Sunny: sorry for the absence, here's more torture :)

PS: for those who know borderlands lore, all the events that will happen in this story will be pre borderlands 3, so Rhys would still be on Pandora
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CW: BLOOD, GORE, KIDNAPPING, BEING TIED UP ;), SLIGHT TORTURE, AMPUTATION???// A GUY LOSES HIS NOSE.

Rhys POV:

He's the last person I'd want to ask for help, but with the way things have gone, he's the only one who could even help. Every other vault hunter I know is busy, all my friends are doing their own things, and all my staff is incompetent. So yeah, it's down to him. It wouldn't be that bad, but I know that things between them are pretty bad right now, or at least that's what M/n told me before he went missing.

"Sir, Zer0 has arrived should I send him up to your office?" The voice of my secretary comes through the intercom stationed at my desk.

I hold down the button to speak. "Send him up."

My anxiety flares and suddenly I'm remembering just who is on their way to my office.

I nervously bite the inside of my lip and try to compose myself as I hear the elevator rising.

Ding

I hear the elevator chime signaling its arrival.

I look up and see Zer0 walking in as he looks around the room.
His gaze turns to me finally and he approaches the desk I'm sitting at.

"It's been a while, / mind explaining why I'm here? /" He pauses to look around the room once more. "And where is your guard?"

I sigh at the mention of Y/n.
"Well, that's actually why I asked you to come here."

He tilts his head slightly in a questioning manner.

"Y/n... Went missing while on a mission recently."

His visor lights up with "??!!?!??"

"I sent him to scout an old research facility that recently came to my attention five days ago. He should've been back two days ago, but there was complete radio silence. I sent a few men there yesterday, but when they got to the location all they found was one of our vehicles abandoned and half the building was destroyed."

Zer0 is completely silent after the explanation.

"I'd like to hire you to find him and bring him back to us. I can pay a-"

Zer0 cuts me off.
"Where is the building? / I need to start my search there. / Just pay me later."

"Yeah, I'll tell you everything you need to know, just make sure you bring him back ok?"
Zer0 nods and I start to explain further.

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M/n POV

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"ACK!"
I yell out in pain as I feel a boot impact my ribcage again.
Over the couple of days I've been stuck here it's been non-stop assault. The ropes binding me are tight and have scraped the exposed flesh raw. The ropes binding my legs have undoubtedly left horrible bruises and friction burns.

"When the hell are those guys supposed to get here? I'm tired of looking at this freak." The man who assaulted me questioned his partners.

"Then stop lookin, dumbass." The skinnier guy who's smoking in the corner of the room quipped.

"Listen here you fuc-" before the burly man could continue he was cut off by, who I assume is, their boss.

"Both of you shut the hell up before I gut the two of ya and feed ya to that animal." She stuck a thumb in my direction to emphasize her point.

Surprisingly enough they both did exactly that.

"The buyers should be here in a couple of hours, so get comfortable." The man in the corner didn't need to be told twice as he immediately slumped in his chair and brought his hat over his eyes, so he could sleep.

The other one didn't seem as compliant though as he moved back in front of me.

"What species even is this little freak? Never seen anything like it before." He asked his boss, but she didn't respond.

He huffed before squatting down in front of me with a smug look on his face.
He pulled the cloth gag from my mouth.
"How about you tell me, puppy? Huh? Can you speak? You know, English mother fucker, do you spea- FUCKING SHIT!"

I cut off his bullshit by using my newly freed teeth to get a bite of whatever was closest, in this case, it was his nose. With my bite force, the part of the nose I was able to reach came clean off and shot blood all over.

He shot his body back away from me while clutching, what used to be, his nose.
I spit the chunk of flesh and cartilage out onto the ground next to him as he writhed in pain and his partners ignored his pained yells.

"Oh shut up and come here so I can treat it already, it's your fault for taunting it when we know it's hostile."  The guy in the corner motioned for him to approach as he pulled a first-aid kit from his bag.

As the wound was being treated the woman approached me with a stern look in her eyes.

"So, being tied up and on your knees isn't enough then? You're really forcing my hand here, but we can't have you causing any more damage." She retrieves a ball-pein hammer from the table in the middle of the room.

"How about a deal? Every time you hurt me or my partners, I'll hit you as hard as I can with this hammer! That sound good? Great! Now since you just hurt Dylan over there how about we have a little warm-up ok?" Her tone was laced with suppressed anger and sarcasm.

She reeled back her arm.
I awaited the impact as I noticed she was aiming for my head.

"AGH!"

Her arm went slack as an invisible blade pierced her heart and went all the way through her torso.

The blade retracted and she slumped to the floor. Her companions quickly rose to their feet but before they could draw their weapons a single, clean slice went through both their necks.

As their bodies hit the cold linoleum floor Zer0 finally revealed himself.

He turns to me and I smile at him as I stare at his bloodied form.

"It's been a while, Zer0."

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