Alex, Maya, Axton, Salvador, and Zer0 stood at the foot of a towering cliff looming over them like a grim monolith. It resembled a massive stone tower from fairy tales about princesses locked away at the top. But Alex knew the truth: the siren Angel wasn’t at the summit — she was kept deep beneath the rock.

Only one path led to the tower — a narrow metal bridge. Raising his eyes to the very top, Alex thought about BNK3R, the massive security drone that looked more like a giant flying saucer. On the one hand, it was a serious problem; on the other, it would make a perfect trophy to add to his collection.

“Are we going to stand here much longer?” Maya interrupted his thoughts, giving him a light tap on the shoulder. “Or are we finally going to save Angel?”

“Ah… yeah. Sorry, just got lost in thought,” Alex smirked and shook his head.

Lighting a cigarette, he was the first to step onto the bridge. The others followed behind. At the massive iron gates, Alex tried to find some kind of control panel — a lock, a console, anything. But there was nothing. His patience was quickly running out. Almost ready to tear the gates apart by hand, he dug his fingers into the seam of the doors and began to force them open…

And then something crashed down from above with a loud bang.

Everyone instantly raised their weapons. On the ground beside them lay a small yellow metal box. Alex arched a brow and exchanged glances with the others.

“Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to throw a crate from the very top?” Alex muttered, staring at the fallen box.

But before they could decide what to do, the box hissed and began to transform. Within seconds, it turned into a small loader robot, just over a meter tall. Its single eye lit up with a soft blue glow.

“I think he’s cute,” Maya noted, tilting her head.

“Hm. Agreed,” Alex nodded. “Though I wonder why they dropped him in the first place?”

He even considered taking the little bot with him and later giving it to one of his sisters — Valery already had Peach the wolverine, but Alice, Göll, and Nobukatsu didn’t have pets yet.

Suddenly, the robot’s eye shifted from blue to red. Only then did Alex recall Hyperion’s “mini-loader rockets” — insane variants of the regular drones. And this one was clearly one of them: two massive machine guns unfolded in its arms.

“Intruder detected! Eliminate! Eliminate! ELIMINAAATE!” the robot screeched in a metallic voice.

Alex and the others all turned their heads at once.

“… he’s not cute anymore,” Alex grumbled, already lunging forward.

Before the drone could fire, he kicked it square in the body. The impact sent the robot flying into the air, spinning like a ball.

“INTRUUUDERS!!!” it shrieked hysterically, vanishing over the horizon.

A few minutes later, it crashed down like a meteor right in the middle of a local gang’s base, still blazing its machine guns and screaming about “intruders,” turning the place into a bloody mess.

Meanwhile, the group stood at the gates, still processing what had just happened. The moment Alex had launched the robot with a single kick — like a soccer ball — stuck with them most of all.

“That was… very weird,” Axton drawled, eyes still fixed on the sky.

“No kidding,” Alex agreed, taking a drag. “I thought I was the only one who could build crazy bots like that. But this little guy outdid mine.”

“I really hope we don’t run into more of those ‘surprises,'” Maya sighed, gazing in the direction the drone had flown.

After a moment of silent staring into the distance, the team collectively decided to head inside the bunker and pretend the mini-loader incident had never happened.

Approaching the massive iron doors, Alex shoved his hands into the gap and forced the gates apart with ease. The heavy metal groaned and gave way, swinging open.

Once on the other side, Alex looked around. Before them stretched a road carved into the inside of the cliff, winding upward. The path was clearly of natural origin rather than artificially created, which made the rock even more unique.

Unfortunately, this was where Handsome Jack had built the prison for his own daughter. Alex, however, thought that such a cliff would have been perfect for a beautiful retreat — not a cage for a child.

Climbing higher and higher, he listened closely but sensed no living presence. That could only mean one thing: waiting for them above were no people, only Hyperion loader combat robots. And he couldn’t forget the main guardian — BNK3R, which would have to be destroyed to proceed.

The closer they came to the top, the more noticeable became the steps and columns built to reinforce the structure. Soon, the group reached a platform that resembled a balcony. There, they were met with another set of gates, sealed by an energy shield.

“Beyond this shield lies the final door. The barrier will only deactivate once you destroy the Bunker,” Angel’s voice echoed directly in Maya’s mind.

“Angel says we need to destroy the Bunker to get down. But aren’t we already inside the bunker?” Maya relayed her words aloud.

“She didn’t mean literally a bunker-bunker,” Alex explained, hands clasped behind his head. “She meant the robot Bunker that got the same name. Honestly, it’s ridiculous — building a fortress that only opens after you destroy it. It’s like making a cage with no entrance or exit.”

“Fine, but if we destroy that robot, won’t Jack notice?” Axton frowned.

“Jack is still busy fending off the Psycho raids on Hyperion bases. He hasn’t even realized you’re here,” Angel’s voice once again spoke through Maya.

“Angel says Jack hasn’t noticed. He’s too busy,” Maya confirmed.

“Perfect. Let’s go take a look at this robot,” Alex said and strode upward with confidence.

Maya, Axton, Salvador, and Zer0 followed him. Upon reaching the summit, they saw dozens of loader robots patrolling the area. The moment the group appeared, the machines swiveled their weapons toward them.

“Intruders!” the mechanical voices screeched as the loaders opened fire.

Maya, Axton, Salvador, and Zer0 instantly ducked behind columns and barriers. Alex, however, leaned lazily against a column, not even tensing. He waited calmly while the enemies burned through their ammunition.

When the distinctive clicks of empty magazines rang out, Maya was the first to leap from cover. Extending her hand, she lifted the robots into the air with her phaselock and clenched her palm. In the next moment, the machines crumpled into heaps of scrap.

Axton hurled his portable turret into the middle of the enemies and opened fire with his rifle.

Zer0 activated his camouflage, vanishing from sight and sabotaging reinforcement stations.

Salvador, as always, went in guns blazing, wielding two shotguns at once. Standing tall and shouting curses, he drenched the robots in lead without pause.

Alex, meanwhile, stood just as lazily as before, smoking calmly.

“Are you really going to do nothing again?” Maya called out, destroying another robot.

“I figured you were having fun without me. No need for me to interfere,” Alex drawled.

At that moment, a grenade rolled to his feet. Alex looked down calmly and simply kicked it aside. It detonated midair, spraying napalm.

“We could actually use your help here! These robots are tougher than the ones we fought before!” Axton shouted, reloading behind cover.

“Alright, fine,” Alex said in an exaggeratedly reluctant tone.

He crouched and touched the ground with his finger. In the same instant, arcs of electricity shot across the surface. When they reached the robots, they fried their inner circuitry. The loaders began to spasm, emitting distorted noises, then exploded one after another.

With just a single movement, Alex had ended the entire fight.

Stepping out from behind the column, Alex looked at the object in the center of the platform — a massive construct that looked like a saucer or a UFO. That was BNK3R.Only it didn’t activate.

“Where’s this Bunker? Or did we accidentally kill it without noticing?” Salvador asked, looking around.

“That huge thing in the middle is the Bunker,” Alex said, poking the metal behemoth with a finger.

“But why isn’t it attacking? Do we need to power it up?” Maya frowned.

“How to put this…” Alex made the most innocent face he could. “I accidentally fried all the electronics on the platform. Turrets, stations, the robots — and BNK3R itself, too. And apparently I also cut the power to the field that blocked our way down.”

“In other words, we didn’t have to climb up here and fight; you could have just shut everything off with one move?” Maya asked coldly.

“Something like that. I told you — you didn’t have to come with me. It’s boring.” Alex shrugged.

“Right, with you it’s truly boring. I thought we’d shoot a big combat robot, maybe even a flying one… and you ruined it in a second.” Salvador grumbled, poking him with a finger.

Alex shrugged lazily. In truth he hadn’t intended to turn BNK3R into useless scrap — his plan was different: to keep the robot intact. Burnt internal boards were a minor detail; they could always be replaced, unlike building a new BNK3R from scratch.

Without showing it or meeting the others’ eyes, Alex stepped forward, hiding the fact that he planned to tuck the bulky robot into his inventory. Maya and the others followed, while Salvador grumbled — he still couldn’t accept that Alex always spoiled the fun.

As they descended, a huge funnel opened beneath BNK3R and sucked the machine into Alex’s collection. He was already thinking he’d need to carve out some free time to repair the robot and maybe even turn it into BNK3R V2. After all, he already had reliable helpers — GIR, MIMI and Stitch — who would happily fix and upgrade it with new weapons and functions.

On the lower level they found a platform with an elevator leading straight to the cage where Angel was held. The door had earlier been sealed by an energy shield. Alex raised an eyebrow, remembering that, in theory, they should have faked Jack’s voice, mimicked his appearance, and only then proceeded. But he was feeling lazy.

So he simply kicked the door.The iron slabs crashed off their mounts and slammed inward. Beyond them opened a cave with a single elevator in the center. Approaching the platform, Alex pressed the button when everyone was ready.

Knowing the descent would take a while, he briefly considered speeding things up by breaking the platform and plummeting down like a stone. Instead he began to sing:

“People are strange, when you’re a stranger. Faces look ugly, when you’re alone. Women seem wicked, when you’re unwanted. Streets are uneven, when you’re down.”

Alex’s voice echoed through the shaft as the platform slowly descended into the rock. Maya, Akston, Salvador and Zer0 listened silently. The song’s words carried a raw honesty — an echo of loneliness and alienation, as if written by someone who’d never been accepted.

Angel heard the voice too. Thanks to the sirens’ link and her partial control over the complex, she could observe them. Her body was exhausted from the endless flow of eridium poured in and immediately siphoned out, so she remained weak. But Alex’s song pierced the fatigue and made her close her eyes for a moment. She thought that soon it would all be over. Whether she found freedom in death or in life didn’t matter — the main thing was to leave the cage built by her own father. Angel had already made her peace with death.

The platform finally reached the bottom. Alex fell silent, lit a cigarette, and was the first to step forward.

Only one door remained.

He took a deep breath and a wide grin spread across his face.

“Knock knock, Angel. I came to kidnap you! Open up, or I’ll come in myself!”

Maya looked at his back in surprise. She hadn’t expected such a statement. Alex wasn’t talking about saving the girl — he was talking about kidnapping her. But he wasn’t a hero. The Demon King always acted differently. Even Angel, hearing him, was taken aback — she had been expecting a savior, not a kidnapper.

Without waiting for a response, Alex wearily kicked the door. The iron slabs tore loose and crashed into the spacious hall, hitting the energy shield. Bouncing off, they embedded themselves in the walls, leaving dents.

Alex stepped inside with a wide smile.

The hall was dark, with a high ceiling lined with massive pipes filled with murky purple liquid. It was liquid eridium. The flow constantly surged toward the cage, feeding Angel’s powers and immediately channeling into the Storage Key.

Alex jumped off the platform and quickly approached the energy shield. Placing his hand on the shimmering barrier, he lifted his gaze and finally saw the girl.

Angel.

Young, with delicate features that combined beauty and vulnerability. Her eyes sparkled like twin sapphires. She wore a futuristic outfit — an open top, tight pants made of light but durable material, and high-heeled shoes. Wavy locks fell softly over her shoulders. She appeared both strong and fragile, like light trapped in a cage.

Alex studied Angel and noticed that she didn’t look away. It had always been hard for her to see him clearly through the siren link or via the cameras she usually controlled — a man’s face always appeared blurred, as if hidden behind a veil. But now, seeing him up close for the first time, Angel held her breath. She could never have imagined meeting someone like him: an almost angelic face, soft features, and a gaze… impossible to look away from. Even his words about kidnapping didn’t feel like a threat but a promise of the freedom she longed for.

She was especially captivated by Alex’s eyes — calm, confident, yet irresistibly magnetic.

At that moment, Maya, Akston, Salvador, and Zer0 caught up with him. They saw the girl for the first time — the one who had been guiding them all along to the Storage. But the anger they had felt toward Angel, which had caused the protective shields in the Sanctuary to fail, quickly faded. Before them was not a traitor, but a prisoner, walled into a cage built by her own father. Yes, the sense of betrayal remained, but they could no longer reproach her.

“Well, hello, Angel. I guess you’ve been waiting,” Alex said with a wide smile. “Time to get your freedom.”

“Yes,” she nodded quietly, not taking her eyes off him.

“Then hold on tight. It’s going to get rough. And you all cover us,” he added, turning to the team. “Once I break the shield, the guards will probably show up.”

Maya and the others nodded, readying themselves for battle.

Alex looked at Angel again. Their eyes met, and she, as if understanding him without words, nodded, showing she was ready for anything. Alex took a deep breath and focused on the energy flows running through the girl’s body: one flowing in, the other out, feeding the Storage Key.

“She’s part of the mechanism… If I don’t sever the connection properly, it’ll hurt her,” Alex thought, noticing the principle behind the system.

Alex summoned Yamato and took a fighting stance. With a single smooth motion, he drew the blade and made two precise swings, severing the energy streams. At that moment, the connection was cut, and Angel, freed from her chains, collapsed weakly to the ground. But she was fine.

And yet, the security system kicked in. Combat loader robots began crawling out from the walls and doorways. Alex sheathed Yamato, stepped toward the energy shield, and thrust his hands into it. With a crunch and crack, he tore the barrier apart, releasing Angel to freedom. The released energy swept the robots in a wave, frying their internal circuits, and the system fell into chaos.

Alex approached Angel and placed his hand on her back. The flow of his power passed through her body, fully healing her. Now it was obvious: all this time, her life had been sustained solely by an endless stream of eridium.

“Now you’re free,” he said, helping her to her feet.

But the silence was pierced by an unfamiliar male voice:

“I wouldn’t say that.”

A shot rang out.

Alex didn’t even turn. He simply raised Yamato and blocked the bullet with the scabbard. The metallic clang echoed through the hall.

Maya, Akston, Salvador, and Zer0 immediately turned around. Alex, however, noticed a change in Angel’s expression — and understood who had arrived.

In the doorway stood Handsome Jack. In his hands was a pistol, and flanking him were two brutes in heavy armor, armed with massive machine guns and protected by energy shields. Squinting, Alex was slightly surprised that Jack hadn’t come alone, but brought two heavily armored soldiers, each with enormous machine guns.

Alex hadn’t expected Jack to have personal guards, especially ones resembling super-soldiers from some movie. Massive, muscular bodies, heavy armor painted in Hyperion’s signature colors, enormous machine guns in hand, and massive energy shields.

Handsome Jack was also staring at Alex. Anger flared in Jack’s eyes — not only because Alex had freed Angel, ruining his plan, but also because he recognized Alex’s voice. That irritating voice: the first time he’d heard it in his private office had caused an explosion, and the second time, his dream city, Opportunity — the city he’d pinned all his hopes on — had been reduced to ruins.

“Angel, be a good daughter and return to your room. Once I finish with these trash, we’ll talk… like father and daughter,” Jack said coldly.

Angel looked at him with hatred, making it clear: she would obey no longer. Never.

Jack’s smile faltered.

“Fine… very well, Angel. So, you’ve decided to disappoint your dear daddy. Well… once I finish here, we’ll have a little obedience lesson.”

Alex gently moved Angel behind his back, continuing to watch Jack. Internally, he had already assessed the battlefield — no other soldiers or robots were nearby. That meant the others could leave.

“Maya, get Angel to the surface. I’ll have a little chat with Jack… like father to father,” he said, keeping his gaze locked on the enemy.

“She’s not going anywhere… Gah!” Jack started, but his voice was cut off.

Jack didn’t get the chance to finish — in the next moment, Alex was already standing directly in front of him and delivered a powerful kick to his stomach. The strike was so strong that Jack, like a projectile from a catapult, flew backward and slammed his back against the wall, knocking the wind out of him.

The super-soldiers lunged forward, but Alex was faster. He intercepted the arm of one of the brutes and, with a sharp tug, tore it off along with the massive shield he was holding. He immediately kicked the second soldier away, turning a captured weapon in his hands. The shield whistled through the air and split the first brute in two with a savage yet precise strike.

Without giving the second soldier a chance to react, Alex jumped from above, smashing the edge of the shield onto his head. The metal dented into the helmet with a dull clang, and a thin stream of blood seeped out. A few more strikes — and the armor gave way. Alex drove the shield deeper, then raised his fist and slammed it with full force against the edge. The shield pierced the soldier’s head, split it, and lodged into the floor, pinning the body to the ground.

Everything happened so fast that Maya, Angel, and even the guys didn’t immediately realize what had occurred. A moment ago, Alex had been standing beside Angel, and the next, Jack was writhing on the floor, with Hyperion’s two elite warriors lying dead.

“What are you staring at?” Alex smirked, wiping blood from his face. “Head to the surface, and I’ll have a chat with Jack.”

“Are you going to kill him?” Angel asked quietly, her eyes still locked on him.

“No, of course not,” Alex said, smiling warmly, almost kindly. “I said it’s just a chat. We’ll sit down, have some tea, talk… like father to father. Then I’ll catch up with you.”

Hearing such a strange response, Angel could only nod, not realizing that in Alex’s mind, a “pleasant tea chat” wasn’t really a conversation.

Maya, eyeing him suspiciously, nodded:

“Just don’t take too long.”

Alex waved his hand in response, smiling as if nothing serious were happening. Only when Maya, Angel, Akston, Salvador, and Zer0 left the hall and headed for the elevator did he light a cigarette. Inhaling, Alex hummed softly and approached the mechanism where the Vault key jutted out.

He pulled it from its mount. In his hand was a conical artifact, rough as if carved from ancient stone or cracked metal. At the top glowed a depression emitting a violet light. Lines shimmered along the sides, forming a pattern resembling the letter “V” — the symbol of the Vault.

Alex twirled the key and decided to examine it from a completely different angle, noticing hidden inscriptions — intricate symbols, like a coded message. He could decipher part of it: the path to one of the Vaults. But the second half remained a mystery. Still, he had a feeling he’d seen this language somewhere before. Yet his mind stubbornly refused to give an answer.

“Well, the key is secured,” he muttered, spinning the artifact on his finger. “Now, a chat with Jack… then back to the Sanctuary. Depending on my mood, the Vault opens today or tomorrow.”

As he rotated the Vault key on his finger, the thought crossed his mind that the Eridians might have purposely designed the key in this shape so it could be spun easily. But the silence was broken by a muffled groan.

Alex turned: Jack, still unconscious, was trying to move. Alex crouched beside him and, without hesitation, ripped off his false face. Under the mask was a burnt “V”-shaped scar — a mark left by Lilith when she destroyed the Vault symbol. Since then, Jack had to wear an artificial face — the very mask that gave him the nickname “Handsome Jack.”

“Hey, Jaaack…” Alex said quietly, patting him on the cheek. “Wake up, sleepyhead. It’s morning. Time to work.”

Jack groaned. His eyelids twitched as he gradually regained consciousness. Grabbing his stomach, he felt a dull ache, as if he had been hit by a truck. And then he realized something else. His hand shot to his face — the mask was gone.

“Looking for this?” Alex asked, waving the fake face in front of him.

“Give me back my face! Give me back my beautiful face!” Jack screamed, trying to snatch the mask from his hands.

But before Jack could even reach out, a heavy object slammed into his face with a dull crunch. His nose cracked and blood poured out. With no other option, Alex struck him with the Vault key he held. Jack’s head snapped back and he crashed against the wall, losing consciousness.

Alex grunted in annoyance.

“Why are you so fragile…” he muttered, then tossed Jack’s face-mask aside.

After a brief pause he grabbed one of the man’s fingers and sharply bent it the wrong way.

Jack’s eyes flew open with a wild scream.

“Aaaaaaa!” — the scream cut off as a hand clapped over his mouth.

“Now, now, don’t scream,” Alex said softly, but ominously. “This is only the beginning. You see, as I said earlier… we’ll talk like father to father.”

He leaned in, and cold mockery crept into his voice:

“It’s not Angel’s fault she was born a Siren. It’s not her fault she was captured. It’s not her fault her power went out of control. And it’s not even her fault her mother died. It’s all your fault, Jack. You failed to protect your family. You turned your daughter into a tool for your mad plans. So know this — as a father, you are worthless.”

Jack, barely containing his pain, rasped through the palm over his mouth:

“You don’t know anything… This was the only way I could keep Angel safe…”

“No,” Alex snapped. “You could have built a world for her, not a cage. You could have given her a life, not made her a battery. But you know what — that’s irrelevant now. I’m here for a different reason.”

He leaned closer, an unnaturally wide smile exposing sharp teeth.

“You’re probably asking yourself: ‘Why is he doing this? Why didn’t he kill me while I was unconscious?'” Alex’s voice dropped lower, making his words even more terrifying. “It’s simple. You dared to lay a hand on my daughters. You tried to make them part of your statue. That was your mistake, Jack. A huge mistake.”

Alex removed his hand from Jack’s mouth and hissed:

“For threatening my daughters… I’ll take everything from you. I already took your daughter. I already took the Vault key. I will destroy all Hyperion bases. I’ll take Helios. I will strip you of everything you had. And do you know what will remain? A nothing called Jack — the one parents abandoned and the granny beat. You’ll become what you always were. And then… I’ll come for you.”

His voice turned icy, every word driving into Jack’s mind like a knife:

“I’ll show you a place filled only with pain, fear, and despair. There you will understand true horror. And know this, Jack: nothing in this universe will save you.”

Alex looked straight into his eyes, and Jack suddenly felt the world around him darken. From the darkness thousands of crimson eyes stared back — hungry, bestial, ready to tear him apart. In the center of that abyss shone Alex’s iridescent eyes — unreal, inhuman, piercing the soul.

Primal, all-consuming fear clenched Jack’s heart. He realized that the figure before him was not a man but a monster, an existence beyond reason. The last words of that being faded into the roar of his thoughts until panic finally overwhelmed him. White foam formed at his lips, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

To be continued…

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep