Crimson Lance Reborn (Borderlands x Male Crimson Lance Reader)

Chapter 45: The Zer0 Impersonator

Y/N POV

Those Vault Hunters surprised me greatly, I swear they got more impressive each time. Firstly with Zer0's help they managed to defeat a Maliwan robot named Gigamind and took his brain.

Image of Gigamind:

After that they briefly left Promethea to visit the planet Athenas, why they went there isn't really my business so I remained solely focused on my own task which was locating pockets of Atlas resistance and regrouping them to another location.

Eventually however Maliwan started using this big laser to destroy several locations across Promethea, coincidentally all locations which Rhys frequented often. So when the Vault Hunters returned it was up to them to shut down the laser.

While they were doing that, I was STILL looking for small pockets of Atlas soldiers. Given that the ones I brought with me from Old Haven were all killed already. Anyway, while I was wandering around aimlessly as there wasn't a waypoint for these, I received an Echo communication.

At first I thought it would be Rhys, Lorelei or maybe even Zer0 but I was surprised find it wasn't any of them, or anyone from Atlas at all. Rather it was Katagawa Jr, head of Maliwan's Mergers and Acquisitions. Also the rumored usurper of the Maliwan Corporation.

He instantly began speaking by asking "Is this Y/N Knoxx I'm speaking with?" I responded "Yes, what is it you want?" Katagawa began speaking. "Well, an anonymous source of mine told me you hold a certain resentment towards the Crimson Raiders."

I seemed skeptical as I said "What are you proposing?" Katagawa went on to explain "Kill those Vault Hunters that were sent here and I promise you that when Atlas is absorbed by Maliwan, that you will be placed in charge of the entire Maliwan army. How does that sound?"

Thinking about it, I had to admit, it did sound good. But at the same time I wasn't just going to betray Atlas like that, my treacherous days were behind me, for now. So because of this my response was the following "Sorry, Katagawa but I'm not interested."

Katagawa just smirked before saying. "We'll see. Maybe this will change your mind." He signed off and I was suddenly attacked by Maliwan Assault Troopers and Riot Troopers. Even on my own, I knew what to expect from them so they were less of a problem.

However once they were dead, Maliwan brought out the big guns. And I mean that literally, as they were these hulking individuals in heavy armor packing superior heavy firepower.

Image of a Maliwan Heavy Gunner:

Now, naturally these guys were far more dangerous and difficult to deal with than the lesser Maliwan personnel due to their armor and upgraded weapons. Luckily my Knoxx's Gold pistol which I still carried with me was a Corrosive weapon.

This made it so that the armor burned away easier. And rom there it was a matter of using my staff to kill them with minimal effort. And now that Katagawa's little distraction was out of the way, I continued looking for more Atlas soldiers.

Eventually my Echo picked up a signal. When listening to it I realized that it was actually a DISTRESS SIGNAL from a nearby Atlas team. "If anyone is nearby, we are under attack. I repeat we are under attack! It's like a ghost, we can't even see- AAAAAAAAAAA!"

I noticed that the source of the signal was actually nearby so I rushed over there but upon my arrival, I found the bloody, mutilated remains of several Atlas soldiers, one of which was holding the Echo, I assume he was the one who sent the signal.

I analyzed the corpses to see if I could determine a cause of death. I obviously noticed several slash marks all over their bodies. Now I thought back to what the distress signal had said. 'A ghost that they couldn't see."

Putting two and two together I was surprised at my conclusion. That was that the only possible culprit was none other than Zer0. I thought to myself "Why would Zer0 do this?" Turns out I said it out loud because I soon heard a voice "Yes why indeed."

I turned around and narrowly stopped the slash of a blade with my staff. My eyes widened when I saw that it WAS Zer0, the main difference was that his attire now had orange areas on it and the Maliwan logo on the mask.

Image of the Maliwan Zer0:

Zer0 then said "You should have accepted the deal Y/N." At this I realized that it wasn't even Zer0 I was fighting. His voice was far too high pitched and not ominous enough. I just grinned because I knew instantly who it was.

I just responded to his comment. "And why should I KATAGAWA?" I emphasized his name so that he was taken aback that I knew it was him. When he was distracted I used my staff to knock him back, fired some purple orbs out of it at him before shooting at him with my pistol.

The orbs hit their mark but my bullets didn't as Katagawa used his Zer0 suit to escape, leaving me stood in the middle of the street. Great now Katagawa had Zer0 tech on him? Things couldn't get worse. 

Actually they could because Katagawa was like a harmless kitten compared to the true masterminds of this invasion. And now Katagawa would tell them about me and set things in motion going forward.

Author's Note: That concludes Chapter 45. I hope it was good and you enjoyed it. I will try to get the next chapter up tonight and as always thank you for reading and voting if you did.