Rhys was a man of many talents. Keeping his cool under pressure may not have been one of them. He paced the halls of Atlas, His ECHOeye sending him frequent updates on any suspicious activity. So far nothing out of the ordinary. Which seemed odd to him. As he turned a corner he was stopped abruptly by a short man with a beard. "Vaughn." Rhys sighed with a smile.
"Hey man, what's going on? Moxxi said something about Atlas having some trouble. Figured I'd stop by and see what was up."
"Come on I'll show you." Rhys said turning on his foot. Vaughn following close behind.
"Something bad happen?"
"Yeah. Real bad." Answered Rhys as he opened his office door, walking around his desk. Rhys pulled up a recording of his conversation with Raven and Jack and fast forward the video until Handsome Jack came in. The expression on Vaughn's face hardened.
"He already cut my communication lines to Elpis…I've ordered everyone to draw back and head their way here."
Vaughn sighed. "Well that confirms what Moxxi told me."
"She wanted proof didn't she?"
"…Yeah."
"Figures. Well At least you got what you needed to see. "
"After what happened 10 years ago I want to help you stay on top Rhys. I mean I can have people guard
The base if that would make you feel better. It's probably the most I could do though." Vaughn shrugged.
"No, our security is fine. I'm just worried about that damn Techno…Wizard asshole getting into our systems. Everything we've worked up to this point would be undone."
"But…You had him in your head at one point…You could hack things just by looking at them…So what's the difference now Rhys? You can still do that right?"
Rhys covered his face in his hands. "I dunno…"
Raven pressed an ice pack to the back of her head, looking over the marks on her body that Jack had left…Er..The virus had left. Jack was tied back down into a chair, sleeping peacefully as the ship made its decent to the Hyperion base.
"Uhm…Do you think he should be tied up when we get there or…" The officer paused as he looked at Raven's bruises. "Should we wake him up?"
"Just leave him be. I need to get to a Lab as soon as possible. I'm pretty sure that virus is back." Raven said throwing on her coat. A sudden moan coming from Jack made the two look over. He was waking up, his expression confused from the tight restraints around his wrists and chest. "…What the…."
Raven pulled a flash light from her pocket. She walked up to Jack, shining it in his eyes…Blue and green. "Ey! What the fuck are you doin'?! Why does my head hurt?!"
"Shut up Jack." She ordered checking over his eyes.
"Don't tell me to shut up pumpkin I will literally smack the shit out of you." He threatened.
"You already did!" She snapped back. Jack looked up to her in confusion as she rolled up the sleeves to her coat and showed her the hand marks on her wrists. Then opened her coat to show the love bites he had left earlier.
"…Raven I-"
"Just shut up and let me figure out what the fuck is wrong with you. We're almost to the base."
Jack went quiet for a few moments as he stared at the dark purple marks trailing down her chest. "I did that?..." Raven didn't answer as she checked his pulse. It was a little higher than normal but was slowing down to a normal rhythm. "Raven what did I do?"
"You just blacked out okay?! Can you please not talk?" She muttered sternly. He felt a slight twitch in his chest and his eyes stung at her words. She was mad and Jack knew it had to have been his fault.
After a moment of Raven making notes to herself on his condition, Jack looked up to her remorsefully. "Listen…I uh…I'm sorry If I hurt you princess that wasn't my intention at all…" He said quietly. Raven didn't even look at him.
"It was the virus that beat me so don't worry about it." She said coldly.
"Well you're makin' me feel like it was my fault."
Raven glared at him finally. "Jack you didn't listen to me. Part of it is your fault. You're a.I. maybe well over 15 years old but your body isn't. Your body is trying to revert to its old ways before the A.I. I see you pick up a bottle of alcohol within the next month I'll smash it against your damn head. I'm not fucking around Jack. This isn't a slap to the hand like you would give a child, I will seriously break that pretty little face of yours." She added.
Jack blinked for a moment before smiling. "There's the vault hunter I expected." Raven rolled her eyes and turned from him, jotting something down on a note pad. "Y'know you can't leave me tied up right? Because if they see you walking out with me tied up they'll think your taking me hostage…and the guards will give you the same look that Idiot is giving you right now." Jack stated and Raven looked over to the co-piolet who was staring her down, only to turn back when she looked at him. "So untie me sweetheart…I'm obviously okay now. I'll come to the lab for tests but you have to make it quick. We don't have time for a whole day to waste on it."
Raven hesitated. He was right. She didn't even think about what the people would say when they saw him being carried out in restraints. Raven made her way back to Jack and untied him slowly, He rubbed his wrists when she finally untied his legs. "Thanks babe… Sooo…Tell me what happened."
"Your system overloaded." Raven said quietly sitting across from him, looking out the window into the night Pandorian sky.
"No cupcake, what happened?" Jack said pointing at the bruise on her wrist. Raven glanced at him for a moment then shifted her gaze back at the window. "Let it go."
"No. I want to know what happened. I know I didn't just hurt you, I know a hickey when I see one." He added pointedly. Raven was quiet as she avoided his eyes.
"I heard a noise coming from your room, I checked to see if you were okay, you attacked me, I hit you with a lamp, and you got knocked out. End of story." She stated. Jack glared at her.
"Would you just tell me what happened?! You're making it seem like I raped you or something-" Jack paused, his eyes widening. "Oh my god I didn't-"
"No! Nonono!" Raven interrupted. "But it felt like you would have if I hadn't fought you off! Okay?! Just leave it alone!"
Jack ran his hand through his hair. Raven could see he looked almost generally concerned for her. "Wow…uh…The virus…"
"Stop."
"No Hang on…I remember seeing something in a dream with you but-"
"Dream?"
"Can A.I.'s dream?"
Raven watched him for a moment. "Jack I think I know what's wrong."
When they landed Raven pushed Jack to the lab as quickly as their legs would take them. Raven nearly tackled every fan Jack had to get him there. The man sat quietly on the examination table as Raven scrambled to get things together. Besides Jack, she placed a tray of utensils to monitor brain activity.
"Okay so tell me again what you think is wrong?" Asked Jack.
"When you went to sleep, you're A.I. Must have gone into a state of stasis, and that must have triggered whatever was left of the virus you have in you." She answered hooking him up to the monitor.
"Okay…So It's like… sticking into the back of my head or something?"
"Pretty much."
"Oh good to know. So how do we weed it out?" Jack asked and Raven red the readings on Jack's scan closely.
"Well…You have to put yourself back in stasis." Raven looked back up to Jack who almost looked hesitant of doing that. "What's wrong?"
"As much as I would like to kill people and get the virus out, you're someone I don't want to hurt. B-because of Nakayama's work I'd worry. Not because-… Never mind. I just don't want to see you hurt." He shrugged.
"Good god, you're not developing feelings for me are you?" Raven questioned and Jack's heartrate monitor spiked before he tore the sticker connecting himself to the machine off.
"Me?! Please! You're not my type." He lied. Any girl that could kick his ass was his type. "We'll finish this later. We have work to do." Jack hopped off of the table and made his way to the door, before Raven stood in front of the door, her arms crossed.
"Jack. Get back up there."
"What's in it for me babe? Virus isn't gunna take over unless I overload or sleep right? Let's do this later when I'm tired." Jack stepped forward, Raven stepped up, intimidatingly close. "Woah, bit close there don't you think?" He laughed.
"Your face is pink."
"Huh?"
Jack's eyes widened when Raven's expression softened, her arms wrapping gently around his shoulders. Damn those big eyes. "Please Jack…" She whispered and a shiver ran up the man's spine. "…I just want to see what's wrong."
"God damn kitten." He muttered surveying her expression. "That's one hell of a dirty trick. And that's still a no. Come on. Daddy has work to-" Jack gasped when she pressed herself against him, her lips just barely touching his neck.
"Please…For me? I just want you to be okay….. when you're strangling some poor soul's life away."
Jack was trying so hard to keep his composure. It felt like his face was on fire. "Yeaaaaaaahhh You're not going to want to go there." He muttered. Jack placed his hands on her hips and stood away from her slowly. Raven watched him confused. "I know I'm damn near irresistible, But you start whispering like that we're both gunna be in trouble." Raven faked a disappointed look then shrugged.
"Okay have it your way." She said turning, and removing her coat as she walked away from him. "You go on ahead. I'll be here for bit."
Jack nodded his head and walked out the door. He didn't even get half way down the hall before he turned sharply back on his heel, back into the room. "You did this on purpose." He growled sticking the heart monitor back to his chest. "Guilt is not a good tactic."
Raven smiled. "Worked on you didn't it?" Jack glared before he made his way to the examination table where Raven was standing.
"That's beside the point pumpkin. Strap me down and do what you're gunna do…Wait. That sounded terrible. Induce a stasis or whatever. See if that triggers the virus. Could be another fire wall."
Hours passed and Rhys couldn't stop watching the clock in his office, his chrome hand tapping at his desk. He had no Idea what to do and was considering Vaughn's offer for protection. Rhys knew Jack was going to kill him, himself. It was just a matter of time. He had to find a way to stay ahead of him by a few steps. Rhys was jolted from his thoughts by the ringing of a commcall. "Hello?" He answered cautiously.
"Is this the Atlas CEO?" Whispered a voice. It was masked and staticy, the comm's video was dark, possibly a handmade comm.
"It…is can I ask…who's calling and how you got this line?"
"That's not important at the moment. Just a friend in a really…Really dangerous place at the moment. I have information I think you would like to hear."
"Go on."
"Jack is much closer than you think. He just landed on Pandora and was taken to the medical wing."
"Did they mention anything about a virus?"
"Yes." The voice replied. "Something about…an additional firewall affecting Jack in stasis."
"That doesn't make any sense…There was only one major firewall put in that virus. It should have killed everything."
There was silence on the other line, before rustling came through. "Sorry for the silence, I'm in a very dangerous spot."
"How much danger are you in?"
The comm moved suddenly, finally showing light. The closer Rhys looked the more detail he could see. This mysterious person lodged them self in a vent right above Raven and the man himself. "Holy shit." Rhys muttered. "How did you manage to get there?"
"Don't worry about it. There about to start some tests with the virus. She just put him under."
Rhys hummed to himself looking over the video before him. Jack had an oxygen tube around his nose, and an I.V. in his arm. Raven was typing away at the computer. It didn't take long before Rhys could see something wrong with Jack. His breathing pattern changed completely on the monitor, heartrate, Brain waves, and blood pressure. With curiosity, Raven looked up to Jack on the table. She was noticing his change as well.
"Jack?" She asked standing. She stood directly beneath the vent, cautiously touching his arm. His eyes opened slowly, the hazy red staring straight at the camera it felt like. Rhys put his hand over his mouth.
"Get out of there." Rhys ordered, but the person stayed completely still. It felt like minutes were passing before Jack looked over to Raven who was clutching a clipboard to her chest.
"Y'Know I'm pretty pissed at you sweetheart. Y'got some nerve hitting me with a lamp."
"I'm sorry. I had to."
"Listen you little shit, I want off of this table right fuckin' now." He ordered. Rhys watched him carefully. He was struggling against the straps, teeth grit, and his tone was glitching.
"Answer a few questions and I'll let you go."
"YOU'VE GOT 3 SECONDS TO GET ME OFF THIS GOD DAMN TABLE RAVEN"
Raven leaned against the desk writing on her clip board. "Who are you?"
Jack growled. "Handsome Jack!"
"You're real name Jack."
His expression changed to terror, eyes darting around the room as if searching for an answer.
"What is your real name? I need to see if you know."
"…It's… John."
Rhys raised a brow and sat back in his chair, a hand running through his hair. This was a lot of information that he didn't know…More than what he could have hoped to know. Why was he acting so strangely though?
"Who is in control?"
Jack's face contorted at her question, His eyes beaming at her. "SLAG YOU!"
Raven sat on the desk adjusting her hair. "Did you attach yourself to Jack?" She asked sitting cross-legged. "I know you're the virus speaking. You can't hide yourself in his eyes. And you can't play him off for long."
The room was quiet, Rhys almost didn't want to breathe. What the hell? He thought. Jack's expression changed completely, forming into a sarcastic, smug, and damn near devious smile.
"You catch on to quick my little bird. I sure do like that about you. So does Ol' Jackie boy. Nice little file tucked away about you in his head."
Raven stood making her way back to her computer to write a case file. "So who are you then? Do you have a name? Have you named yourself?" She asked blatantly but he was still quiet. Smiling.
"Nameless here… for evermore…" He whispered coyly, and raven stopped typing for a moment. Rhys watched her hesitate to look at him. "I beg your pardon?" She said standing slowly, nearing him with pure interest. It wasn't until she stood right beside him, that he spoke again.
"Much I marveled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly, Through its answer little meaning…little relevancy bore, For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door…Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, With such a name as "Nevermore."" Raven watched him with stagger as he stared back at her with gentle hazy red eyes. "We're alike you and I"
"How so?"
"Raven isn't you're real name…You can't hide yourself in those eyes."