"You there, hold it!" the soldier called when the large man walked through the gate behind one of their trucks.
Another soldier came up to the other and tapped him on the shoulder, "You do know who that is, right?"
"He's one of the Panzer Faust, I'm not an idiot. His size gives him away pretty well."
"That's not it!" the soldier tried to keep his voice down. "Don't you know we're not supposed to get in their way?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Look at him, one of them can put a fist through a cement wall. Do you really want to get in his way?"
"Are you even sure that he's one of them?"
The soldier would have slapped himself if he wasn't wearing a helmet, "You fool, look at the size of him! Hell, he's probably the biggest one so far, and you want to get in his way?"
"But look at the way he stands, he's all bent over."
"He probably got injured in a fight or something. We've been losing men all around the area. The last time we heard from HQ, two dozen men have dissapeared from the base. Whatever is out there has even been taking out the Panzer Faust. Hell, I seen what happened to two of them. They were blown to pieces, but with something I had never seen before. It was like they were squished until they went splat."
The soldier went pale, "You think he came across whatever's been doing this and lived?" He looked over the other's shoulder to see the larger man having a look around. He seemed lost, confused about where he should be going. Even with the hat he had one, it was obvious by his movements. For all the soldier knew, the man had taken a blow to the head and only had the sense to get back here.
He nodded his head and went back to his post. Little did he know that doing so saved his life.
Big Brother was surprised he made it this far into the base. Besides the one at the gate, nobody thought about looking at him too closely. His size gave him quite the advantage by making him appear very intimidating. Nobody wanted to mess with someone who looked like he could crush their head with one hand.
Susan was trying her best to hold onto his chest, but she had holding on for nearly twelve hours. She was also holding onto Big Ol' Bertha and the remaining ammo as well, which only made things even more difficult. But she was going to hold on for as long as she could.
"Hey, Faust!"
Big Brother froze and in the direction of the one who called. A man with a dignified look on his face strolled up to him.
"Come with me."
Big Brother grunted and did as he was told. He wasn't sure if his cover was blown or not, but he wasn't about to attack without reason. He followed the man into his tent and waited.
The look on the man's face melted away, leaving one filled with concern and anxiety. "Look, I don't want to alarm the men, but something has happened in HQ. We haven't gotten any word from them in some time. I want you to go see what has happened. I knew we shouldn't have taken that woman there."
Big Brother shifted suddenly, despite himself, and Susan slipped. The two froze as the man looked up from what he was doing.
"What are they doing out there?" He walked right past the two and looked outside.
"Sorry Sir, lost my grip."
"You be careful with those guns. With our Serum running low, we will need them fairly soon."
Susan found a better grip and pulled herself up before the man turned back. It was fortunate that the soldier outside did what he did or they would have been found out.
"Now I know you're loyal to the man who made you the way you are, but this is serious. You won't be able to take the main road, a land slide has blocked it off. And the men I sent to clear it have yet to return." The man handed Big Brother a map of the area. "Fortunately, I knew of another path, in case something like this ever happened. You should be able to get inside and learn of what has happened. If you find anything, report back here. I don't want anyone else to know what you are doing."
Big Brother did the best salute he could, which proved to be sufficient enough to hold the disguise. He turned and left, putting the map into his pocket. In the back of his mind, he had to think that getting this was much too easy.
By the time anyone found the half-pound bullet, he was already long gone.
Although the other soldiers were too busy to notice, the commander already knew of the intruder. He dug a hole and left the bullet inside. Instead of calling the man out and have a fight on his hands, he put the stranger to good use. Something was indeed going on in HQ, but he didn't want to risk his men to go look. The Panzer Faust proved trouble enough at times, but the man didn't want to find out what happened now.
His head came up when he heard someone scream.
"Sound the alarm!" a soldier cried before he was sent screaming from the tower. The Brute Splicer roared with joy while several dozen more charged in. These were all who remained of the Spicers of Rapture. But even if their numbers were smaller than the Templar, they have been feeding on their fallen enemy. They had grown stronger by doing so and wanted to show their new power.
Soldiers hurled Electro Bolts, Winter Blasts, and used Incinerate on anyone not dressed like them. This managed to cull half the Splicer's numbers, but then their powers ran out. Without their Serum to fuel them, they simply didn't have the strength.
"Get the guns!" one yelled before he was frozen into a block of ice. A Brute Splicer charged in, smashing the soldier to pieces.
"Good idea, get their guns!" he yelled as he hurled chungs of ice around.
The men going for the storage house were swarmed by a pack of Houndini Splicers as they appeared from a massive cloud of red. Their fireballs set the building alight, causing bullets and grenades to go off, adding to the chaos. Anyone who wasn't dodging bullets or debris were running from Brute and Spider Splicers.
During the confusion, one soldier got a lucky hit on the back of a Splicer's head with a shovel. Unfortunately, the Splicer's body suddenly burst with electricity, zapping everyone near her. She couldn't believe that her Tonic was finally waking up. More elemental explosions erupted all around as more of the volatile Tonics were reactivated.
"Hey, hit this!" a Brute Splicer cried as he hurled a soldier into the air. Over a dozen fireballs took to the air, but only several actually hit their mark.
"Ha, I got him!" one of the Houndini's cried.
"No, I got him!" a second complained.
"Shut up, I did!" yelled.
The forth Houndini did the smart thing and vanished when a grenade bounced amongst them.
Things only started to turn ugly when the tank rolled in. Many of the Splicers started to run, for they never seen a mechanical monstrosity like this in their time in Rapture.
Two machine guns set in the sides started ripping up the crowd, oblivious to just who they were shooting. The turret turned and fired a shell that sent Splicers into the air. The crew inside loaded another round and fired, blasting more people. Splicers and soliders alike were blown apart.
Fireballs and grenades hit the tank, but were easily deflected by it's thick armor. A Brute Splicer tried to tear the cannon barrel out, only to be turned into red mist and various chunks of meat and bone.
"Shit, can this get any worse?" a Thuggish Splicer yelled as he ran for cover. Unfortunately for him, there was a tank sitting behind the wall he was going for.
Once they were at a safe distance, Big Brother cast of the coat and let Susan down. She wasn't very happy with the conditions she suffered while inside it but she quickly shrugged it off. The two had somewhere to be, this was their chance to save Sara and her daughter.
Because it was getting dark, they wrapped their faces with pieces of the coat to cut down the glow of their eyes. They wanted to sneak in, not show their presence.
While Susan teleported ahead, Big Brother took off at a run. Although he wasn't very experienced with the area, Susan was a great help at locating the land marks that dotted the path. It took several hours at top speed but they found the place.
Susan scouted ahead as she was the smaller of the two and was used to being stealthy. Big Brother lost her position after she jumped the gate. The lack of alarms meant that she was doing well so far. He waited there for several minutes before she returned. Even in the darkness, he noted the confused look in her eyes.
He followed her to the gate, where she let him in. Inside the camp, everything was strangely quiet. There were no soldiers, no Faust, nobody. The entire camp was empty. It was as if everyone had simply left without reason and dropped what they were doing on their way out.
At the end of the camp was a large structure that looked to be well-built. Big Brother and Susan were cautious as they walked up to it, wary of anything that might come out. But the interior was empty of life as well. The two went inside, always watching their back for anything that might try and sneak up on them.
The two were able to make good time looking around, for they were used to searching around in this kind of environment. When they came across a locked door, Big Brother simply kicked it in. He wasn't about to waste time looking for one little key when his boot could unlock any door. The door lead to a staircase going to the basement. Susan had no trouble, being the size of a young woman, but Big Brother had to squeeze in sideways after taking off his plates. He had to leave them behind because he didn't have any way to carry them with him without making a lot of noise in the process.
For him, it was strange, leaving them behind like that. All he had now was some armor, his cable, and his gun. It had such a strange name, but considering it's power, the woman it was named after must have been just as tough.
By the time he got to the bottom, Susan was holding something in her hands. Big Brother walked up to her side and realized that it was a Big Daddy helmet. He took it from her and looked into the porthole. What had this one suffered during his time here?
Without warning, Susan hit the floor and started to scream and thrash about. Big Brother had seen this before, down in Rapture. But even then, he didn't know what to do. He tried to stop her from hurting herself, only to be blasted back by her Telekinesis. She pushed him further into the wall until the stone started to break apart under the pressure.
It took all he had to hold himself together. He forced his hands out of the hole he was in and pulled himself out. But Susan changed the direction of her power and pushed him towards the floor. But he wasn't about to lose out so easily. He remained on his feet and tried to walk towards her.
Whatever madness had a hold of her was strong, she didn't seem to realize just what she was doing. He pulled his head up and roared. Somehow, for whatever reason, Susan snapped out of her state of panic just enough to release him. She raised her hand and brought the ceiling down.
The two of them were alright, but she leaped out to the upper floor and ran for a part of the building they haven't checked yet. Big Brother shook himself off and leaped up after her. The area she seemed so intent on finding looked like a prison. All the cells were empty but one. Susan used her Telekinesis to rip the door off it's hinges and hurled it at him. It caught him with enough force that he was knocked off his feet. He picked himself up and charged into the room, only to stop dead.
Sara was sitting there, a look of utter shock and horror on her face as Susan was holding her child. Susan seemed to be lost in the girl's bright blue eyes and tapped her forehead against hers. Big Brother felt a tingle run through his spine and Susan let the girl down.
The child didn't appear to be scared, in fact, she looked to be happy to see Susan. Big Brother didn't know why.
"Big Susan!" Sara heard her daughter cry out. Then the girl pointed to herself, "I'm Little Susan!"
She was lost for words, for she didn't know what was going on.
The girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, this is Aunty Susan!"
Sara was unable to speak as she realized who was standing before her. She got up and removed the cloth covering her face. The two put their foreheads together and an old link woke up. Memories poured into her head, memories of great protectors, visious monsters, and the realization of what Rapture really looked like. In those few moments, Sara knew who this woman was and what she had gone through.
Becuase the two were related by blood, the ADAM in their bodies enhanced the bond they once shared. This allowed them to communicate with each other on a whole other level. Just as Plasmids could share memories, the bond between these two was doing the same.
"Susan, I thought I had lost you..." Sara looked like she was about to cry until she got a look at Big Brother. At first she wasn't sure who she was looking at because of the cloth over his face. But when she saw the soft yellow glow in his eyes, she knew who he was. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed as hard as she could. She tried to collect herself just enough to mutter, "Thank you."
"We got saved, mommy!" her child cried in celebration.
"Not just yet, first off, we have to get out of here. Big Brother?"
Big Brother was looking around, unsure about something.
"I know how you feel, I haven't seen anyone here for some time. Even the guards left and never returned."
Now that she thought about it, she was quite uneasy about all of this.
With everyone on Big Brother's back, the group made good time leaving the area. They came across very few soldiers, but they seemed confused and without any direction now. None of the soldiers attacked, for they looked like they wanting to leave and go home. They even came across a pair of Panzer Faust, but the two ignored the group as they poked a small fire.
Big Brother wondered of this was the end of the Templar. But this was too easy and it bothered him. But he had Sara and her daughter back and the twins were finally reuinited. He just wished that he actually felt happy about all this.
A new day was rising when they got back to the remains of Sara's house. They found Sara's husband sitting there, waiting for them. While they didn't have a home anymore, he was just glad to have the two back again. The house could be rebuilt, but his family was the only one he had.
After giving lots of hugs and kisses to his wife and daughter, the man looked over to Big Brother and Susan. "Hey, you two should come with us. You two can be part of the family too."
Sara put a finger to his lips and shook her head, "I'm sorry, but they have to go back."
"What? After what they did to save you and everyone else?"
"I know, it's painful for me to know this, but I shared memories with my sister. I know what she went through and I know that she won't find a life up here on the surface.
"So, this is goodbye?"
"I'm afraid so."
Big Brother knew this was coming. He and Susan were just too different. They still carried Rapture's taint and would remain this way for however long they lived. But under the surface, there was some measure of safety for them.
"Alright, it's not my place to tell them what to do. And I trust your judgement." He turned to the pair, "Alright, the quickest way to the ocean is east of here. Just keep going that way and you'll find it."
"I don't want them to go!" Little Susan started to cry. Big Brother shook his head and groaned. But that wasn't going to be enough for the girl.
Sara knew what to do, "They have to go home now. They live deep under the ocean where they can be safe from all the bad men."
"They can be safe?"
Big Susan touched her forehead to the child's and shared her memories of what it was like for a Little Sister to see a Big Daddy. Big like the world and strong enough to keep the monsters away.
"Bye Aunty Susan, bye Uncle Big." Little Susan waved to them both.
"B-bye...bye...b-be...good t-to...family," Susan replied, much to their surprise.
Everyone was even more surprised when Big Brother managed to grunt, "Bye...bye..."
Sara never took her eyes off Big Brother as they left. Little Susan did the same, looking over her mother's shoulder until they were out of sight. He was glad, for didn't take his eyes of them either.
Susan crawled up Big Brother's back and sat on his shoulders as he turned around and started walking. Once again, his legs knew where to go before he did. He knew he was returning home, but his legs knew which way.
Home, the accursed place that made him what he was now, that took him from the life he could have lived. But he got to meet three interesting little girls who would always have a place with him. His heart was more than big enough for all of them.
As he took his time making his way down the road, Susan curled up and fell asleep on his back. After so much action, she needed it. Big Brother, on the other hand, still had enough strength to get them back. After all this, he might have a good sleep for once in many years.
When the fighting was done, the Splicers had won. But at such a cost.
There were only a few dozen of them left, mostly Leadheads, some Thuggish, and a single Houndini and Nitro Splicer each. All the remaining Brute Splicers died during the fight with the four tanks. The first two they took out on their own by jamming the parts, but the third required the help of the Nitros. Then they lost all the Spider Splicers and all but the one Nitro Splicer while dealing with the last tank.
The soldiers were either all dead or have left the camp, to battered and weary of all the fighting. They fought for a cause they thought would give them the world. Instead, all they got was blood and death.
As for the Splicers, those who remained were too injured and tired to go anywhere. The Leadheads were out of ammo, all the Thuggish only had two wrenches between them, and the Nitro was all out of grenades. As for the Houndini, he was so tired that he couldn't even make a spark.
Unfortunately, their ADAM was almost completely drained now, meaning they were going to die if they didn't get help. They would have drained the bodies of their ADAM and the Templar's Serum, but they were just too tired. They didn't have the strength to move from the spots they collapsed on.
"I guess this is it." The exhausted Thuggish let his wrench drop to the ground.
A gentle hand was placed on his shoulder and an old woman's voice answered, "Here, let me help you."
"Huh?" the Thuggish would have attacked if a strange sensation hadn't come over him. "W-what did you do to me?"
The man couldn't believe what was happening before his very eyes. All the mutations and degradation caused by the ADAM was melting away in a warm, soothing red glow. All that was left of the Splicer was the man he once was. He still felt weak, but he felt so much better now. He remembered the madness he suffered for so many years, but he was stable enough to retain his returning sanity.
"Doctor Tenenbaum?" he couldn't believe that he actually recognized the aging woman.
"I am so sorry it took me so much time, but I finally developed the cure."
"I'm...cured...I'M CURED!" the man cried to the sky.
The other Splicers looked to see what all the commotion was about, only to find someone standing over them. There were several women and one old man who touched each of them and purified their bodies.
The men and women were Splicers no more. They were human again. After so long, they had been returned to their former selves. Because they kept replacing their ADAM, age wasn't much of a factor in their lives. This meant that the former Splicers looked as if they had only aged by a few years before they began to splice.
Doctor Tenenbaum was so happy to see all the people celebrate their returning humanity. She had spent many years working on how to reverse the damage the ADAM caused them. It took so long, but it was finally done. From the group, one figure who stood out among them returned to the old woman's side.
"It's such a wonder sight, isn't it?" she asked.
"It truly is Eleanor, it truly is. I just wish we could return to help those who might still remain."
"I know, but I believe that they will be safe in Big Brother's care." Somehow, the woman knew that Big Brother was the reason they were able to save so many people.
"Come, let us leave this place and show these people to their new homes. Coming Charles?"
An old man, a former Big Daddy, joined her and the two left while the women, all former Little Sisters, gathered everyone up.
"Alright everyone, let's go home." Eleanor made sure everyone was accounted for as they left.
It took two days for the two, but Big Brother and Susan made it to the ocean. The sun was dissapearing below the surface as the day grew late. Susan was just stirring from her nap and jumped down from his back so she could walk with him up to the edge of the cliff. From here, it was just an hour's walk away from a beach where they could dive into the water. They wanted to avoid the rocks below. Even with his powers, he didn't have much armor left to protect himself.
But for now, Big Brother wanted to enjoy the sunset. This was going to be their last days on the surface, he wanted to make it special. While he wasn't going to be able to take Sara with him, he wasn't leaving empty handed. He had found the other sister who was seperated from her so long ago. Now he had a Big Sister to stay by his side. Now he wouldn't be so lonely. Susan, possibly sensing the thoughts in his head, looked into his glowing eyes and smiled as she leaned in closer.
His heart stopped when a bullet pierced her side.
"Good of you to join us. Now let us see if Frank Fontain was right about you."
Big Brother's almost done! But please don't despair, I know you've been following my story for so long now and have loved it so much. I really do appreciate all of you reading my story. This will be my first completed story since I started writing when I was about 15. I'm 25 now and have gotten a lot better, as you can see.
Now you will have to wait for what happens next because I can't say anything about what the future will bring. With any luck, I might be able to keep things going a lot longer. Cross your fingers and hope it will fly.