Bioshock: Collision
Chapter 7: Obey, or Choose?
"Hello there, son…."
Jack was instantly broken from the gaze he held with Liz.
Even Delta and Eleanor had managed to look up from their reunion to hear the voice.
Tennenbaum, "no…. No…. No! It can't be! You died! A very long time ago!"
"Oh yes, about nine years, am I correct Doctor?"
"Sadly, yes."
"Good, now if you don't mind me asking…."
An image flashed onto the subs front screen.
A familiar man sat there.
He wore a tight orange suit.
He had slicked back hair, and a moustache to match.
A fedora covered his eyes.
A cigarette laid in his mouth.
It was Andrew Ryan.
Jack was shaking, with Liz taking great notice of this.
She was also frightened by the return of Rapture's King.
Especially considering he had been dead for nine years.
"So tell me, Doctor, and my son…. Why are you back in my long dead city? Come to stick the knife in more?"
Liz, "wait, son? Who-"
Jack ran forward.
He slammed his hand down on the dashboard in front of him.
"How the Hell are you alive you son of a bitch?!"
"Ohhh, such language. Didn't Suchong teach you better?"
Jack, "don't mention that sadistic bastard to me!"
"Calm down. Now, what was it you asked me again?"
Jack, "how are you alive?"
"Oh that! It's amazing what reactivating an old Vita Chamber can do."
Liz, "wait, vita chamber?"
"Yes Ms. Comstock. It seems your friend here, upon activating the chamber within Suchong's lab, created a surge that activated all of the other ones at once, due to it never once being uses. And thus, I am once again among the living. Admit it, didn't the chamber seem a little too bright when using it?"
Jack, Ms. Comstock? What? "a bit, yes. And how'd you figure out my little secret?"
"When I emerged from the chamber, the DNA reading on it showed your name, and mine. I put two and two together, as well as took in some research on what Suchong and the dear doctor here did. So, now that I've told you all of that, can you answer my question now?"
Eleanor, "and what is that?"
"Why are you in my damn city!? Has Atlas not ransacked it enough? He sends you to pick the flesh for him!?"
Jack, "wait, you don't know?"
"Know what?"
All of the subs occupants looked at each other with nervous looks.
Liz, "Atlas is dead Ryan."
"What? When? How? Who killed that son of a bitch?"
Jack, "who's not watching their language now?"
"Who God Damnit!?"
Jack, "you're looking at em'."
Silence.
And then laughter.
Ryan laughed with a demented sound in his throat.
"Heh, ha ha ha! HA HA HA! I knew I'd have the last laugh! Not only did that idiot trust you to do his dirty work, but in betraying you, it caused his own downfall! The child of Andrew Ryan killed his father's enemy! HA HA HA!"
Tennenbaum, "enough! He did what he had to do!"
"Well then, I have but one request."
Eleanor, "and what's that?"
"I want you all to come see me. My office will have its private station opened up for you. You won't be attacked when you enter."
Liz, "Hell no!"
Tennenbaum, "we just wish to leave!"
Eleanor, "my father and I just want to move on from this awful place!"
"And you will. I just want to discuss things with you. Especially my dear boy and the woman. After that, you may leave. What say you?"
Everyone grew quiet, and they all looked at Jack.
He stared back at everyone confused.
"what!?"
Tennenbaum, "it is your call Jack."
Eleanor, "he's your father. It's your decision on whether we go to him or not."
Delta nodded his head as Eleanor spoke.
Liz stepped forward and grabbed Jacks hand.
"whatever you decide, we're with you Jack."
And so, Jack chose.
"no tricks?"
"None my boy. None."
"... Take us there Doc."
Tennenbaum, "alright. We trust you Jack."
"I await your arrival my boy…."
The screen flashed off, once again revealing the sunken city around them.
Tennenbaum got behind the controls and began to pilot the sub to the lions den.
Eleanor went and sat with Delta, wanting to catch up with him.
Jack stood still with Liz beside him.
She asked, "are you ok?"
Jack, "considering what just happened, I dunno."
Liz, "I don't think of you any less for being the son of that asshole, okay?"
Jack, "really? The asshole who called you Comstock?"
Liz, "... sigh, I knew that would come back to bite me."
Jack, "what did he mean!?"
Liz, "please, let's discuss this in the back…."
Liz and Jack went to the back, where Tennenbaum and the others wouldn't hear them yell to loudly.
Liz, "when I hunted down Comstock, when he went under my father's name, I took his name as to not arouse suspicion. How do ya think people would have reacted to 'Elizabeth Dewitt', stalking that bastard with the same last name?"
Jack, "and that makes it right to lie?"
Liz, "no! No it doesn't! But I did what I had to Jack!"
Jack, "like me? When I had to kill Atlas?"
Liz, "the men we kill deserve what comes to them."
Jack, "... sigh, you're right. I'm sorry. I was just a little hurt at you not telling me."
Liz hugged him.
"It's okay. You were angry. It's fine. I felt a little angry too when I learned about you. It happens to all of us."
Jack hugged her back, taking comfort in the soft touch of her body.
Meanwhile, as they embraced, Delta and Eleanor continued to talk.
Eleanor, "are you sure you're alright father?"
Delta nods.
Eleanor, "good. I don't know what I would've done if Cohen had done a single thing to you!"
Delta made a noise that meant, it's alright. I'm here now Eleanor.
Tennenbaum yelled from the front, "I promise we'll get you help Delta!"
Eleanor, "we will! Well get you out of that suit, and heal whatever injuries your face may have."
Delta pressed his head into Eleanor's hand and whined, thank you my child.
Soon, after about twenty minutes, Tennenbaum had navigated the sub to Ryan's private station.
It had been a secret area that no-one, not even the five people on the sub had known about.
They docked, the area was a huge room that would allow the group to get out through the top of the sub, and down a flight of stairs.
They made their way single file through the large area, and were all greeted by a large steel door.
Jack knocked.
Ryan replied over a speaker, "welcome."
The door opened up into the back of Ryan's office.
Jack and the others were kind of baffled at how nice it looked, even after all of these years.
Ryan sat behind a desk.
He fiddled with his thumbs as everyone stood in front of him.
Jack had his revolver in hand, Liz doing the same with her crossbow.
Tennenbaum stood behind Delta with Eleanor.
Delta himself was in between Jack and Liz.
"hello there my friends. I'm glad you came."
Liz, "cut the crap Ryan, what do you want?"
Ryan, "well Ms. Coms-."
Liz, "Dewitt. My name, is Elizabeth Dewitt."
Ryan, "... well then, Ms. Dewitt. I have called you all down here to discuss things."
Jack, "and what things would that be?"
Ryan, "well son, my business doesn't really concern Tennenbaum and her little friends. The young girl and the Big Daddy she calls her father, I honestly don't care what happens to them once they leave Rapture, or even what they do now."
Liz, "then what are you concerned about?"
Jack, "I suspect your city that's been rotting away over the last few years like bread in the Hudson river?"
Ryan, "quite eloquent my boy, but no. I'm more concerned about you and the woman near you."
Jack, "... go on."
Ryan, "you seemed to have taken my advice very seriously my boy."
Jack, "what?"
Ryan, "you chose. You chose to do many things that led to your success. You chose to kill Atlas. You chose to spare the little girls in this city. You chose to live a calm life on the surface. And when given your most recent choices, you came back to Rapture, saved this woman and the Big Daddy, killed Sander Cohen, and chose to come and meet me."
Liz, "he's good at this shit."
Ryan, "such harsh language from such a lovely thing. But yes, you're right."
Jack, "and the reason you bring this up?"
Ryan, "you've rarely had a choice that backfired in a very spectacular way. And why is that? How is it, that for all of the decisions I, Suchong, Atlas, Cohen, and countless other men have made, we all die because of those decisions?"
Liz, "uh…. Karma?"
Ryan, "yes, but there's something else…."
Jack, "you always chose, never obeyed."
Ryan, "there it is. You actually obeyed the orders given by others, and that karma favoured in your choices."
Liz, "you're just being cryptic!"
Ryan, "perhaps…. But whatever I say doesn't matter. All except one thing."
Jack, "and it's me?"
Ryan, "yes. You chose, and obeyed. You're not a man, or a slave. You're in the middle. And it's that point of fact that's made me decide what I'd like to do with the second chance I've been given!"
Liz, "and what's that?"
Ryan pressed a button on his desk, and to the side of everyone, the wall opened up.
A huge device sat in a small room.
Liz walked forward, gasping.
"that's…. That's…."
Ryan, "a device designed by Suchong. It can bring me somewhere else! Somewhere to start over!"
Liz, "that's insane! You're just running from this place?"
Ryan, "wouldn't you? This place was doomed from the start, but it was my damned ideology that blinded me. But after seeing what my son has done…."
Jack grew flustered and confused at all of this.
Ryan, "I can see! I want to go to a world with this new ideology! A world where I don't exist, and start over with what money I have left on me. And I just wanted to say goodbye to you all before I leave!"
Ryan quickly stood up and sped towards the machine.
Liz, "don't-."
Ryan yelled, turning the machine on and turning back before entering, "goodbye my friends! I'll see you in another life!"
Liz tried to grab at Ryan's arm, but he was too strong.
The portal closed, and time seemed to stand still.
Ryan's hand made it in time, but something else did not.
A scream erupted from Eleanor, as Liz fell to the ground.
Tennenbaum and Jack had ran to her, holding her head in their hands.
Liz heard one last thing before she blacked out.
"You're pinky's gone!"
Tune into Ch. 8 to see Elizabeth's inner thoughts on what happened, with one last visit from Booker….
