The Monster Had Mercy

Chapter 4 : Reunion & Retribution

AN: Thank you all so much for your support and feedback throughout this creative process. I am so sorry for the delay, I just tried to make this as perfect as possible. This story has been a labor of love and I am looking forward to writing the next one. And yes, that means that this is the Last Chapter in 'The Monster Had Mercy' which was better received then I thought it would ever be. Thank you all again and I hope you enjoy the climactic ending! PS.R&R! -BEZthePEZ

As Subject Delta walked through the Persephone penal colony, he couldn't help himself but feel as if he was almost there. Then once again, the crackling of static occurred and then came on the woman herself, Sofia Lamb. "Delta, why do you persist with this helpless struggle? You have slaughtered many in your path and what do you hope to accomplish? Eleanor has the destiny that no one other then her should hope to ever achieve. To become the first Utopia, the first society freed from the self and cruelty. I hope you know this Delta, for throughout your journey I have tried to reason with you, bribe you and even kill you. But continually you persist, and for that and other crimes you have committed against the family, you must die."

Eleanor sat on her bed in the quarantine chamber, slightly intimidated by the presence of her mother, who rarely cared enough to stop by. "Mother", said Eleanor quietly, "Why do you continue to watch me? Wouldn't it be better if you were back in your office? Watching over the family?" Sofia calmly looked over her shoulder straight into her daughter's water-blue eyes. "Eleanor, there are times when you must do things that aren't right for you to do, but is right for others. What may seem wrong now will perhaps be forgiven tomorrow. Now go to sleep Eleanor, your time as the people will come soon." "Okay Mother" said Eleanor. As she drifted off to sleep, she could only think as to where her father was now. She had watched him travel his way from Adonis Luxury Resort all the way to Persephone, and saw each and everything that he did. She saw the kindness that he radiated with the little sisters, and the intensity that he guarded them with. She remembered the way he treated Grace, Stanley and Dr. Alexander with forgiveness always, and never revenge. "Please hurry, Father" she said quietly, and then fell asleep.

Sofia had spent the last couple of hours in the quarantine cell, a place she usually hated to go to, as she had to take care of the Family in other parts of Rapture. She had watched with disgust as the rouge Alpha Series managed to make his way to Persephone while dealing with all the Little Sisters on the way. He had not harmed one, which surprised her, instead he saved them and even went through extreme loss and pain to save the Big Sisters as well. She was especially worried about those events, as she needed to remain the undisputed leader of the Big Sisters, lest they turn on her. Sofia looked to her daughter who was simply lying there, asleep and began to speculate whether or not her own daughter had anything to do with Delta's return. If she did, Sofia could not acknowledge that young girl on the bed as her daughter anymore, only a monster.

Delta approached yet again another locked door, by this point Delta was getting too anxious and excited to think about hacking, so he simply paid the lock out and walked right through. He was met with the sight of a wide open area, and a quarantine chamber in the middle. After one step forward, Sofia Lamb came back on the loudspeaker to antagonize him some more. "Subject Delta. For too long you have meddled in the family's affairs. Not only did you corrupt the Little Sisters, you could not stop your devious acts there, you had to continue. Do you remember this person Subject Delta? With that, the corpse of a Big Sister fell to the ground from the ceiling, the same one that thanked him back in Fontaine Futuristics. Delta shook with rage, and summoned his drill to his right hand and revved it up. "That girl was no longer a member of the family, once she conversed with you instead of killing you. It is your fault Delta, that she died. You have no one to blame but yourself. I have sent two of my finest followers to dispose of you once and for all, and I have made sure that neither of them will listen to any of your deplorable causes." Subject Delta wasn't stupid. He knew that the 'finest followers' were Big Sisters and he knew that they were probably too scared to be reasoned with, or too blood thirsty to help and save. Shrugging, and slightly sad, Delta prepared himself for the inevitable onslaught and battle that was soon to come.

"Schreea!-". The normal screech of a Big Sister was cut off for some reason, as if someone had muffled her demonic roar. Delta couldn't quite understand that, for nothing was powerful enough to simply subdue a Big Sister like that. "Well if they won't be able to finish the job Delta, then I suppose your brethren will have to suffice" and with that, the doors on the side opened, allowing for six enraged Alpha Series to run into the room, all of them with either Electro-Bolt or Incinerate! On hand with shotguns or machine guns on the side.

The battle that ensued was one of titanic proportions, making even the greatest image of an intense battle seem like a children's snowball fight. With plasmids being thrown left and right, and bullets falling to the ground as if it were a heave rainstorm, it truly was a scene of chaos. The one thing that Subject Delta had that allowed him to actually have an edge in the fight was his mind. He had not gone insane, and therefore was able to think clearly and formulate a strategy. He had planned on simply shocking all of them by charging up his Electro-Bolt and zapping them, but he hadn't counted on being shot in the back with a reinforced barreled shotgun, flying him forward. But no man charges into a battlefield without a back up plan and Delta was no exception to this requirement.

Having spliced in the Hypnotize plasmid, Delta quickly and efficiently enraged two out of the remaining four Alpha series and watched as they instigated a fight with the other two. He ran to a Circus Of Values vending machine and loaded up on anything and all he could afford. Doing a 180°, Delta was presented with the sight of the final two Alpha Series fighting it out for all they were worth. Finally, as if there were a magic off button that was pressed, one fell back, as his porthole dimmed from red to black, and the final one looked at Delta, and hesitated. Subject Delta was just about to breath a sigh of relief, and offer the severely wounded titan a recently purchased first aid kit, when the leviathan preformed a drill dash on Delta. Sidestepping it, Delta whipped out his rivet gun, and to make things quick and painless, fired a heavy rived into the last Alpha Series head, killing him instantly. Delta looked amongst the bloodshed and the corpses of his slain brethren, and could only mutter a small sad grunt as he wished that the Alpha Series could be reasoned with, just like the Big Sisters were. With that, and the valuables taken from the corpses, Delta walked to the quarantine chamber, to meet Sofia Lamb face to face for the first time.

As Delta drew nearer, his pace slowed, as if he knew that these were the final steps of his epic journey, and they needed to be savored. He saw the quarantine chamber dead ahead, and for the first time in ten years, saw Sofia Lamb and his own Little Sister, Eleanor Lamb. In order to be admitted to the quarantine chamber, anyone who went was forced to go through a thorough one minute sanitizing process. As he stood there, nine feet from Sofia Lamb and separated from only glass walls, he couldn't get over how tall Sofia Lamb was, nor how cold she stared at him. She lit a cigarette, and began to give Delta not a insulting speech, but more of one like hardship and suffering.

"Delta...you have become more of a monster the I could have fathomed, even from the first moment I met you, back in 1958. You have destroyed everything I have ever worked for, and everything that was supposed to make Rapture a better place again. Not only did you...ruin the Little Sisters, but you corrupted my lieutenants within the family, along with our scientists. You have killed many of the family's soldiers, but worst of all you have destroyed my daughter, Eleanor. That girl on the bed is no longer my life's work, or the first true utopia to exist, she is something different, something so horrible that I dared not to think of it as you progressed your way here. She has turned into a form of you, a monster with only herself on her mind, rather then the good of everyone else. She saw your acts of 'gospel' throughout you adventure, and slowly adjusted herself to the methods of forgiveness. But be glad Delta, for you at least have escaped your legacy."

With those last words, and the clock on the countdown slowly ticking past the ten second mark, Delta couldn't believe what he was seeing. He watched in utter horror as Sofia Lamb picked up a pillow, walked over to the sleeping figure of Eleanor. She muttered a legitimate "I'm Sorry Eleanor" and smashed the pillow down on her head, causing suffocation. The fail-safe link that tied Delta to Eleanor quickly sprang into action, and caused Delta's heart to slow down. Delta thrashed and banged against the door for it to hurry up, but no use. He thought all hope was lost, and so it seemed, as his vision started to fade.

"SCHREECH!"... "SCHREECH!"... "SCHREECH!". Delta's ears stung, but with those three shrieks, a miracle occurred, and the glass all around Delta shattered, falling to the ground. Sofia gasped, "No, it cannot be!". Delta felt his heavy form being picked up by two sets of lithe hands, on each of his arms and was picked up. As his vision returned, Delta saw what was happening and his Jaw dropped at the sight of it. All the Big Sisters that he had saved previously were standing around him, battle stance in action, and ready to defend him. He looked around in awe, and walked over to Sofia Lamb, who was positively mortified at what just happened.

Delta's drill was revved up, and he picked up Sofia Lamb by the throat and threw her against the wall. Then he felt a tap on his leg and spun around to find a Little Sister looking up at him. "Here Daddy, this will help you speak!" said the Little Sister, her face full of delight. With that, she injected her ADAM syringe directly into Delta's leg, surging pure ADAM into his body, which caused his voice box to regrow and for the first time in ten years, he could speak.

No one in Rapture had ever heard a Big Daddy speak before, excluding the moans and calls of the roving ones. But never before had a real word been spoken by a Big Daddy, and the Alpha Series were no exception. "S...Sofia L...L..Lamb" the voice came out with a certain scratchy quality to it, as if talking was a new experience for Delta, which it has been for 10 years. "Sofia Lamb...you terrible person. I trekked all through Rapture, never killing a soul to help my cause while you threw everything at me. Big Sisters, splicers my brethren and even the other Big Daddies. For this, you must pay." With that, Delta revved up his drill and moved his Arm forward.

Sofia Lamb could not scream as her mouth was covered by the large metal hand of Subject Delta, but with every passing second, she could sense his drill getting closer and closer, until she could feel the gush of air hit her by the spinning of the drill. The electromagnetic dynamo's in Delta's drill flew blue and yellow electrical sparks in all directions. Sofia just closed her eyes and waited for the drill to come, but it never came. She opened her eyes to see Delta staring at her straight through his visor.

Delta looked into Eleanor's eyes and saw not surprise, but more confused. After all the lives he saved he was prepared to kill Sofia. Delta knew that if Eleanor didn't want her mother to die, he couldn't in good conscience kill her. He had spared every one up until now, why stop here. Miraculously, his drill slowed, and then stopped. Once again he spoke , but this time without anger, instead disappointment.

"You threw hell my way, tortured the denizens of rapture and attempted to suffocate your own daughter and for what? The people's good? You have become the biggest hypocrite in Rapture, more so then Andrew Ryan. You preach for the family's sake and yet you use their resources for your own personal gain. You hurt your own daughter, and even destroy young girls to do your bidding. You are a terrible person Sofia Lamb. I really should kill you, for everything you have done to everyone in the past ten years, but I won't as I leave you now and take Eleanor with me to the surface to lead a normal life, remember this: you always called me a monster, but today, the monster had mercy."

Not much was said after that. Eleanor, Delta and Sinclair all went to the lifeboat, and ascended onto the surface, where a cure was found for him. They all lived long happy lives. For Sofia, no one really knew what became of her. Some wanted her dead, while others did not care. It was speculated that she committed suicide, but no body was found. For the rest of Rapture, things quietly slowed down, and then even more quietly started to rebuild. People hung shrines of Subject Delta, the man who freed them from yet another tyrant, and who showed all of Rapture that mercy is the most important thing in a society, even if you are looked upon as a monster.

The End