3 The Next Piece

Kane was woken up the next morning, or still night time I guess, to Brick violently shaking him. "Hey, I'm starving man, let's eat!!" Brick said, wanting to have his breakfast already.

"*AAAGGHHH* Brick!! If you don't let me go back to sleep I'll never give you another steak again!" Kane screamed, pissed off at having been so violently woken up.

Brick grumbled in annoyance before he left Kane's room, shouting "YOU WERE RIGHT, MORDY!! HE WAS MAD!!"

After hearing that, Kane was even more annoyed at Brick. Taking almost another full hour to wake up, Kane walked outside before he was almost smashed into the ground as Brick appeared out of nowhere, shouting "Is it breakfast time yet?!!"

Annoyed even further Kane grumbled "For someone so freaking huge, you'd think you would make noise when you approached!!" Getting himself calmed, he walked back inside his room before coming out with another tray of food.

After putting it on the table, he left the room saying he had to go relieve himself, but as soon as he was out the door, he teleported towards the Dahl Headland. None of the Vault Hunters were his responsibility, so he didn't feel one bit obligated to tell them he was leaving. Plus he wasn't sure Brick would even let him leave.

The only plan he could come up with for now was to get the next key fragment, but he wasn't really sure where Krom's Canyon was, but he knew if he got to New Haven he'd be able to find it.

Following his echo device, he crossed the gate to the Dahl Headland after about ten minutes, then almost immediately spotted Ernest Whitting's little shack.

The guy knew the Headlands better than anyone else, and after giving him directions to New Haven, while also challenging him to hunt Skagzilla, he took off. Not one to turn down a decent challenge, he appeared where the creature was marked on the echo, then set out the bait, it being a body he had picked up along the way.

He didn't need to wait long, cause less than 10 seconds later the biggest skag he had ever seen shot out of cave and devoured the body in one bite. Taking the challenge like it was, he teleported to the things back and slammed both daggers through it's spine, getting pained cries from the thing.

It tried to get him off, but alas, he was in it for the long run, keeping at least one dagger in the thing at all times, while the other went to work stabbing it over and over, mutilating the thing more than Freddy Krueger.

After about five minutes of constant surgery, the thing managed to shake him off, but before it could reach him, he drew his SMG and starting filling the thing full of lead. It took longer than expected, but in the end he came out on top of the thing.

He stored it away in his inventory, then went back to Ernest to show off his prize. "Well I'll be damned!!" Ernest said, amazed that he even brought the carcass with him. "I'll give ya $15,000 for it!" Ernest said, already getting his knives ready to clean it up.

After leaving Ernest, Kane headed towards New Haven, but stopped when he spotted a few vehicles down below. He figured one could never have too many cars, so he teleported to each car and systematically killed everyone on board before storing the cars away in his inventory.

By the end of an hour, he had 6 more cars added to his collection. He also went around to bandit camps and robbed all the fuel tanks, giving him enough fuel to last for months, and that's if he just drove his car from now on.

Deciding he was done with Dahl Headland, he quickly made it to New Haven, where he met Marcus and the other people, which wasn't as exciting as he thought it would be. 'Do I continue being an Assassin, be a Vault Hunter, or do I simply go around and get paid for odd jobs?' He thought tiredly.

It was fun to hang out with Brick, but the guy was a man-child at the best of times, and a blood craving maniac at the worst. Mordy was fun, a little too into his bird, but still a good guy. With just a glance it was plain as day that Lilith and Roland had a thing for each other like in the game, so he couldn't really get with her, which he would have if it was an option.

He wouldn't force himself on anyone, regardless if it was someone who deserved it, he could never allow himself to sink so low, but he was all for paying for it if he found someone to his liking.

He was brought out of his musings when he heard a voice from his echo device. "I am talking. The lady with scars where her face should be, believes that you and I are looking for the same thing. You should come to me now so I can see the artifact you have recovered." Then the echo device shut off.

"Seriously, Tannis?!!" Kane shouted at the device, not believing the woman just expected him to go there. "If I feel like it I will, but until then, fat chance woman!!" He added as he went back to talk to Helena Pierce.

"Excuse me, but could you update my echo device with a map of the surrounding area's? I need to figure out where the hell it is I'm going?" Kane asked the scarred woman.

"You've got some nerve, Vault Hunter, strutting into New Haven like the world owes you something. Well, I've got news for you. You pull your own weight here, or you die. Before I lift one finger to help you on your mad quest for the Vault, you're going to do something for me.

The last electrical storm blew out New Haven's power grid. Scooter tells me the equipment is fixed now, but someone needs to go reactivate all the generators. That's where you come in. You activate them, and I'll get your echo up to date on all the places in the system." Helena said, getting a nod of agreement from Kane. She marked where all of the generators were on his map, then sent him on his way.

After he reactivated the generators, he checked out the vending machines, and to his great joy he found an epic sniper, and a proper SMG. The one he had before just didn't have the stopping power that he required, but this new one had it in spades.

It also had jack shit for recoil, so he could keep it fairly accurate. The sniper on the other hand was better than any of the ten he currently had, and after checking the price for the thing from the store, he realized Marcus might have just not priced it properly, considering the fact it was about 12 times cheaper than the price of his store.

He wanted to just get the guns from the store, but the really nice guns, guns which looked as though they were proper Borderlands guns, were just too expensive, the prices going from twenty-five thousand dollars to one hundred and eighty million dollars, and he had no doubt that these guns were worth it.

He still hadn't found any pistols that were as nice as his Glock's, and none had their power, not even some Jacobs guns he'd checked out. Going back to Helena, she fired up the power grid, then plugged his echo device into her computer. A few minutes later and he now had a proper map of the areas.

"Well, I'll be seeing ya." Kane said as he rushed outside and teleported into the sky, then glided towards Krom's Canyon.

His quest to Krom's Canyon was a lot different then he thought it would play out. He thought he would be sneaking along the cliff face until he made it to Krom, but he just sort of fell on him. After getting to the canyon, he wanted to drop down to see where Krom would be, but the place he landed had a short little fucker in a turret and a few body guards beside him.

When he landed, they all started screaming, "Krom!!" then looked towards the little guy. Not needing to be told twice, Kane appeared behind Krom and sliced the top half of his head off, then proceeded to "clean" up the remainders.

Instead of getting the key and leaving, he had to pull out his sniper and start shooting bandit after bandit, the hoard of them not stopping until the last one was down. He knew they were fucked up, but running right into a line of fire with nothing but an axe was pure suicide.

The turret was also put to good use, allowing Kane to rip the bandits apart by the dozens, while also being a fun new experience for Kane. The turret was something he had never tried before in either world, and he had to admit, it was awesome!!

He stored Krom's turret, and all the gear from the people around him, then started checking containers. It wasn't until he got to the fourth silver chest that he found the second vault key fragment, which caused him to smile wide.

'How badly do I wanna fuck with the future...?' He thought wickedly as he moved onward. The third fragment would be in the Trash Coast, and he already had a vague idea of where it was, so he could avoid fighting the Rakk Hive monstrosity if he wanted, but he had an idea as to how he could end that fight quickly.

Leaving Krom's Canyon, Kane tried to find somewhere that he could relax, but this being Pandora and all, that would be kinda hard. He made it to the Rust Commons, but that place was nothing but a cesspool, so he quickly went somewhere else.

In the end, he got to the top of a mountain and brought out a freight container, then used it as a home for the night. Over the next few days, (24 hour days) Kane learned something very important. There wasn't anything on this planet that wouldn't trying to kill you.

Birds, plants, any form of wildlife, and the fish were downright poisonous. He wasn't sure if he would survive eating one of those things, at least the one's close to Treacher's Landing. The water here also looked contaminated, but hoped that further out, it might be more pleasing to creatures.

He knew from playing Borderlands 2 that the planet wasn't completely covered in garbage, but so far he had yet to find one clean area. He had been exploring a few bandit camps, when he found something he wasn't expecting to find.

"What are you doing here, kid?" Kane asked the small child who had short white hair, looked like he/she was on their last leg, and was wearing a metal cage around their head.

"Are you going to eat me now?" The child asked in a defeated voice, avoiding his question all together. Arching an eyebrow up at the child's words, Kane's asked, "If they were gonna eat you, shouldn't they be trying to fatten you up? You look like you barely even have a few bites on ya."

Yeah, he wasn't exactly the nicest person. 'This might explain why you rarely ever saw kids in the game!! They lasted clear until someone hungry enough found them.' Kane thought darkly as he came to that conclusion.

There was tiny Tina of course, but she was a special case, having been blowing people up since she could run, and having had Brick as her guardian. No one wanted to mess with that walking calamity!!

Finally breaking out of his dark musings, he replied to the question, "No, I'm not gonna eat you. Honestly I think you'd give me some disease if I did, so I'll pass." In response to his answer, the child curled back into a ball on the floor, waiting for the inevitable moment of dinner time.

After a few minutes of just staring at the kid, Kane finally acted. He moved slowly and got rid of the cage around the child's head, then gave her/him some water as well as a bowl full of rice. "Well, you eat this and then go find some place where you won't be an item on the menu. If you search around, you might find a gun or two, so you should be fine. Anyway, good luck!" Kane said with a smile as he left the kid on the table with a bowl of hot rice.

He wandered around the base for a bit longer, finding a few money stashes, some shitty guns, lots of ammo, and to his disgust, a bone pile. What disgusted him wasn't really the fact that they were mostly human bones, but how many of them he could see with just a glance, and how many of those were tiny.

The little kid popped into his head, but he got rid of that thought right away. He didn't want to raise a kid, he didn't even know where to begin even if he wanted to, which he didn't. As he left the bone pile, he noticed the little kid standing in the doorway, staring intently at him, prompting him to ask, "What?"

For a few seconds there was only silence, but eventually the kid asked, "Can I go with you?" Kane scoffed before he let out a small chuckle before he answered, "Listen here ya little fruitcake!! I'd rather-" He was cut-off when he noticed tears pouring down the kids eyes, then dropped to her/his knees.

"P-Please?!! The odds of me dying alone are set in stone without your help!! I'll work for you! I can cook and clean! I'll do anything!!" Kane was momentarily stunned at the kids words, the idea actually getting through.

Not liking where he was going, he shook his head to clear his head, then rolled his eyes. "Kid, I'm gonna be killing a lot of people, and doing things you really wouldn't want to see. Plus I really don't want to look after a kid!" He said, causing the kid to start sobbing even louder.

"This world sucks! I've witnessed every cruel thing you could possibly imagine, and if you want to burn the planet to nothing, then I'll help!! I'll even ignite the flames, just please take me with you!!"

After hearing the words, Kane sighed, kicked the wall, destroyed a table and a chair, and a few dinner plates, but he calmed down rather quickly. "Fine!! But I don't want any lip from you about what I do! Got it?!!" He said, crossing his arms with a frown on his face.

Like this, Kane spent the next few days trying to bring the little girl back to life, and she was a girl he had found out after he removed her clothes. She was barley 5 or 6 years old, didn't know her own name, and would only say a few words a day to him.

It pissed him off how every time he came near her she would slightly flinch, but would make no move to run away from him. Seeing her do that, he wanted to yell at her, but given what she must have went through, it was understandable.

Seeing her lay there in her bed, it reminded him of his own childhood, although the experiences were far different. Her parents were probably killed an eaten by some bandits or monsters, while his were killed by him.

Sadistic bastards who took great pleasure in hurting others, especially his friends. Killing his best friend Arron had been the last straw though, and after seeing what remained of him, Kane slit his parents throats while they slept, then fed their bodies to the pigs.

It was then he learned to fend for himself, learned that some people just needed to die, and that he wouldn't survive if he didn't do something. So he did. Looking down at the little girl, he pulled out a gun, causing her to flinch, but she was visibly surprised when he put the gun in her hands.

"Just point this end at someone and pull the trigger. As long as your aim is good, and you hit the right spot, you should be able to take out most things on this planet. When you're old enough, and got some more meat on your bones, I'll start training you how to defend yourself, how to kill people, and all in all, how to survive." The little girl was so stunned at Kane's words, she didn't even realize tears were pouring down her face.

After almost two weeks since he had found the girl, she started to walk, only a few steps at first, but she was getting there. Kane would often read to her and to both their surprise, she picked up reading rather quickly.

One day he told her that he would have to leave for a few hours, and to keep the doors locked and her gun's at the ready at all times. She nodded in confirmation, then he disappeared. He didn't know how many more days he had before the vault would need to be opened, but he knew it wasn't that long.

He made his way to the Trash Coast, and after bypassing everyone and everything, he followed along a certain cliffside until he came to a cavern. Walking down a narrow pathway, he came to a silver chest that looked like it was in the stomach of a dead beast.

Opening the chest, he found the remaining piece of the vault key, which he stored inside his inventory. Instead of leaving the cavern right away, he looked up. It was there he spotted his key for ending the Destroyer.

After getting everything ready, Kane called up Brick, who by the tone of his voice, was both pissed off and elated to hear from him. "KANE!! Where the fuck have you been?!!" Brick shouted, still a mixture of anger and happiness.

"Some shit came up, and I've had my hands full. Anyway, I called to see if you wanted to go open the vault? I got all the key fragments, but I can't guarantee my victory in fighting what might be in there. Got about a 95% chance though, but with you there we could make it 100%." Kane said, getting a cruel laugh from Brick.

"HELL YEAH, I'M COMING!! We're all in New Haven, so the sooner you get here, the sooner we can go open up the damn thing." Brick answered, to which Kane said he would be there in a few hours, then took off back to his hideout.

Approaching the place, everything was just as he had left it. Going over to the door, he knocked on the door in a weird rhythm, to which he waited ten seconds, then knocked two more times in quick succession.

The first knock was to let her know it was him, and the second knock was to let her know he was alone and it was okay, but if she didn't receive the second knock, she was suppose to take the escape tunnel and when she got to the end, detonate the explosives underground beneath the hideout.

He waited for a few seconds before the door opened and the girl opened the door. "Glad your back." She said as she hobbled back to her bed. "Thanks, so am I. Pack some stuff, we're going to town." He said, earning a weird look from the girl. "Why are we going to town?" She asked curiously.

"Cause I gotta go fight a monster with some friends, and I don't know when or if I'll be back, so I'm gonna take you to town." He answered honestly, which might not have been the best answer considering the girl looked as though she was gonna burst into tears at any moment.

Before her tears could fall, Kane flicked her between the eyes, causing a "Ow!!" from her. "I don't want any water works!! Besides, have a little faith in me! You're acting like I'm not coming back!" Kane said as he pat her on the head.

"But you're gonna fight a big monster!!" She cried out, fear evident in her voice. "What was it I told you about being scared?" He asked, his question causing the girl to attempt to steady her breathing.

"I-I am strong, I'm smart, and I am brave! So go fuck yourself!" She said, repeating the words he had taught her. "That's right. This world is not kind to it's inhabitants, so we must answer in kind. There are some things that need to happen, and one of them is that this monster needs to die. But don't worry, Okay? You should know me by now, and I'm not gonna let some monster get rid of me that easy." He said as he moved a few feet away then starred into her eyes.

"Have you picked a name for yourself yet?" He asked as he looked into her bright sapphire blue eyes. The reason he hadn't just given her a name was because she had asked to pick her own name, and he didn't see a problem with it, but now that they were going into town, she would need one.

"I did, but you can't laugh at it." She said as she averted her gaze, her cheeks going a crimson shade. "Don't worry, I won't laugh." He said as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, trying to keep his annoyance out of his voice. "Luna." She squeaked out in a whisper, but still loud enough for him to hear.

He repeated the name a few times, and found the name suited her quite well, plus it fit her to a T. Her hair was snow white, and she had diamond sapphire blue eyes that depicted the night sky. "Alright then, Luna. Pack a bag, and be sure to keep your gun with you at all times." He said, getting a firm nod in return.

Once they were both ready, Kane tied Luna on his back, then they shot through the sky, only this time it was a bit different. He had made a few modifications to his attire over the last few days, one of which was a squirrel suit kind of thing. Now instead of the constant teleporting, he could just teleport extremely high into the air before gliding to wherever it was he was trying to go.

The time it took to get to places was a lot faster than it was before, plus with some experimenting, he was able to get his distance of travel a lot further, now it was somewhere around 70 feet. Apparently the better control, and the more power he used, he could advance his power further.

Getting to New Haven took about an hour since he talked with Brick, and when he swooped in from the sky, the few people that watched it were a little awestruck, and sad to say, one of them was Brick.

"You gotta let me try that!!" Brick shouted out as he ran up to Kane. "*Sigh* Brick, once we're all done with this vault, I'll give you your own suit and we'll go gliding." Kane said tiredly, but his words just seemed to pump up the hulking child.

"AWESOME!! You hear that Mordy?!!" Brick shouted to Mordecai who was leaning against a building a few feet away from them. "Yeah, yeah. Good for you Brick." Mordecai answered back lazily, then mumbled some words in Spanish that Kane didn't quite understand.

"So you have the Vault Key?" Roland asked, coming to stand next to Brick. "Right here." Kane said as he pulled the key from a pocket at his side, but really they were in his inventory. "*Whistle* To think that this thing is the key to alien treasure." Lilith said, whistling appreciatively at the alien relic.

"Alright, let's take it to Tannis. She said she knows where the vault is, and that we will need another piece before we go." Roland said, heading over to a vehicle.

'Oh right, I forgot about Tannis lying to them and giving the key to Atlas, then getting betrayed herself.' Kane thought with some amusement in his eyes. He was just about to tell them there was no fourth piece, when a thought occurred to him.

'Could it work?' He asked himself. His mind went through everything he understood about the situation, and if it worked... He turned to look over his shoulder, staring at Luna seriously. 'It would help her immensely.' He thought, finally deciding on the next course of action.

"Hold up for a minute. I gotta go talk to Marcus." Kane said as he walked to Marcus' shop here in New Haven, then greeted the big man himself. "Greetings Customer! Whatever you need, I'm the guy to go to!!" Marcus said, always happy to make a deal.

"Hey Marcus. I need a favor." Kane said, untying Luna from his back. "If you watch her while we go deal with some things, I'll either give you $10,000 or a cut of whatever we find in the vault." Kane said, earning himself a smile that nearly split Marcus' whole face.

"You gotta deal!! Cash up front, you know, just in case you die." Marcus said, extending his hand for the payment. Kane counted out the money, then handed it to Marcus before he turned to Luna.

"Alright, Marcus is gonna watch you for a bit, but some things have changed. I'm gonna need you to trust me, and if everything works out like I'm hoping, you'll get something awesome." Kane said, getting a saddened smile from Luna. He could tell she didn't want him to go, but she wouldn't try to stop him at least.

"Come back soon, alright?" She said, then hugged him tightly. 'What the fuck?!!' Kane thought as he pried her off of him. "When I get back, we need to have a talk about boundaries!" He said, this time letting his annoyance show as plain as day, then left the shop.

As he exited the building, he heard Marcus say "That was disgusting! Don't do it again!" Followed by the man dry heaving. 'A little dramatic, but understandable.' Kane thought as he made it over to Brick and the others.

"Alright, I'll meet you guys at Tannis' place. Should only take you a few hours to get there." Kane said, to which the four of them nodded. Brick looked as though he was gonna speak up, but before he could, Kane shut it down. "No, Brick."

The big man wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't argue. The people around them still didn't know the extent to Kane's powers, and the both of them would rather keep it that way.

Kane watched as Roland and the other three Vault hunters drove off, then he found a secluded place where no one was watching before he disappeared into the sky.

'I wonder how crazy the woman actually is?' He thought as he flew through the Rust Commons.