Stanley practically skipped around Dionysus Park as he tried to find the components of a diving suit.
She's gone! Eleanor's gone! She can't hurt me!
He sprinted back through the tunnel he'd been in earlier, past the carousel and strait into the door opposite into Cohen's collection. He briefly noticed that the Splicers had already started to clean, several tearing the luminous sea weed away from the floors whilst others were scraping barnacles off the walls. He hastened through the collection and headed towards the basement storage.
"Stop right there!"
Stanley's pace faltered, but he kept walking.
"No can do, I'm on a mission," he called. He didn't know where the voice came from, so he just stared ahead as he talked, eager to get away from whoever spoke. Whoever it was, it was female and unfamiliar.
"I know you, Stanley. I know what you did."
Stanley halted, suddenly rooted to the spot with fear. Kate? O'Malley? Jeez, when one threat goes, another arrives. He chuckled nervously, attempting to make it look like he didn't know what the speaker was on about.
"Hey, I don't know what this is about, but don't you have algae to scrub?" Stanley said, slipping his hand into his pocket. He withdrew first a pistol, then his radio.
"You tried to kill us all Stanley. All," the voice was closer, coming from somewhere to his left. No, it wasn't Kate. The voice wasn't mannish enough, and the accent was all wrong.
He began walking again, determinedly heading away from the voice. In the distance, he heard the familiar grind of a camera.
That gave him an idea.
"I evidently failed then, didn't I? You're still bothering me," Stanley taunted, stalling for time. He rounded the corner and began descending the steps. The camera was on his left now, its green light tracing the walls. Shit, someone's hacked this camera. Stanley was going to go and hack the camera himself, but now that plan was redundant.
"That you did Stanley. That. You. Did."
She defiantly wasn't a Spider Splicer; Stanley was more than familiar with the sound their hooks made wherever they went. That means that whoever she was, she was a Houdini, a Lead Head or a Thug.
He clicked the button on the radio, praying she wasn't a Houdini.
"Hey, Thinker, I need a favor. There's a camera in the basement storage of Dionysus Park. I'm being followed, and I need to get by the camera without triggering the alarm. Think you could uh, help me out here?" he whispered, quiet enough so that the Splicer couldn't hear. He turned the volume down for the reply.
"Request granted. Proceed."
Stanley returned the radio to his pocket and sprinted as fast as he could.
"Come back here!" the Splicer screamed. He heard her run after him, her high heels stabbing the floor in fury.
Stanley flew down the steps, taking three at a time. With a screech, the Splicer soared overhead and landed in front of him.
"Gotcha!" she snarled, grabbing him by the shirt. He got a look at her face, or what was left of it. Half a nose, sagging skin, broken teeth, dirty black hair cut into a "bob" with a ripped green dress on. She looked like a regular Lead Head. But he still didn't recognize her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the camera begin to swing towards them.
"Hey lady?" Stanley said, smiling down at the enraged Splicer.
"WHAT?"
"Smile for the camera."
With a look of horror, the Splicer looked at the camera, just as it looked at her, the green circle of light turning white and the alarm ringing overhead. She instantly dropped him and ran, screaming as the first Security Bot flew in, firing bullets repeatedly at her. With a final scream, she keeled over, her body crashing to the ground.
Stanley patted himself down and walked over to where the Splicer lay, blood mixing in with the pool of salt water, turning it crimson. He bent over and searched her pockets, retrieving a couple of dollars and a med kit. He also liberated her pistol of the rounds she wouldn't need anymore.
He was about to leave when a piece of paper caught his eye, poking out between the woman's cleavage. He looked around to see if anyone was around before retrieving it. The last thing he wanted was to be labeled a Necrophiliac.
He unrolled the piece of paper:
Well hey there Stanley. Long time no see –KOM
Stanley allowed the paper to fall from between his fingers, before continuing to walk, his face a mask of hate and fear.
KOM. Kate O'Malley.
So, Kate was after him. Well, bring it on Kate, bring it on.
He put his hands in his pockets and began to whistle, walking towards the airlock. He didn't need Kate interrupting his train of thought.
"Is someone there?" another voice called out. Stanley turned to corner and saw a woman holding a bucket full of fish. She was wearing a butterfly pin.
"Oh hey! You here to help?"
"No, I'm headed over to Siren Alley."
"Ah well. Take care!" she called, before walking towards airlock where she dumped the fish onto a growing pile on the airlock floor.
Diver's suit, Diver's suit, where is a Diver's suit? Stanley looked around until he found what he was looking for; a hidden locker built within the wall in front of the airlock. He took out a pen knife from his back pocket and went to work carving the edges of the locker out, chipping away shells and coral. With a jerk of his hand, the locker wrenched open, debris falling to the floor. Luckily for him the locker was airtight, meaning that the suit inside was nice and dry.
"Hey, can you help me with this?" Stanley asked. The woman dumped another load of fish in the airlock and walked over, holding the wetsuit open as he stepped in and pulled it up to his neck.
"Thanks," he said.
"No problem," she replied and resumed piling the fish. He pulled the clunky boots on and held the helmet under his arm.
"You done?" he enquired, looking around for more fish. He didn't see any. The woman dumped yet another bucket of fish and blew a strand of hair off her face.
"I am now. See ya!" she called. She exited the airlock and picked up a brush, with which she began scrubbing the windows with. Stanley smiled; the old girl had been right. Splicers just needed something to work towards.
He grabbed the oxygen tank and slung it across his back, grabbing the hose-like air tube and plugging it into the back of the helmet. With the tube attached, he raised the helmet and slowly lowered it onto his head. When he felt the helmet stopped by the neck ring, he sharply jerked the helmet to the left, locking it in place. Quickly checking that everything was locked and sealed, he stepped into the airlock. Carefully avoiding the fish, Stanley reached for the lever and switched it from "Drain" to "Flood". Cold water instantly filled the airlock, causing Stanley to shiver violently whilst the last of the air was replaced with water. The fish from the pile had begun to move, some swimming weakly whilst others merely floated with the currents, the water unable to revive them. Stanley heard a bell ring as the airlock door slid open. Stanley stepped out and into open sea, fish swimming around his ankles and out into the ocean whilst the dead ones drifted out, some beginning to move as prolonged exposure to the water proved that they weren't dead.
He began to walk towards Siren Alley, the water slowing his movements with both its physical resistance and the cold. He looked at his surroundings with the light built into the helmet. He could see the rocks that created the pathways between each districts, covered in the same seaweed that was in Dionysus Park, providing extra illumination to the surroundings. He could also see the detritus of the world he lived in; rusting metal and the occasional rotting corpse.
He pressed on, wading through the water as it fought to keep him at the same speed. Just as he looked left he saw an ADAM slug clinging to a rock, half hidden by a light fixture. Diverting his path, he reached out and grabbed the slug off the rock, putting it into a suit pocket for later use. Eventually, the Siren Alley airlock came into view, glowing like a beacon in the otherwise dark water. Stanley squinted into the gloom as it loomed ahead of him, relieved to soon be in the air again. Yet no sooner had he entered the airlock that he could see that was never going to happen.
The other door was open. Wide open. And the district beyond was flooded.
"Grace," he said, knowing that the radio in his helmet would sync to the one in his pocket, "I think I might know why your guy in Siren Alley hasn't responded." He walked further into the alley, catching glimpses of floating corpses and invasive sea life.
"Why? What happened?"
"It's completely flooded Grace. Someone opened both doors in the airlock."
He heard her gasp.
"Thinker?"
"Yes?"
"Are there any cameras on in Siren Alley?"
"Yes. They are water proof, and are…"
"Yeah whatever. I need you to check if anyone is alive in here, if there are any, uh, air bubbles or somethin'," Stanley said, eyeing a shark that was swimming lazily. The shark suddenly straitened and swam towards him. Stanley swore and dove out of the way, the shark sailing past him and out of the open doors.
"Thinker, shut the exterior airlock door," Stanley said, watching as the shark disappeared into the distance, probably catching scent of the fish that had accompanied him.
"Request confirmed," the computer responded. After a few seconds, the door ground closed, the light on the Flood/Drain interface lighting back up.
"Scan complete. Human life signs: zero."
Great. Just great. Another dead district. Jeez, if only it wasn't so wet around here.
"Are the pumps working, Thinker?"
"Negative. Status: Inactive," the Thinker replied. Stanley cursed and looked back into the airlock. A sudden thought occurred to him.
"Hey, Thinker. Do you think you could keep the interior door open whilst the drainage pumps for the airlocks are working? Would that be possible?"
"Estimated time for drainage of SNA: fifty three minutes. Do you wish to proceed? Manual assistance required," Thinker responded. Without a moment's hesitation, Stanley reached forward and flipped the lever. The interior door moved to close, but it halted halfway before grinding back down. Bubbles began streaming from the pumps as they replaced water with air.
"Thanks. Do you reckon you could make the pumps work faster?"
Without a response, the pumps began to work twice as hard, causing Stanley to grip on to the nearest wall.
"Estimated time for drainage of SNA: twenty six point five minutes."