Authors Note: A special thank you to Rocketfist for the helpful words of encouragement on the last chapter! On a personal note, I'm hoping that 'Medical Pavilion' doesn't take as many chapters as 'Welcome Center' did.
The vault like door handle spun, seemingly on its own, as Tristina and Jack pushed open the heavy steel door to the side. "Oh!" Tristina gasped, wrinkling her nose at the pungent acidic smell that hurdled through the opening.
In front of the two was a poster of a smiling woman with black hair and blue eyes. all around the woman the words 'With ADAM, there's no reason not to be beautiful.'
Around the poster were dirt and grime covered walls and black and white tiled floors. Tristina, her nerves regained, carefully peered around the semi hallway.
"Looks clear." Tristina whispered to Jack, motioning for him to follow her. To the duos far left, was an electric blue glow coming from a man-sized chamber. On either side of the chamber was a poster that read 'Introducing the future of health and wellness, The Vita Chamber. Restore your vigor and spirit with the touch of a button.'
"Now you've met Andrew Ryan." came Atlas's voice. Tristina tore her eyes away from the Vita Chamber and hurried after Jack, who was listening to Atlas's voice over the radio.
"The bloody King of Rapture" said Atlas bitterly. Suddenly returning to normal, Atlas continued. "Now find your way to emergency access." With that, the radio once again went quiet.
Walking into the atrium, the first thing Tristina noticed was the lopsided neon sign that read 'Medical Pavilion.' Below that was a small round desk.
Through the clouds of dust and debris, Tristina noticed the same triangular black and white tiles she had seen in the welcome center. "Hey Trish. check this out!" called Jack.
Tristina turned to see Jack squatting by one of the security drones, similar to the ones they had seen earlier, jammed in between two sliding doors."Careful Jack." Tristina called as Jack examined the contraption.
"Its deactivated, Trish." said Jack, tucking his wrench back into his belt. Opening up a side hatch, Jack frowned at the jumbled mess of wires and delicate moving parts.
Through the wires, Jack noticed some transparent tubes set in a miniature grid. "Okay..." sighed Jack, reaching through the wires and shifting one of the tubes towards a spout near the lower left hand corner of the grid.
"keep an eye out, Trish." said Jack, sensing Tristina's presence over his shoulder. "We don't want any nasty surprises while I'm adjusting our friend here."
Tristina nodded, formed a Ki ball in each hand, and stood guard. After a few tense minutes, Tristina heard Jack whisper "yes!" and a beeping as the security device sputtered to life.
Tristina tensed for a moment, ready to attack. "Don't." said Jack, staying her hand.
"See that green light? it's on our side now." said Jack, pointing to the small green light near the top of the top of the bot. Tristina smiled, nodded, then followed Jack and the bot through what appeared to be a vast control center of sorts.
Suddenly, Tristina's ears flicked and she threw out an arm to stop Jack. "What..." Began Jack, but stopped as their friendly bot flew ahead and let out a series of beeps.
The next thing the two knew, the little bot had engaged in gun fire with two unseen splicers on the other side of the room. As spears of light from the gunfire flashed off the walls, Tristina formed a Ki bomb.
"Cover me!" Tristina called, rushing towards the bots. Jack peered around the corner and began firing towards the splicers.
With a mighty heave, Tristina hurdled the Ki bomb towards the opposite end of the room. Jack continued firing as Tristina ran back to him.
"Someone shut the door!" a splicer yelled as Tristina ducked behind Jack and held up one hand. a quiet 'click' was heard, and Jack ducked back behind the wall as Tristina's Ki bomb exploded.
Sputtering slightly, Jacks loyal security bot flew back towards them, black burn marks clear on the bots shell. "Sorry." Tristina said as Jack reached up and pulled the hovering machine towards him.
Jack frowned to Tristina, but said nothing as he released the smoking bot and walked into the hallway. The hall was littered with shell casings which had been spewed from their hovering friend, as well as the two opposing splicers.
Tristina was unsurprised to see that the male was dressed in a blood stained hospital gown, as well as a surgeon's mask. It appeared he had been balding, and was just beginning to become disfigured from ADAM use.
Salvaging two eve hypos, a med hypo, and five dollars from the splicers, Tristina began to climb the rickety steel stairwell with Jack. At the top of the stairwell, between two large concrete pillars was a box-shaped console with various switches and buttons.
"Is this the 'emergency access' Atlas mentioned?" Tristina asked, staring up at the TV screens that surrounded the square box. "Must be. Lets flip the switch, shall we?" Jack asked, grabbing the switch and pulling it back.
"Security alert in progress. Access temporarily denied." said a friendly female voice as a red light flashed off the walls. "Shit." Tristina swore, whirling around at a sudden noise.
"That wont work for long!" a voice shrieked as a white bolt of pain flashed across Tristina's eyes. As Tristina buckled, she heard Jack fire his revolver at the offending Splicer.