10
Research Laboratories, Arcadia
The stained window read Dr. Julie Langford, BOTANIST in large, white, printed letters, sandwiched between two simple cursive designs.
The dark green gas that stained the window had faded slightly over the years, leaving spots here and there that were actually opaque. But it still made it near impossible to see through. Jack could barely make out some sort of plant life that was pressed up against the glass. And, outside the office, there was reason to suspect that the room hadn't been entered in a long while; Jack could see a thin layer of dust on the floor before the door. It even hung in the air, tickling his nose.
As uninviting as the room appeared, this is where the nitrocellulose and ketone were, if they were anywhere. Jack needed the supplies to get Holly out of Coleman's little cage so they could move on. They've already wasted enough time because of Coleman and his hatchet men, and Jack was becoming increasingly frustrated with their lack of progress. He had specifically said that he wanted to be in and out of Rapture as quickly as it was possible, yet he was still hanging around, helping some criminal and his goons.
It recurred to him that Coleman was blackmailing Jack, sending a small flame of anger flickering in his chest. There was nothing Jack could do nothing about it – not if he wanted Holly back in one piece. Coleman was watching him, which meant he would know if Jack moved off course. If Jack headed towards Coleman before the southern man got what he wanted, it was Holly who could pay the consequences. And Holly was Jack's only way to Sapphire. Besides that, Jack would feel some amount of... remorse, or... guilt... if Holly were to die without reason because of Jack. At the same time, Jack did warn her that something like this might happen, yet she willingly followed him anyways.
Jack cleared his mind of the thoughts with a simple shake of the head. Now was not the time to be getting lost in thought...
Cautiously, Jack entered the room, mentally and physically preparing himself for what may have been to come. He pulled out the pistol, holding it ready as he prepared to enter the office.
To his surprise, the door had a slight issue with opening. It slid reluctantly up into the ceiling, creating the sound of snapping twigs. When Jack looked into the room, he saw why.
A healthy mixture of the Lazarus Vector and time had done quite a number to the park, but a surprisingly good job on Julie Langford's office, too.
Arcadia had claimed this room as its own. Vines and small plants grew all across the walls and parts of the ceiling. It had, of course, reclaimed bits of the Research Laboratories, but not nearly as bad as it had the main office. The potted plants that were on Langford's desk had overgrown, spilling onto the floor. The glass in front of the controls to the Arcadia Irrigation System had been shattered and penetrated by vines, and even by several branches from the neighboring trees. But possibly the most unnerving for Jack was Julie Langford herself.
Her long-dead corpse, along with that of two Splicers, lay on the floor. She had, of course, decayed long ago. Plants had grown from her now-skeletonized remains. It was hard to tell it was her, however, because the amount of plants creeping out of her was enough to practically hide her entirely. The only part of Julie Langford's remains that showed were the ruined white pumps she had worn, out of which her bony toes had fallen. The teal-and-white dress she had been wearing when she died was torn, stained, and almost unidentifiable. The Splicer's corpses were much the same. They were slightly more overgrown, as they were closer together, and next to the shattered window.
"Kid," Coleman called from the radio at Jack's hip, "you found your way into that woman's office alright?"
Jack glanced around the office. "I found my way, alright." He slipped his pistol back into his waistband, setting his hands on his hips. "But this place is a mess. I don't know how you expect me to find anything in here."
"The place may be a fubar, my boy, but Langford was a predictably unpredictable broad."
"You must be taking lessons in vague statements from those twins…" Jack muttered, shaking his head.
"Those who?" Coleman paused, decided it wasn't worth perusing, and then continued on a different tangent. "Anyways, kid, let me know if you need anythin'."
"It's just that easy, is it? In that case, I'd like Holly back, if it's not too much trouble…"
Coleman let out a chuff of laughter. "I was thinkin' somethin' more along the lines of ammunition, or an extra set off hands. Hell, if you wanted a lil' music I could go dust off the record player and—"
"I think you've done quite enough as is, Coleman."
A short gap of silence. And then Coleman, sounding more amused than concerned, asked "This about my little agreement with you?"
"'Agreement'? Try threat."
"Why, my good man!" Coleman faked sounding insulted. "I ain't threatenin' you. It's a business agreement!" He waited for a response, and continued when Jack remained incredulously silent. "Sport, I'm just ensurin' that my business doesn't go bunko. You got a bad track record for cleanin' the bigger fish's gills, and I ain't just about to let myself get blindsided when Lady Blue or Doctor Lamb come swimmin' by. I won't say a word to that girl of yours unless you do somethin' stupid. The option's only there as a failsafe. I absolutely promise that you'll be free to go once you bring back what I asked for. I'm a man of my word, boy. You can count on that."
"You'd better be, Coleman. Otherwise, you'll have more to worry about from me than a blindside."
"Just keep your side of the agreement, and I'll keep mine. Once this all boils off, we can start over. We'll be one big, happy family. And who knows? Maybe you and I might be friends some day after everything is said and done." Coleman laughed again as though it were a classic joke. "I'll leave you to it, kid. Find those supplies and get back here on the double, yeah?"
The radio fell silent, finally leaving Jack to his thoughts. Again, he looked around the room, wondering where to start.
When he had glanced around the room, he had noticed something hanging from the nearby tree. He walked over to the shattered window, leaning over the Arcadia Irrigation System Controls to look out at the tree. It was an Accu-Vox. It had been hung precariously on one of the tree's branches, as if someone tossed it up in the air and it got stuck on the branch.
Jack reached out and, with the Telekinesis Plasmid, plucked it off the tree branch. It was pulled towards him, and he grabbed it from the air, stepping back into the middle of the office. He set it on the table in the middle of the room, though there wasn't a whole lot of room with all the overgrown plants. He hit 'play'. While it relayed its message, Jack searched the room for the ketone and nitrocellulose.
"Working at Fontaine Futuristics has been nothing short of fulfilling, and I've learned much from my colleagues, but… Well, I just can't stop thinking about what it is, exactly, that we do, here." It was Lady Sapphire's recording. She sounded slightly younger, and she spoke as if she didn't want anyone to hear her. "Plasmids are some… revolutionary new scientific breakthrough. A new step towards the 'perfection' of mankind, as some like to put it. People look at Plasmids like they're a godsend, talking about them with a sort of reverence. They're almost too good to be true, really." Sapphire spoke quietly in the Accu-Vox. "Sure, humans can remove an abnormality, tighten their skin, and even change their sex, but that can require years of continual surgery. With Plasmids, we have the ability to change the person's looks, build, gender, genes… Anything and everything. Not even the Gods can do that." She paused, and then added: "So… what does that make us?" The message ended.
Jack laughed softly to himself as he rummaged through one of the desks. No wonder she was whispering. If Andrew Ryan caught wind of her thoughts she might have gotten something of a slap on the wrist.
From the mailbag slung over his shoulders, Jack pulled out one of the sample bottles that Coleman had sent to him. Most of the bottles in Langford's office were stained with the same green gas as the windows, making it difficult to figure out which bottle was which.
In his search, Jack found a glass display dome. It was fairly small, only housing one flower. He had to clean it off on his slacks before being able to properly see it. It was a quaintly circular, blue flower, but, when the light hit it, it turned a soothingly dark purple. Its stamens were a jarring white against the darkness of the petals. The stem and the oval leaves were an even darker blue and purple than the petals. It was a pretty little plant, almost comforting. The sticker label on the glass of the display read 'Hellebores x Hybridus Metallic Blue Lady Lenten Rose.' Some parts of the sticker were completely stained with the gas, but Jack was able to read some of the rose's information.
"'Perennial. Smooth textured. Poisonous if ingested'…" Letting out a grunt of laughter, Jack set the display down. He wished Holly was there. She would have gotten a kick out the little flower, that's for sure.
Ignoring the rest of the plants in display cases, Jack searched the rest of the office. Again, his mind wandered, despite how hard he tried to focus.
He was concerned for Holly. She hadn't tried to contact him again since they last spoke, after being split up. The silence could mean a few things... Coleman could have knocked her out again, he figured. Holly was a kid, after all. Her verbal filters had yet to kick in. It's entirely possible that she rode Coleman's nerves to raw. There was also a chance Coleman took her radio away. Or maybe he really did tell Holly about who truly killed Sander Cohen? She could be furious at Jack. She would have the right to be. She might even have the right to kill him. But Jack simply wouldn't be able to let that happen. Not with Sapphire still kicking around. If Coleman really did tell Holly, Jack might have to, unfortunately, kill her.
His thoughts suddenly went to Elaine and Sophie McDonagh. Had they not left, would Sophie have turned out the same as Holly? Would Sophie want revenge against Andrew Ryan? Jack shook his head sadly. No… She wouldn't have turned out like Holly. Sophie would have been turned into a Little Sister. With her father gone, Sophie would be much easier to steal… because Elaine would be dead. There's no way Andrew Ryan would keep her alive. Not with the things she knew.
While his train of thought quickly moved on from one thing to the next, Jack opened the large cabinet in the back of the office. There were plenty of folders filled with papers, probably research and plant archives, but no supplies.
Frustrated, Jack shoved one of the piles of papers. As one of the folders tipped over and fell on him, Jack noted that he heard a hollow sound in the back of the cabinet. He rubbed the shoulder that the pile of papers hit, not really feeling the pain. He was staring at the back of the cabinet with suspicious eyes. He reached into the cabinet, knocking on the backing again.
"Oh, Langford..." He hissed as he glanced around for a stool to step on. "Always gotta make things difficult, huh?"
Once he was able to properly see into the cabinet, he started taking out the files and papers, loudly tossing them to the floor. Behind all the papers and the clutter, behind the shelves themselves, there was a door – a regular, old door. One with a handle, though the actual handle seemed to be missing. The door seemed to have the backing to the cabinet stuck to it, camouflaging it from thieves.
The door opened towards Jack, so it wasn't going to be easy to break down. So, instead, he grabbed one of the trowels off the nearby desk, and started hacking at the door.
The gap Jack made in the door was finally big enough to just barely fit through. He took off his mailbag, setting it just inside the room so that he was thin enough to get through the door. The wood snagged on his clothes, but he got through relatively fine. Inside the room was dark, and the light from the office barely did anything to help. He thought about using Incinerate! to light up the room, but didn't know what was stored in there. If it was anything that was highly flammable, he'd be caught in the midst of a large fireball.
Jack searched the room for a light, finally finding it in the middle of the room, its cord hanging down to eye level. When he pulled the cord, turning on the light, he looked around the room. He whistled. "Would you look at that…" He took inventory of the small room.
The walls of the room were lined with metal bookshelves. Jars, bins, bottles, and totes were all shelved in this room, seemingly filled with different kinds of chemicals and resources that Langford may have used from time to time. On one of the totes, there was an Accu-Vox. Jack picked it up and played it.
"Those damn Saturnine keep breaking in to my office. Just last week, a group of them stole a tray of the purple Calla Lilies I wanted to plant… What for, I haven't the slightest idea. I'm tired of all these resources being snatched out of my damn office. It seems Ryan's assistance won't be as immediate as I'd hoped." Julie Langford's sharp voice angrily complained. "So I've had the small adjoining room in my office converted into a storage unit. I'll have to keep all my more important supplies in there. Otherwise, Splicers will steal them. And those supplies are already expensive as it is! I think I need to speak to Ryan again about better security in the Research Laboratories, because this is ridiculous… and highly inconvenient. I have to clear out my entire cabinet to get to these supplies – I've even hidden the doorknob to the room. Hopefully, that's enough to keep unwanted 'visitors' out of my supplies. At least, until Ryan decides to sort out this pagan issue."
"I'm sure that conversation ended well for you," Jack commented dryly, setting the recorder down. Andrew Ryan probably told her that she'd have to be able to defend her business if she wanted it to thrive, or something like that.
Abandoning that thought, Jack moved on to the shelves, looking for the Ketone and Nitrocellulose. He searched each shelf carefully, looking for the right bottle, the right label, the right color, texture, fluid dynamics… When he moved on to the next shelf, still looking for the right ingredients, he started to feel a mixture of worry and annoyance. And then he moved on to the next shelf… He carefully opened each tote, looking through the cases of grouped chemicals, powders, and small notebooks.
When he had to search the last shelf, he started to feel a little panicky. If he couldn't find the ketone and nitrocellulose, Coleman would likely try to kill Holly and Jack. Or, worse yet, tell Holly of the murder Jack had committed.
He stopped rifling at the very bottom of a shelf, gazing two separate totes.
Unconsciously, Jack let out a sigh of relief. "'Ketone'… 'Nitrocellulose'." He read the labels once more, aloud, as if to completely verify that this wasn't some sort of hallucination. "Finally…" He got to his feet, pointlessly dusting off his already-dirty slacks. "Just have to get these back to Coleman, and then Holly and I can move on." He carefully placed as many of the ingredients in the mailbag as he could.
As Jack was exiting the small room, he heard his radio crackle. "Kid, have you found what we need, yet?" Coleman called out. He sounded impatient.
"Just now."
Coleman quickly changed his tune, suddenly pleased. "Good. And don't worry about that diatomaceous earth – I sent some men out to grab it. You know. To spare time. Now get yourself and those goods to a bathysphere station, kid. Come on down to Point Prometheus. My boys will cook us up some explodin' sticks, and then… we can say our goodbyes."
Jack trudged through the Rolling Hills. The plant life had grown quite thick in the park, making it difficult to get to the Rapture Metro, its sign shining brightly through the foliage and the hanging vines. He was just about to get out of the density of the plants when he heard a Splicer whistling whimsically. Jack stopped, crouching low in the tall grass. He watched as a Spider Splicer used her hooks to move from tree to tree like a monkey, pausing occasionally to inspect fruit on a branch. She reached up for an apple that was hanging heavily from a branch, but stopped, looking straight at Jack. For a moment, they stared at each other with wide eyes. Her warped, scarred face had a look of slight shock on it.
After a few heartbeats, the Spider Splicer looked away from Jack, plucking the apple from the tree. She then stuck the apple between her teeth, and quickly moved on, shaking the branches and its leaves in her wake. Jack watched her leave, and then slowly stood up.
That was… a surprisingly civil reaction from a Splicer. Jack was even about to reach for his revolver when he saw her, but she didn't even raise a finger against him. Perhaps this was the effect of Sapphire's new Plasmids…? Or maybe the Splicer was just mellow because she'd been residing in the peaceful Arcadia for a while. Jack didn't know…
Exiting the bushes, his arms itchy from the grass brushing up against them, Jack quickly entered the Bathysphere Station. When he reached the bathysphere itself, he hesitated. The last time he was in a Bathysphere, he was making his way to Arcadia, and he hadn't been attacked by 'Splicers' – but he did have a couple of huge brutes thrown at him. Now that Jack was on his way back to Coleman, would Sapphire still leave him be? Or would she sic the mysterious Splicers after him? He pondered this, but he came to the conclusion that Sapphire would have already killed him if she really wanted him dead. She has the resources, the people, and the power to do it. In fact, it wouldn't have been hard to corner him while he was holed up in the secret storage room.
Feeling slightly more confident, but still very edgy about it, Jack pulled open the hatch to the bathysphere, stepping in to the rocking, groaning craft. On the panel in the middle of the bathysphere, Jack pressed the button that read Point Prometheus, and pulled the lever. Immediately, the craft began to descend, departing from the station. It silently glided through the waters of the North Atlantic, the glass of the porthole catching the neon lights of signs that hung from the sides of buildings and tall skyscrapers.
Every little once in a while, Jack would see a distant shadow flicker by, but, otherwise, Jack saw no sign of these 'Splicers' that attacked him and Holly. Relaxing a bit, Jack sat down in one of the leather seats, getting comfortable for the ride to come. Watching the sea-life and the city pass by at a strolling pace was mesmerizing. It gave him something to look at while he delved into his thoughts and plans once more.
The Service Radio on his belt suddenly emitted a sharp buzzing noise, and then a voice spoke through it. "Jack?" Holly asked tentatively. "Are you busy?"
"No," Jack pulled the radio off his belt almost as soon as he heard her speak. "Holly, I'm on my to you. I've got the ketone and nitrocellulose, and I'm headed to Point Prometheus."
"You have? That's great!" Her mood seemed to pique up. "That's perfect! Please hurry, Jack. I cannot wait to get out of here. It's becoming stifling. I'm starting to feel a little... claustrophobic, actually."
"Don't worry; I'll get you out soon. Coleman just needs to make the dynamite with the supplies, and then we can get out of there."