Part 3: Return to Rapture
"To get that door open you will need some assistance," Tenenbaum instructed. "Look to your left." Following the doctors instructions, David found himself looking at a small vial of glowing liquid perched on a shelf. When he moved closer, the teenager saw the hypodermic next to the vial, and understood what she was asking him to do. The vial was evidently some kind of Plasmid, something that would help him get through the door.
A bolt of fear and panic shot through David as he put the needle into a small slot next to the Eve tube, which seemed specifically designed to accept Plasmid syringes. Before he could talk himself out of it, he depressed the plunger. A breath later, it felt as though the needle had contained fire and ice as the glowing liquid shot through his veins. The teenager grunted as his left arm convulsed on its own. A moment later a charge of electricity shot between his hands. Once the electricity had faded, and his muscles had unwound themselves, David felt a new power flooding through his body.
"That is Electro-Bolt." While Tenenbaum explained the Plasmid, and how it came to be in this particular laboratory, the armored clad teen set out to test his new ability. "Lamb knew this Plasmid was the easiest to adapt to, and would be the best suited toward... you and the other boys." Summoning the electricity again was like calling forth euphoria itself. Adrenaline spiked David's blood, and set his heart racing. All at once his body was alive with energy, exciting, terrifying and uncontrollable.
Flicking his wrist, David let the energy go. In every ad he'd seen, Electro-Bolt looked like lightning, arcing from someone's fingertips to touch a light bulb or some unwanted foe. Instead, a ball of light shot from his hand to slam into the nearest wall with a concussive thump. Even through his diving suit, David could feel the reverberation from the blast as it bounced off the walls in the small lab.
"As I thought," the always talkative Dr. Tenenbaum said. "Your ADAM slug has adapted the Plasmid. It, and others you are taking, will bend to your will more easily than with others." While this was fascinating, David doubted that talking would get him out of the lab any time soon.
"Be careful," Tenenbaum warned as David approached the door. Wondering what he could do to protect himself, the newly spliced teenager let another bolt of light and electricity fly from his hand to slam into the door's electrical systems. With the hiss and snap of wires frying, the door slid open.
Then, the entire weight of the ocean came flooding into the room. The sudden surge of water threw David backward until he slammed into the opposite wall. The ocean was shocking cold. After a few moments of being churned in the icy waters, the room calmed.
Using his arms to help propel him forward, David walked onto the ocean floor. For a moment he wondered what would happen if he let his ballast go, and simply floated to the surface. You'd be stuck in this suit for the rest of your life. That's what. David told himself coldly. Looking up at the long climb back to Rapture he let out a soft sigh. No time like the present.
"You have been gone a long time Thir-David." As he climbed, Tenenbaum explained the current situation. "Since your death Andrew Ryan has been killed." The news took David's breath away. Ryan had been no friend of his, little more than a shadow beyond a veil, ordering people's deaths, but it was still a shock to hear. "Fontaine has died also, by his own hand more or less." A shallow smile crept over David's face. Fontaine too? They can rot in hell together.
There had been no factor greater than those two men in shaping David's life. Ryan was the king of an empire, Fontaine a Boogey-Man made all the more terrifying by simply being real. Growing up on Pauper's Drop, both men were spoken only in whispers, as though saying their names too loud might cause them to materialize out of thin air. Thinking of the Drop only led his mind to one place. Alice. Her name in his head made his blood run cold. Continuing his climb, the former assassin put those emotions aside, knowing that they would only slow him down and cloud his judgment.
"Sophia Lamb rose to power once those two were gone," Tenenbaum continued, oblivious to the inner workings of David's mind. "She brought Rapture back from the brink of destruction."
Still listening intently, he began to wonder how long he'd been… dead? Comatose? Was there a word for his condition? He finished climbing the length of cable and entered the flooded ruins where the lab had once been a part of Fontaine Futuristics.
"I do not know what happened to her. A rogue Big Daddy killed many of her followers and saved the Little Sisters. Then she disappeared. The Big Daddy may have killed her or she may have returned to the surface." Though he was familiar with Little Sisters, the word Big Daddy meant nothing to David. "Those who have used ADAM have become addicted to it. They've devolved into little more than animals."
Climbing through the wreckage became a chance for David to learn the limitation of his new suit. He used the weightlessness of being submerged to explore his newfound strength and agility. "Between Fontaine's son and the rogue Big Daddy, most of the Little Sisters have been rescued and rehabilitated. Those who were in the program during Rapture's prime have become Big Sisters. They were slaves to Lamb and her workings, but now they roam the city, driven to protect the little ones."
At last, David spotted an end to the maze of submerged wreckage. Ahead the water was held at bay by a pocket of air. "This is where I am needing you, David. While many Little Sisters have been rescued, many remain in the city. If we do not help them, they will die, slowly frozen or crushed to death in the dark… alone."