(*^*)
oo00oo
Delta's skin crawled. The feeling of water against him felt normal, but he felt so exposed. A few minutes earlier he had wrestled the diving suit off of him, but the tubes had still been embedded in his neck. Luckily he found a screw and experimentally toyed with it. The screw was rusted and broke apart easily. He turned the tube and it fell out of him like a dead appendage. He repeated the process with the left one. When he had been completely been separated from the second skin he felt so light. He had skin and arms and legs and oh, it was great! He walked around the bathroom a bit, just to see what it was like. He was shorter without the boots, and with no weight on his chest he could feel the air travel through his lungs. But his favorite feature of this new body was his heart. When he put his hand to his chest he could feel it beating like a machine gun.
Now, he just stood in the shower, letting the water fall on him. He watched the gray streaks of dirt and sweat trail off his body and disappear through the drain. He shifted and stretched, the tingling slowly died down, now it was like the heat was soaking through to his bones. Delta got the feeling he would do this more. He ran his hands through his wet locks, unsurprised when he saw the amount of dirt on them. He rubbed his hair and scalp, relishing the feeling of skin on skin. His finger brushed something underneath the the mat of hair. He rubbed it gently and almost jumped when it sent a shock through his spine.
It was his scar. He wondered if the vita-chamber had reconstructed the bullet as well.
The rest of the time he spent in the shower passed quickly. He tore back the curtain and stepped out of the tub and was greeted with the coldest thing he had ever felt. The tile felt like ice! Did someone freeze the outside world when he was gone? His body started to shake involuntarily; almost as if he'd been shock with electro-bolt.
Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold- He finally grabbed the towel balancing atop the commode. Quickly wrapping the cloth around himself he glanced at the mirror unconsciously, they flicked back to the commode where the clothes rest-Wait what.
He looked back at the mirror, and watched his face turn into one of udder shock.
Red! He had a head full of copper red hair! Red hair! oh god. He started to pace. What will I do? He thought. Was there anything bad about red hair? One of Jack's daughters had red hair. But her's was frizzy and everywhere, mine was straight and uneven. It was about shoulder length if shorter. It had been at least fifteen years without a haircut. Should I just cut it now? Delta grabbed a pair of scissors from a cup on the sink.
"Father? Are you almost done?" Eleanor's voice came from the other side of the door along with two knocks. Delta freaked, ohgodohgodohgod do I cut? Do I look bad with this hair? Delta accidentally dropped the scissors, it made a loud clatter against the tiles.
"Father?! Are you ok? I'm coming in!" Eleanor called, Delta watched in horror as she slammed the door open. Delta clutched the towel to himself and braced for the worst.
"..." Eleanor didn't speak. Delta grew worried. What if she's disgusted with it?
"Since when do you have red hair?" She finally blurted out. Delta shrugged, unsure of how to handle this situation.
"You'll need a haircut, was that what you were trying to do?" she asked while bending down to pick up the fallen scissors. Delta shrugged again, for some reason he felt embarrassment.
"Well, how about after you put some clothes on? I've made tea, by the way." She finished taking the scissors with her as she left the bathroom.
Delta released a breath he didn't know he was holding and leaned on the sink. Delta sighed. He picked up the clothes and started getting dressed.
oo00oo
Eleanor set the scissors down on the kitchen counter. The sight of her father not in his suit seemed so surreal, but his unusual hair made it even more strange. She couldn't help but giggle. He had his towel clutched about himself like a girl who'd just seen a boy in the lockerroom.
"Big sister! Big sister!" Eleanor was startled out of her thoughts by a tug on her hand.
"I thought you guys were outside playing?" She wondered crouching to meet their height.
"They were, I need to speak to you for a sec, Where's Delta?" Jack's voice followed the girls.
"He'd getting clean and dressed, He'll be out in a while. What's wrong? Did something happen?" Did the men come back? Was Jack finally kicking us out?
"Really? He can get out of that thing? I thought the skin was graphed to the suit." Jack furrowed his eyebrows.
"Not the Alpha series, all others were. What is it that you need to talk about?" Eleanor stood. The girls scurried around her and ran off to God knows where.
"The girls, they were drawing Delta and another Rapture thing outside on the concrete. If and when those people come back we don't want any evidence piled up against us. I talked to them a bit about it but I think you should be the one to tell them about it." Jack said as he sat down in his chair and undid his tie.
"Oh, good. Well not good but you know what I mean. Tea?" Eleanor sighed a breath of relief.
"Sure why not. Why was that good? What were you expecting?" He inquired.
"Believe it or not I was expecting you to kick us out. I swear our luck has to run out at some point." Eleanor confessed, straining the tea.
"Eleanor I want you to know, I never will turn my back on you folk. You've been through the same hell I went through and came back with more survivors. You have the choice to use your power to get what you want up here but not once have I seen you or Delta raise your arms against another human. You both wield so much power, I don't think I could beat you both in a fight, yet you use none of it. You are happy just to be and I like that about you people." He proclaimed. Eleanor smiled and handed the tea to Jack.
"You're so kind; you know that, right? Back in Rapture it was every man for himself. You directly go against that principle and actually follow your moral compass. You're a hero." Eleanor praised heading back to the kitchen. Jack chuckled.
"I'm no hero. Just a guy in the wrong place at the right time." He uttered, pouring the contents of an amber whisky bottle into the steaming tea. A groan from the other end of the room alerted both parties.
"Father. I see you've decided to join us. Want some tea?" Eleanor questioned. Jack turned around in his chair to see a very tall very muscular man in black slacks too short for him and a blue button down dress shirt. He had a mop of unruly bronze-red hair and a pinkish scar running down his face. He would be intimidating if not for his eyes. Two big green puppy-dogish eyes looked at Eleanor, they really were out of place.
"Well someone cleans up nicely." Jack noted sinking back into his chair. "We'll need to get you more clothes, big guy." He took a sip of his spiked tea.
oo00oo
"So you didn't find anything? Is that what you're telling me? Its been a month- a whole month and still you don't have a single thing to impress me with? Alexander, you're slipping." The man at the desk declared. He was livid, you could nearly see the steam coming from his ears. Alex sighed.
"The case has nearly gone cold, there is close to nothing to report." Alex retorted through clenched teeth.
"You said close to nothing." The man said folded his hands together.
"Well yes. Two families reported their children acting strange one day, kept saying they 'smelt something good' earlier in the morning. One family stated that they didn't find their child in her bed but rather outside asleep on the flower bed. This isn't much but perhaps a better look around the area may prove to be useful." Alex recited, clearly annoyed.
"Thats all? That isn't jack shit. If you keep up like this I'm sure I could find a better man for the job with my eyes closed. You are dismissed. Come back when you have something worthwhile to report." The man turned his back to Alex via spinning chair. Alex was seething, he stormed out of the office ready to rampage. There was nothing to be found! Absolutely nothing! The closest he got was a paranoid country bumpkin that's never heard of sleepwalking! There wasn't even bad children on that street, everyone had young little brats except- except that one fellow. He said local kids scratched signs into his door. There was no way any of those kids could have done that. This may be just a hunch, but I believe Jack Ryan has something he isn't telling us.
oo00oo
Delta stared at the chestnut fluid. This would be the first time in forever that he would feed himself without the aid of the suit. He didn't know why he was hesitating. He put the rim of the cup to his lips and slowly let the fluid fill his mouth. He set the cup down and let the liquid just sit in his cheeks. Now what? Delta started to panic when his body reacted and made the liquid disappear. He just swallowed. For some reason Delta felt very stupid. He knew how to swallow but he never made the connection. He drank more and more of the tea, it was slightly sweetened and the taste was soothing. Delta decided he liked tea, he would have to get Eleanor to show him how to make it. Delta looked at his hands, there was angry flesh where the gloves had been. This was odd. Delta was for once light and limber, he was not restricted by his suit. The increased freedom made him itch to try it out.
"Father, more tea?" Eleanor asked from the kitchen when she saw his glass empty. Delta shook his head. Although delicious he felt he needed to wait a little longer before his next cup.
"Do you want me to give you a haircut now?" She questioned. I again shook my head. I felt right now was not a good time. We were both at a loss. Jack got up and turned on the record player, setting a vinyl down and adjusting the reader. Suddenly slow music filled the room. It was familiar. It was a song that played down in Rapture, I think it was called Chasing Shadows can't remember who by though. I actually liked this song, it played in the pilot room of the Atlantic Express. I listened to the song, It was without words but it had a certain charm to it. Jack sat back down in his chair, the resounding poof was lost in the notes of the song. Eleanor came into the living room and sat beside where I had taken my place on the sofa. She seemed content as she shifted into a comfortable position.
"I've found that music goes well with thoughts, and it's obvious we're all thinking." Jack mentioned. A giggle sounded from upstairs. A bird cawed from outside. The wind rushed through the trees. If this was a dream, none of them wanted to wake up. Suddenly Eleanor sat up. she looked about then settled her eyes on the window behind us. I spun around to look, and we both caught it. There was a rustle in the bushes in the backyard and through the leaves two shiny dots appeared then dissipated before our very eyes.
We were being watched.