Bioshock Infinite: Union
Chapter 36
-Booker-
Seven to one odds aren't good when you're the one and they're the seven.
Some of the men in the rabbit masks were splicers, best to assume all were. Elizabeth said they were "Cohen's Disciples" and was none too happy about it. Some carried weapons, others didn't. The one that worried him the most held some kind of wide tube with what looked like a makeshift ammo clip and stock. Didn't know what it did, but had a good guess.
One of the others had the hooks used by Spider Splicers. Another had a box just like the Constable carried his grenades in and was the only one that didn't have a rabbit mask. His was a green and red bird mask with a huge orange beak. The rest didn't have weapons, but one had some kind of dark red ball in his hands. Some kind of Plasmid, but no idea what.
Given that Elizabeth hadn't said anything, she didn't know either.
As he ran down his combat options, he tried to see if he could talk his way out of this situation. "Hey, I'm not lookin' for any trouble here."
The one with the red ball in his hand spoke up as he got closer. "Do you live here?" he asked in a seemingly polite voice, but there was threat in it.
*That's Malcom. One of Cohen's favorites.*
"Ah, no. With everything goin' on I took a wrong turn. Trying to get to Point Prometheus. Have some work up there."
A couple of the men laughed. "You're a long way from your job." The Houdini with the shotgun added "Seem to have quite a few weapons there."
"Man's got the right to protect himself, right?" he told him defensively.
*I think the Houdini with the shotgun is Roth. The one in the bird mask is Hector. I'm not sure about the others yet. Watch out for Malcom, he's petty and has a nasty temper.* Guess she had a history with him and it wasn't a pleasant one.
"So how long have you been here?" Malcom "asked".
"Just got here, rather not stay." He indicated the dead bodies. As he did so, he heard the distinctive tread of a Big Daddy coming down the same corridor the splicers came from.
Malcom paused to think a moment.
This wasn't looking good. *What does Possession do to a Big Daddy?*
*It won't control them. They just won't attack you.*
Dammit. Would have been nice to have one on his side with these odds.
Malcom decided to ignore him for the moment and spent a short time looking at the married couple who had killed each other. He finally nodded with satisfaction. "These will make perfect pieces for the sculpture. Frozen in death, they shall be the perfect materials."
The ones in the rabbit masks didn't seem to be at all bothered by what Malcom was saying. The one with the bird mask was looking at Malcom.
Malcom smiled and looked at Booker. The madman had gotten an idea and Booker didn't think he was going to like it. "And I believe I have the perfect finish for My Masterpiece!" he said spreading his arms in a grand gesture.
"YOUR Masterpiece?" Hector broke in. "You told me that… You sonofabitch!" He headed for the exit at a run, only pausing to dodge the Big Daddy, a Rosie, as he entered the room. Hector yelled back "Mr. Cohen's going to hear about this!" then vanished down the corridor. Odds were a little better now.
"Mr. Cohen will appreciate they art we will create here, isn't that right?" Malcom stated with certainty. The others made sounds of agreement.
*Does he think this is going to impress Cohen? He's dumber than I thought he was.*
"Put down the tools and get over there." the splicer with the burning hands told him and pointed over in the general direction of the Little Sister Vent.
Why didn't they try to take his weapons?
*There anyway for Malcom to control the Big Daddy?* He couldn't figure what the mad splicer was planning.
*There is a Plasmid called "Hypnotize Big Daddy", but I didn't see it listed in the Gather's Garden so I don't think it's out yet.*
*Hope you're right.*
The Big Daddy went to the Little Sister Vent and pounded on it. Cohen's Disciples backed away, opening up the range, but kept careful watch on him. He could see their grins of anticipation. He tried anything they would shoot him down. He needed them to drop their guard a little before he made a move.
Malcom walked in front of the others spreading his arms wide as if he were a circus ring master announcing a performer. "Gentlemen, I give the final piece of my masterpiece! Battle To The Death With The Big Daddy!"
The Rosie was pounding on the Vent again and made a low deep moan of disappointment. Just as he started to turn Malcom threw the ball in his hand at him. It exploded, covering the Big Daddy in what looked like red paint.
The Rosie roared in anger and turned towards Booker, the light in his helmet turning red as the rivet gun come up to fire.
Booker was surprised at the Big Daddies reaction, but only slightly. He fired off Possession at the enraged Rosie as he drew his revolver and fired at Malcom, hitting him. Booker took off at a run to try to get behind a pillar before the surprise wore off. As he did so, he fired several more times to try and keep the splicers head's down.
"Kill Him!" Malcom screamed, but it was drown out by an enraged cry from the Rosie.
One of the spicers hit him with a shotgun blast, but his Shield took it and the fireballs thrown at him missed. Then the Big Daddy started shooting.
And it wasn't at him.
Malcom was shrieking "The Big Daddy! Kill the Daddy! Kill it!".
He took cover behind a pillar and glanced out to see lightning flash out from the injured Malcom's hand. It hit the Rosie and immobilize him for a few moments. Both the Houdini's appeared behind the Daddy and fired into his back.
The splicer with the tube weapon fired and something came out with a short arc and exploded when it hit the Rosie. As he thought, a grenade launcher. The Daddy retaliated in kind, throwing one of his own grenades. Its detonation injuring the grenadier and knocked him down.
Damn! The Rosie was going to lose if he didn't even the odds a little. He quickly reloaded the heavy revolver with the Incendiary Rounds. Getting to test them a lot sooner than he expected.
Roth teleported again so he could stay on the Big Daddy's back and left his own back open to Booker. Not wanting to waste an opportunity he put two rounds into the splicers back. Roth screamed as he caught on fire and ran for the pool of water in the center of the floor. As this was happening, the Rosie had turned his attention back the injured Malcom who was making a panicked dash to escape.
He never made it. Shrugging off being hit by at least three fireballs and a hook from the Spider Splicer, he focused on Malcom hitting him at least three times with the rivets, killing him.
Roth belly flopped into the water to put out the fire as the Rosie roared in pain as he burned. He fired at the Spider Splicer, but missed as splicer jumped from pillar to pillar.
*Booker! Shock the water!* Damn, he had forgotten that. As Roth stood up, Booker used the Grabber to send a bolt of lightning into him just as one of the splicers shot a lightning bolt into the Rosie.
As Roth collapsed into the water with electricity playing over him, one the other splicers realized that he was a threat and hurdled fireballs at him, but he easily avoided them. The Fleet Feet Gear was a lifesaver. The Daddy thrashed around for a moment and started to fire on the splicer who had used the lightning on him, only to be hit by another grenade.
He had to take the grenadier out, but the splicer took cover behind another one of the columns. Charging up Devils Kiss, he fired at remaining Houdini, but missed as the splicer vanished again. He quickly launched the Devil's Kiss trap just the other side of the column where the grenadier was taking cover. He placed the trap so that it would be set off as it landed.
As the trap exploded, he swung around and as he expected, the Houdini was forming inside a red and black cloud just six feet away. Booker was able to see the splicer start to move before lightning from the Air Grabber hit him. There was the sound of a loud explosion from behind, but didn't have time to worry about it. He ran up to the splicer and hit him with the Air Grabber. The first blow gained him some EVE, the second strike and the stunned Houdini exploded in flame. He burned for several moments before vanishing again. Damn, he'd wanted to get another hit in. He didn't have enough EVE for anything more than a quick Charge or one Bronco.
Booker turned back around to see that the Rosie had put down the splicer throwing lightning at him as well as the other one throwing fireballs at him. The burning Houdini appeared near to Big Daddy running for the water just as Roth had bone before him. He never made it as the Rosie opened fire and killed him.
The Possession had worn off, but the Rosie was still covered in red and he fired at the Spider Splicer, but got only a single hit. The splicer made several jumps that took him to the top floor, well out of sight of the Rosie.
The splicer cackling laugh sank down to the bottom floor. "Have fun with the Big Daddy!"
The enraged Daddy turned towards Booker, ready to fire. He ducked back as rivets slammed into the column.
Can't escape. Outgunned in a fight. He quickly drank the EVE bottle and leaned around the corner to hit the Big Daddy with Possession before he could shoot again. The dead splicers certainly had much he might be able to use and he wanted that grenade launcher. Didn't like the idea of leaving that Spider Splicer alive either. The Plasmid Malcom used would have to off sometime. Hopefully, before the Possession wore off, but he wasn't going to chance it.
The Rosie's helmet still glowed with red light, but ignored Booker as he searched for something to kill.
He needed someplace to get out of the Rosie's Line of Sight. 'Second floor.' He could take cover in one of the apartments until the Rosie left and the Spider Splicer came down. He got out the Air Grabber and was soon in the first apartment he and Elizabeth had searched.
*Any idea on how long it will take for that Plasmid to wear off?*
No answer.
*Elizabeth?*
He concentrated a moment. She was still there, asleep. He glanced at his watch and sighed. Nap time. She was not going to be happy about falling asleep in the middle of a fight.
Nothing to do now, but wait.
-Elizabeth-
Music. She thought she heard music. Then it faded away and the world slowly faded in. Something had been going on.? A fight. She couldn't believe it. She had fallen asleep in the middle of a fight!
Booker was checking Malcom's pockets and pulled out a thick wad of bills and a set of keys. What happened?
*Booker?*
*How was your nap?* He stood up and looked around to let her see the area. No Big Daddy and nothing that looked like a threat.
*It was poorly timed.* she grumbled. *What did I miss?*
*What's the last you remember?*
*You shocking the other Houdini? Yes, that was it.*
*Took care of him, well the Big Daddy finished the job. One that crawls on the walls ran up to the top floor hide from him.*
*You fought that Rosie by yourself?* No, that couldn't be right, there was no body.
*No, used Possession again and went upstairs to wait.*
*For the Spider Splicer to come down? Why didn't you just leave?*
*Wanted that Grenade Launcher.*
*Ooh, can I see it?* Be interesting to see how they made a grenade launcher out of found parts.
*Not much left of it.* he told her unhappily. *Devil's Kiss Trap touched off the ammo. Not sure I want to use one 'em now with it blowing up like that.*
*Maybe we can work at making a safer one after we get the Air Grabber fixed. So what happened to the Spider Splicer?*
*Came down about five minutes ago. Thought I would be an easy kill.*
*After all that, he attacked you?*
*Was scared of the Big Daddy, not me. He waited until the Little Sister was done before he came down.*
*So one showed up.*
*Yeah, after whatever Malcom used wore off.*
*She might have been reluctant to come out with all the people around.* She had the feeling for a moment that Anna did the same thing. *So did you find anything useful?*
*About 250 dollars, some parts and some film. That Spider Splicer liked to take pictures.* The sour note in his voice told her that she wouldn't have wanted to see them. Karl had been a photographer and a real creep. Be just like him to be crawling around on walls.
*And Malcom's keys?*
"Might be useful if we have to go to Fort Frolic." She knew he was right, but disliked the possibility of seeing Cohen again. Maybe someone will have killed him before that.
*We going back to the room now?*
"Yeah, should put some of this money in the cache, put in new batteries and get another bottle of EVE." He didn't sound all that happy about the EVE. As they started back, she started thinking about Booker's limited supply. When it was gone he would have to use the injectable kind. He didn't like the idea of sticking a needle in his arm and neither did she. Maybe there was a substitute?
*By the way, I thought you said the Big Daddy wouldn't attack while he was Possessed?*
*He didn't attack you, did he?*
"Huh, good point."
*I think the Plasmid Malcom used might have been "Enrage". Some of the others probably had it as well.*
Booker considered it a moment. *Enrage. Guess that's a good way to describe what happened. Rage took 'em over and they killed each other.*
*All for some sick idea of a "masterpiece" to please Cohen. And it wouldn't have worked either.*
*So how did you know Malcom?*
*That is a very rude and impertinent question to ask a Lady Mr. DeWitt!* she told him in mock outrage.
He chuckle, but didn't withdraw the question. *Humph. If you must know, he tried to get fresh with me. He was singing soprano for the next week.* She didn't try to keep the satisfied tone out of her voice.
"Deserved worse." Booker said a little too darkly.
The trip back to Prosperity Way was uneventful. They did what they needed and in an hour were walking back towards the Zeus Apartments. They stopped the hardware store in Bounty Square and picked up some supplies. Four batteries, three lengths of Rubber Hose and four pieces of Brass Tubing. Still no Kerosene.
In the back, one of the clerks was showing a customer how to work a shotgun.
'That's it. That's how we can improve the Air Grabber.' A feed mechanism for the batteries in the Air Grabber.
She told Booker about her idea and they spent a few added minutes picking out the parts after they finished discussing the best way to do it. Booker stored them in the tool box and they continued on to Zeus Apartments.
Don't forget: anybody offering you a hand of charity has their other hand in your pocket. Everyman for himself. It's the Rapture way.
When they got to Zeus Apartments, it had changed. One of the huge chandeliers had come down and lay on the floor, the remains of someone still beneath it. Half the trees in the small park had been burned, the small café was full of bullet holes and a section of the walkway on the second floor had collapsed. Over a dozen bodies lay covered by sheets off to one side.
Bertram had a lot bigger problems than not being able to get into one of the apartments now.
*Looks like Atlas came calling.*
Before they had taken three steps, they were stopped by a heavily over muscled man with a plain uniform, a shaved head and a shotgun. All the uniform had on it was the company name of "Tom & Dave". She remembered seeing some signs advertising that company. What was it? Ah. "Hired Guns, Contracts, Paintings." That really didn't make much sense to her, but it seemed they did private security work.
"Let's see your ID card Jack."
Booker put down the toll box and reached for his wallet.
"Hurry up, ain't got all day." The bald man said and grabbed the card out of Booker's hand to look at it. He spent a moment studying it before tossing it back. He didn't even ask to see Booker's face.
"This isn't where you live, so why you here?"
"Just passing through to a job."
The guard spat on the ground. "Job? Not here you ain't got one."
"Not here, up in Point Prometheus."
"Why you here then, Mr. Mechanic?" the guard demanded.
What is this guy's problem? He wasn't even talking to her and she wanted to hit him.
"Meto's shut down so I gotta walk. Not so sure how to get there actually."
The guard made a face, then stopped to think a moment.
"You're not stayin', right?"
"No, just passing through." The look on the guards face showed he had come to a decision.
"Guess it'd be ok. Go out through that door over there." He jerked his head in the general direction of the passage on the right side. "It'll take you to Reese Plaza. From there you can get into the Point. Just remember, you touch *anything* here, that's what happens." He pointed to the wall behind them. Booker turned and looked and saw three hands nailed to the wall.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." Booker told him in a pleasant voice and walked towards the door.
*Such a nice helpful man.* she told Booker with utterly false sincerity.
"He's more used to causing trouble than stopping it. Goes against the grain."
A few people were trying to perform repairs, but they looked badly overworked and what they were doing was the minimum needed to keep the area habitable. Stopping leaks and repairing damaged electrical lines. She wondered how many work crews were still doing their jobs. She suspected that many had sided with Atlas. Many of the residents seemed to be either trying to ignore what happened, looked around nervously or had a tired beaten look about them.
It was a long walk to Reese Plaza and when they got there, it wasn't much to look at. It was two stories tall with a few stores on the first floor, all closed. A large staircase took them to a second floor walkway where the two exits were located. Broken concrete from the roof blocked the walkway on one side. They took the long way around and past a Tunnel that led towards the main residential sections of the city such as Olympus Heights and Artemis Suites.
There was about fifteen people here, a few just walking around aimlessly, others heading to or away from Point Prometheus. Most of them seemed to be spliced and several of them were clearly mentally unstable given their rants.
The exit to the residential section of the city was guarded by a type of turret she hadn't seen before. It had large tanks of what looked to be fuel and a nozzle. Likely some kind of flame thrower. In addition to the turret was a Constable from Rapture Security holding a Tommy Gun. The expression on his face was mean and made worse by the lesions that ran down the right side of it.
In alcoves on either end of the floor where vending machines. To the north a Circus of Values and on the south side an El Ammo Bandito. Near the Circus of Values was something new. A gray piece of equipment with a stylized picture of a Security Bot and the words "Bot-Shutdown" below it. Beside it was an advertising placard.
Booker read it out loud. "Security Bot's got you down? Protect Yourself with the new BOT SHUTDOWN SYSTEM from Ryan Industries!" Down at the bottom in small print was "Cost: 20$ per use."
*Ryan's trying to make money by turning off the security system his people depend on to win the war with Atlas.* Unbelievable.
"Looks that way." Booker responded. The puzzled tone in his voice saying he didn't understand it either.
*As you said, he doesn't know how to fight a war.*
"Humph. Ryan might lose to Atlas because he's too busy trying to make a buck."
*That's the Rapture Way!*
They went to the El Ammo Bandito and picked up six more rounds of Electric Buck, all it had. There wasn't any ammo for his revolver. Then he bought two Pep Bars to replace the EVE he had used Bypassing everything. As they went to leave, they saw the Constable start pointing the machine gun at different places in the room below them.
"I know you're out there. I can smell ya!" he yelled in the threatening tone. "Come on out! Don't make me go and find you."
The people on the first floor took cover, but the others with Booker on the second floor just stopped walking and watched the mad Constable nervously.
This went on for a short time then the Constable relaxed. "That's it, run away! Not worth my time." The man pointed the gun at the ceiling and people started moving again, though they did so while keeping an eye on the Constable.
She wondered what was going to happen when the Constable started shooting at the things only he could see.
Then they were through the Securis Door and out into the Tunnel beyond. Looking up they could see Point Prometheus and the lesser buildings they would need to search through to find Anna. If she was even in this part of the city.
Being the best at what you do can really take it out you. So unwind! At Fort Frolic: gamble, shop, take in a show or meet a new friend, all at Fort Frolic. Fort Frolic: where the best and brightest celebrate success.
Innovation Hall was their entrance to the complex surrounding Point Prometheus. It was a long building two stories tall with a skylight that ran its entire length. All along the walls and down the center of the room were displays showing the tools, machines and advanced devices created in Rapture. All of the displays had bullet holes in them, a few had caught on fire and some had been tipped over leaving broken glass all over the floor. In a few places the floor had actually been cratered by explosions.
Booker moved to one side and allowed the people coming and going easy passage.
This area was one of the most heavily damaged they had seen in Rapture so far, surpassing even Hermes Center. It reminded her of Columbia during the Vox revolt.
*Must have been a lot of fighting here.* she stated to Booker.
*Probably a couple different fights or one long one. Looks to be the main entrance and both side would have wanted it.*
*We should be able to explore the complex from here at least.*
A splicer stood in the middle of the hall and reached her hand towards the skylight above and acted as if she were trying to catch something. Everyone just ignored her.
There were four Securis doors in Hall, two on each side of the Hall. At the far end a wide archway between two badly damaged bathysphere replicas the looked to be the Point's main entrance. The two doors on the left had signs in front of them, but they were to far away to read.
*Which one first?*
*Might as well start with the first one on the right.*
The sign said "Subaqueous Tower."
*Well, That's an original name.*
*What?* Booker asked as they went through the door and out into the short glass tunnel beyond it.
*Subaqueous means undersea or underwater.*
*Humph, rest of the name is an overstatement.* The building ahead was only five stories tall. At least it shouldn't be too hard to look through.
The entered into a small lobby that wasn't too badly damaged. Ahead were elevators and a stairwell off the right. On the wall to the left was a building directory opposite a Circus of Values. They went over to look at the directory. It had been smashed, but some of the entries could still be made out.
Top two stories of the building were listed as "Ryan Industr oducts Devel ent Divisi n". The other listed were for self-proclaimed labs or research centers. McClendon Robotics even had a branch here.
Nothing left on the first floor other than some restrooms, a damaged elevator and an office, so they took the stairs to the second. This floor turned out to be nothing more than a series of corridors and work areas. There hadn't been much fighting here, but plenty of damage. Atlas's people looked like they had thoroughly ransacked the place.
What worried her was the lack of people. They occasionally saw someone wandering about, but there was no work being done. No one was trying to clean up either. They were able to get a few supplies, most importantly some kerosene and a few batteries, but little else.
They found a vent at the end of one hallway, but as they got a little closer she realized it wasn't a Little Sister Vent. It was one of the older styles with a grate on it.
*I don't think there's a Little Sister in this area. This is an older style vent and doesn't look like it's been set up for use by a Little Sister.*
"And the grate is closed."
*Well yes, there's that.*
"Haven't seen much trace of a Big Daddy around here."
*Nothing here for a Little Sister to harvest. One probably makes their way from Point Prometheus every once in awhile.*
"Want to take a look at the other floors before we go."
*We haven't found all that much here.*
"Wonder what Ryan's people might have been working on."
*Well, I don't suppose it will take long.*
On the third story the found several dead bodies, but they were old and likely leftovers from the fighting. This floor hadn't been looted as much and they found some money as well as four shell casing for the revolver which they converted into Incendiary Rounds at the U-Invent they found. They also made another Auto Hack Tool and three more of the Exploding Buck.
While he was working on making everything, Booker's eyes would stray to the formula for the Hacker's Delight 2 Gene Tonic. She hoped he wasn't considering using it. While the ability to absorb electricity from a successful hack and use it heal and restore EVE is useful, what the Tonic would do to him was unknown. Booker thankfully didn't make the Tonic though, but she was starting to worry about him. The way he looked around sometimes. Somehow it reminded her of Columbia, but she didn't know how.
McClendon Robotics had taken up a majority of the floor, but most of the equipment was missing. What remained was being crated up for shipment. They did find some plans for a turret that could move along rails or Pneumo lines and a couple piece of brass tubing.
As the left McClendon's, a splicer tried to attack them with a club, but Booker easily knocked her out. The room the splicer had come screaming out of looked as if she had been living in there for several weeks. The only thing she had with her was a few pictures, all of them of a young girl, maybe six years old. Booker picked up the woman and lay her down on the makeshift bed before they continued searching.
Further down the hall in one of the labs they found the remains of six researchers laying against a wall with a large number of bullet holes. Someone had lined these people against the wall and shot them. One of them had an Audio Diary tape in her pocket.
Bethany Washington: Rock And A Hard Place
January 9th, 1959
Atlas attacked the Point, I, I don't know how long ago now. We got captured and thrown in here. Then one day Atlas himself comes in and looks around, asks if we did Plasmid research. Salvatore was stupid and said yes. He told us we were working for him now and our job was to make combat Plasmids for his people. How are we supposed to do that? We were developing a Plasmid to allow people to change their hair color, not something to kill people. He told us if we made something good enough we would be released unharmed. But if we help him, I'm sure that Mr. Ryan will kill us all. We're trapped.
*I wonder who killed them. Atlas or Ryan?*
"Doesn't matter much now, does it?"
They quickly finished with the floor and went up the stairs, but stopped when they say the landing at the halfway point where the stairs turned. There were two bodies there. The second one just a few days old. Booker looked around the corner and spotted a turret. He Bypassed it before it could even finished starting up.
*That turret is new. There's no way Atlas would have been stopped by something like that.*
"Makes me wonder what's up there that someone felt the need to protect."
*I suppose we will just have to find out.*
End Chapter 36