I probably should have done this earlier, but thanks to Dracorex16 and Mechromando for being the first reviewers.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bioshock or any of the characters associated with it.

She had been remade.

With their needles and scalpels they had changed her. They had taken away her voice, her innocence, and even her name, but they had given so much in return.

In place of her innocence, they gave her sight. She could see the world for what it really was, and now she had the weapons to fight against it.

Her voice had been replaced by an echoing scream. A banshee's howl that would be the harbinger of death for so many fiends and monsters.

And her name… She had no need for that now. Instead she had a number. She was Epsilon-04, protector of the family and bane of the selfish.

It had been so difficult, so very painful, to get to this point. She had to endure the constant suffering that came from their operations, all the while battling against her own instincts. Her body wanted nothing more than to give into the ever-present blind rage and kill everyone she could find.

If it was not for mother's voice she may have fallen. Mother was always there, watching over her and her sisters as they fought to become what she wished. Her calm commands were a beacon in a sea of chaos. Without her, they surely would have been lost.

Then it was over. No more needles. No more operations. The rage was still there, but it was less intense now. It was something she could control.

She had been reborn. The helpless child was gone, replaced by a mighty champion of metal and Adam-fueled power. With all this armor and weaponry, she was going to be just like…

…. Daddy …

The leech in her stomach gave a lurch as the feeling of helpless sorrow washed over her. She couldn't pretend anymore. Daddy wasn't sleeping. He wouldn't wake up. He was gone, taken away by the enemies of the family.

Several years ago, this would have crushed her. The misery would have dragged her to the ground, never to rise again. But she was stronger now. She had learned to endure all different kinds of pain.

She wouldn't let his sacrifice be in vain. She would continue daddy's work and protect her little sisters against any who would dare try to hurt them.

She was Epsilon-04, and now she was ready to kill.

Epsilon jolted awake from her position underneath the display rack. For an instant, she didn't remember where she was. As the memories of her previous days filtered back her pulse slowed down to normal levels.

Her mind began to wander as she realized there was no rush to get up. She had been having such a nice dream too, remembering when she had first been inducted into the ranks of the big sisters. Come to think of it, what had woken her up? It had almost sounded like-

"Mister M! Help!"

Epsilon was on her feet in an instant. The scream had been distant, on the very edge of her hearing, but it was unmistakable.

It was a little sister.

She rocketed off the spot and blasted down the door with a wave of pure telekinetic force. The splinters of wood hadn't even hit the floor before she was past them, and speeding directly towards the sound.

Epsilon could hardly believe it. One of her sisters was alive! Her ecstatic excitement was overshadowed by worry. Judging from her shout, the girl was in trouble. There was no way she would let one of her sisters come to harm.

As she neared the source of her sibling's scream, she let loose one of her own. The earsplitting howl raced down the crumbling halls even faster than she was, telling one and all that death was running with her.

No barrier stood in her way. She vaulted over any fallen debris that tried to block her path, and even ran over a slow splicer that didn't get out of the way in time. She hardly even registered the feeling of his body being flung aside by her headlong dash.

In record time Epsilon had crossed the vast distance between her resting place and her sister's location. It was the very same den she had raided only a couple of days ago, and inside was her target.

Standing in the center of the room was a young splicer. One of his arms gripped the little sister while the other held a bleeding wound on his side. His eyes were wide and terrified.

Good. He should be afraid.

She shrieked out a battle cry as she catapulted into the room, using her momentum to guide her descent directly at him. Her harvester was aimed for his heart, and he had no time to dodge out of the way. Before she could land the killing blow however, something very strange happened.

As she fell towards him, he suddenly vanished in a cloud of red smoke. Unable to stop her descent, Epsilon's needle slammed into the ground at an awkward angle. The impact sent a painful jolt up her arm and caused her to let out a surprised yelp.

Angrily, she whirled around to see where her quarry had gone. She spotted his retreating form just as he disappeared through the doorway she had entered from with her young sibling in tow.

Epsilon howled in rage as she leapt towards the opening. Her blood sang as closed in on her prey.

The hunt was on.

This was bad. VERY bad. If Davian had a scale that measured just how bad a situation could be from one to ten, this would be around a fifty-thousand.

There were several golden rules that he had learned to live by in Rapture.

One: Never go to a surgeon that demands to be paid in advance.

Two: Never trust anything labeled as 'mystery meat'.

And Three: Never, EVER, get between a big sister and her victims.

If you happened to be her victim, well… you're pretty much screwed.

Already he was starting to feel the strain of his earlier exertions. His breath came out in ragged gasps as his lungs desperately tried to keep up with his sprinting feet. The injury in his side wasn't helping matters either.

Behind him, a fearsome screech signaled that the big sister had given chase. Davian knew he didn't stand a chance of outrunning her, even if he didn't have to carry Wren, but he had no intention of just running.

As soon as he set sights on the far end of the room, he let his plasmids do the rest. It was a massive strain on his Adam reserves to teleport with someone else holding onto him, but right now the threat of a violent death kept him from caring too much.

As soon as he and Wren reappeared, they were gone again. He didn't remain in one place for more than a couple of seconds. Just enough time to get his bearings for another jump.

He kept up the rapid teleports until he came to a room that looked as though it had been under construction when the civil war halted all progress. He was standing on a raised platform above a veritable sea of cement floors, pipework, and discarded construction equipment. He didn't see any other exits to the room, but maybe if he-

His train of thought was brutally derailed as his pursuer plowed into his back with the force of a missile. Wren was torn from his grasp with a cry, and in an instant; he and the big sister were thrown over the edge of the platform. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they hung suspended. Over his shoulder, Davian could see the glaring red porthole of his aggressor boring into him.

He didn't give himself time to think. Working on total instinct he teleported again. This time, directly up in the air. It was the strangest sensation of vertigo to suddenly have all sideways momentum shifted into upward force, but he knew he didn't have long to reach his next target.

Seeing a relatively open patch of cement, Davian vanished before he had time to start falling. His landing was less than graceful, but he luckily managed to roll so as to avoid injuring himself further. His opponent twisted in mid-air and managed to make her touchdown look both easy and elegant.

Both of them stood locked in a contest of wills. His blue eyes met her red visor as neither of them moved a muscle. He could hear Wren shouting at them from above, luckily she hadn't fallen off with them, but he couldn't make out the words. Every muscle was tensed in preparation for her next attack.

In Rapture one always had to be ready to fight for survival. Everyone and everything could kill you if you let them. Through long years of experience Davian had learned that fear, while sometimes useful, had to be controlled.

Working on steadying his breathing, he willed his emotions to drift back into his subconscious. His muscles began to loosen into a ready stance as their standoff continued. He had only one advantage over the metal-cased monster, and that was his wits and survival skills.

Davian's patience was rewarded. A slight bending of her knees was more than enough warning to alert him to her attack. As she rocketed towards him, he hurled a blast of flame directly at her before vanishing and reappearing some distance behind her.

The explosion of flames didn't seem to hurt her all that much, but they knocked her off balance. Davian had no intention of letting her recover. Before she knew what was happening, another flurry of fireballs impacted her back, sending painfully hot streaks of flame all around her armor.

She launched towards his new location, only to let out a cry of frustration as he disappeared again. From the opposite end of the room, he unleashed another volley.

She was ready for him this time.

Using her telekinetic abilities, the big sister pulled a cement mixer into the path of his attack. The orbs of flame exploded harmlessly on its metal body before she sent it hurtling in his direction.

This was when Davian made his first major mistake. Caught off guard by the unexpected display of plasmids, he rushed to teleport to safety. She hung back, waiting for the telltale red mist that would give away his destination. As soon as it appeared, she struck.

Davian materialized just in time to see her harvester swinging towards him like a sword. Unable to jump again so quickly, he lurched backwards in an attempt to escape. The movement turned what would have been a killing blow into a slightly less lethal maiming.

The needle traced a white hot line of agony across his chest as it tore through him. His breath came rushing out in a pained scream as he fell back, badly wounded, with her bearing down on him. Drawing on strength born from desperation, he shot a blazing wall of flame directly in her face.

The big sister recoiled screeching, allowing him to work up the concentration to jump again. He appeared behind a large storage container in the hopes that it would allow him to stay hidden for a few precious moments.

Davian's breath became more labored as the wound dripped his life away. One hand tried to stem the bleeding, while the other fumbled for one of his recently acquired first aid kits. Popping the tin open, he grasped the syringe inside and stabbed it into his body near the wound. As he depressed the plunger, the horrible pain of his injury slowly faded into a dull ache.

He let out a sigh of relief as the gash closed up. He might still die, but he wouldn't bleed to death before the fight was over.

It didn't take long for his enemy to locate his hiding spot. In a display of incredible telekinetic power, the big sister lifted up the entire container with the intention of crushing him beneath its bulk.

Davian wasn't about to fall that easily however. As the massive metal tomb came crashing down, he had already vanished. He blinked into existence a short distance away from his opponent and focused every ounce of energy he had left into one blazing fire blast.

The swirling ball of hellfire swelled to massive size as he hurled it at the enraged protector. At this distance she had little time to think about dodging away, and instead hastily pulled another object into the path of the projectile with her telekinesis.

Fortunately for her there were several possible shields nearby. Unfortunately for both of them, she didn't take the time to select the most suitable one.

Davian could only watch in horror as a large pallet of oil drums being was hoisted into the way of the flames. He had just enough time to raise his arms in front of his face when the shot connected, sending a massive explosion roaring through the confines of the room.

The shockwave hurled him away and sent shrapnel raking across his body. Landing painfully on his back, he was deafened by the ceaseless ringing in his ears.

After several moments he managed to struggle to his feet and block out the noise. Where had she gone? He knew he didn't have long to locater her before she struck again.

It only took Davian a second to find her. She lay crumpled on the ground several yards from where she had been standing when the oil drums detonated. It seemed that she had been far worse off than he was.

Her armor was scorched badly from the blast, and a large piece of metal debris had imbedded itself into her helmet.

Davian didn't dare to breathe, but it soon became clear that she wasn't about to get back up. He slumped to the ground as relief surged through his veins.

He was still alive.

He had been attacked by a big sister and he was still alive!

His moment of triumph was broken by a heart wrenching wail of dismay from behind him. Before he could react, Wren had dashed past him to the fallen monster's side.

"Big sister!" She cried. "Mister M! Big sister's hurt! Quick, fix her up!"

For an instant Davian was struck dumb. Surely he had misheard. There was no way that those words had just come out of her mouth.

"What?!" He exclaimed, certain that she hadn't just said that.

"Fix her up mister M, hurry!" The amount of concern in her voice shocked him just as much as her demand.

"I- She- You- What!?" He shouted. "She just tried to kill me! You can't seriously be worried about her after that can you!?"

As ever, using logic against a little sister proved to be pointless. Wren glared at him with tears in her eyes, fixing him with an accusing silence as though he was the one at fault.

"Wren-"

"No!" She yelled, cutting him off. "You have to help her! You have to, you have to, youhaveto!"

Davian was caught in a deadly trap. The noise from his fight with the big sister was sure to draw attention from the splicers that lived nearby, and right now he had no energy to fight them. Exhaustion pulled him down with each passing moment, threatening to drag him to the floor.

His Adam supply was even worse off. Fighting the first group of splicers had been draining, but the second battle had just about run him dry. He could already feel the chills and shakes begin to take hold of his body. If he didn't get home to his stash soon…

He didn't want to think about that.

To put it simply, Davian had no time to try and make Wren see reason. Her mental conditioning forced her to see the creature as some sort of guardian, and trying to undermine it would be incredibly difficult at best.

"Fine." He growled, shaking his head as he made his way to the big sister's body. "We can take her home and patch her up there."

In truth he wasn't too sure that it mattered what they did. She looked just about dead as it was, and he had no idea if she would be able to last during their walk back to safety.

Wren nodded rapidly as he knelt down to pick up the body. Davian was pleasantly surprised to find that, despite the armor, the big sister was relatively light. With a bit of effort he managed to sling her across his shoulders in a way that made carrying her manageable.

"Come on! Let's go!' Wren called, as she dashed ahead. She had already started climbing back up the platform that he had fallen off of earlier.

Davian groaned silently. He had forgotten about the fact that he would have to carry her back up to the top. Add that to the distance from here to his hiding place, mixed with the Adam craving that was setting in and it all pointed to one thing.

It was going to be a very long walk home.