Disclaimer: I don't own Bioshock or any of the characters
A single prick on the neck was all Ares felt before the message was conveyed. He saw a path leading into the depths of Fort Frolic, down beneath all the fanciful showmanship and into the heart of the rotting entertainment district. It showed him the ancient machinery that still stubbornly clung to life even after years of neglect. Everythign he saw came with one singular sentence burning into his mind.
The time has come.
A thrill ran up his spine as the lifeless husk of a hornet fell unnoticed behind him. Ares turned his back on the battle he'd been so committed to just a moment ago without a second thought. Up ahead, Hawthorn continued to drive his troops forwards, never noticing his absence.
It was time for a culling.
The bolt flew through the air with deadly precision, lodging itself into one of Hawthorn's gunmen before exploding. His companions were thrown out of cover by the blast, their screams cut short as a rapid barrage of bullets followed the arrow.
Archer and Emma ducked behind cover as their enemies retaliated with a withering hail of return fire. Things were not looking good on their end. They'd had the misfortune of having to deal with a group that fielded not one, but three Brute splicers. Their Spiders had been smashed to pieces by the giants, rendering the Houdini's significantly less effective now that they didn't have a distraction to work around. They'd managed to eventually bring down two of the oversized splicers, but one still remained.
"Youh 'eer meh you hucking siit! Ah'll brahke youh intaah peshis!"
The same Brute that he'd encountered in the Farmer's Market had somehow managed to not only survive having his face torn off, but actually track him down again. It was hard to make out what he was saying, but Archer assumed it was supposed to be thoroughly threatening.
Despite the threats, the giant man was far more wary about going out in the open than he'd been the first time they fought. He'd already watched his two bulky companions go down under concentrated fire from the two colonists and the surviving Houdini's, and he had no intention of joining them. That didn't mean he was sitting back idly though. He'd already picked off a few Houdini's with forcibly thrown pieces of debris.
"Not to sound like a pessimist, but I'm not liking our odds right now." Archer said while reloading his crossbow. "You think now might be a good time to get the heck out of here?"
Emma sat next to him, the two of them forced uncomfortably close in order to take cover behind a stone fountain that had long since dried up. Despite its age it had done a surprisingly good job of keeping them safe from the bullets that were tearing everything to shreds.
"How exactly would we do that when the air is made of lead?" Emma demanded, shooting him an annoyed glance. She'd been highly on edge ever since it had been decided they'd be fighting alongside Cohen's forces. She didn't forgive them in the slightest for what they'd done to her companions back in Hephaestus.
He shrugged, giving a slightly strained chuckle.
"I'd kinda just planed on running and hoping we didn't get shot in the back."
Under better circumstances she might have rolled her eyes. As it was, she just ignored the remark and took a quick peek over the edge of the fountain. A large piece of concrete-turned-projectile quickly forced her back down, sailing right through the space her head had been occupying a moment ago.
"I don't think we're going anywhere until your friend out there has been taken care of."
"Hey, come on! I didn't mean to piss him off like that!" Archer defended at her accusatory glare. "He attacked me! How was I supposed to know he'd hold a grudge forever?"
"Maybe you should learn to finish them off next time." She growled back. He was tempted to make a sarcastic comment, but the very real possibility of her deciding to use him as a meat-shield kept him from trying.
"I guess it's time for plan B then."
"Plan B?" She asked skeptically. "I didn't know we even had a plan A. What are you going to do?"
Instead of answering, he leaned back, taking aim at the wall behind them.
"Archer…" Emma began, eyeing him like he'd lost his mind. "You know the enemy is over there right? You're facing the wrong direction."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Do me a favor, when I give the word you shoot at the pipes above them, all right?"
"I don't think those are steam vents." She replied, still unsure as to what he thought was going to happen. "It's not like they're going to be blasted by hot air or anything."
"That's what I'm counting on."
She sent him a withering look before sighing in defeat.
"Fine. But if this doesn't work, I'll make sure the splicers never get a chance at you."
He nodded, holding up three fingers that would act as the countdown to whatever crazy scheme he was planning on. She gripped her tommy-gun in preparation for the inevitable hell storm she was about to step into.
Three…
Two…
One…
Emma quickly pushed her upper body above the barrier, taking aim at the pipes. One squeeze of the trigger sent a wave of shots headed directly for them. She sidestepped without thinking; narrowly avoiding being smashed by a projectile thrown from the Brute but wasn't able to get out of the way of his allies.
One of their shots struck her in the side, right beneath her armpit. The bullet grazed her ribcage before cutting a shallow wound across her left flank and exiting through her back. She scrambled back into cover, biting back a scream and clutching the nonfatal, but still very painful, injury tightly to minimize the blood loss.
On the other side of the room, her shots struck the old pipes dead on. The metal had long since lost its former toughness thanks to the amount of time it had spent rotting away, and the bullets shattered several large portions like glass. Several cries of surprise and disgust issued from the splicers beneath them as a sludgy soup of stagnant water spilled down on their heads.
As soon as he heard the shouts, Archer pulled the trigger on his crossbow. The bolt hit the far wall in an instant, sticking fast as it imbedded itself in the wooden paneling. Nothing happened at first and for a moment Emma was beyond furious that she'd gotten shot over nothing. Before she had the chance to yell at him though, his plan was put into motion.
The back end of the bolt popped open, and a long thin cable shot out towards the group of splicers as though it had a mind of its own. It snapped tight as it connected with the quickly growing puddle around their feet. In an instant, the sounds of annoyance quickly turned to strangled screams as high-voltage jolts of electricity raced down the cord and through the water they were standing in.
"Come on! We gotta move now!" Archer shouted, grabbing her by her arm that was holding the gun and pulling her to her feet. This time she didn't argue.
The splicers, caught off guard by the unexpected attack, didn't realize they were fleeing until they were already halfway to the exit. As soon as they saw their foes escaping though, the mob started shooting at their exposed backs. Thankfully for the pair, most of the attempts were done in haste and didn't land anywhere near their intended targets.
If you hear the shots, they've already missed you. It was a cold comfort, but it served to remind her that she needed to move faster. Ignoring the flaring pain building up in her injury, she pushed forwards until she was the one dragging Archer instead of the other way around.
Another bullet grazed Emma's thigh but she hardly felt the burning sting. All that mattered was getting past the bulkhead door. A sense of impending danger prompted her to shove Archer to the side before diving the other way. No more than a second later, a massive chunk of twisted metal slammed into the ground right where the two of them had just been. She didn't need to look in order to know that the Brute was gearing up for another throw.
She fired a quick spray back across the room, sending a couple of the less brazen splicers running for cover. None of the shots hit anybody, but they bought the two colonists precious seconds as they resumed their headlong sprint.
Five yards.
The floorboards beneath their feet creaked in protest as they ran.
Four yards.
Archer grunted in pain as a blast from Incinerate skimmed across his left leg, igniting his pants for a brief moment before being put out by his rapid movement.
Three yards.
The hole in her side was screaming at her now, causing each step to feel like she'd been shot again.
Two yards.
Behind them, the splicers abandoned their cover and charged forwards. The few remaining Houdini's broke and fled rather than try to hold them back.
One yard.
The two of them crashed into the bulkhead, not bothering to slow down as they threw the barrier open and ran through. Emma turned to close it only to have another bullet tear off part of her earlobe. She instinctively released her hold on the door and clasped one hand to the injury, but Archer managed to close it himself before anything else could get through.
Adrenaline still rushing through her system, she stumbled to her feet and made to grab him. Much to her frustration, he shook her hand off and reloaded his crossbow.
"What the hell are you doing?" Emma demanded. "We need to keep moving! A door isn't going to keep them back for very long and we don't have a way to lock it!"
He responded with his ever infuriating carefree grin before firing his weapon into the roof of the hallway. The bolt stuck fast before shooting out another cable which latched onto the bulkhead doorway.
"Who needs a lock?"
He repeated the process three more times as Emma watched him dumbfounded.
"That ought to do the trick." He commented, carefully stepping past the web of electrified wires. "They'll be in for one heck of a shock if they try to open that door now."
All the respect he'd earned from her due to his quick thinking vanished in an instant.
"That was the worst pun… I have ever heard... ever."
"Hey, I saw my opportunity and I took it." Archer retorted. "I thought you were too messed up to have the energy to complain about it."
"Let's just keep moving." Emma said with a small groan. "Oh, and you might want to finish extinguishing your leg."
He brushed the last few embers off his pants with a disinterested wave of his hands. A witty remark was halfway out of his throat when he saw movement at the other end of the room they had found themselves in.
His sarcastic demeanor vanished in an instant.
It was only a glimpse, but there was no mistaking what he'd seen. A brief image of a scarred body entering a side corridor. All thought of regrouping with Tomas disappeared. Archer no longer even registered Emma's presence.
It was him.
The man who'd been part of the attack on Pauper's Drop, the man who took Joseph from him, was here. Without stopping to think about the consequences of what he was doing, Archer shot off the spot after his hated target.
"Wait! Where are you going!?" Emma shouted behind him. She made to go after him, but the wounds she'd suffered prevented her from taking more than a few steps. Now that the immediate danger was past, she couldn't ignore them anymore.
"Damn it Archer! Come back here!"
Her demands fell on deaf ears as the young man rounded the corner and went out of sight. She let out a cry of frustration. With a massive amount of effort, she managed to move forward by leaning against the wall for support.
Pushing forwards at a painfully slow pace, Emma went after him.
Tomas couldn't help but shake his head at the splicers assaulting their position. Disorganized, uncooperative, poorly directed, and predictable. They fought as individuals instead of as a unit, choosing to try taking on everything by themselves. Had they been his troops, he'd have beaten some discipline into the lot of them a long time ago.
As it was, they made for decent target practice.
He and the four colonists that had come across with Tenenbaum were situated behind a makeshift barrier in the center of a large cafeteria style area. Their guns had kept firing in overlapping volleys, keeping Hawthorn's rabble pinned down while the Spiders and Houdinis harassed their flanks. They'd only lost a single overeager Spider so far.
Stanley was there with them, situated at the back of the group. Against his better judgment, Tomas had given him a heavy wrench so that he might defend himself in the unlikely event that their position was overrun. As it was, they didn't seem to be in any danger of that so long as their ammunition reserves held out.
Loading some extra slugs into his shotgun, Tomas noticed that his radio was buzzing. At a time like this that would probably only be one person.
"Kinda busy at the moment. You need something doc?" He asked, holding the device up with one hand as he finished loading with the other.
"I'm headed towards Cohen's quarters. Be ready to take your group back to the train station. One I've got the codes we won't be remaining here for very long and I suspect our exit won't be a smooth one."
He turned his focus back to the defenses as one woman armed with a large knife miraculously made it through the storm of gunfire. She charged the fortifications screaming wildly, only to be stopped short as Tomas's shot burst through her chest cavity. Her dead body's momentum carried it forwards, smacking heavily into the side of their barrier.
"Roger that." He said over the radio. "We'll move out as soon as you give the word."
The knowledge that she was closing in on their goal gave Tomas a strong boost in confidence. The others picked up on his newly reinvigorated atmosphere and subconsciously began to fight harder as well. More and more of the attackers fell under their focused defenses.
The surviving splicers soon realized that muscling their way forwards wasn't going to work, and dug in wherever they could manage. Compared to the earlier chaos, the sound of a few shots being fired back and forth was unusually quiet.
Tomas once more ducked down behind cover as the radio began buzzing again.
"I have them. Get out of there as soon as you can and head to the train station. I'll be meeting you there shortly."
A grin broke out on his face as Tenenbaum told him the news. It was just about the sweetest thing he'd heard in a very long time.
"Glad to hear it." He said, peeking over his cover to get a better tally on both Hawthorn's and Cohen's forces. "I'll spread the word and see you there."
"Yes. Good. Be sure to-"
Suddenly her voice cut off. There was the sound of a gasp and movement on her side.
"Doc? You all right up there?" He asked, his earlier sense of triumph giving way to concern. If she got caught rummaging through that psycho's personal belongings…
"Someone is coming. I'll do what I can to deal with them, but I may need aid."
His grip on the shotgun tightened considerably as his mouth fixed itself in a firm line. They'd come too far and he'd be damned before he let someone stop them now.
"On my way." He assured. "Hold tight and I'll be there."
Returning the radio to his side, Tomas turned to the other survivors. They all looked to him expectantly having understood that something big was happening over on Tenenbaum's end.
"All right boys and girls, time to blow this place." He remarked, meeting each of their eyes in turn. Even Stanley had a determined expression, though that might just have been in the interest of his own survival. "The doctor needs help and we sure as hell aren't waiting around here while she fends for herself. On my word we break for the exits. Shoot anyone who tries to stop us, be it Hawthorn or Cohen's boys. You ready?"
A chorus of affirmations echoed back to him.
"Give 'em hell!"
With a collective cry, the colonists stood up and began pouring fire into the entrenched splicers on the other side of the room. The sudden burst of aggression caught them by surprise, leaving more than a few falling under sheer weight of fire. As luck would have it, the Houdinis and Spiders misinterpreted the actions as their signal to mount another charge. They hit Hawthorn's forces head on, thoroughly tying up both sides in pitched combat.
"Move out! Don't give them a chance to regroup!"
At Tomas's order, the colonists stopped firing and began running to the exits. There were three main ways out of the room with one minor side corridor that may have led to another. The sudden lack of support left Cohen's troops in a state of confusion that the other splicers exploited to start pushing back hard.
Tomas remained near the fortifications, gunning down anyone who looked like they might try to take advantage of his allies turning their backs. His shotgun slugs, much better suited to mid-range combat than the buckshot, roared their own battle cries as they were launched from his weapon.
Deciding that he'd spent as much time covering their retreat as he could, Tomas turned to run after his colonists. He'd only taken a single step when a sudden deafening creaking noise filled the whole room.
The rumbling, like the waking bellows of some terrible monstrosity, poured forth from the opening that Hawthorn's forces had used to get inside. All fighting ground to a halt as the inhabitants of the city stood transfixed by a mutual horror at the sound they knew all too well.
"Keep moving!" Tomas's shouted command broke the colonists out of their daze, causing them to resume their flight with an even greater sense of urgency. Behind them, the assorted splicers followed their example and began running in terror.
They didn't make it very far.
In the span of a few moments, a massive wave of water exploded through the cavernous opening, sweeping aside the drug addicts with merciless force. Screams of fright and pain were instantly snuffed out before the onslaught.
Tomas was fast, but he was nowhere near as fast as the elements. A brief glance forwards told him with surety that he would never make it to the main exits in time. That left him only one other option. Putting his fate in the hands of Rapture's designers, he sprinted down the side hallway as the hungering waves crashed after him. At its end, like a beacon sent from the heavens, was a bulkhead door.
He practically flew down the corridor, his pounding heart drowned out by the sound of his rapidly approaching end. The heavy blockade was thrown wide open and he darted through, immediately turning to slam it closed once again. As he did, he was greeted by the sight of a wall of water less than a foot away.
The bulkhead closed, sealing away the ocean behind its metal hull. Tomas all but collapsed against the wall as he felt the tiny droplets that had splashed his face. Minuscule licks of a gruesome fate he'd escaped.
He didn't stay that way for long. Tenenbaum was still in danger, and now he wasn't sure where he was. Lifting his radio to the side of his head, he began signaling Davian. If he and Amelia were still holding their position, they would be the closest ones to the doctor.
As the device droned in his ear, Tomas became aware of another noise. Footsteps. Getting closer with each passing second. Turning to see down the path he'd chosen, his insides turned to lead. He hadn't cheated the reaper after all.
With the ocean at his back and only one path forwards, a big sister stood barring his way. This one looked almost nothing like Amelia despite sharing the same type of armor. Her metal boots smacked wetly against the ground, leaving bloody footprints behind with each step. Her suit was caked in gore and a severed leg was held in one hand. Tiny strips of torn flesh clung to some of the more pointed pieces of her metal shell. Amelia had been violent, but this creature was downright murderous.
The thing that stood out the most to him however, was the marking on her hand. The shape of an upside-down L labeled this one as Gamma. It was the same marking he'd seen on the sister they'd fought back in the Farmer's market. Through some cruel twist of fate she'd somehow ended up here. That couldn't have been a coincidence. Something bad was going on, and he had the sinking feeling that it was headed for Tenenbaum.
Davian's voice sounded over the radio, reminding him of what he'd been doing just a moment ago.
"Hello? What's going on? What the heck happened out there?"
She didn't attack. Didn't try to lunge for his throat. He was trapped and both of them knew it. Whether out of some sense of mercy, or just the toying of a cat that'd cornered a mouse, she was allowing him to finish his conversation.
"Davian." Tomas's voice didn't waver despite his dire situation. "There isn't much time to explain. You need to find the doctor, she's in danger. The last time she radioed in was when she was breaking into Sander Cohen's room. Get there right away. I'd meet you there but…"
His eyes flicked to the waiting killer.
"…I've got something holding me up at the moment."
"Where are you? Just tell us where you are, we'll be there right away!"
Normally it would have been nice to hear that kind of concern, but at this moment it was more of a liability than an asset.
"Listen to me kid." Tomas ordered. "I'm staring death in the face, and its staring back. Right now, all that matters is getting Tenenbaum and those codes. If she dies then everything we've been doing will all be for nothing. You need to find her and get her out of here. There are too many lives on the line to fail. You understand that?"
"Y-Yea. I understand… We'll get it done…"
"Good."
Turning the device off once more, he returned his attention to the big sister in his way. It was strange but he felt an odd sort of calm. Things were out of his hands now. So long as they made it to the surface, he was content even if he never got there himself.
"Sorry about the delay." He said, returning the radio to his hip and bringing up his shotgun. "I had to take that call."
Gamma growled in anticipation, getting into a low stance. She'd been waiting for him to finish so that he'd actually put up a fight. There was no fun in killing something that didn't struggle.
It's up to you lot now. He thought silently, leveling his weapon at the armored banshee. Don't let us down.
With the big sister's earsplitting scream, the attack began. She struck, he fired, and another life was ended in the drowning city.