Long Road Ahead (1x1 with Sori)

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

----H A N D S O M E J A C K ----

• Jack watches the exchange between everyone, listening easily until they were officially ready to go. When rhys stated he was up front, he shrugged a bit but moved to sit in the passenger side easily. "Jut try not to get us lost or killed sugar." He stated playfully as he lifts hand, easily unclasping the mask and taking it off for now. He wasn't going to admit how nice it felt to feel the sun and wind on his actual face. It was rather blissful really. His head tilted back against the seat, eyes closed. Nice and relaxed throughout the entire trip. He almost didn't want to leave the technical when they actually arrived to the spot. Its not hard to tell where the vault beast had been defeated. Thus when the technical came to a stop, he didn't hesitate in putting his mask back on and hopping out.
  
  
• Despite being told not to touch any of the crystals and all so not to mess anything up, jack doesn't exactly listen. He idly walks around the massive piles of crystals and stones before coming across a few that looked similar to the one he's grabbed at on helios. Thus he's quick to grab them and shove them into his pockets. Then he comes cross one that gives a harmonious noise that sounds extremely familiar to him. He pauses, hand hovering over it before he grabs it and stands straight. "Its this one. The sound its making is just like the one that brought me here. So its got to be the one to send me back yeah?" He questions out loud, more to himself then anything but still out loud.
  
  
• He looks at the other three, clutches it tighter in his hand and takes a few steps back. He can't let them stop him now, especially when he holds exactly what he's looking for with a few spares in his pockets too. His gaze lingers faintly on Rhys, almost regretful for what he's about to do. But at least going back, he knows what he can prevent. The crystal begins blinking, the light getting more and more intense before finally letting loose a bright blinding flash of light. But jack keeps a hold of the crystal this time.
  
  
• When the light dies down, he's standing exactly where he'd been standing the moment it'd happened in his own time. Everyone seems extremely confused but concerned as two security personal move to him instantly so to quickly escort Jack to his penthouse. The occurrence just labeled as a failed assassination attempt and protocol was being followed. But, he's home now at least and ready to make a difference.

[Sori]

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Rhys was filling the bag he brought with crystals when suddenly Jack was holding one of them and saying something about it being the one that brought him there. "Are you sure you should-" Rhys shot up straight and watched Jack with worry on his face. The crystal started blinking, and then after a few moments there was a blinding flash and Rhys had to cover his eyes. When he was able to open them again, Jack was gone. Kicking at the sand, Rhys huffed and moved to where Jack was standing, his heart admittedly heavy. That was a really dumb thing for Jack to do. What if it sent him to some different timeline where the Traveler hadn't been defeated? He'd be stuck there. Rhys was annoyed and a little upset about Jack's rash decision. If he had just waited a few more days they might've been able to figure more out about the crystals to make sure using them was safe, and Rhys could've- no, that would be selfish. Everyone else wanted Jack gone again besides him, so it was probably for the best. He'd probably never see Jack again anyway so why did it matter? He'd just continue with Atlas as he'd planned with the help of the money Jack had left them.

Vaughn and Whitney were obviously relieved Jack was back to his timeline- or wherever he was. On the drive back, however, Vaughn noticed the shift in Rhys's mood and tried talking to him about it. Rhys just pretended he was fine, both for himself and for his friends. It was just one day. He told himself he wouldn't make a big deal out of something so short.

They got back sometime in the evening, and after he ate Rhys retreated to his room. He might've missed Jack already. Maybe. That version of Jack was nice. He took the eye-implant out of his bedside drawer, and just stared at it in his hand. Rhys had always been a little stupid when it came to Jack, but he never felt more stupid than he did now after letting Jack somehow slip into his heart again- even if it was just a tiny little crush. He stared at the eye for a long time, wondering what was going on inside. Nothingness. Jack possibly losing himself in it. After these long months there was no way the AI could be having any sort of positive emotions being trapped in that implant. Rhys considered crushing it. But he still couldn't do it, and with a sigh he returned it to the drawer next to the picture of Angel Rhys kept to keep him company.

Then Rhys remembered he had that long message on his ECHO still and that he might as well see what it was. When he saw that it was from Jack he didn't really want to read it anymore- but that didn't stop him from opening it up. Jack had typed up his entire life story and shared it with Rhys. He didn't skim over a single detail while reading it, and Rhys found himself tearing up at one point. He swore he cried too easily. He was amazed that Jack had trusted him with that. Probably no one knew this much about Handsome Jack and where he came from- but he still told Rhys and that somehow made him more angry at Jack for deciding to leave so abruptly. Rhys cursed under his breath as he closed the message. Now it was back to same old days full of meetings and very little adventure.

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

----H A N D S O M E J A C K ----

• A year to him, a year where time went on without mentioning the incident. Jack made several huge changes to benefit all. A "change of heart" as some called it. With mysterious foresight, jack talked to nakayama, got the information bout the AI. He approved it with one simple change. Implementing a revised version of the rules of robotics. Then it couldn't hurt anyone. Then jack met up with his timeline Rhys and... They surprisingly got along really well. It was actually pretty uplifting.
  
  
• But jack couldn't help but feel like he still made mistakes. Terrible ones. As time progressed, jack made the occasional trip down to the atlas facility. He doubted it'd work, but he till gave it a shot. He left little things there, an old tail coat, an old sweater, Some echo logs that detailed the changes and progress made. Those logs started out nice and cheerful, but as the days went by, got progressively worse, progressively darker as he detailed everything.
  
  
• He still assembled the vault hunters but he didn't kill them this time. He managed to get angel off the eridium injectors without killing her and brought her to helios. The vault hunters originally working for him, turned on both him and the crimson raiders. They managed to steal the key while it was on route to helios. The vault hunters awoke The Warrior and used it against all of pandora. Jack felt like tht wasn't supposed to happen, and thus, took responsibility.
  
  
• He took his strongest fighters, is strongest weapons, everything and it was no match. They were all slaughtered. But jack never gave up. He shut down the new-u system and went after them gain and again, and again. It costed him everything. The hunters brought down helios instead. Jack was forced to watch them take the people he cared about the most prisoner then execute them infront of him. Worst of all, when ever he was close to death, the hunters refused to let him die. Thats how he ended up loosing a leg and building a prosthetic to replace it.
  
  
• But it seemed this time, they were done playing with him. The prosthetic is ruined from a grenade, his left shoulder a mess from a buzz axe, disabling the cybernetics there, his mask is in fragments, revealing his blind right eye and scattered across the newest battle field. He's heavily wounded, coughing up blood as he presses his back against the rock he rested against. Blood soaks the front of him as well, bullets, gashes and the like mark his front and sides as one of the hunters stands infront of him, leveling a Gallivanting Vision to his head. What luck, done in by his own pistol.
  
  
• His right hand slide into his pocket, maybe he had a grenade left, take them both out. At least one hunter would die. Instead, his fingers slide over the smooth, glass like surface of the crystal and he pulls it out, smiling weakly. The hunter demands to know what he's holding and he just laughs. "My salvation." He rasped as he squeezed the crystal. It responded just as it did the other two times, flashing a bright light and transporting jack.
  
  
• Movement hurts and he collapses instantly in the dirt. But its taken him to the same place. The entrance point of new haven, the Atlas building, still standing and not pile of rubble, is a sight for sore eyes. His vision is starting to darken as he manages to fish out his echo, hands trembling as he manages to call rhys. When he hears the confirmation click of his call being answered. "H-Hey.... Sugar...... Can I..... G-Get some.... Assistance.... O-Outside?" He rasped between wet coughs and weak chuckles.

[Sori]

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Time started going by, and after a few days Rhys and his employees started finding peculiar things in the building. When they first came across Handsome Jack's tailcoat and sweater it made no sense. He couldn't have forgotten them there, they were in such odd parts of the building and Jack was most certainly wearing them when he left. Rhys may or may not have kept them for himself- even wearing the sweater occasionally- his reasoning being that it was comfortable when his friends questioned him about it. Things started to make more sense when the ECHOs started to appear. It seemed like Atlas was some sort of focal point, where Jack could leave things for them to find. A question that crossed Rhys's mind was that if he could change that, if other things in the timeline would change.

Three months passed, and nothing ever did. They'd rebuilt a few more Atlas locations with the money, and their production output and financial income were ever growing. A few ECHOs would appear a day- maybe time was moving much faster for Jack than it was for Rhys. Each was marked with a different date, and Jack would tell him about what was happening around Helios or on Pandora. Rhys made it a daily thing of listening to them before he went to sleep. He wished he could respond in some way- he tried once and it didn't work- but even hearing of the changes Jack made filled a little hole in Rhys's heart. Then the ECHOs started getting darker, and much more worrying. Sometimes he had to wait until the morning to listen to them or else he wouldn't be able to sleep.

The ECHOs stopped appearing, and the Jack-shaped hole in his heart returned. The last message he got was about how the vault hunters had awoken the warrior and that they took down Helios. Maybe Jack couldn't escape fate no matter what he did to change it. It was a week after the messages had stopped that a call from Jack went through to Rhys's ECHO comm. He picked it up with no hesitation. "Jack?" He was hopeful, but then again there was the possibility of someone just using Jack's name to get a call through to him. But it was Jack's voice, and Rhys couldn't have been happier. Well, he probably could've been considering Jack sounded like he needed help immediately. "I'll be out in a second. Hang in there, handsome." Rhys rushed his words, and once he hung up he quickly got the medical bay on the line to call for help.

Rhys got out the door as fast as he could, shortly followed by a small group of nurses carrying their equipment. There was a crumpled up and bloody figure at the entrance of the small town, and Rhys sprinted towards him as fast as he could. Rhys crouched down next to Jack, and glanced over his wounds. He was missing a leg, his shoulder was a mess, and there were some bullet holes- Rhys's heart was ready to beat out of his chest. Could they even heal this? "Hey, hey, how are you doing?" Rhys sat all the way on the ground. "You're going to be okay, nurses are coming but they have equipment so it's going to be a second."

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

----H A N D S O M E J A C K ----

• His vision goes dark not long after he hears rhys voice. Catches the muffled 'hang in there handsome' before he briefly slips out of consciousness. His vision only really returning to him when he hears the familiar crunch of dirt and rocks under foot. He tries to focus the blurry vision of his blue eye on Rhys when he came over, offers a tight, closed lipped, blood stained smile to the other despite being alittle delirious from the pain and blood loss. He can't help the painful laugh that escapes him when rhys asks how he's doing.
  
  
• "Hey... yourself.... you're.... a-a real..... sight..... for sore eye." He mumbled, he lifted his right hand, setting it ontop of rhys' closest leg with a weak smile. When rhys mentions the nurses and equipment, he just barely manages to nod his head. "Okay.... I'm just... really tired rhys....."He mumbled, voice starting to slur a bit as well. Maybe now, in this timeline, he could finally sleep without having to watch his own back or suffer the nightmares of watching those he cared for be killed.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

"Stay with me, you can sleep later," Rhys said, putting his hand over Jack's. He could see Jack was close to losing consciousness, whether from exhaustion or the blood loss. He turned his head to check how close the nurses were, and they were nearly there so Rhys let them know the situation. "He's lost a lot of blood, he's missing a leg and has a deep gash in his shoulder. Multiple bullet wounds." The nurses gathered around and they didn't hesitate to hit him with an inst-health before trying to get him onto a stretcher. Rhys moved his hand and got to his feet ready to help. The nurses already seemed to be handling it, but Rhys carried extra equipment for those who had to support Jack. He stayed by Jack's side all the way up to the fourth floor, then a doctor shooed him away since they had to perform surgery. "Do whatever you can to save him, I don't care about the price," he barked the order as he was being ushered out into the training area. Rhys suddenly felt like he was on one of those dumb medical shows, waiting for the doctor to come back out with good news but also not being able to rule out the inevitable.

Rhys sighed and took a seat on a bench, his head in his hands. Of all the ways he thought of seeing Jack again go, Jack showing up on the brink of death was not what Rhys wanted to happen. Yvette and Whitney heard about the commotion, and came to keep Rhys company while he waited. He'd let his friends listen to most of the ECHOs, too, and Rhys thought he'd convinced them to hate Jack a little less by doing so. Though they were definitely still there more out of concern for Rhys's well-being than Jack's.

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

----H A N D S O M E J A C K ----

• His vision comes and goes. He doesn't even register getting hit with the insta-health to stabilize his wounds, nore the movements of the stretcher. He's definitely out of it when they fully put him under for the surgeries. He only really comes around when its all over, probably hours later. The pain is definitely dulled drastically, and its probably thanks to what ever is in the iv. He groans quietly as he slowly and carefully sits himself up, looking around. But he recognizes the place. Okay, good, the crystal did take him back. The medical wing looked alittle newer too, mot likely upgraded. Good. Funds put to good use.
  
  
• Thats when he notices the replacement to his prosthetic. Cybernetic/mechanical like Rhys arm. It definitely a lot more natural/high tech then the one he'd scrounged together. He faintly rubs his leg just above the connection before looking around the room. The rooms quiet besides the sounds of the equipment, the lights are dimmed down most likely for his easement. He looks at the IV, its not on a pole, which means he can't walk out of the room. A bit more looking around, he spots his echo and grabs it before sending a message to rhys that he's awake now because heavens knows when a doctor's going to come in. He probably shouldn't even be awake this soon.

[Sori]

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Rhys was nearly falling asleep on that bench when he got the message on his ECHO. His friends had other important things to do, so they left him alone again after two hours. In total, he waited there almost the entire day for Jack to wake up- only leaving once when Yvette called him and basically threatened to cut his hair in his sleep if he didn't come eat. Rhys stood up with a yawn, and peeked into the medical wing before heading straight to the door that Jack was behind- they'd upgraded from curtains. Rhys pushed open the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.

"You know, we have to stop meeting like this." He let himself smile a bit, and he turned to look Jack over. His mask was off, and he was all cleaned up so there was no more blood- he had a new cybernetic leg, and his shoulder was fixed up once again. Rhys however, still looked like an absolute disaster covered in dirt with a few patches of dried blood on his clothes. He was also trying to make himself look like he hadn't been silently crying on a bench ten minutes ago from overthinking things. "The pain meds working and everything?" He asked as he pulled up a chair to sit down in. "I tried to make sure everything they gave you was the best of what we can provide."

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

----H A N D S O M E J A C K ----

• Jack looks over when the door opens and rhys walks in. A light smile on his lips at the moment, especially at the comment. "Yeah, we really should, shouldn't we?" He stated, leaning back ever so faintly when rhys took a seat infront of him. Rhys was very disheveled, but he couldn't really blame him for it. He rubbed his hands together loosely as he listened to rhys ask if the meds were working and how he wanted to only provide the best. How endearing actually.
  
  
• "Yeah, they're working wonders right now. And i kind of figured with the new leg and all. A lot better then what i threw together in the junk yard." He stated with a small shrug of his shoulders before placing a hand on his leg. "Lost it during my... third? Yeah, third fight against the warrior a bit after they turned sanctuary to ashes." He mumbled, his tone a bit sour at the recount, but rhys still deserved to know what happened.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

Rhys was curious how Jack lost his leg, but he was already telling him before he could ask. "Sounds intense." Three fights against the warrior was a lot considering what Rhys knew of it- that thing was extremely powerful. "How much time has gone by for you, by the way? I got all the ECHOs you left- two or three showed up a day. It's been a week since I've heard anything from you, though. I was, uh, getting worried," he admitted with a glance at the floor. He was really glad Jack was safe now at least. Rhys cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I also still have your clothes? If you want them back I can bring them up to you?" He might've liked to continue wearing the sweater when he could, but if Jack wanted it back Rhys wasn't going to stop him. He looked over Jack's face, and he appeared to be a little older. Rhys probably didn't have the bragging rights of being older than him anymore which was slightly disappointing.