As it turns out, writing fanfiction is a lot easier when you have a paper due tomorrow.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bioshock or any of the characters... yet...
A heavy silence descended on the room as the newest arrival made himself known. Ares couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about him.
He stood unsteadily, as though he was unused to the action. At the same time his eyes held a cold, almost cruel, self-confidence that was vaguely reminiscent of the expressions worn by Cain.
"You know…" The boy began. His voice was scratchy and forced. "We've got you outnumbered here. If you beg for mercy I might just kill you quickly instead of dragging it out."
"Might want to get your eyes checked dipshit!" Jericho shot back, oblivious to his odd demeanor. "There's two of us and two of you, and I sure as hell ain't about to go easy on your sorry ass."
This caused the young man to start laughing at a joke only he understood. Ares readied his weapons. If this truly was Davian, then he was the one they were after.
The big sister looked back and forth between the two groups. With a questioning glance towards the boy, she stood at his side with her harvester primed for battle. He didn't react in the slightest.
"How about you big guy?" Davian goaded, his eyes focusing on Ares. "How do you want this to go down?"
The god of war's chosen wasn't about to back down from an opponent, no matter how strange they appeared.
"I've been tasked with killing you." He stated simply. "I take my work very seriously."
A slow smile spread across the young splicer's face. Without a word, he strode over to a table that had been flipped at some point. The first few steps were clumsy, but he quickly got into the rhythm. Grasping one of the table's metal legs, he gave it a violent twist. The limb tore away from the wooden base with a snap leaving a long metal rod in his hands.
He gave the makeshift weapon a few practice swings as though it were a training sword.
"I'm glad you said that." He commented idly, hardly seeming to notice that the two splicers after his life were quickly losing patience with his antics. "It's been a really long time since I got the chance to have some fun and I was worried you might chicken out."
"Oh fuck this!" Fed up with the interruption to his fight, Jericho armed one of his explosive charges and hurled it bodily at Davian.
The young man traced its path through the air with an amused smile. Ares' combat experience kicked in when he realized what was about to happen. As the bomb fell, Davian swung his weapon, making contact with the object and propelling it right back at the man who threw it. Fortunately for Jericho, Ares managed to grab a hold of him and teleport the two of them away a split second before it detonated.
They reappeared in front of their targets, Jericho falling to the floor in an ungainly heap. His savior didn't even spare a moment to ensure that he was all right. All of his attention was focused on the young man standing in front of him.
Ares lunged forward the moment his physical form returned. His hatchets tore a shining path through the air as they arced towards Davian's throat.
Sadly for the scarred man, he was much faster than his former graceless demeanor implied.
The boy sidestepped the first swing, lashing out with the table leg as he passed. Ares bit back a cry of pain as the object smashed into his left wrist causing him to reflexively let go of the blade in that hand.
Before the hand-ax even had a chance to hit the floor, he made a second swipe directed at Davian's midsection only to have the metal pole blur into his field of vision once more. He had to abandon his attack and teleport backwards to avoid having the side of his head caved in.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ares spotted Jericho getting to his feet just in time to be shoulder charged into the wall by the sister. The enraged girl brutally jammed her armored knee into his groin, venting her frustration from their earlier fight.
He should be able to keep her busy for a while at least. It was about all that could be hoped for given how counterproductive he'd been so far.
Ignoring his companions panicked cries and the screeches of his attacker, Ares renewed his assault. He shot off the spot giving the image of a frontal attack. When he was no more than a foot away from his target, he vanished into the red mist his kind was known for.
He appeared behind the boy's back, sweeping up his dropped hatched and lashing out at his exposed back in the same motion. Davian fell backwards, rolling under the attack and hitting Ares in the chest with an inverted kick. Despite the awkward angle of the assault, his hit sent the larger man falling onto his back.
Davian was back on his feet in an instant, swinging the metal rod down on his fallen opponent like a hammer. Realizing there was no time to teleport, Ares quickly rolled to the side and saved himself a few broken ribs.
The hunter snarled in frustration. He wasn't used to fighting other splicers who put up this much of a fight. To make things worse, the icy smirk had yet to leave his face.
The two fighters broke away for a moment, catching their breath.
"You know, it isn't very polite to be fighting like this in someone else's home." Davian commented. "What say we take this outside?"
Before the implications of his words had time to sink in, he shot forwards and latched onto his opponent's arm with an iron grip. The shout of surprise from Ares was cut off as both of them were pulled into the ether outside normal reality.
They were moving. The scarred splicer felt a very mortal chill enter his system as he realized what was going on. Davian was pulling the both of them upwards. Past the room they were in. Past the ceiling that protected them.
He was dragging them into the ocean.
Ares recoiled from the merciless clutches of his captor, fighting with every ounce of his being to avoid ending up outside in the water. At these depths, the two of them would be crushed long before either of them had a chance to teleport again.
The hazy world shook dangerously as they fought their battle of wills. Neither was willing to let the other get the upper hand and the longer they stayed in this state the more dangerous it became.
Davian's pull suddenly weakened as the effects of Adam withdrawal took its toll on his system. Ares didn't let the moment slip by. With strength born of desperation, he heaved the two of them back into the confines of the city. They materialized six feet off the ground, and crashed into the floor only a moment later. The room still bore the touch of the bee infestation, but it was a different one to where they had started off. Still, being lost was far better than drowning or materializing inside of a wall.
His pulse racing from the brush with death, Ares turned to glare at the boy.
"You're insane!" He hissed viciously. It wasn't often that he came that close to dying, and the experience unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
"Takes one to know one." Davian shot back with a humorless chuckle. "Anyway, I would love to stay and finish this but it looks like you're gonna be busy for a bit. Besides, I have to go meet with a few friends."
The young man summoned up a ball of flame into his hand and hurled it forcefully at Ares. It was easily sidestepped, but provided him enough time to disappear once more. Roaring in frustration, the man with a god's name made to pursue, only to be interrupted when the walls shook under a different kind of roar.
There's no way…
Turning around, Ares was greeted by the sight of a wandering Rosie. Its porthole was glowing bright red and one of its shoulders was smoldering from where the fire ball had impacted it.
He can't have planned that. The man thought to himself in disbelief. That just isn't possible.
The big daddy didn't give him long to ponder the turn of events. Bringing its massive rivet gun to bear, it unleashed a murderous volley on the only target in the room. Ares quickly dove behind a nearby pile of debris.
His cover disappeared at an alarming rate under the enraged protector's assault. It was with no small amount of anger that he realized he wouldn't be able to finish off his target. Forcing his thoughts to look for a manner in which to deal with his current assailant, Ares took a bloody vow.
Once he got out of here, he was going to kill that damn boy if it was the last thing he did.
"…What say we take this outside?"
Epsilon turned her head just in time to see Davian dart forward, grabbing a hold of the other splicer's arm and blinking out of existence in a blast of red mist. Her stomach dropped at the sight.
She had known something was terribly wrong the moment she saw him, but some part of her had hoped it was just her being overly concerned. His use of plasmids dashed any hopes of that. She knew full well that he was going through the effects of Adam deprivation, and to use up what little he had left would only make the consequences more severe. Insanity being one of the most modest outcomes.
Her moment of distraction gave the splicer she was fighting an opening. With a snarl from his bleeding mouth, he shot a stream of lighting from his fingertips. Epsilon felt her entire body convulse violently as the electricity tore through her system.
She didn't have time for this! The air distorted as she called on plasmids of her own. Every loose piece of debris in the room shot towards her, swirling in a vortex of broken furniture and decayed concrete. The man's eyes bugged out of his head as he realized what was coming. Turning on his heel, he began sprinting for cover.
He almost made it.
With a gesture, Epsilon sent the airborne mass of debris hurling towards him. The objects crashed into his back, lifting him off his feet and smashing him into the wall. It even had the added bonus of burying him entirely.
She didn't spare any further time worrying about him. Her training warned that he might still be alive, but the fear that Davian might be in danger pushed her to ignore them.
Forcing her damaged body into motion once more, she sprinted out of the room and took the only open hallway she could find. He had said 'outside' but surely he hadn't meant that literally right? Even the most deranged splicers still had some semblance of self-preservation left in them, and he was far from being that badly damaged.
Suddenly, the walls shook under a mighty roar sounding from somewhere down the hall to her left. Epsilon tensed unconsciously as she remembered her encounter with Gamma. Fortunately the sound was far too deep to be one of her sisters, which meant that it could only be a big daddy.
Turning towards the source of the noise, she dashed down the hallway. If Davian had accidentally triggered the behemoth with a stray shot, he would no doubt need her help.
As it turns out, her concerns were for not.
The bulkhead at the far end of the hall opened up to reveal a rather disturbing sight. Davian strode through the open doorway, apparently none the worse for wear. He twirled the table leg in one had like a baton, while resting the other in the pocket of his pants. Were it not for the fact that he bore the markings of the earlier fighting, he might have been mistaken for someone out on a Sunday stroll.
Epsilon stopped dead in her tracks. The sound of the big daddy's rage became muffled and distant as the door closed behind him.
"Well look who decided to show up." She flinched at his voice. It was certainly Davian, but the tone sounded wrong. Almost like another person was doing the talking for him.
"Were you worried about us?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Aww, how sweet. You were weren't you?"
She couldn't help but notice that the metal appendage had stopped spinning. It was now held loosely in his hand, ready to be brought up at a moment's notice.
"There's no need to be concerned. Between the two of us, I'm a lot more competent."
What the hell was he talking about? A questioning noise issued from the back of Epsilon's throat as she tried to make sense of his ramblings.
"You know, you've got him awfully messed up in here." Davian said, tapping the side of his head. "Did you know that he named you after his sister? A sister named after a sister. Now that's comedy don't you think?"
Her wariness of the situation only increased as he started laughing. It was a dreadful sound, more akin to a dying gurgle than any expression of mirth.
Eventually, he regained control of himself.
"You don't understand a damn thing I'm saying, do you?"
That was another thing. In the time she'd known him, he hadn't cursed once that she knew of. Today, he had done it twice.
He sighed heavily, as if disappointed by her lack of reaction.
"You hear the words, but don't get their meaning." Davian said, shaking his head sadly. "I'll never understand how you managed to twist him up so badly."
In sheer frustration, she let out a warning growl. The rumbling sound got his attention.
"What's the matter Amelia? Have you noticed something wrong?" He jeered, slowly advancing. "No answer? Hmm. I suppose that isn't your real name after all. Would you prefer I called you E? Or maybe just start calling you by your number. Would you like that Epsilon?"
That was when she got a good look at his eyes. They were as far from the Davian she knew as they could physically get. Both were piercing and unrelenting, filled with a hungry energy that reminded her far too much of the monsters she would run from as a child. One thing was for sure, this wasn't the same young man she'd grown to know.
Involuntarily, Epsilon began backing away as he drew closer.
"He's been getting too attached to you." Davian stated, his grip tightening on the length of metal. "Attachments cause complications, and I don't like it when things get overly complicated. That's when the real problems show up."
Her instincts screamed at her to move as he shot forward, but the sheer disbelief of what was happening caused her to hesitate. Her mind still clung to the idea that this was Davian. He wouldn't hurt-
Epsilon's train of thought was brutally derailed as the weapon in his hands struck the front of her helmet. It wasn't a glancing blow either. The force of impact cased her head to slam painfully against the inside of the metal casing.
A second blow quickly followed the first. Before she could even think about retaliation, a third, fourth, and fifth hammered against her skull. The relentless barrage sent miniature shockwaves through her system, forcing her to reflexively raise her arms in defense rather than hit back.
He countered this by striking at her midsection instead. The blow stole the air from her lungs, and left her open for another hit against the side of her head. Dizzied and disoriented by the assault, her balance disintegrated entirely.
Epsilon crashed to the ground on her back, staring up at the roof of the hallway. Her vision was soon blotted out by the cruel parody of her companion as he kneeled down on top of her chest.
"Relax." He said, wrapping his hands around the base of her helmet. "This will only hurt for a second."
White hot tongues of flame coalesced in his hands, casing the armor around her throat in blazing heat. Still hurting from her earlier beating, Epsilon desperately grabbed at his arms in an attempt to pry him off.
It felt like reaching into a furnace.
Heat radiated off his arms as she struggled to pull them away. She could feel her hands actually start to cook under the brutal temperatures. It was with mounting dread that she realized she wasn't going to pull him away in time.
With a metallic wrenching sound, the seals holding her helmet in place melted and snapped. Her vision was no longer tinged with the red of her porthole as Davian ripped the metal casing off, leaving her bruised face exposed.
The clatter of the helmet as it was thrown aside went unnoticed by either of them. Epsilon cradled her burned hands against her chest as this thing that was parading around in Davian's body reached for her throat once more.
This time, as his palms started heating up again, there was no armor to protect her.
Before she could further damage herself by trying to stop him, an arm snaked around Davian's neck. Caught off guard, he only managed a shout of surprise as it yanked him backwards. Another arm quickly appeared and drove a small metal device into his side as he grappled with the one that had him in a chokehold. The sound of metal piercing flesh was far too loud without her helmet to dim the noise.
Davian stiffened for a split second before ripping himself away from the foreign limbs with a strangled scream. He fell to the ground, clawing at his wounded side and alternating between trying to hold himself perfectly still and violently flailing in place.
Epsilon quickly turned to face his assailant, expecting to see the face of the splicer from earlier. It came as a great shock when Tomas was the one looking back at her. In his hand was an empty Adam syringe.
"I thought that might be a problem. You all right?" He asked, his empty hand gently held at his side. Looking closer, she could see that there was a hole in it.
Epsilon nodded. She was lying, but considering what had just happened she was about as 'all right' as could be expected.
Hoisting herself to her feet, she made her way over to Davian's form. He had stopped moving aside from several errant twitches. When she kneeled down to get a look at his eyes, they were glassy and distant. Whatever he was seeing right now, it wasn't anything she could guess at. Still, it was preferable to what they had been before.
Seeing the state of Epsilon's gloves and hands, Tomas turned around.
"Archer!" He called. "I'm going need you to carry him. Neither of us will be able to manage it."
"WHAT?" She had to cover her ears as the young man shouted back. Judging from the way he held a hand to his ears, he was having trouble hearing.
"You! Carry! Him!" Tomas ordered, gesturing down to Davian's body. He got the message that time.
Archer knelt down and slung one of the splicer's arms over his shoulder while Tomas put a steadying hand on Epsilon's bicep.
"Can you walk?" He asked. Once again she nodded. "Good. We still need to find the doctor and your little friend."
Her heart jumped into her throat at the mention of Wren. She had nearly forgotten about the little sister. If she and Davian had been attacked, and the two others looked like they had been also, then she could be in danger.
A scampering sound from the walls drew their attention. They all turned to face the gatherer's vent that stuck out from the wall. Funny. Between the savage beating and near murder she hadn't noticed it there.
With timing that only came from stupid luck, Wren clambered out.
"E!" She yelled, running into her older sibling's arms (who was trying very hard not to cry out in pain as she did so). The girl was crying and obviously distressed.
"What happened?" Tomas demanded, stooping down to look at her. She tried to shy away from him, but he grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look him in the eye.
"Where is Gregory?"
Wren whimpered at his gaze, but soon gathered the courage to speak.
"A mean man came." She said, clinging to her older sibling as she recalled the incident. "Mister Doctor told me to run, so I did. I went into the hidey-hole, but he didn't follow me. He was leaking…"
The man's expression didn't change, but Epsilon could feel the cold anger that spilled out from him. The childish message meant only one thing. Gregory was dead.
"We need to get out of here." Tomas said after some time. His voice sounded ragged and worn. "Come on. It isn't far from the train. If we hurry, we'll be able to beat the splicers there."
With sunken spirits, the battle-worn group made to follow him.
Gamma screamed in rage as she stormed out of the airlock and back into Rapture. The Adam high was wearing off and she could now feel the damage to her body in full, but such things didn't concern her. The one thing she knew, the one thing she cared about, was the fact that her sister had escaped.
The witch had broken into her home! Murdered her family! And after all that, she'd escaped! Saved by a splicer of all things.
Pivoting in place, she smashed her fist into the wall in helpless anger. She didn't even care that the action broke a couple of her fingers. All she wanted was to see that heartless monster broken and dying at her feet. That was all she could think of now.
Slowly, Gamma became aware of a small creature watching her. Whipping around, she screeched her fury out as a warning to anything stupid enough to bother her now. She quickly silenced the wail when she saw what it was.
Sitting calmly on a nearby railing was a tiny hornet. The damaged sister could only stare in shock at the creature. Was it one of hers? Surely it had to be. There were no others in the fallen city.
Hope bubbled up in her chest as she took a cautious step forward. Much to her dismay, the insect took this as a signal to leave. Gamma let out a choked sob of protest as it took flight, but the hornet didn't go far. It landed slightly farther down the hall and turned to look at her expectantly.
It wanted her to follow.
Not pausing to think what motivations might lay behind those actions, she set off after her flying friend.
That does it for this outing. Next time expect the results of the bet, a bit of hospitalization, and a little touch of back-story that I know at least one person has been patiently waiting for. See you then.