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"For the last time, LEAVE ME ALONE PRETTY BOY!!!"
"No can do Tim. i need that Winning Hand of yours and you won't make a deal. so we'll have to do this the hard way."
Timothy sighed as he closed his eyes and just took a moment to accept his pending demise. trapped in a cage in the Tower. The Vault Hunters wouldn't be coming for him. Moxxi was clear on that. she hadn't forgiven him for his part in Jack's rise. hadn't forgiven him for HER betrayal and for being a dirty Bandi-
"Stupid Jack DNA."
The point was, he was on his own, and he was played out. while the Vault Hunters would go after Pretty Boy, they would just kick in the front door and fight through at their leisure. he would be long dead by then. already he could hear over the comms that freddy had engaged them. not long now, but long enough.
the sound of gunfire directly outside the room suddenly caused both Tim and Pretty Boy to look over, only for the door to be blasted open and for two very familiar, and unexpected, figures to come through.
"Claptrap, Funzerker mode." authoritarian and firm in their orders, with their shield up and a Dahl SMG in hand.
"OKAY!" the shorter, angular frame, exuding a loud and energetic voice as suddenly two Vladof Assault Rifles, Shock and Cryo by the looks of it, began cutting into Pretty Boy's entourage.
a Gladiator and a modified FR4G-TP unit. flashes of a Gunslinger, Enforcer and Baroness dancing across his imagination as his Team. his Friends, came barreling into the room and made short work of the few loaders inside the Tower control room. Pretty Boy scrambled into his giant Jack mech and the fight continued in earnest, Athena moving forward and absorbing a volley before releasing the shield, only for Fragtrap to activate Pirate Ship Mode or one of his minion-bot summons to unload on the mech.
"Frag? Why are you two here? how are you here?!"
"When the new Recruits told Moxxi you were here, i was so excited i called Athena! and Gaige, you'd like her, she makes good prosthetics, her and Moxxi and Ellie managed to recreate and improve my VaultHunter.EXE program!"
"Less Talking more shooting Claptrap!"
"Sorry Athena!"
Tim looked at Athena
"Athena?"
"You were... you are.. my friend. and Janey wanted to yell at you in person for missing our wedding. you're invited to our vow renewals by the way." Athena threw her sword at the console, freeing Tim as she turned back to the fight. wasting no time grabbing a Handsome Jackhammer SMG from the fallen Loaders, Tim joined the fight in earnest. between the three, they rapidly depleted the mech's armor, forcing Pretty Boy to expend all of his funds to make instant repairs, before being turned into the fuel source and finally, with a wall of bullets, bringing the colossal machine down.
"And the others? they too busy kicking puppies and burning orphanages down to come help?"
"They're dead Tim."
"They... they're..."
"Wilhelm was sacrificed, by then more machine than man, to the same Vault Hunters that defeated Jack, as part of a ploy to take out the Crimson Raiders."
"Crimson Raiders?"
"the lost remnants of the Lance after General Knoxx's death, along with what few people were reasonable or moral on that forsaken dustball. Roland and later Lilith were their leaders."
"and these bandit scum... sorry, Jack had me injected with some of his DNA after the H-Source mission, makes me act a little... Jacky. anyway, they took him out?"
"They did. they also took Nisha out in Lynchwood. fought her in a duel at high noon. of course, she brought a posse with her-"
"Of course. and Aurelia?"
Claptrap raised his clamp to interrupt.
"OOH, i know this one. after Hyperion and the Lost Legion, long story don't ask, were taken down, this pair of ECHOnet streamers united all the Bandits in the Six Galaxies into a cult. they made a deal with her to give her control of Jakobs in exchange for a Vault Key, and these new Vault Hunters took her out."
"...i'm going to need you to run ALL OF THAT by me again when we're done here. but it's just us left? we three?"
"Just us. the three who were least willing in our part of Handsome Jack's tyranny."
Timothy looked at the pair of them. Athena was standing more causally than he'd ever seen her, a wedding band on her ring finger sure enough. Claptrap's Chassis was scorched and held together by scrap in places. the round dent in his front plate from Jack's shot still present even now. and him, hair overgrown, mask cracked and his hand now a prosthetic override for the entire Jackpot.
"Let's go join my Recruits in the lobby."
"His recruits?"
"Ignore him. he thinks every group of vault hunters from us onwards are his underlings. Shadow-trap scrambled his awareness i think."
Tim chuckled at that. the first genuine laugh in a while. and the Heroes of Elpis departed from the Hyperion Space Station, reunited and finally, truly free of Jack.