A/N: I'm back again! I've been on an updating spree as of late, and finally had the time to return to my Bioshock works! For any that are interested, this fic MAY cross with one of my most recent Bioshock Infinite works, "A Sage in the Clouds" but I'll leave that entirely up to you, dear readers. I sincerely apologize if this chapter's so much shorter than the other, but I've been working my poor muse half to death with all these One Piece updates as of late and as such, I at least felt obligated to update something in a different category.

And with that...

...AWAY WE GO! Sorry if its short! I've been mad busy with work and my updating schedule! On another note, I've seen the Burial at Sea DLC. Suffice it to say I am...displeased, witht he ending. So expect some changes in that area, as well. What sort of changes, you ask? Weeeeelll, lets just say thos Vita Chambers are awfully handy when you know how to hack em..So I recommend that you read Sage in the Clouds to understand what happens in this chapter, just to be sure, kay? So...

...here we are!

"The most we can hope for is that what we want is worth the evil we do."

~Tennebaum.

Hell Hath no Fury

"Breathe deep the air in your tank, Omega." When next Andrew Ryan spoke, his words were blacker than the deepest, darkest pit. "So that you and your children might remember how it tastes...

"Now listen here you cheeky dickwaffle-

He was just about to say more when the trees started to wither and die around them. Naruto took one look at the withered husks that had once been so bountilful with life, completely loss to explain what had happened to them in so short a time. Then he put two and two together. Ryan had sworn not to let him have what was his. What better way to do so than to deprive him of oxygen? To deny him the very air he needed to be draw life-giving air into his lungs? Naruto could've said many things in that instant to sum up how he felt about Andrew Ryan. In the end, he settled for one:

"Fuck!"

Quaking with fury, a sound so animal, so primal, so unnaturally loud blasted forth from him, a roar of rage that echoed through the still-smoldering ruins of Arcadia, reverberating off metal walls and tiled floor before reaching the ears of several Houdini Splicers in the building. Terror accompanied the bellow as it struck them and, for once, they listened to their base urges, rushing away from the source like a flock of startled birds lest they be brought face to face with the monstrosity that had uttered such a sound.

Omega struck the wall with his fist, a shallow dent appearing in the steel surface where he struck. Panic threatened to fill him; his mind simultaneously torn between himself and Tenenbabum, those with him, and those taking shetler back at the ticket booth. Death by aspyhxiation, unable to breath, choking on nothing as they died. This was a foe he couldn't fight conventionally, all his speed and strength stood useless in the face of no air no life, no anything. But...his mind didn't.

Naruto stiffened at the thought, straightening from his pained crouch. Yes! That, was it! Unbidden, an idea began to form in the darkened depths of his mind. Julie Langford. She was the preminent biologist in Rapture-as evidenced by these audio recordings he'd collected on his trek through Arcadia. For all intensive purposes, it seemed she had made her home here in the gardens. If anyone could find a way to fix this, to prevent a total loss of oxygen on their part, it was her.

He knew what to do.

"Father? What are you-" Alma blinked as Naruto suddenly surged forward, Alessa squealing in delight on his shoulders at the sudden motion. Baffled, she and Hanabi were left to follow half-jogging in his wake. The Big Daddy was little more than a bloodstained blur as he bounded onward, great metal boots heralding his heroic charge with thumping footsteps, a thunder that paused only long enough to wait as the nearest door swung wide to accomodate his hulking form. Without hesitation he stormed through-

And all hell broke loose.

When the securis door whirled open moments later, Omega had already readied himself for a fight, popping a Burst Cell into his Ion Laser, tensing himself in preparation of whatever might be awaiting him on the other side. Imagine his surprise when instead it exposed not the bloodied, postule-covered body of a sinister splicer, but rather that of a man. One they knew all too well.

Jack.

"Hey-

Naruto didn't hesitate in the slightest. Even as the man opened his mouth in greeting the Big Daddy stepped forward, bodily grabbing him by the collar and hauling him into the wall with all the force of a sledgehammer on speed. Rotten wood splintered before the unexpected impact, sending shards of Andrew Ryan's broken dream skittering across the cobblestones and whirling away into the grass. All the while, he was dimly aware of Alma and Hanabi's shouting in his ears, begging and pleading for him to stop. Naruto wasn't exactly in the listening mood. Not as he dragged him onward, further savaging the door as he pushed him into the next room of this strange little paradise.

"You," he growled, the words low and deep in his throat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you for trying to make off with Hanabi. One! Reason!"

Jack gulped.

"Erm...would it help if I said I was sorry?"

All three of Sisters could practically feel the hate rolling off Omega towards this man, and with a small motion of his massive hand he gestured for them to be still. After all it was as accurate a description of him as any, he silently admitted. Jack hardly batted an eye at the enraged Big Daddy, his lips contorting into a momentary snarl beneath the slit of his helm. Finally, the metal man of Rapture took a step backwards, before turning his head back to glance at his three charges. With a throaty rumble, his porthole swung to face him once more.

"Fine."

Futilely trying to calm himself, Omega returned to where he had left his companions, finding Hanabi men busy scrounging up supplies for her pack while Alma stood guard. Jack eyed him warily the whole way, hesitant to so much as step a foot ahead of the golem lest he provoke his wrath once more. At an unspoken command, the group continued on after their plodding protector.

"That was quite foolish of you." Alma remarked in passing.

At first, Jack said nothing. He could not. He dare not. To speak, he felt, was tantamount to disaster. But he was feeling rather edgy after coming face to face with Omega's drill once more.

"It's not my fault! I thought he was dead!"

"That you thought so at all speaks of how little faith you had." came the prim reply.

"Hey, now that's-

The bickering was cut short by a violent grunt and the earth-shaking stomp of a weighted boot from Omega. Jack's nervous grin was quickly wiped away by the sight of the Big Daddy's left hand, wreathed with fury hot and white, tongues of flame still curling around his fingers. Alma smiled slightly at the man's momentary lack of backbone.

"I'd listen to him, were I you."

Atop his shoulder Alessa reached a dainty hand down to wipe the grime and blood from his porthole.

Hanabi gave a mirthless laugh and a tired half-smile.

The hollow man sighed once more, but he had now been reminded of the purpose behind the danger. With heavy footfalls he trundled back forward into the grove. He couldn't help but hope and pray that the splicers at least had the wherewithall to leave him alone after this.

A maddened cackle in the distance said otherwise.

The metal man looked around and sighed again. He had a lot of work to do...

"And that's how we met." Anko sighed as she finished her tale, momentarily overcome with nostalgia. The road they'd taken to romance hadn't neccessarily been an easy one but it'd worked out in the end. At least it'd been so until he'd vanished by the sea one day on vacation. Now the little ones still looking at her with rapt attention, awe and wonderment. Even Tennenbaum had been roped into the tale at some point, drawn into a world she daren't dream to exist; one as fantastical as Rapture, with none of the trappings of madness it seemed.

For Herr Omega to have come from such a world explained much; least of all his fierce determination to protect her little ones.

"So..." Evelyn squirmed slightly in the scientist's lap, golden eyes apprasing her with the curiosity only a child could have. "Is Mama Tennenbaum mommy, or is Anko mommy?"

Both women sputtered and flushed.

"Eh," the special jonin chortled softly, "I guess you could say we aboth are...?"

"Then we have two Mommy's?" this from little Valentine.

"Danke schoen, Anko. Thank you. I suppose explanations are in order now." The unspoken question hung between the two women like an anchor, heavy and weighted with guilt. Sinking to the depths of despair at that mention of the man they both wanted, yet could never truly have. The latter

"Oh, alright." the kunoichi demurred with a slight smile.

"Lemme tell ya about the day he proposed-

Whatever else she might've said ended in a sudden crackle of fire and flame as an explosion rocked the ticket booth, flinging them from their perches. The subsquent sursurus of sound left its occupants nearly deafened and dumb the little sisters squealed within terrified sobs, terrible terror overcoming them as still more explosions rocked the train station, mangling metal and cracking glass. Gasping at the pain pricking against her gut and stomach, Anko hoisted herself upright, pulling Valentine with her.

"Ach." Tenenbaum muttered, standing woodenly as well.. "That...that is not so good." As if to echo that thought, a familiar and hated voice echoed over the loudspeaker:

"People of Rapture," The voice of Sofia Lamb called out, her crisp tones dulcet and smooth; so subtle in their mockery, yet ever present regardless. "The den of the traitors has finally been found. They are an infestation-a blight upon our flesh, seeking only to pervert our goals and steal Paradise away from us. For the sake of the Family-no, for the sake of OUR salvation, we must purge them once and for all!"

Tenenbaum swore something in German, causing Anko to risk a glance in her direction.

"The radio!" she exclaimed as she clutched at the worn device, a touch of her old accent pervading the words as she regained control of her faculties once more. "It is being jammed! I cannot contact Herr Omega!"

Anko groaned, twofold as the gibbering calls of Splicers reached their ears. Something large and heavy slammed up against the door to the ticket booth,

"Lovely."

"I will be getting the little ones to safety! You hold ze doors!"

Echoing that very command, the angry howl of Brute Splicer tore through the air.

"Open this godamned door!"

There was no time for further thought, only action.

Flinging herself against the metal edifice with all her might, Anko worked swiftly to seal the doorway as Tenenbaum retreated with the little ones into the inner sanctum. A booming crash very near tossed her backward, leaving her shoulder numb and stinging from the impact. Not good! She silently cursed. With her new ADAM abilities confounding her chakra control, she didn't trust herself to enter combat at present. And rightfully so, wary as she was over the addiction of ADAM.

Crash!

Groaning, the purplette returned to her Sisyphean task once more, struggling to hold the door even as another impact shook the metal to its very foundations. One worked escaped her mouth, a foul snarl indicitave of a world's worth of wrath and a fierce fury so intense it sent flames smoldering to her fingertips. She knew exactly who had come for them, just as she quivered with the anticipation of revenge, so too did she worry that it might be the end of her. Because at long last, they'd been found. Sussed out. Discovered. But how? Not that it mattered anymore, though she would've taken small comfort in knowing she was not to blame for this old catastrophe rearing its head.

Fat salty tears began to pour down her face as her eyes reddened, her frustration becoming evident as the door began to give way. She began to sniffle through the teardrops. It was not sorrow that caused these tears, it was anger, white-hot fury at realizing her death waited on the other side of the door. And it had come to collect.

One way or another, there would be a reckoning, and if she had to fall to ensure the safety of her charges then so be it. Her only regret was that she hadn't been able to see more of Naruto-

BA-KRAM!

A mighty gust shook the train station to its very foundations, but this sudden intrustion was not directed at their door. The roar of shrieking winds rising over the screams of the splicers, a God awful keening sound that vaguely reminded her of a tornado. Louder and louder it rose, tearing at everything that wasn't bolted down, an unseen terror that could not be seen nor explained. Anko was very nearly tempted to open the shutter to steal a peek at their unlikely saviour, but wisdom prevailed and she stayed her course.

Abruptly the pressure pushing against the door vanished from whence it had come. Then...silence.

A tentative knock sounded on the grate, nearly causing Mitarashi to jump clear out of her skin.

"H-Hello?" the voice of a young woman called out, her tone muffled by the shutters and lacking the madness of the average splicer. "Is anyone in there? Are you alright?" Anko dithered only a moment more before she slapped the door control, opening the shutter. Imagine her surprise when she found herself standing face to face with a young woman in a bloodied blue-and-white dress her dark eyes bright with trepidations and filled with an all too familiar anxiety. One palm lay raised as if to place itself against the glass, jerking away now as the shutter whirled open.

"Who in the hell are you?" she demanded to know of her. Saviour though she might be, the kunoichi remaind jaded and rightfully so. Rapture didn't exactly breed the most trusting of environments. She'd barely spent a few days down here and already she found herself jaded of everyone otuside her own family.

"My name is Elizabeth." came the quiet introduction. "This...this is going to sound very strange, but is Naruto there?"

"How the hell do you know him?" she shot back.

"It's a bit of a long story." Elizabeth answered. May I come in?"

"Oh, I don't think so-

Ting!

The air suddenly ruptured behind her, the very fabric of reality itself tearing. A tear through which the young woman stepped. Her body vanished from beyond the door without a sound and reappeared behind her in the ticket booth only seconds thereafter, smiling softly. Anko sputtered.

"I...you...what...how did you do that?!"

To her credit, Elizabeth actually appeared sheepish.

"Perhaps I should explain...

Nearly a dozen Houdini Splicers later, Naruto and co finally found what they were looking for. It came in the form of a locked door, with twin security monitors flanking the metal edifice and preventing them from daring to advance any further than they already had. There was a silence as their strange little band pondered what to do. Omega rapped at the door with a leaden fist, impaciently awaiting a response. When none came, he'd only knock harder, very nearly denting the metal with his massive fist.

Alma cocked her head aside curiously. "I wonder if anyone's home...

Screens flared to life at those words, exposing the likeness of a middle-aged woman. Julie Langford was indeed home.

"My trees!" she exclaimed! "It wasn't you, was it? No...Ryan! I think I've got a way to save the trees, it's a genetic vector that...oh." She trailed off, a rare note of annoyance working itself into her words. "Look who I'm talking to. As if a Big Daddy could possibly understand.

"Ahem." Naruto coughed politely.

"I-you-what?! Bah, nevermind!" To her credit, the ecobiologist took this suprise in stride. "Could you find a sample of Rosa Gallica for me? Look in the Grotto...I've got to keep working while there's still time...

"You mean this?"

Three pairs of eyes snapped toward Alma, and the item clutched in her hand. It was indeed a red rose, seemingly inconspicuous amidst her blood-stained hands.

"I'm not even going to ask." Jack muttered.

"Well, what're you waiting for?!" Langford squawked! "Send it through the pneumo!"

Alma did just that.

"Yes, this is perfct...perfect...come on up to me office...I'm letting you in now...I think I've got just the thing to put the green back in this forest. I've got the security system in this joint hacked, so those turrets won't bite. Come on up to my office."

"Julie," Ryan's voice chimed faux merrily only seconds later, inadvertantly causing their little group to hasten its pace. "We made a business deal, you and I. Did we not? Let me read to you from the agreement. Section three, subsection four. Ryan Industries maintains EXCLUSIVE rights to the creation, use, and exploitation of the Lazarus Vector. Ownership is civilization, without it, we are but pigs digging in the muck." Rounding yet a nother corner,

Naruto eyed the glass grimly and revved his drill, squaring up against the supposedly impenetrable surface. He brought up his favorite weapon, the massive auger whirring and spinning as it came to life.

"You'd better hold your breath, Jack."

Without another word he shot forward in a sudden surge of speed, his roar of rage mingling with the heart-stopping thrum of his drill, becoming something unholy. It roared and rattled on his arm like a thing alive, as if it might thrash free and charged forward without him at any moment. Even as Jack thought this, the ultimate Daddy was already running toward the glass at full tilt, his grunts of exertion warping into a roar of pure-an unadulterated rage.

"ORA!" He bellowed.

Dr. Langford had just enough time to yelp in surprise before the hulking form of the Big Daddy came barreling through, his gore-soaked suit gleaming like a knight in shining armor.

That yelp turned to a choking gasps admist the noxious fumes. What the devil was a Big Daddy doing here?! That was her last thought before the fumes began to affect her; those invisible fists closing around her throat to strangle the life from her lungs.

Unaffected by the poisionous gas, the armored titan bounded over a desk to reach her, smashing through years worth of her works, as he did so. Ponderous clod! Without pause or preamble he bent down, snatched her up,and bounded back from whence he had come-all in the blink of an eye. In that instant, as he leapt back through the glass, as the blackness took her, she could've sworn she heard the Big Daddy speak.

"The things I do for women...

A/N: Sorry if its short, but I really wanted to get this out for you guys and galls. Naruto's on the war path, and his suspicions of Atlas have only deepened! Rightfully so! I always suspected that ol Atlas was more than he let on when I played the game myself. Now that all because of a small misunderstanding between him and Jack. This can't end well...Oh , and That voice you heard on the recording, I'm sure you all know her. Well, she's about to play a pivotal role to come, moreso than you think! Sorry, but I won't spoil anymore. I'm off to work now!

So...in the immortal words of Atlas...

...Review, would ya kindly? No preview this time, sadly. Its going to be a surprise!

R&R! =D