So the first time I played this game I fell to my guilty moral conscience and played it as a good guy all the way through and I really, really like Rhys. Well, I like all of the characters, but he's absolutely adorkable and I really wish they had gone into more of what went on with him after the whole Jack thing. I mean, how the hell did he get that new eye in there? Did you SEE how much wiring was in his head?! Or Vaughn in leading a whole group of Helios newbies into bandit-hood, or what the hell happened with Fiona, Sasha, and August (I seriously doubt they left him in the caravan to bleed out). On the flip side of terrible, I thought Jack could have been way more manipulative at the end. Like, a lot more. He's an asshole (even if I still really like him and actually sympathize slightly over all the crap he went through). So here this is. My attempts at fulfilling my internal ideas. And don't be fooled, I adore Rhys and all I want is for him to be happy, but I'm also a writer and writer's have this weird urge to make characters go through even more shit. So yeah, lots of angst on his side.
This chapter is just my take on how the final interaction with Jack could have gone. Next chapter is about August.
Summary: In which Rhys is an adorkable idiot and everyone comes to love him in the end but he "…came out with some scars too…" and having Jack in his head did him no favors.
Or where Rhys does something that cements loyalties left and right but he's too lost in self doubt and hate to realize it. Commence the friendship.
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Chapter 1: The better killer
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"You're not seeing a pattern here?" Rhys asked Jack, surrounded by burning fire and twisted metal. His entire body had been sore and his mind had kept drifting to that painful goodbye as one of his most trusted allies saved him at the cost of their life. Robot or not, Loader Bot was more human than most people he had ever met.
Jack stared at him for a good long minute before bursting into hysteric, bitter laughter. "Uh, kettle?!" he shouted, his voice glitching in and out. "Hate to break it to you cupcake, but that whole 'you and I are the same speech'? You're the one saying it."
"What?" Rhys deadpanned, not understanding.
"U-uh, are you seeing a pattern here? Ha! Take a look in the mirror pal, cause you're not doing so great yourself. A big ole death count isn't the only thing we share Rhysie, betrayal is probably at the top of the list!"
The words gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, making him fold his arms across his chest as though to ward them off. "Yeah right," he spat out. "I still have my friends, Jack."
Jack's face was recreating and deconstructing itself at a rapid rate, but that did nothing to hide the malicious grin stretching his lips. "Oh, you mean those two con-artists that abandoned you on Helios? Or your old work buddies who both made deals behind your back?" Jack laughed again before his voice picked up an octave. "Oh, I only did it to keep Assquez off our backs, Rhys! He promised not to kill you! Yeah right. Why didn't little iron abs say anything, huh? If that was really the only reason why'd he wait until there was a gun at his head? And your requisitions gal? Did you see her face when she opened up that tub of Wallethead bits? She knew he'd kill you, that's what Hyperion is all about baby! Oh sure, she might have actually asked him to keep you alive, but that was just another angle I'm sure. I mean, honestly, she seemed way smarter than you Rhysie, and would you trust Wallethead to keep any of your friends alive? Nah, nah, she just wanted the big promotion. Vasquez would go off Helios to find you, leaving his office open and when you came back in a body bag all she would have to do was turn on the only other guy involved and all the accolades go to her! It's brilliant; she's a great employee. I'm actually pretty impressed."
Rhys couldn't believe that. Refused to. "So-," his voice cracked, and he had to clear it to try again. The pathetic noise had at least been enough to catch Jack's attention. "So what?" he straightened his back. "Helios was the breeding grounds for selfish bull crap. They only did what they were raised to do! And they proved themselves after that! A-and Fiona and Sasha, well, who knows what happened there? August and his goons could have knocked them out or-"
"Oh the denial is strong in this one!" Jack crowed, overjoyed at the nervous mess in front of him. "If that was true then why didn't you turn on them, huh? You grew up in the same pit amigo, and yet you decided to prance the path of friendship instead!"
"They were worth more than-" Rhys attempted to argue, but Jack only laughed harder.
"And there it is folks! They were worth it, were they? Then what does that make you? See, that's the thing Rhys," Jack's voice grew soft suddenly, his voice somber. "People you see as worth it? They don't see the same in you. And why should they? Look around you Rhys. This? This is all on you."
Rhys couldn't help himself. He scanned the destruction around him. This used to be his home. He could see a charred hand sticking out of a hole in the metal, and burning scraps of clothes littering the area. So many people had died when Helios crashed.
"And yeah, okay, I might've pushed you towards this at the end but all this happened because of your choices. You're the one that decided to make the vault key deal, you're the one that plugged me into your stupid little head, you're the one that trusted your friends and got your best bud shot by a toxic paralysis thing, and you're the one that told the little idiot to run. You think he's still alive after that? Alone on fucking Pandora without a gun or any supplies at all? I'd be surprised if he lived long enough to see Helios crash and burn!"
Rhys couldn't breath. His lungs were full of ash and his regular eye was watering so badly he could barely see out of it. "I-I, y-you can't-"
"I can't do shit," Jack interrupted again. "All I can do is talk, that's been the only thing I could do for a long, long time. Which means all the actions were you and every action you chose got someone killed. Or a lot of someone's. Face it kiddo, it's no surprise they all left you for dead. It was either that or wait till one of your brilliant plans got them killed instead."
"I'm not like you!" Rhys shouted, his fists clenched. "I'm not going to let you get in my head and screw around with me Jack! Not again!"
Jack's voice was low and triumphant. "Little to late for that pal."
A sharp pain in the side of his head made Rhys gasp and jump back. His face paled at the sight of the drive from Jack's chair hanging in the air. His ECHO eye flashed a download screen.
"No," he breathed, flinging himself back.
A blue light appeared out of the corner of his eye and when he whipped his head around Jack was already stalking towards him with one arm raised.
"You THINK you can take me out?!" Jack started, one arm rising in synch with Rhys' cybernetic arm. He fought for control but Jack's will was too strong. "You little shit!"
Rhys let out a sharp gasp as his own arm came up to clamp around his neck. He was just able to keep the steel fingers from immediately breaking the bone, but they were still tight enough to cut off his air and Jack was growing stronger with rage.
"You ready for this Rhys?" Jack whispered dangerously, hovering above him. "Are you ready for this?!"
"You're…not…winning…this time!" Rhys chocked out, flesh hand scrambling at the metal.
"No," Jack agreed with a deranged smile. "This'll be more of a tie, but it'll be soo worth it to watch you die."
Rhys stumbled back as Jack continued to talk. He couldn't focus on the words, the lack of air making his vision and hearing fuzzy. As he stumbled he was able to look behind him and catch a glimpse of a sharp metal pole sticking out of the rubble. If he kept stumbling back he would impale himself, but if he moved just enough to the left…
Jack tightened his grip and Rhys threw himself backwards with as much force as he could. The pole, sharpened and flaring with heat, cut threw his arm like butter. Jack barely even flinched, the grip not slackening even an inch.
"This is leadership, you little fraud!" Jack roared. "This is being a hero!"
As the pole twisted under his movements and further destroyed some of the circuitry in his arm Rhys managed to pry the fingers from his throat and lean back enough to free himself. Jack wasn't willing to let him go so easily, and Rhys' arm began to struggle towards him once more. Desperate fear flooded Rhys' mind and he reached out, almost unthinkingly, to tear off the plate protecting the main wiring connections. Once that was out of the way he went through each wire, violently tearing it out even with the searing pain the nerve regulators sent to his brain.
Once the wires were thin enough, Rhys sent all of his weight back and away from his arm. He could feel the wires inside of his body being yanked out, and god did it hurt, but Jack was still going and he had to as well if he wanted to survive.
With one final yank, and a worrying spurt of blood, he forced his arm to disconnect completely with his body, the force of the movement sending him to the ground. Once his brain was able to work past the pain and the realization of 'holyshitIjustrippedmyarmoutohmygod' it realized he could breath again and he began to cough. His ECHO eye was going haywire, all the damage he had sustained and was still sustaining (and probably something to do with Jack of course) was causing it to blink in and out of focus. Something warm was soaking into his shirt, and he was pretty sure his arm port was bleeding. Like, a lot.
"Congratulations kiddo, you get to live another day," Jack's disembodied voice sounded from all around him. He blinked and suddenly the blue hologram was right in front of his face, looking down on him. "But what about tomorrow? Or the next day?"
Rhys scrambled for something to defend himself with. When his remaining hand touched on a shard of glass he curled his fingers around it so tightly it left thin cuts over his palm and fingers. Jack didn't even look amused as Rhys swung the poor excuse of a weapon at him, then through him.
"I'm not going anywhere. As long as you've got those cybernetics in you, I'm not going anywhere," Jack gave an exhausted chuckle. Turning his back to Rhys he put his hands on his hips and turned to survey his beloved Helios. "I'll just be sitting here, waiting for my chance to take you out."
'My cybernetics,' Rhys thought dazedly. He shook his head to clear it, his gaze landing on his limp arm hanging from the metal just a few feet from him. Jack began yet another tirade on how he could wait days, months, years for Rhys to slip up so he could take control again. Rhys didn't want that to happen. He couldn't allow that to happen. As he began to slowly push himself up into a sitting position, a terrible idea began to hatch in his head.
"Perhaps while you're sleeping," Jack continued, completely unaware. "While you're getting laid. Who knows, maybe I'll do the long wait and watch you wither away with age."
Jack froze, looking at his body as it fizzled out for just a moment. He whipped around to see Rhys cutting the port in the side of his head out with the piece of glass.
"Wait,wait,wait,wait…w-what are you doing? Rhys what the- what the hell are you doing?!"
With the tips of his fingers Rhys grabbed along the circular metal and pulled. It ripped free from his head with a sharp, tearing sound and he couldn't help but flinch when the small wire at the bottom disconnected with a snap.
He couldn't hear what Jack was saying, but he sounded…worried. Scared, almost.
'Good,' Rhys thought vindictively. There was only one more thing to do. Slowly but surely he managed to push himself to his feet. He wanted to see Jack when he ended this.
"No Rhys," Jack begged, his hands lifting helplessly as Rhys lifted the glass to his ECHO eye. "Y-you don't know what it's like!"
Rhys grunted with pain as he carefully wedged the glass between his iris and used it as a lever to pull it out. The protective covering popped out, making him cry out, but most of the wiring was still lodged in his head.
"…HEY!" Jack's cry brought him back to reality. The dead CEO was on his knees in front of Rhys. "I'm on my knees here! P-please don't send me back there!"
Rhys ignored him, wrapping his hand around the protruding part of his eye and slowly extracting it from his head. There were a few metal rings connected to the wire, and with each one he had to pull that much harder to get them out. It was excruciating, and he was honestly surprised he hadn't passed out yet.
"It's not like how they said," Jack pleaded. "There's nothing… absolutely nothing there. Don't do this!"
Most of the wire was out now. The only remaining part was the plug that actually connected the eye to his head. One final pull, and Jack would be gone forever.
Rhys looked down at him, his vision wavering. The man looked genuinely terrified.
"M-maybe I am the problem," Rhys stuttered, and for once Jack was silent. "Maybe my plans do end up with someone being hurt. B-but I know, if I let you live now, you'll just h-hurt even more people in the end."
"No," Jack shook his head frantically, rising to his feet.
"So, I'm sorry Jack." Rhys lifted his hand with finality. "This is goodbye."
"NO!" Jack roared, throwing himself at Rhys but it was to late. He disappeared before he could even reach the taller male.
Rhys breathed roughly through the pain as he looked down at the glowing blue iris in his hand. He tightened his hold to crush it, but something made him hesitate.
Jack had looked terrified. It was the first, genuine human emotion he had ever seen from the man. What must death be like for the god like Handsome Jack? Could he really sentence someone to an eternity of nothing? Even Handsome Jack?
He couldn't think about this now. There was too much going on, he was missing a good chunk of himself, and he was pretty damn sure that he was about to pass out. This was not the kind of state he wanted to be in when making that kind of decision. With rising doubt, he managed to tuck the small device into his pocket before his knees gave out. As the adrenaline drained from his body it was only a few seconds before his world went black.
... Tada? I know, not much changed, but words are pretty powerful. Especially when they could be true. So that's how this story will begin! The events after this will start in the months after the fall of Helios, so kind of still in game time. Also, I'd love your guy's feedback on what you thought of these moments in the game. This is just my general take on what could have happened, I'm still going in depth on different things so I can add stuff as I go. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, flames are generally ignored. Thanks for reading!