A/N: Tuesday update, because wow do I live on the edge and also have a terrible memory.
24
Sapphire's Hideout
"You will play nicely, Mr. Ryan?"
Jack watched the silent Holly, who was avoiding eye contact while untying the binding around his wrists. Behind the girl, Sapphire observed curiously, arms folded across her chest, waiting for an answer.
"Play nice?" Jack rubbed his wrists once they were free, barely glancing back at Sapphire. "Sure. Whatever you want, lady. Not like I have much of a choice, anyways." He tried to catch Holly's attention, but she turned away and headed for the door.
"Thank you, Holly…" Sapphire called after the girl as the door closed behind her. When it was just Sapphire and Jack in the room, the lady in blue unfolded her arms and gave Jack a pleased look. "Welcome to my humble abode. How do you like it?"
Jack didn't get up from the chair. There would be no use in it, not yet. He gripped the armrests and watched Sapphire. Biding his time would be his best bet, now. He gave her an intentionally unimpressed look. "It's nothing impressive."
"I designed it myself. Specially created for my needs… and it's much better than living in a makeshift home in that old laboratory." Sapphire paused, perhaps expecting a response, or perhaps she was just thinking of something else to say before marching Jack off to have him killed. She let out a heavy sigh, walking to the door, stopping near it. "I'm aware that you're still here to kill me, but let me show you some things before you make another attempt on my life."
"No..." He may not be in the most hopeful situation, but nothing in Jack's plans entailed taking a tour around Sapphire's little world. "Just skip the middleman. We're going to talk. I don't care about your facility. Not in the slightest. You should know that."
"Of course I do."
"Then ask me what you wanted to ask me instead of wasting our time."
"You're certainly in a rush to die…" Sapphire seemed a little taken aback, but slowly sat down in a seat adjacent to Jack's. Something about the way she moved satisfied Jack. It told him that he'd still managed to intimidate the woman. She tried not to show it. "Tell me why you came back to Rapture."
"Ask me something you don't already know."
"Not before you give me a straight and honest answer."
As always, that was an interesting question – or, rather, demand. And an annoying one. Too many people have been asking Jack to answer it. He had yet to develop an answer that didn't fall over in a weak wind.
"I've told you before, lady. I'm here to stop you. It isn't a secret."
"But you knew you could have just left. Gone back to the surface. Back to your 'family'."
That plucked at Jack's nerves. "'Family'?" He echoed.
Sapphire evidentially was able to detect the anger in Jack's body language. She smiled. "All I mean is that, from what I've gathered, one can hardly call what you have a 'family'. It sounds more like a silly stage act. Or some sort of depressing copy of A Father Knows Best." She seemed to nearly laugh at the thought. "It's fake, Mr. Ryan."
"'Fake'…?" Jack breathed, raised his eyebrows slightly. He let out soft, cold laughter. "I suppose what you've got here is any better, huh?"
"Pardon…?" The lady in blue's face was wiped of all amusement.
"You really oughta think I'm some sort of rube, Sapphire. You think I'm blind? That I can't put two and two together?" Jack nodded towards the door Holly exited through. "You've got a sick sense of family. Sending her out there like that."
"I—I don't…?"
"You put her in Wayne Coleman's path."
"Stop." Sapphire clenched her hands tightly, her knuckles turning white. "Do you think I don't know this? I've been sitting here, watching it happen with absolutely no way to help her."
"Look at your position, lady, and tell me you really couldn't do anything to stop Coleman on your own. You didn't need me to do it, you just got greedy and hoped that Coleman would kill me, or that we'd kill each other. You gambled, and you lost."
Sapphire stood quickly, nearly knocking her chair back. She stalked towards Jack, hand already raised to strike him across the face. Jack merely reached out, gripping her wrist. "I can promise that this won't end well for you if try that again, lady." Jack growled, also getting to his feet.
"You let go of me this instant." Sapphire hissed through her teeth.
Jack willfully ignored her, gripping her wrist tighter. "Holly told me all about your little escapade with Sander Cohen. You killed him, huh? I guess I just got the history mixed up, 'cause I distinctly remember that story ending differently…"
The lady in blue tried to wrench her wrist away from Jack, refusing to break eye contact. "I would think you'd be the last person to complain about that, Mr. Ryan. You of all people should be thankful that I skewed the facts."
"You really are no better than Frank Fontaine, lady. You know that?" Jack didn't let go of her wrist, mainly because he didn't want her to turn around with some sort of weapon. "You try to steal a city you didn't even have a hand in building, and then you use your own daughter like she's something that could just be replaced. And the worst part? Anyone who has ten fingers and ten toes could see that a girl Holly's age couldn't have been born in 1955. She'd be ten. Does she look ten to you?"
"I tried to be civil with you…"
"Bet you really had to schmooze up to Suchong to get that Lot 111. Or did he just leave you a detailed pamphlet?
Sapphire finally managed to rip her wrist away from Jack. She took several steps back, stopping beside a desk near the screens, keeping her eyes on him. Gently rubbing her wrist, she shook her head. "Don't you dare lecture me on morality, Mr. Ryan. Don't you dare."
Jack screwed up his eyebrows at her. He watched maneuver behind the desk.
"Tell me, do you casually change your name to suit your needs all the time, or was it just for the sake of your girls, Jack Wynand…?" She reached into one of the drawers of the desk, extracting a small, blue, leather bound object. A water damaged American passport. Opening it deliberately, holding it up for Jack to read the cover, Sapphire read: "'Jack Wynand, born September 1, 1939, resident of Overlook, Kansas, U.S.A.'…" She looked over the top of the passport to give Jack an exaggerated smug look. "And where was it you said to Holly that you lived? Canandaigua, New York, Jack Rianofski?"
"What are you getting at?"
"That you're a liar, a killer, and a downright piece of scum. What's more, you think you can just come back to this city after so many years and try to murder me. Why? Because you can't understand the work I'm doing. Again, I ask why? Because you don't want to."
"If Jack Wynand came back to Kansas, Jack Wynand would have to explain too many things, lady. And I never claimed to not understand what you're doing – I just disagree with it. This city doesn't deserve a second chance, and if you won't step down willingly, I'll take you down." Jack snapped back venomously. "Listen, we could go back and forth like this all day and night, but we're not going to make it anywhere. Now, either you put a bullet in my brain, or I—"
Jack stopped halfway through a step towards Sapphire. They both fell silent.
Holly stood in the open doorway, watching both Sapphire and Jack with a distant, indescribable expression. She could have been standing there the whole time, and neither the lady in blue nor the Ryan would have noticed. They had been too invested in their argument to notice until now. Neither of them had even heard the doors slide open.
"Holly…" Sapphire started quickly, suddenly donning a nervous look. Her mouth gaped, looking for a something to say next. She seemed to settle with "How long have you been there?"
The girl didn't respond. She stood in place, turning her cold, distant expression from Sapphire to Jack, and back. Jack didn't like that, nor the feeling he got when the girl's eyes landed on him. It was just… unnerving. It reminded him of the lifeless stares Sapphire's Splicers gave him.
"Well..." Jack huffed, gesturing for Holly to come into the room. "… you might as well join the conversation. This does, partially, have to do with you, too." He looked at Sapphire when he was given a horrified expression by her.
"You killed my father." Holly stated without emotion, unmoving. "It was you this whole time, and you didn't tell me."
"If I told you, you wouldn't have taken me to Sapphire. You would have attacked me."
"You could have had the decency—"
"He wasn't even your father, Holly." Jack interrupted sharply, throwing a finger at Sapphire. "I hate to be the one to say it to you, but Sander Cohen wasn't interested, to say the least, in fertile women, and was certainly not looking for kids that would anchor him down."
"That's not true…"
"Mr. Ryan, if you don't sit down and be quiet, I'll have Holly to take violent measures against you." Sapphire hissed, throwing the passport to the top of the desk, taking a few bold steps forward. "You have a choice, here. I've given you nothing but choices."
"I'm still here. Can I talk?" Holly loudly cut in, walking through the door completely. She stopped near the front of the room, so that Sapphire had to turn to keep eye contact. "I'm… tired of being some quiet little puppet for you to use, Sapphire. I'm tired of being lied to… My whole life is a lie. Do you know how desperately I searched for someone to call my mother? Yet here you were the whole time, using me like I was some sort of… paper napkin. I don't know if the memories I have of Sander Cohen are real or not, but they're currently the best things I have to hold onto."
"Holly—"
"And you, Jack." Holly cut the lady in blue off, jabbing a violent finger at the Ryan. "Were you just going to play along until the end? Were you just going to help her pretend that you didn't kill my father? That Sapphire isn't my mother? I knew you were using me to get to her, but was there a single thought in your head that wasn't just about you?" Holly jabbed her finger at Sapphire for emphasis as she spoke. "I thought, even for just a little while, that you were the only decent soul in this entire godforsaken city. I guess I was wrong. I guess there's just no such thing."
Jack didn't say anything. He had nothing to say. In any case, if he said anything, he might just be adding fuel to the fire.
Sapphire didn't come to that same conclusion.
"Please leave the room, Holly. This is between him and I. We can discuss your grievances later." The woman was still trying quite hard to keep control of the situation. Failing horribly, of course.
"There won't be any more conversation…" Holly breathed, slowly raising a hand. Jack realized that the shadows around her were… darkening, and gathering, converging towards her. He started to take a few steps back, moving around the chair, as Holly continued. "There won't be a conversation because I know you'll just… force me to believe something new. I'll wake up tomorrow with a different set of memories. I don't want that."
With that, the girl flicked her wrist, and both Sapphire and Jack were flung into the air like ragdolls. Jack hit the wall at the back of the room, crashing into something hard and metal – a vent of some sort. It dented inwards with the strength that Jack fell into it at. Sapphire had hit a bookshelf that nearly fell over onto her. That's the last thing Jack remembered seeing clearly.
Three or four books were shot at Jack, one of them hitting him in the forehead and nose. After that, his vision was blurry and sparse, phasing in and out without warning. He tried to blink it away fuzzily, but there was a constant feeling of loss of connection with reality. When his vision decided to return for a few split seconds, he saw the desk in front of him being raised into the air, shadows wrapping around the legs to hoist it up. Sapphire was looking back at Jack with wide eyes.
His vision disappeared again, and Jack had a general idea of what was coming. He tried to move, to crawl away from the spot he sat in, but was too disoriented. He could barely see, and he felt like he'd been run over by a bulldozer.
When his vision returned in a throbbing pulse, he could see Sapphire crawling strangely towards Jack. She had one hand held out at Holly… holding the desk back with her own, smaller stream of shadows. And then the stream faltered, Holly let out a frustrated cry, and the desk was sent flying towards Jack.
That was one of the few things he remembered seeing.
Warm, slanted light filtered through several windows that lined the side of the room. Dust motes danced slowly through the light, no draft or movement to startle their waltz. The room was large and inviting, with soft colors and neat décor. The wallpaper was beige, with slightly darker stripes running vertically towards the smooth, oak trimming. The wooden flooring had carefully placed rugs all throughout the room; one underneath the window, one in front of a tall, oak dresser, and another just at the side of the bed that Jack found himself sitting on.
The room was familiar. It was his bedroom in Canandaigua. But something was different about it. Despite its openness and comforting qualities, it was… stifling.
"I was beginning to feel a bit worried."
For some reason, Jack expected that voice to be Holly's, or even Lady Sapphire's. But, unfortunately, he knew who it belonged to.
He focused his attention towards the door, where the voice had come from, frowning when no one was there.
"He's certainly been in better shape."
Again, Jack faced the direction of the speakers. This time, they stood plain as day in front of the windows. "What am I doing here…?" Jack asked slowly, no longer surprised to see Robert and Rosalind Lutece before him.
"He seems rather bored of us." Rosalind leaned over to say to her brother. "I suppose the theatrics have worn thin."
"It would seem that way, yes…" Robert nodded in agreement. Something about the way they spoke was strange. Like they were talking through a window, or something. Their voices just seemed muffled.
"Are either of you going to answer me?" A silly question, yes. But it was just instinct to ask.
"He wants to know what he's doing here." Robert reminded Rosalind, though it sounded more like an inside joke of some sort.
"He should know that by now."
Robert and Rosalind looked thoughtful for a moment, and then both turned to face Jack. Robert pointed to Jack, and lifted his chin. "You have died."
"And this is Hell?" Part of Jack felt like he was trying to crack a joke. The other part of him felt the painful twinges of guilt and fear. If he was dead, what would happen to his girls?
Rosalind shook her head. "Not quite. You were impaled through your chest by a large piece of the desk that was thrown at you. It punctured your lungs, as well as gave you many less fatal injuries. Collectively, it was enough to both drown you and bleed you out."
"Like a stuffed pig," Robert added unhelpfully.
"That doesn't explain what I'm doing here." Jack looked around the room baldly. "In my bedroom."
Both Robert and Rosalind put on a somewhat sympathetic look, though it seemed like it was an expression that was fighting to not be one of amusement. They looked back at each other, keeping the expression donned. "He thinks he's in his bedroom…"
"Fascinating how that works, isn't it?"
"If only we could study that further."
"If only…"
They turned the attention back to Jack. "Close your eyes for a moment." One of them ordered curiously.
Jack wanted to sigh irritably, but he felt he'd done enough of that. He should be expecting this sort of thing from these two, regardless of how outlandish and creepy it might initially sound. He closed his eyes, pursing his lips and raising his eyebrows expectantly. He wasn't so much annoyed as he was impatient. He knew the twins would have some crazy magic trick – or, at the very least, an illusion - up their sleeves.
A quiet beeping sound proceeded that of doors sliding open. Cold air rushed against Jack, startling him. He opened his eyes quickly, uncomfortable with the sudden change of temperature.
He found himself all the way back in the Rapture Welcome Center, standing in the Vita Chamber just to the side of the row of bathysphere docks. In front of him, the Lutece twins stood innocently, waiting for Jack to register his surroundings. They watched the disappointment on his face, which turned to confusion, and stepped to the side to let Jack out of the chamber.
"Welcome back."