"What do I want? My dear, dear child," the voice cooed, "I want nothing less than the total destruction of Rapture."

Eleanor's mouth went agape in disbelief. "Surely you are joking?"

No reply was made and only the sound of radio static, dripping water and Billy's continually stabbing with his tool could be heard through the stillness.

"You are mad," she breathed.

"Am I? Maybe I have gone mad. My brain fallen into the abyss… But Rapture is an abyss that has swallowed many minds. The irony is that I designed my own prison and called it Rapture when it is a purgatory. Men do seem to trap themselves in their own worlds but mine seems to be somewhat bigger." The man began chuckling over the radio in a rather irksome manner.

Eleanor stared at the half-crazed, inanimate object sitting in the palm of her clammy hand "Built Rapture," she repeated half wishing her problems would cease if she crushed the two-way radio. "Built Rapture? You- you're not Andrew Ryan, its founder?"

The dangling speaker on the talking box exploded with laughter. "Me, Andrew Ryan? No who is the jester. Andrew Ryan was a fool blinded by visions of grandeur. He sought the perfect enterprise in an imperfect society. The benefits of hard labor and free thinking were his bread and butter but Andrew Ryan could never account for evil that lurks in the heart of man. And he paid for his ignorance dearly. No, I only seek to end what he started."

Eleanor could not help but scoff and the ignorance she heard but her hands were growing shaky. "You are a hypocrite- nothing but a hypocrite. You see evil and destruction and want to have your own fun as well. And what of your underlings? They crawl about fulfilling your evil deeds and you repay by slaying them horrifically. And most importantly, WHERE THE HELL DID YOU TAKE FRED!"

"Him? He is now a pawn for my whims."

"Eleanor!"

Eleanor looked up from the radio and saw Max quickly sloshing through the water in her direction followed closely by Stanley who was curiously licking his lips.

"Find anything? Where's Fred?" Max would have pelted Eleanor with more questions but she could see that the girl was crying. It was then that Max noticed the half shattered radio she was white-knuckling.

"And as for my conduct of disciplining my other pawns," the transmitted voice continued, "you must be referring to that idiot whore Ms. Evansfield. She had been warned not to act of her own accord. Such people turn into obstacles and I cannot allow that."

"Eleanor! We need to move. Where's Fred?"

"They have taken him. Where, I do not know," she replied sorrowfully.

"Well we'll have to find the poor sod later."

Eleanor shook her head in defiance. "I'm not leaving without him!"

If only there was a cure for the common stupidity Max wished. "Listen and listen good. If they haven't killed him yet then they probably won't kill him at all and we can't save him if we are bloody dead."

"Oh but you are," the radio squawked. "You see Eleanor just like Ms. Evansfield you too act of your own accord and accordingly are also dangerous sooo…"

Something white darted between Eleanor's peripherals. Her eyes shot up just in time to see all the white mannequins in the room charge towards her and the others with hooks. Eleanor dropped the nonsense-spouting radio and pulled her two friends back from lunging hooks.

Having been yanked back, Max quickly recovered in time to shot a spider splicer in the heart and point blank range and sprawl another backwards with a round through its head. She then tossed the rifle to Stanley who was very eager to trade up from his pistol. Max retrieved her backpack and took out a vial. The vial contained a plasmid that flashed multiple colors simultaneously. She clasped Eleanor by the wrist and put her hand on Stanley's shoulder.

"Everybody hold on," Max exclaimed as she activated the funky colored plasmid.

Even though she didn't know what was happening, Eleanor thought something was missing. "Billy," she breathed right before her body was enveloped by red flower petals. The next thing she knew she was floating sideways through the same room but on the opposite side. Eleanor could see all the splicers gathered around were she had dematerialized and Billy who had been abandoned.

Eleanor shouted his name but her voice sounded garbled. Billy still seemed to hear her and looked in her direction. A second later, Eleanor rematerialized only a few feet from where Billy was standing as he bravely fended off the spider splicers advances. She immediately extended her hand to extract the little boy. Billy responded by bridging the gap with his own appendage but grabbed nothing but air as his hand passed through hers.

Instead a white hand extended from Eleanor's own and grabbed Billy's wrist. Billy rewarded the splicer who was half fazed through Eleanor's ghost by driving his needle through its head. Eleanor watched the sharp tip of Billy's tool seemingly drive through her chest. Time seemed to slow down for her as he retracted the tool allowing blood to spray from her chest.

A look of shock, mirroring her own, smeared across Billy's face. His sadistic tool fell from his hand and shattered on the floor. The Spider splicers swarmed around him; half trying to capture him while the other tried desperately to suck up the red elixir from the broken vial. Billy no longer fought back. He fought the tears he had already cried the last time he had been abandon. Only this time he had taken revenge. His tiny fist remained tight even as multiple arms picked him up and hauled him to his next liege.

Author's Notes: Wow wasn't that freaky. I claim full credit for thinking that part up five minutes ago. Well anywho on a note involving less needles, Eleanor Alone has reached over 6,000 hits with 35 reviews. And at over 37,000 words I think this is my most successful story. So thank you my precious(gollum) readers for your support, reviews, casual glances that drive up my hit counter, and please keep reading even when it takes me forever to write.