Dusting herself off, Tristina smoothed out the wrinkles in her flowered (as well as now damp and slightly bloody) skirt.
Letting out a sigh, Tristina looked around the room. The same black and white diamond patterned tile stretched out from underneath them.
Through the dusty air and surrounding darkness, Tristina had no trouble seeing the red sign in bright white letters: 'AIRLOCK ACTIVE'. Tristina looked to her right and, through the dust choked air, noticed that the room they were in expanded to a large sitting area.
"Wait here." Tristina whispered, creeping forward. as she proceeded down the steps, Tristina held out her hand and frowned. tiny balls of light swirled around each other untill they meshed together in Tristina's palm to create a tennis ball sized glowing ball of light.
Nodding in satisfaction, Tristina continued down the steps, Tristina held the ball out, examining her surroundings. two rows of dark red velvet theater chairs sat in the middle of the room, with a flashing display light flickering above them.
As Tristina searched the chairs, she narrowly missed the figure sitting slumped against the wall. crouching in front of the figure, Tristina narrowed her eyes at him and felt of his neck with her free hand.
"Is he alive?" a voice asked, Tristina turned mid squat to see Jack approaching her from behind, his trusty red and silver wrench in his hand.
"No. Poor guy died protecting a suitcase and a...well, I'm not sure what this is." Tristina said, examining the blue liquid inside the can sized syringe.
"Hey Atlas." said Jack, holding the walkie up to his mouth. "Trish found a guy with a suitcase and a syringe with some glowing blue stuff in it."
"Is it a bright blue?" Atlas asked.
"Yeah." said Jack as Tristina nodded.
"Its called 'eve'. it's used to power any plasmids you might have." After taking the walkie from Jack, Tristina frowned as she spoke into it.
"I thought that's what ADAM was for, Atlas." said Tristina, her brow furrowing at Jack as they waited for Atlas' reply. "Adam allows you to change your genetic makeup, lass. It doesn't, however, give you the power to use whatever you splice. That's what the eve is for. you're going to want to carry as many eve syringes as you can. It's basically like water down here. you can't use your plasmids without eve." Atlas explained.
Muttering her thanks into the Walkie, Tristina handed it back to Jack and stook up.
A minature waterfall cascaded on the deceased man, his head forced sideways from the force.
Tristina frowned slightly, reached down and slid her fingers over the mans eyelids. Looking around, Tristina stepped around the man and began to make her way around the theater chairs.
Squinting to see through the dust, Tristina took a few steps forward to make out the dingy hallway.
Suddenly, a shadowy figure dragging a discarded pipe across the floor sprinted across the hallway.
"Splicers!" Atlas shouted from the walkie. Tristina produced a second Ki ball in her right hand while Jack held up his wrench.
"Give 'em the combo, lad! 1 2 punch! Zap em then Wack 'em! Remember, the 1 2 punch!" Atlas shouted. Snarling, Tristina surged forward as the splicer let out a wild yell.
"I can control mys-" Tristina cut off the splicer mid-rant as her bare foot struck the side of his head.
as the Atlas named 'splicer' stumbled backwards, a bolt of lighting shot over Tristinas shoulder and struck the splicer.
As he stuttered, Jack surged forward and swung the wrench with all his might.
The connection of skull and wrench produced a satisfying crack as the Splicer collasped to the duo's feet.
"Nice job." said Jack, nudging the splicer with his foot. "Id say he's down for the count." said Tristina, smiling as she willed her Ki away from her hands.
Looking up, Tristina walked towards the next door. jumping slightly as it slid open, and stared up the flight of stairs that were lined with what Tristina imagined was once polished white tile.
a thick layer of dust and dirt now caked the tile, similar to near the bathosphere.
running along both sides of the stairs was what Tristina imagined was once a handsome iron and teak handrail.
"Shall we?" said Jack, smiling to the wolf. Tristina smiled in return, took his arm, and the two began to make thier way up the stairwell (after clambering over the broken parts.) "T-tell Ryan I'm sorry." a timid male voice stammered from somewhere in the room beyond.
Frowning with curiousity, Tristina crouched low to the stairs and crawled forward. "N-no, not that. Please...please anything but...no, no, no Please!" Tristina yelped as a fireball exploded from somewhere in the distance, then hurdled towards the ground with sickening speed.
As they near the top, Tristina ducked just below the bottom as the fireball exploded into even more fire as it struck the bottom.
Clambering over the couch in the next room, Tristina and Jack hurried through the oddly lobby like room into a double doors. passing the two 'R' shaped door handles, Tristina and Jacked arrived in a ornate room where four elevators (technically three, since one was a smouldering pile of rubble, metal, and flames)
As the two climbed into the elevator, Tristina smacked the button to activate the lift. As the two waited to arrive at thier destination, Atlas began speaking yet again.
"Listen- I've got a family. I NEED to get them out of here." said Atlas, and Tristina frowned at the pleading in his voice. "But the Splicers have cut me off from them." Atlas explained. Tristina looked up as the lift passed three banners. the first was red and bore the word 'Creativity'.
The second was a forest green (Tristina felt a pang of nostaglia at the sight of the color) and bore the word 'Independence'.
the last was a red banner with a green border and read 'Commerce.'
"If you can reach them in Neptune's Bounty then maybe...just maybe..." Tristina frowned as another pang of emotion (this one sympathy) coursed through her.
"I know you two must feel like the unluckiest people in the world right now, you two are the only hope I'll ever see my wife and child again." Tristina bowed her head, struggling to hold back tears as emotion flooded her.
"Go to Neptunes Bounty, find my family...please..." Tristina sniffed and wiped her eyes as Jack eyed her. "We will, Atlas." Tristina said in a thick voice, wiping her eyes. "I promise, we will."