Magic Robot

(General POV)

In the ruins of Paradise, Kane and the others were all seated around the same table that had always been there before, there not being a scratch on it due to Kane taking it with him when he left.

When they came back, Kane stored all the rubble and debris in the room before putting the table where it had been before with a few chairs around it.

Sitting with him was of course his usual group, Luna, Tannis, Maya, Angel, and Radar, though Radar's appearance was quite a bit different than Kane was used to.

She could morph the nano-tech that made up her body to look like anyone she wanted, within a limited degree of course.

Due to the solid metal skeletal frame, Radar couldn't change her height, or the general shape of her body, but she could become extremely skinny or fat depending on what she wanted, her appearance, skin color, and any other color on her body. Eyes, hair, you name it.

One of the weirder things for Kane was the fact that she could swap her gender in an instant, going from a tiny woman to a super fat fuck if she wanted.

Currently she was in the persona she was most comfortable with, which was a slender woman, about the same size as Angel with smaller tits, though she could grow them to be bigger than Moxxi's if she wanted, only they were unnecessary according to her.

She looked almost identical to Scarlet Johannson from the first Avengers movie, only her hair color was a dark natural blonde with streaks of auburn mixed in with it, and slightly darker skin, like she had the best beach tan in the world.

He wasn't sure if it was to mess with him or not, but she had his skull mask tattooed on her left ass cheek, something which she had shown to everyone in the room despite not being asked.

Radar's appearance was a definite improvement from the Meat Suits, and Angel was glad there wasn't another her walking around, though Maya seemed to get a little down when Radar stopped looking like her.

Kane figured Maya was going to take full use of Radar's shapeshifting, and although he didn't say it, he was kind of turned on thinking about two Maya's going at each other.

'What about two Maya's going at Angel? Or two Angel's going at Maya?! Or me going at all of them?!!' Maya wasn't the only one thinking about the uses of Radar's shapeshifting, as Kane's mind was running through all the perverted fantasies he could come up with.

Aside from the usual group, Tina, Brick, Mordy, Roland, and Lilith were present, all sipping on drinks and eating snacks that were laid out as they waited to see what Kane was going to do next.

Granted, none of them needed Kane's approval for anything, and they could go about their lives however they wanted, however Kane was unique in his own sort of way.

For one thing the man was a god damned monster on the best of days, and a nightmare given form on his worst.

He not only single-handedly crippled Hyperion, one of the largest Corporations in the galaxy, but he traveled with 3 Sirens, an insane scientist, and arguably the most broken robot to ever exist.

If he was planning something big in the future, it was in everyone's best interest to know about it. Plus he had delicious food.

"So what you thinkin, Kane?" Brick asked after a few minutes of no one saying anything, and Kane just staring off into space, probably thinking about what he would be doing in the future.

Coming back to reality, Kane looked around to each person, only then realizing they were probably waiting on him to say something in the time that he had been fantasizing about getting it on with a shapeshifting robot.

"Well... I'm thinking of rebuilding Paradise, but given how the rest of the planet knows it's location, maybe it's best to build somewhere else. Then again, I don't think I'll find a better location than this one so... just add in more defenses." Kane said, not really surprising anyone there.

He would need to find somewhere to live for the immediate future, given how Paradise was no more and the base below the Hyperion outpost was nothing but rubble.

"This could be a good thing, ya know. Now that everyone knows where you are, you'll probably have idiots from all corners of Pandora trying to come kill ya. You could make a game out of it!!" Brick stated happily, actually making Kane think about that idea.

"Sure it sounds fun and all, but what about major threats? What if a giant space laser came crashing down right on us? What if something I can't handle shows up at my front door and I can't do anything about it?" Kane mumbled aloud, getting everyone else to think on his words.

Roland and Lilith had first-hand experience dealing with a giant space laser, so they knew Kane's wariness wasn't something to joke around with.

Besides Tina, everyone present knew how it felt to have an armada of soldiers knocking at your door without too much warning, and Kane had almost died the time on Eden-6, and Brick and the others almost died when New Haven fell.

Who's to say the next group wouldn't be more prepared?

"What if we had a few satellites orbiting Pandora, and their only purpose would be to warn us of any approaching threat? I mean, you'd have to be close enough to Pandora to fire any weapon from space, and if we knew of an approaching fleet before they hit the atmosphere, then I'm sure we could deal with them." Radar explained, finding that option to be the best, given the scenario.

Even if they moved somewhere else, they would be implementing a few satellites around the planet for the exact purpose she mentioned.

She also wasn't wrong about the range on a space laser or any other long ranged weapon like it. Even with the Destroyer's eye powering Jack's laser on Helios, it couldn't shoot across the galaxy, and there were obstacles to take into consideration when firing from range.

Take other planets, asteroids, other spaceships, space stations, and anything else you'd find flying through space. Given the idiots of this galaxy, there was a lot of shit floating about in space.

"What about aircrafts approaching from really high up, then dropping bombs or something else, like acid or poison?" Maya asked, feeling like no defense was perfect. The bombs could just be shot down, but she had a point with the acid and poison.

"There is a reason chemical warfare isn't a thing anymore. In the past when planets were at war with each other, the chemicals that were dropped on planets left many of them barren wastelands that couldn't support life, rendering the whole conflict a moot point. It was only after losing the hundredth planet or so that the leading forces in the galaxy convened and agreed that anyone who used the practice would have to go up against the full might of every other force in the galaxy. Not even Jack used it, because even he wasn't arrogant enough to think he could take on every other Corporation, and that's saying something." Tannis explained, not concerned about someone coming to drop harmful substances on them, though the bombs might be an issue if someone actually managed to get through the billion and one turrets Kane would no doubt install.

Hell there were even turrets that were meant for shooting incoming spacecrafts, so shooting down aircrafts in Pandora's atmosphere should be childsplay.

"It's a good thing dropping barrels of acid or poison isn't as cool as explosives, otherwise I'd be at war with the whole galaxy." Brick told Mordy, who could only shake his head at his friend, though Tina who was sitting right next to Brick was nodding her head sagely at the words.

Everyone threw out ideas for next hour on what they thought should happen, and after deciding on staying where they were, they moved on to design.

Kane honestly thought Paradise was fine the way it was before, but apparently everyone had recommendations to add to the old design.

Tannis for one wanted a personal lab in her bedroom, and a few upgrades she had drawn out added to the main lab.

Luna and Tina wanted a toy room, though judging by some of the toys they wanted then the room would be blown to bits in a matter of hours.

It was funny, ever since Luna started hanging around Tina, she was acting her age a lot more, and was choosing to have fun over reading a book or training.

Kane could honestly say he was happy for her, though he was still planning on making her do more chores and stuff around the place, mostly so she didn't think she didn't have to work for anything. Even if he loved the little girl, he wasn't going to hold her hand forever.

Maya wanted every sports room under the sun, if only so she wasn't always going out to kill someone in her spare time. Sure she was good at killing people, hell she was great at it, but she didn't love it as much as some people in the room.

*Cough* Brick and Kane *Cough* *Cough*

Maya did of course love going out and exploring places, even the conflict that she got to experience just hanging around Kane and the others, but she wouldn't mind just relaxing and having fun in a non-violent way every now and then.

For her part, Angel simply wanted a room with a nursery in it, and then a baby proof room that her kid could play in when it got older. Kane would have done that without her asking, not to mention the playroom would have every toy a child could ever want in it.

Radar had a few designs she threw out at him, though for his part, Kane didn't really understand half of what she wanted. She had to actually go into detail about her new body for him to really understand.

Radar was a lot more human than anyone would have thought, and that changed how she would operate. No longer could she run thousands of different bodies, though she could still control them.

All she had to do was give the Energon a command and put it inside a specific body meant for such a task. This would limit her in such a way that she couldn't see what was going on around the galaxy at any moment in time.

She could of course still hack into places and the like, and with all of the bots reporting into her, she was very much the same infallible supreme A.I she was before, only now she had a battery of sorts.

The power core that was powering her naturally recharged itself, only if she was expending the energy faster than it could come in, she would shut down, similar to how humans do.

It would take about 3 to 4 days for the core to recharge from empty to full, if she ever let it get down that low, hence the need to let herself recover at certain hours, like going to sleep with everyone else.

It was weird how a robot needed sleep, but everyone just took it in kind.

As for powerwise, Radar was basically a lower version of a Siren.

With the cloaking tech built into her she could turn invisible and stay that way for as long as she had power, but again it burned off too much energy for her to remain like that, though with her recharge rate she could stay cloaked for quite a while before she ever ran out of power.

She also had a few hundred drones built into her, though they were mainly for scouting given how the biggest one was the size of a fly. They could of course be used for combat, because each one had a small drop of poison built into it.

Some were just paralyzed, while others simply killed. As for anyone around, they would only be able to think that the victim was bitten by a bug before succumbing to whatever effect Radar wanted them to be in.

The drones were all linked to her similar to how Zane's drone was linked to him, only it wasn't an eye, but a piece inside of her that no one could see.

There was also the miniature beam of energy she could release from her hands, only that one drained the core faster than it could handle.

If she used the energy beam constantly, she would go from full to empty in about ten to fifteen minutes, which just seemed pointless when a bullet would do the same for not even the fraction of energy it took to pull the trigger of a gun.

The range on the energy beam was pretty good, and the damage it could cause was not something that could be ignored, but it wasn't something she could just spam.

Other than those powers, she had insane strength and an aim assist that was kind of cheating.

Currently she would only ever have a set amount of power, her core not being able to grow and expand the more she used it like an actual Siren, but with how large the core capacity was, that wouldn't even necessarily be a problem.

Maybe in the future they would try and expand on it, but there wasn't any reason to do so in the immediate future. Looking at her stats, Kane figured she was like so many of the characters from the game.

From the first game she had strength comparable only to Brick, was a better shot than Mordy, had weird magical abilities like Lilith, and didn't need a useless turret like Roland.

From Borderlands 2, again her and Maya shared magical powers, She could go invisible similar to Zero, didn't need Axton's turret, and she could use dual weapons better than Salvador ever could.

Granted Zero was still on the unknown side for everyone including Kane, and his abilities were more than just going invisible, but Radar wasn't trying to be Zero. She was better than Zero.

As for Krieg and Gaige, well... Radar had them beat in spades.

The characters from the Pre-Sequel were already nothing, both Radar and Kane proving that when they butchered Wilhelm and Nisha.

Wilhelm had cybernetic implants to make him better, but Radar was cybernetics on steroids given form.

With a built in aim assist then Nisha couldn't even compare, and Kane wasn't even going to mention the Fragtrap.

Athena had a gravity defying shield, and although her strength was nothing to scoff at, Kane figured he knew their abilities enough to know that Radar was on top.

Timothy Lawrence (A.K.A The Doppleganger) and Aurelia Hammerlock (A.K.A The Baroness) were somewhat of a joke, honestly. One just looked like Jack, while the other used nano-tech to freeze things, only that was in the game.

The Doppelganger didn't have overpowered clones it could use to fight for it, which would have been awesome in Kane's opinion, and The Baroness's nano-tech could be removed with an electrical pulse.

Borderlands 3 characters were pretty awesome, but again they weren't anything super special.

Zane used his gadgets pretty well, and he was a top notch assassin, but again he wasn't some inhuman being, just really good at his work. And funny too.

Again, Amara had the magic going, but so did Radar. Moze had the mech (A.K.A Ironbear) and FL4K was a robot that gained sentience and raised pets to fight for it.

Looking at it humorously, Kane envisioned Radar grooming him and everyone else in his group as a fighting force, or pets as it were. He knew that's not what they were, but one could look at it that way.

The mech suit was pretty awesome, Kane would admit, and if he was honest he wanted one too, which he would eventually get around to building for himself. Maybe even the others too so they could play games with them.

Comparing Radar to each character from the game was a little unfair, and Kane was completely biased towards them, and he knew that.

Each of them had their own experiences, acted in their own unique ways, and had area's where they all excelled at. Radar was great, and did really well in most area's, but even she knew there were people better than her in certain fields.

I mean, just look at Tannis. A regular scientist that had advanced the whole galaxy even before she met Kane, and then she brought a supreme A.I. to the brink of destruction.

All of this was done with no magical powers, just her huge brain and the possibility of being discarded like some cheap whore.

Though calling her cheap was completely wrong. It had already cost Kane millions of dollars to keep her around, and that wasn't even mentioning the repairs he had to do when she blew up his lab.

Anyway, back on track. After taking in everyone's recommendations, or at least the realistic ones, Kane and the others got to work.

Brick didn't get his torture room, and Mordy didn't get his bird sanctuary, not that they didn't give some good reasons or anything, but Kane didn't want anything like that in Paradise.

Roland and Lilith were of course given a room each, though Kane had struggled with the idea of having them here for a few minutes before he finally gave in.

Sure they had come to try and save him, but Hyperion having the robot army was their fault to begin with, and he didn't technically need their help. Still, it was the thought that counted, and they weren't the worst people to have around.

Kane wasn't sure they each needed a room, given their history with one another, but seeing as how they had broken up when Lilith faked her death then he wasn't sure what they were.

With Jack dead there wasn't really a need to keep up the facade, but whether they got back together or not was entirely up to them. Judging by how close they seemed, Kane figured they would get together again.

---------

It took a few weeks to get Paradise somewhat livable again, but it still wasn't even close to being the same as it had been in the past. It would take quite a bit more time before it was even close to the splendor it had been.

Currently the bedrooms were all completed, along with the kitchen, living room, launch bay, and a makeshift lab.

The clean-up had taken only a day or two with Kane simply running through and storing any and everything in his Inventory, but the defenses were something completely different.

For three hundred miles in every direction was constantly under observation, and was lined up with more defenses than was warranted.

Landmines, trip wires, turrets, pit traps, and a million other traps were literally everywhere within the domain, something which the locals had come to learn pretty quickly.

There were even boundary markers all around the territory with signs near them to deter anyone from encroaching upon the area.

Funny enough, some people had built a town right on the boundary of Kane's domain, and they used him as a symbol for the town.

By now he and his group were famous all across the galaxy for having killed Jack and crushed Hyperion, though Hyperion was still hanging on by a thread.

Malliwan, Pangolin, Vladof, Dhal, and the rest of the Corporations just couldn't compete with Hyperion and its robot army and weren't a match on any front.

Just one gun robot was worth at least a hundred human soldiers, and Jack had an endless supply of them. That was the past however.

Handsome Jack was the backbone of the whole Corporation, and without him, well... Hyperion was doomed. Especially once Brick finally got around to blowing them up.

Anyway, by now word had spread to every Corporation on what happened to Jack, and who was responsible. Kane's name circulated every corner of the galaxy, and a few people even tried getting in contact with him to offer some deals.

Malliwan rescinded the bounty on his head, though that was only publicly. In actuality there was still a bounty on his head from Malliwan, only it had tripled from its previous price.

Kane didn't think Malliwan could afford to pay that much just for him, but after Radar and Angel did a little digging, they found out there were quite a few people sponsoring the hit out on him.

After looking over the list of names he found out there wasn't a single name on the list he recognized except one Aurelia Hammerlock, though he was quite certain he hadn't met her before.

It was good there was still a bounty on him, otherwise he figured it would be kind of dull for the next few years while he waited for the events of Borderlands 3 to take place.

As for the town on the boundary, Kane didn't seem to care all that much about it. Actually it wasn't a bad place to go and stroll through every once in a while.

Him and Brick went there a few times and had gotten into a few bar fights, only he had to change his look before he got there, otherwise most everyone just ignored him.

A few people had come to try and kill him on the times he had made it known it was him in the town, but they never lasted more than a few minutes, that is unless Brick got a hold of them.

The man was downright ruthless at the best of times, and took great pleasure in dishing out pain to others. If you were dumb enough to start shit with Brick, and let him get you alive, you had a very slow horrific end.

The town had been named Oasis by the residents, and had a thriving community already. There were of course a few bandit clans that thought they could take the place over, but Kane had actually dealt with them.

It was more accidental than a need to protect the people. He hadn't even known the bandits were causing problems, he was just trying to find a shipment of Eridium that had been stolen from Marcus on route to Sanctuary.

It was a simple coincidence that it happened to be the same group responsible for stealing from Marcus, and then what followed.

Marcus had asked Kane to help make an example of those that tried to rob him, something which Kane was all too willing to do.

The bandits had been made an example of, only despite it being for Marcus, everyone believed it had been done for the residents of Oasis, causing the residents to rejoice.

Word had spread after the incident that Oasis was off limits to the Bandit clans, which suited most people just fine, especially those who were just trying to survive on the hellhole that was Pandora.

Anyway, the weeks had come and gone in what seemed like a blink of an eye, and it was about time for them to head back to Eden-6 for Mercenary Day.

Kane had originally just planned to send Radar or Maya with Angel to go visit Monty, but with her being pregnant and all, he wasn't about to risk anything, especially not his kid.

It was that kind of thinking which led him to where he was now, which was inside a spaceship on route to Eden-6. Everyone he usually travelled with was with him, though unlike most times, Brick, Mordy, and Tina were with him.

Roland and Lilith decided to stay on Pandora, opting to stick around the planet and such, though that was probably for the best considering Kane hadn't even extended them the invitation.

"Are we there yet?" Tina asked for the umpteenth time over the last hour they had been flying through space, making Kane debate if it was really worth inviting Brick if it meant Tina had to come. Sure Luna was happier, but her happiness wasn't worth his own.

"Tina... why don't you go bother someone else?" Kane asked, using every ounce of willpower he had not to shout at the little girl.

"Because only you have what I want..." Tina whispered dramatically as she extended her right hand out in front of her while her left hand went to her heart.

"The magical substance that can bring any girl to her knees... The goods that rock my-!" Tina didn't get to finish whatever she was going to say before Kane threw a bag of cookies at her face.

"GO! AWAY!!" He shouted angrily. Inside he was wondering if she had phrased it like that on purpose or if it was an accident.

Either way, it creeped him out to the point that if there was an FBI in this universe then he would be turning himself in.

He also didn't know if he could look at chocolate chip cookies the same anymore.

When Tina finally left him alone, Maya and Angel burst out laughing, both women having been listening in from across the room.

Ignoring them, Kane went back to tinkering with one of his guns.

It wasn't until a few hours later that Kane let out a sigh of relief. It had only been a few days since their departure from Pandora, but it felt like eons had passed.

Tina had made it her goal to bug him, and though he tried to not let the little girl get under his skin, she irked him to no end.

'Note to self... never bring Tina anywhere again.' He thought, mentally cursing himself for ever bringing her with him, while already planning on building a jail or something he could use to lock her away for the return trip.

That or just make her and Brick take a separate ship.

"I know it hasn't been that long since we were last here, but it's good to be back." Maya said, not actually minding the planet, which seemed like a lie in Kane's opinion, but he wasn't about to call her out on it.

"Yes, yes, it's good to be back. Now let's go meet the old codger before we head to the Den." Kane said, already marking the Jakobs Estate on the map.