Chapter 29: Rise Rapture Rise

Disclaimer: You know the routine, I don't own it all, I don't own anything at all :D I'm just playing with the ball pool.

It turns out he could talk to snakes. That was kind of cool, maybe not to the rest of the wizarding world, at least inside the United Kingdom but everywhere outside it was considered relatively fine and in fact a good thing.

But that was neither here nor there, Harry stood, frozen on the stage, the students all watching him in a mixture of fear and suspicion. Perhaps if it had come out in a different time it would have been more acceptable, however with the recent attack and the connection to the Chamber of Secrets, Harry just became suspect number one.

"What do you think you're playing at Potter?" The Gryffindor that had been nearest to the snake snapped as he backed away as quickly as possible from where the serpent had been moments before.

"I was thinking of telling it to stop what it was doing." Harry managed to speak after a few moments of silence turning to frown at the student.

"Sure, you were... just stay away from me." The Gryffindor spoke before disappearing into the crowd. The muttering among the students started and Harry just shook his head, turning and walking away, reaching the edge of the stage he dropped down the sound echoing in the otherwise semi quiet Great Hall. As he walked students gave him a wide berth, stepping back and a pathway forming up for him as he walked out through the double doors.

"Yes... well, Group dismissed I think that will do for this evening. See your notice boards for when the second one happens." He called out weakly and the students started to leave.

"Mr Nott." Elizabeth called out as the Slytherin was stepping off the stage. He paused, turning around to look towards her, standing over everyone as he still stood on the raised platform. "I don't know what you're playing at, but the rules of the duel were clear." She pointed out sharply and Nott looked around, a calmness in how he held himself. "Breaking the rules in front of three professors and an assistant, not very cunning of you now was it." She said as she stood at the bottom of the stage. "Since they don't seem to be reacting to it, I guess I will, detention." She looked annoyed and Bathsheda who had stood silently by her spoke up.

"And fifty points from Slytherin for using a spell that could have harmed innocent bystanders when the rules were very clear as to what you were meant to do."

"I believe Mr Potter has enough of a cheerleading squad without your assistance Babbling." Snape interrupted and with a look Nott was leaving again. "He will serve his detention with me." Snape commented calmly and Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't care who he serves it with as long as he does." She said without concern before turning around and walking off. "Now it's time to play damage control," she muttered quietly as she left the three professors to do whatever they wanted to do. She made her way back to the dorm and to her own quarters, ignoring the portraits that had already picked up on the latest bit of gossip. Part of her would kill to have the ordinary non-moving and non-thinking pictures decorating the place, it'd give a different feeling rather than being constantly watched by everything. She called out the password and walked into the room, looking around and as expected, Harry had escaped into here, lying on the sofa, one of the pillows that had been left on the sofa currently covering his head.

"Why does this keep happening to me?" Harry groaned out; his voice muffled by the pillow.

"Because you have almost as bad a luck as I do." Elizabeth replied, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "Do you plan to hide out in here for the near future?" Elizabeth asked as Harry lifted the pillow up to look at her.

"No, I'll leave shortly, just wanted to get out of sight for a little bit. I didn't even realise I was talking in snake language. It sounded normal to me." Harry commented and Elizabeth nodded her head in understanding.

"To the rest of us we heard hissing, it was a bit of a surprise."

"What do you think will happen?" Harry asked her as he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.

"The usual at times like this, whispers, rumours, allegations. Nothing that we haven't dealt with before." Elizabeth dismissed with a slight gesture. "It adds fuel to the rumours of you being the one behind the attack but as a whole, once people go their separate ways for Christmas, I'm pretty sure no one will care much after."

"So, what happens if they do try and pin it on me?"

"With what evidence?" She questioned and he shrugged.

"They pinned the blame of it opening before on someone else not responsible. Who's to say they won't try and do it again." Harry questioned and Elizabeth shrugged.

"I can't say they won't." She admitted and Harry hung his head. "But it won't make any difference, I promise you." He looked up at her. "If they try anything, we'll leave, you don't owe them anything." She explained sharply and Harry smiled at her. "They'd never be able to find you. An infinite number of realities to look into, unlimited adventure."

"With what we know about Voldemort still being alive, can we truly just up and leave?" Harry questioned and Elizabeth laughed.

"Harry, if they try and lock you up for what you haven't done, they don't deserve you saving them. And if by some miracle they lock you up and you don't just walk out through a tear, then something is horribly wrong." Elizabeth explained harshly before sighing, "but that's a discussion for another time, for now I need to tell you what I'm going to be doing for the start of the holidays." She paused, wondering whether or not it was the best idea to tell him yet.

"You're going to Rapture." Harry guessed, she looked at him in surprise. "It was the main thing I could think of, with the Boggart, the revelation of the intruder who knew about you, who planned your capture. It leads back to there." Harry insisted getting a small nod from Elizabeth.

"I'm going to Rapture, to try and find a set of photos closest to the ones that were there that know of me and what I can do."

"So why does that need someone else to go with you?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Because those people aren't in every variation of Rapture, to find them, I'm going to be heading to ones almost identical to the one before."

"You're going to the civil war." Harry said weakly and again she nodded. "You can't, it's too dangerous." Harry protested and Elizabeth didn't respond, "You could be hurt or killed!"

"I know Harry, I know." Elizabeth said with resignation, "but I have to do this, it's the only way to get the most accurate pictures of them. It's why I'm not going alone. It's why I left for the past week, I needed to ask the Lutece's a couple of questions and it took longer than I thought to get the answers that I needed." Elizabeth finished knowing already that Harry was not going to agree with her course of action.

"There has to be another way. With everything that's happened do you really think you're ready to go there?" Harry asked with hesitation. "The boggart, the attack, the revelation that it's all being manipulated, don't you think we should take this slower? That you're playing directly into his hands by rushing this?"

"It's possible. But if it's who I think it is, he can't be everywhere, he can't know everything. He also can't be left alone to act as he wants, just think of how much damage he could cause." Elizabeth responded just as quickly, if Atlas was running around doing all this damage in his quest for power then he could cause so many problems. Hurt so many people and she couldn't just sit here and let that happen.

"But it might not be him!" Harry protested; you don't know for sure. You're getting fixated on him and excluding everyone else." Harry shouted back, he wouldn't lie, he really did think it was this mysterious Atlas as well but that had largely been due to the fact that it was the evidence that Elizabeth had been so badly affected by him.

"There's no one else it could truly be." Elizabeth whispered, the shift in volumes cutting through everything with little effort. "The majority of the others are dead or not involved in a way that would lead them to come after me, it doesn't fit their motive. Atlas is the only one I could see that would be willing to go to such lengths if he thought there was something to gain from it. And how could he resist something like magic? Magic, plasmids, vigors and tears, a powerful combination." Elizabeth stopped, "I don't even know what his overall goal is, he wanted Rapture because of the money he could get from it, but I think there was more, there has to have been more. I can't believe for a moment that the only reason he wanted to take over Rapture just for the money there. There has to be more."

"And if there isn't?" Harry asked.

"Then it makes no sense, who else would want to do this?" Elizabeth asked and Harry shrugged.

"I don't know, because I don't know the full story." Harry said bluntly, "I've never dug into it because you've asked not to but I'm getting worried. The boggart affected you, even if you refuse to talk about it. Something from there is haunting you and I understand that you're not telling me things and I accept that." He paused taking a calming breath, "but you're starting to act rashly, and it could seriously hurt you if you're not careful."

Elizabeth smiled tiredly, "when did our roles get reversed? wasn't I supposed to be looking out for you?" She asked before standing up. "I promise, I'm not going to do anything rash, we're just going to get the pictures and get out. No more and no less." Elizabeth promised, "I will tell you what happened, both this time and before, I just need..."

"Time?" Harry asked interrupting her and drawing a slight laugh from Elizabeth as she ruffled his hair.

"Something like that." She agreed as he stood up. "Now, go to sleep. we'll deal with the aftermath of you talking to snakes tomorrow."

"How?" Harry questioned simply and Elizabeth shrugged, not really having the answer to the question.

"We'll think of something. The Ravenclaws should be the easiest to convince, they're quite the logical people." Elizabeth commented and then shrugged again, "besides, if they're not willing to look at who you are rather than what you can do, are you sure you want to associate with them?" With that, Harry left the room, a lot to think about. Elizabeth turned and started preparing her own things in preparation for tomorrow.

Harry walked into the Common room acutely aware that the students that were there had already heard what had happened or had seen it at the Duelling club, He looked at the gathered Ravenclaws, many of them were staring at him, a couple of them were avoiding his look as he turned to look at them. He sighed, he had hopes that they would have gotten to know him over the last year and a bit, but it seems that there was a level of distrust towards him. Though, he couldn't blame them, like Anthony Goldstein he hadn't really spoken to many of them, gravitating more towards Elizabeth and speaking with only a small group of others normally, it was something he knew he needed to fix he just didn't know how to go about it. "Well, actually, perhaps now would be the best place to start." Harry said walking towards the centre of the room. "Can I have everyone's attention?" He asked, his voice betraying his nervousness. The room that had already been quiet went even quieter as the few that were talking stopped. "I want to confirm something that some of you witnessed earlier and some of you have probably already heard about." Harry stopped as he looked around. "I am apparently a Parselmouth." There were mutters here but he brushed them off. "Until today I didn't even know that was even a thing." Harry admitted as he looked around at the group. "Now I know what people are going to think considering what happened recently." Harry stopped again and looked around, "so I'm willing to answer any questions I can." He said taking a seat on the arm of the sofa that sat near the fireplace, looking over the majority of the students.

"Are you related to Salazar Slytherin?" A third year Ravenclaw asked and Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"No clue, to be honest, you probably know more about my ancestry than I do. I know who my parents are and that's about it. It's something I want to look up when I can, but considering how long it's been since the Founders, a thousand years at least?" Harry asked and he got a nod from Penelope, "It wouldn't surprise me if there weren't multiple people who could trace their family line to one of the founders or perhaps even more. I mean all you have to do is look at the Monarchy to see that bloodlines can branch off very quickly." Harry added thinking back to primary school and the few lessons that had been on the English Monarchy.

"Did you set the beast on Blaize Zabini?"

"Do you even have to ask that question?" Anthony cut in, the second year Ravenclaws speaking in agreement. "You may not have spent much time talking to him, but would it really fit his character? Everything that has been witnessed, everything that you've seen going on around here and you ask if he'd try to kill another student?" The student that had asked the question looked sheepish at the call out and backed down. Harry nodded to Anthony in gratitude.

"No, I didn't attack Zabini, didn't even know he had been about that evening after the feast." Harry commented thinking back to the evening and how Elizabeth had been tricked into facing that Boggart.

"Where were you that evening?" Penelope asked curiously, "you never returned to the dorm. There were rumours floating around afterwards but nothing was ever confirmed."

"I've not said anything because it wasn't really my place to say, I'm guessing you heard the rumour about something else going on during Halloween?" He asked her and she nodded. "Elizabeth got tricked into a trap, locked in a room with a Boggart." He paused to let that sink in the looks that went between the students showed an understanding, at least during the older years or those from magical households. "So now you can probably guess where I was, I was helping a friend." Harry explained calmly, a look on his face showing that he wasn't willing to argue or go into more detail on it. "I had nothing to do with that attack, I am not the heir of Slytherin as far as I'm aware and I plan to try and stay as uninvolved as possible." Harry said with a small smile drawing a couple of laughs from the other slightly tense students. "Look in the end, you can convict me for being a bad guy based solely on the fact that I can speak to snakes. Or you can look at my previous actions and judge from that." He finished and the second-year boys clapped in appreciation of his bluntness and challenging them on their disbelief.

"Hufflepuff may have the reputation for teamwork and friendship but we're not completely detached from everything, we believe you." Cho Chang spoke up from where she was sat with her friends. Around the room more spoke up in his defence and Harry felt a warmth spread through him as he saw that they were willing to stand behind him.

One house convinced, now to see how the other three would react.

HPCVHPCV

Elizabeth and Bathsheda stood in Dumbledore's office, both had bags resting by their feet, a few necessities in case something came up that delayed them or caused issues. "Are you ready for this?" Elizabeth asked Bathsheda who gave a slightly hesitant nod. "It's going to be dangerous; I can't exactly say otherwise but I'm hoping we'll be able to slip through relatively unseen. We're going to go to one of the less travelled areas, it should keep us clear and free from the majority of splicers."

"And what do we do if we run in to them?" Bathsheda asked Elizabeth.

"They're beyond help, those who don't want to hurt you will pretty much be non-existent, the ones that do want to hurt you on the off chance that you may have some ADAM are also a dime a dozen, they're smarter than you'd think, capable of setting traps, using guns and explosives. Some even have the ability to teleport short distances though there are cues that you can see as they move."

"What about anyone not a Splicer?"

"If they're still in Rapture and not dead?" Elizabeth asked and Bathsheda nodded. "Then they're going to be very dangerous, No one escaped the Civil War unchanged, you either spliced to survive, one of the lackeys that were highly valued like Dr Suchong or Tenenbaum or you were one of the masterminds pulling the strings. There isn't an in between. At least not that I saw. And if there is, they're most likely hiding somewhere far out of the way hoping not to draw attention to themselves. Like what we're doing. I doubt they'd even try to approach us, but if they did just keep calm and watch what they do very carefully."

"Be careful, do not hesitate to return if you feel the retreat is needed, do not take unnecessary risks to get the photos." Dumbledore spoke for the first time and the two looked at him nodding their heads in understanding.

"Risk is the last thing I want to take but there will be inherent dangers for us to deal with." She stopped as the tear started to form behind her. "It's time we go." She said knowing that if they kept talking about it, they'd probably talk each other out of doing this which would in Elizabeth's opinion be a major step back She walked through, holding it open as Bathsheda stood staring at it.

"I've seen you do this several times, I've seen Harry do it as well... but to know I'm going to go through this, it's something else entirely." After a few more moments of hesitation she walked through taking a breath as she did, subconsciously holding onto it as she walked into the Underwater City.

Elizabeth let the tear close behind them, turning back to look around the room. Rapture was leaking badly, the side effect of a Civil War in a city under the sea, no Maintenance. The Big Daddies that had both been bodyguards and protectors of the Little Sisters also helped maintain the City itself, with the Civil War, there was less of the latter and a lot more of the former.

Bathsheda walked past Elizabeth, Coral that had started to grow all across the room that they were in crunching under foot as she walked up to a window, her hand raising and resting on the glass as she looked at the fish that swam by. "I know you said it was Underwater, I knew it coming into this but knowing and understanding it, seeing it is another thing all together." She paused, letting the amazement wash over her as she took in her surroundings. "And they managed this without magic?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper but it was carrying through the destroyed room.

"Shame it fell apart in multiple timelines, the greed of those who see what others have and can't live without having it. Atlas, Fontaine, Ryan. Both of them are monsters, both of them didn't care who suffered and died as long as their goals were reached. For Fontaine it was money and power, for Ryan his refusal to admit that his dream failed, and he lost of two Fontaine at his own game. Instead of admitting his failure, he compromised his values as he felt that it was worth it to kill Fontaine." Elizabeth walked up to Bathsheda looking out into the Ocean as well. "How many innocents died because of them?" She asked, more herself than Bathsheda who stood quietly letting her get what she wanted to say off her chest. "How many friends did they betray just to try and achieve their goals?" She stopped, turning away from the window letting out a sigh of frustration, knowing that if she didn't stop herself, she'd rant fora long time. "We should start moving. There's a security station in each hub, I can access some of the footage there."

"Wont it be protected?" Bathsheda asked and Elizabeth nodded her head.

"Most likely it will be automated. Turrets, cameras, security bots are possible as well. But we can work around them, they take time to warm up and target any enemies. Splicers aren't exactly in the right frame of mind to be maintaining anything sensitive." She said as they stopped at a set of double doors, encrusted with Coral. She pushed it but the door barely budged. "No one's been here for a very long time." She muttered as the two pushed into the doors, the coral breaking as the doors slowly opened. "We just need to..." She stopped as she looked across the open area, a fountain sat in the middle with Pink coral formations growing around it, the only exit visible a set of doors at the top of a set of stairs at the back of the room. "Find out where the hell we are." She said taking a look around the room, amazed by the beauty of the growth. "Adonis Luxury resort. I think I remember this place being mentioned a couple of times. a resort for the Socialites," She muttered aloud as Bathsheda walked up to the fountain studying the Coral.

"Pomona would love to come here." Bathsheda spoke, "a prime example of how nature retakes everything in time. It's beautiful in its own way." She brought herself back to the present looking at Elizabeth. "But that can happen another time, Security room. The less time spent here the better." Getting a nod, the two walked up the stairs, feet splashing the water as they made their way up, stepping around the water that was coming in through the roof. "Though I think we're safe for now," She said calmly, though she still held her wand in her hand ready to act if needed. She looked at Elizabeth who was looking at her with a curious expression. "I'm no herbologist, but that kind of growth doesn't happen overnight. No one's been here for a long time."

"No one being here is good for us. Like I said, if we run into anyone it's not going to be a friendly encounter." they reached the door, the automatic mechanism still worked, albeit barely to reveal more coral blocking the path ahead. "If we have to fight don't stop with non-lethal. I don't think it'll stop them. Drug addicts that are able to shake off lesser effects of things." They stepped through the door which led to a large swimming pool large statues of what must have been a representation of Adonis around it, once it must have been filled with water but now it only contained a shallow puddle in the deep end from the leak in the ceiling that must have only formed recently. To the side, a Generator was sparking and on the other corner a series of mattresses and boxes were set up with candles and other small bits and pieces. "Someone's been living here recently." Elizabeth whispered quickly, drawing Bathsheda's attention to it. "No doubt they're looking for stuff in there." She said pointing to the back of the room where a doorway sat open with the sign 'Plasmid Therapy' they quickly moved up, listening out for any signs of movement or speech that would tip them off to someone But all they could hear was a heavy footfall coming further down the corridor. "Sounds like a Big Daddy, lower your wand. We should be okay if we keep or distance and don't do anything to anger it.

They both froze as a loud screech came from down the corridor. "Move?" Bathsheda asked looking at Elizabeth as the sound of metal footsteps thundered towards them.

"Move!" Elizabeth called, dragging Bathsheda away from the door back to the other side of the room as a lithe figure tore through the doorway. "What in the world..."

It looked like a Big Daddy but wasn't. It was a female figure in a diving suit, the gear lighter and more dynamic, allowing more agile movements as she leapt over the edge of the pool, grasping the nearest statue, twisting around it as it fell over, smashing into the pool below before darting through a doorway to the side, it closing behind her, the mechanism sparking as it shorted out. "That's... I don't even know." Elizabeth muttered in shock, still watching the door that the figure had disappeared down.

"What have you gotten me in to?" Bathsheda asked in a hushed voice as a figure walked into the room, before starting to smack the generator with a lead pipe.

"A world of madness... that's leaking into yours." Elizabeth whispered, knowing that there was a crossing somewhere, she just had to find the camera footage and she'd learn the truth. If it was them then she'd know what she was dealing with. Heavier and slower footsteps were coming from the doorway as the two watched another Splicer standing on the diving board, muttering something but the distance made it hard to hear what was being said the heavier footsteps were getting louder as a figure appeared in the darkened doorway. "Say hello to the Big Daddy." Elizabeth muttered watching as it walked forward towards the Splicer on the diving board who was completely unaware of him being there. The Big Daddy raised his left hand and his actions completely surprised Elizabeth. A bolt of electricity shot from his hand hitting the splicer who screamed in pain, spasming as the electricity danced across his body illuminating him in a blue glow before he was smacked with the drill in his right hand. the body crumpling and falling to the bottom of the pool below.

The other Splicer, the one who had been attacking the generator spun around and dove at the Big Daddy, the lead pipe coming down towards the armoured helmet but the Big Daddy reacted with speed that wouldn't be expected for someone of his size, grabbing the pipe with his free hand and releasing another burst of electricity through it. The Splicer screamed, her muscles seizing, unable to drop the pipe as the current flowed through her.

Elizabeth and Bathsheda looked away as the sound of the drill whirring up followed by a scream and the sound of flesh being ground as the Big Daddy impaled the Splicer. The wet churning of the drill through the flesh made Bathsheda gag, she placed her hand over her mouth to muffle the noise of her gag as the Splicer let out a wet gasping cry of pain and dropped to the floor. The Big Daddy stood still, looking at the drill for a moment before turning to the generator, another jolt of electricity hitting the machine.

Like clockwork, everything started to come back to life as the Generator whirred into action, lights flicked on, music started playing through the speakers dotted around the room.

And the Big Daddy could see Elizabeth and Bathsheda clear as day.

He stood motionless as he watched the two, they looked back at him, too scared to move. As they made no move to attack him, he turned walking towards the door that the other figure had escaped through, a blast of electricity at the mechanism opened it up. The Big Daddy left the room through the door and the two women let out quiet sighs of relief.

Bathsheda looked slightly pale. a greenish tint to her face and Elizabeth couldn't blame her really. The horrors of Rapture hit hard and fast, especially for those who hadn't witnessed anything like this before. "Catch your breath, but we're going to have to follow them." Elizabeth said with resignation.

Bathsheda looked at Elizabeth, wanting to argue but still feeling nauseous over what she had witnessed. "How..." She trailed off as she caught a glimpse of the body at the bottom of the pool, the landing and the blow from the drill having caused severe injuries and staining the water with the man's blood. She gagged slightly again before getting it under control. "How can you cope with this so easily?" She asked and Elizabeth looked at her sadly.

"Because I've seen and been involved in a lot worse. This is barely the tip of the iceberg." Elizabeth warned softly, "I can send you back if you want. I can go it alone if you'd prefer to not see anymore."

"No!" Bathsheda protested sharply, straightening up and getting herself under control. "I'm not leaving you to face this all alone, it doesn't matter if you can do it, you should have someone watching your back. I just didn't expect to see something like this so quick into the trip." She said softly, glancing again at the dead body in the bottom of the pool. "Let's just get this done." She said with finality, walking towards the door that the Big Daddy had walked through.

"Okay then but keep your distance from the Big Daddy... there's something different about him, outside of him using plasmids." Elizabeth said as they passed through the door water splashing under their feet. to the left a blocked off entrance to the Women's toilets, to the left Men's. The water seemed to be flowing from both sides but judging from the smell it was more ocean water leaking in rather than anything else unsavoury. They continued down the corridor, following the faint sounds of the Big Daddies footsteps knowing that the way would most likely be secure if he went there.

Another screech tore through the area and they stopped again, that same screech of the other armoured person, what was it? what did it want? There were sounds of fighting coming up ahead, heavy roars and more screeches. They jogged forwards towards it. Realising that whatever it was had to be fighting with the Big Daddy. They stopped at the doorway, stunned by the sight they saw before them.

The Big Daddy was duelling whatever the new figure was, the figure darting around with more speed and agility than the large armoured behemoth. But as she did there was also the tell-tale signs of plasmid attacks forming in her, for she definitely was a woman now that Elizabeth could see her more closely, hands, balls of fire launching from them straight at the Big Daddy. With surprising agility he moved out the way, the balls of flame splashing against the wall, a picture that had seen better days before hand catching alight, burning in the frame they quickly moved out the way as another ball of flame was seemingly knocked away by the Big Daddy, veering in their direction.

"Quick, up those stairs and out that door." Bathsheda said pointing off to the side and a small set of stairs. The only other exit. The two ran, the other that was fighting with the Big Daddy sparing a glance at them before the Big Daddy grabbed her arm and hurled her at the far wall. They quickly left through the door, it drops behind them as the two continued their brawl and they made their way up the narrow corridor as quickly as possible. "You mentioned Big Daddies, you warned me about Splicers, what the hell was that?"

"I don't know!" Elizabeth said sharply, the two moving down away from the combat towards the next door that hadn't been blocked off. "This is a timeline where Rapture and the conflict continued, I thought bringing us here would just be entering a ghost town, little to no people here. I didn't look too deeply. I'm regretting that a lot right now." Elizabeth said as they pushed open the door into what must have been a ball room of some description, a large clear open dance floor in the middle, around to the side tables and chairs, the tables covered in half rotted tablecloths and decorations. there was only one other door out to the side. "We need to jump down there and get over there." Elizabeth said as they looked down at the ruined staircase that led to them, it was a bout a ten foot drop, the entrance to the room on an upper balcony that back in the day probably would have been a very nice looking place overall but now, like so many other things in Rapture it was a shadow of its former self. The opposite wall though, was a huge window that showed the seabed before them. Three large windows reaching from ceiling to floor.

"We need to be out of this room fast." Bathsheda said as she jumped down, stumbling across the rubble slightly. Elizabeth dropped down after her, giving her a look of confusion as she did.

"You think the fights going to come this way?" Elizabeth asked and Bathsheda pointed to the window.

"Even if it doesn't, I don't want to be in here if these windows decide to get broken." Bathsheda said as they walked over to the door as it started to open on its own. They were in the open, no chance to hide or get to cover, Bathsheda aimed her wand and Elizabeth prepared to open another tear.

It was a little girl, in a dirty purple dress. her eyes glowing a dull yellow in the darkness. "lower your wand." Elizabeth said as she looked behind the girl hastily, no Big Daddy was with her, but she didn't want to take the chance. She didn't want to repeat what had happened before. "Stay away from the girl, no threatening moves." She hastily whispered as she pulled Bathsheda away.

"This is a Little Sister?" She asked and Elizabeth nodded. "Shouldn't she have a Big Daddy with her? Why is she on her own?" She asked quickly as the girl moved over towards the Rubble, starting to climb up it, humming to herself her echoing voice carrying through the room.

"I don't know, maybe they don't need them anymore? maybe the threats they had to deal with have been stopped?" The two quickly moved through the next door into the corridor and let the door close behind them. "I will just be glad to get out of here and hopefully never come back." Elizabeth said as she looked at the tell-tale signs of battle and devastation that were all over the corridor.

"Question for you?" She said and Elizabeth glanced at her as they walked down the corridor. "What is with the Butterflies that are everywhere? And who is this Lamb that's on all these messages on the wall?" She gestured to the side, handmade butterflies had been placed all over the wall, a roughly written message 'The Lamb Will Save Us' had appeared multiple times through their brief trip.

"I don't know... I'm guessing that they're the one leading the splicers now. Someone who got access to Ryan's pheromones that he used to control and manipulate them in the later part of the war." The door ahead didn't open, they were stuck in the corridor. Sharing a quick glance Bathsheda drew her wand, aiming it and preparing to force the door open before the lights flickered out, replaced with a security warning light. "This isn't good..." Elizabeth whispered more to herself than Bathsheda as the monitors that had somehow avoided destruction flickered to life.

please wait

The message flickered on the screen for several moments before vanishing, replaced by a black and white image of a woman with shoulder length hair and glasses looking at the screen with distaste evident on her face.

"I know everyone who lives in this city and I know that no one has arrived from outside. Who are you that walks with relics of the past?"

TBC

So, it seemed like the best place to stop, this chapter was a bit difficult, I think I rewrote it like four to five times. Then I had the fun with moving to a new house and changing job location. Then I got ill for a little bit. But hey the chapter is done.

I may end up being slow on updates, doubly so with it coming into the run up to Christmas and me working retail but I'll keep chipping away at it.