This is a prequel to my current series Now and Forever. Once again I don't own anything of bioshock, but it fucking rocks. So here it is.

Saving Them

Delta hit the button on the elevator, there was a small ding heard, and then came the sound of the door sliding shut behind him. The elevator went up about one inch, and then proceeded to lower itself. He was descending into Persephone, after all he had done, it came down to this. He had a strange feeling over himself, like the feeling a soldier gets when he's about to be dropped it battle. He knew it wasn't going to be easy, but was willing to do whatever it took, because he had a reason to fight. He loved Eleanor more than anything in the world, and he would damn himself before he let anything bad happen to her.

He took a quick run through of his weapons, he didn't know what was up ahead, but he wanted to be prepared. His drill fuel was full, so he wouldn't have to worry about that. He was slightly low on rivet, as well as machine gun ammo, and grenades. He did have plenty of spears, as well as two reloads for his shotgun, and hack darts were in ample supply. He would have to find a vending machine up ahead, if there was one that is. Just as he was finished inspecting his weapons and ammo, Sinclair came over his radio. He told Delta that he needed to hurry, because Sofia was sending a lot of trouble his way. Delta gave out a very confident grunt; he knew he had to end it.

The elevator started to slow down slightly as they approached to bottom. When it got to the bottom, another ding was heard, and it cam to a full stop. Delta stepped out of the elevator, not sure if he should be expecting someone or not. He walked a little further up, and noticed something in the corned of the small room he was in. He went up to inspect what it was, and it turned out to be a proximity mine. Not wanting to waste ammo, Delta quickly grabbed it, and put it with the rest of them. He then preceded forward, the door at the end of the room immediately opened at his presence. He looked inside, and found it to be some sort of lobby area. At least, that's what it looked like to him. He didn't waste time with deciding what it was though, he was on a mission, and he needed to get it done.

He gave out one of his signature whale calls, and it echoed through the room, as well as the rest of the building. The reason he did this, is because he was calling out to Eleanor. He was trying to call out her name, but as usual the voice modification hindered it. He knew that Eleanor would know that it was him, he just wanted to reassure her that he was here. Then he quickly made his way around the other side of the wall, and into a tunnel system that led into the building. The tunnel itself was comprised of glass, allowing anyone who entered it to see the ocean world outside. He look down, and saw that some of the building was perched on large rock, supported by extremely large I-beams. The beams themselves were covered in a lot of under plant life. Many fish could be seen swimming by as well. The tunnel, like many of the placed in Rapture, was leaking in a few areas.

Delta quickly overlooked the sight of the sea outside, he wanted to stay as focused as possible. He had his drill at the ready, he knew it would give him any distance, but he could just as easily charge at his enemies and take them out. He jogged down the tunnel, not wanting to tire himself, incase he need to fight at any time. When he made it about half way, he saw an old storage crate in one of the tubes corners. He went up and opened the top, and inside was things that would indeed help. It held twenty rounds of machine gun ammo, a pep bar, and one grenade. He took the ammo out first, for that was the thing that mattered most at the moment. He then took the pep bar out and preceded to eat it, it helped him calm down a little bit to have something in his stomach.

After he finished raiding the box, he continued down the tunnel. When he was about three quarters of the way down the tunnel, he could see another door up ahead. Suddenly, and without any warning at all, his vision became blurred by that pink color again. He knew Eleanor was talking to him, but he was unsure what it was about, until he heard her voice. "Father, come quickly. I-I'm trapped in a cage, something's wrong." She said to him in a very frantic voice. Delta quickly regained his composure after Eleanor finished communicating with him, and his sight came back to normal. Without hesitating for one moment, Delta ran as fast as he could down the rest of the tunnel, Eleanor was in trouble and he needed to get there fast.

As soon as he got close enough to the door, it sprang open and he quickly made his way inside. He was heading down a corridor; it was a complete mess from the ceiling that had collapsed. Chairs were scattered everywhere, and he could hardly find a decent way around piles of rubble. He managed to carve a path through the debris, managing to pick up a few dollars along the way. When he made it about halfway down the hall, Lamb came over his radio again. "I wonder Delta," Lamb said to him, "do you know why you are here? Have you any idea what my daughter has given you? As I watch you now, I envy your ignorance. You still believe." Delta curled his hands into fists, he so desperately wanted to retort, but he knew he couldn't. It's strange how the man without a voice, can still show what he has on his mind. The only thing he did, was give out an angry growl.

As he continues down the hallway, he ran into a Power to the People station. He knew he would need everything he could get his hands on in order to defeat whatever Lamb had up ahead for him. He looked through the selections, and opted for an upgrade to his spear gun. A rotary mechanism that gave the spear spin, would give him a great advantage. He made his way further down the corridor, the path became easier due to there being less debris up ahead. When he came to the end of the hall, he then spied a few more things that would to his advantage. Right in the corner, were two vending machines and a mini turret. He quickly picked up the mini turret, and then proceeded to hack the other two machines. With all the time he spent hacking through Rapture, he made short work of the two of them. Acting fast, he filled up on ammo for all of his weapons; he knew this might be his last chance to get what he needed.

He turned around, and continued down the hallway, not wanting anything else to distract him. He came to the end of another hallway, and sitting right there in the middle of the floor, was a sentry bot. Wanting all of the help he could get, Delta quickly made the security bot go to his side. After he was through hacking the small robot, Delta gave him a power upgrade, and named the little thing "Spot." Being a handy man defiantly had its advantages. He then turned his attention back to his journey, and came to another door. It opened right up for him, and let him see inside the place he had been trying to get to for so long.

Delta took a step inside, and was astounded by what he saw. There were two Greek style pillars in the middle of the room. The room itself was not lit very well, but he could still make out everything around it. It was only after a quick look forward, after he had been darting his head around to get a look at everything, he noticed the main feature in the huge room. He couldn't see what it was, so he went up the stairs to get a better look at what was there. He could see that it was some sort of giant chamber, with glass windows surrounding the entire outside. Candles were lit all around it, being one of the only light sources in the room. A red carpet led all the way from the door to the giant room. He couldn't make what was inside from the distance he was at, so he took one step forward, and immediately gasped as he could finally make out what was inside of it.

There was a young woman lying on a bed, she had short black hair, pale skin, and was dressed in a plain white dress. He immediately knew that it was her, there was no doubt in his mind. It was Eleanor. Without another moment's hesitation, he darted forward, making the small pool of water he passed through splash like someone had thrown large rocks in. When he finally reached the entrance to the chamber, he pressed his chest and hands against the glass, like a child would do at a zoo to watch the animals. But Eleanor was no animal, so he couldn't help but wonder why she was being trapped like one.

Augusts Sinclair came over the radio again, and he confirmed that it was indeed his Eleanor. He also said other things to him, but Delta wasn't listening to him, there was an overwhelming amount of feeling overtaking him as he looked at Eleanor. Delta then spoke to her, not through his words, but through his mind. He thought that maybe she would be able to hear what he was saying in his mind, but he didn't know he was right. "Oh god, Eleanor…" Delta spoke through his mind in a teary voice, "my baby…it's ok, daddy's here now…daddy's here, and he's going to make everything alright." Delta let his head hang a little bit, thinking about the time he failed her, but he wouldn't let it happen again. His hand curled into fists against the glass, and then he lifted his head to look at her, while he spoke to her through thought again. "Eleanor," he spoke in a more serious tone in thought, "I swear to you, I am going to get you out of here. I'll get you out or I will die trying."

He looked to the left, and noticed the lever that would activate the decontamination chamber. He pushed himself away from the glass, and took a step over to the lever. He took the lever with his left hand, took in a very deep breath, and then with one quick motion of his arm, he pulled it down. "Warning, Quarantine system disengaged. Please stand by…" The machine activated, and was now readying for Delta to enter, but he didn't know how long it would take. Delta stood there and waited for a few seconds, but he learned from past experience that if you're waiting for something in this city, there are sometimes consequences for what you're waiting for.

"How will she remember us after this moment?" Sofia said over the radio, "I have placed my pieces on the board, as expected… as have you. Is this what she hoped for? Mother and father locking eyes… and yet we are still blinded. Goodbye Subject Delta and take heart… for you, at least, have escaped your legacy."

That's when it rang through the room, that god-awful banshee wail. Delta quickly turned himself around to get a better look at where she might be coming from. He darted his head around a few times, but he couldn't see where she might be. That's when it hit him, and he slowly lifter his head up towards the ceiling. Sure enough, he saw that blood red glow. She jumped from he position on the ceiling, and fell to the pool of water below. She landed with a splash in a crouching position. She lifted her head up and stared him down. The security bot that Delta had with him remained indifferent, it only attacked if its commander was under fire. She rose from her position, fists at her sides and stood there… but she didn't attack him. Why isn't she attacking me? Delta thought to himself. Just then he heard another one of those terrifying screeches. The Big Sister moved her head up slowly to look at the ceiling, as she did, Delta did also. That's when they both saw it, another red eye. It did the same as her sister before her, only she landed on her sister's right side.

The Big Sisters looked at each other for a moment, and then simultaneously look to Delta. Every thing in Deltas mind came to a stand still; they were just looking at him, like he was camouflaged in the wrong area. "So, it comes down to this." One of the sisters spat at him. Delta was taken aback by hearing this. She speaking in a form tongue that was that was only understood by big daddies. It was only done with the Alpha Series, to insure that they could communicate and help each other if their little one got lost. Delta had completely forgotten about. Then again, it isn't like he had anybody to ever use it with, all of the other Alpha's were dead or had gone made. He quickly recovered from he speaking, and then spoke back.

"We don't need to do this," Delta spoke to them through the secret language (which all it was, was a series of grunts and moans), "just leave now, and I will not kill you." The two sisters just stood and laughed in a menacing fashion. "You don't honestly think you have a chance against us, do you?" the sister on Deltas right asked, "You may have defeated some of us before, but you won't last against our combined strength." "How about this?" said the sister on Deltas left, "You surrender now, and we'll make your death quick." Delta looked at both of them for a moment, and realized that there was no way to get out of this. But, he wasn't going to let the Big Sisters have a victory today, and he was severely by just their presence.

Delta forced the light of his helmet to turn red, something he hadn't done in a long time. "I have not…" he said in an angry tone, as his left hand lit up with fire, "come this far…" he then took out his rivet gun, "to die." "You want my life?" after saying that, the fire in his hand became blue hot, which caught the sisters by surprise, but they didn't back down. "Well then come and take it from me!" Delta shouted out at the as he took up a battle stance. The two sisters chuckled, "I love it when they go down fighting." One of them said condescendingly.

The two of them charged directly at him, hoping to catch him off guard, but Delta was quicker with reacting then they had hoped for. He quickly lifted his left hand, and an explosion of fire stopped the sister on the right, sending her back a few feet. Delta then focused his attention to the still oncoming sister, and sent a volley of burning rivets flying towards hers. The Big Sister reacted fast to the oncoming projectiles, and jumped to her right to avoid them. She landed on the side of the pillar, and then lunged at him. Before he could get off another trail of rivets, she had landed on him. She quickly raised her needle up and impaled him. He gave out a grunt of pain, and then she back flipped off of him. He took the moment while she was in the air to switch his weapons out, going for his launcher. Before she landed, Delta managed to shot out a grenade were he approximated she would land, and he was right on. She landed on her feet, only to discover the grenade right at her feet. The grenade detonated, causing her to become disoriented for a few moments. Before he could set off another explosive at her, Delta was violently hit by some sort of flying object. He turned his head to see the other Big Sister hurling large objects at him through the use of the telekinesis plasmid. He hadn't been paying attention to her to notice she had been charging it up. She sent a large boulder strait towards him, thinking she would get another hit in. Delta reacted quickly, pulling up his telekinesis, catching it and throwing it back at her. Unfortunately, the boulder shattered against another that was circling around her. She was preparing to throw another, when out of nowhere; machine gun fire started raining down on her. Delta jerked his head to the side and Spot, ringing his alarm and distracting her with the gunfire. Delta acted quickly and threw out a mini turret to help aid his flying friend. The turret burst open, searched the area for a target, and quickly got to work on the frustrated Big Sister. With her being distracted by his little machine friends, Delta turned his attention back to the other sister.

He was met with a foot to the face, as the sister kicked him back a few feet and staggered him. Delta quickly regained himself and brought his sight back to his opponent. Her hand glowed bright with fire, and then she let out a small cry before unleashing the hell fire on him. Delta tried dodging the fireballs, but most of them hit their target. Whilst he was attempting to dodge the on coming attack, he heard a small explosion. He glanced over quickly to see that the mini turret had been destroyed, and Spot was looking worse for wear. The fire from the sister ceased, he looked back at her as she was preparing to charge at him. Just as she was doing that, Delta heard Spot's final distress call, and then another small explosion. He was alone now. She made her charge at him, intent on bring him to the ground. When she was only a few feet away, Deltas hand became coated with ice. He lifted his hand up and spread his fingers, and froze her in her tracks, just as she was a mere three feet away.

He brought up his drill, intent on smashing her to pieces, but just as he had his arm cocked back, he heard another wail. With his arm still cocked back he turned his head to see the other sister making another charge at him, intent on finishing what the other started. Delta waited for the exact moment to strike, for it had to be exact for what he was planning. Just when she was a few feet away from him, he rocket his drill forward. It hit her square across the side of her helmet, causing her to turn around to face away from him. The force from his hit also sent her back about two feet, and then she fell onto her stomach. Thinking fast, he wasn't going to allow her a second to recover. He took her by the ankle, and held it as tight as he could. In a manner of a swinging motion, he turned a full 180-degrees, and then he swung her put over his head, and slammed her into the ground. Not even giving her a chance to cough from the wind being knocked out of her, he then did a 90-degree turn on the balls of his heels, swinging her sideways, and slamming her head against one of the pillars in the center of the room. He flipped her up over his head again, and slammed her into the ground once more. Once more he swung her up over his head, only this time, when he was three quarters of the way to the floor, he let go of her ankle, allowing her to fly through the air. She spun slightly in the air; the back of her head hit the solid wall first, hard. She fell to the floor, but she didn't try to get. She was unconscious, but it would only be for a short while. Take this, Delta turned back to her frozen sibling, who had just cracked through her icy prison. "Just you and me now." Delta said to her, she only glared at him. With a swift motion, he pulled out his shotgun, and began rapidly firing. The Big Sister dodged widely, but delta got four of his six shot into her, although it didn't look like it did anything to her.

Now very injured and alone, the sister made a last ditch attempt to get the advantage. She lunged at him while screaming, but he stood his ground. Not wanting to take the time to reload his shotgun, Delta quickly switched to his spear gun. He left the gun up, the magnifying lenses popped, and then he took aim and pulled the trigger. The spear flew through the air spinning, maintaining it trajectory due to the new rotary mechanism he attached to it. The spear met her chest wile she was in mid-flight, and the force she was hit with sent her flying backwards. She flew a good distance back, and then was pinned up against one of the pillars in the room. Delta finally managed to get a good look where he hit, and it was indeed a lucky shot, for he got her straight through the heart. The lens of her helmet flickered a few times, and then finally died, and her head as well as the rest of her body drooped. She was dead.

The remaining Big Sister lifter herself up from her position, felling dazed from her recent pummeling. She looked over and finally caught sight of Delta, who was staring at her fallen sibling, hanging from the pillar like a skinned animal. Deltas turned his head to her, think of what action he should take next. "I'll give you one last chance," Delta said to her as he put his gun away, trying to show her he meant well, "go now, and I will not kill you." They just stared at each other for a second, and then the Big Sister gave out another scream and charged at him. Not having time to draw any weapons, Delta made a dash at her as well. They met each other in the middle of their charges, and locked hands, trying to push each other back. Both of them fought for dominance over the other, but neither was winning. The sister let out one of her banshee cries, in hopes to stagger Delta and give her a little edge over him. But Delta had become immune to these screams, and merely shrugged it off. Delta thought for a moments while they both tried to push each other back, there was something he could do to win over this battle, but he wasn't sure if he could still do it. In response to her scream, Delta let out the roar that Big Daddies were known for. The roar was so loud that it shook the entire room, and also caused the Big Sister to become staggered. Delta didn't waste his chance, and he pushed her hard and fast. It sent her flying back to the wall again, only this time she didn't waste anytime getting back up. Delta pulled up his rivet gun again, but he didn't realize that the heavy rivets were in place. The sister made a lunge at him like her sister before her, and Delta took aim with his rivet gun. Like before he only fired one shot, gut it was all that was needed. The white-hot rivet flew through the air, and was on aim. That's when it made contact with its target, same as last time; it hit her in the chest. It was slightly off target, for it hit her in the right lung, but it caused her to drop to the floor, and land on her back.

Delta let out a sigh of relief, and the light in his helmet faded back to that of a calm yellow. He slowly approached her, knowing she was still alive, and he still had to finish it. He looked down on the young woman, and she looked back at him, she was holding he right hand over her wound tightly, trying to keep some of her blood in. The crimson fluid seeped through her fingers. Even though she had ADAM in her blood, no amount of it could keep her from dying now. "So this is how I die," she said to him in a weak, angry voice, "at the hands of a man who's only wants are for himself. You truly are a selfish man. All you want is to save Eleanor, so you can save yourself. You killed so many of my sisters, just so you could save yourself. How could you do all of this, and fell no pain? What is your reason behind all of this?" Delta was getting infuriated by her words, but kept himself in check. "Ten years ago…" Delta said keeping the anger out of his voice, "I lost my life, and my daughter, all at the pull of a trigger… and all I could fucking do was watch." He let the anger roll into his last words, and then pulled out his shotgun.

"Tomorrow morning…" he said as he clicked the shot gun open, allowing all of the shell to be ejected, and then taking out two shells from his pouch, "Eleanor will be free…(loads one shell into the left barrel) and even if it means I die…(loads the second shell into the right barrel) I'm going to see to it that she is" He flicked his wrist, and the shot gun snapped shut. "I don't care if you understand…" Delta said to her as he pointed the barrels to her head, "I just thought you should know why." He then pulled back both of the hammers on the gun with just his thumb. He held his fingers to the triggers, but then she spoke to him. "You try to justify your actions with that? A pitiful excuse, if any. You merely spared those people and the young ones, so Eleanor wouldn't think badly of you. But I see right through you, for what you really are. You merely wish to save your own life, and don't care about anyone else who resides down here. You may kill me, but as Doctor Lamb said, the family will go on forever, and you will never succeed in your selfish ways."

Delta stood there for a moment, pondering. He then very carefully unlocked the hammers of the shotgun, and put it away. She looked at him, wondering what he was doing. He then brought his right hand up to his face, and looked at his palm. Can they be saved too? Delta thought to himself. He knelt down by her side, never taking his eyes off of her. He put his hand up, and attempted to place his hand on her head. She swatted his hand away, but he still loomed it over her. "Can't I die in peace?" she said in an angry, ragged voice. "Let me give you peace." Delta said to her, and then began to lower his hand back to her head. She lifted up her free hand and wrapped it around his wrist, trying to hold him back, but her loss of blood had made her very weak, and she eventually lost the battle.

The glow from Deltas hand finally made contact with her head. Her entire body went limp, as the glow took over her. Then, a very large flash of light went through the room, one much brighter then the one from the little sisters.

The light flashed, and Delta looked down on her. The light in her helmet had died, but he knew she was still alive from the slow movement of her chest. He moved his hand up, and slowly began to remove her helmet. Then, he finally got her helmet off, and got to see what see looked like. He skin was extremely pale; her face had many childish features, but still had plenty of features that defined her as a woman. She had very red, almost orange hair. She then very slowly opened her eyes, which were emerald green. He moved his hand under the back over her head, so she wouldn't have to support it and waste what was left of her strength. Her eyes glanced around a few times, and then they came back to him looking down at her. "Oh god…"she said in a soft, sweet voice, which was weak due to her blood loss. "Oh my god… I can see the world again. This is real, this is really real. You… you gave me sight back." Delta didn't say anything at first, for he didn't know what to say. But then the words came to his mind, and he spoke them to her. "I'm sorry…" he said in the big daddy voice, but it was full of sadness and he had a lump in his throat, "I'm so, so sorry." She just looked at him for a few moments, and then finally spoke back to him. "You have nothing to apologize for. You've given me a great gift. You gave me my freedom." She started panting, the blood was starting to pool, below her, and she was dying. "I see now," she continued, "you were trying to save those who could be saved. And you even saved me, even though I wasn't worth saving." She started to give him a weak smile. "There are so many times you could have been cruel… but you chose to forgive. Even if those people personally tried to do you harm… you still forgave. You are truly the most selfless man I have ever met. You have been sent here to save those children… and those who could be taught forgive like you." She coughed once; some of blood came out of her mouth. Delta whipped the blood away with his free hand, and she continued to speak. "You are truly a man of god. Following his words… so that others may learn. I only hope… that I can be forgiven for all of the bad things I've done."

Delta didn't know if he believed in god, but he wasn't going to trample over the one thing she had left to hope on. He had never known the bible, but he did know one passage from it, and he thought that maybe it would be able to cope with her situation. He took her free hand in his, and spoke. "Our father" he began, "which art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name." "They kingdom come." She said the next line, and then they both continued saying it simultaneously, "Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespassers, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." She looked deeply at him, and gave him a smile, as tears ran down her eyes. "Thank you so much," she said to him in a weakening voice, "you are a saint. You will have a pleasant life after this, I know this to be true." "What is your name?" he asked her, "Jessica" and that was all she said. Her hand clenched his a little tighter, and she took in a deep raspy breath, "Goodbye… and thank you." After she said that, her eyes closed, and her whole body collapsed. Delta kneeled there, holding the young woman's body for a few moments. Delta took the steel cage, and oxygen tanks off her back, and laid her down. Her took her hands, and crossed them over her chest in a ceremonial fashion. And these were Deltas final thoughts before entering the quarantine chamber:

I have long thought that this world would never be able to be saved. That the people, who had spent too much time here, were beyond the point of my help. But after seeing what I have just witnessed, I have learned something very important. It is never too late to save someone, no matter how bad they may seem. Everyone deserves a chance, and this has helped me greater understand why I am helping my Daughter. If ever given the chance again, I hope that I may be the one to save them.

Well, it took me a while to do this, but I hope you like it. Please R&R.