Sanctuary, Present Day

Crimson: It feels good to have my hands free! Would I be going too far to ask for my sword back?

Lilith frowns and looks at me, annoyed. Her tatoos glow as the area around her starts warping.

Lilith: Yes, it would.

My eyebrows raise in intreague as I start heading to the center of town, my eyes not leaving hers.

Crimson: Damn Lilith, you've gotten a lot stronger since that fight against the Warrior. Makes me think back to our first fight.

Flashback

Lilith and the Vault Hunters glare at me while I flip my knife in my hand.

Crimson: Come on, where's the quips? Where's the excitement at the thought of the loot? Where did that spark go?

Roland: That all ended when you kidnapped Tannis. Now hand her over!

I frown and sheath my blade. Leaping from my perch, I walk towards them, my hands outstretched.

Crimson: You know that smiling won't kill you, right? Just look at me! I'm happy as can be.

In an instant, I knee Roland in the gut and send him sprawling. Mordecai's bird swoops at me which I nearly avoid. It's wing slices my right eye and I collapse to the ground, screaming in pain.

Crimson: GAAAAH!

I quickly equip my shield and scramble to my feet.

Crimson: YOU'RE GONNA REGRET THAT!

I draw my knife and leap at Mordecai, the blade pointed at his throat. He ducks under it, so I catch his chin with my knee and send him flying backwards. Brick throws his hammer at me and catches me in the back.

I cough up blood. That hurt, even through my shield. I leap to my feet and dodge under a stream of bullets from Lilith. Drawing my pistol, I fire two bullets at her which she dodges by phasewalking out of the way.

Spinning around, I fire three shots at Brick before rolling under a wave of fire caused by Lilith reappearing in our dimension. Roland throws down a Scorpio turret and fires at me with an assault rifle.

Crimson: COME ON! YOU'LL NEVER GET THE VAULT KEY IF YOU CANT BEAT ME!

I slash at Lilith who went for a kick, and land a nasty cut on her leg which runs up her calf. She shrieks in pain and I kick her to the side

Roland: LIL!

A sniper bullet whizzes past my face and I jump back to avoid another shot, but unfortunately I jump into Brick's oncoming fist which sends me flying into a wall and dents it.

Crimson: Ah, shit

My head slumps down as I black out, only to wake up an hour later, no longer in the wall.

Back to the present

Lilith: Yeah, that left a scar, asshole. How was I the only one to get cut? Brick took three shots to the chest and walked away fine!

I shrug and stretch my shoulders

Crimson: Hey, Morty's bird cost me an eye, and if it makes you feel any better, I'm sorry.

Lilith just glares at me as I walk towards what appears to be the main building of the town.

Standing outside are two Crimson Raider soldiers, still in the Lancer uniforms.

Crimson: I see you kept the old uniforms for the foot soldiers.

Lilith just grunts and opens the door before walking inside the building, me following close behind. The first thing I notice upon entering in Doctor Patricia Tannis.

She's inspecting my sword, running her finger across the side of the blade while holding an Echo recorder in her other hand

Tannis: Interesting, the metal of this primative weapon is positively ancient! Possibly dating back to Earth times! And the edge itself seems to be made of corrosive materials. More tests must be done at a later time.

I chuckle at seeing the scientists unchanged habits, which draws her attention.

Tannis: Oh, Lieutenant Blitzkrieg. I didn't expect you to be alive.

I chuckle again, and subconsciously run my hand over the scar on my eye.

Crimson: Yeah, well I'm one tough sunnuva bitch. So, have you found out anything about my Molecular Scathach?

She quirks her head at the name, Lilith decides to speak up.

Lilith: Wait, isn't he one of the ones that kidnapped and tortured you?

Tannis turns to her and rebuttels

Tannis: Kidnapped, yes. Tortured, no. Lieutenant Blitzkrieg was actually sickeningly kind and confided his insignificant childhood traumas with me as if I was some paltry psychologist. Although it did give me insight into the possible minds of the maniacs and products of incest that plague this planet.

I scoff indignantly and turn around to look for an ECHO eye or something similar.

Lilith: So Tannis, what do you know about him. He's a mystery to everyone else but you apparently.

Tannis chuckles a bit before turning to Lilith.

Tannis: He was born on Pandora and had a fairly normal life until he was 12. His father was murdered by bandits and a few weeks later, his mother went insane. He was the one to kill her.

I scowl while Lilith looks shocked before steeling herself.

Lilith: Damn, takes someone who's strong to keep going after that.

I deepen my scowl, not noticing Lilith turning to me.

Lilith: Hey, Crimson.

I turn to face her, not even hiding my scowl

Crimson: What?

Lilith: If you ever need a place to stay, you can come here, you got that?

My scowl morphs into a soft smile and I start chuckling.

Crimson: As good as that sounds, I got to get back to Wurmwater. That treasure won't hunt itself.

At the word "treasure", Lilith's head perks up. A smirk crosses her face.

Lilith: So, there's a treasure in Wurmwater? You mind if I come along?

Crimson: On two conditions.

Her smirk fades but she relents.

Lilith: Shoot.

Crimson: One, I get my sword back. Two, you have one of the Vault hunters get me an ECHO eye. A lack of depth perception limits my lethality. I don't like it.

Tannis: Oh, that should be easy.

Tannis grabs her ECHO device.

Tannis: Axton, there's someone here with a job for you. He'll pay once it's complete! He needs an ECHO eye. I'm sending the coordinates of a psychopathic maniac who has no need for his.

After she says Axton my eyebrows quirk up

Crimson: Axton's here?

20 minutes later

The door to the lab is kicked open, startling me out of my chair.

Axton: I got the eye! Crimson!? What are you doing here?

I angrily get off the floor and grab the eye from him before handing him a purple rarity shotgun.

Crimson: That should be more than enough, now if you'll all excuse me, I have some self surgery to apply. Where's the bathroom, and I need a scalpel. Sterilized. I won't be using a dirty scalpel to apply this to my optic nerves.