The Obsolete Protector

by M10m gas mask soldier

Upon being revived 10 years after being murdered by Sofia, Subject Delta has to fight his way back to his beloved master Eleanor. However, he is not alone. Upon being reunited, the two Alpha Series Big Daddies must get to their captured daughters before it is too late. Meanwhile, Eleanor wishes for Delta to be more than her father. Burial at Sea connections. AU BioShock 2.

12. Chapter 12: The Bogeyman

Ch. 12: The Bogeyman

A.N.:

Happy Holidays everyone!

I know this chapter is shorter than normal but I am trying to update more often. While it does not move the story forward that much, it sets up the rest of the story in terms of how far Topside is willing, and is, going to go in order to protect Eleanor.

Anyway,

I want to thank everyone for the support that this story has gotten. I have honestly been shocked that people are still interested in a BioShock 2 story even with how old it is and with the new addition of Infinite to the series.

Oh, and my game disc finally crapped out on me, I bought it on the release day for the game so it was old, so I had to do this chapter from memory. The dialogue with Grace is probably wrong. I should have a replacement by the next chapter.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated but don't feel pressured if you don't want to.

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I mentally sighed. For me, 1959 never came. Of all the times to have let my guard down, it had been the night that Sofia had sought out Eleanor. I still had no idea how she found us. We did not adhere to a schedule or assigned routes. Obviously she had informants in the city, but I had been certain that I had not been followed. I could chalk it up to "a mother's intuition", but as with the good doctor herself, I was not fool enough to give credit to such things. However, I did not like the alternative.

Had someone sold me out? It was a very short list of individuals that even knew where I was at the time and they were all within my "inner" circle. I brushed off this line of questioning. The most likely explanation was that Sofia had, like us, taken advantage of the chaotic conditions of Rapture on New Year's Eve. Ryan's private security teams were overwhelmed and she had been able to send large numbers of her flock into the city to hunt us down.

Regardless, I had screwed up as horribly as I could have possibly screwed up. The only thing that I cared about was to protect the one person that found it in her heart to love a monster like me and I could not even do that right. I had to make this right. I had been given a second chance and I would be damned before I failed this time.

"Here's the angel." Eleanor's cry of excitement ripped me from my thoughts. Immediately pushing all of my selfish concerns aside and ignoring the numb weakness that was racking my body, I focused on my sole purpose in life. As I studied our surroundings, I smirked beneath my emotionless face. This was as perfect of a defensive position as one would find in Rapture.

We were beside the strange structure just beyond the entrance to the area. The structure provided cover from incoming attacks from the far left corner of the diner. The diner itself was approximately ten yards from our position. The building dominated the area and, thanks to the Splicers making its rooftop accessible, would be a perfect location for Alpha to provide suppressive fire.

Directly in front of us was the street that we had gone down when I had been drawn by the Little Sister's pheromones. The submerged section of the street where the pipe had been compromised would provide an effective barrier as I electrified the water with blasts of Electro Bolt. The Splicers would be forced to approach us from around the sides of the diner and, due to the flooded section of the street on the right, one of their routes was a death trap. There was a section of spilled oil down the left street as well. Indeed, this position was a Protector's dream.

I grunted at Alpha, "See if you can find a good firing position up on top of the diner. If it is too unstable, come back down."

He replied, "You got it, sir."

My old friend began to move towards the ramp on the side of the diner. As he moved, I noticed that his heavy footsteps were muted to the point that they were almost undetectable. He must have spliced Wrench Lurker, a Gene Tonic that silenced the wielder's footsteps and also provided a boost in damage to an assailant that was bludgeoned from behind. The only noise that he made as he moved was the ruffling of the fabric of his suit. In my mind, it was yet another example of why the Alpha Series were the ultimate Protectors.

Unlike the Mass Production Models and the new "Big Sister" Protectors, the Alpha Series Big Daddies were designed to be able to adapt to new situations. The lumbering giants fell into the trap of being so specialized that they were extremely vulnerable to the arms race in Rapture. Indeed, they had thicker armor and, in a single strike, could inflict greater damage than us. However, their heavy armor came at a high cost. They could not adapt to new circumstances, and that aspect made them "dead-ends" in terms of evolution. Meanwhile, those of us in the Alpha Series were the equivalent of a "jack-of-all-trades". Our designs allowed us to have both the sanity and the physical ability to evolve in response to changes in the Splicers. In the game of survival and Rapture, the proficiency with adaption was king.

For example, Subject Alpha had evolved into a marksman that used tactical approaches to problems in order to ensure that he had the advantage in the confrontation. Meanwhile, I had evolved into a close-quarters brawler that, while I did habitually use my surroundings to my advantage, relied less upon tactics and more on speed, aggression, and the protection of my armor and Gene Tonics in confrontations. We did specialize, but we still retained the ability to quickly modify our approaches even in the middle of combat.

The sudden rumble of machine gun fire filled The Drop. I turned my entire body to look up towards the roof of the seemingly abandoned restaurant. Tracer fire lit up the air with its pencil lead-looking particles of light. Meanwhile, I heard the high-pitched report of Alpha's modified Prototype Rivet Gun as he returned fire at the hidden Sentry Turret. Moments later, a loud explosion signaled the destruction of the machine. Subject Alpha appeared at the corner of the building and he reported, "Shame to destroy it. Blasted device could have been useful."

I replied, "No matter. How is it up there?"

He explained, "The only thing holding this building together is the Splicer piss. Still…should hold up long enough for me to lay down cover, sir. Whenever you're ready."

I knew how incredibly unwise this course of action was. My body was on the verge of completely falling apart. I could barely stand let alone fight. If I died, I knew that it would be permanent this time. The thought of leaving my beautiful Eleanor in this godforsaken city nauseated me beyond imagination. Sofia was no fool. She would discover that Eleanor had been the one that had facilitated my revival. Once that witch uncovered her daughter's involvement, it was anyone's guess as to the punishment that she would inflict upon on my master.

I had to ensure that I prevented Sofia from getting the chance to hurt Eleanor. I needed ADAM and I was getting weaker by the moment. Either we did this now or I would soon be just another rotting corpse. Steeling myself, I motioned for the Little Sister to begin. My trusting charge giggled as she stood beside the corpse of a middle-aged woman that was lying a bloodied mass of torn cloth and flesh. Pointing down towards the body, she happily exclaimed in a singsong manner, "Who watches over sleeping angels? I do! I do!"

The young girl had no sooner plunged her Gather Tool into the "angel" before The Drop's Public Announcement System activated. Gracie stated with bitter resentment in her voice, "Family! That monster has taken another one of our children for his own! He would turn her from us just as he did with Eleanor! Show him what happens to the Bogeyman when he steps into our garden!"

The cries of countless Splicers rocked the air as, literally, the entire population of The Drop mobilized to attack our position. It would be the three of us versus hundreds of ADAM-addicted homicidal maniacs. I could hear them rushing towards us as they continued to howl as if they were a pack of rabid dogs as they closed in on their prey. I only vaguely perceived my comrade placing Trap Rivets around the only access route to his position on the roof of the diner as I felt pure hatred and fury rise up from the inner parts of my psyche.

Pure, intense agony racked my entire being as my Protector Instincts hit me like a Bouncer's drill. My eye flickered for a moment as it alternated between bursts of golden yellow and hellish red light. The murderous cries of the bastards that dared to threaten my charge filled my mind where they mixed with the artificial fury of my Protector Instincts as meat and vegetables mixed together in a soup pot.

Come on! Wake up you monster! Subject Delta! I know that you can hear me! Wake up!

The monster inside of me began to rile from his slumber and the brief flashes of light being emitted from my eye became only hellish red. I felt a pocket of pressure at the bottom of my throat beginning to build. I could feel Subject Delta breaking free from his cage as a result of my Protector Instincts burning out of control as if it was a wild fire inside my body. My body was getting weaker by the moment. As much as I hated becoming that psychopathic killer, Subject Delta was the only hope to survive the horde that was rapidly approaching.

"Daddy?" The Eleanor-controlled Little Sister asked me with a concerned tone. Her concern was the final push that I needed and I became the "demon" that The Rapture Family hated and feared with such passion. The pressure suddenly released, causing me to let out a deafening, guttural, demonic roar that shook the area as my eye began to constantly emit hellish red light. Any feeling of weakness vanished as the wonderful feeling of homicidal rage invigorated my body.

So, the little fucking rats want to play? They want to spend some quality time with ol' Subject Delta? Hmm...this had better be worth my time then.

I ceased my roar as the first report of Alpha's weapon filled the air. Looking down the right path, I saw six Thuggish Splicers, two women in tattered dresses and four men in torn worker's attire, rushing towards us. Two of them stumbled as they tried to jump over the corpse of the Rosie that we had killed. As they neared the edge of the water, I willed a blast of Electro Bolt into the trap.

The blue electrical bolts shot out of my left hand's ported finger tips and flew through the air before they made contact with the water. The deranged individuals recklessly continued forward straight into the electrified water. They cried out in pure agony as the blue arcs of electricity danced around their bodies for a few seconds before they collapsed in smoking heaps.

However, no sooner had they rattled their death bellows before five Leadhead Splicers, three women wielding revolvers, one man wielding a shotgun, and one man wielding a Thompson Submachine Gun, appeared as they rounded the corner of the diner down the left path. At the same time, down the right path, seven Thuggish Splicers appeared. As they rushed towards us, they cried, "Kill the beast! Kill the demon!"

As Alpha opened fire at the Splicers on the left path with his Prototype Rivet Gun, I will another blast of Electro Bolt into the water. Swiveling back to face the Leadhead Splicers, I willed my genetic flames to replace my Electro Bolt Plasmid. Three of the individuals were already dead with single, bloody holes in their deformed heads. Alpha dropped the fourth Splicer with a single head-shot while she was firing up at him with her crudely repaired weapon.

Suddenly, Eleanor cried out, "DADDY!" Snapping back to face the right path, I turned just in time for a huge fist to slam into the surface of my eye. The sound of the bones in my assailant's fist shattering as if they were made of glass was barely audible as I recoiled backwards while my helmet shook with a reverberating echo. Before I could react, a second massive fist slammed down on top of my right shoulder in a hammer blow. This time, it was my bones that broke as a result of the vicious attack.

By then, I had identified my attacker as a Brute Splicer dressed in the ripped remains of a tailored suit and top hat. In a way, he reminded me of a disfigured Mr. Hyde. I roared in primal fury as my broken right shoulder was healed by my First Aid Reserve Tank. The abomination proclaimed, "She's gonna watch me do ya son!"

Is that so?

I grinned sadistically beneath my face as he thrust his right fist towards me. Raising my left hand up, I caught his left wrist in a vise-like grip. As I held his wrist, I quickly flanked around him until I was in position and then I violently forced his left arm to bend backwards at an unnatural angle. The Brute Splicer cried out in confusion and anger, "Fight fair ya Molly!"

Ignoring his pleas, I continued to apply pressure until, out of the natural instinct to alleviate the pain, he bent forward and used his free hand to support himself. I revved up my industrial-grade drill and thrust its whirling, razor-sharp tip into the abomination's vulnerable right kneecap. He howled in agony as my drill ripped apart the soft tissue and bone, causing a tremendous amount of blood to eject out of his body and coat my drill as well as the ground around us.

Filthy abomination...think you can compare to a Big Daddy? You're nothing! Look at you...on your hands and knees for me...you pile of trash.

I released my grip on his wrist and the overgrown Splicer fell forward to face plant onto the hard, disgusting concrete floor. Eleanor glanced over at him in mild interest as she continued to gather from the corpse. He flopped around as if he was a fish out of water until I stomped down on the back of his skull with my armored right foot. The weight of my foot easily crushed the abomination's skull and flattened it into a bloody paste.

There was no time to celebrate as small caliber rounds struck me in the back. Most of them bounced off my two tanks and helmet but a few managed to strike me in the less armored sections of my diving suit. However, my helmet was uniform in its frontal and rear length so, again, my vital areas were covered by the zone of immunity granted by the thick copper hide of my face.

I wheeled around to face towards the right path and saw two male Thuggish Splicers that had already made it past the pool of water as well as three female Leadhead Splicers armed with revolvers by the body of the Rosie. Meanwhile, in my limited peripheral vision, I saw my Alpha Series brother engaging five Leadhead Splicers down the left path.

I patiently waited for my opening as the two men bore down on my position as they both laughed madly while they dragged their sections of lead pipe behind them. The leftmost one reached me first and, as he started to swing his makeshift bludgeoning weapon at me in a jumping leap, I quickly twisted my body as I sent my left elbow out to meet him. The reckless man never even slowed down until the front of his skull collided with the point of my left elbow in a bone crunching impact.

While the man recovered, I shifted my attention to the other Thuggish Splicer. I swung my drill from my left to my right and succeeded in cracking open the right side of the Splicer's skull with the grooved right side of my tool. My blow sent the man stumbling sideways for a moment while he cried out unintelligibly in a dazed tone. By then, the other Thuggish Splicer had recovered and was rushing towards me once more.

I reached out with my left hand and grabbed ahold of him by the front of his head. Ignoring his cries of protest, I picked him up and then violently thrust him into the side of the nearby unknown structure to the left of us. The impact with the structure crushed the man's skull beneath my palm as if it was a raw egg. At the same time, I saw the other Thuggish Splicer rushing towards me. Revving up my drill, I swung my formidable weapon into the right side of the Splicer's neck. The spinning razor-sharp point of my drill easily gouged out the soft flesh and severed the Splicer's carotid and subclavian arteries.

I released the bloodied mass beneath my left palm and sidestepped the falling Thuggish Splicer that had blood flowing down the side of his mangled neck as I focused my attention on the three Leadhead Splicers. As they continued to fire their revolvers at me, I willed a blast of Incinerate! out of the ported digits on my left hand. The women screamed in misery as the genetic flames ignited their clothing and began to cook their flesh. Ignorant to everything except the agony, they mindlessly jumped into the pool of water before them in an effort to extinguish the flames. The second that they made contact with the surface of the water, I willed a blast of Electro Bolt into the conductive fluid.

I ignored their deaths as I looked back down to check on my temporary charge. The little girl looked back up at me as she held her needle inside the corpse before her. I could see Eleanor behind her glowing yellow eyes; that edge of intelligence and strong will that gave the child's eyes an intimidating sharpness. Her skin was so pale that it had a red tint from the light being emitted from my segmented eye. The frail-looking child assured me, "Soon Daddy. Soon."

I grunted back in response and then looked up to survey our surroundings. The hornet's nest had been riled up and the residents of The Drop did not show any signs of relenting any time soon as I saw ten Thuggish Splicers coming down both the left and right path. Meanwhile, I heard Alpha's Trap Rivets fire as the incoming Splicers assaulted his position as well. I mentally sighed as I almost felt sorry for them.

As the right group recklessly entered the water, I again willed a blast of Electro Bolt into the trap. This time, I growled in discomfort as fresh EVE was pumped into my body through my IV Tube. While the deranged individuals met their end in the electrified water, I turned my entire body to face the left path. The ten Thuggish Splicers raced towards the Little Sister unopposed because Alpha was being forced to defend his own position as the Splicers used raw numbers to get through his line of Trap Rivets.

As the deformed wave of humanity reached the oil slick, I willed a blast of Incinerate! into the flammable substance. The Splicers were so blinded by their desire for ADAM that they never saw the hazard until it was too late and their bodies were engulfed by the blaze. Letting out agonized wails, they stumbled forward a few steps and then collapsed silently in flaming heaps onto the damp floor.

Meanwhile, I heard Eleanor singing with her Little Sister voice, "In einem Bächlein helle…da schoß in froher Eil. Die launische Forelle...vorüber wie ein Pfeil." Despite the situation, I found myself captivated by her impromptu opera performance as her enchanting voice echoed through the entire Drop.

As another Brute Splicer appeared as he rushed towards me from down the right path and a new wave of Thuggish Splicers appeared as they rushed from down the left path, she continued, "Ich stand an dem Gestade…und sah in süßer ruh."

I hit the Brute Splicer with a blast of Electro Bolt and then quickly turned to face the wave of cannon fodder. I ignited the oil slick once again with my Incinerate! Plasmid.

"Des muntern Fischleins Bade…im klaren Bächlein zu."

A huge section of concrete smashed into my right shoulder. I turned back to face the abomination just in time to see him throw another broken slab of the concrete floor at me. Raising my left hand, I caught the section with my Telekinesis Plasmid and then launched it back at my assailant. The concrete section hit home in the center of the heavily spliced man's chest.

"Ein Fischer mit der Rute wohl an dem Ufer stand…"

The abomination shrugged off the impact from the concrete slab and began to charge forward as he ran on all fours as if he was an animal. I swung my drill to stop his charge but he grabbed it and pushed it aside before he collided violently against my heavy frame. The abomination took advantage of my impaired reaction time due to my rapidly deteriorating health by following up with a powerful left hook across my armored face. The force of the impact caused me to move backwards a few steps as well as forcing my torso to twist to the left.

"…und sah's mit kaltem Blute…"

Letting out an enraged, guttural roar that rocked the entire area, I twisted back around and then sent my left fist straight into the abomination's lower abdomen around the pancreas in an uppercut to traumatize the glandular organ. My blow succeeded in sending the Splicer into a state of shock, which rendered him temporarily immobile and vulnerable.

"…wie sich das Fischlein wand."

Summoning what was left of my strength, I swung my drill so hard that it caused a numb feeling in my arm straight into the monster's skull. The brutal power of my strike effectively annihilated the abomination's head as my drill's steel alloy bit penetrated straight through the bone and underlying brain matter before exiting out the other side. The partially headless corpse collapsed onto the ground.

I was seized upon from behind as one of the Thuggish Splicers from the left path jumped onto my back and held himself in place by grabbing ahold of one of the handles used by my Little Sister charge. As the denizen held onto me, he began to bludgeon my right hose-like nostril with his scavenged pipe wrench. Meanwhile, another Thuggish Splicer, this one a woman with a heavily bandaged face, appeared before me and began to strike me in my armored chest with her section of lead pipe.

"So lang dem Wasser helle…"

As I calmly reached down to the diving knife strapped to my left leg with my left hand, I swung my drill at the woman. My repurposed mining tool hit home as it impacted her across her shrouded face. The deranged woman recoiled backwards as sections of the bandages ripped away to reveal the horribly deformed skin beneath.

"…so dacht' ich, nicht gebricht…"

I unscrewed my diving knife from its sheath and withdrew the copper beryllium blade. Flipping the knife so that the blade was pointing straight up, I thrust it over my shoulder and imbedded it in the Splicer's forehead. I felt the body become limp and then fall off my back. As it did, I violently ripped my knife free and then, after quickly wiping the blood off its blade on the side of my left leg, I screwed it back into its sheath.

"…so fängt er die Forelle…mit seiner Angel nicht."

The woman ran towards me again as she screamed, "Kill the demon!" I swung my drill into her head once more. This time, the Splicer crumpled to the disgusting, damp concrete floor and did not get up. My victory was short-lived. Suddenly, I was seized by the invisible assailant of my deteriorating physiological bond with Eleanor.

A sharp pain erupted in my chest and I struggled to breathe. I could feel another heart seizure coming and I began to panic because it would render me incapable of protecting my charge. My mind began to play tricks on me as the image of Sofia Lamb materialized before me. The psychiatrist mocked me as she crossed her arms and said with an arrogant tone, "Place it against your head…fire."

Fuck you!

I let out a guttural roar as the maddening fury of my Protector Instincts refused to be extinguished. The manifestation of Sofia Lamb disappeared as it was replaced by a real assailant in the form of a deformed middle-aged female Thuggish Splicer clad in a torn, moldy dress. I revved up my drill and then thrust my tool into the woman's chest. Within seconds, I had bored completely through her and had flung her into the wall to remove her corpse from my drill.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my left leg. I began to turn to eliminate my attacker but stopped when a warm feeling began to spread throughout my entire body. Relief flooded my dying frame as the fresh ADAM temporarily halted my body's self-destruct programming. I let out a low, rumbling groan as the intense agony vanished completely and my strength began to return.

Eleanor chirped, "Tada! All better! Right Daddy?" I grunted reassuringly in response as I twisted my torso so that I could see her where she was standing next to my left leg. She smiled up at me with a wide smile while she extracted her gatherer tool from the thick hide of my leg. Blood was around her pale lips like a red curtain from when she had been gathering as quickly as she could without choking. We could both hear the Splicers retreating back towards the downtown section of Pauper's Drop.

As my Protector Instincts retreated back into the farthest reaches of my mind, I collapsed down onto my knees. Eleanor's brief expression of deep concern evaporated as I gently pulled her tiny frame to rest up against my armored chest with the palm of my left hand. My daughter tried to return the hug as best she could with her tiny arms but my frame was just too massive for her arms to wrap around. As if she was compensating for her inability to return the hug completely, she rested her forehead against the exterior of my copper face at the very top of my eye so that the only thing that I could see were the glowing orbs of her eyes.

I smiled slightly beneath my emotionless face as I felt the warmth of her small body through the material of my ported glove as well as the warmth coming from her glowing eyes. As long as I could still draw breath, this was my place: between the monsters of Rapture and the innocents of Rapture. My lack of focus had cost everyone that had held faith in me so much, but I would ensure that I gained some amount of redemption before I was once again seized upon by the black abyss of death.

I grunted, "Eleanor, we have to move." The little girl sighed in disappointment but withdrew from my frame. As I started to stand, I asked, "That song that you were singing…did you write that?"

She giggled before she replied, "No…did you like it?" I let out a confirming grunt in response. She smiled and then informed me, "Die Forelle by Schubert. Well…someone else wrote the poem and then Schubert adapted it into a song." As Subject Alpha walked up to stand to our left, she turned and smiled up at him. Then, after a moment, she injected her tool's needle into his left leg and pumped the remainder of the ADAM inside the tool's reservoir into him.

My brother let out a low, rumbling groan as the fresh ADAM entered his system. She withdrew her tool and he said, "Thank you, Miss Eleanor."

The little girl giggled as she remarked, "Of course, Papa Alpha." She then turned back towards me and motioned that she was ready to ride on my back. Using my left hand, I lifted her up onto my shoulder where she quickly re-situated herself on her throne. She knocked on the top of my armored head with her tool to indicate that she was ready and we started to make our way towards the downtown market district of The Drop.

Behind the diner, we came upon the Gatherer's Garden Vending Machine. I inserted my left arm into the port so that the machine's needle could verify that I did have the ADAM to spend on the products inside the device's vault-like reservoir. A few of the options lit up to show me what I could purchase. I withdrew my arm and then studied my choices.

There were more choices than the machine in Ryan Amusements had offered. However, it appeared that, even ten years later, I already had most of the Gene Tonics available that suited my combat approach. The Civil War and the Fall of Rapture had, obviously, halted the development of new Tonics and Plasmids. Moreover, these machines only distributed the "run-of-the-mill" commercial lines. I had spliced the "military-grade" lines made exclusively for Big Daddies.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Were the Tonics' effects compoundable? If that was true, by combining the exclusive Tonics that I had as a Big Daddy and the ones that were commercially available, I could more than double the benefits granted by them and become perfect for Eleanor. However, that meant doing something that was enough to send a stab of intense fright through my mind.

The more power that I granted to myself, the more power I that granted to the monster Subject Delta. The last time that I had lost control, during the fight with Comstock, I had nearly cost Eleanor and myself the chance to escape. If I lost control after combining Gene Tonics like I was envisioning, the damage that I would be capable of would be catastrophic.

However, as Eleanor's protector, I would be endangering my beloved master if I did not ensure that I was capable of destroying anything and anyone that dared to harm her. What was more important, my humanity or Eleanor? As far as I was concerned, the human man that I had once been was long gone. No one had even bothered to remember that Johnny Topside was just a nickname dreamed up by Eleanor so that I would appear more heroic to the citizens of Rapture. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, that man was dead. There was now only the killing machine Subject Delta.

Besides, as much as I loved Eleanor, how could I not chose her life over my own? If it meant destroying what was left of a dead man and becoming a true monster to be able to protect my Eleanor, that was how far I was willing to go for her.

First, I selected the commercial-grade Armored Shell Gene Tonic to boost what I already had spliced. As I injecting myself with the protective tonic, I let out a growl of slight discomfort as I felt a thin but effective protective layer beneath my skin increase in thickness. I then selected both the Health and EVE Upgrades. I saw that there was an available upgrade for the Electro Bolt Plasmid. However, I did not have enough ADAM to purchase it yet. I mentally sighed. That was all I could do for now. Even still, now that I knew that the Gene Tonics' effects were compoundable, I knew that I could mold myself into the perfect companion for my beloved master. I just had to be careful not to overindulge and collapse my entire DNA structure because then I would be useful to no one.

I moved away from the machine and Alpha began to purchase upgrades. My brother upgraded his health and EVE capacity as I had. Moreover, he also choose to purchase Armored Shell. However, due to his preference for long-range combat, he purchased the Decoy Plasmid. An often overlooked Plasmid, the Decoy Plasmid allowed its wielder to project a kind of clone within their field of view. The average Splicer and normal human being was easily fooled and distracted by the projected decoy. While not user friendly to the casual or inexperienced Plasmid wielder, in the proper hands, the Decoy Plasmid was as dangerous as any offensive Plasmid. Considering that it was going to be wielded by my brother, I knew that the Plasmid was going to be a devastating force.

After stocking up on supplies from the nearby El Bandito Vending Machine, we began to move down the left flight of stairs next to the Gatherer's Garden. As I led the way down the worn steps, I noticed an advertisement for Grace Holloway and her performances at the Limbo Room at the far end of Pauper's Drop. I had forgotten that she had been an outspoken singer, and an influential one at that. I recalled that she had been outspoken about Andrew Ryan's policies in her songs and he had taken out his ever increasing obsession with Sofia Lamb on her by blacklisting her from performing in any halfway decent venue in Rapture.

Grace had first come to Ryan's attention when her husband began to speak out against the industrialist's policies. I remembered the man. As with so many others "vanished" to Persephone, the torturous conditions of that prison broke the poor man physically and spiritually. One day, he stole a full can of paint thinner from the workshop and went back to his cell. I could hear the commotion from inside my isolation tank. Later, during my heavily monitored lunch hour, one of my escorting guards mentioned to another that the man never made any noise even as the flames consumed the entire cell.

Ryan had blacklisted Grace but the singer had managed to make due with her gig at the Limbo Room. If my recollection was correct, that would have been around the time that Eleanor was kidnapped, I was sent to Persephone for being a "spy", and we were both turned into the first successful Big Daddy/Little Sister bonded pair. My memories of those days were a blur. There was a huge blank in my memories between when I was sent to Persephone and when I awoke on the operating table as Subject Delta.

Grace's singing career ended sometime after we had been turned a bonded pair for some reason though I could not remember what it was exactly. A thought occurred to me. Perhaps, I had somehow been the cause of the end of her career. Having your livelihood taken away from you would certainly make someone vindictive and bitter. However, Grace believed that I had kidnapped Eleanor and turned her into a Little Sister. That could not have been it then. I must have done something else to Gracie.

After having to turn two times, we came to the bottom of the flight of stairs. Against the damp wall that separated the two flights of stairs was a Little Sister Vent. Turning to the left, I found the narrow street that led to the seemingly abandoned King Pawn building. In a corner nearby on the left, I saw a Splicer nest that had a working television set, though it only displayed the "Please Standby" public service message.

"We are being followed." My brother commented behind me.

I replied, "I know. Two Big Sisters…they've been following us since we arrived in Pauper's Drop. One of them is the Big Sister from Ryan Amusements."

As we moved towards the King Pawn building, Alpha remarked, "The other Big Sister smells different."

I grunted in response, "No pheromone signature…maybe she was never bonded to the Mass Production Models or one of us."

He mused aloud, "I wonder how that happened…"

Eleanor remarked, "Some of my sisters were never bonded Papa Alpha. During the war, the Little Sisters that could not produce as much as they were supposed to were put into reserve and used as clinical trial subjects."

He grunted in disgusted, "Bastards…it was not her fault."

Before I could comment, a Brute Splicer appeared up on top of the King Pawn building around the neon sign as he boasted, "She's gonna watch me do ya son." Then, letting out a grunt of exertion, he jumped down to the ground and began to charge towards us. I willed a blast of Electro Bolt from the ported digits of my left hand into the abomination to halt his charge.

While the blue electrical arcs danced around the Brute's frame, my brother took aim and fired two molten rivets into the ape-like Splicer's left and right elbow. The molten projectiles imbedded themselves into the joints where they inflicted crippling damage as well as scorched the surrounding soft tissue. However, the monster shrugged off the hits and barreled towards us on all fours. Just before he could impact my frame, I was suddenly pushed aside by my companion.

Instead, the Brute Splicer slammed into Alpha in a brutal collision of flesh and metal. My brother absorbed the impact and used his superior height to press down on his assailant's shoulders. Alpha's counter sent the Splicer face-first onto the cracked surface of the street. While the abomination was recovering, my brother fired two rivets into the denizen's hands to pin them to the street while he simultaneously unsheathed his diving knife.

The Brute Splicer let out a loud cry of rage as he attempted to pull free from the rivets anchoring him to the ground. However, without any signs of hesitation or uncertainty, my brother plunged the tip of his knife's blade into the right side of the monster's lumpy neck at an angle. After rocking the blade back and forth a few times, Alpha swiftly removed his knife from the Splicer. Alpha's strike had severed the abomination's brainstem and he was dead before he hit the ground.

As he sheathed his knife, I remarked, "Nicely done…and thanks."

My brother motioned with his once again free left hand that it was a trifle matter. We continued forward and, when we reached the small plaza at the end of the street, I mentally sighed as I saw the advanced state of deterioration. A train car had fallen from the overhead line and was imbedded into the center of the plaza at a sharp angle that was nearly vertical. The watertight seal was broken in the section of the ceiling above the car and a river of seawater was flowing down onto its surface to feed the growing pool around its base. Just to the left of the collapsed car I saw what appeared to be a memorial for Penitence Mill, the owner of the Atlantic Express.

The hotel to our immediate right had long since gone out of business but the neon sign advertising its "hourly" rates was still emitting its haunting glow. The King Pawn building was sealed by a locked link of thick metal chain. The Fontaine Clinic building to the left of the pawn shop was also sealed by what appeared to be a number combination lock. The building on the far left appeared to have suffered the worst of all as I noticed that whole sections of wall had been haphazardly demolished by the deranged residents when they built makeshift catwalks to allow quick access between buildings.

I growled in irritation as I realized that this entire plaza was one big mouse trap. The only way to get to the Market District was through the watertight security door on the far side between the gutted building and the Fontaine Clinic building. However, casually marching to the door was inviting death from the hidden Splicers lying in wait inside the maze of buildings. We needed to clear out the buildings before we proceeded towards the security door.

I addressed my companions, "Splicer death trap, we need to clear out the buildings before we can reach the security door. Only way I see is through the clinic but it is locked. We need to find out what the combination is. Suggestions?"

Alpha grunted, "Let's see…numbers zero through nine with four slots and the numbers can be repeated…that's only…what? Ten thousand possible combinations…?"

Eleanor suggested, "Well…the owner clearly locked the place to keep the drugs safe. So…said owner would have to change the code often to keep people from guessing it and getting inside. The owner would have been constantly under stress so he or she would have frequented the local watering hole to drown her or his sorrows with a drink. We should try the Fishbowl Diner…maybe the owner was lazy enough to write it down on something."

Without any better ideas myself I replied, "Good thinking, kid. That's as good of a start as any. Let's go." We turned around and began to make our way back to the diner to try to find the combination for the clinic combination lock.