Sand billowed up around her as she landed on the ocean's floor. Moving cautiously, Theta advanced on Fort Frolic. Obnoxious spot lights swept back and forth, lighting up the water around that section of Rapture. Unlike most areas of the fallen city, Fort Frolic's lights had been maintained. Apparently the egotistical monster that ruled here didn't want the various advertisements for its 'art' to be forgotten.
"Keep moving girlie, we don't got all day!" Hissing in irritation, Theta slapped the side of her helmet. Much to her displeasure they had found that her new helmet had a camera mounted on it and an internal radio. The stinking ball of flab they found themselves forced to work with was now watching her every move. "Heh…if I knew I could get you to hit yourself that easily I'd have done it sooner."
Ignoring the irritating ball of refuse, Theta crouched behind her rock. When the nearest spotlight passed her she acted. Moving with practiced ease, she leapt to the top of the boulder. Bracing herself against her perch, she pushed off of the boulder, gliding gracefully towards the garishly decorated walls of Cohen's den of pleasure.
"Hurry the hell up girlie! That lights coming back!" Much to her irritation, the fat one was correct. While she'd have preferred to have been able to get to the window so she could survey the surroundings of her destination, she couldn't risk getting caught yet. With an inaudible pop she appeared inside the walls of the fort.
"The shit?" Raising an eyebrow, Theta glanced at the monster she had not seen until it was too late. The monster had painted itself bronze and had been holding completely still. She had truthfully thought it had been a statue of some sort. Though now that she thought of it, she doubted anyone would create a statue of one of those freaks.
Before the monster could do more then look surprised, Theta's hand lashed out. Grabbing the beast's throat in her hand, she dragged the monster into a side room. With the monster out of easy sight, she tore its throat out. The monster collapsed with a wet gurgle.
"Keep moving girlie, we're on a time limit here!" Theta rolled her eyes but followed the fat one's directions. Moving slowly, she peeked out in to the hallway. Seeing no cameras, she began to run as quietly as she could down the hallway. "Take the next right." Theta sidled up to the indicated passage and peeked out into the hallway. A camera was mounted about halfway down the hallway. Slowly moving back and forth, it surveyed its domain.
"It's panning each way every seven seconds." Theta nodded, that was the first helpful thing the flabby beast had said. "Three." Theta crouched, getting ready to spring. "Two." Closing her eyes, she braced herself for what would happen if she was wrong. "One." Theta launched herself forward.
She could see the camera out of the corner of her eye as it slowly turned away from her. After a few seconds of running she was directly beneath the camera and invisible to it. She waited impatiently as the camera panned around the area; she needed to time this perfectly if it was going to work. She was unable to teleport as the cloud of smoke and audible pop would most likely alert security.
The sound of movement at the end of the hallway caused Theta to freeze in place. "And I'm tellin you! 'e's not right in the 'ead! All this wonky shit 'e 'as us gettin up to, is not right…am I right?"
A lanky monster with bulky glasses was flailing its arms about, apparently talking to itself. Without warning its voice rose to a higher, almost feminine, pitch and it responded to its own question. "That man is a genius! Working with him is our only chance at fame! Imagine it! Our names in lights!"
Theta's head tilted to the side in confusion. What the hell? This monster appeared to be more deranged then most. "Well, he's a colorful one…" Theta rolled her eyes at the rotund one's comment. Still rambling to itself, the monster ambled out of her line of sight. As it rounded the corner, Theta loosed a relieved sigh. She glanced up at the camera, noting it was panning away from where she needed to go.
In a burst of speed impossible for anything else in the ruined city, Theta cleared the last hundred feet of the hallway roughly a second. "Damn girlie, you've got some legs on you!" Theta found herself in the central atrium of Fort Frolic. She could sense a huge concentration of Adam in a cavernous room off the second level of the atrium. In a smaller room to the side she could clearly smell her young siblings.
Much to her frustration she couldn't risk moving to their aid yet, if she was stopped or incapacitated there would be no way for the others to enter this madman's abode. Moving away from the Adam and her siblings, she headed towards the bathysphere station. There was a surprising lack of cameras in this section of the city, maybe the monster in charge felt it didn't need it. Or maybe the monster…a grating noise signaled a large door opening behind her…really didn't need it.
Casting a furtive glance over her shoulder, Theta was greeted with the unwelcome sight of four crazed Daddies chained to the back of their room.
With a metallic clack, the chains were released.
"Shit…"
()
"First trials on willing subjects showed no change for several days. This time frame was deemed unacceptable. The subjects were disposed of and we proceeded to work on a way of accelerating whatever changes this substance does. We found success with a mixture of the substance, steroids, and a heavy duty stimulant." The man breathed deeply, the sound wheezing strangely through his mangled nose.
"The subjects proceeded to progress through a series of random mutations. The subjects' mental instability was originally believed to be a symptom of the stimulant that was applied; unfortunately the subjects never regained their wits. O'Brian recommended terminating the subjects, I overrode his decision. They could be useful for further testing." The man sighed; a dull thud announced his frustration as his head hit his desk.
"The specimen is considerably more frustrating. Its hostility is responosible for three dead and six people maimed…including the incident with my nose. Tests of its intelligence have proven difficult, as it rarely cooperates. The last time it did…Jenson never saw it coming. Despite its refusal to communicate I am convinced of its intelligence. The look in its eyes as it watches us…" The man took a shaky breath. "…like a cat indulging the mouse. Whenever I enter the room, it focuses solely on me. I believe it realizes I am in charge."
"Unlike the others who are exposed to the substance in its blood, the specimen shows no visible signs of mutation, aside from its eyes that is. An autopsy revealed several more subtle mutations however. Its muscle tissue is roughly five times denser then that of a normal human, it could easily rip a man apart. Cell division is massively sped up; this results in an incredibly fast regeneration rate. If this mutation results in an expedited aging process remains to be seen. This mutation also appears to be tied to the amount of the substance in its blood, regeneration speeds have slowed to roughly one sixteenth what was previously recorded. While considerably slowed this is still much faster then the human norm. Interestingly, the specimen seems to have an additional organ or gland attached to its stomach. I believe that this organ has something to do with the substance in its blood, though I can not be sure."
"My biggest concern currently is keeping the subject alive; it has refused food and drink repeatedly. At best, the last time it nourished itself was going on seventy two hours ago. Attempts to force it to eat have been unsuccessful. Due to its regeneration intravenous feeds are out of the question. When we tried to feed it orally it allowed itself to be fed only long enough for a guard to get within range. The entirety of the man's pointer and middle fingers were bitten off along with the majority of his ring finger. We would have retrieved the man's digits but…" The man let loose a shaky sigh. "The specimen had already swallowed them by the time we stopped the bleeding."
"I can remember the look in its eyes as lunged at me… Sir, I know you won't listen but, it's my professional opinion that we terminate the specimen. We can learn almost as much from its corpse."
The sound of the door to her cell opening stopped Alpha's eavesdropping. She smiled absently causing the small man to shift uncomfortably under her gaze as the dried blood around her mouth cracked and flaked. "I-I need a blood sample." Despite the terrible pain in her chest, she had yet to recover from their autopsy, she laughed at the weak human. Focusing her gaze on the man's nametag, she glared at the small object.
She felt a slight pinch in her arm but she ignored it. Still focusing on her task she glared at the rectangular object, cataloguing the small picture of the man. Mathew Stone, so that was the man's name. "I-I know this is uncomfortable. It'll only be a few more seconds." She ignored the insignificant worm, glaring intently at the object perched on his chest.
"Alright I'm done, th-thank you for behaving." As the man turned to leave it happened, his nametag pulled itself from his shirt and fell to the floor. Smile spreading into a vicious grin, Alpha watched passively as the man picked it back up and fastened it to his chest.
Her abilities were coming back. Soon, very soon, these humans would have no idea what hit them.
()
"She should be here by now."
"Kid, shut the hell up! If there's anyone in this damn city that's safe, it's that…thing."
Before this exchange could degrade into a fight, Jack put himself between the two. "David, she's only three minutes late. Tony, calm down. You aren't doing any good like this." David was the first to react, with an anxious sigh he turned back to the lowered gate. Sending the smaller man a heated glare, Tony turned to the entrance as well.
"I don't like this guys. If anything, I'd have thought she'd be early." With a nod, David gestured to Sandy.
Before the fight could be rekindled, their radios crackled to life. "Guys…you might want to get ready. Girlie's got some friends."
"Shit!" Growling under his breath, Tony readied his mammoth assault rifle. The others followed suit, David readying his shotgun, Harper his crossbow, and Sandy her pistol.
With an unnatural calm, Jack hefted his wrench in one hand. "Get ready everyone." He slowly raised the other, the skin blackened and blistered as flames surged to life. "Whatever is coming, we can take it."
From the other side of the barrier the sounds of combat grew louder and louder. Inhuman roars and grunts approached rapidly. A painfully high pitched scream of pain caused everyone to flinch. "Damn it Sam…"
The large door shook violently as something large impacted it. There was a crash as something made of glass shattered. Almost immediately after, an enraged roar sounded.
"Come on, Come on."
A wet squelch followed by something impacting the wall. With a low groan, the door began to open. Before it could get even halfway open Theta rolled underneath. She was a mess, her armor bloodied, her right arm was drenched in blood, and something that looked suspiciously like gunshot wounds riddled her back.
With an enraged howl, an Alpha Series tore through the door and charged after Theta. She leapt to her feet, jumping out of the crazed beast's reach. Screaming insanely, the monster ran past the others and slammed into the wall. As Theta's human allies turned to face the monster that had ran past, she braced herself for its friends.
Roaring inanely, the two remaining beasts charged into the fray. The smaller of the two, still standing an impressive seven and a half feet in height, swung an anchor like an overgrown mace. Theta was barely able to dodge the deadly blow.
Before she could regain her bearings, the larger of the two slammed into her. The beast was mammoth, even by Big Daddy standards, standing nearly nine feet in height. Its visor had been smashed, revealing the nightmarish face of the enraged beast. Lidless white eyes stared forward with a mindless hate, the beast's nose looked like a partially melted candle one nostril entirely revealed. Its mouth was malformed and mutated, jagged razor sharp teeth lining its unholy maw. Snarling right back at the fallen knight, Theta's head shot forward. What remained of the beast's nose was shattered on impact sending the beast reeling backwards.
On the other side of the entrance area, Tony was yelling in rage almost as much as the monster he was fighting. Unloading countless rounds into the beast's armored bulk. Revving its drill, the beast dove towards the large man. With a speed surprising of a man of his size, Tony leapt out of the way. As the beast spun to follow its prey, a beam of concentrated cold hit its visor blinding it. The monster flailed aimlessly until it wound up facing David. Its crazed screaming was silenced once and for all as David's shotgun tore through its weakened visor and punctured its brain.
Howling like a rabid wolf, the smaller of the two monsters tugged fruitlessly at the anchor that hovered several feet above the ground. Theta leapt gracefully over the larger monsters head, barely resisting the urge to laugh as it barreled into its smaller brother. As she lunged after the furious due, she released her telekinetic hold on the anchor. The mammoth weapon fell atop the smaller of the two, crushing its skull to a pulp.
In an impossible burst of speed, the larger monster leapt to its feet and slammed into Theta. She was unable to suppress a pained whimper as she felt several of her ribs pop on impact with the wall. Trying to separate herself from the furious entity, she swung her barely operational right arm at the beast's head. It was caught effortlessly. She had less then a second to brace herself for agony.
With a dismissive grunt, the beast twisted her arm cruelly. As her shoulder popped from its socket and her wrist shattered she loosed an agonized scream. Before the beast could do further damage a hail of bullets slammed into its armored bulk. Snarling in the back of its throat, the beast whirled around and charged towards the first target it saw…Sandy.
Screaming in terror, Sandy turned and began running in the opposite direction. Still firing, Tony put himself in between the monster and the fleeing girl. The bear of a man was hurled effortlessly through the air by something that made even him look small. Using some sort of plasmid, the beast began to move even faster. It gained ground on the fleeing human effortlessly.
The beast's gauntleted hand snatched the young woman's hair. As she loosed a scream of terror and pain it lifted her into the air. The beast lifted the struggling human so she was level with its face. For a moment it paused, studying the girl with what appeared to be detached curiosity. Without warning its warped maw opened and it roared in the terrified human's face as she screamed in abject terror.
The beast grabbed Sandy by the jaw, its mammoth hand covering her mouth and nose. As the human struggled futilely, the monster's arm tensed as it prepared to crush the weak human it held in its grasp. Before it could, the scream of a banshee reverberated around the hall. Like an avenging angel, Theta flew at the armored monstrosity. Her left arm slammed into the beast's unarmored head. There was a barely audible click. With an explosive bang, Theta's 'punchgun' went off and the beast's head exploded in a rain of blood, bone, and brain.
The dead monster's nerveless fingers dropped Sandy as its headless corpse collapsed. For several seconds the only sound was the soft sobbing of the blood drenched human crumpled in a boneless heap next to the deceased beast. Crooning softly, Theta crouched next to Sandy trying her best to comfort her human friend. "I'm sorry, I-I'm sorry. I just, I couldn't."
"That thing bashed through me like tissue paper. You've got nothing to be ashamed of Sandy." Allowing Theta to help her to her feet, Sandy sent a grateful smile to Tony.
"Everyone okay?" A chorus of affirmative answers followed Thompson's question.
"Where are you hurt Sam?" Theta winced and motioned to her right arm. Her arm was obviously dislocated, her wrist swollen to twice its normal diameter, and the suit was in tatters. "Do you want me too…" Cutting off, David gestured weakly at her shoulder. Gritting her teeth, Theta nodded. She was unable to suppress a pained whimper as her shoulder popped back into place audibly.
"We need to get moving!" Tony was uncaring of the experiment's pain, only interested in finding his child once again.
"Tony, we can wait long enough for her to recover."
With a slight groan of discomfort, Thompson crouched painfully next to Theta. "Do you want me to help Samantha?"
With her left hand, Theta pried her helmet off and dropped it onto the ground. Her glowing gaze hesitantly found Thompson's, after a moment's thought she nodded. Sending her a slight smile, Thompson injected her with a dose of modified Adam. The healing agent acted quickly, it combined with her innate healing ability left her feeling almost as good as new quickly.
"Damn Sam, you killed two of them alone." Smiling, she shook her head and held up three fingers. "Hey! I'll have you know that I killed that one!" Theta laughed softly and shook her head again. "Wait, there were four!" Theta leaned forward resting her head against David's chest, releasing a tired sigh she nodded.
"Theodore! God damn it! Answer the fucking radio!" Static was Tony's only reply. "You fat son of a bitch! If you are leaving us out to dry, I'll fucking kill you!"
Without warning haunting music began to play of the speakers mounted on the walls. Her knuckles going white around her pistol, Sandy glanced around nervously. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
His eyes closed, Jack sighed tiredly. "So much for sneaking in here…"
As if waiting for Jack to speak, a warped voice laughed over the speakers. "Very good little moth, very good."
"Why the hell are wasting our time with words you fucking freak!"
The voice deepened, taking on an inhuman quality. "Mr. Gibbs, I was talking to the bastard son of Rapture's first dictators. Not the broken shell of a soldier, unable to cope with loss."
Tony recoiled as if struck, mouth opening and closing as he tried to recover sufficiently to respond. Before he could, Jack stepped in. "Alright Cohen, we're talking. What the hell do you want?"
The voice returned to its previous pitch, back to the charismatic madman. "It was so rude of you to ignore my first invitation. I simply had to ask once again. Given how horridly sentimental you were the last time we crossed paths, I chose to take your children as my guests, some…incentive if you will."
"What do you want?" The voice on the radio paused, as if trying to figure that out for itself.
The lights in the previously dimly lit area came to life and all of the gates opened. "Why, for you to come in, of course. I have much I want to show you little moth."
"Well…that was ominous." Theta sent David a bemused glance. Once again, his talent for stating the obvious was amazing.
()
Banes grinned, revealing his sharpened teeth, as he saw Leo stalking out of the Persephone Medical Facility. The massive man looked irritated, coming to a stop at the tube leading to the rest of Persephone he pulled out a cigarette. He lit it with a sigh and stared out into the abyss beneath Persephone, and the strange source of light coming from the depths.
He didn't react as Banes approached, casually taking a puff of his cigarette. "You ever wonder what it is?" The man's normally booming voice was soft, thoughtful even. Banes was reminded, once again, not to underestimate the behemoth of a man. Despite his brutish appearance he was intelligent, cunning, and above all else cruel.
"What what is?"
Crossing his arms, Leo nodded towards the strange light. "Some of the inmates say it's an alien ship." He laughed once, a puff of smoke drifting from his mouth. "Fucking idiots will believe anything." Banes refrained from saying that upon seeing the strange light, his first thought had been aliens as well. "They say it's the cause of all of this."
For several seconds the disparate due stood in a, for one side at least, uncomfortable silence. Seeing Leo wasn't going to say anything, Banes responded. "You mean the Adam?"
Leo laughed ruefully once again, still not taking his eyes off of the abyss. "What else would I be talking about?" Not giving Banes the chance to respond, he continued. "That part of their conspiracy theory I find myself agreeing with." He gestured towards the light with the hand holding the cigarette, leaving a thin trail of smoke. "Whatever the fuck that thing is, it's got to have something to do with all this."
For the second time in as many minutes, Banes found himself in an uncomfortable silence. With an internal groan he ended it. "What do you think it is?"
Leo took his time answering, seemingly pondering the question as he took several drags from the cigarette. "I've got no idea. For all we know it could be an alien ship, some weird ass chemicals…" A pessimistic laugh. "…or God's rotting corpse…"
They descended once again into a long silence leaving Banes increasingly uncomfortable. Trying to end the quiet as soon as possible, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Why were you at the doctor's?" Instantly the quiet and rueful Leo was gone. Eyes narrowing into a glare, he tossed his cigarette aside.
"I erm…I just mean that you obviously aren't sick."
"Baney boy…don't think, you're not good at it." Having said his piece, Leo turned and stalked away from the confused Splicer. At the bulkhead door leading to Persephone he paused. Taking out a second cigarette he lit it. "Banes." He took a drag. "If you ever ask me about this place again I'll torture you within an inch of your life. I will then allow you to recover. Just when you are on the verge of recovery, I will kill everyone you've ever cared about." He took another drag. "Then, when you are begging for death, I'll feed you to an Alpha series." His voice was nonchalant, as if he was discussing the weather. He glanced over his shoulder, his dark eyes meeting Banes' surprised gaze. "Just so we're clear."
Shocked beyond words, Banes could only nod silently, wondering what sort of hornets nest he'd unintentionally kicked.
From now on, Radios are in italics. Sorry if that was confusing. I was planning on having the next Cohen and Alpha scene in this chapter but it was getting too large.
Anyways, please read and review. The next chapter should be up faster then most, I've been looking forward to writing the next few sections since I first started this.