"Handsome Jack: Sweetheart, you're cute and all, but that trait is not going to stay with ya for as long as you would like in about five seconds if you don't admit what we talked about copyrighted material first.

"Me: I know I know. I can't be allowed into the gaming system room. No, I don't own Tales From The Borderlands. That lovely right goes to the designers Randy Pitchford and Mark Darin.

"Handsome Jack: Atta Girl! *reaches out to pat head*

"Me: *huffs*

Summary:

Rhys thought he was going to have a nice get together with his friends. Turns out the universe decided to screw him over. Literally.

Chapter 1- Morning Shenanigans

There were many things that an individual could count on in a corporate workspace. The soft continuous sounds of typing on keyboards, the buzzing of reverent lights on their constantly depleting oil, and the paper that shuffled words across the air whispering of gossip about higher-ups on the ladder. These actions found themselves paused in the office on the left side of the hallway where a plaque stated the words "Head Security Department Manager: Rhys".

Behind the metal doors that created the entryway to the office, lay the backdrop of the vastness of Elpis through the use of a large scale window. It's unexplained fire flares and speckling of stars brightening up the room along with the current standard lights put to use when it's owner entered. The oriel which painted the office in a soft atmospheric glow began at the end of the metal walls linking both side's corners behind the desk where a computer was humming away under the fingers of the head manager.

The man himself was donned in his clearly unique business getup. Consisting of his Hyperion standard vest, the white collared turquoise shirt that contained a left side of vertical lines which matched the point closest to his neck, and the obscenely red tie separating the shirt from its odd counterpart by being shoved into the darkness of his pants. His plain gray and right one-sided turquoise striped pants with the even and polished moleskin shoes were used to complete the ensemble of horrible decisions. However the most prominent variation of his physical attributes seemed to think of time as a mere suggestion compared to the rates at which it moved. His robotic, yellow and black arm rested with the crook of his elbow along the desk while his fingers maintained the momentum of a speeding truck. The iridescent blue from his echo eye illuminated the workspace more than the man actually required while contrasting with his natural brown one on the other side.

The man was midway to finishing a command code when the throbbing of his head decided to conjoin through his eyes. He sighed to himself as his flesh hand was brought up to hide his face from the offensive screen and run nervous fingers through gel riddled hair.

After dealing with Vazquez monitoring his every move for fault, the presentation for the project he was currently working on that determined which of them would be able to quadruple their pay grade, and sucking up to Henderson for three consecutive years, he was exhausted to say the least. Yet here he was, going through four weeks of constant arguments corresponding with misconceptions from morons that called themselves scientists working on the prototype firewall. Not only had they sent a failed report, but mangled the code commands he created to the point of unrecognition at least seven times within the day of revision. Rhys may have been promoted to middle management, but that did not mean he particularly loved his job.

Sure he enjoyed the perks. Having people working on code that was based off of his own design, the increased pay and obtaining the ability to randomly check in with his old coworkers a bit more often felt liberating.

However the fact remained that some people's incompetence with their own jobs proved to be quite aggravating.

Beeping resounded in the office for a solid point two seconds before Rhys gained enough mental capacity to turn his right wrist towards his face, palm upright and answer his echo.

"Hey bro, wanna go to the new bar they opened up later today? It's on the corner between pain and misery. I think it's got a color in the name... Was it red? Anyways, I heard some good things about their Martini's and vodka."

Rhys smiled at Vaughn's suggestion.

"Yeah man. I think you're talking about the Purple Skag. I remember something about this guy named August owning it. Been dealing with some problems in the revision department lately. I know I'm gonna need something to help keep me sane. How does seven sound? We can meet up outside the building."

"Awesome bro I'll see you then. Oh yeah, still coming to lunch right? Yvette said she's buying. Miracles do happen."

"Now that, I wouldn't miss that even if I was on my death bed."

"Good to hear-"

Rhys winced apologetically towards Vaughn as muffled mechanical noises and cursing chose to interrupt his friend from behind his office doors.

"Well gotta go, seems they need more help than I accounted for. Ha. Get it?"

Vaughn rolled his eyes and gave his friend a small smile.

"Yeah, yeah, go save those people from their own idiocy why don't ya? I'll see you later."

Once the screen dispersed into his echo, Rhys' eyes focused on the clock.

10:24am.

Well. This was proving to be a longer day than he was expecting. He huffed as he got up and walked to the now open office doors.

It's been hard to surprise him since he became accustomed to the daily screaming, knife fighting, blackmailing and bribing that ran Hyperion. Needless to say, the sight of an ornery Handsome Jack making an appearance to deal with the mess that had accumulated outside his door was more than adequate to place him in a state of shock.

Jack had a glint in his eyes and an upturned sneer on his face when he yelled at the "incompetent piece of skag scrap who had managed to cause the fourth or fifth malfunction of the day."

It was common knowledge that Jack savored sadistic glee when watching the fear amass in his subordinates' eyes. But to be the receiver of his rage and live to tell the tale was as rare as finding a hundred dollar bill on the street. Not impossible, but rarely achieved. Very few actually came around to letting the story be known, lest it be overheard by the man and encourage him to do more damage to those anxious souls. Not to mention the people that have already had the unpleasant experience of a lost limb courtesy of the CEO while being forced to explain the mishap which led to such events in the first place.

It seemed that luck had no favors for Rhys as one of the new interns managed to be the last mentally inept of the day that Jack seemed to be able to handle without the want of killing someone overpowering his sense of judgement. The new worker directed his finger towards Rhys when Jack asked, "Who was the idiot that is supposed to be keeping tabs on you anyways?"

Rhys, not for the first time that day became perplexed at the apparent misleading liability that consisted of the workers below him.

Jack lifted his laser arm gun threateningly when the the younger worker aimed to take a step back.

"Do it and it'll be the last time you take a step using that leg." Jack growled.

The worker gulped and chanced a glance in irresolute worry towards Rhys.

"B-But sir," the employee began nervously eyeing Rhys' direction.

Rhys let out a scoff.

Now the amateur thought he would help after being thrown under the metaphysical bus? The fact that the intern saw that as a moment to argue only confirmed the idiocy that contaminated the halls and obliviously shattered all of Jack's patience as he shot the younger worker in the knee.

"Not done with you yet cupcake. Don't move again." Jack hummed absentmindedly.

If Rhys could remember words other than the current obscenities filling his head, he would have used them. As it was he could merely look on in disbelief. He flinched with the sound of the intern's scream who had dropped to the floor quickly and pulled their working leg into the shell of their body. Leaving the now injured one laying prone in front of them.

Handsome Jack took in the slightly altered patches of suit that the intern was adorned in. The employee was clearly attempting to imitate the style of the CEO who had then glanced at Rhys before shooting an unimpressed look at the short whimpering of the bleeding subordinate beside him.

"You know, you got a nice style there cupcake. It's exactly what you're supposed to wear when you need to look the part. But you should face it. Not gonna get better than the real thing right in front of ya, huh? I mean c'mon I'm not called Handsome Jack for nothing. Although, if you don't shut up I'm not going to be nearly as ambient in the next two seconds."

When it became clear to the crippled employee that Jack was referring to their sounds they sealed a hand on top of their mouth to keep themselves quiet.

Jack's malicious smile only seemed to increase with the amount of fidgeting that the newcomer was doing. Seeming to forgo his promise in favor of humiliation, the CEO squat down to the younger's eye-level.

"Actually, I have a better idea. What was an amateur like you doing in the testing room anyways? Care to explain to me?"

"W-was sent t-there to-ah! G-give..."

Jack sighed.

"I haven't got all day kiddo and neither do you judging by how much blood you're spewing on the floor. Might want to answer quickly and you'll hurt a little less, hm?"

That seemed to be all the prompting the stuttering apprentice needed as they lurched forwards to gasp out, "corrected code information" before beginning to whimper louder than before from the abrupt shift in position.

"Thanks sweet cheeks that's all I needed to know. Wasn't too hard now was it?" Jack replied with a mocking tone.

When the rookie didn't reply, instead curling in on themselves further, Jack's smile became manic and he shot them in the head. Their viscera and blood flying out onto the wall behind them with some coating Jack's mask including his suit.

A bit of it actually achieved the task of tainting Rhys' shoes and the bottom of his pants. If Rhys was uneasy about the rumors of what Handsome Jack did to those who angered him before, he was petrified now. Had the business hallway not been crowded prior to Jack killing the newbie, then Rhys would not have thought such a large space could feel so small.

"Kept my promise didn't I cupcake? Not nearly as painful as ripping out your leg and making you watch your blood flow through the metal floorings. Pretty heroic ain't I?" Jack whispered to the now despondent corpse below him.

"Inadequate lackeys the lot of them" Jack muttered to himself while kicking the cooling body on the floor with distaste. Once a few moments passed, Jack looked back up in Rhys' direction.

Rhys' heart almost failed him when their eyes met.

"So, what exactly made dum dum behind me seem capable enough of taking matters into his own hands when it comes to the basis of what we do here?" Jack asked each word becoming louder in volume and deeper in angered tones.

Rhys swallowed.

How did the newbie get in the lab rooms anyways? They don't normally send interns into the testing labs. That is reserved for the higher-ups. Management like Rhys, scientists working on the blasted thing, and Jack himself. The person who was in charge of employing new interns was...

Rhys' panic morphed into a vicious smile as he replied, "Not my jurisdiction sir. Why don't you ask the person who is in charge of the intern emails? Vasquez is his name? I certainly didn't receive one saying that I even had an intern to look after today"

Rhys attempted to make himself appear as the epitome of calm while pulling his echo out to give proof to the angered man at the same time as envisioning 'Assquez's' downfall. He could feel himself failing as his lips curved into something more vicious than a smile.

Jack's eyes grazed Rhys' face and shone with a different type of approval instead of its previously malevolent one. However the slight variation of thought went unnoticed by the younger programmer and he fidgeted nervously. His flesh hand coming to up to press back his already slicked up hair.

"Thanks kitten. You seem to be the more competent of these pathetic workers. Mind showing me the way?" Jack demanded while placing his gun back into the jacket pocket of his attire.

Rhys pushed aside the less decent thoughts those words brought up and ignored the burning sensation that encased his ears at the nickname, in favor of not losing one of the things he valued the most. Not to mention the bliss he would retain from being able to witness his arch nemesis flail to amend his image with Jack once this fiasco was over. That was, if Vazquez even made it through the whole incident alive.

"Of course sir. Thank you. If you'll follow me." Rhys stated as he turned on his heels to the right and promptly made his way down the hall towards Vazquez's office doors.

The day had started slow for Rhys, but he found he was indifferent to its pace once it threw a wrench in another person's plans. In fact he was almost giddy with excitement. Had it been any other employee on Helios, Rhys perhaps wouldn't have even bothered with the pretense of being calm on the outside. His hands were shaking though. His steps fast. Thoughts even more so.

Vengeance, and by the hands of Handsome Jack himself. Rhys couldn't think of a better way to knock Vazquez's ego down a few notches.

That man deserved it after the nights Rhys was put through. And Rhys didn't even have to lift a finger. His boss would do it for him.

He really hoped he didn't look as pleased as he felt.