Rapture: Dionysus Park
Minato pushed himself away from the slowly spreading pool of blood oozing from the corpse that he had created. It was almost as hard to bear that thought in and of itself than any stench of blood. He, he had killed someone, their blood was on his hands, as well as everywhere else. It didn't help to think that whoever it was had been trying to kill him too, just the act of breaking the woman's skull open like an egg was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, however short it was going to be down here.
He heard a small whirring noise and looked up to see one of Ivan's robots approaching him, the Russian sounded cheerful as always, "Well, Minato how..." Ivan paused when his robot noticed the body, "Oh, guess you got right down to it huh?"
He barked back in anger, "How can you talk about it so casually? I just killed someone!"
Ivan made the robot shrug, "Easy, I do it all the time down here."
He spoke the only thought that came to mind, "You, you're a..."
Ivan cut him off, "A monster? Yeah I get that one a lot from the splicers. Especially the pitiful women who think I've stolen their children for experiments. Poor souls do not realize that their children were taken before I had even heard of Rapture. But what can I do about that? Answer, kill every last splicer." Ivan chuckled, "Speaking of which, I had to blast the head off of one just before Matsu got here. Snuck in here to try and kill me."
He grumbled, "You're not helping."
Ivan's tone shifted to a more serious note, "Well that's just too bad. You want to live, then you're going to have to kill them. Besides, you wouldn't want to get yourself killed and leave your beautiful wife all alone now would you?"
He picked his head up from confusion, "What are you talking about?"
Ivan started to laugh again, "Oh my god, that has got to be the most stupid thing I have ever heard. You seriously can't have forgotten that you are married to a busty, blond beauty."
The point hit him in the face like a brick, "Oh, you mean Tsukiumi?"
Ivan made the robot do a nodding motion, "Exactly. I'm quite jealous now because of that you know? But don't worry, I won't try to steal your blushing bride. In fact, I made a promise to her that I would get you two back to each other safely."
The statement seemed odd, "You, promised that to Tsukiumi?"
Ivan's robot shrugged, "What can I say, I have a weakness for women who look on the verge of tears. On that topic though, she got this pitiful look in her eyes when I observed how hard it must be for you to keep your hands off of her. Care to explain at all?"
He shifted uncomfortably, "It's..."
Ivan finished the thought, "Complicated. You really are going to have to give me something soon on this. I don't like not knowing what's going on."
He used the iron bar that he was still holding to help him stand, "I'm sorry, but I don't think well when I'm covered in blood!"
Ivan fell silent for a moment, "Touche, but I guess that there will be plenty of time for talk when you get to Minerva's Den. Same advice as I gave you before though, move quickly and quietly." The antenna on the robot pointed at the bar he was holding, "And you might want to keep that thing handy in case you run across another splicer. After all, only took one solid hit to the head to take out that last one, shouldn't be too hard for you to do it again. Keep that thing at least until you get your hands on a gun. Should eventually be able to take one off a splicer should you sneak up on him or her." The robot started to float away, "See you at the train station, Minato. Don't get killed, cause I would really hate to see your wife crying over your corpse."
The robot flew up and away into a vent high on the ceiling. He supposed if he stacked up enough crates he could reach the opening, but then he wouldn't be able to climb the sheer walls inside. Barring that option, the only other thing he could do was to follow Ivan's advice and move on to the train station. He glanced down at the corpse he had created and edged his way around it. All that was left was to move forward.
Rapture: Minerva's Den
Ivan took his eyes off of Minato and shot quick glances at every other screen, taking particular note of the one showing Kazehana in Siren Alley. Not that he was a pervert, but just looking at the woman got his blood pumping. He'd been politely flirting with Kazehana for the past half hour whenever he had not been keeping tabs on Minato and Tsukiumi. Up until now the others had shown themselves to be quite capable of following directions. Tsukiumi just seemed a little bit thick headed, rather than stupid.
He shot a glance at Musubi, for whom he had had to repeat his directions three times over before she got it, and the brunette was walking in front of one of the cameras in Skid Row. Musubi had both hands clutched over her stomach and looked pale.
He accessed the camera's speaker, "Hey, something wrong? Did you get shot?"
Musubi turned to the camera, and spoke in a rather pathetic tone, "I'm so hungry!"
He felt suddenly quite stupid, "Ah, ok. Go to the Fishbowl Diner in the next area. It's not running but you should still be able to find something in the kitchen."
Musubi's face brightened in a way that might have been considered cute by some, but the stupidity of the girl was detracting from that aspect in a rather large way. The brunette then charged off camera and he heard the startled roars of anger from a crowd of splicers. There were a few dull, meaty thuds from off camera, and then the pulverized corpse of a splicer sailed into view and skidded to a stop solidly in the center of the camera's sweep.
He muttered to himself, "At least the idiot seems to be able to fend for herself. I don't know what I would do if I had to hold that damn girl's hand through all of Pauper's Drop."
The one of the cameras in Siren Alley started to buzz, and Kazehana's voice carried over the speaker, "Yoo hoo, Ivan-kun. Are you there?"
He though for a second, his Japanese was a bit rusty but he could have sworn that there was some significance to Kazehana switching from using "san" to "kun". He replied, "Yeah? I'm right here, right where I've been the whole time."
He brought the camera in question up on the screen right in front of him. Kazehana was standing just below it, in a small room off of the main street of Siren Alley, holding up a large glass bottle. Behind her, there was a cabinet filled with other glass bottles, one shape he recognized as a bottle of Old Harbinger Beer.
Kazehana held the bottle in her hands up to the camera, "What is this? It smells nice but I wanted to make sure it was something I should drink."
He obliged Kazehana and zoomed in on the label, followed by the rest of the bottles to save time, "The one you are holding is a bottle of Old Tom Whiskey, everything else is some other variety of hard liquor. Scottch, brandy, merlot... you name it."
Kazehana's face lit up, "Would you recommend it?"
He started to respond, "Well, I suppose. I really don't drink anything but vodka and..."
On the screen, Kazehana was completely ignoring him and had chugged the entire bottle of whiskey in five seconds flat. A normal person would have passed out completely after half a bottle, he found himself unable to speak as he watched Kazehana chug bottle after bottle of heavy liquor. She didn't even pass out until the entire cabinet was empty.
The only words that he could get out of his mouth were, "Holy shit."
He felt a small weight on his shoulder, it was Matsu, "What's going on?" Matsu looked at the screen and saw Kazehana, passed out in the middle of a pile of empty wine bottles, "Oh, I wouldn't worry about her. That happens all the time."
While he was aware of what Matsu was probably going to say, he felt the need to check, "Kazehana gets completely wasted all the time, to the point where she passes out?"
Matsu started to walk back to her chair, "Oh yes. She went without for the entire trip on the ship, not surprising that she would go overboard the instant she caught a whiff of booze. It's funny really, she still calls herself one on Minato's wives when she is barely cognizant of any of the time..."
He sharply cut Matsu off, "Now wait just one minute, you said ONE of Minato's WIVES."
Matsu siezed up, "Ah, I didn't, that's not what I meant!"
He started to charge a shot of Electro Bolt, "Explain, or I shock you."
Tokyo:
Jango slowly looked skyward to the pinnacle of Mikogami's home. Up there, waiting for her opportunity, was Yomi. It had taken the better part of an hour for him to convince her to do what he had asked, but eventually he had succeeded by appealing to her newly awakened sense of kinship with the others. The plan was quite simple really, when Mikogami sent all six of his sekirei to attack him, Yomi would drop in through the roof and kill Mikogami. All he had to do was cause a significant enough commotion to draw Mikogami's lust for adding more sekirei to his collection.
He paused outside the doors and tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Now, what is showy enough for a bratty little child?" After a moments deliberation, "Brute force would probably be best."
With a flick of his wrist he sent a wave of telekinetic force forward to smash open the doors. When the interior security forces responded, he simply gathered all of them together with his mind and slashed through them with one stroke of his sword.
He looked towards the ceiling, where he was sure at least one camera was watching him, "Come and get me, petulant child."
Mikogami estate: Roof
Yomi watched in silence as the six other sekirei under Mikogami's thumb headed downstairs to do battle with Jango. In a few more minutes she should have her chance. She wasn't sure that she could kill Mikogami in cold blood, but when push came to shove she knew it was the right thing to do. Still relatively foreign to her was the though that it would be helping the other sekirei, but considering how Mikogami had treated her, it was a reasonable thing to think about.
She slid the pane of glass aside and dropped to the floor as silent as a cat. Over on the other side of the room, Mikogami was watching the fight down below on a security camera, practically salivating at the thought of adding Jango. She took a step towards the boy and started to lift her scythe, mentally and physically bracing herself to bring the blade down into Mikogami's back. She took one step closer, and her foot caught on the corner of one of the many rugs, causing her to fall flat on her face with a crash.
Mikogami turned around and flashed her an evil grin, "Ah, Yomi. You're late, starting to enjoy your new job?"
She started to open her mouth to object, but Mikogami cut her off, "You know what, it doesn't matter. Just get your useless self downstairs and help the others bring me that sekirei."
Out of long habit, she stood and started to say, "Of course..." She stopped herself, "No."
There was a pause, then Mikogami turned back to her, "Excuse me, did you just refuse?"
She put the blade of her scythe between herself and Mikogami, "I'm not your slave!"
Mikogami shook his head and nudged her scythe aside with one index finger, "What ideological garbage have you been listening to? If you weren't my slave, why do you still feel compelled to follow every order that I give?"
She took a step back in order to fit the blade back between them, "It's just habit."
Mikogami started backing her up towards the wall, leaving the blade of her scythe perched upon one of the buttons of his jacket, "Habit? Take your head out of the clouds, I own you. The same as I am going to own that sekirei in the lobby."
She snapped, "Never!"
She drew the scythe back, twirled it, and drove the blade up into Mikogami's stomach hard enough to have the blade sticking out of his back.
The boy looked down in astonishment and grabbed at the scythe as if to confirm that he was actually impaled, "You, I can't believe this, you actually..." Mikogami coughed up about a fistful of blood, "I, I can't die yet."
In the heat of the moment, she was unable to stop herself, she crooned in Mikogami's ear, "Of course you can, and you are."
In one fluid movement she pushed Mikogami off of her scythe with her foot, then with a quick pirouette and flick of her wrist, she severed Mikogami's head from his shoulders. The cut itself was so clean that the head did not actually leave the body until it hit the floor. The head then rolled forward to hit against her boot, eyes looking up at her accusingly.
Mikogami estate: Lobby
Jango caught the blade of number five before mentally shoving the other swordsman across the lobby. Engaging six other sekirei at once was an extremely demanding task, even for his vast array of telekinetic tricks. Akitsu in particular was causing him problems by repeatedly freezing his body, something his mental buffer did absolutely nothing against. If Yomi didn't hurry up he was going to have to stop pulling his punches, and that would be a bad thing for everyone involved.
Mutsu slammed the scabbard of his sword against the floor and shot another shock wave at him, "Come now, this is a futile dance and you know it. Just come quietly and..." Mutsu stopped speaking suddenly and his hand clutched at where his heart was.
The same reaction was repeated across the lobby, by all but Akitsu.
In spite of the meaning behind the gesture he could not help but smile, "You can thank Yomi for that. Mikogami is now dead."
The look of surprise faded from Mutsu's face, and it faded back into the expressionless mask that was the usual setting, "You managed to convince Yomi to kill her own ashikabi? You must truly have a silver tongue to accomplish such a task."
He shook his head, "You must not have known about Yomi's "night job" then. In light of that it is a wonder she didn't do it of her own accord already."
A woman's voice came from his left, "Night job?"
He turned to face a young woman wearing a white dress, with grey hair. In the heat of combat he had not taken the time to check who she was, but he took that opportunity now. He traced the scars on his chest until it felt right, number sixty five, Taki.
He responded, "Well Taki, it would seem that your beloved master was making a little extra money on the side by selling Yomi nightly. That just so happens to be how I found her, about to be abused by one of Mikogami's "customers"."
A shudder went through the women, again with the exception of Akitsu, who was standing a distance off, seemingly numb to the world.
Mutsu noticed his gaze, "That one will require a delicate touch, she was emotionally unstable when she was picked up. Now though, doubly so at least."
Mutsu's words were echoed in Akitsu's stance and presence, eyes seeing nothing, ears hearing nothing, almost dead to the world.
Rapture: Dionysus Park
Minato slowly crept his way towards the splicer, male this time, that was fiddling with a safe pushed into a corner. He had thought long and hard about what Ivan had said, and despite his reservations he had to admit that the Russian had a point. The splicer before had attacked with lethal intent simply upon sight, there was no reasoning with them.
The splicer in front of him was muttering to itself, again in another language, English, "Stupid safe, open! I want in!"
The splicer hit the safe with its fist out of fury just as he accidentally kicked a bottle on the ground. He froze for a moment just to make sure that the splicer had not noticed. When he was within five feet of the splicer, he abandoned stealth and rushed it with a yell. At his cry the splicer made a move to pull some variety of pistol from a holster on its hip, but the splicer's fingers fumbled with the grip and he connected with the bar before the gun could be brought into play.
He brought the bar back up and shot a nervous glance around to make sure that the splicer had been alone. After about five seconds he relaxed his grip on the bar and knelt down to catch his breath as the adrenaline faded.
Right on cue, he heard a small whirring sound as Ivan's robot made another appearance.
The Russian's voice sounded rather smug, "Well, well Minato. I didn't take you for the kind of man that would keep himself a harem."
Something in his tone made him think that Ivan already knew, but out of habit he replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ivan laughed and his suspicions were confirmed, "Nice try, but Matsu already told me everything. Like that fact that each of these beautiful women are in fact aliens, and that each one of them is gifted with some various manner of super power. Made a lot of sense when I saw that he/she burn its way through all the splicers in the train station, and that little girl wrap others up in greenery. Doesn't change anything though. I still need the help of you and your sekirei to work out what's going on in this city and either get out or fix the problem."
He asked a question that came to mind, "How and why did Matsu-chan tell you anything?"
The smug tone returned, "Easy, she let a little too much slip and I pushed for the rest. I'll admit threats were used. The non-lethal kind."
His temper uncharacteristically flared, "What did you do to Matsu-chan!"
The smugness vanished and the tone changed in an attempt to defuse his temper, "Easy Minato, I didn't actually do anything. I only threatened to give Matsu a nasty shock if she didn't talk."
The attempt did not succeed, "You're not helping."
Ivan didn't seem to care, "Yeah, well, you can slap me when you get to Minerva's Den. Train station is just up ahead so shut yourself inside the ticket booth until I can get the train there."
The little robot started to fly away but he stopped it, "One last thing, this splicer had a gun..."
Ivan's tone became giddy, "Did he? What'd he have?"
He set the iron bar on the ground and pulled the pistol out of the holster, with a small bit of trouble. It was no wonder that the splicer had had trouble, the holster was a glove that fit tightly around the pistol. Once drawn it fit right in the palm of his hand, almost like it belonged there. As strange a though as it was, the pistol was rather stylish.
Ivan groaned in envy, "You are quite possibly the luckiest bastard I have ever had the pleasure of talking with. That right there is a vintage WWII Luger pistol, and it looks like it's been well cared for, with a ready supply of bullets." Ivan paused for a second, "Have you ever fired a gun before?"
He replied honestly, "No, never."
Ivan sighed, "I thought as much, but that's the perfect weapon to get you started with. It's easy really, just point the gun at what you want to hit, line up the sights on the top of the gun with the specific area you want to hit, and pull the trigger. I would tell you to practice on something, but it would probably be a better idea to save what bullets you can."
Before Ivan could fly off he asked one last question, "How much further to the train station?"
Ivan responded while flying away, "Just through the room up ahead. When you get inside just hole up in the security booth till I can get the train to you. Only got three working cars if you understand."
As the robot flew away he worked to undo the holster from around the splicer's waist. He needed something to carry the gun in after all. Once done, and satisfied with the fit around his waist, he approached the door to the room between him and the train station. He held the Luger out in front of him, ready to shoot anything that was waiting. The door opened as he neared it.
Inside, a male splicer was crouching over the corpse of another splicer. The living one's head snapped up at the sound of the door opening and without hesitation picked up a bigger gun and started shooting.
He dove down behind a stone fountain that had long ago stopped functioning, and could hear the sounds of bullets chipping away at the stone, accompanied by the splicer's insane laughter. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then flung his arm out over the fountain, lined up the shot, and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
He dove back down and fumbled through examining his gun. Why didn't it shoot? His finger brushed against a small switch on the side that caught his attention. He didn't know what the two words said, but without many other options he flicked the switch and attempted to steady his nerves to try for another shot.
When he felt ready, he rose, aimed carefully once again, and pulled the trigger. A quarter sized hole appeared right between the splicer's eyes and the louder gun's fire ceased immediately. He made a mental note of what the switch did and holstered the Luger after flipping the switch again. No need for the gun to go off while he was wearing it. Inside the train station he quickly found the security booth that Ivan had mentioned and closed the door behind him. Hopefully, when the train arrived he could get to Mnerva's Den and back with his sekirei.
Rapture: Ryan Amusements
Tsukiumi slowly walked into the train station of Ryan Amusements and carefully looked around. She hadn't seen anything that was a threat to her yet, but it never hurt to be cautious. Honestly, she had seen nothing else alive since she had entered the city. Just a few cameras high on the wall as she walked by. Slowly swiveling to follow her movements. What she had been worrying about was Minato, and she couldn't help it. Even with Ivan's generous promise to keep him safe, she would never be able to forgive herself if Minato were hurt.
Speaking of Ivan, a small whirring sound announced the arrival of his flying robot, "Hello, you walking water faucet."
She was accustomed to such a nickname from the landlady, so it really did not bother her anymore, "Ivan, what is it this time?"
The man responded, "Not all that much, just letting you know that Minato is at the train station in Dionysus Park, waiting for the train."
She felt her spirit soar, "Then he is safe?"
The flying bot floated towards the tracks, "For now, yes. But that does mean that you have a rather lengthy wait ahead of you. All of the train cars that are working are already on the way to pick people up."
The soaring of her spirit wavered, "Then, what do you propose I do?"
Ivan's robot fiddled with a set of wires above the train tracks, "Not much you can do. Although I do have something of a suggestion if you have nothing else in mind."
Slightly peeved that she would not be able to get to Minato yet, her tone was slightly angry, "What?"
Ivan responded almost without apparent care, "I would suggest that you give the park a walk through."
She shouted indignantly, "You want me to wander through a park? While Minato is in danger?"
Ivan was unaffected, "If you would rather stand here for two hours waiting, then do so. I just thought it would be a better idea to do something."
She hesitated for a moment, Ivan's attitude starting to break her down, "I, suppose. If you are sure that there is nothing else I can..."
Ivan spoke two words before she could finish, "I'm sure." With her silence Ivan must have assumed that she was agreeing with him, "Park's right over there, through the glowing archway. Learn some Rapture history while you're in there."
At Ivan's prompting she looked to her left, where an archway was now flashing. She took one last, longing glance at the train tracks, then slowly started to walk towards the gate.
When she walked through into the park proper, she was greeted by a loud, mechanized voice, "Welcome, citizen of Rapture! Ryan Amusements is proud to have you here. Please, enjoy the park, and..." a burst of static cut the voice off.
Ivan's robot flew by, "Sorry about that, I need to get working on the audio recordings, really outdated by today's standards."
She watched as the robot started working on a panel, "This isn't just an ego trip of yours, is it?"
Ivan responded while still fiddling with the wires, "Yes and no. Yes because I really want a live, sane person to see what I've done and give me some honest feedback. No because I was serious about the two hour wait, and with just about everyone waiting for the train I have no need to watch them. So you will excuse me if I try to find something to keep me busy, being idle down here for extended lengths of time is a surefire way to wind up as crazy as the splicers." A chuckle escaped the Russian, "And you would probably go crazy with worry over Minato."
Still not happy about the idea she scuffed her boot against the floor, "I suppose you are right."
A short laugh burst from Ivan, "Damn right I am. Now, if the lady would kindly follow the flying robot..."
Ryan Amusements: ninety minutes later
Ivan wound up the tour, "And? What do you think?"
Her mind was completely boggled. The amount of obsessive paranoia that it would take to fuel anyone to completely forsake the only world they ever knew, she couldn't picture herself ever doing something like that.
Ivan seemed to draw his own meaning from her silence, "I know, Andrew Ryan was a genius and a visionary, but a paranoid madman all the same. A city with no law? Not the kind of place to live if you want stability. Especially after the discovery of ADAM..." Ivan trailed off.
The way he trailed off drew the question out of her, "What exactly is this, ADAM?"
Ivan sighed, "The short version, it's essentially a genetic goo that lets whoever uses it to rewrite their genes to whatever they happen to want. Granting ordinary people extraordinary powers."
She commented, "That doesn't sound so bad."
Ivan let out a sad laugh, "Sure, that's what everyone in the city thought to. Until people started going insane from overuse of ADAM. Take too much of the stuff and your brain starts to go all bonkers. That's what the splicers are, regular people that abused ADAM to the point that they are no longer human."
She sensed that Ivan wasn't saying everything, "What about you?"
Ivan snorted, "Well, you caught me. I've used ADAM on myself, hard not to and simply survive down here. But don't worry, I'm well within the safe limit for a man of my height and weight, so I'm not going to go insane on all of you."
She mumbled to herself, "I think that you already are."
She noticed that Ivan was no longer paying attention to her, and was instead seemingly talking to the air. After a few seconds it became obvious that he was talking to one of the others, who exactly was not clear.
Ivan sounded almost hysterical, "Wait, no! Don't touch that..."
Over the speaker there was a huge crash of metal on metal. She even felt the floor beneath her shaking.
Ivan's voice turned openly hysterical, "Heh, why? WHY? MUSUBI, YOU STUPID BITCH!"
Dionysus Park: Train station
Minato slumped down in the operators chair of the security booth. Two hours of waiting was a long time, but at least he hadn't been shot at during that time period. A huge rumbling shook the station and threw him out of his seat.
A small screen crackled on and the face of a large, lean man with a roughly shaved beard, and an equally messy haircut came on, "Well, Minato, looks like your brunette "friend" has fucked you over."
At this point, he was able to put a face to the voice, "Wha..."
Ivan snarled, "Musubi did exactly what I told her not to do. She pressed the big red button and dropped the train car onto the tracks. Although luckily for the he/she and the little girl, and Kazehana, they were on the other side of Pauper's Drop and they can still get to Minerva's Den by train. I don't feel very generous towards Musubi right now, so I'm going to make her wait for a good long while before I send another train to fetch her."
He unconsciously reached for the Luger on his hip, "Then, what about Tsukiumi and me?"
Ivan shook his head, "Well that's the rub, isn't it? I've worked out a relatively safe route for Tsukiumi, thought you would appreciate that, by having her take a shortcut through Hephaestus. Place is way to hot for the splicers, so they tend to avoid it."
A feeling of dread seeped right into his bones, "And me?"
Ivan's face looked rather sympathetic, "The only way I can get you to Minerva's Den now, by train, is by having you traverse Olympus Heights, aka, splicer central. If anything could be called a splicer hive, the Olympus Heights would be it."
His dread justified, he was almost beyond words, "How, how many splicers?"
Ivan looked away from him for a moment, "From what I can see on the few working cameras I have left there, at least twenty. Knowing the area though, I'd guess about fifty."
He was unable to speak the word, he simply mouthed the word in silence.
Ivan nodded, "I told you, Musubi fucked you over. Maybe you should reconsider her as your sekirei. Not sure if you can do that, but it does bear thinking about."
The screen went out, and he was left to stew in his own fears.