Borderlands Reader Imagines < Book 1 >

Nisha [Nobody's Business]

Nisha finds a young child and takes them in.

{\}

Being alone is what you've had to deal with since the orphanage shut down, your care taker rain into debt, and no one was going to consider taking in a child that was "too old". One by one the children were either getting jobs, leaving the city to join the bandits, or were just... gone. Soon, you had to leave the city because you weren't contributing to the cycle of economics.

In the beginning, living outside the city sucked: being constantly shot by bandits especially since you were part of a bandit gang, having to live in constant war for territory; nearly suffocating, either cause you lost track of time or you bandit brothers and sisters wanted to prank you; or constantly being nearly eaten by the Elpis' many creatures. Though, one bandit treated you different, teaching you everything she knew about Oz kits and how to make them last, how to add mods to them, or how to make them simply explode. She was a great teacher... until she died while joyriding off a cliff in a moon buggy (the way she wanted). After the incident you left the bandit gang and walk, stole a buggy til it ran out of gas, and found a garage in a not so quiet area.

You turned it into your own shop using your knowledge of Oz kits, and despite selling the kits, earning what little credits you could, life outside the city still fucking sucked. And, hey, maybe it got worse once a few bandits started becoming aware that maybe your kits were maybe rigged to fail over a period of time so that maybe the bandits would come back and maybe you could earn a few extra alleged credits.

"You little shit..." one of the six bandits growl at you while the rest thought to trash your garage. You thought you could just con me out of my fucking money?!" he grabs you up by the collar, god you hope he doesn't punch you again.

"You signed a warranty." You recall the paper with a handwritten sentence that stated "No refunds" with just a line underneath it for signature. "I can't read, asshole." He replies. You pause, haven't thought of that before.

"Well... I don't understand how that's my fau-" earning you another punch in the face and you thrown to the floor. While lying there, thinking over all that had happened the last few months to avoid this very moment. You tilt your head up to the sound of a gun cocking and see that it's aimed at you. The sight makes you start to silently cry, making it hard for you to breathe, you didn't want to die. Seconds before he's able to pull the trigger, he turns around to the gunshots and his crew yelling at someone. You use this opportunity to run, earning bullets in your direction and as you take cover behind a toppled over desk, and peaking over you see a brown woman in a cowboy hat. It was like everything was in slow motion as you watched her take out the gang so... easily. The show was interrupted as a bandit falls in front of you, eyes rolled and tongue out of their mouth.

You gag at the sight, you want to throw up but you feel like you've run out of fluids due to the earlier punches to your stomach.

Within seconds, everything was quiet until you hear footsteps in your direction and the desk is kicked and you no longer have your cover, finally getting a clear look at the woman, immediately blurting the words: "Are you emo?" earning you a scowl. "The one eye covered is kind out of style don't you think?"

"Hey, at least mine is clean, kid." she responds, you hint that she's amused. "And that's not how you respond to someone that just saved you?"

"It's the trauma and shock talking, besides I had everything handle."

"Did you?" she refers to the tear streaks, bruises, and the destroyed garage.

"Downsides of being an entrepreneur."

"Sad to see the job officially over."

"Huh?" You question as you move amongst the garage to pick up some valuables, sad when you see the only baby picture of you crumbled.