Hi everyone! We are at the new chapter! Before staring, I need to say two things.
Firstly, since he has given me the ok to do so, I'll reveal that it was CMR Rosa who added this story to TV Tropes' recommended Total Drama fan-fictions page! Again, I can't thank you enough for that man! :)
Secondly, this chapter introduces two key elements of Bioshock. You'll know them once you get to them. I'm curious to see how you thought I handled these elements. So, in your reviews please let me know if you think I could portray them better, ok?
Having said that, here is the eleventh chapter of "Total Drama Raptured": Blasts from the Past
Crossing through the door, they had found themselves near the broken fountain that Noah had seen from the upper level's balcony. Much of the floor beyond them was flooded. That wasn't something to worry about…but the five splicers searching though it was!
Standing a slightly elevated piece of dry ground, they stared out at the splicers worriedly. They had struggled to take on a few at a time. They didn't think they could beat five. Well, maybe they could but they didn't want to take that chance unless they had too.
But then, Noah had an idea…an awful idea. Noah had a wonderful, awful idea.
Slightly raising his hand, Noah fired a blast of Electro blot in the direction of the splicers. Though, it wasn't aimed at the splicers directly. Noah hit the water they were standing in!
The effect was instant as all five of the splicers' bodies began to spams in pain. The arching blue electricity actually jumped from one splicer to the next, adding to the effect. Within seconds, all five splicers were lying facedown in the water, not moving at all.
The other three stared at Noah, who couldn't help but show a proud smirk on his face.
"Dude…that was awesome!" Cody almost yelled in happy approval.
"As morbid as that was, it also kind of beautiful." Gwen says in less bombastic approval.
"Indeed. Well-done Noah. How did you think of that?" Courtney asks in wonder.
"Chalk that bit of brutal brilliance to hours upon hours of playing violent video games." Noah says, feeling far happy than he showed that he could say that with genuine pride.
Normally Courtney would have had some kind of remark about how Noah was wasting his time doing that. But after seeing what Noah just did, any such remarks were unused. Instead, Courtney found herself truly impressed by Noah's intellect.
Waiting a few seconds for the electricity to die down, the four teens entered the water. Searching the five splicers proved to be a massive boon of useful items and supplies. They had found three EVE hypos, about thirty Rapture dollars, three Pep bars, a bag of potato chips, and seven pistol rounds.
Having done that, they started searching the tables surrounded by water for more supplies. They weren't nearly as fruitful, being mostly just covered in rotten bits of food. But one table did have an EVE hypo…and two other things that were of great interest.
The first was very large handbag, which Courtney picked up and placed around her arm. Courtney then asked everyone to place everything on the table expect their weapons so it could be given out evenly with some of it going in the large handbag she had just picked up for later use. The others saw her logic of having something to carry their stuff in. Everyone placed everything they had collected so far in Rapture on the table before them.
So far, their checklist ran as follows: four first aid kits, twelve EVE hypos, seven bags of potato chips, four Pep bars, 112 Rapture dollars, and 16 pistol rounds. Cody and Noah spilt the pistol rounds right down the middle. Everyone got one first aid kit, three EVE hypos, 28 Rapture dollars, a Pep bar, and a bag of potato chips. The excess potato chip bags were put in Courtney's handbag.
Having that sorted out, they turned their attentions towards the second item of interest. It was rectangular with a large speaker and a few buttons labeled 'record', 'stop', and 'play' taking up most of the face. It looked like a tape recorder, only larger and a bit bulkier.
Curious, Cody pressed the button labeled 'play', and sounds emitted from the device. The first sounds were the screeching of some gears within the device that was coming back to life. A second later though came sounds that couldn't have come from the device alone.
(Audio Dairy: New Year's Eve Alone- Diane McClintock)
The sounds of a roaring party are in the background, with the jazz song "And All the While I'm Loving You" playing. Despite this feisty atmosphere, there's a loud sigh.
"Another New Year's, another night alone. I'm out, and you're stuck in Hephaestus, working. Imagine my surprise. I just guess I'll have another drink..." A woman in her thirties says with a voice dripping with disappointment for an unknown person and self-loathing.
To Noah, her voice sounded like that of someone who occasionally pretends to be an intellectual but is really a naïf, a person of working class origin who was using the silted chic diction of movie stars…like a Tanya Williams pretending to be a Myrna Loy. (1)
Her voice changes to one of mock praise as she "toasts" herself. "Here's a toast to Diane McClintock, silliest girl in Rapture. Silly enough to fall in love with Andrew Ryan, silly enough to-"
Diane McClintock's mock toast was suddenly cut off as a massive explosion is heard!
The once festive atmosphere quickly descends into total chaos. The recording was indistinguishable for a few moments from what sounded like screaming.
Amid the screaming, two shouts were barely auditable following one right after the other.
"Long live Atlas!"
"Death to Ryan!"
The yells faded as Diane's voice returned to the recording. "What... what happened... I'm bleeding... oh, God... what's happening..."
As the machine shut itself off, the teens stared at each other in total confusion. Noah took the shortwave radio from Cody and pressed the button to become connected with Atlas.
"What the hell was that, Atlas?" Noah asks in confusion.
"That, boyo, is what they call a audio dairy, it's just an oversized tape recorder. They were meant to be a way for the people down here to record their 'thoughts and impressions of life in Rapture'. They said 'History must have its due!' They pushed this because of some kind of planned historical retrospective, to show the future generations how Rapture became the perfect society. Surely the world would look at Rapture in wonder and want to know how the starting point for a new and better direction for civilization got started and what happened there. Imagine the farce in that silly notion!"
'Well, it's not too farcical, many groups, like the Nazis, had similar grand aspirations.' Noah thought to himself as Atlas continued to info the teens about these audio dairies. (2)
"Anyway, I can't give you a history lesson of Rapture but maybe these audio dairies can. If you find one, if there are no splicers around of course, give it a listen to, would you kindly. Some of them may have vital info for making it out of here alive. And even those that don't will hopefully give you some idea of how this nightmare came into existence."
As Atlas' voice left, the teens agreed with him. These audio dairies may prove vital!
Placing the audio dairy back where they had found it, the teens searched the rest of the flooded floor. There was nothing else worth taking, only inedible food and old party hats.
Cody, Courtney, Gwen, and Noah discovered a doorway, which they couldn't open. The doors looked like they had either been welded together or there had been a big explosion. Either way, the doors were all but fused together and impossible for the teens to open. But even that aside, the doors being literally completely covered in blood, some of it fresh, and the dead bodies of two splicers (who had nothing worth taking on them), were enough to have made them not want to enter this entranceway anyway.
Above these doors was a sign with blue neon surrounding the words in yellow neon: FOOTLIGHT THEATER. But that alone was not enough for them to try to enter it.
As they walked past the doors to the Footlight Theater, they noticed an advertisement on the wall. It had a picture of the audio dairy like the one they had just finished listening to. But instead of "audio diary", this poster called the recording device an ACCU-VOX.
After walking away from the poster, they agreed that they would call them audio dairies.
They found a stairway heading upward, hopefully to another part of the upper level they were originally on that would lead them out of here. As they made their ascent, someone approached them screaming…and firing a pistol. It was a male splicer, shooting at them.
Acting on instinct amid the terrain lacking cover, Cody fired some Electro bolt at him. As the splicer convulsed in pain, Noah aimed his newly required pistol at him and fired.
The first shot grazed his right shoulder. The second shot went right into his head.
As the splicer fell down dead at the top of the stairs, Cody felt a strong sense of shame. Noah did with only two shots what it took him six to do…save all of their rear ends!
Gwen seemed to notice this as she nudged Cody while saying, "Nice job with the Electro bolt Cody. I guess your far better with Plasmids than you are with guns."
The Tech Geek smiled at the compliment from the lovely pale-skinned girl. Even so, Cody couldn't help but realize that Gwen was right…he was far better with Plasmids.
"Oh sure, praise him when I'm the one who actually killed the wacko." Noah groaned.
As Noah complained to her, Gwen searched the male splicer's corpse. There wasn't much, only his pistol, which had only four bullets left after the two he had fired at them. Sighing at this annoying inconvenience, Gwen took the pistol anyway and pocketed it.
Searching the area at the top of the stairs, Cody found a series of large payphones. At the base of one of these payphones were a first aid kit and ten Rapture dollars. He took both.
But the Tech Geek couldn't help but marvel at the primitive yet interestingly alien technology that was these bulky payphones, especially the rotary dial of the phones. Placing a single finger in a hole matching a number on the finger wheel, Cody dialed his phone number, smiling and finding far more amusement in that than he would ever admit.
The others noticed this. But Cody didn't notice that until he turned to see their faces with questioning glances.
Chuckling a bit despite his awkwardness, Cody answered their unasked questions with, "Uh, I've always wanted to do that, to use a old-fashion phone dial that you spin."
Noah looked at Cody even more confused but Courtney and Gwen looked at him with faint smiles, finding amusement in his simple desire. That made up for Noah's look. Heck, simply having Gwen smile would have been enough. She had a beautiful smile.
Cody couldn't help but stare at that smile, wishing to see it more often, and resolving to do whatever he could to make it happen, especially within this grim, nightmare world.
"If we are done marveling at the child-like pleasures of Cody, can we get a move on?" Noah asks.
Despite the Bookworm's unpleasant tone, the others, even Cody, agree and move on.
But there wasn't much else to move onto. At this part of the upper level to the Kashmir restaurant, cut off from the part of the same level they were at before, there was only one place to go aside from the phone booths…the restrooms.
There was no door for either restroom, only a pathway to each one for the different sexes. Even just looking at the entranceways, the teens could tell that they were in horrible shape. The amount of what they really hoped was just dirt and grime was truly colossal. Highlighting this further, the filth was emphasized by two small light blue neon signs.
On the left was one in the shape of cartoon man with a style based in the 1950s (when it was built) and it being labeled GENTS. And to the right, was another bright blue neon, this one in the shape of a woman based in a 1950's cartoon aesthetic labeled DAMES.
The teens were unsure as to which one to investigate first, for what they had no idea.
"Um, ladies first, I guess?" Cody weakly suggests in a voice conveying befuddlement.
The others either nodded or shrugged their shoulders as they went into the ladies' room.
As Cody followed the others into the ladies' room, he noticed some changes around him.
Suddenly everything around him appeared to dim, to become even more diluted looking than it already was after sixty plus years of decay under the ocean. Similarly, all of the sounds around Cody were becoming distorted, transforming into a kind of loud static.
Once Cody was inside of the bathroom, the diluted surroundings became fully fuzzy and the static noise rose in volume to be pounding on his eardrums without pause or mercy.
Then, over one of the sinks, bits of black and white that were forming and disappearing appeared into a shape. It was the vague shape of a woman, likely a fairly young one too.
Cody couldn't believe what he was seeing. Whenever he tried to turn his head, parts of the shape would branch off from it and remain within his gaze, never allowing him to fully look away, never allowing him to escape the impossible sight revealed before him.
Then, adding a whole new level of horror for Cody, the shape, the woman shape spoke.
"I'm too spliced up. Now nobody's gonna want me…"
As "she" said this, the shape had "her" head in "her" hands standing over the sink.
With that, the image of "her" standing over the sink in shame, the female shape vanished.
Everything remained diluted and drowned out by crippling static for a few more seconds.
Then, just as quickly as it had begun, the diluting looks and static sounds disappeared.
Cody looked at the ladies' room after rubbing his eyes, truly seeing it for the first time. As they dreaded, it was terrible! Massive amounts of what they were really hoped was dirt was found on almost every surface. There were three sinks that seemed to be broken. There were four toilets in stalls with none having any doors. But shockingly, it seemed like at least one of the toilets still worked even after sixty of Rapture going to hell. Of the lights in the ceiling, only one worked. And even then, it flickered on and off while only illuminating the front half of the restroom in which Cody was currently standing now.
None of that was what Cody first acknowledged. That was Gwen trying to talk to him.
"Cody? Cody? Hello, Earth to Cody, what is going on with you?" Gwen asks the Tech Geek right in front of him while shaking him slightly.
This appeared to do the trick because Cody suddenly shook his head as his eyes widened.
"Wha-What the Hell was that guys!"
"What was what?" Gwen asks, confused by Cody's sudden shift in demeanor.
"You didn't see! You didn't see the woman, fading in and out!? Or hear the static?"
"No, we didn't. Nothing like a woman was in this bathroom. You must be seeing things."
"You got that right, lass. And what, uh, Cody, right, likely just saw was his first ghost." Atlas' voice is heard saying from the shortwave radio on Cody's person.
Taking the shortwave radio and bringing up to his mouth, Cody asks Atlas, "Wh-what do you mean, "ghost"? Is Rapture haunted!?"
"In a way, boyo, yes. These ghosts are not from the afterlife…they come from Rapture. What these ghosts really are are the leftover memories of someone else who previously used one of the EVE hypos you have used. By using it, some of their memories were passed onto you through the genetic sampling involved when using the EVE hypos. Sometimes when passing by a place or object that they did, you see and hear them. In a sense, you relive a memory that was never yours to begin with looking from the outside." (3)
Cody's mind was blown by this idea…seeing and hearing another person's memory! Another one of the teens was just as shocked, but more vocally negative about the idea.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out, Atlas! Are you telling me that someone else's' thoughts are fused into us as if they were a guy's HIV from shared heron needles!?" Noah asks.
"I don't know what HIV is but I'm sure that's what its like, boyo. Don't worry though; these ghosts can't hurt you. Try to think of them as harmless, brief visual audio diaries." Atlas' voice says before signing off the shortwave radio. (4)
Still reeling from the implications of these "ghosts", the teens searched the ladies' room. They didn't find much, only a two boxes of bandages and medical tape behind the working toilet. As Courtney reluctantly picked them up and placed them in her large handbag, Noah couldn't help but comment on the site with his cynical wit on display.
"Yeah, I'm sure those are so sanitary. Why don't we just dip our wounds in the toilets for good measure?"
Before anyone could rebuke the Bookworm, they noticed another audio dairy surrounded by a large pile of rubble that appeared to be from the broken up wall directly above it.
After pulling it out of the rubble, Courtney played it for all of them to hear its contents.
(Audio Dairy: Hole in the Bathroom Wall- Steve Barker)
"Hey, Brenda!" A man's voice, likely in his forties with a slightly Bronx accent, says. "You care to tell me why you've had a hole in the wall the size of Plymouth Rock coming out of your crapper going on three weeks now? Now, I ain't saying I'm Shakespeare, but I'm trying to run a respectable theater. I got working folk coming in from Port Neptune trying to catch a little diversion... and all they can think about is the stink coming out your shitter. Get it fixed."
After the audio dairy shut off, the teens quickly put it back on the bathroom's filthy floor. They looked at the walls and didn't find any "hole in the wall the size of Plymouth Rock". So, logically, it must be in the men's rooms, a way out of the Kashmir restaurant!
Quickly leavening the ladies' room, the teens traveled into the men's room on the left. As the entered it, they noticed a streak of water from the wall flowing onto the floor.
The men's room was more or less like the ladies' room with a few notable differences. It was fully illuminated by working ceiling lights. None of the toilets seemed to work. There was nothing to take. One of the toilets wasn't in its stall but against the wall on the other side of the room. Oh…and in that toilet's stall was a giant hole larger than a man!
Seeing red carpet and rubble from whatever created this hole on the other side of it, the teens left the Kashmir restaurant through this most peculiar of ways…even for Rapture.
Crossing through this huge hole, they discovered the entranceway to a new location. They were standing on the slightly destroyed second floor of a miniature theater, the Footlight Theater, they assumed…correctly.
Looking down, they saw a large glassed-in seating area and stage. And that wasn't all they saw.
They saw two figures. One was lying on the floor and not moving, probably dead. The other was sitting near the first doing something they couldn't see but didn't like at all. However, what was more unnerving than the unknown activity of the second figure was what they could make out about the identity of this figure…a she…she was a little girl!
Ok, so, that's the next chapter! I'm going to keep most of my other comments here to a minimum because I have four footnotes that I feel the duty to explain to you.
As you may have guessed by now, this game is full of historical references. The creators of this game created such a rich world in Rapture that is fused with so many elements from America during the decades of the 1930s to the 1950s. Being a history major, I have a deep love of history and try to inject it wherever it fits. But I know that many are not as well versed, so I'll try to explain the references I'm sure almost no one would get otherwise. That's what the first two footnotes basically are.
(1) Diane McClintock's Audio Diary portrait (which the teens and you can't see since the actual audio dairies don't have pictures on them) is based on the mugshot of Tanya Williams, a woman working at the Melody Lane club in San Francisco, arrested in 1942 for "indecent entertainment." And Myrna Loy is a Hollywood actress who despite being in movies since before 1920 only really took off as a star after staring in two very different movies from 1934 in which she stared with actor William Powell. The first is Manhattan Melodrama, a crime melodrama most notable for being what gangster John Dillinger saw before being gunned down by G-men on July 22, 1934 leaving Chicago's Biograph Theater. The second was the comedy-mystery film, The Thin Man. She's better known for this role today.
(2) I almost didn't put this in here for a very noteworthy reason, whenever someone says, "Its like what the Nazis did"; people tend to automatically shun it, no matter what the actual point trying to be made is. And while I can understand this view, it means that bringing them up for any reason except blunt condemning is difficult. However, the basic idea behind the audio dairies, leaving a tangible record for what is believed to be the glorious start of a new era of human civilization, is exactly what the Nazis did. That's the reason why they kept such detailed accounts of the Holocaust and how we can create an outline for it which almost every single source, whether it's the census data made possible by BM Hollerith punch card machines or first-hand accounts of Nazi soldiers who put the bullets in the victims' heads or lead them into the gas chambers, agree on. Just like the audio diaries in Bioshock, bits and pieces here and there nevertheless come together into a unified, agreeing whole.
(3) I realize that I'm deviating from the canon of Bishock by having Atlas telling the teens what exactly these "ghosts" are. After all, in the game we don't learn this info until a few levels later thanks to an audio dairy. However, in the game, the protagonist was a character who never talked and therefore never asked questions. But the teens would naturally ask questions about all of the crazy things in Rapture. Plus, considering what Atlas' plans are, he'd want to help them understand them in order to survive as much as possible. As these chapters so far hopefully show, I'm going out of my way to copy the game as much as possible for this fan-fcition. However, there are going to be some moments, where because of basic logic or the differences between the game's context and my TD premise, I must change or move around some elements in terms of when they happen and when they are revealed. Despite that, please know that I'll be going out of my way to do that as little as humanly possible in order to preserve the amazingness that is Bioshock's world.
(4) Remember, Atlas, and the rest of Rapture, has been totally isolated since 1946. Therefore, he would have no idea what HIV was. While there is debate about when the HIV virus first came into exist and started to be able to infect humans (most agree that what would become the HIV virus started to infect humans before 1950), the medical world of the first half of the twentieth century was ignorant of the virus. It wasn't until the 1980s that the medical profession really identified the HIV virus.
All right, now that I've hopefully kept your interest instead of just boring you…I'll say the obvious. The next chapter is when we meet two very important creatures. To those of you how have never actually played Bioshock, you are in for quite the treat. :)
Until then, please read, review, favor, fellow, and spread the word!