Alex didn't yet know that the Sanctuary had already been teleported thanks to Lilith's powers, and that the whole city was now somewhere else. He would only find out when it came time to report on the completed assignment.
He did know that the Sanctuary was supposed to lift off and that Lilith would sooner or later relocate the city. But exactly when that would happen remained a mystery. And, as luck would have it, the goddess of Fortune decided to joke with him again. She always could.
The reason Alex was unaware was that events in this particular universe differed noticeably from the original timeline. For example, Roland—who by rights should still be alive—had already died: he sacrificed himself, throwing the Vault's guardian into the abyss. As a result, the responsibilities of the resistance leader had fallen to Lilith. Although by canon that should've happened only after Roland had fallen at Hands of Handsome Jack.
But right now Alex was thinking about something else. Around him lay the sliced-up bodies of Hyperion soldiers and the mangled remains of Loader Bots—robots Jack had ordered into battle. Originally those machines were built for cargo transport and repair work on the Helios orbital station, but Dr. Langua turned them into instruments of war. He'd given Jack an army of mechanical soldiers.
Alex sheathed his katana, lit a cigarette, and scanned the battlefield strewn with corpses and debris. Exhaling smoke into the sky, he thought that all those dead fighters would return sooner or later. Hyperion had a "life insurance" system—Rebirth Stations. These devices scanned a person, saving their memories and bioprint. If someone died (and on Pandora this happened all the time), their body could be reconstructed at the nearest station where they were registered.
Rubbing his chin, Alex tried to remember exactly how they worked. The details slipped away—only the general mechanism remained. His gaze lifted to the Helios orbital station. For a moment it felt as if he could pierce the wall with his sight and saw Jack sitting in the director's office. Huge windows looked out over Pandora, and Jack stood by the glass, expressionless, staring down.
For a second Alex felt the urge to teleport there and beat him half to death. He restrained himself.
Instead his thoughts shifted: maybe he should first steal all Hyperion's data and research? Rebirth Stations, life-support systems, robot designs… all of it would be extremely useful. And Becca, Moira, and Revy certainly wouldn't forgive him if he came back without blueprints for weapons, grenade modules, and energy shields.
"Alright, later. One thing at a time. First the cargo on the train, then maybe a raid on Helios," he muttered, crossing his arms.
The women watching the stream could hardly keep from rolling their eyes. Some didn't even try—the idea that Alex would resist the temptation to break into an orbital station—or take it whole—was plainly absurd. Had he known what they were thinking, he would've slapped his forehead for missing the idea: why be satisfied with data when you can steal the entire Helios?
For now, though, he decided to deal with the train. The soldiers and robots defended it fiercely, which meant the cargo was worth it. Approaching the first car, Alex grabbed the heavy door and tore it off its hinge in one motion. Rows of yellow metal lockers greeted him inside.
"Weapons," he muttered, stepping to one of the cabinets.
Touching the panel, he heard a hissing and steam burst from the seams—clearly for theatrics. Alex rolled his eyes at the showmanship and looked inside. About a dozen weapon samples painted in Hyperion's trademark yellow were stored there.
Picking up a pistol, he examined it. As he remembered from old times playing the game set in this world, Hyperion's weapons left a lot to be desired. The design was ridiculous and the ergonomics awful.
"Not even worth using… maybe strip for parts," Alex grumbled, turning the pistol over in his hands.
"I'll take that, handsome!" a familiar voice called.
A portal opened behind him and Becca jumped out, grinning.
Alex didn't even have time to register what had happened when a portal flared open behind him, and out popped his green-haired gremlin like a jack-in-the-box. Without a moment's hesitation, Becca grabbed him by the collar and locked lips with him in a fierce kiss. Before he could even catch his breath, she was already darting around the train car in a whirlwind, snatching up every single weapon locker with ridiculous speed and tossing them back into the portal.
When the last locker vanished into the shimmering rift, Becca pecked Alex on the lips again—this time quicker, almost teasingly—and with a single leap disappeared back into the portal, leaving him standing alone. The car, which moments ago had been crammed with Hyperion weaponry, now gaped empty. Alex stood in the silence, stunned, with no idea what the hell had just happened.
Slowly coming back to his senses, he raised an eyebrow, rubbed his chin absently, and let out a heavy sigh. Deep down, he knew all too well: if there was a pile of weapons lying around waiting to be taken apart, Becca would never let it slip through her fingers. Memories stirred—Night City, the times he had to raid gang warehouses just for her sake, and how, no matter what, he could never refuse her.
"Lilith did say I was supposed to bring her some Hyperion weapon samples…" he muttered, glancing around the now-empty train car.
Right then, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Alex pulled it out, checked the message—and immediately rolled his eyes.
"That's your problem now, cupcake," Becca had written, dripping with mischief.
"Of course…" he sighed, tucking the phone away. There was no point arguing with the green-haired gremlin—he never won those fights anyway.
With a forceful yank, he tore open the doors to the next car and vaulted inside. This time, rows of yellow crates emblazoned with the Hyperion logo greeted him. Each one, however, bore the symbol of a shield.
"Hm… energy shields," he noted instantly.
A surge of excitement ran through his veins. It felt just like walking into a loot room in a game, the kind crammed with unopened chests. Wasting no time, Alex ripped the seals off all the crates at once and waited for the lids to spring open with a clatter.
Only, there were no dazzling rarity glows or beams of light. Just stacks of shield specification data. Alex skimmed through them quickly—and scowled.
"Trash…" he muttered. "Might be worth breaking down for parts, at best."
He was about to move on when his phone pinged again. This time, it was a message from his wife, Hephaestus. She simply asked him to send all the crates to her workshop—she was too busy to do it herself.
Alex couldn't help but smile and shot back a heart emoji. Then, with a flick of his hand, he opened a portal straight into her workshop and began tossing the crates through without ceremony. They were sturdy; they'd survive the trip.
Once that was done, he pushed forward, ripping open the doors to the next car. What he saw inside was far more interesting: neat rows of wooden crates. Alex arched a brow, pried open one lid—and froze.
Inside lay rows upon rows of iridium ingots, glowing faintly with a soft violet light. He pulled one out—it looked more like a crystal than metal, shimmering with a mysterious radiance and cool against his palm.
He checked the other crates one after another, and sure enough, the entire car was packed with refined iridium.
"Not bad…" he drawled, tossing the crystalline ingot lightly from hand to hand.
Fragments of knowledge resurfaced in his mind. Iridium could only be found on Pandora. And that wasn't by chance—the planet's mantle itself was made entirely of the ore. The Eridians had done this deliberately, to contain the being sealed inside the planet. The Destroyer.
Alex gazed thoughtfully at the violet glow.
"If I'm not mistaken… and I'm not," he murmured aloud, "Pandora is basically a prison. A whole planet built to keep a single creature locked away."
He smirked, flipping the ingot into the air and catching it in his palm.
"Hm… looks like I'll have to stick around this universe a little longer. Can't just leave without taking a peek at the beast a whole race built a planet-sized cage to hold."
Alex tried to recall exactly what the Destroyer looked like. Only a vague image surfaced in his memory: the monster the Eridians had once sealed in Pandora's depths. A huge, slug-like body with powerful protrusions stretching out like long tentacles. They sprouted from bladder-like bulges that looked like purple boils filled with glowing fluid. The Destroyer was something between a giant slug and a monstrous octopus or squid.
Alex gave a crooked smirk. His experience as a worlds-savior told him one thing — trouble always followed creatures like that. He clicked his tongue, admitting the obvious: his father, the Creator, would never have brought the granddaughters here for no reason. It was a hint. Veiled, but clear. Work on Pandora — that's what was expected of him.
"Clever move, old man…" Alex muttered, tossing the iridium ingot and catching it in his palm. "Bring the granddaughters here so they find friends, get into trouble, and then I clean up the mess. Brilliant. The cards were dealt perfectly."
His phone buzzed. Alex set the crystal aside, pulled out the device and, as he'd expected, saw a message from the Creator.
"You figured me out, son. I can't interfere directly, but that doesn't mean I can't nudge you toward the problem that needs solving."
Alex sighed and typed a reply:
"'And the payment?'"
The message came back almost instantly.
"Everything you find in the Vaults will be your payment. For you and for the whole family. And tell my daughter-in-law I say hello. Don't forget that in another world you have far more problems waiting. So don't linger on Pandora — return to where you must be."
Alex's eyelid twitched. All that remained was to exhale and light a cigarette.
No sooner had he put the phone away than it buzzed again with new messages. The first was from Lucina: she said only about an hour had passed since he left, so he had plenty of time to sort things out on Pandora. Alex just smiled and replied with an emoji. The second message was from his wife Hephaestus — she asked him to send a few crates of iridium for experiments.
Seeing no reason to refuse, Alex opened a portal and shipped half the crates straight to his wife's workshop. He decided to give the rest to Lilith — you couldn't show up empty-handed.
Hiding the remaining iridium in his inventory, he moved to the next car. This one was noticeably larger than the previous. He ripped the door open, jumped inside — and immediately understood why.
They were transporting live creatures: Skags of various breeds, spider-like Spiderants with crab-like armor, cages of Rakk swarms, a container of sand writhing with Sand Worms, and even a single Skrakk. Seeing a Skag-Rakk hybrid made Alex smirk — maybe this was the very Skag Dr. Zed had sewn wings onto at Nyaruko and Tina's request.
He wondered what to do with the cargo, when his phone buzzed once more. This time the message was from White: she asked him to send all these creatures to the lab for autopsy and possible breeding.
Alex weighed the pros and cons. Skags could still be tamed, but the rest of Pandora's fauna would tear any fool apart in an instant.
And then, right in front of him, a portal opened. Out stepped Red and White in lab coats, followed by Rekka, who immediately rushed toward the cages with the wide-eyed curiosity of a child entering a zoo.
"Girls, need a hand moving all this? The containers aren't exactly light," Alex asked, glancing at the trio.
"If it's not too much trouble," Rekka smiled and hugged him tightly. "Never thought I'd be dissecting alien creatures. This is so exciting!"
Alex stroked her hair.
"I'm glad it inspires you. And… I've got a crazy idea. Maybe we could use these beasts in Orario. Not sure it would work, but…"
"What kind of idea?" Red narrowed her eyes, clearly intrigued.
"Try introducing them into the Dungeon's ecosystem," Alex said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Stage an expedition with the Loki and Freya familias. Let them test if these creatures can adapt."
"You can't be serious," White said, giving him a cold look. "Explain yourself."
Alex nodded.
"The Dungeon is a living organism. A self-sustaining system with its own ecosphere. Every monster that appears there can also be found on the surface. I thought: what if we added new species? Like grafting a branch onto a tree — to create a new breed. If the Dungeon accepts them, they'll start spawning naturally."
"Hm…" Rekka nodded. "Interesting thought. You think it'll work?"
"It should," Alex said with confidence. "After my interference, the Dungeon core changed. New monsters started appearing. So there's a chance."
"Quite an intriguing experiment," Red said, exchanging glances with her sisters. "I think it's worth a try."
Alex smiled and nodded, genuinely excited by the upcoming experiment. The idea of artificially populating the Dungeon with new creatures stirred his imagination. But what intrigued him even more was the question: what kind of materials would drop from Pandora's beasts? In the game, there was always a chance they'd drop weapons or iridium ore. Weapons, Alex dismissed immediately as nonsense, but the possibility of harvesting iridium directly in the Dungeon — without digging through Pandora's mantle — seemed very tempting.
And then there were the mutations: Skags, for instance, could turn into fiery, acidic, or even crystalline forms. Helping the girls move the cages, Alex quickly finished the work, after which Red, White, and Rekka thanked him with kisses before heading back through the portal to the lab. When the gateway closed, he jumped out of the freight car and made his way to the next one.
At the fourth car, Alex raised an eyebrow. Bright warning signs were painted on the metal doors: "DANGER," "CERTAIN DEATH."
"Well, well… if they say death is waiting inside, that means there's definitely something interesting," he smirked, gripping the handles.
With one sharp pull, he ripped the doors off their hinges and leapt inside. The car was fairly spacious, except for four massive containers, reinforced as though someone desperately wanted to make sure their contents never escaped.
Intrigued, Alex went straight to the control panel and quickly broke into Hyperion's system. The report stated that the cargo was "extremely valuable and extremely dangerous," and anyone daring to open the containers accepted full responsibility. His curiosity only burned hotter. Digging further, he found logs from the scientist overseeing the transport. The man described a new, unique Skag mutation — so dangerous that coming closer than ten meters was strictly forbidden. Even at that distance, the researcher claimed, the threat of death remained.
Alex closed the report with an annoyed snort.
"Empty chatter. Not a single solid explanation… Fine then. You wanted mystery? You've got it. I'll see for myself what kind of beasts you've cooked up," he muttered, narrowing his eyes.
Hacking the panel, Alex opened the containers. Immediately, an alarm blared through the car, signaling a breach of containment. A cold draft seeped out, and a thick fog crept along the floor, curling around his legs. Alex waved his hand to disperse the haze and saw the Skags lying inside the blocks, frozen in thick ice.
And then, right before his eyes, the creatures opened their eyes. Cracks ran through the icy blocks—and in the next second, all four monsters burst free at once, roaring as they lunged at him.
"Sit," Alex said coldly.
And the impossible happened. All four froze, settling onto their haunches and looking up at him with whining expressions, like obedient dogs.
Now he could examine them properly. Enormous, horse-sized Shires, each one terrifying in its own way.
The first was black, with white bony patterns across its armor and a skull-like mask on its head; darkness swirled around it.
The second was a sickly swamp-green; viscous fluid oozed from beneath its scales and claws, leaving a poisonous mist in its wake.
The third was pale and emaciated, as if starved, yet radiating unnatural strength; a cold, ghostly fog enveloped it.
The fourth was crimson, as if drenched in blood; red liquid dripped from its scales, turning into a dense red mist.
Alex squinted at his "new pets."
"You're such interesting little creatures… and all so different. Well, let's see just how dangerous you really are," he muttered, reaching out to stroke each one.
As Alex ran his hand over the rough scales of the Skags, all four responded with a satisfied growl, almost like a dog's snarl. Their reaction involuntarily made him smirk—the creatures described as uncontrollable incarnations of death now looked almost domesticated.
Finished with the pets, he pulled out his portable lab. First technology—if that didn't work, then magic. Alex collected samples of the black mist surrounding the first Skag, and within seconds, he had results. Whistling, he read the report twice.
The mist from the black beast caused instant death upon entering a living body. No pain, no agony—just death, like a switch had been flipped. Any living creature that approached it died immediately.
Alex squinted, growing even more intrigued, and began analyzing the second—the green, sickly-looking one. Moments later, the system spat out a report longer than a kilometer. The mist around this creature carried thousands of diseases, from the simplest to the incurable, with some strains the system couldn't even identify. The green Skag was a walking reservoir of contagion.
"Hm… interesting," Alex muttered, casting a long glance at the mutant.
Next came the pale, emaciated Skag. The new report was no less horrifying: its mist teemed with carnivorous bacteria that, upon entering a host, multiplied uncontrollably, consuming the body from within. The victim would turn into pink jelly in less than a day.
Lighting a cigarette, Alex moved on to the last one—the crimson, blood-red Skag. The report stunned even him. The mist of the red Skag was oversaturated with hormones—testosterone, adrenaline, oxytocin, cortisol, dopamine. Any living creature that inhaled it instantly turned into a berserker, tearing everything around it until its heart exploded from the overload. And a single drop of liquid from its body could turn an entire city into an arena of bloody madness.
Alex took a drag and smirked.
"You're dangerous little ones… Let you loose, and it would be a true Apocalypse. Ha… exactly! That's who you remind me of." He snapped his fingers. "Four Horsemen. Death—black. Plague—green. Famine—white. War—red. Perfect. Now I have my very own Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
The girls watching the feed were stunned. Each new report only confirmed that these creatures could destroy an entire city in a single day. Yet none of them were surprised by Alex's decision to keep them. On the contrary—it was better for such creatures to be under his control than in the hands of a madman.
For complete certainty, Alex performed a magical analysis. A circle flared beneath the Skags' paws, and a stream of data flooded his mind. He learned little that was new, except for confirmation: the black beast's mist truly caused instant tissue necrosis on contact with skin, if not inhaled, making it the deadliest of them all.
"Hm, and where to keep you so no one gets accidentally killed?" Alex muttered, tapping his chin with his fingers.
Then his gaze fell on his own shadow. A light bulb literally lit up above his head. The Skags immediately stared at the flickering glow with childlike curiosity.
"The Red City," Alex said quietly, smirking. "That's where you belong."
He addressed the shadow:"Darling, you don't mind taking care of these little ones, do you?"
From the darkness appeared scarlet letters, written in blood: "I don't mind."
Alex smiled. He petted the Skags one more time, and at that moment, a pool of blood spread beneath them. The creatures sank into it and vanished as if into water. Now Zhang Ya had four new pets—extremely dangerous ones.
Alex exhaled in relief and took a deep drag, feeling satisfied. He realized he owed Lilit more thanks than he had expected: besides the ore and other valuable finds, he now had his very own Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
"Alright…" he said, flicking the ash and smirking. "I'll take care of a few more tasks for Lilit. I still plan to save Angel, teach Handsome Jack a lesson, and find the way to the Destroyer's Vault. And I've got enough time… so I'll play the hero. Just like my little princesses wanted."
But then Alex froze. Memories of the two siren twins, capable of absorbing the powers of their kind, surfaced. He knew the next major events of this world wouldn't unfold for another seven years, and that they—Calypso's brother and sister—would become the main villains, striving to unlock the Great Vault.
A debate immediately began in Alex's mind. What to do with the twins? Kill them now, once and for all, sparing the inhabitants of Pandora and other planets from future catastrophe? Or just intimidate them? They were barely fifteen, maybe a little older. He didn't want to kill teenagers, even knowing that in the future they would bring nothing but disaster to the world.
"Hmm… what to do with Calypso, Tyryn, and Troy? Kill them? Intimidate them? Or try to reconcile them with their father?..." Alex muttered, exhaling a stream of smoke and staring at the sky above Pandora. "Alright, I still have time."
But doubts didn't leave him. One way or another, he would have to find their father, Typhon, who had tried with all his might to protect the children from Pandora's madness. Typhon was the one who knew where the entrance to the main Vault was, where the Destroyer had been sealed. Meanwhile, the Calypso twins believed their father had kept them on a short leash, depriving them of freedom.
Sighing, Alex turned to the Hyperion freight train and decided to destroy it before leaving. He rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out a black cube—disguised as a toy, but in reality a powerful explosive. With a flick of his wrist, Alex hurled it toward the train. Stepping back, he activated the black cube. Immediately, an energy dome unfolded, completely covering the train. Within seconds, the dome vanished—and with it, the train itself. Only the bodies of Hyperion soldiers and the wreckage of the Loader robots remained, grim reminders of what had just happened.
With his business finished, Alex prepared to return to the Sanctuary, not yet knowing it had disappeared. He stepped forward and dissolved into thin air. In the next instant, he found himself above a chasm—exactly where the city should have stood.
Not immediately realizing what was happening, Alex plummeted downward like a meteor.
"What the FUUUUUUUCK?!" he screamed, hurtling into the abyss.
Cursing loudly, he crashed into the very depths of the enormous hole, ending up buried under a pile of stones. Irritated, he clawed his way out and looked up at the gaping rupture in the ground where he had just fallen.
"Damn," he clicked his tongue. "Missed the moment… I wanted to see Lilit transport the entire city."
Scanning the dark walls, Alex realized he needed to get out and urgently contact his daughters to find out exactly where Lilit had moved the Sanctuary. Traveling blindly was not an option.
He took another deep breath and moved forward. This place had once been used by the Dahl Corporation as a docking area for mining ships, and now he had to make his way all the way to the surface.
To be continued…
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