Jack

I lead Elizabeth up the stairs from the gift shop to the upper deck of the boardwalk. But no sooner do we reach the top then I see the Lutece twins standing there, no doubt to greet us.

I resist the urge to groan.

"Jack, here!", Elizabeth says as she runs up to greet those two. They are both holding up a red pillow with a small black box on it, and when I follow Elizabeth to them I see that each box contains a pendant. The two seem to offer their necklaces to Elizabeth.

"Bird?", Robert offers.

"Or the cage?", Rosalind counters.

"Or perhaps the bird?", Robert offers again.

"Nothing beats the cage.". Rosalind states bluntly.

They know I got Elizabeth out of the tower, but they're not saying anything about that. Is this another taunt, like the coin toss? Or are they just checking on my progress? Almost assuredly this is the former; Elizabeth spent her life in a cage, guarded by a bird.

She looks at both the necklaces indecisively for a moment before showing me the two pendants. "Look at these, they're amazing! Which do you like more? This one ... or this? The bird is beautiful, and the cage is somber, but there's really something special about it."

She has a point about both; despite their symbolism, the pendants are well-crafted.

I grab both of them out of their boxes, and hold the bird pendant out to Elizabeth. "We'll take them both, but wear this one for now."

"Are you sure?"

I nod quietly.

She puts the bird pendant onto her necklace and gives the two empty boxes back to the Lutice twins. "I love it!", she says in gratitude to them.

"Surprising", Rosalind says disappointed but in no way surprised, "I expected the cage."

Robert retorts, "If you're going to be a sore loser, then I shan't do this again."

Rosiland laughed a little, "Now that's just sophistry. Besides, it was a draw ..."

The two of them walk off. I glance around the corner that they went behind, and it is a dead end. Yet, sure enough, the Lutice twins vanished into thin air.

But something else gets my attention.

"Oh my God!", a frightened man shouts as he runs up to the edge of the boardwalk. Elizabeth sees whatever the man saw, and also turns to face it.

"My God ... look ...", she gasps.

I follow Elizabeth's gaze and see it. Sure enough, I see the tower. The head of it is missing, and smoke is billowing from the body.

"It was my home", Elizabeth mutters.

I walk over to her and take her hand to console her.

"Let's go", she tells me. I think she's right; the longer we stay in this area the more likely we are to be discovered.

As we walk towards the the exit, I can see several of the people here staring at the ruined tower in horror and commenting on it. Many express fear and anger, seemingly sure that their society is going to crumble. I have little sympathy for them - after all, they build their society on blood - but I hope Elizabeth and I can escape before things get too far out of hand.

We turn right into the large entrance to the Arcade, where the tickets to the First Lady's Aerodrome are sold. As soon as we enter we are greeted to the sight of three Columbia police officers, patting down a civilian while others wait in line behind her.

"Make sure you have a piece of photographic identification ready for presentation", one of the policemen announces to the line of people.

"Put those arms up now! Fingers apart! Legs apart! Stand still! Now hold steady!", the second police officer instructs to them while demonstrating the proper position. A third one checks a baggage for it's contents.

This is bad; if they find the gun I have on my person, or even notice my wrist tattoos, then I will have another fight on my hands.

I look around for something that can help us, and to the left I see a side door. Nearby is a man slouched against the wall, but he looks out cold.

Elizabeth and I walk towards the side door, but the slouched man suddenly looks up at me.

"Look at this one ...", he slurs, "Hey, hey copper! Look at this one! He's suspicious, if you ask me!"

I keep walking towards the door and Elizabeth follows close behind. Thankfully the officer ignores the drunkard, who has slouched back down again.

"Alright, alright, quiet down there, Pete", he chastises, "Just go home and dry yourself out."

I walk up to the door and spot a large lock on it. I wiggle the handles to be sure, and indeed the lock is closed.

"Aw crud", I grumble as I step back and try to consider if any of my plasmids or gene tonics might be of use in getting this door open. This is nothing like the locks in Rapture.

I then notice Elizabeth walking up to the lock and examining it. She sticks her hairpin into it and moves her hands around a bit.

"Elizabeth", I ask quietly, "Are you-"

The lock opens and falls to the floor with a thud.

"Done!", Elizabeth states proudly, pushing both the doors wide open with a flourish.

My jaw drops. I'd be lying if I said I was not a little bit turned on. The girl knows how to pick locks faster than any Automatic Hack Tools.

"How did you learn that?", I ask.

"Trapped in a tower with nothing but books and spare time?", she laughs haughtily, "You would be surprised what I know how to do."

I guess I'm not the only one with unexpected talents.

We walk down the side-entrance hallway, past a poster. The poster shows a light-skinned man in a suit, a light-skinned woman in a white dress, and two silhouette figures. It's caption reads "Always address patrons as 'Sir' and "Madame'"; something seems wrong about this image. We turn the corner into what looks like a small records office, and open the door to a maintenance hallway. I quickly dig through the desk for anything of use, finding an orange and a bottle of salt. I quickly eat the former, throw the peel back into the desk drawer, and drain the bottle of salts ... err, EVE. The syrupy taste of the blue liquid clashes with the citrus in the orange wedges, but I still feel better from filling my stomach.

I follow Elizabeth into the maintenance hallway. At the end of the hallway I see a dark-skinned man in a white uniform, scrubbing the wooden floor with a sponge and grumbling about his lot.

"I must take any task with more than the slightest complexity, or they simply leave it in ruins for me to clean up later ...", he complains to himself. When he sees Elizabeth and I approach him, he looks down and begins to shake in fear. "Oh! Ah ... H'lo suh ... Doan you pay me no nevermind ... Jus' sum foolish-ness, y'know ... ha ha ... Jus' monkeyshines ..."

Oh, right; Columbia judges people based on their skin color. "You don't need to worry; a Jew's son like me isn't interested in reporting you to anyone."

This does the trick. The worker looks up at me. "You're a Jew?"

The man who sired me was of Jewish ancestry, and the woman who's the closest thing I have to a mother is Jewish, so I'd say it's reasonable to say I am too. I think.

"Be careful", I warn the worker, "The next person who walks by here might be an officer."

The worker grunts and returns to his scrubbing. "Yeah, not all of us are lucky enough to be able to pass."

We walk up the stairs into a slightly better hallway, and I spot an old vending machine.

"Hey", Elizabeth says. I turn around. "I found these silver eages. There's a vending device over there ... there might be something to bring you back to health".

She tosses the coin to me, and I catch it. "Thank you. This will help", I say, smiling at her. She's right; since the fall I have not felt as strong. It is likely that hurt me.

I walk over to the vending machine and buy a Health Kit. I apply it to myself, and already begin to feel better.

We turn another corner, and I see two people who look familiar; a light skinned man and a dark skinned woman, both dressed in ragged clothing. I know I have seen them before, but where?

"Hey ... hey mister ...", the woman says to me, "We'd like to help you."

I look over at the table next to them, and spot a package.

The man continues. "Back at the lottery. You ... without you, we wouldn't have gotten away."

When he says this I remember where I know them from; these two are the people who were to be stoned to death at the lottery. I burned most of their would-be executioners, but I did not see where they went. I'm glad they managed to slip away from their captors in the confusion I caused.

The man's wife, still clinging to him, adds. "Daisy always said someone like you would come along."

I shrug. "It was the least I could do."

Picking up the package, I reach inside and pull out a pair of boots.

The man explains their purpose, "Daisy says there's something in these that will stun people when you get in fights."

I am not sure I believe that, but the Boots look like they fit and my shoes are already soaked from the fall into the water. I pull off by shoes, put them in my bag, then pull the boots on. They feel comfortable and dry, and the couple I saved seem pleased that I am wearing their gift.

"Take care of yourselves.", I tell them before walking onward.

Elizabeth and I head up to the door. "Did you really save their lives?", she asked with admiration in her voice.

I just quietly nod and push open the door to the Arcade.