Saving a Life
"Holy crap, that hurt."
Isaac picked himself off of the ground gingerly, lights flickering on and off above his head, the wall behind him just a crumpled mass now. As he stood upright, he stretched his back and made sure that he hadn't broken or otherwise hurt anything. It was then that he began to notice the details of the large space he found himself them, and he slowly approached the railing in front of him.
"Well we can compare bruises later," came Ellie's voice from below, and he peered down to see his companion stood far below him, in the very centre of the atrium they had ended up in. "But at least we made it, right?"
The fabled Government Sector of Titan Station- they had finally made it. The massive atrium featured plain white walls, its far side raised up off the floor and leading towards a huge set of bulkhead doors, its front face featuring a large receptionists desk, sitting beneath a glowing, rotating hologram of Earth itself, a list of standardised messages reeling off below it, the most prominent one featuring the EarthGov emblem and title.
In all, Government Sector looked practically untouched by the Necromorph outbreak- until they had driven a massive drilling machine up through the floor, of course. Aside from the drill (still half-emerging through the floor, badly crumpled and slowly being consumed by flames), there were no bodies, no blood or entrails, no sign of structural damage: no other signs of the Necromorphs having come through here.
It made Isaac sick- the mere thought of that pompous bastard Tidemann sitting all safe and sound behind those bulkheads with his security teams while the rest of the Sprawl went to hell. The Director had claimed that the Marker research was worth far more than the lives of everyone on the station, to the extent that he had shut down the life support systems and used the solar array beam to cut off the Shard from the rest of the station: all of it to try and stop Isaac from getting too near to the Marker. Never mind the fact that other people may have been left behind in the sealed off sectors, he was determined that Isaac would never get this far.
Well guess what bastard: I'm on your doorstep- right here, right now.
"This is definitely Government Sector," continued Ellie from below, before looking over towards the closed bulkhead doors, "and I'm guessing that Marker of yours is behind those huge doors over there."
Never easy, is it?
Isaac just nodded in response, before casting a glance towards the now-mangled drilling machine and the gaping, black hole in it had ripped through the flooring. "Well, we better move fast," he declared, "Those things are going to find a way up through the hole we drilled sooner or later."
The danger wasn't over yet, even though they were at their destination. The mines had been absolutely swarming with Necromorphs, and he still bore the aches and pains from where a few Lurker spines had impacted against his RIG suit: unable to penetrate the armour, but still hitting hard enough to leave some nice bruises on the inside. Avoiding the hail of spines, while fighting off the Slashers and Pukers that vaulted over the side railings to attack front-on, wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience he had gone through in his life.
But there had been countless of the things swarming around the machine, most of them unable to scale the sides or ground into bloody mulch by the machine's drilling assembly. And it was only a matter of time until they followed their path of destruction and found the way into Government Sector.
"There's gotta be an elevator or something connecting these two floors," continued Isaac as he glanced around, looking for some way to rejoin his companion. "I'll try and make my way down to you, OK?"
"All right," nodded Ellie, "I'll meet you halfway." And with that, she jogged forwards underneath Isaac's perch, disappearing from sight. And once again, Isaac's anxiety spiked somewhat when she was out of sight.
Dammit...there's no way she should be running about by herself- especially not after what happened with Stross.
He'd convinced her into leading Patient 5 around the Sprawl, keeping him safe while Isaac did what was needed to open their path forward. And as a result, she'd been on the receiving end of his mental snap, when he had gouged one of her eyes out with a screwdriver and nearly did the same to Isaac, forcing the engineer to kill him in order to save himself. He'd been a bloody fool, and Ellie had paid the price.
She didn't deserve to go through any of this: none of the victims of this entire sorry saga involving the Markers did.
The scientists who first created the Aegis VII Marker didn't deserve to pay the price for messing with alien technolony.
The colony and the Ishimura crew didn't deserve to die in such gruesome ways.
Hammond didn't deserve to be ripped apart like a rag doll in the Valor's engine room.
Doctor Kyne didn't deserve to be shot through the chest, when all he wanted was for the madness to be ended on Aegis VII, even as his own dementia claimed his mind.
Doctor Mercer didn't deserve to be mutated into a Necromorph, deranged as he was.
Kendra didn't deserve being smashed into pieces by the Hive Mind, even though that devious bitch had betrayed him and left him for dead on the planet cracker.
Nicole didn't deserve to-
He shuddered and screwed his eyes shut.
The list of victims continued to grow longer and longer every minute. The entire crew of the Ishimura had been wiped out in the blink of an eye, and the entire population of the Sprawl hadn't fared much better. And yet he was still here, he was still alive. Why him? What had he possibly done to deserve this, to live on while everyone else around him was doomed to death? Condemned to live on, his head filled with alien bullshit?
But since that time back in the mines, after traversing that lift, he hadn't experienced any visions since then, hadn't felt the pounding sensation in his skull. Hadn't seen the bloodied mockery of Nicole taunting him, trying to twist his mind into killing himself. Maybe he was safe from the dementia now, free to continue on his mission.
But still Ellie was in constant danger the longer she stayed with him. Tidemann's men were likely stationed throughout the entire sector, and battling against armed human beings was a whole different ball game from monstrous aliens. It was likely only a matter of time before she became yet another victim, another burden on his conscience...
"Isaac!" came Ellie's voice suddenly, through his audio link, catching his attention. "I've found a gunship!"
"What?" asked Isaac, slowly to a halt within the white-walled corridor he was currently traversing. The news seemed almost too good to hear, hence the fact it caught him off guard. "Is it damaged?" he then asked, half-expecting something to come along and shit all over his optimism.
"Not that I can tell," she replied.
Finally, things are looking up for a change. At least this gunship isn't trying to fill me full of holes.
"Do you hear me, Isaac? We're going to get out of here!" Ellie continued; the relief evident in her voice.
Isaac lowered his head before offering a quiet reply. "One of us is," he whispered, before he raised his voice. "It's too dangerous for you to stay here, Ellie." He heard a brief scoff before her next reply.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. "Just get your arse in here! I'm starting a diagnostic check." And with that, she signed off, no doubt getting to the task at hand.
Isaac sighed and shook his head. Though he appreciated Ellie's stubbornness, particularly during a situation like the one they were stuck in, it wasn't helping anyone here. She would be better off far away from this place, rather than being stuck in the middle of this clusterfuck.
With another shake of his head, he consulted his locator and followed the glowing blue line towards a pair of doors ahead of him, the scrolling board above them reading 'Gunship Access'. He passed his hand over the access rune, and he passed through into a large area with a semi-circular walkway that was lined with thick viewing windows. Outside he could see other areas of the Sprawl, along with the aforementioned gunship, Ellie already stood inside the cockpit, running the diagnostic check.
'Life support intact,' stated a cool, mechanic voice. Isaac began to draw closer to the gunship access port, the door currently sealed off from the outside at the moment, a sealed tunnel connecting to the side of the ship itself.
'Shields intact', continued the voice, as Isaac stopped in front of the control console just beside the access door, sliding his helmet back to reveal his bare head. Ellie continued to stand with her back to him as she looked over the controls, her figure lit by the numerous glowing lights and consoles inside the ship's cockpit. After a few more moments, she turned to face him.
"Looks like we're in business," she stated with a smile. "This baby's still in one piece- perfect for getting out of here."
"Yeah, sure," replied Isaac, not sounding fully convinced as he turned away from her, looking across at the wall opposite himself.
This was it, he thought: the make or break point, where he decided whether or not he would keep Ellie with him, or whether to send her away from this chaos, giving her the chance to continue living, to survive, to not become yet another victim.
But would he be able to go through with it? If he sent Ellie away, then he would be totally alone in this place. The fear of being alone almost overrode every other emotion that filled his body while fighting the Necromorphs- with someone else with him, he at least could take comfort in the fact that he wasn't a solitary being in a desperate battle with no happy ending.
But still...if she died because of him, then he would never forgive himself. The burdens of guilt and regret were terrible ones indeed, and he had already borne them for 3 long years before now. And he had no intention of bearing them again, for no amount of time.
"Isaac, what are you doing?" asked Ellie from behind, as he felt her eyes upon the back of his shoulders. He sighed once more and screwed his eyes shut, his mind picturing her laying there, a mess of tangled limbs and broken bones, one of those things standing over her. Or still walking around as a twisted mockery, seeking out anyone else it could get its claws into-
-his choice was now clear to him.
God, I just know I'm going to regret this.
He turned back towards the control panel, to see Ellie's back facing him. But it wouldn't matter which way she was turned as his actions would soon become readily apparent as he began to tap at the glowing keys before him.
'Hatch closing,' announced an automated voice, and Ellie immediately turned to face him.
"Woah, Isaac! What are you doing?"
He ignored her, his eyes remaining locked upon the keypad before him, as he inputted the necessary steps to initiate the launch sequence for the gunship. Glowing blue announcement runes flashed across the screen, showing each of the steps as they were undertaken by the automated systems. A few moments later, a video RIG link appeared in front of him, Ellie's frantic face appearing on it.
"Isaac, what are you doing?" she asked once more, but his face remained glued on the screen, impassive. A few more seconds later, and then there was a subdued 'thud' as the boarding tunnel, connecting the gunship's airlock to the docking station, disconnected, and then the vessel began to slowly drift away from the Government Sector, its autopilot programmed to head as far away from Titan Station as possible.
Ellie finally realised what he was doing, and she screwed her eyes shut in equal parts frustration and despair before she spoke up again.
"No! No, no, no, don't you dare!" she half-shouted. "Don't you dare launch this ship!" He continued to avoid her gaze, finishing up on further programming the gunship's autopilot. No matter what happened, he had to make sure that she got away in one piece. For all they knew, EarthGov had a blockade in place around the station already, and hopefully they weren't in league with Tidemann's forces.
"Isaac!"
"It's your best chance Ellie," he reasoned, finally turning to face her visage showing on the video link. "You got Life Support, comms- you're going to be saved Ellie. I need you to be rescued."
"You bastard..." was all she offered, sounding as though she were on the verge of bursting into tears on the spot there. Then he realised about the fact she was the only one out of her CEC crew who had made it this far, and he was sending her off again on her own, to God knew where.
Too late to back out now. You can hate me as much as you want Ellie, it's for your own good.
"I couldn't save Nicole," he explained, "but I can save you, Ellie." He turned away then, and there was another period of silence as he gathered his thoughts once more. "So uh...I guess this is goodbye," he added, turning to face her one last time- and perhaps the last time he ever would. She returned his look with a crestfallen expression, and then she finally looked away and buried her face in her hands, just as he cut the video link then and there, not wanting to give her the chance to try and change his mind. He watched the gunship leaving, floating lazily away into the void of space, and then it was out of sight, along with Ellie.
I'm sorry Ellie.
He then turned and walked away from the control panel, the lock sigil on the airlock door glowing red to indicate it was locked. He then turned to face the far wall opposite the airlock, and then the full implications of what he had just done, along with the sheer fatigue from going through this entire hell with barely any rest at all, hit him like a runaway freight train.
"Oh God," he whispered, as he fell back against the airlock door support and allowed himself to slide to the ground into a seated position, his face showing a mask of utter despair and hopelessness. Now that he had come this far and sent Ellie away, what was next for him? Even if he got past those bulkhead doors, what about Tidemann's security forces? How would he get past them?
So many questions, and so little time to ponder every last one of them. He'd just have to make things up as he went along, much like he had done over the last few hours, coming up with dangerous and reckless plans on the spot. He was just about to concoct another of those risky plans when he heard that all-too familiar voice.
"Are you ready to talk now?"
He screwed his eyes shut and shook his head. It was bad enough he had let Ellie go, but now he was beginning to hear the voice of somebody who was no longer on this plane of existence. Despite this fact, and despite the fact he had conquered his demons, he wasn't ready to let this person go yet. Not after finally finding her again not too long ago.
"Why? So I can let you go too?" he asked, still staring straight ahead of him. To his right, the apparition of Nicole was sat, back against the door support, mirroring his own position, her face crestfallen- again, mirroring how he felt right now. "I never wanted to let you go." And why would he? After all, it was the mere thought of seeing her again that had kept him going on the Ishimura- even it was towards the worst news possible at the end of it all.
"A lot happened that we never wanted," she replied, looking down towards the ground. Isaac had to agree with that logic: he always remembered the advice of his tutor back in engineering college, and the words of guidance he offered the young trainee whenever things became too much.
'Remember Isaac- life's a bitch, but don't let it grind you down.'
More than ever, those words resounded with him now. If he had his own way, Nicole would still be with him in the flesh, and those nightmares wouldn't have destroyed the Ishimura and Titan Station- he would still be in his cosy, peaceful existence. No man deserved to go through what he had experienced.
"Isaac," said Nicole suddenly, reaching her arm out towards him. "Touch me." He didn't say anything initially; he just closed his eyes and exhaled a gentle breath of air.
"I don't think that's a good idea," he reasoned as he rose to his feet, knowing that trying to hold the hand of an apparition would only prove that it was all inside his own head- prove that she wasn't there at all.
"Please Isaac," she pleaded, reaching up towards him, "make us whole."
That statement sent a shiver down his spine, considering it was the exact same statement that had been used to make him return the Red Marker to Aegis VII 3 years prior- a chunk of rock manipulating him into carrying out the Greater Good (if such a thing existed). And now those three words continued to linger in the back of his brain, a lingering reminder of the Red Marker's effect on him.
"I can't," was all he whispered, only glancing down at her briefly. She turned away from him and lowered her arms as he engaged the controls for his helmet again, and he felt it fold up out of the back and front of his suit, sliding into place to conceal his entire head, bathing his vision in a gentle green glow. He remained standing still for a while longer, and then finally turned down to where she had been sat just prior.
She was gone.
He was totally alone now. He was the only one in any position to stop the Marker from causing anymore damage now, and he couldn't afford to stand around reminiscing on the past for too long. Gripping his trusty plasma cutter, he began to follow the walkway around the room's perimeter, heading towards the lift and the store he could see from the gunship docking tunnel. He'd only made it a few yards when a video log crackled to life, showing a face he hadn't seen or heard from since activating the gravity tethers on the Ishimura.
"I don't know what providence protects you, Clarke," growled Hans Tidemann, "but it ends here." During every past interaction with the station's Director, he had always presented an abnormally calm and collected persona, that wasn't even jarred by the deaths of almost a million civilian residents and the fact Isaac and his allies were gradually closing in on him. Now, with his furrowed brow and narrowed eyes, he looked set to explode like a volcano. Judging by what Isaac could see in the background, the Director was currently standing in some sort of control room, complete with glowing hologram screens and technicians moving to and fro.
Getting closer- hope you're ready for me, you bastard...
"I have two hundred armed security personnel inside this sector," he continued, his anger barely contained, "all the entrances are covered!" he added, making an angry waving gesture with both arms, before he finally leaned in close so his face almost took up the entire display. "Even if you do get in, you won't get far."
And with that, he was gone again. But at this point Tidemann's threats and attempts on his life held no more water- he was standing on the Director's doorstep now, and he had come too far to just turn around and walk away now. Two hundred or two thousand security personnel, he wouldn't let it stop him either way.
Besides, I managed to kill the Hive Mind on Aegis VII. What fear do two hundred armed men hold against me?
Once he had stocked up at the store and refilled his ammo supplies, Isaac boarded the elevator and hit the glowing emblem to take him to the lower floor, where they had punched through with the drill. Even before the doors were open he could hear the distorted growls and cries of the Necromorphs on the other side, having worked their way up into the sector. Realising that he'd have to fight his way to the bulkhead doors, he raised his line gun to torso height as the doors opened and he stepped out in time to face a retching, growling Puker, that swivelled to face the sudden noise caused by the doors opening.
He opened fire, slicing its legs off in a single shot, and then doing the same with its arms, spraying acidic bile all over the walls. Isaac then turned almost as though on impulse and launched a glowing, spinning mine into the centre of the lobby, Lurkers, Spitters and Enhanced Slashers swarming all around.
Three seconds later, the mine erupted, spraying even more blood across the floor. Another Slasher lunged from his left, but as if on autopilot he turned and hit it with stasis, before cutting it apart limb by limb with more line gun shots. In front of him, two more monstrosities gathered, before one sprinted at him, leaping and trying to bring its claws down on him.
Isaac switched to his javelin gun and fired a titanium-tipped spike into its torso, sending it flying back 20 feet and impaling into the wall, before he pressed the electricity activation plunger, the jumping forks of energy burning an Enhanced Lurker into a mess of charred flesh. He then turned to the remaining Slasher and fired again, the spike exploding its skull and leaving it to thrash its remaining arms towards him.
Dropping the Javelin Gun to the floor, he withdrew his trusty plasma cutter, taking off its arms in a few seconds, before he turned and sprinted up the stairs towards the bulkhead doors. At the top, a Spitter turned and tried to grab him in a rather unfriendly embrace, but he managed to avoid it in enough time, and he thrust his arm forward, exploding its head like a rotten lemon. As it stumbled back, he shot one of its legs out, and then stamped on its torso until it stopped moving.
He turned back towards the wrecked drilling machine to see that more monsters had crawled up out of the mines. Now a pair of Slashes, a Puker and a Spitter were closing in on him, as Lurkers scurried along the walls, whipping out their tendrils, ready to nail him with their bony projectiles. Isaac stood his ground and narrowed his eyes as the first Slasher broke into its charge.
"Bring it on!"
"Director, he's entered through the bulkheads," stated the technician. "He hacked through the door circuits- impressive."
"Seal them off, now."
"Yes sir."
Hans Tidemann watched through the camera feed as the massive bulkhead doors closed shut behind Clarke, trapping him within- and more importantly, keeping those things out. The Director continued to watch silently as the engineer tried to use his navigator, only to be greeted with an angry bleep which showed that the technology didn't have a designated target.
"Shit! No waypoint. What the hell?" they heard him speak through the audio link, and then he was moving off again.
"Sergeant Grey, is your team ready?" asked Tidemann. The Security Sergeant had a dozen men at the doors leading into the inner section of the sector, armed with pulse rifles and riot shields- no human would get through that amount of firepower.
"Yes sir, we can hear him coming now. He won't get through this way."
"Make certain he doesn't."
Tidemann cut the audio link and sighed deeply, running a hand across his bald head. He knew he had to remain as calm as possible, as he had seen first hand what stress had done to his father years prior. The previous Director of the Sprawl, Tidemann's father, had ended up in hospital due to soaring blood pressure, and he was dead a week later to an aneurysm. That alone taught Hans Tidemann the importance of remaining calm as possible, no matter the situation.
He turned his attention back towards the video screens, specifically the one showing the corridor just past the bulkhead doors, watched Clarke making his way carefully up the passage towards the doors leading to the Marker construction labs- and where Sergeant Grey and his team were currently waiting.
A second later, the floodlights were illuminated, bathing Clarke in blazing white light- and exposing the riot line to the engineer.
"Isaac Clarke! Stand down and drop your weapon!"
At the sergeant's barked demand, Isaac froze like a rabbit in the headlights, and then he made a break to his right, disappearing inside the open doorway of a men's restroom. The men quickly opened fire at their squad leader's behest, but their fire only grazed the doorway, allowing the engineer to make good his escape.
"Damn it, spread out! Find him!"
"Squad clearing port side doors!"
"Clear! Move onto starboard side!"
"Alert, Tidemann! Isaac is still loose, I repeat, he's still loose!"
"Then find him and kill him, sergeant!" barked Tidemann angrily, turning away from the security feed. Even with a full team of armed security personnel conducting a room-to-room sweep, a simple CEC Engineer was still running rings around them all like they were minimum wage mall police. Tidemann knew that when they got a hold of Clarke finally just shooting him wasn't good enough- no, he'd make sure that it was long and painful, to make up for all the trouble he had caused them. This project was far too valuable to allow one demented engineer to ruin three years of toil and sacrifice.
No...not after we've come this far. We are so close to understanding them...
His thoughts were broken when half of the video screens suddenly went dead, leaving him staring at a few blocks of crackling static. Almost immediately the other soldiers and technicians in the room flew into a frenzy of activity.
"What the hell was that?" demanded Tidemann, his anger rising with each passing moment. "Why have we lost half the video feeds?"
"It's a power outage sir! In that sector!" responded one of the technicians, his fingers a blur as they moved across the holoscreen before him to try and fix the outage.
"We've lost power! Someone get that power back online!" cried Sergeant Grey through the audio link, showing that they still had some semblance of communication with the defence line. Tidemann was pacing back and forth anxiously now, even as some other sound reached into the control room via the speakers.
It was a horrific bellowing cry, one that sounded almost human to their ears.
"W-what the hell was that?" came a frantic voice from one of Grey's men, even as other sounds reached their ears- metallic pounding noises in a steady rhythm, almost sounding like dozens of uneven footsteps upon a metallic surface, quickly followed by the sound of groaning steel being ripped apart.
"Fuck! That was the bulkhead door!" shouted Grey. "The power outage must have shorted the kinetic restraints! We think they may have gained access to the compound!"
Tidemann's blood ran cold at that remark. If even one of those things had managed to make it inside and reach the Marker-
"You better be fucking around with us, Sergeant!" yelled the Director into the link, the overall stress starting to get to him now, creeping up his spine and making him sweat. Beads of warm liquid were already emanating from the back of his neck now. To his right, the technicians were fighting to get the video links back on so they could see what was happeneing. Although another frantic transmission from one of Grey's men would clue them in soon enough.
"Oh God! Do you hear them? They're coming in! They're coming in!" he screamed, and soon they could all hear the frenzied roars and screams from warped and mutated humans coming for them en mass.
"Open fire! Open fire!" screamed Sergeant Grey, and then the sound of several pulse rifles opening up simultaneously could be heard.
"Feeds are up now!" cried the technician to Tidemann's right, and then the screens before them finally cleared to show what they feared was coming true.
There were dozens- no, perhaps even hundreds- of those monsters sprinting down the main entry passage, and even though pulse rifle fire ripped through them they just kept on coming, like the relentless ocean tide. There were monsters of every shape and size within the throng- standard clawed monstrosities, lumbering ones with swollen bellies, the scorpion-like creatures- even a couple of the hulking Brutes. Through the audio link all they could hear were frenzied screams, gunfire and the sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking.
"What the fuck?" wailed one of the soldiers in the control room. "We're screwed!"
Tidemann remained standing in place, balling his fists as his anger built even further, to the point where he felt as though it would burst from his body in one sudden outburst. There was only one reason a power outage that would knock out the bulkhead doors like that could happen- someone had to have pulled out the power cell manually, someone desperate enough to let those monsters in as well so they had a clear path open to them. And he could only think of one person who was capable of such an action.
Clarke!
In an instant he had opened the video link to Clarke, currently standing in a control room, the empty power cell port glaringly obvious behind him.
"Y-you compromised the compound, you idiot!" he yelled, his anger getting the best of him now. "If any of those things reach the Marker"-
He looked up at the massive bank of screens before him, and he reeled in horror, his anger washing away as much more urgent priorities made themselves known. On every video screen, he saw the same thing- dozens of those monsters choking the hallways and rooms, cutting down all who stood in their way, surging towards the very centre of the Government Sector- towards the Marker chamber. All around him he could sense the terror filling the troops and other staff, most of them turning and fleeing the room, others remaining rooted to the spot, having a nervous breakdown. He quickly opened his audio link to every person still inside the sector.
"Fall back!" he yelled, waving his arm frantically at the remaining staff surrounding him. "Fall back to the Marker chamber! We have to seal it off! NOW!"
They had come too far to fail now!
A/N: Hello again, and this time we have the first of the pivotal moments near the end of DS2, with the final two moments being in my last one-shot intended for DS fanfiction. You can probably guess what those scenes will be. And I had to do a bit where Isaac kicked some Necro booty, as inspired by a video I saw on IGN called 'Isaac the Badass' which showed him just kicking plenty of ass with lots of different weapons rather than being cut into shreds over and over again. :p
And yes, I just had to do a part from Tidemann's POV. I find him a somewhat interesting character, even if he does act like a complete sociopath at times, especially near the end of the game. So this is for you, Hans! Just don't shoot me with a Javelin Gun please.
Anyway, R&R as normal please. All feedback is appreciated.