Sobs echoed around the cell. The cell itself was small no more then six feet by six feet by six feet. It was empty of furniture and had nothing in the way of lighting. If there had been a light the cell's occupant would have been visible, a lanky girl in her late teens or early twenties, wearing the dirty remains of what must have at one time been a beautiful dress. Her hair was the color of flames and came down to just below her shoulders. She sat in the fetal position rocking back and forth terrified hiccupping sobs her only company. Her gaze was blank, her eyes staring at nothing as she rocked back and forth.

With a sudden violent twitch she leapt to her feet and ran full tilt at the wall. The impact with the cold metal surface shattered her nose sending blood gushing down her thin face. Sobs morphing into desperate screams she pounded on the wall with all her might.

She refused to stop as the skin on her hands tore.

She refused to stop as her throat started to bleed from the constant screams.

She refused to stop as the bones of her hands broke.

Even as her captors once more filled her room with a potent knock out gas she refused to stop until she lost consciousness. In another hour or two she'd wake, once more healed by her unnatural abilities, and the cycle would repeat itself as it had the last time…and the time before that…and the time before that.

()

Alone in a pitch black room David slowly roused himself to consciousness, gingerly touching the large lump on his forehead he sighed alone in the dark. "Well…this sucks."

()

"You should have seen the look on his smug little face!" Thompson hmmed in disinterest as Banes once again told the story of his great 'victory'.

"He looked so damn shocked and confused as I socked him in the face."

A tired sigh. "Yes, yes. It sounds like it was wonderful."

"Oh! Oh! And the Vassal was screaming! If there had been a Big Daddy within about five miles it would have come rushing there to cave my skull in!"

"Charming."

"I even tore up all their stuff."

"How remarkably petty of you…"

"Are you even listening to me? You should have been there it was great!"

Thompson gave Banes a somewhat disgusted look. "Several points I feel I should make. Number one: I am a doctor I try to avoid harming people as much as possible." Banes snorted in distaste. "Number two: I have nothing against David, the Guardian, or the Vassal." Banes opened his mouth to argue but was stopped when Thompson held up a hand. "And number three: I don't generally betray people who save my life, especially when they saved my life earlier that very day."

Banes rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Aaron, you can't tell me you actually liked them?"

Thompson stood with a soft sigh, turning to leave. "And if I did?"

()

David sighed to himself as he leaned against the wall. "Well there was also that time Deb ran smack into the sliding glass door and knocked her baby tooth out." A slight chuckle. "Ah…the look on her face." David paused, forehead wrinkled in concentration as he attempted to wrangle more pleasant memories from the depths of his mind, watching his older sister behaving like a buffoon was all well and good but it wasn't the type of calming memory he was looking for.

The memory he settled on surprised him, for it was far more resent then he'd have thought a pleasant calming memory would be. His pointer finger and thumb were up to the first knuckle in the firm muscle of Sam's abdominal, carefully trying to pry the final piece of buckshot from its place. Except for the occasional slight twinge or hiss Sam didn't really react to the pain he must have been causing her.

He had been shocked when she'd shown him how she dealt with her injuries, almost as shocked as when she'd given him the scalpel. He had almost refused, after all the thought of hurting her made him feel sick. He'd even started to refuse until he'd looked at her. She'd been looking at him nervously almost fearfully, but behind the nerves and slight fear he'd seen trust. That had been enough for him.

There had been something almost intimate about it, hearing her occasionally gasp in his ear as she leaned against him had been…strange to say the least. Something strange had happened when he'd been fishing for the last metal ball, his fingers had brushed against a section of her abdominal and something had moved beneath it. They had both frozen at that. Not removing his had for fear of scaring or worse hurting her he had leaned back slightly looking at her face.

She had been pale, well paler then normal, trembling slightly in fear as whatever was moving in her belly wriggled against his hand. He shifted to get a better look at her face and had pressed slightly harder against the foreign object then he had previously. She whimpered trembling like a leaf as she turned her head to look into his eyes. "Does that hurt?" Trembling she had shaken her head. Obviously it had hurt but not more then anything else, or at least that's what David had gotten from her answer. "Is um…is that important?" Softly glowing eyes huge she had nodded. "Would you die if it was damaged?" Suppressing a terrified whimper she had nodded once again.

It was then that the amount of trust she had shown him dawned on him. Not only had she let him for lack of a better word operate on her, she had just informed him of how easily he could kill her. Touched by her trust David had grabbed the metal object he had been looking for and pulled his fingers out of the small incision in her flesh. Within seconds the cut had began to heal, within a minute there had been no trace left. Setting the final pellet with the others David had smiled at his confused friend. "Your secret is safe with me." Sam's only response had been a bashful smile.

()

Andrea ducked as the guards passed her position, talking about something involving pork chops. Shaking her head at their idiocy she snuck deeper into the prison complex. She had it all planned out, she'd save David and together they'd run away to the surface to live until a ripe old age in a quaint little house near a brook wherein they would die simultaneously in their sleep at the age of 106 surrounded by their many children and grandchildren. It was so perfect!

After all it was hardly his fault his stupid companion had invaded the Bishop's inner sanctum. Why should he be punished for her impudence? He'd be so grateful when she saved him that he'd probably declare his undying love for her on the spot! Her happy fantasies were interrupted buy a stern voice. "You aren't supposed to be here." Oops…

()

Jack stepped carefully through the corpse ridden hallways of Suchong's private lab. He was at point followed closely by Tony. Behind the two of them were Tenenbaum and Sandy, to the surprise of everyone Harper had volunteered to take rear guard. Turning a corner Jack saw something that surprised even him, holding a hand up he signaled the others to stop.

Slowly, heavily modified pistol and wrench held at the ready he approached the corpse that had attracted his attention. It had been…savaged by something. Its chest cavity had been ripped open, broken ribs sticking out at awkward angles, all of the internal organs appeared to have been eaten and spewed around the corpse. It was almost completely striped of meat and many of the larger bones had been broken open and the marrow sucked out.

"You have any idea what could have done this?" Tony's question was answered with a shake of his head. No this was definitely something new.

"We should keep moving. Stick together we don't know what did this." The others followed his lead without question, unconsciously bunching closer together. As they progressed deeper into the facility they passed more and more mutilated bodies, every single one looked to have been mauled and at least partially eaten. Sudden movement ahead of them halted the group in its tracks as a Splicer came sprinting their way. Before they could do anything he was upon them…"Get the hell outa my way!"…and after shoving past them he was beyond them sprinting desperately for the exit.

"T-that was unexpected…wasn't it?" Jack nodded at Harper deep in thought; he'd never seen a Splicer run like that before. As they wound their way deeper into the complex a terrified scream sounded from behind them…a scream followed by an inhuman roar. It looked like the Splicer hadn't made it. "D-do you r-recognize that?" Jack shook his head; it had been louder and sounded less like a whale then a Big Daddy and was much deeper then an angry Splicer. Whatever this thing was he was going to do his best to avoid it.

"I don't give a shit what type of thing it is Harper, it'll die if we shoot it enough." Jack smirked slightly to himself at Tony's bravado. He did have a point though; even Atlas had succumbed to his wounds in the end.

The journey deeper into the complex got tenser and tenser as they trekked deeper. Sandy reacted first, twitchily looking behind herself and into side rooms at seemingly random occasions. Jack had been about to tell her to calm down when he'd heard what she must have, the occasional rustle of something bumping against something, the soft crunch of something stepping on bones. Something was following them…

"E-everyone hears that r-right?"

As Jack turned to Harper to confirm his suspicions he saw something large looming in the doorway of a side room. "Look out!" Jack was able to shove Harper out of the way but was unable to do that same for himself. Moving with shocking speed the creature slammed Jack into the wall, pinning him there with two large hands with unnaturally long fingers.

Jack glared into the crazed yellow eyes of his attacker. Whatever this thing was it was new to him. It was large, easily eight feet in height, and covered in compact muscles giving it an almost lanky appearance. Its mouth was unnaturally big and filled with large jagged teeth. Dried blood covered the beast's mouth and small bits of meat were stuck in its teeth. The beast opened its mouth unnaturally wide, its feted breath making Jack gag. Before it could sink its teeth into his flesh however, the hallway exploded with noise as Tony opened up with his LMG.

Loosing a pained shriek the beast turned and ran, unfortunately it kept one hand firmly encircling Jack's throat. It tore down the twisting halls of the complex at a shocking speed, the arm that was carrying all of Jack's not inconsiderable weight showing absolutely no sign of even slightly weakening.

After what could have been a few seconds or several minutes to Jack's oxygen deprived brain the beast found its way into a side room. Casually tossing Jack to the floor it turned and crouched beside the door, carefully watching for any signs of pursuit. From his position on the floor Jack could see the creature's back. It was covered in stretch marks as if it had grown rapidly. The most inhuman trait however was its spine. The bones of its vertebrae had grown alarmingly at some point piercing the skin; the abnormal bone growth gave the beast a constant slightly hunchbacked posture. With a start Jack realized that if it could extend its spine fully it would be considerably taller then it already was, it was almost as if the beast's bones had grown faster then the rest of it and the body was trying to catch up.

There was no question that if it came down to a test of strength this creature would easily win, a test of cunning however was a different story. With a grin Jack spotted several canisters of oil that might be quite useful. Reaching out with his telekinesis Jack grabbed one and hurled it at the beast's back. It exploded on impact causing the creature to loose a pained scream as it suddenly found itself ablaze. Jumping to his feet Jack dashed past the flailing creature and away from the impending explosion.

Jack was not disappointed, several seconds later the creature apparently blundered further into the room igniting the remaining canisters. With a large bang the creature's pained screams were silenced.

()

Andrea looked sheepishly at the stern looking Thompson. "Um…hi doc…whatcha doin?"

Thompson merely crossed his arms and leaned casually against the wall. "I might ask you the same question." Ignoring Andrea's alarmed look, Thompson continued. "After all this looks quite suspicious, your…affection for David is well known."

Mentioning her lost love was the final straw, Andrea started sobbing. "It's not fair! We love each other! I just want to save him so we can live happily ever after! Is that so bad?"

Thompson's only response was a dry "yes". At that Andrea lost it, collapsing to the ground in a puddle of spliced human, perfume, makeup, and tears she wailed her displeasure for the world to hear.

Sighing and attempting to rub away his on coming migraine Thompson continued. "If you want to save both of them however, I can help you."

Instantly composed, Andrea shot to her feet. "Really?"

A dry sigh. "Yes."

With a happy cry Andrea started to skip down to the hallway she knew David was being held. "Hold on."

Andrea paused, sending a cheery, if confused, look Thompson's way. "I think it'd be best if I got David, you can get Subject Theta." Andrea spun around with a glare but was interrupted before she could start her tirade. "…or I could get security, after all I'm allowed back here."

With an angry huff Andrea spun around and marched towards her cell. At least she was going to get to see David soon.

()

Jack and Tony followed Tenenbaum's lead as they headed back to her safe house. So far the airtight containers they had the Adam in had concealed its presence to the denizens of Rapture but Jack wasn't going to risk his life by letting his guard down. From behind them Harper repeated his question for what must have been the twelfth time. "Y-your sure it was d-dead?"

Jack sighed; it was times like this he understood Tony's distaste for the weedy little man. "Yes Harper, it's dead. There were at least twelve canisters of oil in that room and they all went up at once. It's dead!"

"Oh…t-that's good."

Tony rolled his eyes and muttered something unkind under his breath. Sandy had been silent the entire trip, never saying a word. Jack almost missed her constant sarcastic comments; he was beginning to worry about her. "Here we are." As Tenenbaum activated the secret entrance Jack couldn't help but watch her with concern. She was getting old; years of constant worry had aged her prematurely. She was thin, thin and weak. He knew for a fact she wasn't eating as much as she should have.

When she'd come to him with her plan to return to Rapture she had only wanted some advice on what to expect. It had only been at Jack's insistence that she let him accompany her expedition; she hadn't wanted to expose him to that hellish place once again. Jack appreciated the thought but he wasn't going to let her go alone, especially in her decaying health. Whether she liked it or not she was a mother figure to his girls, and was almost one to him. She couldn't seem to help herself; she cared for Rapture's misfits as if they were her own flesh and blood.

Jack aimed to return the favor; Tenenbaum was going to see the surface again. He would happily die to make that happen.

"S-so you're a-absolutely sure it w-was dead?" Jack sighed and Tony cursed under his breath, today had been a long day.

()

Light spilled into her prison, she hissed and covered her face trying to hide from the oppressive light. As her eyes adapted to the harsh light she could make out the outline of a figure standing in the doorway. Hiss turning into a savage shriek she dove at her jailor.

With a laughable amount of effort she pinned the monster against the far wall of the prison. The monster thrashed against her tight hold but was too weak to break it. Looking at her free arm she saw its skin darkening and holes opening in the pale flesh. She could feel hundreds of insects crawling throughout her arm. Savagely crushing her hand onto the monster's mouth she released them.

The monster thrashed horribly, choking and shrieking as the vicious insects swarmed down its throat. With a simple command she had them split up, some burrowing into the sinuses, others going to the lungs, eyes, esophagus, the tongue…She smiled as the monster's screams grew more pained and desperate, its thrashing growing weaker as its eyes rolled into the back of its head. The monster's horrid pink nails dug into the flesh of her arm as it thrashed and gurgled.

She released the monster and let it flop around on the floor foam pooling from its mouth. A simple change in pheromones commanded the insects to ease up the attack, after all where was the fun if the monster died quickly?

Movement attracted her attention as more monsters streamed into the hallway. Leaving the bugs to go about their business, Theta smiled eager for the coming bloodbath.

()

Covering his eyes from the harsh light David was relieved to hear a familiar voice. "Come on, get up we don't have much time."

"Oh and I'm supposed to trust you?"

Thompson sighed before laughing slightly. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"

David tapped his chin faking deep thought he nodded. "You know I believe we have. My point remains."

Thompson sighed before looking David in the eyes. "I sent Andrea to get Th-Samantha, you are just going to have to trust me."

David nodded before standing slowly. "Don't make me regret this."

()

With a crunch Theta's bare foot slammed into the monster's protruding nose. As it jerked backwards in pain she lunged forward, grabbing it by the shoulder she pirouetted around it putting it in the way of the three arrows that had been flying towards her. Three thumps in rapid succession and the monster went limp. Continuing her pirouette she disappeared, taking the body with her. Reappearing in mid air she used her momentum to hammer toss the dead body into several of its fellows.

Slamming a palm into the ground as she landed she froze the thin layer of water that coated the floor, the sound of several monsters loosing their footing made her grin. With a simple flick of her wrist she made the water accumulate under each stunned monster. She clenched her fist and the water shot upwards, impaling the monsters each on their very own icicle.

A whistle was all the warning she needed and she dematerialized as the area she was in exploded. Rematerializing before the monster with a grenade launcher she ignited his ammo pack before disappearing once again.

With a pop she appeared between two monsters, pausing briefly to rip their throats out she rolled towards their terrified friend. A punch to the stomach doubled it over, and a knee to the groin made it open its mouth. Moving quickly she dug her bloody nails into its tongue and pulled. The beast howled in agony as she tore its tongue free. Now on its knees the beast blubbered incoherently, both hands clasped over its blood spewing mouth. Deftly freezing the sweat and other liquids that coated her arm she created an ice spear. An ice spear she promptly rammed into the monster's chin and out the top of its head.

Looking up she saw a monster appearing in mid air before her, with a flick of her wrist she tossed a pebble into the space where its head was forming. When it appeared it simply collapsed and started thrashing wildly on the ground, foaming at the mouth. Theta smirked it appeared to have forgotten how to breath.

Loosing another bloodcurdling scream she moved to charge forward, only to be lifted off of the ground by a mammoth monster. The beast was pinning her arms to her sides and was squeezing. Theta could always have simply teleported away but she wasn't one to take the easy way out. She smiled broadly before opening her mouth. Dozens of hornets flew out and immediately attacked the large monster. The beast released her, falling to the ground as it swatted at the vicious insects. Theta landed on its stomach before spinning around. Smiling viciously she pressed her lips to the beasts, forcing its mouth open she opened her own. Hundreds of hornets flowed from her mouth into the thrashing monster's maw. Theta smiled as the beast screamed into her mouth, beady black eyes pleading with her to stop.

Raising her head she saw roughly a dozen monsters standing at the end of the hallway. They were trembling…good! Leaping from the seizing beast she sprinted towards the monsters, arms held out at her sides sharp nails bared like talons. The monsters sent a hail of bullets her way, a hail of bullets easily avoided by teleporting to the side and twenty feet forward. They sent another burst her way and she simply repeated her tactic, it was funny by shooting at her they were hastening their demise.

Her next teleportation took into their midst and her fun began. Reaching behind her she grabbed the monster that had been at the front by the chin. Viciously pulling its chin over her shoulder she heard its neck break with a satisfying snap. Diving to the side she punched the monster before her with a fraction of her might, it served its purpose though. Bellowing in anger the monster unloaded its gun at her, only for her to disappear. The monster looked flummoxed for a second before it saw its friend collapse in a bullet ridden mess. Theta reappeared behind the beast and snapped its neck effortlessly. She lunged towards the next she latched onto its neck with her teeth. Tackling it to the ground she ripped its throat out before jumping to her feet. She spun around and before the other monsters could react lit the very air on fire. As the remaining monsters screamed in agony Theta smiled, this was the most fun she'd had in a long long time.

()

David and Thompson froze as screams began to echo from down the hallway. "That's where Sam is isn't it?" The second Thompson nodded David took off sprinting in the direction of the screams

"What are you doing? Common sense dictates that you run away from horrible screams!" With a frustrated groan the Splicer began to chase after the human. He didn't have to chase him far. Thompson tore around the corner and almost knocked over a shocked David. Thompson looked past David and felt his blood turn to ice.

Standing about twenty feet before them was Subject Theta; she was holding a mammoth Splicer over her head as if he weighed nothing. After a second her shoulders tensed and, with a shower of gore, she ripped the man clean in half.

A tiny woman was on the floor in between the stunned duo and the blood drenched experiment. She was crawling backwards tears in her eyes as she desperately begged for mercy. "P-please…I just fed the prisoners! I didn't hurt anyone." A sob slipped past her lips. "I've never hurt anyone." Subject Theta sauntered over to the cowering woman and put a hand on her shoulder, for a second the woman seemed to think the monstrous experiment was trying to comfort her, a small smile crossing her tearstained face. Face a grimace of distaste the monster before them reached down with her other hand. With a slight squelching noise and a squeal of pain from the small woman, it dug its fingers under the woman's chin and grabbed her mandible. There was a horrible cracking noise and it ripped the woman's jaw cleanly from the rest of her body.

"S-Sam…" Subject Theta looked up with a hiss, leaving the dieing woman to her fate. Thompson took a step towards David to drag him away but was blasted away from him by a telekinetic surge.

"S-Sam do you understand me?" Subject Theta surged forward; grabbing the large human by the throat it effortlessly slammed him against the wall. It narrowed its eyes hissing again, bloodstained teeth bared.

"S-Sam…w-what are you d-doing?" Subject Theta blinked before a look of horror crossed its face. With a yelp it dropped the human, leaving him on the ground desperately gasping for air. Tentatively it reached towards David only for him to flinch away. It backed away, desperately whimpering and shaking its head. To Thompson's surprise it looked near tears.

Once David's breathing had become more regular it reached towards him again hand trembling. When David flinched again it reacted like it had been burned, yanking its hand away from him. Stifling a sob it turned and ran past Thompson, barely sparing him a glance. With a mournful cry it blasted the doors of the prison open and ran towards Haven.

It looked like it had unfinished business. Thompson moved to crouch next to the winded human. "Are you okay? Did it hurt you?"

Voice still raspy the human replied. "N-no. I-I'm fine."

"Good I'm getting you-"

"No!"

Thompson paused, staring in shock at the obviously delirious human. "What?"

"I said no, go find her. Help her."

"What? Are you insane? She just tried to kill you!"

David sent the Splicer a vicious glare. "I know. And to make this clear I'm not asking!"

Sighing at the human's stupidity Thompson nodded. Not bothering to wave to the doomed human he turned and jogged out of the prison complex, chasing after the distant form of the fleeing protector.

()

David groaned as he stood slowly, it had been several minutes since Sam had run off and he'd sent Thompson to try to help her. Slowly making his way to the door he was halted by the last voice he wanted to hear. "Ah ah ah…I don't remember saying you could leave Davy Boy."

I hope you enjoyed this newest chapter and the mostly unexplored not so human side of Theta. As always reviews are much appreciated.