Chapter 4, The Road Ahead
So we have a huge exposition dump and I really have no idea how to make it more interesting than what I have done. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to DM me.
"Ok, it all started when I arrived in Rapture," Elizabeth started.
"I was looking for a man I had to bring to justice and got there around October of 1958. And I used a Lutece Device to get there from 1912."
I interrupted, "One of the logs did mention 1912, so that device we used to escape was the same one that got you there?"
"More or less." She replied.
I don't know what she meant by that, but it was nice to get a confirmation that time travel does exist. Regardless, I let her continue.
"Anyway, my arrival started a stir, but I was able to get away before anyone noticed me and I changed clothes into what I had when you brought me back from the dead. Had to fit in some way," She uncrossed her legs and leaned back.
"I spent a few months trying to find him, but I also spent time learning about the culture, the city structures, their society, and even learned how those bathyspheres worked," She continued.
Elizabeth talked more about how she took the surname Comstock to hide herself further and eventually learned about how to enter a contest to be one of many people to meet Sander Cohen. She stated that she learned he had a child trafficking ring and felt it could lead her closer to finding out where the man would be located. No doubt it he must have been up to no good and this ring may be the key to finding out his involvement. She said she spent more time with Cohen and finally started to put pieces of where her target was. She said that on New Year's Eve, she found out that he was hiding out as a private investigator and had taken under his wing the girl named Sally who he raised for a few months, but then lost her during a night of gambling and drinking and spent weeks trying to find her. Elizabeth also mentioned that a man named Sullivan had reported that Sally was dead to Booker, but she had learned from her time with Cohen that he knew she had been turned into a little sister.
"A what," I asked after hearing that.
"Little Sister. They are girls who were genetically altered and mentally conditioned to get ADAM from corpses around Rapture since ADAM is so valuable in rewriting genetics. It allowed people to make these plasmids that gave you the power to pull electricity or fire out of you." She replied.
"Wow, that's something. Maybe the remnants of it made its way to the surface and we use it on some level even to this day." I acknowledged.
"Yeah, it could very well have made its way to the surface somehow. Anyway, I'll continue."
Elizabeth said she knew Sally was alive and knew where the man she wanted to hunt down was. She mentioned he was under the alias of Booker Dewitt which also explained to her why it took so long to find out where the man had gone as he was not under his original alias. But as she went on I noticed that when she said that name, something on her face changed subtly, and I can't put my finger on it as to why. Did that name mean something to her or was it someone she knew that had some role in this that the man was using to his advantage? I wasn't sure but I would save that for later. I continued to listen.
Elizabeth then told me her revenge plan. She would approach DeWitt on New Year's Eve and tell him that Sally was not dead, but lost. She would keep her true intentions vague, but would wait for the best moment to strike at him and kill him. Everything went according to plan and she mentioned that through some stage play and acting, they were able to obtain a mask to get into the night club, Garden of the Muses, where Cohen was and were able to enter. She said that Cohen had a sadistic way of finding creative vision and if he didn't find it in people, he would electrocute them. So, Booker and her approached Cohen to confirm if he knew where Sally was and he vaguely said that he did, but only would revive if they both performed a dance together. They did but, were quickly electrocuted.
"Well you are right. That is pretty damn sadistic of him to not only do that to others, but to you."
"Yeah he was a sick bastard. But it was our only option in finding Sally. When we woke up, that's when Cohen revealed he took us to Fontaine's Department Store which was closer to the sea floor."
Elizabeth continued explaining that she did her best to side track Booker as much as she could to keep herself private, but also learn more of what he did in his time at Rapture. For some reason, he had a hard time remembering how he got there, but stated that he took in Sally after the orphanage closed. He said he felt horribly guilty that he left her unattended that day and was hoping there was a way to save her. I started to notice throughout the story that the way Elizabeth described Booker's guilt felt like she didn't care how he felt. Her tone got incredibly darker describing it like it enhanced her revenge on a certain level. Even if he had felt guilty for Sally's disappearance under his watch, she didn't care. I decided to chime in to find out more.
"What did Booker do to you," I inquired, "Sounds like he did something awful to you for you to describe. "
She shook her head, "He did more than something awful to me. Something far worse."
Elizabeth froze and sat there possibly thinking about the past and what Booker did. She started to tear up slightly, but then brushed her tears aside.
"Another time, not now."
Elizabeth then explained that they came across the tram, but the walkway collapsed and water flooded what was left. She mentioned that both her and Booker saw a splicer earlier that used a plasmid to freeze objects. The two of them searched the Department store and found a place called Jack Frost's Village that looked like it had the plasmid they needed. Sadly, there was none of the plasmid left she said and then she paused again for a moment with her finger over her lip like she was thinking of something. Taking her hand from her lip, she continued again. She mentioned that she had obtained a plasmid called Tear that allowed her to open up tears and have things appear from the past at one point.
I stopped her right there, "There was a plasmid that did that? How does that even work?"
"Wish I could tell you. No idea," She vaguely said as she looked down.
"Well, you told me that ADAM modifies genetic material. How strong is that modification to be able to rip into space and time?"
Elizabeth immediately lifted her head back up and gave me a scowled look like she was mad that I was questioning the details. "I don't know the specifics of how it works Evan. Please let me finish my side of the story and leave your questions to the end."
I leaned back, taking the hint and nodded my head to allow her to continue.
Elizabeth resumed telling her story and stated that they froze a way across allowing them to reach the Housewares Department. Once they had, they saw Sally running into the ventilation system. Elizabeth suggested that they close all the vents except the one and turn up the heat in them to lure Sally out. She mentioned Booker was reluctant as they did not know if it could kill her, but eventually agreed. She got in position to raise the temperature as they closed all the vents and Sally started to come out. Booker was about to get her out, but Elizabeth said he saw that she had turned into a little sister and the white of her eyes scared him to let go. Then she brought up that a Big Daddy was always nearby whenever a little sister was present. They both fought together and she described that they had a drill in one hand, multiple glowing eyes, thick armor that protected them extremely well, and had a hunched over look to them.
"That explains those armored things in the lab." I thought to myself. "Could never have guessed that was what they were made for."
Elizabeth mentions that they thought they took down the Big Daddy and Booker tries to get Sally out, but she says something clicked in him, made him collapse, and then he remembered why he had come to Rapture that he felt guilty for getting a child killed. Then she reveals that his real name was Zachery Hale Comstock and he forced a level of amnesia to forget who he was in order to escape the truth. She said that he tried to apologize for what he caused and offered her hand to her. But Elizabeth said she didn't take it because she did not believe at all that he was sorry, but rather said that he would soon be. Then she witnessed Big Daddy come back up, drilled Comstock in the chest, and killed him.
"Jesus, that is a brutal way to go." I said, taken back..
"Yes. But he deserved it. Every. Single. Moment." She apathetically said.
Elizabeth paused yet again and then said once the Big Daddy was done, he swung and knocked Elizabeth against a wall, knocking her out. She said that when she came to, she witnessed Atlas and his Splicers capturing Sally and before they could kill her, she mentioned she knows how Atlas can get back to Rapture through the help of a man named Suchong as she lies about being his lab assistant. She said he humored her, gave her a radio and agreed that if she fulfills this, he will give Sally to Elizabeth. Elizabeth sneaked towards Suchong's impromptu lab in the Silver Fin Restaurant and there discovers that Suchong had found the Lutece Device Elizabeth came in and found it was damaged and needed repairs. Elizabeth mentions that Suchong contacted her and threatens to eliminate her, but she offers to help him fix the device. She mentioned that she was able to get the device fixed up and in doing so came across Atlas' overall plan. Through telegrams and plans in the hideout, she discovered that Atlas is planning to attack Rapture upon his escape with the forces he gathered over the years. She told me that she knew it would end with either Atlas killing her or her killing him. Obviously, we knew what happened.
Elizabeth had the idea of going back in time to somewhere in 1912 called Columbia, to get a device that had Lutece Particles in it that could lift up the Department Store and return them to Rapture. When she got them, Suchong closed the portal and agreed to open it in exchange for her to bring him a sample of hair from a subject in Fink's laboratory. She reluctantly agreed and went into the laboratory and found out that the hair sample was hers and she told me she had no idea as to how and why they had a sample of her hair in Columbia. Nonetheless, she grabbed it and Suchong handled his part of the deal and allowed her to return. When she returns, she said she wasted no time in applying the Lutece Particles to the ceiling and the building starts to float up to the surface. Then Atlas finds her and, to no surprise to Elizabeth, knocks her unconscious and wakes up being interrogated while tied to a chair. The henchman kept interrogating her for weeks with truth serum to get her to reveal the ace in the hole. She said after all that time, Atlas threatened to give her a Lobotomy to make her forget her memories and she embraced the idea as it would help her forget everything bad that had ever happened to her. Atlas got frustrated and then threatened to lobotomize Sally to which Elizabeth said she panicked and mentioned the answer had to be somewhere in Suchong's Clinic. Atlas agrees to let her go retrieve it and makes her way to Suchong's Lab. She came across it and noticed that it was an encoded message that she understood since she was a big fan of puzzles and coded messages when she was younger. She made her way back to Atlas to where she gave the message and knowing Atlas would kill her told him to get it over with.
"What is this? It's just a buncha gibberish," she said, doing an impression of Atlas. "What does this say you little whore? What does this say!?"
"I told him, 'Would you kindly?' " she said. "Then I remember seeing him lift his wrench up and deal the final blow on me."
Elizabeth took a breath, leaned a bit forward, looked to her left and down, then looked back at me. " Then the last thing I remember was hearing a plane crash, seeing a man at a lighthouse with some little girls, and then I saw one final flash of Sally reaching down, holding my hand to her face, and that was it. I'm not even fully sure if what I saw was true. I hope it is, but I doubt I'll ever know if Sally made it."
I sighed and leaned back in my seat, realizing I was leaning forward most of the time listening to Elizabeth. I mean, that is a lot to take in and I can't remember what her last moments were like. Elizabeth led a horrible, traumatic last few weeks of her life and it obviously hurt to bring up the nitty gritty details. However, I noticed an obvious common theme throughout the whole thing. Elizabeth was not telling me everything. She left out certain names, paused at certain moments to maybe change something from what happened, and I know almost nothing about what she did before Rapture. I would love to learn more about her as I have found everything she has said so far so fascinating. But after how she reacted to me questioning the story, I feel I should respect her decision as to why she did not tell everything, whatever that might be. After all, we did just meet and it's obvious she doesn't trust me yet and I think anyone going through that experience would respond like she has.
"Ok, it's your turn now," Elizabeth stated, leaning back and waiting for my side of the story.
"Well I guess I'll start with what I know about the bombs dropping," I replied. "The whole world was at war and the bombs were dropped on everything. Whatever was left of counties, was just rubble. However, many people anticipated this and built vaults to preserve humanity's future and some vaults opened earlier than others over time. To my knowledge, everywhere was hit hard and though some areas might look better than others, everything was destroyed on some level."
Elizabeth's eyes start to show a hint of distraught once I finish talking about how we are in the state we are in. Regardless, I continued.
"The factions that rose from the ashes are the New California Republic, The Legion, Great Khans, Van Graff's, and many other smaller factions. The NCR are trying to replicate what was left of the old world, and they might have good intentions when it comes to implementing forms of Democracy, but they are known to have corruption in their ranks that have led to problems with people joining. Not only that, they keep spreading their soldiers across the Mojave which thins them out so horribly."
"It really does sound like they need to reorganize," Elizabeth chimed in.
"Yeah, they mean well mostly in my time running into them, but they have to resize to one area first before spreading out," I replied.
I continued, "Now we have the Legion. They are a bunch of Roman worshiping fanatics that think pillage, rape, and ruling with an iron fist can work because it worked to an extent with Rome long ago. Hell, they even got a guy named Caesar to model after the original and he calls all the shots. For years, they have been fighting the NCR to get control of the Hoover Dam which is the only thing left that has power and processes water."
"Anything else about them," Elizabeth asked.
"Well they do not view women on the same level as men. Really sexist to where the women are slaves and all they talk about is raping them," I say, begrudgingly.
"That's horrible. Are they common around here?"
"Not really. But, anything can happen here. If they don't like you, they put a hit on you and send people after you" I answered.
"Who else is there," She asked.
"Well we also got Mr. House and the Strip. Now, the strip is the most lavish, and popular place of New Vegas. You had casinos everywhere and people lined up to just get in. I mean people go there to gamble their money away even NCR soldiers stationed near there do that with their allowance they receive. Mr. House lives in a place called the Lucky 38 where he has his Securitrons do his work. However, no one has been in the Lucky 38 except for me. I was invited in as Mr. House needed me to continue the business of getting him his Platinum Chip."
"Platinum Chip? What is that," Elizabeth asked.
I crossed my arms, "Well, he will not answer my questions on what the Platinum Chip is. I mean, everyone has an agenda here in New Vegas. Once a party wants one thing and they will do whatever it takes to get it and that is what I have seen across the Mojave. So I've learned not to trust many people."
"Typical, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest," Elizabeth responds, leaning back in her seat, "But how did you come into business with him?"
"Oh yeah," I replied, "I forgot to mention I work for a courier company and I was one of six couriers that had to deliver objects to Mr. House. Turns out, he had five couriers deliver dummy items and the Platinum Chip was what he wanted. I was the unfortunate one that had it and I was caught by a guy named Benny. And took a bullet to the head."
"Hold on, you got shot in the head," Elizabeth asked, unsure what I just said and leaned in towards me.
"Yeah and I somehow survived," I replied, pointing to where I got shot near my temple, "A robot named Victor that is under the watch of Mr. House pulled me out of the ditch and took me to Doc Mitchell, a doctor in Goodsprings."
"You are pretty lucky that Mr. House cared about you that much. But I'm assuming it has to do with his agenda huh," she asked.
"Yeah, whatever it is."
Elizabeth asked, "Do you know much about Benny?"
"Not much. Only that he contracted some muscle from the Great Khans to work for him. Another smaller group that lives free ,but doesn't care for anyone outside their group. They reside in Red Rocks Canyon. Once Benny got the chip, he stabbed them all in the back and fled to the strip."
"When do you plan on getting Benny," She asked.
"I was about to act on it soon, but then I got a package and that led me to finding Rapture and you," I answered.
"Did you find out who sent the package?"
I shook my head, "No, I'm afraid they left no name and only this box."
I handed Elizabeth the box. She examined it and all the contents I left in it. Her face peaked with curiosity and her blue eyes frantically moved around as she read the letter I had received. I also took out of my bag the painting I got and unfolded it for her. She took the painting out of my hands and examined it and in less than a second, she gasped.
"This came from the box," She asked, with shock written all over her face.
"Yes, beautiful painting I must say. Really highlights your face," I replied. Then I realized what I said and started to backtrack, "Wait, I didn't mean it in a bad way. I meant in a beautiful way."
Elizabeth blushed a bit and looked down for a moment, tucking some hair behind her left ear, " I get what you mean."
I rubbed my right arm and looked down, red with embarrassment with what I just said. "Real smooth Evan," I thought to myself. I shook my head to wash the red from my face and then asked, "I'm assuming you know where this painting came from."
"Yes, the guy I mentioned earlier, Cohen, must have completed this painting after he shocked me and Booker. Booker is the guy I am dancing with, but he must have colored his gray hairs to be more brown," She said and then paused for a moment to think.
"Probably, to make him seem younger and more like a "lover" I guess. Gross," She disgustingly said.
"Well with how you described him, sounds like a gross piece of shit." I responded.
Elizabeth put everything back in the box and handed it back to me. "So, when are you going to go after him?"
"Probably when we get back, I know where he is and he is at the Tops Casino." I expressed.
"Do you have a plan," She asked.
"Not fully, I just know not to trust him and that he is not leaving anytime soon since I am sure he is formulating something."
"Well if you need someone to watch your back, You can count on me. Least I can do."
"Great, keep that .22 pistol handy. You might be able to hide it well in case things go south and they won't expect it." I said, pointing to her pistol.
Elizabeth looked at it, "Good idea."
Before we could continue, the train stopped to let us know we had arrived back in New Vegas. On a side note, I am glad she did not want to know about my past. I'm still not really over with what happened in D.C. especially with my dad. Regardless, I grabbed the box, put it away, and Elizabeth beat me to the train door to be the first one out. I followed closely behind her and we slowly made our way out of the train station and back into the Mojave. When we got to the door that led to the Mojave, I grabbed Elizabeth's hand before she could open the door.
"Are you feeling alright with what you've seen," I asked "I mean you step out there, it is going to be barely different than what you have seen in D.C. Only difference is this is a Desert and it's hot."
She turned around to look at me, pulled her hand from mine, and stared deeply at me with her blue eyes. Then, she looked down and started fidgeting with her hands again. After a few seconds, she looked up and her blue eyes met again.
"I don't know. I mean I have been through worse, there was Rapture and what I saw there and… another place. But, I feel a part of me is used to this. And if this is how the rest of my life is going to be, I'm going to have to get used to it. Besides, I have a feeling based on what you have told me, things don't sound all bad and horrible as Rapture was and if I have someone like you, I am sure I can survive just fine," Elizabeth answered.
"Ok, just wanted to make sure since I saw how you felt when you saw the crater." I acknowledged..
"Everything is still a shocker to me as I never thought the world could ever turn into a post-apocalyptic wasteland like this. I always thought the world would be so advanced technologically that people would set aside their differences for the greater good, " She said and then, soon after, paused.
"Obviously, I was wrong," She concluded, then turned to look at the door.
"Well, let's go then." I declared.
Elizabeth pushed the door and I heard the metal of the door creak open as we began to make our way outside. Elizabeth looked to her left and walked out to witness the Mojave in all its desert, dusty glory. She looked around to catch as much of the sight of the desert as possible, like she had never seen a desert before. I decided to break the ice and ask, "With how you are looking around, have you ever seen a desert?"
"No, only in paintings and drawings. Never in person," Elizabeth responded.
"Your thoughts?"
"Well it's what I was expecting, and it really looks normal. Nothing sticks out as dangerous so far."
I chuckled, "Well, wait till you see the giant Geckos and Radscorpions."
"What," She questioned, turning her head to look at me.
"Radscorpions are regular scorpions, but much bigger and have armor as thick as a car or a heavy sheet of metal. Then we go to the giant geckos which I will admit look a bit cute. But do not be fooled by them. Some of them even breathe fire," I replied.
"Well this .22 won't do much, what about this laser pistol," She asked, pulling it out.
"It will definitely do more. But I'll handle them till we get you something more powerful," I stated. "I'll take the lead, just follow me. "
Elizabeth nodded in agreement and I took the lead. Throughout our time walking in the Mojave I could tell Elizabeth was looking around at the sights, taking it all in. Though she was not in tears this time, I did notice a sense of wonder on her face as she was looking around. I mean it was not like how it was before as I could tell there was less excitement coming from her, but she still was moving around with wonder from what she was witnessing. We came across the collapsed highway and I heard a gasp come from her as she saw it.
"I'm really curious to know how this happened," Elizabeth questioned.
"Well, probably was the shockwave from one of the missiles that hit or could have been something completely else like someone rigging to blow the highway."
"Is that what it was called," She asked.
"Yeah, highway, it's how vehicles used to go to places. Now you just see them drive along the dirt. Anyway, let's keep going. Strip is not that far away."
We continued to follow the ruined highway and we saw the remainder of the streets with the ruined buildings that stood there as well as came across a mole rat ranch. Elizabeth took a peek through the slit of the sheet metal that was exposed between the two sheet metals and saw the mole rats for the first time.
"Do they farm these things," She investigated.
"Yeah for meat. Doesn't taste too bad," I replied.
One of the mole rats noticed Elizabeth and started to run towards and hiss at her. She backed up, shocked and tripped on a rock, fell backwards towards me. I caught her and responded with, "Yeah these are thankfully domesticated, but are still aggressive with their territory."
"Yeah, I can only imagine how angry they get in the wild," She stated.
She got out of my arms, stood herself back up, and brushed herself off.
"Thank you for catching me."
I nodded in response, "Let's get going."
We made our way towards the North gate into Freeside and entered. With how rough Freeside is, I really hope we do not run into those Van Graff guys again or really anyone that is going to cause trouble. Usually they leave men alone, but now that I have Elizabeth with me, I got a feeling she will be the easy target and I'll have to protect her. Regardless, we continued and Elizabeth stopped at the sight of a group of kids chasing a Radroach. The kids continued to chase it until they caught it and started to beat it to death with a stick. Then they started to pick apart the meat, took it in their hands, and ran back the direction they came.
Elizabeth asked, "Don't these kids have something to eat?"
"Mostly no, some of them don't have their parents anymore and are living by themselves." I responded.
She turned towards me "Did you starve like them when you grew up? Did you have parents most of your life?"
I stopped for a moment and bit my lip. I still felt unsure about digging up that information and sharing it. I really haven't shared my past with anyone here in New Vegas and I am part of me still does not fully trust Elizabeth especially with her being so vague about certain things. I decided to keep it simple.
"No, I grew up in a vault, and was raised well. I mean I thought I was going to live and die in the vault, but things changed. " I replied.
"I see," She responded, but had a hint of doubt in her voice. I hope she wasn't going to try to pry that information from me. Least not right now.
We continued forward and we were about to reach the strip entrance when I noticed a familiar voice from behind.
"So, how was your lead," Said the voice.
Elizabeth and I turned around and yeah, it was that Van Graff leader from earlier along with his two cronies.
"That's my business buddy," I replied," Not yours."
"Well we looked in there and saw the door you opened. Noticed the terminal was accessed with some interesting information. So I'll ask again, what was your lead and what did you find," He demanded, with the hostility in his voice ramping up.
"Once again, not your concern. So please, kindly fuck off." I stated.
His guy on the left says, "Does it have something to do with that woman, cause damn she looks fine as hell."
He starts to walk towards Elizabeth, whistling in a sexually suggestive manner and gets around her, checking her out.
"Damn, she's got a nice ass and she's real nice and slender. Maybe instead of killing you will take her instead since you trespassed on our property, right boss?"
Elizabeth turned around to stop him from checking her out and faced him.
"Don't get any closer asshole," She responded.
"Wow, she's got a mouth on her boss. Feisty women are always the best, especially in bed once you get them going" The henchman responds, laughing at his own joke.
"You know what, that's a great idea." The boss responds. "Give us the girl, and I'll wipe away any debt you would have with the Van Graff gang."
I immediately replied, "Not a chance. Considering I don't owe you shit."
"Well, guess we gotta do it the hard way boys."
Elizabeth quickly turned her head towards me to look at me and the henchmen caught her off guard and grabbed her. She struggled for a bit with his hands around her neck, but then she kicked him in the groin and was able to turn around. She immediately drew her laser pistol and shot the guy in the chest multiple times till he collapsed. I immediately drew my 44 magnum and shot the other henchmen in the head. As his head exploded from the power of the magnum, I immediately pointed it at the boss and his hands went up.
"Now get out of here, or you are next." I declared.
"Not a chance kid." The boss said.
Before he could draw his gun, I heard Elizabeth shoot her gun at him first before I could pull the trigger and he collapsed with his gun flying in the air. I was just shocked with how fast she drew and shot. I heard the boss crying in pain and she ran towards him and stepped on his hand before he could get to his gun.
She kept her gun trained on him and with a cold tone in her voice said, "You assholes are not the first time I have encountered people like you. And you won't be the last."
"You gonna finish me off bitch, or are you gonna let your boyfriend take the pleasure," the boss asked, coughing up blood.
"You don't have to, I can finish it." I told Elizabeth.
I could tell by her body language, she was more than willing to finish it. But she hesitated and took a few steps back.
"You can do it, I'll watch." She replied.
"Ok."
"Wow," The boss said and then shouted. "You are gonna let your boyfriend finish me off! You got no guts whatsoever!"
"No," I replied. "She has more guts than you and me. And more than you will ever know."
I pulled the trigger and just like his buddy, his head exploded with it splattering all over the pavement. I holstered my gun and turned towards Elizabeth. She lowered her laser pistol and put it away as well.
"You alright," I asked.
She looks up, away from the boss's body and looks towards me, "Yeah, I've encountered people similar to them, but never to where they hit on me like that."
"Let's get moving then." I replied.
"Hold on." I heard her say.
Elizabeth went towards the boss's body, took off his double gun holster and put both her 22 pistol and her laser pistol in both of them.
"He's not going to need that anymore, and I could use it to hold these better." She states.
"Yeah, let's get to the strip." I responded.
