Their progress was slow at best. Thompson found himself having to support David and guide him where Amanda instructed them. The poor man was barely conscious, his eyes unfocused and blank. Lord only knew when he'd regain his bearings after such a large dose of Adam. David stumbled almost dragging Thompson down with him. Thompson was barely able to catch the larger man, he was exhausted and truth be told he wasn't sure he'd be able to get David to his feet again if he was uncooperative.
"Come on Doctor-Man, the metal bubbles are this way!" Thompson was unable to resist the urge to smile at the young girl before him. If they were able to get away it could make all the difference in the world for the small girl. If they were able to escape that little girl might just be able to regain her lost humanity.
They entered the almost empty bathysphere chamber slowly. A lanky Splicer leaned against the wall, his hat dipped down over his eyes. His snores rumbled through the small room, they turned into a brief yelp as Thompson shocked him into unconsciousness.
He awkwardly maneuvered the near unconscious David into the bathysphere. "Doctor-Man, are we leaving?" Thompson nodded at the small child smiling slightly at her.
"Yeah sweetie, we need to leave. Can you get in the metal bubble please?" After thinking about it the child smiled sweetly and climbed into the bathysphere. Thompson paused for a moment carefully checking the area for any potentially hostile Splicers. Seeing that the coast appeared to be clear, Thompson entered the bathysphere and sat next to the near catatonic David.
As the water rose steadily over the view port Thompson let loose a sigh of relief. At least the escape had gone well…
()
The last monster collapsed to the ground gasping for air fruitlessly around its crushed trachea. Theta stalked to the camera control station, manning the controls with practiced ease she gazed at the screens.
The monster suffocating on the floor grabbed her ankle gurgling for what she assumed was mercy. Theta crushed its skull dismissively, she didn't speak gurgle after all. She had been very patient with the fools; she had tried to explain to the idiots that she had wanted to use the cameras to find Amanda. They had been too idiotic to understand her so she had been completely within her rights to kill them in various creative ways.
Much to her frustration, Amanda wasn't in any of her normal hideouts. Theta even checked the storage room where they kept the Pep Bars. Amanda wasn't anywhere! Frustrated with her complete lack of success she slapped the controls and turned to leave.
With a surprised yelp Theta slipped in one of the monster's spewed intestines. She landed on her back the air leaving her lungs in a whoosh. Theta sighed mentally she was covered in blood…that was great. She cast her gaze around the room from her position on the floor. That was funny…from the security footage it looked like an upside down Doctor Monster was guiding Amanda and him to a bathysphere. Theta sat up slowly and turned around to get a better look at the screen.
The Doctor Monster was getting into a bathysphere with Amanda and him! Surprise gave way to rage within seconds. With a scream of rage, she leapt to her feet. Slipping slightly in the bodies of the monsters she took off towards Mother's room, she wasn't about to let him escape!
Theta stormed into Mother's office with a frustrated howl. Mother as always was unfazed by the childish display. "Is there something you want Sister?" Theta pointedly ignored the bald giant's muttered "calm yourself princess"; she wanted to murder that one so badly!
With a flick of her wrist she turned on Mother's view screen and brought up security footage. Deftly manipulating the controls with her telekinesis she played what she had seen moments ago. Mother as always seemed unperturbed by the unexpected escape. "Mr. Morrow, it would appear we have some escapees. If you would be so kind."
With a respectful "ma'am" the bald giant moved to leave, he was stopped when Theta unceremoniously hurled him into the far wall. Loosing a furious shriek she pointed at herself. For the first time in the meeting Mother showed a sign of emotion, her eyes narrowed slightly in anger or impatience. "Very well Sister, if you insist I won't stop you. Bring Dr. Thompson back alive. The outsider is too much trouble; the Rapture Family needs you to kill him."
Not bothering to further acknowledge the Mother, Theta turned and stormed away. For the first time in too long she had a purpose. Protector M2 Theta was looking forward to future bloodshed.
()
Leo pointedly waited a few minutes to be sure the bitch was out of hearing range before he voiced what he knew was on both of their minds. "Looks like Princess is becoming a loose cannon. We need to deal with her…soon." It was like his grandma used to say, 'once a tool is broken there's no use in keeping it'.
Doctor Lamb nodded her cold blue eyes staring down the hallway. "She is loosing control; the Rapture Family doesn't need uncontrollable monsters."
Leo stretched his shoulders slowly; attempting to work out the kinks that being tossed aside like a bag of puppies had left in his upper back. "You want me to make her disappear ma'am?"
The doctor opened her mouth to respond but was stopped when an out of breath Splicer stumbled into the room. "Doc Lamb, some of the boys found something!" The Splicer paused as if waiting for Lamb to ask what it was. Her slight raising of the eyebrow and narrowing of the eyes quickly corrected his notion. "The boys found a Big Sister! Something killed it! Tore it apart like it was nothing!"
For the first time in his life Leo saw Dr. Lamb's perpetually calm façade slip. "What? That's not possible!" Privately Leo had to agree, while careful orchestrated decommissioning of a Big Sister wasn't unheard of one being torn apart was unimaginable. Lamb rapidly regained her calm façade, once again in control she nodded to Leo. The bearer of bad news collapsed to the ground as Leo injected him with a sedative, a mental institution would make his claims of seeing a Big Sister die just the ravings of a mad man.
Having dealt with the foolish Splicer, Lamb turned to the security console. She began flipping through the feeds until she found one of a body that looked to have been torn apart. Flicking through cameras in that general area she began to follow the trail of the monster they both suspected was the culprit. They found it crouched over the body of what had at one time been a very large Splicer; it appeared to be eating the recently slain corpse.
For a moment Leo thought that it wasn't the same creature he had run into. It appeared to have grown at least a two feet since he had last seen it and was much more muscular. What appeared to be sharpened spines of bone were protruding about six inches from its forearms and elbows. Its spine that had once looked like it was almost ripping it in half seemed to be expanding, plates of bone beginning to form some kind of armor on its back. The fingers of its hands were longer then he remembered and appeared to have developed an extra joint, two in some cases. All of its freakish fingers ended in claws. As the beast tore a chunk of flesh from its latest victim Leo realized claws weren't the correct word. Jagged bone split open the tips of the monster's fingers and formed almost dagger length blades.
"Holy hell…I saw that thing not two days ago! It's grown like a fucking weed!" Lamb's only response was a slight nod. With shocking speed the creature leapt from its crouched position and turned to face down the hallway. It had its head raised almost as if it was…
"Search the way it's facing! I've hunted enough to recognize a predator catching a scent!" To Leo's surprise Lamb didn't object to his informality, she simply followed his orders.
After a minute of searching they caught sight of the creature's newest prey…two men and a little girl.
()
Jack had to resist the urge to smile, ever since Sandy had found Carol she had been much more cheerful. The young woman seemed to have regained her sense of humor. She was humming a gaudy tune to herself. Tony, who was walking beside her, seemed to be resisting the urge to snap at her for the obnoxious tune, a fact that she was surly aware of.
Overall the group's moral was at an all time high, they had managed to save two Little Sisters already and were well on their way to saving more. "Will you shut the hell up!" Even if he was in a good mood Tony still seemed to have a bit of a temper.
"Hey aging soldier man, how do you know the humming isn't my way of coping with all this crazy we've been subjected to? What if, by forcing me to stop, you are directly responsible for a mental breakdown?"
Much to Jack's amusement Tony was unable to suppress a smile. A Splicer came screaming around a corner, Jack effortlessly froze it and Tony obliterated its body with a short burst of fire. Jack was pleasantly surprised by how quickly his companions had adapted to fighting in mausoleum that was Rapture.
A Spider Splicer leapt at them from the darkness, it caught an arrow to the throat for its trouble. Jack grinned, it appeared even Harper was becoming a fighter.
The hallway they had been following opened up into a vast chamber that appeared to function as some type of crossroads. A perfect location for the ambush they had planned. Without a verbal command the group split up. They spread around the room, covering every entrance as if it was second nature.
All they had to do was wait for a Big Daddy and its charge to stumble into their midst and they were set.
()
Much to Thompson's relief, David was slowly regaining awareness of his surroundings. Thompson no longer needed to support the young man constantly, other then the occasional stumble David was walking at a steady, if somewhat slow, rate.
"Mr. Ordinary, are you better now?"
"Yeah…yeah Deb, I'm fine."
Amanda gave David a confused look. "Mr. Ordinary, I'm Amanda."
To Thompson's alarm David appeared confused for several seconds. With a slight shake of his head David released a shaky laugh. "I know Amanda. I'm just…I'm just tired."
"Oh, okay Mr. Ordinary. I missed you." Amanda's small hand gently grasped David's much larger one.
"Who's Deb?"
David sent the Splicer a confused look. "Who?"
"Deb that was the name you called Amanda."
"She was…n-no is, my sister." David paused, a look of deep concentration along with slight confusion on his. "S-she is my Sister, right? She is my family…isn't she?"
Needless to say, Thompson was concerned by his friend's apparent absentmindedness. "David are you sure-" The sound of metal scrapping on metal echoed down the hallway. Thompson spun around, raising his pistol. She was there, standing at the end of the hallway. She calmly stalked towards the trio, dragging the tip of her harvester along the wall.
With a crack Thompson's pistol fired. Without moving a muscle she was somehow able to pull a metal plate from the wall and use it to block the incoming projectile. The incoming monster lazily flicked her wrist sending the metal plate rocketing straight towards his head.
Utilizing his own plasmids Thompson was barely able to deflect the incoming projectile from decapitating him. "David we need to run now!"
Turning to run, Thompson snatched Amanda off the ground and followed David in his sprint to safety. A brief jolt of pain hit him as a bolt impacted the back of his head. The first was followed by another, and another, soon there were dozens of the small objects were digging into his back. She purposely appeared to be holding back; instead of giving the bits of metal enough power to kill she was using them to inflict pain and insight panic. Something akin to a cruel chuckle followed their escape attempt, she was enjoying herself.
()
Theta's smile was hidden behind her helmet, this was fun! The doctor monster and he had kidnapped her sister; that act added an hour or two of torture to their pointless little lives. Dozens of bolts ripped themselves free of the walls and hurtled towards the monsters that had betrayed her. Unfortunately they rounded the corner not long into the bombardment.
Theta calmly ambled after the fleeing duo, purposely allowing them to distance themselves from her. After all what fun was a hunt without a chase?
It wasn't as if they could escape, she could effortlessly follow Amanda anywhere in the city. She was going to enjoy this immensely! The doctor monster she would kill fairly quickly, he on the other hand would be kept alive as long as possible. She was going to take her time with him.
To her frustration and shame she felt her eyes filling with tears. How could he abandon her? She had cared for him, let him into her family, trusted him more then she had ever trusted another and he had been ready to throw her away! She could feel flames licking along her body as she began to have trouble controlling her abilities.
Why had he allowed her to kiss him? Why had he returned her affections when he had known he was going to leave? What was the point in such senseless cruelty? Even she wasn't that vindictive!
Theta was interrupted from her brooding by something strange, she could sense a gatherer, a gatherer that was rapidly heading towards her. She glanced around in confusion; she could sense no protector near her sister. Her sibling was near and yet she couldn't quiet pinpoint her location.
Why couldn't she-a crash reverberated around the hallway causing Samantha to jump with a yelp. Where she had been standing only a second before the floor was warped upwards. A split second later there was another crash and the floor warped upwards once again. Something was on the level beneath her and it was trying to break through…
Theta paused, whatever it was seemed to be in the exact same position as her sibling. What was going on? She heard a monstrous roar coming from below her feet and the floor buckled upwards once again. Was that thing her sibling?
Gunfire reverberated down the hallway bringing Theta back to her senses. The doctor monster and he were getting attacked. No one was going to kill them but her! Incensed Theta tore off down the hallway, quickly forgetting the now inconsequential thing below her.
()
Sandy fidgeted anxiously in place. More then anything she wanted to get back to Carol, she had only just been reunited with her sister and she wasn't going to lose her again. She almost wished that something would happen; she'd never handled boredom well.
As it was she had been crouched down behind cover watching her hallway for what seemed like an eternity. If anything actually happened that needed her to move she was screwed, her legs had fallen asleep long ago.
She released a soft sigh and shifted in place. She wished she was back at the hideout, she wished she was back with Carol. Sandy's face flushed with guilt at the thought. It wasn't as if she didn't want to help the other little girls. She just wanted to spend time with her sister.
She heard a softly muttered curse drift across the silent room from Tony's position. The man's already questionable temper seemed to have only gotten worse since Sandy had found her sister. While Sandy found his constant foul mood tiring she could understand it, she doubted she'd have handled the situation as well as he had if their positions were reversed.
With a groan she shifted in place once again trying to regain feeling in her right leg. The uncomfortable pressure it put on her bladder was extremely unwelcome. Closing her eyes she gritted her teeth. She needed to pee! Would the others get mad at her if she told them she needed to go? Sandy scoffed to herself. Tony would obviously get mad, Jack would most likely give her his patented slightly disappointed look, and Harper would probably blush and start spluttering.
Sandy couldn't resist smiling slightly as she rolled her eyes. It wasn't as if her being a woman gave her the power to-gunfire sounded from down her hallway. Sandy closed her eyes in exasperation; somewhere some old man in the clouds was laughing his ass off about this.
Within seconds Tony crouched down next to her. "See anything yet?"
"No but it's definitely heading our way."
Next to her Tony propped his mammoth machinegun against her cover. He casually lowered his eye so it was level with the sight and waited. By now she could see two figures running side by side in the darkness.
Seconds later they made it into the light and all hell broke loose. The duo shielded their eyes against the onslaught of light as they stumbled into the room. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as Sandy took in the two strangers. The smaller of the two was incredibly pale, about as pale as the other natives to this hellish city. He had a sad pinched face and twin piercing green orbs perched beneath his brow. The other was considerably larger but moved as if injured or drunk. He had relatively short brown hair and dull blue grey eyes.
Sandy's observation moved to what was held in the smaller one's arms. Her heart skipped a beat; to her complete shock the smaller of the two had a Little Sister in his arms.
Noise exploded next to her as Tony opened fire on the duo. His enraged yells were barely discernable over the gunfire. "Let her go you fuckers!"
Reacting with shocking speed, the seemingly dazed one tackled its ally behind what at one point must have been a Splicer's home. Within a second he popped out from behind his cover and fired a volley of shots from his pistol with pinpoint accuracy. Both Sandy and Tony barely had time to duck back behind cover before the shots sailed over their heads.
Time seemed to slow as they moved to return fire.
A horribly familiar scream started.
Sandy's shocked eyes landed on the figure in midair before her cover.
The scream began to rise in volume.
Tony and Sandy aimed their weapons at the monster.
The monster's blood red visor tilted up and met their gaze.
Their fingers began to squeeze the triggers.
The scream reached its peak and time resumed its normal speed.
A surge of telekinetic force exploded from the monster that had taken their family members.
The last thing Sandy saw as she hurtled through the air was the monster, its hands wreathed in flame, turning towards the two newcomers.
Sorry for the wait. It's harder to find time to write now that I'm back from my vacation. While updates might take a bit longer then they did this story is far from dead, don't worry. As always reviews are eagerly anticipated.