Chapter 17 So Close, Yet...

Corporal Reiss was having a great day.

It's probably against like a thousand mental health protocols to actively enjoy culling a global population, but even still he can't find it himself to be guilty. This was just too much fun! Oh, and moral. These bandit guys? Evil. Pure evil, and he's not using hyperbole.

The things he saw… well, you really don't want to know.

And that's beside the point. Because for the first time, in God knows how long, Atlas is the good guy again. They're finally back to their roots and doing what actually matters. Not just what's profitable, but what's helpful.

It's why he enlisted. Helping people, killing bad guys, it's his dream job.

There were more than a few times when he doubted he was on the right side of things. But stuff like this, it helped. It reminded him that even though he occasionally had to follow orders that have taken him into the darker shades of gray, it all came from a place of necessity. The whole, 'greater good' spiel.

Sometimes, it's easy to forget that there is a greater good.

But days like these, orders like this, they put his mind at ease. So naturally, the universe does its damn best to twist him around.

"Corporal Reiss." He heard the sneer of a Russian accented woman through his echo. His boss, Commandant Steele. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Preventing bandit reinforcements from retaking the Headstone Mine, Ma'am." Reiss sweated under her helmet. What did he do wrong? This is what she asked for, isn't it?

"I see." And didn't care, at least as far as her tone implied. "You foresaw a rising bandit incursion, and saw fit to leave your post, with the men under your command in tow. Is that it? Do you believe yourself superior to the minds of Atlas?"

"I- No!" Reiss sputtered, confused, and concerned beyond belief. "I was just, I was acting under your orders, Ma'am."

"My orders were for you and your squadron to maintain a military occupation in the settlement known as New Haven." Commandant Steele reminded him, a dangerous undertone in her voice. "You were to monitor them, evaluate their resources, as well as ensure no Vault Hunters interfere with our work. Your recent actions, Corporal, have compromised our operation."

"Originally, yes, those were your instructions. And we did do what you told us to do." Reiss stressed on that not insignificant detail. "But the new orders you relayed to us, clearly detailed that we-"

"New orders?" Steele scoffed. "I had not issued any further orders once your outpost was established. If you believe that lying to a superior officer, about her own command, will grant you any clemency, than you are more desperate-"

"We have evidence." Reiss practically shouted (without raising his voice, he's not suicidal). "We have your voice recorded with your orders, I swear it. I was the one who answered the message in the first place."

There was a long pause before any sound came through the echo. But when the icy chills of Commandant Steele's 'I'm going to murder someone' voice came through, Reiss wished the silence lasted longer. "Show me."

…

Why am I always so negative? This has been a great day! I mean, sure, I had to put up with old hillbilly perverts, scrap-trash bandits, and Mother Nature's little accidents, but that was then. This is now! Now, I finally, finally have two of the Vault Key fragments.

With only one more to go, and about a week and a half still in advance, I'm golden!

Okay, a little premature for celebrations I know, but this is the home stretch. After all I've gone through, can't I just spend a moment to revel in my victory? It's a better alternative than wallowing in crushing despair, as the stress of my situation sinks in

… and the moment has passed. Great. Crushing despair, and mountains of stress, here I come.

"Okay, guys. Pack it up, let's get moving!" I called out to the Vault Hunters sprawled on the ground, exhausted. Their grins of relief and disbelief started to fade into groans of annoyance. "Oh, don't be a bunch of babies. You're fine, now come one! Daylight's burning."

"The daylight's gone, Jack." Lilith reminded, making more effort to argue than to move. "Can we please just sleep for a while? We've been at this for over thirty hours now."

I don't know what she's talking about, I feel- yawn. Oh. Never mind I've got it too. Or it could just be that passive thing where if you see someone else yawn, you do it too. Either way, looking at my poor, tired employees, I could tell they weren't going to much help right now.

"Fine." I sighed. "Not here though. Everyone into the car, you can sleep there on the drive to Tannis's place. Maybe a little longer if I'm feeling generous." Or if it's too much trouble to get them to wake up.

They still mumbled unhappily, but at least they were moving.

"Mr. Jack! Sir, I am so sorry. I swear I wasn't driving the car, it just moved all on its own." Claptrap actually looked worried, glancing back and forth between me and the care fearfully. "I think it's possessed."

I sighed into my hand, and immediately tried to stop it from turning into a yawn. "It's fine, Claptrap. That was me, I had it controlled remotely." Well, I had Angel control it at any rate. But the less people know about her, the better.

"Oh, that is such a relief." Claptrap practically sagged, which was an odd sight, considering he had muscles to tense in the first place. "I had no idea what to do. It's not like I can just exorcise a car. Who would I even call?! A priest from the Church of Robotics? They shut that place down years ago!"

Did he blow out a belt or something? Crossed wires or- I don't know. I barely understand people half the time, how am I supposed to get what's wrong with a semi-sentient R2-D2 reject. Maybe I should brush up on my mechanical engineering later.

I really want this kind of crap fixed before I rebuild him later.

Allegedly.

I am definitely not implicating that I am in any way interested in deconstructing, then reconstructing a Claptrap for my own nefarious purposes. Because that would be wrong.

But cars on the other hand… "Optimus Prime Directive:" Yeah, I'm not very creative. "Transform into Sleep Mode."

The seats came apart, the plates shifted again, five cots opened up out of the cushions, and the divider between the bed of the truck slowly rearranged itself into the sides to allow more room. That's right. I plan for every contingency.

If the others were just a little less tired, they might have stopped to ponder how one mega car could have so many functions. But as it was, they barely made it to the beds before collapsing. Brick, the poor guy, had more than half his body hanging over the edge. It's a miracle he hasn't fa-

Ah. Never mind. He fell.

It didn't seem to bother him too much. He still managed to grab a pillow and a blanket. So, I probably won't have to worry about him freezing to death or getting a head injury. I call that a win.

Annnd, with everyone else asleep, guess who gets to drive!

Sitting behind the wheel, I rev the engines (love that noise), take us out of park, and bring us along the dirt road. No one's gonna get any rest if I take the terrain route. Plus, if I wake anyone up before we get back to Tannis, Brick isn't going to be the only one on the floor.

"Mr. Jack, this is great." Claptrap cheerfully whispered, or he just, lowered the volume on how much he usually speaks. He is a robot. "Now it's just us guys awake. We can play all those neat road trip games, like 'I Spy', or 'Punch Buggy' ooh or-"

"Hey, Claptrap, maybe you should power down for a bit." Keep the annoyance out of your tone, Jack. Must. Stay. Civil. "You know, recharge the old battery on the ride over."

"Oh." Claptrap quiets down for a moment, and I was starting to think I may have said the wrong thing (or the right thing), but then he speaks up, joy renewed. "Good idea! I have been using up a lot of power in the last few days. Who knew bejeweled took up so much energy?"

"Well," I started, unsure of how to respond without striking up a conversation I didn't want. "Them's the breaks. There's a uh, an outlet just back to the left, should be behind Mordecai's bunk."

"Okay." Claptrap rolls away, and I sigh in relief. Until I hear the sound of something breaking followed by a quick "Sorry." Then I gave an irritated huff.

Alone at last.

"Dad?" Spoke too soon. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, what's up sweetie?" I asked back, immediately followed by a yawn.

"It's- Are you alright?" Angel started, only to abruptly change the conversation.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe a little tired. Anyways, what did you want to talk about?" I change the conversation right back. Fighting back a yawn, that ultimately slips out.

"It can wait. You should rest." Angel replied determinedly. "I'll speak to you about it in the morning."

"I need to be up anyway." I argue. "Someone has to drive. Whoah-!" And suddenly the wheel was out of my control.

"Autopilot has been engaged." Angel said triumphantly. "Now please, rest. You'll want to be at your best tomorrow."

"Fine. Wait, what's going on tomorrow?"

…

"-ack. Wake up. Jack!" Huh? What's going on? "Jack, we're here. Get up already."

We're where? "Wher?" I unintelligently reply, steadily shaking myself out of sleep. My eyes are a little heavy though. Maybe if I just close them for a quick second…

"Jack, stop sleeping!" Lilith shaked me, which in my half-conscious state was mildly terrifying. "We're at Tannis's. Now come on! We need to drop off the Vault Key fragment."

"Okay." I meant to say that reassuringly, but I think it came off as a whine. "I'm up, just give me a second, I'll be right out."

She glared warningly. "Do not go back to sleep."

"I won't!" Okay, that definitely sounded like I was whining.

Lilith brought two fingers up to her eyes and pointed them at me in a 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture. She also made sure to give me one last look, before she slammed the driver's door closed on her way out.

Well, if there was doubt before, I'm absolutely certain I'm not going to get any sleep now. Thanks for that Lil, I can always count on my team of hired mercenaries to provide their support. Both on and off the battlefield, apparently.

Rubbing my tired eyes one last time, I shifted my way out of my seat, and out of the Technical, and almost fell flat on my face. Thankfully, I managed to get my hands to plant on the ground first. So now instead of having a sand covered and bruised mask, I have sand covered, and slightly sore hands.

Awesome.

I brushed it off my jeans, and semi-steadily began walking back into Tannis's lab dig site. The others were already waiting up by the door. How long was I out? "When did you guys get up?"

"Oh, about ten minutes ago." Mordecai said nonchalantly. "Lilith was up about half an hour ago, saw that we got here, then promptly kicked all of us out of bed. Except Brick." He gestured to our helmetless goliath. "For some reason, he was on the floor."

"It happens." Brick shrugged. That shrug made a lot of cringe-worthy cracking sounds. I would not want to be his chiropractor. "I've had worse naps."

I do not doubt it.

"Coolsies." I said blankly. "Well, we're here. Can we go in now?"

Roland offered a curious look, or at least as curious as his unyielding facial muscles allowed. "We were waiting on you to ask."

Of course they were. God forbid anyone but me ever takes initiative. I rolled my eyes and pounded on the door. Mostly to vent, Tannis is pretty paranoid, she has cameras everywhere, not a chance she doesn't already know we're here.

If it were anyone else, I'd be a little worried. Possibly because it could be a double cross, or maybe about their health, based on how well I know them. But the woman in question is a highly intelligent, mostly immoral, antisocial sociopath.

Her reasons for doing anything are far beyond my range of understanding.

"Tannis! Lemme in!" I yelled impatiently at the door. I'm not crazy, I know she can hear me. I have the right to yell at people who annoy me. It's constitutional.

"Is it truly necessary for you to shout like an underfed and overlooked chimpanzee?" Tannis sardonically replies. Well, at least I know she's not dead. Hooray.

"That was an oddly specific example." I can't see her eyes, but I'm assuming they're rolling. "Look, we got the second Fragment, now can we come in, or do I have to keep talking to a door?" Honestly, the door's a better conversationalist.

"I don't see why not, I talk to furniture frequently. They're always so comforting." Comforting? I guess, sure, it's furniture. It's supposed to be comfortable. I'm pretty sure that's not how she meant though. "Now, in regard to your query, you may come in. If you have the Fragment. Otherwise, we shall continue to converse like this, as I do not wish to risk catching a disease from your unsanitary bodies."

I'd be offended, but… I know the people I travel with. That's fair.

"Umm, duh. I just said we have it, keep up Doc." I eloquently answer.

"I do not see it. Is it hiding behind the enormous man with the short attention span?" I looked over at Brick, who was currently playing thumb war with himself. And losing.

"Brick!"

"Dang it. I mean, yes boss?" Brick glanced down at me innocently. Nice try, big guy.

"Show Tannis the fragment, sometime today, please." Brick nodded, then went back to his civil thumb war. "I meant now, Brick."

"Oh. Got you, boss." Brick cheerfully agreed, grinning brightly at me… and still did nothing. "Where is it?"

"You didn't get it out of the Technical?" I honestly shouldn't sound as surprised as I was. Zero initiative here. "Could you- Please, go get it? It should be in the passenger seat."

"Be right back." He took maybe a grand total of twenty steps to get to the car and back. Perks of being outrageously tall, I guess. "Here you go." He haphazardly tossed the fragment to me like a used baseball, and I almost had to flip to catch it.

"Easy." I stressed, looking over the entire thing for any marks or scratches, well any new ones. "We still need this."

"Sorry." No, he wasn't. I swear, that man is such a child.

I rolled my eyes and held up the Fragment like in the Lion King. "Okay, to reiterate, we have it. Now can we please-"

Tannis didn't even give me time to finish my sentence. The Vault like door opened with a wssh! Then Tannis practically jumped me and snatched the Fragment out of my hands. She caressed it like a baby and sniffed it like a weirdo. "Ah, yes. Just as I recall. Oh, and do I detect an aroma of arachnophobic silk?"

"What?" Mordecai asked in confusion.

Tannis seemed to bemoan his lack of intelligence, and I just waved the question away. "It's the fancy pants way of saying 'spider web'. And may I say, it's weird that you know what that smells like."

Tannis sniffed imperiously. "If it pleases your over inflated ego, you may."

"It's weird that you know what that smells like." It really, really is. Who sniffs spider webs?

"I shall acknowledge that with as little dignity as your narrow minded viewpoint shall allow." See that, that's just another fancy pants way of saying 'duly noted'. Why can't they ever use the shorthand way of talking?

And Tannis is going back inside the base, of course. Won't even let me rebuttal.

"Hey!" I yelped, jogging a little to catch up to her. She has a surprisingly fast stride for a girl wearing slippers while carrying something with the same weight of a bowling ball. "Wait up."

"Sigh." She actually said sigh, who taught this woman how to socialize? "Do you require something else? Perhaps a lozenge, or a toaster oven?"

Is she being sarcastic or literal? I can never tell with these crazy types. "How about the location of the third Fragment. I'm working really hard on a collection of mine, but it's just not right until I complete the set."

"Oh." Tannis blinked. "Yes, my apologies. My mind was elsewhere." It probably still is. "You are correct, of course. The acquisition of the next fragment is of vital importance. Allow me to-"

"D- Jack, we really need to talk." Angel cut in out of nowhere.

"Uh, kiddo. Now's not really a great time, I'm kind of in the middle of something important." I quietly remind my slightly irritational daughter.

"Not as important as this." Angel argued fervently. "Steele knows what you're up to. We're running out of time."

My blood chilled, but I quickly got it under control. "Are you sure? Even if she's found out that we hacked her communications, there's no way she could-"

"Just listen." Angel said sharply.

"Attention Atlas enforcements. This is Commandant Steele. Our comms have been breached by an unknown entity, that we believe to be working with Hyperion. Further investigation shows that a Hyperion employee, known as Handsome Jack, has been seen traveling with four Vault Hunters. We cannot allow them to interfere in our goals. Increase patrols, I want them found and interrogated."

I breathed in nervously. "Okay, so we're pretty sure she's onto us."

"It continues to call for your capture, and later your execution." Angel warns dangerously. "This mission is over, it's time for you to leave."

"Honey, I know how it sounds. But-"

"But nothing!" Angel doesn't allow any argument. "You've been compromised, and you still haven't found all the pieces of the Vault Key. If you stay, if you keep searching, the odds of you dying increase astronomically. I'm putting my foot down, it's time for you to come home."

Tannis grabbed my arm in a rare moment of sanity. "Jack you can't leave. Not yet. We're so close. The Vault is almost within our grasp. This chance will not come again for another two hundred years."

"His life is more important than some, some folktale myth." Angel snapped.

"It is not a myth." Tannis shook her head, frustratedly. "I've spent years studying this phenomenon. It is very real. And very illusive. But if we can't complete the key, now. Then all of our work will have been for naught."

I hesitate, this is a lot harder to deal with than the game led me to believe.

Something Tannis picked up on. "Jack, I know where the last fragment is. Our victory is almost assured."

"'Almost' isn't good enough." Angel denied. "Not for these stakes. Da- Jack. I'll help you either way. You know I will. But I'm asking you, please. Just come home."

I sighed. She really is going to hate me for this… And to be honest, I probably deserve it.

…

(A/N)

Admittedly, the end of this chapter had a lot more feels than I had intended. But part of writing, is knowing your characters, and how they'd react to a situation. Angel didn't make that ultimatum with the OG Vault Hunters because the original Jack never let her.

This one though, has put in a lot of effort to be a good dad. So, Angel's a bit different than we saw in the first game. You know how it goes, new perspectives, different ideals, etc.

However, I did intentionally leave the ending a bit open ended. Because that 'she' can either refer to Angel or Tannis. I've got some ideas in mind for both versions that I'm equally happy with, but I'm writing for you the audience.

So, crowdsource people, who do you want Jack to side with: Angel or Tannis?

Leave your answer in the reviews, one week only. If it's a tie, I'm just gonna flip for it.

And as always, please Follow, Favorite, and Review.

P.S. I'm trying to phase out answering a lot of reviews because it's making up way too much of my word count, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate them. So, thanks to Kitsune Obsessed Freak who for some reason made ten in a row. And to BohemianRhaspody who has reviewed every chapter and has notes for each one. To him, I'll answer one question.

That ending of the last chapter represents that at some point in the far distant future, Jack records all the stuff that happened to him on Pandora. Sort of like an auto biography, but with more murder.