Connected by a love that kills.
Rapture- 1960
The twins ran along the corridor, giggling, their Big Daddy clunking along as he tried to keep up. Skidding to a stop, Sarah peered around the corner, while Helena put her fingers to her lips and loudly said “Shhh, Mr Bubbles!”
The mechanical man slowed and made a low rumbling sound.
“I love you too Daddy.” Helena said while patting his arm, then tip-toed up behind her sister and teasingly grabbed her long dark braids.
Can you see them? she asked Sarah silently.
Yes. They’re wearing funny masks, ‘lena! And fancy clothes!
Sarah stared at the splicers. Part of the Little Sisters ‘treatment’ made the splicers appear as glamorous, glowing angelic figures. But Sarah could see the reality of them, if she concentrated. Like so many of them, they were still in their finery and masks from the New Year's Eve masquerade ball. The night of the riots and the real beginning of the civil war. The clothing was torn and tattered, the blood-splattered masks becoming more grotesque as the wearers slipped further into unreality. One of them was muttering to himself while he walked in a tight circle.
“I could start a business down here... it’s not too late... yeah, not too late…”
It was only a small group, four splicers, and none of them seemed to be armed with anything more than crowbars and knives. Sarah frowned. But odds were, at least one of them had Electro-Bolt up their sleeves and that was bad for Daddy. They’d managed to get away from the last lot easily, but it meant they couldn’t go back that way. They needed to get through this corridor and across the atrium, then there was a hidey-hole for them to escape through. The splicers generally didn’t mess with a Big Daddy if he didn’t have a Little Sister with him. They just wanted the ADAM and the Daddies didn’t have any.
Sarah had been hit with Incinerate once before and didn’t want to repeat the experience. Although the ADAM’s regenerative qualities meant the Little Sisters were, for all intents and purposes, unkillable, they still felt pain. And being set on fire was quite painful. The splicer that had attacked Sarah hadn’t lived to regret it, between the Big Daddy and Helena’s retaliation.
Mostly Helena’s.
When Sarah had come around, the splicer was dead and Helena was cradling Sarah’s head in her lap, humming, her face smeared with blood.
Sarah had laughed at the sight.
“Did you eat him, ‘lena” she’d asked in a teasing voice.
Helena had screwed up her face in mock disgust.
“Eww, no” she cried, before dropping her voice to a dramatic whisper, “I gave him darkness.” The two of them giggled, safe in the green glow of their Daddy’s visor.
Now, the visor glowed amber as he waited patiently for his wards to move forward.
⇌ ⇌ ⇌
Rachel smiled smugly as she slipped out of the Little Wonders facility via a side-door. She’d discovered that the numerous security cameras and electronically sealed doors were quite easily by-passed with a short zap of electricity from her hands. She couldn’t see any good reason for her not to go outings with the twins and their Daddy. Rachel could help protect them too! She was just as good as the big metal man - better, even.
The sharp lines of her blonde hair framed her face, as she looked around a corner, then walked quickly towards the open doorway ahead that led to the atrium. Mother hardly let her out anymore and she got bored when Sarah wasn’t around. Giving her monitor the slip was simple enough. The pointy-faced man in horn-rimmed glasses was easily manipulated - almost disappointingly so. Mother could have given her more of a challenge. Rachel sighed, then paused and turned right. If she knew the twins, they’d be in the Arcadia Tea Rooms, making their way through the tinned sweets still lining the shelves in the storerooms.
It was easy to forget how much Rapture had changed. DYAD had remained more or less untouched so far, thanks to their fast-acting security protocols and fortified outer walls. But outside the gleaming glass was a city descending into ruin. Broken windows in shopfronts, blood-splattered walls, bodies left lying where they fell, the ocean slowly leaking in from a thousand tiny holes, the distant screams of splicers. She smiled as she turned another corner and saw a group of four of them.
Good. She could always use the practice.
Then she saw two small faces appear across the way, peering around a corner at the splicers, and her smile grew wider. Quickly appraising the situation, Rachel saw the large puddle of water to the left of the splicers. Now, if they would kindly move that way, she could…her attention was caught by Sarah waving at her vigorously, a grin on her face. Helena’s face appeared below Sarah's, fingers pulling the sides of her mouth in a grimace and poking her tongue out. Rachel ignored her, trying to explain to Sarah via a complicated series of hand gestures that she wanted the splicers in the water.
Sarah nodded, grabbed Helenas hand and silently spoke to her, then they readied themselves. Rachel nodded once, and the twins ran around the corner and along the shopfronts to the left of the splicer group. Helena was whooping loudly, her now-blonde braids bouncing on her shoulders as she scampered up the stairs leading to the atrium, Sarah close behind.
The twins Big Daddy appeared, stomping after them. The splicers vacillated, but the lure of the ADAM the two little girls carried within them drove them to give chase. One wore a rabbit mask that was missing an ear, another had a glittering silver butterfly covering her face. Her dress was mostly intact but stained with soot and blood. The men were still in their tuxes, but these too were in a sad state. One screamed after the girls,
“I’m lonely! I’m lonely!”
As all four of the splicers ran across the water puddle, Rachel let loose the electricity from both her hands. The water amplified the effect and the four bodies shook and jittered, the shock visibly running through their bodies. The BIg Daddy reached them as they collapsed, and finished all four of them off with his drill, while the twins clapped and laughed.
They held hands as they ran back down the stairs, syringes ready to collect ADAM from the corpses.
“Oh, Mr B,” Helena said in a delighted voice, “We hit the jackpot!”
An expression almost like disgust passed over Rachel's face, but when Sarah looked at her, her face was its usual unfathomable self. She understood why the collection of ADAM from the corpses around the city was necessary, but she still found the process unpalatable...and the way the Sisters drank the substance! Rachel shuddered slightly, but brightened as Sarah took her hand.
“That was so clever of you, Rachel,” she said admiringly. “You should come out on our harvesting trips all the time!”
Rachel smiled proudly, while in the background, Helena chirped away to the Big Daddy.
“I wanna see the sunshine...show me the sunshine!”
“Yes, I should,” sniffed Rachel. “I don’t know why they even bothered to give me these powers if they won’t allow me to use them.”
Helena drank the last of the collected ADAM, and then said in a curious voice,
“What’s sunshine look like, Mr B?”
The Big Daddy moved his huge armored arms in a gesture that suggested a shrug. Helena put a finger to her lips and gazed up into the air for a moment, then she shrugged as well. Looking around, she saw Sarah and Rachel holding hands again, and rolled her eyes. She skipped over to the girls and threw her arm around Sarah's shoulders.
“We should go будинки,”* she said, “No more angels to play with.”
Rachel gave her a small frown.
“Why do all of you call the splicers ‘angels’? They’re monsters.”
Helena eyed her curiously.
“You can’t see their wings?” she asked.
“...wings.” Rachel said blankly, looking at Sarah with raised eyebrows.
Sarah nodded. The three of them started making their way towards the hidey-hole.
“They look like angels, to us,” Sarah explained. “All...glowy.” She dropped her voice.
“But I can see them, really see them. And Helena probably can too, but she doesn’t want to.” She glanced sideways at her sister and smiled.
“She likes the angels better.”
“I can hear them singing their pretty songs.” Helena stated loftily. She broke away from Sarah and Rachel, and spun around like a ballerina, laughing.
They reached the hidey-hole. The Big Daddy was waiting for them, and helped boost them up into the vent. It was the first time Rachel had seen inside the tunnels. (And it would be her last too.) The enclosed space made her slightly uncomfortable, so she was relieved when the journey was over fairly quickly. They exited right into the twins bedroom - Helena, who was in front, pushed aside a poster (Always stay close to a friend!) that was hanging over the vent opening and they all crawled out.
Rachel blinked. She had never realised there was a hidey-hole in here before. It was hidden behind posters that Rachel had never paid much attention to. The story book-type art and simple slogans (Daddy is so strong! Always safe with Daddy! All good girls gather!) were part of the Little Sister program - a constant reminder of their pair-bond and purpose.
“Let’s go see if there’s any cake left!” cajoled Helena, tugging on Sarah’s hand, and the three of them exited into the hallway - where Rachel's monitor was waiting, glowering at the girls over his glasses.
Rachel reluctantly let go of Sarah's other hand and said quietly,
“I think I might be in trouble.”
Helena moved her face close to Rachel's and whispered,
“Why don’t you just -”, she wriggled her fingers, “ zap him?”
“Because, Helena, “ Rachel hissed, “Then I would be in even more trouble.”
“With your mother? You should zap her too!” Helena declared, crossing her arms across her chest.
Rachel actually considered that image for a moment. The dumbfounded look of betrayal on her mother’s face as the monster she created rises up against her...a smile tugged at her mouth before she stopped it. Helena saw it though, and gave a half smile back.
Rachel sighed and said “I had better go with him. I don’t want to cause trouble for you as well.”
Sarah squeezed her hands and nodded.
Rachel stepped forward, and her monitor put his hand on her shoulder to lead her away. Her skin crawled under his touch and she had to breathe down the impulse to take Helena's advice.
“Your mother is not going to be pleased with you, Rachel.” he said, attempting to sound threatening.
Rachel made a noncommittal mmm sound and then said, in a perfectly pleasant voice,
“I imagine she would not be pleased with you either, considering you’re incapable of performing the singular job of keeping an eye on me.”
The man’s face darkened even more, and Rachel smiled with satisfaction.
“Besides, “ she continued, “I was only spending time with my friends, just as my father wants. There’s really no need for either of us to annoy mother with stories, Fergus.”
“Ferdinand.” the man snapped at her.
“Of course. Ferdinand.” Rachel smiled, the practised smile that slid across her teeth like a lie.
He let go of her shoulder ( at last, she thought ), and in a somewhat sulky voice told her to not to be late for her next session before striding off. She watched him as he walked away, idly imagining unleashing her powers on him.
She smiled again, and this time it was genuine.