Jack and Tenenbaum were just putting the girls to bed when they heard a pounding on the door.

"What the devil?" Tenenbaum asked in German. She scrambled to the door and opened the chest plate on the diving suit by the door where they had stashed the revolver just in case. She opened the door, one hand on the revolver.

"Dr. Tenenbaum! Thank God you're still up!"

"Herr Doctor? What is it? What's the matter?" Tenenbaum asked as Dr. Stein entered, sweating profusely and breathing heavily.

"There's no time, where's Jack?" He asked frantically.

"Dr. Stein? What is it? What's wrong?" Jack asked as he entered. The girls were all poking their heads out the door to their rooms.

"It's the Red Pawn! He's got Julie!" Franklin said as Jack's face turned to one of horror and disbelief.

"What?" Jack asked as he tore off to his room.

"I come home and find the place a shambles! There was sign of a struggle! I then get a call from my contact in the Sherriff's office and he said that our hunch was correct!" Franklin said as Jack entered his room and started dialing the combination to his safe, where his weapons were stored.

"Hunch? What hunch?" Tenenbaum asked.

"You mean McMillan is the Red Pawn?" Jack asked, still dialing the safe as Franklin nodded.

"The evidence fits! There is no record of an Alexander McMillan ever existing! The publishing company he works for doesn't exist either! He's the Red Pawn, there's no doubt about it!" Franklin said as Jack opened the safe, revealing his weapons. Jack grabbed and armed his modified revolver with basic ammo and put the clip of Anti-personnel ammo on his belt. He then grabbed the modified Tommy gun and did the same thing.

"What are you doing Herr Ryan?" Tenenbaum asked as Jack continued arming the Tommy gun.

"I'm going to rescue Julie and kill that son of a bitch!" Jack growled as he finished with the Tommy gun and started arming the modified shotgun.

"Those weapons! Are they-?" "Modified in Rapture, yes!" Jack interrupted.

"But the Red Pawn is a dangerous man; he might have a gun as well!" Franklin said as Jack nodded.

"I'm not worried about myself. If I let bullet wounds harm me, I wouldn't very well be here still, now would I?" Jack asked as Franklin paled.

"How many times have you been shot?" Franklin asked as Tenenbaum groaned slightly.

"Too many times." Tenenbaum mumbled.

"How did you survive? No-never mind! What are we going to do about Julie?" Franklin asked. Before they could answer, the phone rang.

"Who could it be at this hour?" Tenenbaum asked as she walked into the den and picked up the phone. The girls were still peering out from their room.

"Hello?" Tenenbaum asked as she answered the phone.

"I presume this is the once missing, Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum. I'd like to speak with Mister Ryan, would you kindly?" A man with an Irish accent said as Tenenbaum stiffened up.

"Herr Ryan, it's for you." She said calmly as Jack snatched the phone from her hand.

"McMillan? Or should I say Red Pawn?" Jack asked angrily. Franklin silently picked up the phone in the kitchen to listen in.

"Well-well, ya figured it out, didn't ya boyo? Yes, I'm the Red Pawn. I know ya got the girl's old man there with ya so I'll make this simple. You give me the coordinates of Rapture, and I'll hand your pretty little girlfriend over with nary a scratch." Alex said as Jack clinched his fists.

"If you want the coordinates of Rapture, you'll have to get it from me in person and Julie better be alive." Jack warned.

"Alright, you want an exchange then. Would you kindly bring that book-o-yours with Rapture's coordinates and the old man, to the abandoned warehouse on pier thirteen, unarmed, and no police or little Miss Stein gets it." Alex said as Jack snarled at the mention of the "Would you kindly" phrase.

"Is she alright? I demand to know that she's alive!" Jack said.

"Jack?" Julie's voice echoed.

"Julie! Are you alright?" Jack asked.

"Don't give it to him! Don't give him Rapture!" Julie pleaded before Alex interrupted.

"That's quite enough of that. Pier thirteen, with your book, and Rapture's coordinates. I'll be seein' ya soon boyo." Alex said before hanging up. Jack hung up and started rubbing his chin in thought.

"You can't take your weapons? We'll be dead as sure as I'm standing here if we give into his demands." Franklin said as Jack walked back to his safe and started unloading the ammunition from the guns.

"Then we'll have to use a different weapon." Jack said as he finished putting the weapons up and grabbed a lockbox from off of a shelf.

"A different kind of weapon? He said no guns!" Franklin said as Jack set the lockbox on the desk.

"Herr Doctor, trust him, he knows what he's doing." Tenenbaum said, earning a look from Franklin.

"Does he?" Franklin asked as Jack opened the lockbox, revealing nine, neatly arranged hypodermic needles filled with a glowing blue liquid.

"Doctor, how much do you think it will take to revitalize my Plasmids and gene tonics?" Jack asked, confusing Franklin.

"One should give you a full recharge, just like when you expend your energy when using Plasmids. Be warned though, it'll have a bit of a bite to it I think." Tenenbaum said as Jack pulled out one of the needles.

"What are you going to do Jack?" Franklin asked as Jack looked at the needle, his breathing having increased.

"I'm going to give the Red Pawn, a taste of what he can expect if he ever does find Rapture." Jack said as he stabbed the needle into his wrist and injected the blue liquid into him. He then dropped the empty needle and started convulsing in pain as his hands started to glow with a blue electrical charge. Finally the convulsing stopped and Jack turned to Franklin with a murderous glare in his eyes.

"Let's go. I'm ready."

At the warehouse…

Julie was tied to a chair surrounded by several barrels of oil. The floorbeneath her was slicked with it as well. Alex was sitting backwards in a chair, waiting for Jack and Franklin to arrive.

"He'll never give you Rapture! He'll never do it!" Julie spat.

"Shut up you! You're makin' me angry." Alex said as he spun the barrel to his revolver with his thumb.

"You don't know Jack. He'll kill you, I know he will!" Julie said as Alex snarled.

"Another word and I will kill you first!" Alex grumbled. Soon they heard the squeal of car tires and sure enough, Jack's car rolled around the corner and into the warehouse, coming to a stop near the entrance. Jack emerged from the passenger side and Franklin emerged from the driver's seat. They slowly started to approach, Franklin with the book in his hand and Jack looking a bit ragged for reasons unknown. There was an unnatural red glow in his eyes too.

"So ya decide to come after all, boyo. So glad we could meet like gentlemen after all." Alex said as he stood up from his chair, kicking it out of the way as he pointed the gun at them.

"Let her go, McMillan, if that's even your real name." Jack said as Alex cocked his head to one side with a smug smirk across his face.

"I will once you've confirmed that the coordinates of Rapture are in the book and I have that book in me hands." Alex said as Franklin cracked open the book, flipping it to an empty page at the back and handing Jack a pen. He held the book in such a way that Jack never actually wrote anything. Franklin then closed the book and turned towards Alex.

"Here. Take this damn book. And may you choke on every word." Franklin said as he dropped the book and shoved it across the room with his foot up to Alex. Alex smiled as he put a cigarette in his mouth with his free hand and lit it with a sliver metal lighter.

"Thank you kindly, Dr. Stein. I've gotta say you're one loyal dad. I wonder what would happen if you started watching your little girl get burned to a crisp." Alex said as he tossed the cigarette towards the oil slick on the floor.

"NO!" Franklin yelped but suddenly the cigarette lurched away from the oil slick towards Jack who held his hand thrust out in front of him. He tossed the cigarette away from him and returned his glare to Alex.

"What in the-?" Alex asked as he aimed his gun at Jack.

"That won't do you any good." Jack said as the gun was almost magically ripped from Alex's hands and flew straight at Jack. Jack grabbed the gun in midair and aimed it at Alex. Alex quickly dove behind Julie, using her as a shield.

"I don't know what you just did, but whatever you do to me, you do to her!" Alex shouted as Jack stuck the gun in his belt.

"Julie, are you allergic to being stung by hornets?" Jack asked as Julie looked at him confused.

"Is now really the time to be asking about that Jack?" Julie asked as Jack rolled up his sleeves, revealing them starting to break out in hives and hornets starting to crawl around on the surface of his hands.

"Just thought I'd ask." Jack said as he thrust both hands forward, sending a swarm of hornets towards her. The hornets started stinging Alex who started swatting at the insects in a vain attempt to drive them off. Jack's hands instantly healed up and he thrust his left hand forward and Julie suddenly saw one of the oil barrels fly towards Jack before getting launched through the air straight at Alex who was still fighting the insect swarms. He quickly dropped to the ground in time to dodge the barrel but Jack grabbed another. He flung it at Alex who again dodged only narrowly. Finally the hornets dispersed and Alex turned his attention to Jack. He started charging towards Jack who merely clinched his fists. Alex delivered a fierce punch to Jack's stomach only for his blow to harmlessly bounce back and a sudden wave of electrical energy to burst outward from around Jack, knocking him to the ground. Jack grabbed Alex by the collar with one hand and effortlessly threw him almost halfway across the warehouse. Alex started to stagger up onto his feet.

"WHAT ARE YOU?" He yelled angrily. Jack's hand suddenly became charged with electrical energy.

"I'm a mere taste of what you'd find in Rapture!" Jack replied as he thrust the palm and bent fingers of his left hand towards Alex, striking him with a bolt of electricity, stunning the Red Pawn where he stood. Jack pulled out his trusty wrench, intent on delivering a final blow to the head but before he could, Alex had managed to grab his lighter and toss it onto the oil slick with a lit flame on it. The oil caught fire and Jack had to turn his attention away from Alex. He made a fist in his left hand, causing it to become coated in ice with tiny icicles. He was about to use the ice to try and put out the flames but Alex jumped him, knocking him to the floor and trying to strangle Jack. Jack snarled and punched Alex in the stomach, knocking him into the air. Jack's left had quickly gained a swirling white mist around his index and middle finger. He pointed at the ground where Alex would land and a small swirling whirlwind appeared. The second that Alex hit the whirlwind, he was knocked back into the air. Jack turned and attempted to freeze the ice again but it was no good. He had exhausted his EVE.

"Doctor! The hypo!" Jack yelled as Franklin reached into the car and grabbed another Hypodermic filled with EVE. Alex, having landed painfully, looked up and saw the doctor running towards Jack with the hypo. He quickly pulled a knife from his pocket and hurled it at Jack who managed to dodge but the knife hit one of the barrels, knocking it over and spilling out more oil onto the floor around Julie who was struggling to get free before the flames engulfed her. Jack snatched the hypo and injected himself, this time freezing Alex in place before freezing the slick beneath Julie.

"Doctor, get her out of here! He's mine!" Jack yelled as Franklin nodded and quickly started undoing the bindings. Jack pulled his wrench out again and was walking over to deliver a final blow to Alex when the conman broke free and charged into Jack, knocking him to the floor before grabbing the gun from Jack's belt. Jack grabbed Alex's wrist with his hand as he attempted to aim the gun towards him, crushing Alex's wrist with gene tonic enhanced strength.

"You will not keep me from Rapture!" Alex grunted as Jack butt him in the head, knocking the Irish conman off and onto his back. Jack ripped the gun from his hand and aimed it at him.

"I'm only going to tell you this once, Red Pawn. I don't care who you are, or what you want with Rapture. I'm going to let you live this time, but mark my words. If you ever show your face around my friends or my family ever again, I will send you to what Rapture truly is…I'll send you to hell." Jack said before freezing the conman in place again and then lowering the gun. Jack looked at the now empty and extinguished oil slick before igniting his hand in flames and snapping his fingers. In an instant the oil slick ignited again as Jack walked back to the car where Franklin was waiting with Julie unconscious from smoke inhalation in the back seat. Jack climbed into the passenger seat as Franklin started the car again and tore off back towards town. Alex finally thawed out again and climbed painfully to his feet. He glared angrily at the entrance to the warehouse where the car had disappeared. He looked and saw the warehouse was starting to catch fire. He then glanced at the ground and saw something that made him smile.

"At least I've got Rapture's coordinates now. Looks like Jeremiah Lynch is going to become a rich man after all." Alex said to himself as he picked up the book off the ground, quickly ran outside, flipped it open and scowled at what he saw written on the first page.

"A man chooses, a slave obeys. I choose not to obey. I hope you choose to obey my next command. Leave and never return, would you kindly?" – Jack Ryan.

"Fraulein Stein? Can you hear me?"

Julie cracked her eyes open to find herself in an unfamiliar room. It was a simple room with white and faded red vertical pen stripes going up along the wall all around the room. She was in a single bed on the left side of the room. Another single bed sat on the opposite side of the room with a nightstand and lamp between the two beneath a window. On the opposite wall was an open door. The morning sunlight was streaming through the window, revealing Dr. Tenenbaum standing over her with a stethoscope around her neck.

"Ah, good. You're awake." Tenenbaum said as Julie grunted and attempted to sit up.

"What-…what happened?" She asked tiredly as Tenenbaum laid her back down.

"You mustn't move too much Fraulein Stein. I'm still not finished with you." Tenenbaum said.

"Dr. Tenenbaum? Where am I? Where's Jack?" Julie asked as Tenenbaum shushed her gently.

"Relax Fraulein; you're in the home of Herr Ryan. He's alright; he's only taken to his bed for the moment." Tenenbaum said as Julie relaxed noticeably.

"Jack's house? Then, what about his book? What about Rapture? Did Alex get it?" Julie asked as Tenenbaum shook her head.

"No. Herr Ryan gave him a fake. He doesn't have Rapture's location. He's back at square one. And if he knows what's good for him, he'll leave and never come back." Tenenbaum said as Julie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's good. What about my father? Is he alright?" Julie asked as Tenenbaum smiled.

"Yes, Fraulein. He's alright. He's keeping an eye on the little ones." Tenenbaum said.

"The girls? But shouldn't they be in school? It's a Thursday after all." Julie said as Tenenbaum chuckled.

"Herr Ryan said that for safety sake, they'd stay home today. They'll go back tomorrow." Tenenbaum said as Julie smiled.

"I can't believe he did all that to save my life. Last time we spoke, he hated me and said he didn't trust me." Julie said with a sigh.

"I never said I hated you."

They turned and saw Jack standing in the doorway, sweating slightly with an icepack on his head.

"What happened to you?" Julie asked as Jack staggered inside. Tenenbaum helped him sit down on the opposite bed.

"ADAM withdrawal. It's not as bad as the first time I went through it two years ago." Jack said as Julie furrowed her eyebrow.

"Adam? The thing the girls talk about?" Julie asked as Jack nodded.

"Yes. It's the substance that essentially brought about Rapture's demise as a utopia. It allows for something called Splicing. You saw a sample of what Splicing can do to someone, but constant Splicing causes someone to lose their sanity." Jack explained as Tenenbaum sat next to him.

"I discovered it." Tenenbaum said as Jack nodded.

"Yes, she did. ADAM is produced by a small sea slug but on its own it doesn't produce enough to mass market. That's where the girls came in. They were each embedded with a slug in the lining of their stomachs, allowing them to produce large quantities of ADAM." Jack explained, receiving a horrified look from Julie.

"What? You put slugs into your little girls just to feed your addiction?" Julie asked as Jack groaned and slapped his face with the palm of his hand.

"No, Julie. I wasn't the one who benefited from the ADAM in their systems. The slugs inside of my girls have been killed and produce only miniscule amounts of ADAM that the girls absorb naturally." Jack said as Julie realized something.

"Wait, why are you telling me all this? I thought you said you didn't trust me?" Julie said as Jack sighed.

"A man chooses, a slave obeys. A man forgives, a slave condemns. A man learns, a slave ignores. A man loves, a slave hates. A man is humble, a slave is arrogant. A man chooses…a slave obeys. I was a slave once, a slave to my own mind. I was born in Rapture. The son of Andrew Ryan and Mary-Catherine Jolene, or, as she was more commonly known, Jasmine Jolene. But I was not born to them. Instead I was born in some other fashion. In 1956, I was born, my growth genetically accelerated then stopped once I reached a specific age. I was then given a series of commands that if ever uttered by someone other than myself, it could control my every action or even stop my heart if necessary. Would you kindly. A phrase I so very much despise. It was that phrase that controlled me." Jack explained as Julie listened carefully.

"Doctor Tenenbaum, the woman who has cared for me for practically my entire life, helped to rid me of that mental conditioning. But by the time she did that, it was too late. Using that phrase, my father, Andrew Ryan, ordered me to kill him. I had no choice but to obey. I was a slave and I watched in horror as the slave killed the man." Jack explained.

"But…what about your mother?" Julie asked still shocked from Jack's story.

"She was killed, before I was even born. She had sold me as an embryo to Dr. Tenenbaum, who was working for my other father, a gangster named Frank Fontaine. He had me bred to be his ace in the hole in case his gambit to take control of Rapture from my father failed. Inevitably it did. He had me shipped to the surface somehow and when he sent me the proper message, I booked a flight on an Apollo Airways flight, one that disappeared off the coast of Iceland." Jack explained.

"I heard about that flight, they said that they found its wreckage drifting in the ocean. How did you survive?" Julie asked as Jack sighed.

"I don't know how I survived exactly, but I do know that I'm the one who brought it down, all thanks to that damned command phrase, would you kindly. The plane crashed near a lighthouse, Rapture's only visible link on the surface, and from there I traveled down to Rapture for, what I assumed was, the first time. Once there, a man named Atlas guided me through the city, under the pretence of helping him rescue his wife and son and escape from Rapture. But my father intervened and destroyed the submarine, supposedly killing Atlas's family. Atlas and I then worked together to bring down my father and when I finally did kill him, Atlas turned out to be the same man who had me created in the first place. Frank Fontaine." Jack explained.

"What happened then?" Julie asked.

"Doctor Tenenbaum helped me remove the mental conditioning and then I went after Fontaine. All throughout my journey, I had encountered little girls traveling with large lumbering men in bulky diving suits. The girls were known as Little Sisters and the men were known as Big Daddies. Tenenbaum gave me a special plasmid, the genetic weapons I used against the Red Pawn, and killed the slug within the girls without harming them, thus rescuing them from their life of grim existence. I had to kill their Big Daddy guardian every time though. In order to get to Fontaine, I had to fool the saved Little Sisters into thinking I was a Big Daddy, and to do that I needed to look like, smell like,…and even sound like a Big Daddy. That's why I have such a putrid stench and why my voice sounds this way now." Jack explained.

"But what about Fontaine?" Julie asked.

"I killed him. I managed to drain his body of all the ADAM within his system, but he knocked me to the floor. He was going to try and kill me but five former Little Sisters intervened, stabbing and killing him with the special syringes they used to extract ADAM from the corpses around Rapture." Jack explained as Julie realized what this meant.

"So the five girls…they're your daughters now?" Julie asked as Jack nodded.

"So then, if you don't trust me, then, why are you telling me all this?" Julie asked as Jack took a deep breath.

"Because…I could never hate you. I just can't. Even when I was angry, I couldn't hate you. Your father told me something yesterday that he should probably tell you. You'll know why I trust you once again. I want to give us another chance, a chance to learn, to find love, to live. Take this chance with me Julie. Would you kindly?" Jack asked as Julie smiled tearfully.

"Of course I will Jack. Of course I will."

End Chapter 10.

A/N: Yes that was Jeremiah Lynch from "There's Something in the Sea," only going under an alias. When I developed his alias, I unintentionally made him a publicist, not realizing that Lynch himself was an author which was ironic. I only found out after the fact while surfing the Bioshock wiki.