At around seven foot tall with its skin grafted into an atmospheric diving suit made of thick stainless steel, the Big Daddy was as imposing a figure as one could find down in Rapture. It made whale noises as it lumbered towards the Little Sister. Austin's heart raced as he watched the hulking beast pass just feet in front of him. Each footfall made him want to jump up out of the luggage and run for his life.
“Mr. Bubbles!” The Little Sister was excited to see her protector and friend. She didn't seem to be afraid of the large drill that took the place of one of the Big Daddy's hands. Austin was. He'd seen what the hulking beast was capable of doing with it. Needless to say it wasn't pleasant.
“In there!” The Little Sister pointed down the flooded hallway towards Neptune's Bounty. “This way,” the creepy little girl started to skip down the hall, humming a lullaby. Her protector followed her as fast as he could which was pretty slow.
Austin waited until the Little Sister and Big Daddy were completely out of view. Knowing that they had gone to Neptune's Bounty put his plans in jeopardy. If he proceeded with planting a bomb in the Lower Wharfs, there was a good chance he'd run into them. But there was a chance that they would find whatever they were after and the creepy girl would just crawl into another vent and disappear. Without anything to protect, the hulking beast would likely leave him be. At least that's what he told himself.
CHAPTER 5
“I don't know about this bud,” said Austin. He nervously stood in front of the Kashmir Restaurant. As he stared at the pink and turquoise neon sign, his heart raced and his armpits were soaked.
“Jesus man if you don't calm down we're going to have to go get you a new shirt. Then you'll be late to your date. And I'll be damned if I let you make my sister wait,” said Austin's best friend in rapture, Andy Richards. There was a sly grin as he teased the engineer.
“You know this is kind of weird.” Austin adjusted his tie.
“What's weird about it?”
“You, so enthusiastically trying to set me up with Eleanor-”
“Emily,” corrected Andy.
“With your sister, Emily.”
“There's nothing weird about it. This place, it's filled with a lot of creeps I don't know. But you, you're my friend, a good guy and most importantly not a creep.” Andy stepped in front of Austin. “You're not a creep are you?”
“Do you really want me to say it?” asked Austin with one raised eyebrow.
Andy shrugged. “I am about to trust you with my little sis.”
“I'm not a creep Andy.”
“Good,” Andy smiled and not only moved out of the way but headed in the opposite direction of the restaurant. “Have fun.”
“Wait!” yelled Austin, louder then he meant to. Andy stopped and turned around. “How am I supposed to know who she is? What does she look like?”
“Like me but with breasts and long hair,” answered Andy. “Good luck!”
Good luck? Why would he say that? Austin wiped some sweat from his forehead and entered the Kashmir Restaurant.
Rapture residents talked a lot about the Kashmir. Their New Years Eve parties were almost as infamous as the restaurant’s nineteen fifties high end night club decor. Like all of the underwater city, it was a work of art. Austin saw it before when it was still under construction but he'd never been in since.
“Can I help you sir?” asked the Kashmir hostess. She was young and beautiful. Andrew Ryan would've been happy to have women like her as residents.
“I'm meeting someone here.”
“Let me see if we have any tables open sir.”
“I think she's already here,” Austin didn't want the nice hostess to bother looking.
“In that case, have a wonderful night.”
This was a mistake. Austin looked out over the large Kashmir Restaurant which was covered in tables with patrons sitting at them. Shaded candles were in the middle of each one providing the only real light other than some dim chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It was dark and crowded. Considering he didn't know what Emily looked like (other than Andy with lay parts), finding her in the crowd had to be formidable task. Or so he thought.
“Austin!” Austin heard a woman yell his name. It only took him a few seconds to see a woman standing up and waving her hand in the middle of restaurant.
That's her. Calm down Austin. Be cool. You can be cool right? Don't mess this up. This is the first time in ages you've been on a date. Austin struggled to navigate the packed restaurant floor. He bumped into the back of people's chairs and even made one poor guy spill his drink. Instead of apologizing he just kept going.
“Hi there handsome, I take it you're Austin?” Emily got up and hugged Austin. Her show of affection caught him a little off guard. She kindly didn't acknowledge his sweat.
“I am,” Austin gave Emily a nervous smile. He looked at her and couldn't believe what he was seeing. She was gorgeous. Her long red hair was tied in an intricate bun. She wore a breathtaking red dress that made her stand out. And her eyes, he immediately got lost in their soulful brown irises.
“Thank god. When Andy told me he was going to set me up with one of his friends I was worried it'd be some, I don't know, someone not like you. Most of the people my brother works with are...what's the right word?”
“Shady?”
Emily laughed. “Exactly!”
“How do you know I'm not?” asked Austin, instantly regretting the question.
“Andy said you were engineer. Not one of Fontaine's goons.”
“I hope you don't mind me asking, why does Andy work for him? I mean, your brother's a smart guy. He could do whatever he wants.”
“Good evening. Welcome to the Kashmir Restaurant. My name is Rudolph. May I start you off with something to drink?” A waiter walked up and interrupted Emily and Austin's conversation.
Emily ordered some wine then waited for the waiter to leave before answering Austin's question. “That's the thing, he likes working for him. That's what he wants to do.”
“It doesn't bother you?”
“Enough about my brother, how about you? What's your story?” asked Emily as she made sure to make and maintain eye contact. Her assertiveness took him aback. She was definitely different. And he liked that.
“My story? It's not terribly interesting I'm afraid.” Austin took a nervous sip of his water.
“Somehow I doubt that.” Emily gave Austin a look that put him at ease and made him feel a little more comfortable. His nerves relaxed. Even without the wine.
“Okay. I was born in Omaha, Nebraska. My family owns a corn company up there. I wanted more than corn and money so I left home at eighteen. I joined the military, fought in the Pacific then I met Andrew Ryan. Now I'm an engineer in an underwater city.”
“That's amazing. You've done so much.”
“I'm sure you've done your fair share.”
Emily shrugged. “Not really. My parents died when I was little. Andy raised me. And when he decided to move to Rapture I went with him. Now I teach at Ryan the Lion Prep School.”
“Ryan the Lion?”
“I know it's a ridiculous name right? But it's better than being a waitress or working at a department store. What? Don't judge me,” laughed Emily.
The waiter came back with the bottle Emily ordered. He poured her a glass then went to pour Austin one. Instead of allowing it, the engineer put his hand over his glass and shook his head.
“Can I take your orders?” asked the waiter.
“Give us another minute please,” Austin gave the waiter a polite smile.
“You're not a drinker?” asked Emily after observing her date turn down wine.
“After the war I got a little carried away with the scotch and whiskey. Since I accepted the engineering job I swore off the stuff.”
“Hmmm. Now that we know each other, let's eat!” Emily picked up her Kashmir Restaurant menu.
Before the waiter could come back and take Emily and Austin's orders, the whole resta
urant was interrupted by the sound of gun fire outside. They were promptly followed by a woman's screams.
As people so often do/did, many of patrons at the Kashmir Restaurant got up from their tables and crowded around the entrance to see if they could get a glimpse of what happened. Those curious diners included Emily and Austin.
Jesus. Austin was tall enough to see over the crowd. Just outside the little elevated walkway that led into the restaurant’s entrance laid an older man. Part of his head was missing. Its contents were strewn about the floor. A woman, his wife tried to go over and help him as concerned citizens held her back. Her cries were full of sadness and shock.
“What happened?” Emily asked one of the on lookers.
“Some ADAM junkie tried to rob them I think. It must've gone wrong,” answered the on looker.
That was the first time Emily, Austin and most of those who witnessed the tragedy outside the Kashmir felt something wrong with their utopia. It was the first crack in Ryan's dream. And it was an omen for things to come.
“We should-” Austin gently took Emily by her arm.
“Yeah. But wait we haven't paid,” Emily agreed but looked back. That little voice in her head knew it was wrong but like her date she knew she'd have a hard time just going back in and eating like nothing happened.
“It'll be alright. After all, I know Andrew Ryan.” Austin tried to lighten the mood.
“Oh, is that so?”
“It is. Are you impressed?” Austin led Emily away from the Kashmir Restaurant.
“Very.”
“C'mon, let me walk you home.”
“Home? You want to end our date already?” Emily shot Austin a coy smile.
Austin glanced back past Emily at the crowd around the dead woman. “No. But I thought considering what happened...”
Emily stopped walking. Austin did the same once he noticed he she wasn't following. She walked up to him and put her hands on his cheeks. They were warm.
“We aren't going stop the party just because of a little rain,” said Emily. “My mom used to say that. I know that was more than a little rain but, it still applies.”
“I know this diner, not too far away. They have the best burgers.”
“Say no more.” Emily put her finger on Austin's lips. “Let's go eat some burgers.”
Austin and Emily walked hand-in-hand. They could have utilized Rapture's public transportation system but wanted to take the long way.
If you asked Austin or Emily when they fell in love, they both probably would have given different answers. The truth was that it was sometime that night. Yes, that's not a long time to get to know someone enough to love them, but that's what happened. A couple years later their relationship ended with a Big Daddy's drill through Emily's torso.
CHAPTER 6
Are they gone? Austin stared down the flooded hallway that served as the entrance to Neptune's Bounty. The Big Daddy and Little Sister went down it over a half-an-hour earlier.
Gone or not, I need to go down there. Austin double checked his newly acquired shotgun. He took a deep breath then started down the hall.
The water was frigid and went up past Austin's ankles. To one side there were pieces of concrete blown off of the wall during the civil war. The other side was glass. Through it he saw the floating corpses of Rapture residents caught up and tangled in the seaweed. They were bloated and their skin gray. He did his best to ignore them. Still, it felt like they were watching him.
Austin hurried down the flooded hallway. The sound of dripping water made him nervous. At any time the glass wall could've shattered sending the endless tons of the Atlantic straight towards him. Though death didn't scare him dying before he destroyed the place that took his wide from him was a terrifying prospect.
Both of Austin's feet finally got out of the water and onto dry floor. His soaked shoes squeaked and squished. It wasn't an ideal situation but it would have to do.
Austin discovered a splicer's body on the floor net to a small fire. From the look of the poor bastard he'd been dead for less than a day. He could've died in any number of ways. That was until the engineer discovered a large hole in his neck. It was just like the ones cause by Little Sisters' oversized syringes. The duo from earlier were after ADAM, as per usual. Question was, why in Neptune's Bounty. For them to be that exposed was unusual.
Despite being inside Rapture, Neptune's Bounty looked any commercial docks above the waves. Where Austin entered, the Lower Wharf, the first thing he saw was Fontaine Fisheries. He was familiar with the place. Andy used to work there before the front for the city's biggest illegal smuggling operation collapsed.
I need to get this over with. The quicker the better. Austin looked out over Neptune's Bounty and tried to find the best and safest route. He saw the slotted wood floors and boxes of rotted fish that were never delivered. Even for someone so used to being around death, the smell almost made him throw up his beans.
Austin continued into the bowels of Fontaine's Fisheries. He knew the Rapture blueprints, almost by heart. He needed to. And he knew that there was a wall that bore an inordinate amount of water pressure. If blown up, he knew that all of Neptune's Bounty would be destroyed. That would be crucial to permanently ridding the world of ADAM, splicers and the other abominations that the city housed.
Being so close to the finish line hardened Austin's resolve and gifted his legs with some extra haste. After everything he'd been through since meeting Andrew Ryan in that Boston waterfront bar, he finally neared the end.
Austin entered the Fontaine Fishery warehouse floor. There were tables and a variety of machines that were once used to process, gut, debone and package fish. He looked up and saw the corridors of the elevated walkway that he needed to get to. That was where he'd get access to the weak spot in the walls.
“There's ten of us and one of him. Kill him and we get all that sweet ADAM from the girl.” Austin heard he fiendish voice of a splicer soon after making it upstairs. He couldn't see the freak.
“This way Mr. Bubbles,” Austin heard another voice. The second belonged to the Little Sister he almost ran into at the Metro Station.
Figures. Austin looked left and saw the shadows of armed splicers against the wall. He knew it a matter of seconds they'd come around the corner. To his right he saw the Little Sister skipping down the hall towards him and the freaks that wanted to kill her.
Though armed himself, Austin didn't like his chances fighting the splicers or the inevitable Big Daddy. His only hope was in a little kiosk in the middle of the corridor.
Austin got in the kiosk and lay down on his back. Looking up he saw all manner of papers and clipboards hanging from the walls of the little shack-like structure. The corrugated metal that it was constructed with wouldn't provide much protection from bullets. But it was better than being out in the open.
“There she is! Get em' boys!” Austin heard one of the splicers yell. From his location, on the floor of the kiosk, he couldn't see them. And that was probably for the best.
The ten splicers weren't in good shape. Their bodies were ravaged by mutagens and the side effects of their own addled minds. A couple looked close to death. They were desperate. With ADAM in increasingly short supply, the Little Sister was seen as a godsend. In reality it was a gift from the devil himself because their reckoning was close behind her.
“Kill it!” yelled one of the splicers. The freaks opened fire. Armed with machine guns, shotguns and pistols, they packed plenty of firepower. But their aim was bad. Most had poor vision from years in the dark of Rapture. Others had failing eyes due to their addictions.
Austin lay helpless as bullets ripped through the corrugated metal of his shack. Sparks and pieces of the cheap building material rained down on him. That's when he heard a bad sound. It was one he associated with death; the whale-esque sound of an agitated Big Daddy. Those were followed by hard and loud footsteps.
The splicers emptied their clips, cylinders and breaches into the Big Daddy.
It still came at them. The beast built up so much momentum that it ran through the kiosk. All Austin heard was a crashing noise then he was buried under the walls and roof. A boot to the corrugated metal on top of his mid-section broke a few ribs.
With a swipe of its spinning drill arm, the Big Daddy took out two of the splicers. The tool/weapon made easy work of their corrupted flesh and sent blood in several directions. As the desperate splicers struggled to reload, the hulking beast impaled one of them and split the freak's steaming guts on the floor.
What…? Austin tried to regain his bearings and get up. Every breath he took hurt. That combined with the meat hook to the back he took earlier that night made digging himself out very difficult. Slowly he removed one piece of the kiosk at a time.
Three of the splicers were dead. Six of the reaming seven desperately bum rushed the Big Daddy. They took out knives, wrenches and shanks, anything that could do harm and jumped on the hulking beast. Surprisingly the monster didn't go down; instead it tried to peel them off.
The seventh splicer had a secret weapon. One of its hands started to convulse. Under its skin, every vein in the limb started to glow a very light blue. Arcs of electricity manifested between its fingers. With a pained grunt it fired off a much larger arc that hit the Big Daddy square in its chest.
All the splices that hung onto the Big Daddy's body were electrocuted. Each fell off, dead, when their heart's stopped from the high voltage shock. The hulking beast was stopped in its tracks, though not yet dead.
Plasmids. I hate those damn things. Austin crawled out of the wreckage of the kiosk. He retrieved his shotgun and watched as the plasmid wielding splicer ran towards the Big Daddy with a reloaded revolver.
The splicer grabbed the smoking Big Daddy by the cage of its helmet. Then the freak pressed the barrel of its pistol on one of the glowing red eye holes. Austin didn't count but he was pretty sure six bullets were emptied into the hulking beast's face.
Austin was never sad to see a Big Daddy die. After all one of the abominations took his Emily from him. But the one that died there in Fontaine's Fishery was protecting an innocent Little Sister. He knew what the little girls went through and wasn't about to just let it her slaughtered by an ADAM crazed splicer.
Rapture: Sanctuary Page 3