No matter what way you look at it, you could never have called Rhys's life easy. He had to work his way to the top. Sure he had his friends to push him up there, but, for the three of them, their work wasn't easy. Especially when all the hard work got ripped away from them, torn apart and strewn around like pieces of tattered paper on the floor, and then Rhys having to be the one to clean up those tiny pieces of paper. It should've been simple. Walk into his bosses office, be promoted and live the high life with Vaughn and Yvette, living out Handsome Jack's legacy... But Hugo Vasquez was suddenly in his bosses chair, living out Rhys's high life and becoming the next Handsome Jack. Things only got worse when they became stranded on Pandora for god knows how long. Well... Worse was probably how it first seemed, but really all these events just fell, falling like domino's, to cause the inevitable meet with the dead CEO of Hyperion and the finally push to the future Rhys and his counter parts actually deserved.
"This. Is. AWESOME!" Vaughn exclaims, running ahead into the room, taking in the amazing, expensive architecture.
"We'll, what did you expect doofus? Handsome Jack did like to flaunt his money, he was hardly gonna work in a cardboard box." Yvette reminds, walking after the accountant.
"There's a waterfall?! Did you know about this Rhys?!" Vaugh continues to marvel in the offices beauty. Granted it wasn't like any other office. It was so big and built up you could probably live in it, which Jack probably did. Word spread he barely ever left this place. Tied down with work and... Killing employees.
"How am I supposed to know about it? This is the first time I've stepped foot in here too." He reminds, getting a little distracted by the leather chair and sleek oak desk.
"Yeah but not the last time." Yvette reminds, elbowing him a little, winking.
"Yeah bro, you finally made it!" Vaughn adds, clapping his pal on the back, trying to contain his excitement.
"No bro," Rhys begins, wrapping his arms around the two, pulling them in close, "we made it." He finishes, proudly standing with the two.
"So, what's the first thing you're gonna do now your CEO?" Vaugh questions, appreciating the short dramatic pause.
"Hmm... Lunch?" Ryhs grins, eyeing Yvette and taking into the excited look that pops into her face.
"Thought you'd never ask." She grins. The three step into the private elevator together and Rhys pushes the button for the cafeteria.
"Just think, soon that'll be an 'R'!" Vaughn sequels, pointing at the gold 'H' located at the top of the elevator buttons.
"How's that going by the way?" Yvette questions, adding a sudden seriousness to the conversation.
"How's what going?" Ryhs asks, raising an eyebrow and leaning back on the gold rail of the glass elevator.
"Do you still... See him? Handsome Jack that is." She explains further.
"Nope. He left a couple of weeks after we got back from Pandora. I don't know what happened to him. Maybe it was a signal on the planet that kept him implanted in my head... By the looks of things he's gone for good this time." He replies, a slight sadness to him voice. Understandable really. Handsome Jack was his idol, he was probably the reason why him and Vaughn actually survived on Pandora, with the help of Sasha and Fiona of course. The elevator slows to a stop and the doors slide open, opening to the cafeteria.
"What do you want today then?" Rhys grins, grabbing a table and ignoring all the looks he was getting. Since returning from Pandora, without Vasquez, it was obvious that Rhys was going to be the next president of Hyperion, so the looks of awe and admiration flooded in pretty quickly. Now it was just natural for Rhys to ignore and brush them off.
"I would really love something super expensive, just to squeeze some of that new cash out of you, but you really can't beat the sandwich from this place Yvette smirks.
First week on the job and Rhys could understand why Jack never left this place. There was so much paperwork. Things consisting of complaints, suggestions, financial accounts, new employees, accidents... How did he have chance to even sleep?! But, Rhys was pulling through. He was finally managing to get Hyperion back onto the standard it was on before Jack died and was getting to the point where he felt comfortable with the sudden responsibility placed on his shoulders. For once since he'd started, his desk was paper free. All the work finished and passed onto the relevant people. However, this won't last for very long, there'd probably be another stack being pushed by his assistant through the door in a bout five minuets so he leaks in the quiet time. Kicking his feet up onto the desk, making sure its on the leather desk matt so not to mark the varnished wood, and leans back in his leather chair, the waterfall adding a calming effect to the otherwise silent atmosphere. Its not long before he hears the ding of his private elevator and awaits for one of the three options it could be. Either, Yvette's voice calling to go to lunch, Vaughn wanting to hang out in the 'sweet office' or the squeak of the fucking broken wheel on the trolley that delivers more paperwork. When there's no noise, Rhys furrows his eyebrows and opens his eyes to look at the empty elevator. The door was closing, getting ready for when its next called, without dropping anyone off. Maybe it was a fault in the system? He'd call one of the technicians up in a bit. Right now, he just wanted to bask in the no work. But... Horror films where never Rhys's forte and he's pretty sure that's something that would fit into one about ghosts and riddled with jump scares. The arriving elevator with no occupants. Goosebumps travel over his skin, his hair standing on end. Did he really want to open his eyes again? What if something was waiting for him? Surely then it would be worse to keep his eyes shut? But what you can't see can't hurt you right? Isn't that how the saying goes...? Suddenly, his chair is pulled back slightly, causing him to cry out and his eyes to shoot open. His hands grip the arms of the chair and his legs retract, his knees pressing up against his chest as a means of protection. There's a sudden eruption of laughter and Ryhs sighs in annoyance.
"Oh k-kiddo- hah- that... That was priceless!" The familiar tune of Handsome Jacks mockery rings out.
"Where the hell have you been? Its been so long I thought I'd gotten rid of you. Don't you have someone else to bother?" He growls, raising his hands and swiping it at Jacks face. What he was expecting... What should've happened. Was that his hand should've passed straight through Jacks head, just as a little incentive to piss off... But it didn't. There was the unmistakeable sound of skin connecting with skin and Rhys' hand abruptly stopping against Jacks cheek. Now there's no laughter, no nothing. Just the face that was previously contorted into glee and fits of laughter, now straight and serious, unmistakable anger building onto it.
"D-did you just slap me?!" Jack snarls, gripping Rhys' wrist of the hand that is still raised and pulling him up, over the back of his chair, knocking it backwards. Hanging limply and powerlessly in his grip, Rhys can only stare at what he thought was just a hologram of Handsome Jack, like it had been for so many months. There's another ding from the elevator and two voices fill the room
"Bro, you still up for lun-?" Vaughn begins, before halting himself at seeing the scene in front of him.
"H-Handsome... Handsome Jack?! The Handsome Jack?!" Yvette exclaims, as shocked as Rhys is that he's just slapped the former President of Hyperion. The same former president that would throw people out of an airlock if they even looked at him funny.
"Y-you guys can see him to right?! He's not a hologram this time... Right?!" Rhys questions, not pulling his eyes from the infuriated ones of Jack.
"Y-Yeah we can see him... I don't think he's a hologram." Vaughn replies, breaking the stunned silence.
"Oh... Oh my... GOD! I JUST SLAPPED HANDSOME JACK!" Rhys cries out, trying to pull away from the vice like grip.
"You what?!" Yvette exclaims, looking on wide eyed.
"What did you think was gonna happen, cupcake?" Jack murmurs.
"I-I-I I thought it would just... Y'know... Pass straight through you like it normally does." Rhys cowers, spilling honesty. There's a slightly pause, before he finally releases his grip and jumps up onto the desk, sitting down and looking at the younger man.
"What just happened put me in too much of a good mood to kill you over a mistake this time." He explains, noticing Rhys' questioning look on why he hasn't been shot and half buried by now.
"You guessed it Rhysie, I'm not a hologram any more. I'm Handsome me again." He adds, including a sly wink to the recovering CEO. Standing his chair upright again, Rhys studies Jack carefully before finally speaking out.
"H-how?" He chokes, not even trying to play it cool any more. How can anyone play it cool after hitting their idol and former boss in the face?
"Oh, that's interesting... You forgot huh? Even better," Jack mutters, looking over his shoulder at Vaughn and Yvette, "those two didn't tell you." He grins, his focus returning to Rhys.
"Tell me what? What did I forget?" He questions, uncertain at where the conversation is heading.
"You underwent surgery when you get back Rhysie boy. Surgeons pulled out your echo eye, to get me out of your brain. Remember how you were aching for a couple of weeks after you got back and Vaughn here played along too? That was because you'd just had the Echo implant surgery all over again. To make sure you didn't remember it, people just told you it was the change in pressure from being back in space. I won't bore you with the details, but I made sure the surgeons didn't kill you or damage your pretty face whilst managing to turn me into actual cells and matter from ones and zeros. I asked your two friends here to keep quiet about it, because I didn't want to get back to tons over paper work and Hyperion being a shit hole, when you'd been begging for the work for ages." He explains, leaning back on his hands casually, taking the explanation in his stride. There's a slight pause as Rhys soaks the information up, trying to wrap his head around it all. How could he forget he had surgery? Did he even consent to the surgery?... Probably not, that's probably why he can't remember it. It is Hyperion after all. Jack was the best leader they ever had, so for someone to have the data of him floating around their brain... They probably grabbed him on arrival and put him under.
"So... You used me? You let me believe that you'd actually gone and let me take your place so that I could do all the paper work that had piled up on your desk, so you didn't have to?!" Rhys questions, trying to keep his voice on an even tone. He'd already pissed Jack off once today, he doesn't want to do it again, not matter how much anger is building up inside him.
"Um... Yeah?" Jack begins, raising an eyebrow to the younger man, as if what he'd just said was so stupid that it shouldn't have even left his mouth, "Have you forgotten what company you're working for pumpkin? This is Hyperion people use each other all the time to get to the rung of the ladder that they wanna be on. Heck, you and you little friends have probably stood on thousands of faces to get to the position you're in now, Mr President of Hyperion." He finishes, reminding Rhys about some of the people him, Vaughn and Yvette have screwed over.
"I've gotta admit though Rhys, it took a lot of commitment and hard work to get to this point, so well done." Jack grins. Rhys can barely tell if that was sarcasm or if Jack was actually being truthful. He'd been complimented and praised by the man before, even if it was only once or twice, but that was always for hurting someone or insulting them, never for actual work.
"So that's it then. We finally got all the way to the top, to the point we had been working for for ages, after all the shit we went through, having to live for so long on Pandora and now because you've come back, it's all going to be ripped away from us again! I've done the hard start for you and now you can just take it from there." Rhys rants, throwing his arms up and beginning to walk to the elevator. Jack jumps off of the desk and catches up with him.
"Whoa, kiddo. Hold your horses," He soothes, wrapping his arm around Rhys' shoulders, "who said anything abut destroying all your hard work?" he questions, forcing Rhys to stop walk and turn back around.
"Well it's obvious isn't it? It's no secret you don't like to share power and you can't have two presidents. Anything from here would be a demotion." Rhys explains, allowing Jack to walk him back to the desk.
"Can you leave me and Rhys to our conversation? I'll make sure to return him to you in a few and give you a extended lunch." Jack orders more than requests, waving his hand at Vaughn and Yvette.
"S-Sure, Sir." Vaughn stammers, entering the elevator with Yvette and disappearing as it takes them to the lower floors. Once the two are out of sight, Jack places his hand on Rhys' chest, pushing him into the leather chair.
"Being as my name is Handsome Jack, I make the rules at Hyperion. I do what ever pleases and benefits me. If I want there two be two presidents, there will be two presidents. Do you get where I'm going with this Pumpkin?" Jack explains, standing behind the chair, his hands gripping the back of it.
"You mean... I'm not getting demoted?" Rhys asks, his head tilting back slightly to look Jack in the eye.
"Of course you're not. I seem to remember that whilst we were on Pandora together, I said that we could run Hyperion together," he explains, taking a hold of the younger man's chin and tilting it further, "I'm not one to break promises." he finishes, leaning in a little closer. It was only a small movement, but Rhys noticed it.
"But you also said that it'd be you mostly running the show." Rhys adds, remembering the muttered sentences.
"Well, yeah. I've been doing this a lot longer than you Princess. You'd still have all the privileges that I have, you'd also be the face of the company with me, I'd just have the final say in the decisions, after conversing with you and have just a tad more power than you would. What do ya say Rhysie, wanna run Hyperion with me?" Jack presses, holding his hand out, awaiting the inevitable. After a slight pause, Rhys reaches forward and takes Jack's hand, sealing the deal.