A/N: Was pretty impressed with the turnout from the first chapter alone. And since the intro was technically split between two chapters, i decided to get the other half posted before going back to work on the next few.
X
Alex remained in stunned disbelief as the bathysphere he was riding in weaved in and around buildings of the underwater city with ease. Revealing metal and glass walkways that connected them together with flashing neon signs that promoted various stores, theaters and ads for products at every turn.
This…This was impossible. He'd seen many things in his life, but this? This completely tipped the paradigm.
There was no information anywhere on the planet about a city being built beneath the ocean. And there was no way in hell something like this could have been done unnoticed by the rest of the world. Yet, here he was. Drifting between skyscrapers while schools of fish, jellyfish and even a blue whale were doing the same. The local wildlife completely at ease with the manmade structures around them.
Rubbing his eyes and slapping his face a few times, Alex looked around and still couldn't believe that this was all real. But no matter what he did, no matter how he tried to tell himself that he was losing his mind, there was no escaping the fact that this was very much reality.
He was brought out of his shock when he heard a muffled voice from close by. Snapping his attention to the right of the bathysphere's door, he found what looked to be an old handset radio with a blinking yellow light while the receiver echoing out in the small space.
"...but the lighthouse just kicked on...I think someone found the place..." said a man with a heavy Irish accent through the static.
"We're in the middle of the Atlantic ocean." replied another man. "How could anyone-"
"Dunno," the first man cut him off. "You best get over there, and be quick about it. The splicers are coming..."
The former soldier didn't like the sound of that. His insides churned from the conversation the two were having, but above all it proved to him that there were in fact people living in this city. Looking out the open window, he saw the bathysphere approaching a line of round archways that led into a building straight ahead. Each archway lighting up with neon light just before he passed through them;
'All good things'
'Of this Earth'
'Flow'
'Into the City' The 'Y' on the sign sparked and went dead as he passed beneath it.
The transport entered the building and into a round chamber like back at the lighthouse. The walls were covered in posters like the one in the footage reel that talked about something called plasmids as it began to steadily rise upward. The radio broadcast once more as the two men continued to converse.
"O-Okay, just one more minute...the 'sphere- the 'sphere is coming up now..." said the second man.
"Johnny, security's banging off all over...get a move on!" the unknown Irishman urged.
The bathysphere breached the surface of the water and stopped inside a dark room. Alex strained to look through the glass before him as water slid down across the surface. What little light that was provided showed a man dressed in dirty and worn out clothes slowly backing away from a shadowed form that was hunched over.
"Please, lady...I didn't mean to trespass. Just don't hurt me..." said the man, his slightly muffled voice sounding exactly like one of the ones on the radio. The two forms approached the former soldier's location steadily until they were right in front of him. "Just let me go...you can keep my gun. You can-"
The shadow that had been stalking him lunged, the flickering lights above in the room showing what looked to be a woman in blood stained clothes with large glowing hooks attached to her hands that drove into the man's gut, slashing outward and spraying blood across the ground.
Alex's eyes widened in horror, backing away from the glass as the man held his now gushing stomach. Gurgling something as the woman that attacked him drove her hooks into his chest and slammed him against the bathysphere. The lights cut out just as the sound of flesh tearing and blood splattering could be heard outside.
There was a dull thud of a body hitting the ground, heavy breathing being heard through the thick glass as the deranged woman peered inside. "Is it someone new?" she wondered, her voice low and raspy like a chain-smoker that never quit.
Alex's horror quickly switched to combat awareness, dropping into a ready stance and drawing his combat knife in preparation for the obvious threat. The woman suddenly shrieked before she leapt upward, the bathysphere shaking as she landed on top of it and began to move about.
Keeping low with his knife ready, Alex winced when the screeching of metal on metal rang out loudly, sparks began shooting out into the small space forcing him to shield his eyes as the deranged woman began carving into the outer hull with her sharp hooks. This went on for about a minute, the transport listing on to the side a bit as she finally jumped off and landed on the small walkway that was just outside the entrance before running off and disappearing into the shadows.
Heart pounding in his ears and adrenaline pumping through his veins, Alex leered out at the attacker and wondered how he was going to get out of this. He wasn't a fully trained mechanic, but his time in the rangers taught him how to assess and repair mechanical equipment in the field if the need arose. So he knew a broken system when he saw one. And the sparks shooting around him was a pretty good indicator that whatever the hell this woman was had fucked up the bathysphere pretty badly.
And the only way out was straight through the one who carved it up.
The images of the man from before being slaughtered before his eyes was still very fresh, but he prepared himself to fight regardless as he grasped the handle-
"Hey, you in the bathysphere. Would you kindly pick up that shortwave radio?" An Irish voice said from the radio beside the door, breaking the tension.
Releasing the handle, Alex reached over and picked up the radio while keeping a sharp eye outside the bathysphere for any sign of the unknown woman. "Who is this?" he asked, keeping a firm grip on his knife.
"I'm Atlas," said the man on the other end. "And I aim to keep you alive. Now, keep moving...we're gonna have to get you to higher ground."
"Wait a damn minute." Alex fired back, "What the hell is going on in this place? What the fuck was that thing?"
"I'll answer any questions you got later, friend." Atlas replied. "But right now you need to get moving. The longer you stick around, the more of them will show up to see what's going on."
The bathysphere's door slowly opened on its own, a few sparks shooting out from the hinges but managed regardless. "Take a deep breath and step out of the bathysphere. I won't leave you twisting in the wind."
The smell of stagnant water and low-tide hit the former soldier pretty hard, but he'd smelled a lot worse in the past as he stepped out of the now ruined transport and got a good look at his surroundings.
It looked like an entry terminal you'd see in an airport or subway station, most likely the bathyspheres were a way for people to get around the city and this was where they got on and off.
Clipping the radio to his belt, Alex started to move slowly into the terminal. Keeping his breath steady and his wits about him as he looked out for anything dangerous out in the shadows. He saw picket signs laying amongst the lost luggage, some saying 'Rapture is Dead!' others saying "Ryan Doesn't own US!".
"She's still out there." Atlas' voice drifted out from the radio's speaker. "We're gonna need to draw her out of hiding. But you're gonna have to trust me."
Reaching down and clicking the receiver button, the former soldier spoke softly and clearly. "You got a plan? I'm flying blind here." he asked as he stepped over more picket signs and loose luggage containers that were sprawled out everywhere.
"Just trust me. I'll make sure your first minutes in Rapture aren't your last." Alex's ears perked up when he heard whispering somewhere out in the darkness. Clearly a woman's voice, but too low for him to understand. He moved very slowly, knife gripped and ready while trying to remain as quiet as possible, his eyes darting around searching for movement.
"I'll wrap you in a sheet..." He paused mid-step at the sinister whisper in the metaphorical wind, straining his ears to pick up anything else, the flickering lights around him making it hard to see anything. When nothing else happened he made his way up a small flight of stairs to the terminal's upper landing.
Sparks shot out of a damaged sign when he passed under it, but he paid it no mind as he kept
moving steadily forward. His senses were all telling him that he was being watched as he tensed, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.
When he reached halfway down the large room, a thin form dropped down from the ceiling a few meters in front of him. The deranged woman let out a dark hiss as she began to stalk toward him.
His mind slipped into fighting mode as he took a stance, ready to take her on as she drew in closer. "Just a bit further..." Atlas' voice drifted out from the radio. When the woman took another step, a bright light sprang on blinding her and making her scream as a small alarm began blaring.
A whirring contraption hovered down from the ceiling and opened fire on her as she spun around and climbed the nearest wall. Crawling through a gap and vanishing completely with the hovering device hot on her heels.
"How do you like that, sister?!" exclaimed the Irishman. Alex relaxed his stance now that the coast was clear. Who or whatever it was moved too fast for him to get a good look, but from what he had seen it didn't look normal. "You alright down there, boyo? Those mechanical junk piles do their job?"
"Yeah...they did." Alex replied as he looked around to be sure that the woman was really gone and no other threats were around.
"Thank god you were by a hacked security camera. That bitch woulda tore you to ribbons." said Atlas. "With everything that's happened so far, I never got your name lad."
"Alexander Kane." The former soldier answered after vaulting over a chunk of fallen debris and moving over to where the camera was still scanning with its small spotlight. The device locked onto him, Atlas more than likely being the one controlling it.
"Nice ta meet ya. Despite the circumstances. Now then, you may wanna find a better weapon. That blade of yours won't get you too far I'm afraid." said Atlas. "Bloody splicers sealed Johnny in before they...goddamn splicers." he spat out in anger.
"What the hell are 'Splicers'?" Alex asked, as he started searching for anything that could be used for a good weapon.
"I guess you could call them Rapture's main population. Bastards outnumber all of us normal folks that are still living." came the reply.
Approaching a pile of debris, Alex moved a couple of concrete chunks aside and found a couple of tools on the ground. Going through them, he tried the wrench first but decided to go with a crowbar. Picking it up and testing the weight in his hands, he was satisfied with how it felt before slipping his knife back in its place and began looking around the room again.
As messed up as the situation was, he had no choice but to trust the voice on the radio. He had no idea where to go or what was happening around him, and if this guy, Atlas, could help him get out of here, then it was best to follow his lead. "How do I get out of here?" he asked the man that was apparently watching his every move.
The spotlight from the camera before moved around and shined on to a nearby doorway that was blocked by debris. "Through there and up the stairs. But keep your wits about you, bound to be more splicers in the area."
Nodding, Alex moved over to the blocked doorway. Clenching the crowbar as he swung hard and shattered a few smaller chunks of concrete, making an opening just large enough for him to slip through and into the darkened stairway beyond.
Though the moment of peace he had been experiencing was short lived. Movement at the top of the stairs drew his attention as someone pushed an old desk at the top of the stairs and lit it on fire.
Alex had only a second or two to register this before it was kicked forward and sent barreling down the steps at him.
"FUCK!" He threw himself to the side and flat against the wall as the flaming projectile flew past him and shattered against the debris pile at the bottom.
He looked back up at the top of the stairs and saw a man standing on the landing. The faded light around him revealed the man dressed in an old suit covered in dirt, blood and grime that hung off his emaciated frame with a cracked party mask that resembled a rabbit on his face.. His hand clenched around a rusty pipe that dripped with either dirty water or blood, Alex couldn't tell which.
"I'm not a bad person!" the man exclaimed before bringing his weapon to bear and running down the steps at the former soldier.
Ducking low as the blunt object swung over his head and put a dent in the wall, Alex moved to the other side of the stairway and brought his own weapon up. "Hey! I'm not here for any trouble!" he said, trying to reason with the madman.
His response was a cackle of madness as the man swung the pipe back around forcing him to dodge again. In the faded light, he could see the man's eyes filled with insanity and violence as he continued to swing at him.
Defecting another swing with his crowbar, Alex swung his weapon in his hand in defense. The blunt end slamming against the side of the man's head with an audible 'crack!' and sending him staggering back. A moment passed as the madman raised himself back up and glared at the former soldier through his mask, bellowing a shout of rage as he charged forward again.
Alex grit his teeth, bringing his arm up and blocking the arm holding the pipe as he whacked his
attacker again with the crowbar. But the man kept at it, like a mad dog that wouldn't quit.
A third swing knocked the man to the floor where he tried to get back up. By this point Alex was
running off adrenaline and drove the crowbar home one last time on to the man's face. Shattering his mask and caving in his forehead in a splash of blood as his body went completely still.
Silence reigned through the stairway, the traveler breathed heavily as he looked down at the body at his feet. A sick feeling beginning to crawl through him when the adrenaline started to wear off.
Having been in the army, there had been moments where he had to kill someone. It was part of the job and one he had to grow accustomed to rather quickly. But it had been a while since he had to end a life.
And bashing a man's head in with a crowbar definitely wasn't idly a good way to bring back such things.
Leaning against the closest wall and taking a few deep breaths. Alex calmed his heart and stomach as best he could before looking down at the body again. And found himself recoiling at how the man looked.
The right half of his face looked normal, looking to be about middle aged. But the left half looked like the skin was beginning to melt off, sagging low and making his eye look like it was bugging out of his head while his mouth stretched and curled downward.
There were also oozing lesions and tumors popping out of his head. It looked like the man had fallen into a vat of radioactive waste with this is what came out.
"You alright there, boyo?" asked Atlas from the radio. Bringing him back from the revulsion of what he had just killed.
Running a hand over his buzzed head, Alex nodded. "Yeah…just something you never really get used to," he admitted.
"Don't be feelin' bad about that fella there. The corruption of this place stripped his humanity a long time ago."
"What the hell happened to this poor bastard? What happened to this city?" Alex all but demanded.
Atlas sighed, "That's a long story wrapped in a longer story, laddie. I'll try and explain what I can, but you need to get moving. No tellin' if there are more of the bastards laying in wait."
Alex took another glance at the body at his feet, grip tightening on his crowbar before he made his way up the steps and entered an open room that had seen better days.
The columns holding the ceiling up had cracks and chunks missing from them, the floor was littered with debris and ripped up floorboards. There was a couple of pieces of furniture in the corners and along the walls that were still in good shape, and several working lights. But what caught his attention the most was the large windows that revealed Rapture up close through the water outside.
Approaching the closest window, Alex put his hand on the cold glass and stared into the ocean at the buildings that made up the city. "This is still beyond belief." he couldn't help but think.
Ever since he had arrived, he had taken in an observation that a lot of the things around him looked a bit old fashioned. Like the old photos he'd seen from the 1940's and 50's.
With the newer advancements of the common age, this place would probably look a lot better and be in better shape. Maybe someone really liked the old school look from back in the day?
Shaking his head, Alex decided to worry about that stuff later. Finding a safe place and getting a better grip of his situation took more priority and he needed to keep his head on straight incase he encountered more of those crazy people.
Seeing a door next to the window he was at, he headed over to it only to discover that the panel
that opened it was damaged and sparking. "Shit." he muttered, slipping the crowbar into his belt as he got a better look at the ruined panel.
The wire's were frayed, and the lever itself was bent at an odd angle making it impossible to move in any direction. "Not getting through here..." he said before taking up his radio, "Atlas, the door leading out of here is damaged. Is there another way?"
"None that I can see, lad." The Irishman was silent for a moment, "Though there might be a way for you to get the gate open. Do you see a flight of stairs by the doorway you came through?"
Alex looked back to the door leading down to the terminal and saw the stairs in question leading up to a landing above it. "Yeah, I see it."
"Head up that way, there you should find something that could help you out." Atlas advised.
Clipping the radio back on his belt, the former soldier headed in the direction of the stairs. Moving up the steps carefully, past a bright sign that said 'Plasmids' with a hand shooting bolts of lightning to the top of the stairs. When he reached the landing itself, there was a small alcove through another archway where an old vending machine was situated.
The sign above read 'Gatherer's Garden' and had a statue of a little girl standing next to it with her hand held out as if presenting the machine;
"My daddy's SMARTER than Einstein, STRONGER than Hercules, and lights a fire with a SNAP of his fingers! Are you as good as my daddy, mister? Not if you don't visit the Gatherer's Garden, you aren't! Smart daddies get spliced at the Gardens!" An automated voice that sounded like a little girl spoke from a speaker within the machine to attract potential customers.
Alex approached and found a sealed jar with glowing red liquid contained within it, an empty hypodermic needle laying beside it as if they were left out for someone to find.
"What is this?" he asked out loud as he picked up the jar and needle.
"It's called a Plasmid, lad...Haven't you ever heard of Plasmids?" asked Atlas.
Alex shook his head, "I'm...not from around here, Atlas. Could you give me the short version here?" he asked while looking the items over more closely.
"Essentially, Plasmids grant the user abilities that normal folks don't have. Depending on what Plasmid you inject yourself with, you get a new power each time. That one there should help you get through that damaged door with no trouble at all." explained the man.
Alex shot a look down at his radio, "You expect me to just inject this shit into myself?" he asked more than a little skeptical.
Atlas sighed, "You don't have a whole lot of time on your side, boyo. If you wanna get yourself out of danger, you don't have that many options available to you. Trust me, it'll be worth it."
The former Ranger scowled, knowing that the man was right and knew it at the same time. Looking back at the so-called 'Plasmid' and the hypo-needle, he couldn't help but consider the possibility of injectable super powers to be pretty awesome. And in the end, it could give him a better defense against anything else that could come after him while he was here.
But were there any side-effects? Would it be worth anything potentially going wrong if he went through with this?
Realizing that he really had no choice. He picked up the needle with great hesitation and pierced the soft part of the jar at the top, pulling the plunger back and filling the syringe with the red fluid until it was full. Setting the jar down as he held the needle in his hand, and held up his other forearm.
Giving the hypo one last glance before bringing it over to his arm, the needle pierced his skin and made him wince a bit before injecting the fluid into his bloodstream.
Warmth shot up through his arm from the point of the injection all the way up into his chest, his vision blurring as his heart pumped the substance throughout his body. The feeling quickly changed into a sharp pain that filled every inch of his frame.
Dropping the syringe, Alex felt his whole body start to convulse from the inside out. The feeling of every vein in his body filling with hot lead ripping through him as glowing blue lines stretched along beneath the skin of his arms and hands.
"What's...happening...to me?!" he managed to grunt out, holding up his hands and seeing bolts of blue electricity arcing between them as he began to stumble back.
"Steady now! Your genetic code is being rewritten!" said Atlas as his vision blurred more and more. "Just hold on and everything will be fine!"
The bolts shooting from Alex's hands grew in intensity as his back hit the railing to the landing. "That's…not...reassuring!" he managed to say before the electricity exploded out of his frame, sending him over the railing and crashing to the floor below where everything went black.
X
His whole body ached. So much so that he couldn't even move an inch, opting to just lay where he had landed while praying that it would pass. Whatever the hell he had put into himself had taken a very serious toll and it took everything he had just to bring himself back to consciousness.
The world kept spinning, and was so blurry that Alex would assume he was stuck in a washing machine.
"Lookie here! This little fish looks like he just had his cherry popped!" said a man's deranged voice as his vision swam a bit into focus and finding two men crouched over him dressed in the
same way as the madman that had attacked him earlier.
"Wonder if he's got some Adam on him?" said one with a cat mask as he reached to check Alex's prone and vulnerable form.
The other man suddenly perked up, "You hear that? Let's bug!" he said panicked before running off.
"Weak!" the first man shouted after him. "You're a weak chopper!"
"This little fish ain't worth toeing it with no Big Daddy!" the second one shouted back as he fled the room.
The one that remained growled, "Yellow! Always have been!" He looked down at Alex and chuckled, "You'll be no better off with the metal daddy, little fish. See you floating in the briney..." with that he fled after his partner.
His vision darkened again and faded out for some time before being brought back to the waking
world when he heard a deep, bellowing groan followed shortly by thudding footsteps that shook the very floor he was laying on.
Vision swimming again, Alex could make out a hulking form in rusty metal armor step into his
field of vision. Multiple round, yellow lights dominating the dome shaped headpiece as the large being looked around the room. A large drill dominating its right arm as it let out another rumbling groan similar to a dying whale from within the suit.
"Look Mr. Bubbles. It's an angel!" said a warped, child-like voice from somewhere close. Through the haze covering his eyes, the former soldier could see a little girl with bare feet wearing a dirty purple dress approaching him. Her eyes glowing an eerie yellowish-orange while she held a wicked looking tool with a long, sharp needle at the end.
"I can see light coming from his belly..." she said to the giant as she raised the tool close to Alex's body...but she paused at the last second. "Wait a minute, he's still breathing. It's alright. I know he'll be an angel soon." she said a bit too happily before skipping away with the hulking golem lumbering after her like an obedient pet.
Alex felt his vision fade out of focus darken again.
X
Waking up a third time a while later feeling far better than he had before.
Pushing himself up into a sitting position, the former Ranger gripped his head feeling like his brain had expanded several sizes too big for his skull. Images flashing through his mind that showed hands coursing with electrical energy, firing from the fingertips with the mere snap of the wrist.
When the images finally faded, and the headache dissipated little by little as his senses returned to normal, he realized he knew things that he didn't know before.
"You all right, boyo?" asked Atlas over the radio, "First time Plasmids a real kick from a mule. But...there's nothing like a fistful of lightning now, is there?"
"Could have warned me beforehand about the whole 'body altering' experience." Alex muttered.
Raising his hand as large veins began glowing bright blue under his skin. Recalling the images that he had seen, he snapped his left hand out toward a table that had a lamp sitting on it.
A bolt of lightning shot from his palm, zapping across the room striking the lamp and blowing it off the table. "Whoa!" Alex said, looking down at his hand in awe. Holding it out again he zapped another bolt at a chair, knocking it over and scorching the fabric. "Ok, this is pretty fucking sick!" he couldn't help but grin with the realization that he now had super powers.
Turning toward the doorway with the damaged panel, an idea started forming in his head and he knew what he had to do thanks to the memories that had somehow implanted themselves after he injected his new powers.
Stepping up to the door, Alex held out his hand, concentrating on the new abilities he had attained and shot a bolt into the panel. Causing it to spark briefly as the red light on it changed to green. The metal door sliding upward a moment later and revealing the path forward.
"This is definitely gonna be useful." he thought looking at his hand again. The blue glowing veins receded until his skin returned to normal.
Turning toward the now open doorway, he paused half-way there when a spot of light on the side of the main room caught his attention.
Heading that way, Alex found himself looking at a small model of Rapture. The highest buildings reaching high from within the glass case surrounding it. Looking down at the small plaque underneath it, he felt the air escape his lungs.
'Rapture: Nov 5 1946. One Man's Vision. Mankind's Salvation.'
With a shaking hand, he picked up his radio and clicked the button on it. "Atlas...I have a question for you, and you better answer it honestly...What date is it?"
The man on the other end answered a moment later, "Last time I checked; May 6th, 1960. Why do you need to know, lad?...Lad? You there?"
Alex didn't answer, the radio having slipped from his hand and clattering to the floor as the color
drained from his face. The gravity of Atlas' words coming down on him as hard as the tons of water pressure outside the room.
Not only was he in a city on the bottom of the ocean...but he had somehow found himself 60 years in the past...
X
A/N: And the reality of the situation has started to settle in. But Alex doesn't know what waits for him i the crumbling walls of Rapture.
Appreciating the support out there guys, keep letting me know what you think and I'll get updating again before you know it.