Note: As I was sitting down on this chapter, trying to figure out what was next, I came to a realization.

I can keep this story entirely to Rhys' perspective. I aimed for it to be that way from the beginning, and I have kept to it thus far, but this also will cause the story to become confusing and a bit two-dimensional. The story is based on Rhys, but in order to understand how people think and change around him, I will need to leave his perspective and show things from Vaughn's, Sasha's, Fiora's perspective at times.

So I have to decide whether to let the story have less quality, and some potential confusion and moments that don't make sense for the sake of what my original objective was.

Or.

Bend the objective to be less 100% Rhys to be more like 75% Rhys, and in so doing, create quality and understanding in the people around him.

I think that's a no-brainer. I am held back by nothing but my own obligations, and I would rather make high quality and strong three-dimensional characters anyday.

Chapter 6 - A New Day

-Rhys-

-Present-

Being left in a prison for hours on end left Rhys an abundance of time to reflect. He had never been one for meditation or tree-hugging, but the simple act of stopping, looking back, and reflecting was how he chose to interpret it.

So many things could have been different. He was not one for fate or destiny or galactic, but he could see easily how that single day, nay… the moment he decided to fight back against Vasquez… was the single most important moment of his current life. Not important in the sense that it was important (being born, moving to Hyperion, and the raid on Helios was certainly more important) but important in the sense that he was the one in control and he had two very definite choices to pick from. Two completely divergant paths were laid out, and he chose one.

He could have done nothing. As Vaughn said, Rhys would have had a free ticket up to management as soon as Vasquez was revealed to be one gigantic fool. Hyperion would have checked the authenticity of the Vault Key in a lab before using it, or just used it in general. Either way he would have been screwed and Rhsy would have had a one-way ticket to easy street.

He also would have become more Hyperion in nature than before. Not that Rhys still didn't consider himself Hyperion. He was. Hyperion was in his blood, in his job and endeavors going back twenty-so years. But he would have still looked down on Pandora from orbit and placed himself on a pedestal above everyone else. Rhys considered himself, back then, to be a fair, somewhat humble person… but he couldn't escape the prejudices of dealing with 'Pandoran Scum'.

Now… Rhys was different. He felt different. What he had seen, what he had experienced changed him to his core. He couldn't recognize himself anymore, and as he looked into the broken mirror allowed for him… he didn't want to. All his life he had looked down on Pandoran's for their murderous nature… and now he felt lower than that. That was partially why he didn't put up a fight with the Crimson Raiders here… a dark, cynical part of Rhys believed he deserved it.

The ignorant had no idea how close to evil they truly were… How easy it is for a good guy to do evil things without even thinking about it.

And as he reflected, he considered the alternatives. He had chosen to go down to Pandora and go on the offensive. The result had turned him into a monster. But if Rhys had chosen to do nothing, and inevitably get a double-promotion simply because he was next in line… he wouldn't have been much better. He might have become even more corrupt as power was handed over to him.

Was his fate truly to become a monster no matter which path he had chosen?

Rhys sighed from the depressing thought. At the very least… it was a fun ride. It wasn't ALL bad.

-Sasha-

-Past-

Sasha sat on a stool and stared at the Hyperion named Vawn. (Vaun? Vawhn? Fawn? Something.)

Felix had said, as a child, that he would look up to the stars and describe the empty blackness give a feeling of insignifance. The galaxy was so big and he was so small. But that had been before Hyperion… because all her life she had been under Helio's eye. To children, Helios was a demon. It was the thing that ate up bad boys and girls, and it always knew. It was always in view stuck between the orbit of Pandora and the moon. If you were bad, then big-bad-Helios would drop a moon rock on your head.

Of course, Sasha was not a child anymore. She was in her early twenties. Growing up, Sasha didn't feel the galaxy was big, she felt it was puny. She was stuck in a cage. Everytime she looked up, there was Helios. And she learned that Helios was not a mystical demon born of nightmares, but an actual space-fortress filled with the Hyperion corportation. People. She knew that being people, they bled. She had killed plenty of people in self-defense over the years. But there was still a certain… mysticism to them.

The only Hyperion to come down were either slaughtered in hordes by the various armies that ravaged Pandora or were Handsome Jack, and Handsome Jack was nothing short of a legend. He was considered a god by his people and the worst tyrant in history to everyone else. Children were taught what was right and wrong with Handsome Jack used as an example. Hyperion, the people of Helios, all of them. Handsome Jack killed hundreds out of boredom on a daily basis, and thousands more when he had a reason behind it. He used entire villages and cities as target practice…

And it wasn't just… the destruction. It was the taunting. Jack had hacked into every ECHO-net channel there was. He was in control of communication. (Only a few could establish a private channel outside of his network.) and he made sure everyone knew exactly what he thought of you. Pandorans were bandits and unlawful simply for being Pandorans. Sasha couldn't deny a large portion of the population was insane, murderous, thieving, backstabbing, and generally gun-crazy; but Jack had a way of making you feel he knew you and he was talking about you.

Sasha remembered hearing the news (from Jack's mouth) of how a village was being bombarded from Helios, while Jack was munching on chips and freaking out at how spicy it was, and all because he wanted a new golfing hole.

He was a legend in his evil. He had a mystically oppressive presence that shadowed the entire planet, and his minions, his Helios, were equally mystical in a way.

She frowned in disgust towards them and tried to push away the burning hate and pain that sat buried in her. It was born of a life-time of being pushed into a cage, and caught her off-guard. She had never expected to meet living, breathing Hyperion's in her lifetime. She figured she would have been crushed under a Helios bombardment by now, perhaps shot in the head by a sniper bullet from a bandit.

She wanted so much to hurt them. To free herself of that cage, that fear, that oppression that kept her here, but looking at the two of them, she found she couldn't. The cyborg was… well he was a gigantic idiot and an ass. She could explain away (not forgive) his actions and words yesterday from having been on the losing end to a lot of very bad things. She could understand (not forgive) his views of them being pathetic Pandorans, as his tone implied as much, since he was, of course, Hyperion. He probably saw the world from Jack's psychopathic view.

But the thing that surprised her was… the concern.

The first moment she caught sight of the cyborg, he had been trying to help the other Hyperion. He put on a ruse of lowering himself, he apologized for speaking to his 'rescuer' in such a way, he was cooperative and open and humbled himself (something that took her off guard just as much as it made her wary) when she had tried to do something about the deal before. And then later, when things were continueing to go bad for him, he stuck by his friend.

The other Hyperion was thin, weak, gangly. Your general nerd. He had a wounded leg (Fiora wrapped it up) and cuts and bruises and a broken wrist. By Pandoran rules of survival, he was weak. He was an easy kill. Sasha would have figured the cyborg to leave him behind lest he be slowed down, but he actually went out of his way to push the nerd harder, to keep him going, to protect him. Glances were filled with concern and his stance at times had been protective.

Sasha figured that it was an act. The cooperation, the apologies, the humbling, the openness, the lowering of himself, it was all effective methods of social engineering. Fiora was a con-artist and Sasha picked up on a fair bit of it as well. She wasn't gullible.

But while all those things were an act, the parts that wasn't an act was his protective nature and concern for the other Hyperion, because those were moments that were… from a cynical perspective: stupid. Those were moments that would have killed him if luck didn't roll its dice.

And then the nerd himself… Vawn. Weak. Needy, screamed like a girl, didn't put up a fight, a coward… generally everything that would mean a very quick death on Pandora. He was not a being, a demon, to be feared. He was… actually kind pathetic at a glance.

Hyperions had a particular reputation and image made about them, and looking at the two of them she couldn't align that image with them at all. One was so weak, cowardly, and pathetic that she could scarcely believe him to be Hyperion. The other was protective.

She was curious. It wasn't every day you could look at the very persona of your greatest fear. So just as much as she couldn't just try to kill them, she couldn't just walk away either. She refused to relate, she refused to forgive and understand and consider them as anything less than the minions of Jack that they were. She was trapped here. Unable to do anything to them from confusion, unable to leave from curiosity, unable to stay and face the potential reality of how mortal and simply human they were, and unable to just sit and do nothing because they were Hyperion and they had screwed everything up.

The sound of Fiora yawning herself awake and rising up from the couch behind her, alerted her, but she couldn't move. She continued to watch the two handcuffed Hyperions sleeping in their own beds in the far back of the camper.

"You been sitting here all night?" Fiora stumbled over. She wasn't much of a morning person.

"Mhmm."

"I know Felix said to guard them, and shoot them if they cause trouble, but he also said to wake me up at some point for my turn. You need your sleep."

"I'm fine." Sasha responded.

Fiora sighed. "No, you're not." She leaned against the wall, roped her arms together, and looked down at her with a knowing look. Sasha pinched her lips in a fine line. She hated how easily Fiora could read her. "That was the longest con we have ever been in… you were with August for months. You can't tell me you're fine with how that ended."

Sasha glanced up to her sister. "That's exactly what it was: a con. Nothing more, nothing less. I feel nothing about it, if anything, I'm happy to be away from his trigger fingers and-"

Fiora frowned. "You're not as good at holding your emotions back as I am. I refuse to be attached, but you-"

"But I what?" Sasha challenged. She rose up and faced her sister. "But I'm not as good as you?"

Fiora stared at her sister for a moment and sighed with a shake of her head. Sasha grit her teeth in anger. She hated that superior sigh.

"Sasha… you're… You spent a very long time with him, day and night. You can't tell me that you don't feel something, even if it's just a shadow feeling that someone should be there."

"Don't pretend to tell me how I-" Sasha started to raise her voice.

"Enough."

Sasha stopped herself and turned to Felix. The old man looked exhausted. He looked on them firmly. "Sasha, get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us and we need to figure out what to do with them." He had a sharp glance toward the Hyperion. "With level heads."

Fiora smiled knowingly to Sasha, but Felix spoke up quickly. "That means all of us, you too Fiora. You are both to blame, not just Sasha. Sasha may have had a level of control on August, but she couldn't have foreseen the Hyperion's losing their heads. Fiora, you-"

"I was getting a-" Fiora defended herself.

"I know what you were doing. A device to stop his ECHO-eye. But the hardware is my area, not yours. You should have told me what you needed and returned quickly. Instead, as usual, you tried to handle everything yourself. I may be old, but I could easily have gotten close and planted it. The fact that you were gone for so long may have been the trigger for us losing control of the situation and making people suspicious."

"I could have handled it…" Sasha argued, unable to keep a bit of a pout of her voice.

Felix raised an eyebrow at her. "Fiora was the buyer in their eyes. She was the one who had dug it up. How odd is it for her to run off and disappear at the most important part of the whole deal? Hm? You tell me."

Fiora looked down, suitably rebuked. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Sasha. She's the one you left behind to handle a two-person job on her own."

Fiora hesitated, but did so. With apologies swapped, and everyone thinking a bit clearer after having defeat handed to them, Sasha went ahead and slept.

Truth was she didn't want to think about August. He had his moments, both good and bad. He may have been closed off and distant in bed (and smoked in it… a huge annoyance and source of their bickering), and he didn't hesitate to kill people for money, but he listened and relied on her judgement. To a degree, that was exactly the nail in the coffin for the con. The one thing that she perhaps truly liked about him, and she used it against him. She was just as much to blame as everyone else, perhaps including the Hyperions, and that was something she had refused to face just as much as she was unable to deny it.

-Rhys-

-Past-

I dream a nice dream. It's warm and sunny. I'm on an island that I own. I'm laid back over a nice bench working on a tan. Vaughn is laying in a beach-chair on my right wearing sunglasses and sipping a martini. On my left is Yvette in a small bikini reading a nice book. In front of me is Vasquez, bowing down, while struggling to hold three palm leaves and waving them at us like the pathetic little slave he is. The beach is not one made of sun, but is made of an enormous pile of gold, a whole mountain of gold! There are clouds rolling in around us we are so high on a pile of gold.

I hear footsteps and turn to see Handsome Jack approach, having just climbed up the mountain's 1000 steps of wisdom, just for my wisdom. I don't know what I tell him as he bows on one knee, but he thanks me and tells me how wise and powerful I am. Helios comes running to me like a dog demanding my attention and wags its tail.

An entire priesthood of Pandoran b1's and b2's bow in reverence around the mountain. B1 bows before me presenting a silver plate. I lift the lid. "Sandwich." B1 says.

I look at it in disappointment. "No, thank you. I'll have the roast duck. Take it away." I wave her off.

"The what?" She asks, confused at first, but retorts with a commanding tone. "Hyperion. Sandwich. Here."

She puts it on my chest, and I look down at it in disgust. How dare she speak to me in that tone! I snap at her. "Listen here, I said I don't want the damn sandwich! Go away."

"Uh, Rhys." I turn to look at Vaughn. "You might want to wake up."

I roll my eyes. "Why? What's the Pandoran B**** going to-" I wake up to food smushed into my face. A metallic plate rests on my side after sliding down my neck. Melted cheese is all over my nose down to my chin. The sun is bright and burning into my eye-socket. My arms are numb and above my head. Vaughn is sitting on the other bed, still not tied up, nibbling on a sandwich and appearing annoyingly meek.

"Wha-" I look around confused and try to sit up, only to find something is holding my hands above my head. I look up. "Why am I handcuffed to the top of a bed? Why is there food on my face?"

As if to answer every question I could possibly have about my situation, b1 is standing there looking aggravated at me. "Oh." Is about all I have to say. With an addition of: "Well, shit." I lay back and sigh. Here I was hoping it was all just a gigantic nightmare.

B1 looks down at me, her expression carefully blank. "Thought you might want breakfast."

"So you decided to feed it to me through my nose?" I demand incredulously.

She smiles smugly. "It's a good look on you. The cheese goes well with your two eye-colors, oily brown wavy hair, and your dashingly pale good looks." I glare at her and she just smirks. Well, two can play at that game.

"Look, if you want me that badly, you didn't have to go so far as to handcuff me in the middle of the night." Direct hit. It takes a moment for her to realize what I am implying, then her eyes widen briefly and her cheeks slightly redden in embarrassment and indignation.

She scoffs. "Please… as if there is anything to want after what I've seen."

I raise an eyebrow. What? Did they… no… they didn't. They had no reason to.

She continues, "Your friend over there had an injury to his leg and wrist, so to be safe, we checked both of you over." I tense up. Now I'm embarrassed. She leans down and whispers with a smirk, "Not impressed."

Before I have time to reply, she walks away. I look to Vaughn desperately. "Did they?" He shrugs apologetically, understanding my fear. It doesn't make me feel any better. If they had seen… me. If anyone had seen… what is underneath all these clothes… That's not the kind of thing I want people to know.

I'm not a freak.

Wait… why do I give a damn what they think? If they want to see what I truly am, then what does it matter? Not like their opinion means ANYTHING to me. They are the ones who made this con that ruined my life. The con I fell for…

"My life is over…" A young boy whispers.

My eyes flash open wide at the sound in my ears, and I shake it away. I will not go back to that! I refuse! I refuse to think about it. I refuse to remember what it was like.

Focus, Rhys. What would Jack do?

I look around, trying to see what I can use. What assets do I have at my disposal? Who is here? What is their relationships? Where are we? How can we get out of here? Where can we go? What are these people's objective, their aim, and their intentions toward us? So many questions jump into my head and I won't get answers to any of them with me being handcuffed to the bed.

Try as I might, its not just the imprisonment that refuses to give me answers, but my clouded thoughts. I'm hungry. My stomach growls. I haven't eaten since… uh… "How long was I out?"

"A whole day." Vaughn replies.

"I haven't eaten in two days, since the breakfast we had on Helios." I realize.

Two days on Pandora… I've been here two days.

The reality of it continues to become stronger with each passing realization of events. The reality that I am on Pandora. The mystery, the legend, the place everyone wants to control and be on. Celebetries came here at first, now just criminals, scum, and the murderously insane who belong in an asylum.

I lay back and sigh. I'm still alive. Vaughn is still alive. That counts for something. You don't technically lose until your dead. Then you can give up. So… I need to figure out what to do from here. We need a long-term goal to aim for, and a bunch of milestones along the way.

My stomach growls and I remember I haven't eaten in a while. Sounds like a good start.

"Um." I call out. "I can't eat with my hands tied up."

I hear the Pandoran's bicker amongst themselves about what to do with me. Felix is at the front driving the camper, b1 and b2 are at the couch, and their reaction to me is mixed. Felix wants me to eat, but stay tied up. Fiora suggests they force-feed me. Sasha can't be bothered either way, apparently she lost her patience with me. Then, of course, the idea of feeding me the food on my face with a spoon is impractical, so they figure it best to let me feed myself. Except they don't trust me.

Feeling is mutual.

Finally they decide to untie my physical hand, but keep my robotic hand hand-cuffed to the headrest. This arrangement is decided upon after they conclude that losing the blood-flow to that arm will be bad. My arm is completely numb and lacks proper bloodflow with it having been above my head for so long. Fiora reaches over me and loosens my hand up, and I try to flex it, only to gasp in pain as fire and ants cover my entire right side.

"That sensation is the feeling of blood flowing properly again. Should get better. I'll see about getting you something to drink." She explains neutrally, and walks away. All I can do is gasp in response. It stings! It takes several minutes before I can feel my fingers again, and am able to flex them. My robotic hand doesn't need bloodflow, so I don't care there, But holy crap that hurt!

"Here." B2 places a glass of water next to me in reach and walks away.

Only realizing now how parched I am in addition to hungry, I raise myself up as best I can, and chug it down in one gulp only to gasp for breathe after. I don't have an actual sandwich anymore, or a plate for that matter, but what remains of my breakfast is all over my face, chin, neck, chest, and sheets. (Which are actually quite comfortable considering my prisoner status.)

It's not a five-star restaurant, but I'm too hungry to care. I scoop it up and nibble on it. The moment it enters my mouth, though, I hesitate and look at Vaughn out of the corner of my eye, afraid to incur the wrath of our host. He smiles apologetically.

This tastes like crap… It is incredibly bland. No spices, no flavor, and its cold. I could have pulled something better out of the freezer-burnt section of my refrigerator. If I go another meal with this, it will be too soon.

After eating, I feel the effect of the last few days catch up to me. I'm completely exhausted. I pushed myself, physically and emotionally, harder than I have ever dreamed I would, or could, in the span of a single day. It's a wonder I didn't pass out sooner.

Nothing left to do but think, I roll onto my side, close my eyes, and turn on my ECHO-eye within the confines of my eye-lids. Judging from the distant murmurs of our captors, they think me asleep. Works for me. I was thinking of sleeping later anyway.

Its hard controlling an entire operation system without the use of my hands and with my eyes closed. I have to rely on keeping my back turned, moving my eye around, and blinking rapidly. It takes a while, but I get to where I want, and check my messages.

There are about a dozen from Yvette, two from Vasquez, and one from Hyperion Security.

Yvette's messages are short and sound worried. She has no idea how things are going with us, and is asking for updates. Towards the end, she sounds more and more depressed and certain of our doom. Then the last message is just one sentence.

Rhys,

Going underground.

-Yvette

Something about the suddenness of it twists my gut in knots. Something is not right. Something is very very bad. It may be only two words, but it means that we can't rely on her right now, and that we shouldn't try to. She is hiding… Oh, Jack. Did Vasquez get to her?

I check the Vasquez messages. The first one is a demand to know where I am and where I got the balls to run off on my job.

The second one though…

Rhys,

Rhys, Rhys, Rhys. I'm disappointed. I truly am. I went out of my way to foster and give you a moment of enlightenment, and the first thing you did? You bit the hand that tried to feed you.

Well, if there is one thing a proper circus animal handler knows how to do… its deal with beasts that don't know better than to do just that. You tried to screw me, well. It's only right I get a turn.

No more playing nice.

-Vasquez

I gulp as I finish reading it. We're there… I knew he would come after me sooner or later, just kinda hoped it would be later. Preferably after I had the Vault Key and walked into his office to shove my victory in his face.

With no small amount of hesitation and trepidation, I look at the message from Hyperion Security.

To all Hyperion Employees and Contractors,

As of , by order of Hyperion President and staff, the two following have been blacklisted and charged with treason, theft of company assets numbering in $10,345,180.99 (+$15.45 in labor fees for the writing of this email), and conspiracy to trade company secrets with rival corporations:

Rhys - Mail Room staff

Vaughn - Accountant

Yvette - D34 department Logistics Manager

-Hyperion Distribution of Information

I read it over multiple times, each time feeling myself become a shade paler.

My life… is officially over. I can't tell Vaughn, this news will destroy him. There is nowhere left to go. Even if we get off Pandora, there is only Helios here. I am stuck between Pandora (which wants to kill me) and Helios (which officially now wants to kill me), as well as my team and friends. There isn't a third party or side here. It's just Pandora and Hyperion. Jack made damn sure of that.

I… a part of me knows I can't give up. I shouldn't give up. But for the life of me, I don't know where to go or what to do or what goal to have. Vaughn and I can't survive on our own squashed between two sides like this, and no matter how much I rattle my brain or consider options, there is no where to go where anyone will hide us or have proper security for that matter.

It's not that I want to give up. It's not that I don't want to do something.

I just don't know what to do anymore…

I've lost.

I turn off my ECHO-eye and let myself fall to sleep.

-Sasha-

-Past-

"This looks to be far enough for now." Felix announced to anyone that listened as he parked the camper. Sasha stared out the window. Out at the boring… sandy… skeleton-infested wasteland. They were in the clear. There was nothing but dirt, dust, roaming wildlife, and skeletons as far as the eye could see. The skeleton was of a large creature, and it was covered in little beasts that were trying to peel the last of the meat off.

Felix stepped down and glanced to the prisoners. Sasha made sure to keep an eye on them. The four-eyed Hyperion was minding his own business and not making any trouble. The cyborg was more meek than he was earlier, even seemed somewhat grateful for the water and food after he had some time to cool down, and was now sleeping. Sasha was grateful for small blessings. She didn't feel like staining her bed with his blood if he decided to actually go psycho on them. Expecting anyone to go psycho was a built-in response she learned to develop when she was young.

"Fiora, outside. We have much to discuss." Felix didn't wait for a response for briskly walking out into the sunlight.

Sasha snapped her head up. She knew exactly what they would be discussing. First, where the money was. Second, what to do next. Third, what to do about their prisoners. "What about me?"

"Guard the prisoners." Felix said from outside. Fiora shrugged apologetically but followed after their adoptive father.

"I can discuss things too, you know!" Sasha yelled.

"And I said guard the prisoners, Sasha!" Felix closed the door, and Sasha huffed.

Guard the prisoners. Handle the gun. Make sandwiches. Clean. That's all they ever wanted her to do. She could do it well, but she was twenty-one years old! She was an adult! Why wasn't she allowed to help make adult decisions! Why did they still have to treat her like a damn child! It was ALWAYS Fiora that participated in discussions with Felix, always Fiora that made the decisions.

Sasha wasn't stupid, you know! She didn't need to be babied all the damn time!

Sasha could distantly hear Felix and Fiora talking, and the sound of their voices only made her angrier inside. She grit her teeth and turned away. She didn't want to be angry at the only family she had, but she couldn't help feeling like she was made out to be the infant here.

The cyborg-Hyperion was looking at her. Well, from the door to her.

"Want something, Hyperion?" She asked, letting her aggravation at her position show. She hoped he wasn't calculating how to escape out the door. What she really wanted right now was just peace and quiet to cool down.

"N-no. Nothing. Nothing at all." Rhys stuttered. "Just couldn't help but hear. It was kinda loud…"

She struggled not to sigh. Of course he did. Judging from how he was licking his chapped lips, he was still parched. Sasha got up and poured another glass of water. The tank had a built-in water filter and while Pandora was a wasteland, there was plenty of rivers to refuel by. On second thought, she poured three glasses. Vawn looked thirsty too, and Sasha's position by the window had been stifling hot.

"What kind of things are they going to discuss?" The four-eyed Hyperion asked meekly. She handed them both some water and returned to her spot to watch over them.

"Probably you guys." Sasha said simply. Vawn nearly choked on his water, and Rhys just stirred the water in his glass thoughtfully. He looked rather down. His eyes didn't have any of the spark Sasha had seen before. He looked like a guy who had been beaten repeatedly into the ground.

Vawn managed to breathe again. "What about us?"

Sasha raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You didn't think your position in me and my sister's bed would last forever did you? It's true, we ran a con. But the end result was very different than I'm sure either of us would have expected. Ten million dollars lost, vault key lost, and two Hyperion stooges in the back end of our ride."

Rhys's eye twitched and he looked thoughtful again. A brief bit of the spark Sasha had come to associate with him returned, but it was dim. "Sounds like you guys are in a tough spot." Rhys said neutrally. Sasha wasn't fooled, he was fishing for information. It was a similar approach she and her sister would have taken.

"Nothing for you to worry about." She replied. "You can worry once they decide what to do with you."

"You don't get a decision?" He asked curiously. She knew she shouldn't show anything, but she couldn't keep her anger at her position completely back. She huffed and turned away. Out of the corner of her eye, Vawn looked genuinely confused for a moment.

Vawn asked, "But isn't your gut instinct something people associate with you? Like the August guy?"

"Not everyone is him." She said. Thank God for that, even if she still wished more people did have a bit of August in them. Enough to at least consider her a person they could listen to and rely on. Of course… she also betrayed him. Probably means trusting her is a bad idea. She was a con-artist, after all.