Authors Note: a very very special thanks to Rockfist for another idea spawning awe inducing review. Hopefully I can continue to match your high standards, as well as keep to my own agenda for Jack and Tristina. Well, enough my chatter, lets get to the fan fiction shall we?

"Hey, I think I saw something called 'Eternal Flame' back across the pavilion there." said Tristina as the two retraced their steps back to the two turrets and the service counter. As Tristina stared at the grimy black and white tile, She kept flicking her ears back and forth, listening for any splicers or other approaching danger.

"Hear anything?" Jack said in a low whisper. Tristina shook her head, then stopped and threw out a hand to stop Jack. "wait here" she whispered, her ears flicking this way and that. her head visably perked up as, finally, Jack heard it as well. a low metallic rumble, as if one of the glass and metal passageways was being bent in half.

Her eyebrows furrowing, Tristina sniffed the air then nearly gagged in disgust. the stale are mixed with a heavy metallic coating as well as the pungent scent of blood. Looking to her left, Tristinas face cleared as she looked to her left to see something shimmer in the flickering lamplight.

"Jack...Jack!" Tristina breathed, waving her hand towards herself in Jacks direction. "What is it, a splicer?" Jack whispered, Tommy gun at the ready. Tristina shook her head and pointed at the blood covered poster. beneath the poster was something brown and beige, glinting in the artificial light.

"Cover me. Im gonna check it out." Tristina whispered, crouching beside a small corner. She felt Jack lean against the grimy wall behind her and whisper "okay. Go!" Tristina, her bloody torn as well as dirt covered skirt swishing at her ankles, ran slightly crouched towards the object she had seen. reaching the other wall, she flattened herself against it and listened. the metallic groaning noise she had heard sounded again, but this time further away.

Looking up, she saw Jack crouched at the corner of the wall, tommy gun positioned awkwardly on top of his knees. blue eyes glancing back and forth underneath a mop of dirty brown hair, Jack raised his hand in the air. curling his fingers into a fist, Jack extended his thumb and thrust his fist slightly into the air.

Nodding, Tristina relaxed and looked at the brown and beige object hanging on the wall. dusting off the object, Tristina felt the heat rise in her face as her ears dropped slightly.

Looking back to Jack, Tristina held up the object. a worn tape recorder hung from the black strap that sat in Tristina's curled fingers. Jack straightened up, tommy gun drooping to his side, and his stared at Tristina's find. 'a tape?' he mouthed, glancing left and right before jogging across the hall to Tristina.

"Looks like its another message from Steinman." "I thought it was something important." whispered Jack, disappointment evident in his tone. "Me too." Tristina admitted, popping open the cassette deck and fishing the black tape out with one finger. "Maybe its not a total loss." said Tristina, sliding the cassette into her own tape player. "Your right." said Jack, stooping over to pick up something on the ground. Tristina glanced over to see Jack brushing off the dirt of a box of bandages. "I doubt they're sanitary." Tristina commented, frowning at the aged blue and white box. "Honestly Tristina," said Jack with a sigh as he slid the box into Tristinas bag. "I doubt anything in this grimy hell hole is sanitary." Tristina gave a grim smile at this, then looked back at the tape.

"'Limits of Imagination'" Tristina read through the tinted tape deck window. "Sounds like more of Stienman's drivel." said Tristina, glancing beyond the dusty faux potted plant for any enemies before walking down the hall towards a neon sign that read "'Asthetic Ideals'"

"'Play it, then.'" said Jack with a shrug. "Anything is better than maddening silence, right?" Jack asked asked as the floor beneath them shifted from black and white checkerboard to a plain dull white diamonded pattern. "Unless of course You want to tell me about your shack-" "I am beautiful, yes." came Stienmans voice from the recorder at Tristina's side. Tristina ignored Jack and imagined stienman standing infront of a mirror, one hand holding his chin the other stroking his own cheek.

In her mind, he looked slightly disheveled his slick black (or brown, Tristina couldn't tell from the black and white photo) hair starting to stick up at various angles. his short mustache now fluffed up here and there, instead of slick and combed like in the photo. Tristina imagined him with a open lab coat and beaker of red liquid tucked in one lab coat pocket, his scalpel in the other.

"Look at me, what could I do to make my features finer?" Tristina imagined Stienman now examining every angle of his face, searching for any imperfections. "With Adam and my Scalpel, I have been transformed."

Tristina now imagined Stienman taking out the beaker and scalpel and staring at them as if they were priceless diamonds. "But is there not something better?" Stienman asked as Tristina imagined him putting back the items. "What if now it is not my skill that fails me..." Stienman trailed off, and Tristina imagined him looking back into the mirror...as if he had seen something he hadn't before. "But my imagination?" Stienman breathed, and Tristina felt a chill that had nothing to do with the icy water travel down her spine.

"Something tells me this is when Steinman began to really come unhinged." said Jack, the question of Tristina's shackles forgotten.

Tristina was about to reply when the two stopped in the middle of the walkway, staring at a flickering picture of Stienman on a TV screen. "With Genetic modifications, beauty is no longer a goal, or even a virtue. It is a moral obligation."

Tristina imagined Stienman standing at a podium, Hair still slightly disheveled, face now gaunt as if from lack of sleep. "Do we force the healthy to live with the contagious?" Stienman asked.

Tearing his eyes away from the screen, Jack nudged Tristinas arm and pointed to two figures walking in a adjacent glass and steel corridor. her pale skin and haunting yellow eyes revealed that the little girl was indeed a Little sister, happily carrying the syringe limply at her side. her dirty pink dress, dulled from the grime that covered both it and the child, came down to the little ones knees.

her blackened bare feet happily skipped along the corridor, as if she were simply going to play. lumbering behind her was the Atlas coined 'Big Daddy'. This one looked similar to the one Tristina had encountered in the Welcome Center, right down to the steel plated drill.

"Do we mix the criminal with the law abiding?" Stienman continued, his raising voice bringing Tristina back to her senses. "Then why..." Stienman continued, his voice practically shouting now. Tristina quietly jogged past the screen to catch up with Jack, who had resumed his journey down the walkway. "Are the plain allowed to mix with the fair" Stienman continued, his raised voice softening the further Tristina drew from him.

"Seems like stienman is cracking..." Jack began, trailing off as the securis door opened to reveal a scene almost identical to the entrance of Stienmans lab. Tristina followed Jacks gaze to the dingy tiled floor where someone (Tristina suspected stienman) had written 'Asthetics are a moral imperative' in blood followed by three exclaimation points. Upon shifting the gaze away from the floor to pictures of two women, cut up like before.

the picture on the left sported a balding head, and a large incision going from the right ear to the nose. Suddenly, Tristinas ears perked and she grabbed Jack to stop him from proceeding. ears perked forward, a male voice flowed towards her.

Tristina couldn't make out what he was saying, but the voice sounded familiar. When he had gotten her attention, Jack tapped his left ear with his index finger and nodded. He could hear the voice as well. squeezing Jacks arm, Tristina mouthed 'wait here' and tip toed down the steps. creeping forward, Tristina peered around the corner to see a balding man hunched over something, in light red scrubs and black gloves.

Swallowing, Tristina pushed her Ki through her feet and began to hover a foot off the ground. "Doctor Stienman?" Tristina called as loudly as she dared. Instead of turning around, Stienman hurdled for a narrow hall on the other side of the room, screaming "Not Finished! Not Finished!"

"Doctor Stienman, wait!" Tristina called, running after him. "Not Finished!" Stienman bellowed, throwing something behind him. Tristina screamed and dove for the ground, sliding slightly as large chunks of concrete, steel, and wire barreled down towards her. Above the avalanche of debris, Tristina could hear Jack screaming her name.

As the turmolt and chaos slowly ceased, Tristina coughed and pushed herself to her knees.

"Shit."

"You okay, Trish?"

Tristina blinked and looked up to see Jack jogging towards her, worry etched across his face. "I'm fine Jack," Tristina commented as she brushed off her now torn and tattered gown. looking up, the two noticed that the overhanging neon purple ledge that had hung above them now blocked their path. "Watch it!" Jack called, dragging Tristina backwards as several more bombs exploded at their feet. "we need a way to get past that rubble. Atlas." Jack called, rasing the walkie to his lips. "Where can we..."

"I can hear that splicer sounding off like its the fourth of July." interrupted Atlas' accent laden reply. "Explosives are hard to come by down here. if you can find one of them telekinesis plasmids you can catch the damn firebomb and toss it right back in his gob." Tristina then looked at what had once been a working ledge above the Surgery wing. "Or anything else that might be standing in your way." added Atlas off handedly. "Come on Jack." said Tristina, frowning as a firefight began between the splicer tossing the bombs and another splicer with a tommy gun above them.

"we have a plasmid to find."