Jack II
"Wait!"
Birdie paused, turning around and cocking an eyebrow at him. "What?"
Jack paused, arm still half out-strength. Why had he wanted her to stop? Bridie didn't seem to want to kill him anymore but she also didn't seem to have any interest in continuing their discussion. She and Tenenbaum definitely were keeping secrets; or, at least, had things they didn't want to say in front of him.
"...Where are you going?"
'Fuck!' That sounded stupid even to Jack's own ears.
The woman snickered, "Where am I going? You heard that Little Sister, Sally was last seen in Arcadia. So I'm heading there to find her."
"By yourself?"
"Are you saying you don't think I could manage it?" Birdie asked, tapping her finger against her Hand Canon questioningly.
Jack laughed, "Lady, I don't think there is much down here that you can't handle! In fact, I'd say you're more equipped to be down here than me."
That got him a quirky little half-smile, "Thanks."
"So why is this Little Sister important to you?" he asked, trying to keep the conversation going. "I mean, I'm all for saving as many kids as I can but why this one in particular? Is she your kid sister or some?"
Birdie's face went pale -more so than it already was- and she looked away, a crestfallen look on her pretty face.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Sally was my responsibility but... I failed. I was so blinded by my own goals, my own grief, and rage, that I couldn't be there when she needed me," she said, still not looking at him. "I won't fail her again. If I have to tear this entire city apart to get Sally back, then I will."
"I believe you."
"What?" Birdie looked shocked.
"I saw that look in your eyes when you thought I was going to kill that girl. If you looked that fierce while protecting a stranger then I can't imagine you'd fail to protect someone you care about," Jack shrugged. "So why don't we team up?"
"Pardon me?"
"I don't think I need to remind you that this place is fucking crazy," he said. "The way I see it, we're both some of the only other decently sane folks around, and we both have people we want to save. Teaming up only seems logical."
Birdie cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "What do you get out of it?"
"Besides something pretty to look at? ...Kidding, kidding!" Birdie rolled her eyes at the dumb joke. " "Double the firepower, double the eyes, and always having someone to watch the other's back seems like good enough reasons for me but, aside from that? It would be nice to have someone else to talk to down here."
"...Else?" the woman asked. "Who are you trying to save?"
"I-"
"Would you kindly not go around blabbing about me and my family to random chickie that you find running around?" Atlas hissed in his ear. "You can focus on getting some later, after my family is safe."
Jack's mouth snapped shut and all words died in his throat. It made sense that Atlas would want to keep knowledge of his family secret, Andrew Ryan probably had spies throughout the city that would love to know Atlas had someone on his side. But still, Birdie seemed like a good person -one who'd probably want to help an innocent mother and child held captive by an evil madman. And, quite honestly, Jack could use some backup.
He blinked and flexed his jaw, "I'm trying to save- gahk!"
The words caught in his throat again. "What the hell? Why can't I speak?'
"Everything okay?" Birdie asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Something caught in your throat?"
Jack shook his head, "A friend. I'm trying to help a friend. He needs me to find someone for him."
"And why isn't this friend out here with you?"
"He's... vulnerable. It isn't safe for him to be out in the city," Jack explained, careful to avoid choking on certain words.
"You say that like everyone in the city isn't vulnerable," Birdie replied. But, after a moment, she shrugged and drew her sidearm again. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt for you to travel with me for a while, provided you can keep up. Oh, and I hope you're not claustrophobic -I prefer to travel by air vent whenever possible. Easier to avoid fights that way."
"Yeah, small spaces don't bother me," he said. It was true, they never had. "The real question is how we're going to get out of this area?"
"I can answer that, boyo," Atlas said. "I don't like the idea of you teaming up with some floozy but, if it gets you back on track then so be it. Head for the emergency exit and be quick about it! You got Ryan's eye now -if I had to guess, he has his eye on both you and your new little girlfriend. You won't hear him coming, but he'll be there before you know it! Now get to Port Neptune, quick as you can."
When the radio static clicked out, Jack couldn't help but smile. Even when Atlas was angry, the man was always looking after him. 'Thanks, buddy.'
He turned back to Birdie, "Is there anything else you need to get in this area? If we head out now, we might not be able to come back."
The woman tapped the front pocket of her overalls and said, "No, I got what I came for. I just need to head for Arcadia."
"And I need to head to Port Neptune," Jack said. "So where does that leave us?"
"I don't know what the city is like now but, from what I remember, those two locations are in separate directions," Birdie said, biting her lip.
"What do you want to do then?"
That got him an ambiguous shrug of the shoulders, "I'd decide that when the time comes. Let's head out."
Bang!
Jack couldn't help but wince as the head of a splicer exploded with a well-placed bullet from Birdie's Hand Cannon. They'd jumped down from a balcony above -quite literally getting the drop on Jack- and nearly took his head off with a swing of an axe before Birdie took action -ending the fight before it could truly begin.
"The sound will bring more, keep an eye out while I work on this door," Birdie frowned, dropping down to start examining the lock of the door standing in their way. She eyed the massive padlock built into it and pulled a small pin out of her hair. "This might take a minute."
Jack shifted his grip on his newly acquired shotgun, bringing it up and examining their surroundings for any sign of movement. When none appeared, he let himself relax slightly and glance over his shoulder to where Birdie was still working on the door lock.
"So how did you learn to do that?" he asked.
Birdie paused briefly at his words but, after only a second, went back to her work. "Do what?"
"The fighting? The lockpicking? I don't know, both?"
There was more silence and, for a moment, Jack wondered if he pushed his luck too far with his questions. After all, agreeing to team up temporarily for mutual benefit hardly meant Birdie was ready to start swapping life stories with some guy she barely knew.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"
"The locking picking I taught myself -I had a lot of free time on my hands when I was younger," Birdie said, still not looking at him. "As for the guns and violence? My father taught me how to deal with that."
"Your father?" Jack perked up, pleased that she answered him in the end. If they were going to be allies, they should feel comfortable talking to one another. "Was he a soldier or something?"
"He was. Quite a decorated one too."
"A war hero then?"
"...Some called him that. He didn't care much for the title though," she said.
Jack winced, 'So he's dead then. Note to self, probably a sore subject. It usually is with the ladies.'
"What's the story behind the tattoos?" Birdie asked.
"Huh?"
"I figure if we were playing Twenty Questions, I might as well ask some," the woman said. "So, what is with the tattoos?"
Jack glanced down at his wrists, the gray inked chain links staring back up at him. "I... don't know, honestly. Must have gotten drunk and wandered into a tattoo parlor at some point."
Birdie let out a hum, "So you've had them a long time then?"
"Yes, as long as I can- " Jack froze then, still staring at the one on his inner right wrist. He'd had these tattoos for as long as he could remember... So why did the ink still look so fresh? Tattoo ink started to fade after a few years, that was a proven face. Colors dulled and lines grew blurry.
'So why do these look so new?' he wondered. Maybe he really was blackout drunk the night he got them or maybe-
Click.
"Got it," Birdie said, jarring Jack from his thoughts as the door fell open. "Let's go. We're getting close now."
Close to what, she didn't say. Nor did Jack ask. Instead falling into step beside Birdie as they made their way through the dark halls. As they crept through Rapture, Jack watched how the woman's blue eyes flickered back and forth, constantly aware of every little bump and scream that echoed through the tunnels. Her grip on her gun never lessened, ready to draw and fire at a moment's notice.
The only time Birdie didn't wasn't alert to any potential danger was when her attention seemed to... drift.
In the extremely short time they'd been working together, Jack noticed how Birdie's would stare... not into space exactly, but rather at a specific space intentionally. She'd sometimes nod or gesture like she was reacting to a comment or question. Once, he'd even seen Birdie start to say something before she'd noticed him watching and shut her mouth.
'Is she talking to herself... or does she actually see something?' he wondered.
"You've been holding up pretty well for a normal guy," Birdie commented suddenly, breaking the silence. "What did you do up top?"
"...I was a student at Kansas State University College of Agriculture," he said. Jack was surprised that it took him a moment to remember that; it was like an entire lifetime had passed since he got on that plane. "I wanted to help improve my folks and the family farm, figured that higher education was the best way to do that."
"Noble. You're pretty far away from Kansas though."
"Oh, I was on my way to visit some cousins in England," Jack explained. "Hell of a first plane ride, let me tell you!'
God, had news of the plane going down gotten back to his parents yet? He hoped not; his folks worried enough about him as is, always cautious about where Jack was going and who he'd be with. They were usually such worriers that Jack had honestly been shocked when they planned the trip for him in the first place.
"Hmmm..."
"What?"
Birdie shrugged, "I don't know. I'm just surprised some farmers in Kansa had relatives in England."
"I was too! Ma never mentioned them before and I'd never even- never even..." Jack trailed off.
His father had explained that Ma and her family fell out before Jack was even born so it did make sense that she'd never talked about her family or kept photos of them around. But, now that Jack thought about it, had ever seen photos from either side of his family? Sure, there'd been immediate family portraits around the house but none of his grandparents or the nephews that Pa occasionally brought up.
"Ugh!" he hissed, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. A hot pulse of pain exploded behind his eyes and Jack's stomach lurched, airplane peanuts threatening to come up and say hello.
A soft hand touched his own and Jack opened his eyes.
'She's beautiful,' he thought. He'd never seen eyes as blue as Birdie's, and the way her red lips curled into a worried frown made him swallow hard against a drive mouth. Even under the bruises, there was a delicate tilt to her features and a paleness to her skin that made Jack think of porcelain dolls or greek statues -a layer of silk covering steel-like strength.
"Jack?"
He winced, looking away from her eyes and rubbing his forehead. "Sorry, just got hit with a headache."
Birdie pursed her plush lips and sighed, "It's not surprising. I can't imagine the stress you've been under."
She reached up, hesitated a moment, and then took Jack's head in her hands. Before he could ask what she was going, a pleasant coolness emanated from her fingertips. She rubbed her fingertips against his temples and her thumbs over his forehead. Jack sighed as the pain slipped away at a sensation similar to ice cubes running down the back of his eyelids.
"Better?" she asked.
"Better," he said with a grin. Then he cocked his head to the side, "You know, you don't seem all that stressed out by everything. I get the sense that you've done this before."
"Well, I have been surviving in Rapture for a while," Birdie shrugged.
"No, it's more than that," Jack said. "You've survived something else, something before Rapture, haven't you?"
The woman stiffened. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Look, I'm not looking to judge. I just want to know the truth. Hell, it would even make me feel better knowing a have veteran of fucked up situations by my side."
Birdie turned away, looking off into the corner of the room. Her brow drew tight, she squinted, and, after a moment, nodded slowly.
'She's doing it again,' Jack realized. 'Who is she hearing?'
"All I'm going to say is that, when I was younger, my father rescued me from a... From a bad situation," Birdie said. "Like I said, I learned a lot from him -little of which I liked learning, even if it served me well in the long run. So, yes, I have survived something awful before. And I intend to survive this too, so don't go slow me down."
The last part sent a shiver down Jack's spine. "I'm glad your father was able to save you."
That got a dry, tired chuckle from Bride. "Thanks. It killed him in the end."
"Oh. Sorry, I didn't-"
"A complicated man, Booker DeWitt was," Birdie sighed, as if Jack hadn't said anything at all. "He wasn't there when he should have been, and, for that, I hate him. But, in the end, he was there when I needed him, and, for that, I'll always love him."
"...There's nothing wrong with that. Parents are complicated."
Birdie nodded, more to herself than him, and said, "I just wish we got another chance. Another door to a better life."
"Door?" Jack asked, confused. What did doors have to do with anything?
At his question, Birdie seemed to remember that he was there and shook herself back to the present... "Nothing, just an old daydream. There is no place for it in the world now."
She checked the bullets in her gun once more. "Let's go."