Authors note: And yet still more AU. But based entirely on things I think coulda shoulda happened in-game. Because really, that's the whole point of fanfic, isn't it?

Standard disclaimer: I do not own Borderlands 2, any of it's characters, or any of the other wondrous creations of Gearbox Software, 2K Games or Iron Galaxy Software. However I certainly lay claim to misspellings, mistakes, tweaks, spells and characters of my own creation, and any re-characterization you may notice.

~~Tag, You're It~~

As Bloodwing dove, crackling energies lashed out from her talons.

Axton dove out of the way, making a neat dive-and-roll that took him out of range of the mutated avian's blast. Unfortunately his turret had no such mobility. There was a shower of sparks and the turret went quiet.

"Son of a fucking bitch." Axton tried to trigger the recall on the turret, but there was no response.

Gaige had been close enough to the blast to feel some of it, but her shields, recently replenished by DeathTrap, reduced the impact to a series of tingles down her left side. She staggered a bit, one foot kicking a triangular section of metal. The remains of the wing of one of the repair drones that Kreig had taken out.

"1340," Gaige murmured thoughtfully. "Could you pilot a drone?"

"That is unadvisable. Boss. In that event. I will try. To murder you."

Gaige scanned the horizon. There had to be more of the little annoyances around. "Not if I disable the weapons systems." She responded absently.

"Ouch. But I like killing. Things."

"Hey Krieg," Gaige opened her ECHO channel. "Can you catch me a repair drone or two?"

The big man chuckled. Tilting his head to one side, he tracked a drone approaching from the far end of the arena. However instead of gun or buzz-axe, when it got close enough to fire the first shot, Kreig threw the body of one of the oversized skags at it. The spiked corpse spun through the air. The lithe drone easily dodged it.

And flew right into the jagged blast of lightning that Bloodwing had just issued.

The repair drone gave a crackle, it's LED display went out, and it dropped like a stone.

Right into Kreig's waiting hand.

He smiled and wiggled it, somewhat like a child playing with a toy. "STAY near me" He said softly, speaking to the now quiescent drone, not to the girl. "do not take thy flight! A little longer stay in sight!" (**1)

Then he handed it to the Mechromancer.

Maya raised a delicate eyebrow. Under her breath, and much too softly for the big man to hear she added, "Much converse do I find in thee / Historian of my infancy!" (**1)

Job done, Kreig bounded off, buzz axe in hand to meet a group of greenish skags.

"Fuckin' Awesome!" Gaige eagerly took the drone. She crouched down behind some crates and started unscrewing the belly plates. "I've got a totally genius idea!"

"Really Gaige," Maya commented in a dry tone. "As genius as the time you 'upgraded' Zed's medihypo's to include 'a little bit of caffeine'?"

"Well-" Gaige sputtered.

Axton interrupted them. "Incoming Skags, shortstack."

Gaige scrambled back as an oversized reddish skag leapt over the crate to land where she'd just been crouching. "Dammit, quit interrupting me." Rather than go for a gun, though, she reached around to the back of her belt. There was a flicker in the force-field that surrounded her. She blew a raspberry at the skag. "Do your worst, bar-b-que breath."

The skag gave an irritated roar, and then bracing itself, opened it's excessively wide maw and vomited a huge wash of flame over the cross-legged mechromancer.

Gaige continued tinkering with the drone, ignoring the flames washing over her shield. The blast of fire completely obscured her, and reduced several nearby crates to bubbling puddles of noxious smelling goo.

A little distance away, the oversized Alpha flame-skag was slowly being shriveled by Maya's phaselock.

"Check on her, Axe!" The Siren sounded worried.

"Damn," Axton muttered, half to himself, and then once he could see her clearly, his voice got louder. "Nothing; she's fine."

The side of Gaige's mouth twitched in a grin as she worked as fast as she could. "What can I tell 'ya, that bastard Incinerator Clayton had some very fine tech." After a moment she added. "And I improved it." Her tone was smug.

In it's usual clipped voice, 1340 corrected her. "You mean. Zed. Upgraded."

Axton chuckled.

Gaige flushed. "Hey, I did the schematics to find an improved power source adapter."

"I love. Being powerful." 1340 sounded pleased.

Reaching behind her to the last shield on her belt, Gaige began dismantling it. Between the disassembled shield, the partially disassembled drone and the remains of the various crates and their contents, she was surrounded by a collection of metal scraps, screws and assorted parts. "Well, Lucky 1340," She muttered as she worked. "Prepare for a massive upgrade."

"Yes. Boss."

"Because," She frowned and chewed on her lip as she rapidly re-assembled the drone, "I have got," She trailed off, frowning as she ratcheted screws back in place.

"A totally. Genius. Plan." 1340 finished for her.

"Just give it up, kiddo." Jack's voice dripped with sarcastic mock sympathy. "Bloodwing's got ALL the elements at her disposal! Slag! Fire! Electricity! Corrosion! And...and, uh...damn, I forgot the last one. What was it, again?"

Gaige's face lost some of it's color and she kept her concentration on the drone. "Explosives." She whispered. "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you." Behind her she could hear the sounds of combat. The crunch of a loader being seriously damaged wasn't enough to bring her a smile.

Over the comm system, Mordecai yelled, "Bloodwing, down! Heel! Never thought I'd say this, but stop fighting!"

Maya gestured and a pack of flame-hued slags suddenly slammed together in a hissing, struggling mess. "She can't hear you Mordecai."

"Of course she-" There was a pause, and then a stream of rapid-fire Spanish profanity. "You're gonna regret ever dragging Bloodwing into this, Jack! You're gonna watch her tear your fucking throat out!" Then in a much louder tone, Mordecai added, "She's got her sights on you, Axton! MOVE your ass, Jefe!"

Axton called out, "Heads up shortstack, you've got two incoming loaders."

"I do NOT have time for this shit," Gaige snarled. "Keep them off of me, I'm fuckin' busy here, and it's IMPORTANT!"

Deathtrap silently glided into position between her and the first loader, slicing it's arm off with his laser.

Krieg raced past the robot, yelling, initially incoherently, but as he got closer, he screamed "How can I snap your neck if you don't have one?!" Then he started laughing.

Axton triggered his turret and only got the patter of clicking that meant it was still in resetting mode. "This is no time for a coffee break, Lady mine."

"Axton, move to your three o'clock, now." Maya's voice was the crisp implacable tone of command.

Before she'd finished her sentence, Ax took a running jump and then leapt over the remains of two loaders. Behind him Bloodwing dove, and vomited a gout of greenish horror.

Axton twisted around, blasting away at Bloodwing with his machine gun. A spattering of feathers and blood drops, and an outraged cry meant he'd done some damage.

Translation: Anguish/hopelessness scrolled across Gaige's heads-up display.

At almost the same moment a loader laser impacted on Gaige's shoulder, hissing, and burning away some of the strength of her shield.

She carefully set the almost re-assembled drone aside; and then whipped around, calling up her storage deck arsenal. In a moment she was facing the loader in question wielding a rocket launcher decorated with garish red paint and drawings of fangs and teeth. "I SAID I was fuckin' busy," She unloaded a cluster of crackling blue spheres that spread initially, and then slammed into the loader as if magnetized. Then they went off in a wash of electronic fury.

The loader gave a woeful sounding squeal, and then crashed to the ground. "Initiating self-repair sequence."

Krieg's Buzz saw crunched into the loader's control panel. "NOW YOU SHOULD BE SCARED!"

Gaige practically flung herself at the little drone, and sliding one of her shields around to the front of her belt, the electo-tool fingers of her mechanical hand had it disassembled in moments. She took a single chip out, and installed it into the drone. Click, the whirring of screws and a final ratchet to make sure they were tight. "Okay, Lucky 1340" She murmured, "make me proud."

.

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**1 From: "To a Butterfly" by William Wordsworth