He didn't come find me right away. He was too busy shouting at people and pulling up screens on his Echo. Investigating.
Jack had the whole venue locked down. The entrances and exits were sealed with one of those sparking barriers.
Sitting and waiting at the fountain was basically all I could do… or so I thought.
"Shit," one of the employees near me is inching away from the rest, staring at the barrier. "Oh god…"
Either he's scared that Jack will be indiscriminate toward the employees, or he's one of the people responsible. Can't tell.
Thinking it over for a moment, I walk toward him, sending a call through my Echo. I have an implant, apparently. Took me a while to get used to it. I can see and hear the person, but there's no outside projection. The utmost in privacy.
When Jack pops up on the screen, looking irritable, I start talking. "Hey there, you look nervous, friend."
Jack's expression tightens and his eyes flick this way and that, he's obviously figured out I'm not talking to him.
"Wh-what?" the man turns to face me, sweating. He's shocked that someone noticed? God he's being so obvious.
I feel no real… hm. What's the word for 'I wanna do the right thing and protect innocent people' but in reference to protecting awful murderers from an even more awful murderer?
Jack likes loyalty. In order to avoid being on his bad side, it's best to be proactive. Show him that the loyalty I have developed in this new 'post-amnesia' state, is centered on him.
This way, even if he ultimately decides to leave me in the dust, which he will- he will have a fond memory of me in place. He'll remember me as being 'on his side'. And while I think his monumental paranoia would still urge him to suspect me, as long as I keep up a good relationship, he'll at least be hesitant to kill or otherwise harm me.
Especially this version of him that seems so reasonable.
"I'm tracking you with my ECHO, don't move," Jack's voice comes over the line. "Or no, better, get the hell away from the filthy bandit that will absolutely kill you!?"
I'm a little surprised, but then again, he does have a hero complex, right?
"You just seem so upset," I say in a gentle tone. "Shouldn't you come have a seat on the fountain and rest for a while? I'm sure everything will be over soon."
He looks at me with suspicion. In this world, kindness is weakness. Weakening myself to be kind to a stranger is weird.
So I smile a bit sharply and add, "don't you think you're acting a bit conspicuous, here? Come. Have. A. Seat."
The expression on his face becomes one of intense discomfort and fear.
"Oho my god, did you hear me or not? Is this thing on!? HELLO!? Babydoll, I'm serious. I can't get to you right now. There's an entire crowd- BABYDOLL."
I turn and walk back to the fountain, sitting down on the lip, staring back toward the man with a flat expression.
He swallows hard and walks over to sit next to me, trembling.
"You didn't really think all this through, did you?" I say to the man. "You let those animals out, when they could only run in a straight line. Right into the path of a railgun… did you really think that'd kill him?"
"Rrrrgh," Jack growls on the other end of the line. He barks orders at people to make paths through the crowd so we can still move around, but everyone is clustering together due to fear.
"W-what?" the man laughs nervously. "I-I-"
"Pretending is useless when you're a terrible actor," I say. "Come on, don't you want help? I'll only indenture you for five years, how's that? It'll save your life~"
"...oh my god that is so smart and sexy, fuck," comes the surprising response from the other end of the line. "Get me their names, Babydoll- and you can keep your pet."
I grin brightly at the man sitting next to me. "So? Tell me what happened. If I know everything, I can help you."
"F-five… years?" he asks. Looking hopeful and actually a lot like he might've just hit the jackpot.
Indentured servants are sometimes contracted for entire lifetimes, or at least a decade or two. I looked it up.
I think the whole practice is evil, but since it's the only thing this person will trust, I'll draw up a contract with favorable terms. Having something like that, makes people like this, feel safe.
"I only need you for that long. Afterwards you can do whatever, I don't care," I reply. "So. Names and roles? What was the plan actually supposed to be? That can't have been it, right?"
His lips purse and he sighs heavily. "It was going to be, when… well. Handsome Jack had this thing planned where he'd walk back into the clearing, then run down the 'hallway' and turn and fire- to make things more showy, you know? To simulate running from a monster."
I nod and make a sympathetic face. "Who fucked up the timing?"
"Ah… her name's Kenna Lee," he says. Rubbing the back of his head. "She was supposed to weaken the controls with a hacking program, and then go in and grab hold of them, ripping the cages open at just the right moment. I don't know what happened."
"I've got that one, her tracer is right over here. She must've needed to be close for that," Jack says. "My programming expertise isn't for shit, though. She probably screwed up because the firewall was harder to deal with than she thought it'd be."
"There couldn't have just been a programmer," I say. "Your role was probably to vouch for everyones' whereabouts or something, right?"
He blinks wide eyes at me. "H-h-how did you know!?"
"Because her brain isn't just for show, unlike yours, you simpering moron?" Jack's voice intones dully over the line.
I have to control my breathing so I don't bust a gut laughing. This shouldn't be funny!
"I just figured. You don't seem the type to be able to do combat and you obviously aren't the programmer, so your role had to be something else. But the combat-type… who was that?"
"Uh… well, we had two-"
"Jericho," someone breaks through the crowd and finds us. "Ah… we should probably go find the others… help with the investigation."
'Jericho' goes pale next to me.
"Ah you must have important work to do," I turn and hug 'Jericho'. "Jack has agreed not to kill you if you'll be my little pet. Lead him straight to them, and you get to live." I whisper it in his ear.
I pull away after he awkwardly pats my arm.
"That was clever Babydoll, but I kinda wanna shoot him now," Jack says over the line.
He's probably watching from the stage area, with the sniper scope.
I turn away as the guy goes with his 'friend' and look toward where I think he- yep, there he is. And if I'm not mistaken, he's looking right at me.
Tilting my head, I lift my eyebrows and pout.
"I didn't say 'kill' I just said 'shoot'," he says defensively. "Fine, fine, I'll give you your pet on a platter with no gunshot wounds. I might punch him a few times, though. Fair's fair."
Well, he did just try to murder him. I shrug and smile.
"Aggghh," he sighs strangely. "I've made arrangements for you to go inside. Show your badge to the people at the door. They'll show you through. Please stay in there."
Ah, so I'm no longer a partner helping with a problem. I started out as an innocent victim who needed to be protected and now it seems I'm reverting back. So interesting how his mind works.
"As you like," I say. "See you there?"
"In an hour maybe. Lotta shit to clean up. Ahh… your little buddy is bringing his group straight to me. I'll take your pet to the holding cells and you can take him home with you when this is over."
I lick my lips and smile. "You're the best, Jack."
"You're goddamn right," he says and clicks off the line.