Notes: Chapter 2! Thanks very much for your reviews! Some of you have given me some ideas to play around with, which is sweet ^_^
Just to clarify, this fic isn't about Delta; in my mind, Delta 'dies' in every possible ending. But then, in every story, there's always a chance of not being truly dead, so I suppose I shouldn't write him off yet :P
Anyhoo, hope you enjoy!
******
Protector.
The audio diary clicked and whirred.
(Male voice)
Where does the Man end, and the Monster begin?
(Sigh) The rest of Rapture see the Protectors as pitiful tools; mindless handymen and the cursed guardians of the Gatherers. Abominations, they called them! Fools condemned to a terrible fate, they say!
And yet, I cannot help but see the spark of the Utopian in them. They are the only creatures that have won over the selfish gene; self preservation is a foreign concept to them – they know only enough so that they can continue the duties given to them. Everyone knows that they would protect a Gatherer to their dying breath; I myself have seen a dying Protector crawling futilely towards a Gatherer, trying to drill the offending splicer in a last ditch effort. In vain, of course.
Does that make them less of a man, or more?
:: click ::
He found it... surprisingly easy to commit the audio diary to memory. His thoughts seemed to flow better as time went by; perhaps it had to do with the constant pumping of fluids and nutrients by his suit. He glanced around the office; one of the bookshelves had fallen over, with the books scattered and torn all over the floor. A safe in the wall, with its mouth slightly ajar – the contents robbed a long time ago. Empty hypo needles were strewn all over, along with empty plasmid jars. A brass plate with the name 'Lee' was embedded into the desk.
Letting out a low, rumbling sigh, the Bouncer lumbered out of office, his limbs (particularly his arms) still felt oddly restricted. No, what he was looking for isn't here. It must be elsewhere, it must be close. He could feel it...
A gunshot rang throughout the hallways. Followed by another, and another. A high pitched, dissonant screech flared, and the Bouncer thought his head would explode. He felt a sudden surge of urgency; his instincts telling him that danger was close. His feet began to move quicker; each step rocking the very foundations of Rapture.
He turned at the corner, and raced down the hallway. He knew that he needed to be fast, or something very bad would happen. He didn't have to go far, before he spotted a Big Sister holding up a splicer by his face in one hand, and the other hand drawing back, ready to piece the splicer with an extremely huge needle.
His body moved on its own; he instinctively flicked his porthole lights to red, and began charging the duo, roaring a terrible warning. The Big Sister turned to face the Bouncer, and tilted her head in confusion. She turned back to the splicer, almost unconcerned, ready to pierce the squirming body with her needle.
:: CRASHHHH!! ::
Diving suit met with diving suit; the Bouncer had charged into the Big Sister, and as he flung his right arm at her, he realised why his arms felt restricted. He had sent his surgical table flying into the Big Sister, the straps on his arms snapping at the force of his swing. Had he been carrying his surgical table with him all this while?
The Big Sister shot a hand in the air, and caught the table mid-air with an unknown force. The Bouncer was perplexed, before he realised that the table had suddenly changed course – towards him now. As he smashed the flying table away with his left hand, the Sister let out a horrible screech, as she cocked her head in various directions, eyeing the Bouncer, before pulling several pieces of debris around her, hurling them viscously at the Bouncer.
He did not know who, or what she was, but he knew she was very angry and confused. He drilled one of the debris into pieces; but at least two smacked the side of his helmet hard. The ringing hadn't stopped, as the Sister shrieked once more, before leaping into the air, disappearing into the vents above.
He gazed at the vents for ten long seconds and roared, before turning around. The splicer had just gotten up to his feet and frantically searched for his pistol. The Bouncer lumbered slowly towards the splicer; each step seemingly to cause more panic in the splicer.
" Git back! Git the fuck back, ya freak!" :: click click :: His pistol was empty. Not that it would have done much in the first place.
" Ohh, shii-- look 'ere, I din do nothin', alright?! I din touch her none; she came for ME! Aahhhhh, fuck!" He cursed, tripped over a pile of debris.
" Oh god, oh shit. I din touch her! I din touch her!!" He kept repeating.
The Bouncer stopped just at the splicer's legs; he could see the splicer trembling as he flung his pistol at the Bouncer's head, pinging off the helmet harmlessly. The Bouncer let out a short moan, and picked up the splicer by the shirt.
"GAAAH! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!!"
The Bouncer rotated the splicer around. Noting that there were no serious wounds, the Bouncer let out another short moan, and flicked his lights green. And he set the splicer down, gently.
" PUT ME DOWN!! PUT ME – oh hey. Uh... what the hell?"
The splicer seemed very confused, though Bouncer wasn't sure why. It all felt... right. No one else was in the vicinity, so he turned to leave, switching his lights back to yellow.
It would only be a minute before he heard the splicer again, "Hey! HEY! WAIT UP!!" the splicer ran up to the Big Daddy, "Name's Wallace. Uh... gotta thank ya for what ya di-- HEY! WAIT UP!"
The Bouncer seemed apathetic, although in reality he had been looking through his side portholes. Wallace looked fine, and thus had no need of his protection. He had to move on.
"HEY! Ya got a name?"
"..."
"Right. Ya a silent type, eh? That's fine, mighty fine."
A curt grunt.
"Okay, okay, I get it, ya wanna be alone. Fine... fine. I'm gonna have to stop calling you 'Hey' though, seeing that ya saved my hide."
"..."
"Tell ya what. I'll call ya Green – how's that sound?
Another grunt. He did actually like it.
"Yeah well, ya tell me a better one and I'm all ears. No? Okay, Green it is."
******
And that's chapter 2! I actually rewrote this chapter; the first time around I wrote up a way for Green to have the capability of speech. Then I felt it might be fun to write him with normal Big Daddy speech. Anyway, as with the last chapter, do review!
P.S: One thing I'm curious; am I moving the story too quickly, or too slowly?