[Notes]
[This is very Rhys-centered so if you don't like him, this isn't the story for you. Sorry.
This is a story I wrote back in 2016 when I got really into Tales. It's sat on my computer at 29k words for two years now, and I haven't written much more to it. I've tried to come back to it but keep telling myself I'll update later and I never do. I want to try to, though. Maybe if you guys like it and want more I'll be motivated to update finally.
It diverges from cannon a bit. Quite a bit, actually. Just little-ish things that irked me, like them running after hacking Vasquez's car instead of stealing it like mature, thoughtful people. Minor stuff, I guess. Same basic plot but with some twists.
Edit: This is getting really AU. Diverging a bit from cannon - still basic 'look for pieces and find vault' bit but, well, differences. Hope that's okay.
Enjoy!]
xXx
Being stuck in someone's head is not what Jack expected out of life.
Being stuck in some code monkey's head is even worse, because it just reminds him of where he came from. Once upon a time he was just a lowly Hyperion programmer himself, after all; he rose in the ranks by taking what he wanted, murdering his way up the corporate ladder, and attempted to ignore the fact he started from such a low point.
But now he is stuck in a code monkey's head. Amoralcode monkey's head, too. He hasn't been in this guy's head for very long, but he's young and naïve and worse, he's toomoral. He doesn't want to kill people; Jack doesn't even have to be that far into his head or see him in action to know that. It's written all across his face every time he looks at it. That stupid face with the ECHO-eye and that stupid, slicked back hair. God, this kid's getting on his nerves and he's only been stuck in his head for not even one Pandoran day.
It makes him miss Helios. It's hard to count the hours in space, but he prefers that over the 90 hour days on Pandora, and just the general chaos of this place. This is such a lousy, no-good planet. He can't believe he ever wanted tosaveit in the first place. It would be better to just nuke it and go somewhere else. If there weren't vaults on Pandora, then maybe he would have done that ages ago. He should have.
But he can admit he was greedy and wanted what was in those vaults, so he tried to fix the planet. One would think the Pandorans would appreciate that; he was bringing order to them when before it was just completely chaos, but no, they decided to hate him for it and just become bandits.
He hates bandits.
At least, he decides, they are away from those two Pandoran girls – Fiona and Sasha, he thinks their names are, but he's never been good with names. Why bother? No one is worth his time except his daughter.
Angel.
For one brief moment, Jack thinks longingly of his daughter. He wonders where she is, if she's okay, if she thinks he's dead like apparently everyone else does on this crazy planet… He wonders if she's being looked after, but then realizes… who would watch out for her in his absence? It's not like he went around telling anyone about her. She was the best kept secret in Hyperion, and definitely the best kept secret on Pandora. The last he remembers – though it's all foggy, which is weird because he's a hologram so fog isn't really a thing, is it? – he was on working on getting the vault hunters to let him attack Sanctuary, their last little hideout with the resistance or whatever the fuck they're calling themselves.
But he's apparently been dead for six months. Apparently killed by said vault hunterssix months ago, and that makes him worry about his daughter. He hates everyone, he really does – he might have tolerated Nisha, but he never told her about his daughter, because in the end it all came back to the fact Nisha is a bandit. She might be better than other bandits, taking down the bad ones, but she's still a bandit nevertheless, just one which benefited Jack for a while. And the sex was fucking great. Nisha was a naughty girl indeed.
But anyway, back to the hating people.
Because he does.
He hates everyone but himself.
Everyone but himself, and his daughter.
She is the only person he loves – the only person he's ever truly loved. Once upon a time he might have loved his mother, but then she ditched him to live with his grandmother. It was strange, as a kid – to have a home and a semi-normal life one moment, and then to suddenly have it taken away when he's dropped off onPandoraof all places, to live with a woman he's never met and barely even heard of.
His grandmother wasn't the best, to put it simply.
He still has the scars on his side from her buzz axe.
So he hated his mother after that, and never saw her again. Never learned what happened to her after she promised to come back and then didn't, but never bothered to look, either. Because he hated her. And he hated his grandmother.
He thinks he felt fond enough of his first wife, Angel's mom. She wasn't so bad. But then she went and died, leaving him alone to take care of a small, powerful Siren, and so yeah, a part of him hates her, too.
But Angel…
He loves Angel, even after what she did to her mom.
She was a child – innocent and sweet, and she didn't know what she was doing. She reminded Jack of a better time in his life, and he couldn't be mad at her for it. So he hid her away.
He told his next wife about her. There was a touch of something in that relationship, but Jack was never reallyfondof her. He just thought Angel could use a mother figure in her life, and after careful research, this woman seemed to fit the bill. Nurturing and kind, with experience with kids. Also, she was a teacher from Eden-6. So she could help with Angel's studies while Jack was busy with work, even though Angel was probably smarter than her, even at such a young age.
But then his wife went and betrayed him by suggesting they shut down the 'Angel-project', and yeah. He had to get rid of her. No one threatens his baby.
So he hid Angel even more. Hid her from absolutely everyone.
And now he's left wondering who might care enough to look after her. Who might care enough to find her, where he's hidden her. Angel's smart; she could probably break out if she was desperate enough, but then what? She has no friends, because no one can be trusted. Where would she go?
Jack needs to find her.
But first he has to get back to Helios, and get his own body. Get out of this guy's head. Whatever the fuck his name is. Ryan? Ren? Rhys? Rhys. His name is Rhys.
He thinks.
"Don't know what state of being I'm in now but, uh, walking still sucks," Jack says for what has to be the third time or so, but honestly, it does suck. He could just travel in Rhys' head, but it's awkward in there. Awkward because he's not reallyexistingin there. It's more like he's sleeping, but there's no dreams. It's just like he stops existing for a while, and that's really unsettling, because he's not a ghost. He's not a hologram. He's not dead.
The heroes aren't supposed to die.
"So you've said," Rhys mutters, mostly under his breath, but his freakishly buff nerd friend looks over at him anyway. "Uh, sorry – Jack's being annoying."
The nerd frowns somewhat. Jack's still not a fan of the whole 'let's tell the buff nerd everything that's going on' plan of Rhys's, but there's nothing he can do about it right now. He has no power here; he's just a fuckinghologram. Except he's not. Because he's not dead. Heroes don't die.
"Where are we going, anyway?" Rhys asks. "It's going to be getting dark soon, I think."
Jack snorts, but the kid's not completely wrong. The sunissetting, but with the 90 hour days here… yeah, it'll still be a few hours before it's completely set. Still, the temperature drops dramatically in the desert, at night, especially with Pandora's night cycle, and while Jack can't feel temperature, that doesn't quite mean hewantsto be out in the cold. Mostly because these two losers will freeze to death.
Which, normally he'd be fine with, but he's kind of stuck with Rhys for the time being, so letting the kid die isn't good for his own well-being. So, there's that.
"What are we going to do at night?" the nerd asks, suddenly worried.
Earlier he was so excited to have lived a few moonshots, and a rakk hive. Now he's close to panicking and looking at Rhys like he knows what to do. Which is hilarious. Rhys is a stranger on Pandora; he knows nothing.
He's toomoralto survive here.
"We'll manage," Rhys says. "Yvette knows where we are. She'll… do something, I'm sure, if we're in real trouble."
The kid sure places a lot of trust in thisYvettechick. That's going to be his downfall, Jack is sure. You can't trust anyone. You can only rely on yourself. One day he'll learn that lesson. Hopefully before he dies and takes Jack with him.
"You could… ask Jack, right?" the nerd asks timidly. "I mean – right?"
Rhys looks skyward for a moment. "90 hour days, huh? We still have a few hours before we have to really worry. Let's keep moving and see if we can find some shelter. And I still have my stun baton."
Abatonis the kid's weapon of choice. Granted, Jack hasn't seen thisbatonin action, but it's a fucking baton, it won't do any good against guns. Christ, what has he gotten himself into? He looks skyward himself, toward the big H in the sky. He wants to go back there. It was never home, but at least it was better than Pandora.
Rhys seems to want to get back to Helios, too, so that's something, at least. Jack can work with that.
He's good at manipulating people, after all; so that's what he'll do. He'll manipulate Rhys into going back to Helios and giving Jack what he wants. And maybe Jack won't kill him after it's all over. Who knows?
More walking, and yeah, walking still sucks. Even if it's only because he'sbored. They have no real set destination in mind, the deserts of Pandora are vast and wide, so it's not like they'll be out of here anytime soon, if they remain on foot. There's a flicker of worry deep inside, but he's not sure where it comes from. He's not worried about these losers, but if Rhys dies, then he dies, too.
So, that's something to think about.
xXx
They find a cave to stay in that night. It's cold and dark, but at least it's out of the open, and maybe a bit safer. Rhys isn't sure what to think of it; but again, at least it's out of the open. If they're going to be attacked, hopefully it won't be by bandits.
And that's really all one can hope for on Pandora.
They're both shivering, and Jack is nowhere to be seen for once, thank god.
For a hologram in his head, the guy can sure get annoying.
For one, he doesn't like being ignored, apparently, and constantly answering him gets tiring, especially with how Vaughn looks at him when he does it. He's not sure if Vaughn completely believes that Handsome Jack is indeed in his head, but maybe it doesn't really matter. Hopefully they can figure all of this out soon; someone on Hyperion will want AI Jack. Maybe they can use it as a bargaining chip if they really need to.
Thinking about it gives Rhys a headache, though.
Vaughn is shivering when Rhys waves his hand in his direction, the light emanating from his robotic palm allowing him to see his friend properly. He frowns; he doesn't like seeing Vaughn so uncomfortable.
"Think you'll be able to sleep tonight?" Rhys asks.
Vaughn shivers more, and shakes his head. "N-No," he says, teeth chattering.
Rhys has far more layers of clothing than the accountant does. He sighs and takes off his vest, handing it to the guy. It won't do much, but it will be big on him so maybe it will offer him at leastsomewarmth. Vaughn eyes the vest carefully for a moment, before he accepts it with trembling fingers.
"Thanks," he says quietly.
Rhys shrugs and keeps his palm open so there's light in the small cave, and he sits carefully on the ground with his back against the cave wall. Vaughn sits a few feet away, still shivering, attempting to wrap the sleeveless vest around him as much as he can. Poor thing. Empathy shoots through Rhys and he sighs heavily.
"Come here."
Vaughn looks over at him, frowning. "Excuse me?"
"Come here," Rhys repeats. "I can't have you freezing to death, and at least one of us needs some sleep. I'll keep watch. Come here."
He's always had this protective instinct about Vaughn, though he's not sure why. Maybe because the guy was his first true friend; he doesn't know. All he knows is he can't stand to see his friend suffering like this, and he's going to fix it.
Vaughn hesitates, before the cold gets to him and he shuffles closer so he's right up next to Rhys. Rhys throws his flesh arm around his friend, pulling him into his side. Vaughn's shivering slowly subsides. Rhys smiles.
"Get some sleep," he says.
"You're a good friend," Vaughn says tiredly.
"I know, I'm awesome. Don't forget this when I'm grouchy in the morning."
Vaughn laughs sleepily, settling further against him. It's not the first time they've cuddled; they were roommates for a time, after all, and they fell asleep together on the couch more than once. But this is the first time they've done it purely for warmth.
It's a survival tactic, though.
"Aren't you twosweet," Jack says, causing Rhys to flinch.
Vaughn blinks his eyes open, waking very briefly, before he quickly drifts back off to sleep.
Rhys throws a glare at the hologram. "It's freezing, in case you haven't noticed."
"Is it?"
Rhys rolls his eyes. "Hologram."
Jack's eyes narrow. "Better watch your mouth, cupcake. Hate for something to happen to it."
"Do you have anything useful to say, or are you just here to bug me?"
"This is no walk in the park for me either, pumpkin," Jack says, rolling his eyes, managing to sound absolutely insufferable in a way only a hologram can. "I don't want to be here any more than you do. So you get me back to Hyperion and we'll get this sorted out, capiche?"
Rhys sighs. "Yeah, yeah, we'll get right on that when we're not blacklisted and stranded in the middle of the desert, thanks."
"Feisty, huh, cupcake?" Jack smiles, all teeth and no grin. "I like it."
"Please stop talking," Rhys says, feeling his face heat up. Thank god it's dark in the cave and Jack can't see him. "Where have you been, anyway?"
"Around," Jack says evasively.
Fine, don't tell me.
It's not like it matters.
He doesn't care anyway, of course.
" 's it Jack 'gain?" Vaughn mumbles into his shoulder, which he is using as a pillow.
Rhys sighs, glancing down at his friend's barely parted eyes. "Yep, Jack again. Go back to sleep, Vaughn."
" m'kay…"
He shakes his head, smirking faintly at his friend before he lets the light on his robotic palm die away.
With it, Jack disappears, and Rhys sets about keeping watch for the long Pandoran night.
xXx
Rhys falls asleep many hours later, when Vaughn wakes up 'refreshed' but sore, still curled into Rhys's side. Vaughn says he'll keep an eye on things if Rhys wants to sleep.
Rhys's eyes are already falling shut before he can fully agree with Vaughn's suggestion.
xXx
Vaughn falls asleep a few hours after that.
Jack is not amused. He's a hologram but he's stuck keeping watch, and he has no idea how to wake these idiots up should something happen. He has half a mind to just let them die, but then he'll die, too.
So. There's that.
Maybe if he focuses enough he can get into Rhys's head and wake him up.
Well. He's bored, so why not try to give the kid a headache?
xXx
Rhys's head is killing him.
It's the pain that wakes him, emanating from his neural port on the left side of his head. He groans and drags his flesh hand up to rub at it, grimacing. As he moves, Vaughn nearly topples to the side since Rhys was the one holding him up, even in his sleep. Vaughn catches himself with a jagged, shocked breath, hands splayed across Rhys' chest in an attempt to keep himself upright. For a moment they stare at each other, both in shock, before Vaughn quickly pulls away and Rhys blinks, rubbing at his head again.
Jack is laughing. He's very loud.
"Oh, this is perfect," Jack all butcackles. "You two losers are priceless."
"Rhys, you okay? You look pale…" Vaughn says, unaware of Jack's words and his loud laughter. Lucky him.
Rhys groans, closing his eyes. The sun has definitely come up, and while it's warmer, it's too bright right now. It hurts.
"Rhys?"
"I'm fine, just a headache," Rhys says before Vaughn can worry too much. If there's one thing Vaughn does well, it's worry. All the time. About everything. Especially his friends. Which isn't bad, but can be a bit… overwhelming, at times. Rhys swats Vaughn's probing hands away, blinking his eyes open despite the pain and the light. "I said I'm fine. I'm okay. Headache. Normal."
Jack's still laughing off in the corner, holographic blue form bent over so his hands are somehow not sliding through his knees.
Rhys throws him a glare. "What are you so giggly about, anyway?"
"How's your head feel, cupcake?" Jack asks with another laugh.
Rhys blinks at him, then narrows his eyes once more. "Wait a minute – are you sayingyougave me this headache?"
Which, no. That's rude and painful and he'snothappy about this, dammit.
"Well, I had to wake you upsomehow, didn't I, pumpkin?" Jack asks, looking absolutely smug in all the blocky glory of a hologram.
"Rhys?"
Rhys blinks at his friend. "Sorry. Jack's being rude."
"You were both asleep; I had to wake you up," Jack says, crossing his arms over his chest like he's insulted at being called rude, which is a lie. Rhys knows for a fact Jack has been called a lot worse. "Good to know I can if I really have to, I suppose. But it wasn't fun for me either, cupcake."
"Stop calling me that," Rhys says.
"Huh?" Vaughn asks, utterly confused as Rhys pushes to his feet.
"Not you," Rhys tells him.
"Jack? What's he saying?" Vaughn asks.
"He keeps calling me…" Rhys hesitates. Telling Vaughn what Jack is calling him can't be a good idea, he's sure.
Jack is laughing again.
Damn it.
"What? What's he calling you?" Vaughn asks, curious.
"Nothing," Rhys tells him. "Alright – the sun is up. Let's keep moving. We need to get out of this desert."
Vaughn looks like he wants to argue, but he doesn't. He just snaps his mouth shut and follows Rhys out of the cave. Holo-Jack is waiting for him outside already, still snickering. Rhys throws him a glare and walks past him.
xXx
"Do you think the girls are okay?" Vaughn asks later.
Rhys sighs; it's not the first time Vaughn has asked, and while he admires the guy's loyalty and concern for the girls, answering him is getting tiring because Rhys doesn'tknowthe answer. The last they saw of the girls, they were in the caravan, running from moonshots. Yvette said she got the moonshots to stop for the time being; hopefully that meant the girls are okay and got away.
But if they did… where are they? Are they really not going to come looking for them?
He knows they aren't exactlyfriends, but he likes to think that after what they've been through together so far, there's at leastsomeloyalty –someconcern, like Vaughn is exhibiting for them.
They entered a death race together, after all; they hunted down the money together. They entered an underground bunker together, and got pieces of the 'Gortys Project', whateverthatis. Which might lead to a vault.
But Rhys still has his piece; Fiona has hers.
So if they want to get to the vault they're going to at least need Rhys's piece. So they'll have to come find them eventually, right?
"I'm sure they're fine," Rhys says as they keep walking.
"Boring," Jack huffs. "I'm so bored. You two are boring."
Rhys tries to ignore him.
Jack does not like being ignored. At all.
"Aw, c'mon, cupcake, don't be like that."
"Stop calling me cupcake!" Rhys hisses, practically stomping his foot in irritation, and Vaughn blinks at the sudden outburst. Rhys sucks in a breath and forces his posture to relax.
"Cupcake?" Vaughn asks.
"Don't ask," Rhys says, glaring at him. "Don't you even ask."
Vaughn holds his hands up harmlessly. "Wouldn't dream of it, bro."
"Good. Good. See that is stays that way." Rhys runs his robotic fingers through his hair in that nervous habit of his. "Alright. Let's keep going."
They begin walking again. Jack is still quietly laughing as he follows behind them.
Rhys ignores him as best he can.
xXx
Annoying Rhys is… well, it's notfun, but at least Jack isn't as bored as before. That's something, at least. Definitely something, because being boredsucks, especially when he literally can't do anything about it except give Rhys a headache.
Not that he doesn'twantto give Rhys a headache. Because he does.
But he already did, and having the kid crippled in pain in the middle of the desert isn't such a great idea. See – Jack can think ahead. He knows better than to trust the desert, especially with these two idiots. He can't leave them alone and making the only semi-capable one of them – Rhys – unconscious with pain just isn't a good idea right now. Maybe later.
Maybe the buff nerd could surprise him, though.
He's surprised by the random muscles, of course, but that hardly means the nerd is okay in a fight.
He's too short to be even the least bit intimidating, even with that body.
Which Jack is totally not jealous of, but he was serious when he said he could never get that toned no matter how much he worked out. Saving the planet doesn't leave much time for the gym, after all.
And now he's comparing his body to a buff nerd, because he'sbored, and there's this little part of his mind that wonders what Rhys looks like under all the layers. Is he buff, too? Did Jack just miss the memo that suddenly all his underlings are buff for no reason? Did they all somehow find time for the gym?
He doesn't know, but he's bored, and it's driving him crazy now.
"Rhysie," he says as sweetly as he can, which is just, ugh, sickening for him to do, but he does it nevertheless. Instantly, he has Rhys's attention, blue and brown eyes latching onto him, a suspicious twist to the kid's lips. Which is just rude, really. Jack can be nice if he wants to. He doesn't have to have a reason.
"What?" Rhys asks, frowning.
"Huh?" the nerd asks.
Rhys shakes his head, keeping his gaze on Jack.
The nerd takes the hint.
"You don't need to look at me like that, okay, cupcake?"
Rhys scowls. "Why do you insist on calling me that?"
"Sensitive, are we? Is it your time of the month, Rhysie?"
Rhys rolls his eyes, huffs, and turns away from Jack, stomping away like Jack won't immediately follow.
No, you know what? Jack won't follow.
Screw that guy.
He stops moving. It's strange. He can't feel the desert sand beneath him, but then he can't feel much of anything, really. There's like this electric hum going through his body, but that's really about it. He can phase through some things, but not others, it seems like. Like the ground, for instance. Yep, that's pretty solid. Not phasing through that.
The further away Rhys gets, Jack does start to feel something else.
It's not quite…physical, but if he had to compare it to something, it would be his throat closing up, his windpipe not wanting to work properly. A tight feeling somewhere. It reminds him vaguely of panic, or at least what he remembers panic to feel like. He hasn't felt that in a long time, though, and he's certainly not feeling it rightnow. Because no. He is not panicking. He is not some clingy hologram who-
He growls in frustration, stomping angrily after Rhys and the nerd.
Then he stops, because no, he's not giving into thisthing, whatever it is. He is Handsome Jack, and Handsome Jack doesn't justgive into things. He especially doesn't feelpanic, nor does he follow nobodies likeRhys.
He folds his arm across his chest and stands his ground.
"Oh my fucking god," he hears Rhys grumble from yards away, suddenly stopping to turn and face Jack. "Could you keep up, please?"
"Why?" Jack asks, mostly because he's curious, but also because –Rhys is not his fucking boss and Jack does not follow orders.
"Because I don't like suddenly feeling like I left the stove on," Rhys growls back at him. "It's making me paranoid, so could you just?"
Jack frowns somewhat. Hmm. So Rhys feels it too, but it's not as pronounced? Weird. Definitely weird. But something to focus on, at least; something he can attempt to unravel. He might not be in this holographic form for long, but he can at least attempt to figure out how it works. Because, hey, he might actually be stuck here for a bit, until they get back to Helios.
That might take a while, unfortunately. Especially since they're stranded out in the desert. And right now Jack really has nothing better to do.
"We're waiting for a hologram to catch up…?" the nerd asks, confused.
"Aw, what's the matter, pumpkin? Can't stand to be without me?" Jack asks, standing his ground.
Rhys's shoulders stiffen. He shakes his head and turns away from Jack, stomping off angrily.
The yanking, panicked feeling returns somewhere in Jack's nonexistent chest. It's so fuckingweird. The further apart they get, the more he feels like-
And then he teleports.
He doesn't mean for it to happen. He's literally watching Rhys walk away one second, and then the next he'sinsideof the kid.
Rhys freaks out.
"Don't do that!" the kid shouts, jumping out of the space the hologram is currently occupying, hands rubbing awkwardly down his chest as he shivers, like he's covered in invisible cobwebs.
Jack blinks. Suddenly teleporting is a bit disorientating. "Oh, like I did it on purpose, cupcake. Calm down."
The nerd stares at Rhys. "What just happened? What did he do?"
"Oh, like it'smyfault," Jack says, insulted.
Why does the hero always get blamed for everything?
"He just… teleported to me, suddenly," Rhys says, shaking his head. "It's nothing. Sorry."
The look he gives Jack is supposed to be angry, he assumes, but instead it just looks exhausted, like Rhys is tired of this. Well, screw him. Jack's tired of this shit too. It's not like heaskedfor this, after all. It's not like he woke up one morning and was like 'oh, hey, I'll just be a hologram uploaded into some code monkey's head and irritate the shit out of him, yeah that sounds like fun'. No. He didn't do that. Because this sucks.
"Note to self," Jack says, not to himself. Loudly. Because fuck you, Rhys, that's why. "We can't be too far apart or I will teleportinsideyou. Bet you like that, huh, cupcake?"
"Please stop talking," Rhys says with this whole 'kill me now' tone of voice, and his cheeks are red.
Jack smirks. "Youdolike that, huh, cupcake? I bet you like all these pet names, too."
"For the love of god, stop talking," Rhys groans.
The nerd looks at him like he's crazy.
"Don't even ask," Rhys says.
"No, go on, ask," Jack says, like the nerd can hear him. "I want to hear you explain yourself."
Rhys gives him a withering look and then turns to walk away. Jack laughs, following a few paces behind him, mostly so he won't teleport suddenly again. Useful ability if he could control it but he honestly has no idea how he did that. So. There's that.
"So this crush on me…" Jack says.
"It's not a crush!" Rhys says loudly, throwing him another withering look. "I already told you, I had Hyperion issuedmotivationalposters! Everyone had them!"
"Are you… okay, Rhys?" the nerd asks, clearly stunned at the sudden outburst.
It makes Jack laugh harder. Rhys really looks crazy right now. "So thiscrush on me," he says again. "How far does it go? Because you're blushing more than usual there, Rhysie."
"Oh my god…" Rhys looks away, shoulders slumped. "What did I do to deserve this? No, really – what the hell did I do to deserve a hologram picking on me in the middle of a desert on Pandora?"
"Well… we did steal ten million dollars," the nerd says helpfully. "And attempted to steal Vasquez's deal. And stole his car. And broke a vault key, which wasn't really a vault key. And-"
"Okay, you're not helping!" Rhys says, tossing his friend that same withering glare.
"Rhysie, I didn't know you were such a little thief," Jack says, mostly because watching Rhys suddenly blush is amusing, and he's bored. "A kid after my own heart. But you broke a vault key?"
"It wasn't real," Rhys says quickly. "Fiona and Sasha made it to look like it was real, but it wasn't."
Of course. The Pandoran con artists. "And that actually worked on you?"
"Hey, don't look atme," Rhys says. "I was following what information I got from hacking Vasquez's computer. It's notmyfault he was overconfident and didn't realize it was a fake. I didn't even know until I saw the key and tried to scan it; there was this EMP blast or something and it… I dropped it. It broke. Pretty clear it wasn't real then."
That is quite possibly the most Rhys has spoken to Jack since he came to life in the kid's head. Huh. Interesting.
"Okay, only hearing half the conversation is a bit confusing," the buff nerd says, catching Rhys's attention.
Rhys sighs. He's so dramatic. "Right, yeah, sorry, Vaughn. Let's keep moving."
They're already moving, but they pick up the pace a bit.
Jack sighs and follows after. He really has no choice. It's either that or teleport again.
When Vaughn asks about the girls again, Jack sighs and focuses on Rhys's head.
Rhys winces as Jack inserts himself back inside, in a dreamless sort of slumber.
xXx
On Pandora, the day cycle is 90 hours long.
That's roughly 45 hours of daylight, 45 hours of night.
It's too long.
The heat is harsh, and they're both thirsty. It's hot and humid and there are no clouds, of course. Of course there's not. Because the planet hates him. Everything hates him. The universe hates him.
That's why they're suck here, on this chaotic planet, in the middle of a desert, and he has a hologram stuck in his head.
Because everything hates him.
They're going to die out here if they don't find water or something soon.
He brings up his robotic palm, attempting to call Yvette again, but sadly she doesn't answer. He sighs, closing his palm and dropping his arm back to his side. Vaughn looks at him hopefully, then sighs sadly when Rhys shakes his head at him. Still nothing from Yvette.
He won't say anything about it, but he's worried how much longer they can last.
Panicking Vaughn won't help matters, though.
"Do you think the girls are okay?" Vaughn asks,again, and something inside of Rhys snaps.
"Would youstopasking about them already?" he snaps, shooting his friend a glare. He'll blame his rage on the heat later, but for right now… "What does itmatterhow they are? They don't care about us! They left us here to die! You're so worried about them, but they obviously don't care aboutus, do they? Or they'd be here!"
He waves around them as he spins in a slow circle, making it a point to show that they are, in fact, alone, in this desert wasteland.
"It's just you and me. If they caredat allthey would have come to find us by now."
"Someone'spanties are in a twist," Jack comments, a flicker of blue in the corner of Rhys's eye. He growls and rounds on the hologram.
"Shut the hell up," he snaps. "I am not in the mood for your shit right now, okay? If you have nothing helpful to say, then don't say anything at all."
With that, he starts walking again.
It takes a moment, but eventually Vaughn's footsteps follow after him.
There's not a lot of conversation after that.
xXx
Rhys doesn't like losing his temper.
He tends to lash out at people and do and say things he regrets once his mind is a little less fogged with anger. Vaughn doesn't deserve his rage, after all.
"I'm sorry," he apologizes later, with a weak voice and a dry mouth. It's so hot, and they still haven't found any water or anything. At least Vaughn is wearing his shirt on his head again, but Rhys refuses to just strip in the desert.
He becomes increasingly self-conscious when he has fewer layers of clothes on.
And with Holo-Jack stalking him, he would feelreallyself-conscious. Yeah, no. Not happening right now. Not today. No thanks.
"It's cool, bro," Vaughn tells him. "The heat's just getting to you, is all."
They walk in silence for a few more minutes.
"You do have a point, though…" Vaughn admits.
"Hmm?" Rhys glances at him.
"About the girls," Vaughn says. "It's been like… half a Pandoran day since we were separated, right? They have a vehicle. They could come find us, but instead…" He shrugs. "So you're not completely wrong, you know."
Rhys knows he's not wrong, but hearing Vaughn sound so downtrodden is not what he wanted. "It'll be okay," he says as confidently as he can. "We'll be fine."
Vaughn nods, but he doesn't look convinced. Of course he's not convinced. Rhys himself isn't convinced they won't die in the next few hours if they don't find something to drink soon.
And it's very unlikely they'll be able to find another cave to stay in tonight, so there's the matter of shelter to deal with, if they make it to nightfall again.
The days on Pandora are too long
xXx
(So I will confess this story is not mine but I like the way it was written as well as the story, the story is made by AkuChibiI on Archive of our Own or AOE support him/her and all the people and the story is owned by their respectful owners nothing is mine)