Bioshock: Little Brother re-told story

Chapter 6: Upper Atrium

Somewhere in Rapture:

Sofia was sitting at her desk, thinking, her mind was mixing, making, and rejecting every possibility. All of them were about her encounter with the first and only little brother. 'A little brother...interesting...the way he attacked those Splicer's with no fear.. it could be useful for me' she thought.

"Pssss...pssss." she heard a Splicer whisper, trying to get her attention. "What is it?" asked Sofia. "We have another one.... his name is Daniel...used to work for Andrew...he says he wants to join." the Splicer hissed. Sofia raised her eyebrow. "Should we eliminate him?" asked the splicer. "No, let him in, treat him well, he is our guest." responded Sofia, the splicer nodded and left.

 After a moment or so Sofia got up and walked into the next room, it looked like a living room, a man sat down on an old well worn couch. His face was pale, his blond hair was dirty, it almost looked brown, his green eyes were dull and lifeless, bags were under them, his face reflected nothing but sadness. Sofia was instantly touched, she sat down and began "You want to join... but my question is, why?"

 The man looked at her and answered in a lifeless tone. "Andrew, I hate him, he stole the only thing that I valued more than my life, he made me work like a dog... he will pay for everything." Sofia nodded and asked, "What was what he stole?" The man looked and answered "He stole my son. Turned him into a little sister.....well a Little Brother." he corrected himself. Sofia had to fight the urge to smirk, this was perfect. "Tell me, what is his name?" she, genuinely curious. "Ryan, Ryan Andrew." Sofia paused as if in thought, and asked, "And what is your name?" "Daniel Andrew" "Okay Daniel, you're hired." said Sofia as she got up, whispering something into the Splicer's ear and she returned to her office.

She sat down at her desk, looked at the monitor which showed Eleanor crying, screaming, and trying to escape. "Daddy! Ryan!" she shouted as she pounded on the glass door separating her from her freedom. Sofia smiled, a plan forming within her mind.

Rapture, Upper Atrium, 3:00 pm:

Upstairs of the Fort Frolic lies the Upper Atrium. There are many places to see here; First, and most notably, of them is the Fleet hall, where the citizens of Rapture could enjoy theatrical and musical arts. Inside it offered the citizens a chance to catch a drink of Ryan's Club Brand Ale or a bite of a chocolate-cream cake before the show started. The only other accessible place in the Upper Atrium is Cohen's collection. Hidden in the upper atrium is a hidey-hole, this hidey-hole however is different, not because of the outside design, but because of the inside.

Inside of the hidey-hole was a room, it had a makeshift bed made out of hundreds of blankets, a simple nightstand next to it, through the room a few posters were placed on the walls, and scattered through the room were books of all sorts. Sitting in the bed looking glum was Rapture's one and only Little Brother. Ryan, he was barely nine years old. His blond hair was a bit tangled and dirty, his dressing shirt is stained with dirt and blood, and his pants were stained and ripped a bit on the knee. His face was stained with tears and dirt Right now he had no more tears to shed.

Getting up he walked over to the small television set and turned it on, hoping to find some distraction. It was black and white, the show on was the football game going on, the Ryan's Raiders versus the Sea bulls. You could hear the crowd cheer as the football went into the air and the players beat each other up for the ball. " Danny Wilkins, a naturally gifted athlete whose remarkable abilities have secured a perfect record for Ryan's Raiders every season he's been on the team. Danny does not recall ever having lost at anything.

 Though he does recognize that he has on occasion been on a losing team, he argues that the loss itself has never been his fault. Losses on these occasions were invariably attributable to his teammates, and, furthermore, in every case, Danny was otherwise occupied breaking and setting various records of his own." said the sports narrator. Ryan stared, once the show was over he turned off the TV. The sea bull's team won and they're going head to head with the Stingers in a final match.

There was silence for a few minutes before a loud bang interrupted it. Following the bangs was a loud whale-like moan. Ryan sighed as he got up and entered a hole, outside he was greeted by a Rosie. "Hello Hero" he said, the Big daddy moaned. "I know, I know. We haven't seen each other for a while. I've just been depressed that's all." Ryan said. 

The Big Daddy moaned again, this time somehow managing to sound sympathetic. "Yeah, I miss her a lot, I just wish I could have stopped the splicers and protected her." Ryan admitted as he got down, the Big Daddy Rosie helped him. Once on the floor Ryan walked next to his protector.

There are more reasons as to why Ryan didn't want to leave his hidey-hole, it wasn't just depression, it was also that the streets had been getting far too dangerous, especially with the battle of Atlas against Andrew Ryan. It was getting out of hand to the point he couldn't tell who was a splicer, who was a person, who wants to harm him, and who doesn't. It was a scary feeling to know that you're never safe. 

Suddenly he bumped against something, or rather, somebody. "Oh, I am so sorry little boy, are you okay?" he heard a female voice say, the first and by far kindest words Ryan had heard in a long time. Looking up he saw it was a woman. She wasn't that old, his guess twenty five or maybe a little bit older. She wore a cream colour coat, a broad beaver trimmed hat covering her hair and a scarf and shades to cover her face. The Big Daddy which was with Ryan loaded the rivet gun ready to fire. "It's alright Hero. She's not armed." Ryan said, having already scanned her for weapons first thing, as was quickly becoming a habit.

Getting up off the ground he noticed the Big Daddy lowered his gun, but kept an eye on the woman in case she tried anything. The woman seemed surprised and asked "Little boy, what are you doing out here?" "I was going to ask you the same thing, not many people out here nowadays." Ryan countered "True." She admitted. "Name's Ryan.", "My name is Diane McClintock." she said, offering him her hand. Ryan took it, careful not to get her white satin gloves dirty. "Where are you going?" he asked. "I'm going to the Medical pavilion, I've got an appointment with Doctor Steinman." Diane explained. "Steinman? that's a funny name." Ryan laughed. "True, it is peculiar, then again, so is he." Diane smiled.

 "Can we escort you? The streets aren't exactly safe." Ryan offered, he didn't want the nice lady to get hurt on her way. "That's very sweet of you, I would like that." Diane said with a radiant smile beneath her scarf and glasses. "Alright. Lead the way." Diane went ahead, Ryan and his Rosie trailing a few feet behind her. Diane is really nice, Ryan liked her, she was like a mom, a good mom.

It took five minutes for them to reach the Medical pavilion. "Thank you for escorting me, not many people would go out of the way to help someone these days." Diane said. "No problem." Ryan said proudly. "Here, let me give you something." She said reaching for her purse, "It's okay, you don't have to give me anything." he said. "Please, I insist." She insisted as she gave him two greenish gray colored papers. Taking them Ryan placed them in his pants pocket before saying thank you and leaving. Diane is nice, he hoped to see her again soon.

To Be Continued...