Bioshock Infinite: Union
Chapter 35
-Elizabeth-
As they went back up to the room, Elizabeth was thinking about the Air Grabber's new function. It had worked well enough, but there HAD to be a better way to "reload" it with new batteries without having to take the whole thing apart.
The back of her mind was thinking about the Audio Diary though and distracted her in efforts of trying to improve the Grabber. The woman had thought her research was important. No, not important. Like it might save her.
'Could she have been working on a way to cure ADAM Sickness?'
If she had, she never finished the work so there was no use on getting her hopes up. It might be worth taking a look into though.
Booker was taking the Air Grabber apart again.
*Booker, when you get it open, can you leave it open for a moment?*
"Anything in particular?"
*The outer shell. There has got be an easier way to replace the batteries.*
"Wondering that myself. Would like it to draw on one battery at a time, not all of them."
*Good idea. That way you can replace a battery after every shot, not have to wait and change all three at once.* Booker glanced over to the chair on his right a moment, but there was nothing there. She didn't know why he was doing that.
They spent a short time trying to figure out how to get things to work, but kept running into problems. Realizing it would take more time then they wanted to spend at the moment, they left it for that night. The Air Grabber was reassembled and Booker picked up his mask to leave.
*Aren't you forgetting something?*
"Not that I recall."
*You're face? You've been lucky so far, I would rather not push it.*
"Alright, alright." he told her in an unhappy tone and got out the makeup they had bought.
She spent a short time explaining what everything was and what it did. Then Booker tried to apply some makeup to his face.
The results were not what she hoped for. In fact the best description was a spectacular failure. He ended looking like a clown.
After the third failed attempt Booker was getting irritated and she admitted defeat, at least for the moment.
As he was washing up from the last attempt, she figured out what the problem was.
*Booker, your touch is too heavy.*
"Heavy?"
*Yes, you need a light touch to apply makeup. Probably the reason you don't pick locks either.*
He dried off the left side of his face with a towel, but there was still hint of red left. She had told him not to keep doing it in the same place, but he hadn't taken her advice.
"So if I learn to apply makeup, I'll be able to pick locks." He sounded both skeptical and not entirely serious.
*No, but learning a lighter touch will certainly help.*
"Guess I'm not one for a light touch."
*We'll just have to figure out some way for you to learn.*
"And hope none wants to see my face."
Booker put his mask back on and they headed out for Fortune Avenue.
They were nearly at the newsstand when the Public Address System put out a loud horn like sound to get people's attention. It was followed by a woman's voice.
Please wait for a special announcement from Andrew Ryan.
The people around them stopped and waited. People came out of their homes and businesses or stood in the doorways. Ryan certainly had a way of getting people's attention.
A minute later Ryan's voice filled the air.
Citizens of Rapture, dark times are upon us. Atlas and his bandits threaten the very existence of our city. The brutal assault on Olympus Heights is proof of how far he and his criminals will go to take Rapture for themselves. To protect Rapture from these parasites, sacrifices must be made.
As some of you have discovered, all bathysphere travel is now forbidden. Only those trusted by myself will be able to make use of the Rapture Metro without special permission. All private bathyspheres will been impounded until such time as the Atlas is defeated, and peace restored.
I realize that is a sacrifice for many of you and I do not take this action lightly. But this is the only way to prevent Atlas and his bandits from ravaging our city. I know more sacrifices will need to be made before Atlas and his kind are brought to justice. But we shall persevere and the parasites who would feed upon us shall be destroyed! Our city, Rapture shall prosper as never before once Atlas's and those like him have been eradicated.
"Ryan can really give a speech, can't he."
*But?*
"Wrong type for this crowd. That kinda speech would have gone over 'lot better in Columbia."
*Guess you know something about giving inspirational speeches now.*
"Comstock did love to hear himself sometimes. You can give quite a good speech when you want to."
The version of her that Booker met in 1984 had made more than a few speeches herself. It must have nearly broken his heart to hear some of the things she said and the pain she had suffered.
*That Elizabeth left those Voxophones for you, opened the tears so you could hear for yourself.*
"Wanted me to know what happened to her. What would happen to you and the world if Comstock wasn't stopped."
*She didn't want to leave any doubts.*
"Worked. That message that she had me give you. It was the plan to keep the Prophet from ever being born."
*Yes. A plan she knew would prevent her from ever existing. For all of us from ever existing.* She sighed. *I guess self-destruction is a DeWitt habit.*
"Think that's a habit we've managed to break. Still here, aren't we?" She could hear him smiling.
*Yeah, we're still here. If we can't do it, Rapture doesn't stand much of a chance of killing us, now does it?*
People were starting to gather near the newsstand, talking about Ryan's speech. Even people that had just arrived through one of the tunnels joined the crowd. A few people seemed to agree at least in part with what Ryan said. But it was clear many others didn't. And one of them, a woman about thirty years old, raised her voice above everyone else's.
"You all heard that, didn't you?" She pointed her arm at the nearest set of loudspeakers. "We all came down here to get away from that."
Several people took notice and turned to listen. Booker stood off to the side, close enough to listen, but not close enough to be involved.
"The question is what are we going to do about it? Speak up! What Are We Going To Do?" The woman was quickly become the focus of attention for everyone.
"What can we do?" a middle aged man called.
"Yeah, Roxanne let's hear your Big Idea." a younger woman demanded sarcastically. "You going to go tell Andrew Ryan what's what or somethin'?"
"Shut up, Betty, let her talk." She was surprised to see that it the woman who made a pass at Booker when they had gone to examine the tear near the gun shop. The group of people was attracting attention and more people went to see what was going on.
Roxanne continued. "What can we do? Go fight for Ryan and get ourselves killed? Screw that!"
A male splicer with a nervous twitch spoke up "Think we should go help Atlas then? Heard he has ADAM." His voice trailed off as several of the other people turned to look at him.
"Atlas isn't any better than Ryan." someone else said.
"Let me ask you all a question. Aren't you tired of living down here in this damn fishbowl?" People started muttering amongst themselves.
*Is she suggesting that they leave Rapture?*
*I'm sure Ryan would be happy to let them go. Probably call the US Navy to come pick 'em up.*
*Pft. I'll be surprised if Ryan didn't have them killed just for suggesting the idea.* They couldn't seriously think that Ryan would let them leave.
The woman continued. "How many of you have wanted to feel the sun on your face? How many of you want to see the families you left behind? How many of you want walk on a beach, see the stars at night, have fresh MEAT on your table?"
'They DO think Ryan might let them leave.' Guess they didn't read the contract.
A man said. "Why go back? The government came in and took land my family had farmed for 120 years! Took it away like it was nothing for some stupid dam! Why would I go back?"
The heavyset man next to him broke in "Ain't you been paying attention Jeff? Ryan's already doin' the same thing. Framed Fontaine up good and killed 'em. Just so he could grab the Plasmid business for himself."
"Ah, Fontaine was a crook. Got what he deserved."
'Not yet, but he will.'
The woman who made the pass at Booker responded. "Ryan still took it for himself and that's what's important."
People started arguing back and forth as the woman speaker, Roxanne, tried to establish some order. It was time to go and they started walking down the Way as more people joined the crowd.
*I noticed that not one person even mentioned the Little Sisters.*
"Not surprised 'bout that."
Turn your enemies against each other with ENRAGE, the New Plasmid from Ryan Industries! Evolve Today!
They passed a Rosie slowly stomping the opposite direction on the Way, but there was no Little Sister with him. She noticed that some of the people moved to avoid Booker as he walked. Others would whisper to someone else.
*Seems you've managed to attract people's attention again. That seems to be another DeWitt habit.*
"People will talk until something else happens. Just so Rapture Security doesn't take note."
*Do you actually think that's going to be that easy?*
"Given how things tend to go for us? Probably not."
-Booker-
The trip back to the ruins of Fortune Avenue was uneventful and nothing seemed to have changed. Then it was through the damaged entrance and into the tunnel beyond. This tunnel ran about a two hundred feet before it ended at a heavy airtight door labeled the Blue Ascot Apartments.
*The people that killed everyone on Fortune Avenue were their neighbors. I wish I could say I was surprised.*
"Heard about something similar during the Draft Riots back during the Civil War. Rioters burned and looted building all over the city. Even burned an orphanage."
*That is...*
"Kids got out, if just. Still hundreds, maybe a thousand died. Damage wasn't caused by the people mad about the draft, but people who saw that the police couldn't handle things."(1)
*People taking advantage of the situation. At least the Founders and Vox believed in what they fought for.*
"Lot of Ryan's and Atlas's people believe."
*But a lot of them don't."
"No, probably don't. And then you have people going out of their minds from ADAM." 'How long before I become one of them?'
*I wonder how anything will be left standing by the time Jack gets here.*
"Guess we'll find out…" *the hard way.* she finished.
With that, he turned the wheel on the door to open it.
After passing through another heavy door they walked out into the Blue Ascot Apartments. Only a dim passageway lit by a flickering light greeted them. The corridor went about thirty feet and turned to the right. They quietly advanced to the corner and found it turned to the left as a short distance and increased in width.
Elizabeth complained about poor design. She couldn't smell what he did though. It smelled of cordite, salt water, smoke and recent death. The turned the last corner and after a short distance it ended in a large open area. The only thing they heard was falling water and the crackle of something burning. He had his heavy revolver in his hand.
Inside of the building wouldn't have looked much out of place in New York City. So long as you ignored the Art Deco style on everything. The first floor was an open area that was sunken down in the middle.
Couldn't tell how deep it was because it was filled with water. Around it were heavy columns with arches that supporting the floors above. Round lights on the some of them provided much of the illumination. There were overturned tables, broken bottles and chairs scattered about. On the opposite wall were stairs that used to lead to the floor above, but were now destroyed. Near them was a Little Sister Vent and a Health Station.
On the right was a corridor, but the sign that told its destination had been destroyed. To the left it looked like there had been some sort of offices. A few small fires still burned inside them, but there was little left for them to feed off. In the center was a shaft that went up four stories to a skylight that leaked the steady stream of water that filled the sunken area.
He counted twenty bodies from where he stood and signs of weapons fire were everywhere.
*What happened here?* Elizabeth asked in shocked voice.
He tried to see some kind of organization, but couldn't. No skirmish line, no patterns to anything. Only thing it looked like to him was a "free for all" in a bar.
"Think they killed each other."
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her look at him with a puzzled expression. *There is no honor among thieves, but isn't this a little extreme?*
"It is. But with Plasmids and ADAM sickness?"
They carefully moved further into the room, but found only more bodies. And not only men and women, but children as well. He tried to move the arm of one of the men's with his foot, but it refused to budge.
*Whatever happened, it seems to have happened at least eight hours ago, probably closer to twelve or fourteen. Looks like the Rigor Mortis has gotten quite advanced.*
He thought it was closer to fifteen, but some of these people could have died hours apart. They passed a pair of bodies, a man and a woman. The man had his hands wrapped about the woman's neck and she a pistol pushed into the man's guts.
They wore matching rings.
*I don't think it was ADAM sickness. Lot of these people were spliced, but others weren't.*
The looked at some of the other bodies and found that some had been looted.
*Somebody's been here. The question is who?*
"Survivor, stranger or the ones that caused this."
They searched the rest of the area, but found no survivors. Many of the bodies hadn't been harvested by a Little Sister yet, so they decided to spend some time here to see if one arrived. Hoped one arrived quickly.
One of the first things they examined was the damaged stairway. Elizabeth was certain it wasn't damage from Plasmids and it appeared that a number of explosions had brought down the stairway. He suspected the stairs had been destroyed to keep people from escaping.
From where they were on the first floor, he looked around to see what he could find on the floor above.
"Think we have reason to go up there."
*That U-Invent? If you want so practice hacking I guess.*
"That's another reason. Would like to try this out." he told her as he dug into a pocket and brought out the electronics board they had found in the Bathysphere Repair Bay down in Fontaine's.
*Huh, I'd almost forgotten about that. There's no one here to bother you while you try that out.*
"Yeah, don't think people would like it if I go and took apart vending machines in the middle of Prosperity Way."
*It would be a little suspicious. Might be a good idea to make sure there's nothing left down here first.*
Their search turned up two batteries, two pieces of rubber hose, seven empty EVE hypos, an Audio Diary and thirty eight dollars. They left food, wedding rings and the Teddy Bear clutched by a young boy where they were.
*That is a lot less than I expected.*
"Someone got the good stuff already."
*Whoever it was, they were pretty selective about who the searched. They might have known these people.*
"Don't think the dead care much who steals from 'em."
*No, I don't suppose they do.* *Let's see what's on the Audio Diary.*
Burt Perquest: Lucky Looser
December 22, 1958
Used to work for Sander Cohen. Tried to get on his good side and become one of his "Disciples". Lost out to some girl I never seen before. Have to admit that cute little thing could really sing. Well, I blew my stack and said a lot of things I shouldn't have. Ended up getting tossed out on my ass.
Turns out I was lucky. Seen a few things that I thought were a little shifty before, but now, some of the rumors I'm hearin'? Think I would be dead now if that old fruit had taken me on. Maybe worse.
If I ever see that girl again, I'll have to thank her, maybe ask her on a date.
*I remember him. Tall, brown hair, a saxophone player. I guess my "saving" him from Cohen didn't do much good in the long run.*
"And the date?"
*Pft! Fat Chance on that.*
"Least you got the message he wanted to give to you."
*For what That's worth.* She looked up to the second floor. *Let's get upstairs.*
As they looked for another was up near the burned out offices, he thought about the line "old fruit" a little and how it related to her not wanting him to meet Cohen. Not hard to see that she was trying to protect him and now he knew the other half of the reason. Not the first time a man had expressed an interest in him. Still, if Cohen had met Comstock, was a good idea to steer clear of him.
*Only one stairway up, no elevator. Those people were trapped up there and couldn't escape.*
"You said it before."
*Safety isn't all that important unless there's money in it.*
"Let's look at the stairs again. Thought I saw a steel beam."
*That may not be steel. Ryan used a lot of aluminum in Rapture's construction.*
"Must have been expensive."
*Probably was, but it made the buildings lighter and easier to move around.*
He brought out the Air Grabber and turned it on. He felt the pull and jumped. An instant later they were hanging from the beam. One quick dismount later and they were on the second floor. It had been hard to avoid landing on one of the bodies of the people who had been trapped up here.
*Huh, must have used steel in the stairways. Can you take a look at that piece of concrete on floor to your right?*
He looked where she asked and bent over to pick it up. Rather heavy, but still able to hold it in one hand. A small rod of metal stuck out it. He tapped it with the Air Grabber and it gave off a distinctive sound.
*That is NOT aluminum. They must not have been able to use aluminum for reinforcing the concrete.*
He hit the steel rod embedded in the concrete a little harder and took a closer look at where it had broken off. Shouldn't have broken like that. Too brittle? "Steel doesn't seem very good."
*I found an Audio Diary down in Fontaine's. It was Ryan proclaiming how smart he was to use aluminum instead of steel to hide the construction of Rapture from the US Government. I guess some of the steel he did buy wasn't very good.*
"This piece isn't at least." he said as he dropped the piece of rubble and looked at the large pieces below. "Wonder if they put enough steel in this place."
*And how do you know so much about steel and construction?*
"Pretending to be a worker, need to know how to do the work. Welding and such mostly, didn't have a problem with heights. Also saw a few big buildings being put up in New York. They seemed to have a lot more steel in 'em."
*They certainly did. They didn't have the math worked out for structural loads back then, so they overbuild a lot.*
"But..."
*But I think your right. They don't have enough steel here and that they have seems to be poor quality.*
"That's why the bomb in the Medical Pavilion caused so much damage." he said as he started for the U-Invent.
*Place looks fancy, but it's poorly designed and constructed. Ryan outsmarted himself.*
"Never underestimate the fallibility of the egomaniac.* they said as one.
*Huh, guess I've been saying that a lot.* She looked down a moment.
"Only because it's true. Let's see about getting this panel open." He didn't Bypass the U-Invent. Wanted to see what it was like with the security measures in place.
Turned out to be harder than he though. He saw several active alarms and several overloads. Still he was able to get it right the first time.
*That was rather fast.* Elizabeth told him with a slightly impressed and suspicions tone in her voice. She wondered how he did it.
"Well, don't need a "light touch" for this I guess." he told her as he put the electronics board into an open slot.
*And?* She gave him a look as she leaned against the wall with her arms folded and one eyebrow raised.
"And I cheated a little." he admitted.
*And how did you do that?*
"The Quick-Draw Gear. Speeded up reloading, thought it might help with this hacking."
*Huh! That was a good idea Booker. I wonder what other uses some of the Gear might have?*
"Guess we'll have to figure that out."
He started up the U-Invent and brought up the list of what could be made. At the bottom was Incendiary Ammo and it gave a list of the parts needed.
*That's odd. The material list is different. This shows the "recipe" only needing two shell casing and one piece of brass. Can you look at some of the others?*
The list of all the parts this U-Invent used to make things was different. Or at least the amounts of some of parts.
*Hmm. Adding the board shouldn't make a difference. Could hacking the machine have done something so it displays the wrong numbers?*
"Only one way to find out." He choose to make an Auto Hack and to the surprise of both of them, it only used the lower amounts of parts listed.
*I get it. That's how these machines make a profit. They don't use all the materials listed for production.*
"So rather feeding it a couple of dollars, you're feeding it extra parts worth a couple of dollars."
*Yes, that way most people won't even realize that they are paying for anything.*
He just shook his head. These people couldn't even be open about making a profit.
"Going to need some more rubber hoses before I can make another Auto Hack. Let's see about these Incendiary Rounds."
Worked like a charm. He hoped these new rounds worked as advertised. Some of the Splicers he had been facing had been tough, these rounds could give him an edge.
"Think of anything else to make?"
*I don't think you have the supplies left to make anything we want.*
"Yeah, you're right about that. Going to have to visit the hardware store."
*We might be able to find something here.* she told him as she looked around.
He looked at the bodies scattered about, they hadn't been searched yet. The nearby corpses provided them with two pieces of jewelry he planned to remove the diamonds from, one piece of rubber hose, two batteries and a small amount of money.
Then they started searching the apartments. They found the first apartment had been ransacked and the jewelry box emptied. But the refrigerator still worked and he found a sandwich and some milk.
*Someone took the time to come up here.*
"But they only went after the jewelry box. Might have been pressed for time."
The next apartment had been ransacked as well and they found a small open safe. Empty, of course. On the floor behind it though was a Gear called "Firebug". There was 50% chance that melee targets would explode in flame and catch nearby enemies on fire. The enemies effected burned for four seconds.
"Not bad. Better for groups than Burning Halo was."
*Just less of a chance of it working.*
"Easy to solve problem."
*If it doesn't work the first time, you hit them again?*
"Worked well enough so far." She rolled her eyes, but wore a small smile.
The next three apartments were much like the first two. The most expensive valuables gone and the places quickly tossed. They found fifty more dollars and a Gene Tonic called Static Discharge that had been wrapped up as a gift. He didn't touch it after he found out what it was. They found more parts that could be used in the U-Invent, but not enough to make another Auto Hack.
In the next to last apartment they found an Infusion. It was just sitting in the middle of a table in the living room. Elizabeth remarked with a slight amount of surprise that people actually were using it as a conversation piece. He used it to build up his health. Being able to survive damage seemed more important at this point.
They had worked their way around the floor and the last apartment was next to the stairway. He took a moment to look up at the floors above them but didn't see any steel beams for the Air Grabber to hook onto.
*Thinking of going further up?*
"Would need rope to get up there, not really sure it's worth the effort."
*We found a Gear and a Infusion on this floor. Shouldn't there be more on the higher floors were the richer people live?*
"If there was an elevator? Yeah. But without one? The most expensive places are on the lower floors."
*Because you don't have to climb as many stairs.*
"Right. We can decide later if we want to go up there."
*After we find some rope.*
They went into the last apartment and found an Audio Diary sitting on a table in the living room.
Al Brand: It's Over
Date: Feb, 21 1959
Never liked those people on Fortune Avenue. Thieves, freeloaders, parasites, all of 'em. Coming up here and causing trouble, botherin' the women. Then Atlas started this war and Maxwell got the idea to form a militia to protect ourselves. We knew they would come for us sooner or later. Then that damn Parker boy came up here claiming he was just walkin' through to go to Fort Frolic! Knew he was a damn spy! Max and a couple of his boys stopped him and he tried to run. Shot him dead. Parasite got what he deserved.
Now it's over. We finally went down there and cleaned them all out once and for all. They're never going to bother anyone again. Raptures' safer now. Going to have a party to celebrate.
They slaughtered helpless people, children even and were proud of it. Some might think that being killed in return was a kind of justice, but there must have been innocent people here as well as children.
"Let's get out of here." He just wanted to be shut of this place and was sure Elizabeth did as well.
Shortly they were on the ground floor and were walking towards the passage back to Fortune Avenue. They were almost to the passage when they heard noises behind them. Before he could turn, two red and black clouds formed ahead of them and became two splicers. Both wore fancy white jackets and identical white rabbit masks trimmed with gold. One held a shotgun, the other one's hands were on fire.
The one with the shotgun leveled it at him and said "Just wait there fella. We just want to talk to you, so stay calm."
He glanced back to see more people coming through the other door. All but one of them were dressed just like the two Houdini splicers.
Elizabeth's voice was full of dread. *They're some of Cohen's Disciples. They must be the ones who killed these people.*
*Don't think they're going to be keen on witnesses.*
End Chapter 35
(1) The New York City Draft Riots: July 13-16, 1863. The death toll is disputed, but the "official total" of a little over 100 is certainly way below the actual. Blacks were heavily targeted by the rioters with many beaten and killed. The US Army was called in to end the rioting and reports say that they used cannon inside the city to destroy barricades the rioters had set up. While the riots had started as a protest against the Draft, it soon grew beyond that when people realized that the police had lost control. Some of people that had started the anti-draft protests actually ended up trying to protect the city from the rioters.