[closed]

[rhygret]

Who: Rhys (rhygret) & various
What: Rhys's infection reaches stage 2
When: mid-Oct
Where: various
Warning(s): Attempts to remove cybernetics

[ All things considered Rhys think he's been handling being sick rather well. Sure he might have worn Jyn's patience a little with his constantly asking for things (tissue, coffee, dinner, lunch, breakfast, snacks, fluffing his pillows...the usual) but he's spent the majority of his time in a lump on the couch not doing a whole lot. He hasn't been taxing himself outside of the Bunkers & Badasses game, and though the event leaves him utterly exhausted and coughing up a storm later he relents and spends the next day sleeping for the most part. he wakes feeling...not much better honestly, but surely the worst of it is almost over. It's been a week now. Any day he'll start feeling like himself and he'll be on the mend.

Then the static starts. At first it's just small instances of white noise in the back of his head. It disappears when he pops his ears or rubs at his temple, comes and goes. Then it makes him feel lightheaded and awful. There's a churning in his stomach and he sits down to rub his temples when the beginnings of a headache start to take hold. Rhys pops a painkiller and goes to bed in the hopes that he'll stave it off entirely and when he wakes up things will be back to normal.

They aren't. ]

A: Who are you again?

[ When Rhys wakes up he's beyond disoriented. He feels faint and dizzy, he hurts all over and he can't remember how he got on couch. Did he fall asleep there? Why does he feel so awful? He's going to be late for work--

That he should in no way whatsoever be going anywhere let alone to work fails to occur to Rhys as he stumbles back to his room to try and get ready, and he gets most of the way there. His hair isn't styled perfectly and his dress shirt isn't tucked in, but Rhys drags himself out of the apartment anyway and begins to stumble his way into town.

Like a responsible, totally-not-sick-and-delirious adult. ]

B: Jack's Back, Baby

[ People find him, they take him home, and Rhys gets put back in bed in thankfully short order. He conks out almost immediately but wakes only a few hours later when suddenly, inexplicably, Rhys jolts awake. He has no idea why he startles the way he does but his ECHO eye lights up and out of reflex he activates the palm like on his arm despite the fact that it's only midday. Something woke him...right? He's awake because there was...there was...?

There's nothing. Just an empty room and a lot of dirty clothes on the floor. He really needs

"--to straighten up the place, huh cupcake? There's letting yourself go and then there's just being lazy Rhys. Three-day-old underwear on the nightstand? Seriously?"

Rhys freezes for the split-second it takes for shock to set in and have him flailing out of bed, arms windmilling when his legs get tangled in the bed sheets and he lands with a loud whump! on the floor. Sharp, cruelly delighted laughter reaches his ears even before he lifts his head to stare wide-eyed in disbelief at the flickering blue image of an all-too-familiar AI standing before him. Colour drains from his face as he opens his mouth, but sound fails to come out.

Jack cuts him off a second later.

"If you're looking to catch a bunch of flies there are easier ways than with that face. What's the matter cupcake? Surprise to see your ol' pal Jack again?"

He crosses his arms over his chest and smirks with obvious pleasure at Rhys's distress. He shakes his head at the vision--this can't be real, this has to be a mistake. The spiders. He'd heard Jack's voice when they were nearby, there must be spiders--

"Seriously? You think a bunch of bugs are responsible for this?" ]

Th...this is impossible. You're not here. Y...you can't be, I...

[ "You what? Murdered me?" Jack's grin only widens. "You think getting rid of me is that easy? You think I didn't know you'd turn on me Rhysie?" ]

This isn't real.

[ "Oh, but it is Rhys. And this time? I'm here to stay."

One hour later and Rhys is stumbling into the streets of the housing distracting, dishevelled and a stricken look on his face as the stumbles down the stairs and into and nearby wall, knocking over a garbage can. He doesn't even stop to try and pick it up or pay anyone else any mind--he's already struggling to bolt from the area, his cybernetic hand twitching and jerking erratically as his organic one grips it in the closest thing Rhys has ever managed to a death grip. ]

Get out of my head--!


[ ooc; closed prompts within! hmu via discord/plurk @ Dolly#0571 | owlits if you want a thread with rhys so we can plot! ]

Comments

[rhygret]

[ It's probably not very reassuring that her calls to him upon arrival go unanswered, but Rhys is a little...occupied, at the moment. Jack hasn't stopped berating him. He hasn't had a break from the taunting, the fever, the spikes of paranoia and anxiety that had him frantically searching for something--anything--to use to rid himself of his cybernetics again.

If he'd thought about it calmly and rationally Rhys would realize that he sees Jack with his normal eye, that his ECHO one can't even get a read on the AI's presence. He'd remember the protocols to disconnect his arm and power down his cybernetics until he could have one of the orbiters examine it and clear the AI from his subsystems.

Instead the kitchen and living room have been torn apart, clothes and socks, books, miscellaneous items strewn about like someone's tried to loot the place. The cutlery drawer had been upended. Then knife block is on the floor, all contents placed in the sink of all things. Specs of blood have begun to run in its base.

Rhys isn't in any of those rooms. ]

[motivation]

[ "not very reassuring" is an understatement, but it's also something that dutch is familiar with, something she's been trained for. it's a mission of sorts, not rac-approved but of her own making, and adrenaline overpowers alcohol and anger, making her steps light and heightening her senses as she creeps through his apartment, gun drawn.

not in the living room. the kitchen is clear, except of blood.

she pushes the door to his bedroom open with the toe of her boot, gun pointed still. ]

[rhygret]

[ That too remains empty--and a giant mess. Rhys's nice clothes are never left to sit and wrinkle, and yet there his slacks and suit lie in rumpled heaps alongside papers, tools, and dishes. It's just as trashed as the others, but while there's no sign of him here there's a sound. A wet cough, some frantic muttering and the sound of a body part hitting metal.

It comes from the bathroom down the hall, and upon arrival it's clear that this is where Rhys has decided to Make His Move as it were. His shirt sleeves have been rolled up to reveal a few scuff and scrapes and he's at least wet his hair so he can pull it back away from his face. But he's pale now, shaking as his teeth chatter with fever. His ECHO eye is lit and glowing a bright yellow, but the lens keeps contracting and expanding erratically as his system tries to respond to the feverish half-signals from his nerves.

But perhaps the worst part of it all is that Rhys has a Flathead screwdriver in one hand, half-dug into the skin around his temple port. And he's been going at it for a bit if the blood streak running down the side of his face and the bruised skin around the area are any indication. ]

[motivation]

The hells?

[ dutch's first reaction upon finally seeing rhys is just that one, eloquent statement. a moment later, she holsters her gun and steps toward him, reaching out to grip the wrist that holds the screwdriver. ]

Rhys. Rhys —

[ he seems far gone. she'd think drugs, if not for the fact that she knows he's sick. when he looks at her: ] What are you doing?

[rhygret]

[ He jerks so starkly when Dutch addresses him that Rhys nearly drops the screwdriver entirely. His eyes are wide and unfocused, clouded with fever. He scrambles back from her in his initial surprise and won't let her touch the tool in his hand, but he at least isn't still trying to jam it inside his head anymore. ]

D--Dutch??? I have to--I have get Jack out.

[ He says it with desperation, but also with disorientation. He's not in his right mind, not by a mile. ]

He's back, he's in m-my head again.

[motivation]

Who's Jack?

[ he scrambles back and dutch follows, her hand still tight around his wrist, even though he's almost dropped the screwdriver, even though he isn't — at least for the moment — trying to jam it inside his head.

he's sick and he's way further gone than he was the last time she'd seen him and dutch hates it. (it reminds her of johnny weak in a hospital bed; she pushes the thought far away.) ]

[rhygret]

[ Luckily for them both Rhys just isn't a physically powerful guy even on a good day. As weakened as he is by the virus it isn't hard for Dutch to keep hold of his wrist and the screwdriver gets no nearer to his port. The blood there is still fresh though, and up close it's clear that he managed to dig into the side of it a little on the flesh end of things. ]

Jah...he... H-Handsome Jack?

[ "Hell yeah, that's me baby. Here in the digital flesh to stay. You really think this chick is going to be getting me out of your head? I bet she knows as much about cybernetics as you do going on actual dates. Which is totally zero by the way." ]

[motivation]

There's no one here but me.

[ in his head? fucking hells, where is johnny when she needs him? johnny is the one who's good with people and johnny is the one who's good with tech and this is clearly a situation where both of those things are needed.

(johnny is in stasis, damn him.) ]

[rhygret]

That's not--

Rhys brings a hand up to his head and closes his eyes tightly. It's only after the painful throbbing in the back of head settles that he tries again. ]

It's m, my cybernetics--I thought he was gone. I have to pull him out.

[ "Just like you did last time, ah kiddo? It's definitely stick this time. For sure." ]

[motivation]

Who's he?

[ handsome jack, sure, but that tells her shit all. ] Why's he in there and how do you get him out?

[ dutch hates problems she can't solve by shooting at them. ]

[rhygret]

I stuck him in my brain.

[ Because that definitely won't sound crazy at all. Don't mind him trying to bring his cybernetic hand up to tap his right temple which, unfortunately, is the exact opposite side of the one he has his port on. ]

An' then he got into my cybern'tics... I pulled it out.

[motivation]

How the hells do you stick someone in your brain? Is he an AI?

[ at least dutch knows what those are, that's something, isn't it? she's not johnny, though. johnny would know how to fix this. (dutch is better at destroying than at fixing.) ]

[rhygret]

Yeah.

[ Actually. The flesh Jack hadn't done anything but spit on him that one time. ]

I gotta get him out Dutch, I gotta....hhhh.

[ That would be a wave of vertigo near-well bowling him over and making him wobble on his already unstable feet, pitching to one side slightly. ]

[motivation]

[ dutch is stronger than she looks (and she looks plenty strong, arms toned and all, but she's not tall or broad, so it balances out) and with both hands on rhys' upper arms, she can steady him easily enough. ]

What you gotta do is sit the hells down.

[ she steers him to the nearest flat surface. fucking hells, though, where is johnny when she needs him? not here, that's where. (the thought makes her want to drink again.) ]

Are you sure he's in there again? 'cause you're pretty sick.

[rhygret]

[ Rhys may be tall but he is not strong in any sense of the word. His robot arm sure but he generally forgets to use that most days so it's kind of...moot. The point is Dutch steers him easily which happens to be the toilet (lid down). He drops onto it more than he sits, bringing a hand up to hold his face.

The cool metal of his cybernetic palm is soothing to his overheated skin. ]

I can...I can s-see him, he's there. He's there.

[motivation]

[ well, at least the lid is down. ]

No one's here except for me. Wouldn't I be able to see him, too?

[rhygret]

He's in m...h-he's in my head.

[ And he knows that sounds weird but it's true and about all he's got right now. Explaining the higher concept of being able to see him because the AI is (was) uploaded into his cybernetics is beyond his current state of mind. ]

He tried to kill me, he's gonna try again-nnn. I gotta, gotta....get h'm out.

[ Now excuse him while he tries to jam that screwdriver haphazardly into his head again ]

[motivation]

How did he get back in?

[ dutch doesn't know. she doesn't know whether he's just hallucinating, sick and feverish and making a mess of things because of that, or if he's right and any refusal not to let him stick that screwdriver into his head is going to make things worse.

she still reaches out to stop his hand before he can jam that screwdriver in. she doesn't want to see that, which is odd because she's so used to sticking knives into people without problem. ]

I think you should sleep on it. And I'll make sure no one kills you while you do. All right?