Standing on the road leading to the Hyperion plant, where Eridium ore was processed, Alex couldn't help but admire the scale. The plant turned out to be far larger than he remembered from the times when he had only seen it in a video game. For a moment, he wondered: in the game, there had been no point in building such gigantic structures… But in reality, things were different — here the plant looked exactly as a true industrial complex should.
The structure itself resembled a strange hybrid of a dam and a factory. The water held back by the dam formed a massive lake, and it was literally teeming with monsters — grotesque worms the locals called Threshers. From time to time, their disgusting heads emerged from the water, as if patiently waiting for prey. Alex immediately decided not to get too close. Not because he was afraid — he simply found those creatures revolting.
Nearby stood the Vault Hunters: Maya, Axton, Zer0, and Salvador. They studied the plant while Alex, stone-faced, kept his eyes on the lake. Suddenly, the air was pierced by an unpleasant buzzing sound.
"What's that noise?" Alex frowned, raising his head.
"Looks like we've been spotted," Maya replied dryly, pointing a finger toward the sky. "It's a recon drone, a Surveyor."
Alex arched an eyebrow, studying the metallic creature that looked like a tiny airplane. Without hesitation, he drew the Blue Rose from behind his back and with a single shot blasted the drone's chassis. The robot tumbled down, erupting into a bright explosion. At that very moment, the alarm blared.
Alex exhaled wearily, watching the destroyed drone, then shifted his gaze toward the plant. Everything came alive. Loader robots instantly dropped their crates and raised their weapons, while soldiers and Hyperion workers poured out of the buildings.
"Now that's what I call a warm welcome," Salvador grinned, tightening his grip on his two shotguns.
Without waiting for orders, he roared and charged forward, unleashing his guns and showering everything around him with buckshot. His laughter thundered louder than the gunfire. Zer0 activated his camouflage, vanishing from sight as he circled around to strike from the rear. Maya and Axton darted into cover, opening precise fire.
Axton deployed his portable turret, and as it unfolded, it began mowing down enemies, turning entire ranks into a sieve. Maya, hidden behind cover, once again decided to try the new technique Alex had recently taught her — but this time she focused only on a single target.
Alex, meanwhile, stood silently, staring at the sky where the drone had just been. Only when the firefight escalated in earnest did he sigh, holster his revolver, and pull Muramasa from his inventory.
Gripping the sheath, Alex lunged forward. Bullets skimmed past, narrowly missing him. Leaping off Salvador's shoulder, he soared into the air and cleaved another Surveyor in half. He landed right in the middle of the loader robots.
A click — the sheath's mechanism fired the hilt into his palm. Using the momentum, Alex spun in a wide arc, shredding nearby enemies into scraps.
But instead of rushing further into battle, he suddenly stopped, staring at the mangled wreckage. A thought flashed through his mind: the beacon core wasn't the only thing needed. These robots might also contain useful parts.
Sliding the blade back into its sheath, he crouched and began dismantling the remains of the nearest loader, methodically prying out the mechanisms he needed.
Axton blinked in confusion when he noticed, but quickly dragged his turret closer to provide cover for Alex. The energy shield flickered and unfolded, creating a small protective barrier. Axton took up position beside it, laying down heavy fire.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Maya shouted from behind cover as she reloaded her pistols. "Stop slacking off and help us!"
"I've got no clue!" Axton yelled back over the gunfire. "But Alex is digging through the robots for something!"
From her cover, Maya shot Alex a quick glance. He paid no attention to the explosions or the firefight — calmly rummaging through another robot, pulling out its innards and scattering them in a neat row.
Salvador, meanwhile, was already cutting deep into enemy lines, unleashing a barrage of buckshot: he looked like a living turret charging forward — two shotguns, endless spray, Hyperion soldiers' bodies with gaping holes in their chests were thrown backward.
Zer0, at the same time, quietly and efficiently did his dirty but important work: behind enemy lines he organized sabotage — he disabled the respawn stations and the loader assembly stations. No one really noticed how he crept up to the commander, easily plunged his blade into the back of the man whose mask lit up with the digit 0 for a second, then dissolved back into camouflage and attacked the soldiers from the rear.
Thanks to Zer0's actions, reinforcements dwindled and the firefight quickly wound down. Alex continued to calmly dismantle a robot while Axton covered him with fire from the turret. Maya, Salvador and Zer0 came closer to see what their strange companion was doing. Corpses and scrap mechanisms were scattered around.
"Found time to dismantle robots, did you?" Maya asked, looking at his back.
"Hmm… You've already handled most of it. Good job. I'm proud," Alex replied monotonously and only slightly turned his head to glance at them.
"If you'd helped, we'd be done faster," Maya grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"I destroyed about thirty loaders. And unlike you, Zer0 did way more work: he shut down the respawn and assembly stations and even killed the commander. Without him you'd have been shooting for a long time. Great job, Zer0," Alex said, giving a thumbs-up in his direction.
"A quiet blade sings true,/ Perfection — a passing phantom,/ Your praise — a gentle echo," Zer0 whispered calmly, bowing slightly.
"Nice haiku," Alex smirked. "Now — haul me the rest of the robots so I don't have to get up from my crouch."
Axton raised an eyebrow:
"So why exactly do you need these broken loaders? Don't tell me you want to build a new robot?"
"No. I already have two robots at home; I don't need a third. But inside the loaders are communication chips — like these." Alex showed a tiny module he had pulled from a nearby chassis. "I need about ten of them."
"For the beacon?" Maya clarified, crouching beside him to look at the module in his palm.
"Right. Hurry up, time's not waiting," Alex answered briefly and clapped his hands to spur them on.
Realizing Alex hadn't been randomly poking at metal in the middle of a battle, Maya, Axton, Zer0 and Salvador started dragging chassis and discarded parts toward him. Robots whose "chests" gaped open went to the scrap pile — their innards were too damaged to be useful. Salvador even lugged over some crushed yellow sphere that had once been a loader's hull. Alex looked at it with an expression that said, "Are you serious?" — Salvador just shrugged and dropped the find nearby.
Zer0, meanwhile, methodically searched for the required modules and brought them straight to Alex's workspace. When ten chips were gathered and tucked into a pocket, the team moved on — toward the bridge over the river that separated them from the next sector of the plant.
But the bridge was raised: the control system was on the opposite bank.
"Angel says the control panel is on the other side. The part we need for the beacon is there too," Axton reported, pointing.
"And who's going to go?" Salvador grunted, looking at the wide span of water. "I, for one, can't fly."
"There's no detour," Alex answered calmly. "Only the direct way."
"What do you mean? How will you lower the bridge if the panel's over there?" Maya asked, raising an eyebrow.
Alex shrugged and walked up to the massive structure."As one wise man once said: if something doesn't work, one good hit is usually enough to make it work," and without much thought he kicked the raised barrier.
The mechanism creaked, cracked, and with a roar raised one of the sections — then with grinding and rumble the first half of the bridge dropped into place.
"And what will you do about the second half?" Maya asked with a light teasing, turning her face toward him.
Instead of answering, Alex jumped and landed on the very edge of the second, raised section of the bridge. With a light push of his foot he made it creak and crash down into place. Maya gave a barely noticeable smile — that same calm corner she gets when everything goes according to plan. Alex turned, gave a thumbs-up — the way was clear.
Suddenly a dull thud sounded from above; something flew over their heads and slammed down beyond the plant. Alex only frowned: Handsome Jack had clearly gone into a rage after the strike on his warehouse.
While the Vault Hunters were talking to Angel, Alex smoked and waited for them to relay the coordinates of the needed part. The iron gates before them began to slowly open — and a huge robot, a Constructor, appeared behind them. Dozens of combat loaders arrayed beside it and, without hesitation, opened fire.
Maya, Zer0, Salvador, and Axton jumped for the nearest cover. Alex remained standing in the open, a cigarette in his teeth, as if he believed no bullet could touch him. He exhaled, raised a finger — and a small, wildly spinning red sphere began to rotate on it.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red," he said dryly and pointed.
The sphere fired and struck the Constructor directly. Instantly the machine shattered into pieces that flew out like shrapnel, destroying ranks of loaders; the gate arch and the surrounding structures were warped and mangled as if someone had slammed them with a giant press. The team stood and watched — some with jaws dropped, others with eyes gleaming.
"What was that sphere?" Maya asked when the smoke cleared. "It looked kind of like our siren abilities."
"You only just noticed?" Alex smirked. "I broke it down for you recently: how to control your power, how to focus it. But whatever."
"I'm not talking about that," Maya replied, lightly bumping his shoulder. "I mean how you, not being a siren, do things that we have — Lilith's fire, my quantum grip... It's odd."
"Born this way," Alex answered lazily. "You were born a siren. That's the whole secret."
"Enough small talk," Axton ordered. "We need to move. The part is somewhere nearby."
They passed through the twisted gates and saw the beacon — or what was left of it: a massive cylindrical device abandoned in the center of the yard. A memory surfaced in Alex's head that this beacon would attract the attention of a big worm that would eventually swallow it.
Determined not to let that happen, Alex wanted to grab the beacon before the worm appeared, but no sooner had he thought it than the ground split right beneath the beacon, and a gigantic worm surfaced and immediately swallowed the beacon. Alex's eye twitched, but his face showed no emotion. Maya, Axton, Zer0, and Salvador also stood with surprised faces as they watched the enormous worm swallow the beacon.
"Why is it always the same?" Alex muttered through clenched teeth.
"Tell me about it. This has happened to us more than once," Maya smirked, standing beside Alex. "What do we do?"
"We blow that worm up and gut it," Salvador answered calmly, lowering his grenade launcher and taking aim.
Before anyone could blink, Salvador had already fired a round at the worm. The shell hit the creature's head, and it let out such a piercing shriek that everyone's ears popped. Before the worm could disappear underground, Alex stomped hard on the ground. The earth beneath the monster split, and a stone column erupted from the fissure, flinging the worm into the air.
Alex activated the mechanism on his blade — the handle clicked and shot into his hand. In an instant, the katana sliced through the air, decapitating the monster with a single swing. The headless worm crashed to the ground with a deafening thud.
"A swing, but just a mirage, / death comes like a phantom, / the blade — its gift," Zer0 recited the new haiku, once again amazed by Alex's skill.
"Glad you appreciated it, Zer0," Alex smirked. "Now, let's grab the beacon and move to the Highlands. We need elevation and a power source closer to the Sanctuary to set it up."
Approaching the carcass, Alex struggled to suppress his disgust and pulled the coveted beacon from the stomach of the disgusting creature. Without wasting time, he disassembled the device and extracted the necessary component. Showing it to the others, he moved on with Maya, Axton, Salvador, and Zer0.
They still had another tunnel to traverse. Alex just shook his head, wondering why Hyperion dug underground corridors instead of building a normal road. The thought that the corporation could collapse the tunnels at any moment irritated him. "Apparently, the same idiots work there as Handsome Jack himself," he thought grimly.
The tunnel led them to a rocky valley overgrown with grass, dotted with jagged boulders.
"So, where next?" Axton asked, surveying the terrain. "We need elevation and a power source. Any ideas?"
"Don't look at me, I don't know this area," Alex shrugged.
"Neither do I," Maya shook her head.
"Wouldn't it be easier to call Lilith?" Salvador suddenly suggested.
Everyone stared at him. No one expected such a sensible idea from Salvador. Catching their confused looks, he felt insulted and erupted in a stream of curses, sending everyone packing. Alex just shook his head and again thought that this guy would fit perfectly in a dwarven kingdom.
Taking Maya's ECHO module from her belt, Alex called Lilith. Maya had grown used to it; she no longer protested that he used her device without permission.
Soon, Lilith's projection appeared. Her hair still blazed, reflecting the instability of her siren power. Her face looked even more exhausted than last time — it seemed her strength was nearly spent, and she could barely stay on her feet. But the reason for her fatigue was something entirely different.
"Um, Lilith, what's wrong this time?" Alex frowned.
"You're still asking?!" she snapped irritably. "Who even thought it was a good idea to assign this quartet to build a spatial beacon?!"
"And what's the problem? It's just a beacon," Alex said, shrugging calmly.
"The problem?!" Lilith's hair flared brighter with her anger. "Those little devils nearly tore apart the panel that keeps the city afloat! I didn't sign up to babysit your daughters, who try to destroy the Sanctuary at every opportunity!"
"Well… I could hug you to make you feel better," Alex offered in the most innocent tone.
"Yeah, thanks," Lilith muttered. "Sure, your hugs will totally cure my headache…"
"Wow, you're in a mood. Anyway, can you tell us a place to set up the beacon? Preferably with some elevation and a power source?" Alex said, changing the subject to avoid further aggravating her.
"Wait…" she paused thoughtfully. "There's a small town nearby, Apex. It's built at a height, and there should be a power source to feed the beacon. But be careful — Hyperion forces could be there… Tina! I told you not to touch that panel!!!"
Lilith shouted and disconnected.
The group exchanged glances. Suddenly, nobody felt like returning to the Sanctuary and facing Lilith again: after her powers had spiraled out of control, her temper and flaming hair made her genuinely frightening.
Alex, meanwhile, wondered why Lilith's siren power had become unstable. In his memory, even in the game, her powers had never run wild from excessive Eridium use — she had just looked exhausted. He decided that guessing was pointless. Answers would come when they met Lilith in person.
Descending from the plateau, Alex pulled an armored jeep from his inventory, and the whole group settled into their seats. Consulting the map, he drove toward a small town with the symbolic name the Heights, perched on a high hill. Around the next bend, the outlines of the settlement on the rocky ledge came into view.
When they arrived, they climbed out of the jeep, and Alex stored the vehicle back in his inventory. Right at the town's entrance, he felt uneasy: there were plenty of people, but their presence felt strange, off.
As if the entire town were sick. And Alex immediately understood why — not far off was an Eridium processing plant. All the waste was dumped into the water, poisoning it. The locals had no choice but to drink it… The result: an entire town of doomed people slowly dying in their homes.
"Kind of an empty town. I thought at least there'd be residents out," Salvador muttered, glancing around.
"There are residents. They're just too sick to come outside," Alex said, lighting a cigarette.
"Sick? In what way? How do you know?" Maya asked, studying him closely.
"Simple, my dear siren. There's a Hyperion plant nearby. The waste goes into the water. People drink it every day. What do you think will happen if you do that for a long time?" Alex replied calmly.
"No need to guess," Axton said grimly. "It's a miracle they've lasted this long."
"I wouldn't call it a miracle," Maya sighed. "More like a curse."
Alex nodded but had no intention of leaving. He decided to set up the beacon and then help these people. Moving deeper into the town, he surveyed the area. Only two buildings were suitable — low towers where equipment could be mounted. But another problem arose — the power source. The town's lone generator barely supplied electricity to the houses, and its output was clearly insufficient.
Alex studied the old generator thoughtfully, considering alternatives.
"So, what about the beacon?" Maya asked, approaching.
"There isn't enough power; we need another source," Alex said, nodding toward the generator.
Maya looked at the device and immediately understood — Alex was right.
"Try the teleportation station. Ask it if it could work," Angel's voice suddenly sounded in her head.
"Alex, Angel says: what if we use the teleportation station as the power source?" Maya relayed.
"Hm… might work," Alex murmured, stroking his chin. "But if I start tinkering inside, we'll get noticed. After I blew up Jack's office and trashed his plant, he's probably still furious."
"Who cares. Do it. If Hyperion sends reinforcements — we'll deal with them," Axton said confidently.
Alex shrugged, took off his backpack, and approached the teleportation station. Opening the panel, he accessed the power source and began removing the needed components.
"We'll need a long cable to reach the tower," he said.
Maya, Zer0, Axton, and Salvador immediately set off to find a suitable cable. Meanwhile, Alex dragged over a small table and laid out the beacon's components, gradually assembling it right there.
Suddenly, a warning voice from Angel echoed in each of their minds:
"Unauthorized interference detected! Jack knows you're here. He's already sent troops to stop you."
Explosions roared in the sky again, followed by impacts on the ground. Salvador threw the long cable onto the table to Alex and immediately joined the others to hold back the wave of robots Jack had sent.
Amid the constant gunfire and screams, Alex continued assembling the spatial beacon. But the roar didn't stop: new volleys filled the sky. For a moment, he glanced up. From the Helios orbital station, projectiles fell one by one toward the city. Alex just shook his head: Jack was once again behaving like a spoiled child, too easily provoked.
Seeing the number of robots growing while Maya, Zer0, Salvador, and Axton were forced to retreat deeper into the city, Alex pulled the Chastifol spear from his inventory. It glowed with a soft light, shifting shape: hundreds of shining kunai swirled around it like a swarm of enraged bees.
Without taking his eyes off the beacon, Alex flicked his finger, sending them into the air. The swarm shot skyward and, on another gesture, crashed down. Hundreds of kunai pierced the worker robots' bodies, turning them into heaps of twisted metal. Then the blades shot back, merging into the spear, which returned to its owner, hovering behind him and slowly spinning.
Maya and the others froze for a moment in shock, but quickly recovered and rushed back to Alex.
"I'm almost done. Zer0, handle the cable," said Alex without even looking up.
Zer0 nodded, grabbed one end of the cable, and lightly jumped onto the roof of a tall building. Alex finished assembling the beacon and looked up—just as the assassin secured the cable.
"Once I connect it to the beacon, someone needs to link the other end to this teleportation station. Then it'll all work," he said, hoisting the beacon onto his shoulder.
"And this will actually work?" asked Maya, squinting. "It won't teleport us straight into Jack's hands… or to some other planet?"
"Everything will go as planned. So stop asking questions. Connect it when I shout," Alex muttered, rolling his eyes.
He approached the building and leapt to the very top. There, he secured the beacon so it could withstand any impact. Then he nodded down. Axton plugged the cable into the teleportation station—and a holographic "Loading" appeared above the panel.
Alex jumped down and moved closer. The minutes dragged painfully, but soon the station was operational again. He didn't want to use it first and waited for Maya and the others to teleport to the Sanctuary in turn. Only then did Alex cast a healing spell on the residents—a small measure of help for the unfortunate.
He knew the Eridium ore was too valuable. Even if Hyperion were removed, another corporation would come, and the cycle of pain and suffering would continue. Sighing, Alex cast one last glance at the doomed city and stepped into the portal, appearing in the Sanctuary's town hall.
"Well, shall we head to the Crimson Raiders' HQ?" he suggested, though deep down he was tempted to check on Moxxi—the woman who now hated Jack even more than she had before he decided to bomb the Sanctuary.
As they approached the headquarters, the heat grew increasingly intense. Inside, they found Tannis—half-naked, drenched in sweat, but still completely absorbed in her research.
"Ah, it's you… Good job coming back," she said, immediately noticing Alex and squinting. "And you… don't want to spend some time in an even hotter environment? Lie down with me, exchange some sweat?"
"Another time. For now, you'd better take a cold shower, cool off that heat," Alex replied dryly, not even blinking.
Before Tannis could come up with another lewd remark, he headed to the second floor. Maya, Axton, and Salvador gave him strange looks. Only Zer0 silently tilted his head, and a <3 symbol lit up on his mask.
On the second floor, Alex saw Brick and Mordecai: they were doing their best to cool down, hugging ice bags and nearly melting along with them. Lilith, meanwhile, sat irritably on a metal chair, which was literally starting to melt beneath her.
"Looks like you've gotten even hotter since our last meeting, Lilith," Alex smirked.
"Yeah!" Brick interjected, sitting in just his shorts. "She's so hot now that the metal under her butt started melting!" He wiped sweat from his forehead and pressed the ice bag tighter against himself.
Lilith shot Alex an irritated look for joking at such a moment. She didn't know what to do: her siren powers were completely out of control, and the temperature around her kept rising, heating the air to the limit.
Alex stepped closer, examining her carefully from every angle. Meanwhile, Maya, Axton, Salvador, and Zer0 arrived on the second floor. The hot air hit them in the face so sharply that they immediately started breaking into a sweat. Brick and Mordecai had no intention of sharing their ice bags, clutching them as if they were treasures.
"And how long are you going to keep circling around me?" Lilith asked irritably, keeping her eyes on Alex.
"Aren't you feeling hot at all?" Brick chimed in, wiping his brow. "I feel like I'm about to melt, and you're just strolling around."
"For me, it's like a warm bath—actually kind of nice," Alex replied calmly. "And as for why I'm walking around… I'm thinking about how to help you. But first, hold this."
He pulled a round metal container from his inventory. Lilith took it in her hands with surprise.
"What's this?" she asked, puzzled, holding the metal container.
"You'll find out soon. Just hold it, it's important," Alex said with a mysterious smile.
Alex waited a few seconds and took the container back. Everyone watched with interest, but within a moment, Lilith almost ground her teeth in anger. Alex pulled out a box of instant noodles, and the container she had been holding turned out to be just a regular water vessel. Her energy boiled it in mere seconds.
Ignoring Lilith's glare, Alex counted the people in the room, grabbed the right number of noodle packs, and poured in the boiling water.
"Alright, while the noodles are cooking, let's deal with your problem," he said, placing the makeshift kettle on the table.
"Are you really going to help?" Lilith crossed her arms. "Or am I going to have to hold the pan so you can fry the meat?"
"Tempting, but I'm afraid you'd try to sink your teeth into my throat. Although, if it were lips, I wouldn't mind," Alex smirked.
"Ha, I'd more likely sink my teeth into your face. The throat will do too, but definitely not the lips," Lilith huffed.
"Well… I'm not insisting. Your choice. Now, extend your hand. And relax a little," Alex said, sitting opposite her.
She frowned but extended her palm anyway. Alex smiled and covered it with his own hand. Almost immediately, he felt the cause of her condition: Lilith's body was brimming with excess energy. Her power, like a battery overcharged to a thousand percent, was completely out of control. Focusing, he began drawing the surplus energy out, shaping it into a crystal.
The heat gradually subsided, Lilith's hair stopped glowing, and a small red crystal appeared in her palm. She stared at it with genuine curiosity.
"What did you do? And what's this crystal?" Lilith asked, examining the red gem in her hand in surprise.
"Simple," Alex replied. "You had too much energy with nowhere to put it. I took the excess and packed it into a crystal. You can keep it as a souvenir or make it into jewelry—it's up to you."
"That's cool and all. But the best part is I don't have to hug an ice bag anymore," Brick said happily, already holding a cup of noodles. "Wow, this is delicious! Where'd you get it?"
Lilith gave him a blank look but took some food herself. Alex noticed the crystal left on the table and thought for a moment. Setting down his cup, he pulled out a necklace setting, placed the stone in it, and handed the finished piece to Lilith.
"Here. So you don't have to wonder what to do with it. Either way, it looks pretty nice as jewelry," Alex said, offering the necklace to her.
"For the first time, someone's hitting on me like this," Lilith raised a corner of her mouth. "But as you can see, my hands are full. Can you be a gentleman?"
Alex smirked, stood, and approached her from behind. She tilted her head slightly, letting him clasp the necklace. When the lock clicked, Lilith felt a light but very pleasant warmth in her chest. Her gaze at Alex changed.
The others felt like unnecessary witnesses, except Maya, who pondered whether she could turn her own power into a crystal like that…
To be continued…
Early access to chapters on my patreon: p*treon.com/GreedHunter