A Handsome Tale (Handsome Jack X OC)

Anything for Gortys

"Ten. You..." I couldn't say anything more, I just gripped my arms tightly around her, tears beginning to fall.

"I thought you were dead." I whisper.

"Nah. Still kicking it." She chuckles before prying herself from my grip, laughing awkwardly.

"So? These are your... New friends?" Ten asks, looking behind me to see Vaughn waving like an idiot, Fiona smiling awkwardly and Rhys rubbing the back of his neck, nervous to meet them.

"Yeah... But... More like family." I giggle.

"Come on, sit. Eat something, you look starving." Amber says, leading me back to the table.

I look back at Fi and the boys, taking the stranger to another room.

Rhys walks up to me and leans in to whisper,

"We'll see you in a bit. I have a surprise for you." And runs to catch up with Vaughn.

"So... Rhys? I mean we knew some but not all. That guys like a legend around here." Amber was so animated, I'd never seen everyone look so relieved and so free in their lives.

"It's... A work in progress." I blush, looking down at my feet.

"What happened to you, anyways? Back on Pandora years ago? Where have you been?" Shay asks.

"I... Took Jacks body back up to Hyperion and stayed there... Waiting for anything to bring him back. And then this whole thing happened with some douche Vasquez and I came down here to help Rhys who id been spying on out of boredom and... God I'm rambling." I laugh nervously and tuck some hair behind my ear, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"Well, you got your wish." Quinn grunts, shoving more food into her mouth.

"Huh?" I scrunch my nose.

"Don't act like you didn't know Jacks conscience was uploaded into an AI." Quinn rolls her eyes at me and for some reason, I didn't feel as welcomed as I had earlier.

I watch as Amber shoves into Quinn's ribs gently and Quinn gets up and walks away.

"What.. Did I do?"

"Nothing she.. It's just.. Jack built that for you, knowing he was probably doomed. She's bitter about it. A little.. Jealous. That was ,after all, his best friend. But, also pissed that he did it in the first place expecting to live forever. She finds it hard to believe that you didn't know about it." Amber shrugs.

"I didn't know about a lot of things he did." I sigh, resting my cheek into my palm as I twirl around a glass of water.

"Don't be bummed, she'll get over it." Ten says warmly, smacking my back fairly hard.

"It's weird seeing you all here. How'd you find it?"

"Aureys old tracker lead us here. Honestly, we've been wandering aimlessly on Pandora, Quinn helping us along the way, just to survive." Shay mutters, glancing over in Aureys direction.

Aurey was very quiet.

"Tracker?" I raise a brow.

"The tracker that nearly killed me. But we watched Hyperion fall, and Vaughn was an old friend of Shays. Just worked out I guess." Aurey's face goes sour, remembering all that Jack did to her.

I wrap my arm around her and tell her,

"I'm sorry."

"It's.. Fine. The pains over its just.. Hard to live with every day." She grins and bites roughly into an apple.

"HOLLI YOU WONT BELIEVE WHO IT IS! OH MY GOD!" Rhys screams from an upper office window.

"He's cute. In a really... Nerdy way." Ten laughs, standing up.

"Yeah.. And he's a great kisse- wait.. Where are you going?" I ask, watching everyone get up.

"We're gonna go find Quinn, get her to ease up. But, I think that's your que. We'll be around, but your... Well... Best friends are waiting." Ten gives me one more squeeze and I rush as quickly as I can to Rhys and the gang so that I could see the stranger.

"Hi." Loader bot?

"How.." I start.

"I needed to survive." Was his only response.

No doubt he found Jacks exoskeleton in the rubble that once was Hyperion.

"Why'd you bring us all back together?"

"To open the vault and save Gortys."

I never knew what happened to Gortys, but I saw her pieces disassembled beside me.

"A vault and the cutest robot in the world... And more adventures with my pals? I'm in." I clap.

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait, this... Could be dangerous-" Rhys starts to say and I click my tongue at him.

"You're not like... Telling me what I can and can't do... Are you?" I scrunch my nose at him and he rolls his eyes.

"Fine. Just to make sure you're safe. Im in. Plus... Gortys is pretty adorable. Unknown riches doesn't hurt either."

"Anything for Gortys." Fiona responds.

"Well then.. If they're all in, of course I am." Vaughn chuckles as if it were a no brainer.

"We'll definitely need more than the three of us." I mutter, trying to lay out an idea in my head.

"Four. Sasha will be here shortly." Fiona chimes.

"Well, still, I don't think that's enough. I'm not sure exactly what happened after Rhys and I almost died but I do know that nothing went according to plan so... The more people we have the less we have to worry about."

"What about your friends?" Rhys asks as we all look down into the dining area.

Amber was shoving whip cream into Aureys face, Aurey laughing so hard that milk came out of her nose which lands all over Shays clothes, making Shay retaliate by jumping over to slap Amber but ends up flying forward too fast and taking Ten down on the other side of the table to the floor which flips the table into Quinn's knee caps.

"This could end up a disaster." Fiona sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Or a great idea. These girls know a lot of people here on Pandora. Let's assemble one hell of a team." I grin.

Rhys smiles, his hands on his hips as he watches my friends fight each other.

"I think.. We have... A.. Chance. Maybe not a good one, but hey, a chance."