The Atlas man tossed and turned throughout the night as he tried to sleep, but he knew that it was futile. Nights were just like this for him now and he couldn't sleep without feeling on guard. After finally giving up he rolled out of bed and approached his dresser, looking in the small mirror that hung above it he saw the bags that had gathered under his eyes.
"Oh man, you look like shit Rhys." He mumbled to himself as he observed himself in the mirror. He stood there for a good minute, deep in thought before he eventually looked away and grabbed some clean clothes, throwing them on as quickly as he could.
After getting dressed he walked down the empty hall like he did every morning and admired his surroundings as thoughts flooded his mind.
Three years ago he had gained the rights to Atlas from Jacks office and had become both the owner and the CEO of the giant company and yet every day it felt like he was just starting off. He felt pride and fear as he knew that he was in charge of thousands now, from people he knew from Hyperion and from people that had joined him on Pandora. Their lives were all in his hands now, and as every time he thought about this he realized just how much it terrified him to know that he was their hero and they trusted them with their lives. He had no idea how to run a company even after three years.
As he entered his office he looked at the small images of allies that he had lost in over time as they hung on his walls to remind him daily of their sacrifices, all to help him out. He walked up the few steps that lead to his giant desk and looked over at the final image that sat on his desk, a photo of Jack. He would have hung it on the walls with the others but he knew everyone's feelings towards Jack and he had been the only one to sit in the chair so no one could possibly see it unless they came to his side of the desk. He knew that they would freak out if they saw it but he just couldn't help it, Jack had been his role model and he wanted to be just like him for the longest time. He knew that most would say Jack was evil and beyond fixing but all Rhys could remember was his last moments. Jack begging for his life was engraved into his mind, his asking him to spare him and yet he had to rip out the eye and do this, right? He thought about this as he sat down and pulled out a small box with a lock on it, unlocking it and looking at the Cybernetics with Jack inside of it. He knew that he couldn't tell anyone about him keeping them though. Everyone here hated Jack, including his own friends and if he told his secrets to them they would freak out.
The brunette woman watched as the CEO walked down the halls looking more distracted then usual. She followed him quietly for a while until he walked into his office, knowing she wouldn't be able to get into his office unless he let her in she finally gave up and walked towards the cafeteria to get first pick at breakfast until the others joined her there.
As she entered the large cafeteria and grabbed a plate of what looked like delicious food she saw only two people there, or well Robots as Loader bot and Gortys were both there awake and waiting for others to arrive as well. Sitting across from them a smile crossed her face.
"Hey there." She said, sitting the plate she had grabbed down and starting to dig into it immediately.
"Fiona!" Gortys cheered, in her normal happy voice, they had to expand the cafeteria to fit her inside of it and have room for others after her she grew.
"When did you return Fi?" Another voice asked as they got closer and sat down next to her. She recognized the voice even before she saw her face, and turning over she hugged her sister tightly, not having seen her in months.
"Sasha!" Fiona cheered, her smile growing larger.
The small group was joined by an added Vaughn minutes later who said a simple hello to Fiona and started to eat quickly.
"So, how are you guys it's been what, 8 months now?" She asked them as she stuffed her face full of the food. One thing she had to thank the old hyperions for was their taste in food. They always made sure you enjoyed it and hell it was a lot better then eating skag meat every day. As they sat they shared their stories of what had happened within the last 8 months and as more time went by more people joined their table. Although she still didn't understand why Rhys hadn't shown up yet.
"Where is Rhys?" Fiona finally asked, knowing he had gone to his office earlier she had expected him to eventually come over and join them all for breakfast but it had been three hours now and he hadn't shown up.
"Oh, uhh Rhys. Yeah he umm..." Vaughn said quietly.
She noticed that everyone had looked uncomfortable with the subject but she wouldn't give up until they gave her a direct answer on what was going on.
"Rhys doesn't really join us much anymore." Sasha said finally after no one else would say anything. "He always locks himself in his office with no one in it and does who know what. We found that it's best to leave him that way though. Vaughn asked him what was wrong one day and well..." She looked over at Vaughn letting him talk.
"It wasn't Rhys. He looked fake, his eyes had bags under them from not sleeping. I asked him what was wrong and he just smiled and said nothing, but even his smile...You can tell something is bother him but he won't let any of us know what is wrong." He added after she stopped talking.
"When did this start? I mean he was fine when I left 8 months ago, or he did a hell of a great job at hiding that he something was up." She said, looking at all of them.
They all shrugged except for Vaughn who looked as if he were trying to solve an equation. All of them turned to look at him when he spoke again.
"About 4 months ago we were invaded by a group of people but that happens often here but anyway uh, Rhys and their leader talked before we beat them and he seemed like he changed after that. No one knows what they said to him though. Perhaps you can get something out of him, I mean he tells you more then half of us." The short man shrugged as he stood up, looking at the clock. "Anyway, I have work now though, so if excuse me."
Slowly more and more people excused themselves to go to their jobs leaving Fiona by herself to think. She wasn't going to accept that idiot locking himself up without telling anyone a reason. Standing up she walked around people and guards to go to his office, knocking on the large metal door, hearing it echo through the halls, she also felt a few people turn their heads to look at her in surprise.
"Rhys open the damn door!" She yelled as she knocked.
Rhys jumped and almost threw the small box he was holding when he heard someone knock at the door. About to yell back for them to go away he heard who it was. "Fiona?" He said, closing the box and stuffing it in a drawer before going over to open to open the door for her.
"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." She teased, a grin spreading across her face.
"Nice to see you too Fi." He smiled back and hugged her quickly before letting her in and shutting the door behind them. They slowly made there way back to his desk and he heard her speak as he was sitting down at his chair.
"What's that?" She asked, gesturing towards another door with multiple locks on it. "It wasn't there last time I was here."
"That? Oh it's nothing important, just like a closet." He commented, crossing his arms and leaning back.
"You really changed this office since I last was here." She said looking around, she noticed the photos of those dead and saw Scooter among them. Thoughts from that trip came back to her. She hadn't known him that well but scooter helped her out when she needed it and he was a kind person who didn't deserve what happened to him. Her own thoughts were interrupted when he spoke again.
"So, you are back already? What has it been? A few months?" He questioned, looking up from his writing for a moment to look at her.
"Eight months. I was nearby so I decided to stop in, not like I had much to do anyway. I have to wait for my next lead on the vault." She said, looking at how uncomfortable he was. She knew he obviously didn't want her to be there in that room but was being kind about it.
"What is up with you, Rhys? I heard you've been acting different and honestly sitting here I can tell you aren't the Rhys we all know." She asked bluntly making him visually tense up a bit.
"Nothing is up with me, Fiona. You can just tell everyone I just have tons of paperwork and am a busy person, you know trying to run the company alone." He replied quickly, brushing her off.
The pair stared at each other for a moment before she stood up and walked over towards the other metal door he claimed was a closet and pointed to it. "What is really in here Rhys?" She asked, looking at the locks, trying to unlock a few.
He slammed his hands down on the messy desk in front of himself and pushed himself up off of his chair. "I said it's a closet Fiona! Now if you excuse me I have a lot of work, why don't you go spend the day with Sasha or something because I am too busy to be bothered right now!" He moved around to stand in between her and the door, gesturing towards the exit.
"Whatever, you are gonna end up losing all of your friends if you keep acting like that though Rhys." She snapped in response, walking out the room without another word.
Rhys waited until she was out of sight before relaxing and turning towards the door, putting his hand on the one scanner beside it and then opening a few more locks he went inside of it.
He thought about how he could have handled that differently but he just couldn't have anyone knowing his secrets. He couldn't have anyone stop him and he knew she would have.
After walking down a surprisingly long hallway he got to a simple coffin sitting in the middle of the room. Going over to it the young man pushed open the top enough to look in and see it and he stared down at the preserved body of Jack that sat inside of it.
"Soon Jack." He said quietly to himself, looking down at the lifeless man.