Two hours of nonstop love making later, I walked through the castle and wondered where Joy was. ”Yo Joy, where are you?” I mentally ask him.
”Having a...nice enough date with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Joy mentally tells me.
”Okay where in this giant ass castle?” I mentally groan, wanting to find them soon and tell Sweetie about her new nephew.
”At the apple farm.” Joy mentally tells me.
”Alright, I’ll be there real quick.” I mentally tell him before opening one of the many big windows and summoning my glider, speeding off towards the farm to see how Joy and the girls are doing. After about five minutes I flew over to the Apple farm and saw the CMC’s tree house. “There we are.” I say before landing a few feet from the actual ramp leading up to the tree house. “Hello?” I call out, not wanting to barge in there.
The door opened and I saw Applebloom open the door. “Hi Ben.” She said with a smile.
“Hello Apple Bloom. How are all of you doing?” I ask, getting off my glider. “Hope Joy’s been nice to you all.”
“Hehe. He's been good. We've been playing house for practice.”
“Practice?” I ask with a cheeky grin.
“I heard that!” Joy barks from inside the tree house.
“We also took that future tellen eight ball and have been seeing what’s in store. Hehe. So far a fun future.”
“What kind of ‘fun future’?” I ask with a smile.
“Well in terms of a house we get a whole planet like his pa, and in terms of kids…that just said ‘incalculable’.”
“AB!” Joy calls out in shock, making me bend over laughing hysterically.
“We also asked about you. Said the same thing.”
“Oh dear.” I chuckle. “I’m sure all of them will be happy at least...hey Sweetie! You got a nephew!”
There was a high pitched squeal of joy as I looked inside the tree house. Sweetie squeezing Joy like crazy. I also noticed Jenny in the back corner of the club house.
“Halp!” Joy groans. “Can’t...breath…” He says, trying to get some air.
“Alright Sweetie, don’t squeeze Joy too much.” I chuckle. “Anyways, how have you all been?” I ask, seeing Scootaloo grinning at Joy’s predicament.
“Good so far. Just figuring some things out.” Scoots said.
“Alright.” I nod. “Jenny? I suppose you’re enjoying Joy’s ‘torture’?” I ask, knowing she enjoys me and Joy being either embarrassed to hell or in pain.
“It's cute I can't lie. Never knew a boy could blush that much.” She replied.
“Glad to hear that.” I nod. “Anyways, I just finished mastering my weapon, and considering you have free time want to head off and go have fun?” I ask my daughter, hoping she’ll just allow some father daughter bonding at least once.
“Sure. Scoots, you're head wife while I am gone.”
“Yes!” Scootaloo cheered.
“Lead the way.” Jenny said to me.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Joy asks worriedly.
“Apparently not.” I say before summoning Reunion and spawning a DTL to the world Ramilua told me about. “You’ll get up there don’t worry.” I say while moving out of the way and letting Jenny go in the DTL first.
We both went in and once there we were met with a pile of mangled corpses. “Reminds me of my dentists attic.” Jenny said.
“Your dentist was a serial killer?” I ask with a frown.
“No, just disposed of bodies we needed gone.” Jenny replied as she walked over to the corpses and took off a revolver from one of them and ammo from the rest. “So which way?”
I summoned Frozen Pride and Graceful Dahlia. “Let’s see now…” I mutter, looking around to wherever we should go. “This way.” I say, starting to walk in a random direction.
Jenny followed and no sooner we turned the corner I was tacked to the ground where a hook that was EMBEDDED into a person's arm to replace the hand was at my neck. “Hello little fish-”
Bang.
The person's head exploded as Jenny blew a hole through his head with her new revolver. “So what we learn?”
“This place is filled with crazy people?” I ask curiously, getting up and brushing the blood off of me.
“That…and remember to look up.” Jenny pointed up, when I looked up I saw two more of those crazies crawling on the ceiling.
“That’s creepy.” I say while switching my scythe to one of my Gun Arrows. I raised my gun up and shot two arrows at them, both piercing through their heads with ease...which blew up their heads in the same instance. “Okay then...that’s nice.”
“Wonder what else is here.” Jenny muttered as she walked off.
“Probably mutants, monsters, more crazy people, and a lone man who’s trying to figure out how the fuck all this happened.” I say with a shrug. “But...how much do you hate me and Joy? I don’t know if how your acting is just because your a Ventral...or because you hate us a fuck ton.”
“Joy, I am just messing with honestly. You…I want to drop dead.”
“I know…” I nod. “But remember...if you ever need me, no matter how much you wish I was dead...I’ll always be here for you.” I tell her.
“Whatever.” She replies. Opening a large metal door leading into a glass hallway with a view of the underwater city and ocean around it.
“Oh...well this is new.” I state, still on my guard even though I was seeing that an entire city was built in the middle of the ocean.
Entering the next building we were met with a crying, pale skinned little girl standing next to some kinda armored tank person. They had a drill attached to one arm.
“Oh…” I mutter to myself, not liking how this might go.
“Well that's creepy.”
“Hey at least it’s not ‘Silent Hill’ creepy.” I whisper, gently moving away from the pale girl and the tank like being.
“Wuss.” Jenny said, firing a shot at the tank like being and it turned red and roared in rage, charging at Jenny, who went full wolf and slashed at the being, it's head falling off and it's body falling over. “Well that was just too easy…”
“That only makes it more worrying…” I say with a frown, looking over at the girl that was doing nothing right now. ”I have a bad feeling about this…” I think to myself. Jenny walked over to the girl, and put her revolver to the back of the girls head, I reacted and pushed Jenny down. “The fuck Jenny!?” I bark.
“What? She's not gonna survive a place like this anyway.”
“That’s why we’ll save her.” I say bluntly. “There’s obviously something wrong with her besides having a giant tank of a being with her...I don’t know much about this world but I already have a feeling these girls were heavily drugged with something…”
“So what's the matter with killing a druggie?”
“Besides the fact that a little girl was probably tested on without her being able to do anything?” I point out. “She’s not a monster, she’s probably a tortured soul that needs help…” I say before opening up my Assistant and checking what the hell this world actually is and who the girl was.
“Waste of time in my opinion.”
“Your a Ventral, anything that involves ‘sparing a life’ is a waste of time to you all.” I frown.
“Just like relying on loved ones is too much trouble for you?”
“I don’t want them to get hurt in my own damned problems.” I say bitterly.
“They are your family, your problems and dangers are theirs now the second you started dating them.”
“I know that...and I’m trying my best to let them know my problems.” I sigh out, seeing the title ‘Bioshock’ show on my Assistant. “And you’re now my daughter...and I want to help you be better than just a person that’s made for killing.” I say with a frown.
“Some father…takes a person with a sicker mind than Core’s to kill a mother and then raise their child.”
“Yet Nancy said she had no one left.” I say. “She said, in her own words, that the Ventrals become ‘demons’ when they don’t have anyone left for them. If you were Nancy’s daughter...then why did she think she had no one left in her life?” I ask, my mind now starting to think of many possibilities of why she would do such a thing.
Jenny growled. “Shut up.” She warned.
“I wanted to have a father daughter day, and I thought that killing stuff, preferably monsters or crazy people like the ones we just encountered, would help you relax and try and ‘open up’...” I start, before I raised my head and got a serious confused look. “Wait...Jenny, have you ever had a ‘killing mood’ before?” I ask, finding that sudden thought really weird for some reason.
“Duh. Tokyo four years back. Was an accident but hey…there went an anime convention. Surprised they never released the security footage.”
“That’s...even weirder now that I think about it.” I frown. “You’re a Ventral by blood yes...yet…” I start, before shaking my head. “This is getting more and more confusing the more I think about it. You have killing moods yes...but...why did she say all that?” I ask worriedly, scratching my head in confusion as more questions arose in my mind and leading to maybe an answer. “Cripe...you're probably not going to like what I’m thinking about.” I shake my head.
“What? That my dad screwed another woman and she gave birth to me. I've known…”
“How long?” I ask, hiding my anger from Jenny as I heard what she said.
“Since I was five. Dad got drunk at a friends party and got too flirty with a striper. A year later same stripper finds dad and drops me off at his hideout at the time. M…Nancy raised me like a daughter but she only ever saw me as a friend. She did mess up dad bigtime for that but I still saw her like a mom. She was all I had after all, my birth mother left me.”
I listened carefully, and I clenched my fists in anger and bitterness. “Wow…” I start. “Your fathers a prick, Nancy should have thought about you before making her decision…” I growl, raising my gun arrow towards a corner of the room and firing it, the sound of a head exploding filled the room and a body hit the floor. “You hate me for killing Nancy, that’s fine...but how in the wide world of hell she didn’t think of you as her own daughter is….kind of beyond me at this point.”
“Simple. I’m a bastard. A child born from drunken unfaithfulness. She looked at me and cared, but remembered dad's mistake and could look no further. After all, what if Luna, or Twilight, even if they were drunk screwed another and was carrying their child. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me is you did raise them that every time you saw that child you would not see that mistake, that moment of hate and feeling of betrayal?”
I stared Jenny right in the eyes. “I would not see a moment of hate, or a feeling of betrayal. I would be pissed at the person that would even dare try to do such a thing to my wives most definitely, but the children wouldn’t be at fault. I would never take out my own anger on innocent children who were born because of a mistake.” I say with a frown. “And besides...I’ve told myself I was a mistake several times, thinking I was nothing more than a giant waste of space, a murderer who killed his parents just for not listening to them in once in his god forsaken life.” I growl. “But here’s the thing, we both have a second chance to live a life that is filled with love, joy, and happiness with those that care about us. I have my wives, Dinky, Joy, and my new family, and you have your new family that see’s you as nothing less than a girl that needs love, care, and help.” I explain seriously, hoping my words could get through to her. “You agreed to be my daughter, and I want you to know that, no matter what you did in the past, you're getting a second chance to enjoy a life of being a daughter, not a ‘friend’, not a ‘mistake’, but as an actual daughter that your parents love and cherish. Alright?”
Jenny didn't reply. Verbally. Rather, to my shock, she hugged me, crying loudly as she squeezed tighter. I disbanded my weapons and picked her up and hugged her, closing my eyes as tears formed at the corners of my eyes as I just hugged Jenny. “It’s alright...daddy’s here…” I whisper with care, just staying there and hugging the crying child.
Something poked my back. When I looked around it was that pale girl, who had glowing yellow/white eyes. She looked confused. “Daddy?” She asked.
I smiled gently and patted her head. “Daddy’s here.” I say with a smile, having looked for what these girls are and wanting to help her out. “I’ll be your daddy if you want.”
She nodded, jumping on my back making me give her a piggy back ride. “Go see mama!” The girl said.
“Onwards to mama.” I smile, heading off to find the pale girls mama. “Now...where’s your mama again?” I ask the pale girl, still holding Jenny gently.
She jumped off and lead the way. We walked for a great while before we came to a door with a smaller door that she crawled through and after a bit it opened and behind it was a woman dressed in a fancy dress… pointing a shotgun at me. “Why has my little one brought you here?” She asked.
“She wanted me to see her mama.” I say, motioning to the little girl. “I want to help.”
She looked at the little girl than at Jenny. “You are not from Rapture, this much is clear. What brings…people… like you here.”
“I originally brought my daughter here for some murdering monsters and crazy people...then we both had a heart to heart…” I say, still holding Jenny gently in my arms. “And it all started with helping that poor girl and whoever else might have been stuck like that.” I explain.
“The fact you are not dead yet makes you a good sign for aid. Rapture has fallen thanks to its founder, Andrew Ryan. He founded a city without morals so those who flocked here when it opened, it went south from their thanks to eve and plasmids. My little ones are injected with a unique sea slug that produces this eve, they are like a safe with gold that every splicer in the city will kill to get every last drop of eve they can.”
“And I suppose those giant tank things with drill arms are meant to be unstoppable bodyguards?” I ask curiously.
“Big Daddy’s. Yes, they protect any and every Little Sister. They are genetically bound and bonded to their Little Sister, and will die for them. The people they once were are either long gone or trapped by genetic tampering and mind alteration.”
“Huh...that’s something.” I say with a frown. “So, you want me and my daughter to help save all the Little Sisters before they become bloody shakes for crazy people? And maybe kill Andrew Douche Monger in the meantime?” I ask, already wanting to kill the bastard that’s responsible for all of this.
“Killing Ryan is top priority, and beware of a man who goes by Atlas. He has been trying to kill Ryan for years and used Gorilla warfare to do it. He claims to be just but I don't trust him. Save any Little Sister you come across on your path to Ryan, to save every Little Sister in Rapture is a pipe dream given the city's size and the splicers.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve done the impossible.” I chuckle. “Jenny?” I whisper to the girl in my arms, wondering if she is asleep or not.
“Call Trinity.” She mumbled. “That crazy girl can get the Little Sisters easy.”
“Alright.” I nod, gently nuzzling the top of Jenny’s head before using my Assistant to call for Trinity.
“Sup bro!” Trinity's voice yelled behind me before I even sent the message. I jumped from shock.
“Gah!” I yelp, still holding Jenny in my arms thankfully. “Jeez, can I stop getting spooked here?” I grumble. “Anyways, can we get some help? Little Sisters need saving.”
“Ah. Gotcha. So once I get them where do I put them? Your house or our parents house?”
“Are you gonna cure them of...whatever the hell this is?” I ask the woman who called them ‘my little ones’.
“I can remove the excess eve yes, will only take few moments per little one.” She gave an example by patting the Little Sister that led me here, a white light went from her hand to the girl as the girl began to glow. In a flash, the child was no longer pale and her eyes were a deep green. She gave the woman a curtsy and ran over to me. “She likes you. Good. You are better than those Big Daddies. I shall look over these two and cure little ones. You deal with Ryan.”
“Right.” I nod. “Ready to kill a madman who thinks he’s god Jenny?” I ask with a smile, hoping to have a happy time with murdering crazy people.
“Next world dad...I need to calm down a bit still.” Jenny said as she jumping out of my grip and and sat on the floor, the newly cured Little Sister joining her.
“Alright.” I smile, glad to hear her call me ‘dad’. “Well I’ll be off. Question, where’s Atlas and or Ryan right now or do you have no clue?”
“Ryan is likely still in his office, a control room for all of Rapture and Atlas, not sure, all I can say for certain is that he has access to a lot of Eve. So he actually might be in the same place as Ryan, just in a different area. There is an Eve bank where little sisters used to store the excess eve they gather, but after the fall it was drained by splicers.”
I crack my knuckles and ready both Frozen Pride and Graceful Dahlia. “Well this is gonna be fun. Got any directions or a map I can use so I don’t run around in circles?”
“There is a tram three floors below. It can take you to a building that connects to the one with Ryan's office. He likely barricaded himself in and has all security active. And splicer bodyguards everywhere. Unless you know how to fly it's impossible to use the trash shoots.”
“I can fly...three different ways.” I chuckle, starting to float in mid air just for funzies. “So, three floors down is where the tram is, and I use the trash shoots to get their quickly and without much of a problem with guards or security?” I ask curiously, stepping down from my little floating.
“Alright…but hurry. The longer you stand or float here the more time Ryan and Atlas have to make things worse.”
“Right.” I nod, before rushing off to quickly find my the trash chute and then to the tram. I checked my Assistant and thankfully it gave me a very detailed map of the place.
Splicers came in swarms to stop me but a slice of my scythe cut them all down. I finally found the trash suit and used my arrow guns to teleport up in a blink up. Once at the top and out I saw the well dressed man of the city stand behinding a thick glass wall. “Clearly not Atlas.” He said, not even looking up from his book he was reading at his desk. “Come for entertainment?”
“If by hearing you scream like those that have been tortured in this damned city then yes.” I nod. “Do you fear death?” I ask, summoning Graceful Dahlia and and gently twirling it.
He looked at my scythe and then back to his book. He raised one hand…and the Star Seeker Keyblade appeared. “I've seen much, so the effect is lost on me.”
“Okay...how?” I ask with a frown.
“My great grandfather was one of the few selected to escape and keep the light of worlds alive from the Keyblade war. This keyblade is his. Passed down the family since his death.”
“Okay...so you’re the great grandson of a man that wanted to keep the Light alive...and I suppose you decided ‘fuck it’ and made this hell hole?” I ask curiously.
“I made a utopia to escape the norms and rules of government and the way the world works. Here, there are no gods or kings, only man. A man built this city and it was man that destroyed it.”
“Now while your ‘utopia’ sounds nice on paper, you obviously can tell that in practice it sucks total balls.” I frown.
“Not how I would have put it exactly, but yes. The city was meant to be self run by all who live here. If man was given true reign over their lives in a place where consequences are not delivered by an authority but by people, what does that say about man.” Ryan disbanded his keyblade and put his book down. “Man is dark, when handed paradise where the only rule was to keep it self sustaining they chose to abuse the gifts I gave and created their utopia, hell or heaven, I built the temple and man decided to ruin it.”
“That is true.” I nod, disbanding my scythe. “But if memory serves, a single part of a utopia is supposed to have a figure head set the example. Kind of like God in the whole ‘Garden of Eden’ story. Now sure, there were only two people, but he gave them a simple task to follow and that’s about it...but temptation got the better of them since they didn’t have an example to follow.” I explain. “Examples can make or break a lot of things, stories and video games proved that enough.”
“Men choose, and slaves obey. The few that chose led the slaves into the city we see now. Funny enough, why are we split as a species. Half are followers, less are leaders, and the rest are selfish. Undecided. I built a city to prove the nature of man wrong, yet when given true freedom only a handful stayed men while the rest became slaves.”
“Sadly that’s just how people are.” I shrug. “People are either complacent, unsure about what to do when they actually get a say in things, or stuff like that.” I say honestly.
“So mind if I ask, who sent you?”
“I won’t tell you, but I suppose whoever sent me wanted to kill you on the basis that you caused all of this? Whether it be the hell hole that people made it into, or the entire ‘everyone’s fucking grotesque monstrosities’, frankly I don’t know...but I’d think it’s more ‘people are grotesque monstrosities’ in my personal opinion.” I explain.
“Very well. But now, here is a choice for you.” Ryan pushed a button on his desk, a door opening and letting me walk in. I walked in and in one hand Ryan held a loaded revolver’s grip to me. “Are you a slave?” He pulled out his other hand, which held a key card of sorts in it. “Or a man?”
“What does the Key Card do?” I ask curiously. “I’d rather have all the facts before choosing. Being a man doesn’t mean ‘be an idiot’.”
“The card unlocks my personal chambers be a man and take what you find inside far from here so Atlas never finds it, or take the revolver, kill me, and what you find in my chamber.”
“Honestly...you never looked like a guy that would cause all this death and destruction for shits and giggles.” I say while taking the card. “You look like a man that hoped for the best...but just didn’t quite get the last number on the equation as it were.”
He nodded. “Take a left down the hall to your right.”
“Thank you.” I nod. “Stay safe Ryan...and hopefully if you ever try to make your ideal utopia again you don’t find weird magical shit. I mean seriously, who the hell finds a weird needle filled with ‘summon bee’s from arm’?” I ask, just finding that little thing weird as fuck.
“Not all plasmids are pure science. I did world travel in my youth.”
“World traveling is nice, and when you find things that are any kinds of magical, science is proudly pushed off a cliff in a burning truck.” I chuckle. “Well, I’ll grab some things and then proceed to murder Atlas, cause he sounds like a prick.” I say. “Unless you have a warning about the bastard.”
“Just that we have a past and he was not always called Atlas.”
“Father?” I ask bluntly, having a rather good feeling that cliche is here.
“Friend. Now go to the chambers, then come back here before leaving.”
“Right.” I nod before heading off to find the specific chambers, summoning Frozen Pride and Graceful Dahlia just incase there was some trickery here. After following his directions I entered the specific chambers Ryan told me.
It was like a luxury mansion, tall roof and large rooms, all decorated fancy. I walked around for a bit and after that bit of walking I ran into a small child. “Who are you?” He asked.
“Oh, hello.” I say. “Didn’t expect to see you here little guy. What are you doing here?”
“I live here. Father said some bad men grew me in a lab as a baby and he managed to save me before they took me somewhere away from the city. Sorry if that's random, I've just never met someone other than father before.”
“I’m a friend of your fathers. And don’t worry, it wasn’t that random.” I shrug. “He told me I’m allowed in here and look around, maybe take things but I don’t think I’ll take anything.” I say honestly.
“Son.” I turned around, seeing Ryan standing there. “...Would you kindly wait in your room while this man and I talk.” Rather than respond the child went straight to where his bedroom must have been. “I hate doing that…”
“Nice kid.” I say with a little smile. “I suppose you saved him from bad things?”
“Atlas, or Fountain as he was called before, took my and my wife's dna and made young Jack there. He was planning on using Jack as a last resort if I wasn't dead by the time Jack was of age. Little did Fountain know spies and DTL’s work well together. Once Jack was “born” I raised him here and destroyed the lab. He is genetically superior to humans. Flexible dna to contain adam and eve without prolonged consequences like the Little Sisters, can wield every produced Plasmid, and is a born professional with any form of combat…there is only one fault… Fountain embedded codes within the boy before birth. ‘Would you kindly’ commands him to do whatever is ordered, weather it is spoken or written. There are others but I am afraid only Fountain knows them.”
“I suppose you might need help getting rid of those words...and I can probably beat out the words Atlas knows. I’d rather not see a poor child reduced to a mindless killing machine...that’s just terrible.” I sigh out.
“Just please find a way to remove his programming and…raise him away from here…”
“You do know that you can come with me and you can take care of your son on the world I live on right? I’m royalty and I can make sure you’re safe.” I say honestly. “And a sister of mine is roaming around saving all the Little Sisters so they can get cured. I’m pretty sure when I got here you just got yourself a ticket to having a happy life that isn’t filled with...bad things.”
Ryan sighed. “No happy endings for me I am afraid…you see…Adam when held within a body unable to hold it properly mutates it…and with the lack of food here I have been modifying adam to act as food for Jack and myself. While Jack is fine… I…” Ryan pulled a sleeve back, showing his skin was turning black and looked rotted. “I’m running on pure willpower to not be just another splicer.”
“Well..that’s not good.” I frown. “Even a world filled with magic and proper food couldn’t save you?”
“No. Looked and researched. Only cure is a bullet. Kill Fountain, take Jack someplace safe and loving, a farm maybe, he always liked farms in the picture books.”
“I think I know a farmer that wouldn’t mind taking care of him.” I say with a nod, summoning Sharpshooters. “I’d...recommend giving your son some last words...explain things to him...even if he cries…”
Ryan nodded, walking over to Jack’s room while I headed for this Adam bank place.
I swapped out my Sharpshooters and summoned Skysplitter, ready and willing to make Atlas feel pain. I checked my Assistant and saw where the Adam bank was and carefully moved my way towards it.
I arrived at the locked glass doors, seeing a man in the distance messing with what looked like parts for a massive machine. I used Skysplitter to break the glass door down, startling the man as he turned to look at me. “Christ lad!” He yelled.
“Knock knock.” I say. “Who are you?” I ask, putting Skysplitter on my shoulder and staring at the man screwing with the machine.
“A-Atlas… Ryan sent you didn’t he?”
“And so did a bunch of other people.” I state with a frown. “So congratulations, you're going to die asshole.”
He chuckled. “I helped that son of a bitch build this city. It's potential is smothered by his ideals. This whole place is full of Bioweapons and technology that any sane person would gladly pay highest bid. This city was founded on progress, you think you can stop progress?!”
“I can halt it by murdering you.” I say. “And besides, with you gone people will only see Rapture as a hell hole created by monsters, or have you completely forgotten the crazy and grotesque abominations roaming the halls of this place?” I ask, walking over to him. “So, start telling me about the kid you wanted to be nothing more than a mindless killing machine.”
“...How do you…Ryan…how did he find out about Jack?”
“None of your business.” I growl.
Fountain huffed. “Imagine it, an army of loyal, born genetically enhanced warriors. Able to wipe a whole city with just one soldier. This is where Ryan and I agreed on in the beginning, no gods or kings, only man…even if the new race of man become something inhuman in appearance, evolution states that the victors are those with the better genes.”
I walked over and I grabbed his arm and breaking it like a toothpick. “Okay, so do you want me to break your other arm or do you want me to just take the step towards me obliterating your head?” I ask. “I don’t have time for your mad scientist bullshit here. Tell me what other ‘code words’ you had in Jack.
He spits in my eyes, then his other arm became covered in ice and the second he opened it I was frozen solid. He broke free of my grip at that point and ran over to a tube that had a long needle on the end of it. Once he jabbed it into his arm a red liquid flowed into his body. His arm healed and his size increased to about three times of what he was. “Evolution can not be stopped, natural or artificial.” He said, moving fast and side swiping me across the room which broke me out of the glass.
I got up and brushed off the glass. I looked Atlas dead in the eyes. “My turn.” I say, a massive aura surrounding me before I vanished and rammed Skysplitter into his stomach, the very drugged up man feeling like he just got hit by a freight train even with his ‘evolved form’ as was sent flying across the room. “Evolution can never be stopped, that’s true...but how does Evolution stand up to Nothing?” I ask, an unconscious action causing my left hand to glow grey.
His reply was his whole body turning on fire as he tackled me, it burned like hell fire every second he had hold of me. He rammed me into the wall, which was all glass as a crack formed in it.
I rammed my left hand into his stomach, not really knowing what to do but for some reason, completely unknown to me, his fire started to die down. I was confused by it but couldn’t care less as I forced him off of me and summoning Graceful Dahlia and slashing one of his legs, the blood being swiftly drained into the scythe. I spun around and swiftly struck his other leg before leaping back and summoning Frozen Pride and getting into a strong defensive stance. “Come on, is that all you got?” I ask, seeing that even though he was still bigger and drugged up he seemed quite a bit weaker now.
“You… are worse than he warned…” Fountain grunted.
“Who warned you about me?” I ask, having a bad feeling about this.
“Didn’t say, just some man in a blank face mask said a wolf man in white robes might show up...“
”Two things...one how did that asshole know I was coming here? And two can that bastard leave me alone for a while? Jesus christ.” I think to myself bitterly. “Well alright then. Now, I think my scythe is willing to cut your head off.” I growl.
“He gave me something… something incase you did show up.” He ripped the metal floor up, and pulled out…a black heart with wires and some other things attached to it. “If I can’t win this city, than no one will.” He flipped a switch on it, and the timer on it started counting down from five minutes.
“Oh for the love of christ!” I shout. “How do I disarm the bomb asshole!?” I bark, starting to move towards the guy.
“Try and die.” Fountain said, pulling out a shotgun from under the floor as well and pulling the trigger on his head, his skull exploding into hundreds of shards.
“For all that is fucking holy...Trinity!” I call out, hoping she’ll appear and help.
“Sup!” She said, appearing behind me again. “Took a while but all the Little sisters are safe and cured, sent them to your place, also that lady and Jenny are at your place too.”
“I need help with both getting Jack to my place and the fact that there’s a Heartless bomb ticking down…” I say, pointing to the ticking bomb. “Seriously, how the fuck does that work?”
“You’d be surprised.” She said, looking at the bomb. “Yeah…shit. You go get that kid I’ll…kinda just throw this into a black hole.” She said, picking up the bomb and vanishing.
“Fuck…” I sigh out, rushing off and disbanding my weapons to find Ryan and Jack. “Hopefully the two of them are alright after...that.” I groan, hating this situation more and more. ”I hope Jenny is getting better…” I think to myself, my fatherly instincts kicking in for some reason about my daughter’s safety, even if she’s just mentally frazzled. After a few moments of running I finally made it back to Ryan and Jack’s place and opened the door with my key card. “Ryan? Jack?”
“Here.” Ryan said, walking up to me holding a sleeping Jack. “Here.” He said, handing the boy over to me, he started to stir a bit.
I held the child in my arms gently and carefully. “You told him what’s gonna happen?” I ask Ryan.
“I am now…son.” He said, the boy sleepily looking at his father. Ryan had tears in his eyes. “W...Would you kindly forget…everything about Rapture and me.” At that said, the boy slumped back into unconsciousness.
“Dude…” I mutter, looking at the poor guy. “That’s…”
“It’s best he remembers nothing of me or this place I built. Speaking of, the Little sisters?”
“All back on my world.” I say with a nod. “But...would Jack get Star Seeker? Technically Jack is your son…” I say, knowing how Jack was ‘made’ but still thinking about that.
Ryan summoned Star Seeker, placing it in Jack’s hand as it disbanded. “It’s his now. Come with me real quick.” I followed Ryan into a rather empty room, only holding a single computer and keycard reader. “This computer only uses Genetic keys from me. It’s my eyes and ears on what goes on in the city.”
“Nice.” I nod. “So...why did you bring me here?” I ask curiously.
“My Keycard please?” He asked, holding out his hand as I gave him back his Keycard. He swiped it in the computer and pressed a few buttons and the whole room turned red as an alarm went off. “The reactors are built into a large underwater volcanic system. Once they blow it will shake the ground enough to send the city sinking into the dark abyss next to us. Anything left will be too broken to work and any splicers left alive will drown or starve in a short time.”
“Atlas was an asshole and thought ‘oh hey let’s sell all the horrors down here for money’.” I growl. “He tried fighting me, which I got the upper hand...then he decided to activate a bomb that I had someone swiftly take care of...but after the bomb was activated the fucker blew his own head off.” I explain, summoning Reunion and opening a DTL. “Well...it was nice meeting you Ryan. Hopefully you find your utopia in the afterlife…” I chuckle a little, knowing full well that I couldn’t save him.
“There are no gods or kings my lad, only man.” Ryan chuckled. “If there is a god… then I have some major sins to atone. Goodluck lad, and make sure Jack is raised as a child, not a weapon.”
“I once thought there weren’t any gods...then I got a dad that basically is a god.” I chuckle. “But don’t worry, I’ll raise Jack right. He’s still young and I’ll make sure his ‘code words’ are gone.” I say starting to walk towards the DTL. “But...I’m sorry I couldn’t help out sooner Ryan.” I sigh out.
“As long as Jack is safe, I can die in peace.” Ryan said. I walked into the DTL, right as I got out on the other side and it was closing I saw something fly out of it. I picked it up. It was an old photograph of Ryan, holding what I’m guessing is Jack as a baby. In the background his signature saying painted on the wall, but there was something added to it on the bottom part of the picture. “When men become gods may we finally achieve our Rapture.”
I looked at the words and sighed out, putting the picture in my pocket. “God damn it…” I mutter, walking towards my home. After several minutes of walking I finally got to the front door and opened it, hoping to see someone after what just happened. “I’m home!” I call out, not really caring that Jack is still unconscious and would possibly wake up.
“Over here!” Pinkie called from the dining room. When I entered…there were a LOT of little girls in here. “So… did you adopt them all?” Pinkie asked.
“I know I adopted at least one girl and this little guy.” I say honestly. “I...don’t know about the rest of them...but how’s Jenny doing?” I ask worriedly. “Did she...look upset or anything?”
“She went straight to her room followed by one of these little girls the whole way. Last I checked they’re still there. Jenny is showing her Youtube and other stuff.”
“Alright…” I nod, handing Jack to Pinkie. “Figure out this little guys mother, cause I’m adopting him...I’ll go check on Jenny.” I say, turning and heading off to find Jenny. ”I know a crap ton of little girls are here and they want to know something but...Jenny needs my help more than me suddenly adopting a ton of little girls.” I think to myself, swiftly making my way to Jenny’s room and knocking on the door. “Hello?”
“Come in.” Jenny’s voice called out. I entered and saw Jenny at her computer, the little sister I first met looking at the computer screen with great interest.
“Well...Pinkie wasn’t wrong.” I chuckle a little. “But...are you doing alright?” I ask nervously.
“I still need to process exactly how things are now. I’m feeling a bit better but I still just need to sort stuff out upstairs, ya know?”
“I understand…” I nod, before raising an eyebrow. “Are those...wings?” I ask, pointing out the new wings Jenny somehow had. “I don’t remember you having wings…”
“Say what?” Jenny asked as she looked behind her, eyes widening upon seeing the wings. “What the-” She freaked, swear interrupted by falling off her computer chair. “Ouch…” She groaned, standing back up. “Wait…something else feels off.” She said, lifting up her pants, her legs now more cat like. “The fuck?”
“Wings...with cat like legs…” I frown. “Wait...you're genetically Gilda’s...but wait you became my daughter before Gilda was my wife…”
“Yeah, but till now I didn’t exactly ‘accept’ you or them as family. Now that I have I guess… transaction complete?”
“Makes sense.” I shrug. “Well...looks like you're going to have to get used to having wings and flying...also that’s probably confusing being part wolf, part human, part griffon now huh?” I say sheepishly, not expecting such a change to her legs.
“As long as I don’t get wing boners like Derpy does when you’re mentioned I’m okay with it… seriously if she was a guy she’s be hard always. And yes that’s why her wings are always open when you see her.”
“Honestly I don’t understand why she hasn’t learned to control that…” I sigh out, rubbing my temple bitterly. “Seriously, at least four of my wives are perverted to hell…”
“Can you control your erections at will?”
“Trying to learn that.” I shrug. “But oh well...but I think Joy will be happy to see you like this Jenny...and maybe a little miffed that he can’t grow wings even though he can fly without any weapons.” I roll my eyes, knowing full well that I have some form of gravity control even without having my weapons on me.
Jenny’s eyes went wide. “Oh crap I left him with the CMC and with Scoot’s in charge to boot!” She said in a panic, running out the door and leaving a dust trail.
”Are you doing okay Joy?” I mentally ask him.
”Scoots is in charge my ass!” Joy responds with a laugh.
”I suppose you showed them that you're in charge?” I mentally chuckle.
”Nothing like showing them I’m better at puppy dog eyes, and I gave them all keyblades and started training them they realized I’m in charge...but how’s Jenny?” Joy mentally asks worriedly.
”Got things to figure out...but she’ll be near you soon enough. She freaked out about leaving you with the CMC and having Scoots in charge.” I mentally tell him.
”Oh that’s good...wait does she have wings!?!” Joy mentally asks me, flabbergasted at such a thing.
”Yep, finally excepted the whole family thing and she became Gilda’s daughter...I better tell the griffon.” I mentally chuckle, heading off back to the dining hall to get things sorted out.
Once back in the dining hall the woman that the first little sister lead me to walked up to me. “We never exchanged names. I am Brigid Tenenbaum, and again, thank you for saving all the little ones.”
“It’s no biggie. Just a hero being a hero after all.” I say with a smile. “Hey Gilda, Jenny’s your daughter now.” I say.
“Cool.” The griffon replied simply.
“But what is it you will be doing for them now?” Brigid asked.
“Well there are two options...maybe three I don’t know.” I shrug. “The first one is seeing if you want to take care of all of them besides the one that’s grown attached to me and my daughter Jenny...or I can adopt all the Little Sisters.” I say. “Which one do you think is good?”
“Raising all these little ones will be tricky, even with a house this big. The second option, but with a condition.”
“Besides the obvious ‘treat them with love and care and don’t test on them like a fucking asshole’, what is it?” I ask.
“They already see me as mother…considering my part in what happened to them… I need to be here so they can stay safe. Mentally they are still… in need of help. I wish to join this family also.”
“Well...I’m gonna need to buy more wedding rings.” I chuckle. “But you sure? This family can be…really confusing and weird. In the more happy sense.”
“It’s better than deadly and hazardous.” She replied.
I nod. “Too true.” I say while bringing up my Assistant, and buying three more wedding rings, putting the two spares in my pocket and gently handing it to Brigid. “Wife number nine...welcome to the family Brigid, and all the little sisters.” I say with a warm smile, putting the ring on Brigid’s ring finger that fit perfectly cause magic.
“Fancy. I look forward to the courting.” She said with a sly smile as she went over to a group of the Little sisters…daughters now.
“Hey Ben!” Trinitiy’s voice rang out from behind me… AGAIN!
“Can you stop appearing behind me!?” I shout, turning around to see her.
“No, it’s fun, and besides, I counted every one of these little sisters I found. Guess how many.”
“Please, tell me how many new daughters I just gained.” I ask.
“Including your one new son Jack…” She looked at her Assistant. “Two hundred and sixty nine… and in the place where they made them records said over a thousand were around before… well, all that shit happened so… a lot died before we got there.”
“At least you helped save a lot of them.” I chuckle. “But sheesh, two hundred and sixty nine extra kids?”
“Yup, also, when mama Den comes by again, she is gonna freak so much. You fell into dad’s shoes better than I thought.” She said, elbowing me before vanishing.
I rubbed my temples and groaned. “Christ…” I mumble. “Brigid, what would happen if I were to say my mother happened to be a twelve foot tall female dire wolf with six breasts about the size of your body?” I ask curiously.
“I’d say you must have been the runt of the litter.” She replied jokingly.
“Well...my original parents are kind of...dead.” I say nervously. “Dad adopted me and mom was happy enough to be there for me...and that’s kind of why me and Jenny are like what we are...as well as fellow children...by the by did someone figure out who Jack's mother is?” I ask, normally knowing that all our kids would change depending on their mother.
“I am his mother, and he’s quite the hugger.” Zecora said, Jack now looked like a roughed up version of Joy with black and white striped hair in a mohawk. He was awake now and clinging to Zecora like his life depended on it.
“Luna...do you know how to get rid of ‘code words’ from someone’s head?” I ask.
“You mean mental programing?” She asked.
“Sadly yes.” I nod. “A guy on the world me and Jenny went to decided ‘this is a great idea, let’s make genetically enhanced killing machines for funzies’.” I frown. “The guy’s dead thankfully but...I just hope Jack can be more ‘normal’ and happy...like right now.”
“Well, it will take a while, especially if the codes alter the person completely. I will begin tonight and keep at it for as long as it takes.”
“Is there anyway I can help?” I ask, hoping to help my son out in anyway.
“I can handle it Ben, don’t worry. You just be the boy’s father.”
“Well I’m gonna have to make sure I’m a good father to over 200 kids...it’s gonna be a pain but I think I can...maybe manage it without my back breaking.” I chuckle nervously.
“Think of how your father must feel… how does he manage that anyway?” Twilight asked, pondering her own question.
“He’s a god, with an infinite amount of wives and kids, he just has that many clones or something.” I shrug. “Seems simple enough to me...or he’s just really busy and everyone doesn’t bother him that much.”
“A bit of both.” Dad’s voice spoke from behind me.
“Can people stop appearing behind me for five seconds?” I grumble. “Or is that just a thing people like to do all the time?”
“Kinda.” Dad said, patting my shoulder. “So you’re following my example in terms of family… you best learn how to make omnipresent copies of yourself. If you do go that far.”
“Christ.” I grumble. “But apparently I am following your example...on accident kinda.” I say sheepishly.
“It’s okay, same was with me. You think I started off adopting and marrying every woman in sight? The adopting I’m okay with, the wives… yeah that’s my first wife’s doing…you think Luna and Pinkie are horny? Ha, they got nothing on her.”
“All my wives are horny...why I don’t know.” I sigh out. “But I’d rather not know that. But now I have a crap ton of children to take care of, figure out what next to do in life, figure out how to make clones, and also figure out if I’m going to marry two more women because reasons.” I say, remembering how I just grabbed three more wives when I originally thought I would have had five.
“I can help with the clones, but that will be for next chapter, for now let’s fix up your house to… better hold all these kids, alright?”
“This castle is already huge...what are you going to cast a spell to make this place a ‘House of Holding’?” I joke, remembering the ‘bag of holding’ in Dungeons and Dragons.
“Not exactly.” Dad said as he walked over to a wall near the dining room door. “Here’s good enough.” He pulled a small black tile out of his pocket and placed it on the wall. In a second the castle shook and the small tile became a massive screen displaying the whole castle layout. “Let’s see here…” Dad mumbled, looking through the various rooms. “Here is alright.” He pressed on the floorplan for a room not far from here. A bunch of things popped up on screen and he pushed one of them all the way up and did several other things. “That should do it.”
“Should I even ask what your doing?” I ask worriedly.
“Follow me.” I followed dad to the room from the floor plan. “This was a regular sized bedroom for one right?” Dad asked.
“Yep.” I nod.
“Not anymore.” Dad opened the door… and it was like stepping into another world. The room was now easily four times the size of the actual castle, decorated as a little girl's dream land… puppies, cats, swimming pools, fucking candy trees! Even… almost ironically, ponies too. “Overkill or what?”
“I think my little daughters deserve it after being brought here from...Rapture.” I sigh out. “Ryan wasn’t a bad guy...he just didn’t get the last number right…” I say bitterly.
“Not everyone can win, but humanity be damned if we don’t try. By tomorrow all these girls should have mothers so I’ll send you a list so you can, well, keep track of who’s who’s daughter, mother, whatever.”
“That’s gonna be a good idea. Pinkie, Rarity, Zecora and Gilda already have kids...but suddenly an extra two hundred and whatever amount of little girls...it’s gonna be a nightmare to keep track...oh god, do I just have all their birthdays in one week like you or what?” I ask worriedly, now thinking about how to be a good father to so many kids and just getting worried I’ll not be good enough.
“Saves sanity and memory.” Dad replied.
“Yeah…” I nod. “I just hope I’ll be a good father...I just helped Jenny see me as a father...even if she’s still thinking about it all…”
“These things take time, for both parties involved. Just be glad you have me for advice.”
“Oh yeah…” I sigh out. “Thanks Dad...don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here.” I chuckle.
“That’s what parent’s are for. See ya next chapt- Tomorrow.” With that, dad vanished.
“Fourth wall breaker.” I laugh, walking out and closing the door behind me.
To be continued...