(Alexander Pov)
Ezrai... Thanks..
Those words was needed to push me forward...
I found myself standing on a crystal clear ocean that spans the horizon... My form returned to normal, with me wearing a broken armor that is slowly repairing itself...
<Alexander? >
"I still me... If that's what you are asking."
<This is out of bounds from the numbers... Seems like you met a iron wall..>
"And met a memory.... What do I get now?"
<Rewards will be processed based on the difficulty... As of now, you have to escape from this realm.>
"How do I do that?" I turned around and saw nothing but the waters and clear skies.
<Concentrate Alexander, that is probably a hint around here. .>
I walked in a single direction...and somehow I felt a longing to head towards that direction...
I reached a Brazier that is out of bounds from this place, in it is a blue flames barely flickering...
I grasped it and a memory entered my mind....
(??? Pov)
War... War is what bred into our minds as the Ten Thousand... Many of us wanted to be something grander to appease our father... Something great.
I envy at my brothers that excel more than what we are born for... Artisans, Scholars and Farmers....
I lead my father armardas that stretch the cosmos... Bringing his word of unity to the human race and destroying the foul stench of Xenos, and the enemies of the Void... My endless fleets supply hope and security...
There was a time I met a girl that took me fancy... She consider me a human than a demigod... How I remember her laugh...
I forgotten her name... But her facial looks etched my very soul. I found her dead...
There... In a single moment... Betrayal from his favored son have betrayed our duty... My fleet that is unified have been shattered, most turned into monsters... Those that refused was sacrifice to the demons from the depths... Until one of them snuck a soul worm that corrupted me...
I never wanted to kill my brothers... How many times i felt my mind is no longer in control... How many times I order my fleets to kill my brothers... Tears dripped from my face as my own mouth curled into smiles as I butcher them.
I envied those that died early...
Upon the Golden Castle that housed all of us... In flames... I met my end as the outcast of a brother slained me... That flaming blade was the last thing that I saw that I sought liberation from death...
But that death was not the end...
I felt my soul snatched back from the realm of the dead... Into this abomination...
"ARISE" said a figure...
"ARISE and do the Ashen King bidding."
I don't feel anything...
I felt something empty in me... I found myself in a world that have a floating castle... And a tower...
I found that same smile that met me.... Who was it?
What's her name? Thought flooded and I found myself staring at a dead corpse of a woman...
"She must be lonely... Time to get someone to accompany her..." I embraced her head as I flew away...
I don't remember... I need something to remember... Who was she? What's her name? How many more that I must find the perfect smile?
SHE MUST EXIST SOMEWHERE
(Alexander pov)
I held back the hand as the memory ended...
"This must be what's left of Cassius soul... Damm... I not going to tell Elizabeth that her efforts of killing Comstock was in vain..."
<Try to absorb it, perhaps it will get you out of this place.>
I nodded as I concentrate the flickering flame and absorb it, it protested weakly but I brute force my way and assimilated it...
<Assimilation complete, Ocean of Grief is now accessible, want it escape?>
I nodded and I found myself on the Air ship. And Elizabeth was still on the ground... And Liz is tending to her. I looked at a clock nearby and found out it was a hour since I entered the realm
"Alexander?" Liz asked as she done bandaging her counterpart injuries.
I sighed and grabbed a Health potion and poured on her. Making her wounds healed...
"What did you pour on her?"
"One of my concoctions... She will recover in a short while."
"Great, now then let us wait till she wake up..."
I listen to the reports and found that Daisy kept the end of her bargain and now running Columbia. She is a smart cookie... I glad she see reason. As I planning to take Liz away from here... She may be Comstock daughter and she wanted to be free. But I have the proverbial guns on the rebels if they had any funny thoughts, considering how dangerous my Skitariis helped mopped up the dissenters. And if she failed... I could always make another puppet. But I sent a Acclamator to this reality of Mars to begin my backup plans... I always never neglect getting more resources and manpower in this galaxy...
Elizabeth woke up as if she was in a migraine.
"Eliza!" Liz hugged her rapture counterpart...
"What happened? What was that thing?"
"Don't worry, he has been taken care of. Time to return to Rapture...to end something once and for all... Elizabeth... Concentrate with your Counterpart... We have a final destination" I placed my hand on her forehead.
The two Elizabeth began concentrating as a portal appeared. Within it shows a more dilapidated rapture.
"Now then let's go ladies." I grabbed both of them as we made our way into Rapture 8 years from now.
Liz eyes brighten as she found herself standing in a ocean city albeit a rundown one.
"This is amazing Alexander, surely you met this in its glory days right?"
"I dunno about this when it was first started... But I am aware that Eliza over here would tell you about it. Keep close to her... I sense something is coming towards us. And not the friendly kind." I readied Jack Revolver and my trusty power bat.
A group of splicers approached our group. They had withdrawals for years now... If you put it in real-world sense, it was like a Drug addict went on a rampage in his Drug supplier warehouse supplies for years and only to find out that all the stock ran out and his body began to digest itself as it reeks of the same drug...
They don't even have a sense of rationality as they rushed towards me. I immediately open fire on them and find out not only they are more harder to kill as their crystalized bodies took more shot than I guess but more deranged as well. Well melee time I guess?
Ahh... I remember the blood splattering across my path... And they slowly grow in fear, overcoming their bloodthirst... After all, they may be harder to kill... After eliminating them... I breathe a sigh of relief...
"Wow Alexander, you done some things I could never dream of." Liz remarked.
"I could-" I trailed off as I saw a group of Little Sister waving in a hallway across me...
I turned into the Service radio that I used last time and contacted Dr Brigid Tenenbaum.
"Dr. Tenenbaum... This is Alexander Solair and I would like to ask what the hell is going on here? Why is Rapture is still alive?"
"Herr Alexander? We been looking for you for years and it's nice to see you again... I wished we could have met a less dire circumstances... Someone awaken Rapture... While I was in the surface I found a increased reports of missing children around the world... And it all leads to this place."
"You know who?"
"The leader is Sophie Lamb... And she wants to make Utopia in this ruins... Using her daughter as a vessel to bring them all together."
"Alright, I will deal with her, could you allow my companions to accompany you? I fear this place is much more dangerous than necessary..."
"Alright. I will give coordinates to Guide them to me... Pray that you will make things right."
After sending them off to Tenenbaum safehouse, I cracked my neck as I began to sweep this place...
Saving little sisters and freeing the Big Daddy's that remains in this place...
I met one of the leaders of the so-called Rapture Family, Father Wales that is hiding himself in pump 5, as I needed to enter Dionysus park....
My only feeling about him is that had he been a Ecclesiarchy priest... I would enjoy listening to his sermons, but seeing that he is a spider splicer, I burned him with a flamer... God I hate bugs...
I found a weird looking scavenger that is Augustus Sinclair, calls himself a businessman as he pilfering technology in the ruin of the city, I don't condone it... Seeing that the technology of this place will be outdated in a few years...
I found another man that is strange...Mark Meltzer that was trying to escape from a rapture splicer with a little sister in tow... After killing the splicer, the man was heaving for air.
"Thank you sir... I am glad that someone found me...that is not from rapture family."
"What are you doing with the little sister?"
"This is my daughter Cindy... I went to great lengths to find where she was kidnapped... And I find her turned into this...names Mark Meltzer." He looked at his daughter sadly..
"Maybe, I could help?"
"You can? What can I do for you?"
"I will cure her the condition that she is now, you get her away from this place...I will lead you to a safehouse..." I spoke.
"Thanks."
I touched her head and drained the Adam, bringing the little girl back to normal.
She turned towards Mark and spoke to him...
"Daddy? Where are we?" She cried a bit...
I sense something is approaching towards us...
"Mark... Take your daughter... Something bad is coming." I readied my power bat. Mark agreed and escaped from the venue.
A feminine looking big daddy approached me in high speed and attempted to stab me with her power drills.
"Shit... Big sisters?" I grunted as I bashed her helmet away. She was drugged beyond saving... And I ponder how on earth did the Mechanicus didn't find all the little sisters? I remembered.... Fuckin Sophia Lamb. She definitely hidden some in Persephone... She snarled like a beast and I had to put her down... Sometimes... Being a Soldier... Make you see shit like this in humanity...
"Is the threat gone?" Mark asked as he held his daughter close.
"Yup... It's gone. You better join me as i escort you to Dr. Tenenbaum she knows a way out in this city."
"Thank you..." I found her in the Atlantic Express phone booth and gladly let them in.
I felt a presence in my head as I travel deeper in Rapture...
"Eleanor is that you?"
A female voice answer with uncertainty...
"That is me.."
"What happened to your protector? Surely he could help?"
"My mother... Found out about my attempt to revive him and destroyed the Vita Chamber that supposed to bring him back to life..."
"I see... What are you planning to do now?"
"I want to see your approach Alexander..I want to see the man that shook the city..."
"I will indulge you... Perhaps... You can be my daughter if you want to..."
The voice went silent.
I ignore it seeing it was a bit too far, I ended up meeting Survivors camps that is willing to trade with me. Each of them had a story to tell what transpired in this city...
They didn't spliced up and barely even surviving. And they didn't took side in the civil wars between Atlas and Andrew Ryan and kept themselves away from the conflict.
After my rampage of killing both the Leaders. There was a brief moment of peace until Sophia Lamb and her cohorts escape from the prison block, making the remaining survivors a living hell.
Some of them, were forcibly turned into splicers or kill outright because there is not enough supplies left in the city... And they cracked down on religion more so than Andrew Ryan ever done. At least Ryan see the pragmatic approach of not publicly show the religion, he allows to people to pray in their own houses. But Rapture family took it up a notch, They gave rewards to people that snitch on people that is not a believer to The Utopian ideals dictated by Sophie Lamb. Great chain, Christianity, heck even other religions took the brunt of the purge. Perhaps Andrew was right to call her a Parasite...
I offer them a chance to escape this hellhole. Some agreed, while others waited on me dealing with the Rapture family that Eleanor mother been cooking up against me.
I ended up in a lockdown and needed to get a key from Grace Holloway that resided in Pauper drop.
I arrived in the slums outskirts on where she resided in... And turned back.
"Why you didn't meet her, Alexander?" Eleanor asked.
"Eleanor... Even if I didn't approached her, me being in her vicinity would make her life miserable, despite she may be the reasonable one claiming that I bring her no harm, others might not take it too kindly... I am aware she is important to you... As she raised you before you were turned into a little sister. But after I save you, I will save her with you as well okay?"
"I see... Thank you."
I used my perk to opened the door and forcibly released the lockdown.
I traveled a bit and I ended up on another lockdown.
Augustus landed me in Fontaine Futuristics as there was someone in there that need a key that is linked to Gilbert Alexander as the lock is much more annoying... And I want to thin out the splicers so that the survivors could have a better chance.
All I see from a conman empire is a ruined enterprise as I stepped in the premises, I met a security bot that shows a crazy Gilbert as if he own the place... His mind is truly gone... After sending me to a show that his audience is strapped to the chair in barbed wire and being chased by his "employees" splicers, I ended up in the secret laboratory that my techpriests didn't bother to check, I gather materials left in this place for my favorite cogboys to research... I sighed as I hear the Gilbert that is trapped in a Vat filled with Adam, ranting like hell.
I only came here to get his biometric code to unleash the lockdowns ...
I am aware of his former persona that wanted to be killed.
I just leave him alone.
Even if I didn't bother to kill him... Rapture in a few years will collapse, killing him anyway. Reason why I never allowed the Mechanicus to control this place...
The damage to the infrastructure is too immense to the remaining Big Daddy's that survived by my scouring to maintain... And the foundation outside is slowly breaking from the water pressure... Sometimes Ryan... Why do you think that Aluminum is the super metal?
My trip to Persephone is close.
At least Sinclair didn't turned into a alpha series big daddy and managed to escape from the city...
I slaughter as much as possible until I met Eleanor that is sleeping in her bed..
"Eleanor... Wake up." I called her as she groaned as she wakes up...
She was somewhat malnourished...
"Alexander... You here..."
"Alright... I better give a Checkup..." I produced a medical bag out of thin air as I check on her.
"I never thought you are a doctor?"
"Well, I do have something to pass the time... Damm... Your mother really did a number on your body...you better have something to eat..."
I fed her a steaming porridge with bits of Bacon and Eggs in it. Her body is much more worse than what I knew about her.
After she devoured her meal...
"Alexander... Tell me why the alarms didn't set off?"
"I am simply a ghost. Take your time to realign with your body... Time to get out of here."
A P.A system rang out in the chamber where Eleanor was kept.
"I am afraid that I can't allow you to do that intruder. She is vital part to our Utopia."
"What kind of a sick mother make her own child so malnourished to achieve that utopia of yours?" I called out.
"That was merely punishment for bringing her protector to life. Now leave Persephone or I will unleash my men upon you."
"Two words, Frak you."
After the message ended.
Eleanor asked me to guide her to a Big Sisters workshop...
"I can manage it Alexander, I want to be helpful."
"No way... Not with your body constitution you don't... You know I going to deal with your mother right?"
"Even if she made me this way I want to see how you handle her..." She placed her helmet on.
We arrived in front of Sophie office.
I could sense demolition charges placed in the foundation outside... Making her want it dragged me to hell... I simply turned it off as it had a electronics in it. Better that way...
I entered the room and began to take any sharp objects despite Sophia lambasting how I am a threat to her utopia... And destroyed her P.A System.
I simply welded Sophia Lamb office and placed supplies for her to survive... I have not given her quick death... That is too luxurious for a woman like her...
"I thought that you wanted to deal with her?"
"I have no interest of killing her in the first place, I will not give you a burden of her death... Come with me Eleanor... Time to go home where you have someone that cares for you..." I held out my hands... Eleanor grasp her hands and shook with mine....
"Okay... Dad."
"Well, our first outing as family is to visit Grace Holloway okay? And I want to find your Protector to give him a proper burial."
She paused for a bit... But I guessing that she smiled...
News spread around in Rapture that I overthrow Sophie family...
The survivors were split into three, Mark Meltzer took his daughter and the survivors that wanted to escape the city, while others wished to spend their remaining days left in this city, there are those that waited for me to send them to another place...
We both stood Infront of the residence of Grace Calloway...
"Come in..." A weary voice rang out....
We entered the room... And found the woman sitting weary at a table wearing a butterfly brooch....
"Seems like you overthrow Sophie Lamb... What are you planning to do with me?" The weary woman spoke. With her back of her head facing me.
"A choice... Come with me... Eleanor wants to bring you to the surface... And she is here with me." I spoke, Grace turned around and saw the child she raised all those years ago...
"Eleanor... You grown up... And you are free..." Her wrinkle hands touched the face of Eleanor...
"Grace.... Thank you for raising me when I was a child... I never known a mother warmth..."
"Hush baby... I couldn't stopped your real mother from turning you into a little sister... I suppose I should give you my thanks... Alexander... But I prefer to spend the rest of my day here with my family... And take care of Eleanor do you hear me?"
"I will Mrs Grace...take care."
After we left the Pauper drop... Eleanor placed her helmet again... Perhaps not to let me see how she cried... Or pretending to be strong?
We arrived at the Vita Chamber where Subject delta supposed to be revived... It was destroyed by a heavy ordinance and what left of him was the Helmet and nearby is a burnt out Alpha series doll...
Eleanor grabbed it and clutched it into her chest...
"Please take him away from this place..." She sobbed as I have a inkling that she remembers the days she spent with the big daddy...
I obliged and grabbed the corpse and placed in him in my inventory...
I met Dr Brigid Tenenbaum and the two Elizabeths along with the dozens of little sisters that accompany them...
"Seems like you have few things left to accomplish herr Alexander."
"What are your plans Dr Brigid?"
The German doctor sighed..
"I will head somewhere and find the solutions to fix the Big Daddy problems. Seems like my work here is not over yet."
"I will take the survivors and the little sisters with me away from this place... This nightmare for them must come to an end. May we meet again someday Fraulein Brigid"
"May we meet again... Herr Alexander." She went to another destination... I am guessing that Subject Sigma and the thinker will be in play... I will give that woman to where it is due...
(Time Skip)
Somewhere in Kansas...
I stood Infront of two Graves
Each bearing a plaque...
"Andrew. Ryn, A Idealist that is devoured by his beliefs."
"Jack, a Son that never have a purpose. But become a man in the end "
I buried them in a forest... Perhaps somewhere where they would not be disturbed...
Three women approached me...
"It's time..."
"I want to see the futuristic city of France."
"Dad, I hope you kept your promise that my protector is buried where you lived in... So that at least I could pay respects to him."
A portal began to opened up and we ended up leaving this place... Leaving this universe behind...