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etherealvoidechoes · 1 year ago

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Borderlands AU - Welcome Back, Handsome Jack - Chapter 2: A Step Closer… To Death… To Life

The Trauma Team's arrived to secure and stabilize the VIP. Once secured, they rush Jack to the medical wing for a long, grueling surgery.

Sorry, it took so long. Been really busy and had constant blocks on how I wanted to write this chapter. Introducing some ocs here. Some matter more than others for later.

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“Oxron! Av! Mercury! Spanner! Get to work on the VIP!”

The head of the med trauma team’s voice boomed, echoing through the room. Gesturing with her head, with several swift jerks toward who they were there for. “Tick Tok! Tick Tok! Chek? Chek?” It was deep and gruff, like nails scratching a chalkboard.

“Chek! Chek! You got it, Chief!” They responded in unison.

Chief was standing by the desk, a dark gray metallic fist still buried in the smoldering twisted remains of the machine that brought Jack back to the world of the living. Her eyes examined it; half of her face was obscured by a white visor with yellow-tinged hexagon lines. The onboard AI scanned the remains, taking notes and sending them off to the tech teams for answers.

She pulled her fist out, giving it a good rub as the servos whined and whirred as the knuckles popped back into place one by one. Gnarled, scared lips twisted into a grimace as the smell of burning wires, burning flesh, and that strong copper from all the blood mixed together into some rather putrid. She was used to smelling all sorts of foul things on the job, but this just smelled wrong. Another deep whiff made her shudder.

“Eridium taint mixed in with the burn and rot.” She grumbled before spitting off to the side. “Thought my chemical bath on Vexos 12 was worse…”

She looked over her shoulder, looking at the smoldering — still twitching — jigsaw puzzle of a man on the floor her team was attending to. Handsome Jack.

“Fuc—“ She bit her tongue. Tch, tch, tch, language. Just laying eyes on him made that conditioning come back tenfold. She was going to miss being able to freely curse again. Curse his name. “Can’t believe my own freakin’ eyes. Again.”

When she first saw the message appear on her screen back in the medical wing that Handsome Jack was in need of dire medical assistance, she thought it was a prank. It had been done before, to several divisions, to give every a good scare. It annoyed her and she would give the prankster a backhand when found.

She was about to close the popup until several more appeared. Views of Jack’s office. And then a “death” countdown popped up — a laughing skull — followed by not so veiled threats to her beloved med team and her then her only living family “to get a move on”.

She could feel her blood running colder than the coolant flowing through her augments. It became more frigid when her team sent her messages of receiving the same messages. And it was on the brink of freezing when she received a call from her sister. The fear in her blubbering voice got her to her feet. This was no joke. This was all too real.

Chief rallied her crew together quickly, while trying to calm her sister, and had them break out their best gear. Once that was all done, they were here now.

“Just when I thought I could finally get my sister and crew out of this mess…” She grumbled under her breath, biting the inside of her cheek. Freer times were going to be gone if Jack survived this. Well… even if he didn’t, the man probably had some contingency plan to punish all of them for failing to save his pompous ass.

“At least he’s stopped convulsing.” She mumbled.

She looked over at Blake when she heard the man telling the security team what was going on. He was at a loss for words and what he told them sounded so farfetched. And sounded like… he was withholding some details.

“Hm.” She would have questions for him later. But now…

She tapped at a device on her wrist and then tapped the side of her helmet a few times before she headed over to her team and Jack. Taking care to step around the sprawling pools of blood.

“Starting report: Securing VIP… Handsome Jack. Somehow… he’s alive after all these da— all these months.”

Recording incidents like this was routine for her. A way to catch anything they missed that the doctors would notice and a way to cover their asses if their VIP would complain about treatment. Which probably wouldn’t help that much with this one being Handsome Jack…

“Av! You’re slipping!” A harsh growl slipped from her lips. Scanning the scene, she noticed a few key items were not deployed. “Why isn’t the stretcher out?”

“Sorry, Chief! Busy stabilizing the VIP.” Av apologized, somewhat waving her off. She was busy making sure there was nothing in Jack’s mouth. So far, it was just that oddly colored purple froth still coming out. Though she was small in stature, she had a good amount of strength as she turned Jack onto his side.

“I got the stretcher.” Oxron fetched the item, pulling out a large rectangular yellow box. As he placed it on the ground, it bounced up, blue thrusters activating, but keeping a low hover, as it fully opened; it stretched out to fit at least one adult person.

“Mind that back right thruster.” Mercury said, glancing up from his medical bag. “Still on the fritz, engineers can’t seem to ‘find’ the fix.”

“Freakn’ figures.” Oxron rolled his eyes.

“How’s he looking?” Chief asked.

“Honestly? Shouldn’t be bloody alive, Chief.” Spanner said. They were over the information the medical Surveyors were gleaning from scanning Jack. “Look at this!”

Instinctively, Chief stretched out her hand to catch the tablet being tossed at her and soon took a look at the information. More impossible information.

“What the hel— what the heck is this?”

Just about every bone in Jack’s body was broken twice, if not thrice, over. If all the readings were correct, countless organs were damaged and ruptured, if not outright falling. Over 60% of his body had second, third, and fourth-degree burns. And then the readings for that lucrative purple gold of a poison coursing through his veins were all over the place — all lethal amounts.

“Alerted the medical team about the Eridium?” She asked.

“Done n’ done.” Spanner swiftly nodded, causing the little bead charms to their helmet to clack and rattle. “Even put in a request for treatment for us… iftheycareenough. Nasty crap…” They more or so grumbled under their breath as a few words rushed through clenched teeth.

“Right… everyone, monitor your exposure levels.”

“Anyone need to switch carts, let me know!” Mercury said as he adjusted his mask. Fingers double-checking every lock, tubing, and o-ring to make sure it was all sealed tight. Never could be too careful. “Got some 0Xy and clnZer carts too if exposure is bad.”

“CLUCKING SKAGRAT!” A sudden curse came from Av, catching everyone’s attention. There was a spray of crimson as she quickly jerked her hand away from Jack, clutching it tightly. He was seizing again. “Clucking fingers. My clucking fingers!”

“Move back and get that under control.” Chief shook her head, holding back a snort. At least Av had her cursing under control.

Chief quickly tossed the tablet to the side and went over to take over what Av was once doing. As she and Oxron were working to re-stabilize Jack, they both froze. There was a tingle in the air, followed by a jolt of electricity, and a sudden, icy stillness came over them. Something just made the hairs on their skin stand on end.“Hm!?”

“What the—“

“Whoa! WHOA! Back up! Back up! Back up!” Spanner suddenly blurted out as they grabbed Chief by her collar and pulled her back. Two of their bots nailed Oxron and Mercury in the chest, shoving them back.

Just as all three were clear from the body, purple energy surged through Jack's body before several bright purple bolts shot out, causing everyone else to immediately duck for cover. It lasted for a few seconds before all quickly dissipating, leaving behind faint swirling smoke of Eridium and a fouler odor.

“Whoa!” Mercury exclaimed.

“What the hell…” Oxron wondered what they had just witnessed.

“Spanner, get that to the medical and science teams, stat!” Chief ordered. “Oxron, let’s get him strapped and Mercury put a damn shield up when he’s strapped.”

“Roger.” They responded.

Chief and Oxron got Jack fully on the stretcher and re-stabilized, noting the scar on his face was glowing purple and were being cautious of any more energy spikes.

“I’ll buy you a new hand if we can’t reattach those fingers.” Chief glanced at Av as she had fished out her companion’s fingers from Jack’s mouth. She grimaced at the purple froth and now black-purple sludge that clung to the severed appendages. She dropped them into a sterile bag.

Av wrinkled her nose at the sight. Though they were still gloved, vibrant purple veins glowed through the material and crept across. “I’ll take the offer. Ain’t riskin’ that taint. Wouldn’t mind some chrome like your fancy arm.”

That just made Chief chuckle.

“Shield’s on Chief and monitoring for any more energy spikes.” Mercury said.

“Good. Now you three,” Chief made a series of pointed jabs towards Mercury, Av, and Oxron, “get him out of here and to the med wing yesterday! Move! Move!”

All of them gave their response and quickly picked up the stretcher and made their way out of the room with Jack.

She then looked at the security. She made pointed jabs at them and then at her crew several times. “AND YOU ALL ESCORT THEM! HE’S A VIP!”

The sudden outburst gave them a scare, but more than half of the security followed them out to clear a path.

She then looked Spanner and then pointed at the desk. “Spanner, get everything you can from the computer. Keep the tech crews in the loop.” They just nodded and went to work.

Chief watched them go until they disappeared through the doors.

“End report: Mercury, Av, and Oxron as moving the VIP to the medical wing as I speak. They have an escort. Will continue to gather samples for the doctors and science teams and make additional notes.” She grumbled as she ended her report.

She then turned her attention to Blake. The man was now shooing away the rest of the security team after the sudden lightning show. He looked beyond frazzled, strands of hair poking free from that neatly swept back hair, as he tugged and adjusted his tie.

“Mr. Blake.” She said, going over to him. “By all means, I hope you’re uninjured, but do tell me everything you witnessed with our… boss’ sudden appearance.”

“Ah! Ms. Char.“ Blake forced a smile. He was fond of her, but his nerves were rather frazzled. There was a slight twitch in his eye hearing her request. “I have a feeling you wouldn’t believe me, like the security team…”

“Blake,” she placed her hands on her hips, “just talk. Can’t be any more unbelievable than what we just witnessed. And then half the crap Jack has schemed up.”

Blake closed his eyes tightly, neck muscles strained as he tugged on that wistful noose of a tie one last time before letting go. Not now. Not now. Not ever… for a few decades. Taking in a deep breath, he folded his hands together, bringing them to his face. “I warn you, it makes little sense. It starts here.” He gestured over to the desk, specifically the smoldering device, and walked over to it.

He told her what he told the security, but gave a smidge more detail. Gesturing to the still-lit holo-panels, which were still littered with those error warnings that were giving Spanner a run for their money to take down. Of course, he repeated several times he had no clue Jack had such a device or contingency plan, partially(and cautiously) muttering under his breath he would have had it dismantled as soon as he learned of it.

Chief listened intently. If she still had eyes, they would be rolling out of her skull with how unbelievable it all sounded. But with half the crap she’s dealt with in her life, with most coming with her current “employment” Hyperion for the last few years, it wasn’t so farfetched. Jack was always scheming something up.

“Immortality? Seriously?” She raised a hand to her visor, shaking her head. “If Nakayama was still alive, I would snap that scrawny bastard’s neck.” A growl slipped out.

The next moment her cybernetic fist slammed down onto the device, caving in a sizable portion; knuckle servos clicked and groaned as the metal twisted and crumpled underneath her grip. Blake tensed.

She pulled her hand from the mess and gave it a good shake. Joints clicked and popped until they fully reset. “How’s the Board going to react to this?”

Blake closed his eyes and shook her his. “Poorly, of course. I know they’ll want to oust Jack from the company as soon as possible since we have Hyperion back on track. Mostly. But…”

“Knowing Jack, he’s got something cooked up.”

He nodded. Opening his eyes, he glanced over to the holo-panels. He faintly remembered some things he saw there. Troubling things. “I have a feeling Jack has several contingency plans to keep that from happening. Blackmail and threats. The usual for him.”

“His bloody favorite pastime.” A growl slipped out. She struck the device once more.

Blake nodded. “I take it your team was contacted with such messages to ‘save’ him?”

“Yep.” Another growl. Another sickening crunch of metal. “We’re the freakn’ best in the business.” She tossed in an imitation of Jack’s voice.

“Hm…” Blake bit the inside of his lip. He had a question he had to ask, but was hesitant. “Same… with your sister and her team?”

Chief slammed her fist back down onto the device with immense force. This time, each finger dug into the metal. The sounds of crunching metal grew until a sharp twang and several pings rang out. Chief let out an angry bellow as she pulled her fist back, tearing the device free from the desk, sending wood splinters everywhere, and threw it. It soared across the room before crashing into the wall and onto the ground in a heap. “Yes. Da— damnit, yes.”

“I am so sorry, Char.” There was a slight drop in his shoulders. “My legal team is still searching for a loophole in those blasted contracts. Same with the rest of the Eridium specialized scientists. How Jack managed to ‘headhunt’ so many of—”

A few metallic finger snaps, a harsh ‘can it’, and a raised hand quickly made Blake go silent.

Chief pulled on her chin a few times, shaking her head back and forth. “Headhunted.” That was a light way to put forced extortion and kidnapping. And her sister was a “lucky” one to be chosen for her research into elemental technology and a new budding interest in how Eridium amplified them.

Better if I died that night when they ambushed my exploration team. I can still see the faces of our escort… What was left of them. Why? They did their best to protect us, get us out of there… They were like family, sis. Words her sister told her one night when she had another mental breakdown. Her sister could put on a brave face most days with her current extraneous work, but that day deeply haunted her.

“Uuuugh, dammit.” A long drawn-out sigh of a curse came from her as shook her head again before looking back at him. “Sorry about that. But thank you for what you’re doing. We’ll figure out some way to break those damn contracts. Just hope nothing changes with him back.”

“No offense taken. I understand the stress you’re under. More than you would think.” He said. “I’ll see if I can draft up a few subtle changes to the contracts for a rather dazed Jack to sign.”A small smirk crossed his face. He had to hold in a chuckle, imagining Jack high off of painkillers that would probably be coursing through his system for who knows how long if he survived. “I believe I’ll also give a fair, friendly notice to your co-owner, Sir Papier, if he wishes to submit any suggestions.” That smirk grew even more. He was looking forward to that conversation. “A small amount of reprieve for you all.”

“Tch, I see he’s rubbed off on you, and you know he prefers Monsieur Papier.” She shook her head, but couldn’t help but chuckle. It was a rare treat to see his more devious side. “Truthfully, hope he crashes hard, but who knows the consequences of that.”

“I’ve already sent a memo to the legal teams and others about the possibilities of that.”

A few curses came from Spanner. “Going to have to get the tech boys down here. Lotta data is corrupted and some security crap way too high for me to break.”

“How lovely.” Chief wasn’t surprised to hear that.

Blake shook his head. “I’ll send a message to them.” Looks like his night just got longer.

An alert appeared on Chief’s visor. She raised two fingers to the side of her helmet.

“Yeah? I hear you, Oxron.”

A call from one of her crew. A few status updates. They had arrived at the medical wing and were shifting the VIP into the care of the doctors there. There were several “hms”, “mhms”, “whats”, “repeat thats”, and “how lovely”.

“Alright, you three hand off what you have to the staff there and finish the decontamination process. Spanner and I will be heading over once we finish. And I’ll get Av a shiny new hand or arm. Her choice. And contact the rest of the crew down on Pandora. Got a bad feeling we’ll need everyone back on the station.” Chief finished the call. An annoyed sigh slipped out. “Things are going be freakin’ interesting.”

She then looked at Spanner. “Have your bots gather more scans and samples. The docs are going to need a lot.”

“No problem, boss.” Spanner nodded and ordered their bots to do so.

She then looked over at Blake. “You’ll be getting copies of the status reports from my crew and be prepared for the reports from the doctors. Oxron informed me there were more energy spikes and Jack’s internal temp levels being off.”

“How… joyous.” Blake was not looking forward to that.

Chief and Spanner gathered more data and samples before departing. They bid Blake farewell and good luck. Blake did the same.

The head of security came around and Blake reluctantly filled out some reports as he was waiting for one of the senior-level tech teams to come around.

He eyed that heaping metal mess Chief turned that machine into. How long had Jack had that thing hidden, and this plan schemed up? He wished he had stopped her from damaging it further, but there were thousands of things swirling through his mind. Hopefully, there was still enough remaining for the scientist and tech teams to look at.

There was just a sinking put in his stomach, a gnawing dread, that Jack would somehow survive this ordeal and Hyperion was heading for murky waters once more.

Just how would they work around this? How would they keep this from getting out? That was going to be an impossible task.

His guts were twisting into knots just thinking of the reaction the Crimson Raiders and Vault Hunters would have. A small, naïve part of him hoped they would treat it like a crazed rumor and wouldn’t investigate. But there was Lilith.

“I wonder if I still have some of that Cayenbell berry wine Papier sent. And maybe some of that cognac they sent me. Just need a sip.” Just something to soothe his nerves… or enough to make him pass out. “A sip…” No, he needed to get a mountain of work done before he could dream of sleeping. “Wonder if I can get some more or both. Just have to make some conversations and deals… The Golden Age, tch.”

He brought out his phone and drafted up a message. He needed to get back in touch with his secret contact first. Details needed to be shared. Plans needed to be changed. A storm was brewing.

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Word of Handsome Jack’s return spread quickly across the station. Most thought it to be some kind of joke. It had to be one of those lookalikes or someone in costume. Happened fairly frequently. But some were curious and went to investigate this news; some kept an eye out and others went to his old office. And those curious ones were all that was needed to spark a fire of bonafide proof. A half-dead man strapped to a stretcher. Handsome Jack was back.

How quickly Chief’s crew had to deal with crowds of people appearing around every corner as they rushed Jack to the medical bay. They were so happy for the security escort. Especially for those more overzealous fans that their “god” was back. Which wasn’t helped, as Jack was slowly coming back to consciousness and was registering pain. A lot of pain. A small bonus, this caused several people to back off. An immediate downside is the yelling drew more attention.

The crew was rather happy their helmets allowed them to isolate and tune down Jack’s screams as they moved.

Additional security was called in. They arrived just in time to keep their path clear, as the shielding put up to protect them from energy spikes was slowly failing. The eridium spikes were inconsistent. Sometimes the ‘voltage’ was low and other times crackles of energy would pierce through the shields like they were nothing. Even additional shielding from Surveyor drones that were called in barely helped. The bots instead got zapped and downed, systems fried to a crisp.

Everyone felt like they were way past their nine lives with each warning alert blurted out, followed by Jack yelling and convulsing before the eridium energy went wild every couple of minutes. So far they weren’t injured, but a few overzealous fans that managed to break through were zapped for their troubles. Eridium energy tainted their bodies, with sickly purple veins and skin discolorations. Just subjects for the appropriate scientists to study.

So far, Lady Luck continued to be on the crew’s side, and they prayed she would stay.

A new alert caught the attention of the trio. Monitoring systems were picking up a new anomaly brewing within Jack. His core body temperature levels were starting to shift. Dropping and jumping several degrees in an erratic manner just like everything else going on with him.

Something else to send to the medical wing before they arrive.

They arrived at the medical wing with no more trouble and concerning developments with Jack. Greeting them were several medical members in heavy-duty PPE suits who quickly directed them to a secured operating room prepared for Jack. With Jack situated and handed over, they also passed on all the data — especially the deadly energy spikes — and samples taken from Jack’s office and wished them good luck.

With that done, Oxron called Chief to update her on the situation and once that was done, the trio headed over to decontamination. Av had a rather thorough examination done with booster shots mixed in due to the injury she sustained and wasn’t too surprised they would probably have to amputate her hand with it showing signs of eridium poisoning. At least Chief was paying for the replacement.

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The operating room. Careful murmurs permeated the air as the doctors, nurses, and technicians prepared for the impossible task that lay before them. They all still couldn’t believe it. It had to be some sort of sick, cruel joke. But there he was. Their old boss. Lying barely conscious, twitching, and bleeding profusely on the table.

With an air of calm authority, the head surgeon spoke. “Nurses, technicians… Get the scanners going to keep track of his vitals. Double check the oxygen“ Fingers curled and tensed as they re-tightened their gloves. Eyes drifted over to one monitor tracking Jack’s heartbeat. A heartbeat that was somehow still going, steadily thumping along with erratic blood pressure readings. Then their eyes hesitantly drifted to a few holo-panels floating around them all.

A timer ticking down second by second and the warning accompanied them.

THE CLOCK’S TICKING. CHOP. CHOP. OR YOUR HEAD’S ON THE BLOCK.

Feeling their heart in their throat, the head surgeon knocked their knuckles against their chest as they swallowed hard. They needed to refocus.

“No one approaches the patient until we have these shields recalibrated to deal with the eridium energy and redirect it elsewhere. Our gear can handle only so much.” A hand drifted down to their left side, fingers soon tapped on their Hyperion-issued shield. A button press here, a dial turned ever so slightly there — a faint shimmering blue honeycomb-patterned bubble tightened around them. “And everyone, double-check your suits before approaching the patient. No holes. No gaps. Make sure those breathing apparatuses are sealed tight. Eridium poisoning is… unpleasant.”

The precautions were taken with the utmost care. Nurses and technicians quickly went to work to make sure the scanners were going and properly syncing with the monitors. It didn’t take long for engineers from R&D to show up with the eridium siphoning device — a rather clunky, if not hastily put together rectangular device with an excessive amount of heat vents — to protect them during the operation. They placed the rectangular device towards a corner of the room and began to quickly rig up various redirection and director shields to the ceiling that would lead to it. And just in the nick of time, as Jack’s vials began to spike and sirens went off, the air began to crackle. Everyone froze. Except for the engineers — they just worked faster.

As soon as the last few shields were in place and the device was turned, several bolts of that swirling energy sprung forth from Jack’s body. Twisting and crashing together, it all arced up towards the shields, cracking with thunderous booms as they jumped from one to another as they were swirling towards the device. The flaps to the heat vents burst open as billowing clouds of steam shot out. It sputtered as metal slats clinking and shuttered open, revealing the hidden cells within gathering the energy. Empty blue cells glowed with energy, slowly becoming purple. As quickly as it all started, the energy excursion ended.

The tension in the room quickly dropped as heavy sighs of relief escaped just about everyone. At least one thing was under control and now they just had to worry about keeping their boss alive.

“Well… heck.”

A mild curse from an engineer by the device, followed by them barking out some technical orders and some engineers running out of the room, made all that tension come back.

The head surgeon spoke through gritted teeth. “Dare I ask… what is wrong?”

“Weeeell, our slapdash job works, but boy, there be a ton of juice being pumped out. Already at 80% capacity.” The engineer explained in an odd southern drawl as they pulled a panel back. “Glad we thought of makin’ these cells swappable or we’d be up a creek without a paddle… Well, more or so fried to a crisp and chokin’ on our lungs. This ain’t surviving another blast ’til we get these cells replaced.”

The surgeon’s brow twitched. More sweat poured down their face than ever before. “That’s… good to know.” Terrifying, really. “Keep doing your job so we can do ours.” It was better than nothing.

The surgeon turned their attention back to the others and began giving orders. “Let’s get to work, start cutting his clothes. Make sure all the lines are going and get that anesthesia going on the triple. Ease some of his pain and keep him knocked out. And get the tubes ready if we have to intubate him… somehow he’s still breathing on his own.”

The delicate operation began that soon trudged on for five days as they all worked in shifts — with several people having mental breaks — to save Jack’s life. Somehow, the bastard was still clinging to life as he went through more blood than one could find pouring out of a bandit camp — especially those highly cannibalistic ones and those with bloodletting altars. Besides that, replacing his less-than-repairable organs was another headache, as his body would spontaneously reject the replacements — be it fully synthetic or organic. They switched over to various external machines to act in place of the organs until they could solve the rejection issue, but at some point, Jack’s body finally stopped the weird rejection dance. There were questions, but they didn’t exactly care to investigate what equilibrium they reached to achieve that. They just prayed it wouldn’t happen again.

The device the engineers rigged up was still going strong, though it gave them a scare from time to time when a harsh metal-on-metal grinding sound crashed against their ears, followed by black smoke and sparks billowed out of the vents. Then another scare came, this time from a careless engineer who improperly handled one of the filled cells. One thought the burnt flesh and sulfuric stench clinging to Jack’s flesh peppered with eridium was bad enough as their suit filters could eliminate only so much— the freshly eridium charred engineer made everything so much worse.

The operation continued to be an unpleasant ride with several roadblocks. The constant blood( and other fluids) replacement was still a constant. Speaking of blood, there was a need for constant decontamination and siphoning away all fluids due to it being heavily tainted by eridium. The fumes wafting off of the fluids were overwhelming their breathing apparatuses, leading to clouded thoughts, dizziness, and a few passing out. The engineers quickly reconfigured the room’s fans to recycle the airflow more quickly and went about bringing in some air filters.

Another surprise roadblock of a headache came around the 32nd hour. Jack’s internal body temperature began to fluctuate again, dropping him to near-frigid levels before skyrocketing to scorching ones. This went on for a while before it decided to stick to one side of the spectrum. The hot side.

Ice packs and ice quickly became a commodity on the station as they worked to lower his temperature until they were able to rig up the room to near-freezing levels to aid in the process. Some quick shield augmentations to turn the inner layers into a heater allowed them to continue their work in the frigid cold. As shifts were swapped again, they all had new gear more insulated to deal with the temperatures just in case those shield augmentations broke.

Then another issue arose.

Jack woke up.

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With a rattled gasp, Jack’s eyes flew open, and he shot up straight like a stick, causing the oxygen mask to slip off. Racked, heavy breathing, pupils as small as pinpricks darted across the room. Everyone froze where they were. Surgeons in the middle of making incisions. Others in the middle of suturing. They were too afraid to make any movements. But someone was whispering — almost panicked, scattered yelling — for the anesthesia to be adjusted.

Though everything felt numb and distant, Jack seemed to be processing where he was. What was going on? Eyes took notice of a rack nearby that held a mass of something pinkish-purple that was squirming. And looked like one long tube led back to him.

Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

But he did.

He saw it. His beautiful chest slice opened from collar bone all the way down his stomach, not quite sure where it stopped as multiple arms were in the way. But he could see what little remained of his organic insides at the moment. Two milky white sacs decorated with a honeycomb pattern and that big black “H” shuttered and trembled, encompassing his still-beating heart with every breath. Breath.

What…

His breathing paused. They paused. His breathing quickened. They quickened. Lungs. Those were his lungs. New ones… Neat.

What the hell…

No, no, not neat. There was nothing neat about this. Where were his old ones? What were these idiotic surgeons doing? Carving him up like some animal? He wasn’t that badly injured… was he?

He barely heard the surgeons trying to speak calmly to him and tell him to lie down. That brain of his was examining every bit of work done so far. What was still there? Why is it so hot? What had been replaced? Why is it so hot? More synthetic and mechanical bits replaced their organic counterparts. Faint plans to reinforce the muscles running along his spine as he noticed several cracked vertebrae. Were they going to replace that, too?

A cybernetic spine would be freakn’ neat. Wait no, no, no!

He closed his eyes tightly as he took in a deep breath. Opening again, they were filled with fury.

“Are… you…” A wheezed sound escaped his lips. “Are you trying to turn me into FUCKING WHILHELM!?”

Those whose hands weren’t in the man’s body backed away.

“What the hell do you think you all are—HURK!” His mouth hung open as his whole body suddenly tensed. Pupils shrunk again as his whole being shuddered. His stomach — the organ, new and synthetic — trembled and churned as a deep purple glow grew within. The man hacked and gagged as purple veins crept up his neck and a bulge grew in the middle of it. Seconds later, a vile substance spewed forth, splashing onto everything and everyone, covering them in a dark, noxious substance. Once that happened, he fell back down with a heavy thud.

A few surgeons shrieked, dropping their instruments as they attempted to escape the mess. Others cursed as they stayed calm and attempted to finish their work. But kept a close eye on their toxin levels.

“Just get the cleaning bots going.” One surgeon spoke up as they wiped the vomit off their visor. “We can’t exactly stop rig—”

Seconds later, the eridium sensors roared to life, filling the room with deafening warnings that toxin levels were rising.

The latest head surgeon glanced at their monitors. Eyes narrowed as a frustrated sigh slipped out. “Everyone stop. We need to decontaminate. Levels are rising too fast. Nurse Juniper, send in the other tea—”

The monitors on Jack sounded off. Eridium saturation levels were on the rise like his heartbeat. His body jerked about. Hacking, gagging, and gurgling came from the man followed by a white and purple froth emerging from his mouth.

The head surgeon just wanted to curse. “SUCTION HIS MOUTH NOW!” Instead, barking out orders would alleviate their stress. They turned to the nurses. “SEND IN THE OTHER TEAM NOW AND GET DECONTAMINATION GOING NOW!”

The shift change was disorderly as people bumped, tripped, and slipped around the room trying to get to decontamination or to their places.

Just as they thought the situation was under “control” again, Jack rose again with another racked gasp, followed by him spewing out the froth. Eyes opened wide, he tried to speak, but his jaw hung loose as he froze. Pupils shrank to mere pinpricks as he felt a spark, then several crackles of searing pain rip through his body. He screamed. Back arched, head thrown back and jaw seemingly unhinging itself like a snake’s, he just screamed. That nasty energy crackled and whipped off him.

But there was something new. Something different. All too concerning. It was barely noticeable at first. The “steam” leaving his mouth mixed in with the steam wafting off of his skin and ice packs. But the color shifted to a dark purple and grew in denseness as this now thick noxious fumes poured forth like a waterfall and more erupted from his nose.

The sensors went off again.

There was always something leading to a new frantic dance to get control of the all-around horrendous situation under control once more. The engineers were double timing it replacing the cells to the machines, tweaking everyone’s personal shields, and recalibrating the ventilation system for the new source of iridium vapors filling the room at an alarming rate. The semi-fresh medical team had their hands full attempting to calm down Jack. It took a special concoction of anesthetic drugs, enough to put down four Alpha Skags, to knock the man out cold. Nurses were quick to bring in more ice.

Both had to work in conjunction to create a mask to siphon the fumes still during out of his mouth and nose, but still feed the man fresh oxygen.

It took several more hours before everything came down to a more stable state. Come the end of day 4, the 96th hour, the major portion of the surgery was completed. Jack was stable. More or less. There was still work to do on the man.

More sensors to monitor his health. More augments to continue stability.

The installation of rudimentary infusions and drainage ports was a necessity to continue the blood and nutrient transfusions. Eridium poisoning was still rampant in his system, evident by purple veins that pulsed and crept across his skin. It looked like the constant blood transfusions (organic or synthetic) kept the worst of it at bay, though his body still trembled. They still needed to get to the root of the problem. Find a way to neutralize the eridium. Find a way to cure it, if that was even possible.

Mr. Blake gave full access to all the experimentation records from that insidious Wildlife Exploitation Preserve and other eridium testing facilities for all teams to go over. Collaboration was going to be their best way of solving this mess and making sure everyone survived.

He also sent out requests for their still-alive top eridium specialists stationed across the six galaxies to come to Helios Station immediately. They needed those specialists yesterday. Those onboard the station had done good work, but they were out of their depth for long-term care.

-------------------

A few days had passed since the incident. Anxiousness permeated the station. A majority of those closely involved in the incident were borderline nervous wrecks. The less informed, and well, fanatical fans of Handsome Jack were all too excited for his return.

The only rare positive was that dreaded “retaliation counter” had stopped once it registered Jack was still alive and now “stable.” Though all involved knew that could change at any second, as Jack’s condition was still in flux.

Mr. Blake was keeping an active eye on everything and gave orders when necessary. He was using Jack’s office as the main hub for communication despite it being treated like an active crime scene. Best computers on the Station and the tech teams had cleared out most of the errors and lockouts, allowing it to be 83.5% usable again.

He had a lot on his plate. First and foremost, he was using every resource available to run damage control across the Station of news of Handsome Jack’s return. He had the security divisions cracking down on any mention of Jack and deleting any footage taken. He was taking precautions just in case Jack survived against all odds. The man would not like any evidence of his vulnerable state and proof of his failures in conquering Pandora. Then their competition didn’t need to know about this. The Vault Hunters didn’t need to know about this; any lick of this news and he knew Lilith would be champing at the bit to attack the Station sooner rather than later. For any news that escaped to the ECHOnet, he had some propaganda campaigns whipped up to claim it was all fake positives.

The Board reluctantly approved of his work, but with no suggestions, as they were preoccupied with Jack's colorful threats from his contingency plans. They had to play everything by ear and were putting their lives in Blake’s hands. Another stress he didn’t need.

Besides all of that, Blake was also coordinating all their eridium specialized scientists they could pull to the Station. He didn’t ask for her help, but Chief intruded on his research once she caught wind of it. Her reasoning was her team would most likely have to work intimately with these scientists and wanted to make sure they played nice. He just knew she preferred not to be left out of the loop and let it slide.

“From Dr. Evon: ‘Can’t stop my research on these Eridian ruins concerning eridium. Perhaps they will hold answers for.. Handsome Jack’s… condition.’ Fair. From Dr. Wesker: ‘Too deep in with Maliwan on Nekrotafeyo to leave. Would be suspicious.’ Understandable. From Dr. Wen: ‘Gythian's curse holds my very being on Xylourgos… I can’t leave and it begs for blood. What?”

Blake was reading off the latest messages from some of their elite specialists that had to decline the urgent request he sent out. A fair amount of them had accepted the request and were on their way or were already at the Station toiling away on their boss. Some had plausible reasons for declining. While others, he felt like were finding every excuse possible to avoid taking this task. He didn’t blame them.

“A curse? Hmph, that’s a new one.” Blake shook his head as he reread the message again to make sure he wasn’t misreading things.

“Oh, Xylourgos?” Chief said. She was sitting on the edge of the desk. “They’re not joking about a curse.”

He shifted his eyes to her and raised a brow. She chuckled.

“I’ve been. Quick SAR mission turned sour. There’s a Vault on that planet. The beast is dead but still influences and taints the land. Hope they’re at the Lodge with the… creepy owner. One of the few safe spots on that planet. ”

That brow stayed raised. It wasn’t farfetched, and he had seen more “supernatural” things firsthand. “I’ll take your word for it.”

He continued reading the messages and Chief threw in a comment here in there. She knew them, heard of them, or briefly worked with them. Or knew of the location they were stationed at.

One message piqued his interest. “Accepted” was in all caps.

“Who is this?” He opened the message and quietly read it. His brows raised and scrunched together several times. This person was eager to drop their current work and lend their expertise. They even included a list of their previous and current work for Hyperion.

“Hm, this is surprising.” He wasn’t expecting such an enthusiastic email. It made him smile.

“Someone eager to work on this fool’s errand?” Chief asked.

He nodded. “Seems like they’re unbothered by the dire circumstances.” He scrolled through the rest of the message quickly. “Who is this from? Dr. Viktoria Finlay. Viktoria… hm.” That name sounded familiar to him. Both in a positive and negative way. That negative way bothered him. With some typing and taps, he brought up their profile. He grumbled as the profile was taking forever to load. “Viktoria…” Why, why, why was that so familiar?

“Viktoria?” Chief asked. She got up and went over to him. “As in the Viktoria Finlay? Transhumanist extraordinaire?”

If possible, his brows would be floating high above his head. He mumbled under his breath at her words. “Transhumanist extraordinaire.” Why did that sound familiar? “You know them?”

“Know her? Briefly, in passing. Not sure if that’s when she mostly had most of her ‘ganic body or was dabbling in her body frames she switches around frequently.”

“Body… frames…” He rubbed his chin.

There was a faint chime. The profile had finally loaded. His eyes snapped to it, quickly looking for a face. He saw faces. Several faces. Eyes squinted for a few moments before they went wide.

“Oh, her.”

He didn’t recognize over half the faces. Only a few ticked familiar memory in his brain. The human-looking one jogged an old memory when they first crossed paths on Pandora. A thin, somewhat frail build. Coiled, puffy dark brown hair she kept tied down with a bandana, and she wore questionably thick glasses he wondered if they were fake for novelty’s sake. She was taking over an “excused” researcher’s work on eridium and its effects on humans. Even witnessing the researcher being beaten and arrested, she had a great deal of pep in her step and took to the task with little trouble.

“She has… changed quite a bit over the years… in appearance.” He mumbled as his eyes drifted to the other portraits. One looked like a robot, partially constructed like a Maliwan mech, but more “light” streamlined. Thankfully, she kept the colors Hyperion related — sticking mostly to black and the old red with touches of yellow. It had a visor that could be removed, revealing a more human-like face that looked like the old her. And then the other portrait that had him deeply puzzled. It looked like some sort of alien animal. Something canid mixed with that simian species, Jabber, with how colorful the fur was. It was his best guess.

A quick scan through her file to jog his memory on why she had these different portraits.

“Ah… right. Had a health condition before joining us and then her Eridian research exacerbated it. Was already interested in splicing her DNA with various creatures and beings to enhance her capabilities and starve off her condition. Began dabbling more with cybernetics and bio-augmentations to treat her failing health.”

“That’s her.” Chief nodded.

“Hm… why the ‘bodies’ again? I faintly recalled she was at a near terminal stage.” He mumbled as he continued to scroll through her profile and spotted internal review notes. “‘Viktoria stumbled across a solution to her ailment, which involved transferring herself into new custom-built bodies. She has not divulged how she came across this solution and has continued to be tight-lipped. The only information we have been able to decode is it deals with Eridian technology, eridium, and other alien elements. Seems to have ‘cured’ herself but walks a dangerous line with the eridium. ’ Huh.”

He continued to read the speculations that she first began her experiments for building a new body on her personal bodyguard, Geise Walker, after an incident left him barely alive and torn to shreds. His eyes drifted to a before and after image of said bodyguard. He faintly recognized the former more than the latter. Then again, he looked like a typical geared-up mercenary that wasn’t crazy. The latter image was a hulking hooded beast of a man; body littered with discolored skin, scars, and dark scales. He wondered if it was the same person. “That… that explains a lot. Is that eridium growing out of his skin?” He rubbed his chin as he digested all of this information. “She must have done good work to get away with keeping whatever she found and kept secret. Exceptional work if this went under Jack’s radar.”

“From my brief meeting with her, she’s eccentric but means well. Not a half-bad medical doctor. Steady hands for scalpels and needles.”

“You’ve worked with her?” He looked at her.

“Again, briefly. My team was called in to pick up some of her injured men. Got into a scrape ourselves just trying to get to them. By the time we got to them, she had tended to their wounds and kept them in stable condition and lent a hand to patch us up.” She traced a few areas around the left side of her collarbone.

“Interesting.” Though Chief was in her work gear, he could only imagine the potential scar it left.

Blake returned his attention back to her profile and then the message she sent. “Maybe she can be of great help as she has cybernetics and bio-augmentation under her belt and I’ve read what has been done to Jack to keep him alive.” He muttered his thoughts. Yet, there was a pit of worry deep in his stomach. He wasn’t sure why. Nothing in Viktoria’s file gave him pause to think she could harm Jack. Those unanswered questions about how she “cured” herself bothered him.

“As long as she doesn’t get any funny ideas with Jack, I believe we’ll be fine.”

“She does ask, before augmenting.”

Blake glanced at her, half annoyed and half concerned. She chuckled.

“She offered that during our brief meeting. A bit too eagerly.”

“Noted.”

He composed a quick message to her, thanking her for her service and was looking forward to her arrival and to who she would be working with.

“Excuse me.” He made a ’zip it’ motion to Chief as he placed a call to one of the lead doctors overseeing Jack. “Hello Dr. Booth, I’m calling to give you heads up. I’m going to send you the file of one of the eridium experts that will be aiding you in treating Handsome Jack. Her name is Dr. Viktoria Finlay and— what” He paused, brows furrowing as his eyes narrowed.

Chief raised a brow.

“What do you mean she’s already here? What do you mean she’s examining him?” Irritation slipped through gritted teeth. As he listened to them explain, he jumped back to the message she sent. Somehow, he had glanced over that she would be there within two to three days since he sent out the initial requests. “How did she and her team pack up so fast?”

With swift typing, he brought up a holo-panel showing a live feed of the room Jack was being kept in. Though the view was obscured by thick clouds of steam permeating the room, he spotted her. There she was, in her robotic body, and her team was with her as well as some of the other doctors. All in heavy PPE gear. “Tell her I want to talk to her yesterday, Booth.” With that, he hung up and turned his attention to the camera feed.

“Volume, volume.” Fingers searched around for the button. Once found, he jabbed at it repeatedly.

Once it was on, he heard them discussing of Jack’s current predicament and new findings. Viktoria was picking up one of Jack’s trembling arms and pointing out the faint glowing eridian-like swirling markings that were beginning to appear on his skin.

“This is fascinating. Like faux siren tattoos. Waves, dots, circles, swirls.” A finger traced the still-forming marking. “None of my eridium experiments caused this to appear in the subjects.” She said. “Perhaps it’s a side effect of his close interaction with Eridian relics over the years? Maybe similar connections were made like that Zarpadon woman, though she never sported such markings. Hm!” She shrugged before placing his arm back down. “Speculations will only take one so far. We will have to do a great deal of research and tests!”

“Already on the task. Like the work ethic.” Chief commented.

“Hm.” Blake rubbed his chin. Nothing too concerning so far. He continued to watch.

“Now,” Viktoria produced a marker out of nowhere and flicked its cap off, “those rudimentary infusions and drainage ports will need to be replaced and moved.” With the marker, she began to draw place markers for where the new ports should be placed. Shoulders, neck, ribs, and both sides of his stomach were a few places she marked. “They will work better in these areas. Also, how is the damage to his spine? Does it need replacing? That will dictate what port can be placed there. And where’s the liquid eridium for the test? It should be here by now.”

As she said continued to draw more place makers, she began to list all the materials and components that would need to be ordered and prepped for future surgery.

“Hm. Already planning a major surgery. And what’s this about Liquid eridium?” Blake muttered. Talk of liquid eridium concerned him. It was barely quelled as the Station’s doctors gave their input here and there and seemed to be in agreement with her plans. He shifted his attention to any new entries into Jack’s treatment. It was more or less the same with the main concerns being his fluctuating body temperatures and the faint traces of eridium flowing through his veins.

“Oh, hello Mr. Blake.”

Hearing his name uttered in a nonchalant way caused his attention to snap back to that camera feed. Viktoria was waving at the camera.

“Got your message. I apologize. Sometimes my giddiness gets the best of me. We will talk later.”

“Hm.” He shook his head. At least she got the message. Chief laughed. “Our conversation later will be interesting.”

“I see you vetoing her suggestions for any splicing to treat Jack.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t jinx it.”

For another hour, Blake went through the other messages for the specialists, “politely” threatening a few he could tell were lying to pack up their gear and come to the Station immediately. Chief left to go regroup with her crew.

A few hours after that, he headed down to the medical wing to meet with Victoria and her team.

-------------------

Viktoria and a few of her team were just outside of the room Handsome Jack was being kept in. She noticed him entering and promptly made her way to him.

“A pleasure to work with you again, Mr. Blake!” Victoria was quick to greet Blake. She flipped off her visor so he could see her ’synthetic yet human’ face. Cybernetic hands quickly scooped up a free hand of his and shook it vigorously. “Again, apologies for stepping over any protocols you may have had. I just had to see if it was true.”

Mr. Blake was nearly taken aback by 7ft tall doctor, and how forward she was but kept his composure. He eyed each of her workers and the 10ft tall being lingering nearby with glowing, icy blue eyes peering through holes in his loose cloth-like mask. Intimidating. Must have been her bodyguard. “Dr. Finlay. I—”

“Call me Viktoria, please.” She let go of his hand. “And this is Geise.” She gestured to her bodyguard.

“Hi.” Geise’s voice was as rough as sandpaper. He waved.

“Right… And hello.” He nodded at Geise. “Dr. Viktoria, we thank you for answering the call so swiftly. I believe your expertise will be invaluable for this task.” He put on a smile. “Now, what have you discussed with the doctors?”

She gestured for him to follow her back to the observation window. “We’ve been going over all the notes they made as they pre, during, and post-Jack’s surgery.”

She went about explaining everything in the simplest terms he could follow. No major developments since the surgery. They were keeping a close eye on his body temperature, which was still inching towards hyperthermia. And the eridium in his system still lingered at low levels, like something was producing it. It was being controlled by semi-frequent blood transfusions, but long term, his body wasn’t tolerating it well.

“Now we want to solve this eridium problem and possibly introducing—”

“No unauthorized splicing.” Blake cut her off with a firm glare. “We’re already on thin ice with the mass organ replacement that had to be performed a few days ago.” His shoulders tensed as he recalled rewatching that section of the surgery recording. “When Jack is mostly coherent, you will have to talk to him about the minuscule possibility of tweaking his DNA.”

Viktoria let out a stifled giggle. “I will keep that in mind. I know how he feels about his looks.” She chuckled again. “But I wasn’t going to suggest that.”

“You weren’t?”

“I’m eccentric, but not crazy.”

Once they made it to the window, she gestured to what was happening on the other side. The doctors, guided by her workers, were setting up fresh IV lines and prepping bags of a glowing purple liquid.

“We’re about to perform a test.”

“Test?” He raised a brow. Looking inside, it took some effort for him to make out what was going on due to all the steam in the room and coming off of Jack’s body. “What kind of test?” He noticed the glowing bags. “What is that?”

“Liquid eridium.”

“What!?” He recalled her asking for that when he spied on her earlier. “Are you insane?”

“Eccentric. And it’s diluted don’t worry.”

“Even diluted eridium is highly toxic! What in the world are you testing?”

“To see if Jack’s body has become dependent on the substance. What runs through his veins is the equivalent of slag, and the levels are low. His body may respond positively to a more ‘pure’ form of the substance.”

“Dependent? No, no, no…” He shook his head, not believing that. Nothing in the files alluded to him being dependent on the substance. More like the exact opposite with the element slowly killing him and everyone exposed to it. “Stop this madness! I’m not letting you risk Jack’s life with this asinine test.”

“Too late.”

Blake winced. His eyes saw it. That glowing liquid speedily traveled down the line and into Jack’s body. No, no, no. All he could do was wait. And wait. And wait.

A few minutes passed. Jack’s shaking grew less. The sensors steadily kept their course. Jack’s breathing, though shallow, was steady.

Blake took a few minutes to recompose himself, tightening and loosening his tie, and think of the choice words he would use.

“Dr. Victoria.” He paused, biting his tongue for a moment to keep him from speaking through his teeth. “I warn you now. Do not pull this sort of stunt again without my explicit authorization. Everyone’s lives are at risk.”

The corners of her mouth twitched as if she was trying to hold back a bemused smirk. “I will… keep that in mind. Unless exigent circumstances rise and —”

There was a loud, deep gasp.

“Dr. Viktoria! He’s waking up!” One doctor said.

They looked over. Jack’s chest was rising and falling at a rapid pace. The next second, he shifted and slowly raised himself up. One hand flew to his face and began to pull at the breathing tubes. His pale skin was looking more vibrant.

“Keep him from making any sudden movements, pulling the tubes and IV out!” She yelled. She looked back at Blake. Electronic eyes twinkled with excitement. “Let’s continue our conversation later.” Victoria smiled before hastily making her way to the entrance of the room. “Geise, stay outside! Don’t want you scaring the boss.” He let out a grunted laugh and parked himself by the entrance of the room after she entered.

Blake’s mouth hung loose for a moment before he promptly shut it. He pinched the bridge of his nose so tightly he drew blood. He mumbled something about updating his will and other personal matters. Fingers shifting to his earpiece, he tapped into the audio to see what they would be talking about.

-------------------

“Readings on the eridium in his system with the infusion?” Viktoria asked as she entered the room. She kept an eye on the workers, making sure Jack wasn’t moving after they pulled the breathing tubes out before he hurt himself. Look like they didn’t have to do much. The man looked confused out of his mind. Pinprick eyes darted around, mostly looking at himself as one hand rubbed his neck and the other clawed at his chest faintly remembering it was wide open days ago.

“Elevated slightly, but everything is reading stable.” One answered.

“Looks like his body is responding positively so far. There’s some color in his skin again. Tremors are nearly gone. Body temp is still high, no changes there.”Another brought up a before image of Jack. “Additionally, we’ve noticed his incision sites are rapidly healing. Your guess may have been correct.” Another said.

“Perhaps. We have more tests to run.” Viktoria said. “This could just be a false positive.”

They continued to monitor him for 10 minutes. Everything hovered at a stable level.

“Good, good.” She tapped her fingers together. “Let’s see how coherent he is.” She walked over to him, shooing away the workers by him. “Mr. Jack. Handsome Jack.” She crouched down until she was at eye level with him. “Can you hear me, sir?”

The man barely moved a muscle. Eyes drifted over, lazily focusing on this person, if not a robot, crouching next to him. A robot with a human-looking face. Who the hell was this? He closed his eyes tight as his mind tried to think. A sharp pain cut through his skull. He grunted, face contorting from the pain. No, no, no. He shook his head. It still hurt to think. Eyes open once more, he looked at her. Still, nothing clicked. His eyes shifted back down to his chest. Thumb still rubbing the faint incision that ran down his chest.

“Sir, how are you feeling?” She asked another question.

A throbbing pain emerged in the back of his head. He closed his eyes tight. “ShhhHHHHHhhh… robot lady.” His voice was hoarse. “You’re… too loud.”

She let out a snort but kept silent. She gestured for her workers to quiet down and for them to dim the lights.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes again, and this time shifted his face towards her. He studied it. Nothing about her looked familiar. He had no recollection of any of Hyperion’s robots having a chassis like hers. Their robots were more sharp and angular. Hers was more rounded and smooth.

“Who…” He paused, shaking his head to get rid of some wooziness. “Who the hell are you?” He looked around. “What’s with all the fog?”

She simply smiled. “Dr. Viktoria Finlay. And that’s steam.”

He squinted. His mind worked through old and shattered memories to put a face to that name. That thumping at the base of his skull grew and grew, but he didn’t stop thinking. He wanted to know. “Finlay… Viktoria… no… Viktor… Viktor… Vicky… Vicky. Viktor… Vicky… Yeah, yeah.” Something about those two names felt familiar. A memory from years ago was slowly piecing itself back together.

“You’ve called me those two before. Constantly mistook me for a Viktor before settling on calling me ‘Dr. Splicer.’”

“Dr…. Splicer.” A confused mutter slipped out. A faint memory was coming together. He looked around for a few moments before his eyes widened. A memory finally came together. “Dr. Splicer.” There was more confidence in his voice. He looked her up and down. “You loooooook… different. Taller… And more… robotic.” He cocked his head to the side, body nearly following the sudden movement, but he barely caught himself. “Like Wilhelm. Though more… robot. You still human or all AI?” He cocked his head to the other side, noticing a missing key feature of hers. “Where’s the thick specs?”

She just chuckled at what he said and the faint memories she had of him. Looked like he was still out of it. “I’m still human. Very much human. It’s been a long while since we’ve met in person. And,” she paused, tapping her lip, “can’t quite remember if I was in one of my new bodies yet when we spoke last.”

“New body?”

“Not important!” She clapped her hands together. He winced. “Too much for your pain-riddled brain to process right now. We have more important matters if you’re coherent enough to process the information.”

Coherent? That was asking a lot out of him. His mind was still in a fog and it was taking forever for it to clear up. But part of him wanted to be up and not unconscious again. Unconsciousness was unpleasant. Felt like he was constantly free-falling with no end. Raising both hands to his temples, he rubbed them before taking a deep breath. “Shoot for it, sweetheart.”

With his permission given, Viktoria took it slowly with her questions for him and mixed in a few physical tests. Jack stayed fairly calm, if not confused, through it all. Questions on how he was currently feeling were given short answers. Hot, foggy, and shitty. Questions on what he could remember were also short, if not causing him some agitation. Everything is a foggy blur. It hurts to think. She didn’t fully believe that as it seemed like he was hiding something as his body trembled with rage for a few seconds, but for now she wouldn’t press further.

The questions and examination went on for a few more minutes before finally ending.

“Now, do you have questions for me?” She asked.

Jack was picking at those glowing markings on his arm. Eyes closely examine the sweeping waves and dots. It looked Eridian. His eyes then shifted down to the IV connected to it and the purple liquid inside it. Heard one of them mention eridium infusion… no way they’re pumping this into me. “What the hell…” He raise his arm and shoved it infant of her face. He pointed at the markings. “What the hell is this? What the hell is happening to me?”

“Ah, that. We don’t know yet.” She said.

His eye twitched. “You don’t know yet? What…” His voice shook, laced with irritation. Fingers curled into fists. “What do you mean you don’t know yet!?”

“Sir,” she gently pushed his arm down, “this is a new development currently being investigated. My best guess at the moment is this is a long overdue reaction to close interactions with Eridian relics and exposure to eridium.” She explained. “Do you have a recollection of interacting with either?”

He looked away for a moment and thought. “The Vault Key.” One Eridian relic he interacted with the most over the years, charging it with countless amounts of mined eridium. “And…” He paused. His mind flashed back to some years ago on Elpis and its Vault. His mercenaries, his team defeated the Guardian and then that device that showed him everything. “And…” His voice shook. He tightened one hand into a fist. Everything. Before it was all interrupted by that bandit, Lilith. The other shakily went to his face and touched that scar, fingers tracing every indent and crack. He flinched. It was healed, but occasionally would be plagued by phantom pains of that searing impact of that punch. “And… nothing.” Not for her to know. Not for anyone to know.

“Hm, that could be part of the source.” She mused. “Whatever the cause, it seems to have caused your body to become dependent on eridium. Or at least positively respond to freshly processed eridium.”

He froze. Dependent on eridium. He had to be hearing things, right? Right? “What...?” He quietly questioned.

“It’s a speculation.” She picked up on his growing distress. “But…” She wasn’t one to lie. With a finger, she tapped at the IV line. “You seem to be responding well to this infusion. Your color has come back and your incisions are healing quicker.”

“What.” He had to be hearing things. There was no way he had become dependent on that liquid death. No way he could be suffering the same fate he inflicted on his daughter. No, she was fine. It was those bandits that killed her. My little Angel was fine.

“And speaking of infusions,” she then tapped at the ports, “need to change those for future treatments.” She then went on to explain what she meant by that and the potential surgeries. The entire process was complicated and would be painful — intertwining the components with muscle fibers, veins, and nerve pathways.

Jack wasn’t listening. His mind was else were. Memories were coming back and pounding against his skull. Back to the Vault Key. Back to his daughter. Eridium was addicting to Sirens. Too much eridium and they became dependent on it and would die if their source was cut off. “Did I… did I kill her?” He whispered to himself, covering his face with his hands. His mind recalled those Vault Hunters destroying the last injector, snuffing out her precious life. “Did I?” No, no, no. It was those bandits who killed my defenseless girl. She was fine. She would be fine after I unleashed the Warrior. We would figure out that “dependency” problem once Pandora was cleansed. She was fine.

He clawed at his face, drawing blood from quickly healing scratches, as more memories pieced themselves together again. The fight before his death. The minutes before his death. “They killed my Warrior.” He whispers to himself. How did they kill that great Eridian weapon? Then his memory flashed forward to his death at the hands of Lilith. Hand grasping his head, fingers digging deep into his scalp. The iridium-enhanced power of hers coursed through his body, burning every nerve to a crisp until it all went black. Lilith. Lilith. Lilith. That bitch is the cause of everything. Yes, yes, yes, it was her. She was the cause of his pain back then and was the cause of it now. Whatever she did then must have been the cause of his predicament now.

A deep growl came from his throat. He clawed at his face, the scar one last time, before slamming his fists against the table. “I’m going to strangle that bitch!”

The sudden shout startled the workers.

“Sir?” Viktoria was less disturbed, but there was concern in her voice.

It took a moment for him to register that someone else was there. Right, doctor’s here. He snorted, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. “Vicky, sweety,” he grinned, “you have the green light to do whatever you need to get me in tiptop shape, pronto.”

She pulled her head back and blinked twice. Where did this sudden gusto come from? She was pretty sure he didn’t hear half of what she was proposing. “Are you sure? This surgery will be tremendously painful and you’ll have to be awake for every second of it. Especially the fine-tuning process. It was unpleasant for Geise. It was unpleasant for me.”

“Details, minor details.” He waved her off. It couldn’t be that bad. “I have a company to run and scores to settle.”

“Huh.” She snorted. She then turned to the observation window, face beaming with a wide grin directed at Blake. He raised a hand to his face and shook his head in response. “Well, Mr. Blake, looks like I have authorization for the surgeries.”

“Jimmy’s here?” He followed her gaze and saw his sharply dressed assistant. The man now looked like he had seen a ghost once Jack laid eyes on him. A color quickly drained from his face leaving it as white as a sheet. “Jimmy.” He raised his hand and made a ‘come here’ gesture. “I want to be caught up on everything. What are those pesky Vault Hunters up to?”

#borderlands AU #Handsome Jack #Handsome Jack AU #Broken!Jack #writings #fan fic writing #Borderlands 2 #Borderlands #Fic: Welcome Back Handsome Jack

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