A/N - Sorry, I haven't updated sooner. I meant to, but I got out of gaming there for awhile. Thankfully, I've been getting back in the mood for Borderlands, so hopefully I'll be updating more quickly. Honestly, I know how I want this story to end, I'm just not 100 percent sure how to get to that. That was another lag on my inspiration...so, hopefully, I can be more productive from here on out.

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X. The Gilded Skeleton Cage

"Oooh yeah, baby, Jack's in." Timothy chuckled in the fashion of a man by himself who pretends to be a sexy billionaire.

Only in this case, he hardly had to pretend hard, looking exactly like one and trained to be just like one.

He revved the engine of the car to listen to its rich growl. He liked it more than he'd honestly admit. It made him feel even more distant from the thin, nervous lad he'd once been - the one who'd been cautious of many things. He felt almost liberated from that old dragging fear. He was very different now, and he almost didn't regret pretending to be a psychopath. He was an actor, mimicking a character, not the actual man.

I like that sound!

The shiny car was that yellow shade that his boss was so fond of, bright and proud, even through his epic sun glasses. This color was the one that 'popped better' according to his boss. It seemed to sparkle in the sun, dazzling. If that was popping, the CEO of Hyperion was certainly right.

He chuckled to himself. Pop!

After about a second, the 'sexy-billionaire' act embarrassed the body-double. "This sounds...oh, man, I'm getting too good at impersonating him, aren't I?" he mumbled to himself. "Yeah, think I'll just lay off of that for a sec!"

The title, Hyperion, decorated it's side in fancy bold letters. He pushed the vehicle to drive and hit the accelerator. He was amazed on how quickly it took off, sensitive to his guidance. He jumped a little, letting up and slamming the break so that it came to an abrupt halt. He bounced in his seat, further mortified.

"Yes, yes siree, yesss...er, just not too fast, hehe." He chortled nervously, pushing his foot to the accelerator more carefully this time. The car growled and shifted, rolling down the road. Timothy, in spite of himself, watched the speedometer carefully.

No need to get ahead of myself, he thought.

"Enjoying the ride?" Angel's voice spoke over the intercom.

"Yeah! It's great."

"Good, I'm connecting you with Jack."

"Alrighty."

"Hey Kiddo...how's it rollin'?" The familiar voice resounded over the radio. Handsome Jack. Right, the friendly voice of the paranoid psychopath, how typical. Timothy ignored his familiar thoughts of the man. There was no need for clouds to cover his metaphorical sun that cheered him up.

"Greaaaat!" Timothy responded, turning the car down the side road.

"Awesome...hey, waita second. Are you only going ninety-six kilometers an hour? Plbt..." It sounded like he was spitting and snickering at the same time.

"Uh...yeah, is that bad?"

"Umm...only a lot! That baby was made for like 200 kilometers an hour! Actually, probably like 300! You could nearly fly with that thing! God...I so totally gotta get you a car that breaks the sound barrier! Imagine shattering windows when ya take off! Hehehe..."

"Yeah, that'd be great, sir." Timothy responded calmly. Inside, his gut was roiling at the thought of flying at such high speeds. Flying was best left to experts in aeronautics.

Timothy heard his boss tapping at a digi-keyboard, the noise echoing over the Echo.

Jack finally said, "Ooooh...kay, I'm placin' that order in! There we go... All done. It'll digistruct for ya as soon as you get there! To Opportunity...can't wait to see what you think of the beauty!"

Sometimes, Timothy still wondered at his boss. Surely, he didn't actual expect him to drive such a vehicle...did he?

"Aweso-...oh..." The doppelganger's eyes narrowed when he looked out at the work in progress. "I've arrived at the construction site," he informed his boss.

Timothy gazed out at the vast area. He wasn't nearly as impressed as he'd thought he'd be.

The tall skeletons of frameworks belonging to skyscrapers reached upward. They weren't as high as he was expecting, but that was probably because they hadn't finished them. Construction equipment lay about, and the land didn't seem to be completely filled in yet. The island itself was a construction, and that was the best thing the doppelganger could say - the island was magnificent and ambitious.

"Great!" Jack said. "Find the overseer building at construction station one. That's like, the first one...ya'know, outta like, fifty. Should be the first thing you see. That should lead you where ya need to go. The consoles will tell ya how to get to your new office-bedroom complex. Oh, don't forget to visit the workers, shoot a couple if you have to. Whatever, just make sure they're on it. I want my city...I want it soon."

Before Timothy could respond, the echo clicked off.

The doppelganger had gone cold, bothered by those simple words. Yes, he couldn't forget that man's words - shoot a couple if you have to. He couldn't help the rising uncertainty he felt. What if Jack was serious? What if Jack really wanted him to kill someone? His hands were nervously attached to the wheel.

"Shit..." he muttered, the bridge rolling under his tires now. I won't actually kill someone, unless I really, really, really have to...

That's what worried him. Where was the line drawn between 'really, really, really have to' and a regular 'have to'? He groaned in annoyance, pushing the odd thoughts away.

The motor of the Hyperion vehicle rumbled in his head. He guided his sleek ride down the road, steady. When he pushed away his former thoughts, he was surprised to find that he felt quite happy. The air rushed pleasantly through his hair, and he was enjoying the nice tune ringing from the radio. He pulled down the large lane, speeding past a few constructors on the sidelines.

Finally he rolled to a stop in the lane, lifting the sun glasses.

He was greeted at the end of the bridge - where a visitor machine sat - by an automated voice system. "Welcome to Opportunity, please wait while the vehicle is scanned for any unauthorized materials or persons!"

"How friendly," Timothy quipped, waiting.

"Welcome, Handsome! Make yourself at home!"

"Will do!"

Timothy rolled into the parking spot.

Please don't let Jack digistruct that car he was talking about.

Carefully, not looking too hard at the digistruct station nearby, Timothy crossed the small lot to the only completed building on the side. Curiously, he noted the sign upon it. Opportunity station one - Overseer building. He walked through the automatic doors, crossing to the front desk quickly. The desk had a similar sign with Overseer written on it. A man sitting there glanced up, a flash of surprise passing briefly over his face.

From here on...no Timothy. Just Jack, the doppelganger reminded himself.

"Wh-" the other guy started.

"C. E. O. Betcha didn't know that stands for Chief Executive Officer, did ya? That's me, by the way..." Timothy said in his best Jack imitation. He met the man's gaze.

"Yeah, so you're the boss. What are you doing here?"

"Checking on my baby, of course," Timothy said. "This lovely work of city-art...that's not quite complete..."

"Opportunity, you mean. What do you think so far?"

You mean the gilded skeleton cage? Timothy thought. He said,"Honestly? ...shorter than I expected."

The man looked to a device laying on his desk, "What do you expect? We've only been on it for a few weeks."

"Yeah, great... By the way, this desk says overseer. The only overseer I recall hiring was Wilhelm. Where is he?"

"Well, he left me in charge of the desk. I'm like...the overseer's overseer. Apparently, he couldn't really even sit in this chair/"

"Great... where is he?"

"Probably scaring the skin off the workers...in station two...or thirty. Hard to say. If not, he's patrolling the city wherever."

"Right... So he could be anywhere. Great. Okay, I've stalled long enough. Where am I staying? I wasn't really...y'know. Told."

"Oh," the man chuckled. "Heard they were sticking you up in sector three...'bout the only place with actual buildings."

"Yeah... Alright. By the way, I'm calling a meeting for tomorrow. I expect everyone to be in attendance. By everyone, I mean workers. All of 'em. You and Wilhelm to. I gotta go find the guy."

"Yes, sir. I will let them know."

Timothy paced out of the office, whistling. If he was going to motivate the workers, he'd do it without gunfire.

Hopefully.

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I stared at the imposing figure of metal and man. Wilhelm. The yellow metallic shell had him towering above me, dwarfing me, but for once, I wasn't intimated. Even in spite of the fact that this metal monstrosity could've snapped my spine without even trying. In essence, I was Handsome Jack, and if he didn't answer to me, he'd be answering to the real one in no time.

"Hey," He greated shortly.

"Heya, hows it hanging, Wilhelm? You're being awfully rude today."

"And you're being too talkative."

"I just started speaking... Okay, look, you don't gotta like me, exactly, but you gotta treat me just like Handsome Jack... That's who I am, and if you don't like it, I'll tell the real Handsome Jack... 'kay, Pumpkin?"

"The boss would never call me Pumpkin," Wilhelm growled.

I managed to contain my shudder, realizing that okay, maybe I was a teensy bit intimidated. After all the last thing I wanted was to be was strung up by my intestines. If it came down to it, who would Jack actually choose between me, his carefully trained body-double, or the greedy Wilhelm, his badass enforcer?

Odds weren't exactly in my favor there.

Still, I wasn't going to let this metal tower stomp all over me like I was a useless rug. "Well, I'm gonna call ya that until you show a bit more respect... Pumpkin."

Sometimes, I surprise myself. I'd never known confidence, but in spite of it all, it had found me. Regardless, I often found myself saying things that would have otherwise gotten me killed. Wherever these spurs of courage originated from, it would definitely be the death of me one day.

To my surprise, the great enforcer cracked a smile. "Did you grow a backbone all of a sudden? Or are you just starting to enjoy your power?" he rumbled coarsely.

'Enjoy your power' echoed in my head. Is that what this was...enjoying my power. No I decided, this was survival, instinct and self-preservation. I needed Wilhelm to listen to me.

He continued before I could respond. "Ah, whatever. Look, I'll give no trouble, as long as you and the boss are still...working together."

That sounded more ominous than he might have meant it to. Still, I decided not to worry so much about it.

With a perfectly straight face, I said, "and I bet he'll always want you around."

"Nah, he won't. He's fickle. But that's my concern, not yours. You're gonna have to worry about your ass when he decides he doesn't like you around..."

"I go home with a big pile of money," I said quickly. "Look at you, saying more than two words at a time!"

He snorted. "I'm getting back to the patrols. Someone's gotta be productive."

With that, the robot man stomped off. I watched his retreating form, mildly miffed. Suddenly, I didn't feel so great. I knew what happened in Hyperion when people were let go.

They went out the airlocks in Helios station.

Right, so how long was I going to be useful to Jack exactly? Obviously, even someone like Wilhelm knew that Jack would never keep the same people around him for long lengths of time. He was too paranoid for that. No, one day, my life would be in true danger, I realized. Maybe not because I'd done something wrong, but because Jack would find me useless somehow. He was an ambitious man, and most likely, would always be that way. He'd aggressively keep competition at bay. If that meant cycling the workers...well, that also meant me.

And from Wilhelm's words, he wasn't expecting Handsome Jack to be his boss for the rest of his robotic life, either.

Just what I need, another problem to keep me up at night. For now, though, I had to concentrate on this city project. Surely I'd be around until that was done. Years. I'd figure it out by then, I was certain. No need to loose my head over it now.

Making my way to my quarters that'd been indicated to me earlier, I passed through the doors to the buidling. Slipping down the hallway, I passed through another automatic doorway.

"Yep, that's fantastic," I murmured, staring at the fairly grand room. Two fountains adorned the walkway. When I looked down, I could see my reflection in the smooth, shiny floor. It resembled Jack's office in Helios, except that the grand windows in the back looked out upon the lake of the construction site instead of Elpis. The desk was solid and intricate and a single chair sat behind it. Definitely familiar to me.

I guess I should've been used to the man's extravagance, and to be honest, I was fairly used to living like a billionaire...even if I wasn't one. Actually, maybe that was trillionaire by now. Or whatever -aire Jack happened to be at that time.

I walked over to the desk, tracing its smooth surface. It was empty of anything save a single Echo device.

"Another one?" I muttered. "I've already got one."

Upon examination, I discovered why. It was an updated version of the original. I tapped the 'on' button, and in perfect HD, the dark haired woman was staring at me.

"Angel?" I asked, surprised.

"Hello, Tim," she responded, smiling a little.

"What's this new Echo all about?" I asked, even if I'd already drawn my own conclusions. Better I was forewarned of any possible surprises it might carry.

"Oh, new issue. Jack's ordered a bunch of them for higher-level Hyperion employees. Anyways, this is where you live now. Probably until the city is complete, so I suggest you get comfortable."

"Thanks, Angel."

I'd wondered over to a side door I'd noticed. I pushed it open, swinging it in. I saw a slightly smaller room, and it was no less extravagant. Inside was a bed with fancy embroidery and a TV in front of a couch. It reminded me of my room back on Helios.

This was actually pretty good!

So I get both Jack's office and my bedroom! I live here now! For...years, at least! I didn't allow myself to think of what might happen at the end of my contract.

To be honest, I was quite satisfied with this turnout. Maybe things would start to look up even more. I backed out of the bedroom, shutting the door. I crossed back over to the desk and took a seat, gazing down at the new Echo. Angel's face was still there. I seized the device and turned to the great lake out the window.

"It's nice, actually," I said softly. "I wasn't expecting it. Which is totally stupid... I guess, I expected it to feel more like a gilded cage...but it almost feels like home."

I wasn't so sure if that was true, but it'd been so long since I'd come home to anywhere, that this was the closest thing I could remember to that feeling. It was mildly relaxing.

"Glad to you cheering up., Angel said.

"Yeah, and just to add to the fun, I'm gonna give Echo Jump 10 another go on this totally new and shiny Echo."

She actually chuckled a little as he pulled the game up.

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End of chapter 10

I apologize for any typos.