The Lawbringer

“DADDY’S KIND OF MESSED UP.” She said softly. “Wasn’t worried about protecting me when…” She paused, interrupting herself and thinking for a second, trying to remember where they used to live. 

              “Eden-5, huh? Did your mom like it there?” Nisha’s never been to that one, but she knows it. One of the better off worlds, from what she’s gathered. But there was an important tidbit. A mother. She’d never been successful in getting Jack to talk about his long term relationships-- only Moxxi, and that was pretty boring.

                “I was born on Heris.” There’s a pause before Nisha continues. That place brought back uncomfortable memories. It only adds to the strange weight that’s settled on her shoulders. “The whole world’s practically desert and rock. I’m pretty sure DAHL blew up anything that was good about it. I haven’t really... I was about your age when I left Heris. I never stayed in one spot long enough to call it liv’n, to be honest.” She doesn’t look particularly bothered about not having a ‘home’.

“OH, UH, I’M TWELVE, MA’AM.” She answered, taking her key from her pocket once they reached the elevator. In order to access the penthouse, a key had to unlock the floor. She looked up at Nisha for a second.

“YOU KNOW, MY DADDY ALWAYS FELT LIKE HIS LADY-FRIENDS, EVEN THE ONES HE PAID TO SPEND WHAT HE CALLED SPECIAL TIME WITH HIM, WOULDN’T WANT TO BE WITH HIM ‘CAUSE HE GOT A KID.” She explained pretty nonchalantly. “So he never really talked about me. Plus I’m pretty sure he’s ashamed of me.”

            “Ya’ daddy ain’t ashamed of ya kid.” Nisha ventured, slowly. As if she herself is uncertain of her own answer. “I do dangerous work for a living. I’m not exactly the kind of woman you introduce to ya’ kids. He’s probably protecting you.” There’s a shrug, and the woman leans back into the counter as she got comfortable. A hand tilts her hat back, and her boots cross at the ankle slowly. 

@out-law

"Preeeetty sure, yeah.

“THANK YOU, MISS. And, yes, I’m Angel. Yeah, his conferences are pretty damn boring. I used to have to sit at his side and stay quiet since he couldn’t find anyone to watch me.”  She shrugged.

          “Lead on, kid. I ain’t got much that needs do’n today. Ya’ daddy gots some answer’n to do is right... ” Not that she blamed him for the secrecy— thinking about it, had she mentioned the incident about burning down an orphanage to him? Huh. Not her best moment, she’d admit.

@out-law

Amara was at the heat of battle with the local Pandoran bandits. A group that now decided to integrate themselves into the COV needed to be taken down as quickly as possible to try and dent their forces but to no avail.

After what seemed to be the last bandit for the Siren to finally eat dirt. She heard an all too familiar scream behind her about guts and necklaces. But before she could react the psycho landed dead on the ground with a bullet wound on his head.

The Siren looked at the source of the shot and saw what seemed to be a…cowgirl? To be honest she’s seen weirder things in her travels but sometimes things surprise her.

“Not too bad yourself, muscles.” That might be a compliment, as she rests a Jakob’s pistol idly into the palm of her hand. It’s kept close. A sign this outlaw is use to being jumped. One cybernetic arm hisses out a soft stream of air that rustles the edge of the scaf hanging around her neck. It’s metal catches in the sun hanging low above them. “Amara, huh? Sounds familiar. Name’s Arushi.” It’s not, but she isn’t about to use her real name. Not here. Not now. Maybe never.

❛   what  are  you  doing?   ❜

❛   what ,  you’re  going  to  kill  me?  ❜

❛   fuck !  put  the  gun  down !  please , come on !  it’s  me ,  alright ?  ❜

❛   what  are  you  doing  with  that ?   ❜

❛   please ..  don’t  do  this  anymore !   ❜

❛   let  her/them/him  go  or  i’ll  blow  you  away !  ❜

❛   wait ! okay …  okay !  okay , i’ll  tell  you ,  whatever  you  want  to  know  ..   ❜

❛   you  point  that  thing  at  me  you  better  pull  the  trigger .  ❜

❛   alright , alright , alright  ..  i’ll talk !   ❜

❛   please ,  just  let  me  go ,  i  won’t  tell  anyone …  i  promise  .  ❜

❛   let  me  out  of  here !   let  me  go !   ❜

❛   you’re  not  getting  away  this  time  …  ❜

❛   actually ,  i  think  i  better  get  going  …   it’s  late  and  …   ❜

❛   come  on !  fight  back !  fight  back !  fight  back  you  coward !   ❜

❛   come  on ,  hit  me !   ❜

❛   do  it !  pull  the  trigger !  do  it  ,  do  it  ,  do  it !   ❜

❛   come  and  find  me  …  polo !  ❜

❛   i  don’t  want  to  hide  anymore ,  i  don’t  want  to  be  afraid  anymore  …   ❜

❛   you   keep   saying   you’re   going   to   stop   but   you   don’t !  ❜

❛   how   many   more   people   need   to   die   before   you’re   satisfied ?  ❜

❛   why   are   you   doing   this ?   ❜

❛   don’t   come   any   closer  ,   that’s   far   enough  .   ❜

❛   if   you  don’t   pull   the   trigger   i’ll   pull   it   for   you  !   ❜

❛   i  thought  that  you  were  in  danger  …   ❜

❛   you’re  dangerous  …  i ,   i  just  don’t  want  to  end  up  dead ..   ❜

❛   i  promise  i  won’t  hurt  you  …    ❜

❛   can  you  please  stop  screwing  with  my  mind ,  god  !   ❜

❛   i  don’t  want  to  be  here  anymore ,  please ,  can  we  go  back ?   ❜

❛   um  ….  i’m  not  sure  i  want  to  go ,   thanks   anyway  ..   ❜

❛   that  sounds  dangerous  ….   i’m  in .   ❜

❛   i  don’t  know ,  it  sounds  awfully  dangerous  …  ❜

❛   stay  back  or  i  will  rip  your  head  off  !  ❜

❛   i  think  …   this   is   wrong ,  no .  i  can’t  just  stand  by   and   watch   it  .   ❜

❛   do  you  think  you  would  ever  hurt  me  like  that ?   ❜

❛   i  can’t  be  with  someone  who  could  hurt  me  like  that  …  ❜

❛   this  is  not  love  !   it   is   obsession  !   a   sick  one  at   that  !  ❜

❛   are  you  following  me  ?   what  …   what  do  you  want  ?   money  ?   ❜

❛   please  …  i  have  money ,   just  let  me  go  .  ❜

❛   i  don’t  think  you  realize  how  the  dangerous  this  game  is  ..   ❜

❛   it’s  not  just  a  game  !   ❜

❛   if  you’re  in  some  kind  of  trouble ,  you  can  tell  me  .   ❜

❛   come  on  ,   it’s  just  a  game ,  what  could  go  so  wrong  ?   ❜

❛   are  you  the  one  that’s  been  watching  me  ?   stalking  me  ?  ❜

❛   actually ,  do  you  mind  if  we  just  stop/pull  over  here  ?   ❜

❛   what  are  you  doing ?   you  missed  the  stop  back  there ?   ❜

❛   hello ?   is   someone  there  ?   ❜

❛   you’re  scaring  me  …   ❜

“O-OH, I’M SORRY, MA’AM! I have to get back home before my curfew. My daddy’s real strict about that. I’ve already broken five rules this week…” She paused. Wait a minute. She looked familiar. “…You’re my daddy’s girlfriend.” She added after figuring it out. The 12-year-old has almost nothing in common with her father appearance-wise; she took after her mother, but she was, in fact, the CEO’s daughter.

        Nisha is left staring for a few seconds. He had a DAUGHTER? Okay. Don’t freak out. Smile. Yeah, that’s a safe thing to do. Holy shit-- was anyone going to tell her? Like you know. The father. That was usually a pretty important thing to include. Unless Jack had no intention on telling her-- because he didn’t want her to know. That was fair. Who’d want to tell their dirty bandit girlfriend they had children. Oh was he getting a piece of her mind later.

         “Uh-- hey,” Oh yeah, real smooth Kadam. “Yeah-- yeah that’s me-- thanks, you’re pretty cute yourself.” That didn’t sound so bad. Right? No. This was going terrible. Still? She bent down a bit to be at better eye-level with the kid. Who’s name she had no idea what it was. Great. Come to think of it-- no it couldn’t be. But. Ugh. She was an idiot. She had walked in on a conversation once, and nothing about it had made much sense at the time. She had only caught the tail end of it, but when she asked ‘who angel was’ Jack had quickly dismissed it as ‘oh nothing’. Nothing her ass. This must have been Angel.

Jack had heard rumors of an ‘outlaw’-esque bounty hunter roaming this side of Pandora, listening here or there to get more information on just who this person was. He had a hunch– a more codded feeling on who it was underneath that cowboy hat everyone spoke about. When his previous iteration had been plugged into Helios he’d learned that Nisha perished in a fight with the Vault Hunters during their supposed heroic movements of Pandora. Pathetic. Scum. Whatever there intentions beyond finding the Vault before him were– they’d done well to drive a wrench right into Jack’s plans by supposedly wiping out Nisha.

Or so the first Jack had thought– the flesh-y version, if you will.

He’d spent his time focusing on other endeavors after transferring himself into some Loader before finally getting some scared pissless doctors to make him a body. Or rather tear apart a person to form around that perfect skeleton and create an exact replica of what the first Jack looked like. Of course this version was better– stronger, faster, smarter, etc… Oh the list just went on. But regardless, during that time even after getting his new body he’d focused in on trying to find a way to bring Hyperion back to what it was. During that time he’d heard the rumors.

It had taken a lot of…conversations of sorts and hacking certain areas to get the information he needed, but eventually he found her. The Outlaw. The woman who apparently got away and hid away– smart. That’s how he came to be at one of her contracts, waiting until she’d pulled the trigger before making himself known from around the corner he’d been waiting– of course he’d known where it was because he was the one to submit the contract under some false name.

          The outlaw turns, letting the corpse collapse to her feet and one eye fixed down the length of her barrel as it’s aimed towards the voice. Her teeth bare like the proverbial beast. Blood is drying on the mask concealing her face; a hellish skeletal guise that’s just so her. Her finger itches on the trigger, but she doesn’t attack. Not yet. Something about that voice is hauntingly familiar.

          Too familiar. It couldn’t be. “Jack?” That visible eye widens. That’s it. She’s finally lost it. The dead have finally come to haunt her. She’s spent too long on Pandora, wandering through its disease and filth. It was only a matter of time. Comical, really. You’ve finally lost your mind, Ms Kadam, she laughs at herself.