Not Quite as Dead as I Thought

Rhys knew he'd been in here for far too long, even as fascinating and interesting and every bit as exciting as he'd hoped this experience would be...he'd still been in here too long. Everyone would be worried, freaking out about what had happened to the pair of them, they hadn't even really told anyone they were going into the portal in the first place, though he imagined they might have guessed that part, they weren't all dumb after all. But he'd had about enough Vault Adventure for now and was ready to be back on the outside. He'd even managed to grab a couple promising looking bits and pieces to stick into his various suit pockets so the trip wasn't a total waste either.

He noticed the shift in the light at first, the colors were slightly different against that wall there and it stood out against the unnaturally vivid pinks and purples and whites of the Vault. The colors in here were so bright he was pretty sure he was going to see them enblazened on the inside of his eyeballs for the rest of forever even after he got out of this place.

"Hey! Fiona, check it out! Over here!" He knew she was close, they'd stayed pretty close for the last couple days. The only two humans in this place, and after everything else they'd been through, of course they were going to stick together for this.

He took a couple steps closer, reaching out a cautious hand that slipped right through the wall almost as though there was really nothing there. He held his breath for a long moment but nothing started to hurt, or feel too hot or too cold or anything else that indicated he shouldn't be putting body parts in it. So he closed his eyes and before he could think about it much more just pushed himself all the way to the outside.

At first he was immediately aware of how much warmer it was, the feeling of sun on him. He carefully opened one eye and then the other and was immediately struck by the weird lack of vivid color here too, but it did look like the normal outside world again. Which looked weird in and of itself, after a week or so stuck inside a day-glo vault. "Man, this feels weird..." He glanced back behind him, a shimmer of purple portal standing out behind him. "That was an adventure...but hey, how many people can say they actually hung out in a vault, huh? Hey, Fiona, you can come out. It's like...actually normal stuff out here!"

She didn't immediately follow though, and a minute or so later the portal flickered away into nothingness, reaching out towards where it had been, there was only thin air. He felt a bit of a sinking feeling in his stomach and he swallowed hard. He hoped she'd found someplace else nearby to come out as well, he didn't want to think about her still being stuck in there without him. He probably shouldn't have just come through without having her right there, but he'd been sure she'd been close enough...but right now, all he could try and do was try to fix things from this side of the portal.

"Okay Rhys, you got this. Get it together." He muttered to himself, squaring his jaw and narrowing his eyes in determination before looking around. Just up the hill from him looked like some buildings, maybe a town or settlement of some kind. He hadn't had the best luck in most Pandoran settlements up until this point, but it seemed his best shot. At very least he'd go take a look he decided, turning his steps in that direction.

Tim didn't miss the weird glow that he could have swore he saw off in the distance, but then, he also didn't see entirely well anymore, and it was likely it was just a trick of the light. Still, he couldn't help the curiosity he felt, even if it was nothing, or some slagged animal, at least he could try and deal with it before it tried to come into town and cause trouble. He'd gotten less jumpy since making a living down here, less prone to balking at the first sign of trouble...Mostly...He still certainly wasn't Pandora brave, but he could hold his own enough to not be dead at the very least.

He screwed his face up in confusion as the faint purple seemed to vanish, and he huffed softly through his nose, but kept his feet turned that way anyway, the curiosity far from sated just because the thing he'd seen, or thought he'd seen, was gone.

What he ended up finding instead of a slagged animal or nothing, was something that was kind of weirder. He was used to the way most people around Pandora dressed, and this man did not look the part of a rough Pandoran citizen, he was dressed to to nines, clean cut, looking like someone far too important to be out in the middle of the wastes. Tim kept his pace before waving to the guy, "hey!" He called out, "are you...Lost or?" He cocked a brow, looking a little incredulous.

"Cause like no offense but...You are WAY too clean to be out in the middle of nowhere..." He snorted, coming up to clap a hand on the guy's back, "where'd you come from? I can say with pretty solid certainty that I've never seen you anywhere!" He laughed, trying to be friendly, even if he had no idea whether this guy was even friendly, or whether he was gonna just shoot him or hit him in the face.

Rhys was trudging up the hill when he realized someone was coming down the hill towards him. He stopped where he was to look this guy over, not sure what kind of person he'd be dealing with. Some people around here were certainly more friendly than others for sure. Well, this guy wasn't immediately trying to shoot or threaten him so Rhys took that as a good sign. He waved back and offered what kind of turned out to be a cross between a smile and his sort of Hyperion-smirk since he hadn't quite decided which he wanted to use and ended up kinda going between the two in an awkward and uncomfortable sort of look.

"Hey...hey, whoa there buddy." He took a half a step back as the guy came and tried to clap him on the shoulder, not really liking having his personal space all up in that close by someone he didn't even know.

"Yeah, funny story...I was not here. And then I found myself here. It's pretty complicated." He said a bit dismissively. "But it kinda comes down to I'm not really sure where here is?" He asked, squinting slightly at the guy who was also looking him over at the same time. He couldn't see the guy's whole face but those eyes were vaguely kinda familiar and he couldn't quite place it. "I'm pretty sure I'm not from here either, this place doesn't look familiar. It's...kinda too nice and green and not all depressing for Pandora. I'm...still on Pandora, right?" Was his next immediate question.

Tim lifted his hands when Rhys stepped back, giving him an amused smirk, "alright alright no touching!" He chuckled, this guy was weird, less because he seemed a little jumpy and more because he just didn't look like he belonged here, sure, Tim saw all sorts of people with prosthetics, but this guy's shit looked clean and shiny, and like it could do just about everything, it looked like the kind of work that cost more than everyone on Pandora was collectively worth.

He rose a brow at his words, wanting to reach to feel his forehead before he thought better of it, "you were...Not here...Then here?" He chuckled, "alright well..." He paused, the gestured to the town nearby, "that's Overlook, a small town in the middle of the Highlands." He shrugged, then waved for him to follow if he wanted, "yeah it's always pretty green around here, more so than most places!" He smirked back at him, looking amused, "you're on Pandora, but Overlook is a nice little town." He assured him, leading him into the town proper now.

"So what's your name? And like...Where were you before you were here?" He looked curious, that was a strange way to word it, which made him think that maybe he hadn't traveled here, that he'd gotten here some other way, "you certainly don't look like you walked all the way here on foot..." He held out a hand, "the name's Tim." He grinned, a little toothy and awkward, but he was trying his best, it was still weird introducing himself as himself, even all these years later.

He looked thoughtful, "so like, do you need a place to recoup? I have a room in the little motel here? Give you a chance to get your bearings?" He didn't think that was a weird offer, he had things the guy could use to try and figure shit out, "I got like a few computer type set ups if you need one?" He tilted his head, doing his best to be friendly.

Rhys' gaze followed where Tim pointed, taking in the town on the hill. "Yeah, okay. That doesn't look bad." He agreed. Of course up close it might be full of bandits and other people who'd want to beat him up and steal his nice stuff. But from here it looked nice. He fell in step with the other man as they headed up the hill, keeping a careful eye out but the other did seem right, it did seem a pretty quiet, laid back sort of place. He was glad for that, there were a lot worse places he could have wandered back out into. He was also keeping an eye around town though to see if he could catch sight of Fiona, it was becoming more and more clear that she in fact hadn't just been right behind him, and that worried him, well, kind of a lot.

Tim's voice distracted him from his own thoughts though and he looked back over. "Um...yeah. I'm Rhys." He shook the offered hand firmly. "Look, you're probably not gonna believe me even if I did tell you. You'd probably just think I'd gone crazy or something...but no, I didn't just walk up here or anything like that. Like I said...all kinds'a complicated." He was pretty sure it wasn't in his best interest to just tell some stranger he had just wandered out after being stuck in a Vault for a week, not everyone around here took kindly to Vault Hunters and all that business.

He considered Tim's offer for a moment. "Look, if there's some just place I can sit down, maybe have a cup of coffee or something. Just kinda figure out what's up and all that? That'd be great." He decided. "Also, if you see a woman turn up who also just kinda seemed to come out of nowhere? My friend should be around here somewhere too, and I'd kinda like to find her again too." He added.

He chuckled as he sensed the apprehension, even as Rhys agreed with his words, he'd find out for himself once they actually got into town, "there are a lot of places on Pandora that aren't too friendly, but Overlook is nice." He reassured him, leading him up through the road that cut through town, if he thought he could stay here without someone getting freaked out and chasing him off, he would, but he'd seen what Jack has done to this place in his time, those were scars that didn't just heal over a few years.

Tim rose a brow when Rhys explained, and shrugged a little, "oh you'd be surprised what I would believe, Rhys." He offered, and it was true, after some of the shit he'd seen and been through...There weren't a lot of things left that could really shock or surprise him, "tell you what, we get somewhere private? You can try me." He offered a smile, waving for him to follow him as he made his way through to an at least passable building, new by Pandora standards.

"Yeah I imagine coffee would be good for whatever you just came out of!" He laughed, leading him through the doors and down a few halls, before he opened it to a room that wasn't necessarily five star comfort, but it looked like a passable motel room, "coffee maker over there, and I'll keep an eye out for your friend." He promised, sitting on the edge of the bed. He would give Rhys some time to get settled before he asked, but he had a lot of questions he wanted to get answers to.

Rhys let out a bit of a nervous chuckle as Tim talked about heading someplace more private. That sounded maybe a little bit like a trap, but that might just be his paranoia from having seen a lot of really weird shit in a really short amount of time talking. What reason did this guy have to have anything against him after all? So he decided, what was the worst that could happen? And followed after Tim.

The room he was taken to looked pretty decent, at least compared to the stuff he'd seen on Pandora, and didn't at all look like some kind of crazy murder trap room or anything of the sort so he headed in, looking around, making note of everything as he did. He offered an appreciative smile when Tim said he'd keep an eye out for Fiona. "Thanks...I just want to know she's okay, y'know? That she's not all trapped or something..." He waved a hand again a little bit. "I'll explain that too..." Sooner or later he would have to tell at least part of the truth, after all the hinting at it he'd been doing.

For the moment though he focused on coffee, mumbling at the machine that turned out to be a bit finicky until he finally got what looked and smelled like a decent cup of coffee out of it. After he'd had about half the cup he finally turned back to Tim, who seemed to just be patiently hanging out and waiting. "Okay. So...like...you know much about vault-stuff?" He asked, there wasn't really a good way to ease into this topic it seemed, except to just kind of jump into it.

Tim nodded and his expression softened a little at that, "hey man I get it, I'll get people in Overlook to keep an eye out, any defining features?" He looked curious, tilting his head a little. It would be easier to keep an eye out for this chick if he knew what she looked like, at least a bit, rather than just leaving it at 'a lost looking chick'.

He waited while Rhys fought the coffee machine, content to just let him get himself taken care of and feeling more human before he started prodding into where he'd come from and how he'd gotten all the way out here looking fancy like that. When Rhys asked him about vaults, he nodded and then pointed up, towards the sky, do I know vaults? I hunted for one on Elpis a few years back!" He ran his hand over his face, "my boss was a freaking lunatic who was obsessed with getting his hands on it..." He remembered that, it was hard to forget anything regarding Jack or the things he'd done, they were burned into his memory the same way the scars were burned into his face.

"I take it...That's got something to do with where you came from? A Vault?" He whistled and tilted his head back, letting the hood fall back from his face before looking back up at him, "waaait a minute...Yeah man I think I remember hearing something about the Atlas CEO just vanishing after opening a vault...About 2 years ago..." He breathed out, "man a lot of people think you're dead...If that is you..." He remembered the story, mostly just from people trying to find him, putting out rewards for information, "think I heard of someone out by what's left of Helios putting out a massive reward for information..." He tilted his head, "IS that you?"

Rhys smiled a little as Tim seemed willing to help look out for Fiona, and to let those he knew know to watch out for her too. He gave a brief description as he fiddled more with the coffee machine, before returning over to join Tim. He looked rather curiously at him as he talked about how he'd once worked for someone obsessed with the Vaults...it certainly seemed to be a thing that happened around these parts, something about the Vaults just got in people's heads, in their blood, until it was the only thing they seemed to be able to want anymore. "Yeah, Vaults seem to do that to people..." He shook his head with a little bit of a shiver at the thought of being inside it, as awe-inspiring as that had been...well, it still wasn't a normal or calming experience.

Getting a good look at Tim's face made him pause for a moment, eyes narrowed slightly as he stared, a familiarity that reminded him a little...well...a little bit of Jack...a little leaner, a little more weathered, certainly more scarred...but the resemblance was still there enough to make him pause and look longer then was probably strictly polite.

He was distracted from staring though at Tim's next words. He stared again but for entirely different reasons this time. "Wait, what?" He asked. "Nah...I mean..." He hesitated for a second, wondering about how smart it would be to admit who he was here, but it seemed Tim had already figured it out and was only asking really to just have it confirmed, then any actual uncertainty about it. "I mean, that is me. Atlas and all that. And I did go into a vault...but that was like...a week ago. Two years, are you...Atlas hasn't even been a thing again for two years!" He protested, there had to be some mistake or misunderstanding...he knew he'd been in there for a while but there was no chance it had been two years, that was madness, impossible madness. "Maybe you're getting your stories mixed up...thinking of something else somehow..."

Tim ran his hands over his face and let out a wry laugh at that statement, it was more true that he could possibly know, "that's probably the most true thing I've ever heard..." He sighed through his nose and leaned back a little in his chair, running a hand over his face, "it drove my boss absolutely batshit crazy, and now I'm stuck on this stupid planet..." He sighed through his nose and then looked up at Rhys with a sort of half smile, "which wouldn't be so bad, if I wasn't wearing his face...Not...Not literally..." He cringed at that, it sounded worse out loud than it had in his head.

He cocked a brow when Rhys seemed completely disbelieving of what he was saying, then again, he supposed he shouldn't be too surprised, he imagined time was one of those things that just didn't work the same inside of a vault, "two years." He corrected, looking up at him where he stood with a raised brow, "unless there's some other Atlas CEO who went missing into a vault, I dunno about you, but I don't think that's a super common thing that happens." He shrugged it off, before getting to his feet and going to sit at his console, it wasn't an especially fancy piece of work, but it served it's purpose.

"Think there's someone holding the place under control right now...Her name's...Uhh..." His fingers made quick work of typing in the information he wanted to find, "Yvette, that's her name, she hasn't done much in the way of big decisions...You know her?" He looked back at Rhys curiously.

Rhys did want to ask what Tim meant with all that, who he'd worked for, where he'd come from...though that Tim felt the need to correct that he wasn't actually wearing someone else's face caught Rhys a little off guard, and he couldn't help but gag a little at the, to him, still fresh memory of retrieving faces off Psychos. "Uuugh..." he breathed out, making a face. He...could ask Tim about his history later. He had more pressing matters right this moment...like if it really was true he'd been gone that long.

He frowned a little as Tim's reply felt a little sarcastic in response to Rhys' confusion and uncertainty. "Yeah, no...there shouldn't be other CEOs that are disappearing on people. That'd be dumb." He countered, realizing how stupid that sounded as soon as it was out of his mouth, but he didn't try and backtrack on it. "It just...doesn't feel like two years...sorry if it feels like it's old news and boring to you...it's not to me!"

He came over as Tim fired up the console, looking over his shoulder at the information. "Yeah, I know who that is." he answered after a moment...she'd been his friend, but then actively worked against him...he wasn't sure how he still felt about her after all this time...but at least it didn't seem like she was actively trying to screw him over. "Hey...can you find anything on there about a Vaughn? Don't think he'd be with Atlas, I think he was still on Pandora...but just curious if there's anything about him going on on there... " He explained, hoping after this time his friend would be okay.

Tim picked up on Rhys' reaction to his retort and sighed, offering him an apologetic smile, "sorry, I guess it really did feel like old news...Well...Not old news...There's still a few people who talk about it, but certainly not a week ago news!" He chuckled, looking interested in the guy, it wasn't every day you met someone who just popped into existence after being missing for two years, and he felt a little compelled to help him.

Tim glanced to the side and chuckled, "guess she's been holding down the fort while you've been MIA." He didn't know anything about either of them or their history, but he hoped for Rhys' sake she'd be willing to let him take his place at the head of the company again, that was a lot of power to give up after all.

When he asked about his other friend, Tim turned back to the computer, typing away for a few minutes, "hmm...There's a few recent records of that name in Atlas documents, like within the last week recent..." He looked over at him, "couldn't tell you where he is, but he's alive and on Pandora, might be helping out your friend with Atlas? First place I'd look anyway." He offered, before turning to face him, "Overlook isn't too far off from Atlas HQ, you set up base in what was Opportunity right? That's pretty close to here." He chuckled, getting to his feet, "whenever you're ready, I can give you a lift there? Or wherever else you want to go?" He shuffled a little, "but like hey...I do have a favor to ask..."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, guess I'll have to make my way out there and see how she takes my returning from the supposedly dead, huh?" He chuckled a little...but it was a valid question, how easily she'd give the power back...or not...when Rhys just showed up again out of seemingly nowhere and wanted his company back. Of course, he wasn't planning on just kicking her to the curb if she wanted to stay...but the big seat was his.

He did perk up at the news that Vaughn was still around and seemed to be doing alright...it was really weird, he'd have never, ever thought of Vaughn as a guy who'd find his place in the world and thrive on Pandora of all places. And he'd known Vaughn for a really long time. Turns out sometimes there were parts to people a guy didn't always see, no matter how close friends he became with someone apparently. As long as he was still happy with it though, then hey, Rhys was happy for him too.

He nodded at Tim's question. "Yeah, seemed a good place. Lots of building and infrastructure already in place. Seemed kind of a shame to just let it all go to waste, right?" He smiled, he'd been pretty pleased when he'd found that there almost for the taking. And a lot of the workers still there really held no real loyalty to Hyperion after how they'd been treated so most had agreed to help Rhys build up the place the way he liked instead...he'd even agreed that if they wanted they could actually live there like people, not do all the work and then get kicked out to fend for themselves afterwards, like Jack had been keen to do.

The question made him pause a moment though, looking back at Tim. He'd been asked a lot of favors, and done a lot of unreasonable things lately, and wasn't feeling so quick to just jump into agreeing to things that easily anymore. "What kind of favor?" he asked carefully.