After the Vault

The Plan

He took a long drag from the cigarette between his lips, stretched out languidly with his legs propped on the desk as he admired the view of people milling about outside.

It had been all too simple to convince Atlas that everything was still hunky-dory, that the whole Handsome Jack moment was merely an error in coding they had promptly deleted. A few well-worded speeches, a bright grin and everything seemed to go back to normal.

Well, almost normal.

Jack admired the soldiers that were walking around, their guns strapped to their hips, marching in perfect formation. The populace had been a little surprised when he made a general call out to Pandora for anyone looking to make a decent amount of cash in exchange for working for Atlas as part of their military personnel (no experience required), most of the people who showed up no-class bandits.

He'd easily disposed of those ones.

The Atlas soldiers that emerged from the shadows, however...now those were useful to him. The ones itching to pick up a gun again, to be under company control. The chance to have a solid paycheque was too great for most of the people here and hell, Jack was more than happy to provide.

So long as he benefitted, of course. No use giving someone something they wanted unless you got something in return. That was just basic logic. After all, you couldn't afford to be selfless in this business.

He expelled the smoke in a long exhale, tapping the ashes into a coffee cup when he heard his ECHO begin to beep. He glanced over at the device as he took another drag before he groaned and sat up, his feet falling to the floor with a loud thump before he padded over to the device on the opposite end of the room.

His fingertips brushed over the duct tape holding it together, his eyes scanning over the caller ID before he felt a slow grin adorn his handsome features.

She'd come crawling back, right on schedule. Well. Good to know she had some common sense, he was starting to get worried.

"Come to grovel, eh? Well, can't say I blame ya babe," he muttered before he answered the call.

Her stomach seemed to be twisted into a permanent knot as Sasha's vehicle bumped and dipped as they sped across the Pandoran desert back to Kratos.

This was a dangerous game they were playing, she knew that. And it wasn't as if she had any fallback plan if this all went to ruins, which it most likely would if her past experiences were anything to be based on.

But they needed Rhys back, if not for them then for the good of Pandora. The quartet had all seen what Handsome Jack had tried to do before, and no one wanted that to happen again. For Pandora to be brought to the brink of ruin all in the name of one man's desperation to do what he thought was best.

And if that meant taking a risk to do it...then so be it.

It's just like any other job, Fiona thought as the car continued to rumble along. Just another con.

And yet her stomach continued to twist, tighter and tighter as they approached the building. Fiona took a deep breath as they stopped in front of the gates, nodding to the rest of the group before she grabbed her bag from the trunk and slung it over her shoulder.

"Remember, if this all goes to hell..." Fiona began.

"It won't," Sasha replied automatically.

"No hesitation," Fiona continued as she opened the door. "You need to promise me that."

The trio nodded as she slipped out of the car, closing the door with a firm whack. She looked back into the car to see Tim and Angel prepping their guns, looking up in time to give her small smiles before Sasha sped off back towards Hollow Point. Or, at least, that was how they were going to make it look anyway.