(Hey, me again finally..! Apologies for my lateness on the newest chapter, my. Well, my life's taken quite a rather drastic downfall recently... Busy days, rather-sad days. But, I finally found some time to write, so hopefully I can make it to 1,000 words again. I'll try..! Anyways, you want the story you've all hopefully waited so patiently for! So, without further interruption, let's get right into it!)

Serana screeched, shattering John's poor eardrums. But he ignored it. He was much too shocked by Tenenbaum's sudden turn on them... He should've expected this from a suspicious do-

Tenenbaum instinctively turned the Revolver on Serana, causing the Big Sister to stop dead in her tracks, her helmet a pure Crimson coloring. Anyone from a mile away could tell she wanted to cause a lot of bodily harm to Tenenbaum.

Serana POV

She knew her armor'd protect her. She was more than willing to help her Charge... Even if it somehow missed her armor, she could take it. He is her Charge... She won't let Her take that from her.

John POV

John shook his head, snapping himself back to reality. He reacted purely on impulse. practically flinging himself in front of Serana, right before realizing that was a dumb move on his part... John thoughtly-scolded himself, mentally kicking himself.

Tenenbaum raised an eyebrow, keeping the Revolver trained on him. "...You're willing to save, your Big Sister, even though she has more of a chance of surviving?"

John swallowed his fear, and the feeling of Serana's eyes staring into the back of his head. She was clearly confused. He kind-of wished he could answer the question he knew she wanted to ask... "Yes, yes I am." He said with whatever confidence he could muster. "You want her? Kill me, leave her out of i-"

Tenenbaum laughed slightly, more motone-ish. Like she hadn't laughed in a good while. Then again, who can blame her? "Kill you?! No, no, no, I was testing you both..!" She lowered her Revolver, setting it down on the counter and writing some more stuff on her clipboard.

"I may not be able to save the other Big Sisters, but I know now what caused it... John, may I speak to you? Alone?" She glanced at Serana.

Serana scoffed, ejecting her Harpoon blade on her left arm, causing John to nearly yelp. "Like hell you will..! After that stunt?! You're lucky you're still standing on both of your-"

"Serana." John cut in, rather-soothingly actually. Trying to reason with her. It seemed to work, as she was silent, her helmet light staring into his very soul... "Serana, I'll be fine. I'll tell you all about it afterwards."

Serana narrowed her eyes under her helmet, retracting her Harpoon, despite her mind protesting. "...Fine. But if she tries anything-"

"I'll let you know, I promise." He smiled lightly, hoping that reassured her. Then again, it's hard to tell with her helmet in the way. But it seemed like it worked. At, least somewhat anyways.

Serana shook her head. "Don't promise something you can't keep, John." She slowly walked off to where the Little Sisters were, hoping to find Victoria while John talked with Doctor Psycho...

Tenenbaum nodded slowly. "Smart girl. But a bit too unforgiving for my liki-"
"What did you wanna say so bad." John interrupted, sounding much harsher than he intended.

Tenenbaum sighed heavily. "What I learned was that your Big Sister has developed an, attachment to you. Sort of like how Little Sisters bond with their Big Daddies. Except this one... She allowed herself to bond with you because of her trust in you. You earned her trust, somehow. Which caused her to de-"
"Which is causing her to act weird around me..." John interrupted, much less harshly but still earned him a glare from Tenenbaum.

"...Precisely. The 'weird actions' as you call them are from. Something similar to it, yet entirely different."

John raised an eyebrow. "...Whaddo you mean. wasn't that exactly it?"

Tenenbaum shook her head. "It is not my place to say. But if you had paid more attention to her actions, you'd know right away."

John thought for a moment, confused by her riddle. "...I don't get it."
Tenenbaum sighed heavily. "I mean, if you paid more attention to her... Forget it, it is not my place. Now, onto more pressing matters. What is your plan with Serana exactly?"

John raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me? Plan with her, what's that supposed to mean?"
Tenenbaum inhaled deeply. "Let me explain it further. What is your plan between you and her? Where is your next objective, like to kill Lamb."

John thought for a moment. "I. I haven't really thought of that... I've, mostly just been focused on us staying alive."

Tenenbaum nodded a bit. "I see... Now, about your Little One."
John looked at her quizzically. "What about her..?"
Tenenbaum took a breath. "You may not like my idea, but. I believe that she is safer here than at. Wherever it is you are going."

John scoffed. "Yeah. safer with someone who tried to kill me, where's that logic."
Tenenbaum shook her head slowly. "Figured you'd say that. So, I shall offer you a deal. You leave your Little One here, and I shall cure her for you. But, you must find the other Little Ones."

John thought a bit. "So, we find the others and bring them here?"
Tenenbaum glanced at the Plasmid on the counter. "Unless you'd prefer to do it yourself..."

(I apologize if this one sucks, but I just wanted to finally get this chapter out there after so long. Now that the story's out of the way, lemme explain my disappearance. Well, explain what I am willing to that is. Alright, I have a multitude of different stuff I do outside of writing. With that, I also have been rather busy with life, and that is the most will tell you because some I am still hurting from... But anyways, I have also been working on 'Secret Projects' that ultimately fell flat. Like, I was doing a Metroid story: Lost interest in it and didn't know how I wanted to do it. Wanted to do a Future Diary thing: I would've been bashed at for obvious reasons. Wanted to do The Purge: Come on, that's been done so many times. Wanted to do a The Last of Us story: I'll most likely wait for The Last of Us 2 to be released, then I'll probably upload it since the hype'll be back. Wanted to start a YouTube Channel: I do not got the time nor the cash for that... So, yeah. That's pretty much almost everything. I'll definitely see you guys in the next chapter that'll be hopefully sometime-soon, so..! Stay tuned!)