This one is a bit shorter than the previous ones, but the next chapter is hopefully where things start to get interesting.

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

"Don't just stand there you blithering idiots! Find him!"

The command was answered by a dozen different confirmations, and cries of fury. From his hiding spot, Davian could hear them charging around looking for him. He had never been so scared in his life.

The bundle in his arms began to squirm again, causing a fresh wave of panic to grip him. His hand latched onto the little girl's mouth just in time to prevent a scream from giving them away.

"Shut up!" He hissed, down at the terrified child. "Do you want them to kill us both?"

His words only served to drive her further into her hysteria. Davian could hear her muffled cries for her daddy, who would never be coming back.

Why had he been so stupid!

It had all been so simple at first. Follow Benny's hit squad, and scavenge whatever scraps they left behind. It was easy, safe, and almost guaranteed to net him some good supplies. At least, it had been up until they took on the bouncer…

The poor metal man hadn't stood a chance. Their entire group had opened fire from different directions, effectively disorientating him and securing their victory. By the time he had figured out where the shots were coming from, he was already dead. Davian had remained nearby, watching the fight from the shadows. He felt a slight amount of pity for the giant, but it certainly wasn't anything that he would have lost sleep over.

Then he saw the kid.

The little sister clung to her dead protector as though her tears could convince the reaper to bring him back. Instead of running for her life when the splicers closed in, she only started crying harder. Their grins of anticipation showed exactly what they intended to do with her.

Davian didn't know whether it was the Adam messing with his judgment, or just how pitifully helpless she looked, but something in him snapped. He wouldn't let them kill her too.

The plan, if it could be called such, was to simply teleport in, start shooting flames, grab the girl, and get out. It had worked for the most part also. The splicers under Benny's command hadn't been expecting a new threat to suddenly pop out of nowhere, and by the time they figured out the danger two of them had caught fire.

It was all going well right up until he jumped away with her in hand. To put it simply, she started screaming like an emergency siren. The noise had told the splicers exactly where he was, and they were quick to exact their revenge. Two bullets had burrowed into Davian's leg before he had the chance to vanish.

Now here he was, cowering behind a pillar and praying that they didn't find him. All the while his leg was leaking blood into a puddle on the floor. He couldn't focus enough for another jump, and already his vision was going dark.

The sound of boots on metal told him that the chase was over.

"You've got something that doesn't belong to you." Benny said, glaring down at him. The shotgun in his hands was leveled at Davian's chest. He couldn't possibly miss from this range.

Ironically enough, it was now that the girl stopped struggling. The peril of her situation had finally set in, and the only sound she could make was a strangled whimper.

"Hand her over, and I'll make it quick."

Davian glared back in what was likely the last thing he would ever do. "Piss off." He said, with as much conviction as he could muster. "I'm sure you can find some gutter skank if you're that desperate."

Benny's expression turned several degrees darker.

"Not the answer I was looking for."

The shotgun gave a click as the trigger was depressed, before an explosion wiped away all other sensation.

Davian slowly woke from his fitful sleep. Despite his initial assumptions, he had managed to drift off after several hours of listening for the slightest disturbance from their new roommate.

Groaning, he rose up off his mattress while stretching his stiff limbs. The night hadn't been kind, and he was really missing the days when he used to have a real bed.

Eventually, he managed to get dressed in the same ratty old clothing that he had been wearing for the better part of half a decade now. It was one of only three sets of cloths he owned, and currently the only one without holes or bloodstains.

Davian spared a moment to do a self-examination in the badly cracked mirror he had propped up in a corner. His chin was getting a bit fuzzy from lack of shaving, but other than that everything seemed to be normal.

You're stalling. He thought to himself.

It was true, he was stalling. In all likelihood the big sister would be gone when he left the room, but there was still the slim chance that she had never left. If she was still out there, he had no idea what might happen. Had her earlier visitation been a warning? A challenge? Was she just waiting for a rematch?

Davian didn't know, and he really didn't want to find out. Odds were if she wanted another go, he wouldn't be saved by a lucky blast again.

You won't get anywhere by hiding in your room forever. Probably not, but was that any reason not to try?

Taking a breath to calm his nerves, he stepped out of his room and into the safe house. It became immediately apparent that she hadn't left.

The big sister was currently sitting with Wren, watching intently as the girl displayed her vast collection of drawings.

"And this one is the time mister M taught me how to hide from the bad people." She said, pointing to one of the papers. "We were so sneaky! None of them even saw us. It was scary, but it was also really fun."

The big sister nodded her head, while giving a hum of approval. The scene seemed oddly tame to Davian. A massively powerful metal monster was currently playing babysitter to a little girl, with no killing or horrible violence involved. He almost didn't want to interrupt.

"So you're still here?" It was more of a statement than a question, but it had the desired effect. Both of their heads turned up at the sound of his voice. The sister's helmet hid her expression, but the tension in her stance made it clear that she was expecting trouble. As he watched, one of her arms wrapped protectively around Wren's body.

Davian resisted the urge to reach up and rub his forehead. It was clear that if anything was going to be done, he would need to do it himself.

"Well…" He began. "Since you seem intent on staying, maybe we could work a few things out." She gave no indication that she had even heard him. "First off, I won't try to kill you if you don't try to kill me, deal?"

After an extended pause, she gave the barest movement of her head in what might have been a nod. Tension flowed out of Davian's body as he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Finally, progress. It was still apparent that she neither trusted, nor liked, him, but it was better than nothing.

"Ok then." He said. "In that case, let me introduce myself since we really didn't get well acquainted earlier. My name is Davian, and that's Wren." He gestured towards the girl in her arms. "Do you have a name… or anything like that?"

Epsilon wanted to scoff. 'Davian'? The name was overly dramatic, more suited to some playwright or politician than a non-descript drug addict.

"Do you have a name… or anything like that?"

That killed her sense of humor. No. Of course she didn't have a name. Even if she did, it wasn't like she was able to tell him what it was. But before she could shake her head, Wren cut in.

"I know! I know!" She said, jumping up and down. "Her name is E, see!" At this, she pointed excitedly at Epsilon's gauntlet.

Sure enough, engraved into the glove was what looked like a malformed letter E. She knew it was the symbol for the number Epsilon, her designation, but had no way of explaining that to her younger sibling.

"E, huh?" Davian asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you all named after letters of the alphabet?"

She rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see it. He wasn't in much of a place to judge after being constantly referred to as 'mister M'.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say that you probably won't want to go around being called E." She just stared dryly at him. Truly this splicer's grasp of the obvious was above and beyond that of his peers.

He started scratching the back of his neck, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Epsilon got the feeling that she wasn't going to like whatever he was going to say next.

She was right.

"Then I guess the only thing we can do is give you a name."

She flinched back, staring openmouthed behind her helmet. Give her a name? Why would she want a name!? She had a number! And a damn good one too. Who else could go around saying they were Protectorate M2 Epsilon-04? Nobody, that's who.

Davian seemed entirely oblivious to the reaction he had caused. "Maybe we could write up a list, and you could pick one you like? Or would you prefer we just start making suggestions?"

Epsilon growled threateningly, while balling her hands into fists. She unconsciously moved her harvesting needle in his direction.

Davian backed away a bit, raising his hands in a gesture of submission. "Come on now." He said. "If you're going to be staying for a while we need to be able to call you something. What's wrong with having a name anyway?"

What was wrong? She didn't want a name, that's what's wrong! She gave up her name to become a protector of the family. To take a new one just felt like it would be betraying that sacrifice. Still, he didn't seem to get it, and Wren had already started writing down whatever name ideas she could come up with. Sighing, Epsilon realized that she wouldn't be able to get out of this easily.

Sitting down heavily on the couch, she gestured dismissively towards him. Let him call her whatever he wanted, she would still be Epsilon regardless.

"Ok…" He said, unsure of whether this was a good sign or not. "Just give me a moment to come up with something."

Wren looked up from her messy writing, waiting as his brow furled in concentration. Was he actually putting some thought into this? Did he honestly think it was important? It's not like her new name was a big deal, it was just something for them to call her. Still, Epsilon found herself wondering what he would choose.

"I think I've got one." He said. Oddly enough, he seemed a bit hesitant. "What about Amelia? How does that sound?"

She just shrugged. She had no opinion on the name one way or another; if that was the one he wanted that was just fine.

"I like it." Wren chirped. "It sounds really pretty."

Looking back and forth between the two of them, he nodded. "All right then, nice to meet you Amelia. Make yourself at home I guess, there's not much I can actually do to stop you. Just please try not to smash anything unless it's absolutely necessary."

With that, he edged his way past her into another room. Wren went back to drawing, while Epsilon mouthed the name silently.

Amelia…

It wasn't as bad as it could have been. A bit soft for her tastes, but still useable. Though something did seem a bit off, it was almost as if the name had some significance judging by his reaction to using it.

She decided not to worry about it. A name couldn't hurt her, and if it held any meaning it couldn't be that important. He wouldn't have offered it if it was.

At least, that's what she assumed.

Davian sat at his table, closely examining the maps he owned. There was a lot of Rapture he couldn't speak for, but these helped out quite a bit.

He couldn't make the b-Amelia leave, so their supplies would run out even faster than he had originally planned for. Even so, having her on their, or more specifically Wren's, side could be a major asset. There were few things in the city that would willingly mess with her.

For the first time in a very long while moving didn't seem like a death sentence.

Still, he needed to plan out where they would be going. No amount of Adam enriched muscle would help if they couldn't find a destination.

His eyes moved back to one section in particular. It wasn't the closest, but the more he thought about it, the better it seemed.

Pauper's Drop.

During the time of Lamb, it had been one of the family's central command areas. That had all changed when Delta came tearing through. From what Davian heard the metal giant had single-handedly leveled the place, killing off just about everything in his path.

This was a good thing. If the local splicer population had been wiped out, it was unlikely that they would recover to any semblance of their former numbers. Not to mention the fact that there were already homes and supply areas set up in the Drop.

It was not without risk, however. The journey would be a fairly long one through unfamiliar territory. They would even need to take one of the underwater trains to get past some of the collapsed tunnels.

All in all it was dangerous, but it was still the best plan he could come up with.

Davian rolled the maps back up and stored them away. He would still have to explain the situation to Wren and Amelia. Neither of them seemed aware of their current predicament.

Once he did that, there would be the issue of what to bring. They wouldn't be able to transport everything, so only essentials would be salvaged.

Everything else…

Well, Davian had no intention of leaving it for other splicers to scavenge. It was unlikely that they would ever be back here, so anything that was left behind would probably have to be burned. There was no sense in arming the enemy.

With that plan in mind, he set to work.