NICE TO MEET YOU TOO
David's first peaceful nights sleep in this hellish city was interrupted by something that he didn't expect, singing.
"In the House of Upside-Down: cellar's top floor, attic's ground." Sitting up slowly, David turned towards the source of the noise.
"In the House of Upside-Down: laughing cries, and smile's frown." Amanda was rocking back and forth slowly, holding up some kind of doll singing softly to herself.
"In the House of Upside-Down: found is lost, and lost-is found..." Glancing over her shoulder towards David, a broad smile spread across her features. "Mornin' Mr. Ordinary! Did you sleep well?"
Groaning slightly, David nodded, "Yeah, I slept okay. Did you sleep at all?"
Shifting in place so she was facing David, Amanda nodded. "I did, but you've been sleeping forever! How do you sleep so much?"
"I happen to enjoy sleep, thank you very much! My Sister's kid sleeps for hours!"
"But it's so boring! Oh, you have a sister? Can I meet her? Could we be Sisters? I already have a lot of Sisters but another would be so much fun!"
Smiling at her childish energy, David nodded. "She's three years older then me, her daughter's about your age though."
An animated gasp escaped Amanda's lips, as her smile widened even more. "You have a Big Sister? Does she protect you like mine does?" A slight frown marred her otherwise carefree face. "I miss Sissy."
"My sister tends to get into trouble; I always seem to have to bail her out of trouble." Smiling at the child sitting in front of him, David continued. "What happened to your sister?"
"I don't know!" Amanda responded, her eerie eyes tearing up slightly. "The last time I saw her she was fighting a monster!"
Feeling a pang of sympathy for the little girl, he understood missing your family quite well, he attempted to comfort her. "I'm sure your sister's fine!"
Smiling at David, Amanda nodded. "I bet your right, Sissy's hard to unzip!"
Looking at the strange girl sitting in front of him, David attempted to learn more about her. "That song you were singing, what was that?"
"The house of upside down? It's our home. Mother lives there, she tells us where to go and guides Daddy to meet us. It's upside down!" Giving him a quizzical look Amanda continued. "For a monster, Mr. Ordinary, you're very nice."
"Oh, I'm a monster, am I? How are monsters supposed to act?"
"Monsters are mean, and evil, and they try to unzip us! You aren't a mean monster, but if you try anything, Daddy will protect me!" Brandishing her doll, Amanda dove at David, with a war cry. Allowing her to force him backwards, David began to laugh, really laugh, for the first time since he got to this city.
Catching her arm gently in his hand, he examined the doll that she was attacking him with. It was a small representation of a Big Daddy, surprisingly lifelike and made out of bits and bobs, its drill a broken wine opener, and small clear bits of plastic surrounded by metal wiring represented the many portholes on the beast's helmet.
Holding it gently he glanced up at Amanda, who was smiling at him. "That's Daddy. He's sleeping now, but I still have him with me." Taking the small toy gently out of David's hands, Amanda rocked the doll gently back and forth, like one would a baby. "Don't worry Daddy; I'll protect you until you wake up."
Shaking his head slightly in disbelief, David turned to one of the mammoth windows looking out to the ocean. She truly adored those freakish metal golems, what traumas did she have to endure before she viewed that creature as a father figure.
The ocean, as it turned out, held no answers.
()
The ocean always calmed Theta. The silence was comforting, it was one of the only places she was truly safe, one of the only places she could let her guard down and relax. Her suit, sealed because of the crushing ocean around her, cut her powerful nose off from the constant and sometimes overwhelming smell of Adam that laced the city of Rapture.
A shark swam by her lazily, halfheartedly chasing a school of fish, the alpha predator of the ocean coasting past the alpha predator of Rapture. Putting on a surprising dart of speed, the shark surged forward catching a fish in its mammoth jaws, as the unfortunate fish's school scattered around it. For a moment Theta wished that her life was that simple, just wander around and feed. A bitter fact crossed her mind, at one point her life was that simple, then she grew up.
Continuing her lazy descent towards the ocean floor, she basked in the isolation and peace that she was feeling, relishing the unfamiliar feeling for as long as she could. Some of her Sisters were constantly on the move, darting from place to place nonstop hunting monsters obsessively, unable, or unwilling, to stop. She didn't understand it, why not allow yourself to relax, even if it wouldn't last. It wasn't as if she could ask her Sisters why they were constantly on the move, a conversation was hard to hold when all you could do was growl and scream.
Her younger Sisters weren't like that; they had an almost supernatural knack for understanding what she was trying to say. Briefly, she wondered if the changes puberty brought her was the reason she could not communicate with the Sisters that were closer to her own age. After all, growing almost two and a half feet in under a year hadn't been the only change she had gone through during those horrid times.
Flipping over in the deep, she landed feet first on the ocean floor, sand billowing up around her. She was standing at the base of Olympus Heights, surveying the supports that kept the tower from collapsing. The monster that had killed her sister's hidey hole was on this level. She remembered the overpowering scent of Adam drifting up from below the bank. The bank was on the ground level of Olympus Heights, meaning that the hidey hole had been custom made, and was somewhere down here.
Closing her eyes in concentration, Theta brought up a mental map of the area she had pursued the monsters through. If the hallway leading to the hidey hole had continued straight down before reaching its main area, it would be on the left side of the tower, if it turned however, it could be on any side of the tower. She really hoped that whoever had created the hidey hole had wanted a view and hadn't entombed it inside the building, she really didn't want to teleport into the area blind.
Sighing mentally, Theta prepared herself to continue the hunt, this might take awhile.
()
Looking into the mirror in front of him, David glared at the scraggly hair, obstinately perched on his chin. Dennis and his followers had been remarkably well supplied; they had tooth paste, soap, shampoo, tooth brushes, combs, even a shaving razor, but no shaving cream. Life officially was not fair!
Stalking out of the bathroom, slightly peeved, David turned to face Amanda, who was playing with a familiar pair of binoculars. "What are you doing?" Storming over to the surprised child, David snatched the binoculars out of her hands.
Brandishing the recently confiscated object, David glared slightly at Amanda. "Where did you get these?"
"T-they were in your pack," Amanda responded, yellow eyes the size of quarters. Head lowering as she looked guiltily at the floor, she continued. "I was looking for candy; Sissy sometimes had candy for me."
Immediately feeling guilty for yelling at the poor girl, David crouched in front of her. Gesturing towards a small inscription on the side of the binoculars, David attempted to make amends. "Do you see this?"
Grabbing his wrist with her small hands, Amanda pulled the mysterious object closer, "Are those letters? What do they say?"
"It's Latin, it says 'spes anchora vitae' or 'hope is the anchor of life', my father's favorite saying. My Daddy's sleeping too, and these binoculars were his." Seeing Amanda's eyes widen in understanding, David continued. "I keep them with me so that I'll always have him with me, like you do. They're breakable, and for a second I was afraid that you would break them. I overreacted, and I'm sorry, but if you want to look at them again could you ask me first?"
Nodding somberly as she stared at him knowingly, Amanda smiled sadly. "I understand, and I'm sorry Mr. Ordinary. I won't go through your things again." Looking curiously at the unfamiliar object in David's hand, Amanda asked the other question that was bothering her. "Mr. Ordinary, what's the other letters mean?"
Glancing in surprise at the inscription he had tried, and failed, to hide, David responded to the observant girl. "It's another saying my dad liked, it's…not important. I might answer later, okay?"
A knowing nod from the child calmed his nerves. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me all about your Daddy, I understand. Thinking of mine makes me sad too. If you want to talk about him, I'd listen though, I'm good at listening. Maybe someday I'll tell you about my Daddy too!"
Smiling at the surprisingly worldly girl sitting in front of him, David decided that she had earned something fun. "Amanda, do you know what binoculars do?" A shake of her small head his only response, a now grinning David continued. "My Dad was an artillery spotter in a big war." Seeing Amanda start to open her mouth obviously confused by all the words he had used, David motioned for her to be quiet. "The point is, binoculars are used for looking at things that are far away, here look through these."
Tentatively taking a hold of the binoculars, now understanding their sentimental value, Amanda lifted them to her eyes. A surprised gasp filled the room, as a wide smile split her face almost in two.
"Mr. Ordinary! Your nose is huge!"
()
Anxiety bubbled in Theta's gut, and her leech wriggled uncomfortably in response. She couldn't find the hidey hole! She'd searched everywhere! There were no windows. She wasn't going to let the monster get away with its crimes, but she was dreading teleporting through the hidey hole door. She had absolutely no way of knowing what was on the other side, she could end up inside a wall for all she knew!
She'd seen that happen when one botched a teleportation once during her training as a Big Sister. One of the younger girls, no more then thirteen, who was still learning to master her abilities had attempted to teleport from the training room to the cafeteria. Both of those areas being familiar to all the trainees, negated the chances of hitting a wall, objects that weren't static, on the other hand, were another thing entirely.
The screams of her two Sisters were burned into her mind, even now, four years later. The inexperienced Sister had appeared in the cafeteria as she had planned, she hadn't planned for a different Sister to be walking towards the food. Theta had watched, in shocked horror, as the monster scientist from the Family had carried the fused bodies of her Sisters from the area, still screaming at the top of their combined lungs. With the death of the young Sister and the unfortunate 16 year old, who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, Theta had been the oldest living trainee.
She didn't want to end up like that, she'd rather die. The Rapture Family members never told any of the Sisters how long it had taken for the unlucky two to die, and Theta had a sick feeling that they hadn't done anything to help her Sisters or ease their passing. Steeling herself, Theta began to ascend towards the bottom floor of Olympus Heights, she had no choice.
Anxiety morphing into fear, Theta closed her eyes. This couldn't be happening; she'd wake up in the Big Sister barracks and feel like a fool. She couldn't end like that! There'd be no one to help her, or even kill her. If this went badly, she'd find out how long it took to die from an injury like that the hard way.
Reaching the desired level, Theta glanced back to the base of the tower. Olympus Heights truly was an impressive place. Built on an underwater ridge it loomed over the rest of Rapture, allowing the elite of Rapture to truly look down on the rest of the city.
A thought crossed her mind, though she was unsure whether it was a brilliant idea, or her terrified brain trying to postpone her death. Not that it mattered, she had to try.
Blasting down into the depths far faster then she had originally; Theta came to the underwater ridge on which the tower loomed. Landing on top of the ridge, Theta walked to the edge and looked down.
Relief hit her, as she thanked whatever greater power that held sway under the sea for her good luck. Fifty feet down the ridge, a small structure jutted from the cliff face, a small structure in which a monster was hiding.
()
Glaring once again at his rebellious facial hair, David prepared himself for pain. He had decided not to shave until he could get a hold of some shaving cream, but Amanda grabbing his growing beard, and yanking on it while laughing inanely, had changed his mind.
Holding the razor to his throat, David gritted his teeth as he readied himself to decapitate some of the offending hair, only to be interrupted by a happy gasp sounding from the main room, "Sissy!"
()
The structure had mammoth windows on the floor, and walls. Apparently the foolish monster enjoyed a view. This was too easy!
Floating downward, Theta coasted into view of the windows, peering inside the monsters hidey hole. It was well stocked; supplies covered the far wall from top to bottom. The monster could have lived here for months without ever leaving. She couldn't have waited it out.
Eyes surveying the room she saw something she couldn't believe. Her Sister was sitting on the ground in the middle of the room, surrounded by pep bar wrappers, and playing with a doll of her Daddy and some unfamiliar device.
Joy, an emotion who's light and comforting touch she had completely forgotten until now, flooded her veins. She was alive! She couldn't believe it, her Sister was alive! Going limp with relief Theta stared at her wayward Sister. Extending her arm slowly towards the window, she rapped softly on it.
Her younger Sister turned around, and a grin of joy split her young, carefree face. Running to the window, she placed a hand gently against it, yelling a word that Theta could not hear. Smiling, as a few tears of joy left her eyes; she placed her hand against the window, mirroring that of her Sister.
()
Leaving the bathroom, razor clutched loosely in his hand, David turned to Amanda, opening his mouth to ask her what she was yelling about.
IT was floating outside the window, hand placed over Amanda's.
"Sissy, I missed you!"
()
Movement behind her Sister ended her brief moment of joy. The monster was leaving a side room, razor in hand.
Instantly, vibrant joy morphed into a murderous rage. She hadn't failed her Sister, she would not now!
With a savage shriek, only she could hear, Theta disappeared from the ocean.
()
Heart stopping for a second as everything clicked, David stood in shock. Amanda's missing Sister protected her and was last seen fighting a monster, the last time he'd seen it it had been about to attack Dennis, and seemed enraged when Dennis talked about killing the first girl. With a jolt of self loathing David realized that he hadn't saved the girl from a horrible monster on a mindless killing spree, he'd saved her from her own protector.
Taking a step back, David made eye contact with the creature lurking in the depths, before, a split second later, it disappeared.
Diving towards his shotgun, as a rumbling growl began to echo throughout the small room; David felt an invisible force impact the hand holding the razor, slamming it into the wall with bone crushing force. Spinning with the inertia from his sudden change in direction, he landed on his stomach, limbs splayed.
Ignoring the sound of the creature's metal boots walking towards him, he reached for his shotgun with his right hand, only for it to go flying through the air over the monster's shoulder, grabbed by the same invisible force that had broken his hand. Before he could do anything else a cold metal clad hand grabbed his ankle in an iron grip, before throwing him into the far wall effortlessly.
Sitting up slowly, propping himself against the wall that he had been tossed against, David looked up. He could see it stalking towards him, but was unable to react. Fist grabbing the front of his shirt, it lifted him off the ground effortlessly, pulling the huge needle attached to its arm back in preparation to end his life.
"Sissy, Stop! Don't hurt Mr. Ordinary! He's my friend!" The child's cry surprised both David and the abomination. Simultaneously they glanced down at the little girl clinging to the metallic leg of its Sister.
Head snapping back up, blood red porthole fixed on David's petrified face, the terror that had murdered the closest things to friends David had in this horrible city, contemplated his fate.