Halo: Rapture Fall of Utopia

Part One: Victor McDonagh

Let's kick off the New Year...

___

Victor McDonagh was a man who liked average things, so living in an underwater city that had more problems than the Titanic was doing something horrible to his stress levels. At the rate things were going, he'd go gray early.

He was by far closer to his uncle Bill then he was to his own parents. This showed through heavily when he followed in Bill's footsteps and became a contractor over taking over his parents' tavern. This particularly disappointed his parents because, long before moving to Rapture, his older brother Flann had joined the Navy. Neither brother could bring himself to be happy serving drinks for the rest of his life. Of course they never said that to their parents' faces, they weren't stupid.

Unfortunately, he found himself doing just that in his parents' tavern on New Years Eve of all times. Victor desperately tried not to let his parents' guilt him into anything, but every so often he found himself giving in. So, we find Victor running the bar on one of the busiest times of the year while his parents were out at the huge party being thrown at the Kashmir Restaurant.

The auburn haired man doubles over the bar and attempts to catch his breath after he brings up yet another case of wine for the party goers. He straightens and looks around at the boisterous crowd. There are just as many strangers as there are familiar faces as he had invited his friends down to the bar for the holiday party.

In a secluded corner near one of the large open windows was Anna in the midst of a drinking game with Namine Harrison and Preston Greene. Namine was Dr. Harrison's only child who was training to be a psychiatrist and Preston Greene was a reporter for the Vox Populi. The couple had little butterfly pins on their shirts, which made Victor skirt away from them subtly.

Then there was Allison Gillace, city prosecution lawyer, sitting at a round table with her boyfriend Emile Sosa, Nicolas Jones, and Maeve Daniels. There were others he recognized of course, and they seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves, intoxicated with alcohol and all that.

His Uncle Bill and Harvey would have been there as well, but they were expected to be at the Kashmir Restaurant with Ryan and the other council members. Victor was just glad that Anna was trying to make the most of the New Year rather than moping alone at the absence of her boyfriend. He spied her smiling and laughing happily as Namine dumped her beer over Greene's head after a particularly off color joke he had made.

Victor, tired of constantly running back to the cellar and taking orders at tables, took over at the register just as a fresh wave of people came in hoping to get blissfully drunk.

Closer to midnight people had started getting into party favors and the bar's radio was drowned out by whistles and annoying sounds. Just about everyone was wearing cheap paper party hats and covered in colorful paper confetti someone had brought with them.

Just as Victor and one of his helpers were pouring water on a firework some idiot had started on the hard wood floor, the broadcast changed to show Andrew Ryan standing before a podium with the more important council members waiting behind him with various vintage drinks.

"Good evening, my friends. I hope you are enjoying your New Year's Eve celebration; it has been a year of trials for us all." Victor snorted in disbelief as he looked around the suddenly quiet tavern. All the previously rambunctious and drunk patrons were staring at the screen with rapt attention. Anna and her table were paying particularly close attention to the broadcast. "Tonight I wish to remind each of you that Rapture is your city. It was your strength of will that brought you here, and with that strength you shall rebuild. And so, Andrew Ryan offers you a toast. To Rapture. May it be our finest year." The broadcast ended as Ryan raised his glass to the camera in a toast.

The chatter slowly started up again as the countdown to midnight appeared on the monitor. The customers and employees alike started chanting the countdown as the numbers flashed across the screen. Victor was the only who stayed silent and went back to work, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly bitter.

He was jabbing the numbers on the cash register with far more force than required when he caught a sudden movement at the corner of his eyes. The countdown was at five when he realized all the fish outside the window had darted away frightfully. Victor furrowed his brow and looked around as he felt a wave of foreboding.

Trusting his own instincts (they never failed him, before) he grabbed the shotgun under counter and subtly loaded it so as to not alarm the customers to his paranoid thoughts.

"...2...1-HAPPY NEW YEAR!" That's when all hell decided to break loose. The bar doors burst open and Splicers poured in with weapons and Plasmids flying.

"LONG LIVE ATLAS!" Several Splicers screamed as they attacked. Victor pumped the shotgun and fired at the nearest psychopath as the patrons panicked in an all manner of ways. Only a few had the presence of mind to grab anything that could be wielded as a weapon and put it to good use, mainly attacking Splicer.

"HEY! IT'S A-" He shot at one Splicer and immediately looked for a new target, "-FOUR DRINK" Another shot fired, "-MINIMUM TO DESTROY-" A Splicer's head exploded, "-MY BAR!" He swung his shotgun like a bat at a Splicer that ventured too close, "YOU FUCKERS!" Victor yelled before he caught sight of a few Splicers moving in on Anna. She had broken a leg off a bar stool and had made a makeshift torch from the stool leg, a torn piece of cloth from her jacket, and some good old fashioned alcohol. Preston and Namine were nowhere to be seen.

Victor quickly moved towards them and shot at a Spider Splicer trying to sneak behind the blond woman before being forced to reload. Anna swung at the nearest Splicer as they watched their friend fall from the ceiling. A Splicer screamed as the torch hit him upside the head and his acrid, alcohol stained clothes caught fire. He flailed and ran into his partners in his panic as Anna quickly used the distraction to slip away and head towards the relative safety of her shotgun wielding friend.

"You alright?" He called over the noise as he escorted her towards the backroom behind the bar. Victor was somewhat proud to see the other employees following the pre-planned emergency plan his parents had set up at his Uncle Bill's insistence. They were gathering as many patrons as they could and leading them into the armored backroom that was guarded diligently by some of the stronger employees and volunteers.

"Just peachy!" Anna called as she swung at a Splicer that attempted to jump her.

"Where're your drinking buddies?" Victor asked as he pulled her behind the counter and practically pushed her into the backroom.

"I don't know they disappeared!" She yelled as he slammed the door shut and got back into the fight.

___

Victor quickly lit a cigarette as he looked around at the corpses and debris littering his family bar. The fight had been over for five minutes, the crazed Splicer having retreated when Victor had managed to rally people against them.

The acrid air was replaced by cigarette smoke as the taste of nicotine blissfully filled his mouth and overtook the taste of blood that had come from a cut lower lip. "My folks are going to kill me." He finally sighed as he removed the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled smoke.

He jerked around when he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder in comfort and discovered a slightly battered Allison behind him. "It's not your fault; no one could have done better." She answered as Emile suddenly appeared, whipping off his side arm.

Victor gave the cop a thankful smile in regard to the help he had given during the attack. Emile nodded in understanding before draping his coat around his girlfriend without a word. "Vic, I'm going to need to poke around a bit...and a list of the patrons that were here tonight. It'll best if we start the investigation immediately." He said, placing his words delicately as he could.

Victor just took another drag on the cigarette and didn't deign him a response as he turned away moodily. Emile merely walked away to begin his investigation, not having actually expected much of a response. The auburn man observed Anna by the bar, bandaging and checking over all the wounded along with a few others with first aide and medical training. He moved towards the stairs near the bar and proceeded to the hotel and management floor, ignoring the bleeding cut on his forehead and bruised limbs.

He shoved the door to his father's office open and carelessly deposited himself in the comfy office chair. Victor tapped the cigarette against the ashtray on the desk before picking up the phone and calling his uncle's Chatter. He would be more agreeable to talk to then his dear old mom and dad.

The Chatter rang on and on with no answer and Victor tried several times before giving up. He hung the phone up and leaned back in the chair contemplatively when he realized that there was a very good chance that the bar had not been the only place to be attacked. The Kashmir Restaurant had been filled with Rapture's elite; of course it would be a prime target for rebels.

He jumped to his feet and raced back down stairs, determined to get information, one way or the other. Victor limped back down the hall and stopped at the balcony looking down on the first floor. "Has anyone been able to reach anyone on their Chatters?" He called to the busy people as he leaned against the railing for a little more support.

Almost like magic Anna's Chatter went off. "Hello? Harvey? Thank god! What? They what?! Are you alright? What're the casualties?" Victor felt dread settle in his stomach as he heard those words and several others looked up in worry. Anna listened intently with a solemn look for several more minutes before she hung up. "They attacked the Kashmir Restaurant too; they're still looking into the casualties. We do know that the council all survived and most of the higher society folks but the death toll is still high." She announced grimly as she rubbed her forehead tiredly.

Things would only get worse from this day forwards.

___END OF PART ONE___

Afterwords:

Howdy folks!

Well, we're doing this because of a certain problem we're having with the current Halo: Rapture chapter. Oh, don't get us wrong, its all written and everything! Well, everything but a fight scene.

The reason why updates are normally so slow is because we can't write fight scenes. We hate them with every fiber of our being, but we write them for your entertainment anyway. Because of this we decided we needed a little diversion and so we cooked this up.

SUGGEST THE NEXT CHAPTER! Anyone you want, it doesn't matter. Just leave a review with who you want to see next and we'll write a short story about them. The only rule is that the person has to live in Rapture. So no: John, Zee' or Ardy. Sorry.

Hope you enjoyed this!

KTHM and a Mortfied Mind