[ This is so frustrating. These are easy questions! Ones that Angel has been compiling since they spoke last, going over them in her head again and again. Almost non-stop since they landed, without the ability to check on Jacks body, the usual balm to her anxiety. ]
I'm sorry to hear about your head. Now that the network has been reinstated I can run a search on the most talented cranial healers, if you'd like.
[ Angel may no longer be with her siren powers, integrated with codes and systems and networks to the point that often times she had trouble separating herself from them, but she was still good at this.
Even without access to the network, she still has a list of contacts she auto-added before the network went offline to comb through, their basic profiles still available offline. It takes her longer than it once would have, but work like this is so familiar and Angel is quick to find information on those with the highest skills in medicine. ]
Dr. Angela Ziegler would be your best option, her profile indicates that she's highly proficient at her work, and it sounds like she has the more modern skills you'd be accustomed to. The network seems to still be offline, but I have her contact information and could arrange for her to be in touch with you.
[ Angel hasn't noticed that in doing such a familiar task, that she's slipped back into her Guardian persona, but Rhys might. ]
[ Well. He might if he'd ever actually interacted or seen Guardian Angel; Rhys has never had that level of clearance or significance at Hyperion, and he definitely wasn't technically a Vault Hunter back then either.
He's not so sure he was when actually looking for one, honestly. That title seemed to fit Fiona a lot better than him. The life suited her. ]
Oh...wait, isn't that the lady with the costume? In the simulation. I've actually run into her. Huh.
[ Sometimes you need to babysit people to get your answers okay. Rhys is a lot less snarky too now that they're on the topic of someone he likes, and his replies come faster and more consistently. So it's progress! ]
You're telling me. That place is terrible with a capital "T". I don't know why anyone would want to live down there.
[ ...Right. Rhys catches himself halfway through another callous remark about the planet as he thinks of Sasha, of Fiona. The people he's met there and how things aren't as simple as it being full of people who were dirty and unimportant like that.
It's uncomfortably easy to slip back into that Hyperion mindset when it comes to people he doesn't care about. ]
Yeah, that's true. Dahl really messed things up for a lot of people. Hyperion didn't help things either.
[ Hyperion was never a company of good deeds, but it was Jack who focused it in on Pandora, who tore that planet apart in search of eridium, who razed settlements to the ground with loaders or blasted them to dust from orbit. ] Was there any kind of restoration effort on Hyperion's part, after Handsome Jack's permanent retirement?
[ Doubtful, and not that it really mattered at this point, but it would be heartening to know that the planet at least recovered a little after Jack had stopped trying to bleed it dry. Then again, whoever took over could have continued his work, could have been worse. ]
You're kidding right? We're talking about Hyperion here, no one cares about restoration. Heck no one up there even liked Pandora. Only reason we were there was because of the Eridium and Vaults when Jack was around.
[ Again he omits Jack's title, scoffing a little at the thought. Restoration. No one in their right mind up at Hyperion would go on about something like that. Without Eridium they wouldn't even look in Pandora's direction. ]
[ She knew it was too much to hope for, that Hyperion would repent in any way in the wake of Jack. Had his death changed anything? Besides the chance for him to raze the earth with the Warrior that is. She supposes that has to be enough of a boon. ] I figured as much, but after the damage we caused... it would have been the right thing to do.
[ Anyways, this guys level of familiarity when it comes to Jack is really starting to get to her. ]
[ Well, "the right thing to do" and a company full of assholes do not end make meet on the whole moral front unfortunately. Rhys had been part of the corporate war machine, even sold out an entire village to make room for an Eridium mine to nab that quarterly bonus.
He's not proud of it, but he also doesn't exactly feel all-encompassing guilt over it either. ]
[ Angel stares at the screen for a good while, trying to process. It's not as shocking as Jack being dead but it's still far from what she expected. She had been wondering if he was a company defect, that it was meant to be an act of disrespect. But she had also wondered since the first time if it was an act of casual closeness. Seems like the answer was closer to the latter.
Which made no sense. Angel knew everything about anyone who was close to Jack or mattered to him. Who worked directly under him, who were his sworn enemies. Anyone he would want to keep tabs on. The name "Rhys" had never been on the docket. How much time had passed between her own death and Jacks?
Also she knows she shouldn't be insulted at the way he speaks about knowing Jack better than most but... ]
I'm sorry, I don't understand. You were close with him?
[ Aha...ha...haaaa... Rhys has a very uneasy, uncomfortable chuckle to himself as he types out that reply, but kind of instantly regrets it a little. Jack and he were close, but it was more in the literal sense than anything else. Even if Rhys had believed the opposite right up until it was nearly too late. ]
We weren't like. We weren't friends or anything. But we...worked together? For a bit. A while, actually. It didn't end well.
[ For every answer Rhys gives her, a plethora of new questions take its place. The worked together? When? On what? The Vault Rhys mentioned- The Gortys project? Then what happened with the Warrior, what happened to Vault Hunters who helped her, the Crimson Raiders? How the hell did Jack die?!
Angel takes a little while again, not knowing where to begin. ] That's par for the course, when it comes to Handsome Jack. Were you the last to work with him?
[ He had been so sure of Jack's death, after all. ]
I was...shut down, before his death. It must have been some time since then and the Storm, all of this information is new to me.
What you mean like your division was shut down or something? That's rough. I'm actually surprised you're still alive, retirement is kind of a one-way street at Hyperion.
[ The way Angie phrases things is odd, he thinks. Most people wouldn't call it being shut down. ]
But yes. I was the last person to work with him.
[ He was also the one to kill him, once and for all. ]
I could say the same for you. Most who encounter Handsome Jack, let alone work closely to him, do not live to tell the tale. But no, I mean shut down permanently. All systems taken offline.
[And that's something she knows from personal experience. She still doesn't know what she can say to this guy, what's safe information to give in order to get answers, or what she needs to hold closely to her chest. What the nature of his relationship to Jack was. ]
Was that his final project? Gortys? Please, I know you're unwell but I need to know how he died.
[ Because there's an important distinction there not just for Rhys, but for everyone who was involved after with the hunt for Gortys's Vault and those on Helios.
His first death was a tragedy made him hallowed and deeply missed. His second tore all of that down to the very base. ]
[ How?! Without her the key should have been impossible to charge unless- She remembers. Lilith coming in to assist the other hunters in taking care of her. Jack must have- god. Lilith, she's so sorry.Why did you come? She warned you! ]
Yes? This isn't a secret or anything you know, it was pretty big news. If you're from Hyperion you'd know this. There was like, a vigil and a memorial and everything.
Half of HR literally broke down and cried. Huge mess.
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I'm sorry to hear about your head. Now that the network has been reinstated I can run a search on the most talented cranial healers, if you'd like.
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[ This Angie person really is a go-getter, aren't they? Rhys just wants to lie down and sleep for a million years. ]
I couldn't reach the ship's network when I tried. Maybe you'll have better luck.
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Even without access to the network, she still has a list of contacts she auto-added before the network went offline to comb through, their basic profiles still available offline. It takes her longer than it once would have, but work like this is so familiar and Angel is quick to find information on those with the highest skills in medicine. ]
Dr. Angela Ziegler would be your best option, her profile indicates that she's highly proficient at her work, and it sounds like she has the more modern skills you'd be accustomed to. The network seems to still be offline, but I have her contact information and could arrange for her to be in touch with you.
[ Angel hasn't noticed that in doing such a familiar task, that she's slipped back into her Guardian persona, but Rhys might. ]
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He's not so sure he was when actually looking for one, honestly. That title seemed to fit Fiona a lot better than him. The life suited her. ]
Oh...wait, isn't that the lady with the costume? In the simulation. I've actually run into her. Huh.
Hope she made it okay.
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[ She sighs, already this is so off track. She doesn't want to babysit this guy, she just wants answers. ]
This can't possibly be worse then traversing Pandora.
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You're telling me. That place is terrible with a capital "T". I don't know why anyone would want to live down there.
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It's uncomfortably easy to slip back into that Hyperion mindset when it comes to people he doesn't care about. ]
Yeah, that's true. Dahl really messed things up for a lot of people. Hyperion didn't help things either.
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[ Hyperion was never a company of good deeds, but it was Jack who focused it in on Pandora, who tore that planet apart in search of eridium, who razed settlements to the ground with loaders or blasted them to dust from orbit. ]
Was there any kind of restoration effort on Hyperion's part, after Handsome Jack's permanent retirement?
[ Doubtful, and not that it really mattered at this point, but it would be heartening to know that the planet at least recovered a little after Jack had stopped trying to bleed it dry. Then again, whoever took over could have continued his work, could have been worse. ]
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[ Again he omits Jack's title, scoffing a little at the thought. Restoration. No one in their right mind up at Hyperion would go on about something like that. Without Eridium they wouldn't even look in Pandora's direction. ]
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I figured as much, but after the damage we caused... it would have been the right thing to do.
[ Anyways, this guys level of familiarity when it comes to Jack is really starting to get to her. ]
Why do you keep doing that?
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He's not proud of it, but he also doesn't exactly feel all-encompassing guilt over it either. ]
Doing what?
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[ Well that's definitely a can of worms he doesn't particularly want to get into. ]
I mean I knew the guy. Probably more than most people at Hyperion? Waaaay more than I ever wanted to in retrospect.
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What[ Angel stares at the screen for a good while, trying to process. It's not as shocking as Jack being dead but it's still far from what she expected. She had been wondering if he was a company defect, that it was meant to be an act of disrespect. But she had also wondered since the first time if it was an act of casual closeness. Seems like the answer was closer to the latter.
Which made no sense. Angel knew everything about anyone who was close to Jack or mattered to him. Who worked directly under him, who were his sworn enemies. Anyone he would want to keep tabs on. The name "Rhys" had never been on the docket. How much time had passed between her own death and Jacks?
Also she knows she shouldn't be insulted at the way he speaks about knowing Jack better than most but... ]
I'm sorry, I don't understand. You were close with him?
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[ Aha...ha...haaaa... Rhys has a very uneasy, uncomfortable chuckle to himself as he types out that reply, but kind of instantly regrets it a little. Jack and he were close, but it was more in the literal sense than anything else. Even if Rhys had believed the opposite right up until it was nearly too late. ]
We weren't like. We weren't friends or anything. But we...worked together? For a bit. A while, actually. It didn't end well.
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Angel takes a little while again, not knowing where to begin. ]
That's par for the course, when it comes to Handsome Jack. Were you the last to work with him?
[ He had been so sure of Jack's death, after all. ]
I was...shut down, before his death. It must have been some time since then and the Storm, all of this information is new to me.
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[ The way Angie phrases things is odd, he thinks. Most people wouldn't call it being shut down. ]
But yes. I was the last person to work with him.
[ He was also the one to kill him, once and for all. ]
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But no, I mean shut down permanently. All systems taken offline.
[And that's something she knows from personal experience.
She still doesn't know what she can say to this guy, what's safe information to give in order to get answers, or what she needs to hold closely to her chest. What the nature of his relationship to Jack was. ]
Was that his final project? Gortys? Please, I know you're unwell but I need to know how he died.
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[ Because there's an important distinction there not just for Rhys, but for everyone who was involved after with the hunt for Gortys's Vault and those on Helios.
His first death was a tragedy made him hallowed and deeply missed. His second tore all of that down to the very base. ]
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What?
[ Then a minute later ]
I'm sorry, maybe you misunderstood me. I'm asking for the events leading up to Handsome Jack's death.
[ Because maybe revival of a person was possible here, but she knew for a fact that wasn't the case where they came from. ]
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Well it's complicated. Handsome Jack definitely died down on Pandora when the Vault Hunters tried to stop him from opening that Vault.
[ He just also died there again when Rhys literally ripped him out of his body. ]
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[ How?! Without her the key should have been impossible to charge unless- She remembers. Lilith coming in to assist the other hunters in taking care of her. Jack must have- god. Lilith, she's so sorry.Why did you come? She warned you! ]
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Half of HR literally broke down and cried. Huge mess.
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[ So had it all been for nothing? All those hoops she made the hunters jump through to come and stop her... ]
When you speak of Pandora...What of it and it's people remain? How much damage did the Warrior do?
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