Chapter 1: Episode One: Ghost of Hyperion
Chapter Text
So, you want to hear a story, eh? Just can't get enough of this old man's stories, can you? GAHAHAHA! I can't blame you.
Alright, alright, where did we leave off...
Aha, that's right. The Unlikely Vault Hunters had defeated the Traveler, and gained access to the Vault, discovering untold secrets within. Mostly the alien element of eridium, I imagine.
Figuring the lawless Pandora was no longer their style, the former middle manager took his friends off the murderous planet, towards a new Horizon—Promethea.
Together, they managed Atlas there, and lived a life of serene bliss.
But with every contract comes its fine print, and with every perfect-seeming planet, comes the danger of being overtaken.
Wanting to avoid the jaws of potential wolves and establish peace before war could even break out, the new CEO of Atlas reached out to the CEO of Maliwan, having discovered their old leader had recently disappeared, to be replaced by none other than the doe-eyed greenhorn, Katagawa Jr.
It was the perfect opportunity to seize the idea of tranquility, and create a new era where there could be peace across the stars.
This story begins in the same way as the last... A deal of sorts! Or rather... The making of a contract, to achieve just that.
Rhys felt he was nodding off, before bumping his head on the desk. He flinched upwards, and decided he would steer his attention elsewhere, attempting to stay awake. He flicked a pen on his desk, rolling it upwards, and waited for gravity to pull it back down. He repeated the process, looking over the contract he would propose to Maliwan, halving his control over ATLAS.
Momentarily, he glanced at the photo of Sasha on his desk.
"Is this really what you wanna do with the company?" Sasha leaned against his desk, her green eyes full of concern not for the company, but for Rhys himself. "I mean, I think we've all learned a thing or two about CEOs of this galaxy being a lot less than trustworthy."
Rhys sighed, folding his arms on the desk and resting his head on them. "That's exactly why I'm not sure about it, but having a business partner would be smart if I don't want to be working my butt off all the time trying to protect Promethea," He leaned his head to the left, against Sasha's leg.
Sasha instinctually ran a hand through Rhys' hair, comforting him. "Well, whatever you choose to do, we all got your back. Besides, we're all sitting pretty on a great planet thanks to this job so um..." Sasha shrugged, "Thanks for getting us off Pandora."
Regardless of the team's support, Rhys still felt unsure, and figured a breath of fresh air would do him some good. He opened a drawer in his desk, and slid the contract inside of it, only briefly spying a remnant of the past—his old ECHO eye implant. He had been forced to take it out in his fight against Jack. For a reason even unknown to himself, he felt the need to keep it intact, and in his own desk. Perhaps it was hard to kill the person that was closest to a semblance of a father figure in his life.
Wait, what? Okay, Rhys really needed a walk. He shook his head, and got up from his chair, rolling it away from the desk, and keeping it that way.
Rhys intended to keep his company as far away from Hyperion standards as possible. Yet, walking back to the doorway, there were two statues of Rhys he didn't remember commissioning. It was as though they had sprouted from the ground within the minutes Rhys had been aimlessly staring at the contract.
He walked closer to one of them, seeing that it was a sculpture depicting himself from the shoulders up. Shivers ran up his spine, still not understanding how statues had appeared randomly without his knowledge.
When he reached the base of the sculpture, the lights of the city outside accented Rhys' face with a red hue, bleeding from the cheek to his neck and shoulder, a small red glint dotting his eyes.
His stomach churned, hearing an all too familiar laugh echo through his mind, running his blood cold.
Somehow, the world before him glitched, the statues before him changing to the old, dead, tyrannical king Rhys had carried around in his head.
Jack.
Everything shifted around Rhys, the view from his office changing once more to a fine, over-pretentious view of Elpis, the cracked moon Helios nestled in front of—Pandora's moon.
"No...."
Rhys took a step backwards, nearly tripping over himself. When he caught a glimpse of someone passing by, his chest tightened, rendering him completely unsure of what he should do.
When they began to approach him, all he could do was run.
You really think you could get rid of me for good?
Rhys gripped the doorframe, pushing off of it, hoping to give himself a bit more speed, as the figure gave chase.
You really think you can RUN FROM ME?
"You're, you're supposed to be dead! Again!" Rhys continued running down the halls of what used to be Atlas, only moments before. It didn't take long for the short amount of physical activity to get to Rhys, and his chest began to heave. Trying to stall the intimidating figure, Rhys began looking for an object that he could throw at him.
Before long, he had run himself into a corner, the figure approaching slowly, seemingly taking its time to enjoy Rhys' final moments.
"Crap- Nononononononono!!"
As the figure closed in, memories better forgotten invaded Rhys' mind. Trying to protect himself, he braced to fight against his own arm.
Think you can protect your friends? You can't even protect your friggin' SELF, Rhys.
The only object Rhys found in his defense was his own shoe.
As Rhys threw the shoe, adrenaline pumping through his veins, he stepped back only to stumble and lose his footing, finding the wall to be gone. As he fell, he startled awake with a sharp gasp. Vaughn stood there with a deeply concerned expression, holding Rhys's shoe. "Bro, are you... like... doing okay?" Vaughn hesitantly asked, "When you said you had a late shift, we were all kinda expecting, ya know... for you to be back on the same day, not two days later. Not cool, bro. We were seriously worried, I think me and Sasha probably called you at least twenty times!"
Rhys rubbed his eyes, any hints of the nightmare leaving the edges of his vision. Everything in his office was the same as before and in its proper places, the only disheveled thing there was Rhys himself. "Yeah... yeah, I'm good. I'm sorry, man."
Vaughn pushed up his glasses, an eyebrow raised ever so slightly as he looked at him. "Dude, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you look like something a skag dragged outta the garbage. Do you wanna talk about it?"
Rhys dragged on a long sigh, "Ohhh man, where would I even start?" He dropped his head before continuing, "Look, I just think I had a bad dream when I dozed off reading my stupid contract..."
Vaughn continued to listen to Rhys vent about things his facial expression proved he didn't quite understand.
"And, uh." Rhys glanced over Vaughn's shoulder, seeing that the statues no longer existed, "Oh thank goodness."
Vaughn looked at Rhys with obvious concern, seeing as Rhys had not acted that weird since Handsome Jack had started taking over his subsystems. Ultimately, Vaughn nodded a restrained approval, accepting Rhys' response, even if it was mostly unintelligible.
"Well, I don't really know what that dream was about but," He shrugged, shifting on his feet slightly, "You do seem pretty shaken up though."
Vaughn opened his arms.
"Bro hug?"
Rhys and Vaughn wrapped each other in a hug.
"Well. The others are... quite frankly incredibly worried, so I think you should go see them, c'mon bro." Vaughn opened the door, the light from the hallway flooding into the office.
With a stretch, Rhys stood, and followed after Vaughn. The walls of the hallway towered over the two of them, the portrait at the end of the hallway staring daggers into Rhys's very soul. As they approached, the self-proclaimed hero's voice rang hollowly through his memory.
"Do you even know what it means to be a hero?"
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The neon lights of Promethea flashed by, as they drove to their crew's little apartment. Before the car was even parked, Sasha was already waiting outside.
"Rhys!" Sasha immediately ran over to Rhys, pulling him into a hug. Her embrace was as warm, and as gentle as always. "Are you alright? You didn't respond to any of my messages or calls, I was starting to think something happened."
"I'm so sorry, I guess the calls didn't go through or something!" Rhys genuinely didn't remember receiving any calls from any of his friends throughout the few days he was in the office.
Sasha raised an eyebrow, "You were gone for two days. When I tried to get to your office, your guards or whatever said you wouldn't be seeing anyone."
"That's... Weird." Rhys didn't recall much from the past few days, mostly because it was all a blur of putting together a contract that Maliwan would be convinced by, and be willing to sign. A balancing act of providing benefits on Maliwan's end, while also providing benefits on Atlas' side. There were a lot of phone calls with Maliwan to sort out the details of the agreement, and that was a whole other thing on Rhys' plate.
Rhys faced Vaughn to ask him a question, but before he even asked it, Vaughn answered, "I snuck in through the back window. We knew it wasn't like you to give your friends the cold shoulder."
It was very possible that he offhandedly mentioned that he could use the alone time to think, which might have been taken wrong by his guards to not let anyone, even his closest friends, inside of his office.
"I can't believe I didn't even realize you guys called."
"Wow, you look like a wreck." Fiona walked out of the apartment, glaring at Rhys. Loader bot followed close behind. "Sasha was worried about you. What the heck happened?"
"Just... Got really busy at work, I'm pretty close to finishing the contract between Maliwan and Atlas."
"And that was more important than Sasha?"
"N-no! It wasn't more important than Sasha. Never in a million years!" Rhys defended himself, "I just got lost in all the work."
"That's a funny way to say-"
"Lay off him, Fi." Sasha pat Fiona's shoulder. "I trust him too."
It took a moment for Fiona to gather herself back to composure. She wasn't one to show emotion often, and so Rhys jotted the idea down that the funny little display that just happened was her way of expressing that she was worried too.
"Scanning..." Loader Bot stood in front of Rhys. "You appear to be uninjured. That is good."
"Hey, LB!" Rhys smiled, "It's good to see you."
Since their adventure, they had designed Loader Bot a new frame, because the old one was an endoskeleton that Handsome Jack tried to graft into Rhys' body. He was back to his old self, again.
The tension between everyone was a mixed bag of stress, frustration, worry, and relief wrapped into one space. There was a drawn on awkward silence, before Vaughn decided to break it.
"But hey, who can worry when I got us all tickets to see the 'Tiger From Partali' fight live, eh?" Vaughn shuffled his way into the circle that had formed without him in it. "When you first went away a few days ago, I figured it would be a good idea to celebrate the deal in some way or other."
"Wait... The Tiger From Partali?" Rhys' expression changed to surprise. "I don't think I've ever seen a Siren in real life! That would be so cool!"
"I figured you'd say something like that, bro."
"Okay, wow. That sounds pretty exciting... When are we going?" Sasha asked, trying to slick down some of the stray hairs on Rhys' head with her hand. "Cause I feel like some of us might be too tired to go tonight."
"Ah, right." Vaughn gave a half smile, "Well it doesn't have to be tonight, there's another showing tomorrow night and I think they'll allow using the tickets for any of the nights."
Vaughn added under his breath, "But she would be fighting the coolest person of the weekend tonight, in my opinion." Vaughn turned to head inside the apartment, the rest of the crew following behind him.
Rhys and Sasha glanced at each other, before letting themselves inside as well.
Surprising as it was, the apartment they all lived in together was nothing near a penthouse. It simply didn't feel right to any of them, and Sasha mentioned once or twice while they were apartment hunting that it would be easier to hear any intruder's footsteps if the apartment was smaller. Rhys tried to comfort her and say that intruders weren't as much of an issue on Promethea as they were on Pandora, but nothing he said would fully put her at ease.
It was fair enough, since the chance of getting robbed was never zero, even on the safer planets.
But besides the safety-measures, the apartment was a win in their books, because it had an incredible view of the city. Rhys had to admit, catching the two Pandoran hustlers staring at the flying cars with a long forgotten sense of child-like wonder sparking back to life was like soup for a harrowed soul.
Each person was provided their own room, and Loader Bot insisted it would be best for him to stand watch by the door, since he didn't often need sleep, mostly just to recharge. Gortys... Well Gortys decided she wanted a skag bed on the ground in the living room. It was likely she had no idea the bed was supposed to be for skags, and just assumed that it was meant for anything small. Well, no one was going to tell her otherwise, since she seemed to love it so much.
Everyone decided it was best to take the rest of the night to just recover from whatever had happened, so while Rhys headed to his room, the others did as well.
His room was a mess, a reflection of a construction zone where hundreds of scrapped ideas for the look had taken place, falling back into becoming a blank room. Multiple members of his friend group had offered to help design it, but he wanted the room to feel more 'him'.
Sitting down on the edge of his bed, he considered again his options for what he might do with the contract. He wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to do with Atlas and Maliwan, but he figured if they combined forces, he would be able to figure out what he wanted more from his own company. A new dawn of opportunity would arise if they all worked together, instead of competing with each other.
Peace. Peace would be great. No more planets like Pandora, where everything was all about lawlessness and fighting— no more Rakk Hives.
As his eyes grew heavy once more, he pictured the ideal Utopia that could be formed from all the companies working together.
They could all have pizza parties, play video games together, and invest in... Some kind of fleeting stock that would inevitably crumble their personal wallets.
..................................................................
The next morning, Rhys rolled out of bed, realizing he forgot to put on pajamas, and was still in yesterday's outfit. Knowing that was a pretty big mistake on the account of fashion, he figured changing ought to be the first thing he did with his day.
Stumbling to his closet, he picked out a brand new outfit—a black suit, with the accents of orange, that complimented his Echo eye. He stepped out of his room, adjusting the vest to fit him just right, and greeted his friend at the dining table.
Vaughn was out, and still in his pajamas despite a glance at the clock revealing that it was mid-morning. He looked over to Rhys, digging into a bowl of cereal while one of their favorite episodes of their favorite show played on in the background.
"Apocolypse of the Doom!" Rhys dug through the drawers, grabbing a bowl and spoon, "A man after my own heart." He sarcastically stated, pouring the cereal into the bowl.
"Yeah, this show's pretty great! As much as I love it though, I never understood-"
"Why Aurora would betray Average Joe like that!" They said in sync.
"Ugh, I never understood either. Like why didn't they just kill the zombie instead?" Rhys added. "They coulda been friends that way."
"I guess life isn't always that simple or something? But I'm not sure the new writers would care that much about a theme, probably just did it for the shock value. The original writers were more..."
"Nuanced." Rhys folded his arms.
"Thank you." Vaughn leaned against the back of his chair, "Oh, but that reminds me, how are you feeling? You kinda went off about a bunch of random things yesterday."
"Oh, right..." Rhys glanced outside the window, "That."
Vaughn paused the show.
"I just had a nightmare that Handsome Jack was back, in my head." Rhys took a bite of cereal, contemplating what to say next. "It was a crazy and really vivid dream. That's why I threw my boot at you. Sorry bro."
"All is forgiven, bro," Vaughn said, "Sounds like someone has a bit of trauma!"
"Don't we all? That adventure was pretty bad for the psyche. For most of us anyway." Rhys' voice trailed off, expecting Vaughn to go off about a way he was traumatized on the mission. When he didn't immediately reciprocate, Rhys nudged him with another question. "But how are you holding up?"
"Actually, I'm doing great! Never better. Aside from you disappearing on us earlier, I think that the adventure we all had was the highlight of my life!" Vaughn sighed, "I definitely find myself missing it every once in a while."
"Really?" Rhys raised his eyebrows.
"Oh yeah, but this–this is great too. Hangin' out with my buds? Wouldn't have it any other way." Vaughn broke eye contact, looking off to the side.
"Kinda sounds a little bit like you would have it some other way."
"Nah, Promethea's been a wonderful new home for all the people that survived the Great Crash of Helios. They didn't want to become bandits or anything, so I'm really grateful for this place." Vaughn picked up his empty bowl, and went to wash it off in the sink. "But how's the contract going?"
Rhys was a little hesitant to change the subject so quickly, when there seemed to be a little more to talk about.
"Ooookay...? Are you sure you're doing alright?"
"Fine, I'm just trying to think about what I want to do in the future, I have some ideas but I'm not sure I like them yet."
"I understand that all too well." Rhys gently clanked the spoon he was using against the bowl. "About that whole contract thing... I do think I have an idea about what I'm going to do."
"Oh good!"
"I'm going to try and create this deal between us so that we fuse companies, and then I'm going to try and get all the other companies to do the same." Rhys rubbed the back of his neck. "It sounds far-fetched, but I just really want peace in this universe. Here's my plan-"
Rhys stood up from the table, gesturing alongside the details he told.
"I'll go to Katagawa Jr, and convince him that our companies need to combine. Because he's a fresh-off-the-press CEO, of course he's gonna take the deal, even if I'm the one that wins in the scenario–New leadership never knows what they're doing,"
"Uhuh..."
"He'll then agree that we need to convince the rest of the companies to do the same thing. We'll call our movement 'Peace for all Universe-kind' or something friendly like that, and then we'll devise a contract that places all companies under the jurisdiction that they can't go taking over other planets..."
"Okay..."
"Then we establish peace across the galaxy, and then we won't have to deal with crazies or baddies of any sort! There will be no more dumpster planets like Pandora! We'll be kinda like heroes!"
"Wait wait wait, no more planets like Pandora? I mean I get where you're coming from... but..."
"But what?" Rhys stood confidently.
"You don't see any issue with that?" Vaughn glanced to Rhys' stance, then back to his face, then back to his stance again.
"No, why would I? Why are you looking at me like-" Rhys followed Vaughn's line of sight to notice that he had subconsciously begun standing in Handsome Jack's signature hero pose.
He cursed a few times before forcing his own arms to his sides.
"Maybe some people like Pandora." Vaughn sighed.
"That craphole? No way." Rhys laughed, "Besides, it's not like we'd be taking it over we'd just be finding ways to make it more... Peaceful."
"Right." Vaughn clicked his tongue, "Well I think the idea is good, other than that. If you could get all of the companies together to form some kind of a peace treaty, that would be insane!" Vaughn adjusted his glasses, "I mean, establishing peace across the galaxy, that's like... unheard of!"
"Which is why we'll accomplish it, and go down in history as the best–non psychopathic–heroes."
"If you can get them all to agree to any of that in the first place." Rang Sasha's voice, as she walked into view. "It's a good idea, but doesn't that mean they're going to have to give up a lot of their power? Most companies exist solely because they eat skag puppies for breakfast and thrive on stomping everyone else out."
"Well, I built Atlas up again, and I don't eat puppies."
Sasha shook her head, a look of amusement on her face, "Okay, you got me there."
"Yeah, Skag puppies could eat Rhys for breakfast!" Vaughn added.
"Thanks... Vaughn." Rhys bit his inner lip.
"Also a good point." Sasha chuckled.
"Well I'm going to go through with this plan, cause it's pretty genius. I mean who doesn't want world peace?"
Sasha and Vaughn glanced at each other, and shrugged.
"It's still probably a good idea to feel out the vibe of Maliwan before going through with it completely." Sasha suggested.
"You're right, and I'll do that. In fact, I'll organize a pre-meeting meeting so that I can do just that." Rhys flicked his cybernetic hand, pulling up a holographic call screen.
No one answered.
"Ookay, I'll just leave a voicemail then." Rhys huffed, before the beep. "Hey, it's Rhys. Rhys Strongfork, still CEO of Atlas, can we have a meeting? You know, before the meeting about the contract? I think there's a few points we need to discuss. Call me back when you can... Kay bye."
Rhys turned off the hologram, returning his arm to his side.
"Well, guess we'll see then." Rhys shrugged.
"Cool! I'm so excited to see the Tiger. she's so cool!"
"She's literally the coolest person in the galaxy. I hope she does her famous Astral Punch." Vaughn fanboyed.
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Everyone began loading into the caravan, their old friend from times past. It was finally time for them to go and see the Tiger.
They all decided a fight was not the best thing for Gortys to watch, so they left her at Atlas HQ to be watched by Rhys' forces, with everything a little robot could possibly need at her disposal. They would only be gone a few hours, anyway.
Watching the buildings pass by, the group sat together as Rhys drove the caravan.
"After we see the fight, we should pick up something to eat." Fiona added, her stomach growling.
"There's gonna be so many different foods they'll sell at the ring–trust me, I don't think we'll ever have to eat again after tonight." Rhys turned his head briefly to the crew, before returning his eyes to focus on the road.
"I'll hold you to that." Fiona grinned. "Oh, and there will be a lot of people, which means there will be a lot of wallets to snag."
"Stealing wallets and rummaging for food is a thing of the past, Fiona!" Rhys emphasized, "Welcome to the Future."
"I'm still gonna steal wallets." Fiona asserted, leaning against the wall of the caravan.
"Yeah, I knew that wasn't about to change your mind. I hardly know why I bothered to say it." Rhys huffed.
It was only a little while longer before they reached the entrance to a fighting ring that Torgue had taken over for the sake of holding matches starring fighters from all across the stars. It had gained so much popularity since Vault Hunters had begun fighting matches there.
Naturally, the fight Rhys was most determined to get to was the time Zer0 had found himself up against another well known Vault Hunter named Axton.
Rhys was there to watch Axton's downfall, his eyes sparkling like a child that had received 1,000,000 gs on their birthday.
When they parked, they were greeted with a screening from security.
Rhys was stopped for his arm, and Fiona for her derringer, but due to Rhys' status as CEO, they were allowed in anyway. In fact, they were led to a VIP space, where only the most important people on Promethea could sit.
There were spaces picked out for them—their names were written on each velvet, red chair.
They were all spelled wrong, but they shrugged it off.
Screaming was rampant, and popcorn was being thrown every which way. Even from behind them, which made for a very buttery mess.
After spotting a concessions stand, Fiona tapped Sasha on the arm, and gestured to the stand, causing her to get up and follow her sister.
"Want anything?" Sasha looked back at the boys.
"If you can find ice cream, I'll take it." Rhys responded.
"Alright, and Vaughn?"
"Oh, me? Heck yeah! If there's a pretzel or something, I will definitely take one of those." Vaughn smiled, "I'll pay you back of course."
"You better! Be right back!" Sasha called, as she was being pulled away by her sister.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, ARE YOU READY FOR THE BEST FIGHT YOUR TWO EYEBALLS HAVE EVER SEEN IN YOUR LIFE?!" Torgue boomed over the speaker, and Vaughn slid towards the edge of his seat, "CAUSE THEYRE ABOUT TO WITNESS THE GREATEST FR*CKING FIGHT, FROM THE GREATEST FR*CKING RING, BETWEEN THE MALIWAN REPRESENTATIVE, CAPTAIN TRAUNT, AND THE TIGER FROM PARTALI!"
"Did... Did they just censor Frick? Two times?" Rhys questioned.
"I WANT HER TO SIGN MY AAAABS!!" Vaughn cried, tearing his shirt off.
The crowd cheered as explosions went off by the speakers.
The Tiger From Partali pounced onto the stage, her tattoos glowing a sapphire hue. Showboating her way to centerring, she flexed to show off her power.
Captain Traunt entered in a similar manner, stomping the ground and shooting off flamethrowers for show.
The referee served as the interviewer, giving the microphone to Traunt to speak first.
"I'm like, Captain Traunt, brother of Captain Traunt, and I'm here to make my Maliwan family proud by CRUSHING the skull of this lowly witch!"
The maliwan side of the house cheered, holding signs to show their love for Traunt. He went around, showing off his muscles and gadgets while his half of the arena squealed. When he was finished, the referee took the mic and handed it to The Tiger.
Her voice calmed the half of the crowd that stood for her. The other half booed and jeered. Silence ended up taking over, many waiting for what she would say, others waiting for what she might do.
"To my friends on this side of the stage, you may call me Amara." She pointed towards her fans, and one of the masked psychos began sobbing, "and to those on the other half... You call me the Tiger, for I'll prey on what you love."
"HOLY CRAP I'M TOTALLY USING THAT LINE!" Vaughn screamed.
Rhys shared the excitement, leaning forward to get a better view of the ring.
Fog drifted across the surface of the stage, and the contestants marched to their side of it. And at the ring of a bell, the match had begun.
"Round One!"
The two began to circle each other, their eyes locked.
Amara dashed at Traunt, and despite her significantly smaller size, she immediately launched a punch directly at his helmet.
"Wait, is armor even allowed?" Rhys asked, tapping Vaughn on the shoulder, "I feel like this is a seriously unfair fight."
In retaliation, Traunt spewed fire at Amara. Quick on her feet, she ducked, swooping below his arms. She pushed off the ground, keeping her fists aimed at his helmet.
It shattered, spraying thousands of glass shards into the air, and onto the ground. A gasp wisped from the crowd.
"I guess I stand corrected."
Still, the uneasy feeling remained in his gut, slowly creeping through his heart, and up to his throat.
That feeling only worsened when he could hear a ringing from his cybernetics.
It was the Maliwan secretary, and he didn't seem in a good mood.
"Rhys, right?"
The energy of the arena around him slowed, his chest tightening. He couldn't understand why, he had been to thousands of meetings, with thousands of rude men and women, demeaning him into nothing. He learned well to deal with it, and respond in a cunning, sarcastic way. Much like a hero would.
Rhys nodded to Vaughn, signaling he was going to go to the back of the audience to prevent his call from becoming a distraction. He shuffled to the back, in-between two other attendees that were standing there, watching the fight.
"Yeah, that's me. Are you calling about the-"
"Deal? Indeed. The boss is ready to discuss the details of the contract. He's ready to sign it."
Rhys suddenly took extra notice to all the different Maliwan soldiers that were present.
"I was thinking we could have a meeting to talk about more intricate details before we sign."
"No need, he's here on Promethea, and he's happy to sign it. You don't want to be rude, since he was nice enough to come all the way here at your request." The discontent dripped through his voice over the phone, "Considering you're the one who proposed this whole idea in the first place, the least you could do is be decent and get to your HQ now, but we're all about understanding each other in Maliwan, so we'll give you an hour."
Rhys' lip curled at being told what to do by a subordinate. Yet, he wanted to keep a professional demeanor, so he made a suggestion instead.
"How about two hours?"
"Not a chance, we're being generous as is."
"'Generous' is not the word I'd use for you." Rhys snarked, "I think my request is completely fair, since I didn't exactly ask you all to get here today."
"Well we're here, so you get an hour." The secretary insisted, "We've had plenty of meetings already to discuss details. We've discussed enough. It's time for a decision. So either you come here in an hour, or the deal is off."
"You whiny little prick, I'll have you know, this deal is between me, and Katagawa jr. Not you-"
Before Rhys could finish his intimidation, the secretary hung up.
"An hour it is then." Rhys rolled his eyes, the uneasy hunch not wearing off. It was the same feeling they had felt when investigating the old Atlas quarters in the Dome...
It felt dangerous.
Amara had taken a few lashings herself, bits of her arms being singed, and her legs dripping blood onto the mat. Traunt was in no better shape.
Down at the front of the crowd was the concessions stand, where he caught a glimpse of Fiona and Sasha, both lifting wallets from unsuspecting pockets.
Rhys rolled his eyes.
Amara backed up, staying well out of the way of Traunt's forward hand, and analyzed his moves. Sweat beaded on her forehead, slipping down her face and arms.
The Tiger had an unbroken winning streak, which many had summed up as 'because of her powers'. Amara, however, had sworn that only one move of hers used them at all. The famous Astral Punch.
Unless she was saving someone on the street from a real threat, her strength lied within her muscles.
Captain Traunt must have studied up on Amara's tactics and calculated the fact that he was going to lose. It was obvious he wasn't going down without pulling an ace from his sleeve.
Traunt drew a gun, aiming it right at Amara's head, and the crowd gasped.
"Okay, flamethrowers and whatever i can believe for show, but that's definitely not allowed." Rhys said.
The audience figured it was part of the show. The crowd watched in awe, the air hanging stagnant, as Rhys glanced quickly across the crowd once more, noticing that the referee was doing nothing about it. Maybe it was part of the show, but Rhys couldn't let someone be killed in front of him.
There was a pair of eyes that stood out more than the others. Whether it was reality or a figment of Rhys' anxious imagination, his adrenaline wouldn't let him tell the difference.
One eye green, the other blue, the heterochromatic scheme of a dead man glaring back at him.
"You know what I want." Traunt's voice echoed.
Rhys tried to swallow his fear.
"No way..." Vaughn was still captivated by the scene, still on the edge of his seat rooting for Amara.
Amara scoffed, a smirk tugging at her lips, "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but if you know you can't beat me with your bare hands, go ahead and fire that thing!"
Amara seemed to make a signal to stand down. To whom she was signaling to, Rhys couldn't see.
On the screens, it could be seen in her eyes—she didn't expect the twist either, but she was going to finish the fight quickly.
She clenched her fists tighter, and charged at Traunt, who fired the gun. With grace and speed, she dodged the bullet, redirecting it to a wall. Her markings glowed brighter. She took the opportunity to charge Traunt.
"Yes.... YES!!!" Vaughn cheered with restraint.
Six astral arms appeared from behind her, and her steps pounded with vigor, the ropes around shaking with the force. With her last step, she lept into the air, sending herself into a dive, her six arms circling around her as she aimed her fists right at Traunt.
BOOM!!
The entire arena shook as the wave of astral energy passed them by.
There was a moment of silence, waiting, the room split with opposing anticipation.
Amara, the Tiger From Partali, stood tall above her opponent.
Her grin was obvious, even from afar.
"THE WINNER OF THIS FIGHT IS... STILL THE TIGER FROM PARTALI!" Torgue boomed. "GUITAR SOLOOOOO! MEEDLEYMEEDLEYMEEDLEY MEEEEOOOWWWWWWW!"
The crowd erupted in applause, and cheers, many throwing roses onto the ring.
But the sinking feeling still didn't go away.
Vaughn excitedly hopped up from his chair, and began walking down the steps toward the arena.
Rhys figured his buddy was going to shake Amara's hand, so as soon as he shook Amara's hand, they could leave the sinking feeling behind.
He moved to follow Vaughn, feeling cold metal against the base of his skull.
Click.
From experience, he knew it was a gun.
"I heard you got a deal goin with Maliwan, and I want a cut."
Rhys' heart dropped.
"What are you talking about?"
The voice wasn't familiar, and Rhys couldn't see their face, so all he could assume was that it was a random bandit that had somehow caught wind of the deal.
Rhys could hear the Bandit's glove crease as he tightened his finger on the trigger, "Hand your company over to me, and I'll spare you and your friends. But if you don't hand it over, I'll have to shoot, and your little buddies will be so sad when your brains are painted all over the wall...Wah, wah!" The bandit chuckled, "So what'll it be?"
Despite having faced certain death many times, it never hardened Rhys' heart enough to still the fear of it. His voice shook. There was no devil on his shoulder to snag him from the claws of death this time.
"The deal isn't official yet. If you kill me and take over now, do you really think Katagawa will go through with it?" Rhys scoffed, "Been there, pal, they'll see through any excuse you have right away, and know something's up!"
The bandit paused to think for a moment. "They might see that as a weakness, yeah..."
"So we can make a deal instead; You leave me and my friends alone, and I'll forget this ever happened! Then you don't have to deal with Atlas forces chasing you around for the rest of your life."
"Hm. But will the Maliwan CEO even care when their own leader disappeared just a little while ago?"
Rhys figured that was a fair argument.
"I'm doing what I can to protect this planet from danger."
"And that's another issue. You ruined what could have been a fun planet."
Vaughn stopped, looking back at his buddy, and took notice of the commotion.
"RHYS!"
Vaughn leapt into action, much like Amara did, and charged at the bandit that was trying to hurt Rhys.
Rhys felt the gun lift from his head slightly and figured that was his chance to do something. He whirled around and grabbed the Bandit's arm, summoning the strength he could muster to move the gun from aiming at Vaughn.
He pushed against the bandit, feeling his balance falter, but he would die before he would stop trying to defend his best friend. Planting his feet, his arms began to shake from the force of the bandit's strength. Even with his metal arm, the bandit outmatched him with his own.
Vaughn leapt over rows of seats trying to reach the bandit in time, making a bee-line straight for him with the most intimidating face Rhys had ever seen Vaughn pull.
Shaking, the gun began to fall towards Vaughn again. Rhys clenched his teeth, his heart beating quicker than ever as they grappled. The crowd of people were mesmerized by Amara, not even thinking about what was happening.
BLAM!
Still, he wasn't strong enough.
"No."
Rhys looked back at Vaughn, whose knees buckled, sending him crashing to the floor.
"NO!"
The Bandit took off, knowing Security would very likely find them, and they disappeared into the crowd.
"VAUGHN! NO!!"
Rhys rushed to Vaughn, and immediately slung his arm around his own shoulder, keeping him upright as best as he could.
Dragging him through the crowd, they went unnoticed, much like their high-school days. There were thousands around to see, but they must have assumed Vaughn was drunk or something and being escorted out.
"Vaughn, buddy, it'll be alright. It'll be okay!" Rhys wished the words were comforting for either him or Vaughn, but he doubted they could be.
Blood dripped from Vaughn's mouth, worrying Rhys even more.
Rhys spotted his friends among the crowd, as they too were oblivious through all the commotion. With all the explosions that were going off constantly, Rhys could hardly blame them.
Loader Bot was the one that he first rushed towards, his breath catching, barely able to speak.
"U-uh, Loader Bot!" His call didn't seem to catch Loader Bot's attention, "LOADER BOT I NEED YOUR HELP!"
Loader Bot was unable to hear him. He was still too far away.
Rhys glanced over at Vaughn, "It's okay, I'm not a medic at all. I don't wanna risk hurting you more."
"It's... Fine, bro. I'm not a medic either." Vaughn's head fell on Rhys' shoulder.
He shoved through the people, bumping shoulders with most of them, and toppling a few others, apologizing profusely as he did so, his voice on the verge of breaking.
For only a minute, he stopped to use his tie, seeing if he could slow Vaughn's bleeding.
"Dude I am so, so sorry this is all my fault, I... just... Just hang in there, alright?" Rhys knew hardly anything about first aid, but did what he was taught to do in his middle school class, when the health teacher required everyone to learn how to stop profuse bleeding. He clumsily stuffed his tie into Vaughn's bullet wound, and once he was sure that it was helping even a little, he took off again with Vaughn slung around his shoulder.
The crowd was heavy, but Rhys' determination was bigger, and blood covered, they reached Loader Bot. Miraculously, Vaughn was still conscious. Barely.
"Oh, Rhys! How's it going?" Fiona asked, but her face dropped horrified, "We're going. Now."
After a few shocked curses from Sasha, Rhys caught his breath enough to speak.
"Loader Bot," he gasped, tears streaking his face, "Can you fly Vaughn to hospital? It... It'll be faster that way."
"Yes." Loader Bot proceeded to lift them all onto his shoulders with ease, flying towards the hospital.
"I can't believe I didn't even hear any of what just happened!" Sasha berated herself, fixing the bandage which quickly stopped working well, "And how is that our luck always lands us right where some stupid, ugly, son of a-"
"Sasha, I get it, but now's not the time to add to the panic. Your boyfriend already looks like he's on the verge of passing out." Fiona tried to calm Sasha down.
"It's hard not to panic!" Sasha snapped, "How does stuff like this keep happening to us?!"
"Sasha, it's-it's okay! It's not your fault, the stadium was loud, and... And there was a lot going on," Rhys took Sasha's hand when she was finished tending to Vaughn. "It'll be okay."
Sasha looked at Rhys' hand, which was gently caressing her own, and then back up to his face. "Rhys, you are literally crying right now, are you sure you believe that?"
"... You're my favorite bro, bro..." Vaughn blinked, "You all are..."
"Hey, that is really sweet, but don't talk like that! Y-you'll be okay!" Rhys sobbed, "You'll be okay!"
"You're right.... There's still a lot of games we gotta... play... Right..."
Vaughn fell limp.
With extreme urgency, Loader Bot landed at the entrance of the hospital, carrying them all inside.
..............................................
Rhys stayed by his side, but there was nothing to be done. Guilt overwhelmed him, knowing the bandit should have killed him instead. Rhys was the one he had a grudge against to begin with—the one he was truly after, but there Rhys was. Breathing. Continuing to do so, even when it was killing him to know that his buddy didn't get to live when he did.
Head in hands, tears streamed freely, and sobs echoed through the barren hallway like they were from a walking ghost.
Life wasn't always fair, but Vaughn was the bro that had always evened out the unfairness of life. If they had a bad day, then it was time to play video games and drown out the world. If not that, he had been the friend to gather everyone together after a long day, to watch a funny movie.
All of their friends were with Vaughn as he passed. Sasha and Rhys hugged each other to try and give each other comfort, while Fiona pulled her hat over her face to hide any emotion that she might be showing.
No one could even begin to think about what they were going to tell Gortys.
The silence screamed a wish to turn back time.
"I was a hat rack, back on Helios." Loader Bot started.
No one said anything, and Rhys was mostly confused as to why Loader Bot would be talking about something like that now.
"There was not a purpose for me other than to serve. When I was gifted sentience, I wondered if I was being punished for something I had done."
Rhys continued to sob quietly into Sasha's hair.
"You all showed me differently." Loader Bot continued, "And that life, even with difficulties, can be a gift..."
Thinking this ought to be a eulogy, everyone continued listening.
"And those difficulties have their lessons. I learned something on Helios." Loader Bot turned to the crew. "Before Handsome Jack died, the New-U stations shut off, unable to be restored."
"Oh... I remember those things." Rhys sniffled.
"What's a 'New-U' station? Is it like the customization stations, but upgraded?" Fiona asked, still keeping her head turned away from them.
"No," Rhys wiped tears from his face, "It's a machine that if you have money it.... Revives... You." Rhys stopped, his eyes growing wide. "It digitally reconstructs your body, into a new you!"
"Yes." Loader Bot stared emotionlessly at Rhys. "That is what I was going to say."
"Oh. Sorry, LB."
"It is okay, you seem happier, so I am glad."
"I am a lot happier, thank you." Rhys slicked back his hair, trying to pretend his eyes weren't puffy from all the crying.
"Well, that's great!" Sasha exclaimed, "But if all of those machines turned off before Handsome Jack died that's about..."
"It's like... 546 days ago." Rhys blurted, but realized he might have made a slight mistake. "But who's counting?"
"How do you know that?" Sasha raised an eyebrow.
"I followed his social media for awhile, and- you know what? Don't worry about it." Rhys nervously chuckled. "Way more importantly, we just discovered a way to revive Vaughn!"
"If we can turn on the machines again."
"Right." Rhys shied away from his own enthusiasm. "Well, while we think about how to do that, we can keep Vaughn's body preserved in the Atlas laboratories."
"Creepy, but good idea."
..................................
"Welcome back! I missed you all so much!" Gortys circled around the group, and they immediately created a formation to block the view of Vaughn's dead body from Gortys. "Did you have lots of fun at the fight?"
Everyone looked disheveled, from Rhys being covered in blood, to everyone having tear stains on their faces.
"Oh yeah, lots of fun." Fiona explained, "There was a lot of emotions, and..." Fiona glanced sheepishly at Rhys, "...Paint."
"I can see that! You must have loved watching The Tiger fight the bad guy!"
"We did!" Fiona continued to block Gortys' view. "Right guys?"
"It was insane. She was all pow pow!" Rhys half-heartedly explained.
"Yep, and we were all like... woohoo!" Sasha added.
"I almost wish I went, then! But... Fighting makes me nervous." Gortys' face saddened, "Where's Vaughn?"
Each of them cringed, and Sasha stepped forward to turn Gortys' attention away from the group. "He's uh, needing to rest right now. Here, wanna help me get some food? We might have some snacks in the fridge..."
The rest of them carried Vaughn to the ATLAS laboratories, gaining a few concerned glances from the employees, and laid him on one of the tables. After a moment, Rhys grabbed a jacket and put it on top of him, quietly saying, "It just...It feels wrong not to."
"Sure, maybe he'll get cold in the tube of liquid he'll be put in," Fiona remarked, while Rhys grasped that a blanket wouldn't be helpful to Vaughn if he was submerged anyway.
"Oh, right cause liquid takes away... when..." Rhys cleared his throat.
A silence fell over the two, as the technicians performed the necessary procedures. Rhys glanced at Fiona, catching her ashen expression as she stared down at Vaughn, that quickly hardened when she caught Rhys' eye. "What?"
"You alright?" Rhys asked.
"I'm just thinking."
"Thinking while staring at my bro's dead body?" Rhys mentioned.
"That's where I happened to be looking." Fiona folded her arms, averting her gaze.
"It's okay that you feel sad, it's a human emotion, you know."
Fiona didn't respond.
Rhys awkwardly fiddled with his hands, thinking of what to say next that might steer the conversation away from the uncomfortable one it was on. "The last time we really got to speak, you mentioned you wanted to be a Vault Hunter. Have you found any leads with that?"
"No. If I'm honest, I think it was just lucky to find the first one." Fiona started, "I haven't looked into another one."
"Oh come on, you'll find another one eventually." Rhys encouraged, "There's always talk of a Vault somewhere. And hey, I hear Amara's a Vault Hunter--maybe start there."
Fiona puckered her lips while she shrugged, implying it was not a bad suggestion.
"If that's what you wanna do anyways, I don't want to make you do anything."
"Vault Hunting is more like a hobby right now. I'd like it to become a passion." Fiona responded, adjusting her hat to fit upright on her head. "So yeah, I'll start there."
"Well there you go." Rhys smiled.
A few of Rhys' boys came into the room to assist with placing Vaughn in a preservation capsule. It was a sore sight to see, especially as Rhys' eyes crossed the bullet wound in Vaughn's chest.
It panged his heart as much as a bullet might.
But, well over two hours had passed, and Rhys still wasn't in the office for the meeting. The Contract. If Katagawa was still even there, he would be furious that Rhys was so late.
"Fiona, I... I have a really important meeting I need to get to."
"More important than Vaughn?" Fiona curled her lip.
"Y- no. We can argue about this later, I gotta go." Rhys took off, forgetting about the blood on his clothes.
Rhys stumbled through the doors to the conference room. Many eyes greeted him with awkward glances, avoiding direct contact with the blood stains on his outfit.
He brushed off, having had no time to change, he rubbed napkins against his bloodied robo-arm, sitting down in the chair at the end of the long, stained oak, conference table. Even Rhys' own agents pretended that they were unaware of what was unfolding in front of them—and how it might look to Maliwan.
Katagawa had sat himself across the table, his hair finely coiffed with only a strand placed strategically out of place. His suit was neatly pressed, with a striped yellow and white tie to stand out against his deep turquoise shirt. He even donned a cybernetic implant on his head, on the opposite side of where Rhys' was.
Perhaps the job would be easy, since Rhys drew from his appearance alone, that Katagawa Jr. looked up to Rhys.
Rhys' stance heightened, fixing his slumped shoulders, and putting on a brave face.
"Rhys! Glad to see that you finally made it." Katagawa smiled, his hand pressed on the contract. Rhys never gave anyone permission to look through his desk, but figured since he was late one of his troops grabbed it for him, so Katagawa would have something to do while he was busy.
"Please forgive my tardiness, a lot happened." Rhys explained, "We went to a fight-"
"The Tiger From Partali, right? Yeah, one of my guys said they saw you there." Katagawa mentioned, "Did you have a good time?"
Rhys wasn't sure how much of it Maliwan saw, but he was sure that it was no time to show weakness. "Yeah, we had a great time, I was..." He remembered that Traunt was a force of Maliwan, "It was cool to see that Captain Traunt gave her a big run for her money, though."
"Yes, I was glad to see that as well. Ultimately it sounds like he lost, but I'm sure he's beating himself up about it already." Katagawa said, "He and the other Traunts can be tough on themselves."
"Wow, you know your people by name, too?" Rhys' heart was lifted a little, knowing another CEO wasn't just leading their people like they were pawns to a bigger scheme.
"Of course I do, Rhys, they're important to everything I do. You can't really be a hero if you treat everyone like garbage, now can you?" Katagawa chuckled, "It can get impossible to know them all, though."
"Right, but the effort is what matters." Rhys reassured, "A greenhorne like yourself definitely knows what it's like to be at the bottom—treated like nothing."
Katagawa's eyes flickered at the word 'Greenhorne' but he continued speaking, "True, huh? Well, don't worry your cybernetic head about it, Rhys! I can't say I've never been late to a meeting." Katagawa quirked his head to the side, flipping his eyes to the side,"Well actually I can, but it's still alright."
Rhys got the hint that he might have offended him with his comment, which was not at all his intention. He meant to imply that he was more personable.
"That's not what we're really here to talk about though, is it?" Katagawa invited them to change the subject towards why they were there.
"It's not." Rhys dropped his head, "So, I honestly would have preferred for us to have a meeting to discuss a lot more about the details of the agreement."
"No need!" Katagawa handed the contract down the line of lackeys. "I looked over the contract you gave me, and I have to say I'm very impressed. I've never seen someone put this much effort into benefitting both sides!"
Katagawa tugged on his jacket, "Honestly, there's a lot of me I see in you. I've always wanted all of the companies to be like a big, happy, corporate family."
"Really?" Rhys perked up, "That's a strange way to describe it, but honestly, I've been thinking a similar thing."
"Of course, each segment of the family could keep their individuality, but it'd be nice to have some unity for a change." Katagawa huffed, "Instead of all the companies fighting each other all the time."
"I was thinking the same thing."
"Well, that's good then! We seem to have a similar mind, and similar goals." Katagawa said, "There's just one more thing I was hoping to get out of this."
Katagawa stared intensely at Rhys, letting him know his next lines meant business. "It may seem extraordinarily far-fetched, but in order to achieve our goal, we would need to reign in an old giant."
Rhys cocked his head to the side. "Like what do you mean, a Vault Monster?"
"Ah, except I'm not here for the Vault, like other companies might be." Katagawa flipped his pen in his hands, "No no no, I mean the old giant. Of companies. Hyperion."
Rhys had heard of many different kinds of Vaults throughout his days as head of Atlas, but a Vault on Promethea slipped his ears. Personally, he wasn't interested in the idea of hunting another vault, considering the amount of casualties that occurred the last time they went for a Vault, and even one was too much for Rhys to bear. He shook the notion off from his mind, focusing back at the truly important information he heard roll from Katagawa's mouth.
Hyperion.
A wash of coldness, like the icy hands of death gripped Rhys' throat. He swallowed, letting the shiver overtake him, but not for long.
"I'm not sure that will help our case."
"Neither Atlas nor Maliwan are companies that the universe truly respects on their own—or even together, for that matter. Even if we're planning to go about this peacefully, people don't listen to reason if it comes from below them." Katagawa stood from his chair, walking over to Rhys, his eyes scanning the contract once more. Katagawa had signed it, it was up to Rhys to make the final signature. "But Hyperion was a god."
"That's true," Rhys thought the idea over.
"And to revive Hyperion, we would need Hyperion." Katagawa gestured to Rhys, "Which would make you the most important piece in this plan."
That was true, Rhys used to work for Hyperion, and used to look up to their leaders. Even Handsome Jack himself mentioned at one point that Hyperion's security had been developed by himself. Therefore, it was completely unpredictable and weird, just like the person who made it.
However, the New-U stations were a part of Hyperion, which meant that if he fully went through with the deal, the New-U stations could be brought back to life.
Meaning, Vaughn could be brought back to life.
The icy hands that held him so tightly loosened their grip, shooed by the gentle warmth, and loving embrace of hope.
His eyes glistened, tears pooling at the rim of his eyelids, the chance to get his lifelong friend back a possibility just out of reach— but getting closer to his fingertips.
Life and limb is what Rhys would give up for his best friend, and he beat himself up again for not doing so in the first place.
It should have been him. It really should have. But if they could get the New-U stations up and running, what happened would no longer matter.
He met Katagawa's eyes, picking up his pen to sign the contract. He wrote his name in a fine cursive, the fresh ink glistening on the surface of the paper.
When he stood up, they shook hands firmly, sealing their deal.
"You sir? Have yourself a deal, my friend. Consider me your business partner from now on." Rhys smiled, only able to think about his buddy.
"Likewise, Rhys! This will be a great time. Oh, I'll have to show you and your buddies my space Yacht." Katagawa put his arm around Rhys' shoulder.
Chapter Text
Notes:
It's a very important job, kiddo.
Anyways, since you bandits are dying to see me again, I'll give you a quick update! Company's doing well, per the norm. Oh, was that moonshot barrage I launched aimed right at your house? Tough. Just get a better one!
Ahah... what else.
Workin' on getting a company ECHOgram! But it'll take awhile to REALLY get it goin cause ah... Well, apparently they have these terms and conditions that ensure you have to have a certain "professionalism" that I REALLY don't care that much to have!
I'll let my greatest fans know if that comes in full swing though! You're welcome.
Oh yeah, Claptrap has been tryna get into my office for who knows how long. Says he wants to "say hello to the fans" that he doesn't have. I don't know how he figured out I'm doing all this since I limited all the claptrap units internet access to virus content like "You are an idiot" on repeat. HAHA!
You remember that? No? Man, you must be too young or something.... Ah, good times. Several claptraps have died this way, and it's frickin' hilarious every dang time.
But uhhhh yeah! Door's barricaded, and there's a turret that'll blast any claptrap to smithereens if they try to get in. That's all I'm really willing to update you bandits on, unless you're really interested in my AI love life. Maybe next update, huh?
Next time on Rhys in the Company of Nightmares!
Coming February!