Seconds before plummeting into flaming ruins, Eleanor teleported down to the streets. She looked up, seeing a spherical Tear bubble into existence. The Elizabeths and Bookers fell into the sphere, instantly disappearing into it, but the Tear remained floating around. Songbird swooped down, movement blowing air upon Eleanor, but then the buzzard took off, looking for Elizabeth.
"Oh, thank goodness! I suppose I could simply teleport into that Tear as well," Eleanor said to herself, but then, she felt something. She turned around, only seeing smoke and darkness.
The echoes of aerial combat, sirens, and destruction reverberated throughout Manhattan, but the chaos did not disrupt something inside Eleanor. She looked back at the spherical Tear, then away. She did not know how or why, but she just had a feeling she had to go somewhere. So she did, following her instinct, disappearing into the darkness and smoke.
Booker thought he touched Elizabeth's hand before he fell to his death. Flashbacks of his plummet stormed his mind, reliving as he reached for her. Instead, he found himself lying facedown in his...office? Groaning, he picked himself up, regaining his senses. There was a huge hole in the building, revealing the chaos and destruction outside. Apparently, DeWitt Investigations existed in modern-day New York?
"Elizabeth?" Booker called. Nothing. He walked forth, coughing, looking around. He explored the destroyed building, making his way across sections of destroyed flooring, sometimes climbing over piles of rubble, jumping over broken piping, shielding himself from flames, sometimes calling for Elizabeth.
Going down the next hallway, Booker then looked around the next section of ruined architecture. The ceiling was gone, and the area covered with snow. Booker felt the chill of wind and snow. At the end of the area, standing before a drop-off, overlooking the chaos and destruction, was...
"As you can see, Booker, the lunatics always end up running the asylum, no matter if they are lawmen or criminals... They never even listen to me. I always failed." Her voice no longer had the spark of life and curiosity. It was hollow, slightly hoarse, hopeless. "Every single time, I could only watch...as what he set in motion...descends into its terminal fate."
"Elizabeth!" Booker called, rushing onwards, but the stairs were gone. "Elizabeth? What happened? We were falling, I-I tried to grab you..."
"Shhh, Booker... I know what happened. It took everything left in me to save you," she spoke kindly, spreading her hands apart, dress waving in the wind.
"E-Elizabeth, I-I..." He sighed, then hesitated. "I... I don't understand. I don't know what's going on," he admitted.
"Booker, here...take my hand." She lowered, offering her hand to help lift Booker up the ruins. He grabbed her hand, gently, the flames illuminating her face. She looked so old and hurt, face mapped with age as well as scars. She had white hair, bloodshot eyes, dark circles, and eye bags. She looked absolutely horrible.
Booker's heart skipped a beat, and he felt his blood pressure skyrocket. Seeing his daughter so old and fragile was in itself a heavy punishment. Despite her old age and deterioration, she did not struggle helping him up, still quite strong for her size and age.
After helping Booker up, the old lady overlooked the destruction of the city and battle between the Vox and Columbia, putting her arms behind her back, left hand holding her right wrist. Booker saw Songbird flying off in the distance, fighting the Vox Populi, who seemed endless.
Most of the Founder flotilla was already destroyed or had its crews killed. A majority of the Vox airships targeted Songbird, pummeling the buzzard like crazy in all directions. The Bird was smoking, but still fighting, seeking his friend. The old lady sighed, head and shoulders dropping. She turned around while shaking her head.
"Elizabeth, I still don't understand... What's going on? Please, tell me!"
She sadly stared back at Booker, then looked to the side. Booker turned his head, seeing Zachary and blue Elizabeth approaching the scene from a hallway.
"Elizabeth? That you? Have you seen Eleanor?" Zachary called, he and blue Elizabeth stopping nearby, and they just stared at the old Elizabeth. Zachary's eyebrows raised. Seeing an old, pained Elizabeth was a real punch in the gut. Did she end up like him? His gaze lowered when the old lady just sadly stared at him.
"The seed of the prophet shall sit the throne, and drown in flames the mountains of man..." old Elizabeth quoted, Zachary looking away. "Say what you will about Comstock. He was a hell of a fortune-teller. Not even Spirry could get around that."
"Spirry? Who's that?" blue Elizabeth asked. Her old equivalent seemed to hesitate, then everyone looked to the side, seeing Pinkerton Elizabeth quietly walking to the scene from a large crack in the wall.
Pinkerton Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows as she approached the scene. Seeing an older version of herself was unpleasant, reminding her of her own developing wrinkles.
Old Elizabeth looked at blue Elizabeth.
"A monster," the old lady answered weakly, getting the Bookers' attention. "But it wasn't he who broke me," she said, then looked at Zachary. "It wasn't the torture that broke me. It wasn't the indoctrination." Zachary looked away. "It was time," she admitted to everyone while briefly and slightly raising her hands. "Time eventually destroys everything. Everything. Especially hope."
Pinkerton Elizabeth's head lowered, as did Zachary's. Hope... That was something neither of them truly felt in a long time.
"Elizabeth... I'm so sorry..." Zachary apologized, taking a step closer to the old Elizabeth, and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Her head and shoulders lowered.
"I know, Comstock. I know." old Elizabeth whispered.
Pinkerton Elizabeth had flashbacks of her betrayal of Zachary in Rapture. It did not make her feel good.
"But we have to leave the past in the past. He is coming," old Elizabeth said, turning around to look up into the sky.
Everyone else also looked up in the crazy sky, seeing strange things appearing. Chains gradually descended from various sections of the Tear-effected night sky, the links perhaps two feet wide, and the chains several hundred feet long.
The immense chains suspended from Tears swayed in the wind, but some slithered downwards or curved side to side on their own accord. The jingles and clicking of chains echoed in the wind.
Lightning struck here and there, and batches of chains swung down, lassoing onto some airships. The Vox had no idea what was going on, some airships flying into nets of chains and becoming entrapped in them.
Rotating metal columns began to descend from the sky, covered with long, narrow, mechanical limbs ending in lights, spikes, wires, or blades, reminding Booker and blue Elizabeth of the strange machinery they had witnessed in the great pyramid of the jungle world. Then, metal spheres covered in roller chains floated out the Tears. The roller chains extended, then slithered outwards, making the strange contraptions look like flying metal jellyfish.
Then, narrow mechanical limbs up to a hundred feet long whipped out from the Tears, the snap of whipping echoing. The mechanical limbs terminated into clawed, hooked, bladed, spiked, or forked tips. The strange machinery flicked at various Vox crews.
The Bookers and Elizabeths could do nothing as the mechanical limbs latched onto or skewered some of the Vox, then pulling them into the air kicking and screaming. After a few seconds, the machinery grasped them firmly, then ripped them open and apart, guns and guts dropping. A portion of mechanical limbs now swayed in the wind, dripping blood, now flexible shish kebabs of body parts and organs.
The grotesque butchery caused blue Elizabeth to cover her mouth with both hands. The Bookers and Pinkerton Elizabeth were quite concerned, finding it hard to believe what they were seeing.
"Spirry wanted you to destroy the Siphon. Not only did the Siphon limit our powers, but also his. Now, he will eventually control all the Tears, prevent us from opening them, and then... This will be the last time I witness his history..." old Elizabeth explained.
"Huh... So that's why I couldn't open a Tear while falling," blue Elizabeth mumbled.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Booker exclaimed, then hesitated. "W-What... What the hell is going on?" he whispered, trying to figure out what he beheld. Every few seconds, a few more mechanical limbs, or floating mechanical contraptions, appeared. Some of the more gigantic chains began curling around skyscrapers, smaller ones slithering into windows.
All of this was simply unbelievable.
"Songbird is somewhere in the skies. He can help us! He always helps us," blue Elizabeth said, rather spooked.
"Songbird always failed. Not even Songbird could stop him," old Elizabeth replied. Booker and Zachary were concerned upon hearing that.
"We have to find this Spirry guy and get rid of him ourselves, then!" Zachary almost yelled. "I'll skin him, shoot him, smother him, drown him, rip him apart..."
Old Elizabeth's head lowered.
"You can't kill him."
"I'll find a way, just watch," Zachary assured, but old Elizabeth just shook her head hopelessly.
"There is a way," Pinkerton Elizabeth firmly stated, everyone looking at her. "The Siphon is still destroyed. Even if he will control all the Tears in due time, even if I still can't see behind all the doors, I can still... Go back, before all of this started," she continued with a little uneasiness. "What we had done to Booker, before he was reborn... Will work with Spirry, before whatever rebirth he had. I know it. I will make him disappear."
"The Luteces already tried to work with him, just as they worked with Comstock and used Booker. The Luteces failed. Spirry is beyond all of us," old Elizabeth warned.
"Well, the Luteces aren't me, and Spirry doesn't know me," Pinkerton Elizabeth said, looking at her partly missing pinky. "I can't feel the doors right now, but I will, soon."
When Pinkerton Elizabeth looked up, she saw huge, strange creatures starting to climb down the chains here and there, numbering several dozen so far. Hidden by darkness and smoke, the creatures could not be seen, but were apelike, and much larger and taller than humans.
"What the hell are those?" Zachary asked.
"Nothin' friendly, that's for sure," Booker remarked.
The creatures breathed loudly and some howled, sounding something between the scream of a gorilla and a human. Some leapt off the chains, landing on airships then charging the crew, who fired at them.
Then, everyone heard rapid tapping sounds getting louder and louder.
"What's that sound?" blue Elizabeth asked.
Zachary, Booker and Pinkerton Elizabeth withdrew their revolvers. Zachary and Booker leaned over the drop-off to look down. They saw silhouettes moving through the smoke, flames flickering illumination, revealing the creatures to be skinless and fleshy.
"Dammit, they're climbing up the building!" Booker warned, old Elizabeth putting her hands together and stepping away from the ledge nervously.
Those with revolvers aimed down and fired. Growling sounded, then Booker, Zachary and Pinkerton Elizabeth stepped away from the ledge. Three of the creatures appeared, revealing their appearance. They seemed to be immense, long-limbed, muscular, skinless, humanoids, but their large skulls did not have eye sockets or a nasal cavity. They did not have lips or cheeks either, gorillian teeth always visible. The creatures were around nine feet tall, and they had bone claws at the fingers and toes. Their faceless faces had bullet holes.
The monsters reared their heads, growling loudly. Zachary threw Old Man Winter, freezing one solid, whilst the two others crawled forth, mouths agape and breathing heavily and rapidly. Booker and Pinkerton Elizabeth fired at one, bullets thudding into its head and shoulders, but doing little. Zachary fired at the other, his beefy revolver poking a hole into the other beast's skull, hole leaking blood, but it continued crawling.
"Hands and mouths!" Booker yelled, so he and Pinkerton Elizabeth fired at his monster's hands, shooting off some fingers. After losing half a hand, the monster's chin hit the floor and it grunted. The two then fired at its hanging jaw, shooting a few teeth off and breaking the jawbone, but the damn beast did not lose consciousness. A bullet into the mouth did not even stop it!
Everyone walked backwards, away from the two crawling monsters, those with guns shooting, and the Elizabeths in blue hiding behind Booker. Zachary threw a charged Shock Jockey, and it erupted, electrifying the two beasts on the spot. They growled while clawing sporadically.
Booker took the advantage, slipping his Sky-Hook on his left hand and giving one monster a few whacks across the head. Ramming the spinner into the monster's throat, he gave it a whirl, ripping the monster's trachea apart. Suffocation would finish the beast soon enough, Zachary's Vigor's electricity soon stopping.
After being shot in the neck several times, the other beast fell over, jerking madly. This gave time for everyone to reload their revolvers.
The frozen monster soon broke free of its icy tomb, and was targeted by concentrated fire. The revolvers shot its skull open, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and brains spattering out, and it fell over twitching and pawing at the air. All three beasts needed to be shot in the head to finally stop moving.
"Jeez! They sure don't die easy!" Zachary said.
"Wouldn't wanna let them get close to ya," Booker remarked, then realizing he was running out of hand cannon ammo.
"Booker, catch!" blue Elizabeth chirped, throwing Booker a box of bullets.
"Much obliged!"
"Hunh...guess the machinery takes care of the airships, and these fleshy monsters run amok in the city," Zachary said to himself, then groaned. "I hope Sofia and Eleanor are alright..."
"Also explains why Spirry brought the Vox back: to fight the Founder flotilla. Sneaky bastard wanted to maximise damage to everyone before making his move," Pinkerton Elizabeth said. "There's no way anyone's going to survive an attack by these creatures."
"Then we better get moving. We can't save everyone, but we can at least get out of this city alive," Booker said, looking for an exit, but not knowing where to start.
"Hold on," Pinkerton Elizabeth said, everyone looking at her, "I can feel the doors. I'll find Spirry, whoever he is, and make sure he never existed. This failed for Booker, but this time, I know it can work."
Old Elizabeth grabbed Pinkerton Elizabeth's shoulder, and the two looked at each other.
"Please, don't try it. I already did, so many times, and I always failed. You can't kill him. None of us can. You will only see the nightmares he created," old Elizabeth warned. Pinkerton Elizabeth shrugged the old lady's arm off.
"I need to see. I can't see him, but I can feel him," Pinkerton Elizabeth said.
"Wait a minute... You can't see him, but you can feel him? How does that work?" Booker asked.
"Sometimes, you just need a leap of faith. I can do this," Pinkerton Elizabeth assured. She holstered her gun, then grasped the air, and pulled open a Tear. The Tear resembled a silhouette that cast a shadowy aura, and blood steadily trickled out of it. Mechanical noise echoed from the Tear. Elizabeth smirked, crossing her arms and turning around to face everyone. Even the old crone was surprised.
"There we go. Told you I could do this. I learned how to open Shadow Tears. Spirry's in there, I can feel it. I have to see what he truly is. It's the only way to-" Mechanical limbs shot out the Shadow Tear, entwining Pinkerton Elizabeth, then pulled her in. She and the Tear vanished.