Bioshock Infinite: Union
Chapter 3
Booker stepped into the Cookware department after the heavy door opened. Pots, pans, advertisements and various cooking utensils greeted him. He'd been a fair cook, but he didn't recognize some of the stuff here. An electric slow cooker? A Radar Range?
As he looked around he spotted something that didn't belong. Three crates. Looked like someone had tossed one and there was broken glass scattered about. He walked over to take a closer look and sitting inside the open carte was exactly what he was looking for, a bottle of Shock Jockey Vigor.
He picked up the bottle, steeled himself for the effects before knocking back the Vigor. He had expected to start growing crystals out of his hands, but that didn't happen. Instead it was as if a flashbulb went off behind his eyes. When his vision cleared he could see a red glow fading from his hands. The stuff hadn't tasted like Shock Jockey at all. Booker looked at the bottle and realized that the small amount remaining liquid in the bottle was bright red, not purple.
"Did this spoil or something?"
*Hello? Is someone there?*
Someone close. Booker wheeled around looking for the source of the voice.
*What? How? What's happening? I don't understand.*
Couldn't be. That sounded like...
"Elizabeth?"
*Who? I can hear you. How do you know my name?*
"Elizabeth, it's me, Booker."
*Booker? No, no it can't be. I, I, you can't be him.*
"It's me Elizabeth. I'm here. I'm ok."
*Your real? You're... alive?*
"Real enough Elizabeth and very much alive." Booker looked around. "Where are you? Can't you see me?"
*I can only hear you. I don't understand what's happening. I'm, I don't know. *
Booker hated to ask anything of her, he didn't have the right, but he had to for Anna's sake.
"Elizabeth, please, I need your help. Anna's here someplace. She's just five years old." He couldn't keep the pleading tone from his voice.
*Anna? Your daughter? She's here?! How?*
"A tear opened up in her bedroom. Men in long coats took her, couldn't stop them, I… couldn't protect her." he finished sadly.
*Long coats. That sounds like Ryan's security goons.*
'What's a goon?' "Who is this Ryan?"
*Andrew Ryan. He's the man who founded Rapture. "A city without Gods and Kings, Only Man." I don't understand what he would want with your daughter. He has plenty of children here to exploit.*
The disgust and hatred in her voice was thick enough to cut with a knife.
"Can you look through one of your doors to find her?"
*I, no. I can't do that anymore. I gave that all up to… I can't open or see tears anymore.*
It sounded like Elizabeth was right behind him when she first spoke, but now it was as if she were inside his head. "Elizabeth, where are you?"
*I don't know. I can just see and hear, that's all. I wish I could tell you more.*
"Elizabeth, you've been a big help already. Now I have an idea of where to look. Let's see if we can find some Shock Jockey that works. Can you move?"
*I think, I think I move when you move. Like I'm attached to you somehow. But why would you want some Shock Jockey? Don't you have your Vigors?*
"No, don't have 'em anymore, never did in a way. The door outta here is shorted out. Figured a shot of Shock Jockey might open it."
*Hmph, now where I have I heard something like THAT before?*
"Guess we've been through this before, haven't we." he said a little sadly.
While hearing Elizabeth in his head was strange to say the least, it comforting as well in an odd way. He had someone with him with which he trusted his life, even if she was just a voice. What worried Booker was the anger in her voice.
Booker finished up his search of the crates. "Well, no Vigors here, but there is a Voxophone."
*There call them Audio Diaries here.*
"Good to know."
Yi Suchong: Recycling ADAM
November 18, 1958
ADAM in short supply and going to be shorter. Am able to recover ADAM from corpses, but there is problem. ADAM copy memory of dead person. Other person use ADAM, they have memory of dead person. Most time useless, but with right trigger, person can see memory. Stupid people think they see ghost. Hurt sales.
Having someone else's memories in your head? ADAM? Ghosts? "Elizabeth, do you understand this?"
"Elizabeth?"
*I, I need to need to think. I'll try to explain to later.*
Booker knew a brush off when he heard one. Had hoped that Elizabeth had stopped hating him for what he had done to her. For selling her. As he had feared, the underlying anger in her voice had been about him and he couldn't blame her. But if she helped him find Anna, it was enough. And if he could help Elizabeth, he would, no matter how she felt about him.
-Elizabeth-
'He's alive!'
A small part of her kept saying it over and over again. Her heart had soared when she realized that Booker was alive. She just wanted to hug him and not let go. She couldn't even think of what to say, to tell him. Then it all crashed moments later when he told her that Anna was in Rapture.
Rapture was no place for a little girl. Even Columbia during the Vox Revolt might have been safer. Booker hadn't wanted to ask her for help. It didn't take much to figure out why, he didn't trust her. She had killed him. She had held him under water until he was dead.
Even if it had been the only way to stop Comstock, how could he forget it? Forgive her? It didn't matter. She would help him find his daughter in any way she could. Would help *him* any way she could.
Then she heard the audio log from Suchong about ADAM copying memories. Until she had heard that, she hadn't considered what she was or who she was.
It was if she were looking at the world through Booker's eyes and heard what he heard. She didn't feel anything. Was she just a mental projection like the one she had created of Booker when she came back to Rapture? Some kind of Quantum echo? A bunch of ADAM memories? A ghost?
Well, she couldn't be a ghost at least.
But what was she?
Booker had started moving further into the store. He walked around a corner and barely dodged back out of sight before a wall mounted camera caught him in the red glare of its light.
'Guess I don't have to warn him about the security cameras.'
The camera focused on the spot Booker had been for almost a minute before it shifted its view. Booker took a quick look around the corner and ducked back before the camera could catch sight of him. The camera had been placed so no one could walk across the area without being seen.
"Not getting by that thing."
*Booker, could you look up?* This must be Fontaine's Department store. It was the only place in Rapture she knew of that had those lighting sconces. *There, those light fixture on wall, they should be able to hold you, but we need to find you an Air Grabber.*
As she said "Air Grabber" Booker lifted up something in his left hand.
*A Skyhook? Where did you get that?*
"Something Lutece left me. They must have thought it would make the experiment more interesting." Booker stated in a slightly irritated tone.
*Well, it's certainly convenient that you have it.*
"Elizabeth, why did you ask me to look up?"
*I can only see what you see. It's like I'm looking through your eyes. I guess, I should have told you earlier.*
He was silent for a moment before he responded. "That's... different. Now, let's see if that thing can hold me."
A quick run, a jump, they were in the air and then the familiar clash of metal on metal as the Skyhook latched onto the light fixture.
"Whew. Still feels the same." Booker hung for a moment, but there was the sound of metal creaking and then the statue shifted. "Time to go."
Booker dismounting quickly and landed safely out of range of the camera. He stood still for several moments and muttered in a pained voice "Going to have to be more careful if I do that again."
*What's wrong?* she asked.
"Caught a couple bullets when they took Anna. Got lucky, nothing important got hit, but not healed up yet. Just have to make sure I land on my right leg next time."
'He's wounded and didn't say anything? That was just like him.'
*Can you see a Circus of Values?*
"Circus a what?"
*Circus of Values. Rapture's version of a Dollar Bill machine. They have a big clown face on them. You should be able to buy a Health Kit from one.*
While Booker searched, she tried to figure out what to tell him and how to do it.
"That must be it." Booker announced, interrupting her thoughts. "And some doors. Maybe another way out of here." As he limped over to the Circus machine he started digging around in a heavy leather bag.
*What's that?*
"Planned ahead this time." Booker explained. "Food, some money, extra ammo. Columbia would have been easier if I had taken some supplies."
He held up a silver coin. "Think this will work?"
*It should. These things seem to take anything valuable. Rings, necklaces, even women's shoes.*
"Shoes?" Booker asked, as he bought a pair of Med Kits.
*Rapture is based on unregulated capitalism. Greed is a virtue here. These machines take nearly anything of value so they don't miss a sale. Everyone is out for themselves and everything has a price. Even children.*
Elizabeth noticed that Booker's hand clenched when she mentioned children.
'Stupid. Make him more worried about his daughter than he already is.'
*Do you know what the date is?*
Booker used the first of the health kits as he responded. "Early 1959, far as I can tell. I think we're in a prison they made out of a department store."
More than a year until Jack arrives and Sally is free. *We are. Ryan turned this place into a prison and exiled Fontaine's supporters to it. Do you know anything about Fontaine?*
"Not much. Just that he was supposed to be rich, a criminal and dead."
*Dead? Hardly. Have you heard of Atlas?*
Booker thought a moment before responding. "I saw some posters with the name Atlas on them, but that's it."
*Fontaine is Atlas. The son of a bitch faked his own death and is playing at being a "hero of the people" to take down Ryan.*
"Take it you don't like this Fontaine much."
*He's a monster.*
Booker tested his leg. "Much better." He walked over and tried one of the doors. It opened a couple inches and hit something. Trying to open the other door produced the same result.
"Must be barricaded from the other side. Any ideas on where to go next Elizabeth?"
*That door with the "Employees Only" sign looks interesting.*
Booker walked behind the counter and knelt down to look at the floor to look at something. "Drag marks. At least two sets, probably more. No blood though."
He stood back up and cautiously went through door into a large stock room. Three bodies, two men and one woman, had been laid out to the right of the door. Two had masks on. Elizabeth wished the last one did too. His flesh looked as it had melted and blue crystals erupted from his head and hands. Odd budges under his cloths suggest more crystal growths.
"What the hell? Elizabeth, do you know what happened to this guy?"
*Vigor overdose. That's happens to splicers when the use too much. Remember Slate?*
"Yeah, those crystals he had growin' on him. But he must a drunk a gallon of Shock Jockey." Booker paused a moment. "I didn't have anything like that on me in Columbia, did I?"
*No, I guess in small amounts there isn't a problem. It would probably be a good idea to keep Vigor use, or Plasmids as they call them here, to a minimum if you can.*
"You called him a splicer."
*That's the local term for people that use Plasmids. It refers to their genetics being spliced with new abilities.*
Most of the room was filled with shelves that held boxes of dishes and cooking utensils. As Booker searched, Elizabeth decided to tell him.
*Booker, does it bother you? That I'm just a voice?"
"After flying cities, shooting fire from my hands and going through tears, it takes a lot to bother me. Guess my notions of normal aren't very normal anymore."
'How can he do so calm about it?' She decided that it was best to just say it and get it over with. *Booker, I don't know if I'm real. I may be just a bunch of memories you think is Elizabeth."
"Don't think so. I got plenty of memories and they don't talk or act like you."
*Booker, I, I'm dead. I died here in Rapture, weeks, maybe months ago.*
Booker stopped moving and looked up.
"I know you died Elizabeth." He said in an emotion filled voice. "But I know you're alive. You're real. I can't prove it, but please believe me."
*I would like to believe you, but I don't know how I could be alive or real.*
Booker closed his eyes, turning her world black. "If you only exist in my mind, then tell me how many fingers I am holding up."
*Booker, your eyes are closed. I can't see anything.* she stated in a slightly irritated voice.
He opened his eyes. "Three fingers. If you were just in my head or something, you would've known that, right?"
*I, you have a point there.*
'Why is he so sure that I'm real, that I'm Elizabeth? Does he know something? Was I wrong and he trusts me? How could he forgive me after what I did? '
As she thought, Booker entered a small office and found an audio diary.
Al Rockford: Sending Another Little Sister
February 8, 1959
John, I sending a new Little Sister down to you. Yeah, I know you don't like 'em. This one isn't lookin too good already and if Atlas's people see her it will be a PR nightmare. And that's something we don't need with the fighting going on. Just let her do her job.
"Little Sisters? What are those?"
*Little girls with some kind of Sea Slug imbedded in them that produces ADAM.*
"ADAM? The other dairy mentioned ADAM."
*ADAM is the stuff they use to make Plasmids and Vigors with. I really don't understand how it works, but it's worth its weight in gold down here. Fink just used the Sea Slugs to get it. But Fontaine and Ryan use the Little Sisters to increase... output.* A thought struck her. No, they couldn't have.
"Elizabeth, what's wrong?"
*God Damn them.* How could she tell him? *Booker, they may have turned Anna into a Little Sister.*
"Is she alright, can it be undone?"
*She's physically ok. They do something to the Little Sisters' minds. She won't know you. She can be saved Booker, just... not right now.*
"What do you mean 'not right now'?" Booker demanded.
*I don't think the process to safely extract the Sea Slug has been invented yet. It will be, but not yet. I'm sorry Booker.* How could she have missed this! Why hadn't she seen either Booker or Anna in Rapture? Why hadn't she even known that Booker was alive?
'Just like with the Big Daddy that killed me. I didn't look, that's why.'
*Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe, they didn't make her into a Little Sister.*
"I hope your wrong, Elizabeth. Let's go find her."
Booker stormed to the door and yanked it open only to find six men in long coats pointing guns at him.
One of them smiled and said in a southern drawl "Well, if it ain't Booker DeWitt. How nice of ya to show up."
End Chapter 3
