The Fate of Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)

Chapter 12: The Key to Freedom

Throughout the manor, soldiers of Comstock's army, in their uniforms and armed, arrive and are guided by the Boys of Silence, which indicates the direction by which the intruder left. For his part, Mathias, completely in panic as he heard all the noises around him, descended by a staircase leading to the basements of the manor. He surprises a guard, kills him by a bullet in the chest, and continues his way. Very quickly, the rich Victorian decor gives way to walls of cold and gray iron, a black and white care, and pipes to the ceilings. Mathias advances prudently into this sort of glaucous laboratory, wondering himself if Elizabeth is here. Several open doors left him the embarrassment of the choice of direction.

The first door looks like a small room almost like a dentist's office, with a seat with locks, and on shelves, dozens of surgical instruments of all kinds, as well as hundreds of medications. An old dusty image projector is installed on a table, facing an empty wall. At random, Mathias presses the button that engages the film reel still in. A light is projected onto the wall and shows old archive images, showing a very dark room, and the head of Songbird, connected to hundreds of cables and machines of all kinds, and in front of him, a screen broadcasting images of Elizabeth. Mathis looks puzzled and sees two people appear in the video. Zachary, and Jeremiah Fink.

(Zachary): "So, my dear Fink, how does the Songbird project advance?"

(Fink): "Good, as expected, my lord. Thanks to a simple drop of blood from your daughter put in the mechanical heart, and this permanent diffusion of images, we set up the brain of Songbird so that he recognizes Elizabeth as soon as he sees her, at all times. In fact, she will be the only one able to control and calm him down."

(Zachary): "Perfect, but be sure to finish as soon as possible. Songbird will be the ultimate defense of my daughter against the false shepherd."

(Fink): "Do not worry. This false shepherd as you call him, will not stand a chance against our mechanical monster." 

(Zachary): "I will have to thank your partner for this technology that allowed us to create such a creature."

(Fink): "I'll tell him, sir."

In the background, Songbird's head begins to stir a little bit and emits small affectionate sounds towards Elizabeth's video, indicating that her mechanical brain is beginning to identify the young woman as the only person he can love and protect. The video stops at this moment, leaving Mathias in those thoughts. He realizes that Songbird had been scheduled since the beginning by Zachary and Fink, to protect Elizabeth against him. And who is this "partner" of Fink who gave him the technology to create the bird? No idea, but very mysterious. But besides all these questions without any responses, Mathias decides to continue his way and goes to the next room. 

The other room is even more glaucous in the eyes of Mathias. A red room, in which are hung hundreds of photos of Elizabeth, representing her as little child, until to her present age, as if she were observed and evaluated by her own father during all her life.

(Mathias): "Damn, but what are they doing to Elizabeth? What is Comstock trying to do with her?"

Mathias does not know, but the next room could give him a most shocking answer. On a wall, a large painting on which are written very strange scientific calculations, and several schemes of Elizabeth, representing as evolutions in the course of the age ..... An evolution of the strengh of her power ..... Mathias has a bad feeling, and curious, grabs one of the files to consult it. A bunch of leaves filled with notes and calculations. One of the files shows manufacturing plans for the enormous metal heads of the Boys of Silence, and a personal note, describing that several young boys, all volunteers, were brought here to be transformed into "perfect creatures serving the Lord" as it is written. Mathias thought he was going to be sick so much it's horrible. These non-human creatures, these boys of silence, were once young boys, whose brain has been manipulated by Zachary, at such point they've been mutilated and turned into creepy monsters serving as sentinels in his manor. This prophet is such a fucking psychopath, Mathias thought while he continues to search. He suddenly finds, a note from Zachary himself, that caught his attention.