A New Leader

Part Twenty Seven : Paused Education

It had been a long week, I had barely gotten any sleep since I came back to Hades. Sleep was just completely out of the question, I passed by Rhys's old cybernetics everyday and felt Handsome Jacks eyes on me even though he was never there. Some nights I would just cover them with a sweater or towel and try not to think about it, I tried to not think about him.

When my scientist heard that I was back, she came bolting to my office and asked if we were going to be moving forward with the project. I lied and told her that I never found the last part, I told her that I was going to try again in a couple of months with a larger team and we'll try then. She was excited for it because it would be a large scientific break through to bring him back to life, she was already working on a new piece of tech that would keep his heart alive if it were to fail again. I told her that maybe she should try something else, but she was dead set on bringing Jack back. I was still contemplating that.

There were some nights where I would lay in bed and wanted Jack laying next to me and cuddling me, there were other nights when I could care less and thought about my next business idea. Those were the nights I usually covered the cybernetics, some nights I even thought about crushing them, sending them out to space, or recycling them for future use. But then I realized that the universes most powerful man hides in them and that I used to be in love with him... or I still am in love with him.

My emotions were all jumbled up right now, before I had met Jack all I really saw in him was a hero or someone who could give me advice. Then he made me love him, I changed the way I wanted to run a business and shaped it around him and bringing him back. I wished I had never met him, I wish I saw what others saw in him... seeing what he was actually like.

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my body, the steam clearing out of the room as I quickly opened the door and made my way to the bedroom. I threw another Hyperion shirt out on my bed and a pair of comfortable underwear to wear to bed, I was about pitch a new line of weapons with my armory team and I needed to be well rested. I got dressed quickly and slipped under my covers, for the first time in a while I could actually feel the exhaustion weighing down on my chest.

As tired as I was, my thoughts raced rapidly. I wondered if the Hyperion library had anything the regarded Jack, video clips, books, any of his old research. I had made sure everything from our old library stayed intact for the school and college students, maybe it was time to educate myself on this man I knew nothing about.

I climbed out of my bed and contemplated putting something over my body, I shrugged my shoulders. I slipped on some moccasins and made my way out of my living quarters, Hades seemed to be less busy than usual. Some people passed by me, smiling as I would wave back towards them.

There were no death threats or assassination attempts, people actually looked at me as just a normal person and just like them. It was nice to actually have a conversation face to face with my employees and have them be polite to me, knowing that I could turn on them. I did have people say that I was one of the best presidents they have had in a while, I smiled at that thought as I walked into the library, fixing my shoe that was slipping off of my foot again.

The librarian was scrolling through her computer and tapping away at something important, college students littered the tables as I remembered their finals were coming up. I walked up to the front desk and waited for her to be done typing, trying to think of the best way to word my sentence.

"Excuse me? I was wondering if you have any information about Handsome Jack?" I asked, breaking her concentration.

"What kind of information? We have books, old ECHO recordings, videos, reports..." she spoke in her monotone voice.

"Everything." I stated.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do."

About twenty minutes later, she came back with a box filled with everything she had talked about. At this rate I was going to be up all night, I am the president so I guess I could have a bit of leeway when it comes to this. I showed her my ID before grabbing the box and walking out of the library, people passed by me and smiled once again.

I finally got back home, flicking on the lights and walking into the quiet room. Something seemed a bit different as I placed my box down on the coffee table, looking around and trying to figure out what was going on. I looked back down at the box, realizing what was usually sitting on the table. My eyes widened, quickly taking the box off of the table and seeing that there was nothing sitting there except for a note.

"Dear Birde,
I'm sorry if this is a slight inconvenience, but I stopped by to see if you were home and check up on the cybernetic news. You were gone so I was a tad nosy and saw that you had in fact retrieved the cybernetics, I took it upon myself and brought them to my lab. Jack will be up and running in a matter of time, stop by!
~Elicia"