AN:
The last three chapters were just an explanation to those unfamiliar to the story of BioShock 2. You probably found this while looking for a good Young Justice crossover if you do not know about the second installment of BioShock.
Chapter 16
"There, we're right outside of the targeting range of the built-in defenses," Siren informed Batman so that he could stop the sub.
In the bat-shaped submarine were the Justice League members: Aquaman, Zatara, Wonder Woman, and Batman. Superman and Captain Atom were originally a part of the roster but Siren warned them that too many heavy hitters could destabilized the already unstable structure of the city so they were taken out of the expedition team. They also couldn't risk having too many heavy hitters occupied here when a crisis occurs on the surface with not much powerhouses in tow.
The Rapturian could see the outlines of the ruined city that was once her home and place of torment in the distance. She never thought that she would ever return to that place in the near future but she come back for the remaining Little Sisters, Aunt Grace, and Brigid Tenenbaum. And if possible, she must also try to save what was left of the Big Sisters since she believed that it was unfair to just leave them to die while she lived peacefully on the surface.
"Zatara, deal with the torpedoes," the Dark Knight ordered the magician as they continued to approach the underwater metropolitan.
Siren found herself to be skeptical of the man's 'magic'. She was born in a city where science technology reigned supreme and the ideas of the supernatural were considered to be a waste of time. The majority of the citizens of the city were atheists and was guided by pure logic. The cult, the Rapture Family, was formed because of her mother's manipulations over the fragile mind of her numerous patients.
A few moments later, she could see the incoming aquatic explosives. She knew that she would survive the explosion if it did hit and whatever Zatara was going to do didn't work. But she wouldn't be able to survive the fate of drowning that came after.
The magician spoke some words that sounded like gibberish to the Alpha Big Sister as the torpedoes quickly became nearer to them and became close to blowing them up every second. That was saying something since she was still able to understand the moans and groans of her Big Daddy. She also listened to the insane babbling of the Splicer population.
"I am going to die while I'm in the company of men that are many years my senior. Oh, joy," she bitterly remarked, as the projectiles were moments of impacting on the Bat-Sub (Does the man add Bat to the name of everything that he owns?).
To her surprise, the torpedoes veered past the sub and blew up an unfortunate school of fishes.
"I may not know much about the surface but doesn't that count as dynamite fishing, which is terrible for the environment?" the British girl asked the magician after she recovered from her shock of what she just witnessed.
"My apologies. I had to redirect the torpedoes to hit something or more will be launched from what you told us of the security systems," he sheepishly replied as he adjusted his top hat.
"Siren, I need you to direct us to where we can dock," the Dark Knight said to her.
Siren brought out a holographic map of the Rapture that she made from memory. She zoomed in to the specific location where the group of heroes of young and old could enter. She eventually found a bathysphere port where the sub could dock. It may be for bathyspheres but they had to make do for now.
"This should be the right size for us to dock." She showed them the port as she marked the location on the ocean floor map.
The bat themed hero expertly maneuvered the sea-craft to the port. Luckily, the airlock was a perfect match for the flying mammal shaped submarine as the landing mechanisms latched onto it just fine.
As the sealed doors of the sub and the airlock opened and released the sound of pressurized air, the hooded girl thought back to her new friend reactions of her and the Justice League returning to that nightmarish hellhole.
00000
Flashback
"You seriously can't be thinking of going back to that…place!" Superboy exclaimed as she calmly finished her sandwich.
"Trust me, there's many things that I rather do than go back to Rapture," Siren told him as she stared deep into the young Kryptonian's eyes with unyielding conviction, "But there are still innocent children trapped in that city and I'll be damned if I just left them like that."
"Then let the Justice League take care of it," Kid Flash said, "They already said that they're going to take care of it. You can just show Martian Manhunter your memories of the place to guide them."
"My memories won't be enough. What I just showed you didn't even reveal half of the terrors of the city. They were like watching a video but you didn't feel the emotions connected to them. You didn't feel the paranoia of attack and death eating away on you. Paranoia that was rightly justified. I'm the only one with the most experience of that place who won't attack you out of madness."
"I must go back because those girls expected me to help them even after all this time." She looked down with face full of sorrow.
"Then you're not the only one going. I'm coming with you," Superboy told her as he crossed his arms.
"Me too." Miss Martian nodded in agreement.
"Count me in!" Kid Flash pumped his fist.
"Eh, what the heck? If Baywatch's going then you can count me in." Artemis shrugged as she grinned.
"Rapture is underwater so it is most beneficiary if I am included as well." Aqualad nodded.
The only one who didn't join in to the Team's proclamation of following the Rapturian back to her hometown was Robin who had already been informed of this by his mentor and was convinced to stay behind.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Siren yelled at them with enough force to leave them speechless before Batman got the chance to tell them otherwise. For a second there, they could have sworn that her eyes were glowing during that outburst and her voice had this strange echo to it like when she was a Little Sister.
"And hands off my sandwiches!" she yelled at Kid Flash who was absently about to reach out for one of the sandwiches that she made.
"Geez, stingy much?" the speedster muttered under his breath as he pulled back his hand.
"The expedition to Rapture is a Justice League priority since we can't risk the knowledge of the place from getting out. I am one of the League members that are going so I need the Team to watch over Gotham in my absence," Batman explained to them. He had thought of this before telling his protégé, Robin about the expedition. This plan killed two birds with one stone since the Team needed a distraction and his city still needed someone to watch over her while he was in Rapture.
"Well, I'm still going," Superboy stubbornly announced as he leveled a glare to match the Dark Knight's. The intensity didn't even falter one bit when Siren added her glower to Batman's while Delta growled threateningly to bring the clone to submission.
"Even if Superman himself comes here to tell me not to go, I'm still going," he continued with the same conviction that the Rapturian showed earlier.
{You're even more hardheaded than me} the Alpha Big Daddy sighed.
{I suppose that he has the best chance of surviving out of everyone here despite not being on the same level as Superman.}
"You're not actually considering letting him come, are you?" Siren indignantly demanded.
{I don't want you to go back either and I would prefer to have someone that you trust to watch over you since I can no longer do that myself.}
The Rapturian relented at her father's statement while the Dark Knight remained unconvinced and continued to glare at the clone of Superman, trying to make the younger to back down from his decision.
He opened his mouth to say his answer to Superboy's request to join the mission to Rapture.
Flashback end
00000
"You okay?" Siren felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at the person who was sitting beside her.
"I'm fine," she told him.
Superboy nodded before he followed the other Justice League members outside.
The Rapturian stared at the symbol that she recently engraved on the back of her left glove. It was a familiar white triangle that her father had to represent his name. She now bore the Greek letter, Delta as tribute for everything that her Big Daddy did for her and her sisters. The emblem that she wore above her left breast was shaped in an Ethel rune, which represented her inheritance to her father's conscience and will.
She took a few deep breaths to strengthen her resolve and to calm her nervousness. She then got up from her seat and exited the sub to the dilapidated bathysphere station where the others were patiently waiting for her.
The smell of salt and rotting corpses hit her with full intensity as if she never left the city. She could see a number of bodies of Splicers both recently dead and ones that have long been decayed. She surveyed their surrounding with an impassive glance since she was already used to this.
She snapped her fingers to conjure a fireball to illuminate the area, not that she needed it since she can see perfectly fine in spite of the dim lighting. It was more for the benefit of her escorts who didn't have night vision like her.
"By Neptune, this place has gone to hell," Aquaman muttered when he saw the state of the room that they were in.
"Ironically, this area is called Neptune's Bounty, which was the first fishery in the city but it served as the place for illegal businesses in reality. This was also the place where the sea slug that produces ADAM was first discovered," the Rapturian lectured them as if they were tourists and she was the tour guide.
"Tell me more about these ADAM sea slugs?" the Atlantean asked her, "What do they look like exactly?"
"These Sea Slugs are a brownish-black color, with reddish orange luminescent spots on their exterior."
The face of the aquatic hero darkened at the description of the sea slug. He knew precisely what they were.
"I can hazard a guess that Dr. Tenebaum wasn't the first one to discover ADAM from your reaction," Siren noted the Atlantean's reaction.
"No, she wasn't," he replied, "My people were the first ones to find the ADAM sea slug centuries ago but it was nothing compared to what happened here."
"It can't be that terrible if Atlantis is still around."
"It was one of the reasons why Atlantis sank to the bottom of the ocean."
Before the British girl could ask more, a deep roar reverberated across the room with the manic screams. She instantly recognized this sound for she had heard it so many times that it was imprinted in both her own memories and the genetic ones from ADAM. It was the roar of a Big Daddy that was under attack and it was dying.
Acting on instinct, she dashed towards the source of the battle with enough speed and agility to leave the Justice League members and Superboy in the dust. She hoped that she would at least arrive in time to rescue the Little Sister before the Splicers could harvest her.
"Please don't let me be too late!" she prayed to whatever divine entity that would listen as she jumped off the walls to propel herself faster to reach the Little One before it was too late. She could feel the fear that the girl felt as her Protector fought to its last breath.
She reached the source of the fight to find a Little Sister crying over the dead body of a Rosie Big Daddy. Two Leadheads, a Brute, and a Nitro Splicer laughed greedily as they approached the weeping child.
Siren let out an unearthly shriek in anger at the offending Splicers whose malicious grins dropped to looks of pure horror at incurring the wrath of a Big Sister. She tackled the massive Splicer and slammed him to the exterior glass window, cracking the glass dangerously. She placed her arm on the Brute's neck, holding him in place and suspending his feet in the air by a few inches, while she sent torrents of lightning with her free hand at the other Splicers, completely stunning them. She removed her arm from the Brute's neck, letting him drop down to his knees in a coughing fit, and teleported herself to the Little Sister's side. She picked the little girl up and turned to face the Splicers, ready to teleport again to safety. Out of nowhere, Batarangs pinioned the three regular sized Splicers to the wall by what's left of their clothes. A glowing yellow rope tied around the Brute Splicer and with a mighty tug, brought him close enough for the Amazoness Warrior to punch him square on the jaw. The hulking Splicer was sent flying and he crashed into a wall. Siren then heard Zatara casting some sort of spell as the metal wrapped around the Brute, completely restraining his.
She gently placed the Little Sister down before she turned to face the Justice League. The girl hid behind her leg as she stared at the older superheroes and trembled in fright.
Batman gave her his infamous Bat-glare and was about to berate her for leaving the group behind but he caught sight of the Gatherer, hiding behind her, and the fallen form of the Protector. His glare softened somewhat but not entirely.
"Don't go running off like that again," he simply told the Rapturian as he made his way to the dead Big Daddy.
"You leave Mr. Bubbles alone!" the girl ran to the Dark Knight and pulled at his cape with all of her strength, forgetting her previous fear of the man and not wanting him to hurt her precious Mr. B.
Siren stopped the Little Sister from her feeble attempts to halt Batman by kneeling down to eye-level with her.
"It's alright. He's not going to hurt him," she soothed the teary-eyed girl as she placed a comforting hand on the girl's head, "He's just going to see if he could help Mr. B."
"What kind of monster would dare attack an innocent girl and her guardian?" Wonder Woman wondered as she glared at the restrained Splicers with murderous rage.
"What are supposed to do to the girl now?" Zatara asked as he glanced at the Little Sister who Siren held in her arms. This brought a pain to his heart as his thoughts went to his own daughter, Zatanna. Would she mourn in the same way if she ever lost him? It was a huge possibility considering the occupational hazards of being a superhero.
The Alpha Big Sister positioned her hand over the girl's forehead. Suddenly, a bright light filled the whole room. Everyone had to raise an arm to shield their eyes from being blinded. The momentary brightness ended for them to see the girl staring at Siren in awe with not the glowing yellow eyes but regular brown ones.
"My name's Eleanor. What's your name?" Siren said to the normal albeit pale girl in her arms with a warm smile.
"Samantha," the girl answered in a slightly squeaky voice instead of the ominous echoing one that she had earlier.
00000
Tenenbaum was sitting by her desk, looking over her papers and would from time to time look over the children. After helping Subjet Sigma or Charles, she could focus more on her work, knowing that Charles would help her with the girls. Tenenbaum snapped from her thoughts when she felt a small hand pull on her dress. It was Astrid, one of the newly cured girls.
"Miss Tenenbaum?"
"Yes, little one?"
"Where's Mr. Milton?"
"He just have some errands to do but he will be back soon, don't worry"
"Oh, okay"
Astrid went back to the others to play another game of tag, Tenenbaum smiled seeing the children having fun after what they been through.
A small buzzing was heard from her radio and that could only be The Thinker, since Tenenbaum haven't fixed Charles' voice yet.
"Thinker? How's it going for Milton?"
"He is almost at The Sinclair Deluxe to get miss Holloway, I have already informed her about the situation and I must say that she was not convinced at first but now she has decided to come here."
"That's good."
Tenenbaum paused for a moment, the last Days has been hectic, with problems with heat and electricity. She could only hope that things would go smooth from now on.
"Was there anything else?"
Tenenbaum picked up the radio again to answer.
"... Yes, did you find a way to fix the submarine?"
"I'm afraid that the one I found is to damaged to be at any use."
She cursed under her breath, (Damn you Cohen...). She let her left hand flow through her gray hair when she thought of Cohen. (Just when I find a working pod, he comes and takes it...Saying that his work must continue and the world needs him.)
Tenenbaum never liked him and she hoped that he would have died a long time ago but of course nothing can kill the "Great" artist Sander Cohen.
She wish that they could have stopped him from leaving, (He's the last person that should leave Rapture...)
She was interrupted from her thoughts when the Thinker spoke up.
"I must inform you that I have located Mr. Alexander, he was swimming outside Olympus Heights. I'm trying to convince him to enter one of the flooded laboratories so that he can let us help him...but he's very stubborn..."
"That's good Thinker but what can we do to leave Rapture? Do you have any suggestions?"
"I have calculated and found out that we don't have to worry."
"What do you mean? It's getting harder and harder to find food."
"What I mean is that she will return."
"Who?"
"Miss Eleanor Lamb."
Tenenbaum could not believe what he said. She saw Sinclair's lifeboat leave when the bombs went off and brought down Persephone and Fontaine Futuristics into a deep trench. She did not know what happened to Eleanor, Delta or Sophia Lamb after that and she couldn't understand what the computer was thinking.
"Why would Eleanor return?"
"When she and Subject Delta Went through Rapture, they saved many of the Little Sisters and some of them followed Eleanor with the lifeboat. I calculated that she couldn't bare the thought of any Girls left down here and following her `Fathers` judgment, there's 87% chance that she or someone else would come back and save the remaining sisters."
"…Are you sure?"
"I am, my calculations have never failed."
Tenenbaum looked outside the window, into the dark sea, (I hope he's right but I also hope Eleanor knows what she's doing...)
(AN: This part was written by Mister. Enigma. Give him a kiss for me, would you kindly?)
00000
"So what are we supposed to be do exactly?" Kid Flash asked Robin when the Team arrived to the Gotham Harbor.
"We're here to investigate a strange string of murders."
"Is the Joker back in town?"
"Most likely but the victims aren't his handiwork."
"What do you mean?"
"The victims were placed in various poses and were also covered in plaster. What's even weirder though was the fact that the killer signed his name on them."
"So we have a name," Aqualad stated.
"But it doesn't make sense because the guy disappeared almost twenty years ago…and around the same time that Sofia Lamb went to you-know-where!"
"Great, the two lovebirds are off exploring an underwater city with the Justice League while we have to deal with someone who's probably from the same underwater city," Artemis said, voice dripping heavily with sarcasm.
"Siren and Superboy are not lovebirds!" Miss Martian suddenly exclaimed, clearly annoyed for some reason.
"Anyway, the guy that we're looking for was pretty famous before he disappeared," Robin said before the archer could say anything about the relationship between the Kryptonian and the Rapturian, "Sander Cohen."
"Sander Cohen?" he repeated after noticing their reactions to the name or rather their lack of reaction.
"Yeah, I have no idea who that is," Kid Flash bluntly stated.
"The guy was a poet, composer, sculptor, and a playwright but he didn't make anything worthwhile. Like most artists though, his work became even more valuable when everyone thought that he died."
"So how do you know him?" the archer asked the Boy Wonder.
"I had to do a report about him for school and I've seen several of his models back home."
"If he had come from the same place as Siren then it is most likely that he has Plasmids just as she does," Aqualad said, thinking deeply about the situation, "We cannot rule this out."
"But Siren's the most powerful out of anyone that you could find there and we nearly beat her so I think that we can handle some regular old Splicer," Kid Flash stated as he pointed his thumb at himself with bravado and confidence.
"Wasn't she exhausted from her fight with Black Manta before you guys jumped in?" Artemis pointed out.
"Hey, I just realized something," the speedster said, opting to ignore her, "Doesn't 'Big Daddy' sound like a name for a rapper?"
The others paused at this revelation, eyes widening.
"It kind does, doesn't?" they all replied to the speedster at the same time.