Little One (Bioshock)

chapter seven

JULY, 1959

Her tiny fingers let go of the vent opening, dropping down to allow her feet to catch herself on the small step of metal. It was a struggle as she clutched to her harvester, a weird contraption that held a baby bottle for her pale lips to snag onto and suck any ADAM that was inside. However her Daddy helped her out, grabbing the harvester in one hand and using the other to allow her to hold on. Her feet stomped onto the tiled floor and with the bareness of her skin, made a funny sound. Claire giggled at this - like she did at most things. She was a happy child in this hellhole of a city, and that's all anyone could really ask for.

In the recent months, Claire had seen more of Rapture than she had ever dreamed of. She hadn't made it to the highest points yet but that was definitely a goal of the child's. From the many different colored fish she saw, she drew a picture for each. Some of the pictures were lined in the vents or one the outsides of the openings. Her Daddy even took some. And others were lost in the places they came from. This never bothered her as she saw it as a way of letting others see her artwork, and that was truly special.

"What are we doing today, Sir Bubbles?" Claire asked as she climbed onto the tank of his back. The monster groaned in reply. She giggled and pushed her brown hair from her eyes. Although every day was practically the same she still asked him, to make it out to be a new adventure day after day. In her mind, she was an adventure princess and Big Daddy was her knight, protecting her as she went on her journey. It did help to think of her situation this way. Sure, she was rewired to think of anything but the horrors she could never see but still, it helped the child with her boredom.

The two went off for their joyous day in the Rapture sun. It would play out as any day would, with Claire finding about four bodies and then her returning to the vents, her Daddy sitting outside until the next day, where their adventure would continue.

Yet somewhere in Olympus Heights, specifically Mercury Suites, the greatest scientist of her age Brigid Tenenbaum would be hard at trying to find a cure for her demonic disease that feasted on little girls. Guilt had clouded her days for years now and she finally had the means to finally do something about it. Before the war, she was stuck to working for Fontaine. It was torture to do such things to people, especially the innocent little girls. She watched the first few girls to be tested on and will never get their screams from her mind. They will forever be etched in her nightmares when she dreams of this place years from now. And right that they should. Tenenbaum hated herself for ever finding that damned sea slug, for bringing it to Ryan and Fonataine's attention and getting the ADAM program on a roll. If only she stayed away, far away, and never ventured into Rapture. Things for everyone, and those girls, would be different.

Yet now, Tenenbaum was free from the slave work of both Fontaine and Ryan. After Fontaine died, she went to Ryan. It was only for a few months before she quit and went on to try and find a cure for the ADAM sickness. Ryan, having respected her for her work, made sure to cover up whatever the scientist was doing. However when it was revealed as to what she was actually doing, he slandered her in the public eye. From that point on it was over for Tenenbaum in Rapture and that never stopped her. People never really thought great things of the woman and now, the public's opinion hardly mattered to her at all. She would go underground, into the sewers of Olympus Heights and continued her research on finding a cure.

The first time she would test this cure on a Little Sister, to her surprise, it would work. Finding a lonesome, tainted child would be quite the task it seemed. Tenenbaum had no idea where to look, for every Little Sister she saw was guarded by a Big Daddy. She could never get close, and she never would. It would be weeks until she searched in Arcadia, smelling the sweet roses and fruits of the gardens, and stumble upon a single little girl. At first, Tenenbaum thought she was just one of the untainted children. She had hardly seen normal children for some time now, and she almost cursed herself crazy until the girl turned around, her sad yellow eyes boring into Tenenbaum's. The woman instantly kneeled in front of her. How did she survive by herself here? Where was her protector? From what she saw, the girl had no harvester. Was she starving?