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“Shit.” Zer0 was able to keep most of himself out of the harms way, but his arm and, more importantly, his Cyclops were cut cleanly from him by the beam of slag coming from the warrior's tail. He could tell the others were looking at him now, could see the look of surprise on their faces, the confusion. Well except Gaige. She was still shouting something about anarchy and running toward where the lava was shifting.
~smooooth~ a familiar voice said inside his head.
“Not now Angel”
“You alright?” Axton shouted as he dropped his gun, redirecting her toward were Gaige had run to.
“He took my sweet guns/the arm I can replace/but Atlas is gone” he smiled a bit as Angel started laughing. “I still have more tricks/Chimera the finest find/will finish this fight”
“HE IS A ROBOT!” Sal shouted as the warrior erupted from the lava, roaring defiantly as the six of them cut into it.
Losing an arm set his balance off, but he had done it before and this was child's play compared to dealing with small arms fire now that he knew what to expect.
“HIS CHEST IS OPEN/FOCUS ON HIS EXPOSED HEART/THIS BEAST DIES TODAY!” Maya shouted drawing looks from Axton and Gaige. “Two can compose in battle”
~she's good, you should let her know.~
The six rounds from his gun emptied in a flash, the casings flying out of the chambers still hot enough to make an audible hiss as he touched them. Six replaced them and six after that. The warrior bellowed in pain as the vault hunters unloaded round after round into it. It fell forward, claws digging into the rock as it tried desperately to obey the commands Jack was shouting at it.
Gaige ran to the console Jack had been using, deftly tearing down the walls of encryption and through his passwords. With a smile she turned back, “might want to duck, just called in a mortar to finish this guy off.” then looking to Jack, “You guys have the worst firing algorithms. Like shit those are innaccurate as hell I mean. Just wow. You know if you had-” Zer0 cut her off pulling her away from the console and the Warrior to take cover behind behind a pillar.
~oh good call. Grab the cute one~ Angel teased
“Quiet,” Zer0 said before realizing it
“What?” Gaige had wrapped her arms around him was looking up.
“Explain later.”
“Damn you ruined that I bet-” the rest of her sentence was drowned out by the sound of the mortar slamming into the Warrior's back and Jack screaming a the top of his lungs.
~kill that son of a bitch~ Angel growled as he stepped back around the pillar into view.
“He's as good as dead/Lilith get the honors though/he took more from her”
“You should really let someone else look at your arm too though. You're bleeding? Or is that just a new lubricant?”
“fuck.” Zer0 looked down at his arm, the metal had corroded more, enough that the connection to the rest of him had started to seep.
~you might want her help, she could probably get the arm disconnected more easily than you. If the stress readings in it are correct some of the connections are starting to fuse.~
“I could use your help/remember that ship I have/I need to return” his voice was low, quiet enough that only Gaige could hear.
She smiled and leaned close, “When do we leave? How did you land it on Pandora without anyone knowing? Is it a big ship or like a frigate?”
~I'm actually interested now too, what kind of ship is it?~
“You'll see.”
“HEY GUYS I GOTTA GO PRY THIS BUSTED UP ARM OFF ZER0”
~she is the best at subtlety~
“I know” Zer0 sighed as Gaige continued
“WE'LL MEET YOU BACK IN SANCT LATER” She waved as the two of them headed towards the fast travel station.
~incredible, you were hacked in without me knowing. I kinda want to know what else you can do~
“No hacking needed/ just use the coordinates/an old back door in”
“You are sooooo hot right now.” Gaige was hanging off him as he punched in a long string of numbers.
~gotta agree with the redhead here~
“hold on.” he said and Gaige pulled herself closer hands straying a little further down his waist.
~damn your heart rate is spiking, are you blushing?~
Zer0 ignored the question as he felt his feet touch down on metal floor of his ship.
“Help me get this off/a saw is in the locker/this could be bloody”
“We need to take the rest of the suit around it off first. There is still some slag on it and if that gets into your blood it could be rough.
~can we transfer me to something else if she is going to be sawing? I can't handle blood really.~
“I don't think I'll need to saw.”
~thank god~
“Good.”
“We still need to get you out of the suit.”
“Before we do I need to say something.”
~are you going to tell her you love her and that you want to marry-~
“I am not human.”
“Whaa?” both Gaige and Angel said in unison.
“I am not human.” he repeated as he began to pull his chestplate free.
~wait, we have no documented sentient life. Just rumors and-
“THAT IS SO COOL” Gaige was closer again, helping him take off the armor.
~what are you then?~
“I was built by Maliwan, well part of me was.”
~how? From who, or what?~
“Man them guys are great, first they make my favorite guns and now my favorite boy too”
~why did they make you~
“I was the first of a line of soldiers they were trying to make. I'm a composite of human and Eridian DNA. They found a ship coasting through space at a couple hundred meters an hour. Inside there were six specimens, all frozen and preserved by the vacum of space.”
“Woah.” Gaige took a step back and just stared.
~i want to see too, look down.~
“I'm sorry could we just fix my arm?”
Gaige's mouth had dropped open just a little as she stood staring, “You're ripped. Like I knew you were in good shape with the jumping and running but woah.”
~how long ago did they start the program?~ Angel was back on topic now that she knew it was just muscles Gaige was staring at.
“It was roughly twenty years ago when they got the mix right. I was the first to make it passed infancy. They wanted soldiers that were loyal, so they raised us like you would human children. I had a couple years on any of the others.”
~what happened?~
“Dawwww cute grey four fingered babies.” Gaige had stepped close and was helping him take his mask off.
“Maliwan discontinued the program. They said it was playing god a little more literally than they intended. It to be.”
~but that's all they do at Maliwan, I've seen some of the things they've made. Did you come here, to Pandora as soon as you heard about the Vaults?~
“No, I've made a name for myself, I started off with small contracts. I was good with guns, had my own shield and armor. I came here because I needed a challenge. I understand enough about what I am for now.”
Gaige gave him a quizzical look, “Are you alright? You sound like you're on the com with someone else.”
~tell her maybe she can think of a solution to my problem.~
“Right. So Gaige. You remember that EM surge that knocked out more or less all of your hardware and some of mine?”
“Yeah. How does this thing come off? I've got all the latches free, is there a secret one that I can't see?”
“on the back” he bent down low enough so she could open the last release.
Gaige smiled as she looked at him. “damn. Just woaaaah. Your eyes are luminescent. That is soooo cool. “
“That's just the light from the ship reflecting off them, like a cat's, or a skag's.”
“Still hot. Cool I mean.” Gaige kept holding the helm with both hands.
He smiled a bit, thin grey lips turning up. “When that happened I lost about a month worth of recording and biometric data. In its place I had a backup. A file I didn't recognize. I started it up in an isolated partition. It was Angel.”
Gaige looked back at the helmet holding it in front of her. “so wait she's in here?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“It was a fail safe. It was intended so that Jack could recover her in case the stress from charging the key proved too great and killed her body off.”
“So how did you get her?”
“The location it was suppose to save to was destroyed when we knocked out the machine she was hooked up to. This was the only compatible drive within range.”
“wait so can she hear us?”
“Yes, they visual and auditory functions of my helmet are self contained and I gave her access to them.”
Gaige turned the helmet over in her hands before sticking her head inside it. “ANGEL CAN YOU HEAR ME?”
“yes she can”
~yes you don't need to speak so loudly though, it gives feedback~
“So like I'm really really sorry we had to do ya know.. “
~you do know I wanted that to happen. I didn't even know about the back up protocols, it was hardware I didn't have access to.~
“But still I just wanted to let you know that we're really sorry about that.”
~you should turn this the right way so I can see Zer0~
“OH YEAH! He's totally hot in an almost human but totally better way.”
Zer0 had turned away and was using a thin metal bar to pry the fused connectors open.
~wow~
“I know right?”
~He has less ribs than people do. And his spine looks like its smooth segmants rather than the ridged ones we have and~
“Check out his ass. And his arm. OH SHIT HIS OTHER ARM!” Gaige pulled the helmet off setting it so it was facing him.
“Glad you could come help/this is an awful angle/can you cut this one?” he passed her a small wire cutter and bent his knees so she could reach the two connectors on the back.
“Oh yeah. Sorry about that I kinda got lost 'cause damn. Like woah. Also this arm is crazy. What is it made of?”
“Its based off of the amalgam the ship the six specimens were discovered in. its stronger and lighter than most metals and is chemically inert.”
“That's cool. Cool. Maliwan tech then?”
“Yes. Its different than most things you've dealt with. Even Deathtrap is based on Hyperion’s theories and metallurgical data.”
“Yeah I always thought something different would work better, just didn't have many options with the deadline I was working under..” her voice trailed off as she cut the last connector.
“Pull down hard and twist/I've got med hypos in there/it's an easy fix” he pointed toward a panel with a handle on it.
The prosthetic came off with a sickening sucking sound, and blood. Lots of blood. “OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD” Gaige scurried to the cabinet and grabbed out a pair of hypos and dashed back, “oh shit oh shit oh shit”
“I've seen you bleed more/this is but a little scratch/you lost more yourself.”
“But that's me” she said as she used the first hypo and the blood quit flowing. “its different.” Zer0 gave her a short confused look. Before she could finish, “if its me I know it'll be alright, but I worry about you.” he gave her another confused look.
The ships speakers blared to life, “JUST KISS ALREADY ugggggg” Zer0 glanced down at his feet as Gaige spun in place.
“NICE HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Gaige hopped back over to the helmet and picked it up.
“The interface was all there I just hadn't thought to use it while I was still on his head.”
“So what kind of ship is this?” Gaige asked spinning the helmet around.
“Stop that please.”
“OH RIGHT. Sorry”
“ I feel dizzy, but that’s not possible is it?”
“No, it shouldn't be.” Zer0 said standing back to his full height.
Gaige whistled, “check him out.”
“I am. He looks almost human, but there are some obvious skeletal and muscular differences.”
“I'm a composite/I'm human compatible/just a bit better.”
“You're tellin' me.” Angel's voice chimed over the intercom.
“I know right” Gaige agreed.
Zer0 felt his face and chest flush, his grey skin getting a bit darker. “With Angel what now/is there a host we can use/any ideas”
“WAIT! ZED!”
“no” Zer0 and Angel said in unison.
“No, hear me out. His brother is a mad scientist.”
“HE'S a mad scientist. Without a medical license.”
“But his brother knows organics like woah. Have you read any of his theories?”
“I'm fairly certain his brother is just him with a fake mustache.” Zer0 shook his head.
“There are actually brothers. At least according to Atlas and Hyperion Intel.”
“SEEEEE? Anyway, we could get him to build a body, or grow one or something. And you” she pointed at the helmet, “should know enough about the interaction between mechanical and organic brains to move yourself back right?”
“I guess, it would be like the re-education equipment Hyperion's been using”
“So we have a plan then!”
“A long shot at best/I guess we'll give it a try/i hope it works out.”
It took them two days to dig through Hyperion's data bases to find out where the equipment they would need was being held.
“Time to storm the keep/To train Frankenstein's monster/Zed better not bail”
“It's Ned, I think and he won't. I don't think at least. Maybe. We should probably have guns with us though.” Gaige smiled at Zer0's new arm, “That stuff is amazing, I mean I can use magnets to make smooth moving joints, but that stuff is soooo cool.”
“I agree, its a shame that Maliwan abandoned the project so early, judging from your developments it could have really been what set them apart.”
“SOOooo what's our plan here? You do the fast travel thing in and we gun 'em all down? Grab what we need in the aftermath?” Gaige started to ready a Vladoff launcher, hands moving down its length to make sure there were no fractures in its cheap casing.
“No, I have a better idea. We will need to get closer though.”
a red “?” appeared on Zer0's mask.
“I can shut of their reactor. While they work to restart it we can set jettison protocols for what we need. And just scoop it up.”
“An excellent plan/how close do we need to get/one hundred meters?”
“More like five thousand kilometers. That's how far they broadcast the communication network so that incoming ships can be hailed and docked properly.”
“And they seriously have security holes at that range?” Gaige looked very unimpressed.
“I designed most of the systems with fail safes because Jack was worried about being betrayed. The holes should all still be there.”
“And if they aren't?”
“Zer0 can do his fast travel thing in, I can get him the reactors location easily, he can knock it out and do the rest of the plan his way.”
Zer0 nodded and glanced over to Gaige who looked very disappointed. “Why such a long face/this is more reliable/rockets get messy”
“I just wanted to see the new arm in action, you know,”
“She is bored out of her mind on this ship. You have nothing even remotely fun. And you have so many masks on your Echo net connection I can't even navigate it.” the two girls answered at almost the same time.
Zer0 paused for a moment, but before he could say anything Gaige chimed in, “You could always do more of those cool sword things. I was going through some of the footage you have stored on that old computer that's all encrypted and stuff and woaah.”
Zer0 could all but see Angel blush as she interrupted Gaige, “I told you that they were encrypted for a reason, that's his so he can review and improve.”
Great was all Zer0 could think, I have two geniuses tearing through all of my old data. Should have deleted it
“I will bring us in/Angel you knock on their gate/Gaige please do not stare” Zer0 smiled as she jumped and glanced away.
“how does he do that...” she grumbled as she turned and sat on the work table.
“His helmet is actually really impressive, it has a set of hundred of camera's that project everything around-”
“I know but like hooow? I only just looked over.”
Zer0 could hear Gaige talking with Angel when he moved to the cockpit and punched in the moon base's location. It would take a couple of minutes to close to 5k, so he took the chance to delete everything he could from the old data bases. Embarrassing, I can't believe I was ever that sloppy. Glancing to his arm he frowned. Yes I can. Three times now I've been that sloppy.
“Zer0, Gaige was wondering why you deleted all the video's of you practicing? She went to watch more now while she waits and they're all gone.”
“Past mistakes I've made/I have learned and corrected/I need them no more.”
“Right but what is she supposed to do then?”
Another red “?” flashed on his visor.
“You might not like having fun but she-”
“HEY I TOTALLY FOUND A WORK AROUND FOR HIS ECHONET MASKS”
Zer0 put his hand to his visor as he heard angel laugh through the speakers.
“Well I guess that solves that. Any ETA on the moon base?”
“Two minutes.”
“That should be more than enough.”
The two of them sat in silence for two minutes with just Gaige's manic laughter in the background occasionally piercing though.
“Same security?” Zer0 asked as his systems lit up on their own.
“yes, even worse than when I left it though. Lots of projects on hold, personnel missing. Blake is coming to inspect this wreck soon. Three maybe four days...” there were a couple of minutes of quite as she tore through their databases.
“What the hell?”
“?”
“They have a project on ice labled 'Angel'. It was a back up protocol that engaged... when I died. And was left defunct after Jack was killed. Its locked down pretty tight let me see. ..” Another minute passed then two, “I don't think we need to talk to Zed at all.”
“?” the red emote flashed again.
“Its a back up, waiting for my data, the information that was supposed to be stored on the computer. I have a body just sitting in their freezer.”
“Will it work?”
“Yeah its just a blank, kinda like an empty A.I. Core, just a body without anything in it. Even the basic life functions aren't operational without all those weird bits at the front of my program that I couldn't figure out.”
“So we just need to pick it up and what?”
“Just plug me in pretty much, it has all the writing software right in the cryopod with me.”
“Can you make them drop it?”
“Yeah its on the way to be jettisoned now. They should have no sensors now too, those went off line and won't be back up for a couple of hours at best.”
“Good.”
After a few more minutes of waiting, he moved the ship, making it dance under manual control until they could see the small bright yellow pod on their main display. Pulling it into the only cargo bay was tricky, he hadn't made quite enough space for it.
Gaige was waiting for Zer0 at the entrance, “So what did we find in there? No daring rescues or deceitful sabotage?”
“I think we found the back up Jack was planning on using.”
“WAIT REALLY? That's great! I mean not that he was going to bring you back and torture you more, but that we don't need to talk to Ned about building you a body cuz he would probably build it from scraps and ewwww.” She paused long enough to shudder and take a deep breath, “so you want me to give the hardware a once over? I learned a lot about medical equipment when I was getting checked out after I replaced my arm. Noting better to do in a hospital really.”
Zer0 nodded and Gaige cracked the door and stepped inside the frigid chamber.
“brrrrrrr why don't you heat this thing? Did you just pump liquid 02 in here and call it good? Cuz its like minus fifteen.”
“minus twenty five actually, you should have probably warned her. That's pretty damn cold.” Angel chimed out again over the speakers
Gaige smiled and feigned shock when Angel swore, “OMG who the hell taught you to talk like that?”
“I'd blame you but I think all the recordings of Lilith and Mordecai might be responsible.”
“Those damned vault hunters, scourges of the six fucking galaxies.”
Zer0 smiled under his helmet as Angel and Gaige laughed. “check the hardware out/make sure it isn't a trap/I'll get a hard line”
Zer0 went to his workshop and pulled out a length of cable so he could have a more direct connection from the hard drive to the cryopod. As he walked back, all of thirty seconds later, he could hear Gaige shouting.
“HOLY SHIT!”
“what is it? What's wrong?” Angel's voice chimed over the speakers in the cargo bay.
“You're like hot. But your tattoos are gone.”
“My what?” then a moment later, “WHY AM I NAKED”
“?” Zer0 flashed yet another red emote as he stepped inside.
“You look so much better than me. Like wow.” Gaige had her face pressed against the glass on the front of the pod for a moment before pulling it away. “that is soooo cold.”
“What am I going to wear?” Angel sounded panicked through the system.
“I have some things here/is the hardware safe to use/can we get started?”
“OH right. Umm yeah let me see what it plans to do with the data...” she was typing on a small console. “bleh trash that... cut that out.. and just wipe and... alright.” She turned back, “So Jack is the king of douche bags. I just pulled a massive filter off of this thing. Just going to warn you, it will probably hurt a hell of a lot more than a bullet to the gut when you get back in.”
Zer0 nodded and pulled his helmet off. Setting it on top of the pod he ran the cord from its dock to the pod's.
“Alright I’m going to transfer back to the helmet, let me know before you start the upload okay?” Zer0 nodded and Gaige smiled.
“best of luck to you/we will be right here to help/Gaige get a clean shirt”
“where at?” She looked at him a small smile on her face.
“From my practice room. The pass code is-”
“Oh I already got that, I just hadn't gone in because she said I probably shouldn't.”
“Behind the screen door/the one with a crescent moon/on the bottom shelf.”
Gaige dashed off as he put the helmet back on for one last moment, “Are you ready? I could make a new back up as well. Should I?”
“No, I died and came back once, and I don't think I should make a habit out of it. This will work though right?” her voice sounded small somehow.
“This will work, the tech is clean.”
“Alright, I’ll save and close down so you can transfer me.”
After a moment he set the helmet back down and started the transfer. After another moment in silence Gaige's heavy footfalls came echoing back to him.
“HOLY SHIT THIS PLACE IS ACTUALLY HUGE!” she had a shirt in her hands and was wearing one of Zer0's old robes.
He cocked his head and looked at her for a moment and sighed. “I see you found them/why are you wearing one too/it does not fit you.”
“But its all silky and soft and my other clothes were kinda lame and needed to be cleaned and I grabbed one for her too. Well a shirt, there weren't any other robes that were small enough. But its like six years long so she should be good.”
Zer0 shook his head and smiled as he turned back to the cryopd. It was growing warmer, the chamber quickly rising from minus fifty or more to room temperature. The body inside had started to breath as well, and he could see that her eyes were moving under the lids.
“But daaaaamn check her out. She looks like she could kick my ass, well if it weren't for my metal arm. Hey I could add a sweet saw thing to it and-” a hiss from the pod cut her off, along with Angel screaming from inside it.
“OH SHIT oh shit oh shit oh shit.”
“She will be fine.”
“I'M GETTING A HYPO!” Gaige ran back out of the room, and Zer0 could here her trip on the robe she was wearing and cringed when he heard the crash right after. “I'M OKAY I'LL BE RIGHT THERE!”
Zer0 pulled the pod the rest of the way open and gripped Angel's wrists, her hands were clawing at her collarbone hard enough to leave marks. “You are safe Angel/You are on my ship.. in space/god that was so bad.”
She was breathing in short fast gasps but they slowed as he held her wrists. By the time Gaige limped into the room, muttering under her breath.
“I got the hypos if we need them.”
“She will be fine.” Zer0 picked up the haori Gaige had dropped in her dash to get the hypos and used it to cover Angel like a blanket.
“sh-sh-shi-shit-t-t-t c-c-cold in here.” Angel stammered out, her eyes still weren't open, but her breathing was steadier.
“I got it!” Gaige dashed off to the door and changed the temperature setting.
“Can you open your eyes?”
“N-n-o c-c-cold still”
“It'll warm up quick. Lets get her out of here.”
Zer0 nodded and wrapped the haori around her more and lifted her small frame easily out of the pod. “I'll carry her up/run ahead to my room now/blankets next to these.” he tilted his head toward the exit.
“NOOOOooo problem” she shouted as she dashed ahead.
“h-hh-how does she do that” Angel was shivering still, but Zer0 could hear her smiling as she spoke.
“I wonder” was all he said as he smiled too and carefully avoided the mess Gaige had just made.