Crimson Lance Reborn (Borderlands x Male Crimson Lance Reader)

Chapter 41: Relics of Atlas

Y/N POV

Things weren't going too well for me now, true the Crimson Lance Reborn continued to expand it's military might, taking over territory, gaining new recruits and that was always a good thing. But personally things weren't going well.

I was yet again sat in my office, this time I ordered my Royal Guards to stand outside the door and prevent me from being interrupted. I needed some alone time to think over how far I had fallen mentally. What did I mean by that? Well that's easy to figure out.

I mean look at how my social image had degraded over the years, I used to be a Colonel in the Crimson Lance for God sake, I was respected and liked by my soldiers and I was feared by my enemies. Now however I was just some washed up guy with Eridian powers, hell bent on getting revenge of Vault Hunters.

I put my head in my hand and continued to think, I let out a depressed sigh before looking up and noticing a shelf with various folders on it. I had never paid it any mind until now since they were likely Atlas projects that were in development at the time that they occupied Pandora.

Getting up out of my chair, I slowly made my way over to the shelf and began sifting through the folders. I was annoyed almost instantly to find them not in alphabetical order. I groaned a bit before proceeding to list a few.

"New weaponry? No. The Gortys Project? No, that would take too long to assemble, don't even know where the pieces are. Vaults on Promethea? How would I even get there?" I then noticed a folder that did catch my attention. 'Bio Dome' is what it said. I pulled the folder off the shelf, taking it back to my desk and opening it up.

I read through what was said about it and I must say I was interested. The plants that were grown their could provide a potential fresh source of food for the soldiers. Ever since the fall of Handsome Jack we basically were no better than militarized Bandits, we had the money but we still had to pillage Bandit camps for food and water. Not to mention we ran out of the rations from the initial occupation years ago.

I read the name of the supposed lead scientist at the Bio Dome 'Cassius Leclemaine' I remember him. He was always good to me whenever we met in person, in fact he was almost like a grandfather to me due to the fact that I did hold an interest in the plants he grew. What made me anxious was what if Athena had beaten me to it and wiped the place out.

Regardless I decided it would be worth a look, see if there was anything worth while. I ordered my Royal Guards to accompany me along with a small team of Infantry soldiers. We piled into two Lancers, I was in the front one, and with that we set off towards the Bio Dome.

After a relatively long drive from the Crimson Enclave to the coordinates provided in the folder and sure enough we eventually arrived at a large Atlas facility with a large glass dome on the top.

Image of the Atlas Bio Dome:

Me and the soldiers all disembarked from the Lancers and looked around. I turned to two Infantry soldiers and instructed them "You two stay here and keep the engines running, we don't know what may be inside so keep an eye out. See anything suspicious and you radio it to me instantly do you understand?"

The soldiers saluted, both saying in unison "Yes sir!" I turned to the others ordering "The rest of you follow me, and keep your eyes alert for anything moving. However that doesn't mean you go all trigger happy, make sure you identify your target before you shoot. There may be some Atlas personnel still remaining."

They all yelled "Yes sir!" as well before I lead them inside. The entire place was deserted, I don't know if Athena had been here or not. There was no sign of a visible struggle but there was also no sign of any life whatsoever.

Well, that was until we entered a relatively large, open room with windows that overlooked the jungle of plants below. I gestured for my men to look around as I did the same. I went into the center of the room and saw a bowl with some strange fruit in it. What interested me about this was that it appeared to have been freshly bitten into. Meaning someone was here.

I looked up and pointed my gun at an old man who entered the room. I stated "Halt! Hands up!" The old man lept back and quickly placed his hands up exclaiming "Please don't shoot!"

Image of the mysterious old man:

The man tried to reason with me "Please, don't kill me. I am but a humble traveler." I looked at the man and noticed that he looked very familiar. I tilted my head to the side until my eyes widened when I realized why I recognized him.

My men all aimed their guns at the stranger but before they could open fire I stopped them and asked "Cassius? Is that you?" I knew it was him but he clearly didn't recognize me as he responded "What? I'm not Cassius, I don't know what your talking about."

I decided to ask "Cassius, do you recognize me? I'm Y/N Knoxx remember? We met years ago on another planet? You came here at the same time as us?" Now Cassius' eyes widened as he asked "Y-Y/N? Is that really you?" I nodded as the two of us approached and to the surprise of all my soldiers we embraced in a hug.

Honestly I thought Cassius had been killed in Athena's Atlas genocide but it seems he survived. He then asked "So, what brought you all the way out here? You can't have known I survived could you? After all this place has been radio silent for years now."

I responded by revealing the file I still had from my base. Cassius looked at it before saying "I see." He then turned to look at my eyes concerned and asked "What happened to your eyes and your hands?"

I responded by showing him the Sentinel's staff which I still carried at all times. I explained "The side effects of an Eridian artifact I acquired on Elpis, it grants supernatural abilities but at the price of my appearance being like this."

As a third question Cassius asked "So what do you need?" I proceeded to tell him. "I need your help in growing sustainable food for my men at the Crimson Enclave. Can you do that?" Cassius thought before saying "Yes, but only from here. Tell you what, return to your base and have some of your men return in about a week, I will have a fresh supply for you there."

I smiled and said "Sounds good, thank you Cassius, I appreciate it." Cassius responded with a kind smile "Your welcome Y/N. It was good to see you." I said goodbye and me and my men returned to the Crimson Enclave.

However I was unaware that had I stayed for a few hours longer, I would have not only had a little reunion with Athena but I would also have gotten to meet my future boss back when he was just a lowlife at Hyperion.

Author's Note: That finishes Chapter 41 as well as being the only chapter in my Tales from the Borderlands segment. Tonight will be the Commander Lilith and the fight for Sanctuary which will likely also only be one chapter as well as following on from this one and then after that it will FINALLY be Borderlands 3 time! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always thanks for reading.