Pain jolted through David's side as a heavy boot slammed into his ribs. With a slight yelp, his body tumbled off of the cot he had been sleeping on before landing on the ground in a heap. "Wake up you fucking idiot!"
Blearily, David opened his eyes and sent a halfhearted glare towards the unpleasant Splicer standing above him. "That was very much unnecessary Benjamin; I'm not a heavy sleeper."
Fed up with the human's disrespect, the Splicer landed on top of him, pulling a knife seemingly from midair. "Listen you insignificant little shit, my name is Banes. Banes! If I have to tell you one more time-" A tired growl stopped the Splicer's furious tirade. Samantha was watching the two of them with one glowing eye, tiredly glaring at the Splicer.
"Don't worry Samantha, BillyBob wasn't threatening me. He was just showing me his lovely knife and saying that he'd politely correct me the next time I get his name wrong. After all Bernie is kind of a hard name to remember. Isn't that right Benny?"
Standing stiffly, the angry Splicer nodded, "I just wanted to show the outsider my knife. See the serrated edge? It tears at the meat as I pull it out, causing even more agonizing pain. I thought he should know, just so he can know what he has to look forward to. Once he's alone I'll-" Another more insistent growl echoed around the room, interrupting the Splicer once again.
Samantha had both eyes open now and was sending a murderous glare towards the unwelcome entity. "Fine Guardian, I will leave you alone. You should rouse yourself and eat, we are leaving shortly." With that, and a final hateful glare towards David, the Splicer left.
"That was a lovely way to start my day! I think that bastard might have broken my ribs!" Groaning in frustration, Samantha gave up her clearly futile attempts at sleep and sat up. After skeptically examining David's ribs she came to a decision. Showcasing her unnatural speed, her hand shot out and poked David in the side before he could react.
"Ow! What the hell?" Samantha just chuckled at him and raised an eyebrow.
Flushing slightly in embarrassment, David looked at his injured side. "They're not broken are they?" Still laughing Samantha shook her head. "Hey, don't laugh! You try getting kicked in the ribs and see how you feel."
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, instantly Samantha's yellow eyes narrowed into an acidic glare. Moments like this reminded David that even though she sometimes acted it, Samantha wasn't human.
"Don't be mad! I was joking, didn't mean to bring up any unpleasant memories." Silently, she readjusted herself so she was kneeling in front of the nervous human, eerie yellow eyes still glaring directly into his blue ones.
Slowly she raised one hand until it hovered ominously before the human's face. Eyes darting nervously between her glaring eyes and hovering hand David attempted to calm her one last time, "L-look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you. What ever I did it was-"
THWACK!
His stuttered apology ended in a surprised yelp. She flicked him? After all that intimidating bullshit she flicked him? "W-what?"
Samantha's unmoving glare faltered slightly as her lips twitched, barely succeeding in containing her smile. "Seriously? You scare the shit out of me with that I'm going to kill you glare and then you flick me?" By the end of his tirade David's voice had risen several octaves, which in the end was the final straw for Samantha.
A snort escaped Samantha's lips as she stared at David's righteously indignant face, unable to contain herself any longer she laughed. Slowly, a smile spread across David's face as he began to laugh as well.
()
Theta could not remember the last time she had allowed herself to laugh, to not think about potential threats or contingency plans, to just allow herself to relax.
David's laughter began soon after her own, that was good; she didn't want him to take offense to her amusement. His face had been amazing after she had flicked him, shock, relief, confusion, indignation, amusement, and slight pain all mixed together creating a truly unique facial expression.
There were tears streaming down her cheeks and she was having trouble breathing. Her eyes were screwed shut so she couldn't be sure, but judging from the gasping coming from David he was similarly afflicted.
After what seemed an eternity she regained control of her breathing patterns and opened her damp eyes. David was sitting before her, still struggling to breathe, he managed to open his eyes and looked at her briefly before grinning.
Unfortunately for David his opened eyes caught Theta's attention, or more specifically brought her attention to the small red welt forming between his eyes. Unable to stop herself, Theta broke into another fit of giggles.
Brushing his hand across his forehead, David located the reason for her newest bought of laughter. "Oh yes, that's so funny." Still laughing, Theta just pointed between his eyes while trying to wipe away her tears. Unfortunately, Theta was so caught up in her own amusement that she was unprepared for David's retaliatory attack.
THWACK!
Instantly, her eyes snapped open to stare incredulously at the smirking human standing above her. Rubbing the slightly sore spot between her eyes, she sent him an indignant glare as he took a stupidly heroic pose. "Let it be known that on this day the great and powerful David was victorious! Years from now all who witnessed his incredible event will tell their children of it with pride! This day will go down in legends as the beginning of-"
THWACK!
Shocked blue eyes met amused yellow ones. "B-but I'd already declared victory. That's cheating! The war was over!"
Theta's only response was a smirk. Turning around she moved to pick her sleeping sister up off of the ground, leaving a bemused human to rub the welt that was rapidly forming on the tip of his nose.
()
David grimaced towards the Pep Bar clenched in his hand. Before coming here if anyone told him that he'd get sick of something with chocolate in it he'd have called them a liar, now he found himself struggling not to hate the inanimate object.
"Hey Barnum, do you have any food I can trade you for? If I eat another damn Pep Bar I think I might die from chocolate overdose!"
"You actually think that I'd give you my food Rudolph?"
"Oh I get it; you're making fun of my horribly abused nose! That's really clever Benji!" In the background Samantha snorted in amusement but was ignored.
"And to answer your earlier question, no I didn't expect you to give me your food; I sure as hell wouldn't give you mine! Personally I'm holding out hope that you're a better person then me."
As David ranted towards the irritated Splicer, Samantha plucked his Pep Bar from his idle hand, earning herself a halfhearted glare in the process. "Truthfully though I think you might be a better person then me, after all you've got a face only a mother could love. Maybe you're amazingly nice to make up for it and just hide it beneath a gruff exterior. It'd be like God's way of compensating!"
"Well here's an idea outsider scum. You should think twice before asking me for food, I might just put something you wouldn't want inside of it."
Faking a disappointed sigh, David turned to Samantha, hand extended, "I'm going to need my Pep Bar back." He received a torn wrapper and a cheeky smile, "Oh come on, that can't be physically possible! How did you eat that so quickly?"
Attempting, and failing, to look innocently concerned, Theta pointed inside the wrapper. "Oh boy! You left me three crumbs! You're so generous! What can I ever do to repay you?" David's flippant remark earned him a wrapper to the face and an amused snort.
()
To her surprise, Theta found herself enjoying David's company. He was entertaining; his cheeky remarks were a source of near constant entertainment for her. His refusal to call Ratface by his actual name was particularly amusing, almost as amusing as the anticipation for Ratface's no doubt inevitable mental breakdown.
David had stopped talking for now. He was surveying the tunnel they were traveling through intently, seemingly awed by the city on prominent display through the tunnel's glass walls and ceiling. Privately Theta had to admit it; Rapture did look incredible from their location. From the top of the underwater mountain ridge on which Olympus Heights perched you were unable to see the crumbling structures and floating debris.
From this distance her city looked alive for the first time in years. It truly was breathtaking, breathtaking but unreal; it was all an illusion, a trick of the eye, nothing more. Her city was dead, dead and rotting, festering deep beneath the sea. Despite all her power, it was like trying to hold water in your hands, it just slipped between your fingers. No matter what she did she couldn't stop it, the best she could do was slow her city's inevitable decay.
The lights of Rapture, though badly in need of repair, still outlined the geometric patterns used in the construction of the once beautiful city. The many neon signs that, long ago, had advertised for the various businesses of Rapture flickered erratically, Big Bertha's Bistro in particular flashed intermittently at a seizure inducing rate.
The vibrant spotlights of Fort Frolic panned back and forth in the deep, illuminating the murky water and startling the occaisonal school of fish. Theta had been there once, after Daddy had left, its beautiful architecture and vibrant colors belied its deadly nature, and that of the particularly deranged monster that lurked within its walls to this very day.
From this distance the decay and damage was hardly noticeable the city looked vibrant and whole once again, a surge of bubbles from one of the many geometric towers ended that illusion, a section of her city had just flooded.
"Are you okay?" Why did he have to be so observant? It really wasn't fair! Warily watching David from the corner of her eye, Theta attempted to ascertain the reasoning behind his question. To her surprise she was unable to detect anything other then slight concern and curiosity in his steel blue eyes. His concern actually seemed genuine; maybe befriending the human wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
Having reached her decision, Theta gestured out the window towards Rapture with a sad sigh. "Yeah, it must have been beautiful here, before," David gestured absently with a hand trying to find the right word. "…this." Had Rapture ever been beautiful? Truthfully Theta didn't know. Her memories of a time when it might have been were clouded by the foul indoctrination that still gripped her younger siblings.
"Are you human?" Seeing her confused look, David elaborated. "I mean were you born like you are, or were you changed?" Mentally shoving away the horrific memories David's question brought to light, Theta held up two fingers, before pointing towards her charge, sleeping soundly in her basket.
"You were human and you used to be like her?" Theta nodded towards David, smiling at the thought of a simpler time.
"Have you always lived here?" Theta, who had briefly lost herself staring out the window, turned her gaze to David, who had fallen into step beside her. Had she? As far back as she could remember she had, but where had she lived before? Had she had a family, or friends? Were there people that had missed her when she was gone? Realizing that David was still waiting for an answer she shrugged, after all she didn't know one way or the other.
"You don't remember?" She nodded; while she wasn't really in the mood to talk at least it passed the time.
"Do you know how old you are?" She shook her head. Why did it matter anyways, age was just a number.
"That must be disconcerting, to know so little about yourself. I don't know how I would handle something like that." Was it disconcerting? Again Theta couldn't be sure, she couldn't remember a time when she knew much about herself, she had nothing to compare it to. Now smiling slightly, she shrugged at David once again, earning herself a rueful smirk in response.
"You know its times like this that I really wish you could talk." Theta felt her smile turn slightly forlorn, so did she, so did she.
()
"Through here." The passage that was being indicated by the Splicer's always charming leader was barely noticeable, even with him pointing directly towards it. It blended near seamlessly into the wall it was built into. It appeared to be some kind of maintenance hallway; apparently the Olympus Heights elite hadn't wanted to see unsightly maintenance entrances in their tower.
"Great so this is where you sneak us into some grotto and then kill us right?" Needless to say, David was unimpressed. Samantha's low growl led him to believe that she was about as happy with this newest development as he was.
"I assure you Guardian; we are not your enemies. If we wanted to harm you, could we not have done it in your sleep? You just have to trust us. It's not much further now, you'll see." Samantha shot David an exasperated look before heading through the entrance with a sigh; it wasn't like they had many other options.
Following Samantha through the dark tunnels of Rapture's maintenance area was unpleasant to say the least. Either the architects of Rapture had planned on lighting the maintenance area a murky red, or the emergency lights were active, either way the place was dismal.
"Come, come it's not much further. The entrance is close at hand."
"That's lovely Baabar, is there food there? I'm hungry." David was missing his Pep Bar very much right now.
"Christ you pathetic little shit! Quit your whining! There's food where we're going."
Happily for David, someone noticed the rumbling emanating from his stomach. A light tap on his shoulder brought his attention to his mute companion. Samantha was smiling apologetically holding a bag of potato chips towards him.
"You're going to just give those to me? No evil tricks or food stealing?" Samantha just nodded in response, still smiling towards him, seemingly unfazed by David's skeptical attitude.
Still unsure, David grabbed the bag and opened it, after a careful examination of its contents he took a careful bite from the small salty snack held in his hand. Samantha's smile spread further across her pale face as she saw his action. Eyes alight with curiosity she gestured towards the treat, obviously wondering if David approved.
"These are good, where'd you get them?" Pale face showing slight surprise, Samantha pointed towards one of their escorts, a towering creature by the name of Dom if David remembered correctly.
"Shit! You took it from him? Do you want him to kill me?" Seemingly shocked Samantha shook her head, and mimed sneaking. "Oh yes, I'll sneak eat the crunchy potato chips, that'll end well for me!"
"Oy Banes, where're my damn chips? I'm hungry damn it! If any of you took them I'm going to break every damn bone in your damn body!" Great, David was going to die a slow painful death. Not bothering to hide her contempt for the hungry brute, Samantha snatched the chips out of David's hand and brandished them under his nose.
Warty features showing surprise and growing unease, Dom backtracked quickly. "Oh, you took them Guardian? You can have them, no problem from me. In fact, I want you to have them, my treat!"
With an arrogant smirk, Samantha handed the bag of chips to David. "What? He took them?" A confrontational glare from the intimidating female ended the large Splicer's brief anger. "Right that's fine, he can have them."
"Ummm, thanks…I think." Samantha's smile was back in an instant, with a happy nod she fell into step beside him.
"So we're going to the Family?" Samantha nodded, surveying the red tinged hallway with interest.
"And they can help me get home?" Glowing eyes met David's briefly, before with a slight sigh she nodded.
"That's good; I don't think-"
"We've arrived." David stopped short, surprised eyes falling on their rodentesque guide, and the small elevator he stood beside.
()
That wasn't right. Theta knew her city, she knew Rapture. They were on the ground floor of Olympus Heights; there was nothing below them, only the supports of the tower. What was Ratface trying to do? Did it actually think it could trick her?
Apparently sensing her confusion and growing hostility, Ratface held his hands up defensively. "The place you are going to see is a secret, it has kept the family safe for the years after the war. You will tell no one of its existence." Theta was too surprised by the monster's sudden backbone to object; as David, Amanda and she were corralled into the elevator.
With a jerk and the sound of rusted gears turning, the elevator began its trip downward, into the long forgotten depths of the dead city, Ryan's dead city, Theta's dead city.
"Well…this is ominous." Within the silent depths of her mind, Theta agreed with David's deadpan statement. She knew her city inside and out. Her lack of knowledge of the vault had been surprising. This, this was unprecedented.
Suddenly, Theta found herself diving into the unknown.
Theta didn't like the unknown.