Another new chapter! Sorry for making you guys wait so long, life got in the way, lol. Thanks to Jared for helping me out, and thanks to my new beta Ronin! As always, enjoy! EDIT: I added to this last chapter a bit, because I couldn't shake the feeling that I had left something out from the original ending + my beginning for Chapter 16 felt weird until I put it together with the ending of Chapter 15. So, yay! Bonus content! Enjoy!

"Well, that didn't quite go as expected."

"How do you mean, sister? It went exactly as expected. The boy found out, and the girl refused to divulge her secret. What on earth were you expecting?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I certainly wasn't expecting physical violence-though I was afraid it would go there. At least he didn't threaten her with the wrench-that would have been disastrous."

"And our current end result isn't?"

"Well, it could have been worse."

"Indeed."

The two are silent for a moment before Robert speaks up, interrupting the silence that had fallen. "What do we do now?"

"The only thing we can," Rosalind amends, turning away from her brother. "Sit back and watch the show."

Robert frowns. "But still, shouldn't we do something? Perhaps the girl would comfort in our presence."

Rosalind scoffs. "I doubt it. After all, we're the ones truly responsible for this whole mess. I'm sure if she saw us, she wouldn't hesitate to try and put a bullet in us...not that it would do her any good," she adds thoughtfully after a moment. "But perhaps...perhaps, now that the boy has found out the truth, the girl should as well. Shall we pay a certain scientist a visit, brother?"

Robert takes her arm in his own. "I believe we shall."

"Are you okay?"

Elizabeth jumps at the voice breathing in her ear, whipping around to face whoever had spoken and coming face-to-face with a little girl, no older than-five, maybe six? The little girl jumps back at the sudden movement, looking wary as Elizabeth takes a deep breath and smiles-though, as soon as she does, she feels like crying all over again. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine," she says with as much conviction as she can muster-which isn't much.

The little girl cocks her head to the side, a frown appearing on her face. "Why was Mister Jack yelling at you?"

"I-" She swallows, taking another deep breath to prevent herself from crying. "I don't want to talk about that right now."

That answer doesn't seem to satisfy the girl, as she crosses her arms and stares at Elizabeth defiantly. "Why not?"

"Because-" she stops herself before she can raise her voice further. "I just need to be alone right now. Okay?"

"Why?"

At this point, Elizabeth is fed up. She just wants to be left alone, damnit, why is that so hard to understand? She takes a deep breath to steady herself, closing her eyes and concentrating. The kid's only been talking to her for a few seconds and already she's pissed at her. Elizabeth needs to calm down; the kid didn't do anything wrong, and to yell at her would be pointless, not to mention mean.

Just as Elizabeth reaches a sense of calm, the girl decides to shatter it by asking, "Mister Jack said you lied to him. Why?"

At the mention of Jack, Elizabeth feels like crawling in a hole and dying-again. "I...I don't know," she sighs, the anger at the girl for being pestered dissipating almost instantly. "I should have told him the truth. I should have, but I didn't. I'm a bad person. A really, really bad person. I shouldn't have lied to him. I shouldn't have listened to the Luteces, I shouldn't have given Atlas the activation phrase...if I'd never come to Rapture, none of this would have ever happened. That makes me a bad person." She's not making any sense-she knows she isn't, she's rambling, and when a person rambles they aren't supposed to make sense. She supposes it doesn't matter anyways-the girl probably doesn't understand anything she's saying anyways.

The girl laughs, apparently unconcerned that Elizabeth's not making a lick of sense-confirming Elizabeth's theory that she didn't understand a word. "No it doesn't! Everyone lies sometimes. The other day, I was playing dolls with Emma, and I wanted one of her dresses so I asked her to trade it with me for an even better one! But the one I gave her was ugly! She got mad, so I gave it back. But that doesn't-"

"Masha! Leave her alone, she has been through enough."

The girl-Masha-jumps, turning around to face Tenenbaum marching towards Masha with an apologetic look in Elizabeth's direction as the scientist ushers the young girl away. She looks down at Elizabeth, a frown appearing on her face. "Are you alright? I heard screaming earlier, when you were talking to Herr Jack."

"It's...nothing." At Tenenbaum's unconvinced look, she adds (perhaps a bit too defensively), "Really. I'm good."

"Hm." Tenenbaum still looks unconvinced. "Have you spoken to him since? No doubt he will need some help, what with-"

"Then you provide it," Elizabeth interrupts, quite harshly. "I don't want to talk to him right now, and Lord knows, he doesn't want to talk to me. I'm done being his sidekick."

Tenenbaum narrows her eyes, but then her expression softens. Perhaps sensing that Elizabeth needs some time, she sighs, nods, and says, "Let me know if I can be of any help. And, Fraulein Comstock? Perhaps...you should tell him the truth, whatever that may be. From what I've seen, he can be quite forgiving." She kneels down and places a hand on her shoulder, perhaps as an act of comfort, but the only thing Elizabeth feels is guilt.

"Not with me, he can't," she mutters, knocking away Tenenbaum's hand and hugging herself tightly. "He's never going to forgive me. He shouldn't forgive me. Not after everything I've done. To him, to Sally...dare I say it, even to Booker and Comstock. I can't be forgiven for what I've done to all of them. I can't."

Tenenbaum sighs, as if she knew this was coming. "Fraulein Comstock-"

"I'm not Comstock," she spits angrily, that burning fire of seething hatred filling her up again. "I'm not. I'm…I'm nothing like him. I'm nothing like him!"

She probably should have taken into account that Tenenbaum has no idea who she was talking about, and so to her Elizabeth's statement is completely random and shows her in an unstable mindset-but nevertheless, despite the confused look on the other woman's face, the scientist continues. "-you have committed many sins, but perhaps you can find some redemption. Tell Jack what you know, Kind, and perhaps...perhaps you can be redeemed."

Elizabeth laughs humorlessly. "There's no redemption for people like me. I've killed innocent people, hurt countless others, all in the name of a mission. A selfish mission that eventually got me killed. I didn't even care that I was going to die, that I might die, so long as Comstock got what was coming to him. I didn't care who got hurt, or who died, so long as he did too. So I don't know about you, Dr. Tenenbaum, but I'm not sure 'redemption' is in the cards for me-or for you, for that matter."

At her last words, Tenenbaum's eyes narrow again, this time, with a dangerous look in them that even Elizabeth fears. "I too have committed many atrocities. But unlike you, I am willing to do what's necessary to right those wrongs. Perhaps you should take a page out of my book," she says coldly, before standing up and heading back to her office, leaving Elizabeth sitting on the floor of the nursery-by herself, just like she wanted. Unfortunately, that gives her plenty of time to think…

"And now you've got hooked up with Tenenbaum, huh, kid? She's a regular Mother Goose. All right, fun's fun, kid, but now...go get stepped on by a Big Daddy, would you kindly?"

Jack's heart stops at the words, his breath catching in his throat. Despite Tenenbaum's previous reassurances that that particular phrase no longer works on him, he still can't help but feel anxious as he waits for the foggy feeling to cloud his mind and take away his control once more, as it has so many times before.

But nothing happens.

Jack breathes a sigh of relief, but quickly shuts his mouth once he realizes that Fontaine can probably hear him. And, because the universe clearly has it out for him, he does. The loud thumping of Jack's heartbeat nearly drowns out the confused noise that Fontaine makes, clearly not understanding why Jack isn't dead yet. It wouldn't do much good anyways, Jack thinks, a bit smug as Fontaine wonders aloud what the hell is going on as he repeats his command. I'd just get revived at a Vita-Chamber. Unless he shut them all down somehow? The thought fills Jack with panic-actually, he thinks, his heart starting to race faster (if that's even possible), that's probably the first thing he did. The bastard.

Well. Shit.

If that's the case, Jack is now as mortal as the average Joe. No more resurrections for him-starting now, any battle could be his last. Despite the fact that the last time he had even used a Vita-Chamber was before he had even met Elizabeth-his stomach churns at the thought of her, but he pushes aside both the unpleasant feeling and the memories threatening to rise to the surface of his mind for later, because this is more important-he feels terrified that now that's he's lost his life insurance, he's sure to slip up and get himself killed-again-permanently. The knowledge that he's made it this far without dying again does giving him some much needed confidence that he can hold his own, though-even against Fontaine, should it come to that. It better, Jack spits in his own mind, anger replacing the panic. I'm not leaving here until I've gutted that son-of-a-bitch like he deserves.

"...Ah. Seems like Mother Goose has been playing around in your egg salad. If you won't dance to that tune, I got others. Code Yellow."

Jack's not sure what happens next-not exactly, anyways. As soon as Fontaine utters that phrase, Jack's heart stops for a split second; a burst of white-hot pain surges through Jack's body, causing him to double over and clutch at his heart, gasping for air. Fontaine cackles on the other end of the radio, and Jack can hear the smile on his face. He really hopes he gets to kill him soon. That is, if this excruciating pain doesn't kill Jack first.

"I just told your brain to tell your heart to stop beating. Not right off the bat, mind you. The heart's a stubborn muscle. But," he pauses to chuckle, a sinister sound that resounds in Jack's skull and makes him want to punch his own lights out, "Not that stubborn."

"Oh, you son-of-a-bitch," Jack wheezes out, the pain finally beginning to subside; he stands, still clutching his heart, and he glares at the radio attached to his hip. If looks could kill. Oh, if only. "When I find you-"

"Kid, you'll be too dead to do anything. If you're not, though-well, you will be. That's a promise I'm willing to keep."

"Screw you."

Fontaine laughs before falling silent, leading Jack to believe that he's finished taunting him. Once it becomes apparent that that is, in fact, the case, Jack sighs. He stands there for a few more minutes before deciding that the best course of action would be to find a way out-and he does, but as he moves to turn the wheel-or at least, Jack assumes it's a wheel, he doesn't know this kind of stuff-he realizes that there's slight problem. It's missing, and it's nowhere to be found. Maybe it's back at the Sanctuary?

He could ask Tenenbaum. Surely she'd know; after all, this is her turf. She probably knows every square inch of this place. Or maybe-maybe he could ask...

No.

No, he'll ask Tenenbaum. She's a smart woman, surely she knows where it is-or at least, where he might find it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jack knows who the better option is-more than likely she'd have already found it by now, in fact, but he doesn't want to think about that. About her. Not if he doesn't have to, anyways.

...If he ever gets out of here, he's going to take a class or something to get some self-control, because he clearly doesn't have any. He closes his eyes and takes a deep, deep breath, hoping that will help in stemming the numerous thoughts racing through his mind-all of them about her. He feels the urge to just give in-after all, the sooner the thoughts are out of his head, the better.

But no.

No, he can't. He can't. Fontaine did something to him, a failsafe of sorts, he supposes-and if Jack doesn't find the cure to the mind control, he's going to die in this place just like every other sorry soul he's come across. He can't think about Elizabeth right now, because he knows that if he does she'll be all he thinks about, and he can't afford that right now. There will be plenty of time to think later, once it's over. Once it's over, once Fontaine is dead-and he's sitting in a bathysphere headed towards the surface, leaving this-this place-behind, never to return. At the thought of Rapture as a whole, Jack stops, a dozen thoughts rushing through his mind all at once. He'd...never really thought about it like that before-which was weird, considering all of the times he'd thought of getting out, but now that the idea is stuck in his head he can't seem to get it out.

This place...it's terrible. Everywhere Jack turns, there's either a Little Sister draining blood from a corpse, a Big Daddy waiting to drill his face in if he even so much as looks at its Sister, or a Splicer-or a dozen-waiting to get the drop on him. It's a hellhole-there's no other word for it-doomed from the start. Now, this-this place, this hellhole, this nightmare-is nothing more than the broken husk of a forgotten dream. Jack knows that it wasn't always that way, though. He may not have any memories of his previous time here, but he knows one thing for certain: once upon a time, Rapture was alive. No more than two years ago, this place was truly marvelous, filled with the hopes and dreams of its people-actual people, with families and loved ones and lives that didn't involve wandering around in a drug-induced haze, wanting nothing but their next fix. Jack suddenly feels nostalgic for days that he's never known, days when Rapture wasn't so dark and gloomy, when the Splicers weren't so spliced, and you could actually find an honest person around a corner or two. But it's gone, now-the Rapture dream is over, gone-and he's the sole survivor. He's the last man standing in a society gone mad from too much money and too much power mixed together. Once this whole mess is cleaned up, he'll be gone, leaving a once great man's dream to die, to fade from memory as years upon years pass by like nothing, until Jack is the only one who remembers.

Because he'll never forget. He'll never forget what this place has done to him, to others-good others, like Julie Langford and Brigid Tenenbaum. Like Anya Andersdotter and the Lutz family. Like Bill McDonagh. Like the Little Sisters and the Big Daddies-the men in the metal suits, condemned to wander the halls of Rapture with no memories of their former lives and no hope for salvation, unlike their ghoulish companions. Like some of the Splicers he'd encountered, begging for things to go back to the way they were before, to see their loved ones again; to actually live, and not just in some drug-induced fever dream. Like...like Elizabeth.

The thought of his former companion snaps him out of his reverie, and he shakes his head in an attempt to clear it. His head still aches-though, he can think clearly again, so there's that. He's not sure if the aching is a result of the phrase Fontaine had used or from the jumble of thoughts his mind had foolishly tried to focus on all at the same time. Probably the former, as both his chest and left leg also ache. He sighs, wondering when it will wear off-if it ever does. It's beginning to feel numb now. He sits down on a nearby storage crate, breathing heavily as he tries to simultaneously ignore the pain and think of a plan.

"Well, I'm stuck here until the numbness wears off, so that probably rules out the possibility of me searching for another way out." He sighs again, closing his eyes to better concentrate on his thoughts and not the pain beginning to crawl up his torso. He glares at his leg, where the pain is stemming from, as if that will make the problem go away. A thought strikes him as he glances at his hip, where his radio is still attached. "I guess now would be as good a time as any to radio Tenenbaum for help…"

"Put that away! You know you can't have that, give it back...Es tut mir Leid, Herr Jack, what were you saying?"

Jack barely resists the urge to laugh at the sounds in the background-it sounded like one of the girls had grabbed a candy bar or some other kind of treat and is now refusing to part with it. He settles for smiling instead as he listens to Tenebaum and the girl bicker about the candy bar, the scientist arguing that she's already had three, she doesn't need another one, and the girl arguing back that it's not for her, it's for someone else (Jack hadn't caught the name that the girl had provided, but he doubts it's someone he knows anyways, so he doesn't mind). Judging by the conversation, Tenenbaum has her hands full harboring more than fifteen little girls all under the age of ten, and Lord knows, he's the last person that wants to disturb her. Unfortunately for both of them, however, he needs her help, which means letting the girl get away with having one more candy bar in favor of assisting Jack. He feels bad about that, but doesn't think it would do much good to let Tenenbaum know that. "I was saying that-"

"For the last time, no, I'm not going to give it to you."

Jack frowns. "Uh, what?"

"You hit Lindsey. You don't get your doll back until you apologize to her. Now go. Shoo!"

"Tenenbaum, what are you-"

"I said, shoo! Go on!" Tenenbaum is silent for a moment, during which time Jack can hear the faint whining of a little girl in the background-and finally he understands.

Ooohhh. She wasn't talking to you, you dolt. Jack feels a bit stupid for not realizing it sooner-but then again, she had sounded like she was talking to him…

"Tenenbaum?"

"Yes?"

"Er...what I wanted to talk to you about?" He waits for a moment to make sure he has her attention, and when she gives an impatient sound on the other end he knows he has it. He begins to talk quickly, aiming to get at least most of his words out before they are interrupted again. "Okay, so, I found my way out of the Sanctuary and into the sewers, which are surprisingly clean, by the way, and found my way out. Only problem is, you need a wheel thingy to open the door, but it's missing and I can't find it. I don't have enough brute strength to lift the door by myself and I'm out of explosives, so force isn't an option. Also, I can't really move, because Fontaine said some weird phrase thingy that he said would 'make my heart stop beating' or whatever. I assume that's what you meant by 'unpleasant strings?' Anyways, my left leg and my chest feel pretty numb, and I'm guessing that taking the antidote will make it go away, but unfortunately I can't get to the antidote, because I can't move and the stupid wheel thingy is gone." He takes a deep breath afterwards, waiting for Tenenbaum's response. He supposes the worst one she can give would be, "There's nothing I can do, sorry," or maybe, "Wait, what?" That one would really suck.

Finally (and thankfully) she responds with neither option. "Hm. You say you are immobilized? Scheisse. This is a problem. I suppose there is nothing you can do for now except either persevere or wait for it to wear off. However, the second option might take time we do not have. It would probably be best if you...how do you Americans say this? 'Suck it up.' You will recover soon, Herr Jack, do not worry. In fact, moving around might actually accelerate the process. As you have speculated, yes, the antidote will cure you, but only if you get to it in time. But anyways. Onto the next problem. The 'wheel thingy,' as you say, must be around the sewers somewhere. I assume you have already tried looking for it? Perhaps it is buried under some trash, or hidden in a storage crate. Maybe it is stashed in a corner. Look everywhere, Herr Jack. If you do not find that wheel, you will not be able to get out and stop Fontaine."

Jack nods his head, then remembers that Tenenbaum can't see him. "Thanks, Tenenbaum. That's good to know. Funny, isn't it, how something so small and seemingly insignificant can mean so much?"

"Ja. It reminds me of-Hallo! Was denkst du eigentlich, was Du hier machst? Kommen Sie gleich wieder!"

If Jack ever gets out of here, he's going to learn how to speak German. Distantly, he wonders if Elizabeth knows German-but he stops that train of thought before it can leave the station. Better to not think about that, he reminds himself. He focuses on Tenenbaum's voice, which is still (unintentionally) shouting rapid German into his ear. He waits for what seems like forever until she finally starts speaking to him again-but in German.

"Tenenbaum," he interrupts her. It sounds like she was in the middle of a sentence, but Jack can't be sure. "I-I don't speak German."

"Hm? Ach! Of course, of course. Forgive me, Herr Jack...I was simply saying that if you don't find the wheel, I do have some explosives here that might work. And Elizabeth could-"

At the mention of her name, Jack stiffens. "No thanks," he says. "I mean, thanks for the explosives. I might need those, actually. But Elizabeth isn't coming anywhere near me, do you understand? I've had enough of her lies." He can't help the bitterness that seeps into his voice when he thinks about it. "I don't want anything to do with her."

"Herr Jack, you must understand. What she did-"

"What she did is inexcusable. She could have stopped this-all of this-if she had just told me the truth. How can you be taking her side, after everything she's done?"

Tenenbaum is silent. Jack waits for a response, but he doesn't really expect one. If anything, she probably disconnected, which is fine, since Jack has all the information he needs to continue. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. "I'm going to kill him," he mutters to himself. "I'm going to slice that son-of-a-bitch in half."

A sigh comes from the radio, and Jack looks at it again, surprised. So Tenenbaum hadn't disconnected. Huh. "Once you are free of Fontaine's control, then you can have your revenge...and we can keep my little ones out of his filthy hands."

Jack closes his eyes, taking a moment to collect himself before responding. "I couldn't agree more, Tenenbaum. Don't worry, I'll take him down, and you and the girls will be free to do whatever you want. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it."

"It is no trouble, Herr Jack-" and then she yelps. Jack immediately feels a sense of dread wash over him at the sound. No, no, no, he panics inwardly, shifting on the storage crate uneasily. He can't have. He can't have gotten to them already. There's no way.

But then Tenenbaum quells his fears with a couple of words, and Jack can breathe again. "Entschuldigen Sie, Herr Jack. I'm fine...eh...one of the girls just startled me. Do-do you need anything else?"

She sounds spooked out of her mind, but Jack ignores the worried feeling festering in the pit of his stomach because, well, it's Tenenbaum, the woman who keeps a gun close to her at all times and knows how to use it. Secure in that knowledge, he says, "No, that's it. Thanks again."

"Ja. Bleib sicher, mein Kind." And then she's gone, presumably to deal with whomever had spooked her. Jack wonders if it was Candy Bar girl. He shrugs nonetheless-time to get to work.

He takes a deep breath before slowly lifting himself off of the storage crate and down onto the floor, where he takes another look around. From here, he can't see much-certainly nothing that looks like it might be hiding a wheel. He twists his torso around, opening the crate he had been sitting on and finding an EVE hypo and a first aid kit but no wheel. He sighs, but pockets the items for later-at least it hadn't been a total waste. He makes to get up, and the process is agonizingly slow-he grimaces the entire time. Finally, he's standing, and, even better, he sees something shiny poking out from behind a mound of...whatever that grayish-brownish stuff is. Jack thinks it's probably for the best if he doesn't think about it too hard.

He hobbles over to the shiny object, and-sure enough, there is his wheel. Looking at it now, though, Jack realizes that it's probably not a wheel at all, and Jack feels just a little bit stupid for calling it one; but in his defense, what else is he supposed to call it? He doesn't know what it is, so 'wheel' will have to do. He picks it up, and wow is it heavy-but he manages to get it over to where it's supposed to go and a few minutes later, the door is open. Jack grins as he looks ahead; no signs of life so far, which is good. The smile doesn't leave his face as he walks out the door, making sure to go as fast as he can-after all, he doesn't know if the door is one of those "limited time" things, and he'd rather not find out. He only stops when he hears the tell-tale laugh of a Nitro Splicer, followed by a loud explosion. Fantastic, he thinks bitterly, limping towards an overturned food cart for cover. Life just keeps getting better. Why does everything happen to me?

The thought flits through Jack's mind as he fires another shot at the offending Nitro Splicer, who retaliates by throwing a grenade his way. Jack barely has time to roll out of the way before the thing explodes, destroying his cover and nearly setting his pants on fire.

I ask again: why does everything happen to me?

Jack doesn't have time to ponder the answer to that question as he rolls out of the way of yet another explosion, this one far too close to his head for comfort. Rolling out of the way of an explosive while one of your legs and the lower half of your torso is numb is not as easy as it looks, he muses as he repeats the action for a third time. He fires another bullet at the Splicer, and another, and-click. Jack panics, looking down at his gun in horror. He tries again. Click. Click.

"No, no, no," he mumbles, shaking the gun as if that will solve the problem. He looks up just in time to see another Splicer (though this one, thankfully, is a simple Thuggish) charging towards him with his pipe raised. Jack has just enough time to duck before the Thuggish is swinging at him, yelling right in his face.

Once he sees that he missed, he screams again, raising his pipe over his head with the intent to bash Jack's brains out. Jack, who is laying on the ground right in front of the deranged maniac with no chance of escape and no ammo, takes a deep breath before deciding to do something incredibly stupid that he knows Elizabeth would yell at him for were she here.

Just as the Splicer brings down the pipe, Jack lunges forward onto his knees and grabs his wrists, stopping his pipe just above his head. Jack's not exactly sure what he was trying to accomplish, but, looking at the Splicer struggling to get his wrists free, he decides that it's the best course of action. Using as much strength as he can muster, he pulls the Thuggish Splicer towards him, rolling out of the way just in time to not be crushed by the falling man's weight. As both he and the Splicer struggle to get up, Jack fires an Electro Bolt his way, electrocuting the psychopath where he stands in a puddle of water. A few moments later, the Splicer falls over, dead.

Jack grins as he rolls over on his stomach, using the floor beneath him to balance his hands and regain a standing position. He looks over at the corpse of his fallen foe. "What a shocking turn of events," he says, still smiling wide. He knows if Elizabeth were here, he'd get a knock upside the head for that one, but she isn't, so he can make all the stupid puns he wants. Just to be safe, though, he gives himself a smack on the arm and mentally scolds himself in a high-pitched voice resembling his absent comrade's.

He's just gotten done scolding himself for recklessly endangering himself yet again when the sound of an explosion snaps him out of his shame session with himself. He whips around, raising his trusty wrench and scanning his surroundings for any signs of life…

Another explosion makes him jump, causing him to nearly drop his wrench on his foot. His grip tightens as his heart races, the silence becoming deafening. "Where are you…" he mutters, narrowing his eyes. He inches forwards, listening closely for any indication of his new enemy. The sound of a can skidding across the floor alerts Jack to the presence of something behind him. Jack whirls around, raising his Plasmid hand in alarm as he tries to balance himself from the sudden movement.

Nothing there. Jack frowns, brow furrowed as he cautiously lowers both of his hands. That's odd. I'm sure I heard something-

BANG.

Jack has just enough time to think, Fuck, before the bullet hits the back of his skull and he falls to the ground, dead.