Hi everyone, it's been a while. I do my best to keep updates on a regular basis but this past winter has been really hard on me and my broad spectrum health. A bad lung infection got me a visit to the hospital, for one. And once I was finally over all of that, I was busy getting my life back on track. And filling ETSY orders. Turns out a lot of people like colorful, flannel dinosaurs and dragons.

Jack IX

And just like that, their reprieve from this goddamn nightmare was over.

"I have an idea on how to save my trees," Langford said, waving him and Liz to one of the many display screens in the main room. "But first, I need you both to retrieve a sample of the Rosa gallica officinalis from the Grotto and bring it back to me."

"Rosa gallica officinalis? What do Apothecary's roses have to do with all of this?" Liz asked.

'She speaks other languages too? What a woman!' Jack thought.

"In the earlier days of Rapture, back when my team and I were still working on developing a strain of plants that could survive -and hopefully thrive- at the bottom of the ocean. We tried many different experiments and combinations of plant genes, hoping to find the right combinations of elements. The result of one of those experiments was the strain of Apothecary's roses that currently exist in Arcadia. We found that they were sturdier than the average flower -less prone to illness, rotting, and better able to filter out toxins. I was incredibly fascinated by this outcome and had plans to isolate the genes that caused the change so they could be implanted in all the other plants but-"

"Let me guess, Ryan put the kibosh on those plans?" Jack asked.

Langford nodded. "At the time, he said the focus was developing a sustainable oxygen source for Rapture. Everything else would come later. Now though, I can't help but wonder..."

'If he planned to be able to do this from the start? Yeah, me too,' Jack thought. After all, one did not spontaneously plan to poison a city's entire oxygen system. 'Or maybe Ryan did? It's hard to say. He seems like the kind of crazy asshole who'd do something like that.'

"More recently, I've been working on what I call the Lazarus Vector," Langford said. "It was something I started toying with while still working at the university but ended up shelving it for many years as other projects came my way. I suppose that, if nothing else, this entire mess has given me plenty of time to work on my research. No interrupts or annoying paperwork. To get back on track, it is -in theory- a chemical solution that would reanimate expired plant matter."

Elizabeth's eyes went wide. "You figured out a way to bring dead plants back to life?"

"I figured out a way to bring dead plants back to life, in theory," the older woman corrected. "It seemed like something that would be useful if Rapture ever got back on track. Unfortunately, I have yet to test it properly. But, if I can combine the super-resistant genes from the roses with the formula for Lazarus Vector, than we may be able to not only revive and heal the trees and other plant life but prevent Ryan from being able to use the same tactic again. And we have no other options."

Jack sighed, glancing towards where his shotgun was leaning against the wall. "So it's just the flower we need?"

"Unfortunately not," Langford shook her head. "The chemical solution requires a few other components. I have most of them here, but I am missing enzyme samples extracted from Apis mellifera, d-"

"HONEYBEE SPIT?" Liz asked.

Jack decided he didn't want to know why she knew what that was.

"Science is often quite strange," Langford said with a shrug. "After that, we need distilled water, and seven flasks of chlorophyll solution. We need seven of each to complete the formula."

"Wonderful," Liz groaned.

The scientist glanced her way. "If you have any other suggestions, I'd be happy to hear them. Otherwise, let's focus on getting the rose. That is the most important ingredient. And we don't know how long they can hold up against the gas Ryan exposed them to."

"Then we need to hurry," Jack said. "You said the roses were back in the Waterfall Grotto? That isn't exactly a quick trip."

"There are shortcuts I can direct you through -maintenance tunnels, vents, smaller hallways that are easy to miss, especially now that they're overgrown. I'll watch you through my security cameras and we can keep in contact through... " Langford trained off, tearing her eyes away from the monitoring screens to look over at them. "Wait, does one of you have a radio?"

"Me," Jack said, pointing at his belt. Despite this, he found himself hesitating when Langford silently held out her hand.

"Jack?" Liz asked, giving him a questioning look. The conflict must have been obvious on his face because his partner smiled encouragingly and nodded toward Langford.

"Just... be careful with it," he said after a moment of agonizing deliberation, shoving the device into Langford's hand. "I need that thing working right."

"Then you shouldn't be so rough on it," Langford replied without looking his way. "It is covered in dents and scratches."

'Sorry for not making it my top priority when fighting for my life against splicers.'

After fiddling with the knobs of the radio for a bit -man, Jack should really ask Liz to show him how the damn thing works. That radio was his lifeline to Atlas, but it seemed everyone else knew more about it than him!- before handing it back over.

"Here, I'll be able to contact you now."

"Good," Liz said, nearly ignoring the two in favor of checking over her weapons. Making sure her hand cannon was loaded before snapping the revolver's cylinder back into place. "Let's not waste any more time."

True to her word, Langford was able to lead them through Arcadia's twisting, overgrown corridors -letting them move with more speed and confidence than before. They still had to dodge around a Big Daddy and it's Little Sister -deciding now was not the time to face it- and deal with a few splicers on the way, but even that was much easier with Langford's security system now on their side. The biggest was the poisonous mist that still hung in the air. Langford's analysis revealed that wouldn't be as immediately harmful to them and other humans as it was to the plants, but it was also something they didn't want to spend too much time inhaling.

'God, this stuff smells awful!' Jack thought, even with the filtering face mask Langford had provided him and Liz, the air smelled and tasted sour and foul. When he breathed it in, his lungs burned and tightened. Liz was already dealing with the occasional coughing fit.

Pushing that worry to the side for now, Jack led the way as they entered a hidden passage under Arcadia's main waterway.

Or maybe it wasn't so hidden after all...

"What are these things?" Liz wondered aloud as they crept through a series of burning effigies. "Hey, ask Langford if she knows anything about the splicers in masks."

Jack obliged and, after a moment, the radio crackled to life with the scientist's answer.

"Those fools?" she scoffed. "They dress up in leaves and call themselves the Saturnine. Please! If they were any more melodramatic, I'd choke on it. They drink human blood, and chant - "Harness the flame, Harness the mist!" and believe they are touched by the ancient gods. Hah. An aging bunch of frat boys, tilting back goblets of Plasmids and calling it ambrosia. All of it is madness brought on by the addiction and the fall of Rapture. I've been dealing with them stealing things and trying to break into my lab for months now. But no matter how many I take out with the security measures, more seem to come out of the walls. Do me a favor and dispose of as many as possible."

"Frat boys?" Liz asked, a bemused smile on her lips.

"Yes. From what I can gather, they were a group of business elites and their college fraternity apprentices who went feral due to stress and addiction. After becoming trapped in Arcadia, they grew obsessed with pagan imagery and sought to create crude imitations. Probably basing it off of what they'd seen in films and comic books."

"That explains a lot."

Jack grunted in agreement. A splicer leaped through the waterfall, shouting about something or other and swinging a weapon widely. Jack didn't even flinch as he pulled the trigger on his shotgun, blowing the enemy back into the shallow pool of water. The splicer kicked and struggled, desperately clinging to life, only to go still when Liz put another bullet into his skull.

They stepped over the corpse and finally emerged from the water-filled chamber. Jack winced as the water and muck made a nasty squashing! sound in his shoes with every step, making a mental note to keep an eye out for any abandoned clothing stores which he could scavenge some clean socks from. He wasn't yet at the point he was willing to pull socks off of dead bodies to wear them himself, but there was also no doubt Jack needed some new gear.

He glanced at Liz out of the corner of his eye, taking in the thick denim material of her overalls, the sturdiness of her steel-toed combat boots, and the bandana that kept her hair out of the way. Nearly every inch of her body was dirty, but at least the young woman looked... ready for whatever comes their way.

'On second thought... Maybe I should be on the lookout for a whole new outfit?' Jack thought, glancing down at himself and wincing at the sheer amount of dirt and grime that clung to his clothes. The wool of his favorite cable-knit sweater had gone from white to a nasty brown-gray color. Jack was just thankful he couldn't smell the filth covering his body.

Liz had clearly ventured out into Rapture ready for combat and danger, whereas Jack had been dumped here in what his mother referred to as 'smart casual'. Sure, his dress shoes looked nice and were comfortable enough, but he'd been sliding around the slick floors of Rapture since arriving, and, eventually, that would catch up to him. Well, at least his jeans were holding up well enough.

"We shouldn't be that far away now," Liz said as they rounded a corner. "We just need-"

Her voice faded away, and Jack's stomach filled with dread as they heard the now-familiar deep groaning sound of a Big Daddy. A red light filled the room as the thud!-thud!-thud! as the mechanical beast approached.

Langford was screaming something over the radio, but Jack heard none of it over his own heartbeat as it pounded in his eyes. Jack pumped his shotgun once more. By his side, Liz readied her handgun. They both waited for it to charge.

"What the Hell, Langford?" Jack hissed into the radio. "Why didn't you warn us about Big Daddy?"

"Calm yourself," the woman said coolly. "You don't want to attract more splicers."

"No, but I do want to know when something is coming to kill me!"

Langford sighed. "I know, I know... I thought my equipment was malfunctioning, I couldn't get a single through some of the surveillance cameras, and it turned my attention elsewhere. My apologies."

Jack grumbled, but his anger melted into something softer and warmer as he looked down at the dazed new-healed former-Little Sister in his arms. He rocked her, cooing gently as he blocked the view of the dead Big Daddy with his own body. Liz chuckled softly, making Jack look up at her; the woman smiled sweetly before returning to sewing up a massive gash in her side with one of their medkits. This Little Sister hadn't been Sally, the disappointment of which Liz had done her best to hide. Jack had gotten good at reading her face though, and he knew what he saw.

"Mr. Bubbles?" the once-Little Sister whimpered.

"N-no, but I am a friend," Jack said back.

The girl blinked at him, her bottom lip quivering, before nodding slowly. "Hi there."

"Hi, sweetheart," he replied with a smile. "Can you walk? I know somewhere safe for you to go if you can."

With a shaky nod, the girl stood up. She gave a cute, wobbly little curtsy. It was all Jack could do to not break out in giggles.

He leaned in close to whisper the location of the safe house. "Did you get that? Do you want me to draw the map?"

"Nope, I can do it," the former-Little Sister chirped. "Bye-bye, Nice Man and Pretty Lady!"

Then, just like that, the girl was gone -disappeared into the pipes that ran throughout Rapture.

"Do you think she -they've- been getting to Tenenbaum's safe house, alright?" he asked.

"I like to think so, they know how to navigate this city better than just about anyone. Still, I'll feel better when I'm finally able to get back into contact with Tenenbaum again," Liz said, taping the radio on her own hip. Then, with a grunt, she slapped a bandage over the stitched-up wound and tugged her clothes back into place. Holding out her hands, Liz asked, "Help me up?"

"You don't even need to ask," Jack replied, taking her hands to haul her up as gently as he could. "Do you want to rest for a couple more minutes or...?"

Liz shook her head. "No, we need to get that flower. I don't want to be breathing this stuff in longer than absolutely necessary. My throat is already burning as is."

Jack's were too. He gave her injury a worried look but nodded, checked that his shotgun was reloaded, and said, "I'll lead the way."

"Wow," Liz gasped when they entered the grotto chamber. Her eyes widened at the sight of the luminescent red flowers that grew in thick clusters throughout the room. Some were in full bloom, while others were shut tightly in their bulbs. Even then though, they were beautiful. "Langford, these are amazing! Are you sure you didn't accidentally create new species?"

The woman laughed. "It is quite possible. If I had the time, I might have tried to get it recognized as one! It's good to know that, even now, I can turn out something incredible? Who says you can't teach an old hound new tricks? This batty plant woman spends four years coming up with ways to defoliate trees in the Pacific to scare out the Japs, and now, here I am, down at the bottom of the Atlantic, trying to save a sinking ship!"

There was a loud sigh and all the joy left the woman's voice. "ADAM, ADAM, ADAM… It should have never been created in the first place. EVE should have kept its secrets in the depths. Tenenbaum should have never pulled those slugs out of the ocean. Nothing good ever came from there. ADAM… It's bathtub gin, times the atom bomb, times Eve with the serpent. Rots the gut, rots the mind, and rots the body. But, if there is anything left worth saving in this city, I have to try. Now, gather the other materials and hurry back to my lab! It's time to see what this old lady can do."