Authors note: Okay..from this chapter on the content on the chapters will be a bit strong..main reason why I rose the rating on the story...any way I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
First Contact
Good Jacob:
Rapture, Rapture's foundation: 11:00am
The foundation was huge. It was more of an underground city than a foundation for one.
"Many workers lived, ate and slept down here." Red explained.
"Why? Isn't there enough space up in Rapture?" Jacob asked, looking around he felt his chest hurt. How could somebody... anybody, be so cruel. The workers were people too. So what if they're not brilliant, they deserve food and proper housing just like everyone else. What he was seeing couldn't support human life.
"Blame Andrew Ryan for it." Red muttered.
"Is he that bad?" asked Jacob. It was a stupid question, but maybe... just maybe, Andrew did have some kindness. Somewhere deep, deep, DEEP inside of him.
"Has your family told you about him?" asked Red.
"Yes." Jacob answered.
"Then that answers your question" Red said simply before he admitted, "But I guess I can give you a little bit of a history lesson."
"Okay." Jacob answered as he waited for the story.
"Why should I tell you in words? There's a room here, called the security room. Go there."
Jacob nodded before asking, "Where should I go?"
"Take five steps forward." Red answered, Jacob obeyed and took five steps forward, "Go left, three steps" Walking to the left Jacob took two steps, in the middle of the third his body hit a hard metal door. There was a loud clang which resounded through his helmet.
"Ugh..." Jacob grunted as he held his head.
"There you go, open the door and enter the room."
Making a mental note to complain to Red Jacob opened the door and entered the room. The room was dark, there was a click, and a light blinked on showing the room was filled with control panels, monitors, and a chair. Walking up to the chair Jacob sat on it. It creaked under Jacob's weight. scooting it closer to the controls he looked over the buttons. There were dozens upon dozens of buttons, all of them were different shapes and colors.
"See the right button? The dark blue one?" Red asked.
"Yeah." Jacob answered as he moved his hand over the button before- "Ignore that one, push the green button in the middle."
Rolling his eyes Jacob moved his hand the green button and pushed it. The middle screen, which was by far the biggest, being seven inches tall and eight inches wide, turned on. There was static for a few seconds before it cleared and an image appeared. It was that of a man, he had a hard expression on his face, it was the type of person which lived by the code of, "other people may suffer, as long as my need are met I don't care." it reminded Jacob of Butch.
The man too a sip of some juice in an elegant glass cup, Jacob guessed it was wine and that the man in the video was trying to make a statement by acting the part of the refined learned man before he began to speak.
"I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
'No,' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.'
'No,' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.'
'No,' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.'
I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose...
Rapture.
A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small.
And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."
This man was Andrew Ryan? It wouldn't surprise Jacob, he was certainly charming enough.
"It was a trap" Red spoke up after a few seconds of silence.
"What?" Jacob asked.
"Rapture, part of what he said is true, and part of it was a lie. True, he made the city to be a utopia, but it was a lie because something went wrong in the process. Even before Adam came. Even if it was never discovered, things would have still gone bad." Red explained grimly. "Andrew Ryan probably named his city after the goal he set in mind: To create a paradise free from all the people he saw as Parasites, a place of true rapture. The original goal of Rapture was to create a capitalist society free of religion and government, where any citizen could achieve for his or her own gain, rather than for the altruistic fulfillment of the wants of others. The world's best and brightest were granted freedom of will and choice in Rapture. Unrestrained by government, religion, and similar established institutions. Instead of abiding by the morally idyllic restrictions imposed by these institutions. Values such as logic and scientific reason were to guide the inhabitants in their pursuit of achievement.
However, the would-be utopia had its flaws. In Rapture's purely capitalistic society, with no social programs whatsoever, everything within the city was privately owned and came with a price. This included the city's food, health care, sanitation, and even its oxygen supply. There were few, if any, defined norms for businesses and labor, allowing unscrupulous business practices such as overpriced vending service, to flourish. This system alienated Rapture's less fortunate citizens, who began to resent Ryan as naive and elitist. Andrew Ryan's hostility to Parasites and his paranoia of these poorer citizens led to a downfall of his own making."
Listening to the story Jacob was forced to take his helmet off and began to cry. People, hundreds of them, were mistreated. Many of them came to escape the hard life but ended up in an even more horrible place. They were probably forced to sell everything, they had no comfort, no warmth, no food, it was awful.
"Come on now. Don't cry, its all in the past." Red tried to comfort the distraught boy turned man.
"I know, I know. Its just, how can anybody be so cruel?" Jacob cried, tears were pouring from his eyes as he tried to wipe them away with his arm.
"If I were Andrew Ryan I would have though about everyone. Those people are part of the city too, if he treated them right, showed kindness, this place would be a true utopia."
Red let Jacob cry for a few minutes. Finally, when Jacob calmed down, Red continued.
"I wish Andrew had your heart, maybe things would have been different. But like I said, its all in the past now, there is no changing what happened, right now what is important is your escape, and mine as well."
Jacob nodded then he though about what Red just said
"Escape? You want to escape too?" he asked.
"Yeah, only I can't do it alone. We have to work together." Red offered. It seemed like a fair deal so Jacob accepted.
*Boom!*
A giant explosion came from behind the door, knocking Jacob off of the chair, sending him flying and crashing into the monitor before slumping to the ground. Recovering from the hit Jacob got up on his knees and turned to look at the person who activated the explosions.
"Hello mutant." He heard.
Jacob's eyes widened, he knew that sneer anywhere.
Looking up he saw a Big brother. He wore a sphere helmet like his own, the hole he used to see was round, his suit was less armored, and it had a sphere cage on his back with pink bows tied on it. He had a harvester secured to his left arm and what looked like a metal blade welded onto the forearm of his right arm.
"Jacob, be careful. This Big brother is an Elite Big Brother, his job is to protect little sisters, if the Big Sister is hurt or can't fight, she sends a call for this Big Brother, who protects the Little Sister and kills his opponent, these type of Brothers mean business."
Standing up Jacob looked at the Big Brother and asked, "Are you Gerald?" The Big brother laughed and replied, "I was at one time, if that's what you mean. I have never been so happy to see that you were right. Rapture is real and it gave me this." He laughed again and raised is right arm, waving the blade around.
"Gerald, I don't want to fight you" Jacob insisted firmly.
"No... no I suppose you don't." Gerald muttered before he took out a handful of marbles from a pouch on his hip and threw them at Jacob. They exploded sending Jacob flying though the wall and into another room.
"Did I mention that they also have explosive's?" Red asked rhetorically.
"Yes, you forgot to mention the bombs." Jacob hissed as he got up quickly. Gerald jumped and tackled Jacob to the floor an instant later. Jacob managed to grab Gerald as they landed and use the momentum to throw him. Gerald smashed into the wall with a loud clang. Seeing Gerald disoriented Jacob looked around and tried to come up with something to stop Gerald.
Then he saw it, it was a giant magnet, probably used to move the metal around back when they made the city. a plan hatched in Jacob's mind as he ran over to the control panel, which was next to the magnet. Gerald got up and ran after him, throwing a handful of marbles at him.
Making it just in time Jacob activated the magnet, which not only attracted and trapped Gerald but the marbles as well. Which ended up exploding the instant they hit Gerald's trapped form.
Taking deep breathes Jacob slowly walked over to Gerald, making extra careful to avoiding getting caught by the magnet. "Wow, color me impressed Kid. For a fellow who's never fought in his life you did pretty well yourself." Red praised. "Now this, Gerald was it? How do you know him?" Red asked.
Jacob thought for a few seconds, fury mounting in his chest. Years, he suffered abuse because of Gerald and his gang. Now the tables have turned, instead of Jacob begging for mercy Gerald was the one that was going to b doing the begging.
Recovering, Gerald looked at Jacob...no longer was he the puny boy he loved to pick on, but a man in a dangerous suit of armor. He was scared, he realized, as Jacob's red light bathed him in it's glow.
"No... no please! Have mercy on me!" He begged.
"Why should I? You never gave me mercy when you picked on me. When you punched me, stole my possessions, HUMILIATED ME!" Jacob screamed.
"Please... please, I didn't mean to." Gerald begged crying.
"Then why did you?" Jacob demanded.
Crying, Gerald answered "My parents."
"You expect me to believe your parents forced you to bully me?" Jacob hissed, wanting to get some answered.
Shaking his head Gerald continued "No... they never cared, not for me, not for my brother. They act as if we never existed! I... we... thought that if we acted badly they would pay attention to us. We were tired... tired of coming home everyday to an empty house. Sometimes we didn't even have any food because they forgot to go shopping and just got takeout for themselves."
Jacob listened, he couldn't help but feel pity for what Gerald had gone through. Maybe he wasn't a bad person?
"What are you waiting for? do away with him. Don't you want revenge for what he did to you?" Red asked.
Closing his eyes Jacob let out a long breath, "No"
"No?" Red asked curiously.
"Gerald may be a pain, a bully, but nobody deserves to die. Not even the worst criminals in the world, if they all got killed what would we be accomplishing? nothing, we'd just be sinking down to their level. I'm going to do something that nobody has done to Gerald in his life." Jacob announced as he walked over to the control panel, shut it off and, said, "I am going to give him forgiveness."
Once free Gerald walked off of the magnet and took off his helmet revealing a head full of brown hair. His face more serious than back then when he was a kid. His eyes glowed like the little sister's, Jacob half expected that Gerald had told him a lie and would try and kill him but he never did.
"Thank you Jacob. I never knew you would be this kind. I will always be in your depth." said Gerald, taking off his small pouch he gave it to Jacob.
"I hope these will be of help." He said before he secured his helmet and sprinted away.
"Okay, you are the most naive person in the world." Red deadpanned.
"Red, you think Gerald will be fine on his own?" Jacob asked, ignoring the man's previous statement.
Jacob could almost hear the eye roll before he spoke. "Yeah, sure, he'll be fine." Red muttered. Smiling softly to himself Jacob turned and started walking deeper into the Foundation.
Evil Jacob:
Rapture's foundation, time 11:00am:
The foundation was huge..it was more of an underground city than a foundation. "Many workers lived, ate and slept down here." Red explained.
"Why? Isn't there enough space up in Rapture?" Jacob asked as he looked around. What he was seeing couldn't support human life.
"Blame Andrew Ryan for it" said Red,
"The guys sounds like a monster." Jacob commented out loud while his mind analyzed the situation. 'And not a very productive one. I can see the advantage in making your workers live where they work but it's useless if they're homes are uninhabitable.'
"Has your family told you about him?" Red asked.
"A little." Jacob answered truthfully.
"I guess I can tell you a little bit of Raptures history then." Red announced.
"Must you? While Rapture is very interesting I'd much rather find some action." Jacob admitted. He wanted to find out how strong he was, not listen to the plight's of those who were long gone.
"Fine, if you don't want to hear the story i'll just show you. Is that interesting enough for you? Imagine all the pretty colors. Ooooh, aahhh." Red started talking like he was talking to a baby.
"Shut up. But fine, where do I go?"
"Take five steps forward." Red answered, Jacob obeyed and took five steps forward, "Go left three steps."
taking two steps Jacob froze before chuckling to himself, "Almost got me Red, you should know i'm not naive enough to fall for that."
Shrugging Red admitted, "Worth a try at least, gotta get my laughs somewhere ya know..."
Making a mental note to take everything Red told him with a grain of salt from now on Jacob opened the door and entered the room. It was to dark to see, but there was a click a few seconds later and a light turned on, showing the room was filled with keyboards, monitors, and a lone chair. Walking up to the chair Jacob sat on it, it creaked under his weight, but held steady. scooting it closer to the controls he looked over the buttons, there were dozens upon dozens of buttons, all of different shapes and colors.
"See the middle button, the green one?" Red asked.
"Yeah."
"Press it."
Moving his left arm Jacob touched the button and pressed the dark blue button on the right side instead.
The middle screen, which was by far the biggest being seven inches tall and eight inches wide turned on. After a few seconds of static it cleared and the video started playing.
…
Jacob's green helmet light changed shades from calm green to 'oh my god i'm gonna hurl' green in record time and his harvester was impaled down to his fist in the monitor's screen a second later.
"I am far to young to see that." Jacob muttered as he tried to keep himself from throwing up.
"HAHAHAHAHAA, oh... hehehe... that was just too good! You found the guards recreational videos. Gotta say, I never expected BDSM. Kinky. Anyway, I told you the green button in the middle. What are you, color blind?"
"I thought it was another trick." Jacob insisted, his mind already hard at work forgetting everything that just happened in the last thirty seconds.
"Nah this is serious."
"Alright, if you say so." Jacob sighed as he hit the green button. A slightly smaller monitor to the left of the smoking ruined one turned on. There was nothing but static for a few seconds before it cleared and an image appeared. It was that of a man. He had a hard expression on his face. It was the type of person who lived by the code. "'I don't care about your problems, the more concerning matter is what you can do for me.' It reminded Jacob of Butch, only more intelligent.
The man took a sip of some liquid in an elegant glass cup, Jacob's guessed it was wine and that the man in the video was trying to make a statement. Something along the lines of 'You see this wine? Older then you are. You see this suit? It costs more then you make in a year. I am above you.'
cutting his musings short he watched the man as he started talking.
"I... am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
'No.' Says the man in Washington. 'It belongs to the poor.'
'No.' Says the man in the Vatican. 'It belongs to God.'
'No.' Says the man in Moscow. 'it belongs to everyone.'
I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose...
Rapture.
A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small.
And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.
Jacob nodded. The speech was nice and flashy, and the way he was dressed further drove the point home that Andrew knew what he was doing. Clearly enough to win over most people. He tried to think of how a city built on those ideals would work. His heavily limited knowledge was making it near impossible though.
"It was a trap." Red said, interrupting his thoughts.
"Huh?" Jacob asked, ever so eloquently
"Rapture I mean. Part of what he said was true and part of it was a lie. True, he made the city a utopia. But it was a lie because something went wrong in the process, even before Adam came. Even if it was never discovered things were destined to go bad." Red explained. "Andrew Ryan probably named his city after the goal he set in mind; To create a paradise free from all the people he saw as parasites, a place of true rapture.
The original goal of Rapture was to create a capitalist society free of religion and government, where any citizen could achieve for his or her own gain, rather than for the altruistic fulfillment of the wants of others. The world's best and brightest, as Andrew called his citizens, were granted freedom of will and choice in Rapture, unrestrained by government, religion and similar established institutions. Instead of abiding by the morally idyllic restrictions imposed by these institutions, values such as logic and scientific reason were to guide the inhabitants in their pursuit of achievement.
However, the would-be utopia had its flaws. In Rapture's purely capitalistic society, with no social programs whatsoever, everything within the city was privately owned and came with a price. This included the city's food, health care, sanitation, and even its oxygen supply. There were few, if any, defined norms for businesses and labor, allowing unscrupulous business practices such as overpriced vending service, to flourish.
This system alienated Rapture's less fortunate citizens, who began to resent Ryan as naive and elitist. Andrew Ryan's hostility to parasite and his paranoia of these poorer citizens led to a downfall of his own making, as well as the city's."
Listening to the story Jacob had to admit Andrew was onto something. If he wasn't such a paranoid coward maybe he could have pulled it off.
"Oh well, its all in the past." Red said.
"I know if I were Andrew Ryan I would have done the same thing... only less half-baked." Jacob replied.
"I'm impressed, but like I said, its all in the past now. What happened happened and there's no changing it. Right now what is important is your escape, and mine as well."
Jacob nodded, thinking about the past to much made one forget about the present. "Escape? You want to escape too?" He asked after a second of thought.
"Yeah, only the thing is, I can't do it alone. We have to work together." Red offered. 'That seems fair, kind of an, I scratch your back and you scratch mine, kinda deal.' Jacob thought.
*Boom!*
A giant explosion came from behind the door, knocking Jacob off of the chair sending him flying and crashing into the monitor before slumping to the ground. Recovering from the hit Jacob got up on his knees, raising his head to look at the person who activated the explosions.
"Hello mutant." he heard.
Jacob's eyes went wide, he knew that sneer anywhere. Looking up he saw a Big Brother. He wore a sphere shaped helmet like his own but the visor he used was round. His suit was less armored then his own, but still enough to stop most Splicer's weapons, and he had a sphere cage on his back with pink bows tied on it. On his left arm he had a harvester, there was also a blade welded onto his right arm.
"Jacob, be careful. This Big Brother is an Elite Big Brother, his job is to protect little Sisters. If the Big Sister's are hurt or can't fight anymore she sends a call for this Big Brother, who then protects the Little Sister in her stead."
Picking himself up Jacob looked at the brother and asked, "Are you Gerald?" The Big Brother laughed, "I was, I've never been so happy to find out you were right before. Rapture is real and it gave me this." He laughed again, raising his arms to show off the weapons attached to them.
"Gerald I warn you, if you try and fight me things won't end well." Jacob coldly as he stood up slowly.
"No... no they won't, FOR YOU!" Gerald laughed madly as he took out a handful of marbles from a pouch on his hip and threw them at Jacob.
Jacob, reacting on instinct threw his arms in front of himself as they exploded, sending him flying though the wall and into another room.
"Did I forget to mention they also have explosive's?" Red's amused voice cut through the ringing in his ears.
"It's funny how you failed to mention that, yes." Jacob said through gritted teeth and he rolled to a stop. Shielding himself with his arms had paid of. Aside from a dull pain in his back he was fine.
He jumped to his feet just Gerald jumped through the smoke and tackled him to the floor, he managed to grab Gerald as they fell and used the momentum to throw him against the wall with a loud clang.
Seeing Gerald disoriented Jacob tried to come up with something to stop him while he had some breathing room. Then he saw it, it was an old magnet, probably used to move the metal around back when they made the city, a plan hatch in Jacob's mind.
He sprinted over to the control panel, which was next to the magnet. Gerald, seeing that he wasn't going to catch up to the obviously fleeing opponent, threw a handful of marbles at him.
Making it just in time Jacob activated the magnet, which not only attracted and trapped Gerald, but also attracted the marbles, which exploded the instant they hit him.
Jacob sighed in relief, the marbles were more of a stun tactic because of his armor, but they would have distracted him long enough for Gerald, who was obviously more armed then he was to get him. Walking over to his now captive long time foe he tested how far away he had to be before the magnet started to attract him. He found that he could safely stand in front of Gerald, so he did.
"Wow, I'm impressed Kid, for a fellow who's never fought before in his life you did quite well for yourself." Red praised. "Now... this, Gerald was it? How do you know him?" Red asked curiously.
Jacob remembered all the times Gerald and the others picked on him, the times they hurt him. He was clenching his jaw so tight he was almost completely certain he was going to chip a tooth soon and his hands were balled into fists at his side after only a few memories. A red haze fell over his vision as cold fury infected his mind. Now HE had the power, and he was going to use it.
Recovering enough to see clearly Gerald looked at Jacob. No longer was he the puny boy he loved to pick on, but a man in a dangerous suit of armor. He realized the feeling he was experiencing was fear as he saw Jacobs fist clench and the red light of his helmet grow brighter.
"No... no please! Have mercy on me." Gerald begged.
Jacob froze. This guy, he DARED plead for mercy? Him and his group had made his school life a living hell! He couldn't even relax in most public places as they were almost always outside doing things. He was trapped in his own home unless he was taken anywhere by his family.
"Please... please... I didn't mean to!" Gerald continued crying.
"Then why." Jacob demanded coldly
"M-my parents."
Raising his right arm he dragged the tip of his harvester across the glass of Gerald's helmet. "You shouldn't tell lies Gerald... it's bad for your health." Despite the obvious threat Jacob's tone was rather innocent.
"No!" Gerald pleaded before he corrected himself. "It's just, they never cared, not for me, not for my brother. They acted as if we never existed... I... we... thought if we acted badly they would pay attention to us. we were tired... tired of everyday coming home alone. Sometimes there was no food in the fridge, because our parents didn't bother going shopping and just got take out for themselves.
Jacob had to admit he could understand the reasoning. He had never had it that bad. The bonus of having a large family was that no matter how many of them were only focuses on Sophie he always had someone giving him attention.
…
Of coarse it was going to be a cold day in hell before he forgave one of butch's gang. But it as nice to know the reasoning behind his torment. It gave what he was about to do a nice feeling of closure.
"What are you waiting for? do away with him. Don't you want revenge for what he did to you?" Red asked.
"I have a better idea." Jacob grinned, "They hurt me physically AND mentally. It wouldn't do to do this half-baked. Look where that left Andrew. He's dead!" He joked, before he spoke louder so Gerald could hear him. "I know what that's like, my family ignores me in favor of my sister. It sucks, doesn't it?"
Jacob had to hold himself back from laughing as he heard the *Clunk*'ing sound of his captives head hitting his helmet as he tried to nod.
"Lets get you down from there shall we?" He offered kindly as he walked over and adjusted the power going to the magnet lower.
Gerald tried to get himself off of the slab of metal but could only get his limbs a few inches off of it before the fell back and reattached themselves. "Uhh, Jacob? It's still on." he pointed out.
Said boy just cocked his head the the side and stared at him, "Oh? My mistake." He said honestly as he started walking forward.
Gerald's instincts were telling him something was wrong. Jacob was acting far to nice, and his helmet light was still a burning red. It didn't add up.
Stopping in front of him Jacob spoke, "Now, seeing as we're friends now I think we should play a game. I can't think of a name for it, but I'm sure I will with time."
Suddenly very nervous as his instincts were telling, no, screaming, for him to run, sprint, hell even crawl if he could, away from the person in front of him. "O-okay, what are the rules?" He tried to keep his voice calm as he silently cursed getting the blade on his right arm. The added metal made his arm attracted to the magnet to much he couldn't free it.
"Oh it's a very simple game, you see, you just stay still as I name things and then penalize you for them. But for every thing named you get a worse penalty until you've reached five. three strikes and your out. Sounds simple, yeah?" Jacob chirped.
"Penalized h-how?" Gerald suddenly found bladder control and issue as Jacob raised his harvester.
Warning – Turn away now if you have weak stomachs and scroll down to the next warning.
Ignoring his question Jacob raised his arm into the ready position and started talking.
"Lets see, there was the dozens of times you guys stole my lunch. I'm pretty sure you always used your left arm to hold my stolen food. Penalty one." Jacob said as he threw his right arm forward.
The loud *Ting!* of the tip of a harvester hitting metal rang throughout the area followed by a second of silence as Gerald came to terms with the fact that Jacob had just pierced through his elbow joint of one clean stabbing motion.
Then the screaming started.
Ignoring the sound Jacob continued, "Then there was that time in Gym class you guys split up and distracted the teacher while you tripped me and then started kicking me while I was on the ground. That's penalty number two. It's not looking good for ya buddy."
"No please... I beg of you... don't!" Gerald sobbed. Jacob continued though, using two quick thrusts he impaled his knees.
Getting a little sick of all the screaming Jacob finished, "And last but not least, the time you, for no apparent reason, just walked up to be one day and slammed your head into my nose."
Gerald didn't even have time to plead for mercy as a thick metal needle was introduced to his frontal lobe.
WARNING – the gruesome scene is now over. Go look at a picture of a kitten to cheer yourself up.
Pulling his arm back Jacob did his best to wipe the red bits off of his harvester. Before the real Red spoke, "... DAMN kid. That was... wow. A-anyway, if you stab him in the stomach you should be able to get something nice." Red offered, reminding himself to never truly piss Jacob off, aside from the occasional teasing.
Stabbing the now cooling corpse of the late Gerald he felt a warmth in his hands. Looking at them he noticed his gloved were glowing a faint red and a small bit of fire covered the tips of his index and thumb fingers
"Nice." Jacob commented.
"Its called incinerate. The Elite Big Brother's have that plasmid, and now its yours."
The red haze lifted as he calmed down and he stared at the body still hung up in front of him. Dropping to his knees Jacob stared at his hands numbly. "Shouldn't... shouldn't I feel something?" He asked shakily. "I was told revenge tasted bittersweet, and you would end up regretting it. But I feel no remorse for what i've done. Only happiness that someone who has wronged me, an obstacle in my path, is gone. What does that mean?" He pleaded desperately.
"A Big Brother." Red answered grimly.
To be continued...
BETA'd by: Slicerness