The next day arrived sooner than expected, Sanctuary's crew got up early, ready for the next trip and the following events that would happen once they landed again, excitement filling the air.

Thanks to Sanctuary's incredible speed, the trip in space didn't take them too long, before they arrived once again to the mysterious planet of Nekrotefayo, the ship descending in a remote area of Desolation's Edge.

The Vault Hunters, the B-Team, Tannis and Ava stepped down from the ship first, waiting for Tannis' enhancer and the rest of the supplies to be strapped to a technical once more, so they could bring them to destination.

"We'll stay here to protect the ship, us and the kid." Mordecai nodded at Ava, who didn't appear happy in the slightest. "For all we know Maliwan could still be around the planet."

"Good observation, then let us be on our way Vault Hunters."

Ava watched them go, nervously fiddling with the hem of her shirt, considering if she should really follow or just stay. She wanted to be useful, but didn't want a repeat of what had happened at the Vault on Promethea, which was one of the indirect reasons that caused them to be here for such a risky and seemingly impossible task.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a gentle push on her back, she turned to see Tina smiling at her.

"Come on girl, you don't wanna chicken out now do ya?"

"I uhm…" the kid kept looking back and forth between her and the group of Vault Hunters.

"Tina, what are you talking about?" Mordecai frowned at the two girls.

The bomb specialist just ignored him. "What are you waiting for? Just go." she pushed the younger teen again. "We'll be fine, don't worry, go with them and find Maya, and Lilith, and Roland, and everybody. You promised me!"

Ava just looked back at her and her enthusiasm was enough to convince her, she nodded and turned, rushing over to the other group.

"Why did you encourage her? We don't know what they will find in there, it could be dangerous." the Sniper argued.

"No Mordy-mom, she's gotta do this."

"Tina…" he sighed, opening his mouth to say more, but Brick's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Let her go, this is important, right Tina?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yep."

"Guess I ain't winning this argument, well, best of luck to her and the others then." the Sniper replied, mumbling something about not understanding kids.

Zane was just about to start the engine of the technical when he noticed Ava running over to them.

"Wait!" she yelled at them.

"What is it kid?" Moze asked, looking over from the gunner's seat, the others watched her too, more out of curiosity than anything, they had a feeling of what she was going to ask them, yet, they wanted her to say it.

"I..." Ava looked at each of them then down on the ground. "I want to come with you, I... I need to see Maya again, it's important."

"Then what are you waiting for? Get on." Amara motioned to join them.

"What? Are you not going to say something like "its dangerous for a kid" or similar stuff?" she frowned.

"Well, it is dangerous, but that is not going to stop you, isn't that right?" Fl4k replied to her. "This matters to you even more than us, so we are not going to deny you, possibly the only opportunity you'll have to see your mentor again."

"Can we please just get a move then? If this matter is cleared then why are we sitting here wasting time still?" Tannis huffed, nothing would be done if they never got where they needed to be.

The Siren extended a hand towards Ava, and lifted her up on the technical with ease.

"Then let us get going lads." Zane started up the engine and they drove off towards Typhon's old laboratory.

They stopped on the edge of a cliff nearby, Maliwan troops were patrolling the area, a nuisance that needed to be cleared first.

"How many are there?" Moze asked, crouching next to Fl4k, who was using his enhanced sight to scout the area.

"Looks like about thirty people, possibly more."

"Could have something to do with all the dead corpses we saw on the way, and for sure, that was not our doing from when we've been here months ago." Amara approached them too.

"The signs on their bodies indicated that their death was recent, and it didn't look like the doing of the local fauna nor the guardians. I wonder if perhaps someone else has been here before us." Fl4k mused, tearing his sight away from the enemies for the moment.

"Well, our scientist lass has mentioned that Maya's old companions were supposed to join us, maybe it was them." Zane said, looking in Tannis' direction, as if expecting confirmation.

"Even though I did send Zer0 to get them, I am not sure if they already made it here as I did not receive any confirmation, but, it would be a good time saver to not need to wait on them to show up." the woman nodded in response.

"Hey look! Something is happening." Ava called them over, pointing at where the enemy troops were standing before.

She was correct, something appeared to have set them on the move, some shooting was going on, and also, more figures has showed up, these people however did not appear to be Maliwan soldiers, actually all the opposite. They could spot a large figure, mostly naked in their upper body and sporting a mask on its face, swinging madly, like a sort of psycho in the front. Followed by another two male figures, a taller and more lean one, standing close to a turret of sorts, and a second shorter but more more stocky one, holding what is seemed two guns at once. There was also a fourth, a girl with a robot of some kind next to her.

It wasn't until they saw the last figure, tall, nimble and black, slashing at the Maliwan troops, that they had the confirmation that is was truly them, and that for sure, was Zer0, and that they others must have been their friends.

"Yes, that is them for sure, they haven't changed much in these years." Tannis mused, giving them further proof.

"Well, if they are so nice to get rid of those Maliwan bastards, then I'd say to give them a hand, we have nothing to lose." Moze shrugged.

"Oh I'll give them all of my hands as support." Amara grinned, rushing down the cliff, followed by the rest.

"OUT OF THE WAY BLUE PUPPETS! THE MAIDENS OF ICE AND FIRE ARE AWAITING US!" Krieg cackled as he swung his axe into yet another helpless soldier, sending blood flying all over himself.

Behind him, Axton took cover behind his turret. "We need to secure the lab, make sure none of these bastards survives!" he ordered.

"You heard soldier boy! Move you assholes!" Gaige yelled as she emptied an entire clip of her assault rifle in the face of a Maliwan Heavy, while Deathtrap slashed away at another two men charging at them.

"Die cabrones!" Salvador shouted as he fired away, a pistol in each of his hands. Close by, Zer0 appeared and impaled another man with his sword from behind him.

"We have no time / Our friends are waiting / You will not stop us." he uttered as the soldier's corpse slumped away from his weapon.

They fought their way towards the lab, where Tannis said they would meet up, yet no signs of her nor the other Vault Hunters she was supposed to take along with her, just Maliwan soldiers at every angle, they were warned that they could have been still on the planet, part of the reason why the scientist had requested their help as well, but there were many, too many for just them six.

"Damn these guys are endless! How many are here?" the Mechromancer growled as she shoved and punched away with her metal arm a soldier that dared to sneak on her, while her bot finished it off.

"I don't know, but we need to get in that lab, and now." the Commando replied, just equally annoyed with these people as she was, and presumably the others too. They did not have time to lose here!

The more they took down, the more men arrived, seemingly an unlimited supply, they rushed towards the group with weapons firing. Just when they thought they wouldn't get out of this situation anytime soon, they saw a Vladof mech rushing towards them, gunning the Maliwan soldiers down.

From behind it, another figure run forward, jumping on top of the suit and high in the air, summoning six extra arms, it slammed back down on the floor, punching the ground and sending their enemies flying around.

Whoever wasn't left dead from that hit was blown to pieces from sniper shots of a robot the just appeared from nowhere, and if it wasn't enough, three other beasts finished off the work, a skag, a spiderant and a jabber.

Meanwhile a drone flew above them, dropping down grenades as it went, close to it was another man with a barrier around himself, and a clone right next to him, shooting the remains.

The former Vault Hunters looked at Zer0 with a mute question, he just nodded, indicating without doubt, that these were the new group that aided the Raiders now. What almost none of them did expect though, was to see something very familiar to them, right in front of them, in the air, there was a soldier suspended in a bubble, a Phaselock.

A kid approached, holding her left arm up, just the same way Maya used to do, as she took down the last Maliwan soldier remaining. Tannis walking right behind her.

"Is that..." Axton whispered.

"Maya's apprentice." Zer0 finished for him.

"I didn't think there could be two Sirens with the same ability." Gaige mused.

"There aren't, Ava wasn't a Siren, Maya bestowed her abilities upon her the same way Angel did to me back then." Tannis approached them, the statement clearing things up, but also it made them even more sad too.

They looked at the kid for a moment, she was speaking with the third Siren of the group, the older woman congratulating with her with a hand on her shoulder, she was probably the kid's mentor now, or at least she was the one helping her master her skills, they assumed.

"Is everybody all right?" a soldier woman descended from her mech.

"We're just fine, thanks miss..."

"You can call me Moze, the Siren there is Amara, the weird bot is Fl4k, and this idiot here is Zane." she pointed at each of them. "Oi..." came the pointed glare from the Operative, which she ignored. "Ah, and the kid's name is Ava." she added.

The commando nodded at her. "Name's Axton, and they are Salvador, Gaige, her bot Deathtrap, and Krieg." he introduced them. "I trust that you all already know Zer0."

Once again there was an affirmative motion, though the Gunner's eyes lingered for a while, and probably too long, on the Psycho.

"He isn't dangerous, right? No offense, but we haven't had good experiences with psychos overall."

"It does seem offensive to me chica." Salvador scoffed lightly.

"He's a cool dude, tell them Krieg." the red haired woman put a hand on one of his massive shoulders, encouraging him, who has stayed silent through the entire conversation.

The man turned towards Moze, he had quite the intimidating look as his only visible eye stared down at her, making the Gunner feel even smaller than how she was already, but she held his gaze and stood still. She wasn't quite expecting what she heard after either.

"I apologize, but we do not mean any harm towards any of you." she obviously was not prepared to hear him talk perfectly normally, actually it was even a bit too formal even, and also with such a normal, and not at all growling voice. Like a normal person would talk.

"I understand that our look is not the most reassuring, but we are here for the same reason as you."

Moze just gave him a startled look, before she could say anything, Ava excitedly rushed over to them. "So you guys are Maya's friends? She told me so many stories about all of you."

"Indeed, it is us young one." the Psycho just nodded at her, seemingly more entranced with staring at her arm.

"I hope it was good things." Axton added, then groaned as Gaige jabbed his side with her elbow.

"I am not gonna tell." Ava showed him her tongue, chuckling.

Tannis moved forward as well. "So it would seem that our old resident Psycho has learned to act like a normal human being, how fascinating."

Despite the half-insulting comment, Krieg remained calm. "It is not as you claim Dr. Tannis, we'd be happy to let you study our case..." the other half growled in disapproval in his head. "But we are not here for me now."

"Krieg is right, we need to get a move." Gaige perked up as she rushed into the laboratory, followed by her ever faithful robot. Tannis huffed and walked after them, priorities were priorities after all, and she had been the one that made them up in the first place too.

"I don't think I understood very well, but at least things are moving along again." Moze replied, still quite confused.

"We're having a hard time understanding here too, and we knew him for a while. I'm just happy that he's able to talk." Axton slapped his shoulder.

"It is hard to understand, think of it as a case of multiple personality, it becomes easier." Krieg explained. "This true personality of mine was trapped in my mind, and the old brute and screaming psycho you all know took its place for a long time, but we have come to an understanding. He stays quiet until it's time to kill."

"Interesting, are all psychos like you then?" Fl4k approached, as Zane and Amara went to aid Gaige and Tannis in setting things down and in place, seemingly bored, Salvador joined them soon after.

"I wouldn't know for sure, perhaps, or perhaps not. I had a great help."

"Krieg has always been sort of different, and there was a person between us that saw it before anyone else." Axton spoke.

"Maya..." Ava whispered.

"She knew, I don't know why, maybe it was her Siren abilities, or maybe it was just her. She believed in us when we had given up, and I wanted to be good, to become a normal person again for her, to show that her faith in me wasn't misplaced, and also for gratitude. I worked hard these years... but she never kept her promise..." he closed his hands in fists as he spoke. "She said she would be back, but never did."

"I'm... I'm sorry..." the kid took one of his massive hands in hers. "It was my fault... she died to save me..." she looked at him with tears in her eyes.

Moved by the admission, he crouched in front of her, his expression softening behind the mask, he couldn't be mad at a kid, especially not this one, Maya would hate him forever if he only dared to think about it.

"Don't be sorry kid, she wouldn't want you to blame yourself." he gently patted her head with his other hand.

She sniffled. "Yeah... you're right..."

"Maya can still keep her promise, we have to find her and have her come back with us." Fl4k mused.

"We'll make sure she will, right kid?"

Ava nodded. "Yes, yes she will."

"We're counting on you." Krieg gave her another look.

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" the kid tilted her head in confusion.

"I highly doubt that whatever Tannis is making, will be able to support this many people, and besides, with Maliwan still on the planet, this place isn't safe, we've got to make sure nobody disrupts our work, or you could be stuck forever on the other side. Someone has to stay behind and protect you guys and this place." Axton said, which was true.

"Yes, but, excluding Ava, we haven't known neither Maya nor Lilith for too long, we aren't as attached as you guys might be, are you sure you aren't more suited than us for this?" Moze asked.

"Maybe, but we haven't fought for long, possibly with the exception of Zer0, anyways nobody knows what is on the other side, and we are out of shape, if we weren't, those Maliwan guys you helped us with would have been long gone before you arrived. You all have better chances of surviving whatever awaits you, and also, Vault Hunters must have faith in each other."

"That is a wise choice, then, we'll make sure to not disappoint you and bring back our fallen friends with us." Fl4k offered, and that sounded like a promise.

Once the matters were cleared, they joined the rest in the laboratory, where Tannis and Gaige were already working on what is looked like a circular structure, somewhat resembling a portal of sorts, actually, it probably was.

"We're almost done, once its stable Tannis can infuse the portal with her powers so you can cross between dimensions." Gaige explained, as she tightened up some bolts.

"I can't believe we're doing this for real." Amara stared at it.

"Well, you better believe it lass, soon enough we'll be up in the clouds... I think..." Zane said, not really sure where they would end up to.

Tannis looked up from the console. "It's ready for use now, I managed to make sure that nothing of your gear would be left behind either, it will appear in the other world with you, this includes your giant mech but also your animal companions."

"My pets are not items." Fl4k complained but was completely ignored, as the scientist simply walked past them and where her enhancer was placed.

"I should also point out that we won't be able to communicate with you, once you enter the other realm, you will be cut off completely, but I assume you'll be able to find your way regardless. You'll have to be quick as well, the more you stay the more I fear you could die permanently and not come back at all."

Well that wasn't reassuring, but it was expected, this wasn't another planet they were entering, but an entirely different dimension, there was not telling what would happen, not while they stayed between the living.

Without further hesitation Tannis activated the enhancer, absorbing all the power of the Eridium in it, it was so overwhelming that Amara and Ava had to hold to each other to resist the temptation to absorb that same energy themselves.

The scientist then held out her hands towards the portal. "Executing Phaseshift." she murmured as the markings at her side vibrated with effort. The portal opened in the middle of the circular structure she created, illuminating the room of a pure white.

"What are you waiting for? Go! Now!" Gaige yelled, and they didn't need to be told twice as the Vault Hunters and Ava rushed in without hesitation.

What they will find? They were about to find out, they just hoped it wasn't something too bad, but for sure, this would be an adventure to tell if they came back alive, and hopefully, with the others in tow as well. They had friends waiting for them and promises to keep after all.