Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/6358777.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M, Multi
  Fandom:
      Borderlands, Outlast_(Video_Games)
  Relationship:
      Rhack_-_Relationship, Handsome_Jack/Rhys_(Borderlands), Timothy_Lawrence/
      Rhys_(Borderlands)
  Character:
      Vaughn_(Borderlands), Yvette_(Borderlands), Harold_Tassiter, Rhys_
      (Borderlands), Handsome_Jack_(Borderlands), Miles_Upshur, Richard_Trager,
      Chris_Walker, Timothy_Lawrence, Waylon_Park
  Additional Tags:
      Blood_and_Gore, Triggers, Scary, Suspense, Tales_from_the_Borderlands,
      borderlands/outlast, outlast_-_Freeform, Crossover
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-03-26 Updated: 2016-07-26 Chapters: 15/? Words: 35580
****** Escaping Skin pizza ******
by magicspai
Summary
     Warden Harold Tassiter, CEO to Hyperion psychiatric institution,
     Hires a computer science professor (Rhys) to come in and code the
     worlds most secretive piece of government equipment. The morphogentic
     engine. Rhys finds himself in trouble when he updates his bestfriend
     on the situation of what was to be a "Spring break" Job, but ends up
     turning to terror when Tassiter finds out about Rhys's sudden
     "Whistleblowing" and decides to admit the computer science professor
     into Hyperion's most secret area of the asylum where the one and only
     "Handsome Jack" Is being held, turning Rhys into the most unlikely
     play mate.
Notes
     Well howdy! This is simply my "bored writing." Depending on views i
     may continue ^~^
***** Flashback to the beginning *****
For Rhys this wasn’t how he had expected his vacation to go at all. His mouth
gagged and his arms tied behind his back, tighter than he thought possible.
Chained to a post in a room with one of the most notorious mass murderers in
the history of Pandora. He had yet to wake up but Rhys knew it was going to be
soon. Rhys was beaten almost too high hell and He knew he was an idiot for
breaking into one of the biggest mental institutions known to mankind…
Hyperion. But Rhys had good cause for such an insane act of trespassing.
Vaughn. Vaughn was basically a tech wizard in Rhys’s eyes due to the fact he
could hack security in a blink of an eye. Even though that was how they both
got into this mess. Well Rhys mostly…
===============================================================================


                At first it started off as a typical spring Monday morning,
Rhys was cleaning up his class room and organizing lab books as he usually did.
He worked as a professor for a computer science college, which was close enough
to his dream job so he could deal with whatever came his way. Vaughn was a
short man, bald except the stupid mustache on his face which Rhys hated, He
wore dorky clothes even through college, and he had always been a massive tech
dweeb. Great with numbers but when it came to being social he sucked pretty
badly, how they became best friends he never knew.
“Hey man, Yvette tells me you’re looking for a small side job so you can get
paid for spring break.” Vaughn said tapping his knuckle on the door to grab
Rhys’s attention.
“Yeah just a small one. Coding or something.” He shrugged stacking up papers
neatly on his desk.

“Well I overheard Hyperion is looking for a coder for some important project.
You should look into it.”
Rhys gave Vaughn a skeptical look.
“Hyperion. Like, Coocoo for cocoa puffs Hyperion?” Rhys questioned eying him.
Vaughn nodded. “From what I hear they are going to pay a pretty substantial
amount too. Yvette was going to take the job but they want someone very
credible. Like professor credible. Not assistant.”
Rhys gave him a quiet look before shaking his head. “Sounds like a bait trap.
You know the kind’a stuff they have on record. All that….weird secretive stuff.
I don’t want to get eaten alive.” He scoffed with a laugh. “Besides, Isn’t that
where Handsome Jack is being kept?...Gives me the heeby-geebees being in the
same building as that guy…I mean the guy tore of the faces of at least…50
people was it? The bro is nuts”

“Rhys, they wanna pay close to six grand for a week’s work on coding, and they
even announced it to a news station that they were looking. Plus they have the
highest security in the freakin’ planet. You’ll be safe. Hey, if you want we
can put an ear wig on you so we can talk while you’re away.” Vaughn coaxed. He
had a point. That was a very tempting offer considering he was going to be out
almost 3 weeks’ pay since there was no school to work. “Tempting.” Rhys
muttered sarcastically. Vaughn reached into his pocket to pull out a slip of
paper.
“This is the e-mail. Have fun in creepy land. See you back at the apartment? Oh
don’t forget, you’re crazy ex-boyfriend still wants to talk to you so come home
like…asap.”
“Yeah I know… I’ll see you in a little bit. I just have to finish up here.”
Rhys answered looking over the e-mail. Vaughn waved him off and left the room
leaving Rhys in silence.  Slowly he walked over to his computer and sent his
resume and application to Hyperion. Part of him wondered what the hell he was
doing but another part of him needed the money. Work was work.
                Once Rhys finished cleaning up, a loud ‘ping’ rang from the
computer which jolted him from his thoughts. To his surprise it wasn’t a
student contacting him about some shitty grade or another proctor asking a
question…It was Hyperion’s response to his application.
“Dear Rhys,
                Good afternoon I am Mr. Tassiter, Warden of the Hyperion
psychiatric institution. My secretary has brought your application to my
attention, and I have to say that I am quite pleased to see such substantial
and credible work from your resume. After a few hundred requests I can say you
are more than qualified for this position and would love to meet with you as
soon as possible. We will have living accommodations set up for you with our
guards in the safe house, and basic necessities provided for you free of charge
so long as you agree to our terms and conditions on this project. This is a
high class matter and here at Hyperion we expect it to be treated as such.
Attached to this e-mail we have our terms and conditions listed, we expect them
to be red, signed, and dated before 8a.m. tomorrow morning or you will be at
risk of being brushed off for another candidate.
                Hope to hear from you,
                Hyperion warden                                            
               Mr. Tassiter.”
                Rhys blinked for a moment before willingly doing what the
message told. He printed out the specs for the job, signed it, and dated it
accordingly, then faxed it over to Hyperion with the number provided. To Rhys
something did feel strange about the E-mail, but brushed it off like it was
just dust on his shoulder. Again being jolted from his thoughts, the printer
went off, spitting out the job listing, the items allowed on the institution,
and finally the time Rhys had to be there which was dated for tomorrow at 9pm.
Nine at night?! What the hell were these people thinking?! It would take at
least 8 hours to get to Hyperion from campus. Rhys grumbled shaking his head
and grabbing his gear finally leaving the college for spring break.
===============================================================================
 
 
Rhys wasn’t one to panic in stressful situations, but due to the fact there was
a unrestrained mass murderer sitting inches away from him, Rhys wanted to
Hyperventilate but the restraint tightly tied around his lips made it hard
enough to breathe as it was. The man before him was about as tall as Rhys, a
rather muscular build, his hair a little misshapen from sleeping peacefully,
and the silicone mask he wore that formed his face to hide and heal his massive
scar from his brush with the Pandorian police when they finally caught this
murderer. He was tossing a bit in his sleep noting he could be waking up, and
Rhys was moving into a full on panic mode. Mr. Lawrence had a way of getting
disturbed easily in his sleep and taking it out on patients in the same room,
whether it was through assault or sex he was always violent, Rhys remembered
Harold saying, so of course He attempted to make as little sound as possible
trying to pull his hands out of the cold chains, wrapped around his bloody
slick wrists. But the clanking of the chain was just about enough to draw
attention to him. How fucking typical right?
The door to the cell was wide open allowing light in, and Rhys’s chance of hope
for escape broadened…if he could just get out of the metal cuffs around his
wrist. His eyes widened with surprise once one of his wrists broke free, and
the other just barely above his knuckle. Quietly he worked at the second cuff
and slid out a little easier. Rhys carefully set the chains on the manmade mat
beneath him, and slowly stood, eying this…mad man just across from him. If this
man were to wake up Rhys was about to turn to stone. His heart sinking lower
and lower as he moved carefully toward the door, untying the gag around his
mouth, and dropping his cloth to the floor. Finally a safe distance away from
the man known as Handsome Jack….Rhys ran.
***** Admission *****
The next morning seemed to roll by to quickly for Rhys’s liking. He showered
and dressed in formal attire just as he was instructed to by the Hyperion
warden in their terms and conditions. It was around 11 am So Vaughn was still
waking up as he rolled into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. “Mornin’” He
mumbled and Rhys couldn’t help but scoff at Vaughn’s tired face. “Mornin’
prince of darkness. Should I…Y’know…close the curtain’s so you don’t die?” Rhys
laughed and Vaughn glared at him.
“Shouldn’t you be leaving soon? You have an eight hour ride to hell.”
Rhys nodded his head sitting on a barstool beside the counter. “Yeah I’ll be
leaving shortly. Figured I’d grab a bite to eat before getting on the road.”
Vaughn held up his finger as if signaling him to wait a moment. He poured
himself a cup of coffee and moved back to his room. As he came back, he held a
small black sachet handing it to Rhys.
“Earwig. I don’t trust that E-mail you got last night and I just want to make
sure your safe. So if you need it, keep it with you just in case.” Vaughn
muttered giving him a thumbs up as Rhys took it. “Thanks…I guess. But I don’t
think I’ll need it. It’s just a computer job.” He mumbled stuffing the small
bag in his t-shirt pocket. Vaughn waved him off sipping his coffee. “Yeah
whatever. You’ll thank me later im sure. I’ll have my piece hooked into the
computer so if you need anything just turn on the earwig and talk, blah blah
blah you know the drill.”
Rhys stood stretching, then threw on his coat to leave. “Bye Vaughn. I’ll let
you know when I get there.” Rhys said grabbing his keys and heading for the
door as his best friend waved him goodbye.
               
                Of course the ride was long, and the thunder storming weather
practically made for a shitty and anxiety filled experience. Once Rhys made it
to Hyperion, he almost immediately wanted to turn around. The institution was
heavily guarded and secured with an electric fence. The guard took his ID and
allowed him through after finding him on “Their list” As the guard called it.
Hyperion wasn’t helping their case against hiding something in their facility.
The security alone was enough to raise suspicion.
But then again Rhys thought about Jack. Handsome Jack. The man diagnosed as
criminally insane after removing the faces of people young and old,
indiscriminately just because he… wished to control these people as his own.
Those who defied him or spoke out against him, he would kill and remove their
face displaying them in a book, which he had preserved all too well. Rhys had
remembered watching the news on finding Jack’s victims brutally dismembered,
and his signature mark. The face perfectly and neatly removed from the skull.
The investigation going on for years hunting him down throughout towns and
cities…until he finally got caught in the town houses with two young victims
Rhys knew all too personally. Sasha and Fiona…Who lived just down the road from
Him and Vaughn. Childhood best friends of his, and inseparable sisters, torn to
shreds and Rhys was the only one to Identify their tattoos on their shoulder
and their faces…in the book. Rhys shuttered at the thought as he parked his
car. He had never spoke to Vaughn about identifying them nor to anyone on their
condition in autopsy. He had refused to testify in court, in front of the man
the whole world of Pandora feared, but agreed to give his statement noting he
knew the victims well…
Rhys shut off the vehicle and quietly pressed his head to the steering wheel
closing his eyes. There goes his good mood. It was hard to think about Sasha
and Fiona being dead still. Two beautiful funny and sarcastic girls snuffed
from existence by a mad man. Rhys sat there for a few moments before wiping
away his wet cheeks, grabbing his duffle bag and exiting the car, to make his
way to the lobby of Hyperion. Rhys looked at his watch. He was right on time,
and the secretary was very obviously waiting for him. “Come with me.” He
ordered and Rhys followed sheepishly.
“I hate to throw you into the fire so quickly but our system is offline. Go
ahead and set your stuff in the locker there.” The man pointed and Rhys did as
he was told, the secretary locking the door behind Rhys and giving him the key.
“Some of the less violent patients clean during the night so don’t be surprised
if you see an orange jumpsuit come in. All staff is currently on duty so you
may not see anybody tonight.”
Good to know, Rhys thought following the man to the elevator. The door closed
and a key card was inserted into a slot at a blink of an eye. As the machine
began to move, the man before Rhys pulled a paper from his jacket along with a
pen. “Sign this. It’s an agreement to not speak of anything you see here in the
asylum and legal action to be taken if you break our rules.” He ordered handing
it to Rhys. Feeling the stress coming from the other man, Rhys took it and
signed it quickly.
Rhys was finished and the secretary practically snatched the paper from Rhys’s
finger tips. The secretary attached a sticker to Rhys’s chest with his full
name printed on it. When Rhys was suddenly being pushed out of the Elevator and
into a computer room with what looked like thousands of circuit boards he felt
a little frightened. “Wait here.” The secretary ordered. “We’ll call you when
we’re ready so listen for us.” He said leaving the room, leaving Rhys to
himself.
10 minutes went by…then 20….then 30…then 40. Rhys decided at the 30 minute mark
he would look around with what he was dealing with. Basic circuit breakers and
network adaptors, The usual components for security analogs…Security
analogs…Rhys made sure the coast was clear when he moved to a computer labeled
as ‘security terminal’ deciding to snoop around. What the camera feed showed
was nothing less than horrifying. Giant machines and patients strapped to
chairs with what looked like tubes shoved down their throats, Doctors abusing
patients, and so much more going on that Rhys wished he could have unseen. Rhys
exited the terminals camera feed and immediately pulled up a network he could
hack into to send a message.
 
“Vaughn its Rhys,
I got here and I already want to come home. You need to call the fucking cops
and save me from this place. There’s abuse going on to patients who just need
to get help, and some weird machine that looks like its sucking the life out of
these people. It needs to be exposed. I’m sick to my stomach…I’ll contact you
through how we talked about when it’s safe…keep it on. I’ll be there soon.”
 
A sudden noise caused Rhys to panic. He hit the send button and immediately
shut down the terminal. He moved back out into the open and as the guard came
in he motioned him to the door. Rhys gulped skeptically following the guard out
into the hallway and through the corridor to a room where the secretary stood
with folded arms, next to a few scientists who seemed to be arguing about
Rhys’s tardiness. He decided to ignore their verbal assault and begin working
on reconnecting and coding the network. As he was working he heard a sudden
commotion and looked up to see what looked like 4 guards struggling with a
patient with a leather muzzle mask strapped to his face. The man had broken
free from the guards grasp and bolted straight for the glass in front of Rhys.
“GET ME TASSITER!!!” He screamed and Rhys jumped back as the man slammed his
fist repeatedly into the glass cracking it. When he stopped Rhys’s eyes locked
on with the patients. He didn’t see it first but Rhys’s eyes widened as the
man’s Blue and green eyes did the same. “I know that name.” He said pointing to
Rhys’s name tag. When the guards collected themselves and grabbed the patient
hauling him back toward the machine. “I KNOW THAT NAME!!! I KNOW THAT NAME!!”
He screamed until he was locked inside. The guards in the same area as Rhys
hauled him to his feet and pushed him back into the chair roughly. Rhys could
feel himself starting to pant and the Scientist next to him smacked his
shoulder. “Let’s get going now, we don’t have all day.” He ordered and Rhys
timidly began coding again. When he finished, a camera feed popped up from
inside the machine and Rhys felt his heart sink to his stomach. The patient was
none other than Handsome Jack….and he knew Rhys by name.
“Rhys, your no longer needed for this part of the test. Go back to the circuit
room and wait for us.” The secretary said pointing to the door. Rhys nodded
slowly and moved out of the room at a ‘normal’ pace back to the circuit room
where the Hyperion CEO was waiting with a group of guards. Fear hit as Rhys was
picked up and thrown into the wall behind the CEO.
“Professor Rhys of the opportunity tech and advancement college. Graduated top
of his class at Elpis’s most valued university, and credible, distinguished
work only a professional veteran could accomplish. But yet, you hack into our
network, and send an unwired E-mail through, again, our network that can trace
the smallest of viruses. That was dumb Rhys…..In fact that was…Crazy. Crazy
enough to join the morphogenic engine project as a volunteer. Can you please
transport Mr. Rhys here for me? Thank you.” Tassiter growled leaving the area.
Rhys looked up to the guard horrified as he slammed a fist right into his
temple, and at first it was nothing but white hot pain…then nothing.
***** Calm before the storm *****
Rhys awoke to being smacked in the face by a scientist with a grin plastered
across his face. “There you are sugar, open your eyes. Come on.” He said
smacking him a little harder. Rhys groaned in protest as the man strapped his
head into a restraint to watch the moving screen in front of him. A twinge of
panic set in when he tried to move but couldn’t. Sharp ringing filled Rhys’s
ears as he was forced to watch the screen, and it was like a low pitch white
noise with a deep voice whispering in his ear. The longer time went on the
deeper the voice got and the scarier the images got on the screen. Rhys was
almost in there for an hour, trying to scream but unable to hear his own voice
through the noise…until the power cut in the glassed off rooms, and the
restraints released Rhys from his bonds.
Rhys fell to the floor, hearing screaming in the room next to him. He looked up
to a winged slender like beast tearing this patient limb from limb. It was like
watching a horror movie up close and personal, making Rhys extremely sick to
his stomach. He shakily crawled on the floor trying his best to not draw
attention to himself. When the creature moved out of the area Rhys stood
pressing his hands to the wall next to the door and throwing up on the ground
beneath him.  It took everything in his power to not pass out again, he simply
stayed in the room until he felt like his balance was back to normal. What the
hell was that thing first off, secondly where did it come from, and third why
was it here? Rhys repeated in his mind. He looked around his room to see what
he could in the dim light, trying not to look at the gory mess next to him of
course. He found a video camera, his torn clothes (which now he wore patient
garb), and a set of batteries for the camera. Timidly Rhys carefully pulled out
the sachet Vaughn gave him with the earwig. He inspected it with the light of
the camera, then turned it on placing it around his ear and adjusting the
microphone.
“V-Vaughn?....Are you there?” Rhys questioned in a whisper as he started
recording with the camera.
“Bro!? It’s been about 5 hours since you sent that e-mail are you okay!?”
Vaughn exclaimed and Rhys winced at the sudden loud voice in his ear.
“N-No…I dunno…They’ve been torturing me for the last hour with
some…Hypnotherapy, shock therapy, sound therapy mixure, I-I-I Dunno…The power
is cut but I found a night vision camera to get myself by…There’s already a
dead person…I threw up…Vaughn you gotta get the cops here ASAP. I’m freakin’
the fuck out bro…” Rhys talked quickly but slowly shuffled his way out into the
hallway where sirens were blaring, emergency lights were going off and patients
ran through the corridor freely by the looks of it.
“Okay, Okay, Okay relax bro. I’m hacking into Hyperion so I can get a map-“
“Check deep in the records Vaughn…I’m in a classified area…I think. It looks
like it.” Rhys interrupted. He could hear Vaughn humming into the microphone.
“Find an area indicator Rhys maybe I can search it by area. While you look,
I’ll get the FBI On the phone.”
The thought of Vaughn getting help made Rhys sigh happily. It was only to be
short lived as a PA came on. “Attention: All High security levels unlocked. Be
advised. All Patients hostile. Shut down imminent.”
“Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!” Rhys yelled running toward an exit once he spotted the
sign. As he turned the corner to the corridor of the door it was clear. Not a
body or blood in sight. It was refreshing to look at, at first but then Rhys
reached for the door only to be grabbed and thrown back to the floor by another
patient. Rhys yelped as his head hit the floor and looked up to the looming,
bloodied patient that neared him with what looked like a handmade knife in his
hand. Rhys’s eyes widened and his breath hitched as the man bent down to
attack. Time seemed to slow at the point. He stopped breathing for a second,
his vision started to blur and his heart seemed to lodge itself in his throat.
Now would be a really bad time to pass out in this position. The sound of
rushing boots behind him, filled his ears and seemed to bring him out of this
horrific hypnotizing trance. They ended abruptly, and a body jumped before the
bloody patient shoving him back into the wall, throwing punches repeatedly.
“The fuck you waiting for kid!? Get outta here!” The man yelled slamming the
patients hand into the wall until he dropped the knife. Rhys took the
opportunity to do just as the man said, getting up and bolting for the door to
run through and lock it behind him.
                The new area Rhys went into seemed to be in the same state of
distress as the rooms before. Blood everywhere, bodies, limbs, everything you
could think of it was there. Whatever happened, things went to shit faster than
what was expected. These people weren’t prepared for this kind of attack. Rhys
walked up to plaque on the wall that said ‘E wing lower level.’
“Vaughn…” Rhys gagged slightly from the smell of Iron in the air. “E wing,
lower level.” He said quietly. Rhys waited quietly, then made sure the Earwig
was still on. “Vaughn??”
“Yeah, Yeah I’m here Rhys. I’m on the phone with the investigator…He’s
listening in to what’s happening until he gets here.” Vaughn muttered. Rhys
leaned against the wall rubbing his face.
“Do you have the map up?”
“Almost there is two lower levels that I’m looking at and it looks like you’re
in the deepest part of the asylum…like…Really deep. Which wing did you say it
was again?”
“E wing.”
Vaughn’s sigh sounded a little distressed in his ear. “Yeah bro…You’re
like…really deep in there. I’m talking middle of the asylum on its lowest
level.”
“Okay so where am I, like what degree of insanity or whatever.”
“You’re in the experimental wing of the criminally insane….” Vaughn went quiet
for a second. “The investigator wants to know what led up to the events of you
getting there.”
Rhys groaned remembering the hit the Guard left. “I-I uhh…I snooped around in
the security feed, and I saw the abuse happening to some of the patients…T-Then
I e-mailed Vaughn asking to contact the police to get me the fuck out of here.
I thought I could hotwire a new network to get onto but I failed, got caught,
and had some asshole guard punch my brains out….Apparently woke up 4 hours
later, got tortured again for another hour then the power cut and I escaped the
room I was in and got the earwig to contact Vaughn. I also found a night vision
camera…I’m recording everything…” Rhys evaded telling the two about Handsome
Jack knowing him by name, and the winged beast completely tearing that patient
apart. There would be no way they would believe him….as badly as he wanted to
tell them.
“Okay Rhys… There should be an elevator not far from you. Should be north of
where you are.” Vaughn said typing away on his computer.
Rhys looked up to the directions on the plaque and followed the directions the
arrow pointed to. “Take the elevator up 6 floors and just go straight from the
elevator. There should be a fire escape at the end of the hall.” Said Vaughn.
Rhys called the elevator and stepped inside once it arrived. He pressed the
button and watched the doors close behind him. Although he didn’t get very far.
The elevator stopped at the 3rd floor up, opening for another patient… Rhys’s
eyes widened to find Handsome Jack pulling off the leather face muzzle,
dropping it to the floor before stepping into the elevator with Rhys, pushing a
button and standing back casually. Rhys slowly pressed his back to the wall of
the elevator his eyes wide on the man before him with his back turned to Rhys.
The silence was horrifying as Rhys approached his floor.  
“Rhys are you on the floor yet?” Vaughn questioned curiously. Rhys stayed quiet
in response. Jack stepped forward a bit when the elevator door opened and Rhys
almost didn’t want to move, afraid to have his back to the man. When Rhys
stepped forward an arm shot out to hold the door in front of Rhys blocking his
way out.
“Hey princess, if you’re going to try to escape through the fire escape, don’t.
It’s barred off. I already tried and there is a pretty big baddy in the area.
You wanna get out? You come with me.” Jack said sternly and finally looked over
to Rhys with those glowing blue and green eyes.
“Rhys is someone talking to you?” Vaughn asked. “The investigator says the
voice sounded familiar.”
Rhys gulped allowing the elevator door to close and move again. He pressed his
back to the wall again, watching Jack.
“Hey tap the microphone once if you’re okay, or clear your throat if you’re in
trouble.”
Rhys cleared his throat of course but shrunk back when Jack looked at him. “S-
Sorry. I haven’t had anything to drink for quite a while…” Rhys admitted
quietly. Jack rolled his eyes stepping off the elevator. Rhys hesitated.
“Come on cupcake we don’t have all day! We can get something to drink when we
get to the hospital level.” Jack said folding his arms watching and tapping a
foot. Rhys inched forward slowly and Jack’s fists clenched and he stood
defensively. “GET OVER HERE!!” He screamed and Rhys ran forward to him. Jack
grabbed his collar and forced him forward urging him on before him.
“I-I don’t know where I’m going. Maybe you should-“
“Shut up…Rhys right? I’ve got quite the bone to pick with you. You’re one of
the people that convicted me to this hell hole. All because your word was on a
damn piece of paper.”
Rhys froze wanting to throw up again. “Jack…” He whispered finally
acknowledging he was right there to the people over the earwig.
Rhys could hear Vaughn talking in the back ground and he could hear the concern
raising in his voice.
“What happened here? W-why is everything like this?” Rhys asked trying to get
him to keep talking.
“The Siren and the Walrider broke free. Tassiter is having a field day trying
to keep it a secret. Power has been cut so security feed couldn’t be recorded,
but dumb ass forgot he had his whole lower block on a fail release if the power
cuts for more than an hour. So prison break basically. Idiot.” Jack muttered
pushing Rhys through a door with stairs leading up. Rhys walked up slowly, Jack
following right beside him. He seemed to be extremely calm which made the hairs
on the back of Rhys’s neck stand on edge. In depictions of what the medical
examiner and Tassiter said in court, Jack was extremely unstable and
unpredictable. So Rhys made sure to stay closely to his good side.
“The investigator is here.” Vaughn said quietly.
“Rhys? I’m Detective Athena. Tap the microphone once if Jack is still with
you.”
Rhys followed her direction and tapping the microphone when Jack wasn’t
looking. Jack led him up to the next floor, opening the door to the cafeteria
where Rhys walked through and felt Jack grab his collar, forcing him to drop to
the floor. Right as Rhys was about to yelp, Jack gripped his mouth, holding him
to the floor.
“Shut up cupcake, he’ll hear us.” Jack muttered shushing Rhys.
The computer professor didn’t hear anything at first, but listened to what
sounded like a large man’s footsteps move around. Jack slid down Rhys’s body
slowly, moving low to the next table over. Rhys could see Jack through the
night vision camera motion for him to come over and he had no choice but to
comply. Slowly he crawled over to Jack and the expression on his face seemed
daunting.
“Damn it…Walker is blocking our exit. We’ll have to figure another way up…”
Jack muttered to Rhys, turning to move. To Rhys’s surprise this…Walker was
heading straight for them as he looked in the night vision camera. The man was
massive with glowing green eyes, he was bald and muscular, and bloodied enough
to raise concern. Jack was about to move into the isle-way in front of the man
but Rhys caught Jack by the hip to grab him and haul him back onto Rhys’s lap.
Rhys held Jack there for a moment, then shifted his torso to reach for the
metal napkin dispenser on the table and throw it down the open door where the
two had come from. The sound grabbed Walker’s attention and he bolted head on
for the stairs.
Jack quickly moved off of Rhys and ran for the door on the opposite side of the
cafeteria. Rhys was quick to follow…But another sound behind them was also
tracing their every move with a heavy foot step. Walker was on their tale.
***** Thanks captain obvious *****
Never before had Rhys’s lungs seemed to burn with such a fire. By the look on
Jack’s face he seemed to be in the same boat too. The sound of screams filled
the area behind them as Patients moved in the path of Walker’s biblical
devastation. Rhys had no idea where Jack was leading him too, but dying by the
hands of such a massive man crushing him to death seemed…much worse than a
serial killer trying to find his way out of the asylum. Jack made a sharp turn
into a security room, Pulling Rhys in with him and shutting the door behind
him.
“Get in a locker!” Jack ordered pushing a filing cabinet over to block the
door. Rhys gulped and did as Jack told him to do. He opened a locker and
stepped inside, thanking god that it was big enough for him…until Jack pushed
himself inside and closed the thin metal door behind him. Jack was out of
breath, and Rhys nearly gagged again at the thought of being so close to a mad
man. Silence ensued as there was loud banging at the door, then it suddenly
breaking into pieces as Walker stepped through, kicking the cabinet out of the
way. The man was growling, snarling mostly. Rhys watched Walker look around the
room, open 2 lockers right next to them, and leave. Both men sighing with
relief.
“You’re one hell of a smart kid…I didn’t even think of a distraction.” Jack
complimented in hushed tones. Rhys breathed out again in response. 
The man waited for the coast to be clear, and the screaming to cease in the
area before Jack stepped out and stretched. Rhys was a little more ungraceful
when he moved out of the locker due to the weakness in his knees from fear. It
was more of a stumble as he got out.
Jack turned abruptly, shoving Rhys into the wall next to the locker and holding
him there to look at him. Rhys blinked in horror when Jack just stood
there…Watching him with fire in his eyes, and his jaw clenched tighter with
what looked like anger.
“W-woah Jack…D-Did I do something wrong?” Rhys questioned blinking. “I’m sorry-
…!”
The man was cut off abruptly when Jack ceased Rhys’s lips with fervor. Rhys was
frozen, He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t exactly fight the man off
because A. He was bigger than Rhys, and B. Rhys could get killed. He grunted
slightly when he felt Jack wrap his arms around Rhys’s waist giving him a tight
squeeze, then gasped as he felt Jack’s hand ghost down his front to slide down
his length before suddenly pulling him away, dropping Rhys like a used napkin.
“Come on kid, I got places I wanna be.” He scolded turning and walking for the
door. Rhys watched him walk out of the room and stood, slowly following him
out.
“Rhys, its Vaughn. Athena says the minute you get the chance, Run from Jack.
You have to get away from him as soon as possible. Where are you now?”
“You think I don’t know that???!....We’re heading upstairs to the hospital
wing.” Rhys whispered once he was a good distance between Jack.
“Okay, Okay! Some of the power is still on in the hospital. We have a live
security feed up there.”
“What time is it?...” Rhys asked.
“3 am”
“What time will they be coming?”
“…Some time tomorrow.”
“Bro…”
“I’m doing the best I can Rhys!! I mean I wish someone could be there to help
you but this takes time apparently…” Vaughn said earning a disgruntled sigh
from Rhys.
Jack could hear Rhys whispering behind him but couldn’t make out what he was
saying. He stopped abruptly and turned to face Rhys who seemed to gulp. “Who
you talkin’ to kitten? Voices in your head or somethin’ ? Don’t start losing it
cupcake. We’ll be out of here soon. Just hang in there.”
At this moment Rhys thanked his lucky stars Jack couldn’t see the small
microphone under his hair. Jack’s tone sounded almost proud that he was helping
Rhys out. But also it raised concern in the professor. Rhys was probably going
to end up being his first victim.
 
                Jack led Rhys upstairs once more and the two entered the
hospital wing. Rhys could hear Jack gag suddenly and as he entered the wing he
did the same. It was a very stagnate smell mixed with what smelled like death.
“Come on kid. We’ll have to get your water somewhere else. Right now we have to
get out of here.” Jack said covering his nose with his shirt. Rhys gagged again
following Jack over the bodies in the hallway.
“Rhys, Vasquez caught wind that you were in trouble. Yvette said he was on his
way up there to find you and Athena is trying to get him to stay where he is so
he doesn’t make the situation worse.” Vaughn said quietly.
He sighed quietly. Of course Vasquez was coming to find him. For a man of his
stature, he was definitely head over heels for Rhys still, and Rhys absolutely
wanted no part of him. Vasquez was the dean of the computer science department
for the same company that was based near Hyperion. The two had met frequently
for dinner and occasionally going on dates. But one small act of Jealousy made
that all fall. Rhys was talking to Vaughn one day out at dinner and it seemed
like Vasquez was following the two the entire time. When Vasquez believed Rhys
was cheating, he was demoted to a school proctor and Vasquez was loving every
minute of Rhys’s ‘demise’ as a computer science dean.
“You look tired pumpkin. Past your bed time?” Jack teased winking back at him.
Rhys rolled his eyes in response.
“Trust me…I would still be working on assignments right now if I was home.”
“School teacher?”
“Uh professor actually.”
Jack shook his head in response to Rhys. “Computers. Yeah I wanted to be a
software engineer too.”
“What happened?” Rhys regretted this question when Jack turned around to face
him.
“I went crazy after my daughter killed my wife and herself because my daughter
pretty much loathed her mother. Then I started killing people for a living and
grew and obsession over it. At least that’s what they told me.” Rhys blinked as
Jack grew closer to him. “I didn’t do it because it was a obsession…I did it
because it was an art form. A creative expression that I felt and deemed it so.
Taking the faces of my victims and creating a book. My book. A book I know
you’ve seen because you were one of the people who FUCKING CONVICTED ME.” Jack
roared grabbing Rhys’s collar to bring him close. “But Rhysie, Baby, you’re in
here with me. Wearing this dumb orange jumpsuit and talking with the voices in
your head. Your about as crazy as I am sweet cheeks. And your gunna help me get
out of here in return for your mistake.” Jack whispered sinisterly poking
Rhys’s chest. “Got me?”
Rhys nodded as Jack expect.
“Good.”
 
                As the two moved, they made their way into the main lobby of
the hospital wing where the lights were bright with power and near blinding to
Rhys. Jack skipped forward to a vending machine and looked back at Rhys. “Water
or juice shit stick?”
“Uh…Water.”
Jack reached a fist back and slammed it into the glass, breaking the front of
the vending machine. He pulled out a water, a juice, and a pack of pretzels
from the machine opening it quickly to throw a few pretzels in his mouth. “God
these pretzels suck.” He groaned tossing Rhys his water. Rhys opened it and
sipped slow, horrified he may throw up again if he drank too fast.
“Rhys we can see you on the camera.” Vaughn said suddenly coming through. “Holy
shit that really is Handsome Jack…you look awful.”
“Where do we go from here Jack?” asked Rhys, evading Vaughn’s comment.
He held up a finger as he slammed his juice, tossing the empty bottle off to
the side. “Well the whole lower level is sealed off except the court yard which
is through those doors. We can get outside, but we can’t leave the asylum.”
“Hmm…Can’t we just climb the fence?”
“Yeah. If you wanna get electrocuted and get the shit cut out of you by the 10
rolls of barbed wire they have at the top.” Jack shrugged sarcastically
throwing more pretzels in his mouth.
“Rhys, Vasquez’s car just pulled up in the front and hes coming inside through
a window on the other side of the building past the court yard. Get there. And
you have a guaranteed escape!!” Vaughn said loudly.
Rhys tried to contain his excitement. Coolly he took another drink of water.
“Well…Why don’t we go check to see if there is another way out in the other
building?”
Jack nodded his head and turned to move to through door with Rhys. It was still
raining outside which Rhys didn’t really mind considering the clean air he
finally breathed in mixed with the scent of spring rain. It was a pleasantry He
finally got to enjoy. Jack seemed to take notice because he started to walk
slower for him in the rain and Rhys sheepishly moved forward grabbing the
handle to building and opening it wide for the two to step in. Both men stepped
quietly through the small corridor and turned into a longer hallway where they
both met face to face with the one and only…
“Vasquez!!”
***** Trager *****
Chapter Notes
     Oh man you all are so sweet!! :'D Thank you for such pleasant
     reviews!
     I would like to for warn everyone, there is a highly explicit scene
     in this so please be prepared.
     Recap is at the bottom ;*
“Vasquez!”
Rhys yelled with surprise. To be honest Rhys didn’t know which was worse. The
fact that his boss and ex-lover was standing before him to rescue him or the
fact that the serial killer beside him was completely shooting daggers from his
eyes as he watched the two interact.
“You know this man?” Jack questioned Rhys, he nodded slowly. Jack looked back
to Vasquez who seemed to be sizing him up. Rhys went to move forward but Jack
caught him by the collar, forcing him back and to the ground behind him. “DON’T
FUCKING MOVE!” He ordered loudly. Rhys watched with fear in his eyes as Vasquez
tried to take Jack down to the floor but failed when he could only push him
into the wall and start his attempted assault on Jack, which also seemed to
fail. Jack switched their positions shoving Vasquez into the wall and
strangling him with his bare hands. Vasquez moved to try and kick Jack’s legs
but could only get so far. Instead he moved a hand into his pocket pulling out
a knife, slicing it into Jacks forearm. He yelped out in anger shoving his head
repeatedly into the wall then making a grab at the knife which he took
effortlessly, ramming it into Vasquez’s chest repeatedly in anger.
Rhys took the horrific opportunity to run past them and hop out of the window.
Rhys completely underestimated the fall, falling flat on his stomach on the wet
ground, scurrying up to run for any car that was open and could hot wire.
“RHYS! GET BACK HERE!” Jack yelled from the window. No time to look back, Rhys
thought. And no way in hell was he going back. At least that’s what he thought.
                When Rhys made it back to Vasquez’s car he could feel something
sharp in his side. He froze turning to look at Jack, completely covered in
blood, with fire in his eyes, and a fist cocking back to punch Rhys until he
had fallen to the mud. How could he have made it to him so quickly?... Rhys
looked down to his side seeing the knife protruding from his side, then looked
back up to Jack who was kneeling down on top of him, pressing his knee on
Rhys’s chest. “We’re leaving when I want to leave now.” Jack held up an ear wig
in front of Rhys then tossed it to the side. Jack gently thumbed Rhys’s cheeks
then fingers wrapped around his ears grabbing the ear wig from Rhys pulling it
out. Rhys watched in horror as Jack put the microphone to his lips.
“This is Handsome Jack, Happy to announce, the hero is back in the game. If you
want Rhys? Come find him. There’s currently 1,400 patients on each main level
of Hyperion, half that in guards. Although the numbers a declining rapidly, and
the boys are getting antsy without their medication. I’ll be waiting.” Jack
growled through grit teeth, crushing the ear piece once he was finished.
 Rhys’s lip quivered when Jack just snuffed the only thing keeping him alive.
Besides the camera, he was completely blind. Jack drew another fist back and
hit Rhys as hard as he could to knock him out.
 
===============================================================================
 
                As Rhys woke up, Again, He could the hear voices of people
talking, and the spring sun shining through the window on his face. He looked
around the room frowning to see he was still in the hospital wing, on an
examination table with his shirt off, and his arms bound together by leather
straps holding his arms above his head. What a situation to be in.
“Mornin’ Pumpkin!” Jack smiled coming over to lean his hands on the table. “The
good doctor patched you up without taking a kidney. Wasn’t that nice of him?
You should probably say thank you. Like a good boy.”
Rhys looked over to the opposite end of the table and frowned to see an older
man smiling widely in blood stained clothes and glasses. “T-Thank y-you sir…”
Rhys stuttered hoping Jack wouldn’t hit him again. Jack smiled patting Rhys’s
leg. “That’a boy Rhysie. Respect goes along way. Now I’m gunna untie you, and
help you up because the good doctor has patients he needs to attend to.” Rhys
flinched slightly as Jack moved to untie Rhys’s arms. “Relax, kiddo…” Jack said
beaming down at him. Rhys laid perfectly still until Jack helped him up.
The pain in Rhys’s side was nothing like he had ever felt before. He cried out
once he got on his feet and looked down to see the perfectly stitched wound on
his side. Jack pulled a pressed white shirt over Rhys’s head and helped his
arms through. “There we go. Good as new.” Jack chuckled poking Rhys’s bruised
chest. Jack wrapped Rhys’s arm around his shoulder and helped him out toward
the lobby where he stopped at the door. “Oh watch out there’s shit on the
floor.” Jack said casually, of course Rhys would look down to watch his step
but that “Shit” Was actually Vasquez’s face on the floor. Immediately Rhys
closed his eyes and followed Jack’s movement stepping over the loose skin. Jack
had yet again killed someone Rhys knew and that thought alone broke him. He
could feel tears stinging the corners of his eyes and yet he couldn’t escape
this mad man even if he wanted too. They were in this together.
“A friend of mine made some lunch. Let’s get some food in you, and get that
energy up so you can heal.” Jack smiled leading him to the cafeteria kitchen.
Whatever it was Rhys wanted absolutely no part of what this ‘lunch’ was…until
they walked into the mess hall. Rhys could smell bacon and biscuits being made,
he could see eggs on the grill, it was seriously the works of a big breakfast.
Rhys was seated at a fold up table while Jack moved toward a man to pat his
shoulder, and grab two plates of food and sit back down across from Rhys. Jack
set his plate of food before him and began eating his own.
It looked good. It smelled good. But Rhys was still skeptical. He thoroughly
inspected the meal. The eggs. The toast. The bacon. The sausage. Everything,
while Jack watched him do it. “He’s not a cannibal shit stick. Eat while it’s
hot.” Jack ordered shoving eggs in his mouth.  Rhys’s eyes shifted from Jack to
the food finally agreeing to take a bite. It was good. A little too good, Rhys
thought. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he started eating. The man
cooking the food brought over two glasses of orange juice, and Jack thanked him
with a mouthful of food. “Thank you…It’s good.” Rhys said shakily when the man
looked at him for approval. The man nodded and walked away leaving both Jack
and Rhys by themselves.
“You’re quiet.” Jack noted looking up to him sternly.
“Sorry.”
“What’s wrong? Y’mad I stabbed you? It could have been worse. I could have
killed you and took that pretty face of yours, but I didn’t.”
Rhys stared at Jack in silence. “What am I to you Jack?” he asked quietly.
“You’ve killed all 50 of your victims. So why am I so special?”
“…72 but who’s counting?....Rhys I’ll be perfectly honest with you. I’ve taken
an interest in you. You are my gateway to freedom, you think but you keep
making dumb decisions.” Jack answered pointing to his head. “I like smart
people.”
Rhys sighed softly looking back down at his food.
“Not the answer you were looking for? It was honest.”
“No, sorry…I don’t feel well..” he lied sticking more food in his mouth. Rhys
was just a rat stuck in a cage at this point. The most he could do now was
endure.
 
===============================================================================
 
                A few hours later there still wasn’t any trace that help was
coming and Rhys knew that couldn’t have been good. The halls were filled with
silence as the two shuffled their way past corpses and pools of blood. The
situation the two were in sucked but not to mention the sun was setting and the
batteries in Rhys’s camera were dying so that made it 10 times worse.
“Jack?...” Rhys spoke out grabbing his attention. “Any way we can find
batteries for the camera?
“Yeah check the guard radios as we pass them.” Rhys noticed his inattentive
tone but decided not to press the issues seeming how he had his attention away
from Rhys and on something else. Rhys looked down spotting a radio on the floor
passed Jack. Rhys moved slowly passed him to pick up the radio, testing it to
see if it works, then opened the pack to withdraw the battery. Rhys suddenly
froze when Jack placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to Jack, who
again, didn’t have his attention on Rhys, looking another way.
“What’s wrong?” Asked Rhys and Jack’s brow furrowed in concern.
“I keep hearing footsteps. Someone’s following us, keep moving.” Jack whispered
walking backwards. “When I tell you to run, Run for the nearest set of stairs
and take it up to the guard tower.” Rhys blinked moving forward along with
Jack.
“Run.” Jack ordered turning abruptly, bolting for the stair case. Rhys followed
hearing the rush of footsteps behind him. “OH JACKIE BOY! YOU MISSED YOUR
APPOINTMENT LAST NIGHT!” A man screamed behind them.
“Fuck you Trager!” Jack shouted back opening the door wide for Rhys to run
through. Jack shut it quickly and locked it, moving up the stairs with Rhys.
Trager? Who was this Trager and why was he following Jack? What was Rhys doing!
He had no time to think. All he heard was the door shattering below them as
they moved up another level to the latter of the guard tower where Jack was
eagerly pushing Rhys up. Jack followed suit, shutting the guard door and
latching it shut. Also pushing a small cabinet on top for good measure. Rhys
huffed trying to catch his breath and Jack fell back sitting on the floor.
“You can’t escape me forever Jackie!” Trager yelled hitting the door below the
cabinet.
“See you tomorrow!”   
“I’ll see you again tonight! You and your buddy in there!”  Rhys held his
breath when the banging stopped and sighed looking at Jack. Jack was already
staring at him.
“Come on. We have to hide for the night. He won’t stop until he can’t find us.”
Jack said standing up again to brush himself off.
 
===============================================================================
 
                Jack led Rhys to another area of the institution that seemed
just as despaired as the first area they were both in. “So where are we now?”
Asked Rhys in a whisper. “This place looks different.” Jack scoffed quietly.
“Kid this is still the hospital. We’re just out of the cafeteria and surgical
wings. This is more like the holding area.”
Rhys wanted to scream. They were still in the gross, putrid excuse of a
hospital. Rhys watched as Jack looked around each room until he finally gave a
satisfied look entering a room. “Take a seat kid.” Jack said pointing to the
bed that seemed to be plat formed just above the ground. The room looked clean
which was a plus side. Rhys took a seat and took this opportunity to change the
batteries in the camera, while Jack moved out of the room. When he came back,
Jack had brought another bed lying it flat on the ground, then flopped a
blanket down, and hand cuffs….Which Rhys happened to stare at, while Jack shut
the door and barricaded it.
“What are those for?...” Rhys questioned. Jack crawled on the bed with a smile.
“So you don’t escape while I’m trying to sleep.” He whispered taking the camera
gently from Rhys’s hands. He powered down the camera tossing it on the bed
across from them. Rhys grunted and his eyes widened as Jack shoved him back on
the bed crawling on top of him to suck on his neck in different areas.
“Jack Stop!-“ Rhys gasped suddenly when he felt the jumpsuit tied around his
waist tug down. “I’m serious- Please!”
“Shut up.” Jack ordered lowering himself. Rhys’s face pinked in response to
Jack pulling his cock out of his boxers, and near expertly rolling his tongue
around its head. Each second that passed, Rhys cursed his body’s natural
response. “J-Jack stop!...AH!”  Rhys shouted as Jack thumbed Rhys’s wound. Jack
rolled his eyes and pulled away, tearing a piece of cloth and grabbing the
cuffs. Rhys couldn’t fight against Jack’s strength as he cuffed Rhys to the
bed, and tied the cloth around his mouth to keep him quiet. "I said shut up.
Trager will find us if you keep up that noise.” Jack scolded.
Rhys wanted to spit in his face and kick the shit out of him as soon as
possible. Jack toyed with his member until he became hard again. Rhys’s body
twitched at the small pulses of pleasure Jack instilled on him, soon becoming a
moaning mess when he came close. Jack pulled away to take off his suit to top
him once more. Jack pulled Rhys’s hips to his, allowing Rhys’s legs to wrap
themselves around his, as he positioned himself on Rhys. If he didn’t have the
cloth tied around his mouth, he would be cursing every word imaginable as Jack
slid inside Rhys almost flawlessly. Jack bit his lip.
“Been fucked like… this before huh? I’m almost jealous… I wasn’t your first.”
Jack spoke quietly, leaning over Rhys as he thrusted into him at a slow pace.
Rhys closed his eyes tightly when Jack picked up the pace, grabbing his hips
and squeezing his ass apart so he could thrust in deeper. Rhys’s head shot back
as a loud moan tried to escape the cloth. Jack’s approval was spread across his
lips into a smile he was biting back. Rhys gripped the links of the cuffs
tightly as he felt the bracelets cut into his skin. He moaned repeatedly,
unable to snuff the pleasure Jack inflicted on him until he finally came in
Rhys, And Rhys reluctantly following after.
Jack was breathing heavily as he pulled out of Rhys, sitting on his knees for a
moment before retrieving a towel from the bathroom. Jack cleaned himself, then
Rhys, keeping him tied to the bed. Jack dressed him then looked out of the
window of the room to see if anyone is coming. “I’m gunna go find us some water
kitten. I’ll be right back.” Jack said moving the barricade to get out. Rhys
quietly shifted, getting into a seated position, waiting for Jack to come back.
When he did, Jack removed the cloth and Rhys took the opportunity to spit in
Jack’s face. “Fuck your water. I don’t want it!” Rhys shouted. Jack raised a
brow in surprise at Rhys’s sudden bold move. Jack finally glared at him wiping
off his face. “Listen, kitten I’m trying to be nice. Drink the damn water.”
“No.”
“Fine.” Jack sneered throwing the glass of water against the wall. Jack moved
in front of Rhys and punched him repeatedly on the left side of his face until
he knocked him out.
Jack growled leaving the man to sit there and bleed. Quietly he moved to lay
down and go to sleep.
 
===============================================================================
 
            For Rhys this wasn’t how he had expected his vacation to go at all.
His mouth gagged and his arms tied behind his back, tighter than he thought
possible. Chained to a post in a room with one of the most notorious mass
murderers in the history of Pandora. He had yet to wake up but Rhys knew it was
going to be soon. Rhys was beaten almost too high hell and He knew he was an
idiot for breaking into one of the biggest mental institutions known to
mankind… Hyperion.
Rhys wasn’t one to panic in stressful situations, but due to the fact there was
a unrestrained mass murderer sitting inches away from him, Rhys wanted to
Hyperventilate but the restraint tightly tied around his lips made it hard
enough to breathe as it was. The man before him was about as tall as Rhys, a
rather muscular build, his hair a little misshapen from sleeping peacefully,
and the silicone mask he wore that formed his face to hide and heal his massive
scar from his brush with the Pandorian police when they finally caught this
murderer. He was tossing a bit in his sleep noting he could be waking up, and
Rhys was moving into a full on panic mode. Jack had a way of getting disturbed
easily in his sleep and taking it out on patients in the same room, whether it
was through assault or sex he was always violent, Rhys remembered Harold saying
in court, so of course He attempted to make as little sound as possible trying
to pull his hands out of the cold chains, wrapped around his bloody slick
wrists. But the clanking of the chain was just about enough to draw attention
to him. How fucking typical right?
The door to the room was open allowing some light in, and Rhys’s chance of hope
for escape broadened…if he could just get out of the metal cuffs around his
wrist. His eyes widened with surprise once one of his wrists broke free, and
the other just barely above his knuckle. Quietly he worked at the second cuff
and slid out a little easier. Rhys carefully set the chains on the manmade mat
beneath him, and slowly stood, eying this…mad man just across from him. If this
man were to wake up Rhys was about to turn to stone. His heart sinking lower
and lower as he moved carefully toward the door, untying the gag around his
mouth, and dropping his cloth to the floor. Finally a safe distance away from
the man known as Handsome Jack….Rhys ran.
                Rhys ran as fast as he could to the working elevator and took
it down to the main floor of the hospital wing. With his camera in hand Rhys
checked the battery, the night vision to make sure it was still working and his
hopes faded as the elevator door opened, right into the presence…of Richard
Trager. The man was smiling that disgusting smile as he quietly moved into the
elevator to sling his arm around Rhys. “Hi buddy how you doin’? You look a
little frightened. Its okay, It happens. Just come with me and we’ll get the
issue…Figured out.”
***** Two martini lunch *****
It was like a scene out of a horror movie…
Blood splattered the walls, the floor, the patients… Everywhere. As they passed
the people who were still alive, Rhys noticed each of them had a part of
themselves missing. An ear, an eye, a tongue, a hand…Rhys tried to run as
Trager dragged him further into the surgical department but his grip on Rhys’s
shoulders were too tight. Trager ended up punching the sore spot on Rhys’s face
when he was moving around too much and pushed him into a wheel chair with tie
downs that he attached Rhys too.
“Y’know you’re the second one today making home movies.” Trager spoke through a
smile. “I’ll have to sit you in there with him because all of the rooms are
filled. You two can share a drink of wine and talk about memories.”
Great. Just what Rhys needed. To be admitted…Again.
 
                As Rhys was rolled into the room he immediately knew who the
man was. Miles Upshur, An investigative reporter for the news. If he was here
word had to have been traveling fast about Hyperion’s down fall. Trager placed
Rhys’s camera besides Miles’s and moved toward the two men leaning forward has
he placed his hands on his hips.
“Now you two just get acquainted and play nice. I’ll be back in a few. I have
to prepare for surgery…” Trager turned and walked out the door laughing,
sending bone chilling signals up Rhys’s spine.
Miles cleared his throat to get Rhys’s attention. “You’re Rhys right? Man you
got beat to hell.”
Rhys gave a soft laugh. “I can thank handsome Jack for that one…We’re about to
get it so much worse though…Why are you here?”
“Looking for evidence that this place has gone to shit. And oh look-“He said
looking around the blood stained room. “It’s gone to shit.”
“It’s so much worse than you think. Everything you need to know about their
experimental wing is on that camera. And I plan to whistle blow the hell out of
Hyperion. Tassiter is gunna have a whole new ass ripped into him if I get out
of this alive…”
“Well if we can get out of here, let’s plan to stay together. Your friend has
the FBI on his side so no matter what, we’ll get out of here.”
Rhys thought his words were reassuring up until Trager came back in surgical
gear with a tray full of equipment. I literal full tray of equipment. Miles and
Rhys grew quiet as Trager seemed to be sizing up Miles with different types of
equipment. A knife…no. A saw?...No. Trager tsked then moved to the urinal in
the room pulling out a pair of what looked like giant garden sheers.
“Peeeerrrrfffffeecctt!” Trager purred moving his way back to Miles. Immediately
both Rhys and Miles gasped as Trager slid an end of the sheer underneath
Miles’s index finger. There was a sudden snip and a horrific scream shooting
from Miles lips, then smacking of skin as Trager open palmed hit Miles when he
gasped for air.
“Don’t pass out on me! There’s still a lot to absorb!” Trager shouted cutting
off Miles ring finger now.  Rhys watched as the finger dropped and nothing but
black followed suit.
 
===============================================================================
 
                 When Rhys woke up, his vision was blurred, he could hear Miles
struggling to get out of his restraints, and him sobbing.
“R-Rhy?! Wake up!” Miles exclaimed. Rhys was cold. A little too cold. That’s
when he noticed he was laying down, looking in the direction he was looking at
before he passed out. As he looked around, sort of in a daze, He looked around
to see Miles, who looked like he was hyperventilating, bloodier, and wide-eyed
than he had been before, then noticed a very tall doctor missing from the room.
“R-Rhys hang on I’ll be right there…” Miles said shifting his wrists in the
restraints until he slipped out. Miles stumbled up to the wash basin and threw
up before grabbing both of their cameras. Miles panted as he made his way over
to Rhys unlatching him from the table. “D-Don’t move okay? Just s-stay still.
Don’t look around.” Miles spoke frantically, and carefully shrugged off his
Jacket. Rhys was still to dazed to even comprehend what the fuck was even
happening right now. Miles used an instrument from the Tray to cut off part of
his sleeve, then put his coat back on, hissing and groaning with severe pain as
he did so. Miles finally turned his attention back to the cut sleeve, cutting
it one more time to make it longer. Rhys didn’t really focus on him until he
pressed the cloth to what would be his arm…or where it should be.
“What the fuck?” Rhys questioned breathing out, feeling the raw sensation of
what should be his arm.
“Don’t freak out Rhys. Don’t freak out. Close your mouth or he’ll hear us
moving around.” Miles noted quickly.
Miles slipped the cloth around Rhys’s ribs and tied it tight under Rhys’s
armpit. Rhys could hear his heart thumping louder. “Why can’t I feel my arm!?”
Rhys exclaimed breathing heavier.
“Rhys stop I need you to focus otherwise you’ll pass out again…”
As Miles helped him up, Rhys never felt himself sober up so quickly in his
life. He looked down to his right shoulder, with immediate widening eyes as he
looked down to nothing. His shirt was cut around his shoulder, Miles’s torn
sleeve tied around his body with nothing but blood drenching the table and an
arm missing. Rhys drew in a breath to scream but Miles was quick to act
covering his mouth so he could scream into his hand.
“W-Where is it! Where’s my arm!” Rhys panicked looking up to Miles. The
reporter shrugged giving him a dismayed look.
“I don’t know. Trager took it with him, along with my f-fingers.” Miles
retorted looking up to the door. “C-Come on. There’s an elevator we can take to
get downstairs. There’s an opening. Where we can get out.” Miles said pulling
Rhys up into a standing position. Rhys was completely hurt and dumbfounded as
he looked at his shoulder where his arm use to be, what felt like minutes ago.
“H-How long was I out??” Rhys asked as Miles helped him out the door quietly.
“Almost an hour…Here.” Miles allowed Rhys to lean his back against the wall for
a moment to take off his watch and wrap it around Rhys’s wrist. “You’ve been
here longer…It’s got the date and time on it so you know. Here-…Your camera is
set up too.” Miles said adjusting the strap on his hand...
 
                As they trailed the halls quietly, Tears rolled down Rhys’s
cheeks and he tried to stifle the sniffles that just so happened to pop up with
them.  Miles couldn’t help but feel sorry for Rhys and all he’s gone through
already, He helped Rhys over bodies, over counters to get to new areas and did
the best he could to help him stay comfortable until they got to the elevator.
“Fuck it needs a key…” Miles growled low. Rhys watched him, as he sat him down
to hide with in the walls of the elevator. “Stay here. I’ll be right back
okay?” Miles reassured leaving the small room. It was quiet except the patients
locked down in the hallways, screaming and growling their full heads off. Rhys
shuttered at a cool breeze hitting his rib, then froze Listening to Tragers
voice, shouting obscenities in the distance. Not long after that Miles came
back, slipping into the elevator and fumbling to stick the key in its slot,
Sighing with relief as the metal gate shut and the elevator started to move
slowly. The moment of silence was only short lived as Trager was waiting at the
door a level below them, Prying the gate open like it was a piece of paper.
Miles gasped as Trager lunged for him attempting to stab him with the sheers,
both men standing in the way of the elevators decent. Rhys kicked Tragers knee
in, forcing him to Jolt backwards slipping, and Miles prevented his moment by
holding on to his arms as the elevator continued to descend. Tragers death was
slow, but almost enjoyable to Rhys, to see him gasp for air as the elevator
crushed him between the floor and to door of the elevator as it come to a stop.
Miles pulled himself away from Trager and fell back against the wall.
The two sat in silence taking in this silent victory as there were no patients,
nor doctors, or any other people for that matter.
“Are you okay?” Miles asked quietly.
Rhys nodded. “It’s starting to get pretty painful though…”
Miles bobbed his head in response. During the break in-between Rhys’s final
sentence, the two heard gunfire and looked at each other. And it wasn’t normal
gunfire. It was more of a semi-automatic weapon that was firing off a few
rounds per minute.
“That doesn’t sound good…”
“No…No it doesn’t. Come on we have to get out of here..” Miles whispered
standing up to unlatch the top of the elevator shaft. He clasped his hands
together as Rhys stood, pressing his foot on Miles’s hand to get help up and
out into the shaft. It was hard using only one hand but he managed rather
nicely. He waited patiently for Miles to hoist himself up and out of the
Elevator to get into the hallway just a step away.   
“Think it could be the National Guard?” Rhys asked following Miles toward the
stairwell.
“That didn’t sound like any reserve fire arm I’ve heard….Probably hired
military.”
Hired. Military. It was hard to comprehend those two words together. Servicemen
were supposed to be hero’s in a stressful situation, not murderers. Rhys
thought to himself momentarily. These men, or women had come, hired on
Hyperion’s behave and had been ordered to kill everyone in sight. Now that was
something Rhys could believe.
The two men froze when they heard gunshots again. This time it being closer.
Miles took the opportunity to pull Rhys from the door of the stairwell and back
toward Trager’s lifeless corpse. “I know another way out but we have to get
passed the operatives and the variants in the hallways….Can you climb through a
vent?” He asked curiously. Rhys was against the idea, but the thought of going
one on one with the patients and the military was an even dumber idea than a
small vent.
“Yeah...but I’m claustrophobic.” He admitted sheepishly. Miles gave him a look
of understanding.
“I gotcha…We’ll move slowly so you don’t panic and I’ll let you lead. All we’re
going to do is head north until we hit the curve in the vents and go through
the open vent on the other side.” Miles added pointing in the direction they
were headed. He stopped moving by a table near an open vent in the ceiling and
knelt down. “Step on my back and I’ll help you up okay?”
Rhys nodded following Miles instruction and climbed up into the vent. Soon
after the reporter followed Rhys and the two began to crawl through the dust
filled vent. Some lights were showing though giving them both just enough light
to see and signaled them to wait whenever there was a shadow obstructing the
light.
“I know I said go here but, keep moving. It looks like someone’s in the room.”
Miles whispered looking down into another vent behind Rhys once they passed the
curve. Rhys continued forward but when the sound of Miles being forcefully
extracted from the vent made him freeze. 
“It’s the apostle” Said a rather bland man.
“Yes. Father Martian wishes to speak with you in the church. We will take you
there.” Another man added. Miles looked back to Rhys who was staring down at
him from another vent with horror. Miles took in a deep breath and waved his
hand urging Rhys onward before leaving with the two rather large men.
Great.
Alone again…This time, missing a limb.
 
                Rhys probably stayed in that vent for a good hour and a half,
just lying there, listening to the gun shots and screams of the patients until
there was nothing but silence. Sure it was dusty in there, but for the first
time in his almost three days of being there, he was safe. He breathed out a
heavy sigh as he looked down to the soft glow of Miles’s watch. 3:40a.m. Rhys
burrowed himself in the vent, setting the alarm on the watch for an hour,
cleaned a small part of the dusty vent and turned on his side to shut his
eyes…Just for a little while.
***** Getting to safety *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
                Vaughn’s heel tapped the floor repeatedly as he waited in the
office for Athena to come out with a case report for him to fill out. Once she
did she was on the phone, handing Vaughn the folder.
“Okay…Thanks Janey. I’ll be home later on…Okay-….Okay! Love you too…
Goodnight.” She muttered hanging up the phone. Vaughn smiled softly.
“Girlfriend?”
“Fiancé actually. Royal pain in my ass but I love her…Okay, So I need to leave
you here for a little bit. I need to get with two other people for missing
persons who are related to this case.”
“…There’s more people in there? Anything I can do to help?”
“Well maybe. The news already listed Miles Upshur as missing since they lost
track of him in the asylum…Do you know Waylon park? He’s a computer science
major like Rhys and his wife came to us after Harold Tassiter told her and her
child he had been admitted after committing a violent act against the company.”
Vaughn shook his head. “The name sounds familiar. It sounds like someone from
the upstate college.”
Athena showed him the picture of Waylon and he gasped lowly. “I-I do know him!
He use to work for Vasquez! He is an upstate guy. Really smart too. I met him
at the assembly not too long ago.”
There was a knock at the door to the room they were in and a man opened the
door a crack. “Hey serge…Just got a call from the local police by Hyperion.
Their getting reports of gunfire at the asylum…Place is falling apart, we have
to meet up with the police at the station to discuss further action.”
Athena sighed. “Alright pack up, and I’ll be out in a second.” The man gave her
a nod and closed the door, leaving the two alone again.
“Please let me come with you. I can fill out the paperwork on the way…If
anything I’d like to be there for Mrs. Park.” Vaughn pleaded standing up.
Athena gave him a reluctant look before sighing.
“Okay. But if anything should happen I need you to stay out of the way.”
 
===============================================================================
 
 
Rhys awoke sharply to the beeping on his wrist to get it to shut off with his
nose. He breathed out quietly finally hearing silence. Rhys pinched the bridge
of his nose before turning on the night vision camera. He pointed it at himself
along with the screen, finally seeing his face after the few days of terror.
His hair was disheveled, his cheeks dark purple, his lip was cut to high hell
and not to mention swollen.
“For the record I know I look terrible…U-uhm…I feel terrible too. I-It’s been
an hour since Miles got pulled out of the vent by the two patients…I managed to
take a pretty decent nap in that time…”Rhys sighed realizing how stupid he
sounded. “I got my fucking arm amputated by doctor Trager and I’m sure it was
recorded on the camera…I was raped…I’ve seen enough dead bodies…I just want to
go home…” The man paused for a minute seeing the tears start to fall down his
cheeks on the camera but didn’t feel them. Rhys shook his head wiping the tears
off on his sleeve and flipped the camera back forward as he began to crawl. He
was careful not to make too much noise but, the popping of the vent was
something he couldn’t really help. A sudden Jab to the metal, Jolted Rhys from
his concentration and he looked over to see a large serrated knife poking
through, just inches from his first injury.
“I KNOW YOU’RE UP THERE!! COME OUT AND PLAY!” Jack screamed extracting the
knife again. Rhys wanted to scream. Immediately he bolted forward avoiding
Jack’s assault as he moved through.
“Fuckin’ stop Jack!” Rhys shouted back to him out of anger.
“OH HOHOHO RHYSIE!! BABY!! THERE YOU ARE!!” He laughed loudly, the knife
puncturing the vent repeatedly now.
Rhys was cursing under his breath feeling the metal scrape his arm and his legs
beneath him, then a sudden loud gasp as Rhys dove right into a large duct, head
first, and unable to save himself from the fall. It felt longer than it should
have been up until he fell right through the vent cap and onto a hard wooden
table. He groaned in pain feeling the wind get knocked out of him and a stitch
break on his shoulder. “F-..uck.” He wheezed looking up into the dimly lit
room. There was sewing machines sprawled out on desks, mannequins dressed up in
dresses, Blood of course covering everything in sight, and a light blue haze
shining through the windows.
As Rhys stood looking through what looked like an activity room, he could hear
chains rattling and tests of what sounded like wood shaking. He limped quietly
through the room up until he came to an open door to the woodshop, quickly he
ducked back seeing a man naked and tied to a saw table while an even larger man
ran his fingers up his leg. “You have amazing bone structure!” He cooed moving
to turn on the saw. Rhys’s eyes widened as he zoomed in getting a closer look
at the man on the table who looked just as horrified as Rhys did. It was Waylon
Park. A man he had gone to school with before he moved south to the campus he
works at now. And this maniac was about to saw him in half. Rhys panicked when
the man went to begin cutting. Bolting forward, Rhys threw a wicked punch at
the man, still holding the camera. During Rhys’s assault one side of the beams
Waylon was attached to, broke allowing him to free himself. Now comes a bigger
problem. The man attempting to murder Waylon had his eyes locked on Rhys. “Get
back here!!” The man yelled. Quickly, Rhys threw another hard punch and ran
turning a sharp corner, hearing the boot steps following behind him. He
remembered when Chris walker was chasing him and Jack, and the both of them
hiding in the locker to escape his wrath…That’s what he needed to do. Hide.
Miraculously Rhys found a desk with a back that he could easily hide behind and
bolted for it, crawling underneath. He held his breath listening to the boot
steps coming into the room…move around…then leave, shouting something Rhys
couldn’t make out from down the hall.
                Rhys moved slowly out from the desk and moved quietly into the
hallway, trailing back to the room with the bloodied saw, then the sewing
machines where a door was busted down. He ducked low hearing the man again.
“All of you whores! Where are you?!!” The man was coming back in the direction
of Rhys and he knew it. As the footsteps became louder, Rhys crouched low into
a shadow, then jolted spotting movement across from him. Waylon was there fully
clothed, holding a camera just like Rhys, very low to the ground just as he was
pressing a finger to his lips, and shaking to signal Rhys to stay quiet. Rhys
gave him a nod and stayed low as the man moved passed, allowing a moment for
them both to escape. The two of them bolted catching the larger man’s
attention, following behind them closely. Waylon opened the door, Rhys closed
the door after him to get a short break between them. But he was still hot on
their tales. Waylon bolted and jumped out of the broken window to the outside
courtyard and Rhys followed suit knowing he probably couldn’t take on the other
man with just an arm.
Waylon landed a little more ungracefully than Rhys did and he could see why.
His ankle was broken and had a pretty sizable hole in his leg. Rhys looked up
to the window where they had just jumped out of and the man stood there
snarling at them before bolting back.
Rhys breathed a heavy exasperated sigh before standing offering Waylon an arm
to help him up.
“T-Thanks…Rhys?” Waylon questioned shakily looking him over. “Jesus Christ what
the hell happened to you?”
Rhys scoffed fixing his camera on his hand. “A lot. What are you doing here?
How did you get here?”
“Accepted a job offer to bring up security feed for that dumb morphogenic
engine thing. You?”
“Accepted the job for coding… So you were down there too?”
Waylon nodded, turning to limp toward the cafeteria. Rhys followed. “Miles
Upshur is here too…” Waylon looked up to him with a smile. “That’s awesome… I
messaged him to come…I hope he sees what’s going on here.”
“Oh…He did. I was with him for a little bit before he got taken from me…”
Waylon gave Rhys a worried look as the two limped inside the doors to the
kitchen. The area was almost spotless from any blood, but the stench of death
was definitely there making the two gag. “How long have you been recording?”
Rhys asked curiously.
“Since 9pm yesterday…”
“Oh! So you still haven’t seen the entire asylum. Good. I have everything on
here if you want to compile evidence together to bring this shit hole down.”
Waylon nodded happily. “oh definitely. I-“ Waylon froze as the two came out
into the hall way to a bright exit sign. It seemed like too good to be true.
Waylon quickly stepped forward grabbing the handle to turn it but it was of
course locked. “Fuck. It needs a key…” Waylon sighed stepping away from the
door. He looked over his shoulder to the Gymnasium and sighed. “Maybe the
coach’s office has a key?”
Rhys shrugged. “Let’s find out…I want out of here.” Waylon nodded and the two
started walking for the gymnasium. As they entered, both of them looked up with
their mouths agape and a heaviness in their hearts. Men, surgically fixed to
look like women, hung from the ceiling like rabbits.
“Shit…He’s gunna be here any minute.” Waylon said limping quickly toward the
coach’s office.
“Who?” Rhys said stepping over the rope in the ground.
“The groom. Eddie Gluskin. I-I’ve been running from this guy for hours. This
guy’s obsessed with getting married and having babies…” Waylon gulped turning
into the corridor where the coach’s office was.
As they made their way there both of them froze to see what looked like a
wedding and bridal display with the key dangling from the mannequin’s finger
acting as the ring.  Of course Rhys thought that was fucked up, but he followed
Waylon up to the key, jolting to look back when a shadow crossed the light.
“When I was a boy~ my mother often said to me~ get married boy and see how
happy you will be!~” The groom sang and Waylon bolted for the side door,
squeezing between a barricade, and pulling Rhys along with him. Waylon opened
the door to the stage theater and hopped over bodies as they passed them to get
back to the Gymnasium, running, well more so hopping back to the exit sign as
quick as they could.
Waylon turned the key in the door happily getting it open, while suddenly a
hard hit to the back of the head on Rhys dropped him to the floor. Then the
attention was turned back to Waylon, pushing him back from the door, and Rhys
could hear the smack or hit, rather, of skin on Waylon as The groom hit him
back toward the gymnasium. Rhys could hear the loud commotion, but as he tried
to stand, dizziness over took him and he continued to stumble on the floor. The
concussion was pretty serious considering Rhys’s vision was tunneling and he
had to continue to tell himself “don’t pass out, don’t pass out, don’t pass
out.”
Rhys froze hearing the foundation break in the gymnasium, hearing both Waylon
and The groom shout until there was silence. He gripped the edge of the wall to
help him stand and as he turned Waylon was limping up behind him.
“L-Lets go….He’s dead.”
Rhys followed him through the exit without question. Scaling the stairs,
walking through corridors, evading the Ex-military operatives, and finally
taking the Stairs farther down to the lobby where the front door was wide
open…It felt bittersweet. Both of the men looked around, not seeing a soul in
sight except bloody foot prints leading out of the asylum. The sun was rising,
the rain had cleared, and the smell of fresh dew filled the area as the two
walked outside toward the cars… All of the tires were slashed except for one
car by the gate. Rhys investigated the vehicle making sure they weren’t
bringing anything out of the asylum, then sat in the driver’s seat in the
unlocked car, while Waylon slid into the passenger side. Rhys turned the key
that was already in the ignition, turning the car around and flooring it to
break through the closed Hyperion gate… They were free.
 
                It was about an hour drive from the local police station. When
they pulled into the parking lot, Waylon broke down, exiting the car as quickly
as he could to go greet his crying wife and get checked out by paramedics…Rhys
however exited the parked car and dropped to the solid concrete passing out
from the loss of blood in his missing arm and knife wound.
Chapter End Notes
     Heeeeyyyyyy all you frequent buyers. So here's the thing. Its not
     over. Not by a long shot. I still have plenty more chapters for you
     to absorb and Jack is still in the picture so stay tuned!
     ~Spai
***** Downtime *****
                Beeping. What the fuck was beeping so loudly in Rhys’s ear.
Rhys opened his eyes slowly to a softly lit room with the blinds drawn, Vaughn
reading a book on the chair beside him, and the news on the tv muted off to the
side of him. Rhys pulled off the oxygen mask around his face, getting Vaughn’s
attention.
“You should probably keep that on Bro-“
“I’m fine. Shut whatever is beeping off.” Rhys growled groggily.
“I can’t. That’s your heart monitor…Uh…So how are you? They said you went
through a lot of damage in there…” Vaughn said putting his book down to sit
forward to him. “Which…Is kind of obvious.”
Rhys shot him a knowing glare, but it was hard to get mad at a comment he said.
It was true, He was messed up pretty bad and could feel the dose of morphine
dripping through the I.V. and it was probably why he just felt sore and not in
intense pain. “How’s Waylon?”
“Pft! He’s fine! Just some ankle problems and a few minor things, but you-
…You.” Vaughn scoffed shaking his head. “The investigator took you’re camera
and Waylon’s. It’s more than enough to take down Hyperion…Like slam dunking it
into the pavement or something…I just… I can’t-…Are you okay? I don’t
understand what you went through bro I just wanna know if you’re okay…” He
frowned.
With a sigh, Rhys nodded. “I’ll be fine. I-“ He paused looking at the T.V.
“Turn that up for a second.”
Vaughn did so and it was a ‘Breaking news’ announcement.
                “Good afternoon, this is Amanda from Scarlet TV News with a
breaking announcement. We have just learned that there has been 3, yes 3
Handsome Jack-like murders in the town of New Haven. One victim being Harold
Tassiter, Warden and CEO of the Hyperion Asylum institution, the same that has
recently been scandalized for abuse, murder, and extortion from the families of
the patients who live there. His face and eyes had been removed from his skull
and entire body brutally beaten and broken. Officials say this is the worst
case of murder they’ve seen. All victims were near the asylum during the
torture and hospitalization of both Waylon Park and Rhys Callen. It is still
being determined the victim’s time of death. Investigators are currently on
seen and a search party is being developed to find the killer.”
Rhys’s heart monitor thumped a little quicker now and Vaughn could see he was
paling.
“-I’m being told that Handsome Jack has escaped the asylum and is currently
unaccounted for. All local police stations by the asylum are advising citizen’s
to stay in their homes and remained armed. We’ll keep the channel updated.”
Horrific. This broadcast was absolutely terrifying and Rhys’s anxiety was
spiking so high, it rose his heart rate to alert nurses of a possible problem.
Vaughn shut off the tv and moved into the hallway to get a nurses attention.
When they came back into the room Rhys was moving to stand but quickly forced
back onto the bed.
“He’s coming for me!! I need to leave! He’ll come!” Rhys exclaimed trying to
pull himself up but he was too weak. Two nurses strapped him down and
administered a sedative to get him to fall asleep. Vaughn watched the scene
unfold and he knew something was obviously wrong. With a sigh he sat back down,
turning the tv on low watching the updates that came.
                Jack was all of many things. Obsessed, determined,
narcissistic, a murderer. He knew what he was doing. He wasn’t crazy. Killing
Tassiter was a thrilling experience, relieving stress, relaxing back, rooting
though his car that he snuck into and drove off with. The woods was probably
his favorite place to be so, that’s where he dumped his victims.  Even the
unmarked ones now. As Jack searched for any sign of something interesting,
finding Tassiter’s cell phone, then he moved to the trunk of the car, opening
it with a smile. Two duffle bags were full of clothes which he searched
through, coming across a College ID Card. A smile grew wider on his face.
“Rhys…Callen.” Jack said pacing the end of the car as he red off Rhys’s ID.
“Not a home address but it’s a start.”
Jack pulled out some clothes that were his size, maybe a tad bit smaller, threw
on a petti coat, then pulled out Tassiter’s Phone Dialing a number and
listening to the tone.
“Hello?” a voice answered.
“Moxxi. How are you?” Jack smiled hearing her voice.
“Jack? What the fuck? You realize you’re on the news right? Why are you
contacting me?”
“Watch your mouth. I need a place to stay. And I need to be picked up. I’m
about to torch this car.”
Moxxi growled low. “Where are you?”
“I’ll be at our usual spot in about a half hour.”
“Alright I’ll be there. Bye Sugar.”
Jack dropped the phone on the ground and stomped on it to pieces. He always
appreciated having Moxxi as a friend, considering she was just as deep as he
was in murder charges. Only she had never been caught. Jack always thought of
Moxxi as the queen of the damned considering she used poisons to kill her prey
after sleeping with them. She was a gorgeous woman but both Jack and Moxxi
decided to keep their relationship cordial and platonic in a sense that if
either of them ever needed help…They would be there.
 Jack moved quickly to pull a box of matches from Tassiter’s car and open up
the gas tank cap. With a strike of a match and a drop of a pin, the car nearly
blew up in flames as Jack dropped the lit match in the gas tank. Jack thanked
his lucky stars for his boots as he ran south into the heavily wooded area.
Jack knew the terrain well and if anyone tried to come through, he would have
an instant upper hand. As for reaching Rhys however…He’ll have to wait
patiently for the police to die down…
 
 
                Rhys awoke in a fright when he heard a sound outside of his;
what looked like a new room. He could see a police officer outside of his room,
and a few nurses scattering around through the window. To his left he could see
that night was falling and the night’s stars we’re starting to show up which
was a pleasant sight to see.
“Rhys?”
The man looked back over to see Waylon, who had a cast on with crutches, his
wife Lisa beside him, and a rather tired looking boy in her arms.
“H-Hey, How are you?” Rhys smiled adjusting the bed so he could slowly move to
sit up. Waylon limped in, sitting in the chair beside Rhys’s bed while Lisa set
the child on the chair next to Waylon.
“Better that’s for sure…How are you? We’ve been waiting for your transfer and
to wake up because we have news to tell you…Nothing about the handsome jack
thing though I’m sorry…That’s gotta be really terrifying.”
Rhys’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What thing?”
Lisa gave Waylon a worried look as Waylon watched Rhys. “Well…They found a
printed copy of your ID card on a victim’s body with a note.”
Rhys rubbed his face with his hand out of despair. “Should I ask what it said
or do I already know?”
“Well the victim was found waaayyyy farther South than Hyperion. So he has to
have a car or something heading in that direction.”
“So what did the note say?” Rhys questioned relieved he was moving away. Waylon
hesitated and Lisa spoke up in his place.
“We’re sorry Rhys, but I think you better take a look at it yourself.” She said
pulling out her phone to look at the news article. 
                “Dedicated to Mr. Rhys Callen. I regret to inform you that this
will not be the last you see of me. Though I am taking a short break in
collecting art for my book to evade the trace of my existence…I wanna
congratulate you pumpkin for being the first victim to escape me….You get to
live another day, but what about tomorrow? Cause I’m not goin’ anywhere. I’ll
be sitting here waiting, deciding what I’m going to do to you. All I need is
time. One day when you least expect it I’ll take over your skin and body with
my own two hands….”
The rest of the letter was smudged with blood and Eligible. Rhys sighed laying
his head back on the pillow behind him feeling an utter sense of defeat. Waylon
cleared his throat. “Well…Rhys it’s not a lot we could have done but as a thank
you for saving my life against the groom…We paid your hospital bills in full
and ordered in one of those High tech prosthetics. We could only get the
standard chrome though…” Rhys looked over to him with a soft smile.
“Thanks…That’s a lot, but…Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Waylon gave him a nod before standing. “It’s coming in tomorrow…So…be ready to
get poked and prodded again.” He said patting Rhys’s knee. “We’re gunna get
home. Vaughn should be back shortly. Rest easy Rhys.” Waylon said giving him
another nod before making his way out the door with Lisa and the child.
                When Vaughn came back Rhys was in bed flipping through channels
on the tv that always seemed to have some type of breaking news story about a
body found, or new information on Handsome Jack including something Rhys paused
on. A news anchor mentioned calling Jack’s brother, Timothy Lawrence pressing
him on the phone for the whereabouts on handsome Jack who seemed just about as
clueless as he was and already had spoken to the police. “Well Mr. Lawrence if
you had anything to say to your brother what would to tell him?” The news
anchor asked and the man sighed on the phone.
“If Jack is listening, I just want you to know that as your twin brother I love
you…But please get some help. Innocent lives were snuffed out because of you.
This isn’t the brother I remember…If Mr. Callen is listening…I’m sorry we
didn’t get to meet. Words probably couldn’t describe how incredibly sorry I am
for what happened to you.” The man sighed again, Rhys noticed both Jack’s and
Timothy’s voice were almost perfectly identical…but Timothy had such a softer
tone when he spoke and it made Rhys feel pretty good about him. “Jack is a very
persistent man and I’m sure it didn’t take you long to figure out. If you ever
need to reach out for help, please drop me an e-mail. I’d like to help anyway I
can.”
Vaughn muted the TV getting Rhys’s attention. “Hey.” Vaughn added walking to
sit at Rhys’s side.
“Hey. Where’ve you been? Waylon and Lisa were here.”
“I was actually on the phone with the investigator. They said they found Miles
Upshur and found his camera.” Vaughn answered.
Rhys’s heart sank. “Is he dead?”
“No but he might be. He’s in intensive care at the hospital by Hyperion. Lots
of burns and he kept raving on about some Walrider thing escaping and everyone
being in danger. By the sounds of it he was pretty frantic…Do you know anything
about the Walrider? Or whatever it is? And some winged thing.”
“Walrider and The Siren is the winged thing.” Rhys corrected. Vaughn raised his
brow and folded his arms as he laid back in the chair.
“So…What is it?”
Rhys was hesitating. This was exactly what he didn’t want to talk about with
anyone because he would be viewed as crazy. “It…I don’t know. They’re not
human. They’re like these really weird demons-….I don’t want to talk about it
Vaughn! You’ll look at me funny and think I should be in some asylum like
Hyperion.”
“Bro. There’s 3 cameras with more than 3 days’ worth of evidence. Miles was
found in the experimental wing of the asylum where you lost contact for a
little while…So whatever you saw is probably on those cameras. I’ll believe
you.”
Rhys shook his head. “I just wanna get my arm and go home. I’m not talking
about those fucking…Things. Not until they see it for themselves on the
camera.” Rhys muttered. “I just want to see Jack behind bars and for everything
to be back to normal…”
“Well that’s not going to happen for a while Rhys…Not until you talk about what
you saw and find closure. I mean handsome Jack won’t stop until he’s dead, you
are or you fight back. The FBI Just has to know what the hell their dealing
with these demons or whatever and why he’s connected to them.”
“C-Connected to them?! He’s not connected to them!” Rhys laughed loudly.
“Nothing connects to them. They’ll explode if they try. I caught it on video
Vaughn! Jack has nothing to do with them.”
Vaughn stayed quiet watching Rhys’s expression fall. “…I have an idea though.
Get me Timothy’s email.”
“Why?”
“Maybe he can lead us to Jack.”
“But he already talked to police. He already said that he didn’t know where he
was on the news.”
“That’s true…But he knows more about Jack than anyone here. So get me his E-
mail. He said if I wanted to reach out for help, That’s exactly what im going
to do.”
***** Deal *****
                By the time the next few days came, Rhys finally got his chrome
arm attached with its new high tech mechanics so he would have full function
just as before. Vaughn seemed to take a liking to the new piece but it was just
another horrid reminder of the hell he went through. Probably the only benefit
was the FBI reimbursing him for his work at Hyperion and then some for taking
the first few days off of work. Rhys was finally released from the hospital and
scheduled regular meetings with a psychologist to maintain his sanity it seems.
The ride home in a secured FBI van was pretty cool to be honest except the fact
Vaughn, who was in the back, where Rhys was in the passenger side seat,
 couldn’t shut up about how outdated their computers were and the connectivity
of their network. Rhys zoned out every now and again feeling the warmth of the
sun on his face and the cool country breeze through the crack in the window. It
was peaceful. Very refreshing to get far, far away from the hospital and
Hyperion, and go back to the city where he belonged. Full of people, and lights
where the dark couldn’t catch him. Where Jack couldn’t catch him. Or whatever
the hell that Chris Walker guy was, holy Christ. Rhys shuttered at the thought.
“Y’alright kid?” The driver asked with a soft smile. Rhys returned his smile
and nodded.
“Yeah I’m okay. Thanks.”
Rhys wanted to tell him how he really felt about everything, but with the news
plastering everything about him on the news it was pretty hard to talk about
something someone could have already known. With the investigation going, it
was becoming more difficult to keep things locked away in the back of his mind
where they could stay forever.
“Do…Do you know if they caught Jack yet?”
The driver frowned glancing at Rhys once more. “If they spot him, we’ll make
sure you’re the first to know. So far they only found Warden Tassiter’s car
about a few miles north of Hyperion in the woods. So they think he’s moving
that way.” Rhys sighed laying back in his seat. Although he was still stressing
out about Jack, it was good news he was heading the opposite way.
                When they finally got to their apartment, the head of the
college and some of the computer science deans, including Yvette, filed out of
the van to greet Rhys back. Which was a little alarming to see. “It’s good to
have you back Rhys. We just want to tell you that you won’t have to worry about
transportation back to the school. That’s going to be handled until we can get
you a new car. Which we’re close to.” Said the head proudly.
Rhys rose eyebrows as well as Vaughn. “What do you mean by ‘we’?” He asked
curiously.
Yvette clasped her hands together with a smile. “The community came together to
gather funds for new transportation for you. It was actually a few of your
student’s Idea.”
Rhys was shocked. His students were doing that for him? His mouth was agape as
his eyes shifted to all of the deans.
“We just wanted to know if it would be okay to donate the car to you, free of
charge.”
“Y-Yeah of course!” Rhys smiled happily. His heart was practically swelling
with Joy and admiration. He always tried hard to impress his students and
promote them to do better for others, considering bullying was a major problem
in their college, even from the club members of frat or sorority groups.
“Good. I’ll let them know to continue. But for now you go ahead and rest. We’ll
see you at work on Friday?” The dean asked curiously and Rhys nodded.
“I’ll be there. I can’t wait to get back to work.”
“Okay. Well see you then.” The dean smiled. As the heads got into the van,
Yvette stayed behind with the two watching both the van and the FBI leave out
of the complex.
“Sooooo.” She said following the two inside their apartment as Vaughn unlocked
the door. “What was it like to meet handsome Jack and survive?”
Rhys rolled his eyes. How typical of her. Always wanting to get the first shred
of gossip even if it meant bringing up something as scary as the Asylum. Rhys
lifted his t-shirt to show off the bandaging wrapped around his side.
“They did say you got stabbed too. Huh….What was he like?” Yvette asked again
flopping down on the couch as Rhys moved into the kitchen to find any sort of
sugary snack.
“Yeah…I’ve been wanting to ask that too…What was he like?” Vaughn added sitting
beside Yvette. Rhys shot them both a glare from the kitchen as he scooped ice
cream into a bowl. “Come on be honest. I mean you were only obsessed with the
guy-“
“I wasn’t obsessed!” Rhys interrupted. “I only watched the updates on the
murders because I didn’t want to see more names of people I knew…” He frowned.
“…He was smart…Not someone you’d expect to be a murder until you actually got
on his bad side…Like jumping out a balcony window trying to escape him…He’s
really fast, Smart…intimidating….The best of both worlds I guess…” Rhys sighed
taking a bite of ice cream moving to sit by Vaughn.
“How did you lose your arm?” Yvette asked and Rhys practically growled at her.
“I’m just asking!! Testing the water to see how you’ll react when kids ask
you.”
Rhys hadn’t thought about that. He looked down at his chrome arm wiggling his
fingers fluidly. “I was tortured…Well I wasn’t really tortured…I had to watch
Miles get his fingers cut off…I passed out and woke up with an arm missing.”
Yvette raised a brow looking over to Rhys as well as Vaughn. Rhys looked down
at his hands with a soft sigh. “I don’t want this anymore…” He pouted pushing
the bowl of ice cream away, and standing to move to his room. Yvette tried to
follow but Vaughn grabbed her by the arm shaking his head to signal her to not
follow.
                Rhys had the door locked away behind him as he sat at his desk
rubbing his damp eyes with his flesh fingers. He drew in sharp breaths trying
to silence that soft sobs that escaped him. He just wanted to feel human again.
To not feel like a piece of chewed on meat from the asylum. Rhys jumped when
his phone went off with the Hospital’s I.D. number showing on the screen.
“Yeah, Rhys here.” He answered trying his best to not have a shaky voice.
“…Rhys…Its Miles…”
The man froze for a second hearing his voice. He sounded muted like something
was over his face.
“Miles…You okay? I-“
“Hang on there, I have something to say….A few things to say. Firstly, I want
you to know that taking my car was okay. I’m glad you got out safe with
Waylon…Next I’m sorry-…About the arm. I couldn’t imagine losing an arm the way
you did…I know I’m rambling a bit but I want it to be my last right I suppose.”
Rhys laid his head down on the desk, feeling to tears start to roll again. Just
hearing Miles’ pained voice tightened around Rhys’s heart with a squeeze. “No,
no man you’re fine. You’ll be okay. Please feel free to talk I’m not doing
anything but crying myself so-... Keep talking.”
“I’m not going to be okay Rhys. As much as I’d like to be…I’m not they’re not
giving me through the night…. I’ve been shot with an assault rifle, beaten,
thrown by walker, and that’s not what I really want to tell you…”
“What is it?”
“You were a patient on the morphogenic engine right?...Along with Waylon and
handsome Jack?” Miles asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’m the new host of the Walrider Rhys…And it’s tearing me apart.” Miles
squeaked out. “I already called Waylon…And there’s a government vehicle outside
waiting to take me away…I don’t know what’s going to happen to me but I have a
request for you.”
“Anything you need, I’m here.” God this hurt. How could that thing take him
over? Rhys wanted to question him about the winged siren that was there but
decided there was NEVER going to be a good time to talk about that one.

“Find Jack’s Brother Tim. Gather as much information as you can to help find
him so Jack can tell the officials everything about the Walrider…He’s gotta
know something about it.”
Even though Rhys had planned on talking to Tim to get information out of him
anyways, the thought of personally dealing with Jack again was terrifying.
“Yeah.” He said. “I can do that…”
 
===============================================================================
 
                Jack sprawled his arm’s out on the back of the couch, while the
one and only Mad Moxxi worked the tension out of his shoulders. However the
pacing man in the living room of the deluxe trailer had a rather unpleasant and
nervous look on his face when his eyes darted from window to window. “I don’t
know why you called me here Moxxi. If I get caught with you two my life is
fucking ruined. 8 years of college down the drain. You know I’m still paying
that off right?” He said earning a pathetic glance from Jack. “Relax Timmy. If
worse comes to worse we kidnapped you. It’s not like we don’t have a plan for
it.”
Timothy Lawrence. Brother of Jackson Lawrence (A.k.a. handsome Jack) with the
only distinguishing trait of freckles and subtracting a scar on his face. Gotta
love being mistaken for him from time to time.
“What do you guys even want anyway? You know the cops are watching me like a
damn hawk right? Ever since you escaped? I can only protect you so much Jack.”
Tim frowned. Jack sat forward and moved into a standing position to hand Tim a
card that was in his hand. Rhys’s college I.D. card. Immediately Tim frowned
with a heavy sigh. “You’re joking right?” He asked again. Jack smiled.
“You’re going to lead him to me.”
“What makes you think that? I’m not assisting in your games Jack. I’m not that
dumb.”
“You’re not assisting into anything. You’re going to LEAD me to him so I can
take care of business from there.”
Tim shook his head, while Moxxi wrapped her hands around Tim’s hips pressing
her breast against his back. “Come on Timmy… It’s been awhile since we’ve had
fun, hm sugar?” She cooed in his ear and pressed her lips to his neck, leaving
a bright red kiss mark. Tim shuttered pushing away from her and turning to face
them. “No! C-Cut it out!”  He ordered getting her to back down. Jack sat back
on the couch raising a brow as Tim’s work phone sounded off. “Gunna get that
princess? Or does some I.T. Person need help again.” Jack scoffed.
Tim rolled his eyes as he went to look at his phone. The caller was unknown so
Tim answered thinking it was a co-worker.
“Hello this is Tim.” He answered.
“uh, Hi Tim, this is Rhys.”
What a perfect time to call. Right when the man who wanted to kill Rhys was
sitting just mere inches away from him. “Oh! Hi how are you?” Tim asked
retreating nonchalantly to the door, hoping Jack couldn’t hear Rhys’s voice.
“I’m good. Hey…Sorry for calling your work phone I didn’t know how else to
reach you. I sent an e-mail the other day but haven’t heard back.”
“Yeah sorry I’ve been busy. I haven’t had time to check up on those recently…”
Tim said breathing a sigh of relief as he made it outside shutting the door
behind him. “I’m glad to hear from you though.”
“Hah…It’s alright. I was just wondering if you wanted to meet up for dinner
sometime this week. I’d like to talk about some things with you if you wouldn’t
mind.”
“Oh! Of course! I’d be happy to. Uh-….How does tomorrow night sound?”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”
As Tim hung up the phone he spotted Moxxi by the now opened window staring out
at him. He definitely made the right choice in refraining from saying Rhys’s
name. This wasn’t good…Not at all. As much as he hated to admit it, It was time
to warn Rhys as soon as possible at how close Jack is…It was either lead Jack
to Rhys, Jack goes to the college and destroy everything in his path to find
him, or warn everyone he can….Timothy decided it would be best to choose the
obvious choice. He wanted to meet with Rhys as soon as possible so Jack
wouldn’t have time to follow…This was nothing but a business trip by Moxxi’s
standards from what Tim could hear her telling Jack as he made his way into the
living room.
“Okay. I have one condition Jack.”
A smile grew on his face. “Yes?”
“You let him contact me. And I’ll lead you to him. Let him get comfortable
meeting up with me though because I’m sure as soon as he sees my face he’s
gunna see you and its gunna be awkward.”
“Okay so…How many meetings if he calls you?”
“I dunno, three I guess. Only if he calls me. And we have to meet three times.
Got it?”
“Deal.”
“Good. I have to go home and pack to stay out in new haven tonight. I have a
conference meeting tomorrow. See you later Jack.” Tim said leaning down to give
him a hug.
“I’ll be here…”
***** Kidnapped *****
Chapter Notes
     Thank you all so much for your kind reviews and kudos! ^W^ <3
It was hard for Tim to just openly rat out his brother. Jack had always been
there to support him and his decisions, and not to mention protect him from
years of abuse from their grandmother, who adopted them. Jack always took the
blame even if it was Tim’s fault, and stood up for him when they were in
school. He was the definition of a perfect brother, but when it came down to
other people…well, it was always Jack against the world. Tim had come up with
the rule to meet with Rhys three times so he could have some time to tell him
that he was in massive danger.
Tim had spent hours driving around the city, making sure Jack wasn’t following
him, or Moxxi for that matter considering she was Jack’s best friend it seemed.
After determining he was alone, Tim drove to Rhys’s apartment complex and
headed for the door, where Vaughn was exiting. A wide eyed curious brow rose on
his face and Tim quickly held out his hand.
“I-I’m Tim. I’m here to pick up Rhys.”
Vaughn was hesitant before shaking his hand. “I’m Vaughn. Sorry…You just-“
“Yeah…I’m Jack’s twin. I get that a lot…” Tim smiled sheepishly.
“Come inside, Rhys is still getting ready.”
Tim followed Vaughn inside taking off his coat to hold in his arms as he waited
patiently by the door. Vaughn moved to the hallway to the small apartment.
“Rhys, Tim’s here.” There was a faint chatter before Tim watched as Rhys came
out of the back room and stop dead in his tracks to stare at Tim. Rhys wore a
nice button up shirt and tie, black slacks and what looked like snake skin
shoes, which Tim liked. Rhys was handsome despite the bruises and his attempt
to hide the chrome arm under his sleeve and glove.
“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. We can always reschedule if that makes
you feel better.” Tim said shyly. “Me and my brother are identical twins so...I
get that a lot.” He reassured again.
“Oh nono it’s fine…Just took me by surprise is all. It’s nice to meet you.”
Rhys waved him off before coming up to shake his hand.
“You sure you guys want to go out in a public area? I think that would raise
more questions than anything.” Vaughn questioned. “I mean I can go grab take
out while you guys talk.” He added pointing to the door. Tim looked back to
Rhys and shrugged.
“Whatever makes you feel comfortable? Ever since the whole thing with Jack went
down, I’ve had people following me around so…Like police people, not…Jack.” Tim
clarified awkwardly.
Rhys hummed. “Well there’s a couple restaurants on campus that aren’t going to
be busy during this time. How about we go there? Some of them have private
booths we can talk in.”
Tim nodded putting his coat back on. “Sounds good to me.” Vaughn gave Rhys a
worried look, which Tim took notice too. “If it would make you feel comfortable
Vaughn I’d be happy to bring you along too. I don’t want either of you to not
trust me…”
Rhys gave a look to Vaughn who seemed to back down. “No its fine. Can you have
him back before it gets late? Anything past 10 and I’m calling the cops.”
“Vaughn! You’re not my mom!” Rhys exclaimed out of embarrassment.
“No, that’s fine Rhys... I can have him back before then.”
“Thanks Tim.”
Rhys shot Vaughn a glare before heading out the door. “It was nice to meet you
Vaughn, Thank you.” Tim said giving his head a slight bow before heading out
the door with Rhys.
 
                Not only did Tim double check his mirrors when driving, Tim
Triple checked his mirrors and surroundings. Rhys didn’t seem to notice until
he looked over to see Tim just staring in his rearview mirror. “You
look…anxious.” Rhys noted allowed getting Tim’s attention.
“Me? Yeah only a little.” He admitted. “To be honest…There’s more than one
person I have to worry about following me.” Rhys’s suspicion rose as Tim drove
around to the back of a restaurant to park.
“More than one? You mean more than just Jack?”
Tim sighed unbuckling his seat belt to only fall back in his seat and look over
to Rhys. “God Rhys if you only knew…You’re the only person to ever survive
Jack’s bad side and I really admire that about you. You did the one thing I
wish I could have done and save the lives of the people who passed away on
Pandora.”
“What’s that?”
“Make your voice heard. They red your testament in court and It was so detailed
I was pretty much inspired to make my voice heard too….But Jack has this
network of people. Strong people. People you don’t want to get on their bad
side, and it would take probably years to catch them…” Tim answered with a
sigh.
“Why can’t you speak out against Jack? Does he scare you?” Rhys asked again. He
knew the questions he wanted to ask Tim, he just didn’t think Tim would be so
open in the life of handsome Jack.
“Jack? No, Jack doesn’t scare me…I mean he’s my brother. What scares me, is the
people he uses to keep my mouth shut…Or at least keep me quiet in a court house
and forbid me from taking the stand against Jack because I have a gun drawn on
me.” Rhys frowned taking off his seat belt.
“He would force someone to hold a gun on you to keep you quiet?...What kind of
man is he?” He muttered aloud flopping back against the seat.
“The same who would kill a platoon’s worth of people for a dumb ‘art’
collection.” Tim answered getting out of the car. “To be honest Rhys, If Jack’s
goons were to be here now, I’d die before they’d get their hands on you. You’ve
suffered enough with the asylum.”
Rhys exited the car and followed Tim inside to a private booth. After ordering
Rhys could see by the look in Tim’s eyes he was uncomfortable. “Can you tell me
anymore about this network?”
With a sigh Tim rubbed his eyes. “It’s basically this cult who worship’s Jack
like a god. They would do anything he’d say, even if that meant killing someone
in the long run. They’re all just a bunch of psycho’s.” He said looking back at
Rhys. “I seriously hate everything about them. Some of these people are
classmates we had in high school following Jack as their blind leader. While I
was in college, I would study while my brother went off to some farm out by the
woods the next city over from where we use to live.”
“Was this during Jack’s marriage to his wife?”
Tim blinked when Rhys caught him off guard by his sudden question. “Yes. He
told you about his wife and daughter?”
“Yeah. He said he went crazy after his daughter killed her mom or something.”
Tim shook his head. “I can’t believe he told you that.” He said in disbelief.
“Jack has never opened up about them before…He must really want you Rhys. You
need to be careful….Jack killed his wife and daughter after not taking his
medication and schizophrenia took over. That’s when he started his book…To show
the work of art he’s done…I could have stopped it then…” Tim sighed holding his
head in his hands. “God I’m sick to my stomach….”
“You know it’s not too late to help Tim.”
“I wish it were that easy Rhys. Jack’s hold on these people are-“ Tim froze as
a gorgeous woman with straightened hair, a blouse showing off her perky
breasts, a tight skirt showing off her frame, and perfect make up, slid into
the booth.
“Hey there sugar…” She cooed. Tim closed his eyes with dread when she slid her
hand up his arm. “Didn’t recognize me did ya? You looked at me when I drove
beside you. Who’s your friend?” She smiled looking over to Rhys.
“Where’s Jack?” Tim questioned keeping his gaze off the two. Rhys pressed his
back to the wall of the booth when he heard those words. Jack was here.
Somewhere. He had to be!
“Now, now, I asked first. Who’s your friend?”
“You know who he is Moxxi. Where is Jack?” 
Moxxi giggled dragging her fingers down his side and onto Tim’s inner thigh.
Moxxi trailed her fingers back up to Tim’s pocket pulling out his phone to hide
it in her bra. “You’re not being a very good boy Timmy. Talking about Jack so
openly. Especially to his squeeze.” Moxxi smiled looking up to Rhys.
“You’re Mad Moxxi?” Rhys questioned as she moved to sit beside him closely.
“The one and only…Mmm, I can see why Jack liked you baby. It’s the eyes.” She
said reaching to touch Rhys’s cheek.
“You touch him anymore, I’ll make sure you leave here in a body bag. Where is
my brother?” Tim ordered lowly earning a surprised smile from Moxxi. Rhys could
hear Jack’s voice in Tim and it was almost nostalgic to the Asylum.
“Oh Timmy! Mmmm I love it when you talk like that. So manly….Don’t worry sugar.
Jack is still too far away. He sent me to watch you on your…conference call.
Come to find out it was actually this cute thing right here.” Moxxi suddenly
tsked looking over to Rhys who seemed to embed himself in the wall. “Jack isn’t
going to like the fact Timmy is with you. He’s gunna have a bone to pick with
you when you get home Timmy.” She added looking back to him. Moxxi stood fixing
her skirt and moved over to Tim to kiss his cheek, leaving a pink lipstick
mark. “See you around sugar…Jack can only keep you safe for so long.” She
whispered finally leaving the restaurant. Tim watched her leave in anger for
grabbing a napkin and rubbing it hard against his cheek.
“S-so he’s in your home? Where’s your home?”
“Not here don’t worry. But we’re not safe while she’s around she’ll track all
of my movements and she’s probably calling Jack now….Fuck. Anyway you could
have Vaughn pick you up? And take you somewhere safe? When he gets here I can
go out and find Moxxi to distract her.”
Rhys went to grab for his phone but it was missing from his pocket. “I had my
phone…I didn’t leave it in the car I know I didn’t.” He breathed out checking
his pockets again.
“Moxxi is a pick pocket…”
“Vaughn just got a new phone. I don’t know the number yet. I think Yvette did
too…”
Tim groaned looking at his watch. It was getting close to 9 p.m. “Can you think
of anything else we can try?”
“The college…It has Vaughn’s number in an address book on my computer…We’re not
too far. We can run for it.” Rhys shrugged. Tim rubbed his face, then pulled
his hair back slightly making it disheveled. He jumped slightly when the
waitress brought their food and left. “Let’s eat and then we’ll book it. If
we’re late calling Vaughn you won’t be at fault. I’d feel bad if we didn’t eat
and pay to be honest.” Rhys said sheepishly.
Tim blinked at him for a moment. The man was a little younger than Tim, and he
cared more about the food then his life. As he opened his mouth to say
something, he smelled the food he ordered and his stomach immediately growled.
Tim laughed grabbing his utensil set to unwrap. “So you prefer the food over
the killer?”
“I always prefer food. I prefer food over Vaughn but he’s just a plus.”
Tim laughed again shaking his head, and eating his food.
 
                The school was dark. Quiet. And unsecured for the most part
which was shocking. No guards, or small patrols. Almost as if they were asking
for someone to break in…Like Jack for instance. He roamed the halls freely,
noting the posters on the walls said it was spring break, and it ended on
Today. “What kind of school starts a new semester on a Friday?” Jack questioned
shaking his head. Jack looked on Rhys’s I.D. Card to see which room number he
taught at and spotted the room just next to him with a key card lock. “Huh.
Would you look at that?” Jack grinned sliding the card, gaining entrance into
the room. To his surprise a woman was sitting at Rhys’s desk staring up at him
in horror. “Well Hello sweet cheeks. I didn’t plan on killing anyone tonight
but if you scream I may reconsider.”
The woman stood abruptly when Jack pulled a large, sharpened hunting knife from
its holster on his belt as he neared. “What’s your name?” He asked countering
her movement around the desk after he shut and locked the door.
“Y-Yvette.”
“Yvette? Hm. Exotic name I like that. Sucks for the souvenir shops though, I
bet you can never find your name.”
Yvette stayed quiet as Jack sat down at Rhys’s desk.
“Be a good pumpkin and log on for me so I can access his computer.”
Yvette neared slowly, using her log on to turn on the computer. She froze
suddenly as Jack pressed the tip of his knife to her chin, digging it slightly.
“P-please don’t hurt me! I’ll give you anything you want!”
Jack cocked a brow with a smile. “Really? I wanna know where Rhys lives.”
“Promise me you won’t kill me and I’ll tell you everything about him!” Yvette
said holding up her hands as Jack stood, continuing to press the knife against
her.
“If I let you live you’ll tell me? You’d rat out a co-worker to spare
yourself?” Yvette nodded quickly.
“I wanna know everything down to the last drop then. And your word you won’t go
to the cops. I’ll get your address too just as insurance.”
 
                Tim checked every car in the parking lot after not seeing Moxxi
again, even his own. She still wasn’t in sight. Tim and Rhys quickly moved into
his car and Tim made his way onto the road toward the college which didn’t take
too long. Tim parked and got out of his car with Rhys running up to the school
and inside. Rhys was a little bit taller so Tim had to really move to keep up
with him when they made it to his room. Rhys input the unlock code and moved
inside where Yvette was sitting in the chair with a wet face.
“Yvette?! What happened!?” Rhys exclaimed moving to her side.
“Nothing sorry. I just found out a relative passed on.” She said wiping her
face.
Tim could see by the look on her face she was lying. Something had happened
that she wasn’t telling them. “Your face is scratched.” He muttered. Yvette
glared at the man similar to Jack.
“For your information I did it on my own by accident.” She snapped earning a
raised brow from Tim.
“Yvette” Rhys started getting her attention again. “I need a ride home. Mad
Moxxi is in the area and she’s following Tim.”
“Yeah…Okay.”
“Can I use your phone to update Vaughn? Moxxi took it.” She nodded again
handing it to Rhys.
“Rhys I’m gunna go. Email me, letting me know you got home safe.” Tim said
pointing at the door.
 
                After the two had said their goodbyes, Tim felt anxiety
bellowing in his stomach from the situation. He made his way outside, freezing
when he saw Moxxi in her normal “Serial killing” garb, standing by his car.
“Get in the car sweetie. we're gunna take you for a ride.” She smiled moving
her way up to him. Tim turned to run, but instead he ran straight into Jack,
and right beside him was a tall muscular man. “W-Wilhelm. Weren’t you with Jack
at Hyperion?”
“I picked him up. Get in the car cupcake. We got a lot of talking to do… A
lot.” Jack glared and Tim yelped as he was gripped around the mouth by Wilhelm,
and picked up tightly so he couldn’t struggle to get away as he was hauled over
to the car and shoved inside. Jack moved into the Driver seat while moxxi
jogged off to the truck Jack came in. Tim gasped when Wilhelm zip-tied his
wrists together and tied a cloth around his mouth. He looked up to Jack’s eyes
glaring back him in the rear-view mirror as he drove off on the main road.
“How dare you go against me? My own pathetic excuse for a brother? Who the fuck
do you think you are Tim? I’ve done nothing but protect you, and support you.
Then you betray me?! By talking about personal things about me?! Do you have
any idea what you’ve done to us? To you? Consider yourself shit outta luck
kiddo. You’re fucking MINE.”
***** The games begin! *****
                Rhys was a little timid from the situation earlier. A right
hand man…Er… woman, to Jack had found him on his work campus. This was a
situation that seemed to be escalating again. Yvette drove Rhys back to his
home, and during this time Rhys was checking every mirror, every window, and
every car that they drove next to. Yvette was quiet not paying any attention to
Rhys’s frantic state.
“Would you relax? No one is going to hurt you. Just stop.” She scolded. Rhys
glanced at her, shocked as if she would say anything even remotely close to
that.
“Excuse me?”
“Just stop. You’re acting like a prima donna.”
“You realize who’s after me right?! His friend, or whatever she is to him,
found me with Tim. His brother. She’s going to relay that back to him and now
Tim will get hurt because of me. I don’t want that!”
Yvette made a sharp turn into Rhys’s complex and parked, unlocking the door.
“Please get out. I have to go.”
“The fuck is your problem?”
“Get out.” She growled.
Rhys scoffed getting out of the car and making his way into his apartment where
Vaughn was watching the news.
“Hey man, you alright?”
“For now at least. Do you know what’s up with Yvette? Her attitude is
remarkably disgusting today.” Rhys said taking off his coat.
Vaughn shook his head standing. “No but I called Athena about your situation.
She said to just stay here for the next couple days. If they see anything out
of the normal they’re going to come get you and me.”
“Wait…You have the investigators direct number?”
“uh dude. Her and her fiancé play dungeons and dragons. Of course I got her
number.”
Rhys rolled his eyes and signed. “Listen, I’m gunna go to bed. If anything
happens let me know.” Vaughn gave him a nod and watched Rhys leave.
 
===============================================================================
 
            Tim hunkered down low in the seat of the car he was placed in
attempting to free his restrained hands from the zip-ties around them without
the sleeping Wilhelm waking up beside him. Jack had his eyes locked on the dark
road in front of him. It wasn’t until they hit the cornfield, Tim knew where
they were headed. Panic set in, with beads of sweat starting to drip from his
temples.
“Beautiful night tonight, Isn’t Tim?” Jack questioned and Tim froze looking up
to him through the rear-view mirror. “Y’know what this night reminds me of?”
Tim bit down on the tight rag around his lips. Whatever it could have been, it
wasn’t going to be good.
“Our winning baseball championship night.”
…Oh. Well that was certainly unexpected.
“We won by a landslide with you taking the winning home run and me right there
beside you…It was probably the happiest I’ve been in years. Lean forward.” Jack
said reaching a hand back.
Tim did as he was told, leaning forward, and Jack pulled the tight mouth piece
down from his lips.
“You remember that don’t you?” He questioned again. Tim was hesitant.
“Vaguely.”
“You don’t remember because you had the shit beaten out of you by our grandma
for ruining a pair of brand new cleats. She put you in a comma for a week
Y’know… I thought I lost my brother for a while there. I beat her with your bat
because she tried coming after me with the same reason. She died that night.”
…Good to know that’s how she died…
“Do I get a thank you for that?”
“Thanks Jack…”
“You’re absolutely fucking welcome Tim. Now let’s get down to business.” Jack
said pulling into a abandoned farm house with some people standing around a
fire near the stables. “Wilhelm! Wake up meat head, it’s time to play. Grab
Timmy.” Jack muttered smacking his knee to get him to wake up. Quickly Jack
moved out of the car and jogged up to the people who seemed to be waiting on
him. Wilhelm retied the restraint around Tim’s mouth and forced him out of the
car and over his shoulder where he met face to face with Moxxi standing behind
him.
“Hiya Sugar.” She said stroking his chin slightly before Wilhelm moved to
follow Jack with Tim on his shoulder.
His abdomen hurt when Wilhelm dropped him to the hard ground next to others who
were tied up inside the stables, looking frantic when they spotted who he was.
Jack walked around the giant fire pit getting a look at the captives. “All
athletic people I see…Good.” Jack complimented. Looking up to the people behind
the prisoners. Tim looked back to see them and they all looked rough, hard on
the eyes with sadistic smiles countering Jacks famous white toothed smile. “So
I called you all here as a checkup, or test rather. We’re gunna play a game.”
This wasn’t good…
“And we fully expect you to participate too, new shit sticks.” Jack smiled
looking at the captives. “This is going to be called the chase. My friends-“ He
said looking up to the murderers. “Here’s the plan. You’re going to give them a
three minute head start to run to their hearts content through the cornfield
and to the tree line which is about 3 miles from this spot. I have scouts on
the road to take them out if they stray. They MUST stay in the woods. The point
of the game is to collect as many faces as possible and they MUST BE IN GOOD
CONDITION TO COUNT.” Jack scolded.
Tim looked over to the prisoners who seemed to stare back at him. Quietly he
counted 11 prisoners excluding himself and 6 murderers.
“Now here’s the thing. My brother tried to go to an FBI affiliate and talk
about our operations here so he’s the only one who MUST stay alive. Bring him
back to me for a prize.”
“Hold on a minute.” Wilhelm said catching Jack off guard.
“Tim is a Baseball and Track star. He’ll out run all of them and he knows the
layout of the woods we have set up from Camping there so many years ago.” He
added. Jack nodded.
“Yes, Yes I know. I haven’t gotten to that part yet but I will now.” Jack said
turning his back to Tim and facing the fire. “Take off his restraint.”
Tim’s mouth piece came off and the air burned his Lungs as he quickly shouted.
“You’re crazy! 11 lives are at stake Jack! I’m not going to let you get away
with this! Free these people!! GET HELP!!” Tim growled stomping his zip-tied
feet against the floor.
“Oh Timothy…Take this as a lesson…” Jack said turning back to Tim with a red-
hot cattle Iron. Tim’s eyes widened as well as the rest of the captives. “This
is going to be your punishment as well as my friends handicap to find you out
there. Hold him down.”
Moxxi immediately tackled Tim to the ground sitting on his chest, and holding
his face, while Wilhelm sat back to back with Moxxi holding his legs down as
well as his arms.
“GET OFF!” Tim shouted going wide-eyed trying to get away. “JACK STOP PLEASE!”
Jack pulled off his silicone mask revealing the massive scar.
“Hold him Moxxi.” Jack ordered holding the Iron over Tim’s face. “Tim, this is
the Iron that Lillith used on me when they finally caught me. She said I
deserved this. And so do you. We were born twins. We were meant to be together
with no differences…I’ll turn you into a killer yet.”
A sudden loud scream escaped Tim’s lips when Jack pressed the Iron hard on
Tim’s face almost Identical to Jack’s. “I WANT TO MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND TIM! YOU
CAN’T EVER LEAVE ME NOW!” Jack screamed viciously. “I’M IN CHARGE OF YOU! I’M
THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN PROTECT YOU AND YOU’RE GOING TO KNOW THAT!” The man peeled
off the hot iron off Tim’s steaming face when blood finally started to drip
then cauterize from the burn. Tim’s breathing sharpened when he could only see
out of one eye looking up to Moxxi who was smiling ever so sweetly to him.
“Quit cryin’ honey…The pain will be over soon.” Moxxi said pressing a kiss on
Tim’s lips. Tim turned his head sharply away from her, with a sharp growl and
looked up when Jack hauled her to her feet by her collar.
“That’s enough of that Mox. You have work to do. So go do it.” Jack growled low
holding a knife up to her chin. With a glare Moxxi complied heading back to the
car leaving.
Jack moved away from Tim and started cutting zip ties off of the prisoners, who
seemed to freeze when they looked up to him. Once Jack finished he moved over
taking off Tim’s zip ties and checking his watch. “3…2…1… Go.” He said looking
back to the motionless captives. Tim, taking the lead, rolled on to his stomach
and got up bolting for the corn field, holding a hand lightly to the burnt side
of his face to focus on running. Jack watched him do so then looked back at the
prisoners when they weren’t moving. “Run assholes!!” Jack ordered with a
bellowing voice. The people quickly scrambled up, stumbling over each other to
enter the cornfield in all directions forcing Jack to laugh loudly along with
the other murderers in the group.
“Idiots.”
 
            This wasn’t happening right now. This couldn’t have been happening
right now. Tim said repeatedly in his head. He could only feel the burn on his
face but when he looked down onto his hand his was bleeding pretty horribly.
His blood dripped from his finger tips and onto the leaves of corn husks and
not to mention his boot prints imprinted themselves on the ground when he
looked down to them. Tim cursed remembering when he was younger, Jack taught
him how to track a wounded animal through a brush when they were
hunting….So…basically he was nothing but a wounded animal to Jack now….and he
was being hunted. That’s why he called getting burned and blinded in one eye a
‘handicap’…Tim knew his tricks.
Quickly Tim ducked low to take off his jacket to rip off a part of his sleeve
to press against his face to stop the dripping of blood, and take off his shoes
to sling them over his shoulder. The ground was wet, but Tim’s sock’s muted the
imprint of his foot against the soil. Tim spit the blood pooling by his mouth
and wiped it off with the cloth from his sleeve tossing it toward the streets
they came from to divert someone’s path. Tim stood slowly and moved toward the
Woodline, careful where he stepped and the blood from his face, he wiped with
his shirt. It was cold outside but with the adrenaline flooding his system, he
knew he didn’t have time to shiver and mope. As Tim lurched forward he heard a
bloodcurdling scream in the distance and could see a newly lit fire just off in
the distance behind him. One down. Tim thought. It was time to move. Abandoning
his coat seemed like a horrible idea now that corn husks were scratching at his
skin. Another scream rang off closer to Tim…to close. Tim dropped to the ground
looking at his surroundings and seeing a flashlight nearby. Slowly he crawled
until the sound of something rushing passed him caught his attention. It was a
woman captive running toward the woods just as Tim had and ended up getting
tackled by an awaiting murderer. Tim gulped as he was forced to watch her get
stabbed repeatedly until she finally passed away. The thought of that happening
to him made his eyes water. Tim held back his tear’s, sniffling quietly as he
crawled forward to the tree line. He could feel his feet were cold from the
damp soil as well as his body damp with the mixture of blood and mud on his
clothing.
Moving passed the murderer was the easy part…Once Tim got to the tree line it
was a whole new ball game. It was ten times as dark as opposed to the moon lit
crops behind him. Tim remembered these woods too well…Jack’s hunting days were
here, as well as the pranks he use to play on Tim…The mass amount of wolves and
cougars that were probably smelling Tim’s burnt flesh as we speak…The thought
almost made him turn back but…He moved forward, hoping, JUST HOPING…to see
daylight.
***** Special agent Madeleine *****
Chapter Notes
     Wow! what a following! thank you all so much for your support and
     patience on waiting for the chapters. You guys are awesome! <3
                With the woods so hauntingly dark, and his face throbbing from
the burn, Timothy Lawrence was ruling out options in his head. Which way to go,
how far, who to talk to, where to go once he hit a good open path, WHO TO TALK
TO. There would be no way Jack could turn him into a killer, even after the
reputation he’s established with his little clique, just to make sure he stays
alive for the time being when Jack was around. Tim had to admit he was
terrified. To suddenly be turned against by his own brother, and his…friends
because he was only trying to do the right thing. It hurt. Tim sighed softly
before hearing the footsteps running up to the right of him in the woods. Tim
could make out a small frame and then a larger frame behind them. He ducked low
behind a brush, listening to a scream, then a loud thump. More so the
shattering of bones is what he heard. Tim cringed, gritting his teeth as he
turned only to face Moxxi looking down at him. Tim went to gasp but she quickly
covered his mouth dropping on top of him.
“Shut up y’idiot.” Moxxi growled lowly. “If Jack finds out I’m here, He’ll kill
me too. I’m just here to help you.”
Tim batted her hand away. “Like fucking hell you are.” Tim shoved her off. As
he tried to run Moxxi grabbed his wrist placing a phone in his hand, which
caught him off guard. She was right, if Jack knew she did that, she would have
been killed. Tim looked at her quizzically as the moon showed its lighted glory
through the leaves of the almost bare, dying tree. She was genuine. Moxxi had
the expression that she wanted to help.
“I have the van but you need to move quickly. Scouts are still trailing the
road, and Jack isn’t far behind. Do you still have your wallet on you?”
Tim felt the lump in his back left pocket. “Yeah I still have it.”
“You have your I.D.?”
“I haven’t taken out my wallet since dinner.”
“Good you’re going to need it. Let’s go.” Moxxi whispered turning and jogged
toward the road. Tim was confused. More confused than he probably had ever been
in his entire life. This was very uncharacteristic of Moxxi. Tim hesitated
before following.
                Occasionally Moxxi would stop Tim if she heard a sound, or the
cracking of sticks behind them. When they hit the tree-line of the road Moxxi
straightened up her tail-coat, watching for scouts. When the coast was clear,
she signaled Tim to move forward. Moxxi quietly opened up the back of the van
to allow Tim inside before getting into the driver’s seat to get back on the
road. The two were quiet as Moxxi passed a scout check point as she usually
would, Tim evading any of their gazes as he hid low to the floor board.
“You can sit up now. That was the last check point.” Moxxi said calmly.   
“Alright.” Tim said sitting up in the seat of the van to look at her. “Start
fucking talking. Where are we going, and why.”
“The hospital so they can save at least part of your face from scarring.”
Not the answer he was looking for. “Why are you helping me? And don’t say it’s
because you love me, because I know that’s a-“
“Just stop Timmy! I’ll explain everything when we get there.”
The words Tim wanted to throw at her, caught in his throat. It seemed as though
that…Southern drawl accent had completely gone away which took him off guard
again. Hearing a woman after so many years suddenly loose an accent, Tim grew
quiet.
“Call any of Rhys’s friends to get in contact with him. Let him know Jack has
his apartment number and practically all his other basic information. Jack got
it using Rhys’s school I.D. card to break into the school and take it. Do it
while Jack is still out there with the others.”
Tim looked down at the phone in his hand seeing it was Rhys’s. Vaughn. Tim
scrolled through the contacts finding Vaughn’s number, and dialing the line.
 
===============================================================================
 
                When Vaughn’s phone rang, it caused him to jump. He was
watching the news reports about Handsome Jack’s latest kills and the direction
he was moving. Seeing Rhys’s number calling, Vaughn sighed loudly picking up
his phone and taking it towards Rhys’s room. “Y’know if you wanted something
you could have just-“ Vaughn opened the door seeing Rhys, fast asleep and lying
flat on his stomach. Vaughn answered quietly. “Hello?” He questioned quietly
shutting the door moving back into the living room.
“It’s Tim!! Get Rhys out of there now! Jack knows where you live, he got it
using Rhys’s I.D. Card for the school!”
Vaughn’s heart sank to the pit of the earth it felt like. “What? How did-“
“I-I Don’t know Vaughn. I seriously don’t know. I was kidnapped by Jack, H-He
burned my face with a fucking cattle Iron and n-now I can’t see out of my right
eye, I’m on my way to the hospital.”
Vaughn could hear the urgency and shakiness in Tim’s voice which only made his
anxiety worse. “How did you escape?”
“I can’t explain that now, but if you can get any federal agents you met trying
to save Rhys to meet me at the hospital, I’ll tell them everything that
happened, just please! Get out of there and go somewhere, anywhere!”
“On it!”
Vaughn quickly hung up the phone to make his way back to Rhys, who was sleeping
peacefully in his bed.  Gently he placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing it a
few times. “Hey Rhys get up we have trouble.”
Very groggily, Rhys groaned rubbing his eye. “What’s wrong?”
“You need to get up and get dressed. We have to leave. Now.”
“Why?” Rhys questioned moving into a sitting position to look at him as Vaughn
pulled a couple shirts and pants from Rhys’s dresser throwing them into a bag.
“Vaughn?”
“Tim just escaped Jack. He told me that jack used your key card to access your
information in the school.”
Rhys’s heart sank to his stomach. He was at the school, where Tim and Rhys were
both at earlier.
“Yevette…” He muttered shaking his head, hauling himself up to throw on a white
t-shirt quickly. “She was crying when we found her. He must have forced her to
help.”
“Ouch…”
“So what do we do?” Rhys asked curiously, pulling pants on. “Where is the
safest place to be?”
Vaughn was quiet as he handed Rhys’s bag to him before speaking. “Meeting Tim
at the hospital. He asked me to call Athena to meet him there…They could
probably help us out too.”
“Then call her. She can pick us up on the way.”
 
===============================================================================
 
                Moxxi pulled into the parking lot of the emergency area of the
hospital, and parked. “Give me like two seconds Tim.” She said reaching over to
pull out make up wipes from the glove box. Moxxi took a sheet out and began
removing the mess of make up on her face, then crawled into the far back seat
passed Tim, who watched her, completely confused, where as she shot him a
vicious glance. “I’m about to change do you mind?”
Tim immediately straightened forward, feeling the redness of his cheeks from
embarrassment. “-uh sorry.” After that the tense silence seemed to break into
something more …comfortable.
“Come on Timmy.” She added opening up the far back door, where Tim also exited.
Before closing the door, Moxxi pulled something from her hair, and pulled off
the very realistic wig, tossing it into the back finally allowing her deep
brown hair to fall to her shoulders after removing the wig cap. Tim blinked
pretty dumb founded by the sudden change in appearance, Moxxi had to physically
grab his wrist to lead him inside, where the faces of both nurses and patients
immediately turned to terror to see Tim.
“Don’t worry, this is Timothy Lawrence, the brother. He has I.D. as well as I.”
Moxxi said pulling out a wallet from her bag to show the guard at the sign in
station. Upon getting a closer look, Tim could see the bright, shiny, F.B.I.
Badge right next to her I.D. which made his cheeks heat up again. Moxxi was a
federal agent. An undercover…Federal agent. It felt like the news hit Tim so
hard, he didn’t even realize he was already being wheel chaired into the
emergency services area. His eyes were still focused on the badge in his mind.
Moxxi had been with them for years, building a horrific reputation to get her
name out there…
“Timmy, I’ll be in the waiting room…I’ll explain everything when you get
patched up.” She said waving to him as he was rolled off. With a sigh Moxxi
turned heading for the waiting room where she was greeted by a very stern
looking red head with golden colored eyes.
“Well?”
Moxxi sighed again. “It’s bad. 11 in the woods, some didn’t make it passed the
cornfield. Jack has some of these people tied around his finger. He’s grown
obsessed with Hyperion. Things he’s done, things he’s talked about, he just
enacted one of his ‘ideas’ turning murder into a game, and hurting his brother
because he got in contact with Rhys….Rhys is in trouble. There’s a lot Jack
wants to do to Rhys, and he was very…Very clear on what he wanted….I can’t do
this anymore Lilith. Not with Jack…He’s too unstable. He flips his mood like a
touchy fuse. Arrogant douche.” Moxxi growled folding her arms.
Lilith folded her arms, and paced the room slowly. “I need you to write out
everything that happened tonight and submit it by the morning.”
“You’re seriously going to make me write a confession.”
“Yes. We’re dealing with Handsome Jack again. Everything needs to be
documented. Word for word.” Lilith hesitated when she saw a figure walking
through the door.
“Athena? Good to see you.” Lilith said giving her a nod.
Athena walked in giving her a nod, followed by Vaughn then Rhys himself, which
caught Moxxi by surprise, also judging by the look on Rhys’s face he felt the
same.
“Rhys, Vaughn, this is special agent Moxxi A.K.A Mad Moxxi, and this is Chief
investigator Lilith…Can I talk to you for a minute chief?” Athena questioned
motioning her outside. As the two left, it left a quiet tension in the room.
“Please don’t be afraid sugar….Jack is nowhere near I promise.” She said
genuinely to Rhys, who seemed a little tense.
“You’re a special agent?”
Moxxi pulled out her wallet again to show Rhys the authenticity of her badge
and her I.D. to prove it.
“Your real name is Madeleine?” Rhys asked curiously.
“Yes…but I go by my alias.”
“Where is Jack now?”
“I sent Lilith the coordinates of where I saw him last. He’s by his old hunting
grounds…”
Rhys slowly sat down into a chair, watching as Moxxi sat across from him. “It’s
okay if you want to ask me to leave…I can imagine how uncomfortable I’m making
you feel.” She said with a frown.
“No…I guess I’m just trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’re
actually a special agent and not…well a murderer.”
Vaughn listened quietly to their discussion, also catching a bit of Athena’s.
She spoke quietly about their situation and asked to utilize a safe house for
both Vaughn and Rhys farther south, a generous offer considering both of their
parents were miles away.
“Yeah…” Moxxi muttered. “Tim looked a little surprised as well…”
 
===============================================================================
 
                After chatting back and forth for while, Tim came in the
waiting room, dressed in a T-shirt and grey jogging pants supplied by the
hospital. There was gauze wrapped around his head, covering one of his eyes and
he had very noticeable bruising around his other eye. Seeing Rhys quickly stand
to attention and rush over to hug him, Tim felt comfort in his arms.
“I’m glad you’re okay. Moxxi explained everything that happened to us and the
investigators.” Rhys said pulling away from him. Tim had to sort of turn his
head to see Rhys through his good eye…Then he spotted Lilith.
“Hey… It’s been awhile.” Lilith nodded.
“A little too long Tim…You wanna explain the network now? Or wait until you
can’t say anything anymore?” She asked curiously.
“…I’ll tell you everything… But I want to make a deal.”
“That so?...What is it?”
“I want protection, and to be granted immunity in court. Jack is unpredictable,
and he’s probably on the move now as we speak. I haven’t helped him in any way
shape or form and don’t ever plan too.”
Lilith folded her arms before pulling out her cell phone. “I think that’s
manageable. Let me give the district attorney a call and I’ll get back to you.”
She said leaving the room.
Both Moxxi and Athena followed leaving Tim, Vaughn, and Rhys alone in the room.
“Are you okay?...Does it hurt?” Rhys asked weakly looking over him.
“A little…But they numbed it for me. They said I could leave whenever I want
but…I don’t exactly feel safe out there at the moment so I figured I’d hang out
until the morning.” Tim answered rubbing his chin.
“Why don’t you come with us?” Vaughn gave Rhys a rather surprised look as well
as Tim.
“Really?...It’s not going to bother you?” Tim asked and Vaughn poked Rhys’s
side.
“Friendly reminder that Lilith could only get a two room condo for us.”
“So? It will be like having a sleep over. No big deal.” Rhys said with a shrug.
“Where else is he supposed to go, family where Jack can find him?”
Tim frowned. “I…Don’t exactly have family except Jack…”
Rhys looked down to Vaughn who sighed. “Okay point taken.”
“Then it’s decided. You can come stay with us until they catch Jack.” Rhys said
patting Tim’s shoulder gently.
Tim felt a genuine smile spread across his face. “…Thank you Rhys.”
***** No longer his 'pet' *****
                After hours of searching for Tim, Jack’s “friends” had given
up, which is what he expected. Tim was smart. He knew how to vanish from being
tracked from the untrained eye. So Jack took it upon himself to get a
direction. With a flashlight, he moved inside of the cornfield, following the
boot prints from Tim. When they stopped abruptly, Jack spotted blood on a corn
husk and Tim’s ripped jacket just off to the side.  Jack moved forward
following the decreasing amount of blood, stopping as the trail stopped between
the tree line and the corn field line. A body of a woman was just off to his
right, her skin peeled from her face. Jack looked down to his feet where an
imprint of something was left in the mud, swiping toward the opposite direction
of the body. Tim could have almost been caught but whoever killed this girl
was…to pre-occupied with the girl to notice. Jack continued to follow the soft
imprints in the dirt until he came to another body, looking around for any more
clues…then he found it. It was small, almost small enough to go unnoticed. A
size 7 and a half combat boot. Women’s by the look of the curve. Jack shifted,
pressing his foot into the dirt beside the imprint to leave his own next to it.
It was definitely bigger and by that he confirmed it had to have been a woman’s
boot. Growling he took a walkie talkie from his pocket.
“This is Handsome Jack. Tim is out of the area, so those of you who are still
searching, come back. He had help by one of our own. Anyone know where Moxxi
is?”
Jack listened to static until one of the lines finally picked up. “She passed
the checkpoint in an empty van around 3am.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Are you POSITIVE it was empty?”
“about 70% sure.”
“W-….What do you mean 70% sure?! What kind of number is that? Did you check?
Yes or No?”
“N-..No sir.”
“Thank you for the straight answer shit for brains. She probably took him.”
Jack pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking again on the device.
“Wilhelm, move everyone to the camp. I’ll meet you there.”
“No problem.”
“Those of you listening in from the city, Find Moxxi and Tim, Follow them, and
report in. I want to handle them myself.” Jack muttered into the device walking
back through the cornfield.
 
===============================================================================
 
                Rhys was seated next to Vaughn, sitting across from a table
where Lilith, Athena, Moxxi, and Tim sat. He listened to their conversation
carefully as Tim and Moxxi both explained the hidden network Jack had created,
talking into a voice recorder that Lilith chose to use during the debriefing.
Rhys thought it was nice that the doctors had supplied them with such a large
office so they could explain the situation. And so far it wasn’t looking good.
Interconnected communities surrounded Jack and nearly worshiped him as a king
by the sounds of it. Rhys noticed Tim and Moxxi both referring to these people
as “Psycho’s” not as in their mental state but as a group name. Though mental
state was debatable. Once morning hit, the group of men were loaded into a van
and onto the road, farther south than where Jack was supposedly located. Vaughn
was in the front seat of the van where his curious side got the best of him as
he continuously asked questions to Moxxi and Lilith wanting to know more about
Handsome Jack…Tim didn’t seem too thrilled about it.
“Y’know…If his questions bother you, I can ask him to stop.” Rhys whispered
closely taking notice to Tim’s uneasiness.
Tim blinked at him for a moment, his cheeks flaring up with heat under the
bandaging at Rhys’s sudden closeness. He cleared his throat, looking forward.
“Oh no…It’s okay. He has every right to ask questions. Just as you do.” Tim
wanted to turn to face him, but smelling Rhys’s cologne was just about as
addicting as looking at him.  He could see why Jack liked him as much as he
did. He was tall, thin, his Jaw was strong and his was pretty damn near
asymmetrical, He had broad shoulders, and hips to grab for days….Tim blushed
deeper, quietly thanking his lucky stars he had a bandage around his face. Why
would he think that??! Especially the longer the ride went on for, Tim found
himself undressing Rhys with his mind. The occasional brush from Rhys’s elbow
or hand sent Tim into an emotional frenzy, shivers creeping up his spine at the
contact, and his cheeks always heating up in response. Then Tim found himself
becoming dreadfully self-conscious. Not because he didn’t know if Rhys was gay,
but…Because of who he was, and his perfect identicalness to Jack now that he
had been burned. Overly problematic, Tim thought. He would simply just have to
let it slide like every other man that came into Tim’s life who he felt was,
for lack of better term, “Out of his league.” Which had been quite a lot of
people to be honest. Jack’s bisexuality as a younger adult got him plenty of
love interests, where Tim…Having no interests in women, only got him a few.
Which by the way he was glad Moxxi stopped sexually harassing him.
“Tim?”
Rhys’s voice brought him out of the near deep trance he felt like he was in,
turning to look at him.
“Hmm?”
“You okay? You look like you’ve been spacing out.”
Tim blinked at him for a moment feeling the words catch in his throat. “S-
sorry, I…I’m just thinking is all.”
“About Jack?” Rhys asked tilting his head. “If its about Jack-“
“No” Tim started shaking his head. “It’s not about Jack. I just-…” he hesitated
looking into Rhys’s hazel and golden brown eyes which were quite gorgeous he
wanted to say but evaded that compliment instead. “I just have a lot on my mind
is all…” He answered finally earning a knowing smile from Rhys.
“If you ever want to vent, we’ll have plenty of time to do it at the safe
house.”
Tim smiled softly. “Thanks’ Rhys…I appreciate it.”
  
===============================================================================
 
                The minute he got the call, was the same minute Jack hit the
road with Wilhelm. Tim, and Moxxi were spotted getting into an F.B.I van with a
short man, and a tall brunet with a metal hand. Rhys. Both Moxxi and Tim
betrayed him now, which made him keep a distinct watchful eye on the strong man
next to him. The minute he felt like he was being betrayed was the same minute
he would kill him. It took Jack a few good minutes before Wilhelm cleared his
throat and forced Jack to realize he was already white-knuckling the wheel, and
gritting his teeth.
“Are you sure it’s safe to be out in daylight with such open car windows and
passing a city?” Wilhelm asked glancing over to Jack.
“I gotta set these two straight. They’ll undo everything we’ve worked hard for.
Especially the tall one.”
Wilhelm was quiet as he shifted his head to look at Jack. “What about the
siren? You know the lady is lurking to you.”
Jack shot Wilhelm a violent look. “I know, I know. We don’t have a whole lot of
time either.”
“What exactly happened in the morphogenic engine?...If you don’t mind me
asking… You’ve been acting so much more different since you’ve been in there
with Rhys.”
Jack white knuckled the wheel again trying to keep his cool. Aggravated at the
question, Jack reached up running fingers through his hair. “In the engine…They
tried to wipe your mind clean of memories, and bring forth the darkest and
deepest parts of your mind, while trying to…extract something. Which I’m sure
they did, they just caved with the result, creating the Siren and Wilrider.”
“And…Father Martian?”
“His cult and Martian worshiped the Walrider…Like I do the Siren. She’s
gorgeous and if I wasn’t afraid of her killing me I would most certainly go
where ever she wanted me too.”
“And Rhys?”
“You’re asking too many questions kitten.” Jack warned lowly.
“You’re my friend Jack. I just want to make sure you’re not putting yourself
into a situation where you’re going to get hurt again. If you’re planning an
attack or kidnapping, do it at night where it would be easier to get away.”
 
===============================================================================
 
                The minute they were given keys and dropped off at the safe
house, Vaughn immediately found himself heading to one of the bed rooms to
rest. It was just as Lilith said as well. It was a small, boring Condo with a
Tv and radios in the bed rooms. That was it. No computers, and no Phones except
the mobiles they carried and Lilith supplying them with cheap chargers which
Rhys cringed at when he looked at them. He was use to the latest technology and
used them as such, constantly replacing them as they came out. Tim on the other
hand didn’t mind considering…well, childhood experiences. Tim went to the
second bedroom, which was the master, and found himself standing in the
bathroom, removing the bandage around his warm to the touch face. He sighed
lowly when his skin was finally freed and he looked up to the scabbing, deeply
burned scar forming on his face. Jack was right. The two were twins and going
to be perfectly identical now….Tim placed his hands on the bowl of the sink and
sighed closing his eyes. He just wanted to break down and could feel the tears
forming up at the corners of his eyes.
“If it’s any consolation…” Rhys started as he stood in the doorway, forcing
Tim’s heart to nearly jump out of his chest. “You’re far better that what Jack
could ever be…Inside and out.”
Tim’s eyebrows raised at the sudden compliment Rhys gave, and noted the pinking
of his face. “W-What I mean is, is that after meeting you, I could tell the
difference between you both and…that made me more comfortable… with you that
is.”
Tim blinked again as Rhys rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t mean to make
this awkward.”
“No!-…no, you’re okay…I suppose a compliment like that was rather…unexpected.
Thank you” He smiled softly. “That was something I needed to hear.”
Rhys returned his smile before stretching and flopping back on the bed in the
room. “I dunno about you, but I’m taking a nap. That rides got me beat.”
Tim nodded. “Yeah I thought about it too…Are you sure you don’t want me to go
sleep on the couch? I will if-“
“I already tried. It’s just a regular uncomfortable couch without a pull out
bed. I don’t mind sharing.”
“O-Oh. Okay.” Rhys’s interruption seemed like a quick draw response and Tim
contained the excitement he felt when he crawled into the queen size bed next
to Rhys, Sighing as he laid on his side with his back toward Rhys. It felt good
to be in a real bed after a few days of mayhem. Tim was hoping that possibly
now, after Lilith heightened security they would finally be safe, but that
shred of fear still loomed over his head like a thunder cloud. He listened to
Rhys breathe softly behind him and for once…He actually liked the idea of
protecting someone. Especially Rhys. With that in mind Tim closed his eyes and
slowly drifted off into sleep.  
 
===============================================================================
 
                After an hour or two, Tim slowly opened his eyes. He was warm,
and comfortable for once. Which was surprising because he was never
comfortable. Tim went to stretch but halted feeling the body next to him. He
looked down to a head of brunette hair and a metal arm lightly resting on Tim’s
chest. Rhys’s arm was a lot lighter than he had expected, but sure there was
some weight to it but it had just felt like a normal arm. Tim slowly went to
move but realized he was caught in a web of tangled legs just below him. How
numb was Tim exactly from the hospital’s medicine? Rhys had himself wrapped up
in Tim from shoulder to toes and to be honest…It felt amazing to be held like
that. When Tim felt the blood rush to his cock he rolled his eyes and closed
them. Now was probably the worst time for that…Especially with Rhys’s leg so
close to it.  Tim could feel his chest rising and falling on his side as Rhys
breathed. With a sigh Tim looked down at him finding this experience truly
addicting…Rhys’s cologne smelled sweet, and musky, His muscles contorted to
fill the frame of Tim’s right side with his arm curled around Rhys, His
clothing was soft, and his hair was perfect to the T. If Jack was right about
anything, it was about wanting Rhys for his own…Though if that were the case
that would be Both Tim’s and Jack’s final disagreement…
Rhys was ‘his’. Claimed by Jack in the Hyperion asylum and forced to do
whatever it was they both did to survive the horrors inside. To be put through
such a thing, it became unimaginable to Tim. Experiments from the scientists
leaving people dead, Carnage from its patients leaving blood-bathes, Secret
military personal going in and wiping every victim and witness out of sight to
keep them quiet about what really when on in Hyperion…Rhys must have seen it
all.
Tim was brought out of his rather morbid thoughts when Rhys’s hand lowered to
his abdomen. If he wasn’t hard before he certainly was right now, he could even
see it though the blanket. Tim groaned internally and halted when Rhys’s eyes
began to flutter open. Crap.
“S-Sleep well?” Tim questioned clearing his throat. Rhys hummed in response,
nodding against his chest.
Rhys rolled on his other side away from Tim and laid there for a moment before
standing and shifting the blanket downward as he moved.
Tim immediately grabbed the blanket covering his hardened member as Rhys made
his way to the restroom in silence.
When the room went quiet Tim reached up and smacked his forehead with a little
force behind it. Did he see it? This was an awful situation. If Rhys didn’t
approve of...well…his boner if he saw it he would be stuck in an awkward
situation permanently until the three had left the safe house when Jack would
be caught.
Tim ignored the bathroom door opening and Rhys’s slow steps back into the room,
crawling back into bed.
“Tim?”
“Hm?”
“Can I ask something personal?”
Oh boy. Here we go. “Yeah what’s up?”
“What is your impression of me?” Tim finally looked up to Rhys who looked
genuinely serious.
“M-My impression?”
Rhys nodded. “You…ah…You said my name a lot in your sleep. And it sounded like
you were enjoying yourself. Be honest. I’m okay with any answer.” He chuckled
softly. Tim blush darkly feeling a pull in his lower half again.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry!” Tim said hiding his face in his hands, then running
them through his hair, looking back up to Rhys. “I really don’t want to make
things awkward but to be honest I-“
Rhys’s lips were suddenly pressed to Tim’s catching him off guard. His eyes
widened with surprise whereas Rhys’s…were closed. A million thoughts rushed
into Tim’s head when this happened but who the hell was he kidding. Tim wrapped
his arms around Rhys’s shoulders to embrace him as Rhys moved on top of Tim.
This was about to get good…
 
===============================================================================
 
     Jack waited patiently under the abandoned park center pavilion, an unlit
cigarette twirling in his fingers in aggravation. When Wilhelm offered Jack a
lighter, he lit the cancer stick and took in a long drag. When his wife and
angel we’re still alive he always took to privacy when smoking because he
thought of it as rude to influence his ladies with such an improper gesture.
Even when he worked for the programming department, Jack took to himself to
smoke. But now that his nerves were set ablaze he continued to take long drags
before bending down and smothering it into the cement. As he looked back up, he
saw a younger man coming his way, handing a map to him. “Sorry for being late
sir…I wanted to make sure I did it correctly.” Jack looked over the map where
the man pinpointed Rhys’s new location.
“Good work kiddo.”
“Really?” He asked almost awestruck.
“Yeah, now go get the others. I’m getting him tonight. And get enough to where
I can’t be interrupted.” The young man Jack was talking too, dipped his head
and jogged off while Jack pulled out another Cigarette, getting another light
from Wilhelm.
“I’m tired of waiting. He’s like dangling over my head and I feel like im just
out of reach. It pisses me off.”
“Perhaps this is good for you.”
Jack blew out a huff of smoke shooting him a flash of anger. “You want to
explain cupcake?”
“Rhys is clouding your mind. Take this as a moment to relax from him instead of
plunging head first into hell. Clear your head.”
Jack finished off his Cigarette, snuffing out the embers into the cement once
more, and shook his head walking off. Wilhelm sighed and followed.
 
===============================================================================
 
                Rhys could feel Tim’s body heat up at the contact of his lips.
That was the response Rhys was hoping for. Slowly Rhys topped Tim, feeling the
rather sizable hard on below…And oh was it good. He wanted to be careful when
touching Tim’s face because of the burn, but knew he probably didn’t feel much
from the medicine to numb the pain. His eyes were dilated, and his movements
were slowed so he had to be pretty high. Until Rhys was suddenly on his back
with his legs spared apart with Tim between him. Tim kissed him with fervor to
the point Rhys had to break away to catch his quickened breath. Tim took the
opportunity to cease Rhys’s neck, planting love bites where ever was available.
Rhys’s legs wrapped around his hips and forced them down to grind on Rhys, the
two moaning softly in response. The pleasure from grinding on Rhys trailed up
Tim’s spine into a shiver which made him smile.  As Rhys was about to speak
there was a knock at the door Jolting the two to stop moving, and Tim’s
immediate response to lift himself off Rhys.
“Hey you awake in there?”
Vaughn.
Rhys wanted to roll his eyes, instead he just closed them. “Yeah what’s up?”  
“I made dinner. Get Tim up and come eat. The news said something about a
Handsome Jack appearance and they’re going to be holding a meeting soon.”
“Okay…Be out in a minute.”
Tim sighed feeling that the mentioning of Handsome Jack had ruined the mood for
the both of them. As Tim went to move to get off of Rhys, he was grabbed and
forced into another long and passionate kiss before Rhys pulled away.
“Later on tonight…We’ll finish this.” Rhys said lowly.
Oh now that was something to finally look forward too.
***** Unleash the beast *****
                “The F.B.I has just released information that Handsome Jack is
not going north, but traveling through the city of opportunity. At this time it
is unclear if he has been getting help from a new source but we will keep
updating the community on the situation. As it stands now, His brother, Timothy
Lawrence, who we just talked to a few days prior to today, has been kidnapped,
attacked and burned severely on his face by Handsome Jack in an abandoned farm
complex. According to our                sources the bodies of 11 missing men
and women we’re found brutally mutilated and murdered throughout the complex
and into the woods nearby. Police are still in the process of identifying the
victims but finding it hard seeming how most of the teeth from these victims
were smashed in after their faces had been removed with different equipment.”
“So Timothy Lawrence is alive and free from his brother’s presence?”Said
another news anchor.
“Yes. Chief investigator Lilith stated that during the attack, an undercover
F.B.I. agent had infiltrated the camp, witnessing the attack, and went directly
to help Mr. Lawrence out of the area and to a nearby hospital. He was then
transported with Rhys Callen, Handsome Jack’s former victim from the Hyperion
massacre, due to the oncoming threat of Jack nearby. They’re location is
unknown.”
                Rhys slowly shook his head. “If we wanted to be found we would
have been walking down a highway intersection by now-“ He paused looking at
Tim, who seemed just as hesitant to speak.
“That should have been a big hint right there.” Tim commented quietly.
“She’s one of them? The psychos?”
“Not just her…The crew.”
Vaughn breathed in deep as he shoveled food onto a plate. “Your brother is
super smart… How did this…How did the Psycho’s come about?”
Tim shook his head.
“I’m not sure. He’s been working on them since he first started pulling faces
off the people. I wanted no part of that life. I still don’t. But he keeps
pulling me in like it’s a sacred thing.” Tim quieted down for a moment then
shook his head again. “I dunno. I blame our grandma for everything going on in
that messed up head of his.”
Rhys decided not to press the issue of his grandmother. “Well hopefully Lilith,
Moxxi, and Athena are watching.  I hope they caught that too.”
===============================================================================
 
                Jack was in the back seat of the car, laying down, while
Wilhelm drove. He always felt to car sick when someone besides him drove, which
was aggravating. He was nursing a migraine, which was also aggravating, so
Wilhelm kept the news broadcast on low as they made their way through town.
Jack was lucky enough to hire scouts for him through opportunity to spy on his
brother and Rhys. So no matter what he always had the upper hand in the
situation. With the sun setting, Jack looked up and spotted a couple of his
people walking the neighborhood like casual people. Not psychopathic murderers.
He smiled laying back down on the seat as Wilhelm parked away enough to not
raise suspicion to the F.B.I Surveillance vehicle nearby.
“There’s a few people in position.  A couple are almost here. When did you want
to get them?” Wilhelm asked curiously.
“As soon as it gets dark. I want to get in and get out before feds show up. You
grab Tim and I’ll grab Rhysie…Then we’re going to go after Moxxi.”
Wilhelm gave a soft nod before scrolling through a touch phone. “Jack…Are you
going to kill your brother? He’s-“
“What are you getting at?” Jack asked quickly shooting his head to look at him.
“Tim Betrayed-“
“He’s worked hard to establish the life he has today. He’s a programmer for a
big chain company, He’s got his own condo, Pays bills just like a normal person
and we took that away last night when we burned his face.”
“Don’t tell me your woosin’ out.”
“Tim’s been my friend just as long as you have been Jack. I’ve held onto this
guilt since last night knowing I probably ruined our friendship. He’s a good
man. Just…Let him slide. He’ll never recover from what we did and everyone
he’ll meet will know that. That’s enough.”
 
===============================================================================
 
                After a few hours had rolled past, the news died off to night
time television, Vaughn watching quietly on the couch while Tim got in the
shower and Rhys sat in their bed waiting. Patiently. Rhys couldn’t figure out
why he felt so excited to have Tim in bed with him. Aside from sharing Jack’s
features, Tim was a completely different person. Someone who could be
remembered for charm and the bright shiny smile Tim gave that could light up
the room. Rhys didn’t even think of his features first. It was his persona. The
sound of the shower ending brought Rhys from his thoughts and shifted where he
sat as Tim came out in nothing but a towel around his waist and his hair combed
back.
“Forgot my clothes on the dresser.” He explained quietly, Rhys reacted with a
coy smile.
“I know. I was being nosy and waiting to see if you would come out or not.”
Tim snickered with a soft laugh that was followed with a very uncharacteristic
snort.
Rhys was actually impressed with how built Tim actually looked. He was
muscular, not body builder worthy but if a fight was ever intended Rhys
probably would have placed bets on him…Then he noticed the faint scars
underneath tanned and bruised skin….And there was a lot of them.
“Tim…Can I ask you something?”
“Yeah go ahead.” Tim nodded grabbing underwear from the pile, To throw on
before removing the towel which distracted Rhys.
“Growing up…Were those scars inflicted on you?”
Tim raised a brow when he turned to Rhys out of interest. He hesitated before
answering. “Yes and no. Some of them were from my guardian at the time and some
of the newer ones were from myself. Do they bother you?”
“I just can’t imagine growing up like you did…Hell I was spoiled. I was the
only child so I got whatever I wanted.”
Tim chuckled softly as he moved to Rhys kneeling before him. “To be honest I
learned from it. Not every parent was like she was of course but Jack just
acted out of proportion. Yeah she beat us, and left some scars but I think it
hardened us as people.”
“Yeah but I’m sure that it was because of her we’re in this situation too.”
Rhys admitted rubbing his neck. “Sorry. I don’t mean to bring it up I just-“
Tim’s lips met Rhys’s gently. “It’s fine.” He said breaking from the kiss.
“It’s in the past, I sought out therapy for help coping with it and I feel
better about growing out of it. I’m okay. Really.”
His smile reassured Rhys that he was in fact, okay. Rhys took this quiet moment
to wrap his arms around Tim’s shoulders and pressed their lips together again
slowly. Tim was still warm from the shower which was relaxing for the most
part. Rhys felt his shirt being lifted and broke away to help take it off, Tim
carefully pulling it away from his chrome arm which was still pretty sensitive.
Tim’s eyebrow raised when he saw the flat blue tattoos on Rhys’s chest.
“Drunk Tattoo in my college days. I apparently let some guy tattoo my chest
whatever he wanted so he left a really cool design in my favorite color.” Rhys
laughed followed by Tim.
“It does look good.” Tim’s tone was very sensual as his eye wandered Rhys’s
torso. A shiver ran rampant up Rhys’s spine at the look on his face and
goosebumps crawled on his skin. This was a newer and rather, enjoyable side to
see on Tim. He was focused and fixated on Rhys’s paler skin, pressing his lips
on Rhys’s neck and forcing him to lay flat on the bed. Tim pushed him up to lay
fully on the bed and lay almost on top of him. Rhys felt Tim’s member pressing
against his thigh prominently.
Tim gasped softly as Rhys reached down low to stroke him through the fabric he
wore. “I don’t know why you’re wearing those. I’m about to take them off for
you.” Rhys whispered softly in his ear. Tim’s face pressed into Rhys’s shoulder
when he felt his face heat up from the statement. Tim was doing his best to not
melt into Rhys but he was making it hard. Considering Rhys’s hand was pretty
expertly rubbing him in all the right ways.
Tim felt cold steel to his chest push him up and roll him over as Rhys topped
him once more to press a hot kiss on his lips before crawling backwards to
slide off Tim’s boxers and expose his member.
“You’re always full of surprises.” Rhys said kneeling on the bed frame.
“Huh?” Tim groaned softly in response.
“You’re bigger than I expected.” Added Rhys as he dipped low to swirl his
tongue around Tim’s head, tasting the pre-cum. Tim moaned lowly as he ran
fingers through Rhys’s hair, He just barely registered the compliment. When
Rhys took him in fully and quickly, Tim’s leg jolted slightly as he shifted up,
biting his knuckles to stop the moan that so badly wanted to escape his lips.
Tim looked down to Rhys’s closed eyes as he bobbed his head back and forth on
Tim’s length. It was fucking hot to watch him do it to. The flesh from Rhys’s
hand gripping Tim’s hip but the metal hand firmly planted on the bed. Tim
reached for it and moved his hand to place it on his hip opposite from his
other. Rhys shot him a look before closing his eyes again and his metal hand
giving Tim’s hip a soft squeeze.
“I could watch you do that all day…” Tim breathed out feeling a quick satisfied
smile come from Rhys.
A hand replaced Rhys’s mouth as he looked up to Tim. “If I had a condom you
could watch a whole lot more than just my mouth on your cock.” He breathed.
Tim’s eyes rolled closed at the thought. Tim slowly sat up and reached for his
wallet on the nightstand, pulling out a gold like square and a small packet of
lubricant from the compartment behind his credit cards. Tim placed it on the
bed earning a sly brow being raised by Rhys.
“I’m gay alright?... Sometimes I go home with a guy or meet up with a fuck
buddy at a hotel for the night…” He admitted shyly.
“Let me guess. You’re usually the one that comes prepared to the other guy?”
Rhys asked curiously opening up the condom to roll it on Tim slowly getting a
twitchy response out of him.
“Y-Yeah…wow you’re good with your hands…and tongue…and everything.”
Rhys smiled as he pulled off his belt, shrugging his pants off along with his
underwear to expose himself to Tim who bit his lip. “How do you want me Tim?”
Tim’s heart thumped hard against his chest in response. Tim didn’t answer his
question. Instead, with a pinked face he opened the lubricant to get himself
ready then he jumped up to Rhys who gasped as Tim picked him up flawlessly and
pressed him hard against the wall keeping him held there. Tim bit his lip as
Rhys moaned when he entered him. It was like music to Tim’s ears. Tim pulled
Rhys away from the wall and laid him back on the dresser, allowing one of
Rhys’s legs to wrap around his hip and the other he held high up on his arm to
keep him apart.
Rhys’s head tilted back on the dresser when Tim pushed his hips forward to get
a rhythm started and moaned out when Tim used his other hand to message his
cock.
“Shh, Vaughn’s gunna hear you.” Tim frowned and Rhys growled lowly.
“I don’t care if the damn neighborhood hears it, fuck me! …-Ah!” Rhys shouted
when Tim delivered, rolling his hips into Rhys’s ass and stroking his length in
tandem.    
“Ah! Tim!-“
The sound Rhys kept making only made Tim’s climax come closer sending him on
the brink of ecstasy. Tim withdrew his hand from Rhys’s cock and held onto his
hip firmly as he grew harder into his rhythm forcing Rhys to moan louder, when
he said Tim’s name it sent him over the edge, feeling the cum fill the condom
and his cock to become ultra-sensitive to each movement. To Tim’s surprise Rhys
followed suit, his climax spreading across his lower half as Tim finished him
off with a few good thrusts.
Both Tim and Rhys sat there for a moment in silence before looking at each
other and Rhys sitting up to meet Tim’s lips as he carefully picked him up from
the dresser and laying him back on to the bed slowly pulling out of him and
dropping to Rhys’s side, breathing heavily.
“Fuck Tim…wow…” Rhys sighed closing his eyes. Tim got up and headed to the
bathroom to clean himself up and bring back a warm washcloth for Rhys.
“Thank you.” He said tiredly with a smile. “You do that often?” Rhys asked
coyly cleaning himself up before tossing the cloth into a hamper that was
placed into a corner of the room.
“At least twice a month before Jack got out…” Tim said pulling on boxers,
handing Rhys’s to him.
Tim suddenly smiled when Rhys sat up to press his lips to his cheek.
“You can screw me like that whenever you want.” Rhys said biting his ear.
Tim laughed softly turning his head to Rhys when he finished. “Or…I can take
you on a real date and screw you after like a gentleman.”
“I like the sound of that better.”
As Tim opened his mouth to speak, a sudden loud slam came out from the living
room and Tim immediately hopped up, throwing on pants and a white T-shirt as
the sound of boots flooded the condo. Rhys did the same. Tim paused as a knock
was heard from they’re door.
“Oh Timmy? Brother of mine?”
Tim’s eyes widened as he grabbed Rhys’s wrist forcing him behind his back.
There was a few loud bangs on the door before it finally broke open and Wilhelm
moved right up to him, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him across the
room like a rag doll. Rhys backed up against the wall quickly when Jack stepped
in, looking at Tim.
“Long time no see, Timmy. Do me a favor and stay the fuck down would’ja?” Jack
said folding his arms. Rhys couldn’t see Tim passed the bed until Wilhelm moved
to pick him up off the floor and sit him in the corner of the room.
Jack looked over to Rhys finally with a smile. “Well, hello, hello, kitten!
Long time no hear from! Y’know I really missed you.” He laughed wrapping his
arm around Rhys’s shoulder then bending down to grab his wrist and hold it high
behind his back earning a yelp from him.
“Rhys!” Tim said worriedly, scrambling to get up, only to be kicked back down
by Wilhelm.
“Ow, Ow, Ow!” Rhys exclaimed as Jack held his wrist higher behind his back
pushing him out of the room. Rhys’s eyes widened to see the amount of people in
the condo, 10 at the most it looked like. Though…Vaughn was missing. Rhys was
suddenly pushed into a group of people grabbing him from Jack.
“He goes into transport with me. I’ll be a minute.” Jack said pointing.
“Tim!” Rhys screamed struggling against the small group carrying him outside.
When Jack turned back, Tim was rushing him, tackling him into the coffee table
and punching him repeatedly until he was pulled off and shoved into the kitchen
area where Vaughn was being held prisoner in cuffs and a bandana tied around
his mouth. Jack sat up, rubbing his jaw and looking up to Wilhelm, who was
fixing his broken, bloodied nose.
Jack stood spitting blood from his mouth and looked to Tim who grabbed a
butcher’s knife from the chopping block on the counter, forcing the group to
back up slightly.
“Oh…Ohohoho…Put that away cupcake. That’s for big boys and girls.” Jack
laughed. “Take that from him please. He’s not going to do shit.” Jack said
waving to the group.
A member of the small group moved forward with a smile reaching for the knife
in Tim’s hands. His grip was firm on the knife in his right hand and as the
member got closer, Tim grabbed the member’s wrist before stabbing his abdomen
repeatedly. The scream brought everyone to their senses including Jack and
Wilhelm as they looked up in horror to see the blood spray all over Tim before
he dropped the member like a fly.  Blood stained his shirt, his pants, and
drenched the lower half of his face and neck. Tim grabbed another knife, which
was slightly longer but shorter than the butcher’s knife.
Both Jack and Wilhelm stared in shock as Tim, mimicked Jack’s Infamous death
glare as he stared directly at Jack. “I’m not fucking around with this anymore
Jack. You’re no brother of mine. You’re next.”
“Ha…ahahah…HAHAH! Are you threatening me? Princess??”
Tim stabbed the Kitchen Island hard with the butcher knife until it stood up
right. “I’m promising you Jackie boy. I’m gunna find you. And I’m gunna tear
you to shreds if you harm a hair on Rhys’s head.”
“Kill them. We have a date to keep with the Siren.” Jack growled sharply
turning on his heel and the group pulled out their elongated weapons.
“JACK NO! YOU PROMISED!” Wilhelm exclaimed trying to get him to stop but Jack
pushed him back.
“I didn’t promise shit. My brother abandoned us. ME! If your so hell bent on
saving him, stay here and die with him.” Jack said leaving shutting the door
behind. Wilhelm’s mouth was left agape until he heard the commotion behind him
of another person being stabbed by Tim again. Wilhelm turned sharply, grabbing
a member by the throat and crushing them into suffocation, then throwing the
body, and repeating the process until it was just Tim, Vaughn, And Wilhelm
alive in the condo.
Tim grabbed the butcher’s knife and stood in front of Vaughn to protect him
from Wilhelm who was facing them finally.
“I thought you were a friend Will.” Tim said. “You did so well and you fucked
that up.”
“I know, and I’m sorry…” He said carefully taking out a handcuff key and
sliding it slowly to Tim for Vaughn. “I am still a friend, but apparently I
chose the wrong side.”
“Yeah you did.” Tim said carefully rounding the kitchen island to uncuff Vaughn
who took off the bandana and press himself against the wall. “So what you want
to make amends? Is that it? That why your still here?”
“Nothing can take back what I helped do…But I will tell you where they’re
going…”
“Where?”
“Hyperion.”
***** Hyperions new owner *****
Chapter Notes
     Hello everyone! I can assure you this fic is still alive. I finally
     found the time to finish this chapter! Enjoy! ^^
                Rhys was seated between two large men and across from him were
another three plus the two in the driver and passenger seats… then Jack move
in, standing at the back of the van, shutting the door behind him.
“Get moving” He ordered. “We don’t have much time before feds show up to see
what’s wrong.”
Rhys immediately felt intimidated as the two looked at each other for a moment.
He noticed the van beginning to move in the direction he came from earlier that
morning but could only see out the front windows. Rhys didn’t want to look away
from Jack, but he wanted to see the tech inside this van just off to the right
of him where Jack was moving too. There was wiretapping equipment, surveillance
cameras, tracking devices, you name it, and Jack had it on the counter inside
the van…This, F.B.I. van. Rhys felt discomfort in the thought as he looked up
seeing blood splatter on the ceiling and the floor. Sick to his stomach mostly.
“Get up kitten”
Jack’s voice rang out, throwing him from his thoughts. Rhys did as he was told,
standing in the middle isle as Jack reached out, grabbing him by the collar and
pulling him to the counter where Jack shoved him back on. It hurt having his
face smashed into a metal receiver box but not as bad as the cuffs, Jack
clicked on his wrists behind his back. Rhys was turned around again to face
Jack, where his hand met Rhys’s hair and balled it into a fist.
“You think you can escape me? Cupcake?”
“I knew I couldn’t. I was only buying time to heal.” Rhys answered truthfully.
Jack smirked only to have it falter when he spotted the dark mark on Rhys’s
neck.
“Is that a love bite? Have you be fuckin’ around on me?!” Jack’s wild jealousy
showed in his eyes as he yanked Rhys’s head back toward the counter where he
landed. “Who was it Rhysie!? Who did that to you?!”
“I-It was a reaction to the metal.” Rhys lied. “They said spots like that might
show up once my arm port started to heal. C-Calm down Jack. I haven’t-“
Jack’s hand gripped Rhys’s chin and forced him to look toward the drivers as
Jack inspected the mark. Rhys looked out of the corner of his eye as Jack
shifted his shirt lower to examine the arm’s port which was still bruised. Rhys
thanked his lucky stars Tim didn’t kiss the other side of his neck enough to
leave marks. Jack pulled away from Rhys skeptically looking at him. Rhys
adjusted his position on the counter to lean against it as he moved away to the
driver to speak with him.
Jack was in fact obsessed with Rhys and that little episode proved it. His
movements were rampantly diverse as he paced the van, occasionally staring at
Rhys as he moved back and forth between the people.
“Jack…” Rhys started. “Are the cuffs necessary? They’re hurting me…” Rhys said
lowly, shying away from the small group of men as they glared at him. Jack
retorted with a glare.
“You left me. You’re not going to leave me again.”
“No, No I’m not because I’m stuck in a car with people bigger than me, and I’ve
got nowhere to go just please let me be comfortable.” Rhys said lowering his
tone as Jack came near so the others won’t hear.
“So you’d leave me again if you had the chance?” Jack scoffed looking back to
him with a smirk.
“That’s not what I meant.” Rhys corrected. “I just want to be comfortable where
ever we’re going.”
Jack’s fist immediately met Rhys’s temple knocking him to the floor of the van.
“I’ll keep you comfortable princess. Even if that means breaking you down in
the process.” Jack hissed hovering over Rhys as he looked back up to him with
hazed eyes. “Now lay there like a good boy and wait quietly.”
Rhys tilted his head forward to see the men snickering in the back at the
situation as if he were a mouse challenging a lion. Rhys laid his head back
looking up to the ceiling before closing his eyes. At this point there was no
escape.
 
===============================================================================
 
                It didn’t take long for Lilith and Moxxi to get to the small
condo with what looked like a small army of investigators. Tim was covered in
blood along with Wilhelm, while Vaughn only had a few blood splatters on him
from Tim’s other assault.
“What happened Tim?” Lilith asked looking around the room at the mess of
bodies.
Wilhelm, who was handcuffed immediately, cleared his throat. “Jack sent these
people in to kill Tim after Tim threatened him… He was able to defend himself
against his attackers with the butcher knives on the counter there…I disagreed
with Jack’s decision on killing Tim and he called it betrayal so he sent me to
die with Tim…I killed the rest of the attackers and surrendered to Tim.” He
explained bowing his head.
Moxxi who looked rather shocked stepped forward. “Is this true Tim?” She asked
looking up to him. He nodded.
Lilith crossed her arms looking at Moxxi. “You trust his word?”
“He never lies…Not once.” Moxxi nodded.
“It’s exactly as he said and more. Rhys has been kidnapped.” Vaughn said
rubbing his bruised wrists.
“And what happened to you?”
“Ah-…Well…I heard Rhys and Tim having sex in the next room so I threw some head
phones in and I wouldn’t bother them. Someone kicked in the door and next I
knew it I was cuffed and gagged.”
Wilhelm, Moxxi, and Lilith immediately looked up to Tim whose face was a shade
deeper than a stop sign with shock. 
“Tim, you didn’t.” Wilhelm said shaking his head.
“I didn’t take advantage of him if that’s what you’re wondering-“
“Rhys did sound like he was enjoying it.” Vaughn commented.
“Timmy, I’m surprised. Banging Jack’s-“
“CAN WE NOT-…Can we not call Rhys Jack’s please.” Tim asked pinching the bridge
of his nose. “And stop talking about me having sex with Rhys. Yes it was
fucking great, yes, Jack is obsessed with him, yes, I know Jack is gunna flip
but can we please just GO GET HIM AND STOP WASTING TIME!!” Tim pointed to the
door.
Lilith blinked along with Moxxi.
“Wow…Tim…don’t do that again.”
“Why?”
“Because you sounded like your brother…” Wilhelm answered.
 
===============================================================================
 
                Rhys was still on the floor listening to the people in the car
chattering on comms as if they were group leaders directed people to positions.
Jack stayed surprisingly quiet half the time, but directed his attention to
Rhys as he moved to sit up holding his knees up to his chest with his arms
still locked behind his back.
“What are you planning Jack?” Rhys asked looking up to him finally. “I know
it’s something. You’re executing a plan…I see that. What is it?”
“To watch this whole world burn.”
“How very movie villain of you.”
“I do what I can. It appeals to my followers.” Jack shrugged.
Rhys sighed rubbing his head on his shoulder. “So what… you’re some messiah
now?”
“To some maybe. Others a king, some a hero, a legend. People who are oppressed
really appeal to a secret life where you can break laws and not get caught
doing shit. Like murder.” Jack said sitting across from him. “It’s like a whole
new horizon with rules to follow. There’s day rules for daily life and nightly
rules for the psychos. Creates a whole new breed of fucked up. It’s kind of
great.”
“So team building exercises?”
“Team building executions. Get it right Rhys. At least try to seem a little
interested.” Jack scoffed rolling his eyes.
“I get that…What I don’t get is why so many people?…”
“All will be illuminated cupcake. Just as soon as we get to where we’re going.”
“And where are we going?”
Jack simply smiled as he reached into his coat pulling out a document, and
placing it on Rhys’s lap. It was an official document of the deed to Hyperion,
with both Jack’s name and Harold Tassiter’s signing it over to Jack.
“You’ve got… to be kidding me.”
“Nope. I made him sign it before he kicked the bucket. Hyperion is mine. I
ordered the psychos to wait until the military extraction team moved out then
ordered them to occupy inside until I grabbed you and could meet them there.”
Rhys was quiet as he looked at the embroidered letters on the paper. They were
going BACK to Hyperion. And Rhys’s stomach flip-flopped at the thought.
“Jack…Didn’t you want to leave that place?” He asked looking back to him sadly.
“That’s a slaughter house…The F.B.I could easily take that over.”
“Or so you think sweetheart…” Jack said crawling on top of Rhys’s legs and
grabbing his sore chin. “Because of the morphogenic engine, Tassiter didn’t
want radio frequency’s getting out so he jammed the fuck out of them. I’m sure
when you got there you had no bars on your phone?”
Rhys thought for a moment before nodding.
“That’s what I thought.” Jack said pressing his lips to Rhys’s. His eyes
widened with horror as he looked up to multicolored eyes looking down upon his
golden ones. “It’s me and you Rhysie. The siren and the Walrider choose us to
stay alive and carry out their doing. You can’t tell me you haven’t heard her
calling to you…or hearing those wings beat in the distance. Join me Rhys… And
together we can carry out her true nature. We can answer the call and rule the
kingdom…And all you have to do…Is spill a little blood.”
Rhys’s mouth was opened slightly, his eye wide with terror as Jack smiled
rubbing his thumb against Rhys’s chin. Not only was Jack’s mood calm and
collective, He was completely psycho. Rhys had done his best to forget the
winged beast on those cameras, and now that Jack was mentioning it again, it
was too surreal to think that that thing was actually real. Ripping human
beings to shreds. Rhys had to find out more.
“Jack…I don’t hear-…Her. What does she say to you that she doesn’t say to me?”
Dumb question, Rhys thought as Jack grinned.
“Don’t worry Rhys. I’ll show you. But you have to promise me something once we
get there…” Jack kissed him twice again.
“Promise you what?”
“Clear your head, and absolutely never…look up.”
 
===============================================================================
 
                The rest of the ride there Rhys couldn’t stop thinking about
what he had said. Don’t look up? The entire time they were in the asylum? Why?
That’s stupid. Rhys shook it off until the van came to a complete halt and the
doors opened into complete darkness. Jack got out first holding a flashlight in
hand as he walked to the entrance of the asylum, inputting a key to open the
gate. Jack allowed the van to pass through first before following inside
himself and the gate closing behind him. Rhys was pulled out of the van by two
of the larger men as it stopped again and Jack walked right behind. Rhys was
let go as Jack put his hand on his shoulder and the front doors to the Asylum
opened to a room full of people, dressed in black held their heads low to look
at the floor. Jack turned off the flash light and Rhys felt him get pushed into
the middle of the room.
“I want you to feel what I felt Rhys…When you left me there alone in that
room.” Jack whispered covering Rhys’s eyes with his hand. Rhys was never afraid
of the dark before, but today may take the cake. Rhys felt Jack’s chest press
against his back as he reached for something. “Don’t make a sound.” He said.
Rhys heard, what sounded like a lever being pushed back and suddenly a loud
bang from a gun that Jack had fired, scaring some of the people in the room
forcing them to shriek. Rhys gasped when he felt Jack holster the gun and then
cover his mouth, the smell of gunpowder hitting his nose when he did so,
then…cold air rushed him like a rapid movement. Jack pressed his face into
Rhys’s good shoulder and the two listened. Rhys felt something snake between
his legs which caught him off guard and buckle slightly. He was quite thankful
he had Jack to keep him up. Then, Rhys heard tapping. It wasn’t a repetitious
tap, just a ‘tap….tap, tap, tap.’ And it sounded like metal…Rhys suddenly
realized the tapping was on his Chrome arm. His eyes wanted to widen and he
wanted to scream, but Jack had him locked so tight into his arms that it would
be pointless to try.
Rhys’s breathing only got heavier as he felt claws slowly graze his stomach
then, he held his breath as he felt a ‘huff’ of air breath across his face and
neck like an animal would to prey. There was a flapping of wings and then Jack
easing up his grip on Rhys. Rhys didn’t open his eyes and his lip quivered not
wanting to make a sound. “That’s why, you don’t look up. And don’t worry…It was
only inspecting you.”
“What the fuck, …is it?” Rhys said freezing up as Jack’s heat from his body
suddenly pulled away taking the cuffs with him.
“Rhys open your eyes.”
Rhys looked down before opening his eyes and Jack offered him night vision
goggles that another person brought up. Carefully Rhys put on, what felt like
military grade goggles and looked up to Jack who was also putting them on.
“Some of the specialists got killed here and left us their goggles. They have
some of your recording gear on the side. I made sure they worked.“
Rhys was quiet as he examined some of the people in the room. EMT’S, police,
nurses, business men, every job personality type you could think of, they had
it in the entrance to the asylum. As fucked up as that was.
“Follow me Rhys. Fed’s are gunna show up soon. I don’t want to get caught on
the first floor.” Jack said moving toward the stairs. “Come on you raging
dickbags! Show begins in 10 minutes.”
With that the people scattered. Some going upstairs with Jack and others
fanning out into the rooms on the first floor. Rhys followed Jack closely,
keeping his eyes low to the ground just as everyone else had. He wanted to look
up but with what just happened he was more than okay knowing that he could
stare at his feet and be safe. Until he realized how far they started walking.
 
===============================================================================
 
                Tim’s foot tapped wildly on the floor board of the van. The
smell of blood on his shirt was strong and Vaughn took noticed to his antsyness
as well as Wilhelm who was still in handcuffs.
“Jack doesn’t plan on killing Rhys Tim…Not yet at least. We have time.” Wilhelm
spoke sincerely.
Tim looked up to glance at him. He had a habit of chewing his cheek when he got
nervous, which is what he was doing, not noticing it until Wilhelm had said
something. “He’s not safe. Not with Jack. Not with those people.” He muttered
quietly. “I will never forgive myself if something were to happen, or if Jack
were to find out about…us.”
“I’m sorry Tim…"
Timothy shook his head then looked at Vaughn as he moved up to the front window
as they approached Hyperion. The driver turned out the lights and parked right
outside the gate. Vaughn was pretty awestruck at the size of the building.
Truly massive and dark. He could see why Rhys would have some form of fear
coming here.
“To think…This was just some programming job from the start…” He said. “Now
it’s just turned to hell.”
Timothy took notice to the large amounts of cars parked in the visitors parking
just inside the court yard as well as Wilhelm who had widening eyes. “Hey,
Lilith…” He said getting her attention. “There, here.”
“Who?”
Tim drew in a breath. “The Psychos….I recognize some of those cars… And you’re
going to need back up…Its about to be an all-out war…”
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