Matt Rye

"*It’s like when you’re a kid, and you think going to the bottom side of the planet would make you go upside-down, and then they tell you that you’ll always be right side up. You just can’t quite believe it because you think you think there **is** a right side up in space. Your whole perception changes when you realise the truth – your whole world turns upside-down because the real world didn’t. It blows your mind and you don’t know what your experiences will make you into. You feel like you’re facing the quantum barriers of time, in the depths of hell – and if you break through that barrier…that is who I am.*"
—Matt to Athena

## General Information

### Occupation

Vault Hunter
Envoy of the Infinite
Special Operations Agent (formerly)
Soldier (formerly)

### Affiliation

Crimson Raiders
Gemini Corporation (formerly)
Hyperion (Forced; Genisys Project)
Krolantian Military Order (formerly)
The Infinite (envoy)
Amelia Rye (soul-bound)

### Relatives

Deborah Rye (mother)
Nicholas Rye (father)
Amelia Rye (sister; formerly deceased)
Unnamed Grandparents (deceased)

## Biographical information

### Age

25 (as of *No One Else*)
421 (Infinite timestream)

### Date of birth

Unknown (Day of the Vault of the Dreamer)

## Physical description

### Species

Human (subspecies Darosian)
Half-Siren

### Eye color

Brown (originally)
Brown-gold (post-Genisys; formerly)
Gold
Burning crimson (as Kallux)

**Matt Rye** is the main protagonist of the *Someone Else* series, a Vault Hunter with an ability called **Chronokinesis**, which allows him to control time at will. He explains this as a manipulation of the time-stream through the control of the red end of the Infinity Spectrum. Maya described it as a "Siren-level ability".

Matt gave himself the title of "**the Anomaly**" based on his abnormal status as a half-Siren, which Lilith adamantly claims should be impossible.

The Anomaly frequently questioned the world around him, with a struggling morality, bolstered by the death of his sister.

## Biography

### Childhood

Matt was born on the war-torn planet of Darios, shortly after a treaty, or as he believed, a "non-aggression pact", formed between the multiple governments that ran the various continents of Darios. He was born to a lawyer, Deborah, and a police officer, Nicholas.

Much like other higher-class families, the Rye family lived on the continent of Krolantia in its central leisure hive, Acropolis. Matt was mostly confined to the city as the stretches beyond the city were largely barren, due to the countless wars the planet suffered from.

As a result, Matt was cut off from most of the outside world, and was only allowed to experience simulations with it, using the virtual reality technology in the city.

His parents refused to pay him or his sister sufficient attention, and relegated their care to swift and impersonal responses, rather than parental care. They didn't bat much of an eye towards them, instead allowing them to do their own thing, not necessarily caring what they got up to unless it might end up killing them. At such a young age, and because they didn't see them often enough, it was difficult for the two to gain opinions of their parents.

Although, Matt later speculated that they were forced not to pay attention to them, as they wanted to provide them with the best possible future financially, and that they were at least concerned in keeping them alive.

Matt and his sister Amelia became very close over the years, due to his parent's neglectful treatment of him. He was forced to grow up fast so that he could raise Amelia himself, but at the cost of his own wellbeing - which he was more than willing to give up. Amelia consistently worried that her very existence was worsening Matt's health and causing it to deteriorate.

### Finding the Ravine

A curious being who hated being cooped up in their fancy penthouse, Amelia frequently sneaked out of Acropolis to the accessible borders of Krolantia.

On one particular day when he was eight and his sister was six, Matt accompanied her across the barren valleys of the small continent. He initially believed the exploration was pointless, as there was nothing to find, but he could never gain the wherewithal to talk down to his sister about it. Truthfully, he liked a bit of adventure himself.

While looking through a small glacial trough, Amelia and Matt spotted a small creature, which confused both of them as the area was largely populated by flora. Identifying the creature as a Futarian Goblin, a lizard that reportedly went extinct years prior, the Darosians chased after it, through the valleys, after realising that the Goblin must have had some suitable source of food to survive.

The valley gave way to a small spring around a mile across, completely intact, despite how the continent had previously been decimated by weaponry. Both of them noticed the small river running through it, where animals feasted and drank. Astounded, Matt and Amelia decided to enjoy this discovery, and messed about with the water, before finally resting down and reveling in the experience.

After a conversation about the possibility of more springs existing on Darios, Amelia briefly mentioned that "the only water in the forest is the river", a mantra his sister would use to communicate with him.

The ravine was later destroyed when government nationalists tried to regenerate the area, but ended up accelerating Auxin production unevenly within the plants, resulting in them growing incorrectly.

### Teenager Years

#### Training

Recognising that the treaty between the Darosian governments was beginning to break down, Matt realised that his family and way of life was in jeopardy, since leisure hives were more likely to be targeted in event of war, generally as an act of independence and proof of how far other governments would go to win the war.

Not wanting his sister to be hurt, Matt spent his teenager years training his fighting skills and gun proficiency, often joining Tediore military introduction programs to gain some perspective on military combat and tactics. While Amelia herself objected to Matt's calling, the Anomaly ensured her that he intended to return no matter what and that he was doing it save her from conflict.

He was later proven correct when the treaty completely dissolved, and the governments went into war.

#### Joining the Krolantian Military Order

At the turn of 16, Matt became of age to join the KMO, the military service of Krolantia. Training was especially difficult for him, despite his prior military experience, as his mentor recognised his potential and so began pushing him further than his limits.

Due to the Order's hapless incompetency, Matt went through many near-death experiences where there were many times he genuinely believed the only way to achieve victory was to die in the process. The fact that he was one of the youngest ever recruits additionally made every mission feel more like suicide.

Many KMO assignments went south very quickly, and full-scale battles took extreme precision to win. Stalemate was highly probable, due to both sides possessing the same technology, which they had attained during a treaty period. The KMO advised against compromises, believing fiercely through the motto they coined that "stalemate is a compromise". Rather, they believed soldiers should fight until their dying breath, because it was 'right' to die for a good cause, in the same vein of *dulce et decorum est pro patria mori*.

Matt frequently quarreled with his mentor over this belief, because he saw it as encouraging pyrrhic victories, which would ultimately null the point of an army to begin with.

#### Gemini involvement

Towards the end of Matt's time with the Krolantian Military Order, he had begun to make a name for himself, both on the planet and other planets in his solar system. As such, he attracted the attention of Gemini, whom believed his extensive military service made him an ideal candidate for employment within the corporation.

Gemini intervened with the civil war on Darios, bringing it to an end by negotiating a new treaty under improved laws and additional conditions to follow. Within hours of the corporation broadcasting the new truce across the planet, the remaining governments replied with a cease fire. As a result, Matt had no reason to continue his service with the KMO, so he left the Order and returned home to his sister.

Once the Anomaly returned home, Gemini contacted him for employment. They claimed that he had earned a significant reputation for himself and offered him a high salary under the basis that he be prepared to be away from his family often. Matt initially refused, arguing that he had no intention of continuing in the military, as he had only done it to keep his sister safe. It was then that Gemini promised him that they would protect his family and provide them enough money to survive, and showed him proof that his parents' income would not be be able to provide for them much longer.

Coerced, Matt joined Gemini as a covert special ops officer.

#### Meeting Axton and the Bomb

Matt soon realised that Gemini was a lot more effective than the KMO, however he found it difficult to keep up with the older veterans of the corporation. Training was extensive, but he managed to succeed in impressing several of his compatriots, and he soon became known as one of the most effective spec-ops soldiers in the past few decades.

Eventually, Matt was upgraded to a higher regiment. There, he met Axton, the Commando, who was acting as Gemini's Dahl  liaison, despite the rivalry between the two corporations. They worked together several times, until eventually Axton recommended him for the Gemini Vault Hunter Training Program, so that he would be moved to the proper Vault Hunter regiment.

Before this happened though, both of them were tasked with secure a Maliwan warehouse and diffuse the bomb inside. Axton was given the role of diffusing the bomb, while Matt secured the perimeter. However, the Commando found that the bomb was too complex to diffuse, so instead warned his ally to get as far from the building as possible. Gemini operatives prevented him for going after him, resulting in the bomb exploded which leve;led the building. Matt survived, but Axton was believed dead for two months.

### Early Adulthood

#### Becoming a Vault Hunter

When Matt turned 18, he entered the Gemini Vault Hunter Training Program, but took several breaks to visit his family. Unfortunately, when he returned home, many of the citizens of Acropolis  had grown to hate him, due to their major distrust of corporate entities like Gemini. While the corporation had brought in the recent era of peace, many citizens began to suspect that they had some ulterior motive for doing this, as other corporations seldom took notice of the civil wars on Darios.

Towards the end of the training program, Matt drew the attention of Hyperion, due to his alarmingly effective missions and skill. They initially demanded the pre-Vault Hunter for themselves, claiming that they could train them better. Gemini refused their partner's offer, as they wanted to keep the young potential for themselves.

At the culmination of his training, Matt became a fully-fledged Vault Hunter, at age 18. He pursued this career for several months, placed in the Gamma regiment. When faced with the decision of a Vault Hunter title, Matt chose the title of **the Anomaly,**given how his status as entirely basically human (with no identifiable action skill) was strange among his colleagues, whom possessed unnatural abilities, yet he was still able to keep up with them - greatly impressing Commander Sharp.

#### The Death of Amelia Rye

Eventually, Hyperion apparently grew bitter at Gemini's reluctance to hand the Anomaly over, so they chose to kidnap him for a project: the Genisys Project.

On a return trip to his home in Acropolis, Hyperion sent an assassin to tail him. When he got home, the assassin followed and attacked both him and his sister. The assassin was given orders to make it seem as though he intended to kill Matt, and as such shot at him several times. Ultimately, the assassin shot Amelia twice through the head intentionally (although he made it seem otherwise), killing her instantly, right in front of Matt.

Matt, stricken with grief and shock, was easily subdued and kidnapped.

#### The Genisys Project

Matt was taken to Helios to take part in the Genisys Project, whereupon he was experimented on with saws and lasers to augment his physicality to beyond human capabilities. He witnessed the deaths of countless other test subjects, whom Hyperion only viewed as collateral. Matt was unable to do anything but watch.

Hyperion used Angel's blood, infused with a mysterious type of energy, to alter Matt's DNA at a cellular level, granting him Siren powers in the process, and becoming a Siren-human hybrid. This granted him the power of Chronokinesis, and allowed him to tap into an otherworldly dimension. Before Hyperion could implement any brainwashing, he escaped. Blinded by his fury and trauma, the Anomaly slaughtered the entirety of Sub-Level Thirteen of Helios.

#### Finding Home

Upon escaping from Hyperion's clutches, Matt immediately left for Darios, stowing away from a one-passenger hypership and warping home. He went to find his parents in Acropolis, however once they found him, they rejected him and blamed him for Amelia's death, going as far as to disown their own son. They expelled him from Acropolis, before demanding he leave the planet.

Aided by a significantly large mob, Matt was forced to leave Darios and find somewhere else to live. He used his small hypership to quickly warp across the solar system, from Darios to Atrios-6, considered the Darosian "cousin" planet. A stranger among the citizens, Matt was able to blend in without the baggage of his past, and avoid judgement of others.

After crash-landing on Atrios-6, the Anomaly met a woman who also claimed to be a Vault Hunter. Her name was Aurora Lux, who he recognised as a member of the primary regiment of Gemini's Vault Hunters. Aurora relented at this, and informed him she had been relegated to a lower echelon of the corporation, following an incident on a mission where two Vault Hunters were killed. The remaining Vault Hunters forced her down from Vault Hunter to spec-ops, at the same time Matt moved up from spec-ops to Vault Hunter. She was ordered to take a leave of absence on Atrios-6, her home.

The two of them quickly became friends as they worked to earn enough money for Matt to get a proper home, and for Aurora to get her own, rather than living with her parents.

Gemini eventually found the both of them and offered them a place as Vault Hunters once again, absolved of any and all wrongdoings and thus given a clean slate. Annoyed that Gemini considered the Genisys Project to be his fault, Matt initially refused, but Aurora convinced him to join under the basis that they both be provided a home. Commander Sharp, the header of the offer, agreed and offered them a permanent home at the Gemini main space station, the CCG.

Agreeing, Matt and Aurora were transported to the CCG, and underwent training and therapy to return them back to suitable health. Both of them were assigned the recently formed Alpha regiment, consisting of Caine Brooke, Duke Minoosh, Violet Parker, Arcturus Vaus and Aurora's cousin, Daniel Marx.

### Final Months of Gemini Service

Matt continued to work for Gemini, using his new ability of Chronokinesis to achieve an edge over his allies. Intrigued by the power, Gemini spent months researching and experimenting with Matt's powers, trying to discover the root of the ability. Eventually, they discovered a new form of energy, which Matt expelled from his body when using Chronokinesis, although they did not know the origin of this energy or how or why he could release it.

His increase in power drew the attention of Caine Brooke, who was initially believed to be the most powerful Vault Hunter of the regiment. Caine grew a severe dislike towards the Anomaly, due to his egocentric attitude causing him to think Matt was below him, despite the fact that their missions proved otherwise. Frustrated, Caine declared Matt as his rival and that he would do everything to outdo him.

#### Axton's Return

It was during this time, that Gemini found Axton on Divaloca, alive and well. They informed Matt of this, but proceeded to tell him that the Commando had turned against the corporation, and intended to destroy it, likely from the inside - until Gemini realised his betrayal. Believing strongly that Axton was a danger to both himself and others, Matt went with Caine to bring the Commando in, or kill him if absolutely necessary.

Upon finding him, Matt attacked Axton and tried to subdue him. During the fight, the Commando attempted to convince the Anomaly that Gemini had been deceiving him, and that they intended to use his Chronokinesis to subjugate the galaxy and take it over in an attempt to "unify" the four sectors of the galaxy. Matt refused to believe this, arguing that Gemini was the only family he'd ever known since the death of his sister, and that he did not want to lose what he'd developed over the previous year.

Realising that Matt's trauma had justifiably made him delusional, Axton gave up trying to convince him and instead began planning his escape. He used the Anomaly's ECHOear against him by activating a short-wavelength vibrational burst from his turret that was picked up by the ECHOear and amplified in the Vault Hunter's ear. Collapsing from the noise, Matt was unable to pursue after Axton as he escaped.

#### A New Vault

Following Axton's disappearance from the Gemini Sub-Wave Frequency, which they used to communicate and as radar, the corporation turned their attentions towards a new discovery.

Months later, Matt was informed that Gemini had reason to believe that a third Vault lay secretly on Pandora, and that they wanted to find it under the nose of Hyperion and the resistance known as the Crimson Raiders. The Anomaly was subsequently given further teaching on the history of Vaults, mainly that this new Vault was believed to be unlike the latter two on the planet, and undetectable from almost every means of tracking. Commander Sharp refused to explain to Matt how they came about this information.

When he suggested they try to get help from the Vault Hunters who found the other two Vaults, Gemini lied to him and claimed that all the Vault Hunters were long-dead, and that the Vaults had actually been hunted and vanquished centuries prior. According to the corporation, no more Vault Hunters remained on Pandora.

Once the Anomaly realised the endless possibilities of using the technology and knowledge within the Vault, he wondered what exactly Gemini intended to do with it.

#### Leaving Gemini

After the Genisys Project, small seeds of doubt and distrust formed within the Anomaly's mind, as he questioned why Gemini refused to pay the ransom Hyperion was bargaining for to return Matt safely, and instead opted to allow him to be experimented on, before claiming the incident was Matt's fault. These feelings were only bolstered after his fight with Axton. Over the months, Matt began to have exceedingly suspicious concerns about Gemini, as he slowly began to digest and re-evaluate what the Commando had said to him.

The final straw came when Matt accessed a restricted file in the CCG database, and he discovered that Gemini wanted to take over the universe and enforce a new regime where they would run the whole galaxy under one single government. Realising that they intended to use the Vault to aid in their galactic conquest, Matt resolved to get to the Vault before Gemini did.

Aware that Gemini would not let Matt leave, he chose to stow away on a spare hypership in the CCG flight bay, using his Chronokinesis to avoid cameras. Before the Anomaly did this, Matt informed his best friend, Aurora, of his intention to leave. Angry and confused, Aurora begged him not to leave, but the Anomaly claimed to her it wasn't a choice, it was his duty to prevent Gemini from succeeding in their machinations. Aurora stormed off but ultimately decided not to stop him.

As a result, the Anomaly left for Pandora, only to be pursued by his rival, Caine Brooke.

### Exploration of Pandora

#### Searching the Continents

Several months before his 21st birthday, Matt began exploring Pandora, searching for the Vault using tracking software that Gemini developed, called Vault Instincts. Matt was forced to move around quickly, lest Caine find him and forcibly return him to Gemini. Supposedly, the Anomaly found at least one of the prior Vaults, although which one he never specified, and this likely was why he was able to figure out how to open Vaults, when Gemini did not teach him.

Eventually, the Vault Hunter narrowed down his search to northwest coast of Pandora, sector NV0C 12o 21e.

Arriving on the coast of the Highlands, close to Opportunity, Matt worked his way towards Overlook, where he met Karima. Karima introduced him to area, which he thanked her for.

He even met Mick Zaford, who was still infuriated by his destroyed distillery. After trying one of the last pints of beer remaining, the Anomaly decided to help him and ultimately rebuilt the distillery for him.

Matt spent his time exploring the northwest coast, visiting places such as the Dust and the Tundra Express, where met people such as Ellie and Tiny Tina. He played Bunkers and Badasses with Tina a few times but never mentioned he was a Vault Hunter, opting not to tell them under the basis that they probably wouldn't understand what that meant, since he believed all Vault Hunters on Pandora were long gone.

#### Helping out Karima

Offering him a large wad of cash, Karima asked the Anomaly to hunt some Stalkers and cut their tails off, which she intended to use for experimentation. Although disapproving of such abuse, Matt understood the cause and accepted the task.

Positioning himself above Blake's Bridge, the Anomaly sniped down several Stalkers with his Volcano rifle. Paying attention to the Stalkers' impressions on the ground while they were invisible, the Anomaly managed to kill off the rest in rapid succession.

Believing the coast to be clear, Matt slowly got up to collect the tails on the Stalkers, however unbeknownst to him, a Badass Pyre Thresher was nearby. The Thresher rose out of the ground behind him, breaking though the stone, and promptly used its tentacles to propel him off the hill and onto the road below. Health severely depleted, the Anomaly hastily shot back at the Thresher with a different weapon, using his Chronokinesis to dodge some of the fiery projectiles at it. The Anomaly successfully defeated the Thresher, due to its flames making it a easy target against the night sky, although he was severely wounded.

Matt cut the tails of the Stalkers, before limping through the tunnel towards Overlook to find a hypo to heal his injuries, as he had ran out of them at the time.

Returning to Overlook, the Anomaly restocked his supply of hypos and bandages, before handing in the five Stalker tails to Karima. Karima then explained that she intended to use the tails to better understand how the creatures are able to cloak, in hopes she can replicate this feature in Overlook's shield, allowing the settlement to turn invisible and thus avoid the targeting systems of Helios's moonshots.

#### Call from Caine

Happy with himself, Matt decided he needed a beer. So, he visited Mick Zaford's bar, The Holy Spirits, who greeted him wholeheartedly with a drink from his replenished distillery. Zaford thanked Matt for his help in restoring his clan's famed bar back to stable growth, but the Anomaly brushed it off as him just doing a duty.

While finishing his drink, Matt was alerted to a phone call on his ECHO, and he recognised who the caller was. Promptly, the Anomaly excused himself and went to the bathroom. Exasperated, the Vault Hunter warned the caller that the call was pointless, since anything Matt knew, the caller would know. The caller revealed himself to be Caine Brooke, Matt's rival, and pompously stated that the Vault was his and that *his* Vault Instincts would lead him to the Vault faster than Matt, before ending the call as quickly as it began.

### Meeting the Crimson Raiders

#### Helping Gaige

Matt left the Holy Spirits bar following the call from Caine, deciding that he should get a move on and not waste any time. He then pondered over the possibility that Gemini's claim that all Vault Hunters were dead on Pandora could be false, but had no real reason to believe they would lie about it, since it was to more than just him, and up until that point, Gemini had only lied to him specifically.

Proceeding towards the Catch-A-Ride, which yelled at him Scooter's many catchphrases, Matt digistructed a vehicle and climbed inside. However, he was prevented from leaving when he heard the inane yells of a Psycho coming from the Stalker nest nearby. Upon looking into the nest from above, the Anomaly saw numerous bandits circling around a redheaded girl in the corner.

Matt jumped down and activated his Chronokinesis, slowing down time as the bandits shot at and threw projectiles at the girl. The Anomaly shoot the first few Marauders in the head, and then bludgeoned the remaining three Psychos to death with their own buzzaxe. He then dispatched the Nomad with his own gun and disposed of the Golliath using his own helmet. After that, the Vault Hunter snapped the necks of the two remaining Marauders (one normal and one Elite) and finally caught the bullets flying through the air and dropped them to the ground.

Spotting a stray bullet about to hit the girl, Matt rushed towards the bullet and caught it mere millimetres away from her eye.

Stunned, she was unable to inform Matt if she was OK, as he asked, and instead dropped to the ground and cried out in pain. Matt inspected her wound, finding a large piece of shrapnel in her leg, and telling her he would need a few hypos to heal them. He produced a few spare hypos from his pocket, and injected them into her as an anaesthetic and blood clot accelerator, and then slowly pulled out the piece of shrapnel in her leg.

The red-haired girl thanked him for his help, and Matt questioned her on how she managed to get a piece of shrapnel in her leg, and got bandits chasing after her in a location largely devoid of bandits. Abashed, she explained that she led the bandits into the Highlands from the Dust, in vehicles which proceeded to blow up in her face.

Matt finished up the bandages on her leg and introduced himself. Pleased, the girl responded that her name was Gaige, to which the Anomaly smiled and said that was a nice name. The Anomaly then noticed the Vault Hunter symbol on her

    belt, and demanded her explain herself; he told her that all Vault Hunters were meant to be dead, as the Gemini Corporation claimed. Gaige replied and told him confidently that this was a lie, and that Vault Hunters were very much alive, before asking him why it was so important. Aghast, Matt rolled up his sleeve to show her his Vault Hunter tattoo.

#### Arriving in Sanctuary

After explaining his Chronokinesis, and briefly its origins, Gaige offered to take him to Sanctuary, the last bastion of the resistance, to meet the Vault Hunters that were based there. Matt conjectured over his recklessness in fighting the Pyre Thresher earlier, and tried to convince himself that Pandora was not a place for heroes - something he knew he already instinctively disagreed with, given his choice to help Gaige. He eventually came to the topic of Caine, in that he was glad Caine hadn't gotten to people like Gaige to manipulate her, which he was masterful at and it seemed to him that Gaige would easily fall for it.

Gaige interrupted his thought process at this moment to inexplicably ask him about his reluctance to save her, to which he responds that Gemini  viewed him as a threat that needed to be neutralised, and not some hero who rescues people.

Once they made it to the fast travel, Gaige commented that Axton  would like Matt, which caused Matt to become alarmed, but he was cut off by the teleportation of the fast-travel.

When they materialised in Sanctuary, Matt finished his sentence about the Commando. Gaige asked him if he knew Axton, to which he replies that they "were like brothers".

Gaige proceeded to led him towards Crimson Raider HQ, and Matt was starting to worry that Axton was there. He was reluctant to find out how the Commando would react to seeing him for so long, given the bad terms they parted on. On entering Crimson Raider HQ, Matt saw Professor Tannis, who was too busy musing over her recent experiments of slag on Hyperion test subjects to notice them initially. However, she eventually paused her recording to request that Gaige not bring in "strays" to her workplace.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Matt hid behind Gaige, while she announced that she had found another Vault Hunter. Reluctantly, he introduced himself as the Anomaly, and was immediately antagonised by Axton, who appeared in the doorway and demanded what he was doing on Pandora. Ignoring one of his allies' advice to calm down, the Commando accused Matt of having been paid by Gemini to search for his once-ally.

Not surprised at Axton's anger, Matt told him that he didn't work for Gemini anymore, but Axton instantly shot this down and punched him across the face, causing him to fall to the ground. While Gaige helped him up, a blue-haired Siren demanded that Axton allow Matt to explain himself properly, rather than jumping to conclusions. Nodding to her respectfully, the Anomaly slowly began to explain how he and Axton knew each other, and the circumstances that led to their departure and reuniting. Axton still refused to believe that Matt had left Gemini, until the Anomaly revealed that he had erased all logs of the Commando on the Gemini database, thus preventing them from finding him. However, he warned him that he had an eye on him.

Matt was then introduced to the Vault Hunters in the Crimson Raiders. Lilith  introduced herself by burning his hand when he shook hers, and insensitively commenting he had better pain resistance than the Siren expected.

#### Getting Acquainted

When prompted by Salvador's proud announcement of his ability to dual wield weapons, Matt described his power to slow time at will, which immediately alerts Maya, as such an ability would be Siren-level power. He then explained how he was experimented on for months by Hyperion to become the ultimate weapon, although the Anomaly confessed he did not remember most of it, so he was unsure how such experiments granted him his ability.

Matt disclosed to them that there was another Vault on the continent, one which could not be picked up directly by conventional tracking software, and was apparently left out from the Vault Key's map of the Vaults. He explained why he was on Pandora, to accrue data for his Vault Instincts software so he could eventually pinpoint the Vault's location, and suggested he stay with them for the time being in hopes he would eventually find the Vault on their travels.

The topic of where the Anomaly will live was briefly mentioned, whereupon Axton avidly requests that Matt not live near him. Gaige then suggested he live in the vacant house next to hers, where her neighbours had recently moved out, unable to stand the noise of the Mechromancer working on Deathtrap  late at night.

#### Initiation into the Crimson Raiders

Before Gaige could take him to the building, Lilith  ordered Matt to meet with her formally outside Scooter's Garage, and told the remaining Vault Hunters to follow. Matt was brought to the plaza, and was informed that Lilith was the most powerful Siren in the universe and perhaps the most deadly Vault Hunter ever, which only served to stunt his confidence. Gaige quickly figured out that Lilith intended for Matt to train, and help the Raiders if he passed his initiation, for example, helping the Raiders improve their weaponry. The Anomaly responded that he had something in mind for that already, but would not reveal to her what he meant yet.

Lilith and Matt gathered on the plaza, and the fight began. The Siren started the fight with a punch to the face, which the Anomaly dodged and countered with a strike to the stomach. In response, she entered her Phasewalk, prompting Gaige to explain her Siren  ability. Lilith appeared again, using her orange wings to glide through the air towards the Anomaly. Matt reacted with a fist of red energy. They fought with every punch from one of them being countered by the other, before the Siren eventually entered her Phasewalk once again.

Matt began to focus his Chronokinesis, slowing down time around him to gain a greater perception of his surroundings. Using this, he predicted where Lilith would exit Phasewalk next and subdued her as she exited the portal, holding her in a tight headlock.

Impressed, Lilith welcomed him into the Crimson Raiders.

### The Gemini Armoury

#### **Accommodation**

Matt then dropped to the ground weakly, and explained that using Chronokinesis drains him and that his last punch required a lot of power. He briefly wiped the blood of his nose and eased the concerns of Gaige and Salvador over his condition. Lilith then instructed him to get up early next morning, as she had a special assignment for the Anomaly to undertake, before suggesting to Gaige to show the Anomaly his new home in Sanctuary.

Gaige  then excitedly dragged Matt towards his new home, near Marcus Munitions, and claimed that the Vault Hunter would like it. The Anomaly responded that anywhere comfortable was nice, considering he has spent the previous few weeks living in small motels and caves. Gaige explained that her house, and by extension her terrace, had been upgraded, so it would likely be as comfortable as one might hope. The Mechromancer opened the door and showed Matt its interior. Although a previous resident of Acropolis, and having lived in a penthouse skyscraper, the Anomaly was still greatly impressed by the very lavish and expensive home that he supposed he didn't necessarily need.

During his musings, Matt was interrupted by an abrupt hug from Gaige, who desired to thank him again for saving her life. Deathtrap at the time was too damaged operate and she did not want to die due to how much her father worried about her. Instead of taking the acknowledgement, the Vault Hunter instead scolded himself for attempting to control life and death when he had no right to do so. Gaige disregarded this, and awkwardly bid him a good night.

During the night, Matt experienced a dream of his experiences during the Genisys Project, and woke up, screaming in a pool of sweat. It was the first nightmare he had had in a while, and he wondered how long it would take for him to fully recover from it. After wiping most of the sweat away, the Anomaly heard his doorbell ring and got dressed to answer it.

#### **Working on Deathtrap**

Opening the door, he found Gaige on the other side, with soot marks on her face where a blast mask had been. She had decided to check on him when she heard screaming coming from her ally's house, and Matt explained his psychological condition. To help him recover a little, the Mechromancer suggested he help her out with her repairs on Deathtrap, which excited the Vault Hunter a little since he hadn't seen her mechanical invention yet.

Pleased by Matt's enthusiasm, the Mechromancer took him to her workshop, and showed him her creation. The Anomaly's eyes widened at what an eighteen-year-old had accomplished without much help. When he told her that Deathtrap was impressive, Gaige muttered that it "should've won that science fair", which the Anomaly promptly asked her about. Reluctantly, she began to divulge the details of the science fair she did in high school, where she built a robot that Marcie Holloway copied the blueprints of (incorrectly) yet won due to her father buying off the judges.

Matt assured her that she deserved her win, but Gaige solemnly told him that Deathtrap had malfunctioned and murdered Marcie by accident. Empathetically, he comforted her, ensuring her it wasn't her fault although Marcie did not deserve to die, and pointed out that no one in Sanctuary was going to judge her on her past actions so she should not dwell on it.

Agreeing with him, weakly, Gaige moved along and told him about the issues she had been having with Deathtrap. Having already finished the main repairs, the Mechromancer hoped the Anomaly would be able to fix the large energy consumption to keep Deathtrap levitated. Matt inspected her about the technology used, and swiftly realised that the Torgue gryojets were the issue, due to the largely ineffective and outdated energy transponder that they used. With no other technology available to her, Gaige had been forced to use it, aware of its drawbacks.

Matt solved this using Gemini  technology, a Terrestrial Modifier. He explained that Modifiers contained Arc-X aero-jet digistructors, which could be transferred to Deathtrap to allow the robot to digistruct them too. He asked her where the control panel to the robot was, and Gaige pointed to a screwed-on sheet of metal on the back of her invention. Using a screwdriver from a nearby red toolbox, the Vault Hunter unscrewed the panel off, and took apart the Terrestrial Modifier. He unplugged multiple diodes to gain access to aero-jet digistructors and tore out a circuit board to deactivate all the safeguards placed in the device by Gemini mechanics. He tend melded the aero-jet digistructor and Deathtrap circuitry together, with the help of Gaige holding down the bot's anti-friction resistor.

Ultimately, his attempt succeeded and Deathtrap was able to digistruct aero-jets that were twice as powerful as gyrojets, but consumed a quarter of the energy. He explained that she was free to use the rest of the Modifier if she wanted to, since the device was defunct without the digistructors inside.

Gaige toppled him over in a hug, at which point Lilith  entered the workshop and ordered them to keep the noise down.

#### **Gearing Up**

Lilith complained about Matt's screaming, which the Anomaly opted to accept rather than dispute, however Gaige defended him and explained his PTSD. The Siren ensured him she wasn't mad at him for having PTSD, though she pointed out that it was justifiable for her to want do something about it. Believing Gaige was woken up by Matt as well, the leader of the Crimson Raiders used her as an example of Matt's volatile sleeping patterns affecting others, but the Mechromancer confessed that she had already been awake and had recently been staying up late to work on Deathtrap. Infuriated at this information, Lilith demanded that Gaige get some sleep lest the Siren lose a valuable ally in combat due to fatigue.

Lilith then asked Matt to follow her, as she had decided to push forward with her plans to find somewhere where the Raiders could upgrade their weapons. Walking after her, Matt revealed to her that the old Crimson Armoury had been appropriated from Marcus Kincaid by Gemini, and renovated with more durable foundations. With this new information, the Siren ordered Matt to stock up on weapons in the storage vault on the the top floor of Crimson Raider HQ.

Upon taking weapons from the Vault and leaving a note about where he and Lilith had gone, the Anomaly was confronted by Axton, who accused him of betraying the Raiders and planning to kill them. Matt adamantly refuted this, trying to explain the mission Lilith had tasked him, but the Commando didn't believe him and proceeded to attack him. Lilith interrupted the situation before Axton could do anything other than pin the Anomaly to wall, and entered Phasewalk before pinning him against wall in the same way he had to Matt.

Lilith yelled at him irreverently for disobeying her direct orders and attacking an ally, telling him not to be an asshole and told him to leave. Axton fled immediately. The Siren turned her attention back to Matt, and told him she could teleport them to the Armoury, rather than travel there. After absorbing the Eridium, the Siren transported both of them.

#### **Arriving in T-Bone Junction**

Upon arrival, Matt and Lilith realised they had been teleported to the T-Bone Junction, rather than near the Armoury, so would need to get there some other way.
Lamenting in their misfortune, Lilith did not notice what Matt did when he turned around. Bringing her attention to their surroundings, Matt showed her the numerous bodies that lay strewn across the whole area of T-Bone. Inspecting the bodies, the Anomaly recognised the X signs burnt into their faces, which was the preferred mark of Gemini execution. When the Siren questioned why they did this, Matt merely responded that it was because they were in their way.

Once they made it to the fast-travel in the Junction, they noticed it was beaten up and broken, so the Anomaly elected to repair it. As he accessed the panel, the machine administered an electric shock, before displaying the Gemini logo on the activation panel. An automated male voice then claimed that the fast travel was property of the Gemini Corporation and that a security firewall had been engaged to prevent further use of the machine.

Aware that attempting to resolve the issue himself would likely make it worse, Matt called Gaige and asked her if she could hack into the machine. The Mechromancer confirmed his inquiry and told him to send him the data through his standard ECHO device, rather than his ECHOear. Once Matt had connected his normal ECHO to the fast travel, Gaige's hacking program took over, signified by the skull and crossbones symbol that replaced the Gemini logo on the interaction panel. While simultaneously bickering with Lilith over the Mechromancer's sleeping patterns, Gaige intercepted the Gemini security and granted the two Vault Hunters access to it. Now, they could teleport away when they needed to leave.

As Lilith suggested they get a Catch-A-Ride vehicle, both of them heard footsteps and took out their weapons. Multiple Psychos appeared around the corner, making numerous inane comments, forcing the two of them to take action. Once the Psychos were dispatched, the conjecture that there may be more bandits became very possible, so they hurried towards the Catch-A-Ride and digistructed a vehicle.

Lilith then told Matt that she would drive, under the basis that she was aware of a shortcut in the form of a highway built of Hyperion built.

#### **Travelling through the Fathoms**

Whilst Lilith drove through the Fathoms, the Anomaly kept an eye out for any Gemini soldiers patrolling the area. Matt then began to wonder who might be stationed at the Gemini Armoury. The Anomaly found himself exceedingly worried that a Vault Hunter who was a past friend of his might show up, as his experiences with Axton proved that it would not take much for your closest friends to turn on you. He was especially concerned that Aurora would be there, or nearby, given the explosive confrontation they had left each other on, however he knew he couldn't afford to get distracted.

Along the way, they pass across the light bridge and encounter Gemini Guards patrolling the outpost. They instantly recognised him, and identified Lilith as a Siren, forcing the Anomaly to engage. Once they were disposed of, Matt fist-bumped Lilith for their teamwork.

The Anomaly then revealed he had scrambled Gemini communications for the time being, so no reinforcements would be sent, allowing them to take a more stealthy approach. After Lilith realised they needed a way through the Gemini outpost, Matt inspected one of the bodies and found a keycard for them to use. The Siren was successfully able to get through the door using this, and the two returned to their vehicles.

#### **Stopping Near the Light Bridge**

On the way, Matt asked Lilith when she had last been to Fort Knoxx. Lilith responded that she had not returned since she had raided, around five years prior. This prompted her to ask him how long Gemini had been on Pandora, to which Matt claimed was a few months, which was also when they sent Caine down to look for both Matt and the Vault.

Eventually, the Armoury came into view in the distance, so they got out the vehicle and parked it just out of view of any nearby Gemini soldiers. They approached a squad of Gemini soldiers, and crouched behind cover while Matt produced his Volcano sniper rifle to survey the scene and determine how they might infiltrate the stronghold.

He identified five Guards, two Deceptors, and eight Elites, and proceeded to explain what they were to quell the Siren's confusion.

Looking over the scene further, Lilith was further confused when she spotted Loader bots patrolling and managing the area, branded with the Gemini logo, which similarly shocked Matt, who also knew nothing of Gemini having Loaders. Lilith conjectured that they stole the idea (and blueprints) from Hyperion, in the same vein of Torgue's Loaders, but Matt had the feeling that it was not stolen at all, and that they may be in cahoots with the corporation.

Both of them considered the idea was not beyond the realms of possibility.

#### **Crossing the Light Bridge**

Aware that they could not engage in a full frontal assault, as they would have to face the complete forces of Gemini and possibly Hyperion, Matt suggested they take out the security system so they could take them out quietly. Matt handed Lilith a C-Digistructor device, of which he had two, and explained to her that they could scan the form of any humanoid entity and allow the user to take their form.

Lilith quickly deduced that the plan was to take out two of the Gemini soldiers on the scene and become them, so they could then bypass the security system. The Anomaly spotted two Deceptors lagging behind, but paused when the two Loaders, a G-GUN and a G-SGT, stopped and ordered them to take a new formation. Recognising that their window of opportunity was all but shortening, Matt and Lilith picked off the two at the back and scanned their bodies. They hastily melted the bodies with a corrosion status effect.

Lilith was then ordered to investigate a supposed technological malfunction in Sector 3, while Matt was commanded to patrol the left wing. They used this opportunity to find the security system panel, activating their Deceptor forms' Invisibility Capacitor to turn invisible. When they found it, the Anomaly stopped her from using her casual soldier keycard, as it would not have a high enough clearance to access it, hence alerting Gemini to someone trying to infiltrate the facility.

Matt then plugged his ECHO into the panel and activated Gaige's hacking software. The Mechromancer entered the ECHO call and teased him with his needing her help again. Commenting that she had downloaded some data from his ECHO device, Gaige began rooting through the code and eventually managed to deactivate the security system.

The Mechromancer then arbitrarily commented that Matt now owed him a drink and ended the call once the Anomaly accepted the offer.

Thus, the light bridge to Road's End was revealed.

#### **Arriving at the Gemini Armoury**

Matt and Lilith digistructed another vehicle and spent another hour driving towards the Armoury. The area was devoid of any fast travels, unsurprisingly, so the two ended up spending a long time getting there. This lead to irrelevant conversation between the two of them, such as Lilith mentioning Jakobs Cove when Matt described the horde of Gemini soldiers as being like zombies, and prompting Matt to talk about a "Doctor Ted" when she referred to Doctor Ned.

The Anomaly began to reminisce over his time at Gemini, comparing his old friend Aurora, who aided him with the illustrious "Ted business", to Caine. He viewed Caine as cold and merciless, and always carried an air of superiority which Matt disliked personally.

Ultimately, they arrived on the grounds of Fort Knoxx, successfully having avoided the tactical cover that the Crimson Lance had placed there many years prior. Lilith parked their vehicle a suitable distance away and they both turned on their Deceptor form's Invisibility Capacitors to turn invisible again.

The entrance to the Gemini Armoury was sprawling with numerous Gemini personnel, including Elites, Foots, Deceptors and numerous Loaders, and one Super Badass Loader. Matt counted ten G-GUN Loaders, five G-ION Loaders, eight G-BUL Loaders, two G-PWR Loaders one G-EXP Loader.

Recognising that the Super Badass was scanning for potential intruders, the Anomaly warned Lilith that they needed to move quickly.

Matt and Lilith proceeded to move through the compound, through the tunnel at the end of the pathway. It was much easier to move through the facility now that the security system had been deactivated, and they eventually made it to the door to the Armoury -- with countless Guards in the way. They needed to cause a distraction, Matt realised, to which the Siren commented that there was an alarm on the opposite end of the Armoury. To answer their prayers, sirens from the opposite end of the compound began blaring, despite the deactivated security system. The Guards who were stationed at the entrance to the Armoury abandoned their post to see what was going on.

Gaige returned to the ECHO call and revealed that she had been the one to cause a diversion, although it was pure coincidence that she did it immediately after the two Vault Hunters discussed the exact method she implemented.

Lilith ended the group call after telling Gaige that they would get back to her when they were done.

#### **Repossessing the Weapons**

Immediately, they ran into the Armoury, at which point Lilith commented that she was happy that General Knoxx was no longer there to guard the chests inside. Matt responded that he was glad that Caine wasn't there, sharing a story about when they stormed a Lost Legion base and the Explosions Master prevented the Anomaly from freeing the hostages. Instead, Caine let them be executed by Lost Legion goons because it "wasn't a rescue mission" and they weren't "useful."

When Lilith asked him if he had met other Vault Hunters while at Gemini, to which Matt responded by mentioning Aurora, who he was quite fond of. The Siren assumed correctly that Aurora and Matt were good, close friends, although Matt disputed this to be the case any longer now that he had left and Gemini had almost certainly filled her head with lies and half truths.
Lilith suggested that he tell Aurora what happened, should they meet again, as the Revolverslinger may believe him due their close friendship. Except, Matt did not know where she even was.

After having finished finding their way around, the two made it to the elevator that would lead down to the chests. As they descended, Matt noticed just how many chests there were - some new and some old Lance chests that'd been salvaged from the ruins of the original site. Realising there were far too many weapons for them to be able to store in their standard ECHOs, Matt produced a silvery white device that he explained was a storage ECHO device originally created by Gemini for upgraded capacity.

Excitedly, the two began opening chests. Lilith  found a Chimera pistol, weapon capable of cycling through three different elements - corrosion, shock and incendiary. The Siren gave it to him freely, admitting that she already had one of her own anyway, and that he had earned it.  Also among the first chest was a Double Anarchy weapon, which had two extra projectiles than the normal Anarchy, thereby increasing spread and causing it to fire in a circular weaving pattern. Lilith picked one out, while Matt took the other one.

As they searched other chests, the two Vault Hunters found numerous gear: a Mongol; a few Equalizers; a Cracked Sash; five Savage Mashers; several Defilers; eight Verucs; a specialised Gemini laser rifle;  an old Volcano; two Skullmashers; a Striker (in an old Lance chest) that had been redesigned in Gemini's image; a few Hellfires; one Ogre; and finally a Pearlescent Bessie sniper rifle. There were also 40 other blues that they took.

They stepped onto the automatic sliding panel, Lilith manoeuvred them towards some of the chests. As they stepped into one of them, through the red energy barriers, their C-Digistructors were deactivated and their disguises disappeared. Matt theorised it was a safety measure, and suggested they move quickly. Lilith then pointed out there were so many chests that they may not need to. She was proven correct when they found a Sledge's Shotgun, a Wildcat, an explosive Fastball and another Masher.

Lilith and Matt continued to search the chests, realising that Gemini had restocked some of the old Lance chests. Eventually, they got enough to service the whole Raider army.

#### **Caught**

Abruptly, they were interrupted by someone from behind them, demanding to know what they were doing. Matt turned around to see who it was and realised it was his old friend, Aurora.

Furious, she slapped him for daring to show his face after betraying her and the rest of the Gemini Corporation. Matt protested desperately that he did not betray her, but she did not believe him, aware Matt was lying when he claimed he merely left the corporation because he felt like it.

Matt attempted to convince her that Gemini had been less than truthful and that they were working with Hyperion. Aurora objected to this, and claimed that Gemini had a rivalry with Hyperion, supposedly because the entire company was "built upon suffering". The Anomaly scoffed at her claim, pointing out that the corporation left him to Hyperion's experiments rather than pay the relatively small ransom for his release. Aurora replied that Gemini said that Hyperion would have killed Matt if the company attempted to rescue him. Matt dismissed this immediately, as Hyperion needed a test subject, and the Anomaly was the only one suitable for their experiments, so it would not make sense if they even considered executing him before their project  was complete.

Although her certainty had been lost, Aurora insisted that Gemini would never leave one of their own unless they had to. Matt pointed out the existence of Gemini Loaders, which the Revolverslinger explained that the idea was stolen from Hyperion, much like Torgue Loaders. However, Matt objected as Torgue created Loaders under public licence by Hyperion, whereas Gemini did not and would not want to risk a law suit and thus making themselves more public than they wanted to be.

Unable to counter his point, the Revolverslinger changed the subject and demanded to know how he met Lilith. Matt replied that she was a Vault Hunter and they had only met recently. Shocked, Aurora recounted that the Gemini had said consistently that there were no more Vault Hunters besides those working under them, which the Anomaly informed her was a lie. Matt implored her to trust him, to which she was unsure. In response, he told her about Axton, and how he in reality did not betray anyone, and that Gemini had double crossed him.

Matt confirmed to her that Axton was alive, and told her adamantly that they had taken everything from him, and inadvertently murdered his sister. The Anomaly told her that their partnership would definitely have meant they knew about the Hyperion assassin, and chose to do nothing about it, which Aurora disputed as him jumping to conclusions.

With no real evidence, the Revolverslinger was incredibly weary about betraying the corporation that had previously provided her a home, despite wanting desperately to believe her best friend. Subsequently, Matt asked her if Aurora had a clearance level enough to access the Gemini economic structure, and she confirmed this. This prompted Matt to use his recognised voice imprint to access Aurora's Gemini-controlled ECHOband to access Gemini's economic structure to view their transaction logs.

In the Gemini security transaction logs, he found that Gemini had been provided eight trillion dollars for "co-operation" by Hyperion. Aurora was outraged that they did not even attempt to hide it.

### Returning to Sanctuary

#### **Escaping the Armoury**

Aurora realised that Matt was right and that Gemini had lied to her, but worriedly told them she could not leave them because they knew where her family lived and would definitely target them if she tried to leave. Lilith suggested that she tell them to take an express shuttle to Pandora, before Gemini realised that she had betrayed them.

She made Matt swear on his life that her parents would be safe in Sanctuary, which Matt promised, and the Revolverslinger ultimately accepted and agreed to go with "Matty". The Anomaly blushed and claimed they merely close friends when Lilith humorously requested they cease flirting after they hugged.

Lilith eventually brought the conversation back to focus, asking if anyone had a shard of Eridium for her to use to teleport to T-Bone Junction, thereby speeding up the process of getting back to Sanctuary. Matt was sceptical about it. given her failure to teleport them before. Lilith ensured him she could rely on her, as the distance was not as far from the Armoury to T-Bone, rather than Sanctuary to the Armoury.

Aurora revealed that she had a revolver with an Eridium core, which enhanced her proficiency with it and granted the Vault Hunter her Action Skill. She took it out and gave it to Lilith to use. She nodded and took it, before absorbing it and concentrating on teleporting them. Matt heard her address herself as "Lil", and considered whether she liked being called that.

Ultimately, the Siren succeeded in teleporting them and brought them to the T-Bone Junction. Matt congratulated her and called her Lil, which she apparently has no issues with.

#### **Drinks at Moxxi's**

When they arrived in T-Bone, Matt promptly called Gaige to inform her of his eminent arrival, and that Aurora would be coming with them. She reminded him of the drink he still owed her, which the Anomaly ensured her he had not forgotten. Satisfied, the Mechromancer ended the call, but not before granting him access to Sanctuary and allowing him to teleport there via the fast travel.

Once they materialised in Sanctuary, Matt asked Lilith to introduce Aurora to everyone, despite it only being 4 AM. Lilith suggested that the Revolverslinger merely wait until everyone else was up and about. The Anomaly noticed Aurora's lack of sociability, but had no time to deal with it as he did not want to leave Gaige waiting.

Matt ran over to her house, knocking on the door patiently. Gaige answered with a smile and an inexplicable hug that she even admitted there was no reason for. After an exchange about the kind of beer that the two drank, the Mechromancer suggested he try the alcohol at Moxxi's bar, before ad-libbing awkwardly that she planned for them to go there anyway. The Anomaly agreed to this and beckoned for her to follow. Gaige held him arm with him.

However, neither of them noticed Aurora glaring at them from the balcony of Crimson Raider HQ.

While they walked, Matt began to realise how often the Gemini Corporation sent him, or any other of the Alpha regiment, on missions specifically pertaining to Dahl. He wondered if this was to spite them since they initially relied on them for income when they made ECHO devices for them. Gemini did not have many qualms with other corporations (apart from their claims about Hyperion), so he considered if it was some pathetic rivalry only bolstered by the existence of the Dahl Lost Legion.

They arrived at Moxxi's quickly, with little time to take in the scene before Gaige brought him over to the counter where two seats were free. Moxxi welcomed them, purposefully asking her who Matt was and if he was romantically involved with her, to which Gaige insisted they were just friends. She did not completely convince Moxxi. Blushing, the Mechromancer asked for a root beer while Matt requested a normal beer.

Gaige enquired about Aurora, prompting him to explain his relationship with her. He told her that they had both left Gemini now and would like to rekindle their friendship. Gaige was not certain about she felt about her, supposing she should talk to the Revolverslinger about her relationship with the Anomaly herself.

Moxxi arrived with their drinks and they both thanked her for her service. Clinking their glasses, Matt informed her that he was getting closer to the Vault, especially now that Aurora was there, since he could add the data from *her*Vault Instincts too. He was glad that he was starting to get a headstart from Caine.

Gaige noted how he did not talk about Caine very much, but the Anomaly dismissed it and replied that there was nothing to say about him. He elaborated that Caine wouldn't care if Gemini were lying to him or not, only about the Vault and bringing the Anomaly in (alive or dead).

The Mechromancer ensured him that Caine wasn't going to kill him, not while she was there to prevent it. Matt laughed nostalgically at her statement, claiming somewhat despondently that she sounded like his sister. Intrigued, Gaige asked him in surprise if he really does have a sister, to which Matt corrected her that he *had*a sister. She asked what happened to her, and the Anomaly told her that it was Hyperion, and now Gemini too. Understanding what he meant, she opted to stay silent for a few moments.

Ultimately, she plucked up the courage to ask him what Amelia was like. Matt responded that she was lovely, and how she was incredibly optimistic and spritely despite the circumstance. He moved on to explain that Hyperion arrived at their home and shot her twice in the head, while bringing the Anomaly to Sub-Level Thirteen of Helios for operation. His guilt overtook him.

Gaige apologised for asking, expressing her condolences, although Matt ensured her that it wasn't her fault, rather, it was his. He knew that working for Gemini was a dangerous job, and that taking a side mission against Hyperion prior to the event would send them on his trail, but he ignored his own concerns and did it against his better judgment. The Mechromancer put a hand on his and told him that it wasn't his fault; he couldn't have known what was going to happen. The Anomaly disregarded her claims and pointed out that he could have prevented it, and that reckless moves like those leave your loved ones in dire straits.

Not altogether thinking, the Vault Hunter asked him about the rest of his family. Matt explained how he was disowned by them and was forced to side with Gemini for a time. He was set up with a safehouse, though purposefully didn't tell her he was kicked off his own planet. He brought up to speed with how he ended up on Pandora, as he gained knowledge of the Vault and set out to find it.

Gaige told him that he could not blame himself for it, so he could get over it and finally move on. Although not convinced, Matt chose to lie to her and thanked her for her kind words. He tightened the Mechromancer's grip on his hand.

Aurora interrupted their moment and greeted the Anomaly as "Matty" to purposefully annoy Gaige. Matt asked her why she was here when she was supposed to wait in Crimson Raider HQ, to which the Revolverslinger pointed out it was only half four and she wanted to spend some time with her best friend. The Anomaly conceded and pointed to a free seat next to Gaige, however Aurora ignored his suggestion and sat next to him instead. Moxxi noticed her presence and asked if she was Matt's girlfriend instead, and he answered for her that they were just friends, looking to her for confirmation. He was slightly confused when she only weakly nodded.

The Vault Hunter asked Moxxi for a club soda, and Matt teased her over her insistence to remain sober. Aurora returned the favour and lightheartedly ridiculed him for his love of beer. Matt admitted he did "quite like" alcohol, but didn't necessarily "love" it. Aurora received her club soda from Moxxi and happily sipped it.

Inexplicably, Gaige asked her what exactly Aurora could do as a Vault Hunter, and Aurora explained her Deadshot ability, using her silver revolver. Exposing the recently replaced Eridium core to her, Gaige leant a finger forward to touch it, but Aurora slapped her hand away and scolded her angrily for doing so. Matt mused aloud that she had claimed before it was perfectly safe. Aurora awkwardly fidgeted and ensured the Anomaly that *he* was allowed to touch it, but Gaige was annoyed that she instantly went back on her word. Aurora cut her off and dismissed her point before she could even finish her sentence.

Matt backtracked to the part of the conversation about Vault Hunters, explaining that Gaige was also a Vault Hunter, with a robot he admired called Deathtrap. He was extremely excited to talk about her robot, too much to notice Gaige's obvious boastful mannerisms towards Aurora. At the mention of Deathtrap, Gaige was reminded that Matt promised to help her test it out, and the Anomaly remembered and assured her that he would. He realised that the Mechromancer meant for him to test it out *now*, rather than later. Matt agreed but made sure that Aurora was OK with him leaving so suddenly. She lied and told him it was fine, as long as they would get to hand out later. Matt confirmed this without a shred of doubt.

As the Anomaly left, Aurora looked on at them solemnly, sipping her soda silently.

#### **Testing out Deathtrap**

Gaige, ebullient to try out her upgraded robot, told him that she had used the rest of the Terrestrial Modifier to digistruct other accessories. However, Matt was sceptical and believed that she was merely trying to impress him. The Mechromancer directed him back to the plaza and informed him that Deathtrap was ready to go right then and there. Matt was a little worried that he would have to fight the *killer* robot, but she reassured him that she would set it to stun, as well as that he already won against Lilith.

Quickly, Gaige digistructed Deathtrap from her gauntlet and commanded it to stun. Its eye turned red and shot a few energy blasts at him from its hands. Matt dodged to blasts with his Chronokinesis, but the robot adapted and drew out its claws and electrified by them. He easily evaded the D374-TP bot's attacks and it came to mind that this was too easy and that Gaige would not get a suitable conclusion from the test run. Hoping Gaige would be pleased at her robot's (falsified) effectiveness, he planned to allow it to land a strike on him.

Deathtrap suddenly went invisible, much like a Gemini Deceptor, and could not see it. He could still sense where it was, in the frozen time zone, and looked towards Gaige, mid-cheer, and ultimately decided to go through with his plan. He allowed the robot to scrape his shoulder, and then pin him to the wall with an iron grip that the Anomaly did not attempt to get out of.

Worryingly, though, Deathtrap malfunctioned, and glitched back into full assault mode. Rather than stunning him, it sliced through his left shoulder, piercing his shield instantly. The Vault Hunter cried out in pain and bled profusely from the wound. The Mechromancer screamed out in shock and frustration, before the revelation of what her robot had done dawned upon her. Matt yelled to her to stop her bot, asking her if she had a deactivation code. Gaige replied that she did, but, in the heat and stress of the moment, could not think of what the code was. Apologising for being intrusive, the Vault Hunter requested she do so quickly.

They were interrupted by a voice that demanded to know what was going on. They both turned to see Maya, who complained that the vociferous commotion woke her up. Gaige begged for the Siren's help in subduing her manic robot. Deathtrap plunged the claws on its other hand into Matt's ribs while they spoke.

Maya used her Phaselock to constrain the D374-TP bot, freeing the Anomaly from its claws. Warning Gaige that she could not hold such an unconventional creature for too long, she too enquired to her if she had a deactivation code for Deathtrap. Still in shock, Gaige suddenly remembered the code and yelled out "4856apple7y934kaster6", which it accepted, resulting in its immediate dedigistruction.

Matt groaned in pain over his predicament, his hands clamped to his lacerations.

#### **Visiting Doctor Zed's**

Maya and Gaige carried Matt to Doctor Zed's, although Maya was slightly displeased since she had taken the time to clean her leotard prior to wearing it to confront the two. Gaige apologised profusely for what Deathtrap did, but Matt told her it was find, because he knew it was an accident. Maya reinforced this and told her she just needed to iron out a few kinks in her robot.

Gaige wondered how Deathtrap was able to land a hit on Matt, since he was even able to predict where the robot was going to exit its invisibility. The Anomaly admitted that he allowed Deathtrap to hit him, under the basis that the fight was too easy and he wanted to make her feel successful with her robot. Gaige ensured him he did not need to that, and revealed to him that she chose Matt to test it *because* it wouldn't be able to hit him. She intended to test its reflexes, not its effectiveness or speed.

Matt apologised for voiding the point of her tests, but Gaige dismissed this and apologised for screwing up Deathtrap's programming and not telling him the point of the experiment. Maya butted in and told them it was neither of their faults, and they shouldn't mull over it so much.

The Siren brought him through the door of Doctor Zed's, which was now remarkably clean after Lilith demanded it to be so. She asked if he was free, which he confirmed that he was. Zed informed them that the Anomaly had punctured an artery and was bleeding profusely from two wounds, and that he would need to be treated immediately. The Mechromancer and the Siren carefully set him down on the operating table, as Matt took off his coat and armour plating.

Somewhat absentmindedly, the Vault Hunter made a vexed comment about how painful his injuries were, which Zed replied that he should be more careful. He pleaded that he did not do this himself, and rather it was a threatening killer robot. Zed seemed unconvinced, but Gaige piped up and said that the Anomaly was indeed correct. The doctor then recollected about the Mechromancer's Deathtrap, and agreed to do the operation, suggesting that the two leave.

As Maya began to leave, Gaige asked if she could stay, and was teased by the Siren for being so sweet. Doctor Zed granted her request somewhat confusedly. Before Maya could leave, Matt stopped her and asked her if she could find Aurora and tell her where he was and why he had not returned yet. She asked who she was, and Matt told her that she was another Vault Hunter who used to work at Gemini like him. The Mechromancer added that they were close friends, albeit unhappily. Maya promptly left.

Zed applied anaesthetics and antiseptics to the Anomaly's gashes, while Gaige occupied a nearby chair and watched. Matt was glad he could no longer feel the intense burning from his lesions, although he was aware that he would probably feel sore later.

He began to have flashing images of his experimentation during the Genisys Project, looking at Zed while his mind kept replacing him with a Hyperion scientist. The Anomaly tried to think of something pleasant, initially thinking of his sister, however his thoughts of her were quickly replaced by the image of her being shot in the head. Eventually, his eyes wondered to Gaige, which helped him to shake off his traumatic hallucinations.

The doctor warned him the next injection may hurt a little, before injecting him with a super-hypo which caused him to wince from the sudden sting of the super drug, however it numbed especially quickly. It was at this point that Aurora entered the clinic and called him by nickname. Seeing how worried she was, Matt amused himself internally over how easily perturbed she was over him.

Matt explained the situation, with Aurora immediately antagonising and scorning for apparently being at fault for situation. The Anomaly corrected her and told her it was due to an unaccountable glitch. Aurora became angrier when she saw his wounds, whilst Zed moved away to pick up some bandages, and was shocked that the Mechromancer's "dumb bot" was able to injure him so severely. Gaige and Matt both responded in unison that Deathtrap *wasn't* dumb. She clenched her fists at the sight of the two smiling at each other. She apologised, not altogether sincerely, and repeated the question more politely. He told her it was categorically an accident.

Zed interrupted the situation and asked Aurora to move out of the way so she could apply bandages. Once he finished wrapping it around his shoulder, he informed the Vault Hunter that he would be fine, albeit a little sore afterwards. Matt thanked him, and the doctor turned his attention to Aurora.

He asked her if she was a new resident, which the Revolverslinger said that she was indeed, and Doctor Zed replied that he thought that all available accommodation in Sanctuary was occupied. Aurora suddenly became distressed, not having considered where she was going to live yet; Matt eased her worries by telling her to go to Lilith about it, as she was the most knowledgeable about Sanctuary's infrastructure. She left with word from the Anomaly to not be concerned about Axton's agitated behaviour around her.

Gaige, now alone with Matt, commented somberly that it would take a lot of effort to repair the glitch in Deathtrap. Not pleased seeing her so upset, the Anomaly reassured her it was nothing major and that it wouldn't take long, even offering to help. The Mechromancer was unsure, not wanting to hurt people she cared for. Matt completely understood this, but told her that she simply could not allow her abilities to go down the drain, and that it would be a waste to give up on something so impressive.

Flattered, the Vault Hunter repeated in disbelief that Matt had called Deathtrap impressive. He reinforced this without a second thought. Now more confident in her abilities, Gaige decided to implement the bug fix on her own, which the Anomaly supported.

### **Distributing the Weapons**

Matt told Gaige that he needed to find a living occupation for "'Ora", and that he would need to find Lilith. Gaige became slightly exasperated with Matt's nickname for her, but refused to believe she was jealous. The Anomaly attempted to lift himself off Lilith's operating table, stumbling slightly, which prompted the Mechromancer to aid him in regaining his balance. Once stable, Gaige said her goodbyes to Matt and left the clinic.

As the Pandoran Sun began to come up, the Vault Hunter made his way to Crimson Raider Headquarters. Random thoughts began to cross his mind. He wondered if the other Vault Hunters had woken up yet, which he presumed they had due to their tendency to get up early.

Matt's thought tracks ultimately came to Aurora, as he considered the possibility that the woman would have to share with someone. He thought that maybe Gaige would be a good option, as he supposed they were getting on well (completely oblivious to their ongoing rivalry), and finding himself annoyed that Aurora was more focussed on spending time with him than planning ahead.

Aware he was losing focus, he brushed these thoughts aside and entered Crimson Raider HQ. He was greeted by Lilith, while the other Vault Hunters, except for Gaige and Aurora, stared at a large pile of weapons sat on a the scanner in the centre of the room. Axton picked up a single Veruc assault rifle, and Maya eyed a few of the elemental SMGs. Matt asked her if he needed him for something, to which the Siren asked him if he still had the rest of the weapons they had acquired at the Gemini Armoury. Despite having forgotten that he even had it, Matt recalled that he had kept his storage ECHO and produced it from his back pocket.

He emptied the ECHO into the pile of weapons Lilith had created previously, much to his compatriots' happiness. Zer0 presented a smiley face on his visor at the Pearlescent Bessie sniper rifle, although Mordecai warned him that the majority of the weapons were for the Crimson Raiders. Maya picked up a Hellfire, and Salvador took a Mongul rocket launcher. He asked him if he wanted anything, but the Anomaly responded that he and Lilith had already taken what they wanted. He pulled out his Chimera pistol and mused about modifying it to include a slag function.

Brusquely, Aurora appeared behind him and hugged him, announcing her presence in Sanctuary and with the Crimson Raiders. The Anomaly asked her why she hadn't gone to search for Lilith, and she explained that she went to get him first once she was aware he was out and about. Before Matt could ask her why she wanted to find him, Mordecai questioned who she was was. Axton recognised the nickname and immediately identified her as Aurora, prompting Sal to deduce she was also an ex-Gemini, and a Vault Hunter.

Axton derided her for being a prison warden the last time they met, no longer respecting her career choices as they all pertained to Gemini. Aurora told him that "things change", which Matt supplemented with how she left the job to go more "freelance". Brick joked that she was "another lamb to the slaughter" which the Anomaly was annoyed and disgusted with. He called him a slab, which Matt began to correct, but ultimately decided not to.

Enraged at Aurora's presence, the Commando brought the conversation back to the point and argued that the Revolverslinger was just another one of Gemini's lackeys who were sent out to hunt him. Annoyed, Maya crassly told him to shut the fuck up, which earned a nod of respect from the Anomaly, which she returned. Matt told them all to cut her some slack, telling them about how Aurora's parents were now in serious danger from Gemini now, and would need to come to Pandora for their own safety. Aurora notified hem that they were on their way, and that she hoped Gemini had not realised she had betrayed them just yet.

Lilith provided them the context that they were now fighting Gemini *and* Hyperion now, and that this was just the beginning. She then ordered Aurora to distribute the remaining weapons amongst the Crimson Raiders. She grumbled but ultimately accepted, leaving with a handful of weapons and planning to return for the rest afterwards.

Maya teased him with Aurora's nickname for him, and Axton made an exasperated comment about how awkward it would be to work around people constantly flirting with each other. Now becoming very frustrated with the teasing, the Anomaly exclaimed for them to stop claiming they were flirting. Axton only teased him further, showing a hint of friendship, before it reverted back to hate. Maya described it as cute, albeit uncomfortably.

#### **Vault Hunter Ensemble Battle**

Lilith told Matt that, while she had completed his initiation when he fought her and acquired the weapons, she wanted him to do one extra thing. The Siren told him it was another fight, but cheekily did not disclose *who* he would be fighting, just that he would be fighting in the plaza like before. She proceeded to tell the other Vault Hunters to prepare their weapons as well.

Zer0 knew what exactly what she wanted them to do, and claimed she was delirious, and Maya was unsure if what she believed she was asking was indeed what they were supposed to. Salvador and Mordecai were confused by her request. Axton expressed his displeasure at her order. Brick, however, was excited at what the fight may entail.

Matt interrupted the situation and requested a few minutes to himself in his workshop, as he had something to work on. He had already been working on it, but believed that he may have gotten closer to succeeding his goal.

15 minutes later, Mat had finished his work and had made his way to Scooter's Garage, along with the other Vault Hunters. He was disconcerted to ask Lilith what was going on, and who he might be fighting. Lilith told him he would not be fighting her, or just one of them, but rather all of them simultaneously. The Anomaly was confused, thinking that she was just joking, before realising she was serious and protesting that he wouldn't last two seconds.

Mordecai asked her if she really believed that the Anomaly was powerful enough to take them all on at the same time, but the Siren merely replied that " [they're] about to find out". Maya was equally unsure, questioning Lilith's judgement, but Axton stopped her and told her it would be fine.

Matt was slightly worried that he would need surgery following such an unbalanced fight, but ultimately agreed to do what she asked. Pleased, Lilith told everyone not to hold back, and to go as hard as they could at their enemy.

As everyone took their positions, the Anomaly took out his Jakobs Maggie pistol, and nothing else, which greatly confused Maya due to his simplicity. He assumed a more cautionary stance, keeping all the Vault Hunters a suitable distance away from him so he could survey his surroundings. He thought over all the possible actions he could take in his fight, not believing he could win it, and noting that his Chronokinesis would not help him very much against all the various fighting styles of his opponents. Notwithstanding, it was the only way he could dodge the bullets from their weapons.

Immediately after Lilith called out go, he activated his Chronokinesis, arms glowing red, and dodged the bullets flying towards them. He directed a few of them towards new targets, some back at the Vault Hunters, lining up two towards Salvador and Brick. Seeing that Sal was already Gunzerking, with two Jakobs Gatling Guns, he moved his weapons in his hands to be thrown behind him, causing him to topple over from the force.

He noticed Axton throwing out his turret in his peripheral vision, so he caught the extension pad before it could open, and threw it at Brick, before shooting Axton's knees to weaken them. Before he could see if he had actually succeeded or not, there was an alien glowing around him, noticing the faint outlines of a purple ball. He realised Maya was using her Phaselock, so he moved slowly enough to allow the ball to follow him. His arms began to glow a brighter red, rushing Mordecai and pushing the still-materialising ball onto him. Speeding up time again slightly, he saw that the Hunter was now trapped in Maya's Phaselock ball. He shot three times at him, causing eighteen bullets in total to fly slowly towards the Vault Hunter.

Feeling cold metal being pressed against his neck, and turned to see Zer0 holding a gun to his head. He grabbed the gun and threw it away, but the Assassin immediately disappeared into a hologram, surprising the Anomaly greatly. Aware that the only way to reveal Zer0 was to attack the hologram, he took a bullet that Maya had previously fired, and altered its trajectory towards the hologram. Thus, Zer0 was revealed to be to his left. He kicked him away, throwing him against a wall.

Brick returned to the fight, angered after being hit in the face by a metal turret, and threw multiple punches at Matt. He dodged the first two, and baited the Berserker into putting more force into his third. As he did, the Anomaly dodged it and used his unbalance to trip him up, causing him to fall on his face.

Salvador then got back up, and began firing at him once again. Matt taunted him, getting him to charge at him. He then moved towards Maya, dodging some of her bullets every so often. Sal ran towards him, nimble on his feet due to his small frame. Once the Gunzerker had caught up with him, Matt tripped him up, and then threw him towards Maya, whose Phaselock had now dropped.

Time ultimately sped back up to normal, and all six of the Vault Hunters had been defeated. Matt stared in disbelief, putting away his Maggie and wondering how Aurora would react to this. Lilith uttered a simple "wow", not having seen something as remarkable as that before.

Matt dropped to the ground weakly and wiped blood from his nose.

The Anomaly helped Maya up, while Mordecai, injecting hypos into his ribs, asked the Siren why she had Phaselocked him. Maya responded that she was aiming for Matt. Lilith and Maya both asked in unison how he was able to do that, to which Matt replied that it was just instinct.

Axton commented that he was surprised he wasn't dead yet, if Matt was able to do what he did. The Anomaly replied curtly that he never tried to kill him to begin with. Before Axton could do anything but look guilty for a few seconds, Zer0 interrupted and described his impressed opinion in his standard haiku format.

### The Friendship Gulag Incident

#### **Aurora's Initiation**

Aurora arrived on the scene, wanting to know what was going on. Brick explained that Matt had defeated them all, to which Aurora expressed her shock. Axton looked on despondently at his turret pad, which had been beaten and battered when Matt threw it at Brick's face.

Lilith, reminded of what she needed to tell her, informed Aurora that needed to take her initiation test just like Matt did. Worried, the Vault Hunter asked if this meant she would have to fight all of the other Vault Hunters too, but the Siren rectified this that she would only have to fight her. This did not quell her worries as she did not like her chances with fighting a Siren.

Matt reassured her that she would be fine, but Lilith negate this when she casually stated that only one initiate has ever actually beaten her. Aurora asked who, but she told her to guess, glancing at the Anomaly, who was awkwardly avoiding eye contact. Figuring out what she meant, the Revolverslinger demanded pointedly if it really was Matt who defeated the most powerful Siren in the universe - who could *liquefy* people.

The Anomaly argued that it was no easy feat, and pointed out that they weren't trying to kill each other, so the Siren was deliberately holding back at parts so that he wouldn't die. Lilith agreed with this, and told her to follow her down the steps. Still confounded, Aurora elucidated that she only had a silver revolver with an Eridium core, which wasn't "on Matty's level".

Agitated by his defeat, Axton yelled at her to stop calling Matt by that nickname, finding it intensely annoying. She apologised awkwardly, though the Commando dismissed it disinterestedly. Maya scolded him for overreacting over a nickname, and that she thought it was cute, causing Aurora to go red.

Lilith asked her if she was ready, and the Revolverslinger responded that she was, albeit wearily. She took out her Eridium revolver, checking if the chamber was loaded.

#### **Planning Recon**

Just before the fight was due to begin, Matt was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find the source of the interaction, and looked down to see Gaige twiddling with her fingers awkwardly. The Anomaly inquired if she wanted some help with Deathtrap, which the Mechromancer apprehensively replied that it was something else.

Matt agreed and gave a nod towards Aurora, who was too occupied with fighting Lilith to notice the minor gesture. He walked away with Gaige, which the Revolverslinger noticed and glared at furiously. The Mechromancer led him towards Crimson Raider HQ, careful not to crush his hand with her metal one. He demanded what this was about, but Gaige waved off his questioning, saying she would tell him soon and dragged him towards the scanner room.

Upon arrival in the scanner room, Gaige finally enlightened him that she had been searching for a better shield for Sanctuary for a while, specifically a new generator and capacitor, and that she needed the data from Matt's Vault Instincts so she could cross-references her data with his and identify the location as its specific co-ordinates were encrypted too well for even her to bypass. She also did not want her target to know they had been hacked.

Matt consented, handing her his ECHOear, and telling her to be careful with such a unique item. She promised she would, and plugged into the computer mainframe, which began downloading it. Once the download had finished, Gaige began typing into the code, copying the geo-positioning data and comparing it to her pre-existing data. Ultimately, the Mechromancer succeeded, almost throwing her arms up in victory, and proudly began reading the result as it loaded.

The result claimed the location was the Friendship Gulag. Confused, she read it again to be sure. Matt recalled that it was located in the Dust, however Gaige explained she was confused because the prison doesn't have a shield, so it didn't seem to make sense that they would be keeping one.

Matt deduced that this was likely that Hyperion was planning to use it, but had not integrated it yet. The Anomaly suggested that they do some recon, so that they could find out where they were keeping the shield parts before raiding it recklessly. Gaige asked when they should raid it, to which Matt replied that it was a job for all of them, not just two, and that she could go tell Lilith of their plans, so that they could raid it afterwards.

The Siren appeared at the top of the stairs at this point and enquired what they were talking about. Lilith wanted to know what they were planning, and Gaige elaborated on what she may have heard and informed her of their plans to scout the Friendship Gulag for its supposed shield parts. She praised the Mechromancer for her thinking, so Gaige corrected her that it was actually Matt's idea to do some recon first. They sniggered at their leader's unfazed reaction to this.

Matt typed into the scanner and showed them the 3D schematics of the Gulag, pointing out an entire underground network, figuring out that this was where Hyperion were keeping secure gear - such as a new shield generator and capacitor. However, he confessed that he had no idea how they were supposed to get to it. Lilith reminded him of his C-Digistructor, but the Anomaly pointed out that he didn't know where the access point nor was he aware what clearance was required to access the underground network.

Gaige asked what a C-Digistructor was, and Matt told her how they could be used to take any form scanned into it, as well as how they used it to get through the Gemini Armoury. He produced the two C-Digistructors from his pocket, showing them to her.

Curious, the Mechromancer wondered if they could hack the Friendship Gulag to grant access, but Matt told her that the Gulag's security was top of the line and that she might only get skin-deep, as good as of a hacker she was. Gaige briefly blushed that Matt had complimented her, although the Anomaly didn't notice. Lilith snapped her out of her trance.

Matt noticed that it was beginning to turn to the afternoon, and told the Mechromancer to get her equipment together. Immediately, Gaige agreed and unplugged his ECHOear to hand it to him. He told her he would be waiting by the fast-travel, and left the room.

#### **Minor Altercations**

##### **Aurora**

Matt waited by the fast travel for Gaige, hoping she wouldn't be too long since he figured this mission was important. He also didn't want to have a run-in with Aurora, whom he suspected would be upset with him for leaving with Gaige so abruptly. He hoped Aurora wouldn't be so sensitive, and act as steely and tough as she did around most people, however the Anomaly noticed how different she was around him.

Aurora interrupted his train of thought as she addressed him with a curt comment that implied she had been searching for him. Matt greeted her, but sensed she was mad at him, especially given her imposing presence by the door in Pierce Station (despite being 4 inches shorter than him). The Revolverslinger immediately asked him why he left in the middle of her training, with Gaige of all people. Matt elucidated that Gaige needed his help with someone, but she complained that the Mechromancer seemed to always want his help with something, and whined that it looked like he wanted to spend more time with Gaige and his best friend.

The Anomaly shrugged this off, stating that wasn't the point, and that it was specifically his ECHOear data that Gaige needed. Frustrated, Aurora pointed out that the Vault Hunter could have easily used her ECHOear data as well, and that Matt was being blind to the fact that Gaige clearly wanted him specifically with her. The Vault Hunter questioned this, presuming what she meant threateningly, but his best friend cut him off and finished for him, suggesting that Gaige had a crush on him.

Aurora asked what he was doing at the moment. Awkward, and beginning to see her point, the Anomaly answered that he was going on a mission...with Gaige. When the Revolverslinger rolled her eyes at this, Matt protested that it wasn't for intimacy and that they were all planning on raiding the place together. The Vault Hunter wondered where he was planning on going, so he explained the situation with the Friendship Gulag.

Infuriated, Aurora declared that she wasn't going to let the Anomaly go there with just Gaige and that she was going too. Matt sighed loudly, telling her she was letting her emotions cloud her judgement, as the Revolverslinger was not an inherently stealthy person and had an itch to kill that could risk the mission going south - something for which he could not afford. His best friend told him he categorically had no choice in the matter, because she did not want him "fraternising". It was at this point that Matt realised she was jealous of his friendship with Gaige, which she denied, much to the Anomaly's chagrin. Aurora admitted she was, though disputed that it was justified as she was his best friend so she wanted to spend time with him.

Now annoyed at his best friend's inability to compromise, the Vault Hunter countered that she was being childish. Not objecting to the claim, Aurora warned him that she wasn't going to let him leave unless he did. Ultimately, Matt gave in and told her she could come, though he confidently ordered her to keep her emotions in check.

##### **Gaige**

Gaige arrived and told Matt that she had got all her stuff. She noticed Aurora instantly, and passive aggressively smiled at her and superciliously asked her if she had come to "see [them] off". When the Revolverslinger informed the Mechromancer presumptuously that she was going with them, she pointedly stated that they didn't need an extra person with them. Aurora did not believe her, disregarding her excuse, and ridiculed her that she wasn't going to let her go with her best friend alone.

Pretending not to know what she meant, Gaige challenged her on this, but Aurora merely scoffed at her attempt. Annoyed at her supposedly ally's behaviour, the Vault Hunter asked Matt if they could speak in private for a moment, separate from Aurora, which he accepted. They walked out of Pierce Station, just out of earshot from the Revolverslinger.

Matt began to apologise for Aurora's behaviour around him, however Gaige interrupted him and demanded to know what she was doing there to begin with. She exclaimed angrily that they didn't need her, and that the Revolverslinger was just getting in the way. The Anomaly tried to justify this, eventually coming to the conclusion that she was "protective".

Unfortunately, this didn't even come close to convincing her, and the Mechromancer interrogated him about why Aurora would even need to protect Matt from her. Matt explained that Aurora simply wanted to spend some time with him, sighing and facepalming in embarrassment. Brusquely, Gaige jumped to conclusions and suggested that Aurora wanted to spend time with him because she had a crush on him. Irritated by the Mechromancer's nescience, the Vault Hunter argued that it was because the Revolverslinger was his best friend.

Realising how irritated Matt was by her distastefulness, Gaige confessed that she just wanted the two of them to be a team together, which was being impeded by Aurora's persistence. Now having seen things from her point of view, Matt assured her that they already were, and that she shouldn't mind Aurora. He suggested that she pretend she wasn't there, if it was really that much of a problem. The Mechromancer apologised contritely for her behaviour, however Matt told her it was fine, and hugged her tightly.

#### **Reconnaissance**

##### **Arriving in the Dust**

After a few seconds of hugging, Gaige suggested it was time for them to leave, so Matt and herself returned to Pierce Station, where Aurora was still glaring at the Mechromancer sharply. Matt either didn't notice this or ignored it, and proceeded to adjust the fast travel interface to transport them to the Dust. He pressed it, and the three of them were deconstructed atom by atom, before being reconstructed to Ellie's Garage in the Dead Sands.

Ellie welcomed them, and Matt greeted her, claiming they were passing through. Gaige was surprised they knew each other, to which the Anomaly explained that it was common to meet many people while traversing Pandora. Aurora snidely criticised that he had been wasting time exploring rather than picking up any leads, which greatly annoyed Matt, who shot back that he had been spending those months of time trying to find the Vault. He was starting to get especially frustrated over the (in his opinion) needless conflict the Mechromancer and the Revolverslinger were having, which he believed was getting in the way of more important things.

Matt was proven correct when he digistructed a Bandit vehicle, which he would be driving, and the two argued about who could sit next to him. Gaige called shotgun first, but her supposedly ally refused to let her get close to her best friend. Having reached his breaking point, the Anomaly yelled at them for their petty squabbling, and allowed Gaige the front seat since she asked first. Remorseful for stressing her friend, Aurora relented and sat in the sawblade gunner seat instead.

Matt drove to the Friendship Gulag, predominantly following Gaige's lead since she knew the area better than he did. Aurora made feeble efforts to compliment him to vie for his attention. He avoided other Bandit Technicals and Spiderants, trying not to get noticed so as to stay undercover.

Eventually, they arrived, just short of the small hill leading to the Gulag's entrance. The Anomaly parked the vehicle beside the Catch-A-Ride machine and signalled for everyone to exit the Technical.

##### **Infiltrating the Gulag**

Gaige was unsure how they were supposed to sneak through undetected, as it was not as simple as waltzing in. Matt took out his two C-Digistructors, throwing one to her. In response to her confused look, he explained how to use the last form scanned into the device - a Gemini Deceptor. Gaige thanked him by flirting with him, playfully pushing him. Enraged and envious by the act, she wirelessly downloaded the Deceptor data from Matt's device, thanking him exaggeratedly in the process and lightly pushing Gaige aside to hug his shoulder. Confused, Matt accepted the acknowledgment modestly.

The Anomaly turned back to Gaige, explaining that she could turn invisible using the Invisibility Capacitor that now rested on her waist. She tested it, turning invisible for a few moments. He also informed her that the button on the bottom of the C-Digistructor turned off the voice modulator, allowing Gaige to sound normal. Matt admitted he preferred her voice to a standard Deceptor's.

Gaige wondered why they couldn't just sneak in and steal the shield components, so Matt explicated that their security was far too tight, and that they had probably accounted for Deceptors and C-Digistructors thanks to their partnership with the Gemini Corporation. While this was mostly speculation, he did not want to risk the possibility of his concerns being true. Aurora then added that she doubted they would have many measures for people who weren't there to steal from them, taking the form of a Deceptor to emphasise her point.

Matt was the last to use his C-Digistructor, warning them that only Deceptors could see invisible Deceptors. He led them up to the door, staring it and wondering how they might open it. Fortunately, the Mechromancer had already considered this, and stepped forward to deal with it. Having now become completely accustomed with the C-Digistructor, she manipulated the settings to expose her metal arm for her to use the technology within to hack the door and grant them access. Impressed, he congratulate her, much to Aurora's frustration.

##### **Sneaking Through**

They walked into the Gulag, first seeing the Ammo Dump and the Dr Zed portable clinic machine to their left. They were prudent to their surroundings and saw Hyperion Loaders and Infiltrators patrolling the area and guarding the prisoners.

Matt's PTSD acted up slightly at the sight of the Hyperion weapons, remembering the two Hyperion bullets that killed his sister. Concerned at the sight of Infiltrators, Gaige asked Matt if they would be able to see them, but the Anomaly was too caught up at the sight to respond until she nudged him. He hastily explained that their technology was different, so they could not. Aurora realised that his PTSD was the root cause of this and counselled him over it. Matt waved this off, claiming it had "cleared up at this point".

Slightly irritated by the mention of his mental state, he whispered to them that they needed to find the entrance to the underground bunker. They manoeuvred through the Friendship Gulag, very carefully avoiding the Hyperion personnel, not so much as briskly touching them for fear of being caught. Trying to find the access point, he brought up the schematics of the Gulag on his ECHO HUD. The Vault Hunter failed to see anything that indicated a general entrance, although he could see that the tunnels appeared to originate near a set of office buildings that led to the POW cells.

When the Anomaly signalled for his two teammates to follow him, Gaige went to walk beside him. Spiteful, Aurora lightly shoved her out of the way and walked close to him instead. Not noticing the gesture, Matt took out a gun in case the recon went wrong, and the other two followed in his lead. Gaige caught up to them, unable to complain without making too much noise, and quietly demanded Aurora what the hell she was doing. She ordered her not to get "touchy feely" with Matt when she barely knew him. She tried to deny this but the Revolverslinger did not believe her.

Aurora complained that the entrance had to be around the area *somewhere*, and Matt pointed out that there was no clue in the blueprints. Gaige ran up beside them, to divulge where she thought the access point for the underground network, but Aurora threw her out of the way. Matt noticed Gaige stumbling back and about to collide with a Hyperion soldier. He immediately slowed down time and caught her before she could hit the soldier, allowing him to walk away harmlessly from them. The Anomaly asked if she was OK, which Gaige confirmed and thanked him for stopping her fall. Once she responded, Matt almost exploded on the Revolverslinger, still keeping quiet, demanding to know why the Vault Hunter had been so needlessly aggressive. He yelled at her for not being able to see past her differences with the Mechromancer, who he described her as one of the only people who were willing to shelter her, and her overzealous behaviour was getting her nowhere.

She apologised, trying to look contrite, but Matt dismissed this as she was really apologised to him, when she should be apologising to Gaige. Reluctantly, Aurora repeated the apology to the Mechromancer, and she thanked her for her apology, smiling to herself how Matt had defended her.

##### **Finding the Bunker**

With the situation defused, Gaige explained that the only way to find the entrance to the bunker underground network would be to do a manual scan. Matt pointed out that this would reveal their presence, as the Loaders were likely to pick up the signals, so Gaige suggested they could glitch out their technology momentarily, hoping Hyperion would wave it off as a technical malfunction. Aurora was heavily sceptical that this would work, not believing that Hyperion could be fooled so easily. Gaige snorted that they could be.

The Mechromancer manipulated the technology in her metal arm and initiated a brief fluctuation in the Gulag's technology. The lights in the Friendship Gulag began flashing erratically, before shutting off entirely. Gaige took this time to run her scan over the entire complex, lasting a few agonising seconds while the Hyperion personnel scrambled to figure out what was going on.

Once the scan finished, Gaige walked over to the side of one of the buildings, and slide up a panel to reveal a keypad. She entered in the digits she had discovered thanks to her hacking stunt, allowing her to quickly open and close the bunker door. Abruptly, a large section of the corridor lifted up and slid away. Smaller panels on the floor then moved out the way to the sides, revealing a set of stairs leading down to an automatic double door.

Aware of the little time they had left before the bunker door would close, Matt slowed down time and inserted a small, metallic red into the underside of the entry panel. He bolted back to his initial spot, only just able to get out before the bunker closed back up again. With the bunker entrance now found, Gaige restored control back to the Friendship Gulag. Promptly, the Gulag returned to normal and the Hyperion personnel presumed it was a power surge.

##### **Narrow Escape**

Almost immediately following their discovery of the Bunker, Gaige's C-Digistructor appeared to malfunction, disabling her invisibility for a millisecond. Upon inspection, they discovered that her C-Digistructor was nearly out of battery and was being drained quickly through the combined use of the disguise and the simulated Invisibility Capacitor. Recalling that both of the C-Digistructors he and Gaige were using were his, Matt realised that his digistructor was also about run out. Aurora chided him for not thinking to have charged them beforehand, as she had with his.

Now extremely worried, the Anomaly realised that their window of escape was now very narrow, and instantly bolted for the exit with Gaige. Unshackled by the same issue, Aurora reluctantly followed after them.

They barely made it out before their C-Digistructors lost charge and deactivated. Fortunately, they were not spotted by Hyperion personnel, and they were able to make it back to Sanctuary, whee they informed Lilith of their discovery. Lilith organised the next mission: raiding the Friendship Gulag and stealing the shield components.

## Personality

* As a child
* As a soldier
* As a Vault Hunter
* As Kallux

Even at a young age, Matt demonstrated a high level of intelligence, and was able to (semi-accurately) deduce answers to questions while at school. When he and Amelia found a Futarian Goblin, he quickly figured out that it must have a food source if it were still alive. Matt also knew to follow it, since it would be unwilling to leave its source of survival, and to do so quietly, lest the creature sprint away before they could catch up to it.

The Anomaly never possessed much of any level of innocence even during his childhood, starkly in contrast to his sister, and was well aware of the cataclysmic state of his planet and the vulnerability Krolantia was subsequently placed in. As such, although he loved exploration, he was very prudent not to wonder off or get into danger too consistently. This was something he told his sister numerous times, so much so that even she had gotten used to the warnings. Matt was described as "the safe one" by his sister, whilst she was "the adventurous one", although it was evident he had an urge of adventure as well.

Ever since he was a toddler, Matt wanted to know about the world around him, being a very inquisitive person. Unfortunately, this side of him was lost, perhaps forever, when he ultimately discovered the true history of Darios and realised that the planet was not as safe as the council of Acropolis led the children of the city to believe. While he did ask questions fairly frequently, Matt did not have the thirst for knowledge he once did.

Amelia once claimed she missed this side of him, but Matt adamantly told her that part of his personality died along with Darios.

"*Sometimes I wonder what the point is of it all: fighting in wars. War perpetuates more war; that will never change. How justified can be to allow millions to die? It will always end in everyone doing what they always should have done: sit down and talk. What's the point, of sacrificing your life to protect everything you ever called home, when citizens of leisure palaces will lie on their sofas watching holoscreens, blissfully oblivious? Our leaders are a candle in the wind, guarding a sinking ship. So tell me again why war is ever worth it?*"
—Matt to his KMO mentor
When the treaty broke down and Matt joined the Krolantian Military Order, he started to become more brooding and pessimistic. With most of his life being lies conjured by either his parents or the Acropoliptan Council, Matt grew bitter towards the world around him, not desiring to fight for a planet he did not believe in. His bleak outlook on life was only ever bolstered by the constant death and destruction during the Third Darosian Civil War, especially when he witnessed the detonation of the very first anti-matter bomb.

However, Matt retained his fondness for his sister, never forgetting his origins, and only remained with the KMO if it meant her protection. Throughout the war, he kept up to date with how she was doing and urged his estranged mother to evacuate her to the bunker below the city, despite the fact that he hated his mother and did not want to talk to her.

Matt was an expert in strategy in the war, and was incredibly fast thinking, so much so that he eclipsed even some of the generals. He outsmarted numerous enemies, often escaping their primitive capture attempts and resisting their strategies for torture. Through a carefully planned strategy laid out over weeks, Matt was able to turn the tables in war, following the abandonment of Yeven, a city of great importance to the KMO.

Despite this, he could sometimes be reckless, running into a firefight desperately if someone he cared about was threatened if he did not. Matt looked back on this moments and reflected that his recklessness would have endangered them more than save them, and that a calm, calculated response would have been much better.

He was incredibly cynical towards the leaders of the Krolantian Senate, or any other dominion in the war, claiming that they were "self-destructive fools" that would "only ever cause chaos". However, Matt was shown to be honorable and strongly willed, as he never considered betraying them or going against his word to stay with the KMO to protect Amelia until the war had concluded.

"*This isn't a world for heroes and villains. This is not a place for a better man. Who's the baddest or best doesn't matter. That's not what this world needs. What it needs, more than anything, is someone who understands.*"
—Matt to Axton[src]
Traumatised by both the copious experimentation from Hyperion and the death of his sister, Matt suffered from PTSD after extreme grief overwhelmed him as he blamed himself for her death. His parents disowning him only added to this. It took years before he finally got over the trauma.

The Anomaly is very intelligent, though not known for it, and grasps very complicated subjects and is a natural when it comes to technology. He was able to successfully complete the Bypass set to be fully operational, while many mechanics at Gemini could not. He is also well aware of the applications of his Chronokinesis, and uses all aspects of it to his advantage.

Matt demonstrates an extreme desire to protect those he is close to, leading to his assumed death during the Friendship Gulag incident in which he willingly let himself be blown up so that his friends might escape. He survived this incident but was thought dead for a month. When the Anomaly returned, he immediately jumped to protect Gaige, his girlfriend, and aided the Vault Hunters in defeating Caine when he attacked Sanctuary with his Gemini Vault Hunter allies.

The Anomaly is very supportive of his friends, but is much wiser than any of them. Due to his connection to Sirens, he has access to a somewhat capacious bank of knowledge which he can draw from instinctively to guide his movements and actions. Despite this, he does not underestimate those around him and fully believes that anyone can gain power if they try hard enough and that everyone has the right to experience it. When Gaige began to question her place as a Vault Hunter, Matt supported her extensively and ensured her that she deserved to be a Vault Hunter more than anyone, and that she had more than proven herself.

The Anomaly is known to be quite reckless at times, unintentionally endangering himself and others, such as almost dying to a Badass Pyre Thresher when he did not check if his surroundings were safe carefully enough before stepping out into the open, or allowing himself to be led into a trap by Gemini. However, Matt is not always reckless, and can be quite methodical (but not as much as Kallux), and has frequently demonstrated complete mastery of even the most fatal of circumstances. The Anomaly is aware of his own recklessness, often berating himself for it, and makes conscious efforts not to put himself in such dangerous situations again. Unfortunately, even he will admit that there is still a side to him that acts on emotion over logic. He hates being called reckless for consequences that weren't directly his fault.

Matt does not like unnecessary deaths, and only kills when its the only option or to people he truly believes deserves it. He kept a similar philosophy to Krieg, in that he would not kill the undeserving, although the Anomaly admits that sometimes he killed people that perhaps did not deserve it, which is likely what fuels his drive not to execute people. Similarly, Matt disapproves of those who callously allow their lackeys and lower ranks to die and throw themselves into fatal circumstances which they would not involve themselves in to begin with. He strongly believes this to be cowardice, and that you should always be willing to get your hands dirty, and respect those who gave their lives for you.

Despite this, Matt exhibits exceedingly homicidal and bloodthirsty tendencies towards those he hates, particularly Director McCain and Commander Sharp, who were responsible for some of the most painful moments in his life. When faced with Sharp, after discovering he had murdered his sister, Matt viciously beat him, throwing him through glass and locking him in a tight choke-hold. The Anomaly considered not only executing him, but doing so in the most excruciating way possible. However, he ultimately relented, realising that killing Sharp would only create more problems. Upon the revelation that Director McCain destroyed Darios, and deliberately searched for and murdered Matt's father, the Anomaly became exceptionally unhinged, leading to his crippling of McCain on board the Leviathan. McCain almost died from blood loss alone, but Gaige convinced the Anomaly to help him.

Matt is an honourable person, but is by no means perfect and even admits himself that he is severely flawed in personality and psychology. Although he tries to improve it, the Anomaly knows that most of his trauma-induced behaviour is too deeply rooted to be rectified.

"*There's no point in keeping order, so we might as well just burn it to the ground.*"
—Kallux, an alternate personality of Matt.
There is an extremely dark and twisted side to Matt's personality, which he keeps well hidden due to his shame over its existence. He has been shown to be bitter, callous and borderline psychopathic at times, presenting extreme spitefulness towards his mother even after accepting her remorseful apology. This side of him manifested as an entity that plagued the recesses of his mind and threatened every so often to emerge from the depths of his psyche and take over.

During his 400-year battle training in the Infinite, Matt developed split personality disorder, and this demonic side to his personality became more apparent. The Enlightener took note of this, and planned to take advantage this intelligence. Calling itself Kallux, this dark version of Matt was to be used in order to win the Great Monsoon, as the Enlightener believed Kallux was a more effective and methodical counterpart to the Anomaly. However, Kallux grew out of control and began to gain influence over Matt and the Enlightener was forced to wipe the Kallux alter ego from the Vault Hunter's mind. While Matt himself (and his sister) lost all recollection of the existence of Kallux, the twisted version of the Anomaly persisted and the Enlightener professed to the Seventh Conglomerate that he was only partially successful in erasing him.

Kallux was a sadistic, warped, manipulative psychopath who was more than willing to use his alter ego's familial connections to his advantage. Through simple suggestion, he was able to convince Gaige to free him from Crimson Raider imprisonment, and ultimately turned Lilith against her. Kallux was adept at feigning his alternate counterpart, so much so that only Amelia could tell he was faking it. His exuberant grin of pure insanity was enough for Aurora to break down into a panic attack, unable to process the thought of a version of the man she loved being so malevolent. Kallux was exceedingly manipulative, able to convince others to do exactly what he wanted, usually subliminally, often preying upon others' fears to force them to act a certain way. These tactics are not particular to Kallux, as Matt has confessed he possesses these abilities as well, though he seldom uses them for fear of becoming more like Kallux.

First and foremost, though, Kallux was an anarchist who despised order. He believed order was too controlling, existing purely for conformity, forcing him to think a certain way. Kallux enjoyed inciting pandemonium and conflict within his counterpart's allies, reveling in the disorder he caused. He claimed his main wish was for the world to be governed by natural selection, of sorts, with the more able surviving while the weakest would be left to rot. This belief likely came from Matt's desire never to be weak again following the death of his sister. Although his actions display his penchant for anarchy, Kallux never viewed himself as an anarchist, but instead a revolutionary who believed it was his job and his alone to cause insurrection and destroy the orderly system, bringing chaos back to Pandora and introducing it to the rest of the galaxy. This indicates an inflated and grandiose sense of self worth, and possible sociopathy.

As this version of himself, Matt was much more effective but retained the same level of intellect, however Kallux had no moral qualms about using such intelligence in any way possible to get what he wanted. He used deductive skills to figure out the 9-digit key code for the door to his jail, despite there being over one billion possible combinations. Kallux reflected over his "good" side as being especially ineffective, since he got many of his loved ones killed and could not "stomach the strength" to kill the one who murdered his sister.

Matt considers himself to be more like Dr Jekyll: an amalgamation of the good and the bad, rather than a black-and-white split. The thought of Kallux being a part of him, even at base level, absolutely terrifies him and forced him to question the safety of his friends around him. He confirmed that Kallux was him and he was Kallux, a fact he regretted to share.
## Relationships

### **Amelia**

Matt cares very deeply for his sister, and refuses to allow any harm to come to her. He went as far as to join the Krolantian Military Order and the Gemini Corporation just to protect her, and thought of her fondly as the one of the sweetest people he ever knew. Matt raised his sister despite knowing very little about raising children, disregarding his own health just to focus on her wellbeing. He frequently kept her from hurting herself and showed great concern when she wanted to explore Krolantia.

When Amelia was murdered, the Anomaly was deeply affected, even more than his parents, and felt immense survivor's guilt as he blamed himself for her death. He began to imagine her, and unconsciously drew comparisons of other people to her, such as noting that Gaige was similar to Amelia in behaviour. This would often cause him to think it could have prevented her death, and that his parents were right to blame him.

Matt felt bitter towards her for a time, when she became a puppet of the Infinite, however it is arguable that he was angry at the Eridians for what they did to her. When her mind was ultimately restored, the Anomaly was shown to be affectionate towards her, evidently not blaming her for her actions as the Dreamer. He enjoyed acting childish and immature with her, and smiled more when in her presence. Over time, the Vault Hunter began to tease her over being the Dreamer, aware it was a sensitive topic for her, which aided her in getting over the guilt of what she did.

Although the Anomaly displays a strong affection towards her, Matt is not hesitant to be firm with her or order her to listen to him. While the Vault Hunter does not enjoy using his soul-bind to her, he is aware that sometimes he must to get what he wants from her, shown when he forced his sister to disclose details about the Enlightener that she purposefully kept from him. Matt loves his sister, but he will not tolerate lies or belligerence from her.

### **His mother**

Matt once had only indifference for his mother. As Deborah did not pay much attention to him as a child, he was never certain what to think about her, although he began to get annoyed that she would attempt to draft him into the world of law.

Eventually, the Anomaly realised that his mother did not care for him and started to grow a dislike towards her. This was bolstered when Amelia died, and his mother kicked him off his own planet and allowed his father to physically abuse him. At first, Matt felt guilt for the death of his sister, but he grew to hate her for blaming him for something that wasn't his fault, and banishing him away when he needed support the most. The Vault Hunter wanted nothing to do with his mother, and, to an extent, was glad that he had been disowned and thus not officially related to her.

When Deborah returned, having joined the Crimson Raiders in her son's honor, Matt voiced his hate for her, but ultimately accepted her place there. However, the Anomaly did not forgive her completely and would never "like" her in any suitable fashion. He was more forgiving than his sister was.

### **His father**

Matt didn't think much of Nicholas Rye during his childhood, either. He did not like how his father ignored him and treated him like an acquaintance, although the Anomaly took a fair interest in his job as a police officer. Matt didn't have his father to look up to, nor his mother, so he was forced to learn morals from personal experiences, rather from stories from the latter.

Over time, the Anomaly took a disliking towards his father for his cruelty and callousness towards his son. He was occasionally physically abused by Nicholas, however it this was generally more harmless acts such as grabbing him by his ear and pulling his hair. When Amelia died, however, Matt was severely beaten by Nicholas, causing him to grow deep resentment for the man who was meant to be his father. The Anomaly hated his father for being so uncaring and wondered why he cared so little for him. While he was shocked to be disowned from the family, and thrown off his own planet, Matt was at least glad to be free of his demonic father.

To an extent, Matt still did care about his father, considering that there may have been a part of Nicholas that cared for him, and wishing he had known him better. However, this did not mean he forgave him in the slightest, and still very much resented Nicholas. When he discovered that Samael McCain had murdered his father, along with his whole planet, he went berserk and nearly killed Samael out of pure rage, despite hating his father himself. This shows that Matt at least acknowledged that Nicholas didn't deserve to die.

### **Gaige**

Matt is in love with Gaige, and has been ever since they first met. He thought she was most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. The Anomaly was secretive of his emotions, not wishing to burden the Mechromancer with his issues, thinking that she would hate him for professing how he felt about her. In reality, Gaige felt the same way and once he figured this out, he made a note to prove he reciprocated her affection and wished to end her pain.

From their first meeting, the Anomaly and the Mechromancer were shown to get along very well, making the other laugh and blush frequently. He enjoys being around her, especially when he wants to relax and forget all his problems, if momentarily. Matt was excited to see her Deathtrap robot, and believed it was very impressive, and was more than willing to help her with maintenance and testing with it. Gaige referred to their relationship as not just love, but like best friends too. They have playful banter and he revels in making jokes around the her, admitting he loved the sound of her laugh and look of her smile.

Matt is very supportive of his girlfriend, and is always willing to listen to her problems. He consoled her over her persisting guilt over the death of Marcie Holloway (twice) and was very understanding of her actions. Likely wanting to oppose the actions of his parents, the Anomaly told her it wasn't her fault and that the glitch was simply a mistake. He reiterated this when the Mechromancer made another software glitch that resulting in him getting injured, aware that she would be blaming herself more as she has made the same mistake twice. Matt comforted her and gave her advice when she thought that she hadn't earned her place as a Vault Hunter, adamantly convincing her that she was one of the strongest people he knew, but simultaneously told her it was OK to have flaws, as that simply made her human. Because of Matt's supportive behaviour, Gaige was able to overcome a major psychological hurdle and accept that she was indeed good enough.

Even before they began dating, the Anomaly was comfortable enough around to disclose the painful details of his past. He didn't have any problem with her asking personal questions, although the Vault Hunter expects her to return the favour and be honest. As a result, while Matt has faith in her,  he doesn't appreciate dishonesty and is incredibly observant as to when the Mechromancer is hiding something. Matt was quite forceful during their date at Terramorphous Peak when he was aware she was keeping something from him, not planning to back down until she came clean, like when *he* came clean about his past.

Lately, Gaige and Matt's relationship has been strained, following four years of no contact as well as the Anomaly's absence during the collapse of the Associated Constellations. For a time, she hated that he had not returned yet, and began to think he was never going to come back. Ultimately, Gaige was convinced by Aurora to have faith, but she still missed him dearly. When Matt returned, she immediately kissed him, showing how locked up her feelings had been about him. However, the Mechromancer later admitted to no longer feeling the spark between them that had started the relationship, even after realising that Matt's absence during the desperate times was not his fault. Consequently, she was distant, not wanting to hold his hand much or express much romantic emotions towards him.

Fortunately, this strain has been eased mostly. Gaige, egged on by Amelia, took out a picture from Matt's coat pocket and saw a perfectly drawn portrait of her own face. Upon interrogating the Anomaly about it, she realised that Matt's image memory started to fade, and he began to forget what she looked like. To combat this, the Anomaly, having identified this early, drew a picture of her face so he would always remember. Upon seeing that Matt never wanted to forget her, and touched by the gesture, Gaige felt the spark reignite and fell back in love with him. She had now begun repairing their relationship, with help of her partner, and starting to be more affectionate around him.

Matt is still very much in love with her.

### **Aurora Lux**

Aurora is Matt's best friend. He cares about her a lot and appreciates everything she has done for him, especially while at the Gemini Corporation. They became good friends very quickly after meeting, when he crash landed on Atrios-6, and worked very well together. Their friendship bond strengthened as they worked at Gemini together, enough for her to notice that Matt was beginning to have second thoughts about the corporation.

Matt was apologetic for essentially abandoning Aurora when he left the corporation, without even telling her properly why. He did not blame her for being angry at him, although he tried to explain the situation carefully. The Anomaly proved to still care about her, despite how angry she was with him, and gleefully accepted her request that they try to rebuild their relationship.

Unfortunately for Aurora, who was in love with him, Matt only viewed her as a friend and seldom had romantic thoughts of her. When they met, the Vault Hunter was not interested in relationships, as he was still recovering from the death of his sister. Aurora reminded him of his sister too much to want to be romantically involved with her. Despite this, the Anomaly still believed she was beautiful, albeit objectively.

The Anomaly consoled her over her rejection, seeking to keep their friendship despite the situation. With his help, Aurora was able to get over it and be happy of their friendship, despite still being in love with.

### **Caine Brooke**

Matt and Caine have an explosive rivalry, which first formed when Matt joined the Alpha regiment of the Gemini Corporation and the Anomaly gained notoriety as a powerful Vault Hunter. Caine took notice of him for his Chronokinesis, which he believed rivaled his Aerokinesis ability in speed and power. The Executioner challenged Matt multiple times, but Matt himself displayed no interest in being his rival in any way, often getting exasperated at his supposed enemy's conceitedness.

Matt gained some compassion for him when the Vault Hunter was fired from the Gemini Corporation, offering him a spot with the Crimson Raiders. Caine gained respect for him as a result but still had mutual dislike towards him, believing himself superior anyway. The Anomaly was slightly annoyed by this, but ultimately accepted that Caine was a narcissist, so such a characteristic wouldn't change about him, but that this didn't make him a bad person.

After Matt sacrificed himself to save the entire universe from a terrible fate, Caine grew to admire the Anomaly somewhat. He thought it was impressive that Matt never abused his powers, even when given the opportunity to become a god, he chose not to. Matt was glad Caine no longer hated him, but he didn't believe that the Executioner should be admiring so much when he wasn't considering how powerful he was as well.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Siren-Human hybrid physiology/Connection to the Infinite:** Matt is a half-Siren, so as such possesses a connection to the Infinite dimension, and is able to tap into it to manifest powers through utilisation, transmission and transference of Infinite energy.
	+ **Chronokinesis:** Through the transmission of red Infinite energy, the Anomaly is able to manipulate the timestream at will around him, while he remains unaffected. He can slow, speed up or even completely stop time at a moment's notice, and was once able to make a tenth of a nanosecond of real time last one second of his time, which was his maximum at the time. Physics during Chronokinesis essentially breaks, somewhat, as Matt's Siren nature allows him to bypass natural laws of science. He can consciously choose the amount of force he exhibits on his surroundings, negate whiplash and friction effects and control the selective timeline of inorganic objects. When he touches an object, it speeds up to his time, and becomes usable in his perception, however, the moment it leaves his touch, it will slow back down again. It is unknown the limits of Matt's powers, if there are any, however, since spending so long in the Infinite, it is likely the Anomaly's current maximum is much higher than his previous limit of 0.1 nanoseconds for every 1 second.
		- **Power Level Control:** Matt has 4 stages (or as he called them, tiers) of Chronokinesis, each increasing in power from the previous. This is often signified by the significantly more energy released in the process. He can consciously choose which tier he uses, though he initially required extreme duress to access higher stages of Chronokinesis, and slow time even more. He is able to stop time at any stage of his Chronokinesis, although it is much harder to keep it up the lower the stage, provided he has advanced his physicality to access such tiers to begin with.
			* **Tier 1:** Time is slowed minimally, but enough for the Anomaly to far surpass other living beings in speed. Matt does not produce black lightning at this stage, so he fatigues much faster and causes damage to himself much faster. This level is signified by the red energy swirling around his arms, rather than lightning.
			* **Tier 2:** A more advanced form of Stage 1. Matt is able to slow time much more, and produces black Infinite energy, so he handles stress much easier. Instead of flowing red energy, red and black lightning is emitted from his limbs, which can be volatile for others. Stage 2 is the preferred level of Chronokinesis for Matt as it is the most effective, since it is much less dangerous than later stages and can be maintained for longer than in the first stage.
			* **Tier 3:** This tier is a massively boosted level of Chronokinesis first accessed by Matt due to extreme duress after Gaige was kidnapped. It is unknown how much he can slow time at this stage, as it takes an extremely long time to charge up. While charging, excessive lightning is formed, resulting in waves of dangerous red energy to be emitted from his body and strong black and red lightning to lash out and can burn anyone nearby. Earthquakes and shock waves are formed, and are capable of reaching Level 6 on Richter scale. His eyes were shown to turn black completely, enveloping his irises and cornea, although he can still see while in this stage. When first using this form, Matt appeared to have no control over it and was barely conscious at the time. However, after centuries in the Infinite, the Anomaly appears to have mastered control over it, as he was able to concentrate and use it to override the magnetised door lock on the Pobranium-Titanium Carbide secret entrance to the Gemini Menagerie. He claimed that this stage of Chronokinesis produced around 25 MW of power.
			* **Tier 4:** Matt briefly mentioned a fourth tier of Chronokinesis, which he acquired in the Infinite, which is even more powerful than Tier 3. He has never used it in Midgard, probably because it is too dangerous.
		- **Selective Control:** After spending four-hundred years in the Infinite, Matt is able to choose who is slowed down by his Chronokinesis, however this is generally instinctive and relegated to only a few people at once.
	+ **Electrokinesis:** Usually dispersed using Chronokinesis (although not specific to it), Matt can produce torrents of Infinite lightning, which, at stage 3 of his Chronokinesis yielded around 25 MW of power. The Anomaly can produce much more than this, as he stated himself, although going above stage 3 was too dangerous due to the sheer force of power it released. His lightning is capable of interacting with Eridian technology, and can be extremely volatile with its surroundings. Matt is capable of using his electrokinesis with adept precision, still using it effectively when he was in an Eridian Tomb that drained him and prevented him from stopping time. At one point, the Anomaly even used his lightning, in conjunction with an Eridian relic, to create a beacon that homed in on technology using the same type of energy.
	+ **Healing Factor:**Matt possesses a faster healing factor than ordinary humans, although it does need time to take effect. He can heal injuries that should be fatal or permanent while only feeling sore afterwards. He was able to heal his shattered spine in a week, along with various other gashes and lesions, despite the fact that Doctor Zed claiming he should have died from them.  His healing factor is substantially more powerful when he is unconscious and is more effective the more severe the injuries.
	+ **Enhanced Physicality:** While also a product of his military background, Matt's endurance and physical vigour is greatly enhanced by his connection to the Infinite, as he requires inhuman levels of physicality to cope with the rigors of his Chronokinesis. He also draws from the black end of the spectrum of Infinite energy, which serves the purpose of preventing damage to his body or damages to health from using his Chronokinesis. His physicality can also be greatly increased for a short period of time, when he is subjected to extreme stress and adrenaline flows around his system. Momentarily, Matt was able to fight Caine with complete mobility, despite his spine having snapped at the time and was unable to use his legs mere seconds before he fought the Executioner.
	+ **Siren Manipulation:**Matt's status as only half-Siren granted him an unnaturally stronger connection to other Sirens, as his source of energies were located into two different dimensions, tethering him to both. This allowed him to slightly manipulate other Sirens' powers, such as Maya's Phaselock or Lilith's Phasewalk. He was able to redirect Maya's Phaselock onto Mordecai and force Lilith to exit her Phasewalk sooner than she intended.
	+ **Siren Instincts:** Although he is intelligent on his own, Matt draws from the Infinite to bolster his critical thinking and perception of his surroundings, giving him an idea of what to do in certain situations. It even went as far as to put words in his mouth and making him wiser than he would or should seem. At one point, it seemed as though his Siren instincts even granted him precognition, however it was later revealed that this was actually due to Amelia's power as the Dreamer connecting with his brain during dreams and giving him visions to draw him towards the Vault.
	+ **Eye Coloration Alteration:**Matt's eye color is capable of changing due to his use of Infinite energy. His eyes transitioned from brown to solid gold as his connection grew more potent. When he was Kallux, his eyeballs completely turned a satanic red whenever he began harnessing his (at the time) corrupted connection to the Infinite.

### Abilities

* **Genius-level intellect/Expert Strategist/Leader:** Matt is not generally known for being intelligent as he is for being powerful, however he is especially intelligent and in many ways matches or even exceeds Patricia Tannis in technical and scientific expertise. He studied various subjects at Gemini that provided him with an impressive bank of technological, mechanical, and scientific knowledge. He supposedly has an IQ of around 179, but Matt himself claims this was never really confirmed to be accurate as he believed intelligence could not be boiled down to something as basic as a number. He is exceptional at formulating strategies in moments, realising that he and Gaige should do some scouting on the Friendship Gulag, to find where they were keeping the shield components, rather than raiding it recklessly. He was also the one to come up with the plan to infiltrate Lima Base One, was able to get past a disintegration barrier with a delay of less than a nanosecond, and additionally figured out that Gaige's status as a Vault Hunter would be kept under wraps by Gemini while she was captured. Matt was able to deduce that Amelia's powers as the Dreamer were based on willpower, which he could overpower, easily flipping the situation in his favour and blocking her ability of precognition. He had the forethought to scramble Gemini communications while at the Gemini Armoury and memorised an Unimportance Override Code that meant that Commander Sharp would not be informed of a rogue jump-ship's arrival to Lima Base One, as well as Gaige's Security Override Code. Furthermore, Matt figured out that Gemini's Drainers had a limit to them, despite only just having learnt about them, and figured out the purpose of Sharp's Bravo-11 project. Matt is exceptional at leading the Vault Hunters, and was able to bring together the Gemini Vault Hunters and the Crimson Raider Vault Hunters, despite their difference, to fight the Vault together. He convinced all of them, along with a large group of Gemini and Crimson Raider soldiers, to attack the Dreamer with shock damage, while not receiving any doubt or defiance for his order. The Anomaly was also the one to lead them through Lima Base One.
* **Otherworldly Understanding:** Matt presents an unnatural understanding of the world around him, even before he spent four-hundred years in the Infinite. He provides advice and perceptions on the world most would not think of, sometimes to the extent that he can't describe where said thoughts originally came from. Matt is the only known Siren able to use the Infinite to draw from the Eridians' extensive bank of knowledge to provide their perspective on situations. Due to this understanding, Matt can also intake and compute information much faster than ordinary humans, bolstered by his own natural skill to store knowledge.
* **Mechanical/Engineering Skill:** Having taken several courses on mechanics at Gemini, the Anomaly picked up an aptitude for mechanics and robotics. However, he is nowhere near as skillful or knowledgeable on robotics as Gaige is. He was able to implement aero-jets into Deathtrap's system, where Gaige couldn't, but this is was simply because he understood and had learnt about specific Gemini technology at the time. If Gaige knew of it, she would've been able to do it herself.
* **Expert on the Infinite:** Having been in the Infinite for four-hundred years, Matt has since become an expert on Infinite science and workings of Eridian technology. He is only equalled by his sister in skill, however it can be argued the Anomaly is much more practical in his use of Eridian technology, given his prior technical aptitude and ability to consume information at a quicker rate. Gaige was weary about using Infinite technology without Matt, claiming that she did not understand it as "only Matt really did". This was proven to be true when he could use the Artefact, while others could not, and was able to open Eridian Tombs.
* **Eidetic memory/Near-perfect recall:** The Anomaly has been shown numerous times to have an excellent memory, surprising his allies. He was able to perfectly distinguish the looks of his sister, despite not having seen her in years, and could recall several things he had learnt at Gemini, including some of the obscure details. However, Matt's memory is by no means perfect. After being trapped in the Infinite for four-hundred years, the Anomaly began to forget what Gaige looked like, so subsequently drew a picture of her so he would not forget. Once he returned to Pandora, he also claimed that, after being gone for so long, his brain (working presumably in tandem with the Infinite) had began to slightly blur out the obscure details of events prior to his leaving, although the general outline of events was perfectly clear to him.
* **Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial Artist:**Matt made conscious efforts not to rely on guns or his Chronokinesis, for example studying numerous martial arts, including (but not limited to): taekwondo, judo, karate, hapkido, jujistu, and tai chi. He was effective in a hand to hand fight against Lilith, and was even able to subdue her and pull her into a tight headlock. Matt employed numerous martial artist tactics aganst Caine, matching him blow for blow. His skill in combat greatly impressed his Gemini teammates, especially the likes of Duke Minoosh who was impressed by Matt's ability to keep up with his Die Hard ability and fight him up close and personal. He easily outpaced Commander Sharp when they fought on Lima Base One, despite the former being considered a master martial artist, although Sharp was slightly injured during the fight.

## Weaknesses

* **Chronokinetic Draining:** Despite being very powerful, Matt is still human and thus requires chemical energy to function, and also requires energy to do anything. As a result, the Anomaly depends on his own energy to activate and maintain his Chronokinesis. If he uses Chronokinesis too much, he will be drained and will be too weak to activate it again, and may even cause physical reactions such as vomiting, weak muscles and nosebleeds. This reverts him to a normal human until he regains his strength. Eventually, if he uses Chronokinesis too much, it can kill him.
* **Drainers:** Gemini-patented "Drainers" are able to draw out the Infinite energy Matt releases in order to control the timestream, effectively cancelling out his Chronokinesis. Continued drainage of Infinite energy also weakens him, and may even kill him. Although he can bypass Drainers, he can only do this for a short period of time and will double his fatigue immediately afterwards.
* **Telepathic Influence:** Due to unknowingly leaving his mind an "open call" for his sister to access over the years, Matt is vulnerable to telepathic attack. While he can identify telepaths in his mind, he is helpless to do anything as he has no telepathic barriers in his mind. Amelia took advantage of this weakness to give him false visions of the future, which ultimately led him into a trap.

* **Kallux:**Matt is at risk of his psychopathic alternate personality, Kallux, who has on a few occasions threatened to reach out from the recesses of the Anomaly's mind and take over. In one particular situation, Kallux succeeded in taking full mental dominance over Matt when the Enlightener drawed him out in hopes the more effective counterpart would aid in reconstruction of Eridian society. While Kallux is in control, Matt is unable to do anything other than merely watch what he does, and occasionally communicate with Kallux. Though it is possible for him to regain control, it is exceedingly difficult and takes an extreme and persistent amount of willpower, nearly beyond even Matt. It is unclear if the Kallux entity is truly erased, as the Enlightener expressed uncertainty of the twisted personality's deletion, however it is unlikely for such a takeover to occur again.

## Equipment

* **ECHOear:** Matt possesses a Gemini standard-issue ECHOear from his service at Gemini. It functions much like an earpiece, however it is capable of communicating with brainwaves telepathically and also generate an ECHO HUD only seen by the user. He explained that it had a "Class-14 Heads-Up Display"; and a "constant wire-laser connection to the ECHOnet"; along with a "holographic display"; a "multi-petapixel camera"; and finally "DirectC-22" sound drivers. It is unclear what this means exactly or how this squares up to other ECHO products, although it is likely superior due to its Gemini specialisation. It had a high storage capacity and could be used for long ECHO streams, which is what Gaige used it for when the Anomaly gave it to her (before she relinquished ownership back to him when he came back).
* **ECHO *(formerly)*:**Matt also possessed an ordinary ECHO, although he later gave it to the Raiders for use as storage ECHOs, especially once his ECHOear was upgraded by Gaige.
* **Storage ECHOs *(formerly)*:**Silver in colour, Matt had storage ECHOs, which had large weapon capacity for holding collections of weapons. He used this for the Gemini Armoury so he and Lilith could collect as many weapons as possible. Afterwards, Matt gave them to the Raiders for use.
* **Midnight Coat:** Matt is rarely seen without his beloved midnight blue coat, which has extremely large pockets where he keeps multiple supplies. The coat is incredibly old, so much so that some of the stains are not washable, although the Anomaly believes the stains add character to it so wouldn't want to wash it out anyway. Matt's coat is armoured on the shoulders, through old, blue-painted shoulder plates, which is capable of deflecting bullets back at enemies. The coat itself is also bullet resistant, though not bulletproof, and while not flammable, is vulnerable to lasers. His mobility is not restricted while wearing the coat, however it may occasionally block his view.
* **Indigo Coat:** Occasionally, especially during *No One Else,* Matt instead wore a darker purple coat, with black shoulder plating. Its dimensions are exactly the same as his midnight coat.
* **Military-grade lined cotton shirt:** Matt wears a general-style lined cotton shirt, much like Roland's, except with a black pigment. The Anomaly wore the majority of his armour padding on this shirt, which greatly helps to protect him during combat when his shields are down. He also has an alternative blue version of this shirt that he wears with his indigo coat.
* **Cargo pants:** Matt wears industrial cargo pants to protect himself during combat.
* **Trainers:** The Anomaly prefers to wear trainers for running around in during firefights.
* **C-Digistructor(s):** Described as a "mini-New-U machine", a C-Digistructor is a device capable of scanning the form of an organic lifeform and allow the user to assume its appearance and equipment in the matter of seconds. Matt carried two in case he needed a spare, given how prone it was to run out of charge. It had a pre-installed voice modulator that altered the user's voice virtually according to the form they were currently in. This could be turned on or off.
* **Bypass set:** Consisting of an input device and receiver USB-based device, a Bypass set could hack almost all technology to bypass it, typically for electronically locked doors. It had a universal access, so could implemented into any piece of technology, regardless of if it had a port or not. This could be used to lock or unlock doors, or even corrupt electronic locks. Matt used this feature to lock the door to the Friendship Gulag to reduce the force of the bomb in its bunker and to prevent Gaige from attempting to go back in and rescue him. It glowed green if the door was unlocked, red if locked, and orange if corrupted.

## Trivia

* One of Matt's favourite foods is grilled cheese sandwiches, with specifically Red Leicester cheese. He claimed to Gaige that he found Cheddar to be "too sharp-tasting" and that he hated it how it "would always overpower the crunch of the toast". He doesn't claim to be a cheese connoisseur, though.
* He is also very fond of Zaford beer, as well as Janey Springs's beer that she serves at the Purple Skag.
* Matt possesses the highest known Human Factor, scoring a phenomenal 320, which far surpasses other Humans that the Enlightener has observed before, even beyond the ordinary scale he uses from 0 to 300.
* His favourite colour is navy blue, although he is quite partial towards purple and red too.
* He despises pineapple on pizza.
* Matt previously met both Ellie and Tiny Tina prior to *Someone Else,*the latter of which considers them to be best buds. It is unknown how they met exactly, although Matt claims that he just "gets around", likely having travelled a lot when he first arrived in the Highlands. He never told them he was a Vault Hunter, as he only met them in passing.
* Matt's eyes were originally brown. They changed to gold mixed with brown when became a Half-Siren during the Genisys Project, signifying his connection to the Infinite and Siren status. His eyes changed colour yet again, turning completely gold after spending 400 years in the Infinite. He claimed himself that this was because his connection to the dimension was now the most potent than it had ever been, more so than any Siren. His eye colour alteration is likely an alternative to a Siren's tattoos.
	+ Matt and his sister both have brown eyes as their father is homozygous dominant for brown eyes (a BB genotype), while their mother is homozygous recessive for green (gg genotype). They are both heterozygous.
* According to him, Matt has a wanted poster that claims he is "property of Hyperion", much like Krieg.
* Matt is a frequenter of musicals, having been to numerous shows of different genres, such as *Brigadoon*.
* Matt is actually ambidextrous, for example being able to write with both hands at once. However, he isn't very good at this, and has to do it quite slowly in order to fully concentrate on what he is writing. He also seems to be able to punch with the same amount of force on either of his hands.
* Terramorphous is not used to Matt's Chronokinesis. The colossal Thresher was visibly taken aback when he uses it against him for the first time. This is strange since the Thresher is left unfazed by other Siren abilities.
* Matt is the only known Siren with a direct connection to a specific Vault. Other Siren possess a connection to Vaults based on their connection to the Infinite, however he is specifically tethered to the Vault of the Dreamer due to his sister being the host of the Dreamer.
* Matt has only ever been on one date: his date with Gaige in Terramorphous Peak. He isn't a massive fan of dates, but is willing to go on them with his girlfriend.
* According to the Gemini Corporation Database File #354, Matt is 6'2" and weighs 175lbs. This is backed up when it is mentioned that Matt is over six-foot and towers over most of his friends. Caine is also this height, but weighs 1lb more. He liked to tease the Anomaly over his 1lb extra muscle mass a few times, to which Matt claimed it was fat.
* Matt is an avid player of Bunkers and Badasses. He played it a few times with Tina and described it as "fun incarnate".
* The Anomaly loves to play video games, especially on the local ECHOnet, however he often doesn't get enough time to play. Video games were one of the many leisures available in the city of Acropolis.
* Matt has since taken a liking towards card games, such as blackjack and poker, although he never bets on it or indulges in risking his money. He's gained a fair proficiency for shuffling the deck at an extremely fast and flamboyant pace.
* His sleeping patterns are as irregular as his Vault Hunter title suggests.
* Axton described him as "the *definition*of abnormal irregular".
* He is supposedly smarter than Einstein in terms of IQ.

## Behind the Scenes

* Initially, Matt was not going to be a living Vault Key, although always a half-Siren. This idea quickly came to fruition when it was realised that the Vault needed some way to manifest itself in Midgard.
* During the pre-writing phase, Matt was going to be a hired Vault Hunter from Hyperion, who rebelled when they experimented on him without consent and would join the Raiders under the provision that Hyperion would be exterminated. This was scrapped for a number of reasons.
	+ For instance, it would seem unlikely that Hyperion would still be hiring Vault Hunters after Handsome Jack's death, as he was only one in the corporation that showed any interest towards Vaults.
	+ Also, it was decided that there were too many Hyperion hires, especially once Aurora and Caine  were planned to be introduced, so it was quickly rewritten to be Gemini instead.
	+ Additionally, when it was planned out the various actions that Hyperion would take, but since they already tried to blow up Matt, it was proven that they do not require him for their plans, so there would be need for them to go through so much effort to rope him back into the corporation. It was then that the Gemini Corporation  was made.
	+ When the story planning came to its conclusion, it was realised that there needed to also be another corporation as otherwise Matt would have no need to return in the sequel as Hyperion would already be eradicated from the galaxy.
* Matt got his Vault Hunter title when his abilities were described to be "anomalous" and "entirely out of the ordinary". His title has since extended to his every day activities, as he has irregular sleeping patterns and does not react to grief in the same way that others do.
* Matt quoted *Short Change Hero*by The Heavy three times in *Someone Else,*twice at the beginning and once at the end. It is unknown if the song exists in the *Borderlands*universe.