Spitting out half a mouthful of blood, Zachary rubbed his forehead as the otherworldly effects wore off. His vision partly returned to normal, and he realized a fight had erupted a while ago, but his sight was blurry.
Eleanor was still under the effects, her eyes beaming yellow, blood leaking out her mouth and nose, and the sharp static and tuning noises almost echoing. Nevertheless, she threw punches, knee strikes and headbutts at her attackers: the robed people, some armed with swords! Eleanor did what she could, rolling her shoulders to evade the incoming swords, but the blades hit her on the head and arms, cutting her open and dashing blood, but she held firm, Big Sister body withstanding the edges.
Nearby, Sofia (who clearly was not a fighter) relied on angry pawing and clawing while wincing against a robed man whose arms and legs had...greatly elongated? Zachary immediately rushed forth, firing his revolver at point-blank into her attacker. To his surprise, the robed man made a high-pitched growl, but nonetheless flopped over, writhing and kicking on the floor like a crazed animal.
Pulling Sofia close to him, Zachary aimed across the aisle and fired at Eleanor's attackers, gunfire echoing like crazy indoors, shooting two robed men down before his revolver emptied all its chambers. Eleanor skipped away from her remaining attackers, holding her head.
Zachary rushed forth to help Eleanor. He swung his revolver to knock aside an incoming sword, then pistol-whipped the fanatic in the head, staggering him. Zachary push kicked the fanatic's knee, hearing it crack, but despite that gripped his sword regardless. Zachary then pointed his gun forth, and the robed swordsmen stopped; they did not realize he was out of bullets!
"One step closer, and you're done," Zachary warned. The trick worked, for now, but the robed swordsmen remained en garde, sometimes hissing.
Suddenly, all remaining robed people amongst the pews grasped them, shaking violently, groaning as blood poured out the opening of their hoods. One by one, they experienced a metamorphosis. Their arms and legs made popping, cracking and squishy noises, and elongated. Their limbs extended until the skin split, their muscles and tendons stretched, and they inhaled as if howling, blood spraying out their mouths. Once the transformation was complete, each robed person crawled along the tops of the pews like spiders.
"Huh...they are faster than Spider Splicers..." Sofia whispered to herself.
Eleanor suffered by her strange effects, too debilitated to do anything for now.
"Aww, shit! What the fuck is going on here!?" Zachary cussed at everything happening, looking around as several unchanged robed swordsmen walked towards him, the croaking of crows sounding.
Black streaks flowed through the air, accompanied by ghostly crows, distracting Zachary. The robed swordsmen rushed forth, their crows cawing and swarming the three. Sofia squealed, she and Zachary swiping at the annoying birds as they violently pecked them, Eleanor covering her head.
"Murder of Crows..." Zachary mumbled as he reloaded his revolver and thrashed his shoulders against the feathery fucks.
Eleanor shook her head, her terrible side-effects wearing off. She spat a mouthful of blood out, then presented her palm and released a powerful telekinetic wave just as the robed swordsmen were about to swing their blades. The Plasmid hurled them off their feet, and with such force that they dropped their swords and their hoods fell back. A second upward wave blasted the crows away, reducing them into darkness and nothingness.
Turning, Eleanor raised both palms, one hand blasting an electrobolt, the other a psychokinetic burst. One of the elongated fellows was struck by electricity, and shook wildly while screeching, whilst a few others were blown back by Eleanor's telekinesis.
Without waiting, Eleanor used her psychokinesis to pull a few swords to herself, catching one midair, then letting two levitate next to her. Once he finished reloading his gun, Zachary tossed his revolver into his left hand, then took one of the levitating swords, as did Mother.
The presence of a sword reminded Zachary of his old M1860, a light cavalry sabre the 7th Cavalry had, based on a French design. However, this sword he just acquired was no sabre, but an arming sword. "Eh, it'll do..."
The three noticed that the fanatics Eleanor had hurled away picked themselves up, hoodless faces revealed. That is, the lack thereof. The robed people did not have faces. They were absent of noses, cheeks, lips, skin, and eyelids. Their never-blinking eyes gazed with relentlessness, visible teeth constantly gnashing.
"Mortification, self-mutilation..." Sofia remarked.
"Eeuhhh...reminds me of when I scalped those Indians," Zachary commented, Eleanor giving him a weird look.
Eleanor, Zachary and Sofia then looked at the pews, the spidery fanatics incoming. But then, all the fanatics paused what they were doing, and lifted their heads.
Zachary and his two friends turned to face the altar. The idiot priest was still lying on his back after being shot in the head, but then he sat up. Blood leaking down the bullet hole in his forehead, Michael picked himself up, eyeless face bloodied. Zachary's lips parted, eyebrows furrowing, eyes narrowing.
"Back from the dead?" Sofia asked nonchalantly, Michael simply spreading his arms and portraying his pierced palms.
"Natus in morte," Father Atar remarked.
"If he's back from the dead, he won't be for long," Zachary assured, pulling his gun hammer back.
Michael cackled, laughter echoing up the cathedral. He gripped his hands, red swirling auras forming around them, and then he conjured two rippling masses of some sort.
Zachary frowned. "Like Elizabeth's Tears..."
"Ad mortem!" Michael exclaimed, and then from each Tear poured forth a dozen or so fanatics, charging single file with their swords. Zachary fired at the line to his left, his Smith & Wesson Model 29-2 projecting a single bullet straight through several fanatics, all of them hitting the floor.
Eleanor hurled explosive fireballs, feeling the heat as several charging fanatics flew into the air ablaze and growling. She spun around and waved psychokinetic power upon several spidery fanatics who just leapt into the air, blasting them backwards while Zachary fired.
"Come here! I'll show you why I am the White Injun of the 7th Cavalry!" he encouraged, shielding Sofia. Zachary engaged with the robed swordsmen, some of them on fire. He repeatedly swung his sword into their swings, cutting into their cuts, as well as using his revolver as a parrying device, as there was no other way to defend against multiple swords. Their attacks hacked apart his shields though he remained firm.
Upon intercepting an incoming sword, Zachary then would snap his blade down into his foe's forearm, head, shoulder, or collarbone, whilst firing his revolver at point-blank range or casting Shock Jockey through either clench hand. He often either cut hands off or chopped skulls open or shot fanatics dead, but received several cuts as well, narrowly avoiding serious injury. He cast Old Man Winter, freezing a fanatic and using him as a frozen human shield until hacked apart by fanatical attacks.
Zachary fought with greater skill, precision, quickness and ferocity than the fanatics. He was a blender, attacking and parrying in all directions, in constant motion with his sword, Vigors used whenever he could, though he did not seem dependent on Salts anymore. Once things got face-to-face, he would club with his gun, headbutt, knee strike, and strike with the hilt or pommel of his sword. Both sides of his sword were nicked and chipped from overuse against other swords and cutting through bone.
Sofia mostly kept defensive, hiding behind Zachary and hoping not to get hurt. Occasionally she managed to swing her sword here and there, but did little, and Zachary always protected her. A man who protects the woman he loves fights like a devil possessed, after all. His adrenaline was pumping so much he did not even feel pain in his many flesh wounds, shields unable to regenerate fully due to constant attacks.
The fanatics relentlessly assaulted him, more and more pouring out Michael's Tears, and more and more piling dead around Zachary. Nearly overwhelmed by sheer numbers, Zachary cast Bucking Bronco, but the fanatics continued swinging their swords even when floating! He did them a favour and threw a charged Shock Jockey, which formed an electrical field that shocked all the floating fanatics and many others around him and Sofia. He and Sofia took the advantage and chopped into the electrocuted fanatics, but Zachary did most of the butchery. He formed a mound of dead and dying fanatics and severed limbs and heads, forcing reinforcements to either climb over them or dismantle the piles.
Father Atar stood where he was, arms spread apart, grinning as blood leaked down his face and beard. Was he enjoying all of this? He simply observed, for now.
The Murder of Crows came back, feathery bastards flapping about and harassing Zachary, interrupting his epic moment. One crow pecked him in the eye, so he bit its head off then spat it out. He wanted to cast another round of Plasmids, but was out of EVE, for now. He would need to wait a while before it recharged, or so this seemed to be the case now.
While Zachary and Sofia engaged with the fanatics and supernatural crows, Eleanor had charged forth to face the spidery foes, hearing them breathing like mad dogs. Just as one of them jumped at Eleanor, she leapt and dropkicked him, knocking him away. A second crawled at her, intending to grab her legs and bite her belly, so she simply swung her sword like a golf club, lopped an arm, then chopped her blade down onto the head, dividing it asunder.
"Stand in our way, and you'll get what's coming to you!" Eleanor warned, though these mutated freaks seemed no more intelligent than Splicers. She blasted an Electrobolt at one, stunning her and then promptly decapitating her. She then lifted another with her telekinesis and slammed its back against the pews, wood and bone cracking aloud. "Alright, who's next?"
Several spidery fanatics reached Eleanor and swiped their immense arms at her. She skipped out of the way with the reflexes of a ferret, hopping onto one of the pews, which gave her a height advantage while the other pews served as obstacles.
The spidery fanatics crawled along the pews and darted for Eleanor, one leaping at her and extending his arms and legs. Eleanor swung her sword in a sideways arc, cutting the monster's arms off at the elbows, then skipped over the next pew and drove her sword clean through another monster's face. She heard him repeatedly biting the blade, clawing at her, but she just bit onto a hand, crushing the knuckles and tendons with her teeth. A thrust through the beast's heart caused it to writhe and screech. She lifted him then threw him off her blade.
Eleanor kept a defensive position, chopping into the hands and arms of beasts crawling to her, and using Plasmids to keep others at bay. One of the monsters leapt upon her, but she caught her with a telekinetic barrier, levitating her in place. "You can only die once, but I'll make yours a little fun." Eleanor slashed the monster's arms off, then deactivated her Plasmid.
The monster landed on her feet, without arms. She looked around, and then ran away. Eleanor threw her sword, and used her telekinesis to empower it like a boomerang. It spun after the fleeing monster, cutting her head off.
"Aww, you were doing so well, too..." Eleanor commented. Her sword continued spinning through the air, empowered by more and more psychokinesis, and blended across several more monsters. Once the blade lost telekinetic empowerment, it returned to Eleanor's hand.
"Yes, I'm...rather disappointed. Actually, I'm bored. Come back with more friends," Eleanor remarked, twirling her sword in her hand playfully. She looked up; several Tears formed along the ceiling, and emerging were dozens of spidery fanatics, crawling like ants down the stained glass windows, arches, and pillars. "Ah-hah! Yes! Make it last! I can sure smell the roses now!" Eleanor exclaimed, then began unleashing large explosive fireballs at the horde of enemies. Flames bounced off the architecture and rained down with blazing monsters, growling from pain.
Overwhelmed by fire, some monsters smashed through the stained glass windows and crawled outside.
"Make up your minds," she commented, then one of the spider fanatics grabbed her legs and bit her side. "Ow!" She teleported. Eleanor reappeared above the monster that bit her, driving her sword into its head, splitting it asunder down to the chest, the halves flopping over either shoulder. Eleanor's eyes widened as she retched. "Oh, God, I think I'll puke..." She turned away, bones feeling like jelly from the macabre.
Meanwhile, just as it would seem Zachary and Sofia would be swarmed and chopped to pieces, Zachary swung his revolver downward, hurling a glowing green mass to the floor.
Sofia ducked and covered her head, dropping her sword, awaiting her end. But her end did not come. When she lowered her hands, she looked up, seeing glowing green swirling all around her. The fanatics surrounding her had green auras, seeming confused. After a second, they all turned around and charged the various spider fanatics dropping from above! Some also attacked newly arriving robed swordsmen rushing out Michael's Tears, a snarling melee ensuing.
"Get up! Let's go!" Zachary yelled, Sofia grabbing her sword and running off with Zachary down the aisle. As they ran, Zachary emptied his revolver into a few spider fanatics, and chopped into the fingers and hands of those clawing at him and clubbed them with his revolver, allowing Sofia to hit them on the head to injure them further. "Cut their fingers off! They have no way to defend their hands!" Zachary yelled as he cut a spider fanatic's hand off. With some inelegance, Sofia did likewise to the beasts pawing at her.
Zachary felt one of the beast's grab his arm and paw his head, staggering him as his shields shattered. Sofia chopped into the monster's arm and it let go—Zachary thrust his sword through the freak's mouth and it fell over dead. Another spidery fanatic grabbed Sofia by the leg; Zachary skipped forth and swung his sword into the monster's mouth. The blade chopped through the monster's front teeth and passed through the neck, removing the top half of skull off the jawbone.
Some of the Possessed robed swordsmen charged down the aisle and engaged with more spider fanatics, creating a clearing, but the effect would soon wear off. A portion attempted to fight Michael, but his reinforcements kept them at bay. The priest seemed unwilling to fight.
Eleanor was quite busy launching fiery projectiles, so much so, flames grew all around the cathedral. The cathedral was made of stone, and could not burn very well, but Eleanor's Plasmids gradually formed an inferno up on the ceiling. The chandeliers caught fire, then the pews as flaming bodies fell on them. As more spider fanatics emerged from the Tears, they simply crawled into the inferno like demented insects and fell ablaze, thrashing as they fell.
"Eleanor!" Zachary yelled, getting her attention, aggressively pointing at the exit.
Eleanor nodded, then skipped to the side to avoid falling fanatics on fire, then spun around to look at Michael who smiled at her. "Go on without me!" Eleanor yelled back, Zachary nodding. He and Mother continued fighting their way down the aisle as smoke and flames grew all around them. "I'm too busy having fun. Oh, what's that, dear Papa? Teach them about fire? I'll bring them fire, alright...ha ha!"
Once Sofia and Zachary reached the exit, they were met by several police officers, pistols in hand, wondering what the hell was happening! They escorted them out, firing at charging swordsmen and spidery fanatics.
"What the hell are those things!?" one of the coppers shouted.
"Don't ask, let's just get the hell out of here!" Zachary replied, looking down the aisle. "Eleanor! Get out of there!" he shouted, but could not see Eleanor through the smoke.
Eleanor had teleported to Michael amidst the Possessed fanatics fighting the unchanged ones, flames gradually growing and surrounding them. The priest's eyeless face seemed to be staring at her, smoke and flames growing behind him.
Raising her sword, Eleanor swung it down upon Michael. He suddenly clapped his hands upon her blade, clamping it with such strength he stopped its path. Eleanor's big eyes went bigger. Michael yanked his arms, throwing Eleanor's sword away. He then punched Eleanor in her big forehead, Eleanor narrowing her eyes and wincing from pain as she fell flat on her back.
"Ow..." Eleanor mumbled, eyes rolling. She raised her long, long legs and jumped back up.
The priest conjured a fiery Plasmid and hurled it. Eleanor ducked under the Plasmid and dove, kneeing the priest in the crotch, he bending over from pain. Eleanor then headbutted him, then sent an uppercut into his chin, impact hurling the priest off his feet. She walked over and stomped her heel into his sternum, Michael sitting up with blood spurting out his mouth. She kicked him across the jaw, hearing it crack, but the priest remained conscious.
"I can see you trying not to cry!" Eleanor teased—a fanatic grabbed Eleanor from behind, wrapping his arms around her and biting the back of her neck. Eleanor exclaimed in pain, Michael getting up while grabbing a sword from the floor. He approached Eleanor, preparing a mighty swing. On the last moment, Eleanor teleported out of the way, Michael beheading the beast that was holding her.
Father Atar looked around, wondering where Eleanor went. She reappeared above him, slamming both feet into his head, pinning him to the floor. Eleanor looked side to side. She realized that the unchanged robed swordsmen finished off the Possessed ones, and they and several spidery fanatics just leapt at her!
Eleanor amassed psychokinesis, forming an antigravitational sphere and slamming it down. The eruption hurled fanatics and nearby corpses away. Michael received the brunt of the force, tiles breaking as he sunk into the floor.
Eleanor used her psychokinesis to levitate heads Zachary removed as well as fallen swords, and used them as projectiles against her many foes pouring out the Tears. The swords cut and stabbed into fanatics, heads thudded against heads, and Eleanor cast fiery Plasmids at her foes. Nevertheless, the enemy just kept coming, and Eleanor knew this was not a fight she could win, already panting from overexertion of Plasmids and physicality.
"I wanted to kill the ugly one, but I suppose playtime's over," Eleanor remarked as she looked down on Michael. She multiple explosive fireballs akin to Big Sister's Plasmids in all directions, causing a horrible inferno for the constant stream of fanatics, who kept pouring in like moths to flames.
Looking down on Michael, Eleanor could not help but be sassy. "While you and your disciples burn, think of me dancing on the beach!" She hurled her last projectile upon Michael, then vanished from sight.
Eleanor reappeared down the aisle, looked toward the altar as Michael picked himself up, apparently untroubled by the flames. Eleanor had a feeling he was surprised, and the two looked at each other as the flames grew between them.
"Obstupui, steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit..." Michael spoke as fire burned away his hair, clothes and skin, and he was enveloped by flames.
Father Atar's hordes of swordsmen and spidery monsters ran after Eleanor. She simply gave them a little wave and took her leave—the inferno filled the entirety of the cathedral interior. Michael Vay Atar's disciples would become ashes, and his Tears would only swallow endless flames until closed.
Eleanor dropped her sword and exited the cathedral, feeling heat and smoke flowing after her. Coughing a little, she walked onto the street, seeing cop cars everywhere, red and blue lights flashing, sirens of firetrucks wailing in the distance. Some policemen had sniper rifles, picking off spidery fanatics who escaped the cathedral, some leaping down and attacking but not lasting long. A police helicopter flew overhead as well, and news reporters were dying to get as much footage as possible but were blocked by officers.
Many cops stared at Eleanor, wondering if she was a threat or not. However, the cops did nothing, not even rush to her or ask if she needed help. In fact, the officers all looked suspicious of Eleanor.
"You missed the fun!" she chirped with a bubbly face, a few cops looking at each other. She overheard what sounded like a mob, being contained by more police officers down the street.
Eleanor walked amidst the cop cars, looking for Zachary and Mother, the cops wary of her but doing nothing. They were hesitant. Eleanor raised an eyebrow. What's their problem?
Soon, she found Zachary and Mother, both on their knees, handcuffed, police officers as well as Pinkerton's and FBI agents around them. She did not see their swords anywhere, but Zachary's revolver was confiscated.
Eleanor furrowed her eyebrows and lowered her face, making fists, and approached Mother and Zachary.
"Hey! You better let them go, or you'll have hell to pay to me—" Eleanor was interrupted when a blue Tear appeared right in front of her, which she walked into.
"Eleanor!" Zachary shouted—the Tear closed. "Shhhit..."
"Oh look, she's gone," Sofia nonchalantly commented. She and Zachary looked up, seeing a woman slowly walking to the scene, hip sway loose but elegant, one foot passing in front of the other, knee-high black leather boots knocking against the pavement.
The woman was smoking a cigarette and wore a gray suit, save she wore a skirt instead of pants. She was around the age of thirty, had medium-length, thick dark brown hair, and large blue eyes. Quite a petite woman, she had a gorgeous, chiselled face, and a nasty scar above the left eyebrow. The woman seemed to be a heavy smoker, as wrinkles were forming around her eyes and on the forehead, making her look older than she actually was.
"Ma'am, should you be here?" a police officer asked the woman.
Without looking at him, the little lady flashed her badge at his face. He nodded and left her alone. She walked to Zachary and stood before him, leaving her cigarette in her mouth as she exhaled.
Old memories came to Zachary's thoughts. Elizabeth, chi-ih-ih-ld...I am so sorry...
No you're not. But you're about to be...
He couldn't even place a hand on her shoulder. Her scowl was horrible to behold in the eyes of a dying man, all those years ago. She wanted him to suffer, to be remorseful, to feel like shit. And she succeeded, she really did. Albeit for a short while...
A few quick flashbacks raced through Zachary's mind. A decade ago, he awoke from death, and saw a child with her hands inside his sternum literally grasping his heart. That Little Sister...she brought the bitch back, too. Memories vivid, he even felt the sharp, creepy, static and tuning noises reverberate in his skull again, a little blood leaking from his nose.
The other one, she was brought back, too... Zachary tried to remember something, but could not. Vague memories, without pictures, was all he had. Died, again...because I failed her, again... She died because of me, but also because of her...
Zachary's head and shoulders lowered. He missed Elizabeth...the real one, and she was gone for good because he screwed up down in Rapture. When he looked up, the little bitch before him kept a stern face. Zachary also made a stern face.
"Miss me?" he asked with his usual monotonous voice, but this time, there was a hint of anger.
The lady did not even blink for a couple seconds, expecting a different reaction. But she said nothing, staring down at Zachary. She took her cigarette out and pressed it against Zachary's left eye. He gasped through clenched teeth, closing his eyes and turning away, but the lady extinguished her cig against his eyelid anyways.
"Guess that's a yes..." Zachary remarked nonchalantly.
The woman glared at him, but kept her composure. "He's the one, but load both of them into the van," the lady said. The Pinkerton agents grabbed Sofia and Zachary and forced them to their feet.
"You are really, really short..." Sofia commented, towering over the woman.
The little lady did not reply, but scowled.
The Pinkerton's dragged Zachary and Sofia like luggage, shoving them into the back of a large, bulky van.
Sofia was quite angry, as if offended. "My congregation will not sit idly by. Once they find out what happened to me, ask yourself, if—"
The rear door slammed shut.
As the van drove off, the woman looked at where Tear had once been. She took a pack of cigarettes from her jacket. "And who the hell were you? Michael said nothing about a girl," she said to herself, putting a fresh cigarette in her mouth and lighting it. She was missing half her left pinky. "Huh, she looked like a tall version of me, with a British accent..."