Banes sunk his cleaver into the malformed head of the Aqua Splicer with a wet crunch. It collapsed to the ground before sliding back into the water, joining the dozens of its brethren that had already fallen to the crazed Splicer's blades. "Come on you ugly little shits! There's hundreds of you and just one of me!"
Another pulled itself up onto Banes' rocky outcropping warily keeping its distance. Banes snarled at it earning a hiss in response. When it showed no signs of attempting to close the distance between them Banes simply pulled a blade from a compartment in his coat and hurled it at the beast. The blade buried itself in the creature's eye earning an agonized scream as it fell back into the water.
Banes spun around, teeth bared, looking for his next challenger. He found it as a hand grasped his ankle in a strong grip. With an effortless heave the creature pulled him off of his feet and into the water. The beast's mouth as it lunged at him met steel not skin. The aquatic abomination screamed in pain as the cleaver dug into its face. Banes grinned to himself as he saw the creature sink into the murky depths followed by several of its cannibalistic brothers.
He felt more hands grab him, pulling him beneath the surface. Banes twisted around hacking and slashing at anything within reach of his blades. He knew he was a dead man, but if he was going to hell he might as well bring as many of these freaks there with him as he could…
()
Theta scrubbed viciously at the dried blood that seemed to cover her as the lukewarm water flowed down her naked body. The blood burned her skin, marking her as impure, marking her as a monster. She had to get it off; she just had to get it off. She stifled a sob; she'd done as David had asked. Her once beautiful dress was a pile of ashes on the floor. The rational part of her brain told her that her dress had already been ruined by the blood. On the other hand the irrational part of her told the rational part of her to shut the hell up.
Theta felt her legs give out from under her in the shower. She felt…remorse for her actions. To her surprise it wasn't just because David had disapproved, she remembered seeing the tears in the doctor monster's eyes. There had been monsters that had shown her kindness; at the time she had assumed they were trying to gain her favor but what if it had just been honest kindness?
Theta groaned she missed the days when everything was simple, when the world was black and white. She had enjoyed her life, protect the innocent and kill the wicked it had been simple. Now though, now there was grey…she didn't know how to handle grey…
With a sigh she stood and left the shower, she still felt dirty but it wasn't the type of dirt that could be washed off. Glancing around the room, Theta had an unwelcome realization the only item of clothing she had had been her dress. The dress that was now ashes…Theta groaned why couldn't anything be simple?
Theta wrapped her towel around herself and moved to the door. Before she could leave a thought came to her. David had acted embarrassed and uncomfortable when she'd taken off her dress, now she was near naked. She didn't want him to get angrier then he already was…
Theta came to a decision, opening the door slightly she stuck her head out. Fighting back the surge of self loathing it brought with it, she began to use her mutilated voice box. Short slightly raspy yelps echoed from her lips. Theta had to resist the urge to bite her tongue; she hated the unnatural noises she made. They were a cruel mockery of the voice she once had, nothing more.
After a minute of emitting the humiliating sounds Theta heard someone approaching. A second later the doctor monster rounded the corner. His intelligent gaze found her wet head and shoulder sticking out of the crack in the door; his only response was a raised eyebrow. With a sigh Theta used her arm to gesture to herself. The doctor monster's eyebrow rose further. "It would appear you are either offering to have sex with me," Theta emitted a disgusted shriek. "Or, much more likely, you want clothes?"
Theta nodded to his second guess, face flushed with shame. The doctor monster left without further fuss. He returned a minute or two later with some worn woman's clothing that looked to be fitted for a short fat woman, Theta sighed that was just about the opposite of what she needed.
Still she couldn't complain, she grabbed the clothing from the monster's offered hand and with a slight smile returned to the bathroom.
()
Amanda was glaring at him again, David sighed to himself it wasn't as if Amanda actually comprehended the fact that her sister had just killed hundreds of people. "You're mean." The casual completely serious way she said that made it all the more hurtful. David took solace in the fact that if she actually understood what her sibling had done there'd be a good chance Amanda would be agreeing with him.
"You made Sissy cry." David sighed again, resigning himself to bear the brunt of the little girl's hostility for the foreseeable future.
()
Leo stood silently in the corner arms crossed, looming over Dr. Lamb's shoulder. He was quite good at it, looming that is. You could almost say he had a natural talent for it, well if you counted Splicing yourself into a monster a natural talent. He was a huge man, roughly seven feet tall, he was dressed in a custom made suit, and his shaved head reflected the light of the room's overhead lamp. His appearance had been carefully perfected over the long course of his career to embody two things, calm professionalism and ruthless efficiency.
He glared at the little man sitting across from the doctor, daring him to lie. The Splicer answered Lamb's questions with a trembling voice, pointedly not looking at the hulking man behind the intimidating woman.
Lamb was questioning the man about why her spies in the heretic family's compound had fallen silent. He seemed to be of the opinion that the compound had been destroyed. Rumors said that there had been a Big Sister spotted in the vicinity of Haven before it fell off the grid. Leo disliked rumors. It was like his Grandma used to say, 'rumors are a lot like a hooker, good for some fun but not very helpful with business'.
Lamb stood slowly giving him a nod. "Stay here Mr. Stevens; Mr. Morrow will give you your reward." The twitchy Splicer jittered nervously as he watched Lamb calmly leave the room. The door closed behind her with a hiss. For the first time in over an hour, Leo moved. With the calm self assured grace of a wolf he circled around the small man.
"So…the Doc promised me a reward if I came through for her. Do you got it?"
"Yes." Leo's voice was gravelly and rumbled deeply from his chest. Before the small Splicer could react Leo lashed out, mammoth hands grabbing the man's head he gave an effortless twist. The man fell forward onto the table, head bent at an unnatural angle. Leo nodded to himself satisfied, good there was no mess. It was like his Grandma used to say, 'why waste carpet cleaner when you don't have to'.
()
When she left the bathroom, having made a makeshift belt from a towel, Theta was surprised to find the doctor monster waiting for her. "May I walk with you?" Taken aback by the fact it was asking her permission she nodded meekly.
"David was right about you." Rage and hurt almost overwhelmed Theta before the monster continued. "You aren't just some mindless protector." She calmed quickly and nodded with a sniff; she missed the David that defended her…
Apparently seeing her reaction the monster tentatively put a hand on her shoulder. "Give him some time to calm down; he hardly seems the type to hold grudges." Theta laughed sadly judging from the fact he'd been willing to work with her so soon after they had been trying to kill each other she was inclined to agree.
"I want to show you something." Curious despite her mild mistrust of the monster, Theta followed him into the Bishop's private quarters. Snorting in disgust at the opulent surroundings she felt her heart stop and the tentative feeling of joy bubbling in her chest. There at the foot of the bed was her armor. It had been placed upon a mannequin and had been even further repaired then when she'd last seen it. Someone had polished it, it almost sparkled! With a happy cry she leapt over to it, eagerly inspecting every little aspect of the familiar armor.
The doctor chuckled softly at her enthusiasm. The noise he made attracted her attention back to him. "For what it's worth I know it was an accident. He'll see that, don't worry." Theta smiled despite her tears, the doctor was trying to comfort the person the destroyed his home.
Carefully observing the strange individual Theta gestured to herself and then the marking on her armor's glove. The doctor smiled. "Yes I know your designation is Theta, and I know your name is Samantha."
She smiled and nodded before gesturing to him. He seemed surprised but responded. "I am Doctor Aaron Thompson." He gave her an overly flamboyant bow. "Though everyone calls me Thompson."
Theta stuck her hand out with a serious look on her face. Tentatively Thompson took it and for the first time Theta shook the hand of a monster. "It's good to be 'formally' introduced." She smiled slightly and gave a nod in response. She was glad she had saved his life; Thompson seemed like a good man.
()
Leo circled his two opponents cautiously, as his opponents did the same. They were young, maybe thirteen or fourteen, and had yet to fill into their lanky bodies. Admittedly judging from what he had seen of their older siblings most of them never did grow into their bodies.
Without warning the smaller of the two lunged at him with an earsplitting shriek. He sidestepped her easily and grabbed her outstretched arm. Using her own momentum against her he slammed her into the floor. Face its usual bored mask he twisted the arm in his grip, with a pop and a pained scream the girl's shoulder dislocated. He continued to apply torque, readying himself to rip the foolish girl's arm from its socket.
Before he could, her larger sibling slammed into him. They rolled together briefly before she managed to sink her teeth into his shoulder. Pulling his hand back he slammed his toaster sized fist into her stomach causing her to cough and release him. His head lashed forward its crown hitting her nose. With a pained squeal she rolled off of him, hands clasped over her blood spewing nose.
He stood easily and walked to the smaller one. It was trying to relocate its shoulder. When it saw him it began to whimper and attempted to scoot away from him. Pulling a foot back he kicked her in the ribs with all his might. Her pained scream hurt his ears. Confident that he had severely injured but not killed her, Leo walked over to the counter on which his belongings rested.
He calmly grabbed one of his magnums. Whirling around with all his augmented speed he pistol whipped the larger one across the face, breaking her nose again. As it reeled backwards he grabbed it and pushed it towards its friend. "Stand there." Despite herself the adolescent Sister followed his order, standing awkwardly over her coughing and crying friend.
Deftly readying the gun he handed it to her. "Kill her." The girl stared at him, yellow eyes wide with shock. "You heard me." Hand shaking the girl pointed the gun at her trembling sibling's head. Before she could pull the trigger Leo caught her hand. "No, kill her." Choking back a sob the girl nodded, before she adjusted her aim to her sibling's belly. With a bang the gun went off, cleaving into the sobbing girl's leech.
The injured girl screamed in pain as she stared at the small hole in her stomach. Deftly grabbing his gun from the limp hand of the horrified girl, Leo grabbed his belongings and left locking the door behind him. The girl should see the life leave her friend's eyes, know that she killed her. It was like his Grandma always used to say, 'if you don't face the consequences of your actions they'll bite you in the ass'.
()
David was eating when Thompson found him; the man had that look on his face. "I talked to Samantha."
David couldn't help but sigh. "So now that I finally stop harassing you about treating her better you start to treat her better." Thompson simply sent David a mild glare. "Look I know, I know."
Thompson hmmed doubtfully. "I was there David. As much as I'd like to hate her for what she did it was an accident."
David sighed again, feeling horrible. "I'll talk to her; show her I don't hate her. I just…need a bit of time."
Thompson's glare deepened. "Fine, I'll talk to her after I eat dinner. What are you my Dad?"
Thompson chuckled softly. "God I hope not!" Patting the tired human on the shoulder Thompson left to find the only member of the group he wasn't acquainted with.
()
Harper glanced around in boredom. Sandy was in her room no doubt crying or brooding. Tony was doing maintenance on his gun…again. Jack and Tenenbaum were discussing their plans alone in Tenenbaum's room.
Finally deciding to do something, Harper stood and walked over to the bookshelf. A familiar book caught his eye. Grabbing Moby Dick from the shelf he moved to take a seat and allow the book to take him back to his childhood. As he settled into his seat he vividly remembered his father reading him this very book. He opened the book to the first page-
Static burst from the handheld radio resting on the kitchen counter, with a surprised yelp Harper leapt from his seat tossing Moby Dick across the room. A piano began to play from the radio. Harper was unfamiliar with the song, seemingly going from fast to slow and loud to quiet at random. Despite the dissonance the music gave off it had a twisted beauty to it a warped sense of unity united the otherwise disparate parts into a beautiful, if disturbing, whole. The piano dropped off into the background and a charismatic voice began to speak.
Eyes widening in shock Harper leapt to his feet and ran to Tenenbaum's room. Not bothering to knock he barged in, receiving a glare from Jack and a raised eyebrow from Tenenbaum. "D-Dr. Tenenbaum, s-somebody's asking f-for you on the r-radio."
Instantly Jack was on his feet walking towards the living quarters, Tenenbaum and Harper close behind. When they entered the living quarters Jack froze, his face going pale. The radio message must be set to repeat because the music was playing once again. Harper glanced at Tenenbaum and saw that she too was growing pale. From the small radio a voice echoed once more. "Doctor Tenenbaum…I know you can hear this. It has been far far too long my old friend! I wonder…has Little Moth followed your flame once more unto the breach?"
()
Lamb's scouts had confirmed the destruction of Haven. They had also given her the location of the heretic's last mission. Leo stood in the entrance of Suchong's private lab, calmly surveying the dozens of broken tanks and the dozens of twisted bodies that lay among the shards of glass. Unimpressed with the carnage Leo signaled for the Splicers under his command to advance.
Two dozen of Lamb's most faithful followers entered the complex; they split up whenever they came to a fork in the hallway making sure they thoroughly explored the entire complex. Leo knew exactly where he was going however, along with some shriveled over spliced fool he headed to the Adam storage room. They were not surprised by what they found, it had been striped clean. Leo sighed as the over spliced freak next to him struggled to hold back his sobs.
Gunfire echoed from somewhere in the complex. Leo's hand flew to his radio. "All teams radio in, now."
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"Five. Ow! Sorry four."
"Five."
"Seven."
Leo waited for several seconds. "Team six do you read?"
Static.
Leo rolled his eyes; if they had their radio turned off he'd kill them himself. "Alright you know what to do, spread out and look for team six. I want regular radio contact."
Gunfire echoed suddenly from a hall to his right, readying one of his magnums he headed towards the sound. "T-this is team three! It got Rory!"
Leo flipped on his radio. "Describe the hostile."
The Splicers panicked breath caused intermittent bursts of static to grate on Leo's nerves. "I-I don't know! It was big! And it-" The Splicer's voice cut off with a scream. If only people were as professional as him. It was big is hardly helpful intelligence. It was like his Grandma always used to say, 'unintelligent help is worse then no help'.
Within a minute Leo found the remains of team three. The two Splicers had been torn apart, savaged by some sort of animal. Catching movement out of the corner of his eye Leo aimed and fired. A mammoth creature fell to the ground, a small hole just above its left eye. Leo frowned; he'd been aiming for the nose.
It turned out the dead Splicer's description was accurate, the beast had been big. It had probably stood at about nine feet in height, its body covered in bulging muscles. Its spine appeared to have broken through the skin of its back giving it a hunchbacked posture. There were many cuts on its back; they looked almost like stretch marks that had stretched until they could stretch no more. Leo raised an eyebrow, what a strange creature.
"All teams this is Leo, the threat has been neutralized." With a savage scream the 'neutralized' threat slammed into his back.
()
David found Samantha on a balcony overlooking the recently flooded city. She leaned against the railing shoulder length hair the color of flames hanging down into her face. She was wearing clothes that had clearly belonged to someone much fatter then her; a makeshift belt held the pants up and her bare shoulder peeked out from the collar of her shirt. Hearing him approach she glanced at him before turning away, head bowed in shame.
David moved up next to her and leaned against the railing. "Hey." He resisted the urge to kick himself. Hey, really?
Samantha glanced at him tentatively yellow eyes struggling to hold back tears. David felt a surge of guilt; she was almost childlike she didn't always understand the ramifications of her actions. "I don't hate you. You realize that right?"
Samantha tilted her head to the left in confusion. "I was upset. I-I know you didn't mean to but what you did was horrible. Do you understand that?"
Samantha nodded turning her head away from him, hair falling into place and hiding her features. David reached towards her, grabbing her chin he gently turned her to face him again. He could easily see the tears that leaked from her eyes. She sniffed tearfully and opened her mouth. Moving her lips slowly and purposefully she mouthed one phrase repeatedly. "I'm sorry."
David smiled at her. He gently pulled her off of the railing and wrapped his arms around her, after a second her arms wrapped around his back as she buried her face in his neck. Slowly running circles on her back David reassured his crying friend. "I know you are Sam, I know."
They stood there for what seemed an eternity. With time Samantha calmed down, she stopped crying and simply held him while letting herself be held. After several more minutes Samantha pulled back slightly, her tumultuous yellow eyes stared into David's steel blue ones. David smiled slightly at her, attempting to reassure her that he wasn't going anywhere. The turmoil in her eyes gave way to determination as Samantha came to a decision.
Trembling like a leaf, Samantha tentatively pressed her lips against David's.
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