9 Atlas

*BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!*

Kane was violently woken from his sleep when an explosion rocked the base. He had fallen off the couch from being startled, but he got his barring's after only a second.

His gear appeared on his body, weapon in hand, and a mask appeared on his head. The mask filtered out any toxins in the air, protected his eyes, and helped him see under almost any circumstance.

Moving quickly towards the explosion, he shouted "Radar, what happened?!!" Still moving quickly, Kane activated all security protocols, causing the base to be locked down, and the weapons to come online.

"An experiment went wrong, Sir. Luna and Tannis tested out their new creation in the lab, instead of the testing chamber, which as you know is less fortified. Something went wrong, and as you can tell, it wasn't very stable." Radar answered, causing Kane to pick up the pace in case they were injured.

"What about the damage?! Are they okay? Is the structure of the base still good? And did the surrounding area's see or hear anything?" Kane shouted in a slight panic.

There was only a slight moment before Radar answered "The shell of the base is undamaged, but the interior walls of the laboratory are in shambles. There are two life signatures in the room, both unmoving, but nothing life threatening, just unconscious. The structure of the base is in no danger whatsoever, being able to withstand a few hundred blasts of the same magnitude, although we will need to renovate the lab."

Once again there was a slight pause before Radar said " The testing chamber is still entirely unscathed if that helps, Sir. As for the surrounding area, no, they did not even hear the blast. Scans of the nearest encampments show no signs of knowledge of any blast." Radar's words were like music, causing Kane to sigh in relief, although he still kept up the pace until he got into the lab.

Radar had already extinguished any fire, and the room was already being filtered of unclean air. Glancing around, Luna and Tannis were already being helped by two robots, obviously being controlled by Radar, onto some stretchers, then moved to the medical facilities.

The two unconscious women were cleaned up, scanned, then placed in their own beds next to each other. Radar had informed him they would wake up in a few hours at the most, and their brains showed no signs of damage.

"Do you have the video of what happened before the blast?" Kane asked as he finally took a seat at a desk in the recovery room. "Yes, Sir." Radar replied before a screen opened up, playing the scene before the blast.

Kane watched as the screen showed Tannis put a vile of a purple liquid (Slag) inside the shell of what looked like a metallic Pikachu, then Luna put a small bar of Eridium next to the slag sample, then used her powers to try and mold the two similar elements together, followed by injecting the small shell with a few hundred thousand volts of electricity, which was when the blast occurred.

He didn't know what caused the explosion, but he guessed the lightning reacted badly with the slag or Eridium.

'Note to self, wait until Jack does all these experiments and steal his research before I let them continue this shit!' Kane thought, already instructing Radar to lock away any slag samples or Eridium, and to notify him immediately if either of the two girls tried to experiment with the unknown element.

Kane was going over the damage in the lab, cursing the two women. There was over a million dollars worth of damage, but he had enough spare parts to rebuild most of what he lost, so he wasn't too upset.

Plus it's not like he worked super hard for all this stuff. He had either stolen it or bought it with stolen money, so it wasn't something he would stay mad about.

"How long will this take to fix up?" Kane asked Radar, who started throwing out some numbers that Kane didn't fully understand.

"Dumb it down, dude!!" Kane shouted, thinking the AI.. was doing it on purpose.

"If we take the attention away from the ship, and put everything into rebuilding the lab, it will take approximately 60 hours, but if we continue as is, prioritizing the ship, it would take 145 hours until completion." Radar answered plainly.

"*Sigh* Prioritize the lab. I'm not in any particular hurry to leave this shithole, and I'd rather have everything up to standards before we took off." Kane said, a little frustrated.

"What about our side project?" Kane asked, remembering about his and Radar's little project that was kept below the lab.

"It's undamaged, but access through the door is sealed due to the rubble, and production has stopped due to a sudden drop in power." Radar answered, actually sounding depressed himself.

"Is there anything we're gonna need to get to complete the project?" Kane asked, wanting to make sure Radar had everything he would need here before they went to a different planet.

"No, Sir. The only thing I need to finish it is time and power. The power to it should be up and running in an hour, but it will still take a little over two years to complete." The A.I. responded calmly.

Kane heaved a sigh of relief before he said, "As long as it's still intact, it should be fine. If we can find something to speed up the process down the road, we'll bring it back here."

Done with the lab, Kane went back into the medical facility, and ate some breakfast, waiting for the two unconscious lab exploders to wake up.

He was in the process of coming up with punishments when his ECHO device went off, letting him know that the night cycle had officially started. The alarm had also woken up the two sleeping women, because as soon as he shut it off, the two of them began to stir.

"*Uuuugg*, what happened?" Tannis asked, rubbing her temples. "My head hurts!" Luna said, almost whimpering.

"YOU!!" Kane shouted, gaining the attention of both of them. Their eyes locked onto him, and they couldn't help but notice how he seemed rather angry. "G-Good morning..." Luna stuttered out, her face taking on a sheepish smile.

"Do you two have any idea how much damage you caused?!!" Kane said through gritted teeth. He stood up from his chair and began pacing around the room as he continued.

"The time it's going to take to fix everything?! The setbacks?! Neither of you know the dangers of messing with Slag!! It's a completely unknown element!! What possible reason could you have for using it?!! You could have died!!"

Kane was practically shouting by the end of his rant, not noticing or not caring how Luna had tears pouring down her face. "Now, hold on!! Ther-"

Tannis was interrupted as Kane shouted "SHUT UP!!! I DIDN'T INVITE YOU HERE TO DESTROY MY HOME OR KILL YOURSELF AND LUNA!!"

Kane continued walking back and forth, ignoring Luna's silent sobs.

"As of this moment, BOTH of you are banned from Eridium and slag experiments, and from accessing anything connected to the main power."

He paused for a moment before he added, "I'll be back in a day or two." Then he left the room, leaving an annoyed Tannis and a sobbing Luna.

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An hour and 45 minutes later, Kane was cutting the head off an Atlas soldier, releasing some of the anger he was feeling at that moment.

The remaining Atlas soldiers were handled in similar fashion, the alarms not being raised in the slightest considering the consoles that activated them were nowhere to be seen.

In his anger, Kane might have taken everything that wasn't nailed down, leaving buildings bare, with not even furniture left.

Outpost to outpost, Kane killed every soldier he saw, even though his plans were originally to rob without killing, he was past that.

Everyone here would die regardless after Athena and the others detonated everything, soldiers included, he was just speeding up their demise.

For hours he did nothing but kill people and loot bases, even taking fleets of armored cars, and even a few small space crafts. He was just about done for awhile so he could take a break, when the area around him shifted.

If he didn't have a close up experience with spatial fluctuations, he wouldn't have noticed the cloaked individuals creeping around him.

'Cloaking devices?' Kane thought, trying to keep the fact that he had noticed the people around him a secret. He waited until they got closer to him, and just as he was gonna strike, someone else beat him to the punch.

A figure clad in red leathers holding a large red sword came in out of nowhere and sliced one of the cloaked figures in two, then parried an attack from another.

Not wanting to be caught off guard, Kane teleported next to one of the last two remaining cloaked figures and decapitated her, then shot to the last one, who by this point was moving towards the woman clad in red who was engaged with one of the previous cloaked individuals.

Teleporting behind the cloaked person, Kane drove his daggers into their spine, giving them a twist before he pulled the blade in his right hand out before he drew the blade across the person's throat.

His attention quickly went to the figure in red, finally finishing off their opponent, then quickly took in the surroundings, preparing for another foe.

When the individual noticed the remaining would-be assassins dead, they locked eyes with the person who caused all of this.

"Why did you help me, Athena?" Kane asked, finally getting a proper view of the individual and putting a name to the face.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Athena asked, ignoring his own question while keeping her sword at the ready.

"I asked first, but given the fact you came to help me, I'll let it slide. My name is Kane, a Vault Hunter. And I know your name because I try to know a few people in the universe who could potentially kill me. Be warned, if you try to hurt me or those I care about, I'll rip you apart, keeping you alive for months before I let you finally claim death's embrace." Kane warned, promising complete and utter hell if she did try to plot against him.

Athena actually seemed to let her guard down slightly at his warning, but was still guarded nonetheless.

"I helped you because I need help myself. I want take down Atlas, but I can't do it alone, and after watching you take out a few hundred soldiers and taking over a few bases, I figured you could help me." Athena said, finally answering Kane's question.

"That's nice and all, but I'm gonna have to refuse. I'm just here to get some parts and blow off some steam, but that doesn't mean I'll leave ya high and dry. I know where a group of four Vault Hunters are, and they are all very capable, with bounties of their own from Atlas." Kane said, shutting down Athena before he got caught up into doing a bunch of shit he found completely unnecessary.

Athena didn't look too thrilled with his answer, but accepted the help. "I would most appreciate that." She answered like a well trained soldier would.

Kane gave her the signatures for Brick's and the other three Vault Hunter's ECHO devices, then without warning he appeared behind her with a dagger to her throat.

"These people are friends of mine, so if you betray or hurt them, my promise stands!" He got out, sounding like a true demon, then disappeared entirely.

Kane debated on going back to base, but he wanted the invasion Armory Atlas had prepared, which consisted of hundreds of shields, guns, grenades, ammo, and other awesome goodies.

No, he was definitely going to rob Atlas, but he wouldn't tell Brick and the others about it. He would just leave a note in the Armory saying he took everything, while leaving a few gifts to the four 'friends' of his, so they wouldn't feel as though Athena screwed them over and hunt her.

With that thought in mind, Kane created his own camp for the night up in the hills, and falling asleep without another thought. Killing the hundreds of soldiers had indeed cooled his anger down a bit, while causing him to be really tired.

A few hours later, Kane woke up and fixed a small meal consisting of a bagel, eggs, bacon, coffee, and a bowl of fruit. Once he was satisfied, he did some stretches to loosen up his body, then carried on his way, bypassing a few Atlas bases.

He figured if this was a proper organization, the outposts would need to radio in to the main base every so often, so with the bases he already took out not responding, the ones closest to them would be on high alert, and he just didn't like that.

After cleaning out a base filled with the bulk of Atlas' armored cars, Kane decided it was about time he went to the Armory.

The high tech in the area did wonders to brighten his mood, and after cleaning out the area he just waltzed on inside without any alarms going off, which was not very comforting, causing him to be a little on guard.

This was a little too easy, and as far as he could tell, there should have been somewhat of a reaction from the main base when he entered. What he failed to realize, was the buildings with all the high tech was the power to the entire base.

He had literally shut everything down, leaving the defenses all but worthless, while the soldiers couldn't get anywhere due to none of the elevators working and the doors staying locked due to the power outage.

Kane didn't need to go through doors, he just needed a line of sight to wherever it was he wanted to go, and presto!! He was there. Peering through cracks in the walls, Kane jumped from room to room, steadily making his way down to the lower floors below ground towards the Armory.

When he finally reached the sealed room, he found two guards patrolling, but they were disposed of without much difficulty. Now that everything was all clear, Kane took in the room properly and he couldn't help but marvel at the beautiful sight before him.

Chests filled with guns were everywhere, satchels overflowing with ammo were scattered around, and there was also some tech laying around. Not needing an invitation, Kane began to take everything, chests and all.

'Marcus and I can go through this shit later!' Kane thought with glee. He didn't think he would be seeing Marcus again before he left, but now he had other plans.

Finished up with looting the place, Kane started painting the walls with, 'Kane was here!' and 'Fuck Knoxx!!' and other obscenities before he was satisfied.

'A little immature, but I regret nothing!' Kane thought as he made his way back outside. Getting back to the open air, Kane realized, raiding Atlas had taken more time than he thought.

He started this whole thing when the night cycle had just started, which should have lasted around 45 hours or more, but already he could see sunlight coming over the horizon.

"I only slept for a few hours..." Kane whispered to himself. He didn't realize it, but he had been so high on killing and looting, time had completely escaped his mind, which was how he was able to loot a verifiable army.

"Did not expect to lose myself in the moment here, of all places." Kane said quietly to himself, then shot off into the sky.

He didn't see Knoxx, Moxxi, Mr. Shank, or any other noticeable character, and if things played out how he figured they would, the only people he might see would be Moxxi and Athena, two people he didn't really wanna see either.

Moxxi was a lunatic who had slept with nearly every man on Pandora, and he just didn't want to meet her. Athena on the other hand, she was extremely attractive, super badass, and was very smart, but she had a major flaw.

She was attracted to women. That wasn't a problem, mind you, but if Kane didn't stand a chance at getting with her, it made him want to help her a little bit less. Although he really liked how she ended up with Janey Springs.

Springs was probably his favorite character in the Pre-sequel, so if she still ended up with Athena in this time line, he figured he could try and be friends with them. Plus she was needed to go to Helios, then join Lilith and the others in a few years time.

Getting back to his base took no time at all now that he had thrown stealth out the window, and he couldn't be happier. The adrenaline rush he had from robbing and killing was gone now, and his body felt like it weighed a ton.

All he wanted to do now was soak in a nice hot bath then sleep for a day. There would be no training, researching, or deals, just relaxing. Although, a positive thing of note, he could now safely absorb more Eridium.

Using his powers to such a degree had drained his energy countless times, adapting his body to it's new limit, which just added onto the positive side of him raiding Atlas.

Walking through the halls, Kane wanted nothing more than to reach his room, but to his surprise, and irritation, Luna was sleeping with her back against his door.

He was too tired mentally and physically to deal with her right now, so he teleported her to a wall across the room as carefully as he could so as not to wake her. He didn't even know why he was so mad that she almost killed herself, but just the thought of it made him angry.

At first he thought it was because he would have wasted his time in doing all he did for her, but that wasn't the case. In the past, he had done things that had taken years only to get nothing in return, yet he didn't get angry, he just considered it a learning experience.

However Luna was something else entirely. He found that he was far too overprotective of her, and for some reason that irked him. He preferred it better when he didn't care if anyone died.

Like with Brick and the others, he may have threatened Athena on their behalf, but that was all just for show in case his actions ended up changing how she viewed the others, and it would give him an excuse to kill her down the road if she ever became a problem for him.

Regardless, if Brick and the others died, he might avenge their deaths if they died in an extreme way, but if they died doing what they wanted to do, he would drink a beer in their name and remember them as they were.

People die everyday, yet the world still continues, so why was it that the thought of Luna dying angered him?!! The thought of Tannis dying actually made him chuckle slightly, but he knew he would miss her.

Deciding it would be better to sort his chaotic mind out after he could think properly, Kane had a shower before he let himself soak peacefully in the tub, munching on snacks and drinking a beer.

When he finally got out and crawled into bed, his head hadn't even hit the pillow before he was sound asleep.

After what felt like a few seconds, but was actually about 14 hours, Kane was woken from his sleep by silent sobbing.

Cracking an eye open, he stared at Luna who stood next to his bed, her head down and hands hanging limply at her sides.

As tired as he was, he thought he was hearing wrong when he heard, "Are you gonna get rid of me?"