Part 15: Brawl at Ryan's Door

"You know," Cassidy said, pacing in front of the Big Sister. "If you'd put half the effort you've shown the last day into killing Fontaine…" Still pacing, Cassidy shook his head at David. "Well let's just say neither of us would be where we are today." There was an obvious strain in the training instructor's voice as he glared at David. With a sigh, Cassidy put his hand on the Big Sister's shoulder. "I'd like to reacquaint you with someone. Thirteen…" Cassidy's smile never reached his eyes. It was cold and heartless. "Meet Alice."

David recoiled, literally off balance, as though Cassidy had reached across the room and struck him. Alice? Taking a step back, he tried to focus his rational mind, to refute what Cassidy was telling him. It's a common name. It isn't her! It can't be her!

"You think we didn't know? You think after all that time with Lamb that we didn't know every dark secret, every nook and cranny in your noggin?" Cassidy gave a harsh bark of laughter. "We knew about your mom, poor little Alice, hell kid I know how many times you thought about killing yourself. Of course if it had been up to me, I would've put you out of your misery a long time ago." Half of David's brain wasn't even listening to his former training instructor. He was still trying to deny what Cassidy had told him. It has to be a trick. It's a lie. That's not Alice!

"Better late than never, huh kid?" Turning his back on his former student, Cassidy put a fatherly hand on the Big Sister's shoulder. "Rip his fucking head off, and bring it to me on a platter."

With a wave goodbye, Cassidy strode through the massive bronze doors that led to Ryan's home. Even as the Big Sister crouched, preparing to launch herself across the room, David couldn't move. His brain was locked in place, fighting against itself, trying to come to grips with the idea that Alice, little Alice from Pauper's Drop was his opponent.

Evidently not feeling the same qualms, the Big Sister darted across the room to slam into David with the force of a cannonball. As he skidded across the floor, the former assassin managed to bring his arms up in time to catch the Big Sister's boot on his shoulder rather than his skull. He tried to pivot away, to open the distance between the two, only to have the psychotic, armored girl teleport behind him.

She grabbed two handfuls of his helmet and threw him across the room. When he crashed into a pillar and fell to the floor, David was sure his spine should have snapped. He gasped trying to force air into his lungs as his vision slid into and out of focus. With a gesture, the Big Sister ripped a chunk of marble from the floor, ready to hurl it at the former assassin. Still on the ground, David quickly charged and let fly a burst of Electro-Bolt. The orb of electricity slammed into the ADAM fueled killer with a thump, sending her sprawling across the marble floor.

"You have to fight her David! She will kill you," Tenenbaum warned, an edge in her voice. Grunting in response, David climbed back to his feet as the armored, teenaged girl teleported. When she appeared in the air in front of him, her left arm spiking through the air, he grabbed her and twisted it to the side, managing to avoid swallowing her ADAM needle. Using her momentum against her, the former assassin pulled her forward, and rammed his knee into her stomach, putting every ounce of his weight behind the blow.

Despite that David was sure that he would have killed any other living creature, or at least ruptured their small intestines, the Big Sister slid off his knee and hooked her led behind his. As fast as lighting she pulled him to the ground with a heavy thump. As the two rolled across the floor, tangled together, each fighting for an upper hand, the former assassin reached out and grabbed the girl by her armored collar. When she tried to pull away, David used her strength against her to slam the corner of his helmet into her faceplate.

The resulting impact left the glass cracked and damaged. With a screech of frustration, the Big Sister rolled again. Oddly enough, when she stopped, she was under the former assassin, rather than trying to pin him to the floor. Too late, he saw the trap. The Big Sister's hand glowed for a second before the room was shook by a thunderous explosion.

For a frozen second of time, David wondered why his feet were facing the skylight, and why it looked so close. Then the ground rolled past his vision and he crashed into a furniture set. Gasping for air and feeling like his lungs were getting none, he clutched at his side. It felt like someone had hit him with a sledgehammer the size of a refrigerator. His body burned and shook at the same time, every nerve ending throbbing.

Knowing that she wouldn't have been hampered by her own assault, David rolled to look at the Big Sister. She was on her feet where she'd been before sending the former assassin flying through the air, but armor-clad girl was clutching at her helmet. When she turned, David could see that, while she hadn't been injured by the explosion, she had coated her faceplate in ash. The fine layer of soot and slipped into the hairline cracks in the glass and blocked her vision. End it now! After a short struggle, David freed his left hand from under his numb body, and charged Incinerate. One blast as soon as her helmet was removed would end the fight.

With another scream, the Big Sister finally pulled the copper sphere from her head and let it clang noisily to the floor. Her short, brown hair spilled from her helmet. Oh dear God, David thought, Alice.

The Big Sister returned her attention to him, glaring at the former assassin with Alice's face. Gone was the little girl who used to laugh at his Abbot and Costello act. She was replaced by a teenager, a young woman who'd endured more pain and insanity than David could imagine. She'd been conditioned, her psyche broken down and reformed to spear the dead to harvest their ADAM. Like the Little Sisters, her eyes glowed, though they burned with the fury and intensity of the sun, and her face was masked behind a feral snarl. But she was still Alice.

Climbing back to his feet, David removed his own helmet, hoping she would recognize a familiar face. "Alice…" the former assassin croaked, hating the scarred tissue in his throat. More than anything, at that moment, he wanted to talk to her, to tell her it was going to be okay. However, his voice was distorted, garbled behind the damage Fontaine had done.

"It's me… David." After a moment, Alice's snarl was replaced by a furrowed brow, a cautious curiosity. "Davy," he pleaded, hoping to find some scrap of humanity in her. Before he could say another word, she teleported across the room and slammed her armor plated knee into his chest. As the wind was pushed from his lungs, David instinctively brought his hands up to protect his face. Her copper shod boot slammed into his arms and skimmed of the back of his head. For a moment the world spun as his skull cried out in agony. On the ground, his vision swimming, with Alice standing over him, a final desperate thought came to David's addled mind.

"Who's on first?" he asked quickly. She paused, her arm primed to cave in his skull.

She blinked, and looked at David again. After a moment, the fiery glow in her eyes faded, replaced by vague recognition. "Davy?"