Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

With a frustrated sigh, Jack leaned back in his seat, his fingers kneading his temple. 

It had been a long day already and it was only 11:23AM. He had to deal with several meetings from numerous different scientists and upper class managers from various departments. All complaining about shit that could easily be solved if they thought about the issues for more than two goddamn seconds. 

Bringing his coffee, cold from being left forgotten, to his lips, he slugged the vile sludge down in one swift gulp. He slammed the mug down on the coaster with enough force to break it.

It had been a bewildering few months. Angel had died, he had somehow survived the whole ordeal with the Warrior. He didn't know how but he remembered waking up in the medical wing, staring up at the reflective cieling, his unmasked, scarred face staring back at him. 

He couldn't believe his baby was gone. He had watched her overload herself, her mind fracking under the immense pressure of her powers. She didn't have to die, he didn't want her to die. Of course he didn't. She was his baby. His sweet baby girl and she was gone. She wasn't the only thing that was gone but the second person had been entirely his fault. 

Jack was a man with a vile and wicked temper. He wasn't entirely certain who he had inherited it from, or why he had such a bad one in the first place. He hadn't always been a fucked up guy, he had been nice once. He thought so anyway. 

He remembered when Angel was little, about 7 or so, he had met a young programmer who worked under Henderson. Henderson had been an idiot but always made Hyperion a lot of money. There had been a coup of sorts in that department and Jack discovered from Wilhelm of all people that Henderson had been forcefully demoted and sent through an airlock by a shithead call Vasquez. Jack didn't know who that was until he got bored and pulled a profile up.

"Fucking Wallethead." Jack burst out laughing. "That fucker? Maybe he has more balls than I knew." 

The programmer had been demoted - or promoted if you were dick enough to be that condescending - to Vice President Janitor. Jack found it only mildly amusing when Rhys told him, he always liked his name. The way it rolled off his tongue. 

He has met Rhys by chance. Found him talking to Angel, calming her down as she sobbed, looking for Jack. Jack, being Jack, grabbed him by his collars, shoved him against the wall. Jack always had been fiercely protective of his little girl and thought Rhys had been the one to take her, upset her. And, Angel being Angel, stepped in and basically saved Rhys' life. 

After that, Jack kept his eye on Rhys. Watched him through the cameras around Helios, and what he discovered was that Rhys was a boring man, boring yet exciting. Yeah, he didn't understand it either. But maybe, for someone who was as volatile and unpredictable as Jack, boring was what he needed. 

"You nearly ready?" A voice followed by echoing footfalls came into his office. 

Jack looked up, a scowl on his face. "Really? That time already."

"You were the one who wanted to do this damn meeting." 

"Maya," Jack scoffed, "Atlas was in fucking ruins for years, all of a sudden they've got a new CEO and may be actual competition. Of course I wanna see the cunt who's running the show." 

The Siren, Maya, had been hired alongside a couple other Vault Hunters back in the day. Maya had been hired for another purpose and while that purpose was dead, Maya continued to work for him. Acting as security in a sense although Handsome Jack was known for being able to take care of himself. He had always been handy with a gun. 

"Oh, just move your ass." Maya rolled her eyes. "You can monologue in the ship." 

"It's a good thing I like you." Jack pointed at her while he shoved himself to his feet. "Anyone else would have their brains blown out."

Maya smirked, following him out of his office. Jack had his ship on the roof, ready for take off. It had been a while since he had left Helios, including heading down to Pandora. He had never actually been to Promethea but he had heard it was much, much cleaner than Pandora and had a level of sophistication that Helios didn't. The whole planet was covered in a city, glimmering and illuminating. 

The sun never set on Promethea but the light was dim, so dim that stars could be seen during the day. 

Even Jack had to admit that the city had a strange beauty to it as their ship grew closer to the planet. The good thing about Helios being a space station was that Hyperion could be anywhere it wanted to be. Sure, he bet it was nice having a whole planet to rule over but Hyperion was still top of the game. He wasn't going to let some puny poncy ass prick take that from him. 

The ship landed on a air strip atop of the tallest tower in the city, the Atlas Corporation HQ. Jack rubbed his hands together as he descended from the ramp, "Okay, Maya. Ready for the shitshow?"

"The guy might actually be fine." Maya shrugged, following him out of the ship. 

"Please." Jack ran his hands through his hair. "All these CEO asshats are all the fucking same."

"That include you?"

Jack just rolled his eyes. 

Approaching the door, Jack cleared his throat to the guards. 

"Handsome Jack, sir." One of them greeted, "Mr Strongfork has been waiting for you."

Strongfork? Never heard that name. It was real stupid too. 

Maya stood behind Jack, hands behind her back. She had a pistol but she didn't need one to obliterate someone. One of the reasons why Jack had her as his bodyguard. 

The guards led them down the hallway. It was long and the walls glowed with blue neon lights. Gentle jazz played through the speakers and Jack felt uneasy. Not because he felt weak, no he never did. It was more to do with the fact that he wasn't the king in this castle. He had met the other big CEOs, Maliwan, Torque, etc. Atlas had been fucked that long people didn't think it would make a comeback and yet, here it was. Back to glory. 

Jack and Maya were led to a boardroom in which Jack sat himself at the end of the table, Maya standing behind. Jack looked around, the air was crisp and it was that quiet he could hear the sound of the lights crackling above his head. 

Jack wasn't the one to believe in fate and destiny, except his own for ruling the world, but he didn't know what to think as he heard the door slide open and the sound of echoing footfalls filtered into his brain. 

Jack never got shocked but what he was feeling was more than shock. He snapped to his feet and his eyebrows furrowed together as the Atlas CEO walked in from the back of the boardroom, followed in by his own bodyguard, a masked assassin who enjoyed speaking in haikus. 

At first, the CEO said nothing, he just looked at Jack with mismatched eyes, one being a glowing blue ECHO-Eye the other being a honey brown eye. His bodyguard took out his laser blade, holding it up towards Jack. Jack recognised him, Zer0, one of the Vault Hunters he had hired a while back. 

"Stand down, Zer0." The CEO chuckled quietly as he sat himself down in his chair, much bigger than the rest. 

Jack wasn't able to articulate thought to coherent speech. He blinked, just staring. 

"Jack, I have to say I was surprised when we got your ECHO. It's not everyday a fellow CEO asks to meet. Except Katagawa, he's a fucking creep."

"Rhys." Jack swallowed hard, hands trembling as he gripped the edge of the table. "You... Since when were you the CEO of Atlas?:

"Well," Rhys cleared his throat, hands folded on top of the table, "I guess it started when you beat the shit out of me." 

Chapter Text

It had been a week since Angel died and Jack had never known darkness like it. It was like all of the colour had been drained from the world, not just because of Angel. 

Jack woke up, an awful ache in his head and laid on his side staring at the wall for a while. There was a dent in the wall. He remembered how it got there. Jack didn't drink but the one time he did made his anger worse than normal and all it took was a slight utter and Rhys was on the ground, holding the back of his head and staring at Jack tearfully. 

That was nothing compared to the carnage he bestowed on Rhys mere moments after he returned from the Vault Hunters. The moment he returned to Helios, it didn't matter who he saw first, he was going to destroy them. Of course it had only been Rhys left. Everyone else would have ran in a panic, knowing how bloodthirsty Jack was, not Rhys who arguably knew Jack the best. 

Jack could see it now as he stared at the wall, his hands wrapped around Rhys' throat, hoisting him into the air and breaking a rib as he slammed him into the wall. There had been a lot of blood, Jack remembered that. A bit of vomit, a lot of tears, spit flicking at Rhys's face as Jack screamed at him. 

The last time Jack saw Rhys' face was when Rhys had been so badly battered by him, eyes fading as he gazed at Jack in terror. At first, Jack didn't care but a week had passed and his bed felt cold and his heart was shattered. 

Readying himself for the day, Jack stumbled to his wardrobe. Rhys' clothes were still there, not taking up as much space as Jack's. It was funny. Rhys' prescence was everywhere in the apartment and yet there was barely anything to show for it. Jack never said "I love you" to Rhys. Not those exact words because of how many times he had told them people but ending up betrayed. 

Rhys said it, he said it a few times. The first time he said it was after their first fight. But was it a fight if only one person was fighting? 

Jack had been having one of his episodes, feeling conflicted with himself and his soul and feeling that crippling fear of doubt. He ripped off his mask and screamed at Rhys about how Rhys would leave him, how he could never love someone as fucked up as him. 

But Rhys said it. And he had meant it. 

Jack hadn't said anything else for the rest of the night. He just stood there, staring at Rhys for a while until Rhys made a move to leave, not before kissing Jack on his scarred face. 

Jack took his hand, and led him back to the lounge, enveloping his arms around him as they looked at the television. The next day, Jack asked him to move in. 

*

Promethea wasn't quite what Jack was expecting. Most planets in the galaxy were filled with grotesque creatures and depravity and while that still existed in Promethea, there was a shell that held up a facade for the rest of the galaxy. 

"Did you know?" Jack asked quietly as he gripped the edge of the balcony of the room he had been so kindly given for the course of their stay. 

Maya lingered in the doorway, she scratched the back of her head and when she gave no answer, Jack sighed and looked up at rhe sky. 

"You and that haiku spewing creep still tight then?" Jack scoffed. "How the fuck- Why the fuck did you never say anything?"

"It was never confirmed." Maya said candidly. She stepped forward, "Besides, Zer0 and I aren't close, we were colleagues for a short spell, sure, but he never said he worked for Atlas, or for-"

"Rhys." Jack clapped a hand over his eyes. "Of all the people I had thought about being the leader of Atlas, didn't think Rhys would be one of them."

"Because you left him for dead."

"When I told Wilhelm to sort him out," Jack looked over his shoulder with a growl, "I didn't think he would moonshot him down to Pandora with no means for survival. I figured he would just take him to the infirmary." 

Maya bit the inside of her cheek, "Rhys left an ECHO message. Wants to talk. Just the two of you. Boardroom in 20 minutes."

Jack nodded, "Not getting out of that am I?"

"Probably not, no."

"Fuck." Jack mumbled, he pushed himself away from the balcony and brushed his hands down his jacket. "Fine. I'll... be back. Later. Just stay here and try to behave yourself."

Maya smirked, "You don't know me very well."

"I'm being serious, Maya." Jack put his finger up. "This is Rhys' turf, I'm gonna respect that."

Maya furrowed her eyebrows together but nodded. "Fine. See you later."

***

Rhys was standing by the window with a pad in his hands, going over data and such, when Jack walked in.

Rhys glimpsed to the side to see Zer0 holding his blade towards Jack. 

"Cool it, bud. It's fine. Go get yourself a mocha, I'll be fine in here."

Zer0 tilted his head making Rhys chuckle. Zer0 reluctantly left the room but not before indicating to Jack that there was to be no funny business or his dick was getting lobbed off. 

Jack wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He sort of fumbled his hands together as Rhys put the pad away and turned to look at him. Jack only then took in Rhys' sauve new appearance. Hair slicked back, metal arm painted with a matte black finish and red detailing for Atlas, and a slight smirk on his face. Of course he would still look fucking amazing. 

Rhys walked over to Jack, standing mere inches away. Jack leaned back slightly.

"Hey," Rhys laughed under his breath, "sorry about before. I wanted this little reunion to go off a little better but we're here now, right?"

"Right." "Jack cleared his throat.

"So," Rhys rubbed the back of his neck, "Are you hungry?"