Ch. 24: Faith and dreams
A.N.:
Hey everyone!
I apologize for taking so long after my classes finished. I hope the wait was worth it! I tried really hard to deliver for you guys so I hope you like it ^_^
Anyway,
In this chapter, I tried to flush out one of the vague parts of the game that the player only sees very briefly in this area of Rapture. I think that it is an interesting topic considering that it shows a social issue type thing and I felt like it never got a big enough spotlight in the game or even in the novel so I tried to give it some in this chapter.
Sorry about the sappy part at the end. However, it is rather boring to always be mindlessly destroying and killing, which I plan on having a lot of especially towards the end of the story.
Right…so…enjoy ^_^
Read and review if you want :)
When I landed one floor below, my armored frame was enveloped by an enormous cloud of dust as I made contact with a pile of debris. I let out a low-pitched, rumbling grunt of irritation as I waited for the obscuring material to settle. The low light caused my helmet's built-in headlamp to activate but it only made it harder to see as the yellow light reflected off the tiny particles. When the dust finally settled, I found myself in a dark room that had walls covered by fading ornate wooden panels. I was in the far back left corner of the square room. To my right against the far wall, I saw several small, intact bookcases that still held multiple books within their interiors. Directly in front of me, I saw a Vita-Chamber advertisement poster that had fallen from its mount on the wall and was now cocked at an angle against the floor.
Through the dim yellow light of my aged headlamp, I saw the open entrance to a corridor that allowed access to the area beyond the room. I began to make my way towards it, noting several more bookcases that were against the right wall of the corridor as I did. I had just crossed the threshold of the entrance when I heard the telltale clicking of two or three sentry turrets that were less than thirty yards ahead in the darkness. I revved up my heavily-modified drill as I properly entered the corridor and, there against the far wall of another room that mirrored the one that I had been in moments prior, I saw two sentry turrets waiting for me. In addition, I also caught sight of a seemingly discarded vial of a Gene Tonic that was at the end of the short hallway between the two rooms.
My quarry had certainly not failed to make an interesting pursuit but, unfortunately for him, his trap posed little threat to me. It would take far more than just a pair of Browning M1919 Machine Guns to send me back to the dark void. With my drill's electromagnetic dyno generating its reflective energy field and thus rendering the interfering machines useless, I charged forward. I slammed into the left turret in a thunderous collision that sheered the turret housing off its base in a cloud of sparks and flying bits of metal. As the heavy mechanized weapon clattered against the wooden floor, I turned my attention to the last turret. With my drill's unique defensive modification still active, I charged forward once again. I slammed into the sentry with enough force to again sheer the housing off its base.
I powered down my drill and then turned to face behind me to attempt to locate the exit back out into the main area of the second floor. As I did, I caught sight of a Security Bot Shutdown switch that was mounted in the middle of the wall behind the now destroyed sentry turrets. The lever was not exposed, which indicated that our hacked security cameras did not currently have an unwary Splicer in one of their sights. When I turned to face in the direction that had been behind me, I found the wooden sliding double doors that allowed access back into the main area of the second floor.
However, remembering the Gene Tonic, I turned and made my way to the glowing blue vial. Using my Telekinesis Plasmid, I levitated the ornate container up before me until it was close enough for me to grab with my gloved left hand. I rotated the glowing object in the palm of my massive hand until I saw the label. The worn, almost unreadable raised metal letters identified the tonic as "Hacker's Delight 2".
Unlike a large majority of the Gene Tonics and Plasmids that had been introduced to the consumers of Rapture, Hacker's Delight was exclusively developed by Ryan Industries after the desperate tyrant had seized Fontaine Futuristics in a vain effort to stop what had already been set into motion. Most of the genetic wonder products of Rapture had been originally developed in the labs of Fontaine Futuristics and their production had been continued in copied forms by Ryan's scientists after their formulas had been stolen from the labs after the raid by Rapture Security teams. Due to his steadfast belief in a free market and his own arrogance, Ryan's company was caught off guard by Fontaine when his company introduced Plasmids and Gene Tonics. By the time that Ryan Industries began to try to compete in the Genetic Modification Market, they might as well have been a Mom and Pop Shop trying to take on a corporate giant that sold a beloved national icon.
I was only a Guinea pig for the products of Fontaine Futuristics. As such, I did not know nearly as much about the Gene Tonics of Ryan Industries, which manufactured the Hacker's Delight line. I was not particularly familiar with the tonic but, if I was recalling correctly, it rewarded the wielder with a small amount of physical healing and EVE restoration whenever she or he "hacked" a machine.
However, something was not right about this vial. My instincts were vindicated as I examined the round metal top where one inserted the needle point into the vial. Upon closer inspection, there were unmistakable signs of the use of welding around where the needle was inserted into the container. In addition, faintly visible around the stem of the vial cap was a thin line that also had signs of welding that someone had attempted to crudely polish away.
These observations allowed me to identify the vial as being filled with either a bootleg Hacker's Delight 2 or perhaps something else entirely. Having grown up in the South, I was familiar with the Midnight Runners and their White Lightning. The Prohibition Act had made these men millionaires overnight as their product went from a homemade treat to a highly sought after commodity. In a way, ADAM was very similar to alcohol in that almost everyone wanted it and some individuals were willing to do anything their next bottle. While ADAM and its products were in high demand in Rapture, it was very expensive and the competitive nature of the population drove some to turn to the city's seedy underworld to obtain more affordable but incredibly dangerous bootlegged Tonics and Plasmids.
I had encountered these unstable cocktails in my early encounters with Splicers. Back then, they were usually alone and their destroyed bodies were as brittle as glass. Naturally, these individuals were in no condition to fight a perfectly healthy and heavily armored Alpha Series Big Daddy. The Plasmids were barely a tenth as powerful as the commercial versions and would often damage the Splicer more than they did me.
I could still vividly recall an attack by a malnourished woman in Apollo Square. As a den of suffering and squalor, the makeshift quarantine area was frequented by Gathering Pairs as the residents continued to kill themselves or each other to survive behind the enormous barricades. However, even in Apollo Square, the Splicers were too disorganized and physically broken to be of any real threat. It was not until more able-bodied citizens joined their ranks and they were organized by Fontaine using his new persona "Atlas" that they became the dangerous wolf pack-style raiders that came to define Splicers.
On that particular occasion, Eleanor had been gathering from the corpse of a man that had been brutally bludgeoned to death and then let in the middle of the street. We had found him before the human vultures could scavenge the body for anything of value that the killer had not taken and, thus, they had been waiting from a safe distance on either end of the metal and glass tunnel. Already, my brothers and I had earned a fearsome reputation for our combination of cold brutality and the mental capacity that rendered it extremely difficult to outfox us. Unlike the Mass Production Models that could be easily tricked and ambushed, the crazed addicts had found that we still possessed most, if not all, of our mental faculties and thus we were far more formidable foes than the Tin Men. So, while there was the fallen bullet-riddled and scorched corpse of a Bouncer Mass Production mere feet away, the present Splicers dared not attempt an attack on us.
As I monitored the gathering armed scavengers with my glowing hellish red eye and my massive drill raised up while I occasionally revved up its gasoline-powered motor in a threatening manner, my instincts drew my attention to one individual in particular. The incredibly thin woman was wearing little more than rags as she swayed back and forth in the crowd. Her sunken eyes were devoid of life except for the look of telltale animalistic hunger as she eyed the beautiful angel near my feet. I knew what would happen next because it was always the same when the body's hunger for ADAM overpowered the individual's mind.
Sure enough, she drew a small kitchen knife from she had hidden it beneath her clothing and then began to stumble towards our location as she held it with its blade serrated side down in her shaking right hand. I let out a rumbling roar to try to snap her out of her daze but it did not seem to get through to her. The other individuals began to retreat to prevent being a part of what was about to unfold. Due to the length of the tunnel, I continued to glance back and forth between either side of me in case this woman had an accomplice that was going to try to snatch Eleanor while I was distracted by her.
However, soon it became apparent that no one else wanted anything to do with her suicidal attack and, thus, I focused on the female Splicer. As she closed to within twenty yards, I let out another rumbling guttural roar that shook the entire tunnel in an attempt to shock her back to her senses but the rational human being was long gone and she continued to stumble towards me as if she was in a trance. There was nothing that I could do for her as my last roar was enough to have given her a nasty headache and possibly permanent hearing loss as well. For Alpha Series Big Daddies, killing was a last resort but we did not hesitate when there was not an alternative. She had left me no choice. I revved up my drill and waited for her to get close enough for me to impale her with its whirling bit.
Suddenly, she raised her left arm and I realized that she was going to use a Plasmid. I was shocked that the broken individual had both the EVE and the willpower to properly use a Plasmid, let alone attempt to use it against a Big Daddy, and prepared to weather whatever she was planning to use against me. The skin of her left hand and forearm began to sprout lumpy, misshapen shards of genetic ice before, seconds later, she let out an animalistic scream and willed an icicle-shaped object at me. Reacting quickly, I rotated my torso as I swung my drill from my left to my right and deflected the incoming needle-shaped projectile, which flew off to my right.
I recovered and turned my attention back to my assailant in anticipation of her desperate lunge with her knife. However, when I did, I was greeted by the morbid sight of the female Splicer on her knees less than five yards in front of me with her knife on the ground beside her and her right hand now clutching the largest of the numerous icicles that were now sticking of her body. The woman's badly mangled left arm was down by her side and frost covered her entire frame. Whatever she had injected into her body was definitely not any version of Winter Blast or the rare Old Man's Winter Plasmid. It must have been a bootlegged Plasmid that, judging by the hollow casing that had once been the Splicer's left arm and hand, had turned the bones or her left arm into the genetic icicles.
Due to the nature of Plasmids, it was incredibly dangerous to inject one's self with the ones manufactured by Fontaine Futuristics, let alone one that had been created by some hack in his bathtub. Godlike power came at the cost of not only irreparable genetic damage and also at the risk of death if an individual possessed any kind of genetic anomaly that interfered with the Plasmid as it rewrote his or her DNA. Ryan's unregulated Free Market allowed Fontaine Futuristics to sell Plasmids and Tonics that did not have to be safe, just work enough to allow for a commercially viable product.
The woman's bloodied body was trembling as I powered down my drill and then walked towards her. When I stood before her, she lifted her head up and then looked at me with her dead eyes. I returned it with the equally cold, emotionless segmented glass viewport of my diving helmet. We had both been human beings before this city had turned us into monsters. There was an unspoken mutual understanding between all of us that had been twisted by this utopia turned house of monsters that was almost familial in nature. After all, only a monster could understand another monster. Almost as if she was thanking me for ending her misery, there was finally a faint glimmer of light in her eyes just before my drill's razor sharp point penetrated through the center of her forehead.
Pushing aside the memory, I tossed the Gene Tonic vial onto the floor. This city had many sins to answer for but it never would before it drowned. After turning back to the double doors, I began to exit the room to pursue the fleeing Wales brother. As I neared the doors, I heard the telltale high-pitched report of Subject Alpha's Prototype Rivet Gun which was shortly followed by the sound of small arms fire.
I reached the exit only to have the ornate wooden frame doors stop after less than a quarter of the way open. I let out an irritated grunt as the city's war-torn and neglected infrastructure once again impeded my advance. With no time for finesse, I simply used my tree trunk-sized legs to propel myself against the flimsy wooden obstacles. My heavily armored and spliced frame easily powered its way through the doors in a cloud of wooden shards.
My momentum carried me out into the hallway and I collided against the peeling red wallpaper-covered wooden wall with my right shoulder. The force of the impact was enough to cause the right side of my body to penetrate into the rotting wood barrier all the way to the perimeter of my diving helmet where it securely fastened to my diving suit. I quickly pulled myself free and then began to rush down the short hallway towards the area around the main lobby. The sounds of submachine gun fire, Alpha's Rivet Gun, and multiple alarming security devices filled the air as the remaining hostile residents of the brothel crawled out of the woodwork in one last-ditch attempt to survive.
When I turned the corner, I found Daniel Wales in the middle of the makeshift bridge with his back to me and firing his modified Thompson Submachine Gun at Subject Alpha where he stood just on the other side to block the former architect from escaping. Meanwhile, my brother was being besieged by two Spider Splicers though there had originally been more judging by the multiple humanoid corpses on the floor around the Alpha Series Big Daddy. As I approached Daniel, the bloodied body of a male Leadhead Splicer fell past the second floor as it plummeted to the ground. The sight of the falling body and the sounds of muffled screams and gunfire above me meant that Jennifer was dealing with what remained of the denizens on the third floor.
I had reached the middle of the walkway when the sound of sharp metal points being driven into and out of marble drew my attention to the nearby ornate column to my left. There, I saw the gangly frame of a horribly disfigured Spider Splicer dressed in little more than rags crawling down the length of the column as if he truly was an insect while he cackled maniacally. Before the abomination could attack, I willed a blast of Electro Bolt from the ported digits of my left hand into the denizen and then propelled myself forward into the column.
The entire brothel shook as my heavy frame impacted the marble object. A loud cracking sound filled the air before the entire column gave way and toppled over. The Spider Splicer's paralyzed body could not free itself from the two cargo hooks that were imbedded into the column before the heavy marble object smashed through a section of the fallen metal support beam and then impacted the lobby floor in a cloud of dust. Through the settling cloud, I saw the limp extremities of the abomination sticking out from underneath the now segmented column. Having dealt with the distraction, I turned my attention back to the architect turned pimp.
The commotion caused by my dispatching of the Spider Splicer alerted Daniel to my presence and he began to open fire with his Thompson Submachine Gun. The short proximity prevented me from being able to react in time and I involuntarily let out a rumbling growl as the hail of .50 BMG rounds began to tear into my body. My suit's built-in Life Support System began to pump the contents of my First Aid Reserve Tank into my system and I forced my body to fight through what felt as if it was being repeatedly struck with multiple sledgehammers while it was being immolated as I willed a blast of Electro Bolt from my left hand.
The Wales brother cried out a series of fragmented curse words and phrases while his body shook violently as it was enveloped by bright blue arcs of electricity. Before he could recover, I charged forward and, upon reaching the disfigured alcoholic, I took hold of his right shoulder with my gauntlet-encased left hand with a vise-like grip. Daniel had just managed to recover as I leaned back and then delivered a bone-shattered head butt into the center of his forehead.
A dull metallic echo filled the inside of my diving helmet as a result of the impact while the sickening sound of crunching bone filled the air around me. The heavy weight of my helmet combined with the force of the blow cracked open the man's disfigured forehead. The pimp's formal hat fell off his head, revealing the patchy hair that had prematurely greyed and the lumpy skin of his scalp. Letting out a wheeze and with the blood seeping of his forehead now covering most of his face and also his dirty yellow suit and exposed white undershirt, Daniel collapsed onto the ground while he dropped his weapon.
I started to finish him off by completely crushing his skull with the sole of my right weighted diving boot but paused as he retrieved a small square-shaped device from his coat pocket with his right hand. I was intrigued by the possible identity of what "Ace in the hole" a Splicer would have but I still raised my entombed right foot and then stomped down on his already badly damaged skull. Blood and bits of brain matter coated my boot and the nearby sections of the floor as the former architect seemingly met his end under the weight of my heavily armored frame. However, to my disgust and confusion, the index finger of the corpse's right hand still pressed down on the single dark grey button of the muddy white plastic device.
The sound of two chirping Security Bots caused me to rotate my entire body to face the nearby lobby. There, I saw that two false wall panels had fallen away from either side of the wall above the entrance to reveal two hidden seemingly stolen and reprogrammed automatons. The two bots had been repainted bright yellow, had additional metal plates welded to their frames, and were armed with not just one Thompson Submachine Gun but four with two mounted on either side of their heavily modified frames underneath what resembled the robust rectangular wings of the American Grumman F6F "Hellcat" Fighter Aircraft.
The pair began to open fire upon me but I revved up my industrial-grade drill to reflect the incoming hail of lead while I also began to charge up my Electro Bolt Plasmid. However, just before I could neutralize both Security Bots with a single, charged blast of genetic electricity, I suddenly felt as if my entire body was being slowly ripped apart as my Little Sister charge let out a terrified scream that sounded more like the cry of a wounded animal than that of a child crying out for help. In the incredibly short amount of time that my logical thoughts remained in control of my mind, I was able to figure out that Daniel had somehow been able to get back to his feet and then had shot me at point blank range with a scattergun of some kind.
With the angle that he had, the metal balls of the shotgun round had mostly bounced harmlessly off my heavily armored Life Support Systems. However, the precious little girl that was riding on her throne on my back did not have any armor and had been badly wounded by multiple projectiles piercing her soft, fragile frame. The memories of Sally's soul-shattering screams for help in Fontaine's Department Store and Eleanor's screams for help in Adonis Resorts flashed before my mind's eye as the intense burning sensation of my Protector Instincts roared into my mind like an unstoppable locomotive from the darkest part of my psyche.
As the normal calm yellow glow of my segmented eye and two auxiliary lights was replaced by hellfire red, I found myself hoping that Daniel would find mercy in the afterlife because he certainly would not find any from the demon inside me. Subject Delta had no sympathy for anyone that lived off the exploitation of others and, as he had demonstrated during his brutal killing of Elizabeth, he did not see the difference between someone who directly harmed a Little Sister and someone who inadvertently harmed a Little Sister. Seconds later, all logical thought ceased as my mind drowned in a molten sea of murderous rage and the monster was let out of his cage.
I powered down my drill and then, with little care for the hail of lead impacting my frame, I reared back, pulled my arms back behind me slightly as I looked towards the third floor walkway above me, and then let out a deafening guttural roar that rocked Siren Alley to its core. Multiple light fixtures inside The Pink Pearl popped and the building itself shook while dust and several metal support beams fell from the ceiling of the lobby as if the entire structure was going to collapse as a result of my enraged roar.
I had been greatly surprised when my master had ordered the weak old fool to kill the disgusting cockroach that dared to call itself a man instead of me. Why? Why had she not ordered me to do it? She knew that all she had to do was let me out and I would do anything she said without question. Yet, she had picked the old fool over me? I was the ultimate Big Daddy! There was no foe, whether it be man, beast, or demon, that I could not kill!
Why? Why? Did she believe me to be getting weak because of my inability to understand the stupid girl? Yes! That must be the reason! So, everyone thought that Old Delta was getting soft? Then it was time to show all of them just how wrong they were!
I turned my entire frame to face the parasite to find him backing up towards the flimsy wooden bridge at the end of the walkway. Its head was certain proof that this creature was not human anymore due to excessive ADAM exposure as it resembled a tomato that someone had used a meat hammer to flatten. The only features that were still even remotely human were the left eye and the visible fragments of what remained of the upper and lower jaws. High levels of ADAM exposure allowed the human body to withstand incredible amounts of physical injury but it was very likely that the actual part that had been "Daniel" was dead.
Ignoring the pump-action ornate shotgun in the Splicer's hands, I charged forward and then slammed into it. The force of the impact sent the fragile Splicer flying backwards about a foot where it landed on its back. Back it could recover, I ran forward and then jumped as high as I could despite my massive frame. As I landed, I brought the sole of my right boot onto the center of its torso. The wooden bridge beneath us gave way and we fell down to floor of the lobby. The repeated impact of my entire body weight had likely completely collapsed its ribcage but there was still signs of life in the rat when I withdrew from its body.
Revving up my drill, I sent its whirling bit down to bore into what remained of the bloody and beaten parasite's head. However, at the last second, the Splicer rolled to its right and my drill simply bored harmlessly into the wooden floor. It tried to crawl away but, letting out a loud irritated roar, I powered down my drill and ripped it out of the floor before reaching out with my gauntlet-encased left hand and taking hold of the fleeing coward's left ankle. While the rat tried clawing uselessly against the floor panels beneath it with its fingernails to get away from me, I used my immense strength to easily lift it off the floor. Then, wheeling around, I threw the former exploiter at the pair of custom Security Bots, which were still uselessly attacking me with their comically ineffective ordinance from where they were in the air in the center of the lobby approximately between the second and third floors.
My aim was true and the cockroach hit the one on the right with enough force to send it crashing into wall to the right of the exit. I focused my attention on the remaining Security Bot but, before I could dispatch the nuisance, Jennifer jumped through air from the third floor to briefly perch herself against the far wall above the entrance. Then, displaying the formidable physical prowess of her ADAM-fueled body, she jumped towards the automaton, grabbed it with both hands, ripped it apart, and then landed her feet before me.
Dropping the halves of the bot onto the floor, she commented with a muffled voice, "Boys and their toys…"
Agonized moaning drew my attention to the center of the lobby behind her. There, I saw the somehow still living rat getting to its feet. Its stubbornness to continue drawing breath had once been amusing but now I found that my patience was gone. Much like the structure around me, with its lobby now filled with fallen metal support beams and a toppled column, the cockroach just did not know when to cease its struggle. Moving past the armored young woman, I revved up my drill and then thrust it into the Splicer's back just as it had managed to get back on its feet.
I could hear the vertebrae crunching for a moment as a strange gurgling sound emanated from the mangled jaws of the abomination before the tip of my drill appeared on the other side of the torso. I hardly even noticed the fresh coat of blood on my diving helmet and suit or the even the spray on the exterior of my segmented glass eye. My rage began to subside as the body became limp. With my job done, the hellish red glow of my eye and auxiliary lights changed back to their normal yellow glow as the old fool regained control.
My rational thoughts returned as the monster was put back into his cage. As I forcibly removed the lifeless corpse from my drill, I was struck by the devastation that had been inflicted upon the brothel. The lobby had four massive metal support beams on both sides of the main floor area, effectively blocking the stairwell to the upper floors, in addition to the fallen marble column that was in several pieces. Multiple bodies littered the floor including the Spider Splicer that was crushed beneath the largest intact section of the column and the almost unrecognizable bloody mass that was at my feet. Smoke was starting to fill the air, indicating that our actions had inadvertently resulted in several fires.
Naturally, due to the incredible danger that fire posed to a pressurized environment such as Rapture, The Pearl had been built with an automated fire suppression system much like the sprinkler systems found on the surface except on a much more powerful scale. The unbelievably effective fire suppression systems of Rapture were for lack of a better description "overkill". However, with the oxygen-rich and pressurized atmosphere of the underwater city, a single blaze left unchecked could easily consume all of the surrounding oxygen before Rapture's Environmental Stabilization System could respond in time to prevent the imploding of the section of the city surrounding the raging inferno.
Of course, just like the rest of Rapture, the days of The Pearl possessing a functional fire suppression system were long gone. The floor of the lobby shook as Subject Alpha landed about a foot to my right. I turned my entire frame to allow me to look at my brother. The well-equipped hardened veteran grunted, "All hostile targets neutralized, sir. It is not advisable to remain in this area any longer due to the structural damage." I grunted in agreement and then we began to leave the smoldering remains of the brothel.
As we did, I asked my daughter through our bond with my weathered, gruff voice, 'You alright, kid? Forgive me…I'm sorry I let you get hurt.'
The feeling of bliss filled my mind like a calming cloud as the young woman replied with her enchanting accented voice, 'I'm fine, Father. Do not apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for…I was the one who sent you after Daniel. Still, I think that it would be best to send this Little One on her way. Do not worry about another Gathering Session with this Little Sister…the doctor and I have finished the first supply package/gift from all of us. I assure you that its contents will make up for prematurely parting with this Little One.'
I was grateful for their effort but I still warned the blossoming goddess, 'I appreciate your help, El. However, tread lightly…if your mother finds out that you…'
The blue-eyed brunette interrupted me with a mischievous tone that was very familiar to me, 'Oh…if dear old Mother has not already figured out everything that I have done…I would be very disappointed. After all, the game is not fun if the other player is too dense to even participate.'
Sensing my confusion, Eleanor explained, 'Do you really believe that I ever once intended to allow Mother to get the last laugh? For years now, I have had nothing but time to plan…patiently waiting for the moment to set everything into motion. If Mother has slipped so far into her own fantasies that she has not figured everything out already…realized that her daughter is so unwilling to have anything to do with her that she brought a dead man back to life…and not just any man but the one that haunts her blood-stained hands…and is now actively assisting him on his quest to reach her…then I guess I really do pity her.'
By then, we had left The Pink Pearl behind us as it marched towards it impending fiery demise. Before me in the path between the bar and the right wall were two men, one wearing a dirty brown business suit and armed with a modified pump-action shotgun and the other wearing simple worker's attire and armed with a Thompson Submachine Gun. Beyond them was a Brute Splicer that was charging towards them on all fours while they discharged their weapons at the hulking monstrosity. Within seconds, the heavily spliced abomination had dispatched the two lesser Splicers and turned his attention to us.
However, just as he started to charge towards us, the ghostly image of Subject Alpha manifested just to his left. My brother's Decoy Plasmid succeeded in distracting the Brute as he turned his entire body and then began to uselessly strike the figure inches away from him. The comical sight of the monstrosity repeatedly punching Subject Alpha as my brother continued to casually stand as if he was completely unmoved by the powerful physical blows was a brief but welcomed reprieve from the otherwise humorless life or death circumstances that we were in.
Without missing a beat, I charged the genetic electricity that was emanating from my gloved left hand and then willed an immensely powerful blast of Electro Bolt into the Brute Splicer. The abomination let out an agonized cry as his body was paralyzed by the raw power of my Plasmid. Before he could recover, Jennifer ran forward a few steps before she jumped to the nearby right wall and then launched herself towards the struggling Brute.
Having already seen multiple Brute Splicers die in less than two hours, I turned my entire frame to my left and then began to make my way to the Little Sister Vent at the end of the street. As I did, my helmet's built-in radio crackled to life. Whatever disgusting remains of my former human face still existed beneath the emotionless copper façade of the monster that I had become scowled as Sofia's irritatingly smug voice began to pipe through my radio.
My murderer lectured me, "Faith, Delta…it dwells within us, yet beyond us. Daniel Wales lacked it; Father Simon Wales does not." Refusing to give Lamb any kind of victory, I simply continued towards the ornate vent. The cult leader was not content and finished, "The faithful do not die in fear, as you did…we achieve martyrdom."
As my radio powered back off, I nearly laughed at the unbelievable level of narcissism that the psychiatrist had just demonstrated. Sofia Lamb was the last person who had any business lecturing a rock, let alone a sentient being, about faith. She had used it as a tool to attack Andrew Ryan in the shameful excuse for a public debate on the topic of religious rights in Rapture. She was also now shamelessly using a bastardized version of religion to manipulate the miserable and desperate Splicers into being part of her disgusting, amoral science experiment on her own daughter, who she had forced to watch the closest person to her heart involuntarily shoot himself point blank in the side of his head when she was an already victimized child. Of course, said daughter would have probably not been forced to endure inhuman amounts of physical and mental trauma that would have destroyed most adults, let alone a little girl, had Sofia cared enough about another living creature to not purposely get herself arrested and essentially abandon her child to the mercy of fate in a city where everything was for sale and nothing was illegal.
I cast aside such thoughts while berating myself for losing focus. Sofia would be dealt with when the time came. So many people had put blind faith in me and I would be damned before I failed them. Even if it cost me my life, I would end the nightmare of this city and ensure that its madness would never reach the surface.
Having reached the Little Sister Vent, I slowly lowered myself down onto my right knee to allow my exhausted companion to safely get down. The little girl dismounted and then moved around me. I grunted as the joints of my heavily-built frame protested while I stood back upright. Upon standing, I could not help but smile slightly as the Little Sister attempted to meet my gaze only to be on the verge of falling asleep as she stood there. The veins in my left arm began to glow with an almost surreal white light that traveled to my left palm just as I gently placed it on top of the precious little girl's head.
My vision was overwhelmed by the light while at the same time that my body became filled with the sensation of intoxicating raw power as it absorbed the ADAM in the child's tiny frame. However, before my senses could recover, I felt the familiar sensation of bliss take possession of my being while the edges of my field of vision became tinged with a glowing pink color. After a moment, just as she had done in Pauper's Drop, Eleanor appeared before me.
Of course, it could have just been my imagination, but I noted that her body was no longer awkwardly proportioned like that of a typical blossoming young adult. While she still had an innocent façade, the exponentially increasing physical power that her deceptively thin frame possessed was undeniable. So, while someone on the surface would easily mistake her for just being casually fit, in reality, the beautiful brunette possessed the muscular fortitude to match or even overpower an Alpha Series Big Daddy.
Eleanor flashed a slight smile that resembled the ones that I had given her when I had been able to all those years ago and then began to move towards me. I met her halfway and held her almost uncomfortably hot ADAM-fueled frame that was somehow firm and soft at the same time as we kissed each other. Eventually, our lips parted and Eleanor lowered her head until she was able to rest her right cheek against the center of my chest. Continuing to hold the beautiful young woman that was literally my other half, I carefully rested the bottom of my lower right jaw against the top of her head at a slight inward angle.
As I savored Eleanor's presence, I allowed myself to dream about having a family with her. We were a close-knit family that had a peaceful existence far away from the chaos of a city. We had a little girl that was as beautiful and intelligent as her mother but as headstrong and tough as her father. It took me a moment to notice that Eleanor had started to hold one of my hands as she silently studied what I was thinking. I had lost my ability to have faith in anything long before I had arrived in Rapture. However, I did still believe in having a dream, no matter how unlikely it was that it would happen.
I continued to hold her until she stirred and withdrew from me. As my senses began to return my back to reality, Eleanor warned me, 'Do not take confronting Simon lightly, Father. He is a psychopath and, ever since Papa Alpha's visit to his church while he was attending a meeting here with Mother, he has been growing increasingly unstable by the day. So please, be careful, Johnny.'
I assured her, 'I will, kid.'
Just before her presence vanished completely, Eleanor informed me, 'The Little One with the supplies should be arriving at that vent soon. Please wait for her.' Without waiting for my response, my bonded partner returned to her own body.
I found myself standing in front of the Little Sister Vent. The little girl had already escaped into the ventilation network. Seeing the abandoned Gathering Tool on the ground, I crushed the cobbled together item beneath my right diving boot to prevent an opportunistic Splicer from gaining access to the minute amount of ADAM that was still inside the hollow needle and the bottom of the baby bottle reservoir. The tiny amount of ADAM was of very little use to my brother or me but I was not going to take the chance that one of Siren Alley's denizens would have another reason to be near this Little Sister Vent.
I moved to stand just to the left of the vent and then turned my frame so that I was facing the street. Alpha moved to stand on the opposite side of the vent and Jennifer sat down on top of the body of the Brute Splicer that she had slain while we had been defending the Little Sister. I watched as she began to write equations and cryptic symbols in blood that she ejected from her needle. Naturally, I was deeply concerned about her using her own blood to draw but, for now, it was not enough to become a medical issue because her body was not fragile by any means.
Curious, I asked her with my Alpha Series voice, "What do you like to draw, Jen?"
Looking back up at me with her blood-stained glowing eye, she replied with her deadpan and intelligence-filled voice, "This one is Schrödinger's Equation…it is a partial differential equation that describes how the state of a system changes with time…basically, it allows someone to predict change. I can do all the work in my head but it helps to write it down."
Genuinely amazed, I asked, "You can do Quantum Mechanic equations in your head?"
The troubled young woman let out a sigh and then looked back down at her work as she explained, "After years of practice, it is not that big of a deal. I have even formulated my own equations in my spare time. Most of mine are theoretical solutions to errors that I have found in other people's equations, but a few are entirely new concepts."
Seeing an opportunity to give her something positive to fight for, I said, "You should get a degree and put that mind of yours to good use on the surface."
She let out a soft laugh before she replied, "They would never accept me, Papa Delta. You saw how I look beneath my armor. I am a monster. Monsters never get a happy ending. The happy endings are when the monster is slain by the valiant hero and the town is saved."
While I thought that she was beautiful, the people on the surface would not likely respond very well to her viper-like eyes, porcelain white skin, and silver hair. Moreover, while someone such as Subject Alpha or myself could be "cured" once Tenenbaum and Subject Sigma finished their work, the Big Sisters could not be cured without dying because of the nature of their bodies. However, a good thing about most of the surface was that no one actually cared and with the proper connections, with enough hard work, or with enough money, anyone could achieve her or his dream. The depressing truth was that her greatest obstacle was that she was a woman and my understanding was that the male-dominated academic world tended to downplay and belittle women and their contributions to their respective fields.
However, her comment implied that she had given a measure of thought about what she could do with herself on the surface. I could not let her think that she was better off never making it out of the city. Subject Lambda was not here to set her straight so I would have to do my best for him.
I explained, "Hey, what kind of excuse is that?! You know what your old man would say if he had heard you say that? Lambda would have told you to not give a toss about what they think. You do not need their acceptance. Your family…your sisters…Subject Alpha, Sigma, and I…we will always accept you. The entire world could reject you but that would just make us accept you even more. Besides, who needs acceptance when you can rub your success in their arrogant faces?"
I heard her give off a dry laugh before, looking back up at me, the Elite Big Sister said in response, "You are a very strange person, Papa Delta. You are right, though. If…I mean…when we get to the surface, I will get a degree and then show them all how it is done…whether they like it or not."
I smiled ever so slightly beneath my emotionless copper façade and then grunted, "That's the spirit!"
Though I already had a good idea about what he would say, or more likely not say at all, I turned my frame so that I was facing my brother and then asked, "What about you?"
The Alpha Series Big Daddy simply returned my gaze and, after a moment of silence, I turned back to face the street once again. Alpha had always been a very private individual and that often gave people the wrong impression about him. He was actually a very kind-hearted and sentimental individual but usually only Emily and I saw it. However, to my surprise, seconds later I heard my brother grunt in response, "Sand and Sun…"
Without looking back at him, I asked, "Ah…Emily still wants that beach house?"
Alpha replied, "Yes, sir. Personally, I just want to see the Sun again. The thought of seeing Emily and the Sun keeps me going."
Knowing that my brother preferred to keep such discussions brief, I did not say anything in response. As we continued to wait for the arrival of the little girl, I began to wonder if I had been a little too hard on Sofia and her use of, among other things, "faith" to keep the Splicers under her spell. It was dirty and underhanded but considering the hellish conditions of Rapture, it was not the worst thing that she could have done. Dreams and faith were very powerful when it came to keeping someone from falling apart and also when it came to putting them back together. I had lived through The Great Depression and I knew what happened to people who had nothing to live for. Having a strong will was not enough if an individual had nothing to focus on.
As for myself, I knew that realistically it was unlikely that what I wanted would happen, for more reasons other than that surviving this nightmare was incredibly unlikely. However, I could feel how happy it made Eleanor when she saw it and, for her, I was willing to fight until my body turned cold once again. Everyone dreams of a second chance but very few ever get one and I was going to make sure that I did not waste mine.