"Did you threaten him?" Zer0 was sitting on the front desk, briefly projecting a ":\" as they looked from Maya to Rhys.
Maya may have been the one under suspicion, but Rhys felt like he was being regarded as an accomplice.
"Didn't have to," Maya said, shrugging. "Turns out, he doesn't want you to die either."
"Yeah, she didn't," Rhys affirmed. "I-I mean, she threatened me earlier, before you woke up, but that had nothing to do with this, so... I thought it sounded like a good idea? I-"
Zer0 was off the desk, looming over him before he could finish. "Rhys, it is unsafe / You may become a target / Do you realize that?"
They were uncomfortably close, and Rhys's face was dimly reflected in their visor. He hadn't realized just how disheveled he looked.
"Well, uh," He stepped back, combing his fingers through his hair. "To be honest, since I've come to Pandora, I've gotten used to the idea of my life being constantly in danger?"
"You value your life / You do not take needless risks. / Not usually."
"Yeah, of course I don't! But I don't think it's um…'Needless'?"
"What is there to gain?"
"Well, uh… I mean..." He briefly considered telling the truth: that he really admired Zer0 and he was kind of lonely and yeah, his own mortality always seemed a pretty abstract concept.
Somehow he didn't think that would appease them.
Thankfully, Athena spoke up, and Rhys was rescued from Zer0's expectant gaze. "If these people follow your trail here and you aren't around, it's likely that they'll end up seeing Rhys as a source of information."
"Pop open his brain with a corkscrew!" Krieg helpfully elaborated, from his perch on Atlas's former pedestal.
"Yeah, I uh, I think I've got it, thanks." Rhys's mind was already well into producing a vivid series of gruesome images. Between bandit encounters and Handsome Jack, his imagination was not short-supplied when it came to torture methods.
Leave it to Athena to bring up the worst possible scenario...
"Is that a guilt-trip? / Are you trying to shame me, / To make me stay here?" Zer0 couldn't exactly glare at anyone, but Rhys assumed that was more-or-less their intention as they stared her down.
"I'm just laying out the possibilities of what happens if you run and hide," Athena said, impassive.
They nodded thoughtfully. "An appeal to pride / Makes a better argument / I can admit that."
Well, at least Zer0 seemed to care for him on some level. What that level was, and how much of it was fueled by their own ego, Rhys couldn't begin to guess.
Thankfully, he wasn't given too much time to dwell on it. Zer0 stepped back in front of him, this time allowing for a reasonable amount of space between them.
"If I'm intruding / You need only tell me, Rhys / You have done so much," they said, with a "3".
Just like that, rejection was gone from his mind.
"Are you kidding? It'd be gr-Erm, I mean-" He paused, taking a breath and straightening up. "I'm not about to send you off alone with people hunting you down, and it's pretty empty around here, anyways, so... It won't be a problem?"
Yup. He could play it cool.
Zero simply nodded, then turned to address Maya.
"Don't tell the others / My survival is secret / Even among friends."
"Really? You can trust them, you know," she said, frowning.
"Yes. But, it's safer. / People are better actors / When they're not acting."
"So, what? You want us to pretend we have no idea what happened and organize a search party?"
"Yes. That would work well / The trail to the enemy / May be found, that way." Zer0 either ignored or completely missed Maya's sarcasm.
For a moment she looked like she might argue. Instead, she sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. I'm not happy about it, but fine. When you come back, you're the one who's going to take full responsibility for this, though. And I'm warning you, these sorts of lies do not end well."
They projected a ":D".
"Discover the dart/ Somewhere out in the desert / Tannis may want it."
"Tannis? The last thing we need is her reverse engineering it," Maya said. "I'm giving it to Lilith. It'll be a lead, no more than that."
Rhys began to tune them out as they began to discuss people he'd never heard of, and plans that were irrelevant to him.
He was starting to feel like he was only contributing the bare minimum to all this. He had the power of Atlas behind him, after all. Not that Atlas was particularly powerful at the moment, but still, he had resources at his disposal. He wanted to be more than "the guy who Zer0 is crashing with".
...Not that kind of "more". He just wanted to take an active role, was all.
If Atlas had the power it had even six years ago, doing so would be as easy as sending out Crimson Lance operatives. Alas, Rhys was only barely managing to staff his factories. Manpower was surprisingly hard to come by on Pandora.
Maybe taking direct action would attract too much attention, anyway.
"Anything else?" Maya asked, breaking Rhys from his thoughts.
"I'm hiring you," he blurted out.
It was impulsive, sure, but who would he be if he always thought before he acted? Certainly not the CEO of Atlas.
Athena shot him a glare. "Excuse me?"
"N-not you! Maya and Krieg! I knew you wouldn't go for it, heh..."
"THE DAILY GRIND AND KILL!" Krieg shouted. Rhys hoped that it was a remark of enthusiasm and not anger.
"What do you mean?" Maya, at least, sounded genuinely interested.
"I was thinking, It would be kind of weird if we kept up communications for no reason. Just me calling you guys over tonight probably will look suspicious, if I don't have a good excuse for it." He managed to sound confident enough, despite working out the details even as he spoke.
"So you want a cover, then?" she asked.
"Yeah, that!" It was far less than he wanted to bring to the table, but at least it was something."We're relying on these guys straight-up not knowing about this place, but you and Zer0 are still going to need to communicate. Through me, right?"
Maya looked to Zer0 for their answer.
"Most likely," they said.
"So what if I'm hiring Vault hunters to promote Atlas products? A sponsorship deal type thing? You wouldn't have to do anything different. Maybe our logo on your gear, you use Atlas guns, and, uh, talk us up a bit? Until-until this is dealt with, at least?"
Even without the current situation, Atlas could use some promotion. It was a win-win.
"Not just charity / You're quite opportunistic / I should have guessed that." Zer0 projected a ":D" with their words, leaving Rhys unsure whether it was intended as a jab or a compliment.
"I… I mean I… Did that sound skeevy?"
"About as skeevy as I'd expect," Maya said, smirking. "But pretty reasonable, regardless. That is, if you pay us. What do you think, Krieg?"
"Shiny as a disembowelment!" Krieg threw his fist in the air.
"That's a yes," she confirmed.
Maya insisted on sticking around for a few more hours, "So we can be sure you actually stay healed". Zer0 strongly suspected that she was actually simply too tired to return to Sanctuary, seeing as she immediately asked about Rhys's bed situation.
Of course, any on-planet corporate facility like this would have to provide ample lodging for a full staff. In this case, those lodgings included a couple ritzy suites, intended for use by Atlas VIPS.
Rhys set the Vault hunters up in a room that, judging by the insignia on the door, was formerly meant to house a Crimson Lance Commandant- though it seemed that it had never been used, judging by how pristine everything looked.
It was furnished in Atlas red, black, and white- a combination of colors that were easy to use tastefully (as evidenced by Zer0's bloodstained suit) but in this case looked like the work of an edgy teenaged vampire.
Still, it was a fancy place, tacky decor aside. Zer0 couldn't complain.
Okay, they could complain, and likely would within a few days of being cooped up. But not about the furniture.
Krieg and Maya were quick to make themselves comfortable, claiming the king-sized bed. Athena, on the other hand, looked to be barely containing the urge to burn the place down.
"Isn't this the site / Of one of your victories? / Why should you be dour?" Zer0 asked her.
The two had a healthy respect for one another, as an assassin and an ex-assassin, but Zer0 didn't know her particularly well. They were aware of her hatred of Atlas, though. That was hardly a secret.
"I didn't do anything worth celebrating. I'd rather be getting back to Sanctuary." she didn't look up at Zer0, opting to instead glower at the ugly red and black carpet.
"You can go alone / There's a fast travel nearby / Your work is finished." They suggested.
"Your situation gives question to the wisdom of traveling alone."
They considered this, for a moment.
"That is surprising / I expected less caution / Have you gone craven?" Only after they said it did they remember that implying cowardice was generally insulting. They'd only intended an innocent question.
If she was offended, she didn't show it.
"I promised Janey I would stop taking unnecessary risks," she said.
Oh, so it was the "Janey" thing again. Zer0 knew this woman to be the reason Athena had gotten out of Vault hunting, but they hadn't realized just how deep it went.
It wasn't something they cared to understand, they decided.
"Weren't you supposed to be resting?" Athena asked, before Zer0 had the chance to speak again.
They projected a ":I". Maya had been firm in her orders that they get as much rest as possible, especially this first night. But they'd spent most of the day unconscious, and didn't relish the idea of even more sleep. Sure, they felt weak, but they weren't about to take up a role of the frail, bedbound victim. Not more than they already had, at least.
Besides, how were they supposed to rest when covered in so much sticky, drying blood?
...Blood that would probably start to smell soon.
Rhys was still awake when Zer0 entered his suite. He was at his desk, absorbed in a large holo-screen, and hadn't seemed to notice them coming in. Not surprising, no one ever did.
Briefly, they watched Rhys work. Most of the information displayed on the screen was inscrutable. Boring looking business documents, filled with numbers and graphs. There were a few photos, too, construction sites and the like. Equally uninteresting.
"Rhys." They said, right as he scrolled to a dark photo of a dig site, in what looked like the Eridium Blight.
"Augh!" There was a loud slam as Rhys jumped in his seat, his knee hitting the bottom of the desk. The screens flashed off suddenly- controlled by his cybernetics, they realized. Perhaps he was up to something less boring that they'd assumed.
"It is only me / I did not mean to scare you / You are quite jumpy."
Rhys spun the chair around. "O-oh! Hi Zer0, don't worry about it, I didn't hear you come in?" He glanced back at the blank space the screens had inhabited.
"I was not worried," they said.
"Oh…Well uh..."
"You are still awake / Shouldn't you be asleep, now?/ What are you doing?" They cocked their head.
"I, uh, stupidly had a four AM espresso, so I'm catching up on a bit of work. Just...Just sales figures and boring stuff like that." Rhys seemed a poor liar. Surprising, considering his line of work.
He was on edge, too- had they seen too much?
Or perhaps he was afraid of them. They had promised not to kill him, hadn't they? Did he doubt their word?
Okay, that would be completely fair, probably even wise. Regardless, it was a problem, if Zer0 was to be living with him. They decided against questioning him further. Shady business dealings didn't interest them that much, except for when assassination was involved, and Rhys didn't seem the type for that.
"S-so, uh, what's up?" Rhys prompted, after the long moment of silence.
Zer0 projected a ":)", hoping to ease his fears.
"I need some fresh clothes / I could use towels, as well. / The bathroom lacked them."
"Cloth-Clothes?"
"I enjoy bloodshed/ But gore gets quite disgusting / When drying on me." They tugged at their bloodsoaked top, which made a peeling sound as it unstuck from their skin.
"Oh." Rhys cringed. "Is that really all blood?"
They looked down at their suit for a moment. The darker bits of fabric obscured the reds and browns of the dried blood, turning them into unidentifiable blotches. A useful quality, when trying to hide one's own weakness.
"It's not just my blood. / I slew a group of bandits, / I think it's theirs, too."
"Oh. Well, um… The, uh, Quick-Change here is broken but, I might have something that fits you? A-and clean towels." He rose, sparing a brief up-and-down glance at Zer0. Rhys was maybe four inches shorter than them, regrettably.
Zer0 followed, lingering behind as Rhys stepped into his walk-in closet. It was mostly empty, apparently meant for someone who had a far more extensive wardrobe.
"So, you need something that covers everything, right? Skin...skin-wise?" He asked, rifling through hangers, occasionally adding a garment to a pile on his arm.
"Yes."
"Right, uh…Okay." He grabbed a few more items, before returning to them with a towel and a bundle of clothes. "I think some of these should fit you? I um, found a scarf- if you need something to cover your neck? Gloves too- erm, I mean, now that I think of it, I guess mine wouldn't...fit, at least not well, because...fingers, but…"
"Mine will be okay." They could just rinse them in the sink, they'd be dry in a few hours.
"Great! Oh um, and if you want to wash your clothes, there's a machine in your suite."
"Thank you Rhys," They turned to leave, propping the bundle against their chest with their good arm.
"Oh! There's also an armory in 3C, it might have some stuff that's your size, I can look into it tomorrow?"
"Yes, I would like that." They flashed him another ":)" over their shoulder, opening the door.
"Wait uh-"
They stopped, looking back at Rhys.
"Your arm? You-You need it fixed, right? I can also do that. If you want."
They paused at the door, considering his offer.
"I would like that, too."