Disclaimer: All of these characters are borrowed from the game Bioshock Infinite, and I do not own or have any rights to them. Oh, and there are major spoilers in this story. Don't read unless you've finished the game.
Second Run - A Bioshock Infinite Fanfiction
Chapter 3: Getting Her Back
By ck-pasta
Light shined from the window on Booker's face as he woke up. His stomach growled and he stood up and made his way downstairs. There was a bar there, and Booker ordered a sandwich and a drink.
"That'll be ten silver eagles sir. And may I interest you in a vigor?" asked the salesman.
"You sell vigors here? What do you have?" Booker replied.
"I only have Bucking Bronco at the moment. Say, I'll give you a deal and sell it you for only fifty silver eagles."
"I'll take it," Booker said. He pulled out sixty silver eagles, and realized he only had twenty-nine left. Jeez, I need to tone it down on buying. I don't have Anna with me anymore to throw me coins. He ate his sandwich, and drained the vigor.
After the usual hallucination caused by vigors, Booker left the inn and looked around. Monument Island had left the dock and was moving towards the other side of Columbia. Great how the hell am I supposed to get there now. He looked around and saw a guard showing off his Sky-Hook to what seemed like a friend of his.
"Yeah, this is the newest technology. With this, we'll flush the Vox out of the skylines," the guard bragged while holding his Sky-Hook in the air. I really need a Sky-Hook right now. I'll have to isolate that policeman, but I can't kill him. Guess I'll have to try to choke him out.
Booker ran up to the guard and tried to sound as tired as possible. "Hey man, you gotta help me" he said, making sure to take breath pauses in between a few words. "My friend is getting mugged by three guys in that alley over there. I think they might be Vox Populi."
He looked alarmed and dashed towards the alley while Booker followed closely behind. The guard looked around the alley and found no one there. He was about to turn around, but not before Booker put his arms around his neck to choke him. Once the he stopped struggling, Booker let go of him. He picked up the guard's Sky-Hook, as well as scavenging for any ammo. He found a few pistol rounds, but the prize here was the shotgun.
"Oh yes, this'll do," Booker said as he rubbed the shotgun with his sleeve. He made sure to not leave the same direction he came, and was quick about it. He didn't want to alarm anyone.
Oh shit, I have no clue where I'm going. What part of Columbia am I in? He looked around but found and only saw a sign that said 'Residential Complexes.' Then he looked up and saw a hinge that should have been within the Sky-Hook's reach. Booker jumped up as high as he could, and the magnetized hook did the rest.
Once attached to the hinge, Booker looked around for a place to land. He jumped over to the nearest rooftop and look around. Monument Island was quite a ways ahead. Booker groaned at the long trek he would have to accomplish.
He continued up on the rooftops, jumping over alleys and using the Sky-Hook. Booker was about to make another jump, when he noticed someone else on the rooftops. He would have disregarded it, if it were not for the sniper rifle in his hand. Is that Vox? Booker got closer to get a better look, but the man heard him coming.
The man turned around and an alarmed look took over his face. "Oh shit! He has a new Sky-Hook, he's a cop!"
Booker saw three other people stand up on the rooftops of buildings a decent ways ahead.
"No wait, I'm not a cop I'm jus -" Just then a bullet sped by his shoulder. Shit, these guys won't listen to reason. He took cover by a chimney that was sticking out and pulled out his shotgun. He tried to move, but three bullets flew near him when he left cover. He was stuck.
He looked around to see what he could do, and he saw an alleyway in front of him. It looked big enough for him to jump down into, but also small enough for him to slow himself down. "Well, you only live once." He jump into the opening, and put his hands and feet on the walls. He landed on the ground, slightly hurting his legs. Glad I got these gloves earlier, my hands would be torn up right now.
He walked out of the alleyway and saw four Vox huddled around a doorway. A smug looking man, who appeared to be the leader of this little hodge-podge, walked out of the door. "We better hurry up, someone's getting shot at. Hey, you almost done planting those explosives?"
Explosives? What the hell would they be using that for? Surprisingly, the leader answered Booker's question. "This'll teach that smart-aleck guard to resist us. If he doesn't answer our questions after we capture him tonight, his family is blown to bits."
Disgust filled Booker. Anna was important, but he wasn't just going to stand by while a man's family is threatened. Booker stepped out of the alley, pistol in hand, walking in smooth, even strides towards the group.
The leader picked up on Booker, and pointed him out to the rest of the group. "Who the hell is this guy? Someone was supposed to make sure no one came here!" The other Vox looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders in an attempt to show they didn't know.
Looking even angrier, the leader started to shout at his group. "Well, are you just going to stand there?! Fucking get rid of him!" The thugs started to pull out their guns, but before they could Booker firmly gripped his hand and let out an earth-shattering force from it. The goons were in the air, helpless, and Booker put a bullet in each of their heads.
"What the hell, you can't even get decent help these days." The leader started to also pull out his gun, and Booker was going to use another Bucking Bronco wave, but he realized he was out of salt. Are you fucking kidding me? Right now? Of all times?
"Aww, out of magic tricks? Here, I got a little magic for ya." The brute pulled out a machine gun and unloaded in Booker's direction. He took cover in the nearest crevice he could find, and pulled out his shotgun. Once the man needed to reload Booker came out and place a nice lump of lead in his legs. The man fell face first on the ground and groaned from the pain.
Booker walked up the powerless thug, "Now tell me, why were you planting explosives in this man's home?"
"I'm not telling you shit," the man said as he spit in Booker's face.
"Then I don't really need you to be alive anymore, do I?" Booker gave him a couple of seconds to say something, but this he wouldn't talk. Booker shot him in the head.
Another person came down the stairs, breathe heavy and exhausted. "The dynamite's done boss. What do we do no -" Fear filled his eyes. He tried to hold on to the bar on the stairs, but his legs gave out under him.
Booker walked up to him, making sure to keep a straight posture and stared him in the eye for added intimidation, "Well, your boss wasn't much talking, you going to be the same?"
The thug put his hands over his face and was whimpering, "Please, please, please, don't kill me. I had no choice, I had to join the Vox. I was alone, a-and poor, and I had nothing to eat. P-please let me go."
"If you talk more than your boss, you'll be breathing for a lot longer than he is. Now, show me where that bomb is and tell me how to diffuse it."
"O-okay, I can diffuse it for you if y-you want. I-it's pretty complicated." Booker followed him up the stairs and into the attic and saw a complicated array of wires and plugs. "What the hell is all this? It definitely seems confusing for an average Vox." The teenager stayed silent and was still shaking from apparent fear.
"Look kid, I'm not going to kill you. You seem like the decent enough type, and if you wanted to kill me you would've tried when I had my back turned. You can calm down."
The teen let out a sigh of relief, and color came back into his face. He seemed more willing to talk, so Booker question him, "Now, tell me how all these wires work."
"It's a system of dynamite sticks. I've connected them to the announcing system. We may not have wireless detonators yet, but I set it up to explode when it receives a certain tone from the announcer." A glow of pride was on his face.
"That's pretty smart," Booker said as he look around the attic some more. The teenager signaled to Booker that he was done, and they made their way back downstairs.
"So, does this mean I can go now?"
Booker put his right hand over his mouth and thought for a second. "You know your way around the city, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I need to get to Monument Island, any clue how to get there?"
"It usually docks in different places, and you'd never make it there. By foot anyways."
Booker pulled out his Sky-Hook and let it spin for a bit. A grin was showing from the corner of his mouth, "How about by rail then?"
The teen looked with awe at the Sky-Hook. After basking at it for a little bit, he looked up at the ceiling, as if he was calculating a map within his head. Once he seemed to figure out a route, an 'aha!' look came over his face. "Well, there's one that's pretty close and will take us to the market district. Monument Island is within walking distance from there."
Booker tilted his head forward and had a slight smile. He lifted up one eyebrow and asked, "Us?"
"Well, I figured you wouldn't know where to go from there, seeing as you don't even know the flight path of Monument Island. That's like, a religious rule for people around here. 'Everyone must know where the lamb is, so when a time of peril comes, we may protect her, blahblahblahblah' and all of that other Comstock talk."
"Well, you're not wrong there. I'm kind of new to Columbia, only reason I'm here is becau -" Booker cut himself off before he said too much. Jesus, I just met this kid, and here I am telling him why I'm here. Why am I so open? Loneliness getting to me?
The teen had a puzzled look on his face, "Because what?"
"Nevermind, just lead the way." The kid gestured Booker to follow him out of the back door.
"Snipers probably have the front door scoped. We had four of them watching from the rooftops, just in case someone like you showed up. Goes to show how much they suck at their job."
"By the way kid, what was your name?"
"James Mahoney, why?"
"Just want a name to your face."
"Well, what's your name?"
"You can call me Booker."
They walked out of the back door and traveled a few blocks down. They got to the edge of the platform and there was a railing there. James pulled out his Sky-Hook, but it looked old and barely functional.
"Jesus, how is that thing going to hold you up?" Booker asked.
"I honestly have no clue. I'm always scared that it will break while I'm using the rails, but it hasn't so far. Chance, I guess."
They both jumped on the railing and started to gain speed quickly. They were on it for a while, then Booker saw James jump off to another platform. Booker followed him down and landed next to him.
"Okay Booker, so you see that vigor vendor all the way on the other side of this market?" Booker squinted his eyes and navigated the area. Once he found the vendor, he gave James a nod of approval. "Okay, so you just gotta get over to there, and make a left on the first intersection after that. You'll have a nice view of Monument Island from there, and you should be able to figure out the rest."
"Well James, been a pleasure. I'll be going then."
"Sure thing Booker. Hey, maybe we'll meet up again sometime. You know, for a guy who looks like he kills for a living, you seem pretty nice."
James jumped on the skyrail again and disappeared. He hit the "kills for a living" pretty hard right there. Oh well, just have to get to Anna now. Booker did just as James told him to, and soon enough he was in front of Monument Island.
Booker was about to approach the ticket salesman again, but there was a giant "CLOSED" sign in front of the booth. Underneath the words, it said:
Monument Island closed for the day. We are currently preparing the island in celebration of Elizabeth Comstock's 21st birthday. Only guests with a reserved ticket, and those who pay 500 silver eagles for a ticket tomorrow, are permitted in. We apologize for any inconvenience.
He threw his arms up in frustration. Are you fucking kidding me?
"He seems to be irritated."
Booker spun around, surprised. "What the hell?!"
"Yes, he does seem quite agitated." Rosalind said, staring at Booker.
"What did I tell you guys about doing that? At least give me a warning."
Robert positioned his hands behind his back, interlocking them, "Now where would be the fun in that?"
Booker nodded his head side-to-side to show disapproval.
Rosalind dusted off his shoulder. "We heard you might be attending a party."
"Attending? Hardly. Don't have enough silver eagles. Unless you two have 500 silver eagles on you, then I'm not going."
Robert and Rosalind looked at each other before turning back to Booker. "We may not have 500 silver eagles," Robert said.
Rosalind continued, "But we do have some advice. First off, you definitely need to change out of those rags. Dress code for the party is strictly tuxedos and dresses. Second off, we figured you might be interested in a little bank heist going down near the market. Seems the Vox need more money to fund themselves."
"And why are you helping me more now than you did before?"
Robert scrunched his nose and had a slight smile over his face, "Let's just say, we've picked a favorite."
Booker gave them a nod of approval before walking away from Monument Island and heading off towards the market district.
500 silver eagles and a change of clothes. Should be easy enough.
So chapter three went by faster than I thought. Guess we'll be having chapter four before this week is done too.
Once again, I have to thank Excelion. Took your advice on dialogue, and tried to make it be a little more fluid. Don't know how well I did, but hey, least I tried.
Lastly, and like the last chapters, any and all criticism is appreciated! Something wrong with my writing style? Don't be afraid to tell me! I'm writing this fanfic for two reasons. One, I really enjoyed Bioshock Infinite. And two, I want to exercise my creative writing. So please, tell me if anything is wrong!