The Case of the Sunken Store 01

Lisa led Elizabeth through Rapture's streets, wincing as they walked past a group of Little Sisters. The entire group of girls turned their heads to face her as one, their faces a pale, nearly albino, white and their eyes wide and glowing yellow. The pretty little dresses they were dolled up in made the entire thing just that much more creepy.

A Tinker's mad paradise indeed. If she could have burned this entire city to the bedrock, she would've gladly done so.

"Liz, eyes on me, don't look at them. Try not to even -"

"What in…What's been done to them?!" Elizabeth gasped.

Lisa sighed. She dropped back and grabbed Elizabeth's arm, dragging her away from the Little Sisters. The girls turned back to their minder as soon as the two of them moved a few feet away. Elizabeth's eyes never left them however and her breathing had increased to a rate that was near hyperventilation.

"I tried to warn you, Elizabeth," Lisa murmured.

"Those aren't children. Those are monsters!"

"Pretty much. Like I said before, lots of girls have been going missing lately. Conveniently enough, if you cross-reference, well, you find there are a few new Little Sisters for every missing kid. It's not a one-to-one ratio, but it's significant."

"But the parents -"

"Ryan blames Fontaine, Fontaine blames Ryan. At the end of the day, a good spin job gives the winner the kids and their new Adam factories. I did warn you."

Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her dress over her heart. After several seconds her breathing had slowed to a less frantic pace and she was able to meet Lisa's eyes again. "Yes, yes you did. Do you truly believe that Sally has already met this fate?"

"How long has she been missing?"

"I'm not entirely certain…Possibly a week?"

Lisa grimaced. "The odds aren't good. I've worked with Suchong before and from what I could tell while checking out his office, the process takes a few days. There's a chance; not a good one though."

Elizabeth glanced to either side, ensuring they were well away from any enterprising ears. The alley Lisa had dragged them into was properly deserted and they were far enough back from the main street that no one just passing by would be able to overhear them. Lisa knew her craft well.

"Mrs. Hebert, Lisa, if Sally has been turned into one of those…things, would your people - in your original reality - be able to help her?"

Lisa frowned. Well now wasn't that interesting. This had to be the first time that Elizabeth was admitting to knowing that Lisa was from another world rather than just acknowledging that there was a wider multiverse. Rapture as a whole seemed dead set on ignoring Scion and the fallout of the Hive's battle, but they had been relatively untouched beyond one or two Tears. This had to be why Elizabeth had sought her out. No one had told her that Lisa was 'good at finding people', she knew that she'd found a fellow dimensional refugee. Somehow.

But how? That was the real million dollar question. What trick was she hiding?

"They might be able to. We have a lot of bio-tinkers back home. At least one of which is friendly with my family to a degree. I can't promise anything concrete, but I can promise to try." Bait the hook…

"I see," Elizabeth said, nodding. "In that case, Lisa, I would ask for your assistance in a follow-up job should we find Sally and she has already been…experimented on."

And reel them in. "Sure thing, Elizabeth. I'm going to need your help though. With the whole getting home thing. I've been trying for six months now. As I'm sure you can tell by my drinking, I haven't made much progress."

Elizabeth winced. "My normal method of transit is…unavailable."

"Any other methods you know of?"

"There is one possibility. But…"

"But we need to find your girl before you'll share it. Right?"

"A favor for a favor." Her mouth twitched and her eyes shifted from side to side. Her fists clenched and she bit her tongue.

A favor for a favor? What a crock of shit.

What are you hiding, Liz? Are you finding Sally for yourself or are you testing me? Or is it a bit of both?

"Okay, Elizabeth, real talk again."

Elizabeth's eyebrow rose and she chuckled. "Again? Didn't we just have one ten minutes ago?"

"Yeah, but that was about personal things. This is about business." Lisa looked down the street, trying to keep herself from shuddering at the sight of Sander Cohen's Garden of the Muses. Of all the nightmare places to have to delve into…Only Steinman's surgery table was worse. "Before we go in there, you need to know a few things. First: Cohen is fucking insane. It has very little - if anything - to do with plasmids or Adam or Eve. He's just crazy. You can push back against him, but not much. Let me do the talking unless he specifically addresses you. Do not draw his attention."

"He's truly that bad?"

"Worse," Lisa said. "I'd say the only people who are more batshit psycho are Steinman - don't wind up on his medical table, you'd be happier to just die - and Sofia Lamb. I actually agree with Ryan locking that crazy bitch up. With the stuff Suchong and Tenebaum are making now Lamb could probably figure out a way to force her 'vision' onto everyone else."

"And what does she want?"

"Everyone to be happy," Lisa scoffed. At Elizabeth's pointed look Lisa continued, "She thinks that the masses can only be happy if you erase everyone's psyche and free will. Last I heard she was trying to convince her followers to kidnap her daughter to brainwash the kid into being her messiah. Main problem: the kid is a Little Sister now, so Ryan was able to arrest her and have people cheer for him."

Elizabeth gasped. "That's -"

"Monstrous all around? Yeah. So when I say that Cohen is worse, take heed. Sofia is crazier, but less immediately dangerous. Cohen…he thinks he's an artist, and he has started to use people as his medium. Do not draw his attention."

"I will take that under advisement, Lisa. Thank you." Elizabeth nodded to her and stepped around Lisa. "Shall we proceed? There is little point in delaying since we both have our own goals to pursue."

"Yeah, into the lion's den we go." She strode next to Elizabeth, handing the woman a rabbit mask. "Put this on. It shows we have an invitation."

"Do we?"

"One of the people I did a job for does."

"I see."

Lisa smirked. "Are you complaining?"

"Just commenting. Did you steal those?"

"No, favor for a favor. Right?"

Elizabeth winced, a small shudder running through her whole body. "Right."

In all too short a time, the two of them were waltzing through the front door of Cohen's club and proceeding through the all white entryway. The main atrium beyond that was filled with his sick patrons, each one hanging on the performance currently playing out below them. A couple was dancing on the central platform, surrounded by water, electrical cords attached to them, while Cohen frantically dashed a brush across the canvas in front of him. She already knew how this would end. She would have bet a hundred thousand dollars that everyone in this room knew how this would end, yet they were all happily chatting away without a care in the world hoping to gain the madman's favor.

Rapture couldn't die fast enough. If the brewing civil war didn't start before she left, she'd set the torch herself on her way out the door.

"Lisa, what are those two doing?"

Well, maybe not everyone. Elizabeth was still new to this city after all.

"His current muses. This could be good for us. If he exhausts himself with his latest playthings he won't be aiming for -"

"Fitzpatrick!" Cohen screamed out, stamping his foot.

Lisa winced. "Damn. Nevermind."

Before Elizabeth could ask what Lisa meant, the electricity was flipped on. The dancing couple screeched, their limbs flailing, hair standing on end as their masks were blown off their faces. Slumping forward as the arcing blue sparks cut off, the two were pulled into the air to dangle over the platform.

"My god," Elizabeth whispered.

"Like I said, fucking insane," Lisa murmured. "Come on. Try not look him in the eyes. He takes it as a challenge. The man's a fucking animal."

"Will we really find a clue to Sally here?" Elizabeth asked as Lisa led the way down the spiral stairs.

"I'm pretty sure that Cohen has 'acquired' several of the kids; so we've got a good chance. If it's not him, he'll at least be able to direct us to which of his other sick friends to talk to."

Elizabeth sucked in a breath, her gaze darting around to the people gathered on the various platforms lost in their own conversations. "Do they all become Little Sisters or are some of these people…"

"Maybe a few," Lisa said. "Not many. They don't have deep enough pockets compared to people like Ryan or Fontaine. Or Suchong for that matter, but if he's not funded by one of the others I'd eat my hat."

"I'm not sure whether that is a kindness or not in this situation," Elizabeth muttered.

"Welcome to Rapture."

They came to a stop behind Cohen just as the man turned around. He immediately fixed on Lisa, a wide grin spreading on his twisted features and Lisa felt her stomach flip. God she hated this man.

"Ah, my dear Fox! How lovely to see you in my studio! Have you reconsidered modeling for me?"

I've reconsidered killing you. Lisa smiled, making sure that she appeared her namesake for him as she did. "Perhaps. I have to finish a job first though, Sander. I'm looking for a young girl. She's about 9 or 10, goes by the name of Sally. Here's a photo. Has she passed through this way at all?"

Cohen glanced at the picture Lisa brandished and chuckled. He took up his palette, gesturing behind him with his free hand. Lisa's stomach dropped.

"Ah, children. They do love to flit away don't they my Fox? You're in luck! I have seen this one!"

"Great, then if you'll be so kind…"

"I don't think you'll come back to model, Fox." He waved the palette towards Lisa, giggling. "Fool me once! Not twice! So, a compromise. Your companion…Hmm, beautiful figure. She would make an excellent model as well."

"I don't believe I am on the table in this discussion," Elizabeth said, stepping back and crossing her arms.

"Well you are now if you want to me to bring you to the girl," Cohen said sashaying as he danced back to his canvas. "What say you Fox? One dance. One dance and I'll take you to the child."

Oh hell no. "One dance and you tell us where Sally is."

"Acceptable."

"And we don't wear those cables."

Cohen laughed, his grin not dropping off. "Now, now, are you worried about little old me, Fox?"

"Nah, perish the thought. I'm worried Fitzpatrick would get jumpy."

"You know the platform can hurt just as much as the cables. The cables just bring a certain little, hm, spark to things!"

It took every acting ability she possessed to keep the smile on her face as she responded. "A spark that goes directly into the spine. You want me to dance, this is how I dance, Sander. Take it or leave it."

"You may not find your little flitting bird if you don't agree," he stated.

Elizabeth scoffed. "I haven't been working with 'Fox' for long, but if I've learned one thing in the past few hours, I've learned that she'll find Sally one way or the other. Your help would speed things along, but I'm sure we'll get there another way without it."

Lisa wanted to slam her face into something hard at the interruption, but thankfully Cohen just laughed. "Oh, I suppose that's true! Very well, one dance, no cables. Onwards with the show! Bring on my muse!"

Lisa didn't waste any further words on the man, she just stalked past him, looping her arm through Elizabeth's and pulling her along. As soon as they were on the platform, she pulled the woman close, and started a slow waltz in time with the music.

"You are not a very good lead, Lisa," Elizabeth mused.

"Yeah, I know. Taylor took the lead in these things," Lisa murmured. "But I don't know how you dance and we have a limited window to keep Cohen amused before he fucks us over."

"At least he knows where she is."

Lisa grunted. "Yeah, let's just hope she's still up here."

"What do you mean?"

"The way he was phrasing things. He's annoyed with me, he doesn't expect me to come back from where he's sending us, and he's looking forward to some sort of entertainment. I have a bad feeling that Sally is down in the department store with Fontaine. I haven't figured out how to raise that place back up yet and my way home is here. If he sends us down there…We could very quickly be screwed unless we find a nice little deus ex machina."

"Yes, I see the problem. Ow!"

Lisa's eyes widened to saucers and she felt a phantom punch in her gut. She had misjudged the timing, stepping forward when she should have stepped back.

"No, no, no! Fitzpatrick!" Cohen screamed.

"Move!" Lisa tried to shove Elizabeth off of the platform. They barely made it a single step before the electricity coursed up their bodies. It was only for a moment, but that moment stretched to eternity.

\/\/

"Hey, hey, shhh, shhh, I'm here. I'm here." Lisa held Dinah, her tears staining Lisa's nightshirt. "Bad dream?"

"H-h-he was using the har-harness," Dinah sobbed. Lisa winced. They had found the electric harness. Her power had told her how it was theoretically supposed to help with Thinker headaches. Not that it ever would. Powers didn't work like that. Nothing helped with Thinker headaches except time. Coil should have known that. Not that he would have cared enough to avoid trying for a bit of extra advantage from his pet.

"We burned that thing, remember? You don't have to be scared of it anymore. And you don't have to be scared of Him either. He's gone, and He's never coming back. We won't let him."

"Where's Mom?" Dinah whimpered, her hands tightening around Lisa's back. "She was supposed to be back tonight."

"She got caught at work. She'll be back in the morning."

"…88.62931% chance she'll be back safe within six hours." Dinah sniffled.

Lisa hadn't even realized that her gut was clenching until it unclenched at Dinah's words.

"See. I told you. Now, do you feel okay to go back to bed, or do you want me to read you a story or…"

"I'm too old to be read a story to sleep. I'm not a baby."

"I know. You're not that much younger than me and Taylor. Still, no one's ever too old to be read a story."

Dinah wiped at her eyes, as she pulled back. "Can we watch a show instead?"

"Sure."

\/\/

The charge cut off and Lisa collapsed to the platform, barely able to draw a breath. Her mind jumbled, memories flickering past her eyes, she almost missed Cohen leaning down over her giggling.

"I keep my promises Fox. Your girl is in Fontaine's Department Store, Housewares, last I checked. I'll send you down there. You never did specify not to send you to her, and that final performance…Well, it was beautiful how you flailed so!"

Lisa was able to muster up just enough energy to lift her head and spit, "Fuck…you…asshole…"

Then the blackness rushed in, and, for the moment, she allowed oblivion to claim her.