Borderlands 2 DLC: Vault of the Consular

by NightStream

Chapter 22: You have an army? We have Vault Hunters

“Unfortunate news / imposters in the castle / our friends gone missing.”

“Ah, sh*t I knew it.” Axton proclaimed as he got up. “So who were the ones to do it?”

“Do you think it might’ve been those bug things that tried to get Brick?” Gaige then asked as she looked back at the Commando, “Matter of fact, how exactly would they be able to do it? I mean, we’re talking about these guys basically kidnapping some of the most badass vault hunters we know… aside from ourselves of course.”

“I mean that would make the most sense, but unless Brick gets here I do-”

“You were talking about me Slab?” Brick announced as he came by.

“Yeah we were ju… Brick, who is that with you?” Axton asked Brick as he noticed something shaking on his shoulders.

“Oh this one?” Brick then dropped a Changeling on the ground. “This one came by and I thought he was about to attack me like the others but instead he was more interested in my gardening.” Brick then puffs out his chest. “So of course as soon as I heard that, how could I say no.”

“And what did that mean?”

“All those bodies… who would do such a thing?” A weak voice came from the changeling on the ground.

“Wait a minute,” Starlight now spoke up, recognizing the voice as she looked towards the changeling, “Thorax? Is that you?”

Thorax looked at Starlight and just simply nodded.

“Ah that’s right! That’s what he said his name was. Heh, must’ve told me his name shortly after he asked me about my gardening then.” Brick then looked at Thorax and the changeling started shaking violently. “So, what other tip-”

“NONE THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!” Thorax suddenly shouted as he then hid behind Gaige.

“Brick, I think you scared him,” Gaige told the fellow vault hunter, “Maybe Starlight and I should try doing the talking? I mean, if I remember correctly, Maya met him back in the crystal empire.”

Mentioning the Crystal Empire set off an invisible light bulb inside Starlight’s brain as she looked back towards the mechromancer, “That’s right! B-but wait… if he’s here, then-”

Gaige now looked back at the unicorn, slightly confused by the sudden change of tone, “What’s wrong? What do you-” Then, the realization hit her like she had crashed into a steel wall, “Oh… Oh sh*t… it’s that bad isn’t it?”

“What’s bad? Trixie doesn’t get it?”

Starlight let out a small breath as she nodded her head, confirming their worst suspicions, “If Thorax is here, it could only mean that something very bad has happened to the Empire too,” She said, before looking at the changeling “Am I right?”
“Y-Yes actually.” Thorax now visibly starts to relax so he doesn’t have to look at Brick. “I came here to try and warn all of you, but it seems i’m late in that regard. Chrysalis took everybuggy back to the hive.”

“Well, crap,” Gaige said, “And would it be right to guess that this hive is very far away from where we’re at right now?”

“Y-Yes, it is out in the Changeling Kingdom.”

“UGH SERIOUSLY?! All I wanted was some down time, but some royal bitch JUST had to choose now of ALL times to ruin it.” Axton complained as he was going through his inventory.

“So, what’s the plan Slab?”

“I’m going for a walk.”

“Axton,” Gaige interjected, “I know you’re angry, but we don’t even have the slightest clue of where they are or what we’re up against. Causing chaos in the forest isn’t going to-”

Before the Mechromancer could finish, what looked like a pink cloud was floating over their heads as they heard a familiar voice. “Did somebody say ‘causing chaos’?” Shortly afterwards, the spirit of chaos named Discord soon emerged and looked back at everyone else, “So, what’s with the assortment of side characters, a slab king and his subjects doing here in the middle of the night?”

“Any other time, I would ask you to kindly f**k off. But right now we need to come up with some ideas on how to get to Chrysalis in the shortest amount of time and ‘Introduce’ ourselves.” Axton stated as he put his weapons away.

“Oh, you have a bone to pick with the queen huh? What seems to be the big deal?” Discord asked.

“Well, to simplify a long explanation, she’s taken pretty much everybody,” Starlight now replied, “Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Spike-”

There was a bit of silence… but then, the draconequus had one question. A question that was joined along with the rather pissed off look that was on his face. “They took Fluttershy?”

“Uh oh, someone pissed off the wrong draconequus,” Gaige remarked.

“Yes, yes she did.” Axton said as he looked at Discord. “So what do you say, shall we have a friendly little chat with Chrysalis?”

“Count me in!”

“No, wait-!!”

Thorax’s words fell on deaf ears as Discord snapped his talons. However, there was a slight setback as everyone landed in an open and barren clearing. “What in…? That’s a first.”

“What’s a first?” Starlight asked.

“I tried to teleport us directly to where Fluttershy was, but I don’t see her anywhere.”

Now, the changeling finally had the chance to speak, “I was… afraid of this.”

“Afraid of what, Thorax?” Gaige now asked.

“It’s Chrysalis… or more specifically, the throne in her kingdom,” he now began to explain, while pointing to the kingdom over yonder, “The throne in her kingdom is magical and makes it to where any non-changeling magic that enters the kingdom’s borders is nullified. That’s why Discord’s teleportation didn’t work.”

“Well in that case I don’t see a problem with it.” Axton said as he got ready to fly. “I mean we can take the high route.” As he passed the barrier however he fell to ground. “Ok, that was weird normally I would be able to fly-

“Slab, I don’t mean to say you look weird but… how did you turn back?” Brick simply asked.

“What do yo- Oh, this is a welcome but unwanted surprise right now.” The Commando stated as he looked down upon himself in his regular form. It took a moment for Gaige to notice the same thing happened to her, along with Brick and Zer0 as well.

“Well I honestly think this might be better in this case.”

“Ha, couldn’t agree more Slab.” Brick grinned as he cracked his knuckles. “So how are we doing this then?”

At first, there was a bit of silence… though, after a few moments, Gaige got an idea. “Hey Axton? I might have an idea… Remember when we stormed the BNKR back on Pandora?”

“Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing.”

“Well, why don’t we have a group of us ‘go on a walk’ and while they’re busy attending to us, Starlight and the others can find their way inside and destroy that throne? Once that’s done, we can storm in.”

“Sounds like a fun time, Brick you-”

“Say no more. I’m as ready as EVER!!” Brick just let out a hearty laugh after.

“Heh, so Starlight whenever you’re ready tell us when to make our ‘Entrance’.” Axton said as everyone got ready.

“I… guess we don’t really have any other choice.” Starlight said. “But how would we be able to communicate-?”

At that point, Gaige took what looked like an ECHO device and just placed it in her saddlebag. “There. Had an extra one in case mine got destroyed, so you can use that for the time being,” the mechromancer told her, before moving a hand to hers to digistruct her Conference Call shotgun, “Now then, let’s go smash the queen’s system.”

“One rude awakening coming up.” Axton said as he got his SWORDSPLOSION!!! Ready.

Starlight just looked back at her companions, before letting out a sigh. “We should… probably stay clear.”

“Uh, y-yeah. Follow me, I know of a back way in… away from whatever it is they are going to do.” Thorax said as he led the way. “But we should still be careful, while I have no doubt they will be able to grab the attention of everybuggy inside, there would still be some who will be patrolling.”

Trixie was going to ask, but the sound of exploding swords colliding with the outer walls of the hive interrupted her before she could say anything.

“KNOCK KNOCK BITCH, WE GOT A DELIVERY OF ASSKICKING RIGHT FOR A QUEEN!!”

---

A few moments prior

“My queen, everything is ready,” the drone that was in charge of Queen Chrysalis’ forces reported back to her, “Our swarms are in position and managed to capture the town of Ponyville, Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. We also managed to capture some of the ‘individuals of interest’ that you wanted for us to observe and report back to you on.”

The statement was enough for the queen to look back at them with an eager smile on her face, “Finally… now that everything is put into place, no creature can oppose me. And those who would try to rescue Equestria’s most precious heroes would find themselves powerless in my kingdom. My victory is almost certain.”

“Permission to speak freely, my queen?” The drone requested.

“Go ahead, Pharynx.”

“While what you said is true, it wouldn’t be wise to assume that we’ve won just yet,” they said, much to Chrysalis surprise, “Our patrols did capture the elements of harmony and the princesses, that much is true. Though, our swarms have not mentioned apprehending the mare that Princess Twilight Sparkle took on as her own student. She might’ve been away from Ponyville when our swarm first moved in.”

“What of it, then?” Chrysalis retorted, “She is only but one unicorn and if she comes here, she’ll be a powerless one.”

“Our reports also happened to not mention any drone encountering or capturing the spirit of chaos named Discord,” the drone named Pharynx explained further.

“Pharynx, dear… did you happen to forget about the magical properties of the old throne?” the queen questioned him, “If any magically power being outside of a changeling tries to infiltrate this place, they’ll find that their magic is stripped away. It does not matter the species, the result stays the same.”

“Fair enough,” Pharynx told her, “Though, I have one final concern. It’s about the other you had us look for… the ‘Vault Hunters’ that you described?”

“What of them?”

“Well, initial reconnaissance reports suggest that there were ten of them or more in total,” the drone explained further, “However, after consulting with the heads of each of the swarms, it appears we only have seven of the numbers mentioned.”

“Pharynx, get to the point,” Chrysalis grit her teeth, irritated by what her drone was saying.

“The point, my queen, is that since the other four have not been accounted for, they could very easily prepare to storm this place. If we overlook these details, then the plan that you worked so hard to pull off will unravel at the seams and they’ll be knocking at our door-”

Before the drone was able to finish, a loud explosion ringed out from the central complex of the kingdom that was enough to shake the ground under their hooves.

“KNOCK KNOCK BITCH, WE GOT A DELIVERY OF ASSKICKING RIGHT FOR A QUEEN!!”

Immediately, the queen stood up from her throne and let out a response to all her kin as magic began to glow around her horn, “All drones prepare for battle! The hive is under attack by trespassers!!! Overwhelm them and show these mongrels what happens when they storm into our home!!!”

---

“HAHA LOOKS LIKE THE PARTY IS STARTING SLABS!!” Brick shouted as Swarms of changelings came out of the hive. Cracking his knuckles he ran towards them.

“Well, I know of one way to thin the herd a little.” Axton smirked as he then pulled out the Grog Nozzle pistol. As he was aiming he started to waver the sight a little, to which his smirk got bigger. Right after that happened he then swapped to the Mongol. “ROCKETS GOING OUT!” Instead of the normal one rocket coming out, four came out instead and some enough hundreds of mini rockets came flying towards the changelings, which caught them off guard.

“Hell yeah! Domo arigato suckas!!” Gaige cried out shortly afterwards as she proceeded to summon Deathtrap to the battlefield and unleashed a flurry of buckshot from her Conference call shotgun as the bullets began to bounce off in every direction.

“Time to let the ladies come out and play!” Axton shouted as he tossed out his two turrets and swapped to the legendary smg Bitch. Right as more enemy reinforcements began to come at them from all sides.

“Well I think this sounds about right, So how many do you think are here right now?” Axton asked as he was dodging them and swapped to the Shredifier.

“I WANNA SAY A F*CKTON SLAB!!” Brick shouted as he started using four changelings to beat other changelings.

“Hey, you two! Less talking, more fighting!!” Gaige shouted, trying to see where Zer0 went, but immediately had to focus on the incoming foes.

“HEH I CAN DO BOTH!” Brick stated as he was handling himself just fine.

“Of course you can.” Axton grumbled as the changelings were trying to avoid Brick as long as possible while not getting in the crossfire of the other vault hunters.

Zer0, on the other hand, was trying to do more than just minimize the queen’s numbers. With the opening that was created, the assassin was trying to slip inside unseen while the others were having the fight take place outside. Of course, something like that was difficult at first because there was little space for him to maneuver through.

Fortunately though, Gaige noticed the series of bodies the assassin left behind and looked towards Brick. “Hey, big guy! Can you clear a path for us? Zer0 could use some assistance!”

“HAHA, ONE PATH COMING RIGHT UP SLABS!!” Brick shouted as got into position and started barreling through all of them. Axton quickly grabbed his turrets and started covering Brick as he ran behind him followed shortly by Gaige. With enough firepower, they had the berserker become a one man wrecking ball. “I THINK I SEE AN ENTRANCE, I’M HEADING THAT WAY NOW!”

“For the love of everything, don’t take us inside! I don’t even want to know what maze that place is.” Axton grumbled to himself as he kept blasting changelings out of the sky that came too close to Brick.

“You do realize that by trying to tell Brick not to do something, he’s going to end up doing it anyways, right?”

“I know, but some things you can't help but say, even though you know it's going to happen.”

Gaige hated to admit it, but Axton made a point. Especially considering how Brick was making short work of anyone that tried to stand in their way.

“MAKE WAY, I WANNA MEET THE QUEEN FOR A LITTLE CHAT!!” Brick announced.

“God damn it Brick.” Axton mumbled as he followed him inside the hive.

It was around then that Gaige began to notice a green glow on the other side, before realizing what was coming. “Oh sh*t! They’re firing magic!!”

“GOT IT COVERED!” Axton then dropped both of his turrets and the shields just barely protected them from the magic. “TAKE A TURN BRICK THE SHIELDS WILL ONLY LAST A FEW MORE SECONDS!”

“LEFT TURN COMING UP!” To which he promptly turned right.

“Oh come on!” Gaige mentally screamed, before looking back towards the changelings that were firing at them and threw one of the Grenades she had with the Magic Missile mod. Hoping that would, in the very least, allow for Axton and Brick to change course, “Suck on this!!”

“BRICK HOLD UP… and he’s gone.” Axton said as he watched Brick go right as he and Gaige turned left. “I am not surprised in the slightest.” He then turned around and kept firing onto the swarm. “Ok forget this, I’m making some room for us.” To which he promptly swapped to the Norfleet and fired multiple times.

“Alright, that will give us some breathing room and I still hate the smell of piss and nachos.” Axton announced as he was covered in a purple hew. “So let's go down this way and find out where the hell we are.”

“Maybe after that Slag wears off,” Gaige commented, “I rather not think about what would happen if someone affected by slag made them more vulnerable to magic-”

“SH*T!!” Axton yelled out as his shields depleted fast as more changelings came around the corner. “OK ITS AFFECTED BY MAGIC GOOD TO KNOW!”

“Well f*ck, why do I end up jinxing EVERYTHING!?” Gaige said, before getting an idea, “Axton, how many grenades do you have?!”

“Still full, I’ll just leave them a bonus package on the way out!” Axton said as he swapped to said grenade mod and lobbed all grenades he had, and shortly thereafter multiple explosions went off.

“Why don’t we just slag everything with Magic Missiles and then give them hell? If it somehow makes magic more painful, then why don’t we reverse it on them?”

“True, that would work. But for right now I just feel the Torgue option is best right now.” He then did swap to the magic missile and waited for the grenades to recharge. While Gaige did the opposite and started throwing everything that she had.

“Turrets going out!” Axton shouted as the two turrets landed on the ceiling to lay down cover fire. “Got some Slag going out.”

“Oh, this next part’s going to be fun!” Gaige smirked, preparing her shock Conference Call as she aimed it towards the mass of changelings. “Like the tagline says, LET’S PING EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!”

With that, she squeezed the trigger as a hail of buckshot began bouncing around the room where the changelings were standing. With some of them more focused on Axton’s turret, it allowed for the Mechromancer to surprise them with a flank attack that they did not expect.

“And that's all she wrote for now. Hehe, now time to find our way through this hive.” Axton said as the changelings finally stopped coming for them. “I think they got the message to stop coming after us.”

“Pretty sure that’s not the only reason-” She said, before noticing something coming from the opposite side of the castle, “Oh sh*t-”

“What’s up…. F*ck.” As before them was a huge wave of changelings waiting for them. “I think that's a good reason to stop.”

“Try telling that to Brick.”

“I don’t believe that's in his vocabulary.”

“Not helping, Axton,” the mechromancer groaned, “Sh*t, at this rate, we’re going to get overrun. Starlight, whatever it is you’re trying to do, I really hope you do it now!!”

“Well lets hope its-

“MAKE WAY SLABS AHAHAHA!!” Brick announced as he ran right into the mess of changelings from behind them.

“Brick’s back I guess.” Axton said as he got his guns ready. “I agree though, Starlight better hurry. I'm actually running low on ammo for once.”

Gaige herself was also running on a rather limited supply of ammo. Though, as she looked towards Brick, that was when a bright light could be seen from the other end of the castle. “Hey… I’m no expert, but do you think that means anything?”

“At this point, anything is possible.” Axton said as he got his gun ready, only to stop as the changelings stopped fighting and got out of reach of Brick.

“HEY!! GET DOWN HERE!!”

“BRICK, HOLD UP!” Which got the Slab Kings attention. “I think something might be stopping them.”

Just as he said that, a massive explosion went off and a bright light consumed the battlefield. The feeling of magic being restored not only had the vault hunter’s bodies go back to normal, but caused a different change to happen among the changelings. Instead of being dark colored drones, many of them now had various bright colors and no longer had holes. Which, of course, was enough to confuse all the Vault Hunters that were there.

Especially Gaige, “What the actual hell am I looking at? Did ClapTrap somehow end up here and rolled over a harmonic land mine or something?”

“I would give anything for that not to be real. But at least I have wings again.” Axton simply stated as he gave his dragon wings a few test flaps. “Maybe Starlight got through or something?”

“Only one way to find out. Let’s go take a look,” the mechromancer replied, before looking at the changelings that were in front of them, “If you want to come along, be our guest. But if you try anything, you’ll have to answer to DT.”

To emphasize on her point, Gaige had DeathTrap be right next to her, while glaring menacingly at them.

“Hehe, I think they get the point after we literally rolled through, well Brick rolled through them.” Axton said as he walked away, alongside the changelings as they went to go see what all the commotion was about.

“So slabs, what are we going to do about the queen when we meet her?”

“I think the others might get a jump on her before us.”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get there, you two,” Gaige replied, noticing that up ahead, another ally was among the crowd, “Oh hey, look! There’s Zer0.”

The assassin himself just waved, before looking towards where everyone else in the crowd was looking at.

“So what's everyone looking a…. What?” Axton just got confused as he entered the room.

“Who in the hell is that?” Brick asked as well, hoping for an answer.

When Gaige looked over to where Starlight was, all the mechromancer could see was another changeling. Yet, they were as tall as Princess Celestia and had giant horns from the sides of their head that resembled antlers. At first, she couldn’t really tell who it was. Then, a realization hit her. There was only one changeling that went in with Starlight and the others while they were causing a commotion outside. So, by that logic alone…

“Wait a minute… is that Thorax?”

“Ah everybuggy is here, I’m glad you are all ok.” Thorax said as he noticed the others.

“Well damn, you got one hell of a growth man.” Axton said as he flew over to them.

“HAHA, you look like some kind of king now.” Brick laughed, which Thorax flinched at.

“H-Hehe, yes... in a way.”

“A King BADASS!” Gaige proclaimed, “Tell me, how did it happen-”

“M-maybe later,” Thorax insisted, before tilting his head back to where the rest of the group was as they saw Chrysalis coming out of a pile of debris. Starlight herself looked to be trying to persuade her to try and change her ways, though, her words fell on deaf ears as the queen ran off. But not before swearing vigorously that she would have her revenge.

Which, eventually, led to everyone regrouping and the mechromancer asking a simple question, “So… who would like to start?”

That was followed by the sight of an outstretched hoof from Zer0, as well as the sight of what they were looking for attached to his arm.

The final piece of the Vault Key.

“Well, I guess that ma-” Before Axton could finish the Key piece started to glow, then soon enough all the Key pieces came together to form the complete item. “Well the key is ready, all that’s left is to go and raid the Vault.”

“Shouldn’t you get some rest first?” Starlight asked. “I mean, you were pretty much fighting an army out here.”

“Oh believe me, I want to rest first before then. Also I really need to stock up on ammo as well, nearly ran out for the first time in a long while.”

“Sounds like I missed quite a show,” they now heard Maya speak up as she approached the group.

“Maya!” Gaige spoke up, relieved to see that she was alright, “How’s everyone?”

“Sore as hell, from the sounds of it,” the siren replied as she looked towards the other vault hunters that were trying to catch a breather. It looked like Brick was trying to be motivational and cheer them up, but his friendly advice was not getting them anywhere, “So I think we can agree with Starlight that a rest is in order. We have no idea what’s waiting for us in the vault, so we should take a breather.”

“That is the plan then, man, I'm finally looking for some decent down time for once.”

Comments

[Snow Frostfang]

UPDATE!!! WOO HOO

[Anon E Moose]

“KNOCK KNOCK BITCH, WE GOT A DELIVERY OF ASSKICKING RIGHT FOR A QUEEN!!”

I love these maniacs XD

Immediately, the queen stood up from her throne and let out a response to all her kin as magic began to glow around her horn, “All drones prepare for battle! The hive is under attack by trespassers!!! Overwhelm them and show these mongrels what happens when they storm into our home!!!”

This is going to get ugly. Like, "piles of varkid parts" ugly.

“Brick’s back I guess.” Axton said as he got his guns ready. “I agree though, Starlight better hurry. I'm actually running low on ammo for once.”

Too bad Sal's not here with a hoarder class mod.

[badninja]

Poor Chrysalis she didn’t do enough to counteract Brick. Why do I think if the Vault Hunters from the third game where to show up she would be the equivalent of Handsome Jack and they would eliminate her, especially Amara.