{Nobody knows you; When you're down and out}

Double-checking that the door held fast to stop any straggler splicers from entering the decrepit little dress shop, Yang limped over to where Blake had settled herself down on a plush stool, torn and bleeding yellowed fluff. The dark-haired beauty was running her hands over the tears in her skirt, fingering the jagged snags and tugging on loose snares, her hands trembling and unsteady. Her golden eyes were dead focused on the trivial task, bottom lip worried beneath her sharp teeth, her red lipstick giving way to the darker red blood welling up from the cut.

She was busying herself with miniscule tasks to cope with the previous fight they had, something that one typically did having never been in the middle of a high stakes shooting match or never had held a gun as the barrel smoked, the bullet embedded in some poor bastard's skull.

She was taking it as well as anyone would in her position.

Yang plopped herself down on the floor next to Blake, taking a moment to catch her breath and wipe the dripping sweat from her brow, shooting concerned glances at her temporary partner every so often to see how the poor gal was holdin' up. Her hands had stopped trembling now, were steadier in their movements as she smoothed down the wrinkles in her skirt and the creases on her blouse. The blonde detective had to give the dame some credit; she recovered fast, which was just dandy 'cause they didn't have the time to stay here while she continued to gather her bearings over her first kill. Splicers were comin' and they needed to stock up again, patch up their cuts and bruises, and be on their way if they wanted to avoid picking another fight and actually get anything done for this case.

Reaching into her pocket Yang brought out a tin case and popped it open, fishing out one of her rolled cigarettes, sticking it between her teeth before replacing the case in her pocket. She brought her hands up to the cig, snapping her fingers to produce a flame, lighting the cig as well as catching Blake's attention, Gold eyes watched as Yang struggled to stand, doing her best to stay off the leg that got nicked by one of the lead splicers bullets, a still fresh but not deep cut in her thigh. She limped over to the counter, carelessly rummaging through boxes, hoping to find anything in this rundown store, ammo, EVE, something to replenish and patch up her wounds, but so far as she was finding were moth-eaten hats and dusty old gloves.

All the while Blake watched from her perch, hands clenching and unclenching, jaw taut and back stiff, unsure what to do as she had never had to recuperate after a fight. So she watched as the blonde detective continued to ransack the place, listened to her grunts and groans when she came up empty-handed and her "ooh"'s and "ah"'s when she found something that suited her fancy.

It was only when Yang was applying medical care to the wound on her leg that Blake decided to speak.

"Does it….does it get any easier?"

Yang froze in her task, lilac eyes lifting briefly to meet glowing golden ones before dropping back down to her lap, hands resuming their bandaging. Her lips pressed into a thin line and a crease formed on her brow as she played with Blake's question, thinking of the most appropriate thing to say that wasn't a lie.

"Well it depends on how you look at it, I guess. The way I see it," she tied off the bandage and picked up her pistol, snapping open the chamber and picking up the ammo she had found during her scrounging about, "them splicers…they ain't people no more. They gave that up long, long ago." She carefully dropped the bullets into the six slots of the chamber and sighed. "So does it get easier?" She snapped the pistol closed and spun the chamber around. "No I wouldn't say so, couldn't lie to a dame as pretty as you, after all. But what helps me through it sometimes is knowing…" She paused her, ducking her head to her chest. "Is knowing that every one of those bastards I shoot down…every single one of 'em brings me closer to the thing I'm lookin' for."

Blake blinked and straightened up. "What is it you're looking for?"

Yang didn't answer immediately, instead opting to stand up first and test out her injured leg, putting weight on it until she was comfortable standing normally. She turned her head to look out the shop window at the dark and dank open space of the abandoned mall outside, her eyes picking up small movements within the shadows.

"Somethin'…" Blake perked up again, tearing her eyes from the window back to her companion who grip had tightened on her gun and her other hand flickered with flames. "Somethin' that was taken from me…back when I was no more than a little girl."

She blamed it on the poor lighting - after all there wasn't any working electricity in the forgotten mall - but Blake thought she saw what looked like tears in Yang's eyes as she rushed the door, gun raised as a splicer came running at the noise that Yang had caused.

Blake grabbed her gun on her hip and ran after her, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.


A/N: Just so we're all clear, this happens BEFORE Down Here in Rapture. (If you haven't read that fic, would you kindly?)

But yeah here's another piece of my Bioshock AU that I haven't really touched in awhile. I got some prompts on tumblr and this was one of them.