In hind sight baiting an eleven foot tall cannibalistic insane monster with what was apparently the one thing it wanted in the world wasn't the best idea. The monstrous freak chasing Tony slammed into a wall as he took a sharp turn. When Tony had woken up that day he hadn't expected to wind up in a flight for his life.
It was worth it though…anything to get that thing away from Amanda. When he had first laid eyes on her he hadn't believed it. His heart almost stopped when he saw her for the first time. Her skin had been a pale ashen grey, her eyes had glowed with a soft and unnatural light, but it had been her. His daughter had stared at him, not an ounce of recognition in her eyes. That alone had been enough to break his heart.
He knew from the other two girls that she would likely not remember him. Seeing it first hand had been another thing entirely. So here he was, running as fast as he could from some angry behemoth drawing it as far away from his daughter as possible. To his surprise, Tony was at peace. His daughter was going to be safe with the others and he knew that if he didn't make it the others would care for her.
A Splicer ran at him wielding a pistol teeth bared. "I's gonna kill you wit my bazooka!" Unfazed, Tony checked the crazed man out of his way. The bone chilling crunch that came from behind him as the beast dealt with the Splicer only spurred Tony on his way.
()
David stared in shock at the unmoving remains of his friend. Her face was mangled beyond recognition and covered in blood; he could clearly see large portions of her skull. Her undamaged vacant yellow eye stared uncomprehendingly at the ceiling, it was already paler then it had been in life. Her body was riddled with small holes where bullets had pierced her armor. Almost the entire left side of her chest had been torn open by the monster as it had ripped its hand free. The only part of her that was as he remembered was her hair, her flaming locks spread about her head like some sort of burning halo.
A devastated scream sounded from behind him and Amanda sprinted past the shocked human. She fell to her knees in the pool of blood that lay around her fallen sibling. "Sissy no! Sissy please wake up! Please don't leave me…" Her yells petered off into a whimper.
Thompson slowly walked past the stunned human. He knelt next to the fallen sister and pressed his fingers to her neck. "David…I'm so sorry." David simply nodded, feeling a prickling sensation in the back of his eyes. He tensed as he sensed three individuals surround him and his allies.
"Don't move." David barely moved, merely looking at the man out of the corner of his eye. Thompson stood slowly, hands raised over his head. "Give us the girl." That provoked a reaction from David. With a barely contained growl he whipped his pistol out and aimed it at the calm man who was giving the orders.
"To hell with you! She says with us."
The calm man barely batted an eyebrow. Stoic as ever he clicked the hammer of his pistol back. "I will give you one chance."
Hand shaking with rage David glared at the infuriatingly calm man. "Fuck you."
Unfazed the man just nodded. Before he could pull the trigger however, Thompson moved in that way. "W-wait, just wait." Turning around slightly, Thompson sent a glare David's way. "Put down your gun!" David didn't move. "Put down your gun unless you want us both killed!" Still glaring, David slowly lowered his weapon.
Hands raised over his head, Thompson turned back to the stoic man. "It's good to see you Jack."
A smile spread slowly across Jack's face. "It's good to see you Thompson. Sorry about…" He waved his hand around. "…this."
"While this reunion is just heart touching, Tony's getting chased by a cannibalistic giant!" The speaker was a petite blond woman with tan skin and startlingly blue eyes.
Jack sighed softly looking guiltily at the floor. "Tony knew the risk, there's not anything we can do. Sandy you saw how much damage that thing took; it could have killed us all."
"I-it just d-doesn't feel r-right." The final member of their group a reedy man with thinning blond hair and green eyes spoke up. When he realized he had everyone's attention he shifted uncomfortably in place looking at the floor.
"I think she's his daughter." All eyes turned to Sandy most of them were skeptical. "What? He freaked out when he saw these two holding her and gave her this horribly depressing look as he ran out of here with that thing on his heels." If anything the others grew more skeptical. Sandy shifted defensively, crossing her arms. "What? I'm a girl, noticing a thing like that is what we do."
Jack stepped towards Amanda only to be stopped by David. He raised his hands defensively and moved to pacify the angry human. "I'm not going to hurt her; I'm going to cure her" Though he was suspicious David stepped aside, this he had to see.
As Jack approached her Amanda stumbled away from him with a whimper. "M-mr. Ordinary?"
David gave the little girl a sad smile. "It's okay Amanda; he's going to help you."
Jack placed his hand on the child's forehead. A blinding flash of light flooded the area. Amanda opened her chocolate brown eyes and stared up into David's blue grey ones.
()
A single round punched into the Big Daddy's shoulder. The beast was instantly enraged, revving a mammoth harpoon like drill it charged at its attacker. Tony rolled out of its way, causing the enraged metal plated monster to charge his pursuer. The ensuing fight, while somewhat unfair for the unfortunate Daddy, served as an adequate distraction. It allowed Tony to gain some distance and begin to enact his plan.
He had noticed an airlock during his frantic sprint throughout Rapture. Doubling back around the fighting behemoths Tony sprinted towards the airlock. A pained bellow and a wet crunch told Tony his distraction had ended its usefulness.
Tony skidded to a stop in front of the airlock controls. He sighed internally, beginning to panic; he was not familiar with the controls. Resigning himself to whatever would happen he began to fiddle with the controls. Smacking a button at random Tony grinned to himself as he heard the water drain from the airlock.
The beast's near constant scream echoed down the hallways getting steadily louder as it approached. The water drained, Tony desperately began to turn the door's release. With a crash the beast barreled through some obstruction, its only reaction was an increase in the volume of its mad screams. Groaning Tony heaved the airlocks rusted door open, doing his best not to damage it. Why the hell was it so damn heavy? The freak's scream reached a near unbearable pitch as it battered open the entrance into the airlock's antechamber. With no time left to spare Tony uncorked the vial of Adam and tossed it into the opened airlock.
Diving to the side he rolled behind a console just as the enraged monstrosity sprinted into the opened airlock. Running to the airlock he slammed it closed and ran to the control console. Tony smashed the flood control and listened with satisfaction as the chamber began to flood. The beast seemed to ignore the rising water, most likely trying to scrape up the spilled Adam. With a pleasant ding the green indicator light flashed on, telling Tony the airlock was completely filled. Releasing a shaky chuckle he hit the emergency release button sending the abomination into the depths of the ocean.
Exhausted and shaking, Tony turned and sat down against the wall. His shaking hand pulled his radio from his pocket and flipped it on. "Guys…I flu…I flushed the bastard."
To Tony's shock he actually heard Jack loose a relieved laugh. "Good to hear you Tony, what'd you do with that ugly bastard?"
"I tricked the dumb brute into an airlock and sent him on a one way trip to the briny depths."
A rush of static was heard over the radio as Jack released a relieved sigh. "Tony, Amanda's with us. She's safe…and she's human again. We're still at the ambush point…and we've got some new friends. Can you get back here?"
Giddy with his daughter's rescue Tony grinned widely. "Yeah, I'll be there soon."
()
David stared bleakly at his new allies perched atop a pile of rubble. The young woman seemed capable enough if a bit on the sarcastic side. The jittery man was somewhat less impressive, though he seemed somewhat brave. Jack was obviously their leader, at least on the field. The man was an extremely capable fighter when it came to firearms, close combat, and plasmids, a bit of a Jack of all trades to be honest. Despite the situation David grinned slightly at his little joke. The fact that Thompson seemed to trust them said something, but it wasn't enough for David's liking.
A small hand grasped David's larger one. Tearful brown eyes looked up into his as Amanda rested her head against his arm. "I miss Sissy."
David wrapped his arm around the small girl's shoulders. "I do too sweetie."
"Am I going to meet my Daddy?"
"Yeah Amanda, he's on his way." As soon as the words left his mouth a bear of a man entered the ambush sight, a mammoth machinegun casually resting on his shoulder. Upon seeing his daughter the man stopped short, seemingly unsure of what to do or how to react.
He set his gun aside and slowly approached his daughter. "Amanda?"
The little girl tilted her head to the side, studying the unfamiliar man curiously. "Are you my Daddy?"
"Yes…God I've missed-" A horrible scream filled the room drowning out all other noise. Hands clasped over his ears as he attempted to block the unearthly noise, David turned to the source. Samantha lay where she had fallen her back bent like a bow as her entire body tensed. As suddenly as the scream began it stopped as Samantha began to seize. Her badly damaged body thrashed; her limbs and head flailing like a thing possessed.
Releasing a scream of horror Amanda ran past her stunned father and stopped at her sister's side. "Sissy? Sissy can you hear me?" There was no discernable reaction from the thrashing Big Sister. Getting over his surprise, David ran over to his seizing friend.
"Doc, what the hell's going on?" Pushing David aside, Thompson crouched next to the convulsing experiment. He looked into the gaping hole in her chest before jerking backwards in surprise.
"That lung was collapsed." David followed the doctor's line of sight. Shoving aside his inner squeamishness he watched the now functional lung as it inflated and deflated inside her chest. "That's incredible, her body shut down while her leech repaired the critical damage. It should now be healing the…slightly less life threatening injuries." To his utter amazement he could see the damaged ribs slowly mending while her skin began to knit back together. Samantha stopped thrashing and her undamaged eye flicked slightly before blinking; still barely conscious she looked around blearily.
"Sissy! I'm so glad you're alright!" Wrapping her small arms around her sister's bloody neck Amanda squeezed tightly. The sound of a hammer being pulled back stopped the brief reunion.
"Amanda, get away from her."
"Daddy, Sissy's hurt. Leave her alone."
The huge man's hand shook slightly as he kept the gun trained on the wounded beast. "A-amanda, that thing killed your mother. Move!"
David leapt to his feet and aimed his pistol at the large man's head. "You pull that trigger I pull mine."
The bear of a man narrowed his eyes dangerously. "That fucking monster killed my wife, kid. I'd recommend staying out of my family's business."
Samantha released a low growl as what little flesh remained around her mangled mouth pulled back as she tried to bare her teeth. "I'd put the gun down…unless you want Amanda to loose her father seconds after meeting him."
"Daddy, Mr. Ordinary, stop fighting!"
Thompson glared at both men. "I'm a doctor damn it! No one's shooting anyone!"
"Come on soldier man, it's not worth getting killed over."
The furious man shot a livid glare towards Sandy in response. "That fucking test tube reject killed my wife and kidnapped my daughter! You should understand how I feel!" His glare flicked to the small nervous man. "You should understand too Harper!"
"I-I…k-killing her when sh-she's defenseless j-just seems wrong…"
"That fucking thing's a goddamn monster!"
Maintaining his ever calm façade, Jack spoke up for the first time in the argument. "If things were only a bit different that could have been your daughter laying there instead of someone else's."
With a low growl Tony acquiesced and holstered his pistol. "So what the hell are we going to do with the freak?"
"Jack if you'd be so kind as to give me your radio. Lamb's kind followers confiscated my old one." With a nod Jack tossed Thompson the handheld radio. Activating it Thompson spoke into the device smiling all the while. "Brigid, its Thompson I've just met your merry band of misfits."
"Aaron, it's good to hear you are unharmed."
"Believe me Brigid I'm as happy about it as you. I have a wounded Protector Mark 2 here; have any ideas what we should do with her?"
Concern found its way into Tenenbaum's voice. "How is she?"
"She was pretty beat up but she's healing now."
"Good…good. Jack?"
"Yeah Tenenbaum?"
"Can you bring her back here? She might hold the key to a cure."
David perked up at this. "A cure to what?"
Jack smirked slightly before nodding to the radio; Tenenbaum's voice came over the radio obviously smug. "A cure to Adam of course."
()
Alpha stalked down the hallways of Mother's base. Any and all monsters that saw her stayed well out of her way. They afforded all Big Sisters this honor, for her however some ran in the opposite direction. Alpha's right hand was holding a handful of the petulant child's hair as she dragged her to Mother. She had kicked and screamed for most of the sub ride to Rapture. She'd only had to burn the girl twice to get her to shut up. It was quite pitiful really.
A monster ran past her, franticly gasping for air. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Deftly spinning around Alpha raised her arm aiming her wrist mounted harpoon launcher at the fleeing beast. The harpoon punched through the beast's shin, with a crack its hooks deployed. Grinning savagely Alpha heaved on the connected cord and sent the monster face first into a metal wall. It fell to the ground clasping a heavily bleeding nose.
Footsteps announced the arrival of the person she had been expecting. Smiling behind her helmet, Alpha turned to the bald monster as he calmly rounded the corner. "Nicely done number one." Alpha shifted slightly feeling her stomach flutter with the praise. Still smiling she nodded in the direction of the downed monster. The bald monster waved his hand dismissively. "Kill the bastard I don't care." Behind her helmet she grinned widely. Seconds later the monster in question was screaming in agony as it burned alive.
Enjoying the pleasing way the screams echoed around the hallway Alpha moved to follow the bald monster. With a whimper the whelp feebly tried to resist. Alpha stopped that notion by raising two fingers and lighting a small flame. Struggling to hold back tears the girl stopped resisting. As a reward Alpha only twisted her hand further into the little bitch's hair. The girl was lucky that she was in a good mood, burning someone sounded like fun right about now.
"I see you got the latest cog in Lamb's machine." Alpha nodded with a proud hum, the bald monster talked funny sometimes that was part of why she liked him. "Well something killed one of your sisters while you were away." With a surprised yelp Alpha turned to face the bald monster. "It was…Epsilon I think." She released a relieved sigh. Epsilon was an air headed moron; Alpha had contemplated killing her on more then one occasion.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure we know what did it. Congrats by the way, you have a brother." Alpha cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "Yeah damn brainless cannibal almost ate me." That alarmed Alpha. Loosing a concerned whimper she stepped into the bald monster's way, either unaware or uncaring of the fact that in doing so she spun the child around and pulled a large amount of hair free.
The bald monster rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, oh and your brother moronically ran into an airlock and was flushed." Alpha laughed softly before she turned back around, once again wrenching the little girl around causing her to whimper in pain.
The two of them entered Mother's office; the whelp didn't count as a person after all. Mother smiled slightly before nodding to Alpha. "I take it that is the target Sister?" Alpha nodded casually shoving the target towards the Mother. Gesturing with a hand dismissively Mother signaled a monster to take the whelp away.
"I have a task for you…both of you." That peaked Alpha's curiosity. "The natives of Arcadia are becoming problematic, namely the Saturnine. Kill or convert them, either way they will be an example for others."
The bald monster nodded a slow smirk spreading across his craggy features. "Any limits on what we can do?"
At that the Mother smiled. "No Mr. Morrow, there are not."
()
Tony watched in shocked anger as his daughter held the hand of the strange young man he had found her with. They both were following just behind the impromptu stretcher Jack was using for levitating the fucking freak. He couldn't believe it, not only did his daughter not remember him she showed more loyalty to the monster that murdered his wife then she did him!
His hands shaking Tony came to a decision, as surreptitiously as he could he flipped the safety off on his LMG. He moved to raise it but was stopped when someone pushed the barrel down. Tony's furious glare turned to Harper in shock. "D-don't"
Glaring hatefully at the impudent little shit he whispered heatedly. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"It won't g-get you anything. Th-think about it, T-tenenbaum can learn a lot from h-her, maybe enough t-to make the difference." Gritting his teeth in frustration Tony lowered his weapon and flipped the safety back on.
They arrived at their hideout several minutes later. Tenenbaum was waiting at the entrance, eagerly awaiting the arrival of her newest test subject. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the state the freak was in. She was next to the stretcher in seconds, intelligent eyes assessing the situation. "Interesting, she is obviously a post pubescent Gatherer. Judging from her injuries her healing abilities and metabolism are much slower then a younger Gatherer, though obviously still much faster then a normal human." Her eyes flicked to the Splicer doctor, Thompson Tony thought his name was. "How much have these injuries healed?"
Thompson nodded, like Tenenbaum he appeared to be all business not even bothering to greet the woman who was apparently an old friend. "Her ribs have nearly completed healing with the skin and muscle around that wound almost as far along as the bones. Her facial wounds have only healed enough to stop the excessive bleeding; her body appears to be prioritizing her chest wound over her facial injuries. She was…dead, for lack of a better word, for almost an hour before jerking back to life. I assume that her leech spent that time healing any and all critical internal injuries."
Nodding, Tenenbaum ushered Thompson and Jack, who was still levitating the bitch, into her lab. She almost closed it before the young man he had almost shot pushed his way into the room as well. Tony's eyes narrowed, he wasn't going to leave Jack and Tenenbaum alone in a room with three unknown threats. Ignoring Tenenbaum's exasperated glance Tony shouldered his way into the room as well.
Staring at the monster that had killed his wife and tried to kill him Tony voiced his mind. "We should restrain her."
Before the man, apparently named David, could object Tony's comment Thompson cut in. "David, the last time we saw her she tried to kill us. Restraining her is for the best, at least until we can reason with her."
With a resigned sigh David nodded. "Yeah…you're right. I-is there anything you can do for her?"
With a kind smile Tenenbaum shook her head. "No child, her body will take care of itself. The best we can do is make her comfortable." Turning fully away from the monster on the table Tenenbaum turned her attention to the newcomer. "I am already acquainted with Aaron and know Amanda's name through her father. You seem to be the only one here whose name I don't have."
Not taking his eyes off the fallen monster as Jack tied restraints around her limbs, David nodded absently. "I'm David…"
Unfazed by the man's distant response Tenenbaum smiled, resting her hand on the man's shoulder she attempted to comfort him. "She will be fine David, she's resilient…her kind were designed to be that way." Still staring at the abomination the man nodded again as he pulled a chair over.
Crossing his arms Tony glared at the freak and made his thoughts known. "We should kill it, it's a threat now. I'm sure you can get info from a postmortem examination."
Tenenbaum smiled slightly at him as she responded, though there was a definite warning in her eyes. "That won't be necessary Mr. Gibbs." She turned to Thompson gesturing towards the door. "Come, we will show you to your rooms." Her gaze turned to David before she continued. "Feel free to stay as long as you would like David, all I ask is you alert us when she once again regains consciousness." The man nodded again before he tentatively reached out and grabbed one of the abomination's hands in his own.
Tenenbaum led Thompson and Jack from the room. As he left Jack sent Tony a warning glare. Tony waited a second more before he followed his allies from the room. He was unable to repress a surge of disgust at the care the man displayed for the monster.
Well this chapter went much faster then I expected. Here you all go.