Chapter 3: First Name Basis

Stirring from her slumber the scavenger slowly rolled over refusing to wake up from the best damn sleep she'd ever had.

"Hey, you're up. How are you feeling?" With that question she knew that there was no chance that she'd be returning to her peaceful state of drowsiness. Slowly she sat up trying to focus her eyes on the blurry lump that was situated at the foot of the cot.

"Hmm...what..who-oh. Lance, it's you." She mumbled raising her hand to rub her right eye.

"AHHhhh-bu-bu. No touching of any kind on or around your right eye and temple. It's still fresh and irritating it is not a good idea." Grabbing her right forearm with both hands he quickly pulled it down back to the cot.

As Lance's form began to become progressively clearer she noticed something very wrong.

"Lance. LANCE! Why am I blind? Why can't I see out of my right eye?!" Frantically running her hands through her ginger bangs she began to developed a slight difficulty breathing.

Raising his hands up and waving them around the blond repeatedly shook his head.

"No. No. No nononono. You're-you're not blind! It's just off! Much like a lightbulb it requires power to turn on and since it was just plugged into your brain...oh about 2 hours ago it still requires more power. It's previous reserves were drained so it's waiting on your brain to send more electrical impulses to fill it back up and then it'll be on forever. Yay!"

"Oh thank God. Hehe..." She folded her hands in her lap and and looked off to the side embarrassed.

"It's a perfectly reasonable reaction to waking up in a cot in the back room of a store owned by someone who doesn't even know your name. Is there by any chance that I'll get it?"

"Nope but nice try." Smiling she pushed the thin covers off of herself and threw her legs over the edge of the bed.

Lance stood up from the cot and took a couple steps back. "Hey you should take a break. At least until the eye powers on."

"You know I can't do that. I'm a busy gal." She stood up and raised her arms above her head in a stretch. "Gotta mirror? I'd like to take a peek before I hit the road."

"Yeah right here." Walking towards his work desk he picked up a small hand held mirror. Dirt caked the angles of where the frame met the smooth reflective surface. Turning around he handed it to her. Receiving it she held it up to her face and observed the image the best she could with only one eye. Her orange bangs parted on the right and curved down to frame the sides of her face, stopping at around her eyes.

The remaining was pulled back into a loose braid that ended at her shoulder blades. Her face was sharp and rough around the edges most likely the cause of painful memories. Her eyebrows were sharp being accompanied by slight bags under her eyes. A scar ran from the very inner tip of her right brow, across her nose stopping at about the left side of her upper lip. Light freckles dotted her face. The data port was placed in her right temple and the ECHO Eye remained a dull blue. The eye stared dead ahead unable to move in sync with its companion due to a lack of sufficient power. The skin around both the port and eye were a bit pink, sore from surgery.

"You did an amazing job Lance. Thanks." She lowered the mirror and looked at the blond giving his a genuine smile. "Well I'd love to stay and chat but I've gotta head out. Places to go, people to see." Handing the mirror back to him she began making her way to the door stopping to look back just before she opened it. "Oh and don't forget the $5000 in my account or they'll find your dead corpse in an alley." She gave him a death stare yet still with the same polite smile as before. With that she open the door and walked out leaving a anxious entrepreneur in the staff room.

Once passed the gates that lead into the refuge she began to think things over. "There's something so off about that guy. I don't know if it's that he's too much of a pussy or what. Bugs me every time." Leaning on the Catch a Ride station on the outskirts of Sanctuary she began to look around at the scenery. The plains and valleys bellow were dusted with a light layer of fresh snow though none was falling at the moment. I guess I'll just walk around until my eye turns on and I'll hop on a truck at the nearest stop or fast travel. Pushing herself off of the pole she trekked forward, away from the settlement. Prepared for the cold she started making her way in the direction of the Caustic Caverns.

Her journey so far was overall mostly sightseeing with a few close calls from bandits. With her reclaimed "Conference Call" they were no match for her and her determination to wait out her eye. About half way between points A and B it finally happened. The ECHO Eye turned on.

"Yes! Finally!" She cheered, balling her hands into fists practically shaking from excitement. "Let's try this baby out!"

Jogging over to a rotting bullymong corpse that she spotted a little ways away she started to calm herself down to prepare for what she was about to do.

"Alright let's scan this thing." She stood there staring at the corpse for a good 10 seconds. Something is suppose to happen. Why isn't anything happening? Isn't something suppose to come up on my HUD or something? Just when she turned away and was starting to regret shoving a piece of equipment that she just found lying around into her head she saw something. In the middle of her vision there was a fuzzy blue glitching. The hell? Taking a few steps back the pixels stayed in place, seemingly locked into the physical plane. The blur grew and the slight outline of a man formed. The blue glitched flickered giving the figure a holographic form. A high pitched squeal noise that cracked in and out began to rise. As quick as he appeared he began to move, lunging at the scavenger wildly waving his arms around as if trying to grab something. The loud noise merging into rational words.

"Nnnnn-nnnaaahho! No! You're fucking DEAD Rhys! I'm gunna strangle you till your eye pops out of your dumb ass head! You'll be... wh-wait. What? Who...who the hell are you?" Stopping short of his movement a couple of feet away the man stared, perturbed.

"Umm..." The cold wind whipped by freezing her shocked expression in place.

"You know what, I don't care. Do you know where a tall lanky guy with a stupid looking hair cut is? Has a small dick, thinks he's good enough to level with the CEO of a million dollar company, got the arm strength of a toddler. Ringing any bells in that hollow head of yours?" He questioned, tapping the side of his head when he voiced the last point.

"Umm...uhh...d-does he have a...a cybernetic arm on...on his right side?" She stuttered, all remains of logical thought coming to a halt at the sight of a flustered holographic man that came out of absolutely nowhere.

"Yeah! Yeah. Robo arm with a blue...ECHO...Eye..." The holo's voice dropping off at the sudden realization, his body sagging. He doesn't have it anymore. He pulled it out. I shouldn't be here. She has it.

Regaining her composure she managed to string together a response. "Well...uh...its ah...its not blue. It's actually yellow. He was the CEO of Atlas."

His previous attitude returned to him in an instant even more fiery than before. "WHAT!? That worm thinks he can steal my stuff and get away with it? How brain dead is he?"

"Alright where'd he put the headquarters? Old Haven? It's gotta be Old Haven. He can't put it anywhere else. Ha, he's got no cash. Alright let's go. Well think of a plan on the way but that scum bag is gunna die." The hologram turned east and started walking in that direction. Confusion crossed her face as her eyes followed his leisurely steps. A single thought entered her mind; How the hell does he even know which way he's going?

Turning around when he realized she wasn't following he pressed his command more, a slight tone rising in his voice. "Let's get a move on, kiddo. We don't have all day. More so you."

"Wait. Wait! Two issues with this. Number one; what do you mean by we? An-"

"Well unfortunately I'm not talking about the royal we. You and me, cupcake. I can't go anywhere without you and you're stuck with me so better get comfy." Cutting her off and getting waaayyyy too close for comfort. He leaned forward giving her a raised eye brow and a shit eating grin.

"What? How am I stuck with you? Your projection will just die away at some point." Furrowing her eyebrows she took a step back, regaining her personal space.

"Oh my go...I'm in your head, dumb dumb! The ECHO Eye, I'm in that. I'm in your head. I CAN'T LEAVE. Now come on. Let's get aaahhhh movin'...or I'll make your life a living hell." He casually stated the last part as if it was an everyday thing for him.

"We can't go to Old Haven!" She yelled, frustrated at her inferiority in the situation.

"And why not!" He shot back nearly as aggressively.

"Rhys is dead! The CEO of Atlas died 3 year ago when a large group of raiders and psychos finally got enough men together to over run the place, taking everything and killing everyone. The man your looking for is already dead." She spit out releasing a breath of air she didn't know she was holding in.

"...Well that...really...blows. I was looking forward to taking revenge for crashing my company and space station. Now that that's gone I...I don't really have...have anything to do...now." Swinging his arms back and forth he swayed from the balls of his feet to his heels. His eyes looked around the snowy plains avoiding eye contact with the scavenger in front of him.

"Your 'company'? 'Space station'? What are you talking about? Who are you?" Her mass amount of confusion was evident on her face.

"I'm Jack! Handsome Jack. Leader of Hyperion, well used to be now. You getting anything?" His expression becoming increasingly annoyed when his words invoked no reaction.

"I tried to destroy Pandora. THE Handsome Jack."

Picking up on the hologram's demeanour the ginger responded pretty accurately. "You know calling your self that isn't going to get me to recognize you nor is it making you any less of an arrogant dick."

"I own a pony made out of diamonds. Diamonds!" He was beginning to lose it. The sheer fact that someone didn't know who in the world he was shook him to the core.

"Ooohhh you take care of Butt Stallion? I've heard tons about her." She gave a small smile relieved to have heard something familiar.

"You've heard about my horse...but you haven't heard about me? Where have you been living?!"

"Hey I was off world a lot in my teens. I'm sorry that I didn't give two skags about what politics were going on in Pandora." The memories of her youth resurfaced lacing her voice with venom.

"Whatever. Whatever! I'm Handsome Jack, past leader of Hyperion and previous billionaire. Now you know me. Since we're going to be stuck with each other we might as well get on a first name basis so...what's your name, pumpkin."

"I don't give out my name especially to some random A.I I just met." Crossing her arms she gave him a furious glare.

"Uh huh. Well ya know that I can just look for your name in your head myself, right? I can view all of your thoughts if I really wanted to but since you and I are on SUCH good terms I bet you wouldn't mind if I just gave it a little peek." The hologram's form started to flicker in and out slightly.

"NO!...No...I'll tell you, all right. Jeez. It's Questra, Okay?" Upon saying it his flickering stopped and a stupid grin spread across his face.

"If it was anymore ridiculous I would've laughed."