A/N: Almost back on track.
17
A Rapture Airlock, The North Atlantic Ocean
The dull humming noise that emanated from the airlock's plated door stopped abruptly when the door reached the top of its runners, halting with a another deep clicking noise. There was no sudden rush of water to push the duo back, as Jack had expected.
Ahead of him, Holly turned to look at Jack through the side faceplate on her helmet. She gave him a look that said "Here we go," and then gestured for him to follow. With what looked like an uneasy confidence, Holly ventured out of the airlock. Surprising himself by being able to walk, instead of being frozen on the spot, Jack carefully trailed behind Holly, keeping to the path that she seemed to have mapped out in her head.
Underfoot, the sand sunk and rolled, adhering to the weight of the diving suits, along with the weight of the wearers. The feeling, to Jack, was similar to the feeling of walking across a heavily snow-laden sidewalk in the middle of winter. The only difference was that the improvised divers could use the water to their advantage by gently leaping small distances. It was almost… fun, if that word could ever be uttered so far under the surface of the ocean.
But it was true. And, while the prospect of simply being out in the waters of the ocean terrified Jack to stillness, there were only two things keeping him going: The downfall of Sapphire, which would lead to the Ryan finally being able to move on with a relaxed conscious; and the surroundings, and even the picturesque view of the ocean herself against the towering skyscrapers of Rapture. Jack had expected his and Holly's trek to be like that of one through a jungle, where grotesque and violent creatures would relentlessly attack the duo.
Instead, the two were surrounded by throbbing, exotic lights that glowed among the plant life. Lights from the city danced across shells, glass, and debris, creating the effect that the sand and rocks were constantly shimmering throughout the glowing reefs. Beyond the plant life, the wide expanse of ocean afforded a desirable portrait by slowly fading into a dark cyan color, while the curious silhouettes of sea life were still visible. Small fish darted like birds from reefs to reefs, silently peeping out of their hiding spots to examine Holly and Jack as they marched past.
Because of this, it didn't take very long for Jack to calm down. He noticed that his breathing had slowed, and his anxiety level had dropped significantly. While he was still horrified about dying some horrible, terrible death out in the ocean's waters, he still found himself fascinated by what environed him. The glittering rocks and luminous plant life, while nearly trivial, was what kept him preoccupied with something other than the thought of dying painfully.
There was such a stark difference between standing inside of one of Rapture's building with a window as the only way to view the ocean, opposed to actually putting on a two-hundred and fifty pound suit and walking around at the bottom of the sea. There was some sort of peaceful silence that enveloped everything, like the world held its breath in sheer anticipation of something to come. And, even though Jack had the ocean on his shoulders, he could still jump and feel near to weightlessness.
A sunken bathysphere that rested in the sand near the trail that the duo trekked down attracted Jack's attention. Something grayish-white resting just inside the empty and broken craft had grabbed his interest. He glanced back at Holly, who was trying to pull apart a cluster of seaweed that was seemingly blocking their path.
I'll be fine, Jack reasoned casually, finding himself making his way to the bathysphere. He hadn't managed to kill himself, so he figured that he'd make it to the bathysphere, no problem. It was literally fifteen feet away – He could make it there and back in minutes.
As Jack neared the bathysphere, a few crabs scuttled away, kicking up small clouds of dirt and sand. A few fish remained in the cracks of the sunken craft, watching on curiously, like they weren't quite sure what Jack was.
The bathysphere itself was gaping, as the door had fallen off sometime during its descent. It was beginning to corrode around the cracks left by either hitting the side of a building, or being hit with something of equal or greater size. Small, wiry plants, thick films of algae, and masses of barnacles were inching their way to the top of the craft.
The strange, grayish-white thing that had initially caught Jack's eye was a skull, half buried in the sand. The rest of its skeleton was missing, curiously. He stepped a little closer to the wreck, trying to get a proper look at it and its surroundings, feeling a little uneasy, again. Looking at this bathysphere reminded him of his original fears – It also reminded him of the existence of Splicers in the waters around Rapture.
Jack stepped back, no longer feeling as secure as he did about five minutes earlier. He quickly turned around, starting back towards Holly—
— only to run head first into something, and fall to the sandy ground with a surprised grunt. A cloud of dust was awakened by the commotion, muddling Jack's vision.
"Jesus fuckin—!" Jack hissed, flinching back from the silhouetted figure. He let out an angry scoff, getting to his feet as quickly as he could.
Holly was scowling down at Jack, arms crossed. She watched him expectantly as he got back on his own feet. When he was able to properly see her face, he gestured stiffly to the trail they had strayed from, trying to urge her to move on from the silent lecturing he knew Holly wanted to give.
The girl glared at Jack for a moment longer, giving him a countenance that growled "I told you not to wander." She then turned, which Jack assumed was supposed to be her turning irritably on heel, and then she hurried on back to the trail, kicking up more small clouds.
Well… at least no one died. There's always that to be thankful for.
And, though the urge was hard to resist, Jack managed to keep going without checking out every little thing that caught in the light of the glowing neon signs that hung from the skyscrapers around them. Because of this, they managed to make good distance. They couldn't have been more than an hour or two away from their final destination… Of course, Jack kept forgetting that they did have one final stop to make before heading out to wherever Sapphire was holed up.
Jack never really put much thought into what the Plasmid they're fighting for is. Yet, they were almost there, and about to obtain it. What kind of Plasmid was it? And, more importantly, how would it help them? That was what Jack wanted to know. Of course, answers never came easy – Not where he was.
What Jack was mostly concerned about was the Splicers that he's heard so much about, but hadn't actually seen. Running into a Big Daddy might be unlucky, simply because they have a tendency to be territorial and possessive, but, from what he's heard, these Splicers would be a bit more than problematic.
For the moment, Jack only wanted to worry about what was under his feet – He felt a little afraid that the sand might just roll out from under him, and that he might lose his footing. Holly had warned him that losing his footing down a slope could be dangerous for them; they could get injured, or accidentally tear part of their suit. Getting hypothermia was not a welcomed situation.
In front of him, Holly slowed to a gradual stop. Their path had turned a little darker – Some of the exotic coral lights had dimmed down, and the lights from the neon signs didn't quite reach where they stood. Sea life, especially crustaceans, still moved about in the thick seaweed and biofouling. Jack looked around skeptically, not sure if this was where they were supposed to be. He didn't see any sort of entrance in the area…
Holly looked over her shoulder at Jack through her side faceplate. Raising an eyebrow, she pointed to one of the nearby buildings, which stood about twenty feet away. There was something in the window that didn't quite look right…
"What the hell…?" Jack breathed, starting curiously towards the windows. Was it…? He let out an amazed huff, distractedly gesturing for Holly to follow. As Jack got closer to the window, he knew that he was right, despite not believing it.
The two redheaded siblings that initially brought Jack to Rapture were standing calmly in the window, watching the duo as they neared. It seemed to Jack that the twins never changed their appearance or their demeanor – They still wore their prim and proper clothing, bearing a bored expression.
"These two are everywhere…" Jack muttered to himself when he and Holly stopped a few feet away from the window, looking at the strange visitors. They really seemed to appear out of nowhere – Especially when Jack least expects it. Have they been following him? And, if so, how have they managed to not get themselves killed? They didn't exactly look like the kind of folk who could easily physically defend themselves, and especially not in a place where it was common to have to fight just to move from Point A to Point B.
Either satisfied with Jack and Holly's confusion, or with their proximity to the window that they stood behind, the copper-haired twins turned and started walking down the corridor that they were standing in. It seemed as though they wanted the pair to follow alongside them.
It was hard to tell whether or not that would end well.
Regardless, Jack led the duo after the red-haired twins, intrigued by their sudden appearance. They've never led him to danger, before – What's the worst that could happen?
Not that Jack actually wanted to contemplate 'the worst'.
They followed the side of the building, keeping a careful eye on the strangers on the other side of the window. The path that Jack and Holly were led down was thin, with barely enough room for them to maneuver past a large patch of clingy seaweed, and, eventually, to squeeze through a small gap between the wall of the building and a large stone and coral formation.
On the other side of the formation, the small path opened up into a dimly-lit clearing that, if it were any smaller, both Jack and Holly would not have been able to fit comfortably in. The window that the twins stood behind was nearly completely cut off by surrounding stone, coral, and lesser plant life.
One of the twins, the female, pointed calmly to the end of the clearing furthest from the window, and then turned and said something to her brother without changing her facial expression. Her brother replied back in the same manner, letting out a single huff of laughter, unquestionably amused. This made Jack a little uneasy…
What if this was a trap?
The thought obviously hadn't crossed Holly's mind, because she had already made her way to whatever it was that the twins wanted them to see. What the girl extracted from among the rocks and the seaweed confirmed Jack's suspicions – Just not the way he expected.
It was a trap.
With quite a bit of effort, Holly lugged out a large, long, dome-shaped, wood and rope-netted object: A lobster trap. It contained one unmoving lobster, and three sea slugs. The strange slugs were what caught Jack's eye – Two of them were about eight inches long, while the third was barely half that. They all had very similar, striated, grainy skin. Primitive armor fringed their edges, and their hump-ish backs glowed from several small, incandescent panels. As Holly carefully tipped the contents of the trap out onto the sand at her feet, Jack caught a glimpse of small, sharp teeth that gnashed in discontent as the slugs were forced out of their spot.
It didn't take a genius to make the leap. It was clear to Jack that these exotic-looking slugs were, without a doubt, the object of fascination for the twins. They were, of course, ADAM slugs.
A brief excitement washed over Jack, and he momentarily forgot about the twins. They had free access to ADAM anytime that they needed it. It was exactly the kind of goldmine that they'd been looking for. They'd probably need ADAM for whatever Plasmid Holly was leading the duo towards... But something didn't quite sit right with Jack.
ADAM, from what Jack had learned, wasn't as easy as a snap to manufacture. That was, after all, the whole reason for the creation of Little Sisters and their protectors. Who knew how long it might take to produce enough ADAM? In any case, what was it to the twins? What would they gain from this? And how did they even know about the slugs? They couldn't possibly have been out in the ocean before Jack and Holly… they don't even look like they've been in Rapture, in fact. It wasn't as though that lobster trap had been easy to see, even from where Jack stood.
Breaking Jack's train of thought, or, rather, completing it, Holly gestured behind the Ryan, a confused look on her face. Jack turned as quickly as he could in the heavy diving suit, drawing his attention to the siblings behind the window – Who were already walking back down the hallway that they came from.
There was no forethought as Jack left Holly behind, squeezing back through the slim gap that the duo initially traversed through. Something about those two twins intrigued, yet, at the same time, concerned him. Their motives were mysterious, and their actions were even more so.
Jack slipped out of the gap, hurrying over to the window. The twins were already gone. The hallway they once stood in was eerily empty. Once again, they had vanished.
"Damn…" Jack cursed under his breath, slowing to a stop, slightly breathless. "How are they always so fast…?" He wondered if they took off into a sprint once they were out of Jack's view. For what reason, he didn't actually know. Not that any of it would have mattered… Jack wouldn't have been able to catch up to them, anyways. Not while there was an ocean, an airlock, and a diving suit between them. It was a fruitless endeavor. But something inside him told him to at least try – Whatever it may accomplish.
A hand clasped around Jack's wrist, and he turned to face Holly, wearing an exhausted expression. He was about ready to go back to their original trail, and he figured Holly needed help carrying the unfriendly-looking slugs. When he turned, his expression quickly was replaced with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.
What he turned to face was not Holly.
Small, beady, human-esque eyes stared back into Jack's. Dark, spotted green and purple cancerous-like tissue covered a long snout, from its very tip, to the middle of the terrifying humanoid creature. Scars, both healed and days old, covered the body of whatever Jack was gaping at.
It looked to be some sort of… eel-human hybrid.
Jack's heart skipped a beat, and he felt his stomach sink into his boots. He knew exactly what this thing was.
The thing let go of his wrist. It's long, spotted fingers were webbed nearly to the very tips. Black claws curled in place of human nails, and, when the thing opened its large mouth, there was no missing the white, curved, needlelike teeth that lined the thing's jaws. And, still, it watched him with its disturbingly human eyes.
Jack had just come face-to-face with one of Sapphire's Splicers.