The trip out to the tower was longer than anyone would expect. Abe was looking over his equipment, Kathleen was checking her medical supplies, Buck checked his HARPY sniper rifle for any defects, none as usual. Jerry looked over his detonators and triggers to make sure they all worked right, and Max looked through a book, which surprised a lot of people. David looked at a picture of his family, and Ella just kept staring at the doll. Her Mr. Bubbles. It was something special to her. Her thoughts were broken by Abe. "So Ella, who is this guy we're looking for?" Ella looked at him. "He's my brother, Keit."
"No way! Your brother is THE Keit Starr?" Max looked at Abe. "Who did what now?"
"Ella's brother is Keit Starr. The same guy who stopped the outbreak of Epsilon."
"Wow, you're his sister? Sweet." Ella smiled, but inside, she hated it. Ever since that incident, she was known as "Keit Starr's little sister", or "the sister of the guy who stopped Epsilon". She wanted to be her own person, so people would say her name with pride for once. The pilot came over the speakers. "Hey, its pretty stormy out there. I'm running low on fuel, so I can't stick around. All I can do is drop you off and come back later." Ella answered back. "Got it. How long will it take?"
"4 hours. That's if everything goes smooth as silk."
"Ok, drop us off and go resupply."
"Roger." Soon Bragdon's voice took over. "Remember Starr, this is at my discretion, I'm in control. When I say the mission is over, you are to gather your team, and leave immediately. No exceptions, understood?"
"Yes sir." The Chimera rocked and everyone could hear as the three engines tried to keep it going. The pilot came back. "Alright we're here. Gotta make it quick, I don't know how long I can keep her stable." The side doors opened, a great burst of wind and rain met the faces of all 7 SECFOR members. It was barely visible, but they could see where there was solid ground. One by one, they jumped out of the Chimera and onto the ground. Once Ella was off, she looked at the Chimera as it closed its side doors and left them. She thought to herself. I hope I see you in 4 hours. They all grabbed their cases and looked for an entrance into the tower. After a few seconds they found it. They all went inside and got ready. Ella, David, and Max pulled out and put together all their weapons. The quick combat armor was less advanced than the standard combat armor, and it offered less protection all around, but it was lighter, compact, and covered the major organs. Once they had their armor on and their harnesses ready, they mounted their weapons. All three were the same: SPECTER assault rifle on the right leg, SIREN pistol on the belt in front of it for quick draws, ODIN shotgun on the back with spare drums, Along the belt was a mix of SERAPH grenades and magazines for the weapons, and on the left leg were the canisters for the SPECTER and SIREN. Abe had two SIREN's on each leg, and he used a newly designed ROK submachine gun. He kept his SERAPH grenades in his back pouch, and the magazines and canisters were kept around his belt. Buck mounted his HARPY on his back with about 20 canisters for 20 shots. All had to count, one canister equaled one shot. But the HARPY was very accurate and could penetrate any surface. Buck kept his SPECTER out in front with everything where it needed to be. Jerry was covered head to toe with explosives and detonators. He kept a TITAN rocket launcher on his back, and his ROK at the ready. All Kathleen had was her medical bag, a SIREN pistol and a ODIN shotgun. Once they were equipped, they moved deeper into the tower. Lights flashed on as they proceeded. A huge banner was hung in front of a statue. 'No Gods or Kings, only Man'. Their weapons drawn and at the ready. They soon came to a large sphere. Abe spoke up. "What the hell is that thing?" Kathleen went next. "It's a bathysphere. Its an old diving device for deep sea diving. It looks like it can still be used." Ella looked at it. "Maybe Keit used it. Lets find out where it goes." She pulled out a different communicator and placed it over her ear. "Chief, we are heading underwater. The normal radios wont work, so we are going to be using the high frequency radios." 'Understood. Be careful.'
They all piled into the bathysphere and pulled the lever. The door closed and down they went into the depths. After a while a projection screen popped up and a man was shown with a name underneath. Andrew Ryan. For some reason, when she read it, it made Ella cringe with both disgust and fear. A voice then came from the speakers. "I'm Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow? No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose……Rapture." The screen dropped and everyone saw a great city under the ocean. The voice still came out. "A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can be your city as well." The group was awestruck by the sheer majesty of the city. Buck spoke out of the silence. "Look at the size of that thing. Its unreal." Kathleen spoke out next. "Who would build something like this?" David answered her question. "This Andrew Ryan was either a genius or a lunatic." Max came back. "And there is a very fine line between the two." As they approached the main entrance, separated words formed into a sentence.
'All Good Things'
'On this Earth'
'Flow'
'Into This City".
Once they felt they were ascending, Ella took over again. "Alright, As soon as the door opens, I want a 360 security guard. We don't want something to jump at us." The bathysphere rose out of the water and the door opened. Everyone moved out and pulled guard. The area looked like an old train station. The walls were covered with advertisement boards and old signs. Protest signs littered the floor. They said different things. 'Rapture is dead.', 'Fontaine doesn't own us.', 'Atlas is watching.', 'Ryan and Rapture equals Hell.'. A huge banner hung on near the ceiling. On it were the words, 'Welcome to Rapture'. Ella finished looking around. "Alright. Keep your eyes open." She brought her headset up to contact HQ. "Chief Bragdon, this is Ella. We have discovered a city under the Atlantic. This place seems to be called Rapture." Bragdon entered over the frequency. 'I can hardly hear you Starr. Be careful down there Starr.'
"Roger that." Ella killed the transmitter and gathered her team. "Ok, stay close." They started moving through the station, and soon they were in a plaza. A sound then came from around them. The sound of someone singing. "Jesus loves me this I know. For the bible tells me so." This caused everyone to stop. After they looked around the area, they saw the body of a young woman. She was kneeling over a carriage. Ella looked for a second and then she went to Max. "Lets get her out of here." Max nodded and started to walk up to her. He holstered his rifle and placed his hand out. "Excuse me ma'am, we're with the BlackJack Corp. Security Force. We're here top help you." The woman's voice then picked up. "Do you hear that love? There are people here. Maybe they have some ADAM." Ella's mind went haywire. The word ADAM was the only thing constant in her mind. Phrases kept appearing. "Your delicious ADAM."
"Precious ADAM."
"Give me your ADAM." She finally snapped back into reality. She looked up in time to see Max closer to the woman and ask her if she was alright. Ella yelled out to him. "Max, stop! Get away from her!" Max looked back at Ella for a second, and then back to see the front of the woman. She wore a tattered dress and a mask over her face. Max saw her bring up a large knife, and the arm that he had stretched out to her, was now on the ground. Max screamed at the pain from the loss of his arm. He then saw the woman spin around and the knife went through his neck. He couldn't breath, and he felt his blood leaving his body. All he felt was cold. Ella brought up her rifle as the others did as well. "Open fire! Fire!" The rounds left the weapons as they flew through the air and went into the body of the woman. In a short second, the woman was down and dead. Ella ran up to Max. He was in horrible shape. She looked to Kathleen. "Medic! Hurry please!" Kathleen ran up and knelt down by Max. But she saw that it was already too late, and he was dead. "I'm sorry." Other sounds came up. Ella looked around and saw more like the first. She stood up and readied her rifle. "Open fire! Shoot anything that moves. We'll figure out what's wrong later."