OPENING THE CAGE

CHAPTER 3:

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE VAULT

So, you want to hear a story, huh?

…Sorry, I've seen Marcus do it a few times. I wanted to try doing that.

It's the tale of a man called John Clarke, and his daughter, Angel.

Now, Angel was special. She was born a Siren. You know what a Siren is, right?

…Of course you do. Now, Angel had the ability to manipulate electronics at will. She first opened up an electronically-locked cupboard to get cookies.

Now, John was, at first, delighted. He was so proud of his daughter. But over time, pride turned into something else. And as Angel's abilities grew, he became afraid that she would get out of his control. So he imprisoned her, and then controlled her, made her kill her own mother.

I shouldn't go over every single detail of my life…I mean, her life. Damn, it's hard speaking in the third person.

Now, John was primarily a programmer for Hyperion, but he rose to do work on Hyperion's satellite systems and surveillance programs. And that was how he first came to learn about the Vault.

I don't know how he learned what he did, but he's learned far more than even the top expert on Eridian artifacts on Pandora. Who's Dr Patricia Tannis, by the way, a neurotic archaeologist and scientist employed by Dahl.

Anyway, John, or rather, Jack, learned that not only was the Vault ready to be opened for the first time in two centuries, but that it contained an immensely powerful creature, rather than the riches one would think. He also knew that vast reserves of Eridium awaited the one who vanquished the creature.

So he formulated a plan. Tannis had already leaked information about the Vault on Pandora on the ECHOnet. He intended to use the most competent-looking Vault Hunters to track down the disparate pieces of the Vault Key. He was going to have his daughter pose as a Guardian Angel, to guide the Vault Hunters. And then, have them destroy the monster within the Vault, or else weaken it so that he could finish it off.

But then, shortly before his plan could begin, a rift opened right near Angel's prison. And a girl her age stepped through. She used the same rifts to bypass security measures, and free Angel from her prison. This girl's name was Elizabeth, and like Angel, she had strange abilities for much of her life. Using the holes in space and time, the two girls managed to flee, even as Jack began to scream and rant and swear vengeance on them, even as he begged his formerly-imprisoned daughter to return to him.

Mordecai frowned. "So…the Vault was a set-up? You were going to be leading us on a goose-chase for Daddy?"

"Unwillingly," Angel said, jabbing a finger at her own neck. "I had a control collar on my neck. And a script. I mean, a script. A literal printed script to read from. With handwritten notes. Dad wants the Eridium inside the Vault. But apparently there's a homicidal tentacled abomination within it as well. Now, unfortunately, from what I saw, Atlas is interested in the new Vault as well, and if they unleashed what was within…"

"Should we bother warning them?" Zed asked.

"I doubt they would listen, even to a former Hyperion…" Angel thought for a moment, before plumping for "…well, 'employee'." She even did air-quotes. "I mean, Atlas is a corporation whose PMC is led by a five-year old."

"Wait, Admiral Mikey is real?" Mordecai asked, incredulously.

"Oh, believe me, he is real," Roland said. "He's a nice kid, don't get me wrong, but his 'advisors' are idiots who wouldn't know military strategy if it bit them on the ass. And they're the ones making the decisions, ultimately. And of course, Commandant Steele would probably be in charge of the Atlas forces here. To call her obstinate would be like calling an ocean wet. She'd sooner have us shot than listen to us, especially if the source is from Hyperion."

"Is there anyone on this planet who might be helpful?" Lilith asked.

"Helena Pierce at New Haven, though she's more concerned with keeping the town safe than helping with the Vault," Angel said.

Zed nodded. "Yeah, Pierce is a good woman. If we do see her, though, don't comment on her looks. She was given a Skag-pearl ring by her husband, which emitted hunger-inducing pheromones in a group of nearby Skags. He died in the attack. I patched her up as good as I could, but…"

"I've seen more than my fair share of scars," Booker said quietly.

"Dr Tannis herself can be a good ally, but we need to get her away from Atlas' influence. She used to work for Dahl before they pulled out of Pandora completely, and Atlas is now covertly funding her," Angel said. "Then there's Mad Moxxi and her son, Scooter. Marcus can be trusted, as long as there's a profit in for him, if only from arms dealing. Of course, none of them will be able to stop Atlas if they wanted to, even if they combined forces."

"So how would we be supposed to?" Mordecai asked.

"Simple. We play a little game called 'let's you and him fight'. We get the pieces to the Vault Key first. We then set Atlas and Hyperion against each other. Hyperion doesn't have anywhere near as big a PMC presence as Atlas does, but it has enough invested in Pandora that it will fight Atlas if it comes to it. Our job will be to keep the Vault Key, as well as the regular citizens of Pandora, safe while Atlas and Hyperion decimate each other."

"You seem to have this all planned out," Roland said, his eyes narrowing.

"Actually, I made it up while Elizabeth and I were fleeing from my prison. I've watched a few movies on the ECHOnet, and I have to say, I'm taking a leaf from Yojimbo and A Fistful of Dollars here(1). My Dad plans to ascend to the top at Hyperion, he wants to topple Tassiter, and for all the fact that Tassiter is an asshole of the highest order, I know my Dad will be even worse."

"Who's Tassiter?" Booker asked.

"The CEO of Hyperion," Lilith explained. "The boss. And from what I heard, he is an asshole."

"Lilith, why are you explaining what a CEO is?" Mordecai asked.

"Because I've got the feeling he doesn't know what it means." She turned to Elizabeth. "You, Elizabeth, you claim that you can open holes in space and time?"

Elizabeth nodded, and by way of a demonstration, gestured with her arms, as if opening a curtain. A wave of white energy expanded in front of them, and they saw through to outside, in Fyrestone, where bandits were capering and getting drunk, whereas there could only be corpses outside. Zed was horrified when he saw his mutilated corpse hanging off a water tower. The whole thing seemed to flicker with static, and the colours seemed washed out. Lilith could tell, though, that this was no mere hologram. Her Phasewalk ability allowed her to move in another dimension, and the senses relating to this ability were screaming.

"In another world, right here and right now, they've overrun Fyrestone completely," Elizabeth said quietly.

"Dayum," Brick said quietly. "This is another timeline?"

Elizabeth nodded, before closing the Tear. She then said, to Zed, "Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"Eh, I've seen worse things than my own corpse," Zed said. "You should see some of the things my brother cooked up."

"That was a trick, right?" Mordecai asked.

Lilith shook her head. "Believe me, Mordecai, I know dimensional changes. That was definitely no hologram." She looked at Elizabeth, and then at Booker. "And you guys are either pretty dedicated historical re-enactors, or else you're from the past. Then again, I doubt that even a dedicated re-enactor has real silver currency. And unless those guns are good replicas, no way in hell would you use antiques like those in battle unless they were pretty much brand-new."

"You're saying you believe her story?" Roland asked. He wasn't sounding sceptical, rather, his tone had a 'I want to wait and see' attitude to it.

"Like hell," Mordecai muttered.

"Believe it or not, I'm not going back where I came from," Elizabeth said, looking at Booker pointedly. "I'm not even sure I can, even if I wanted to. Like Angel, I was caged and exploited for my abilities. My…adoptive father was a man who claimed to be a prophet. I think he just used my own abilities, though I don't know for sure. He did so to see the future."

Booker looked at his branded hand. "So that's how the bastard knew I was coming. That's how he knew about all those things in my past(2)."

"Probably," Elizabeth conceded.

"Well, I know Booker can handle himself in a firefight," Roland said. "But what about you two?"

"I'm good at taking cover, picking locks, and performing first aid, but if there are any Tears nearby, I can use them to bring supplies and things through," Elizabeth said.

"And I can control anything electronic," Angel said. "Preferably, they need to be Hyperion tech, but anything with sophisticated enough electronics, I can meddle with. ECHO devices, robots, electronic locks, you name it."

Booker nodded. "I can't speak for Angel, but Elizabeth was real handy in a firefight. She'd toss me new guns and ammo when I was about to run out. She has qualms against killing, but she'll help out. Plus, she's pretty good with improvised weaponry." He rubbed the back of his head. "The lump's still a bit sore."

"You lied to me about taking me to Paris," Elizabeth said archly.

"Wow. That wasn't a good move," Lilith remarked with a chuckle at Booker's expense. "Get a girl's hopes up, and then burst her bubble."

"I was told by my employer to return her to New York, by any means necessary," Booker said. "What would have been better? Lying, or knocking her out and dragging her to the airship? Of course, it seems to be a moot point now."

"Yes, it is," Elizabeth said. "We're now stranded on a world filled with various criminals and mercenaries and greedy businessmen. No offence intended, Dr Zed."

"Some taken," Zed remarked cheerfully.

"So I will trust you, Mr DeWitt, to watch my back, as there is little you can do to take me back to New York."

"Will do," Booker said. "If anything, this place is more familiar to me than New York or Columbia."

"So, where to from here?" Roland asked.

"We'll have to make our way to New Haven, but first, we need other things."

"Like ridding this town of Nine-Toes," Zed said. "That inbred mutant son of a bitch is Sledge's eyes and ears. And Sledge regularly send his bandits to attack us. Frankly, the only people left are myself, Claptrap, and old TK Baha just outside of town."

"In addition, Sledge has one of the components of the Vault Key," Angel said. "The second part is currently in the possession of another bandit warlord by the name of Krom, while the final piece is hidden somewhere along the Trash Coast. At least with Nine-Toes dead, we can weaken Sledge's forces before we stop him for good."

"What about setting Hyperion and Atlas onto each other?" Roland asked with a frown.

Angel had a rather nasty smirk on her face. "Leave that to me. Let's just say that my dad is going to have to work overtime to have any hope of weaselling out of it. Atlas is going to find traces of cyberwarfare and corporate espionage leading back to his computer systems. And Tassiter is not going to be impressed when he finds out not only that, but the rather impressive collection of images on my dad's personal computer. Some of it, I put on there, and some of it, I've just removed most of the encryption."

Brick and Lilith began to laugh. Elizabeth looked bemused. "What do you mean, Angel?"

"Oh, that's right. You grew up in a time without the internet or ECHOnet. Do you know what pornography is?"

Elizabeth blushed, scandalised. Booker smirked in amusement. "You mean you filled your father's files…with titillation and smut?" Elizabeth asked in horror.

"And the worst kind to boot. You saw what he did to me."

Elizabeth blinked, before nodding, conceding the point. "Too good a fate for him."

"Don't worry, it's just the start. But we'll have to get on with our own tasks," Angel said.

"Well, let's get on with it," Roland said, crossing his arms. "There ain't no rest for the wicked…"

CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:

Finally, got this chapter done. And unfortunately, it looks like it's going to be the last one. I simply don't know where to take it from here, and doing a novelisation of Borderlands with the BioShock Infinite characters thrown in doesn't appeal to me. So, unless I somehow get a massive flash of inspiration, I'm abandoning this story here. Sorry guys. :(

1. A reference to two famous films, where a wandering mercenary (a ronin in Yojimbo, and a gunslinger in A Fistful of Dollars) sets two warring criminal gangs at each other's throats enough to cause them to wipe each other out, freeing the rest of the townsfolk free from the crime spree. Yojimbo was inspired by Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett, and Yojimbo inspired A Fistful of Dollars.

2. That was a possibility, but then again, we know the real reason why Comstock knew…