Chapter 48
Paupers Drop - Bathysphere Station
The Bathysphere sat in the dock had finally been restored and powered up, and was sat on an even keel with its door wide open ready to welcome its first passengers. It was a decent step towards the ultimate goal, but to Jack, things still seemed too slow. He couldn't raise Lydia Wells on the radio still, and the vast majority of the occupants of the drop were still holding back from taking the ADAM cure - lingering, watching, but not quite ready to take the step. Since he had put out the call across the city from Grace Holloway's radio up in her apartment, he had expected some sort of retaliation from Edward Carson, who would now be entirely clear on his breaking away from their agreement, and undoubtedly, extremely upset by it. Whilst Jack was relieved that whatever retribution that would be forth-coming was yet to hit them, he was unnerved by how long it was taking to start sending people top-side.
Sitting down for a restful moment, still cradling the short-wave radio in his hands, he looked out through one of the large windows out onto the city beyond. As opposed to so many views across the city that looked down upon it, every angle from Paupers Drop was looking up - and this made the buildings seem twice as high, and the city even more vast. He wondered where out there the two sisters were - Ellie and Beth, who had placed such trust in him so quickly. He hoped they would still be able to hold their own out in the city without the advantage of Plasmids, on their quest to round up as many of the little sisters as they could.
"My Ryan sir, we've got company at last!" Stanley Poole came hobbling into the station, from his post monitoring security cameras. "Two express cars are arrivin', full of splicers! Many more are scramblin' down the corridors, ventilation shafts - sewage pipes! You name it, they're crawlin' down it!" He grinned, but it was a grin of polite pleasure at the positive reaction to Jack's tannoy speech, and also one of foreboding, that this could turn very bad, very quickly. Jack placed a hand on Stanley's hunched shoulder.
"Don't worry - there's only one thing we have that they could possibly want, and that's a way out of this rust-bucket town. They're not going to get that by causing any trouble now are they?" He smiled.
As he watched Stanley's expression turn more positive, and a sparkle of trust develop in his eyes, something over his shoulder caught Jack's attention. He looked past Stanley - out through the large window behind him. Something was flashing, a little red light bleeping periodically, growing closer. "What is that?" He murmured, passing Stanley to take a closer look.
"Christ! That's a torpedo!" Stanley screamed, before clutching Jack's jumper with his hands clasped like an eagles talons, before dragging him back away from the glass. As they ran, Jack began to slow and reach for all the people spread out through the station in various stages of the recovery process. "We've got to get them out! Run! Run all of you!"
Stanley wouldn't let him slow, but with all his might heaved Jack out and through the doorway. The men and women left in the station didn't even hear Jack's pleadings, before the torpedo struck the Bathysphere station at incredible speed. The giant glass windows exploded inwards under the impact, and the ryanium columns collapsed, beneath a wall of ocean that instantly came hurtling down onto everyone and everything below. The weight of the tsunami crushed the station, tore away the walls and ripped up the floors, churning bodies and wreckage in a violent maelstrom. Jack could only watch in horror, as the creature-like flood tore through the chamber towards him like a hungry predator, before the securis door came thundering down in front of him, closing off the torrent. He leapt as the crash of the water striking the other side of the door caused it to bow and stretch under the weight and pressure. A few bolts even popped, letting out high-pressure jets of sea water. The crowds behind Jack in the main atrium of Paupers Drop screamed as they heard the collapse of the Station chamber, and again began to swarm to the corner of the hall furthest away.
"You're not going anywhere Jack! You're not taking my people away from me! Do you hear me? This is Rapture, my city! These are my people! Only I decide what happens in the next chapter of Rapture's great story!" The speakers rang out from everywhere with Edwards voice, just as they had used to fill the halls with Ryan's philosophies, Lamb's teachings and Holloway's condemnations.
His face aghast, Jack turned to everyone, who in turn were looking to him. "We need to get out of here - now! I don't know what's going on, but we need to clear Pauper's Drop, now!" Jack stuttered, thinking on his feet. He'd been caught with his pants down, just as he had feared. "Run!" He bellowed. As the crowds began to panic, and race for the exits, every Securis door in the drop fell into place, and locked shut.
"Christ! He's got control back!" Stanley cried, his eyes wild with fright. Jack wanted to reply, he wanted to coordinate their next move - but his mind was frozen, his feet like lead. "How... how?" He asked, over and over.
Minerva's Den - The Office of Dr Lydia Wells
She began to cry, and stared accusingly at her hands as they hovered over the keyboard, stared at them as a reluctant killer would after having used them to plunge a knife into his victim. "What have I done?" She shrieked, and cried harder.
"You did as you were told. Smart girl." Bear quipped without much care, leaning over her and checking the system in front of them did indeed confirm that she had locked everyone inside Paupers Drop.
This was all too familiar - locking people up. She'd done it once too often, with fatal consequences. Dr Lydia Wells had always been a cold, clinical woman - void of emotion for the most part, especially since the fall of Rapture. But as her tears ran, she noticed how warm they were. The warmth of her tears against her cold, damp skin, made her realize that at that very moment, she was now perhaps the most human she had ever been. What would a human do now?
"At least behind locked doors, you're men can't get to them so easily." She triumphantly announced. "But all I did was manually shut the doors, you still don't have access to the systems, and you never will." She announced, before spinning around in her chair to defiantly stare Bear down.
"Yeah? What makes you so damned sure all of a sudden? We'll make you sing like a bird..." He chuckled as he snarled and spat at her. Her smile, however - that suddenly crept across Lydia Well's lips, gave him pause. It was the most baffling thing she could have done, and it worried him.
In a single, swift maneuver, Lydia Wells slipped out from her seat towards the nearest of her six captors. He barely noticed her coming, before she yanked his pistol from his holster and rolled away across the floor.
"Don't shoot! Don't Shoot her!" Bear barked at his men as they drew their weapons and took aim at the old woman laying across the cold office floor. Her smile grew wider, and she winked at Bear once. Then she turned the pistol into her mouth, and pulled the trigger.