A/N: Just drop this little continuation for chapter 5 since after this week is my finals and I gotta review harder than last time.
Midnight49 - Tbh, the atlas Jaune part was originally going to be longer but felt I don't need to include it all and settle with mr. door "waking" Jaune. It's always fun to trick reader's sometimes hehehe...
Jinnpoint - in a way, yeah and I also made it as an homage for other fanfics that inspired me to write.
Undeadhero143 - so many variables change. I even wrote 2 excerpts to use based on The games we play and a grimm story. (Which you can find in ;) me shilling for other fanfics that are better in quality)
natsuheartfilia32- thanks!
Benyx-I probably didn't emphasize it enough, but Jaune already has been to other dreams than Rapture or Columbia even before chapter 1. (I should really rewrite those chapters though...) But it's only recently that powers from those worlds appeared to him in his world and different kinds of dreams are appearing to him like one in atlas.
Chapter 5.2 - As Time Goes By by Rudy Vallee.
"Barely made it down alive, but here it is — and it's real. Rapture. This is where that thing took the others and my... my poor baby girl. From what I saw in the sub, most of the city's in ruins. But there were lights here and there. And shapes, moving... I'm rambling. Scared, I guess. But maybe — if I find this "Doctor Lamb" I keep hearing over the PA... I'll find Nora too." - Bjorn Valkyrie, Year 69. - "They called it Rapture."
With everything said, holy shit. Everything is going bad. As despite his initial belief of having left behind little sisters in his first stay in Rapture to not be the case; there's somebody who was kidnapping children and bringing them to this place - which is worse.
Well, there is only Sofia Lamb as his sole lead on whatever is going down here…
He could bet his left eye she has had some hand in the abductions. She already acted the part, speaks like an Atlesian noble who made a fortune on other people's misery and has goons at her beck and call with blind faith to do whatever her, whatever bidding she wants.
So really, that possibility it's not out of the picture. In fact, the arrows all point at the obvious, and even I can already guess why and my role in all of this.
It's Sofia and her cult as the sole culprit to it. I already know why the kidnappings are happening, but if I keep picking at it too long, it won't be good for my head.
Fear overtook Bjorn Valkyrie's voice in the audio diary as he spoke about Rapture, a technological wonderland gone bad. How bad? If these tapes left behind are less than a week, then Bjorn is just about to find out how deep everyone has sunk to bring people against their will to this watery hell - his daughter as well.
Yeah, Valkyrie as last name and a daughter with the first name Nora. He's not a big dolt to not catch on. It's just wasn't sitting well, not with Jaune.
So, he just ignored it for now and push on. No curious imagination passing by. Nothing. He didn't need to see that mental image.
He could only sympathize with Bjorn to find his daughter and be able to leave.
His mental state could only take on so much weight right now.
He did note to look for this Bjorn person in his travels, since he appears to be the only sane person here left. Wondered if the guy hadn't yet gotten shot at and strung up on the walls of this place first before he can catch up to him.
Nora… If Lamb did something to you… Hands shaking into fists as Jaune gritted his teeth together as he held himself back from any hatred. He mustn't overwhelm himself in a place like this. Don't worry, I'll find you. For now, at least.
Peace slowly becoming a distant memory once more to Jaune, so his time to let go. He was left with the overwhelming quietness of the abandoned place. A tense spot to be in.
It's like a cycle of an abusive relationship that you eventually come to the realization is wrong, so you try to stay away, but you always seem to come back for another go of it for the many times you tried like it would be different this time around.
Too bad for that Garden of Eden vending machine back there, someone already ransack the thing for all its worth and left him with nothing, figures…
He uttered a deep sigh as he walked into a large room. A grand foyer. Nothing about it is grand as far as the splicers roaming about, and the leaks on the glass ceilings are rolling the welcome mat for him on his way out.
There he saw it.
Over at the center near a golden globe statue, where he spots a poor soul encased inside the metal suit of a strange Rosie big daddy laid dead on the floor. Poor bastard. It was a faith worse than death. Free will under the metallic restraints of forced servitude, with one's memories of their past life suppressed to the ground with no hope of them to rise. Must have been hell being inside that suit.
It's a new found pity Jaune had for the people serving in those diving suits. No matter what this person did before or what they were didn't deserve to become leashed monsters for the rest of their lives with their entire identity stripped away in favor of a single objective: follow their brainwashing.
He appropriated the big daddy diving suits as metal coffins to be more accurate. Dead in soul, but living in motion - a living hell, so to speak.
In his current situation, Jaune needed a weapon more efficient than a flimsy steel pipe and to try his luck indeed.
The Rosie has passed its torch to Jaune; it took in a form of a strange machination that almost looked like a gun... loaded with rivets. A rivet gun used for construction from what he can guess by observation. It was cold and heavy in his hand, like he was carrying the undeserved future of the innocent souls trapped within this cold hell.
Just like the duty forced upon the big daddies, I alone would carry the burden of the torch and set fire to any of those who would stop me in my path to lifting those who didn't belong here or still can be save back up to the surface of Remnant.
Suddenly, Jaune's ears rang as his head jerked around the room after a loud screech echoed all around him.
The rivet gun in his hands was now held in a vice-like grip as the blond scans around the room for the source of the piercing sound that's left ringing in his ear.
His breathing hitched as his eyes caught sight of a darkened figure by the shadow crawling like a spider around the ceiling, similar to a spider splicer that now screeches.
The sound was clearly a warning of danger, and now the two of them had to decide between themselves who would be more of a threat soon.
Jaune raised his weapon to let loose a barrage of speeding rivet-nails towards the figure.
Gunshots echoed throughout the area, followed by the clacking sounds. That thing is also wearing armor!?
More than mere luck enabled Jaune to hit the mysterious individual creeping along the ceiling, but it only served to enrage the creature as Jaune cursed upon hearing the loud shriek that resulted, further intensifying the creature's wrath.
After lurking in the shadows, they finally showed themselves.
The ground shook around Jaune with a wave of his hand to clear some dusts from the impact as he coughed violently. His eyes finally seeing the appearance of a new type of denizen of Rapture before him.
It was attired in a diving suit adapted for combat with bits of metal around its limbs, though its thin figure contrasted with the likes of any large physics the big daddies Jaune had witnessed before.
What in the hell… Jaune looked at the thing stood up. What the hell is that? A small momma?
"I don't suppose you're angry because of your friend here?" A really not good way to defuse tension, but what can he do? Dance around to hope it can understand?
Just then, the blond was caught off guard as they watched the thing preparing itself for battle, with its arms stretching from side-to-side and Jaune's shock growing as he saw the new type of diving suit protectors now armed themselves with plasmids.
"Oh, come on, it wasn't me! I just got here. Plus, he wasn't going to need this nail gun, anyway!" Jaune's muttering went ignored as he prepares himself.
The puddles on the ground started to ripple for a moment until fully turning into something he could describe as a pair of water serpents rising behind this strange figure bent on taking him down. It was nothing short of a beautiful sight. If it weren't for the fact, it's heading his way!
Hmm… Rock, meet paper.
Jaune's hands suddenly became encased in a cold layer of ice, followed by a cacophony of icicles rising out with blood oozing down from his palms as his hand blew a powerful gust of wind towards the watery beasts.
His quick reaction caused the water serpents to halt, and within moments, they had transformed into glittering ice statues. Something Weiss would be jealous of, surely.
Then the attacker emitted a loud shriek, sounds of irritation and pulsating anger that made it began running around the room, demonstrating their impressive acrobatic abilities as they jumped around, landing near Jaune to swing a couple of jabs to knock him off his footing before launching away to use the debris around the area as makeshift platforms to propel themselves with remarkable speed. Jaune saw them utilizing their telekinetic force to lift broken pillars and golden railings, then flinging them towards the blond.
Gotta be kidding me!
Jaune wasted no time to jump away from the impact, barely avoiding the statue bust crashing down, and watched as the image of a gilded golden globe kept getting larger until his mind took control and his own telekinesis prevented it from turning him into a red paste splattered on the ground, giving him a few seconds to catch his breath.
Adonis Luxury Resorts, The words displayed wrapped around the gilded globe. Zero out of five stars, never going back here again.
Hold on, isn't gold conductible?
After following a brief moment of contemplation, he recalled the fundamentals of science - and that got Jaune to unleashed a powerful surge of energy that sent the globe rocketing back to the figure, accompanied by deep crackles of electricity and a shower of sparks from the golden statue.
Jaune didn't want to be that thing, and he means being turned into a pancake under the weight of the globe while he saw the thing now lay in a crater from the impact. Unmoving, mind you.
No matter what, he had to make sure the creature was gone, so he crept towards the crater with the rivet gun ready, aiming it and getting ready to shoot to make sure he was safe. As safe as one in a grave plunged deep underwater, filled with violent drug addicts with weapons and powers.
At the center of the crater, the massive globe sat on top of the thing, crushing it enough for Jaune to approach closer and check if it contains anything for him to use. Technically, it won't be needing it anymore in the consideration it's dead.
But just to be certain, he squeezes the trigger directly on the thing's head, making a few rivet-nails puncture through the steel helmet for extra precaution. Yep, it's totally dead.
This is just a sampling of all that Rapture is preparing for his eventual return.
"Heh…" Jaune chuckled when a particular thought came to him, one so miserable it just made him laugh as he stood over and looked over the crater with a smile. If that thing is a skinny momma or something, I hate to meet their bigger grandpa…
The public address system became active and there was a voice he knew very well. "This is doctor Sofia Lamb with a message for the people. Remember, big sister is always watching. To steal adam is to steal from Rapture, your family."
So, a big sister… That's what that madwoman called them, a more versatile enemy that could now use plasmid and jump around like a banshee out of hell. Out for his blood - and also plasmid if the huge-ass needle protruding from a gauntlet on its forearm is anything to go by. Which scored himself a large pint of adam. Guess he's an enemy of the family now, a way to stick it to that hag.
Now he has come across another conundrum that is stopping his path.
Oum, please give me strength.
There is no bathysphere that is still functioning to get himself off this place… Well, technically there is a lineup of those transportation machines just by the entrance, but the local splicer population thought in their infinite sobered wisdom to gut it for parts, leaving themselves stranded here with him as well.
As Jaune positioned both of his hands by his hips, surveying the graveyard of bathyspheres that had been converted into interconnected living quarters, he nonchalantly declared.
"Well, shit."
There was nothing left for Jaune to do but try to remain collected after the revelation, his only movement a slight twitch of his eyelid. He's basically trapped here. A section of the city isolated away from the rest.
Just a slight thought of his gaze had fixated on the deceased big daddy and, in particular, its diving gear.
That got Jaune thinking of another one of his crazy idea. So crazy, it might just work.
...
This thing smells unbearable, both figuratively and literally inside, and mentioning the rusty needle he plunged in his left forearm connected to the eve reserve on the back of the suit could also lead to him contracting tetanus any moment now.
But moving passed all of that, I'm now a knight. In rusting armor instead. How fitting. But hey, at least he's living his best dream he's ever wanted growing up, after getting off his ass doing nothing for the better part of his youth: The knight in rusted armor saving people and be the hero of the day.
Oh, yeah, he's drowning in heroism right now. Smells like chemical, rotting corpse and metal poisoning.
He was supposed to be a hero, but all that for show was a tired figure, clothes covered in dirt and dried blood with eyes that glowed a sinister yellow, skin ashen as a ghost, head so on-edge that the slightest sound can cause him to pull and aim his weapon at.
Well, whatever.
He has gone through worser experiences than this.
As he mustered the courage to don the helmet once more, the sound of a seal being formed as the air inside the suit locked within rang out. It's been a while since he had to wear a diving suit anyway.
Time to find Sofia Lamb.
Somewhere, a stout man with an impressive mustache planted a flag on a bed of rose petals as he stood proudly displaying his muscles to flex for the camera as he guffawed, calling for his hiking colleague just behind him sporting enormous round glasses and a safari hat clutching on his rucksack filled with various supplies - in laymen's term, coffee.
"Hohoho, Barty, take a picture!"