"Perfect! It looks great!" Fiona gushes, hugging Scooter.
"Y'all come back for anything! Id be much obliged to help!" He says taking a small bow.
"Catch a riiiiiide!"
"Well that was quick." Rhys mutters.
"Yeah, Scooter is pretty awesome."
"So where to?" I ask.
"There's an old city about 20 miles from here, there's bound to be something to explain these pieces we found."
"Who knows if these pieces are even worth anything?" I grunt.
"It's called the Gortys project. It's going to help us find a vault." Rhys chimes in.
Since when the hell did he know that?
"So? Since the ride is looooong..." Fiona hums, waiting for the rest of my story with Jack.
"Oh... You want to know about the company man?" I chuckle.
"What? Oh! The fridge! I need! I need air!" Rhys began to walk up the ladder to the roof but his robotic arm went limp and he dropped the the ground.
"Or I guess I'll stay here. You're so confusing." Rhys grunts.
"Rhys?"
"Play along cupcake, I wanna hear her LYING side of the story!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm listening." He plops on the couch and looks away from me.
Eventually Jack and I fell asleep, curled into each other's arms.
"Oh. She went.. Really far back."
We woke up to a loud dinging sound, it was the shuttle telling us it was ready to get a move on.
Jack pushed me off of him and scrambled into the shuttle and slapped my face from out of its frame.
"Wake up kitten! Time to go!" He whistled.
"Do you need to slap me every time you want me to do something?"
"Let's me know I still have authority." He shrugs.
"Alright. Pandora. Here we come."
The shuttle ride back to Pandora was fairly quick, Hyperion technology is really astounding. Half the reason I stayed.
"She still lives on Helios?"
But, none the less, I was there to lure Moxxi. Unfortunately, I didn't get Moxxi. Instead, she sent Scooter, and Jack was hiding behind a rock listening to my every move.
We conned Moxxi into meeting me, obviously under a fake alias, cutting a deal with her to pay me for a fake vault key. But here was her fricking errand boy.
"Where's Mox?" I asked, trying to seem slick as I pointed my fingers at him.
He looked me up and down and curled his lip.
"She said last time she had a run in with you that you nearly broke her wrist over a bottle of bourbon. That's why she called that dang Atlas facility and told them about your... Erm.. Powers? Anyways, she sent me for a lack of trust."
"Hm. I'm not sure I know who she's talking about, my name is Violet.." I sighed. That was the first time I ever found out about how I get sent to atlas to be tested on. The girl ratted me out. For the first time, at that moment, in my whole life. I hated Moxxi.
"She also told me not to fall for your tricks, even if you are pretty!"
"She sent me to the lab?" I ask in a whisper with a slight chuckle.
"Yeah. Well. She had to. You were a danger to Pandora. Ya see, she said power like that in the wrong hands was..."
Suddenly I found myself strangling scooter.
"How are MY HANDS THE WRONG HANDS!" I shout before dropping him to the ground.
Suddenly, Scooter whistles, and out came Moxxi, Lilith and... Zero. My former... Interest.
"Did you think we couldn't recognize your voice?"
"And why haven't you told Athena I'm still alive?" I glared at them.
"It's better for her to think your dead." Lilith rushes me and shoves me to the ground.
"Y'all didn't say anything about hurting her!" Scooter shouts, trying to run to help me but Moxxi grabs him.
"Hey!"
"We tracked your message. Helios space station huh? You're working for him. We're not idiots. You're trying to kill Moxxi! What's he offering you? A cut of Pandora?" Lilith laughs.
"He won't give you anything."
"He's not giving me anyth-"
"Slow down, sweetheart. They're bluffing." Jack whispers into my echo.
"Who?" Lilith asks, raising a brow.
"Jack. Because I'm not working for him."
"Then why are you sending us messages from Helios?!"
"Some Hyperion stooge kidnapped me for profit but Jack found no use in me. Wanting Moxxi dead however, IS my intention."
"No... What? Abort you idiot!" Jack shouts.
Suddenly, Moxxi pulls out a gun.
"Shit." I whimper and run to the rock Jack was hiding behind.
"Come out you coward!" Moxxi shouts.
"Dammit, Holli." Jack whispers, pinching the bridge of his nose and grabbing me tightly around my hips, trying to get me up and away from the situation.
".....no!" I shout back.
"Why do you want me dead then! Hm?!"
"You had me experimented on like a lab rat! For three years! You don't tell my sister I'm alive!"
"We can't tell your sister your alive, she's already killed almost everyone at atlas! Do you want her to not be able to live that down?!"
"We need to get out of here, Kiddo." Jack whispers, carrying us back to the shuttle and staying behind me for cover.
As Moxxi shot at us, Lilith was coming into my echo, laughing.
"You lying son of a bitch. You're working for Ja-" I rip out the echo from my ear and throw it to the floor of the shuttle.
They didn't continue to come for us, knowing Jack potentially had more up his sleeve, instead they parted from us and I knew they had a plan to devise.
Jack is silent and doesn't even bother starting the shuttle, he just stares at me. And I can't help it, I started crying. I let him see me vulnerable and I think that's where the feelings REALLY started.
"Holli... I-"
"Don't touch me. Don't talk to me. Because of you I'll never know or meet my sister. I was torn from her at the age of 3! Walking down the streets I wouldn't even recognize her face! Because of you I... I..." I wiped my tears and looked over at Jack.
"Because of you I'm free."
"And freedom comes at a cost." Was Jack empathizing with me?
"I'm sorry." I whisper.
"Let's go home, kitten."
"Home?" I ask, chuckling.
"And what's so damn funny?" Jack barks.
"Nothing, just, it's not really my home."
"And how's that?" Jack raises a brow.
"Well... I actually don't have a rebuttal to that."
Suddenly Jack takes my hands in his before wrapping his gloved hand into my hair, the back of my head being tugged against. With his embrace around me I could feel myself voluntarily moving closer to him, and before I knew it, I could feel our noses touch, the coolness of his mask gracing the heat from my skin.
"I'm your home, Holli. If anyone tries to fuck with you I will not hesitate to kill them. You are my property, understood?" He wasn't even being angry, he seemed more so anxious.
"Yes, Jack." I whisper, biting my lip at the sight of him.
My insides we're so conflicted. I had butterflies and my heart was pounding and he stared at me for a moment, his gorgeous eyes piercing into mine. I felt a lump rise in throat and felt and intense urge to... Kiss him.