(a/n: I hope you enjoy this. Please review!)
Ch. 3: Sofia Lamb
Jack, Artemis, Wally and Delta walked down a dimly lit corridor.
They stepped over fallen debris, ducked under low hanging electrical wires and pushed pass obsticles. The four entered Demeter's Banquet Hall.
They stood at the top of what was once a grand staircase that led down into the main banquet hall but now the stairs were gone, leaving long drop to the hall below.
Delta jumped down and landed with a loud thud and splash. Artemis, Wally and Jack were about to follow but suddenly the Big Sister appeared.
She crawled down from the ceiling and attached herself to the large glass window on the other side of the banquet hall. The Big Sister slashed the glass with her needle then she skittered away. The glass cracked and split, spewing cold ocean water.
Jack's eyes widened "That's not good".
The glass cracked further and more seawater spewed into the banquet hall. Wally yelled, "Run!"
The three turned and ran but Delta stood his ground. Once they were out of the banquet hall, Jack sealed the bulkhead door.
The three peered through the small porthole and saw that the glass finally shattered, letting the ocean come crashing in. The sudden rush of water swept up Delta but once the water filled the banquet hall to capacity, Delta regained his footing.
Tenenbaum spoke over the radio "In that suit, even the ocean cannot harm him. This is good."
"What do we do?" asked Wally.
Tenenbaum explained "Find another way around, Delta will meet you on the other side. Now go, there is not much time"
Jack nodded "ok" the three took off running down the nearest corridor.
Delta lumbered through the broken window and into the ocean. He marched on, weaving through a maze of rocks and coral.
An immense pressure pushed down on him but he pressed on.
Delta saw Jack, Artemis and Wally through a window. He saw that they were running to catch up with him.
Delta distantly remembered Jack from long ago. Most of his memories were fuzzy. He remembered Eleanor, his time Rapture and a little of Jack but the rest was cloudy.
That is why he is going to Tenenbaum, she knows about him and the whereabouts of Eleanor. Delta continued on until he came to a small metal chamber.
He pulled a nearby switch and the flooded chamber slowly drained away the seawater.
Once the chamber was voided of water, the door opened, revealing Jack, Artemis and Wally. The three were catching their breaths.
Tenenbaum spoke on the radio "Good, you're here like the little ones said. Now come up to the ticket booth and I shall explain what I know".
Delta droned and Jack panted, "Right just give me a sec".
Once they got their second wind, Jack, Artemis, Wally and Delta resumed their journey.
The four walked down a narrow hall that was overgrown with seaweed.
As they ascended a set of stairs, they heard muttering. When they reached the top, Artemis saw a splicer talking to an empty ticket booth, trying to get tickets for the train.
They hurried past the splicer and passed through a door. On the other side of the door, Artemis saw inscribed on a wall in white paint a message. The message read, "We will be reborn".
Artemis didn't know what it meant but something about it wasn't good. Jack, Artemis, Wally and Delta continued on through a train workshop.
The four tried to exit the workshop but they found that the exit was sealed shut.
Jack glanced around the workshop saying, "There should be a switch around here to open this door". The four split up and began their search. As they searched through the workshop, Wally heard soft jazz music playing from somewhere in the workshop. He shivered. The music made the workshop a little more eerie.
Delta discovered a small room that had a consol with a switch. The Big Daddy motioned for Jack and the others to see.
Jack, Artemis and Wally arrived. Jack inspected the switch and said, "This could be it"
"Well, flip it" said Artemis. Delta flipped the switch and suddenly the lights went out, then the doors sealed them in the room, plunging the four into darkness.
There was only a little bit of light, coming from the porthole of Delta's helmet. Suddenly multiple screens flickered on and the image of a familiar blond woman appeared.
The woman scowled at Delta "I know you. That symbol on your hand marks you a dead man. Sixteen years, Subject Delta, since I watched you put a gun to your head and pulled the trigger. But take heart. Out of your pain, Paradise was born".
Wally frowned at the screen saying, "She looks familiar" "Yeah, she does" said Artemis.
Jack nodded in agreement then he suddenly recognized the woman. Jack breathed "Ms. Lamb?"
Sofia Lamb glanced at Jack and smiled "Jack, welcome home. It is good to see you again."
"What's going on?' asked Jack.
Sofia replied "Nothing that concerns you, yet. At the moment I have personal business to settle with Subject Delta". She turned her gaze to the Big Daddy and said, "I don't know how you survived but your suffering is over now. These men shall ease your burden" the four heard screaming coming from outside followed by gunshots.
Sofia said gently "Please understand, all that I have done. This…is an act of love". The screens went dead.
Tenenbaum gasped, "She has found you, you must escape!"
"How?" asked Wally.
Suddenly the door was forced open a little and a Splicer lobbed a Molotov into the room hissing, "This should smoke 'em out".
It crashed on the floor and set fire to the wooden floor. The Splicers waited as the flames grew higher and higher. The floor beneath them creaked and groaned then suddenly gave way. Jack, Artemis, Wally and Delta fell through the floor and landed safely in water.
Jack, Artemis and Wally went up for air and they saw the hole they fell through. It was several floors up and they saw the fire raging on.
Artemis glanced around and she saw Delta motioned them to follow. She waved Jack and Wally over "Come on".
The three dived down and they swam after Delta.
Delta marched down some narrow passages that were filled with pipes, sand and seaweed.
Following closely behind were Jack, Artemis and Wally. The four weaved through a small maze of pipes until finally the reached a set of stairs.
They climbed up the stairs and out of the water. Jack took deep breaths saying, "That's a new personal record".
Artemis glanced down at the water than asked Tenenbaum "What the heck was all that about?"
"That was Sofia Lamb" answered Tenenbaum "She is the enemy I had been facing all these months" "How did you know she found us?" asked Wally.
Tenenbaum replied, "The camera in Delta's helmet allows me to see what he sees. It will help me guide you to safety".
Jack coughed out some seawater and said "Lets get going before the Splicers find us".
The four continued on and they entered the Atlantic Express storage office.
In the storage office, Delta found a large rivet gun. He pocketed some clips and cocked the weapon.
As they made their way out of the office, Tenenbaum hissed, "Stop!" everyone halted in place.
"What?" asked Wally. Delta pointed up at the ceiling. Hanging from the ceiling was a security camera. Tenenbaum whispered "Sofia Lamb owns the cameras now. Be very careful".
Artemis watched as the camera moved and scanned the room. There wasn't any way they could sneak pass that with out Sofia noticing.
Jack went back to the storage room and rummaged through some old boxes on one of the shelves. He came back with a small device that looked like a miniature gun turret.
The device was tiny, had a dozen tiny barrels and a round antenna. Jack strapped the device to his wrist and he leveled it to the security camera. He pressed a small button on the device and a tiny dart shot out of it. The dart embedded itself in the camera. The camera sparked and it went still.
Artemis glanced at Jack "What is that?"
"A Hack Tool" replied Jack, holding up the wrist-mounted device "Automatically hacks and disables anything ranging from cameras to vending machines and to gun turrets". He held up small instruction booklet in his other hand "Very helpful".
Artemis, Wally, Jack and Delta continued on through the office before the camera was able to come back online.
They passed a small mailroom where a small red wagon was. In the wagon was a plasmid bottle. Delta stopped and approached then paused suddenly.
Jack went back and saw Delta standing there. He frowned and placed a hand on Delta's arm "Hey are you-?"
But suddenly an image flashed into his mind. It was the girl from earlier. She spoke quietly "…Father, I knew you were alive. Mother won't be able to toy with you like that ever again. The plasmid is for you, use it well" she addressed Jack "I always hoped that you would return and now you have. Please…help my father. Please, find me".
The image faded and Jack let go of Delta's arm.
Artemis and Wally went back to the mailroom and saw Delta and Jack standing there. Artemis asked, "Are you guys ok?"
"Y-yeah" mumbled Jack, rubbing his aching head.
Delta picked up the plasmid bottle and he injected the plasmid into his arm through a small tub on the arm of his suit. Delta flexed his fingers and he pointed at an Eve hypo sitting on a desk across the room. The Eve hypo flew into his hand.
Jack smiled "Telekinesis, awesome".
After Delta finished testing out his new powers, they left the mailroom. They fought their way through some Splicers, passed through a dilapidated café and entered another train workshop.
As they made their way through the workshop, Wally asked, "Why are the Splicers attacking us? Andrew Ryan was controlling them but now he's dead, shouldn't they just leave us alone or something?"
"Sofia is in control" said Tenenbaum "They are her puppets, like the Big Daddies. But not Delta"
"Why does she have it in for Delta?' asked Artemis
"Because of the bond that he has with Eleanor" said a new voice. It was Sofia.
She spoke "He has an unhealthy bond with my daughter. He will try to reunite with her but Eleanor has a destiny, a destiny that he will not share with her. There is no room in paradise for him and others like him" .
The radio went silent. They heard shouts coming from the other side of the workshop and they grew louder and louder.
Tenenbaum barked, "Quickly, get to the elevator!" Artemis spotted an elevator up ahead.
The four sprinted to the elevator and crammed inside. As the doors sealed shut, they saw Splicers flooding into the workshop.
Once the elevator reached the top floor, Delta, Jack, Artemis and Wally made their way to the transit station.
There, Delta shot the only splicer there who was trying to break into a ticket booth. Jack knocked on the window and the metal panels slid away, revealing Tenenbaum.
She wore a brown dressed and she looked extremely weary. In the booth with her were several small girls. Artemis recognized some of them. They were the missing children from the surface.
Tenenbaum smiled "Jack, I'm glad to see that you are safe"
"Good to see that your ok mom" said Jack. He then said "Come on, we got to go"
Tenenbaum shook her head "No. I can't leave, not yet" "Why not?" asked Wally.
Tenenbuam glanced back at the some of the children in the ticket booth "The little ones. Lamb has more of them somewhere and I must rescue them." she turned back to Jack and the others "That is why I returned, this is why I fight Sofia Lamb. I must save the children or else more will die for my sins. If I don't the Rapture nightmare will continue forever".
Wally asked, "Where are the other kids?"
Tenenbaum shook her head "I am not sure. Sofia has plans for them, what those plans are I do not know".
She glanced to Jack "She also has something planned for you Jack".
Jack's eyebrows rose "Really? What?"
Tenenbaum shrugged "I don't know but whatever it is, it cannot be good".
Tenenbaum turned to Delta "Delta, we must talk about-" but she was interrupted by a loud screeching. The screeching died and Sofia spoke over an intercom "Citizens of Rapture, this is Sofia Lamb".
Tenenbaum turned and everyone looked to where she was looking. In the corner of the ticket booth was a television screen.
On the screen was Sofia Lamb. She spoke "This is Subject Delta" a picture of Delta appeared on the screen as Sofia continued, "Behind that mask hides an enemy of the people, without soul or sympathy".
Sofia's face reappeared on the screen "it is a beast apart—and as a family, we must tear its jaw out and drive it back to the sea!"
Wally frowned "Talk about brutal" "Yeah" said Artemis.
Sofia continued, "Accompanying this beast are two surface dwelling demons" an image of Artemis and Wally appeared on the screen. Sofia reappeared on the screen "They seek to tear our family apart and destroy our paradise. Eliminate them, leave no trace for their masters."
Wally and Artemis stared at the screen in shock. Sofia Lamb was really going all out to get rid of them.
Finally, an image of Jack appeared on the screen and Sofia spoke "This young man is Jack. He is a son of Rapture. Delta and his accomplices have taken him hostage. An extra ration of ADAM to the ones who kill Delta, his comrades and brings Jack to me alive".
Sofia reappeared on the screen one final time saying "That is all" then the screen and the intercom went dead.
In the distance they heard Splicers yelling about the announcement and the possibility of free ADAM. Their shouts began to grow louder and closer.
Tenenbaum's eyes widened and she turned to Delta and the others "You must hold back the Splicers until I can get the children out of here"
"On it" said Wally. Delta nodded and he cocked his rivet gun.
Artemis, Jack, Wally and Delta took up positions around the station. They prepared themselves as the onslaught of Splicers raced towards the station.
End of Chapter.
(a/n: I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Please review!)