I probably should have done this earlier, and this will apply for all future chapters. 'ahem' I do not own the rights to Bioshock or its characters, only my own OC's. All rights go to the creators of Bioshock 1 and 2. And now an apology to all of my readers for my slow update process. I do not blame you if you lose interest, I am just a slow writer. Anyway, on with the story.
William led Julia out of the room, and Epsilon followed close behind, his heavy boots making loud footsteps that echoed down the narrow hall. They reached the exit where two guards wearing black sunglasses and holding rifles of a sort were standing guard. They opened the door for them without saying a word. Epsilon had to duck to avoid hitting his helmeted head on the doorframe.
Outside of the complex stood Albert waiting patiently by some benches. A smile spread on his face when he saw Julia walk out of the ADAM lab alright. He walked over to her and hugged her. After their hug Albert's face became once again serious as he looked at William.
William took out a large folder filled with paper. Albert took the folder from William's hands casually, his face bearing no signs of emotion.
"Just have yourself Julia fill these forms daily, and there will be no problems with the organization." William said after handing Albert the folder.
"I understand. Where would you like the forms sent?" Albert asked.
"Just bring them to the front office of the labs and we will send somebody to get them."
"Ok."
Albert now turned his gaze to Epsilon, who was at that time standing next to Julia just looking at her. Julia was just listening to her Uncle and William talk.
"And I take it that this must be subject Epsilon." Albert said.
"Yes." Will answered. "He will be Julia's protector or 'Big Daddy'. He will make sure that nothing happens to her, he is our most capable subject."
Epsilon was now staring back at Albert. His porthole glowing it's usual calm yellow color.
"And what is her alibi if anybody is wondering why he is following her around?" Albert asked William. He did not want Julia's condition to be broadcasted, for fear that it might attract unwanted attention, and a big daddy following a 17 year old girl around in New Rapture is just asking for trouble.
"We actually have took this into great consideration." Will said with a hint of pride in his voice. "I also know why you ask that, because we don't want her condition to be known either, for fear it might attract splicer's... or worse. Just tell people that Epsilon is a defected Big Daddy and that he was bonded to the first female he saw, which would be Julia."
"That sounds convincing enough, the Alpha series are not known for their success anyway." Albert said with some relief. "You hear that Julia?"
Julia quickly nodded her head.
"Good. Now lets go back to the house."
Albert politely said goodbye to William and led Julia to what appeared to be a railroad track of a sort. At the waiting station a large sign was on it that read 'New Rapture Atlantic Express.' They took a seat on a row of benches. Julia sat next to her Uncle, and Epsilon took a seat right next her. Two other people were waiting for the train. Both of them were looking at Epsilon strangely. Epsilon turned around to stare back and they quickly went back to reading a newspaper that read 'New Rapture News.'
After about a minute of waiting, Julia began to ask Albert question to pass the time. "So…what happened to Rapture since my last visit? It doesn't seem as lively... or sane as it once was."
"Well, nearly ten years ago, not to long after you left actually, a civil war broke out in the city. It was fought between those loyal to Andrew Ryan and those loyal to Frank Fountaine. The war left most of rapture in ruins, and the negative effects of splicing have effected most of the cities population. Only the northeastern quadrant of the city avoided war. The main reason for this was because few people here here did any splicing, leaving most of the population sane. Ever since the end of the war, we have called this quadrant 'New Rapture'. We also got state of the art automated security systems and guards watching all entrances from the rest of Rapture into New Rapture. At first the splicer's left us alone because we had no evidence of ADAM. Once word got out though about our labs and research centers and the amount of ADAM they contained, the Splicer's began to try to get in."
"Do they ever get in?" Julia asked, her curiosity peaked by the story her Uncle was now telling her.
"Occasionally a few get by, but they are usually quickly driven off or killed. The only things from the other side that regularly enter New Rapture are the Big Daddies and they're Little Sisters. Big Daddies will never attack until they or their Little Sister are attacked, so they pose very little threat to anyone around here as long as nobody pisses one off. We think that the they bring the girls here for protection from splicers, because they never attempt to locate any corpses to gather from here. They always leave New Rapture whenever the little ones want to gather. You can usually find them along the fringes of New Rapture, although occasionally they will travel deeper into the city. More recently however, the splicers have been getting far more aggressive, and our security systems are barely able to hold them off at this point."
"Why are they attacking now?"
"We don't know, but we think it has something to do with Sophia lamb and the cult she has made called the 'Rapture Family'."
"Who is Sophia Lamb?"
"Some crazy physiatrist who has worked most of the remaining splicers into some religious fever about everyone being equal and nobody serving the self, only the whole. More recently however they seem to have been addressing her daughter, Eleanor Lamb, as their savior. When she first took over Rapture, she would constantly ask if New Rapture wanted to be a part of the Rapture family, but our mayor would always refuse. She was persistent, but it never led to any direct violence between us and the Rapture family and us, until now we think."
"What do you mean by 'until now'?"
"Well, we do not know for sure. We have noticed that she has been using the big daddies and the new little sisters she has created to collect a large amount of ADAM for something. This is why we believe the splicers are attacking, to get ADAM for Lamb."
"But if she is in charge of the Big Daddies, why doesn't she just have them break into the labs and take all of the ADAM?"
Albert was about to answer her but the train arrived at the station. Julia and Epsilon were both eager to hear what Albert was going to say. She wanted to know everything she could about what happened to this once spectacular city, while Epsilon was intrigued by the story because he never heard any of this before as well.
"I will tell you after we take our seats. We will have plenty of time to keep talking once on the train." Albert said as stood up and entered the train.
All three of them entered, Epsilon once again had to duck to avoid hitting his head. The other two people waiting at the station sat as far away from Epsilon as possible. Once everyone was seating, the train began to go back the way it came, its rusted gears screeching as it began to move. One of the large steel doors on either side of the station that read 'Atlantic Express' opened, revealing a large pool of water on the other side. The train submerged and began to slowly travel through the underwater cityscape of Rapture. Julia looked out one of the tiny windows. There was fish swimming slowly around the bases of the massive buildings. She could see people through the many glass windows along the buildings. It looked like the Rapture she had left nearly ten years ago. Behind her however, the city looked in bad shape. Neon lights flickered on and off as they barley hung onto the collapsing underwater skyscrapers. Some buildings seemed to have fallen apart all together, now being taken over by the sea.
Albert and Julia sat next to each other, while Epsilon was standing, gripping one of the ceiling handles securely with a massive hand. He was far too big to sit in the chairs.
"So… why doesn't Sophia Lamb just tell the Big Daddies to steal the Adam in the labs?" Julia asked again, eager to restart the conversation. Epsilon seemed intent on listening too, as he was looking at Albert with what appeared to be much interest.
"Well… big daddies, with the Epsilon here as the exception, possess no free will. The only thing they know is protecting the little sisters. They cannot take commands, unless they come from the little ones themselves. Therefore Lamb cannot directly order them around. The way Lamb is getting all of this ADAM is because of the little sisters. We know that not too long ago she has been the sending Big Sisters up to kidnap little girls from the surface and turn them into new little sisters." He said the word Big Sister, almost like it had a bad taste to it. "She needed new little sisters because once the old ones began to go through puberty, they could no longer gather, and they lost their little sister mental conditioning. With these new little sisters, Lamb was able brainwash them into serving the Rapture Family, as well as the Big Sisters." Once again he said the word Big Sister strangely. Julia had no idea what these Big Sisters were, and she wanted to know.
She was about to ask what a Big Sister was, but then the train stopped.
A voice began to buzz over the speakers lacing the train's ceilings. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived had at our first destination building 3A, if this is your destination please exit the train with any possessions you have brought along. Thank you for choosing New Raptures Atlantic Express and we hope that you all have a nice day."
Albert, Julia, and Epsilon were the only people who exited here. Once they left the train it began to depart. Not very many people were walking around, but the ones that were all stole glances at Epsilon before continuing to go wherever they were going.
"Ok Julia, nobody else knows about your condition, not even your aunt Mary or your cousin Cindy, and I will like to keep it that way. Mary currently thinks that you just had to get some paper work done before you could enter the city. Do you understand? "Albert sounded like he could not stress the importance of this enough. Julia nodded her shyly in response.
"Good, now lets head home. I heard Mary is making a very fine dinner tonight to celebrate your arrival, and I know that Cindy cannot wait to see her older cousin." Albert said with a small grin on his face, his moustache hiding most of it though.
Julia smiled back as her Uncle dismissed his previously serious mood. Dinner did sound very good right now. Her stomach has been getting very empty as the slug leisurely feasted on whatever was already in there, converting it into ADAM for his host and pumping it into her bloodstream. But this was unknown to Julia; she just knew that she was hungry.
Albert led them to an elevator. He pressed the button that would take them to the 31st floor of the building.. Some elevator music was playing, which Epsilon found rather irritating.
Right before Epsilon was about to rip the speakers playing the music out of the elevator and destroy them with incinerate, the door opened. They left the elevator and walked over to Albert's home. Julia thought that the place looked more like a large apartment complex than an underwater skyscraper because all the doors lining the walls. But they were spread rather far apart, possibly indicating large rooms. Once they entered however, Julia was amazed to see how roomy it actually was.
Then she heard the sound of tiny footsteps coming from another room quickly followed by a young girl yelling "DADDY!" Then a girl no older than 8-years old ran over to Albert, who quickly scooped her up, causing her to playfully scream.
"How was my princess today?" Albert asked playfully, still holding his daughter, who could not stop giggling.
"Very good." She happily responded. "Me and Andrew built a tower of blocks, and then we watched cartoons, and then we played with Max, and then we…"
"Okay, okay." Albert laughed as he interrupted his daughter. "Your day was a good one. But Cindy, do you notice anybody new in the house?"
Cindy did not even notice Julia and Epsilon standing behind her father. Julia had a huge smile on her face. She thought that Cindy was absolutely adorable. But Cindy's smile left her face once she saw Epsilon.
"AHHHHH, A MOSNTER!" She screamed in fright. Julia's smile immediately contorted into a frown. Epsilon sensed this and began to back up, not wishing to scare the little girl and make Julia upset.
"No, no baby. He is not a monster." Albert said to his daughter as he tried to calm her down. "He is….a friend of mine."
Once she heard this she calmed down. Albert let her back on the ground and she walked over to Epsilon. He towered over her, his yellow porthole shining down on her like a ceiling light. She looked at the E carved into the gauntlet on Epsilons right hand.
"Nice to meet you Mr. E" She politely greeted. Epsilon was confused with the name he was given by the little girl, but once he looked at his gauntlet he understood why and grunted to himself in amusement. He liked this little girl.
"And Cindy, this is your older cousin Julia." Albert told her.
"Hi there Cindy." Julia said playfully as she bent down to her eye level.
"Hello Julia." She said as she twirled shyly back and forth, her little yellow dress swaying back and forth. Then she giggled and ran into another room.
"She is SO adorable." Julia said to Albert. Epsilon grunted in agreement, but nobody noticed.
"Yeah, she is our little princess." He said proudly.
Then Mary walked into the room, she was wearing a white cooking apron, her long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail to prevent any hair from getting into the food she was cooking for dinner tonight.
"Julia, come and give your Aunt a hug." She said as she opened her arms. Julia happily obliged and walked over to hug her aunt.
"Look at you, you have grown into such a beautiful woman. It seems like only yesterday you were Cindy's age." Julia smiled. Her Aunt always knew what to say to make her happy. Mary then parted Julia's raven hair from her face. Julia smiled. Her luster blue eyes seemed to be shining. She had missed her Aunt and Uncle so much, and to finally be reunited with them made her overwhelmed with joy.
Mary then looked up to Epsilon, who was still standing nearby the doorway. The joyful smile she was showing Julia earlier had left her face entirely, replaced by an emotionless stare. "So, this is the dysfunctional big daddy you told me about." She said to her husband.
"I am afraid so." Albert said in false sincerity. "He just will not stop following Julia. It is just like she is his little sister."
"Is there any way to get rid of him?" She asked. She assumed that Epsilon was just like any other big daddy, unable to understand speech. Of course she was wrong, but Epsilon played along acting clueless to what was going on, knowing that if he in any way revealed or even hinted at what really happened, it could put Julia in danger.
"Actually, I think it might just be a blessing in disguise." Albert said confidently to his wife, who still did not look amused.
"And how so?" Mary asked. One of her hands was resting on her hip, as she shot a look at her husband that could only mean 'what the hell are you talking about?'.
"You know how dangerous it has been getting lately with the splicer's. I think it would be good to keep him around, you know... for protection."
Mary seemed convinced, and her hand left her hip. There was a lot of violence lately, so having one of them around might not be all that bad. She left the room without another word to go finish dinner. Albert followed, leaving Julia and Epsilon alone by the doorway.
There were a few moments of awkward silence as the two stood there. "So… do you want to go sit down or something until dinner is ready?" Julia asked Epsilon, not knowing what else to say.
Epsilon simply nodded his helmet in response. He personally did not care what they did. As he was with her, he was happy with whatever they did.
Julia smiled. She kicked off her blue shoes near the door and walked into the supposed family room and dropped herself on a comfy couch. She slowly sank into the couch as she reclined. The room was nice. The walls were painted white. There were many framed pictures along the wall. A nice looking TV sat in the corner. There were also a few windows looking out into the ocean, showing a spectacular view of a kelp forest below.
Epsilon walked into the room and took a seat on the floor next to Julia, which made her shoot-up a black eyebrow in confusion. "Are you sure you want to sit on the floor, there is plenty of room on the couch." Epsilon turned his gaze up to meet her confused one. She was slouching on the couch. It seemed like it could fit more than one, even if that one was him. Seeing why not, Epsilon stood up and took a seat next to Julia. The couch sagged a bit under his massive weight.
Julia once again smiled. Epsilon happily grunted, the coach was actually kind of comfortable.
Albert walked into the room reading a newspaper and sipping some hot coffee. "Dinner will be ready in five min…" He paused as he looked to see Epsilon sitting on his couch. Julia looked up to see why her uncle paused in the middle of her sentence, but she then forgot why she looked when she saw a large blue bird perched on his shoulder.
"Um… why do you have a bird on shoulder?" She asked strangely, once again raising a black eyebrow in confusion.
"What…Oh. This is Max." He said. The bird squawked when he heard his name, and then proceeded to groom his shiny blue feathers with his black beak and tongue.
"What kind of bird is he?" She asked. "I have never seen one like it before."
"He is a hyacinth macaw, which a kind of parrot. In fact they are largest species of parrot on earth. We got him not to long after you left from your first visit."
Max finished preening himself and flew over to inspect the strange new arrivals. He landed on the coffee table in front of the couch that Julia and Epsilon were on. He cocked his head repeatedly as he inspected them.
Julia looked at the bird with wonder. He was beautiful with his shiny blue feathers. Epsilon paid the bird no heed, he was too busy relaxing on the couch.
Max now turned his attention to the shiny blue sapphire necklace resting on Julia's chest. His eyes seemed to light up and Albert noticed.
"Maaaaaax." He said sternly. Max reluctantly turned his gaze from the blue rock back to Albert. He gave what seemed to be a disappointed squawk and flew off to another room.
"What was that all about?" Julia asked.
"Ohhh… I saw him eyeing that necklace of yours. He just LOVES collecting things that are blue. You better keep an eye on that necklace of yours now, because once he has his eye on something, he gets committed to getting it."
Julia nodded her head in acknowledgement. There was no way she was going to let some bird steal her prized possession.
Epsilon sensed Julia's stress. He knew that necklace was important to her, and he was not going to let that bird steal it from her either.
"Dinner is ready." Called Mary from inside the dining room. Julia nearly exploded out of her seat. She was starving; the slug has eaten nearly everything in her stomach. Epsilon slowly rose from his seat and went to follow Julia, who was now nearly running towards the dining room, but Albert blocked the doorway.
"It is probably best if you do not sit on the couch anymore Epsilon." He said in a stern tone. Epsilon turned around to see the couch smashed from his massive weight. He nodded his head.
Albert let out an exhausted sigh. He went to go join his family for dinner. Epsilon slowly followed, his heavy boots making the floor creek beneath him. He entered the dining room to see a round table with everyone seated and eating.
Julia noticed her Aunt and Uncle giving her awkward looks as she quickly wolfed down her food. She sat up straight and composed herself, remembering her manners. Then the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Albert said as he got up to answer the door.
Julia heard the door open, followed by a woman's voice.
"Hello Dr. Rendell" said the voice.
"Hello Elizabeth, how are you?" She heard Albert say.
"Oh, I am fine. I just came to say hello to the new neighbor."
"Of coarse, I will go get her."
Albert walked back in the dining room. "Julia, there is someone here to see you."
She reluctantly got out of her seat. She was still starving, but she wanted to meet whoever wanted to see her. I might as well get to know everyone She thought to herself as she walked back over to the door. Waiting in the doorway was a blonde girl who looked about her age, if not a little older.
"Hello." The girl said. She had a kind smile on her face. She was about Julia's height. She extended a hand to properly greet her. Julia shook her soft hand, which had a beautiful diamond ring on her ring finger.
"My name is Elizabeth." She said.
"Julia." She said as she introduced herself. The blonde girl gave a quick smirk. She reached into a bag she was holding and brought out a bottle of something which read 'Hop Up Cola'.
"I got you this as a welcoming present." She smiled as she handed her the bottle. "It is my favorite drink so... here."
Julia received the beverage and looked it over. "Thank you". She said as she returned the smile.
"Hey Elizabeth, what are you doing tomorrow?" Asked Albert. The question made both girls give him a confused glance.
"Nothing... why do you ask?" Said Elizabeth in a confused tone.
"I was wondering if you could show Julia around New Rapture tomorrow while I am at work. You know, give her a run down of where everything is and such."
The looks of confusion left both of the girls faces as any previous assumptions about the purpose of Alberts original question quickly disappeared. "Sounds a lot better than anything I was going to do tomorrow." Elizabeth said as she twirled a golden lock of hair in her fingers.
"Thanks. I will get you when she wakes up." Albert said.
"Ok, bye Dr. Rendell, bye Julia." Elizabeth walked out and Albert closed the door.
"She was nice." Julia said to her Uncle as she inspected the beverage she was given.
"Yeah. She actually just moved in a month ago with her husband Gregory." Albert said as he began to walk back to dinner.
Julia was shocked to hear that Elizabeth was married. She barely looked any older than her. But then again that would explain the ring.
Epsilon watched everything by slightly leaning his helmet out of the doorway from the kitchen. Julia rejoined everyone for dinner.
Once everyone finished eating, they all sat down and watched some TV in the family room. Epsilon sat on the floor this time, still next to Julia. He did not want to upset Albert again by messing up any more of his furniture. The whole time however Julia had trouble staying awake, her eyelids getting heavier as time passed by. Eventually Albert noticed and showed her to her room.
"This is your room." He said as flipped on the lights revealing a decent sized bedroom.
Julia looked at the room with tired eyes. The bed looked very welcoming.
"You can borrow one of your Aunts nightgowns for tonight." Albert said.
She then noticed her blue suitcase by the foot of the bed. It was open and empty. The picture of her and her father was on the bedside table next to a lamp.
"I found your suitcase by the post office. I brought it home and your Aunt took the liberty of unpacking your things and putting you clothes in the drawers over there. You can go pick up more clothes however with Elizabeth tomorrow if you like."
"Mmm hmm." Julia mumbled as she grabbed the nightgown from her Uncle and made her way to the bathroom in her room to get changed. She threw off her old smelly clothes and put on the nightgown. It was far too big for her, but she did not care. She walked out of the bathroom and handed her dirty clothing to her Uncle. Epsilon was standing in the room now as well, looking at Julia through his glowing porthole.
She lazily crawled into the bed and pulled the sheets over her.
"Good night Julia." Her Uncle said as he began to leave the room.
"Uncle Albert." Julia tiredly said after she situated herself in the bed.
"What is it?"
"I wont be going back home, will I?"
Albert just stared back at Julia solemly.
"Goodnight Julia." He said as he closed the door and shut off the light. The only light left was the shining yellow oval that was Epsilons porthole, watching her from the corner of the room until she fell asleep.
I will begin to submit illustrations of my characters and important objects of my story on deveiantart. If you want to see a picture of Julia and Epsilon, there is a link on my profile for Fanfiction.