Helloooo readers! This is my first every fan fiction, newly updated. I was looking around one day for some fan fic about Handsome Jack's personal life, and well, I didn't find much! So I decided to fill in the gap myself. (if you know of any good ones, I'd be delighted if you'd point me in the right direction). Thank you so much for reading this first chapter and I would love some feedback to help me improve. Please be kind as I am totally new to this! Happy reading :-)
Moxxi scrutinized Mary in a way that made her squirm in the remains of her scorched tank top and ragged jeans.
"I'm not sure if you have what it takes." She scanned Mary up and down. "You're a pretty little thing, but you're as green as the grass that never grows around here, I'd hate to see you get squashed like scag pup out there."
"Please Moxxie. I have to earn some money. I know I could fight in your arenas. Maybe if I had a little practice first, I can show you what I can do?" Mary held out her hand, a little flame licked out of the palm, she raised her hand to her mouth and blew the flame towards Moxxi's face like she was blowing her a kiss.
She gasped and dodged it so it just singed her hair. "That's what I am talking about sweetie! I guess you can come and fight in my arenas. With your spunk, maybe you'll be a natural. People sure would pay through their noses to see a gorgeous little siren like you lighten' people on fire."
Mary sighed with relief. She knew she wasn't quite as green as she looked. She had been orphaned on Pandora three years ago when her powers started to form, and had been struggling to survive the harsh environment every since. It wasn't easy making her way from town to town across the badlands fighting off scags and bullymongs that would love to gobble her up. Not to mention the bandits. She had occasionally found safety in a few bandit camps that had been in awe of flame wielding talents and would feed her and give her shelter in exchange for burning up a few of their enemies. Killing psychos and marauders had become her primary source of income, why not continue it in the arenas? It would probably be safer and pay better.
So began Mary's new life as a fighter. Moxxi insisted she call herself Celosia, which meant "aflame" and provided her with an eye catching outfit of flaming red and orange that complimented her white skin and blue siren markings. She loved her new flashy look and relished the attention she received as she rose threw the ranks as a competitor. She soon become a local favorite, it wasn't really a challenge. After all, not many people could stand up to a siren, even one as green as Celosia. She was slowly starting to put aside some money to find herself her own home, perhaps a place with the vault hunters, or better yet, a ship off this armpit of a planet.
Late one night, after the fights were done, Celosia was exhausted and irritable. She wanted a few hours alone to read and rest. But on that night, a wealthy smuggler from off world spotted her making her way back to the little cabin Moxxi rented to her, just outside the arena. Celosia had just began to settle in. She filled her tub with hot water and began to undress, looking forward to washing away the grime, blood, and ash that she was always coated in after a fight. Suddenly the greasy, drunken smuggler kicked in her door and grabbed her from behind. He stabbed her in the side, then roughly turned her around and punched her in the stomach, followed by a kick sending her to the floor. As he climbed over her and started unbuttoning his pants, she held up her hand and a blast of flame came out and within seconds he was roasting on the floor and disintegrating into ashes.
She had to get out of there before Moxxi found out that one of her wealthiest patrons needed to vacuumed up of the floor. She knew Moxxi would not take kindly to finding out that he attempted to molest one of her employees. With Moxxi's fiery temperament Celosia knew she would want revenge and when the smuggler's crew found out he had been murdered, there could be a clan war. She paused just long enough to slip into a clean set of clothes and took nothing but her favorite pistol with her as she left the room. She looked back just to snap her fingers, sending the whole room up in flames to hid any evidence of who might be dead in there. As she ran, she suddenly heard a loud explosion and turned just in time to see a row of explosive barrels stored not far from her house ignited by a stray spark. The went off like a ship's cannon fire and she gasped in horror as one slammed in the dome of the arena, sending it up in flames. The smoke brought the attention of the marauders who worked for Moxxi but Celosia was long gone by the time they arrived at the scene.
She didn't know where to go, she was afraid to return to Moxxi after what just happened. She had been with Moxxi for the last four years and hadn't done well very on her own before that. She drifted from town to town, bar to bar, doing what she knew best. Using her flames to fight, collecting bets, and occasionally someone would pay her to kill someone for them. She dreamed of one day finding Roland or one of the other vault hunters. She hoped they might have more permanent work for someone with her talents.
One day, she walked into a bar in a new town and find Moxxi behind the counter. She started, and froze. Moxxi put her hand on her hip, "You have been such a naughty girl, disappearing like that after what you did to my dome! When that good-for nothing money bags disappeared, his crew came and trashed everything that was left, looking for evidence that I had murdered him. They were sure that was his body in your cabin, they found his gun only half charred up under your night stand. Why I should murder right here on the spot after the trouble you put me through!" Celosia noticed the butt end of a gun protruding from Moxxi's cleavage.
"What you should do is think twice before threatening a siren." She fondled a ball of fire in her hand as she stared Moxxi down."
"I may not be able to shoot flames out of my ass but more powerful people then you can imagine owe me favors, you'd be dead before dark if I put a hit out on you." Moxxi grinned.
"Well, I may be dead before dark, but you'd be a pile of ashes all the same. Or I could just scorch your tits off, or perhaps your pretty little mouth. How would you make a living without those? I guess you wouldn't be owed quite so many favors after that." Celsoia grinned right back.
"Alright you little witch thing, I'll look the other way for now." Moxxi suddenly burst out laughing and clambered over the counter throwing her arms around Celosia.
"Hell, am I glad to see you alive, and I can't believe you survived all this time by yourself, with all the trouble you seem to get into." Moxxi shook her head and then sauntered back behind the bar.
A drunken man stumbled towards Celosia. "Hey there sugar tits, you wanna let me have a taste of you?" He grabbed her butt and opened his mouth as he leaned in, blasting her with breath that reeked like a bullymong pile. "Ugh!" Celosia squirmed out of his grasp and with a flick of her wrist sent him flying out through a window with a ball of flames. He got up bloody and scorched and screaming and ran off as fast as he could manage.
"Are you determined to burn down every one of my establishments!" Moxxi cried. "I guess my dome wasn't enough." She sure could change her tune in a second, Celosia marveled, thinking it was about time for her to go before she really did burn down the bar. She supposed Moxxi did have good reason to consider that a posiblilty.
Celosia took a deep breath and just as she was turning to finally leave, a tall, slim figure rose out of the shadows behind the slot machines.
"Well that was quite a show." His voice echoed with self-importance and the bar hushed. "I think I kinda like you. You're a pretty little thing. Almost as pretty as me, and well that's high praise."
She stopped and stared. She definitely recognized that face. It was a face no one could forget. Not that he would let anyone on Pandora forget anyways. It was plastered on every bill board all across that armpit of a planet. Handsome Jack. Whether or not he was ever actually handsome, was hard to tell, considering his face was actually a mask, covering what Celosia had always assumed must be horrible scars.
Normally, anyone who talked to her like that would already be brushing the ashes off their bodies and hoping they still had hair. But something about Handsome Jack didn't trigger her usual flammable temperament. She let her eyes scan him up and down. Even with the mask, there was something intriguing about him. The cocky way he stood, the fit of his suit, the white streak in his burgundy hair, his piercing eyes, one blue, one green, his smug grin. She felt drawn to him like she had never felt before with anyone. She stepped closer to him, their eyes met.
Everything was quite, for a moment, and then everyone seemed to realize that she wasn't about to make Jack burst into flames and he wasn't about to put a bullet in her head, so they went back to their drinking and gossiping and someone turned on the jukebox.
"I like this song." Celosia breathed as she moved a little closer to the infamously insane president of Pandora. "Dance with me." She wasn't really giving him an option.
Handsome Jack liked to frequent the bars in the cities of Pandora when he was in a killing mood. Sometimes having his mechs do all the murdering for him just got dull. When nobody in his office needing offing, he would wonder through a few obscure bars until he heard someone bad mouthing him, or his methods, or the food, or anything, and shoot them, or if he was really in a good mood, strangle them. He had a fondness for feeling someone's throat crushing under his power. It was pretty bad luck to find himself in bar run by Moxxi, considering their history, but he was secretly curious about what she was up to these days.
Anyways, watching this hot little fireball of a siren talk back to Moxxi had fascinated him, almost a much as blasting that drunken lose out of the window. Sirens were rare and had always intrigued him.
Usually whenever he showed up, people had one of two reactions, either they started falling all over themselves to ingratiate themselves with him, or they tried to shoot him. He especially liked the second response, made it really easy to find some to strangle. Having a beautiful and gifted woman confidently tell him to dance with her, well that was a first.
She took his hand and he placed his other hand around her they started swaying to the music. He was a good dancer and he knew it. She was a good dancer too, he liked the way her hips swayed with his as they spun and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Suddenly the music stopped. Moxxi slammed her gun down on the counter. She gasped at the sight of Jack in her bar. "You get the hell out of my bar right now you asshole! And you" she turned to Celosia
"You get your tiny little freak hands off him!" Moxxi and Jack had a fling a while back, she could be a little possessive.
"Oh really? Make me." Celosia looked right at Moxxi and snapped her fingers. The counter top burst into a line of flames trapping Moxxi behind the bar.
"That was awesome!" Jack was grinning like a kid on Christmas. "Now make her burst into flames too."
"Nope, time to get out of here." Celosia grabbed Handsome Jack by the hand and dragged him out into the streets. Gunfire exploded out of the bar behind them as a squad of marauders, courtesy of Moxxi, charged out after them.
They stopped and turned around, Jack began blasting them with some sort of laser coming out of his wrist watches and Celosia sent a fire storm that swept the remaining few off of their feet and dropped them to the ground, burnt to a crisp.
"We make quite a team." Handsome Jack observed, with a mischievous smile. "Let's go blow more stuff up!"
"I'd like nothing better." Celosia could hardly believe it, but she was starting to really like this guy.
The strode out of town and made for Jack's personal buzzard. His pilot was waiting.
"Who is the chick?" The driver asked, practically drooling. Jack shot him in the head and tossed his body out of the buzzard. He put his hands around Celosia's waist and gave her a boost up into the aircraft and hopped in beside her.
He turned and kissed her feverishly on the mouth and then flew the buzzard up over the city and out over the waste land that is Pandora.
"You didn't need to kill the pilot." Celosia said quietly after reeling from the shock and intensity of the kiss.
"There are only two seats." Jack shrugged. "But I guess next time I'll just throw him out instead if that would make you feel better Pumpkin?"
"It would, yes." She nodded slightly. "And don't call me Pumpkin." She began to wonder what exactly she had gotten herself into. It had all happened so fast and now that she had a moment to think, she wasn't sure flying off with this psychopath to who knows where was the best idea after all. But there was still something about him that drew her like a magnet. She couldn't seem to take her eyes off him. She tried to watch the view go by, but found herself glancing in his direction often, hoping he wouldn't notice.
Of course he did notice, and he mentally polished his ego a little at the pleasure of her obvious fascination with him. Naturally anyone would be fascinated by me, he thought. But deep underneath his assumed bravado, he was surprised. He would never admit it to himself, but he didn't know anyone who genuinely liked him.