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Halo: Rapture
Chapter Three: Steinman’s Requiem

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I’ve been walking for thirty minutes in seemingly endless hallways and medical facilities. I’ve seen more organized Grunts in battle. What makes it worse is that my only directions are coming from Harrison and he isn’t exactly the most coordinated person.

With a bad feeling in my stomach that I’m going the wrong way, I push open a pair of swinging doors that lead to another blood stained hallway. There’s nothing surprising about this, what is surprising however is that a man with full surgical gear (very bloody surgical gear, of course) is pushing a gurney with a very mutilated corpse.

“I am beautiful, aren’t I.” It’s a statement not a question, directed at the corpse. He hasn’t noticed me yet.

“Tell me, do you know where Aphrodite has gone. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I’m not worried though, I know she will come back when I’ve finished my master piece. You could have been my master piece but you simply are much too ugly to even work with. Though I tried. You know I tried.” The man that I know is Steinman hums softly to himself as he glances into a room that has its door hanging off its hinges.

“Between you and me, I believe that my dear Aphrodite is becoming impatient. She’s very beautiful when she’s angry, did you know that? No, of course not, she wouldn’t even consider making a visit to the likes of you. You disgust her. My dear, dear Aphrodite, don’t worry I’ll have my master piece finished. Just as soon as I find the right clay.” He glares down at the corpse as if it has offended him.

“No! That’s utterly ridiculous. How could you even suggest it! But then again you’re not an artist are you. I couldn’t expect you to understand. So, it’s to the furnace with you. It’ll please my dear Aphrodite to see you burn.” He suddenly looks up from the corpse and sees me.

“An intruder! In my sanctum?! How dare you come here!” Sensing a conflict as he reaches into one of his pockets, I take cover behind an upturned gurney. Not much cover but it’ll have to do. I risk a look at Steinman to see that he has flipped over the gurney that the corpse was on and is taking cover behind it.

The lights turn a shade of red and the alarm goes off. Great more Splicers. But before I can do anything, I hear the tell tale sign of a grenade being activated.

Instincts take over and I dive away from the gurney just in time to see the grenade land not far from where I was. All I can do is curl up in a ball to minimize the chance of being hit by shrapnel and cover my head. Just before the explosion scorches the back of my armor I hear the sound of double doors swinging shut. Steinman got away.

I pick myself up from the floor a few seconds later. No real damage, I think. Suddenly I pick up a sound; my brain automatically supplies an answer to the sound. Sentinels.

Sentinels? Here? Actually, it kind of figures. Turning to face the hallway that the noises are coming from, I ready my shotgun. I only have a few shots left, after that I’ll have to improvise.

When I see the sentinels I almost have to do a double take. They look like they came from a do-it-yourself kit. They float like the sentinels on the Halos (although they lack a certain grace) but they have assault rifle rounds instead of lasers.

They take my surprise and lack of response to their advantage by releasing a stream of rifle rounds. I drop to the ground and roll away but one of the bullets clips my shoulder.

I’m on my feet and aiming my shotgun in an instant. I fire at the nearest one and it goes up in flames. Good, they don’t have shields. The one on my left fires at me but luckily the things act as if they are drunk, swinging to and fro. It’s lucky they can hit anything at all.

I side step more rounds and bring my shotgun up again. Unfortunately the sentinel suddenly rolls to its side and hit’s a wall just as I shoot. A complete miss. I duck behind some boxes that were stacked in the hall and reload my shotgun. I don’t have much left in it, definitely not enough to deal with the five sentinels coming towards me.

Coming out from my make shift cover I shoot at one of the sentinels and only clip the underside of it. I dodge yet another attempt to riddle my torso with bullets by throwing one of the crates at the sentinel ready to fire. The impact unbalances it enough to occupy it for a few moments. They really are ungainly.

I duck my head quickly as one fires at where my head was moments ago. I wish I had a plasma grenade. It would be incredibly useful at the moment. Wait! A small smile moves across my lips as I remember. I don’t have a plasma grenade but I have an acceptable replacement.

I duck into an empty examination room and quickly search all my suit’s compartments. I curl my fingers around the familiar shape of the spike grenade, I can hear the sentinels coming to close in on me as a plan slowly formulates in my mind.

Getting ready, I wait for the sentinels to come. I hope this works, I really do. The sentinels sound like their right outside the door. Time to implement my plan and hope.

Bracing myself I check that my shotgun is secured to my back holster and plunge out the swinging door, surprising the sentinels. I throw the spike grenade and it lands perfectly on the center one. They’re grouped just close enough that they’ll all bear the effect of the grenade’s detonation.

I don’t stop to look though as I keep running down the hall, even after I hear the spike grenade go off and the sound of metal scraping and grinding together. I head through the swinging doors that Steinman had run through. Some of the sentinels might have survived the explosion; I’m not taking any chances. I find another stack of crates and a crowbar lying next to them.

Snatching the crowbar from the ground, I stick it between the door handles. I have no guarantee that the sentinels can’t make it through those doors but it buys me time to get away from here. I only have two shots left in the shotgun. Definitely not enough to go into battle with.

Taking a deep breath I go towards the door at the end of the hall. I’m really getting tired of these hallways. As if the city had been reading my mind, beyond the door was a sort of lobby. There are lots of hallways I notice. I take a step towards a desk that sits in the middle of the room when Harrison’s voice comes back on.

“Hold it there cowboy; Steinman has two turrets set up in this room. If you had the tools and instruction you could hack them, unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to tell you how to do that. I’m a doctor, not an engineer. A friend of mine is the one who set up my network in the Surgery Wing.” There was a pause and I hear him sigh over the speaker. “And unfortunately she was on that gurney.”

Oh.

I look at my shotgun. Two shots. That hardly cuts it. Well, I do still have my plasmids. I concentrate on equipping my Winterblast. I wince as ice shards come out of my hand, I bet that it’d hurt more if the cold didn’t numb my hand. Now to lay a trap.

First things first. Locate both turrets.

I get down low and move towards the wall. Okay, this is going to be reckless but it’s the only way. My back is to the wall and I have the receptionist desk in my sights. Straight line, don’t deviate.

I launch myself from the crouch position and head towards the desk. I hear what is, obviously, an automated humming sound, and then there are bullets. I jump behind the desk and stay low. Okay, that’s one. Just a few feet from the front of the desk. Now where is the other one?

I sigh, only one way to do this. I raise my head just barely above the top of the desk. I hear the humming again so I quickly get back down. I only scanned a part of the room, couldn’t see anything. Steinman obviously has it hidden.

I wish my hand wasn’t so cold.

I peek out from the desk again and scan the other side of the room. There’s humming again. Wait! Is that it? In the broken part of the wall.

I pull my head out of harms way just in time. If I had remained there I would have several bullets in my head and a ruined helmet.

I’ve located both. Now for a plan. I’ll have to modify the original one but I’m sure it’ll work. It’s just extremely stupid and I would have been demoted if a superior officer saw me even attempting it.

Taking a deep breath and getting my Winterblast ready, I stand and jump over the desk into harms way. I run to get into the cross fire of both turrets. Spinning to face one as they both get ready to fire, I freeze it over, that’ll only hold for a moment.

Dropping to the ground, the other turret opens fire and hit’s the frozen one directly across from it. The explosion tells me that my plan is half way completed.

I jump up and run to the other turret as it tries to lock onto me again. Quickly I grasp it and yank as hard as I can to rip it out of the ground. Apparently it’s stronger then the UNSC or Covenant ones because it pops my shoulder joints.

I throw the thing to the ground. It sputters and smoke comes out of it. That’s taken care of. Now I just have to worry about the damage to my shoulders.

Looking around, I realize that a map would be really useful right now. I hear an odd crackling coming from the overhead speaker system. At first I think that Harrison is going to tell me where to go but a woman’s voice comes over the speakers.

“I only have a limited time before Steinman retakes control of the speakers again so I’ll be quick. One of my little ones is in trouble not far from you, if you help her I’ll make it worth your while. There’s a door to your left, it’ll lead to a glass hallway. If you follow it, you’ll be taken to the little one. Please hurry.” Tenenbaum’s voice is filled with concern.

Duty calls. I turn left and find the door she was talking about rather easily. Cortana once told me that I have an annoying hero complex that takes over in the absence of orders.

Harrison hasn’t said anything; he must not care as long as I eventually take on Steinman. I look out the glass of the hallway to see a school of odd looking fish swim by. The city looks beautiful from out here.

I shake my head and pick up the pace. No time for that now. I come to a door without the hallway collapsing on me (thankfully) when I suddenly realize that the doors are engraved with an elegant looking R. I can’t believe I just noticed this.

Coming through the door the first thing that hits me is the group of Splicers converging on one point. Their backs are to me. The next thing is the Big Daddy corpse. He looks absolutely fried.

“It’s just us and all the ADAM we can drink.” The one who spoke is carrying a wrench and is swinging it around wildly. The others, who look just as gruesome as the leader, laugh. There’s a whimper that obviously belongs to a child. Possibly a boy.

I take my shotgun off my back holster and decide to make my presence known before they hurt the kid. Taking aim, I shoot the leader in the back. It impacts just below the neck.

The Splicers spin around and shout angrily at me. The little boy looks at me with his glowing eyes, I notice he’s wheezing and coughing. I didn’t think they could get sick with the slug implanted in them. Luckily the Splicers have their attention focused on me and have momentarily forgotten about the boy.

I put my shotgun away and activate the Arbiter’s sword. They hesitate at the sight of the sword but eventually charge at me. Thugs.

I sidestep one and slash at another one. They are rather fast. I duck a shot and shoot one with my Electro Bolt, effectively stunning it. Next, I elbow another one in the nose and punch his backup. Blood covers my fist.

Suddenly, I’m nearly knocked to the floor as one jumps on my back. I hear it laughing. I do the first thing that comes to mind; I drop on my back and crush the bastard. Still on my back I kick another one, breaking his ribs.

Rolling to my feet I pick up my fallen sword quickly and slash the nearest thug. Blood falls from the Splicers abdomen and it drops. He’ll be dead from blood loss soon.

I’m suddenly whacked on the shoulder by a wrench. Spinning around I grab the improvised weapon and stab the Splicer before he could react. Quickly, I yank the sword from its limp body and spin around in time to see one charging at me. It’s a simple matter of impaling him.

Two left standing. My buddy with the broken ribs and the guy I stunned earlier.

The thug with the broken ribs tries to make a run for it (smart man).

“Coward!’

“The Little Brother isn’t worth toeing with the Big Daddy AND this freakish Jolly Green Giant.”

The one I stunned looks at me and I tilt my head to the side as if daring him to attack. He only has to glance at his fallen comrades to make up his mind. The man spins around and runs after his partner.

I put the sword away and look at the bodies littering the floor. Looking up again, I search for a sign of the Little Brother. That’s when I hear a smothered cough and quiet wheezing.

Walking towards the sound I find the boy hiding behind some junk in a corner. He looks at me with wide glowing eyes. His suit is in tatters and his hair is a mess. Same greenish skin as the Little Sister I saved earlier. He’s obviously scared.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Dr. Tenenbaum asked me to help you.” The boy looked doubtful but didn’t move away as I grabbed him.

Touching his forehead I urge my hand to glow like it did last time. When nothing happens and the boy starts fidgeting and trying to get free I concentrate on my want to save him. That works. My hand glows and the glowing moves to his forehead and down his body.

The bright light blinds me for a moment and when it fades I see that the boy’s eyes are a natural brown and his skin is a healthy color. I collect the ADAM quickly as the boy coughs it up.

“Thank you sir!” I nod and let go of his arm. He looks at my armor, fascinated for a moment.

“You’re like Mr. Bubbles, but your not. What’s your name? Mine’s Sam.” Sam. My friend during the Spartan Training. I suddenly get a flashback to Sam’s face when we first met, then the sight of him just before he died.

“John.” It just slips out without me wanting it to. The boy smiles though.

“I’ll tell Mama Tenenbaum you helped me Mr. John.” Well, at least its better then Mr. Bubbles. I look around the room and notice that there’s no porthole.

“You better come with me, I’ll get you to one of the tunnels.”

“I told you, you were like Mr. Bubbles.” I cringe, not that he can see it. I look at my near empty shotgun; it’s useless so I drop it to the ground. Then I grab Sam and put him on my back. He obediently holds on.

I head towards the door I had come out of when the lights turn red and the alarm goes off. Not again! Damn Steinman.

“Uh oh, you made Mr. Ryan mad.” I turn and see the open hallway that the Splicers had run out of. There’s my exit.

“Hold on tightly.” He nods and tightens his grip. Suddenly the sound of glass being smashed snatches my attention to the ceiling just as Splicers jump through. I automatically reach for my sword but I hear Sam whimper as he ducks his head so as not to watch. No, better make a run for it.

Launching myself across the room we just barely miss being hit with rounds from an assault rifle. I run at my top speed and practically tackle one of the Splicers that were stupid enough to get in my way. Just keep going.

I’m in the hallway but I don’t slow down, I need to get Sam to a porthole. Then I can get into some fights. I see what is, unmistakably, a bulkhead door. That’ll hold the Splicers out.

They are following me, right on my tail. I think one of them is angry because he discovered my shotgun was practically empty.

I run past the metal door and am about to turn to close it when it does so on it’s own. That’s when I notice the large screen. Trap. Damn it! The screen looks like something you’d see in a UNSC operations room. A picture of a late middle aged man appears on it with Ryan Industries written transparently in front of him.

“So tell me friend, which one of the parasites sent you, the UNSC wolves or the Rebellion jackals? Well, you can tell them that Andrew Ryan isn’t the giddy socialite who can be pushed around by hired muscle with broken equipment. You’ve already interrupted the process of the Great Chain long enough, so with that, I bid you fair well.”

The picture flickers to the Ryan Industries logo. My instincts are screaming at me to get out of here. It doesn’t help that Sam is shaking. I turn towards my only exit and try to open it but its fastened shut. The shouts of Splicers can be heard outside the door I came in from and beyond the screen. Harrison, Tenenbaum, someone, this would be a good time to help me.

“Stay calm I’ve almost got this door hacked. It’ll take the Splicers about five minutes to break in.” I don’t recognize the voice but the accent is obviously Irish.

“Okay I got it, better move while you can.” The door swings open and I hurry through. Sam breathes an audible sigh of relief.

“Harrison asked me to help out when Ryan set off the alarm. Old man can’t hack a coffee maker even if he had step by step instructions. I’m Atlas, when you’ve killed Steinman, Harrison will get your communicator fixed. When that happens we’ll see about getting you out of here.” The speakers cut off.

“Are you okay Sam?” The boy nods. Good.

“Do you know where one of your Tunnels is?”

“Uh huh, follow this hallway and turn right first chance you get.” Simple, too simple.

Nonetheless I continue walking. I’m obviously still in the Medical Pavilion; signs of Steinman’s presence are everywhere. From the blood written messages to the mutilated corpses. What disturbs me the most is that it doesn’t seem to bother Sam all that much. It’s like he’s used to this.

I turn right and see a door at the end of the hallway. I suppose Sam wants me to go in there. As I’m walking I can’t help but glimpse at some of the bloody messages.

“Steinman’s a monster!”

“Aphrodite is gone!”

The messages get crazier and crazier as you keep reading them. A few look like they were done by Steinman himself. I jerk back to reality when the door slides open to admit me into the room beyond.

The first thing I notice is the Big Daddy and the Little Sister with it, the next thing I notice is the Little Sibling tunnel. I walk over to the Tunnel and help Sam into it.

“You better get out of here, things are about to get really messy.” The boy nods and waves goodbye to me as he crawls out of sight. Turning away from the tunnel, I get a good look at Mr. Bubbles. This one is different from the other ones I’ve seen. It’s taller for one, not as stocky but it wields a very large and nasty looking gun. The thing looks out of only one hole in the diving helmet, rather then the multiple smaller ones.

I think the gun he carries launches grenades, it somewhat resemble an old UNSC grenade launcher but definitely modified. I sigh and look around the room for something, anything really. That is when I see an SMG lying next to a corpse of a woman wearing a butterfly mask. That’ll work.

Checking the clip, I find it’s almost fully loaded. I push a table over, knocking everything off of it in the process and take cover behind. Mr. Bubbles is about to leave the room when I open fire onto his back near some of the equipment it carries.

“Unzip him, Mr. B. Unzip him!” The Little Sister screams as the thing spins around and launches what looks more like a proximity mine then a grenade. Eyes widening, I jump out of the way as the table explodes.

Thinking quickly, I hit Mr. Bubbles with the Winter Blast and watch him freeze over. Taking my chance, I unload a whole clip into him. He roars angrily when he breaks free from the ice and immediately fires at me again.

I duck behind a pillar and quickly reload the SMG. I can hear its heavy metal footsteps running closer as the horrible smell drifts nearer as well. Pushing myself away from the column, I hit it with the Electro Bolt as it is about to open fire again.

I fire again but the electricity wears off halfway through the clip. Mr. Bubbles roars again and fires another proximity mine. This thing is tougher than the Hunters; at least the Hunters had weak spots. I jump out of the way just in time but the explosion scorches a part of my armor. Hissing in pain, I fire the rest of the clip in the thing, one of my bullets accidentally hits what looks like an oil barrel. The barrel explodes and lights the Big Daddy on fire.

While it’s busy, I reload and begin shooting him again. The combination of the fire and my constant barrage of bullets finally take its toll on Mr. Bubbles and he collapses. I sigh in relief as I watch the Little Sister run up to it.

“What’s wrong with you Mr. B! Get up!” She sobs into her hands as she kneels down close to him, close to the fire. Running forward quickly, I pull her away before she could burn herself.

“No! No, no, no!” She struggles in my grasp as I pull her closer and rest my hand on her forehead as she glows. Again, I’m blinded as the light flashes, and once again I collect the ADAM the little girl vomits.

When she feels better, she looks at me and smiles as she curtsies. Her red hair falling into her face. She quickly pushes it behind her ears as she seems to be thinking about something.

“Thank you Mister.” I nod at the little girl but she is too deep in thought to notice.

“Hey Mister, Can I tell you a secret. You can’t tell anyone though, I wouldn’t normally tell anyone because I was asked to keep it a secret but you saved me so…do you want to know it?” Despite myself, I can’t help but be mildly curious.

“Sure, I won’t tell anyone.” The girl nods and smiles as she gestures for me to come down to her level. When she talks next, she’s whispering but I pick it up easily with my advanced hearing.

“One day, I think it was last year, Mr. Ryan was taking a walk near the orphanage and I was playing with my dolly and I said hi to him. Normally, Mr. Ryan ignores us when he goes to Point Prometheus but this time he was really nice to me and he asked me to hide something for him. Mr. Ryan said it was REEEEAAAALLLLY important. The thing he wanted me to hide was like a square and it kind of reminded me of the voice box in my teddy bear but thinner and with a screen on it. So I hid it in my teddy and threw its voice box out. I think the teddy is still in my room in the orphanage.”

I watched as the Little Sister climbed into the Tunnel Sam had recently disappeared from. Idly, I toy with my new SMG as I think back to what the girl told me. Ryan asking a kid to hide something important for him? That was certainly suspicious, not to mention it raised a lot of questions. Like what was Ryan trying to hide? Who was he trying to hide it from? And if it was as important as Ryan told the girl, then why entrust it to a child? Couldn’t he have just made a vault or something similar? Hmmm, the plot thickens.

My head snaps up as the overhead speakers crackle to life. Steinman, Harrison, Tenenbaum, or Atlas? I’m about to find out.

“You’ve saved three of my Little Ones. But are you really a friend to us. Nonetheless, you’ll find a Gatherer’s Garden machine near Steinman’s current headquarters; I’ll send a Little One with a gift for you.”

That’s rather nice of her; I didn’t expect to receive any gifts. I push myself up and head through the door that is located directly opposite from the one I had come out of. Now back to finding Steinman.

Thirty Minutes Later___________________________________________________________________

I would love to know why all the halls in this place look the same. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure at one point this place was quite beautiful but did they really need to make it a maze? I’ve been lost and turned around a grand total of five times in the last thirty minutes. Not only that, but the more Splicers I run into, the more I wish I was still fighting the Covenant. At least it was aliens I was killing, not human beings. Though to be fair these Splicers are hardly human, they barely look human half the time but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still humanoids. People. This is like going to a mental hospital and shooting the place up.

Fortunately for me I finally find the waiting room that has Steinman’s headquarters beyond it. It’s complete with a Gatherers Garden machine as well. I can’t help but feel how morbid it is that I’m buying a hypodermic needle full of Plasmids out of a vending machine. It’s like buying drugs out of a vending machine.

When I walk towards the machine, a movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention; I spin around and raise my SMG only to have to lower it again. It’s the first Little Sister I saved; she’s carrying a teddy bear with her.

Curiously, I watch as she sets it down in front of the machine and leaves quickly without so much as glancing at me. Frowning, I make my way over to the Gatherer’s Garden and pick up the bear. Ah, that’s it. The bear has things hidden inside it.

I peal open the Velcro on its back to find a standard issue UNSC pistol, complete with scope and extra ammo for it. There’s also a vial filled with ADAM and a small toolbox that could easily fit into someone’s pocket. I don’t recognize any of the equipment in it. Frowning again, I pocket the toolbox and holster the pistol opposite the leg my sword is rested on.

I take the vial of ADAM and the ADAM I’ve collected and access the machine’s options menu. A list of different plasmids and Tonics appear along with a side note about Tonics.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You may purchase Tonics here but you must find a Tonic Station to introduce them into your system.

I glance up at a sign by a hallway entrance that reads: Tonic Station. The speakers crackle to life and Harrison’s familiar voice fills the room.

“If I were you, I’d purchase Telekinesis and a couple of Engineering Tonics. There should be a tonic that gives you the knowledge of how to hack computers somewhere. You get that and a Hacker’s Toolkit, you’ll be set. The rest is up to you.”

I nod vaguely and scan through the different Plasmids for sale. I spot the Telekinesis and quickly buy it. A slot at the bottom of the machine opens and a hypo needle drops out. This really is morbid. Despite that, I choose the Engineering Tonic Harrison told me about and decide to save the rest of my ADAM for later; you never know when I might need it.

I pick up the needle with the Telekinesis and inject it. I feel an incredibly sharp pain in my head and an odd feeling of my brain being dunked in water comes over me. Stumbling, I slump against the wall and try to stay calm as I ride out the affects of the Plasmid. When the underwater feeling leaves my brain and my vision finally clears, I shakily get to my feet and pick up the vial filled with the Engineering Tonic.

I have to take several deep breathes before I feel alright to start walking again. My first destination is the Tonic Station, so my feet automatically take me there. Luckily it’s the first door on my left in the hallway. Unluckily two Splicers are waiting for me. On instinct, I grab my pistol and fire two shots into the first one’s head.

The other one jumps out of the way as I fire at him and tries to throw a grenade at me. Again my instincts kick in and a lift my hand and, surprisingly, catch the grenade in midair and throw it back at the equally surprised Splicer.

The explosion doesn’t seem to have harmed the computer, although now it has blood and scorch marks on it. I just sigh and insert the Tonic that I had bought into the computer and hop into the chamber. I pass out into much needed sleep as the gel envelops me.

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Gel layer is receding when I wake up feeling refreshed but stiff and my head has a slight pounding in it. I rub my aching head and squint my eyes in the flickering overhead lights. I find myself examining the computer and actually understanding what I’m looking at. My mind also supplies information on how to hack the machine for discounts on the Tonics it holds.

I frown and turn away as I realize the tool kit Tenenbaum gave me is actually a Hacker’s Toolkit. Thinking back to the turrets and Sentinels, I know the kit and my knew found knowledge of hacking will come in handy.

I jerk when I feel an odd shifting in my mind. What was that? It wasn’t painful but it was rather uncomfortable, like sand being kicked on you. Odd. Maybe it was just one of the after affects to the Tonic being introduced into my system.

Heading back to Steinman’s lobby, I check that all my weapons are fully loaded and secure. I have a feeling it isn’t going to be easy killing the psycho. Looking around the lobby I really shouldn’t be surprised that there are no Splicers here. Steinman’s presence is very strong.

Steeling myself, I go to the vault like door that I know has Steinman’s work room on the other side. The bronze door slides upward allowing me to cross its threshold.

The first thing I notice about the room is that it’s lit by candle light, the next is the strong scent of blood and the corpses hanging on the walls. Next I realize Steinman isn’t in the room. Where is he? I take a few steps into the room and do a more detailed scan. The walls (except for the blood) are sterile white, absolutely no dirt on them. That’s an amazing feat on its own.

I’m just about to walk further into the room when I’m hit by an incredibly sharp pain in my back between my shoulder blades. My body jerks and convulses before my vision goes black.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I’m in a graveyard, standing next to a man wearing black. I know the man is my father. There’s another man, a stranger, also wearing black. Someone has died, someone close to me. I’m gripping my father’s hand and tears are streaming down my face. All the while, my father and the other man are talking. The stranger talks first.

“I’m so sorry. By the time I got there, they were already starting to execute the hostages. It was a mess.”

“I’m sure you did the best you could. I’m just glad the kids were at school and hadn’t been with her.” A short pause. “Did any of the Rebels live?”

“None that can talk.”

My eyes travel to the sight of a little girl with sandy blond hair; she’s about three and standing near a fresh grave.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I groan as my eyes flicker open. The first thing I realize is that I’m lying on my back and I can’t move. The first thing I see, however, is Steinman examining my face. My helmet is off.

“Dark brown hair, dark aquamarine eyes, overly pale skin, freckles here and there, scar just below left eye, other then that you’d make a perfect subject for my Aphrodite. Hmmm, though we will have to shave down those high cheek bones of yours.” I can’t help but allow my eyes to travel to the corpses on the walls.

“Ah, I’ve noticed you’ve seen my other works. Yes, obviously not quite as impressive as I would have hoped but I’m hoping to do much better with you. You’re a breath of fresh air, probably the freshest piece of meat to ever lie on my slab.” This has to be the creepiest moment of my life. I begin to struggle in the straps as Steinman moves over to a table that has different knives and surgical tools on it.

“I prefer doing my work by candle light, it makes things more…intimate.” Before he can say anything more I manage to rip the straps off of me and jump to my feet. Steinman jerks his head up and immediately grabs some scalpels and throws them at me.

I dodge to my right, narrowly avoiding the sharp implements. Steinman ducks behind a desk and disappears from my sight. My eyes quickly scan the room for a weapon (Steinman has taken mine), there are only knives. Just as I lunge for, what looks suspiciously like a meat cleaver, Steinman stands up from behind the desk wielding an Assault Rifle.

I shove a gurney over and huddle behind it as he lets off an entire clip. I concentrate on equipping my Telekinesis and levitate the meat clever before propelling it at him. The sound of Steinman screaming fills the room. Definitely a hit.

“What can I do with this one, Aphrodite? He. Won’t. Stay. Still!” He punctuates each of the words in his last sentence with shooting bolts of electricity in my general direction. So that was how he stunned me.

I levitate a box of medical supplies and throw it at him in hopes of distracting the psychopath. The subsequent thud and a yell let’s me know it impacted him. Ducking out from behind the gurney, I run and get behind a wall as Steinman gets focus again.

“There is a price for being beautiful but don’t spoil it by clinging to life!” My eyes are already searching for another weapon as I hear Steinman moving from his position behind the desk. Concentrating, I switch my Plasmid and wait for him to come closer. I think I know where I can find a weapon but he needs to be out of the picture for a few second to get there.

His footsteps are close, just a little further. Come on. Now! I jump from behind my cover and hit him with the Electro Bolt. He jerks and convulses but I don’t waist time by standing around. My feet carry me behind the desk Steinman had grabbed his Assault Rifle from.

My guess paid off. The desk holds a cache of weapons, like my energy sword and the pistol Tenenbaum gave me. But my hand goes immediately for my SMG and Steinman was kind enough to stock extra rounds for it.

Meanwhile, the plastic surgeon, had shook himself out of being electrocuted and was now stocking towards me yelling things about me being difficult and Aphrodite being angry. Gripping the SMG close, I stand up and begin firing rounds into the surprised surgeon.

He screams and shoots an Electro Bolt at me but I manage to duck behind the desk seconds before it would have hit me. I can’t afford to get hit, especially sense my helmet is no where to be found.

I suddenly hear a grenade pin being pulled. Uh, oh. Jumping out of the way, I manage to shoot off half a clip near Steinman. Only a few bullets actually hit him though. Any other man would be dead by now. Obviously there is a Tonic to make someone nearly bullets proof.

I have to roll out of the way as he begins to fire at me once again. After managing to crawl behind cover and get to my feet, I reload my SMG.  My cheek is bleeding from a small piece of shrapnel that is still lodged in my face.

Using Telekinesis, I levitate a piece of the destroyed desk and throw it at Steinman. Taking my chance, I begin to let off a clip into the monster and when he had recovered enough to shoot back; I hit him with Winter Blast. While the psycho is frozen, I continue to shoot him until he shatters. Finally, he’s dead.

I groan as I drop to the floor. My body is exhausted and sore. Leaning my back against a wall, I look around the room. Quite a few candles had fallen over and snuffed out onto the ground and the walls aren’t so sterile anymore, now decorated with scorch marks and bullet holes.

Closing my eyes I take a deep breath and try to think. First order of business now, is to find my helmet. Next, is to return to Harrison’s office and get him to fix my communicator. Then contact Atlas and figure out what he wants in exchange for getting me out of this hellhole.

Taking another deep breath I open my eyes and get to my feet. If I were Steinman (thankfully, I’m not) where would I put a broken helmet. The trash probably, though the entire city is a trash heap. No, it has to be somewhere else.

My eyes catch sight of a closed locker door. That looks promising, but when I try to open the door I find it locked. Well, of course it’s locked, that’s why they call it a locker. Grunting in frustration, I head back to the destroyed desk and dig through the wreckage. Good, my pistol and sword survived. After holstering those and a few grenades lying in the splintered wood, I continue to look for a key. Too bad there’s none to be found.

Alright, looks like I have to do this the hard way. Going back to the locker door, I grasp the handle and yank with all my strength. It tears open like tin. That was easier then I thought.

Inside the locker is not only my helmet but also a security card issued by Ryan Industries for the entire Medical Pavilion. Harrison might find this useful.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“The good news is the wound from the shrapnel is already healed completely.”

“And the bad news?”

“The bad news is that unfortunately it’s healed around the piece of shrapnel still lodged in your cheek. I can take it out; it’s just going to be extremely painful. Especially sense I don’t have any morphine or standard issue medical supplies. They were all stolen by looters.” Harrison pauses as he turns to a table behind him. When he turns around he’s holding a pair of tweezers.

“So, we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way. Hold still and it shouldn’t hurt too much… I think.” Somehow his words don’t comfort me. Turns out I was right not to be comforted by his words because he simply gets hold of the metal piece and yanks it out of my skin. I’ve felt worse but that doesn’t stop me from yelling out.

“Oh, quiet you big baby.” Harrison says as he applies a bandage to my cheek. He then turns away from me and examines the piece of shrapnel he had set on the table.

“That’s interesting.”

“What’s interesting?”

“Your blood is turning purple, and it has an odd trace of green in it. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.” I just groan and put my head in my hands, my life just keeps getting better and better. When I lift my face I notice Harrison looking at me with penetrating gray eyes.

“What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t tell you my name.” He rolls his eyes.

“Well, what is your name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Because, I could have sworn I’ve seen you before.”

“That’s not possible.”

“No, it’s not probable. Nothing is impossible.” He pauses and looks out a window at the sea outside. “You better fix your communicator; the parts are in my desk. I’ll get them for you.”

-END OF CHAPTER THREE-