Hey, I'm back with a new chapter. I did a bit of reading in chapter ten to review, and to put it simply I'm not happy with the way it turned out. It seemed clunky and rushed compared to the others. The major plot points are all there, but they don't seem to be implemented very well. Currently I'm debating re-writing it. What do you guys think? Good? Bad? Don't care? Is it even worth re-writing? Let me know.

With that out of the way, on to the important stuff.

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

The world was ending.

This was the thought going through Epsilon's head as the entire city shook.

A short while earlier, Sophia Lamb had fallen back on her emergency plan. One last, desperate, attempt to kill Subject Delta. On her order high explosive charges had been placed all around the Persephone Penal Colony. When she gave the command the bombs would detonate, ending the alpha series once and for all.

Epsilon knew none of this. All she knew was that her existence was suddenly filled with terror as the explosions rocked the very foundations of Rapture. Glass cracked and metal groaned as the city writhed in its death throes.

All around her, splicers scurried to and fro. Some screamed, some wept, but all fled in panic. They ran but they had nowhere to go. The hungry ocean pushed against the feeble man-made barriers, longing to drag them all to a watery grave.

Epsilon fell to the floor, clutching the sides of her helmet in an attempt to block out the horrible sound of metal grinding against itself. She felt tears run freely down her cheeks as one, cruel, undeniable, fact made itself known.

She was going to die.

Any moment now, the city would collapse in on itself. Ten thousand tons of steel and concrete would come crashing down on her head. She would be crushed like an insect under the foot of a giant.

And there was nothing she could do.

Ever since she had awoken on the table, her life had been dictated by another. In her youth she had been a walking source of Adam under the control of those who had warped her mind. Later she became a weapon in the hands of the family, killing and sowing terror wherever she was directed. Now, in some heartless form of irony, her life would be ended by the actions of one she had lived for.

As she lay on the ground, cowering under the weight of the inevitable, Epsilon finally understood what it was to be abandoned.

Fate however, was not done with her yet. After several heart-stopping minutes, Rapture settled back into the rock it rested on.

The city refused to crumble despite the massive damage it had sustained.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Epsilon raised her head to confirm that the moment of reprieve wasn't the eye of the hurricane.

She shakily got to her feet, splicers scattered about the room following her example. As one, the residents of Rapture held their breath in anticipation. When no cataclysm came to rip them from the world of the living, they were overcome by a tide of relief. Some slumped to the ground crying, or laughing, while others wandered around with lost expressions.

All eyes soon turned to Epsilon as she made her way across the room. Normally she would have been uneasy being surrounded by so many splicers, but at this moment they might as well have not existed. She walked numbly towards the window embedded in the far wall. The glass was cracked, pouring water down on her head as she stared through it.

A single heart wrenching wail tore itself from her throat, echoing through the surrounding halls as she laid eyes on the sight before her. She begged, prayed, and pleaded for it not to be true, but no amount of anguish could extinguish the scene in front of her.

As she looked through the battered glass, she could see that the Persephone Penal Colony was gone.

Her mother was gone.

Breakfast was a very subdued affair. Epsilon hadn't bothered trying any of the local "cuisine". To be honest, she doubted that any of it would be considered edible by someone who was worried about their health.

Still, it helped keep them from using up all of their supplies.

Stanley Poole was muttering under his breath as he picked through his can of what she assumed was some kind of dried fruits. It was difficult to tell what it had started out as, but the label depicted an image of a faded red round thing that she thought might have been a tomato.

Wren was putting all the empty cans to good use, stacking them on top of each other in a small pyramid. Once they were stacked up to her liking, she would put another can over one of her hands. Then, making a drilling sound with her tongue, she would knock them all over, only to suffer a fit of giggles as they scattered all over the floor.

Davian, for his part, simply sat in silence. There were bags under his eyes that told the story of how well he had weathered the night. Epsilon was starting to wonder just how much he actually slept.

It came as a surprise to everyone when he was the one to speak up.

"Hey Stanley." He said, getting the man's attention. Stanley paused in his meager meal, jumping slightly at being addressed so suddenly.

"What?" He asked, tentatively. No doubt worried about anything Davian might have to say to him.

"I never asked, how exactly did you get that alpha series locked up like that?" Stanley relaxed slightly when he realized that it was a simple question, and not another threat on his life.

"Oh, that." He said, chuckling to himself. "Yea, that big oaf was a piece of work let me tell ya. He was raging around making a real mess of things, and… well… let's just say he brought back some unpleasant memories." He shuddered as he spoke those words.

"Anyway, I got thinking to myself; 'how can I get this to work to my advantage?' The alphas are big and tough, but they're not all that smart. So I rigged up this big mechanism to drop those thick chains on him and tighten them up. All that I really needed at that point was a way to lure him in." Stanley was grinning now, recalling his clever plans to outwit the metal giant.

"I hooked up a pair of speakers in that room to trick him into going inside. The whole thing worked like a charm, he followed my voice right into the trap. And you want to know what the best part was? He KEPT falling for it. Each time I let him out and needed to get him under control again, I would just keep doing the same thing. Poor guy never learned a thing."

Epsilon frowned. Surely it wasn't that easy to trick an alpha series, was it? She found herself wondering just how a meeting between Poole and Delta would have gone down.

Davian pondered the explanation before setting down his canned food. Getting to his feet, he stretched his back which gave a painful sounding crack as the bones straightened out.

"Good to know." He said. "I'd ask where you got all that equipment from, but I think it's time to get going." With that, he slung his bag back over his shoulder and offered a hand to Wren. The girl accepted it eagerly as she put on her own carrying bag.

Epsilon couldn't help but let out a slight hiss at the sight. Stanley cringed at the sound, but Davian simply ignored it. Much to her annoyance, he seemed entirely unconcerned by her warning.

Before she could think of a suitable response however, she was distracted by an obnoxious buzzing sound. As she watched, a disturbingly large insect flew into the room headed directly for Davian.

It veered away from a full on impact at the very last second, but its presence caused him to flinch backwards. Having been caught unprepared, the splicer tripped over his own feet and came crashing down in a pile of cans with a shout.

Silence descended on the room as the insect flew up to the ceiling. All eyes were on Davian as he lay in shocked humiliation.

Finally, the spell was broken as Wren was caught up in shaking giggles that turned into an all-out laughing fit. Stanley soon followed, gasping for air as he struggled to get himself back under control. Even Epsilon felt several small, suppressed, laughs escape her chest.

"Very funny." Davian growled, sending them all accusing glances. "Laugh at my misfortune why don't you. You're all traitors."

"Come on mister M, it was funny." Wren justified, between hiccups. "Your eyes went all big and stuff!"

Davian eventually got to his feet, shooting a murderous glare at the offending insect.

"It's going to be one of those days isn't it?" He asked more to himself than anyone else. "How about we just get a move on before something else shows up?"

It took several more minutes before they had all gathered themselves enough to get underway, but with some encouragement from Davian, and only a few minor death threats, they were moving.

Epsilon was still smiling, replaying the image of him falling in her head. She probably shouldn't have enjoyed it that much, but it was nice to see after all the earlier seriousness.

Still, one small thing nagged at the back of her subconscious. When she realized what it was, her smile slowly turned into a frown. One question made itself known in her mind.

Where had that insect come from?

Despite the way his morning had started, Davian was feeling a bit better than he had been yesterday. The four of them were making good progress, with Stanley's directions only getting them lost a couple of times.

I think it's left from here. No, no, no, I'm sure it's definitely left from here! Eh… maybe it was right after all. Don't… don't look at me like that.

Soon they would arrive in the apartments of Pauper's Drop. Soon they would have their new home.

Wren was happily swinging Davian's arm back and forth as they walked. Her good mood was infectious, and he found himself smiling at the girl. It was difficult to stay morose when she was around.

Looking over his shoulder, he stole a glance at Amelia. The big sister was a puzzle that he doubted he would ever figure out. One moment she was at his throat, and the next she would be laying back and observing. At the moment, she seemed to be thinking about something rather intently. Not once did she look up as she followed behind him.

Davian was just about to ask what the problem was when Wren suddenly stopped at his side. Senses immediately on alert for danger, he turned to her.

"Wren? What's wrong? Did you see something?" One look at her face told him exactly what she had noticed. The distant gaze. The slightly slackened expression. If she had pupils he bet they would have dilated at this point.

Oh crap.

"Hey, what's gotten into the kid?" Stanley asked. Davian didn't have time to respond.

"Mister M!" She cried, looking up at him with a big smile. "There are angels nearby!"

This was the absolute last thing they needed right now. Harvesting was dangerous, especially when you had no idea what your surroundings looked like.

"Wren…" He said carefully, not wanting to provoke the dramatic reaction he knew was coming. "We're a little busy right now. Maybe we could come back for the angels later?"

It was useless to hope. He knew that, but he couldn't help trying. Her mental programming didn't leave room for logic or compromise.

"No!" She shouted, violently shaking her head. "The angels are here NOW! We HAVE to help them!"

"Wait a minute." Stanley interjected. "She wants to go sucking on a corpse now? How often does that happen?" Davian kept silent, locked in a battle of wills with the child next to him. He knew all too well what would happen if he tried to keep her from gathering.

He knelt down so as to look her in the eyes and convey just how serious this was. For several moments he simply held her gaze, willing her to understand.

"All right." He conceded at last. "We can go help your angels, but let's take it slow ok? Lead us to them, and we'll make sure it's safe."

Her expression instantly brightened up.

"Yea! Come on! Come on! It's this way!" Without a moment's hesitation, she began tugging him forward.

Conveniently enough, she led them in the same direction that he believed the Drop was. She was dragging him through what looked to be some sort of reception area when he ground to a halt, forcing her to stop as well. Wren let out a noise of protest, but Davian didn't ease up his iron grip on her arm.

Directly ahead of them, past a destroyed pile of debris, was a large array of dead splicers. The bodies hadn't simply been left where they fell either, their arrangement made it clear that this was set up intentionally.

It was a warning.

"Hold on." He said. "Let us check it out first." The girl was clearly unhappy about the delay, but she didn't put up a fight.

With a nod to Amelia, he began to move forward. The big sister worked her way up with him, her body poised to spring into action at a moment's notice.

Despite himself, Davian was glad that she was here. In addition to the obvious benefit of having a protector on his side, her presence was reassuring. It wasn't often that he had someone who was on his side.

Aside from the gruesome display, nothing jumped out. No signs of hostility greeted them as they approached the room. The two of them continued on slowly, taking one step at a time.

That changed as soon as they cleared the debris.

The moment Davian stepped past the fallen bits of concrete; his ears were assailed by the sound of an alarm. Pivoting on the spot, he spotted its source. A security camera had been installed in the far corner of the room. Someone had welded it in place facing the doorway to prevent it from moving and giving away its position.

His reaction was instantaneous. Without any conscious thought, a fireball had left his hand and streaked towards the camera. The explosion that followed sounded far too loud in the formerly quite room.

Both he and Amelia turned to face any new opponents, flame in hand and harvester at the ready. Surprisingly enough, nothing came rushing out to see what the commotion was.

The two of them stood motionless, not trusting the silence for a moment.

Apparently deciding that she had waited long enough, Wren strode out of her hiding place and began harvesting. She didn't seem to notice the disapproving glance that Davian directed at her for stepping out so soon.

Stanley followed soon after, seemingly put off by the cheer with which she approached her task.

"Something isn't right." Davian said, directing his comment towards Amelia. "That camera wasn't set up for no reason. Someone put it there." She nodded back at him. This was something the two of them agreed on.

For at least ten minutes, Wren went from body to body extracting Adam tainted blood from each. During this time Davian was shocked by the total lack of resistance. The only sound was her soft humming and the disturbingly familiar noise of the harvester piercing flesh.

In contrast to everything he had expected, she finished without incident. Standing up from the last body, Wren tipped the contents of the harvester into her mouth. She swallowed it all in just several swigs.

"All done!" She announced, wiping away a trickle of blood that had run down her cheek with a smile.

"Good." Davian said, thoroughly uneasy. "How far is it to the Drop, Stanley?"

"We're practically there." He said, picking at his sleeve while sweeping the room with his eyes. He didn't seem to trust this anymore than they had. "Just up ahead and around the bend."

Amelia picked up her younger sibling and placed the girl on her back. With an air of grim determination, their group moved forward again.

After progressing past a destroyed elevator, they came to a long hallway. Both sides were lined with rooms that looked as though they hadn't been used in ages. Very slowly, the tension began to ease out of Davian's shoulders.

Nothing had attacked them, and the place looked utterly abandoned. Maybe his nerves were overreacting. Who knows, maybe the camera was left over from the last occupants. It wasn't unreasonable to think they would leave it behind.

Letting out a breath, he turned back to his companions.

"I don't see anything. Do you think-"

His sentence was interrupted as the doors on either side of them burst open. Before any of them had time to react, they were surrounded by a dozen men and staring down the barrels of a variety of firearms.

"Hands in the air." Demanded one man, standing ahead of the rest.

"One wrong move and you're dead."