Up in Olympus Heights, a group of Splicers were standing around, discussing recent events.
"I'm tellin' ya, I saw it with my own eyes!" a Splicer said. "Half of Hephaestus is gone, Ryan's dead, and there's some sort of monster running around! What's more, Frank Fontaine just came back from the dead!"
"I think you've been hittin' up too much ADAM." another Splicer said. "There ain't no way Fontaine's alive. I saw 'im get filled with holes way back."
"Eh, who cares? Rapture's done for, no matter who's in charge." a third Splicer said. "I'm thinkin' it's high time we call this place a wash and punch our ticket outta here."
"How are we gonna do that?"
"Dark Ocean's still got their main sub down here, full of Plasmids, Tonics and all the ADAM we can harvest from the Little Sisters they captured." the Splicer said. "We get a big gang together, bury those three palookas left in Apollo Square, then we all take that tin can and hightail it to the surface. With all the stuff on that sub, we could make a big name for ourselves up there."
"I'm afraid we cannot allow that." a voice spoke to the three Splicers, the trio seeing the Fatebreakers walking towards them.
"It's the Fatebreakers! I thought they were dead in the water after Hepheastus!" the first Splicer said.
"Well, they're about to be now! Get 'em!" the third Splicer charged at the group, only to get shot down by Matheus.
"Move." Ethox told the other two Splicers, who quickly backed away from the group in fear, letting them pass.
"...You know, getting outta here is looking more and more tempting as time goes on." the first Splicer said.
"Yeah. Let's bug!" the second agreed as the two raced away to find an exit.
"Well, that was easy. But I don't think any other Splicers will be as afraid as them." Legolia guessed.
"Probably not." Goblin Slayer agreed. "We'll need to fight."
"Not a problem." DJ said, whirling his saws. "Let's do this."
The group made their way through the area, taking out any Splicers who dared to attack them. They hacked every piece of security with the Hacking Tool, using them to mow down the enemies.
"Let's cut through the Bistro." Kazuma said as they did so, finding an Audio tape belonging to Yi Shuchong.
"Hey, it's a tape from this Suchong guy! Let's listen to it, maybe we can get some information out of it." Megumin said, plucking it off the counter and playing it.
"That's quite a little monster Fontaine's dug up. When she does speak, which is almost never, her accent is thick and grating. Her hair is filthy and she seems to wear the same mustard-stained jumper day after day. But I've got to hand it to Frank: Tenenbaum is the all-time diamond in the rough. No formal training, no experience... but put her in front of a gene sequence, and she's Mozart at the harpsichord."
"Well, that tells us…pretty much nothing, except that this Suchong guy was kind of a jerk." Kazuma said.
"Come on, we need to keep moving." Koenig said, the group moving on until the came to a collection of apartments, many stories high.
"Mercury Suites…" Visha said. "Tenenbaum, which floor is Shuchong's apartment on?"
"His residence will be the first one on your left." Tenenbaum answered, the group turning to see the apartment in question.
"Alright, talk about convenience!" Rista said happily.
The group walked into the apartment, beginning a search for anything that could point them in the right direction.
"That Tenenbaum aint what you think. Florence Nightingale, huh? That'll all come crashin' down before you can say 'canned tomatoes'." Fontaine said. "I've seen good bunko, and I've seen great bunko, but when you've walked Rapture and WWII without even a scratch? You've got more than leprechauns watching over you."
"You seem like a lucky man, Fontaine." Tanya said. "Shame you haven't made the right life choices."
"I don't like this anymore than you do kids, but you gotta understand, I've put a lot into this place." Fontaine said. "Twelve years I've got down here, big investment…. A man can't just walk away from a big con like that."
"Is this all this is to you? A con?" Ethox asked. "Man, I almost feel sorry for you. Almost being the key word."
The group looked around Suchong's apartment before reaching his study. Megumin then found another one of Suchong's tapes.
"Guys, I found another of Suchong's tapes!" Megumin said.
"This one better be informational…" Kazuma hoped as he played it.
"All those years we thought we were making progress: with our Skinner boxes and our electric shocks… what a waste of time. Until ADAM, you could no more domesticate a child than a boa constrictor… Fontaine gives Suchong history for child that he wants to imprint into child's head. Kid not a person, he jukebox, ready to play whatever tune Fontaine wants to hear."
"...Well, I am now informed that I want to kick this man's ass six ways to Sunday." Michiru said.
"Guys, I think I found the right one!" Nemo said. "There's one in his library called "Mind Control Antidote"!"
"About darn time!" Neumann said as the group quickly joined Nemo, who pressed play on the tap.
"Fontaine's become some kind of boogeyman in Rapture, that myth gives him power. But peel back flim-flam and the humbug, he's just another con man. And like all con men, he worries he'll end up on the wrong side of grift. That's why he commissioned Lot 192 - the antidote to the mental control Plasmid. Fontaine said I better not tell anybody about the antidote, not even Tenenbaum. And Suchong is inclined to listen."
"Haha! At last, the key to monsieur Johnny's freedom!" Le Kraken cheered.
"I knew there was something to that. Always secrets with Suchong, always secrets. He must have this Lot 192 in his labs near Apollo Square." Tenenbaum said.
"So we have to go to Apollo Square to get the antidote, and also fight our way through all of Dark Ocean to get there?" Kazuma asked.
"That seams like a suicide mission." Grantz said. "But we gotta go to the square if we wanna save johnny."
"Maybe not." Tenenbaum said. "I once stole a sample of this in secret, and brought it to my flat for study. Perhaps it is still there."
"Alright, Tenenbaum! MVP of Rapture!" Kazuma cheered.
"M…VP?"
"Nevermind… Where's your flat, Doc?" Kazuma asked.
"On the second floor of Mercury Heights." Tenenbaum replied.
"Alright, let's go!" Ethox said. "Heh, this is turning out to be easier than I expected…"
The group made their way to the second floor of Mercury Heights, taking the time to walk across the halls until they reached Tenenbaum's apartment door.
"Alright, let us…" Le Kraken started then grunted as he tried to open the door. "Ahaha…semble être verrouillé."
"That's not a problem." Seiya said as he stepped in front of the door and used his Eternal Sword skill, slashing the door to pieces. "There, we're in."
"Well, the city is in shambles anyway, but I still wouldn't make that a habit." Ultra said as he looked into the apartment, then did a double take. "Uh, doctor? I don't suppose the flood we're seeing here is because you left the water running?, and not because someone got in?"
"What do you take me for, some kind of mental incompentent?" Fontaine asked over the radio. "We tossed Mother Goose's roost the moment she decided to grow a conscious. You won't find nothing here, kids, 'cept maybe her memories. And trust me on this: you don't want 'em."
"Sau!" Tenenbaum cursed. "He and his pigs have torn apart my home!"
"Don't lose hope, Doc. I'm sure Fontaine didn't find the antidote." Ethox said. "We won't know until we look."
The group entered the apartment, scouring it for any sign of Lot 192.
"C'mon, it's gotta be somewhere…" Kazuma grumbled as he looked around the room, until his eyes fell on a safe. "It's a little obvious, but…"
Kazuma walked towards the safe and used the Hacking Tool to unlock it, opening it and finding a thin beaker with red liquid inside of it. "Hey, that must be it! I found-!"
*click*
Kazuma felt the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his head.
"Well, look what we have here." PW grinned with malice. "A prime target."
Kazuma tried to call out, alert the others, but the Dark Ocean sub-leader pressed the gun in harder, making the adventuer silent.
"What's that you got there, huh?" PW asked. "Something nice? Something…breakable?"
"You crazy bastard, you're not taking this!" Kazuma turned around and looked in Pressure Washer's eyes. It was clear from his look, that he had gone completely mad over the thought of revenge.
"Oh? Why not? I think it's just the thing to make up for how you little group of losers have humiliated me throughout the whole field trip." PW said.
"You did that to yourself! Disobeying orders, thinking you could take us on! You're not a proper member of Dark Ocean, you're just a…madman!" Kazuma said.
"SHUT UP!" PW yelled. "I don't even care about those idiots anymore! To Hell with them, to Hell with those little brats they're keeping, and to Hell with you!"
"Kazuma!" a voice called out as the rest of the Fatebreakers had arrived, seeing the scene playing out.
"And like flies, you all swarm together." PW growled. "I'm so sick and tired of you brats making a fool outta me! I'm taking you all out, right here and now! Oh, and I know you're listening in, you German whore! Once I'm done with these punks, I'll be sure to pay those little ones in Apollo Square a visit, and send 'em back to you in pieces! Y'know, as a lesson on choosing the right side!"
(Cue: Genocide (Retrospecter Version)-Friday Night Funkin )
"We've heard enough from you." Ethox said coldly, summoning his Keyblade. "You're not a criminal, you're a monster. You won't leave this city, and you won't hurt anyone else, ever again."
"I'm a monster, huh?" PW snarled as he drew his now-thawed water blade and activated it. "Then you're monster food."
4th Sub-Leader of Dark Ocean, Waterjet Weaponizer
Pressure Washer
Pressure Washer bellowed in rage as he charged Ethox, who did the same, their blades clashing against one another.
"Guys, get the Lot out of here!" Ethox ordered the rest of the Fatebreakers. "I'll deal with him!"
The group nodded, Kazuma grabbing the Lot and scrambling for the door.
"I don't f***ing think so!" PW yelled, kicking Ethox in between the legs to disorient him, drawing his water gun, and shooting at Kazuma. Darkness blocked the shots with her sword and body if she had to, making Kazuma stop.
"Kazuma, RUN!" the Crusader urged.
"R-Right! Just follow me!" Kazuma told her as the rest of the group ran out of the door.
"That's right, run all you want, you useless hikikomori!" PW yelled after him. "It won't matter once I kill your leader!"
"You…can…try!" Ethox grunted as he recovered from the low blow, slashing at PW. With yell of mixed pain and hate, PW lunged at Ethox, the two clashing blades once more.
(Pause Song)
The rest of the Fatebreakers ran as fast as they could, Mirror Match using his shadow form to get them to the ground floor in record time.
"Now that we have Lot 192, we can cure Johnny of all his mental conditioning." Mirror Match said.
"Yeah, but first we gotta deal with the rest of Dark Garden, and rescue the Little Sisters they captured." DJ said. "We'll wait at the entrance for Ethox, he shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with that psycho."
The rest of the group started to make their way to the exit… except for Kazuma, who looked back up towards the second floor.
"Kazuma, let's go!" Aqua said, before she noticed the expression on his face. It wasn't one of fear or worry, but…determination?
"Aqua…hold onto this." Kazuma said, giving her the Lot 192 Plasmid. "I'm going back up there."
"Wait, what?! Why?" Aqua asked in disbelief.
"I couldn't do anything that day…but I can do something here!" Kazuma said as he took off running towards the elevator.
"Kazuma, wait up!" Megumin called out, following the adventurer.
"You morons, come back-!" Legolia started to yell, only for Mirror Match to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Let them go." Mirror Match said. "I trust that Ethox would be able to win…but this is important to Kazuma. I'm not sure why… but it is."
"...Fine." Legolia sighed. "I just hope those two are gonna be okay…"
Kazuma arrived back at the second floor, just in time to witness a blast of water shoot out from another apartment.
"Those two are breaking down walls…" Kazuma realized as he headed to the apartment where the blast came from, which just so happened to belong to Sander Cohen. "Ethox, I'm here to help!"
The adventurer threw the door open, seeing the two take sword swings at each other in the middle of a dancefloor, two dead Splicers laying at their feet.
"Eh?! Kazuma?!" Ethox realized.
"Look, there's no way I was gonna let somebody else I know down again!" Kazumsa said. "I already lost a friend of mine before I came to Belzerg… I'm not losing you too!"
"Aw, look at that. The one guy in the multiverse who doesn have an exceptional life is sticking up for his friend." Pressure Washer said. "What makes you think you're in the same league as everyone else, huh hikikomori?! You and your trio of useless girls arent jack squat compared to those stronger!"
"You're right. I'm just a normal guy living in a fantasy world, thinking I could have a grand adventure, but all I got was a life that was nothing but hardship." Kazuma said. "My companion is a goddess who's useless 90% of the time. I'm stuck with a chatterbox mage who can only use one spell a day, and a Crusader who can't use a sword to save her life, and shields people because she's a freak for pain. And you know what? I'm not the best of the 10 other Isekai heroes I'm a part of."
"Hah! You're right about that!" PW laughed harshly.
"I don't have an awesome shield, I'm not overpowered and overly cautious, I'm not an Uber-Teir boss of a dungeon or a military war hero… I'm not a slime who can make skills on the fly, I'm not cursed to return when I die, I'm not a knight in a digital world, and I'm not the reincarnation of a Keyblade master! If I wasn't associated with these guys, I'd be a nobody, just another adventurer who just happens to be funny."
"Without that group of heroes, youre useless then." PW smiled. "What is it you can even do?"
Kazuma looked down, Ethox and Megumin looking at him, before the Jinxed Adventurer looked up, stared at the mad criminal, and said:
"I can beat you."
(Resume Song)
This made Pressure Washer absolutely snap, like a trigger went off in his brain. That declaration pushed him over the edge.
"You? Beat ME?! Don't make me laugh! You worthless, insignificant, PIECE OF SHIT!" PW bellowed as he charged Kazuma. The boy unleashed a Winter Blast at him, but even as his skin started to ice over, his rage kept him going, allowing him to grab Kazuma by the neck. His sword fell to the ground, forgotten as he placed both hands around his neck and tightened his grip. "YOU THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME?! HOW, HUH?! WHAT DO YOU GOT THAT'S GONNA BEAT ME?!"
"...ot…ur…un…" Kazuma grunted through the choking.
"What was that? I. CAN'T. HEAR. YOU!" PW roared, all traces of sanity completely discarded.
"...I got your gun." Kazuma repeated.
The boy had grabbed PW's water gun from its holster. The crazed man had a half-second to realize what his foe had just said before Kazuma pulled the trigger.
*BANG*
PW went ridgid, his grip on Kazuma's neck slipping as the boy fell to the ground, coughing and hacking as he looked up at PW, who was looking down at the hole where his chest used to be. The sub-leader looked up, starting at nothing, the light fading from his eyes before he fell over, his eyes continuing to stare.
(End Song)
Kazuma huffed, sitting up as Megumin and Ethox came to him.
"Kazuma!" Ethox said. "You okay, buddy?"
"Yeah…yeah… I'm good." Kazuma couged, trying to steady his breath.
"I think that might've been the only time you have ever killed somebody." Ethox said.
"Yeah, I just killed a… killed a…" Kazuma trailed off, starting to look sick. "Just… just give me a minute to puke…!" He then lost his lunch.
"Do not feel like you have branded yourself with sin, young man." Tenenbaum said. "That man had discarded all traces of his humanity. Even more so than Splicers, he was a monster."
"Y-Y-Yeah…" Kazuma groaned as he shook his head. "Y-Yeah… Yeah. Okay, I… I think I'm good. Let's…let's get outta here."
"Come on, we got you." Ethox said as he and Megumin supported him, the three walking out of Cohen's apartment, arm-in-arm.
At the entrance to Apollo Square…
"Holy crap guys, you gave us quite a shock!" Rista said. "We heard the shot from Pressure Washer's gun all the way over here!"
"Yeah… but it was aimed at him." Kazuma said. "Speaking of, Aqua… I got you a little something."
Back on his own two feet, he handed the Water Goddess the Sword and Gun combo of Pressure Washer.
"Pressure Washer's Weapon?" Legolia asked.
"Hey, I'm an adventurer. Looting things is what we do, right?" Kazuma asked.
"A goddess shouldn't need to carry a weapon!... But I'll take it anyway." Aqua said, taking the gun. "Would be nice to have another way to use water."
"Right, now that PW's out of the picture for good…it's time to deal with what's left of Dark Ocean's presence here." Tanya said. "The last three sane members: Soran, DSD, and Admiral Whirlpool."
"Just remember, they were ordered not to engage us. I'm sure once we head to Apollo square, we can work out some kinda deal." Ethox said. "Pressure Washer had to be killed, and the same will probably have to be done to L, since he's too far gone…. I don't want to have to fight those three."
"Actually, monisour Ethox, I recall Soran being eager to fight us without repercussions." Le Kraken reminded the Nobody. "It would seem that they are waiting for us."
"In that case, let's not keep them waiting any longer." Gimilor said. "Johnny and those Little Sisters are depending on us."
"Right…" Ethox agreed, looking determined. "Let's go."