"Fish, I hate fucking fish! God, I don't want to do this anymore! I'm good enough! I'm smart enough! And I'm gonna make a name for myself in Rapture!"
-Antony Wallace
Antony jabbed his knife into the lower side of the fish, from the anus to its lip . He reached in and started pulling out the guts. Some fell out fairly easy, but he had to dig in and rip out some at the head, throwing them to the side. He took a deep breath, as he threw the fish with the others he had gutted, then grabbed another. He continued this cycle for hours then took the fish to be skinned.
He sighed, usually during work he could tune out the world and work in a sort of trance-like state which helped this tedious work go bye faster, but not today, today work was the longest it had ever been in his two years of working.
He had tried for a job at Fontaine Futuristics, today he would find out if he got the job.
He couldn't focus on anything; he was too excited, too nervous.
He took hold of another fish but it slipped and he dropped it.
"Antony!"
Oh shit.
As soon as he turned around he was greeted by a punch to the face. He fell back from the force of it. Then looked up to see a pissed of Peach.
"What the h-hell is wrong with you, six, SIX fish you've dropped today, every fish y-you drop costs us money! Get yer act together b-boy!"
His eyes found his father, who wasn't looking at him, just skinning fish. Ignoring him. "Y-yes sir..."
Crazy bastard...
Peach stormed off, and everyone got back to work.
Peach was always a suspicious, jerk. But lately... he was just losing it. Like everyone was out to get him.
Antony rubbed his cheek and stood up returning to work.
"Antony, time to turn in for the day."
He nodded. "All right dad." Antony washed the blood off his gloves and changed from his uniform. He eagerly headed out, catching up with his dad.
"Uh hey, I got some errands to run, okay?"
His dad stopped. "What? Errands? What errands?"
"I just got to pick up somethin'."
He nodded. "Yeah, sure just get home before eleven all right?"
He smiled and took off. "Sure thing pop!"
He took a bee line to his friend Jimmy's house.
"Did they call?"
He stared coldly at him. "No, and why'd you give 'em my number anyway?"
"'Cause no one's home to take the call, and my dad would cuss out the guy on the phone
and make me loose the job!"
Jimmy shook his head. "Why should your dad care?"
He shrugged. "Don't know, but he's never liked me talkin' about what I want to do."
"Guess he wants you guttin' fish for the rest of your life."
Antony sighed. "Yeah no kiddin'."
The two of them sat together for a few hours, a few people called, but none were for Antony.
"I'm sorry Antony."
"Sorry?"
Jimmy stood up. "I mean, you've been sittin' here for ages... you must not have.."
Jimmy was cut off by the phone ringing.
They stared at each other and Antony took a deep breath and picked up the phone.
"H-hello?"
"Antony Wallace?"
His stomach flipped. "Yes sir."
"Congratulations, you start at Fontaine Futuristics Monday morning at five A.M., and don't be late."
"R-right... thank you..." He dropped the phone. "YES! HA HA!"
"You got it!"
"What do you think!"
Jimmy laughed, Antony's enthusiasm catching. "All right, Mr. Big Shot Scientist, what say we go out and get some drinks?"
"That's Assistant, and sure as long as YOUR paying!"
"Assistant?"
He smiled. "Yeah, for now."
The two boys went out and got a few beers at the Fighting McDonagh's and stumbled back home.
He woke up on the couch to his dad. "Hey, get up. Dammit Antony."
"Wh-what?"
"Time to go to work, get up."
Antony tried telling his dad about his new job at Fontaine Futuristics, but he just couldn't get the words out, his head was pounding too much.
All morning at the fisheries felt like hell, he was so hung over he could barely work.
But he managed to make it through the rest of the day, relatively unharmed.
At the end of the day he changed out from his uniform for the last time. Feeling more confident he went to meet up with his dad at the front of Fontaine Fisheries, but stopped when he heard Peach's voice.
"...you to go send him the message."
He heard his dad sigh. "Look I know Fontaine's not makin' things easy for us... but Ryan... if he finds about the sub..."
"We don't got a choice! We gotta choose now, before it's too late!"
"And you're gonna go with Ryan?"
"Dad?"
The two turned, started by him. Peach shook his head. "We'll talk about this later..."
Peach went back inside the Fisheries.
"What was that about dad?"
His dad shook his head. "Nothing you need to worry about."
They started walking home, if there was a time to tell him...
"Hey dad..?"
"Yeah?"
"I... I'm quitting my job at the Fisheries.."
His dad laughed. "No you're not."
"Yes I am. Dad I'm gonna be an assistant at Fontaine Futuristics."
His dad shook his head, not laughing anymore. "Son, you don't got a chance to-"
"No Dad, I already have the job! I'm starting tomorrow."
His dad stopped, dead in his tracks and stared at Antony for a long time, then just turned from him and walked home, not looking at him even once...
He went to bed early that night, and woke up early the morning after that. He grabbed a fancy suit he'd been saving for a while, then combed his hair, brushed his teeth, anything and everything he could to give the best first impression.
"Dad?"
Antony looked around the apartment... his dad wasn't there... he didn't have to be at work for another hour...
He hadn't spoken to Antony the night before either...
Whatever... let him sulk.
Antony made his way to Fontaine Futuristics as fast as he could, his heart was pounding with anticipation.
When he reached Fontaine Futuristics he was approached by a tall, dark haired woman.
"Are you the assistant I was told about?"
He nodded. "Yes Ma'am."
She sighed. "Come with me."
Antony followed the woman to the laboratories, where she sat down at a desk.
"You will be assisting me in my daily work, and experiments. You will do whatever I tell you, understand?"
He nodded. "Yes ma'am."
She turned and started writing for a moment, then stopped and turned back to face him. "Also, you are not to speak of anything that goes on in this laboratory."
He nodded. "Yes, yes ma'am!"
She handed him contract and he anxiously sighed it.
The rest of the day was... boring to say the least, in fact, the whole week was.
Antony was an errand boy.
He had figured he'd be doing some grunt work, but this was not what he had expected.
One day he was filing Miss Tenenbaum's papers when he heard screaming and banging.
"Wallace! WALLACE!"
At the sound of Tenenbaum calling him he stood and ran for the source of the commotion, and found Tenenbaum and another scientist in the lab, trying to hold down a little girl.
"What are you standing there for, HELP US!"
He ran to them and took hold of her; she squirmed and screamed as he moved her on to the table.
"Quickly, tie her down!"
Antony tied the girl down with the leather straps as the other man, Dr. Suchong, slipped a mask over her face and turned on the gas, the girls screamed and tugged but slipped into unconsciousness.
For a moment Antony wasn't sure exactly what just happened. Then with a cold feeling in his gut,turned to Tenenbaum. "What's going on?"
Tenenbaum looked away from him.
"Answer me! Who is she?"
She sighed then sat down at one of the desks. "She is one of our test subjects for our new project."
"Test subject? This little girl!"
Tenenbaum glared at him. "In order for scientific progress to be made there must be sacrifices..."
"Sacrifices!"
The other doctor pushed past him. "Suchong is done for the day."
Tenenbaum turned and tried to say something to him, but Suchong had already left.
"What do you mean sacrifices! This isn't what I signed up for!"
"You signed up to be my assistant, yes? You want to be a scientist, yes? This is how you do it. Or would you rather gut fish?"
Antony couldn't sleep that night, and he had barely touched the food he had made for himself. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't experiment on little girls... could he? But he wouldn't go back to the fisheries, he's rather die than be trapped in that stink hole every again.
He heard the door to the apartment open. His father returning from the fisheries. He wanted to talk to him, to tell him what had happened. He wanted his father to listen to him and give him some sort of advice or solace, but Antony knew better.
His father had never been the type to give advice, or think for that matter. All his father ever did was work, get the job done. His father was a nobody. Not worthy of enjoying the finer things life had to offer. No one would ever know his name; no one would ever see him as something other than a faceless nobody, making a life by gutting and skinning fish.
Antony would not follow his example.
People would see Antony, they would know his name, seek out his intellect, and call on him for advice and counsel. He wouldn't let himself become his father.
After a few minutes he saw the door to his room open slightly, he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. He heard the silent pad of footsteps get closer until they stopped just behind him. He heard a weary sigh, and then his father left and closed the door behind him.
Antony sat up and stared at the door. He took a deep breath and could smell fish, the stink lingering on his father's clothes. He shook his head as he heard the sound of running water, coming from the bathroom.
I will never be like you...
The next day he began his research with Tenenbaum on ADAM, and his experiments on the Little Sisters.
November 23rd 1956
Antony sighed as he looked over the files again, his eyes straining to see the words, which now ran together and blurred. He was dead tired, he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in a long time. Tenenbaum came back into the room and handed him some coffee.
"Thanks."
"You should go home, get some rest."
He shook his head. "I've got to check these files once more before I turn them in."
"All right." Tenenbaum started to leave. "Also... your father tried to call you again..."
Again... "Right thanks."
She left Antony alone with his thoughts. His father had been trying to contact him for weeks. Antony had been ignoring his calls. He leaned back and sighed... it had been a long week...
After a hour or so Antony turned in his work and started for home, he was dead tired...
...Of course there was always some time for a quick drink before turning in. So he decided to stop by a bar.
"Hello again, Mr. Wallace, the usual?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Long night huh?"
"You're telling me..."
The bartender slide him his usual drink, Antony downed it, and the bartender filled his drink again. "You wanna talk about it?"
"No thanks... I just need a quick pick me up."
The bartender nodded. "Sure thing."
After an hour of so Antony found himself stumbling home. He wasn't piss drunk, but he had a heavy buzz. It took him forever to find his keys, and get the door to his house open, but when he finally did he closed the door and collapsed on the couch.
He slept for a few hours and was woken by his phone ringing. He rolled over ignoring it.
He was going to ignore it and get back to sleep, until he heard he father's frantic whispering. "...Antony... Antony... answer the phone... you've got to-" Antony stumbled to the phone and ripped the cord out from the wall.
"YOU STUPID OLD F***ER!" He kicked the table, and fell back onto the couch.
Why! Why doesn't he just leave me alone! I'm sick of his ranting! !
...Damn it...
The next day he went to his father's house, he was going to end it once and for all. He knocked on the door, no answer; he kept knocking, but still nothing. Luckily for him he knew where his dad hide the spare key and he let himself in.
"Dad! Where are you! I know you're here!" There was no answer.
The house was a wreck, empty bottles and EVE syringes were scattered all over the apartment.
"Jesus..." Antony looked around the apartment, but his father wasn't there. Antony checked under his dad's mattress. That's where his dad always hid important stuff.
What Antony found there made his blood run cold, they were journal entries, Peach was using his father for secret dealings between him and Ryan, and him and Fontaine. Peach was being ganged up on by both sides and now had pulled his father into it, paying him with ADAM. At first the notes and diary scraps made since but over time they turned to suspicious mindless gibberish.
My god... what happened to you?...
Oh my god... It's the ADAM... I- I knew it caused... but... what was he trying to tell me? Where is he?
…Peach!
Antony ran to the fisheries and pounded on the door until a little slot on the door opened.
"Who's t-there... Antony? The hell do you w-want b-boy!"
"Where's my dad?"
"Not here!" Peach slammed the slot shut.
"PEACH! Open this damn door or I'll tell Fontaine about your dealings with Ryan, or would you rather me go to Ryan! My dad had all the files to prove it Peach!"
After a minute Peach opened the door. "Get in."
Antony walked into the freezer and was jumped by the smugglers; he tried to fight back but only succeeded in getting kneed in the stomach. "Stop strugglin' boy."
"Where's my dad Peach!"
Peach didn't answer; he took a quick sip of whatever drink he had. "That's a f-fancy suit there b-boy, look like you've done yourself good."
"Where... is he?"
"Why should you give a damn? He said you h-hated him."
"JUST ANSWER THE GODDAMN QUESTION PEACH!"
Peach was quiet for a long time. "I had no choice... it was either me or him... I had to tell Fontaine that..."
It took a moment for Antony to understand what he was hearing. "You sold him out... YOU SOLD HIM OUT! You let him DIE! Where's his body!"
Peach was quiet. Then punched Antony so hard he fell back into the other smugglers. He could feel that his lip had been split. Peach grabbed him by the hair. "Now you listen to me you little punk YOU'RE just as g-guilty of all this as I AM! I did what I had to, to s-s-urvive! So did you!" Peach released his hair and took his father's diary notes and files from him. "Now you don't go r-runnin' your mouth to Fontaine or Ryan you hear m-me!" He nodded to the smugglers who let him go then went about their business.
Antony was still for a while, the guilt he felt. It was his fault. He'd abandoned his only family then ignored them when they had needed his help. He hated what his father stood for. Loss, complacency, and failure... but he was still his father...
"Antony... you and your father are a lot alike..." Peach sounded calm, more so than Antony had ever heard before. "You're both stubborn, it's probably why he never told you himself. But he was proud of you. All the time it was 'my boy' this and 'my boy' that... it was sickening. He knew you were angry at him. He told me he hated his old man too, that's why he stayed out of your way. He knew how you felt. Go home and forget about all this boy. It'll do you good."
...Son of a bitch...
The next day Antony Wallace turned in his resignation from Fontaine Futuristics. He wasn't sure where he was going to go but it couldn't be there. He didn't want any more guilt or blood on his hands.
"Today Antony moved out of the house, he got himself a job at Fontaine Futuristics! Our boy's movin' up! He's gonna be a scientist. You always knew he was smart... you'd be so proud of him. I'm just gonna stay out of his way, give him some room to grow. I am... so proud of him."
-George Wallace