After the Vault

Sacrifice

"Fiona, please, you can't leave me here!" Rhys yelled out desperately as the doors slid shut, and Jack chuckled.

"Pretty sure she just did, pumpkin," Jack declared with a smirk. "You reallllly screwed up, didn't cha?"

Rhys fought down the panic rising in his chest, replacing it with cold anger as he turned to face Jack fully and crossed his arms.

"So let me guess," Rhys replied as he met Jack's eyes. "You ramble for a bit, tell me you were always right, that I really should have thought further ahead...and then what? You kill me and destroy Atlas again?"

Jack snorted, a cold derisive sound.

"Who says I want to destroy Atlas?"

He switched to a different monitor.

"I haven't helped you build up this company just to destroy it. I mean, God, how stupid would that be? No, see, the thing is Rhys...I learned something from Hyperion. You can either work your way up the ladder honestly, be a good little worker, or...."

Rhys felt something stab into his port and he looked up in horror as Jack watched him with a wide smirk.

"You just take out the only person standing in your way."

Rhys tried to tug out the device only to feel a sharp jolt run through his hand and he yelled out in pain.

"Besides, this company? It's practically mine, you know. Yeah, while you were busy pining away after some woman that, let's be blunt here, was probably never going to come back...your little AI gave me access to everything."

"Must have overridden her systems and forced her to," Rhys replied angrily and Jack only laughed.

"Oh, I rode her alright, just...not in the way you might be picturing."

Rhys blanched as he fully absorbed the words.

"Didn't take much convincing, actually. It was rather adorable actually, how she pined for you. At first she refused to acknowledge it, kept telling me it was strictly professional. But then you pushed her aside, and it wasn't like she had anyone else to speak to."

Jack chuckled, and the noise seemed to bounce around in his skull.

"Or, you know, touch. Funny, never thought I'd get laid as an AI, but hey, not complaining. Surprisingly like the real thing. Oh, and God Rhysie, it was pathetic. Just kept moaning out your name, honestly. Nearly strangled her for it, but hey, she seemed to be into it."

Rhys felt his stomach churn.

"Fiona coming back was the final straw. Made her agree to give me the final piece of code, and I was in. Well, not made, more like...rewarded her."

"And then you killed her?" Rhys asked sharply.

"Killed? Rhys, we're AIs, you can't kill us. Shut us down, sure, but kill? No, that's reserved for the living. And besides, we can always boot ourselves up again."

Jack shrugged.

"But if I erased her coding, then, well, that might be a tad more difficult to come back...."

"Why?" Rhys asked.

"Why?" Jack mimicked. "God, really?"

He snorted a little.

"You sound so pathetic right now, you know that? Like how the hell I ever thought you could run Hyperion is beyond me. I mean, Christ, you're so...weak."