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One small step for Jack
On to the events of The Pre-Sequel, which begin with Athena - now desperately looking for work after her tussle with General Knox - being hired by a Hyperion lackey named Jack. It turns out that the company is attempting to build a new station called Helios on Elpis, but Colonel Zarpodon and her Lost Legion (remember them?) are making life difficult. Athena, alongside the mercenaries Wilhelm, Nisha, and...uh, Claptrap, thus head to Elpis as hired muscle.
Unfortunately, the Lost Legion manage to take over Helios (with the help of a Guardian known as The Watcher) and Jack is forced to send his hired Vault Hunters down to Elpis' surface to destroy a jamming signal that's blocking the local fast travel system. There, they come across Janey Springs, a local junk dealer who helps them get to Elpis' major city, Concordia, and meet up with the vacationing Roland and Lilith (now an item), who both agree to help them in the fight against Zarpodon.
Once the fast travel system is fixed, Jack makes his way to Concordia, and "deals" with the town's annoying Meriff (yes, Meriff, that's Mayor and Sheriff) by killing him in cold blood, leaving Roland and Lillith feeling a little bit concerned with his state of mind. But, with barely a second to lose, Jack's Vault Hunters raid an old Dahl factory to build a robot army and retake Helios from the Lost Legion. Zarpodon is thus defeated and, in her dying last words, she reveals the location of Elpis' Vault, but warns Jack that entering it comes with a cost. He doesn't care, and shoots her dead at point blank range. Yikes.
While on Helios, our Vault Hunters also run into Professor Nakayama, a scientist working on advanced AI technology that could allow someone to upload their consciousness into a computer after death. He's also obsessed with Jack, so keep that in mind for later on...
At this point, Roland, Lillith, and Moxxi have turned on Jack, and are now both racing to the Vault in the hopes of beating him to whatever lies within. The Vault Hunters are on their way too, fighting through an army of Guardians and clearing the path for Jack, who enters the Vault, and touches the mysterious relic within to be gifted with a vision of another Vault on Pandora, this time containing The Warrior, a fiery beast that will serve anyone who sets it free. But, right in the middle of his epiphany, Lillith enters the vault and sucker punches the relic's burning symbol right onto Jack's face, leaving him rolling on the floor in a dangerous mix of agony, rage, and delusion.
Jack, now severely disfigured and mad with power, dons a mask and the new title of Handsome Jack, killing the CEO of Hyperion to take control of the company for himself and begin the search for the Vault in his visions, with a serious vendetta against any Vault Hunters who stand in his way. He also learns of a secret weapon hidden deep within Claptrap's software, autopsying his former gun for hire to try and find it for himself.
The weapon allows Jack to destroy every Claptrap unit left in existence, before dumping their corpses in Windshear Waste, but our original robot pal is luckily found and restored by a local hunter, Sir Hammerlock. This final act on Jack's part is enough for Athena to leave his services in disgust, moving back to Pandora with Janey and finding work as a full time bounty hunter.
No rest for the wicked
Moving on to Borderlands 2, and it's time to meet four new Vault Hunters - Axton, Zero, Maya, and Salvador - who have arrived on Pandora in search of riches promised by Handsome Jack, who's been recruiting for help uncovering the Vault from his vision. But wait! Jack's been luring Vault Hunters to Pandora not to enlist them, but to kill off the competition, and our heroes find themselves left for dead in the frozen wastelands of Windshear Waste after their train is blown up by Hyperion explosives.
Thankfully, Claptrap arrives to save the day, having been living alone ever since Jack dumped his bucket of bolts in the tundra at the end of the Pre-Sequel, and he escorts the Vault Hunters to his new BFF Sir Hammerlock in the town of Liar's Berg. Angel's back too, appearing in the Vault Hunter's heads again and asking them to help her defeat Jack for good. Her guidance leads them to Sanctuary, a city for those still in rebellion against Jack's rule, including The Crimson Raiders.
Their leader Roland has been captured by bandits, though, so the Vault Hunters set out to seek help from a Siren bounty hunter known as The Firehawk. Sirens, by the way, are female warriors with Eridium-powered abilities, of whom there can only be six in existence at any one time. So far, we've met three; Lillith, Maya, and Commandant Steele (who was confirmed to be a Siren in the Borderlands Origins comics), the former of whom turns out to be the elusive Firehawk, now strengthened by the increased presence of Eridium on Pandora and in hiding from Jack ever since… the whole... face punching thing.
With Lillith's help, the Vault Hunters rescue Roland, and begin their hunt for a Vault Key, which is currently being transferred by Jack on a Hyperion train. They ambush the train with the help of Mordecai and Tiny Tina, a teenage explosives expert, but the whole thing turns out to be a trap, and Wilhelm - now one of Jack's right hand men - shows up looking for a fight. Inevitably, the Vault Hunters defeat Wilhelm, and siphon his power core to replenish Sanctuary's defense shields against Jack's barrage of artillery from Helios. But that turns out to be a trap too, as the core instead destroys Sanctuary's shields, forcing Lillith to teleport the entire city away from Helios' firepower.
At this point, Angel confesses all. She's been unwillingly working for Jack this whole time, charging the Vault Key to release The Warrior and destroy Pandora, but she's had enough. She provides her location to the Vault Hunters and, once they arrive, it's revealed that not only is Angel actually a Siren, she's Jack's daughter, who he's imprisoned as a living power source for his Vault-obsessed quest. The Vault Hunters, alongside Roland, Lillith, Mordecai, and a recently recruited Brick, must kill Angel to deprive Jack of his secret weapon, but - after the deed is done - the Hyperion CEO teleports in at the last minute to murder Roland and capture Lillith as his new subjugated Siren of choice.
With the Key charged to completion by Lillith, Jack makes it to the Vault to release the Warrior, leaving our Vault Hunters with the tough task of taking it down before he can unleash it on the rest of Pandora. The Warrior is killed, and all that's left to do is put a bullet in Jack's brain which, we have to admit, is hugely satisfying. At this point, the Vault Key itself reveals a holographic map showing dozens more Vaults scattered across the solar system, encouraging our gang of Vault Hunters to begin the expedition for yet more fortune-seeking adventures.
Head over the third and final page for a recap of Tales from the Borderlands and the recently released Commander Lilith DLC!
