Chapter 52
Hepheastus - Central Control
Jack was alone now, away from the sisters for whom he had to keep up pretense, and so, he let himself cry. He'd been so very close, to completing the mission Tenenbaum had given him, on a scale that perhaps even she hadn't expected. He was poised on the verge to save hundreds - he'd been moments away. It may have made up for Grace Holloway's terrible death, if the events that had followed her instructions had saved the lives of the people she cared so much about.
But all had been lost, the drop had been lost. Most of the people he'd been fighting to save, were dead. How he had failed them. Failed Grace. But he took some comfort now in knowing he may be able to save the girls, the most innocent and worthy of rescue out of the lot. They would soon be on their way to the surface, and with or without him, he hoped they would find their way. Tenenbaum would see to it that they got the ADAM cure, as his supply had burned up with Paupers Drop.
He had of course been tempted, after the destruction of the drop, just to take the girls to a bathysphere himself and leave with them - but a recurring, profound emotion had continued to plague him. Guilt. Guilt that he had abandoned Rapture once before, and let all of this happen. He knew he couldn't right the wrongs of the past, and even if he chose to stay this time, there was so little left of the city, it truly was beyond saving. In Grace's own words, it was better the city drowned. Jack was choosing to put the city down now, rather then let it limp on in pain and anguish - or risk the cities horrors be unleashed upon the world, should some splicer or worse make it up to the surface.
No, this was going to end.
As Jack turned a corner through to the large chamber that had always stuck in his memory as 'Ryan's Trophy Room', he heard the sound of running footsteps. Cautiously moving forward, he looked ahead through the doorway to Rapture Central Control and what had been Andrew Ryan's private quarters. In a blaze of fire, the enormous splicer that he had seen constantly following Edward Carson came running out of the doorway, hurling fistfuls of Incinerate towards Jack.
"Fuck off and die you cunt!" Jack turned to run, only to find the way he had come ablaze, having been struck by a fireball. "Gotcha!" Boxer laughed as he came bearing down on Jack.
Jack turned and instead began to race through towards the Geothermal Core, Boxer close on his heels. He made it to the top level of the enormous central cavern, bolting around the circular platform as fast as his aching legs could carry him. Seeing a turn to his right, Jack jumped behind a broken Circus of Value machine, hiding himself between its back and the railings that looked out over the rotating harmonic core.
"Come out, come out! One of you cunt's better come out soon!" Boxer was burying an EVE Hypo into his arm, getting himself high and ready for a fight. Jack tried to stay silent, blind to what was going on around the other side of the vending machine. It seemed to him things weren't going entirely to plan for Edward here either - Boxer appeared to be on a blind rampage!
The vending machine suddenly rose into the air, and was hurled over Jack's head into the core. The machine struck the large cylinders that funneled up the boiling water and jammed the rotating mechanism. Boxer stood triumphantly over Jack, Electrobolt fizzling at the ready from his palms.
"Awww... Carson's boys only just fixed that thing...what a bloody shame!" He cackled sarcastically, "We've been on quite the ride looking for you, Mr Ryan..." He sneered, raising his hands and increasing the intensity of the electrobolt he was about to send Jack's way.
As Jack felt his end drawing close, he sat upright and faced Boxer down. He was ready. When he then saw Edward Carson step out behind Boxer, he felt his end was ensured, twice as certain. It was the first time the two men had seen each other face to face in days, since before their butting heads had turned to an all out war. But strangely, Edward seemed to offer Jack something in the way of a smile, before raising a shotgun, and unloading six shots into Boxer.
"Fuck, no!" Boxer bellowed, flying forward under the momentum of the shells in his back and his own weight. Jack rolled out the way a second before Boxer broke through the railings, and unleashing the charged surge of electrobolt, fell into the core. The wave of electricity that erupted through the core enhanced the damage already done, and in an flash, the core broke apart, and exploded.
The initial blast threw Jack and Edward across the platform, both of them struck the rock wall and fell to the floor, dazed and blinded by the strike. As the massive structure began to entirely collapse, the cavern ceiling began to come down too, tearing away pressure pipes and ripping out emergency control vents.
Jack began to come to, blinking quickly trying to encourage his vision to clear. He realized he was being dragged by his neck, catching sight behind them of the Core filling with steam and boiling water just before a Securis door closed. Pulling himself to his feet, he looked to Edward, who had been dragging him out.
"It's fine, I can run!" He called out. Abandoning for a moment all between them, Jack and Edward raced from the Central Core. Despite the relative silence of the tunnels, they knew Hephaestus was compromised. The sea floor was rumbling and trembling, and pipes all around them were bursting. They had both reached the bathysphere station, when Edward stopped in his tracks.
Jack looked back, "Come on, we need to get clear!" He snapped,
"I can't just do nothing - the city needs the power! I have to try and do something!" Edward called out over the noise.
"There is nothing anyone can do about that! It's gone! The core is destroyed!" Jack took hold of Edwards jacket and pulled him onward to the waiting bathysphere. Edward began to pull away again, "No! I can't just do nothing... I have to try!"
Jack pulled his arm back, and struck Edward hard across the face, knocking him out cold. The tremors and mounting explosions began to tear the building apart, and the ocean quickly began to break through weakened walls. Jack had barely enough time to throw Edward and himself into the submersible, his feet already below water by the time he managed to get the door sealed. As Hephaestus imploded beneath the weight of the sea, their Bathysphere calmly sank away.