Hepheastus Core - Office of Edward Carson
The final shot rang out, and the last of the four Minerva's Den programmers fell dead to the floor. Edward lowered the pistol, and let himself stagger back until he was resting against the front of his desk. He had a piercing migraine, and had to keep wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Fucking... idiots. Fucking... useless morons." He stammered, dropping the gun and hurrying around to sit in his chair where he could lean back to try and calm his nerves. Not one of the programmers that Bear had sent him could undo Dr Lydia Wells's work on The Thinker's access system. She'd locked it up good and tight, and when she ate that bullet, she'd thrown away the proverbial key.
How quickly his road to salvation had turned on him. He was out of control, out of idea's, with the weight of Rapture weighing down on his shoulders. He was loosing her - loosing Rapture. He couldn't stop his body trembling. He'd been so close - so close, to taking Andrew Ryan's throne! To proving he could do it, and in doing so, continuing the legacy of his beloved partner Sheridan, who above all else had aspired to the heights that for a brief moment, Edward had managed to reach.
Boxer and Bear were stood far across the room, whispering to each other, nodding towards the dead programmers, and then looking up towards the nervous wreck that was Edward Carson. He knew he had lost them, he'd lost control over the city, and that rendered all the promises he's made them broken. They'd failed to find Jack's body either among the charred remains of Paupers Drop, which made his grand design with the ADAM ambush all the more wasteful and ultimately, a colossal mistake.
"Now listen chaps, I know what we need to do next..." He called out, clearing his throat and forcing a confident tone. Neither looked remotely convinced, and cast each other a doubtful glance before walking over to the desk. "We need to work out a plan to re-distribute the Hephaestus and Arcadia workforces..."
Boxer slammed a fist down on the desk, making Edward jump so much he dropped the pistol down onto it. "What workforces? They left their posts when you drowned the drop in ADAM you fucking imbecile! There is nobody left to maintain the core, nobody left to prune your fucking tree's for you. What semblance we had of a viable team you destroyed... all we have left are wild animals so off their tits on an ADAM high we couldn't catch up with them even with a sports boost Plasmid and rocket launcher! All of this, and still we couldn't find goddamned Jack Ryan" The large man leaned over the desk, until his shadow encompassed Edward's shrinking, feotal figure. "And even if we did round some of 'em up, what you got to bribe 'em with now? There's enough ADAM left for maybe... a week?"
"Less..." the women's voice carried even from behind the glass divide that stood between the main office and the entrance hall. Dr Violet Arenberg appeared, clutching a dead sea slug that she threw out onto the floor in front of them.
"You used up all the ADAM we held in reserve, and now we've lost all our little Sisters. Every little girl we had - vanished. I have nowhere to implant the sea slugs... they are all dying. Just like this one."
"Then find them! Surely you can track their protectors? The Big Daddies?" Edward sat up and asked. Furious that she would be so presumptuous to just storm in with such disrespect. He thought he had taught her a good enough lesson earlier that day.
"Some have come back, others didn't. With the spliced-up mob you've unleashed Mr Carson, I'm not surprised if all the little girls have been killed by now." Arenberg threw Edward a look of accusation and disgust. How tired he was of all of this now, of the constant battle against such people.
"Boxer, Bear. I need you to go with the doctor and find the sisters. We can settle our differences later - but without ADAM, I think you'll agree, nothing is going to improve." He made sure he met their eyes directly, his last, exhausting attempt to show some level of authority. Boxer scoffed, and looked down on Edward.
"We'll go, for now. This is not settled. When we get back..." He threateningly agreed. "When you get back." Edward nodded, agreeing to a discussion he never intended to have. As the two men turned to follow Dr Arenberg, Edward retrieved the pistol from his desk.
He got off his first shot at Arenberg, striking the back of her neck instantly. She briefly cried out, before falling down. Bear had swivelled almost ninety degrees on his heels when Edward's second shot broke through his left cheek bone, burrowed through his face and exploded out of his right ear. "Fuuuuuck!" He groaned, before he blacked out and collapsed.
"You cunt!" Boxer screamed, before rolling out from beneath Edward's third shot, which harmless struck a pillar. Boxer took off down the corridor towards Hephaestus Core.
"Shit!" Edward spat, before pulling open his desk drawer and taking out the shotgun he'd tucked away inside. Throwing down the spent pistol, he took off after Boxer.
For such a burly figure, Boxer could move. Edward briefly caught sight of him on the other side of Rapture Central Control, getting off one shot that again missed the target. He cursed, and continued to pursue the splicer. He wasn't sure anymore of what he would do next, how he would regain control of Rapture, but he was certain he would never again have control over Boxer - nor would he have Bear. And that was why they had to die, and quickly.
As he came out into the massive central chamber of the core, Edward could already hear the overhead scrambling of spider splicers, crawling like vermin over the cities sacred heart. He couldn't see them, but they sniggered and jeered as they circled overhead. He let off one shot from the shotgun as a warning;
"If you fucker's don't get back to work this moment, then you won't ever, ever, taste another drop of ADAM!" He cried. There was more sniggering - who was he kidding. They were animals again, now and forever. He could no more reason with them than he could a boa constrictor. Edward pressed forward, his shotgun poised for the kill.