Loop Three

[wipeawaythedebt]

When he wakes up it's slowly, his neck screaming and his mouth tasting the wrong end of a horse. It's a familiar, if somewhat disorienting feeling. The kind of feeling he used to have waking up after - no. Not again. Booker's eyes fly open and the first thing he does is grab the paper. It's still on his desk, just like before, same date and everything. Whatever's happening is still happening and he'll be hanged if this time he doesn't stop it cold.

Reaching into his desk, he pulls out his revolver, checking to make sure it's loaded.

"What is it you Americans are so fond of saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?"

Lutece. Raising the gun, Booker takes aim at the man standing in the corner.

"Really, Mr. DeWitt, do you think that is going to get you out of this predicament? You should consider yourself lucky, my sister isn't nearly as convinced as I am of your eventual success. She'd simply allow you to keep going over and over again. Or she will. So hard to tell the difference sometimes."

Pulling the hammer back, Booker can hardly recognize the growl that comes up from his chest, "What kind of sick game is this? What do you want?"

"I want? Dear, man, haven't you guessed it yet, this has nothing to do with me. But do let's wait for the ladies to rejoin us so that we might all get on the same page. I fear some new ground rules need to be established."

Booker doesn't lower the gun, but he eases off the trigger a little. "Fine. We'll wait."

Comments

[professionalcuriosity]

It was strange enough the first time around, bewildering the second. Now, opening her eyes in the lobby yet again, Alana is starting to feel afraid. She tries her best to shake the weariness from her limbs as she gets up, looking for Elizabeth. She nods toward the stairs.

"Looks like we've got another go round," she says, wary. "Why does it keep happening?"

[cagedlamb]

Waking up still was a bewildering, hazy experience. But she does wake up again, and the memory of what had happened got her up quicker than normal. The moment she saw Alana, she knew exactly what had happened.

The hows of it wasn't important just then.

"We need to find Booker," she said, even though if they were back to where they were, surely he had returned to the beginning as well. Surely he would be alright. Still -

She was already going up the stairs as she said over her shoulder, "Come on."

[wipeawaythedebt]

He's half surprised his hand isn't shaking as he holds the gun and waits. After doing this twice, he knows the girls are nearby, but that's about it.

"What do you mean this isn't about you? You're the one trying to hire me to kidnap Elizabeth from Comstock for your... experiments."

Lutece gives him a look he can't recognize, almost like the man's sad about something. "Is that what the deal is for?"

[professionalcuriosity]

Alana pushes open the door without knocking. This time around, it's clearer to her that, for some reason, time is repeating. Stranger still, they're all aware of it, and so she knows Booker is here. Undoubtedly he knows they're on their way.

What she doesn't expect is for Lutece to be there already. Her brow furrowing, she holds up her arm in front of Elizabeth, though it wouldn't do much to protect her if he tried anything. "How is he here?" He's not supposed to be here yet.

[cagedlamb]

Elizabeth was used to the strange loop of time at that point. It was why the sudden change worried her - they had clearly gone up much faster, why was he here? What was happening? The look on Lutece's face was almost pitying.

"What do you want? Why him? Why did you send him?" she asked, finally getting tired of all of this. She stayed behind Alana, but a part of her wanted to approach herself, even if it was potentially dangerous. "What is going on?"