7
Hephaestus
"You would think with all these 'geniuses' paradin' through Rapture, we'd be swimmin' in Plasmid variety." On the Accu-Vox that Jack had been listening to, Frank Fontaine loudly dropped something with significant weight, and then proceeded to rifle through some papers. Jack assumed it was a folder of papers that he dropped. "I could come up with better Plasmid ideas before breakfast. 'Seeing is Believing'? 'Feline Grace'? 'Instant Oxygen'? These aren't ideas for Plasmids, they're titles ripped straight outta some fairytale…" Frank let out an irritable sigh, and then it sounded like he flipped another page. "'Regenerate'?" He sounded intrigued, pausing, as if to read. "… 'Grow back limbs, skin, bone, and organs in a matter of minutes'… That's not as half-baked as the other ideas. And, in a time like this, a time of war, that's somethin' we can use. Just add a little more… 'appeal' factor to it. A little hair growth here, a little wrinkle reduction there, and we're golden."
Jack scoffed at the recorder. Fontaine must have cancelled the production of that Plasmid, as Jack hasn't seen it. He couldn't help but wonder what the side effects of that Plasmid were. Probably too much hair growth, or teeth regenerating before they fall out… He flinched when he heard a woman speak in the other room of the Workshops, breaking into his scary thoughts. Jack slowly inched the crawlspace door open. It was a small crawlspace, just large enough for him to lean against the wall, but he had to set his feet up on the wall adjacent.
Outside the crawlspace, however, there was a young girl peering at a locked safe. "Gee, what a neat box…" She chimed, crouching in front of it and running her hand across the surface. "Who's the Santa Clause, I wonder? I don't see no tag…" Jack watched in amusement as the young lady in a torn, beaded dress daintily placed her fingers on the dial before she pressed her ear against its door. She screwed up her mouth, turned the dial a few times, and jumped up in delight when the lock clicked, and the door gently swung open.
Kicking the crawlspace door open the rest of the way, Jack pulled his pistol out and aimed it at the girl's head, deftly, and unceremoniously, pulling the trigger as he squeezed out of his little hideout. The girl fell onto the safe, and then slowly slid onto the floor. Tucking the pistol into his waistband, Jack casually pushed the girl out of the way, and then opened the safe the rest of the completely, claiming its inner prizes. There was a slight pang of guilt as he glanced at the girl, but it passed quickly when he noted the Tommy gun that she had propped against the wall while she investigated the safe.
She was bound to try and kill him anyways. That was the reasoning that Jack gave himself. Besides… the people of Rapture aren't who they used to be. They're shadows of their former selves, crazed patients in an experiment, each one as eager as the other to get their teeth of EVE's tasty tit.
"Jack?"
The Ryan paused while he was checking out Tommy gun, wondering if it was worth taking. He glanced around the dark room with rusted walls. It took him a few moments to realize it was Holly on the Service Radio. "Jack, are you still there? Or did he take your radio?"
Propping the Tommy gun against his shoulder, Jack pulled the radio off his belt. "No, I'm still here."
"Where are you?" When she spoke, she sounded slightly disheveled, angry, and tired. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Just worry about yourself. This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, though, kid. We both became targets, and now we're doing chores for some psychopath…" He started out of the room, heading out of the Workshop. He needed to get to Ryan's office. "I'm heading to the Central Control now. Where are you, kid? Any ideas?"
"Point Prometheus. I'm in one of the Little Wonders' rooms. Not sure which room, though..."
"That's rather far. Think you can make it here in time to give me a hand?"
"I don't think I'll even be able to make it out of Little Wonders, Jack." Holly's voice sounded muffled, as if she had rubbed her face while speaking. "Coleman's got me caged in here like a little songbird. I feel like one, too, with the way they just 'view' me, and how Coleman was…" She trailed off, mumbling her words. Quickly, she cleared her throat. "Anyways, there are Splicer's guarding my room, a camera in my roo, and the ceiling is a foot thick plating of door-on-door patchwork melding. If I try to get out, it could end badly."
"Sounds like he plans on keeping you there for a while, yet." Jack frowned. He wondered why Coleman chose to separate the two of them. They would have been able to find the ingredients that he needed much faster if they were together.
"Yeah, it does… But I don't plan on staying here for that long." Holly stated stubbornly, keeping her voice low. "I'll try to get away, when I get a chance. It won't be easy."
"Don't do anything stupid, junior." Jack warned. "We need to get to Sapphire in one piece, alright? So don't get all excited the next time you see an opening. If you do something, do it carefully." When she didn't respond, Jack sighed. "Remember what you said about being able to take care of yourself? I need you to do that right now. Don't hurt yourself, and don't get yourself killed. Just wait a little longer until I get what Coleman needs, and then we can go."
"But if I have to stay here any longer, I'm going to go crazy…" Holly hissed. "I've got no windows, nothing to do, and the only visitor I get is Coleman…" She seemed to hesitate before saying "… He's in danger of being gutted like a fish by yours truly…"
"And yours," Jack agreed solemnly, walking brusquely into the grandiose entrance that led to the Rapture Central Control and Andrew Ryan's Office. He paused just before going up the steps to the office. Bill McDonagh's body, now a pile of bones and clothing on the floor, lay under a harpoon that was stuck into the wall. Jack stared at the pile unsurely. He's looted dead bodies before… but it was only the people he had to kill. They attacked him. And, frankly, from what Jack new of Bill McDonagh, this man didn't deserve to have his items plundered.
At the same time, this man deserved a proper burial – He literally took his life for his wife and daughter's freedom. Jack had to remember to constantly remind himself of that. Timidly, he started searching for the ring. It had to have fallen to the ground when the man's body started decaying. The problem was where did it fall? It could have fallen and bounced or rolled away. It could have gotten lost down any number of the cracks and openings on the floor in the room. Hell, it could even be in his apartment, or in a safe, or picked up by some Splicer who enjoys shiny things. Jack just had to hope it was still in the room.
"Jack?" Holly's voice called quietly. She seemed distant, like the radio was held far away from her. "Are you still there?"
Jack set the radio on the floor. "Yeah…" He answered distractedly as he gently moved old bones. Knowing that Elaine McDonagh asked for him to do this didn't make it any less guilting.
"Have… ou run in.. o any… ouble… ?"
"Nothing I can't handle. Holly, you're transmission is breaking up. Are you OK?"
"… at? Someth… s interfe… wi… the… connectio… ack?... ou… ere?" Static muffled Holly's words until the radio was emitting just that.
"Damn…" Jack hissed. He glared at the Service Radio as he picked up Bill's shoes. He knew exactly what the interference meant. He was about to get a metaphorical visit from someone who hated him.
Quickly, Jack shook out the shoes. He was desperate to find the ring before getting into the safety of Andrew Ryan's office. If something was going to attack him, he wanted to have a smaller environment to fight them in – Keeping the upper hand was always important in Rapture.
Nothing fell out of the loafers, other than some old bits of unidentified scraps. Something did, however, urge him to check underneath the padding of the footwear. Perhaps, if Bill knew he was going to die, he'd want to keep his ring protected.
Hurriedly, Jack clutched the thin, foam cushion, pulling it from the sole of the shoe. Lo and behold, the ring sat right in the heel. Jack breathed out, glad he wasn't going to have to go on a mad search across Rapture for this ring.
Setting the ring in its case, and then returning the case to his pocket, Jack picked up the radio, preparing to talk to the one who interrupted his and Holly's conversation. He had a feeling he knew who it was, though…
The radio crackled as a new feed connected. "Hello, Mr. Ryan." Lady Sapphire's voice emanated from the speaker of the Service Radio, just as Jack expected. He wasn't all too excited. Strangely enough, though, Sapphire sounded tired and exasperated. "I was hoping to speak to you sooner, but I had to wait until our dearest Mr. Coleman was no longer able to listen. The Central Control is the one place it's safe to talk for me… And, assuming Wayne is as stupid as we all believe, perhaps it's safe for you, too."
Jack continued on to the Rapture Central Control, entering the actual Control Room itself. "Telling whispers, are we? What is it you have to threaten me with, this time? And why don't you want Coleman to hear?"
"I actually just wanted to ask a… favor… of you." She replied stiffly, as if she herself was uncomfortable with the mere thought of getting any help from Jack.
Seems like there's a lot of favors going around, as of late... "Yeah?" Jack looked around the room, searching for anything that could tell him where the Sentry controls are. All he saw were the large computers, wires, and screens. Nothing exactly screamed 'Sentry Controls'. "Well, I'm a bit busy with a favor for someone else, actually." He sarcastically drawled, leaning his Tommy gun against a wall by some of the computers. "Can you call again next week?"
"I wouldn't normally ask this of the assassin who's trying to kill me, but I need someone who can get to him without immediately dying. When he gets the chance, Coleman is going to give you the instructions and codes necessary to stop the security in Persephone from attacking him. And, once I've finished talking to you, that's when he will contact you." Sapphire continued, completely waving off Jack's sarcasm. "Coleman… is not a very nice man. He will use you, he will kill you, and then he'll kill me. After he's accomplished that, he and his band of morons will go down to Persephone and slaughter everything they can on their way to Sophia Lamb. She will be tortured, killed, and used as an effigy to warn off the lesser."
"So what are you trying to suggest? What's this favor of yours?" As if Jack couldn't make the leap…
"I want you to kill Wayne." Sapphire stated simply. "He's not as nice as he puts out, Mr. Ryan."
"So you keep saying. What makes you think I'm going to trust the word of the very woman I plan on killing?" Jack asked with a huff of laughter. "Did you really think that I would trust your word? For all I know, you're just trying to knock out some competition. Want me to wait until he kills that Lamb woman before I kill him? That what you want? I'm sure it'd make your life easier, huh?"
"Let me put it in terms you might understand, you buffoon… Either you kill him, or he'll kill you. I once heard a man say 'if you don't draw first, you don't get to draw at all'." She replied with a hint of edge in her voice. "And I can assure you that I will be turning to Coleman with your whereabouts if you manage to slip by him without taking him down."
"Seems a little counter-intuitive, don't it?"
"Possibly. But if you let him live, if you make this hard for me, I will make it even harder for you."
"You haven't already?"
"Oh, no… I've barely even scratched the surface, Mr. Ryan." A smile entered her voice. "You've just arrived – why would I pull out all the party-tricks before the party even picked up?"
"Forget it. Threaten me all you want, but I'm still not doing anything for you."
"Fine…" The sickly-sweet voice was dropped. "I do so hope that you enjoy your short time down here, Mr. Ryan… It's been a pleasure."
"Oh, don't worry," Jack reassured with a hint of anger, "we'll being seeing each other pretty soon."
Sapphire let a gentle trill of laugh out, as if what Jack had said was funny. "I was hoping you'd say that, Mr. Ryan… Until then." The transmission cut, leaving Jack in the silence.
Strange.
That's the only word Jack could pin onto that conversation. It was strange. Sapphire had more resources than anyone in Rapture, other than this Sophia Lamb doctor, and yet the woman was asking someone who was trying to kill her to do her dirty work. Which begs the question… Why? Why can't she get one of her, apparently abundant, Brutes to do it for her? Why can't she send in security bots? Why can't she do it?
That's the obvious question. The not-so-obvious question is why she wants Coleman killed. Evidentially, Coleman doesn't have a whole lot of friends down in Rapture, so it's not entirely shocking to hear that even Sapphire wants to kill him. But she called him Wayne. Perhaps, like everything in Rapture, there is a bit more history between the two than Jack initially thought.
Jack sighed, trying to push it all out of his head. He didn't care. He didn't. Rapture was an endless plethora of secrets, knowledge, and death, and knowing about it didn't make anyone's life easier. To Jack, it was so much easier to move on without knowing a single, goddamn thing about this city.
Breaking the deafening silence, Jack's radio buzzed back to life, startling him. Coleman's voice loudly sprung out of the speakers.
"What the hell have you been doin' with your radio, boy? You need to keep it on an open broadcast so I can keep in touch with you, understand? I won't be left waitin' for you again!" Coleman's angered voice bounced off the walls of the Control Room. He sighed irritably, and then continued. "I've sent you something through the Pneumo Tubes. It's the codes for Persephone's 'bots. Go ahead and get them will you? I've got the steps all ready and written down with me, so hurry back. It may take more than a few minutes..."