Another chapter should be coming tomorrow, stay tune!
"I just saw them about half an hour ago! They were at Youngblood's place, maybe they're still there!" Chad spluttered, nervous eyes darting to the pristine saber pointing at his neck, the tip gleaming an inch from his jugular.
"You fucking coward!" Chief Grillo protest was silenced by a swift backhand that send him crashing to the stone floor. The thug, a black man of broad frame clad in a cloak of red, was raising his feet to continue the assault when Father Khan threw himself in front the stricken officer, hand held out in abject pleading.
"Please! This is the house of the Lord! There is no need for any of this!"
"Go on son, you were saying?" The man, clad in a garment identical in design to those of the horrid Ku Klux Klan in the south, gesture for Chad to continue. The only difference here was that instead of the Klansmen white, he was draped in black.
"Those two also live in a cottage…yeah, a few miles away from town, deep in the wood," Chad nodded vigorously, none of his usual pompous swagger remains. "Look man, I told you everything I know so just let me go alright? Hell, my dad's loaded he will give you anything you want!"
"There is nothing here in Sodom that could tempt me from the path of righteousness," the hooded man raised his voice, saber moving dangerously close to the paling Chad. "You dare to lead me astray?!"
"No! I didn't…please don't kill me!" Chad whimpered and begged, shaking hands raised in total capitulation.
"Pathetic." The man sheathed his saber with a sneer and turned to the handful of Mercy Fall citizenry that had fled into the church, seeking sanctuary, only to find a slaughter pen awaiting them. Father Khan prayed, begging forgiveness for his failure to save these people and that they find peace in the Lord loving embrace when the end comes.
"Five minutes up," the hooded man announced to a pitiful reception, frightful wail answering in broken echoes. "The price of indecision."
The terrified crowd lowered their heads and huddled closer to their love ones as the man swept his cold gaze over them, like a butcher choosing the day's first cut.
"That one! That one! The one with the bright red hair! So shinny… I want it!" Another of the hooded man associate, a woman in tattered gown twisted in both body and mind, waved her pipe manically at the cowering Mari who shriveled deeper into her husband protective arms.
"Bring her here."
"No! Please!" Mari shrieked as the black man wrenched her from Thomas grasp, her husband forced to ground by two blue coated men who beat him into submission.
"Thomas! You bastard!" She kicked and fought her captor's grip before being thrown roughly at the hooded man feet.
"Kill the bitch." He uttered simply, waving over one of his underling clad in identical attire.
He walked up to the tearful Mari, her head cast down in mournful surrender, drew his revolver, cocked it and pressed the muzzle to her temple, the poor girl shook violently from the touch.
"No! Stop this!" Father Khan stepped forward, the Klansman sparing him a mingling of attention. "If blood is truly what you seek, then take mine and let her go, I beseech you, in the name of God, please!"
A resounding bang rang across the church before his plea was heeded. Father Khan winced from the sudden boom and turned with shattered hope toward the girl. Blinking, the sharp ringing receding, Father Khan was baffled to see Mari still upright, breathing heavily and very much alive, baleful eyes darting around in confusion.
The hooded executioner swayed then, arms flailing as his body sagged and folded, crumbling into a heap of twisted limbs, blood flowing from a smoking hole on his temple.
Turning toward where the gunshot emanated Father Khan saw a woman slipping from behind a pillar, down on one knee with an unusual looking rifle propped on her shoulder. Before the Klansmen and their companions even knew what was happening four more shot roared in rapid succession, four more bodies careened to the floor.
Screams erupted among the captives, diving flat to the ground as the invaders unleashed a furious salvo on the intruder. Father Khan rushed toward Mari and tackled the frightened girl to the ground, placing himself on top of her for protection, quiet sacrilegious in hindsight by he was sure God will understand.
Stealing a glance, he saw the woman flowing behind the stone column she had emerged, strangely calm despite the hails of bullets, returning fire into the ranks of Klansmen and their allies, slaying them in droves.
So preoccupied with the woman that the thugs failed to notice another figure, a man, sprinting straight for their unprotected flank, an oversized long barrel pistol pointed forward and…for the love of God he's a Nazi. The black long coat and high peaked cap embroiled with a stylized iron eagle brought back a rather unpleasant memory of Father Khan's childhood in Nazi occupied Norway, where the crisply dressed officers of the Third Reich prowled the street looking for dissidents. Stranger still was that he's Asian. Well, the Japanese did sided with the German, so it doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.
He squeezed the trigger and there was a pop and fizz as if the air itself caught fire, and all around Father Khan bodies fell to the twinkling flares of soundless discharge. The big black man from before collapsed beside him, a sizzling crater where his right eye used to be, Mari scream almost made him deaf.
Roaring, the Klansman raised his hand at the Asian, but a lance of light peeled open his arm into a blooming bouquet of cooked flesh, flapping fleshy petals hanging from the stump just above the elbow. Falling to his knees, the Klansman agonizing howl ended when another bolt of reddish light punched through his skull, snapping his head backward as his broad frame tilted to the ground.
The deformed companion charged the Japanese Nazi, pipe raised for a savage blow, shrill cry announced her coming. The man was a blurred as he sidestepped the woman, spun on the ball of his heel and lashed out with a kick that struck the side of her neck with a very audible crack. The snarling woman was send bouncing across the floor, her neck twisted clean off the vertebrate.
The Gestapo unleashed more salvos above Father Khan, standing proud and tall, heedless of his own safety as the clamor of battle cracked into a panic rout.
"You're letting them go?" The Nazi asked, his question more than likely directed at the woman.
"Yep," she replied simply.
"They're gonna bring backup."
"I'm counting on it."
He laughed lowly at the promise of bloodshed before turning to Father Khan and extended his hand.
"Don't worry Father, we're friendlies."
Hesitantly, Father Khan took his hand and was hefted off the ground in one swift pull. Only now did he saw how young the boy was, a teenager for sure. He wore armor plates under his long coat and slung over his back was a large pack. Neither item seems to bother him.
"Thank you young man," Father Khan said, still a little frightened of the uniform.
"Chill out man, I'm not a Nazi," the boy saw through his trepidation. "Hey, we're not Nazi right?"
"Nope," his female companion strode over, sidestepping Thomas who rushed to Mari's side, sobbing as he held her. "We're something a lot worst."
Like him she carried a heavy pack over her shoulders and wore full body armor under her coat, a rather tight fitting and unabashed attire that could drive the holiest of Saints to unholy thought of carnality. Father Khan quickly made the sign of the cross.
"Now," the boy began, his powerful voice resonating across the hall. "I want every men and women who are not injured to start barring the entrance please."
The dazed people of Mercy Fall just gaped at him, most still shell-shocked while other appeared rather agitated at being ordered around by some Fascist looking stranger, stubbornly unreceptive of his request.
"Did I fucking spoke Thai or some shit!?" The boy raised his voice and swept his pistol over the frightened crowd. "Get off your asses and barred the goddamn door! Those Founders, Vox, and splicers motherfuckers are already coming back, so move!"
"You heard him! Move your arses colonial!" The woman, British judging by her accent, yelled the crowd into motion, herding them toward the door like a frothing mad sheepdog. "Pick up the seats and braced it against the door! Move it! You too you chav looking cunt! Move!"
"I'm sorry you have to see that Father," the boy shrugged and offered him an apologetic smile. "It's just that we really hate slackers."
"Please mister…" Father Khan pleaded. "We're just simple church going people, please let us go."
"We know Father, that's why I advise you to take the rest of these people down to the cellar. There's a tunnel that would take everyone to safety."
Father Khan stammered for words, not knowing whether to be caution or relief by this revelation. But despite the boy stern visage, he could tell that the grim youth was being truthful, no trace of lies or guile in his piercing eyes.
"You're helping us?" Father Khan needed to be sure.
"Of course," he nodded crisply.
"Oh thank the Lord!"
"Thank me and my friend padre, God didn't do shit," Father Khan froze when the boy suddenly took a step closer. "Before you go, however, there is something you need to do for us first."
"What is it?" He gulped, feeling himself shaking. Nothing was ever free.
"Me and my friend are looking for two girls," a shivering nostalgia assailed Father Khan, didn't the Klansman asked the exact same question just moments before?
"More precisely Father, where is Elizabeth DeWitt and Eleanor Lamb?"
"We have to go to the church," Elizabeth declared, the decision coming after a deep and difficult introspection, befitting the subject of life and death.
"I agree," Eleanor backed her up. "It's what father would have done."
"No!" Sally raised her objection, cheeks flustered red and tears marred her soft blue eyes. "You can't! You just can't!"
"Sally…" Elizabeth reached out her hand only for Sally to swathe it away with an audible smack.
"No!" She screeched, trembling violently until Tenenbaum drew her into a motherly hug, calming the poor girl.
"They'll kill you," sobbing slurred her voice. "They'll kill both of you…just like last time."
Unable to bear those quivering, pleading gaze, Elizabeth turned away lest her resolves began to waver. The gentle touch of Eleanor's hand came to rest on her arm then. Without turning she reached over and gripped it tight, letting the warmth steadied her for the task to come.
So this was how one felt when walking to the gallows. The shivering pangs frosting over every veins and muscles, each steps taken more reluctant than the last, knowing full well the finality of it all.
"It's the right thing to do," Elizabeth repeated the phrase like a mantra.
"It's the right thing to do," Eleanor echoed.
"No, it is not."
Elizabeth and Eleanor both turn to see Tenenbaum approaching them, stern and crossed like a headmistress about to reprimand her students. Eleanor gave Tenenbaum a look that begged her not to make this any harder than it already was, but Elizabeth just glared at the geneticist. Of course she would object to taking the higher road, to so easily disregard the lives of others.
"Don't try and stop us Tenenbaum," Elizabeth stated coldly.
"But I will. I cannot allow you to proceed with this," Tenenbaum retorted.
Elizabeth gave a dry laughed. "What are you going to do? Shoot us?"
"If it is necessary, then I shall do what must be done."
"Stop it! Both of you!" Eleanor stepped in between them, hands held out in supplication to both Elizabeth and Tenenbaum. Neither woman, however, sued for peace.
"Every moment we wasted arguing is another life lost," Elizabeth eyes narrowed on Tenenbaum. "How many more needed to die before we stop denying the inevitable, huh? At least by giving ourselves up to Sofia, we can save those poor people from suffering in our stead."
"And you seriously think Sofia will honor her promises?" Tenenbaum scoffed mockingly. "You naïve child, I know Sofia Lamb. The first thing she would do after you both surrender will be to execute those you seek to help, for she has nothing to gain by letting them go free. She would hurt you, in both body and spirit, and watch as nothing but hollow beaten husk remains before finally giving you peace in death."
Elizabeth seethed but was reluctant to admit that the doctor's word rung with unshakable reason. There was no guarantee that Sofia would uphold her promise, power drunk men and women seldom honor there bargain.
"Please dear," Tenenbaum pleaded now. "I know that you will never trust me, but please believe me that I do not wish to see you or Eleanor get hurt. I beg of you to reconsider your choice."
"Elizabeth…" now it was Eleanor who spoke, her face scrunching unsurely. "I think we should listen to her."
Elizabeth supposed she should feel a little betrayed that Eleanor sided with Tenenbaum but quickly banished such thought. She was not that childish. And although she still held reservation for the doctor's recommendation she did trust Eleanor judgment regardless of bias or inclination, she has always been more levelheaded than her.
"Alright," Elizabeth relented. "We'll do it your way."
"It is good to see that you can still be reasoned with," Tenenbaum said and Elizabeth can't tell if she was being condescending or not.
"But we can't leave those people," now Elizabeth was putting her foot down. "We have to do something."
"That, I agree," Eleanor nodded in agreement. "We have to help them."
"Sofia will be expecting you to do just that," Tenenbaum warned.
"We know this town," Eleanor said confidently. "We can slip right under their noses before they could know any better."
"And we have our powers," Elizabeth added. "Even if it's a little dodgy, I think I can still open a Tear. Plus Eleanor can teleport, they'll never see us coming."
Tenenbaum looked about ready to retort but instead placed a palm over her face and sigh, shaking exasperatedly.
"The twins were right," she spoke after a moment. "You are not one to choose an easy path."
That, Elizabeth took as a complement, her triumphant smirk drawing a chuckle from Tenenbaum.
"I want to help too," all turned to Sally, the blonde girl fidgeted, fingers wringing a nervous pattern on her dress, but there was an undeniable steely gleam in her eyes.
"I think you should stay here Sally, hide and wait until we get back," Elizabeth offered the girl. She, Eleanor and maybe Tenenbaum can fend for themselves, having ample experiences when it came to navigating hazardous environment. Although Elizabeth admits that her track record wasn't as stellar as Eleanor and Tenenbaum, having died and all, but the point still stands.
"I am not some fragile doll! I can fight!" Sally fumed, giving the floor a good stomp before staring glumly downward. "I'm not just some dead weight..."
Elizabeth was about to speak when Eleanor walked over to the downed Founder she had tackled earlier and yanked a wooden baton from his belt, the lanyard snapping off in the process. The man groaned and stirred but a swift punch from Eleanor send him straight back into oblivion, now both his cheeks were a flaming blemish.
"Here," Eleanor handed Sally the cudgel, who gave it a few testing swings.
"Eleanor!" Elizabeth gasped.
"What? If she wants to help I'm not going to stop her," she leaned closer and whispered into Elizabeth ears. "Besides, are you seriously going to leave her here? What happens when those two woke up or their friends get here?"
"Good point," Elizabeth nodded briskly, wondering how that glaring piece of logic escaped her in the first place.
"Just stay close dear," Tenenbaum knelt before Sally so that their eyes met. "Remember what I taught you? Strike only when you are sure, do not waste your energy."
"Yes mama Tenenbaum, I remember." Sally said resolutely, fingers coiling tight around the baton leather grip, a strange serenity coming over her visage.
Elizabeth and Eleanor traded looks of confusion, unsure if whether or not Tenenbaum just awakened something in Sally via a secret trigger word but quickly dismissed the thought, there were more pressing matter to attend to.
Readjusting her grip on the skyhook, Elizabeth crept toward the broken window beside a dark wood door, white sheer curtain rippled weakly to the soft breeze hissing through the shattered glass. Leaning on the door, Eleanor at her side, Elizabeth reached toward the almost translucent fabric and, with great care, parted it a fraction to see beyond.
Splicers patrolled the street, hunched and sniffing like hungry wolves, skittish under the sun bright glare. They roamed in packs, weapons waving and attacking everything that moves. Elizabeth gagged when they swarmed an injured man, turning him into unrecognizable piece of meat. Keeping a wide breadth of the splicers were squads of Founders, ragtag Atlas's guerrilla, brown coated Ryan's Security men and red clad Vox Populi freedom fighters. All four factions not opening fire on one another, showing herculean tolerant for their mortal foes as they kicked down doors or slithered into alleys, guns held at the ready.
Looking for them.
The sight was alarming to Elizabeth. Could Sofia Lamb been so persuasive as to broker a truce between these warring parties? Ideology forgotten for the sake of a common goal? Not even Comstock was so politically shrewd.
"The front door is out of question then," Eleanor remarked before running back toward the corridor they had come, Elizabeth following at her heels. Reaching the back door Eleanor, as quietly as she could managed, pushed aside the bracing counter before reaching for the brass doorknob, turning it slowly.
"Be careful," Elizabeth said as Eleanor gingerly poked her head outside, turning left, right and up before gently pushing the door open in its entirety, waving for Tenenbaum and Sally to join them.
"Come on!" Eleanor hissed as she dashed into the alleyway, hands simmering fire and frost with Elizabeth closely behind, skyhook spinning as she scanned the area, finding the place empty of threat. Sally warily came next, baton held stiffly in her grasp with Tenenbaum hovering at her back, hand cannon at the ready.
"If that was Thomas's shop…" Elizabeth pointed to the smoking ruin that was the ice cream parlor, tracing her finger in the air, trying to recognize the destroyed landmark while also recollecting where Mari and Thomas had went the last time she saw the couple.
"That means the church is that way," Elizabeth gestured toward the alley mouth, the large upturned trashcan trailing blood marked where the pursuing splicers were flattened earlier. "A straight line down Paeth Avenue, that would be the quickest way."
"There's going be splicers and Founders everywhere, if what we peeked was anything to go by," Eleanor then pointed toward an adjacent alley. "We can go through the alleyway, it'll take longer but we can remain out of sight and probably loose ourselves inside one of the buildings if they spot us. We can then swing around to the north and find a way into the church from there."
"That's just leaves us with crossing the road," Elizabeth observed the eerily empty thoroughfare, but knew better than to trust the serene appearance.
"Who says anything about crossing?" Eleanor smirked before reaching over and wrapping her arm around Sally's waist, pulling her close. "Hang on."
"Wha?" Before Sally could utter a word, both she and Eleanor disappeared into a cloud of pulsing iridescent violet, reappearing a split second later at the opposite alley in wisps of fading purple. Eleanor peered left and right at the alley mouth before hurriedly waving Elizabeth over. Behind her Sally staggered drunkenly for footing, not used to having her molecular structure displaced over a wide distance.
Raising her hands, Elizabeth concentrated and ripped apart the fabric of reality, fingers bend and arms straining as she tore open a gray laceration. The rippling image beyond the static threshold showed the back of Eleanor and Sally, both turning to face the fracture behind them.
"Go," she ushered Tenenbaum onward, who ducked under the shimmering arch before Elizabeth herself followed, swift gust rushing pass her as she collapsed the portal.
"Better get moving, I think I heard gunfire coming from the church." Eleanor jogged down the tight shaded corridor, debris and garbage littered their path and racks of clothe hung over their head, grimed with soot and smoke, tattered banners blowing in the wind.
Elizabeth quickened her steps to keep pace with Eleanor as she expertly navigates through the labyrinth like passage, slipping along the walls and vanishing around sharp bends like a shadowy apparition, quick and untouchable. So fluid was her motion that many time Elizabeth thought she was going to lose sight of Eleanor as she glided deeper into the gloom.
"Eleanor! Wait!" Sally spoke up, panting. "Slow down!"
Skidding to a stop, Elizabeth and Eleanor turned to see Sally and Tenenbaum struggling catch up, the doctor especially doesn't seem to be holding up well, the strenuous activity disagreeing considerably with her. The geneticist was sweating profusely, the bun of her brownish gray hair were beginning to unravel, breath coming sharp and haggard as she leaned heavily against a dirty wall. Sally didn't looked any better despite being younger, obviously not the type to go jogging in the morning.
"Are you okay?" Elizabeth asked, feeling a tinge of worry for the aging scientist.
"I haven't ran like this since Rapture," Tenenbaum managed a weak smile as she wiped sheen of sweat from her forehead. "I am not the young woman I used to be."
"Do you need a rest?" Elizabeth asked, offering Tenenbaum a hand.
"Just a little stop should be enough…"
"Elizabeth!"
There was a loud bang and Eleanor tackled Elizabeth, both tumbling to the rough gravel ground. Glancing up, Elizabeth saw a smoldering crater on the wall where head was a mere second ago, and standing on top of the opposite building was a red clad Vox, a sniper rifle trained on her. Grunting a curse, the man was pulling back the bolt knob of his rifle when another shot rang out, his skull exploding in a mist of red before falling lifelessly down the three storey drop.
Elizabeth spun to see Tenenbaum whipping her smoking hand cannon down the corridor they had just came and emptied the remaining five shots at a group of charging Vox. Two went down, but the rest pressed on, firing their weapons down the cramp and empty alley. Roaring, Eleanor summoned a ball of fire, this one the size of a basketball, and threw it at the oncoming Vox. The tight cluster of men and women scattered, screaming as merciless flame consumed them.
"Come on! Let's go!" Elizabeth yelled and grabbed the stunned Sally by her wrist and dashed down the alley, quickly turning right at the first corner.
Only to run straight into another squad of heavily armed Vox, repeaters and rifles raised at the ready. Shrieking, Sally swung her baton wildly and, by sheer luck, managed to hit the nearest Vox in the face, the slim man dropped face first to ground, knocked out cold.
"Stay behind me," Elizabeth pulled Sally back and brandished her skyhook at the Vox, they seem amused by the display.
"Now little lady, just come quietly and nobody ain't gonna get hurt…much," a man with a very obvious southern drawl leered at them, taking wide gait to close their distance.
"We're not going any with you," Elizabeth backed away carefully, drawing the group closer into the static radius of an unopened Tear at their feet, none of them noticing the quantum anomaly they were treading upon.
"Now why do ya have to go and be difficult?" The man stalked closer, Elizabeth fighting to hide her grin. "Y'all gonna be sorry for that."
"No we won't, but you're about to be." Elizabeth waved her hand and the Vox found themselves knee deep in a puddle.
"What the hell?" the man looked down, confusion quickly morphing into panic realization.
"Eleanor!" Elizabeth shouted and a crackling bolt of lightning shot passed her, striking the shallow pool in a dazzling dance of sparking blue currents. The Vox contorted and spams violently as thousands of volts shot through their body, setting alight every nerves and synapses. They collapsed in a twitching and spluttering heap when the Electro bolt ran its course, foamy saliva drooling from their mouth, eyes rolling into the back of their skulls.
"I might have went a little over board," Eleanor came to stand beside her, paling from the sight.
"Maybe just a bit much," Elizabeth shivered involuntary.
"We need to get out of the alley," Tenenbaum quickly reloaded her hand cannon, the settling quiet bringing them no comfort and the curdling, frothing scream was pretty hard to miss.
Turning away from the incapacitated Vox, Elizabeth reached for the nearest door and swung it open, waving everyone inside. The place was brightly lit to her surprise, the occupants having left in such a hurry that every bulb of light was still on. Locking the door, the four slowly made their way down the corridor. Judging by the rather homely interior and framed photographs lining the wall, Elizabeth deducted that they were inside someone's home, the undisturbed serenity almost putting her mind at ease.
She never saw the Vox woman charging through one of the open doors, ramming her shoulder into Tenenbaum side, the doctor grunting breathlessly. A shot rang out, the bullet went wide into the ceiling as the geneticist and the Vox fumbled into a backroom, both fighting to reach the gun that had slid to the far corner.
"Brigid!" Eleanor cry was cut short when a male Vox lunge at her, in his hand a big syringe with a cloudy liquid sloshing inside. Blindsided, Eleanor was laid flat on her back as the man scrambled on top of her, the sharp needle pointed downward, the metal tip suspended above her neck.
Gripping tight her skyhook, Elizabeth raised it above her head and was about to strike him when a sharp cry cut through the air. Snapping her head back, she saw that Sally was nowhere to be found, lost somewhere within the abode interior.
"Go!" Eleanor grunted, slowly pushing back her struggling, nervous assailant. Seeing how the fight was going in Eleanor's favor, Elizabeth spun on her heel and bolted down the corridor, skyhook spinning. Shouldering through a door, she found Sally standing meekly in the corner of a living room.
"Elizabeth look out!" Sally cried, pointing to a dark spot behind her.
Elizabeth tuned and raised her skyhook in time to block a rifle butt careening toward her temple, splinters flew as wood and metal locked in mortal combat, grinding and pushing to get the upper hand. Teeth gritted, Elizabeth tried to find purchase for her feet but was quickly overwhelmed by her attacker. She was shoved against a table and pressed flat on her back as the slender Vox quickly positioned himself between her thighs, a predicament that only causes Elizabeth to struggle harder, desperate kicks lashing the air.
Elizabeth quickly realized that it was a woman who had straddled her, and once she recognized that wrathful face before her, all warmth drained from her veins as she beheld a ghost of the past, made manifest to exact its vengeance.
"Da-Daisy?!" Elizabeth stammered and saw something akin to satisfaction glinting in those hate filled almond black eyes.
"Elizabeth." Daisy hissed and grabbed a fistful of Elizabeth blouse, hurling her across the room. White hot pain flared across her vision as she struck the hard plaster wall. Fighting through swarming pain, Elizabeth tried to rise but was pinned back against the wall by the hard sole of Daisy's boot.
"You remember this?" Daisy drew a pair of scissor from her belt, the same one Elizabeth had used to kill her back in Columbia, and leaned close, the sharpen iron gleaming with murderous glee.
"Don't! Daisy please, don't do this!" Elizabeth squirmed, clawing vainly at the heavy boot pressed firmly on her chest.
"You won't get any mercy from me, not after everything you've done." Daisy seethed and tucked the scissor back into her belt, "but we need you alive…for now."
Daisy pulled her foot away and Elizabeth crumbled to the floor, coughing for air. Looking up, she saw the Vox leader raising her leg for a stomp, but before the lead rimmed boot came down she was thrown staggering to the left with a resounding wooden bonk, one hand clutching the back of her head and the other reaching for anything to brace upon. Snarling, Daisy snapped toward the frightened Sally, baton shaking in her grip.
"You little bitch!" Daisy lashed out and wrenched the baton from the girl's grasp. Sally screamed and tried to run but Daisy caught a fistful of her hair, gave it a savage yank and forced the whimpering blonde on her knee, the cudgel arching back for a downward blow.
"No!" Elizabeth shouted and reached out toward a pulsing Tear, the object hazy and shrouded behind veil of fizzling static, and pulled it into the material realm.
Blinking from the white glare, Elizabeth gaze at the thing that she had summoned and found herself gawking in revulsion. Even Daisy had ceased her brutality and was staring at what the Tear had produced, while Sally took this opportunity to pry herself loose and backpedaled to the far corner of room.
It was…an egg? At least Elizabeth thought it was an egg, the oval shape leaving no other possible conclusion to what she was witnessing.
But Elizabeth saw that there was something wrong with it.
Instead of hard shell this egg, about the size a beach ball, was composed of quivering whitish fleshly skin, oozing translucent slime coated the surface in thick, sticky layer of goo, the sluggish liquid dripping slowly down the side.
Then without warning the top part peeled open in a grotesque parody of a blooming flower, the sickly wet sound sending shudders up and down Elizabeth body. Steam poured from the orifice, the gagging rot that made her tear up.
That was when she saw something rippled underneath the shell, too fast for Elizabeth to fully define.
Suddenly a blurry shape shot up from the egg with an inhuman shriek, hurtling toward the stunned Vox leader who barely had the time to raise her hand in defense.
Daisy's scream quickly turned into a gurgling choke as an arachnoid of some sort latched its whipping tail around her neck, forcing its writhing mass closer despite the woman colossal effort to push the damnable thing away, its eight needle like limbs prickling and pulling hungrily at her face.
"Get it off! Help!" Daisy croaked as the beast tighten its strangulation. The Vox woman from before, an oriental, burst through the door and rushed to assist her leader, ignoring the stricken Elizabeth and Sally as she took out a knife and tried to hold the creature still. Emerging in her wake was Tenenbaum, hairs and clothe roughed up but otherwise unharmed, and Eleanor who was also unscathed despite the scuffle.
Eyeing the two fumbling Vox locked in a deadly struggle with the arachnoid, Eleanor inches cautiously toward them and snatched a fallen undamaged radio from the floor, hooked it on her belt and turned to help Elizabeth up on her feet.
"Are you okay?" Eleanor asked as she guided Elizabeth to the front door.
"I'll live," Elizabeth cradled her chest, wincing from the touch.
"What was that thing?" Eleanor pushed the door open and they rushed outside, finding the street empty despite the church looming just a few blocks away.
"I really don't want to know," Elizabeth shook her head then turned to Sally and Tenenbaum. "Are you two alright? Can you go on?"
"That is the church, is it not?" Tenenbaum waved her gun at the gray spire grazing the smoky sky. "Nothing to do but pressed onward now that our goal is so close."
"I'm fine Elizabeth, a little shaken mind you, but fine," Sally managed a smile. "I lost my baton though…"
"Just stay close and low for now," Eleanor told her before striking further down the street, waving Elizabeth over, who in turn gestured for Tenenbaum and Sally to slink into the shadow. They both comply without a word.
"You hear that?" Eleanor said as Elizabeth came to her side.
"Yeah." She nodded, noting the loud ruckus down the road that churned like cresting wave rushing for the shores. Angry shouts answered by deafening eager roars, an army preparing for a massive push.
"What do you think is happening?" Eleanor asked.
"I don't know but I think we need to take a closer look," Elizabeth made to move but was held back by Eleanor who took her arm firmly.
"Was that Daisy Fitzroy?" Eleanor began, concern clear on her face.
"Yes." Elizabeth sighed.
"Didn't you…"
"I did."
"How is she…?"
"I don't know, alright?" Elizabeth snapped, but quickly softened after seeing Eleanor startled face. "Sorry."
"That's what I get for asking stupid question at a time like this," Eleanor chuckled dryly. "Do you need a moment?"
"I'll be alright," Elizabeth nodded. "As Tenenbaum said we're already so close, no point in stopping now."
"I guess you're right." Eleanor waved over Tenenbaum and Sally who quickly scooted up behind them.
"Let's see what we're up against."
With Elizabeth in the lead, the four women stalked down the street, heads held low and keeping to the shade of the building. The process was cautiously slow at first but when a loud explosion boomed from the church, all four hastened down the street, knowing that time was running out for those still trapped inside.
Laura spared the plume of dust rising from the stairway a smidgen of attention before returning to a more pressing urgency now occupying her utmost scrutiny.
SCAR, flamer or hellpistol?
Decisions, decisions.
SCARs were nice for quick professional bout of firefight but it lacked the extravagance a first impression should provoke. Her signature flamer would totally fit such a task, but the thought of being trapped inside a burning church was a real turn off. The hellpistol appears to be the optimal answer but that would make everything too ridiculously easy.
Bloody hell, she can't decide. And that constant banging on the door wasn't exactly helping either, the thick wooden frame and stacks of seats bouncing to every violent beats.
What the hell was taking them so long? It's been what? Almost thirty minutes and those idiots still haven't breached the door. The old thing wasn't exactly the Gate of Minas Tirith so what was the fucking hold up? Goddamn these morons are incompetent; brain dead AI at its finest.
"About fucking time, goddamn," Tangmo strode into view, brushing dust off his commissar coat and unslinging his AA-12.
"They're gone?" Laura asked as he took his place by her side.
"Yeah, all safe inside the tunnel now, I caved in the entrance so no one can follow," Tangmo checked his ammo pouches. "Now I can have some fun with my baby."
"Why didn't you just use it to begin with?" A sharp splintering crack accompanied the spinning drill bursting through the door, lively cheer sounded outside. Laura and Tangmo paid it no mind.
"Don't want to accidently mowed down the civilians," now Tangmo was checking his Bolt pistol, detaching the sickle magazine, screened its content before slamming it back in.
"Since when do you care?" Laura gave him an incredulous look.
"They're not the enemy's civilian, are they?" Tangmo just shrugged as the door yielded further, moments away from succumbing to the onslaught.
"Wonder who's going to be popping in first," Laura propped the SCAR on her shoulder.
"If it's a Big Daddy then I got dips," Tangmo smirked wolfishly.
"So what the hell exactly is the plan here?"
"Draw them in, kill as many as we can, rigged the place, leave and send them all on a first class ride to hell."
"You want to blow this place up? Leave that to me love."
"…I'm already regretting this."
A loud whale like groan rumbled outside to a blaring ovation, quick thumping of heavy leaden boot reverberated as a Big Daddy rammed its hulking size through the feeble door and hastily erected defenses, sweeping its huge drill over the debris like a scythe wielding farmer reaping his crops.
It was one of those generic Big Daddy you saw on every Bioshock merchandise, what was it call? The squat, Quasimodo looking twat. Bouncer? Yeah, that's it, Bouncer. The iconic undersea steampunk cyborg thing ceased its assault on the scattered rubbles when it saw Laura and Tangmo; the illuminating porthole glowing furious red as another deafening roar erupted, the acoustic of the church amplifying the war cry.
"All yours," Laura waved at the monstrosity and Tangmo leveled his Bolt pistol.
The Big Daddy was bracing itself for the famous drill dash when Tangmo pulled the trigger, the rocket propelled .75 caliber standard Bolt round shot through the air in resounding thunder. The diamantine tip punched a fist size hole into the Big Daddy's head, it howled in pain just as the round detonated, spewing flame and shards out of its massive back.
The Bouncer stood still for a second before falling forward like a chopped tree and Tangmo went positively ballistic.
"Holy shit! One shot! Did you see that shit!" Tangmo was bouncing gleefully on his toe, pumped up by his kill. "The toughest motherfucker in Rapture dropped by a single Bolt! Hah! Suck it!"
A furious salvo interrupted Tangmo's DX crotch chopping, causing him to dive behind a seat, cursing loudly as hot, speeding lead peppered everything around him. Laura slinked behind a pillar, turned on the laser sight, switched the SCAR to full auto, took aim and waited. When the volley ended hordes of splicers poured into the church, firing their piss poor guns wildly and cackling like a bunch of deranged monkeys.
Pulling down the trigger, Laura fired indiscriminately into the splicers tightly packed ranks, bullets cutting them down en masse in sprays of blood and flailing bodies, the living tumbling over the dead. The surviving splicers tried to charge her as she reloaded, but was quickly torn to flapping shred by the ferocious salvo of the AA-12, the rapid discharge of 12 gauge shots turning their bodies into unrecognizable gibs.
The splicers continued their mad rush into the church, slipping on the slick puddle of crimson and tripping over the bodies of their fallen brothers and sisters like the Persian at Thermopylae and the Mongols at Hakata Bay, fighting their hardest to overcome the two defenders only to find themselves added to the ever rising pile of steaming corpses.
Soon the Founders and Vox entered the fray with some semblance of martial discipline, laying down covering fire while their braver fellows made a desperate sprint into the church interior.
Grinning at the challenge, Laura switched the firing mode to semi-auto and began picking off those slippery bastards scrambling for cover; every flash of the muzzle meant another body hit the floor, howling in agony or gurgling their last breath. They tried to return fire but found themselves pinned and steadily pushed back by Tangmo's AA-12 unceasing barrage, every steps gain meant five more steps backward.
Then the heavy hitter started showing up.
Leaping dramatically through the stain glass window was a Columbian Fireman, gush of fire snaking over his arms, pulsing with barely restrained longing to unleash the deadly inferno.
"In the name of the Prophet!" He screamed and hurled two fireballs at Tangmo, who dodged the projectiles with quick rolls and dashes, the flaming missiles never came close to grazing his venerated uniform. The commissar then rose to his feet, stood proud and valorous before the Bioshock ensemble, and pointed the Bolt Pistol at the enraged Fireman.
"For the Emperor!" Tangmo announced and fired, his powerful tenor eclipsing the weapon discharge.
The Fireman exploded in a brilliant conflagration, rolling fire swept over his comrade in an immolating tide. Men and woman screamed as searing flame draped over them, writhing in broken agony as they slowly, torturously, went still, clothe and skin flayed to black, pool of blood bubbled and steamed.
Laura could only shook her head at the pathetic display. She had expected so much more, but alas, her foes had proven their inadequacy. If this continues, they'll be running out of bullets first before Rapture and Columbia ran out of men to fight.
The great stone archway of the entrance exploded suddenly then, sending giant slab of stones shooting in all direction, trailing plumes of dust like rocket. Laura eased herself behind the pillar while Tangmo simply step calmly away from the flying debris, stubbornly refusing to leave his perimeter.
"The pain! Make it go away!" Came the mournful cry as a hulking shape burst through the dusty rubbles where the entrance once stood.
A Handyman.
Laura hated these gorilla dickheads, pretty much the worst enemies in the entirety of the Bioshock franchise. These jackasses were so infuriating because they were so goddamn hard to kill, and it's not like Bioshock Infinite allowed you to be creative like the Deus Ex games either. The only strategy you got was basically run and shoot the fucker till it die, while praying that Elizabeth wouldn't get stingy with ammos and health.
But now, Laura chance of revenge has arrived.
Whipping out her inquisitorial hellpistol, Laura took aim at the bald, sodden face man-thing.
"It hurts! Why won't the pain go away?!" He wailed and charged, large metallic hand reaching for her.
"Cry more ya wanker," Laura sneered and squeezed the trigger.
Dark red, super-heated lance of light shot out from the barrel, followed by pops and fizzes as the empty air in its trajectory ionized, the stank of burnt metal hung heavy in the air. The first shot went through the glass chamber containing the Handyman's heart, the vital organ and its connecting machinery atomized into dripping, charred residue.
Before the Handyman can come to term with his demise, another bolt vaporized the top of half his skull, leaving a smoking mandible with the tongue hanging loose. He fell to his knees and went still, propped up like a statue frozen in a posture of graceful death, the machinery giving its last hissing steam.
Sweet, sweet revenge. And it only took two shots.
With a maddened glint in her eyes, Laura trained the hellpistol on the stunned looking Founders and Vox, grinning wickedly as she held down the trigger and watched them all fall to the brilliant flashes of stabbing light, cooked to a crisp by laser beams hotter than the sun.
It was quite entertaining for the first few minutes, Laura admits. Plowing through the grunts of Bioshock with 40k weaponry was the equivalent of activating a God-mode cheat on low level enemies, the intoxicating rush of invincibility was truly an indulgence to be savored like the best and rarest of vintage.
But it got boring real quick. What was the point of power if challenge was sadly eliminated from the equation? Also, Laura needed to remind herself that they were not here to destroy Rapture and Columbia, not yet at least, but rather to rescue the two little lambs in distress. And for Laura to accomplish her task adequately, the Bioshock goons needed to be inside the church, not fleeing from it.
She saw it in their eyes. The Founders, the Vox, the Rapture guerrillas and even the splicers were seconds away from breaking into a full rout. Oh well, time to give them a little encouraging nudge.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Laura did her best to appear distressed, waving hurriedly at Tangmo who was still laying waste to everything coming out of the ruined archway. "They're breaking through, I can't hold them back and my guns are busted! Fall back!"
Dashing from the pillar, Laura made a show of slipping and fumbling as she scrambled for a long seat further back into the church, giving a few sharp squeaks when bullets whizzed close to her. The premature roar of victory signaled a second wind for the Bioshock horde as they sally forth into the church, spreading out to either side for an all-encompassing flanking maneuver.
Peeking her head above the upturned seat, Laura saw Tangmo rising to his feet and casually strolled over to where she was, sparks cascaded off his Storm Trooper armor where lucky shot landed. He glanced back a few times to fire his Bolt pistol at the enclosing wave of humanity, but hungry wasn't to be denied.
"What do you have in mind?" Tangmo, dual wielding the AA-12 and Bolt pistol, asked as he began dishing out sporadic return fire. "Might want to be quick, it's beginning to look a lot like the last ten minutes of Left 4 Dead up in here."
"It'll be a minute love," Laura began whistling 'Whistle While You Work' as she reached into her pack, rummaged through the overflowing content before withdrawing two promethium fuel tanks, four Melta charges and a roll of tape. Setting all four Melta detonation to sixty second…nah, make it forty, Laura taped the bombs to the two promethium tanks and bundled them up nice and snuggly. She then placed the makeshift explosive down between her and Tangmo, pressed the big red button to start the countdown sequence and watched the seconds blinked away.
"Rubber dinghy rabid bro!" Laura screamed and bolted for a stain glass window depicting Mary and baby Jesus.
"The fuck…oh shit!" Tangmo leapt to his feet and dashed after Laura, ignoring the bullets making twinkling music off his armor.
Eyes closed and arms raised in a cross over her face, Laura jump through the window in a magnificent display of sacrilegious destruction, landing on the soft swaying grass outside with a beautifully executed ninja-roll, Tangmo landing beside her a few seconds later.
"Run!" She yelled as they both took off at a brisk sprint, passing the church courtyard where an army of Bioshock enemies were gathered. They gawked at the two black clad youth for a moment, taking a few seconds to register the threat before chasing after them, weapons brandished and hungry.
"Please tell me you actually timed it sixty seconds this time," Tangmo said beside Laura, trying to keep up with her enhanced speed courtesy of the power armor.
"Forty!" Laura smirked innocently.
"You crazy bitch! We're gonna get fucked now!" Tangmo shouted as a metal slug struck his right pauldron.
"Fuck you!" He retorted promptly.
"No we won't! There!" Laura rushed toward a large truck laying on its side like a stricken whale and sat with her back braced against its upturned underside, hands over ears and face tucked between her knees, the metallic carcass would suffice for this imminent blast. Tangmo appeared a second later next to her and assumed the same position, teeth gritted in morbid anticipation.
"Freeze!" A group of Founders ran up to them, weapon raised and smiling triumphantly.
"Bro! You seriously need to get down!" Tangmo told the man. "I'm not joking dude!"
"Ha! Like I'm going to fall for that…"
The man never finished his sentence for he was threw off his feet by a rapturous explosion, so loud and powerful that it appeared the very fabric of reality was being ripped asunder. Laura blew the man a kiss just as his gaping, screaming face was washed over by glaring, infernal white. Then came the heat, crashing over them like a hellish tsunami.
Never in her life had Elizabeth thought it would be possible to experience such unimaginable heat. The fiery eruption had left her deaf and blind, so furious was the monstrous conflagration that every fiber of her being were crying in agony, every bones, joints, ligaments and muscles convulsing in painful spasms, unable to do anything but writhe and squirm. She could feel herself screaming but no voice came, nothing but sharp ringing filled her ears as the muted shriek scraped her throat raw.
It was sight that first returned to her, the white painful glare receding to reveal a world awash in flame, bright ripples of red and orange draped over every surface, dancing as if ablaze. Then she saw the fire, rising in thick column of burning cloud where the church had stood, the destruction absolute and merciless. Even from a couple of blocks away, the explosion was of such magnitude that the shockwave had knocked Elizabeth off her feet and flung her like a doll down the street.
Glancing around, she saw Eleanor lying face down on the ground, moving with lethargic feebleness to rise. Rushing to her friend, Elizabeth yelled and found that sound was quickly returning.
"Eleanor!" Her voice was alien and muffled at first, but quickly took its normal timbre, followed by the agonizing ambient of the smoke filled air.
"Eleanor! Oh my God!" Elizabeth quickly rolled Eleanor on to her back and very carefully lifted her off the ground. "Are you alright? Can you hear me?"
Eleanor coughed and swayed but quickly righted herself, blinking the world back into focus.
"The church…" she whimpered, her forlorn gaze fixed on the twisted tongues of fire rising skyward.
"No…" Eleanor shuddered, head slumped low. "No, no, no!"
Elizabeth wrapped Eleanor up in her arms and held her tight, fighting back tears of her own. Those people…gone, innocent taken from this world in wretched torment. Mari, Thomas, Andreas, Casey, Father Khan, great wonderful people with nothing by joy and kindness in their hearts, all dead now because of her stubbornness to comply with a mad woman's demand. Just when she thought the evil of Rapture and Columbia couldn't reach a new threshold of depravity, they managed to show her that their humanity was no longer salvageable, leaving only the deformed monster within reflected upon their cancerous flesh.
"Eleanor! Elizabeth!" It was Tenenbaum, staggering toward them with a limping Sally draped her over shoulder.
Wordlessly, Elizabeth and Eleanor slowly got back on their feet, still wrapped in each other's arms, and walk over to Tenenbaum and Sally. They all shared the same broken look, lost on what to do now that they had failed to help those within the church.
"Are you two okay?" Was all Elizabeth could managed, still reeling from the shock.
"My ankle…" Sally said weakly, hopping on one foot and winching as she applied weight on the other.
"I think she might have sprained it," Tenenbaum spoke. "What do we do now Elizabeth?"
"Stop pursuing the path of futility, maybe?"
They all jumped with a squeal when Rosalind reappeared among them, her pristine appearance was a stark contrast to the four bruised and battered women, looking as detached as ever despite the apocalyptic vista.
"Those people…" Elizabeth stammered. "I couldn't save them. They are all gone because I didn't gave myself up."
"There was no possible outcome that would see Sofia Lamb honoring her promise," Rosalind said snappily. "You have wasted your time and endangered yourself following a fatalist impulse to assist those irrelevant to your survival. A sad waste of energy if you ask me."
"They were our friends!" Eleanor screamed and clawed at Rosalind, held at bay by Elizabeth who was really tempted to let her loose on the female Lutece. "And now they're dead! Don't you understand you frigid bitch! They're all dead because of us! Kind and good people that deserved a long and happy life," Eleanor was weeping openly now, "they don't deserved any of this."
"And they didn't, they are safe," Rosalind announced unperturbed.
"What?" Eleanor sniffed, wiping sliver streaks from her dirty face.
"You mean they're alive?" Elizabeth ventured, not daring to hope.
"It was an unforeseeable serendipity," Rosalind continued. "It appeared that the chaperones we've enlisted just so happens to stumble into the church when the attack occurred. They freed those inside from captivity, and led them to safety via a secret tunnel they've used to gain entry into Mercy Fall. They should be somewhere in the forest by now."
Elizabeth let out a whimpering gasp, tears of relief streamed down her cheeks to wash away the filth and grime.
"Although, I must say that I fail to understand why they feel it prudent to destroy the church," there was an undeniable annoyance in Rosalind tone, something Elizabeth found rather surprising. "My brother is reprimanding them as we speak."
Neither Elizabeth or Eleanor spoke, they just stood there clinging to each other, sharing the rushing relief washing over them, the soothing news drying their tears and easing the oppressive weariness shrouding over their tired body.
"Perhaps now you will be more inclined with the prospect of leaving this town?" Rosalind inquired. "If you wish, I will be more than willing to guide you to your escorts."
"That would be very nice," Eleanor broke away from Elizabeth. "Thank you."
"Then it shall be done," Rosalind said crisply. "It was getting rather tiresome seeing you all scuttling off on your own."
"And I'm…sorry for calling you a frigid bitch," Eleanor added meekly, shrinking slightly from Rosalind unblinking stare.
"Apology accepted," Rosalind said after a moment and Eleanor sagged in relief. "But first, all of you may wish to get off the road."
As quick and abrupt as her entry, Rosalind was gone. The air tremble and Elizabeth turned to see four gunships hovering above them, guns wielding men and women cocking ready their firearms. From down the lane came splicers, howling and yapping, crude weapons waving above their heads in bestial frenzy as they spotted the four women.
"Run!" Elizabeth yelled and their flight across the ruin of Mercy Fall continues.
