"Fiona, please, you can't leave me here!" Rhys yelled out desperately as the doors slid shut, and Jack chuckled.
"Pretty sure she just did, pumpkin," Jack declared with a smirk. "You reallllly screwed up, didn't cha?"
Rhys fought down the panic rising in his chest, replacing it with cold anger as he turned to face Jack fully and crossed his arms.
"So let me guess," Rhys replied as he met Jack's eyes. "You ramble for a bit, tell me you were always right, that I really should have thought further ahead...and then what? You kill me and destroy Atlas again?"
Jack snorted, a cold derisive sound.
"Who says I want to destroy Atlas?"
He switched to a different monitor.
"I haven't helped you build up this company just to destroy it. I mean, God, how stupid would that be? No, see, the thing is Rhys...I learned something from Hyperion. You can either work your way up the ladder honestly, be a good little worker, or...."
Rhys felt something stab into his port and he looked up in horror as Jack watched him with a wide smirk.
"You just take out the only person standing in your way."
Rhys tried to tug out the device only to feel a sharp jolt run through his hand and he yelled out in pain.
"Besides, this company? It's practically mine, you know. Yeah, while you were busy pining away after some woman that, let's be blunt here, was probably never going to come back...your little AI gave me access to everything."
"Must have overridden her systems and forced her to," Rhys replied angrily and Jack only laughed.
"Oh, I rode her alright, just...not in the way you might be picturing."
Rhys blanched as he fully absorbed the words.
"Didn't take much convincing, actually. It was rather adorable actually, how she pined for you. At first she refused to acknowledge it, kept telling me it was strictly professional. But then you pushed her aside, and it wasn't like she had anyone else to speak to."
Jack chuckled, and the noise seemed to bounce around in his skull.
"Or, you know, touch. Funny, never thought I'd get laid as an AI, but hey, not complaining. Surprisingly like the real thing. Oh, and God Rhysie, it was pathetic. Just kept moaning out your name, honestly. Nearly strangled her for it, but hey, she seemed to be into it."
Rhys felt his stomach churn.
"Fiona coming back was the final straw. Made her agree to give me the final piece of code, and I was in. Well, not made, more like...rewarded her."
"And then you killed her?" Rhys asked sharply.
"Killed? Rhys, we're AIs, you can't kill us. Shut us down, sure, but kill? No, that's reserved for the living. And besides, we can always boot ourselves up again."
Jack shrugged.
"But if I erased her coding, then, well, that might be a tad more difficult to come back...."
"Why?" Rhys asked.
"Why?" Jack mimicked. "God, really?"
He snorted a little.
"You sound so pathetic right now, you know that? Like how the hell I ever thought you could run Hyperion is beyond me. I mean, Christ, you're so...weak."
"And you're an asshole," Rhys retorted sharply.
Jack clapped sarcastically.
"Wow Rhys, I'm touched. Great insult, really just, it's killer. Did you come up with that yourself cupcake?"
"Go to hell Jack," Rhys replied and Jack smirked.
"You know what? I can let that slide. You're angry, Atlas is on the brink of utter chaos, your girlfriend basically just smashed your heart into itty bitty pieces...I understand."
Rhys cocked an eyebrow.
"And you know, we did work well together for a time. Hell, we still do. I helped you bring Atlas to its golden age, you made sure I didn't rot away, you helped me come back to where I belong...it's, it's kinda beautiful actually when you look at it. What we made together."
"What do you want Jack?" Rhys asked sharply.
"An agreement. A chance to rewrite the past. See, last time this happened, I'll admit, I got a bit...hasty. Didn't really think things through. I mean, c'mon, shove some metal skeleton into your body? I mean, that's just...that's just dumb."
Jack switched to the closest monitor to Rhys.
"But when you gave me a second chance, I got some time. Thought some things over, figured out what went wrong before. See, I always thought it was about Hyperion. But it wasn't, was it? It was always about that babe in the hat. From that moment in Atlas when you could have trusted me, and you picked her. It always came down to her in the end."
Jack snorted.
"You even told me when I gave you Hyperion that you wanted to fix Pandora! But for who? The bandits? No, see, you wanted things better for her. The AI was just proof of that. And it was so, so easy to get her on board with everything. I mean, I promised her I wouldn't hurt you when I took over, but hey, that could change...."
"Fine. Kill me. Leave the rest of them alone," Rhys replied and Jack snorted.
"Oh, you think it's that simple? See, no. I need you alive as much as I need Atlas to still be running. So, the agreement..."
"No, Jack," Rhys replied angrily. "I will shut you down..."
"With what? I'm everywhere Rhys," Jack replied as the door behind Rhys bolted. "And you're just stuck here..."
Rhys watched in horror as the panels began to overheat and spark, Jack wavering slightly.
"You're just so damn predictable, you know that? I was in your head Rhysie, I know how you work."
Rhys tried to move forward only to be sharply jolted again and he collapsed, taking a few shuddering breaths as Jack materialized before him.
"Go....fuck...yourself," Rhys spat as he panted.
Jack tutted.
"Language," he replied sharply, sounding almost like a parent. "Besides, it's great for you. You finally get to live the dream baby!"
Rhys shuddered as he felt lines upon lines of code begin to be uploaded into him, the text flashing before his ECHO eye. There was a moment when he was asked if he accepted the "new hardware" and before he could decline it Jack had pressed "yes".
Rhys gritted his teeth as he tried to rip out the cable, jarring it just enough that an error message flashed across his vision. He grinned in triumph, but when he looked up he saw Jack watching him with amusement.
"Fine," Jack replied, lifting up his hand and making a finger gun. He aimed at Rhys' head and made like he was pulling a trigger, and Rhys was tempted to snort at it when he heard the telltale sound of his turrets firing in time with Jack's movements.
It was then that the screams started, Rhys looking up to see on one of the monitors his workers being gunned down.
"See, this is what happens when you don't cooperate Rhysie!" Jack yelled and it bounced around the complex. He spotted Fiona immediately and he felt his stomach tighten in horror as she stood under one of the turrets. The one she stood under turned down to her and Rhys froze.
"So here's the deal, cupcake. You let me in, and I make sure she lives. Hell, I'll even set her up in a nice turbo mansion, make sure she never has to Vault hunt again a day in her life. And who knows, maybe some days I'll let you see her too. Seems fair, doesn't it?"
Rhys shook his head as he tried to figure out an alternative. Some way to shut Jack down.
"There isn't, pumpkin. Nice try though, valiant effort there kiddo," Jack taunted. "You picked her before, Rhys. Now, you get to choose again. What do you trust more? The fact I won't hurt her...or the possibility she can survive, oh, I don't know, fifty bullets?"
Rhys watched for a few tense moments as the turret was poised above her head. How her teeth were set in a grimace, her gun already poised. She was ready to fight to the death, and he closed his eyes.
"I'm willing to take my chances," he replied with a small smirk, and Jack was stunned long enough that she was shot in the side. Rhys cried out in horror as another bullet hit her stomach, and in the next moment Rhys watched the turret drop in a pile of melted metal.
He watched her be led away by a familiar lanky figure and he grinned as Jack groaned to himself in frustration.
"Son of a TAINT!" Jack yelled out angrily.
"Those are the only turrets we have, Jack," Rhys taunted him. He didn't know why he did it exactly, but it felt...good. Rhys tried to remove the cable from his head some more only to feel it jam itself back into his head and lock on tightly.
"Screw this," Jack muttered as he restarted the upload procedure, and Rhys watched his vision be filled to the brim with coding. He glanced down at his arm to see it begin to move exactly as Jack's was, his eye flashing different shades of colour as Jack went into his systems.
"Don't say I didn't give you an option," Jack snarled as he took over entirely, and Rhys felt himself slip away moment by moment.
Oddly enough, his mind didn't go back to last night, or that moment in his office, or hell, even that first time in the Vault when he first felt everything begin to fall into place for him. When he allowed himself to acknowledge how he felt.
Strangely enough, it went back to a small moment, back when they had been trying to find the next piece of Gortys.
Athena had been placed in charge of the driving, Sasha was passed out, Vaughn was resting against the side of the caravan and Fiona had been turning over something in her fingers. Rhys had approached her, too rattled by Jack's words to be able to sleep, and when she looked up at him he expected her to frown.
So he was very surprised when she gave him a small smirk.
"Caught up in your thoughts too?"
Rhys was jarred for a moment, trying to find the proper response. One that didn't involve saying that he currently had a genocidal maniac lodged in his skull.
"What's that?" he asked instead, pointing to the object and she rolled her eyes a little before she responded.
"Found it being hocked off for a hefty price by some Vault Hunter," she replied as she held up the gleaming coin. She laughed to herself. "Felix challenged me to steal it. Said I needed the practice, looked surprised when I actually did it."
She smiled to herself.
"I guess it's a badge of honour, being able to pickpocket a Vault Hunter," she mused. "Though I'm convinced they let me take it."
"Let you take it?" Rhys asked with interest.
"I was still new to it all, I wasn't very good," Fiona replied with a shrug. "She must have felt it when I did it, and yet...I was able to run away."
"I'm sure you were just as talented at swindling people as you are now," Rhys replied automatically before he flushed. "I, err, I mean that as a..."
And Fiona had actually laughed a little.
"Thanks," she replied with a cock of an eyebrow as the caravan continued to rumble through the desert.
Of course then Sasha had woken up, insisting she take over driving and the moment was broken, telling Fiona and Rhys to get some rest.
And of course the only spots available were next to each other in the dining booth, the pair making sure to curl away from each other as they slipped their eyes closed.
But for a moment...just a moment...Rhys swore he heard her mutter,
"How the hell did he ever get far in Hyperion?"
He smiled to himself shakily before it slipped away and his eyes slid shut.
Dimly, he heard himself being booted back up, his vision foggy and his hearing muffled as he almost seemed to be watching himself stand up and brush down his pants. Walk over to the control console, type in a few lines of text and then boot up the sound system.
"Ahhh, it feels good to have me back, Doesn't it? Christ, I missed having a body...."
He couldn't even muster a weak shudder at the familiar tone of his words.
"The king has claimed his throne kiddos! Time for some FUN!"
"I'm sorry Fiona," Rhys muttered to himself as he faded away almost completely. "Suppose it's too late for this now, but..."
He chuckled weakly.
"I think, I just might, well, love you."
The words hung in the air as the blackness surrounded him.
"So who's in for this suicide mission?" Sasha asked as the trio sat around in the Purple Skag, waiting for August to return.
Fiona couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly her sister had got them across the Pandoran desert, though she still felt a little jostled by the experience.
Tim had looked positively green before he'd been able to recover slightly, and Fiona smiled a little at the fact he was currently sprawled out across one of the booths' benches still clutching his stomach a little. For good measure he gave a weak moan in response.
"How was it he became a Vault Hunter again?" Sasha asked her sister, who only shrugged.
"Didn't have a choice," Tim groaned.
"You know, I don't think I've ever heard of someone agreeing to plunder a Vault to pay off student loans," Sasha commented and Tim sighed to himself.
"Define suicide mission, Sasha," Fiona asked.
"Well, I don't know, normally you're the one who comes up with these plans, but maybe we just bust back in and get Rhys out?" Sasha offered.
"Yeah, guns blazing and with little thought. Sounds excellent," Fiona replied sarcastically as she nursed her drink. She took a small sip and shuddered at the warmness that slid down her throat.
"Well I'm sorry, do you have a better plan?" Sasha asked sharply. "In case you haven't noticed, you've hardly said a word since we bolted..."
"How are we supposed to get him back, Sasha?" Fiona asked angrily. "Better yet, do we want him back?"
"He's your friend, Fiona," Sasha reminded her. "Look, when August..."
"Don't," Fiona interrupted her.
"I understand you must feel like everything has collapsed around you, but..."
"No, you don't, because I don't feel like that," Fiona replied automatically.
"Fiona, for crap's sake..." Sasha responded in frustration.
"I'm sorry, am I not allowed to be mad about the fact Rhys..." Fiona began before she choked on his name. She took a long gulp from her drink and shuddered, refusing to look at Sasha. "That he betrayed us for Jack again? Despite everything?"
"From the way he was acting this morning, I would highly doubt that," Sasha replied defensively. "You saw him. He looked completely panicked. If he knew Jack was going to take over, hell, if he had been helping him to, don't you think he would be, I don't know, a little calmer?"
"He still picked him, Sasha. Over us, he picked that piece of shit," Fiona spat.
Sasha's eyes widened as she took a step or two back. She shook her head a few times before she laughed to herself.
"Well, never expected to hear you say that, Fiona," Sasha replied with a surprised grin.
"Say what?" Fiona asked angrily, and her sister just grinned wider. "What?"
Timothy finally sat up and looked at the pair with interest.
"You're in love with him," Sasha replied in awe. Fiona slammed down her drink causing it to slosh around in the glass and it only seemed to amuse Sasha.
"I-I'm not..." Fiona sputtered angrily. "Why the hell would I be...no, Sasha, I'm not in love with him! Christ! The sex was good but not that good!"
"Uh huh," Sasha replied as she crossed her arms. "And really? Didn't need that mental image, gross..."
"I'm not..." Fiona tried again, though it sounded almost hollow in her ears. Christ. No. No, she couldn't be. That would be absolutely impossible. She shook her head. "And even if I was..."
"Which you are..." Sasha interrupted.
"He's long gone now. You heard him, that was all Jack. Rhys is...he's gone, Sasha," Fiona continued. "And unless you know of some way of getting him back, then...then there's no point dwelling on it."
Fiona took a swig from her drink and sighed.
"There...there might be a way," Tim declared quietly. The pair turned to look at him in surprise and he held up his hands defensively. "Alright, so, this might be the stupidest plan ever conceived, but...what if we challenge Jack?"
Fiona frowned as Sasha shook her head.
"How would that help?" Fiona asked angrily. "He'd just rig it to his advantage..."
"Not to mention he now has a whole army of Atlas soldiers under his command," Sasha reminded them.
"And he has everything he ever wanted, why would he risk that for a petty fight?" Fiona asked.
Timothy took a deep breath before he responded.
"Because I might have something he wants."