Screams echoed through the night, a bellowing noise was heard through the dark long night. Water leaked onto his face, as he tries to pull out his gun but it refused to give in to his grasp. He then saw it. The metallic behemoth that screeched at him from above. Jack whipped his pistol out but it refused to budge and it locked. It was jammed. The dark figure descended towards him as Jack could only cower beneath a red light.

Jack awoke violently, as he screamed into the early morning daylight. The girls fled from him from all directions, jumping out from his bed and fleeing into the nearest exit of his room. During the entire commotion, a bowl of water flew up into the air and splattered his face drenching his hair and his sheets. He groaned.

'Amanda! Quinn! How many fucking times did i tell you t-' He stopped as he saw little Priscilla sucking her thumb again, her eyes swelling in her tiny little dress, quivering on her knocked knees.

'Aw, no, no, no. I'm sorry, Priscilla, shhh...'

He got up and knelt down to hug her.

'Shh…, daddy didn't mean to yell at you, he was just angry at your sister's making a joke.' He continued to hold her tightly before letting go and wiping her eyes.

'Do you want some breakfast, huh? would you like that, hmm? Shh… don't cry or you'll make me cry, okay?'

Priscilla nodded and Jack carried her in his arm before kissing her on her forehead, before trudging towards the door. The girls scuttled away again, unsure if he might incur his wrath, but Jack was just far too drowsy to care. He sat Priscilla down onto the cold wood floor and proceeded to the kitchen.

Jack didn't know how he managed, but after working multiple odd jobs, and inching a way up the local enforcement, he had managed to settle in as a "consulting detective" with "special" prowess in dealing in certain cases that required a delicate touch. This was most likely due to Jack's abilities in a various attributes in fighting, hacking and sometimes "magical powers" that required his attention. Due to his rather "abundant" offspring, the commissioner of the local police and the blessings of the mayor who was grateful for his service they allowed him to stay on an idyllic and quiet part of the city in the suburbs, not far from the New York Police Department with an adequate wage, in exchange for his talents. Although his abilities, were far superior to the average man, he cared only for his "daughters" the best way he could however it does toil on a father who has to raise such a flock.

His home was not the most perfect of habitable residencies however it proved enough for Jack and his daughters without creating a stir on space. It was moderate in size, humble without any sign of the luxury or excess. The furniture was only there to facilitate a purpose and many of them were for Jack's daughters who instead ruin them with their incessant play or colouring. It was to be expected of a father.

Jack went downstairs towards the kitchen, which mostly consisted of a counter, fridge, stoves and a few cabinets for any necessities for the large family. He noticed the rest of his girls preparing for breakfast, pulling out a mountain of sausages, hams, eggs and flour. Many of the girls already have started making pancakes, some cracking eggs into a large bowl before dumping milk into it and blending it with a whisk.

'Alright, you all set up the tables and take your place- Jocelyn, what did i tell you about licking the spoon! Alexandra! Don't you touch the stove, its dangerous!'

The girls giggled as they cracked open the cabinets for their utensils and plates as they sat down, continuing to talk amongst themselves, some pushing and shoving for a better place in the very large table that somehow became part of the kitchen. Jack took the ready made ingredients and set himself up for an order, that although had become routine would be just as exhausting as taking down a utopia. Jack sighed and took the pan out.

Jack's days were blissfully dull, and his services as a consultant remained quiet which allowed him to focus on his girls more. Days were filled with playing and teaching, never leaving a single one out and taking what time is allowed to love every one of them.

Later, that evening, as Jack tucked his girls in into their bunk beds, kissing them good-night and calming down those that were stubborn enough to not concede, Jack noticed one bunk empty. It was labeled 'Sally'.

'Susan, where is your sister?' Jack asked on the above bunk.

'I don't know, daddy, you know how she is, she's always running off on her own.' She cuddled in her soft blankets.

'Okay, i'll be right back, goodnight.'

'Goodnight' She said finally before drifting to sleep as Jack parted her hair.

He turned off the light before shutting the door as he began his quest for his missing child. He looked around the house for a while checking where most likely where little girls would hide to avoid bed-time. Oddly, there was no sign of her even after he looked through the usual places under his bed or in the living room. He began to , he heard a shuffle behind closet under the stairs. He opened the door slowly and called softly.

'Sally? You in here, i'm very worried about you, please talk to daddy.' Jack saw the little girl curled in the corner, visibly shaken.

Jack sat down next to her. He stroked her hair, as he felt her continue to quiver. The girl

continued to sob until she jumped onto Jack's arms, quietly crying into his chest. She gave in, still sobbing.

'I don't want to go back to sleep. I keep seeing the bad men take me away to the beds! I don't want to go back, i don't want...'

She continued to cry. Jack didn't know how to help the poor traumatized girl but continue hold her in the what safety he could provide in the dim room. The wave of memories suddenly rushed back into him as if he was slammed into a wall. Every last detail of the place made his blood turn cold, that all he could do was continue to stare at the poor child with defeat. What should he say to make everything that was bad in the world, go away? Should he just say that is wasn't real? To openly deny reality of a time that would have destroyed everything they held dear? No, he told himself.

'Sally, do you remember that time when you gave me your doll?'

She sniffed.

'That was the happiest moment of my life, did i ever tell you that?' He smiled as Sally looked up with her swollen, red face.

'After that moment i knew that what mattered most to me at that moment were you girls and how much you deserved so much more than i could possible i could hope to give in my life. You all are the most precious things to me and i would never let anything ever happen to you.'

Sally's gaze began to lower. Jack placed his palm to her cheek and raised it to ensure she was seeing him straight in the eyes.

'Do you understand? I...will...never...let anything hurt you.' He finally said with an intense yet almost certain clarity.

'Yes, papa.'

Sally squeezed Jack even tighter, her viper-like grip leaving him unsure if she'll let go for a few minutes before she let go.

'Ready for bed?' Jack said comfortly.

'Yes...'

'Come on' Jack said, carrying the sleepy child to her room.

As Jack tucked her into bed, and gave her a peck on her forehead, Sally gave one final hug on his head before turning over and taking some well-deserved sleep. Jack remembered Sally's favourite toy underneath her bunk and placed it next to her. The old, porcelain head was almost inseparable with her even though Jack never asked her the significance of it. In all honesty, he didn't care, as long as it brought as much comfort to her to forget. As Jack finally closed the door behind him and let out an exhausted sigh before retiring for the evening. He heard the bell door rang in his front door. He was astonished with whoever needed his services this late in the evening. A hefty moan as he dragged his feet towards it, he opened the door, and to much to his surprise, the strangest sight he wished he never encountered.

In front of him were the oddest couple he ever met in a dark, clear and quiet night. They both wore damp yellow raincoats, although there wasn't evidence of rain or a storm anywhere at all.

Although they continued to drip onto his porch, Jack noticed they looked almost alike with their ginger hair, freckles, similar facial structure and smug look. Jack quickly assumed they were twins albit the level of similarity between the two was most definitely uncanny. The taller, more masculine figure simply raised an eyebrow at him. Jack's expression turned to concern as the male man spoke.

'Well, he wasn't what i expected.'

He spoke with an almost british accent yet it was bordering to a more nouveau-riche of arrogance he would've expected from the hoity-toity aristocrats. Jack just cringed his eye.

'Well what did you expect, brother? A little bit older with a side of trauma or even crippling self-doubt?'

The female twin also spoke with the same accent yet. The uncanniness with how much her expressionless face made Jack feel uneasy as she allowed sound through her lips yet remain incredibly stoic.

'No, just a bit taller, i suppose.'

His twin responded with the same blank look. Jack did notice how the man "hovered above" him slightly.

'What the hell do you want?' Jack said annoying, ignoring the fact that the rather rude couple have just disturbed a quiet evening.

'Touchy, isn't he.' The drenched male said sarcastically.

'Oh, shush now, if you would've noticed him by now, he seems rather fatigued after the events of today's wasteful leisurely activities of play and other nonsensical parental nonsense.

'What the hell?' Jack thought to himself. Were these two spying on him? That would simply be impossible considering the state of their dress. Were they here for the girls? He made damn sure well that social services wouldn't cause him any problems let alone two strangers with a poor view on his parenting or their rather poor choice yet rather insulting words.

'Who the hell do you think you are? Did you come all this way to invade my privacy and drench my pouch as you prattle on? Listen here, if this is some kind of joke, i would like some damn answers right no-'

'I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to rave about us at a later time however time is something we coincidentally don't have very much time for.' The male interrupted.

'Well, actually we do but we are sticklers to efficiency so we'll keep this short.' The female interjected quickly after.

'We would like to hire you to recover a person, more specifically a girl, out of heavily isolated, some say fanatic, and coincidently brainwashed civilization hell bent on obliterating your world-'

'As you know it, anyway and prevent the conquest and coming war that could destroy the rest of the space-time continuum that may result in a predetermined chain-'

'existing chain-'

'"existing" chain of events that could have unknown repercussions of the lives of your newly adopted family in the far future, not to mention the rest of human-kind.'

'evidently.'

The female just looked at him, raising another questioning eyebrow. The male just grumbled.

'Alright, perhaps definitely. Unless! You can change the events that might alter the course of history and lead to positive implications in the future and hopefully not rip a hole in the universe-'

'We've seen it happen, its not very nice'

'So, what do you say, do we have a deal?'

Jack stared at both of them for a few minutes, contemplated for a bit and slammed the door in their faces.

'Well, that was rude.' The muffled noise of the female cried out.

As Jack slammed the door and turn around, he was shocked to see the couple "inside" the house.

'How the hell did you get in here?!' He exclaimed.

'You invited us in-' The male smirked.

'In another universe, you might have and then tried to possibly hit Robert in the back of the head with a wrench for speaking that way.' The female interjected.

The man assumed to be called Robert just looked down, giving up. He sighed. The female decided to take the lead again.

'Listen , i know that interrupting your rather stable lifestyle should be the least of our concerns however recent events have led to multiply negative possibilities in the current timestream that-'

'Considering our soul purpose to readjust the balance-'

'And that our previous employee failed to accomplish his task-.'

' I don't give two shits about what you want or how the hell you came across that name but if you don't get out of my life, i'll kick you out myself!' Jack exclaimed fuming.

'Then how about if it means harm might befall your girls.' She said finally, her expression turned sour.

Jack was stunned. He wasn't sure to what to make of it. He noticed how he just made a another vow to Sally a few moments ago, to protect every single one of them but somehow these two made it even more evident. Gritting his teeth, and clutching his fists, he said with acid.

'I would do anything for my girls to see them safe.'

'Then you would most likely want to know what we unfortunately have to relay.' The male said quickly.

'As we said Mr. Ryan-'

'Don't call me that, my name is just Jack, i don't care for that name or how you know of it.'

'Very well, "Jack", we need you to recover an Alice from wonderland or at least carry her far enough before she might destroy us all.'

'Why me?'

'Because, unfortunately, you possess a unique set of skills equivalent to our previous employee who, also unfortunately, perished from his attempts.'

'Why not the police or the-'

'Because the government or men with big guns have a tendency to not believe us and would most likely only draw attention-'

'Not to mention that one time where they branded us as insane and attempted to throw us into an asylum-'

'That was a very unpleasant experience which we hope we "never" speak of ever again.'

'But why-'

'Because, also unfortunately, is the fact that your time in Rapture has given you adequate experience with dealing with a dystopian city which although undesirable-'

'Made you the only one to multiply positive outcomes for us for you to accomplish this task where one other had failed repeatedly.'

'How did-' Jack crossed his arms.

'We have our sources and our sources tell us that you are the man for the job-'

'We will pay you considerably, if you were to accept and make our lives easier before finding another version of you who might accept or else you might as well continue with your life knowing a great evil will befall you eventually.'

Jack eyed them both as they dripped in their boots even more in his house. Not a single thing made sense to him yet the way they worded out their nonsense, their mention of Rapture and his life only made him uneasy if what they said was true. In a small way, there was truth in their words but he still felt uneasy. His experience as a consultant also ensured they told no lie as of yet, but his intuition also made him assume they knew a lot more that they let on.

'I don't know who you people are, what you want or even why i'm even considering this but what i know is that my girls are the only thing that gives me purpose in life and if anything were to happen to one of them, i would never forgive myself.' Jack said sullenly.

'Then we'll take it as a yes.'

The man pulls out a train ticket, a list of instructions and a wad of cash.

'We would you like you to meet us in Maine by next week at this precise time-'

'Yes being late would be most troublesome.' The female lightened up.

The couple were about to leave until Jack stepped in their way.

'Wait, this girl? Was she one of the little sisters? How is she connected to Rapture? Who is she?'

'She isn't connected to Rapture, Jack. She was connected to you.'

Jack didn't understand but tried to prod further information.

'And her name's Alice?'

'No, her name is Elizabeth.'