one exploded just a few feet from them.

“We’d be a lot slower if we were in pieces.”

Moze aimed his Yellowcake out the window, staring down a direct hit of his own. With his finger settled on the trigger, he narrowed his eyes, and then squeezed.

No sooner had the launcher ignited than the opposing Technical hurled another barrel at them. It sailed through the air, loaded to bursting with deadly explosives.

The Yellowcake rocket met the barrel midway between the two vehicles.

Moze barely had time to get out an “Oh fuck-” before both projectiles erupted in a radioactive explosion. The Yellowcake, in its usual fashion, created a massive burst of energy, enough to peel both vehicles clean off the ground and fling them in opposite directions.

They were airborne for a few seconds, just long enough for Moze to glance over and see Gaige looking back at him. Her mouth was clamped tightly shut, as if she were holding in a laugh.

They smashed into the sand roof-first. The Runner slid across the ground until it hit a rock, which flipped it onto its driver’s side.

With the car tipped over, Moze found himself on top of Gaige in the driver’s seat. They scrambled to orient themselves.

“We probably shoulda worn seatbelts,” he murmured as he grabbed the Runner’s smashed passenger window frame and hoisted himself up through it. Once he was on top of the vehicle, he climbed down the front, careful to avoid all the broken glass on the ground from the windows and headlights, and said, “Keep your hands in.”

Gaige peeked at him through the slats in the roof. When he got close, she gave him a little finger wave. He pulled his shoulders back and gave her an overly-formal salute. Through the thick metal plating, he then saw her gag.

With a grunt, he shouldered the Runner. It wobbled, but didn’t tip back over. He tried again, harder the second time. The car rocked, but it was too embedded in the sand to flip.

“Need a hand?”

He glanced up to find Gaige popped out of the passenger window, smiling down at him. The way the sun shined on her hair reminded him of the beacon fires the Corps used to light on remote missions, so no one in the squad ever got lost. A welcome sign of home.

A half-second later, a metal arm bounced off his helmet and clanked to the ground. Moze dutifully picked it up. It reached up and gave him two pats on the head.

Gaige then crashed down beside him with all the grace of a person falling out a window. Once she was on her feet, he handed her her arm back. She snapped it back into place with ease.

When the two of them pushed together, they managed to flip the car back onto its wheels.

“You think it’ll start back up?” Moze said, looking it over. The Runner looked like it had been squished by a giant cartoon mallet.

“It better,” Gaige replied as she climbed in through the shattered driver window. “I do not like losing.”

The Technical they’d gone up against was still standing, though parts of its thick metal armor had been blown off by the explosion. The truck wasn’t moving, though.

Their Light Runner’s engine tried to start, but wouldn’t turn over. “Shit.” Gaige tried it again. The motor was audibly chewing itself up. “Oh, come on!”

Moze nudged her through the window. “Gaige.”

Gaige turned the key a little too hard. The engine squealed, then smoke began leaking out from under the hood.

Moze poked her arm. “Gaige.”

“UGH!” Gaige punched the steering wheel, blasting the horn and scaring off several Rakks in the distance. “If we can’t get the car to start then we’re disqualified.” The last half of her sentence turned upward into a whine. She gave the steering wheel a few more whacks for good measure. “Stupid thing!”

Moze wandered away from the totaled Runner, over toward the Technical. Sure enough, as he got closer, he caught sight of the other driver. He was sitting back in his seat, legs spread, elbow perched casually on the armrest.

His face was completely melted off.

“See?” Moze called over his shoulder while he pointed to their faceless opponent. “This is why I insisted on a windshield.”

Gaige was beside him in a moment. “Are they both dead?”

Moze went around to the passenger side of the truck. Stepping up onto the side bar, he reached in and pulled the other guy out through the window. He was almost as badly burned as the driver, but his face was still mostly intact.

With a gurgle, he grabbed hold of Moze’s arm.

“Aghh! Radiation zombie!” Moze threw him to the ground. The man groaned and reached weakly out to them.

Gaige whacked him in the head with the hammer she always carried. “Die, zombie!”

After enough smacks and kicks from the two of them, the zombie stopped moving.

“That was close,” Gaige breathed. “So c’mon, let’s take their stuff!”

They climbed into the Technical. This one was wide open, no windshield or windows. A pretty stupid design for a vehicle that was meant to be armored, but Moze had long since given up on questioning Pandora’s customs.

“We don’t know the specs on this thing,” Gaige noted as she tried the engine. To both of their delight, it started right up.

“It’s big. And heavy.”

“Solid assessment, my guy.” Gaige ran her fingers over the various buttons. “Seems like a pretty standard Technical...don’t know what this does though.” Her finger hovered over a button with what looked like the top half of a circle on it.

“I wouldn’t press it if you don’t know what it-”

Gaige pushed the button.

Moze half-expected to be ejected from the car or something. But instead, the glove compartment opened, and a tray slid out.

“Oh shit!” Moze picked up the hot, hard-shelled taco that had appeared in front of him. “Glove box taco!”

“I wouldn’t eat that.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Moze said through a mouthful of meat and cheese. “Good, actually.”

“Attention all survivors of Round 2!” Ellie’s voice echoed through The Dust, amplified by mounted loudspeakers all around. “The Pandoran Dust Demolition Derby will continue after a brief intermission. Please assemble your ve-hicles back at the startin’ line in the next ten minutes.” There was a pause, followed by the rustle of papers. “...I’m s’posed to read some bullshit from Marcus, ‘cause he’s supplyin’ the ammo for the cars. Feel free to tune me out while I read this crap.”

In spite of its run-in with a nuclear warhead, the Technical purred like it was fresh off the assembly line. “We probably shoulda been driving one of these right along,” Moze conceded, nibbling on the crunchy shell of his taco.

“It’s so slow, though.” Gaige slumped in the seat and sighed. “I hate driving slow.”

“You wanna trade this round?”

“Hm.” Gaige glanced across the dashboard. “Yeah, I wanna throw barrels at people.”

They shimmied around each other to trade seats. Moze quickly familiarized himself with this particular Technical’s controls. While he was looking them over, he felt the remaining half a taco get plucked out of his hand. From the corner of his eye, he saw Gaige take a juicy bite out of it.

The Technical was slow, but it still got them to the starting point with eight minutes to spare. They rolled up to where Ellie was checking names off. She brightened visibly when she saw the two of them pop out of the truck.

“Oh hey! I was afraid you two didn’t walk away from that crash. Looked pretty nasty.”

“Yeah, our car’s totaled,” Moze said. “Luckily these guys weren’t using theirs anymore.” He jerked a thumb toward the hood, still decorated with splotches of the old driver’s blood.

Ellie got a good laugh out of that. “Resourceful. I like that in a man!”

Gaige licked the last bits of taco grease off her fingers. “So how many contestants are left?” she asked.

Ellie looked around pointedly. Other than the Technical, only three cars had pulled up–a Runner modded with bladed metal arms on either side of it, another Technical, this one painted in neon rainbow colors, and a type of vehicle Moze had never seen before–a low, flat red tank-like thing with two mounted turrets on top and tires nearly as tall as Moze himself.

“Damn,” Gaige whistled. “And we don’t even know anything about the car we’re driving.”

“Hey, we know it has a taco button,” Moze replied. “That’s good enough for me.”

Ellie smiled, but it was heavy. “Y’all can thank my brother Scooter for that,” she said. “He always did have some strange priorities when it came to buildin’ cars.”

Moze had never met Scooter, but he seemed to have been quite beloved among the Raiders. Gaige, however, never had much to say about him. So Moze concluded that he couldn’t really conclude anything about him.

They spent the next eight minutes doing what quick repairs to the Technical that they could–bending the side view mirrors back into shape, wiping blood off the seats with Gaige’s oil rag, that sort of thing.

At one point, Moze caught a glimpse of Gaige in the mirror he was adjusting. She was checking the pressure in one of the rear tires, unaware of Moze’s attention. With one hand, she reached up into her hair and pulled a thin metal tire gauge from somewhere in her pigtails. She then scratched her nose with her free hand, leaving a little dot of grease on its bridge.

He smiled as he watched her work. He nearly forgot he’d been adjusting a mirror at all.

At the ten-minute mark, Ellie’s voice boomed over the loudspeakers again. “All right ladies and gentlefolks, intermission’s over! Time for Round 3...SUDDEN DEATH!!”

Moze furrowed his brow. “Isn’t Sudden Death usually when there’s a tie-”

The neon-painted Technical beside them exploded into a thousand shards of metal and fuel vapor.

Moze grabbed Gaige and dove under their own vehicle. Moments later, several clangs struck the roof and hood of the Technical. A giant tire then crashed to the sand right where Moze and Gaige had been standing.

It was second nature for Moze to use himself as a shield when ducking from shrapnel. Of course, that meant he was now lying on top of Gaige, and from the wheeze she’d let out when he landed, he was pretty sure he’d knocked the wind out of her.

Moze climbed off of her, brushing the sand off her jacket.

“Land mine,” he mumbled.

Gaige squirmed out from under him. “What?”

“Land mine.”

She coughed up a puff of sand. “Why do you keep saying ‘land mine’?”

He blinked down at her. “’Cause it was a land mine.”

Sure enough, once they crawled out from under the Technical, Moze saw the blown-open hole in the ground where the other vehicle had been. Now it was nothing but burning bits of gas-soaked car and body parts.

“Too bad, #7 parked on the land mine.” Ellie’s tone was far more chipper than the situation called for. “Didn’t care much for their paint job, anyway. Much too tacky for this formal ee-vent.”

Moze and Gaige quickly climbed into their vehicle, unspoken fear of a second land mine hastening their step.

“And now we enter the most excitin’ part–the final round!!” Ellie drew closer to the mic. “Our three brave contenders must outwit and outcompete each other, all while survivin’ the terrifying...”

The ground under them began to quake. Moze instinctively floored the Technical in reverse. Just moments after he’d relocated them, the sand they’d been parked on collapsed into a massive sinkhole.

“She’s really not taking it easy on us, is she?” he breathed.

He was answered by a guttural roar. With a shower of sand, a huge, thick worm-like creature burst forth from the ground.

“Oh shit!” Gaige bounced in her seat, eyes sparkling. “It’s a sand worm!”

At its full height, the beast dwarfed even the chunky Technical. It swung its head toward each contestant in turn. It had no eyes that Moze could see, but it somehow knew exactly where they all were.

The beast’s face split open into a wide mouth ringed with a half-dozen rows of teeth. Six long, thin tongues snaked out from it in all directions.

“This here’s Jasper! Sumbitch tried to eat me when I was recoverin’ a sand skiff to digitize for the Catch-a-Ride. Thought he was kinda cute, in a vermin-like way. And he keeps the looters out when I ain’t around!”

The worm dove back down into the sand and disappeared. It left a gaping hole that would wreck any car that fell into it. That hole was soon joined by another, then another, and then another.

“Just pretend he ain’t there,” Ellie said, a devious chuckle in her voice.

It was tough to focus on the opposition when holes kept opening in the ground–something Moze assumed was the intention behind having a sand worm involved in the derby– but his curiosity was piqued by the tank-like vehicle that was setting up a stretch away from them. He’d never seen anything like it. It was heavily armored, yet sleek, like a hybrid of a Technical and a sports car. Its blood-red paint glittered in the sunlight. A fancy white letter A was painted on each side.

The Light Runner they were up against was no joke, either. In addition to the jagged blades on either side of the car, it was also reinforced with a layer of armor, and had a modified rocket booster affixed to its back end. The pair driving that car were clear COV stragglers, painted up in blood and covered in cult tattoos. The front of the car bore an ornate blood symbol that Moze could only assume was related to all that garbage, too.

“All righty competitors, get ready!” Ellie waited a few seconds, then blew an air horn. “Aaaand go kill each other!”

Moze’s first goal was to get away from the sand worm. All it would take was getting sucked into one of its sand pits and they’d be done for. Gaige looked around pointedly as he drove them far away from the competition, but all it took was one eruption of dirt right behind them, and she understood.

The COV Runner was as bloodthirsty as Moze had come to expect from their ilk. They were immediately on the offensive, chasing down Moze and Gaige with enough speed to easily overtake the tanky truck.

“These guys are right on our ass,” Gaige said, her head stuck partway out the window.

“Keep your head in,” Moze warned.

“Why? You had your-”

A rocket seared the air inches from her face. Gaige fell backwards into her seat.

“Okay, good point.”

The Dust was wide open enough that Moze knew he could lead them around for a bit. The Light Runner was faster, but he could use that to his advantage.

Using the Technical’s spiked tires, he made a tight left turn. The Runner whizzed past them. Of course, they attempted to turn as well, but the sudden change in direction ripped the car right off the ground, flipping it over just as their Runner had done. It bounced on its roof, then on its side. Then it landed right on its wheels again, and was back on Gaige and Moze in a second.

“Shit.” Moze ducked as a series of machine gun bullets whistled past him. “You wanna barrel ‘em?”

“I’ve been waiting for that question all my life.” Gaige scrambled up into the turret without another word.

A few seconds later, a barrel exploded off the Runner’s hood, sending them swerving. They corrected quickly, though, and the Runner’s passenger fired off a series of rockets that all nailed the Technical, punching through its thick armor.

Moze’s curses were lost beneath both the grinding roar of car engines and now the whistle of the wind through the holes in their vehicle. He briefly considered why he had even chosen to enter this crazy derby. Then he remembered it was because Gaige had entered, and she’d never do anything dangerous alone so long as he was alive to do it with her.

The Runner activated its modded booster, shooting right up beside them. Its thick blades began to dig into the side of the Technical, slicing through its rollbars.

There was no way Gaige could hit them this close without blowing the two of them up in the process. After mentally sorting through his backpack for a gun that wouldn’t kill them all, he eventually whipped out his P.A.T. Mk. II.

“P.A.T.,” he said, turning the gun over in his hand, “can you get these guys off us?”

P.A.T. sprang to life. “I will kill for you, Papa.”

It flew out Moze’s window and right into the Runner’s. The Runner started to swerve again. The moment it was far enough away from them, Gaige launched another barrel. It hit dead-on, sending the other car spinning out.

“Good shot!” Moze called up to her.

Gaige blew him a kiss.

The COV Runner was down, but not out, and it picked right back up even after taking the explosive blast. With its impressive speed, it caught up to them in no time.

The driver pulled right up beside Moze. His wingman leaned out the passenger window. The next thing to emerge from the car was a rocket launcher.

“Gaige!” Moze ducked as a rocket shot in his window. It exploded inside, and the energy from the blast sent him right through the non-existent windshield. He bounced off the hood, his short nails unable to garner any sort of grip on the metal.

Gaige dropped into the driver’s seat without a second thought. She tried to brake, but the other competitors were right on her, aiming another shot in the window.

“Don’t stop!” Moze yelled, clawing desperately at the hood. His voice was all but lost in the wind. “I’ll climb back in!”

The COV Runner swerved into them, driving its blade into the side of the Technical. The impact knocked Moze sideways, leaving him clinging to the side of the car. Through the passenger window he could see Gaige struggling to maintain hold of the steering wheel as the Technical rocked and began to fill with metal-cutting smoke.

The ground under them shook. The vibrations jiggled Moze’s fingers, loosening his grip until he lost hold completely. His fingers slipped off, and he peeled off the side of the vehicle.

As he was flailing to grab on to any part of the car while he sailed by it, an ethereal blue fog blossomed in his vision. The fog soon revealed an all-too-familiar young woman’s face, with long, wispy black hair partially concealing one of her glowing blue eyes.

She tossed that hair out of her face and offered Moze a smug smile. “It would seem you’re about to die a gory vehicular death,” she said in the peppy voice of an AI assistant. “Would you like me to assist?”

“Would kinda rather die,” Moze said as he blessedly grabbed hold of a handle on the back of the truck. His arm practically dislocated from the inertia of sailing through the air, but it didn’t, and therefore he was fine. Ish.

“Hm. Okay!” She faded from his vision.

“Wait, I didn’t mean it!” With only one hand gripping the truck, Moze was flapping in the breeze like a flag of meat and bones. “Angel!”

Gaige had to swing wide to avoid another slam from the Runner. Moze used the change in direction to swing closer to the truck, grabbing the back of it with his other hand and landing his feet on the rear bumper.

In that position, he was no longer actively in danger of falling off. Of course, he couldn’t exactly stay in that position if he wanted to avoid getting turned to Swiss cheese by a machine gun.

Thus began a long and desperate shimmy across the side of the truck, to the passenger window. The Technical had enough rough spots and peeled armor to grab onto, so traversing it wasn’t too hard. He made it to the passenger door just in time to avoid a spray of bullets inches from his body.

The window was small, but he could get through it at the right angle. Of course, the right angle meant he had to release his foothold on the side of the truck, grab hold of the rollbars, and swing his way in.

And of course, the moment they saw him do that, the COV rammed their Runner full force from behind. The car lurched forward, and Moze’s grip slipped off the dusty bars. Almost in slow motion, he closed his fingers around empty air. The Technical bombed forward without him. And then he was being carried by the wind.

“SHIIIIIIT!”

As he was tumbling backward through the air, he suddenly recalled a time when Vladof had been experimenting with adding boosters on their mechs. Achieving short-distance flight would have come at the expense of about fifty percent of the mechs’ armor weight, and about thirty percent of its weapon loadout. At the time, Moze had told anyone who’d listen that he couldn’t care less about flying.

As it turned out, he still felt that way.

He kept waiting for the crunch as he hit the dirt like a crumpled soda can, but it never happened. After what felt like a lifetime with his eyes squeezed shut, he finally eased them open again.

There were two metal hands wedged under his armpits, carrying him just above the ground.

Moze breathed a sigh of relief. “Holy shit. Thanks, man.”

Deathtrap purred.

The COV Runner was driving in circles around Gaige, laying down fire from all angles. Gaige was trying to aim the Technical’s guns at them, but accuracy wasn’t her strong suit to begin with, and even less so while she was trying to drive.

Deathtrap brought the two of them right up to the passenger window. Moze swung his legs, trying to get his feet in the window. With Deathtrap’s help, he was able to get close enough for the robot to push him in through the window and back into the passenger seat.

“So glad you’re okay,” Gaige breathed, still trying in vain to fend off their attackers. “Sorry I couldn’t stop.”

“It’s cool. Wouldn’t have wanted us both to die.” With clumsy synergy, they traded seats. Gaige’s aim immediately improved, punching holes in the COV Runner with a thousand machine gun bullets.

Deathtrap wasn’t fast enough to keep up with them, so he instead grabbed hold of the COV Runner and started digging his claws into it, pulling its already-flimsy armor right off.

The driver slammed the brakes to send DT flying. Unlike Moze, of course, he had a hover propulsion system, so he was fine. He caught himself in mid-air, then deconstructed, returning to Gaige’s arm as a wisp of light and data.

The Technical couldn’t stop nearly as abruptly. Gaige used the distance between the cars to pelt them with another barrel. This time, with the armor torn into, the Runner started to smolder.

“They’re going down,” Moze said. “Try to hit the engine.”

The next barrel missed, exploding harmlessly in the sand. “Damn.” Gaige launched another one. It missed by a wide berth as well. “Shit!”

“You got this,” Moze called up to her. “Take a minute if you need to.”

Her fingers unclenched from the turret. She sucked in a deep breath, then gave Moze a little nod.

The next barrel hit them square on the hood. The Runner’s driver screamed out a curse as the car burst into flames.

The fire that seeped out of the hood began to melt away the metal. The blood painted on it started to run as it re-liquefied in the intense heat. What had started as an ornate symbol soon became little more than smears and drips down the side of the vehicle.

Gaige had that familiar gleam in her eye as she dropped down into the passenger seat again. “Let’s finish them off,” she breathed, her fingernails growing longer and sharper. Her cybernetic eye was glowing bright red, the pupil forming the shape of a skull. When she grinned at Moze, he saw every one of her crooked, pointy teeth.

Moze pushed his helmet up out of his eyes. “You go do your thing,” he said. “I’ll be here if we need to make a quick getaway.”

Gaige leaped out of the car like a pouncing saurian. She landed on their hood, and with one smooth swipe of her claws, she swung around to the car’s side, grabbed the passenger door, and ripped it right off. The man inside shimmied as far back as he could in the Runner’s tiny seat. Gaige reached in and clenched his throat in her metal fingers.

Moze tugged at his shirt collar.

Gaige’s raw strength had always been impressive, but since she and Moze had started working out together regularly, she was truly something to behold. Her shoulder flexed as she lifted the man out of the car and held him up off the ground. Her other hand trembled up to the elbow.

“Worshipper of false gods...” the man choked out. Gaige tightened her fingers. “I’ll gladly die to join Them in Their mighty kingdom!”

“’Kay.” Gaige plunged her claws into his chest, ripping downward until Moze could see the sunlight through him. The man kicked and writhed. When he opened his mouth to scream, blood poured out from between his lips.

With a giggle, Gaige slammed him down into the dirt and tore him apart like a skag with a chew toy.

The Runner’s driver could have fled. Gaige was quite busy, and Moze was just sitting there watching her, trying not to look like the lovestruck fool he was. But the driver stayed, and in fact, he got out of the car and came around to meet Gaige.

Like many COV, he wore a mask painted with blood. He was shirtless, and his pants were stained and baggy, likely looted off a dead body. He wielded an axe that looked hand-forged, ending in a mounted sawblade.

“Though Her mortal form has departed, the God-Queen's spirit is eternal.” His voice was gruff and hoarse from a lifetime of shouting. “Your poor soul, stranded in darkness, could never comprehend the depths of Her love.”

Gaige rose slowly from the man she’d dismembered. Globs of thick blood dripped from the tips of her claws. Her cybernetic eye fixed crosshairs directly on the surviving man.

He raised his axe high. Gaige locked right on to it. The moment he swung it down, she jumped back, cackling as he drove his blade down into his friend’s carcass instead.

“Heretic!” With a wet splatter, he yanked the axe out of his friend and swung it like a baseball bat at Gaige. She raised her metal arm. The axe struck the metal and bounced right off. “I’ll make your teeth into a necklace for our next ceremony!”

“Considering the amount of cavities I definitely have, you probably wouldn’t even need to drill holes in them!” She laughed as she dodged another blow. “Not gonna happen, though. Sorry.”

He surprised her with a quick forward thrust. The sawblade mounted on the axe’s head jabbed into her stomach, knocking her backwards.

Moze was out of the car in a second.

Caught off guard by the blow, Gaige clutched her stomach and coughed wetly. Blood began to bloom into view through her shirt.

“Lucky shot,” she muttered.

“Not luck,” the man boasted. “A divine hand guides me.”

He swung again, this time downward, a blow hard enough to crack a skull. Gaige tried to leap back, but that meant the blade was instead coming down directly on her face.

Or rather, it would have, if the bandit hadn’t been tackled first.

Wielding every bit of his 49kg, Moze slammed into the guy, knocking him down into the dust. The man recovered inhumanly fast. Leaping up again, he grabbed Moze by the throat with thick, calloused fingers.

“You,” he growled, throwing Moze to the ground. “Slayer of the God-Queen's mortal vessel. An eternity of judgment awaits you.”

“An eternity being tortured by Tyreen Calypso?” Moze tilted his head, then nodded. “Could be kinda hot, sure.”

“BLASPHEMY!” The man drove his axe into Moze’s throat, the sawblade’s sharp tips piercing the soft flesh of his neck. Before he could drive it any deeper, Moze kicked him in the stomach, knocking him off. With the precious few seconds that granted him, Moze scrambled to his feet and scurried away.

“Blasphemer,” the man uttered. He pointed his bloody axe their way. “You know nothing of the love of a god!”

Soft fingers patted a bandage onto the poke marks in his throat. He slid his eyes over just long enough to get a glimpse of Gaige beside him. She was bleeding worse than he was, but wouldn’t feel it much until her Anarchy wore off.

“I’ve got gauze in my bag,” he said quickly, nodding over his shoulder.

“I’m good.” She twitched a little. “I like a good bleed every once in a while. Gets the adrenaline going.”

Before he could comment on how he’d never met someone with her outlook who was still alive, the ground shook again.

The man raised his other arm high. “You see? Judgment has come!” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “The God-Queen is with us still. O mighty Goddess, swaddle me in Your loving arms!”

In an eruption of sand, Jasper the sand worm shot up out of the ground, sending the man flying into the air. The beast whipped its neck around, opened its mighty jaws, and snapped him up before he hit the ground.

As soon as the sandy dust settled, Moze saw the worm’s scaly lips peel back, and its multi-pronged tongue run over its bloodied teeth. It then sank back into the ground, apparently sated for the moment.

“Damn,” Moze said. “Guess Tyreen was a real one after all!”

“Ungh.”

His momentary victory rush was squelched the moment he heard Gaige groan. With a small, weak cough, she sank to one knee, her palms grasping at the sand.

“A good bleed, huh?” Moze grabbed his roll of gauze from his bag and quickly tore a strip off. He lifted Gaige’s shirt carefully, exposing her pale stomach. It wore a gnarly gash across it.

Even in her weakened state, Gaige managed a delirious little giggle. “I need a medic,” she said as he gently patched up her wound. “I need a strong, handsome medic to have his way with me. I mean heal me.”

Moze snorted, but he kept his concentration on closing up her injury.

The moment she was patched up, Gaige sprang to her feet again, as if nothing had happened. “All right! That’s one car down. Now we just need to find that other one.”

The mysterious red tank-car had been suspiciously absent during their battle with the COV Runner. It was a smart strategy–wait for the other competitors to weaken each other, then close in for the kill. Clearly this was not their first rodeo.

Moze noticed as he hopped back in the Technical that the bandages Gaige had stuck on his throat had a smiling orange cartoon horse on it.

“Did you seriously patch a sawblade wound with a My Pretty Ponies bandage?” he asked as he shut the door behind him.

Gaige nodded eagerly. “It’s Applejack.”

“Applejack?”

She gazed pensively out the window. “You remind me of Applejack,” she said.

Moze started the Technical. It complained, but eventually grumbled to life. The spiked wheels grabbed hold of the sand, still shifting from the sand worm’s sudden appearance, and began to pull them forward.

“I don’t even see that other car,” Gaige said. Her head was entirely out the window again. “Maybe they got killed by the sand worm?”

“Or maybe they’re lying in wait for us.” Moze kept his eyes forward, alert for any sudden movements in their path.

Gaige eventually pulled her head in. “Maybe we should wait for them, too.”

“Staying in one place isn’t a good idea. That fucking worm’ll get us.”

“Mm. You’re right.” Gaige stared out the window some more. The Pandoran sunlight glittered off her left arm and kissed her freckled face. Moze allowed himself a half-second to take his eyes off the road and steal a glimpse at her.

“So I’m Applejack?” he said.

Gaige shrugged. “I mean, out of the Mane Six, yeah.”

Even though he had no idea what any of it meant, he felt compelled to ask, “Which one are you?”

Gaige lit up, obviously waiting for that very question. “Well, I used to think I was Twilight. Underappreciated genius of my time.” She tapped her metal fingers against the armrest between them. “But as my brain’s gotten weirder, I think I’m more like Pinkie now.”

Moze nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I could see that.”

She whipped around. “Wait, you know–?!” Her eyes went narrow. “...You’re just bullshitting.”

“No, no. I’m an expert on Pretty Little Pony. There’s Applejack, and Twilight, and, uh...”

Gaige looked at him flatly. “Pinkie Pie.”

“Yeah, Pinkie Pie. See? I’m a pro.”

Gaige folded her arms. “I’m gonna make you watch it someday. All two-hundred and twenty-one episodes. Plus the movie.”

“Long as I get to watch it with you.”

“Of course. How else would you get all the fun behind-the-scenes facts? I can tell you when and how every single Mane Six voice actor died.”

“Oh hell yeah, what’s a pretty prancing pony show without constant reminders of our own mortality?”

Speaking of their own mortality, Moze was beginning to feel a quake underground again. “Shit.”

There was no outrunning that monstrosity. It was either going to kill them or it wasn’t.

The quakes grew stronger, until Moze could barely hold on to the wheel. Eventually, when he suspected the moment was right, he slammed on the brakes. Gaige went flying into the dashboard.

About three seconds later, the worm surfaced right in front of them. “Oh shit!” Gaige grabbed hold of the armrest. “Good call braking!”

Moze floored it in reverse. Of course, “flooring it” on sand meant they didn’t go anywhere very fast. The engine screamed as the tires tried to dig themselves out of the pit they’d just created.

Jasper the sand worm turned their way, apparently drawn by the noise. It lowered its head to study the car, flexing its fanged mouthparts hungrily.

“Why did Ellie wanna keep this thing again?” Gaige whispered.

“Probably does a damn good job keeping out intruders.” Moze ducked low in his seat. Gaige followed his lead, though her pigtails still peeked out over the dashboard.

He wasn’t sure the worm could eat the Technical. Size-wise, it probably could, but would it choose to? Are you stupid? he reminded himself. This is Pandora. The wildlife here eats live grenades for snacks.

The two of them ducked down by the pedals. Despite their present mortal peril, Gaige was still giggling.

Moze brushed his hand against hers. She returned the gesture, though more with the force of a whack than a gentle brush.

“This is really exciting,” she whispered.

The worm leaned down and sniffed their hood. Its tongue forked out again, and it touched each of its endings to the scorching metal to taste it.

Moze ducked as low as he could and tried to hold perfectly still. Beside him, Gaige was still shaking. He knew it wasn’t with fear.

The massive worm brought its head around to the driver’s side door, studying that as well. Moze held his breath.

Bits of tongue flicked in through the driver side window, feeling all around inside the car. Moze pulled as far away from it as he could. That involved him leaning into Gaige, who leaned into him right back, grinning.

The worm’s tongue flicked right near Moze’s left arm. Moze felt himself break out in sweat. So close to Gaige, he had a passing thought that he probably should have worn deodorant.

Maybe it was his sweaty, no-deodorant, testosterone-fueled stink, or maybe he just didn’t look that appetizing, because the worm eventually pulled back and dug itself back into the sand.

Moze clutched his heart, finally allowing himself to breathe.

Gaige popped back up to watch its tail slither down into the hole.

“Think that just shaved a couple years off my life,” Moze said as he hesitantly joined her.

Once the creature had fully disappeared, Gaige looked to Moze.

“Would you still like me if I was a worm?” she asked.

Moze stared at her for a few long seconds.

Gaige’s eyes went big and round.

“Would you be trying to eat me?” he said.

She shrugged. “If you’re into that.”

He stroked the peach fuzz on his chin. “I’d be willing to give it a try.”

His response, of course, earned him a laugh from Gaige, which was his intention. He swore her laughter could heal wounds and bring even the most deadened hearts back to life. When he heard that giggling and saw that crooked smile, he felt like everything in his fucked-up life might just be all right after all.

His moment of smitten contemplation was broken by a bolt of blue light across the sky. It was so bright that, for a moment, everything else under Pandora’s harsh sun looked dark as night.

“Whoa!” Gaige stared directly at it without flinching. “That’s a solid-state fiber laser! But a huge one!”

Moze turned to where the laser had fired from.

Sitting a stretch away from them, its multiple weapons all aimed directly at them, was the red tank-car. Its engine idled loudly, like the deep growl of a Vault monster.

“Oh, I’d love to know the wattage on that,” Gaige was still rambling from behind him. “Or what element it’s mixed with in the gain medium...and such a huge blast radius, too! I wonder how you’d have to arrange the cladding to achieve total internal reflection that focuses but in such a wide diameter...”

Moze stared at the vehicle. It had no visible windshield or windows, and every inch of it was reinforced with thick armor. Mounted to the back were two jet boosters as well. Not only was this thing a tank, it was a tank that could probably outrun them.

With no other choice, Moze stepped on the gas. The Technical lurched forward, screaming as it tried to race over shifting sand.

Another bolt of laser-lightning launched at them, this one hitting dead on. Every bit of electricity from the impact was sucked into Moze’s Transformer shield, not currently deployed but mounted on his hip in standby mode.

“Man, I love this thing.” Moze gave it a loving little tap with his fingertips while it sparked and glowed a vivid blue.

Of course, it didn’t take the other competitor long to realize the laser wasn’t effective. They soon switched to their turrets instead, and started zooming after Moze and Gaige with both guns blazing.

The inside of the Technical was flooded with the pingpingpingping of machine gun rounds lodging themselves in the car’s metal body. Gaige took control of their own weaponry, swapping fire with the tank. It was, of course, entirely useless. Bullets, and even explosive barrels apparently, bounced off the armored vehicle with minimal impact.

“Man, what the fuck is that thing?” Moze said as he attempted to lead their opponent in a sloppy circle, passing under the cliff edges at the far side of The Dust.

“I have no idea, but I want their laser tech.” Gaige had to shout over the roaring engines and bullet spray. She used her free hand to pull her ECHO device from her pocket. The first bump Moze hit, it fell from her fingers and hit the floor with a smack.

Moze dared to take one hand off the wheel long enough to grab the ECHO. He held down the side button meant for talking to the ECHO’s AI.

“Can we get some intel about this thing that’s chasing us down?” he asked.

Once he’d dropped the ECHO back down to the passenger seat, it began to glow. Within moments, the screen had been taken over by a blinding blue light. That blue light soon shaped itself into a holographic person.

“Ah, a Lancer!” A tiny projection of Tannis stood on top of the glowing screen, rocking from the balls of her feet to her toes and back. Even the size of an action figure, Moze could see the mad delight on her translucent little face. “I haven’t seen one of those in years. I would have assumed they’d been scrapped for parts. I guess nothing on this junkyard planet is ever truly gone!”

“Do you know how we can destroy it?” His question was punctuated by another hail of bullets burying themselves in the Technical.

Tannis tapped her chin. “Well, a vehicle that heavily armored must be quick to overheat. Perhaps if you have a fire weapon you could, as they say, ‘smoke out’ the operators inside.”

“On it.” Moze unzipped his backpack and fished around until he pulled out his Hellwalker. “Where should I aim?”

Tannis made a discontented little sound as his driving caused her to shift across the seat. “You’re asking me for tactical advice? Have you suffered any head trauma lately with that ill-fitting helmet of yours?”

“Excuse me for assuming you know everything. You know a lot of things.”

Tannis pulled herself up tall. “Yes, yes I do.” She eyed his battered old Jakobs shotgun with a curl to her lips. “Is that the best incendiary weapon you’ve got?”

“It’s all I need, Doc.”

The tank-car, apparently called a Lancer, pulled up beside them. With the Technical’s spiked tires, and the Lancer’s heavy booster, the latter was able to keep pace with ease.

Strangely, even though they had a clear shot at Moze through the driver’s side window, they didn’t shoot into it. They didn’t even ram the car, which would have done significant damage given how heavy the Lancer was. They were still shooting the Technical, but the body of it. Not anywhere that really mattered.

A barrel of explosives hit one of the Lancer’s machine guns. The Lancer swerved away from them.

“Nice one,” Moze called up to Gaige. “Can you get the other turret?”

She tried, but the Lancer was, for some reason, driving away from them now.

A game of chase. They want us to get distracted.

He hadn’t forgotten the environmental threat slithering just beneath their tires.

Moze stayed on their tail. If that worm was going to get one of them, it was going to get both of them. He’d make sure of that.

A few more barrels exploded off the back of the Lancer, carving indents and burn marks across its armored surface. The Lancer shot backward at them with its one functional gun. Their bullets sprayed wildly, with aim almost as poor as Gaige’s.

“They seem to be panicking,” Moze said. “That, or this is all an act.”

“I doubt they’re that panicked,” Gaige replied. “They made it this far.”

Gaige's ECHO device had gone dark, indicating Tannis had lost interest in their life-or-death face-off. It bounced around on the seat as Moze took to steering with one hand, the other trying to wield his Hellwalker out the window.

The Lancer ignited their boosters, blazing fire and smoke right in Moze’s face. Hacking, he fired off a blind shot toward them. The bullets spread into their signature pentagram shape, burning an outline into the Lancer’s armor. A few bullets hit the boosters themselves and exploded in the fire, causing some localized damage to the Lancer’s body.

“Badass,” Gaige said.

“I know.” Moze fired off a few more rounds. The Lancer swerved away again, but not before one of its boosters began to melt the damaged metal around it.

“I’m thinking Corrosive might work better than fire here,” Moze called. “But I didn’t bring any corrosive weapons.”

Gaige pulled a pistol from the holster on her waist and tossed it to him. Her beloved Hornet.

With the splash damage the Hornet dealt, it wouldn’t take long to start eating away the Lancer’s armor. Moze fired a few rounds. The acidic bullets pierced the old vehicle’s thick shell, hissing as they began to chew through the metal.

“Oh yeah, that thing’s going down,” Moze said.

Then the Lancer dropped something. A small, thick disc of metal. It landed in the sand, right where Moze and Gaige would be in a few seconds.

Moze could recognize a mine anywhere.

“Hold on!” he yelled as he was already swerving. Gaige went tumbling from the turret seat, saved only by the grip of her metal hand from flying right over the top of the vehicle.

As abrupt as his turn was, it wasn’t enough to avoid grazing the mine. Moze could hear his pulse pounding in his ears as the front left tire bumped the side of the mine.

A half-second later, the Technical was blown right off the ground. It went airborne for a few heart-stopping seconds. Moze grabbed as tight a hold as he could to anything that would keep him from falling out and getting crushed when the truck landed.

They hit the sand on the truck’s side, scraping across the dirt and kicking up a storm of dust. They slid right into a deeply-embedded rock that flipped the Technical right over it. With a loud, metallic crunch, the Technical landed right on its roof.

Moze shook his head, trying to correct his spinning vision. Once he’d recovered, his eyes took instantly to searching for that familiar fiery orange and spiky denim.

He appeared to be alone in the vehicle.

“Gaige?” He crawled across the roof-turned-floor, looking for splatters of blood, or anything else that could hint where she’d ended up. He found nothing.

The Lancer circled the overturned Technical. At that point, they were the least of his concerns. “Gaige!” Moze clambered out the window. The Lancer opened fire. Four spidery metal arms forked out from his backpack, digistructing Iron Bear around him. The mech took the bullets like always while Moze stomped through the dust, following the path they’d engraved into it with their slide.

In the distance, he could see something lying half-buried in the shifting sand. “No.” He pushed Iron Bear as fast as it could go, hardly caring that the Lancer was still laying down fire on him. “Oh no. Oh fuck.”

Iron Bear faltered as a bullet struck one of its leg joints just right. “Fuck!” Moze whipped around to face the Lancer. “Fuck it!” he shouted through Bear’s external comm system. “I surrender! I don’t care about this stupid thing if she’s hurt.”

His boots hit the sand hard as he ejected from Iron Bear, leaving the mech standing guard. To his slight surprise, the Lancer did not pursue or shoot at him. It just sat there, engine idling.

The thing he’d spotted was completely buried in sand by the time he got to it. Even so, he could clearly make her out.

Gaige was lying on her stomach. Her head was wrenched sideways, her legs were bent wrong, and her organic arm was flopped behind her, over her back.

“Gaige!” Moze dropped to his knees and started brushing the sand off her. When she didn’t respond, he flipped her right over and cradled her with one arm, the other checking for a pulse. He found one rather quickly.

Gaige coughed, puffing a bit of sand in Moze’s face. “Ngh...”

Moze gave her a light shake. “You okay? Talk to me.”

Though she was alive, she was limp in his arms. The spikes on the back of her jacket stabbed into his thighs. He didn’t dare shift her position.

Gaige’s eyes pulled open for just a moment, heavy and tired.

“Ytterbium-doped,” she mumbled.

Moze tilted his head. “What?”

Gaige forced her eyes open again, staring past him. “The laser. I used to get yb-doped and thulium-doped fiber lasers mixed up all the time. I had to commit it to memory that gain-switched, Ytterbium-doped lasers are the ones that have the highest peak power to wattage.” She laughed breathily. “So embarrassing.”

Moze hugged her tight to his chest.

The Lancer rolled up beside them. The heat from its engine washed over the two of them in suffocating waves.

Gaige coughed again, another puff of sand that settled on Moze’s jacket. “Shit,” she murmured. “We still gotta beat these guys!”

Moze looked away. “Actually I, uh, surrendered.”

“You what??”

The Lancer’s roof split in half, folding down on either side to present the operators inside. Two people in head-to-toe red armor jumped up out of their seats.

Through a heavily-filtered mask, the driver said,

“Yeah! You surrendered! That means we win!” The two of them hi-fived each other, then locked arms and twisted them around, some sort of stupid-looking secret handshake.

Moze squinted at them. Out of context, it took him a minute to realize he recognized those armored suits. Once they climbed out of the Lancer, though, it hit him.

He gingerly released Gaige from his grip, making sure she was able to stand on her own.

“Are you guys from Atlas?” he asked.

The two soldiers paused their celebration. They exchanged a glance. Then the driver said, “What’s it to you, Pandoran?”

“I’m not Pandoran.” Moze folded his arms, then nodded at them. “You know Lorelei?”

The other man, shorter and stockier than the first, brightened. “Of course we-”

The first man elbowed him in the gut. “That’s classified information. We don’t give out intel like that to civilians.”

“Do I look like a civilian to you?” Moze gestured to the array of medals he still wore patched to his jacket. “And Lorelei’s one of my best friends. We fought Maliwan together last year.”

The Atlas soldiers leaned in and whispered to each other. The shorter man pulled back first. Moze could hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Wait, are you a Vault Hunter?”

Moze smirked. “Yep. Name’s Moze. And I’ve opened a whole bunch of Vaults, actually.”

“Cooool.”

The taller man stepped between the two of them. “We’re here because our boss wanted us to try to recover some old Atlas tech from this planet. We found this old Lancer, and we were supposed to bring it right back to Rhys, but...”

“It looked so badass,” the other soldier said. “We just had to test it out.”

“Although now it’s kinda banged up. Rhys is gonna be mad.”

“Nah man, we’ll tell him it was like this when we found it. It’s Pandora! He’ll believe it.”

“I can’t believe you surrendered!” Gaige grabbed onto Moze’s arm with her titanium fingers. “We were so close!”

“I was worried about you!” He picked her fingers off him. “I thought you might’ve been killed getting thrown out of the truck like that!”

“So you thought I gave my life for us to win this competition, and you still surrendered??”

“I’m sorry, should I have left you lying in the dirt while I chased these guys down?”

“Yes!”

Moze shook his head. “Sorry to say that’s never gonna happen. I don’t leave people I care about behind.”

“Ugh. You're such a damn hero.” She reached up and pushed his helmet down over his eyes.

“Looks like we might have ourselves a winner, folks!” Ellie declared. “Not exactly what I expected, but that’s the fun of these things, ain’t it?”

“Nice to meet you, Vault Hunter,” one of the Atlas soldiers said as they climbed back into their vehicle. “Sorry we almost killed your girlfriend.”

“Oh, she’s not my...” He trailed off, casting an uncertain glance over at the girl beside him. Gaige avoided his eyes.

They drove off before he could think of how to finish his sentence. The wind was uncharacteristically calm in that moment, leaving nothing but a thick silence between them.

“I really wanted to win,” Gaige mumbled.

“Man, I’m sorry.” Moze reached partway out to her, but his arm withered back down to his side before he touched her. “I was worried. I was...I was real fuckin’ scared.”

“Why?” Gaige angled herself away from him. “Not like I’m your girlfriend or anything.”

“Well you’re not! Just ‘cause we’ve been on a few dates...”

He could tell he was saying everything wrong. When Gaige finally turned back to him, she leveled him with eyes red and glimmering, maybe from the sand, or maybe something else. It was hard to tell.

“We got second place?” he said, his attempt to reassure botched by his own unconvinced high note at the end.

“Second place.” She let out a long breath. “Of course. I never win anything.”

He brushed some of the sand off the collar of her jacket for her. “Well, maybe for second place you get taken out for a nice meal by a guy who thinks you’re always a winner.”

She sniffled, her lips curling just the tiniest bit upward. “I’m trying to be mad at you here.”

He leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek. She turned so his lips met hers instead.

The ground began to quiver under their feet.

“Oh shit.” Gaige skittered back a step. “Let’s save the gooey stuff for a safe place.”

Moze held out his hand. After a theatrical moment of consideration, Gaige took it, and they hurried back to Ellie’s garage before their consolation prize became a trip through a sand worm’s digestive system.

“I can’t believe you two didn’t win!” Ellie had to shout over the buffer as she ran it over Gaige’s left arm, working out the array of micro scratches from the sand. “Y’all have gone soft since ya started gettin' all lovey-dovey with each other, I swear.”

“Is being concerned for your teammate’s safety considered ‘soft’ now?” Moze sat on top of an old car in the garage, watching as Gaige got her cyborg spa treatment.

Ellie tutted and shook her head, leaving no room for argument. She then set the buffer down and headed over to the work bench, where a bottle of heavy metal polish sat waiting. “And why won’t you call her yer girlfriend already?” she asked over her shoulder as she plucked up the bottle. “You’re breakin’ my poor girl’s heart over here. Bein’ a typical man.”

Even though he was being scolded, he found himself swinging his legs a little at the admonishment.

“I dunno,” he said, “we’ve only been on a couple dates. I don’t like rushing into things.”

Ellie spilled some polish onto a rag and brought it over. Even from a distance, the acrid smell was eye-watering. “Miss Gaige,” she said as she took Gaige’s arm in one hand and the rag in the other, “you have my permission to kick his ass any time you want.”

Gaige giggled as Ellie rubbed the polish in. “Thanks. It’s not like that, though. I think he’s just scared I’m gonna die on him.”

Moze crossed his legs, feeling very small under Ellie’s stare.

To his surprise, Ellie eventually softened a bit. “Aw, well, that’s a real concern ‘round these parts. Hard to get too attached to anyone.” The metal of Gaige’s arm squeaked as Ellie rubbed it good and shiny. “There. Ain’t that lookin’ pretty.”

Gaige studied her arm with a satisfied smile. “Thanks. It’s hard to do it with one hand.”

“Happy to help, girlfriend.”

When Ellie was through with it, Moze could see himself reflected in Gaige’s arm. He was still all scratched up and dirt-caked, and he still had the silly little Apple Pie pony bandage affixed to his throat.

Truthfully, he had felt like a loser long before surrendering in the derby.

Gaige was also a mess of dirt, blood, and split ends, but she wore it so much better. She looked cute, and mischievous, and a little dangerous, and unbelievably attractive to a muck-loving soldier like himself. When he saw her then, he thought back to the first time he’d laid eyes on her–the way she’d turned around, panting, digistruct claws out, soaked in blood and winter slush. He remembered the piles of bodies at her feet as she stepped casually over them, pulled a pencil from her hair, and declared, Oh! You’re the wedding guests!

He’d thought she was cute then. After going through the hell of a Vault monster’s insides, destroying an eldritch cult, and spending a night warming up together in one of The Lodge’s guest bedrooms, he was enamored in a way he hadn’t allowed himself since leaving home.

Gaige loved violence, something he was fine with, but she also loved danger, something he found himself hesitating to match after everyone he’d had ripped from him. Watching her intentionally put herself in mortal peril over and over, and sitting beside her while she drew up blueprints for how she wanted to chop the rest of her limbs off and replace herself bit by bit with metal, and hearing her scream as she tested her own pain tolerance in preparation of those eventual amputations...

Letting himself fall for someone like that felt like borrowing trouble.

He slid down the windshield of the old car he’d been sitting on, then hopped off and took his place at Gaige’s side. She was admiring her reflection in her arm. Again he thought of her babbling late in the night about how she’d developed a method that would rip her last organic eye out nice and clean, so she could implant the cybernetic before she passed out from the pain. He thought of her resting the sharp end of a cleaver against the skin of her right arm, eyes sparkling as she watched the blood begin to ooze out. It doesn’t even hurt that much! Cutting this thing off’ll be a cinch. He thought of her saying she enjoyed “a good bleed”.

She was incredible, almost unbelievable. He was afraid she was the kind of person who blazed bright like a bonfire, then burned herself right to ashes. No one that remarkable could live in this hellish world for too long.

Gaige set her metal hand in his palm. Moze closed his fingers around hers.

“So,” she said, “can I claim that second-place dinner prize now?”

He wanted to kiss every inch of her scraped-up, dirt-stained face while she was here with him.

Instead, he simply gave her hand a squeeze. “Anywhere you want.”

Chapter Text

There weren’t many places Gaige could go out in public and not worry about getting ambushed by cops or Holloway-sponsored assassins. But in a place surprisingly not too far from home, she’d made friends with a certain man with the means to prevent that from happening.

She smoothed the fabric of the black skater dress she’d dug out just for the occasion. It had thin straps that showed all the scarring where her cybernetic limb attached to the skin of her shoulder, and a low neckline that teased some cleavage. She could have covered the scars, but she thought they looked cool. As for the cleavage, well, that had an obvious purpose.

Moze stayed close to her as they walked up the dirt path that led to the old wood cabin they’d chosen to dine at. An oak sign overhead, gnawed away at by fungus and humidity, read SLIMY JOE’S SWAMP SHACK. There was a huge, twisting tree growing right up out of the roof. A tribe of jabbers watched them from the branches.

On either side of the cabin doors, two men stood armed with Jakobs shotguns. They nodded cordially to Gaige and Moze as they let them through. The moment the doors started to close behind the guests, Gaige saw the Jakobs guards close off the entrance.

“Nice to have friends in high places,” Moze remarked as the soggy wood shut softly behind them. He’d worn an olive green dress shirt that fit him perfectly courtesy of Amara’s tailor, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows to show his muscular forearms, and khakis that might’ve looked dorky on anyone else, but looked cute on him. He was still wearing his big chunky combat boots, but then so was she, so she couldn’t possibly give him shit about that.

The interior of the cabin restaurant was filled with old wooden tables and chairs, the log walls adorned with an array of paintings of local wildlife. There was a distinctly musty smell throughout, with notes of sickly-sweet scented chemicals over it–an attempt in vain to smother the mold stink. Growing straight up out of the middle of the floor was the giant tree she’d seen from the outside, its sprawling branches punching holes in the roof wherever they so desired. The tree’s trunk was decorated just like the rest of the cabin, with strings of colored lights strung across its low branches, and a painting of a jabber hung from an eye-level spike of rough bark. Mounted from some of the highest branches were a couple of antiquated speakers, rattling out some tinny old folk music.

Just inside the door they encountered a small reception desk. There, a woman in a sweat-stained suit jacket eyed them nosily.

Moze rested a hand on the desk when he came up to it. “Hi. Table for two, please.”

When he spoke to strangers, Moze always deepened his voice. He’d done that at first with Gaige, too, but as they’d spent more time together, he’d slipped more and more into his natural baritone. She was glad for that. She liked his voice.

The woman looked Moze over with heavy-lidded eyes. Gaige noticed he was standing just a little on his toes to be seen better over the counter.

Without a word, she led them over to a table by the tree trunk. It was still damp from being wiped down after the previous customers. Or maybe it was always a little damp in this place.

The woman handed them each a menu, cheap laminated paper folded into thirds. Moze thanked her. She just walked away.

“Wow, nice service here,” Gaige murmured.

“Eh. I’m used to it.” Moze unfolded the menu and laid it out in front of him, tracing down the selections with his index finger. “Huh. Saurian steak. I didn’t know you could eat them.”

Gaige studied him. “Why are you used to it?”

Moze flicked his eyes up to meet hers, then dropped them back down to the menu. “People get weird around me. They don’t know what to say.”

“I mean, they could say ‘you’re welcome’.”

Moze shook his head, marking that as the end of the conversation.

The whole backside of the menu was alcohol. Gaige flipped it over quickly, but her cyber eye had already absorbed every word and picture, and was relaying it all to her brain.

Booze had become a creature comfort of hers during those long years alone. Sometimes it felt like the only way to dull the ache of loneliness that chewed at her heart every moment.

She tried to remind herself that she was no longer alone, and that she didn’t need that crutch anymore. Still, she so far hadn’t been able to go longer than a few days without it. Moxxi did her part by refusing to serve her once she could see Gaige’s cheeks beginning to flush and her gait beginning to list. Embarrassment was also a surprisingly good motivator. You only threw up in front of your crush once before you decided you never wanted to do it again.

So no drinks for her tonight, she resolved.

Opening the food portion of the menu, Gaige mulled it over. If she were alone, she totally would have ordered the saurian-shaped chicken nuggets off the kids’ menu. But she was a woman now, a grown adult on a date with her...not-boyfriend. Her buddy? Her boy toy?

She snickered out loud at the last thought. Moze looked up again. Quickly Gaige cleared her throat and tried to look serious. Of course, the attempt not to laugh just made her want to laugh more.

Her paper-thin brain-mouth-barrier lasted about ten seconds before she said, “I’m laughing because I was thinking if you’re not my boyfriend, then maybe I should call you my boy toy.”

To her relief, Moze snorted. “I mean, I kind of am.”

The woman at the next table over cast them a disdainful look. Gaige realized she was talking too loudly, as usual.

“So I might try the fried grog legs,” Moze said, flipping the menu around to show her the listing. “Comes with rice on the side. We could split it, if you wanted some.”

As much as she’d had to get used to eating whatever to survive, Gaige’s brain still screamed at her whenever she ate something with a weird texture or taste. The thought of eating slimy grogs was not one she was enthusiastic about. Similarly, the rest of the menu, with things like “swamp pie” and “boiled mud soup”, made her kind of want to die inside.

She’d only picked this place because it was secluded and easy to guard.

“Would you judge me if I got saurian nuggets?” she asked, mindful of keeping her voice down in the little cabin.

Moze cocked a brow. “Why would I judge you for that?”

“’Cause it’s off the kids’ menu?”

Moze looked around as if he were missing some key context, or as though there were someone standing behind them who would somehow be offended by Gaige’s choice.

Gaige smiled. “Cool. I’ll get those, then. Aand...” She dragged her finger down the menu’s “side dishes” list. “Bog potato pancakes?” She tapped her nails on the laminated paper. “I wonder if they’re anything like latkes.”

“I wouldn’t eat something called a ‘bog potato’, to be honest.”

“I’m gonna try it. If I hate it, I’ll still have the nuggies to fall back on.”

Once they’d made their selections, Moze folded their menus neatly in the center of the table to indicate they were ready to order.

Gaige still felt like a feral animal in places like this. She felt as though she were wearing a human disguise to sneak into polite society, hoping nobody–least of all the man she was with–would catch on to her façade.

Her body felt like a disguise most of the time, anyway. The real Gaige wasn’t in these ugly, fleshy limbs, pale skin and piles of bloody meat. She glanced down at her left arm, reflecting dozens of spots of multicolored light from the string lights overhead. That was the real her. The parts she had built for herself, the parts that glittered in the sun and answered her every command with mechanical accuracy, that helped her build and create and destroy. That was Gaige.

The psychologist that had shown up in her hospital room during her stay for self-amputation had brought up to her parents the term body integrity dysphoria. Of course, her parents hadn’t wanted to believe it was something that deep-rooted. It was easier to believe their daughter was being her usual eccentric, impulsive self. But the feeling had only gotten worse over the years. Every part of her body felt alien to her. She’d drawn up blueprints for replacing most of her body parts, from her limbs to her eyes to her major internal organs. Ideally, she would like to have a body made entirely of metal, with a nuclear heart and pressure valves in place of pulse points.

She’d tried to share her excitement about that concept with Moze, but every time she did, his eyes darkened and his shoulders drooped, and he looked at Gaige with this terrible sadness she just couldn’t understand.

She slid her left arm off the table and studied Moze instead. He was fishing through his bag for something. His rough, scarred hands scratched lightly against the fabric of his backpack whenever he bumped its edges.

Maybe it wasn’t true for herself, but skin suited him perfectly. It tried to cover its soft cells with a hard shell of scar tissue, but the softness, the vulnerability at its core, always remained.

“You look really nice,” she said.

Moze pulled something out of his bag and slapped it down onto the table. A small brown packet. “Thanks,” he said, wearing that easy smile that made her heart flutter. “You do, too. Always.”

“Aw, shucks.” She gave his shoe a little nudge under the table. “Whatcha got?”

A waitress arrived at their table. “Ready to order?” she asked, her voice far warmer than the receptionist’s.

“Yes ma’am,” Moze said. “Give me the, uh, fried grog legs with the rice. Please.”

“Of course.” The woman scribbled it down onto a small notepad. “And for you?”

She turned her attention on Gaige. Gaige shrank a little in her seat.

Come on. You took down an intergalactic dictatorship. You can order some nuggets.

“Can I have the Saurian nuggets,” she said so quickly that her string of words essentially morphed into one.

The woman’s forehead crinkled a bit. “I’m sorry, hon, one more time?”

“Saurian nuggets,” she repeated. “And um, the bog potato pancakes.”

If the woman was judging her for her strange choices, she hid it well. “Sure thing.” She scrawled it down, then sashayed off, with a confidence and swagger that reminded Gaige of Moxxi.

Gaige raked a hand through her hair, pushing it back out of her face. “Y’know,” she said with a little smile of her own, “When I was little, I guess I used to want to be a waitress.”

Moze broke out into that warm, earnest grin she loved to get from him. “No shit?”

His reaction spurred her on. “I guess when I was really little, we went out to eat somewhere with a waitress, and I snuck away and tried to serve another table some dirty plates from an empty table nearby.”

Moze laughed out loud at that. “That’s cute. I could totally see that.”

Gaige’s brain was already loading up a related story from her younger years–then she hesitated.

“It doesn’t bother you when I talk about this kind of thing,” she asked, “does it?”

Moze studied her unsurely. “Why would it?”

Gaige traced a circle on the damp table with one fingertip. “I dunno. ‘Cause you didn‘t, like, have parents.”

Moze chuckled at that. “I have parents. I’ve met them a bunch of times.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He leaned back in his chair. “They’re both retired Ursa Corps. I met them for the first time after I graduated from the Ursa Minors. It was a big deal. I wore my uniform, and they asked me about my medals and honors and stuff over lunch. It was nice.”

“Oh, I had no idea. I thought you were, like, grown in a test tube.”

“Well, I was. But it still takes parents to do that.”

It occurred to Gaige then that she really knew next to nothing about Moze’s life before the Raiders. She knew he’d been a soldier, and she knew Vladof society was borderline eusocial, with its workers and soldiers bred carefully for the right traits and disposition for efficient cooperation. She also knew they had some really weird forms of entertainment, like the butchered Garfield comics Moze liked to read where Garfield carried a Vladof rifle and the usual punchline was him killing his master, Dahl Jon.

Beyond that, his past was kind of a mystery.

The waitress came by with two tall glasses of water for them. In the humidity, the sides were soaked in sweat already. Moze thanked her, then nudged one glass Gaige’s way.

Gaige tore the little piece of paper off the top of the straw, and took a sip. Definitely cold tap water.

“Do you miss them?” she asked.

Moze had ripped open the little brown packet from his bag, and started pouring its contents into the glass. Gaige realized in a second what it was. Her previous question was overridden.

“Are you mixing MRE fruit punch powder into the water?!”

Moze shook out the last of the packet, then stirred it with his straw. “I like it better. Plain water’s weird.”

“You’re weird.”

“Not denying that.” He took a long sip of the now-pink water and smacked his lips after. “To answer your question, nah, I don’t miss my parents. We didn’t really have that kind of relationship.”

“You said you met them a bunch of times.” She tried hard to keep her voice neutral. “Guess you didn’t really bond, then?”

“It was formal stuff. Graduation, medal ceremonies, things like that. Never, like, family vacations, or beach trips, or whatever.”

The thought of a childhood devoid of fun memories with your parents was hard to swallow for someone who’d been a Daddy’s girl most of her life. She imagined herself as a kid, sitting all alone at some formal ceremony, while her parents, near-strangers, judged her from afar. No, she couldn’t even imagine that. They’d always been right there with her, cheering her on in spelling bees, crying at her middle school graduation, taking pictures before every first day of school. No matter how cold and unfair the world could be, she always had at least two supporters in her corner.

“I wish you could meet my dad,” she said. “I think he’d love you.”

The waitress returned with two large plates. She clinked one down in front of Moze, then the second in front of Gaige. They both thanked her as they sized up their food.

The sour smell of Moze’s fried grog drifted over to Gaige’s side of the table. She fanned the menu at him, sending the stink back his way.

“Hey, hey, they’re gonna get cold.” Moze shielded his plate with his stupid beefy arms.

The saurian nuggets she’d ordered were neatly arranged on half the plate, while the other half was stacked with potato pancakes. They weren’t her mother’s latkes, but as long as they didn’t have some crazy gross taste or texture to them, they’d do.

She plucked the bottle of ketchup from the center of the table and turned it upside down over the nuggets. A dribble of clear red liquid poured out first. Stifling a gag, Gaige gave it a forceful shake. A glop of ketchup finally dropped out onto the nuggets.

Moze took a small bite of his grog legs as he watched her struggle with the ketchup. That small bite was soon followed by a larger bite, as he nodded and made a little noise of satisfaction at it.

After drowning her nuggets, Gaige went at them with her fork, stabbing a little breaded reaver in its neck. She took a careful bite at first, ensuring it was just normal old nugget meat. It seemed to be, though it was definitely overcooked. She tugged at the chewy meat with her teeth for a few bites. Then she took a stab at the pancakes instead.

“This is fucking good,” Moze said through a full mouth. Again, the woman beside them looked over with a wrinkled brow. “Kinda small for the grogs I’ve seen. Maybe they pull the legs off baby grogs.”

The woman moved to the empty seat farthest away from the two of them.

The bog potato pancakes had a more earthy (maybe more like dirty) taste to them than Gaige was used to, but they were still good. She mentally commended herself for trying something new.

Moze held a greasy, battered grog leg out to her. “Want one?”

Gaige all but smacked it away in horror.

They ate quietly for a few minutes, just enjoying the ambiance. One thing Gaige had been realizing over the course of dating Moze was that he rarely took his ECHO Device out when he was with her. Most everyone else she’d spent time with over the years felt like she was splitting their attention with their ECHO, desperate to keep her babbling funny and interesting, lest they tune her out completely. At the cost of being a bit behind on the tech side (okay, maybe more than a bit), when Moze was with you, he was entirely in the moment. It turned out to be more valuable than she ever would have expected.

Her mind often liked to think of things on a grand, universal scale, and she often thought on the chain of events that had brought them together. Both of them were running from their past, and both of them had, at least initially, chosen Pandora as the place to start a new life. For Gaige, of course, it had been years since she’d lived a normal existence. She was long gone from Pandora by the time he spent the last of his cash on a one-way shuttle there. The only thing that brought them together was a chance meeting through a mutual friend. Gaige had accepted that invitation despite her conviction that her presence would get them all killed, and in turn it had changed her life.

She thought of herself on that shuttle to Pandora all those years ago, having no idea what lay ahead. Every bridge behind her was burned. Seven years later, a wandering zombie of a soldier would be in a similar situation, doing the exact same thing.

Now there they were, eating dinner together at a dive joint on Eden-6. The universe was funny like that.

“Want some of my rice?” Again Moze offered his plate.

Gaige glanced at the rice. It was brown, and seasoned with something that smelled a little spicy. It’s just rice. Be a big girl about it.

Gaige set her fork down on his plate and scooched it under the rice, picking up a small mouthful. She carried it carefully over to her mouth. She could smell the spice before she tasted it. Still, Moze was watching her eagerly, so she shoved the fork into her mouth and closed her lips around it.

Her mouth tingled from the heat. These weren’t spices she was used to. Okay, she wasn’t really used to any spices. But Moze clearly wanted her to like it, so she sucked in a little bit of air to cool the heat, then chewed quickly and swallowed.

“It’s good, right?” he prompted.

She took another forkful, not bothering to ask if he was okay with double dipping. This time her mouth was ready for the heat, so it didn’t bother her quite as much, and she could actually appreciate the flavor of the food. He hadn’t steered her wrong–it was tasty.

Gaige nodded. “Mm. It's good.” As an afterthought, she offered him half a potato pancake.

“Nah. You keep your food.” He munched away on another leg. Gaige stole another bit of his rice while he watched. That time, she piled it on top of the bland, overcooked nuggets to give them some zing.

“So,” Moze eventually said, “next weekend is Ava’s silly Gay Bowling Night thing. You going?”

Gaige nibbled on her nugget. “You’re going, right?”

“I gotta. The kid would be devastated if I didn’t.”

The outing was apparently no joke. Gaige had seen the list of people invited, and it was huge. It included people she hadn’t seen in years, and people she would’ve guessed were long dead by now. Moze’s friend Lorelei was also on the guest list, and Gaige still wasn’t sure where she stood with her.

“Is Lorelei going?” she decided to ask.

“She doesn’t want to.” Moze chuckled to himself. “She said”–he adopted a very loose attempt at her accent–“Rather be dead than have strangers watch my gay arse toss gutter balls all night.”

Gaige snorted. “I mean, I don’t think we’re gonna have too many bowling pros on the team.” With some of the folks on the guest list, she wouldn’t have been surprised if half the balls exploded before even reaching the pins.

Moze tugged at a particularly chewy bit of meat. “So yeah, she’s totally gonna go.”

Gaige lowered her fork. “Saying she’d rather be dead than go means she’s gonna go?”

“I’ve been through it before. She’ll piss and moan until the day of. Then she’ll say, ‘Fine, I’ll go for you,’ even though I didn’t even expect her to go in the first place. Then she’ll have a good time.”

Gaige laughed a little. “Must be nice to have a friend you know that well.”

She hadn’t intended it to sound as melancholy as it came out. Moze hesitated, and Gaige quickly tried to fill the awkward silence. “So this place is nice. I’d come here again.”

Moze took a pensive bite of his rice. “I wish you’d talk to her more,” he said. “She’s really cool.”

“I don’t doubt that she is.” Gaige filled her mouth, buying some time before she had to elaborate. “I mean, you obviously like her a whole lot.”

Moze shrugged. “Yeah. You could say that.”

He’d never said it outright, but Gaige could tell that the two of them had slept together. Possibly more than once. It was obvious in the way they were so comfortable with touching each other, even if it was to wrestle or beat on the other. They had that flirty kind of relationship, the kind that was more than just two bros being bros. She wasn’t sure where she fit in the middle of that.

“Maybe we’ll get to know each other better at the bowling thing,” Gaige murmured.

A gunshot outside made her leap out of her chair. Moze was just as quick, arms out as if to shield Gaige with his own vulnerable flesh.

There came another shot, and then a burst of smaller, quicker ones. Then a loud, resounding BANG.

Moze grabbed his helmet out of his bag and slapped it onto his head. He ran for the door, his Anarchy shotgun at the ready.

Gaige knew without even having to look that whatever was going on outside, she was likely to blame.

The other patrons watched in confusion and horror as the two of them ran for the entrance, armed and ready. They pressed themselves against the old wood, listening for more gunfire.

They heard nothing.

A moment later, the doors opened. Gaige and Moze jumped back to avoid getting mowed down by the old things.

One of the Jakobs guards stepped inside the building. A wisp of smoke was trailing from his rifle’s barrel.

“All clear,” he called.

“What was it?” Moze asked.

The man turned partway and nodded out the door. Lying face down in the mud, outlined by puddles of blood, were two COV loyalists. Every inch of their bare backs was covered in tattoos. All manner of religious imagery adorned their flesh, all centered around those two weird twins.

“Huh.” Gaige watched as the other guard pushed the bodies off to the side of the road. Guess they weren’t here for me.

“It’s all good, folks,” Moze said, holding up his palms. “Threat’s neutralized.”

Unsurprisingly, the restaurant cleared out shortly after that.

Moze and Gaige returned to their meals, but the mood had changed drastically. As she finished the last of her food, Gaige found herself thinking about the men who’d just died attempting to ambush them. They’d thrown their entire lives away in the name of two sirens who were already worm food. What was the point of that? Were they hoping to join them?

The Holloways were trying to kill Gaige to get revenge for the death of their beloved daughter. That made sense, even if Gaige would not have considered Marcie someone worth dying for. Were Troy and Tyreen Calypso really just as beloved? From the clips she’d seen, they seemed more annoying than inspirational.

Moze still had a poster of Tyreen up in his room. Obviously he had some thoughts about her. Gaige wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

By the time they finished eating, the restaurant was mostly empty. Apparently a small pile of bodies outside was enough to deter most average people from patronizing a place.

When she noticed their plates empty, the waitress returned with a dessert menu. Moze pawed at it for a moment, then looked to Gaige.

“You want dessert?”

As a kid-sized portion, her meal hadn’t been particularly filling. “What do they have?”

He spun the menu around so she could read it. Her hungry eyes paused on a picture of a giant chocolate chip cookie with chocolate drizzle and two scoops of ice cream on top. “Skillet cookie,” it was apparently called.

She tapped the picture with her metal index finger. “I want that.”

The waitress wrote it down. Moze handed her back the menu.

“I’m good,” he said.

“You’re not getting anything?”

He shrugged. “Not a big sugar guy.”

So now she was going to be sitting there eating her big fat dessert while Moze just waited for her to finish. He’d probably be thinking that she was so annoying, that she should’ve just got an adult-sized meal like he did so they would’ve both been sated. He was probably gonna complain to Lorelei about it later, and say he would’ve vastly preferred to be there with her, because she knew how to be an adult in social situations, unlike the weirdo he’d taken up with who was too mentally ill to even eat a proper meal.

When the dessert arrived at the table, Gaige’s concerns were momentarily replaced by excitement at how good it looked. The waitress left two spoons beside the plate. Gaige glanced at them, then at Moze.

“You wanna share?”

Moze was eyeing the plate. The smell of sweet, sticky chocolate and the delicate sugary chill of the vanilla ice cream seemed to be drawing him in.

Gaige stuck one spoon down into the ice cream, sinking it all the way down to grab some cookie, too. When she picked it back up, the warm, gooey chocolate dripped off the spoon, hot out of the skillet.

She brought it over to Moze’s lips. After a moment’s hesitation, he opened his mouth. Gaige fed it to him.

Moze chewed slowly. “Mm,” he murmured, a bit uncertainly. Then, with a conclusive nod, he said, “Mm,” in a more definitive tone.

“Good?” Gaige took a bite herself. Immediately she could tell it was made with all those heavy, down-home, heart-stopping oils and butter and fats. In other words, it was delicious.

Moze picked up the other spoon. “Mind if I have a little more?”

“’Course not! I couldn’t finish this big thing myself, anyway.”

It was a lie. She totally could have finished it herself. But it was worth trading a little dessert to see Moze chewing delightedly, with little bits of chocolate flecked around the corners of his mouth. In moments like that, he looked so soft and innocent. It was a far cry from the nights she’d spent with him when his nightmares were worse than usual, when he writhed and kicked in his sleep, waking Gaige with hoarsely-barked orders and anguished cries.

She picked up a napkin, leaned across the table, and gave his mouth a little blot.

In response, Moze took another big bite, smearing ice cream on his chin.

Gaige could already feel the indigestion smoldering in her stomach from the melting-hot and brick-heavy cookie. That was probably the only thing she missed about her teen years, when she could eat double-fried french fries triple-soaked in fry oil without breathing fire afterward.

It was hard to believe sometimes that Moze was younger than her–only by two years, but she’d gotten used to always being the youngest one around. Now the damn Commander was half her age. She was starting to have to accept getting old.

At least she wasn’t going to be eighty years old without having ever kissed a boy. That’d been a genuine fear of hers for a while there.

In between munching on their shared dessert, they made a little small talk. Moze asked what she had planned for the rest of the night. She told him she was thinking of refining some of her blueprints for the reinforced steel shell she wanted to build around Sanctuary’s rubber-bands-and-string-held nuclear core.

“Hm. Sounds important,” he murmured.

She studied him. “I mean, Ellie’s done a good job with it so far, but...”

He wiped his mouth on his napkin, then balled it up in his palm. “Maybe when you’re done with that, you can come over?”

She couldn’t help but laugh whenever he said that. Come over. As if they didn’t live on the same tiny spaceship.

“Sure,” she said. “I'd love to come over.”

Once they’d worked their way through the giant cookie and finished the two scoops of ice cream on top, Moze started digging through his bag again.

“Should we ask for the bill?” Gaige said.

Moze waved the waitress over. The moment she showed up at their table, he handed her a fat wad of cash from his bag.

The woman gaped at it.

“Wait, shit.” Moze unzipped his bag again. Soon another stack of bills was dropped into her palm. “Always forget tipping’s a thing on these planets.”

The woman stared down at the money, then flicked her gaze back to Moze. “Sir,” she said, stumbling over her words a bit, “I-we can’t accept this. This is way more than–”

“I have $999,999,999 to my name,” Moze said. “I spent like twenty thousand dollars on a slot machine last night.”

The wild inflation that had occurred galactically after Handsome Jack had tampered with so many different economies meant Moze’s crazy amount of money didn’t mean quite as much as it would have in Gaige’s vault hunting days, but it was still an absurd amount of money. It was even more absurd to tell potentially-dangerous strangers about it, but Moze had no fear. Why should he? He could kill anyone in this room without breaking a sweat.

Well, anyone but Gaige. The two of them had agreed in a recent discussion that Gaige’s cyber enhancements would probably be able to take on Moze’s old-fashioned combat training. It would be close, though. It would really depend on who would be most willing to deal a fatal blow to the other. And regardless of who that was, they’d probably both end up dying from their injuries in the end.

“Are you thinking about us fighting to the death again?”

The waitress had long since left the table, and Moze was all packed up to leave. Gaige realized she’d been flexing her fingers, and he was staring at her with that knowing little smile.

“I just think it’d be kinda hot,” she admitted.

Moze shook his head. “I disagree.”

“You do?”

“I could never hurt you.”

She batted her lashes at him. “Even if I wanted you to?”

He considered his response for a moment. Then he said, “I dunno. I don’t think I could.”

Gaige breathed a despondent sigh. “I shoulda dated a villain.”

On the way out of the restaurant, they linked their hands together, bumping shoulders with matching little smirks.

“You wanna go straight home?” Moze asked.

Gaige looked up at the tiny patches of pink visible between the thick trees and dense jungle fog.

“Maybe we could watch the sunset first,” she said.

Moze nodded. “Yeah, I could go for a sunset.”

They tried to ignore the COV corpses on the side of the road, but Gaige couldn’t resist getting a better look. She paused in front of them, taking in their array of complex body art. Older, more faded tattoos depicted the Calypsos, the COV logo, and a bunch of related propaganda. Newer, fresher art, carved into their flesh with a knife or something equally brutal, were of incomprehensible symbols and shapes with no meaning to her. Those marks hadn’t even fully scarred over yet. Some still had dried blood around the slices.

“Seems like they’ve been mutilating themse-”

Something grabbed her ankle. Gaige shrieked.

One of the men, apparently not dead just yet, had a firm hold of her leg in one carved-up hand. His mask had fallen to the ground, exposing a bare face covered in scars. He fixed his eyes, one normal, one milky and clouded, on Gaige’s face. In a rattling voice, he uttered,

“Rebirth is near...a divine renewal...”

Moze kicked the guy in the stomach. His hand dropped from Gaige’s leg as he crumpled to the ground.

“Man, these guys are nuts.” Gaige brushed her ankle off, in case he’d somehow left any of his crazy on her. “I thought regular old psychos were bad.”

“Eh, I just tune it out.” Moze stabbed the guy in the chest to make sure he wouldn’t follow them. “Now come on. I was promised a sunset.”

They joined hands again. As they walked, Gaige couldn’t help but wonder what the COV disciple’s words had meant.

Chapter Text

Everybody onboard Sanctuary assumed they were sleeping together. Literally, that was true, but not figuratively. Every time Gaige thought something might happen–Moze looked at her a certain way, or brushed her thigh with his hand, or kissed her with extra passion–he just as abruptly retreated, keeping her in a perpetual state of uncertainty.

That night, after getting home from dinner and an Eden-6 sunset, the two of them cozied up in Moze’s bed. Moze was in his usual camo boxers, Gaige in her favorite PJs, and she was cuddled up against his chest, loving the warmth he radiated in the cold vacuum of space. His face was pushed into her hair, and he occasionally bestowed the top of her head with little kisses.

This was the usual for their nights spent “sleeping together”. Gaige hardly minded, though she did sometimes wish they could go a little farther. She was a woman with needs, damn it. But it didn’t have to be said aloud that Moze obviously had some hang-ups. And she couldn’t fault him for that.

She squirmed to adjust her position enough to plant a kiss on his collarbone. He chuckled. The husky sound reverberated deep in his chest.

She gave him a few more kisses, squishing herself tight against him. He settled a hand on her hip, and seemed content to leave it there, but Gaige, feeling bold, took hold of it and slid it upward, depositing it near her chest.

Moze gave another small laugh. “Is that a hint?”

"I dunno.”

Moze trailed his hand a little further upward. “I mean, ‘cause if you’re trying to give me a hint...”

Gaige was trying to think up something sexy to say when they were startled by a scream. It was distant, from a far-off part of the ship, but it was loud enough to startle them both right out of the bed.

Moze was on the move in an instant, his bare feet sliding on the metal floor as he halted just long enough to throw the bedroom door open. Gaige was right behind him, not even stopping to put her arm on.

There had only been a single scream, but it was followed by footsteps and shouts that headed in their direction. They rounded the corner by Moxxi’s bar, and then they saw what was going on.

Every light in Tannis’ lab was on, blazing cold, sterile light out into the dim hallway. The doors were gaping open, and a figure loomed just in front of them, casting a long shadow across the floor. That shadow reached all the way outward to another figure, nearly swallowing it entirely.

With the blinding light behind her, only Tannis’ glowing blue eyes were visible. She took a few slow, menacing steps toward the shrinking figure before her.

“Stay away from us,” she snarled. The voice that spoke those words was not Tannis’. “If I catch you in our room again, you’ll regret it.”

The person she was threatening was small and swaddled in a hoodie. The hood pulled up to conceal their identity, but it wasn’t difficult to parse out who would be sneaking around in the night, breaking into people’s rooms.

What little mystery it may have been was solved when the person turned to Moze. Their eyes reflected the light, cat-like, as they tugged their hood down, freeing a frizzy mane of dark blue hair. They had something in their other hand, Gaige noticed. The way they gripped it, though, she couldn’t much make it out.

A group of people had shown up, likely drawn by the screaming. Once it was apparent nobody was being attacked, or bleeding to death, or anything else interesting, they by and large dispersed.

“Dude.” Moze marched right up and took Ava gently but firmly by the arm. “The hell are you doing?”

Ava looked him up and down with a nauseous twist to their face. “The hell are you doing?”

He gestured pointedly to his boxers. “Well I was in bed.”

Tannis had retreated back into the doorway, tapping her nails against the crook of her elbow.

Gaige nudged Moze. “I’ll go talk to her.”

“So what were you doing?” Moze demanded, still holding tight to Ava. “Why are you sneaking around at night like some kinda weirdo?”

Ava snarled. “I was trying to exorcise her.”

“What??”

They held up the thing in their hand. Calling it a doll would be generous, but it was vaguely human-shaped, looking hand-sewn out of some kind of thick canvas.

“I found out you can seal spirits into objects,” they said. “I wanted to see if I could do it.”

“Seal me and see how that ends for you.” Tannis pounced forward, jabbing a claw-like finger at Ava.

Moze shook his head. “Kid, what did I tell you about the dark magic?”

“But-”

“What did I tell you?”

Ava blew out an overdramatic sigh. “To only practice on consenting parties. Or COV members.”

“Does Tannis look like either of those?”

They glanced quickly over at the seething woman in the doorway. “No.” They turned back to Moze again. “But she’s the only one here with an extra soul! If I mess it up-”

“Angel’s not extra,” Gaige piped up. “She’s a part of our team, just like everyone else.”

Tannis’ fingers clenched and unclenched, barely containing her companion’s slighted rage.

“Yeah.” Moze gave a firm nod, not all too commanding in nothing but his underwear. “Don’t do that shit anymore.”

“Ugh.” Ava melted into the shadows, gone in a second.

Gaige rested her hand on Tannis’ arm. “You okay?”

Her glare was knifelike. “Not really. We were sleeping.” She crossed her arms tight over her chest, flipping her choppy bangs out of her eyes. “Thankfully Tannis is a light sleeper. She heard that little freak open the door.”

“It won’t happen again,” Moze said.

“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place.” She looked at Moze with a smoldering disgust behind Tannis’ normally-soft eyes. “But I know you’re busy.”

“Man, fuck off.” Six months ago, he’d been terrified of Angel. With Gaige on his side, he’d grown a lot bolder. “I’m not the kid’s keeper.”

Balking, Tannis looked to Gaige.

“It’s not his fault,” Gaige said gently.

Angel, for her part, had warmed up slightly to Moze over the months. Very slightly. Like “you put a frozen slice of bread in the toaster for five seconds and then popped it back up” level of warmth.

She exhaled, dropping her tensed shoulders just a bit. “I know,” she said. “Sorry. It just...freaked me out.”

“Totally understandable.” Gaige used her single arm to give her a little side hug. “I’d say you girls should invest in a lock, but considering Ava’s lockpicking skills, it’d probably be a waste of money.”

Ava could move like water. She’d seen the kid appear in places she knew were double- or even triple-padlocked. If they wanted to get into something, they were getting into it, physical impossibility be damned.

“I’m already planning a more advanced security system.” Tannis pulled up the sleeve of her baggy nightshirt, revealing that her tattoos were aglow with energy. “It’s long overdue, anyway.”

“Ooh, we should totally work on it together!” Gaige squealed. “I’ve been dying for a new pet project. Well, other than the project of keeping this whole ship from falling apart. ...I need multiple projects to keep my brain busy.”

Tannis offered her a small smile. “Sure. I’d love that.”

Moze was still looking around for any sign of where Ava’d gone. He knew far more about them than Gaige did. His visible concern therefore had her concerned.

“Anyway, we’re going back to bed.” Tannis gave Gaige a light nudge with her elbow. “Thanks for coming to check on us.”

“You’re welcome,” Moze said.

Tannis rolled her eyes. The lab door shut behind her with a puff of cold air.

Gaige would have been content to head back to bed and try to pick up where they’d left off, but Moze started to wander off deeper into the ship, and she knew what he was after.

“Maybe you should put some pants on,” she whispered. “I can look for Ava.”

“They won’t appear to you.” He spoke as if the kid was some kind of fickle apparition, which honestly wasn’t too far off. “...But I guess I should put pants on, at least.”

A faint light flashed at the end of the hallway. A pair of glowing blue eyes in a deep corner shadow.

Moze saw them just as Gaige did. “Okay, no time for pants.” He took off down the hall. The eyes disappeared, and one of Sanctuary’s heavy steel doors lifted to let something invisible through. “Ava! Come back here!”

Through the infirmary window, Gaige could see Tannis retreating to her cot for a hopefully-uninterrupted rest of the night. Well, as uninterrupted as you could be when you had two people living in your brain.

Gaige was still getting used to that fact. At first she’d wondered if it was just another manifestation of Tannis’ mental decline, but it was clear when they interacted that Angel knew things about Gaige that Tannis never would have known.

During her time living with Maya, and now with several other sirens, she’d learned that everything involved with them was beyond her comprehension. They didn’t play by the same rules of science, physics, or mortality as the rest of humankind. Anyone who ascended to sirenhood became a part of their strange and endless cycle, like the tangled root system of an ancient forest.

With her man busy running around the ship in his underwear, Gaige supposed there wasn’t much for her to do besides either join him or go back to bed. Bed was tempting, but she found herself following Moze down the hall, anyway.

Moze had fought enough cloaked soldiers to know the tiny indicators of their presence. The way the air rippled where they walked, the unmistakable clank of boots and the hiss of stifled breaths. The way the objects behind them were just slightly distorted by the tech that projected a live feed across their uniforms.

This was no fancy tech at work. Ava was wielding powers the likes of Moze couldn’t pretend to understand.

“Ava,” he called out. The last door that had opened had been to Hammerlock’s empty study, so that’s where he was now, still in nothing but his boxers, trying not to focus on the array of beastly trophy heads staring at him from the walls. “I know you’re in here. Just come out and we’ll talk like adults.”

Hammerlock hadn’t stayed on Sanctuary in some time, and in his absence, his study had apparently become a haven for Ava to practice their powers unnoticed. The tome they’d brought back from Xylourgos about ancient magic was lying open on the corner desk, and Moze swore there was a faint, dark mist rising from its yellowed pages. There were pages of other books strewn all over the floor, and they were marked with what Moze hoped was red paint, in symbols from a language he’d never seen before. In the middle of the floor, there was a large arcane symbol drawn with washaway sidewalk chalk.

The canvas doll was sitting upright in the middle of the symbol.

“What have you been up to in here?” Moze nudged a few of the papers with his foot. They were stuck together where the red “paint” crossed from one page over onto another. “You better not be reanimating any more dead bodies.”

The door to the study closed with a heavy thunk. Moze suppressed a startle, keeping himself firmly rooted to the floor.

The lamp in the far corner was flickering. Probably a dying bulb, Moze told himself. Then all the others started flickering as well.

Moze yawned and gave his exposed back a scratch.

“Oh, come on.”

Suddenly the floor opened up in front of him. The hole he practically fell into gazed infinitely downward into a world of swirling blue nothingness.

From out of that nothingness, a tattooed hand reached up and grabbed the edge of the floor. The otherworldly blue melted off its skin like thickened water, revealing the pale flesh Moze had expected.

The hand was followed by an arm, and then another hand. Eventually, a whole little siren had climbed out of the portal to some sapphire hell world.

For a few seconds, Ava looked like they were made out of dripping blue goo. Then it ran from their flesh and drained back into the Phaselock portal, leaving Ava wholly untouched.

“Don’t you think that’s creepy?” Ava asked. Their eyes were reflecting the lamp light again. “Maya doesn’t like it. But I think it’s super cool.”

That explained the books thrown from the bookshelf. “Eh,” he said with a shrug. “You’re far from the creepiest person on this ship. Not even the creepiest siren, to be honest.”

“Ugh. Whatever.” Ava trudged over to the desk and sat down. Moze kept a bit of distance, eyeing the doll in the middle of the floor.

“So what was up with you trying to put Angel in a doll body?” he asked. “’Cause as hilarious as that would be, I’m pretty sure she’d still find a way to kill us.”

The doll was slumped slightly forward, its eyeless face staring down at its feet.

Ava thumbed through their tome. Moze could feel the waves of cold air as every page was turned. “I wanted to practice,” they said. “Before I tried it on someone else.”

“You’re not gonna put poor Maya in a doll body.” He looked pointedly around. “Where is she, anyway? I would think she’d be trying to stop you from doing this.”

Ava turned and offered him a demented little grin. “She can’t come in here anymore. I warded her out.”

“You–what?” His eye was drawn back to the symbols on the pages all over the floor. “Are you serious?”

“Uh-huh. I’ll remove the wards once I’m ready to do the ritual, but until then, she’s gotta stay outside.”

“Dude. She died for you. And she still sticks around to look after you. And you’re warding her out of rooms like she’s some kinda poltergeist?”

“She doesn’t understand my vision.”

“I don’t think anyone understands your vision, Commander.”

“I know. It’s so frustrating.” Ava lifted the book with their powers, floating it over to Moze. “If you put a spirit into a physical form they feel comfortable with, they can move and talk with it. They possess it. It becomes them.”

The book was shoved into his face, showing him all sorts of archaic illustrations of walking dolls and books with eyes all over their covers.

Moze pushed the book away. “The second you put Maya into that thing, she’s just gonna start saying she’s disappointed in you again. And she’ll be completely justified in saying that, by the way.”

“She won’t be disappointed. She’ll like it. I just have to make sure I do everything the right way.” Ava took the book back. “Which is why I need a soul to practice on!”

“Well I’m not volunteering,” Moze said.

“No shit. Siren souls are weird. They’re powerful, and different from regular mortal souls. Which is why I wanted to practice on a siren.”

“Well, you can’t. So you should probably just go to bed and forget all about this-”

A spark of light ignited in Ava’s eyes.

“-silly doll thing,” Moze finished, fully aware he was no longer being listened to.

“Right, yeah.” Ava shut the book and led Moze over to the door. “You’re right. I should just give up on this. I mean, I don’t have a siren to practice on, so it’s no good.”

Moze was practically pushed out the door. “Uh, yeah-?”

The heavy metal door slammed shut behind him.

A cold breeze tickled his skin. Moze leaned his head back against the wall and sighed.

“Oh Maya, we’re really in it now.”

Chapter Text

Moze didn’t like to be touched. It depended on the context, of course–hugs with friends were fine, and he liked things like holding hands. But when it came to anything beyond that, all it did was make him hyper-aware of his body, its scars, and all the things he didn’t like about it.

Gaige didn’t fully understand. She couldn’t. He knew she felt bad every time he shied away from her, thinking it was something she was doing wrong. If he was better with words, he might’ve told her it wasn’t her–that her curious hands, one cold metal, one warm, sweaty flesh, did not offend him as they roamed over his body while they kissed and cuddled. But as it was, words came hard for him, and so Gaige suffered the consequences of his own inadequacies.

They were lying in his bed one night when Moze blurted out the thought that had been turning over in his mind ever since they’d first gotten together.

“Wish I had a dick,” he murmured aloud.

Gaige un-buried her face from his neck. “I mean, you could.”

He stroked her back gently. “I know I could.”

“It’s a big change, though.” She looked up into his eyes, full of feeling. “I get being scared.”

He let his long, quiet breath out answer for him.

Gaige took his face in her hands and gave each of his cheeks a light kiss. “You’re not any less of a man without one. Just so you know.”

He showed her a little smile. “I know. Thanks, though.”

It was just as well he didn’t have one, anyway. He’d be so tempted to use it, and then once he used it, he’d be an asshole not to commit himself to Gaige after that. The obvious solution would be to commit to her beforehand, to make sure she knew he loved her for more than just what she could do for him physically. And he did! She was amazing. She was once-in-a-lifetime. The type of woman you grabbed a hold of and never let go.

It would just make eventually losing her all the harder.

Her hair tickled his nose as she snuggled against him again. “They’re not all that great, anyway,” she said with a smirk in her voice.

It took Moze a second to remember what they’d been talking about. “Oh yeah? I guess you’d know?”

Gaige just chuckled.

Moze nuzzled into her hair, breathing in the smell of floral shampoo and motor oil. “I just feel like...I dunno.” At that point, he was saying words just for the sake of talking. “I don’t even know.”

“Well I know.” Gaige sat back on her elbows, smirking up at him. “I think somebody’s been a little too in his own head lately.”

“Yeah, probably.” That was the downside of not having a potentially world-ending problem to solve. The dreaded Thoughts.

She brushed a fingertip against his cheek. “I could offer a good distraction.”

“Yeah, maybe you could tell me about that OS upgrade you’ve been planning for Deathtrap.”

Gaige pursed her lips. “...I meant sex, but I guess I could tell you about tweaking code instead.”

Her cybernetic eye’s pupil constricted as it searched his face. He caught her studying him like that every so often. Of course, she wasn’t going to get much, since part of being a product of Vladof’s proprietary genetic modification program meant his DNA was encrypted to outside scanners. Still, she tried it every so often, as if getting closer to him personally might somehow change the reality that Vladof still technically owned him.

“Do you think I’m gross?” she asked out of the blue.

“Gross?” Moze rested his hand on the side of her face. Her gaze fell. “Why would I think that?”

The answer was obvious. Gaige shied away from his hand, instead worming partway under the blanket. What remained visible of her face turned toward the wall.

“The kids at school used to say I was gross,” she mumbled. “’Cause I–I'd forget to shower a lot. I’d just get so caught up in doing other stuff, y’know?” She burrowed herself a little deeper. “But I’ve been trying to remember. I set a reminder on my ECHO, and I usually remember to use soap, and–”

Moze burrowed under the blanket alongside her. “Gaige, it’s not that. It’s not that at all.”

Gaige sniffled, a quick little sound.

“Dude–” He quickly corrected himself. “Sorry, Gaige–it’s nothing to do with you. Fuck, I’m dirty, too. Look at me.” He reached over her to show his fingers, permanently stained black with grease. “This is–it's me. It’s all me.”

Gaige turned partway over. The way the blanket fell, only one eye was visible, peeking out at him. “’Cause you don’t have a dick?”

The bluntness of the statement made him falter. “I mean...that’s one part of it, I guess. I don’t know.” He sat up, shoulders hanging low as he stared at the old, threadbare blanket on his lap. “I know it probably seems weird to someone who isn’t trans, but-”

Gaige sat up beside him. Her organic hand came to rest on top of one of his.

“Can I tell you something?” she said.

Moze lifted his chin just a bit. “Sure?”

Neither of them made eye contact with each other. Moze stared at the floor, while Gaige looked out the window into the starry void beyond.

“My dad named me Gaige,” she said. “He was so excited when I was born.”

Moze didn’t lift his eyes from the floor. “I’m sure he was.”

Gaige’s hand squeezed lightly around his. “We were always really close. So he was the first person to figure out there was something...goin’ on.”

Finally, Moze lifted his stare to her. “Going on with what?”

Gaige met his eyes with a tiny smile. “His son.”

Moze blinked, waiting for her to elaborate. She did not. “His son?”

Gaige’s smile grew. “Uh-huh.”

“...You have a brother?”

Still smiling, she shook her head.

Her intent dawned on him almost immediately, but he couldn’t accept it in his head. He stared at her, jaw slack, for a stupidly long amount of time, until finally she said,

“Soo, yeah.”

The air vent overhead suddenly felt very loud. The metal around them creaked and squeaked, the normal sounds of settling, though Moze had never really noticed it before.

“You’re trans?” was all he could think to say.

Gaige’s cheeks turned a pale shade of pink.

There were so many thoughts he wanted to vocalize. He couldn’t speak a single one.

“I wanted to tell you,” she said, “but there was never really a good time. Telling you as soon as we met would’ve been weird, but then we went through so much together in such a short time, so then we got really close really fast, and then it felt like the moment had passed, and telling you after all that time would seem weird, too...”

Moze made a little noise. It was not any sort of coherent word string.

“...And, also, like...” Gaige cleared her throat. “I transitioned really young. I knew I was a girl when I was, like, five. My parents were really supportive, and they got me on hormone blockers before I started puberty, and I physically transitioned on my sixteenth birthday.” She met Moze’s eyes for a brief moment. “I never really lived as a boy. So I haven’t gone through most of the struggles you and Lorelei have been through.”

Moze recovered from his shock enough to say, “You’re trans.” That was all he could manage.

Gaige snorted. “Yes, I did in fact just say that.”

A million thoughts raced through his mind at once. Gaige was trans? She was born a boy? Her parents supported her transitioning? She knew when she was five?

“It doesn’t affect my life very much,” she concluded, “so it’s not usually something I feel the need to tell people. But I wanted to tell you.”

There were three things Moze could think to do in that moment. The first was to deliver some poetic monologue about identity and trust, thanking Gaige for entrusting him with such intimate knowledge and confessing that her honesty about herself had instantly started to make him feel better about his own situation. The second option was to stare at her like a dumbstruck fool.

He opted for a third choice. Leaning in, he took her delicate face in both his hands, and pressed his lips softly against hers.

Gaige kissed him back with all her usual eagerness. When they pulled away for a breath, Moze said, “You’re everything I could want in another person.”

Gaige’s eyes took on a damp little shine. “I feel the same way about you.”

She wrapped her arms around Moze’s back to pull him in as close as she could, deepening their kiss. He clasped her waist with one hand, the other on the small of her back. They kissed until they ran out of breath and then some. Gaige panted a little, breathing her warm, slightly acidic breath in his face as they held each other close.

The way he felt at that moment, he’d skip right past calling her his girlfriend. He wanted to hold her like that forever and ever.

Then he thought of the last time he’d let someone in that close. He thought of the last time he’d seen those people. Ripped-up body parts. Smears of blood on windshields. Empty, vacant eyes staring up at him eternally.

Gaige gasped. He hadn’t even realized how hard he’d started gripping her.

“You’re gonna die,” he said hoarsely. “Everyone does.”

She unlatched his hands from her. “I mean, so are you?”

Moze shook his head. “I know, but...”

Gaige cupped his face, just as he had done to her. “I worry about something happening to you, too. The lives we live...they’re dangerous. But I try not to let that stop me from living. And from loving people.”

That was the first time either of them had used the L-word, even indirectly. Moze ground his teeth.

“If something happens to you,” he said, “I’m done. I’m not going on anymore.”

Gaige had a gleam to her eye. “Fine by me. Then we can ghost-date.”

He hadn’t thought of it like that before. “Huh.” He scrunched his face in contemplation. “I guess we could ghost-date.”

Gaige gave his scrunched cheek a smooch. “Exactly. So you don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. You’re mine forever.”

“I’m okay with that.” He kissed her back, reveling in the way her mischievous grin grave way to a bashful little smile as he did.

“Buuut,” she whispered in his ear, “as ghosts, we probably won’t be able to...y’know...”

Moze snorted.

“So we should probably do it as much as we can now,” Gaige finished. Her grin had returned.

“’Kay, I can’t argue with that logic.” Moze tilted her chin back to expose her throat. Gaige purred as he settled his lips on her neck.

He half-expected their encounter to be broken up by a scream, or someone banging down the door, or blood seeping from the walls, or a localized portal to Heck opening in the middle of his floor. But everything was quiet.

Well, almost everything.

Gaige spent most of the next day in a daze. A good daze, the kind of daze you end up in when a guy completely blows your mind the night before. Her legs were still quivering. She’d practically fallen out of bed getting up the next morning.

For someone who didn’t like to be touched, Moze sure knew how to touch someone else. His strong, loving grip lingered all over her body, brought to life by vivid memory. Her throat and chest were covered in hickeys. And she’d already had to change her underwear since the morning.

She’d never been loved like that before. In her old life, she was a nerdy schoolkid that no boys ever looked at. The next seven years were spent almost entirely alone. Now here she was, nearly twenty-six years old, feeling like a lovestruck teenager.

Moze, as she’d become accustomed to after moments of closeness, was distant afterward. She woke up to find him missing from the bed, and the bathroom already full of shower steam. When she finally found him, he was eating breakfast with Tannis in their bizarre early-morning empty cafeteria ritual. Gaige was tempted to sit down with them, but at the last second opted to eat in her room instead.

Her room had apparently once been Lilith’s. Though she’d cleaned and redecorated it since, Gaige could still feel Lilith’s presence in every inch of the room. Every time she moved something, she kicked up bits of ash, and anything made of fabric held an eternal smoky smell. She’d found a journal under the bed, but it only had one entry, along the lines of “I guess I’ll start keeping a journal”. Apparently the habit hadn’t stuck.

Gaige plunked herself down on the bottom bunk. She set her breakfast tray down beside her.

Maybe Moze did secretly think she was gross. When she got, erm, excited, she got really excited, and there was no hiding that from someone who had their face between your legs. (The thought alone had her crossing her legs and shivering as she recalled the softness of his tongue and the warmth of his breaths while he murmured how beautiful she was.)

Okay, he probably didn’t think she was gross. Maybe.

She recalled his background in the military. The lone survivor of an intentional suicide mission. A massacre. Gaige had witnessed a lot of carnage in her young life, but it was always being inflicted on someone else, usually by herself or her allies. She’d never had to watch people she cared about get torn limb from limb.

He often cried in the night. She never told him, for fear of embarrassing him, but there were times he’d grabbed hold of Gaige so hard she had bruises the next morning, and he cried out with whole-hearted agony.

He was waiting for her to die on him, too.

She picked up an orange from her tray. When she bit down on it, it leaked juice all over the front of her shirt. With a groan, she grabbed an oil rag off her work bench and wiped it off. It did a perfect job of hiding the juice under a stripe of black oil instead.

She could never just be normal about things. Their growing closeness was a huge deal. She should’ve been thrilled. Instead, she felt weirdly guilty, like she was causing Moze pain. Rationally, she knew he was just as invested, but it felt like she was screwing things up. Like she came into his life and caused chaos.

Her ECHO device vibrated in her pocket. She snatched it up.

Recommended For You: 10 Signs He’s Not That Serious About You.

“Well fuck you, too.” Gaige slapped the ECHO down on the bed. She took another juicy bite of her orange and chewed discontentedly.

Lilith had apparently stuck up some posters at some point. Or maybe it wasn’t Lilith, since they were mostly posters of that weird guy Typhon DeLeon that Tannis was always rambling about. In any case, Gaige was distracted from her breakfast by the faint clapping of stiff paper against the wall. The posters’ loose corners were blowing in the breeze. A breeze that shouldn’t have been there.

Gaige felt a coldness comb through her hair, making her shudder.

“Yeah, yeah, I know I’m being stupid about this,” she mumbled. “But you wouldn’t get it. Krieg was crazy about you.”

Her tray began to slide toward the edge of the bed. “Hey!” Gaige grabbed hold of it. It vibrated furiously in her grip. “That’s my breakfast!”

The cereal she’d scooped up had been growing a little soggy in its milk, so she’d been thinking of avoiding it. As it turned out, she didn’t need to worry about it at all, because Maya flipped the bowl and sent the milk and cereal splattering all over the floor.

“What the fuck!” Gaige jumped up. “Maya!”

This was more of a mess than her oil rag could handle. With a growl, she threw open her door, off to grab one of the service bot’s mops and bucket.

The moment she stepped out of her room, she could feel that something was different. Nothing looked different, or sounded different, or even smelled different (and she would know, considering she spent an abnormal amount of time sniffing metals), but the air was cold, and had a weird sort of heaviness to it.

Her first thought stalled her heart. The atmosphere generator.

There was a very delicate gas mixture required to sustain life for long periods of time in the vacuum of space. If the mix of nitrogen (about seventy-eight percent saturation) and oxygen (about twenty-two percent) was significantly disturbed for any length of time, things would start to get real weird real fast. At that point, it was a race against time, trying to fix the problem before everybody’s brains became too useless to function properly, and they stood around giggling and drooling until they passed out and never woke back up.

Thankfully, not everybody on board was affected by things like that.

Deathtrap materialized in a flash of blue light. “DT,” Gaige commanded, “atmosphere check.”

It was a feature she’d installed while bouncing from planet to planet. Knowing if a place was survivable before you stepped out of a shuttle was kinda important.

Deathtrap held up a claw. A light on its tip flashed a few times. A moment later, his readings appeared across her vision, as her cybernetic eye intercepted the data.

Nitrogen saturation: 78.2%. Oxygen saturation: 21.4%. Other: 0.4%.

Completely normal.

“Why does it feel so weird, then?” Gaige held her own hand out, wiggling her organic fingers. There was no doubt about it–the air was way too thick. It was cold, too, and heavy, sitting on her skin with palpable weight.

Another gust of cold air ruffled her hair. They weren’t anywhere near an air vent, which meant it could only have one source.

“What’s going on?” Gaige asked quietly. Thankfully there were only a handful of other residents around, and they were all lost in their own business.

A poster came loose and fell off the far wall, sliding across the hallway’s smooth floor. It landed near one of the ship’s internal doors.

Brow furrowed, Gaige bent and picked it up. It was a Children of the Vault recruitment poster. Someone had drawn horns and stuck googly eyes on both Calypso twins.

When Gaige drew near it, the door slid open with a hiss. There wasn’t much down this way, just Hammerlock’s empty study.

The air was particularly heavy in that area.

The icy breeze grabbed and yanked her pigtails toward the door. “Ow!” Gaige swatted at nothing. “You don’t have to pull my hair!”

Or maybe she did. The closer Gaige drew to the closed study door, the more the pressure choked the air from her lungs. The door’s thick hybrid metal was freezing, so cold that her organic fingertips stuck to it for a moment. The overhead light closest to the door was cycling between so dim it was nearly dark and so bright it could sear the eyes.

“What’s going on in there?” Gaige whispered.

The light grew brighter, and then even brighter, like a supernova about to pop. Then the bulb burst, raining glass and sparks all over the floor.

Rolling up her sleeves, Gaige decided to just pull the door open. It didn’t want to budge, but its pithy little lock also couldn’t withstand the strength of a curious cyborg. With a grunt, Gaige pulled upward until she heard something inside the door break. Then it flew up into the ceiling so hard the ship rocked.

The study was in total disarray. Pages of books were strewn across the floor, and random puddles of varying colors were seeping into the hardwood. In the middle of the floor, an intricate symbol was drawn with multiple colors of what looked to be simple chalk.

Just behind the circle, sitting cross-legged with a book on their lap, was Ava.

Sigils etched on the loose book pages lit up orange as Gaige walked in. Suddenly, the cold presence around her retreated back into the hallway.

Ava’s surprise turned to revulsion the second they saw who had broken in on them.

“Oh, hey,” Gaige tried to say as casually as possible. “Whatcha doin’ in here?”

Ava dismissed her with a glance back down at their book.

“Go away.”

Gaige folded her arms. “I’m not a pushover like Moze. What the heck are you up to?”

Ava ignored her, flipping through some pages of the ancient tome on their lap. Each page turn sent a flutter of dust in the direction they turned.

Left standing there awkwardly, Gaige opted to change her approach. She plunked herself down opposite Ava at the chalk circle, folded her legs in, and rested her elbows on her thighs.

“Can I help?”

Ava leveled her with a flat stare. “Help?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t even know what I’m doing.”

“No. But I know this circle is asymmetrical. It’s about five millimeters thinner on the half closest to me.”

Ava scoffed. “You’re gonna critique my summoning circles now?”

Gaige lit up. “So it’s a summoning circle?”

Having caught their slip-up, Ava crossed their arms and hunkered down. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”

“Noo...but that’s a lot to keep to yourself.”

Ava glanced at her, then down at the circle. The chalk was smeared in the middle, Gaige noticed. And Ava’s left hand had colorful dust on the side of it.

“Is it about Maya?” Gaige suggested. “Are you trying to summon her again?”

Ava kept their mouth tightly shut.

“I get it, you know.” Gaige softened her voice. She thought about reaching over and giving the kid a little pat on the arm, but Ava seemed likely to flee with any sudden movement. “I know how it feels to be super lonely. To lose people you looked up to.”

Ava’s glare felt like it was legitimately burning her skin. It took everything in Gaige not to flinch, or at least look away.

“This is a pointless conversation,” Ava uttered. “It doesn’t even work, anyway.”

The creepy potato-sack doll Ava had been running around with in the night was tossed into the middle of the circle from behind Ava’s back. It had chalk dust on it already, perfectly matching the smeared colors in the circle’s center.

The doll landed sitting up, but tipped over before it lost its momentum. It landed face-down in the chalk.

Gaige leaned down to study it. “Well,” she said, “no offense, but this doll isn’t very appealing. If I were a spirit, I wouldn’t want to live in this.”

Ava snarled, exposing their ghoulish little fangs. “Well sorry I’m not a–a sewer.”

“A sewer?”

“Someone who sews. Whatever the fuck you call it.”

Gaige studied the sad little doll. “I’m not a sewer either,” she said, “but I’m an engineer. Maybe we could build one together?”

It was a ludicrous proposal, and Moze and Maya would be livid if they could hear her suggestion. But maybe the kid just needed a hobby. Maybe if they could be shown how cool it was to build something with your own hands, they’d spend more time doing that and less time practicing dark magic.

Ava looked down at the doll, too.

“What would we make it out of?” they asked.

“Well, if you want it to be flexible, you’d probably want to build a jointed wood doll, like one of those ones artists use for posing. But we could also make it out of plastic, or metal, though metal wouldn’t be as flexible, obviously.”

“I think a wood doll could work,” Ava murmured.

“Yeah, me too.” Of course, there wasn’t exactly a store of fresh wood hanging around Sanctuary. “There’s a lumber mill on Eden-6. We could get some nice fresh wood from there, and then I could show you how to do precision woodworking with some chisels, and a hand drill, and some good old-fashioned sand paper!” She took a deep breath. “Oh, I love sanding things...”

Ava quirked a brow at her.

Gaige quickly collected herself. “Um, so yeah. You interested?”

Ava picked up the doll. It flopped over in their hand. There were bits of stuffing starting to burst from its poorly-stitched seams. “I guess a better body would help lure a soul in.”

“We’ll build a totally cool new one,” Gaige said. “And maybe after that, I can show you how to make some other stuff. You like planes? Or little wind-up robots?”

“I want to invoke my mentor’s soul and restore her back to the life that was stolen from her.”

Gaige made a small sound. “Right. Totally. And we’ll definitely do that.”

She was still confident in her plan. No teenager could resist the call of wood- or metal-working. When Gaige was Ava’s age, she’d been enthralled by it. No chance Ava could escape being equally enticed by the wonders of crafting.

Ava shut the ancient book. Gaige noticed it was bound in a leather that looked unlike any she’d ever seen before. And its cover had a design that almost looked like flattened human teeth.

“So, uh,” Gaige cleared her throat, “let’s introduce you to the ~forbidden magic~ of the table saw!”

Tannis was an almost comically slow eater. Moze had nearly finished his entire plate by the time she’d finished rearranging her food just right on the tray.

She wasn’t much for conversation first thing in the morning, either, which was fine by him. They ate together quietly, the only sound between them the faint clinking of their utensils against their scratched old plates.

The previous night kept playing in his head. Gaige was trans. It seemed crazy. He was ashamed to admit a part of him had wondered if she was making it up to make him feel better, until she’d shown him the scar from her hormone implant, and showed him an old picture she kept tucked into the back of her ECHO device. A little redheaded boy excitedly holding a toy robot up to a man with a scraggly ponytail of the same ginger shade.

There was no denying that “boy” was Gaige. Moze could see her big, curious green eyes, her smattering of freckles, and her smile full of crooked teeth.

He thought of the comments he’d made to her over the months they’d been dating that she couldn’t understand his situation. That she didn’t know what it was like to be in his shoes. But she did. She absolutely did.

She said she hadn’t told him because she felt like she hadn’t gone through half of what he’d gone through. But in his eyes, she’d gone through worse. When they were lying in bed together after everything, she’d mentioned to him about the bullying–the cruelty of kids who didn’t understand her situation and spared her no sympathy. Teachers who had no idea how to handle the situation, so opted to turn a blind eye to the harassment. The time a group of popular girls at school had cornered her in the bathroom, with the end result that Gaige never used the school bathrooms again. She may have transitioned young, but because of that “privilege”, she’d lived through torment he couldn’t imagine.

He reveled in the delight on her sweet face when he doted on her. From kissing her freckled throat to trailing love bites down the soft skin of her inner thighs, he was determined to love on every inch of her. And when she moaned his name, it took everything in him not to explode with all the feelings he had pent up inside.

Tannis nibbled at a slice of untoasted bread with a single swipe of butter across its surface. She rarely made eye contact anyway, so it was hard to tell if she was avoiding his stare.

Gaige wasn’t exactly a quiet lover, so he had no idea how much everyone else onboard had heard.

It was hard to believe a girl like her could exist in this awful world. After leaving Vladof, everything had felt dulled, like wading through mud on a cloudy day. It was like seeing in black and white. When Gaige showed up, suddenly the world was back to beautiful color.

Maybe it wasn’t so wrong to get attached. After all, they could always ghost-date.

Tannis made a small sound, a barely-cleared throat. Moze glanced up from his plate.

Tannis’ eyes were still on her food. “I’m concerned about our Commander.”

Moze’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah. Me, too.”

She took a long, slow sip from her glass of orange juice. “I suppose I do understand it. When I was their age, I was getting into all sorts of trouble, too.”

That prompted Moze to set his fork down. “You got in trouble?”

Tannis finally looked up. She had that mad little gleam to her eyes.

“I used to keep library books long past their due date,” she whispered. “Sometimes as a long as a week.”

Moze blinked at her. “When I was fourteen, I was torching civilian corpses so our squad officer wouldn’t demerit us for accidentally killing them.”

Tannis stared at him for a minute. Then she took another slurp of her juice.

He was nearly finished with his breakfast when the mess hall doors slid open. In walked Gaige, still in her pajamas, her hair pulled back into a sloppy ponytail.

Moze started to raise a hand to wave to her, but she didn’t even look over. She instead wandered over to the counter where a civ was filling the self-serve station with more food, grabbed a tray, and started collecting her breakfast.

Tannis watched her from the corner of her eye. Moze kept waiting for Gaige to turn around so he could wave her over. But when she was finished picking her food, she simply hurried off, disappearing out of the room.

Huh. Moze continued to stare at the closed door long after she was gone.

Was it rude that he’d gotten up and left her sleeping? He’d taken one look at her softly-closed eyes and her cheek snuggled into the pillow, and he just couldn’t bear to wake her up.

Maybe it made things easier, too. Then he didn’t have to think about how having someone in his life again reminded him of the old days. How waking up with someone, taking turns sharing a shower with them, and eating together in the mess hall was such a familiar old thing to him that his heart clenched whenever he thought too long on it.

Hopefully she wasn’t mad at him.

Later that day

“Are you fucking serious?”

Ava had waited patiently down in the garage, just as Gaige had instructed. Gaige had only been gone a short while getting lumber, and had stacked it dutifully alongside all the tools they would need for basic woodworking.

Ava was gesturing past all that, at the opened bottle of whiskey beside the wood pile.

Gaige huffed. “Oh, I only had a little. It’s fine.”

“Are you stupid? You’re gonna teach me how to operate a power saw while you’re drunk?”

“Puh-lease. You think I’d get drunk on half a lousy bottle?” Gaige picked it up and slammed it down on the far end of the bench. “This shit’s weak, anyway. Thought Eden-6 was supposed to have the good stuff.”

Ava glowered at her. “Is this why you’re missing an arm?”

“Pfft, nah. I cut that thing off ‘cause it was useless.”

Ava watched while Gaige laid out the tools. “You cut your arm off on purpose?”

“Flesh is useless to me.” Gaige dumped a bunch of spare lumber on the floor. “Now pick a piece and we’ll get started.”

Ava sorted through the lumber. Each piece sliding along another brought with it a cloud of sawdust and the delicious smell of freshly-cut wood.

Gaige had gotten so used to working with metal that she’d forgotten how much she loved woodworking. Just the thought of it had her giddy. This is totally gonna pull Ava away from all that Xylourgos cursed magic stuff. Moze’ll be so impressed. Everyone’ll be impressed!

Ava slid a piece of gnarled, blackened wood out from the bottom of the pile.

“Oh, must’ve been a rotten log that slipped through at the mill.” Gaige reached for it.

Ava pulled it away. “I like this piece.”

Gaige chuckled a little. When she realized the kid wasn’t laughing, she said, “You can’t really–rotten wood doesn’t make for good woodworking.”

“You said I could pick a piece.” Ava shoved the spalted wood in Gaige’s face. It had an orange tinge to it, the result of water soaking in, and thick veins of black fungus crawled across its exposed surface. “I picked one.”

Gaige stared at it for a long moment. Then she reached behind her, grabbed her whiskey bottle and took a hearty swig.

“’Kay then,” she said, wiping her mouth on the back of her organic hand. “Let’s do this shit.”

Ava had a knack for carving, it turned out. Even with gnarled, rotted wood as their canvas, they took to shaping it with no trouble at all. In fact, they dug their carving rasp in with an almost gleeful violence.

“Good. Good.” Gaige’s supervision felt superfluous, but she wasn’t about to leave the kid alone with a bunch of sharp objects. “Now there’s a notch there, so that’s gonna be a little harder to carve. It might split the wood around it.”

Ava tapped lightly on the wood with the flat edge of their rasp. To both of their surprise, a slew of tiny insects spilled out of pores in the wood.

Gaige shook her head. “That’s not good. If it’s infested with bugs, the integrity of the wood’s core could be compromised. We should probably-”

Ava stabbed the tiny bugs with the pointed tip of the smallest of Gaige’s chisels. They splattered on impact, leaving yellow stains wherever Ava smashed them.

Gaige took another sip from her bottle. “I guess we should stab them with a chisel.”

“That’s good. It’s like an offering.” Ava wiped the heads and legs that were stuck to the chisel off on their shirt. “Offerings are always good when you’re luring souls.”

“You think Maya would be lured in by a bunch of dead bugs?”

“She can feast on their essences. It’ll be like a snack.”

She thought of Maya, who in life refused to even eat meat, eating the souls of creatures stabbed to death by her disciple. “Whatever you say, kid,” she mumbled.

Ava’s tattoos had corrupted after their exposure to the dark forces on Xylourgos, and no amount of Moze forcing them to take purification baths had undone that corruption. The usual vivid, almost neon blue now reminded Gaige more of coagulated blood in dead veins, with dark spots of purplish-red oozing slowly through the intricate patterns on their arm. None of the other sirens on board seemed to know a thing about it, so it was currently in the status of “we’re keeping an eye on it”, a.k.a. no one was paying it any mind at all.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Moze was concerned. But siren ways were so far outside his realm of understanding that he stood no chance of aiding one in figuring them out. Gaige wasn’t much better, but she’d spent enough time grilling Maya back in the day to at least have a basic grasp of how some of it operated.

When it came to corrupted tattoos, though, she was equally clueless.

“Oop, that bit’s a little rough.” Gaige picked up the rasp to smooth an edge Ava had left jagged. “Don’t wanna get a splinter!”

The rasp was tugged out of her hand. A bubble of purple and blue formed around it as it floated over to Ava.

“That’s a good idea,” they murmured, running a finger along the spiny bits of wood.

Before Gaige could stop them, Ava had shoved one of the splinters right into their index finger. They grinned as a fat ruby droplet beaded on the wound and seeped right into the thirsty old wood.

“Dude.” Gaige set her bottle down pointedly. “You’re not gonna summon Maya with this thing. You’re gonna summon some kinda demon.”

“I don’t have to summon Maya, dummy. Maya’s already here.” Ava smeared the blood around on the wood’s surface. “I have to appeal to the dark instincts of a wandering soul. That soul will accept these offerings and possess the doll, and then I’ll know this ritual works.”

Unsure how else to respond, Gaige simply nodded and said, “I see.”

Ava chiseled away at the wood around what would become the face. They stabbed two holes where the eyes would end up, and carved a gash out for the mouth. More pin-sized insects emerged from the wood. Ava stabbed them all.

Gaige tried to imagine what kind of spirit would be drawn to a rotted wood carving filled with bugs and blood. Angel would probably have liked it, funny enough. Other than her, though? She couldn’t think of anyone else.

“So,” Gaige said after a while, “you enjoying woodworking?”

Ava shaved the splinters off, raining bloody sawdust all over the floor.

“Yeah,” they said.

Taking another sneaky sip of her whiskey, Gaige added, “Once you make the body, we can work on the limbs. ‘Cause those’ll be jointed. So they’re separate pieces.” Her sentence was punctuated by a hiccup. Ava looked up just long enough to level her with an unimpressed stare.

The prototypical doll, if one could even call it that at this stage, stared at Gaige while Ava carved the back of its head. Its mouth was far too big for its face–Ava had misjudged how far to slice along its cheeks. It was hideous. Monstrous.

“Want me to make some limbs for it in the meantime?” Gaige asked. “I love carving little hands and-”

“No.”

The refusal was not accompanied by an explanation of any sort. Ava continued to stare down at the doll, picking away at it with a chisel.

Gaige folded her arms. “Oh. Okay.”

Even with her vision starting to double from the old whiskey, Gaige could make a perfectly clear assessment of Ava’s first woodshop project.

It was horrifying.

The insects in the wood had, as Gaige feared, eaten through much of the interior, leaving it hollow and breakable. At one point, Ava had tried to carve into the back to mimic the hood of Maya’s cloak, but had accidentally cracked into the rotted wood instead, leaving the doll with a crevice down the middle of its "spine”. A hundred more bugs had crawled out of there, accompanied by a cloud of moldy dust.

In addition to that, the limbs were wildly asymmetrical. The right arm was a good inch longer than the left, and the legs were too skinny and would never hold up the weight of the rest of the doll. Its “jaw” had also nearly fallen right off because of Ava cutting too large a mouth, so now the chunk of wood representing the chin was hanging by a thread. That could be sealed with some glue, which would fix about one percent of this doll’s issues.

Gaige and Ava stood a few feet from the work bench, studying their creation with tight faces.

“Maybe this should be a practice doll,” Gaige suggested, trying not to let her words slur too badly. “Nobody makes a masterpiece the very first time.”

“I already offered it blood and souls,” Ava whined.

“Yeah, but–Maya probably isn’t gonna...” She hesitated, but the booze pushed her onward. “She’s probably not gonna like this body. It’s full of bugs and fungus. But we can build a better one! This was just a first try.” She gave Ava a whack on the back. “I believe in ya, Champ.”

Ava twisted their head around to glare at her. Their eyes glowed in the workshop’s dim light.

The doll fell forward, hitting the workbench with a clatter. Gaige reached over and nudged it off to the side. “C’mon,” she said, steadying herself as the floor moved under her, “let’s try Round 2. This time we won’t use rotten wood, and Maya’ll love it.”

“And you’ll actually help me, instead of sitting there getting shitfaced?”

Gaige waved her bottle at Ava. “Assolutely.”

The other Vault Hunters in Moze’s “squad” mostly lived elsewhere these days. They still hung out on Sanctuary here and there, but Amara was all over the six galaxies milking her fame, Zane was reconnecting with old frenemies, and Fl4k was following the call of Death, seeking trophy kills on every planet, often alongside Hammerlock and a reluctant Wainwright.

Only Moze remained on Sanctuary 24/7. He had no old buddies to reconnect with, he didn’t want to chase fame, and he had little interest in trophy hunting. So behind he stayed, with all the other oddballs who didn’t have a place to call home.

During his Ursa Corps days, he’d spent a lot of his free time working out. It was a group activity most of the time, his squad all giving each other shit as a form of encouragement, daring you to add another weight, pulling you down mid chin-up, stepping on your back during push-ups. It was a ritual, a game, something they all bonded over.

After Darzaran Bay, Moze only worked out to keep the bad thoughts away.

Gaige was still nowhere to be found, so he decided to spend a little time in Sanctuary’s tiny gym. He wiped down one of the grimy weight benches and slid onto it. He’d had to remove a few hundred pounds of weight from each side of the barbell–a sure sign Amara had been there last.

Since he’d started on T, he’d noticed his muscles getting a little bigger and more defined. It wasn’t exactly a dramatic transformation, but when he looked in the mirror, he could see the trace differences in his body and face. He was finally starting to look the way he envisioned himself in his mind.

A year ago, he’d thought seeing those changes would be like admiring a new haircut you really liked. But it wasn’t quite like that. It was more like watching a wound you’d gotten used to slowly heal.

He lifted the barbell high above his head, keeping it there for several long seconds. He wondered what his squad would think of him now. It had always been a running joke that Moze was masculine, and his squad mates would frequently call him “sir” and tell him he was in the wrong locker room. At the time, he’d thought the joy that brought him came solely from the camaraderie of it all. Now, of course, he knew better.

Still missed the camaraderie, though.

The barbell came down close to Moze’s throat. With a grunt, he lifted it once again.

Gender exploration of any kind was not a part of Vladof society–really, questioning anything was beaten out of the soldier stock from a young age. You could be a masculine woman, but that was the end of it. Nobody talked about trans issues. Nobody was outwardly transgender. Some people had hushed rumors around them, that they acted a little too much like a gender they weren’t, but nobody would have ever truly regarded Moze as a man.

Well, his superiors wouldn’t have, anyway. His squad mates would have supported him. They always did.

He groaned as he struggled to heft the barbell again. He’d vastly overestimated his lifting capabilities. But that was okay. That was how muscle got built.

His ECHO device chimed from his pocket. He slipped it out to look at who was texting him. New message: Lorelei

He eased his tense shoulders a bit and opened the message.

It was a picture. Closest to the camera, Lorelei’s face could be seen only as far down as her eyes. Those eyes were wide, and the skin under them was crinkled just a little.

Behind her, a blurry person was in the middle of throwing their hands about. In the low light of the coffee shop, Moze couldn’t make much out, but he could see that the person looked to be covered in something brown-ish.

A caption at the bottom of the image clarified.

Threw hot coffee on a bastard customer

While Moze was waxing poetic about the old days, Lorelei was, as usual, having the wildest life he imagined a service sector worker could have.

What'd they do? Moze texted back.

The reply was instant. Were a bastard

Moze chuckled to himself. Lorelei was probably the closest to his old squad mates that he had these days. She’d been in the trenches, not by choice, but still, and she knew what it was like to try to claw your way back out of the bottomless pit that war left inside you.

At the bottom of that pit lay friends and foes alike, their empty eyes staring forever up at you.

Sure they had it coming, he texted back.

He knew he’d get the full story later, but in the meantime he could only imagine what had transpired. Lorelei dealt with all kinds at her work. Moze could never handle a job like that.

Presumably dealing with the fallout of her actions, Lorelei stopped responding. Moze should have picked the barbell back up, but he just...didn’t. He just laid there on the lifting bench, staring up at the ceiling.

As much as he enjoyed the rush of combat, a part of him wished he could pluck Lor and Gaige out of their current lives and find a little island for the three of them to live out their days in peace. Of course, Lorelei would probably go crazy. For that matter, Gaige probably would, too. But Moze would be satisfied knowing the two people closest to him were safe, no matter how boring it got.

He picked his ECHO back up.

We should hang out soon, he sent. He knew full well Lorelei wouldn’t be answering any time soon, but-

Sure. The reply was immediate. Either Lorelei had stepped outside for a break after throwing coffee on a customer, or she’d been fired. Actually, knowing her, she might have just been standing there texting right in front of the coffee-drenched customer. Got some stuff to tell you, anyway.

Moze wanted to press, but he knew Lorelei would not tell him anything she wasn’t one hundred percent ready to say. OK, man. I’ll text you later

He set his ECHO down on top of his chest and remained still, looking at but not seeing the patchwork metal ceiling.

What could she want to tell him? Did she meet someone? Wait, that shouldn’t matter, because Moze had a girlfriend now. Well, he wasn’t calling her his girlfriend just yet, because he was scared of losing her. Even though she already said that even if she died, she’d still want them to be together. That was good, right? Would Lorelei get a boyfriend without telling him?

He reluctantly sat up from the bench, letting his ECHO slide down onto his lap. This is probably not a normal way to feel about your friend. Thankfully, Moze had honed one skill disproportionately over the past year–the art of repression. And this was a great time to put it to use.

He loved Gaige. That was enough.

The second doll came out a lot better than the first. It sat up straight and had symmetrical limbs, and its face was almost cute. The only major flaw it had was a faint dig across its face where Ava had slipped chiseling the mouth. The rest of it looked, surprisingly, pretty professional.

“Damn, kid! You picked this up fast.” Gaige scooped the doll up, studying its tiny details. The soft brown, non-rotted wood had sanded down nice and smooth, and the joints swung fluidly, held together with small, shiny screws. “Goo’job!”

Ava snatched it from Gaige. “Yeah, it’s kind of a miracle I managed to do so well with a drunk teacher.”

“I am not...that drunk.” Gaige nudged the empty whiskey bottle out of sight under the work bench.

Ava set the doll back down on the bench. It sat up perfectly on its own, head tilted back as though watching its creator. “We need some clothes for it,” Ava added. “It needs a cloak, at least.”

“Hmm.” Gaige glanced about the room. Over in the far corner, Moze’s spare toolbox sat open. On top of the tools, a pair of his fingerless leaver gloves lay folded over each other.

Moze wouldn’t miss one glove, she decided.

The glove snapped at the wrist with a dirty brass button. Gaige unsnapped the bottom strand of leather. Then she draped the glove finger holes-down over the doll’s back, wrapped the wrist part around the doll’s neck, and snapped it closed again.

The doll tipped backward a bit from the weight. It almost seemed like it was rolling its motionless eyes.

“That doesn’t look like a cloak,” Ava said. “It looks like a big, ugly coat.”

“It’s close enough for now. We can get some doll clothes later or something. Or we can make some!”

The way the glove was draped over the doll’s shoulders, no arm holes or buttons to close it up, reminded Gaige of the silly shock blankets they’d given her classmates after they’d witnessed one single little murder. The wrist part of the glove was ringed with dirt so thick, no leather cleaner would ever get it out.

Gaige unsnapped the glove and set it back down in Moze’s toolbox. “Let’s stain it. Then once it dries we can paint it, and then we can worry about clothes.”

Ava studied Gaige. “Actually, I was thinking...” They picked the little doll up with both hands. The two of them stared at each other. “Maybe I could just try the ritual first. And we could worry about that other stuff later.”

“Oh. Um...” Gaige tried to keep her addled brain adherent to her plan. “How about instead of that, we stain it, and then paint it, and then maybe you don’t do any rituals with it.”

Ava’s eyes narrowed. “I knew you had an angle.” They clutched tight to the doll. “You’re not gonna stop me from doing this. I’m in charge around here. I can do whatever I want.”

Their words were tough, but their voice lacked any confidence. Gaige noticed their hands were shaking a little as they stuffed the doll in the pocket of their hoodie.

“You know that’s not a good idea, Ava.” Gaige enunciated every word as clearly as she could. “It’s not too late to stop messing around with that stuff.”

“I won’t stop until I have Maya back.” Ava scurried past Gaige. They cast one last look back at her, eyes aglow. Then they disappeared into the shadows of deeper Sanctuary.

Gaige’s shoulders sagged. “Sorry, Maya. I tried.”

The gentle breeze around her told her Maya understood. Well, either she understood, or she was plotting how to jettison Gaige out of the airlock when nobody was looking. Ghosts were hard to read.

The movement of the thick air toppled something behind Gaige. The rotted first doll. Gaige picked it up and held it loosely, as though its rot could somehow spread to her if she held it too tightly.

With a sigh, she wandered off to go find Moze.

The air grew thicker and heavier with every passing hour that day. There was nothing wrong with the atmosphere generator–Ellie had double- and then triple-checked it. This was something else.

Gaige had wanted to tell Moze, but laying it out into words in her mind made her seem like a moron. I helped Ava make a fancy doll to trap Maya’s soul in.

She hadn’t planned on it ending that way. She’d been certain Ava would give up their crazy plan once they got working with their hands.

Moze wasn’t in his room when Gaige scanned herself in. She took a good look in case he was curled up inside Iron Bear or something, but no. He was off doing something else.

She could smell the wet, fungal rot of the doll in her hand. She’d been tempted to launch it out with the garbage, but ultimately couldn’t bring herself to do it. It was a sad and gross little thing, but she had helped bring it into this world. It was no less her creation than Deathtrap.

The handprint scanner outside beeped. Gaige startled.

As the door was sliding open, Gaige tossed the doll into the overfilled trash can by Moze’s bed. It disappeared in a puff of snack wrappers and greasy paper towels.

Moze stopped when he saw Gaige. “Oh. Hi.”

“Hey.” Gaige moved subtly away from the trash. “Was just...checking on Iron Bear.”

“Really?” Moze smiled a little. “He doesn’t need it. But thanks.”

He took his shoes off at the door, leaving them parked neatly beside it, and joined Gaige over by the bed. As he drew closer, Gaige saw his expression change a little. He looked her over, and then said in a tone devoid of judgment, “Oh. You’re drunk.”

The words weighed a thousand pounds each as they settled on her shoulders. Her gaze dropped to the floor.

“Yeah.”

Her organic hand was enveloped by both of Moze’s. He gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Sorry I disappeared on you this morning,” he murmured. “Hope I didn’t make you feel bad.”

“No, no. It’s fine.” She looked up at him for just a second before averting her eyes again. “I know you get up early and stuff.”

Moze let go of her hands and plunked down on his bed. She sat down beside him. They both leaned into each other.

“Stuff’s just...weird. Y’know?” Moze shuffled his socked feet against the floor. “It’s hard to just...have someone this close again.”

Gaige couldn’t think of anything to say. She kept her stare on the scratched metal floor instead.

“But you’re really incredible,” he continued, the side of his head nudging hers. “You’re...I dunno. I suck at words. But you’re great. I’m really glad you’re here.”

Gaige moved her head away just long enough to draw his attention.

“I may have helped Ava build another ritual doll,” she said.

Moze’s gentle smile faded. “What?”

The air was so heavy it felt like breathing ice water. Regardless, Ava cackled as they watched their chalk circle come to life. Fed by the drops of blood Ava had trailed over it, it burned into the floor, casting a blazing orange glow on everything in the room.

In the center of the circle, the unpainted, unfinished doll lay on its back with its arms spread out, staring helplessly up at the ceiling.

The door to Hammerlock’s study was rattling hard enough to vibrate the floor around it. Maya was dying to get in, to get into a new body. Ava could see why. It had turned out amazing.

But this body wasn’t for her.

Flipping to the next page of their grimoire, Ava found the page with the imbuing spell. It was all in Eridian characters, but the translator they’d swiped from Tannis’ lab rendered that a non-issue. Of course, their pronunciation was probably a mile off, but it was the sentiment behind the words that mattered, right?

Their tattoos glowed as they held their left hand over the doll, fingers outstretched. They repeated the alien words from the book. The doll began to glow a soft blue.

The heavy metal door started to grind open. As the light from the hallway crawled inside, the doll lifted right off the ground. The air around it was so cold that Ava’s fingertips began to ache. Still, they held their hand out, reading the passage from the tome over and over.

They thought of Maya’s face, of her kind eyes and her gentle smile. They thought of the way she’d looked at Ava the first time she saw them, a scrawny, dingy, lonely kid hanging on to her book with dirty, desperate nails. She could have killed Ava. Instead, she changed their life.

The doll rotated gently in the air, glowing all over.

They thought of the mercy Maya had afforded them, and how that mercy was not returned to her by the universe. The faces of those two assholes, those two monsters, flashed in front of their eyes, haunting Ava even long after their deaths. What they’d done to Maya. How they’d laughed about it afterward. The snarling grin of a false goddess as she bragged about killing the closest to a real goddess that Ava had ever come to know.

Their tattoos began to change in shade. From blue to a deep, viscous red, that color soon spread to the doll as well.

Those bastards. Those motherfuckers.

They thought of that witch laughing at Ava, telling them they had no idea how sirenhood worked. They thought of her and her stupid brother using Maya’s death in ads for their fucking cult.

The doll began to backflip in the air, surrounded by an orb of piercing red light.

Hate. Hate. Hate. They closed their fingers, stopping the doll in mid-air. Maya shouldn’t even have to be resurrected. Especially not like this. Maya should have still been alive. If anything, the monsters being sealed into freakish magic dolls should have been...

The doll fell to the floor. The thick air dispersed, allowing Ava to take a full breath for the first time in hours, and the blazing circle they’d drawn up returned to normal drawing chalk.

In the middle of the circle, the doll lay on its stomach, limbs flayed outward.

Ava slowly closed their book. “Did it work?”

The doll did not move.

Ava gave it a nudge with the corner of their book. “Hello? Anybody in there?”

There came no response from the doll.

Ava slammed their fists down in the chalk. “Oh COME ON!” They grabbed the doll up and shook it. “Wake up! This had to have worked!”

The doll sagged in their grip.

“UghHHHH!” Ava hurled it at the wall. It hit hard, then landed face-down on one of Hammerlock’s armchairs. “Fuck this. I’m going back to necromancy.”

Tucking their book under their arm, Ava stormed out of the room. The door slammed behind them.

The lights inside the room flickered softly. Then, one by one, every bulb died out. The only light that remained was the ruby glow radiating from the armchair seat.

With a clacking of wooden joints, that light began to move.

Chapter Text

The universe, once she had escaped the confines of her birth planet, had always seemed endlessly vast. Every planet of every galaxy was stuffed with untold discoveries and wonders, creatures not seen anywhere else, people with customs unheard of on any other world. It was almost unfathomably huge to a human being.

The new world she woke up in was like a universe in itself.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was a monster. Its beastly head, many times the size of her entire body, loomed over her, its mouth split open into four fanged flaps. She gasped and scrambled backward–only to realize that the beast was no longer alive. Its head was mounted on a wall high above her. Whoever, or whatever, had mounted it must have been absolutely gigantic.

She tried to find her footing on the soft, squishy ground she’d woken up on. It was a fleshy red, but it definitely wasn’t flesh...or so she hoped. Her legs felt weak and wobbly, and her center of gravity was vastly different from what she remembered before.

Before...

What was before? She didn’t remember much. Her brain felt like it had been chewed on by something horrible. Something eager to consume her.

The squishy ground tripped her up, and she tumbled forward, spilling off a ledge at the edge of...wherever. The world, maybe.

She hit the floor with an oddly-hollow clatter. Rubbing her head, she looked around. The building she was in now looked like a single room, but built for a giant. The thing she’d been on was apparently a chair. And in the middle of the floor, a pile of books and giant sheets of paper surrounded some kind of chalk-drawn circular symbol.

A pang shot through her chest. Something’s missing. She touched her heart, or where she expected her heart to be, anyway. Her fingers settled on what felt like wood.

This isn’t right.

By instinct, her left hand closed into a fist. Nothing happened.

Something’s missing.

She looked up at the impossibly-high walls all around her. This place had a soft, gentle warmth to it, like somebody’s living room. Or what she imagined a living room would feel like, anyway.

Something was twisting in her chest. Something’s missing. Something’s missing.

She stumbled on what felt like newborn legs to wander over to the chalk on the floor. The books were written in a foreign language, but it was one that she recalled from somewhere.

She grabbed hold of the book’s heavy cover with both hands and strained to throw it open. It kicked up a cloud of chalk dust in the process.

Tucked between two pages was a photograph of two people. A blue-haired woman and a dirty-looking blue-haired kid. The kid was popped up in front of the woman, grinning. The low angle implied they were the photographer. The woman behind them looked tired, but she was smiling, too.

She touched the photo. Something about them was familiar. Good or bad, she couldn’t tell.

Had she had friends before? She couldn’t remember any, if she did.

Something’s missing.

She walked over the book’s thick pages, studying the symbols printed within. Someone had taught her these symbols before. A long time ago.

The book was discussing a method for sealing souls into objects.

That could be useful.

She dragged the page until it flipped over on top of her. Then she crawled out from under it, and stood over the book to read the next page.

In the distance, metal groaned. The floor shook beneath her, knocking her on her wooden behind.

The giant door to the giant room was grinding open.

She took off running, headed for the nearest thing she could hide in. She settled on a bookbag with its flap open. Scrambling into it, she tumbled down inside and landed flatly on her back. Ow.

A shy memory crept from the recesses of her mind. Tumbling out of a homemade dropship, landing on another planet for the first time. She’d forced him to go first, then proceeded to trip and fall right into him, because the gravity was so different.

She sat up. Where is he?

Two sets of footsteps clomped through the room. She peeked out from under the bag flap to see four combat boots stomping past.

A high-pitched voice she’d never heard before spoke then. I thought maybe I could get them interested in crafting. I figured doll-making could be a gateway to something less...sinister. Y’know?

Then came a softer, deeper voice. This one, she recognized.

Nah, I get it. Unfortunately, Ava doesn’t change their mind for anyone or anything.

Yeah, I can see that.

Ava. No, that name didn’t ring any bells. Who were these people?

One giant bent down and started scooping up papers. Her heart raced when she saw the face. She’d seen it somewhere before. She’d known this person at some point.

I should probably keep it in my room, the higher-pitched voice said. They’re less likely to go snooping through my stuff than yours.

Yeah, I was gonna say that.

She was knocked back down as the closest giant grabbed up the bookbag and tossed it. She felt it land in the other person’s hands.

Suddenly the bag was opened, and she was staring up at a pale, freckled, and slightly-sunburned ginger girl.

Unsure what else to do, she froze in place.

The giant fed her hand into the bag. Soft fingers closed around her, then lifted her carefully out of the bag. “See?” the girl said as she showed her off. “It came out really nice.”

Then she was staring into the scarred, ruggedly handsome face of that all-too-familiar giant. That one took her gently from the girl and looked her over.

“I didn’t know you were so good with wood carving.”

“Actually, it was mostly Ava! I just advised.”

Wood carving? Was that what she was? Wood?

Before she could ponder it further, she was tossed back into the bag and zipped up into darkness.

Hide it somewhere good, she heard the familiar giant say.

I’ll stash it in my underwear drawer. They won’t wanna look there.

Both laughed.

She could no longer see where she was, but the bag swung rhythmically in time with footsteps, so she assumed she was being carried.

After what she guessed was a few minutes, a door hissed open, and then she was thrown somewhere, bookbag and all. She heard the giants’ voices murmuring in the distance. Then the door shut again, and she heard nothing.

Following a quiet few minutes, she finally dared to lift the bookbag flap just a little bit to peek out. She was in a bedroom now, a very industrial one. It was cluttered with odd mechanical parts, with nuts, screws, and bolts all scattered across the floor, waiting for some unsuspecting fool to step on them.

Deciding the coast was clear, she crawled the rest of the way out of the bag and landed on a rough cot. She half-walked, half-bounced her way across it.

What is this place? Why is everybody so huge?

There was a ladder on the cot that must have led to a top bunk. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but something about that setup triggered another twinge in her chest.

Something’s missing.

She scaled the ladder with great effort, each rung farther apart than the length of her whole body. When she finally grabbed hold of soft sheet instead of cold metal, she yanked herself up and then collapsed with a groan.

This is all way too much work. She had a distinct feeling she was not used to doing things for herself. People did things for her.

The walls around the top bunk were adorned with posters, signs, and blueprints. She crawled along on the bedspread, studying the bright colors and bold text. Schematics of a spaceship. A stolen “SAFETY FIRST” road sign. An ad for some movie called “Monty Gets a Butler”.

On the bed itself, there was a framed photograph of two people she’d never seen before. And above that...

The poster above the photograph stopped her dead. A man with a moustache and an aviator hat waved a glowing whip with one hand. In thick, bright letters underneath him, the poster read:

The GREATEST explorer of all time

TYPHON DELEON

Whatever she was made of, the place where her stomach should have been turned icy cold. Fingers she swore she didn’t have a moment ago gripped two tiny handfuls of the bedsheet. Every bit of her body went rigid.

Him.

Everything came rushing back at once. A lifetime of memories. Of imprisonment. Of hatred.

The ice in her stomach turned to fire. Her whole body blazed with heat. The light brown wood of her hands began to char black. Then the charring melted off, too, revealing hands that looked far more like what she remembered.

You asshole! You bastard!

Her skin felt like it was burning right off. Her feet lifted from the bedspread. She threw her head back and screamed as the fire consumed her.

And then, in an instant, it was over. She dropped back down onto the sheets, and not a trace of fire or even smoke remained.

A glance down at her body revealed that it no longer looked doll-like. It was the body she’d possessed before merging with the Destroyer. It was just a whole lot smaller.

With her regained fingernails, Tyreen shredded the Typhon poster into a hundred confetti slivers.

It was all making sense now.

Someone had brought her back. Someone cared enough about her to revive her from the realm of the dead sirens, where everyone had unilaterally rejected and cast her out.

Ava. She remembered now. The Phaselock siren’s brat. No doubt that little punk had ill intentions. Probably wanted to torture her, or humiliate her, or both.

She didn’t have her siren tattoos anymore. Phaseleech had moved on to someone else. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own against some little wannabe siren.

Something’s missing.

She touched a hand to her chest, just below where her coat was buttoned around her throat. She could feel a section of her body that was no longer there. And it wasn’t the Destroyer.

This was a much more familiar lacking.

She peered over the edge of the bed. The book on imbuing souls into objects was right there. She’d just need another doll.

She’d climbed halfway down the ladder when the bedroom door slid open.

The giant ginger girl was standing there, staring in.

Staring at her.

Tyreen stared back for a minute. Then she dropped from the ladder, hit the floor and sprang back up as quick as possible. With her tiny new legs, she made a beeline for the door.

The girl stepped into the room. The door slammed behind her.

And just like that, Tyreen was trapped at the feet of a giant.

It wasn’t often Gaige was at a loss for words, but finding a tiny woman climbing the ladder of your bunk bed could do it.

She stared, mouth agape, as the woman glanced down at the floor, then back up at her. Then, in an instant, the woman dropped down and started running as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Gaige wasn’t sure what to think of the situation, but an alarm in her brain went off–you can’t let this thing escape. She slammed the Door Close button on the wall, and the heavy steel door came crashing down. The tiny woman stumbled from the quake of the door hitting the metal floor. Gaige took that opportunity to crouch down and study her.

The woman was wrapped up in multiple layers of leather clothing, topped by a coat with a massive collar and empty sleeve holes, as her arms poked out from under it. Her face was small even relative to her doll-sized body, with a scrunched nose and a pouty little mouth. Angled across her face was a vicious-looking scar, likely from the claws of some creature. The top of her head was stacked with thick hair dyed white, combed forward to obscure a bit of her face.

When Gaige got really close, she realized the woman had bright, ocean-blue eyes. They didn’t glow like Angel’s, though. They were very human in appearance.

The woman settled her hands on her hips as she stared up at Gaige, unflinching.

“What are you...?” Gaige asked. Her palms were on the floor now, so she could get as low as possible.

The woman had a cute face, but it turned ugly quick as she scowled. “I don't have to tell you anything, Dorkzilla.” She strutted off, back toward the bed. “I’ll be taking my leave now. With this.”

She tried to jump up onto the bed, but the lowest rung of the bunk ladder was too high for her to reach. With a growl, she started tugging on the side of the blanket instead. It barely moved.

Gaige came to stand over her. “What are you doing to my blanket?”

The woman answered her by grunting harder, backing up a few steps to pull the blanket as hard as she could. The bookbag on the bed slid about half an inch toward the edge.

She noticed its flap was open. The doll that had been inside was gone.

“Wait a minute.” Gaige reached down and grabbed the woman under the arms.

“Hey!” The woman lunged as if to bite, but stopped short when she realized Gaige had picked her up with her metal hand. “Put me down, you pasty freak!”

She’d seen this woman before. Not in real life, but in pictures. Posters. News articles.

“You’re Tyra Calypso,” she said.

The woman snarled. “I’m Tyreen Calypso, dumbass.”

“Tyreen, right.” Gaige cleared her throat. “Sorry. I’m still a little, um, drunk.”

“You’ll be sorry. Put me down, or suffer my divine wrath.”

Gaige brought Tyreen close to her face. She was a perfect little replica, like a human shrunken to action-figure size. No trace of her possible origin as an unfinished wood doll remained. Yet the doll was gone, and in its place was a living dead person of the same size. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

Tyreen initially struggled against Gaige’s hand, but when it became obvious Gaige’s grip was iron, she deflated. Flopping over like a wilting flower, she said, “So, what? You gonna torture me or something?”

“Torture you?”

She raised her tiny head, casting a baleful look upon Gaige. “You’re with those Crimson Raiders, aren’t you? They never liked me. They killed me and my brother just because we were more popular and more likeable than them.”

“Didn’t you try to devour the entire universe?”

“Wow, shame a girl for eating. How progressive of you.”

The pictures she’d seen all showed Tyreen with bright blue siren tattoos all over her left arm. This incarnation of Tyreen’s arms were bare.

“I don’t understand this.” Gaige carried Ty over to her workbench, once Lilith’s table. She set her gently upon it, then sat down at the table’s lone chair.

Tyreen took instantly to looking around. She was blatantly searching for an escape route. Of course, there wasn’t one. Alternate exits would be way too safe for a ship like Sanctuary.

“I don’t understand how this even happened,” Gaige murmured. She reached over and grabbed Ava’s tome out of the bookbag, then dropped it onto the table beside Tyreen. “Ava was trying to seal Maya into that doll, not you.”

“You think I had any control over this??” Tyreen slapped a hand over her chest. “I was just minding my own business in Siren Heaven, getting ignored by everybody because they’re all stuck-up bitches with sticks up their asses, and then the next second I’m six inches tall and in somebody’s living room!”

The book was written in symbols Gaige’s cyber eye could not translate. They were ornate and intricate, and looked to have been inked into the book by hand.

Tyreen must have seen the set to Gaige’s jaw as she studied the book. She smirked up at her. “Can’t read that, can you?”

“Just gotta figure out what language it is,” Gaige mumbled.

Tyreen flopped down on her stomach in front of the book, propping her chin up on one hand. “’Envision the spirit in your mind’s eye,” she read. “Conjure their essence with the strongest memories and feelings of the deceased that linger in your mind.’” Tyreen rolled over onto her back, blocking the top of the page. “That little brat must have been thinking about me. Not sure whether that’s flattering or creepy.”

“You can read this? And upside down?”

Tyreen stared up at one hand, examining her tiny fingernails. “I can read Eridian backwards, forwards, upside down, and sideways. I grew up on their home world, you know.”

She wasn’t sure how much to believe of this lady’s stories. Moze hadn’t told her a whole lot about the Calypsos–essentially that they were annoying, and then dead. The majority of the tales he’d told had been of the incredible Vault monsters they’d seen and slain in their war across the stars. The Calypsos seemed like more of a nuisance than anything.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she realized Tyreen was staring up at her now.

“So what’s your deal?” Ty asked, with what was apparently her typical amount of irreverence. “Never saw you when we were fighting over Vaults. You on house arrest or something?”

Don’t tell her anything. You don’t know what she’s capable of.

Gaige bit her tongue. She picked up another page of the book, shaking Ty off it so she could turn it over. Of course, this page was just as unreadable to her as the previous one.

“What’s your name?” Ty asked, apparently undeterred by Gaige’s lack of response the first time.

Gaige kept her mouth tightly shut. Externally, she was staring at the Eridian tome. Internally, she was stalling for time to figure out what the hell she should do next. She could feel Tyreen’s eyes boring into her every second of silence that passed between them.

Finally, Tyreen said, “So that dykey mech pilot, that’s Moze, right?” She shimmied back onto the page, plunking her butt right where Gaige was not-reading. “You and her a thing?”

She’d been doing so well staying silent, but she couldn’t let that pass uncorrected.

“Moze is a guy,” she said.

Tyreen’s smug demeanor sobered a little. “...Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Tyreen ran a hand through her thick hair. “I–I didn’t know that. I’m not, like–I'm an ally, and stuff. I wouldn’t say something like that on purpose.”

Gaige knitted her brows. “I see.”

“Anyway...” Tyreen took hold of the book’s leather binding and tugged it toward herself. “I need this book for a while. You won’t mind if I borrow it for a bit.”

Gaige planted her metal palm on it. “No, I think I will.”

“Kiiinda think you won’t.” Tyreen audibly strained to pull the book another inch with Gaige’s hand pushing it down. “Oh, come on!”

“I don’t even know what I’m gonna do with you yet.” Gaige picked the book up. Tyreen clung to it, dangling from the back cover until Gaige shook her off. “You tried to destroy the world!”

“Well of course it sounds bad when you say it like that.” Ty ran to the edge of the table to follow Gaige, who was sliding the book up into a high cabinet. “I said I need that!”

“For what?” Gaige snapped.

“None of your business!”

Gaige shut the cabinet tight. “You’re being awfully demanding for someone who’s trapped on a ship with an enemy force she lost against.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I got nothing more to lose. What are you gonna do, kill me again?”

“We could torture you.”

“Be more interesting than stupid Siren Heaven. I hate that fucking place.”

She wanted so badly to inquire further, but resisted the urge. “I’m gonna take you to Moze,” she said instead. “He’s our Tactical Advisor, so he should know we’ve got a hostile imprisoned on board.”

That changed Tyreen’s demeanor. “Wait. I don’t really wanna get tortured.”

Facing the door, Gaige said, “I’m sure he’ll just smack you around a little bit. Maybe cut off a few fingers.”

Tyreen laughed unsurely. “You’re just fucking with me.”

“Oh! Orr...” Gaige whipped around. “I could take you to my friend Angel instead. I’m sure she’d think you were just adorable.”

“Angel?” Tyreen’s smile was tense. “She a Crimson Raider?”

“Oh yeah. And an artist, too!” She pulled out her ECHO device and flicked her thumb to scroll through her texts with Angel. “She did fanart of you guys, actually.”

She pressed the screen up close to Tyreen’s face. Tyreen stared, blinking a few times, at the painting of herself and Troy full of maggot-chewed holes and bleeding from their eyes and mouths.

“She’s a siren, too,” Gaige said with a smile. “And she’s super besties with Tannis, the lady you crucified for a pledge drive last year.”

Tyreen pushed the ECHO away. “Okay, I get it. Everyone here wants me dead. It’s not my fault that kid summoned me back to the living world.”

There wasn’t a person Gaige could think of who hadn’t been involved in the COV war. Everyone from her closest friends to her most distant allies had a bone to pick with the Calypsos, and therefore wouldn’t be able to give her unbiased advice on what to do with this girl.

She wished she could ask her parents. The single time she’d tried to reach out to her dad, Holloway Robotics had traced the call and used it to send assassins after her. Possibly after her parents, too. She’d never been able to contact them afterward to find out.

Distracted by those wandering thoughts, she didn’t even notice Tyreen had moved. What finally alerted her was Ty throwing a pencil javelin-style at the Door Open button on the wall. With what little force Ty could generate, the pencil made it about halfway across the room before it took a sharp dip and hit the floor.

Gaige looked at the pencil, then at Tyreen. Tyreen shrugged.

It shouldn’t have been a debate. The second Gaige saw a doll possessed by a genocidal siren ghost, she should have smashed her to pieces with her heaviest hammer. That’s what I should be doing right now.

She grabbed Tyreen up off the floor again, wrapping her metal fingers tightly around the woman’s frail little body.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” Tyreen whacked at her fingers. “Put me down, freckleface. You’re not respecting my bodily autonomy at all.”

Gaige carried her over to her spare toolbox. It didn’t have the heaviest hammers she owned, but it would be enough to get the job done.

Tyreen glanced at the toolbox as Gaige knelt down in front of it. “What are you doing? You’re not gonna use those tools on me.”

The Calypsos and their allies had terrorized the six galaxies. It was accidental, but they’d still killed Maya, and they’d very nearly killed Tannis and Angel as well. They were dangerous. Having even one around was a risk too big to take.

Gaige set her down on the floor, then held her in place with two fingers while she retrieved a hammer from the bottom of the box.

Ty went wide-eyed at the sight of it. “What’s that for?”

Gaige pushed her down onto her back, then lined the hammer up with her head. The hammer drifted forward and backward as she mimed a few practice hits.

“H-hey, you’re not really gonna do this, right?” Tyreen laughed much too loudly. “You’re bluffing. Trying to scare me.”

Gaige swallowed. One good strike was all it would take to split the wood. If she was even still made of wood. For all she knew, she could hit this cursed doll and blood and brains could splatter out.

Tyreen’s eyes followed the hammer as it settled right between them.

“’Cause if you’re trying to scare me...”

Gaige took a deep breath, and raised the hammer high.

“Wait!”

The hammer came down. Tyreen screamed.

Inches away from the tiny face she was trying to demolish, Gaige’s hand froze. Tyreen was curled up and wailing. Real, actual tears, the same as any living being, beaded up and then rolled down the sides of her face.

“I don’t wanna die again!” she cried, her words punctuated by several hitched breaths. “It’s not fair! My life sucked! And my afterlife sucks! I just sit there all day by myself because nobody talks to me! Nobody likes me!” She devolved into incoherent wails, like an overtired infant.

Gaige lifted her hand off the other woman. Tyreen made no attempt to run. Instead she merely curled her knees up to her chin and continued to sob.

Gaige tried to remind herself that the Calypsos were ECHOnet personalities. She was probably at least a decent actress, and she’d definitely know how to manipulate people into getting her way.

This didn’t feel like acting, though.

Tyreen’s face was shiny and swollen from the intensity of her crying. At one point she wiped her nose on the back of her hand, and it came away with a string of mucous. Her eyes were bloodshot red, and there was thick, sticky drool in the corners of her mouth from all her open-mouth bawling.

This wasn’t the type of crying you did to charm viewers. This was a woman completely melting down.

Still, Gaige was cautious. “Nobody likes you because you tried to destroy the universe.”

Tyreen buried her face in her hands. Her miniscule shoulders quivered with every breath.

“Crying about it doesn’t negate the fact that you did try to destroy the universe,” Gaige continued.

Tyreen lay her head on one arm and nestled her face into it. Her weeping had gone quiet.

Gaige glanced at the hammer in her hand. Then she sat down on the floor.

“Why’d you wanna devour the world, anyway?” she asked.

At last, Tyreen lifted her head. She sniffed back more tears. “My brother and I grew up trapped on a dead planet. Our dad told us all these incredible stories about the universe, but would never let us see it.”

A faint memory of Moze’s stories drifted into her mind. “Your dad was Typhon DeLeon,” she said.

Tyreen scoffed. “Our whole lives, he told us we were freaks. But he made us that way. How could anyone be expected to grow up normal when you spent your formative years isolated from human society?” She wiped the dampness from her eyes. “We were like wild animals. Nobody wanted anything to do with us.”

Gaige set the hammer down. She then rested her organic hand, palm up, on the floor in front of her. Tyreen sat up a little. She stared at Gaige’s hand, then looked up at her. Gaige gave her a little nod.

Tyreen wandered over with great hesitation. She inspected each of Gaige’s fingers in turn. Then, still staring suspiciously up at Gaige, she climbed up onto her hand.

Gaige brought her up to chest level. Tyreen sat down to avoid falling off.

“Why did your dad tell you you were a freak?” Gaige asked. “’Cause you’re a siren?”

“’Cause I accidentally killed my mom.”

“You did??”

“I was a little kid. I really liked to get hugs from my mom. So one time I squeezed a little too hard, and...” She closed her left hand into a fist and made a slurping sound.

“Oh man. That’s horrifying.”

“Yeah, my life has kinda sucked right from the start. Literally.”

This was all beginning to sound quite familiar. “So your dad kept you and your brother imprisoned on Nekrotafeyo,” she said. “How’d you get off it?”

“We started building a ship in secret. Troy was always good with stuff like that, and I was good at finding the materials we needed.” A small, wistful smile played across her lips. “He was so fucking scared. He was like ‘We don’t know what’s out there, Ty!’” The smile faded. “Then you people killed him.”

“I’m told he came after ‘us people’ with a sword and tried to murder us so he could crash the moon into Pandora.”

Tyreen laughed. “Yeah. He did.”

Gaige wasn’t exactly sure what to do at that point. It felt like she was holding an aggressive, venomous animal, one that hadn’t struck yet but could at any time. She wasn’t even sure why she’d let this tiny murder-siren sit on her hand to begin with. It was just hard to leave someone sobbing on the floor, friend or foe.

Tyreen was looking up toward the cabinet again.

“You said nobody talks to you in the siren afterlife,” Gaige said. “What about your brother?”

Ty leveled her with an exhausted glare. “Let me put it to ya this way, Raider. We’re in a place filled with nothing but women, most of whom haven’t so much as seen a man in centuries.”

“Ohh.”

“Yeah. So he’s busy.” Tyreen hopped down off Gaige’s hand, bouncing off her knee before hitting the floor. “So did I tell you enough sob story? Are you not gonna kill me with a hammer now?”

Once again, she was seized in Gaige’s grip. “Oh come on!”

“Sorry. Sob story or not, I don’t trust you.” She brought her back over to the toolbox.

She could feel the living doll in her hand starting to pant. “You’re still gonna kill me?! After I told you my tragic backstory?!”

Gaige grabbed the toolbox with her free hand. She picked it up by one side. Tools spilled all over the floor.

Tyreen looked over each and every one of them. Screwdrivers, heavy wrenches, and fresh, sharp utility knives. Gaige could feel her start to tremble.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Ty said. Her voice was hoarse, and her mouth sounded dry. “We could be friends. We could–we could be gal pals, or something. I don’t know. Or hell, we could be enemies. But like, in a fun, rivalry sorta way, where you don’t kill the other one. Or–or–”

Gaige dropped her into the toolbox, where she landed with a whuf. Before she could say another word, Gaige slammed the box shut and hooked its tiny padlock.

Immediately the lid started jumping up and down. The padlock held fast.

Are you serious?! Tyreen’s muffled voice was barely audible through the thick tin. Let me out of here, you bitch!

“I’ll come back for you.” Gaige gave the lid a reassuring tap. “I just need to figure out what to do with you when I do.”

Okay, well, you can forget about us being gal pals OR friendly rivals now. The second I’m out of here, it’s on sight.

“’Kay. I’ll be back in a while.”

The next time Moze came across Gaige, she was wandering the ship with a distant gaze. That wasn’t unusual for her. If he asked, she’d probably spring forth with a hundred ideas she was having all at once.

She seemed not to notice him as he approached. She was staring up at the posters on the wall near the lockers. Specifically, she was looking at the Typhon one.

“Hey,” Moze said softly.

In spite of his best efforts, she startled. “Hi.” She sounded out of breath when she whipped around to face him.

He offered her an uncertain smile. “You okay?”

She searched his face for a moment before saying, “Yeah.”

She wasn’t a very good liar, but Moze wasn’t about to make her uncomfortable. He lifted his hand a bit, and Gaige met him without hesitation, knitting their fingers together.

“Lorelei gets off work at two today, so we were gonna hang out afterward.” Moze gave her hand a light squeeze. “If you’re not busy, I think it’d be cool if you joined us. She really wants to get to know you better.”

“Oh. Lorelei.” Gaige’s stare was still distant. “Um. I don’t know if I can. I’m still wanted on Promethea, and...”

Gaige was still weird about Lor. If she could just get to know her, Moze had decided, she’d realize there was nothing to be weird about. But that involved getting Gaige to agree to a hangout with the three of them. So far, she’d avoided it entirely.

“Well...” Moze cleared his throat. “She’s, uh, coming here. So.”

“She’s coming here?!”

“Yeah. We got some bootlegged movies we’re gonna watch.”

“Oh.” Gaige cast a glance behind her. That Typhon poster again. “Uh...when she’s gonna get here?”

“Probably like half an hour?”

He had to step back as Gaige pushed her way out of the corner and wandered over to the door leading to her room’s hall. She looked at that door, and then at Moze, and then said,

“Okay. Half an hour. I’ll, um...I’ll be there. Sure.”

She started off for the door. Moze wanted to stop her, but he wasn’t sure what to say. It was obvious she was bothered by Lorelei’s presence. He could only hope that would change if they managed to spend some time together.

Now he just had to convince Lorelei to come to Sanctuary instead of their agreed-upon meeting at her flat.

Half an hour.

She had half an hour to get this situation resolved.

The moment she stepped back into her room, the banging from the toolbox restarted with a fury.

The second I find a way out of here, I’m gonna murder you. I’m big enough to carry a knife.

Gaige picked the toolbox up and set it on the bed. Then she sat down beside it. Tyreen was audibly kicking the inside of the box.

“I gotta talk to you,” Gaige said. “Stop kicking.”

The kicking intensified.

Gaige picked the box up and gave it a little shake. “I said stop kicking. This is important.”

Fuck you. I’m gonna command my disciples to eat you at our next ceremonial dinner.

“Pretty much everybody on this ship wants you dead except me,” Gaige said. “And in half an hour, someone else is coming on board who will definitely kill you if she discovers you.”

Tyreen scoffed. And who’s that?

“You know Lorelei? The barista who wiped the floor with your Maliwan allies despite having zero combat experience?”

Tyreen was quiet for a moment.

“You remember her?”

Yeah.

“Yeah, so she’s coming over in a little while, and she wants to hang out with me. Which means there’s a chance she might come in my room. Which means she might hear you squawking from my toolbox.”

There came no response from Tyreen.

Gaige tapped a finger on the top of the box. “So you understand why that’s an issue?”

I’m not scared of some lame barista, Tyreen said weakly.

“Well ya probably should be. She’s pretty scary. And also she’s gotten a lot bulkier since she’s been on T.”

I’m not scared of some bulky, testosterone’d-up barista, Tyreen said.

Gaige sighed. “Okay, look. Whether you’re scared of her or not, I don’t want people knowing you’re here. It’ll reflect badly on me for not smashing you to pieces when I had the chance.”

And how is that my problem, you ginger geek?

Gaige swallowed a growl. “All right. Fine.” She took a slow, deep breath to steady herself. “I have a solution.”

A movie marathon could go on for hours. The longer she left Tyreen locked in a tiny metal box, the angrier and more bent on revenge she was going to become. And she couldn’t just set her free to run amok through the ship.

There was only one viable solution. And it would depend entirely on a certain God-Queen's willingness to cooperate.

She popped the toolbox’s padlock open.

Tyreen had apparently been sitting inside the box, palms flat on the “floor” behind her. The moment the lid opened, her head snapped up.

“I have a diplomatic proposal,” Gaige said.

For all her talk while locked in, when the box was open Tyreen didn’t do anything. She just sat there, looking up at Gaige with round, damp eyes.

“What do you want from me?”

Gaige offered her hand again. Tyreen turned her nose up.

Barely stifling an eyeroll, Gaige said, “I think you should come with me. These shorts have pretty deep pockets, and that way I can keep an eye on you without having to lock you-”

“I’m not gonna hang out in your shorts.” Tyreen sprang to her feet. “I can smell your B.O. from here. Can't even imagine what kinda cooch stink you got going on down there.”

Gaige shut the box again.

Hey!

“I changed my mind.” Gaige clicked the padlock shut as well. “You’re gonna stay in the toolbox.”

Oh, what, because I said you probably have cooch stink? You're so damn sensitive!

Gaige opened one of the wall cabinets and slid the toolbox inside. Before she shut the door, Tyreen said,

Okay, okay, I’m sorry I said that. If it makes you feel any better, you probably don’t smell worse than my brother. Dude had B.O. like nothing you ever smelled before. Like he was smuggling a dead fish in his pants.

“Yeah, so you were just being a bitch about me for no reason,” Gaige said.

You’re a Crimson Raider. I have to be a bitch to you.

“Well you’re an annoying cult leader who killed my friend Maya, and I’m not being a bitch to you.”

Well aren’t you just a saint?

Gaige closed the cabinet. As an afterthought, she fished out the little set of keys that hung on a nail nearby, found the one that fit into the cabinet lock, and locked it tight.

Yeah, yeah, lock me in good. I didn’t want to tag along on your stupid hangout, anyway.

With Tyreen dealt with for the moment, Gaige turned her attention to getting ready for the surprise visit. She put on her favorite scarlet lipstick, a little bit of eyeshadow, and her favorite forest green eyeliner, and, after checking herself in her fingerprint-stained compact mirror, decided she looked good enough. She let her hair down and brushed it a few times, then sprayed it with a leave-in in desperate hope of taming at least a small percentage of her split ends.

As a last step, she opened her makeup bag again and fished out the tiny bottle of perfume she kept stashed in there. It was called “Allure”, and she wasn’t sure what was in it, but according to the ECHOnet it was supposed to turn men on when they smelled it. So far it hadn’t seemed to have worked on Moze any, but it was better than smelling like B.O. and coochie stink.

Her ECHO device buzzed. A text from Moze.

Laura lie hair

Before she could question that, she got another message.

Here

Laurel lie

Stupid phone

Any other time she would have laughed about his never-ending battle with modern technology, but the subject matter had her feeling nauseous instead. She’s here.

She took a deep, shivery breath. Calm down. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s not.

Chapter Text

Lorelei was the kind of person Gaige should have loved. She was a fighter for the working class, a bold icon of gender expression, and a queer punk with true punk ideologies. She was cool and badass and not afraid of calling out anyone’s bullshit, right up to billionaire CEOs and corporate overlords.

Yet every time Gaige saw her, all she could feel was a knot in her stomach.

“Heyyy.” Lorelei sauntered in with a stack of movies, a box of pizza and a six-pack of grape soda rested on top of the pizza. “Brought pizza. S’probably cold, since I wasn’t plannin’ on comin’ this far, but...”

Moze brightened the moment she stepped into the room. Gaige pretended not to notice as he hurried to her side to help her with her armful of food and drink.

Sanctuary had a quote-unquote “home theater” in the lower level of the ship–it was an unused storage room with a dirty old couch, a mini fridge, and a TV they’d swiped from the COV’s Holy Broadcast Center long before Gaige had returned to the Raiders. Gaige had built a scrap metal entertainment center so the TV didn’t have to be on the floor, and with leftover scrap she’d built a simple coffee table that was mostly used as a footrest by couch inhabitants.

Like everywhere on Sanctuary, the lighting was awful. Thankfully they didn’t need more than a few dim overhead bulbs to get a movie set up. It could have also made for some nice mood lighting, if Moze’s random friend wasn’t thrown into the mix.

“So how’ve things been in Meridian, dude?” Moze flipped open the pizza box and grabbed himself a slice. The pizza hung flat and dripped grease, but the stringiness of the cheese dangling from the edges said it was still hot, at least.

In contrast to Moze’s more subtle changes, Lorelei had changed fairly drastically on T. Or maybe it was because Gaige saw Moze every single day, and Lorelei only sometimes. Her cheeks had changed shape and her body had shifted, redistributing its weight to different areas. Her arms had more defined muscle, and she had a hint of shadowy stubble around her chin and lips. She was handsome, Gaige had to admit.

“Eh, same as.” Lorelei slipped the biggest slice of pizza onto a grease-soaked paper plate from inside the box. Then she offered it to Gaige. “’Lo there, Miss Gaige. You all right?”

“I-I’m fine.” Gaige stared at the piece of pizza for a while before she realized Lor was waiting for her to take it. “Oh. Thanks.”

When Gaige had first met Lorelei, she’d had her head shaved on one side and long on the other. Now she was rocking a mini mohawk, with both sides of her head shaved close. It was still dyed the same teal color, though. Gaige wanted to tell her how cool it looked, but found it hard to say anything. Lor’s entire vibe was cool. Way cooler than a nerd like herself.

Moze popped half the sodas in the mini fridge, then set the rest on the coffee table. “So we met some of your guys in the Demolition Derby the other day,” he said.

Lorelei grinned. “I heard.”

“We woulda won if they hadn’t knocked Gaige out of the car.”

Lorelei plunked herself down on the couch. “Hmm. Nah, I don’t think you would’ve won. I saw that Lancer. Things’s a bloody monster.”

“Yeah, true.” Moze joined her on the couch. “So whaddya got for movies, man?”

Lorelei set the stack down on the coffee table and fanned out the cases. They were all plain black cases with white paper inserts and titles written on in black marker.

“’Kay, so I got ‘Edenian Nights’, ‘Attack of the Twelve Foot Skeleton’, Guardians Vs. Predators-” She pointed to the middle one. “This one’s got hard-coded Russian subtitles, though.”

“Not a problem for me,” Moze said.

She pointed to the one on the right. “Aaand this one’s got a huge watermark through the whole video from the site I downloaded it from. Oh, and Edenian Nights is in Spanish, but it’s got English voices dubbed over it. You can still kinda hear the Spanish, though.”

“Man, maybe we shoulda just bought legit copies of these movies,” Moze said.

“Pfft. Next you’ll be saying I should pay for my own ECHOnet service instead of using my neighbor’s.”

Gaige looked over the movie cases. They had a layer of grime to them, as though they’d been re-used many times for many different movies.

“Oh! Forgot I put two discs in this case.” A second disc bounced out of one of the cases when Lorelei picked it up. In thick marker, the disc was labeled CAR WASH HIMBOS III.

“Um, we’re not gonna watch this one,” Lorelei added.

“I’d watch that one,” Gaige said.

Moze leaned around Lorelei to nod at Gaige. “You can watch me wash Iron Bear later.”

Gaige smirked. “Only if you do it in booty shorts.”

Lorelei pawed through the stack of movies. “Oh! Here’s a good one.” She plucked a particularly-grimy case from the pile. “’It Came From...THE MOOOON!!’”

Moze recoiled. “No. Dude, you know I hate the moon.”

“You hate the moon?” Gaige said.

“I saw a trailer for this one,” Lor said. “They find out the moon is a big living thing and it’s watchin’ us.”

Moze shook his head. “Horrible. I hate it already.”

With a sinister grin, Lorelei loomed over Moze. “All this time it’s been waiting...watching...and now it’s ready to...”

She grabbed Moze’s arm. He yelped and jumped right out of his seat.

“Why do you hate the moon?” Gaige was stuck on that point. “Is it like, all moons? Or one in particular that pisses you off?”

Before Moze sat back down, he whacked Lorelei in the side of the head. She whined. “My homeworld doesn’t have a moon,” he explained. “So seeing everybody act like it’s normal that these big fucking things just hang in the sky is weird as shit to me. Like, what if it falls?”

Lorelei touched a hand to her chest. “What Mozey-boy doesn’t know is that I, his bestest friend and closest bro, am, in fact, from a moon.”

Moze studied Lorelei. “...What?”

“I’m Elpisian, mate. You can’t tell by the damn accent?”

“I thought...” Moze searched her face. “I thought Elpis accents were different. They don’t sound like you.”

“It’s a regional dialect.”

Moze gaped at her. “Dude. You’re a fucking moon man?”

Lorelei nodded. “Sorry to betray you like this.”

Moze grabbed Gaige and pulled her down between the two of them.

“Um...” Gaige cleared her throat. “I’m from Eden-5, remember?”

Moze blinked. “Yeah. So?”

Gaige looked at Lorelei. Lorelei was looking at her, barely suppressing a grin.

“The Edens are a system of moons,” she reminded him.

His confused expression melted into horror. “You’re both moon people?!”

The two of them cracked up. Moze’s eyes flicked from one to the other, mouth slightly agape.

“This has been our plan right along, Mozey.” Lorelei reached for him again. He scooted away. “Now we’ve got you cornered. We’re gonna capture you. We’re gonna bring you to our moon lords. And we’re gonna...”

She made a gesture of sticking her pointer finger up into something.

“...Wait, you’re gonna finger me?” Moze slid closer again. “That might not be so bad.”

Gaige leaned forward, blocking their view of each other. Turning to Moze, she said, “If anything I’d be doing the fingering, not your friend.”

Both Lorelei and Moze dropped their smiles. Gaige folded her arms and looked away.

Lorelei tapped Gaige on the arm. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to cross any boundaries. That’s just how I banter. Wasn’t thinking about it.”

The sincerity of the apology surprised her. Gaige tried to hang on to her anger for whatever proud reason, but found she couldn’t get a good grip on it after that.

“Thanks,” she ended up saying. “I get it, though. I don’t wanna stifle you guys’ friendship.”

“Eh, I can refrain from saying I’m gonna stick my finger up Moze’s butt. Don’t think it’ll hurt our friendship any.”

Moze didn’t say anything. This was his and Lorelei’s time, and Gaige had already interfered. Now every interaction would feel stilted, with Lorelei trying to make sure she didn’t upset Gaige. Gaige bit her lip.

You ruin everything.

“So you wanna watch the moon movie?” Lorelei waved it enticingly in front of Moze. “If ya get scared, you can hold on to your girl.”

“I’m not scared of the moon, dude. I just...don’t like it.” Moze folded his arms. “Whatever, let’s watch that one. It won’t scare me.”

Gaige picked her pizza up off the coffee table and took a nibble. As she was leaning back against the couch again, she felt an arm slip around her waist. Moze pulled her in close. She giggled and took another bite of her pizza, then offered her nibbled slice to Moze. He took a chomp out of it.

“All righty, moon movie’s a go, then.” Lorelei got up and fed the disc into the ancient player under the TV. “Hope nobody gets too scared.”

“Who’d get scared?” Moze scoffed. “It’s just a big rock. Possibly full of alien life. Possibly watching us back. Nothing to be scared of at all.”

Gaige had red marks on her right arm from Moze clutching her. He hadn’t let go of her once during the entire movie, and his grip was only getting tighter.

Lorelei had spread out across the unoccupied two couch cushions, sitting her socked feet practically on Gaige’s lap. Gaige might have had some witty banter about it if she wasn’t busy getting squeezed like a wrung-out sponge.

“You–you don’t think this could really happen, do you,” Moze said, as the moon in the movie began to move closer to the surface of the poor planet it orbited. “I mean, Phaselock can move moons, but Ava wouldn’t do that. So we should be safe. Right?”

Gaige tipped her head back to see him curled up around her. “Aw, babe,” she said with a frown. “If you’re too scared, we can shut it off.”

“I’m not scared. I’m just...disaster planning. A soldier has to be ready for anything.”

Gaige gave him a smooch on the cheek.

“Y’know Elpis cracked wide open before I was born,” Lorelei said. “Nobody knows what caused it...or what might’ve come out.”

Gaige narrowed her eyes at her. “I thought it was just from DAHL over-mining the place.”

Lorelei shrugged. “Could be. Could also be that something wanted out of there.”

Moze’s fingers sank deeper into the flesh of Gaige’s arm.

The moon in the movie clearly had something living on it. A close-up from a shaky handheld camera revealed that tiny dark spots were swarming across its pale white surface. The characters in view of the camera were all pointing up at it, making stupid shocked faces.

Moze’s grip on Gaige eased. Gaige thought maybe his hands had finally gotten tired of grabbing her, or that his fear had receded a bit in the face of such cheesy acting.

Then, a minute later, his ECHO device was pushed in front of Gaige’s face.

“Tannis says the gravitational force of most planets would pull a moon apart if it got too close,” he said.

Another reply from Tannis popped up, longer than the first. “She also says ‘Of course, the planet would then be subjected to a barrage of moon debris,” Gaige read. “It would start with the smallest pieces, and end with the largest. And the ones that burned up in the atmosphere would generate so much thermal energy that the planet would likely become unlivable.’” Another message popped up. “She wants to know if you’ve taken in an interest in cosmic catastrophes. She says she has some wonderful books she can recommend.”

Moze took the ECHO back.

“That’s pretty messed up if you think about it,” Lorelei said. Her words were punctuated by a slurp of soda. “Like, if anything on that scale changes even a little bit, we’re all dead.”

“Eh, humans have survived worse,” Gaige said. “I mean, look what happened to Earth.”

The people in the movie were running away. Not like there was anywhere they could run to that would be safe from the tiny moon specks, whatever they were.

Lorelei took another slug of her drink. “I’m still not convinced Earth was a real place,” she said. “You’re tellin’ me every human being in the universe fit on one bloody planet?”

“You don’t believe in Earth?!” The cheesy music of the movie swelled in the background, nearly drowning Gaige out. “Where do you think we came from?!”

Lorelei set her can down. “I dunno. Just feels like one of those feel-good stories you tell little kids. Like ‘don’t be mean to each other, we all came from the same planet! And when we die, we all go to the same big happy place with cotton candy clouds and waterfalls made of chocolate pudding.’”

Gaige frowned. “That’s an awfully cynical take.”

“I’m an awfully cynical person.”

Her interest in the movie was long gone. Gaige craned her neck back to behold Moze again. “You believe in Earth, right?” Her question lacked the indignance she’d intended.

Moze studied her face for a minute. “...I don’t know.”

“What!” Gaige slammed a palm on the couch cushion. “How can you not believe Earth existed?? It was–I mean, they have evidence of it. Not a whole lot, ‘cause...’cause most of it was destroyed, but...”

Lorelei and Moze were both looking at her with small frowns of their own.

“...I like to believe we all came from the same place,” she said. Her voice came out small and hollow. “It’s nice to think that, a million years ago, our ancestors maybe all hung out together on the same planet.”

Lorelei’s face softened. “I guess that’s a nice thought,” she said. “And I guess humans did have to start somewhere.”

Gaige smiled a little. “Yeah. And we know when we die there’s all sorts of funky stuff, too, so maybe-”

“Lor doesn’t believe in that stuff, either,” Moze said.

“Oh.”

Lorelei shrugged.

“Well, I never used to believe in it, either,” Gaige said. “But after the stuff we saw on Xylourgos...and Angel and Maya...”

“It’s true, dude.” Moze looked over Gaige at Lorelei. “We’ve seen real ghosts.”

“Okay, I don’t wanna believe in ghosts,” Lorelei said. “I want to believe that when I die, I finally get to just sleep.”

“Nah. Apparently you have to work a ghost job to pay rent in the afterlife.”

Lorelei sat up a little. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true, dude. You’re gonna be a ghost barista serving coffee to other ghosts for minimum wage.”

“Shut up.” Lorelei kicked Moze in the shoulder. “Stop lying to me.”

“If ghost capitalism exists, I’m giving up,” Gaige added, laying her head back against the couch.

“Girl, same,” Lorelei sighed.

“I dunno.” Moze studied his dirty fingernails. “Capitalism hasn’t been too bad so far. I get money and I buy cool stuff with it.”

Gaige and Lorelei started to reply at the same time. Then they both stopped to let the other speak.

“Got a lot to say, huh?” Lorelei added with a chuckle.

“I always have a lot to say. Especially about capitalism.”

“Gaige loves to talk,” Moze piped up. “But I love to listen, so it works out.”

Gaige felt her cheeks go warm. “Aww.”

The moon specks in the movie were making their way to the planet’s surface now. Giant blips of light flashed all across the sky, streaking toward the terrified humans. The moment they made contact with the planet, the dropship-looking things sprouted tentacles and started crawling toward the onlookers.

“That’s what Tyreen Calypso looked like before we killed her,” Moze said with a smirk.

Gaige tensed.

Lorelei nodded. “I remember the selfies.”

Gaige eyed him. “You took selfies with Tyreen?”

Moze snorted. “With what was left of her.”

“Oh.”

Of course, the next thing to happen was that Moze’s ECHO was pushed into Gaige’s view. Moze, Amara, Zane, Fl4k, and Mr. Chew were all packed into the frame, making various faces at the camera. In the middle of the picture, the thing they were all crowded around, a bloodied body was lying sprawled out on the ground. Even riddled with holes, Gaige recognized the face. Her eyes were open, but unfocused, and her white hair was matted and streaked with blood. Her mouth hung open, jaw, like the rest of her lifeless body, slack.

Even in death, her mangled corpse looked like it was in tremendous pain.

Pain she’d brought on herself, but still.

Moze seemed to be waiting for a reaction from Gaige that didn’t come. Gaige simply stared at the photo for a while, silent. Eventually he lowered the device.

“...Probably looks awful out of context,” he murmured. “But she sucked. She kept trying to kill us. And her lame brother killed Maya.”

Gaige fished out her own ECHO device. After a few dozen thumb flicks, she’d finally scrolled back far enough. She handed her device to him.

A slow grin formed on his face as he took in the picture of Gaige and her companions posed around Jack’s body. Zer0 was holding him up by his hair while Gaige was sticking her tongue out at him. Everyone else, including Lilith, was clustered around in the background, grinning and posing.

“I guess Vault Hunters don’t really change,” he said.

After Moze had seen it, Gaige opted to show it to Lor. “Aw, look at you,” she cooed. “You look so young! When did you start Vault hunting?”

“I had just turned eighteen.”

“Holy crap. And your parents were okay with that?”

Gaige grimaced. “Kiiinda had no choice.”

Lor’s expression changed. “They didn’t kick you out, did they?”

“Oh. No.” She shook her head, then pushed her fallen bangs out of her eyes. “It’s a long story. Short version is I killed my classmate and fled to Pandora to avoid getting arrested.”

She’d gotten used to shocking people with that statement, but Lor barely flinched. “Ohh.”

“Can we maybe switch to another movie?” Moze nodded at the screen. Faceless creatures with pale, cratered skin were lunging at the human characters. “I don’t wanna think about moon monsters anymore tonight.”

Lorelei looked to Gaige. “What do you think? Have we tormented him enough?”

Gaige giggled. “Um...” She looked over at Moze. His scarred cheeks were pulled into a taut frown directed at the screen. “Yeah, he’s had enough.”

Lorelei stuck her finger in the hole of a lone disc on the table. “So...Car Wash Himbos III, then?”

“Yes. Yes!!”

Moze nodded weakly. “Fine. Whatever.”

Moon monsters may have freaked him out, but his movie night with moon people was a surprising hit. Gaige had been weird at first, but she warmed up to Lorelei pretty quick, and after bonding over watching shirtless dudes wash cars, they were like fast friends. It couldn’t have been a bigger relief to Moze–he’d been worrying about their reactions to each other for a long while.

Still, the I’ve got some stuff to tell you that Lorelei had said to him earlier lingered in the back of his mind.

They held a brief intermission between movies, allowing Gaige time to run to the bathroom while Moze cleaned up the trash they’d generated from their snacking. He folded and crushed the pizza box into a trash bag, then turned around to grab the empty soda cans off the table. To his surprise, he found Lorelei standing right behind him, cans in hand.

“Oh, thanks.” He held the trash open so she could throw them away.

“’Course.” She nudged his elbow with her own. “This is nice,” she added. “We should do it more often.”

He smiled a little. “Yeah, it’s been fun so far. I’m glad you and Gaige are getting along.”

“Oh, what, you thought I’d be rude to her or something?” She pushed her face into his. “Am I ever rude?!”

“No, never.” He pushed her away. She gave him a smack on the shoulder.

At such close proximity, the aroma of coffee and cigarettes woven into every fiber of her clothes nearly overwhelmed his senses. In an instant, he was thrown back into the nights they’d spent together what felt like a lifetime ago. Waking up to find her fast asleep on the pillow beside him, the only time she didn’t look stressed. The delight he took in tucking her in and just lying there quietly beside her as the sun trickled in on her shining hair and warm skin.

“What did you want to tell me?” he asked.

“Huh?” Lorelei withdrew a bit. “What do you mean?”

Moze swallowed. He’d almost rather not know. “You said you had stuff to tell me. When we texted.”

He thought back on the sweetness of her sleepy eyes when she first coaxed them open, widening at the sight of Moze still there beside her. The way she’d taken hold of his hand in her half-asleep state, as if she needed reassurance that he was really there.

Lorelei brightened at the explanation. “Oh! Well, it’s not really a big deal or anything. Just been doing some thinking, and...”

Moze tried to remain stoic as he waited for the rest of the sentence.

Lorelei rubbed the back of her neck. “Just...was thinkin’ of changing my name. Sorta.”

He hadn’t even realized he’d lowered his head until he snapped it back up. “Oh?”

“Yeah. ‘Lorelei’ is so bloody girly. Gonna be a pain in the bollocks to change everything legally, but...”

“What are you thinking?”

“For a name?” She shrugged. “I had some ideas, but...think I’ll probably just shorten it to ‘Lor’.”

That was it? That was what she’d wanted to tell him?

“Oh, yeah,” Moze said, trying to sound more enthusiastic than relieved. “That’d work! And I mean, I already call you that, anyway.”

“Exactly. And it’s not feminine.”

The fear that had taken up residence in his heart since that text began to slowly ebb away. “I love that for you, dude,” he said. “Lor. It’s perfect.”

When she smiled, every last bit of that fear dissipated. “Thanks, man. And also...”

The fear came right back. Oh no.

“Much as I like having fucky gender pronouns and confusing cis people,” Lor said, “I think I’d prefer people use he/him for me these days.”

“Oh. Okay.” Moze nodded again. “Totally.”

Lor searched his face with that knowing look. “What did you think I was gonna tell you?”

Moze coughed. “I dunno.”

Returning to the couch, Lor said, “Oh yeah. I also met someone the other day.”

Moze balked.

The laughter that followed told him he’d been played. “Knew it,” Lor said. “You can’t be all possessive over me when you have a bloody girlfriend, you manwhore!”

“I know.” Moze stared down at the greasy, soda-stained trash bag. “I’m not.”

Lor pulled his feet up onto the couch. “I mean, if you guys were like, an open relationship, I’d totally be getting in on that. But...”

Moze snorted. “Dude.”

“What? We’ve got all the makings of a great queer punk polycule here. Don’t tell me we don’t.”

Moze closed up the trash bag. “I don’t even wanna know what that means.”

Gaige somehow came back from her bathroom break with more food–specifically a 2-liter bottle of orange soda and a tub of ice cream with three bowls perched on top. She set it all down on the table, then handed a bowl to each of them.

“Ooh, what kind of ice cream?” Lor asked, eyeing it hungrily.

Gaige popped the lid off the carton, revealing that it was Neapolitan.

“Oh, nice.” He stuck his spoon in without waiting for anyone else.

Once Lor had scooped out as much as he wanted, Gaige offered the tub to Moze. He pushed it back toward her. With a shrug, she scooped out her fill. Moze took the small amount that was left over.

Gaige pulled her legs up onto the couch and plunked the bowl down on her lap. “This is fun,” she said, seemingly more to herself than to Moze or Lor. “I’m having a good time.”

An easy smile spread across Lor’s lips as he set the ice cream down on the armrest behind him. “Me, too. Glad I came all this way after all.”

“Just wait until Gay Bowling Night,” Moze piped up. “We’re gonna kill it.”

“I said I’m not going to that thing,” Lor said. “I don’t bowl.”

“So? Neither do I.” Moze took a small bite of strawberry ice cream. It was disgustingly sweet. “I don’t think any of us do.”

“Maybe we can place bets,” Gaige said. Her sentences were broken up by the faint smacking of her lips as she gobbled down the chocolate portion of her bowl. “I’m betting on the other team.”

“You don’t even know who’s gonna be on the other team yet.”

“That’s how confident I am in the three of us!”

On Gaige’s other side, Lor was watching her with amusement in his eyes. Moze took a small bite of his ice cream, trying not to think about the conversation that had taken place while Gaige was out of the room.

Lor would get involved in their relationship if he could? Was that a thing people did? He definitely only liked dudes, so how would it work with him and Gaige? Why was Moze even thinking on details like this was a real possibility?

“I don’t know,” Lor piped up. “Maybe I’ll go. For you guys.”

Gaige giggled. “That’s exactly what Moze said you would say.”

“Did he now?”

“I know you, dude.”

“Well fuck, I don’t wanna be predictable. Forget it. I’ll stay home and...I don’t know. Shave my non-existent balls.”

Moze sat back and took another bite, trying not to smirk.

“Well I hope you go, ‘cause it’s gonna be a blast.” Gaige flexed her metal fingers. “I’ll finally get to test out how Anarchy stacks with bowling balls!”

“Hm. Don’t know what that means, but it does sound like a good time.” Lor pointed his spoon at Moze. “If it’s not a good time, you’re gonna owe me.”

“If it’s not a good time, I’ll clean your fish tank for a month.”

Gaige raised an eyebrow at him.

“What? Lor has a fish tank.”

“It’s an aquarium, actually,” Lor said, waving a dismissive hand. “Not that I’d expect you non-fish-dads to know the difference.”

“Fine, I’ll clean your aquarium, fish dad.”

Lor folded his arms. “Okay. Deal.”

It soon became evident that they weren’t going to bother with another movie. That was fine by Moze. Just hanging out, eating ice cream with two of his favorite people was enough for a simple man like him.

He slipped his arm around Gaige. With that arm outstretched, he bumped Lor in the arm with his knuckles. Lor grabbed his wrist and twisted the skin, giving him instant rope burn.

“Ow.”

It was nearly midnight by the time Lor finally headed out. Moze had told him he could stay, that they had spare beds he could use, but, in his typical fashion, he had work in five hours, and would need every second in the morning to shake himself awake for it.

Moze had walked Lor to the Fast Travel station, as attentive as he was with Gaige. Gaige hung back a few steps, trying not to overthink it.

“Maybe this should turn into a routine,” he said as he leaned against the Fast Travel, watching Lor punch in his destination.

Lor’s smile was warm when he turned it on Moze. “Yeah. I think I’d like that.” His eyes then drifted past Moze, settling on Gaige. The warmth remained. “It was nice to finally get to know you, Miss Gaige. Hope we can do it again soon.”

Gaige felt her cheeks warm. “Of course!”

With a button press and a flash of light, he was gone. Moze’s gaze lingered on where his friend had been.

“He was nice,” Gaige said.

Moze turned quickly, as though he’d nearly forgotten she was there. “Oh. Yeah. He’s great.”

She wasn’t sure how to tell him she’d overheard some of their conversation while she was on her way back with the ice cream. Lor had all but outright stated he still had feelings for Moze. And Moze hadn’t shot him down. Of course, this was all discussed privately, when Moze’s naggy not-even-girlfriend wasn’t around.

Still, she’d gotten a good feeling from Lor. Underneath a rough exterior, he was clearly caring. Gentle. Warm. He was the kind of person Gaige would love to hang around with under normal circumstances.

Moze took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’m really glad it went well,” he said. “You and Lor both mean a lot to me, y’know?”

Gaige squeezed his fingers. “I’m sorry I was a baby about it at first.”

“It’s cool. I don’t always react to stuff the right way, either.” They held hands as Moze walked her to her room. Along the way, he brushed some of his scruffy, grown-out hair back over his shoulder and gave a little nod, maybe to himself. “But I think you and Lor will get along good.” He chuckled a little too loudly. “In fact, he was actually mentioning something crazy about, like, an open relationship type deal, but I mean, I don’t think you’d be interested in that. You wouldn’t be interested in that, right?”

Moze’s words fell away from her ears as Gaige locked on to movement in front of them. Her bedroom door was lifted a crack. Not even an inch. Not enough to be noticeable to anyone on its own.

Underneath it, a tiny arm was reaching out, clawing at the air.

“I mean, Lor’s gay,” Moze continued, “so I don’t really know how that would work, but...”

The tiny hand swiped at the leg of an unknowing passerby. It just barely missed grabbing it.

Gaige broke her hand away from Moze’s. “That’s great,” she said. “That all sounds great. I, uh, gotta go. Check on Deathtrap.” She backed away from him, holding eye contact the entire time. “I got some pizza grease in my digistructor, and, uh...” She waggled her metal arm, as if that explained anything.

She was careful to position her legs to block any view of the little arm under the door. The second she got close enough, it grabbed her shoelace and started pulling at it.

“Wait, you think it sounds great?” Moze lit up. “I mean, I’ve been thinking maybe, like, that was part of why I was scared to commit all the way, y’know? ‘Cause, like, I knew Lor first, and...but if you were okay with it, then–”

Gaige leaned way too far forward, hesitant to move her feet, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Um, let’s talk about this later maybe. I’m just...worried about DT, and stuff. I’d rather make sure everything was okay first.”

“Oh yeah, totally. Iron Bear’s always my first concern, too.”

Gaige blew him a kiss. Her heart fluttered at the way he blushed. She decided to put aside his discussion of Lor for another time.

The moment he walked away, she opened the door.

Tyreen went flying out, zigzagging cluelessly across the floor. Gaige snatched her up with one swipe.

“No!” Ty smacked both hands against Gaige’s metal fingers. “Let me go! This is cruel and unusual punishment!”

Gaige hurried into her room and slammed the door, holding Ty tight to her chest. The moment they were inside, she noticed the cabinet door was hanging open.

“How the hell did you get out of there?! And how did you wedge my door open?!”

Tyreen grunted, desperate to free herself. It was an exercise in futility. “You left a multitool in the box, dipshit.”

A glance at the floor by the doorway revealed Gaige’s favorite portable multitool. Its knife blade was unfurled from the handle. Gaige looked at the door. It had a bunch of scratches in one spot right at the bottom. Then she looked to the cabinet with the open door. Its lock had been picked open, likely with the multitool’s, er, lock pick.

“So now I’m free. And I’m gonna exact my revenge.” She could barely even move in Gaige’s iron grip. “I saw the Fast Travel station from under the door. Next time you’re asleep, I’m going there.”

Gaige plunked her down on the table. “And where exactly are you gonna go?”

“Excuse me?”

Gaige folded her arms and waited.

Her bluff called, Tyreen huffed and puffed a few indignant times before saying, “I-I’ll go back to the Holy Broadcast Center. Or the COV headquarters. I’m sure I still have loyal followers. They’ll help me. They’ll do anything for me.”

Gaige laughed in her face. “You think you’ll survive on Pandora long enough to get there? You’re the perfect size to be swallowed by a skag. Or a thresher. Or a hungry bandit.”

Tyreen opened her mouth to retort, then gradually closed it again. Her gaze fell to her clenched little fists, each no larger than one of Gaige’s fingertips.

There was no easy answer as to what to do with the pint-sized tyrant. She didn’t have her powers anymore, but she had holdout loyalists all over the galaxy. They were waiting for her to return, to be reborn, like a real god would. Tyreen coming back to them, even in a form that resembled a child’s action figure, would be taken as further proof of her divine status.

That said, it was strange that multiple COV had attacked them in recent days, all preaching in earnest that Tyreen was close to a rebirth. How could they have known? Maybe Tyreen really did have some aspects of divinity to her–most sirens seemed that way, far more than simple humans–and this particular manifestation of divine will just happened to be a huge bitch.

“Can I ask you a question?” The question of questioning the other woman fell from Gaige’s lips before she could reconsider.

Tyreen flipped her white bangs out of her face. “No.”

“Psh, okay, whatever.” Gaige got up from the table and feigned walking away. She got a few steps over to her workbench when Tyreen said,

“Wait. What were you gonna ask?”

Gaige folded her arms. “Nah, forget it.”

“What? I wanna know now. I still won’t answer it, but I wanna know.”

From what Maya had told her in years past, sirens were part of a sisterhood that spanned eons. Never truly alone, and never truly gone. That would mean the Calypsos were a part of this eternal cycle just as much as Maya, Lilith, Angel, or any other siren she’d met. A chain of hand holding hand holding hand, as far back as history could remember.

At some point, a hand of the universe had reached out and touched Tyreen, inviting her forever into the pantheon of legends. Would it offer that to a being that didn’t have at least some good in it?

Gaige turned halfway back around. Tyreen was sitting on the edge of the table, legs dangling from a height that would certainly shatter her if she fell. Her pale blue eyes were staring down as well, looking at something Gaige could not see.

“I was just gonna ask,” Gaige said as she leaned down to Tyreen’s level, wearing a smile in contrast to Tyreen’s scowl, “if you’ve ever gone bowling.”

Chapter Text

After their failed attempt at bringing a creepy doll to life, Ava was more morose than ever. Frequently Moze found them sitting curled up on a windowsill about the ship, staring wistfully out at the passing stars and planets.

Their nefarious plotting had been hard to deal with, but seeing them like this wasn’t a whole lot easier.

One evening, Moze sat down beside them on the narrow sill. Ava did not look his way. “Hey, kid,” he said. “How’s it going?”

“Bad,” was all they replied.

“Yeah, I feel that.” He gave them a little bump on the shoulder with his fist. “You wanna do anything? Go for a walk? Play your Super Tediore thing?”

Ava’s young face wrinkled. That was the only response Moze received.

“You used to like kicking my ass in those fighting games,” he said. “You don’t wanna do that?”

Ava’s pale blue eyes reflected the vivid stars in the distance. They barely even blinked.

“I don’t feel good,” they said.

That gave Moze pause. “What do you mean?” he asked after an uncertain hesitation.

Ava lay their forehead against the thick, cold window glass. “I don’t know. I haven’t felt good for a while now.”

“Like...since this?” He picked up their left arm, covered in its mottled blue-and-purple tattoos.

Ava lifted their head to nod weakly. The spot of glass they’d been touching was stained with sweat.

He bit his tongue to hold back a I told you you shouldn’t have gotten involved in that stuff. It was too late for that now, and it wouldn’t do any good.

Instead, he gently lowered their arm again and said, “I wonder if your old monk pals on Athenas would know anything about this.”

Ava turned to him with a quick shake of their head. “No. They can’t know about this.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause they’ll get all mad-”

“They don’t seem like the type to get mad about stuff.”

Ava pulled their legs up to their chest. “Yeah, but they’ll be, like...disappointed. In me.”

“Ah.” Moze nodded thoughtfully. “Can’t have that.”

“No.”

Moze sat quietly with Ava for a few minutes, admiring the view from the ship window. After a while, Ava said,

“I’m sorry for getting mixed up with all this stuff. I just thought it was cool. And I thought I could get Maya back.”

Maya had been laying low the past few days, but when Ava spoke that time, Moze saw an invisible force part their hair and tousle it gently. Ava closed their eyes and leaned into it.

“You know,” Moze said, “that crazy spellbook you found was in Eridian, right?”

Ava opened one eye. “Yeah.”

“I mean...we do have an Eridian expert on board. Maybe Tannis knows something about their weird old magic.”

Ava sighed. “I’m pretty sure she hates me now, but sure.”

“She doesn’t hate you, dude. Angel’s just...very protective.”

Ava’s taut lips said they remained unconvinced of that.

“...I don’t know, man. We don’t know any other Eridian experts. Or anyone else who knows a damn thing about Eridians.” He touched his chest. “I know I sure as hell don’t.”

Ava studied Moze. “Does Gaige know anything about them?”

“Gaige?” He tried to hide his surprise. “Uh, I wouldn’t assume so. Why?”

“I don’t know. She seems smart.”

“She is. But Eridian stuff is like...a whole different world. It’s totally alien. Literally.”

Ava’s chin dipped. “Yeah.”

“So we’ll talk to Tannis at some point and see if she knows anything about Eridian magic. ‘Kay?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“In the meantime, though...” He offered Ava a little smile. “You wanna see how much we can swipe from Marcus’ shop?”

Ava brightened a little at that. “You’re gonna help me steal stuff?”

“I don’t consider it stealing. I consider it redistributing the wealth of a class traitor.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, dude.” Ava hopped off the windowsill. Their gait was a bit shaky, but their enthusiasm made up for it. “Let’s do it!”

Gaige’s lunch that day consisted of a mystery meat sandwich with a small square cut out of it, and a bag of chips with a few of them smashed to bits on the tray. As had become the new norm for her, she ate in her room, on a cleared bit of her table.

The moment she opened the door, Tyreen looked up from the book she was sitting on. “’Bout time,” she said. “I hate being hungry.”

Gaige set the tray down between them. The square that she’d cut out of the center of the sandwich with her fingertip laser turned out to be the perfect size as she placed it delicately in Tyreen’s hands. Likewise, the smashed-up chip shards were just big enough for her to munch on in-between.

She wasn’t sure if Tyreen actually needed to eat, but she claimed to feel hunger, and was slightly less bitchy with a full stomach, so Gaige was happy to indulge her.

“What kind of sandwich is this?” Ty spoke with a completely full mouth, crumbs of bread falling out as she talked. “Kinda slimy.”

“It’s ‘mystery meat’.” Gaige took a bite of her own portion. Yeah, it was definitely slimy. “Pretty sure it’s just leftover scraps from whatever they made last night. Or the night before.”

“Or like a week ago.” Tyreen bit down and did an exaggerated pull with her teeth to rip a piece of the meat off.

“You shouldn’t be complaining. I paid for it.”

“Well you got ripped off.” She scooped up a handful of chip pieces and shoved them in her tiny mouth. “Least you can’t go wrong with chips,” she said, again with her mouth full.

Gaige crunched down on a few as well. “So I’d imagine you guys didn’t have food like this on Nekrotafeyo,” she said.

“Actually-” Ty cleared her throat, then did a grabby hand gesture at Gaige’s glass of water. Gaige tipped it very, very slowly, until Tyreen could stand on her tip-toes and reach it. Gaige resisted the urge to drop it and splash water all over the tiny tyrant, instead angling the glass so the water just reached Tyreen’s mouth. She slurped it down eagerly. “Ahh. Anyway, Troy and I couldn’t actually eat real food. It just made us sick.”

“Wait, really?” Gaige set her sandwich down, more curious than hungry now.

“Yeah, our digestive system–and I say system, singular, because when our dad chopped us in two, he didn’t realize we had shared organs–was fuuucked.” Tyreen munched on the rest of her sandwich. “The only way I could satisfy my hunger was by leeching. And Troy had to feed from me.”

“That’s so weird. Do you think you would’ve died if you weren’t sirens?”

Tyreen shrugged. “Iunno. You think they’re gonna serve more cake tonight?”

“No, that’s only on Tuesdays.”

“Fuck.”

They had well since passed the point where Gaige could credibly deny housing an enemy of the Raiders. For the past five days she’d brought Tyreen food, lent her books from Hammerlock’s library, and even made her a tiny bed out of scrap wood and cuts of blanket from the top bunk. It was wrong, and she knew she should be telling somebody. But she hadn’t had a gal pal in...well, besides Angel, ever. Something about talking to a girl your own age was just different, even if that girl was undead, evil, and six inches tall.

“So when’s that bowling thing again?” Ty asked. She was already trying to pull the glass over for another sip.

Gaige held the glass steady so she could drink. “This weekend. Saturday night, specifically.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I–ow.” Gaige heard the glass clink against Tyreen’s little teeth. With a sheepish grin, she lifted it a little higher. “I don’t know if I can go.”

For a tiny doll, she sure slugged down a lot of Gaige’s water. “You nervous?” Gaige asked.

Tyreen glared up at her. “No. I’m busy.”

Gaige let the glass drop an inch, splashing the front of Tyreen’s shirt. “Oh wow, you bitch.” Tyreen grabbed the glass and pulled it down the rest of the way, spilling water all across the table.

“Seriously?” Gaige grabbed the stack of paper-thin napkins off the tray and smushed them down onto the spill.

“You started it, bitch lord.” Tyreen knocked half the napkins off the table with a swipe of her arm. “Now clean up after me.”

Yes, she was housing an enemy of the Raiders, and for what benefit? Other than a girl her age to talk to (which technically she could have found in a ton of different civilians that lived onboard Sanctuary, not to mention the ghost living inside of their resident archeologist), not much. Tyreen was rude, crass, and totally untrustworthy.

“I still have some cookies from the other day,” Gaige volunteered, nodding to one of the cabinets by her bed. “You want some of those?”

“Why is that even a question?” Tyreen polished off the last of her chips, then snapped her greasy fingers in Gaige’s direction. “Bring them to me.”

Gaige took a long, slow bite of her sandwich. After chewing a moment, she said, “I think you should get them.”

Ty chuckled incredulously. When she realized Gaige wasn’t laughing, she craned her neck back to behold the high cabinet.

Gaige continued to partake in her sandwich, pretending not to notice Tyreen’s bewilderment.

“Okay.” Tyreen marched over to Gaige. “I have an idea.”

With surprising agility, Ty pulled herself up onto Gaige’s metal arm and then clambered up her shoulder.

“Hey, you can’t climb on me to get there! That’s cheating!”

“You never said that.”

Suddenly Gaige’s hair was pulled as tiny hands sank into it. She tossed her head, but Tyreen hung on, eventually clawing her way to the top of Gaige’s scalp. Her two pigtails were seized, and then Tyreen pulled them with full force. “Hyah, steed!”

“Ow! Ow!” Gaige jumped up and started swatting at her head. Ty continued to pull on her pigtails, dodging every blind swipe of Gaige’s hands.

Eventually the two of them stumbled up against the wall. Tyreen sprang off her and grabbed the cabinet doorknob. The force pulled the door open, and she clung on tight as it swung wide open.

The moment the cookies were revealed, Gaige went for them, but Tyreen was faster. She dropped down onto Gaige’s shoulder, then leapt into the cabinet. Inside, she pulled the clear plastic cookie tray out of its packaging, then grabbed one thick chocolate chip cookie and raised it triumphantly above her head.

Gaige reached over and plucked it from her little hands. She took a nice, big, smug bite of it.

“Wow, you really suck. You know that?” Tyreen grabbed another cookie. This time, before Gaige could seize it, she plunked herself down and started nibbling away.

There was almost nothing about Tyreen Calypso that was likeable. She was obnoxious, annoying, and mean.

Gaige held her organic hand out. Tyreen, lugging her chocolate prize, climbed up onto it.

“What’s the point of me going to that stupid bowling night if nobody’s even gonna know I’m there?” she asked, taking a pause from devouring her giant cookie.

“Two reasons.” Gaige plopped her down on the table once more. “One: I don’t trust you being out of my sight for that many hours.”

Tyreen chuckled. “Okay, fair.”

“And two: I think it would be good for you to get an idea of how everyone interacts around here. Y’know, how friends act.”

At that, Ty rolled her eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes. If you’re gonna stick around here, you need to stop acting like a total c-word.”

Tyreen swallowed her mouthful. “Cutie pie?”

Gaige stared at her flatly. “Calypso.”

“Psh. Well don’t get your hopes up about that.” She plucked a crumb up off her lap and flicked it at Gaige. “I’m the only one of us left here. I gotta carry on the legacy.”

“Legacy of being cringe.” Gaige threw the crumb back at her. It bounced off Ty’s head.

“I’m not cringe!” Ty said with an indignant little sniff. “You’re cringe.”

Gaige got up and brought over the rest of the cookies. Between the two of them (okay, mostly Gaige), they tore through them in minutes.

“So, if I go to this thing,” Tyreen said, halfway through a particularly chunky chocolate chip, “am I supposed to just sit in your bag or something? ‘Cause I got better things to do, you know.”

Gaige blotted some crumbs from the corners of her mouth and then said, “I guess so. We can’t let the other Raiders see you.”

“What if I sneak out and wreak havoc?”

“I mean, I’d hope you wouldn’t.”

Tyreen finished off her chip in silence. When they were done, Gaige threw the packaging away and looked to the door. At this time of the day, Moze would be lingering about, probably wondering why they never ate lunch together anymore.

“It’s kinda funny you’d lecture me about learning to have friends,” Tyreen said from behind her, “considering you don’t seem to have any.”

Gaige turned back around. “I have plenty of friends. We just had that movie night last week.”

“Your boyfriend and his boyfriend don’t count as friends.”

“Says who?”

“Says the God-Queen of the Universe.” The skin around Tyreen’s mouth was stained with bits of chocolate and cookie crumbs. “Why don’t you have a Vault Thief squad you go do loser merc missions with? I mean, besides that chick with the blue hair, ‘cause y’know, we killed the shit outta her.”

Gaige didn’t let a reaction show. “I’m technically a retired Vault Hunter,” she said instead. “I only rejoined the Raiders recently. Mostly out of convenience.”

That got Tyreen’s attention. “Why’d you retire? You don’t look that old.”

Don’t say anything. Don’t give her any ammunition.

“’Cause the Raiders back then didn’t give a shit about me.” She clenched her teeth as if to try to catch the words long after they were already out. Gaige!

Tyreen tilted her head. “Yeah, I could see that,” she said. “These types of people never care about anyone but themselves.”

“You’re one to talk about that.”

“Hey, at least I admit it. I’m a bad person! I don’t pretend I’m some savior of the galaxy.”

“You literally did. You told your followers you were a god.”

“Wow, okay, whatever. My point is that the Crimson Raiders are hypocrites and dickheads.”

Her mental well was overflowing again. There was no stopping the thoughts that were loading right up to her mouth.

“I was only eighteen when I left,” she blurted. “And they didn’t check on me for seven years.”

“Of course not! ‘Cause they suck!”

“They knew I was homeless and on the run from the intergalactic police force, and they never even called me or shot me a text message or anything. Nothing!”

Ty snorted. “And you went back to these people becaauuuseee...?”

Gaige hesitated.

Sitting back on her hands, Tyreen said, “You know, you’d be great in the CoV. You could be, like, my high priestess, or something.”

“I’m not joining the CoV. But thanks.”

Tyreen huffed. “Fine, then. But you gotta at least tell me more juicy stuff about the Raiders.”

“No way. You know too much already.”

Tyreen touched her hands to her chest. “And what am I gonna do with this information? I’m powerless and toy-sized.”

“You’re gonna sneak back to the CoV and tell them all our dirt.”

“You think a single CoV member would care about Crimson Raider drama?” she asked flatly. “Half of them can’t even speak in full sentences. It was just me and Troy who...” The second the name was out of her mouth, she clamped her tiny hands into fists.

Gaige tried not to pay any attention to her antics. “I’m not telling you anything else,” she said. “Go back to your book.”

Tyreen narrowed her eyes at the page in front of her. “I meant what I said,” she uttered. “The Raiders are the real monsters here. We finally had our chance to see the world. We weren’t gonna destroy the universe. We just wanted people to know we existed.”

Uncertain how to respond, Gaige got up and stuffed their food trash into the can by the door.

Behind her, she heard Tyreen let out a long and heavy sigh.

“As with most things Eridian, I have come to realize that I know next to nothing.”

Tannis stood over Ava, who was sitting on one of the medbay cots. She studied them with a frown. Their arm looked particularly gruesome under the fluorescent lab lights, nothing like the mystical veins of woven light most sirens bore.

Moze hung close by, but he opted to let Ava speak for themselves.

“When I was on Xylourgos,” Ava said, “the boy I met there, his mom didn’t want us getting into this stuff. She was worried it would have bad consequences.”

“Well, it would appear she was correct.” Tannis picked up Ava’s arm and studied it, turning it this way and that. “I do wish I knew more about the strange phenomena of Xylourgos. That sirens and Vault monsters play a role tells me the Eridians were certainly established on that planet at some point.”

“The other Vault monsters didn’t cause weird magic to take over their planets.”

“I know. It’s most bizarre.”

When Tannis held Ava’s arm in her left hand, Moze caught sight of just how starkly different their tattoos looked. Tannis’ were soft and delicate, like the fine silk of a spiderweb. Ava’s were...not like that. Not anymore.

“I’m kinda scared,” Ava murmured, so quietly that Moze nearly missed it.

“Understandable. We have no record of siren tattoos ever mutating like this. You could very well be a historical case! Centuries from now, experts may want to exhume your remains for whatever kind of testing they’ve come up with by then.”

“Fun.” Ava coughed. It was a wet, sticky sound.

“If the Eridians created or wielded this crazy Xylourgos magic,” Moze finally spoke up, “they must have had a way to reverse the weird effects. Nobody would get involved with that kind of stuff without knowing how to get out of it if they had to. Right?”

Tannis frowned at him, the weathered skin around her eyes crinkling up. “I wish I could say. This is a species that wiped itself entirely out, so I’m not sure I’d count on them inventing failsafes for everything they attempted. Although the Vaults could probably be counted as such...”

“Maybe there’s some answers on Nekrotafeyo?” Ava suggested.

“Oh, I’m sure there would be.” Tannis perked up, but just as quickly soured again. “But searching an entire planet blindly could take years.”

“I mean, I’ve been there a couple times,” Moze said. “Only to a few parts of it, but...”

“The parts you visited were wholly colonized by Maliwan,” Tannis said. “I’d be willing to bet they either pilfered or destroyed most of what they found there.”

Ava glanced between the two of them. Their eyes looked dull and sunken. “Maybe Maya knows something?”

The lack of any sort of response from their local siren ghost said Probably not.

“Oh, I do wish Typhon was still with us,” Tannis sighed. “With all those years he spent on the Eridian home world, he surely would’ve known what to do.”

“I mean...” Ava offered her a small, lopsided grin. “I could probably bring him back.”

“No.” Moze shut that idea down with a swipe of his arm. “No more undead.”

“Hm.” Tannis tapped her chin. “Tempting, but I do not think we should encourage any more use of this corrupted power.”

“Fine. Gaige took all my stuff, anyway,” Ava muttered.

“Is that why you wanted to go talk to her earlier?” Moze said.

Ava did not answer him.

“I do wish I could help,” Tannis murmured as she wandered over to her desk. Its surface was no longer visible, buried under piles of hand-scrawled notes. “As this power did not consume the universe, I have to assume the Eridians had some sort of method for containing it. But it may very well be lost to time.”

“Whatever.” Ava slid off the cot, stuffed their hands into their pockets and wandered over to the door. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll just live with it.”

Moze followed after them. “Ava-”

“It’s okay.” They looked up at him with a tight expression, as though trying, and failing, to muster a smile. “Thanks anyway, man.”

They disappeared out the door and into the shadows of Sanctuary’s halls. Moze clenched his fists at his sides.

Stupid Eridian crap. Stupid siren crap. Why couldn’t the world work like Vladof had taught him? The guys with the superior firepower were the strongest forces in the universe. There was no God. There was no magic, no spirituality, no pre-determined destiny. It all seemed so childish now, believing his higher-ups knew everything. In reality, even the most intelligent humans he’d ever met knew so very, very little.

In the face of the vast, terrifying and unknowable universe, he had never felt so small.

Ava, as had become their way, had vanished into the abyss of the ship shortly after leaving Tannis’ lab. Moze let them go.

Gaige was in her room, as had become her usual, too. She seemed to have very little time for him these days. Maybe she didn’t like how badly he was failing their Commander. Failing everybody on Sanctuary.

Bear was waiting for him when he walked into his room. He’d been sorely neglecting his oldest friend the past few months, with fewer missions than ever on his agenda. There was hardly even any busy work these days that required a mech–Gaige was strong enough to lift most heavy things on Sanctuary, and her ingenious fixes meant they rarely needed Bear Fist to pound scrap metal into holes in the walls anymore.

Ever vigilant, the mech turned at the sound of the door opening. Its cockpit reflected a sliver of overhead light as it repositioned itself to greet Moze.

“Hey, buddy.” Moze gave him a pat on the windshield as he walked by. “Hope you haven’t been too lonely in here.”

Iron Bear leaned down. Its cockpit opened, revealing the empty seat inside.

Considering it for a moment, Moze ultimately nodded and said, “Yeah, it’s been too long.” He climbed up inside, letting slip a delighted little noise as the familiar metal enveloped him.

When the cockpit closed, Moze turned on the interior light, a single warm bulb that filled the inside with a comforting glow. In that light, he was greeted by the array of pictures, old and new, that he’d taped up inside. A handful of photos of his old squad, and a dozen photos of the new. His entire life mounted to a wall.

Front and center, of course, was a picture of Gaige–specifically a selfie she’d sent that showed, to put it politely, more than a picture you’d send a friend. Directly beside that was a frowning picture of Lor that Moze had begged him for, fully acknowledging how gay it sounded to ask for something like that. And then all around those were pictures of his Raider friends–his fellow Vault Hunters, Ava, even Tannis, much to Angel’s annoyance.

His squad. His family.

It was hard to believe there had ever been a time when he thought he could go it alone. Iron Bear was his bestie, sure, but he wasn’t a squad. He couldn’t replace that feeling of being part of something bigger than himself.

Well, physically he could.

Moze curled up in his seat, running his fingertips along the rough fabric of his cargo pants, paying attention to little but how comforted he felt in that familiar scenario. The world outside was muffled in the cockpit. When he closed his eyes, he could almost forget where he was entirely.

In his mind, he was back home, watching the stars from the roof of the Ursa Corps barracks. No big freaky moons glared down at him. Since this was his fantasy, he could bend it however he wanted–and so sat Gaige nestled up against him, her hand on his as he wrapped his arm around her waist. And a stretch away, Lor dangled his legs over the edge of the rooftop, blowing smoke trails into the clear night sky.

A situation none of them would ever find themselves in. At least not under that old sky.

He opened his eyes long enough to look over the pictures again. With a small sigh, he touched his fingertips to Gaige’s photo. She would never have fit into Vladof’s world. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

He slid his fingers over to the picture beside it. Though Lor was frowning, it was a theatrical over-frown, forced and feigned. His flat was visible in the background, and the glow from his aquarium gave the picture a soft, cool backlighting.

Lor could have fit into Vladof. They just would have had to break him first. Take away most of what made him him. Mold him into a soldier who found satisfaction in nothing but killing and following orders.

He’d be completely different then.

Moze wondered how different he would have been growing up on Eden-5 or Promethea. Maybe he would’ve come to know himself sooner than in his twenties.

Most of the outside world was shut out by Bear’s iron shell. So when he heard a crash pierce right through it, Moze instantly jumped into action. He flung the cockpit open and landed with an oomph on the bedroom floor. His first reaction was to call out to whatever had made the noise, but he caught himself, keeping tactically silent.

His trash can was tipped over, dirty paper towels and empty bags of chips spilling outward. Moze’s first thought was Hermes. He bent down and glanced behind the can, then under his bed. No sign of the strange little beast.

The trash still in the can rustled. Moze readied his knife.

A tiny arm–not a paw, an arm–reached up out of the garbage. Another arm soon followed, grasping at the air.

Moze bit his lip to avoid exclaiming aloud. Instead, he crept closer, knife at the ready.

Whatever was in his bin crawled through the garbage until it burst from the pile like a whale breaching an ocean of trash. It waved its skinny little arms frantically about as it tried to find something new to grab on to.

Moze pulled his ECHO device from his pocket and turned on its flashlight setting. Startled by the light, the creature fumbled and fell back into the garbage.

“Okay, screw it.” Moze grabbed the can and shook it out. A cascade of trash poured out, preceded by the clunk of something heavier hitting first.

Moze paled. It was a doll. Not the one Gaige had shown him, but some other one. It had holes rotted into it, and it smelled like wood fungus. Its eyes were two hollowed-out holes, its mouth a deep gash of a frown across its face.

It tipped partway backward to look up at Moze. Its movements were jerky, like a marionette’s.

Against his better judgment, Moze reached over and picked the thing up. It was maybe eight inches tall, slightly larger than your average action figure. Up close, he could smell the rot even worse. And the thing’s arms and legs looked liable to fall out of their holey sockets at any moment.

It also seemed, as much as a cursed doll could be, alive.

Moze cradled the doll to prevent it from falling out of his grip. He let it sit on one hand while he supported its back with the other.

“Maya?” he asked softly.

The doll stared blankly up at him.

Moze moved his hand just a bit, readjusting the doll’s position. “Are you Maya?” he repeated.

The doll’s neck creaked as it tipped its head down, looking itself over.

It had to be Maya. That was Ava’s plan, wasn’t it? Maybe they’d throw the doll away, thinking the ritual failed. Maybe that was why he hadn’t felt Maya around lately.

“I know what’ll jog your memory.” Setting the doll on his bed, Moze reached over and grabbed a thick tome off his work bench. The Idiot’s Guide to Field Mech Repair, Revised Edition. “Look!” He waggled the guide in the air in front of the doll. “Boooook~”

He set it down beside the doll. The creature’s neck cracked as it turned its head to study it.

“I knew it. Maya loves books. You must be Maya.” Moze put the book back.

The doll touched a nubby hand to its chest.

“So obviously Ava doesn’t know their spell thing worked.” Moze sat down beside the doll. His impact tipped it right over. “Whoops. Sorry.” He quickly righted the doll again. “I don’t want to tell them, but I have no idea how to get you out of this body, either.”

The doll stared up at him. There was a faint light buried in the holes of its eyes, a pale silver-blue.

Moze met its gaze briefly.

“I know it kinda sucks,” he said, “but, like...must be at least a little exciting to have a physical form again, right?” He left out the fact that said physical form was rotten and falling apart.

The doll busied itself looking around the room. The way it moved was creepy as hell, like something out of a nightmare. The only thing that kept Moze from throwing it back in the trash was the knowledge that poor Maya had been shoved into that horrid vessel without any choice in the matter.

“Sorry this happened to you,” Moze added. “The kid’s lonely, but that doesn’t make it right.”

The doll lowered its head a bit. Its long, scrawny legs dangled off the bed.

“I guess you can hang around here,” Moze said, “since you were doing that anyway. But we can’t tell Ava.”

He picked the doll back up and set it down on his workbench. The doll’s right arm popped out of its socket and fell right off.

“Aw, shit.” Moze attempted to wedge it back in, but the rotted wood socket had split. “Maybe Gaige can make you a new one.”

What was he saying? Gaige would think he was terrible for keeping Maya like this. But it was better than being a ghost, right? Not able to touch anyone or interact in any way besides throwing books and pulling hair?

Still holding Maya’s lost arm, Moze said, “Do you want to be like this? Or would you rather be a ghost?”

The doll tilted its head at him. It somehow seemed better balanced after losing that arm–it was no longer listing to its right side.

It appeared the little doll could not talk. Moze instead held out his palm. “Okay, how about this. Tap once on my hand for ‘yes’. Tap twice for ‘no.’ Do you want to stay like this?”

The doll lifted its tiny hand. It hovered over Moze’s palm. Then it slowly lowered its arm again.

“Not sure?”

The doll shook its head, as if trying to clear its thoughts.

“It’s cool, don’t stress.” Moze took a step back to give the little doll some room. “This is probably really freaky right now. I know I’d be freaked.” (Truth be told, he kind of was.) He gestured grandly about his room. “You can stay here ‘til you get things figured out. It’s the least the Raiders can do for you after...everything.”

The doll followed his gestures. Then, abruptly, it stopped.

Moze followed the little thing’s beady stare. It seemed to fall on the poster over his bed. The print of Tyreen Calypso he’d never gotten around to taking down.

A flash of light drew his attention back to the work bench.

There was no longer a doll sitting upon it.

There was, however, a tiny replica of a man Moze had rolled his eyes about more times than he could count.

“Wh-” Moze sputtered. “You’re not Maya.”

Troy Calypso, in all his weird, skinny, vaguely monstrous, emo boy glory, glared up at him instead.

“Why do you have a pinup print of my sister?” was his very first question.

“Uh.” Moze pointedly avoided looking back at it. “I–I don’t know.”

Troy squinted at him. Now that he actually had features, Moze could see that there was a set to his screwed-in jaw, and his slight underbite revealed the tips of his lower canines.

“I remember you,” he said. “You were one of those Crimson Raiders. The chick with the mech.”

“Dude,” Moze mumbled.

“What?”

“I’m a dude, actually.”

“Oh.” Troy sat up. His human legs were nearly as stick-thin as when they were actual sticks. “Congrats.”

“Uh, thanks. I think.”

Troy scratched his head. “So I should probably be, like, trying to kill you or something, right? I mean, you’re a Vault Thief.”

“And you’re like eight inches tall.”

“I still have my...” He reached and felt around the back pocket of the dingy shorts he’d materialized. “...Shit, I don’t have my sword anymore.”

“You kept your sword in your pants?”

Troy snorted. After a second, Moze added, “I didn’t–I wasn’t even talking about that, dude.”

“I mean, technically I do still have a sword in here...”

“Do you? It’s not just smooth like a doll’s?”

“Nah, it’s...” He lifted the band of his shorts and peeked in. “Oh fuck, you’re right! It’s gone!”

“HA.” Moze pointed at him. “No-Dick Troy.”

“Shut up, man. I went most of my life without a dick. I want it back!”

“Wait, why didn’t you have a dick for most of your life?” Moze asked. “Did Tyreen steal it?”

“Bro, we’re conjoined twins,” he said.

Moze knitted his brow. “Yeah, and...?”

“Conjoined twins are identical twins, dude.”

“But you’re not identi-” The realization dawned on him. “Ohhhh.”

Troy got up and started pacing the little workbench. “Man, this sucks. I’m tiny, I got pulled out of Siren Heaven where I was getting mad bitches, and I don’t even have La Serpiente anymore.” He tugged at his hair. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“I mean, I can send you back there.” He nodded at Iron Bear. “One stomp would probably take you out.”

Troy paused. “Not a bad idea. Siren Heaven’s awesome. I’m the only guy there, so I got ladies knocking down my door all the time.” He ran his hand through his greasy black hair. Even as tiny as Troy was, Moze noticed a little sprinkle of dandruff when he did so. “I mean, I got the stamina for it, for sure. Does get a little old, though. And some of those ancient ones freak me out.” He scrunched his tiny face. “I’m not even sure if they’re girls, to be honest. They’re just, like...entities.”

“Well you’re not staying here, so forget that.”

“You said I could!”

“When I thought you were Maya!”

“Pfft, wow. Hoes before bros. I see how it is.” Troy attempted to climb down from the bench. With only one arm, he mostly just fell. “We’re not bros, though,” he said after landing on his back. “You’re just a lowlife Vault thief.”

Moze watched him struggle to pick himself up. After a minute or so of that, he reached down, circled two fingers around Troy’s waist, and straightened him up.

“Hey. I didn’t ask you to help me up.” Troy wiped himself off, as though Moze had left residual Vault thief germs. “That’s gay, man.”

“Oh, sorry.” Moze flicked him, knocking him back over.

So, instead of Maya, Ava had somehow resurrected Troy Calypso in her place. How did that happen?

Wait. They said they wanted a soul to “practice” on first. A siren soul.

That explained it.

Troy got himself back to his feet and wandered over to Iron Bear. “So can you hurry up and crush me?” He knelt down beside Bear’s mighty foot. “I wanna get back to my harem.”

“Wait.” Moze wandered over to join him. “So you’re telling me that after all the bullshit you put us through, you just get to live out an eternity in some siren paradise surrounded by hot girls who want you because you’re the only male siren?”

Troy grinned. “Heh. Yeah.”

“Man. So much for universal karma or whatever.”

“Hey, I spent my whole life weak and sick. The universe owes me.”

“I don’t think it owes you shit. You tried to smash the moon into Pandora. And you killed Maya.”

“Maya? Was that the blue-haired chick?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh c’mon, that was an accident. I mean, I totally would’ve done it on purpose if I’d known I could. But I didn’t know.”

“So...that makes it better somehow?”

Troy shrugged his single arm. “Maybe?”

Moze plucked Troy up. When Troy protested, he said, “I think killing you is letting you off too easy. You need some good old fashioned POW torture.”

“POW?” Troy squirmed in Moze’s grip. “What’s POW?”

Moze grabbed the roll of duct tape from his workbench. He lay Troy down on his back, arm and legs sprawled apart.

“What are you doing?” Troy’s words were hostile, but neutered by the quiver in his voice. “Can’t you just send me back to Siren Heaven?”

“Sorry. No can do.” Moze loudly ripped off a strip of tape. With a smirk, he stuck down Troy’s arm and left leg. “No bitches for you.”

“What? Dude!” He groaned as Moze taped down his other leg, then pressed a strip down across his stomach, too. “You’re just gonna tape me down here and leave me?”

“For a while, yeah.”

“Until when?”

“Until I get bored and decide to crush ya.”

Troy wriggled against his tape constraints. “What if I start crying?”

“Cry all you want. I’m leaving to go have dinner with my girl, anyway.” He grabbed his jacket off the bed and shrugged it on. “Bear, keep an eye on him, would ya?”

Iron Bear turned to fix its attention on Troy.

“Wow, I thought you’d be a bro.” Troy sniveled. “You’re not a bro at all! You suck, man!”

“See ya.”

Right up until the door slammed shut behind him, Moze could hear Troy whining.

“Your hair looks really nice today.” Moze spun his spaghetti around his fork and took a hefty bite. With what remained on the fork, he gestured to Gaige across the table.

Gaige smiled. “Thanks. I remembered to condition it this morning.” She leaned over and nipped the last bit of spaghetti right off Moze’s fork. He pulled back the utensil and stared pointedly at its empty tines.

Trying to pretend everything was normal when you had a hostile imprisoned in your bedroom was certainly an experience. Iron Bear wouldn’t let Troy get away, for better or worse. Even if he managed to escape the duct tape, he’d be incinerated in seconds.

Still, it was weighing on his mind, and Gaige would surely notice a difference.

But Gaige had been acting strange herself lately. There had been times he’d walked past her room when he’d heard her talking to someone–not weird in and of itself, but it was a little strange that Moze had no idea who she was talking to. And she apparently talked to this person a lot. He could hear her chatting and laughing even late into the night.

Now he was in the odd position of wanting to know but not feeling like he had any right to ask.

It’s not like you tell her everything. He shuffled his feet under the table as he remembered the moment of weirdness he and Lor had shared while Moze was walking him to the Fast Travel the other night. There’d been a pause in conversation, and Moze had thought about whether Lor might be expecting a hug or something, and when he’d gone for it, Lor had jumped back as though Moze had attempted something illicit. Moze had felt his face turn pink. With Lor’s darker complexion, he hid it better, but Moze could see that he had flushed as well.

The whole Troy thing felt like peanuts by comparison.

As soon as Moze had sat down, Gaige could tell that something was up with him. He was avoiding eye contact, and his shoulders were drawn in close to his body. She attempted to scan him to check his heart rate, but was met by that damned Vladof firewall again.

She’d overheard him talking to someone in his room. It was probably Lor. On the rare occasions he had his ECHO device out, she’d often catch him snickering at it, tapping away in some conversation she wasn’t privy to.

He has a right to have friends, she reminded herself. In any case, it wasn’t like she was being fully open with him, either. She’d been avoiding him at night, opting instead to keep an eye on Tyreen–and she was defining “keeping an eye on” very loosely. Truth be told, they spent most of their time together chatting and gossiping. Tyreen was a bitch, but, Gaige had to admit, she gave some hilarious commentary.

Moze cleared his throat, bringing Gaige back to their dinner. They were eating late, as usual, and they were all alone in the cafeteria.

“So how was your day?” he asked, twirling up another forkful of saucy noodles.

Gaige had chosen the same dish as Moze, but the spaghetti sauce had chunks in it, and that was enough to make her want to barf. She scraped most of the sauce off a few noodles, then took a small bite.

“It was fine,” she said through her mouthful. “How about yours?”

Moze shrugged. “Fine.”

Gaige tapped her fork against the edge of her plate. A thick chunk of tomato fell off the pasta she’d impaled.

“Fine’s good,” she said.

Moze nodded slowly. “Yep.”

The cafeteria door slid open. A couple of noisy Pandoran natives strolled in, bantering about something or other. Their ruckus only served to emphasize the silence between herself and Moze.

Keeping secrets was not her strong suit. She liked being honest. It made things easier to remember and easier to explain. She’d spent most of her life adhering to that philosophy. Honesty had always served her well.

Then again, maybe that was why she didn’t have any long-term friends.

“I gotta tell you something.”

Moze’s words made her snap to attention. He was watching her reaction carefully, his fingertips tapping gently against the surface of the table.

She swallowed her mouthful. “What?”

He took a few slow bites of his dinner, chewing meticulously before finally deciding to swallow.

“I have Troy Calypso duct taped to my workbench,” he said.

Gaige’s fork fell right out of her hand. It clattered off the plate, spilling bits of sauce across the table.

“What?”

Moze was not lying. He did, in fact, have Troy Calypso duct taped to his workbench.

“He came out of my trash,” Moze explained as he turned the overhead light on. Troy was a few inches bigger than Tyreen, but was still small enough that he could be carried in one hand. He was taped fairly loosely to the bench’s worn surface. The tape was not twisted or creased in any way. He hadn’t even attempted to get away.

“Wow.” Gaige went over to him. He resembled his sister in some ways, but not in most. He was as weird-looking as the pictures of him had indicated, with a lanky body, sharp, angular facial features, and ribs that looked liable to poke out of his chest at any moment.

He struggled to tip his head back enough to catch sight of Gaige. When he saw her, his expression changed. “Whoa.” His eyes, the same baby blue as his sister’s, widened on her. “Sick arm.”

“Oh, thanks!” She turned it over, letting the light flash across its surface. Troy smiled, and that smile expanded way beyond how far a normal human mouth should be able to open. That explained the metal hinges in his jaw.

“Okay, I know you weren’t around during their reign of terror,” Moze explained as he secured the tape, “but the Calypsos are bad news. They’re obnoxious and sadistic, and somehow people are drawn to them, despite them being the most annoying people I’ve ever met.”

“Oh, where’s your arm?” Gaige nudged Troy’s taped-down shoulder. “I’ve seen your prosthetic one in pictures. That thing is metal! ...Literally and figuratively.”

Troy’s smile dissolved. “Yeah, I miss it.”

“I could build you another one. A little replica, to scale!”

Troy brightened again. “You’d do that? For me?”

Moze quirked a brow at her. “Like I was saying, the Calypsos are a couple of menaces. The only reason I’ve still got this guy here is because I feel like killing him is too easy a punishment.”

Troy curled his single hand to pick at the tape. He couldn’t even make a tear in it.

She’d intended to retrieve the rotted prototype doll from Moze’s trash can. Like many thoughts of hers, it was well-intentioned, and she had tried hard to cling to it. Then it got buried under a cascade of other, newer thoughts, and was never seen or heard from again.

Now, just like the other doll, this one had found a willing host spirit. And it was another fucking Calypso.

With how much she and Ty had talked about him, Gaige felt like she knew Troy already. It took everything in her to remember to play dumb.

“Oh yeah,” she said, nodding solemnly. “He seemed like a bastard.”

Troy pushed up his lower lip and whined.

“This dipshit killed Maya.” Moze poked Troy square in the chest. Troy gagged. “And he says he wants to die again so he can go back to getting all the women in some siren afterlife. So I’m keeping him here a while.”

“Hey,” Troy said. He was looking right at Gaige. “I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?”

Moze stepped in front of her. “None of your-”

“Gaige.”

Moze shot her a look.

“Gaige?” Troy lit up. “Wait–are you Gaige the Mechromancer? The one with the cool murder robot?”

Moze ripped off another strip of tape. “Sorry, I forgot his mouth.”

“Wait!” Gaige lowered Moze’s hand. “How do you know me?”

“How would I not know you?” His eyes were full of stars. “You’re, like, an engineering prodigy.” He perked up. “Do you still have your robot?”

“Of course. Deathtrap and I are besties for life.”

Troy shrank a tiny bit, hiding partway under the tape. “Could I...see it?”

“No,” Moze said.

“Aw, what’s the harm? He’s gonna be dead soon anyway, right?”

“It’s never a good idea to show enemy combatants your arsenal. Why take the risk?”

“I’m not a combatant. I’m just a little guy taped to a table.”

Moze took Gaige by the sleeve and pulled her a few steps away. “Hey,” he said softly, “I know you don’t know this guy, and he looks all...cute, or whatever, I guess, but he’s dangerous. He and his sister practically wiped out all life on Pandora. They were aiming for all life in the universe.”

Gaige nodded. “I’m aware.”

“So...we shouldn’t be, like, chatting with him. He’s hostile.”

His concern was completely warranted. It was Gaige being the fool, looking at Troy and seeing not the enemy of the Raiders he had been, but the dorky brother of Tyreen, building half-functional robots and livestreaming himself poorly playing video games. She was thinking of just the night before, when she’d finally cracked Tyreen’s shell wide open, and Ty had told her with damp eyes how much she missed her twin. How she had never fully appreciated him until he was taken from her.

“Hey, Gaige.” Troy’s tiny voice called from the table again. He sounded genuinely excited to talk to her.

Gaige looked at Moze, then over at the table. Moze said nothing, but his pursed lips said it all.

“What?” she called, staying half-turned toward Moze.

“Can I show you something?”

The grin in his voice said it was probably something Gaige didn’t care to see. “What is it?”

“Just look.”

“I don’t want to see your doll junk, if that’s what you’re gonna-”

His grin grew. The screws that held it together turned, until his jaw had virtually unhinged from his skull. It was horrifying to look at, a vacuous, gaping maw full of pointy yellow teeth.

Then, from out of that void-like mouth, something began to unfurl. It slithered outward, thick and pink and about a quarter of the length of his entire body.

“Eww!” The exclamation was reverent, like a kid being shown a cool bug. “Why is your tongue so fucking long?!”

It ended in a fork, like a snake’s. With a snicker, Troy ungulated it, flopping it up and down. Every time it moved, it made a distinctively wet sound.

“Dude, what the fuck.” Moze was recoiling. “I really shoulda taped your mouth shut.”

The minute Troy sucked his monster tongue back in, he went from snickering to guffawing. Obviously he’d had his intended effect on them.

Tyreen had told her that Troy had all kinds of physical weirdness going on. Admittedly, she hadn’t placed “two-foot-long tongue” on her list of expectations there.

“How does something like that even happen?” Gaige wandered over to him, curious in spite of her revulsion. “Tyreen doesn’t–I mean, I don’t think she had a tongue like that. And you’re twins, right?”

Troy’s face was split wide open in smug amusement. “I’m a freak,” was all he said.

“I can see that.” Moze slapped a piece of tape over Troy’s weird mouth. “Now shut up.”

In Gaige’s room just down the hall, Tyreen was hanging around, snacking on smashed-up chips and reading a book Gaige had swiped her from Hammerlock’s library. She had no idea her brother was alive on the very same ship.

It should stay that way. As much as she and Tyreen had gotten to know each other in their short time together, reuniting a pair of evil twins was never a good idea. As cruel as the thought felt, Tyreen was okay right now because she was downtrodden. Giving her back her family might set her back on a nefarious path. And it would be all Gaige’s fault.

“So you’re just gonna leave him taped down like this?” Gaige asked. She tried to keep her voice neutral, but Moze still frowned.

“Man, I had no idea you’d be so into this dude,” he said. “I mean, I know you apparently like short guys–” He gestured the length of himself. “But, like...”

Gaige burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”

Moze didn’t laugh. “A little, yeah.”

“You’re jealous of an eight-inch-tall doll man?”

“I’m not jealous. It’s just kinda weird you’re so into him after I told you he’s evil.”

The glint in Troy’s eyes said he desperately wished he could add in his own commentary. Alas, he could only squirm and murmur.

“Well maybe I think it’s weird that you want to torture a little guy with no powers who isn’t even trying to hurt you.” Gaige pointed at Troy’s bare, tattoo-less arm. “He’s no threat.”

“Oh yeah? And you know what the Calypsos are capable of?” Moze had never raised his voice to her before. It wasn’t a shout, but it was enough to stop Gaige mid-step.

Her hesitation snapped him immediately out of his anger. “...I’m sorry,” he said, lowering his voice. “I know how this must look. It’s just...after leaving Vladof, I finally found another home with the Raiders–and then this guy and his awful sister almost destroyed it. They killed Maya. They tried to kill Tannis. They wanted to kill us all.” When his eyes met hers, they were dull with sorrow.

Gaige gave a thoughtful nod. Then she held her hands out to him, palms up. He settled his atop hers, and they closed their fingers around each other’s.

“I...haven’t been completely honest with you,” Gaige murmured.

Moze tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Chapter Text

Moze balked as Tyreen Calypso, celebrity, cult leader, and wannabe devourer of worlds, sat on Gaige’s table, smaller even than her brother, cheeks shining with potato chip grease. She looked up casually when she saw Gaige, then did a double take when she saw Gaige wasn’t alone.

“Hey,” Gaige said, as warm and friendly as if she were talking to a fellow Raider. “Figured it’s time I re-introduced you to Moze.”

Tyreen scrambled to wipe her face on her shirt and brush the crumbs off her coat. “Damn, you coulda given a bitch some warning.” Since the grease was all over her fingers as well, the more she attempted to wipe it off herself, the more it spread.

Moze watched, flabbergasted, as Gaige marched right up to her and held her hand out. Once she abandoned the grease struggle, Tyreen got up and walked right onto Gaige’s hand with zero hesitation. Likewise, Gaige didn’t even blink when Tyreen slammed her butt down on Gaige’s palm and crossed her legs, looking up at Gaige expectantly.

“What the hell...?” Moze couldn’t keep the utterance to himself as Gaige brought the tiny tyrant over to him. Though she was barely six inches tall, she still had that intensity to her gaze, that sadistic gleam to her pale blue eyes. One look at her told Moze she still had wicked intentions.

“She’s been here for a bit now,” Gaige explained. “At first I was gonna smash her with a hammer, but...I couldn’t do it.”

“So you’re Moze. Right.” Tyreen stared up at him, unimpressed. “I hear you took selfies with my dead body. Kinda weird, dude.”

Moze gaped. “You told her that?”

“Oh, she’s told me all about you!” Tyreen grinned, revealing perfectly white teeth a far cry from her brother’s. “My favorite story has to be the one where you got bodied by some shirtless mountain dude because you wanted to show off and impress Gaige. I’m surprised she even talked to you after that. Em-bar-rass-ing!”

He felt his face heat up as he glanced to Gaige. She offered nothing but a shy smile and a shrug.

“I have to admit, though,” Ty continued, “it’s given me a whole new view of you.” She nudged Gaige’s palm. Gaige held her up, closer to Moze’s face. “You’re not just some loser who murdered me and my brother. You’re a loser who murdered me and my brother, then cries at night because you couldn’t save your lame army buddies.”

Gaige gasped. “Tyreen!”

Moze wasn’t sure how to react. Tyreen’s words meant nothing coming from her–she was a jerk. He knew that well.

It was the fact that Gaige had clearly told her all his deepest secrets that had him swallowing around a sudden lump in his throat.

Gaige tossed Tyreen onto the bed. Her tiny body bounced across its surface, knocking the wind out of her.

“I told her those things because I wanted her to see you as more than just some asshole soldier.” Gaige went right over to Moze, touching her hands to his forearms. “I...I know they weren’t my secrets to tell, though. I’m sorry.”

Moze didn’t look at her. He couldn’t.

“Oh, come on.” Tyreen sat up, straightening her coat’s collar. “I was just giving you shit. It’s the least I can do after you killed me.”

“Shut up,” Gaige cut her off. “I told you that stuff in confidence.”

Tyreen looked at Gaige, then at Moze. “Oh, so now everyone’s mad at me. Okay.” She folded her arms and huffed. “Great minds are always persecuted.”

Gaige held tight to Moze’s wrists, then slid down to cover his hands with hers. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, a note of desperation in her voice. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad.” Moze shook his head. “Just a little...embarrassed.”

“I know how it seems, but I really wasn’t trying to make you look bad,” Gaige said. “I know this whole situation is so weird, but I don’t really think Tyreen is all that bad deep down, and–”

“She tried to devour the universe!”

“Oh, God forbid a woman do anything!” Tyreen called out from the bed.

“I know. I know she did. And that was bad.” Gaige squeezed Moze’s hands. Her eyes had that shine to them of when she was one step away from starting to cry. “But I’ve been talking to her a bunch over this past week. We’ve spent like every night up late, getting to know each other.”

Moze tilted his head. “So that’s who you’ve been talking to,” he murmured.

“I know she seems like a jerk, but really...” She leaned in close, out of Tyreen’s earshot. “I mean, if you think about it...she’s not that different from Angel.”

Moze gritted his teeth. He apparently didn’t have to say anything, because Gaige added,

“And I know how you feel about her. But she’s not evil. She’s just been through a lot.” She cast a glance over to Tyreen, who was facing the wall, pretending not to listen. “I have to imagine dying changes someone in a lot of ways. She’s been paying for the things she did ever since.”

Gaige, for all her love of violence and murder, had a massive soft spot for underdogs. Her personal moral code abhorred those who inflicted needless suffering on those weaker than them (Tyreen would fall into that category), and staunchly defended those who had been wronged, mistreated, or bullied (as far as he knew, Tyreen did not fall into that category). He understood Gaige’s love for and defense of Angel for that reason. But Tyreen Calypso?

“What’s she been through?” he asked.

Gaige blinked. “Huh?”

“Tyreen. You said she’s like Angel, ‘cause she’s been through a lot.” Moze squinted at her. “What’s she been through?”

Tyreen turned halfway, stealing a glance at them. When she realized Gaige was looking over, she quickly turned around again.

Gaige let go of Moze’s hands and went over to the bed. With one metal finger, she poked Tyreen in the back. The force nearly knocked the miniature woman right over.

“Apologize to Moze,” Gaige said.

When Tyreen turned fully around, she wore the twisted scowl of a hissing cat. “Why?”

“Because what you said was rude. And I can still smash you with that hammer if I want to.”

“I’m not apologizing to some Vault thief.” Tyreen got up and went over to the head of the bed, where Gaige’s pillow lay. Beside the normal-sized pillow, dotted with orange hairs and drool stains, there was a...Moze had to squint to be sure he was really seeing what he was looking at. Yes, it was a bridge. A simple little metal bridge, with welded handrails and everything. It led from the corner of the bed to the small nightstand beside it. And on that nightstand was a handmade, doll-sized replica of a bed.

Tyreen plunked herself down on it. Then she pulled the little blanket over herself, head and all, and disappeared under it.

Gaige rolled her eyes. “Very mature way to handle conflict.”

She was answered by the sound of fake snoring.

“Okay, well I guess if Ty’s asleep, then I can tell you all her secrets.”

The snoring stopped.

“Yeah, ‘cause she’s told me a lot...” Gaige led Moze over to the far side of the room. Tyreen was moving under the blanket, but she didn’t come out.

With Tyreen apparently content to let it happen, Gaige had spilled all of Ty’s sordid tale–or at least the version she’d been told. In it, Typhon was a cruel and distant father, Troy was a chronically-ill, annoying but beloved brother, and the Crimson Raiders were a clique full of hypocrites trying to shut down anyone else who wanted to move up in the universe.

Midway through the story, Tyreen had joined them, sauntering over with all the cockiness a six-inch-tall woman could muster. She’d held her arms out expectantly, and Gaige had scooped her right up, cradling her gently in her palms.

Moze knew Gaige was eccentric. He also knew she was very dedicated to the concept of justice for those who had been wronged in life. He had not expected to have to face her holding Tyreen Calypso, softly murmuring about how she wanted to start work on a mini elevator she’d drafted up that could help Tyreen get up to the table and bed easier.

This whole situation was more than he’d ever been trained to deal with.

“Man, I’m hungry.”

Since returning to his room, Moze had been doing his best to ignore his own resident Calypso. He’d started to hear grumbles from the workbench amidst the complaints, a tiny rumbling stomach. It was usually followed by a whine from Troy.

Neither Troy nor Tyreen knew the other was around. Moze and Gaige had decided that was for the best.

“You don’t have to eat,” Moze said. “You’re a doll.”

Troy lifted his head, then bumped the back of it down against the bench. “Could really go for a burger or something. And I don’t even know what burgers taste like.”

Moze was about to retort when he realized something. “How’d you get your tape off?” he asked instead.

It was a foolish question. The way the tape around Troy’s mouth was punctured and gnawed, it was pretty clear how he’d done it.

“What about hot dogs?” Troy asked. “Those any good? They seem like they’d be good.”

Gaige had mentioned Tyreen’s apparent inability to eat actual food in life. Maybe that was why she and Troy were so bitchy all the time.

“Hot dogs are so good, dude,” Moze said, turning to Iron Bear to finish his polish job. “Burgers are good, too.”

He could see Troy reflected in Bear’s cockpit. His head was lifted a little, studying Moze.

“Are you just saying that so I want them more?”

Moze just chuckled.

Troy whined again, his stomach accompanying him.

Moze would have been content not to speak to him again after that, but apparently Troy didn’t feel the same.

“You know, it’s weird,” Troy began. Moze failed to suppress an eyeroll. “I always wanted to get out of my sister’s shadow. But now that she’s not here...” He paused, then added, “I don’t really know what to do with myself.”

“Maybe some quiet contemplation,” Moze suggested. “I can put more tape on.”

His voice took on a smug note. “Hey, I know you’re mad ‘cause your girl thinks I’m cute, but-”

“It’s not that, dude.” Moze turned around, only to find Troy smirking triumphantly at him. “You’re an enemy. A hostile. The fact that I’m keeping you here at all without torturing you for intel or something is...”

“Total beta behavior, honestly.” Troy yawned, opening his freaky, oversized mouth and letting his unholy tongue roll down onto his chest. “But hey, we can’t all be Alphas.”

Moze tossed his polishing rag. “You do not seriously think you’re an Alpha male.”

Troy rolled his shoulders, the most he could move while taped down. “I mean...the lady sirens sure think so.”

Moze shuffled over to him. His shadow completely enshrouded Troy’s miniscule form.

“What? You think you’re gonna intimidate me?” Troy shied away, hiding under the tape. “Size doesn’t make the man. You should know that.”

Moze continued to loom over him, not saying a word.

“...Cut it out, man.” Troy struggled weakly against his bonds. “Why’re you being so weird?”

Moze clapped a hand down on the bench. Troy shrieked.

Satisfied with the display of dominance, Moze went back to polishing Iron Bear.

The longer he ignored Troy, the louder Troy’s stomach became. Those groans were accompanied by Troy groaning as well. Moze reached over and turned on the radio, just loud enough to drown it out.

He wasn’t very familiar with music outside of Vladof society, but he liked what he’d heard so far. This was some kind of electronic tune, fast paced and intense, the kind of stuff Gaige liked. He liked it too, if for little other reason than the fact that it reminded him of her.

He nodded along as he worked the grease out of Bear’s cockpit hinges.

“So how’d you pull a girl like her, anyway?”

The voice, tiny as it was, was clear as day over the music. Moze exhaled through his nostrils and scrubbed Bear harder, hoping the damp squeaks would fill the ensuing silence.

“Hey. Vault Thief. I’m talking to you.”

“I’m not talking to you, if you haven’t noticed,” Moze said.

“Psh, whatever.” Troy turned his head away. “If I had a girl like that, I sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting around polishing a mech.”

When Moze didn’t respond, he added,

“’Cause I’d be busy destroying that puss.”

“Yeah, I got what you meant.”

“What’s it like? I bet her head game’s insane.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Moze murmured.

“You don’t have a dick yet??”

Moze sighed. “I said I wasn’t gonna talk to you.”

“Why don’t you have one, though? You have a Quick-Change machine in here, right?” Troy lifted his head as best he could. “Are you scared?”

“No, I’m not scared at all of majorly altering my body in a life-changing way. Why would I be?”

Troy was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Well you should do it. It’s awesome, man.”

“I doubt it’s gonna make that big a difference at this point in my life-”

“You think it won’t. But it does.”

“Why are you even still talking?” Moze dropped his rag, leaving a fresh new grease stain on his pants. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

Troy studied him quietly, as if himself searching for an answer. Then he said, “Guess I just haven’t had another guy to talk to in a while. Or like, ever, really.”

“Didn’t you spend most of your life with your dad?”

Troy barked out a laugh. “Oh yeah, ‘cause he was great company. He used to call me a freak all the time. He’d talk to Ty about me like I wasn’t even there.”

“Well you are kind of a freak, dude.”

“Now I am. I embraced it. I figured everyone who meets me thinks I’m a monster anyway, so I might as well go all out.”

“So...you proved your dad right.”

“I don’t give a fuck what that loser thinks. I hope he’s burning in Heck.”

From what he’d learned of parents, it seemed there was a wide spectrum of success and failure stories. Gaige adored her parents, while Lor’s had cast him out without a second thought. Angel’s father had apparently been a nightmare, while Tannis spoke fondly of her own.

Typhon had seemed like a pretty cool guy, but Gaige’s secondhand recounting of his fatherhood had made him out very differently. Troy’s view seemed to correlate with that as well.

It didn’t excuse any of their actions, but Moze found himself wondering what kind of fucked-up viewpoint a person who’d spent all their formative years trapped on a wasteland planet with no one around but their neglectful father would develop. At least in Vladof he had comrades going through all the same struggles.

“When Ty decided we were gonna sneak off-planet,” Troy said, “I didn’t wanna go. But I’m so glad I did. Even if it killed me.”

“Even if it led to you and your sister nearly destroying the entire universe?”

As much as Moze hated to admit it, when Troy smiled genuinely, not his usual evil little smirk, there was something oddly endearing about it. He looked like a monster, but he was just as human as anyone else.

“That was her crazy plan, not mine.” He tipped his head back to get a better look at Moze. “Was kinda fun, though.”

“Was kinda fun to almost wipe out all existing life,” Moze said.

“Yeah! Made me feel powerful. Instead of just like my dad’s least-favorite daughter.”

The last part sounded so strange to him that Moze actually laughed. That perked Troy up a little.

“In his defense,” he added, “he actually wasn’t bad about the trans thing. It meant nothing to him, ‘cause he didn’t give a shit about me either way.”

“Tyreen was cool about it?”

“Oh, she was fuckin’ delighted to be the only girl. I guess she thought it made her special-er.” His tape made a sticky stretching sound as he tried to sit up, reminding both Moze and himself that he was bound to the table. “You know, it’s kinda funny,” he said. “I thought you were a guy the first time I saw you.”

Moze straightened his shoulders a bit. “You did?”

“Yeah. Ty thought I was stupid because I ‘couldn’t tell’.”

“I didn’t even know back then, dude.”

“Damn, so I knew before anybody. Guess I’m just that good.”

Moze went over to him. Troy squirmed in his bonds so that he could stare fully back up at Moze.

The tense quiet between them was broken by the snarl of Troy’s stomach.

With a defeated sigh, Moze said, “Technically, starving prisoners is considered a war crime. And I try to avoid those when I can.” He picked the remaining tape off the skin around Troy’s mouth, balled it up and flicked it into the trash.

“The mess hall serves skag dogs,” he added. “You want one?”

“Oh hell yeah.” Troy nodded eagerly. “And soda. No, wait. Beer.”

“You’re getting whatever’s on day-old special.” Moze made sure Troy’s bonds were secure. Then he headed out for the mess hall.

It was long past dinnertime, so the dining area was nearly empty. Only a single table was occupied, in the far corner of the room.

Moze tried to avoid attracting their attention as he picked out a hot dog and a flat can of soda for Troy.

Ava’s head was angled downward, concentrating on something they were drawing. Beside their sketchbook sat a plate of half-eaten food. They didn’t look up as Moze ordered and paid for the food. He carried his tray over toward the door. Still, they seemed not to notice him.

Moze looked down at the quickly-cooling food. Then he set it down on a nearby table and headed over to Ava.

“Hey.” He stopped beside their table.

“Hey,” Ava murmured. They did not look up from their notebook.

Moze tried not-so-subtly to lean over and look at it. “Whatcha drawing?”

Ava squinted at the paper. “I dunno.”

All he could make out of it at a glance was a lot of stark, heavy lines. But as Ava turned it toward him, he began to identify some basic shapes. Thick strands of something grew up the sides of the page and along the bottom. Growing up out of that unidentifiable substance were multiple cylinders with long, spindly things suspended inside.

Moze had seen those cylinders before.

“These were inside Gythian,” he said.

Ava perked up at that. “They were?”

“Yeah. But you weren’t.” The creatures inside the tanks, as crudely as they were drawn, were unmistakable. “There was a room full of tanks growing those creatures the locals called Bonded. Angel smashed them all.”

Ava stared down at their own drawing.

“Do you think...” Moze sat down beside them, eyeing the picture as well. “Do you think maybe what’s going on with you has to do with them?”

“With the Bonded?”

“Well, I’m just thinking...” That whole trip had been so insane that Moze had tried to suppress most of it. It took a few minutes to draw it back out. “The leaders of that Bonded cult, we found ECHO logs from one of them talking about how the other had gotten, like, corrupted by Gythian’s heart. It changed him. Turned him into a monster. The very first ‘Bonded’.”

Ava’s hand dropped from their chin to the table’s surface. “You think I’m turning into a Bonded?!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know.” Moze shook his head. “Let’s not freak out about stuff we’re not sure of.”

Ava’s eyes narrowed. “The book.”

“What about it?”

“It’s made out of weird stuff. Leather I’ve never seen before, and it has teeth, and it feels...off. Like, it feels almost alive.”

“So why the hell did you bring it here?!”

“I don’t know! Don’t yell at me!”

Moze took a breath, then lowered his voice. “In the future,” he said, “don’t bring anything from cursed planets home with us. Okay?”

“Yeah, no shit.”

The two of them stared down at the sketchbook in a long silence.

“I don’t wanna be a Bonded,” Ava mumbled.

“We don’t know that’s what’s happening.” Moze reached over and shut the sketchbook. “Really wish I knew more about all this Eridian bullshit. They made all these monsters, right? Or knew something about them, at least.”

“Maybe we’re better off not knowing.” Ava reopened the sketchbook to flip quickly through its pages. All Moze could see was a flash of dark, dire illustrations across more than half the book. “Tina’s coming.”

“What?”

“To Gay Bowling Night. Tina said she’s coming.”

“Oh.”

Ava paused flipping on a page that bore a rough illustration of a heart. “Maybe even if I become a Bonded or something, I can still hang out with everyone.”

“Not gonna happen, dude. I won’t let you turn into one of those things.”

“But if I did?” Ava looked at him with rounded eyes. “Would we still be friends?”

Moze reached over and slung an arm around Ava, pulling them in close. Ava resisted for only a moment. Then they rested their head on Moze’s shoulder.

“That’s not going to happen,” Moze repeated. “We’re gonna find a way to reverse this corruption-stuff. I promise.”

Ava closed their eyes. “Thanks, Moze.”

“’Course, Commander.”

That got a little chuckle out of Ava. “I don’t know if I like being Commander,” they admitted. “Too much responsibility.”

“I get that. I never wanted to be in charge of anybody, either.”

At that statement, he suddenly remembered the now-cold dinner he’d offered to bring his pint-sized prisoner roommate. “Uh, so anyway,” he said as he hopped up, “you keep me updated on who else is coming to bowling night, okay? That way we can plan for how big this whole thing’s gonna be.”

Ava nodded. “Okay.”

He picked up his food and returned it–quickly, but not too quickly–to his bedroom.

“Shit, man.” Troy nearly choked as Moze tried to force the hot dog on him. “I can’t eat while I’m taped down. I need my hand.”

“Bullshit.” Moze bumped the end of the cold hot dog against Troy’s lips. “Open up.”

Troy turned his head away. “Come on, dude! At least cut it up or something so it doesn’t feel so weird.”

With an exaggerated groan, Moze ripped the end off and held it up to Troy’s mouth. Troy rolled his eyes, unhinged his jaw, and wrapped his tongue around it, pulling the chunk of skag meat into his mouth.

“Eugh.” Moze looked away while Troy chewed.

“Oh man. Oh yeah, that’s good.” Troy swallowed audibly. “Can I have some more?”

Moze ripped off another chunk. This time, Troy’s tongue lashed his fingertips when he went for it, leaving them wet and slimy. It took everything Moze had not to barf on his tiny prisoner.

“Man, is all food this good?” Troy chewed loudly, with his unnaturally-large mouth wide open. “When I fed from Ty it just tasted like shame and failure.”

“Gee, I wonder why...”

Troy nodded to the can of soda by Moze’s other hand. “Gimme some of that.”

Moze popped the can and held it to Troy’s lips. Troy glugged it down. Then he started choking.

“It’s carbonated,” Moze warned dryly.

“What the fuck?” Troy hacked and gagged. “Why does it burn?!”

“Because you can’t drink carbonated beverages that fast.”

“Well thanks for telling me after the fact,” Troy sputtered. “You’re a real one.”

“You’re lucky I’m not actively torturing you right now. I know a lot of ways to keep a man hurting but alive.”

“Does it involve force-feeding them your wiener?”

“Hey, you’re the one who asked for that.”

“I didn’t ask for you to shove it down my throat. You made it weird.”

“You know what? Fine.” Moze pulled out his knife. Troy flinched as Moze brought its tip right down to him, then gently severed the tape binding his single arm. “Eat it yourself.”

Slowly, uncertainly, Troy sat up. He opened and closed his fist. Moze tried not to notice the fact that his arm had large red marks chewed into it from how tight the tape had been.

He looked suspiciously up at Moze. “You know I could rip my own tape off now, right?” He nodded at his bound legs. “Like, I could get away.”

“No you couldn’t.”

“Yes I co-”

Iron Bear’s flamethrower ignited just above Troy’s head. Troy screamed and ducked.

“Fffuck, man.” A few ends of his hair had caught. Troy smacked them out. “Why are you doing this to me? Like, why am I even here?”

Moze had avoided explaining anything to him, which was apparently the opposite strategy from Gaige, as Tyreen seemed to know all about her situation. It helped that Troy hadn’t really asked. He struck Moze as someone who accepted his lot in life with little question. It was probably the only thing about his personality that Moze could relate to.

“One of our ranks wanted to use you as practice for some forbidden Eridian magic,” he decided to say. It sounded threatening enough to hopefully scare him out of trying to run amok on the ship.

Troy reached over and grabbed the remainder of the skag dog. He took a big bite and chowed down on it. Then he said, “Man, I am so sick of Eridian crap.”

“You and me both, dude.”

With his stretched-out mouth lined with big, sharp teeth, Troy finished his food in record time. He tipped the soda can over to take another sip. Then, loudly smacking his lips, he added, “My whole life growing up, that’s all I ever saw or heard about. And now in the siren afterlife, half the sirens are always going on about that shit, too. One chick I was boning spent half the night telling me all about Eridian magic and curses and stuff. I was like ‘Lady, I just wanna smash’.”

Moze stopped. “Do you...remember any of what she said?”

Troy tilted his head. “Eh, it’s rattling around in there somewhere. She was real interested in me being from Nekrotafeyo. Apparently there’s a lot of stuff there that the Eridians never took off-world, because it was too precious to lose.” He let out a loud burp. “I never saw anything precious there.”

A horrid idea was creeping its way into Moze’s brain. No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. There was no way.

“So who’s messing around with that shit in the Raiders, anyway?” Troy continued. “One of the sirens?”

Nope. Not gonna do it.

“I’m not at liberty to say,” Moze replied.

“My sister never wanted to bother learning Eridian,” Troy said. He’d begun picking bits of skag dog skin out of his teeth with one clawed fingernail. “But I was really good at it, so she got jealous and started learning it.” He paused his picking for a moment. “...I wonder if she’s wondering where I am right now.”

“She didn’t seem to care much when you two were alive. Doubt she cares now.”

Troy lowered his hand. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” His words were unusually sharp. “You know nothing about me and my sister. You only know what we let you see.”

“Well then you let me see that you’re pretty damn dysfunctional.”

“Says the guy who can’t last five minutes without taking orders from someone.” Troy tried to squirm his legs free. Iron Bear trained its flamethrower on him again, ready to strike. “You know, I saw you when you first landed on Pandora. I was in charge in keeping track of all that stuff. I saw how pathetic you were, eating rats and crying all alone in the desert.”

Moze’s heart quickened. “Yeah, big deal.”

“I thought you’d make a great tank for the COV. We wouldn’t even have to break you first.”

“I’d have eaten a bullet long before it came to that.”

“Yeah, I know.” He flashed a fanged grin Moze’s way. Moze noticed his canines weren’t just yellow–they were actual gold. “You almost did.”

The thought that some nefarious nerd guy was watching him from afar during the lowest point in his life rattled him. Moze’s planned banter dried up in his throat. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Troy’s grin slowly faded. Without the two of them trading barbs, it was just two sad, broken guys staring at each other.

“...Was that too far?” Troy eventually said. “I thought we were giving each other shit.”

“You saw me that night?” Moze couldn’t help but ask.

Troy shrugged his bony shoulders. “Sorta. My scouts did.”

He could still remember it vividly. Sitting by a dying campfire under the lip of one of Pandora’s many cliffs. The wind howling across the vast, empty expanse of sand. Dust stinging his eyes as he squinted down at the pistol in his hand. The weight of it when he sat the weathered steel barrel on his tongue.

The only thing that had saved him that night was the thought that no one else would take care of Iron Bear like he did.

“So you had CoV on me,” Moze said, “when I was all alone there.”

“We had eyes everywhere. So yeah.”

“Why didn’t you have them jump me? You coulda got my mech. That’s invaluable loot.”

“Ty would have. But she didn’t know yet. And I just kinda...” He shifted his eyes. “Didn’t mention it. Didn’t think it was worth mentioning.” He laughed a little. “Boy, that turned out to be a mistake.”

Surprising even himself, Moze laughed, too. “We kicked your ass, dude.”

“I figured you’d get eaten or something, and my men could loot your mech then. I didn’t expect you to join up with the damn Crimson Raiders.”

“Huge tactical error.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Troy ripped a strip of tape off his legs. Then another. Eventually, it was loose enough for him to free himself altogether. Iron Bear turned on him, but Moze lifted a hand, ceasing its assault.

Troy rose to his feet, shaky and uncertain. Moze watched him plunk one foot in front of the other, trying to regain his coordination after so long stuck down. At one point he hit an uneven bit of the bench with his toes and went flying forward. Moze thought about catching him–he had the reflexes for it. But considering how Troy had reacted to being picked up a little while earlier, he opted to let him fall on his face instead.

“Ow.”

“Sorry, I heard helping other guys up when they fall is gay.”

Troy remained face down on the bench. “It is.”

There came a knock at his door. Distinctive. Metal on metal.

The door had been reconfigured to recognize Gaige’s handprint. It slid open, and she strolled inside.

With her hair down and in nothing but a t-shirt and some baggy old shorts, she looked much softer than usual. Moze welcomed her in with a gentle smile.

“Hey.”

“Heyy.” Gaige leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. Then she glanced over at Troy. “You untaped him?”

At the sound of Gaige’s voice, Troy was on his feet in a flash. “I untaped myself,” he said, thumbing his chest. “’Cause that’s what an Alpha would do.”

Gaige giggled. “Awfully tiny for an Alpha male, but I dig the enthusiasm.”

Clearing his throat, Moze said, “So what’s up?”

“Oh, I was just gonna ask if you wanted to...” She glanced over at Troy, who was unabashedly staring at her. “...Can you come out into the hall for a second?”

“Hey, wait.” Troy hurried across the bench toward her. “Forget this guy. I’m a king, you know. I can make you my bandit queen.”

“Dude, step off.” Moze got between them.

“Aww, I’m flattered.” Gaige waved him off with a coy smile. “You are cute.”

“What?” Moze balked. “Okay, no. I’m not gonna let some doll-sized douchebag steal my girlfriend.”

Gaige turned to him, blinking her long lashes. “But I thought I wasn’t your girlfriend.”

Moze dropped his shoulders. “Is that why–” He gestured vaguely at Troy.

Gaige shrugged.

Moze exhaled. “...Man, I’m not usually the jealous type. But, like...”

He stared into Gaige’s bright green eyes. She tilted her head slightly, waiting for him to finish.

“I want you to be my girlfriend,” he said. “Fuck, I want you to be my wife. Like, someday, I mean. The wife thing.”

“You’d wanna marry me??”

“Hell yeah. It’s just taking me a while to get used to-”

“What about Lor?”

“What about me?” Troy jumped in.

That dispelled the lovestruck fog. Moze rubbed his temples and exhaled.

“I told you I understand how you are with him,” Gaige said. Then quickly she added, “Lor I mean, not this guy.” She threw a hand out toward Troy, who frowned.

“Yeah, but...” Moze tried his best to ignore the eavesdropping Calypso sitting right behind them. “It’s not right. I can’t just...not choose.”

“Well, if it’s between sharing you or losing you, I’d rather share.” Gaige offered him a small smile. “And I like Lor. So...”

“Hey, if your boyfriend is gonna have more than one partner, does that mean you’ll be back on the market?” Troy piped up. “’Cause I might not look like much right now, but I know how to treat a woman. I’d never be making you share me with some dude.”

Gaige gave Moze a little nod that said she had the situation handled. Then she went over to the workbench, leaned down, and, with the very end of one organic fingertip, gently lifted Troy’s chin.

“You’re cute,” she purred, “buuut you did try to kill my boyfriend. And that’s kind of a turn-off.”

There was a great emphasis on the word boyfriend. Moze felt himself flush.

“Aw come on.” Troy attempted to make himself look as cute as possible. He wasn’t very successful. “It was mutual.”

“He killed Maya,” Moze mumbled.

“By accident,” Troy added.

Gaige lifted her finger to give him a little poke on the top of the head. Then she returned her attention to Moze.

“I actually came in here to say...” She moved away from Troy, and lowered her voice just a little. “Well, I was gonna say I wanted to talk about ‘us’, but-”

“What about ‘us’?”

“I was gonna demand to know where we stand, ‘cause Tyreen was saying you’re a chump, and I know you’re not, but then-”

“I’m not a chump!”

“I know! And then you said you wanna marry me someday.” She giggled. Moze noticed her cybernetic eye’s pupil had turned heart-shaped. “So the only thing left to talk about, really, is...”

Moze blew out a long breath. “Lor. Right.”

Gaige nodded.

He thought of the way his stomach twisted when Lor had left Sanctuary the last time. It was the same twist he’d felt when Gaige had at first told him she wasn’t returning to Sanctuary after the wedding.

In both cases, he’d wanted nothing more than to take them by the hand and say, Stay for a while. Stay forever.

“...I guess we should talk to Lor,” he conceded.

Gaige nodded. “Yeaahhh, I think that’d be for the best.”

“Who’s Lor?” Troy asked.

“None of your business,” Moze replied.

Troy looked to Gaige.

“It’s none of your business,” Gaige agreed.

Troy flopped down on the bench. “This sucks. I wanna go back to being dead.”

“So did you want to go, like, now, or...?” Moze pointedly ignored Troy as he picked up his backpack and slung it over one shoulder.

Gaige perked up. “You think Lor’s around?”

“He’s probably working. That’s all he ever does.”

“So maybe we should wait, then-”

“No. Let’s go now. Before I talk myself out of it.”

Gaige grinned her usual jagged grin. Moze took her face in his hands and gave her a small, tender kiss.

“No matter what happens,” he whispered as their lips parted, “I meant what I said.”

Gaige’s eyes twinkled. “Soo should I start picking out a wedding dress? Maybe if I thrift one, it’ll already come with fashionable rips in it!”

Moze grinned. “In that case, I'll start looking for a camo suit I can pin my lapels on. That way, my helmet’ll match.”

“If you wear your fucking army helmet to our wedding, I’m leaving you at the altar.”

“We’d be getting married in a church? I was picturing the ceremony in front of, like, a burning government building.”

Gaige bumped her forehead against his. They both giggled.

“We’ll definitely have better luck burning down a civic building as a trio,” Gaige added. “So c’mon. Let’s get recruiting!”

Recruiting. The concept struck him as hilarious.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Let’s go rope Lor into this mess.”

Chapter Text

The original owner of No Roast for the Wicked had fled during the Maliwan attacks, leaving the place abandoned.

Initially Lor had transferred to working at the Rise ‘N Grind, where he’d spent most of his shifts actively refraining from smashing Barista Bot to bits. Between that paycheck and the money Atlas had paid him for his wartime services, and in a piss-poor seller’s market for war-torn real estate, he managed to save up enough to eventually buy No Roast himself.

At least, that’s what he told people. Moze wouldn’t have been surprised if the true story was that he’d simply walked in there and declared himself the new owner. No one would have dared to challenge him.

Regardless of how he inherited it, the place had certainly changed under Lor’s management. What had once been a cute little shop with big windows and cheery lighting now had blacked-out glass barely containing the pulsing neon purple lights inside, and a flashing sign over the door that would’ve looked more appropriate somewhere like a strip club.

Because the city of Meridian ran 24/7, there was a demand for coffee at all hours. That meant the shop had no actual closing time, just people switching off from day to night shifts. Lor worked most of them himself, though he always had a couple of flamboyant young men hanging around who allegedly helped out.

The moment Moze pushed the door open, a bell overhead sounded.

“Be right with you!” Lor called from behind the counter. His attention was on a drink he was making.

Moze held the door open for Gaige. She was already taking everything in, the low lights, the pumping music, the shirtless men bringing drinks to tables. Moze tried to pay them no mind, though he definitely felt smaller than usual in their presence.

Lor clapped the drink down on the counter. It was picked up by one of said shirtless dudes, who brought it over to a smirking man at a table.

Lor wiped his fingers on his apron. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said as he was turning around, “what can I get for y-”

The moment he saw Moze, his customer service demeanor dropped right off. He leaned his elbows down on the counter and offered him a small, easy smile.

“Oh, hey.”

Moze nodded, hands in his pockets. “Hey.”

The moment his eyes happened to catch sight of Gaige, Lor straightened back up. “Hey, Gaige,” he added in a tone that was certainly closer to his customer service one. “You two all right?”

Moze wandered over to the counter. Even with the overpowering smell of fresh roast filling the small shop, he could still pick out Lor’s smoke-tinged cologne, carried over to him by the single ceiling fan overhead.

“When do you get off work?” Moze asked.

“This again?” Lor leaned his hip against the counter and gave Moze an amused little once-over. “You havin’ another gender crisis?”

Moze snorted. “Nah. I’m pretty confident in my manlet status these days.”

“Ha, manlet.” Lor stood up tall, flexing the whole less-than-an-inch he had on Moze. “So what do we need to talk about? And why are you always doing this to me when I’m at work?”

“Because you’re always at work, dude.”

“Okay, I can’t deny that.” He glanced at the clock behind his head. “I’m s’posed to be working the overnight by myself. I can’t really just leave.”

“You own the store. You can’t close it for a little while?”

“And what, just kick everyone out?”

Moze turned and glanced pointedly over the shop. In the corner, the man who’d just received his coffee was obviously flirting with the server, who was hanging around the table with a sultry smile. Every other table was empty.

“All right, all right, fine.” He snapped his fingers, drawing the shirtless server’s attention. “Fergus, watch the shop. I gotta step out a minute.”

Fergus nodded and gave a thumbs up.

Tossing off his apron, Lor joined them around the counter. Gaige was keeping to herself, but she had a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. She was definitely a little too into this whole plan.

“So what’s up?” Lor flipped the CLOSED sign on the door on his way out. He brought the scent of coffee outside with him, as well as, of course, his signature cigarette-cologne cocktail.

No Roast had a few tables outside, unoccupied so late at night. Moze plunked himself down at one. Gaige slid in beside him. Lor, quirking a brow, nonetheless joined them on the opposite side of the table. He glanced between the two of them, searching their faces for any indication of what the hell they’d pulled him off work for this time.

The fact that Lor had only a moment to talk made it easier to get right to the meat of the matter. Moze’s specialty.

Resting his gloved hands on the table’s crumb-coated surface, he said, “How serious were you about the ‘getting involved in our relationship’ thing?”

Lor’s eyelids pulled wide open. He did not immediately respond, but his eyes flicked over to Gaige, who was watching him back with an unbothered smile.

“’Cause, like, if you were serious about it...”

“We’re interested,” Gaige jumped in.

Lor stared, lips parted slightly, at each of them in turn. He seemed uncertain whether or not to laugh; Moze and Gaige remained wholly serious.

“I...” Lor pulled at the collar of his shirt. “I was kidding...?”

Moze’s face must have fallen, because Lor quickly added,

“Well, wait. I mean, I wasn’t really ‘kidding’, I just...didn’t think you’d be...open to that kind of thing.” Even in the dark of the Promethean night, Moze could see a flush to Lor’s face. “...Would you seriously consider that?”

Gaige’s cheeks were sucked in, desperately trying to refrain from babbling on. This couldn’t come from her, anyway. It was all Moze.

“I, uh...” Moze cleared his throat. Then he slid one hand just a little bit closer to Lor’s. “I just...really care about you, and stuff. You’re my closest friend. And...”

Lor glanced down at his hand. Then he looked to Gaige.

“You do know I’m gay, right?” he said. “This really wouldn’t benefit you at all.”

Gaige narrowed her eyes, and a wide, sly grin spread across her face. “Oh, trust me,” she said. “It’s gonna benefit me a lot.”

“Creepy,” Lor noted.

“So, is this something you might be, like...into?” Moze turned his hands over and offered him a shrug. “I know it’s sudden. Just figured, might as well ask.”

“It is sudden.” Lor scratched the stubble on his chin. “But...”

Moze sat up a little straighter. “Yeah?”

Lor leaned back in his chair. Under the street lights, the sharp slope of his cheeks was far more evident, and the muscles in his arms were quite visible when he flexed his hands on the table.

“When we first met,” he said, “I told you I wasn’t ready to commit to anyone. But a lot’s changed since then, y’know? I’ve gotten to settle in a little, I’m not fightin’ a war anymore, and I finally got to bloody transition, since I had someone to give me the confidence.” His words came with a little nod in Moze’s direction. Moze felt his own cheeks warm. “I never stopped thinking about what we had those few times. I never felt like that with anyone before.”

Moze dragged a hand through his hair, trying to find words anywhere near that poetic. His eyes momentarily caught Gaige’s. She smiled and offered him an encouraging nod.

God. What did I do to deserve her?

“I missed you,” he decided to say. “It was...affecting things. I tried to move on, but you were still there, in my mind all the time.” Moze reached a hand out toward where Gaige had hers folded on the table. His hand settled on top of hers and gave them a squeeze. She leaned over and nudged his cheek with her own.

“Gaige is the best girlfriend I could ask for,” he said. “She understood. She wants to make it work.”

Gaige squirmed in her seat and giggled a little.

Lor’s soft eyes were studying them both, trying to find some footing in this crazy situation.

“I’ve never...done anything like this before,” he said. His usually boisterous voice was quiet, hesitant. “But I s’pose if it was gonna be anyone...”

Moze offered him a tiny smile. Lor reached over and bumped the back of his hand against Moze’s.

A bubble of laughter drew their attention. Gaige’s hands had moved to cover her mouth, but her giggles came right out between her fingers.

“Uh...” Moze raised an eyebrow at her. “You okay over there?”

Her giggles soon exploded into cackles. She threw her arms up and guffawed at the sky.

Lor was looking to Moze for answers. Moze had none.

Catching her breath, Gaige finally lowered her arms and said, “It’s all gone according to plan.”

Moze’s brows knitted together. “What has?”

“My devious plot, of course!” Gaige plunked back down into her chair and held up her metal pointer finger. “At first, I was jealous. I gotta be honest here.” She touched her organic pointer finger to her metal one. “But then I realized that there was so much potential with this!” The metal finger pointed at Moze. “You had a gay best guy friend who was clearly into you. If I could bring us all together, I could finally have...” The finger shifted to jab out at Lor. “A QPP!”

“A what?” Moze said. He looked to Lor, who shrugged, just as lost.

“A QUEER-PLATONIC PARTNER!” She jumped out of her seat, hurried around to the other side of the table, and then slid in beside Lor. “It’s like having a bestie, but even more special.”

“Oh. Uh, okay.” As Gaige leaned in closer, Lor leaned slightly away. “You smell like you’ve been on fire recently.”

“Oh, that’s because I had a malfunction with my robot’s laser earlier.” Gaige was practically purring. “On a related note, how do you feel about arson?”

Lor paused. His eyes started to follow something that Moze couldn’t immediately see. Then, as it thickened, he started to notice the wisps of smoke drifting out from the shop door.

“Aw, bleedin’ hell.” He ran for the door. “Fergus! Did you take the pot off?!”

As Lor disappeared back into the store, Gaige and Moze swapped a look.

“I think that went well,” Gaige said.

“I’ll text him later,” Moze murmured. “Maybe he’ll be more willing to talk that way.”

Gaige’s smile faded. “You don’t think I weirded him out, do you?”

“Nah.” Moze leaned over and gave her a gentle kiss. Gaige giggled into his mouth. When he withdrew again, he added, “While we’re here, you wanna smash up a few Holloway bots?”

Gaige’s eyes lit up. “Is that even a question?”

A part of him had hoped, maybe even expected, that Lor would text him first. But he got home from smashing cop bots on Promethea, got ready for bed, kissed Gaige goodnight, and then retreated to his quarters all without hearing a peep from his friend.

He was lying in bed counting the dents in his walls when his ECHO, nestled under his pillow, buzzed. Troy growled and turned over pointedly on the work bench. Moze snatched the device up, unaware until that moment just how eager he’d been to hear it go off.

The message was indeed from Lor. It read simply,

Was that a joke?

His heart rate picked up. A joke? Did he think they were mocking him? Neither of them could have been any more sincere if they’d tried. That was raw Moze, and raw Gaige, put right out there in the world.

It wasn’t a joke, he replied. We would never do that.

There was a long pause between that message and the eventual reply from Lor.

So I’m supposed to be the side piece while you faff about with a girl?

Moze’s face heated up. He fumbled over the keyboard, starting to type a few letters, then deleting them.

Before he could respond, another message appeared on the screen.

Okay, that sounded way nastier in text form. I’m half giving you shit.

Moze exhaled. Just half?

I’m the jealous type.

Moze blinked at the screen a few times.

In came another message, a grinning purple emoji with devil horns.

Moze studied the messages for a minute. The reply he eventually typed was cautious, written slowly and deliberately.

In seriousness, dude, it’s okay if you’re not cool with it. I know it’s a crazy thing to ask someone to get involved with.

Lor’s typing bubble was up for a good long while.

It actually might be a good thing, said the first bit of the message. There was a line break, and then, I know what I said earlier, but I really *don’t* know if I’m ready to commit to someone full-time yet. Having an arrangement like this might be easier for me.

I can’t tell if you actually mean that or not.

No, I do. And Gaige seems like a nice girl.

She is.

Fuck it, then. Sign me on for being your side piece.

Moze had just begun to type “You’re not-” when Lor sent another text.

So do I get full boyfriend privileges now? Can I come over whenever I want? Are you gonna buy me fancy jewelry with all that vault hunting money?

Moze smirked at his screen. Sure. Anything else? Flowers? Chocolates? Romantic hikes up cursed mountains? I got a perfect spot in mind for that last one.

I’m thinking more like romantic walks to the launderette so you can help me carry my clothes after. Or romantic three-way calls to me landlord when I need someone to restrain me from threatening his life.

Moze’s smirk grew into a full-sized smile.

Honestly? I wouldn’t want anything else.

With a bit of hesitation, but only a bit, he sent another message. A single red heart.

Lor sent back a heart of his own.

Moze hadn’t realized he was squirming in the bed until Troy groaned again. “Can you jack off quieter?” his tiny voice called out.

Moze slapped the ECHO down. “I’m not jacking off. Fuck you, dude.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you!”

Troy got up and carried his rag-blanket to the far end of the workbench, where he lay down facing away from Moze.

With a huff, Moze turned to gaze out the window instead. Thousands, maybe millions of stars glimmered back at him, and a few nearby planets reflected their light. A whole galaxy. A whole universe. He’d traversed much of it in his Corps days, but he’d never felt so much like a part of it. Spread throughout those stars, people loved him. People cared about him. No matter how dark and cold the void of space could get, throughout the universe there were little stars reaching out to him, warming him with their light.

He burrowed into the pillow and closed his eyes, thinking about his own personal galaxy.

Chapter Text

How does a dork like you land two boyfriends??”

Tyreen sat cross-legged opposite Gaige on the bed. In her arms she wielded a single, gnawed-at french fry. Gaige’s news had distracted her from it; she was now busy craning her neck up at her companion in disbelief.

Gaige licked the fry grease off her fingertips. “Nobody can resist me. I’m adorable!”

“I’m adorable. You’re pasty and weird.”

Gaige shook some more fries out of their carton and scarfed down a handful. “That’s not what my boyfriends think,” she said through a full mouth.

With a slow, emphatic eyeroll, Tyreen double-dipped her chewed fry into their shared ketchup cup and started gnawing at it again.

Tyreen didn’t know yet that Lor was gay. Gaige planned to keep that to herself for as long as possible.

“So you’re probably gonna be super busy now, with all these guys you’re whoring yourself out to.” Tyreen “accidentally” smeared some ketchup from the end of the fry across Gaige’s bedspread. “Not gonna have any time for anyone else, right?”

Gaige wiped up the ketchup stripe. “Yeah, probably not.”

“I mean, not that I care.” Tyreen touched her greasy fingertips to her chest.

“Oh no, of course not.”

Tyreen narrowed her eyes. “I’m being serious.”

“Me, too.”

“Good. ‘Cause you mean nothing to me.” Tyreen set down her fry and picked up the tiny cup Gaige had made her out of a twist-on wire connector. They’d gone through every size in the toolbox until they’d found one that fit Ty’s hands perfectly. “Am I still invited to your gay bowling thing? Or are you gonna be too busy gobbling sausage to go?”

“Okay, one, you’re slut-shaming me.”

“I didn’t call you a slut.” Tyreen’s eyes wandered to the side. “Didn’t not call you one...”

“And two, nobody even knows about you yet. People might freak out. Somebody might step on you like a bug. Or drop a bowling ball on you!”

“No, they wouldn’t. Because you’d vouch for me, and put your reputation on the line for me.”

“Oh, I would?”

“Uh-huh.” Tyreen took a long slurp of her drink, then set it carefully down between her folded legs. “You can’t resist, because I’m just so endearing.”

“Weird way to pronounce ‘annoying’.” Gaige dunked a fry in the ketchup, then bonked the tip of it against Tyreen’s nose. Tyreen whined and swatted at the red blob it left behind.

Truth be told, she wasn’t sure what to do about the situation. She’d sort of assumed Tyreen, loud and attention-seeking as she was, would have outed herself to the rest of Sanctuary by then. But she hadn’t. She lived contentedly in Gaige’s room, settling in more by the day. She hadn’t attempted anything villainous, at least not that Gaige knew of. And she knew pretty much everything Tyreen got up to, since she left Deathtrap on guard duty every night.

No, she was just...hanging out here. She liked to try new foods, and gossip, and tell stories from her days as a god. She enjoyed trying out all the miniature conveniences Gaige liked to build for her. And at night, they liked to whisper until they fell asleep, Gaige in her cot, Tyreen in the little bed Gaige had made her.

The thought of bringing her to the Raiders’ attention now was terrifying.

Tyreen was looking up at her with her usual guarded expression. Her eyes were fierce and predatorial by nature, making a read of her emotions perpetually difficult. Gaige had learned to interpret small changes, though, like the knitting of her eyebrows, and the slight frown pulling down the corners of her tiny mouth.

“I know they all hate me,” she said. “At the time, I thought I wanted that.”

Gaige refilled Ty’s drink cup from her own glass. Ty took another long sip.

“I thought having haters meant you ‘made it’, or whatever.” She shrugged. “I dunno. People on the ECHOnet say stuff like that.”

Gaige shook her head. “That’s so not true. Being hated sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.” Ty stared down into her cup. “Back then, I figured we didn’t need anyone else. Just the two of us. Just like it had always been.”

Gaige pretended to study Lilith’s peeling posters on the wall.

“I know you miss him,” she said.

Ty clutched the cup a little tighter.

“I miss my family, too.”

“It’s not the same,” Ty snapped. “Your family wasn’t literally attached to you.”

Gaige offered a conceding nod. “Yeah, that’s true.”

Tyreen looked up at the shredded remains of the Typhon poster that used to hang above Lilith’s bed. All that was left now was the corners, stuck down with the little bits of tape that wouldn’t quite come loose.

“It’s like I’m missing half my body,” Tyreen murmured. “When I leeched him, we felt whole again. For a while.” Her eyes narrowed. “Then we died, and it was the same shit all over again. I don’t know if I’ll ever feel like a whole person, with or without him.” She studied her left arm. “But it’s definitely worse without him.”

“I think I understand.” Gaige ran her organic fingers down her metal arm. “I don’t always feel right in my body, either.”

“It’s not the same as wanting to chop your limbs off and become a fuckin’ cyborg. That’s just you being weird.”

“Hey, I’m trying to sympathize here.”

“Well you can’t. Because you’ve never been half a person before.”

Unsure what else to say, Gaige quietly finished her food. Tyreen continued to stare up at the frayed edges of the Typhon poster. Her eyes were much farther away than that, though.

After devouring the last of their meal, Gaige blotted her mouth with a napkin, then folded it up and set it on the tray between them.

“Troy’s here,” she said.

Tyreen’s gaze slid over to her.

“What?”

Gaige nodded, eyes cast down on the tray. “I’m not supposed to tell you. But...”

Tyreen bolted upright. “Where is he??”

“In Moze’s room.”

“What the hell–how long has he been here?!”

“Not long. A couple days.”

Tyreen was up and moving in a flash. She stumbled her way across the bedspread and toward the makeshift ladder Gaige had built out of wire.

“Wait! You can’t just barge in there.” Gaige slid off the bed and hurried to beat her companion to the door. “I’ll talk to Moze first. See what he thinks.”

“Fuck what he thinks. He’s holding my brother hostage!” Tyreen dropped to the floor and took off running. Of course, she was no match for Gaige, who simply scooped her up. “No! Let me go!”

Gaige winced as Tyreen slapped at her chest. “Stop it. We only kept you two separated because we can’t trust you guys.”

“Fuck you! Who are you to decide whether I can see my brother or not?!”

“I’m someone who knows that the last time you two were together, you tried to eat the universe!”

Tyreen kicked and flailed in Gaige’s grasp, reaching in vain toward the door. “Oh come on,” she wailed, louder than a six-inch person had any right to be. “Please! I have to see him!”

“I know, I know.” Gaige shifted her hold so Tyreen didn’t squirm her way to a deadly fall. “Just...let me talk to Moze about it, okay?”

“Fuck you and fuck him!” Tyreen slashed at her, splitting open the flesh of Gaige’s organic hand. “You kept this from me! I trusted you, and you hid the only person I’ve ever cared about from me!” The more her voice escalated, a loud, static-like noise began to claw at the edges of Gaige’s brain. It was like Tyreen’s words were being screamed directly into her mind.

“Stop!” Gaige clenched her metal fingers around Tyreen’s tiny form, preventing her from moving. “Tyreen-”

“Troy! TROY!” Her voice echoed off the walls of the tiny room and reverberated inside Gaige’s skull. “TROOOOOOY!!”

A scream in his head sent Troy scrambling to his feet. Moze was asleep on his cot against the far wall of the room. Outside the room was quiet and dark. It was the middle of the night.

Somebody had screamed. Somebody had cried his name.

The button to open the door was far too high for him to reach. There was nothing near it low enough for him to climb on, either. He swore under his breath.

“Hng.”

Troy froze. Behind him, Moze was mumbling something in his sleep. He turned over in the bed, then kicked his legs to burrow deeper under his threadbare blanket.

There was a Tediore gun mounted on Moze’s wall. A Turbo Ten Gallon. If he could get that down, he could attempt to ride on it as it hovered around the room.

The only problem was, it was almost just as high up as the button itself.

Iron Bear was watching him with its creepy eyeless stare, turning ever so slightly wherever Troy moved. Its freshly-shined arm mounts glimmered in the starlight that flowed through the room’s single window. Shit.

Iron Bear would shoot at anything that moved too suddenly in the quiet room. Just a few of its exploding bullets would rip Troy limb from limb. It would also cause a huge ruckus, and would probably knock everything off the nearby walls and shelves.

Troy perked up at that thought.

Grabbing the rag he used as a blanket, he wound up his arm, then threw it as far as he could. Iron Bear flared to life, its minigun glowing red hot before bursting out with a whole mag’s worth of bullets. The rag was punctured like Swiss cheese, and the bullets bounced off the reinforced wall behind it. All of Moze’s displayed weapons came down with a crash.

Moze groaned. Troy hid under the nearby table.

The Ten Gallon had landed on top of the weapon pile, a few feet away from Troy’s hiding place. Troy peeked out just enough to glance at the bed. Moze’s eyes were still closed.

After making sure Moze wasn’t going to wake up, Troy crawled over to the pile of fallen loot.

Okay, this shouldn’t be too hard. Just gotta turn it on, and...

“UNAUTHORIZED USER DETECTED.”

Troy jumped back from the gun as it bellowed at him. He’d never owned a legendary Tediore before. Apparently they were slightly more secure than the garbage whites and greens he’d tinkered with in his early Pandora days.

The voice from the tinny gun speaker roused Moze. He sat up with a groan.

In the low light, Troy could just make out that his eyes were glazed over, and his jaw muscles were slack, leaving his lips slightly parted.

“Hnng...” Moze blinked slowly as he stared off into space. “I didn’t...I didn’t eat the sandwich, sir.”

Troy peered out from around the Ten Gallon.

After making that declaration, Moze collapsed onto his back again. Huh. Troy crept a little closer. He’s a heavy sleeper.

Even lying back down, Moze was still mumbling to himself. When Troy drew close to the foot of the bed, he could start to make out some of it.

“Perimeter’s all clear,” he mumbled, “except for the penguins.”

An idea began to form in Troy’s mind.

“Moze,” he whispered.

Moze stirred. “Hm?” He opened his eyes, but they slid closed again a moment later.

Troy clambered up the side of the cot with his single climbing arm. He stood over Moze’s sleeping form, observing the Vault thief in his most vulnerable state.

Clearing his throat, Troy said, “Moze, this is your superior officer. I have a very important mission for you.”

Moze’s face scrunched. “A mission...?” The words came out fuzzy and garbled.

He pointed to the bedroom door. “I need you to open this door. Now.”

Moze sat up again. His glassy eyes settled on Troy.

Troy pulled himself up as big as he could. “That’s an order, Private!”

That snapped Moze to attention. His spine straightening, one hand drifted automatically to his forehead in salute.

Troy watched in amazement as Moze stumbled and fell out of his bed, then clambered to his feet and loped over to the door. He didn’t seem fazed by the fact that his superior officer was eight inches tall, or one of his greatest nemeses.

With a yawn, Moze reached over and pushed the button. “Here you go, sir,” he mumbled.

The bedroom door pulled open, revealing the whole of the rest of the ship.

“Good job,” Troy said, trying not to laugh. “Now, uh, go back to sleep. That’s also an order.”

Moze smacked his lips and nodded. Somehow he managed to stumble back into the bed without falling on his face. Within moments, he was lightly snoring.

I’m free. Troy took a careful few steps out into Sanctuary’s main hall. In the middle of the night, there was nobody around. A blessing.

He knew from the blueprints he’d obtained ages ago that Sanctuary III was not a large ship. Not by passenger ship standards, anyway. Everybody was crammed in like sardines in a can flying through space.

But in Troy’s current state, it was unfathomably huge.

There was a machine right by the door–a lost loot finder. There were also tables nearby, covered in papers and trash.

What caught his eye the most, though, was the Quick-Change machine directly across the hall.

TROY!

The voice again. He wasn’t hearing it, he realized–it was in his head. But it had direction. It was pulling him somewhere.

He ducked under the table and listened some more.

That voice.

He’d know it anywhere.

“Fuck off! You betrayed me!” Tyreen struggled uselessly against Gaige’s iron grip. “I hate you!”

“I told you he was here because I thought you’d want to know! I was helping you!” Gaige grabbed her toolbox off the floor. She hadn’t put Tyreen in there since the first night they’d been together, but Ty was leaving her little choice.

“How would you feel if I said I had your stupid father here and I hadn’t bothered to tell you?! For days?!”

“I’d feel bad. But that’s because my dad and I didn’t try to destroy the universe together!”

“Oh, you’re still on that? That was like a year ago! Get over it!”

Gaige plunked the toolbox down on the bedspread. The moment Tyreen saw it, her flailing turned frantic.

“No! Gaige, come on!” She stuck her feet out so that Gaige could not easily push her into the box. “Let me see him! Gaige!”

Something tapped at the outside of Gaige’s door. It was rhythmic. A tiny fist.

In Gaige’s surprise, she accidentally loosened her grip–and Tyreen burst from her fingers. She leapt from Gaige’s hand and jumped onto the table, slid on some of Gaige’s blueprints, and went crashing to the floor. She was back on her feet in a second, though, headed in a beeline toward the knocking sound.

That can’t be Troy, Gaige reasoned. Moze would never let a prisoner get away. Would he?

Tyreen threw both fists against her side of the door. “Troy?” she called through the thick metal. “Is that you?”

The knocking paused.

“Ty?”

The voice was barely audible through the door, but there was no doubt as to its source.

Tyreen looked back at Gaige. Her eyes were round and shining.

“Oh, for crap’s sake.” With a sigh, Gaige reached over and punched the Door Open button.

The minute the door lifted, Tyreen’s entire demeanor changed. The sharpness to her eyes faded, and the permanent scowl on her face disappeared. Her tense shoulders relaxed.

Troy lit up as well. “Hey!” He took a step inside. “I didn’t even know you were he-”

His sentence was cut off by Tyreen tackling him. At first Gaige assumed she was hugging him, but the “Ow, ow, ow!” she heard made he realize Ty was slapping the shit out of him. Troy curled up on the floor, trying to protect his face with his single hand while his sister pounded on him and shouted in Spanish.

“I’m sorry!” Troy cried. “I can’t help it that all the siren ladies wanted me! I had no time for anything else!”

“You’re supposed to make time for your sister, you loser!” Tyreen gave him one last smack. Then she let him sit up.

Troy shrugged. “Sorry.”

Tyreen made a face. Then she went in again, this time throwing her arms around him. He returned the hug, resting his chin on her head while his single hand patted her back.

“I missed you, idiot,” Ty sniffled.

“I missed you, too.”

They parted just long enough to study each other’s faces.

“You’re so small,” they both said.

Troy laughed. Ty smirked, but it soon blossomed into a laugh as well.

“I assumed you were still hanging out in Siren Heaven,” Troy said. “How’d you get here?”

“Forbidden magic gone wrong. Same as you.”

“Oh. Well I guess that makes as much sense as anything else that’s happened to us, like, ever.”

Gaige stretched her foot out and used it to scoot Troy out from under the door. It slid shut just behind him.

“How did you get away from Moze?” she asked once the door was closed. “He doesn’t usually shirk his guard duties.”

“Oh, he opened the door for me.” Troy’s gaze swept up and down Gaige’s body. “He’s kind of a pushover. Not like me.”

Tyreen burst out laughing. “You? Not a pushover?”

“Not anymore. I’m an Alpha now.”

Tyreen wheezed.

“I am!”

“So am I to assume I’m housing you both now?” Gaige sighed, even as she was already coming up with a modified design for a second, larger bed and a hydraulic lift system to replace the ladders Troy wouldn’t be able to utilize.

Troy looked to Tyreen. “Are you staying here?”

Ty glanced up at her tiny bed, complete with tiny pillows and blankets and even a simple bedside lamp Gaige had rigged up.

“I...I don’t know yet.”

“You want to stay here? With the Crimson Raiders?”

“I don’t give a shit about them.” Ty lifted her arms, what had become an unspoken declaration of intent between her and Gaige. Gaige leaned down and gingerly picked her up. “Gaige is the only real bitch in this whole organization. I’m still trying to get her to join the CoV.”

“I’m not gonna join the CoV,” Gaige said pointedly.

“She’s thinking about it.”

Gaige lifted Tyreen up to eye level. “I thought you were mad at me.”

Tyreen waved her off. “I am. But I still recognize that you’re the only real one in the Crimson Traitors. It’s not a very high bar to clear.”

“Holy shit, Ty has friends now?” Troy circled around Gaige’s feet. “I’m not convinced this is really her.”

“And I’m not convinced it’s really you, since you think you’re a fucking Alpha Male.” Tyreen pulled a face at him. He unscrewed his jaw to make a face horrifying enough to gag her.

Okay, so now I have two tiny roommates. And they’re siblings. Who...questionably get along. Gaige set Tyreen down on the table, then lowered a hand down to Troy.

Immediately, she regretted it.

“Oh man, this is kinda...” Troy nestled into her hand, holding tight to her as she lifted him up. “Kinda intimate.”

“Gross,” Tyreen called out.

Gaige dropped him unceremoniously onto the bed. He spread out upon it, resting his chin on his palm.

“You know,” he said, “I’m a really good cuddler, ‘cause I don’t have another arm getting in the way when we’re spooning.”

“Why do you have a thing for Gaige??” Tyreen spat. “You’re so weird!”

“Look at the workmanship on those cybernetics,” Troy continued. “She’s a genius, Tyreen! And man, the way she eviscerates people with those digistruct claws...”

“I don’t do that too much anymore,” Gaige admitted.

“Well you should. It’s hot.”

“Fuck off and stop hitting on my friend, you creepo.” Tyreen tapped Gaige on the hand. “I changed my mind. I want him dead again.”

“I thought I wanted to be dead. But now I dunno.” Troy sat up again. “Do we still have loyal followers here?”

“No,” Gaige said.

“She’s lying. She told me one of my followers predicted we were gonna come back. They told Gaige we were going to be ‘reborn’.”

“How’d they know that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe we really are divine.”

“This is why we didn’t want to reunite you two,” Gaige interjected. “It’s been five minutes and you’re already talking about restarting your cult.”

“We’re not restarting it,” Tyreen sneered. “Sounds like it never went away.”

“Hey, you should totally join us,” Troy piped up. “Forget these Crimson Losers. You can be like, a High Priestess or something.”

“That’s what I said!”

“I’m not joining any cults, thanks.”

“Why not?” they both whined.

“Because I’m a free thinker. A system smasher. I don’t do well following orders.”

“Like a wild, untamable stallion.” Troy sighed wistfully.

Tyreen looked up at Gaige. “Can you drop me on the bed so I can kick the shit out of him?”

Gaige set her down, then averted her eyes while she heard smacks and shouts.

Moze would be livid at her for allowing this. Every step of the way, everything he’d tried to do to keep the Raiders safe, she’d disrupted it. But she wasn’t like him. She didn’t swear blind loyalty to an organization forever and ever. The Raiders had failed her terribly. The modern org claimed to be better, but when she looked at their two greatest foes, all she could see were two hurting young people who could have been reached out to. Who could have been reasoned with.

She sat down on the bed beside them, practically bouncing them both off.

“Maybe someday we can start a whole new org,” she said. “Better than the COV and the Raiders.”

“As long as people are still worshipping me,” Tyreen said.

“And I’d like to bring back the blood orgies,” Troy said.

“Uh-huh, both very valid wants.” Gaige tapped her fingertips against her knees. “I’d like to chip away at the hypercapitalism that’s plagued the six galaxies for centuries, myself.”

The twins both nodded in agreement.

“But I guess we should start with what we have.” The current Raiders were not a bad bunch, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to make internal changes under its present, rather flimsy leadership.

“Yeah, with a bunch of people who hate us.” Tyreen flopped back on the bed. “Fun times.”

“Well, this is a great time to show them you’ve changed!”

“But I haven’t changed.”

“You’d still kill everyone in the universe if you could?”

Tyreen settled her hands on her stomach and stared up at the ceiling.

“I mean...” A lengthy pause broke up her sentence. “...I wouldn’t kill you.”

“So you wouldn’t kill everyone.”

“I’d kill almost everyone.”

“That’s still a change.”

Tyreen seemed to consider that. Her brow scrunched a little as she continued to stare upward, seeing something Gaige did not.

“I never really wanted to kill everyone,” Troy added in. “I mean, I did want to smash the moon into Pandora. But only because that would’ve been fucking awesome.”

“That would’ve been crazy.” Tyreen crossed one leg over the other. “The views we would’ve gotten? Every news station in the universe would’ve been showing our footage.”

The Calypsos had changed, but that change was incremental. Someone who didn’t know them better might think they hadn’t changed at all.

The next time Gaige looked over at the twins, Tyreen had Troy by the arm. She was dragging him over toward her makeshift bedroom, eagerly describing all the little trimmings Gaige had made. She built me all this stuff, dude. You gotta see.

The next morning, she woke to a panicked knock on her door. Moze had full access to her room, but he never utilized it without her permission.

Gaige dragged herself out of bed and over to the door. The moment it slid open, she was gifted with the sight of Moze standing there in his boxers, hair sticking all up from being slept on funny, eyes wide.

“He escap-”

Gaige raised a hand, silencing him. Then she turned halfway and nodded behind her.

Moze followed the direction of her nod. His eyes fell upon Tyreen’s bed, where she was fast asleep, and a neatly-folded bundle of fabric beside it, where Troy was sacked out on his back.

Moze looked to her, mouth agape.

“I think it’s gonna be okay,” Gaige said softly.

Moze swallowed, then gave a small nod. “I hope so.”

“I wouldn’t put us in danger if I thought-”

“I’m glad he didn’t flee the ship,” Moze said. “’Cause I think they might be the only people who can help us with Ava.”

Chapter Text

The weekend of Gay Bowling Night arrived quicker than Moze would have liked.

What had started as a fun little hangout between a few friends had ballooned into a massive event. Allies and old friends were coming from all over the universe. Moze barely knew half of them.

Ava was holding strong, insistent that they needed no intervention for whatever was happening with their powers. And, in their defense, the past few days they’d been acting relatively normal again. Their attention was on planning out the last-minute details of the event, making sure everyone who had RSVP’d was coming, and figuring out how much it was going to cost to host all these people.

At night, though, Moze occasionally heard them wandering the ship, mumbling to themselves in a strange tongue.

“That kid’s really messed up.” Tyreen was reclining on Gaige’s right shoulder as Gaige and Moze pored over the stolen Xylourgos tome. “Prob’ly ‘cause Troy murdered their mentor.”

“You know it was an accident.” Troy, slightly too big to fit comfortably on Gaige’s other shoulder, was instead sitting on the table by her left hand. “And this isn’t from that. This is, like, crazy stuff.” He tapped an illustration on one of the pages, a creature with flaps of hardened skin like flower petals ringing its body, and a dozen eyes on each flap.

Moze studied the writing in front of him as if staring at it long enough would enable him to understand. He could read a lot of languages, but Eridian was unlike any of them. It was entirely inhuman.

Gaige turned the page, revealing a faded illustration of a wooden doll.

“This is how you guys came about,” she noted.

Troy stared down at it, head tilted.

“We don’t care about them.” Moze flipped to the next page.

“Wow, rude,” Tyreen scoffed.

“I’m thinking this must have something to do with Gythian,” Moze continued. “The Vault monsters all seem to have weird abilities that can interact with siren powers. Like someone here using their powers to merge with one.”

Tyreen ignored his pointed glance.

“You said Gythian’s heart was still beating.” Troy walked across the book, taking in the ancient text. “And it affected things around it. Its power was seeping out, like radioactive stuff that mutates everything around it.”

“But Gythian’s dead.” Moze set a hand down on the book. “We killed him. Like, for sure killed him.”

“With a nuke,” Gaige added.

“A siren-powered nuke.”

“You destroyed the heart, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t still some of its life force hiding in stuff.” Troy combed his fingers through his greasy hair, lips pursed in thought. “I mean, it was already dead, but its heart was still beating. Obviously it can compartmentalize itself to some degree.”

“Has anyone ever considered that it could have multiple hearts?”

Tyreen’s question had all three of them looking up from the book.

She offered an irreverent shrug. “I mean, from what Gaige has described it sounds like it’s freaking huge. The Destroyer has thousands of hearts.”

The already-illegible words blurred in front of Moze’s eyes.

Thousands of hearts...

“But the other Vault monsters all died when we, well, killed them,” Gaige said. “They didn’t have tons of hearts.”

“No, they didn’t die until I leeched them. Not fully.”

Moze couldn’t bring himself to look up from the pages. His own heart was pounding in his throat.

“You know sandworms have five hearts?” Troy tipped his head back to look at Gaige. “Maybe it’s like that. You cut them in half and they can still keep going.”

“No.”

They all looked to Moze then. He didn’t raise his eyes from the book.

“That would mean all that awful power’s still out there,” he murmured. “Still corrupting people. Still...”

His hand settled involuntarily on his chest.

Gaige’s hand soon joined his. She was much warmer than him.

“It can’t be,” she said. “We broke that, remember? You were fine afterward.”

Moze gave a weak little nod, not entirely convinced. “Yeah...I felt the bond get severed. The heart died, and that took the power with it.”

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Troy said. “But if siren powers have taught me anything, it’s that no kind of power like that ever really disappears. It just finds new vessels.”

“Law of conservation of energy,” Gaige added.

“Was totally gonna say that next.”

“Maybe sirens are extra vulnerable to that kind of energy transfer,” Gaige said. She released Moze’s hand, but settled her fingers on his shaking knee instead. “Tannis and Amara are older, stronger.”

“Ava was actively trying to let it in,” Moze uttered. “They wanted to use it to resurrect Maya.”

“See?” Tyreen jabbed a finger at her brother. “All your fault, dumbass.”

“More like her fault. She was the dumbass clinging on to me while I was sucking her dry.” With a smirk, he added, “Though I guess I can’t blame the ladies for not wanting to let go of a god.”

Moze shut the book on him. He cried out, muffled, from between the pages.

“Where is Maya, anyway?” Gaige wondered aloud. “I haven’t felt any unnaturally cold breezes or had my hair pulled in like a week.”

The thought had crossed Moze’s mind as well. Maya had up and disappeared.

“I said I’d look out for Ava,” Moze mumbled. “I let this happen to them. Maybe that’s why Maya’s gone. She can’t stand watching it all go down.”

Gaige’s silence didn’t help him feel any better. But she gave his knee a squeeze before withdrawing her hand.

“So what are we supposed to do?” she asked instead.

The question was directed at all of them and none of them. Tyreen and Troy both acted like it was directed solely at Moze. When Gaige cleared her throat, Tyreen said, “What? Me?”

“You two grew up on the Eridian homeworld,” Gaige said. Her voice was uncharacteristically somber. “If anyone would know how to save Ava...”

“I don’t have a fucking clue how to ‘save’ them. We didn’t even know how to save our damn selves.” She looked to Troy, who nodded in agreement. “And why should we help that little brat, anyway? They screwed up all our plans and got us killed. Total buzzkill.”

“They’re a kid.” Gaige bucked her shoulder, knocking Tyreen down. “Quit being so mean.”

Tyreen picked herself up and brushed her coat off. “I’m supposed to be mean. I’m a villain.”

“Psh.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Gaige had returned her attention to the book in front of her, but Tyreen started slapping her cheek. “Hey! Gingezilla! What’s that supposed to mean?”

A knock on the door startled all four of them. Moze grabbed Ava’s twice-stolen bookbag and shoved the old tome inside. Troy and Tyreen clambered in after it. He was just stashing the bag under Gaige’s bed when the door, radiating a blue aura, opened itself.

“Oh, hey.” Moze kicked the bag the rest of the way under the cot, then returned to the table as if nothing had happened.

Ava’s eyes were bright as they sauntered into the room. “Hey.” They placed themselves directly between Moze and Gaige, fingers splayed on the now-empty table. “You guys ready to go?”

They were dressed in a long-sleeved t-shirt that covered their tattoos. It was probably for the best. Moze felt sick just looking at them.

“We just need a few more minutes to get ready,” Gaige spoke up. “I gotta, um, brush my hair and stuff. And do my makeup.”

Ava made a face. “Fine. But we gotta get there before the others arrive, or I’ll seem like a bad host.”

“Understood, Commander.” Moze gave them a quick salute. “We’ll be ready soon.”

Apparently satisfied with that, Ava hurried off. As the door slid shut behind them, Gaige turned her attention back to Moze.

Moze took her hands gently in his own, giving them a soft squeeze. She leaned in and bumped her forehead against his.

“It’ll be okay,” he said. “I mean, I think.”

Her eyes searched his. “Are you scared? About Gythian?”

He stalled his answer with a swallow. It was hard to meet her worried gaze, but he endeavored to, anyway.

“It’s fine,” he finally said. “We’ll be okay.”

Gaige cupped his face in her hands. She brought it in close and gave him a soft peck. Moze wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss.

“And”–Gaige pulled away just long enough to say–“even if you did turn into a corrupted tentacle monster...I’d still love you.”

Moze’s frown eased. He gave her another kiss.

“I love you, too.”

Gaige made a small but high-pitched noise, increasing in pitch until she finally burst out with a screech. She grabbed him up tight and swung him back and forth, giggling madly. Moze couldn’t resist her contagious enthusiasm–the two of them laughed like fools as they spun each other clumsily around the room.

Maybe things would turn out okay.

“I can’t believe she doesn’t think I’m a threat anymore.”

In the darkness under the bed, Ty could just barely see Troy’s outline sitting a stretch away from her. She threw her arms out demonstratively, despite knowing he could barely see her, either.

“I’m still a threat! I could destroy these Crimson Losers any time I wanted to.”

Troy didn’t respond, and she couldn’t see his face well enough to read his expression.

“I mean, you know that, right?” She went over and pushed him lightly. “You know I’m still dangerous?”

From their dusty hiding place, they could hear Gaige and Moze puking sweetness at each other. The bed squeaked as they sat down upon it, and she heard Gaige exclaim for the third time how much she loved the dumbass sitting beside her.

“I’ve been thinking about Quick-Change machines,” Troy said.

Tyreen paused her eavesdropping. “What about them?”

Troy met her gaze. “There’s no reason we couldn’t use one to digistruct full-size bodies.”

Tyreen glanced reflexively down at her doll body. She’d started to get used to being tiny, but it still put her at the mercy of everyone around her, including her enemies.

“They’d kill us for sure if we did that,” she said. “And we don’t have our powers, so...”

“I’m sure they have Quick-Changes in Lectra City. Maybe even in the bowling alley they’re taking us to.”

Tyreen crawled over to him. She hadn’t partaken in a good Troy Master Plan in a while. “Okay, I’m intrigued,” she whispered. “What are you thinking?”

Troy glanced upward. When it became clear that Moze and Gaige were lost in their own sappy world, he lowered his voice and said, “There’ll be a ton of people there. Only two Raiders know about us, and they’ll both be distracted, especially with that time-bomb of a kid they’re watching.”

Tyreen felt a grin start to creep up her face. “So we sneak away, get ourselves two full-sized bodies, and then...”

“We take off. We go wherever we want. For real this time, without all the bullshit.”

Ty folded her arms and gave an approving nod. “Okay, I’m on board. I don’t think it’d be hard to convince Gaige to come along, either, since these Raiders have been nothing but dicks to her.”

“No.” Troy raised a hand. “We can’t let anyone else know what’s going on. It’s too much of a liability. We could end up stuck like this forever.”

Ty could hear Gaige babbling to Moze as she raked a brush through her snarled hair. She was smiling; Tyreen could tell that from her voice alone.

“I know she’s cool and everything,” Troy added. “But we can’t trust her. Not for something like this, Ty.”

Tyreen listened quietly to Gaige’s rambling. In spite of everything, Gaige was excited for the big night out. And of course she was. That was how she lived her life–even when everything was terrible, she still found reasons to greet her struggles with a smile.

“Oh!” Suddenly Gaige dropped down beside the bed. “Geez, I almost forgot you guys!”

Her organic hand clasped softly around Tyreen’s body. As Ty was getting dragged out from under the bed, she met Troy’s gaze one more time. Troy didn’t speak, but he didn’t have to.

“Oh no, you’re covered in dust.” Gaige brushed her off as Ty sputtered. “Sorry we had to stuff you under there.”

Gaige’s fingers were gentle as she brushed aside the clumps of dust sticking to Ty’s arms and legs. Tyreen lifted her chin to allow her to knock away a dust bunny that had stuck to her collar.

“It’s fine,” Ty mumbled. “Let’s get ready to leave.”