Jack IV
"But the days go by like wind…"
Birdie stiffened, keeping a white-knuckled grip on her gun and bright blue eyes scanning the narrow corridor. "There is that voice again."
Jack nodded, "Have you ever seen a splicer like this?"
"We don't know for sure it's a splicer, but no. Splicers are... feral, they act more on instinct and the vague traces of their lives; they can talk, sure, but not come up with poetry! The ones that are still in a more transitional stage have more awareness though and, theoretically, can be pulled back from the brink."
"Is that what you think is happening here?" he asked.
"...I don't know," Birdie said, with a shake of her head. "And honestly? I don't really want to find out. Right now I just want to get to that submarine in one piece."
"No argument there." That being said, something was nagging at the back of Jack's mind. "Hey, what did you mean by 'theoretically'? How do you know that?"
Birdie hesitated. She bit her lip, and Jack could practically see the wheels of her mind turning. Birdie was not a woman who trusted easily, and, despite feeling much longer to Jack, they'd only known each other for a couple of hours.
"It's fine if you don't want to tell me," he said. "I was just wondering if-"
The young woman cut him off, "It's Tenenbaum, she thinks she'd found a way to 'cure' splicers. At least, the ones who haven't gone completely mad."
"Really?" Jack's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! "That's amazing! How is she doing it?"
"I don't know how to explain it exactly. She uses Little Sisters to help purge a splicer's bloodstream of ADAM. Basically, Tenenbaum found a way to artificially speed up the detox process. But, before you get your hopes up, the process is far from perfect, and most of her patients have died from either the physical strain of going through it or their minds are so broken that they end up taking their own lives afterward." Birdie gave a helpless shrug, "Still... I know at least one survived it and is now almost a normal person again. Maybe that means there is hope for Rapture after all?"
Maybe...
Maybe there was hope for this city and its people. If that was true then maybe there was hope for Atlas and his family beyond what Jack could provide. Maybe there was hope for Tenenbaum and her collection of Little Sisters, whatever the scientist was planning.
And, just maybe, there was hope for himself and Birdie.
'Atlas made Tenenbaum out to be this horrible, heartless Dr. Frankenstien mad scientist,' he thought to himself. 'But she's trying to heal the splicers, clearly adores the Little Sisters, and Birdie seems to trust her. They're working together, at least. And those things just don't line up with someone cold-hearted and cruel.'
So that raises an important question: Was Atlas wrong?
'Maybe not intentionally. Maybe Atlas is mistaken about Tenenbaum's character? Or maybe because she'd done horrible things in the past and he doesn't believe she can change?'
Jack didn't want to think that his first friend down here -and maybe still his only one. He still couldn't be quite sure where Birdie and Tenenbaum fell on the spectrum- was wrong about something so potentially massive. The older man's instructions and judgment hadn't steered Jack wrong before, he couldn't afford to start doubting them now!
'But what about the Little Sister?' a treacherous voice in the back of Jack's mind whispered. 'Atlas told you to kill her, even though you didn't want to. What do you call that?'
.
.
.
"Desperation," Jack whispered. "He is desperate to get his family back. I can understand that."
"What?" Birdie asked. "Are you talking to someone?"
He shook his head. "No. No, I was just thinking that this city is so desperate that even a slim chance at salvation is almost unbelievable."
"Maybe that is fitting?" A small smile tugged at Birdie's pretty lips. In front of them, the guided bronze door in front of them slid up with a soft hiss. "An unbelievable chance to save an unbelievable city. Almost poetic, don't you th-"
Out of nowhere, the young woman froze in her tracks. All the blood drained from her face, making all the bruises and cuts stand out even more in their ugliness, and Jack saw how Birdie's normally steady hands shook. She was barely able to hold onto her gun.
"Birdie? What's the matter?"
Before she could say anything, Jack's ears caught the familiar sound of heavy, lumbering footsteps and metallic groaning.
"Fuck!"
Jack wrapped an arm around Birdie's shoulder and pulled her down into a crouch behind a metal pillar jutting from the ground just as a Big Daddy's yellow detection lights flashed across where they'd been standing.
"Come on, Birdie. What's up with you?" he hissed in the young woman's ear, giving her a little shake. "C'mon, I need your help here. I need you."
But the woman said nothing, just sat there trembling in his arms.
'Well, this is just fantastic!' Jack thought, peering around the pillar at the patrolling Little Sister and Big Daddy duo. 'Damn, I don't think we sneak past them. Not with Birdie catatonic like this. What is with her?'
The Big Daddy whirled its head around again to scan the area, Jack only just managing to duck out of sight.
'I don't want to fight that thing head-on. I'm not even sure I could! Fighting that last Big Daddy almost killed me! But-' he looked around the room, trying to find anything he could use to his advantage. '-maybe I can distract it long enough to clear a path.'
He turned Birdie that she was facing him, even if her eyes were still vacant and afraid. "Hey, Birdie, I'm coming to see if I can figure out a way to distract the big guy. I need you to stay put, okay?"
Predictably, he got no answer. But Jack hadn't been expecting one anyway and this was more to psych himself up anyway.
"Alright, let's go!"
Timing himself so the Big Daddy's back was turned, Jack ran and leaped over a small ledge, hitting the ground before he could be seen. Shotgun clutched in one hand, he crawled under a wooden pavilion towards the combat current he'd spotted. When he got close enough, a quick blast of Electro Bolt was all the help he needed to hack the damn thing.
But, right before he had the last piece set and ready to go, a loud, deranged voice rang out.
"Hand her over, you lumbering hunk of metal!" yelled a splicer as he fired a rifle down at the Big Daddy.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Only for the bullets to bounce off with nearly no effect. Still, gunfire did an excellent job of distracting the Big Daddy as the Little Sister ran off screaming to hide. Jack watched her go and couldn't help but wonder if this was the one Birdie was looking for.
'No, that one is supposed to be in Arcadia. Plus, no blonde hair, no blue eyes, and definitely no doll... It can't be Sally,' he thought.
And yet...
It was still a Little Sister. A Little Sister he now could help, the ability to heal what this city had done to her body and mind. But only if he could get close enough to touch her, which was something her giant protector would never allow.
'Can't think about that now! I need to stay focused on clearing us a path and this swarm of splicers either just made my job easier or harder. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but I'm not sure who is who in this case. Gotta risk it though! I can't leave Birdie back there like that.'
With that thought, Jack finished with the turret, slapped the control panel closed, and waited.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Jack covered his ears in a vain attempt to block out the gunfire and screaming as the turret fired and the Big Daddy make short work of any splicers stupid enough to get too close.
When things cleared up enough and the screaming stopped, he crawled out forward until he reached an opening. Jack froze for a moment, listening as hard as one could possibly listen, and heard nothing aside from the eerie groaning that always seemed to fill Rapture, the chatting of the Little Sister, and his own racing heartbeat. He swallowed hard and climbed out from under the pavilion...
…Right in-between the Little Sister and her Big Daddy.
"Fuck," he whispered as the metal titan's red 'eye' stared down at him.
Jack leaped away, only just managing to dodge a swing of the Daddy's drill. He'd have considered it good luck except for the fact he jumped back into the Little Sister.
'Shitshitshit!'
The Little Sister's shriek filled the air, so loud that it stunned Jack. It was an ungodly sound, one that reminded him of the banshee of Irish legends. And perhaps that was an appropriate comparison because just a death followed a banshee's wail, a Big Daddy's frenzied rage followed a Little Sister's pained shriek.
Few escaped a Big Daddy's rage.
Bang! Jack fired his shotgun at near-point blank range, wishing he'd stocked up on those electric shells he'd seen in the vending machine a while back. Bang! Bang!
Mind racing a mile a minute, the only thing resembling a strategy that popped into Jack's mind was that he needed to put distance between himself and this metal monstrosity. Big Daddies weren't exactly graceful, but they could move faster than one would think given their size. And they could take way more damage than Jack could.
Bang!
One good hit and he'd be dead.
Bang!
One good hit and he'd be squashed.
Bang!
One good hit and he wouldn't be able to save Atlas' family.
Bang!
One good hit and Birdie would be next.
Bang!
One good hit and-
Ring Ring Ring!
A loud, shrill alarm sound rang out from Big Daddy so loud and unexpected that the metal titan actually halted its attempts to turn Jack into a fine paste long enough to turn in the direction of the sound. Long enough for...
"Hey, ugly! Over here!"
Jack let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Birdie standing there holding her crossbow. She raised it and fired again, this time a sharp, steel tip bolt with enough force behind it to bury into the Big Daddy's helmet. That was enough to enrage it even further, if such a thing was possible, and it charged at the young woman.
"Birdie, run!"
Despite his pleas, she stood her ground. Jack could only watch in amazement and horror as Birdie tossed her crossbow to the side and raised her hands up in front of her. For a split second, a blue aura surrounded them and shot out. Faster than Jack could blink, the legs and arms of the Big Daddy were encased in ice.
Cracking ice. Ice that wouldn't stand up long against the Daddy's struggles.
"Jack, hit it with the propane tanks!" Birdie shouted. "Hit it with everything you got!"
As soon as the woman's words registered in Jack's mind, he understood. He stabbed an Eve Hypo into his arm, the pain and rush of power mixing into a strange sort of pleasure as the strange substance flooded his veins. A power that allowed him to reach out with the Telekinesis plasmoid to grab the closest propane tanks and fling it at the Big Daddy.
BOOM!
It exploded on contact, causing the metal man to stumble.
"AGAIN!" Birdie yelled, already unloading on their target with her own handgun. "THE ICE ISN'T GOING TO HOLD MUCH LONGER!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
But, even with all the firepower they were throwing at, by the time Jack had used up all the propane tanks around, the Big Daddy was still moving. Slowly, mind you, and it was clearly on its last leg of life, but the damn thing still had enough strength to keep lumbering towards Birdie. She fired at its head again and again, and, the closer it got, the worse Birdie's aim seemed to get.
"Hey!" Jack yelled, trying to draw its attention. "Hey! Come get me, you overgrown tin can!"
It didn't work. The Daddy's just kept moving forward, backing Birdie into a corner. As it raised its massive drill arm to lunge...
…Right through a puddle of water.
Looking back, Jack wouldn't even say he ever had a plan. He didn't actively think about anything, instead acting on complete instinct. He fired a blast of Electro Bolt at the Big Daddy's feet, using the last of EVE in his body. The effect was instantaneous, the massive metal man began convulsing at the electricity dancing around its body. That didn't mean the danger was over though. The Daddy's drill arm was still waving around, coming dangerously close to clipping Birdie.
And it wouldn't be stopped forever.
Jack seized his opening to rush by the Big Daddy and tackle Birdie to the ground, shielding her with his own body. Jack felt them hit the floor just as the Daddy's drill arm rushed over his head.
"Umpf!" Birdie groaned at the impact.
Their eyes met for a moment and, like an idiot, Jack flashed a grin. "You owe me one, Birdie."
"Two. I owe you too," she said. "And my name is Liz."
'Liz... it suits her.'
He was so caught up with how blue Bir- Liz's eyes were and rolling this new name around in his mind that Jack very nearly ignored the loud sound of groaning metal behind them.
Liz's breath hitched and, before Jack could move, wrapped an arm around his neck. One of his ears was pressed into the corner of her arm, the other covered by her hand. With her free arm, she raised her handgun and fired it repeatedly.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Now Jack understood why Liz covered his ears. The gunfire was so loud, it was nearly deafening.
BANG! BANG!
BAM!
FINALLY... Finally, the giant fell, collapsing on the ground with a massive thud. Jack let out a sigh of relief, one mirrored by Liz as the tension left their body at almost the same time.
"We did it," she breathed, looking off to the side. "We beat it."
Not for the first time, Jack wondered if she was talking to him.
"Come on, we need to mo-"
The soft sound of a young child sobbing cut him off. Liz looked over his shoulder, eyes growing sad. She nudged him, "Jack, look."
It was the Little Sister. She was curled up against her fallen protector, clutching its giant hand in her tiny arms. "Please get up, Mr. Bubble! Please!"
Despite everything that had just happened, Jack's heart ached. When he looked at the Big Daddy, there was no hatred in his heart, only sadness. In the end, it was just another victim of Rapture. It and the Little Sister.
"Hey there, sweetie," he whispered. The little thing shrieked, and tried to run as he got close but Jack grabbed her tight. He pulled her close and put a hand on her head. 'Let's hope this works again.'
Jack tried to remember what he felt the last time. He closed his eyes and focused, feeling what had twisted the little girl's body and neutralizing. A flash of bright light later, a thin and tired, but normal-looking girl was standing in front of Jack.
The girl looked up at him with big green eyes and, after a heartbeat, started to weep again. Her thin little arms wrapped around his neck and it was all Jack could to hug her tight. As he held the girl, Jack felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Liz smiling down at him.
It was at that moment that Jack decided.
'I'm going to save them. I'm going to save them all.'