[IC] The Knights of Songbird: A Bioshock Roleplay

[The Kraken]

In moments, the scene in the basement of the old bar had changed from calm and subtle to an uproar of chaos. Right before her eyes, and to her relief, the eyes of her comrades, the same window which she had seen earlier that day had reappeared before Kennedy and her crew. At first the others stared at it as if she had done it herself, but she stood there with her jaw agape and her eyes wide. Arch threw a knife from a dark corner of the room. Figures, he always liked to stay out of site. Kennedy moved around the portal, and the same image could be seen from all angles. In it appeared to be a couple guys roughing up a man who was obviously in awful condition to defend himself. Before she knew it, Val had grabbed one of the men and... what the hell? Did he... PULL the man into their world?

Things escalated from there, and soon bullets were flying and vigors being thrown. Kennedy reached to her side and pulled her Hand Cannon to her chest with one had while the other grew black and crystalline as she readied up her Shock Jockey. Before she could send either bullet or vigor through the window, she saw the man lying on the floor through the tear and a guard getting ready to give him a blow to the head with his baton. Her gut instinct took over and Kennedy stood, rushing towards the portal with chaos erupting around her. Without thinking, she ran through the window towards the guard. To her surprise, her feet hit the cold concrete ground of the prison.

She quickly regained herself, as the guard had noticed her sudden appearance and began to make his way towards her. Kennedy lifted her gun and sent one single bullet into the man's skull.

---

Samuel quickly discovered that his exhausted efforts had paid off, because a ruckus had begun and he felt one of the guards that was holding him get pulled backwards. He scrambled on the ground as the guard was distracted, but didn't make it far. He was cut down, beaten with a nightstick and about to receive the final blow when the guard suddenly shifted his attention before falling to the floor in a pile of his own blood. Brain matter and blood splattered across Sam's face, and he looked up to see the woman he was hoping to find standing before him with her gun drawn in front of her.

He didn't really know what to expect, he didn't know anything about this woman other than she had heard his first message. What amazing luck he had that she was actually a badass with a gun and a killer shot. He locked eyes with the woman and quickly looked behind him. The hallway was clear, all the way to the elevator which would lead him up to the 'surface' (if you could even call it that.) He stood as quickly as his crippled body would allow and took off down the hallway, knowing that the coast wouldn't be clear for long, especially not with the gunshots ringing through the place. His mind lingered only for a second to the other tortured souls that lay in the cages behind him, but he did not falter long, and so he pushed forward. Behind him, he could hear the footsteps of the woman echoing as she followed in stride with him.

[Ace of Jacks]

Charlotte

The rioting wasn’t subtle. From the confines of her bedroom, surrounded only by a dim lamp and scattered remains of toys, Charlotte awoke, cold and alone. Of course, there was always Mr. Bubbles. Mr. Bubbles literally lives protect her. He was forced to feel a sense of protection with her. He was but a scientific puppet, programmed to keep her alive. Still, she no longer had to gather for others. No, she should be able to stop ingesting the ADAM-rich blood from recently deceased corpses, but she couldn’t. The ADAM kept her alive. Depriving her body of the hellish substance would instigate withdrawal and weaken her tired, overworked body. The rapid stem cell regeneration kept her healthy and in peak condition. If she were to ever cut herself off from ADAM ingestion then her body would react in such a way that she was mentally and physically unprepared to cope with. She would degenerate, the slug within her becoming restless. The regenerative properties the slug provided would react slower, perhaps stopping completely. But, it’s like a drug, ADAM. No matter how hard she tries to stop, no matter how much she’d like to stop, she had already become dependent on the substance. It’s difficult for her to get her hands on pure ADAM, so she’d have to settle for leftovers. With the conditioning gone, Charlotte could finally taste the blood. The angel juice no longer tasted of peaches and strawberries, no. It tasted of copper and salt, the most subtle hint of the ADAM forcing her to continue. Though, after a few months of extracting and ingesting, Charlotte found a way to enjoy it. Her mental condition was deteriorating from isolation and memories of her conditioning, as well as the daily consumption of ADAM. Though she regained her free-will, flashes of her conditioning haunted her. On occasion, she sees glimpses of the golden, classy interior of Rapture she was forced to see. Sometimes, she’d look up at her protector and see her father and she’d smile. She’d run over and embrace him, only to feel the cold touch of metal as she came to and realized she’d been hugging Mr. Bubbles’ leg.

In the distance, Charlotte could hear the low moans of Mr. Bubbles followed by deep and aggressive stomps. She threw her legs off the side of the bed and touched the cold, damp floor, walking wearily toward the doorway. She could hear some voices past the low moans.

“Is your girly up there, metal papa?” came the anxious voice of a woman. “We just wanna see her. Won’tcha let us go up there? Give her a little present?” Another STOMP and the revving of the drill echoed through the walls.

“H-hey now bi-big boy!” a man exclaimed, his voice clearly shaken. “W-we just want th-the girl, alright?—Ow! Hey!”

“Urgh, he ain’t got no mind of his own, Clarence! If we want da girl, he ain’t gonna just let us have ‘er!”

Curious, Charlotte walked near the stairway, peering her head over the railing enough to see the metal back of her protector. “Mr. B?” she called out.

“Oh!” the woman sounded surprised as her voice became higher, friendlier. “So you were up there all this time, sweetheart? Why don’t you come down here and tell your metal daddy we’re here to give you a present, yeah?”

“A present?” Charlotte started down the steps, staying close to the top. She should see the tattered faces of her new guest, though the woman was hiding before the cracked mask of a rabbit. “Oh! Are you angels then?” she asked, clear excitement in her voice.

The woman assumed this as a sign of ignorance and cracked a smile behind her mask. “Yes! Yes, we’re angels sent here to take you somewhere beautiful!” Beside her, the man was visibly nervous, trying to avoid eye contact with the Big Daddy and Charlotte.

“Did you hear that, Mr. B? The angels have a present for me!” exclaimed the little girl, feigning innocence.” Bring me their gifts.”

The Big Daddy responded with another, longer, low moan and revved his drill even loader, taking a step toward the two intruders. From the top of the stairs, Charlotte could hear their panicked pleas and cries as they began to realize what was going on. She could hear their screams over the mechanical spur of the drill until it faded into silence. The Big Daddy stepped away to allow Charlotte room to work, hovering over her as she filled her syringe with their blood. Once done, she got up and looked around the run down condo. Sitting neglected on an end-table was a framed photo of Charlotte and her parents. She grabbed the frame and carefully slid out the photo from the back. It was tatter around the edges and there were some signs of wear and tear from water damage. Charlotte scrunched up her nose, allowing the cold trickle of her tears slide down her chin. She folded the photo as best she could and stuffed it in the pocket of her dress. She grabbed a poorly hand-sewn stuffed bunny from the sofa nearby and held it to her chest. It was the last present made and given to her by her mother. She remembered playing with it before scary men burst into the residence and took her away, leaving the plush behind. She allowed the bunny to wipe the remaining tears from her face by grabbing hold of its arm and stroking it across her eyes. She looked back at her protector, putting on a smile.

“Let’s get out of here, Mr. B. This place…makes me sad…”

Mr. B did not protest and followed the young girl’s lead as she made her way to the bathysphere dock. Her father had bought a personal bathysphere, the best and most sturdy model out at the time. She remembered where her father had stashed the spare key and entered the sphere. She decided to go to the place she last remembered seeing her mother: The Medical Pavilion.

[rocketrobie2]

Thomas contently sat back and watched as the one called Mason made his way to the bars basement to meet up with the other heroic knights of songbird. This was all very exciting still for Thomas but it got bumped up a notch when the portal let loose and the carnage began as the knights were at first stunned but then leapt into action fighting off the guards from the portal. This was all very exciting but when the girl leapt into the portal and appeared on the other side Thomas saw this as a good time to reveal himself as he wanted to go through and he didn't know if the person he was inhabiting wanted to do so. He leapt from the one named Mason and towards the portal "don't shoot I'm friendly!" Thomas yelled as he leapt from the body and through the portal. He rolled on the cold concrete floor as he landed and tried to get his bearings in the dark, cold place he was in.

[Partisan]

Valentin Schwarzwald

---

Valentin was just moving to finish off this guard that he had by now smacked into the wall when he noticed, from the corner of his eyes, that Kennedy was going to suicide-jump through the portal into the unknown. He responded quickly, rearing his body around and extending his arm to grab her arm so he could stop her from doing something so stupid, but he just missed her arm and instead grabbed a pole next to the portal, a support for the building upstairs. By now, the shots fired and heavy fighting had alarmed quite a few civilians that were enjoying a drink upstairs and shouts and screams could be heard while the old bartender tried to calm things down, saying someone was watching a movie in the backroom. “Damnit!” Val yelled, obviously concerned with Kennedy's well-being, but at the same time worried that jumping through the portal meant certain dead.

Peering through the portal however he could see she had held her own rather efficiently. Before he could, someone rushed through the portal as well, someone that Val hadn't seen before. At the same time, it seeemed Mason was talking to someone that Val hadn't seen either, barely being able to make out a silhouette in the dark shadows in the corner of the basement. Had he been there the entire time? “Mason! Let's go!” he yelled while he made room for him to get a run-on towards the portal. He finally felt he had enough room and started sprinting towards the portal, then leaped as he yelled a warcry. “FOR THE VOX!” he yelled as he leaped into the portal, touched concrete and rolled across the room due to the unexpected feeling of a solid floor underneath him. The portal messed hard with one's feeling of height. And that aside, the sudden change of altitude compared to Columbia made Valentins ears ring, pop and then he basically couldn't hear for a few seconds while he tried to adjust to being this low beneath Columbia.

Well, not like he knew that they were under water, Valentin had kinda just assumed that this was another part of Columbia. Maybe someone else could figure it out, but probably not, because after all they were in a concrete room with no actual windows showing the ocean. Val reared around to see Kennedy, except.. he didn't see her. He could only see her feet as a last sight of her as she went through the door, and chased the man that had supposedly opened the portal. “Damnit!” he yelled, once again, but continued this time, “Kennedy!” For a leader, she did not do much leading, and a lot of doing. But Valentin couldn't argue with that, as he was a big fan of leading from the front. He looked around only to see this ghost-like person whom had supposedly.. captured the mind of one of the Knights but left the mind as he went through the portal. That's the only logical explanation because nothing else seemed to make sense, this guy appeared outta nowhere after all. “Let's go man!” he ordered him, unintentionally, as it came out in a quite bossy manner. Not that that would matter now, the guy had probably already understood they'd need to help Kennedy.

But he also realized that Mason and the others were still in the other side of the portal.. where ever that was. Ah well, likely they'd jump soon and the sounds of running would lead them to the rest of the crew. Valentin didn't give it much thought and instead chased after Kennedy, hopefully with the ghost man. And surely enough, Kennedy came into sight soon enough as Valentin pushed himself to run faster and faster.

[Ace of Jacks]

Mason

Mason arched his back as a green protruded out of his chest. With a gasp, he readjusted himself and looked forward, facing what he could only tell to be a product of Possession. “What the hell?” he murmured under his breath. His mind was brought back to the action when he noticed Kennedy jump into the portal from the corner of his eye. His head turned sharply in her direction and he shouted after her in concern. “No! Wait!” he screamed. Before he could follow after her he saw the Val nearly grab her by the wrist, only to fail. The green mist was through the portal as well, following after Kennedy. “Dammit!” he shouted in near unison with Val. He turned to see his friend preparing to disembark into the unknown. He started in frustration as Val jumped through the portal, taking a few seconds to get his bearings. “Yes, run head into God-knows-where!” he rambled, rolling his shoulders back as he prepared to follow after his comrades. He ran over to one of the storage barrels and kicked it open, revealing a Vox Populi Burstgun. He ducked his head around its strap and swung it around his shoulder. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Arch and Lucas, cracking an uncertain smile at them before jumping into the portal himself.

The landing wasn’t smooth. The portal was elevated a little ways from the ground and Mason hadn’t put into account of the difference in height from one side to the other. He rolled on the floor or a moment and looked up to see a guard smiling down at him. He backed up as quickly as he could, half-startled. He grabbed the Burstgun and fired the three rounds at the man’s kneecap. Mason jerked back at the recoiled, scurrying to his feet as the man before him buckled over in pain. Mason flexed his right hand, the vigor still active, and flicked his wrist in the direction of the guard, sending a wave of black feathered demons at him. He ran as the screams echoed through the damp hall. It felt eerily humid here. It wasn’t the same airy atmosphere that one would find in Columbia. Odd, but still, there was no turning back now. He had to run after his fellow Knights, he had to ensure that they were safe at least. Though, he knew they were both capable of defending themselves it was the fact that none of them were sure about what this place has in store for them that made Mason feel uneasy. There was something different about this place, he could already tell. This wasn’t the same air in Columbia. Were they in a hidden section of Columbia the prophet kept from the public? Or was this the “Sodom Below” the false Prophet constantly preached about? Mason’s head throbbed in confusion as he mindlessly followed after Val, focusing only on keeping his back in sight. He took in a breath of the thick, humid air, and couldn’t help but let out a cackle as his adrenaline pumped through him. He caught up to Val, running three feet behind his friend. “Pick up your feet, solider!” he shouted jokingly.

Charlotte

Charlotte exited the bathysphere once it docked safely. She made her way to the large steel door near the right of the docks and stood in front of it as the gears turned. The door opened and a wide smile appeared on her face as Mr. Bubble’s appeared on the other side of the opening door. “You made it!” she exclaimed, grabbing one of this rough gloved fingers and tugging at him. “Come on, silly!” Mama’s here! she thought. Though it was difficult for her to member the day she was separated from her parents, Charlotte remembered seen the large “Medical Pavilion” sign in the lobby of the area as she was dragged away from his mother, both of them reaching out for the other while screams and cries rang in her ears. She remembered the man that dragged her away, desperately pleading with him to take her back to her mother, how he was telling her that Fontaine had different plans for her. Charlotte looked up at her protector, glad that she had someone to watch over her, despite the lack of human emotion. Once she found her mother, she thought, no one can stop her from being reunited. Not while Mr. Bubble’s was around. If anything happened to him she would surely be vulnerable and her means of protection would be gone. She wrapped her hand tighter around the Big Daddy’s finger.

“Come on Mr. Bubbles. I can smell the angels…”

[Kafka Komedy]

As Lucas placed six bullets in his chamber, he looked up to see that the boss had taken care of the current guards. He put his gun back in the holster, and straightened his vest. The boss then hopped into the portal, followed by Val, followed by Mason, encouraging the others to hop in too. That somehow seemed like a bad idea, but Lucas had decided that, it seemed that everyone had survived the entrance through the portal, and the boss needed to be brought back safely, so he guessed it couldn't hurt to hop in.
Lucas gave the portal a running start before hopping in it, the pressure differential popping his ears and making him feel uneasy. He fell onto the cold, damp floor, and cursed about getting his slacks wet. He decided rush after the others, since the prisoner was running, the boss was, so Val and Mason were too, he might as well. He ran after the others, Paddywhacker at the ready, just in case any more guards had decided to pop in.

[rocketrobie2]

Thomas was about to chase after the Knight that had jumped in after him but was stopped for a moment at the feel of the place. His mother always told him to trust his gut and his gut was saying something here was off. The air seemed different the temps true was cold but not freezing and the worst of all no wind or natural light of any kind could be heard or seen. This place must have been a hidden off place of Columbia or some place different entirely. Soon he was brought back to the present when he heard the Knight named Lucas came in and took off.
Thomas chased after the others taking out his broadsiders pistol and dusting off his hat a bit before taking off.

[The Kraken]

Kennedy's feet pounded on the cold hard concrete as she chased after the man. Her clip was far faster than his weak body could carry him and she was catching up to him rather quickly. She fought off the dizziness and uneasiness that had come over her body shortly after landing on the other side of the portal, focused on the man in front of her. She knew that it had to be the same man who had spoken for help through the first portal she saw on her way to the Knights meeting. If he wanted to get a word out to her this badly, she wanted to know why.

Looking over her shoulder behind her, Kennedy saw her crew following in stride with her several feet back. It brought a grin to her face to hear Mason still chuckling through all the chaos of leaping into the unknown. Kennedy whistled sharply once and motioned her arm around in a circle, "C'mon ladies, keep up!" She winked at them, spotting a strange, translucent looking man following also. She had seen him before... but she thought she was just seeing things, perhaps a ghost. She blinked a few times and moved on, focusing again on the man just a few steps in front of her. "Hey! Cut it out, I want to know what's going on here!" She said.

As the words left her mouth, three guards rounded a corner about fifty yards down the hallway behind the group. "No time!" The man said as he jumped into the elevator and motioned for everyone to jump in. Kennedy did so, and after all of her Knights were safely in the elevator, she punched the button, firing a few shots from her Hand Cannon at the guards as the doors closed. The muted sound of an alarm could be heard as the elevator began its long ascent upwards.

Kennedy turned towards the man and kept her gun casually pointed in his direction. "Explain."

He quickly straightened up and cleared his throat, though the good posture didn't last for long. He leaned against the wall of the elevator and the exhaustion was apparent in his features. Finally, he looked up to her and drew in a large breathe. "My name... is Samuel. I... I don't really know what to say."

"Not good enough, Sam. Spit it out." Kennedy leaned in closer, "I need to know why I just jumped through a... a, uh... well I'm not sure what the hell I just did, but I need to know that it was worth it!"

Samuel nodded and swallowed hard. "That place... it is hell. They've been torturing us and experimenting on us for far too long now. That 'thing' was a tear, a sort of portal to another place..." He waited for the reactions before continuing, "I know how crazy this sounds. But this is what they are doing to us, trying to tweak these powers. I'm not sure what it was... but for some reason I was able to lock on to something, and I suppose that something was you."

Kennedy stood there speechless, her gun falling as her wrist went slack.

Sam sighed, "Look, I know you aren't from here. There's no way there would be that much sunlight in Rapture. But I needed help! I've seen too many people die, I've been through too much here! I saw you, saw what you were doing. I thought you could help..." He shook his head, "But what a fool I was. They know that I have escaped, and this elevator ride will be over soon enough. I've merely doomed us all."

Kennedy was still trying to process it all. She had thought that they had jumped into merely another part of Columbia. Rapture...? Where the hell is that? Where the hell are we? She picked her gun up and placed it in her holster, thinking for a moment as she did so. She cleared her throat and looked at her Knights behind her.

"No... no we aren't doomed. I don't know what kind of a mess you've put us in mister, but we're all Knights. And Knights don't go down without on helluva fight."

[Konami]

Under the Medical Pavilion, in a long forgotten room, there were hundreds of tanks. They stood in the dark, side by side, in row after row. They stood empty, sitting in darkness, the glass and machines covered in dust. However the room was not as empty as it first appeared. In the dark room there was a single point of light. One tank stood out from the others, the machines around it quietly buzzing as they continued mindlessly in the work they had been given so long ago. The tank was filled with an unnaturally clear liquid and floating in the liquid, surrounded by a halo of her own long dark hair was a girl.

The girl was curled up into a ball at the moment and hoses ran up to her from the base of the tank, attached to her arms, legs and her spine. Part of each hose were clear and inside a luminous red fluid could be seen being pumped through them. The girl's eyes were closed, however she wasn't asleep. She never slept much, but there was nothing to see, should she open her eyes, anyway. Once the room and had been busy and full, but now it was always empty. She couldn't even tell how long things had been this way as, trapped in her never-changing world of glass, time had no meaning.

But not even a lonely world like her's could last forever. She opened her eyes as muffled banging sounds reached her and after a brief moment, she heard voices raised, though she couldn't make out any words. All of a sudden a door was thrown open and three people rushed inside. Two were armed and one was wearing a white coat. She remembered the people in white coats and she uncoiled from her ball and pressed her hands against the glass, staring out in fascination. For so long, nothing had happened and now there were people in her previously empty world. They hadn't noticed her, as they seemed preoccupied with their animated discussion. A Window? Intruders? Guns? The words meant nothing to the girl, but still she watched and listened avidly.

[BrodZ11711]

How could these people just interfere like that, they clearly didn't even consider the possible ways that this could have gone wrong. Oh well, his devotion to this cause meant keeping everyone alive. Vexx got up from his shadowy spot, one hand in his pocket and the other having a death grip on his briefcase. He slowly walked towards the portal whistling his favorite tune. The cross between one place to another was uneasy, his head spun and he immediately fell to one knee. Waiting for the nausea to finish its attack Vexx got back up. Seeing everyone just dash one way, Vexx took another approach to this. He looked around and took in what he was staring at, he took in what he was smelling. The salt water again, water, I can smell the rust, motor oil, blood he paused on this thought and took another whiff, death. Vexx's curiosity got the better of him and instead of following the others he simply decided to go the other way. He turned and again humming his tune, hand on briefcase just kept on walking.

The gun sound echoed through the corridor, Vexx quickly turned and grabbed his pistol from his holster in his jacket, pointing and aiming in the direction. That came from the rest of the Knights, no screaming and only a few shots were fired. Not enough shots were fired for it to equal the amount of Knights that there were, someone from our group shot that. Good. Little footsteps were coming closer, Vexx heard them just in time and turned to see three very thin and deformed looking people. "Give us the ADAM!!" they said in a very dead like state of talk. "I'm sorry, I'm not from here and i don't know what this "ADAM" is. Now... Where am I"? They said nothing and just stood there. That was until they started charging, as if they did a countdown in their head, they moved at the same time. Dammit, I can't take any precautions. May you find peace in the afterlife. Bamn. Bamn. Bamn. Three shots, three heads and three dead bodies. Putting the gun away and looking at the three dead corpses Vexx gave a little sigh. He put his hand into his pocket grabbed out three playing cards. These cards were all a picture of the prophet with a big bloody cross along his face. He placed them gently on the bodies. This was his way of apologizing and for others to know who did it. Looking at where they came from he saw an elevator. I should get to the roof and see where about's this place is. Going into the elevator he realized he could only go down. Above the button said Medical Pavillion. He clicked the button and continuing to whistle his tune from where he left off.

[dereken]

With clomping feet, Gamma stepped off the Atlantic Express train in the medical pavilion, a scrap of paper clutched in his gloved fist, the latest in a line of clues that Gamma had picked up in Pauper's Drop. The paper was emblazoned with bright letters, "HIGH PAY FOR MEDICAL TRIALS! ANY AND--" the rest of the line was missing, as the paper was torn. A second line of smaller, black letters read, "Medical Pavilion..." also cut off by the tear in the advertisement. Gamma would simply have to search the area for another clue that might lead him closer to the man in the picture.

Gamma could hear the sounds of gunfire and violence in the distance, an occurrence becoming more and more common in rapture. Gamma chose to ignore the sounds for now, reasoning it was probably just a desperate scrap over some group's last dregs of adam or food. Gamma marched down the metal steps leading up to the train and down a hallway leading toward the main lobby. Just before Gamma entered the Medical Pavilion proper, he heard the voice of a little sister, "...I can smell the angels..."

[Partisan]

Valentin Schwarzwald

---

Valentin quickly piled into the elevator with the others, before mashing as many buttons as he could even after Kennedy had already punched in a button. It would seem like he was just trying to play a cruel joke on Kennedy and the others by forcing them to go through all those floors. But reality was, nobody knew exactly where they were, so they'd have to either search all floors for a clue or just go past all of them, to take a quick peek to see which one was the most interesting. Val figured that the last option was probably the best. Though, it did seem all of the floors eventually led up to the big fireworks of the floors -- the Medical Pavillion. It seems the interesting stuff would be going on down there.

Ping! They stopped at the first floor, which seemed to be just another empty hallway with bloodsplatters and turned over medical beds. It didn't seem interesting enough to hop off. Val simply looked at Kennedy and smiled, trying to tell her he had a plan regarding pressing all the buttons. Ping! Another floor, almost at the medical pavillion. It would be two more floors. Once again, nothing interesting. Well, unless you counted the ADAM-crazed idiots standing around on the floor. Once they spotted the door opening, they seemed both scared and angry at the same time. It was only when the door already started closing that they tried to charge towards the elevator, but it was already too late. The only noticeable thing for the Knights would be the banging of their weapons agains the elevator doors. Once again Valentin smiled, waving away Kennedies and the others' concerns and likely annoyance at Val for pressing all the bloody buttons.

P-pin... It seemed that this floor hadn't gotten a maintenance check for a while with the pinger being broken. It seemed to be the floor below the Medical Pavillion and nothing was remarkable about it, except for the fact that one of the rooms had lights in it. Something was illuminating this room, casting shadows on the floor before the doors. Valentin couldn't quite make out what they were but they were definetely humans, argueing, and there were weapons involved. Valentin looked at the rest of the Knights, questioning who would step out to go see what was in that room. “Nobody? Okay, guess it'll be me then.” he said as he waved goodbye to the Knights. “But you have to promise to wait for me at the Medical Pavillion, guys. Or else I'll be sad.” he grinned as he walked towards the doors, where the figures had probably head Valentin's deep voice. The shadows started moving a bit and seemed more nervous than they were just a second ago.

Valentin reached the door, and simultaneously the elevator doors closed. Peering inside the doorway, though, Valentin saw two guards and some doctor looking guy. They noticed Valentin too, obviously, cause the doctor stepped backwards and the two guards took aim. “Reveal yourself!” they yelled, and Valentin stepped into the open. It was probably stupid of him to do that. But Valentin wouldn't be Valentin if he didn't do stupid. Slowly he walked closer, the guards becoming more nervous with every step.

And then he sprung into action, once he got close enough to be able to cross the distance with a quick jump. He jumped forwards and grabbed one of the guards, quickly pushed him towards the other guard -- who by now reacted by emptying his clip. Unluckily for them the guard that got pushed between the two got hit by all of the bullets and sunk to the ground. The only response Val got from the left-over guard was him aiming at Val's head, pulling the trigger and..

Click, click, click.. Valentin started laughing like crazy. “You stupid idiot. Never empty your clip!” he yelled before grabbing the man's head and dragging him to one of the pods that seemed to occupy this room. He started banging the man's head against the pod until he heard the skull crack, only releasing him then. The man wasn't dead but he was knocked out for sure -- likely he'd have lasting damage to his face too as his nose didn't look too good from the constant beating either.

The only one left was the doctor. Valentin approached him and he cowered back, but then something caught Valentin's eye. One of the pods was still active, and there was some.. lady? She was stuck inside and seemed to be paying attention to the whole scene. Valentin was glad he got atleast someones attention, because Kennedy had hogged all the cinematic kills earlier. He tapped the glass -- against aquarium regulations -- and looked over at the doctor, who was still scared speechless. “Is she dead? Or is she some sort of fish-human hybrid? Can you open the pod?” The doctor seemed to be.. astonished by the fact that Valentin had proven to be not as bad as the killing had made him seen. But the strange personality change was worrying at the least. But the doctor stepped forward, the worrying expression not leaving his face, but atleast he made an effort to seem less worried. He started punching in commands to a console in the area while Valentin walked closer. He looked at what the doctor was writing and smiled at him. “Thanks.” he said when he grabbed the doctors head, smashed it against the console which then broke into pieces, keyboard pieces flying all over the place as they broke off. If the doctors' commands weren't enough to open the pod, the breaking of the console might just do the trick. Atleast the doctor wasn't dead.

Valentin backed off and looked at the pod from a distance, trying to see if anything would happen to it.

[Ace of Jacks]

Charlotte

Grasping one of the thick gloved fingers in one hand and a raggedy bunny plush in the other, Charlotte lead her protector to an empty, poorly lit hub. This area was devoid of human life, aside from Charlotte, and there were signs of heavy battles all around the area. There was blood splattered across the walls and pooled on the cold, damp floor. Bodies could be found lying motionless against walls and behind obstacles. At the sight of the bodies, Charlotte’s heart leapt. “Angels!” she shouted, releasing her protector from her child-like grip and running eagerly toward one of the corpses. She made her way to the corpse, her mind on nothing else other than extracting the ADAM left over in the body, oblivious to the green spotlight scanning the across the room.

A familiar, mechanical ticking sounded from her left and Charlotte froze, her heart pounding in fear. She knew what she’d find if she turned her head but did so anyway to confirm. She faced the blinding red light as the motors of the turret turned and let out a shriek. The turret screamed in reply, spitting out bullets as it did so. Charlotte shut her eyes, preparing herself to be knocked down with a blast of pain throughout her body. Before the bullets could reach her, however, Mr. Bubbles had dashed in front of the young girl, drill revving. The red lights emitting from both the turret and the Big Daddy illuminated the dark room. A deep moan came from the giant metal protector as it slammed its body against the turret, enduring the bullets. Charlotte smiled, clapping her hands and cheering for her protector. “Yay! Go Mr. B! Go get ‘em!” she giggled cheerfully, fully over the panicked feeling she experience seconds ago. She looked down at the body and tried to drown out the gun fire, the revving, and the sound of metal clashing with metal as best she could, piercing the flesh of the corpse with her syringe. “Don’t look, Misère Carrots,” she warned her stuffed bunny, its plush material dabbed lightly with blood. A small explosion erupted from the turret as Charlotte finished draining the body, removing the syringe and turning to look at the now calm Mr. Bubbles. She pushed herself to her feet and skipped over to her protector, peering up at him with a wide grin. “All done!” she exclaimed. She grabbed his finger in her palm and blew a raspberry at the destroyed turret, pulling Mr. Bubbles along to find the something more angels. As she lead Mr. Bubbles away, she began to ingest the contents of the syringe, making room for the next extraction.

Turning a corner, Charlotte stopped, her eyes wide in both curiosity and fear. There was another Mr. Bubbles in the distance. But, this one was different. She had near seen one like this. It was not the same type of Daddy as her own or the other sisters. In fact, this one did not seem to have a sister with it at all. Curiosity got the best of her fear as she loosened her grip on her Daddy and cautiously approached the new Daddy. She peered around it, looking for signs of its Little Sister. She looked up at the strange new Daddy and tilted her head, confused. “Where’s your girl, mister?” she asked, searching around once more. She caught sight of a vent near one of the walls and gave a small smile. “Oh, is she having dreamtime?”

[Kyoukari]

With the entrance of Adam and it's regenerative possibilities, maybe of the medical and surgical offices in the Medical Pavilion had been shut down. Most had been bought out by Steinman's Aesthetic Ideals and turned into cosmetic surgery offices. However some had simply been left to rot. One such office, a small affair that had once been run by a young MD and his blushing wife, was nestled in a forgotten corner of the Medical Pavilion's upper levels. Thanks to the door being locked and boarded up, there was only two ways to get in: A small vent in the wall that was used by Little Sisters and a maintenance hatch in the ceiling of what had once been the office's reception and waiting room. It was a shutdown, forgotten, former business that no-one should have ever had any reason to visit, and yet to place wasn't as empty as it would seem.

Someone had turned the small waiting room and single consultation office into a nest, of sorts, the floor strewn with little personal knick-knacks that the inhabitant had collected over the months. Some "found" jewelry here, an old fancy hat there, and a large poster depicting a sun setting over a tropical beach was taped crookedly on one of the walls. Strangely there were also signs of children, a few small toys, and childish drawings on the walls and floors. The owner of this nest was home at the moment. Allision was squatting amongst a collection of random items that she'd taken from a trash can in Arcadia, mostly discarded wine bottles.

The dark haired girl, appearing in her mid-to-late teens, was wearing a dark wetsuit, complete with oxygen tank, and on her left arm was a strapped a large needle which fed directly into her arm. Interestingly she also had a small basket strapped to her back, next to the oxygen tank, which she obviously used to transport a person or persons, judging by the childish chalk drawings that had been scrawled on the tank. A heavy diving helmet was sitting on the ground next to her as she sorted through the junk, hoping to find something interesting to add to her collection.

Finding nothing of interest, Allison picked up her helmet and stood up, slipping her head into the brass helmet and locking it into place with a hiss as the inside of the helmet was pressurized. She hadn't seen any of her Little Sisters in the area for a while and, without any aim, tended to wander without purpose. Maybe she would go and check out Fort Frolic. Even if she didn't meet any Little Sisters , she always enjoyed watched the glamorous ladies and the handsome gentlemen from the shadows as they shopped and danced and took in the amusements. In an inhuman gesture of agility, Allison leapt up with almost zero effort and through the open maintenance hatch that she used to enter and exit her little nest. Moments later she dropped down from the ceiling in one of the Medical Pavilion's hubs and began heading for the Atlantic Express Railway. She wasn't going to use the train, of course, people would always stare and run away when she did that and she didn't like the feeling, but there was an airlock by the station that she could use to get outside and swim over to Fort Frolic.

[The Kraken]

Kennedy stood quietly as her brain worked a million miles a minute to process the fact that they were no longer in Columbia. If we aren't in Columbia... she shook her head, which had begun to hurt after the rush of information that had just flown into it. Samuel stood in one corner of the elevator, leaning against the wall for support. His body was still weak from weeks of undernourishment, and the recent blast of events took even more out of him.

Kennedy eyed Val as the elevator stopped with each floor on its way up. He simply grinned at her and the others and rushed out onto one of the floors, leaving the rest of them to finish the journey up. Kennedy sighed, "Let's hope he doesn't get shot..." She looked up at the list of floors to see that they were almost to the top. She turned back to Sam, eyeing the elevator doors. "So, what happens when we get to the top? More guards?"

Sam swallowed hard and looked at her. "Hopefully no guards, though we may run into a splicer or two. Potentially a BD." Kennedy's eyes narrowed and he sighed again, "BD's are giant protectors of Little Sisters. They won't hurt you unless you hurt the girl. So just keep your paws off and you'll be fine." The elevator dinged at the last floor, and the doors opened up to an empty hallway with several doors on either side. A sign handing from the ceiling at the end of the hall read 'Medical Pavillion.'

Kennedy stepped off the elevator, her hand resting on her Hand Cannon and caution in her step. Samuel walked out behind her, but his vision started to turn black, and soon he collapsed. "Shit..." Kennedy picked him up off of the ground and looked back down the hall. One of the doors was propped open, so she nudged open the door with her foot to reveal an empty office. It looked like it had been empty for a while, dust collected on the shelves and desk that occupied the room. Kennedy sat Samuel down and looked back to the few guys who had made it up the elevator with her. "Mind taking a look around? We need to wake this guy up, he's kinda our tour guide for the moment."

She opened up the drawers to help, found a syringe with a blue liquid in it that read 'Eve' on it, and raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?" She looked back to Samuel, who was unconscious still. "Hopefully this doesn't kill him..." She walked over and stuck the needle in his arm, pressing the plunger down until all the mysterious liquid was gone. For several moments, nothing happened. His breathing remained normal and heart rate did not increase or slow down. "Well, I guess that didn't work."

Kennedy turned her attention back to finding something to help, when she heard Samuel cough. She grinned, turning to see him opening his eyes groggily. "Good morning sunshine, I suggest you refrain from doing that again. No idea what I put in ya but it seemed to have given you some energy." Samuel looked next to him to see the syringe, and he chuckled. "Eve? That won't help me much other than give me a rush. Can't any of you find a medical kit?" Kennedy looked at him with a blank expression as she turned to continue her search.

[rocketrobie2]

Thomas nodded towards Kennedy when he was asked to look around which he did happily. As Henry looked around he came across something that looked like some sort of vendor so he assumed there might be some money in it. First off Thomas looked around to check if anyone was around but none were so he decided to try his hand at mastering his power once more. He attempted to shove himself in the machine, he pushed against the metal surface with all his weight and he began to go through a bit, he was doing it! Then he was suddenly shot across the room as once again his powers failed him and wouldn't let him in the machine. Henry picked himself up and dusted himself off. He both loved and hated his powers much like the curse of a vampire giving one a means to further one self but also take out a common thing taken for granted. As Thomas got up he noticed he had lost his broadsiders pistol in a pile of garbage that was left swept up in a corner. Thomas began to walk leisurely over to the rubble when he heard a noise coming from behind one of the doors.

Thomas crept quietly towards where his gun was so that he would be able to fire upon the noise maker in the case of them being hostile but while he was about to get to the pile the door swung open and a crazed, masked lunatic wielding a lead pipe ran at him. Thomas had no time to get his gun so he went for plan B. He quickly ducked under the lead pipe and leapt into the psycho and began a hostile take over of his body. Thomas did this without much effort, infant it was the easiest take over he'd ever actually done. "Guess this guy was all brawn no brain." Thomas said looking over the new body he inhabited while at the back of his mind he could hear the lunatic screaming. Thomas ignored this and went to pick up his broadsiders pistol but still kept the lead pipe handy.

[Ace of Jacks]

Mason

Mason leaned against the surprisingly spacious elevator shaft, whistling the tune to Will the Circle be Unbroken, a song his daughter adored. He smiled at the thought of her, glad of her innocence and that she was safe from the dangers his lifestyle may bring. His attention was brought back to his companions in the elevator when a broken ping sounded. Mason lifted his head and saw Valentin leaving the elevator. Mason pushed himself off from the wall and reached out. “Wait, Val!” he called out just as the sliding doors closed in front of him. He sighed, falling back and catching himself against the wall once more. He wasn’t sure how great of an idea splitting up would turn out to be, especially under the circumstances. They didn’t know where they were, or what was going on. He was sure Valentin could manage on his own against a few guards but he didn’t know what would lie in wait for him on that abandoned-looking floor. It was out of his hands for now though. Mason looked over to the new stranger, and opened his mouth to speak. Kennedy’s voice broke through and he shut his mouth. As the stranger named the unfamiliar threats that they may find once they reach the top Mason rolled his shoulders, reaching his holster and hovering his hand over his heater.

Once the elevator opened up for the last time, Kennedy stepped out into the unknown. Mason followed behind Samuel and cleared his throat, looking around the dark room. There weren’t really any windows in this area either and he was beginning to feel confined. “So, um, these ‘Splicers’ and ‘Little Sisters’, what are they?” Before he could get an answer, Samuel had buckled over. Kennedy was quick to re-position him as Mason grew alert. Without a thought the nodded at Kennedy, scanning the room for anything that could be of use, He spotted a machine of sorts and lightly ran over to it. It had an odd picture on its front, depicting a very pale man with odd markings. “The fuck?” he thought out loud. Circus of Values, it read across the top. He noticed a lock sticking out the side of the machine and grabbed his heater, smashing the butt of the gun against the lock. With a quick hit, the lock was forced opened and dangled in its hole. Mason tossed it down and pried open the machine with mild force. Inside, it was filled with various items. There were syringes filled with a glowing blue liquid, similar to salts back in Columbia. He grabbed a few without thought and stuffed them in his jacked pockets. They were larger than ordinary syringes but still small enough to fit about two in each pocket. The majority of the machine was stocked with snacks and drinks but it also seemed to contain pistol and shotgun ammo as well. In one of its compartments, mason caught sight of a small white rectangular container. It had the words First Aid Kit written in red. “Perfect,” he murmured, grabbing the kit. He turned to the others before something in the machine caught his eye again. There was a single bottle of vodka in the machine. He reached for it before stopping himself. “No, no Mason,” he told himself, refraining from grabbing the bottle. As much as I could use one right now, it’s really not the time. He let out a disappointed sigh and left the machine open as he walked back.

Upon his return, Samuel had already awoken, an empty syringe lying beside him. He heard him mention a medical kit and looked down at the small container in his hands. Mason walked crouched beside Samuel and smirked. “You mean like this one?” he asked, showing the weak Sam the First Aid Kit.

[Konami]

The girl in the tank had watched the violence taking place before her with the sense of watching a movie, though she'd never even seen a movie before. It wasn't real. It was taking place outside her world and, while interesting, it didn't matter. However her expression changed when the stranger forced the man in the white coat to mess with her tank's machinery. The sounds of the machines changed and she looked around clearly very agitated. For the first time in her life she felt something she'd never felt before: the fear of the unknown.

Things got worse when the level of liquid in her tank began, the fluid draining down into some reservoir below the lab. The girl remembered how the other tanks had been drained, her sister's lifeless bodies taken away, one by one. She didn't want that. She trashed in the tank, banging against the unyielding glass. She looked at the stranger, her eyes begging. 'Reverse it!' She thought desperately. 'Please reverse it!' But to her horror the tank continued to empty. As the level dropped, she lowered with it to the floor of the tank, the hoses that supplied her with adam cut off and then detached from her, the long needles leaving just red points on her skin. The girl wiped a wet lock of hair from her face and huddled against the back of the empty tank. 'I'm still...alive?' She thought.

Then once again she had a new experience, breathing. With something close to pain she drew in a shuddering breath and lungs that had never been used expanded. She blinked warily and was about to get up when suddenly she cried out, doubling over as a wave of pain went through her. Adam had sustained her, and now that it had been cut off her body was failing. She collapsed onto her side in the tank and, as the glass lifted with a hiss, the light faded from her eyes and her short, lonely life was over.

[dereken]

At the sound of gunfire just ahead, Gamma flinched, and took several lurching steps forward before the roar of a big daddy and the sounds of a machine being destroyed stopped Gamma short. A few moments later, Gamma heard the voice of the little sister, "All done!", and not long after, the little sister, with big daddy in tow, rounded the corner. Gamma stared at the sister, and the sister stared back. Gamma was about to break the stillness by turning around and walking away, but the little sister beat Gamma to the punch, releasing her own big daddy and approaching him slowly.

"Where's your girl mister?" The question stung Gamma. Even though he was searching for the man in the picture, the mention of Gamma's little sister reminded him of both Gamma's failure to protect her, and the growing feeling of wrongness accumulating in his body. “Oh, is she having dreamtime?” Gamma pondered the second question a minute before nodding his head, deciding that was the best explanation for the little sister. Suddenly, a gloved hand reached over the little sister and shoved Gamma away, the big daddy giving out a threatening growl before revving its drill. Gamma understood the message clearly, and took several steps away from the pair.

As Gamma was turning to leave, however, the sound of something moving and clanging somewhere above Gamma caught his attention, as though something were moving in the air vents.

[Kyoukari]

Allison had just left the maintenance hatch into the Medical Pavilion and hadn't gone far before she turned a corner and stopped dead. Two hulking figures stood facing eachother at the end of the hall and, what really caught her attention, one of her sisters was standing between them. Where she had actually met this Little Sister before or not didn't matter, she'd been programmed to see them all as hers. The Big Daddies were another matter. Her mental conditioning had been completed before the Big Daddies had been attached to the Protector Project, so she didn't see them as guardians, but as threats.

Allison gritted her teeth in anger, under her helmet, as she saw one hulk push the other away. They were fighting over her sister, as if she was their property? Allison clenched her fists and took a wide stance, letting out a screech of rage. In the halls of the Medical Pavilion, it sounded like someone had awoken a banshee. Allison leapt forwards and over the top of one of the Big Daddies to land in front of her Little Sister, crouching protectively over her. The one revving it's drill seemed to be the most immediate threat and she struck out with a powerful kick that knocked the hulk back and fired off a blast of incinerate into his big helmeted face.