12
An Atlantic Express Train Station
"This Sapphire lady... She's promising big pay for this little test thing." Cherry Optkins sounded like she had a stuffy nose, and spoke slowly, like every word was a struggle to convey. "She told me that all I have to do is Splice up on one of her new Plasmids, and then swim underwater for as long as I can." She paused. "Says I'll be 'an important part of the new age of Rapture', whatever the hell that means… I think she meant I would be an important part in raising her bank account funds. But… the pay's real good, and I'm already behind on my rent at the Sinclair Deluxe, so-" She was cut off, the sound of a door opening in the background, then Lady Sapphire's voice: "It's time for the first test..."
Jack and Holly glanced up at each other from the Accu-Vox, their brows furrowed in confusion. "What kind of Plasmids was she making?" Jack wondered aloud. He picked up the shotgun that lay next to the recorder and some exploding bucks on the bench. He reloaded it, and then looked up at Holly.
"Duds, I'm assuming. These Plasmids aren't even on the market. Most probably didn't even made it past the testing stage." Holly huffed.
"So remind me again why we're trying to get one of them…?"
"You want to stop Sapphire, don't you? We're going to need them."
Jack gave her a sideways glance, wondering what they could possibly be doing that might involve a Plasmid that didn't make it to market. He had tried asking her on the way over to the train station, but she always either remained silent, or changed the subject. After what happened, not even an hour earlier, he didn't feel it was in his best interests to press her into answering.
Feeling a little safer now that he was out of the suffocating confines of bathysphere, Jack tried to make eye contact with Holly, though she seemed to be trying very hard to make that difficult for him. "Mind telling me why we need this Plasmid that you're shooting for?" He asked with a tone that was a gruff mixture of curiosity and authority.
Holly still refused eye contact. She was rummaging through the pockets of her deep blue, bloodstained, water-damaged frock. "You'll know when we get there…" She answered vaguely.
"Why don't you want to tell me?"
"Because there's no point in worrying about it the whole trip there, as I know you will. You need you head to be clear if you want to get there alive."
"What's there to worry about?" Jack donned a suspicious look. He hated not knowing what he was getting into…
Holly opened her mouth to respond, a defensive expression contorting her face as she looked up at Jack. Before she could get a single word out, she was interrupted by a low sound that made both Jack and Holly jump.
Holly's response had been cut off by the bone-chilling sound of something loudly moaning. The ground slightly shook below them, and one of the nearby Securis doors opened. Jack and Holly watched with startled eyes as a Little Sister skipped into the train station, humming happily to herself. Following close behind her was a strange, flat-faced Big Daddy, like some sort of ancient golem from a lost time. It had a sort of launcher strapped onto its shoulder, and it barely paid any attention to the duo the Little Sister and Big Daddy passed.
"Come on, Mr. B – I can hear the flap, flap, flap of an angel…" She cooed, smiling to herself. The Little Sister stopped, looking up at Holly curiously, her little mouth agape. "Look!" She glanced over at the Big Daddy, pointing excitedly at Holly. "Look, look, look!" Holly glanced at Jack, obviously tense. The Little Sister looked at Jack and Holly, but let her vacant gaze stay on the young girl. "She wants a for-real Daddy, too…"
Holly flicked her panicky eyes over to Jack again, giving him a questioning look. The Big Daddy was inspecting her curiously. It was close enough for its stench to make their noses curl. Jack could practically feel the sheer strength and power wafting off of the protector from where he stood, which didn't exactly make him feel comfortable. Barely moving his shoulders, Jack shrugged at Holly. He didn't know what to do. He could barely look at the Little Sister without being reminded of the girls he left at home.
"She looks like Big Sister!" The child exclaimed, standing on her toes, holding her hands up to try and be as tall as Holly. Her fingertips barely reached halfway up Holly's torso, despite the Little Sister's attempts. "She goes this tall, and she's old! Just like Big Sister!"
"I'm-… I'm not a Big Sister…" Holly managed to utter.
The Little Sister dropped to the flats of her feet, letting her arms fall to her sides. Her little mutated expression was a mixture of both astonishment and curiosity. "She's not an angel, Mr. B… and she's not Big Sister. Who is she, Mr. Bubbles?" In response, the Big Daddy groaned, and the little girl just giggled. "Don't be mean, Mr. B!"
"Jack," Holly hissed out of the corner of her mouth. "We're going to need some ADAM…"
The Big Daddy moaned again, urging the Little Sister to move on. The girl sniffed the air, looking up at her protector in excitement. "ADAM, Daddy, ADAM!"
"Holly, right now isn't exactly a good time to be bringing that up…" Jack responded quietly.
"Bye bye, Not-Big-Sister!" The Little Sister waved as she followed the Big Daddy out of the train station. Holly hesitantly waved back.
When the Big Daddy and Little Sister were out of sight, Jack heaved a sigh, relaxing a little bit. As much as he knew that the Protectors were harmless - under the condition their space or the space of their charges weren't invaded in any way – he was always intimidated by their size. He knew that one wrong move towards their girl would start a fight that doesn't usually end well.
"Damn," Jack muttered. He was really hoping he wouldn't run into any Little Sisters. Actually, he thought he had saved them all. So he either missed a few… or someone else had taken up Tenenbaum and Suchong's post. But something else was bothering him just a little bit more. He turned to Holly. "What the hell is a Big Sister?"
Holly collected herself before answering. She still stared after the Protector and its charge, despite the fact they had left the room entirely. "A Big Sister is a Little Sister who grew up," She answered simply. "Sophia Lamb loves to use them as her personal hit-men." She started after the Big Daddy and Little Sister, not waiting for a reply from Jack.
"Whoa, there, junior - wait a second. Where are you going?" Jack easily caught up to her grabbing her wrist to stop her from doing anything brash. "You're not actually going to go fight that thing, are you?"
At first, she looked as though she might rip her wrist away from Jack. But then a coy smile ghosted across her face. "No… We're going to go fight that thing."
Holly ran back into the Train Station, jumping out of the way of a grenade, which was thrown at her by the Big Daddy that ungracefully tramped into the room after her. The Little Sister on its shoulder waved her little, pale arms, screeching "Get her, Mr. B! Get her!"
Jack, who was hiding behind one of the departure signs, stepped out from behind it when the Big Daddy passed. It shot another grenade at Holly, and Jack raised his hand, catching it with Telekinesis, and returning it to sender. It hit the Big Daddy, knocking it back a few steps. It looked over at Jack, and then started to prepare itself to launch another grenade. But Holly appeared behind it in a mist of shadows, using her own Plasmid to focus the attention back on her.
Similarly to when Holly attacked Wayne Coleman, she moved her hands like a conductor, slashing and spearing at the Big Daddy with her shadows. It didn't do much against its thick diving suit, but it was enough to get its attention back on her.
"Unzip 'em!" The Little Sister jeered loudly, clinging on to the shoulders of the Big Daddy as it swung around to face Holly again.
Holly disappeared from her spot, reappearing slightly farther away, lashing another shadow out at the Big Daddy, and actually hurting it, this time. It grunted, launching another explosive. Jack caught it, sending it back the way it came. He electrocuted the tin man, and used the shotgun to knock it back, doing significant damage in the process. At the same time, Holly was slashing her shadows every which way as quickly she could. The more she got into it, the shadows her tore the fabric of the Big Daddy's diving suit, and eventually left deep gouges in the thick, leather belts it had strapped across its chest.
Letting out a deep, frustrated cry, the Big Daddy hit Holly with a sweeping motion, knocking her back a few steps. While Holly managed her footing, the Big Daddy tossed another grenade at her, which Jack barely managed to catch because he was in the middle of reloading his shotgun. He waited a heartbeat to let Holly get out of the way before releasing the grenade upon its owner. When it hit the Big Daddy, it let out another angry groan, and the Little Sister grunted in displeasure as she was tossed about on the back of the protector.
Reloading its own weapon, the Big Daddy launched something different at the duo: a small, round turret that had red lights on its sides. It opened up and started shooting at Jack, who jumped back behind the departure sign. He waited until it had to reload before moving around the corner to shoot it.
"Catch those before they hit the floor!" Holly shouted with a grunt as she dodged another explosive, running quickly to a safe distance. "Throw 'em back at him!"
Jack muttered something under his breath as he reloaded the shotgun, shooting the back of the Big Daddy. It seemed more fixated on Holly, though, as it kept launching the strange mini-turrets and grenades at her, which Jack kept catching and tossing back in return as he fired the shotgun, reloading it as fast as he could.
Jack couldn't help but shoot a glare at Holly. She'd roped him into this fight. And 'roped him into it' meant 'put Jack into the crossfire so he'd have no choice but to fight'. In fact, he refused adamantly to partake in this fight, but she just ran off and did what she pleased, anyhow. Jack would need to talk to her about that… later.
Eventually, the Big Daddy was struggling to just stay on its feet, the two red lights on its helmet flickering. It fell to its knees before falling over, letting a long, drawn out, and mournful groan. The Little Sister tumbled off its back, staggering to her feet, and running to its side. "Daddy?" She gripped its helmet, trying to shake it, but was far too weak to move the tin man. "Daddy!" She started to cry, tears streaming down her little, pale face. "Please get up, Daddy… Please…"
Holly walked to Jack's side, breathing heavily from running around and exerting so much energy. They both stared down at the Little Sister as she crouched beside the Big Daddy, covering her face with her hands, sobbing into her palms. "Why won't you get up, Daddy? Why?" She blubbered quietly.
Shaking her head sadly, Holly looked over at Jack. "What do you want to do with her?" She asked, keeping her voice down. "Are you going to rescue her, like you did the others?"
Jack wasn't sure if Tenenbaum was still around to take the girl in. He was entirely sure if wanted to know what might happen if the girl didn't have anyone to take care of her – saving her might be just as brutal as killing her. Jack shook his head. "I'm not getting any more involved in this… You decide."
Holly blinked. "Me? Why won't you?"
"You picked the fight." He answered sharply. "Now you're obligated to do something about it." Jack grunted, looking away from the girl. The last thing he wanted to do was make that decision again. He started towards the Securis door, reloading the shotgun as he walked. "Meet me outside the station when you've finished. I don't think I want to be around when you make your choice."
Standing as far away from the train station door as possible, Jack stood by one of the long, stretching, leaky windows, staring out into the sea aimlessly. He waited patiently for Holly to carry on with her choice – and it wasn't a choice Jack wanted to know about. After all, he wasn't here to be Holly's morale pillar. He was here to stop Sapphire, and nothing else. Besides… he wouldn't have been much help to her, anyways. Her emotional state is rollercoaster of ups and downs. Jack was beginning to fear the idea of being around her when she's at her ultimate low.
Five or ten minutes had passed before the girl exited the train station. She made her way over to Jack, not making direct eye-contact. To Jack, that wasn't a good sign. "Are you alright?" Jack turned to her as she neared.
"I'm fine, I…" Holly stopped a couple feet away from him, letting out a long, chest-heaving sigh. "… I just decided—"
Jack held a hand up to stop her. "Don't tell me what you did – I don't want to know. I just wanted to know if you were alright."
She gave him a frustrated glare. "But I—"
"Holly, if it has to do with that Little Sister, I don't want to know." He said firmly. "I've got the ocean on my shoulders – I don't need that little girl's fate on them, too."
Holly opened her mouth as if to argue, but slowly closed it with reluctance. "… Alright," she gave him a tight-lipped smile, "… fine" Without another word, she started past Jack, brushing past him roughly.
Jack stared after her, feeling slightly guilty for being so cruel. He knew wasn't here to make friends, but he wasn't here to try to cause trouble. Running his fingers through his hair, he walked after her. "Holly…" He called. She was heading towards a Securis port.
"What?" She looked at him curtly over her shoulder.
"I didn't mean to come off so…" He trailed off, searching for an appropriate word.
"Coldhearted?" Holly finished for him.
"… Do you need to talk about it?"
"I thought you didn't want to talk about it."
"I didn't want to talk about the Little Sister."
Holly stopped in her tracks, facing Jack with her hands on her hips. "You are going to have a really rough time with those girls of yours if you can't handle my attitude. They're going to grow up someday, and then you'll have five of me running around, complaining about… complaining about… well, complaining about whatever it is that girls my age complain about on the surface."
"Don't bring them into this," Jack narrowed his eyes defensively. "They've got nothing to do with it." He gestured vaguely to Holly. "What's got you so wound up?"
"Nothing…" Holly muttered, suddenly more passive-aggressive. She turned away from him, heading for the door again.
Jack stared after her incredulously. She's been rather offbeat since they managed to regroup. She was finding more and more things to be angry about. The first thing she found to rant about was a Plasmid poster that was in the Metro. "This has got to be some sort of joke." He sighed under his breath. "Unbelievable…" Jack walked after her. She had stopped by the door and was waiting for him.
"Come on…" Holly beckoned impatiently.
The Securis door opened when Jack reached both it and Holly. The girl led the way through, and the sour smell of sea water, old sweat, and rotting sea life hit them like a fist when they entered the room. It was a familiar smell… That of a Big Daddy.
The room was full of diving suits, lockers, and seaweed that had been dragged in by and shaken off of a foot. In the corner, there were several buckets of long-rotten aquatic animals, sitting in their own blood, forgotten by whoever brought it in to the city. To the far end of the room, there was a thick, metal door. A sign above it read 'Air Lock'.
Jack nudged aside one of the suits that had fallen off its hanger. He crinkled his nose in disgust as an intrusion of cockroaches scuttled across the floor in a panicky fashion, disappearing behind one of the lockers. Jack looked over at Holly. "What are we doing here…?"
"Remember when I said that I hoped you weren't claustrophobic?" She picked up one of the diving helmets, looking over at him. "Well, to get to the Plasmid we need, we're going to have to travel out in the sea. Sapphire cut off all other entrances into her little laboratory. It's impossible to get to it by bathysphere, train, or even foot via the rest of the city. So this is our only option."
Jack's initial reaction was to get angry at her, but to also laugh nervously, resulting in a crazy-sounding huff of laughter, followed by him nearly yelling "You're just telling me this now? Are you insane?" Everything that went through his mind was about what could kill them out in the sea – other than the sea itself. "We'll get killed out there, Holly. If not by sea-life, then by those Splicers that tried to kill us the last time we were making progress. Let's not even start about the temperature and the depth…"
"We'll be fine." Holly brushed a cockroach off of one of the smaller diving suits. "Just don't move too quickly, and don't bother anything with teeth. If we don't stall on the way there, we'll have more than enough air to spare when we arrive." She looked over at him, nodding to the hanging suits. "Find something that fits, and suit up. We need to be in and out of those waters as fast as we possibly can."
"You must think I'm insane."
Holly barely glanced at him. "Well, you're trying to stop Sapphire. I'm pretty sure that's the same thing."
When Holly turned her back to Jack to investigate the smaller suits, the sound of electricity popping and snapping filled the room. The lights in the room flickered into darkness, leaving them blind. Jack heard both the Air Lock's door and the Securis door locking, and the TVs by the far end of the room hummed to life. Replacing the empty feed was a woman's face. Jack's first instinct was to assume it was Lady Sapphire but, looking closer, he was very wrong.
This woman seemed to be much taller, her neck longer and more slender, her facial features sharper. She stared down at Holly and Jack through horn-rimmed glasses. Her hair was coiffed atop her head in a business-like fashion. She had a very serious tone about her. When she spoke, her tone was soft, comforting, and calm. "This is a rather fascinating development," she started coolly. Already, Jack could feel she was in control of the situation, and that's not something he was comfortable with. The confidence in her voice greatly reminded Jack of Andrew Ryan. With a thin-lipped smile void of all emotion, she said "It would appear as though Father Wales' messiah has returned."
Jack looked over at Holly. She was staring at the screen as if it were the Devil himself. "Who is that…?" He hissed loud enough for Holly to hear.
It seemed to take her some effort to rip her eyes away from the glowing screen. She stared at Jack with wide, frightened eyes. "Sofia Lamb…"