As I walked onto the station platform, I sneered at the Hyperion logos plasted liberally across the walls. My already foul mood worsened when I saw the face of Handsome Jack grinning back at me. There had been a time when I had looked up to the man, respected and admired him. After all, he had taught me much of what I knew.

That had been before I found out about the true face of the man that hid underneath the mask. The man that could order innocent people to die on a whim, and did so on a regular basis. The man for whom no act was too barbaric. I had learnt much from the man, but that was something I absolutely refused to follow him on. If that was the path he wanted to follow, then I wanted to mess with him as much as I could.

Not that I could do a lot right now, admittedly. I was essentially a nobody here to most people. Even those that knew what I could do weren't that impressed. After all, Jack was not only a powerful and dangerous warrior, he was also an extra-ordinarily talented programmer. I wasn't at his level in either field, or even anywhere near it. But I still had tricks up my sleeve and my time working freelance in the years since I had left Jack's tutorage had honed my skills further.

Looking ahead, I saw a group of six people standing around; waiting for the train we all knew was coming. Through my own means, I had learned of this little assembly and what they represented.

Vault Hunters.

Anyone with any brains avoided making enemies with Vault Hunters, since they were among the most dangerous warriors around. While Jack had an ample amount of brains, much to my disgust, he also had the kind of firepower that even Vault Hunters would have difficulty against. I didn't know why he had gathered this group of them here. Knowing him, I doubted it was for anything that was to their benefit.

As I approached them, the train finally pulled in and the group boarded it. Stepping on behind them, I heard the doors close and the train begin to move off. I looked at them as they looked back at me with varying degrees of interest.

The closest was a tall, bulky man with an obvious military bearing to him, leaving aside the military short back and sides that his blonde hair was styled in. Beside him stood a short, stout, dark-haired man who had the look of being slightly crazy. Speaking of crazy, the third man was significantly more dangerous looking, looking more like a badass psycho than anything else, complete with buzz saw. All three were obviously dangerous, but I was more concerned with the black-suited figure beside them. I couldn't tell if they were male or female, but the aura of danger that oozed from him was unmistakeable.

Beside the psycho stood a young, blue-haired woman. She didn't appear to be particularly dangerous, but the blue tattoos that spiralled down her left side spoke of something that was far more worrying, perhaps even more so than the others. Like everyone else, I knew what Sirens looked like and I had little doubt that I was standing in front of a true Siren. Behind her stood a red-haired girl that must have barely been out of high school, though the mechanical left arm she sported was not something I ever expected to see on a girl her age. All of them carried a range of good quality weapons, better than mine, though the ECHOs, with the exception of the girl, were all standard.

Compared to them, I looked rather mundane, dressed casually in jeans, shirt and jacket. Boots, belt and broad-brimmed hat completed my own outfit. As for weapons and equipment, a top-grade ECHO device sat underneath my right arm, with forearm controls in place on my right forearm. A Maliwan Corrosive SMG rested on my right hip, with a sai resting on my left hip and a Hyperion sniper rifle resting on my back on top of my Storage Deck Unit. As much as I detested Hyperion, and Jack, I couldn't deny they made good sniper rifles.

I cracked a small grin. "Talkative bunch, aren't we?"

The Siren gave a snort. "Mind introducing yourself, stranger?"

I smiled slightly, "The name's Jason."

JASON AS

THE SLICER

Tech Dude. Hates Jack. Get in line.

She nodded slightly. "I'm Maya."

MAYA AS

THE SIREN

Picks you up. Puts you down.

She gestured towards the Psycho. "That's Krieg."

"YOU'RE NOT WORTHY TO RIDE THE MEAT BICYCLE!" Krieg screamed.

KRIEG AS

THE PYSCHO

Don't get between him and, well, anything.

The girl waved brightly. "Call me Gaige."

GAIGE AS

THE MECHROMANCER

Don't cross a teenage girl.

"The hulking brute there is Salvador." Said brute gave a short nod, but nothing more.

SALVADOR AS

THE GUNZERKER

Small in stature. Big on spray and pray.

The military man stepped forward. "You can call me Axton."

AXTON AS

THE COMMANDO

He's got guns and he knows how to use them.

He gestured to the last of the group. "This is Zero." The black helmeted warrior gave a nod.

ZERO AS

A NUMBER

Take a number. He'll get to you.

I nodded to all of them. "Nice to meet you all. Hope we have time to actually get to know each other."

Maya frowned. "You sound like you're not expecting that to happen."

"Jack's been calling for Vault Hunters for months. You're the first group I've managed to meet before they board the train, Jack changes the location and time for each group to meet up. It was sheer luck I managed to meet you guys in time."

"What happened to the others?" Axton asked, starting to look nervous, an expression shared by the others, as far as I could tell.

I shrugged. "No one knows. But they aren't seen again."

As if on cue, the sign behind them, showing Jack's face and welcoming the Vault Hunters, dropped from the roof, revealing a second sign. I didn't bother to read it, focusing more on the figures creating noise behind them, noises I was all too familiar with.

Hyperion Gun loaders activating.

I couldn't fault the reactions of the group. Even as I snatched the SMG from my hip, they scattered, Zero and Salvador diving out of the carriage, Maya and Gaige sprinting behind me, Axton diving for cover and throwing out a turret and Krieg drawing his buzz saw and charged screaming at them. Aiming around him, I unleashed a burst at the loaders, stitching one and hurling it back. Axton's turret rained fire on them, while the commando himself raised a rocket launcher, firing back down the carriage. Diving into cover behind the turret, I saw the target of his shot, another group of loaders that had emerged from the next carriage. Maya flinched away from the explosion, then held her left hand out as a loader approached. A small grin crossed her face as the tattoos that ran down her arm lit up. A singularity appeared around the loader, dragging it helplessly upwards, before she moved her hand sideways, smashing the loader out through the wall of the carriage. Through the new hole, Salvador leapt back in, drawing and firing a pair of heavy assault rifles into the loaders. Beside Maya, Gaige gestured towards the loaders and some kind of floating robot digistructed into existence, tearing through the loaders, competing with Salvator's gun fire to see who could shred them first.

Ducking around the turret, I sent another burst towards our own group of loaders as Axton turned his attention in that direction once more. I managed a quick grin.

"Welcome to fucking Pandora, huh?" I commented.

"You know, when I was still working for Dahl, we used to have at least 5 minutes before the mission went south!" He yelled.

I chuckled. "Don't think we've got there yet, so you may still get that."

As quickly as it started, the fire-fight ended. Zero dropped back in from the roof, his sword bloody. Evidently, there were human troops as well as loaders here. We gathered around the door leading towards the front of the train, Axton picking up his turret on the way. Weapons raised, we charged through the door, Axton kicking it in. I skidded to a halt as I saw what was in front of us.

A figure was sitting in a chair and slowly turned to face us. It looked like Jack, but was obviously a dummy of some kind. What really got my attention was the pack of dynamite sitting on his lap.

Along with the ones on the chair. And practically filled half the room.

"Get back." I yelled, all of us retreating as fast as we entered, slamming the door shut behind us. Racing to the other door, we found it locked. Even for me, and I'd been cracking electronic locks for years, we wouldn't get it open in time. Jack's voice rang out across the speakers.

"It's cute that y'all think you're the heroes of this little adventure, but you're not."

Axton threw out his turret. "Everyone, get between the door and the turret, now!" Diving for cover, we all packed in to the gap, Gaige deploying her robot as she dropped. I turned to Maya.

"Can that ability of yours help here?"

Acting quickly, she summoned her power again, centering it around us. Just as she did so, Jack's voice attacked our eardrums again.

"Welcome to Pandora, kiddos!"

A massive wave of explosive energy washed over us and we could feel the train get blasted off the tracks. Skidding along the ground at speed, our carriage shook, getting battered badly. Glancing up, I saw the explosion hadn't managed to kill us, but the cliff face we were rapidly approaching just might. As we tumbled over, a last thought crossed my mind.

'This is going to hurt.'

A loud crash deafened us as the carriage hit the ground and the world went black.

(Author's Note)

I've always enjoyed the Borderlands series, but Borderlands 2 was always my favourite of the series. I recently started reading some of the stories on fanfiction about the Borderlands series and decided to have a crack at my own. I will admit, there is a lot of influence from Quatermass's series 'The Ballad of Ricky and Angel' on this story, but it is a different story and will have its own plot twists and storyline. I recommend you do read his stories, though, they are an entertaining read.

Hope you all like this, please read and review and I'll see you in the next chapter.

Until next time.