//------------------------------// // Further Convincing // Story: Psycho // by Bishibosh the Shaman //------------------------------// Psycho Chapter Twenty Three "We are in agreement with you, vault hunters. This Jack must be stopped, however we must caution against seeking your personal vengeance" Celestia softly warned as the vault hunters finished their explanation. "I have no doubts you speak true of his wickedness, but we cannot simply dispatch him so swiftly." "Princess, in all respect you have not seen the madness of him. Not like I have..." Lilith spoke now, her voice shaking in the slightest as she finished. "He will stop at nothing your highness. Ponies, humans, bots, we are all fodder to his goal." "I understand, truly I do, but we have stood against the darkness before and subdued it. I have faith in our ability to push this new threat back." Celestia nodded her head as if to agree with herself. "Sister, not to be in opposition towards thou, but perhaps we should dwell deeper into this Jack?" Luna remarked at her sisters reluctance. "I have seen what Jack has done through our friend before us." Krieg nodded, but frowned beneath his mask. He never meant for anyone, or anypony, to feel that pain. The thought alone brought an unwelcome guest to his mind. "Wait, you can do that? Like read minds?" Lilith asked inquisitively. "I can enter dreams, yes. With concentration I can even travel into the subconscious" Luna answered. "There is your answer Princess, let your sister look in my head. I promise she will agree with me." Lilith spoke out again. "I- I'm afraid I cannot just allo-" Celestia began. "I shall do as she asked sister." "Lu-lu..." "Tia..." " *Ahem* Rather than have my sister subject herself anymore to your twisted world... I shall be taking a look, I trust you are fine with this Lilith?" Celestia stepped down from her seat. "Uh, yeah. If it will show you just what kind of monster Jack is, yeah. Go for it." "Simply touch my horn then..." "Damn... I missed all the fun... Roland, you better still be alive in there..." Lilith mumbled as she stepped through the debris of the BNK3R. She heard the explosions of battle beneath her and sped up to a dash as she searched for the door to the Angel Core. Finally she found it, open. A large chasm stood before her, the elevator already down she assumed. Not a problem for a siren, she vaulted down the hole. "Ah crap!" A deep voice shouted. "Jack has shut down the light bridge!" Angel warned. "Damn-it! Now I can't reach the injector panel! I don't know wha--" A sudden burst of blue exploded in the room, the red haired phoenix siren stood before them all. She cracked a smile as she noted Roland's shocked face. "How ya doin?" "Lilith, what the hell?! I told you not to come!" Roland protested. "Yeah and I didn't listen!" Lilith smarted back to her lover as more bots warped into the room. "Hey look, more bad guys!" The five vault hunters took positions around the room as more Angelic Guard bots swarmed the room. After the first few second, many of the bots either exploded or melted into acidic goo. Axton had dropped both his turrets and let loose on the northern half of the room while Gaige and Maya covered the southwest corner with a mix of Phaselocks and screaming bullets. Zero and Salvador worked as their better team and clear the remaining corner as bots flooded in. "Lilith! We gotta move!" Roland shouted across the room. After the room was cleared for the moment, him and the siren locked in an embrace, ready to warp. "I got ya!" Lilith shouted as she began to warp. "This isn't over, stay on your toes! Ugh!" The turrets surrounding the Angel Core reactivated and were targeting Lilith. War loaders began warping in as the vault hunters eliminated and clear their respected areas. "Please. Okay? Are you hearing me? Please don't kill my baby girl..." Jack pleaded on the over head screens. "The nerve of this guy! Puts his own daughter in that... thing and begs us to spare her!?" Gaige shouted in disgust as she blew away another bot advancing on her. The battle waged on for a few moments longer before Jack came over the screens again. "Don't you know what you're DOING?! Who cares about the goddamned Key! You're going to end the life of an innocent girl!" The voice pleaded once more. "Jack ended my life a long time ago... This has to end NOW Vault Hunters..." Angle spoke over her father. "I got the shield down guys! Hit the shield injector!" Roland bellowed out in success. The five vault hunters all turned towards the shield injector that hung above them. Axton and Gaige raise their Vladof miniguns towards it and in a brief second it exploded in lead and sparks. The shield surrounding Angel descended downward as the siren contained also gently floated down to the ground, speaking softly. "It's done... It's finally done... Thank you... friends..." Angel's voice trailed off as she slowly floated to the ground. The vault hunters watched in sympathy for the young girl. "Angel, you can STOP this! I'll still forgive you baby!" Jack begged over the screens again. "Dad... I have to tell you something..." Angel began as her voice trailed off into darkness. "You're an asshole..." The siren nodded her head down as she breathed her last breath. "Angel?! No! Angel!" The vault hunters gathered around the young girls body and knelt their heads in respect. The battle seemed to be over, Roland stepped up to the platform as Lilith stayed back. "What kind of person would do this? To his own daughter!" Lilith stated in anger. "The kind that deserves to die." Roland coldly stated. Celestia felt her spell weaken as Lilith began to resist, The alicorn gently forced back into her mind leaving a calming aura to say it was alright. She could feel it though, something was about to happen. Something Lilith feared most of all. "She's dead... Jack just lost his only way to awaken the warrior..." Roland said, knelt down over Angels body. He still felt regret for killing her. "We've got the vault key, but this isn't over yet. We've gotta find Jack and take him out. Lilith, take the vault key to Tannis. I'm going after Jack." Roland spoke his last words as the vault hunters barely noticed the blue light from behind him. Everythig happened so suddenly, Celestia thought. Yet it happened slow enough to see. They had achieved victory, they were about to win. But then... "ROLAND!" Lilith screamed as a gunshot came from behind, exploding Roland's chest into gore. The dark red spot on his chest left a scaring mark on everyone around. As he fell to the ground, Jack stood from behind him with a menacingly calm look on his masked face. "Sup." "You Bastard!" Lilith enraged, ignited her siren wings and prepared to charge the villain. "I'm gonna --" Celestia was knocked back by what happened next, the infuriated siren charged but in a mere second was subdued by some kind of collar. Her flames diminished as she was shocked back a step, falling on the floor before Jack. "Tsk tsk... Language." The cold bastard spoke in a soft tone. "What's that saying? Don't pick a fight with a man with nothing left to lose? See I'm going to show you all just how much you have to lose! And I've got the most powerful Siren on the planet to do it with. Lilith, kill the vault hunters. We got a date to keep with the warrior." Lilith screamed as siren power escaped her body. "Do it Lilith." "NO!" Celestia was shot from the sirens mind as the light blinded her. She shot back from Lilith's touch, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open. She stared at the siren, then at the vault hunters around her. Facing her head downward, she sighed. "It seems... I was wrong... Jack needs to..." "Die..." All the vault hunters spoke in unison. After several minutes of planning and calculations, the group knew what to do. First thing was to stop the attack on the Crystal Empire, they needed reliable transportation. Twilight suggested the train, but Celestia denied them. She claimed one human in public was one thing, nine of them was quite another. Instead she arranged a private train car to take them directly to the Crystal Empire. The Vault Hunters and and Element Bearers all gathered their belongings and made their way to the train station.