So I paused writing this a while back to allow myself to make a timeline for Love, Loss and Loyalty, and now I have no idea why I didn't upload the next three completed chapters beforehand...either way, there will be three updates this week, and possibly another couple that will round off Fang's introduction to Rapture.

Enjoy x

Chapter 6: Electrobolt

A further month later, the triumphant smile on Ari's twisted face told Fang he'd finally found enough ADAM. He wasn't sure he'd ever believed the 'removing-it-from-the-street' story, especially after learning that Ari had already pumped himself with enough of the stuff to have a plasmid and numerous tonics – ADAM derivatives that could improve physical fitness and combat skills – which explained his impressive reaction times and prowess with melee weapons.

Fang wasn't sure he'd make the same choice, given the state of primitive splicers.

Either way, with enough ADAM to purchase a plasmid, Ari lead the way through the maze of corridors to a vending machine type he had pointed out to Fang months before; a Gatherer's Garden. While the one he had been shown was simply a pink and white rectangular machine, this one had two pretend little girls on either side of it, a hand each resting on the metal sides. Their faces were stripped of colour, leaving a pale featureless face in a faded pink dress, their blank eyes eerie in the rose glow of the machine.

"Now," Ari stated as he stood in front of the Gatherer's Garden, a clawed hand curled around his chin as he studied the selection of merchandise. "What should we buy?" Fang stood a little way back, his eyes on the room rather than the machine. They hadn't bumped into a single splicer on the way here, another suspicious disappearance to add to his list, but he wasn't about to let his guard down now.

Ari made a noise of approval, and made a selection. The machine whined and creaked before spitting out a bottle and a hypodermic needle into a tray at the bottom of the machine. Bending down, Ari snagged the bottle by the neck and turned, raising it for Fang to inspect for himself.

The fluid within was an electric blue. More importantly, it seemed to be moving of its own accord. While Ari held the bottle still, small crackles of energy erupted from the solution wherever the sloshing liquid came into contact with the glass. Fang could feel the hairs on the back of his neck sticking up again, but couldn't decide if it was from a bad feeling or the static emitting from the liquid within the bottle.

"What is that?" He finally asked, running a hand over the back of his neck.

The wolf-boy pressed the hypodermic needle into the stopper. It slipped through as easily as cutting butter with a knife and became submerged in the liquid, which cracked in response to the intrusion. "This is Electrobolt," Ari stated as he began to draw he fluid into the syringe, slowly as if to avoid causing too much excitement within the bottle. "Level three, no less. I spared no expense for you. See how much I care?"

Fang stiffened, eyes on the hypodermic needle as Ari extracted it from the now empty bottle, which he discarded carelessly. The blue liquid within the syringe swirled and cracked in the confined space as if agitated. Ari had mentioned getting him a plasmid a few times since he'd arrived in Rapture, but Fang had always rejected the idea, knowing he didn't want to end up like a primitive splicer.

Now he knew it came in a needle, he really didn't want it.

"We discussed this," the preteen stated, eyes not leaving the hypodermic. He could feel his heart rate increasing, a surge of adrenaline making his fingers twitchy, some small voice at the back of his mind telling him to run from that needle. "I told you: I got this far without a plasmid, I don't need one now."

Ari snorted, carelessly brandishing the syringe as he spoke. "You got this far without a plasmid because I've been protecting you. Remember the time I took down a dozen primitive splicers because you were too occupied with one? And how about that zombie splicer, that somehow managed to get you on your back and weapon-less? If you have a plasmid, you're never completely disarmed, kid."

Fuming, Fang let a little on his anger bubble to the surface. "It's FANG. And you were the reason that massive group of primitives all attacked us at once. If I recall, whereas my plan was to pick them off when they separated into smaller groups you rushed into the room like a bull in a china shop. And let's not forget that fact that you were too busy searching corpses for ADAM to teach me about that Zombie splicer – the first one I ever fucking met – until after it had pinned me to the floor and you had to dispatch it."

There was silence, broken only by Fang's angry breathing, until Ari finally spoke. "Details, Fang. The point is you'd be a lot better off with a plasmid than relying on weapons that can be taken from you, and this baby –"He motioned to the syringe with his free hand. "- is like having lightning at your fingertips. There really is little better."

"Besides," the wolf-boy added, the grin returning to his face. "You still owe me a favour, yet require more education, and I'm not dragging a dead weight around because he was afraid of a little needle."

The preteen heard himself growl in frustration, something that seemed to widen the grin on Ari's face. Despite not wanting to spend any more time than was necessary this this kid, he had made a deal; a deal Ari had stuck to thus far. He had met and fought almost every kind of splicer by now, loosely guided by Ari's information, but if there were other's he'd yet to meet he needed to stay with the mutant a bit longer.

Could he risk coming face-to-face with an unknown splicer?

He closed his eyes and forced his breathing to slow, willing his anger to melt so he could think logically. He had seen Ari wielding a plasmid - Winter Blast, he'd called it – and Fang had to admit that it was handy in a pinch to have a trump card the splicers had yet to learn about. It also meant you were never unarmed, which was something in itself; being unarmed basically spelled death in Rapture.

"Fine," he stated, opening his eyes to catch those of the wolf-boy, who seemed to be thrilled at the reply. "But- Fang continued. "-this is the only plasmid I'm ever getting. Got it?"

Ari stepped forwards and took Fang's left arm, turning it over and positioning the needle just above the skin of his wrist, but before he could get any further the preteen had yanked his arm back again. "Just this one, understand?"

"That's what they all say," he said simply. "But agreed" He took Fang's arm back and turned it over again, lining the needle up with the boy's wrist. Without even a pause he thrust the needle beneath boy's skin and began to slowly push down the plunger on the oversized hypodermic needle, watching the blue fluid flow into Fang's body.

At first the sensation of cool; as if someone were running an ice cube over the underside of Fang's forearm, but very quickly that changed into a sharp pain that made its way rapidly along the boy's arm and wasted no time in spreading through the trunk of his body.

The needle removed, Fang fell to his knees, hands clutching at opposite biceps as if encasing his chest in his arms would lessen the pain. He let out an involuntary gasp as the pain reached his head, a tremble beginning to overtake his body. Dizziness and a feeling of nausea overwhelmed him. Managing to look up at Ari, who was grinning down at him, Fang noticed his sight was going fuzzy around the edges, the sharpness of his raptor vision lost.

"Did I mention it'll hurt like a bitch?" Ari asked, just before Fang's world went black.