Another vigor hunt.
'facing demons is hard. But defeating them is absolutely necessary.'-unknown
The stench that reached our noses when the doors opened wasn't pleasant in the slightest. Imagine a pile of horse crap wrapped in a carcass then got prayed on by a skunk. "Jesus! How hasn't everyone suffocated to death?" I questioned as me and Elizabeth and me covered out nose.
The station was a little flooded with water, and the darkness around us added to the gloomy feel of this place. Carefully stepping out of the sphere that brought us to the ghostly place, I looked around and saw it was safe. For now at least, "How many bullets you have left?" Elizabeth asked me.
I opened up the chamber and inwardly swore, "I only got six. Hopefully I'll only need one though." I said. That was all that I needed, one clean shot to the head and this was all a thing of the past. "Okay, be careful, remember hearing people say this is a prison or something." I said cautiously, walking away from the sphere with Elizabeth right behind me.
Walking up the stairs, the left side was blocked by ice. "Damn." I said in awe. I didn't know what did this but I didn't look forward to finding out with just a clip for my hand cannon.
"Come on, this way." Elizabeth said, heading to the right stairwell. I noticed that our 'dance' with Cohen hadn't left her without scratches. She had a few small cuts over her face bit they'd heal up after a while. Her top had a small tears on her shirts arms and below her neck, along with a black scuff ontop the right of her...chest.
Circling around the wall, I saw a freight hook over a shut gate, "Looks like that's the only way over." Elizabeth stated. I couldn't pry the gate open , it looked like it was welded shut by something. "Let's look around for a way around it." Elizabeth said as she went to the left.
What I wouldn't give for my shy hook right now. It wasn't exactly a clean killer but it saved my life a good number of times and I can't say it wasn't useful outside of combat. "Jacob come look at this!" Elizabeth called out. I ran to see what she found was a man frozen upside down.
"How the hell?" I asked bemused by the man. But I saw what he he'd in his cold dead hand, "Son if a bitch, a skyhook !" I said prying the old friend from the corpse. The design was completely different , the thing was more metal than leather and wood, and it said air grabber on the side.
"Constants and variables right?" Elizabeth asked as she picked another one out from the hands of another frozen victim. Heading back towards the gate, I jumped towards the hook and latched on to it.
Just like old times.
"Give me the frosty!" Of course it wouldn't be like the old times if something didn't ruin my moment. I tried to drop down but couldn't.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth called up with a bit of worry.
I tried to move the air grabber, "Fucking thing is jammed or something!" as I said this, a man with what looked like ice all loved his skin jumped out if a open gate in the wall. Ahead if him was a burst open pipe that spewed water to the other side.
He threw something at it and the water froze, forming a bridge.
Ok, gotta say it, cool.
As he ran across two people with boxes on their heads ran after him. Turning, the man threw another ice ball at him and froze him in his place! As he ran to the elevator, the man was thawed out by his buddy who ran to the elevator as it shut.
I felt myself jerk down, I looked up and saw the air grabber was working again. "Ok, let's do this." I dropped to the floor in a crouch and crept my way towards the two. I heard Elizabeth land behind me, thankfully the two men where two preoccupied with the elevator to notice us. I crept behind the first man and pulled out my air grabber.
I stood up and pulled his head back with my free hand as I spun up the air grabber with the other, I slashed the hooks over the man's throat before he could scream. His friend turned to me at the sound of a body falling. I nearly gagged.
You know that movie 'The Hills Have Eyes'? Well this guy looked exactly like one of the mutants, disfigured horribly. He pulled out a display model's leg and tried to swing it at me but my hand cannon took care of him. When he crumbled to the floor I felt a small wave if nausea come over me.
"Hey are you alright?" Elizabeth asked with concern. It had been so long since I killed someone that I must have lost my...taste for it I guess.
Thank god I didn't throw up, "Just getting back in the swing of things ya know?" I said as I searched the bodies for bullets. I found five pare ones and another to fill my clip up.
"That was...different. With the air grabber I mean." she said, trying not to sound thrilled I was killing again.
"We don't have allot of bullets, need to use sparingly is all." I said standing up. I looked out the window to the housewares section of the department store. "Those trams look like they lead right to the stores, let's find it and get there." I said.
Elizabeth nodded, her eyes trailed down to the men, "I heard of these people. They call them splicers." Elizabeth explained.
"Splicers?" I questioned. What kind of silly name is that? Ok granted Handyman and Fireman are abit corny but still.
"It's what happens to people who get addicted to plasmids. They go insane and lose their sense if reason." she said looking down sadly at the men.
Jesus. Maybe the same thing happened to the people that use Vigors back in Columbia? That could be the reason for the fireman, he does his job and gets a fix in return. "Let's go Elizabeth. We have a little girl to find." I said hitting the elevator button.
As the elevator descended I felt my joints ache, whatever Cohen did to us made me feel like I got the crap kicked out of me. I guess I should be glad that my shield protected me but the thing has a tendency to short out sometimes. Like back in Columbia I had to get us tickets for the First Lady airship and the teller drove a knife through my hand. I should get a refund for this thing when this is all over.
Out the corner if my eye I saw Elizabeth staring at me, "What is it?" I asked, I hope I don't have any blood on my face or something. That'd be to much like Daisy Fitzroy.
"Nothing. It's just...you kind of look like a mess." she said gesturing to my cloths. Looking down I saw she was right, I had a small tear in my jeans on my kneecap, my jacket had a few dark patches on it, and my shirt was a little torn.
"Yep. But who cares, you've seen me in worse conditions." I stated, recalling when I had a dislocated joint or a bit of wood stuck in my skin.
"True. I can only imagine all the injuries you had ." she said wistfully.
I let out a chuckle, "Ah yes the good old days, I was getting smacked around like a thing of raw meat and Rocky was my bully."
Elizabeth looked at me with confusion. Right, Elizabeth never did see films or anything, just books. "Sorry. Don't know who this 'Rocky ' is, but I'll take your word for it."
I rolled my eyes, "First thing we do when we get out of here is I'm sitting you down in front of a TV and show you all the good movies I have." I said.
Elizabeth smiled, "If they're really that good as you say." she said skeptically.
As the doors opened we both crouched down, there was a splicer taking to someone who wasn't there up ahead. Ducking behind a counter, I peeked over and saw the tram line just beyond her! Alright, hand in there Sally we're on our way.
Sneaking up behind the girl, I embedded my air grabber in the back of her head. Unfortunately I didn't see her friend a few feet away, I pulled the air grabber out of her head and used it to block the other man's strike. I turned my pistol around in my hand and hit him in the side of the face with it, knocking him off balance.
I drove the air grabber into his throat and snapped it.
"Die!" I turned in time to see a third man about to hit me. I was about to shoot him bit neither if us saw the air grabber clock him on the side if his head. I turned to see Elizabeth readying for another strike , before the man could ready himself, I got a clean shot at his head.
I turned my head to Elizabeth, "Thanks...you didn't need to jump in you know." I sad, trying to be polite.
She lowered her air grabber, "Like I said, I'm not a defenseless girl anymore." she said, her eyes drifting to the tram station.
I was about to speak up when her eyes widened. "Damn it." she swore.
I looks and saw what she meant, the bridge to the other side was out and a burst pipe was spraying water ice the other side, "Shit. Well I don't suppose we can't persuade frosty to help us out." I supplied.
Elizabeth gave me a small grin, "I have no doubt you'll be persuasive." she said.
Heading to the right of the room, Elizabeth pointed to a nearby sign, "Look at this, Rapture ice rink. Top floor." she said triumphantly.
I smirked, "What better place to find a snowman. Come on let's go." I said heading to the door that lead to the stars. Little problem, it was locked. "Hey Elizabeth, want to take a peek at this?" I asked.
She looked over my shoulder and smiled, "Have matters progressed so little? I could break this with a rake pick." she said as she went to work.
When the lock fell to the flood I gave her a smile, "Have I mentioned that I love that you can do that?" I asked as I pushed the door open. The wall opposite was another door with men frozen to the wall, "Oh wow, where could the man have gone to?" I asked sarcastically.
As I was about to open the door a blue container caught my eye. No way. Pulling the bottle out from the snow I grinned wildly at what I had found. A bottle of salts!
"A EVE bottle?" Elizabeth questioned. She looked at the bottle next to me, the thin looked exactly like a salts bottle but with EVE on the label instead.
"Let me guess, EVE is the salts for plasmids?" I asked, remembering the whole constants and variables thing that the twins always takes about.
Elizabeth nodded, "Just about. Jacob...what are you thinking? " She asked with a eyebrow raised. I popped the lid of the drink, "No! Jacob if you do that then what's stopping you from turning into a splicer?" she questioned snatching the bottle from my hands.
"Elizabeth I've taken like a shitload of Vigors, how is this any different?" I asked.
"Apart from the genetic side effects?" she asked sarcastically. I let out a sigh, I knew what the risks where bit these guys are like dug attics, and I have a prescription for the stuff...in a sense.
"Elizabeth, you know we need my Vigors, and as things are right now I think we both know that salts is just another name for EVE." I said, holding out my hand.
She thought it over for a moment and let out a sigh, "Fine. Just be careful, please?" she asked.
I shot her a smile, "Of corse Elizabeth." I said gulping the drink down.
Not gonna lie, did not taste the same as I remembered, "Well...do you feel at different?" Elizabeth asked with care.
I shook my head, "It just tastes...tasteless. Guess that's the only real difference with salts." I said looking down at my hand. I thought of devil's kiss, how I had lava under my control when I had it. My skin boiled and turned orange!
"Yes! I'm back!" I said calling away the vigor. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief, grateful that I wasn't a splicer now. Opening the doors, I crouched down when I saw three splicers on the other side of a display.
Moving to the corner of the glass case, I threw a devils kiss at the three, it blew but they where still standing! Two of them rushed me while one headed up the stairs. As I backed up I saw a red gas can by the glass case. Firing at it, it blew one of the attackers away while I killed the other one with a air grabber strike to the face.
Now where's the other one?
I felt hot lead hit my back. Turning, I quickly fired twice at the attacker. She fell dead to the floor while the other behind her charged. Thinking quickly I touched my hand to the damp floor and sent a electrical charge through the ground to her. Thank god for insulated boots.
"Are you okay? Did she hit you?" Elizabeth asked with a small bit of worry at my hurt expression.
I shook my head, "Damn shield isn't what it used to be is all." I said standing up straight. Looking to 'the Daily Bread' where the splicers where trying to get into , I figured it was worth a look. As Elizabeth worked on the lock I reloaded my gun. When did I get so...frail? I was unstoppable against whole squads in Columbia but here I nearly got my ass kicked by three drug addicts!
"There, done." Elizabeth said as she finished the lock. Opening the door, I raised my pistol readily, waiting for anyone to try and attack. Moving into the restaurant slowly I came across a body with a...oh thank you god!
Moving the arm of the body aside, I felt myself smirk as I picked up the Tommy Gun. "Why are you ogling that gun?" Elizabeth asked, slightly amused by my gawking.
"This is like the most famous gun in history. And I've only seen them in movies so this is pretty cool for me." I said as I loaded the gun with the round clip and pulling the slide back. Elizabeth shook her head but said nothing.
The noise up ahead of us caused me to raise my new gun. I turned to Elizabeth and put my finger up to my lips. Slowly moving forward, I stopped at the top of the stairs, Splicers. Well this wasn't on the way to where we had to go, so we backtracked to the door, once we were out of the store, we headed up the stairs by the restaurant.
Two splicers behind the counter where roasted by my Devil's Kiss grenade, two more came down from the stairs to my left. I raised the tommy gun ad aimed at there head and fired three shots each. Their bodies tumbled down the stairs, heading up the stairway we found the stairwell to the top floor. Bad news it that steps were missing, a lot of steps, "Look up there." Elizabeth said, pointing to a freight hook.
"Nice, I'll go first and make sure it's clear." I said drawing my air grabber. Running towards the hole, I jumped through the air and hooked onto the hook. Before I jumped down I heard voices and gunshots ahead of me. Reading my machine gun, I jumped down to the ground and saw two groups of splicers in a firefight. Well better them than me right?
Elizabeth landed behind me, "Well that's new." she said as we watched the firefight unfold. "Let's sit back and let them fight it out. Then we'll take care of any stragglers." she planned out.
I nodded in agreement, "Sounds like a good a plan as any. And who knows, maybe they'll wipe each other out." I said hopefully, god that sounds bad out of context.
After the two got their numbers down, I took care of the remaining three with my tommy gun. I was running low on ammo for the weapon and only had two hand cannon clips. Walking around a display case, I didn't see the turret on the other side, thinking quickly, I ran into the clothing store for cover with Elizabeth in front of me.
"Christ! I can't let my guard down for a second can I?" I asked as we hid behind a counter.
Elizabeth let out a sigh as she rested against the wood, "It's almost worse than Columbia. At least we don't have Ryan ordering people to kill us." she supplied.
I'd hate to say but she's wrong, it is worse than Columbia, at least there Elizabeth had a idea of the layout, here we're walking around clueless, low on ammo, EVE, and my shield is weaker than ever. I heard a small explosion over the counter, peeking up I saw five splicers destroy the turret that drove us in here.
I only had a small clip of my Tommy gun, at least I had my Vigors. Bringing Devil's Kiss out, I threw the grenade into the center of the crowd, they scattered towards us as a few got minor burns. I fired my tommy gun into two men until I ran our of ammo, switching to my hand cannon I fired two shots on the third as his bullet nicked my shoulder and shattered my shield. Dammit!
Reloading my gun, I got head shots on the last two as my shield regenerated. "Assholes." I muttered as I got up from our spot.
Elizabeth wiped sweat off her brow, "What's wrong with these people? Are they even a bit of reason?" Elizabeth asked as we walked over their corpses. I can't imagine 1912 having a lot of junkies so this must be the first time she's really seen addiction.
"When you get addicted to something, you'll do whatever it takes to get more of it. Doesn't matter how cruel the act is, as long as they get a fix, they'll do what they need to do." I explained as I looted the bodies for ammo and such.
Elizabeth shook her head with a scowl, "It just makes them animals. They just use their primal instincts to survive." she said, her gaze landing on one of our fallen foes.
I shrugged, "They just need help Elizabeth, no matter where you go you'll see people who indulge in what they want. Even if it's not healthy at all for them. Who knows, maybe these people just needed help. But no one knew how to." I said sadly, splicers were just addicts, and they just needed to break it.
"You almost sound sympathetic." Elizabeth commented as we exited the clothing store.
I signed, "Back in High School, I kept noticing these other teens that looked off. And when I looked at them, really looked at them, I saw things. I saw cuts on some peoples wrists, I smelled drugs on them, I heard the things they said. And it showed that everyone has their own demons. And most people don't want to confront them." I explained. It just shows that of you want a taste of the real world, public schools are good places to start.
Elizabeth gave me a worried look, "What's your demon then?" she asked. That was tough question, obviously killing was one, it seemed that wherever I go people die. But that was for self defense...at least most of the time.
"Revenge is mine...and I don't want it to be yours either Elizabeth." I said as the door in front of us slid up.
Yep, we're on the right track. Frosty had definitely been here. Walking past the frozen splicers, I pulled the leaver down and waited for the door to open. "Jacob...if you've taught me anything, is that we don't chose our demons, they chose us." Elizabeth said putting a hand on my arm.
I sighed, "Yeah...I still need to confront mine." I said as the door opened. Loading a new clip in the tommy gun, I moved forward cautiously. Circling around a statue of Ryan, I looked over the railing to see the trams below us. I looked up and saw Pneumo lines leading up the top floor.
"Jacob, come look at this." Elizabeth called out. I turned and saw her by a elevator, "It looks like the circuits where disconnected. If only we had a electric superpower." she said sarcastically.
"I can take the hint." I said, giving the controls a quick zap. "We'll take it back down to the ground floor when we get the Vigor." I surmised.
"Actually it's Plasmid." Elizabeth corrected with a smile.
"Tamato tomato. Constants and variables and all that crap right?" I asked. Hey of it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck right?
Drawing my air grabber, I took a running jump up to the lines above our heads. I landed on the top floor as splicers exited the ice rink. Obviously that would be just my luck.
Ducking behind a trash can, I drew my tommy gun as they noticed me and got a headshot in on one of them. As they charged towards me, I nailed two in their heads and one in both his kneecaps, he tripped one up but he still was coming. A woman with a gun bigger than her hands fired at me and broke my shield! I need to get this thing renewed at some point.
I pulled the trigger on my gun and it clicked. Out of ammo, switching to my hand cannon, I was tackled to the ground by a splicer! "Give it to me! It's mine!" he shouted as he raised a hand to strike.
He left his guy wide open for me to slug it. He clutched his stomach as he tried to get the wind back in him. Elizabeth ran over to us and swung the air grabber at his head, knocking him off me. When he was on the ground, I scrambled up and grabbed my fallen air grabber. Before he could get it, I slammed it into his eyes and spun it, it was really messy.
Luckily none of it got on me or Elizabeth. The woman who broke my shield got a fave full of lead from my revolver.
When the coast was clear I let out a sigh of relief, "You ok?" Elizabeth asked with concern.
I gave her a smile, "Who me? It's going to take much more than a hophead to take me down Elizabeth."
She rolled her eyes, "Come on, we still have a plasmid to find." she said, leading the way. Pulling the leaver on the side of the door we waited for whatever was on the other side.
"So, where'd you learn to fight like that exactly?" I asked, curious to her being in combat with me more often.
Elizabeth folded her arms and avoided my gaze, "Like I said, I'm not a defenseless little girl anymore." she responded.
"I never thought you where." I said, "You where like my Watson to my Sherlock. Or probably the other way around intelligence wise." I said, making her lip curl into a smirk for a second.
"Jacob...after you died...I was on my own for a bit...when I was looking for my dad...some men tried to get my attention." She explained. I felt a small tug in my gut, I didn't like the idea of someone trying to put the moves on Elizabeth. "When I told him that I had someone, he persisted, physically." she said spitting out the word.
Point me at the fucker Elizabeth, I'll make sure he isn't 'physical' ever again.
I realized I said that out loud when Elizabeth gave me a startled look, "As flattering as that is, you should let me finish." I nodded and kept my mouth shut.
"It was just after Columbia. Right after you died...and he said, 'Well whoever he is isn't good enough for a thing like you'. A thing like me...that...that just broke it. All the feelings I had pent up over the last few days...and I hit him hard enough to break his nose." she said proudly.
I smiled, "And when he stood there, clutching his bloody nose, I told him, 'I'm not a thing. My name is Elizabeth, and if you try to do what you want with me, you will regret it'." she finished, a proud smile on her face.
"And ever since, I...I thought of hoe you'd act. I'd still do what I'd think was right, but I'd keep you in mind." she said, her hand brushing over the bird pendent.
I clasped my hand over hers, "That...that's a real honor Elizabeth." I said. She turned to my smiling face, "But that doesn't mean I want you charging in , air grabber blazing okay?" we both chuckled at the idea of Elizabeth facing a whole army with nothing but a skyhook.
"Ok...but if and or when you need a extra hand. Don't be afraid to ask." she said confidently. I rolled my eyes but agreed anyway.
When the door opened I expected there to be a dozen splicers or something. Not whole winter wonderland! "Unbelievable..." I said, picking up a thing of snow. It was cold to the touch.
Elizabeth shivered slightly, "It's freezing in here." she said as she avoided the large deposits of snow.
As she stood there with a occasional shiver, idealized something, "Have you ever touched snow?" I asked. Her being in her tower for all her life and not being outside, save for the last year, meant age never experienced a snowy day.
She shook her head, "When I was with my dad it snowed occasionally, but that just meant that I had to stay in so not to get a cold." she said as I walked over to her.
I quickly slid off my jacket and handed it to her. "Take it, it's nice and warm." I said assuringly. She hesitated for a moment before taking the article of clothing and slipping it over her shoulders.
"Won't you be cold?" She asked, as she pulled the warm cloth closer to herself.
"Let's be honest, I'll probably have adrenaline running through me in a few minutes anyway right?" I asked, circling around the bust of a snowman and to the door. Sliding open revealed a glass room filled with weapons in the middle of the room. "Hello jackpot!" I said with a grin as I jolted the door controls.
The door slid open and I stepped inside, I found two clips for my tommy gun and a bottle of EVE, and another new gun. It looked identical to a carbine, "And my arsenal just got a tad bigger." I said as I slung the gun over my shoulder. After clearing out their armory, we approached the door to the ice rink.
"Now listen up! Ain't no one allowed the frosty without my say so! Got it!?" One splicer shouted. Approaching the railing, I saw the splicers were guarding a box on a bridge above the ice. Looking up, I saw Pneumo lines over the rink, "Perfect." I said grinning.
Jumping up to the lines, I surveyed the room and saw frosty guarding the vigor along with two their splicers, on either end of the bridge and two others patrolling around.
I disconnected myself from the lines and slammed my air grabber onto a man's head, killing him and alerting the whole room to my presence. The leader shouted at his men to shoot me as I jumped back up to the Pneumo lines, dogging a tea shots from the men, I repeated my actions on the two patrolling the room. One of them died from my stile to the head but the other one was still standing.
Swinging his club at me I dodged it and kicked him in the gullet, he bent down to tend to the area I hit, giving me a chance to drive the air grabber into the back of his neck and fling him down into the rink. I felt a pellet giants my shield, two of the men had broken off from guarding the vigor and where quickly approaching. Taking out my carbine, I pulled the trigger and fired three shots at him.
Didn't expect that but hey, when life give you lemons right? Or in this case tomatoes, rotten tomatoes.
I was out for the carbine so I switched back to my tommy gun. Putting it against the railing to steady, I got a clear shot at the remaining two.
The frost splicer came out from guarding the vigor and shot ice balls at me. I ducked behind cover as they hit the air where my head had been. Time to answer the age old question, does fore beat ice?
Bring out Devil's Kiss, I threw a fireball out to the splicer, making him run out from cover. As I caught up to him, he shot a barrage of ice ballast me, most of them missed me but one got my leg, freezing me to the floor. I didn't panic though, the one guy thawed himself out earlier and he didn't have fire powers, at least I don't think he did.
"Jacob catch!" Elizabeth shouted, I turned and caught the carbine clip she threw me. I reloaded my gun just as frosty was getting ready to attack. I pulled the trigger repetitively until his body fell to the floor.
Elizabeth rushed over to my side,"Are you going to be alright?" she questioned with concern in her eyes. I looked down at my frozen foot, putting my hands on the sides, I brought out devils kiss and melted the ice.
I shook the access water off my pant leg, "Yep. Now come on, we got a new vigor to get." I said as I walked onto the bridge.
"Plasmid." Elizabeth corrected with a smirk in her voice.
"Whatever!" I exclaimed as I opened the small doors to...god damnit. "Every. Fucking. Time!" I said at the empty box. That junkie drank all the old man winter!
Elizabeth took a look inside the box and frowned, "It never ceases to amaze me how bad our luck is." Elizabeth said. Amen to that sister.
Now what do we do? I guess we could look for another way across the gap, maybe some service tunnel or something. "Jacob, look." Elizabeth said with a smile, pointing into the box. Looking inside I had to squint to see what she was happy about.
A tear.
"Do yours thing sweetheart." I said. Elizabeth stepped forwards and pulled her arms apart, a flash of light later, the box had a bottle of Old Man Winter. Grasping the plasmid, I popped the top off and gulped it down. It tasted like a thing of ice cold water.
I looked down at my hands, they felt cold, like when you don't wear gloves when it's somewhere under zero degrease outside. They started to turn blue and small spikes started growing on my fist and palm. As soon as it came it was gone.
I turned to Elizabeth, "Let's go, we have a girl to find and man to kill." I said flexing my hand, getting circulation flowing again. Elizabeth gave me a nod as we headed for the exit.
Walking through the winter wonderland I felt like we were close to the end of this. "So when this is all said and done, Paris?" I offered.
Elizabeth smiled fondly, "I'd love to...but.." Oh come on! What is it? Another army of sky zealots that want to kill me? And capture her?
"But?" I asked , deciding to keep my inner ramblings just that.
"My dad, he's been worried sick about me since I told him about what I came here to do." she explained as she handed me back my jacket as we exited the rink. Riding the tubes down to the level below we landed and picked up the conversation.
"So your dad is perfectly fine with you crossing dimensions to kill one guy?" I asked. I'll admit that sounds like the coolest dad ever.
"Of course not. But once I...explained why he deserved it...he was all for it." she said as we entered the elevator and hit the switch.
The tube descended down to the main level that we arrived on, "Hey...why do you keep saying I died? I mean obviously I'm here, so I didn't die." I asked.
Elizabeth looked at me briefly before turning away, I...I didn't die right? "Jacob...you did. But like I said, there's infinite possibles. There's one where you where left handed, one where you have blue eyes. And there's one where Comstock never found you and your mother."
I...died...died...DIED! I mean sure, when I found out what needed to be done, I figured that was the end of me, but I still do g like thinking about me dying. At all. "If...if that's true then how do I...am I a real Jacob? Or am I just a fake?" I asked, not sure how to exactly word it.
"No!" Elizabeth blurted out, "No...remember what happened to those two officers at the bull yard? How their noses bled? They remembered dying, and their bodies were reacting to it." she explained. That...that would explain why it looked liked they were vibrating their entire bodies pretty fast.
"What about my scars? I still have the knife wound in my hand." I said showing her the A.D. with a slash down the middle.
She clasped her hands over it, "It was like flipping a coin. Alive, dead, remembers, forgotten. The scars are I side effect I guess." she said, running her thumb along the healed flesh.
"So...I am me...your me. Right?" I asked, my head was killing me over this, I mean it's like it was going to split open in a minute. Elizabeth leaned in and met my lips with hers, it brought a ease to my worries.
When she pulled away she held my worried face in her hands, "You are Jacob Harper. And I love you." she said with conviction and putting another kiss on my lips. "And nothing will change that."
I let our a sigh of relief. I am me, I'm the one who went through hell with her. That's all I need to know. We both jumped when the elevator dinged. I fumbled with my gun when the doors opened, thankfully the coast was clear.
We exited the elevator and approached the burst pipe. "Here goes nothing." I said as the numbness went through my hands. Shooting a ice bullet at the stream of water, the water froze over quickly, clearing the gap. "Yes! High five!" I shouted holding up my hand.
Elizabeth looked at me funny, "A what?" she asked with a laugh. How did I...dammit Jacob! How can you have not taught her that!
"It's when you hit your hand against mine in celebration." I explained. That's the best explanation I could give.
Elizabeth shook her head in amusement, "That sounds a bit juvenile." she said. I held my hand up nonetheless. She sighed and hit her hand against mine.
"And there you go. How do you feel?" I asked. So I'm a eight year old on the inside, so what?
Elizabeth slyly smiled, "It was...a little fun." she admitted, "Now, let's go." she said gesturing to the ice. I headed across first, it was solid as a ice cube.
Entering the tram station, I saw the housewares department through the window. Entering the tram I looked to Elizabeth, "Let's find Sally." I said cranking the leaver to the tram. The doors on the small sub closed and came to life, I clasped my hand over Elizabeth's as we went into the water.
...
The trip wasn't the fastest in the world but it got us there. We where about halfway there when I finally spoke up, "When we find him...what do we do? Just kill him?" I asked.
Elizabeth shook her head, "No, that's too good for him. He's going through the same thing you did when you came to Columbia, he thinks he's Patrick Harper. But the memories are still there, we need to bring them out." she explained.
"How do we do that?" I knew first hand that it was far from a pleasant experience to remember something horrible.
"You first remembered when you redid your actions, so we do the same for Comstock. With you and me there, he'll remember." she surmised. It made sense, he was after a child then like he is now.
"Ok...then I do it. Right?" I asked, she nodded. This stupid tram was slower than molasses.
"You don't need to. I could..." she trailed off. I felt a lump in my gullet, I saw how Elizabeth was when she first killed. It was her lowest point, and I don't want to see it again.
"I'll do it. Elizabeth, this all started because if my family. And it's about time I finished it." I said as the tram began to dock. I readied my tommy gun as we pulled into the tram station. The doors slid open to show a few splicers heading for a hole in the wall.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
It was a little girl.
Sally!
I fired into the group of splicers, one of them had her by the leg and wouldn't let go. Two of them ran right for me and Elizabeth. I threw a ice bullet at one, making him freeze in his tracks, the other one was taken care of by my hand cannon. I ran towards the girl and splicer, shattering the frozen one with my air grabber as I went by.
The last of the pair turned to me and Elizabeth with a shotgun, he wasn't aiming at me. "No!" I covered Elizabeth's body as the blast shattered my shield and drilled pellets into my back.
We fell to the ground, "Jacob! Where are you hit?" she asked in a whisper so the splicer wouldn't know we survived. I've only been shot a few times, each time was a different experience. The first one was just a graze, that just stung like a bee. Second time it happened they went straight through my arm.
This time they were stuck in my back of all places, "In the back, and they didn't go through." I replied in a lowered voice. I felt Elizabeth's hand slide up my chest, ohhhhh Harper you lucky bastard. He hand went into my jacket and clutched my hand cannon.
"I love you." I muttered. Yeah I quoted Star Wars.
I rolled off her and she fired at the splicer in the stomach. She tossed me the handgun and fired at the man's head. Goddamn this woman is my soul mate isn't she?
I was about to shoot the one who had his hands on Sally when his body was flung across the room. A shotgun's shot ring through the air, what the hell? "Sally!" A new voice called out. Who the hell?
The girl scrambled into the hole in the wall as a man with graying hair ran to the wall. Before he could grasp her, she disappeared in the dark hole. He tried to reach in and get her but wasn't fast enough.
Sally was gone.
That didn't stop me from pointing my gun at the man. He wore a brown trench coat and I couldn't see his face, "You ok kid?" he asked over his shoulder. Oh right, I was shot, better act like it.
"Just as good as can be expected. Now, who the hell are you?" I asked as Elizabeth helped me up. Obviously this guy wasn't a splicer, he still had his sanity, and he wasn't trying to kill me. The man turned to us and I nearly fell over again.
His green eyes looked at mine, his old face stared right into mine, "Name's Patrick Harper. Now your turn, who are you two?"
...
AN: Ok who didn't see that coming, he said sarcastically.
Now if anyone is confused about the explanation on how the hell Jacob is alive, here's what it is: just as Booker remembered what happened in Columbia at the end of Infinite, he still remembers what his life was but has a second chance. Just as Robert experienced what booker went through in infinite, he eventually regained his memories. And the sans thing happened to Jacob.
I thank you all for reading and as always I ask that you leave a review, fallow, favorite or whichever you want, if you want.