ALERT: This is actually my first story on this website, although it isn't my first fanfiction in general. I enjoy writing, whatever. Honestly, I know introducing a new Vault Hunter isn't exactly all that new, but the story generally is. A new Vault, yes, that sounds uninspired, but what the Vault turns out to be is entirely my own creation. And how the Vault works I think is fairly unique. You'll find out later.

ALERT: I'm also a giant nerd, so of course I have tried to do as much research about what I'm describing on Pandora, as well as the characters. I played the shit out of Borderlands 2, so I know all the maps - and there's also the DLC and Borderlands 1 too - but I felt like proper research had to be done anyway to stay accurate. I hope I get all the Vault Hunters' personalities right, because it would honestly suck if the way I portray them is nothing like their in-universe counterparts.

Additionally, I decided to do this since I am so excited for Borderlands 3, which I'm pretty sure has been confirmed at this point. Maybe this'll build hype, I honestly don't know.

Side note: this takes place between BL2 and Tales from the Borderlands. So Helios hasn't crashed down to Pandora yet, and Hyperion still has prominent power over the planet, too.

! EXTRA NOTE (12th March 2019): The sequel to this story, No One Else, has been uploaded. Chapter 36 of this story is a prequel to that.

Chapter One: Critical Ascension

He breathed a gruff breath, surveying the surroundings through his sniper. He didn't like Pandora. The disorder and chaos was everywhere, and safety was not known for here. He recently arrived on this continent of the planet, and so far, it had not been better than anywhere else.

The Highlands was a grassy domain, reminding him of farmland. He looked across the plain from on top of a large hill. He could see the tunnel that went through a hill and lead out next to Overlook, just above Blake's Bridge.

He shuddered slightly when a cold breeze passed over him. The young man wore a dark midnight coat, which had armour attached the shoulder blades. Underneath it was a navy blue shirt, covered in an exoskeleton of armour plating, only pausing over his arms. He was almost invisible in the evening night.

Matt could see the Stalkers lurking nearby, their natural shield not currently blanketing them, as no threat was in sight. He focussed carefully through his sniper rifle. The rifle was Legendary, the Volcano, indicating its incendiary nature. It was rare that he hunted Stalkers.

He fired at the head of one of the Stalkers, killing it instantly. The others immediately disappeared, but Matt wasn't distracted. He paid attention to the impressions in the sand created by the Stalkers, and aimed for where the heads would be. Matt killed them in rapid succession, smiling at his handiwork. He could see the money and ammunition that had dropped from the Stalkers; Matt wondered whether or not it was a good idea to take their loot.

There had been once or twice when he had encountered and enraged further Stalkers when he took the money. His ECHO device told him that his account balance was well more than adequate, but no other Stalkers – or anything hostile for that matter – were present or nearby. He ran a manual scan to check, and it appeared that nothing was hiding.

Matt was wrong.

Behind him appeared a Badass Pyro Thresher, which Matt had little time to react to, before he was thrown off the hill by the Thresher and unto the tarmac road. He didn't have time to be disorientated, not when he was in danger.

He pulled out a Legendary Veruc assault rifle. His was non-elemental, but any element would not help too much against this Pyro Thresher, and its spread of bullets would reach the eyes of the Thresher easily enough. He began firing.

The Thresher's tentacles hurled fireballs at him, occasionally hitting him and burning through his shield. Matt's fall made it much harder for him to dodge them, not to mention he was focussing on the eyes of the thresher. He eyed the bar of the creature as it went down.

'Son of a…' Matt susurrated under his breath, as his shield was completely depleted. His health was whittling down now, but so was the Thresher's. In a second, one of them would be dead.

With a loud, audible roar, the Badass Pyro Thresher finally collapsed onto the ground, sinking underground. Matt breathed a sigh of relief, happy over the kill. He knew he couldn't be so reckless again. Carefully, Matt limped over to the dead Stalkers, noticing his incredibly low vitals. He would need a hypo soon.

Taking out a knife, he cut off a section of the tail of each of the five Stalkers. While he didn't enjoy the forced cruelty, even though they were dead, it was not his own decision. Quickly, the hunter threw them into his ECHO storage and labelled them "temporary". Without much thought, he limped over to and through the tunnel. Overlook wasn't much further.

With a smile on his face, Matt Rye slammed down the severed tails of five Stalkers onto the tray protruding from the door. He was already feeling the life-giving effects of the hypo. Karima's face flashed on the hologram projector fitted onto the door.

'M-many thanks, Matt,' she stuttered out. 'This'll c-certainly help Overlook.'

'Skull-Shivers still clearing up then?' He asked considerately.

'Y-yes,' she admitted. 'But they're…they're getting better.'

'Great,' he replied. 'What did you need from these Stalkers again?'

'If ca-can understand how these Stalkers cloak, I may be able to do the s-same to Overlook's shield.'

'I see,' Matt responded, looking towards the Hyperion Base known as Helios, which blocked out most of the moon. He often wished it would get kicked out of the sky someday, for the safety of everyone on Pandora. 'Helios won't be able to target you when you're cloaked, but it may take a lot out of your town's battery.'

'The shield is s-self-sustaining,' Karima told him.

'Since when?'

'Some people helped me out,' she responded. 'The s-same people who helped me put up the shield.'

'Cool,' Matt said. He turned around, beginning to walk away. He stopped for a few seconds, and turned back to the door, where her face was still being projected in front. 'Call me if you need me. I'll be on the ECHOnet.'

'S-see you around M-Matt,' Karima called back. Her face disappeared, and the projector turned off. Matt strolled towards the exit of Overlook, humming a pleasant tune to no one in particular. He took notice of the Holy Spirits bar, and decided he was in need of a drink.

Just one.

He walked into the bar, greeted by many of the Zaford grunts and other regulars to the bar. He sat himself down by the counter, as Mick Zaford walked up to him.

'Lovely to see ya again, me laddie!' He exclaimed. 'Lemme pour you a drink.' He walked over to the tap that linked to the distillery. Beer began rushing out. 'Can't thank ye enough for repairing our distillery. We're completely back in business!'

'It's no problem, Mick. I like your beer, so, I thought it would worth it to get your distillery back after the Hodunks apparently destroyed it.'

'Ye doing me a good service boyo,' Mick added, giving him a pat on the back as he gave him his beer. 'Stiff, as you like it.' Matt nodded appreciatively, taking a sizeable gulp from his beer. He relished in the taste of it.

Beer was something he didn't have too often, but it was undeniable that the Zafords' beer was excellent, which was why he would come here every so often since he arrived on this part of Pandora.

His ECHO gave off a ringtone only heard by Matt, indicating he was being called. He excused himself for a few moments to respond, finding somewhat privacy in the bathroom. He answered.

'You know the threat that lies ahead of you,' Matt retold him. 'What was the usefulness of calling me?'

'That Vault is mine,' the voice replied. 'And I'm going to get to it first.'

'You don't even know where it is Caine,' he reminded him.

'Do you really think it's going to be that hard to find it?' Caine argued. 'My Vault Instincts will lead me closer every day.'

'What's your point?' Matt replied. 'You think I won't be able to do the same?'

'Good luck with that, kiddo.' Caine hung up the call.

That was short, he thought.

Matt walked back into the bar room and sat back down, finishing his beer.

He knew he would have to get to this Vault soon. There had been two located specific to this continent, and the only he knew of: the Vault of the Warrior, and the Vault of the Destroyer. There was also the Vault of the Sentinel on Elpis. He had heard tales of the Vault Hunters who found them, but Caine and the rest of the Gemini Corporation had told him they were long gone.

This was something he believed, but weakly. Gemini had not really lied to him before, but there was a first time for everything.

He was not sure what the Guardian of the particular Vault would be, but it definitely was not going to be good. There was not much information on it, only that the Guardian did not possess too similar qualities compared to the latter – which did not make the thought of taking it on any easier.

Given that he was Matt Rye the Anomaly, things being abnormal and different weren't exactly anything new.

'You okay boyo?' Mick Zaford walked back up to him. 'I saw you duck away.'

'I had to take an ECHO call,' Matt responded. 'It's nothing.'

'Aye,' Zaford expressed. 'It seems as though ye are busy, boyo.'

'A little,' he admitted. 'But I still like to stop at my favourite bar.' Matt smiled, and Mick returned it. He slapped him on the back.

'That's my boy!' Mick exclaimed, despite Matt not actually being his boy. Matt winced at the slap on the back, it having hit the bruise that the Badass Thresher had given him.

'Thanks, but I think I'll be off.' Mick bid him farewell, and Matt stepped out of the Holy Spirits bar, taking in the fresh air. He walked out towards the Catch-A-Ride, near Hunter's Bane.

'This is the place to catch a ride!' The machine yelled at him. 'Welcome to the New and Improved Catch-A-Ride, now with 47% more than 26% death annually! That is down from last year, hold your applause!'

He pressed a few buttons, and soon a Catch-A-Ride vehicle was digistructed just beside him. He climbed in and got ready to drive, but was interrupted by a loud scream of pain coming from the Stalker's nest. Except, it did not sound like it was Stalkers who'd attacked some poor guy who had taken a few wrong steps. He could hear the inane yells from a Psycho.

'Bring me a bucket and I'll show you a bucket!' One of them roared. Matt could hear the buzzaxe cut through the air. Bandits weren't common around here; he had to see what was going on.

'Finally some murdering!'

Great. There's at least one marauder.

'Throw grenade!'

And a nomad.

'What a dumbass order…'

Upon looking over the nest, he could observe the Stalker corpses he had killed earlier, complete with their severed tails. And a lot of bandits. They were circling this girl around this corner. She had red hair and wore rather unkempt clothing. He wasn't paying attention to her – the bandits were the problem.

He jumped down.

'Why are you here?' A Golliath wondered.

'This ain't no place for no hero,' Matt muttered, before holding out his hand. Red energy swirled around it, and time seemed to slow down. Bullets flying through the air slowed down, the buzzaxes from psychos stopped in the air, and the bandits themselves slowed in their charge. Time had slowed. But not for Matt.

He walked around each bandit, shooting the first few Marauders in the head, killing them by firmly pressing it against them. Matt then calmly picked up one of the Psychos' axes from the air, and bludgeoned the remaining three Psychos to death before they could react. He then took the one Nomad's own gun, and smacked him across the face with it, the whiplash killing him instantly. The one Golliath was quickly disposed of using his own helmet.

With the final two Marauders left – a normal and an Elite – he snapped their necks, watching them very slowly begin to slump to the ground. Matt finally then caught the bullets flying through the air and dropped them to the ground, enjoying how they would slow as soon as they would exit his hands.

It was his ability: Chronokinesis.

He believed he had caught all the bullets, but he was wrong on that aspect. Matt saw one final bullet, getting ready to hit the girl that the bandits had assaulted. Feeling time begin to speed up, he ran to the final bullet, catching it moments before it would hit her.

Time returned to normal.

Seeing how he had caught the bullet millimetres away from the girl's eye, Matt breathed a large sigh of relief.

'Are you OK?' He examined her. She was stunned by what she just saw, but was broken from her trance as she winced, and cried out in pain. Matt turned somewhat grim.

She touched the back of her leg, on the side, and revealed that a large piece of shrapnel had wedged into it. Blood was profusely seeping from the wound. Matt ran over to her, inspecting the wound.

'This is going to take more than a few hypos,' he told her. He pulled out some spare hypos, and jabbed them into her, near the wound. 'That should sooth the pain.' Matt calmly then pulled out the shrapnel from out of her. Luckily, the anaesthetic had had its quick effect, and it didn't seem to hurt for her.

'Thanks,' the girl responded.

'How'd this happen?' Matt probed her. 'The shrapnel and the bandits being here.'

'I may have led them here from The Dust,' she admitted. 'They followed me with some Bandit Technicals, which then blew up.'

'I see,' Matt responded, paying close attention to the wound. He pulled out a bandage, and wrapped it around the injury, which was not as bleeding as much as before thanks to the hypos. 'You shouldn't need a metal leg too now.' The girl laughed, and he smiled back.

'Thanks for helping me,' she acknowledged.

'It's no problem,' he said. 'I'm Matt by the way.' He stepped back from the bandage, smiling upon realizing it had worked.

'Gaige,' the girl responded.

'That's a nice name,' Matt responded. Gaige smiled.

Then he noticed.

Unmistakably, on the girl's belt was a Vault symbol. He hadn't noticed before because he wasn't paying attention to it that much. His eyes widened and he stepped back a bit.

'You-you're a Vault Hunter?' He stuttered, astounded. Gaige looked at her belt, realising he had surmised it from the badge.

She looked at him with confusion.

'Yeah, so?' Matt took off his black coat and pulled up the sleeve of his navy blue shirt, revealing a tattoo of a Vault symbol placed just by the joint that connected his Ulna to the Humerus.

'I was told that all Vault Hunters that were on this planet before me were dead.'

'Who told you that?' She asked him.

'The Gemini Corporation,' Matt answered honestly. To him Vault Hunters could be mostly trusted. Apart from Caine. 'That was what they told me before I left them. I had a feeling it wasn't true.'

'I haven't heard of 'em,' Gaige admitted. 'Were they the ones who gave you that…ability?'

'No,' Matt responded. 'That was from Hyperion experimentation.' The bitterness in his voice towards Hyperion was evident. Gaige was not surprised that he hated Hyperion. Almost everyone did. 'It's the ability to slow down time around me. It helps me react faster than others, and gives me time to think.'

'Cool.'

'How come you weren't defending yourself?' Matt wondered additionally. 'Aren't all Vault Hunters badasses?'

'Well, Matt, you would be correct on that!' Gaige exclaimed. 'I can summon this robot called Deathtrap from my gauntlet. Some handy digistruction technology. But right now, it's repairing itself.'

'That's pretty cool,' Matt admitted. 'Are there any other Vault Hunters around? I need to meet them.'

'You heard of Sanctuary?' Gaige asked him.

'I thought that was just the stronghold of the resistance, not that Vault Hunters resided there,' he admitted. 'I never went because I am busy searching for a Vault.'

'What Vault?' She enquired.

'I'm not certain, but I have this software called Vault Instincts that tell me it's definitely on this continent,' He replied. 'Once I meet these friends of yours, I might be able to fill you in further.'

'Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Matt,' Gaige smiled warmly, extending out a hand. The Anomaly took it.

'Likewise,' he agreed. 'You know, these Stalker piles are giving off an especially foul scent. I don't suppose we can get to Sanctuary now? I haven't been on a Dahl Mining Ship before.'

'Not to worry!' Gaige eased, 'The fast travel will take us there. Luckily, I have access to the location – very few people do.' She was limping a little from the wound, and she stumbled, and would have fallen over if Matt hadn't caught her.

'Hold on to me,' he advised. 'The fast travel should not be too far.'

She nodded, grabbing onto his coat shoulder. They began walking up back to Overlook, fully weary of the threats that may lie ahead.

Matt was still annoyed at himself for his recklessness earlier with the Badass Pyro Thresher. He had gotten lucky in the ordeal, and his Chronokinesis had slightly aided in the dodging of the Thresher's inferno projectiles. Fortunately, the disorientation had completely evaporated, but his confidence had taken a minor blow still. Most if it had returned following his takeout of those bandits.

He kept telling himself that Pandora wasn't a place for heroes, but even Matt's own instincts outwardly disagreed with that, as he decided to save this girl, Gaige, without even realising she was a Vault Hunter. Equally, it was refreshing that Caine had not found her or any of the others before he did.

Caine was master of manipulation.

He could lead almost anyone to do what he wanted. His heart was colder than Three Horns Divide, and was more heartless than a Bullymong. Caine knew just what to say to throw people in the deep end, and Gaige seemed innocent enough to fall for it.

Hopefully they wouldn't meet.

He knew Caine still worked for Gemini, and was annoyed that Matt didn't anymore. With Hyperion's endless experiments on his body, Gemini wasn't for him anymore. Just because they liked to employ Vault Hunters from across the galaxy, didn't mean that he would have to continue being under their line of work.

'What did you mean by "this ain't no place for no hero?"?' Gaige suddenly catechized, as they passed Holy Spirits. She seemed to have read his mind with that question.

'I wasn't sure whether I should save you at the time,' Matt admitted. 'You can see I decided against leaving you to die. I muttered it because I was reminding myself that in the eyes of the Gemini Corporation, I am no hero.'

'Well, whoever these Gemini people are, it sounds like they got you totally wrong.'

'In the eyes of Handsome Jack, you all got Hyperion completely wrong,' Matt paused. 'And we all know how much of an asshole he was.'

'I'm pretty perceptive really,' Gaige told him.

Not against Caine, Matt contemplated. Hopefully I can get to the Vault before he does. Either way, that son of a bitch is going down. He's no Vault Hunter in my eyes; Caine is a ruthless killer.

'Well, thanks anyway,' he finally accepted the compliment.

At last, they made it to the fast travel. Gaige began punching into the interface, granting Matt access to Sanctuary in the process. She stepped back for a moment to allow the machine to scan him, before returning to attending to the UI.

'You know, I think Axton's going to like you,' she admitted.

Axton? He knew that name. Oh boy, this won't be good.

'Wait, Axton?' Matt stopped in confusion. 'Axton's in-' He leant out his hand and placed it on her shoulder.

He was cut off by the initialisation of the travel. In moments, he would be on the same ship as a presumed-dead.

Ooh, a twist! Anyway, that's the first chapter, Critical Ascension. Yes, I will be naming pretty much all of these chapters after a character skill from BL2, but the name will always to be relevant to what happens in the chapter, so it isn't random.

Also, yes, he (I) really did reference Short Change Hero, and he does this at least once more in the story later on. Most of the time it'll be ambiguous talk from Matt. It might seem cringy, so um...sorry about that.