new queen of hyperion - a borderlands story

[03.] Aspyn's Hideout

After Aspyn and Rhys had their breakfast, they parted ways. Aspyn stayed and helped Moxxi around the bar while Rhys went to find Vaughn. As Rhys walks around, Jack appears in a great mood. 

"So whatcha doing, cupcake?" 

"Nothing, I am trying to find Vaughn." 

"I was right, wasn't I? My daughter is really annoying." Jack laughs

"What? No, she isn't. She's actually really sweet." 

"Whatever you say.." 

Rhys rolled his eyes and kept walking. He couldn't tell if Jack truly didn't like Aspyn or was just really torn between the idea of caring for her. 

"I'm bored Rhys, let's mess with some people."

"No. Who would we even bother?"

"Lilith? Moxxi? Aspy-" 

"No." Rhys growls.

"Why not?" 

"I don't know Moxxi and Lilith to well and I don't want to mess with Aspyn." 

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Because Aspyn wasn't feeling too happy this morning and I don't want anyone to mess up her day." 

"What could possibly be wrong?"

"She had a night terror."

"So she's a baby?"

"Shut up, Jack!" 

"You're no fun." Jack says as he disappears. 

Rhys sighed and rounded a corner to see Vaughn sitting on a step. 

"Hey, Vaughn. What's up?"

Vaughn turns his head slightly to see Rhys, "Oh hey, nothing really. What about you?"

"Same as you."

A few seconds later, a thud interrupts their conversation. They turn their heads to see CL4P-TP running into a wall and Aspyn yelling and her footsteps getting closer. 

"Oh Claptrap~! Where are you~?" Aspyn sings. (I'm tired of adding the 4 so its Claptrap from now on.)

"OH NO!" Claptrap says as he hides from his attacker.

"You're lucky you're this good at hiding, I would kill you right about now."

Aspyn still wasn't in sight for Rhys and Vaughn but they laughed. They could hear her sigh and walk away from where she was. Claptrap came out of his hiding spot and hurrying to another less populated area. 

"Also, question. Did you try to flirt with Aspyn earlier? Do you like her?" Vaughn smiles.

Rhys' cheeks heat up and her attempts to deny it, but Vaughn sees right through it. 

"Bro! You know you do!" 

"Shut up, Vaughn. Yeah, she's cute - but I don't want to date Handsome Jack's daughter! Especially with this..." He points to his head. 

"Yeah, but what will he do? Nothing!! He's dead!"

"Yeah, but he could take control of my arm and like kill me?" Rhys says, with sarcasm dripping from his words. 

Vaughn just shrugs and stands up, causing Rhys to do the same. 

"I think you should go for it. Maybe see how Jack feels about it." 

Rhys smirks, "I will think about it."

"You do that, I am going to find Sasha and Fiona."

As Vaughn begins walking away, Rhys goes to find something to do. As he rounds a corner,  he sees Aspyn sweeping off the steps in front of Moxxi's bar. He starts to make his way to her but Zer0 is waving from the corner of his eye. He makes his way to Zer0, who begins gesturing for Rhys to follow. 

"Where are we going?" Rhys asks. 

"I want to show you where you'll begin training. Aspyn and I will probably be training you and Vaughn." 

Rhys nods, rubbing the back of his neck. Zer0 leads him to the downstairs of Marcus' and goes up to a door labeled 'Aspyn's Hideout - LEAVE OR HAVE YOUR EYES SCOOPED OUT'. Zer0 chuckles and looks to Rhys, "Ignore it, she gave me the key." 

Zer0 opens the door and a dim blue light radiates the room. Fairy lights cover the ceiling and posters are scattered across the walls. It gives a very 'Aspyn' vibe and Rhys was digging it, he kept looking around and kept noticing small things. 

"She really likes it here so don't mess with anything," Zer0 says.

While Rhys is looking around, Jack appears without saying anything. When Rhys turned to see a desk that had a small laptop labeled 'Hyperion', he saw a tiny photo of a little girl with Handsome Jack. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and he was kissing her cheek. 

Rhys picked it up and Jack looked over Rhys' shoulder. Rhys felt the butterflies in his stomach as he noticed that little girl was Aspyn. She wasn't more than 4 years old, which made it all so much cuter.

"That was a really good day," Jack says, his tone a lot softer.

Rhys couldn't answer since Zer0 was still in the room, so he looked at Jack and gave him a gesture as if he'd answer in a moment. 

"Be careful! I will leave you in here while I go find Vaughn and Aspyn." Zer0 says, shutting the door behind him.

"Why was that a good day?" Rhys says, looking at Jack. 

"It was her birthday. At that time, she didn't like having people around so I didn't invite anyone. It was just me and her all day, I showed her how to run the company - I didn't think she'd remember anything really, but she still remembers it."

"You mean when you said she'd be CEO?"

Jack just nodded, he looked genuinly upset. 

"Are you okay, Jack?"

"No. NO!" He says, raising his voice, "I didn't want to get rid of her, I was f-". Before Jack could finish his sentence, the door opened taking both of their attention off of their conversations. 

"Rhys! Hey!" Aspyn said, walking to high five Rhys. 

"Hey." Rhys smiled, high fiving back. 

Both of their cheeks heat up and they awkwardly look away. Jack smiles without Rhys seeing and leaves. While Zer0 and Aspyn explain to Vaughn, Rhys realized Jack didn't finish what he was saying. When he turns to where Jack was, he notices he was gone.