The Nazareth House was a large, grey, beautiful building, operated by the Sisters of Nazareth. It was not only an orphanage, but also a place for the elderly and destitute children.
The tall, nerdy, oval-faced lady known as Brigid Tenenbaum took a taxi to reach the place, wearing simple white clothes under a brown skirt and jacket, and high heels. She had gray, rather short, unkempt hair, not an uncommon problem for highly intelligent people. Brigid was equipped with nothing but a suitcase and autism, neither of which helped her. Tenenbaum was speaking to the owner in her office. It did not go well. No matter what she said, nothing worked...
"...dhose girls are mine. My efforts, my sins, created the first little ones. Only I can truly cure them. Please, Mother Flannigan, I must take them to a London so I can cure them, and finally end such work I did so long ago," Tenenbaum explained, clearly a little angry and emotional...but at least her English improved a little. She spoke with a thick accent yet had a gentle voice, rolling the tongue and often pronouncing 'th' as 'd' and if the first syllable is 'oo' as 'v', and sometimes added 'a' even when the determiner should not belong in the sentence.
Mother Flannigan did not seem impressed by the Belarusian's honest history, and stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"So... when you were sixteen, you were captured by Nazis, turned out to be a scientific genius, and then you escaped to an underwater city to recreate people and create super-children? And that these super-children puke out scientific bile that allow you to modify genetics, even the double helix?" Mother Flannigan asked.
"Yes," Tenenbaum replied, nodding solemnly, not realizing Mother Flannigan's disbelief. "We augment the lining of girl's stomach with sea slug. When she eats and regurgitates, this yields ADAM. All these crazy ideas I've had since the war... I just know."
"And then you returned to that underwater city to save the next generation of super-children?"
"Yes! And now they are here, saved by Eleanor and... Delta, who died. But all I care about now is to save them, to finally end my sins, my guilt, my shame, before Dr. Lamb does anything. I am so close to putting all of this behind me... They used to ask me, when they will go home? I will finally take them home."
"Do you seriously expect me to believe you?"
Tenenbaum's face contorted into frustration. "Please, let me see them! They will know who I am! I can stay here, you bring them to me. Tell them Mama Tenenbaum is here to see them, they will know me." Tenenbaum paused, Mother Flannigan unamused. "Did you see news? A submersible appear in Sligo, with many children, a woman named Sofia Lamb, her daughter Eleanor Lamb, and a dead man, Johnny. It's all over the news. There can be no doubt what I said is true."
"You said you saved children before, where are they?"
"The first ones I save have no memory of me. Even if I had some, they can't remember me. But the Little Sisters here know me. Please, I am begging you, they must see me," Brigid pleaded, sinking in her chair.
"Just give me a minute." Mother Flannigan picked up a telephone.
Tenenbaum found herself being escorted out the building by a police officer. She carried her suitcase in front of her with both hands, elbows bent, head low, shoulders raised. The crone tried to hold back her tears. She wanted to plead, but what could she say? Brigid's thinking came to an end when the police officer fell. She turned around to see what happened, a little afraid.
"Hi, Tenenbaum," Eleanor greeted.
Brigid sighed. "Good to see you again, Eleanor. But now, we will have trouble with police."
"I already am, actually..."
Brigid blinked once, twice. "You are?"
"I can faintly sense the Little Sisters, let's go get them!" Eleanor exclaimed, runnning into the orphanage, Tenenbaum jogging behind, almost dropping her suitcase.
Following Eleanor, Tenenbaum rushed down hallways, the occasional nun demanding what they were doing.
Eleanor and Brigid appeared in a large room full of small bunk beds. The Little Sisters played various games. The little ones raised their heads, squeaked, and scampered to them, surrounding the big girls and jumping.
"Mama Tenenbaum!" a Little Sister exclaimed.
"Mama Tenenbaum, did you see the boys here? Boys!"
"Eleanor!"
"Eleanor? Is it really you? We missed you! Good morning, Eleanor!"
"Mother Goose is back! Yay! I thought we left you in Rapture?"
"Is she here? Eleanor and Tenenbaum! You, you, you're both back!"
"See? I told you! Big Sister never leaves us! Now we can play again!"
"Why am I even crying? Mama and Big Sister are okay."
"Please don't go away ever again, Eleanor, okay? I'll be extra quiet, too, you know!"
The Little Sisters chirp endlessly while bobbing their big heads, Eleanor and Tenenbaum smiling and patting them on their heads.
"Wait, a few are missing," Eleanor said, Tenenbaum looking at her.
"Are you sure?" Brigid asks.
"I will find them." Eleanor teleported, reappearing in a dark room somewhere.
"Eleanor! You're back! Yay!" a Little Sister exclaimed, strapped down against a bed. The child was spotted with bruises.
"What happened?" Eleanor asked, ripping the straps off. Once freed, the Little Sister sat up, feeling her wrists, then hopped off the bed with a huff.
"Bad boys stealed me! They also stealed Chantal, Adelaide, and Cindy!"
"Stay close to me, Camille. Let's go get them."
"Right! It's payback time!" The Little Sister cracked her knuckles.
The two wandered a bit, Eleanor soon finding a locked door.
"Hands off! Don't touch me!" a Little Sister squeaked, followed by a slap. "No! No, no, no, no! Stop!" More slapping and thudding. Eleanor's heart nearly stops, and pumps painfully.
She kicked the door with such force, her leg breaks through, but the damn door remained closed. Grunting, Eleanor smashed her head through the wood and forced herself through, splinters flying everywhere.
Up ahead, one of the Little Sisters had her hands and feet tied together behind herself, clothes ripped and the child mapped with cuts. Two demented teenaged boys were striking her with belts and kicking her, sometimes sliding knives along her skin and laughing at the bleeding girl.
Since the Little Sister was saved from her slug, she no longer possessed the regeneration Little Sisters would normally have, and bled heavily. Upon Eleanor's introduction, the teenaged boys turned, a scruffy teenaged girl in socks behind them.
Camille appeared and hopped through the broken door, biting her lip and raising her fists. "We're back with Big Sister! And you'll be sorry, you bad boys!"
Eleanor did not say anything, face devoid of emotion. Just as the priest had said, the orphanage had a bad reputation, and Eleanor now knew why. She could only imagine what these two teenagers did their entire lives to the other orphans. They reminded her of Splicers: ugly, pathetic cowards who preyed on innocent children. She wondered how Father felt, as a Big Daddy killing much smaller, pathetic, disgusting little monsters.
"Foohk off, ya ugly runt! Or I'll hurt you!" one of the teenagers threatened.
"An' I'll tell Mother Flannigan, so foohk off!" the other yelled.
Eleanor was not sure if the boys were trying to play tough, or hiding their fear, or if they were just plain dumb.
Camille leaned forward, hands on her hips. "No! You fuck off!"
Horrible memories of Rapture flooded Eleanor's thoughts. The killing. The blood-sucking. The Splicers. Father... "Justice is a contract. Once broken, it can never be mended. For what you did to my Little Sisters, and for what you did to the other children..." She darted forth, the teenagers surprised by how fast she moved. She grabbed one boy by the neck, lifted him, then slammed his head into the floor, the other teenager screaming like a girl.
Camille scurried to the slammed boy as he squirmed, his breathing rapid, moaning with every exhale. "You're a bad boy!" Camille started kicking the writhing teenager, hurting him further.
"Hurt him, Camille! Hurt him!" the bonded Little Sister shouted.
"I am, Chantal, I am! No one hurts my sister and gets away with it!" Camille shrieked, thudding her little fists and feet into the disabled abuser.
The other teenager ran away.
"Go on, have a head start!" Eleanor shouted, catching up to the teenager and tackling him down. She grabbed him by the hair with the strength of a vice grip, yanking his head back, the lad's shoulders raising and his scalp ripping open. He squealed, blood and tears running down his face. "Think about the children you tortured, raped and murdered."
Long fingers latched around boy's head, Eleanor repeatedly smashed his face into the floor, fucking up his nose, lips, eyebrows, and cheekbones, most of his teeth falling out. Eleanor lifted his head then leaned in. "Your face reminds me of a Splicer's. Not sure who's uglier, though."
The boy breathed rapidly, his face unrecognizable, just a mangled mush of torn skin, leaking blood, and swelling flesh. She let go of his head, his face splatting.
Eleanor grabbed the teenager's ear, twisting it until the cartilage cracked. The boy whimpered; Eleanor tore his ear off as if it was paper. He screamed. She leaned to the side like a snake, grabbing his other ear. "Do you want me to rip this off, too?"
He whimpered.
"No? Alright." She grabbed the teenager's arm, rammed her foot into his stomach, and pulled his arm, clothes and tendons gradually ripping. The boy writhed and kicked, wheezing as ligaments and tendons popped, then wetly snapping apart. Blood leaking out the stump, Eleanor tossed the severed arm away, the young man shaking in shock.
While Camille attacked the teenagers, Eleanor freed the bonded Little Sister, who promptly joined her sister in beating the teenagers.
"You don't get timeout! You get unzipping instead!" Chantal stated; the Little Sisters stomped their foes.
While the two sisters were busy, Eleanor darted off to find the last two Little Sisters. Breaking the washroom door open, she found the third Little Sister, alone in the dark.
"Eleanor? Is that you? It is you! You saved me from the monsters!" She hugged Eleanor's legs, and crying.
Eleanor knelt, hugging the child back. "Shhh... I'm here, we'll be okay. Calm down, Adelaide... Let's go find the others." Eleanor took the Little Sister to the two others. Camille and Chantal had finished beating the teenager up and ran to Adelaide, taking turns hugging her.
"Cindy...where are you?" Eleanor ran off, occasionally running past nuns and orphans, but does not care about them, even when they ask who she is or what she is doing.
Eleanor breaks into what appears to be a janitor's closet. Inside, she finds Cindy. Cindy's hands are tied behind her back, the bonds then placed over a hook, forcing her to hang by her hands. The unnatural position and stress in her shoulders are so much, the child cannot even make noise. She had cried herself empty, and looked up at Eleanor with a haunting grimace, filled with the pleading desire to be saved.
Holding back tears, Eleanor gently lifted Cindy off the hook. Cindy tumbled and groaned unable to move. Eleanor removed the child's bonds, then gently picked her up and carries her down the hall.
The nuns and orphans staring at Eleanor do nothing, but some screaming echoed deeper in the orphanage. Sounded like Eleanor's victims were discovered.
A few nuns approached Eleanor, demanding her to put the child down and leave.
Eleanor raised a hand, flames forming; the nuns flinched, dumbstruck. "Get out of my sight...before I burn you to death for what you have done to so many children."
They left Eleanor alone.
Meanwhile, Tenenbaum remained with the first group of Little Sisters, sitting on a bed and watching them play. She saw Eleanor return with four Little Sisters, one in her arms, Brigid's mouth drops. Tenenbaum approached Eleanor, her dress a bloodied.
"What happened?" Tenenbaum asked, the other Little Sisters jogging to Eleanor to check on Cindy; Tenenbaum covered her mouth at the sight of her and Chantal.
"Let's just get out of this place," Eleanor replied with some heat.
"I get good clothes and get my bag and we leave."
Cindy and Chantal redressed and bandaged, the family from Rapture headed for the exit, someone following them.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Mother Flannigan screeched; Brigid turned around and punched her in the face. Despite her nerdy look, Brigid struck Mother Flannigan off her feet.
"Yay!" several Little Sisters cheered.
They left the orphanage without further ado.
Outside, Eleanor walked to a parked car with four seats. She uses her psychokinesis to unlock the car doors, something she should have considered before, but was too angry to think straight while in the orphanage.
Mama Tenenbaum drove the stolen car, most of the Little Sisters cramped like sardines in the back, but two also sat on Eleanor's lap. Cindy lay across Tenenbaum's lap, shaking, Tenenbaum stroking the child's head. Everyone was mostly quiet, the little ones peeping out the windows once in a while.
"No bad boys, Mama Tenenbaum!" a Little Sister from a backseat updated.
"Oh! Police! Get your heads down!" Tenenbaum instructed and the Little Sisters did so. Up ahead, several police cars raced down the street, sirens wailing. Like other road users, Tenenbaum drove to the side and stopped, holding her breath...
One by one, the cops drove past...
"Wee-ooo!" one of the Little Sisters mimicked.
"Shh! The cops will hear us!" another Little Sister warned, the previous one covering her mouth.
"Oh yeah, right!" she whispered.
Brigid sighed as the road soon went back to normal. Tenenbaum drove on, the Little Sisters lifting their heads to look around.
"Safe and sound," a Little Sister commented.
"Good thing this hidey hole has wheels."
"You do have a plan, right?" Eleanor asked.
"Yes. A friend is waiting for me at airport," Tenenbaum replied.
Sometime later, Tenenbaum drove to the airport. She clumsily parked her car, accidentally hitting another, raising her shoulders at that.
"Kabronk!" a Little Sister exclaimed.
Fortunately, no one was around to get upset at Tenenbaum's little accident.
"Let's go, now," Eleanor said.
The Little Sisters crawled out the windows.
"Tenenbaum, let me carry Cindy."
Tenenbaum passed Cindy to Eleanor and everyone followed Tenenbaum down the airport.
Soon, the family was approached by a tall man with pronounced facial features, and was wondering why the teenaged girl was not wearing any footwear. Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of him, and once he got close enough, she slightly reared her head.
"S-S... Sinclair? Is that you?" Eleanor asked, surprised.
"I take it that means he's dead?" the man replied, having an American accent. "There was only one dead man on his lifeboat, and it wasn't Augustus. I'm Julian Sinclair, Augustus was my brother."
"I'm sorry. Augustus didn't make it, but...because of him, we did." Eleanor hoped she didn't have to explain exactly what exactly happened to Augustus. From one of Rapture's greatest minds to a Big Daddy who kept some of his memories, he had quite the tragic life.
"Well then, now it's my turn to help you with my own vehicle!" Julian said. Everyone followed him towards a Douglas DC-6 over yonder.
"You're the pilot?" Eleanor asked.
"Yeah, I was a pilot during the war. DC-6's were once military aircraft, so I figured I might as well keep flyin' em. Even after twenty years, they still soar real good!"
"Ooo! It's a Big Angel!" Adelaide remarked.
"We're going in the angel-boat?" a Little Sister asked.
"Be careful going up steps, little ones," Brigid cautioned.