A/N: Sooooo I'm not dead. Just taking more time to polish the work and make sure it's all good to read. Thanks to my new found Beta, Ryu Gabriev, it's all possible now. So here it is…

Enjoy!

Torn Skies Chapter 19: Point of No Return

The room was dark somewhat musty smelling. The only light source a blinding overhead light, so beyond the blood-stained tile floor below me I couldn't see much. I strained my ears to catch any distinctive sound I could, but everything was muddled up. Entire conversations arrived as mutters lost in a sea of white noise.

Where the hell was I?

Men in white scrubs approached. They wielded large frightening instruments, whose functions I could only guess at. Then came the bone-saws, the large needles and syringes. Then came pain, massive explosions both lingering and intense. I felt them probe into my limbs with large needles. I felt my bones shift under my skin. The shock of it all passed through me… wave after wave, again and again like a shoreline tide. I could not pass out even if I wanted to, I couldn't take any more of it but they would not stop. It never stopped they went on relentless until I was—

I suddenly jerked upwards into a sitting position from where I lay covered in sweat, eyes hurting, nose blocked. I wiped away my tears. The nausea returned with a vengeance as did the back pain from my rather eventful night last night.

"What the fuck was that?" I said to myself. I tried to wipe off some of the sweat on my face, only to notice my hand come away with blood on the fingertips. Then I remembered: It wasn't long after Jack left, he let me use the room to rest. I laid on the bed and must have fallen asleep. Then, the nightmare -that's what it was-, the memory of it still sent shivers up my spine.

Despite everything throbbing with a dull ache, I got up and looked at myself in the mirror. Thankfully, I went to bed shirtless or else it would have been soaked through just like the sheets. "I never want to go through that again." I said to myself then left to use the shower.

While in the bathroom I examined my back in the mirror. It wasn't pretty. Near the spine below my left shoulder blade, there was a patch of purple. Lines of red spread like a spider web from the bruise. My gaze then drifted to the dark stained tiles in the bathroom, which helped bring the memory of the dream back to my attention. It had seemed so real, more like a memory than a complex nightmare. But when I searched through my memory of journey thus far I realized I had never seen such a place in Columbia. At least, not as myself. The first time I saw such a place was when I played the game as Booker Dewitt, making my way to Chen Lin's interrogation room, where we found him bloodied and dead. The second time was in Comstock House when-

"Oh god." It all came back to me in a rush, as crystal clear as if I'd just seen it moments ago. Elizabeth chained and tied to a chair. Comstock and his scientists experimenting on her, trying to break her will and—Elizabeth! I had to find her! Now, more than ever before I felt the urge to go out and get her. I packed my things into the leather coat Jack lent me then headed downstairs.

"Chen Lin!" I shouted at him over the sound of machinery. "He looked up and switched of his tools. "Can we talk?"

"Yes, what do you want?" He asked when I pulled him off to the side. The entire building was empty, but it still felt safer to pull Chen Lin off into one of the darker corners when I spoke to him. "I need you to wait. I know you have the tools and the equipment fixed, I helped you do it, but I need you to put off manufacturing weapons for the Vox. At least a day or two. There's something I need to do. When you give the Vox their weapons all hell will break loose in Columbia, so please, I ask you to wait."

The elderly chinaman crossed his arms and seemed to give it a bit of thought before responding. "I guess I could do that. Why?"

My eyes hardened. "There's someone I need to get off Columbia. Then… this city can deal with its own problems."

I buttoned the coat up and moved for the front door when I saw the flickering on a table at one of Lin's work stations. It was a large conical bottle, but the contents of it flickered. Between red, blue and yellow. Infusion. I grabbed the infusion while it shone red and drank down the health tonic. Like flipping a switch, the concussion fled from my mind as the back pain receded. A grateful sigh escaped my lips as I headed for the door, only to find the Lutece Twins in my way.

"Simon, what exactly do you think you are doing?" Robert asked with a cautious tone.

I frowned before crossing my arms in a defiant manner. "I'm getting Elizabeth out of here. I know what'll happen if this war continues. And I can't let Ellie get hurt. That's what you want, isn't it? Ellie off this God-forsaken city?"

"What we want is for the girl to put an end to Comstock's schemes." Rosalind answered, her expression as serious as mine. "She can't do that from Paris."

I blinked twice at that. "How do y—"

"We've seen it, Simon." Robert cut off.

"Then it's possible," I confirmed.

"And we do not like how it ends. No one will." The physicist clasped his hands together in front of himself

"Then fix. It. Yourself!" I poked Robert on the lapel of his coat with each stress, letting some of my irritation get into my voice. "You exist in all space and time you are practically gods."

"Just because we exist in all places and all times doesn't necessarily mean that we can do anything about it!" Rosalind snapped back. "We are not gods. We're the helpless audience who must watch events unfold as they will and continue to ask ourselves 'Why in the world did we ever agree to this farce'." Her voice wasn't as loud as the first outburst but she still seethed with frustration. In response, Robert put a reassuring hand on his twin's shoulder. It was the first showing of emotion I had ever seen from her or him. Frankly, I was slightly taken aback— Robert and Rosalind Lutece, whose change of expressions had barely succeeded beyond a smirk and a…

Actually I couldn't even imagine their faces past the occasional smirk of condescension. Then I felt a wave of pity pass through me, I had thought the Luteces were incapable of feeling. I should have been smarter, or kinder, I guess. Just as quickly, another wave passed through my mind: one that seemed to sweep it clean of any other thoughts. "I am sorry, I truly am. But I've made my decision."

Deep within, I steeled myself, "You can't stand the sight of all this. Well, neither can I! But I won't let Ellie be abused any longer. I'm going to get her off of this God-forsaken place. Good bye." If glares were daggers then Rosalind would have surely skewered me to the opposite wall then. Regardless, I held my resolve and did my best to send my own daggers flying back at her—though I doubt it did much to intimidate her.

I turned around and headed for the secret door, but just as I was about to operate the lever, it opened by itself with a very distressed Jack on the other side.

"Simon?" he said equally surprised to find me on the other of the door. "I'm sorry.. but we've got a problem. It's about your friends."

Wonderful, it's not even breakfast yet and I'm already up a creek without a paddle. But the timing seemed too… streamlined. I glanced back at the Luteces, Robert looked distressed, intensely wary, much like the hunter looks on a snarling beast. But it was Rosalind who really stood out. She was smiling. But not a pleasant sort of smile, it was the kind you'd have after putting someone completely into your control and you had no concerns if they knew it or not. The wall behind her began to smolder a bit before I realized I was using my Devil's Kiss.

The hidden door closed behind Jack. "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I did. And a vengeful spirit at that." I said, realizing just about then that I had just made an enemy of the Luteces. "What is it?" I asked.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I turned to face him, not too comfortable with his hostile gaze.

"What?"

The Irishman seemed to shrug off the question from before pressing on with what he was saying when he first came in. "You said I should tell if I saw that bloke and lass you were looking for."

I nodded. "Yes, what of it?"

"Well I found them. They were looking for Chen Lin. And that brings to mind the question of what you're really doing here."

I'm someone from an alternate world trying to save a young woman from being horribly traumatized by a waste of humanity that claims to be her father, you'd know him as Father Comstock. "I'm… just a concerned third party."

That didn't seem to do much to convince him as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Concerned how?"

Should I tell him? How much should I tell him? "Those two are my friends. Like I said, I came up here for her. But they had an… unfortunate... run-in with the Vox. The Vox needed weapons, we needed to be away—a barter was made." I shrugged my shoulders in a rather nonchalant manner, as if I was simply telling him something of little consequence.

Jack's mouth hung slightly open in response. "You think a life is so easily bartered?" His eyes somewhat fierce.

"Are you judging me?"

"Ever since I came through the door." I glared at him for a moment before relenting. I wasn't willing to lose a good ally over this.

I turned back to the door before speaking again. "I brought Chen Lin here instead of straight to the Vox. He asked to be taken here; said it was safe. So I did. I didn't make contact with anybody. I followed him straight to this place, then I went out to get the fuse box, and you know the rest! I don't think the bloody Vox even knows he's out of the Good Time Club yet."

He nodded. "They don't."

I turned back Jack's way. "You checked?"

"Remember when I told you that the Vox assigned me back to Finkton for an assignment? This was it. They wanted me at a post overlooking the Plaza of Zeal. I saw a man and a young lass come in, break some Founder heads, then go into Chen's Shop. They came out some time later, and headed to the Good Time Club. Mrs. Lin is a smart one but I doubt anyone had any idea what to do after that stunt you pulled last night. She must have been outside the know. They went in, started a little war from the looks of it. Then when they came out..."

I blanched at what I knew was coming next. "They were surrounded."

Jack closed his eyes, thinking back to what he had seen. "Three Handy-men and a helluva lot of Flying Squad goons, never once saw so many of them in the same place before. Fink seemed very interested in acquiring those two. Something about a job offer and he wouldn't take no for answer."

"That's it?" I grimaced, wondering if Songbird of all things was about to drop in just to make things complete.

Jack gave off a shiver before he spoke. "No, the poor lass sort of… screamed. Like she was in extreme pain, then she collapsed."

I could almost hear the blood rushing through my ears as my anger grew. "Was she hurt?"

"Sure sounded like she was. But there was no gun shot."

"There's more than one way to skin a cat—"

"You don't understand. They didn't even touch her. She just screamed and fell."

I thought back to the dream I had this morning. Could it have been related? "Regardless. When I get my hands on Fink I'll rip him in half!"

The Irishman grabbed my shoulders and shook me slightly. "Easy there laddie."

I knocked his hands away from me as my eyes hardened. "Where did he take them?"

His expression grew to match mine. "His office. It's on top of the factory. The white behemoth of an office building you can see from almost every part of Finkton."

"Then I'm going now. You coming with me?"

"Give me a chance to load up." He went to his room to pick up some more high power ammunition, then signaled he was ready. I took a small bag of heavy iron ingots from Chen Lin. When he came down, he pointed at the carbine slung behind my back, "I can cover over long distances with my rifle. But if you're going to be inside halls and the like then you're better off without a long barreled weapon like that. Here." He pulled a weapon from behind him, looked like small shotgun. Shorter blunderbuss barrel that open up like a trumpet, wrapped in red cloth—a heater.

"This should be interesting," I said as he tossed me a box of incendiary shells. Then we both left.

"How are you travelling?" Jack asked, hinting at another series of tunnels he knew.

I shuffled through my bag of ingots, picked one and looked at it. Then I looked up at the skies. "The fast way."

"Into the wind, caution is tossed." I smiled wickedly at him.

"Good thing I brought this," He pulled out none other than his own Skyhook, it looked older than the one he owned and it had most certainly been tampered with. He gave it go and it spun up to speed faster than any Skyhook I've seen yet. Yup, definitely tampered with.

"Which general direction?" I asked, to which Jack raised an eyebrow at me in confusion. "Just show me."

He pointed towards the center of Finkton. "That way."

"Right," I looked again at the ingot in my hand, Jack did as well. "This should provide a more stable anchor, heavier too, that means more force I can apply and the farther the push. Provided it finds good surface upon which to land of course."

"Right then. See you there, lad." Jack said as he spun up his Skyhook then took a couple of steps back to get a running start.

"It is I who will be seeing you, my friend." I sprinted instantly after said 'friend', dropping the ingot as I jumped into the air. I pushed upon the ingot with my Vigor, the effort lifting me high above the buildings.

-x-x-x-

When I got there Jack was nowhere to be seen. It seems that I had seriously misjudged the distance and speed at which I traveled. I gave him a minute or two so he could catch up, but as the seconds ticked by I grew more and more restless. Something was happening to Elizabeth, and the longer I stayed up here waiting for Jack the more chance FInk had to do God knows what to her. At the Factory's other entrance, a riot seemed to be building up in strength as masses of soot-coated workers were pounding on the factory doors. Fink's security force seemed aptly overwhelmed by the sheer number of workers. Could be useful as a distraction, but it would have raised the alert level as well making all the more harder to infiltrate the building.

Suddenly shots rang out and the crowd surged forward, despite the staccato of a turret that was quickly mowing down their lines. The mob was in a frenzy to get inside now, which meant one of two conclusions. All the guards are either sent down to deal with this, or moved to the upper floors to protect Fink. With the way these men underestimated the working class, I didn't know which one to pick. I looked around for Jack… Still not here. The former then. The guards were probably being sent down to make sure the rioters didn't get far.

I stood and walked to the far edge, tossed an ingot onto the street then launched myself forward. I arced over the gap with much more dexterity than before. I threw another ingot onto the ground below me, using it to help slow my descent to a gentle landing. My best bet for finding them was Fink's office, and that meant climbing in through the docks. I looked on to the side of the factory, where the walkways stretched out into the air like piers in the sky. Piers made of metal. The line leading from my gut to the walkway was thin and barely visible. I could feel it, but it was like trying to catch a slippery marble inside a bucket of water. I let an ingot fall right underneath me then pushed on it. I continued my ascent until I could feel the walkway as strongly as the Ingot then I pulled myself towards it the rest of the way. I caught unto the edge as I approached the platform and used my momentum to swing over the railing—to the surprise of the Finkton guard. He dropped his cigarette, burning himself in the process, and reached for his gun. At the same time, I pulled an ingot and pushed it at him with all my might while gripping the railing behind me.

The ingot hit him hard in his sternum and began pushing all of his weight back with it. He slid back until he met the railing, which gave him something to grip and resist my assault. I then pushed on other pieces of metal I could feel on his person, his gun, his ammo, his helmet—and finally over the edge he went. He screamed something as he dropped, but the shrieking howl of the wind around me made it impossible to comprehend. I needed to find a way down, up here the buffeting force of the air around me made it hard to hear myself think as well as dry my eyes out. I downed another bottle of salts and reached out with the Metal Master. I perceived the various pieces of metal on people moving around as their owners patrolled the area. Next, I discarded all my remaining ingots on the walkway, save for two of the lighter ones, which I put in my pocket. My knife I removed from my belt and strapped to my left forearm for ease of access.

I had been keeping an eye out for more patrols to be wary of when an impossibly large source of metal swung onto the docks from below, making a great bang as it landed on the iron-wrought floor. About nine feet tall, it seemed almost apelike. It's arms were metal, longer than it's legs, making it an easy task for it to swing about the various areas of Columbia. It's torso was sheathed in steel also, to support the weight of the giant's arms and withstand the impacts of jumping and leaping from perch to perch. It's head however, was unmistakably human.

A Handy-Man. Was it here for me? Now that the full reality of this place had finally set in with me, these mechanized monsters frightened me more than anything else in the city. Even the Boys of Silence, with their ability to rip minor Tears open and generally creep you out during that stage of the game, couldn't match the Handy-Man with their horrifying raw power. The sheer size of it made me feel small and insignificant. I suddenly fell to my knees, feeling the instinct to make myself seem smaller, to hide from that which would so easily destroy me. A moment later, I sighed a breath of relief when the industrial-era cyborg continued on walking around the dock. It had showed no sign it was doing anything other than making it's rounds. Regardless, I was rooted to that spot for a couple of minutes longer before I dropped to the ground.

The whole dock looked to be mostly metal, so it was easy to find anchors to move around with. I carefully snuck my way around several guards, then put a idle crowbar to use. Shooting straight up, I settled on the roof then scaled my way down to the edge of the building, right where Finks office should be. Hitching myself to a beam in the construction, I floated past another floor then slipped into the office building from a window that I forced open.

A single guard was stationed there. Though it was hidden deep within the concrete, I could sense the metal framework of the balcony below. I dropped down, slowed the fall and then bent my knees as I landed in front of him.. The look on his face made me smile for an instant before I pulled my knife out and rammed upwards into his sternum as I stood up. I twisted the knife in. Pushing on all the metal in his body, I sent him tumbling over the edge.

Nobody was in the adjoining room, which I recognized as Fink's private office, so I quickly slipped inside. I could feel the cabling from the lower levels up here, just under the floor. But nothing was here. No great invention, no gaudy luxury, nothing that could answer my question as to why so much power was diverted up here. I looked down at the "clock" on the ground that opened the doors to the separate part of his office. That couldn't possibly take up so much power, it was a gear system operated by the energy applied to the hand crank in the middle. Simple.

The floor suddenly shivered beneath me. I heard the low moan of a Handy-man and before anything else happened I shot upwards and hung onto the rafters on the ceiling. A Handy-man opened the door as Fink walked in with DeWitt and Ellie behind him, each led by two Founder soldiers and then Fink's own personal guards.

"I must admit Mr. DeWitt, you drive a hard bargain. Surely I must have something you'd like. Something I can offer you that you cannot possibly deny." There was a look I could only describe as reminiscence on Booker's face, though it only lasted for a split second. They all stopped at the center of the room and the Handy-man—thankfully—exited and closed the door behind him.

"Fink, there is nothing that you have or can ever make or will ever possess that will interest me. I know your kind and you think that you own the whole world. You think money and power and industry is the future and you can have whatever you want because of it. But I assure you the world will happily go on spinning with or without you."

"Preferably without!" Elizabeth said sharply. I frowned, why was she so angry and hostile? The answer hit me in a flash. Me. With me incommunicado for so long, she must have thought something had happened to me. They both must have. How Booker convinced her to let him take her was beyond me.

Fink smirked confidently as he twirled his mustache. "Oh but that's where you're wrong. I do own the world. I have a monopoly over all trade up here in Columbia. Food, guns, clothes, everything. In a sense, I hold as much sway over this town as Comstock does." Hearing that clearly unnerved the Founder Soldiers, who shuffled uncomfortably where they stood. "Whoever owns Columbia has the power to bully any government into obedience. The world is in her hands. And now that I've got her. Columbia is mine."

"Watch it, Fink! She is the Lamb of the Prophet." The Columbian patriot retorted, frowning.

The business mogul only smiled then nodded in the direction of his men. The soldier that spoke suddenly had his throat slit by Fink's man behind him. The Founder next to him recoiled in surprise and brought up his gun but not before he was gunned down by the rest of Fink's men The two remaining Flying Squad members followed immediately after. Booker and Ellie and I were all stunned silent at the outright casual way in which the four men had been dealt with.

"With her here, Comstock will do anything I ask." Fink continued as if nothing had just happened. "After the Luteces' unfortunate accident, he can't see into the future anymore. At least not without her." Ellie's opened her mouth to speak but ended up closing it again as the entrepreneur continued. "I know all about your special ability, little girl. Who do you think built your tower?"

"You son of a bitch." DeWitt hissed.

"I have plans for you too Mr. DeWitt. If you won't work for me then I'll make sure the rest of you do."

The former Pinkerton jerked slightly at the strange turn of phrase. "What?"

The master of Finkton threw his arms out wide in a grand gesture. "You have unmatched fighting skills Mr. DeWitt. Unmatched experience, unmatched hatred. Imagine what a bunch of you can do. Imagine a whole army!"

Booker's eyes narrowed. "You're bluffing! How would you—"

"The Future lies in DNA Mr. DeWitt. That Suchong may be some glory hounding slant eyed orient, but he can be right on target on some occasions. All the things I know of now. All the knowledge: DNA, Plasmids, soon I'll even have computers! Machines that can think and process information will make those Wright Brothers look like toddlers with miniature models! Forget Comstock and his little crusade, with all that I have access to I could be a God! The whole world Is. Mine." I was stunned silent from what I was hearing come out of Fink's mouth. He's mad.

Ellie suddenly launched herself at Fink, but his men held her back. "I'll never help you! You sick, sick—" His backhand smashed into her face, silencing her. That. Is. It.

The master of Finkton reared back his hand as if to swing it again. "You'll learn not to use that tone with me girl. Or else..."

"Or else what?" Fink recoiled in shock and turned to look up as I dropped down into the middle of the group. Two ingots shot out of my hands while I pushed myself in the opposing direction—holding me in place as the heavy pieces crunched the heads of two Finkton guards. I pulled out my heater shotgun and quickly peppered the three remaining men with overheated shrapnel, smirking somewhat at my sudden luck at getting three with one spray like that. Finally, I turned back to Fink and simply took my revolver and shot him cleanly in the left foot, making him screaming impotent rage as he hopped back and forth on his uninjured leg. I stood up and turned to the shocked Mr. DeWitt, laughing a little on this inside as I committed his current expression to memory. Ellie was looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite place. I turned away from the two of them and started for the door, speaking as I walked. "It's a long story. Now we've got to-"

The door smashed open and a Handy-man landed in the middle of the room. I panicked at the sight of it, all but freezing in place allowing the big lug to grab me by the torso with his powerful right hand. He was about to fling me into the window when Fink yelled out for him to stop. The Handy-man groaned in confusion then dangled me upside down in front of the entrepreneur, shaking me till all my weapons fell out.

With all the blood rushing to my head, things started to take a somewhat surreal feeling to my senses. I heard an explosion go off, but no sign of a fireball or blast wave. From my upside-down positioning, I looked at Fink and Booker who were staring at something just outside my field of vision. Sparks then seemed to dance across my field of vision as a woman screamed a shrill cry. I heard Elle's voice then, but it sounded strained somehow. "You want to see into the future? You want to see other worlds? Well here it is, you monster! Enjoy the show!" The in the middle of the room shimmered, the way air would over a hot flame. Then came an iridescent blue glow. The glow of a fully-formed Tear.

And through it came an RPG shot, detonating against the Handy-man's wide flank and knocking everyone to the floor. Everyone except said Handy-man, who still had me in his grip as he staggered about. Thankfully that explosion ended up knocking me back to reality, so I was in turn able to give the big bruiser something new to think about. I managed to pull the Heater shotgun back into my possession then aimed it at the Handy-man's head. The blast made the titanic tin man drop me as he tried to stamp out the smoldering burns on his chest and head. I picked up the rest of my weapons then turned back to Booker and Elle.

"Let's go!" Booker shouted, pointing at the tear. I ran at the portal and was about to step through when Elizabeth pulled me back as the portal slammed shut. An enraged Fink waved at us with a strange little device in his hands. "First Rule of Business, m'boy: Know exactly who you're dealing with!" He pressed the device in his hands once more and the walls retreated to reveal…

Siphons.

So that's where all the energy was going. I would have done myself a great favor by cutting the wires to that thing this morning. The mechanism powered up quickly, causing Elizabeth to collapse to the floor. At the same time the doors burst open with scores of Fink's men rushing inside. I tossed my revolvers at Booker who caught them with ease and began wielding them like a gunslinger from the Old West. In the span of several shots, the guardsmen of Finkton had been driven back to the office doors where Booker currently held them at bay. Fink took to hiding behind the now lifeless corpse of the Handy-man, though he didn't stop ranting and taunting the three of us. With the old Pinkerton agent covering the door, I focused my attention on Elizabeth curled up on the floor with her hands over her ears.

I put my hand on her shoulder, and whispered in her ear. "Ellie, you have to open it again. You have to resist those Siphons! Fink's hoping you'll cave in under this pressure; It's what he wants. Defy him, prove him wrong! I believe in what you can do." She slowly turned her head up to look at me, the same alienation and hostility was in her eyes from when I last looked at her several minutes ago. But then, for one brief second, I saw that warmth she had at the time I fell into her tower and said 'hi'.

Then she stood tall, as if defying a god that stood in her way. "You can do it, Ellie!" I cheered. She then reached out, grabbed reality by it's very essence and rent it asunder. The scene lit up in blue as the universe cracked open and the other shone through the tear. Elizabeth hurriedly walked through it with me close behind I followed. DeWitt got through last, walking backwards, facing the enemy and covering our retreat. He made it through just as the guns clicked empty.

"Close it, Elizabeth! What are you waiting for?" Booker shouted.

"Him." Ellie said it with a coldness in her voice never before heard. Fink hobbled as fast as he could at us, all the while screaming his denial at his plots being undone before his eyes.

"You want other universes Fink? You got it." Elizabeth's face was coldly neutral as she spoke. Fink finally broke into a full run with his arms outstretched. Fink got halfway through the tear, the look of victory evident on his face.

Then Elizabeth simply let go and we all watched the Tear close on Jeremiah Fink.