Ghosts of Rapture (Survivor00 & Divide[by]Zero)

[Survivor00]

"I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question: Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor. No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God. No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone. I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small. And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well."

The decayed speakers continued to endlessly preach the words of a man nearly ten years dead, as his city â?? his dream â?? rusting and collapsing in the cold depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The once great Rapture was dead, and the few inhabitants that still remained had lost all traces of their humanity. Splicers â?? the deformed and insane results of ADAM addiction and withdrawal â?? roamed the flooding corridors, preying ruthlessly off one another to survive for another day in this underwater hell.

But today, she scurried about the corridors, keeping the Splicers at bay in fear. The Big Sister â?? once one of the Little Sisters taken from Rapture years ago, she had grown up on the surface, far away from her natural home. But she had never been able to leave it in her mind, eventually finding herself drawn back to the decaying underwater metropolis to restore it as how she remembered it. But Rapture had changed. All the Big Daddies were dead, the Little Sisters harvested for their ADAM or taken to the surface by Tenenbaum and Jack Ryan. It simply wouldnâ??t do.

And so she had set about â??rebuildingâ?? Rapture â?? scavenging parts to make her own Big Daddy suit, extracting ADAM from the â??Angelsâ??, just like she had done once she was younger. She made frequent trips to the surface, abducting little girls to convert to Little Sisters like she once was. She was their protector, and she showed no mercy to anyone who threatened them. So now she prowled the dank corridors, keeping an eye out for those who might threaten her Little Sisters.

The Splicer that skittered about below her dragged a pipe wrench along the ground with a long, emaciated arm. He twitched erratically as he walked, snarling and glaring around. She crouched, the spherical helmet on her head giving her an alien appearance. The blade on her arm was perfect for extracting ADAM right into her blood, a practice which she did commonly. She pounced from the shadows, crushing the Splicer against the ground and slammed the large needle into his back. The creature shrieked in pain, struggling futilely against her. She could practically feel the ADAM flowing into her body.

The Splicer fell still as it was drained, just another corpse within this underwater tomb. The Big Sister bounded off into the shadows again, as if she had never even been there.

 

[Divide[By]Zero]

I'm very happy with the work you've been doing for us. Since you've begun working for us, I've had nothing but praise come your way. You've been working for us for two years now, and I've decided to give you a reward. A few weeks off, paid, with a cruise to boot. I think you could use the relaxation. So have some fun. It's round trip. On us. Have a good trip.

Aislyn Crey was laying back in a lounging chair on the sun deck. She was facing away from the sun though. Aislyn wasn't much for the sun. For the most part, she didn't remember her past. All she had was her memories of being in the Army as a field medic, while doing some nursing classes. When her education was up, she became part of an Army hospital. It was a good job, even if it meant dealing with hurt people all the time. And she was good at it. She'd always had a knack for dealing with human bodies.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the cruise ship she was on. She just kept laying on the chair as every ran panicking. As the ship began to capsize, she got up and stripped her clothes, leaving her in nothing more than a black-one piece over her lithe, athletic body. She dove head first, her bob-cut red hair hitting first as she went overboard.

The note she'd gotten was left floating on the water, slowly smudging with the wetness. "Would you kindly come back home?"

Aislyn woke up with a groan. Putting a hand to her head, she found herself floating in a small pool of water in a wrecked building. She got herself out of the pool, seeing so much wreckage. And it was all old architecture. She wrapped her arms around her body, wondering just how she got there, and why she was in a bathing suit.

 

[Survivor00]

The Splicers were quick to sense the arrival of the stranger in Rapture, snarling and babbling insanely as they ran towards her location, lashing out at one another to get there first. They knew that if there was a corpse, the Little Sisters would be drawn to extract the ADAM from it. If they harvested a Little Sister, they could get even more ADAM! The Big Sister heard the cries of the excited Splicers, twisting around sharply, almost inhumanly, to look in the direction they were running. She twitched slightly before lunging after the Splicers. One of her Little Sisters could be in danger! She was nearly a blur as she scrambled through Rapture's flooded corridors after them.

Her lifetime of growing up in Rapture gave her an innate understanding of the hidden passageways that resided within its walls, combined with her ADAM infused speed and strength, allowed her to traverse the long distance in minutes. She crashed down onto a balcony overlooking the flooded floor, the red viewport on the front of her helmet bathed the stranger in crimson light. She was not one of her Little Sisters, nor was she a Splicer. She was a stranger to this place...a threat to her plans. She raised her arm, the long blade on her arm glinting under the crimson glow.

But before she could lunge down and attack, the Splicers burst into the room, gibbering, screaming, swarming towards her. The Big Sister leaped towards one of the Splicers, thrusting the blade through its skull, whipping around to unleash a powerful psychic blast that crushed several Splicers against the wall.

 

[Divide[By]Zero]

"Wh-What are those?" Aislyn backed up against the wall as a group of splicers had come forth. They looked like utter freaks. And Aislyn was not in a great mood. She was confused, scared, and most of all, cold. She was dripping wet, and in a bathing suit. Really, effing, cold. And as the things started to snarl, she frantically looked for a way out.

That way out came as a tall monstrosity coming to crash the party, and bash itself into several of the splicers. Frantically, Aislyn ran for a hole in the wall, thinking it was some sort of ventilation system. As she scrambled up to get inside, she turned her head, having to look at the thing. It looked like an old diver suit, but lanky. And it was chalking up kills faster than a battalion of marines. Trying to shake the horrible thoughts of what it would do to her out of her head, she tried to slip into the hole, finding it a bit of a squeeze.

 

[Survivor00]

One after another, she quickly slaughtered the Splicers, using her enhanced abilities and Telekinesis to wipe them out before the rest could even retreat in terror. Not one was spared from her wrath. Finally, with the waters flooding the room stained red with blood, and herself drenched in gore, she stopped and turned to search for the other intruder that had drawn them all here. She saw the woman trying to squeeze herself into one of the tubes for the Little Sisters.

In an instant, she had crossed the distance to her and grabbed a hold of her and pulled, yanking her out of the tube. That red viewport glared at her, casting her face in an eerie light. The blade on her arm drizzled blood onto the ground as she looked over the woman. Her movements seemed erratic, as if there was something not-quite-right with her. There was something about this woman, something that she could not place. And while though her desire to protect Rapture told her to kill this woman; she could not bring herself to do so. She dropped her to the cold, wet floor and leapt back to the overlooking balcony, staring at her intently.

Slowly, she reached up to her cobbled diving helmet, her twitching hands undoing the seals that kept it on. The red light dimmed, and she lifted the helmet off. She looked like a ghost, her skin so pale it was almost white. Her hair was a long, wet, tangled mass, having not been cut in ages. She looked like death.

â??Howâ?¦did youâ?¦get here?â? She rasped out, having not spoken in a long, long time.