Greyscale, wavy noises, blurriness, gunfire, darkness, shouting, ruination, chaos... Memories of Rapture came flooding back.
"C'mon guys, this way!" a small Little Sister said, untroubled by the chaos around her. "This way to the ball-boat!"
"Are you sure?" a boy asked aloud.
"Yes, Brock! Yes!" the girl guaranteed.
"Then hurry it up, the glass is cracking all over!" Zachary warned, occasionally firing into the darkness.
"Sandy! Wait!" the little girl shrieked.
"Ellie! No! Stay put!" Zachary screamed, but the child already ran off, bullets whizzing about. Zachary had ran after her, shooting several insurgents dead. Amidst the gunfight, some of the Splicers saw the child, and went after her, clubbing her down with their guns, then fighting one another over her.
Nevertheless, Zachary had charged to the crazy kid, punching and shoving the insurgents away, firing point-blank and casting electrobolts. But she was struggling against him, screaming about someone named Sandy and trying to save him, whoever he was...
"Booker! The Big Daddy!" Elizabeth yelled from somewhere. Zachary turned his head, seeing Ellie's Big Daddy on a stampede, visor red. He trampled over a dozen Splicers, giant drill roaring towards him... "Do something!" Elizabeth screamed, grabbing another Elizabeth by the shirt and shaking her. The other Elizabeth pushed her arms off angrily.
"I'm not helping him!"
"Please! You have to! At least help Ellie!" the first Elizabeth pleaded, then the two ducked as bullets thudded around them. The first Elizabeth faded away and ran off invisibly, then the other used a Tear to materialize some cover of stacked crates...
The next rush of memories was unpleasant.
Zachary ran down a glass passageway, firing back at his Spliced pursuers, the cracks forming in the glass chasing after him as well. A good distance behind him, some cracks broke open. Water gushed in, sweeping most of the Splicers away. Zachary quickly cast Old Man Winter, freezing the water—and those inside—in place.
Reaching a conjunction of which two more passages connected to this one, Zachary looked to his left, seeing one Elizabeth running towards him, glass breaking all around her. He looked to the right, seeing another Elizabeth running towards him, glass breaking all around her. Time seemed to have slowed.
Zachary did the only thing he could. He unleashed Old Man Winter overhead an Elizabeth, to freeze the water and seal the shattering glass. His attempts partly worked, this Elizabeth receiving a wave of water in the back and throwing her down, but the icebound glass held enough.
Turning around, Zachary saw the other Elizabeth, extending her left arm as she ran seemingly in slow-motion, eyes big, lips parted, face pleading. Water and glass exploded all around her. Zachary immediately cast his freezing Plasmid, sealing the rupture with ice. Elizabeth was nowhere to be found.
"Elizabeth!" Zachary shouted, running to see if he had frozen her as well. He turned to the side and saw her. She was level to him, her left hand on the glass, eyes closed. She covered her mouth with both hands, and scrunched up.
"ELIZABETH!" Zachary screamed, ramming both hands against the glass. He watched as bubbles left Elizabeth's mouth, she sinking into the darkness below. Zachary quivered, hands shaking, breathing lightly. "Elizabeth..."
"Oh-wah!" Zachary awoke, shaking his head. He sat in a chair, arms tied behind it, blood leaking down his face. He was in a dark room, a single light directly above him from the ceiling. He groaned, spitting blood out his mouth, vision coming back together.
"You're only making this harder on yourself...Comstock," Elizabeth remarked spitefully. She was leaning against the wall, smoking, and observing, like a snake. Zachary's face was busted open, eyebrows, cheekbones, and lips split and swollen.
Three Pinkerton agents stood in front of Zachary, one with his arms crossed but holding a pistol. The second had bloodied fists. The third held an Uzi, probably just in case Zachary used Plasmids.
"Hunh? What?" Zachary asked, his face hurting so much he felt numbness. "Sofia...where's Sofia? And where did you send Eleanor!?" He wanted to burst out his bonds, throw Plasmids at the agents, but he felt horrible.
Elizabeth did not reply to Zachary's question, just breathing in her cig.
"Answer me!" he yelled angrily, jerking his shoulders forth, but he remained bound.
"Give him a few more," Elizabeth instructed quietly, then sucked in a mouthful of smoky goodness, the nicotine flushing her taste buds.
The agent with bloodied fists punched Zachary in the chin. The hot, cracking pain burst throughout Zachary's mouth and jawbone. An uppercut to the sternum caused him to groan. Two more punches to the forehead dazed him. His head dropped, forehead busted open and leaking blood down to his lap.
"Eh-Elizabeth...what do you want from me?" Zachary asked softly, noticing a glowing green curve in Elizabeth's eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
"Answers."
"I thought you already knew everything?"
"I... Right now, I can't see behind any of the doors. This is happening more and more often. I told you about it in Rapture, remember? You must have remade the Siphon."
"Aw, jeez, Elizabeth...no, I didn't. Columbia doesn't even exist here, does it? There is no Siphon. Why didn't you just talk to the Luteces?"
"I did! And they're useless, as usual. But settled down pretty good, Michael made sure of that. Yet, I still have my problem."
"Well, I can't help you."
"Then let's start over. First, who was that girl?"
"Huh? Who?"
"The tall girl who looked like me. Dark hair, big blue eyes."
Zachary gave Elizabeth a weird look. The Pinkerton's looked at Elizabeth as well.
"You mean Eleanor? You're the one who captured me, then forced me to kidnap her for the Pinkerton's," Zachary replied. "Well, tried to... Benny beat me to her, even after I took out two dozen of his leathery pals..."
Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head. "Now you're just being cynical."
"Uhh...no, I'm not. Ten years after leaving Rapture, you found me. Forced me to work for the Pinkerton's, to kidnap another girl. Must have been your idea of a cruel joke to get back at me," Zachary explained, but Elizabeth was unaffected.
"Ma'am, that's what happened. You got us to capture our former agent, who was Booker DeWitt, but is now Zachary Hale Comstock. Just as you said...well, seems like he would have been one of the very few who could bring Eleanor Lamb in," one of the Pinkerton's said. Elizabeth looked at him with a mix of surprise and irritation. She looked down, focused, yet confused. She heard heavy, echoing static and tuning inside her skull for a couple seconds.
"Elizabeth, you're bleeding..." Zachary almost teased, Elizabeth touching her nose and seeing blood on her fingers. "Sounds like you're getting mixed up with your memories," he remarked.
Elizabeth glared.
Zachary spat blood. "Look, if you wanted to know more about Eleanor, maybe don't send her to another world next time." God, I hope she's okay...
"I couldn't take the risk. She's a danger to society, if not the world."
"That don't mean you can just throw people into other worlds... Or work with fools who can transform human beings into monsters. I can barely believe you joined the Pinkerton's, let alone co-operated with that sicko, that Michael guy."
"And look who you worked with to create monsters," Elizabeth spat.
"Listen, child, we don't have to go through all this. I never wanted you to be like me. You just don't understand... I'm sorry it had to happen, but...please, j-just listen to me. You're not a parent, you don't know how it is. Imagine yourself as a mother, then you would know how it is," he continued softly.
Elizabeth angrily inhaled, cigarette burning away. Zachary was surprised she wasn't coughing from all that smoking. She walked to him, the agents stepping aside.
"I know what I'm doing, Comstock," she assured rudely, gesticulating with her arms like she did down in Rapture while smoke flowed out her mouth.
Zachary leaned over to spit more accumulated blood out. He looked up, Elizabeth taking another go at her cigarette, already done over half of it. She sure liked her nicotine. "Either that, or you're losing your mind," he commented. "What else have you been smoking?"
Elizabeth's eyes became demonic. She slapped Zachary, impact smearing blood across his face. She just stood there, leaning forwards, breathing through clenched teeth while the veins at her temples bulged.
"You've changed quite a bit, child. And for the worst," Zachary said. "It hurts to see it happen."
Elizabeth took out her cigarette and huffed a mouthful of smoke. Zachary expected to get his eye burned again, but to his surprise, Elizabeth withdrew a silver revolver with a large barrel. At either side of the barrel were engravings of wavy, swirling patterns around a reclining woman. It had a rosewood grip sandwiching into a steel centre, the trigger brass, and iron sights pronounced. She stuck the beefy revolver into Zachary's temple.
"If you want to kill me, go on ahead. It'll make everything easier for both of us," Zachary remarked, keeping eye contact with the woman who was and was not the daughter he always wanted. He heard Elizabeth's finger curl around the trigger, hammer pulling back only slightly.
Elizabeth let her arm drop. "Outright killing you..." she hissed, teeth gritted and eyes fierce, "is too nice." She spoiled herself with her cigarette. She somewhat calmed down, taking a breath. The nicotine was finally doing its magic.
"You're gonna need another smoke pretty soon," Zachary commented.
"I know. I'm not a kid," Elizabeth almost whined. She holstered her big revolver, then dropped her cigarette, crushing it underfoot. Taking out a pack of cigs, she took out her next friend. Just as it seemed she would put it between her lips, she paused, reflecting about past memories.
"Untie him," she instructed. The three Pinkerton's looked at her weird. "I said untie him."
The one with bloody fists nodded, and untied Zachary. Comstock sighed with relief, getting his stiff and sore arms in front of him, curling his fingers. When he looked up, he saw Elizabeth offer him her cigarette. Another pause. Elizabeth briefly and slightly lifted her chin, gesturing him. Zachary accepted the cig, slowly, and then Elizabeth got a cig for herself, putting the pack away. Before he could ask, Elizabeth flicked a lighter on and lit his cigarette.
"For old time's sake...Booker," she remarked gently yet was stone-faced, then lit her own smoke.
I think she calmed down, good...
Elizabeth took a slow drink of smoke. "You've changed, too, a bit. I was expecting more grovelling. Are you still mad at me? Do you still wished you saved the other me?"
That question hit Zachary hard in the heart. He bought some time by breathing in some burning nicotine.
"Huh, well... You tried to save her, too. Watching her just...drown...that was as bad as watching Sally burn," Zachary replied, dodging the question. When he said Sally, memories and sadness came to them.
"Sally, she's... She's doing alright," Elizabeth admitted.
Zachary, curious and worried about Sally, stood up, the Pinkerton with the Uzi aiming it at him. "Where is she? What happened to her?"
Elizabeth looked up at him. "I think she lives up north with relatives. Don't know exactly where, though."
"Mm. Thanks for telling me. Where's Sofia?"
"She's okay, being questioned in a...more civil manner," Elizabeth replied, then felt a little guilty. Her eyes and shoulders went low. For the first time in over a decade, Zachary beheld her soften up. "Are...are you really sorry?" she asked, looking like a completely different person now.
"I am," Zachary admitted, "for everything I've done to you. Give a man a little power, he falls in all kinds of love with himself, even a father. But a father wants the best for his child, no matter how much he screws up. Just imagine yourself as a mother. What would you do for your child? You would do anything and everything, even if it kills you. Even if you lose your mind over it."
Elizabeth kept her head and shoulders low. She looked so tired, so much older, so sick of everything, in that pose. She left her cig burning between her fingers, lost in her thoughts.
Zachary hated seeing Elizabeth like that. Even after so much conflict and stress, she was still a daughter to him, one way or another, and he wanted her to be happy.
"Elizabeth, please don't be like that. I would do anything and everything for you, even if it means working for you under the Pinkerton's. You knew that, it's why you didn't have me killed." Zachary lifted his arm, wanting to place his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. Just like a decade ago, she straightened herself up with a glare. Zachary stopped his hand, pulling it back a bit.
"You did nothing for me, Comstock. I...I hate you. Every time I think about you...your name, your face...your racism, your life...my life...and everything else..." Elizabeth said while gesticulating, sometimes shaking from anger. The veins in her temples bulged again, and she had to hold her oversized head, cursing under her breath.
Well, that was short-lived... "So you won't let go, hunh?" Zachary waited, but Elizabeth didn't reply. "So it's just your turn to be like Comstock, to become what you hate. Don't let it bite you in the ass later on."
"I'm...not...like you." Elizabeth's rage paused on her face, veins reddening. "It would have been better if you never even existed. And I thought I succeeded in that after Columbia."
"Just because you uprooted a tree, does not mean you killed its seeds," a new voice spoke.
Zachary, Elizabeth, and the three Pinkerton's looked to the side. Standing by the wall, arms spread but bent at the elbow, was none other than Michael himself. Despite the immolation he endured previously, he looked exactly the same as before, clothes and all, as if nothing had happened to him. His empty eye sockets and pierced hands gave him a sinister, creepy look. The scent of roses returned as well.
The Pinkerton's aimed at Michael, rather startled. "How did you get in here!?" the Uzi-wielder demanded.
"Don't worry, he's with me," Elizabeth remarked, though her friends were still uneasy.
Michael coolly walked to the Uzi-wielder, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Elizabeth figured you could use my help on this one," Michael said, grinning. He stood beside Zachary and Elizabeth, clasping his hands behind his back.
"You..." Zachary growled, not happy.
"Yes, me. Who else?" Michael asked, tilting his head while smiling. He turned to Elizabeth, his smile disappearing. "Ah, Elizabeth, I saw that you continue to struggle. No longer can you see all the doors, and what's behind all the doors. Indeed, after much discussion with the Luteces, I have drawn a conclusion."
"Let's hear it." Elizabeth crossed her arms, smoking away.
"There cannot be a Siphon, at least not per se. But there seems to be an alternative. As you know, the United Kingdom is recreating a supercomputer, the same one that operated Rapture. Since RODIN was used to formulate Plasmids, it can formulate Tonics. The Luteces, who have incorporated The Thinker with a Lutece device, must have created a Gene Tonic via The Thinker that expressly debilitates your consciousness, and so interrupts your connection with the Tears," Michael explained. "Consider it like the transmission of radio signals disrupting frequencies, of which your mind is the targetted network. By adding new quantum information into genes and mutations that synthesize with DNA, very many new possibilities of ADAM become apparent."
"Hunh... Ever since we brought the Luteces in, I have not been able to see many doors. Just a few at best, and none right now. We'll put the Luteces through further tests, see what we can learn," Elizabeth said, then looked at Zachary sharply. "We'll perform those tests on you, too." She looked back at Michael. "Don't think you've gained my trust, Michael. You have a lot to answer for, considering what you did in the cathedral. You'll be going through testing as well, and then it's off to the holding cell for you." Elizabeth gestured to her agents to grab Michael.
"If...you catch me." Michael grinned then stepped through a shadowy Tear that promptly closed behind him. The agents stood, dumbstruck.
"Shadow Tears... Can't see them in the dark," Elizabeth said to herself. "Well, whatever. Bring Comstock back to the labs, we have more work to do."
"Come with us, mister," the agent with the Uzi instructed, and Zachary obeyed.
Hunh. Maybe I can earn Elizabeth's trust sooner or later. I wonder what Eleanor's doing...