All right! So this is my first Dead Space oneshot. I thought I'd type something up before I published "Dead Space 2: Playing the Game". I've always wondered what exactly happened between Ellie and Stross after Isaac left them on the transport to go to the Ishimura, and this is just my rendition of the actions and thoughts leading up to Step Three. Praise and constructive criticism are welcome, and I hope you enjoy this! :)

DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Visceral Games and EA.

WARNING: There are Dead Space 2 spoilers throughout this oneshot.

Italics- Audio/Video Transmissions

Not a chance, Isaac. Other people are...just a liability. -Ellie Langford, Chapter Six, Dead Space 2

When Ellie Langford had told Isaac Clarke that she thought other people were "just a liability", she didn't think she would truly feel that way about anybody. Until she met him.

As of now, she, Isaac, and her charge, Nolan Stross, were stuck on the track leading to the Government Sector, and Isaac had decided to go back to the USG Ishimura (which, Ellie had learned recently, was not a victim of a terrorist attack) in order to turn on the gravity tethers.

"Isaac, no!" she hissed, "This is a really bad idea!"

"Just stick around," Isaac replied, slipping his helmet on, "I'm full of bad ideas." With that, he walked away, leaving Ellie and Stross on the transport.

Stross hadn't said too much at this point. He sat on one of the benches as he scratched his arms and cradled himself. "He looks…twitchy,"Ellie had commented to Isaac when she had first run into Stross, and she still felt that way. So far, Stross had been nothing but a hindrance; he was afraid of everything and he was constantly mumbling to himself. If Isaac hadn't told the young pilot that the scientist knew how to destroy the Marker, she would have left him a long time ago. But she wanted to escape and survive just as much as the engineer did, and she also knew that Kaleb wanted her to live as well. She glanced down at her bracelet as she thought about all this and sighed. She just hoped Isaac wouldn't take too long on the Ishimura.

Having nothing to do until Isaac was finished with his mission, Ellie turned to face Stross, who was now glancing down at his lap as he clutched a screwdriver in his hands. "Hey, Stross," she began, "Where did you get that?"

Stross looked up at her, and for some reason, Ellie felt unsettled. Not scared, since she considered herself to be thick-skinned, but unsettled all the same. Stross had been talking to himself the whole time he was with her, and at one point, he had mentioned her name.

"No, no, no," he had whispered under his breath back at the collector's panel for the Solar Array, "Ellie can help, but she doesn't see you. She doesn't believe in you…yet. One step at a time."

"Step Three," was all Stross said in response, "The needle." He poked the sharp end of the screwdriver, and Ellie wondered if she should voice her concern over Stross's increasing dementia. She knew Isaac was going through the exact same thing, but he seemed to be able to keep it together. Nolan Stross, on the other hand, was a different story. At one point, when the two of them had managed to reunite with Isaac in the CEC Factory, the latter had pulled her to the side and told her the rest of Stross's story: that he had murdered his family and that they were the ones he was talking to whenever he began to mumble.

However, something seemed different about this time. With the way Stross was staring at the screwdriver, Ellie had to wonder if he really knew how to destroy the Marker. "Look, Stross," she began, sighing, "These steps, what you're seeing…they're not real." Stross ignored her, poking the screwdriver even more vigorously now. She had been trying to tell him that this whole time, but he wouldn't hear it. That didn't stop her from trying to convince him otherwise.

This time, though, she realized she would regret telling him what was real and what wasn't.

It was a while later when Stross started to ramble again, and from his tone of voice, it sounded like he was trying to talk to his son. "Isaac," Ellie whispered into her RIG, "Stross is starting to worry me. Listen." She held her communicator out so that Isaac could hear from his end. She couldn't be quiet about this anymore. Not at this point.

"I would never," Stross was saying, "I would never. But son, Daddy's not a murderer! I would never hurt you and Mommy."

"Stross!" Ellie insisted, "He's not real!"

"Yes, he is!" Stross snapped, "You can't see him because you haven't taken the steps! Step Three! Step Three!" With that, he got up from his seat and began to approach Ellie, holding the screwdriver out in front of him.

"Stross," Ellie repeated calmly, holding her hands up in front of her, "Put down the screwdriver." But he wouldn't listen. Instead, he grabbed Ellie by the neck with a surprisingly strong grip.

"AHH!" she cried, kicking him before he could do anything with the screwdriver.

"Stross?" Isaac shouted from his end, "Ellie? Shit!" Stross reached for the RIG and ended the transmission. He tried to knock Ellie back into the control panel behind her, but she wouldn't give up.

"Just give me the screwdriver," Ellie said to him, "And calm down."

"You have to help!" Stross cried, "You have to see her!"

No, Ellie thought as she attempted to wrestle the screwdriver out of his hands. In defense, Stross sank his teeth into her wrist as he bit her, drawing a little bit of blood.

"Ahh, shit!" Ellie cursed as she slapped Stross across the face, causing the latter to retreat to his bench as he looked away from her. Both of them were shaken, but the CEC pilot refused to let it show on her face. Instead, she glanced down at her slightly bleeding wrist and massaged the bite marks. She grabbed a small med pack out of her inventory and began to dress the wound.

"Aw, Isaac," she groaned into her RIG, "Damn it, that hurts. The bastard bit me!"

"What? Oh, shit. Are you okay?"

Ellie huffed. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, "But he's stopped talking and he won't look at me. How's it going on your end? And please tell me this plan's going to work!"

"I'm almost there. I'm heading to the Bridge now to activate the gravity tethers."

"Well, good. They're swarming in through a hole in the Medical Deck. At least you won't have to go through there."

"Unexpected obstruction ahead. Shutting down. Welcome to the Medical Deck."

Aww, damn, Ellie thought, Guess I jinxed that one.

As she continued to tend to her wrist, she stole a glance at Stross again, who seemed to be staring at her as well, but looking away quickly as soon as she caught him. She wondered briefly what he was thinking. Well, she knew one thing: he was starting to become a liability to her, just like she had told Isaac back in the Concourse. She hadn't trusted the scientist even from then, and this recent episode just increased that suspicion.

Once her wrist was fixed up, Ellie checked the control panels to make sure things were still functioning properly. Fortunately, they were. On the other hand, she barely caught Stross glaring at her now as he gripped the screwdriver, and she realized she would have to keep an eye on him. He was looking twitchy again, and who knew what he was thinking in that moment?

Before she knew it, Ellie found herself staring at the Ishimura as the gravity tethers began to work, dragging the Government sector, and the severed track, back. "You did it!" she cried to Isaac, "Get back here! The tracks are moving!"

"No, just go!" Isaac insisted, "I'll use one of the escape pods and meet you there. Now go!" Nodding, Ellie turned off the video log and began to pilot the transport across the tracks. She was glad this plan had worked. Now they could get moving again. However, something was wrong; the transport was moving way too fast.

A few minutes later, she heard back from Isaac. "I'm away! Ellie? Did you make it?"

"Isaac!" she shouted, "We crossed the track, but we're coming in hot!"

Suddenly, from behind her, she spotted Stross jumping up from the bench as he tried to approach her with the screwdriver again. "I just need you to see what I see, Ellie!" he snapped, "I promise it won't hurt!"

"Stross!" Ellie shouted, whirling around to struggle with him again, "Put down the screwdriver!"

"Stross, no!" Isaac cried from his end.

"AHH!" Ellie screamed again as she dodged Stross and moved to the other side of the transport. She tried to activate an emergency door that would allow her to climb out once they arrived at the Government Sector, but she felt Stross grab her and throw her down to the ground as the tram landed at its destination. She struggled violently, but Nolan Stross proved to be surprisingly strong, given the circumstances.

Pressing a button on her suit, she sent a video log to Isaac, who was just standing up after his ordeal. "Isaac!" she shouted as Stross climbed on top of her. Bastard, she thought, watching as Stross raised the screwdriver.

"Shh," he whispered, "It's gonna be okay, I promise. This won't hurt a bit. Cross my heart and hope to die…"

"Stross!" Isaac yelled.

"Stick a needle in your eye…"

"Stross, God damn it!" Isaac thundered. Ellie screamed as Stross lowered the screwdriver, and she began to fight.

"I don't think so!" she cried as she kicked her attacker again, but that didn't stop him from pinning her down and lowering the screwdriver into her right eye.

"Do you see her, Ellie?" he asked as he repeated stabbed her eye, "Is she waiting?"

"You fucking bastard!" Ellie roared, reaching up and scratching his face with her fingernails. You liability, she couldn't help but think to herself.

"She should be there, Ellie!" Stross insisted, "You should see her!"

"Get off me!" the pilot hollered as she continued to try and break free. However, Stross had the upper hand, and as he stabbed her once more, he wriggled the screwdriver a little bit before finally tugging and completely ripping the eyeball out of her socket.

"AHH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Stross just stood where he was and nodded as he studied the eyeball on the screwdriver.

"I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!" she vowed as she picked herself up and began to run after Stross, who was now fleeing into the mines. She couldn't believe she had let Isaac talk her into keeping Stross with her. She wished she hadn't done that. She wished she had just listened to her first instinct.

It seemed to take a while, but when she finally managed to catch up with him, she noticed he was threatening to do the same thing to Isaac. She silently picked up a beam and snuck up on him as she caught Stross's words. Resentment boiled up in her towards both men.

"Oh, God," Isaac was gasping, "Ellie!"

"Step Three!" Stross cried, "Then you'll-"

"YAHHHH!" Ellie screamed as she raised the beam and hit Stross over the head with it, knocking him down.

"Ellie…" Isaac whispered. The pilot could hear the guilt in his tone of voice, but that didn't change her feelings.

"You owe me an eye, you bastard!" she snapped, pointing at him angrily. She meant every word she said. Isaac had been the one who wanted her to keep Stross.

With a growl, Stross jumped up again, and Ellie fought with him as the gate in front of them closed, blocking Isaac from view. Even after gouging her right eye out, Stross still went after her with the screwdriver.

"The patient is not cooperating!" he cried.

"Fuck you!" Ellie cursed.

"She needs another session! Yes!"

"Don't even try it!"

"It's mine!"

"AHH!"

Ellie kicked him one last time as he stumbled back and stared at her in astonishment. Narrowing his eyes again, Stross marched forward, slapped her across the face, and narrowly missed her fists of fury as he began to run off.

"Ellie lied!" he snarled, "She won't help! But you will, Isaac! You'll see her after Step Three!" And with that, he was gone.

"Isaac!" Ellie shouted, "He's run off deeper into the mines!"

"I've got problems on this end, too. Stay safe."

"I'll try." But even with the fact that she was on her own for now, she still couldn't believe that she had allowed herself to trust Stross. Once again, someone had betrayed her trust and tried to kill her. She shook her head as she staggered into a safe room as she tried to come up with another plan. For the time being, she just placed a patch over her empty eye socket.

And later on, when Ellie found out that Nolan Stross was dead, all she had said was, "Well, I'm not sorry about that."

Not after he had tried to kill her.

Not after he had been forced to tag along with her.

Not after he had been just a liability.