Housewares
'The world we have created is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changes without changing our thinking.'-Albert Einstein
I was dumbstruck. That's Comstock?
He looked at me with his square jaw, green eyes, and a questionable look. Oh right, he just asked who me and Elizabeth are, "My name's Jacob...Williams. This is my girlfriend, Elizabeth." I said, gesturing to the woman holding me upright with a look of spite on her face.
"Jesus kid. You ok?" Comstock asked, it must be the first time I heard him sound concerned. I was suddenly aware of the burning pain in my back. Damn splicer got me good.
"He'll be fine." Elizabeth said coldly. I winced, and it wasn't form the pain in my back. Comstock lowered his shotgun and approached us.
"Look, your boyfriend has a couple holes on his back. And last time I checked splicers aren't all that friendly, so what I suggest is that you help him while I pull lookout. Then you two help me get that girl that you made me lose." He stated gesturing to the dead splicers.
There's the Comstock I know, a huge dick to everyone, but I may have to agree with him, I'm not in my best shape. And that's saying something, all things considered.
I leaned in to Elizabeth, "I do have lead in my back. And that would take a while to get out." she looked at my back and grimaced, I must have been bleeding fairly seriously. She glanced over at Comstock briefly, and looked back at me and let out a sigh.
"Alright. Deal. But leave us while I tend to him. I'm not one for prying eyes." she said coldly at him. Comstock looked at us for a moment longer before pulling out his shotgun and going to keep watch for splicers.
Elizabeth eased me to the floor as the tram descended back I to the water, presumably to go back to its original dock. "Nice thinking with the fake name." she said as she examined my back, thank you Ash Williams. "It looks like your shield slowed the bullets down, I could get these out with tweezers." she stated as she stood.
She looked around the room until her eyes landed on the bench beside a wall, it was like a bus stop for the tram. I saw it too, a tear with some first aid kits. Opening it, she pulled one of them out and back headed towards me.
Setting down the bag beside us, she dug in and looked for the instruments, "He doesn't seem...Comstock-ish. Hell he barely looks like him." I said, it was finally hitting me that the man I just spoke with was Comstock.
It might have been the lack of beard but he looked almost nothing like him. Even his eyes where different from his! "Jacob he is Comstock you know that. Like the old saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover." she said pulling out the metal tweezers.
"Something tells me you'd read the book anyways." I joked, I could tell Elizabeth was smirking. She put one hand on my back to steady herself as she inserted the tweezers into the holes in my back. I let out a his when she spread the skin to grasp the lead bullet.
After pulling eight of them out, Elizabeth said I was fine for now. "Ok, so what now? Just go along with him and find Sally?" I asked, we didn't have that many options and Elizabeth knew it as much as I did.
"We don't have much of a choice. We'll play the couple in debt for now and when we find Sally, everything should click with him." Elizabeth suggested. It was a solid plan, at least for now.
"Your boyfriend ok miss?" Comstock asked from guarding us. I wouldn't say ok, fine maybe but not one hundred percent ok.
"Yeah I am." I called back, he re-entered the room and gave us a curious look.
"So what the hell are you two doing here of all places, your both to young to be hooked up with Atlas or Fontaine's men." He commented. Of course the one crucial bit of info we forgot and he asks it.
"We're...actually looking for you." I said, Elizabeth looked at me like I was a splicer, I have her a calming look. Comstock gestured me to continue, "We both heard about what happened to Sally, I was one of the workers at Fontaine's orphanage. I keep tabs on the girls, and when I heard about Sally...I just had to do something."
It was a pretty flimsy lie, but it's not like he'll check it out any time soon. He eyed me skeptically, "So, you both came down from Rapture to help me? And I'm supposed to buy that?" He asked skeptically. Damn it.
I then remembered something, something I kept one at all times. When I worked with mom, the other workers had to have a card validating that they're employed at the orphanage. I still have my card thank god, digging into my wallet I pulled out the card and showed it to him.
"Satisfied?" I asked as I walked over and showed him the card, blocking out my last name. Comstock seemed to relax, thank god he bought it.
"Ok. If you two are here to help me , you can start by helping me find a way to get Sally." he said looking at the air duct. I still can't believe a little girl just crawled on in there. I could actually hear her humming something from in the ducts.
Elizabeth joined me by my side. Looking down at a workman's toolbox she saw a paper sticking out, she grabbed it and read it over. "Hey...these are ventilation plans." she stated. Me and Comstock peered over her shoulder, I saw her shutter a little as Comstock looked over her shoulder.
"There are more vents like these in the electronics, the bistro, returns, the book department, and the appliances show floor." she said reading off the names from the paper. If we had two more people, like the Luteces, we could just camp out each one.
"Too many to scout out. I've been running all over trying to find her bit it's like Russian Rulett." Comstock said shaking his head. Great imaging thank you very much.
"But?" I asked hopeful.
"But that means there's only six places she could come out of." Elizabeth explained, walking over to the vent, she closed the hatch on it. "And now five." she said with a small smirk.
I caught on to the idea, "So we close all but one then wait at #6 for her to come out of. Simple." I said, this was going to be easier than I thought.
Comstock shook his head, "Tired it, Splicers will just open them back up seeing if she'll come out." he said shaking his head. I cursed under my breath, and with no way to lock the hatches they'll do the same thing.
"But this time we'll force her out." Elizabeth said. Me and Comstock gave her a confused look, she rolled her eyes, "These all connect to a central heating unit. If we close them off and turn the heat up, she'll be forced through the central exhaust. That's her only exit." That went three seconds without complaints.
"You want to burn her alive!?" Comstock asked critically. I'll admit I felt a pang of jealously, he'll send a whole fucking army after me, but just a little burn on his little girl and stop everything?
Ok yeah, I seriously have daddy issues now that I think that.
"No, look I get it's...drastic, but we just make it got enough that it's uncomfortable to be in there. She's what, ten now? She won't think it's a trap." I said, easing the tension between the two.
Comstock gave me a look then let out a sigh, "Alright. It's a shitty plan but it's the only one we got. You ok to move?" he asked me. I nodded, "Ok, let's go." he said circling around the wall.
Me and Elizabeth fallowed him as the displays lighted up, making me jump a little. When we came to the door we found it locked, "Shit. Damn thing locked." Comstock muttered.
I looked to Elizabeth, "You think you can do it?" I asked.
She smiled cockily, "I'll give it a whirl." she said taking out her lock pick and pushing Comstock aside. She had the thing unlocked in under a minute, "There." she said pushing the door open.
"How the hell?" Comstock muttered in surprise.
"Let's focus on those guys Mr. Harper." Elizabeth said pointing to the splicers who we're trying to goad Sally into coming out.
"Call me Patrick." he replied as he pulled his shotgun out while I did the same with my tommy gun. "You sure that thing ain't too big for you kid?" he asked.
To show my abilities, I brought out a devil's kiss and lobbed it into the crowd of splicers while I shot at them. Two of them where hot bad by my bullets and the three of them all parishes in the flames, "That good 'nuff?" I asked over my shoulder.
He charged at me and pushed me aside, firing his shotgun into a Frosty. He looked back at me grinning, "Try watching your ass next time." he said, pleased with himself.
"Gentlemen, if your both done with your little pissing contest we have a girl to find." Elizabeth said, walking past us and closing the hatch on the vent. I gave her a apologetic look but she simply rolled her eyes.
"Come on, let's head to the Bistro." Comstock said, heading fur the neon sign that read Bistro. Entering, we found a splicer waiting tables for corpses.
I may have been wrong when I thought this place was better than Columbia.
When she spotted us she piled out a hand cannon and was about to fire before I stopped her. "Ok, that was morbid. Let's go find that vent." I said as Comstock checked her body for spare ammo.
Two more gun tooting splicers came up the stairs with weapons drawn, Comstock ducked down behind a counter as one fired and I took a shot to the shoulder that my shield absorbed. I drew my carbine and fired three shots at one of their heads.
I dove next to Elizabeth in a booth as she fired, as I was about to spring out and shoot, Comstock's shotgun rang out and a body hit the floor. Peeking over, Comstock was still standing.
"How the hell aren't you on the floor bleeding?" He asked, referring to the bullet I took.
"Shield Plasmid that Cohen gave me." I lied, "Damn thing can't take a decent hit though without shorting out. Said it was a prototype." I added, blame it on Cohen, not like he'd believe a word Cohen said.
He rolled his eyes, "Crazy bastard. You know what he said to me, said, 'True beauty comes from horrible discoveries.' And then he sent me here with that in my head." he told us as he went down the stairs.
Maybe Cohen can see the future...nah.
At the base of the steps we saw a splicer trying to break into the kitchen. Pulling out my skyhook I crept through the water behind him and rand my hook across his neck.
When he fell, Elizabeth and Comstock joined me, "What is that in there?" Elizabeth asked, looking into the room I saw...yeah what the hell is that thing?
"They call it a radar range, think of a microwave and a flamethrower mixed together and you got a idea of what it does. Couldn't tell if it was meant for a turkey or a splicer though." Comstock said looking through the glass.
The glass on the door was bulletproof, but the lock wasn't Elizabeth proof.
As she went to work on the lock, Comstock went to close the hatch, leaving us with a moment to ourselves. "Your sure this is Comstock? Because I can't see these guys being one in the same." I whispered.
"Jacob he is. He's just playing a role like we are now. And when it comes time, we'll do what we have to." she said, focusing on the lock. When it fell to the floor I went in and picked up the radar range.
"We got company!" Comstock shouted as he ran behind the counter with weapon drawn. Time to test this thing out.
Three splicers came down the stairwell, I pulled and held the trigger on the radar gun and a red beam shot out towards one in the middle. He began to glow red and bloat. He had lights crack out of his skin before he blew up in a bloody mess.
Ok...that's incredibly messy.
I walked over to Comstock and handed it to him, "Here, go nuts man." he grasped it and smirked at his new gun.
"Can't take the blood kid?" he asked as he clipped it to his belt. Making a odd looking shape under his coat.
"I don't want to get anymore bloody than I need to." I explained as I drew my tommy gun. I mean yes, I have been quite literally covered in blood at some points but I didn't enjoy the experience.
Heading back into the electronics part of the department store we hung a left and headed into the appliances part of the store. "We have three left to go. Maybe we could split up and find them and meet back here?" Comstock suggested as we waited for the door to open .
"No." I said automatically, "I mean, Elizabeth doesn't have a gun, and I don't feel...comfortable letting Elizabeth out of my sight." I added when Comstock gave me a look.
Elizabeth turned her head to Comstock, "He's right. For the wrong reasons but he's right." Hey! Whose side are you on? "We have safety in numbers, so I think it's best we stick together Mr. Harper." she suggested.
The doors slid open and we stepped through, "I've done fine on my own. Tell you what, you two get these two up ahead and I'll get the last one at the end of the hall and meet you two at the toy store." he suggested.
Elizabeth looked over to my unsure face, "It would help us cover more ground. And he can take care of himself." she said. I caught the hint in her voice, 'And we can talk about other things'.
I looked at Comstock, "You sure you can get the other gate?" I asked. We where at a fork in the road, on the far side, it lead to the toy store. The other to the other vents.
"Hey I may be old but I still got some fight left in me." he commented.
Before I could respond, we all heard humming coming from the vent behind the returns counter, "Sally!" Comstock yelled out and ran ahead g us towards the vent.
He looked down into the dark hole in the wall, trying to look for her, "Dear, come on out...now listen Sally dear come out. Please..." he begged the girl. He sounded desperate, I looked at Elizabeth's face and caught her look of sympathy before blocking it out.
I cleared my throat, "Patrick. We'll get your daughter back...I promise." I said putting my hand on his shoulder. He looked back at me with sad eyes, broken eyes.
"She's not my daughter..." He said pushing the gate closed. I was both a little relived and concerned at that. Then what the hell is she?
Exiting the Returns, we headed to the toys department to part ways, I sent a possession at a turret that mowed down some splicers for us. They had set up what appeared to be a barricade, "Whatever they tried to keep out ain't getting in." I commented.
I put my hands together and bent down, Comstock put his foot on my hands and I pushed up, "Stay alive." I said as he climbed over the wreckage.
He smiled at us before going over, "That goes double for you two."
When he disappeared over the mountain of furniture and such I turned to see Elizabeth picking the lock to shop. "What are you doing? We have to close the other vents." I stated.
"I want to see if they have anything useful in here. And we need to talk without fear of someone hearing us." she said as she worked the lock. I agreed, we did have things to talk about.
Entering the store, I saw it was a dress shop, and someone was playing 'Here Comes the Bride' on something. "Oh this dress! Don't you just love it?" a voice asked. I drew my hand common and snuck up the stairs to the right of me.
With all the upright cloths I couldn't tell if one was a person until I saw one move. I stepped on the wrong board of course.
She turned and was about to attack when I fired and she fell to the floor. Elizabeth looked down sadly at the dead body, "Do you think she was dangerous, or just insane?"
I let out a sigh, Elizabeth always asked hard questions, "Either way, I think she was lonely." I said looking at the dresses with her picture glued onto them.
"So what are we going to talk about?" Elizabeth asked, a hint of irritation in her voice.
Might as well get it over with, "I don't think we should kill Patrick." I stated with conviction.
Elizabeth did a double take, "What!" she yelled in shock.
"Elizabeth, we both know Comstock, that guy is not Comstock!" I said pointing to the door.
She shook her head, "He killed us and you just want to let him go?" she asked with skepticism. She was angry, you didn't need to be smart to see that.
"That was Comstock, this guy? He's not Comstock...he's Patrick Harper." I said trying to appeal to her.
Her face grew hard, "Patrick is dead. You of all people know that." she said. It felt like a kick to the gut , that was a pretty low blow, and it coming from Elizabeth made it feel like a sucker punch.
I presses my lips together, making sure I didn't say something I'd regret. Elizabeth was smarter than I was, that was a given, and in my experiences you lose in arguments to smart people and people who believe in what they're doing.
In this case, Elizabeth was both.
She saw the look on my face and let out a breath, "I'm sorry...that was too far. But Jacob people don't change." she said, supporting her hear in a hand while the other was on her hip.
I shook my head, "Elizabeth. You and I are living proof that that's a load of shit." I said, "You can't tell me that you would have even thought of killing someone when you first got out of your tower." she looked down at her shoes. I didn't like fighting with anyone, especially Elizabeth.
"Jacob. We're too far in to just...not do this." she said. I caught a hint of doubt in her voice, maybe there was some hope after all.
"Elizabeth your a good person, hell your better than I am. And I don't believe for a second that you want to kill someone." I stated.
Elizabeth's eyes looked up and met mine, "Then maybe you don't know me as well as you think." she said coldly.
It was like a stab to my heart. I mean I didn't know every exact detail of her life, I don't even know her birthday for crying out loud. But I know with every fiber of my being that she's a good person, and I may not know everything about her, but I know enough.
"Elizabeth. Do you honestly believe that? That your a...a cold blooded killer?" I asked gently, she frowned, "Elizabeth, your the most amazing person I've ever met. Your not a killer." I said, taking a step towards her.
"You where killed by me weren't you?" she asked sadly. "If I just took us to Paris, we wouldn't even be here. But instead if showed you what you didn't need to see, and died to stop it." she said trying to stop her voice from cracking.
I reached out and clasped her hand, "Elizabeth, I died because it's what I wanted...your not to blame in anyway." I said closing the distance between us and embracing her. I didn't even think of how my 'death' had affected Elizabeth.
"We have to kill him Jacob. We have to." Elizabeth said as she pressed her head against my shoulder. I didn't want to, I really didn't want to, but I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.
"You've done a lot better than when I heard you died." I said, trying to lighten her up.
She pulled away and looked at me skeptically, "Really? How is that?" she asked. I kinda asked for that.
I scratched the back of my neck, "Well I kinda lost it for a few seconds, I was shaking the twins and demanded they tell me what happened when Rosalind slapped me out of it." I said recalling how distraught I was.
Elizabeth tried to hd back her chuckles but she spat out laughing after a few seconds. "I-I'm sorry, but that just sounds so funny." she said giggling.
I felt myself smiling, "Yeah I get it, it's fun to slap people. Come on, unless your looking at wedding dresses we have a few vents to close." I said.
Elizabeth's face tinted pink at the mention of weddings. "Your right, let's go." she said heading for the exit. Swiping the cash from the register, I caught up to her in the front of the shop.
Passing the returns counter, I raised my carbine as four splicers came into view, I fired of a burst of bullets at one of their heads. One of them charged at me with a club, the other two fired at me with tommy guns.
I took care of the man with the club first, putting a few rounds into the man's chest and threw a Devil's Kiss at the two men in the back. Looting the guns for ammo, we entered the bookstore in search of the vent.
"This brings back memories." Elizabeth said, running her fingers along the spines of the books. I remember how big the size of her library was, you could probably hold about all the books in here on one wall.
"You know we have some incredible books in my time, when we get to my home I'll let you barrow them if you like." I suggested politely. I just hope she doesn't finish all of them in a day.
She turned to me with a gracious smile, "I'd like that very much." she said. Heading up the stairs, we found the vent being guarded by a turret. A quick possession later, the vent was closed and we where on our way.
Nearing the exit to the store I was grateful this entire ordeal was almost over. "One more to go, then we'll meet up with Patrick." I said, making me and Elizabeth stop in our tracks.
"Did you just call him Patrick?" Elizabeth asked, her voice showing no emotion.
"If I say yes, are you gonna slap me? I just want a warning." I asked, I didn't exactly have the best track record in that category.
Elizabeth gave me a accusing look, "No, but now I'm thinking about it." she said with a bit of sarcasm. At least I hope that's sarcasm.
"Elizabeth, he's Patrick Harper. Not Zachary Comstock." I said, trying not to set her off.
"Jacob your smarter than this! How are you fooled by his damn act?" she asked harshly, I obviously failed.
"Act? Elizabeth he can't remember what happened! How is this any different from me? I literally screwed your life up, and you forgave me. Why not him?" I asked.
Even though it was Comstock who was the man behind all this, I was the hand that he used to put the pieces into place. It took me a while to accept that but I knew what my hand in all this was.
Elizabeth's eyes widened, she shook her head and spoke, "That's different. You tried your hardest to try and make up for that mistake. And in the end you died for it."
I crossed my arms over my chest, "You need to give him a chance Elizabeth! He can't make up for his mistakes if you don't let him try. How are you any better than Comstock if you just kill him because he crossed you!"
Slap!
I should have saw that coming. Elizabeth looked at me spitefully, "Never compare me to him!" she said in a snarl. I've seen Elizabeth angry before, and trust me you did not want to be the one she is mad at. But she needs to hear this.
"Elizabeth. I stand by what I said." I said a I rubbed my cheek. I still don't understand how someone like Elizabeth's size can smack me so hard!
She looked angry, she started shaking her fists, if she wanted to punch me, fine, at least I'll be ready this time. I was surprised when tears leaked out of her eyes, god damn it Jacob. You made her cry.
"Elizabeth, I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Shut up." she said quickly. I said something that shouldn't be said, I am a complete moron! I want to say I'm sorry but she stopped me.
She wrapped her arms around me and let the tears roll out. "Shut up...I know your right... I just don't want you to be." she said as I wrapped my arms around her.
I felt my heart get punched. "I'm sorry for slapping you. That was really uncalled for." Elizabeth said as she pulled away and wiped her tears off her face.
"Elizabeth-"
"And don't say your sorry!" She protested, "I haven't been thinking straight, I shouldn't have just delved right into this." Elizabeth said regretfully.
"Eliza-"
"We need to find Com...Patrick, and help him with Sally. But we still need to find a way out of here." Elizabeth interrupted, thinking of a solution.
Ok enough of this.
I grasped her by her shoulders and brought our lips together briefly. When I pulled away, I finally got a word in, "We'll deal with it later. I forgive you, and I love you." I said, making her blush.
She smiled shyly and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, "You two lovebirds done?" We both jumped at the sound of Patrick's voice.
"Jesus Christ! Don't you know it's dangerous to sneak up on someone with a gun?!" I yelled, making the man laugh. Comstock or not, he can be a ass.
"Sorry, I just wanted to let you two know if you guys where going to actually stop being all friendly long enough to help me. I already cleared the way ahead." He said, pointing his shotgun behind him.
Well that cut our time by half. "Alright let's go." Elizabeth said heading to the path Patrick came from.
"You sure you don't want a few more minutes alone with your boyfriend? I mean I can come back in like 20 minutes." Patrick said cheekily. Ok, starting to warm back up to the idea of killing him again.
As we fallowed Patrick back to the toy store, I kept glancing over at Elizabeth, she didn't have that hostile look in her eye that she had when she looked at Patrick. I was glad that we both addressed that issue and all but it left a lot of new questions.
Like what now when this is all over? I mean...when this is over, what about if Sally and him come along? Mom and him could reconnect, and maybe-"Kid you alright?" Patrick asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, why?" I asked. I needed to focus, think about now, not later.
"Cause your heading the wrong way." He said. Looking around I saw what he meant, I was about to head into the heart of the electronics department. The place was badly beaten up, the were many puddles of water on the floor. This place was ugly just to look at.
I turned to Elizabeth's amused face, "Come on, we have to go this way." she said, fallowing Comstock towards the right of the store. As we approached a door, pusher it to find it wouldn't budge.
"What the hell? I thought you said you cleared the way?" I asked Patrick, he raised his shotgun and face the way we came.
"I did."
Keyword, did. We've walked right into a goddamn trap. With the door locked, we where trapped in a funnel , the walls closed in on the way towards us. That could work both ways though, we where in a corner yeah, but that means they can't surround us at least.
"Jacob. Look." Elizabeth said, getting my attention. She was looking at the door, fallowing her gaze, I saw a lock on the other side, "If you can get me in there, I could open the door for us." she said, looking for a way in.
As we searched for a way into the room, I heard movement from where we came from, and I was a tad anxious. Checking the clip immune gun, I made sure I was fully loaded. "Up there!" Elizabeth exclaimed in relief. I looked to agree she was pointing and saw a air duct.
I stood by it and clasped my hands together, "Be careful. Okay?" I asked. She nodded as I boosted her up into the hole in the wall.
Me and Patrick readied our weapons, the first wave of splicers ran towards. Ducking behind a counter, me and Patrick fired madly into the crowed of deformed humans. I used my tommy gun while he favored the radar range, it was a mess. A big bloody mess.
I felt a few bullets graze my shield. I ducked down as I threw a Devil's Kiss trap over the counter while I reloaded. Patrick had used up the remaining power in the radar range and was loading his shotgun back up along with his own pistol, resembling my first one in Columbia. "Bet you I can put down more than you." she said competitively.
I knew it was a bad time to do this but I could tell he was just trying to lighten the mood, "Sure , what the hell right?"I asked as I slid the chamber on my Tommy Gun back.
I had only this clip then the full one I had in my Carbine before we had to worry.
The sound of the trap setting off brought me and him back up. I held down the trigger as they came in one after another. I counted 14 by now. My gun clicked empty.
Damn. I brought out my carbine and fired at one of the splicer's head, the booms of Patrick's shotgun where almost deafening. With a few more down, I pulled the trigger as one got in close. Empty again. Ok I can worry now.
I pulled out the Air Grabber and ducked under his swing and used the tool to knock his feet out from under him. When his body was on the floor, I ran the hooks over his exposed neck.
Pulling out my hand cannon, I fired a few shots over the counter into a few more splicers. They splashed into the puddles on the floor...puddles! I charges up a jolt of Shock Jockey in my hand. I fired the stream of charged electrons at the wet floor.
It was like throwing a heater in a pool.
"Holy shit." Patrick and I muttered. The bodies had either turned to ash, fell to the floor with a thud, or was still in mid shock. "Guess I win." I said cheekily. The door behind us opened, causing us to get our guns ready, thank god it was Elizabeth.
"Wow...I..." she said in shock at the scene behind us. That was a room clearer all right. "We...let's go find Sally." she said, getting out of her daze. Thank god the room Elizabeth got into had a few clips of ammo for me and Patrick's guns.
Fallowing the man, I slowed my pace to match Elizabeth's, "You have a idea on what we tell him?" I asked. I mean part of me wanted to tell him who I was, I mean he wasn't Comstock, but who knows how Patrick would react to finding out he had a son.
Let alive it was me, Elizabeth shook her head, "No idea. But Jacob we have to get him out of here with us. Tonight." She said with a seriousness.
"Ok I'm a little afraid to ask but why?" I asked, knowing if regret asking in the first place.
Elizabeth twisted the thimble on her pinky, "Well...it may be the fact that the entire city goes through a uprising tonight." Of fucking course.
My head fell into my hands, "Why? Why do we have the most shitty luck in the universe? It just doesn't make sense." I said half jokingly. We seriously do get into bad situations quickly.
Elizabeth looked down towards the floor as we trailed behind Patrick, "Do you really think you ruined my life?" she asked quietly so only I could hear.
I wanted to kick myself for letting that slip, "In a way...yeah...I do." I was the one who brought her to Comstock, sure he had my mom but I could have taken her place. That was something that just made me feel weird, the thought that of be like Comstock, I mean I'm sure I wouldn't let him get his claws in me but still.
"I literally handed you to him. I had my part to play, you must have had that pass through your head at one point Elizabeth." I said ruefully. That was the biggest regret of my life, and I never forgot it.
She shook her head, "Your a good man Jacob. And if anything, I think you made my life better." Ok someone took sons crazy pills. "If I hadn't have gone to Columbia, I would have had a hard life. My father's debtors would have done god knows what. And you stopped that from happening." she said with a grateful smile.
I let that sink in for a moment. When Comstock first explained why I was going to get Anna, I thought I was doing the right thing, that they'd both be safe. But I was just clinging to what I thought was the truth, but hearing it from Elizabeth, that makes me rethink it.
"I'll be honest. When I thought of finding you, I had this thought that you'd hate me." I admitted. I mean of she didn't put two and two together then, she may have by now.
She took my hand, "Never." she said simply as she pecked my cheek. I truly was the luckiest guy in the multiverse.
"If you two are done being all lovey dovey, we're here." Patrick said over his shoulder. The toy store was basically untouched, the place didn't exactly offer a vast array of ADAM or any weapons. And I saw that Patrick took care of the ones that where here for whatever reason.
The Pneumo lines above caught my eye, if anything those things where the skylines of Columbia, I remember how Elizabeth told me that kids used to ride them, that's just bad parenting. "There's the last vent." Patrick said, pointing to the golden vent.
"Okay, so where's the thermostat at?" I asked, Elizabeth thought for a moment. Remembering back to the blueprints that showed the air ventilation system.
"I think it may be this way." she said, circling around the wall to the vent. The large blockade that I helped Patrick over, going to the left, Elizabeth led us to a door marked boiler room.
"How the hell miss that?" Patrick asked aloud.
Entering the room, the rusty pipes overhead let out steam, it was almost like a sauna in here with all the heat. "There, all need to do is crank that wheel." Elizabeth said, pointing to the orange crank that controlled the vents.
I turned to Patrick's uneasy face, "I still don't like this. What of we crank it up too high and-"
"Patrick." Elizabeth said, she put on a confident look, "Trust me, It'll be fine. I promise." Patrick still looked uneasy but had a more calmer demeanor. I figured that neither of them wanted to do this so I stepped forward.
"No." I stopped at Patrick's voice, "This is my responsibility. I should do it." He said as he brushed past me and took hold of the wheel. With a bit of a struggle, he ever so slowly turned the heat up.
The pipes rumbled up above and we heard scuffling, "NO! OW AAHHHH!"
"Sally!" Patrick called out. Abandoning the the boiling room, chasing after him he zoomed into the toy section and to the vent. "Sally dear, come out. It-it's Patrick, you remember?"
This is just depressingly sad. "NO NO NO! Mr. BUBBLES!" Ok, who the-HOLY SHIT!
I grabbed Patrick by his coat and pulled him to look at the hulking Big Daddy. It was identical to the one me and Elizabeth had run into earlier, spinning drill hand and all.
"Being it on you bastard. We just took down a whole fucking platoon of Splicers." I said cockily. I've taken down armies, I've went one on one with robots, Handymen, and magnetic human shields. This guy hasn't got shit on me.
The hulking figure drew his drill back and threw it forward spooning. Launching the thing at me, I sidestepped in time for it to impale in the wall between me and the vent. Me and Elizabeth looked at each other with blank expressions before turning to the Big Daddy. "Run for it?" she asked.
"Big fat, YEP." I said as he withdrew the drill from the wall. Patrick ran behind the wall while me and Elizabeth jumped onto the Pneumo lines. I drew my Tommy Gun and fired at the giant, it just made him mad.
He launched his drill fist at me, knocking me off the lines and to the store floor, "Jacob!" Elizabeth yelled from the lines, last thing I wanted was that thing going after Elizabeth. Raising my gun again, I pulled the trigger at the large man-thing.
He jumped over the railing down to my floor, "Shit." He stomped his foot down on the ground, making me lose my balance, and charged at me and elbowed me in my gut. I was sent crashing into the store shelves, I felt my shield shatter as I rose from the wreckage.
The thing was about to launch it's drill at me, I saw a flash of light out the corner of my eye,"For Columbia!" oh please tell me that's on my side.
The sound of mini-gun fire going through the room. I looked up to the balcony to see a patriot robot with Elizabeth behind it. Elizabeth jumped down to my level as the two heavy hitters went at it. "You seen Patrick?" I asked. She shook her head.
The sound of shotgun fire rung out. Looking up I saw Patrick and the Patriot double timing the Big Daddy from both sides. "What the hell right?" I asked, I handed her my hand cannon, she gave me a surprised look, "All hands on deck right? Just stay off to the side and keep out of his line if sight." I said as I went to join Patrick.
I jumped back onto the lines and fired the rest of my tommy gun at him. The Big Daddy plunged his drill into the Patriot's chest cavity, that's one ally down, I'm not losing anyone else.
I landed ahead of him, I shot a Ice bullet at his feet, keeping him stationary. Elizabeth was firing my Hand Cannon from across the room, I could tell that she hadn't practiced before but she was trying.
He smashed his hand to the ice and shattered it. I was fine to my Carbine now. I just kept pulling the trigger, I used every combination of Vigors I knew, Devil's Kiss and Murder of Crows, Undertow and Shock Jockey, anything! But he just kept coming.
I was nearly out of Vigors now. I was desperate, I had only enough to use Charge and that wasn't going to... Wait a minute. "Hey whale shit! Bet you can't peg me!" I taunted.
Patrick and Elizabeth where looking at me like I lost it, but that just got Mr. Bubbles mad. He drew his arm back as I did mine with my Air Grabber, the mini hurricane making the hooks spin at top speed. He launched the drill at my head like I expected.
I ducked under it and it buried itself in the wall again, I swung my Air Grabber up and sliced through the cable that tethered the drill to the hand. "And now you are fucked." I drew my arm back and lunged at the Bug Daddy through the air, my Hooks tore through a small portion of his head, making it wail on agony.
Patrick snapped out of his shock and fired into the back of the legs of the Big Daddy. He feel to his knees, "Jacob Catch!" I turned to Elizabeth as she threw my hand cannon back to me, I turned and lined up the barrel of the gun to the small cut in the metal helmet, I pulled the trigger and watched as the lights in the beast dimmed.
I let out a shaky breath of relief, "Holy shit. That was fucking...damn." Patrick said in complete shock.
I grinned, "Yea..." I said simply. As hard as it is to take down the big guys, I do love basking in the limelight afterwords. I felt aiming run into me from behind and wrap their arms around me.
I turned and returned Elizabeth's hug, "That was one of the stupidest things I've ever seen you do, and next time-" she started.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, no children or possibility of having them." I said jokingly. She lightly hit me in the gut. "Ow." we both chuckled at that. Now for Sally.
Heading back to the vent, Patrick cleared his throat, "Sally, honey come on out. Mr. Bubbles says you need to come home." he tried. I could see Sally's silhouette in the vent, the heat coming out was just slightly warm, so we has a while before the metal turned to singing temp.
The little girl shook her head. Damn it, she probably thinks we're splicers or something. Patrick was determined, "Sally, please baby girl, just come out. I miss you." he said pleadingly.
Nothing.
Something flashed across Patrick's face. He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out...a doll head? "Sally, come look , it's Sarah. She wants to come play." he said. Sally's figure looked at the doll's head, she reached her hand out to take it.
Patrick looked at me and mouthed, 'Grab her'. I nodded, when she was about to take the doll's head, me and Patrick reached out and grabbed her. Elizabeth caught on and tired to help but damn this girl was strong!
When we pulled her out into the light we all froze. "No..." It was a whisper but it summed up how we all where reacting. Sally stared back at us with blank eyes.
Sally was a Little Sister.
Patrick's hands let go as he started to shake. I saw blood leak out his nose, "Oh not now! Patrick! Snap out of it!" I shouted, tightening my grip on Sally. The sweat that she built up from being in the vent made her slippery, I lost my grasp along with Elizabeth.
We'd smoke her out in a bit, but Patrick need our help now. I grasped his arm as he bung to slip, "Look Patrick! You need to focus. Okay? Just focus in my voice , I know what your going through."
He looked at me with eyes full of regret, "Listen to me, your not that man anymore. You are Patrick Harper. Not Zachary Hale Comstock." I said with conviction.
His shakes stopped as he fell to his knees. He wrapped his arms around my legs and started to weep, "Oh...holy Christ!" he sobbed. "I-I-I-son...Anna.." he looked up to Elizabeth, her face full of sympathy, "I...I am so sorry."
I looked down at the man. He was broken, I've been there, and I know that he feels like he wants to die, but I don't want that. I kneeled down to his eye level and slapped him, "Patrick! I forgive you, but we have a girl to find. Now listen, we have more important things to attend to." he looked up to me with red eyes and they widened.
I turned in time to see the but of a gun connect with my head. I feel to the floor as I saw spots, Elizabeth was on the ground too with a bruise on her forehead. I'll kill whoever did that later, but now. I'm gonna black out.
"Well now. Look what we have 'ere." A Irish voice said.
AN: And that concludes BaS Ep 1 arc. Now the bad news, my Xbox kinda took a shit on me and we got an new one and I need to re-download BaS episodes 1&2. AGAIN! Not to mention all my games are reset.
Now, I figured that because ofJacob's lack of a father, he would cling to the hope of having one, that is how people react to not having a father figure sometimes. And I do think that Elizabeth was ice cold to Comstock, I mean he didn't even know what he did!
Anyway, once I get it downloaded or watch some vids on it to refresh my memory, I'll update. Sorry guys. Anyway , don't forget to click that review down below and fallow and favorite if you want.