Ultra Rodimus' note: Here we have a very unexpected family reunion, and no one is really sure what to think. And yes, Ultimus' sense of smell really is that sharp. He's long since adapted to a predatory lifestyle. Bloodhounds weep with envy over the strength of his olfactory sensors. He never forgets a scent, so if he's got your scent and he doesn't like you, you're screwed no matter how far you run.
Into Rapture
"Are we almost there?" Jack asked, now fully turned around and clueless of where there were in the Den.
The redhead nodded. "We should be reaching the tunnel entrances within the next few corners." He slowed down slightly, scanning for the tunnel entrances.
"After the power's fixed, can we take another rest?" Jack asked, settling back down, almost hidden from sight of anyone nearby- if there was anyone near.
"Of course." The big mech's voice deepened to a rumble, vibrating through his frame. "If we can't find an empty room, I'll find a place to wedge my trailer for a while."
A soft giggle came out of the girl as she remembered the last time, "It might get painted again."
Ultimus' laugh was a slightly stronger vibration accompanying the sound. "Of that I have no doubt."
"Damn Nutter," a male voice drifted to the two just before getting to the place where the maintenance tunnel was supposed to be. "'Ah can't believe that spliced-crazed idiot! Offs the power to the whole Den!"
"Proves that genetic codes have a down side eh?" A woman's voice, "Come on, quit complaining; we got to fix this before we all keel over from the lack of air."
Ultimus paused, tilting his head to the side as he listened. Then he padded forward, silent as a shadow, gently laying a finger on Jack's lips in a request for not a single sound. Cautiously, he looked around the corner. Two people were there, the man standing with a shotgun in one hand and a tommy gun in the other. The woman was kneeling down by a panel, hacking her way through the lock on the door to the maintenance way. Two of the hovering bots buzzed around them, armed with rockets for one, and the other carried bullets. The two were dressed in worker's coveralls, thick boots and the tool belts really gave them away. But the two were also completely human.
The mech watched them for a long moment, inhaling deeply. Air hissed from his vents as a familiar scent flowed into his olfactory sensors. Slowly, he moved around the corner and stopped, watching the two.
Hyper alert outside their known safe-zone, and understandably so, the hiss had first the man looking over, and his yelp made the woman look over. Muffled curses before they flattened out on the wall so there was ample space in the hall...
"...why is there fur on the Big Daddy?" She asked.
"No idea in hell love." He said.
Ultimus let out an amused snort. "Obviously I killed something that had fur. Why else?" Yellow optics glittered with amusement.
There was a long pause, and then, "Holy shit that's not a Big Daddy!"
The redhead tilted his head slightly, indicating the girl in his arms. "In some ways I am, in most ways I am far worse than any Big Daddy this city has every spawned. However, I only fight if someone provokes me, and 'provocation' equals 'coming at me with a weapon' or 'going after her with intent to harm'. Otherwise I can be quite peaceful."
"Umm...that's good then." the woman said after a moment, "Well, don't mind us, Rapture's Maintenance Guild doing our job, off ya go!"
Yellow optics narrowed fractionally. "We're here to get power to this place restored."
The two humans exchanged looks, "Fifty bucks says e's the one that freaked the Nutter." the man said.
Ultimus' grin revealed fangs. "The Nutter came walking down the hall, took one look at me, and ran like a rat with its tail on fire."
"Nutter is freaked to all hell by any Daddy," The woman muttered, only partly wondering why. She eyed the girl in Ultimus' arms before looking back to his optics, "Long as you don't flip on us, could use the backup..."
"As long as you don't make any moves toward her, there won't be any problems." Ultimus nodded.
"ADAM twisted my family enough," The woman muttered as she turned back to bypassing the lock, the man was still eying Ultimus, edging between the mech and woman.
"Name's Will." He said after a minute, tilting his head to his partner, "That's Kate."
"I am called Ultimus," the Cybertronian replied. "This is Jack."
Kate paused, frowned and then pulled something harder than needed, but the maintenance door cycled open, "Alright go." She waved her bot in, holding the trigger to keep the door open. Ultimus watched, yellow optics glowing softly. He inhaled, taking in the scents. The woman smelled very familiar. Will trotted into the passageway, Kate waiting a few moments before looking back at Ultimus, "Well? Come on if you're coming, Tin Man; I can't hold the door forever."
The Cybertronian snorted, walking through the door. He still made very little noise when he walked, as opposed to the average Big Daddy. That got him a strange look from both Will and Kate, the woman blinked and shook her head, shifted and bolted in the door, it closed just behind her before re-locking. Ultimus only smiled, sweeping his sensors outward for any lurkers.
Kate shook herself off as she rolled up, paused to check her tool belt and then whistled for her drone. "We need to split to get the over-rides triggered at the same time, since there's three of us now."
The Cybertronian tilted his head. "Where are these overrides?"
Will pulled out a laminated and folded up something, the man shook it out as he moved to a wall, using the piping to hold up the map. It was Minerva's Den, only more detailed with the different side rooms, maintenance tunnels' there was even a gold lines marking the vents for air as well as assorted other things. Kate came over to smooth the map out be trailing fingers along one part.
"Here, here and..." She moved to another spot farther away from the other two, "Here, Central Computing, in the Thinker's area itself."
Ultimus' eyes glowed as he scanned the map into his memory, a beam of bluish light sweeping over it to get all the details. "I will take that last one, as I am here to see the Thinker in the first place."
"Nutter's gonna flip his last strands." Will pointed out.
Kate paused, and then grinned with her partner, "Let's do it."
The mech showed his fangs in a wicked grin. "If you hear someone screaming like a girl over the PA system, you'll know the Nutter has crossed my path again." He was about to say something else when a sensor started tingling, and he turned his head slightly to look down the corridor.
"Look out for Little Sisters," Kate said, tracing out the path to the override she was going to take, "They pop out in the tunnels sometimes, and damn if they can't stab where it hurts."
"To them I'm a Big Daddy. Earlier I woke up to find I'd attracted a small pile of them, curled up against me. To a Little Sister I'm a protector, not an enemy. There won't be any problem with the Little Sisters, and the real Big Daddies have no reason to attack me." Yellow eyes narrowed as he scanned for whatever had triggered his proximity sensors. "And as for other hazards..." He slammed a hand right through the wall, into a hollow space he'd detected. A moment later, he pulled out a twitching, convulsing spider splicer, head almost completely severed.
Jack gave a yelp at the sudden move and then again as she saw the splicer, clutching tighter to fur and mech. The two adult human cursed and leapt away- Will just managing to keep a hold on his map and the two drones beeping in alarm, rushing back to investigate. Ultimus dropped the body to the floor at his feet, watching as it finally stopped twitching. He inspected the claws on his fingertips for a moment. "They have yet to figure out that I do not have a blind spot they can sneak into."
"Holy shit!" Kate said, looking down at the splicer, then up at the new hole. She smacked her partner, "Quick! Help me seal that back up before more find it!"
The Cybertronian looked at the ragged hole, then grabbed one edge and began pulling it back over. Bringing out his rivet gun, he waved it. "If you've got a piece of metal big enough to cover the hole..."
The two engineers whistled at their drones, vanishing for a few minutes to look for something to cannibalize in their tunnels nearby. Within the crook of the mech's arm, Jack peeked out again. "The splicer is dead right?"
"I doubt even a splicer can live with most of its throat ripped out." Just to be sure, the redhead placed his foot on the splicer's neck, pressing down and thoroughly crushing the vertebrae.
"How do they just come out of nowhere?" Jack asked, but it was more of a general question to the air then to Ultimus. She looked down over his arm before dropping back in her now spot, still not wanting to be put down yet.
"They've probably been finding or making new ways through this place since the city went to hell." Ultimus used one foot to manipulate the splicer's limp limbs, watching how the joints moved. "Whatever the slag they're shooting up with loosened their tendons and ligaments, to the point they can stretch more than any normal human. And it wouldn't surprise me if they can dislocate joints at will."
"They can," Kate said as she came back with a grate balanced carefully on her back, "You wouldn't believe some of the places they can wiggle out of and into. There must have been a new opening somewhere for that thing to get in the tunnels."
The Cybertronian scowled at the body, muttering something incredibly rude in his own language, then looked at the grate. "Hold it carefully while I put the rivets in... I don't want to cause any more damage or hurt anyone."
The woman looked at Jack, and then huffed as she hefted up the grate around. After sliding it to the right place she leaned against it and braced herself. Half expecting a hand on her back like the normal Big Daddies did. Ultimus carefully shifted Jack onto his shoulder, under the fur. Lifting the rivet gun, he began placing precise rivets around the edge.
The mechanic stood back after the shots of the rivets stopped, rubbing her ears before poking the Spider Splicer with the toe of her boot. "Thanks, now the fun part dragging this away before it stinks more."
"Check for cash." Will called from out of sight.
The redhead regarded the corpse, then extended one leg to touch it. The splicer promptly vanished, into a separate subspace pocket. "I know some of my comrades who would love to take that apart..."
"...did you just eat it?" Jack asked, unable to help it, and from the look on Kate's face she may have thought of the same thing.
"I subspaced it. Same as I do to cans of food we come across, buckets of ADAM, and my trailer. Just into a different pocket." Ultimus made a face. "I wouldn't dare eat anything like that. Would give me indigestion."
"Make you bonkers too," Kate said as she adapted to what he said, "Like the critters running around and swimming outside"
The mech smiled slightly. "You underestimate how strong I am, mentally and physically. But I'm still going to avoid it if at all possible."
"Wish she did," Kate muttered under her breath, starting off again, "Damn stuff took everything..."
Will looked after his partner and then glanced back Ultimus as the woman stalked off. "Give her a minute."
Ultimus inhaled deeply. This woman's scent was one of those from Jack's family's apartment, slightly changed but still familiar. He took a moment to sort out the scents, connecting faces and smells. Jack's aunt. This woman Kate was Jack's aunt. She was different than in the photo, the last six or so years hadn't been very kind. Forced to grow and harden in the way that was common for those in Rapture at this point in time. Her face had changed, but her scent was still basically the same. Ultimus knew her, more from her scent than her appearance. He watched the woman stalk away, shifting Jack from his shoulder back into his arms.
"She lost her family to those either ADAM crazed or wanting more." Will said, soft enough that his partner wouldn't hear as he followed behind.
"Has she ever found any of them?" Ultimus asked.
"Sister's kids taken, brother in law killed or imprisoned and her sister lost in the haze..." Will shrugged, "Now and then we see Lacey, but never the kids."
"So her sister is... spliced? And her sister's husband is possibly dead." Ultimus pondered, debating with himself for a long moment. He looked at Jack for a long moment, then back at Will. "And you have met one of the kids," he rumbled finally.
Will glanced back, not understanding right away, "Hm? Oh, probably, we see Little Sisters and Brothers all the time. Can get close but the girl would be nearing that age they start to convert to Big Sisters."
Yellow eyes were serious. Again the mech looked down at the girl he carried, then back at Will, lifting an eyebrow.
The man blinked back, turning and frowning at Jack. The girl realized the attention and ducked lower, "No way."
"I recognize Kate's scent," Ultimus told him. "I memorized it in her family's apartment. Kate is Jack's aunt."
"...she is?" Jack asked, craning her head back to look up at Ultimus.
"What?" Kate herself called back, picking up on her name.
Ultimus looked at Jack. "I told you that I would recognize members of your family by scent whenever we encountered them. I caught a familiar scent as we approached the tunnels, and I have been tracking on it. It's her scent. Kate's scent."
Will jumped as Kate came up beside him, staring intently at mech and 12 year old. She looked shocked and disbelieving, not sure if she should dare to hope what Ultimus had said was true.
"I'm not mistaken," the mech rumbled. "My sense of smell is too acute. I know your scent from the family apartment. You and Jack are family."
Kate turned her full attention to the girl again, taking in everything she could. A double realization sank heavily in. Jack was basically a Little Sister, short most of the mental conditioning. Still had an ADAM slug in her belly, the yellow glaze of the eyes, mostly unseen scars of operations and near harvesting from splicers. Jack had been living on her own in Rapture for a little over five years.
Ultimus gently touched Jack's cheek. "She ran into me shortly after I arrived here... Almost literally ran into. I protect her now, from splicers and whoever else would try to hurt her."
"You're her Big Daddy," Kate surmised, she needed time to think this over...
"You could call me that, yes. But I do not make her harvest ADAM; she does it only if she chooses to." Ultimus nodded.
"The Daddies are guards, not enforcers." Will muttered, almost defensively.
"I have no need of ADAM, so none need be harvested. And I do not take orders from those lunatics I've heard over the PA system."
Kate looked torn, but as the lights flickered she shook herself, "We need to get power back to the Den before we suffocate." She said, paused and eyed Ultimus, "We're having a chat though after."
Ultimus nodded. "I must see the Thinker, and then I will find you. I can track your scent anywhere in the city now."
The woman took a step back motioning to her left and a darkened side tunnel, "This is a faster way to the Thinker. And if anything happens to my sister's baby, I don't care if you're a god, I will hurt you."
"You wouldn't be able to pierce my armor, but the warning is acknowledged." Ultimus inclined his head, and then snorted. "Go back that way and have a look at the last idiot who tried to hurt her. If you can figure out which body parts belong to them."
Tbc...
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