Rhys was screwing on a piece of a gun that he was working on as loud music was blaring throughout Scooter's garage. He managed to get a pack of cigarettes from Marcus to help with his stress and his ECHO was playing his music. Needless to say, he was smiling as he was working.
Devastation, obliteration
All to the point of exacerbation
There's no explaining my situation now,
Why does this shit keep happening to me?
I've held on too long just to let it go now,
Will my inner strength get me through it some how
Defying the curse that has taken hold
Never surrender,
I'll never be overcome!
"You certainly know how to pick your music," Gaige said as she walked in through the garage. Rhys looked up and grinned at his friend before stopping in his screwing and addressing his friend.
"I like heavy metal. If I wasn't wary of what the town would do to me if I tried it, I'd be singing along," he said, tossing his tool back on a tool chest and walking up to her. "Anyway, what do you need?"
"I just came off a job. And I've got some jobs that could definitely use your attention if you want more money to start buying stuff like that," Gaige said.
"Alright. Then set up me up coach," Rhys said, cutting of the music on his ECHO that was lying on the side of the room before grabbing his jacket and putting it on. He summoned his Stinger SMG using the inventory feature on his arm and checking his ammo count. Only three hundred and twenty five bullets in the SMG category, a hundred and fifty seven in the pistol department, and about thirty for his snipers. Everything else was empty.
"I hope this job is fast. I don't have much ammo," Rhys said, deactivating the screen and following Gaige to the Fast Travel.
"Don't worry. The location has plenty of crates for you to restock if necessary. It's also a job that you might like pretty well. Mordecai wants what's left of the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve gone. Not only that, but he wants you to set the creatures loose and have them rip apart what's left of the workers. It's his bit of revenge as well... as... yours..."
Gaige ended up trailing off in her sentence. The unconscious grin that rose to Rhys face unnerved her a little. She had never seen an expression like it. She had seen Lilith look happy about Hyperions dying, but... this was different. It looked darker, which was hard to believe. Lilith was known to look sinister with that look on her face, but somehow Rhys looked more like a serial killer that always got personal in his kills. Someone who wanted to make people hurt as much as possible.
"Rhys?" Gaige asked somewhat hesitantly. Rhys' unfocused look was gone in a second and he looked at Gaige with a blank expression.
"Oh. Sorry. I think I blanked out," he said.
"Yeah. You got a sort of grin on your face once I mentioned it. It was kinda unnerving to be honest," Gaige said.
"I was grinning?" Rhys asked.
"Yes. Quite creepily in fact. I've seen a lot of people smile when they've gotten their revenge, but something about the way you look... it... it just doesn't look like it belongs on you," Gaige said. That was easily the best explanation for it. Rhys looked like one to smile and greet his co workers with a smile on his face as he went about his business to do his job. Willing to be perfectly nice to whoever he met as long as they were nice to him.
But that was gone. Once that grin hit his face; that happy, yet slightly sadistic grin hit his face, the idea of that happening ever again was all but gone. Pandora... his training... his experiences... they had changed him. More than anything, she believed it was what he found out about his mother. It had rotted his insides faster than they would've if he hadn't found about that. She would've bet money he wouldn't have turned this bad and this quickly.
"A lot of things don't belong on me. This gun doesn't belong in my hand. It doesn't deserve to be in anyone's hand. The same goes for everyone else who's lost people. Been lied to. Been abused. Been mistreated. Yet it happens. Everyday. So a lot of things that shouldn't happen, happen. And there's nothing I can do to change that. As much as I hate for him to die, the old Rhys has got to go. At least most of him," Rhys said in a resigned voice. He didn't even sound like he was in a struggle. He sounded set. Like it was a fact it had to be done, and he had to go through little to know effort to make it happen. It made her hate what Pandora did to people. Herself included. To think she was just an aspiring young inventor looking to get famous of her work while competing with her rival. Now she was a mercenary.
"You're right. As much as I hate to admit it..."
"This planet changed you too. I doubt you ever dreamed of shooting people in the head for a living, did you?" Rhys asked.
"No," Gaige said, shaking her head.
"This planet turns everyone into murderers. There's no way around it. To think I was once a programmer. Now I'm a small time mercenary trying to survive and make a living on this damnable planet. The way things change, huh?" Rhys said before drawing up the hood on his jacket and walking away.
He had changed his appearance since a few weeks ago. Instead of wearing his suit most of the time, he gotten different clothes off the ECHOnet. He wore a leather jacket with a black T-shirt and black camo pants. He was wearing skag hide boots, which were surprisingly different from his skag skin shoes. Skag hide was considerably rougher on the outside and not as comfortable on the inside, but they were guaranteed to protect his feet for the most part. Even though he couldn't really feel pain in his feet.
As he walked with his SMG at his side, Rhys couldn't help but notice the stares that immediately hit him as he was walking. He knew they saw he was holding a gun, likely afraid of what he was about to do with it. But as of now, Rhys was too distracted to care. He really wanted to blast some heads. To him, it's sad that he enjoys it. As of now, it's something of a guilty pleasure. But soon he'll just be like everyone else and be indifferent about it.
"Where are you heading?" a Lanceman asked, stepping in front of Rhys and stopping him in his tracks.
"Out," Rhys said simply.
"Out where?" the man asked.
"To do something," Rhys said. At that point, Rhys attempted to move past him, but the man grabbed his arm. He had artificial sensors in his arm to be able to feel things, but they would never hurt. Rhys didn't want to wrench his arm away from the man cause he might accidentally come off as hostile, but he did not appreciate being manhandled like this.
"Watch your tone, Hyperion. You forget who really runs things around here," the Lanceman growled underneath his breath so it wouldn't be easily heard. Rhys looked at the man, who's face was hidden underneath the helmet.
"EX-Hyperion," Rhys ground out roughly. "I don't give a damn what you think of me, but I am NOT associated with them anymore. Not after what they took from me. So cut the shit."
The Lanceman threw Rhys' hand forward as if trying to push him to the ground. Months ago, that would've in fact knocked him down to the ground. Not this time. In this case, Rhys barely took a step before he steadied himself. Whether the Lanceman knew it or not, Rhys was a lot more physically imposing than before. His build was actually well hidden under his jacket. Not to mention his left hand couldn't feel pain anymore. There were a lot of advantages he had that this man didn't even know about. But Rhys knew that it was smarter to avoid the option of him finding out the hard way.
"You're not a big man cause you're holding that gun. You're just as pathetic as before," the Lanceman spat at him. Rhys ground his teeth, but he just walked past him. It was better to keep his head down so he wouldn't make any commotion. But the smart ass in him was begging for him to retort. He had to bite his tongue to stop himself.
As Rhys walked inside of the area with the Fast Travel, he got stopped by Zer0, who was leaning against a wall with his hand held out as a way to halt him. This was a person he was more than willing to stop for.
"What is it?" Rhys asked as soon as he approached the man.
"I have something else for you," Zer0 said.
"Yeah. Anything," Rhys said immediately. Zer0 summoned a blade from his ECHO. It was made a lot like his own digistruct blade. It was just as bright as the edge on Zer0's own blade except this one was red.
"I gave Gaige the plans for this weapon / Though I wanted to hand it to you / You have earned it," Zer0 said, handing Rhys the blade. Rhys looked at the blade hesitantly before slowly reached out to grasp it. Even though it seemed flimsy, the bottom of the blade supported the rest of the blade really well. There was no overbalancing problems nor was it too heavy on the tip.
Rhys turned to the side and swung it, the movement of the blade being very smooth. He could actually manage this would one hand easier than expected. And he thought it would have a learning curve for a moment.
"This is really cool!" Rhys exclaimed with a smile. He flipped the blade several times in his right hand before putting it in the inventory feature of his ECHO before turning back to Zer0, or rather, his mentor. He was almost tempted to hug the assassin, but he stopped himself at the last minute. He wasn't sure how he'd react to such a gesture.
"Thank you," Rhys said gratefully, lowering himself into a respectful bow with his left hand closed around his metal fist.
"Gratitude is unnecessary / It is like I said before / You have earned it Rhys," Zer0 told him, giving Rhys the same bow. Rhys spun the blade a little bit more in his hand before looking back at the assassin.
"I have no idea how to use this thing. I only know how to flip it," he said while idly turning the blade.
"I predicted as much. Your training will come soon. Do not worry. But as your departure suggests, you have a job to do," Zer0 said. Rhys nodded.
"I do. I'll come back in a minute," he said before going to the Fast Travel and using the coordinates he got from Gaige to travel the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve.
Rhys walked down to the main area, and there were a swarm of stalkers to meet him here. Raising his Stinger, he focused his ears on where his opponents were coming from more than using his eyes to try and look where they were going to appear. Rhys was able to predict where the stalkers were when they were cloaked.
"Thank you Zer0," Rhys said as he managed to make quick work of the stalkers. Granted, he had used over a hundred bullets and he was going to run out of his SMG ammo quickly if he wasn't careful. So he had to make note of that.
Continuing towards the main base that took up a ton of this area, he came across plenty of loaders and engineers alike that were patrolling the area. Then his mother was brought up again in his mind and the sereneness that he had in killing just moments ago had turned into anger. He felt he had more of a need to kill rather than a duty.
With a shout of anger while drawing his Masher as well, Rhys jumped from the rock he was standing from while his angry eyes were focused on the two loaders that were standing on a platform and letting loose with his bullets liberally. Soon after the gunshots went off, they turned slowly only to be met with a hail of bullets that ripped their arms off and pushed their red eyes through their metal bodies.
Rhys quickly had to change his mag in his guns as other loaders and engineers were coming to meet him.
"First the Vault Hunters, and now this asshole?!" one of the engineers yelled. Rhys eyed the engineers coldly before he changed his weapons to his Surkov. Looking down the sights, he blasted the two engineers in their heads quickly. He hadn't done much practicing as far guns, wanting to spend more time working on his prototypes, but his anger was making him more accurate than anything he had ever done in his practicing. He thought he would have to use his ECHO eye to sharpen his aim because he had done adjustments to that for that very same reason, but it seems he didn't need to.
Continuing in the base while taking the ammo from the engineers' corpses, he walked inside the preserve to be met with a fair amount of loaders. But he was nearing the first switch to let the first wave of creatures out. That was what he really wanted to see, so he ended up evading past a lot of the bullets so that he could hit the switch.
"Creatures released. Security forces dispatched," the computerized voice that was most likely responsible for maintaining upkeep of the systems in this place.
The stalkers that came out of the cages started disappearing and reappearing almost like they were teleporting before Rhys settled his sights on the engineers that were walking out to handle the stalkers. What they were not expecting was Rhys to be there, who shot one of them in the face before he could even respond to anything.
"What the hell is this all about?!" one of the engineers yelled as he moved to try and get to one of the stalkers. But it pounced on him and impaled him in his face with its tail.
"This is an uprising! One that ends with all of you dead!" Rhys yelled. It was definitely one moment where he felt more like a leader, more like a man of power and action. He had never really gotten that feeling very much. People always judged and ridiculed him. Underestimated him. Never appreciated him. He got none of that from some of the people at Sanctuary and they had done nothing but make him better. Even if he never said it in words, he would appreciate that for the rest of his life.
Rhys didn't have to do much; the stalkers were on such an unrelenting fury that it was unnecessary for him to have to lift a finger. How they even captured these things was beyond him.
Once they were dead, he looted all of the boxes for ammo before continuing forward. For the most part, he ignored all of the creatures. He knew they didn't want to be here, so he found cloaking himself and sneaking past them was a much better option. It seemed all of the Vault Hunters had already been through here, so all of the doors were already open.
The instance he heard Jack's voice over the speakers when he walked inside of the building, Rhys tightened his right fist before his face unconsciously formed into a type of snarl. The last thing he wanted to hear was the sound of Jack's voice. Not what happened eight months ago. He didn't want to relive what he did to him. What he tried to do to everyone all over again.
There was no one around when he walked inside so it was just a simple matter of pulling the switch as soon as he spotted it.
"Creatures released. Security forces dispatched," the computerized voice said again.
The skags looked to Rhys once they were released from their cages, making Rhys look at them hesitantly, but they seemed to recognize him as their savior because they howled to the skies while lowering themselves into a type of bow. Rhys smiled before facing the Handlers that were now flooding the area. This was going to be a slaughter. And Rhys couldn't wait.
Focusing his attention to the first Handler that he saw, he decided to put his guns away and draw the new blade Zer0 gave him. He ran up to the first Handler who raised his gun to fire at him, but Rhys decided to be on some Neo shit because as he jumped up, he adjusted his body to where all of the Handler's bullets missed him before he sliced him across his neck.
Rhys landed behind him and noticed that his body was still upright, so he followed up by backpedaling the sword into the Handler's back with a back kick to push him off the blade. But the moment he did, his head came off and landed on the ground with a clunk because his head was still inside of it. Rhys thought the first slice missed which was why he followed it up with a backstab, but he didn't expect his cut to be that fast as well as precise. It looked like a perfectly even cut. Even though he was upside down and in the air.
"I must be getting better," Rhys said with some satisfaction in his tone.
But that quickly disappeared when a shot hit Rhys' shield and caused him to immediately turn towards the culprit of the trigger. Another one of the Handlers was letting loose on him with a Hyperion SMG, which Rhys made angry again.
Drawing his Masher along with his sword, he raised his Masher and fired twice to kill him. Another Handler had came out of the door that was next to him, but he was immediately pounced on by one of the skags and the man was screaming as the skags tore into his throat with their powerful teeth and jaws even through the armor. After the skag let out a loud gulp, Rhys couldn't help but let out a satisfied laugh. It was sort of similar to a laugh he made when he saw something awesomely funny, but this was a far darker circumstance than anything he's ever experienced.
"Are you enjoying being the main course, assholes?!" Rhys yelled as he turned to other Handlers. But at this point, every skag he set free was going ham. Ripping, tearing, clawing, and chewing their way through armor and to their throats, stomachs, faces, and other body parts at a time. One of the skags had even bitten into one guy's crotch, which even made Rhys cringe a little through his bloodthirstiness.
Once all was said and done, all the skags let out a triumphant howl before heading out of the exit. Rhys didn't know how they were going to get out from here, but hey. Skags seemed to be a lot smarter than they looked. They'd probably figure it out.
Now Rhys was getting bored. Because the Vault Hunters had wiped out most of the loaders here, there was almost nothing to fight on his way to the next cage. He never thought he'd ever be disappointed whenever something was too easy. Normally he loved it when things were like that, but not this time. It bored him.
"God, I must be hanging around Zer0 too much," Rhys said, recalling the assassin's stories where he hated how many of his assassinations were not much of a challenge or the target begged for their life rather than fighting back. He always spoke in a disappointed tone, which showed how good the assassin had become at this line of work when he only takes jobs that he deems remotely challenging. It was only until now why Rhys realized that.
"Creatures released. Security forces dispatched," the computerized voice said. On Rhys' ECHO, this was the last one he had to hit before he was done. But he was smiling as he held his freshly gory and bloody blade with his Masher that was half empty. As he stood here, Rhys had never felt more of a badass in his life. He half wanted someone to take a picture of him.
"Ok, now you're just getting big-headed Rhys," he thought to himself before the Handlers walked out. And these ones had only melee other than the lasers on their backs. Rhys smiled before making his Masher disappear. This was going to be fun.
Rhys ran up to an Handler and it startled him as to how slow he seemed to move. Rhys easily ducked under his fists before flipping forward and kicking his helmet from off him with a front flip kick. Apparently, he wanted to show off as well. Eh, there's nothing really wrong with that.
Rhys severed the man's right arm when it came into a punch towards his face, and it fell to the ground with a clutter. The Handler screamed from the pain of it before Rhys precisely stabbed him in his open mouth with his sword that came out of the back of his head.
"Don't choke on it," Rhys said before removing his sword out of the Handler's mouth. He could hear gurgling coming from his mouth before his one good hand moved up to try to touch his mouth, but he fell to his knees and to the side before he could fully make it.
The Badass Stalker was going ham in its own right as well. Nothing the Handlers did could even penetrate its natural shield. Rhys sliced his sword towards a man's neck and removed his head as the slice came in a full ninety degree angle that made Rhys' sword hit the wall and penetrate it a few inches. Yeah, after this, he could proudly call himself Zer0's apprentice. He was somewhat good at the things Zer0 himself could do expertly. Stealth, swordsmanship, and combat skills. Even though he was a novice, these plain Hyperion idiots didn't have a prayer.
Rhys was the one to kill the last engineer with a slice to his throat before leaving him there to choke on his own blood. The badass stalker seemed to acknowledge that this was his way of making the man suffer, so he left him alone to suffer before going about its business. Rhys lowered himself to crouch level while impaling his sword in the ground next to him while looking at the man choking on his own blood.
"Having fun suffering?" he said with a sarcastic smile. "Of course you aren't. I'm glad for that. You're getting exactly what you deserve, you know?" Rhys laughed shortly and hollowly before facing the man again.
"You know, I used to believe in you all so much. I believed you were doing the right thing. Making Pandora great again and liberating it from the dangerous bandits and creatures. But I knew you couldn't do that when you couldn't even treat the people in your own company with the same dignity and self respect that a rightful human being would have. Almost no Hyperion I've met was like that," Rhys said, anger seeping into his tone as he talked. He felt the anger rise in him a lot faster than any time in his life, and that was likely due to him being exposed to such a toxic environment. One that hurt him and the people of this planet. He knew he had to put a cap on that anger and resentment eventually, but today was not the day.
"Bleed here and die," Rhys said coldly before standing up and grabbing his sword before walking away.
Rhys refused to put his sword up, nor did he wipe the gore off of it when he walked back to Sanctuary. He felt a satisfaction in his bones as he wiped the small bead of sweat that was on his forehead as he got back. The most challenging thing that he got was some sort of giant ass Rakk that could somehow breath fire. But he got a cool looking gold sniper out of it made by Jakobs, so he was not complaining at all.
Rhys purposely let the sword drag the ground at his side as he was walking. Not only was the sword covered in blood, but there was a little on his face as well as his shirt and jacket. But he found himself too excited to really care.
"Alright, that's done. Now when do I get paid?" Rhys wondered to himself as he walked towards the center of the city. Rhys knew Gaige was his best bet as she was the one who set him up for the job in the first place. So she was his source of getting paid. Seemed simple enough. Even with the blood on him and the obvious evidence that he had either been slaughtering or had witnessed one, Mordecai would not have believed that Rhys had slaughtered every Hyperion in the Preserve. So Gaige was definitely his best bet.
But before Rhys could take a step further, a caw rang out and when Rhys looked up to spot the source of the cry, he saw that Talon had taken to the skies before going down towards Rhys. He landed on Rhys' shoulder and let out a soft cry before nuzzling his head against the side of Rhys' head.
"Talon!" Mordecai yelled from the top of the building. Rhys walked around so that he could face the man, who eyed Rhys resentfully as he saw his pet on the former Hyperion's shoulder. He had to force himself to add the word 'former.' "What the hell are you doing?"
"He came to me. I did not call him," Rhys said as he ran one of his metal fingers down the side of Talon's face. Something about the bird liked the feeling of the cold metal running softly down his side, and he crooned softly. Rhys smiled as he had the bird on his shoulder. Something about having the bird on his shoulder was extremely natural. It was also a plus that Mordecai's own bird liked him better.
"Well, send him back up here!" Mordecai exclaimed.
"I don't think I could even if I wanted to. He's got his claws settled in my shoulder pretty good," Rhys said.
"I don't think that... What is that in your hand?" Mordecai asked. Rhys lifted the bloody sword in his hand before giving Mordecai a grin.
"An instrument of death, so to speak. As of now it's responsible for a good amount of deaths so far. Even though I just got it like twenty minutes ago," Rhys said as he turned over the blade in his hand. Mordecai didn't know what he was thinking, but he was thinking he saw a glimpse of Zer0 in the man. Then he quickly realized that the blade in his hand was just like Zer0's, except it was bright red. And then his eyes widened a slight amount from how much blood was caked on it. Spatters of different extremities and velocities, which really changed the way the blood it looked and where it was spread. This sword had been through a bloodbath. The question was, whose blood?
He couldn't get away with that around here. Too many people who would attract too much attention. Someone would've heard the screams and blown his cover. It couldn't have been that.
"Or could it? Remember, he's smarter than he looks. He could've killed any one of our men subtly and then staged it to look like he had done a slaughter somewhere else. That sounds more of his style," Mordecai thought as he looked down at the Hyperion. Whether Mordecai knew he was doing it or not, his look was turning more and more resentful as the seconds passed. But Rhys definitely noticed. And he definitely did not like the looks of it, so he decided to move on past Mordecai's line of sight and try to find Gaige.
A Lanceman bumped into Rhys' shoulder purposely hard and Talon jumped up a fair bit before screeching loudly and angrily at the man. As Talon was about to take off to tear some strips of his flesh off for doing that to him and his master, Rhys stopped him before he started something.
"It's alright boy. Don't worry about him," he said serenely. His words managed to calm the bird down as he settled on his shoulder before Rhys continued walking. For reasons Rhys couldn't understand, this bird really liked him. It listened to him and was like a silent companion on his shoulder. To be honest, he'd be willing to buy Talon off Mordecai once he had the money. He didn't care if he cost thousands, which was probably the amount Mordecai was going to ask if he sold Talon to him at all. It was alright.
"I'm assuming by the bloody sword you have, you finished the job," Gaige said, eyeing the blade that was dragging the ground at his side. It looked a lot like Zer0's sword, except it was red. Did Rhys make that without her knowing? They did a lot of inventions together.
"You would be correct in that assumption. I tell you what, those skags went crazy on the engineers. It was actually fun to see," Rhys said with a look that showed that he was somewhat surprised to find something like that fun, but he didn't feel bad about it.
"I bet. Anyway, I'm not sure if Mordecai'll believe you if you tell him that you completed the Wildlife job, so I'll say that I did it and fork the cash over to you," Gaige said.
"Appreciate it," Rhys said, with a short, but respectful bow in her direction. Gaige couldn't help but smile at much more composed the man seemed once he spent a few months with Zer0. Definitely more confident as well.
"Two questions though. Number one, what's with the sword? I didn't know you made that," she said, pointing at the weapon in question. Rhys smiled as he put a hand over his mouth to hide it and was looking down at the ground. There was a feeling of joy in his bones when he thought about it.
"You're right. I didn't make this. Surprisingly, Zer0 made this for me. I don't know how and when, but... it's really awesome, ya know? I mean, I feel like I'm actually his apprentice. To be honest, that's one of the coolest things ever. I'm not an expert with the thing, but he said he'll show me the ropes on sword combat as well," Rhys said as he raised the bloody blade near his face and examined it with an awed look like he had when he first got the sword.
Gaige noted the intense look of happiness on Rhys' face, and saw that he was really excited about this. The man likely looked up to Zer0 as an excellent warrior and a wise mentor. Whether Zer0 said it or not, she had a feeling that he was feeling proud about what he did to Rhys. About how he helped him become a fighter. Once Rhys is done training with Zer0, she had no doubt in her mind the two were going to be inseparable on jobs. Not only that, probably a deadlier pair than any of them could be. Then Rhys would be introducing more tech into his combat, which he told her a few months back. And the tech he was going to make would likely beyond anything Gaige could make. Brilliant mind and brilliant combat skills. On Pandora, that's quite the advantage.
"You two are you going to be unstoppable together," Gaige said with confidence in her voice. Rhys looked at Gaige with a happy look that was hesitant and unsure.
"You sure about that? I mean, I don't know if he'll just go his separate ways after he's finished training me, but... I really do like the sound of making a partner out of Zer0. The Master and the Apprentice," he said with a smile while twirling his sword. The thought of raiding bandit camps with the assassin was something of a dream a few months ago. Now it was actually possible.
"I believe he'll keep ahold of you. Trust me, it's definitely good to keep ahold of someone like you. You're definitely one of the most trustworthy people I know," Gaige said confidently. Rhys walked up to her and gave her a tight hug.
"Thank you. For everything," he said. Gaige awkwardly raised her hands to Rhys' back, not expecting the hug, but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. But she was surprised as to how warm he felt. It was like hugging a blanket, except he wasn't wearing anything that would garner that much warmth.
"You're welcome," Gaige said, pulling away from the hug. "Now for my second question."
"Anything," Rhys said without hesitancy.
"What's with Talon on your shoulder?" Gaige asked, pointing towards the bird in question. Talon gave her a mild caw in her direction, but it definitely wasn't ill willed. Just defensive.
"Cause for whatever reason, he likes me more than he does Mordecai. At least, that's what it seems like from his behavior. He flew towards me and landed on my shoulder as soon as I came back from the job at the Preserve. But I like him. He's a fun little companion," Rhys said, stroking Talon with his metal finger. Talon crooned in happiness before nuzzling against the side of Rhys' head. Around just about everyone else, Talon was vicious. But when he was on Rhys' shoulder, he looked like the cutest and most pleasant bird on earth.
"How in the world do you do it? Talon doesn't act like that with anyone around here. Not even Mordecai," Gaige said, making Rhys shrug.
"I don't know myself. I mean... I guess he just naturally likes me. But it'd be nice to have a companion on those days where you've got no one talk to. It's like having a silent friend. You can't really understand each other, but you find friendship even through the silence," Rhys said as he looked at the bird on his shoulder who was still nuzzling the side of Rhys' head. Gaige smiled at the sight.
"I can see what you mean. Anyway, if you wanna work on some stuff in Scooter's garage until I get back, that's all on you. I'll see if I can find you some more stuff in the future," Gaige said.
"Thanks for the help. I mean it," Rhys said sincerely.
"I know you do. And it's no problem," Gaige said, giving him a mock bow before walking out of the door. Rhys gave out a short laugh before walking towards the garage.
A/N: You can definitely see I'm going for a master and apprentice angle with Rhys and Zer0 while starting a friend master and pet relationship with Rhys and Talon. I don't know why I started going with the Talon angle, but I find that I like it. That Rhys can find someone that likes him straight out. Doesn't judge him. Doesn't harass him in any way. He's just caring and kind to him. Soon I might have Rhys doing jobs together with Rhys and Zer0 or Talon. Maybe both at the same time.
