With a strangled yelp, Theta awoke from her slumber. She was in a white, featureless room. The only objects in it were the bed she had been sleeping on and a pile of clothes. Slipping out of the unfamiliar scratchy gown she was wearing she pulled on the grayish pants and pale yellow shirt. The fabric was obviously worn but was still soft to the touch.

Theta paused, head tilting curiously to the side. There was something that had been hidden beneath the pile of clothing. A small black box with a single red button atop it lay on the ground. There was a piece of paper taped to the box with the words 'push me' written on it. She raised an eyebrow skeptically…was this going to detonate a bomb or something?

After several more seconds of thinking on the subject, she tentatively hit the button. With a soft whirring sound a camera and screen flipped out from hidden compartments on the walls. The screen flickered to life and a green light on the camera turned on. An elderly woman appeared on the screen, she was smiling kindly at the confused experiment. "Hello child, you are understandably confused I assume?"

Staring blankly at the screen Theta nodded confusedly. "Your friend David says that your name is Samantha. Is that true?" Theta's heart stopped in her chest. She had been angry, so so angry…had she hurt him? She remembered chasing him and the doctor monster. She remembered a monster attacking her…it had been familiar to her…a sibling? She had been hurt…she'd woken up and…a vivid image of David's throat in her hand appeared.

With a horrified yelp, she shot to her feet. "Be calm child, your friend is okay." Theta slumped with relief at that news. Sitting down on the bed she crossed her arms and watched the elderly woman calculatedly.

The woman chuckled at Theta's attitude and introduced herself. "My name is Brigid Tenenbaum and there is much I must tell you."

Theta shifted uncomfortably as glee and rage fought for dominance inside her skull. She could remember Tenenbaum, now that she thought of it; she was surprised she hadn't recognized her sooner. Mama Tenenbaum had been one of the few rays of light in her early years. She had made a point to treat all of the Gatherers well and had even thrown them all a party once. The smell of the cake was still vivid in Theta's mind.

A surge of loathing for the elderly woman coursed through Theta's veins. She knew what the witch had done…she knew that elderly fiend had created the Gatherers. The she-demon smiling at her was the reason she was a monster and not a girl. The witch had found Adam, the witch had created Gatherers, the witch was directly responsible for Rapture's fall…

While Theta was furious at the witch feigning concern, she was no fool. If the witch could lie so could she. Transforming her face into the very picture of innocent curiosity, Theta played along with the witch. As she listened to the witch blather on about her mistakes she nodded and smiled her first true smile since waking, she was going to enjoy ripping her limb from limb.

()

Sandy smiled to herself at the sight of Tony and Amanda sitting together on the couch. The man was reciting some nonsensical story to his daughter that she had obviously heard many times before. The happiness radiating off of the normally taciturn man and the joy on the little girl's face made what they were doing completely worth it.

Her smile fell slightly as she turned her gaze to David. The young man appeared deep in thought. In a way she felt pity for the young man, he was obviously attached to the experiment. Personally Sandy wasn't sure what to think about her. On the one hand she was responsible for all that she had been through since her sister's disappearance, on the other she was just another victim of Rapture's twisted legacy. After a moment's consideration she decided to reserve judgment until she actually met the experiment.

Carol latched onto Sandy's hand as she smiled up at her big sister. "Can I show you my other Big Sister Sandy? I think you'd like her." Sandy wasn't sure how she felt about her sister's affection for the experiment.

"I'm sorry sweetie, she's sleeping right now."

"Sissy's sleeping?" Sandy's eye moved to Amanda's curious face as she questioned her sister's whereabouts. Tony appeared less then pleased at his daughter's concern; a small vein was pulsing in his forehead.

"Umm, yeah she's sleeping right now sweetie." Tony's scowl deepened as Amanda pouted.

"Aw, I want to see Sissy. I hope she gets up soon."

With a soft creaking the door to the room opened and Jack stepped in. "We're going to open the room." Sandy smiled as both the children perked up immediately; it appeared she was going to meet the experiment sooner rather then later.

()

Theta paced back and forth. Her mind was reeling and she was doing her best to hold back tears. It wasn't true, it couldn't be true. She helped her family because she wanted to, because she loved them. She wasn't…she wasn't a slave. She couldn't be. She hadn't betrayed David because she was ordered to…it had made sense. He had betrayed her first; he had been planning to abandon her!

If that was true, why did she stop? Why was she no longer enraged towards David? Why had the doctor monster's brief almost passive request make her stop in her tracks? She wasn't a slave…she wasn't a puppet…was she?

Theta jumped as a hidden door opened in the wall. She recognized the witch as she calmly entered her prison. She was flanked by a tall monster with tattoos of chains on his wrists. "How are you feeling Samantha?" Theta narrowed her eyes slightly at the witch. She was not that hag's concern! "Do you feel better?" Theta shrugged, she had no free will for as long as she could remember. How was she supposed to know if she was better? The witch sighed softly at Theta's response before looking to her larger colleague. "I suppose there's no other way." She turned back towards the doorway. "David, you can enter now."

Theta's heart jumped into her throat as David tentatively stepped into the room. The second she saw him a small part of her began to demand his death, she attempted to squash the feeling but it lingered stubbornly. She hissed and shook her head. It didn't matter. She wasn't a slave, and she didn't want to hurt him.

"You okay Sam?" Theta smiled softly and nodded at the foolish human, even now he was worried about her. Judging from the way his face fell slightly he could see that she had lied. Was she supposed to be okay? Her mind drifted back to something she had heard the mother say once. 'To give the faceless a mirror is a heinous crime.' Theta found herself looking into a mirror, and hating what she saw…

()

Sandy glanced up curiously as Tenenbaum, Jack, David and the experiment left the isolation room. Sandy's eyes widened at the sight of the formerly hostile entity. She was tall, about the same height as Tony who was about six and a half feet in height. Unlike the mammoth man, she was bone thin. The girl didn't look like she had an ounce of fat on her body. Her face was slightly gaunt, her cheeks sunken in just enough to be noticeable. Her thin face made her already large eyes seem almost too big for her head. Greasy amber hair came down a bit below her shoulders.

There was no sign of the horrible damage her face had taken just the previous day. Her healing ability was clearly amazing. Vibrant yellow eyes met hers briefly as the Big Sister caught her staring. Sandy felt naked as her calculating gaze seemed to measure what sort of threat she might be.

Under his breath Tony muttered. "We should kill the damn thing." Instantly the thing's calm face disappeared as she bared her teeth and released a chilling growl. She raised her arms, her fingers splayed out so her sharp nails were ready to tear into flesh. Faster then seemed possible she dove towards Tony.

"Sam no!"

Tony and the experiment were frozen in place. One of the experiment's hands was at Tony's throat, her sharp nails digging into the soft flesh of the man's throat. Her eyes were twin pools of bubbling acid as she glared into Tony's eyes. With an almost smug look, she pointedly glanced to her hand. Seeing that Tony understood the situation, she loosed a dismissive snort before releasing the man and taking several steps back. Sandy didn't miss the slight smile she sent David as he released a relieved sigh.

Tenenbaum stepped forward gesturing towards the others. "That was Tony." The large man glared at the experiment.

"This is Harper." The experiment sent the man a tentative smile as he gave her a nervous wave.

"And this is Sandy." The experiment's keen gaze landed on Sandy again, this time with something akin to an almost shy curiosity. The rapid transition from ruthless killing machine to semi shy girl was a strange one. With a surprised jolt Sandy realized that there was a good chance that the experiment was younger then her. If she was one of the first generation of Little Sisters she couldn't be more then nineteen, maybe twenty at the latest.

Realizing the younger experiment was still looking at her Sandy smiled slightly. "Hi, it's umm…it's nice to meet you." To her surprise, Sandy could see the Big Sister's eyes light up with a tentative hopefulness as a smile slowly spread itself across her face.

Any further interaction was stopped as a pigtailed blur flew past Sandy with a happy squeal. Latching on to her older sibling's leg, Amanda beamed up at the experiment named Samantha.

()

Theta stared in shock at the little girl that had been her sister. She was no longer one of her siblings; her dull, unexpressive, brown eyes were all wrong. A horrible thought crossed her mind. Why did she care about the little girl? Were her feelings towards her younger sibling just a result of her slavery? Had the mother thought that protectors who actually liked their charges would be better? What had the little girl ever done to endear herself to her? To be frank, Amanda and her other siblings tended to act foolishly and get themselves in to trouble.

With a low growl she pushed the little girl away from her. The child meant nothing to her; she had no reason to care about it. "Sissy?" With a more insistent growl, Theta pushed the girl away again. "Did I do something wrong?" Theta felt a surge of guilt at the child's hurt expression. She didn't care; she had no reason to care for the child. She was unable to suppress a whimper as she realized none of her relationships were real.

She suppressed a tearful scoff, why would any of her relationships be real? She wasn't even a real person. She was a joke, a puppet that had been unaware of its strings. The most important relationship in her life had been with her Daddy. Her daddy who had been some mindless monstrosity bound to her by genetics. To think, she had idealized him, wanted to be just like him. A choked sob slipped past her lips, it looked like she got what she had wanted. She was her Daddy's little girl, the perfect mindless puppet to do the bidding of those who pulled her strings.

()

"He's ready for you." Leo gave the Splicer a mocking nod and stepped into the indicated room. The room was mostly empty save for the table its lone occupant was chained to.

"How has your stay been, my friend?" The Splicer chained to the table was beaten bloody, his left eye swollen shut.

"Go fuck yourself! You are nothing but Lamb's puppet!"

Leo chuckled at the Splicer's nerve. "That may be true, but I'm not the one chained to a table."

"I already told you fucking freaks every damn thing I know! Thompson and the surfacer have help from somewhere. I don't know where for fu-" The man's tirade cut off as he collapsed into a wet coughing fit, splattering blood on the table. "I-I said I don't know where, or-or who is helping them!"

Leo nodded absently as he leaned against the table. "Yes and you've stuck to that story since we captured you. I admit that you are surprisingly persistent with your obviously false story."

The Splicer's fear crazed eyes desperately attempted to find mercy in Leo's near black eyes. "P-please, I've told you everything I-I know…you h-have to believe me."

Leo grinned down at the smaller man. "For what it's worth my friend, I believe you." The Splicer released a relieved sigh as Leo placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "However…I'm a thorough man. It's like my Grandma used to say, 'better safe then sorry'." His briefly comforting hand latched onto the smaller man's shoulder. The veins of Leo's hand and the Splicer's shoulder began to blacken.

The Splicer's agonized screams echoed around the small room.

()

Tony smirked openly as the freak released a frustrated scream and stormed from the room. "Well she's stable." His remark earned him a glare from David, Tenenbaum, and Jack. After a moment's hesitation, David excused himself and followed the distraught freak from the room. His smug gaze was distracted, when his daughter latched onto his leg sniffling heartbrokenly. Tony sent the fleeing monster another glare; it looked like he had another reason to hate the damn thing.

"So what's the game plan?"

Tenenbaum shifted in place, obviously deep in thought as she pondered Sandy's question. "I would like to accompany you on your next outing. I would like to get a better idea of how the Splicer's have devolved, and the easiest way to do that would be to see for my self."

"D-do you think the Big Sister w-will be coming with us?"

Tenenbaum shrugged as she sent a worried glance after the departed beast. "I am unsure." A crash from deeper in their hideout caused the entire group to flinch. "It depends on how quickly she accepts what has happened, and what she decides to do."

"In all honesty, she's taking this better then I thought she would."

Tony sent Thompson an irritated glare. "Oh really? What did you expect her to do?"

The doctor shrugged idly, his gaze blank as he looked into the distance. "Violence wouldn't have been much of a surprise." Much to Tony's chagrin, the man had a point. He had been more surprised then he liked to admit when the monster had controlled itself and left before it broke down.

"Are you done bickering?" Tony sent the reproachful Tenenbaum a cowed nod. "Good." She turned towards Jack. "I believe that Neptune's Bounty would be a good location for our next series of attempts. The Splicer population has never fully recovered from your previous…escapade there. In general it appears to have been a fairly uneventful location since Lamb's rise to power. As such she won't expect Gatherers to go missing there."

Jack smirked slightly upon hearing Tenenbaum's plan. "And I'm familiar with the layout of the area."

"That's all well and good guys, but if the doc is coming with us who's staying with the kids?"

The group paused as they considered Sandy's valid concern. "I-I'll stay."

"Surprising, you're so brave to stay behind in safety."

"L-listen you arrogant j-jackass, the only reason I v-volunteered is b-because I know I'm the w-worst fighter here!" Tony was too surprised to respond to the small man.

"You go Harper! Stand up for yourself!" The silence stretched on awkwardly as everyone stared at Sandy after her outburst. "What? I like to root for the little guy." Tony released an exasperated sigh and put a hand to his face, this was going to be a long day.

()

Theta paced around the small bedroom, trembling with rage and fear. What was she supposed to do? It had always been so clear to her and now…she didn't know what to do. Why should she care about her family? Any residual affection for her family was simply a lingering byproduct of her slavery. She didn't care about Amanda or any of her other ex sisters. They had done nothing for her to gain her affection! A strangled sob escaped her throat. Why did she still care? She just wanted to not care. Needing an outlet of some kind, she hurled a lamp across the room with an enraged growl.

"Sam?" Shame washed over Theta, it joined the hectic whirlwind of anger, sadness, confusion, hurt, loss and above all else exhaustion that was overwhelming her. Why did he have to follow her? How is he not even a little bit mad?

"Sam, are you okay." Her back to David, Theta nodded and hoped with all her being that he would believe her and leave. Much to her frustration, his hand grabbed her shoulder and gently turned her around. She could have resisted if she had really wanted to, she could have resisted easily, but she was too tired, she didn't want to fight anymore.

She could see concern in his eyes, concern and anger, though the anger wasn't directed towards her. She almost laughed when she realized the human was angry for her. "Are you okay?" He could no doubt see her tears, why would he even ask? With a distraught giggle, she shook her head as the tears began to pour forth again. How was she supposed to be okay? That was such a stupid question.

When David opened his arms, Theta accepted to offered hug with bone crushing force. She had known that her entire childhood had been some sort of indoctrinated slavery. After that she had thought that she would have been able to recognize if she were being controlled, she had been wrong.

"Do you want me to get Amanda?" At the mention of her faux sister, Theta released a hiss and shook her head. The little monster used her! She wanted nothing to do with her! "Are you sure?" Releasing a low growl she nodded her head, why wouldn't he drop the subject?

Much to her displeasure, David pulled away from the comforting embrace and studied her with his irritatingly perceptive gaze. "Do you…do you think that whatever feelings you have towards your sisters are what they wanted you to feel?" David didn't even flinch when she growled in response, why was he so good at reading her?

After a several second staring contest, Theta acquiesced and nodded her head. Having answered David's evil question she moved to hug him again, he stopped her by placing his hands on her shoulders. "You do realize that's bullshit, right?" Baring her teeth, Theta snarled at the impudent human. He couldn't understand what she was going through! Who was he to judge?

Raising his hands as his lips quirked up in his infuriating half smirk, David tried to calm the angry experiment. "Before you eviscerate me, let me explain." Hurt flashed across Theta's face at his verbal barb. She hadn't wanted to harm him! She was so sorry! How could he mock her about that? If that was how he was going to be, she was going somewhere else. Sending a hurt glare towards the human, Theta stood and spun towards the door.

Before she could leave, his hand grabbed her bicep and he spun her around. Using her acidic yellow eyes to their full effect, Theta glared pointedly at the human's hand and bared her teeth. Immediately he released her and took a step back, raising his hands above his head in an attempt to appear non-threatening. Theta felt a small thrill of satisfaction at scaring the human; she forgot how fragile he was sometimes. How, with a flick of her wrist, she could break him easily.

"Look Sam, I didn't mean it that way. I-I'm sorry." Her brief thrill quickly became shame; she didn't want him to fear her…

"Before you go, just listen to what I have to say." Theta shifted uncomfortably in place, she wanted to show she was sorry but she didn't want to scare him again.

"When we first met, wouldn't it have been easier, safer even, to ignore what Amanda wanted and just kill me?" Theta paused, that was…kind of a good point.

"You weren't just some mindless slave, you had limited choice. You may have been programmed to protect the Little Sisters, but they didn't need you to actually care for them. You made the choice to actually care about your family." Theta studied his face intently; he seemed to truly believe what he was saying.

"You chose to care about what you were doing, instead of just going through the motions." Theta could remember her older siblings. Some had done just what David had described, mindlessly going through the motions. Others had actually cared for their charges, a few had hated them. Maybe he had a point…

"They may have forced you to protect the Little Sisters, but you gave the task meaning. You turned the need to protect them into love." Theta didn't know if he was right, hell there was a good chance he wasn't, but she was going to believe he was. If he wasn't right she didn't know what she would do.

Theta jerked in surprise as she realized something. Every relationship she had had been the result of her indoctrination and slavery, all except one. Her indoctrination should have driven her to kill David, she had spared him. She may have attacked him when directly ordered to, but he was the one person she had that she had chosen to befriend. He was the one person who she knew she cared for, the one person who had earned her friendship. He may be irritatingly observant, comment on things at inappropriate times, and be almost worthless in a fight, but he was her friend, and she would protect him with her life.

With a happy hum Theta wrapped the surprised human in a tight hug. After a moment's hesitation, David's arms wrapped around her, as he began to rub comforting circles on her back. In response Theta nuzzled her face into his neck. She had found a purpose, she would protect him, and she would make sure that he got out of Rapture. She was a Protector, and she would give her life for her stupid…caring…sweet friend.

She was a Protector, and she would keep David safe…or die trying.

Sorry for the wait, had a minor case of writer's block and my damn dog broke my thumb drive. In a strange stroke of luck my current chapter wasn't lost, I did however loose all my previous chapters and my character referances. *sigh* I'm going to need to remake those. I also spent some time finalizing where I wanted the story to go, and in what order I wanted stuff to take place. Anyways the next chapters should hopefully not take quite as long.

As always please read and review.