Ghosts and Raiders Chapter 7

Queen

The room fell silent once more. Everyone exchanged glances and then fixed their gaze on Sienna who was on the verge of breaking down right then and there.

“Hey! I’m talkin’ to you!” The Queen’s voice hollered through the communicator, “Boy am I lucky. Boys back here track that little technophile Siren who goes and kills herself after she tries and tell you what the hell I’m doing. Auuuugh! It’s irritating really.”

“So you admit to hacking Angel back to life?” Roland asked authoritatively.

“Hell yeah. Figured you guys took lil’Sienna from us, got some leftovers from Hyperion over here, hacked up techn-Ophelia she hacks back with what she has, and tries to get you. Badda bing, badda boo-hoo she’s dead now. But at least I know where Sienna is. Hell, I can hear her sniveling like the baby she is.” Her voice was harsh and oozed confidence.

The Vault Hunters all stirred agitatedly, this woman had no restrain. The Soldier shifted his weight and huffed.

“Well, you sound awfully confidant.” He exhaled.

“I am confidant! That’s how you survive. Look, I’m going to be civil here—so consider yourselves lucky—I want nothing more than to just get my little Siren back and go on my way. So, here’s the deal, we meet out in the old Dahl Well Graveyard. You can bring all your little Vault Hunter friends, I’ll be alone, no weapons, no tricks, just working out a plan okay? We go our separate ways.”

"And if I decline?"

"Wellll...You better get some troops real fast then." The Queen coughed out a laugh.

Roland looked at his companions thoughtfully, his expression changing quickly from one of worry, to one of knowing.

"Alright. One week from today. Old Dahl Well Graveyard. Like you said, no tricks, no weapons." The Soldier stated calmly.

"Ah...Glad you're seeing it my way. One week. Good bye Raiders." The airways fell silent. Everyone looked at their leader like he had just thrown their lives away.

"Roland...what th--"

"I have a plan." He interrupted Lilith who huffed and slouched back, "They may have their act together, but it doesn't mean they aren't lying. Brick, are you still in control of the Slabs?" The Berserker smirked and nodded, "Lilith, think those bandits will still obey their 'Goddess'?" The Firehawk rose a brow then chuckled with a grin as if to say 'Are you kidding? Of course!', "Now. I know this one is a bit of a long shot." The Soldier cracked his knuckles, "There're still Bloodshots hanging around their fortress. And I think they still worship Marcus..."

Everyone began to catch on, even Krieg who wasn't even paying attention. Maya raised a hand.

"So, let me get this straight. We're gathering BANDIT reinforcements? How can we trust them? How do we know they aren't Phantoms either?"

"If there's anything I know about Bandits, it's that one: they ally themselves with the strongest person they can find. Two: they will remain loyal to that person until the end of time. I believe most of our Phantom Bandits are the un-led clans around Pandora." Roland clarified, "I gave us a week to make sure we had it all figured out."

"What are we doing/The rest of us I assume/Do you have a plan?" Zer0 asked, his companions nodded and looked at their leader.

Roland waved his hand over the virtual map, bringing up the birds-eye of Pandora, "Zer0, you and Mordecai will watch the whole process go down. I'm confident that should things get hairy you two will step in. Mordecai you'll set up..." He circled a nearby alcove, "Here, Zer0 use your cloaking to hang closely. Got it?" The two sniper users nodded, "Lilith, you'll be with me, think you can phase us in and out of there? Especially out if she tries to attack?"

"Of course I can." She smirked and flicked a finger and tapped her cheek.

"Great. Lilith go get those Bandits back under your control, Brick get your Slabs ready. Everyone else you'll be positioned at Ellie's. Now go train, condition, run the plan, get supplies, you know the drill. We need to be prepared for everything. Dismissed." Roland commanded.

The Vault Hunters all scurried from the room, excited and terrified for the upcoming mission.

Four days had passed since the transmission from the "Queen" and all the Vault Hunters had found ways to stay occupied and prepare for what could come.

"Ex...Excuse me? Mister Axton?" Sienna cooed tapping the field on around her cell to get his attention as he worked on his turret in Tannis' "lab". The brunette grunted and wiped his forehead.

"What is it?" He replied curtly.

"You...You're all going to see the Queen...I uh..." The little Siren hunched over and grabbed her head, crying softly and gasping. Axton whipped his head to look at the 10-year old who was now curled up in a ball on the floor of her cell.

"He-ey...Uh..." He drew closer to the field hesitantly, not sure what to do, "MAYA!" Axton called to the upper level where he knew his teammate was reading over her tome, "MAYAAA!"

Rushed foot falls hurried down the stairs, "WHAT? WHAT?" The Siren asked. The Commando just pointed to the cell, Maya paced over and looked at the girl inside.

"Surge Headaches." She stated calmly, "When I was..." Maya clenched her eyes shut and shook her head remembering her time at the Abbey, "Younger...I got them a lot. It comes with being a young Siren. She'll be fine." As if on cue Sienna staggered to her feet and exhaled, a few tears running down her face. The young Siren leaned against the field and sighed.

"I uh...Good luck...The Queen likes to play dirty...I'm...gonna sleep now..." She stumbled over to the cot and passed out.

"See? Fine. I'm gonna head out to Three Horns, see ya." Maya nudged her friend and jogged outside to Pierce Station.

A part of him wondered how many beasts he could kill until they went extinct, another--more conscious--part didn't care as he punted a Skag Pup into a Varkid causing it to aggress towards him. Krieg pulled back his Buzz Axe, much like a baseball player would his bat, and waited until the giant insect flew closer...closer...clo--

SHWHACK!

The carcass of the beetle-like creature was hacked in two, a sickly mucus-yellow ooze poured from the body. Krieg kicked the half-body around like a soccer ball and casually shot it against the nearest rock watching the exoskeleton shatter into thousands of pieces. He laughed softly then groaned, he was prohibited from killing any bandits in this area since they were all Bloodshots and they were needed for the plan. This made him irritated, it had been a while since he had spilled blood.

"Better yet the blood of those damned Phantoms." His inner voice growled.

And while slicing open beasts only to dance around in their organs while his saner half tries not to question him on why he's doing such a strange thing, human blood was perhaps Krieg's favorite option. The Psycho found himself a nice cozy rock and hunched down on it.

"Slaughter the ghosts. AVENGE MY LIGHT." Krieg snarled, tossing his head side to side making his neck snap and crack loudly.

"Slow down there. Only if Roland allows us. Sure. I'd love for us to storm their defenses and hunt down that Verner who struck Maya...but we can NOT step out of line." The outer side just groaned displeased with his inner voice's order, "But...I don't think they'll mind too much if we demolish a hive or two." Krieg smirked and hopped off his rock, lumbering towards a Varkid hive with a low growling chuckle.

As he drew closer to the hives the large silhouette of the Memorial Dam darkened the area slightly, the Psycho tilted his head and stared at the massive structure.

"Careful, there could be Bloodshots. Roland said not to attack them." But the hulking experiment ignored his conscience, strolling closer and closer to the dam, no longer focused on destroying the hives. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a small group of Bloodshot Psychos skipping into the entrance of their hideout . He then focused up towards the top of the base, noting another Bandit with a megaphone.

"COME ONE! COME ALL! BLOODSHOTS! OUR GREAT MARCUS HAS LEFT OUR PROPHET A GLORIOUS MESSAGE!" The scrawny Psycho screamed, "OF EXPLOSIONS, BLOOD, FAIR MAIDENS, AND ALL THE LOOT WE CAN SCORE!"

Krieg's less-sane side liked the sound of that. On his unnatural instinct, he ran up to the base, blending in to the group, ignoring the comments of his subconscious yelling at him to get the hell out of the place.

"Well. I made the announcement Roland." The gun merchant said, polishing one of his new-arrival pistols.

"Thank you. I'll have Salvador head out there tomorrow." The Soldier replied.

"So ah...Roland..." The Russian mentioned, "This Queen...Do you think we're in for another big one?" He put the weapon down and leaned forward.

"Right now...I don't know. That's why I'm preparing troops. Lilith still has her followers, Brick has his Slabs, it's anyone's game right now and I just want to be ready to take this thing out before it starts." Roland huffed, his ECHO set off an alert signal from Three Horns, "Oh I do not have time for this." He looked at the alert to find Krieg on top of the Memorial Dam from the signal, he switched the airway on to listen to what may have been happening.

"--and he shall come on the wings of a majestic bird with fire raining from the sky!" A cheer erupted soon after, Roland shut off the communications with the Psycho and flipped through his ECHO-contacts.

"He doesn't seem to be fighting, I'll get Salvador out there..." He connected to the Hispanic dwarf, "Salva--"

"TAKE THAT PUTAAAAAS!" Machine gun fire resounded.

"--dor..." Roland disconnected, he could probably send someone else out there to get Krieg...

"One...hundred!" Maya exclaimed after incinerating another Varkid. She stretched out her tattooed arm and laughed, 100 near-consecutive Phase Locks and she was hardly winded. The Siren sauntered up to the burnt corpse and plucked out a few still-good goo-covered magazine clips and digistruct them into her inventory.

"Maya..." Roland contacted her, "You're out in Three Horns right?" He sounded slightly irritated.

"Yeah...What do you need?"

There was a long sigh, "Krieg. He's not causing any chaos...but he managed to get into the Bloodshot base and just...find a way to make sure he isn't going to jeopardize this for us."

"Can do Roland..." Maya disconnected then switched channels to Krieg.

"Krieg...shhh...I don't know how you got in there...But find a way out of there WITHOUT killing anyone. Please?" The Siren muttered to her companion, "I'll be right outside."

"...and this is why we listen to people." The inner voice scolded.

"--FOR OUR LORD MARCUS! AND FOR HIS SERVANT SALVADOR!" The lead Bloodshot howled, the others responded with dissonant howls of their own, throwing their arms up and fleeing from the dam.

"Shit...They'll see her down there. RUN!" Krieg dashed through the mob of Bandits to the inside of the base. Fortunately, he was able to outrun the others and reach Maya just in time to hoist her off the ground and away from the flood of Psychos leaving the stronghold.

Once out of harm's way, the Psycho slowed to a jog and eventually to a stop then set the Siren down.

"Saved by the meat!" He grunted and jerked slightly.

"Krieg..." Maya's voice got low, Krieg recognized that tone from the many times she would scold Axton or Salvador for being reckless, causing him to instinctively shrink back, "I get that sometimes you cannot control yourself. I know there's a lot going on in your head...but...please...you know this mission is important. Can you put in a little extra to just restrain yourself?" She reached out to him and placed a hand on his bicep, "When this all blows over you can kill as many Bandits as you like." The Siren stopped for a moment and bit her lip in thought, debating on what to say next.

"Meat is sorry." Krieg growled softly and dropped his head.

"It's fine...we only have three more days. So if you wouldn't mind staying by my side, perhaps sparring a little, just to keep you out of trouble..." Her voice trailed off, the Psycho just nodded, "Anywho...back to Sanctuary."

It was now only one day before everyone would set out to aid their leader in dealing with this so-called "Queen", Roland had decided that it would be better for everyone to camp out at Ellie's to better prepare for the coming events. The majority of the Vault Hunters were taking this time to re-evaluate the plan, restock their supplies, scope out the area, or sleep. Maya had dragged Krieg out a little ways from the Garage and tossed aside her firearm.

"Alright. One last spar...don't hold back okay?"

Krieg knew exactly why she was so adamant on improving her skills; ever since the run in with Verner and his gang, the Vault Hunters had been wary now that they had been forced to see how underprepared they were to take on this new threat, and Maya was no exception. Krieg could see the determination behind her stormy eyes to get stronger to protect her friends, that drive sparked something inside of him.

"Let's not hurt her...But we need to get stronger too." The inner voice commented, Krieg tossed his weapons into the dust and clenched his fists.

The Siren made the first move, sprinting towards her teammate; Krieg raised his arms and stepped forward, preparing to block her attack. Maya sprung up and kicked off his back like a springboard, staggering him forward as she rolled out her momentum and turned around, dashing back to her opponent. The Psycho stumbled back around and swung out his fist on instinct, Maya ducked and flipped backwards, kicking the Krieg in the chin sending his mask shooting up into the air.

Krieg fell back into the sand, dazed, "She sure is stronger..." He sighed internally as stars danced above his head.

"Oh...Krieg? Are...you okay?" Maya leaned over at the now maskless Psycho, a few newer scars now marked the left side of his face, most likely the result of Varkid acid from his killing spree earlier in the week. The Siren crouched next to her companion and sighed, her focus now set on the long scar that ran from his right eyebrow to his right cheek where the stitches never healed properly.

A soft thud caught her attention as Krieg's mask fell by her side. She laughed softly to herself and patted her friend's face lightly.

"Hey...Get up..." She murmured, the Psycho stirred and groaned. He sat up and tilted his head at the Siren, his expression akin to one of a confused child, Maya couldn't help but snicker softly at his expression then held out his mask, "Sorry about that. I got carried away."

"No no...you were amazing."

"Strongest cupcake of blood and death~" Krieg cooed gruffly as he set his mask right once more.

The Siren raised a brow and pursed her lips before standing up, "Yeah...Well let's get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"Good afternoon Roland." The Queen chirped. She stood a good 6 feet tall, pelts hung from her shoulders and from her right hip. Her right hand was fashioned with a makeshift claw made of three bayonets, two long scars stretched across her hardened abdomen. Her greasy black hair was sloppily tied back, an all-knowing smirk graced her hardened face. Sienna had every right to fear the woman.

"Afternoon..."

"Ellena." The beast of a woman corrected, "Now, no filler shit, let's get to the point. Sienna. Give her back."

"She was never yours. She was a prisoner." Roland sneered, his voice growing angrier.

"Oh?" Humor filled Ellena's voice as she brought a hand to her chin, "How do you know? She could be lying. Maybe she's a spy. Maybe she's a robot, androids really are getting more realistic now a days."

"So could you." The Soldier retorted.

"Well. Then I suppose there's only one way to settle this. War. The gentleman's game." The Savage laughed and tossed her hair about, "See you on the battle field." A Phantom Buzzard lowered a ladder and Ellena took off.

Roland just stood there, a tide of suspicion swirling in his chest, he flicked on his ECHO.

"We're done here. Everyone, get ready for a war."