Long Road Ahead (1x1 with Sori)

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

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

• while not being told how helios went down was one thing, he still seemed entirely relieved to know that it didn't crash in thousand cuts. He rubs his hands together with a mumbled 'good, good' as he settles down quite a bit. When rhys states they needed to get him back to his own timeline he nods.
  
  
• "Yeah. Thats definitely a good idea princess." He stated a bit sarcastically. He still wants to know why Yvette seemed familiar, like he'd just seen her. Someone from security maybe? He mumbles a bit to himself, popping open his Echo interface again to go through his records. "I'd still like an explanation as to why you two seem way more terrified of me then you should. If i've been dead for two years that is. And as i've stated, if I give my word, I keep it. And I did give it when I said I wasn't going to.... kill......" He trails off.
  
  
• He's looking at three files in his interface now. Three records of newly employed employees on Helios. The names he heard earlier. Rhys in mid-department coding. Yvette in security details. Vaughn in accounting. These three are ex damn employees and now everything makes sense. He pushes his hands through his hair with the slightest of aggravated sounds. "Jesus Christ. This place is full of ex-employees isn't it? Thats why everyones freaking out. Why the hell isn't hyperion taking care of you guys like I set up? What the hell did I do two years ago?!" He growls, non-to happily.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

Jack was getting agitated again, and it seemed like Rhys was going to have to provide a better explanation than that- so many that other time was actually now. His stomach twisted up, and he asked Yvette yet again, "Can you go?" Rhys hated talking about it, and the more people around the harder it was to get out. He wouldn't tell Jack the whole thing- he'd conveniently leave out Rhys's own involvement in everything, even though Jack might be able to piece it together. Rhys didn't want to throw himself under the bus right away. And the Vault. He wouldn't mention the vault.

Yvette looked between the two men and hesitantly agreed this time, but told Rhys she wasn't going far and that he could call her back in if he needed anything. Rhys appreciated her concern, but this was something that was better for him to handle alone. "Yes, a lot of our employees are ex-Hyperion, myself included. And their fear isn't as much about what happened two years ago as it is what happened on Helios." Yvette left the room, and Rhys was completely alone with Jack. It felt familiar yet strange at the same time. "Like I said, it's a long story so you might want to sit down for this one." Rhys stepped behind his desk, and plopped down in his black office chair. Sitting down helped him relax, if only a bit.

"So, Hyperion did take care of us, for a while at least. With you dead there was a lot more backstabbing than usual from everyone trying to get to the top. Then, there was a certain chain of events that took place the week leading up to Helios crashing. One of these backstabbing employees-" That was who Rhys was, at the time. Looking back on it he regretted being so power-hungry. "-was stranded on Pandora after some questionable choices and found AI of you. For a different reason they found their way back to Helios, which to them was an attempt get you back in power to have co-leadership of the company with you. Things got messy, the AI was uploaded into Hyperion's systems, and Jack turned his back on the person as soon as he didn't need him anymore." It was odd to talk about himself and hologram in third person, and Rhys didn't realize his pronoun slip. "Blah blah blah, the employee realized their mistake, and the only way to get rid of Jack was to shut down Helios. So that's what happened, Helios fell, the employees that got to the pods in time got out. I found the rights to Atlas in the wreckage, rebuilt it, and now we're here." Rhys hoped a majority of that made sense. He really was not the best at explaining things.

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

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

• When Rhys tells him to sit down, he takes a moment but does so, taking a seat infront of rhys desk as he listens to him explain everything. So some crazy AI of himself got helios brought down... He mumbles about poor programming. "Okay so. I've been dead for two years, some idiot made a poorly designed AI of me that pretty much went alittle crazy and got Helios brought down. Well i know what i'm not approving in the future." He grumbled as he sat back in the chair, arms folding at his chest.
  
  
• So Helios crashed, hat remained of hyperion had abandoned anyone left on pandora and- oh no. He's been dead for two years, who's been- He stands abruptly. "Okay well if thats the case i have somewhere i need to be. Later kitten." He stated, almost rushed towards the door. He's been dead for two years, Hyperion abandoned pandora, so whos been taking care of angel? Was she okay? were the injectors still working? He needed to see his baby girl and he needed to see her right now.
  
  
• He wasn't aware of the horrible truth. That angel was gone, taken out by vault hunters he'd yet to hire/try to kill. There was so much information that he needed to process. He's supposedly dead, Theres a poorly designed AI of himself out there, Helios is gone, no ones been taking care of angel. His own company has suddenly spiralled out of control and he really needs to get a grasp at his straws.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

"Yeah, basically. Nakayama made it, by the way." He threw the name out just in case- at least the version of Rhys from the other timeline wouldn't have to deal with a hologram of Jack. Rhys shot up when Jack seemed to start panicking and heading towards the door. "No, no- You can't leave!" The office door was locked anyway, but Rhys practically threw himself between Jack and the exit. "Where are you in such a rush to be this isn't even your timeline, Jack." Rhys stared him in the eyes. The hologram's eyes were both blue, but Jack had one that was green. Rhys found it a little silly now that one of the reasons he wanted his ECHO-eye was to have another thing in common with Jack- mismatched eyes."Calm down. I think you need time to process everything before we can let you leave. Or go anywhere alone." Rhys quickly used his ECHO to page security, just for a few guards to come up to his office as things seemed to start getting dicey.

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

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

• Jack looks at rhys when he suddenly got in his own way and glares heavily, taking a step back. "Get out of my way kitten. I've got to go check on something extremely important. And if i've been gone two years and hyperion's pretty much abandoned pandora i've really got to check this out. So move." He stated as he attempted to get around rhys. He even laughed a bit when he psyched rhys' out and got around him. However when he got to the door, it didn't open.
  
  
• He growled, tried connecting his interface to bypass it, but was unable to and thus slammed his fists against the door a few times before leaning against it, taking in a deep breath then shakily letting it out. "Just open the door and let me out. You don't understand why this is important." He mumbled. He didn't care how, he just needed to get to the guardian core, he needed to be sure she was okay. She had to be okay, she just.... This wasn't okay.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

Rhys huffed when Jack pushed him aside. Okay, he was getting a little annoyed. He'd almost forgotten how stubborn Jack could be. "It's been two years, surely waiting one more day won't make a huge difference," he snapped and for a brief moment he wasn't scared of him. Rhys held the cards here. "Just give it up and stay here for now." Rhys watched the man, and it was almost sad how Jack banged on the door- he was really desperate to leave, huh? He let out a sigh. He shouldn't feel bad for him. He shouldn't. But his heart couldn't help but sink anyway. "If you agree to stay," he said softly, being more gentle than Jack probably deserved, "I promise no harm will come to you. We can talk about this more tomorrow, but you have to tell me what you need to check on first." Rhys had no clue what it could be. What could get Handsome Jack of all people so bent out of shape? Just in case he made a wrong move, he held his hand close to the pistol on his hip.

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

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

• "No! I need to go now. I can come back or what ever, but i have to.." Jack stops, takes a deep breath, tries to remain calm as he clenches and unclenches his fists, then brought his hands up to his face to try and calm himself down before he outright strangles rhys. Rhys seems to want to know what was so important that he'd risk exposing his return to all of pandora. He might as well.
  
• "Look i have someone really important out in thousand cuts. If i've been gone for two years and hyperion has abandoned pandora, then no ones been checking on her. I... I need to be sure she's alright." He stated. He hoped it was vague yet good enough to get rhys to let him out. Angel was his damn pride and joy, he'd do anything for her. He'd take his own company down if it meant her safety and happiness.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

Suddenly, Rhys felt sick. He had an idea what was so important now. Jack didn't care about many people, but he cared about his daughter, and that's what this had to be about. Rhys ran a hand through his hair, and his braced himself for what was going to happen next. "Your daughter, right? Angel?" He thought that was her name, the hologram only mentioned it once. He didn't have to deliver this news to Jack face to face last time, so he was being very careful and soft with how he spoke."I'm really sorry, Jack, but she's- she's gone." Rhys winced, bracing for the impact of a fist on his face, or the possible hand around his throat. Just any world of hurt- Jack was highly unpredictable, and this had to be an extremely rough day for him.

[Agent Maine(Meta)]

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

• Everything comes to a screeching hault when he hears rhys mention Angel. How? How did rhys know about angel? No one was supposed to know about her. She was such a well guarded secret. His duel colored gaze stared at rhys as he watched him. He looks so remorseful for just asking that question and jack can already feel a sour taste in his mouth, feel his tongue go dry. "How.... How do you...?" He trails off when rhys speaks again.
  
  
• 'I'm really sorry, Jack. But she's- she's gone. Never in his life did he think he'd hear this. Be told that his precious baby girl was gone. He'd done so much to make sure she'd be okay. Did the injectors fail? Did someone else find out about angel and use her against him? This had to be a joke. After all rhys said things got alittle twisted on helios when he died, maybe humor was one of them. A really dark humor. Which, while he enjoyed sometimes, this wasn't funny at all. Thus he gives a slight, airy laugh. "Hahaha. Whooo. You really had me going there for a second Sugar. But since you know about her, then you understand why i need to get out of here. So open the door will ya. I'll only be gone an hour at most." He states, trying to mask his own nervousness as he rappes his knuckles against the door behind him.
  
• Rhys' expression of sorrow and pity doesn't change however. This.... really wan't a prank. He moves slowly over to the small grouping of chairs. Possibly to sit down and process this hard twist in events. Instead, he grasps the backing of one of the chairs, grips it tight enough his knuckles turn white. He's just barely concealing a full body tremor and holding back any noises of sorrow as he growls faintly. The growl erupts into a full blow shout of anger as he takes the chair he held and pulled it off the ground as he tossed it at full force at the wall behind him, watched it break with the impact as his shaking hands curled into tight fists. "How? How the hell did my innocent baby girl die?" He growled.

[Sori]

▀▄ ʀʜʏs ▀▄

He had to admit it was painful seeing Jack go through this. Jack really needed time to process everything; his first reaction to the unthinkable seemed to be that it was a joke. Rhys put a bit of distance between himself and Jack, making sure to stay out of his way. He kept his word and didn't hurt Rhys, but one of his nice chairs was the first casualty of Jack's grief. The guards were outside now with Yvette, and there was rampant knocking on the door at the noise and shout. "Rhys? What the hell is happening!" Yvette said in a very concerned and slightly angry tone. She was most definitely mad at him right now.

"Everything's fine-!" He wanted to defuse this situation himself- as he was the one who knew Jack best out of everyone here. He stared at the man in front of him, Rhys's heart beating fast due to the fear and adrenaline. "I don't know how it happened. I wasn't there." His last conversation with the hologram rang in his ears. All he knew was that Angel betrayed Jack, but that probably wasn't what he needed to hear right now. "I'm sorry" was all Rhys could say. He probably just needed to let Jack grieve.