Chapter 2
"Shhhhht, we're in the secret place. This is where the birdies fly." I felt her press her face up against the bars of the cage as she looked down through the cracks in the shafts-which cast bars of light on our combined forms. "Tweet-tweet...here we come little angels."
I knelt under the piping, spreading my body out to squeeze through the ever-tightening cracks, careful to fit the cage through each crevice without making too much noise. My precious cargo in the back busied herself with various musings, singing to herself and looking around, evidently sniffing out ADAM-I could do the same, though my senses had become far less acute with age, while she was a veritable bloodhound with the richer bodies.
It didn't take long before she gasped and I felt her weight shift. Turning my head, I saw her pointing directly down under the cage-in Neptune's Bounty. I looked for an exit and peeked through, making sure the area was clear of Splicers before I lowered myself down.
"It smells funny in here, Big Sister…" My gatherer complained, she wasn't wrong. The pungent, salty odor of fish permeated even what little filtered air managed to creep through to my lungs, stronger still was the smell of rot, the fishers' work likely forgotten for years.
At the end of the docks was a body. It looked freshly dead, a blossom of blood still leaking through the floorboard. Its cause of death was no mystery-the corpse had several thick rivets plugged into it. Reaching back to unlatch the cage, I bowed, letting the Little Sister hop off as she brandished her needle.
"You can't take all the ADAM for yourself, angel." She chided, wagging her finger disappointedly at the body, "You need to share!" Crouching near the body, she jabbed the needle in with a bit more violence than needed as I stood straight, looking around for any other activity.
"Good girls gather, gather gather…" She went on, bringing up unbidden memories of the videos played over and over and over again. Before long, her song wasn't the only thing echoing through the the dank, withered wood of Neptune's Bounty. Heavy footfalls, strong enough to shake dust from the splintered beams made itself known, the interior dock creaking. A nearby door opened up and a second Little Sister walking through, followed closely by her protector, no doubt the one who had finished the splicer, his fists clenched around an enormous rivet gun as he lowed passively. The Little Sister noticed mine and giggled, pointing.
"Look, Mister Bubbles! She's with Big Sister! I bet they're playing in the fishies while we gather." My Little Sister, her pride obviously struck, ejected her needle and stood up, frowning at the other sister.
"Am not! Big Sister and I will get our bellies full of ADAM! No jellies for the mirror-me tonight, she's been bad, bad!" She said vengefully, approaching the other girl as the Rosie tightened his hands around his weapon, watching the exchange with just enough interest to see if intervention was needed.
"You don't have Mr. B with you, I'll bet you've never even seen the castle. It has more sunshine than you can ever drink." The other girl said confidently as my gatherer stamped her foot and heel-turned before setting back to her task, looking a bit more huffy about it. I gave the opposite girl a call indicating that my patience was wearing thin. Grabbing her protector's hand, she skipped happily out of the room with no further interruptions.
It took mere minutes before Little Sister had completely forgotten about the encounter, blissfully humming to herself as she finished up, the needle's reservoir roughly half-full as she inspected it.
"Some for now, some for later, one to many, three too many…" Walking closer, she waited for me to unlatch the cage before crawling in as I headed up towards the crack in the planks, entering it and crawling through.
It took only a bit of venture before we managed to find the shaft running above Arcadia, where the air was thick and moss grew freely in the cracks. my Little Sister pointed to the ground, indicating a nearby body. As I slipped under the roofboards, I startled a splicer in a butterfly mask, who gibbered for a moment before falling to his knees upon catching sight of my gatherer. He spoke in a brittle voice through cracked teeth and a mouth swollen with growths.
"Oh, great providence! The ADAM gatherer arrives to complete her sacred duty, to ascend the family!" Remembering something, he jumped to his feet, pointing towards a nearby door. "But..but..be-wary in Arcadia, the wretched cult of Saturnine do not listen to the wisdom of Lamb and her Family. Do not let them harm our salvation, Big Sister!" He bowed several more times while backing away as I followed my sister's guidance through a nearby door, his words flossing my ears with no more attention than I'd give a fly's buzzing.
As we passed through the enormous garden, the ambient metallic scrapes and clangs of Rapture were replaced with the soft rush of a stream. The sound was soothing, it reminded me of my flooded quiet space, which I dreamt about for a moment before being reminded of the task at hand as my gatherer's voice, close behind my ear.
"Pulling off the leaves hurts the plants, Big Sister." I advanced through the park-the usual filtered oxygen replaced with a purer flavor which matched the tall trees and verdant growth surrounding us. "Plants don't have petals...people have petals."
Eventually we came to the body-swinging slowly from a tree, hanged by its neck. The ground beneath it was smeared with symbols in a cloudy pink fluid and surrounded by curvaceous idols woven together from straw. Advancing cautiously, I noticed the faint crackle of arcing electric tripwire bolts beneath the body. Circumventing them but taking note for my descent, I gripped the tree, it bark proving to be a much easier purchase than the slippery steel panels I was used to, and began to climb.
Once on top, I brought out the small harpoon fastened to my left wrist and leaned down above the body to cut it down. Just as I began cutting the body free a gunshot echoed across the room, sparking off of my oxygen tank as I stumbled, dropping the body into the tripwires.
At once, a noisy sizzle filled the air as the electrified wires jolted the body, sending off sparks as it fried lines of flesh on the corpse making it twitch disturbingly. The sound triggering a frenzy of whooping and calling.
Splicers, bearing wooden masks, teleported out from bushes and behind doors, charging forward as I let out Little Sister, prompting her to start her work as I shook out my hand, permafrost crawling up my glove as icicles sprouted from my fingertips.
"Unbeliever! Soiler of sacred space!" The nearest splicer shouted, her revolver barking rounds in my direction as I fired a blast of ice at her, sealing her in cold until a solid smack from my fist splintered her into shards.
Another Saturnine member came from behind me, fire brimming from his fingertips. He launched a volley of blasts at me, with only a moment to react I teleported above him, freefalling for a moment as he looked around, confused.
"Where'd it...? Back to Hell no doubt! I-". He was interrupted by my boot hooking across his cheek, spilling him onto the ground before I landed and lanced him with my spear, draining the ADAM from his system.
A low, thrumming hum filled the air, I turned to seek out the source before dozens of pinpricks started making themselves known around my body-little buzzing nuisances clouded my vision, their venom burning my skin, making me scream in pain as I brushed through the clouds to seek out the source, finding the cultist at the far end of the park. He made to retreat, taking cover behind a crate as he primed his machine gun and let loose a volley of fire at me, the bullets sparking off my suit.
My arms curled up reflexively, drawing in the world around me as I tore bushes from their roots and upheaved benches, blasting them towards the splicer and knocking him back, his hornets meekly dispersing as he lay, groaning and bleeding on the ground. I extended my needle and walked towards him, deciding a little reward wouldn't go amiss while my gatherer finished up.
x-x-x-x-x
My Little Sister threw back her needle, drinking heavily from it before yanking away the bottle and coughing-a splatter of ADAM hitting the rocks before she held her needle up for me. "Here you go, Big Sister! Drink your medicine!" I slid the needle into my wrist and injected some of the substance into my body, letting out a satiated rattling breath and shaking out my hand before I handed my gatherer's tool back to her. She yawned and gave me a drowsy look.
"I'm tired, Big Sister...I think it's dream time." I reached back to re-open the cage, my fingers working the latch as I scooped her up, watching her rub her eyes as I let her crawl from my arms into the cage, shutting it firmly before heading back the way I came, my wasp-stings rubbing irritatingly against my clothing before my healing factor began to fade them.
As I navigated through the maintenance shafts, I felt the Little Sister's weight eventually settle on my back, hearing her breathe steadily and quietly in her sleep. I was hoping to go back to the quiet room for some time to myself after delivering her, so I brought her as close to Persephone as I could-making it to Siren's Alley before I noticed the star-like gaping mouth of a Little Sister vent in the street below.
I pushed out a nearby grate, ready to emerge before a pair of soft footsteps made me think twice. I looked down from my vantage point at a young girl walking by herself passed beneath my vantage point. In her hands were a gathering needle and a plasmid. My first thought was that she was obviously a Little Sister, but something made me hesitate...her skin was dark, in sharp contrast to the deathly, clammy pale grey of all my other siblings. That same instinct that tickled the back of my mind told me that Little Sisters that had been separated from the family must be...reintegrated.
Wanting to be sure she wasn't just looking for her protector, I moved silently-reaching up to slip my fingers around a beam on the ceiling to pull myself up carefully, listening intently as she whispered carefully to herself.
"I-I can't be afraid, Mama Tenenbaum said to be brave, I'm a big girl, I…" The hyperventilation in her voice and the way her hands tightened around the plasmid she held made it evident the spoken comforts weren't working on her. But that name triggered a switch in my mind, one that was only spurred on by the young girl turning around-her eyes weren't yellow.
I reared up and let out a screech, making her scream in turn, covering her ears as tears welled up in her eyes. My Little Sister woke up in the cage.
"Big Sister? Why are you singing? It isn't time for the concert yet." I leapt down from the ceiling, swinging in her direction as the outcast scrambled for the vent, nearly tripping over her own feet as she scrambled to find purchase. I was careful not to let my needle get in the way as I dashed for her, grabbing a handful of her hair, about to pull her off the vent before she cried out and spun around, jabbing the needle into my wrist and drawing ADAM from my veins. A shout left me, the burn of lifeblood leaving me was unbearable, my grip weakened and she wrenched her arm away scampering up and into the vent.
Recovering, I thrust my hand inside, knocking it against the walls, finding a small bare foot and dragging it back towards the entrance of the vent.
"Unzip her, Big Sister! She's been bad! Bad bad! Pull out her roses!" My Little Sister shouted, pounding her fists against the cage, distressing the girl inside the vent as she screamed again. I released her foot for a moment to try getting a better purchase, but instead my hand closed around the plasmid, which I yanked away out of the vent, giving it a passing glance before throwing it aside and shoving my arm back inside. I was too slow, by then I could already hear her scampering away to who-knows-where.
"Uh-oh, Big Sister...she's going back to the shadows…" My Little Sister intoned as I tried to stick my head into the entrance of the vent, screeching after the fleeing child, trying to scramble in any way to make myself fit in the hole, even though I was certain I couldn't.
Finally giving up, I instead turned my attention to the red glow of the discarded plasmid, picking it up. At least some use came out of it, I cocked my head curiously, trying to recognize the substance inside.
"Ooohh, Big Sister found a present! Maybe it has a shiny new toy inside! Open it up!" My companion chimed from behind me. Curiously, I unscrewed the top and took an empty hypo from my belt, removing some of the fluid inside and stowing away the bottle before injecting the hypo's contents into my suit's wrist-port.
The effects took a moment to catch before they triggered, very suddenly. A stabbing pain shot through my abdomen as I screamed, my hands shaking as I grabbed my waist, pawing at the side of my head as I saw the faint glow of my veins under my suit. Behind me I heard Little Sister screaming something incoherent, my thoughts blurred out by a terrible cry that seemed to be coming from inside of me. I retched, greenish-grey blood spilling from under my head and dripping onto the ground as I stumbled a few steps before falling to the ground, my vision swimming, feeling nothing as tiny fists pounded on my back.
