#sometimes you just gotta follow the dopamine trail

[the-yearning-astronaut]

Me: yaaaay I finished my second read-through of Murderbot! I can listen to something else again!

Brain: or....now hear me out.

Me: oh no

Brain: OR you could start it all over again and this time make annotations in your physical copies.

Me: ... that's not a bad idea.... But also. New media when??

Brain: two words -- guaranteed dopamine. Think about it.

Me: fine. I'm convinced

[snappedsky]

Borderlands: Skies the Bodyguard 1

Skies and Angel get up to some stuff. Previous! Next!

--

Chapter 8

           Being Handsome Jack’s bodyguard wasn’t as glamorous as people thought. Most days I spent hanging out in his office or lobby while he worked. Often I would follow him around Helios when he had to go to meetings or chew out someone which usually ended in throwing the poor idiot out of an airlock. Sometimes he would have me buy him coffee or something from the Hub of Heroism. I was basically a glorified assistant.

           The first exciting thing that happened was when Jack hired a bunch of low level assassins for a special mission. Wilhelm and I stood in his office while he recorded a message for them.

           “Alright, you mindless gun-hands,” he said, “you’re looking for a really hot chick with blue tattoos and mystical powers. A Siren. Specifically one named Lilith. The official reports say she died in New Haven, but I’m positive she’s hiding out near Sanctuary. If you catch wind of her, tell me and I’ll pay you enough money to build a mansion, made out of other…smaller mansions. Out.”

           I shook my head disapprovingly. “I can’t believe you hired these nobody, no-talent assassins to find Lilith. You realize if, by some miracle, they do manage to find her she’ll destroy them.”

           “That’s the point,” Jack grinned, tapping his head. “They’re Siren fodder. Their ECHO communicators are being tracked. When they die, we just gotta check out their last location.”

           “Hm,” I sniffed, “I guess the only thing those slobbering tools is good for is bait.”

           “Or target practice,” Wilhelm added and I grinned.

           Jack checked his watch and sighed. “I gotta get to a meeting with accounting. It’ll take all day; those idiots love to talk about numbers. Wilhelm, watch the lobby. Skies, stay in the office. If any of those mercs call, let me know immediately.”

           “Got it,” I saluted as the two of them left. As soon as the door sealed shut behind them, I skipped through the office and flopped down on Jack’s chair.

           That wasn’t the first time Jack left me alone in his office. The first time I was much more nervous and reserved. But it didn’t take me long to relax and take advantage of the solitude.

           Jack’s office didn’t need to be guarded. It had automatic defenses that kept everyone out and in. I was only there to take calls and messages- like an assistant. But he only got called directly if it was really important so I got some peace and quiet.

           I lounged in Jack’s big chair, blissfully enjoying the dopamine injectors with my feet up on his desk. My eyes drifted to the frame picture of a young girl on his desk. I never asked him about it but I had my suspicious…that I never liked to dwell on.

           I quickly spun around to enjoy the view of Elpis. When I got bored of that, I hopped up and went to ogle his trophy case.

           Jack was surprisingly sentimental. Not only did he keep trophies from corporate fallout- mostly Atlas junk- but also an old hat that Nisha wore before she became a sheriff and the goatee from his old boss, Harold Tassiter- he loved telling that story.

           My favourite thing though was the shotgun. It was called the Conference Call, one of the most powerful guns Hyperion ever made. I always wanted to try it out but I knew Jack would never let me mess with his stuff. Still it was crazy tempting.

           I rubbed my face as I eyed the big gun. I figured Jack would have some sort of security on his trophy case but no matter how many times I scanned it with my ECHO eye, I never picked up anything. So, albeit against my better judgement, I started to reach for it.

           “Don’t!” Angel’s voice cried in my ECHO comm.

           I flinched and pulled back my hand. This was the first time I had heard from her since meeting her. A hologram of her face appeared before my ECHO eye.

           “Jack has traps all over his office,” she explains, “his trophy case has an electrical field around it.”

           “I thought it would,” I admit, “but my eye wasn’t picking up anything.”

           “Yeah, he uh he set up a block in your systems so you can’t inspect anything related to him.”            “Oh my god, that prick,” I groaned, “he probably would’ve laughed his ass off if you didn’t stop me.”

           “If you like…” Angel hesitated and trailed off. I waited patiently and after a couple seconds, she gathered the courage to continue. “If you like, I could remove the blocks.”

           I blinked with surprise. Then cautiously looked over my shoulder at the door and surrounding walls. I knew Jack had cameras in his office. I didn’t think he would care about me talking with Angel, but conspiring with her was a different story.

           I lowered my voice and covered my mouth, pretending to rub my nose as I walked back to his desk. “Would he ever find out?”

         “Only if he ran diagnostics,” Angel replied, “and he would only do that if he had a reason to.”

           I sat down in the chair and stared out into the office. “Why would you do this?”

           She was silent for a second, like she didn’t know what to say. Then finally she replied, “I think you would find it useful.”

           I hesitated for a second before nodding. “Alright.”

           Angel’s display smiled. “This might feel a little weird.”

           “Executing Phase Shift.”

           I felt a tingling through my cybernetics, kind of like being tickled but on the inside. It didn’t last very long and Angel said, “okay.”            I activated my scanner and immediately information came up that never did before. I saw all of the traps hidden in Jack’s office: an energy wall behind the door, an electrical field surrounding the trophy case, a couple of turrets in the ceiling, a trap door in front of his desk, to name a few. Not to mention all of the cameras hidden around his office- even more than I thought. I also had the option to hack everything.

         I turned off my scanner and smirked. “Thanks, Angel. If there’s anything I can do in return-.”

           “That’s okay,” Angel smiled, “I’m happy to help.”

           With that, she left my ECHO comm. I eyed the Conference Call but decided not to push my luck. I had defied Jack enough for one day.