//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: Awkward conversations // Story: Borderlands 2 DLC: Vault of the Consular // by NightStream //------------------------------// Back in the town of Sanctuary, the scientist named Patricia Tannis was pacing around the room in circles. Trying to think on something as she tried to walk around in a perfectly round circle around the table in the upper room of the command post and not cut corners. To her, things had to be precise. Things had to make sense… yet, what she had witnessed earlier with Mordecai, Lilith and Brick shortly before they disappeared lacked any precision and did not make any sense no matter how many times she thought it over. Not to mention that this was the first time that she saw another creature, other than those aliens that showed up to stop the execution of Athena after she told them how Jack rose to power, that seemed… intelligent. A little crazy, but intelligent nonetheless. After all, he had to have some brainpower in order to not just sneak into Sanctuary unnoticed but also-. “-Tannis? Tannis! …… TANNIS!!” The last shout coming off of her ECHO communicator that she set on a nearby table had caused Tannis to slip and fall onto the floor, breaking her out of her concentration. To her surprise, the person who was trying to contact her… was actually Lilith. “What the hell? We’ve been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes.” “Well EXCUSE ME! Good to know that you are all still alive. I’ve been trying to make sense of that Discord fellow for the last six hours and I have not figured him out yet. I’ve done everything, even asking Clork for help, but all that he’s done is prattle around on the ceiling like he does every other day of the week-.” She paused for a moment, looking back at her in confusion. “Uhh… How exactly are you able to ECHO me? I’m not picking you up anywhere on Pandora or in this system.” “BECAUSE… REASONS!!!” That sudden interruption made Tannis furious. It was that same buffon that interrupted the last ECHO frequency that she had with the rest of the Crimson Raiders. “Why are you INTERFERING WITH MY ECHO FREQUENCY!?! I told you to-.” “Calm down, Tannis…” she soon heard another vault hunter that she remembered, a Mechromancer named Gaige, speak up. “Mr. Torgue has been helping us in more ways than one. Besides, you might want to sit down… we got a lot of explaining to do and-.” Around now was when Tannis happened to notice that the creature that was next to her… was a technicolor equine figure. Just like the ones that she had discovered earlier shortly before that Discord had rudely interrupted her explanation. “Oh come on now. Unlike most of you mouth breathers, I have a doctorate in my field of study… How hard can it be?” Equestria “Well… It’s quite a story really… but first things first, what do you exactly know?” Gaige asked her as Twilight sat down next to the mechromancer. “Pretty much everything that Discord happened to share to us before whisking away Lilith, Mordecai and Brick like they were puppies that got taken away by a swarm of rakk.” Tannis’ reply caused some shiver to go down Twilight’s spine as Gaige noticed bits of her fur standing on end. “Well… there may be some things to update you on then,” The Mechromancer replied. “We found one of the pieces of the key… but…” She stopped for a moment, looking at Axton at the other end of the room before looking back at Tannis. “You might want to see this for yourself.” Turning her ECHO device so the camera was at a different angle, the scientist now had a look at what Gaige was talking about as she now had a clear view of the vault key piece that was bound to the commando. “Axton, say hi to Tannis.” “Hey Tannis, I have a new ‘buddy’ on hand.” The Commando said as he waved the Vault piece around before setting it on the table and for it to come back to his hand seconds later. “Hmm… this is rather intriguing… I mean about the artifact, not your witty childish attempts at subtle humor,” Tannis spoke, while also insulting Axton at the same time. “And how long has this going on for?” “Well, we found it yesterday and since Axton decided to hold onto it, it’s been with him ever since.” Gaige explained. “That’s one piece we found while there are still five more to find. Not to matter that it also relates to a series of artifacts that have saved this planet multiple times over.” The Mechromancer went on to explain a little more on what they found out about the elements of harmony as well. But just as Spike was coming in with some eggs and hay-bacon for Twilight and Gaige, they heard Tannis say her next statement. “At least where you’re at, it doesn’t have the awful stench of Bacon,” She complained. “No matter how many times I’ve insisted, I could not convince Roland or the other Crimson Raiders that bacon is for sycophants and products of incest!” Hearing that almost made Twilight choke on the hay bacon she was trying to eat… before pushing the rest of the bacon that was on the table way far away from her. “Some bad food there Twilight?” Axton asked as he saw what Twilight did. “More like Tannis upsetting her appetite,” Gaige sighed, looking back at the Commando. “She went on her rant about Bacon again.” It was common amongst the vault hunters to hear Tannis say a few lines that were out of the ordinary… yet it was not exactly something that would fit well with Twilight’s stomach. Axton merely rolled his eyes at that. “I don’t know why she keeps that up when no one will listen to her about it.” “Probably see’s it as her way of a public service announcement.” Gaige then said, shortly before being interrupted. “Both of you do realized that I can hear you two mouth off about me, right?” Tannis then asked. “I’m not apologizing.” Axton quickly said. Only causing Gaige to roll her eyes for a moment as she looked back at Tannis. “Back to the discussion at hand… The artifacts that I previously mentioned seemed to based off of certain… characteristics and virtues. Stuff like Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and magic. We think the one Axton got is on the latter of those that I just listed, but we still need to figure out where the others are.” “And just when I thought that listening to Athena’s story on her journey on Elpis was long and tedious.” Tannis mumbled. “Elpis?” Twilight asked. “Pandora’s moon-.” Gaige told her… only to get interrupted by Twilight again. “Wait… so were they banished or did they go there by choice?” Gaige looked with a raised eyebrow at Twilight, before looking back at Axton. “They went there by choice, it was before Jack was all evil and crap. Claptrap went with on the journey actually… and what do you mean by banished.” Axton asked Twilight. “Well, for some of Equestria’s foes and other who commit very heinous crimes, they either get banished to the moon… or banished to the sun.” “We just kill ours. But wouldn’t being banished to the sun just kill them?” “Yes… But there are those that have survived on the moon… Luna’s one example,” Twilight told them in response. “There were others who survived?” “Some… I think. But it’s another story.” The princess sighed for a moment. “Still, I think we’re getting ourselves sidetracked again.” “Yeah, your probably right.” Gaige then replied, looking back at Twilight before saying something else. “Though, now that you think of it… these pieces of a key remind me of something from a while back. We had originally found a lockbox that required a series of keys that my friends and I acquired from demonstrating the traits that we possessed… I don’t know, I’m just thinking out loud.” “That happens to me all the time… Last time I was thinking out loud, I was thinking more as to how idiotic it would be to have a hook for a hand when remembering about the time the vault hunters had to tangle with a few sand pirates,” Tannis bluntly stated. “Surely, such a thing mades one unable to… relieve necessary tension-.” “TMI Tannis…… TMI.” Gaige facepalmed herself. “I already have heard some things I rather not remember from Sir Hammerlock when we went on his big game hunt.” “That we can agree on.” Axton said with a sigh. “That and his bad puns.” The mechromancer would agree with that. Even going as far as to thinking that Pinkie Pie would be unimpressed with his brand of humor if she had heard of it. “So, back to the main topic… my only guess would be to look out for whenever you see a particular vault symbol. I would suggest that there locations may be based on the wielders of those… elements you suggested, but there’s no evidence supporting that.” Tannis replied back before deeply sighing. “Is there anything else you want to suggest before I end this… mediocre conversation? I would prefer trying to rest my brain and have it be used for other purposes rather than coming to grips with reality and finding out that talking ponies exist.” “There is a reason Gaige called you, and that was to see if you could help us make a Tracker for the Vault pieces here.” “The only way I would see that as being possible would be if there was some kind of sample I could work with. Unlike the vault and what we know about Sirens, the magic they speak of here is unfamiliar to me. Unless there’s some kind of energy sample of that, then I can’t make a tracker for you without proper information and resources.” That had Twilight think for a small bit before looking back at Tannis. “What about if there was a way to send you information. I have articles and books here that go into detail on magic if you need to study it further.” The alicorn suggested. “That… can be a start.” Tannis replied. “However, the documents need to be transmitted VIA Echo Device.” “And how does that work?” Twilight asked… only leading for Tannis to sigh for a moment. “Well… to put it in a more… simplified term, the ECHO device would literally need to scan everything. Even the pages of the report need to be scanned one at a time so nothing is overlooked.” The scientist explained. “Unless you can-.” That was when they got some help from the most… unexpected of sources. “Allow me.” A certain draconequus replied, snapping his talon. A few moments later, Tannis was seen getting squashed by an entire mountain of papers… and one book on top of that. “Transmitting is overrated.” “Discord… seriously?” Twilight sighed, looking back at the draconequus… all before hearing a comment farther down the hall from her student Starlight. “Hey Twilight… your whole research section in your library regarding magic just vanished. What just happened?” “…… DISCORD!!!!!” All the draconequus did was bow simply and then said ‘you're welcome’ before leaving the castle and leaving no trace behind. “That… could provide more than enough information for Tannis now,” Gaige sighed with a smile on her face, before adding something witty to that statement. “If she can find a way to get herself out of the pile first.” “Heh, true that. Now what should the next item on the list while we wait for Tannis?” That was when Twilight, now all focused again, decided to get up from the table. “Perhaps there’s something we can do around town first to pass the time while we wait.” She said before looking back at Axton and Gaige. “Yeah… This whole talk on Vaults, Vault keys and such is making me tired. I think I’m just gonna take a nap for a bit.” Before either Twilight or Axton could say anything on the subject, the Mechromancer leaned back against a wall and drifted off to sleep. “Heh, while a nap does sound nice, I’m going to go for a walk. Maybe head into that forest and see what else I can find in there.” Axton said as he got up and walked towards the door. When he reached the door however, he met a familiar face. “Oh my… I didn’t expect you to be the door greeter this afternoon Axton,” Rarity said in a charming manner. Even with Axton wanting to walk out the door, the unicorn still had a few things to say. “Where are you going in a hurry, darling?” “Well not anywhere in particular, just take a walk around the town. Maybe help if someone needs anything or just go back into the forest to see what else it has to offer.”  The Commando simply replied. “I see… before you do, darling. I wanted to ask you about something,” The unicorn then spoke up, proceeding to ask him a question that was on her mind at that particular moment. “Has Twilight told you about the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot coming up in a few days?” “The what?” Axton asked, completely dumbfounded. All before a particular Alicorn soon remembered something. “Oh right… I almost forgot,” She then spoke up, facing both the commando and her friend. “The Grand Galloping Gala is an event where all of the nobles and many well known ponies across Equestria and the Crystal Empire come and celebrate-.” “Ugh… Unnecessary social interactions!!” They all heard Tannis groan as all three of them turned to Gaige’s Echo, which she left on the table as they could see the holographic image of Tannis herself. “This is the same reason why I nailed a dead skag on the front of my door when I first moved to Sanctuary!” “Uhh… may I ask who exactly was that?” Rarity then asked, confused a little. Axton then rubbed his neck as he sighed. “That would be Tannis, the one who is going to help us find the other pieces… once she gets all the data that was dropped on her sorted out.” Twilight herself sighed for a moment before clearing her throat. “Anyways… there was one thing I wanted to mention to you before Gaige decided to go for a nap and you decided to go for a walk… which in turn may work with what Rarity was trying to say.” The Alicorn said, which confused Axton for a moment. “What do you mean?” Once again, Twilight sighed. The next part was not only hard for her to say… but what she was about to say… she knew for sure will come back to bite her. “Princess Celestia has invited all the vault hunters, new and old, to the Gala this year.” “Mordecai, this is the EXACT REASON why I needed my dressy clothes!!” All of them heard Brick shout from the opposite end of the castle. When Gaige had went to go lay down for a nap, she did not honestly expect for herself to wake up in what honestly looked like the world of a holo-sim game that would be played on her ECHO device. However, this place was… just rather strange. Almost vibrant like in Bunkers and Badasses, but more… trippy. “Okay, what kind of drug induced allusion did I wind up in?” All around her was the trees of multiple different dark colored shades before hearing something trotting towards her. Reaching for a weapon, but only for nothing to materialize. “Oh come on! Seriously?!” “Easy there… We mean no harm.” She heard a voice call from behind her, only to turn around and notice a familiar face. It was another alicorn, and from what she remembered, this one happened to be Celestia’s sister. Only problem though was that she couldn’t remember her name at first. “Oh… uh.. Hi there… You’re… Woona right? No, I mean… Lunafreya maybe? God, I suck at remembering names.” “Just Luna is fine.” The Alicorn helped her, causing the Mechromancer to sigh in relief for a moment so she didn’t mess up her name. “Ah thanks… So, uh… not to be rude princess… but where the hell are we?” She then asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. “We are in your dreams…” “... Come again?” “Your dreams,” Luna repeated herself. “This is your subconscious. It is the reason why you could not be able to bring out one of your weapons in order to defend yourself when you needed to a few moments ago.” “Well that answers one of my questions at least,” The Mechromancer then replied, before speaking up. “So… Can you explain why you’re here? Or for that matter… why I’m here?” “It seems that you have something in here that… well, to put it lightly, there is something here that seems to want to return to you. From experience, I’ve seen bad memories for some ponies turn into Nightmares… and I’m concerned that some of your memories would end up the same way.” That just made Gaige a little more curious on one part. “How can you tell if a memory is bad or not?” “Because it can bring back flashbacks of things in the past you had to do…” She then noticed something to her left as she turned to see a small orb, floating towards them. “And what do you know… this is a memory right here.” “A memory?” Gaige was curious at that, reaching out her hand to touch the orb despite Luna saying otherwise. The orb glowed in reaction to her extended hand, having them hear a series of sounds that reminded Gaige of when she first came to Pandora… and what resulted on that train ride. “It’s cute that y’all think that you’re the heroes of this little adventure… but you’re not…” The sound of that made Luna shudder a small bit before looking back at Gaige. Before she should ask though, there was one more statement in that particular memory that was said. “Welcome to Pandora, Kiddos!” “W-who or what in Equestria was that?” “Remember when we told you yesterday about our fight against Handsome Jack?” Gaige then asked. “What you just heard was him. This memory must be from when he tried to sabotage our train and left us for dead.” Shortly though, another orb was right next to it, prompting the Mechromancer to touch that one as she heard a different voice. One that was friendlier and had Luna be at ease. “I’ll explain everything soon, but know this… you are alive for a reason, and I am here to help you.” “And who would that be?” “That would be when we first met Angel. With her assistance and also Claptrap helping us, we got out of the southern shelf and began to start our adventure on Pandora.” Gaige told her, not noticing any other orbs show up. “Why do you think these two though would be here? Unless they were trying to tell us something, then I don’t understand why they’re exactly here.” “Perhaps it’ll be explained in due time. In that case, i’ll leave you be to rest.” Luna said, disappearing a few moments later. Yet… Gaige still had a few unanswered questions in the back of her head. Like why was it that what Angel told her back then… had something to do with what was going on now?