Borderlands 2 DLC: Vault of the Consular

by NightStream

Chapter 15: Buzz Off

By the time that the morning sun began to rise, Maya, Zer0, Roland and Mordecai were already waiting at the train station alongside that of Twilight, Spike and Starlight. The three of them were needed to help with some business in the empire as well, so it seemed practical for all of them to go together as one group. Though, the seating on the train was the part that was the most difficult. Since the cabins had enough space for four ponies each, it meant that they had to do some adjusting in order to accomodate everypony.

Yet, things were awkward for Roland and Mordecai when Maya decided to sit with Twilight, Starlight and Spike. Meaning that they were left with the one task that might’ve been harder for either of them to bear with than listening to Tannis go on for hours on another one of her wild theories.

Either going through a two hour train ride without saying anything… or trying to make small talk with Zer0. A task that was the conversational equivalent of trying to hold down Tina and have her openly eat something other than crumpets, cookies or… as Roland was informed of recently, a salad.

“Uh, so Zer0, um what… uh exactly… um…” Roland then clears his throat to clear to try and clear the awkward air coming from him. He then looks to Mordecai to try and start the conversation by motioning with his eyes for him to say something. Only for the hunter to just raise an eyebrow and shrug his shoulders. The Soldier then just lets out a breath to try with a small glare towards Mordecai and begins.

“What did you… um what did you do before all this?” Hesitantly Roland asks about Zer0’s past.

“Is this important/I believe who I am now/is more important,” Zer0 spoke in haiku. A cryptic answer for both Roland and Mordecai to try and decipher.

“Ok… then, so how about after or I guess in between Vault Hunting?” Again Roland hesitantly trying to keep this from getting more awkward than it already is.

“I seek a challenge…” The simple sentence really confused them again. “To test and maintain my skills/Seek new challenges.”

“Not really sure if this is an easy nut to crack, Roland.” Mordecai then told him

“Well I mean, you can’t blame me for wanting to try… even if it failed.” Roland mumbled that last bit to himself before he sighed and just looked out the window of the train. Slowly watching the landscape roll by.

‘Still can’t shake this feeling like something big is coming though.’ He then thought to himself.

“I heard that Roland/Please do us all a favor/And do not jinx us.”

“Anyway, how has Sanctuary been doing though? It has been some time, so I’m a little curious about that place.” Roland said to change the subject, turning back to face Mordecai and Zer0.

“Things have been alright to say the least,” Mordecai told him. “Things have been… busy since Maya and the other new vault hunters killed Jack and the Warrior.”

“Don’t forget your friend/One who told you of Elpis/Athena was it?” Zer0 then stated, a small question mark forming over his mask as he looked back towards Mordecai.

“Hmm, Athena you say? Haven’t heard of her since that whole thing with General Knoxx.” Roland said as he is now curious about this. “What’s this about going to Elpis?”

“Well, you see, it all started while we were focusing on getting Hyperion off the planet. We got a tip from a woman named Valerie about Athena and how she was helping some ‘con-man’ and a former Hyperion Stooge. When Lilith caught wind of this, she asked both of us to take her in,” Mordecai explained. “From there, Lilith had Athena tell us about all the ‘events’ on Elpis from the Lost Legion, Colonel Zarpedon, and how the man named Jack rose to power… otherwise known as your lunar vacation.”

“Oh yeah, that was a trip alright. But, then Athena is in Sanctuary right now then?” Roland asked.

“More or less. She comes by every so often, but she lives with some ‘Janey Springs’ person. Hell, she went on a crazy job from Jack that involved going into Claptrap’s mind so she could pay their rent. While subsequently leading to the demise of all Claptraps and leading to the one that we know being the only one left.”

“Claptrap Genocide/A story of betrayal/Such pain and sadness.”

“Now that I know that, I kinda feel bad for him. But I guess she is alright then if this is the case, and here I thought one of you would’ve killed her.” Roland said, impressed at what Athena did and some slight sadness over what happened to Claptrap.

“Yeah… about that… Lilith almost did.” Mordecai told him.

“... I…” Roland just lets out a heavy sigh at that. “And here I was mostly joking about that, but to actually almost do so…”

“Ever had that feeling that if someone didn’t do something, then someone they lost would still be alive?” Mordecai asked. “Lilith was kind of going through that the more that she heard Athena tell her the entire story. The part on Elpis, not Claptrap’s mind.”

“Ok, that makes sense right there. I mean how would she have known that when she took that job all this had happened.” Roland then just puts his head in his hands. “Man, a lot of things happened, just don’t know how to process it all right away.”

“Give it time. That’s what we all have to do at some point,” As Mordecai said that, he added on something else too. “Also, Athena said that once they started approaching the vault and it got to the point that Jack wanted to fix the eye of the destroyer and was saying that there should be no survivors when they were bombarded by DAHL before reaching the vault, she had a feeling he was losing it and going off the deep end.”

“At least she figured things were getting suspicious with Jack.” Roland then rubs his forehead. “I hope that nothing worse happens that already has. However given our past experiences, that isn’t going to happen.” He then lets out a chuckle.

“Guys, we’re finally approaching the empire now.” They both heard Maya say to them.

“Well, time to get ready for this.” Roland gets up and stretches and lets out a few satisfying pops. “Man I forgot how stiff your body can become just by sitting.”

“I still remember it.” Mordecai told him as they got up from their seats and all of them began to walk towards where the exit was on the cabin doors and turn into his pony form before looking back at Roland. “You might want to change forms so… you know… don’t give the locals a scare?”

“That is rather wise/We have not met the locals/who live in this place,” Zer0 spoke once more. “Attention is not/something we would want right now/Best to stay hidden.”

“Oh, yeah that might be for the best.” Roland then takes a second to prepare himself for what he is about to do. He then takes off his bracelet and he then sees himself become a earth pony. “I don’t think I can get used to this.” He then slowly walks forward on unsteady legs to get used to his new body. “Yep, won’t be able to get used to this.”

As they got off the train, they watched as Spike took off the trench coat that he was wearing, was greeted by a bunch of mares who knew him for his ‘heroics’ for the crystal empire, and no more than a minute later did all of them run away in fear. Much to the surprise of Twilight and Starlight because neither of them had any idea as to what exactly was going on. Even the four vault hunters were confused as they approached the front of the castle and the guards were not letting any of them through until one pony, a pink colored alicorn, decided to do some kind of weird hoofshake… dance… thing and that's how all the guards were able to actually let them through.

Of course, that was also when the alicorn and the two unicorns next to her looked back and noticed the four vault hunters with them. “Twilight dear. I don’t believe you had the chance to introduce us to your friends here.”

“Oh, my apologies Cadence,” Twilight chuckled before turning around. “These are some friends of mine that are looking for something in the Empire. I think Celestia sent a letter to you about it recently.”

“She did,” The orange colored unicorn told him. “But she didn’t say who they were exactly.”

“Well let’s clear that up,” The princess of friendship then spoke up. “This is Maya, Roland, Mordecai and Zer0. They were wondering if you had noticed anything out of the ordinary recently.”

“The only thing out of the ordinary has been what’s been scaring mostly everypony recently, Twily,” The white unicorn with the blue mane and shield like cutie mark stated.

“I’m sorry, Twily?” Mordecai now asked. “Do you two know each other?”

“Shining Armor here is my older brother,” Twilight clarified as they continued talking. However, after a little while, Maya just felt as if standing around was not quite going to help them when it came to finding this piece and decided to step outside while they talked about some ‘changeling’ creature that somehow got in the Empire.

Taking a moment, she pulled out her ECHO and activated the tracker that Tannis had sent to their device to try and see if she could find the origin of the signal that was picked up. However, the only thing was getting to be a bit of a problem was that she realized that what she was looking for was in the tundra that was outside of the city. Which, all things considered, only seemed similar to that of three horns or the southern shelf.

The other thing she soon began to realize was that even though she was right at the point where she needed to be in order to find what she was looking for, she could barely make out anything that was around her. In fact, the only thing that she could make out was that there looked to be a chasm nearby that lead underground.

“... Thank god that we don’t hurt ourselves from falls like this.” She said, before changing into her siren form and sliding on inside, feet first. Of course, it was only as she was landing that she heard something from outside that kind of… caught her off guard.

“How do I know you’re really a rock? Hmm. Not talkin', huh-?”

“Wait… was that Spike-?” That was followed by her looking up to see a hole in the ceiling, hearing something slip as she heard Spike scream and fall inside. “Oh sh-!”

Only thing was, before the siren could actually do anything, something caught him. It was not her… and it did not look like a pony either. It looked more like a bug kind of creature. Though, Maya could tell that it was not a varkid for sure. It looked too equine like to be one. “If he’s safe up there, then I’ll just continue looking.”

“Oi… Maya, come in!” She now heard the rough sound of her ECHO device as she picked it up.

“Mordecai?” She asked.

“Who else did you think it was? One moment you were taking a breath of fresh air, the next moment you go missing. The guards that were with Spike are looking for you right now while Roland and I are staying here-”

“Mordecai, just calm down please,” Maya told him. “The tracker from Tannis lead me to looking for the key piece. It’s seems to be in a cavern under the tundra. I’m looking into it now.”

“Alright, then do you want us to meet up with you or can you handle it alone?” Roland then chimed in as well.

“Pfft, to be honest, I think I got this. Though, I’ll ECHO you if something goes wrong.” Maya replied, before getting out a incendiary Maliwan Pistol from her inventory. Keeping it on hand just in case something were to pop out of nowhere.

“We will be on standby then, though it hasn’t been very difficult with everyone here on edge.”

“Yeah, but not everything might quite be what it seems. Someone you might see as a threat might turn out to be an ally if you give them the chance,” Maya told them back. “Hell, look at Krieg for crying out loud. I thought he was just a psycho wanting to kill us and make hammocks out of my skin, but he actually saved me from a pack of rats instead.”

“True enough, and though it doesn’t need to be said, be careful.”

Maya just let out a sigh before putting her ECHO away. Holding onto the pistol that she was carrying as she cautiously began to move deeper into the caverns. As she moved further in, a familiar sound could be heard echoing along the walls as she carefully proceeded forward.

Of course, when she got down there and found where the key was at, what she saw immediately had her switch weapons from her pistol to her Hellfire SMG. “Oh brilliant… The Empire has an infestation problem.”

“Maya, what exactly do you mean by, “Infestation” in the Empire?” Roland asked with a little but of worry.

“I mean a problem from Pandora,” The siren clarified, as she heard several loud screeches in the distance. “And great… I just kicked up a Varkid’s nest.”

“Wait, it’s just Varkids seriously? You don’t see anything else down there with you in terms of enemies?” Roland then asked in more confusion than anything.

“Yeah, seeing is kind of hard down here because it’s mostly dark… let me see if I can light the place up a bit,” With that, Maya threw out a firestorm grenade, flames raining down from the ceiling as she got a better look at what it was. “Oh sh*t… Chubby and Badass Varkids… not one, but several. There’s a whole swarm down here!”

“Ok then, we will be on standby in case any decide to come up from where you are.”

“Got it. Just… mute your echos unless you want to hear a lot of Varkid screaming.”

“No need to tell me twice.” Roland then cut the call. Which prompted Maya to throw two more firestorm grenades, while also making sure that she had her corrosive Sand Hawk SMG ready so she could be able to tear through the thick and hardened shells that would protect a badass varkid from most kinds of gunfire. The screams of the varkids echoing around the cavern while she shot them down.

As one tried to blindside her though, the siren noticed this coming and began to channel her phaselock ability through her arm. Holding one of the badasses in place. “Shut UP!” She snapped, before firing off a couple more rounds into the badass and reloading the weapon shortly afterwards. Once the badass was killed, the orb of phase energy transferred over to one of the chubby’s. A trait that was known to Maya as ‘sub-sequence’ as it allowed for her to swiftly make quick work of some of the chubby’s in the room so she could focus on the remaining badasses.

Of course, as she was cleaning things up, two things happened. The first being that one of the chubby’s spit out the vault key piece upon getting torched to death by the firestorm she threw out earlier. But it was as she went to pick up the piece that she noticed something in the far back corner of the room. Something that made her realize just how much trouble she was really in. “Oh come on-!”

It was a Varkid metamorphosis pod. And it was inflated to the point that it looked like a huge balloon as it burst open. And Maya was not exactly happy by what it was… as well as the fact that it barreled through the small opening above her with enough force to replicate an earthquake.

“Roland, we got a MAJOR problem now. God, please pick up!!” Maya said, scrambling to get topside and trying to avoid the falling ice. “ROLAND!! MORDECAI!! ZER0!! GODDAMNIT, PICK UP!!”

“Ma- ho- Finally got through, what the hell happened down there?!”

“All three of you get outside the empire, now! I got the key piece, but an ultimate badass varkid just broke through the ice and is heading straight for you guys!!”

“Got it. MORDECAI, ZER0 WE GOT INCOMING FROM UNDERGROUND!!”

“Down From Deep Below/Here comes a new challenger/Ready for combat” Zer0 responded.

“I hear ya, Ro- Hijo de puta, that things HUGE!!”

“Not helping here!!” Maya yelled, changing her grenade to the magic missile before chucking one. However, the projectiles detonated before it could even reach the target. “Try to clip its wings. My grenades can’t reach it from that far away!”

“I can’t get an accurate enough shot, but maybe my turret can do so.” Then he deployed his turret and while he is waiting for the turret to acquire the varkid Roland kept trying to take potshots at its wings. Eventually the turret was able to get a lock on the varkid and began shooting at it, within a minute its shots were able to tear through one of the wings, but it wasn’t until they heard two rounds of sniper ammo being fired that the varkid came crashing down.

“Gotcha, pendejo!”

“No I got it first/Your shot hit after my first/Why do you use Sloth?” Zer0 then stated.

“What? Like hell! I hit it first!”

“Could the two of you for the love of god just SHUT UP! You both got it down, congratulations! Now let me really finish it this time!” With that, Maya came racing over, shortly before grabbing onto the varkid and firing off a phaseblast. Which caused pieces of the Varkid’s head to splatter everywhere. Including on the walls of the castle, the tundra…

… And on Roland.

“While I appreciate that it is dead, I REALLY don’t like being covered in Varkid brain matter.” Roland said, completely unamused.

“Fatality.”

“Hey, you weren’t the one who had to deal with all these annoying bastards for the last fifteen minutes or-” Maya then paused, looking back towards where the gates of the Empire were as her tune immediately changed. “Aw crap-”

“What’s the matter, amigo?” Mordecai asked. The only response that Maya could give was her pointing a finger towards the castle gate. Where Princess Twilight stood there with Starlight, Spike… and a bug like creature standing next to him.

“Is that… how you usually deal with problems outside the empire. Because I really hope it isn’t.” The bug pony then spoke.

“This is just a special case, I think would be the right term to use.” Roland said, still unamused as he was still getting rid of the Varkid brain matter off him.

“Oh good… I was getting worried that somebuggy like me will end up the same way.”

Maya herself just raised an eyebrow at that. “Some… buggy? Did I hear that right.”

“Maya, Roland… I would like you to meet Thorax,” Spike then spoke up. “He was the changeling that we were looking for… but it turns out, he’s a defector from his old hive. He came here wanting to learn about friendship and kind of saved my life a couple of times. Thorax, this is Maya, Roland and their two friends Mordecai and Zer0. Vault Hunters and all around… I think the word is badasses?”

“Spike, Language-”

“No no, he’s actually right.” Maya interjected. “We are badasses. Hell, we took down a Varkid that was the size of two train cars. I think that counts right?”

“As far as i’m concerned, it does. But that thing is way smaller from what you and the others have taken down before, correct?” Roland having commented as he finally got rid of the Varkid mess on him.

“Don’t get me started on Vermivorous…” Maya grumbled. “It’s the only reason why Axton got his Norfleet and the only reason why he got it was because he was able to trick Krieg into giving it to him.”

“I feel like if I ask, it won’t lead to anything I would want to know or what happened when he asked for it.” Roland was a bit concerned about what Axton asked of Krieg to get him to hand over that Rocket Launcher, but he would rather not want to listen to the story.

“Well…”

---

“YOU SAY THAT I CAN GET MORE PECS IF I GIVE YOU ROCKET GUN, COMMAND MAN?!!”

“Uhh… Yes?”

“SOLD!!!”

---

“Let’s just say that Axton has a way with words when it comes to negotiating for something he wants.”

In response, Mordecai just shrugged and Zer0 had a symbol of a face with a raised eyebrow as the hunter spoke. “Fair enough I guess.”

“I don’t know what to say, but alright then.” Roland just stood there thinking it over before turning to Twilight and the others. “So mind filling us in on who the new, er bug is?”

“I thought we did.” Spike told them

“Let’s just say he’s a defector… like how you defected from the crimson lance, he defected from his… hive, right?” Mordecai asked, which lead to the changeling nodding his head.

“Well, that answers that then. So what should be done now, save for cleaning up the mess.”

“Well… maybe explain to Cadance and the others about your… appearance. Rather not cause a new scare since she saw you guys transform back to this while you were rushing for the wall.”

As Twilight said that, all the vault hunters fell silent. Well, except for one as the symbol on Zer0’s mask changed. “Whoops.”

“Yeah, that would make sense.” Roland then just shrugged. “As long as she is understanding, I think it will go by easily.”

“Roland, we’re a bunch of vault hunters on a world that mostly alien to us,” Mordecai deadpanned. “If I can take a note from Zer0 earlier, please don’t jinx us.”

“Yeah, we should be fine… as long as the dead Varkid smell doesn’t stick to Roland’s clothes.” Maya told him.

The soldier then takes a whiff of himself only to recoil and gag slightly. “I need a shower if anything, and fast.” Then he looks over to Mordecai “Also I meant her understanding this is what we normally look like.”

“That’s what I mean. Please don’t jinx us in general.”

Comments

[Those Kids In The Corner]

In fact, the only thing that she could make out was that there looked to be a chasm nearby that lead underground.

Led.

[badninja]

Well that could have gone far worse. I think you should always go in pairs as it does make sure your weaknesses are covered at times.

[FrostTheWolf]

9623483
Try telling that to Maya. She's hard to convince

[Anon E Moose]

“SOLD!!!”

Krieg is the best.

SO glad it wasn't Vermivorous.