"Yeah, no... this is ridiculous," muttered Rhys, eyelids lowered.

Children of Helios had arrived on the scene and now they were dropping like flies. A thousand things were happening at once. Children battered the marauders with their rifles and submachine guns. Some bandits got showered with slag and ran around in circles with growing holes in their flesh. A exHyperion not far from Rhys got clocked in the head with a baseball bat wrapped with barbed wire. Rhys grimaced at the sight of it all.

Sasha, Gaige and even Yaeger were enjoying themselves, however. Standing back-to-back, the trio emptied their magazines into anything that charged at them. Shell casings cascaded like bronze waterfalls and scores of shells pooled around their feet as the fight progressed. The coppery tang of blood and the sharp scent of gunpowder and the acerbic stench of slag were the only smells Rhys could sense. He switched grips and expelled zigzagging electricity, catching a rushing bandit in the chest and turning him into ash.

It happened so fast. Rhys blinked a few times before he recovered. He checked his Electro-Cannon, and - ah. There was the problem. He had it set to Distintegration Mode. He rotated the dial back a tad and resumed firing.

"Rhys? You there?" called Vaughn.

"I'm here. Just focusing on not dying."

"The plan...?"

"Oh, yeah. That. Hey, Maya." Rhys caught a buzz-ax on the middle of his massive gun, and booted the marauder back before shocking him. With the buzz-ax still embedded. The marauder convulsed, and then fell face forward like a long column. Rhys glanced at the offending protrusion with distaste, then removed and threw it end over end at the first foe he saw.

He missed. Rhys shrugged. Axes were not his style. He hefted his Electro-Cannon.

"Hm? What is it, Rhys?" Maya asked over the connection.

Rhys let a lopsided smirk appear on his lips. "How do you feel about touching a big-ass eye?"

"I dunno - awkward. It's giving me looks." Maya sounded annoyed more than anything.

"Make it lose in a staring contest if that makes you feel any better," sniped Rhys. "Wanna get a bonus?"

"For making physical contact with an alien eye that's bigger than me and looks like it belongs to Godzilla? Depends. How much we talking?"

"A substantial amount. Get those mitts groping that eyeball, and finish what you came here to do." Rhys vaporised another maurader with a grin. "Ouch."

"It's shaking. I don't know why it's doing that - why is it doing that?"

"Maybe it's excited," suggested Vaughn.

Rhys offered, "Or maybe it's tingling in anticipation."

"Or maybe it's about to burst and I'm going to be covered in eye-goo," grumbled Maya.

"Nah."

"No way. That thing is as tough as steel. It won't burst," assured Vaughn.

"Jinx," Maya and Rhys replied at the same time, causing Rhys to smile.

Maya muttered, "Well, here goes nothing..."

"Uh, Rhys, you should probably clear the canyon. Wouldn't - heh - wouldn't want you to get caught in the blast."

"Yeah, no, totally didn't think of that. Thanks for the heads up, buddy," Rhys said airily.

"You okay, man?"

"Sure, sure, why wouldn't I be? Look up okay in the dictionary and you'll find a picture of me there, all grin-y and dopey looking." Rhys huffed and he started to clear a path by shocking every bandit in his way.

"Hey, follow the Liberator!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The Children of Helios began rallying around Rhys, putting down any maurader or Psycho between them. They chanted, "Libe-ra-tor!" They dashed up a hill to avoid being reduced to paste by the Eye of Helios.

He didn't see where Sasha or Gaige or Yaeger were. He whirled round, and heard the whine of moonshots sailing through the air. The first impact was a bomb blast.

A Child of Helios was scrabbling up the hill and Rhys reached out to her. "Here, take my hand!" The woman, face full of fear, jumped to grab on but the second impact vaporised her along with Rhys' cyber-arm and his world went white.

Through bleary eyes, he saw the world again. He shifted, turned his head. "Liberator!" A young man, cheerful and enthusiastic, was at his side. He had a thick crop of black hair and a friendly air about him.

"You're awake."

Rhys must have said something profound in reply, because the man was giving him a thoughtful look. Or was that disgust?

Rhys groaned as he sat up. He glanced at his left arm, then his right one. He blinked owlishly. Where was his right arm? He could move it, but he couldn't see it... Rhys felt vines of terror encase his heart.

What happened to his arm? All that remained was an alloyed stump which wiggled whenever Rhys willed his appendage to move.

"Where's my arm?" he asked flatly.

The Child, Matthews, made an 'o' shape with his mouth, unsure what to say.

"It got blown off. I'm sorry, Rhys." Sasha nodded to Matthews, excusing him. The Child left, affording the two some privacy.

Rhys gazed at what was essentially scrap metal hanging off the end of his shoulder. He slid gaze over to Sasha, who studied him with concern subtly pinching her features. "What happened after I got knocked out?" Rhys straightened and ambled out of the medbay alongside Sasha, falling into step with her.

"To summarise: A load of bandits got blown up, including Bossonova, Maya fainted after the whole thing was over - "

"Where is she now?"

"Taken back to Sanctuary. As for the others, they're still here."

Rhys nodded. "They're gonna want their payments."

"You hired them, right? Well, Vaughn's already taken care of that."

At Rhys's confused expression, Sasha added, "He paid them, Rhys."

A shrug from Rhys. That took care of one problem. "He probably felt bad about this." The remains of the cyber-arm shifted in its socket mechanically.

"You gonna ask for a new implant? You should get one while you have the chance."

"Maybe I will." Rhys glanced at his friend. "So how are you faring, Sash?"

"Eh, okay. Yourself?"

"As well as one can be when missing a limb. Which is to say, not very."

Sasha halted and faced Rhys. "Thanks for the save, Rhys," she said brightly. "If you hadn't come when you did with the help, well, we wouldn't be here chatting right now."

She grasped her arm and looked away. "I just wish... Fiona had answered when I called her."

Rhys furrowed his brow. "Is there something going on between you two?"

Sasha threw her hands up in frustration. "I don't know! I don't know what it is. She's just not the same Fi I knew."

"She's barely mentioned you since she found me at the Atlas BioDome. Have either of you even tried to keep in touch?"

Folding her arms with a displeased look, Sasha said, "Well I certainly tried. I kept sending her messages asking where she was and how she was doing, and I checked in with Fi to see how things were. She just snapped at me the last time we talked."

"Okay, and when was that?"

"A fortnight ago."

"I think she's just stressed," guessed Rhys. "And I'm certain she misses you.'

"She sure has a funny way of showing it," fumed Sasha. "I mean, she didn't even pick up when I rang her after the raid began."

"I - look. I'm not going to defend her. But you two are thick as thieves." Rhys laid a hand on Sasha's shoulder. The physical contact felt nice. It was a decent attempt to distract himself from the absence of his cyber-arm. "Fi just has a lot on her plate right now. The Vault Hunters are prepping for something big, and she - she's being forced to play a part. That's the way I see it." He did not wish to alarm Sasha by mentioning the impending war that he and Fiona were going to be part of.

Sasha sighed, and her face crumpled. "Then why doesn't she tell me anything anymore?"

"I dunno. But I will get her to talk to you face-to-face. You two clearly have some catching up to do. Like, what are you even doing at Helios?"

"Training these ex-Hyperions how to fight. You know I'm good with a gun. And Vaughn knows it too, which is why he asked me to help train them."

Rhys hummed. The corridor he and Sasha stood in had Children of Helios passing to and fro. Some stared openly at the so-called 'Great Liberator' in awe, some whispered gossip and tittered as they walked by.

"C'mon. Let's find some place with a little more privacy." Sasha grabbed Rhys by the hand and led him away from the exchange of rumours and unwanted attention.

"I need to speak to Vaughn."

"Sure. I can take you to him."

A few minutes later, they found Vaughn. He took Rhys aside to have a private chat. "Bro, it worked! My plan worked! Can you believe it?"

"That's great and all, but you didn't have to pay the Vault Hunters, Vaughn."

"Uh, yeah I did. They were getting antsy, especially since Maya got knocked into a coma - "

"What?! What happened?!"

"Using the Eye of Helios to attack the bandits really took it outta her, man. This one woman - Gaige, I think - was starting to get really pissed off so... I paid her. And that other guy, the former doppelganger."

Less than 15 feet away, Gaige and Yaeger were running their eyes over the new weaponry in their possession.

Rhys said, "You gave them guns. You paid them with guns."

"We're not exactly swimming in cash right now. But, thank you for convincing Maya to do it. You both saved a lotta lives, Rhys." Vaughn patted his friend's back.

Rhys made a pensive expression. "But not everyone was saved."

"Huh?"

"How do you think I got this?" Rhys showed Vaughn his stump of a cyber-arm. "I tried to save a Child of Helios, but - the moonshot got to her before I did."

Vaughn could see the guilt weighing Rhys down. It was written all over his face. "Oh Rhys, I'm so sorry."

"She probably wasn't even the only Child of Helios that got caught in the blast," went unsaid. They were both thinking it, though.

Vaughn changed the topic. "We can get you a new cyber-arm, though. We have plenty in stock."

"Forget it. I know a facility with better implants than any of the ones here. One way in which Atlas triumphs over Hyperion, I guess."