It was strange, David decided, to be the only one awake. He had awoken only a few minutes ago and had been shocked to see Samantha asleep on the bed next to Amanda, hugging the small girl to her chest.
That answered the question of if Samantha slept at least. Though judging from the dark circles under her eyes, she didn't get enough sleep. She twitched slightly, pale face frowning as she pawed sleepily at her face, whimpering. With a slight shock David realized she was having a bad dream. What dream could possibly upset something like her?
He found himself pondering her age, it was hard to tell. Her face was unlined, as if it had spent much more time sealed inside her helmet then outside of it. She couldn't be more then a few years older then he was, at the most, but on the other hand she could be younger. Another thought occurred to him, did she even age like a normal human?
A sound echoed up from the hallway where their climactic battle with the Daddy had taken place; David identified it as metal falling to the ground. Crawling to the window he peeked out, pushing memories of last night's similar actions aside.
There were people in the hallway, at least twenty, probably Splicers. "God damn you fucking incompetent idiot! Don't drop your damn gun!" Scratch that, defiantly Splicers. Running as fast as he could while staying crouched, David ran to his sleeping ally.
When he got to his destination, David found himself in a conundrum. How was he supposed to wake the sleeping creature without igniting her explosive temper? A dull thunk echoed from the store beneath their feet, followed by muffled cursing. That was the last straw. Screw subtly, he needed help now!
Covering Samantha's mouth with his hand he shook her shoulder gently. "Wake up! We need to get the hell out of here now!" He whispered. Two glowing yellow eyes snapped open instantaneously. Samantha's eyes flicked down to his hand before flicking back up, yellow orbs meeting blue. He could feel her body vibrate as she narrowed her eyes and began to growl menacingly.
"No! Quiet, we're not alone!" Impossibly, her eyes narrowed further, "I'm serious!" An echoing crash from downstairs ended her brief hostility. Instantly she was all business, leaping silently off of the bed, she quickly glanced around the small room. Releasing a soft irritated huff, she pointed angrily towards David's pack and the weapons within.
David, who had already been heading towards his pack, shot her a half hearted glare and whispered heatedly, "I'm sorry, but I thought that waking you up was a bit higher priority." Samantha sent him a brief incredulous look, unable to understand why he wanted to argue now of all times.
Abruptly, Samantha stiffened and pointed urgently towards the door. David, shotgun in hand, crouched behind the decayed remnants of what might have been a sofa and leveled his gun at the door.
Humming softly to gain his attention, Samantha held up three fingers. By now David could hear movement as several Splicers came to a stop on the other side of the door.
Samantha held up two fingers. There was the distinct sound of someone attempting to pick the door's lock.
Samantha held up one finger. A click signaled the door unlocking.
Samantha clenched her hand in a fist and, before the unlocked door could be opened, acted. By now familiar shriek piercing the previously silent air, she thrust a fist forward. According to all the laws that normally governed the universe, Samantha's hand, which had stopped a foot from the door, should have done absolutely nothing. The door had other ideas apparently and with the sound of shrieking metal it exploded out of its frame and shot down the hallway with the force of a bullet, taking three Splicers with it.
Before the door had slammed into the far end of the hall, Samantha was already on the move. Bursting through the doorway, she spun gracefully and kicked another Splicer in the jaw. As the Splicer sunk to the ground, neck bent at an awkward angle, David ran through the broken doorway, shotgun at the ready.
Any further acts of violence against the unfortunate Splicers was ended by an unexpected voice, "Hold Guardian, we are from the Family, we seek to aid you." David and Samantha froze simultaneously, not expecting any attempts at communication from the normally violent monsters. Samantha, who held two Splicers several feet off the ground by their throats, sent David a quizzical glance.
"Ummm…you don't want to fight?"
"We are loyal to the Family, outsider scum. We would never harm the Guardian or the Vassal of Ascension." Loathing didn't even come close to describing the expression on the Splicer's face as it glared at David.
Contemptuously turning from David, the unfamiliar Splicer continued. "We were sent by the Voice of the Family to help you in your quest, Guardian. He knows that you seek to leave Olympus Heights and wished us to inform you that the Bathysphere station was recently destroyed. You will not be able to leave that way."
If David knew one thing, he knew that the rumbling growl emanating from Samantha did not bode well for this bearer of bad news.
()
Frustration and Theta were rapidly becoming well acquainted with each other. Why couldn't one thing, just one, go right on this stupidly frustrating mission! Dropping the now unconscious monsters she had been holding, she stormed towards the talkative one.
It was…ugly, though not in the way she normally associated with monsters. Its face was pinched and its nose jutted abruptly forth. It vaguely reminded Theta of a rat or some other unpleasant type of rodent. Theta really, really wanted to pull its pointed nose from its face; she wondered if it would still look like a rat without a nose.
Apparently sensing her murderous intent, the rat faced monster continued, "We have another bathysphere and are willing to give you access to it." That was unexpected, the monsters that were part of the Family had never attempted to help her before, and at best they just stayed as far away from her as possible. What made this group different?
Apparently David shared her skepticism as well, "How do we know that you aren't leading us into an ambush?"
"Silence filth, your kind is not welcome here! Outsiders can not-" Theta's warning growl interrupted the monsters tirade before it could truly begin. Gesturing to David, Theta instructed the monster to answer the question.
Beady eyes glaring hatefully at David, the monster bowed and attempted once again to assure Theta of his truthfulness. "We are a loyal part of the Family. We would never harm the Guardian or the Vassal, on that you have my word."
"Yes, that's nice and all, but how do we know your word is any good?" Before Ratface could verbally assault David again, Theta grabbed him by the arm and steered him into their room.
Obviously understanding why she pulled him aside, David voiced his thoughts. "We have no way of knowing if he's telling the truth or not. I say we go with them," Hand shooting up to stop her outraged growl, David continued. "But, I think we should head to the Bathysphere station first. If it isn't wrecked we can kill them and leave, if it is we can see what they have to offer."
Grudgingly, Theta had to admit that David's plan had some merit. She didn't trust Ratface or the other monsters for that matter, but they did need help if what it claimed is true. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as Ratface sidled into their room without invitation. "Have you come to a decision, Guardian?"
"We have, we'll go with you, but we're going to the Bathysphere hub first," David responded, arms crossed smugly. "If we find out you lied to us…well I'll let Samantha show you if we come to that. I assure you though, only one of you is going to enjoy it, and it won't be you."
Obviously barely restraining the urge to yell at David once again, Ratface responded, "Very well, that is what we will do, as long as this is your desire Guardian?" With far more authority then she felt, Theta nodded. "We will wait outside then. Gather your supplies and awaken your charge Guardian, we depart shortly."
()
Why was it, that whenever David thought that he was finally getting used to this warped little world, everything banked hard to port? Instead of sneaking through Rapture like criminals, their little group was walking down the streets like they owned the place. Instead of killing all Splicers they stumbled upon, they were being escorted by a couple dozen of the twisted creatures.
Samantha caught his attention with a slight growl and nodded to him, they were close to the Bathysphere station. Casually, David readied his shotgun as Samantha tensed next to him, if the station wasn't destroyed they would only have seconds before the Splicers attacked.
Their preparations were not needed as it turned out, as they turned the corner to the Bathysphere station there was no doubt that it was ruined and beyond any hope of salvaging. They stood before a large room where David could imagine people waiting for Bathyspheres to shuttle them from one section of Rapture to another. Across the room was a heavy metal door, no doubt some kind of airlock. Flanking the airlock on both sides were impressive glass walls, showing Rapture in all its decayed glory and the collapsed building sitting like a desiccated corpse on the ocean floor right outside. The realization that the metal airlock was all that was keeping the ocean from killing them all was disconcerting, to say the least.
From her perch atop her sister's shoulders, Amanda demonstrated her incredible ability to state the obvious, "Sissy, I think that place is broken."
"The Vassal speaks the truth, Guardian. After all, we would not lie to you." The Splicer's leader, Beans or something along those lines, stepped into their line of sight, obviously smug about proving David wrong. "Will you come with us now?" The fact that Samantha looked to David for his opinion obviously irritated the unpleasant entity. Feeling guilty for having no better plan, David shrugged and nodded to Samantha, who in turn nodded to Beans.
"Very good Guardian, I knew you would see sense." Hateful black eyes falling on David, it paused before smiling at Samantha, revealing crooked black teeth. "Guardian, while I am sure that you had a good reason for allowing this outsider to accompany you, you don't have any need for him now. We would be honored to deal with him if you don't want to."
To David's horror, Samantha was looking between the two of them deep in thought, seemingly weighing the pros and cons of his continued existence. At this point he truly didn't know why he was surprised, after all no matter how she acted she wasn't human, not really.
()
Ratface's offer had some merit; it would get rid of David and his irritating ability to…irritate her. Her sister was staring into space, looking for swimming angels apparently if her mutterings were accurate, and wasn't paying attention to the conversation. This was Theta's first real chance to get rid of the frustrating human without upsetting her sister unduly, and if she was smart she'd take it.
On the other hand, David had protected her sister when she couldn't and had proven trustworthy so far. He wasn't that bad at fighting, not that he was anything compared to her, he seemed more lucky then anything else.
Looking at his face, Theta felt an unwelcome pang of guilt. He had paled considerably, his shotgun clenched in sweaty, trembling hands. He was terrified, eyes darting back and forth, looking for any chance of escape. Why was she feeling guilty? He wasn't part of her family! She owed him nothing!
Theta felt like there were two people inside of her head yelling at her. One was bloodthirsty, monstrous, and very familiar. The other was much quieter and sounded tired, as if it had just woken up from a long nap.
He saved your sister when you couldn't.
He cracked the visor of your helmet!
He showed concern for you when others wouldn't have.
He punched you in the face!
He sparked your curiosity of the surface.
He sent his monster allies after you!
He helped you fight the Bad Daddy.
He made fun of you!
He apologized for making you feel bad.
He tried to feed you rotten meat!
He then choked on it.
He mocked you in front of your sister!
He woke you up from the first peaceful sleep you've enjoyed in months!
He undermined your authority!
He stole your sister from you!
He broke your helmet!
He's had to be saved once already! How many more times are you going to need to?
He asked you your name. When was the last time anyone has done that? When was the last time anyone showed any interest in you? Internally, Theta sighed in frustration. Why couldn't this be an easy decision? Why did David have to act so…human?
The sound of a gun making the clickyclak noise that always preceded boompain jolted Theta from her internal dialogue. A monster had his littlegun pointed at the back of David's head. She hadn't made her decision yet! What was it doing?
A slight flick of her wrist was all it took, the monster was sent soaring through the air. In mid flight it looked almost majestic, despite its terrified scream; its landing ended that illusion quite effectively.
Rodent like face showing only slight surprise, Ratface nodded, "Very well Guardian, I suppose he must be good for something." Turning from her, it motioned with one hand and they set off towards their mysterious destination, leaving a badly injured monster for the scavengers of Rapture.
()
"Thank you, Samantha." Oh please go away; she really didn't need this right now. They had been walking in silence for several hours; Theta had thought that David didn't want to talk about what had happened. Unfortunately, it appeared he had only been working up the courage.
"I know it would have been easier just to let them kill me, but you didn't. So…thanks." She just had to ignore him. If she ignored him he'd go away.
Theta found herself looking back, almost fondly, on the times when all David had done was make her frustrated and irritable. Guilt, she found, was a far more oppressive emotion. "You are a little bit evil though, letting me sweat while you "decided my fate". I guess I kind of deserved it though, after embarrassing you with the Pep Bars yesterday."
Despite her earlier attempts to ignore him, Theta found herself staring him in the eyes as he smiled broadly at her, "Anyways I think we're even now, unless you have an even meaner mean streak then I thought, Samantha."
With a pat on the shoulder and a happy nod, the naive human turned from her and continued their march into the unknown, smiling broadly and with a skip in his step, blissfully ignorant of how close to death he had actually come.
()
"I spy with my little eye…something silver!"
"Hmm…that's a tough one. Is it the walls?"
"No!"
"Is it the floor?"
"Nope!"
"Is it the ceiling?"
"It's not that either!"
"Well in that case, I think I've been beaten. What is it?"
"That!" For the eighteenth time in a row, Amanda had chosen something silver, and for the eighteenth time in a row, she pointed at some obscure part of the wall when asked what it was. Still in a good mood, David made a point to look on the bright side; at least she had moved on from the color blue and obscure parts of the ocean.
"Okay, my turn. I spy with my little eye something…brooding."
Laughing at David's obvious lack of knowledge for the rules of I Spy, Amanda corrected him, "No you have to choose a color, silly! If you want to spy Sissy, say I spy with my little eye something yellow!" Bending over her Sister's shoulders, on which she perched, Amanda poked Samantha in the eye. "See? Her eyes are yellow!"
As both David and Amanda ignored the outraged squawk from Samantha, David attempted once again. "Okay, okay fine. I spy with my little eye something yellow…and brooding."
"No, that's not how you play! You're really bad at this Mr. Ordinary!"
"You're no fun Amanda, but I'll play by the rules if you insist. I spy with my little eye something…red."
An irritated voice abruptly ended their game. "Let me guess outsider is it your blood?"
As Amanda whimpered, Samantha stormed towards the Splicer's charming leader, furious that he had scared her sister. Fortunately for the Splicer, David recovered from his surprise and intervened, "Okay that's just not right. You can't say you see something that you can't; any two year old knows that. My blood is inside my body, and it plans on staying that way. Honestly Brian, you'd think that you never played I Spy before."
"Brian? Brian! My name is Banes you incompetent idiot! Banes! It's not that hard to remember!"
"Right I'm sorry, I'll work on that Brains."
"Banes! It's Banes!"
"You should probably calm down, Beans. I think you're making Samantha angry." As Beans stormed away arms flailing in impotent rage, Samantha laughed. Shocked silence followed the unexpected noise. Judging from the fact that Samantha's eyes were the size of dinner plates she was as surprised by her outburst as the others.
David's soft chuckle brought Samantha's attention to the grinning human. Her softly glowing eyes found his briefly, but as he smiled at her she abruptly turned away, staring pointedly at the floor. She'd been acting like this for awhile now; ever since she'd saved him to be precise. Was she embarrassed about it?
Motivated by concern for his inhuman companion, David attempted to find out what was wrong. "Samantha, are you okay?" Shocked yellow eyes locked onto David's once again, before, with a frustrated shriek, Samantha stormed to the front of their group refusing to even look in his direction.
That settled it, she was definitely embarrassed.
()
"We're going to stop here for the night." That was rather presumptuous of Ratface; her warning growl corrected that quickly enough. "A-as long as that is all right with you Guardian." Smiling at the monster's obvious discomfort, Theta bowed mockingly and gestured for him to continue.
"So I take it you don't like Billy either." Theta barely restrained the urge to groan. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone? Why did she feel like a monster every time she looked at him and he smiled back? It wasn't her fault he was too foolish to realize that she had almost had him killed!
Lifting her sister from her basket, Theta set her on the ground, pointedly ignoring the naive human. "Look, did I do something wrong? If so I'm sorry. Whatever it was, I didn't mean anything by it." Why did she suddenly feel like her throat was being squeezed? Why wouldn't he just go away?
Concern flashed across David's features, "Are you okay? What's wrong? Can I help?" She was whimpering, she belatedly realized, that was what triggered his concern. Why did her helmet have to be broken? Why couldn't she hide behind the expressionless mask like she used too? Why did this human have to be so good at reading her emotions?
"You're crying." Please, please stop.
"Are you okay?" Just go away.
"Are you hurt?" Please, just leave me alone, please.
"It's okay, you don't need to cry." Stop it! Stop it please!
A comforting hand landed on her shoulder, "Do you wan-" ENOUGH! With a furious cry Theta shoved the human away from her, hard, too hard as it turned out. He slammed into the wall with bone crushing force before slumping lifeless to the ground; head tilted at an awkward angle giving his vacant face a slightly surprised look.
Her sister's horrified screams and the monster's amused laughs echoed in the confined space. It was loud, far, far too loud. They needed to stop! They needed to be quite! Why weren't they being quite?
Amused laughter morphed into screams of terror and agony, the increase in volume only increased the brutality with which she forced their silence.
Why were her arms all red and wet? Why was everything so quite? Everything was too quiet. Theta was surrounded by the bodies of the mutilated monsters. Ratface lay unmoving on the ground nearby, it turned out he still looked like a rodent, even without his jutting nose.
Hadn't her sister been screaming about something? Why wasn't she screaming anymore? The small body lying in a pool of blood answered that question. Her sister's tear stained face stared vacantly at the ceiling, the gapping hole in her abdomen showed her cause of death. Someone had torn her leech from her body.
Had the monsters attacked the Little Sister? Had Theta killed them in retaliation?
Movement in her hand distracted her from her desperate questioning. Eyes widening in horror, she stared in shock at the dieing leech wriggling weakly in her blood drenched hand. NO!
()
"Are you going to go to bed at any point in the foreseeable future? You've been standing there for the last fifteen minutes, staring into space." David was standing in front of her watching her inquisitively. He wasn't dead? She hadn't broken his fragile body against the metal wall?
"Right, if you're just going to stand there and stare at me awkwardly I'm going to bed." She hadn't hurt anybody? It hadn't been real? Her eyes took everything in in a single sweep. The monsters were all asleep or at least preparing to, and David and Amanda were lying next to each other on one of their cots, ready to let sleep claim them.
During Theta's brief trip from reality, her city had gone to sleep.
Allowing herself to feel the relief she had been holding back, Theta lay down next to her impromptu family. Family, she had called them her family. Her title for them surprised her; she hadn't truly considered anyone part of her family since Daddy left. Her sister had always been a part of her family, but now it was something else. Amanda, that was her name right? Theta resolved herself to treat her sister better; she wasn't just one of the many faceless Sisters she watched over anymore.
David on the other hand, David was a much more confounding mystery. When had she begun to consider him a part of her family? When had she actually begun to care whether he lived or died? Why did she care about him when she was uninterested in all other beings outside of her warped Family?
Theta's thoughts were interrupted by the object of her musings, "Goodnight Amanda."
"Goodnight Mr. Ordinary."
"Goodnight Samantha." Theta responded with a soft hum.
"Goodnight assorted thugs and cronies" A chorus of grunts and muffled curses sounded in response.
Theta let sleep begin to envelope her in its comforting embrace, relishing the brief peace she had found with these two strange individuals, and would cherish for as long as she could.
Abruptly her peace was shattered, "Goodnight Barney."
"Fuck off dipshit!" Despite herself, Theta laughed. She was glad that David wasn't dead; when he wasn't harassing her he was actually kind of funny.