Published: January 15, 2019

Edited: May 22, 2019

     "I'm s-sorry, sir." The worker stuttered, his head down to avoid the piercing gaze of two mismatched eyes.

     "I remember a meeting we had, numerous times, that I wanted the color for the Loader Bots to be yellow." The man said as he was leaned back in his arm chair with his feet resting on top of his desk, "Tell me," He started and standing, he held up a sheet of paper and looked at it for a second, "Why are they red?!" He shouted while showing the worker the layout, the worker flinched at his shout and is visibly shaking.

     "W-Well, I just thought w-we should d-do red and-"

     "Wait wait wait," He cut him off and placed both palms down on his desk, glaring down at the worker, "This was your idea?" The worker nodded with some hesitation first and he let out a breathy laugh, "Do you know where you're working?"

     "Hyperion, sir..." The worker answered softly. His boss clasped his hands together and held them up to his nose.

     "Right, and what's our color?"

     "Y-Yellow... Sir..."

     "And knowing that, why did you make our Loader Bots red?" He asked calmly as his blue and green eyes studied the worker.

     "I j-just believed i-it would bring m-more fear..." The worker answered quietly. There's a moment of silence between the two and a bead of sweat slid down the worker's forehead. Then a burst of laughter is heard and he looked up at the man in slight confusion, "S-Sir?"

     "Haah, that's a good one, kiddo." He chortled as he wiped a fake tear away from his eye, laughter calming down as he walked down from his desk to the worker, "You know, I like how you think." He said with a smile, slinging a arm around the worker's shoulder, who jumped slightly. He started to walk them out of his office and down the halls.

     "R-Really?" The worker stammered as they walked, other employees watched in confusion and some with pity as they discreetly followed after them.

     "Really!" The man insisted with a smile and poking his chest, "I think that idea of yours could actually work." They stop walking and he placed his hands on the worker's shoulders, "I like that idea so much, I think you should get promoted!" He stated with a genuine smile, the worker's face lit up with a smile as well.

     "M-Me? Promoted?" He sputtered as the boss nodded with a grin. "Thank you! Thank you so much, sir!" He thanked with excitement before he paused, smile still plastered on his face, "But where am I being promoted to, sir?" He asked curiously as his superior stared at him with the never changing smile for a moment.

     "The airlock!" He chirped cheerfully, and before the worker could gasp and process what was just said, the man's grip on his shoulders tightened and he swiftly tossed the worker into the airlock. The worker scrambled up to his feet as the man shut the airlock tight. All the employees watched in shock while the worker his fists banged on the doors in desperation.

     "P-Please! Let me out!" The worker begged as the man laughed bitterly and looked at the worker with a wicked grin.

     "Oh come on! You should be happy about this promotion, cupcake!" He said as he put his hands in his pockets and pointed a finger out at space, "Your office is gonna be out there soon enough so just sit back and relax."

     "I'll fix my mistake! Please! D-Don't kill me!" The worker cried as he slammed his fists against the door. The man's face turned from a smile to a scowl.

     "It's too late to fix something you intentionally did, kiddo." He said as he pressed a few buttons on the side of door to prepare for the worker's launch into Pandora's orbit, "If I made it absolutely clear that I want the Loader Bots yellow," He glanced his eyes up at the worker as his finger hovered over the button, "Then make them fucking YELLOW!" He shouted and pressed the button, the worker is then sucked into space in a matter of seconds. His last scream unheard while all the employees stayed silent in fear. The man watched the worker's body float along and let out a relieved sigh, "God what a lucky bastard." He casually hummed as he watched the floating corpse in wonder with a calm smile on his face. He then spun around on his heels and pointed at a random employee, "YOU! What's your name, kiddo?" He asked as the employee jumped in fright.

     "T-Tom, sir!" He squeaked and immediately standing up straight.

     "Well, today's your lucky day, Tim!" The man exclaimed with a smile.

     "I-It's Tom-"

     "Yeahyeahyeah, anyway, you're promoted!" He said as silence falls again. It takes a few seconds before he caught on with the silence and laughed, "Oh nonono, not to that, thank god." He said, pointing to the airlock as Tom let out a relieved sigh. "No, you're being promoted to that," He pointed to the floating corpse, "Little Failed Miscarriage's previous position to fix his mistake and make my goddamned Loader Bots yellow!" He informed with a smile before the smile turned to a menacing sneer in seconds, "And if you screw up like how he did, you'll be Pandora's next little ornament in its orbit. Capiche?" He growled as Tom nodded fearfully.

     "Y-Yes, sir." He stuttered as the friendly smile returned to the man's face.

     "Great! Thanks for that, cupcake. Now beat it and fix those colors right now." He ordered as Tom hurried off. The man looked back at everyone else, "Alrighty then! I hope I made it clear to everyone here what happens when you don't follow directions." He said and everyone nodded, "Awesome sauce! So, it's back to work. And remember, I appreciate everyone's work and cooperation." He said as he booped an employee's nose, who jumped slightly at the action, "As long as you do your work, there's appreciation." He pinched their cheek and clapped his hands together, "Get to it!" He commanded, everyone nodded in fear and bustled about to get back to work. The man smirked and started to walk through the halls, "Damn it feels great to be controlling! Whoo!" He bellowed as his assistant sped walked up to him to walk by his side.

     "Mister Handsome Jack, sir." She said while holding a holographic notepad. The man, the CEO of Hyperion, THE Handsome Jack smiled down at her.

     "Crystal!"

     "It's Courtney, sir." She corrected as he snapped his fingers.

      "Ah, right."

     "You seem to be in a good mood today, sir." She hummed.

     "Of course I am. I just shot a guy out of an airlock. That always make my day!" He said like it was a norm for him, which it was. She internally shuddered and nodded. "Anyhoo, what's my schedule looking like today, cupcake?"

     "Well, you have a meeting with the CEOs of Dahl and Maliwan in an hour. Then you have your blackmailing conference with the company directors and team leaders in the evening. And we're also going to have to reset the number of days since the last you killed an employee." She informed as he groaned.

     "Nothing but boring meetings. How long has it been so far?" He asked with a brow arched.

     "Um," She checked her notepad, swiping to a different screen, "Less than a day. About 23 hours."

     "Ha! A new record!" He cackled, "I don't even know why we still have that system since I kill some employees almost everyday."

     "Your therapist recommended it, sir. For your anger management."

     "That's why I had her killed. Oh look, there she is." He said as he pointed to the window, a corpse of a woman slowly floated by. The assistant gulped slightly and looked away from the sight. "Last time I saw her corpse pass by was last week. Anyway, clear my schedule for today."

     "Of course, sir." She said, a bit shakily but hiding it, "Do you want to reschedule?"

     "Yes, to next week. Tell them that I'm busy dealing with a lot of plans for a new project or something." He said as the assistant nodded.

     "Alright, so what would you be doing for the rest of today, sir?" She asked as they both stopped walking and he stared out the window, Pandora is seen and he hummed in thought.

     "I just might pay Pandora a little visit." He said and caught a passing employee by the arm , "Hey, kiddo. How about you go down to the launch station and tell them to get me a ship ready for my trip down to Pandora."

     "Yes, sir." He nodded and let the employee go with a pat to his arm as he scurried off. Jack turned to look back at his assistant.

     "Alright, I'm gonna go put on my lucky Pandora undies for the occasion. Grab the progress reports from all of departments and put them on my desk." He ordered and she nodded before pausing.

     "Your lucky Pandora undies?" She asked with a brow raised.

     "Yeah, the nice ones that make me lucky. Maybe I should bring a hero cape." He said sarcastically with a smirk, she only stared at him in confusion and he waved her off with a click of his tongue, "Don't question me. Just get to work." She nodded and walked off.

     "Strong, psychotic, powerful, terrifying.... And yet he's very strange." She muttered under her breath.

     Jack looked back at Pandora with a lingering smirk, "Pandora's always a thrill whenever I arrive." He sighed as he walked down to his ship for his travels to Pandora.

[Fast Traveling back down to Pandora: The Dust]

     "Morning~!" (Y/n) greeted as she walked into the garage with a yawn and going over to the coffee maker to make herself a cup of coffee. Opening a jar and pouring some dark brown powder into the coffee maker.

     "Mornin'? It's two in the afternoon." Ellie hummed as she rolled out from under a truck and sitting up with a grunt. The young woman only chuckled as she waited.

     "Same thing." She retorted with a shrug as the coffee maker beeped and she picked up the mug and sipped.

     "Y'know, sleeping in till later means that you'll miss something new and fun." Ellie claimed as she stood up and walked over to her tool box.

     "Hm, I guess it's one of my many flaws." (Y/n) said with a shrug and took another sip of her coffee, scrunching her nose up and smacking her lips, "This coffee tastes nasty" She said as she looked in her drink. Ellie looked up at her from her tool box and snickered softly.

     "That ain't coffee." She informed while (Y/n) took another big and curious sip. "That's dried and ground up slag dung." (Y/n) stopped immediately sipping the moment those words left Ellie's lips and she stared at Ellie with semi-wide eyes and a mouthful of watered down whatever that was. She then spat the fluids out back into the mug while keeping eye contact with Ellie and placing the mug down.

     "Why was that in the coffee jar?" She asked quietly, trying to stay calm.

     "Because there's nowhere else to put it, we need that for the garden as fertilizer, y'know." Ellie answered.

     "Why didn't you tell me before I made it?"

     "I thought you knew." There's silence between them before (Y/n) walked outside. Ellie sighed as there's sounds of her throwing up outside, "She's not so bright sometimes now ain't she..." She murmured with a shake of her head.

     "Eeugh..." (Y/n) groaned as her mind went back to the thought of what she thought was coffee and a skag taking a crap. Another wave of nausea hit her, gagging and hunching over her pool of vomit as spewed out.

     "You okay, darlin'?" Ellie shouted from the garage. Her stomach garbled and she groaned when another wave hits.

     "You ruined my love for coffee!" She snapped with a groan and coughed out more of what her stomach had left to offer. Ellie walked out with a wet rag and a bottle of water.

     "Here, drink this and wash that mouth." Ellie said softly, (Y/n) looked up at her while still hunched over, tear brimmed eyes and vomit dripping down her chin.

     "Is that water? Or filtered out skag piss?" She groaned as Ellie chuckled.

     "Water." Was her response as (Y/n) swiftly took the water and chugged it, washing out what was left of the sour, acidic flavor in her mouth and spitting it out. She wipes her face with the wet rag and sighs heavily, waiting for a moment until her stomach settled down.

     "I'm never gonna look at coffee the same way ever again." (Y/n) grumbles as she and Ellie walked back inside the garage.

     "Sorry for not telling you beforehand. Hey, how about going down to the Sanctuary and see if anyone has some ground coffee." Ellie says and picking up a bag, "And I need you to drop something off to Moxxi too while you're at it."

     "Hm," She looks at Ellie and the bag in thought before sighing, "I guess so. Sure." She says as Ellie smiles.

      "Awesome. Here, take these." She hands (Y/n) the bag and money, "And take the truck." She says as she gave her the keys as well, "Can't have you melting before you even get there if you walk." (Y/n) smiles softly and nods.

     "Yeah yeah. Thanks. I'll be back soon." She says as she gets in the truck and sets the bag on the seat. Starting up the truck, she gives Ellie a small wave before pulling out of the garage and driving off down the road.