BIOSHOCK: Right Place, Right Time...Wrong Guy, Part II

By C. Mage

I didn't have much time to figure out what to do next. After meeting the maniacs that run the asylum here, I was eager to leave the so-called "Welcome Center". I felt about as welcome as an IRS audit. I crept through the Welcome Center to the entrance of the Metro, scared that every shadow held an armed psychopath lurking inside, ready to disembowel me. What made it truly shocking is that these people were dressed like normal passers-by, just…distorted. Horribly distorted.

Please, God, let there be sane people where I'm going.

"Atlas, where am I going?" I whispered into the service radio.

"Neptune's Bounty. You need to get into Fontaine's Fisheries. Hidden there is a secret submarine dock. I'll meet you there with my family, and we'll all get out of here."

I wanted to ask him why he and his family didn't leave before I arrived here, but I had a feeling any uncomfortable questions would result in him withdrawing his help. Worse yet, he might decide to use me as a decoy while he and his family made it to safety. Even so, I wasn't sure that was his plan already.

"All right…coming up on the entrance." I hefted the pistol from the baby carriage. "I'm twenty yards…"

A gate slid shut quickly over the entrance, and something was emerging from the floor behind the gate. It looked like some kind of dispenser on a chair HOLY…!

All coherent through from that point on went away, replaced by gut instinct. I backpedaled just in time to see a gout of flame come from the improvised turret in front of me. A second or two of delay, I would've been barbequed in my own juices! As I looked for something that might turn it off, red lights started flashing. "It's Ryan! Goddamn Andrew Ryan! He's found us! Dammit! He's shut all access to Neptune…wait, there's another way to get there. Head to Medical! What are you waiting for? GO!"

I had no choice but to turn in the opposite direction, heading for the Medical Pavilion. As I did, I caught sight of a banner hung to my right, with the words, "ALTRUISM IS THE ROOT OF ALL WICKEDNESS" emblazoned in gold. "Great. Nice to know that when everyone decided to go crazy, 'Crazy' was within walking distance…!" I ran through the only way out, heading to a pressure door, and turned the wheel that would allow me to escape.

It wouldn't turn. "ATLAS, I'm twisting in the wind, here!"

"You're trapped! Gonna try to override the exit from here!"

I looked around, suddenly feeling very alone. The lights went out for a few moments, then the lights came on, only the source was a large TV screen showing a message in black and white, "PLEASE STAND BY." It vanished a short time later, replaced by a picture of a man's face, partially obscured by the brim of his hat. "SO," a voice boomed out from the loudspeakers, "tell me, 'friend', which one of the bitches sent you? Was it the LGB wolf, or the CIA jackal? Here's the news: Rapture isn't some sunken ship for you to plunder, and Andrew Ryan isn't some giddy socialite who can be slapped around by government muscle."

I was about to ask him what about ME implied I was anyone's "muscle" when I heard the sounds of groaning, and voices somewhere I couldn't see. Rapture's residents were all around me, though I couldn't see them, what I heard made my skin crawl. Ryan continued on. "And with that, farewell, or 'das vadinya', whichever you prefer." The screen went back to the standby page.

I took a breath, then heard people yelling. Screaming. They pushed up against the reinforced window around the chamber I was in, beating on it with their fists and pipes. It sounded like there were dozens of them out there. A few hundred.

And the reinforced window was starting to crack and give way.

Just when I was starting to wonder how quickly it would be over, the wheel on the door behind me spun as the door opened. "I got it! Get out of there! Get out NOW!" He didn't need to tell ME twice. I ran through the door, closing it behind me, then opened the door on the other side. I was in some kind of airlock. As the door on the other side opened, I saw a tunnel made of clear material. Wasn't glass. Must've been a very thick clear plastic.

At the moment, I didn't care. I ran as if the devil and his legions were hot on my trail…which wasn't far from the truth. As I ran, I heard Atlas telling me, "And now you've met Andrew Ryan, the bloody king of Rapture." Yeah, "bloody" was the word for it. "Now, find your way to a place called, 'Emergency Access'."

I wanted to tell him that I understood; that I figured out there must've been another way to get to where I needed to go. Only problem was, I wasn't sure how much he wanted, or didn't want, me to know. So until opportunity presents itself, best to sound dumb and look lucky.

I got to the airlock and opened it, revealing a poster of a smiling beauty hanging on a dirty wall, talking about "Steinman's Cosmetic Enhancement". Not a good sign. There was other furniture in the foyer, all dirty, ragged in some places, but when I turned right, I saw a large sign that read "MEDICAL PAVILION" in glowing neon, a popular method of promotion around here. Hanging crooked.

Great. Calling Dr. Kill-Patient.

The adrenaline was still pumping through my system, but I knew enough about biology to know that at one point, I'd run out and my body would make me PAY for all this excitement and running around. I had to find a safe place to rest, or I wouldn't need to worry about the splicers killing me, the fear of them would be enough.

I raised my left hand, seeing blue lightning literally coursing through my veins. And there was THIS little chestnut. This would certainly help for the short term, but what about the long term?

Looking around Rapture was giving me the horrible feeling I was already seeing the long-term effects.

I suddenly heard a female voice and spun around, looking for another attack, but it was an announcer of the PA system, saying "parasites hate three things, free markets, free will and free men." Man, but they lay it on thick here. I moved forward, then saw a doctor and a nurse come out on a balcony overlooking the foyer. The nurse was packing a pistol and the doc had traded in his scalpel for a pipe. They turned, saw me, and for a brief moment, nobody moved. Then the nurse screamed, "YOU PEOPLE WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING!" and charged down the stairs.

Right. More murderous psychopaths. Was EVERYONE in this fishbowl completely out of their minds? Didn't have much time to ponder that, pulling the pistol up and firing, backing away. The nurse took three shots before going down, but not before she put one into my right shoulder, pain blossoming there and taking root. I was running low on bullets, and then I remembered the electricity in my hands. The doctor was almost on me when I threw a bolt of lightning at him, shocking him where he stood and short-circuiting his nervous system. It didn't look like it would kill him, and I only had two bullets left. I knew I had to save one for myself, so I aimed and put a round into his skull. THAT did the trick.

I looked down at the two bodies. I didn't feel sick like I did before. Not sure if that was good or bad, so I checked them both. More bullets, and a metal container colored white and red. Inside were bandages, a tube of some milky gel and a syringe filled with a green substance. I took a closer look and found instructions on the lid of the tin. Inject the fluid into the wound, spread the gel on the wound, bandage it up. I looked again. That was it. No special conditions, nothing.

I looked down at the bleeding wound in my shoulder. Not much choice. I uncapped the syringe while a part of me screamed, "Are you INSANE? What if you have some kind of reaction? That could be poisonous, for all you know!"

My answer back to that part of my noggin was a rapid, "I couldn't POSSIBLY be that lucky," and injected the wound with the stuff.

My whole shoulder went numb. Wow, this stuff worked fast. I smeared as much of the gel as I could over it, then saw something that blew my mind. The bullet was actually forced out of the wound, dropping to the floor. I squeezed the rest of the gel on, and wrapped the gauze bandage around it. No pain at all, just a very faint itchy sensation.

I hoped to God the cure wasn't worse than the disease. From what I've seen so far in the Medical Pavilion, the whole, "first do no harm" thing seems to have been forgotten. All right. Enough complaining about the situation.

I checked the area, finding money, ammunition, and another one of those self-contained audio recorder/playback devices. Found a couple of them in the Welcome Center, looked pretty sophisticated. I hunkered down behind the reception desk where I'd found it and hit Play on the first one I found.

It started up and I heard sounds of a party going on. I heard some jazz song, but I didn't recognize the tune. Then a woman's voice. "Another New Year's, another night alone. I'm out, and you're stuck in Hephaestus, working. Imagine my surprise. I just guess I'll have another drink... here's a toast to Diane McClintock, silliest girl in Rapture. Silly enough to fall in love with Andrew Ryan, silly enough to…"

There was the sound of an explosion, screaming, people yelling. "Long live Atlas!" and "Death to Ryan!" and then Diane was talking again. "What...what happened...I'm bleeding...oh, God...what's happening..."

The audio stopped. I sat there, and my shoulder wasn't the only thing that was numb. The damaged signs, the masks that these splicers were wearing. It all started on New Year's Eve, 1959.

I played the next one, some bull about a damaged wall. The one I just picked up was from the same person, Diane. "Dr. Steinman said he'd release me today. Ryan didn't come to see me since the New Year's attack. Not once. But Dr. Steinman was very attentive. He told me that once the scar tissue was gone, he was going to fix me right up. Make me prettier than any girl I've ever seen. He's sweet all right...and so interested in my case!" Hope. Even down here. Diane had the right idea, all right, and I wasn't about to forget it anytime soon. I'll defend myself from people trying to kill me. If they wanted a war, well, then I was going to give them one.

That sounded so much better in my head before I realized that I was horribly outmanned and outgunned.

I got up, reloaded and decided to do some more exploring.

Thirty minutes had gone by. So much can happen in thirty minutes.

I'd discovered that the method used for getting down here in the bathysphere was similar for making some adjustments to the local machinery. I found an object with a set of dual propellers next to a display for "security bots" and got it working, finding out that the system had a very sophisticated system for identifying who was friendly and who wasn't. The thought of trying to subvert the system itself was daunting until I realized that I didn't have to change the system, I just had to change one part of it, switching "friendly" to "foe". Once I figured out to do that, the system came on, and the bot lifted into the air, following me around like a puppy.

A heavily-armed puppy.

I found one of those turrets, then considered how to even get close to it without being shot. The solution was literally in the palm of my hand. After zapping it, I ran up to it to examine it. It was resetting itself, so I didn't have a lot of time. However, I did have a lot of practice. I switched it over and the red light at the top turned green. Now it just cycled back and forth. I found another one, then a couple of the cameras, doing the same to them.

Ten minutes of work and patience, and I could finally breathe. Anyone trying to sneak up on me or try to wish me harm was gonna find out how it felt to be on the wrong end of a firing squad.

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Just when I thought I was going to be able to make it through this without further issue, I find out that any attempt to get out of this particular wing of this loony bin requires one tiny little item. The key to this part of the city. Turned out the way out required the key of one Dr. J. S. Steinman, the head of the Medical Pavilion, and based on what Atlas informed me about him, the good doctor ain't that good no more. In fact, Atlas warned me that Steinman might be the biggest loony in this bin. "He's the one what runs this place. But I don't expect him to hand it to you out of the milk of human kindness. Steinman ain't that kind, and frankly, I'm not even sure he's still human."

"Any good news you can provide?"

"Well, boyo, there's ways and then there's ways. I can direct you to a couple of new plasmids that'll make things easier for you. Incinerate, and Telekinesis."

"Let me guess. Throw fireballs and move things with my mind."

"Miracles of ADAM, friend."

"And considering how other users of these wonderful products are misshapen and stark raving mad, why would I even CONSIDER getting those plasmids?"

"Because you'll need them. For one thing, there are many places here that are frozen over, and you'll need Incinerate to melt the ice away. Second, you're going to find that Steinman loves throwing things that go BOOM. Unless you got the reflexes of a cat on coffee, you'll need something to protect yourself, and throwing them back has a happier ending than just catching them. Get me?"

"So it's either a slow death or a quick one."

"There's something else to shoot for. You could beat Irish Sweepstakes odds and be one of those blessed few who's immune to the debilitating effects of ADAM cellular breakdown…or at least resistant. You're not from here, so there's a chance."

Yeah, a chance that you're stringing me along until I do what you want me to do. "All right, you win. Just show me where I can get these things."

"Will do. Just be careful. I've got a feeling I'm not the only one interested in your welfare."

"What makes you say that?"

"Ryan's still on the lookout for you. He knows you're not dead yet, but he's not sure where you are. And there's someone else looking in on you, and it ain't me OR Ryan. Whoever it is, it's a pretty safe bet they're taking an interest in you because they think you can be an asset they can exploit."

Whereas you're just helping me out of the goodness of your heart, right? "Right, watch out for anyone trying to take advantage of me."

"…not sure I care for your insinuations, boyo."

"Odd. Didn't think I was making any."

"I'm going to chalk this up to the stress of what you're having to do, but get this straight: I am not the enemy here. You and me? We're on the same side."

Right. Like pawns and kings. "Sorry…it's just that, twenty-four hours ago, all this would've been science-fiction to me, like something Ray Bradbury would write. Now, not only am I living it, but it's trying to make me dead."

He waited just the right amount of time to say, "You're right. I know I'm putting a lot on you. I've spent years dealing with this, but it's your first day. It's hard to remember what things were like before I came to Rapture."

"Then let's just say we've said our mea culpas and get out of here." That's it, let him think I'm giving him an out.

"Agreed, boyo. Now, the first thing you need to do is get the Incinerate…"

"Actually, the first thing I need to do is get to a lab."

"What for?"

"You're saying I need Incinerate in order to use heat to get past obstacles. Well, before I start untwisting my genetic code again, I want to make sure there isn't another way to do it." I looked around. "With all these pipes and other fittings, there has to be a machine shop around here somewhere. And machine shops come with acetylene torches."

"And what are you going to do about Steinman?"

"What I have to. But before I start loading up on stuff that can make my skin melt off, I'm going to use what I already have."

The machine shop was further on, and as it turned out, was close to some of the other medical labs on this level, giving me ample supplies to make an improvised flamethrower. I added some wiring to a hand grip so I could use the electricity I now wielded to cause an ignition spark. After a brief test or two while I adjusted the heat output, I pronounced my new weapon a success. In addition to a modified tommy-gun, I also found some new types of ammunition, armor-piercing and anti-personnel rounds. These guys had a regular arms race going on.

Thus armed, I set about my task.

It made sense that I would need to get better equipped soon. Only the sick, the truly sick, would be trapped in here with the mad doctor, so it made sense that things would get tougher once I left. Having better weapons would come in handy all right; normal bullets were starting to lose their effectiveness against these splicers. I also found containers of what seem to be called, "Gene Tonics", which, if acted as advertised on the bottles, provided different boosts to mind and body.

I took them, but I didn't use them. I may have been desperate, but I'm not THAT desperate. Yet.

I explored the rest of the Pavilion, finding more of the same. Crazed splicers, with no sense of tactics, looking around and charging me as soon as they saw me, even leaping through the air to try and get me. With my new weaponry, taking them out was getting easier…both physically and emotionally. Some of them even died looking at me with grateful expressions on their faces.

Some of them, however, were really sneaky.

I came to one area near a dental office and saw a shotgun with a dead splicer right out in the middle of the floor. Even the lights in the room were angled to focus on it. I just knew as soon as I picked it up, I was going to find myself in the middle of a meat grinder, so I looked around and found my answer: an area of hallway that was flooded. I looked around, faced the hallway, and picked up the shotgun.

As expected, the lights went out.

I ran to the hallway, splashed through it until I reached a sofa, then climbed up on it as high as I could go, then waited. Sure enough, I heard yelling as a group of splicers chased after me. I waited until I heard splashing, then threw lightning at the water until their voices went away.

I ignored the nagging feelings in my head about how good it felt to take them out, or the disgust at having to loot their corpses for supplies. I couldn't afford to let it get to me, not here. This was no place to lose it, out here in the open. Especially after finding more Audiovoxes and hearing how Dr. Steinman was going completely around the bend, ranting about "Aphrodite" and spouting off about how beauty was no longer an option, but a mandatory right, thanks to ADAM.

I'm about to have to get a key from a complete psycho. My life was officially in the crapper, waiting for someone to flush.

I made my way to the appropriately-named Steinman's Aesthetic Ideals, finding the doc rummaging around, saying to himself, "Why do we have two eyes? Is there some law that say we must? Two arms, two legs, two ears, two breasts..." As soon as he saw me, though, he clearly wasn't interested in "taking walk-in appointments" and ran through a doorway, screaming and blowing up a sign above the door and blocking it with debris. Before I could even fathom this, another doctor came out on a balcony overlooking the entrance to Steinman's sanctum, trying to perform some reconstructive surgery on me with explosives. As I hid behind a concrete wall, I heard Atlas say, "Still think you can do without Telekinesis?"

"I'm SORRY," I said with what I hoped was a sarcastic tone, "but Mark isn't here right now, but if you'd like to leave a message, just wait for the goddam beep!"

"Well, if you've got a better idea, now would be a good time, innit?"

"I'm THINKING." I looked down the hallway, seeing the discarded medical equipment, the gurney, the wheelchair, the...

I smiled as my eyes fell upon the solution. "I've got an idea." Then I moved, put a round of anti-personnel pistol ammo into Dr. Warren Spahn and dropped him like a bad habit. Then I went back up the hallway I used to get here and looked for what I needed. Thankfully, I didn't have to go far. "Know what the big problem is, Atlas?"

"I'm all ears, boyo."

"People got so used to using plasmids to do what they wanted to do…they forgot that there were still non-plasmid ways to do things." I heaved the gas tank into place, then backed up behind the barrier I'd used earlier and took careful aim with the pistol, then fired.

A hole appeared in the tank, and a hissing noise could be heard. Then I brought up the shotgun, loaded with an "electric buck" round, then fired.

THAT did it. I felt the blast wave and pulled back before the blast cleared the debris, not to mention my sinuses. My ears were ringing a bit, but I was none the worse, and the way was clear to get to Steinman. Of course, knowing him, he would likely not be happy to see me, based on all the pictures I'd seen all around the pavilion, pieced-together pictures of women he thought were perfection. Patchwork people, Picasso paintings brought to life. And if the people here were any indication, he was likely to be deeply insane and heavily armed.

I moved deeper into Aesthetic Ideals, founding a couple of traps laid, mechanical ones. Firing a few electrical bolts put them to sleep and a few minutes with their innards put them to work for me, and scavenging the area found some more resources, a couple Audiovoxes and some first aid kits. I was beginning to think I needed a knapsack before I heard the yelling. Splicers were coming. I hunkered down behind one of the desks and simply waited for the shooting to stop. Between the hacked turret and a hacked security camera, the splicers trying to ambush me got ambushed in return, and I picked up a hacked security drone in the bargain. I was now free to make my appointment with Steinman.

Lucky me.

As soon as I entered his personal home, I could hear him, ranting as he worked on a female splicer lying on an operating table. I watched from the observation chamber, took one look at what he was doing to her and almost threw up again. "What can I do with this one, Aphrodite? She…won't…stay…still! I want to make them beautiful, but they always turn out wrong! That one, too fat! This one, too tall! This one, too symmetrical! And now..." He stopped as he looked at me. I'd been so horrified by what he was doing that I wasn't focusing on staying hidden. "What's this, Goddess? An intruder?! He's ugly! Ugly! Ugly! UGLYYYYYYYY!"

Stupid, stupid, STUPID! I took cover as the bot recognized Steinman as a threat and went out after him. Judging from the amount of damage he could soak up, that bot wasn't going to do the trick. Okay, think, goddammit, THINK. First step, find your assets. I took a deep breath, then ran out and skirted around the sides as Steinman and my bot fought it out. The bot was already spewing smoke and flame from one side, so I didn't have a lot of time. More gas tanks, spilled fluids, both blood and oil, a safe and a health station in an area flooded with frigid water.

Okay, I had a plan. It wasn't a GREAT plan.

After I'd made my preparations, I looked around and listened. No more gunfire. Maybe my bot had taken Steinman out?

That's when the bullet hit me in the side, like someone shoving a red-hot poker between my ribs. Only the cold of the water I was standing in numbed my body so I didn't pass out from the pain. Through the haze I heard Steinman yelling, "We're not finished! Not finished!"

I turned and ran in the opposite direction, climbing the steps out of the water, then turned and let him have it with some handheld lightning. Do NOT pass out, DO NOT PASS OUT, pass out and you're next on the operating table…!

He turned back, heading for the health station and activating it to heal himself back up. What he got was a cloud full of poison smacking him in the face. I took a lot more satisfaction then I probably should have watching him fall, then limped over to the hacked health station myself to use it on myself. It bathed me in a cloud of vapor and I breathed it in, feeling the chemical compounds rejuvenate and heal my body completely. And there were actually people that wondered how much use I'd get out of my engineering degrees. If I survived this, I'd be able to say that those skills actually saved my life.

I searched Steinman and found empty medical kits, some anti-personnel ammo, and his KEY. "Atlas, I got it. I got his key."

"You killed him? Well, boyo, I'm officially impressed. It was time somebody took care of that sick bastard. Head for Emergency Access. I'm working my way to the backside of Port Nepture meself. We'll get there soon enough."

I nodded, then walked over to check on the woman on the table. She was dead, thank God. After what he did to her, death was a mercy. I found something else on her, a recording. My morbid curiosity was acting up and I played it.

Steinman: "Four-oh silk and...done."

Nurse: "The nose looks terrific, Doctor Steinman ...Doctor?"

Steinman: "You know, looking at her now, I didn't realize how much her face…sags. Scalpel."

Nurse: "Excuse me?"

Steinman: "Scalpel!"

Nurse: "Uh, doctor, she's not booked for a face lift..."

Steinman: "Let's just come in here and..." *sounds of Steinman whistling*

Nurse: "Doctor, stop cutting. Doctor, stop cutting...!" *sound of an intercom button* "Get me the chief of surgery! Get me the chief of surgery NOW!"

I stood there, stunned. I have to get out of this god-forsaken place…but first, I wanted to meet this Andrew Ryan.

And kick his balls so far up into his head, he'll be able to hear himself making sperm.

I made my way back, after finding more splicers that had come to kill me, only to find themselves stuck between a turret and a hard place. I checked them for supplies, then headed back down the hall and found it had become a crude wall instead. "Tunnel collapse," Atlas explained. "Welcome to Rapture, the world's fastest-growing pile of junk." I found another tunnel, but I don't know how many more surprises I'll be able to take-

BOOM!

I jerked back, saying, "GAHHH!" or something equally intelligent as one of those "Big Daddies" flew through the glass wall of the corridor in front of me. From the look of it, for once, he was on the receiving end. I moved closer, then entered the room, seeing a splicer going after one of those weird little girls.

"It's a Little One…now's your chance to get some ADAM." I ignored Atlas, moving closer. As I got a closer look at her, I felt a stab in my heart as I realized what she was, someone's child, WARPED into this…thing.

As the splicer got closer to her, I raised my pistol, but then I heard gunshots as someone put two into the splicer's head. I looked up to see a woman, tall, thin, with straggly hair. "Stay away from her," she commanded, levelling the gun at me. "Or it will be you who will be shot next!"

"Easy now, doctor, he's just looking for a wee bit of ADAM, just enough to get by…" Looks like I'm not the only person Atlas can talk to, and she obviously knows of him.

"I'll not have him hurt my Little Ones!" she said, that same voice of command. It took me a few to recognize it, the sound of Mama Bear protecting her cubs.

"It's okay lad, that's not a child, not anymore it ain't. Dr. Tenenbaum saw to that."

I turned to look at the Little Sister. It was backing away from me, scared out of her mind. Probably saw me no different than the splicer that wanted to cut her open to get at what he wanted…

"Bitte, do not hurt her. Have you no heart?" she pleaded.

"Aye, that's a pretty sermon coming from the ghoul who cooked up them creatures in the first place. Took fine little girls and turned them into that, didn't you? Listen to me, boyo, you won't survive without the ADAM those THINGS are carrying. Are you prepared to trade your life, the lives of my wife and child for Tenenbaum's little Frankensteins?"

As Atlas went on and on, I walked closer to the Little Sister. She had ADAM, and that was the currency of this place. She was helpless, vulnerable…and all I had to do to get it was…rip some disgusting slug out of a little girl's body.

NO. I am not that person, I am not that THING.

I turned back to Dr. Tenenbaum. "Can you change them back?"

She nodded. "There is another way." She threw me a tonic jar with a glowing red substance within it. I caught on the fly and looked at it, then up at Dr. Tenenbaum. "Use that, and it will free them from their torment. I will make it worth your while, somehow."

"How does it work?"

"Your skin will secrete a substance that, when it makes contact with one of my Little Ones, will excise the slug within her. When she coughs it up, you can take what ADAM you can. It will not be as much as you could've…"

"To Hell with the ADAM! Will the GIRL be all right?"

Dr. Tenenbaum stared at me as if I suddenly shat an elephant. "She will recover," she said, after a moment.

I popped the top and drank every drop. It burned going down, and I felt like I was going to throw it back up, but anything was better than the alternative. After I was sure I wasn't going to puke up something that would try and make a break for freedom, I walked over to the girl and reached for her. She pulled away from me, whimpering and crying. Finally, I made a grab for her, lifting her up. She still struggled, pushing me away, and I put my hand on her cheek.

Her skin began to glow, veins of light traveling from where my hand touched her, then there was a flash. I blinked, and there was the sound of something wet hitting the floor. My vision cleared as I heard a voice, one that wasn't sounding alien. "Thank you, mister." She was still wearing her dirty dress, barefoot, but her skin was normal and she had brown eyes.

She was beautiful. I nearly wept when I saw her. For once, something happened in this wretched place that wasn't HORRIFYING. I watched as she ran for the vent, climbing up and inside. "Is she…going to be all right?"

"She will be, now."

I turned back to Dr. Tenenbaum, but she was gone. I picked up the slug, then looked around for a container. Fortunately, it's easy to find specimen jars in a medical lab. After squeezing the ADAM out of the thing and tossing it away, I headed for Emergency Access, hoping that I could at least get to Fontaine's Fisheries without too much excitement.

I should really stop doing that, asking for things I can't get.

"What is your name?" Tenenbaum.

I picked up the radio. "I'm Nobody."

"Shades of Ulysses?"

I allowed myself a small smile. "Not that big a stretch. I'm on a voyage, between devils and the deep blue sea." I kept it light, since it was clear Atlas could tune in on me. "I'm just someone dumb enough to try to get someplace I shouldn't have gone. All things considered, I think I would've preferred dying of exposure on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean."

"I do not think this is coincidence."

"Yeah, I'm with Einstein on that one. Universe doesn't strike me as being that lazy."

"I need your help."

"The line for THAT forms at the left."

"You are bitter."

"Really?" I checked the corridors ahead. "Am I that transparent? Look, doc, I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but I am no soldier. I'm not a professional killer, or hit man, or spy, or anything that Ryan accuses me of. I am not cut out for this."

"Perhaps. But while you are not many things, what you are is important."

"And what am I?"

"A good man, and a fast learner."

I took cover, getting closer to the hallway back to the Pavilion proper. "What do you want from me?"

"I want to save my Little Ones, but too many of them are in places I cannot reach. I need your help to cure them, send them home...but it will not be easy, and it will be dangerous."

"As opposed to all the not-life-threatening things like hotwiring my DNA and learning how to shoot homicidal superhumans?"

"To rescue the Little Ones, you must first deal with their protectors."

"The Big Daddies." I sighed. This deal was getting worse all the time. Still, the thought of all those girls, doomed to an existence of nothing more than being mutagenic slime factories... "I'll do what I can. I can't make any promises. Hell, I don't know if I'll live to get to the Fisheries."

"I have closed off many of the doors that lead from the clinic where the Little Ones were born…"

"MADE."

"…but I cannot do anything about the ones already performing their rounds. It is ingrained into their minds, what they must do. Before you leave, there is one more Little One in the Medical Pavilion."

"All right. I'll do my best," I said with a groan, wishing my body felt as heroic as those words. The need for those plasmids were trying to make itself heard once more, and I knew that, before long, that ADAM in my possession was going to start looking downright necessary.

I had to figure out another way.

I wish I could say I came up with a plan before I ran into the Big Daddy with his "ward" in the Medical Pavilion. With all the things I was wishing at this point, what's one more? And the problem was, he was looking pretty intimidating. Figure that Ryan wouldn't keep using these things if they weren't cost-effective, so I couldn't underestimate it.

So I kept an eye on it.

Fortunately, the hacked turrets and cameras made for a bumper crop of bodies, and that meant I could use it to lead the girl where I wanted her to go, which meant I could lead him. A drawn-out fight was out of the question. I'd be hamburger in the time it would take me to say, "bad idea". I had to damage the Daddy in a way that wouldn't hurt the girl. I knew from the audio log that the Little Sister's body was capable of recovering from massive amounts of damage, but that didn't make the idea of CAUSING that damage any easier to swallow.

Then I found it. I had to work fast and it wouldn't be easy, but if it worked, I could save the girl. The plan was simple: lug every gas tank I could find, set it in a hallway that was away from a body where the girl could…gather, then lure the Big Daddy to the tanks, hit the lug with as much voltage from my fingers as I could muster, then use my gun to set off the tanks. The Big Daddy would find out the wonders of being in an enclosed space while explosions were going off, and the girl would be fine. Then I could cure her, send her on her way, then head for Emergency Access.

It was a perfect plan. Which should've been my first clue on how it could go wrong…

To be continued…