For a while they all stared at him. The August raised his fists. "I think I should hit him again."
"That's not going to fix his cybernetics," Fiona complained.
"Hey, who said anything about fixing them?"
"How do we know you're not lying?" Sasha said, pointing her gun at Rhys accusingly. "Maybe you want us all stuck here."
"Ooookay, look, before we all start playing the blame game and arguing over who's going to beat the crap out of me, how about we just take a moment to think of some alternatives," said Rhys. He tried to smile, to ease the tension, but only Gortys smiled back and he was pretty sure she would smile at anything if encouraged.
"What alternatives?" Fiona asked. "Unless there's some secret air duct you think we can crawl through then we're stuck here."
"Well, uh..." he wracked his brains. The trouble was he didn't really have any alternatives, none of this scenario was stuff he could have planned for. "We could... we could..."
"Hostages!" exclaimed Sasha. "That's a thought, right?"
"Hey guys-" Gortys began, only to be cut off by August.
"Yeah, except Hyperion doesn't give a damn who you've got at gunpoint."
"It's a better plan than just standing here."
"Guys-"
"I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with August," said Rhys, "even if you do find someone important enough to be worth the hassle people here can be a little... backstabby."
"Yeah, you've demonstrated that just fine," Sasha said.
Fiona gave a groan of exasperation. "Now's not the time for squabbling, we need to work together. Unless any of you have a genuinely useful suggestion then shut the hell up."
They shut up. Then, timidly, Gortys raised a hand. "I have an idea."
Fiona smiled. She looked tired, but Rhys knew it would take a lot more than that to make her snap at the little robot. "Go ahead Gortys," she said, "what's your idea?"
"Well... I was thinking, maybe we could ask the people in the elevator to help us?"
She stared blankly. Then in synchrony her, Sasha, Rhys and August all turned to look at the elevator and the red numbers flicking away above the doors.
Sasha lifted her gun uncertainly. "It's not... necessarily going to stop on this floor, right?"
"Don't know, but I for one believe in not tempting fate so I'll just go stand round the corner, you know, out of the way of any bullets," said Rhys, backing away with one hand on the wall to steady him.
She opened her mouth to spit something out, probably some taunt about him being a coward. He wouldn't have even argued with her. He was a coward, it was the reason he was in this mess in the first place. But what good was he going to be when he could barely stand?
"You do that," said Fiona before her sister had time to complain. "Gortys, stay with him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Oh... I'll try,"she said, though from her tone she seemed to think that was impossible.
Fiona waved Sasha and August closer and they pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the elevator doors, guns at the ready. Rhys moved back with Gortys at his heels and tried not to feel guilty. They could handle it... of course they could. Had they ever given him reason to doubt? The trouble was that once he was round the corner and they were out of sight, well, his mind liked to over exert itself. Images of them shot, bleeding on the ground while he stood helplessly... but it would be fine. It would, he insisted.
"Are we playing the quiet game now?" asked Gortys. "August's really good at it."
"Yeah... we're quiet for now."
Eyes closed and head still pounding he waited, riding out the nightmare of his own imagination second by second. Then there was gunfire. It was short and sharp, over in the time it took him to startle. A series of heavy thumps followed, bodies dropping to the ground.
He almost called out but caught himself at the last second. They were fine, of course they were... but then why weren't they saying anything? Why was there only silence ringing in his ears? His throat felt dry. Best to stay quiet for now. Maybe a peek though, too quick for anyone to see. He just needed something to reassure him, something to-
"Did you have to do that?" asked Fiona.
Rhys let himself relax and Gortys released her grip on his leg. He hadn't even realized she'd been holding on to him.
"Do what?" asked August.
"Shoot everyone."
"I thought that was the plan. What else did you expect me to do? They were Hyperion guards, would have shot at us anyway."
"Well you could have left one, as a hostage or something."
"Are you serious? We agreed that hostages-"
"What did you think the point was if we didn't get anyone to help? We've still got an elevator that won't move for us, so we're still stuck here. Great going, genius."
"I thought," August growled, "the point was that we didn't all get k-"
Something crackled. Then a voice droned out, a sickly familiar voice rendered eerily through the speakers. "Did you just... did you just shoot my guards? Man, do you have any idea how long it's going to take me to call another five down here? Like... a minute. A whole goddamn minute."
No. Rhys supposed it had been too good to be true, to think he might actually be gone. The damage to his cybernetics seemed to be enough to keep him out of his own head but Jack had the whole of Helios to play with now. And he knew where they were. He tried to stay calm, to ignore the thudding beat of his heart.
"I can't believe this," said Sasha, "is that... who I think it is?"
"I don't know," Fiona said uneasily.
"Oh you better believe it. Handsome Jack, back in the digital flesh baby! And, ha, I'm going to cut to the chase in the interest of time saving and all – you're going to die. That's just how it is. So, if you would stay right there and be good kids then we can wrap this up nice and quick."
"Yeah, don't think we'll be doing that," Sasha said. "August, Fi, let's go. We'll think of something else."
"Oh, is that right is it? Well you just wrack your little noggins as much as you like, because here's the thing - you're not moving from that floor. That's how lockdown's work you idiots. So, if you would stop being such time wasters then that'd be great. I mean, I have soooo much to do, it really piles up on you with the whole 'being dead' situations..."
"Jack," said Fiona, "go screw yourself."
Jack paused for a moment. "Okay," he said slowly, "that's kind of rude. You were low priority but if you're going to be like that I may just bump you up the list. The murder list. It's a little something I've been working on."
"Say what you like, it's all just threats. You've already said you're going to kill us, it doesn't matter how you dress it up."
"Oh ho ho, and that is where you are so very, very wrong. See, I don't just have to kill you. I can have you skinned alive, in front of one another... you'll be screaming, they'll be screaming, blood everywhere... Actually that sounds way more fun than my original plan, we'll do that."
Rhys felt a twinge of dread. They didn't understand, didn't see how deathly serious Handsome Jack was behind that light and easy tone. He'd learned first hand that he wasn't just a bag of empty threats, Jack was remorseless, unforgiving and needlessly violent when it came to satisfying his own sense of justice. Antagonizing him would only make matters worse.
"Still not happening." There was no fear in Fiona's words, no caution.
"You just- you really don't get it, do you? There is no way out of this, no escape, no home run for you guys. You're done. Finished. All that matters is how creative I'm going to have to get once you're dragged in. And, oh boy, I can be really creative when someone pisses me off."
He was pissed off, Rhys realized, there was a subtle note of anger creeping into voice. Handsome Jack's temper was being tested and pushing him over the edge was a big mistake. He had to do something, had to... but what? The best he could hope for would be to distract him, draw his attention and anger away from the others. Rhys almost trembled at the thought. Jack had tricked him, possessed him and almost made him kill his friends. What else could he do, given the opportunity? Probably bad things. Nothing he wanted to think too hard about.
"Listen here you... you blue maniac," Sasha began, "you can go stick your crap back-"
Rhys staggered round the corner before he could change his mind. "Leave them alone Jack. It's me you want... right?"
None of the other three looked impressed but it wasn't them that had his focus. He could see Handsome Jack's face on the elevator control panel, staring back at him with a look of genuine surprise. It took him a moment to collect himself. "Wow, hey, kiddo... you're not- you're not dead. Okay, that's... because you were doing a pretty good impression of it before and I couldn't... Okay. So. That changes things."
They regarded each other solemnly while Gortys stumped her way over.
"Sorry," she whispered to Fiona, "he's faster than he looks."
"You did fine," Fiona reassured her with a smile. Her attention was divided though. She, too, was studying Jack.
"Alright," he said eventually, "here's the new deal. How about you lot all come up to my office and we can have a nice chat, murder free, one time exclusive offer. I'm being very generous here so don't leave me hanging."
"I'm not going back to you," Rhys said.
He frowned. "Huh. Rhysie, cupcake, did you learn nothing? Don't you remember what happens to people who say no to me? Don't you?"
Rhys swallowed but didn't have the nerve to reply. Fiona sidled up to him.
"Look," she said softly, "we may regret it, but maybe we should? If we stay here we're stuck and we've got nothing to work with. If we ride this out we could get the opportunity we're looking for, make a break for it..."
It was madness. Yet she was right, they didn't really have a choice. As things stood Jack would get a hold of them one way or another, maybe it was best to play along and not piss him off any more than necessary.
"You won't hurt them?" he asked. "No killing?"
"Yeah yeah yeah, murder free," said Jack, "cross my fingers, swear on my mother's grave and all that. Hop in the elevator, let's go. I told you I'm busy."
August dragged the guards out and they piled in with a sense of reluctance.
"Fi," asked Sasha, "are we really doing this?"
"Yeah. You can blame me later if it goes wrong."
August glared. "This is stupid."
Rhys had to agree with him, but as the doors closed and the elevator lurched upward there was nothing more they could do.
((You didn't think I'd leave Jack out for long did you?))