Elizabeth III

"Subject Delta was the first Big Daddy subject to properly bond with a Little Sister," Tenebaum explained, her thin fingers nimbly dancing across the computer console. " I learned of his existence while working for Fontaine when I came across some old files; at the time, it meant nothing to me but since I've started my quest to save the Littles Ones, his existence has become vital to my experiments."

"Subject Delta..." Liz whispered, her blue eyes fixed out the window and at the seemingly lifeless figure. The name was fitting, all things considered. Delta the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet, everyone knew that, but years of pouring over mathematical textbooks cared into Elizabeth's mind that delta was a symbol commonly used in mathematics to represent change or variation. 'If Tenebaum thinks he can help change the tides of things in Rapture, then perhaps it is fate? Should such a thing even exist.'

"Where did he come?"

Tenebaum shrugged as pistons and cranks began to power on, creaking to life with moans and groans of pain. "Fontaine Futuristics plunked him the Persephone Penal Colony, along with several others, to be test subjects for the Alpha Series conversion. The details beyond that are lost to the wind and waves, I'm afraid."

'Big Daddies, Little Sisters, splicers...,' Liz thought grimly. 'Fontaine and Ryan have stolen so many lives and for what? Pride? Money? Power?'

"Fontaine Futuristics had tried many times to create the perfect Big Daddy and Little Sister bond but the road was not easy," the older woman continued. "They had a hard enough time finding males who could withstand the many strenuous plasmid experiments, genetic manipulations, and physiological conditioning they were subjected to. Eventually, they started getting test subjects from Persephone because those who survived inside were, theoretically, stronger than the average citizen and, well, no one would care if prisoners disappeared or died."

She reached over and tapped the glass, pointing to Subject Delta. "He was the first to survive all of this and bond with a Little Sister."

Then she gave Elizabeth a knowing, almost manic look. "There is always something special about the first. If we can use him to find the root of the bond between Big Daddies and Little Sisters, then perhaps we can use that information to rehabilitate the Little Ones."

Liz pursed her lips and looked away from the gears of the enormous mechanical arm she was elbow deep in.

Would it really help? The imprinting, as far as she knew, was not from any sort of scientific or chemical process or treatment. For her, and the Little Sisters she had helped, it had been a simple act of kindness. By showing an imposing mechanical monster a little bit of humanity, they'd gained a terrifying protector.

But, then again, Elizabeth had been in a coma for so long and there was so much that she didn't know anymore.

'God, it is frustrating being so... human!'

"So, the plan is simple. We extend the mechanical arm to grab Subject Delta, real him in, and then stick him in the vita chamber," Tenebaum said, whipping her hands off on her skirt. "With any luck, we can salvage what is left of him."

"Simple doesn't mean easy. This thing-" she kicked the mechanical arm, the toe of her steel-toed boot causing an audible clang!- "hasn't been in operation for years and we're putting it back together with metal scraps and chewing gum" Liz noted. Then, after a long moment of consideration. "Also, uh, where did you get that vita chamber?"

"I stole it from the Adonis Luxury Resort, piece by piece, and rebuilt it here. I believe that it would come in handy, turns out I was right." the doctor replied simply. "Now, are you ready? It is time for the first attempt."

"There is no time like the present," Liz replied with a shrug. Slamming the gear hatch shut, she stepped back to a safe distance and gave the thumbs up, "Alright, turn it on."

Snap! Snap! Snap! BUZZ!

Tenebaum flipped a series of switches and hit a large button to finally activate the undersea salvage arm. "So far so good," she muttered, taking hold of the steering joystick. "Let's see what comes next."

Pressing the joystick forward, the undersea mechanical arm's 'hand' began to stretch out from its waterproof housing compartment into the cold water toward the discarded Big Daddy. It was exceptionally slow going, though part of that may have just been because Elizabeth was watching it all with clenched teeth and bated breath, but, eventually, the metal fingers clasping Subject Delta's metal arm.

"Jackpot!" Liz grinned, triumph creeping into her veins.

But Tenebaum just clicked her tongue. "Don't go celebrating just yet, we are only half of the way there," she chided, tapping another series of buttons.

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Elizabeth mumbled under her breath, "Fingers crossed."

"Beginning recall," the older woman announced, pulling on the control stick once more.

EEEeeerrrrruugg!

The mechanic arm's groans grew even louder as the gears whirled and the pistons pumped, pulling the large and extremely heavy chunk of metal that was Subject Delta across the ocean floor. Liz watched on, fists clenched at her side and biting her lip; the anxiety of not being able to do anything to help and just plain not knowing what was about to happen was getting to her.

'I became spoiled,' she mused. 'I can understand why Rosalind Lutuce is hesitant to give up that power for anything, even those she loves or a potential future. It is hard being human; I have no idea how Booker handled it.'

"Three meters and closing!" Tenebaum interrupted her thoughts, a smile beginning to pull on the woman's usually stern face. "This may just-"

Ba-ba-BAM!

The arm's retraction halted mere feet away and Elizabeth jumped back as black smoke began leaking from the cracks of the undersea arm's control hatch. Grabbing a nearby fire extinguisher -she had insisted, Tenebaum was more ambivalent, or perhaps too eager to enact her plant, to give much thought to the obvious danger- Liz threw the hatch open and readied herself to do some fire fighting.

The hatch now open, the smoke billowed out, filling the air and clouding Elizabeth's vision. Coughing, she waved a hand in front of her squinted through the dark innards of the machine to inspect the damage.

"Thank god," she called to the other woman, "there is no fire, only smoke. It looks like the rubber insulation was rotting away; if we replace that and add some lubricant and coolant, we'll be good to go... Oh, and it looks like a few of the pistons need new compression and oil control rings."

"Das pisst mich an!" Tenenbaum spat, marching over to kick the machine. "Der Scheisskerl! Fahr zur holle! Filzlaus! Das stört mich total!"

Liz just blinked at her, surprised by the woman's outburst. "Uhhh...?"

"We do not have all of that," the doctor growled as an explanation, crossing her arms with an annoyed huff. "I have some machine lubricant laying around... and maybe a little bit coolant as well, though definitely not much, but no rings for the pistons. Damnit, we were so close too!"

"Then we just need to go get it," Elizabeth shrugged, not really seeing the issue. She and Booker had needed to retrieve much during their... adventure in Columbia, how was this any different?

"And how do you propose we do that?" Tenebaum rolled her green eyes. "Rapture is crawling with danger and I refuse to send the Little Ones out there. It is bad enough that they leave to collect food and other supplies, even with their Big Daddies for protection; I won't allow them to take unnecessary risks."

'She really does care about them,' Liz was shocked to realize. Sure, Tenebaum had seemed sincere in her desire to help the little sisters, but sincerity didn't always translate to altruism. "Fine, then I'll go"

The older woman's eyes widened. "What?"

"I've held my own in plenty of dangerous situations," Elizabeth said simply. "Point me to where I need to go and I should have no problem getting what we need."

Tenebaum shook her head, "No no no, it is far too risky. You are needed here."

"We can't do much here, can we?" Liz pressed. "So, how much do you really want to help your girls?"

"Our best bet for getting the materials would be Bancock's Hardware," Tenebaum explained, pointing to the location on a set of blueprints. "It is about a mile away, taking into account the stairs you will have to traverse. If everything goes well, you can be there and back in two-to-three hours with what we need. We can keep in contact via the radio but, if possible, we should keep that to a minimum. The sound might attract others."

Elizabeth bit her lip, studying the blueprints. "It looks like I'll have to go three levels down and across the area. I suppose I can take the vents for some of the trip, stay out of sight for whenever possible."'

"That would be safest," the other woman nodded. "The area will be crawling with splicers and I'm sure that I don't need to that they are-"

"Violent," Liz nodded. "Violent and insane."

"That is putting it mildly," Tenebaum scoffed. "This is going to be unspeakably dangerous, I cannot believe I am allowing it. You are a valuable asset and yet I am letting you risk your life."

"Trust me, I've survived worse," Elizabeth replied. "I just need a weapon. I don't suppose you have a gun lying around somewhere?"

To her left, sitting slumped in a forgotten chair in the corner of the room, Booker gave her a sad look. Elizabeth's blue eyes met her father's green ones for a brief moment before turning away. 'You can't protect me this time, Booker, and you can't do it yourself. This is something I have to do on my own.'

The older woman bit her lip, eyeing Liz for a moment, before turning to one of the hovering Little Sisters and said, "Bring the case."

The girl obediently scampered off with a smile, returning moments later dragging a large suitcase into the room with the help of another Little Sister. Together, they presented it to Elizabeth with twin adoring looks, "We brought the pretty lady's toys!"

'Toys?' Liz crouched down and popped the suitcase open to find the weapons she'd used -and honestly grown quite attached to- during her attempt to save Sally lying before her. She turned to Tenebaum and cocked an eyebrow, "Toys?"

"You had them on you when I discovered your body and since I didn't know if you would be violent when you woke back up so I hid them," Tenebaum shrugged, taking a pull of her cigarette. "But I have found you to be reasonably sane since then, so you may have them back."

"Thanks," Elizabeth rolled her eyes, tugging the Air Grabber up her forearm. Her crossbow, Hand Cannon, shotgun, Radar Range were all there and -judging by the quick inspection of the firearms Liz performed- appeared to be in decent shape, good enough to use in a fight at least.

'Not much ammo,' she noted with a frown as she took stock, 'but hopefully, I won't have to use any at all.'

Reloading the Hand Cannon, Liz turned to Tenebaum, "Alright, I'm ready."

"This is how we get out into the city, Pretty Lady," a Little Sister explained as she led Elizabeth by the hand to a small hole in the wall that, upon closer inspection, expanded out into a series of tunnels. The tunnels were narrow, too much so for the average adult but perfect for the tiny body of a Little Sister or, in this case, the slender, petite frame of Liz.

"There is another, larger entrance but I would rather not open it and leave us vulnerable," Tenebaum explained.

"Understood," Elizabeth nodded. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Mr. Bubbles and his brothers are out there, protecting us," the Little Sister chirped. "I wish they could live here with all of us but Mama Bri says no."

Liz looked up the older woman for an elaboration.

"Their Big Daddies patrol the outside of the safehouse and escort the Little Ones when they go to gather supplies." Then the woman smiled down at the Little Sister and patted her head, "It is safest that way."

"Will they attack me?" she, recalling with a shiver how she'd used a Big Daddy to kill Comstock-Booker.

"I do not know," Tenebaum admitted. "They tend to attack anyone who gets too close but I am unsure how they will react if they see someone leaving, so be cautious."

"Lovely," Elizabeth grumbled as she started to haul herself up into the tunnel. But, before she could anywhere, a hand on the shoulder stop her.

"Wait," Tenebaum said. When Liz turned to face her, the older woman handed her a fancy silver cigarette case. "Use this wisely."

'I mean, I could definitely use a cigarette but...' Elizabeth popped open the case and all the confusion when she saw the three syringes full of pale purple-blue liquid. "Is this... EVE?"

"Yes," the older woman nodded solemnly. "I do not keep much of it in the safehouse but I think you will need it."

Then she eyed Liz up and down and stepped closer. "The tests I ran on you after you came into my care showed you had three different types of plasmoids in your system. Yet you have impressively managed to avoid all of the negative side effects. Most people can only handle having one type, maybe two if they are especially lucky. I wonder why."

'Me too,' Elizabeth, thinking back to how Booker could handle nearly a dozen vigors coursing through his veins. Glancing to the side to see her father staring back from the reflection in a pane of glass. "We Dewitts are tougher stock than most, I suppose."

And, with that, she hauled herself up into the narrow tunnel and started on her way.