Descending deeper into the apiary, Jack became aware of a low buzzing hum that filled the air.
"The bees," Liz whispered. "Swarms of them are still alive down here."
"Is that a bad thing?" Jack answered. "Bees are important for keeping an ecosystem going. Shouldn't it be good news that they're still around?"
"Hmmm, it's a double-edged sword, I suppose," the woman said. "If Rapture were to ever come back, they definitely need bees around to pollinate the plants. On the other hand, as we just witnessed, too many of them can be dangerous. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not die down here from 1000 bee stings of all things."
"Fair enough," Jack replied. 'Whoever owned this place must have had a way to pacify them. Bees are dangerous, yes but people have been working with them for years safely enough.'
Finally, they came to a corridor that overlooked a large, sealed room, massive windows allowed Liz and Jack to see down into the rows of beehives, surrounded by overgrown foliage and scattered debris. More importantly, it allowed them to see the swarms of bees that hovered in the air, so thick they could be mistaken for black clouds.
"If we're going to find the enzyme anywhere, it's going to be down in there," Liz said, tapping on the glass. "But something tells me this isn't going to be as easy as it looks. I don't suppose you have any ideas?"
"Sadly, n-" The realization hit Jack like a truck, and he slapped himself on the forehead. "I'm such an idiot! They are beehives! Which means they were beekeepers. People who had to interact with them on a regular basis. no, rapture might be crazy, but on the surface beekeepers use smoke into the hives to calm the bees while they gather honey. I bet all the money I have in my pocket that whoever worked here used something similar."
Slowly Liz nodded. "Help me search the controls. This room is too big to do it all by hand. There was probably some mechanical mechanism that pumped smoke into the room."
With a quick nod of his own, the two broke apart to search the room. Control panels lined the wall of glass that oversaw the hives, filled with buttons, levers, and screens. Most of them weren't labeled, and the ones that were seemed too complicated for Jack to even attempt to understand. It was only on the third panel that he a large lever labeled 'Smoker Control.'
"Hey, I think I found it," he said, giving the handle pull. 'This better not be a weird Rapture scientist trick that leads to the entire room collapsing. Not that I'd be surprised if it was. After everything I've seen down here, I'm convinced everyone in Rapture was insane even before the city went to shit.'
Jack held his breath as a loud mechanical hisssssss! filled air, followed by dark smoke being pumped from air vents into the room below. At first, the bee swarms began to fly around more frantically, looking for a way to escape. But within a few seconds, they calmed and nearly completely dispersed.
"Lots of farms also keep beehives, good for the crops," Jack explained. "That's how I learned about the smoke. I used to worry it hurt the bees, but it just makes them sleepy and relaxed. They'll go back to normal soon enough."
"Then we better hurry," Liz replied. "I'll get the enzyme, you search the room."
"Deal."
Splitting up once more, the two set to their separate tasks. Jack moved quickly through the room, trying not to disturb any of the beehives, and shoving anything that looked useful into a bag. There was a strange number of frag grenades laying around, so many that Jack wondered if people had tried to hold up here for safety. If that was the case, they either abandoned it in a hurry or the bees took care of them themselves.
'Why did Rapture even have so many of these? Did Ryan or Fontaine already have them in production or did people figure out how to make them once the fighting started?'
There's also the fact that using grenades underwater just didn't sound like a good idea. Not that Jack could really judge too harshly on that. After all, he'd been firing guns, setting off explosives, and even using some grenades himself in the past... God, how long has had been now?
'I feel like I'm a different person now,' Jack thought. 'The person I was just a week ago... Even picturing myself on the farm is hard.'
"Got it," Liz declared. Holding up a final vial before sticking it in her bag. She sniffed the air, her face scratching up. "Let's go, the smoke will be dissipating soon and I don't want to be here when the bees wake up."
"Agreed," Jack said, hauling the bag onto his shoulder. He pulled out the radio, "Hey, Langford, we go the bee spit. We'll grab the water then head back."
The line cracked and hiss, more static than actual communication. Eventually, the words, "...Hurry back," broke through.
Liz sucked in a harsh breath. "At least the winery is close. If we're lucky, we can be back at Langford's lab within the hour."
Jack nodded and started to follow Liz up the short staircase, only to pause when something caught his eye. It was a mason jar, covered in dust and grime, with a small tag tied around the neck of the jar. Inside was a thick, lumpy fluid. Picking it up, he turned it in his hands. Wiping off the label, he read,
'Insect Swarm.'
'Nothing clears a room like swarms of stinging bees.'
"What did you find?" Liz asked, calling over her shoulder.
"I think it's a plasmid, something about controlling bees," Jack held it up. "Should I drink it?"
Liz shrugged. "Do you want to? I know of one that can control crows, and it was always useful, so one with bees could be good."
That settles it. As unpleasant as it looked, they needed all the advantages they could get. Jack unscrewed the lid, wincing at the smell.
"Down the hatch, I guess," he said. Then he plugged his nose and swallowed the plasmid down in three large gulps.
.
.
.
"Argh!" Jack dropped the empty jar, the glass shattering when it hit the floor. Pain exploded in his guts, a vicious, sting thing that spread through his body. He couldn't see anything, he could barely even breathe.
Slender hands grabbed his own. "Breathe through it, Jack! The pain will pass. You've been through this before, you know it's true."
Her words reached Jack through the pounding in his head. He grabbed onto them with the desperation of a dying man with a life raft. Jack squeezed her hand back, holding on until the pain finally faded. Wiping the sweat off his brow, Jack met Liz's eyes.
"So, do you feel any better?" she asked, giving him a soft smile.
Excellent question. Jack closed his eyes searching himself for something new. Nothing... Nothing... Nothing... Noth- No, there it was! A buzzing deep within himself. He focused on that, dragging it to the surface.
His hand started to ache, his skin wiggling and bubbling. Jack heard Liz gag and, when he opened his eyes, he repeated the action. His hand was covered in boils... No, not boils. Tumors might have been a better word, and lesions even more perfect. They were open ugly things, Jack almost threw up when the bee climbed out of a hole in his hand and crawled up the length of his thumb before returning into his flesh.
' Nope, I don't like this at all!'
Maybe Liz's friend, Tenenbaum, knew how to get plasmids out of your system. If that was the case, then Jack wanted this one out as soon as possible! For now, he closed his eyes again and focused on pushing the power down. Jack felt the skin and muscles of his hand shift once more, and when he opened his eyes his hand was thankfully back to normal.
Liz watched on, her lips pursed. For a second, Jack thought she would say something about the effect of the plasmid. Instead, she just shook her head. "Let's move."
With a nod, Jack followed her back the way they came and out into the connecting tubes that served as corridors for Rapture. It was unnerving, to look out and see the dark abyss of the bottom of the ocean. Beautiful, in some respects, but unnerving in every other. Jack was pretty sure humans weren't supposed to see this part of the world. Still, it offered the advantage that they could see anyone coming for them.
It also meant that they could see the large neon sign for the winery up ahead.
"That was easy enough," Jack said.
Liz gave him a sharp look. "Don't you dare jinx us like that."
Jack chuckled as the door to the winery slid open, and his laughter immediately died at the sight of several masked corpses laying on the ground.
"Why do they wear those masks? Maybe there's a part of them that remembers how they used to be, how they used to look. And they're ashamed."
Jack jumped at the sound of Atlas' voice. It felt like it had been forever since his friend last contacted him. He started to reply, only to be cut off when Liz spoke up first.
"We all wear masks. Some more obvious than others, and some don't even know they're wearing one until it's too late."
Atlas didn't respond, leaving Jack to give Liz an amused look. "That's pretty poetic of you. A little ominous, but poetic."
Liz snorted. "Rapture did love its drama. Still does, I suppose. C'mon, let's get this done quickly. We'll have to move carefully though. A place with safe water was bound to attract scavengers."
So they left the corpses behind to move deeper into the facility. They dodged cameras, destroyed security turrets and bots, and Liz even impressed him with how fast she could get a safe open. They found more decaying bodies, of course. And Rapture it seemed like they might as well be decorations, something placed here or there to add a little bit of ambiance. The fact that Jack didn't find them so gruesome anymore probably didn't bode well for his psyche, though he couldn't complain about the fact he barely even noticed the smell anymore.
'Trauma later, survival now,' Jack thought as he searched the facility.
Between him and Liz, they already had three bottles of distilled water. Just a little more and they'd be done. Passing one of the old tables that his partner told him were once used for wine tastings, Jack spotted another audio recorder. He wiped away the grim with his thumb and squinted at the writing.
Dr. Bridget Tenenbaum
'Huh, another one from her. Let's see what it has to say.'
He hit the play button.
"The children must remain functional to be effective producers of ADAM. I had hoped we could place them into a vegetative state, so they would be more pliable. I find being around them very uncomfortable. Even with those things implanted in their bellies, they are still children. They play, and sing. Sometimes they look at me, and they don't stop. Sometimes they smile."
A shiver went down Jack's spine. 'This woman is supposed to be our ally! But how can we trust her knowing she's done such horrible shit?'
"Regretting the horrors you've brought to the world doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things," Liz said, yanking Jack out of his thoughts. He turned to face her, trying to read the expression on her face. "But doing something to right your wrong... To balance out the hurt you've put out into the universe... That has to mean something."
Her blue eyes met Jack's, and there was something pleading in their depths. "Doesn't it?"
.
.
.
"What harm could you have done to someone?" Jack blurted out. Liz was dangerous for sure; she could cycle a revolved and pick a lock like no one business! But he could not imagine the woman hurting someone willingly!
Liz gave him a long, blank stare. "...Let's move."
'...Even after all we've been through together, I really don't know her, do I?' Jack realized as he followed Liz down a staircase into the storage and brewing rooms.
"Hey, Mary. Everything okay?"
"Did you hear that Andrew Ryan took control of Fontaine Futuristics?! I'm hopping mad!"
"Slow down there, little lady."
"Sorry, Jim, but I'm real upset. We came to Rapture to get away from government muscling in on private business people."
"Man, I can't believe those are still playing," Jack complained. "Half of these buildings barely have lights anymore but we still get to hear propaganda?"
Liz's somberness broke into a small chuckle. "Yeah, Ryan clearly had his priorities as to where the morning should be invested."
It was good to hear her laugh, even as it alerted a howling attacker from the shadows. It looked like Liz was right about splicers having set up shop in the winery.
Five dead bodies later, and Jack was holding up the final jar of distilled water triumphantly. He picked up the radio. "Langford, we've got everything. We're heading back."
He just got static in response.
"This far away and in a basement? Not surprising. Let's hurry back, we can give her the good news in person," Liz shook her head. Then she smiled at him, "One step closer to being home free."
"Langford, we've got everything! Let us in!" Jack shouted as they approached the laboratories. For all the Farmer's Market stank of rot and mold, it was vastly preferable to the poison clouds hanging in the air.
By his side, Liz was starting to cough.
The security screens flicked on, revealing Langford's now familiar face. "Excellent, it took you long enough. I'll unlock the door, you both come up. We don't have much time."
No sooner had the screens gone dark and the doors began sliding open did Jack's radio crack back to life, this time with a voice that filled Jack with rage.
"Why must you all fight the inevitable? You'll run out of oxygen soon, and then you'll just go to sleep. And is that, in some ways, more merciful?"
"Asshole," Jack growled, to which Liz nodded in agreement.
They made a break for Langford's inner labs. Through the labs and final corridor where they both nearly collapsed against a wall as they waited for the final door to slide open.
"Damn, my lungs are killing me," Liz said, rubbing her chest. "Maybe I should take this as a sign to stop smoking?"
Jack chuckled. "Aw, don't give up so easily. I've been smoking for... as long as an I can remember and I'm fine."
Finally, FINALLY, they were that. Through a pane of glass, they saw Langford, clad in a lab coat, fiddling a beaker. Glancing up, she smiled and waved them closer. Liz reached for the 'Open' button and-
"Julie, we made a business deal, you and I, did we not? Money changed hands, let me read to you from the agreement... Section 3, Subsection 4..."
"What's going on?" Jack asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Liz dropped to her knee, pulled out her screwdriver, and started ripping out a small panel next to the door.
Beyond the glass, Langford was freaking out.
"Ryan Industries maintains EXCLUSIVE rights to the creation, use, and exploitation of the Lazarus Vector. Ownership is civilization, Julie. Without it, we're back in the swamp."
HISSSSSSSS!
Green gas started to fill the room, engulfing the scientist!
"STOP IT!" Jack banged on the glass. "STOP IT, YOU BASTARD!"
Langford was screaming, screaming and coughing. Jack took his wrench to the window, throwing all his strength into each blow.
And nothing. No matter how much he tried, Jack couldn't save her. His last look at Langford was a slender hand drawing something on the glass before it too fell away.
'I failed.'