Rapture, Later Saturday Afternoon Fandom Time (NFB)
Joker
Joker had been counting down the seconds until they got back into range of the comms. Three... two... one.
"Uhhhh...?" He started tapping the screens nervously when the connection failed to reestablish. A few agonizing moments later, things started flickering back to life. The blips marking his friends appeared on his map -- in an entirely different location than he was expecting. He steered the sub closer, and the video and audio feeds reconnected, showing him lots of violent motion and lots of shouting.
"Did I not say 'wait here 'till we get back?!?!'" he screamed at them. "'Cause here-here is not there-here! What the hell's going on?!?!"
And, more importantly, where the hell was the nearest airlock? Jono needed to get back in there.
Jono
Jono's brows furrowed as he leaned over the to see the map.
//What the bloody hell were they thinking? Can you see anywhere to dock at all, mate? I'm not spotting anything offhand.//
He was going to thump each and every one of them personally once he caught up with them again. Possibly twice.
Joker
"Not unless you feel a ten-minute walk through unknown territory," Joker grumbled. "There's nothing nearby. I mean, not unless you feel like going in through a window. Which is not... hang on. You see that?" He pointed at a glass and steel walkway connecting the building their friends were in to its neighbors. "Get in the airlock. You're going in the front door. Sorry, Bar, I'm gonna scratch the paint a little!"
Barry
"You scratch it and you bought it Joker!" Barry's voice crackled though the headset. "Wait. What the fuck are you doing?
Jono
Jono stared at the walkway, and then at Joker, and then... back at the walkway.
//It's a bloody lucky thing I don't breathe,// he mumbled. //I wouldn't want to drown when I get swept out into open water and lost at the bottom of the ocean floor forever.//
This was not stopping him from shrugging off his leather coat, leaving it on the seat beside Joker, and making his way to the airlock, mind.
Joker
"Nah, don't worry," Joker told him. "The explosion's gonna keep the water away, for a few fractions of a second anyway. All you gotta do is run from the sub to the door, and shut it behind you before the flood starts. You in or out?"
Yup, he said explosion. Dude was arming the torpedoes.
Jono
//I hate you very much right now,// Jono replied, because that was an answer, right? He stepped into the airlock, making certain it was firm behind him. //Let's get this the hell over with.//
Jono. Hated. Everything.
Joker
"Hang on to your ass, 'cause things are about to get bumpy," Joker told him.
It was probably a good thing Jono couldn't see out the front window from inside the airlock, because this is what happened: Joker fired a torpedo at the walkway, rupturing it, and then piloted INTO the explosion in order to let Jono off.
It was delicate work. He had to time it just right, so the worst of the explosion was over, but the water hadn't yet rushed back in to fill the bubble left by the steam. He had to stop in just the right place, so that the the airlock door was lined up with the walkway, and the side of the hull settled against the broken edges without too much of a gap. And he had to open the door after the fire and steam died down and cooled off enough to be bearable, but before the walkway just collapsed and filled with water anyway.
Did anyone doubt that Joker could pull it off perfectly?
The airlock door opened to a hot, humid hallway with some fires still burning in the carpeting. The glass overhead creaked and threatened to give way, and behind and around Jono there was still the dying orange glow of what was left of the explosion. Water sprayed in between the sub and the walkway's edge. "Run, fucker, RUN!"
Jono
Jesus bloody Christ.
//You are bloody insane!//
This was also not going to stop Jonothon from running like hell to get past the walkway. He might not have had drowning to worry about, per se, but there were things in the world he'd like to do before being swept away by the entire ocean.
Joker
"No, I'm just damn good," Joker shot back. "Second left, down two flights of stairs, and then right. If you hit the train station, you went the wrong way."
Barry
"You are so paying the fucking deductible on this."
Joker
"Diagnostics say the hull integrity is 97%, Bar. All the damage is superficial. Plus, now it's got battle scars. All the best ships have battle scars."
He hit a button to broadcast to the whole away team again. "Hey, everybody, Jono is inbound! Someone fucking answer me -- what the hell is going on???"
Eleanor
The sounds coming back over the radio were a jumbled mess; a little girl's high-pitched scream, a deep roar, and the unmistakable smashing of bodies flying into walls.
"... Joker?" Eleanor called out, not even sure if she'd actually heard him. "Stay back, it's -- bloody hell!"
Joker
"Stay back?!?! You're out of your mind! The cavalry's a-comin', Babe. Hang in there!"
He switched over to a Jono-only channel, and yelled "RUN FASTER, MR. DRAGGIN' BALLS!"
Jono
//I'm running as quickly as I can,// Jono was more than happy to yell right back. //You think I'm going to sit back and order a tea along the way, then you've got another bloody thing--//
He paused in his yelling to listen to the sounds ahead of him. Not far yet. He could hear fighting, and the voice of a small child yelling dead ahead. He put on another burst of speed, rounded a corner, and--
//What the bleedin' hell have you all gotten yourselves into?!//
This was really why he'd come along, wasn't it? To play babysitter so they wouldn't do something stupid like pick a fight with the walking bell-helmet from hell?
Eleanor
"We found her," Eleanor gulped out. "Raven's down, she's -- oh bloody hell she has to be okay, she has to, he won't stop --"
Little Sister
The Little Sister was not happy. There had been a Big Sister and there had been hugs, and that had been nice, but then Mr. Bubbles had gotten very upset! And now the Big Sister was trying to hurt Mr. Bubbles, but nobody hurt Mr. Bubbles.
She was going to sit up here on Mr. Bubbles's shoulders and cheer him on while he got rid of those unpleasant people. Then they could go find more angels!!!
Jono
Jonothon, rounding the corner, found himself face-to-face with a scene of absolute chaos. The man in the suit, with the small girl perched on his shoulders, sending the kids he'd come down her for fighting for all they were worth, struggling and scrambling and hurting for it every step of the way.
It was just, there was one particular thing about the scene before them that struck him as wrong almost immediately.
//You're fighting a man with a child on his shoulders,// he said, incredulously. //With a child on his shoulders! We need to get her away from him if any of us are going to be able to hit him with anything that counts!//
He knew that he, for one, wasn't going to throw fire at a little girl.
Anders
Anders paused his attack to consider the problem, then, definitively: "I can knock her down,but I can't guarantee she'll land somewhere safe."
Stonefist was kind of a rotten spell,that way.
"Anyone else have anything?"
Eleanor
"I can get her off him, but it won't help," Eleanor said, shaking her head. "Even if I teleport in and out again, he'll just bash my face in and swipe her back. It only buys us a few seconds."
Jono
//Then we make those few seconds count,// Jono replied, firmly. //All of us, going in at once. It makes no bloody sense to take turns, does it?//
Not when Daddy there was actively trying to kill them all.
Celia
"I could try to...lift her," Celia offered, eyes trained on the Big Daddy, "but there's hardly any guarantee he won't just grab her as I do so."
She was fading, she knew it, and her precision wasn't what it usually was. She needed to heal herself and soon, or she was going to become a liability.
"I think you're our best bet, Eleanor. Get her out of there, and we'll hit him with everything we have left."
It would have to work. It was their only option.
Eleanor
Eleanor wished she had an objection. It was the best plan available, and it just might save their lives.
Finally, she nodded.
"Do it fast," she said. "He'll charge the instant he knows she's gone. They're big, but they can move."
And if they did it fast, he wouldn't suffer.
"Ready?"
Jono
//As we'll ever be.//
Jonothon planted his feet squarely underneath him, squared his shoulders, and gave a firm nod.
He'd leveled an entire dormitory building with his flames once, by accident. He'd vaporized a sorceress and sent her flying fortress crashing to the ground. The children - competent as they were, they were still children - around him were hurting and tired, they weren't even certain if one of them was still alive.
They'd fought hard and they'd fought well. Now Jono was here too, and he fully intended to help the few still standing make this one count.
Anders
"Me too," Anders chimed in, though he didn't quite look it -- he'd been pushing himself hard, and he was tired.
He rummaged in his bag for a vial of mana and drained it in one quick swallow. "There. Good as new."
Celia
Celia just nodded, shoving a sweaty curl off her forehead. "I'm ready."
She wasn't exactly sure of her plan of attack, yet -- she was ignoring the screaming in her arm, and trying to focus as hard as she could on the Big Daddy. Maybe she could hold him still for the others, at least.
As often as Celia was upset, and angry, and kept her emotions at bay to prevent destruction, just now she thought that tapping into that pain and anger and terror might actually help things more than hinder them. Otherwise, she wasn't sure how she was going to get through this.
Eleanor
"Now," Eleanor called. There was a flicker of purple smoke, and then a corresponding one appeared over the Big Daddy's shoulders as she re-materialized, in mid-air.
She lunged at the girl, pulling her in against her own torso, and just as quickly, the smoke flashed again, and she was gone.
She reappeared behind the line of attack, with the Little Sister crushed tightly against her rib cage. She was kicking, screaming, fighting, so Eleanor used all her strength to hold the girl still.
She was going to squeeze until she was sure it was over, tightly enough that the girl couldn't turn her head. She wasn't worried about smothering -- Little Sisters hardly needed oxygen -- or about cracking ribs, for either of them. They'd both heal soon enough.
But the girl had seen enough horrors for ten lifetimes. Eleanor would be damned if she was going to watch her protector die.
Jono
//Alright, folks. Don't hold back- it's do or bloody die!//
For Eleanor's benefit, because he could tell the toll that this whole thing was taking on her just at a glance, he kept that announcement between himself and the last two fighters standing, all while letting loose with a blast from his chest, no-holds-barred.
Much like the splicers, it was almost easier if he convinced himself that he was doing this man a favour.
But in the end, what it boiled down to was that he hurt his students.
Anders
Anders' back stiffened and he raised his staff high. Some sort of wild excitement ran through him: He wasn't Anders right then, not entirely.He was magic and anger and,by god, he was going to save that little girl and Eleanor or die knowing he'd done his best.
Professor Starsmore already had an energy blast going,so Anders added to it with a rain of fire localized to fall exactly on the Big Daddy.
Celia
Celia's eyes shut, but she still saw. The agony of her arm -- and the sheer terror and frustration fueling her -- kept her magic awareness acute, eager. She concentrated all her energy on the Big Daddy, on holding him still and pressing in hard against all that metal -- she wanted to just hold him still, but if she managed to dent his armor, she wouldn't be displeased.
She heard glass break, somewhere far away. Then another shattering, a bit closer. They'd be lucky if there was a window left nearby by the time they were done -- and Celia vaguely hoped nothing watertight was close enough to be at risk.
She couldn't let herself think about that, now.
Big Daddy
The Big Daddy roared, bracing himself against the onslaught. These people had taken his Little Sister. He wouldn't rest until he'd pounded each and every one of them until they died in the most painful way possible!
...Once he'd weathered this attack, that was.
His diving suit -- his armor, his skin -- crunched inward, denting and squeezing him, at the same time that it was melting away in front. A ball of flame from the firestorm pierced one of his portholes, landing on his shoulder. The roar changed from anger to agony and confusion, and he backed away one step, then two... and then the roar died away.
It was impossible to say what had killed him -- the smoking hole where his midsection had been, the blood seeping from his crushed and useless joints, or the charred holes and craters in the top of the suit, through which his anguished face was briefly visible before the flames burned it away.
The lifeless metal husk toppled over.
Eleanor
Eleanor was still holding the Little Sister tightly as she dropped to her knees. It had been necessary -- he wouldn't stop -- but oh, she felt sick to the very pit of her stomach, for the life they'd just ended.
The screaming child clutched in her arms only made things worse.
When she was sure it was over, she let the girl pull free, drawing a few ragged breaths to steady herself. She choked on a sob, for him, for her, for Rapture, for the monstrous child now crying over the corpse.
Only a moment. And then, she was dragging herself over to Raven. Please be okay.
Raven
Raven lay where she'd landed on the floor, bleeding from the drill wound just under her ribs on her right side. On a normal human, that'd mean a perforated liver. For Raven, because she'd reacted in time, it was a flesh wound.
She shifted slightly and groaned, coming around. That . . . really hurt.
Eleanor
"Ohthankhellyou'realive," Eleanor breathed, all in one syllable. "Can you move? Are you -- stay still and I'll get someone."
Raven
Wait, was she supposed to move or stay still? Raven groaned again and looked around, for a minute not sure where they were or what was going on.
Right. Rapture. The fucking drill guy. Eleanor and the little --
She tried to sit up and ended up curling into a ball instead. "Is she okay?" she gasped. "Did we win?"
Eleanor
"She's fine," Eleanor promised. "She's -- as fine as she can be. He's -- he's down."
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to wince at that. Her friends had seen the man as a brute, one who had nearly maimed them all. She could hardly expect them to mourn his passing.
"I'm so sorry," she added. "I didn't mean for -- I -- I knew this was a terrible idea."
Raven
Raven frowned at her, not quite processing what she was saying for a few moments, and then at a loss for how to answer.
What would Charles say?
"If we get Grace out of here," she finally gasped. "If we save just one more person from this place . . . I'm okay with your terrible idea."
Anders
"Should I heal you?" Anders asked, fluttering about. He liked healing after a fight; it gave him something to do, something to focus on beyond the heartbreak of it all. At the same time, he didn't feel confident enough about Raven's physiology to just barge in and start throwing spirit healing at her without at least checking in first.
Besides, it would be rude.
Raven
"You can do that?" Raven asked. Forgive her, she just got a rather large bump on the head. She shifted, then winced and nodded, her "yes, please," coming out a little gaspy.
Anders
"I can at least try," Anders said, and went into his rucksack for a vial of potion to press into Raven's hand. "Here. Swallow this. Elfroot won't heal you all the way, but it should get things started."
And then he shifted his position, raising his hands above Raven's wounds and concentrating to draw in healing energy. Globes of light formed between his hands and her side. He couldn't be sure how much help he was, but it looked like something was happening.
Raven
Raven gulped it down as quickly as she could while still trying to catch her breath. It got easier quickly once Anders got his magic going.
She watched, fascinated. She could feel her muscles shifting, for once without her ordering them to, as they knit back together.
"That's amazing," she said, clearly feeling better already.
Anders
Anders, relieved and flattered, smiled at her in a way that made him look about eight years old.
"I like doing it," he said. "It's a much better use for magic than trying to kill things."
Raven
"Both seem pretty useful to me," Raven said, sitting up gingerly mostly out of the memory of pain. She touched her side again, then shifted back into her blonde form. "I just wish I'd been better at taking that thing on so you wouldn't have to do either."
Anders
"And I wish I were a strong enough mage to take him down without help," Anders said. "Maybe someday..."
It didn't occur to him that someday they might have a world where they wouldn't have to fight at all.
He sent one more wave of healing energy toward her, then sat back on his heels. "There. How's that feel?"
Raven
Raven nodded again and managed a little smile. "I'm good." She could shift, and she could move, and right now, that was all she needed, but she was pretty sure she really was fine now. "Bet it won't even scar."
Little Sister
The Little Sister finally fought free and ran to Mr. Bubbles's side. He wasn't getting up! Why wasn't he getting up?!
No matter how hard she cried, no matter how many times she pleaded, Mr. Bubbles wouldn't move.
Jono
Ah, yes. This was what it felt like when a heart that wasn't really there decided to up and break anyway.
Jonothon looked toward Raven and Eleanor for a moment, and, remembering the myriad of means they had among them to heal an injury, decided to give them their space, lest he crowd the girl in.
Which meant that he was left here, watching a small child cry over what she believed to be her father. Was she really so monstrous? Jonothon was hardly in any position to judge. She was hurting, though, and he'd been a party to that hurt.
He didn't say a word, simply made his way over to the girl and crouched down by her side. He could hardly leave the child alone here, after all, and she deserved a chance to mourn.
Eleanor
Eleanor glanced up from Raven's side, wishing she could somehow stop those piteous sobs coming from the little girl.
Of course, she -- she could always --
It was invasive, it was manipulative, it was changing around the girl's brain waves yet again. But she'd been twisted around so many times already. One last nudge wouldn't hurt. Especially not for a good cause.
"Mr. Bubbles is all right," Eleanor called out, from where she sat on the ground. She focused all her energy on believing it: wrapping up all of her feelings towards Delta, and the men in the large diving suits, and transferring them to her boss. She had to almost convince herself of it if this was going to work.
It was fluid enough, like that. Jono had come down here just to keep them all safe. Jono had torn through that smashed walkway like Hell itself was on its heels. Easy enough to imagine him another faceless protector.
"He's right behind you. See?"
Jono would have to forgive her. But they all had a great deal to forgive her, by now. One more sin would hardly count for much.
Little Sister
The early subjects had been forcibly pair bonded. Eleanor and Delta had believed themselves to be father and daughter. This had proved disastrous when casualties had happened, and casualties had been frequent.
So the plan had been changed. Later girls were still bonded to the protectors, but only in general. Each protector was her Daddy, her brave Mr. Bubbles -- but that meant every protector was Mr. Bubbles. The girls could not distinguish between them, and in fact believed all Mr. Bubbles to be the same benevolent father.
Eleanor's blood was in the little girl's veins, and that meant Eleanor could change the girl's mind. Quite literally. Could even make her think that this man standing next to her, who didn't have any of the proper pheromones ...
The girl stopped crying, abruptly, and looked up at Jono hopefully.
"Mr. Bubbles?"
Jono
Jonothon's reply was an initial wave of confusion, sent rippling outward in every single direction except toward the little girl. A word from Eleanor, an insinuation, a prompt, and then all mourning was gone...
The sick lurch of realization came next, though that was for Jono to feel and nobody else. He'd lived inside a mind that was so open to suggestion that a few words and a nod were enough to make him commit atrocities that he'd never forgive himself for. He'd been Weapon X's toy before.
He knew all too well what this was.
He didn't confirm Eleanor's statement, and he didn't deny it. He didn't have the heart to. He simply reached out his hand toward the girl, his flames flickering down to a calm, tame shade of blue.
//I'm here for you, luv. I wouldn't leave you alone, here.//
Little Sister
"Mr. Bubbles," the girl said again, this time in an enraptured tone. He was here! He was here, and they could be together. He would keep her safe.
She extended her arms upwards. Could she ride up on his shoulders? It was her favorite place in the world.
Jono
Every now and again, it was both a blessing and a curse that Jono was actually physically incapable of being sick. This was one of those moments, looking down at the girl who was holding her arms up toward him, asking to be picked up.
He did so, of course, and he couldn't help but pull her into a careful hug, to hold her close for a moment in a wordless apology she couldn't possibly understand before he finally loosened his grip and arranged her up on his shoulders.
Nothing about any of this was okay.
Joker
"Ow," Joker commented. "That's just... oh, fuck, what did they do to these kids?"
Joker
Joker did NOT like the look of some of the readings coming back from the away team. "Shit. Shit shit shit. Sound off for me, guys. Everyone's still alive, I can tell that much, but... you all in one piece? No one's missing any important bits?"
Celia
"I'm missing an elbow," Celia offered faintly. She had slumped to the ground in a small, quiet heap as soon as they'd won -- it was hard to think of it that way, over the little girl's cries -- and was clutching her injured arm in her opposite hand. She closed her eyes, working through the pain, past the pain, to find the shards of bone and to mimic the blood she'd lost. "But not for long. I think we're all right."
Raven, she could tell, was moving, and that seemed to be the most dire of injuries amongst them. Celia couldn't spend much energy fretting about a smashed arm when Raven had gotten stabbed through the side, after all.
Jono
//All the same bits I started with appear to be in working order,// Jono reported, though he seemed somewhat distracted as he checked in. //Picked up a passenger along the way.//
And everything about her was breaking his heart. Who the hell had authorized that, anyhow?
Anders
"All my bits are present and accounted for," Anders said grimly. He was dirty, and his head spun from overexertion, but those things would pass soon enough. "And I don't see anything on anyone else that I can't heal, thank the maker."
Eleanor
"And thank you," Eleanor added, softly. She didn't have much use for prayer, but it sounded reverent nonetheless. "If any of us were hurt beyond healing ..."
It was so bloody selfish, bringing them here. She hadn't realized how much until she saw the carnage around her.
Celia
"Thank you for doing that," Celia said quietly, clutching her elbow. The pain was beginning to fade, slowly, as things shifted back into place. "I can't heal others, just me." And she felt plenty guilty about that, though she knew it had no place here, now. "Is there anything I can do to help the process, magically or otherwise? Are your supplies all right?"
Maybe she could conjure something, if she was given enough time with it. Anything to feel less useless, just now.
Anders
"I'm not sure," Anders said honestly, and gave it some thought. Celia's magic was amazing, but very different from his. "Maybe. If you make a copy of something, does it work as well as the real thing? I'd feel better if I had more spare potions."
Celia
Celia nodded. "I can't promise they'll be as potent, just because it's unfamiliar," she said, looking a bit hesitant. "But if you let me look at them for a minute, I should be able to replicate it fairly well."
And for this, she would devote a little bit of her mind to keeping it in the world.
Anders
"Bless you," Anders said, and fished a vial of mana and one of a healing potion out of his bag to give Celia. "The blue one is mana to keep me on my feet. The red one's just a general health potion. Mostly elfroot with a few bits and bobs of other things."
Celia
She took both vials, settling down into a cross-legged seat. Her elbow was still knitting itself back together, absently and without much attention from her -- she'd crossed the line from a dire injury into something much more familiar -- and Celia instead devoted her magic to the potions.
"They're not going to hurt me or anything if I sample them?" she checked with a little smile, glass already rounding in her palm as she replicated one of the vials. "Otherwise we're going to risk it being chemically correct but probably tasting funny."
Anders
"I've never seen them hurt anyone," Anders assured her. "Mana is a bit of a rush for me if I take it when I don't need it, but no worse than coffee. And a sip to get the taste right shouldn't do anything to you."
He watched the vials form in Celia's hand, fascinated and a bit jealous.
Celia
Celia lightly dipped her finger into one of the potions, tilting her head as she tasted it. "I wish we had something as tangible and easy as this," she said, offering Anders a small smile. "I'd never used potions like this until I came to the island, but they're damned useful. All I can do when I need a boost, usually, is take a nap."
And there hadn't exactly been opportunity for that, here.
Anders
"And Rapture isn't the kind of place that encourages naps," Anders said, with a faint shudder. "I love the potions. I don't know how I'd get through fights like this without them. Probably focus on healing and let the rest of you handle the splicers, I suppose."
Celia
"And that wouldn't do," Celia replied, setting aside her conjured vial and drawing together a second. "We need your firepower. Literally. All I'm good for is conjuring stuff and flirting with the dregs of society."
She was going to feel gross about that for awhile, yes. She finished the second vial, narrowing her eyes as she began to fill one with liquid, carefully mimicking what he'd given her.
Anders
Anders snorted. "Given none of the rest of us came up with a better idea than threatening him with death, I'd say conjuring and flirting were about what was called for," he said. "Do you still have the necklace?"
Celia
"It's gone by now," Celia said, shaking her head. "He's going to be quite irritated if we happen to come across him again."
Oh well.
"I wouldn't have been able to manage it without you distracting him, though, so thank you for that," she added, smiling. "You threatening to burn the whole place down gave me time to make the necklace."
Anders
"You know, I was almost angry enough to do it," Anders confessed. "I'm still not completely convinced it wouldn't be an improvement to wipe Rapture off the maps."
Eleanor
Eleanor drew a very shaky breath before finally admitting out loud what she'd noticed a few minutes ago.
"I'm hurt," she said. "Worse than I'd wanted to admit. I'm burning too much energy healing to do anything else. I'm no good to anyone like this. I need ..."
Bloody hell, she wasn't really considering this, was she? There were so few good options, here. If Anders were to heal her, that would drain most of his abilities, and still leave her weak and vulnerable. She was running on fumes.
But this meant never looking any of her friends in the eyes again. They'd followed her into Rapture, without hesitation. Maybe they were beginning to see that that had been a mistake.
No more pretenses. Time to show them exactly what sort of freak she was.
"I need to find an angel."
Joker
"You need a what?" Joker asked. "What does that even..."
Vague and scattered bits of things Eleanor had told him suddenly coalesced into clarity. "...Yeah, okay," he told her. "You do that." No judgment. This was just what was happening now.
Raven
Raven was sitting up now, still leaning against the wall, not quite sure if she wanted to try standing up just yet.
"That's something horrifying, isn't it," she said. "Angels around here must come with bat wings made of human skin or something."
Jono
Something told Jono that it was probably something worse than that.
//If that's what Eleanor needs, I suppose there's nothing else to be done about it.// He gave a little bounce on his toes, unconsciously trying to keep the little girl on his shoulders entertained. //What do we need to do in order to find one, then?//
Little Sister
"I can find angels!" the little girl chirped, excitedly. She was already squirming her way down from Jono's shoulders. "Big Sister needs an angel to kiss!"
Once her bare feet touched the ground, the girl's head was already tilted up. She sniffed the air like a bloodhound, eyes closed to help her look.
Her eyes flew open again with a bright smile. "Found one, I found one! This way, this way!!!"
She tugged excitedly on Jono's hand, already growing impatient with how slow Mr. Bubbles was.
(Rapture Post #5! Preplayed with the always-lovely fly_so_serious, furnaceface, notaweenie, not_every_mage and pasunereveuse, and with more NPCing from Noah!
Warning for violence, offscreen medical experimentation, mind control, and all the usual creepiness.)