Chapter 44
Paupers Drop - Limbo Room
Many hadn't been interested in listening, and already all the uncertainty with the loss of Grace Holloway and rumours surrounding Edward Carson had been enough to push some splicers into their old habits of attacking each other and pillaging for more food.
Jack had been able to flaunt himself as the 'incarnation of god' as much as possible to those still clinging to the ramblings of the late Father Simon Wales, and drawn them to hear him speak. The rest of the crowd was either those loyal to Grace, or those with enough of their humanity left to be suspicious.
He climbed up over the front of the warped, rotten stage, and stood to face the crowds beside the carefully laid out body of Grace Holloway.
"Many of you are scared, and confused. Believe me when I say I understand that - Rapture, is a scary, and dangerous place. But you have all survived to this point, and whilst that is to your own credit, I feel many of you will agree, your protection during the Lamb years came down to this woman here - Grace Holloway. Without ever touching a drop of ADAM, without turning to drink or any other vice, she sheltered her flock from the rest of the city. Hours before her death, Grace was still working to safeguard her family - all of you, from a third term of lies and oppression!" He began to call out so all could hear.
"Ryan lied to you all when he brought you down here, he told you you'd all be millionaires - and conveniently forgot to mention that some would be left behind to scrub the floors. When faced with the challenges he sought to escape, Ryan betrayed his own principles - censoring artists like Culpepper, killing anyone with an opposing opinion in the name of 'security'. Then you had Lamb - who spouted off about the importance of family, of unity - but sacrificed the importance of individuality and freedome, even going so far as to curtail her own family's freedom, but incarcerating her own daughter!" Jack was relieved to see the nods of agreement and understanding, and a few more faces appearing through the door.
"Now you have Edward Carson - a man of the people, who has made you all the same promises, just wrapped with a different bow. Nobody wanted to trust him with Rapture, and all of you, more than I did. I want nothing more than for my fathers city to recover, and to thrive, and for a while all of us, including me, really thought Edward Carson was the man to do it. But Grace - in her wisdom, chose to pursue caution over dreams. She saw Edward for who he really is, and yesterday she sent me, and Stanley Poole, to opposite ends of the city to gather the proof, that Edward is no better than Ryan, Fontaine, or Lamb."
"What proof?" Someone cried out; Jack first gestured to Dr Wells, who took a step closer from the side of the stage.
"My name is Dr Lydia Wells, Senior programmer in Minerva's Den. I have witnessed Edward's complicity in the murder of Rapture civilians. It is true, that he chose to flood buildings and entire districts, whilst aware people were still inside them. He pushed the workers down in Hephaestus to take risks, which cost further lives. All of it can be proven, The Thinker holds all the records." She had started to tear up, as she confessed her own sins as much as she confessed Carsons.
Jack then gestured for Stanley Poole to speak next, who was initially met with a number of boo's and thrown bottles. "Please, I beg you, let him speak." Jack shouted out over the cacophony.
"So ah, yeah high guys." Stanley's words caught in his throat as he faced a crowd wearing an angry frown, every one of them begging for his blood for what he did to Eleanor Lamb and Grace Holloway. "Grace forgave me, just so's ya know. She sent me on a mission to make up for what I did. I came back from Point Prometheus this morning, with photographs of what's going on up there. They're making little Sisters again - to harvest ADAM - he's distilling it by the tank load..." The very mention of ADAM made the splicer crowd wide-eyed, many drooling and gasping, in desperate hunger for more ADAM. Convincing many of them that renewed ADAM manufacturing was a bad thing would take quite some effort.
"But the point is, he denied making it. He point blank refused the notion that he was making any more!"
Jack stepped in; "He even told me, that he would help distribute the cure for ADAM. I want to free you all of this addiction, and take everyone back up to the surface! Let you see the sun again! He promised to help with that, all the while he was mass-producing ADAM with every intention of keeping you addicted - keeping you slaves to his whim." Jack couldn't stop his own anger at Edward's lies from shining through. The crowd seemed to divide almost instantly, half screaming that they didn't want a cure for ADAM, just wanted more of it. The other half, the quieter yet larger half, began to mutter about the possibility of leaving the city, and freeing themselves from ADAM addiction.
One splicer yelled: "There is no cure for ADAM, you're full of horse shit buddy!" Jack gestured towards Beth and Ellie, both standing quietly at the back.
"Then explain those two - both clean as a whistle. Not a drop of ADAM in them." He gleamed with pride as they both came forward, and let the lights show off their clear skin and rosy cheeks.
"They're freaks, weak, plasmidless freaks!" The same splicer spat at them in disgust; but Jack was having none of it. "They are free. Clear headed. Rational. This cure is the culmination of many years of Brigid Tenenbaums efforts. She sent me down here with this cure, and I still intend to give it to anyone that wants it. Take the cure - and you won't need to work for Edward, to work for nothing. Take the cure now, and we don't have to worry about rebuilding Hephaestus or Arcadia before we all drown, we can just leave, take the Bathysphere's and leave! We've already unlocked them! Please, talk among yourselves, spread the word. I will be waiting in the Fishbowl Diner ready to help anyone that wants to be cured."
He quickly stepped down off the stage, and beckoned over Ellie and Beth. "I'm certain Edward won't stay silent for long after this, we're bound to have ruffled his feathers. Go - take some of the cure vials, and seek out as many Big and little sisters as you can. Bring them home... we're leaving today!" He smiled, as he handed Beth a satchel full of the serum.
As he turned away from the chattering crowd, Jack's sorrowful gaze fell upon the twisted remains of Grace again. He wished he'd known more of her story, and known her longer himself. When a strange, slender man with a balding head began prodding her and poking the bloody gash down her skull, Jack stormed over in quick defense of her corpse. "Excuse me, what on earth are you doing? Get away from her!"
The strange man stared back through thin-rimmed spectacles with little to no emotional response to Jacks demands. "You say she died in that crash?" He asked, coldly. Jack nodded, placing a preventative arm between the man and Grace. "That's right, we all saw it."
"Dr Hollcroft's the name, James Hollcroft. I used to run a little place down here after that slant-eyed bastard Suchong had me turfed out of his laboratory." He complained, bitterly.
"...and?" Jack snapped back.
"And I'm telling you sir, that dear old Gracey here did not die in that crash. She's been dead for at least a day."