2

Medical Pavilion

Jack fired the pistol, not hesitating for her to respond. She was obviously lying about her identity. She couldn't possibly have been any child of Sander Cohen's. There was just no chance of that being true. She must have had an ulterior motive, and Jack didn't want to find out what it was. But, to Jack's surprise, Holly 'Cohen' disappeared, seemingly engulfed by the dark shadows that surrounded her. The next thing he knew, he heard her voice behind him. "Cool it, grandstand, I'm just trying to help!"

Jack whipped around to face her, but was pushed a few feet back by what looked like a cloud of shadows. He caught his balance and looked at her in awe. This must be one of the new Plasmids that the woman on the screen referenced to. But where did she get the technology to make it? "What the hell…?" Jack breathed as faint shadows rippled underneath Holly's skin and dissipated.

The girl held up a hand, as if to tell him to wait, and reached into one of her pouches. She looked up and retrieved a needle full of red liquid, holding it out to him. "Here," she took a step forward, "that guy smashed the back of your head up something awful, and that big guy didn't help any."

At the mention of the wounds, the pain doubled. His head throbbed, and his entire torso felt like a magician's dagger chest. Eying the girl suspiciously, he reluctantly held his hand out and, with the Telekinesis, took the ADAM Hypo from her, injecting it quickly into his vein. He didn't plan on getting too close to her, and, in fact, took several steps back - he then trained the gun on her again, tossing the needle to the floor. "Get back," he ordered, nudging the pistol at her, gesturing for her to move. "I don't know who you really are - frankly, I don't care – but I know you're no daughter of Sander Cohen. And I don't want anything to have to do with you."

"I'm not here to hurt you," she held her hands up defensively. "Why would I help you just to end up trying to kill you?"

"It's not out of the question – it's happened before."

Holly stood still, unmoving, hands up. She didn't react for a while, as though she didn't really know how to respond. She swallowed thickly, eyes flicking to the television. Hands still held up, she pointed to the screen. "Have you met her, yet?"

Jack didn't lower the gun. "Who?" He demanded. They were making small talk, now?

"Lady Sapphire."

"That broad on the television?" Holly nodded and Jack scoffed. "Unfortunately. Threatened to kill me – and then proceeded in trying to."

Holly took a step closer, but Jack nudged the nose of the gun at her, warning her to stay back. "I'm not going to attack." She said quickly.

"Then what the hell do you want from me?"

"I just want to know if I can help you."

Jack's brows twitched together, and he narrowed his eyes warily. "What?"

"You're not back in Rapture on vacation. You're here to stop Sapphire. I want to help."

"Absolutely not. I work alone – and definitely not with kids."

"I work alone, too." She argued quietly. Her dark green eyes glinted. "My father told me about you. You were underestimated and misunderstood, just like him." Jack almost laughed at being compared to Sander Cohen. Apples to oranges. "He did come to trust you… uh, more than he did before, at least. Not only did you help him with his quadtych, but you spared his life." She licked her lips and leaned forward a little bit. "Sapphire killed him. She saw him as a threat to her new… society… and just shot him."

"Why are you whispering?" Jack asked, trying to ignore the fact that Holly said this Sapphire woman killed Sander Cohen. He didn't argue, though. The girl had a strange Plasmid, and he didn't ever want to know what it could do to a person when she was angry.

"She can hear and see almost everything in this part of Rapture. She monitors it all." She lowered her voice even more. "… I want her dead. She owes me for what she did to my family. And it's time for all debts to be repaid in full. Just… let me help you. I have information that could be of use."

"No," Jack answered immediately. Uncertainly, he holstered the gun, tucking it into his waistband. It didn't seem like she was actually going to attack. Still, Jack kept on his toes. "I told you: I work alone. I'm not babysitting some kid, taking them on a trip through Rapture. It's not safe for you, and it makes me a target more so than I already am." He walked away from her, trying to end their conversation.

"But I can take care of myself!" Holly protested, lowering her hands, letting them drop to her sides. To Jack's displeasure, Holly followed alongside him as he walked. "I've survived this long, haven't I? Please, just let me help!"

Annoyed, Jack ignored her, beginning to check the Splicers who attacked him. He made a point of angrily rolling a body over, trying to get her to understand that he didn't want to talk to her anymore. But this kid wasn't giving up. "I'm not one of those Little Sisters. I don't need you to protect me."

"Listen—kid…" Jack stopped his rummaging, turning to face Holly angrily. "I don't care if you can protect yourself. I work alone. Other people just slow me down. If you start following me around, things are going to start moving slowly. My goal is to be in and out of here as fast as possible, not to draw this out, helping you when you need it, or to go sightseeing with you. I don't like detours. With you along, they're twice as prone to happen."

"No, you listen to me, Mister Ryan…" She lifted her chin indignantly. "I can assure you that, with me along, detours are less likely to happen. You forget that I grew up down here. I should be better at avoiding said 'detours' than even you." She put her hands on her hips stubbornly. "Besides, I have more information than you do about the things you need. If you want it, then you need to let me join you, 'cause I'm not giving out a word of advice otherwise."

He glared at her, sizing her up. She couldn't have been more than fifteen or sixteen, yet she was ready to risk her life to end another. Such is life in Rapture, Jack grimly surmised. "What kind of information?" He growled roughly. He was, admittedly, slightly intrigued as to what she could know that Jack may not.

"I know where she is – and I know that's something you need. Right now, you might as well be a lost tourist down here."

Jack looked at her with suspicious eyes. "How would you know where she is?"

"Well…" Holly glanced at the shadows that briefly ran up her arm. "… I… stole a Plasmid from her. The Shadow Dancer Plasmid. I'd heard about it on an Accu-Vox and... decided to sneak into her lab to get it."

"You just… managed to sneak in? And weren't noticed at all?"

"The security for the place wasn't airtight. I managed to get in – so did others. But she stopped it fairly quick. New 'guards.' She actually used to be there to guard the place herself, but moved her own placement to another location for the sake of safety. She was attacked. Everyone got to hear about it over the city-wide broadcast. She was right pissed. But I know exactly where she is now."

"Do you expect me to just trust you?" She wasn't exactly teeming with a trustworthy aura. He kept a close eye on her, suspicious of every movement she made. The last thing Jack needed was a kid pulling a grift on him.

"No… Can you really afford not to if I'm telling the truth?" When Jack didn't respond, she shrugged at him. "You can trust me about as much as any Splicer down here, but there's a better chance with me. I can still tell the difference between reality and my imagination." With a smirk, she added: "Besides… if you don't let me join you, I'll just follow you around like a lost puppy."

"And what would that accomplish on your part?"

"It would annoy you."

"I've been followed around by more annoying company…" Jack scoffed. It may not have been a physical presence, but Frank Fontaine's Atlas persona sure did follow him around everywhere - everywhere.

"I'll cause trouble for you," She promptly stated, as if it were a split-second thought. "I'll make sure you take a long time to get to Sapphire. It doesn't matter to me how long it takes you to get there." She raised an eyebrow. "Don't make this harder for yourself, Mister Ryan."

"I won't. Apparently, I have other people to do that for me."

"Of course, I can make it easier," She crookedly smiled. "I'm a valuable guide, decent enough in a fight, and not that bad of company, if I do say so myself…"

"That last part is debatable…" Jack huffed under his breath.

"Just gotta get to know me, is all…" He turned back to the corpses as Holly spoke, checking the rest of their pockets for anything of use. "And vice versa. For all I know, my father didn't know you well at all. You could be the complete opposite of what he told me. You could be a disgusting monster who's only back in Rapture to claim it for himself. I don't know. That's because I haven't gotten to actually talk to you until now."

While looting, Jack mulled it over. He had been approached by a young woman who claimed to be fighting for the same thing as Jack, which was Sapphire's ultimate downfall. He could, of course, accept her offer of help and move on, letting the pieces fall where they may… or he could deny her offer, and risk losing possibly the only person in Rapture who was willing enough to give him information he needed to get to this 'Lady Sapphire' woman. Either way, it's not going to be an easy task to get done what he wants to do.

With a great deal of reluctance, he turned to the girl. She was watching him expectantly, a hint of smugness in her expression when she saw the capitulation in his. "Alright, listen carefully: The very moment you're behind the grind, you're gone, understand? I'm not your babysitter, and you're not my charge. I need to be done here as fast as possible with as little blood on my hands as I can manage. There are people on the surface who depend on me – I have a family. I can't be stuck down here." He growled in an authoritative tone, making sure they kept eye-contact the entire time that he spoke. "And let's get one thing straight, kid: If I see any funny business from you, or you screw me over, I will shoot you – No questions asked. I've killed far greater people than you before. I don't know you. Your death bears no weight on my conscious. So, what you're going to do is get me to Sapphire. We're going to stop her. We're going to part ways. Got it?"

Holly grinned, obviously delighted. "Sounds like a deal, Mister Ryan."