Once again I do not own Ed, Edd, n Eddy or Bioshock. They belong to 2k and A.K.A. Cartoons. I'm not making any money off of this at all.
This chapter we're going to be shifting back and forth between Rapture and Peach Creek and I'll be explaining a little of the back story.
So sit tight and enjoy the ride.
"There is no pain like the loss of a friend, real or not"
Deep beneath the sea the halls of Rapture were quiet, as was the norm, the silence broken only by the soft dripping of water somewhere or the occasional stomping steps of a Big Daddy. But soon the sounds of screams shred the tranquility as Sarah is dragged kicking and screaming by two Splicers. Sarah's desperate attempts at freedom are part anger and part fear from the beings that now hold her tight. She has seen these people or things like them, in her brother's movies and what they do to little girls is why she is so frightened. But soon her fears begin to fade as her captors throw her to the ground in front of a woman; whom, unlike them, appears to be fully human.
"So, is this all that has been brought back so far?" the woman said looking at Sarah the way one looks at a bug in a jar.
"Unfortunately so Doctor Lamb. The few sisters that we have are having to travel far and wide to find suitable subjects, and with so few it will be a long time before we can shore up the numbers." the Splicer on the left response, following up with a sickly wet cough.
"Very well, she will have to do for now. Put her in the cell with our other 'visitor' and let them get 'acquainted," the woman called Lamb says standing up straight and turning away.
"Hey! You can't just kidnap me like this! I'm an American…," Sarah starts but her snarl is cut off by sudden and smart slap to her face.
"Who and what you were are irrelevant now. They are things of the past and this is the present. You are nothing more then a lab rat right now. And if you insist on yelling you will not be a LIVE one for long," Lamb says with venom and fire in her voice.
Sarah is shocked as the two Splicers drag her off; no one has ever hit her before. The Kanker sisters roughed her up a couple of times but never did she ever feel the pain and humiliation that she's feeling right now from those confrontations.
"Is it wrong for me to get turned on when Doctor Lamb talks like that?" one of the Splicer's asks his companion.
"Heh, well she is the only female in the city that won't rip your face off or isn't falling apart at the seams. So I don't think so," the other responses as he opens up a large glass like cell room and throws Sarah inside.
"Here you go little one, a playmate for you. Now play nice or Doctor Lamb might just feed you to the sharks," the Splicer laughs as he seals the door and walks off.
Sarah looks around, wondering what the splicer meant. There are blankets and sheets laying in a big pile in the middle of the room, some extra clothes that look like they might fit Sarah, and an area that has been privacy screened for a bathroom. And then as Sarah is wondering if the Splicers were mad the sheets and blankets shift and from them rises a young girl. Her skin is a pale pallor, her eyes glow a ghostly gold color, and her hair sticks to her face giving her a dead sort of look.
"Hello, my name is Angel. I'm sorry, but welcome to Rapture." the girl says sadly.
Pain was all he knew as the world swam around him, he couldn't tell up from down anymore, everything was dark, and his lungs where screaming for air. Double D knew that if he couldn't get to the surface immediately he wasn't going to make it. Desperately he swam for the small dot of light in the distance, a voice spurring him on with each stroke. Within a few strokes he reaches the light and is engulfed in its brightness, his eye forced closed from the shine.
"Double D. Come on wake up," a gentle, yet familiar, voice calls out to him.
So slowly, he opens his eyes to the face of a worried and red eyed Nazz.
"Oh thank god, you're awake! We thought you'd never wake up again!" Nazz cries happily as she grabs Double D in a hug.
Quickly Double D looks around and finds that he is in his room, a small bowl of water and a towel shows that Nazz has been watching over him for a while.
"Nazz, while I am flattered by the attention, I am at a loss of what happened, how did I get back home and….oh my gosh! ED! EDDY!" Double D says as his memories quickly come rushing back and he bolts from the hug and the bed.
"Double D! Wait! At least put some pants on!" Nazz shouts averting her eyes from the underwear clad boy.
Double D, more concerned about his friends then anything else, grabs the first pair of pants he lays his hands on and bolts for the door again. But his rush is stopped when he collides with none other then Eddy.
"Hey watch it….SOCK HEAD! You're awake!" Eddy hollers happily.
"Eddy! You're alright as well!" Double D shouts as he picks himself off the floor, "But what of Ed? Is he alright"
"Lumpy, well…..Jimmy says he's moving around in his room when he goes and checks on him. So I guess he's alright," Eddy says sheepishly looking away.
"What? You haven't been to see him? What kind of a friend are you?" Double D yells angrily.
"Don't get on his case Double D, Eddy's been helping me take care of you this whole time," Nazz snaps at Double D, causing his anger to dissipate.
"What? Wait. How long have I been out?" Double D asks worriedly.
"You've been out for nearly three days Sock head," Eddy says unhappily, "You were in bad shape after that wave hit you. We all were except for Nazz. She hung back with Jimmy and avoided getting hit."
"Oh dear. But what about Rolf, Kevin, and Johnny?" Double D asks worried about his other friends.
"Both Rolf and Kevin are alright, you know how tough our son of a shepherd is and Kevin's never one to just lie down and give in. As for Johnny, well maybe it's best if you come and see for yourself." Nazz says moving towards the door.
"Very well, but first I want to check on Ed. I'll feel better knowing that he's alright." Double D says following Nazz and Eddy outside.
Soon the trio reaches Ed's house and find Jimmy standing outside Ed's basement bedroom knocking on the door.
"Ed, you've got to eat something. Look, it's your favorite combo buttered toast and gravy." Jimmy pleads to the closed door.
But any response he was hoping to stir with the offering goes unheard.
"He still hasn't come out has he Jimmy," Nazz says looking at the shut door.
"No and I'm really getting worried. Cause last night I thought I saw him…throwing out trash." Jimmy says as if he had caught Ed dealing crack.
"Okay, now you're just being silly Jimmy. I'm sure that when we open this door Ed's room will be the same mess it's always been." Double D says as he turns the knob and opens the door to Ed's room.
But what they see is more shocking. Ed's room is clean, his comic books are stacked neatly on the shelves, his toys and collectables are all put away, the myriad of dirty clothes and food has vanished from the floor, even his tub of gravy has been cleaned out.
"Or maybe we'll end up in the Twilight Zone. Ed. Ed are you in here?" Double D says worriedly, his answer comes in the form of a sob from Ed's bed.
The group moves over to the bed and Jimmy gently pokes the lump in the middle of the sheets.
"ED HAS BEEN A BAD BIG BROTHER! ED FAILED TO SAVE SARAH! WAAAAAAHHHH!" Ed wails popping out of the mess of sheets and grabbing Jimmy and begins to bawl his eyes out.
"AH! Ed…." Jimmy starts to yell when he notices something wrong, "Ed, have you been bathing?"
"Maybe? Why?" Ed sniffled all the while still crushing Jimmy in a death hug.
"Okay. That's enough of that. Come on Ed, you're getting out into the fresh air for a while." Eddy says grabbing his friend by his monobrow and pulling him out of bed.
"Eddy's right Ed, while applaud this sudden rash of cleanliness you shouldn't ignore the outside world." Double D says trying to stem the tears flowing from his friend.
"But….Sarah…." Ed hiccups.
"Don't worry Ed; I'm sure Double D can come up with a plan to save her. Right Double D?" Nazz says looking hopefully at the sock hated boy.
"Of course he can. After the funeral," Eddy says leading the way upstairs.
"Wait. What funeral. Eddy! You said everyone was alright!" Double D shouts as he chases his friend up the stairs.
"So this place is called Rapture?" Sarah says trying not to wet herself in fear as she looks through the pile of clothes for something to wear.
The young girl, who calls herself Angel, nods watching Sarah closely.
"Um…..could you," Sarah says nervously as she finds something to wear.
"Oh, forgive me. It's just that I've never met someone from the surface." Angel says as she turns away to give Sarah some privacy.
"What are you talking about? Aren't we…" Sarah starts until she notices a nearby window shows a school of fish swimming by.
"We're under the ocean. We're on the ocean floor," Sarah says her voice rising in a panic.
"Don't worry; the walls aren't going to give under the pressure. They were built to withstand it, so we're safe in here," Angel says her voice calm and collected.
"But that still doesn't explain what this place is! What is Rapture?" Sarah shouts as she finishes putting on her new clothes.
Angel turns and smiles sadly, "Rapture is hell. But it wasn't always like this."
Sarah sits down as Angel begins to weave the tale of Andrew Ryan and his dream of a place where a man would be entitled to the fruit of his labors, where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist could work without petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small. For a time it seemed that Rapture was in fact a utopia, but all this changed with the coming of ADAM and the man called Frank Fontaine. ADAM, Sarah learned as she listened, was secreted by a sea slug and in its purest unaltered stated could be, in theory, used to help heal people who were beyond current medical science. The blind would see, the paralyzed walk, the barren might even become fertile, but this was not to be. ADAM's discoverer, Bridgette Tenenbaum, was funded by Frank Fontaine, a Chicago mob boss, who had come to Rapture to make it his. He quickly found a way to turn the small slug into a gold factory; producing Plasmids, Gene Tonics, and all sorts of genetic enhancers which changed and altered a person DNA. If you didn't like your skin color, hair color, eye color, breast size, or anything else; Fontaine and ADAM could fix it. But soon the dark side of ADAM came into the light; fiddling with ones genetic structure caused instability in both the mind and the body. People began to see ghosts, mothers strangled babies in their cribs, and soon war broke out between Fontaine and the master of Rapture; Andrew Ryan. In the streets the battles raged, but soon a problem arose. The ADAM was running out. But Fontaine quickly found a solution, there was plenty of ADAM in the city; just trapped within the corpses left between the battles with Ryan. And so with the help of Dr. Tenenbaum he created the Little Sisters, which in turn lead to the creation of the Big Daddies.
"So, you're a Little Sister?" Sarah asks nervously interrupting the story.
"Yes. I am a Little Sister, under the protection of my guardian, my champion, my Big Brother." Angel says speaking with pride and love about her protector.
"But, I thought that you said…." Sarah started when she's interrupted.
"She did, but she is different. She was chosen to take part in Project: Big Brother, the next step in the Big Daddy program. Dr. Suchong discovered how to modify the treatment used to create Little Sister and coupled that with the Big Daddy treatments and created twenty four Big Brothers," Lamb says looming over the two girls.
"These Big Brothers were a marvel, the protected the Little Sisters like Daddies, but were able to follow them anywhere they went. And imagine the surprise when we found out that they could use Plasmids. What a wonder the Brother's were, that is until they all died," Lamb said with a smile.
"Shut up! BB is alive, I know he is! I can feel it in my heart and he's going to come and kill you and save me!" Angel shrieks at Lamb, her hatred for the woman being obvious.
"Deny it all you wish, Omega is entombed and he will not be coming to save you. As strong as he might be, he cannot deny the reality. He has lost. I have won and you are my prize," Lamb frown at the angry child.
"You lost long ago! Eleanor and Delta beat you! You're plan will never happen, its human nature to strive to be better! And…..and he promised!" Angel says before breaking down into tears.
Lamb glares at Angel before speaking again.
"What happened with Eleanor was a betrayal, not a defeat. I will bring about my vision, despite what you and Omega thinks," Lamb says and with those words she turns and stalks off.
Sarah is now even more scared, but the crying of Angel brings out the protective side in her, a side normally reserved for fragile Jimmy. Carefully she sits down and puts her arm around the small girl to comfort her. Feeling Sarah close Angel grabs her in a hug and sobs into her shirt.
"He's going to come for me, and I have him save you too. He'll save us both and then he'll keep his promise. He's going to take me to the surface and show me the sun," Angel sobs sadly as Sarah tries to comfort her.
And as Angel longs for her Big Brother, Sarah finds herself wishing that Ed was here for her.
Plank's funeral is a solemn affair, for despite what anyone else would thing he was a treasured member of the Cul-de-sac. Rolf provides the music, amazing everyone with the tradition funeral song from his home country. In turn each and everyone pays their respect to the fallen piece of lumber, knowing that both the world and Johnny are poorer for his passing. After the funeral and Plank is laid to rest in Johnny's backyard the kids gather at Ed's to have both the wake and a discussion on what to do next.
"I don't see what there is to do next," Kevin says, "That thing was way to strong for any of us to handle. Even Lumpy took his lumps from that thing."
"But we can't just leave Sarah to that brute! We've got to do something," Jimmy whines thinking of Sarah in some dark cage somewhere.
Double D quickly becomes aware that everyone is staring at him and sighs, "While it is possible to save Sarah, through stealth and cunning, it's just not feasible. The materials needed to mount a rescue of this magnitude would be daunting, we couldn't just use garbage from the dump like in previous ventures."
"What….what if I supplied the money for it?" Johnny says so softly he's almost goes unheard.
"Well, that's very nice Johnny but still I don't think a fist full of quarters could…" Double D starts when Johnny raises his hand and stops him.
"My parents are loaded guys, but we live this way so I don't grow up spoiled. Money's no object to me; I just don't want Plank's sacrifice to be in vain. We've got to save Sarah….no matter what." Johnny says his voice wavering but filled with determination.
"Then it's settled, Johnny will fund this mission and Ed, Double D and me will rescue Sarah," Eddy says as if the matter is sealed.
"Lok'tar ogar!" Ed shouts happily now that a plan to save his sister is underway.
Double D however looks flabbergasted; he can't believe that they think it's going to be so easy.
"Are you crazy? We don't even know what we're up against, much less if we can even pull this off!" Double D shouts hyperventilating as he does.
"Of course we know we're up against the unknown, but it's never stopped us before. Besides, if someone's going to have the pleasure of Sarah's company it's going to because they paid me," Eddy says with a smirk but gets a dope slap from Ed about that last comment.
"Don't pimp my sister Eddy, it's not nice." Ed says scowling at the smaller Ed.
Eddy laughs and apologizes while Double D rolls his eyes and rubs his temples.
"Beside's you're the heroes of this story, the author's not going to knock you off," Johnny says as a matter-of-factly.
"Johnny please quit knocking on the fourth wall, it can't take much more. Okay fine, but we're doing this my way! Rolf! You and Kevin are in charge of gather food and water for us. We're going to need stuff that's both light and won't go bad. Nazz, I'm going to need you and Jimmy to make us up some First Aid kits. Just in case of course. Johnny, you and Eddy are in charge of getting the supplies I'm going to need to make a sub. And Eddy no cutting corners; this has to work properly. Ed, I'm going to need your help figuring out where that thing came from and what we may be walking into. Hit the net and go trawling for rumors and data." Double D barks to everyone and they all respond with a cheer.
Soon Double D stands alone in Ed's living room, wondering if they truly can pull this off.
To Be Continued!
