Chapter 11 - Paupers drop
"lookin' out the window isn't going to get you here any faster." Adrian's voice snapped me out of my trance. "Just a bit much to take in there" I said with a sigh. "Well the faster we make it together, the faster we get home and stop all this shit. I have a job for you when you get here."
"A job for me?" I had no idea what he could possibly mean by a job for me. What can I do that he can't?
"What kind of job are we talking about here?"
"We gotta get through a part of the city that's flooded. Siren alley. You need to get the water out of there somehow. I'm working on figuring it out. JUST GET HERE."
"I'm trying for god's sake but I'm no soldier like you."
...
My progression through the city felt as though it was going nowhere. Stores, large hotels, massive hallways with rounded off glass ceilings. All of it abandoned and in disarray. "So you're telling me that most of the city is inhabited with people? How big is this place? I've covered at least a mile of abandoned crap."
"Yeah, and I've been meaning to tell you that once you get to an area called paupers drop that the place is going to spring to life. Make sure to keep a low profile. There are a lot of people here so it shouldn't be hard to move through without drawing attention to yourself." Adrian's voice was muffled and I could hear chewing. Is he eating something? Son of a bitch I'm hungry.
...
Eventually I got to what looked like a big street. Loud voices came from nearby. "Adrian! I hear voices!"
The sound of something falling over and quick footsteps came through the walkie talkie. "Shit, you're near paupers drop! You should be in a street."
"Yeah, It's almost pitch black, but I hear voices."
"Ok, look, there's a store around there called Gastrow's Articles. In the back room behind the counter, there's a hole in the wall that leads behind a pile of junk-"
A loud smash made the ground shake and I dove behind an old bench.
"FUCK! You ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine, What could that have been!?"
Horrible inhuman roaring was coming from down the 'street'. A red light was moving fast in the distance accompanied by footsteps that sounded close.
"I see a light down a little ways away."
"WHAT?! WHAT COLOR IS IT? IS IT MOVING TOWARDS YOU!?"
I began to panic. "Y-yeah, wh-why what the fuck is it?"
Just then the footsteps were so loud they seemed on top of me.
"It might be one of lamb's girls, get the hell out of there!"
I could make out the silhouette of a hunched man moving towards me. The red light was getting closer in the back ground. I could not move. I was paralyzed with fear.
CLANK
The mans chest burst open from the front and he stumbled before falling down and resting in front of me. The red light faded and turned to yellow. "Is the monster gone mister bubbles?"
Is that a little girl? What the hell is master babbles?
As the light got closer, a massive shadow in the shape of some strange astronaut suit or diving suit became visible around it. I noticed two smaller yellow lights next to the bigger one. They moved down the side of the suit and I could hear bare feet tapping against the floor as the tiny glowing orbs moved to the now motionless corpse of the man.
"There's a little girl and some sort of thing here! Adrian?"
"Oh, It's a big daddy and a little sister. Don't bother them and they won't bother you... most of the time."
I backed away slowly. The big daddies light was shining on the little sister now, showing her grayish death like features. She wore a small dress with a bow in her hair. I turned and accidentally kicked something. Light illuminated everything around me. The big daddy was looking at me. Shit. I turned and faced it. The hulking mass gave out a low drawn out groan. The little sister sat up from the corpse and looked. Her small eyes focused on me and widened in fear before squinting. "Hey, wait. You're not a monster. Mr. B! It's a stranger!" I wasn't sure what to do. "I'm just leaving." She smirked. "You better leave or you can get in big trouble! Strangers aren't aloud here! Me and Mr. B are getting rid of all the monsters and bringing Eleanor back the adam they have. Go home mister! Before I get upset and tell Eleanor's friends you're here! GO!" She looked infuriated all of a sudden. I now just noticed the disfigured face of the man that was laying on the ground. His entire body was disfigured. The big daddy took a step towards me and pointed. In the other hand, he carried a large gun of some sort that he was holding by a handle on top. I jogged off until the light from the big daddy's port hole no longer reached me and I was out of sight. I ran straight into Gastrow's articles. I opened the door to the backroom and saw the hole. A bright glow was emitting from the other side and the voices I was hearing were significantly amplified. It sounded like crowds of people talking. Turning to look back one last time through the open door, I heard the little sister's small footsteps echoing in the distance. "Don't be so polite mr. B! You should have gotten him! Eleanor is going to hear about this."
...
The hole lead me to a small room with a single lamp on a table hooked up to a small generator. Cheering and voices were coming from above me. I walked up a small stairwell. "Adrian I went through the hole. Gonna continue upstairs."
"Ease up a second. You're going to need to fit in. You're below a place called the Limbo room so-"
"And how am I going to fit in?"
"I was just about to tell you that. Upstairs you'll come to a door. On the other side of the door is the inside of a closet, and there's a lot of old clothing inside that we passed. You need to change."
"Did you change? Are you wearing something to fit in?"
"No. We got lucky and went through when the place was closed down. Guess now is the time everything is buzzing. Got on the train no problem and got to where we are with hardly anyone seeing us. We're still in the abandoned part of fort frolic. You just need to get to the train station in the main part of paupers drop and go to fort frolic. We're set up in an old record store... So just sneak past the security cameras lamb set up near all the abandoned places and the splicers. Not too hard. Hide the walkie talkie and get here. I'll see you soon."
sure." The door at the top of the stairs opened with loud creaking. The voices were louder now and I heard singing. Within the closet, there were heaps of random pieces of clothing laying around everywhere. "Well, time to make a disguise." I dressed in an old cable knit sweater and brown pants. Right before I walked out of the closet, the walkie talkie cracked out with static. "Bill! Miller was disguised and scoping everything out around there yesterday and just now told me that one of Eleanor's groupies lives around there in the hotel! She goes to the Limbo room all the time! Be. Fucking. Careful. Big sisters are nothing to fuck with. If you see a really tall slim pretty blonde girl around there, don't go trying to talk to her. Her name is Imogen. Big sisters look good because of the crazy amounts of adam they produce without getting sick, but they ain't no sweethearts. They're psychos."
"Noted. Got it." I slipped the walkie talkie onto the waist of the pants and pulled the heavy sweater over it. Loud applause came from ahead of me. A man was frantically yelling on the other side of the closet door. I opened and stepped out. "YOU!" He quickly pointed at me.
"Me?"
"Yes, You! You need to perform next! Our schedule needs to flow along... Wait... are you a performer? Who are you?!" I smirked because of how strange the situation was.
"I'm Billy."
"Billy?! BILLY! You don't belong back here! GET OUT BEFORE I-" The strange man stopped. He was older and had a pencil mustache. A slight receding hairline. He had white powder on his face with eyeliner. He looked like a strange Charlie chaplin, with an old fashioned suit. "Wait a moment..." He said rubbing his chin and slowly walking in circles around me. "You are a strange subject little moth. Tell me... Why is your hair in a such a strange fashion? And who calls them self Billy? Is it not a name for a young boy rather than a towering young man? I would expect William. Hmm... this will be interesting. So tell me why you are here."
I had to come up with a quick story. "I've always been curious about how the back stages of a show were. I like show business. Sorry if I did something wrong."
The man threw his head back. "HA! An up and coming artist! Well, little moth. This is not the best place to exactly be scouting around for show... I was simply invited here by Imogen to put on a show for the people of this filthy skid row... the sister's are nobody to make upset, as we all know. The 8 of them are a rowdy bunch! Especially Lamb! Heh. If you want a real show, go to fort frolic tomorrow afternoon! Say your name at the front and you'll get right in. Bring a friend... someone who doesn't know real art like we do! Show them the beauty of it! Sit at the top with the rest of the VIPs! Just don't make the sisters angry a few seats away! 8 angry girls are no fun!"
"Ok, I'll go to Fort Frolic." fuck, I don't want to insult this guy. How can I get out of this?
Before I could protest, he suddenly became angry again. "Off you go! SCRAM!" he pushed me out the side door into an aisle between tables. A moment later he came on stage and began speaking. The room was dim, and smoke was in a thick fog up above. The stage lights were multiple hues of purple and blue. I began walking towards the entrance passing all the tables. I quickly glanced to my left and saw an absolutely gorgeous girl sitting in a large booth looking down at paper. Blue eyes, long legs, blonde hair. Wait a sec
My realization came quick, but it was too late. It was Imogen. She had already noticed. Her gaze was confusing; one eyebrow raised and the other flat. It quickly changed to annoyed. I turned and left. I could feel her eyes on me the whole way out the door.
...
"Attention Rapture citizens" Oh come on, again? This has been the third announcement in the past hour. This Lamb really likes to talk. A lot.
It was a nice little place, the fishbowl diner. While wandering around looking for the station to get to fort frolic, I found it and decided to go in. It was free soup on account of the chef retiring. A big farewell was going on. "Fishbowl diner, gotta love that name" I said to the waitress as she smiled and took my empty bowl. I walked out into the, ahem, 'street.' Even though it was at the bottom of the ocean, it sure had the qualities of a city. People were rushing around. Through a window out into the open ocean, a bathysphere zipped by. Two men argued loudly enough for me to hear them across the way at a newspaper stand. "We've been running the same shoddy old shit since ryan was around! I can hardly believe the name made it this long! HELL! I can hardly believe we or anything else is back up and running! You know how damn hard it was to hide and survive decently for 15 years?!" The other man retorted in a more hushed voice "The rapture tribune has been around since the beginning. We're not-"
"Oh!" a woman cried out. "Stand back everyone, Big daddy!" a man yelled. The sound of commotion off to my left made me loose interest in the two men and look. A big daddy, a much different looking one than the first one I saw, sauntered on out of a glass corridor dripping wet. This one didn't have a gun, but a large drill in place of its right hand. A woman was walking briskly in my direction, towards the diner's front door. "Excuse me, uh, miss?" I stepped slightly in front of her. "Yes hun?" She said brightening up. "A bit of a silly question, but, where do I get to fort frolic?" She tilted her head a bit and gave a huge smile. "Just go to the atlantic express, right on over there!" She pointed off to the glass tunnel the big daddy emerged from. "Thank you very much!" I said smiling. She giggled and walked through the doors behind me. I approached the glass corridor and strode on through looking for Atlantic express.
...
The train was getting ready to leave for fort frolic. I stared out the glass window of the shuttle onto the platform. A few people were standing around. A voice came over the trains inner speakers. "Good evening folks. We're stopping at Dionysus park, then we're on our way to Fort frolic. Departing in a moment." More people were gathering on the platform. A few were leaving. The shuttle jolted, and I heard air pressurizing. We were beginning to move. A feeling came over me. The strange feeling you get when there is a dreadful and powerful presence watching you. My gaze shifted out the window. Beautiful blue eyes met mine. Wavy-ish blonde hair. Full amazing lips. Small soft nose that ended in a sharp point. Standing at over even my own height from the looks of it. Imogen. Her lips curled up at the sides as she slanted her eyes. She bit her lip. Those eyes... Oh my GOD those unbelievable eyes...
As she went out of view and the ocean enveloped the vessel, it dawned upon me that maybe that wasn't a lustful stare she gave me that screamed "I want you with me out here. Now." No. It meant "I want you with me out here. Now. So I can rip your fucking throat out, laughing as you bleed to death." I gulped and felt my hand move to cup around my jugular.
Been a while. Something I'd like to point out quickly. In this story, Sander Cohen is still alive as you can see. In Bioshock you have the choice to kill him in two opportunities. If you do not kill him either time, he doesn't die. I'm implying that Jack didn't kill him in 1960 and that allows him to still be alive in this story.