After looting all of Steinman's lockers and safes for stuff, including some more medkits, we then proceeded back out through the tube, only to see that it had gotten a bit damaged by a whale that accidentally bumped into it!
"Ah, damn, another tunnel collapse. Welcome to rapture, boyo, the world's fastest growing pile of garbage," Atlas said in my radio, which made Mariska look at me in confusion.
"Was that Atlas?... Why are you on his side?" she asked.
"If not for him, I'd have been killed before I even got here when the alarms blared off outside of the entry to the pavilion," I explained as we then moved to the side room, but then we gawked at how a Big Daddy was blasted through the window! And then, I saw that a Splicer was in the room aside another Little Sister, who I then shot through the head with my pistol. And the Little Sister looked terrified.
"S-Stay away from me! Mister Bubbles! Please wake up!" she shouted as I then sighed and holstered my weapon as Masha then looked at her with seriousness.
"Easy, Joy... it's me, Masha, remember?" she asked, which made the Little Sister look at her in concern.
"M-Masha? Why do you look different? A-And why are you with the devils?" she asked in concern.
"They're not devils. They saved my life, and my mother's life... we want to save yours, too," Masha said as I then gently walked towards her and she looked scared.
"If not for me, then that devil that killed Mister Bubbles would've killed you, too... I want to help you with something Mama Tanenbaum gave me, but I need you to trust me, okay?" I asked, her bracing herself as I gently picked her up and placed my right hand on her head, me then restoring her to normal as before, and then I heard Tanenbaum on the radio speak to me as the little girl looked at herself and then at us.
"You have shown mercy to the little ones when you could've shown cruelty. I thank you from the bottom of my heart... I'm sending Jada to bring you a gift, please, accept it so you can help the others," Tanenbaum said before she then was interrupted by Mariska taking the radio.
"Is that you, Tanenbaum?... Thank you for rescuing my Masha," she said, the line going silent for a bit until Jada arrived through the Little Sister pipes with a gift in the form of the bunny doll, which she looked at me and gave me a smile.
"I learned that Miss Tanenbaum has also been saving as many Little Sisters as she can, so you're not alone," Jada said, me smirking at that. She then went back through the pipe, me helping her out with a bit of a lift, her smirking at me. "Thank you for the lift," she smirked before then going through as the radio got a response.
"It is me... and I apologize for what happened to Masha in the first place. It got too out of hand too quickly, to point that I had no say in anything," Tanenbaum said on the other end, which made Mariska smiled after.
"It's alright... I don't blame you... I just want someone to fix my face when we get out of here. That damn Steinman messed me up a lot," she said, my left hand then changing to a very weird looking Plasmid... one that I'd never seen before.
"Um... hold that thought," I said as I then turned the radio off and I then looked at Johnny and Mariska. "Question in private, what does this Plasmid do?" I asked, which made Mariska gasp.
"That's the ticket! Hit me with it and it'll fix all the damage Steinman did! It'll make me back to normal!" she said, me gawking at that.
"Wait, back to normal as in Plasmids AND body, or just body?"
"Both! Now do it quick, before it changes," Johnny said, me then sending the blast at Mariska and her then going through some kind of green light show as her body returned to normal and a whole bunch of Adam emerged from her body and I then gathered all of it into some of our empty Eve bottles, me then opening the present as I then turned the radio back on and we heard Atlas on the other end.
"So what's going on? The camera feed's been offline for the past few minutes," Atlas asked, me smirking at that. At least it answered my question that he was listening in via the security cameras.
"Well, we defeated Steinman, rescued his most recent victim and another Little Sister, and I managed to get a family reunion between the victim and Little Sister number 2, Masha," I smiled.
"I feel more like number 1 for being able to meet momma again," Masha smirked at me.
"Also, I learned that there's a special drug in Kure-All that can heal this dangerous condition I have," I said, which Atlas then asked about it.
"What kind of condition is it?" he asked.
"I have a disease in me that isn't contagious, but it's very bad. It's called Covid-19 and it's basically a ticking clock that I can't predict. The doctors said I'd have anywhere from a week to 15 years for it to kill me," I said, which made Atlas speak after.
"I see... you'd better get your ass over there, then," he said, me nodding at that as I then opened the gift and saw that it had 300 Adam, a tonic for wrench Jockey+, and the Plasmid for Incinerate, which I was definitely happy to take, but I stored it in one of the bags we'd stolen from Steinman's safes. And I then went to the Gatherer's Garden machine and proceeded to buy some of the Tonics and a couple extra slots with the Adam I'd been getting and absorbing from the Little Sisters. And I also got two more Plasmids in the form of Hypnotize Big Daddy and Winter Blast, which I also stored in the bag carefully so that I could use them for later use.
"Don't let me have any of those horrid things ever again, mister... oh, I never got your name!" Mariska smirked with a small laugh.
"Hunter Johnson, and I wasn't planning on it," I said as we then went back to the area proper... at the worst possible time! There was a Big Daddy right there and a Little Sister alongside him, them looking at us with hostility as the drill started to power up and the big lug looked angered.
"Easy, bubbles, we're not dangerous, promise," I said, him still holding his drill in preparation as I looked at the others with seriousness. "Um... you guys, get back in there. I need to try and get Mister Bubbles calmed down," I said, the group then doing so as I looked at him and held my hands up, my hand then changing to me Security Bullseye.
"Stay away from us!" the Little Sister said, me staying in place.
"I'm not a danger, I promise you. I don't want to hurt you or Mister Bubbles... I just want to ask if you'd like a gift," I said, that making the Little Sister confused.
"A... A gift?" she asked, me nodding.
"It's something that will make it so that you can remember everything about your past, given by Mama Tanenbaum... but in order for it to work, I need to hug you," I said, that making Mister Bubbles's eyes glow red.
"Mister Bubbles, it's okay," the Little Sis said as the big guy then lost the red eyes, all aside from one. Probably just in case I did something nasty. "If you do anything to hurt me, Mister Bubbles will make you pay," she said, me nodding at her as I then cautiously approached and placed my arms around the little lady before then using the Plasmid on my right hand, her veins glowing brightly before she then lost the glowing eyes... and the moment this happened?
"GRRROOOGHHH!" Mister Bubbles growled angrily as every single one of his eyes glowed red and he proceeded to run towards me, me gasping as I then had to run and get evasive!
"MISTER BUBBLES! STOP IT!" the Little Sister shouted. But it was no use, as their connection was now gone! In fact, it just made Mister Bubbles angrier as he then tried to daze me with a powerful stomp, but I jumped when he did so and proceeded to attack him with machine gun fire and pistol bullets, making sure I shot through the suit as opposed to the giant helmet. And after enough work, I'd managed to put him out of his misery. And I could see that the little girl looked at him in sadness.
"He didn't deserve that... none of them did... both us little girls and the daddies..." she said with sadness before then giving me her Adam injector, me looking at it in confusion. "Use that Mister Bubbles, please. He'll get another chance in you," she said, me now understanding that it was like what happened during the good ending of Bioshock 2.
"Okay, I'll do it," I said as I then stuck the needle into Mister Bubbles's body and then proceeded to absorb the Adam from his body into my body, me then feeling that he was in me... and that he was so relieved that he was okay now... oh, and one other thing.
"Your name is what now?" I asked him in thought. "Oh, you are going to be in for the shock of your life very soon," I said to him as he told me that he was Sam Lutz. AKA, the father of Masha and the husband of Mariska! I then gave the memo to the others in the room behind the big door by opening it, as well as the little girl going through as well.
"Thank you so much, for saving me... my name is Antoinette. I need to go tell Tanenbaum that I need a new mommy and daddy... I remember that Mister Bubbles killed them when they became insane..." she said, me feeling sorry for her, to the point I placed my hand on her shoulder, which she tensed up at before then seeing me.
"Sorry... If it makes you feel any better... I could be a daddy to you. But we'd need to wait until we get out of this dumpster," I smiled at her.
"Um, what's a dumpster?" Masha asked.
"It's um... basically a giant version of a trash can. About as big as a person, but weighs as much as... um... question, how heavy was that diving suit?" I asked to my internal friend before he spoke.
"It weighs as much as a fully loaded dumpster," Sam said with my mouth, since I allowed him to do so, which I could tell made the group confused.
"Um, who was that? Do you have more voices inside of you?" Johnny asked. I shook my head so he could speak.
"I was who was in that suit... I'm... wait... WAIT!" he gawked from my mouth as he then finally got the cogs turning in our head when he saw his family. "Mariska! MASHA! You're safe!" he said in excitement, but I kept him held back, as he planned to tackle them into a hug.
"What's going on right now? I'm getting a little scared," Masha asked in concern.
"Ehehe... it's your dad," I said, which made the duo look at each other and then at me.
"Wait... you mean... Sam? Is it really you?" Mariska asked.
"It is, my love... I had no idea you had to go through all of what I've seen in Hunter's head... especially the Vita Chambers and that freak Steinman!" he said with concern.
"So... how did this happen?" Johnny asked as I let the duo of girls hug me, as I now had Sam in me.
"Basically, I was taught from Antoinette how to save a Big Daddy after I take them down, via this device that she gave me," I said as I showed off the Adam Injector, which Masha looked at in surprise. "So, I sucked the Adam from the body of her Big Daddy, and I absorbed it into my body, and now I have Sam as another personality in me. Of course, I seem to have the strongest power, so he can only come out if I let him, but I'm sure I can do so, but also see if I can save the other Big Daddies that we encounter. Maybe I can even see if I can reunite more Little Sisters with their biological parents in the process?" I smirked.
"That would be absolutely wonderful! But for now, we should get going to this Kure All place," Mariska said as we then went to the area in question as Antoinette then left through the Little Sister vents. We then moved to the lower levels as I then heard Andrew Ryan on the radio for a change.
"What are you playing at? I would've expected you to have left the Medical Ward at this point, but you're still crawling around there," Andrew asked as I simply spoke the truth.
"Just trying to find something for a bad disease I have. It's on a ticking time clock, and I want it to not end up killing me," I lied, Andrew Ryan then speaking to me differently.
"I have the radio signature blocked by all in Rapture except for me and you. We both know what the real reason is, don't we, Hunter Johnson?" Andre asked, me gawking at that.
"What real reason do you mean?" I asked him.
"Would you kindly. I have no idea how you learned of that, nor do I know how you knew to ask Tanenbaum for assistance, but I can say this much. I am still not going to let you succeed in my city so long as you are on Atlas's side," he said with seriousness.
"I'm not on Atlas's side. I'm on my own side. I want to make it so that everyone gets their comeuppance down here. No crime will go unpunished, and that includes the fact that you've murdered people down here, same with some of Atlas's secrets," I said, the radio going quiet as Johnny melted the ice at the bottom of the stairs and then he asked a question.
"What are you going on about now, mate?" Johnny asked me.
"Shh, just stay quiet, I'll talk after," I said to him quietly as we moved through the complex and, using Johnny's telekinesis, we got the key card to Kure All and we went inside, me then finding the medicine in question, the final dosage of the antidote! I made sure that there were no cameras (none at all) and glugged all of it down, me being able to control my plasmids shortly after! And then Andrew spoke again.
"You do realize that this place is to be for those who are wanting to escape from the petty laws of the surface. I made this place with my own two hands! And I will not allow a child like you to upend my whole life's work. So I suggest that you crawl into the Bathysphere and go back to the surface, far away from here," he said, me then responding to that with a serious condition.
"Only if you release all of the Little Sisters and Big Daddies from their spells. And you let them come to the surface with me. If not, then guess what, I'm going to make you pay," I said, him then speaking after angrily.
"Then welcome to hell, or whatever sect of religion you dare to infect this place with.
"Agonistic Diest. As in, I don't believe in any of them, but I know there is one out there. And if any God worth his salt had their say in it, he would not want a madman to control the minds of men, women, and children to be monsters. And as for me, I'm doing this on my own terms. I can promise you that I am going to stop you and undo anything that you do to us. Got it, Andrunk Rye Bread?" I said in a very bad name, which made the line go dead before Atlas then finally spoke.
"Can you hear me, boyo?! The radios and cameras all went dead for a good while, what was happening?" he asked in concern.
"Andrew Ryan gave me a private call, trying to get in my head. But I told him I wasn't gonna leave until I could save everyone I could, including your family. And when I called him a very dumb name, he stopped talking," I said. I then had our group find a spare set of telekinesis in the very same basement of the medical ward, taking out some more Splicers in the process and getting a shotgun in the process, which I proceeded to put all of the ammo I'd collected into some holding containers that fit perfectly in an ammo belt I'd gathered from a dead doctor.
"Would you kindly tell me the name that you called him?" Atlas asked, me smirking and then saying the name.
"Andrunk Rye Bread," I said.
"Really? That's the best you could call him, lad? Whatever, do you have Steinman's genetic key?" he asked, me nodding.
'Yep, as well as all of his stolen loot from his victims, and rescuing a couple more in the process," I smirked.
"Okay, would you kindly put that key in the security system? Then you'll need to head to the fisheries in Neptune's Bounty," he said, me speaking after.
"Roger," I said as I then led the group to the area immediately and Masha then turned the radio off.
"Why are you still following him if you said you aren't on his side?" Masha asked, me then responding with a smirk.
"I already said it, so I'll say it again. I don't trust a word of that guy, since, for some bizarre reason, anytime he said 'would you kindly' before I got that medicine, I did anything blindly after his orders. God forbid I get told to kill an innocent bystander like you or someone he wants me to put a hit on. And besides, I need to make it to Andrew Ryan and Atlas is my best route there. I get his family rescued, I get a good route to Andrew Ryan so I can make him pay for his crimes," I said.
"You aren't planning on killing him, are you?" Masha asked, me shaking my head no.
"No, he doesn't get killed by me unless he wants to shoot at me. I'm going to stop him by sending him to the surface and turning him in for smuggling, grand conspiracy, illegal construction, murder, murder, mass murder, and did I mention murder?" I asked, that making Johnny and Mariska speak after.
"We get it, he murdered people," they both said at the same time.
"But so are we, all of these Splicers used to be people, now they need put down... it sickens me to have to do that, but it's obvious that someone made them this way," I frowned.
"That'd be Andrew Ryan. He put a special chemical in the air down here that made it so that anyone who spliced beforehand became crazy and willing to kill anyone he commanded. And almost everyone in Rapture has spliced beforehand, with very few exceptions like me, Mariska, Tanenbaum, Atlas, and Peach Wilkins... speaking of, we should be wary of that guy when we go to the Fisheries. He might want me dead the most, since I used to work for Fontaine," he explained as we reached the security system and I then put in the key card and the alarms then turned off and the way to the bathysphere was opened up.
"And who's Fontaine?" I asked, even though I knew who he was.
"A monster of a man. He's the one who turned Masha and every little girl of Rapture into a Little Sister. And he was also the one who forced Tanenbaum to go too deep down the rabbit hole. The final straw for her was when his will said that he wanted her to try sending people to the surface to kidnap girls to make more Little Sisters!" Mariska said with disgust.
"I believe it. This place sounds like an insurance nightmare, and I expect criminals to thrive here when there's no such things as laws or morality," I frowned as we then went to the Bathysphere and I then hit the buttons to take us to Neptune's Bounty, the door then closing and us then going through the waters on the outside of the city a bit more. And I had to admit, seeing the place with no light outside other than the interiors of the city? It was so freaky, yet so awesome! Especially when I saw some glowing jellyfish around the place and even a Frilled Shark!
"Mommy! What's that thing? It looks so ugly!" Masha asked when she saw it.
"I don't really know, Masha. It sure looks surreal, doesn't it?" Mariska gawked at it.
"I think I know what that was, since I was a marine biologist on the surface," I lied. Sure, I did study in that field, but it wasn't my preferred job. "That's a special type of shark called the Frilled Shark, one of the oldest surviving species out there. It's hundreds of thousands of years old, and it hasn't changed too much over that time. It's totally blind and it has its mouth open all the time so it can catch anything it can while it swims," I smiled. And then we gawked as this same Frilled Shark grabbed a jellyfish and proceeded to snap its jaws forward at such a fast pace and then proceeded to eat it whole! "Ladies and gentlemen, we just watched history. I think that's the first time we've ever seen a frilled shark eat something in the wild," I smiled widely.
"Oh, if only we had video cameras instead of photo cameras! This would be so perfect!" Mariska frowned.
"Only time will tell if we can get it on camera again," I smiled at them as we then finally reached Neptune's Bounty's bathysphere station, me sighing in content at being in a group of people on a quest to save an entire city from darkness.
