A/N: OKAY SO. I am SO SO sorry for doing this to you guys again. I suck, I know, I know. This chapter was originally going to be just the entirety of Point Prometheus, but the OG chapter I wrote (and am still writing) is +12,000 words long, and I was going to go with that but ultimately decided to split it into a few chapters. So, here you go: two new chapters, and another one coming up hopefully soon. I hate to "drag this out" so to speak by dividing it into three chapters, but the OG chapter wasn't really close to being finished (still had two things to accomplish before wrapup) and I felt horrible making you guys wait so long so here you go. Hope y'all enjoy! A special thanks to my beta reader Ronin.

"All right, all right. You lookin' to slug it out? I'm game. But I got allll the ADAM in the city, pal, and I ain't shy abou' usin' it. And now, I'm 'jake to take her out for a spin."

Jack hastily retrieves his pistol from his belt, pointing it at the glass and shooting a few bullets at Fontaine's figure on the other side. None penetrate the glass, though—something that of course amuses their adversary, who barks another laugh and says something incomprehensible before dashing off. Jack huffs angrily while his companion swears up a storm, something which should surprise Jack but doesn't really. He ignores her furious expletives—some of which she's positive she made up—and focuses on Tenenbaum's voice coming from the radio.

"What is this you wait for? Go, und get this idiot!" she shouts angrily over the roar of the dying fire blocking their path out of the bathysphere.

"What did you think we were going to do, let him walk?" Jack reiterates, and he can feel Elizabeth rolling her eyes behind him. "Help me get this door open, Liz."

"Give me your wrench."

Jack has long learned not to question his partner when she makes ridiculous requests such as this one. He wordlessly hands his prized weapon over, and takes a step back just in case she's really about to do what he thinks she's about to do.

Indeed, she does—she makes sure that Jack is out of range in the tiny bathysphere before brutally attacking the glass with his wrench, barely making a dent in the sheet. She groans in frustration as Jack bites back a small laugh. She continues to assault the glass, putting her entire weight behind each swing while Tenenbaum yells frantically that their quarry is escaping. Finally, after about two minutes, Elizabeth swings one last time and the glass gives way, shattering like frost and decorating both the inside and outside of the bathysphere with shattered fragments. Elizabeth and Jack waste no time in exiting the craft, running after Fontaine with every bit of strength left in their beings. Jack can hear the bastard taunting them up ahead, but again, his words are lost in the cacophony of chaos that he's left in his wake. Elizabeth is stumbling beside him, barely able to keep on her own two feet, and Jack winces as he helps her along. He had given her a bit of his leftover ADAM in the bathysphere coming up, knowing she wouldn't last two seconds longer without at least a small bit of energy—and while the faux adrenaline rush the drug gave her is enough to keep her going for a bit, Jack knows that as soon as it wears off they'll be in a tight mess. As far as he knows Fontaine is just up ahead, but so far the bastard has proved to be more than elusive, and who knows what could and will happen next. They just need to get to one of those health stations, and Elizabeth will be right as rain. He just hopes that she can make it.

The chase comes to an abrupt stop when Jack hears the sound of whirlybirds ahead of them, and he stops just before entering the room. Unfortunately, Elizabeth seems to not have gotten the memo and crashes into him, sending them both tumbling into the room, catching the attention of the robotic menaces.

"Can't anything go right for once? Just once, is all I'm asking. Is that so bad?" Jack groans, pushing his partner off of himself and scrambling to his feet, wrench clutched tightly in his hand. Elizabeth seems to share the sentiment, muttering under her breath angrily—something about using Fontaine's guts for garters? While he's never heard of that particular expression, one look at her face is enough to quell any questions he might have asked about the subject. Later, then, when they aren't being shot at from multiple angles.

Speaking of.

He dodges a few stray bullets and winces at the noise when they hit the glass door panel, breaking the thin sheet and covering the threshold with shards. The suddenness is enough to shake him from his thoughts and spur him into action, realizing that standing around while it's raining bullets will most definitely get him killed again. He raises his left hand, switching his Plasmid from Electro Bolt to Winter Blast, and points it at the nearest-looking whirlybird, freezing it solid. As it falls to the ground, Jack uses his wrench as a baseball bat, knocking the dead weight from the air and shattering it.

Elizabeth stumbles back aways, startled by the mass of frozen machine components falling to the ground. She looks at Jack, surprised, but doesn't have time to say or do anything else as another of the metal menaces approaches, firing a steady stream of reinforced lead in her direction. She follows in Jack's footsteps, switching to Winter Blast and then freezing nearby targets before grabbing Jack's wrench out of his hands and swinging it at the bots.

"Don't you have a lead pipe you can use instead of my prized weapon?" he says in a huff, taking a moment to lean over and reclaim said weapon before using it to bash another bot that gets too close for comfort. He doesn't expect her to answer, not really, but she does, with her usual dry wit that he's starting to find endearing instead of annoying.

She stares at him blankly, uncomprehending and unimpressed, and it's as if their current situation isn't even happening. "It's a wrench, Jack."

"Ah ah ah! My wrench, Liz. It's special. This wrench and I go way back, and I'm not about to lose it because you can't be bothered to spend five seconds going into your own bag and grabbing your own blunt weapon."

"...It's a wrench."

"What did I just—"

Their brief moment of levity is interrupted by the sound of gunfire ahead. They had taken out almost all of the whirlybirds that had swarmed them when they entered, but it's clear that more are coming to finish the job. Jack sighs, gripping his weapon tightly and preparing to attack again. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Elizabeth do the same, reloading her pistol and aiming with shaky hands. A heavy feeling begins to settle in Jack's stomach at the sight, but he squashes it—Elizabeth is a strong woman, and she knows how to take care of herself. If she collapses, well, then. Jack doesn't really want to think about that. They're just making it up as they go anyways, right?

….Right?

He pulls himself out of his thoughts and readies himself for battle again. His hand becomes numb as it freezes over, the Plasmid creating a thin layer of ice around it and forming icicle shards around his closed fist. His wrench is clutched tightly in the other, the assassin's tool red with either rust or dried blood—Jack can't tell, and he doesn't want to know. Elizabeth is beside him, closer now; he can hear her labored breaths and see her chest heave with the effort to breathe. He frowns. She sounds in worse shape than he thought.

"Elizabeth, maybe you should—"

Elizabeth turns to face him, her eyes bloodshot and her stance wobbly, about to break—she's going to collapse any minute, both of them know it, and then they'll really be screwed; she looks at him and Jack is suddenly viciously reminded of Brigid Tenenbaum with the way her frame stills and her eyes glaze over with steely determination. She stands up tall, squaring her shoulders and setting her lips into a thin line as she forcibly steadies herself as much as she can. Elizabeth raises her hand, switching from Winter Blast to some new kind of Plasmid that he's never seen before. He makes a mental note to ask about it later when she flicks her hand and disappears completely.

Jack stumbles back, startled. "Wha—where—Elizabeth?! Elizabeth, where did you—!"

"Shh!" a voice hisses in his ear, scaring him even further. He whips his head around frantically, searching for the source of the voice that sounds suspiciously female, but it's rather hard over the loud whirring of the appropriately named whirlybirds. They're getting closer by the second, and it's only a matter of seconds before they swarm him and pump him full of lead. But he still can't see Elizabeth, and if he doesn't get a visual on her soon…

"Elizabeth?!" he demands of more than politely asks the voice.

"Jack, shut up! I'm right here, I'm not invisible. Well—I mean technically I am. But I'm not, I'm just camouflaged, which isn't the same thing—you know what, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter! Just stop talking and start shooting, and trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"

Jack doesn't even hesitate. "Okay. But your plan had better be a good one."

He waits for a witty response, spoken with more than a hint of irritation and more than a little bit of bemusement. He doesn't get one. He supposes he shouldn't have expected one. He looks around once more for any sign of his partner, but he doesn't see her at all. Ignoring the twinge in his gut, he points at the nearest bot and freezes it solid, waiting for it to fall before whacking it out of the air. The ice shards nearly nail him in the face as they fall, and he curses as one hits his ear. But no time for tears—another one quickly takes the place of the first, whirring and blasting lead at his chest. He freezes that one too, but as he goes for a third, he realizes that he'd just used up the last of his EVE and his remaining syringes are with his MIA partner. He groans, lowering his hand and quickly drawing his pistol in less than three seconds. He puts two bullets in the nearest bot, and ducks as another one—the final one, thank the Lord if He's up there—dives right for the space where his head was, metal blades spinning furiously. He shoots that one down too, and holds his breath, waiting to see if more will arrive. He hears more coming, to his immense displeasure, and grips his gun tightly as he advances towards them, not intending to delay this any longer—the more he does the longer he's delayed, and the longer Fontaine has to implement whatever crazy scheme he's come up with, and the longer Tenenbaum and the girls are in danger.

He shoots the first one down, reloads, and shoots another one. After that, the ensuing battle plays out much like the last one, with the exception of added assistance from Elizabeth, who doesn't make an appearance or even make her presence known throughout. Jack is starting to wonder if she's either run off somewhere to recuperate or simply fainted while executing her unknown plan when there's a series of loud cursing and shotgun blasts from somewhere up ahead. Jack whirls around, ready to face the newest threat, but when he realizes where the noises are coming from, he groans, piecing together in just a few seconds what must have occurred as he flees the battle.

Goddamnit. I knew I never should have let her leave. I knew it was stupid to let her go off on her own in the shape she's in. What help could she be half-dead and unconscious? What was she even thinking?

He rushes after the noises, doing his best not to hear Fontaine's taunts—either aimed at him or at his friend, he doesn't know—dodging security cameras and rogue splicers and ignoring the rumbling, bass tones of a Big Daddy somewhere close by. He manages to catch up to the duo, but stops dead in his tracks as he takes in the scene before him; Elizabeth is laying on the ground, possibly unconscious, lying still as the dead as Fontaine looms over her, laughing as he points a gun in her face. Fear overwhelms him and threatens to bring him to his knees, and without even thinking about it, Jack raises his gun and shoots the bastard's hand, feeling more satisfaction than he really should when Fontaine drops the gun and screams in pain. Jack is mostly focused on him, but out of the corner of his eye he sees Elizabeth jolt a little—not enough to move from her position and not enough to be noticed by Fontaine, who is now babbling furiously—is he even speaking English? Jack wonders—but enough for Jack to know that she's still alive, at least, though she'll probably black out soon. He feels his chest seize again at the thought, but looks away from her, knowing that there's nothing else he can do for her right now. He turns to Fontaine, his expression dark as he glares at the monster before him; he has never hated something so much in his whole life—fake memories or no. This man, what he's done, to him and to others, so many others whose names he doesn't even know—he deserves to die. He needs to die. If he doesn't see his body on the ground in front of him at the end of this, he doesn't think he'll ever sleep again. His finger itches where it rests on the trigger for the gun, but the barrel is empty—he most likely wouldn't be able to reload it quick enough before he got away. The thought brings a sneer to his face, already distorted by the several different emotions going through his head right now.

Fontaine definitely notices the expression on his face, and apparently it's more fucked up than Jack realizes, because he actually falters back a bit and his next words, though directed at Jack and full of mocking anger, sound a bit off. "Last chance, kid," he yells, pointing his gun (when did he get that back?) at him. "You pack it in now, and I'll leave this dump to you and Frau Kraut. You keep on coming, and Rapture's a fish tank." His words are malicious, yes, and they make Jack's blood boil, but the way he said them makes him sound...afraid? Could the great Frank Fontaine possibly be scared by a guy with a wrench and a guilt complex? The thought seems almost too ridiculous to ponder, and yet...

Jack is startled out of his musings when Fontaine shoots the door mechanism, effectively shutting and locking the door as he manages to slip away yet again. Jack starts to run after him, but the door is shut up tight when he gets there. He growls low in his throat, and is about to radio Tenenbaum when he hears someone moan softly behind him. Remembering his fallen comrade, he curses silently and takes a cursory glance around the room, looking for a health station—over there! Right next to the Vita-Chamber in the far corner of the room. He rushes over to Elizabeth, checking for a pulse and any new injuries. She has a rather worrying gash on the side of her head—no doubt that's where Fontaine decked her. Other than that though, and the obvious unconsciousness, she seems to be fine. Jack wonders if her severe lack of judgement was caused by the ADAM he had given her or if it was all her. He shakes his head. Doesn't matter.

After a few unsuccessful attempts to get Elizabeth to wake up, he sighs, lifting her up and carrying her bridal style to the Vita-Chamber, clumsily dropping her and then bringing her arm to rest underneath the needle. He hoists her weight up with one arm and feeds the money to the machine with his free hand, sighing in immense relief when it accepts his change and plunges the needle into her arm. He watches as Elizabeth's face slowly regains its normal pale parlor instead of the ghostly white he had been seeing lately, and her various wounds begin to heal thanks to the raw ADAM now coursing through her veins. As the last of the medicine is drained from the needle, it retracts and the machine beeps just as Elizabeth groans quietly and clutches his arm tightly. Jack jumps, reaching for his pistol but sighing with relief when he sees it's just her—he hadn't noticed that she'd regained consciousness, though how he hadn't is beyond him. He smiles at her, helping her stand on her own two feet and making sure she can before letting go.

"You alright?"

Elizabeth nods, managing to smile back weakly. She doesn't say anything else though, apparently still recovering a bit—no doubt the ADAM needed a few minutes to work its magic. He reached out a hand, placing it on her shoulder, and looked her in the eye as he smiled at her. "Never do anything like that ever again. If you do, you will never hear the end of it. Understood?"

Elizabeth closes her eyes, her mouth forming a thin line on her face as she nods. "Fair enough. But just so you know, I wasn't ditching you to go after Fontaine solo. I was looking for a Bot Shutdown panel, and I had just found one and activated it when my EVE ran out and my Peeping Tom stopped working. I was digging for another one when Fontaine spotted me and came after me."

Oh. That...actually makes quite a bit more sense. He chuckles, embarrassed at his own jumping to conclusions. He should have known that Elizabeth would never be that stupid. God, didn't he trust her? After all they've been through together, it would be ridiculous if he didn't. "Eh...that...does make more sense, actually." He rubs the back of his neck as he looks away, his cheeks tinged pink. He hears Elizabeth huff a laugh, and he groans. "Gah, okay, okay. I was being stupid. Sorry. I should've known better." He suffers her amused stare for a few moments before he remembers something she said. "Wait, Peeping Tom? I've never heard of that Plasmid.."

"Oh. It, ah...it's one of the drinkable ones. When used, it causes the user to become invisible and see through walls, provided they aren't lead. I picked it up the first time I came here, way before we met. I'd honestly forgot I even had it until the whirlybirds."

Jack whistles. "Damn. Wouldn't that have been nice to have before now."

Elizabeth shrugged. "Well, what can you do."

"Hrm. Well, Fontaine got away, and that door is shut up tight. We're not getting through without some outside help. Now what?"

"Don't we have outside help?"

"...Yes."

"Are you two finished?" Tenenbaum's voice emanates from the speakers as if on cue, clearly impatient and annoyed—no doubt she was less than pleased that their quarry had escaped. "Good. Since you have let Fontaine get away, we need to come up with an alternate plan, one that gets the two of you through that door. Fortunately, I have an idea that just might work. Find a Big Daddy and search his body. I would suggest you to be finding a dead one. Retrieve the Suit Control System. Radio me again once you do."

"Not to question your genius, Dr. Tenenbaum, but what good is a Suit Control System to us? It's not going to get us through the door, and it certainly won't help us stop Fontaine." Elizabeth, as usual, is asking the questions that Jack himself is too afraid to ask—the German doctor is quite intimidating when she wants to be, and Jack doesn't really feel like being scolded for asking stupid or unnecessary questions. On the other line, Tenenbaum is silent for a moment, perhaps thinking her question over.

"Fontaine went through a Little Sister door. Those things cannot be opened by normal means—they are not meant for people. They are meant for a Big Daddy and his Little Sister. The only way you are getting through is if one of those stinking brutes comes along with a child, the likelyhood of which is very low."

"Meaning...what, exactly? What are you trying to say? Are we supposed to find a Big Daddy and Little Sister to get us through the door? Stop being so damn vague with all of your instructions. I appreciate the help, I really do, but you have to draw the line somewhere. I mean really, goddamn."

Tenenbaum doesn't answer—either taken aback by Jack's sudden boldness or she's simply disconnected after giving them their orders. Jack huffs in frustration. "Tenenbaum," he tried again, but no answer. She must have disconnected. Either that or what she had intended to imply was too damning to repeat or say outright. Damnit.

"Jack..."

He looks up from the radio to his partner, who looks as though she's just seen a ghost. Jack looks around, just to make certain, but the only people in the room are himself and Elizabeth. He frowns, once again reminded of their brief history as he watches her lips tremble as she whispers something incomprehensible. "Are...are you okay? You look—"

"Jack…what Tenenbaum said—what she meant—"

Jack sighs. "I know, it sucks that she won't give us a straight answer," he groans, not really seeing her point. "We'll just have to find a way—"

"No, you don't understand. I think I know what she's talking about...but you're not going to like it. At all."

Jack wrinkles his nose, lips turning up in a sneer to show his displeasure, but he doesn't speak—he nods once to Elizabeth, signaling her to continue, and after a very tense minute, she does. She doesn't quite look at him when she speaks, looking instead at the wall behind him as if that would make whatever she had to say less...well, he's not sure. She swallows nervously, bringing her pinky to in between her index finger and her thumb and squeezing it tightly Jack had forgotten that that was a tic of hers when she was nervous or scared—she hadn't done it for a long while, which makes Jack's gut coil tightly. Oh, shit.

"Jack, when she said—what she meant was-well, she doesn't want us to find a Big Daddy. She wants us to make one. You."

"You mean...turn me...into a Big Daddy."

She nods, still not looking at him. Jack is eerily reminded of certain past events, but he knows that this time she's not to blame—no one but Fontaine is to blame, and God only knows where he is now. He sighs, running a hand down his face wearily. "Good God…" he murmurs, shaking his head. "No. I—I can't. I won't. There has to be some other way. I can't become one of those...those things. I may be a freak of nature, but I'm still a human being, damnit. I won't have what little control have over my own fate be taken away from me. Tenenbaum, you have to understand—"

"No. The only way to get through that door Fontaine went through is to get a Little One to open it for you. And they'll only trust you if you look like, sound like, and even smell like one of those big, stinking brutes." She pauses, choosing her next words carefully, and when she next speaks her voice is tinged with sadness, and she sounds like...like she does understand, just a bit? How could she possibly? "I know it must be painful to even think about subjecting yourself to the procedures; it feels like giving in, no? It feels as though you are letting them win; Ryan, Fontaine, Suchong...myself. We created you to be a monster, a machine—a tool to be used and then discarded. You have fought so hard, so bravely, to rebel against those that would control you, to show them that you are not what they meant to create; not just a person, or a man—a human being. A human being with a soul and a good heart, who has not destroyed everything in his path with blinding hatred, but who has helped me, and my girls, and who forgave two women who had lied and betrayed him in the past. You gave both Fraulein Elizabeth and myself second chances when we did not deserve them, and you saved my Little Ones when you could just as easily have slaughtered them and taken their ADAM for yourself. You are a good man, Herr Jack. Believe me when I say this. I care for you as I care for my Little Ones; I hate to see any harm befall you. Know that I would not ask this of you if it were not so necessary—I take no joy in seeing your pain, either spiritual or physical. Forgive me, but this...this must be done. If there was another way, I would say, but there is not. Es tut mir leid, mein Kind."

She understands. There is no possible way that she could, or even should; she shouldn't know how he feels about any of this, and about his doubts and fears of his own existence, his purpose here and what it all means. But she does—somehow, impossibly, she does, and that makes all the difference to him. Elizabeth, sensing that he's become lost in his own thoughts, gingerly places a hand on Jack's shoulder, squeezing gently, and doesn't remove it even when he jumps at the sudden contact. Her fingernails dig lightly into his shoulder, and the slight pain anchors him, which he's grateful for. He feels his heart start to speed up as he finally realizes the gravity of the current situation, and his head spins as he worries about the possibilities and the aftermath. He knows that what comes next will be one of his most terrifying nightmares for the rest of his life, and he will never forget it, and truth be told, he's scared. But Elizabeth is here, and so is Tenenbaum, and he also knows that these two women will be with him every step of the way, trying to make up for what they've done in their respective pasts, and will help him when it's all over, just as he's helped them. He has plenty to fear, and he does—that disgusting feeling festering in the pit of his stomach is annoyingly present, churning and crushing his insides like a cement mixer, but Elizabeth's right beside him, saying something in that lovely voice of hers; his brain is far too muddled right now to make any words out, though. He really does love the sound of her voice—he thinks that as long as she keeps talking he'll be fine. It's an odd combination—even when she's angry or hurt her voice is soft and smooth, and yet slightly husky, like a fine wine with that sharp aftertaste of alcohol, sweet but also bitter. Oh, look, he's getting sidetracked again. It's probably because his head is swimming and his heart feels like it's about to explode, and every part of him aches like he's just run a marathon. Oh well. He swallows nervously, not daring himself to speak again after his last failed attempt. The fact that he feels like he's about to vomit doesn't factor it at all. Nope.

God, he needs a drink.

"Is this process permanent?" Elizabeth speaks for him, still holding onto Jack—her fingernails are still digging into the fabric of his soiled cable-knit sweater, the pressure perhaps harder than strictly necessary, but strangely Jack barely feels it—he wonders if it's because he's distracted with other things right now or the fact that his arm is kinda numb. He ignores the sensation all the same, waiting with bated breath for Tenenbaum's response, knowing that he won't like it.

It's a long moment before Tenenbaum speaks again—whether it is because she needs to come up with a better version of the truth or she is calculating the odds of reversibility is left to the imagination. "Most of it is, yes. It is not as bad as it sounds, Fraulein Elizabeth. Jack will not actually become a Big Daddy—he will merely take on the appearance of one, so there is no need to worry. You will need a Big Daddy suit, three bottle of pheromones, and you will need to alter your voice to be like that of a Big Daddy's. Normally, the Big Daddy suit is grafted to the subject's skin, but obviously this will not be the case with you—there should be a couple of unused ones lying around. The pheromones will react with your chemical makeup and the ADAM in your blood and replicate itself in your body if you spray it directly onto yourself, secreting a most foul odor that you will never be able to get rid of. So best to get the suit first and then spray it with the pheromones. As for the voice modification...well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it, but I will say that it will not be pleasant."

"And we're going to find all of these things just lying around, are we?"

"You should, yes." At Elizabeth's startled silence, the German doctor sighs. "You are in the facility where they manufacture the Big Daddys and get them ready for duty. You should be able to find what you need in abundance. I would suggest you hurry. Fontaine will not wait for you, and you are almost out of time already. Viel Glück." Tenenbaum finishes with a note of finality, making it known that her orders are not to be ignored by either of them. She's given them the information that they need, and so now they should be off to go find the parts and proceed through the blocked door—they shouldn't be wasting any more time standing here and conversing, but Jack has something he needs to tell the good doctor, and damn it if he'll be ignored or let his emotions get the better of him before he can say it.

"Tenenbaum." Jack finally speaks, having managed to swallow down his strong conflicting emotions on the matter. He is not exactly quiet, but his voice is without the usual jauntiness of his personality, and both women are startled with the softness of his tone. Elizabeth looks at him worriedly, trying to read his face as if that would tell her what he was thinking. Jack sighs before attempting to speak again without his voice breaking like he knows it wants to, but it's a challenge. "Tenenbaum. You—you asked me to...forgive you. You...you don't need to—" He sighs again, taking a deep breath and counting to five before releasing it and trying again, his determination unwavering. He needs to say this, just in case—and now is better than later, or never. "You don't need to be forgiven, Tenenbaum, because you didn't do anything wrong. It's not your fault what's happening here, or that I have to do this—it's Fontaine's. It's all Fontaine's fault. I will stop him, Tenenbaum, I promise. Even if it's the last thing I do." Why does he feel like crying all of a sudden? He swallows the lump in his throat, about to continue, but realizing that he doesn't know what else to say. He debates internally for a few moments on what to end with, and finally decides on reaffirming his promise to her and the girls. He takes a deep breath, exhaling through his nose and closing his eyes ashe speaks. "I won't let you down, Tenenbaum. I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it. Even if it's my last act on this Earth, I will kill him."