Walking out of the entrance of The Pink Pearl, I heard the radio buzz to life.
-Radio Start-"Jim Dandy sport, you got the key. But, you left Daniel alive… why did you do that son? The ol` dog tried to kill you after all, what was with the change of heart?" –Radio end-
I thought for a second to ponder the question myself. Things in this place were a blur of foggy memory; inside the hotel was the worst by far, and a mass of depression and dread. It was like the very location itself had given up hope and let the feelings of dread and depression become its masters. It also seemed like this place was taking its toll on my mind, I was being corrupted by the sense of dread and depression, I almost went full big daddy hypnotized crazy for Christ sake!
"Because… I wouldn't give in… and neither should had he." I stated simply.
The sound of my gunky and metallic footsteps were the only things that accompanied the acoustics of the burning fire, dripping water, etc. The number of splicers here were very few and each one was far in between. It made this sense of loneliness; that was frighteningly familiar to my mind, come back to mind and caused me to think about and dwell on all the things I've done; that I could remember, up until this point.
'Was every decision I made really the right choice? Was there ever even a right or wrong choice?' I asked myself. I was answered by that annoying voice that tried to make me believe what everyone has been saying about my dau… Eleanor was true; scary truth is… I think it was more me than him that made me start thinking like how I was right now. 'You know… right and wrong are only words, created to describe one's actions. So are good and evil, but they are much more ancient words to describe one's actions. It isn't if you made the right choice, or the wrong choice. What matters is what you do, what your actions are. Even then though, it is all how you justify your actions and how others perceive those justified choices.' The voice had a very startling truth to them, and even worse, I could hear even more of myself in his voice. Was this my subconscious trying to make me see some kind of truth I was apparently blind to?
As I approached the entrance to the junction, I heard my radio buzz to life; this time with Bella's voice.
-Radio Start- "Johnny, when… when you get to us… I think we need to talk, alone…" –Radio Start-
I couldn't bear to hear her voice right now, let alone her request to talk. I simply sighed and continued my trek back towards the entrance to the second sector of this place. Once I was in front of the door; and as it slid open upwards, I saw a little… red… wagon…
My eyes began to tear up even more as they widened. Inside the wagon was a dirty, scuffed teddy bear, a jar of fire flies, a jar of clean water, and three upgrades for my harpoon gun. It was a gift from my… from Eleanor, she was giving yet again, and I was only taking once again. Sauntering forward, I picked up the three upgrades and starred at them for several silence filled seconds.
1…
2…
3…
4…
5…
That's when I nearly snapped. I threw the last upgrade; as I had sluggishly put on the first two, back into the cart and even kicked it through the open archway to the security room, through the pool of water, and into the cement pillar support. I was angry, I didn't know why or at whom, but I just felt… just felt… LIKE I HAD TO VENT MY RAGE!
I ran into the room and tossed the gift out the wagon once again and into the wall that was closest to me. I then proceeded to beat and destroy the living crap out of the wagon and its contents.
I started with the teddy bear. I picked it up and began to strangle it with my right hand and twisted and pulled its left arm; slowly as I wanted to hear every stitching begin to tare. Quickly there was very short, zript, zript, zript sounds the indicated the frail stitching was being snapped, when the tenth sound came and gone, so too did the bear's entire left arm. The white cotton stuffing of the bear's now severed arm spewed out into the damp iron hump of the pillar and into the water pool that engulfed the floor.
I then began to violently shake the teddy bear until I literally shook its head off. The head fell to the ground and sluggishly rolled off of the hump and dipped into the water; starting to float even. I looked at the wagon and saw that the jar of fireflies and jar of water was still in there.
I growled angrily and reached down for the jar of fireflies. I held it with a shaky right hand and began to squeeze my hand around it begrudgingly, until it shattered into little shards of glass. I saw the fireflies that did not get killed by the shards of glass or my hand fly away into air. I then reached back down and grabbed onto the water jar that was in the red wagon.
Once I grabbed it I heard the sound of a familiar three second alarm sound. Spinning around I whipped my arm back and launched the water jar directly at the triggered security camera. Exploding on direct contact, the water jar splashed the camera; short circuiting it. I ignored it for the moment as my attention back on the wagon, my anger still coursing through my veins.
After a few seconds I had finally finished venting my anger, as the wagon was now literally torn into chunks of metallic debris. I clenched my hands into fists over and over again as I panted from rage, letting the rational part of my mind come back into place.
Once back to my rational self, I sighed slightly; realizing why I had acted out like I did. I was angry at myself, I was angry at myself because I was starting to see a truth I wanted to block out.
Turning back around, I walked over to and hacked into the security camera before sauntering over to the last gift that Eleanor had given to me. Picking it up and attaching it to my harpoon gun, I pressed the visor of my helmet to the piece. When it was attached I let the words, forgive me…, pass through my partly open lips in a very quiet voice. 'What… what and why is this happening… now of all times…' I asked myself.
I sauntered up the metallic stairs and stepped up onto the cement floor that connected with the iron stair case. I then turned and headed straight for the iron bulkhead that lead to the second sector of this place.
-Radio Start- "Del-Del… are you okay…? You don't seem to be… acting… like yourself…" –Radio End-
I knew that I couldn't talk to Bella; or anyone, that came over my radio. It was one way radio and couldn't message back anything; mainly because it was kind of broken. But, I couldn't care right now, I just wanted someone that wasn't scared… someone that wasn't trying to kill me too talk to.
"I don't know Bella… I… I just kind of fee-"
The sound of grinding and screeching of the bulkhead's gears interrupted me. The bulkhead stopped dead still while it was only one-fourths of the way open. Along with it came a voice on the radio.
-Radio Start- "Faith, Delta ... it lives within us, yet beyond us. Daniel Wales lacked it; Father Simon Wales does not. The faithful do not die in fear, as you did; we achieve martyrdom. Now watch, as the sheep hunt down the wolf that has taken one of its flock away." -Radio End- There was sinister in her voice along with a lying tone; she knew I didn't kill Daniel.
An alarm started to blare at an insanely loud volume; nearly overloading my helmet's audio receptors, and a red light somewhere on the ceiling of the room lit up as the other lights shut downed. The red light was like a light tower's circling beam of light; only not a single beam. That was when the speakers of the facility came to life with that woman's voice.
-Speakers Start- "Father Simon Wales, I have trapped a dead man at your doorstep. And Simon ... Daniel is dead. Murdered. Can you hear him crying out for justice?" -Speakers End-
As soon as her voice ended I heard creaking and groaning sounds of buildup and stress from the pipes behind and above me. I turned around and heard the speakers come to life again.
-Speakers Start- "Know this, Beast ... Daniel's body may go cold, but his soul rests with the child of the Lamb. You shall roast and blacken in the pit, and it'll be a grieving brother sends you there." -Speakers End-
He had to be more reasonable than he was letting on. Even religous zealots had a listening point inside of them. I didn't want to kill him and I didn't want to hurt him. I began to try and speak with him.
"Simon! I di-di-didn't kill your broth-ther! He is still alive! Please, you have to believe me... I promised that I would not kill or hurt you, so please, DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!" I pleaded.
But, it was to no avail...
-Speakers Start- "Your sin itself marches to meet you, Beast –- and its name is Legion!" -Speakers End-
As he was just a few words from finished saying that, the pipes finally ruptured from the pressure and stress buildup. I looked at the pipes above me and quickly ran to and vaulted over the railing of the second floor. It was barely to get away unscathed enough as the pipe's spewed out a column of fiery inferno dancing onto the floor of the second floor of the junction. I barely managed to get out of the column of inferno path before its violent eruption, and I got the charred black colored burn mark along my entire back to prove it.
I landed onto the water engulfed concrete floor with a loud thud and loud grunt of pain. I felt the searing heat of the burn mark and could feel some kind of gases substance escalating into the air from the burn mark. I thought it was over, but it wasn't over by a long shot; for I heard the familiar clanking and scratching of metal hooks against metal accompanied with the sound of metal being torn and bent.
Getting up hurriedly, I rushed towards the start of the stairs. My entire right side was soaking wet, if I wasn't wearing this diving suit I would be freezing from the ice cold ocean water, and dripping from the water. I stumbled a bit as I ran; because I was unable to quickly find good enough traction or friction to steady myself in the water, towards the start of the stair case. I heard shrill screams and screeched coming from close by and from above, looking up I could see at least five or six of those spider-ristic splicers hanging from the pipes and grates that covered the ceiling.
Acting quickly, I pulled out my rivet-gun and focused on the telekinetic plasmid that was inside my genes; making it course through my veins and replace the freezing plasmid. All six of the spider-like splicers seemed to unhook themselves from the spots they had been hanging on and dropped like a barrel in Niagara Falls onto the ground. They landed like cats, on their feet, and circled me with animalistic movements; all while grinding their hooks against the other hook in their hands.
I closed my eyes and steadied my breathing and calmed my nerves. Something inside me was telling me to spare these men, that if I killed them I would be no better than a mindless big daddy obeying Sofia Lamb's every whim. But, I knew that they would not give me the same kind of clemency if I did show mercy to them; I learned that lesson the hard way back in Ryan Amusements. So, I had to justify it to the humane part of my mind. The way I justified it was that each splicer I killed was a drug attic and put the entire world and its inhabitants in danger. Also that because of how much they used Adam they were in great pain and that killing them was a humane mercy kill of sorts.
A shrill yell was emitted from the right side of me and I could feel the vibrations of rippling water from the footsteps of one of the charging splicers. I turned around; opening my eyes, with lighting fast movement and brought with me a catastrophic punch that crashed itself into the charging splicer's side. With a loud, Umph, I could tell that the deck to the side I had hand delivered to the splicer knocked the air out of his lungs. I could see that the splicer had bent over in pain and was gasping for air.
Using the opportunity of weakness I raised my right leg up and crashed the tip of my boot into the splicer's chin; busting it open, and knocked and spun him around slightly and caused him to land chin first into the metal bump that lead to the pillar. I could tell that, because of the sickening greenish blackish tar-like blood that was trickling down the bump, the splicer's chin was busted open even more.
I could feel the surge of adrenaline coursing through my veins and body. I could feel my senses heighten even more than they were as a big daddy. I could feel my muscles and heart going into overdrive as I seemed to move and attack faster.
The two splicers behind me, I could feel their movement from the rippling water that their feet created with every step. Their stench was repugnant; more so than usual, as I smelled it from the breather part of my helmet, but this told me that their arms had to be up for the smell to increase. They were going for a down ward slash to try and rake their claws against the back of my head. I turned and brought around with me the nozzle of my rivet gun; which was loaded with heavy rivets now.
I shoved my rivet gun forwards and jammed the nozzle of my rivet gun into the middle of the splicer that managed to get the closest to me and pulled the trigger. I pulled it four times; all in different locations of the neck, and caused the splicer's neck to begin to spew out a steady stream of blood and cascade into the water and partially on my suit. The blood was like dark crimson red ink as it dripped and streamed into the water below; staining it with a dark rose red tint.
The splicer gagged on his own blood and wrapped his own hands against his neck; trying to cover and put pressure to it. But, it was to no avail, he wanted to but was unable to warn his buddy to stay back and watched as he charged into the monster.
I contracted my left arm and shielded the left side of my chest; blocking the splicer's downward slash. The boat hook raked against and around the middle of my forearm; leaving a large gash in the material and a large open wound around it. I could feel precious life sustaining blood begin to trickle out of my freshly gained wound and trickle off of the suit's material and into the water below. I proceeded to shoot out my left hand and clutched me a handful of the splicer's tattered unrecognizable shirt and slammed him down into the water; following suit by slamming the heel of my left foot into the splicer's forehead.
There was only three splicers left, but they ended up running to the pillar, latching onto, and climbing up and out of the ceiling above. I looked up and watched with befuddlement at their actions, but at once I understood when the sound of tearing and bending metal echoed in my ears.
Looking up towards the second floor region I saw that there was a lone door on the wall facing the pillar. The door had a little extended platform that acted like a catwalk of sorts. I took a step back towards the stairs and raised my left arm to shield myself from any debris. Something was behind there, and it wanted out.
Taking a few more steps back, I heard the bulkhead finally give as something literally bent it inwards and tore it off its hinges and such, then threw it out towards the room; taking the camera as it traveled its trajectory. Outstepped a brutish splicer that was a bit bigger than most and was on fire. The raging inferno that engulfed barely one fourth of his body only seemed to annoy the colossal giant. It took one look to the side, saw me, then roared a guttural roar and finally jumped down to the watery ground; dowsing the fire.
-Fight scene is getting too long, sorry, but I need to end the fight right now.-
The titan monster backed up slowly; getting ever closer to the edge of the second floor catwalk, as it clutched the stump that use to be its right arm. I had torn it off with help of my brute strength and the drill. The monster's body had multiple bullet wounds, spears engorged in his body, and holes from my drill. He was leaking blood like a garden hose spewed out water when it was turned on to full blast. It was a bit tipsy from how I looked at it and its balance was painfully off by the looks of him.
With one final charge forwards I jammed my elbow directly into his sternum; jamming my elbow as deep into his sternum as I possibly could. So far, in fact, that I could hear the snapping of bones. The titan like brutish splicer stumbled and reeled backwards until it fell over, off of the edge of the second floor. It reeled its arms in circles as it fell, before finally landing atop of a pointy protruding outwards tube. With one final rage induced roar, the monster was impaled on the tube. Once the fight was finished, I heard the speakers come back on with Simon's voice.
-Speakers Start- "Eleanor Lamb is our salvation, demon ... you shall not rob us of our final reward!" -Speakers End-
"I don-on-on't want to-to do th-this t-to you Si-si-Simon... b-but-t, I wi-will prot-tect-t myself..." I stated sadly.
I walked through the door that lead to a room; decontamination I think, that sealed itself and began a decontamination process. Once it finished it opened back up and I sauntered out of it. When I walked out of the room, I entered what looked like the second floor catwalk of the second section of Siren Alley. 'Where do I have to go now... ?' I asked myself. As if on cue, I heard my radio speak up.
-Radio Start- "Atta boy, sport… I think you're closin' in on Simon's underground "temple." Now get down to Pumping Station #5 and drain out the park here. Oxygen's runnin' thin in this train car, and I'd sure hate to see our partnership and your relationship cut short." -Radio End-
Sinclair sometimes knew what to say to motivate me to get moving faster. But, I had no idea where the hell the damn fifth pumping station was!
'Follow me father... I will help you...' Said Eleanor.
I widened my eyes in shock as I saw a ghost-like image of m... Eleanor's person materialized before my very eyes. She made a, come hither, gesture towards me, and I came to her beckoning call like a moth to a flame. She guided me to a stair case that lead down to the first floor of the second section of Siren Alley, then towards a place with a grocery store. Once near the plaza of that place, I saw her dissipate from my vision as we got closer and closer to that plaza. I walked a bit faster and reached out for her, but what was once her body in that spot, was now air that slipped through my sausage-sized gloved fingers. I had let her slip through my fingers once again...
I heard the sound of a turret's alarm and the ticking of a camera. I looked up and saw the two devices; right as the camera's alarm triggered. 'Fuck...'
I ran into the building that was facing opposite of the grocery store and managed to elude the security system. I was panting and bleeding harshly from the bullets of the turret; which I had totaled, and the security camera's drones. I slide down the door; which didn't open for some reason, and panted heavily as I waited for the regenerating process of both body and suit to start. Start it did, and the pain of the bullets being pushed out of the wounds they had created and everything internal and external of my body healing itself coursed through my nervous system. I had to bite down on my tongue until I could taste blood in my mouth to keep from screaming. 'At least the pain is gone...'
-Radio Start- "Ask yourself, Delta ... you who have suffered beyond measure at the hands of men like Ryan ... what is the cost of paradise? To end pain ... to end sin ... what must we pay? Eleanor is my answer." -Radio End-
It was Sofia Lamb who was talking, and it made me angrier than usual. If she WAS Eleanor's mother, than why did she treat her own daughter like an object that belonged to a hoarder?! I clenched both my hand and punched my right hand into the concrete wall that was next to me.
I grunted and walked forwards, going deeper into the pumping station; which I had read off of the sign outside the building. As I did, I saw an archway that had the sign, "Sofia Lamb's Office" above it. I looked inside and saw two audio Diaries on the desk inside. I walked in cautiously and picked both of them up. One had the number one on it and the other had number two on it. I decided to keep them for the sake of having two gifts for Bella whenever I got back to her.
I walked back out of the room and continued my trek deeper into the pumping station.
-Guess who is back? LE EPIC TIME SKIP!-
Hurling a ball of freezing ice at the last splicer who stood in my way, I stood before the entrance to the center of the pumping station; or as the wooden hung sign, the Temple of Lamb. I took a deep breath and braced myself for whatever hellish fight that was about to take place in the next room. But, boy was I unprepared for what laid ahead…
As the door crept open, I saw what lied ahead of me as I walked through the decrepit gate. Sinclair was not joking when he said "underground Temple", but he couldn't have picked such a poor synonym for what this place was. The one word that I could use to describe this would be cult. This place was literally a shrine dedicated to Eleanor and somewhat of Sofia Lamb; what made it more eerie is that they had made it into a temple from scape by transforming the center of the pump station.
Down on the floor was row upon row of metal benches that had tattered and worn out cloth that had layers upon layers of dirt, dust, and muck. Going up the middle of the rows of seats was a dirty unrecognizable color carpet or sheet of some sort that lead to a few steps leading up to something. The benches were all facing towards an upraised hill or something that had a podium of sorts with a tattered book of sorts on it. At the back it had a hand made giant decrepit wooden cross that had torn up banners with pictures of little dau… Little sisters appliqued into each banner. But, in the middle of the cross was a very pristine and well-tended banner of Eleanor on it; at least her body, with a head of a plasmid vial that was blooming open like a flower in spring, that was where I could see the figure of what I could only guess was Eleanor.
I could only stare at it in bafflement, completely taken back by the sheer devotion; or lunacy, of Simon Whales.
"Children of Lamb!" Simon yelled from behind the podium.
'Speak of the devil…' I thought to myself.
"The monster of the deep is here! He plans on taking our great Savior away from us! What are we if not cowards if we let this abomination take away our last strand of hope?! What say ye who would die for the Lamb of God, are we mice, or men?!" He preached.
"MEN!" Came from the several spider-like splicers sitting on the benches.
Hearing them made me notice that there were at least five spider splicers, in the room, not counting Simon. I sighed and walked to the edge of the catwalk that I was on. I grabbed onto the railing and proceeded to pull myself up'n'over the railing, then landing onto the concrete ground. I then proceeded down the aisle that the rows of benches made, getting closer to Simon.
"You—monster—may have killed my brother, but don't think ye will be gettin` away with ye sins. When the children of the Lamb send you back to the fiery pit of hell from once ye came, I will burn myself with you, a grieving brother, to keep you down in the pits of Tartorus!" He spat at me.
I stopped midway and looked at him hard; hearing the sounds of the spider splicers getting closer to me.
"I did no-not kill your br-brother, So-So-Sofia Lamb ha-ha-has decie-decieved you Simon." I told him.
"Liar! The mother of the Lamb of God would never spin such webs of deceit!" He responded.
I shook my head in disappointment at his blind-sightedness to the truth. I heard the shrill shriek of spider splicers to my left and too my right. I raised my left hand and right hand, I then proceeded to snap my fingers for both hands.
All of the spider splicers that had just lunged themselves at me were instantly set ablaze and thrown back in all different directions. Doing this made me feel exhausted in drained both of energy and Eve. Simon Whales seemed agitated and pulled out his own boat hooks; which were sharper and deadlier looking than the other spider splicer's hooks. He launched himself over the podium and flew straight at me. Acting quickly I pulled out and equipped my drill, revved it up, and thrust my arm forward.
My drill made direct contact with Simon's abdomen, it managed to drill a bit into him before the momentum of the drill caused Simon's entire body to launch backwards and slam right through the podium and into the near-bottom part of the cross. He produced a loud, Umph, as the air was knocked out of his lungs and hit his head hard against the wooden cross.
Before he could drop to the ground I pulled out my harpoon gun with my left hand and fired three total harpoons. Each one soared through the air and perforated through the middle of Simon's right upper arm, middle of the left upper arm, and right below the sternum. He screamed in agony and hacked up blood repeatedly.
Seeing how he was no longer a threat, I sauntered through the rest of the aisle, up the steps, and past the demolished podium. I approached Simon's impaled and immobilized body and looked down at him; he was glowering up at me.
"Well, what are ye waiting for? Do what ye came here to do, do what Ryan programed ye to do." He stated.
"N-No… I tol-tol-told your brother th-that I would n-n-n-not kill you. I ai-aim to keep my-my word." I told him.
"A monster like ye-self's word is worth as much as dirt. Besides, what ye care about a word made to my de~"
"Your dead brother?" Asked Daniel.
I looked past my shoulder and Simon looked past me. We both saw Daniel's limping body walking down the staircase that lead to the floor of the pumping station's center. I turned my whole body and looked at Daniel, he was holding his side with his right arm and had a very severe limp in his left leg. As he started to walk up the steps of the hill of sorts and approached his brother, I stepped to the side to let him get near his brother.
"D… Daniel…? B-But, Sofia said tha-that the monster killed you…" He said.
"Well, she lied. That woman is nothing but a web of lies and the like." He explained.
I decided to leave them alone, as they had a bit to catch up on. So, I proceeded to walk towards and through the door to the control station. But, as I walked through the door, I heard something between the two.
"If ye would not come here before, than why would ye come here now? Of all times?" Simon asked.
"Because, I wanted to be with my brother… during the last moments of the city's life." Daniel answered.
I walked up to the control panel and grabbed onto the drainage lever. When I had my hand on it, I heard my radio buzz to life.
-Radio Start "That's it son, now just pull that and everything will be jim-dandy again. But, there will be a bit of a walk to get back to Dionysus Park, so get ready to run when you pull that lever." –Radio End-
I nodded in agreement and squeezed the handle as I pulled it down, activating it.
-Radio Start- "Subject Delta, I want you to commit this moment to memory for me; this howling, brutish slog through the dark, this is who we are…" –Radio End-
-I know, but when I am at school I am unable to access what each radio message says and I am forced to wing it-
Once it was pulled, the room's warning lights triggered and the sound of pressure building up in the pipes was heard. I looked around wildly and backed up a bit.
-Radio Start- "Dammit! It's Sofia Lamb, she is overloadin the pipes! Get out of there kid!" –Radio End-
Sinclair's voice was panicked and loud; something not accustom to his voice. It was more than enough to get my rear end moving towards the exit. When I rushed out of the control room, I saw a scene that tugged at my heart strings. I saw, Daniel and Simon Whales, both still barely living and both of them were hugging the other.
As much as I wanted to stay and help them, I knew that their numbers were up. I couldn't save them, all I could do was let them die the way they wanted to die.
-Also, can't remember where the water finally engulfed the entire area, so I'm winging it again.-
I rushed through the bowels of the pumping station; seeing every so often a random splicer walking about before being killed by a pipe rupturing or something. The rooms that I was going through now were over flowing with rapids-like running water and was getting even higher. I finally got to the decontamination area of the second section and impatiently waited. But, before it could even get half way complete, the bulkhead in front of me began to expand and bend and leak streams of water.
I took a step back and raised in arm in self-defense. The bulkhead got even worse and worse and worse and worse, until finally…
KREEEKK… RASCKK!
The bulkhead exploded and released a tidal wave of water that engulfed the room and all that inhabited it.
Author: Hey guys... I am kinda... not feeling so well. But, I guess I should still do this right?
-Bella walks in with hot soup-
Bella: What are you doing?
Author: Making the autro of the latest chapter...
Bella: No, you should be resting! You are sick, and also, make sure you thank my Del-Del for getting your fanfiction back from Sinclair.
Author: Yeah well... a little flue is nothing compared to making my readers happy...
Bella: Give me this thing!
-Takes away camera-
Author: But~!
Bella: No buts! Now, you will lay down and eat this soup and get better. Also, all of you reading, make sure you favorite, follow, and leave a comment/review if you enjoyed reading this chapter and/or enjoy this fanfiction. Bye-Bye!
-Turns off Camera-
