PRELUDE:

CLIENT AND EMPLOYER

The dapper, slender man in the well-tailored suit walked down the corridor to his office with precise steps. Yes, his office now, not that bullying boor Tassiter's, nor that murderous moron Jack's. His office. An office in the still-being-constructed city of Opportunity, so it actually hadn't been used by the former, but it was less about the physical office, and more about the position it entailed. President of Hyperion, the corporation that had the largest presence on Pandora now.

The purge of Hyperion was, of course, far from complete, and it may never be in his lifetime. Handsome Jack, in his relatively short tenure at the top, had sunk his claws in deep. And there were still too many who idolised him, despite what the once lowly computer programmer had done.

But Hyperion, even in the two months since Jack had been executed by the Crimson Raiders, or more precisely, Doctor Richard Snyder, had started to recover. True, the loss of Angel was an inconvenience, but not an insurmountable one by any means. Better to keep her as a willing troubleshooter for the Hyperion network than imprisoned in Control Core Angel.

As he entered the plush office, he smiled, and spoke apparently to nobody. "You are prompt. That is good. Allow me to introduce myself, despite the redundancy." He turned to face the intruder, who had been standing near the door. His long, pointed face, beard, and blonde hair styled with two vaguely demonic points rising from them made him look a little diabolical. However, the man was no devil, merely being something somewhat more mundane. "I am Jeffrey Blake, President of Hyperion."

JEFFREY BLAKE AS

PRESIDENT OF HYPERION

Believe It Or Not, He's Better than Handsome Jack

The woman who strode forward had rugged, well-worn clothing, as well as a hood, currently thrown back. Blue hair and blue eyes stared impassively at Blake. Without showing any offence at the lack of response, Blake said, "And you are former Lance Assassin from Atlas' Crimson Lance and current mercenary, Athena. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"It's not mutual," the woman said quietly.

ATHENA AS

THE GLADIATOR

Dark Assassin. Heart of Gold(1).

"I can't interest you in a drink, then?" Blake asked, gesturing towards a cabinet.

"No. I want details about the job. I'm only here because you mentioned significant remuneration. Your words rather than mine," Athena said coldly.

"My intelligence suggested that Miss Springs is trying to get you out of that line of work," Blake said mildly. "If you want, she can come with you to…" Blake cleared his throat, and then said, with a mild expression of annoyance, "…the Badass Crater of Badassitude."

"So this is to do with Torgue's tournament?" Athena said, trying to tamp down her annoyance at Blake bringing up Janey, her lover.

"A new Vault always interests Hyperion," Blake said. "In our treaty with Sanctuary, we agreed not to do anything to the Vault of the Warrior, save for sending archaeologists and scientists to investigate it. I believe Tannis is champing at the bit to go once it is finally fully excavated. That being said, she learned of a new Vault, as you saw in the broadcast. Under the treaty, Roland contacted me about this new Vault. Someone must've leaked information to Torgue, though thankfully, Mr Torgue's intentions seem to be purely for holding a tournament. The man is a genius when it comes to explosive weapons and flair, but little else."

"And you want me to secure the Vault and its weapons?"

"That is the potential end result, but in fact your task is somewhat different. Tell me, do you know what happened around the events of Jack's death?"

"Of course. The ECHOnet was buzzing with it. Besides the Vault Hunters, they say it was also the Guardian Angel, who was both a Siren and Jack's daughter, as well as a former Hyperion scientist. Snyder, I think his name was. I heard a rumour that Tim might have gotten involved."

"Ah, yes. Mr Lawrence did indeed get involved, during the Crimson Raiders' attacks on Opportunity. He defected to the Raiders. Given what Jack himself turned into, well…" Blake shrugged. "You were there when it happened."

Athena nodded. She wasn't the only one who was there, and Jack wasn't the only one who changed for the worse. She remembered Nisha Kadam, who eventually became Jack's lackey in Lynchwood, and Wilhelm, the infamous cyborg mercenary who became Jack's most brutal enforcer. Claptrap was abandoned and left for dead, while Lady Hammerlock had gone her separate way from the others.

She wondered, had Lilith not done what she did, would Jack have turned out as bad? Or would Jack have slid down a slope into madness and evil anyway? He was well on the way there, she wasn't blind.

"Officially, you are there to act as bodyguards to two Hyperion assets, as well as to participate in the tournament. Unofficially, you will be, once more, a Vault Hunter working for Hyperion," Blake said. He slid over a photograph of a pair of young people.

Athena recognised one of them straight away. She was the Guardian Angel, although unlike the digitised ECHO feeds she had seen before, this image was definitely taken in reality. The girl was in her twenties, her hair all but shaved on one temple, and long on the other side. Her eyes were a piercing blue, but lined with haggard circles that made her look older than she was. Despite this, she was smiling at the young man with his arm around her shoulders.

The young man had a long face, red hair, and tired, haunted green eyes. A few features, like the pointed chin, reminded Athena vaguely of Jack. But this guy looked a bit like a scarecrow, compared to the more conventionally attractive Jack. He looked familiar too, and Athena took a moment to remember. It was in the aftermath of that whole Elpis business, when Jack had first donned the mask, and had invited them to tour some of his facilities. The young man had a beard then, and had been called 'Dick' by Jack a lot, much to the young man's chagrin. He was about the same age as Angel. She remembered his Australian twang, like so many on Elpis, though his was a bit more polished.

"The woman is Angel Clarke(2), Jack's daughter, a Siren, and, of course, formerly the Guardian Angel. The young man is Doctor Richard Snyder, originally Hyperion's top expert on Sirens, as well as a gifted biologist and toxicologist, specialising in the effects of Eridium. They are currently Hyperion's liaisons with Sanctuary and the Crimson Raiders. You could say that they are Hyperion's ambassadors to the Crimson Raiders. They fought alongside Vault Hunters old and new to stop Jack."

"I'm a little surprised that you let them get off so easily," Athena mused.

"There were a few reasons for that. The first, and most important, is that Jack's actions were beginning to endanger Hyperion. Because of his petulant actions, millions of dollars of damage was done to Opportunity alone, never mind the cost in Loader manufacture and personnel who were commanded to stop the Vault Hunters, no matter what. The second is that destroying Sanctuary would only increase the resistance against Hyperion, whereas a treaty of mutual benefit would help both. Should, for example, your former employers at Atlas decide to make a move, Hyperion could count on the Crimson Raiders to help. The third is that in their current roles, they do far more good for Hyperion than they have before. The fourth is, frankly, Angel threatened to shut off life support to as many Hyperion facilities as she could, and self-destruct the rest. I personally think she was bluffing, as she is somewhat more moral than her father, but she definitely has the capability," Blake said. "Even outside the cage her father made for her, her power over electronics is astonishing. Better to have one like her as a willing ally than as a bitter enemy."

Athena nodded. "Smart."

"I still have spies in Sanctuary, though. It's how I got some of the files I'm going to give you," Blake said. "Admittedly, Snyder has some unflattering comments to make about me, as well as some others, but I can weather that. His usefulness far exceeds his insolence."

Athena would have snorted if she felt like it. But instead, she accepted the files she was given, and began to read...

PRELUDE ANNOTATIONS:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Athena will be making a comeback in Welcome to the Jungle, and so too will Janey Springs!

I was originally intending to do this as a collection of in-universe files and the like without any framing story, but I decided that it'd be a bit more interesting to have a framing story. Hope you like it.

1. Having just started playing the Pre-Sequel, I was impressed by Janey's character (even if her Aussie accent is a bit cod, despite the actress apparently being an Aussie). That is why I adapted her character splash's subtitle for Athena's own, to reflect their relationship.

2. As mentioned before, I have given Angel (and Handsome Jack) the last name of 'Clarke', in honour of Dameon Clarke, the voice actor for Handsome Jack.