Chapter 2 - Oppurtunity
The door slams shut behind me and I… I can't move. I'm infuriated. I'm not a physically aggressive person. I talk my way through things, but for once I just want to take my hands, wrap them around a Vasquez doll, and squeeze until his stupid little eyes pop out!
If I move, it will be to kick something.
Vasquez and I go back years. It's not been pretty. We have had kind of a… friendly rivalry. Okay so maybe not all that friendly. Not since the weapons contract we joint-negotiated years back; but it's still a rivalry, and now he has one-upped me.
"So… not good?" Vaughn asks nervously.
Is my face that obvious? Who am I kidding, it is.
"Not good." I clarify. He flinches back and I realize I had a lot of bite to it. "Sorry… I just… lets go." I can't be in the same air as that guy anymore.
Walking helps me think anyway. Letting my lets go into auto-pilot and just feeling like something is happening sharpens my mind enough for me to think about this.
"But-but I don't get it! I thought it was a shoe-in!" Vaughn stammers in confusion.
"Yeah, well! It wasn't!" I shake my head as I snapped at him again. Damnit, I am NOT in control right now! "Sorry, just… I'm pissed off."
"I see that." He doesn't take it personally. "What happened?"
"Its… its-" ITS THAT DAMN VASQUEZ!
I see something to replace Vasquez's face, and I kick it. It's a poor innocent trash can, and it can deal with the fact that I need something in place of his ugly face!
My robotic leg goes through the outer layer of the trash-can and now I have a trash can as a shoe!
"AARGGH!" Damnit! I can't even take my aggravation out without screwing up! I shake the trash can off and stand there huffing and puffing angrily.
Aaand, now there's Vaughn and Yvette.
"Who's Yvette?" Brick asks with his mouth full of popcorn.
Yvette is my other best friend. She is not near to the bro-factor that Vaughn is, but she has been on our side from time to time. She's a lesser part of the team, but still important. Sometimes Vaughn and I need stuff moved around or obtained… without anyone noticing.
"You mean illegally?" Lilith asks in amusement.
"Actually, no. Legal. Just without our rivals noticing our movements." Rhys explains. "If stuff moves, people notice. Especially pencil pushers."
Yvette also hangs out with us at lunch and gives us information on who is getting what through requisitions in return for us paying for her lunch and a small cut into whatever contracts she ends up helping us with. It's like free money for her just to open her mouth, and it gives us a radar on what's happening around Hyperion.
Between her and Vaughn, we have eyes on all goods and money flow across Hyperion. You want to track profits and deals? Watch the warehouses and movement of goods. Watch the money going up and down in accounting. Put the two together and you have all the pieces you need outside of actually being there.
I've also never been a physically aggressive person, so seeing me so angry has them on edge.
"Rhys?" Yvette asks cautiously. "Why are you wearing a trash can for a shoe?"
I close my eyes, breathe in, breathe out, count to ten, and plaster a calm smile on my face. I refuse to take my anger out on my friends. I reply cheerfully, "Henderson's dead."
"What?!" They both gasp.
"Are you sure?" Yvette asks.
"Oh, you could ask him- HE'S FLOATING OUTSIDE IN SPACE!" I yell-whisper. "Vasquez shoved him out an airlock and has been promoted to take his place in return for a-" This is Hyperion. Walls of ears! "a special contract."
Vaughn does the Vaughn thing of feeling sorry for Henderson and Yvette does the Yvette thing of looking at me skeptically and with a dose of scheming. Like a girl after my own heart.
"What special contract?" She asks.
Just the word 'special contract' is enough to put her, and usually us, in shark-mode. We see something to go after, so go after it.
Only this is Vasquez, he will be expecting it. He knows who we are and how we work. He doesn't know how good I am with my robotics, but he knows to keep from tipping off Yvette or Vaughn. Those two are our eyes.
Just the fact that she is the one having to ask that question shows she has no idea, and she's one of our two eyes. I guarantee Vaughn has NO idea, or he would be jumping on this faster than a piranha on a cow. With Vasquez's face on it.
Vasquez was careful…
He won't stop being careful until he is done.
We're being watched.
"I shouldn't explain here." I whisper. "Not with cameras here. Let's… just go do our usual thing and I'll explain."
Our usual thing is lunch in this case.
We head for the cafeteria, and Vaughn scuttles along beside us a little bit fretfully. "If Henderson's dead… then… we're next! Oh, God! We're next!"
"Not yet." Yvette replies. "Vasquez isn't that stupid."
We enter the elevator and I turn my eyes to my bro. He is genuinely scared… He's shaking. "Bro, Vasquez knows how good we are, and may want me dead personally, but you know him. He will want to do it slowly and to my face just to prove a point."
"That doesn't make me feel any better!"
I try to explain, "He won't do it, yet. He only just replaced Henderson. Killing the guy he is replacing is one thing. Killing one of the best in his staff on his first day is going to raise eyebrows."
"Wait, wait, wait." Mordecai put a hand up, stopping Rhys. "This is Hyperion. You kill each other just for looking."
"Yes, and no." Rhys replies. "Let me explain."
Getting rid of people in your way and replacing them with someone better is acceptable. Getting rid of assets is frowned upon. I think that's what saved me. If Vasquez had the balls or leverage, he wouldn't have demoted me. He would have just told me he was going to shoot me and then do it.
I'm too valuable to Hyperion for Vasquez to get rid of immediately. But that will only last until Vasquez gets this contract done and then is filthy rich beyond his wildest dreams. He needs either the leverage to brush my death under the carpet or to replace me with someone just as good.
Considering how I was just on my way to a promotion as the head of the head of my department, replacing me will take time.
We enter the cafeteria, get some food, I pay for Yvette as usual, and we find a spot to eat. The lunch is quiet and depressed, but also attentive. I have information to spill, and while we have been knocked down pretty hard, they are still waiting for me to say what I have to say.
I can't do that until we're clear. Too many people walking around us.
Lunch hour nears its end, and the people around us spill away.
"Okay, guys. Don't react. Last thing we need is Vasquez seeing your surprise."
"Is it that big?" Vaughn asks.
I nod. "His contract is a vault key."
To their credit, they do a good job containing their surprise. Yvette's expression doesn't change in the slightest, but if you look closely you will find she isn't blinking. Vaughn clenches his jaw, his eyes almost bug out, and he looks like he is going to throw up… or maybe that's just him trying to hold back the surprise by tensing up.
I manage to shove away my own feelings and eat my food casually. Except for the potato chips. I take a potato chip and EAT IT!
A vault key… That's big. Huge, even.
A couple of years back, a 'vault' was found on Pandora. A survivor of the finding said there was treasure and riches beyond imagining.
What little made it out of the vaults showed that the guy wasn't just right, he was under exaggerating. The technology pushed the galaxy forward a hundred years in two days!
This one man's eye-witness account turned Pandora into a modern gold-rush, complete with companies, armies, and intergalactic nations trying to get into a vault.
Its almost funny picturing entire nations trying to fit into a single door…
Lately the one to reign supreme over Pandora is the intergalactic Hyperion corporation. Before, it was four, maybe five, big names fighting over Pandora. Jack stepped in and conquered them.
To put it into perspective, a vault key could buy you a planet.
I look at my friends. "And we're going to steal his deal."
Yvette, normally, I would expect to have on my side. "Rhys, normally I would be saying we should go ahead, but this is big. A vault key? Vasquez will have support from the higher-ups!"
"Vault key or no, he just KILLED a guy!" Vaughn says. "Henderson may not have been one of us, but he was not one of the bad guys! We can't just that Vasquez get away with this! I'm in."
"Guys." Yvette shakes her head. "This isn't us three going against some guy who doesn't know we are watching him! This isn't the three of us teaming up on a lone fish out in the ocean! This is the three of us, an accountant, a requisitions officer, and…" She looks to me. "A guy who talks a lot."
Mordecai bursts into giggles and Rhys stops his story long enough to glare a bit. Mordecai says, "Oh, she has you pegged alright!"
"Gee, such a sparkling endorsement." Rhys mutters. "As I was saying…"
"Against a guy who KNOWS us, inside and out, and has the backing of HYPERION!" She stresses. "This is in over our head."
"Not unless we get our foot in the door!" Vaughn argues. He looks to me with a kind of righteous indignation. "Think about it, the one thing Hyperion cares more about money is vault keys! It won't matter WHO gets it, so long as they get it in the end. If we can just get our hands on it, then the table is turned!"
I nod.
Vaughn continues, "We screw over Vasquez. We get a vault key. We replace him, and possibly get promoted even higher than him. And not JUST Rhys, but all of us! We'll be the three presidents of the station in days! I'm in."
Vaugn puts his hand in the table, and I reply with the same gesture. But Yvette leans back. I can see she looks tempted, but she isn't putting her hand in with us at this point.
I lay it out for her. "Think about it. Screw over Vasquez. More money than we would know what to do with. We get to sit in Handsome Jack's chair."
"And we don't die!" Vaughn adds.
Oh, right. That might be important too.
"Yeah, and we don't die. Where, on the other hand, if we don't do this. Then we die anyway. You know Vasquez WILL kill us the moment he has the wiggle room to do it."
Yvette looks uncertain, and fearful. I understand why. This is big. This is the crossroads between running away from the wolf or sticking your hand in to grab him by the heart. A wolf with Vasquez's face on it.
Provided I stick my metal hand in, it doesn't sound too bad.
"I'm in." She sticks her hand ontop of ours.
The three Hyperionteers. Normally, I would say the guy won't know what hit him, but this is Vasquez. He will know what hit him and that will make it all the sweeter.
"So what's the plan?" Vaughn asks.
I explain everything as best I can from what information I have. I have the information inside my augmentations, and pull it up for reference. (It is so nice to have an operating system inside your eye.)
Vault Key. A guy named August. The meeting place is 'The World of Curiosities' in Prosperity Junction. Ten million dollars.
"So we need a map, money, and transportation." Yvette muses.
"Done." Vaughn says.
We look to him. "With what?" I ask.
"The money. The ten mil. Got it while you were talking."
Curiously, I bring up our bank accounts on my eye. Wow, he wasn't joking. His bank account just jumped ten million dollars, with a note to have it delivered to his door in a brief-case set to self-destruct if anyone besides him tries to open it.
Well, I'll be damned. Guess being an accountant means something.
Mordecai whistled. "Impressive."
"It was." Rhys smirked.
I stare at Vaughn a long moment and say with a smirk, "I have to admit… that was impressive."
"Thanks." Vaughn says with a smile.
"Which leaves transport to and from Pandora." I look to Yvette.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it… This is Pandora, so we will want something tough. Shouldn't be too hard to find. But it will take a little time."
"How much time?" I ask.
"For me to get us a ride, to and from Pandora, and one that can survive being there longer than fifteen seconds? AND to get it in position before security comes when Vasquez whistles? At least an hour."
Damn. Was kinda hoping it would already be ready.
"I will need to get my hands on the cash, and then convert it to something Pandora considers acceptable." Vaughn adds. "Gold?"
"No, make it eridium bars." I say. "Actually, no. That will be too obvious, and you guys want to move fast. The clock is already ticking since we got the ten mill. Yvette, get the ride. Vaughn, get the money and meet us there."
They stand and Vaughn has the cumpulsive moment to push his chair under the table. "What are you going to do?"
I smirk, "I'm going to cause a little distraction."
They look at me worriedly, but understand and leave to get to their part.
So… one hour. I need to keep Vasquez's attention off my friends.
Truthfully, I'm not going to cause a distraction. I'm going to figure out how to do it, then I'm going to do it.
Vasquez expects me to be in the mailroom, and with lunch having just ended a few minutes ago, might as well get walking in case he is watching me.
What would distract Vasquez… forget distracting everyone else, just him. I need a way to keep his attention on me and away from my friends. But he also isn't stupid. He knows Yvette and Vaughn are more of the worker types than I am.
The mailroom comes in sight and slow down a bit. I've been here plenty of times. I know the people, I know how this works.
I need to make the distraction personal. Vasquez hates me. He actually likes Vaughn a tiny bit and tolerates Yvette, but he hates my guts. So the way I see it, I have two options.
I appeal to his angry side. The guy used to work the mailroom. I might be able to find something… personal… to him in here and screw around with it. Maybe I'll find his old desk and draw massive rainbows or dancing elves on fire.
Or.
I appeal to his ego. He wants me to suffer. So I give him what he wants and turn this into his second favorite show, just after Pacific Blue.
I stroll into the mailroom like I own the place, and subtely glance at the cameras. I have expected them to follow my every move, and turns out I was right. I don't know if that's creepy in that I know the guy that well, or if I'm just that paranoid.
Anger or ego…
Meh, these people are innocent and don't need any heat. Better appeal to his ego.
I sigh deeply and look lost a minute. To be fair, I really am lost. They redid this place. I manage to find a receptionist and before I have time to ask where I am, the manager comes. Turns out I'm expected. He shows me to my desk, and I stare at it.
Yeah… There's no desk. There's a chair, there's a computer and paperwork. But no desk. I can just hear the guy chuckling behind the camera.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You want me to work on the floor?" I ask.
"I don't know, this is what I was told."
The camera shifts ever so slightly towards me. "By who?!" I ask incredulously.
"Higher ups, its beyond my prevue. I just do what I'm told."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I can't just work on the floor! Its bad enough that shit-for-brains beat me to Henderson's chair," Oh, just saying it is like a kick in the stomach. I'm getting lightheaded. I'm feeling woozy. Is my nose bleeding? "And that he demoted me to some… some FACTORY WORKER! No offense."
"None taken." The guy examines his fingernails, completely ignoring me.
"But NOW, NOW I have to work on the FLOOR?! How much lower does he want me?"
The guy is the epitome of not-giving-a-shit. Its like he hears this on a daily basis. "If you have a problem with management, you can make a formal complaint."
"Oh, I will." I answer.
He magically produces a piece of paper out of thin air and hands it to me. Or he already had it prepared. I think the first option is cooler. It's the formal complaint form. "Get writin'"
"Right." I turn to my desk, that still isn't there. "Wait, on what?! I don't have a desk to make a complaint about not having a desk about!"
I can just picture Vasquez laughing so hard he cries and falls on the floor.
"Then I guess you can make a formal complaint about that. Should take, oh… about two years."
"TWO YEARS?!" I yell. Really, that is surprising. Two years for a complaint to be processed is ridicules.
But rather than respond, the guy walks off.
"DAMNIT!" I yell. I do push myself to appear more angry and defeated than I really feel, but to be fair, I don't have to push myself much. I really am angry at the guy, and its coming through in my acting. Probably the one thing keeping this from being obviously fake.
I sit at my non-existant desk and mutter and grumble and try to figure out how I am going to do this. I try to get on the floor, but my robotic leg does not make it easy. There are limits to my augmentation's flexibility. I feel the difficulty and make a show of it being worse than it really is, and finally, after struggling and huffing and puffing and working at it, manage to get myself into a cross-legged position on the floor.
The camera is still on me. It's the only one not moving back and forth like normal.
But, as it turns out, being cross-legged makes it a pain to write. So I have to reposition myself on all fours with the paper on the floor.
Vasquez better like the view of my ass.
I write the complaint, and make a requisition order for a desk. I also make a side-note about Vasquez's mother. With that handled, I struggle to get off the floor and into a standing position. My robotics are good at many things, but getting off and on the floor isn't among them. Some amount of flexibility comes down to actual muscle and joints. But then, so far as I see, even normal people have trouble getting on and off the floor. Perhaps it's not just a robotic thing. Who knows.
Lilith grumbled, "Do we really have to go through how you distracted him for an hour?!"
Rhys replied, "Well, that was only fifteen minutes so far-"
"MOVE ON!"
Moving on.
Having successfully made an ass of myself in multiple areas, and given Vasquez lots of recording value if he is watching, I make my way towards where we agreed to meet up.
Also, for the record, if Vasquez wasn't watching and my whole charade has been pointless, then I will be humiliated.
I receive a message in my ECHO eye, and it's from Yvette. Our ride is ready and is sitting in one of the moonshot cannons. I worry briefly of the safety of sticking our ride in one of those, but the concealment and practically make sense. Provided we make it in one piece.
I am already here under the charade of delivering a letter, and I pass by the moonshot cannon enough to get a glimpse of Vaughn inside waiting for me. He urges me to 'come on'. I don't see Yvette anywhere.
Be more cautious and get closer without Vasquez noticing something is up?
Or hightail out of here?
A couple guards walk through the doors and one of them points at me.
Ah, screw it.
I run. I drop the mail and make a mad dash for the moonshot cannon. I leap across the ten foot gap into the inside of the cannon-
"Looks more like a two foot gap." Mordecai comments.
"-and land on my feet. Hey! Who's telling the story?" Rhys complains.
"You are. And it's a good one too. Full of talking and wasting of time. When do we get to the punching?" Brick asks.
"Do I look like the punching type?" Rhys lifts up his one remaining arm a bit under the straps holding him to the chair. His arm is a basically a stick. Even worse, he couldn't punch a stick if he tried.
"So no punching?"
"Don't think so, bud." Mordecai replies cooley.
"What am I doing here then?" Brick asks in aggravation.
"Because I asked you to." Lilith states in a demanding tone. Brick gets the message and cools down. Lilith glares at Rhys. "Continue."
"Not much more to tell really." Rhys shrugged. "The cannon sealed itself, Vaughn and I climbed into the container that had a car inside, and then 'BOOM'. Once we had the latch down we couldn't see out of it. No windows or anything. After that, we land on Pandora."
Rhys wasn't sure what to make of their reaction. Brick looked disappointed, like a kid being told his favorite story wasn't real. Mordecai was calm, relaxed in a dangerous way… like a snake, and while he was serious about finding the answers they wanted from Rhys, he was willing to take his time about it. Lilith though… she was a girl on a mission and nothing was going to get in her way, and the amount of time Rhys spent talking seemed to only annoy her.
"Look, I'm sorry if you don't like how long this takes, but it does come into play later." Rhys said, hoping to get her off his back.
After a few minutes of arguing among them, Lilith ordered Rhys taken back to his cell. Rhys was taken by Mordecai, who, seemed to be a good middle ground between Lilith's temper and Brick's aloofness. "Oh, one word of advice." Mordecai said as they returned to his cell. "Try to get a punching scene in there or something badass. Brick gets bored. And when he gets bored, he gets homicidal. He was thrown out once for being so bloody about it that he made Lilith and Roland sick."
Rhys cringed. The door slammed shut.