#its also fancy omegaverse cause i wanna hurt

[thethespacecoyote]

I don’t know what this is?? Rhys gets implanted with some kind of weird parasitic....thing? Jack has to help him get out and its kind of sad and weird?

I dunno what this is but it has parasitism/medical stuff/body horror/possession/implied violent surgical means of dealing with the problem sooooo. Yeah. Have fun with this maybe?

Jack’s not sure if he’s ever been this afraid.

He’s usually pretty good about not showing fear—every good CEO knew to keep vulnerable emotions locked way far away from the prying eyes of the public. Anger and brutal happiness were the only feelings he usually allowed to leak through, because he could use those as methods of intimidation towards his Hyperion underlings.

Fear in the eyes of others was useful, integral to the rule of a proper king. But the fear brewing within his own chest, now, made him feel nothing but helpless.

He was staring through the glass in his private medical bay, hands clenched tightly behind his back. He wanted nothing more than to press his palms against the glass, to get as close to the other room as physically possible, but he forced himself to scorn such a vulnerable position. He had already shown far too many leaks of panic to the equally anxious scientists and doctors shuffling in and out of the adjoining rooms; both tended to the patient on the bed and the brewing, ominous storm that was Handsome Jack’s worried gaze.

It had been less than twelve hours since Rhys had arrived home from a brief trip to Elpis, hunting down some moonstones to use for some programming chip or something. It was for an upgrade to his arm, Jack remembered that much. The omega had been fine when he had returned from the shuttle, kissing Jack and scooping up their excited children. At his usual level of strength and lucidity.

But in the middle of the night, Jack had awoken to pained whimpers at his side. He had grabbed Rhys once he’d properly shaken sleep from his eyes, tried to turn him over only to find that Rhys’ body was wrapped rigid around his middle. His eyes were screwed shut in agony and he was crying out without abandon, his entire body shaking in a way Jack had never seen before, not even in the depths of a bad heat.

He’d called a medical team as quickly as he could, soon after waking Tim up to watch over the boys as he swiftly carried Rhys’ body out of the penthouse to meet with the medics, unwilling to guide them through the complicated process of getting his door open. Rhys had been sobbing and grabbing his stomach the entire time, body twisting both in Jack’s arms and on the stretcher.

He wasn’t moving much, now, and hadn’t been for the past six hours. Jack stared through the glass to where Rhys was lying on the bed, hooked up to far too many strange-looking machines beeping in colors and patterns that Jack didn’t understand. All he knew was that Rhys wasn’t waking up. His body was pale, crossed with faint purple, veinlike rashes that concentrated around his abdomen, and its that that makes Jack’s frikkin’ skin crawl with fear.

Rhys’ stomach was swollen and misshapen, his skin covered in patches of bruises and swirled in ugly, neon-purple stretch marks that almost seem to glow even in the stark light of the medical bay. The hospital bedding was pulled down over his stomach, the abused skin covered in sensors and imaging probes as doctors and techs looked on with confusion and concern.

Jack’s neck prickled, because the omega looked pregnant, and he knew whatever was in there wasn’t his.

Some freaky alien—parasite—thing had decided to shack up inside of his mate and Jack wasn’t going to stand for it even if he has to reach inside of Rhys’ guts and yank the bastard out himself.

He watched as a tech reaches forward, lightly palpating on Rhys’ stomach, and he couldn’t take it anymore.

“What the hell is taking so long?” The alpha snarled as he barged into the room, scanning over the tons of fancy equipment that was, in his opinion, completely frikkin’ useless. “You shits have been poking and prodding at him for hours and you still can’t tell me what the hell is inside of him!”

“Ah—Handsome Jack, sir, please,” a young female tech stuttered, trying to keep her sensor wand pressed to Rhys’ stomach even in the face of the furious alpha, “it’s just that….well….see for yourself…”

As calmly as she could manage, the young tech flipped one of the monitors in the CEOs direction.

“So…? What the hell am I supposed to be looking at?” The alpha snarled as he squinted at the image. It looked like a whole lot of frikkin’ nothing. Some shapes on the display were defined, like the glowing shapes of Rhys’ bones, but little else was definite and not blurred to high hell.

“And….well, that’s the problem, sir. We can’t seem to get a proper reading on whatever is there. It’s just like….like an artificial blind spot, so to speak. It’s blocking our attempt to properly see inside him.”

The beta traced her finger around the blur.

“It does….seem that, whatever it is, it’s housed himself inside your omega’s reproductive organs. Interfacing with his circulatory system. That’s….that’s all we can tell at this point, until the labs get ba—“

The beta was cut off as Jack slammed his fist against the display.

“Great. Great! You’ve had six frikkin’ hours and that’s all you’ve had to show for it! Are you kidding!” The alpha roared, spit flying from his fangs. He tensed, bringing his hands up to his face and rubbing his temples, cursing to himself as he desperately tried to bring his emotions back under control. He looked up, face shadowed by his hands, dark and menacing at the beta.

“You have a mate, sugar?”

“Y….Yes sir.”

“No kidding. And pups?”

A bigger pause this time. “…Yes.”

One hand fell to Jack’s hip, the other grasping his chin as he glared at her.

“Right. Well, if you don’t figure out what’s wrong with him, then I’ll kill your mate and your pups. In fact, I’ll kill everyone’s mate and pups. We gotta deal, kiddos?” Jack growled, wondering for a moment if he should kill someone’s family now just to get a fire lit under them when a pained little whimper from Rhys’ caught his attention.

Jack was at his mate’s sight in an instant, his bond throbbing in shared pain as he placed his hands upon Rhys, just barely remembering to be careful not to jostle the IVs and sensors.  

“Rhysie…” Jack croaked, carefully brushing the omega’s hair off his forehead. God, he was burning up, and it ached through Jack’s entire body. Another sad, shaky little whimper escaped the omega’s lips, his eyes fluttering and lips moving as if he wanted to wake up, but didn’t have the strength.

“It’s okay, pumpkin, it’s okay…” The alpha tried to sooth, his other hand finding Rhys’ hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. He kissed his mate’s forehead, pressing as close to him as he felt comfortable with all the sensors and the pain the younger man was in.

His bond was braying at him, sensing the pain and distress his mate was in and trying to get him to do something, anything to protect Rhys. But Jack could do nothing but watch and hold his omega, stroke his head and kiss him and assure him everything would be fine.

And it would be fine, or else Jack would end the day with a lot of blood on his hands.

It was nearly another other before Rhys’ labs came back, and what Jack was told had the alpha reeling.

“Eridium? You’re joking.” Jack snapped at the doctor who had approached him, snatching the file out of his hands. “How the hell can he have Eridium in his blood? He’d be dead!”

“I….I don’t understand it either, sir, but there’s no doubt. We ran the blood several times, and come up with the same results.” The alpha nervously adjusted his glasses. Jack sniffed sharply. God, this guy smelled like he’d spent a day in the thresher enclosure. When was the last time these people bathed?

“Well, what the hell are we gonna do about that, huh?” Jack huffed.

“We….we need to operate on him as soon as possible, to get whatever is producing the Eridium out before something irreversible happens. It’s going to be difficult with our imaging software malfunctioning, but….we don’t really have a choice.” The man concluded grimly.

“Fine. You fuck up, I kill your whole family, blah blah blah, you know the whole drill.” Jack spat, pushing himself up from his chair and brushing past the doctor.

He re-entered the main room, eyes falling on Rhys’ form. God, he looked even worse than he had before, the purple veins spreading further over his body, growing thicker as they spiraled out from his swollen stomach. Jeez, it was even bigger than it had been an hour ago, irregular lumps standing out against his stretched skin. Jack swallowed around the thickness in his throat, hating the way Rhys’ looked. It was nothing like the charming, clever omega he knew. The one who’d given him two kids and countless nights of sex and sweetness and support beyond what he probably deserved.

He approached the omega’s bed, ready to say what would hopefully not be his last goodbye—when he noticed that Rhys’ eyes were open.

The next thing Jack knew, he was being thrown to the floor with such force that his breath was nearly knocked from his lungs. He let out a hoarse gasp, spots popping in his vision. He heard the machines violently crash to the floor around him, and before he could push himself up a new weight sat atop him. He felt long fingers try to grasp around his throat, and that finally galvanized him into action. He seized at the hands trying to wrap around his neck, pushing against insane strength as his swimming vision finally fixed on what was above him.

The first thing he saw were the eyes—soulless and burning and glowing bright, bright purple out of a far too familiar face.

“Rhys?” Jack shouted, fending off the omega as he spat and hissed, trying to get his claws back around the alpha’s throat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Jaaaaaaaack.” A dark, rattling hiss came from the omega’s unmoving lips, the sound sending a chill up Jack’s spine. The purple, alien glow that wracked through Rhys’ body, lighting up the bruises and marks that had come to cover the omega’s skin, was both familiar and soullessly alien. Beneath the plasticine of his mask he could feel his deadened scar throb violently, and he nearly faltered and let “Rhys” throttle him again. He grit his teeth, roaring in agony as his scar and his bond both screeched at him, before he shoved “Rhys” off and away from him, sending the omega crashing into one of the downed machines.

Jack struggled to his feet, swaying in imbalance as he stared. Rhys’ nude body quaked and jerked on the floor, like it was being yanked by invisible strings. His swollen stomach was throbbing, violent and purple as long serpentine shapes shifted underneath his skin. The omega’s head snapped up, fixing Jack with a fiery stare that pierced straight through the alpha and send a cold shiver down to his heart.

“You should have diiiiied long agoooo.” “Rhys” rasped, crouching back on his haunches, his belly writhing with horrible fervor.

“Yeah?” Jack shouted, trying to sound tough, “you sound like one of my exes, babe!”

Jack’s fingers danced on the handle of the gun at his waist.

“Is that it? Frikkin’ jealous I decided to shack up with someone worth my time? Think you can just burrow into his guts to get some good ol’ Jack loving?”

A cold, cruel laugh echoed throughout the

“Your dynasty will doom the universe. It ends here.”

“Oh, so first you sneak inside my mate, and now you’re threatening my kids? You’re not making many friends here, buddy.” Jack snarled, eyes flicking briefly to the barrel of his gun. He watched “Rhys’” body tense, preparing to strike. Jack gripped the handle of his pistol, eyes flicking to the omega’s stomach.

“Rhys’” legs twitched a second before he was leaping into the air, teeth bared, claws outstretched and ready to tear Jack apart.

Thankfully, Jack was there to meet him, the golden bayonet of his pistol glinting in the blue light of the medical bay.

Tim brings the boys to visit a few days after that. Rhys is still pale and weak, but his face lights up the moment Cyrus and Jaxen enter the room. Jack has to stop Cyrus from jumping on his mother, warning the boys to be careful lest Rhys pop any of his stitches. Jack lifts both boys onto the hospital bed to cautiously lay next to Rhys, who welcomes the closeness. He presses his nose into his children’s hair, scenting them weakly before laying back against his pillow.

For the first time in days, Jack leaves Rhys’ side for something other than the bathroom. He shuts the door behind himself and Timothy, glancing about in both directions before he pulls the double close, breathing directly into his ear.

“Sub-level seventeen, holding cell nine. There’s a chest in there I need you to take care of.” Jack’s eyes are steely, cold shells as they lock with Tim’s. His voice wavers.

“Get someone disposable to fly it to the deepest, darkest pit in the universe and toss it inside. Then kill them.” Timothy’s eyes widen in confusion.

“Jack, that seems—why don’t you just airlock it?”

The CEO’s fingers slip around Timothy’s chin, pulling him in closer. His eyes flicker to the side, watching through the window as Cyrus and Jaxen cuddle up next to Rhys, holding the frail omega close as he kisses their cheeks.

“I’m not taking any chances.”