three too many three too many three too many
Rapture - 1966
Something was poking Sarah in the subconscious, but she didn’t know what, yet. She felt like they had been crawling through the metal tunnels for hours. Her elbows and knees were sore, but the Little Sister ahead of her just kept going, like a clockwork toy.
“Hey,” Sarah whisper-shouted, “hey, Violet? Let’s rest for a minute, yeah?” She stopped and pulled her backpack around to get out her water canteen. Her throat was dusty and the cool liquid tasted better than Sarah ever could have imagined water tasting. She almost wished she’d slipped in her hip-flask, but bourbon probably wasn’t the best idea right now...
Violet had continued on but came to a halt slowly, like she was winding down. She looked around, her eyes large and round and golden. Her voice was higher now, and slightly shaky.
“Sar-ah? Sar-ah, we have to go! We have to! She’s waiting!” The girl moved back far enough to grab at Sarah’s jacket sleeve, and she tugged on it. “Angels don’t wait for slowpokes!”
“Alright, alright,” said Sarah, “just...relax for a bit, okay?” She placed her hand over the girls, and gave it a gentle squeeze. Violet jerked her hand away and crawled back to where she had been, hugging her knees and whispering to herself quietly.
Poor bloody kid Sarah thought. She and Helena had had each other and their Big Daddy; they’d never been alone like this. She dug through the bag for another snack bar, and passed another biscuit over to Violet, nudging her arm. The little girl grabbed the biscuit without looking at Sarah and shoved the entire thing in her mouth. Sarah’s eyebrows raised and she half-laughed. She’s definitely been hanging around Helena. She sighed and leaned back against the rusty metal wall. Everything felt like Helena to her - she could sense her presence, like she was going to turn the next corner and there she was gonna be. Her other half. God, how could she have left her for so long? What if Helena hated her for going away? What if she didn’t wanna come home with her? Why the hell didn’t she bring the bloody bourbon??
Sarah ran her hands through her hair and tried not to think about it. Just find her. Then deal with the rest. She slung the backpack over her shoulders again and said “Okay!”
Violet’s head jerked up, and she started crawling up the tunnel. Sarah followed, peering out a small grate as they passed. There was only darkness with a flickering pink light to see. She frowned and kept going. They passed through a section where two tunnels joined, forming a cross. Violet kept going straight ahead, but as Sarah turned her head she caught a glimpse of a pale yellow glow down to the left, and hesitated. Then she headed towards it, calling back over her shoulder.
“Violet? There’s something down here, I’m gonna check it out.” She could hear the little girl's protests but kept on. The light grew brighter as she neared the corner. A lamp? Sarah carefully peered around the corner into the adjoining tunnel and her jaw dropped as she saw before her a bottle almost identical to the one Rosalind Lutece had given to her, complete with ornate ‘L’ inscription and a label saying ‘Drink Me’, although this one also had ‘as needed’ in brackets underneath. It was roughly half the size of the original bottle and Sarah picked it, holding it in her palm.
“How the hell -” she muttered. Then scowled. This tunnel was long and dark, but she could see another dim light about fifty feet ahead. Had the Luteces visited Rapture before bringing her here and left some sort of, what, trail? A scavenger hunt?
She could still hear Violet behind her, muttering but becoming panicked, my top won’t spin my top won’t spin my top won’t spin. Sarah chewed her lip, thinking. She could trust the Luteces, right? They had known mama Tenenbaum, and Mrs S trusted them enough to send her off with them, alone...and Mrs S didn’t trust anybody. Violet was a Little Sister, and Sarah naturally felt protective - but the girl had been acting increasingly odd and there was still something she couldn’t quite put her finger on about her…
“I’m going this way,” she said firmly.
⇌ ⇌ ⇌
Rachel tapped her heel on the tiles, the sound echoing off the huge windows that made up an entire wall of the office. She had sent the girl out hours ago. They should have been back by now.
She sent the few Little Sisters that were left out to gather ADAM periodically - she barely needed any for her own upkeep, but her experiments used quite a bit - and when she realised that they weren’t returning because Helena was ‘saving’ them...well.
She had decided to do something about that.
It had been simple work to implant a subconscious command in one of the Little Sisters. The notes she had found on various types of brainwashing and hypnosis in Suchong's office had been extensive, and thorough. He had been a very useful monster, in his way.
And so Leda #5 had made her way back to DYAD like a filthy little homing pigeon, and with rather fortuitous timing. She - apparently the girl wanted to be called Violet now, Helena was a terrible influence - had scrabbled on her door shortly after Rachel had seen Sarah arrive back in Rapture. Simple work to implant a new command in her little head and send her out to patrol the tunnels towards the old bathysphere station -complete with a story about the mean silver lady to tug at Sarah’s heartstrings and lower her guard. Boo hoo.
Once Sarah introduced herself, the trigger was pulled, the trap was set. And Rachel would have her back. And then -
She looked out the window, arms crossed. Her teeth were clenched against each other, but Rachel didn’t notice. Then she did, and raised one arm to tap silver nails against her jaw, tiny sparks of electricity buzzing on her skin. She almost found it soothing.
If they didn’t come back to DYAD soon, she would have to go out into Rapture and find Sarah herself. And Rachel hated leaving the DYAD. The splicers were barely more than an annoyance to her - she was stronger, and better, and faster than any of them. But the city was so chaotic, and clamorous, void of its former elegance and serenity.
And it made her shoes filthy.
She didn’t want to admit, even to herself, the trepidation she felt about going into the tunnel system, if it came to that, scrabbling along like an animal in a maze. She never knew the route, the walls felt like they were closing in on her, the metal hurt her hands and knees, they were dirty and dark and.
So, she didn’t think about that. It wasn’t an option.
Rachel knew Helena had some sort of den to run off to - the ‘saferoom’ Dr Tenenbaum had set up all those years ago - but she didn’t know where. There were a million dark little holes to hide in here in Rapture. She sighed and gently drew her fingers down her cheek, tiny bursts of static whispering to her, and thought about Sarah’s face under the neon lights.
She was shaken from her reverie by the sound of footsteps. Her eyes snapped open and her heart leapt. Moving forward, she breathed in deep and rubbed her fingers together at her side, then opened the door. But it was only Leda #5 - Violet - with a face full of trepidation and tears. Rachel looked at her, then over her head at the empty hallway, then back at the girl.
“Well?” Her voice was cold, and the little girl shivered and scuffled her shoes against the floor.
“I’m sorry, mother! Sar-ah was coming along but then she chased some gold lights and wouldn’t come back!” Violet wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor. “She gave me biscuits.” she added, softly.
Rachel's mouth tightened. Her palm itched to slap the child but she clenched her fists instead.
“I’ve told you not to call me that,” she snapped. Gold lights? Were there fairies in the vents now? She sighed. Some new trick of Helena's, damn her.
Violet hesitated, then started jumping from one foot to the other, and quickly tugged on Rachel's sleeve, as if scared her hand would be cut off.
“M...um, miss? I know something!”
Rachel looked down at the tiny hand on her, and the girl snatched it away swiftly.
“I know where Big Sister keeps her toys!” Violet announced, voice raising excitedly. “She has lots of books and gives us sweet treats!”
Rachel’s forehead smoothed. She blinked, once, twice, then she smiled, red lips parting to show the gleam of teeth. She looked at the girl again and steeled herself to pat the girls head, surreptitiously wiping her hand on Violet's shoulder afterwards.
“Good girl,” she purred. “Can you show me where it is? And then you can have all the sweets you like. How does that sound?” Underneath the steadiness of her voice, her skin sang with excitement.
⇌ ⇌ ⇌
Helena fetched up against a wall, and leaned over, retching.
Her head ached. Too much teleporting, too fast. She breathed, trying to slow her system down again, one hand against the rough plaster of the wall, the other dangling her helmet. Luckily she’d been wearing it when she’d mistakenly teleported herself into the ocean. She could swim, of course, and often did to make her way between the various sections of Rapture. You could traverse these via airlocks and tunnels, but Helena preferred to swim, and see the fish up close. They would dart around her, shimmering in the lights of the city. And it was peaceful out there. Quiet. Teleporting out there without the air supply her helmet provided would be not be as pleasant.
Slowly her head began to hurt less and Helena cautiously straightened up, leaning her back against the wall for a moment and closing her eyes. She tried to focus on Sarah and the girl again, but...she frowned as she got a sense of the girl - and shivered. She was somewhere cold?
Oh. Helena opened her eyes again and stared up at the ocean through the heavy glass overhead. The girl was in DYAD. With Rachel. She’d - done something to her. Put something in her head to make her go back.
She pulled at her lips. Maybe she should have - her mind tiptoed around the words - taken care. Of Rachel. Years ago, before more little girls got dragged back into this mess. She looked at them and she saw herself, and Sarah. Sarah. Sarah...she wasn’t with the girl anymore. Helena closed her eyes again and felt outwards. Everything was tinged with gold.
Suddenly, Helena grinned and her eyes opened, the golden glow so bright it lit her face like a halo. She knew where Sarah was. Sliding her helmet back on, she stretched, paused, then leapt up the wall and started running.