They had been walking for so long since they were basically jettisoned from the back of their get-away vehicle. Rhys was walking with one socked foot-his shoe having come loose when Fiona tried her best to keep him onboard. If it weren't for how blazingly hot the ground was it would almost be for the best. The shoes were far from comfort shoes. They were meant to display sophistication and class among the other corporate employees, made from exotic skag leather and snakeskin. Set himself a peg above those other chumps dressed with imitation leather or just cheaper hides. He liked to think he could pick out all the faux-phonies from a crowd.
As it was, one foot sweated and cramped in its tight unforgiving confines while the other felt ready to blister from the sharp rocks and near molten ground. At least his sock was spiffy.
Vaughn wore his shirt around his head as a turban, and maybe it was the better idea. He'd at least get a tan and maybe keep cooler. But honestly Rhys wasn't as buff as the formerly stereotypical IT nerd. It didn't bother him, really. He just though it would be too much hassle, plus he had more layers. Honest.
"What, too emasculated next to Rambo over here?" said the startlingly familiar voice of Handsome Jack from beside him. Rhys couldn't help but jump and shout in surprise. Jack had seemed to disappear for a while, and Rhys was just starting to feel comfortable that maybe he'd have a break from the hologram.
But that dialogue was very close along the lines of what he had been thinking. Surely, though Jack was somewhere inside his head or tech augmentations, he couldn't read his thoughts...right?
Jack was grinning at Rhys' expense, clearly having enjoyed startling him so thoroughly. Vaughn was looking at Rhys with confusion and a little concern.
"You okay buddy? Step on something sharp?" Vaughn's concern for Rhys was evident despite his confusion. Rhys hadn't yet told him about Jack yet. Surely his friend would think he's absolutely insane. The one thing that kept him from mentioning anything was... what if he was insane? He expected Vaughn wouldn't initially believe him, and Rhys wouldn't fault him that. But what if when they try to put it to the test... he failed? Jack might not be able to prove he's anything more than a hallucination.
"I-I'm okay. Thought I stubbed my toe." Rhys stumbled and fell over his thoughts trying to explain his outburst. He tried to hide the grimace at his own poorly falsified explanation.
"Phhah! You thought you stubbed your toe? You're a grade A genius if I've ever seen one. And I know geniuses. I am one," Jack called out after Rhys as they continued to walk. Vaughn said no more, turning awkwardly back to their nearly aimless path. "And just so you don't get any ideas... you know because you're SO bright and all I was absolutely joking about you being a genius. It's sarcasm. You dumb sack of bricks."
He would tell Vaughn. He'd tell him soon. It didn't matter if it turned out Jack was just a hallucination. At least he'd have entrusted it to his best friend. Besides, if he didn't tell him soon Vaughn would think he's going crazy anyways with the way things are going. He wasn't getting better at predicting Jack at any decent pace.
As the sky darkened they fled to a ruined shack put together of scrap trash and metal sheets just below a large cliffside. Not far from the shack skag caves could be seen, littered with bones collected junk, a few pups milling about before the sun fully retreated. The shack was otherwise in a great location. Running along the wall of the cliff was a small creek that actually had some vegetation and rich brown mud around the water's edge. With the retreating sun and darkness setting in, the water wasn't glowing either! So it had to be marginally safe. Unfortunately the close proximity to the skags was probably the reason the building was no longer occupied. Rhys hoped they wouldn't be be welcomed by the recent remains of the previous occupant.
Stepping foot inside, the place was a disaster. It had clearly had been invaded by skags, set ravenous at the site of a delicious meal not 500 yards from their territory. Claw marks marred many surfaces and gouged large streaks out of the wooden floorboards. Personal items of the occupant lay strewn all around in complete disarray.
There was once a fridge, now a shredded metal box that only vaguely resembled a fridge. Its innards torn out and any scraps of edible food devoured. Rhys' stomach growled, remembering how hungry he was.
"I guess let's scout the place out for anything useful. Maybe we'll find some food the skags didn't find," Rhys said, beginning to sift through the junk. It was mostly useless, and mostly consisted of the old food containers now devoid of contents. He suspected the owner hadn't lived here for long before his... untimely death. Vaughn followed Rhys' suggestion and began sifted through the other side of the building.
"God could you guys get any more pathetic?" Jack asked casually, laying across a countertop watching Rhys and Vaughn work their way through the trash. "I mean really, I mostly mean you. At least that guy's ripped."
Rhys refused to acknowledge the hologram. It wasn't the real Jack. There was no need to even act like he was there, because ultimately he wasn't.
"Come on, put more back into it! You're going to starve before you find anything with a work ethic like that. Do you always work like a well-fucked whore? Bowlegged and lagging around like you've still get semen coming out from your cooch? Hope you don't work like that for Hyperion. I'd have fired you instantly. Maybe I'd have shot you. Guess it really depends on the type of day I'm having. Today seems like a shot-in-the-head day."
Despite constantly renewing his efforts to ignore the nearly perfect imitation of the real Jack's voice, Rhys was finding it very difficult to continue phasing out the man's near external-monologue.
"Oh my god why are you are so sl-"
"Why don't you actually shut up or do something useful for once!"
He couldn't help it. He'd snapped. Whether Jack was a hologram or a hallucination he couldn't handle his constant barrage of insults while he was trying to find something worth salvaging. He was tired, hungry, sore, hot, sweaty, and really not in the mood to entertain Handsome Fucking Jack from within his own head.
"What did you say?" The snarl that crept onto Jack's masked face carved into the handsome face with such venom that suddenly Rhys struggled with his decision to spout that out. He had forgotten how intimidating Jack could be. Hologram or not.
At the same time Vaughn looked up with shock and hurt on his face. Of course he'd though Rhys was talking to him. Who else would be talking to? Certainly not a figment, real or imaginary, of Handsome Jack.
Ignoring the curdling anger festering in holo-Jack, Rhys stood up from his kneeling position and faced Vaughn. "N-Not you! I... I mean. I... Phew. Okay we need to talk buddy. I wasn't talking to you when I said tha-"
"But I'm talking to you." The seething anger that radiated from Jack caused his own holographic image to flicker. Strangely, Rhys could vaguely *feel* Jack's anger like a hot spray of water down his spine. Without warning an electric pain pinched at the base of his skull and shot with lightening speed down his spinal cord, following the same path of the heated sensation of Jack's anger.
Rhys cried out, falling down to his knees. The white hot pain eased for a moment, and Rhys tried to mumble out a "stop" but it sounded gurgled.
"What was that? What do you want?" Jack taunted, his anger still mounted ominously. How was a hologram able to do this to him? This shouldn't be possible. Another intense flash wrecked its way viscously through his body, filling it with intense agony until he screamed out in pain again.
"Ssh-p"
"What pumpkin? I didn't hear you?" Jack no longer looked angry, smiling a sickeningly sweet smile, betrayed by the wolve's teeth behind them. He could still feel his anger, muddled with satisfaction.
"P-Plea...sh... Sht..oooop."
The pain ended abruptly. So suddenly it ripped the air from Rhys' lungs completely. He gasped for breath, the memory of the pain still haunting, ghosting at the ends of his nerves. But it was gone so suddenly and so completely it was as if it never happened.
"Rhys! Are you fucking okay?" Vaughn was pushing Rhys onto his back and holding his head up with one hand. "What the fuck just happened!"
His friend was freaking out but trying to keep it together, after just watching his friend writhe on the ground screaming, asking for the pain to stop, he was doing a pretty good job.
"I have to tell you something. I have to tell you now before you think I'm any more nuts. But you might just think I'm completely nuts after this." For a moment panic caught Rhys as he glanced around for Jack, fearful that he'd strike out again... or whatever he just did. He didn't want to anger Jack any more, but he needed to explain to his friend what was going on. Clearly he couldn't keep it hidden anymore or it would just get him into serious trouble. Jack would make sure of that, intentionally or not. But probably intentionally.
Jack was standing off to the side, leaning against the counter he was laying across previously.
"Look, okay, so I think I have a hologram of Jack stuck in my head. Like Handsome Jack, Jack. I don't know how he got there or why he's there, but I can see and talk to him, and he can apparently manipulate my brain to make me feel agonizing pain. I know it sounds crazy and I know it is a little bit, but it's true and I don't think I'm really crazy. I'm going to shut up now and give you a moment to think about all that."
There was a prolonged moment of silence in which not even Handsome Jack spoke. Rhys couldn't be sure that he was finished incurring Holo-Jack's wrath.
"So, yes, I do think you're a little crazy," Vaughn said gently, like trying to calm down an animal that may just attack you from having gone mad. "But I'm reserving a little bit of mindset that you might not be crazy. Surely if you're not crazy you can prove it. And please don't feel bad that I don't entirely believe you. You know I'd believe anything you say-you're my best friend. But... you've been acting-well-insane these past several hours."
Relief flooded Rhys, enough so to completely forget the torment just moments ago. "Right! No problem! Of course, I'll just have Jack prove that he's a hologram somehow in my head."
The words came out before he remembered that presently Jack was...probably still pissed off at him. Still hopeful, Rhys glanced up at Jack fully, no longer feeling as though he had to hide glances at something only he could see. It might have appeared strange, for Rhys to constantly be looking at something that wasn't there. Vaughn's head turned uncertainly, following Rhys' gaze, landing on empty space.
Handsome Jack scoffed and crossed his arms, an eyebrow cocked above the other.
"Really? Well what do you want, a fucking blowjob?" The exasperated comment was out before his brain filtered it as "easy target".
"You'd like that, wouldn't you," Jack intoned with a vicious sneer. "Bet you'd love cock-worshipping Handsome Jack, huh kiddo?"
"Look, I'm sorry! I'm stressed out, can't we just do this and deal with what I said/did/didn't really do later?" he knew he was choosing his words poorly for the Ex Leader of Hyperion, but his entire brain was completely fatigued. He hoped that Jack's capabilities deteriorated in tandem with his own. He was trying to seek any easy way out, but realizing too late that it might have compounded negative impact.
"Uh, no."
"Really?"
"Really."
Rhys could see from the corner of his mouth the very apparent uncertainty and unease from his friend Vaughn. He didn't want to see that mixture of doubting expression fully, and refused to look at his friend but from his peripheral vision. He felt defeated. He had to prove himself to Vaughn. But it was suddenly feeling like a losing battle. He'd fucked up. He should have been treating this whole situation like he was treading on glass, not gallivanting through a field of harmless fucking flowers. Because Handsome Jack had proven that even as a hologram, he was not a force to be taken lightly.
"What do you want?"
Turning his attention back to Rhys, Jack stood firmly, now focused on the man sitting on the floor.
"Say you're sorry."
"Really? I'm sorry." It was halfassed and consisted of some backtone, but that didn't seem to bother Jack.
"Now tell your little friend that you're sorry that you're a pathetic Hyperion nobody whose got a hardon for Handsome Jack. And if you don't act like you mean it then I'm not helping you out kid."
The irritation was squashed for the greater good. It was necessary to just appease Jack and get past this. He turned to Vaughn, slouching slightly from his seated position across from his friend. "Look, Vaughn. I'm sorry that I'm a pathetic Hyperion nobody who has a hardon for Handsome Jack."
He was sure his friend would catch on to what was going on. There was no way he'd think that was legitimate. The statement was so absurd, and given the situation-
"I mean, okay. Pretty sure everyone knows about your thing for Jack."
"I-What?"
"Come on man, you've got your entire office filled with posters of Jack."
"They're motivational posters! They're company issued!"
Jack laughed uproariously from the sidelines. "Wow, okay, that's way more than I needed to know cupcake. I was just kidding about all that shit talk before, but turns out I really hid the nail on the head. Or maybe I shouldn't be making references to "heads" or anything that can be misconstrued as sexual around you. Don't want you getting the wrong idea and all that."
Rhys couldn't believe it. The whole world was against him. He was sure of it. He didn't even like men!
