Raising Rapture: Part Two
Note: Sorry about all the lead-up. I promise there will be some sex and some TF in either the next part or the one after it. After all, can't knock things down without setting them up!
[Raising Rapture: Part One](%5C)
Raising Rapture: Part Two
[Raising Rapture: Part Three](%5C)
_ BioShock _
_ Raising Rapture _
"Oh, shit."
That was a pretty accurate summation of our predicament. To put it short and sweet, me and my squad of Marines were standing in an underwater city three miles under the Atlantic, which was apparently called "Rapture". A man who claimed to be its' leader had just told us we would never leave alive, and he was surrounded by at least 20 soldiers in what I would have bet was powered armor. I saw my wife, Komodo, hunch tighter against the potted palm that hid her, and whisper into her earpiece. I heard her voice crackle in my earpiece.
"Nielson, we are in trouble, repeat, trouble. Get out, and bring back nukes! Repeat, nuke nuke nuke! Get out while you can!"
Winston Teabbing, the 'administrator' of Rapture, spoke again. "Oh, crumpets, that's not what I meant. We're certainly not going to gun you down like dogs. After all, what are we, Splicers?"
He laughed, and most of his entourage did too. He resumed. "No, no, what I mean to say is that we must keep this place a secret. Hush-hush, you know. After all, can't let cats know a mouse lurks beneath them, what?"
D.O.B. crossed his arms. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Where are we, and what is this place?"
Winston placed both his hands on his cane, and leaned on it. "All in good time, chap, but again, I must ask for your weapons and communication equipment. That lovely lady over there has already made one transmission, and despite the fact that it had not a chance, we still cannot be incautious. So, if you would..."
Normally, neither I, nor any of my team would surrender ourselves so easily. Two things cemented it. One, I heard the rifle held by the soldier nearest me whine, and I'll be damned if I want to see what happens when he fires.
Normally, even that wouldn't have stopped us, except for one thing; D.O.B. whistled, and said "Team... Disarm. Run today, fight another day."
I considered this, for a half-second, before dropping my rifle and pulling off my earpiece. I knew D.O.B.; rotten bastard that he was, he would never endanger his team recklessly. Winston raised his arms. "Excellent! If you would, just place them on the nearest piece of furniture. Ammunition, too, if you would; won't need it here!" Wordlessly, we piled stack after stack of hardware on couches, loveseats, and sofas. When we were done, we took a step back. With a quiet hum, a square panel of metal around the furniture whipped around, hiding the furniture and our supplies. I gulped.
Downbeat let a tear slip as he watched his beloved I-pod/phone vanish. "That's cold, man. Cold."
Mean Bitch snarled at him. "Shut up, Deadmeat. I hardly think you'd get a signal anyway."
D.O.B. glared at Teabbing. "Alright, we lived up to our side of the deal. Now, you."
Winston clapped. "Excellent! Splendid! Follow me, if you please; and not to worry, Master Owens, your device is perfectly fine, and will be returned as soon as dial-out capability is disabled."
We followed the administrator as he exited through the airlock. The soldiers followed us. We emerged into a huge, cavernous space. When I say huge, I am not whistling Dixie. I literally could not see the end of this cavern. And, hanging suspended inside this cave, was another city.
To be fair, it looked like a work of abstract art. Fractal shapes hung from the ceiling like stalactites, bulging into huge orbs held aloft by tiny cables, with giant tubes linking the whole thing into one gargantuan superstructure. Everything, even the walls of the cavern, was made of the some white plastic. We must have been at least 2 miles from the huge thing, but as I stepped forward, I nearly lost my balance, and looked down. All around the walls of the cavern extended conveyor belts to the sides of the walls, and we were riding one towards the city.
As we moved, Teabbing talked. "There was once a man called Andrew Ryan, who had a dream in the 50's he felt that government was stifling the truly elite, those who could stand above the rabble and see what was possible for the race. He wished to see a Utopia in which the entrepreneurial spirit and rational values prevailed! Normally, this story ends with a sad massacre by government troops against what they believe to be a mad cult leader. But Ryan had resources. Cutting deeply into his fortune, and those of like-minded individuals, he built a city in the sea, what you see above us. And for a time, it was splendid! Scientific progress spread like wildfire, and the elite of the world were pleased as punch. Ryan had quite a crop to choose from; over 5,000 people from around the world had joined his little experiment, and he created a system to extract those who would enrich Rapture in some way, shape or form. Soon, Rapture's true genius was unveiled; a sort of genetic hoo-hah that could grant tremendous abilities! These tonics were known as Plasmids, and they flowed like water in Rapture's Golden Age."
Winston's voice grew sad. "Unfortunately, Ryan and his partner Fontaine did not test the Plasmids thoroughly enough. Excessive genetic splicing induces a condition known as Splicer Schizophrenia, marked by intense violent tendencies, loss of reason, return to base instincts, and savagery. As the plague broke out, Fontaine played his hand; he tried to upstage Ryan and seize Rapture. The battle between the two raged for years, until '63, when the brouhaha was upstaged by Ryan's illegitimate son, a stout spirit called Jack. Fontaine, under the guise of a figure called Atlas, manipulated Jack to kill his father, but not before Ryan educated him as to Fontaine's survival. Jack, understandably outraged, slew Fontaine, and extracted some test subjects of Ryan's creation to a healthy life above the waves. However, eventually, Jack grew curious of Rapture's fate, and returned. He vanished, and is presumed dead."
" Some years later, about '74, if I remember right, another old test subject resurfaced, a hulking experiment known as "Delta". Delta was a prototype for a mass-produced war unit known as Big Daddies, men encased in diving armor, and given a potent cocktail of Plasmid steroids. Delta emerged into the ruins of Rapture, now run by Sofia Lamb, a Utopian psychologist. Delta, attempting to reunite with his mentally bonded child, Eleanor Lamb, cut a bloody swathe through Lamb Sr.'s troops, eventually disappearing in a violent upsurge along with his child, and Lamb Sr."
"This left quite a gap in the infrastructure, you see, and someone had to do it, so why not me? I, having been able to resist the siren song of Plasmids, was one of the few left. After quarantining the remaining Splicers, I set about to rebuild Rapture. Leaving behind our old ways," he said, waving his arms about the cavern, "we built into the Earth, and shifted our focus from the helix to the atom. All this mucking about with genes, harrumph! Nuclear technology is far superior, methinks. Perhaps you've noticed our weaponry; By artificially stimulating the bonds of the target's molecules, they will burst apart into a cloud of pure elements. Safe, clean, and effective, I might add!"
"In the past, Rapture has been a capital of capitalism, a bastion of Utopianism, and a hive of anarchism, but today it is what I like to call a technocracy! We live and learn, seeking ways to plumb the mysteries of the universe, and then put those principles to work! I shudder to think what would happen should we discovered by the surface dwellers."
By now we had reached the giant city. The belt dead-ended onto a platform with a large, glowing map suspended in nothing. I glanced at it momentarily, and then back, finding something of interest. Winston turned to us with a heel-click and said "And that sums it up. Now, gentlemen, a choice. I meant what I said... You cannot return to the surface with knowledge of us. We cannot risk everything that we have compiled falling into the hands of those who could not understand it. However, we offer not death, but sanctuary! If you so choose, you will be given full citizenship in Rapture, and shall become part of our elite guard of scientist-warriors. You shall be able to freely enter the greatest halls of learning the world over, and shall know a freedom unknown to those who have never dwelt beneath the waves." I was torn away from his speech for a moment by a thought. Where the hell is Ghoul? He was here not 30 seconds ago.
Komodo surprised me by speaking. "Oh, and we're just supposed to forget all the NUMA men you murdered?"
Winston's mustache trembled in surprise. "My dear girl, have you not been listening? We are kind; we have always endeavored to it. Captain, if you would remove your helmet..."
One of the white-clad soldier's near us shouldered his rifle, and plucked his helmet from his head. I'm not sure what I expected a Rapturian to look like, but this wasn't it. He had luxurious brown hair, and a freckled face. He smiled, and snapped a salute. "Captain Jonathan Bridges, formerly of the National Underwater and Marine Agency. I can vouch for Rapture; I'm learning more in weeks than I learned in four years in college. These people are kind, far kinder than most of the surface worlders."
I looked back at Teabbing. He raised an eyebrow. "Come now, chaps, is this really even something you need to think about? Surely the choice is obvious."
Surely no one's going to step forward; giving up your country, your home, your people, for intellectualism? Who would...
I heard footsteps, and looked over my right shoulder. Byte was stepping forward, his head bowed. I was shocked. Mean Bitch snarled, and spat something unprintable. Byte stopped in front of D.O.B. He couldn't seem to raise his head, and was stuttering to the sergeant's shoes. D.O.B. put a hand on his shoulder. "Go on, son. Hell, you and I both know that you don't belong here. You'll do better over there." Byte nodded in shame, and started to walk towards Winston. D.O.B. raised his voice. "Marines! At this time, I would like to give each and every one of you the chance to leave. You will not be blamed."
Byte shuffled to stand next to Winston, who clapped him on the back. No one else moved. Except me. However, in my case, I was merely kneeling and picking something off the floor. When I stood back up, D.O.B. crossed his arms over his chest. "Well, there's your answer, Teabbing. Now, what are you going to do?"
Winston seemed to deflate a little. "Well... Well, all I can say is that I' deucedly sorry. But, we are kind, we are always kind. We shall return your weapons to you, and escort you back to the airlock. After precisely twenty-four hours, we will enter, and neutralize you. We can at least do you the favor of expiring on your own terms. It saddens me, but you seem set on your path." He snapped his fingers, and a man with a shaven head and a white robe appeared from a pneumatic tube, and placed a small device in his hands. He pressed a few buttons, and suddenly red lights sprang from the device. Four rows of digits appeared in floating red letters, and began to count down. The holographic clock was counting down the time until one day passed. He tossed the clock back to D.O.B., and said "Captain Bridges, if you would escort these chaps to the lock, I would appreciate it. Goodbye, and good luck."
The soldiers polarized in front of us, and began pushing us back towards the belt, which had somehow reversed. I saw Winston begin talking to Byte, and they were both walking towards a pneumatic tube. I snorted a bit, and started walking next to D.O.B. I whispered "Sir, I have a plan."
D.O.B., for some reason lost to time, can speak without moving his lips. "What?"
"Remember that map that was floating in the air back there?"
"What about it?"
"It wasn't just there on its' own. There was something embedded in the floor. I dug it out when you were staring down Teabbing. If it works on the same principle as the clock, we might just be able to figure out some way to get out of this place."
D.O.B. smiled subtly. "Well, well, well... We might make a decent soldier out of you yet."
After riding the lift back, we were pushed into the airlock by the turned NUMA men, one of whom yelled as the door closed "Why the hell'd you choose death?!"
The door shut behind us with an ominous CLANG. All our weapons were sitting in a pile, next to the signboard, which now read "We tried." We all scooped up our weapons and supplies. After trying to raise the Nielson and failing to get a response, D.O.B. whistled loudly.
"Marines! I don't have to tell you that I'm damn glad you decided to stick through, and I'm even damn gladder to tell you that we're not just going to sit around with our thumbs up our asses until they come in and shoot us. Alpha..."
I handed the small black crystal to D.O.B., who took out the clock, and pushed the crystal right up next to the emitter. Faintly but visibly, the map flickered above our heads. Senior allowed himself a small smile "Ah, intel... Nectar of the gods."
Komodo clapped and laughed. "That's my clever Alpha!"
D.O.B. smirked, and said "Can it, soldier, he might actually start to believe it. Let's have a look see..."
I pointed to a small X on the diagram. "Look... This is where we were before. If you follow that into the city... Dammit!"
Reigndown gave me a look. "Where's dammit?"
I pointed to the diagram. "Look. When we get into the actual city, we've got to go right by some barracks. And look at this! 'Bathysphere' docks are three levels down! How on Earth are we going to get down to there without having to slaughter half the city?"
Mean Bitch snorted. "You suck at lateral thinking, Alpha. Look." Her finger traced a vertical line that ascended from the first platform. "Look. The level way above here has lines that lead all over the place. We get wherever that is, and we can take our pick."
I rubbed my chin. "Good point. Now, what is tha... Shit."
Komodo sighed. "Now what?"
I pointed at a small legend next to the level Bitch had indicated. It read 'Quarantine zone'. "Didn't Teabbing say something about super-powered lunatics?"
Bitch snorted, and popped the slide on her T20. "Teabag can say whatever he wants. I'm going to show this whole city just what a Mean Bitch with a machine gun can do when she's mad."
Downbeat plugged in his earphones, and started rocking out. "Hell yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! These cue balls want to start something, and we'll finish it!"
D.O.B. looked around at us. "Well, looks like we have a plan. We've still got twenty three hours, so I want everyone to get some sleep. Tomorrow, we're going to break out of here, Splicers or no Splicers."
I smiled to myself, and picked up something from the pile. "Damn right, Sarge. No one gets to boss the Marines around." And to punctuate myself, I slammed a C4 pack on the door. Rapture was going to have quite a surprise to deal with.