To the people who like this story: you guys are awesome :)
Also, I am NOT abandoning this project, I've just been thinking on where to lead it to...
Two days later
Rhys office
Rhys was sitting at his desk. His eyes locked onto the computer screen. He was filling out paperwork about blueprints for a new project they were working on. No one knew about it. Not even Alexa. It was at this time, when she decided to ask about it.
"Rhys." she said cautiously, tilting her head slightly. Rhys was still concentrating on the monitor in front of him.
"Little busy here Alexa" he responded. She felt a little insulted at his choice of words. However she still kept calm.
"What are you up to?" she questioned, her voice gentle and caring.
Rhys paused for a moment. The sound of him typing also stopped. She suddenly felt cold. The silence was deafening. He turned off the monitor to look at her, standing the opposite side of the desk from him.
He was now looking at her. His eyes looking dead serious at hers. "It's nothing." he lied. His voice rough and low. She wasn't going to let him off. Whatever it was, it was stressing him out. She didn't want that.
"Rhys..." she repeated. He leaned back in his chair, his arms now folded. "please tell me!" she begged. He stayed silent, opening his drawers to grab some folders and placed them onto the desk. She looked down at them. They all had different names on them, like 'Blade' and 'Otto'. But one folder caught her attention. It was buried beneath the others. It was a black folder unlike the yellow ones. It read the name,
'PROJECT: FUSION'. Just as Alexa was moving to pick it up, Rhys grabbed it rapidly at put it back in the drawer.
"What was that Rhys?" she said impatiently. Rhys ignored her. He was looking at the folders and taking the papers out. "What was that?!" she was really getting annoyed now. "Don't ignore me Rhys!" she shouted.
"I'm reading." he said calmly. She shook her head in frustration.
Then he stood up from his seat, and gazed at her for a few moments before walking to the door. "I'm going for an early lunch." he said, before walking out into the hallway. She took this chance to open the chest and pick up the mysterious, black folder.
She took out the paper and was greeted with the bold words at the top of the sheet,
'PROJECT 00136: FUSION'. She didn't know what it meant, but it must be important if Rhys was trying to hide it. She continued reading until she came across a shocking discovery.
Assistant: Alexa
Manufacturer: Atlas
Owner: Rhys (surname unknown)
Original individual: Fiona (surname unknown)
A high tech AI assistant with indescribable power, designed to decrypt the location of the vaults.
Suddenly she realised her true purpose. He never cared about her, she was a tool used to uncover the vaults. In her anger, she tore up the paper, knocked everything off the desk and pushed the chair over.
"FUCK HIM!" she cried. Her lips trembling in betrayal and sadness. "fuck him!" she repeated in a whisper.
Rhys went to the meeting room to gather files, on the creation of his AI companion. He was hoping to create a tracker, powerful enough to see every vault on Pandora. No one was in the room, which made it a lot more easier to get. When he got what he was looking for, he went to the cafeteria to talk to the COO about the project. They were talking about the financial work for building the tracker. Once it was settled, they decided to have it done by next week. Atlas would be the top manufacturer in the galaxy!
He was in the hallway leading back to his office, when he realised something was wrong. He left Alexa there with the documents in the drawer. "shit, shit, SHIT!" he yelled louder and louder. He ran to the door and bashed it open that quickly, the hinges broke. He examined the room. It was a mess.
He didn't care about the mess, he cared about something else.
Alexa wasn't there...
Fiona's POV
4 hours later
Fiona was sitting in the purple skag with Loader bot, Gortys and Vaughn. They were having a night out from their usual activities, to meet up and talk about their lives. Fiona never had anything to talk about, other than her attempts at pickpocketing rich people. Which of course, never goes to plan. Gortys always said to stop doing it, which Fiona lies and agrees to. But she still does it.
They were sitting in the corner at a table. Fiona and Gortys was sitting on one side, while Vaughn and Loader bot were sitting opposite them.
Vaughn was talking about a discovery of a chest, that was buried underneath the Helios base, containing over $50,000.
She wasn't listening to anything he said. She was just daydreaming at the floor. Or at least she was, until Vaughn decided to break her out of it.
"So what did you do recently Fiona?" he asked curiously. She shook her head to break her moment. She looked at Vaughn and cocked an eyebrow.
"What?" was all she could say.
"What have you been doing these past few weeks." She opened her mouth to talk, "and I don't mean pickpocketing." he said in a frustrated voice.
She looked at the floor again to think. She never really did much in her spare time. Well, not any more.
She shrugged her shoulders, and shook her head with a sigh. "I don't know Vaughn. There's nothing interesting to do any more. I've done enough crazy stuff in my life." she said, disappointed.
There was a short silence after that. This gave Gortys enough time to think of a solution.
"Well...why don't you go and visit Rhys?" she said with her adorably high pitched voice. Fiona looked at her, confused. But she didn't say anything. "He's doing pretty well! I think..." she finished.
To be honest, it wasn't a bad idea. But it might be awkward to see him again, after they never made contact for a whole year. But she did want to see them mismatched eyes and that stupid, yet adorable grin on his face.
But then she remembered her dream from the night before. He never visited her. That was what really pissed her off. But she knew she had to see him again, even if she was annoyed. But she didn't want to make Gortys feel unhappy, so she decided to comply. She smiled down at Gortys, who was still waiting for a response.
"You know what Gortys?" she whispered, "that is such an excellent idea." Gortys smiled in response.
"I thought so myself!" she responded.
And at that, they finished the evening with only Vaughn being drunk. Loader bot took him and Gortys home, while Fiona walked her way back to the safe house.
She was getting ready for bed when she thought about what Gortys said. "Why don't you go visit Rhys?" the words echoing in her brain. She was wondering how he was doing all this time. But her next problem was where he was. Is he at Old Haven? She thought. Sasha might know. So she was looking in the mirror, taking her make-up off when she remembered all the good times they had. The more she thought about it though, the more guilty she became.
She shouted at him for keeping Handsome Jack a secret. The more she thought about him, the more she wished to hug him and apologize. It must've been hard to say it, she thought. It must have been difficult to reject the front seat of Hyperion. It must be even harder to rip out your own cybernetics to get rid of your hero.
All of this, made her want to be forgiven. He must have been so scared to do all of that. Everything he was afraid of, was on Pandora. No wonder he was scared to mention Jack. Normal Pandorans would shoot you in the head, before you could explain yourself!
After her experience with him, she could see a kind, loving side to Rhys. He cared for all his friends, treats them like family. Even if he does get annoyed at them.
She noticed one thing in particular. Something that made her feel a lot more close to him.
He could of left ages ago. He had every chance to leave. But he never did. This made her feel emotional. Her eyes starting to fill with tears. She was right, she never did hate Rhys. In fact, that was the complete opposite! She loved him!
"I'll go visit him in the morning." she said to herself with a big smile across her face.
She climbed into bed with her smile still on her face, and she dozed off quickly.
Rhys on the other hand......
End of chapter 3...