Mark One

One would wonder why Lambda needed to move though each floor he reached just to ascend to the next one above; yes there were main staircases that provided access to all floors, two mainly for that matter. But for some reason each stairway had had their staircases blocked in an irrational order. One with all its even floors barricaded while on the far side of the building blocked on all its odd floor levels. Forcing Lambda to climb one flight of stairs and cut across each floor he reached just to ascend to the next one.

Through most of them he encountered hostility and oppression not from Splicers but from failed or reject Big Daddies that were either commissioned to being a security slave force, or as Neumann had described them; contenders competing for their spot in the arena.

So far all they all were all just the weakest of the lot; no different from the Splicers themselves or the three he had fought first upon arrival. But now Neumann was raising the stakes, and he did so by throwing next at Lambda the prototype versions of the Gamma series; or as Neumann had revealed; the Bouncer.

And sure enough Lambda was confronted by one; it stood standing between him and his route to the floor above and was clearly different from any Big Daddy he had ever seen because of one noticeable difference. Whereas Lambda and all the rest wore rubber like diving suits, it instead was completely encased within an Atmospheric Diving suit.

These suits were constructed entirely of metal with ball socket joints for movement and articulation of the arms and legs; yet this particular one had had extensive alterations made to enlarge it for the genetically overgrown poor soul placed inside.

Like the Bouncer its helmet protruded from its body but was massively larger with four portholes; each bigger than Lambda's own. The helmet was riddled various dents and welding marks from the custom modifications made to accommodate it's swollen enlarged deformed head. On its back was the massive life support gear with a hose connecting it to the helmet and feeding it with whatever kept it breathing.

A second hose; longer and also connected to the gear on its back ran all the way around to the front of its body and was connected to what appeared to be an air pressure type gun. It grasped it not with its own hands but with two three digit skeletal mechanical appendages, each on the end of its arms.

It sighted Lambda and slowly aimed its air pressure gun at him; Lambda quickly drew first with the rivet gun he acquired in his first brawl and fired twelve shots at the failed Gamma Series. The rivets however did nothing but bounce and ricochet off of its steel casing.

It in return fired three shots, each striking Lambda in the chest and inflicting severe harm on him; he griped in pain and dropped the rivet gun. Another three shots struck him in the chest, causing further pain as he then dropped the drill. Each shot had penetrated the diving suit that covered his body and was now burning away in his gut.

"Son of a bitch!" Lambda screamed in his mind. Acting fast he reached for the sledge hammer he still carried and flung it as hard as he could at the Gamma Series. It struck it hard in the head, inflicting a deep dent that left the lumbering brute a little dazed.

Shrugging off the pain and taking advantage of the time he had Lambda charged at full speed, slamming his whole body weight in to the reject Bouncer. It staggered back but still stood standing while regaining its senses and aiming this time for Lambda's head. Lambda however without flinching at the prospect of taking one in the head instead swiped the gun easily from its robotic hands and snapped it in two.

The Gamma Series now knew not what to do as its only means of offence lay broken in two pieces on the floor. Doing now the only thing that sprung in to its mind, in robotic like movements it raised its arms and tried to grab Lambda with its small bony like robotic claws. Yet as Lambda would prove to it, these so called fingered appendages were in no way designed for melee combat.

Lambda with his larger and stronger ones grabbed each one of the Gamma Series and crushed them easily before ripping them clear off the ends of its arms. The Gamma Series was literally disarmed now and incapable of any action to defend itself, it could do nothing but watch Lambda grab both sides of its head and head butt it hard. So hard that it eventually did topple over on to its back with only it's back mounted life support gear keeping it partially sitting up.

Lambda not finished with it aimed his left arm at the sledge hammer laying nearby on the ground and summoned it in to his hand through telekinesis. Holding it with both hands he relentlessly slammed it in to the reject Bouncer's head, hammering dent after dent that flattened it further with every blow. The welding marks on its helmet began to split apart while each porthole cracked and shattered.

Green and yellow ooze spurted and splurged out from them as Lambda continued to slam the sledgehammer relentlessly in to its head. Every blow hammered and crushed its disfigured face deeper and deeper in to its body till finally its helmet was as flat as a pancake, and Lambda was convinced it was dead. The whole time however it never made any sounds or any movement in response to the beating Lambda gave it, if it had not been for the mixture of ooze, Adam and septic puss that splattered Lambda would have been convinced the whole thing had been mechanical.

With the threat now over Lambda clutched both his chest and gut as his recent actions only intensified the pain. He struggled to endure it as he slung the sledgehammer through his belt and retrieved both the drill and rivet gun, as he groaned further he felt a sudden seizure come over him. Blood curdling screams like he had heard earlier upon his arrival rang through his head and visions of a room he had never seen before with blood spilt everywhere flashed before him.

He dropped the drill and rivet gun again while falling to his knees and grabbing his head. Both physical and mental pain overwhelmed him and drove him close to blacking out, where these visions came from he had no clue but clearly they were more intolerable and agonising than the physical pain he was on.

As the visions and mental agony subsided and the pain eased away, he began to pick himself back up and again retrieve the drill and rivet gun. The familiar sound of someone's snickering caught his attention and he stared in the direction of a large monitor screen built in to the wall of the room.

The screen was cracked but still operational as the monotone image of Neumann appeared on it. Again he sat in his arm chair; obscured by shadow as he rattled his right hand with the three gold rings he wore while on his left hand wrapped around his left wrist was his gold wrist watch. As Lambda glared at the screen he noticed that Neumann wasn't alone in his room.

Standing behind him appeared to be another Alpha Series, the image and lighting was poor but Lambda could tell that unlike him and the rest of their line, this one was painted entirely black. It stood glaring at the screen Neumann used to observe Lambda and at Lambda himself while Neumann bragged with further taunt.

"In pain are we Alpha Series, shouldn't matter considering all you Big Daddies are mentally conditioned to endure any pain or agony from injuries you sustain," Neumann bragged as he proceeded to mock Lambda further "But apparently it appears you have not been Alpha Series.

Tell me how does it feel to possibly be the only Big Daddy incapable of ignoring the sensation of pain.

All Big Daddies do respond to it as a means of distinguishing threats to them, but they have the mental capability of ignoring the distractions that pain and agony cause from physical harm.

They can push themselves as hard as they want, unless of course it becomes superficial and critical. So much so that they become weak and impaired, and incapable of carrying out their tasks before it consumes them and they simply fall and die. How will you cope, how will you endure?"

"Step out here and I'll give taste of how it does feel you sack of shit!" Lambda snarled back.

"Oh, bravo on dispatching the Mark 1 Gamma Series," Neumann complimented on Lambda's triumph over the reject Bouncer "But don't forget what I said earlier. The model chosen of that line that went on to be named the Bouncer was the Mark Three, That means there's still the Mark Two for you to get acquainted with, and I feel there is still some fight in you to just not postpone the next match."

As on queue heavy footsteps coming from one of the corridors leading in to the room where Lambda and the Mark One had just fought signalled the entrance of another contender for the makeshift ring. Lambda turned to face this new challenge.