Following the Steps

Isaac scanned the passage with the glowing blue targeting lasers of his plasma cutter, half-expecting a Necromorph to burst free from one of the numerous vents or from behind the flimsy-looking wire fencing, but nothing came. It almost seemed as though after fighting through that horde of monsters not too long ago that his surroundings had ran out of creatures to throw at him. Though to be honest he was glad to finally be granted a lull in the carnage, from the rising panic, from having to wade through severed limbs, blood, bile, and whatever else constituted these creatures.

He had another good reason to be on edge though: the fact an unhinged lunatic was running about somewhere close by, armed with a bloody screwdriver.

As Isaac had feared, Patient number 5 had gone right off the deep end. Though he admitted that Nolan Stross' mental state had already been very precarious since he had first contacted Isaac at the Church, convincing him that they could find and destroy the Marker in the Government Sector. And considering that wasn't too long after his disastrous encounter with Daina and her Unitologist companions, he had gone with it as there was literally nothing else for him to go on. Even if it meant heeding the inane ramblings of a mental patient.

Getting this far had involved a fair few side trips, including a jaunt to the old solar array high above the Sprawl, and even a healthy dose of déjà vu- it turned out that the USG Ishimura had been docked at the Sprawl for some time, while EarthGov cleaned up what remained of the initial Necromorph outbreak. Though the layout of the halls and rooms remained unchanged, he could still see flashes of what had transpired there previously, even with the plastic sheeting taped over most of the walls, bloodstains glowing a faint green underneath the glare of UV lighting. Despite all of that, and being assaulted by more horrors of the past, he was still able to reactivate the gravity tethers and use them to pull the Shard- and Government Sector- back into place for them to reach.

It wasn't long after that when Stross' dementia finally got the better of him, and he had taken a screwdriver and used it to gouge one of Ellie's eyes out, ranting about 'Step 3'.

'Cross my heart and hope to die...stick a needle in my eye,' he had sang in a sinister fashion as he leered over her, before driving the tool down into her eye socket. Isaac's video log had cut out just before he had witnessed the act taking place, but he knew fine well what had actually happened when Stross had reappeared on the opposite side of a steel emergency fence not too long ago. Whereas previously Stross had appeared somewhat frazzled, timid and worn out in all their previous interactions, now he had a demented but focused look in his eyes: he was fully aware of what he was doing, and showed no remorse.

'We've been waiting for you...now it's your turn!'

Those were his words at the time, though Isaac was more interested in the eyeball that was skewered on the screwdriver Stross was holding at that moment- Ellie's eyeball. He couldn't even have imagined what pain she had gone through when the tool had gone through the soft organ, and while fully conscious too. But Ellie being Ellie, not even that had stopped her for long, and she had appeared out of the darkness behind Stross, striking him across the back with an iron beam. Her right eyelid was screwed shut painfully, blood splattered on her clothing. But her headstrong personality remained, insisting that Isaac now owed her a new eye after all of that.

Typical Ellie.

He had ordered her to get to a safe place, as there was no way she could fight in her current condition, Necromorphs or otherwise. He would deal with Stross, one way or another- though it looked as though reasoning with him was totally out of the question now. Ellie had pretty much flat out said that Stross was going after Isaac next, desperate to make him see 'Step 3'.

The Steps...Stross had gone on about them constantly in the past, saying they were the key to destroying the Marker, both in direct speech and in his random mutterings. Though most people would have dismissed the man's inane ramblings as pure garbage, Isaac knew that Stross could prove useful in his quest to destroy the Marker, and knew he had to keep him around, at least until he had the knowledge to do what was necessary when the time came. He already knew at least two of these 'steps':

'Step 1...crawl into the dark machine, Step 2, the screws go tight all around...'

What those referred to exactly, he was still unsure. And all he knew about the last step was something about facing 'her', whoever that meant. Isaac wondered if Stross was referring to his ex-wife, that he had murdered in a fit of dementia, much like most other people exposed to the Markers had been. And Stross had also showed clear signs of seeing his murdered son before him on more than one instance, his state eerily similar to Isaac's, when he had seen the visions of her before him, taunting him with venomous words and reminding him of his past guilt. Nolan had seemed practically terrified of having to face 'her' again, and had convinced himself that the visions were real- indeed, it was Ellie trying to assure him that the visions weren't real that had prompted him to snap in the first place.

Either way, Isaac knew Stross held the key to ending this, hence why he had insisted Ellie keep him safe, despite her obvious concerns. And now look at what had happened.

I was such a fool, Isaac thought to himself as he approached the large door directly ahead of him, its access rune glowing an angry red, indicating that it was currently locked, much like half the doors in this whole damn place had been, likely because of the angry blade-limbed aliens scurrying through the vents and maintenance systems, cutting and tearing at vital cables and circuits.

He noticed the covered circuit panel just beside the door, and he approached it carefully, glancing over his shoulder (a constant habit developed since his first visit to the Ishimura). Setting his plasma cutter down carefully, he then removed the panel cover with a single tug and tossed it to the side, exposing an internal network of cables, wires and circuitry. To the untrained eye, attempting to mess around with the panel's workings would be something most people wouldn't even consider. But Isaac had spent the best part of five years working on engineering courses, and he knew most of the standard CEC circuitry set ups like the back of his hand. So he knew he had little to fear as he reached his gloved hands inside and began to pull out a few wires, crossing others together.

He glanced towards the small screen to his right, watching the timer bar slowly descending, before the anti-hacking measures planted in the panel activated, shocking him with a few thousand volts worth of electricity, but he knew that he had had plenty of time to do what need to be done before then. He twisted a thick pair of cables together and a blue haze of static covered the screen, showing that he was partway through the procedure.

Not much longer and he would have access-

-but that thought was cut off when there was the sound of whirring hydraulics, and the doors suddenly opened of their own accord, the sudden sound and motion causing Isaac to flinch in surprise as a human figure in hospital scrubs came running out, straight at him.

"There you are, Isaac!" screamed Nolan Stross in a demented tone, as his left hand shot out and grabbed onto Isaac's neck, the engineer's hands still stuck inside the control panel and his plasma cutter laying on the ground, meaning he was in no position to defend himself at that moment.

"Whoa, Stross! What the hell are you doing?" demanded Isaac as he was pulled away from the panel, realising that Stross still held the screwdriver in his hand, knuckles white from sheer strain of holding it. Ellie's eyeball was still on the tool, a constant reminder of what the madman had done previously.

"It's too late for me!" yelled Stross in reply, raising his arm up. "Now you have to face her for me!" And with that, he jabbed the screwdriver down savagely, the point bouncing off of the jaw plate of Isaac's helmet. His HUD vision went blind with static for a brief moment, before there was a red glowing warning sigil visible, and his helmet suddenly retracted back into the rest of his suit due to an error- and leaving his head visible to Stross' next attack.

Oh fuck! Isaac thought frantically as he stared into Stross' wide eyes, the man's left hand still maintaining a death grip on the lapel of his suit. Though Isaac had plenty of experience of fighting the Necromorphs, he had practically zero experience in fighting against human beings, save for the odd bout of fisticuffs some years back. Sure, part of his mind had hoped he could still resolve the situation with Stross peacefully, but looking at things now, with the very real threat of a screwdriver to the eye, there was no hope of that now.

"Tell her I didn't mean to do it!" yelled Stross, bringing the screwdriver down towards Isaac's face. The engineer was just about able to grab onto the madman's wrist and hold the screwdriver back, even as Ellie's eyeball remained fixed on him.

"Stross, it's me!" he yelled, pushing back against Patient 5, but his fit of insanity had granted him a burst of considerably strength, and the screwdriver's tip wavered close to Isaac's face, but the surge of adrenaline meant Isaac could still hold his ground- at least for now. And Stross was in no mood to back down.

"See her!" yelled Stross, in a more insistent tone, sweat running off of his face as he tried to work the screwdriver into Isaac's face.

"It's Isaac!"

"Tell her!"

"STROSS!" screamed Isaac. The tool came dangerously close to Isaac's face, but he pushed back against Stross, giving himself a little bit of grace time.

"Step 3!" Hissed Stross, through gritted teeth. "...Step...3...!" he echoed, the exact same thing he had quoted before he had jabbed Ellie's eye out. What the hell did he mean? Somewhere in the back of his mind, Isaac thought Stross was doing all of this to try and tell the engineer something...but if he didn't do something quickly, he knew this would end very badly. It would be his eyeball on that screwdriver.

Digging his heels in, Isaac began to twist Stross' arm to the side, away from his face, pointing the screwdriver towards the ground. Stross' face suddenly turned from a look of insane glee to an expression of shock as he began to realise that the tables were being turned against him. There was a barely audible plop as Ellie's eyeball slid off the screwdriver and onto the floor, though what would happen next would be more shocking as Stross shook his head frantically.

Before Isaac could even realise what he was thinking, his vision became clouded as he snatched the screwdriver from Stross' fingers and thrust it around, stabbing it through the madman's left temple. There was a brutal crack of bone as it punched straight through Stross' skin, muscle, and bone into his brain. Then Isaac booted Stross in the stomach, forcing him to relinquish his grip, and shoved him in the sternum, making him stagger backwards a few feet, blood cascading down the side of his head and turning his hospital scrubs a sick crimson colour.

"Oh God," whispered Stross as he sank to his knees, reaching up for the screwdriver handle with his left hand in a feeble fashion. Isaac sank back against the rock wall, the red fading from his vision, showing him the full extent of what he had just done. His stomach contracted when he realised what had just transpired.

"Why did you do it, Stross?" he asked, partly referring to when he had gouged Ellie's eye out, but also referring to why the normally sane researcher had snapped and murdered his family. Stross stroked at the screwdriver's handle one last time, before he finally slumped to the ground, blood pooling underneath his skull. The wound inflicted on him wasn't particularly deep, but it was deep enough to be fatal to him. Isaac continued to stare at the body for a while longer as the full implications of what he had just done dawned on him.

Oh God...he's dead...I killed him!

Isaac turned away from the view of Stross' corpse, falling to his knees and retching, his stomach contracting, but as he hadn't eaten in a long time there was nothing to come up. He continued to retch for a long time, before resorting to just staring down at the ground below him. Though he had killed countless of those monsters both on Aegis VII and on Titan Station, this was different. The Necromorphs were monsters twisted into existence from dead corpses, and needed to be purged from existence to end the host's agony. But Nolan Stross was a human being- made from flesh and bone and sinew, a man with a life, with a family-

Until the Marker had taken it all away from him in an instant, leaving him a broken shell of the researcher he once was. And he was inches away from gouging Isaac's eyes out, but he was still only a human. He had deserved better than this- everyone that had been killed in this mess deserved better than this.

He turned back towards Stross' body slowly. The researcher was still sprawled flat where he had fallen, eyes staring straight ahead in a blank stare, at the ceiling. Despite everything, he looked oddly at peace- finally free from the horrific visions that had tormented his mind, free from the twisted creatures that swarmed through Titan Station. Perhaps he had gotten off lightly, all things considered.

Isaac lowered his head and saw the unmistakable glint of an audio log laying beside Stross, probably dropped when he had keeled over dead. The CEC engineer slowly crouched down and retrieved the log, casting a quick glance over towards the man's body one last time.

The man I murdered...

Isaac shook his head. He didn't need anything adding to his burden of guilt. Instead, he pressed the playback button on the log, the sound coming through the speakers on his RIG.

"Alexis," whispered Stross' voice, sounding much calmer than he had any other time Isaac had spoken with him before. "If you get this, I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you or our son."

Isaac bowed his head, realising who Stross was talking to. It seemed the engineer wasn't the only one shouldering a heavy burden of guiltand regret from the past.

"After the sessions...I keep seeing you but...you're so mad. So angry," continued Stross' voice, staring to break down underneath a carpet of sorrow and gilt. Isaac continued to listen for a bit longer, even as Stross' words faded out, almost impossible to decipher through the man's pained sobs. Isaac finally ended the recording and tossed the log aside, the data already transferred into his RIG's data banks in case he needed to listen to it again.

Unlikely.

He turned away from Stross' body and shook his head, knowing he had to keep going. Ellie was somewhere close by, in no fit state to be fighting Necromorphs. He had to hook up with her and get moving again, push on towards the Government Sector. Sending the mental impulse to don his helmet, he passed through the open threshold into the room Stross had been hiding in.

But with Nolan Stross dead, how was he meant to destroy the Marker now?

Some time later, Isaac had reached the top of a very tall lift shaft, surrounded once more by the remains of several Necromorphs- Slashers to be specific, most of them what remained of the mining and maintenance staff, though a few enhanced creatures littered the floor grating, their encrusted black and red skin not helping them from superheated plasma bolts. Though the last one had managed to slice through his left forearm, drawing blood and prompting his RIG to automatically administer coagulants to limit the bleeding. But Isaac was still feeling somewhat frustrated, and walked up to the body, raising his armoured boot up and bringing it down on the creature's head, smashing it into bloody mulch. But one stomp wasn't enough, and he added three more in rapid succession, feeling his anger pour out with each action.

"Fuck...mother...fucker!" he yelled in between each stomp, splattering even more blood and other unidentifiable fluids across the floor. He finally stepped back and panted for breath, leaning hard on his knees to get his energy back.

Things hadn't been helped by that witch, wearing her face, taunting him about Stross' death, telling him that's what happened to those who tried to 'resist it'. That made him realise that it was his own dementia that had compelled him into murdering Stross, when his vision had gone red, that pounding sensation in his head returning once again. He had shouted and screamed at her, at the thin air- glad that Ellie wasn't there to see him on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

But the ghost hadn't been deterred, instead demanding him to tell her who she was exactly.

'I will only ask you once more before the end, Isaac. Be ready.'

What the hell does she mean? Before the end of what?

He shook his head as he turned towards a heavy-looking set of double doors. He had to find Ellie, sooner rather than later.

His thoughts turned back towards the Heavy Equipment pilot. He had to admit he had become somewhat fond of her, even though their first meeting in the Concourse almost ended with his head getting blown off. And she was unwilling to work alongside him, claiming that other people were just a liability in this situation. But considering that she was the only one still alive out of a 30-strong crew, he had to sympathise with her. Finding those audio logs through the CEC facility left by her former crew mates only helped to aid that sympathy, and he had practically forgotten the unfortunate incident involving her plasma cutter now.

And besides, being in this hell hole with another human being was a lot more comforting than slogging on by himself, through the alien monsters, through the blood, the bile, and piles of severed body parts-

-then suddenly that pounding sensation returned to his skull once again, forcing him to stumble and grab at his head, though his helmet was in the way. He quickly sent the impulse to put it away, as his vision became clouded over with that red veil that had become synonymous with his dementia visions. The pain intensified, and he dropped his plasma cutter, both hands groping at his skull now, the pain threatening to make it burst like a balloon.

Son of a-! What's happening...to me...?

He approached the doors and quickly swept his hand over the hologram, causing them to recede into the walls, granting him access. He stumbled forward a few more steps, desperate to find sanctuary from his monstrous antagonists in case they found him while he was otherwise incapacitated-

-until he glanced up and saw her standing right in front of him.

She looked the exact same as every other time she had appeared to him- her white uniform splattered in blood, her eyes and open mouth emitting an eerie, crackling light. She did nothing at first, just stared straight into the depths of his soul.

Fuck-

He didn't even have enough time to try and think of a strategy before her hand came up suddenly, closing around his throat with the force of a boa constrictor, flinging him around and slamming him spine-first into the bare rock wall with enough force to shake dust and rock fragments down from the ceiling. The force pulsated through his suit and up and down his spine, his hand shooting up to try and pry the fingers away from his throat, but it was impossible- this was all a product of his own mind, and as such it didn't abide by normal logic. Her sheer strength was far beyond whatever those Necromorphs could conjure up.

"Moment of truth, Isaac!" she hissed, drawing in close to his face, but he turned his head away, eyes screwed shut as tight as he could possibly manage. But he wouldn't get away from the vision's venomous words that easily.

"Who am I?" she demanded, voice dripping with venom. "Am I your friend? Your lover? The one shred, one light, one bright, shining star you clung to in this universe?"

"You're not real," he muttered to himself, trying to reassure himself, but it wasn't working, if the fact he could feel his breathing getting cut off was any indication. It wasn't going to work this time, even as he felt himself pulled away from the wall, his feet dangling freely at least a few inches off the ground, kicking and flailing randomly. The apparition wasn't finished yet.

"-or am I your guilt?" she continued, "crushing the life out of you because you can't get over the fact that I'm dead? That you feel responsible?" Her tone took on a mocking edge as she finished, and Isaac admitted that she was right in that regard. After all, he was the one who had pushed Nicole into enlisting for the Ishimura's crew. If he hadn't pushed her-

-she'd still be here. Not standing in front of him as a bloodied mockery of her former kind self, crushing the very life from him. Everything was fading out now, and he knew that it was almost over. Perhaps death wasn't so bad when he considered the alternative...wandering the halls of Titan Station, looking to murder anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path.

"Who...am...I?" the apparition then asked, clearly still not finished with him. "Why do you keep fighting me? Why can't you let go?"

It hit him like a bolt from the blue then and there. Why she had stated that she would only ask him one more time before the end, and that he should be ready. This was the end she meant. All this time he thought she had been there, lurking at the edge of his peripheral vision, taunting him with harsh, poisonous words, just to try and break his spirit, drive him into the depths of insanity where he would be easy prey for the marauding Necromorphs.

But that wasn't the truth. He had kept Nolan Stross around because he was certain the gibbering madman could lead him to the Marker, show him how to destroy it: but the former scientist was too busy running away from his demons, from his own guilt, to help. Isaac was the only one who could find the Marker and end all of this madness, but he had to do it on his own terms. He had to make peace with the darkness crushing him to death.

"Because you were my everything," he gasped finally, in response to the apparition's question. He finally opened his eyes and looked down at her directly, in the eye. He wasn't afraid anymore, wasn't afraid of the truth. "And if I let you go...I've got nothing left."

The bloody apparition continued to glare at him for a while, and then suddenly her grip released, dropping him onto the flats of his feet, allowing him to immediately gasp for air, his vision clearing. Though that wouldn't be the greatest shock in store, as he suddenly felt a familiar touch on his cheek- a kind, caring touch that emanated warmth and familiarity. He glanced up, and he stopped in his tracks. Gone was the bloodied ghoul which had tormented him for the last three years with harsh words and horrific visions. In its place was the kind, caring smile that he had fallen for all those years ago, along with the same blue eyes and blonde hair that was so familiar to him as well. He just stared into those eyes, enchanted, like he first was when they had first met over five years ago.

The Nicole Brennan he knew had returned.

"Step Four- acceptance," was all she said, but it was all he needed to hear.

He drew back as her hand left his cheek, and then he finally sank to his knees, letting everything overcome him. Immense relief at having finally conquered his guilt, relief at the fact that she was no longer trying to kill him, trying to drive him insane. A whole three years of despair and sorrow had been lifted from his shoulders, a burden that he had kept exclusive to himself. He let out a wracking sob, letting his emotions consume him. After spending the last three years being poked and prodded like a lab rat, EarthGov digging into his mind for dirty secrets, he at last had a chance to come to terms with it all. He felt her hand on his shoulder again, and he looked up, into her smiling face.

"Now you're ready to end this," she stated, before turning and walking away from him. He remained kneeling for a while longer, until he finally found the strength to rise to his feet once more, calling after her.

"Nicole, wait!" he cried, but she was already gone, vanished into thin air, much like all her earlier appearances. Even when not trying to kill him, some things hadn't changed. He sighed and lowered his head again, still letting it all sink in. A smile crossed his face as the pounding sensation in his skull no longer remained.

But then he realised that he still had to find Ellie before something bad happened to her. He quickly checked his RIG, seeing that her signal wasn't too far ahead of where he currently was. Donning his helmet and retreiving his plasma cutter, he set off once again, hope lifting his heart up.

A short while later, he descended a rocky slope within one of the larger mining areas within the mines, a gigantic industrial drilling machine taking up nearly half of the cavern's immense space, its front end bearing a battery of massive drills and rock crushing-rollers. Elsewhere, discarded mining tools and storage boxes were littered here and there, indicating that the miners were likely wiped out where they stood- and subsequently transformed.

He was clad in the brand-new Advanced RIG, the schematic for which he had found in a cluttered storage room about an hour or so back. Its sleek appearance was a god-send compared to the other, somewhat bulky RIG's he had donned in his career, including the variations on the engineering RIG and that Vintage RIG he had been wearing up until now- it was now a lot more comfortable for him to move about in general. The use of advanced technology also meant that the suit's armour plating was much more protective than all previous RIG's he had worn before, and also aided in the recharge rate of his stasis module- a vital tool for battling Necromorphs. Suffice to say, he was now set for the near future and anything else that could be thrown his way.

He could see Ellie from here now- stood at the foot of the drilling machine, examing a pair of power cell housings, one emptied and the other already containing a power cell. As he drew nearer, she turned to face him suddenly, her right eye now covered by a medical dressing, her spine bar flashing red. She wasn't in a good condition to be battling Necromorphs right now. It also looked as though that her plasma cutter was gone for good.

"Isaac, over here!" she called, waving him over as he slid his helmet back, exposing his head. He walked up beside her as she turned back towards the power cell housing. "It looks like the mechanic got dragged away before he was finished working on this." Isaac didn't pay much attention to that fact, as he decided to give her the inevitable news.

"Stross is dead, Ellie."

She turned back, her face showing genuine surprise, though that look quickly faded away. "Well, I'm not sorry about that," she stated instead, and Isaac didn't really blame her, considering the screwdriver to the eyeball incident. "But what happens now?" she then asked, turning back to face him. "Didn't you need Stross to destroy the Marker?"

Isaac shook his head. "No...Stross couldn't lead us to the Marker, Ellie," he explained, matter-of-factly, "he was too busy running away from his guilt...from his demons." Ellie was silent for a while as she considered this information, head turned away, before she faced him eye-to-eye once again.

"And what about you?"

It was Isaac's turn to be silent as he mulled the million dollar question over.

What about him? He had been in the same boat as Stross until a few minutes ago- on the edge of snapping completely, driven over the edge by the horrific visions of his lost love, making him question himself and then finally forcing him into facing his demons of regret and guilt. If he hadn't surpassed them then and there, he would be a dead man- by his own hands, no less. And yet he was still here, standing before the only other living human he had the luck of running into throughout this whole mess- the only companion he had left now, a reassuring pressence in the centre of all this chaos. Nicole's words rang through his mind once more.

'Now you're ready to end this.'

He was certain now- he had the knowledge he needed, the same knowledge that Stross was desperate to try and impart to Isaac, even in his last moments. He knew what path he had to walk now; what steps he had to take, even as he gave his answer.

"I'm not running anymore. I know what I have to do."

A/N: Hello again everyone. If any of you happened to read my last DS work, 'History Repeating Itself' (and were nice enough to leave a review), then I bring you the next entry in my DS2 series, depicting another pivotal moment from the game. I'll admit the first time I walked through those doors after the elevator ride and ran into Nicole, it was a classic 'Oh crap!' moment. And I just had to throw in a reference to Isaac's angry soundbites for when he's stomping on a corpse repeatedly- always a good stress reliever. :p

Anyways, I'm not done with DS2 one-shots just yet. I have at least two more ideas in the pipeline, that will be coming sometime in the near future, so watch this space if you're interested in seeing my other pieces of work. Until then, R & R please: all feedback is appreciated.

P.S At least one person has asked me this, and just in case anyone else asks: no, I don't plan to do a full novelisation of DS2 anytime soon- my workload is already pretty full up from working on my main Resident Evil fanfics. Sorry guys.