Rapture Noir: Best and Brightest

        I dashed across Apollo Square and made a beeline for the Metro station. Batyspheres were out and the Atlantic Express was stuffed to the brim, with all the humidity, smell and a sea of ill mood that commute in peak hour brought. On the upside, the bots and security could not follow me once the trams were on the move, and their limited ability to pursue me into the sea. But they couldn't know where I was going, even if they used cameras and telephone.

 

        Olympus Heights was the address, the name Chinese. I remembered one Chinaman, his involvement did not bode well for me last time. It seemed they were destined to be a pivot of my trouble, and it didn't help that this name belonged to one of Rapture's 'Best and Brightest'. Yi Suchong M.D.

 

        Leaving the stuffed wagon behind I crossed the Bistro Square as quickly as I could, eyeing the cameras suspiciously. Despite the shine of the place, the potential pursuit made this place as dangerous as the depths of Pauper's drop. I couldn't tell whether they were looking for me here or not, but I wasn't taking chances with them. The place was unfamiliar, and while I recalled coming his to follow up on rock and his case back when, but I it took me some time before I found Suchong's door.

 

        I used the doorbell, standing eye to eye with dark wood and brass numbers. A small plate next to the bell spelled out the man's name. I didn't know whether he would be in, and I felt fire in my heels. Once Sullivan knew that I took a package from Fontaine's former clubhouse, I would be an instant culprit for whatever Fontaine or Atlas business he was interested in.

        I rapped on the door with my fist after a longer silence.

        "Doctor Suchong? Suchong!? I got your pictures!"

 

        The door opened quicker than I expected, and a dark-haired, bespectacled man appeared. He wore a shirt and trousers on suspenders and his gaunt face bore signs of extreme annoyance and shock. His eyes were two narrow angry slits, shielded by round glasses.

 

        "Are you crazy?" He asked me in that strange, raised-hushed tone of voice. His accent made it all the more hilarious to me, were I not in a rather foul mood. "Suchong said to bring pictures to office, not here! How did you find me?"

        "Change of terms," I spat out, before pushing the man inside and forcing my way in. He was even more shocked, and his eyes grew large.

        "This is outrage! Violation of privacy! I call security now..." He silenced himself the moment my hand was on his shoulder.

        "I am with security, and I got few questions to ask you," I replied brusquely.

        His shocked face went into meek silence as I sat him down in a couch, while I stood over him with the envelope in hand.

        "You've been collecting them long? You like spying on young women, doctor?"

        "I have no idea what you imply. Suchong collects research only." He was more calm now, eyeing me with inquisitive stare.

 

        "And what is that research about, hmm?" I tossed the envelope on the coffee table. "Open it."

        He slowly took the envelope and opened it, pulling out photographs. He glanced at them as he took them out, but one look in my direction had him quickly put them down next to the envelope.

 

        The photographs were of Elizabeth, standing in various places in Rapture, some distance from the photographer. The pictures were taken discretely and never showed much, just her disappearing behind the corner and accompanying light and sometimes, a shimmer or distortion on her or the picture. Damage to the film, one could say if they didn't know better.

 

        "Looks like stalking to me, doctor," I spat out and took a step towards him. He sunk into the couch immediately, but he did not tremble. Yet.

        "I can explain to you, its important plasmid research..."

        "Is that so?" I pulled out a cigarette out of my pocket. Suchong was ready to speak up again, opened his mouth and almost protested, but I had the matches in my hands already and lit the stick of tobacco.

 

         "I have a contract with Mr. Ryan I show you now..." He tried to get up, I stopped him with a hard shove and he landed back on the couch cushions. I smoked my cigarette and inhaled deeply, before pointing at the pictures with the cigarette in my hand and exhaling the smoke.

        "I'm not interested in your contacts with Ryan. Now tell me what do you know about her."

        "You're not with Ryan? But you..."

        "The girl. Talk about the girl."

       

        "What do you want to know?" he asked in a strange tone, as if he was bartering all of a sudden. He appeared calm, his intense stare was unceasing the whole time. "And more important, who wants to know?"

 

        "Lets start with my questions, alright?" I took a seat in an armchair opposite to the couch. "What do you know about this woman and why do you stalk her?"

 

        "I'm not stalki... ehm. I am researching a certain phenomenon, that recently appeared in Rapture."

        "Do you know anything else about the girl? Talk to me about her." I lifted the cigarette to my mouth at regular intervals. I carelessly dropped the ash on the floor, and I could see the man glancing at the floor where a small grey spot grew.

        "This woman is always around when the phenomenon appears. I saw her come through it once."

        "And what would be this 'it'?"

        The man swallowed and paused briefly, but he did not break his line of sight with me or tried to dodge my gaze. This one seems to be trickier than Fink.

       

        "The phenomena are... strange windows...that...Suchong would answer properly if he knew what they were." I droped the cigarette stub on the carpet and put it out with my foot and smirk. I could see the tiniest of twitches of irritation on his face. Strange glee overcame me, for once being the man who had all the information. Well, almost all. But the good doctor here seemed to know next to nothing and he seemed to realize it too.

       

        "Suchong has some pictures he can show you, if you are..." He spoke up suddenly and slowly got up but I was first and I put him back in the sofa.

        "That's alright, you sit here. We don't want you to leave or tell anyone about our little chat, do we? I know Ryan or Sullivan would like to know about 'phenomena'. Where do you keep them?"

        He pointed towards adjacent room. "Suchong's lab is there, you can find pictures in a drawer."

 

        I got up and went over where he pointed me. Tiles on the floor and walls, tall shelves full of beakers and vials and several tables full of various equipment; a whole lab at home. Not unusual, but you almost thought that these science types sleep with these flask and tubes. I found a desk and several drawers and started picking it apart right away. Some papers, notes, files, I dug though the thing before finding a thick folder stuffed with notes and pictures. I would have threw it to the side as well, if not for the ‘Phenomenon Research notes’ scribbled on it.

 

        The last thing I saw was the photo falling out of the folder onto the floor. The photo was of Elizabeth sharing a kiss with a tall man in a park.

 

 

 

 

        Kissing Elizabeth was like kissing an ashtray, but in a good way. I tasted her mouth and enjoyed the feeling, the taste of tobacco on her tongue and somehow something was not quite right. Like with Abigail. I did not see anything, but I couldn’t tear myself from the eager mouth pressed against my lips.

 

        I felt a burning sensation on the back of my hand that awoke me abruptly. I couldn’t stop a scream from getting out. Harsh light was pointed in my face and I felt myself tied to a chair. The initial dizziness and disorientation are cut short by another sharp burning sensation in my arm. The cigarette is stubbed out.

 

        “Suchong had some pictures and wanted to show you one.” I could hear the man’s accented voice. Despite the light in my face, I saw his silhouette, with folded up sleeves of his shirt. A small suitcase with various syringes and vials stood next to me on a small surgical table. One of the corners was dented, as if it hit something hard and after a moment I became aware of a painful spot on the back of my head.

 

        “Especially because that one has you on it.” The fallen photo was in his hand. I thought I could see a faint smile on his thin lips.

 

        “Now, its time that you help Suchong and answer his questions. Tell me about the girl.”

 

        My mouth was shut and the photo landed back in the folder on the table. He didn't seem at all surprised by my stubbornness.  He approached his battery of syringes and as if playing with them, he started going from one to the other with the tip of his finger. His choice fell on unassuming brown vial and a small syringe next to it.

I started yanking on the ropes that held me, but Suchong only smiled, throwing a glance at me as he drew some chemical from the vial with the syringe.

 

        “You not need to worry, Suchong is a trained professional. Once you help, Suchong will make sure you won’t cause any future problems. You are tall and strong, a perfect Big Daddy candidate.” The syringe was full of whatever he had drawn and he had his hand on my elbow, looking for the vein.

 

        Big Daddy. I felt hair on my neck rise at the sound of that. While I knew that Suchong was one of the few ‘best and brightest’ that lived in Rapture, I didn’t know he was the one responsible for those golems. Until now. I started yanking and throwing myself even harder.

 

        “You would do well not to throw yourself so much, one mistake and the needle goes in the wrong place.”

 

        “You son of a.. let me….” Whatever he injected in me worked pretty fast, as I started feeling disoriented and feeble-minded, as if my brain was made of soft fuzz.

 

        “While we don’t have a ‘truth serum’ yet, there are more than enough tonics and products to make mind pliable. Now tell me again, who is that woman?”

 

        A different photo appeared in his hand, it was a full shot of a woman in a blouse and a skirt, with black hair. I could only look stupefied.

 

        “Womaa.. wha..?”

 

        “Yes, a woman. Girl, black hair, blue eyes. Look at her. Who is she?”

 

        Only one name came mind, and it escaped faster than I could stop my tongue. The fuzziness chokes and prevents any resistance even as I realize my mistake.

 

        “E-Elizabeth…”

 

        “Very good.” The man in front of me sounded pleased, but his face bore no smile this time.  “And Elizabeth, what is that she is doing?”

 

        “I d-don’t…”

 

        “Looks like Suchong has some work on his hands. But not to worry, there are other methods…”

 

        The fuzziness slowly dissolved into incoherent haze as I felt the prick of another needle in my arm. The fog was only punctured by his voice and questions, most of which I could not recall.

 

        I awoke slowly, groggy, and with the light still in my face. The ‘good doctor’ was nowhere to be seen. I stopped short out of a cry, my head felt swollen and the headache was splitting. I couldn’t recall what exactly I told him, but my first thought was to think of Sullivan and security – I didn’t know how much time passed but so far I seemed safe; no chase and no sign of a rescue either.

 

        I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I was still in the damn lab, the table with vials right beside me. Quite few bottles were open and some were empty. I tried moving myself again, but a sharp pain in my arm stopped me.  I looked at it to see a venous catheter stuck in the arm and going into the vein. Bastard must have injected me with God knows what.  I tried to move again, this time more carefully. My wrists felt raw from the rope, but I felt some looseness in my left hand. Despite the stiffness, I worked on it for couple of minutes until I could wrench my hand free.

 

        That would have been a dead end though, had I not found something to cut the rope with and free myself completely. In vain I hoped for a scalpel or scissors on the table, and even if there were any to be found I doubted I would have reached them. But one thing that was in my reach was a blue hypo among the set of other vials. Avoiding the stuff was hard, but this time I had little choice. It crept up on you, but it was better than being sealed in a metal suit for the rest of my life. I sighed one last time before grabbing the hypo and sticking it in the catheter. I relished the influx of new energy for a brief moment, before snapping my fingers and getting a small flame out of them. It still worked.

 

        The ropes were now on the floor and I was getting the catheter out carefully before I tossed it on the table with the rest of the meds. I found my coat in the corner of the lab on the floor. I scurried around silently, picking up my things, in case he came back or was sleeping. The place checked out empty however, with lights off and deathly silence everywhere. I could have waited for him here, he had to come back. Or I could have legged it. But letting him off was a death sentence for us. Once I knew his place is empty, I started searching it for the documents. Did he make any notes of me? Where were the pictures? I gave up on looking once the futility of it became apparent, now only content with waiting.

 

 

 

        The murky green that illuminated the apartment with bleak glow no doubt added to the shock that Doctor Suchong experienced, having opened the doors to a sight of a total mess made in the apartment. But he saw and heard no one. Suchong swallowed hard, unsure what would he find. If security was here, Mr Ryan would know about everything and Suchong’s contract, so recently signed and provisioned with a generous salary would be yanked away from him.

 

        “No no no… Damn it!” Suchong paced quickly around the place, inspecting everything with eyes darting desperately form item to item, either overturned or tossed across the apartment. He rushed to the lab to see if DeWitt was still there.

The last thing that Suchong saw as he entered his laboratory was an empty chair and dome smouldered rope    

 

“Wake up! Wake up doc!”

        Suchong felt a light slap on his check and opened his eyes to see a Booker tower over him. Harsh light flooded Suchong’s vision.

 

        “I don’t think we were quite clear on what I meant by questions,” the tall man spoke, “but I don’t need stimulants to get info out.” DeWitt cracked his knuckles for emphasis.  Suchong only now noticed that he was tied to the chair in the lab, having been restrained with belts and some rope. He felt his heart beat faster.

 

        “Let’s start from the beginning – what do you know about this girl…”