Lamentation
"Hop hop, Mr. B! No time to waste!"
The little girl's cheerful cry was followed by the deep, whale-like rumble of the Big Daddy. When he heard them, Delta knew he was close.
He hurried into the reception area of the Triton Theater, sloshing across the flooded floor. He passed the entrance to the bathrooms on his left, only stopping to pick up some rounds for his machine gun.
He stepped through the open door at the end of the room and walked a few more steps to enter the theater proper. There, on the stage, were the pair he was looking for-an Elite Bouncer and his charge. Delta moved down the aisle, and got only halfway down it when crazed shouting rang out across the theater. Seconds later, Spider Splicers dropped down from the ceiling and launched themselves at the Big Daddy, desperate to dispatch him and get to his Little Sister.
Bad move.
The Bouncer, anticipating their attack, swung his harpoon arm, hitting both of them with crushing force, sending them flying straight to the other end of the theater. They bounced off the wall as several Leadhead Splicers rushed in to assault the Big Daddy, firing with their Thompson sub-machine guns and shotguns. They might as well have been using peashooters for all the damage they did.
The Bouncer revved up his harpoon after placing his charge on his shoulder. He charged at the group of oncoming Splicers, scattering them in all directions, some hitting the floor and others crashing into the walls. One unfortunate Splicer had fallen on his back directly in front of the Bouncer, who then rammed his spinning harpoon into his chest. Blood, guts, and bits of bone sprayed all over, but it didn't affect Delta much. He himself had done that with his own drill.
Delta was tempted at first to help the other Big Daddy, if only to make the sure the Little Sister was unharmed, but then decided against it given the knowledge that Big Daddies, much like himself, were more than capable of dealing with some Splicers. This was proven when Delta felt the sharp pain of sub-machine gun rounds hitting him. He whirled on the Splicer and brought up his own .50 caliber machine gun-a true machine gun-and mowed her down in seconds. Afterward, Delta gave it no more thought and turned his attention back to the fight. He decided he would wait until it was over and the Bouncer weakened before making his move.
True to his reputation, the Bouncer dispatched the Splicers quickly, leaving their bodies sprawled all around the theater. He had hefted the Little Sister onto his back during the fight, and now he set her back down to return to her ADAM-gathering duties. She happily did so, singing some nursery rhyme. She approached a corpse, large ADAM harvesting needle in hand, and Delta chose the moment to strike. He summoned the flames of Incinerate, loaded armor-piercing rounds into his machine gun, and charged.
The duo looked up at his rumbling footsteps, and Delta unleashed the flames on the opposing Big Daddy. The Bouncer roared in pain while Delta unloaded into him machine gun fire. The Bouncer faced Delta and charged forward with a drill dash., which Delta nimbly sidestepped. The Bouncer kept going and crashed into the theater chairs.
Delta took the chance and fired several heavy rivets into the Bouncer as he stood. The Bouncer bellowed and rammed his spinning harpoon into the ground. Delta had experience with this maneuver, had seen it countless times while fighting other Bouncers, so he knew what to do. He jumped as the shock wave was about to reach him.
Delta knew that getting caught in the shock wave would momentarily slow his movements, which could potentially lead to his death at the opposing Big Daddy's hand.
The Alpha Series was another opportunity as the Bouncer was immobile and jumped on it. He brought up his upgraded double-barreled shotgun-six-barreled now-full of phosphorus buck, and emptied it all into the Bouncer. The buck ignited and the Bouncer roared in pain, panicking.
Delta switched to his grenade launcher and fired a heat-seeking RPG. The explosion knocked the Big Daddy off his feet. He stood back up, flames smothered by the force of the explosive's impact, and Delta, anticipating his next move, extinguished Incinerate and summoned Electro-Bolt, and brought up his drill.
The Bouncer revved his harpoon and moved to dash forward, but the Alpha series didn't allow him the chance. He fired a bolt and the Bouncer convulsed, electricity coursing through him, leaving him unable to move. Delta rushed forward and bashed the Bouncer with his drill, sending him reeling back. The Big Daddy recovered and struck back with his harpoon, eliciting a grunt of pain from Delta.
Soon, the Big Daddy and Alpha Series' confrontation devolved into a close-quarters fight. Metal clashed against metal as their respective weapons swung, colliding with their intended targets. Delta, and no doubt the Bouncer as well, felt that this particular fight would be over with, if only he could find the space to rev up his drill and ram it into the Bouncer. As close as they were, though, he couldn't do so, and wouldn't be able any time soon. The Bouncer wasn't going to let him go that easily.
The Big Daddy swung his harpoon around, but Delta managed to deflect it with his drill. He bashed the Bouncer across the faceplate and kicked him with a heavy boot. The Bouncer reeled away before whirling to face Delta, who jumped on the chance. H zoomed forward with a drill dash. His drill slammed straight into the Bouncer's faceplate again.
The Big Daddy was knocked back several yards, his body gong limp. The portholes on his faceplate, which had been glowing an angry red during their fight, now emitted a soft yellow glow.
The Bouncer was dead.
Delta stood there, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps, as the Little Sister he fought the Bouncer for scampered past him and went to the fallen Big Daddy. She buried her face in her hands, somehow not impaling her eye with her huge needle, and began to bawl her eyes out.
Her crying rang throughout the theater, and Delta thought it might attract Splicers. Not wanting to deal with any, he approached the Little Sister. Like all of the Sisters before her, her sobs and sniffles immediately ceased. She looked up at him, yellow eyes glowing brightly. A droplet of moisture slid down her cheek, and she absently wiped it away. He had a cheerful smile on her dirty, tear-streaked face. Her brown hair, reaching down to her back, was fashioned into a ponytail, held in place by a flimsy, dirty bow. The purple dress she wore was filthy, and torn in some places. Her bare feet were filthy as well, caked in dirt and grime and God knew what else.
God...? Yes, God. Delta would never have thought of using that word-being a Big Daddy, he never had reason to-but hearing it uttered by countless Splicers, and his own allies, he had found himself using it more and more. From what he picked up from listening to the audio diaries left behind by the founder of this wretched city, Andrew Ryan hated religion, having built Rapture so that the "worthy" could get away from it. Saying the word, or rather, thinking it-he was still incapable of normal human speech-let like he was getting back at the son of a bitch. As if he were giving him a "Fuck you"from this life.
The Little Sister was still staring up at him, smiling, as if she were unaware that he had just killed the being she was mentally conditioned into believing was her father.
Delta's gaze went from her back to the fallen Bouncer.
Ever since he had awoken in front of that Vita-Chamber a mere twelve hours ago-it seemed like so much longer-he had found himself feeling much more emotion, a flood of it, ranging from anger, sadness, awe, and even a touch of fear whenever he fought a Big Sister. There were times when there was just too much emotion at once that it had become over whelming, and he would collapse on his knees, where he could do nothing but wait for it to fate. Once, it was exacerbated to such a horrible degree when he collapsed just he was hit with a enormous pain form being separated from Eleanor too long. The overwhelming emotions never lasted long, though, as a group of Splicers that had tried to take advantage of his momentary weakness had found out the hard way.
Now, staring at the dead Bouncer, Delta felt another emotion he had begun to feel more of recently-pity. No, not just pity. Remorse, too. As he had trekked through Rapture he had to kill other Big Daddies to get to their Little Sisters. He had killed those that were his brethren. There were all forced into these suits, grafted into them, and been injected with enough ADAM to sate the thirsts of five Brute Splicers, twisting them into these abominations. They shared a common experience, no, a common nightmare, which would under normal circumstances unite them. But with their mental conditioning, they were forced to kill each other to survive.
He felt a sort of kinship with the Big Daddies, and that was why he did not want to kill them for their Little Sisters. It didn't matter if he rescued them after they gathered ADAM for him, he had still been forced to kill his brethren. That's why rescuing Little Sisters was such a bittersweet experience.
Delta shook his head at such a meaningless loss of life, even if the Big Daddies were, for all intents and purposes, automatons, hulking brutes with no minds to call their own, driven on purely by their programming. It was just another consequence of being in this Godforsaken city.
Delta looked down when the Little Sister tapped him on the leg. "Daddy, are you okay?" she asked in that disturbing double voice every Little Sister he had encountered so far had.
As usual, Delta's attempt at speech came out as a low groan. Despite that, the Little Sister smiled, seemingly understanding the noise. Delta turned back to the Bouncer and placed a heavy, gloved hand on his faceplate, hoping he found peace in the afterlife.
He scooped up the Little Sister and hoisted her onto his shoulder. He walked away in search of a corpse from which the girl could harvest ADAM from, lamenting the loss of yet another Protector at his hand.