Author's Note: This chapter arrived a week late due to serious and painful tennis elbow I got from weightlifting. I could barely hold my left arm in a position where I could type, so I had to take time off before getting to the doctor. It's better now, though. So, I'm back on schedule.
Review Responses
Guest chapter 2, Jun 2: I'm not sure about SFM videos, but I'll definitely make adaptations for Team Fortress 2. You've got some good cast suggestions, too.
Yang34: Absolutely. The last level with Ruby driving across the Autumn in a Warthog to escape Halo will be a blast to write.
Scaryface456: I'm glad I met your expectations. And I agree, I wanted to make the action scenes concise and enjoyable to show the audience how lethal Ruby's counterpart is and tell the story at the same time.
kyro232: Thanks for pointing out that mistake for me. I went back and fixed it.
Xenozip: I've never played Ratchet and Clank, but I'll look into it and see if I can pull of an adaptation of it. And I fully agree that Ruby is more suited for the role of Master Chief than Jaune for all the reasons you listed.
Jamieoeyes: Sorry if I disappointed you. It's just that Jaune has already played Master Chief in other multiverse fics, so I gave the role to Ruby instead. But, rest assured, Jaune will have his share of roles here as well.
Pharamine: I'll definitely continue with Halo in future adaptations.
CrdnpostngLetsGo: Lol. You sure said a mouthful there. I'm glad you agree with my casting choices for Master Chief and Cortana. Weiss and Winter are going to be devastated when they witness Willow's death in the Halo-RWBY multiverse. And I haven't decided on who will play Dr. Halsey yet, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Finally, I was wrong about Ruby being the last Spartan in her team, so I fixed it with an edit.
Shadow-Proclamation8- Thanks for the encouragement, man. No point in letting that work go to waste. And you have some good ideas, especially "Destroy All Humans". I loved that game.
SaraBeyond: I hear ya. It's about time Ruby played a Spartan in a multiverse viewing instead of Jaune. He already played Master Chief in another multiverse fic.
Inspiration: Bioshock
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit story for entertainment purposes only. "RWBY" is the property of director and animator Monty Oum (RIP) and production company Rooster Teeth, and "Bioshock" is the property of video game director Ken Levine, developing companies 2K Australia and Boston, and publisher 2K.
"That first viewing was pretty awesome," Yang commented, hoping to see more of Spartan Ruby.
"And it was nice to see Ruby and I partnered up together like we are in our own universe," Weiss commented positively.
"Yeah. Though it was very dark with the genocidal aliens and all," Jaune referred to the Covenant.
"Perhaps the next viewing will be more light-hearted," Penny said hopefully.
The setting appeared in white letters against a black background.
Atlesian Ocean
Fade in to the POV of someone sitting aboard an airship. He held up his right, brown skinned hand, showing that he was smoking a cigarette. In his left hand, he held a gift boxed wrapped in blue paper and tied up by a red bow. On the giftbox's tag was written "To our wonderful son, Oscar [1]. With love, from Mom Dad. Would you kindly not open (hidden by the bow) until (hidden by the bow).
Yang blinked. "Oscar? Does anyone know someone named Oscar?"
The others shrugged or shook their heads "no".
"Well, it's nice he received a gift from his family," Penny smiled warmly, reminded of gifts her father gave her in the form of technical upgrades.
"Oscar…" Ozpin mouthed to himself, somehow feeling the name had some significance, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it…
"They told me… son, you're special," a voiceover said. "You're born to do great things. You know that? They were right."
Suddenly, the airship shook and the sounds of people screaming filled the vessel as it went down and crashed into the ocean.
"Oh my Oum!" Ruby gasped.
"Well...that escalated quickly," Qrow said in a low tone.
"What happened? Why did it crash?" Penny asked, not comprehending.
"I don't know. Perhaps engine failure," Ironwood theorized.
The name of the adaptation appeared in white letters on a green tag, and water cascading down it.
BIOSHOCK
The tag's color faded to a worn, rusty texture.
Jaune tilted his head slightly. "Bioshock?"
"I'm sure the title has a certain meaning," Pyrrha presumed.
"Hmmm..." Oobleck hummed at the tag's rusting, believing it was symbolic of something.
Cut back to Oscar in the inky black water of the ocean. He immediately began to scramble for the surface above him, luggage and debris from the plane raining down, narrowly missing him. He groaned loudly in panic as his lungs rapidly ran out of air.
Finally, he reached the surface, taking in sharp gasps of air. He found himself surrounded by floating wreckage and burning fire dust on the water from the plane, brightly illuminating the area around him.
"It's a miracle he survived that crash," Glynda commented on Oscar's luck.
Neptune's eyes widened, his hands clenching his armrests tightly as he trembled from his aquaphobia kicking in.
Sun patted his partner on the back. "Calm down, bro. It's not real," he said softly.
"Do you think there's any other survivors?" Weiss asked worriedly.
Blake's ears flattened against her head. "I don't know. I don't see anybody else," she doubted.
The protagonist swam forward, careful to avoid the flames as he spotted a gap to swim through. As he did, the dark shape of a structure could be seen to his right. Curious, he swam closer until he could identify the structure.
It was a lighthouse built on a tiny rocky island. It's emitter shining brightly against the moonlit sky.
"A lighthouse? In the middle of the ocean?" Port questioned.
"Lucky him. Otherwise, he could look forward to a slow death via drowning or exposure," Qrow said morbidly.
"Maybe he can find a way to call for help inside," Velvet said.
Carefully avoiding the flames, Oscar swam towards the refuge of the lighthouse, passing the rapidly sinking tail section of the plane wreck. At the base of the lighthouse, he found a staircase at water level lit by multiple lanterns. Ascending the stairs, Oscar found himself leading up to double set of large brass doors. They were embellished with a winged figure. Above the door was a large medallion with the letter "R" set over a golden cityscape.
Weiss scratched her chin. "Hmmm, it's very opulent for a lighthouse. Brass doors, marble stairs, polished stone structure."
"Ms. Schnee is right. There's something suspicious about it," Ozpin agreed with Weiss' observation.
"I wonder what that 'R' stands for?" Nora questioned.
Oscar shot a look back at the crash site, distant cries of other passengers could be heard, but they soon faded away.
"Oh no..." Ruby grieved softly with her hands to her chest.
"It looks like Oscar is the only one who made it," Pyrrha said sadly.
"All those passengers…gone…" Penny mourned.
With nowhere else to go, Oscar slowly entered the lighthouse.
Then, suddenly, the doors slammed shut with a metallic bang and locked behind him, as if by themselves. The chamber was plunged into darkness.
A few startled audience members jumped at the sudden noise.
"Okay...that's unsettling," Blake commented.
Yang shrugged. "Yeah. But it beats being stuck outside."
Then, which a loud chiming sound, a series of lights turned on, illuminating an octagonal shaped chamber. Classical music played softly over a speaker.
Overlooking the room was a huge bronze bust of a middle-aged man in a suit. He had a thin mustache and short-slicked back hair. Beneath the bust was a red, tattered banner etched with gold letters spelling: NO GODS OR KINGS. ONLY MAN."
"That's even more unsettling," Ironwood remarked, never wanting to look up and see a bust of Jacque Schnee looking down on him.
Weiss narrowed her gaze. "So, my father built that lighthouse," she realized aloud.
"That's your old man?" Yang questioned, while the heiress sighed and nodded.
"Where is everyone?" Glynda wondered aloud, noticing the chamber was deserted. "And what does that banner mean?"
Oscar moved further into the room, finding a split staircase leading downwards. The protagonist followed them to another domed room. It looked like a small dock of with a round, submarine like craft sitting in a little pool of water in the center of the room. Oscar approached and looked in through the wide-open hatch. The interior had eight red-cushioned seats and a telemotor lever in the center.
Stepping inside, Oscar pulled the lever. The hatch closed and sealed as the bathysphere descended into the depths via a deepwater well. Through the viewport, Oscar could see depth signs as the bathysphere sank deeper and deeper. First 10 fathoms. Then 18 fathoms.
"How deep is a fathom?" Yang asked nobody in particular.
"A fathom is six feet. So far, 18 fathoms would be over one-hundred feet," Oobleck answered before sipping his coffee and getting his notebook ready.
"But where is that submarine taking him? What's down there?" Blake asked in anticipation.
"I don't know, but I've got a feeling it's gonna be big," Nora predicted, her excitement increasing.
Next, the lights dimmed and a projector screen rose up, blocking out the viewport. music played as a series of static, black and white advertisements appeared on the screen.
The first one showed an illustration winged figure atop lighthouse against sun rising horizon.
Next was a woman happily lighting a cigarette for her husband with a little flame emanating from her finger. The slogan read: "Fire at your fingertips!". The product was called: "Incinerate Plasmids" by "Gele Industries."
"Plasmids? What are those?" Ruby asked in confusion.
"And what about this Gele Industries? Does the Schnee Dust Company exist in this universe?" Winter asked Gold-Sith.
"No, Specialist Schnee. As a matter of fact, dust itself doesn't exist in this universe," Gold-Sith explained.
Weiss did a slight double take. "Really?"
"Well, this should be fascinating," Ozpin said expectantly.
Next, came a caption reading: "From the desk of Jacques Gele."
The next slide showed Jacques Gele himself sitting behind a desk, smoking a pipe.
"I am Jacque Gele," he began a refined speech. "And I'm here to ask you a question: is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Atlas. It belongs to the poor. No, says the man in Mistral. It belongs to the God of Light. No, says the man in Menagerie. It belongs to everyone."
"What does he even mean by all this 'sweat of your brow' stuff?" Nora questioned Jacque's philosophical ramblings.
"I think he's asking the passengers if they're entitled to the fruits of their labor or the government they live under," Ren guessed correctly.
"As if he has any room to talk," Weiss sneered, since Jacques wormed his way into the SDC via lies and deceit.
"What do you mean, Weiss?" Ruby asked out of concern her partner.
Weiss paused. "I'd rather not talk about it," she insisted.
"What about the other kingdoms in this version of Remnant? Why did Jacques take such umbrage with them?" Ozpin inquired.
"Well, Atlas, after years of economic upheaval and unemployment, has introduced new financial reforms and regulations that help the poor, Mistral's government has strong ties and reverence for the church of light and seeks to appease it, and Menagerie is a socialist republic that believes in equal distribution of wealth and social ownership of production," Gold-Sith apprised, while Oobleck wasted no time in jotting down notes in his book.
"I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose…"
The screen lowered just as the bathysphere rose over a rock formation and Oscar was treated to a panorama of an underwater metropolis.
...Rapture."
The entire audience gazed in slack-jawed wonder and amazement at the marvel of Rapture. Even Neptune was fascinated, despite his fear of water. It was even more captivating than the technological marvels of the previous universe viewing.
"Ooooooh," a few people said softly, mesmerized by the scenery.
"By the Brothers, look at that!" Oobleck praised, wishing he could travel to such a city just to study it, quickly writing down in his notebook.
"Just building a house hundreds of feet underwater would be very difficult, but an entire city with skyscrapers? Unbelievable," Penny said in amazement, wishing her father was around to witness this.
"It's so beautiful," Pyrrha said while her teammates nodded in agreement.
"Father built this?" Weiss said in begrudging admiration of Rapture. "But why?"
"To put it simply, your father became disillusioned with the society of Remnant, so he secretly built Rapture beneath the ocean to escape it. More will be explained as the story goes on," Gold-Sith answered succinctly.
The city was a magnificent sight. The tallest building must have been fifty stories high. Neon signs advertising business hung adorned many of the buildings. Glass tunnels stretched from building to building like underwater bridges. Inside one of the tunnels was a tall, bulky man in a diver's suit performing maintenance with a welding torch. A myriad of aquatic life roamed around, from fish, to jellyfish, to sea turtles. There was even a whale cruising between a set of buildings.
"A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well," Jacque concluded his recorded speech.
"Scientists not bound by petty morality?" Ironwood rephrased with squinted eyes. "That sounds like something Arthur Watts would say."
"It also sounds like Jacque allows only those he considers exceptional into Rapture," Winter said bitterly.
Weiss tapped her chin. "So, an underwater utopia for the upper crust where he runs everything?" she summarized before nodding. "Yes, father would certainly attempt this if he could."
As the bathysphere drew closer to one of the buildings, two people could be heard conversing through a service radio beside the viewport.
"But the lighthouse is all lit up like hellfire… looks like some kind of plane crash…" the first man said with a noticeably thick accent.
"...we're in the middle of the Atlesian Ocean… How could it—?" the second asked, the transmission crackling.
"Dunno, you best get over there, and be quick about it… The splicers are coming…"
"Splicers?" Ruby blinked.
"I don't like the sound of that," Sun said, sensing trouble was coming.
The bathysphere maneuvered through a series of docking rings adorned with neon signs spelling the phrase "All Good Things Of This Planet Flow Into The City". The vessel stopped as it arrived at the well of the Welcome Center's Bathysphere Station and then began its ascension.
"You've gotta be kidding- How do you know someone's even coming?" the second man asked.
"Cause we got a bathysphere on its way down… That means we've got company," the accented man replied.
The bathysphere had nearly finished its ascent when one of the strangers gave a panicked sounding transmission.
"O-okay, just one more minute… The 'sphere— the 'sphere is coming up now…"
"Johnny, security's banging off all over… get a move on!" the accented stranger replied.
"Sounds like someone's in trouble," Velvet pointed out as she snacked on a cup of carrot sticks.
"And Oscar is about to step into it," Coco added.
"Maybe he can help out," Penny said hopefully.
The bathysphere finally docked itself. Through the viewport, Oscar could barely make anything out. The only light came from sparks emanating from damaged lighting. Dimly though, he saw Johnny with his back to the viewport. He was backing away slowly, menaced by a hunched figure.
"Please, lady… I didn't mean no trespass," Johnny begged, clearly terrified. "Just don't hurt me!"
The figure was a woman who appeared to be holding glowing orange hooks in her hands.
"What the? What's going on?" Velvet said, becoming apprehensive.
"Just let me go!" Johnny continued babbling. "You can keep my gun. You can-"
The woman lunged forward before Johnny could finish speaking and tore into him with her hooks, gutting him like a fish, his blood spraying across the viewport. She then lifted him up and threw him over the railing into the water.
Ruby, Weiss, Nora, and Jaune gasped in terror as Johnny was butchered onscreen.
"Holy crap," Neptune mumbled.
"The poor guy..." Pyrrha said with pity.
The woman then peered into the bathysphere. "Is it someone new?" she questioned in a raspy voice.
Then, the woman gave an ear-piercing shriek, a flash of electrical light illuminating her disfigured, tumor covered face. Frightened, Oscar backed up against the edge of the Bathysphere.
A few of the students gave brief shrieks of terror as well upon seeing the woman's face. It was even worse than the close-up of the Sangheili in the previous viewing.
"What is she?!" Ruby cried as she clutched her cloak in fear.
"And what's that thing on her face?" Jaune grimaced.
"I think it's a... tumor," Penny said uneasily.
Coco shivered. "I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley. Or anywhere for that matter," she said, eliciting a nod from several audience members.
The woman leapt atop the bathysphere, trying to get to Oscar. Outside, she shrieked with frustration as she impaled her hooks through bathysphere's hull, shaking the little craft with her efforts.
Luckily, the woman failed to break in. Giving up, she jumped off the bathysphere and then leaped up into the rafters above.
"Jeez! He's been down there less than five minutes and already someone is trying to kill him," Qrow commented on Oscars bad luck.
"I suppose Rapture isn't the utopia we thought it was," Port said with a frown.
"Would you kindly pick up that shortwave radio?" the heavily accented man instructed.
The protagonist obliged and took the radio hanging beside the viewport.
"I don't know how you survived that plane crash, but I've never been one to question miracles.I don't know how you survived that plane crash, but I've never been one to question miracles. I'm Atlas, and I aim to keep you alive," the stranger introduced himself.
Ruby put a hand to her ear as she listened to Atlas. "That voice sounds kind of familiar to me." [3]
Blake's ears twitched. "Me too. But I can't quite put my finger on it."
"Now keep on moving… we're gonna have to get you to higher ground," Atlas said as the bathysphere hatch opened. "Take a deep breath and step out of the bathysphere," Atlas said.
Oscar hesitated before disembarking. Oscar then slowly crossed a short bridge connected to the bathysphere dock and took a left, walking past dropped past picket signs from a protest, as well as abandoned luggage. He also noticed that a stone pillar had collapsed and destroyed a second bathysphere dock. It looked as though a battle had been waged in the area.
"I don't like the looks of that," Jaune commented on the picket signs and luggage.
"It appears Rapture fell into chaos and Jacque refused to let anyone leave," Glynda observed angrily.
"Yes. But how did the city fall in the first place?" Ironwood asked the big question.
Oscar slowly made his way towards a darker section of the chamber.
"I won't leave you twisting in the wind. We're gonna need to draw her out of hiding. But you're gonna have to trust me," Atlas said.
Up above, Oscar could hear the woman softly humming a tune. As he got closer, he heard her whisper: "I'll wrap you in a sheet."
Sun shuddered. "I don't blame him. That lady is so creepy."
"I'm gonna have nightmares about her," Neptune said in agreement as he slowly sipped a soda.
As Oscar reached an almost pitch-dark section of the area, Atlas contacted him again.
"Just a bit further..." he instructed.
Suddenly, a security camera shined a light on the woman just up ahead, eliciting a shriek from her. Next, a strange, compact looking robot buzzed onto the scene via propellor. It was armed with a machine gun. It spotted the woman and fired at her.
"Nice little robot," Nora smiled.
"They seem primitive compared to the Atlesian paladins. But still useful under the right circumstances," Penny commented, also smiling.
"Now that you mention it, a lot of the technology in this universe seems old-school," Qrow agreed with Penny.
"Hmmm. Then this must have taken place some time ago. Decades perhaps," Port suggested.
"How do you like that, sister?!" Atlas taunted the woman.
Still screaming, the woman clambered up a nearby wall and fled through a vent shaft, narrowly dodging bullets as she went.
Oscar moved on and found a tunnel sealed off by rocky debris.
"Now would you kindly find a crowbar or something? Bloody splicers sealed Johnny in before they… goddamn splicers!" Atlas said, angry over the death of his friend.
"Splicers? Is that what that woman was?" Ruby asked.
"Well, something tells me she wasn't entirely human," Blake noted.
"Jeez, did that facial tumor and those hooks not tip you off?" Yang snarked, earning an annoyed look from her partner.
"But is everyone in Rapture a Splicer?" Ren wondered, knowing the situation in Rapture couldn't be good.
Oscar picked up a thick pipe wrench lying near the sealed off tunnel. With his first weapon he smashed his way through the rubble and moved on.
On the other side of the rubble was a staircase leading upwards. Someone at the top pushed a burning couch over, sending it tumbling down the stairs. The protagonist managed to dodge the flaming obstacle before climbing the stairs to a lounge area.
The room was much better lit, with several lights on advertisements for plasmids and a small fire started by a partial collapse in the ceiling.
On the right stood a man dressed in stained tattered clothes. His face was bandaged and deformed like the female Splicer. Clutched in his right hand was a lead pipe.
"I never touched her!" the man shouted as he charged the protagonist with his weapon held high.
Oscar quickly side stepped the Splicer's wild swing and fought back with his wrench. With a single blow, he hit the Splicer across the head, knocking him to the floor with a split skull, his brains and blood leaking out.
"Ooooh," several people groaned at the gruesome scene.
"You know he said 'I never touched her'. That worries me," Jaune said in a disturbed tone.
"Listen boyo, if you wanna survive down here, you'll need plasmids. No other way to get that door open," Atlas advised.
Oscar ascended a staircase to a balcony overlooking the lounge. Up there, he found a vending machine labeled "Gatherer's Garden". Beside it was a glass statue of a little girl in a dress.
"My daddy's smarter than Pietro Polendina, stronger than General Ironwood, 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 emanated from the machine.
Ironwood frowned irritably at the advertisements jingle while Qrow snickered, earning a glare from Winter.
"Smarter than father? That would be quite a feat," Penny said, impressed.
"Spliced? As in…Splicers?" Weiss noted as she began to connect the dots.
"And is she talking about that fire plasmid from the beginning?" Pyrrha questioned, remembering the fire plasmid ad in the beginning.
Inside the machines dispenser were two vials: one large one with red liquid and a smaller one with blue liquid.
"Go ahead and inject the ADAM into you, boyo. It'll give you the ability to wield plasmids. Trust me. It'll pay off," Atlas instructed.
Oscar held up the red hypo, hesitating for a second before he plunged it into his wrist. Suddenly, his vision turned red, the veins in his arm glowing an electric blue. He groaned and gasped with pain.
"Steady now! Your genetic code is being rewritten! Just hold on and everything will be fine!" Atlas assured loudly.
"Whoa!" several audience members yelped as Oscar underwent what must have been a painful change in his body.
"ADAM can rewrite your genetic code?" Penny said in amazement, knowing her father would love to study such a thing.
"But how is it made? Where does it come from?" Oobleck asked eagerly.
"All will be explained over time," Gold-Sith assured the excited professor.
Oscar was sent reeling and fell over the balcony, landing back on the first floor with a scream. Everything went to black. A short time later, he partially came to. He saw two splicers kneeling over him. One of them was wearing a rabbit mask.
"This little fish looks like he just had his cherry popped. I wonder if he's still got some ADAM on him?" the first one wearing the mask asked his companion.
"Oh no. The Splicers found him," Ruby fretted.
"But why do they want the ADAM inside him?" Nora wondered aloud.
"Well, it makes sense if it grants them the ability to use these plasmids Atlas mentioned," Ironwood said, knowing many people would do anything to acquire power.
The second splicer perked up. "You hear that? Let's bug!" he warned.
Splicer one stood up. "Weak!" he spat. "You're weak chopper!"
The second splicer took off. "This little fish ain't worth toeing it with no Big Daddy!"
Weiss blinked. "Big daddy? What's he talking about?"
Yang shrugged. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."
"Yellow! Always have been!" the first splicer shouted before kneeling back down. "You'll be no better off with the metal daddy, little fish. See you floating in the briny."
With that, the other splicer took off. Next, rumbling footsteps shook the ground. And a deep growling sound could be heard. A big, iron-booted foot entered Oscar's field of vision.
He glanced up and saw a huge, vaguely humanoid creature dressed in a bulky diver's suit. The bulbous helmet was dotted with multiple yellow lights. One of its hands was a large mechanical drill and on its back was what appeared to be a small engine.
Everybody was surprised and offput by the onscreen metal goliath.
"What. The hell. Is that?" Qrow punctuated in question.
"I believe that's the Big Daddy the Splicer mentioned," Penny answered matter-of-factly.
"Man. It's no wonder they ran off," Yang remarked before chowing on some popcorn.
"It looks like some kind of metal golem I saw in a fantasy book," Neptune noted.
"And listen to those sounds it makes. It sounds like a whale," Oobleck observed, having heard whale calls during some of his past expeditions as he wrote in his notebook.
Next, a barefoot little girl in a black dress stepped into view, accompanying the Big Daddy. She appeared to be about five years old. Her skin was gray and muddled, her eyes glowed yellow, and her short black hair had red tips. In her hand was a syringe, the vial full of a glowing red liquid. The same liquid Oscar had just injected into himself. [3]
"Ruby?!" half the audience cried out in disbelief.
Ruby herself was freaked out. "Wh-what the? That's me?!"
"What happened to her? Why does she look like that?!" Yang demanded loudly with concern for her sibling.
"And why is she travelling with the Big Daddy?" Glynda questioned.
"Look Mr. Bubbles, it's an angel - I can see light coming from his belly," Ruby said, her voice distorted, raising her syringe towards Oscar before stopping. "Wait a minute, he's still breathing. It's alright, I know he'll be an angel soon."
Velvet blinked in puzzlement. "An angel? What does she mean by that?"
"And what's in that syringe? ADAM?" Blake said as she eyed the syringe Ruby was holding.
"Hmmm, it would appear that she's collecting it," Ozpin observed as he slowly sipped his coffee,
With that, Ruby and the Big Daddy walked off. Finally, the protagonist came to his senses and crawled back to his feet.
"You all right, boyo?" Atlas asked over the radio. "First time plasmid's a real kick from a mule. But…here's nothing like a fistful of lightning, now, is there?"
Utilizing his new ability, the protagonist fired a bolt of electricity at the busted door control panel, forcing the door to open.
"That was awesome!" Nora praised, wishing she could do the same.
Yang smirked mischievously. "Shockingly awesome," she joked, eliciting groans from everybody.
"So, ADAM grants people the ability to wield plasmids, and plasmids, in turn, grants the user certain powers," Oobleck deduced, scribbling more notes in his book.
"Hmmm, it seems similar to dust, so I suppose that's it's substitute in this universe," Ironwood added, curious about the properties of plasmids.
"I suppose that's where this universe gets its name: Bioshock," Pyrrha assumed.
The door opened into a glass tunnel spanning to another building. Oscar proceeded onward.
Then suddenly, the tail section of the plane came sailing down, and rammed through the tunnel. The good news was it missed him. The bad news was the tunnel began to flood rapidly. Acting fast, Oscar ran through the tail section, down the tunnel and took a right. He passed a door that was imploding inwards from water pressure on the other side. So, he continued forward into another room, the door closing behind him.
The dark room housed another splicer wielding a wrench.
"Splicer! Give 'em the combo- zap 'em then whack 'em. One-two- punch! Remember, the one-two punch!" Atlas advised loudly.
Oscar followed Atlas' tip and handled the splicer much more easily than the first one, paralyzing him with an electric bolt before smashing his head in with the wrench.
"I understand it's kill or be killed down there, but must he be so brutal?" Weiss grimaced at Oscar bloodily dispatching Splicers.
"Unfortunately, it has to be done, little sister," Winter lamented.
"Looks like you're out of EVE, boyo. No worries, though. There should be plenty of vials lying around. Try scrounging for one,"
Nodding, Oscar searched the room until he found another glowing blue vial of the fluid, which he promptly injected into his wrist.
"You gotta pump yourself full of that blue stuff to use plasmids?" Jaune grimaced, tenderly rubbing his wrist in discomfort.
"Sounds an awful lot like a drug to me," Pyrrha said disapprovingly.
The next room was an elevator lobby. Most of the elevators were busted due to a fire having broken out. A burning splicer emerged, screaming like a banshee, before collapsing dead to the ground in a fiery heap.
"That's messed up," Neptune commented softly on the grisly scenery.
"I don't understand. What happened down in Rapture?" Blake asked what everybody else was wondering.
"And what's the story behind the Splicers? Did they invade Rapture...or are they Rapture's citizens turned into what they are today?" Oobleck questioned, tapping his notebook with his pencil.
"Well, whatever happened, I have a hunch that ADAM is responsible," Port theorized while stroking his mustache.
Oscar found a functioning elevator, entered, and hit the switch to ascend to the upper levels.
As he did, Atlas messaged him again: "Listen- I've got a family. I need to get them out of here. But the splicers have cut me off from them," If you can reach them in Neptune's Bounty, then maybe, just maybe- I know you must feel like the unlikeliest man in the world right now, but you're the only hope I'll ever see my wife and child again. Go to Neptune's Bounty… find my family… please."
Many audience members felt a twinge of sympathy for Atlas' plight, especially since he had a child.
"Can you even imagine a child's terror from being trapped in such a horrible place?" Velvet said, her ears drooping with sadness.
"Mr. Atlas is very lucky to receive assistance from the surface," Penny tried to lift the spirits.
"But do you think he'll be able to pull it off? He's all by himself," Jaune reminded.
"He's carried himself pretty well so far. I think he can pull it off," Pyrrha smiled optimistically.
Exiting the elevator, Oscar heard a woman singing a lullaby to his right. He moved towards the sound and spotted a female Splicer with her back turned to him. She was bent over a baby carriage.
"When your daddies in the ground, mommy's gonna sell you by the pound. When your mommy's up and gone, you're gonna be the lonely one. When you are the lonely one, no one will be there to sing this song..." she cooed.
With the Splicer distracted, Oscar snuck up and delivered the one-two punch, as Atlas would call it, killing her.
Most of the audience glared at the screen for supposedly killing a mother, even if she was a Splicer.
"What the hell Oscar?!" Yang shouted with outrage.
"She had a baby!" Nora cried, on the verge of tears.
"Easy, Nora," Ren comforted his partner.
With the Splicer dispatched, Oscar looked inside the baby carriage and saw a six-shot revolver tucked inside of it. He picked up the new weapon, checked it for ammo, and wielded it instead of his wrench.
"Oh…she was just crazy and hallucinating," Sun realized.
"Oh…good…I guess…" Ruby said uneasily, glad that Oscar didn't create an orphan.
Oscar cautiously entered the next room: a large, trashed bar. Soft jazz music played on a record player as he began to explore.
Concurrently, Atlas darkly explained what happened: "Plasmids changed everything. They destroyed our bodies, our minds. We couldn't handle it. Best friends butchering one another, babies strangled in cribs. The whole city went to hell."
Sharp gasps of horror filled the theater at the mention of babies being killed.
"B-babies...strang-" Velvet stuttered in a shaky voice, unable to finish her sentence.
"And I thought the first viewing was dark..." Neptune mumbled.
"You were right, Peter. Plasmids, and, by extension, ADAM, are responsible for creating Splicers. And Rapture's downfall," Oobleck deducted as he continued writing.
"Something tells me it wasn't just ADAM that caused Rapture's descent into chaos," Ozpin said wisely, expecting there was more to the story of the current multiverse viewing.
Oscar turned to the right, descended a staircase, and spotted several Splicers standing in the partially flooded lower floor of the bar. Luckily, they didn't spot him as they stumbled around, babbling nonsense.
"If you spot a splicer in the water, hit 'em with the Electro Bolt," Atlas advised.
Oscar took the advice and zapped the water. The three Splicers spasmed in place before collapsing into the water with a splash. Oscar grabbed their weapons and ammunition before searching the rest of the room. On a nearby table was what appeared to be a tape recorder.
"Another New Year's, another night alone. I'm out, and you're stuck in Hephaestus, working. imagine my surprise I guess I'll have another drink."
Weiss leaned forward. "Wait…that voice? It's mother!" she identified the speaker quickly.
"I think I'll have another drink, too," Qrow slurred slightly, as he finished his whiskey glass and had it refilled.
Gold-Sith sighed. "That's it, Qrow. I'm cutting you off until you sober up."
Qrow growled while Ironwood and Winter were relieved to hear Gold-Sith's words.
"Finally, someone is keeping him on a leash," Glynda said gratefully.
"Here's a toast to Willow Schnee, silliest girl in Rapture. Silly enough to fall for Jacque Gele, silly enough to-"
Suddenly, Willow was cut off by an explosion. Next there was screaming.
"What… what happened…" Willow muttered. "I'm bleeding… oh, Monty… what's happening…!"
"Mother...?" Weiss said in a shaky voice, a hand going to her mouth.
"Oh my Oum! She's not dead...is she?" Winter fretted, staring wide eyed at the screen.
Ruby and Penny frowned and moved to comfort the Schnee sisters.
Oscar returned upstairs and approached a restroom. Before he entered, though, his vision turned to a blurry static and the color faded to black and white. A humanoid shape materialized in the men's room entryway.
"I'm too spliced up, too spliced up… now nobody's gonna want me…" the ghost babbled.
Qrow blinked and looked at his flask. "Did anyone else see that? Or am I more drunk than I thought?" he questioned.
"Perhaps it's a side-effect of ADAM," Penny theorized with a frown.
"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," Coco said, prompting a nod from Velvet.
Oscar passed through a hole in the wall at the end of the restroom, leading to a small theater. He stepped onto the metal framework holding the stage lights and began making his way towards the other end of the room.
"Careful now… would you kindly lower that weapon for a minute?" Atlas warned.
Oscar complied and lowered his revolver as he looked down to spot another little girl extracting ADAM from a corpse via a hypodermic needle. Only she had white hair tied in a ponytail and wore a white dress.
Weiss and Winter both gasped. "Weiss?" the latter said.
"Just like with Ruby," Blake noted about Weiss' appearance.
"I hope the rest of us aren't like that in this universe," Velvet said a bit nervously.
"What's happened to them? Did ADAM make them this way?" Penny questioned.
"You think that's a child down there? Don't be fooled. She's a Little Sister now. Somebody went and turned a sweet baby girl into a monster. Whatever you thought about right and wrong on the surface, that don't count for much down in Rapture," Atlas informed Oscar about the girl.
Oscar descended a staircase and observed Weiss through a wide glass window as she continued her work.
"Hold on, someone made Weiss and Ruby like that?! Into ADAM collectors?!" Winter said with outrage.
"They did what?!" Yang shouted, her eyes shifting red with fury.
"What kind of monster would do that to a child?" Glynda questioned venomously.
Ozpin clenched his mug. "And just how many children did they transform into these Little Sisters?"
"Those Little Sisters collect and contain ADAM, the genetic material that keeps the wheels of Rapture turning. Everybody wants it. Everybody needs it," Atlas finished describing the Little Sisters.
Once the syringe was full, Weiss drank the ADAM she extracted from the corpse. Then she continued to drain more.
"Ewww!" Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Pyrrha, and Jaune all said in tandem disgust.
"Ugh! She drains ADAM from corpses and drinks it?!" Coco gagged.
"There goes my appetite…" Nora said as she pushed her plate of pancakes aside.
"I suppose that's how they collect the substance," Glynda said with a sickened frown.
A splicer wielding a pistol emerged from a doorway behind Weiss. He immediately crept towards her.
Startled, Weiss turned around to face the Splicer as he held a finger to his lips to silence her. Instead, she let out an ear-piercing cry for help. The panicked Splicer lunged forward and pistol-whipped Weiss to the floor.
Everyone was angered by the Splicers assault on the helpless five-year-old Weiss.
But Winter was the maddest. "How dare you strike my sister! You bastard!" she shouted at the screen; her fists clenched.
"Get away from her!" Neptune added loudly.
Weiss couldn't help but blush slightly at Winter and Neptune's concern for her.
Just then, a deep, howl of fury was heard from above as a Big Daddy appeared on the walkway overlooking the theater and dropped down, shaking the entire theater.
There was a mixture of fear caused by the Big Daddy's appearance and eagerness to see the Splicer get his just desserts.
Jaune flinched back in his chair. "Whoa…he sounds really scary when he's mad."
"Oooooh man! That Splicer is in for it now!" Coco said with a grin.
"Kick his ass, Big Daddy!" Nora shouted with a hand to her mouth.
Weiss got up and ran to the Big Daddy while the Splicer panicked and fired his pistol at the enraged monster, only for the bullets to bounce harmlessly off its thick helmet.
The Big Daddy charged the Splicer and struck it, knocking him into the wall behind him. Then, it rammed its drill through his midsection, splattering the wall behind him with blood. Finally, the Big Daddy grabbed the splicers head, and smashed it through the thick glass, killing him. With the threat eliminated, Weiss exited the room, the Big Daddy following behind.
"That's the Big Daddy. He keeps her safe," Atlas explained warningly.
"Wow. That was smashing!" Yang said with a grin, prompting sighs and groans all around.
"Yes. But he deserved it," Winter said pitilessly, since the Splicer dared to assault her little sister.
"If only my real father was as caring and protective," Weiss lamented as she ordered a cup of lemon tea.
"So, now we know the purpose of the Little Sisters and Big Daddy's. And why ADAM is so coveted by the Splicers," Oobleck said as another piece of the puzzle fell into place.
"Yes, but we've still yet to learn where ADAM comes from. Or how it contributed fully to Rapture's downfall," Ironwood reminded, still curious on the origins of ADAM and feeling there was more to the city's descent into chaos.
Oscar continued onwards, killing several more Splicers with his wrench, revolver, and shock plasmid, passing a dead Big Daddy as he went.
Hopping down a short drop, Oscar finally found himself at the right door to Neptune's Bounty, but the gate suddenly slammed shut. Then, a siren blared, alerting more splicers to Oscar's position.
"It's Gele! Oumdamn Jacque Gele! He found us! Dammit! He's shut off access to Neptune… there's another way to get there… head to Medical!"
"What? He's still alive?" Winter said, not pleased to hear it.
"But how has he evaded the Splicers all this time?" Weiss asked in confusion.
Splicers shouted as they rushed into the room via the stairs Oscar had just descended and dropped into the room. Luckily, they landed in a pool of water, making it easy for Oscar to zap them to death with his shock plasmid, then finish them off with his revolver.
"What are you waiting for?! Go!" Atlas urged once the Splicers were dead, knowing more would show up soon.
Oscar ran towards the transitional chamber of the Medical Pavilion, but as he did, the door slammed shut, trapping him inside.
"Ah, Monty! You're trapped… gonna try to override the exit from here!" Atlas cried.
Just then, a big projector screen in front of the chamber windows flickered to life, displaying a black and white image of Jacque on it.
"So, tell me, friend, which one of the bitches sent you? The Atlas wolf? Or The Mistral jackal?" Jacques asked, his voice condescending and hateful.
Oscar didn't answer, simply staring at Jacques in surprise as the latter continued speaking.
"Here's the news: Rapture isn't some sunken ship for you to plunder, and Jacque Gele isn't a giddy socialite who can be slapped around by government muscle. And with that, farewell."
"This reminds me of conversations with Jacques. He never liked being 'ordered around' by 'military brutes', like yours truly," Ironwood recalled from unpleasant meetings with Jacques.
"That's just like him, sir. He always wants to be on top and allowed to do as he pleases," Winter remarked bitterly.
"Your dad sounds like a real piece of work," Ruby noted on what she'd heard so far.
"You don't know the half of it," Weiss sighed.
The screen shut off. By now, the Splicers had nearly broken through the thick glass.
"I got it… get out of there… get out now!" Atlas responded.
As fast as he could, Oscar opened the bulkhead, and escaped to the Medical Pavilion, slamming the door shut behind him just as the Splicers broke through the glass.
"Whew. That was close," Ruby said with relief.
"He'll be hard pressed to reach Atlas' family," Ozpin commented, knowing Oscar's journey wouldn't be easy.
"These action viewings are cool and all, but don't you have anything else, Gold-Sith?" Sun asked.
"Sun is right. I, for one, would prefer the next viewing to be more lighthearted. Perhaps even something with music," Weiss requested from Gold-Sith.
"As luck would have it, Ms. Schnee, I have just that kind of viewing." [4]
Cast of Characters
Jack- Oscar Pine
Andrew Ryan- Jacque Gele
Diane McClintock- Willow Schnee
Little Sisters- Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee
Atlas- TBA
Author's Points
[1]- Oscar was my first choice to play Jack since he grew up on a farm and was indeed destined to do great things as Ozpin's new host. Don't worry, Oscar will show up in future viewings to see his Bioshock counterpart.
[2]- I already decided Atlas' identity. I won't spoil it, but you're free to guess as to who it is.
[3]- I thought it would be interesting to cast the female students of Beacon as the Little Sisters. Dr. Tenenbaum will also appear in a future Bioshock chapter.
[4]- There will be viewings where I decide the inspiration right off the bat without starting a voting poll. I have my own favorites I'd have loved to see in other multiverse fics, and I hope you all like them.