Sofia Lamb watched Eleanor and the Little Sisters boiling off the water in the ballast tanks. It looked like they would succeed. Meanwhile, Subject Delta, the 'man' who had destroyed Eleanor and her dreams was fighting off the Family's final attack. It didn't look like he would lose.
Sofia was furious. She knew Eleanor could have easily teleported into the sub with her mother and leave Delta behind. But it seemed her loyalty was with her false father and not her true mother.
The water was boiled off and Eleanor joined the fight to defend her 'father'.
That was the last straw for Sofia. Delta would never be saved. In the escape sub's control room, she began to make the necessary calculations to rise, and fast. She would take the sub up and leave that monster behind. Eleanor...
"So that's it, Doctor Lamb? All that talk about family and you jus' gonna leave Eleanor?"
Sofia was shocked beyond belief hearing the voice of Grace Holloway behind her. She turned around
And was immediately greeted by a wrench that knocked her off her seat.
She looked up and saw Grace standing next to Stanley Poole, with a wrench in his hand.
"Surprised t' see me, Lamb? I've been waitin' a long time t' do that!" Stanley snarled.
Sofia was stunned. "But...how?"
"While you was playing do-si-do with Johnny Topside, me, Holloway here, Tenenbaum and the brats got aboard, thanks t' Sinclair." Stanley dug into his pocket and took out a small revolver. "I can't believe you did that to him, you sick..."
Grace noticed the gun and grabbed it, moving the trigger away from Lamb. "Now you just hold on a minute, Stan..."
"What? Don't tell me after all Sofi did, you don't wanna see her dead?" Stanley tried move the gun back to Sofia's head.
"Stan, look. There's no splicers, no security, she ain't got no way to defend herself..."
"SO?"
"So neither did we! Think 'bout it."
That stopped Stanley. Thinking about how Subject Delta had been more than capable of killing him for what he did to Eleanor and himself, Stanley reluctantly moved the gun down, still glaring at Sofia Lamb. Sofia simply stared back, stunned.
Satisfied, Grace took a modified hack tool and thrust it into the control booth. She then turned on the radio. "Okay, Bridget. We've unseated Doc Lamb, and now you say when we go up."
"Very good, Grace. Watch the windows and tell me when Herr Delta and Eleanor board."
"Will do." Grace walked out of the booth, with Stanley close behind. Sofia didn't move.
"A'ight, we let her live. Guess we owe it to Johnny. But soon as we hit the surface, I'm gonna write a Pulitzer piece about what happened here!" Stanley couldn't help but light up at the thought.
Grace gave him a look.
"Aw, don't lookit me like that! This is the scoop of a lifetime! We're gonna be headliners for the rest of our...whazzat?"
A loud thoom had prompted that question. Grace and Stanley moved to the window. They could see the docking platform filling up with water.
"What's happening?"
The door on the other side of the platform opened. A woman dressed in a ragtag Big Sister outfit ran through the corridor, with a huge man in a diving suit following close behind.
"It's Eleanor!" Grace gasped with joy.
"And Johnny! He made it! Woohoo!" Stanley made a triumphant gesture. "Ok Gracie, ring Tenenbaum an -"
Stanley and Grace's eyes fell upon the explosives the two were running towards.
"Oh Jesus..."
BBAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!
The explosion rocked the sub, and the two survivors were thrown from their view of the window, hitting the wall hard.
Sofia was rocked by the blast. She got up unsteadily to see water coming in fast through a smashed pipe and a broken window. Grace saw her run and slip towards the exit just as a switch got hit and the door slammed shut. With Sofia Lamb trapped inside.
"SOFIA!" Grace saw through the window the water coming up around Sofia fast. Water was starting to spray through the doorway and holes as Grace struggled with the handle.
Stanley was panicking. Hissing from damaged parts of the sub seemed to be coming from everywhere. He was having trouble keeping it together...
A loud thump outside made Stanley look out the window. Subject Delta was outside, hanging for dear life onto the escape sub and crawling up to more secure grounds.
Stanley grabbed the radio. "TENENBAUM! GET US THE HELL UP!"
With the controls in the flooded room hacked and a backup control, Bridget Tenenbaum was able to commission the damaged sub to rise and rise fast. All present feared it wouldn't be fast enough.
Grace watched Sofia swimming desperately for air in the flooded room. Grace hopelessly rattled the handle of the sealed door and stared through the window at Lamb...
Suddenly, in a flash of purple, Eleanor was in the room too, swimming towards her mother in her Big Sister suit. Sofia struggled for air just as Eleanor placed a rebreather on her mouth.
Grace was stunned. After all Sofia did to her...
Stanley saw Johnny Topside crawl his way onto the rapidly rising sub. He could tell Delta was hurt badly. Really bad. But he'd survive...wouldn't he?
The survivors held on for dear life to whatever was handy. It seemed like an eternity before the sub got topside.
But it did. Stanley, Grace, and Tenenbaum all heard the sound of water breaking on the surface. There was a strange pause as the fact that they had escaped sunk in.
Grace called to Stanley. "C'mon now, gimme a hand wit this, Stan!"
Shaking himself out of his shock, Stanley Poole grabbed the handle with Grace and gave it a strong twist together. The door clicked open, and the two were nearly bowled over by the water that drained out.
Sofia Lamb was in the centre of the draining room, her shaky hand holding the rebreather that saved her life. Wide-eyed, she stared at it, Grace, Stanley, and Subject Delta, who was lying outside the window with Eleanor beside him.
Sofia became shakier and shakier, and Grace approached her slowly.
Suddenly, the dam burst. Sofia burst in a humongous sob over what she had done, what had come of it, and what her daughter had done in return.
Grace Holloway kneeled down and gave her former doctor and friend a reassuring hug. "There there now, Doctor Lamb. It's over now."
Lamb wept into her friend.
Stanley looked away from the exchange and saw Delta...Johnny Topside, lying all too still with Eleanor, her helmet off, looking at him with a sad expression.
Stanley shook his head sadly. It WAS over, for Delta. Pity. He was a real stand-up guy, despite everything.
Grace had helped Sofia to her feet and joined Stanley in watching out the window.
Eleanor had gotten her needle out and was taking blood out of Subject Delta.
"What's she doin'?"
Stanley understood, and smiled. "She don't wanna forget daddy. See, the ADAM carries all the memories and stuff so she...well..."
Grace sighed and shook her head. "It's weird...I'm actually gonna miss 'im."
"Me too."
Eleanor had stepped away from her dead father. The little sisters joined her, staring out at the sunrise. Eventually, the rest of the survivors, Lamb, Tenenbaum, Holloway ad Poole joined them, thinking about the future.