Part 7: A Mutual Bond
"Do not worry," Tenenbaum said as the Little Sister looked at David's outstretched hand. "She will be sensing the sea slug within you. This will be letting her trust you." Slowly, tentatively, the small girl moved around her fallen protector, inching closer to David. She sniffled, wiping her eyes, her bare feet slapping against the tiled floor. Leaning closer, she sniffed the copper plated, gloved hand before her, like a dog would. At last her face broke into a smile, the emotion as genuine as her sorrow for her lost protector had been, and she touched David's hand.
Without warning, David's vision faltered, the world around him shifting, as though he were dreaming. Distantly, he was aware of the girl's still glowing eyes, and Gaia Plaza, but they had receded into the background.
"Who's on first?" David asked Alice. Like a child who'd grabbed a hot plate, David recoiled away from the Little Sister. He stared at his hand as if he expected it to burst into flames. For just a moment, a brief second, he'd been back on Pauper's Drop, talking to Alice. What in the hell was that? David thought, as he fell backwards, trying to put some space between him and the Little Sister's outstretched hand.
"Tenenbaum," David croaked, "What… was that?" Of course, the doctor hadn't seen what had just happened, the hallucination, the dream, the memory that had flashed before his eyes.
"I don't know," Tenenbaum responded. "I think… I believe she is getting to know you. She has never met anything like you before, David." The doctor's explanation did little to assuage David's rattled nerves. "What did you see?"
"Memories," the armored teen answered shortly. Rising beck to a squatting position, he kept his eyes on the Little Sister, the way she still waited expectantly for him to take her hand again.
"We had some suspicions about their ability to share memories with each other. She is probably wanting to know if you are a friend." David didn't respond to the doctor. Instead, he reached out again and let the little girl take his hand.
"Right," Alice responded with a giggle, back, once again, in the Drop.
"So who's on first?" David asked with mock frustration. It was a routine he'd brought from the surface. Abbot and Costello's Who's on first routine always made Alice laugh. Whenever possible the two of them would run through the skit. It had taken months for the young girl to learn not to blurt out the answer, "But that's his name: Who."
On a good day, they would make it to Who signing his checks before Alice would break down into hysterical laughter. Afterwards, there was no use in trying to talk to her. She'd just start giggling until her mother called her to come back home.
As abruptly as the vision had begun, it ended, leaving David gasping for air. Without warning the Little Sister clambered up his arm to perch on the air tank affixed to his back. Glancing over his shoulder at the little girl, the armored teen felt a twinge of both pity and distaste. Evidently, she had not lived a normal, healthy life, but at the same time, David did not like the way she could reach into his psyche and pluck memories from there with such ease.
"You are needing to take her to one of the air vents they favor," Tenenbaum explained. The Little Sisters using air ducts to move throughout Rapture was one of the few things he knew about the small girls and what they did. Rapture had always had a need for ADAM, and the Little Sisters were responsible for keeping that need in check. They would wander the city, draining blood from the dead, and somehow they'd turn it into ADAM, bolstering the supply.
"You will be finding one nearby, in Volcanus Flats." The doctor paused for a moment. "The fastest way there, will be through the causeway that connects to Gaia Plaza." When David scanned the plaza, he found an alleyway that led to one of Rapture's many bulkhead doors. Above the door, a half lit sign with the words Volcanus Flats, Flickered dimly.
"Hang on," David told the Little sister before starting toward the door. She sat on his air tank like he was giving her a piggyback ride. Once within the airlock that connected the two residential structures, the small room would have to equalize before it would let him enter the flats.
"Tenenbaum… how long?" He wasn't sure why he asked, what use the information could be. Everyone he'd ever cared for had died or been taken away before Ryan had press ganged him into his secret group of assassins. For several long moments the doctor didn't answer, as though she wanted to spare him the burden of knowing.
"You were the one who tried to kill Fontaine, yes?" David nodded, knowing she could see the motion. "Eleven years." Despite his self-induced indifference, he still felt a shock. More than a decade had passed since he had died trying to kill Fontaine. David opened his mouth to ask another question when the overhead speaker suddenly crackled to life.
"Who's this rat crawling around my city?" Even though the sound was scratched and broken, David still recognized the man's voice. A sudden violent rage welled up from his stomach, like a wave coming to shore. "Looks like one of Lamb's projects." Cassidy began to laugh, obnoxiously loud. "That's right, her little project to make some improvements to my boys. Good to see you up and about kid. Though I wonder, who did Ryan want to stick around enough to have them put into a Vita-Chamber?" As David's hands clenched into fists, his former training instructor laughed again.
"David, who is this idiot?" Tenenbaum asked, evidently overhearing the conversation. Rather than answer, the former assassin fought the urge to hit something, to lash out at the nearest wall. That was something Cassidy would expect. Every day, the mad instructor would test David and the other boys' resolve, prodding at their weaknesses to see if they would buckle or retaliate. One of Cassidy's favorite past times would be thinking of new punishments for those who did.
"Cassidy," David growled. At last the bulkhead door opened, admitting him into Volcanus Flats. "He… trained us." With the airlock behind him, he hoped he wouldn't have to listen to any more of Cassidy's taunts.
"Oh yeah, before I lose the opportunity," Cassidy called, his voice echoing from the airlock. "I just thought I'd mention what a complete and total fucking failure you were. Tell Ryan I said hi."