A/N - I know it's taking awhile to update(been busy), but I'll at least post on weekends(approx. - once a week). Apologies for any and all inaccuracies and typos. I'm going to quit writing this, because it's probably just annoying you. Also, I changed the title and summary because...reasons!

And major thanks to those who've read this! :) You make me smile.

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IV. Tear Your Brain Apart

Timothy sat on a sofa in front of a fireplace. In his hand was an Echo communicator which he was using to talk to Janey, a friend he'd made on his expedition through Elpis. He'd contacted her a few times in the last week or so, wanting a friendly voice to grace his ears for once.

His employer hadn't let him leave Helios since his arrival, not for a single minute.

"...sound's great, sort-a Jack, I'll see what I can do," Janey's voice was saying over the Echo communicator. He'd just asked her if there was some way she could send some stories his way to use in his moments of boredom. "I got something you might like right now," she added. "The other day, a scav got smart with Janey. So, she whipped out her shotgun, and took his brainy! Like it? I just came up with it."

Timothy laughed, "yeah, it's great!" He was being honest. Anything was better than this place. He had a decent set of luxuriant quarters comprised of two rooms complete with fish tanks, fountains, unknown plants, dazzling décor, a fireplace, and an extravagant bedroom all to himself, but it felt as vain and empty as Jack's office.

His boss had said, "If you wanna be me, the first step is to live like me, Pumpkin."

At first, it wasn't too bad, but with time it was becoming depressing.

"So, what's been going on?" Janey interrupted his thoughts.

"Not much..."

"Why don't I believe that?"

"Because it's a dumbass lie."

"Then tell me the truth."

"I..." he hesitated, feeling uncertain. Then he thought, to heck with it! "Well, first, Jack's insisting everyone calls him Handsome Jack. It's not so bad, but it just goes to show his unending ego. He's so maniacal though. He laughs one minute and kills the next. He murdered the former CEO to take his position...I mean, I know no one liked that senile bastard, but still. He also vented a bunch of workers that weren't quiet enough about wage deductions out an airlock. To ascertain his power, he disbanded the board and took all their profit shares in Hyperion through blackmail. I thought he was going to kill me a week ago. Last I heard, he..." He stopped, not wanting to tell her that Jack was going to burn his face.

It was just something he didn't want to say aloud. As though saying it would make it more absolute, and ignoring it would cause it to go away. He knew it wasn't true, but he couldn't help it.

Timothy finished, "he's also probably going to do worse to me if I can't make a good impression as his body-double the next time I see him...ugh, I hate this place."

The double could say he was improving as a doppelganger, if at a very slow pace. It had more to do with reluctance than anything.

However, he was aware that putting it off longer than possible was dangerous play. Jack wouldn't be patient forever. Fortunately, the president of Hyperion had recently had his hands full with hiring, firing, and building more robots. He seemed attached to his robot army and constantly had orders concerning them to be fufilled.

"I'm sorry, Sort-of Jack. I wish I could help, but I gotta go. I'll try to send something your way and... stay safe, alright?"

"Will do, and you too Janey." He responded as the Echo went dead.

His no-longer preoccupied mind, of course, wandered. It landed on Felicity, the first constructor.

"No, I don't want to!" Her voice cried out desperately. "Can't you just make a copy of me?" She sounded on the verge of tears.

"And how long will that take exactly?"

"A couple of days at the absolute most!"

"Uh-uh. Sorry, but Zarpedon will have popped the moon like a zit by then." Jack's voice carried no regrets though, despite the apology. "Gladstone, keep the military stuff, trash the rest."

"I'm sorry Felicity," the Hyperion R&D doctor exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"

"I can hear myself dying," she whispered. "...No, no, nonononono... If hate's all you want, then THAT'S WHAT YOU'LL GET!"

Timothy's gut twisted. This was just horrible and wrong to him. Yeah, they didn't have any other choice, but it felt so heartless. It was too easy to commit this terrible deed.

"I trusted you!" The malfunctioning constructor that was Felicity yelled at the vault hunters as it began creating hostile robots.

His gut filled with more guilt. This wasn't fair to any extent.

It would never be.

"Timothy Lawrence."

He actually jumped at hearing his actual name, which he hadn't heard for quite awhile. He glanced at his Echo device to see the face of a woman with dark hair and blue eyes speaking.

She continued. "Jack has requested your presence in his office. In his words, 'ASAP'."

"Th-thanks! Baby?" He winced at his Jack-impression.

She didn't answer and the Echo went dead. He felt a little off balance. It was the A.I. from Handsome' Jack's office a while back. However, it surprised him that she neither referred to him or his boss as Handsome Jack. She called them by their actual names, even though he'd heard Jack specifically tell her to refer to his double as Handsome Jack.

There was something off about the 'Guardian Angel'.

He shrugged, deciding he had more pressing concerns. He mumbled to himself, "Great, just great. It's always something."

Timothy entered the huge office yet again to find Jack standing before the towering windows no longer gazing down on Elpis, but now on Pandora. He'd made the announcement that he was going to start prospecting for Eridium here and searching for another alien Vault that supposedly lay somewhere on the massive planet.

However, it'd take some time to get those plans going.

"So, I hear progress has been rather...sluggish. Slackin' off are we?" Handsome Jack asked, not taking his eyes from the planet.

"No, sir. Just, gettin' through the ruts!"

"Really? Do we need some motivation?"

"No, sir. I'm good."

The leader of Hyperion sighed and finally turned around. He walked towards his desk.

"You're good?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is this? A friggin' military? Act like me!"

"Not a problem, kiddo."

"Better...better," Jack gave a smile. "Everything treatin' you well?"

"Right-o, like a dream."

Jack burst out laughing. "Oh god! This is fabulous! It's like talking to myself...and yet, not quite..." He crossed his arms. "Perhaps you're not moving along as slowly as I thought."

Their eyes locked almost hostilely.

Handsome Jack sighed and called out, "Hey, Wilhelm! Get in here, I think it's time we took care of a little...problem we've not yet tackled." He looked at Timothy expectantly. "Ready and good to go?"

Timothy started to ask about what, but the doors opened and Wilhelm stomped in. The tall, burly man walked into the office and remained silent as he preceeded further into the room. He stopped beside Timothy, who took a subconscious step away. He always felt intimidated by the large mercenary.

"I'm gonna get the implants you promised, right?" Wilhelm growled, looking at his employer.

"Tough as always, but of course, I have an appointment set up." Handsome Jack shrugged. "And there's always money as a bonus."

Wilhelm's non-robotic eye gleamed greedily.

Timothy was sure the cold-blooded enforcer was as emotionally dead as he was crazy. Who'd want to undergo surgery after surgery to become as robotic as possible? But he'd never say these things out loud. It was pretty much a given that Wilhelm could crush him with little to no effort.

Jack crossed over to his lounge area and seized a metal poker leaning in the fireplace.

"If you would... Wilhelm?" He called lazily, pulling the rod from the hot flames.

Before the body-double knew what was happening, he felt the massive fist from the mercenary smash into his chest. He coughed and stumbled, surprised from the unexpected blow. He collapsed to his knees, winded, eyes watering.

"Good, now keep him still for this."

Timothy's back hit the floor as Wilhelm kicked him with more force than he'd punched. A massive boot fell on the double's torso, holding him down. He was in too much pain now to react and every breath was a stab of agony in his chest. The double swallowed in fear, feeling dread seep into his limbs from his predicament.

His mind went numb in cold trepidation as Jack approached, his face lacking regret as usual. It wasn't so much the man, as it was what he held in his hands like an item of gold. Timothy felt a cold chill in his body, as though his dread were an actual substance.

"Don't blink, kiddo." Jack whispered, aligning the rod upwards. The vault symbol shape at it's end cast a shadow across the double's features.

Before he could say or do anything, the brand descended in a single quick motion.

A horrible scream rang through the office. There was a sizzle of scorched flesh, and Jack pressed harder and longer than necessary, grinning insanely at the pain his body-double was feeling. Timothy writhed, struggling to escape the horrible agony, but Wilhelm mercilessly refused to let up.

Then, it was over. Jack stepped away, nodding calmly to the enforcer.

He released Timothy and the suffering man scrambled to his knees, not wanting to be on the floor like a helpless child. Both hands flew to his burning, aching face when he was upright. It hurt so bad, he couldn't think, or hear, or feel anything else at all.

He refused to acknowledge the damage in voice though, and surprisingly, Jack had nothing more to say for a long time.

The silence was only broken by the groans of pain emitting from the man through his hands, and the footsteps of Wilhelm leaving the office.

"Angel, send the doctor in. I'm done." He heard Jack say to the intercom. "He knows what I want."

Timothy's hands finally dropped from his ruined face. He moaned in pain, staring at the floor through blurred vision. Blood seeped from various parts of the new wound where the burn hadn't closed it off. His left eye was scorched shut, and his right eye had escaped damage. Just like his employer, who apparently had uncanny accuracy in jamming brands onto people's faces.

Jack chuckled a little and began to circle the double like a hungry skag. He tossed his brand into the fountain where it hissed and steamed.

"Did you know that was specially made for this occasion?" He asked. "Oh, and don't complain about this, chucklehead, this is hardly anything. I'm going to teach you everything you'll ever need to know to survive this cruel universe. You're going to be me! Isn't it great? Well...to an extent, 'cause you could never truly be as awesome as me."

Timothy said nothing, face lowered. His arms hung limply. He was still, silent, but his good eye began to blink rapidly until it closed.

"All these good ideas will tear your brain apart, pumpkin. That's how it works. We're the good guys, mm'kay? The vault showed me, it showed me everything. I can't show you, but I can change you, mold you. It'll be perfect..." He hissed, suddenly glaring down as he stopped his pacing in front of the other.

"Ya know, I didn't even have to burn you! I could have just given you a mask! But what's the fun in that?"

An angry sighed spilled into the atmosphere from the wounded man, he was ready to give Handsome Jack his mind. Forget all his worries about his possible death. His eye opened, pained, angry, indignant. He met the off-colored gaze, nearly snarling.

"Don't say a word, kiddo, it's not good for your health." Jack interrupted. "Get off the floor, that's what I did!"

"I'm not you, Jack," Timothy spat angrily, defiantly.

Jack suddenly hit his ruined face with the back of his hand, making his double scream out in pain as his head jerk to the side. "Fine, pumpkin, looks like we're gonna have lotsa fun learnin' what's what around here. Frickin' stand up! Your life's about to get important. I've got such wonderful plans!" He hauled him to his feet and shoved him towards the door as a man with a white coat and glasses entered.

Apparently, the doctor had arrived. He exclaimed, "S-shit! I wasn't expecting it to be so bad!"

"Deal with it, docket." Handsome Jack stated. "I need him ready as quickly as you can bake a cake. Let's get a move on, pronto!" He clapped his hands together and in a loud voice called, "and it's because of me! BECAUSE I'M AMAZING!"

The only thing Timothy could know for sure as he was lead away was that he hated Jack deeply.

Then something else occurred to him. Something that made him want to stop and drop completely in despair.

For a long time now, he'd gone thinking that there was some sort of bomb in his face, ready to explode when Jack so chose.

This incident here proved otherwise. The heat from the burn would have set off any bomb.

Jack had used his fears to control him, just something the tyrannical monster would do.

He dragged on after the doctor, knowing his fears had been taken advantage of, and he'd been played a fool. He'd never been in danger of removing this face. And now, that was next to impossible. The face had been burned, almost to the bone. That wasn't something easily fixed.

He felt like his mind was coming apart with his misery.

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End of chapter 4