Ever since he first arrived in Rapture, Alex had been in awe of how such a place could exist, disgusted with how the city truly was, angry with the fate the children had to endure, and a combination of frustration and desperation in extreme cases.
At this moment, he was definitely going through the last two as he emptied the machine gun's clip at the attacking splicer who kept jumping from floor, to wall, to ceiling. Avoiding each round before they could hit their target.
Alex dumped the magazine and attempted to reload when the splicer threw one of her glowing meat hooks at him, forcing him to dodge. The heated metal sank into the wall behind him, a second later the splicer was here, ripping them from the stone and coming after him again.
Tossing the machine gun, Alex drew his shotgun and fired. The buckshot's spread found purchase, sending a red mist into the air when it struck the deranged woman. But she seemed to ignore the hit and kept coming. The former Ranger fired two more times before having to deflect one of the splicer's hooks with the weapon, delivering a spartan kick to the splice's chest and sending her slamming against the wall.
The woman screamed in anger and came at him again, swinging her hooks in wide arcs and forcing the former Ranger to duck and dodge to avoid being sliced to pieces. Unable to reload, he instead swung the shotgun upward and caught her in the jaw, stunning her long enough to blast an electro-bolt into her body.
Pulling out his crowbar, Alex smashed the weapon hard against the splicer's head, spinning her around and allowing him to lock it around her throat from behind. The splicer shook violently, struggling as he tried to apply more pressure.
She shoved backwards, slamming Alex into the wall behind them before flipping backwards and upwards, attaching herself to the wall above the former Ranger and loosening his grip. His response was to duck under a dual swing that would have decapitated him.
Rolling back to his feet, Alex drew his revolver in his right hand and his knife in the left in a reverse-blade grip. Firing several rounds at the splicer who flipped backwards up the wall to avoid them, she scuttled along the surface and up onto the ceiling before flipping herself through the hole that she had come down through.
A malicious laughter followed as she vanished.
Breathing heavily from the fight he'd just been in, the former Ranger lowered his weapons when he realized she wouldn't be coming back. For now at least.
"That one's too tough for you." Alex turned to the door to see Peach peering out from the panel in the door, his welding mask still on. "Look on the conveyor belt, you'll find something to keep you alive."
The conveyor belt next to the door kicked on, something rolling out from behind the wall and settling on the bigger one below it. Alex could only describe it as some kind of weapon fashioned together with several large cans and other pieces of scrap metal to look like some kind of cannon.
"The hell is this thing?" He asked, picking up the odd weapon. Finding it with a decent amount of weight to it.
Peach scoffed, "Haven't yous seen a launcher before? Put some explodies in that, send them fuckin splicers to hell!"
Alex jerked up in surprise, "This thing's a grenade launcher?" He looked down at the weapon in disbelief. Finding the loading chamber where a couple of homemade grenades were resting inside, waiting to be fired.
"This ain't no free gift. Use it to help you get that camera and some snapshots of those that crawl on the ceiling. Then I'll let you into the fisheries." said Peach.
"How's taking pictures of those freaks going to help?" asked the former Ranger.
"This ain't no ordinary camera! It's designed to give information on whatever it captures. Find out their secrets, find out what kills them!" the man explained. "Enough gab! Find the camera, take some snappies and bring them back here. And remember, sonny friend! I smell an ounce of Fontaine on you, and I'll have you in a box! Atlas gives you the vouch, but I ain't turning my eye just on his say so!" he slammed the panel shut, ending the discussion.
Alex looked at the door a moment before gazing back down at the launcher in his hands. "At least I got some better firepower." he thought out loud before going about, collecting and reloading his weaponry before heading toward the exit.
"Grown man, jumpin' at ghosts." Atlas' brogue sounded from the radio. "Fontaine's dead and everybody knows it. In the ground for months, and half the place is still jumpin' at his shadow…Christ, even Ryan."
"Safe to assume he was a real threat to everything and everybody?" asked Alex as he climbed over the barricade blocking off the fisheries.
"The man was ambitious, and smart. More than enough to get everyone to notice. Ryan saw him as a threat to what he'd built long before the splicer's became a problem. Lot of folks were in his pocket and some believed that he was planning a coup, overthrow Ryan and take Rapture for himself." Atlas explained. "But never mind all that now, we got work to do."
Alex approached the edge of the pier near the ramp he came up before, and found three splicers grouped together on the lower level. Scavenging a couple of bodies that were laying in the water running off from nearby pipes. Looking at the launcher in his hand, he decided that this was as good a time as any to test it.
Taking careful aim, being sure to prepare himself for recoil, he pulled the large trigger.
The launcher bucked hard in his hands as it lobbed a soup can explosive into the small group. The homemade grenade exploded on contact and sent them flying backwards, leaving them charred and smoldering corpses floating in the water they'd been standing in.
After seeing the results, Alex couldn't help but smirk at his new weapon. "Oh yeah, this is going to even some odds."
X
Thankfully the path to the wharf master's office was marked, otherwise he'd have to hunt down a map to avoid getting lost. Working his way in the direction of his objective, Alex took out any splicers that got in his way while being sure to keep an eye out for the one he'd fought outside the fishery or any others like it.
Whatever the thing was, the ADAM in their system had caused a unique mutation that made them almost spider-like. Speed, flexibility, and the ability to scale walls and ceilings. The former Ranger was hoping that the research camera Peach was making him go hunting for actually did what he said it would.
Finding out his enemy's strengths and weaknesses would go a long way to helping him survive.
Passing through a small corridor lined with steam-pumps, Alex stopped when he saw various items scattered on the floor. A box of shotgun shells, an Eve-hypo, and a couple of oval shaped devices that had green lights built into them.
Picking up one of the devices, the former Ranger gave it a good once over. It was covered in dull spikes and had a grenade-like feel to them. Turning it over, he found a tag carved in the metal that read; 'Type 2 - Prox. Mine'
"Proximity bombs?" Alex wondered as he picked up the other one. Figuring they would come in handy, he stuck them on his belt before heading through the door and found himself on the upper wharf.
The sound of a gunfight was the first thing he heard as he ventured farther, rounding a pile of fishing crates, he was met with a group of splicers fighting with what he could only assume was a Big Daddy.
But unlike the ones he'd seen and fought before, this one was easily a foot taller and wore a different set of armor with a helmet that had one porthole on the front and on either side. Instead of a drill arm, it had both hands free, and being held by them was a massive weapon that it fired at the attacking splicers.
One of the rounds missed its target and hit the crates Alex stood beside, forcing him to duck out of sight a moment. Leaning back out, he looked to the hole the round had made and didn't find a bullet, but a large metal rivet.
A little girl's scream snapped his attention forward, the former Ranger saw a Little Sister trying to avoid a splicer's grabbing hands as she ran between his legs. He attempted to grab the girl again, but the Big Daddy was there, smashing the butt of his weapon against their head before unloading a handful of rivets into their body.
The firefight ended seconds later, all the splicers dead and the Big Daddy taking minimal damage. The Little Sister joined its side as they began moving along together.
Alex knew this must have been the 'Rosie' Big Daddy Tenenbaum had warned him about. And this one seemed more armed combat oriented than the 'Bouncers' were. Though from what he'd seen, this one was focused on medium and long range while the others were close quarters.
Strategies brewing, the former Ranger remembered the proximity bombs he'd just picked up and had a game plan.
Loading armor-piercing rounds into his machine gun, he switched to his new grenade launcher before stepping out into the wharf. Getting a certain distance from his target, he lifted the weapon and pulled the trigger.
The grenade lobbed through the air and exploded against the Big Daddy's back. Sending it staggering a couple steps forward.
Portholes now glowing red, the golem turned and raised its rivet gun only for another grenade to detonate against its chest. With it stumbling again, Alex took one of the proximity mines from his belt. Pressing the switch on it, he tossed the explosive a few feet in front of him where it stuck to the ground and activated.
Switching to his machine gun, the former Ranger fired several short controlled bursts at the Big Daddy before falling back. The rounds peppered the armored guardian's body, a few penetrating its suit, but its one track mind to protect the Little Sister made it ignore the damage and charge after its target…
Right in the proximity of the explosive Alex had dropped.
The following explosion sent the Big Daddy crashing into a stack of crates that were knocked over on top of it. Causing it to drop its large gun in the process. Alex continued firing, focusing on the golem's head and hoping for one of the special rounds to punch through as it stood up, throwing the crates off of it and picking up its dropped gun.
Reloading a new magazine, the former Ranger ducked back around the corner when a barrage of hot rivets punched into the wall. The Big Daddy stomped forward, albeit a little slower than before, while loading a fresh canister of rivets into its weapon. Rounding the corner its quarry was hiding behind, it released a low groan of confusion when it didn't see anyone there.
A soft beeping had it turning its attention to the right and came face to face with a proximity mine attached to the wall next to it.
BOOM!
The Big Daddy was thrown to the side, crashing to the wooden floor of the wharf. Its suit burnt and torn from the repeated explosions, yet it still tried to stand despite all the damage it had suffered from. Its red porthole leered up as Alex stepped into its line of sight.
"Sorry, big guy. But these girls need to be set free." he said before raising his machine gun and fired. The porthole shattered as the whole clip was pumped into its head. The Big Daddy collapsed not a second later.
Threat neutralized, the former Ranger reloaded again as the Little Sister came running up to the large corpse. "NOO! MR. BUBBLES!"
Alex quickly approached the girl and placed his hand on her head, the Cure All plasmid quickly going to work as the glowing veins spread across both of them before the tell tale flash burst forth.
Sight returning, he saw this Little Sister had red hair cut to reach her shoulders. Her yellow dress was in the same state of damage as one would expect, but he did notice that she had a small cross necklace around her neck.
Her green eyes blinked up at him before she smiled, "Th-Thank you, sir."
Smiling back, Alex knelt down to her height. "It's no problem sweetie, but you better brace yourself." The girl gave him an odd look before she paled and threw up the green bile that contained the ADAM slug. Alex held her hair back and stroked the top of her head as she finished expelling the little monstrosity.
When she finished, the former Ranger took the ADAM from the slug before scooping up the girl in his arms. "It's gonna be okay, you'll be safe soon," he said gently. "What's your name?"
The girl yawned, her ordeal taking a lot out of her. "Maggie."
"It's nice to meet you, Maggie. I'm Alex." They reached a vent situated in the far corner of the wharf. "The safe place is in here. When you get to the end, there will be other girls like you, and a lady who will take care of you." he explained.
Maggie curled into him a little tighter, "Don't wanna. Safe here." she mumbled into his neck.
The former Ranger rubbed her back soothingly, "I'd love nothing more than to stay with you, sweetie. But it's too dangerous for you and the others out here. There are a lot of people that will want to hurt you, I can't let that happen."
Her little hands played with his dog tags absently, "You'll come visit?" she asked softly.
Alex felt an array of emotions from her innocent question. "I'll try, there are a lot of Little Sisters still out there. They need to be saved too."
Maggie leaned back, her green eyes full of hope as she nodded. Alex lifted her up to the opening in the vent where she crawled inside. Turning around, she smiled at him one last time.
"We all knew you'd come."
The little red-head turned back to the vent and crawled farther inside, leaving the former Ranger with a gobsmacked look on his face.
X
It took him a minute or two to get back on track, Maggie's parting words having knocked him for a serious loop and were still running through his head ever since.
What did she mean by they knew he'd come? How could they have known that he'd be there helping them, or being there in general? None of it made sense. Of course, nothing had made sense the moment he was dropped into the ocean.
Thankfully, he'd managed to push it to the back of his mind for the time being to focus on his current task.
Scouring the rest of the upper wharf, gathering supplies and listening to a couple of audio diaries as well. Gathering more information from the people who once lived here to understand what had happened to Rapture.
Pushing onward, the former Ranger traveled up a flight of stairs to the uppermost level of the wharf. A long corridor at the top led toward a sealed of sector with 'Wharf Master's Office' blinking from a sign attached to the ceiling.
"Atlas, I'm at the wharf master's office." Alex said as he approached the locked gate and smashing the padlock off the chain holding it with his crowbar.
"The research camera you're lookin' for looks just like one you'd see topside. According to this magazine article I managed to scrounge up, 'It can also analyze genetic information, parse biological structures' and lots of other five dollar words." replied the Irishman.
"Wonder how they managed that with an average camera." Alex wondered as he stepped into the entryway. A desk set up by the gate he'd just open with a hallway behind it as well as one in front of him.
"Hell if I know, lad. I ain't no egghead. As long as it gets you through the fisheries that's all that-" Atlas was cut off as a hail of bullets suddenly tore through the air. Alex immediately dropped behind a stack of crates that were now being chipped apart.
Poking his head out, the former Ranger saw a stationary turret at the far end of the hallway unleashing its payload toward him. "Fuck!" He cursed as he gripped his machine gun.
"Lad?! You alright?!" His guide shouted in alarm. Alex went to answer when he saw something down the hallway next to him.
A red light coming on and a small burst of flame from somewhere at the far end. He barely had a moment to register what was happening, his eyes widening as he leapt aside just as a rocket struck the crates and reduced them to burning debris.
Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Alex rolled to his feet and ran down the hallway the RPG turret was stationed. Another rocket was launched in his direction and he dove into the hallway on his left and avoided being blown to pieces…
Right into the path of another RPG turret and a security camera that both locked on to him. "Son of a BITCH!" the former Ranger shouted as he threw himself out of sight into the first alcove he could see.
Landing on the cracked stone floor beside the dead body of a Big Daddy inside a crumbling jail cell. Crawling back against the closest wall, Alex pressed his back firmly to it while machine gun fire peppered one side, and rockets blew chunks out of the other. If he went either way, he'd be dead before he took two steps.
He was completely pinned down.
Clutching his weapon tightly to his chest, Alex suddenly found himself in another place. In another time. Instead of his black t-shirt and jeans he was in his desert camo uniform. And instead of a ruined jail cell, he was in a bombed out building beside the members of his squad while enemy insurgents fired on their location from several angles. Gunfire and shouting all around him with the occasional explosion from an RPG.
It had been his first mission with his squad, reconing a local town that was said to have enemy activity. Their intel had been off regarding the number of combatants in the area and they were cornered before they had a chance to fall back.
Outnumbered, they hunkered down in that ruined building and held out until backup arrived to get them out.
Only now things were different. He was on his own, and there were no reinforcements on the way. He needed to think of something and fast or he'd end up another corpse in this massive tomb beneath the ocean.
Flinching when another explosion sent chunks of stone and masonry raining down on him. The movement caused something to fall out of his backpack and clatter to the floor. Looking down, he saw an all too familiar plasmid jar laying among the debris.
Time slowed to a crawl, all the noise around him became muddled as his focus centered on the ADAM concoction. His mind at war with itself. One side, his instincts to survive wanting him to use the plasmid to get out of this. The other, his fears and hesitation warning him about the outcome if his body couldn't handle another ADAM boost.
Another explosion went off nearby. A decision needed to be made, and quick.
Clenching his eyes closed, the former Ranger banged his head against the wall behind him, muscles tense as he kept weighing his options back and forth.
Opening his eyes again, he picked up the plasmid and glared at it. "...fuck it. I'll be dead either way." He took out a syringe and filled it with the glowing concoction. "At least this way, I'll go out on my terms." Jamming the needle into his arm, he pushed the plunger down and felt the ADAM course through his veins.
X
Outside the cell, the two turrets continued to fire on where their target had taken refuge while the security camera continued to scan around for movement.
The man-made security system snapped around when something bolted out into the open. The camera's built-in light came on and blared its warning alarm as the RPG turret fired. The missile screaming toward its target…
Only for it to stop in midair.
Alex stood with his left hand outstretched, his new power over telekinesis keeping the explosive suspended with his machine gun held in the other. With a flick of his wrist, the missile flipped around and flew back at the mechanism that fired it.
A quick burst from his gun destroyed the camera and leaving the hallway clear. The former Ranger slung the machine gun over his shoulder and approached where the turret had been stationed, knowing there were two other turrets on either side he channeled his new power and pulled a metal panel off a nearby wall. Using it as a shield as he stepped out of the hallway and the machine gun turret began pelting it.
The RPG launcher on the other side fired its payload only for Alex to catch it with TK, lifting the makeshift shield, he threw the missile at the machine gun turret and blew it to pieces. Before the RPG launcher could fire another explosive, the former Ranger threw the metal panel at it, slamming it against the wall and crushing it like a tin can.
Looking at all the damage he caused, Alex clutched his head when a massive ache pulsed through it with blood dripping slowly from his nose. Clear signs that he had overexerted his new ability in the last few seconds.
"Dammit…note to self…baby steps." He hissed while pulling out an Eve-hypo and injecting it into himself. The pain fading quickly as he wiped the blood from under his nose.
"Dammit Alex, say something lad!" Atlas demanded.
Alex picked up his radio, "I'm good, Atlas. Just got in a tight spot."
The Irishman sighed in relief, "Christ, boyo. You had me worried for a minute there. Try to keep your head up or you might get it blown off out there."
"Don't need to tell me that." Alex replied before clipping the radio back in place.
After clearing the rest of the area of security measures, Alex began checking nearby rooms and offices. The wharf master's office was really no different from what one would see in a police precinct, obviously a place set up for those who broke the law here in Neptune's Bounty, which meant it had to have confiscated items stored nearby.
The former Ranger had found an array of weapons, ammo, medical supplies, Eve, contraband food and alcohol and many other odds and ends taken from criminals over an unknown amount of time.
Alex grabbed anything useful he could use, even finding grenades for his launcher and a couple proximity mines. He'd even found a box of shotgun shells labeled 'Electric Buckshot', which had him wondering if it was literal.
But there was no sign of the research camera Peach had wanted him to track down. Though there was still more of the place to search, so he wasn't giving up just yet.
Knocking off another padlock and opening a gate that led farther into the offices. But a crumbled ceiling prevented him from going any farther, luckily there had been a hole broken through a wall and giving him an opening.
Slipping through the open section of wall. The former Ranger stood and made his way down the winding corridor lined with windows, desks and file cabinets that came to an end at a closed door with 'Interrogation Room' labeled above it.
Alex reached for the handle, when a voice slowly drifted from somewhere inside;
"...Jesus loves me, this I know. For the bible tells me so…"
The religious tune being sung made a chill go down his spine, but he managed to steel himself as he gently opened the door and peered inside.
It was an office/observation room one would find in a police station where the officers would question suspects. Audio equipment was set up to record the sessions for evidence, and files were scattered out on the surrounding desks.
And on one of said desks was a large camera.
"That's gotta be it." he muttered. Stepping inside, he crossed the room toward his objective. Nearly feeling his heart stop when he found a splicer similar to the one he'd fought before standing right next to him.
Jumping back, raising his weapon, Alex paused when he saw that the splicer wasn't moving. Just staring in his direction and singing that same song to himself. Relief filled him when he realized it must have been a two-way mirror.
Once he was sure the deranged man couldn't see him, Alex lowered his weapon and grabbed the camera off the desk. "I got the camera." he said into the radio.
"Good! Now get me some snap snaps of those Spider Splicers!" Peach's voice came from the speaker.
" 'Spider Splicers'?" Alex asked incredulously.
"You gots a better name for them freaks? Just get the snappies! Three separate subjects should do! And don't come back without my research!" the line cut out abruptly making the former Ranger glare at it.
"Asshole." he muttered before turning his attention to the hook-wielding splicer behind the glass that was aimlessly walking around the interrogation room. Looking down at the camera in his hands, he held it up to his eye and put the splicer in focus before snapping the picture.
There was a quick flash, then the camera began to hum. A slot beneath the device began to deposit a glossy photograph half the size of a standard piece of paper. On one side, the image of the splicer he'd captured slowly came into focus as the image developed. On the other, a list of information began to appear in much the same way that he started to read;
Subject: Spider Splicer
Fast, nimble, able to perform acrobatic feats to avoid damage and can scale walls and ceilings.
Strength = XXX
Speed = XXXX
Endurance = XXX
Resistant to small arms fire due to quick reflexes and high endurance.
Elemental Recommendations = Electricity and Ice - Hinder Movement
Further Recommendations =
Close-quarters weapons
Electric/Explosive munitions
Anti-Personnel Rounds
Wide-Spread firing range over small spaces
Alex was genuinely surprised to see such valuable intel from a single photograph. Even more so that it came out of such an old school camera. Not even the devices in his time weren't able to give a read out like this from a single picture on its own.
Now he knew why Peach needed this thing.
Movement out of the corner of his eye had him looking back into the interrogation room in time to see the spider splicer leaping into the air and disappear into the ceiling. The former Ranger tensed, straining his ears as he heard the sound of the splicer's hooks stabbing into stone as it faded away.
Deciding now would be a good time to get gone while he had the chance. Putting the camera and the photo into his bag, he unslung his machine gun and left the room, doubling back to where he come through the hole in the wall.
A large explosion up ahead had him stumble just before a pair of splicers came into view brandishing weapons. Alex gunned them down quickly before rounding the corner, stepping around burning wreckage of a collapsed wall that blocked the hole he'd crawled through.
A broken gas pipe having caused the blast and making an opening for him to get out. An overturned Gatherer's Garden was sticking halfway out a smashed window that led back out to the upper wharf.
Climbing down from the window, using the small awnings below them, the former Ranger dropped down to the wood planks below and found himself outside of an automated door that had been blocked off by a locked gate when he first started exploring this level of the pier.
A lone spicer had been nearby in the light of a security camera, a few bullets dealt with both before he approached the door. The sign with a harpoon pointing at it read; 'Fighting McDonagh's Tavern' and 'Jet Postal'.
He'd seen signs for the tavern since he arrived, and the 'Jet Postal' must have been the Pneumo system Tenenbaum had mentioned earlier as well. From what Peach was shouting, he needed to find two more subjects for the research he needed on the spider splicers.
"Well, I haven't hit up a bar in a while." Alex said while switching to his shotgun, "Can't think of a better place to start." The door opened at his approach and he stepped into the damaged junction that led out into one of Raptures glass walking tunnels beyond.
The spider splicer safari was well underway.
X
A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter compared to the others, but I couldn't leave things on a cliffhanger for too long.
But more questions are coming about. How did Maggie know he was coming? And can Alex handle another plasmid injected into his genetics? Guess you'll have to wait and find out.
Not for too long, I'll be updating again before you know it.