Arcadia
Iota had always loved Arcadia's Rolling Hills, Tea Garden, and Tree Farm though it was nigh impossible to visit the Farm anymore, large vines had grown up and sealed the doors sometime ago.
Even as a Little Sister she would often lead her Protector through the beautiful Garden, stopping every now and then to catch a stray lightning bug, or stick her tiny feet into the cool creek water.
It was a truly magnificent place only few ever fully appreciated. She had taken some time to wander around the landscape while Omega had gone to the Tea Garden to scrounge up some lunch.
Strolling over a small bridge above the creek Iota took in the sights, the sounds, the scents, she loved it all. The Female Protector simply couldn't describe it with one word, it was a beautiful resting place for her fallen Sisters, she missed them immensely but that didn't stop her from having responsibilities, she and her new Partner had a new mission now, to find Mother, Eleanor, and most importantly Delta.
From Mother, they needed answers, from Eleanor they needed to protect her,if something had happened to Mother then Eleanor would be the Family's new Mother, and from Delta they craved vengence, one way or the other they would have their revenge, they would make the traitor suffer, make him watch as they dissect him slowly, make him feel the same intense despair they and their Family had felt only much, much worse. The two Protectors wanted nothing more than to rip out his still beating heart and crush it in their hands.
Though her hatred for Delta burn like fire, Iota still loved the tranquil piece of Eden beneath the sea, however her Protector instincts would never allow her the comfort of complete peace of mind, Everywhere she went she constantly scanned her surroundings for threats, it was one of the most sacred of survival rules when it came to Rapture. Though danger may not always present itself, danger was always present, and if you let your guard down for even a second it could mean the end of your life.
Still that didn't stop her from enjoying the scenery, no matter where you went in the City you would always see signs of destruction, death, and malice. except for Arcadia instead of bullet holes, scorch marks, and blood, you had beautifully bloomed flowers, lush grass, and a small creek of running water. Instead of corpses, sparking electronics, and leaking hallways, you could find Trees, Lightning bugs, and water falls.
Iota walked along a small path until something caught her eye in the long grass, bending over to inspect the object in question she found it to be a wooden mask of some kind, that's when she heard a whooshing noise some distance behind her. The Protector spun full circle on her heel and landed in her combat stance, Harvester raised and poised for action, again she scanned the area, though she knew what she was scanning for now.
The whooshing noise she heard was most definitely the sound of a teleportation Plasmid activating, yes Omega was nearby and it could've been him, but that left the question of "why would he need to use his teleportation if there were no enemies?", No, she would hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Plus Protectors knew very well not to sneak up on other Protectors.
Again the wooshing noise could be heard, but this time it was closer, much closer. From the corner of her eye Iota caught a glimpse of movement, her reflexes screamed at her body commanding it to act with lightning speed. The deadly Predator raised her Harvester just in time to deflect a large kitchen knife inches from her throat. Leaping back Iota put some distance between herself and the new threat.
She turned to observe her foe, a Female Houdini Splicer wearing a torn red dress was walking slowly towards her, frantically mumbling to herself and shaking from ADAM withdraw. Suddenly the deformed woman vanished in a plume of red smoke and Iota could hear her materialize directly behind her, Iota swiftly turned to block another attack, but once she had the Splicer simply started frantically swinging the blade with no objective but to kill the armored young woman.
Soon an opportunity presented itself as the Splicer tripped over an overgrown tree root, Iota wasted no time in gaining the advantage. With a well timed kick Iota managed to dislodge the weapon from the Splicer's hand, a heavy punch to the face and a follow up kick to the woman's chest broke most if not all of her ribs and sent her lifeless corpse flying to the ground.
Thinking the conflict had ended Iota looked to her left only to find Omega perched atop a nearby statue watching the brawl before him. She gave a small hesitant wave while tilting her head, the only thing she got in return was Omega slowly clapping three times then pointing to something behind her. Iota turned to see what he was pointing at only to find five more Houdini Splicers calmly walking towards her.
She looked back to Omega who was now leaning on the statue with his arms crossed, after lifting his hand as if to say "after you." the Female Protector sighed and turned to face her new attackers letting out one of her trademark Howls, if Omega wanted to watch then she would give him a show worthy of praise.
Omega wasn't being cruel in his actions both Protectors understood that. He was intentionally staying out of the conflict to provide Iota an outlet to release her pent up rage, and for that she was greatfull.
That was his plan, though, not his only objective, no his primary goal for this little event was to observe. He needed to observe Iota's combat capabilities, study her form, learn her weaknesses, and strengths. He needed to know all of it in order to fight together successfully, though all Protectors were extremely versed in combat techniques most of them adapted their own in order to fight Rapture's unsavory denizens and all he had to do was learn her style, in order for them to watch each other's backs better .
Of coarse Omega would step in if necessary, he would never let anything happen to Iota, and she knew that, but for now all he could do was watch. He wasn't surprised at how skilled Iota was, no he knew she was a very capable Protector, she nimbly jumped,and flipped back and forth from each target landing strikes on some, and barely missing others as they vanished just before her deadly Syringe could catch them.
They were sly little vermin she had to admit, they knew to keep their distance, again Iota heard materialization behind her and turned so fast even Omega had trouble tracking her movements. Bringing her Harvester upwards in a swift slashing motion Iota managed to slice one of the rats open spilling his intestines with a squelching sound and a tormented scream from the Splicer as he grabbed at his now dangling organs.
"You Spilled wine on the carpet!... NOW FATHER WILL BE ANGRY!" the insane man screamed as he tried to put his insides back in their rightful place
Without wasting any time Iota launched her heel up and shattered the man's jaw, snapping his neck instantly. The two remaining Splicers who saw this teleported to a safer distance and began launching a volley of fireballs at the Sister. Iota however would not be so easily defeated, and began hurling her own more powerful volley of flaming death at them, if they wanted to play with fire she would make sure they got burned.
She hit one of the two Splicers incinerating him almost instantly, Omega merely chuckled at the Houdini's dying plea for God to save him, there were no Gods or Kings in Rapture, only man. The last Houdini managed to hit Iota right in the porthole of her helmet obscuring her vision with fire as he dissapeared again.
Before the Big Sister could react the man re-materialized right in front of her bashing the front of her flaming helm with the butt of his knife effectively extinguishing the fire, with the added bonus of knocking the Protector onto her back.
Iota let out a pained yelp as her back landed on a rather jagged rock, since the upper to mid back of her suit had been ripped off in the explosion in the Kashmir diner, she had only skin to protect her from damage. Omega noticed this and decided he had seen enough, it was time to act.
Still trying to regain her breath from landing on the rock, Iota could barely see anything through the blackened Porthole of her helmet, what she did manage to see was a very insane, and very angry Splicer bringing his knife down towards her with intense speed.
Before the blade could make contact however Iota saw a plume of blackened smoke appear to her right, and an armored hand quickly grabbed the Houdini Splicer's deformed face. The Big Sister quickly wiped away the soot from her visor just in time to see her Partner remove the threat.
Before the Man could teleport away Omega clenched the Houdini Splicer's face in his hand with enough force to shatter nearly every bit of bone in the front of the Man's head, even making one of his eyes pop out of socket between two of Omega's fingers. With one swift motion the deadly Predator then threw the Splicer head first into a rock wall nearly fifteen feet away with enough force to make his head explode sending chunks of brain matter, and broken rock through the air.
Omega then turned to his wounded Comrade who was still sitting down and wheezing from losing her breath so violently, offering his hand to help her up, however Iota simply hissed at him, and crossed her arms in a pout.
She was now in a terrible mood, her back was throbbing with pain, her forehead had smashed against the front of her helmet when she hit the ground, and she had burns on her shoulders from the fire sliding off her helmet onto them.
Omega balled his fist up and gestured like he was wiping tears from his eye and let out a mocking hiss. Needless to say Iota wasn't pleased, she could feel the heat of anger rising up her face and she unconsciously perced her lips.
She chose to ignore her Companion and simply looked in a different direction, soon enough Omega got tired of waiting on her and sat down under a nearby tree.
Iota was taken by surprise when she felt something ding against her helmet then fall into her lap, a can of sardines, really? He had thrown fish at her? the Sister couldn't believe the nerve of- She was rendered speechless when she looked to the only other living thing in the room, the one who was no doubt responsible for the can of flying fish.
When she looked at Omega he was sitting under the same tree whistling, and pretending to read a magazine about Arcadia, Iota burst into laughter when she noticed the magazine was upside down, of course she couldn't read either but she did know that trees didn't grow in the sky.
Omega tilted his head to the side trying to figure out what the Sister was in fits of laughter about, his head looked from her, back to the book, then he looked at the cover of the magazine and realized the error of his ways.
First he looked to Iota yet again then to the magazine, then back to Iota, without breaking eye contact Omega set the magazine ablaze with fire, when Iota saw this she almost died laughing, after staring at Iota for a bit longer Omega slowly drifted his gaze back to the parchment which was now in flames.
having had enough of the joke Omega balled the burned magazine up and threw it aside, he watched as Iota continue to laugh. It was almost impossible to hear a Big Sister laugh, not because they didn't know how, but because they chose not to. Some of the Scientists once said it was because they hated how their laugh sounded after their voice boxes had been operated on. Omega had to admit, it was a rather odd sound, but not at all offending to the ears in any way, and there was something beautiful about the broken laugh.
The laughing Protector soon caught her breath, cleared her throat, and sat up again still chuckling a small amount. After eating their lunch the two Protectors decided it was time to continue their mission. Objective one was to get to Point Prometheus, preferably without trying to swim at the bottom of the Ocean without air tight rigs.
Omega made his way over to Iota who had just finished eating and had yet to put her helmet back on. Pale skin, glowing yellow eyes, and black hair, same as his. Strange he thought, how much all the Protectors looked alike.
Though none of the Mark II Protectors were actually blood related, if the need should arise they could probably pass for Human Siblings though he quickly dismissed the idea on account of the glowing eyes, super human strength, super powers, oh and not to mention the only communication they can manage is either a terrifying- earsplitting-screech, or an enraged-terrifying-earsplitting-screech plus growling.
Once more Omega offered his hand to help Iota up, this time however, instead of pouting she accepted the kind offer, grabbing her helmet she accepted Omega's hand and pulled herself back up.
Iota stood up then extended her hand up to Omega's helmet, he starred curiously as she did so, without warning her finger shot out and flicked the forehead of his helm with a ding. The surprised Protector shook his head a little bit before looking back to his mischievous companion, who simply gave a smile and placed her helmet back on her head, feeling satisfied she had gotten revenge on him for throwing a can of fish at her.
Omega began walking towards the exit of Arcadia, as Iota gave one last sorrowful wave to the graves of her fallen Siblings, then ran up to walk beside her Partner, eager to continue their mission.
A/N: lemme know what you guys and gals think, this chapter was a little difficult because the version i had originally wrote somehow got deleted, but in all i think i did better with this one, even made it longer!