Andrew Ryan Industries, 1:00 am
Reaching the entrance of the huge building Ryan looked at Darren and said, "Stay here. I don't want you getting hypnotized." Darren didn't want to leave the Little Brother on his own but he had to trust Ryan. Following Ryan to the nearest hidey-hole Darren helped him in, "If I am not back in twenty minutes just... stand there." He finished lamely before crawling into the tunnel. If what Sander Cohen said was true, he could catch that man, Jack, in Andrew's office.
"Great... I can't believe I am going to save the man that's trying to murder me." Ryan muttered. he
had to do it. If he didn't then the Little Sisters and their Daddies would remain in danger. He didn't care for Andrew Ryan, but he wasn't a Sister killer. Which was the bright side Ryan forced himself to look on as he continued crawling. Suddenly the lights went off and there was a loud explosion. 'what was that?' Ryan thought, panicked. Hurrying up Ryan ended up hitting his head more times than he cared to admit in the dark. What was this man trying to do?
Rapture's Central Control, 2:00 pm
The hidey-holes here were ones Ryan knew all too well. He had used them more than once to reach Andrew Ryan's office. Mostly for pranks, like the time he put a tack on his chair and Andrew sat on it. He never knew a man could sound that much like a girl... Or another time when he smeared gum on the bottom of Andrew's desk and when he touched it the gum came stuck to his hand. People couldn't help but look disgusted at Andrew every time he went to shake their hands after that one. Oh, and who could forget the time Ryan took Andrew's important charts and made some... modifications. When Andrew went to present them he saw they had insulting doodles on them like pie charts for 'How much Andrew stinks', 'How bald Andrew will be in the future', and 'How smart Andrew actually is'. It was hilarious!
Ryan snickered at the memories as he reached his destination. Crawling out of the hidey-hole he gasped quietly when he saw what was written on the wall in front of him. "Would you kindly?" It read. Was this what his dreams were trying to tell him? Ryan walked over to Andrew's office. It was kinda dark. Looking harder Ryan didn't know what to think as he saw something, he was sad that he got there too late to stop Jack. Laying on the ground, a bloody mess, was Andrew Ryan.
Being an 'Angel' was far too good for the likes of him. Ryan ranted mentally. All of a sudden he moved. He was alive? Weakly, Andrew turned his bloody face to Ryan. He moved his head limply, Ryan guessed he wanted to tell him something. Walking over, Ryan knelt over to listen to what he had to say.
"A man chooses... a slave obeys... despise what you are... you are not a slave... like you were meant to be... the city ...is ...stolen ...by someone ...by ...Ja-" Andrew's breath left him not able to finish the sentence.
"The city is stolen by who? Who is Ja? Is it Jack?" Ryan asked, mostly to himself. Not that he was going to get an answer from a dead corpse. There went his only lead. Getting up Ryan decided to go to tell Darren the news, and hopefully get another lead in the near future. As soon as he stood up he heard an evil cackling laugh. "Well well well, if it isn't Little Brother Ryan. How are you?" He taunted through the PA system.
"Fontaine..." Ryan said simply as he looked up at the speaker hung on the wall.
"You've grown up quite a bit." Fontaine said. Ryan growled angrily in response. "I guess Diane was right about you. When you looked into my eyes. I don't know how, but you managed to see the kind of man I was." Ryan's anger left him. How did he know? "Don't be too surprised. I recognized the look of fear you had on your face." Fontaine continued. "You're a fake. I bet it's not the first time you've pretended to be somebody else either" Ryan accused.
"So true, so true... I should destroy you, but you're a special sort. Hows about you join me? Together, me with Rapture, you with your Big Daddies. We can rule Rapture. And even the world with an iron fist!" Fontaine offered. Ryan hated people like him. People that treated others like trash. Big Daddies underneath their armour were people. They weren't completely mindless, what they lacked in memories of their past they made up for in heart.
"Go jump in a broken airlock!" Ryan yelled angrily. Fontaine didn't answer for a few seconds before he finally said. "You first." and with that he went silent. A smile spread through Ryan's face. Fontaine was crafty, but apparently not too smart. There were only two PA systems in Rapture, Fountaine clearly wasn't using the one in Andrew's office. So that meant he was using the other one located in Point Provisos. It was time somebody taught Fontaine how to be a proper man.
Surprisingly, the sayings were true. Sometimes it takes a kid to do a man's job.
Point Provisus, 5:00 am
Carefully walking out of a bathysphere Ryan whispered to Darren "Let's be sneaky." Darren nodded as best as he could before following Ryan to a peculiar door. It was large, but bellow it had a smaller door with the bigger one. The small door opened first, which Ryan crawled into, then Darren followed as the bigger one opened. Slowly, they made their way to the end when suddenly, they were passing through a model set in the middle of the room they heard, "So here comes the protector of the Little Sisters? HA! for Pete's sake, grow up kid!" looking up they saw a Splicer. It was Fontaine. "You want your Little Sisters back? Please. I am so going to enjoy this." Fontaine bragged as he jumped down from the second floor.
Ryan cranked the valve in his harvester to full suction. Ever since Suchong gave him the Sister Escort Test Ryan realised he wasn't a gatherer anymore. He was a protector.
Darren checked his gun when Ryan stopped him "No Darren, this is my fight." He said. Darren backed away slowly. Not liking his orders, but following them anyway. "I don't know whether to congratulate you for your bravery or laugh at your foolishness." Fontaine said.
"You talk too much." Ryan said simply, already mid-stab by the time Fontaine noticed. His harvester easily penetrating the man's skin and quickly filled it completely with Adam. That was the first sign something was wrong for Ryan. He knew Splicers never had that much Adam in their bodies.
Knocking Ryan away Fontaine screamed, "You little brat! Play fair!"
Ryan became even more furious. He wants him to play fair? Who was the one who tricked an entire army into serving him? It wasn't him, it was Fontaine! Hiding behind one of the pillars Ryan quickly drank the Adam in the jar. He had to empty it somehow, plus it would be a waste if he dropped it. The taste and texture were... odd. It was tasteless, but as it went down his throat he felt small sparks of energy tingling inside him from head to toe. Just then Fontaine dropped right on where he was standing, Ryan barely managed to dive out of the way in time. "I suggest you run boyo. I'll show you what Adam can truly do!" Fontaine yelled as he jumped up and landed on the second floor balcony and began to throw fire at Ryan.
Ryan dove behind some debris. If only he could- He looked sharply over at Darren. He suddenly got a crazy idea. Ryan hopped out of cover and ran straight at him, the fireballs Fontaine was throwing missing him by inches. Picking up speed he jumped to get a boost from the Big Daddy. Much to Ryan's surprise he managed to jump on top of Darren's head in one leap somehow, which allowed him to get a boost and reach the balcony where Fontaine was. Flipping over the railing and kicking off of it in one move he hurled himself at Fontaine and stabbed him with his harvester. It filled up completely in a matter of seconds.
It filled just in time, as Fontaine recovered the instant the jar was filled and punched Ryan. He flew through the air until he hit a pillar. Ryan was confused again. It barely hurt. Something like that would hurt a lot, but it didn't. He felt a little sore, but that was all. Twisting the Jar off of his harvester Ryan drank the Adam inside again. The tingling was stronger this time.
Fontaine was suddenly above his downed form. The man dropped all of his weight in a single right punch. Moving faster than he thought he could, Ryan leaned over just far enough for the punch to miss flattening his stomach. Ignoring the concrete cracking beside him, Ryan grabbed the man's left arm and used it to swing himself onto his back, breaking Fontaine's arm in the process. Taking advantage of his opponents pause at the broken appendage he stabbed his harvester into the man's back, the jar glowing a bright red once again as it filled completely. Ryan dodged the elbow by throwing himself backwards. He slid down a luckily placed curtain to save himself from two broken legs.
Cradling his arm Fontaine screamed in frustration. "I am Fontaine! I'm not going to be beaten by a snot nosed little brat! I'll just splice up more! More! Until there's nothing left to splice!" Fontaine yelled, punching a pillar as he stormed away.
"Come on Darren, before he gets away!" Ryan Called as he started to run after Fontaine. There was a horrifying crack above him. Looking up slowly he saw the pillar Fontaine had punched in frustration falling... right onto him! Ryan's world became a blur as something shoved him, sending him skidding across the floor. His ears ringing from the deafening noise of the pillar hitting the ground he looked up only to see that Darren had been crushed saving his life.
"D-DARREN!" Ryan screamed as he ran to the Big Daddy. He tried to pull the Big Daddy out, when that didn't work he tried to move the pillar. It didn't work either... "Darren?" Ryan mumbled in disbelief as he crumpled to his knees in front of the bloody helmet that was all that was left of his Hero. Tears poured freely down his face as it sank in his Hero was dead.
Before Ryan could mourn the loss of the Big Daddy any more he heard the sound of a door opening. Jumping to his feet he ran to a nearby shop and hid inside. Peaking out of the door frame he heard loud footsteps. "Hurry up Mister Bubbles!" Recognizing the voice Ryan said softly "Masha..." He covered his own mouth immediately so he wouldn't make a sound as he saw who was escorting her.
Her "Big Daddy" wasn't a Big Daddy. It was an imposter. It was Jack, dressed as a Rosie. Jack and Masha wandered past, Ryan staying deathly still. Mostly due to his brain working overdrive on how such a sight was possible. He stayed there for a long time, maybe hours. But later he heard gunshots and a loud roar. That was when he moved. Getting out of the shop Ryan ran to the source, only to find Rogue the Bouncer dead.
Ryan was now terrified. Running to where the elevator was Ryan found it locked. Hiding, he decided that when Jack came out of the elevator he would launch a surprise attack.
Two Hours Later
Ryan was snoring softly. He'd fallen asleep after half an hour of hiding. He was awoken by the sound of the elevator opening. Opening his eyes he prepared to pounce only to see something amazing. His target; Jack, came out of the elevator as planned, only he was accompanied by a bunch of little girls. All of them were cheering or hugging him. Jack had a smile on his face as he held them. He thought he saw a girl who looked like Masha among them but her eyes were nothing like the Masha he knew.
When they were far enough Ryan started to follow them. Jack took them to the bathysphere station. There they met up with a woman who had even more girls with her. Both groups cheered and dissolved into a giggling pile of hugs. Taking in the scene Ryan felt his eyes water. He didn't know why. As they entered two separate bathyspheres and were closing the doors, Ryan ran up the stairs and tried to get payback on Jack but they locked the doors by the time he got up there. When the ysaw him they all looked surprised to see him, the lady looked at him like she knew him, and Jack immediately looked worried. As the bathyspheres got ready to launch two of the girls in jack's group moved to the front it was the girl who looked like Masha and a girl in a plaid dress with red hair, it was Rosie but she looked wrong her eyes were wrong, they looked to Jack and back to Ryan, they were so sad looking. The bathyspheres shot up to the surface. Just like that they were gone.
Turning around, Ryan sprinted to another window. Ryan realised that girl didn't look like Masha she was Masha all those girls were the missing little sisters they were gone just as soon as he found them. The tears in his eyes began to fall as cold sorrow gripped his heart. Ryan couldn't take it any more. Throwing his head back he screamed. Screamed away his loss. Screamed away his sadness. He let everything out. Just before he ran out of air his voice changed and every non-reinforced piece of glass in a forty foot radius of him exploded.
Meanwhile, Somewhere Close By
"What the fuck is that sound!" A Splicer yelled at his companion, covering his ears to block out the horrible screeching sound.
"It... kind of sounds like a Bid Daddy that lost his Little One. It's different though. Come on, we're leaving. I ain't going anywhere near that thing." The other Splicer said urgently.
With Ryan
Ryan stopped as he ran out of air and collapsed. Curling into a shivering ball as he sobbed uncontrollably, his heart feeling both frozen and hollow at the same time.
He didn't notice that drone was watching him.
"Sophie Lamb, should we collect him now?" A male voice asked in a whisper.
"No my dear Gilbert. We must wait, it is not time yet." A smooth motherly female voice replied.
"Why?" Gilbert asked sceptically.
"If we approach the boy now he will be suspicious of our intentions, but if we wait for the right time. When he is truly down. We will be there to rescue him, and when we do. We will have the boy's complete trust and loyalty." Sophie explained softly. "The boy needs a mother. Something that that evil tyrant Andrew never provided. Something that I can provide..." Sophie smiled.
"Very well." Gilbert replied. Understanding but not liking her reasons.
To Be Continued...