Pt.4 The Silent Side

"Alright Raiders...what are we going to do?" Roland asked, taking a seat at the projection table in the middle of the room. He scanned the condition of the other vault hunters. While no one had taken severe damage from Krieg's rampage, they were rather shaken up.

After the events in Tundra Express, Roland and Lilith were able to apprehend the Psycho and keep him unconscious while helping the others get back to Sanctuary and to "proper" medical care.

"I know he's a part of the team amigos, and his rampage was pretty awesome...but I think he's gotta go." Salvador mentioned, stretching out his aching back.

"I agree." Axton concurred, "Even if it was just once, we can't have someone go AWOL like that."

Everyone else seemed to hop on the same boat, everyone except Maya. Once again her emotions seemed to flare up with a deep burning in her stomach telling her that this was wrong. Before she could plan a rebuttal, her actions spoke. Bringing a fist down on the table and making a small crack in the screen. The others looked at her with shock, Maya was never one to be overly impulsive.

"Sorry...I just, I don't think we should get rid of him. It was one time."

Everyone looked at the Siren like she had Thrashers coming out of her back.

"Maya, he tried to kill us!" Brick yelled, standing up.

"If he really wanted to, he could have! You've seen how he can slice through a full Badass Raging Goliath with one swing! He was holding back!" Maya nearly cried, almost losing her composure as she gritted her teeth.

"He tried to kill himself," Lilith added, at least trying to give her Siren friend a fighting chance at a debate, "before I knocked him out, Krieg had his axe at his throat."

The blue-haired Siren looked over at the Firehawk, hope sparking in her light gold eyes.

"Exactly! If he was totally gone, he wouldn't regret it."

There was a collective sigh, it was obvious that Maya was not going to take "no" for an answer. The leader of the Raiders' hung his head after receiving a death glare from Lilith telling him not to say anything.

"Fine. If you can prove that Krieg isn't completely crazy--"

Maya dashed out of the room, down the stairs, to Tannis who was working on her newest project.

"--I'll consider...ugh."

"Man sometimes I think since he showed up shes gotten crazier." Mordecai chuckled, leaning back in his chair, gulping down some liquor.

--

"TANNIS!" The scientist jumped at the sudden noise, "Do you have any spare ECHO logs?"

"What for Maya?" Tannis asked, not looking up from her work.

"I need to prove Krieg's innocence!"

"How is he innocent?" She slid an ECHO under the desk and flipped it on to record, "I mean, he tried to kill you all."

"That's where you're wrong. If he wanted to he would have! Look, I just need one..." Maya pleaded.

Tannis smirked and tossed the Siren a spare recorder, turning off the hidden ECHO and stored it for later reference.

"Let me come too, I just want to observe him." Determination behind her irises.

Maya nodded and walked out, heading to the large lot in front of Scooter's Garage.

--

What lie before her nearly broke the Siren's heart. A large steel cage was bolted into the ground where the Psycho lie, chained up like some animal still knocked out. Cautiously Maya approached the cage and sat in front of its bars and sighed. Tannis stood a few feet back with her own ECHO in hand and brought it up to her mouth.

"There is an obvious mutual attachment these two share." She muttered into the device.

Within the steel prison Krieg twitched, as if experiencing a nightmare.

"All our fault. We promised to never harm an innocent." Krieg whispered in a voice caught between his own and the one in his head. Maya looked up and gasped. After fumbling with her ECHO to get it to record, she scrambled to the side of the cage where the sleeping man was closest.

"They trusted us...we failed...but could not...finish." His voice was a mix of regret, anger, and hatred that came out in breathy gasps. The experiment's chest heaved frantically as his hands instinctively twitched around in panic.

"Friends...we had friends...we ruin--AUGHGH WHY WHY WHY?!" The Psycho began to convulse wildly, Maya knew all to well what was going on. A dangerous phenomena known as "sleep paralysis" was torturing the man. He was not the only one to suffer such an experience, at some point in all their days, each vault hunter had bouts of the condition often after strenuous missions mixed with a lack of sleep. 

Without thinking, Maya slipped her hand between the bars and patted his rough palm, hoping to at least calm Krieg down a little.

"Got...Lo-lost...So sorry...we are...hopeless. End us here..." Was the last thing he said before his body became eerily still. Panic filled the Siren's eyes as she frantically scanned over the statue-like figure.

"He's just asleep. The terror must have worn him out. I must say, I never though of our hulking meat-loving bandit to be much of a somniloquist--a sleep talker." Tannis clarified, "Looks like there really is more to him than meets the eyes."

Maya held out her ECHO to the insane(ly) smart woman, "Take this to Roland, tell him I was right. I'm just...gonna stay here a little longer."

Tannis happily took the recorder, spun around on her heel and left, leaving Maya alone in silence.

"Shit...why did..." She shook her head and cleared her thoughts, she really wasn't one to get overly involved with others. Out here on Pandora it was nearly "every being for themselves", and while she admitted she had grown exceptionally close to the other Crimson Raiders and considered them great friends, the extent to how heated she got when ever someone insulted her Psycho companion baffled her. With a long sigh, Maya leaned up against the cage and buried her face in her hands, not noticing the large hand lightly gripping the fabric of her pocket and the almost inaudible sigh of "Sorry pretty lady" and  "thank you, pretty lady".

--

Tannis smirked slyly to herself, listening to the recordings and flipping through her files that contained all her information on Maya and Krieg.

"Tannis, what are you doing?" Roland asked, stopping at the scientist's table. She said nothing and merely held out an ECHO.

"Maya was right. That Psycho is a little more complex than we give credit for."

The commander took the recording and headed out.