So, apparently one could be blown up too many times, at least that’s what Joohyun decided as an explanation as to why her girlfriend was messed up in the head the way she is. To be fair, Seungwan isn’t really messed up, just chaotic and unapologetic about it, and Joohyun tends to enjoy a bit more order in her life. Also, Yeri and Sooyoung didn’t help at all with getting the chaos to a minimum, and Seulgi spent most days covered in grease and tinkering with something new.

 

Sure, they had fun killing Crawmerax a few times, Terramorphus was also alright, but once the pearlescents were all they had been equipping for some time, everything else became quite dull. Fine, bandit life was always flourishing, and the crimson lance had actually stepped up their game, not to mention the crimson assassin squad did pose a bit of a challenge every now and then. But Pandora got boring, hell, that whole galaxy did and honestly, vault hunting wasn’t that enticing anymore so Seulgi suggested traveling as a way to relax and get their minds off their main jobs for a while. 

 

It’s not like money was a problem, and even with Hyperion falling, Malliwan still had some great intergalactic ships for a slightly higher price, but with better features. So, the five of them packed up, got their ship and headed out into space to see where it would take them, no real route just drifting along and spending dumb money they could make again easily once they got back ‘home’, if they even decide to go back there again. They were on a long and boring stretch of mostly stars and nebulas, they had just left Spitzer, it was a great week of partying where Sooyoung managed to get herself kicked out from a for being too depraved and Yeri made it her life mission to never let the woman live it down. 

 

“Sooo, are you two telling us how Sooyoungie got kicked out yet?” Seungwan asked for the nth time after they decided it was best to leave.

 

“Nah, you’d have to be there.” Yeri dismissed.

 

“That, and it’s not my fault spitzers are such prudes.” Sooyoung complains. “They should take a page from andromedans books and learn what a should really look like. Those damn vanilla b-”

 

“OKAY!” Joohyun intervenes. “We get it, they promised and didn’t deliver. But we are somewhat heading in the general direction of Andromeda, we could stop there and have some real fun.”

 

“Like you know what you are talking about.” The tallest scoffs. “Just drop Yeri and I on Eros and then you can go and be boring in Hymenaeus. Maybe leave Seul in Talos so she could fulfill her own kink while we are at it.”

 

“I would very much like to spend a few days in Talos.” Seulgi adds shyly.

 

“Fine, is a week enough?” Joohyun agrees, if only to actually be able to spend some time in Hymenaeus with her girlfriend. “We’ll all go on and do our own thing and then we can move along with our journey.”

 

And so, they head off. Seungwan would much rather be in Eros with the other two, but she knew Joohyun was a hopeless romantic and wanted to do something special for her, so she didn’t say anything about their destination. Dropping the depraved couple in Eros came first, that place is traumatic to anyone with a shred of decency regardless, so they decided to get it over with already. Seulgi was bouncing with excitement and never paid attention to anything that was not checking her bag again and again until she was jumping out of the ship even before the door had finished opening, she really really wanted to be in Talos already.

 

Seungwan just laughed and confirmed to Joohyun that their friend had not hurt herself in her haste, and so the couple was off to their destination. Joohyun had made some reservations for them on the way over, she wanted something special and memorable and had the idle time to plan everything easily. She wanted a wedding, but knew their friends would want to be present for that, but decided to have one regardless, they can have another one with everyone present later. Also, Hymenaeus had some unique views and jewelers for her to have a great wedding album and have their wedding rings personally crafted for them.

 

Arriving, there was already a tall gentleman waiting for them, to whom Joohyun gave an access card to their ship and was handed a few keys by. Seungwan thought of questioning it, but if her girlfriend was relaxed about it, she decided to be too. The couple head out of the landing dock towards a little and very cute car, too different from what they usually see, Joohyun opens the door for her girlfriend and they are off. The place they would be staying was a small shed within the woods, homey and comfortable. Enough for the two of them.

 

“Now this is very much completely different from what we are used to.” Seungwan admires with a whistle.

 

“Nothing against our place in Eden-6, but it’s nice to look around and not see swamps for once.” Joohyun agrees.

 

“Maybe we could get another place when we get back. What do you think about Promethea?”

 

“Isn’t Malliwan trying to take over?”

 

“Yeah, but it’s not like the whole planet is a warzone, we can get a place away from it and just make great use of their technology. I can get tired of how untechnologic Eden-6 is sometimes.”

 

“We’ll see if we get back.” Joohyun says and kisses her girlfriend. “Now let’s get inside, make great use of the bathtub and have some dinner.”

 

“I can do that.” Seungwan giggles and lets herself get pulled.

 

The other three were fine and doing their thing. I will refrain from mentioning the other couple in the group, mostly because I’m disgusted myself, but Seulgi we can take a look at. Our excitable mechromancer toppled out of the ship and made a run for the nearest market, or at least tried to, she was temporarily held back by immigration because, you know, laws and all. When she did get released, she went to the closest street market she could find. Talos was heaven for anyone who enjoyed robots in general, anything that wasn’t born could be found here, from simple vacuum cleaning bots to biotechnology, you name it, Talians had it.

 

Seulgi wanted to find some biotech she would be able to adapt into her Deathtrap, she had reached it’s limit on mechanics and felt she needed that extra boost. The thing about the street markets was that they were usually for beginners and smaller inventors, the big names had their own shops but the small inventors who hadn’t been able to get their million credit idea yet would show off their work on the streets. Seulgi knew how to mine for great inventions, and she was a young inventor, who got overlooked once too.

 

She did see many interesting things, but decided to keep looking and walked along. Seulgi had a skip on her step and sighed in delight at every corner. She decided that she would walk around and find an inn to spend the night, and do the same the next morning. There was a train that could take her back to the port from wherever she would end up by the end of the week anyway, no point planning a route or anything. After wandering around for three days, Seulgi found herself in a small village, just about halfway through the capital (where she had arrived) and another big city, it looked peaceful enough, had an inn and she could see black smoke rising from a little cottage right at the limits.

 

That smoke was known to any mechanic, it was thick, smelly and very dark. Without thinking, Seulgi let herself be guided to the familiar feeling, arriving at an obvious workshop. There were a few parts scattered around the lawn, some exo-skeletons leaning on the big shed and the sound of a furnace roaring and metal clanging, she was right at home. Gathering her courage, with the thought that she was there already, she walked up to the door and knocked. A small and very pretty girl opened, holding an arm and looking ready to strike.

 

“Who are you?” The girl demanded.

 

“Hi, I’m Seulgi. I came to Talos to find new technologies and ended up gravitating to your workshop.”

 

“Ningning.” She nodded.

 

“Do you think you could show me what you’ve been working on and maybe I could get some?”

 

Still seeing that she wasn’t making progress, Seulgi decided it would be better to show instead of telling, so she summoned her deathtrap. The girl is surprised, if not a bit fascinated, but she does put the arm down and opens the door a little wider.

 

“Alright, I’ll bite. What are you doing here? Your kind is from very far away.” Ningning questions.

 

“Well, I found myself on Pandora a few years ago, terrible accident that killed the headmaster at the university I was attending so I had to vanish. Joined a group of vault hunters and we did it all for a while, now we are all quite tired of killing giant creature after giant creature and are taking a vacation.” Seulgi recalls with a fond smile.

 

“And where is the rest of your group, then?” The girl opens the door fully now and puts the arm away.

 

“Oh, there’s two on Eros that I will not be discussing.” Seulgi says with a shudder. “And another two in Hymenaeus, who are probably preparing to get married while they are there. Which I hope they do because that will make things much easier for the rest of us.”

 

“Oh, so you came here for obviously self-serving reasons while the rest are doing whatever they are doing?” Ningning raises an eyebrow but is clearly entertained.

 

“Well, my baby here” Seulgi motions to Deathtrap who is now chasing chickens “has been leveled up to the max with the technology I had in hand. So I thought to look for something different to get him to another level.”

 

“And you found yourself in my humble shop because…?”

 

“I don’t really like big names for things like this. I was a small inventor myself before I had to bail and my baby got third place in the science fair! I know that the good stuff is hidden with the ‘little guy’ so I started roaming around and here I am!”

 

The smile on the taller woman’s face was too shiny, Ningning was compelled to allow her inside. Seulgi smiled even brighter at the invitation and skipped inside happily, she was very surprised at how organized everything was and decided she had made the right choice to stop there. All the way over in Eros, Sooyoung and Yeri get a statue erected in their honor, and decide to throw a party to celebrate it. Let’s leave it at that and move on to the couple getting married.

 

Joohyun had gone all out, she had them booked for a wedding photoshoot, then they went for A LOT of couple activities, and now they were having their wedding ceremony, just the two of them and the official, it was beautiful, in a little gazebo under a waterfall. It was beautiful, both of them were beautiful. Seungwan loved every minute of it and never regretted not suggesting they go to Eros as well. Don’t get her wrong, she loved her fair share of naughtiness, but this whole romantic getaway Joohyun had planned for them turned out to be the best surprise ever.

 

By the end of their week, everyone was simply glowing with happiness, once they were all reunited, Seungwan was showing off her wedding ring and the others said they should celebrate. Joohyun had heard of a bar, one only those who weren’t trying to find it ever came across from it, and that only welcomed those like themselves, not quite on the ‘right’ side of the law. It was also rumored to have their own brand of alcohol that would you up for a week, and Sooyoung definitely needed that in her body immediately.

 

They found it, more out of luck than anything, as the bar wasn’t visible until you got close enough. The owners were very protective of it, and since their ship was actually new and didn’t at all look like something outlaws would use, not that they were really outlaws, just mercenaries on vacation, they were met with a temporary blindness until one of the owners had examined their minds and determined you were allowed in. All in all, it was a fairly easy admission process, and they really didn’t mind sharing their memories if that granted them access to one of the best and most famous places in the galaxy.

 

The five were greeted by a woman at the door, the woman had big, bright eyes and bounced all around. She eyed them all, shuddering in something that looked an awful lot like disgust when her eyes scanned Sooyoung and Yeri. They were pointed to a table and made themselves comfortable, Joohyun did notice the two women behind the bar would eye them from time to time, sometimes with fond smiles, other times in pure disgust. The commando figured the disgust was for the depraved pair, she hadn’t had the courage to touch them yet either.

 

Not long after, an interesting trio walked through the doors, two little ones and a tall one. The women, whom Joohyun figured must be the owners, dragged one of the small ones to the back, the other little one, very pale much like herself, took the tall one’s hand and they sat at a table fairly secluded. The tall woman, however, had very familiar tattoos, Joohyun would know, she had spent countless hours worshiping very similar ones. If the guess was right, they have found another of the new ones.

 

“What are you looking over there for?” Yeri asks, poking the older one with her toe.

 

“I mean, both are very fine, but I never thought you would be into this kind of thing.” Sooyoung joins.

 

“Oh, it’s just the taller one’s tattoos.” Joohyun dismisses easily. “If my eridian isn’t too rusty, we might just have crossed paths with the new phase shifter.”

 

That gets everyone’s attention. They heard sirens had been popping up further and further away from Pandora each generation, but to be this far out…

 

“Oh, your eridian definitely isn’t that bad.” Seulgi chirps, she was always the best at old languages. “I’d really like to read it closer, but I think that is the new phase shifter alright.”

 

The whole group was staring so much that the couple decided to look at them too. Having their attention, both Seungwan and Yeri let their own marks glow. That certainly got the couple’s attention, what got them to approach was Seungwan disappearing for a few seconds and Yeri locking her mug on a weird ball. The two get up immediately, looking like they were witnessing magic, and mindlessly approach their table sitting on the chairs that had been drawn for them without noticing.

 

“Yup, definitely the phase shifter.” Seulgi says and breaks the spell, she was already holding the tall woman’s arm and examining the writings.

 

“The what now?” The short woman asks, slightly uneasy with someone else touching her partner.

 

“Don’t worry, she only wants to read the tatoo.” Joohyun takes the lead. “I’m Joohyun, the one holding your girl’s arm is Seulgi, this is my wife Seungwan, and these two are Yeri and Sooyoung.” She introduces and motions to each.

 

“I’m Dahyun, this is my girlfriend Tzuyu.” The smaller woman adds.

 

“Also, you all can read this?” Tzuyu questions.

 

“Mostly the four of them, I really just didn’t care enough to learn to read and write. I just speak it.” Sooyoung waves off. 

 

“And what would ‘it’ be?” The new siren continues. “Also, what are you guys, if I can ask.”

 

“Oh, right, you must not have seen any of us before.” Seungwan chirps. “Yermie and I are sirens, and I’m guessing you are one too. I’ll get to that later. Youngie is a gunzerker, basically she can summon weapons. And my lovely wife Joohyunnie is a commando, a super soldier who can summon a turret.”

 

“Oooohh.” Both girls are impressed.

 

“And what do you mean by siren and phase something?” Tzuyu decides to question.

 

“Right, so there’s only six of us in the universe at any point in time.” Yeri supplies. “If one of us dies, another will be born in the same instant and kind of inherit the power.”

 

“You, kid, are the new phase shifter.” Seungwan intervenes. “It means you can command technology at will, you probably already knew that, but you can command anything to do whatever you want, just activate your skill.” 

 

“Yeah, about that…” Tzuyu sighs.

 

“Anyhow, I’m a phase walker, I can bend reality and walk between different realities. Yermie is the phase locker, she creates a pocket away from the reality she is in and traps whatever she wants in there.”

 

“And you, kiddo, are the phase shifter.” Seulgi chimes in as she has read enough. “But I’m guessing you know nothing about any of this and are just playing by ear.”

 

“I think we should talk to them, Tzu.” Dahyun suggests. “And if there really are only six of you, we have half here and should take the chance.”

 

“You don’t really have to tell us , you know.”

 

“Sooyoung!” Joohyun scolds. “I’m sorry, kiddos, she doesn’t care enough to be polite.”

 

“It’s alright, we can take it.” Dahyun chuckles. “Also, you said you only speak whatever language is on her?”

 

“Yeah, Eridian. Very old language, I only learned for the espionage missions.” The gunzerker shrugs.

 

“You see, us sirens tend to migrate to Pandora at some point in our lives.” Seungwan explains gently. “But, seeing as you are all the way over here, I’m guessing the elder people are losing their call over us.”

 

“And how come there are only six of us?”

 

“That!” Yeri chimes in. “We have no idea why, but there are only six sirens in the universe at any point. We still have no idea why, but never more.”

 

“I have some theories as to why, but I would need to open the vault for the Empyrean Sentinel and find the scriptures within.” Seulgi ponders. “But I’m guessing, and this is just a guess, that it’s something to do with a few old prophecies. where seven sirens are mentioned. The eridians must have done something to keep only six.”

 

“Welp, we’ll never know.” Yeri shrugs nonchalantly. “Either way, you are the phase shifter and are very far away from the area we are usually born in.”

 

“Truth is, nobody really knows, and we are definitely not killing the sentinel again just so Seul can look at some runes.” Sooyoung complains. 

 

“And what about our powers and all?” Tzuyu is still curious.

 

“Well, each of us has a different one, and it really is too different to activate for any of us to be able to help you out.” Yeri throws disinterestedly.

 

“But there is a way to trigger your full potential.” Joohyun offers pensively.

 

“We are absolutely NOT giving her that!” Seulgi stops them firmly.

 

“Giving her what?” A voice comes from behind them.

 

“Nothing, because we are not giving her anything!” The mechromancer insists.

 

“Hi, I’m Chaeyoung, the third member of the crew. These are Sana and Mina, the owners as you may have guessed.” The shortest one offers. “So, what are we giving Tzu? And why are we sitting here?”

 

“Joohyun” The eldest introduces herself, then the rest “These are Seungwan, Seulgi, Yeri and Soyoung. Those two are also sirens, so we lured them here to talk to your tall friend.”

 

“Are what?” Mina asks.

 

“Siren. It’s their power, per say. They can be born in any race, really.” Seulgi explains. “We were trying to explain that, since we have half the sirens here, it would be good if they got to know each other and all.”

 

“Half?” It’s Sana who asks this time.

 

“There can only be six of us at any moment in the universe.” Seungwan clarifies. “But really, we saw her tattoos, made ours glow and they came over.”

 

“OH!” Chaeyoung looks very excited. “And we were giving Tzu something?”

 

“We are not giving her anything!” The mechromancer is starting to lose her patience.

 

“C’mon, you said it could help unleash my full powers.” Tzuyu tries the puppy eyes.

 

“Plus, it’s not like our two hadn’t tried it before.” Sooyoung reasons.

 

“And what are we waiting for?” Sana perks up.

 

“Well, first, Tzuyu is the phase shifter.” Joohyun offers, but continues as she sees confused faces. “Se controls technology. So if we unleash her near here she might fry all circuits around.”

 

“Second, eridium is-” Yeri begins but gets cut off.

 

“IT’S THE !” Seungwan interferes, looking suspiciously too happy.

 

“It’s too euphoric for us.” The younger siren finishes.

 

“How about we take the minjoon to the dump site near here and try it there?” Mina suggests.

 

“We are not giving the kid eridium!”

 

As Seulgi’s protests fall on deaf ears, the group starts talking about how to proceed with the test. The new faces were very interested in this whole eridium and sirens thing, Seungwan was vibrating as she promised to show the kid how to absorb it, and that meant she was going to get some eridium herself. Joohyun had been very strict with being the only one knowing the password to the strongbox where it was stored. And off they went.

 

Everything went, well, it went. Everyone was observing from far enough that if Seungwan had an elemental blast it wouldn’t reach them, but there was a big creature that sprouted from the ground when the fire burst happened and Seungwan ended up melting. Tzuyu got slightly frightened, but if it was going to unleash her full power, she would do it!

 

Tzuyu was much more tame than Seungwan, mostly because she hadn’t reached her true potential yet, but also because she didn’t manage to absorb the whole piece she was handed. Alas, the idea worked, Tzuyu unleashed her powers, even made Seulgi’s Deathtrap pop out in her burst, and her mechanical arm also glitched for a second there. Everyone went back to the bar, Chaeyoung mentioned something about a job, and our trigger happy mercenaries wanted something too. Sana was wise enough to not allow the two groups to merge, but she did have a few jobs that would require a certain type of hired services that fit these weird people just fine. 

 

“Say” Dahyun decided to ask on the way back “you have been together for some time right?”

 

“A few years, yes.” Joohyun answers with a smile.

 

“And you never thought about breaking up? With the whole mysterious powers thing?” 

 

“No, never break up.” Seungwan confirms.

 

“Murder yes, everyday. Even tried a few times.” Joohyun says with naturality.

 

“Succeeded here and there too.” Seungwan smiles lovingly.

 

“But never break up.” 

 

Dahyun looks at them slightly frightened, and decides it’s better not to ask. Tzuyu had heard everything, figured it would be better to talk to her girlfriend alone later, but weirdly found it funny how the older couple was so nonchalant about killing each other, but maybe it had something to do with their lifestyle and would ask Seulgi about it later, that one seemed like the most rational among them. And really, nobody wanted to ask Yeri and Sooyoung anything, not after the short tale about Sooyoung’s convictions in their ‘home planet’ that included a few things none of them ever thought could even be possible to begin with.