Rescue the Little Sisters

The title "Rescue the Little Sisters" caught my eye immediately, like a warning bell going off in the back of my mind. It was the kind of unease you get when you walk down a dark street and feel like you're being watched—subtle, but undeniable.

Then I read the description, and yeah, I knew I had to take it.

Mission: Rescue the Little Sisters

Details: Descend into the depths of Rapture, a crumbling city beneath the sea, and rescue twenty-one (21) Little Sisters—young girls who have been turned into the gatherers and producers of ADAM. Be warned, their Big Daddies will oppose you, and the city's Splicers will stop at nothing to kill them.

Reward: 1,000 Points

Mission Difficulty: Hard

I wasn't going to let kids suffer. I didn’t need to think about it beyond that.

Still... a city under the water. It sounded almost fantastical. I mean, it's not really anymore out there than people who can fly or shoot lasers out of their hands. We even had an incomplete moon base, I'm pretty sure. But still. It reminded me of Atlantis. Albeit a ruined one.

Technically every Atlantis is a ruin but semantics.

With my choice made, I focused my attention on the empty search bar.

The last mission had been mostly climbing and scaring off animals. Even the fight against the troll. Sure, it was scary, but there wasn't anything it could do when it was being swarmed by bugs. But a whole city? That would be full of people and whatever Splicers and Big Daddies trying to kill me? That was different. This felt like the real deal—a mission where I could actually die.

Like a real cape mission. A real fight. My first one.

And I still didn’t have a cape name.

I groaned internally. Great priorities, Taylor.

I began typing. First on my list: weapons.

Sure, my bugs were surprisingly useful, but I needed something reliable for close combat, something that wouldn’t leave me hanging if things got bad. Back when I first planned to go out as a cape, I considered a baton—simple, effective. I figure there's no reason not to go with that original plan. I even found one with a stun feature, not too expensive either.

Stun Baton: 100 Points.

Perfect. A non-lethal stick that can buy me precious seconds against whatever enemy I run into. I added it to my cart.

Next up: diving gear. I mean, I didn’t know how much of Rapture was actually underwater, but "beneath the sea" wasn’t exactly vague. If there was even a chance of me needing to swim for my life, I wasn’t about to take any risks. I spent a good chunk of time scrolling through options, trying to figure out what I could afford that can let me survive at abyssal depths.

As I browsed, I actually found three interesting but unrelated items: Body Booster (300 Points), Soul Booster (100 Points), Mind Booster (400 Points). Each one would raise the corresponding stat by one. I stared at them for a long moment. It seemed like boosting any stat cost 100 times the number you're about to raise it to. They were tempting. I hovered over the Body Booster for a while. More strength would’ve made climbing the Seven Thousand Steps much easier. But I didn’t press it. I couldn’t afford to waste points—and I really doubted being a bit stronger would help me that much.

Eventually, I found what I was looking for: a Necklace of Abyssal Depths that gave immunity to ocean pressure. That cost me 300 points. I added a Rebreather mask for another 100 points, which would let me breathe underwater for an hour. It was expensive, but I had a sinking (heh) feeling it would be necessary. If I don't end up in a situation where the entire place flooded, or I at least have to go for a swim, I'll be shocked.

With that, I only had 13 points left. Not enough to get anything super useful, but it'd be nice if I could finally wear something besides my costume again. I especially needed some new underwear. So, I threw in some basic supplies until I had zero points left. With everything ordered, the items materialized in front of me.

Peeling off my costume and underwear for the first time since this whole adventure started, I let out a sigh of relief. I just kind of stood there for a while, enjoying the freedom and really wishing I could take a shower. I saw in the store that I can apparently buy one as a "Home Addon" for a hundred points, and I don't think I can describe how tempted I was to buy it.

Eventually, I sighed and started getting dressed in my new equipment. Starting by putting on the skin tight dive suit. It was much less comfortable than my costume on account of not being made out of silk. Thankfully, like my costume, it has padding, so I wasn't showing off anything.

I picked up the necklace, holding it gingerly between my thumb and forefinger. The chain was silver, the pendant a large black gem. It was a lot nicer than I expected. And a hell of a lot more expensive. I put it on, and felt the strangest sensation. It was like I had stepped out of a warm room into a cool breeze, and then the feeling was gone.

The rebreather, on the other hand, was nothing fancy. It looked like something out of an old diving movie, with a clunky mouthpiece and a tube attached to a small, clear tank. I tested it—it worked fine, but comfort wasn’t its strong suit.

I put it on. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but I figured that was a small price to pay.

Strapping the stun baton to my side, I reopened the mission list, and pressed Rescue the Little Sisters.