The game opens in medias res: a stranger kidnaps Rhys and Fiona, and forces them to tell their shared story of the Gortys Project. Rhys, a Hyperion employee on the space station Helios, is demoted by Hugo Vasquez. Overhearing that Vasquez is purchasing a Vault Key from August, Rhys and Vaughn take a stolen briefcase of money to Pandora to buy it first. However, Rhys, Vaughn, and August discover the Key is a fake created by con artists Fiona and Sasha and their mentor Felix. The money is stolen by Bossanova, and Rhys, Vaughn, Fiona, Sasha, and Felix form a reluctant alliance to recover it. Rhys installs a Hyperion ID chip he retrieved from the dead body of Professor Nakayama into his cybernetics, hoping it will help locate the briefcase; he loses consciousness, but nothing else happens. Ultimately, they locate the money near a secret Atlas facility, and Felix takes it for himself. He triggers the briefcase's explosive lock, either dying or escaping depending on Fiona's choice. The others discover the Gortys core inside a secret chamber in the Atlas base. A hologram of Handsome Jack appears to Rhys and announces they have found the Gortys Project, which will lead them to a Vault.